Publisher of USA Today axes staff to cut costs

August 14, 2022

AP – Newspaper publisher Gannett Co confirmed on Friday that it’s laying off some of its newsroom staff, part of a cost-cutting effort to lower expenses as its revenue crumbles amid a downturn in ad sales and customer subscriptions.

The McLean, Virginia-based company declined to provide details about the number of people losing their jobs. In a statement, Gannett spokesperson Lark-Marie Anton cited a need “to take swift action given the challenging economic environment. These staffing reductions are incredibly difficult, and we are grateful for the contributions of our departing colleagues.”

Gannett, which owns USA Today and more than 200 other daily United States (US) newspapers with print editions, ended last year with more than 16,000 employees worldwide, according to its annual report.

The payroll included more than 4,200 reporters, editors and photographers.

The layoffs are the latest sign of the unrelentingly tough times in the newspaper industry, which has been steadily shrinking for more than a decade as more advertising shifts from print to digital and readers turn to other online outlets for information and entertainment.\

Major newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have been able to amass substantial digital audiences by focussing their coverage on broad topics that appeal to people across the country. But regional and local papers have struggled to find a formula that works in narrower markets.

Gannett CEO Michael Reed foreshadowed the cutbacks last week after the company reported disappointing results for the April-June period and dimmed its outlook for the rest of this year.

Reed told industry analysts that Gannett would be “taking significant and and permanent costs” out its business, with an emphasis on operations devoted to producing and delivering the print editions of its newspapers. That decision reflected a recognition that Gannett is unlikely to recover much of the revenue that has evaporated along with demand for print editions.

In its most recent quarter, Gannett’s revenue dropped seven per cent from the same time last year to nearly USD749 million. Meanwhile, the company’s operating expenses edged up one per cent from last year to nearly USD770 million.

That disparity is one of the reasons Gannett suffered a loss of nearly USD54 million during the quarter.

Indigenous leaders elevated to prominent positions in Colombia

Michelle Begue
@mbegue


Published August 13, 2022 

Colombia’s new ambassador to the United Nations is an Indigenous rights leader. 

The historic decision to place Indigenous leaders in important government roles is part of new President Gustavo Petro’s plan to be more inclusive in his government. 

CGTN’s Michelle Begue reports from Colombia.

Saudi spying inside Twitter led to torture and jailing of Saudi man who ran anonymous satirical account

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
August 13, 2022

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

A jury in California has convicted a former worker at Twitter of spying for Saudi Arabia by providing the kingdom private information about Saudi dissidents. The spying effort led to the arrest, torture and jailing of Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who ran an anonymous satirical Twitter account. His sister, Areej al-Sadhan, and the lawyer for the family, Jim Walden, are calling on the Biden administration to push for his release. “The brutality of the Saudi officials have no limits,” says Areej al-Sadhan. “Twitter and other social media companies have more than a little responsibility for what’s happening, not just with respect to Abdulrahman’s case and the case of other disappeared Saudi human rights activists and outspoken dissidents, but across a much broader array of misconduct,” says Walden.

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

A jury in California has convicted a former Twitter employee of spying for Saudi Arabia by providing the kingdom private information about Saudi dissidents. Prosecutors accused the man, Ahmad Abouammo, of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a close aide of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in exchange for information about 6,000 Twitter accounts. One of the accounts belonged to the Saudi aid worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who ran an anonymous satirical account critical of the Saudi kingdom. Four years ago, he was abducted by the secret Saudi police, tortured and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The jury’s decision comes just weeks after President Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two men greeted each other with a fist bump.

We’re joined now by Abdulrahman al-Sadhan’s sister, Areej al-Sadhan, as well as Jim Walden, who’s an attorney for the al-Sadhan family.

Areej, let’s begin with you. Talk about what happened to your brother and how this relates to this jury finding this Twitter worker guilty of providing information about Twitter users to Saudi Arabia.


AREEJ AL-SADHAN: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, thank you so much for having me.

So, when I first heard the verdict, I couldn’t help but think about the suffering that my brother have went through all these years, and the suffering of my family and the many other families who are a victim of this hacking.

So, four years ago — more than four years ago, my brother was kidnapped from his work at the Red Cross in Riyadh and disappeared for years and deprived of any communication or even access to legal counsel. During his disappearance, he was brutally tortured with electric shocks, beatings, sleep deprivation. They broke his hand and smashed his fingers, saying, “This is the hand you tweet with.” My brother ended up in the intensive care unit for days, for almost a week, fighting for his life, as a result of the torture.


And only after three years of disappearance and held without any charge, he was brought to a secret sham trial, where he got sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, followed by 20 years travel ban, for running a satirical Twitter account. That same Twitter account was part of the Saudi government list of Twitter accounts that they wanted to hack.

And as we’ve seen from this case, this verdict, it represents a step forward towards accountability. But yet, still it’s not justice, because my brother is still disappeared. We have no communication whatsoever with my brother at all. We’ve been deprived completely from any communication with my brother. He’s been held in solitary confinement for years, deprived of any contact with us at all.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what kind of recourse do you have right now? And have you been in touch with the Biden administration, not to mention the leadership at Twitter?


AREEJ AL-SADHAN: Yeah, absolutely. So, I’ve been in contact with the U.S. officials continuously about my brother’s case. The recent visit of President Biden to Saudi Arabia — unfortunately, there haven’t been any improvement to human rights. My brother continues to be disappeared. We haven’t been able to communicate with him at all. And instead from President Biden promising to improve human rights and make human rights the center of his foreign policy, instead he rewarded MBS with a fist bump, basically validating MBS on the world stage, emboldening MBS to commit more human rights abuses against our families, our loved ones and against many innocent people. It is really terrifying for us and many other victims out there of this brutal regime. And unfortunately, so far we haven’t heard any news or any update about my brother’s case. He continues to be disappeared. We have no communication whatsoever with my brother.

