It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, May 04, 2026
Veteran leftist Mélenchon to stand in 2027 French presidential election
Jean-Luc Mélenchon announced on Sunday on TF1 that he would be running in the 2027 French presidential election, marking the fourth bid for the leader of the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI).
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leading figure in the left-wing La France Insoumise (France Unbowed, LFI) political party, will stand in next year's presidential election, he said on Sunday.
"Yes, I am a candidate," Mélenchon told French television network TF1.
Mélenchon, 74, has been a fixture of the French left for decades, holding ministerial posts in past governments when he was a Socialist Party member. He ran for president in 2012, 2017 and 2022, coming third that year behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen and French President Emmanuel Macron.
"We have less than a year to go until the second round of the election. With us, it is all sorted out – there is a team, a manifesto, and a single candidate," added Mélenchon.
Under the French constitution, Macron cannot seek a third mandate as president. Edouard Philippe, Macron’s first prime minister in 2017, is also set to stand in 2027, representing a centre-right camp.
The far-rightNational Rally (RN) party, led by Le Pen and her protégé Jordan Bardella, is polling strongly at present although the RN failed to win control of any major city during French municipal elections in March.
'A big confusion': All sides claim victory after French municipal elections
Three dead on Atlantic cruise ship in suspected Hantavirus outbreak, says WHO Three people have died aboard a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic after an outbreak that includes a confirmed case of hantavirus, the World Health Organization said Sunday, raising concerns about a rare but potentially severe infection at sea.
Three people have died on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, the WHO said Sunday, one a confirmed case of hantavirus -- an illness usually transmitted to humans from rodents.
The outbreak occurred on the MV Hondius, travelling from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde.
"To date, one case of hantavirus infection has been laboratory confirmed, and there are five additional suspected cases," the World Health Organization told AFP.
"Of the six affected individuals, three have died and one is currently in intensive care in South Africa."
Earlier Sunday, South Africa's health ministry told AFP there had been an outbreak of a "severe acute respiratory illness", which had killed at least two people, with a third in intensive care in Johannesburg.
The patient treated in Johannesburg tested positive for a hantavirus, a family of viruses that can cause hemorrhagic fever, South African spokesperson Foster Mohale said.
In its statement, the WHO said hantavirus infections "are typically linked to environmental exposure (exposure to infected rodents' urine or faeces).
"While rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response."
Husband and wife
The first person on the cruise to develop symptoms was a 70-year-old passenger. He died on board the ship and his body was currently on the island of Saint Helena, a British territory in the South Atlantic, Mohale the South African spokesman said.
His 69-year-old wife also fell ill on board and was evacuated to South Africa, where she died in a Johannesburg hospital, he said, adding that they were not yet able to confirm the victims' nationalities.
The third case, a 69-year-old Briton, was also evacuated to Johannesburg, where he was being treated in intensive care.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that the agency was working with the ship's operators and member states affected.
"WHO is facilitating medical evacuation of two symptomatic passengers, conducting a full risk assessment, and supporting affected people onboard," he added.
"Rapid, coordinated action is critical to contain risks and protect public health."
Earlier Sunday, a source close to the case speaking on condition of anonymity had said a Dutch couple were among the dead. The third fatality was still on board the ship.
Discussions were under way to decide whether two other sick passengers should be placed in isolation in hospital in Cape Verde, after which the ship would continue to Spain's Canary Islands, the anonymous source said.
The MV Hondius is listed as a polar cruise ship on the websites of several travel agencies. It is operated by a Dutch-based tour company, Oceanwide Expeditions.
One of the cruises offers an itinerary departing from Ushuaia for Cape Verde, with stops in the islands of South Georgia and Saint Helena.
According to several online ship-tracking sites, the MV Hondius was just off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on Sunday.
The vessel can accommodate around 170 passengers and has some 70 crew members.
Humans can catch hantaviruses from contact with infected mice or rats or their droppings, or being bitten or inhaling contaminated dust. There are multiple types of hantaviruses in different parts of the world, with different symptoms.
AFP contacted the cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions but has not yet had a reply.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
'Low' risk to public of hantavirus after cruise ship deaths, WHO says
The Hague (AFP) – A suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, on which three people have died, presents a low risk to the public, the WHO Europe said Monday, as Dutch authorities planned to repatriate two sick people.
