Erosion of Press Freedom in Japan: the Shadow of the Asian Democracy


Posted On : November 24, 2023

Published By : Alixia Brule


A recent surge in national criticism has emerged towards Japanese media corporations due to their shortcomings in reporting on the sexual abuse perpetrated by the founder of the prominent talent agency “Johnny & Associates”. In 2019, Johnny Kitagawa, who used his celebrity status to molest aspiring male pop stars over decades, died in impunity at the age of 87. Notably, the Shukan Bunshun news magazine brought his abuses to light as far back as 1999, but the publisher faced a lawsuit from “Johnny & Associates”. Despite Kitagawa’s behavior being an open secret in the music industry, other mainstream media outlets refrained from covering the issue, fearing repercussions from the respected corporation.

More broadly, one could be surprised to see Japan’s robust parliamentary democracy ranked 68th out of 180 nations surveyed in the World Press Freedom Index – the lowest among the G7 countries. Domestic experts express concern over the decline in press freedom over the last decade. While not widely recognized internationally, Japanese media operate under the shadow of subtle layers of increasing repression.

Corporate pressures – The first obstacle

Japan boasts one of the most developed newspaper markets globally, with Yomiuri and Asahi Shimbun (‘newspaper’ in Japanese) achieving the world’s highest circulation at 6.8 and 4 million newspaper copies daily, respectively. Historically, print newspapers have dominated the Japanese media environment. Media outlets relied on advertisement revenues to sustain their structure, while companies depended on media exposure for sales. This arrangement allowed Japanese media to expose scandals operating within the business sector without fearing reprisals.

However, traditional media conglomerates have faced significant revenue declines due to emerging web competition. Daily newspaper circulation dropped from 47.8 million in 2012 to 30.8 million in the past year. To ensure the survival of the print format, mainstream media shifted from the ‘advertisement model’ to the ‘subscription model’, making journalists more vulnerable to pressure from influential business partners. In the case of Kinagawa’s scandal, media companies refrained from reporting on the issue due to the financial consequences if members of the talent agency refused to appear in television programs or interviews.

The Kisha Club – the Government’s armory

Access to information in Japan is strictly controlled through a specific institution that dominates the media landscape: the Kisha Kurabu. These exclusive press clubs were designed to support politicians and act as the sole conduit for media outlets to access governmental information directly. Members of mass media organizations, such as NHK, are the only journalists allowed to join political events, attend briefings, and interview officials. They must submit questions before attending press conferences. Because of these different regulations, reporters’ rotation and potential disruptors’ presence are avoided. Added to this is the fact foreign news organizations and freelancers are formally excluded from these national press clubs. The uniformity of publication and the lack of investigative journalism are hence fostered.

The Kisha clubs reward self-censorship, as politicians and bureaucrats have the power to intimidate journalists. Fear of jeopardizing may impede the publishing of unfavorable columns. Sensitive topics – such as homosexuality, nuclear energy, religion, or Japan’s role during the Second World War – continue to be avoided in editorial agendas.

National media have also traditionally refused clear and transparent political endorsement. The medium where political impartiality is the most visible is television broadcasting. The audience faces the glaring absence of political debates and the need for talk shows to be written in advance. The lack of coverage of political ideologies impedes the Japanese public from constructing their own opinions and encourages a growing political disinterest.

An ambiguous legal framework

Article 21 of the Constitution proscribes censorship and protects the freedoms of “speech and press”. On paper, Japan safeguards the free press. Still, several policies enacted in the last decade present negative implications for the public’s ‘right to know’. In 2013, the administration of Shinzo Abe passed a ‘state secrecy’ act. This policy gives a range of officials the authority to limit access to public information when they deem it concerning national security. Journalists face up to five years in prison for reporting classified information passed on by whistleblowers. This law represents a precious political weapon: even though no sanction has been applied yet, it inevitably stifles public debate on political issues.

In South Korea: the war against ‘fake news’

In neighboring South Korea, journalists undergo similar forms of mounting repression against their investigative work. Since the election of Yoon Suk-yeol last year, authorities have repeatedly raided offices of press outlets publishing critical reports on the President. This crackdown intensified in September 2023 when the government menaced the online news outlet Newstapa. The South Korean prosecution alleges that journalists had defamed Yoon when he was a presidential candidate, defining it as an attempt to interfere in elections. Newstapa published an article exposing the president’s involvement in a corruption scandal through a money transfer when Yoon was a prosecutor in 2011.

While the governments of Kishida in Japan and Yoon in South Korea currently present similar threats to freedom in their national mediatic spheres, their use of ambiguous language to define ‘fake news’ and ‘disinformation’ raises concerns as it may allow their government to further restrict free speech on flimsy pretexts in the future.

Edited by Margaux Zani

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and they do not reflect the position of the McGill Journal of Political Studies or the Political Science Students’ Association.

Featured image by Isis Desvelada.