AMY GOODMAN: In a statement, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, Stephanie Hinds, said, quote, “In this case, the government demonstrated, and the jury found, that Abouammo violated a sacred trust to keep private personal information from Twitter’s customers and sold private customer information to a foreign government. … As this case demonstrates, we will not tolerate the misuse of personal information or attempts by foreign governments to recruit secret, malign agents at American technology companies.” Do you hold out hope that this will be the case?

AREEJ AL-SADHAN: I absolutely hold hope for, definitely. And just to mention, Abouammo is only the symptom, the symptom of a much bigger problem. The targeting of activists and anyone who is at all speaking up or doing any human rights activism is very risky from — you know, the Saudi government will target anyone and will use any mean they can. As we’ve seen, they’ve used a U.S. company here, based in the U.S., to target activists in the U.S. and also in other places around the world. Part of that, they will go to lengths to kidnap people, even murder people, to silence them.


So, Abouammo is only one person, but there are many others out there who are still free and who are still targeting people. And as we’ve seen, Abouammo received orders directly from Bader al-Asaker, who is the right-hand man of MBS, asking him personally to hack these accounts and to leak their personal information. If that didn’t happen, my brother wouldn’t be in prison today, tortured and disappeared and deprived of any communication with us completely.

So, the risks are really high. And as even me, personally, for speaking up, I get targeted and harassed continuously online by Saudi agents, who are trying to silence me so I don’t speak about the human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia.

AMY GOODMAN: Jim Walden, what responsibility does Twitter have in protecting users’ information about abusive regimes? After reaching the verdict, one juror reportedly told Abouammo’s lawyers that she wanted Twitter to bear, quote, “a little more responsibility for this.”


JIM WALDEN: Well, first of all, Amy, thank you for having me on.

And I would say that Twitter and other social media companies have more than a little responsibility for what’s happening, not just with respect to Abdulrahman’s case and the case of other disappeared Saudi human rights activists and outspoken dissidents, but across a much broader array of misconduct. I mean, let’s be clear: These social media companies have set up Trojan horses here on U.S. soil. This is not Fancy Bear in a bunker outside of Moscow or a similar bunker outside of Riyadh. This is domains here in the United States that are being invaded by mal actors for lots of different purposes, whether it is to influence our elections, to commit fraud, to enhance transnational repression, as was true with respect to Abdulrahman.

And if the social media companies cannot police themselves and cannot put up structures to prevent this kind of action from happening — not even outside of their businesses, inside their businesses — then Congress needs to act with more robustness and verve to create regulations to require social media companies to have a meaningful compliance system — if you will, an internal police force — to guard against this kind of action happening again.


AMY GOODMAN: Speaking to The New York Times, a Twitter spokesperson said the company had cooperated with law enforcement during the trial of Ahmad Abouammo. Twitter security executive Seth Wilson testified at the trial that Abouammo’s breach of users’ confidential information had been inappropriate. After the verdict was delivered, Wilson tweeted, “Been a long road to get to this conviction. Appreciate the efforts of so many to see that justice was done.” But how high up was — I mean, while it was tried to — some tried to say this is a low-level Twitter employee. It looks like, looking at The New York Times, lawyers for Mr. Abouammo described him as merely a Twitter employee who had been doing his job. Other media partnership managers — other media partnership managers at Twitter also developed close relationships with influential people who used the platform and provided white-glove service, helping them become verified on Twitter, handling their complaints about impersonators and troublesome accounts. Can you talk more about their responsibility?

JIM WALDEN: I can. And the only thing that I agree with him about is that the Department of Justice deserves a lot of credit for aggressively going after this one person.

But the question still remains: Why — if he was a low-level person, what the hell is he doing with the personal data of the user? Why is a low-level Twitter employee allowed to get access to the part of the system that allows them to go beyond the handle and find the information of the actual person who’s using their account? Anonymous posting is obviously permitted. That should be something that’s behind a firewall, that is protected from Twitter’s employees, and that only people with certain clearance have access to. And Twitter clearly did not have any sort of firewall to prevent that information from getting in the wrong hands, and look what happened. It did.


And what did it result in? It resulted in an aid worker, who was running an account with satire, getting arrested, tortured systematically, deprived of legal counsel, isolated from his family, and now subject to a 20-year prison sentence. Right? This is the most un-American activity you can possibly imagine.

And for Twitter to say that it did enough by cooperating after the fact is simply nonsense. They were obligated to cooperate. And moreover, it was in their PR interest to cooperate so that they could look like they were good citizens. If they were good citizens, they would have a compliance structure where a user’s anonymous information is not generally available to Twitter employees, it is behind a protected firewall, and only high-level people with clearance for a specific purpose can access that information.

AMY GOODMAN: Areej al-Sadhan, can you talk about what you’re doing now to have your brother freed? Is it true that they broke his hand, smashed his fingers, saying, “This is the hand you tweet with. This is the hand you write with”?


AREEJ AL-SADHAN: Yes, yes, definitely. The brutality of the Saudi officials have no limits, unfortunately. Just like we’ve seen with the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, there are thousands who are being brutally tortured. Unfortunately, my brother is one of them. He was brutally tortured, to the point that they broke his hand, saying, “This is the hand you tweet with.” And he almost lost his life as part of the torture, the brutal torture he was going through. And on top of that, they left him in solitary confinement for years, basically just to add to the — more to the torture, the psychological torture of depriving him of any communication with us or even having access to any fair legal counsel.

So, what I’ve been doing is I’ve been speaking as much as I can publicly about the abuses that is happening to us, as personally to my family, and specifically to my brother, and to many — to also the other cases that I learn about along this journey. So, the only option was left for me is just to come out and speak out about the abuses. We’ve been silent for a year, hoping that the Saudi government will be — will respond to our questions. But, unfortunately, they’ve been ignoring and ignoring us, and there was no response or no help at all from their end. So I had no option but to start speaking out publicly, which was a huge risk, of course, because I continuously receive threats to silence me.