"The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions," the World Health Organization's director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement, adding that hantavirus infections were "uncommon and usually linked to exposure to infected rodents".
In its first statement on the crisis, the vessel's operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed three deaths on board the MV Hondius, travelling across from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde off the coast of west Africa.
Two died on board and one after disembarking the ship. One passenger is in intensive care in Johannesburg and two others "require urgent medical care", the statement said.
"Dutch authorities have agreed to lead a joint effort to organise the repatriation of the two symptomatic individuals on board MV Hondius from Cape Verde to the Netherlands," the operator said.
Such a repatriation would depend on several factors, including authorisation from local officials in Cape Verde, said Oceanwide Expeditions.
An AFP photographer saw the ship on Monday morning, anchored in the port of Praia, off the coast of Cape Verde.
In a statement sent to AFP, the Dutch foreign ministry said it was "busy looking at the possibilities to medically evacuate a few people from the ship".
"If this can take place, the ministry of foreign affairs will coordinate it," said a spokesperson.
'Acting with urgency'
While local doctors have visited to assess the medical condition of the two sick passengers, no permission has been given to evacuate them to shore.
"Disembarkation and medical screening of all passengers require coordination with local health authorities and we are in close consultation with them," said the operator.
The WHO said it was "acting with urgency to support the response to the hantavirus event on board a cruise vessel in the Atlantic, following the tragic loss of life".
"WHO Europe is working with the countries involved to support medical care, evacuation, investigations and public health risk assessment."
Hantavirus, an illness usually transmitted to humans from rodents, has been confirmed in the passenger currently in intensive care in Johannesburg, the operator said.
However, it has not yet been established whether the virus caused the three deaths, said Oceanwide Expeditions.
There has also been no confirmation of hantavirus in the two symptomatic passengers still requiring attention on the ship.
"The exact cause and any possible connection are under investigation," said the ship's operator.
On Sunday, the WHO said one case of hantavirus had been confirmed and that there were "five additional suspected cases."
"While rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response," the United Nations health agency said.
Cruise ship operator says Dutch to repatriate two ill passengers The Hague (AFP) – Dutch authorities will attempt to repatriate two sick people from a cruise ship battling a suspected outbreak of hantavirus that has already claimed three lives, the vessel's operator said Monday.
Issued on: 04/05/2026 - FRANCE24
In its first statement on the crisis, Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed it was dealing with "a serious medical situation" on board the MV Hondius, travelling from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde.
The operator confirmed the three deaths, two on board and one after disembarking the ship. One passenger is in intensive care in Johannesburg and two others "require urgent medical care," the statement said.
"Dutch authorities have agreed to lead a joint effort to organise the repatriation of the two symptomatic individuals on board MV Hondius from Cape Verde to the Netherlands," the operator said.
Such a repatriation would depend on several factors, including authorisation from local officials in Cape Verde, said Oceanwide Expeditions.
In a statement sent to AFP, the Dutch foreign ministry said it was "busy looking at the possibilities to medically evacuate a few people from the ship."
"If this can take place, the ministry of foreign affairs will coordinate it," said a spokesperson.
The ship is currently located off the coast of Cape Verde. While local doctors have visited to assess the medical condition of the two sick passengers, no permission has been given to evacuate them to shore.
"Disembarkation and medical screening of all passengers require coordination with local health authorities and we are in close consultation with them," said the operator.
Hantavirus, an illness usually transmitted to humans from rodents, has been confirmed in the passenger currently in intensive care in Johannesburg, the operator said.
However, it has not yet been established whether the virus caused the three deaths, said Oceanwide Expeditions.
There has also been no confirmation of hantavirus in the two symptomatic passengers still requiring attention on the ship.
"The exact cause and any possible connection are under investigation," said the ship's operator.
On Sunday, the World Health Organization said one case of hantavirus had been confirmed and that there were "five additional suspected cases."
"While rare, hantavirus may spread between people, and can lead to severe respiratory illness and requires careful patient monitoring, support and response," said the WHO.
Hantavirus: spread by rodents, potentially fatal, with no specific cure
Geneva (AFP) – Hantavirus, the disease which has caused a deadly outbreak on a cruise ship in the southern Atlantic, circulates in rodents and can be deadly when transmitted to humans.