Huda Kattan: Beauty industry is sexist, says make-up icon

24th November 2023, 
By Amelia Butterly

BBC 100 Women

Huda Kattan is one of the people on this year's BBC 100 Women list

When Huda Kattan appears in public she's greeted by the kind of adoring fans you might usually associate with A-list Hollywood stars.

As part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of her cosmetics brand, Huda Beauty, she has taken over a Paris building not far from the Eiffel Tower, and turned almost everything inside hot pink.

There are make-up stations loaded with her products, neon signs and glamorous people everywhere.

Fans waiting on the street scream when she arrives. Inside, the invited influencers and make-up professionals chant her name as she climbs the stairs: "Hu-da, Hu-da, Hu-da."

People queue to take a selfie with her - some even burst into tears when she hugs them.

Throughout it all, Kattan's smile never falters.


2:37Huda Kattan: Beauty industry is sexist says, make-up icon

Kattan is one of the people on this year's BBC 100 Women list, which celebrates 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

She has a cosmetics business worth more than $1bn, which is the biggest make-up brand on Instagram, with more than 50 million followers.

But she sharply criticises both the beauty industry and social media.

"I think the beauty industry is sexist," she says. "It objectifies women a lot of times. It really can boil women down to just their appearance."

She says that as a woman "who likes to glam", she knows how frustrating it is to be judged by her appearance.

But she accepts that judging others too quickly is a common failing - and that it is something she herself needs to work on.BBC 100 Women names 100 inspiring and influential women around the world every year - Michelle Obama and Amal Clooney are on this year's list, while Melinda French Gates was listed in 2021

Meet this year's 100 Women

When she first became a businesswoman, she found that some in the industry would not take her seriously.

"I struggled so bad," she says.

"Oftentimes we'd be in a meeting and instead of making eye contact with me they would make eye contact with my husband and completely ignore me."

"Don't talk to me, talk to her," her husband would say - but they would just continue addressing him, says Kattan.

She fumes about the slow progress of the beauty industry where inclusivity and representation is concerned.

Kattan grew up the daughter of immigrants who moved from Iraq to Tennessee and says she was always made to feel that she was unattractive.

She says it's a priority for her to sell products in deeper shades, and foundations that match a wide range of skin tones.

But while she accepts the industry as a whole may be moving in the right direction, she says it's going at "snail's pace".

"I've been in the labs with the manufacturers and I've said to them, 'I need a richer skin tone product'. And I've seen them literally put black pigment in, [but] people's skins are made of many different tones.

"I think there is still a lack of understanding. And it really comes down fundamentally to the manufacturer, even some brands."

Kattan's success is due in a large part to her presence on social media, where she shares make-up tutorials and reviews, as well as moments with her family and friends in Dubai, which is now her home.

Her curated lifestyle is a natural evolution from her early days as a beauty blogger. And to begin with, she loved social media.

"I thought it was just the best thing," she says. "You know, it democratised voices. It gave everybody the opportunity to speak up. It was supposed to be a place where people connected."

Instead, she says, it has become "a dopamine-hacking algorithm to keep people's eyes glued into a screen".


She is deeply cynical now about what it has to offer.

"Do I agree with social media now? No, I don't. Do I think it's good for the future? No, I don't. I don't any more."
'Unfair expectations'

One of the problems she points to is the pressure it places on women to be perfect.

"I think society has always been hard on women, but now, with social media, the expectations are just unfair," says Kattan.

"When I go on social media, sometimes I feel I can never be good-looking enough. I can never have achieved enough."


She accepts "absolutely, 100%" that in this respect she is part of the problem - but says she is also a victim of it.

"When you're somebody who's known for a look, you sometimes become almost a prisoner to your appearance."

People expect her nails to be done, and her hair, and her complexion to be perfect, which is "not reality" she says.

"I definitely for a long time felt that I was a prisoner to my Instagram handle. I felt, 'Here I am going out to the public, I am Huda Beauty'. Sometimes I feel like Huda Ugly


Given the huge reach of her social media platforms, anything Kattan says online attracts attention.

"As our voice became bigger, became more of a platform, I started to feel the need to speak up about certain things," she says.

"I am passionate about things that affect women, but also things affecting my community as well."

This interview took place before the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October - which saw 1,200 people killed and about 240 others taken hostage - and the subsequent strikes on Gaza.

Gaza's Hamas-run government says more than 14,500 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israeli air and ground strikes began. The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis.

As the conflict escalated, Kattan used her social media accounts to post in support of Palestinians, attracting positive comments as well as criticism.

"I've been outspoken about some political things. I don't pretend to be a political expert," she told BBC 100 Women in July. "But if I see something and I know some of the information I definitely want to post about it."

Even before the current situation in Israel and Gaza developed, Kattan had been raising awareness about issues in the Middle East, saying political issues in the region weren't talked about enough.

"I get really upset sometimes when I see things happening. Sometimes I'm also like, 'Do I have the right information? Can I post about this? Am I only seeing one side?'. But I always want to post whatever I can."

When people message her asking questions like "How is your life so perfect?", she answers honestly that it isn't.