So, the one thing that we — I can do or we can do is to keep speaking up and to ask for action from our U.S. government to take action against these human rights abuses. I’ve been trying to reach out to the Biden administration personally to highlight my brother’s case. And they are, of course, aware of my brother’s case, among many other cases, especially of U.S. families who suffered from human rights abuses. But so far, we haven’t seen action from the Biden administration. My brother is still disappeared. We need a clear demand from the Saudi government to release my brother and all the other innocent people who are detained for no reason except for exercising their right to freedom of speech.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you so much for being with us, and we will continue to follow your brother’s case, as well as others. Areej al-Sadhan is the sister of the humanitarian aid worker, online activist Abdulrahman al-Sadhan. And Jim Walden is the lawyer for the al-Sadhan family. We thank you both so much.

Coming up, we speak to Walden Bello, the longtime Filipino activist, former vice-presidential candidate. He was arrested in the Philippines on Monday on “cyber libel” charges. Stay with us.

Survey Says China Ahead of US in Popularity Among Arab People


TEHRAN (FNA)- Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Friday that he was not surprised to see a poll that shows China is more popular than the US among people in Arab countries as China has always been a sincere and reliable friend to them.

The US magazine Newsweek reported on August 10 that Arab Barometer, a nonpartisan research network based at Princeton University in the US, conducted polling from October 2021 to April 2022 in countries including Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Sudan. The result showed that people in the Arab states have more positive opinions about China than the US, Global Times reported.

"Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has increased levels of economic engagement across the region," said Michael Robbins, director and co-principal investigator at Arab Barometer.

China always follows the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and stays committed to the principle of mutual respect and mutual benefit. China has always played a constructive role in the Arab world, Wang said.

We never seek geopolitical interests for ourselves, and we do not have any intention to fill up the so-called "power vacuum", Wang said.

China supports Arab countries and other countries in the Middle East in addressing regional security issues through solidarity and coordination, and supports people in the region in independently exploring their own development path, according to Wang.

Wang said China is ready to work with Arab nations to support each other's national development and revitalization, jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Middle East and steadily advance practical cooperation in various fields. This can deliver benefits for Chinese and Arab people while also defending true multilateralism and international justice and fairness, Wang noted.

How the US lost Africa to China over new disease control centre in Addis Ababa

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Addis Ababa was once a US-China collaboration project

Loss of US CDC-inspired facility to Chinese influence a tragic error and own goal, says analyst in Washington


Jevans Nyabiage
Published: 13 Aug, 2022

An artist’s impression of the new Africa CDC headquarters south of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. Photo: Xinhua

Just south of Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the US$80 million new African disease control headquarters, built and funded by China, is nearing completion amid disquiet in Washington.

Hu Changchun, China’s newly appointed head of mission to the African Union, inspected the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention construction site last month. The facility, being built by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), will be completed at the end of the year.

“This flagship project between China and the AU will significantly improve the capacity for disease prevention and control in Africa,” Hu said.

The site covers an area of 90,000 square metres, with a total construction area of nearly 40,000 square metres.

When finished, the Africa CDC building will include an emergency operation centre, a data centre and a laboratory, resource, training and conference centres and briefing rooms, as well as offices and expatriate flats – all to be built, furnished and equipped by the Chinese government.

The second phase would involve the construction of the Africa CDC’s five regional collaborating centres in Egypt, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, and Zambia.

Wu Peng, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s African affairs department, said the Africa CDC headquarters was “a major project of China-Africa cooperation” which would “further enhance Africa’s public health capacities and become a new portrayal of China-Africa solidarity”.

After US retreat, China breaks ground on Africa CDC headquarters project
16 Dec 2020


The Africa CDC is modelled in form and function on the US CDC and the idea emerged from the role the US played in responding to the 2015 West Africa Ebola crisis. But what started as a US-China collaboration project to help African countries fight disease turned into a power rivalry under former US president Donald Trump.

In April 2015, the US and AU signed an agreement to create the Africa CDC, where the US agreed to provide technical expertise and seconded a dozen staff members to lead and support the project. It also agreed to support fellowships at the Africa CDC for 10 African epidemiologists.

In June of that year, during a bilateral meeting, a Chinese health official said the US and China planned to work together to support the AU to build the Africa CDC. And during President Xi’s September 2015 visit to the US, the two nations agreed to cooperate with the AU in the construction of the Africa CDC.

A China-AU deal was signed in 2016, where the Chinese side agreed to provide public health expertise.

But the US-China deal was scuttled when the US government moved to cut foreign aid.

As their rivalry escalated during the Trump era, the collaboration between the two superpowers collapsed. It left room for Beijing to offer to construct the building alone, followed by an announcement in June 2020 by President Xi Jinping that “China will start ahead of schedule the construction of the Africa CDC headquarters this year”.

As they sparred over who should build the Africa CDC headquarters, the US accused China of aiming to spy on “Africa’s genomic data”, the Financial Times quoted a US official as saying in February 2020.

The Chinese foreign ministry called the reports “ridiculous”, with spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying they showed how “some people in the US always make presumptions by their own mindsets,” she said.

David Shinn, professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, and former US ambassador to Addis Ababa, said that the US-China partnership on supporting the Africa CDC came when bilateral relations were more cordial, with the US Centres for Disease Control and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation providing most of the assistance.

In 2018, as US-China relations were deteriorating, the AU and China agreed that the Chinese would build the CDC headquarters.

“Washington strongly opposed this decision but appeared to have been outmanoeuvred by China,” Shinn recalled.

Ethiopian and Chinese officials at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Africa CDC headquarters in Addis Ababa in December 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Tim Zajontz, research fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said the Covid-19 pandemic had made public health another central domain for China to project its soft power.

“It came as no surprise that the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at last year’s gathering in Dakar pledged to further step up cooperation in the health sector,” Zajontz said.