Dutch cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed Monday it was dealing with "a serious medical situation" on board the MV Hondius, travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde.
Hantaviruses are among the pathogens that can cause respiratory and cardiac distress, as well as haemorrhagic fevers.
There are no vaccines or specific medications to combat hantaviruses, meaning treatment consists solely of attempting to relieve the symptoms.
The virus
There are many types of hantavirus, which vary in their geographical spread and their pathologies, according to Switzerland's FOPH health ministry.
"Human-to-human transmission has only been observed with one single virus type, which is extremely rare," it says.
Hantaviruses are found on every continent.
The virus is named after the Hantan River in South Korea, where more than 3,000 troops fell seriously ill after becoming infected with it during the 1950-1953 Korean War, the FOPH says.
Transmission
Hantaviruses are transmitted to humans through infected wild rodents, such as mice or rats, which shed the virus in their saliva, urine, and droppings.
A bite, contact with these rodents or their droppings, or breathing in contaminated dust can cause infection.
The French National Public Health Agency says human infection generally occurs through the inhalation of dust and aerosols contaminated by the excretions of infected animals.
This is typically "during activities in forests, or in long uninhabited buildings near forests, as well as during activities in rural areas where fields and farms offer a favourable environment for reservoir rodents", it says.
The only way to minimise the risk of infection is to avoid contact with rodents and their secretions and excretions.
The World Health Organization's Europe director Hans Kluge said hantavirus infections are "uncommon" and "it is not easily transmitted between people".
"The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions," he said Monday.
Diagnosis
Suspected cases can be confirmed through various laboratory tests, according to the WHO, including through "the presence of hantavirus-specific IgM antibodies". Onset
The two most common illnesses caused by infection are haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), caused by hantaviruses found mostly in Europe and Asia; and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), caused by viruses found in the Americas.
The hantavirus types in the Americas can also cause pulmonary oedema or acute respiratory failure.
Different health authorities give varying time periods before symptoms start to manifest.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HPS symptoms usually start to show one to eight weeks after contact.
HFRS symptoms usually develop within one to two weeks after exposure, and in rare cases, up to eight weeks, says the CDC.
Symptoms
Though most cases of hantavirus infection pass unnoticed, according to Switzerland's FOPH, hantaviruses can cause infections of varying severity in humans -- sometimes fatal.
The first clinical symptoms generally present like flu: fever, headache, and muscle aches.
The CDC says four to 10 days after initial HPS illness, late symptoms appear, which include coughing and shortness of breath. "Patients might experience tightness in the chest, as the lungs fill with fluid," it says.
The types of hantavirus prevalent in Europe and Asia can cause kidney dysfunction and even acute kidney failure.
Fatality rate
The Public Health Agency of Canada says around 200 HPS cases occur each year, primarily in North and South America, putting the average case fatality rate at 40 percent.
It adds that between 150,000 and 200,000 HFRS cases occur each year worldwide, most of which are in China, where the average case fatality rate is from one to 12 percent.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said a Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) airstrike that killed at least seven people and injured dozens more during a funeral on March 27 in the Nuba Mountains.
The region near the South Sudan border was far from the front lines when Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023, but that has gradually changed since 2025, after the SPLM-N elected to join forces with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against the SAF. The SPLM-N controls most of South Kordofan State, which encompasses the mountains.
Led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, the RSF uses the mountains as a strategic base from which it launches attacks. The RSF holds much of Sudan’s west, and the SAF occupies the capital city of Khartoum and the nation’s east. Although the SAF still controls some towns in the mountains, access to the rugged hills gives the RSF a staging ground for its push to reclaim Khartoum. Analysts say the RSF’s presence around Nuba-area hospitals and markets has turned these bustling areas into potential war targets.
However, Jalale Getachew Birru, a senior analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project, is among the observers who are skeptical of how long the RSF and SPLM-N can remain allied. When the RSF and SPLM-N lost control of Kadugli, near the mountains’ northern edge, to the SAF in February, the groups blamed each other for the loss.
“There was a clash where we were keeping an eye to see whether it was a sign for this alliance to finally break, and for them to go separate ways,” Birru said in an April report by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Many Nuba region locals recall brutal attacks by the RSF against displacement camps. They are fearful about the new alliance.