She says she would like the social media space "to be more vulnerable".

"I don't know where that space exists. I don't think it exists on Instagram but we have to create it," Kattan says.

She adds that she frequently has to disconnect or limit her own screen time, and doesn't allow her 12-year-old daughter on to social media at all.

"She does go on it behind my back sometimes, but I can see a difference in her anxiety levels when she's not online versus when she is."

Despite living much of her life in public, there are things that she keeps private, such as her Muslim faith.

She says she wasn't very religious as she grew up, but this changed as she became older. Now, she sees prayer as "one of the most beautiful experiences".

"I don't speak about it because I'm always afraid of the criticism - because I don't cover," she says. "People might say, 'Oh you're not allowed to do those things.'"

Huda Beauty is now 10 years old, and Kattan says she hopes she has given inspiration to some women of colour.

"I think back sometimes to that little Middle Eastern brown girl in Tennessee - there's still a lot of them out there in the world - and maybe seeing someone like me, they can feel a little bit represented."


Interview by Nouran Sallam.

Video filmed by Maher Nakhla and edited by Rebecca Thorn.

 

Self-Determination Is A Powerful Force: Just Ask Ukraine And Georgia – Analysis

 November 25, 2023  

By Arab News

By Luke Coffey

The 10th anniversary of the start of Ukraine’s Euromaidan, when thousands of demonstrators set up a protest camp in Kyiv’s central square, was last week.

Ukraine’s economy had been struggling and the Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych knew something had to be done to create new opportunities. Meanwhile the EU’s Eastern Partnership, the platform used by Brussels to engage with Eastern Europe, was keen to deepen relations with the countries of east, especially Ukraine. This led to a proposed political association and free trade agreement between the EU and Kyiv.

Of course, the Kremlin did not like the thought of Ukraine getting closer to Brussels and started to pressure Yanukovych into not signing the agreement. When he bowed to Russia’s wishes, Ukrainians gathered inMaidan Nazalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv on Nov. 21, 2013, and the Euromaidan was born.

It is worth remembering what happened in the months and years following the Euromaidan because it led to the terrible situation today in Ukraine. Eventually, months of street demonstrations from late 2013 to early 2014 led to Yanukovych’s removal from office. He fled to Russia, where he remains. Russia responded by sending troops, wearing uniforms with no insignia, into Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula under the pretext of “protecting Russian people.” This led to Russia’s eventual annexation of Crimea. The annexation cut Ukraine’s coastline in half and cost it about 7 percent of its sovereign territory.

In addition to the exploits in Crimea, Moscow stoked sectarian divisions in eastern Ukraine. Backed, armed, and trained by Russia, de facto separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declared the so-called Lugansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic. Before long, Russian officials, troops, and military hardware flooded into the region. At the time, US President Barack Obama and other European leaders urged the Ukrainians not to fight, but to wait for diplomacy to resolve the crisis. Unsurprisingly, this never happened — an important lesson for Ukrainians in February 2022, when Russia invaded again.

The fighting that began in 2014 left 13,000 dead, 30,000 wounded and 1.4 million people displaced. While these figures pale in comparison to today’s fighting in Ukraine, at the time it was shocking. Two major ceasefire agreements — one in September 2014 and another in February 2015, known as Minsk I and Minsk II — failed. In February 2022, after months of building up military forces along Ukraine’s borders, Russia invaded again. The rest is now history. Today, the largest land war in Europe since the Second World War is playing out between Ukraine and Russia.

Coincidently, the anniversary of another important event in the post-Soviet countries also took place last week — the climax of Georgia’s Rose Revolution in 2003. After fraudulent parliamentary elections, street demonstrations against President Eduard Shevardnadze grew in size throughout November that year.

Shevardnadze was the de facto leader of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1970s and early 1980s. He then became the Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. In 1995, after the Soviet Union collapsed, he became the president of the newly independent Georgia until he resigned on Nov. 23, 2003, during the Rose Revolution. His departure was an important milestone in Georgia’s history: the end of Soviet-era leaders playing a role in national life and the beginning of Georgia’s path to closer relations with the EU and NATO that continues today. This is why Georgia’s civil society is so supportive of Ukraine inRussia’s war. In fact, thousands of Georgian volunteers have traveled to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.

The long-term strategic goal for Russia is ensuring that countries such as Ukraine and Georgia remain out of the transatlantic community and distanced from organizations such as NATO and the EU. Moscow has perfected a formula to make this happen by using military force. Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea in 2014 slowed down the EU and NATO prospects of both countries because neither organization wants to admit a new member involved in a war with Russia. In the longer run, Russia would also like to see the eventual integration of Ukraine and Georgia into Moscow-backed groups such asthe Collective Security Treaty Organization or the Eurasian Economic Union, but for the time being this seems highly unlikely if not impossible. Any sympathy Ukrainians had for Russia has been evaporated bythe invasion.