He said the CDC headquarters is yet another example of Beijing’s targeted support to the AU. “[It] also shows that not only African governments but also regional organisations choose their partners very pragmatically,” said Zajontz, who is also a lecturer in international relations at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

“The geopolitical competition between China and actors like the US and the European Union, which have for a long time funded African regional organisations, has long reached the supranational level.”

US envoy to UN says Africa trip isn’t to catch up with China and Russia
4 Aug 2022


Cameron Hudson, a former US official who is now a senior associate at the CSIS Africa think tank, said: “Even though we tried to win this contract, Washington can’t compete with Chinese infrastructure construction in Africa.”

Hudson said the Africa CDC was seen as an exceptional case because an institution in Washington had already invested a great deal of time, attention, financing and even staffing.

It is also a challenge from a security perspective, because many of the staff are US government employees on loan to the African CDC.

“Having them work in a Chinese-built building, where the Chinese have a history of installing surveillance devices, as they did in the AU headquarters, calls into question whether Washington will be able to continue its close operational relationship with the institution,” Hudson said.

“Washington has been telling its African partners that they don’t have to choose between working with China and working with the US. That our engagement is not a zero-sum competition, but this will test that.”

Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington, pointed to how China has been funding infrastructure in Africa as part of its Belt and Road Initiative.

“It has tried to curry favour in Africa, using health infrastructure projects to push its geostrategic interests in Africa,” Gostin said.

“The US has a deep history of transformative public health engagement in Africa. Having inspired and conceptualised the Africa CDC, it was a tragic error to allow China to build its headquarters and to brag about its cooperation with Africa. For the US, it was an own goal.”

SYRIA

Accused of “calling for anti-Turkey protests” | “Civil Police” arrest at least nine civilians in Jarablus city in Aleppo countryside

On Aug 13, 2022

Aleppo province: SOHR activists have reported that civil police patrols in Jarablus, which is under the control of Ankara-backed- factions in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, carried out a campaign of arrests of people who took part in yesterday’s protests against Turkish foreign minister’s statements about the possibility of reconciliation between the opposition and the Syrian regime.

According to SOHR activists, members of a civil police patrol arrested a displaced singer from Homs for “inciting demonstrations and raising slogans denouncing Turkish statements.”

Moreover, eight people have been arrested for “demonstrating near Jarablus border crossing between Syria and Turkey.

The arrest campaign comes amid popular calls to demonstrate today after noon prayers in Jarablus city, in response to the arrests campaign by “Civil Police.”

Yesterday, SOHR sources reported that Turkish soldiers stationed in the Turkish base in Al-Mastumah base in southern Idlib fired tear gas shells, attempting to disperse demonstrators who gathered in front of the base, as some protestors climbed up the walls of the base.

Bilgiç: The 'Sri Lanka model' has already been applied to the Kurds for centuries

Ecologist Murat Bilgiç said that ecocide in Kurdistan was given priority in order to eliminate the Kurds since the Turkish state was founded. 

He pointed out that the 'Sri Lanka model' promoted by the Turkish government has already been applied to Kurds.

ANF
AMED
Friday, 5 Aug 2022

The nature of Kurdistan is being plundered by the Turkish state and its criminal networks. All plants in forests, plateaus and rural areas are destroyed without considering the seasonal conditions. The destruction of the nature of Kurdistan -a special war policy- is carried out as a part of the all-out attacks against the Kurdish people.

Ecologist Murat Bilgiç spoke to ANF about the reasons and purposes of the ecocide in Kurdistan by the Turkish state.

Bilgiç pointed out that the destruction of nature in Kurdistan is generally considered as a recent phenomenon. However, he stated that attacks on rural areas in the Kurdish lands have a long history, dating back to the establishment of the republic in Turkey.

KURDISTAN NATURE IS TARGETED TO ELIMINATE KURDS

Bilgiç remarked that after the establishment of a republican regime in Turkey, a policy of annihilation was introduced against all ethnic groups other than the Turks. “They started to regard everyone other than Turks either as slaves or as communities that deserved death. The early republic suppressed the Şêx Said, Seyîd Rıza, Agirî and Koçgirî revolts, yet they knew that they still did not achieve a 'permanent success'. Afterwards, they came to realize that nature was in favour of the Kurds and prepared reports about it. The most striking conclusion in these reports was that 'Their nature protects them'. The nature of Kurdistan has such unique features that those living there can meet their needs for years without support from the outside world. For this reason, reports recommended that the destruction of the nature of the Kurds should be given priority.”

Bilgiç continued, “Their attacks against nature peaked in some periods. Kurdish villages were burned down and evacuated. Burning villages is also an ecological destruction. Entrances to those zones were blocked for decades. Moreover, the plundering of trees and other plants became systematic as burning down and evacuating the villages was no solution for them. Also, people came back to their villages when suitable conditions were provided as nature preserved its existence. Therefore, they wanted to eliminate nature completely and resolve the problem in their own way.”

'SRI LANKA MODEL HAS ALREADY BEEN APPLIED TO THE KURDS FOR CENTURIES'

Bilgiç pointed out that forest fires and felling of trees became widespread in Kurdistan after 2009. “In 2009, Turkish officials disseminated the propaganda that a 'permanent victory' had been achieved in Sri Lanka against the Tamil Tigers. It was called the 'Sri Lanka model'. This model was also presented to the Turkish president of the time in 2012. The Turkish state was convinced of this model with a metaphor: ‘the lake should be dried up so the fish will naturally die’. I am pretty sure that Turkish officials were not impressed by this presentation. Because this model has already been used against the Kurds for centuries. However, the Sri Lankan model somehow gained international legitimacy. Therefore, this model has been employed more against communities fighting for their rights and freedom. Thus, construction of dams and military posts, forest fires, tree cutting and other practices that plunder nature have become widespread.