Ethnic tensions among urban Arabs and the Nuba people, and distrust of Khartoum’s government, have fueled longstanding conflict in the mountains, with major escalations in 2011 and after the civil war began in 2023. Renewed regional conflict has taken a severe toll on civilians.
Afra Al Neil Hamed was four months pregnant and had gone to fetch water when a drone struck her home in the South Kordofan town of Ed Dubeibat in November 2025. She heard the explosion and hurried back home but found her husband and teenage son dead. Hamed and her five other children spent a week hiding in the woods before fleeing the town with hundreds of others.
“I started bleeding on the road and walked for seven days,” Hamed, who suffered a miscarriage, told the United Kingdom’s Prospect magazine. “Many women were bleeding on the journey.”
The RSF and SAF each have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians. The war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced about 11 million, creating the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises, according to the United Nations.
Fighting in the Nuba Mountains also threatens to further destabilize South Sudan, where intensified fighting between opposition groups and government forces in areas bordering the mountains threatens the country’s fragile 2018 ceasefire. Heightened tensions in porous, conflict border areas in Upper Nile and Unity states, and the contested Abyei Administrative Area, drove an influx of Sudanese refugees into South Sudan, fueling an already-dire humanitarian crisis.
In February, the U.N.’s World Food Programme suspended aid delivery to Upper Nile State after repeated attacks on a convoy carrying humanitarian assistance. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned regarding the impact of the escalating violence” in South Sudan, adding that it “will further harm civilian populations who are already in a vulnerable situation.”
Russia and Iran are fueling the Sudanese conflict with shipments of arms and other goods. They supply the SAF with guns, drones, fuel and parts for fighter jets. Saudi Arabia and Türkiye have supplied drones and other weapons to the SAF, as they seek easy access to the Red Sea.
Eager to project their influence across East Africa and the Red Sea region, the United Arab Emirates has been accused of supplying RSF with weapons and has recruited Colombian mercenaries to fight alongside the paramilitary group. The UAE denies these charges.
The involvement of foreign actors “doesn’t just prolong the violence, but it also makes it very complicated for a political settlement to come in,”
Emadeddin Badi, a senior fellow at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, told Prospect.
Sudan's medicine crisis worsens
Issued on: 02/05/2026 -
The latest war in the Middle East is having wide-ranging consequences that extend well beyond the region, including in countries already devastated by their own conflicts. Sudan has been among the hardest hit. Aid organisations report that the Iran conflict has disrupted key shipping routes, severely affecting their ability to deliver food and medicine to millions of people in need around the world. Emily Boyle reports.
Malian authorities say some military officers collaborated with jihadist and separatist fighters who carried out coordinated attacks across the country earlier in the week. A statement from the prosecutor’s office confirmed that the first arrests have been made and that efforts are continuing to track down other suspects involved. Meanwhile, separatist fighters from the Azawad Liberation Front claim they have captured a strategic military camp in the town of Tessalit after the Malian army and its Russian allies withdrew. Consulting fellow of the Africa Programma at Chatham House, Paul Melly, shares further insights.
Mali in crisis: Jihadist fighters and Tuareg separatists threaten Bamako
Issued on: 02/05/2026 - FRANCE24 12:01 min From the show
As Mali’s military struggles to maintain control amid a growing jihadist insurgency, a number of its own soldiers have been arrested, accused of collaborating with Al-Qaeda-linked militants in coordinating widespread attacks. Islamist group JNIM, alongside separatist rebels, has reportedly seized two northern cities, killed the defence minister, and is now attempting to impose a blockade on the capital, Bamako. We take a closer look at what’s happening on the ground, the escalating security crisis, and the role of Russian mercenaries in supporting the government. France 24’s Gavin Lee is joined by Beverley Ochieng, a specialist in West Africa and political risk analyst at Control Risks, to discuss.
Produced by Gavin Lee, Andrew Hilliar, Maya Yataghene and Guillaume Gougeon
OUR GUEST
Beverly Ochieng
Senior analyst for Francophone Africa at Control Risks
Many Cubans who lived through the Special Period of the 1990s, when Soviet support collapsed, say the current crisis is even worse. Cuba is facing a deep economic and energy emergency, with daily life becoming increasingly difficult across the island. Because Cuba imports up to 80% of the food it consumes, essential goods are becoming harder and harder to find. Gabrielle Nadler reports.