The events that began in Georgia in November 2003, and in Ukraine in November 2013, are a reminder that self-determination is a powerful force. After decades of Russian and Soviet domination, countries such asUkraine and Georgia want to chart their own path. Considering that Georgia and Ukraine have a history, language, and culture distinctive from Russia’s, this should not be a surprise.

For Ukrainians and Georgians, taking to the streets in a peaceful manner showed that each country has the sovereign ability to determine their own path and to decide with whom they have relations and how and by whom they are governed. No outside actor, in this case Russia, should have a veto on membership or closer relations with organizations such as the EU or NATO.

Street protests against Russian influence in Ukraine in 2013 have transformed into today’s trench warfare against a Russian invader. Ukrainians have sacrificed much to defend their country and there is no indication that the national mood to do so is changing. This week, when marking the 10th anniversary of the events of November 2013, President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as the Ukrainian people’s “first counteroffensive” against Russia saying. “It is up to our generation to determine the direction Ukraine’s history will take,” he said.

What Ukraine will look like when it marks the 20th anniversary of the Euromaidan is anyone’s guess. For the sake of the Ukrainian people who have sacrificed so much, let us hope it is a Ukraine that is free, independent, and secure.

• Luke Coffey is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Undated photo of soldiers from Ukraine firing on Russian positions. Photo Credit: Mehr News Agency

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).

Trudeau blames MAGA for sinking Ukraine support in Canada

Reuters

Justin Trudeau says dwindling support for Ukraine among Conservatives in Canada is due to the influence of former US President Donald Trump's Making America Great Again movement. 

Canada's PM Trudeau says his main rival abandoning Ukraine due to Trump influence

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a climate change conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Oct 18, 2022.
PHOTO: Reuters

PUBLISHED ONNOVEMBER 24, 2023 6:45 PM

OTTAWA - Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday (Nov 24) said his main political rival on the right was abandoning Ukraine under the influence of Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in next year's US election.

In a preliminary vote on Tuesday, all 109 Conservative lawmakers in the House of Commons opposed updated legislation for the free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, which received the unanimous support of all the other parties.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who is leading in all polls, said his party did not support it because it would force Ukraine to adopt a carbon tax. The trade bill includes language that the two countries will "promote" carbon pricing and mitigation, but does not have provisions that force such a plan.

"To see the Conservative Party of Canada decide not to support Ukraine with something they need with the absurd excuse that it's because Ukraine is going to put a price on pollution, is ridiculous," Trudeau told reporters in French at a news conference in Newfoundland.

"The real story is the rise of a right-wing, American MAGA influence thinking that has made Canadian Conservatives, who used to be among the strongest defenders of Ukraine... turn their backs on something Ukraine needs in its hour of need," Trudeau said in English a little later, speaking after a meeting with top officials from the European Union.

Trump, who is seeking reelection in 2024 and is the leading candidate for his party's presidential nomination, has been sharply critical of US support for Kyiv and has said he could end the war in 24 hours if re-elected.

A relatively small but vocal group of Republicans has criticised Ukraine assistance for months, accusing Kyiv of failing to sufficiently fight corruption, which Ukrainian and US officials deny.

Canada has the second-largest Ukrainian expatriate community after Russia.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, a lobby group, said in a statement it was disappointed Conservatives had voted against the trade agreement.

On Thursday Poilievre insisted that he supported Ukraine and a free-trade deal, but "voted against Justin Trudeau forcing a carbon tax into that pre-existing agreement".

On Friday Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for Poilievre, did not respond when asked whether the leader was taking his cues from Trump, but said it was disappointing Liberals slipped "the promotion of punishing carbon taxes into a binding trade deal for the first time in Canadian history."

Poilievre would clobber Trudeau and likely win a majority if an election were held today, opinion polls show. One of Poilievre's main promises is to "axe" Canada's carbon tax if elected.

Poilievre says the pricing has added to cost-of-living concerns amid high inflation.

Israel summons Spanish, Belgian ambassadors following criticism during visit to Gaza border crossing

Israel has summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Belgium after leaders of the two European nations visited the border with Gaza and criticized it 


Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez (left) and his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo visited the Rafah border crossing [Getty]


The Israeli government said on Friday that it would summon the Belgian and Spanish ambassadors following remarks by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Belgian counterpart Alexander de Croo on its indiscriminate war on Gaza.

The announcement came after the two leaders criticized Israel for the suffering of Palestinian civilians who have been the victims of ferocious Israeli bombardment in Gaza. Sánchez also called for European Union recognition of a Palestinian state, saying Spain might do so on its own.

Speaking at a joint press conference on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Friday, Sánchez said the time had come for the international community and the European Union to once and for all recognize a Palestinian state.

He said it would be better if the EU did it together, “but if this is not the case … Spain will take their own decisions.”

Sánchez was speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt with de Croo. Spain currently holds the EU's rotational presidency and Belgium takes over in January.

Sánchez reiterated comments made Thursday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the killing of civilians.