A GLOBAL DANGER, NOT REGIONAL

Bilgiç emphasized that intervening in nature generally paves the way for a danger not only at the regional but also at the global level: “Forests are a part of ecology. The water and air crises are linked to forests. Forests are the habitat of many living things other than humans. These creatures need to live in their own habitat. When their habitat is destroyed, they become extinct. However, they do not see what kind of ecological danger this will cause. Racism has blinded them in such a way that even if the whole world is affected by this ecological destruction, they do not care about it because they do not want the Kurds to gain anything. The ecological destruction that the world may experience does not concern them. Therefore, it is necessary to take a serious stand against this natural destruction. Recent reactions are, of course, valuable, but they are not enough. To preserve life, reactions should continue. Action should be introduced to stop all these atrocities through further organization.”

ECOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS REMAIN SILENT WHEN IT COMES TO KURDISTAN

Bilgiç criticized ecological institutions and organizations in regions outside Kurdistan which remain silent on the acts of the Turkish state when it comes to the Kurds. “Unfortunately, when Turkish officials cite 'security concerns' for the plunder of nature in Kurdistan, ecological associations in Turkey believe it. However, they need to question why the way the Kurds maintain their lives disturbs the Turkish state and their nature is destroyed because of so-called security concerns. For example, Greenpeace remained silent towards the ecological massacre in Kurdistan, saying that it was not their area of ​​expertise. There is no need for expertise in a place where trees are cut down. This is not a convincing approach at all. Greenpeace even took part in activities to combat forest fires in Turkey. But when it comes to Kurdistan, we see that they do not think differently from the dominant system.”

HDP protests against tree cutting in Şırnak

Şırnak Provincial Organization of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) protested the tree cutting carried out by the AKP-MHP government: “We are raising our voice against the tree cutting and want to reach out to the peoples of Turkey."

ANF
ŞIRNAK
Monday, 8 Aug 2022

The cutting of trees carried out under the supervision of the Turkish state officials and village guards continues in the Besta Region of Şırnak province. HDP’s Şırnak Provincial Organization made a press statement in front of the party's headquarters on Monday to protest against the ongoing tree cutting in the region. HDP Şırnak Deputy Hasan Özgüneş, HDP provincial administrators, DBP (Democratic Regions Party) Şırnak Provincial Organization, Peace Mothers and Free Women's Movement (TJA) activists and numerous other people attended the press briefing.

‘CUTTING DOWN TREES, THEY CAUSE DAMAGE TO HISTORY AND FUTURE'

“Places designated as 'safe zones' in Kurdistan have become areas where laws are disregarded, and authorized persons are allowed to do whatever they want. The government-appointed governors, district governors, policemen and soldiers have unlimited state authority in these areas. These authorized persons and institutions feel free to implement any kind of looting and rent-seeking policies in these areas without any care for nature and habitats. They think that they can hide the looting of nature by banning press members and local people from going there using their unlimited authority. They not only cut down trees, but also do harm to the history, future and all forms of life in the region,” HDP Şırnak Centre Co-Chair Kamuran Demir said.

APPEAL TO PEOPLES

Demir called for everyone to raise their voice against the tree cutting; “There is an attack on the lands of Kurdistan. These attacks are part of the hostility towards the Kurds. Destruction of nature has become systematic in the region. The area has been opened to looting in a conscious and planned way. We are raising our voice against this ecocide, and we want to reach out to the peoples of Turkey,” Demir said.

“They have no conscience. They are after allocating resources to their supporters. They destroy forests citing security concerns without considering outcomes,” HDP Deputy Hasan Özgüneş said.

Protest against ecocide in Şırnak

In a joint statement, the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement and civil society organizations protested the massive cutting of trees in Şırnak province.

ANF
ŞIRNAK
Monday, 1 Aug 2022

Under the leadership of the Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, a press statement was made near the Confederation of Public Workers' Unions (KESK) headquarters to protest the massive tree cutting carried out by the village guards in the Besta region of Şırnak.

The 78'ers Association, the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), the Diyarbakır Provincial Coordination Board, the Education and Science Workers' Union (Egit Sen) Diyarbakır Branch, the Ecology Association, the Munzur Environment Association, the Mardin Ecology Association, TMMOB Mardin Provincial Coordination Board, HDP’s Mardin and Şırnak Provincial Organizations, the Şırnak Ecology Platform, the Şırnak Bar Association including non-governmental organizations in the city joined the event.

'NOT JUST A TREE'

Murat Bilgiç from the Mesopotamia Ecology Movement delivered a speech and said, “Forests are not just trees, they are part of a broader ecological system. The destruction of forests is tantamount to the destruction of the ecological system. Article 169 of the Constitution states that “The state uses laws and takes measures for the protection of forests and the development of forest areas. It does not allow any action that would harm forests. Crimes such as burning or destroying forests do not fall under the scope of public or private amnesty.”

“The right to protect life is a fundamental principle of all national and international laws. If this ecocide is not stopped as soon as possible, we will do whatever it takes to protect nature. Forests were here before you were here, and they will be here after you go,” Bilgiç added.

'INTERCONENCTED TO WAR POLICIES'

“A policy of depopulation is being pursued in the region of Mount Cudi. We know that all these policies are interconnected to war policies. If the war policies in the region continue, nature will be damaged even more. We condemn once again the mentality that bans us from the streets and the nature of this city. We will continue our struggle until we liberate our nature,” Murat Özbey from the Şırnak Ecology Platform said.

'AGAINST THE DESTRUCTION OF NATURE'

HDP Şırnak Deputy Hasan Özgüneş also made a speech and said, “We have been saying it for years, our lands are called paradise in the Torah. It is called so thanks to its people, nature, forest and animals. It is a land where humanity first flourished. We have raised our voice against the building of thermal power plants and reckless use of coal mines. We have raised our voice against the burning of forests, and we are raising our voices against tree cuttings. The rich cronies are doing this to make more profit, building more hotels and robbing this country. We are against the destruction of nature in the Black Sea, as well as in Mersin, Şırnak, Hakkari and Siirt.”