François Picard is pleased to welcome Merijn Tinga, a biologist, artist and activist affectionately known as the Plastic Soup Surfer. He joins us, not only as a scientist or activist, but as someone who spends hours a day on the water, experiencing directly the forces we so often abstract away. From the surfboard, everything becomes clear: "You become one with the wind, with the waves… you have one focus." And yet back on land, "you're immersed by this throwaway culture".
His journey from Oslo to London, Paris, Nice, and now towards Rome, is a way to carry a simple, yet powerful and universal message across borders: effective solutions already exist. The deposit return scheme is one of them. It is practical, proven and capable of reducing pollution significantly. Beyond systems, this is mainly about awareness.
For our guest, plastic pollution is no longer an external issue, it is literally within us, in our bodies, our brains, even in unborn children. This demands not only technological responses, but a shift in how we see our relationship with nature. We are not separate from it. We are part of it. This is about balance and being in harmony with nature, the environment and all of our surroundings.
Imprisoned Iranian Nobel laureate Mohammadi rushed to hospital following cardiac 'crisis'
Iran’s imprisoned Nobel peace prize winner Narges Mohammadi has been transferred to hospital to receive urgent care after experiencing a “catastrophic deterioration” of her health, a foundation run by her family said on Saturday. Mohammadi was moved on Friday after suffering a heart attack and experiencing two episodes of “complete” unconsciousness, it said.
Detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has been hospitalised in Iran, her supporters said, “following a catastrophic deterioration of her health”.
Mohammadi, who won the peace prize in 2023 in recognition of more than two decades of rights campaigning, was arrested in December in Iran’s eastern city of Mashhad after speaking out against the country’s clerical authorities at a funeral ceremony.
Her supporters had been issuing warnings for months about her health, saying in late March that she had suffered a suspected heart attack but received inadequate medical treatment.
In a statement posted by her foundation on Friday, they said she was “urgently transferred to a hospital in Zanjan today” after a rapid deterioration, “including two episodes of complete loss of consciousness and a severe cardiac crisis”.
The statement said her family described the move as a “last-minute action” that could prove too late.
In Oslo the Norwegian Nobel Committee urged the Iranian authorities “to immediately transfer Narges Mohammadi to her dedicated medical team in Tehran”.
“Without such treatment, her life remains at risk,” committee chair Jorgen Watne Frydnes said. “Her life is now in the hands of the Iranian authorities.”
In a social media post, her lawyer Mostafa Nili said Mohammadi initially refused to be transferred to hospital after fainting the first time from a sudden drop in blood pressure, because of previous warnings from medics that Zanjan hospital was not capable of treating her.
But, following a second collapse and a further deterioration, she was moved to the facility.
“According to the neurologist, despite her serious cardiac issues, addressing her neurological state is currently the clinical priority,” Nili said.
Over the past quarter of a century, Mohammadi, 53, has been repeatedly tried and jailed for her campaigning against Iran’s use of capital punishment and its mandatory dress code for women.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
ANALYSIS
'We cannot give up': Hong Kong journalists navigate fear, surveillance and shrinking space
Hong Kong’s government on Friday slammed foreign media and press freedom groups, rejecting claims of a crackdown on press freedom as “slander” after jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai was awarded a free speech prize in Germany. Press freedom in the city has sharply declined since a 2020 National Security Law clamped down on dissent. Journalists face visa denials, surveillance, self-censorship and legal threats, while independent outlets struggle to survive.
In a defiant statement slamming foreign media on Friday, Hong Kong accused an “anti-China organisation” of attempts to “sugarcoat” the “criminal acts” of imprisoned media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was awarded Thursday a Freedom of Speech Prize by Germany’s Deutsche Welle.
In the same statement, authorities dismissed Reporters Without Borders’ latest Press Freedom Index as biased, saying it was being used to “smear” Hong Kong. The index now ranks the city 140th globally, down from 18th when it was first published in 2002.
Once widely seen as a beacon of free expression in Asia, Hong Kong has increasingly become a place where journalism itself can carry legal risk.
And that reality is no longer limited to local reporters.
Earlier this week, RSF revealed that a French journalist had been denied entry to Hong Kong, detained at the airport and deported back to Paris – the first publicly documented case of its kind involving a foreign correspondent. Detained and deported
For Antoine Védeilhé, a former FRANCE 24China correspondent now working on a documentary for France Télévisions, the case marked a turning point.