“I also reiterate Israel’s right to defend itself but it must do so within the parameters and limits imposed by international humanitarian law and this is not the case,” Sánchez said. “The indiscriminate killing of civilians, including thousands of boys and girls, are completely unacceptable.”

An estimated 15,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's bombing and ground attacks, including around 6,000 children.

De Croo did not comment on recognition of a Palestinian state, but said, “first things first, let’s stop the violence. Let’s liberate the hostages. Let’s get the aid inside... the first priority is help people who are suffering."

De Croo stressed the need and hope for a permanent cease-fire, adding that this "needs to be built together. And it can only be built together if both parties understand that the solution to this conflict is never going to be violence. A solution to this conflict is that people sit around the table.”

Israel's war on hospitals in Gaza
In-depth
Alessandra Bajec

“A military operation needs to respect international humanitarian law. The killing of civilians needs to stop now. Way too many people have died. The destruction of Gaza is unacceptable," he said.

"We cannot accept that a society is being destroyed the way it is being destroyed,” he added.

Israel later lashed out at the two prime ministers “for not placing full responsibility for the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas, who massacred our citizens and used the Palestinians as human shields.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen instructed the countries’ ambassadors to be summoned for a sharp reprimand. “We condemn the false claims of the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium who give support to terrorism,” Cohen said.

“Israel is acting according to international law and fighting a murderous terrorist organization worse than (the Islamic State group) that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity."

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares responded to the summon of Spain’s ambassador late Friday.

“The Israeli government’s accusations against the President of the Government and the Belgian Prime Minister are totally false and unacceptable,” he said in a statement. “We categorically reject them.”

Albares said the Spanish prime minister has publicly and repeatedly defended what he described as Israel’s right to self-defence and that his tour in the region this week was seeking “a path to peace.” 

Spain open to recognising Palestinian state, even if EU disagrees

Currently, nine out of the 27 EU member states recognise the state of Palestine. In 2014, Sweden became the first country to do so while being an EU member state.


#KSD11 : Spain's PM Pedro Sanchez visits / Photo: AFP

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says that Madrid is open to unilaterally recognising a Palestinian state, even if it goes against the opinion of the European Union.

“I think that the moment has come for the international community, especially for the European Union and its member states to recognise the state of Palestine,” Sanchez told media during a press conference on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing.Sanchez said that ideally, the recognition would come all at once with at least several member states participating.

“But if this is not the case, of course, Spain will take its own decisions,” said the newly re-elected Spanish premier, who previously vowed that recognizing the state of Palestine was a priority for his upcoming term.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo joined Sanchez on his tour of Israel, Palestine and Egypt. Throughout the trip, both leaders called for the protection of the civilian population in Gaza and for Israel to respect international humanitarian law.

Israel summons ambassadors

On Friday, after their press conference at the Rafah crossing, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen ordered the summoning of the Spanish and Belgian ambassadors in Tel Aviv for a "harsh rebuke."

"We condemn the false claims of the Prime Ministers of Spain and Belgium who are giving support to terrorism," he posted on the social media network X, defending that Israel is "acting according to international law."

While the Belgian leader was more contained in his language, Sanchez said Israel was not following international law and accused it of the "indiscriminate killing" of "thousands of children" in Gaza. Sanchez also firmly condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attack

'Violence will only lead to more violence'

"Violence will only lead to more violence. We need to replace violence with hope and peace. This is what I told the Israeli president and prime minister," said Sanchez at the Rafah border crossing.

Speaking on whether Belgium would recognize Palestine, De Croo said the first priority was freeing the hostages held by Hamas and helping alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Then, we will need to sit around the table and discuss the subject,” said De Croo. Currently, nine out of the 27 EU member states recognize the state of Palestine.

In 2014, Sweden became the first country to do so while being an EU member state. Earlier on Friday, the Belgian and Spanish prime ministers met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He suggested that the international community needs to take the reins for lasting peace in Israel and Palestine.

"We need international recognition of the Palestinian state, and the UN needs to intervene. Going in this direction would reflect the seriousness of the international community to achieve peace in our region,” he said, explaining his idea for a demilitarised Palestinian state with the borders of 1967, potentially with the presence of international forces.

Kenya: rare birth of twin elephants

A baby elephant drinks water during Britain's Queen Camilla's visit to Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi on November 1, 2023. -
BEN STANSALL/AFP or licensors

By Rédaction Africanews
with AFP Last updated: 15 minutes ago

KENYA


An elephant has given birth to twin daughters in Kenya, a rare occurrence for the world's largest land mammal, a conservation organization for this endangered species announced on Friday.

The two baby elephants were born in the Samburu National Reserve in the north of this East African country, to a female named Alto, said the Save the Elephants organization, welcoming this "double joy".

Twin births account for only around 1% of elephant births, but the Samburu reserve has seen the birth of two more twin elephants - a male and a female - in early 2022.


In a video posted by Save the Elephants on its X (ex-Twitter) account, the two baby elephants can be seen suckling their mother, in the presence of the other individuals in the group.