Protest in Şırnak against destruction of nature as war policy

In Kurdistan, unique mountain landscapes are being turned into deserts by the systematic destruction of forests. The destruction of nature is part of the state's war policy, Kurdish women politicians declared at a protest in Şırnak.

ANF
ŞIRNAK
Sunday, 31 Jul 2022

Politicians from the HDP and DBP and activists from the women's movement TJA protested in the province of Şırnak against state-ordered over-exploitation in Kurdistan. The environment is being massively damaged by mining, dams, hydroelectric power plants, sand pits and arson by the Turkish military. In addition to forest fires, massive destruction operations are taking place in the mountainous regions of Cudi, Gabar and Besta for "security reasons". The mountain landscapes with their unique nature are thus being transformed into a desert.

To protest against this, the Kurdish politicians and activists made a statement at the foothills of Nimêjê (tr. Namaz). This is the place where the felled trees are collected and taken away. "Xweza jiyan e, jiyanê qetil nekin!" ("Nature is life, do not kill life!") was written in Kurdish on a banner that was rolled out.

"Enmity against nature and culture in Kurdistan"

HDP MP Nuran Imir said that the forests in the region have been systematically destroyed for two years. A special war has been taking place in Kurdistan for forty years, she said, and the destruction is part of the war concept. For a long time, the culture, language and identity of the Kurdish people have been under attack, she said, adding: "This hostility against our people is now also being practised against nature, as the mountains and forests are being destroyed. The fact that there is silence about this is because we are in Kurdistan."

While environmental destruction is widely heard in western Turkey, the destruction of nature in northern Kurdistan reigns supreme. The Şırnak Bar Association recently made a desperate appeal to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of Environmental and Cultural Values (ÇEKÜL) and Greenpeace to motivate them to take action against this environmental destruction. Greenpeace rejected the request, stating that the issue did not fall within the organisation's area of expertise.

The HDP parliamentary group has raised the issue several times in the Turkish parliament, and a total of 25 questions have been asked about it. But the government does not consider itself responsible either. According to Imir, none of the questions has been answered. "We will continue to demand accountability and will not remain silent. A massacre of nature is taking place here," said the HDP MP.

Speaking after, DBP co-chair Saliha Aydeniz said: "What has not been achieved through years of displacement and burning in Kurdistan is now to be enforced through destruction. This region is wanted depopulated, and the people deprived of their identity. The government boasts about the construction of multi-lane roads, but these roads are used for the looting of Kurdistan. Nature is being hawked to government supporters. The cleared areas are declared mining areas and sacrificed for profit. The Kurdish people are standing up for their culture, language and roots, they are resisting the looting and massacres."

Aydeniz appealed to the ecology movement: "The exploitation of Kurdistan is part of the war policy, which is directed against the people's demand for self-determination. No one must remain silent about this plunder. Those who remain silent agree to this policy. Therefore, ecological circles must also turn to Kurdistan. The policy conducted here is causing a crisis for the peoples of Turkey. As long as the war policy continues, the economic, political and social crisis will continue to worsen."


Greenpeace: Environmental destruction in the Kurdish region exceeds our expertise

In response to a request for help from the Şırnak Bar Association over state-imposed forest destructions in the Kurdish region, Greenpeace said, "Unfortunately, the issue is beyond our expertise."

ANF
NEWS DESK
Saturday, 16 Jul 2022

The environment in the Kurdish province of Şırnak is being massively damaged by mining, dams, hydropower plants, sand pits and arson by the Turkish military. In addition to forest fires, massive destruction operations are taking place in the mountainous regions of Cudi, Gabar and Besta by so-called village guards for "security reasons". The mountain landscapes with their unique nature are thus turned into a desert.

But while environmental destruction is widely heard in western Turkey, the destruction of nature in northern Kurdistan is deafeningly silent. The Şırnak Bar Association had now made a desperate appeal to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Foundation for the Protection and Promotion of Environmental and Cultural Values (ÇEKÜL) and Greenpeace to motivate them to take action against this environmental destruction.

"Not our field of expertise"

Greenpeace responded in writing to the bar association's appeal a week ago, saying that they "thanked" the association. It went on to say: "Today, environmental crimes are continuously committed in every place in Turkey. Due to limited resources, it is not possible for us to reach everyone and work on all kinds of environmental problems. For this reason, Greenpeace focuses on certain issues in order to use the support the organisation receives from individuals as effectively as possible. Greenpeace continues its activities by campaigning on these issues. In your email, you have expressed your justified concern about the deforestation in your region. As an institution, we are against all kinds of environmental degradation, but since the issue does not fall within the scope of our expertise, we can unfortunately only refer you to experienced non-governmental organisations that specialise in these issues and have done a lot of work so far."

Dams, mining, clearing ...

Lawyer Sabri Çatıkkaş, a member of the Şırnak Bar Association's Environment and Urban Development Committee, pointed out in an interview with Mezopotamya Agency (MA) that the overexploitation of nature in and around Şırnak has been going on for a long time: "The overexploitation of nature continues with dams, mines, sand pits on the Tigris and the cutting down of trees. Many places in Şırnak are under water due to large and small dams. The construction of dams has changed the riverbeds and changed the way of life in the region. Many coal mines have been opened in Şırnak. In the process of extracting coal, nature is devastated. All the pollution from the coal mines is discharged into the rivers. Life in the streams is affected as a result. At the same time, these streams pollute the Tigris. The sand pits on the river are also a big problem. Large pits are created by sand mining. Many people drown there every year. Since 2010, dozens of people have lost their lives due to sand mining."