He has reported across Asia for nearly a decade and covered Hong Kong extensively since 2016, including the 2019 pro-democracy protests. Until recently, he says entering the city had never been a problem.
That changed in November 2025.
“At passport control, they stopped me immediately,” he said. “They took me into an immigration room, kept me there for three hours, interrogated me, searched all my belongings, and carried out a full body search.”
He was then escorted directly to a flight back to Paris.
“They gave no explanation and no documents. Nothing,” he said. “Only that it was for immigration reasons.”
Later, through sources in Hong Kong’s immigration department, he was told he had been flagged as a “foreign agent” – a label commonly used in cases linked to national security concerns.
The following day, his employer received an anonymous email warning against broadcasting his documentary, “Hong Kong ne répond plus” (Hong Kong Is No Longer Answering), which examines the city’s political transformation under Beijing’s tightening control.
“It was clearly meant to intimidate us,” Védeilhé said. “They were suggesting that even in France, the National Security Law could apply.”
His cameraman, who was allowed entry, was followed by plainclothes officers from the moment he arrived at his hotel.
“They didn’t try to hide it,” he said. “It was exactly like mainland China.”
Fearing for the safety of sources, the team cancelled all planned interviews.
“This is how reporting stops,” he said. “People won’t meet you if it puts them at risk.” Visa weaponisation
“What Antoine was subjected to was unprecedented, even among foreign correspondents,” said Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager for Asia-Pacific at RSF.
While at least 13 journalists have been denied visas, refused renewals or barred from entering Hong Kong in recent years, she says this case marks an escalation.
“This is really an intensification because it is the first time we see this scale of transnational repression reaching foreign journalists in Europe,” she said.
Bielakowska said the evidence strongly suggests the operation was coordinated by national security police.
“They had a file on him, with his photo, identifying him as an agent. They knew his sources, they knew who he was working with, and his contacts were also harassed,” she said.
She added that Hong Kong is increasingly adopting the same pressure tactics long used by Beijing against foreign media – visa refusals, surveillance and intimidation.
“China has used visa weaponisation for years,” she said. “But what is happening now in Hong Kong is different because it is no longer just about refusing access. It is about creating fear everywhere.”
She says the message to journalists is clear: reporting critically on Hong Kong can carry consequences even outside the city. ‘Criminalisation of journalism itself’
Hong Kong’s press freedom crisis accelerated after Beijing imposed the sweeping National Security Law in June 2020, following the mass pro-democracy protests of 2019.
For many journalists, the decisive moment came two months later, when police raided Apple Daily and arrested its founder Jimmy Lai.
“That was the message,” Bielakowska said. “If you keep reporting, you will face the same charges.”
Since then, independent media outlets including Apple Daily, Stand News and Citizen News have shut down, while dozens of journalists have been arrested, prosecuted or forced into exile.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong courts handed Lai what was described as the harshest sentence – 20 years – ever imposed on a journalist under national security charges –effectively condemning the 78-year-old publisher, imprisoned since 2020, to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Lai was awarded Deutsche Welle’s Freedom of Speech Award in absentia on Thursday.
For Bielakowska, the trend is unmistakable.
“Press freedom in Hong Kong is facing systemic collapse,” she said. “This is the criminalisation of journalism itself.” Invisible red lines
For the journalists who remain, the challenge is often less direct censorship than navigating an invisible red line – the unclear boundaries of what authorities will tolerate.
“There are red lines that cannot be crossed,” Bielakowska said. “But no one tells you exactly where they are.”
Unlike mainland China, where independent journalism has largely been pushed underground, Hong Kong still has a small number of independent outlets trying to survive.
But they work in constant uncertainty.
Mak Yin-ting, an RFI correspondent and former head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, says authorities rarely need to ban stories outright.
Instead, ambiguity itself becomes the tool.
“If they don’t like what you’re writing, they can accuse you of sedition,” she said.
Under Article 23, Hong Kong’s domestic national security legislation, sedition charges can carry up to 10 years in prison for publishing false or misleading statements – wording journalists say remains dangerously vague.
“It’s basically up to interpretation,” Mak said. “They are importing the same methods of censorship used in mainland China.”