Female elephants have the longest gestation period of all mammals, carrying their young for almost 22 months and giving birth approximately every four years.

Elephant twins don't always make it: twins born in Samburu in 2006 survived only a few days.

There are over 36,000 elephants in Kenya, according to figures from the first national census of all the country's wildlife, to be carried out in 2021.

This figure represents a 12% increase on the population recorded in 2014, when poaching for ivory was higher.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned in 2021 that poaching and habitat destruction, particularly due to land conversion for agriculture, were having a devastating effect on elephant numbers across Africa.

Far-right party poised to make major gains in snap Portugal polls

Portugal’s upcoming general vote is expected to see the far-right Chega party secure 10 times more seats than in 2019.

Andre Ventura's Chega party is expected to secure 10 seats in Portugal's parliament 

[File: Armando Franca/AP]

By Alasdair Fotheringham

No single party looks likely to secure a majority in Portugal’s snap general elections, but for one fast-rising political formation, the vote is already set to be a landmark success.

After taking just one seat in the 2019 vote, current polls show the far-right Chega (Enough) party is poised to claim up to 10 times that in Sunday’s elections.

Albeit at a considerable distance of the two largest parties, the ruling Socialist Party (PS) and their right-wing opponents in the Social Democratic Party (PDS), Chega could thus become the country’s third-largest parliamentary force.

“Chega had one percent of the vote in 2019 and at the moment polls indicate they’ve got around seven percent,” Marina Costa, principal researcher of the University of Lisbon’s Social Sciences Institute told Al Jazeera.

“For a party that first made it into parliament in 2019, that’s a very significant rise,” she added

Chega and CDS billboards in Lisbon [Pedro Nunes/Reuters]

Costa argues that the reasons behind Chega’s big increase in support are three-fold.

“Getting parliamentary representation was a very important factor when it came to legitimising the discourse of their party leader, André Ventura,” she said.

Second, whereas the mainstream media had shied away from far-right views in the past, they subsequently U-turned to give Chega a disproportionate amount of coverage, she said.

“Chega has received the most attention because of their sensationalist statements, attacks on mainstream politicians and aggressive attitudes. This has obviously paid off,” she said.

“The third reason is that Riu Rio, the PDS leader, has not said that his party would exclude Chega from supporting a minority government. So the right-wing electorate is not obliged to vote strategically. And this raises the numbers of those intending to vote for Chega.”

Chega’s agenda

A typically leader-centric far-right party, Costa says Chega is attempting to bring two main issues to Portugal’s political table.

“One is the subsidy dependence of certain minority groups. Chega claims they are basically getting benefits from the state compared to the middle classes who are paying for them, and that only deserving people should receive them,” she said.

“The other is corruption. It’s an important source of discontent in Portugal.”

José Sócrates, a former Prime Minister for the ruling Socialist party, faces a trial for corruption and “several members of the government were part of the Socrates administration. So Chega attacks the government for a lack of renewal of the [country’s] political class”, Costa said.

Ventura, centre, greets supporters during his 2022 electoral campaign in Braga [Octavio Passos/EPA]

Manuel Carvalho, director of one of the country’s biggest daily newspapers, Público, believes Chega’s rise is due both to a partial radicalisation of the country’s right-wing and to Chega being backed by a segment of Portuguese society with longstanding unresolved grievances.

In their voter base, “there are citizens who are really angry about some things that are happening, but if you look at the polls, the fragmentation of the political system is not as great”, he said.

While in Germany the SPD party won last year’s elections with just 25 percent and more than half of the population did not vote for either of the two biggest political formations, Carvalho said, Portugal’s two main parties continue to capture about 75 percent of the country’s support.

“So the central block of Portuguese voters is not as stable as 20 years ago and there are signs of rising support for the extreme right. But that central block is still remaining stable.”

Social discontent

Even so, other social analysts warn that those fighting Chega’s progress should not underestimate current levels of political and social disaffection in certain sectors of Portuguese society.

“They cannot afford to ignore the resentment, the anger, the disillusion a lot of people feel, either,” said Dr Francisco Miranda Rodrigues, president of one of Portugal’s top associations of mental health professionals, Ordem dos Psicólogos Portugueses (OPP).

“Of course, a pandemic could intensify that because a lot of things have happened which produce powerful emotions: lower wages, losses of certain freedoms, the way we have to live now … And these get entangled in fake news and psychological problems.”

Miranda Rodrigues said Chega also thrives off semi-furtive nostalgia among certain senior citizens for the António de Oliveira Salazar dictatorship, by using “a kind of forbidden speech for the Portuguese after the 1974 Revolution” – which brought back democracy to the country – based on “a kind of collective narcissism about the greatness of Portuguese people and in a way about the history of Portugal”.

Chega has even adopted one of Salazar’s best-known political rallying cries – “God, Country and Family” – for their 2022 manifesto, by just tacking two words, e Trabalho [and Work] at the end of the dictator’s slogan.