"The Forestry Directorate is destroying the forest"

Çatıkkaş highlighted that continuous destruction operations have been carried out in Şırnak province for about two years, on behalf of official institutions. "The responsible body is the local forestry directorate [under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry], which is also responsible for corresponding tenders. These tenders are carried out in violation of the tender laws. At the same time, they are awarded to people known to be close to the AKP. The forests of Şırnak are being cut down by these people." The lawyer alludes, among other things, to paramilitary village guard clans who profit massively from the clearing work.

Regarding the appeal to the environmental organisations, Çatıkkaş said: "We emailed them the reports we made and the photos we received about the devastation of the mountains in Şırnak. We asked for help. Even if they do nothing, we asked them to at least demand a stop to this overexploitation of nature. So far, only Greenpeace has responded. In their response, the organisation writes that they know that many crimes against nature are being committed in Turkey, but as Greenpeace they have a small budget and are carrying out some work that they have agreed to do. Greenpeace states that there is nothing they can do about the overexploitation of nature here." Given Greenpeace's corporate structure with its own energy companies and huge income from donations, it is doubtful that lack of money is the real problem.

"Discrimination against nature"

Accordingly, Çatıkkaş also accuses Greenpeace of "double standards". He continued: "Other organisations that advocate environmental protection take the same approach. When it comes to Kurdistan's nature, they all show the same attitude. Until today, no international or national organisation has raised its voice against the burning of forests or the cutting down of trees in this country. They have not taken a stand against the plundering of the region by mining and sand pits. There are reasons for this, of course. These organisations are supported by some states. This aid is existential for the organisations. In order not to jeopardise this aid, they turn a blind eye and deaf ear when it comes to the nature of our region. They do not want to confront the states that finance them. This is a great hypocrisy. It is unacceptable that an organisation founded in the name of nature conservation discriminates against nature. Nature in the Mediterranean is nature, but is nature in Kurdistan not? Is life being destroyed there and not here? If the nature of Kurdistan is plundered and destroyed, will it not affect the nature of the Mediterranean? This is hypocrisy."

Çatıkkaş called for an end to this "hypocrisy" and said: "All organisations in Kurdistan must unite and work together against this hypocrisy. We must act together to stop this overexploitation of nature in Kurdistan. We must speak with one voice. If we do that, we can stop this looting."

How to recognize a war when you see one, new brochure by RiseUp4Rojava

RiseUp4Rojava has published the brochure "How to recognize a war when you see one" in different languages.

ANF
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 28 Jul 2022

RiseUp4Rojava has published the brochure "How to recognize a war when you see one" in different languages.

The authors write in the introduction: "Since the "ceasefire" of 17 October 2019 and the end of the classical military attack of the Turkish forces in the war against Rojava, the war against the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq has never stopped. It took on a new form, combining three forms of war theorised by strategists: low intensity warfare, hybrid warfare and compound warfare. Classical military actions were limited and supplemented by a variety of hostile actions. These include targeted attacks, crop burning, targeted bombing by drones, attacks by proxies, provocation of mass exodus, etc. In the six weeks of "ceasefire" after 17 October 2019, the Turkish Armed Forces carried out 143 attacks on rural areas in Rojava, 42 drone bombings, 147 medium bombs and artillery bombs. They raided 88 places, killed hundreds of people and displaced 64,000 people."

The brochure is available in English here

and in other languages here

Çepni: Turkey’s goal regarding Syria is to prevent a status for the Kurds

Turkish minister Derya Yanık said in Adana that Turkey's aim was not to protect the Syrians but to prevent "a Kurdish state in Syria".

ANF / RONI ARAM
ISTANBUL
Wednesday, 10 Aug 2022,

During a visit to merchants and traders in Adana last Sunday, Derya Yanık, Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs in Turkey, said in response to a question from a merchant about the plans for the five million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey that the government was not concerned with protecting the Syrians, but rather the areas of northern and eastern Syria: "Turkey did not take in these refugees out of charity.” The minister also announced that already by the end of 2023 none of the refugees should stay in Turkey.

CLEAR WORDS ABOUT TURKEY’S PLANS

The remarks by the Minister of Family and Social Affairs are the clearest words yet about Turkey's plans regarding Syrian refugees. Although the AKP/MHP government has repeatedly announced that it will build housing settlements across the border in northern Syria after the planned military operation, so far it has not received the green light from the other states involved for such an intervention in Syria's demographic structure. However, Minister Yanık said in Adana that this could not deter the Turkish government from its goal of "preventing the establishment of a Kurdish state". This is the first time that the AKP/MHP government's plans regarding northern and eastern Syria were openly stated.

Murat Çepni, co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Refugee and Migration Commission, assessed the minister's statements in an interview with ANF.

THE AKP MAKES STATE POLICY

Murat Çepni said that treating the 'refugee issue' merely as election propaganda against the AKP misses the point: "The immigration issue, especially in relation to people fleeing to Turkey from Syria, is more of an election debate against the AKP in Turkish public opinion. We find this very reprehensible. To consider the immigration policy conducted by the state only as election campaign material against the AKP is to obscure the essential. However, criticising the AKP's handling of this issue alone also misses the essence of the matter. The policy pursued by the AKP is a state policy, this should be clearly emphasised. The basis is the policy against the status of the Kurdish people, especially in the region of northern and eastern Syria. In summary, the problems are not based on the refugees from Syria, but on preventing a status for the Kurdish people."

Çepni stressed that the elimination of the status fought for in Rojava is Turkey's basic state policy: "Of course, there are different variations of this basic policy. The AKP sees an opportunity in this policy, also in international relations. It also makes an economic profit from its policy. Therefore, the minister's remark ‘we protect not only the Syrians but also our borders’ is a threat against the status of the Kurdish people, especially in Rojava, which was fought for side by side by all the peoples living there. For this, the government is doing what it can, because it sees this status as a threat. With her words, the minister has in a way made government policy clear."