Self-censorship has become routine.
Many outlets now avoid politically sensitive commentary altogether. Some no longer seek outside analysis on controversial issues, while others simply reproduce government statements word for word without presenting the original facts being disputed.
“That is already part of self-censorship,” Mak said. “You write (only) the government’s statements, but not what actually happened.”
Even accessing basic information has become harder.
“Government data is becoming very hard to find,” she said. “They are basically deleting everything that might be sensitive.”
Public databases and official reports that were once available online for more than a decade are now removed after one or two years, making investigative reporting significantly harder.
Private archives are also disappearing, with some major outlets deleting years of previous reporting.
“It’s not only about fear of arrest,” Bielakowska added. “Even gathering information becomes harder because sources themselves are afraid to speak.”
Many officials, academics and civil servants no longer agree to interviews, even on conditions of anonymity.
“The authorities have created such an atmosphere of fear that many first-hand sources simply don’t want to go on record anymore,” she said. ‘They can be next’
Despite the pressure, some journalists continue reporting – fully aware of the risks.
“They know that at any time, they can be next,” said Bielakowska.
To protect junior reporters and freelancers, some editors choose to sign all articles under their own names.
“The editor-in-chief becomes the face of the media,” Bielakowska said. “If arrests happen, it becomes the sacrifice of one person rather than the whole newsroom.”
She points to the Hong Kong Journalists Association – one of the few remaining independent press organisations still operating in the city – as proof that resistance remains.
“It’s not only courage, but commitment to press freedom,” she said.
Veteran journalists who remember a freer Hong Kong continue to hold the line.
“It was top of the top,” Bielakowska said of Hong Kong’s press corps in the early 2000s. “Some of the best investigative journalists in the world were there.”
“They remember what Hong Kong was. That is why they still have the strength to continue.”
For Tom Grundy, founder and editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Free Press, the pressure has become part of daily newsroom life.
“Since the onset of the security law, the city has seen the harassment of journalists, over 60 civil society groups disappear, newsrooms raided and journalists jailed.”
His own outlet has not been spared.
“In short, HKFP has unfortunately suffered harassment, intimidation and bureaucratic scrutiny, and it has escalated over recent years,” he said.
Still, he insists there remains a narrow space for independent journalism. “The space gets tighter and tighter, but it’s not quite mainland China.”
“We can still show up to press conferences and ask tough questions to officials,” he said. “It’s better to be in than out, and we can still maintain accuracy, nuance and understanding by being in the city with Hong Kongers.”
But the limits are increasingly visible.
“Nevertheless, it’s harder to get people to speak from all parts of the political spectrum,” he said. “For features, opinion pieces – these kinds of things – it’s very, very tough.”
For many, simply continuing to publish has become an act of resistance.
“We try to keep calm and carry on and navigate the red lines,” Grundy said. ‘We cannot give up’
For press freedom advocates, the greatest danger is not only repression inside Hong Kong, but the growing sense abroad that the battle has already been lost.
“There is this thinking among policymakers in Europe and the US that Hong Kong is lost – that there is nothing left to do,” Bielakowska said. “That is a mistake.”
She warns that treating the city’s clampdown on freedoms as inevitable only strengthens Beijing’s strategy.
“There should be no normalisation.”
But sustaining that work depends on external support – from visa pathways and legal protection to funding for independent journalism.
Neighbouring countries have become part of this fragile support network. Taiwan, in particular, has emerged as an important refuge for journalists and activists fleeing pressure from Hong Kong and mainland China, offering a place where some have been able to rebuild their work in relative safety.
Bielakowska describes the island, which ranks 28th out of 180 countries, as one of the few remaining spaces in the region where press freedom is still broadly protected. South Korea ranks 47th while Japan ranks 62nd.
Yet she says support remains inconsistent and largely ad hoc. While some individuals have been quietly assisted or allowed to settle, there is still no structured system for supporting exiled media workers.
And even where journalists do find safety abroad, she warns the pressure does not necessarily end. Democracies, she says, must take transnational repression more seriously.
“What happened to Antoine shows this is no longer only a Hong Kong issue,” she said.
For Mak, the fight for press freedom has become a simple question of endurance.
“It is like tug-of-war,” she said. “If one side abandons, you lose everything.”
As long as independent journalists remain – in Hong Kong or in exile – she says silence is not an option.