A Chega supporter holds a placard reading ‘racism is distraction’ at a protest in Lisbon against those who say racism exists in the country [File: Rafael Marchante/Reuters]

But at the grassroots voter level in Portugal, the far right’s rise in popularity and apparent predilection for elements of Salazar’s Estado Novo [New State] authoritarian regime produces very mixed reactions.

“We have a generation of voters that do not really know what happened in their grandparents’ time,” said Alexandre Pinto, a language teacher in Lisbon who is worried about Chega’s increased support.

“Ventura is backed by a politician like Diogo Pacheco de Amorim” – broadly considered to be Chega’s chief political thinker – “who’s been a part of the country’s far right since 1974”, he said.

“And of course he [Ventura] doesn’t say he’s xenophobic, but his messages all go in that direction,” Pinto said.

“I thought their vote was dropping but they’re still third in the polls. Maybe six percent isn’t a high level of support for a political force in other European countries, but in Portugal, with its two very big parties, it is different.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Bangladesh Prepping for ‘Unfair’ Election, Say Analysts, Opposition

Bangladesh Prepping for ‘Unfair’ Election, Say Analysts, Opposition

November 24, 2023 
Shaikh Azizur Rahman

Leaders and supporters of the opposition Bangladesh National Party and its allies assemble in Dhaka, July 12, 2023, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and installation of a neutral caretaker government.

 (K.M. Nazmul Haque/VOA)

Although the national poll body of Bangladesh has announced parliamentary elections will be held on January 7, opposition parties, rights activists and political analysts are saying that the situation in the country is not suitable for elections at all.

With a massive crackdown continuing against the opposition political parties, and party leaders and activists still being arbitrarily arrested across the country, the election cannot be free and fair, rights activists said.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is rapidly filling Bangladesh's prisons with her opponents ahead of the general election in January. In just the last month, Human Rights Watch has documented cases of enforced disappearance, torture, extrajudicial killings and mass arbitrary arrest of the political opposition,” HRW senior Asia researcher Julia Bleckner told VOA.

"The ongoing systematic crackdown on opposition members, critics and human rights activists by Bangladesh security forces makes a free and fair election impossible,” she said.

The opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP) boycotted the 2014 general elections. In 2018, the general elections were marred by widespread allegations of vote rigging by Hasina’s ruling Awami League (AL).

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses the EU Global Gateway Forum 2023, in Brussels, Belgium, on Oct. 25, 2023.

Since last year, the United States and other countries have urged the Hasina government to hold the next general election in a free and fair manner. In September, the U.S. announced that it had started “taking steps to impose visa restrictions” on Bangladeshi individuals who were found complicit in “undermining the democratic electoral process” in Bangladesh.

Following the announcement of the next general elections schedule, the BNP and its allies have continued to demand the resignation of Hasina. An anti-opposition crackdown by government security forces has led to hundreds of opposition leaders and activists being arrested every day.

Jails full of political prisoners

The country’s 68 prisons, with the capacity to house 42,700 inmates, are severely overcrowded. Bangladesh’s home minister put the figure at 77,200 in September.

Among the inmates, at least 25,000 are political prisoners from the BNP and its allies, a party statement said.

The government actually wants to keep the country’s largest opposition party away from the election, BNP Senior Joint Secretary-General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told VOA.

“The government has arrested almost all our senior leaders, including the BNP’s secretary-general [Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir] and thousands of party activists, after filing false cases against them, so that our party cannot utilize its full strength to participate in the election,” Rizvi said. “To avoid arrest, hundreds of thousands of BNP leaders and activists are in hiding, away from their homes. The condition for a free, fair and acceptable-to-all election does not exist in the country now.”

It’s “pointless” for the BNP to participate in the general election, Rizvi added.

Mohammad Faruk Hossain, spokesperson for the Dhaka metropolitan police, said that the accusation of filing false cases against the opposition was “baseless.”

“After we receive reports of the BNP or other opposition parties being involved in some violent activities like cocktail bombing, attack[s] on police, et cetera, a primary investigation is conducted by the police," he told VOA. "The police arrest and file cases against someone only if the allegation of the person being involved in a criminal incident is found to primarily true in our investigation."

A police officer fires at opposition BNP activists and supporters in Dhaka, Dec 7, 2022. The police in Bangladesh have been accused of using disproportionately high aggression against the opposition rallyists over the past year.

 (K.M. Nazmul Haque/VOA)

In recent days over 400 former lawmakers, senior leaders and activists from the BNP have been sentenced by courts. Among those sentenced were some prospective candidates, a BNP statement said.

Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman of the Capital Punishment Justice Project, who has been documenting rights violations in Bangladesh for more than 15 years, said that Hasina “systematically uses” Bangladesh’s judiciary “as a tool to punish dissidents.”

“The judiciary has been complying with the Hasina regime by convicting the main opposition political leaders en masse prior to the unilateral national election,” Ashrafuzzaman told VOA. “The judiciary, law enforcement agencies, intelligence units and the Election Commission are complementing each other to facilitate a sham election that the people of Bangladesh have already apparently rejected.”