THE GOAL IS DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE

The AKP has announced plans to resettle Syrians living in Turkey in the Turkish occupied zone in northern Syria, in the face of rising hostility towards migrants as a result of its polarising policies. This plan is given as one of the reasons for an invasion attack. Recently, there has been increased news that many refugees have been sent to Syria. HDP politician Murat Çepni pointed out that this move is part of a long-term plan to prevent a Kurdish status: "One of the things the government has been propagandising the most has been the houses they have built in this region, especially in Afrin. Housing estates have been built and we know that a district administrator has also been appointed there. None of this was done to heal the wounds of the war in Syria. The Syrian refugees have been sent there from Turkey and settled in these houses. This settlement is meant to create new facts. This is part of a long-term plan to change the demographic structure in a targeted way. In the long term, the AKP government wants to create a social and political structure dependent on it."

TURKEY IS PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE

Çepni remarked that many asylum seekers are sent illegally from deportation camps to the settlements in northern Syria. He stressed that racist attacks against these people should not be tolerated under any circumstances: "Many people are sent there from deportation camps. One of them is the Harmandalı deportation camp in Izmir. We have conducted investigations on the spot, but we do not know the exact number of people living there. Every now and then, the ministry says that a hundred people, two hundred people, two hundred and fifty, three hundred people have been sent, but we don't know the exact number and we don't know how many people live in these deportation camps. These are hermetically sealed areas from the outside. From the information we have received, we know that people who have fled the war are sent back to the centre of the war. They are being sent to their deaths. Similarly, people are being sent to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and to ISIS-threatened regions in Syria. These policies do not imply a solution, neither for the Syrian population nor for migration policy in general. They are manifestations of an opportunistic policy that is exclusively oriented towards the short-term needs of the government. The AKP government itself is partly responsible for the fact that these people had to leave their places and homes. There is a policy of war and occupation due to which people are forced to leave their homes. On the run, they are exposed to all kinds of oppression and repression, which also violate international agreements. Confronted with racist and fascist policies, they are exposed to a lynch mob. Therefore, we stress that those responsible for this situation are first and foremost Turkey, as well as the USA, Russia and the dominant powers in the region."

Kurds Sit-in in front of the UN headquarters in Qamishlo

"We want the world to be with us in all honesty, and the sit-in today is staged under the slogan 'Where is your conscience and your justice?'. We want justice, so let us know if they are with us or not."

ANF
QAMISHLO
Friday, 12 Aug 2022

The Social Defense Forces, in coordination with Kongra Star today, set up a sit-in tent, under the slogan "Where is your justice and conscience?", in front of the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the city of Qamishlo to demand the imposition of a no-fly zone over the area.

The tent, which was decorated with pictures of the martyrs and placards reading "Where is the conscience of humanity, where is the global conscience towards Erdogan's crimes?", was attended by members of the Social Defense Forces (HPC) and the women’s umbrella organization Kongra Star.

The tent’s activities began with a minute of silence in honor of the martyrs’ souls, followed by a statement by the HPC administration, read out by Hediye Abdullah who said, “As you know, our revolution in north and east Syria has been subjected to continuous attacks and threats by the occupation for 11 years. We have set up this tent to convey our demand to the whole world; the imposition of a no-fly zone on our regions in the face of the Turkish occupation, which is attacking us with NATO weapons.”

Abdullah pointed out that the people took the struggle and resistance as a basis: "We in this revolution have taken resistance as our basis, and we will preserve the gains of this country with all its components. The democratic nation includes all the components without discrimination. Everyone said that they are with our project, but only in words. We want the world to be with us in all honesty, and the sit-in today is staged under the slogan “Where is your conscience and your justice?” We want justice, so let us know if they are with us or not."

"We call on the United Nations and human rights organizations to hold the Turkish occupation accountable for its crimes," she added and continued:

“Today, we are in front of the United Nations headquarters, to make our demands heard, to state that we are a peaceful people, we have not attacked anyone or transgressed the borders of another country. We ask the world to stop these drone attacks on our areas, which target our children and women under the pretext that we are terrorists. We fought terrorism here, protected the region from mercenaries, and liberated the world from their brutality.”

This was followed by a speech by a member of Kongra Star Coordination, Rihan Loqo, who said, "We congratulate you for standing here in this great tent, for your efforts to protect the gains of the revolution in north and east Syria and to build the project of the Autonomous Administration which has become an example for the whole world. Our unity will strengthen this revolution."

Loqo remarked that the attacks of the Turkish occupation on their regions are met with international silence and human rights and children's rights organizations, stressing that "Northern and eastern Syria, with its sons and daughters, has protected humanity from ISIS mercenaries. The whole world should be grateful to the north and east of Syria."

"With our solidarity, we will confront the attacks of the Turkish occupation and preserve the gains of our revolution, because we are the owners of this project until the last moment, and our slogan will be 'resistance is life'," she stressed.

Then a letter was delivered to the United Nations Headquarters by a delegation of 5 people on behalf of the women of North and East Syria, which read:

“In the name of the women of northern and eastern Syria, we ask you to break this shameful silence about the violations committed by the Turkish state on a daily basis by targeting innocent women, children and the elderly, spreading terror in the hearts of the people, and brutalizing the Syrian territories through aerial bombardment and targeting markets, neighborhoods and safe villages.

The Turkish state transcends all international laws by violating the Syrian borders. Therefore, we ask you to carry out your moral and humanitarian duty to stand in the face of these flagrant violations, through international laws that provide for the protection of civilians and non-aggression on the territory of neighboring countries, and to hold the Turkish state accountable for all the crimes it committed against the peoples of the region.

We, the women and peoples of northeastern Syria, will exercise our right to demonstrate, and this vigil will not end until these demands are answered, and the Turkish bombing of our lands is stopped. Our region has fought the most notorious and heinous terrorism in the world, represented by ISIS, which derives its strength from the Turkish regime.”

The sit-in tent is scheduled to continue until August 30th.