“We cannot give up.”
Two foreign activists seized from Gaza aid flotilla appear before Israeli court
Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila were brought before an Israeli court Sunday after Israeli troops seized them from a flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. Avila told his lawyers that he had been beaten so badly in Israeli custody that he passed out twice.
They were intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Greece early on Thursday, with Israel saying it had removed some 175 activists – two of whom were taken to Israel for questioning.
Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila appeared before a court in the southern city of Ashkelon on Sunday.
AFP footage showed the two being escorted into the courtroom, with Avila's hands cuffed behind his back and Abu Keshek's feet shackled.
"The court extended their detention by two days," Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the rights group Adalah, told AFP.
Adalah said the state attorney had presented a list of suspected offences committed by the pair, including "assisting the enemy during wartime" and "membership in and providing services to a terrorist organisation".
But Adalah's lawyers challenged the state's jurisdiction, arguing against the "unlawful abduction" of the two activists in international waters.
Its lawyers told the court Avila and Abu Keshek had testified to "severe physical abuse amounting to torture, including being beaten and held in isolation and blindfolded for days at sea".
No formal charges were filed against the two, it said.
"We argued that ... they were part of a humanitarian mission that aimed to provide humanitarian aid to the civilians in Gaza, and not to any other organisation, whether terrorist or not," lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih told journalists after the hearing.
"We deny all the accusations that were presented ... and demand these two men be released immediately," she said.
Spain's government called for Abu Keshek's "immediate release", the foreign ministry said in a statement to AFP, indicating the Spanish consul had accompanied Abu Keshek to the hearing.
Adalah's lawyers had met the two men at Ashkelon's Shikma Prison on Saturday.
They said Avila recounted being "subjected to extreme brutality" by Israeli forces when the vessels were seized, saying he was "dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely that he passed out twice".
Abu Keshek was also "hand-tied and blindfolded ... and forced to lie face-down on the floor from the moment of his seizure" until reaching Israel, it said.
Rebuilding Gaza Strip: Labour Day is the last thing on Palestinians' minds
Israel's foreign ministry said the pair were affiliated with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) – a group accused by Washington of "clandestinely acting on behalf of" Palestinian militant group Hamas.
It said Abu Keshek was a leading PCPA member, and that Avila was also linked to the group and "suspected of illegal activity".
The Global Sumud Flotilla's first Mediterranean voyage to Gaza last year drew worldwide attention, before being intercepted by Israeli forces off the coasts of Egypt and Gaza.
Avila was one of the organisers of that flotilla, which was also intercepted by Israeli forces, with crew members – including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg – arrested and expelled.
Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Throughout the Gaza war, there have been shortages of critical supplies in the Palestinian territory, with Israel at times cutting off aid entirely.
I'm pleased to announce my new book: The Joy of Revolution and Related Texts, published by PM Press.
“It may seem absurd to talk about revolution. But all the alternatives assume the continuation of the present system, which is even more absurd.”
Well known for his translations of works by Guy Debord and the Situationist International, Ken Knabb is himself the author of many radical texts. The Joy of Revolution has been translated into seven other languages and is widely considered his most significant work. While there have been countless histories of past revolutions and countless examinations of the many flaws of the present society and of the many methods proposed for reforming them, it would be difficult to name a single book that more clearly and concisely explores the problems and possibilities of a modern, situationist-type revolution.
Following a brief overview of the absurdities of the present social system and the failures of past efforts to change it fundamentally, The Joy of Revolution examines the pros and cons of a wide range of radical tactics, first in the context of “normal” or “ordinary” conditions, then in the very different context of radical situations—those rare breakthroughs where masses of people start to call everything into question and real change becomes possible. It then concludes with some speculations on how a postrevolutionary global network of diverse liberated communities might work, and where we might go from there.
For this new edition, Ken has added some notes and updates to his original work and appended a number of his more recent texts—detourned comics; book reviews; a refutation of anarcho-primitivism; reports on two remarkable radical movements in France; a series of texts and talks on the Occupy movement (in which Ken was an enthusiastic participant); observations on the coronavirus shutdown; and analyses of the increasingly vicious and delirious Trump regime and the new forms of popular resistance it has inspired.
Print or ebook versions can be ordered direct from the publisher: PM Press.