Not a 'genuine' election

Bangladesh is going to hold yet another “one-sided” election, said Badiul Alam Majumdar, founder of Dhaka-based pro-democracy group Citizens for Good Governance.

“Election, by definition, involves an act of choosing by voters from alternative candidates, who are comparable, and the voters enjoy the freedom to choose," Majumdar told VOA. "In Bangladesh's election, we have two major, comparable brands — Awami League and BNP — and in the absence of one of these two, despite the participation of other fringe and king's parties, the voters will be deprived of the opportunity to choose from worthy candidates in a one-sided election.

“Such an exercise, where who will win is almost predetermined, cannot be called a ‘genuine’ election.”

Ali Riaz, professor of political science at Illinois State University, said that a Bangladesh election excluding the major opposition parties and “engineered like the previous two general elections” would have serious consequences, “not only politically but also economically and diplomatically.”

“The 2024 election is heading to be the most consequential election in the history of the country," Riaz told VOA. "How the election is conducted will determine which way the country will be heading – a de facto one-party state like Cambodia or reverse to the democratic path.”

The mass arrests of the BNP leaders and activists ahead of the election and the “conviction of them in unprecedented speed,” even in unfounded cases, have clearly shown that the “ruling party wants to hold an engineered election,” he said.

“The unilateral announcement of the election schedule by the Election Commission has added fuel to the fire,” Riaz added. "The EC is acting as a tool for implementing the ruling party’s design of the engineered election. Any way to have a meaningful election is now almost impossible.”

NOW A FULL FASCIST MOVEMENT

World Hindu Congress renounces 'Hinduism', embraces 'Hindutva', 'Hindu Dharm'

The third World Hindu Congress (WHC) adopted a declaration asserting that the word Hindutva was more accurate and renounced the word Hinduism as it includes the gamut of all that the word 'Hindu' implies.

HINDUTVA IS FASCISM HINDUISM IS ARYANISM

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addressing the World Hindu Congress. (Screengrab)


Press Trust of India
Bangkok,UPDATED: Nov 25, 2023
Posted By: Chingkheinganbi Mayengbam


The World Hindu Congress on Friday renounced the word Hinduism, contending that the term reflected oppressive and discriminatory and embraced Hindutva and Hindu Dharma to refer to the "eternal" religion.

The third World Hindu Congress (WHC) adopted a declaration here asserting that the word Hindutva was more accurate as it includes the gamut of all that the word 'Hindu' implies.

"In the term “Hindu Dharma”, the first word, i.e, 'Hindu' is an unbounded word. It signifies all that is Sanatan or Eternal. And then there is Dharma, which means 'That, which sustains'," read the declaration adopted at the end of the first day of deliberations of the WHC.




It said that in contrast, Hinduism is totally different because it is suffixed with an “ism”, which is a term defined as an oppressive and discriminatory attitude or belief.

"It is for such reasons that many of our elders preferred the term "Hindutva” over Hinduism as the former is a more accurate term since it includes the gamut (spectrum) of all that the word “Hindu” implies. We agree with them and should do the same," the declaration read.

The assertion in the declaration came against the backdrop of a row that erupted after DMK leaders made certain controversial remarks about Sanatan Dharma at a symposium with the theme 'Abolition of Sanatana'.


The declaration said that Hindutva was not a complicated word and simply meant Hindu-ness.

"Others have used the alternative “Sanatan Dharma”, often abbreviated as “Sanatan”. Here the term “Sanatan” works as an adjective indicating Hindu Dharma’s eternal nature," it said.




The declaration noted that many academicians and intellectuals portray Hindutva as the antithesis of Hindu Dharma, out of ignorance.

"But most are anti-Hindutva because of their visceral hatred and biases against Hindu Dharma. Many politicians driven by political agendas and personal prejudices have also joined that group, and are criticizing Sanatan Dharma, or Sanatan with increasing regularity and vitriol," it added.

The WHC condemned such attacks and urged Hindus worldwide to unite to overcome those who are engaging in such bigotry and emerge victorious.

Earlier, addressing the inaugural session of the WHC, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said India will show the path of happiness and satisfaction to the world which is stumbling from experiments with materialism, communism and capitalism.

He appealed to Hindus across the world to reach out to each other and connect with the world together.

"We have to reach out, connect with every Hindu. And Hindus together will connect everybody in the world. As Hindus are connected in more numbers, the process of connecting with the world has also started," Bhagwat said at the gathering of thinkers, activists, leaders, and entrepreneurs, from across the world.

The quadrennial event began with the blowing of the conch by Swami Vigyanananda, the founder and global chairman of the World Hindu Foundation with delegates from over 60 countries participating in the three-day event.

Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandmayi Devi, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) General Secretary Milind Parande, WHC organising committee chair Susheel Saraff, Bharat Sevashram Sangh Working President Swami Purnatmanand, Hinduism Today-USA Publisher Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami among others.

Published By:
chingkheinganbi mayengbam
Published On:
Nov 25, 2023