activistpost--2020-03-02--China’s New Silk Road: Abuses Abound

China’s New Silk Road: Abuses Abound

The New Silk Road is a vast undertaking which demonstrates the power and global vision of China and President Xi Jinping .
It is a gigantic infrastructure project that Beijing says will benefit all the countries involved and has been forging ahead at a rapid pace .
A team of reporters traveled by sea and land along the New Silk Road to learn how China , with the largest investment program in history , is expanding its influence worldwide as hundreds of billions of dollars flow into new infrastructure in 65 countries .
“ The New Silk Road , Part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ DW Documentary ” explains that the old Silk Road which operated for about 1,000 years until the 14th century was legendary .
After Marco Polo extolled the wealth of the Indies , Christopher Columbus sailed west to find a short route to the east .
The New Silk Road is a mammoth project intended to connect Asia , Africa , and Europe .
It will link 65 nations through a network of roads , railways , ports , and airports .
This two-part documentary first journeys the new Maritime Silk Road and shows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are creating for other countries .
Because China is an economic powerhouse that wields enormous financial clout , it is hard for poorer countries to protect themselves .
So , China ’ s self-interest and geopolitical ambitions are running roughshod over one country after another .
The video concludes that China wants the free exchange of goods and capital for its own benefit , but not the exchange of cultures or ideas .
China is being a bully in confiscating lands for its own benefit at the expense of one country after another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visited bodes poorly for what is happening along the rest of China ’ s New Silk Road .
The documentary asks : “ Is the New Silk Road part of a plan for conquest ?
” and concludes that China is building an empire .
This report contradicts what President Xi says about the Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI ) aka “ New Silk Road ” .
He calls it a “ win-win ” operation that benefits all countries involved .
President Xi has promoted the BRI as a collaborative endeavor that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different now .
In the TEDx Talk “ Rise of China : A Return to the Natural Order of Things ” , Malcolm Turnbull says that the big geo-political story today is the rise of Asia – particularly China .
Turnbull , Australia ’ s 29th Prime Minister , is the author of A Bigger Picture .
Turnbull points out that the world has never seen so much economic growth occur so quickly .
There ’ s a gigantic shift in the center of gravity of the world ’ s economy .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ utterly unprecedented .
There has never been a country as big as China that has grown so fast .
However , this is a return to the natural order of things because for most of the last 2,000 years , China and India were the two largest economies in the world until the middle of the 19th century when they became subject to colonization , conquest , and extraordinary violence .
They went through 150 years of abuse which China calls a “ Century of Humiliation ” .
The rise of China and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both history and population say they should be .
Turnbull points out that many Americans are struggling now to come to grips with the rise of China which presents a unique challenge to the United States .
Americans are not coping well with the reality that China is catching up fast .
There is an anxiety in the US now because Americans have long had a very deep sense of their own exceptionalism .
Since birth , Americans have been assured that they would always be the most powerful , richest , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US is no longer the sole , unchallenged superpower now .
In addition , our economy is shrinking .
When 42,000 factories closed in the US from 2001-2010 , 5.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost .
In That Used To Be Us , New York Times columnist Tom Friedman discusses the growing sense of inadequacy Americans feel as they compare the US to China .
Obama said in 2010 , “ It makes no sense for China to have better rail systems than us and for Singapore having better airports than us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now has the fastest super computer on Earth .
That used to be us.
” Turnbull says there is a growing awareness that the West is falling increasingly and dramatically behind – and has already lost the lead in multiple critical areas .
Yet , from the Chinese perspective , this dramatic shift is just a return to the natural order of things .
So , now there is a balance of power that is not just between the US and Russia , but between the West and the BRICS nations ( Brazil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and South Africa ) which China is leading .
Turnbull says that the West should not be resentful about being overtaken by other countries .
Instead , we should ask why we aren ’ t doing better .
Turnbull says that , unlike Russia and the US , China does not want to export its ideology or political system .
However , the Belt and Road Initiative calls that into question !
The New Silk Road has made promises of prosperity and growth to many nations .
However , China ’ s ambitions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moving forward also pose risks that doubts will be ignored , traditions will be cast aside , cultures destroyed , people displaced , and that many will be left behind .
1 .
Sihanoukville , Cambodia : It has become popular with Chinese looking for a beach vacation .
However , some locals feel the Chinese behave badly and have taken over their city in just one year .
Chinese construction projects are transforming the city .
Old Sihanoukville has practically vanished .
The workers , materials , and projects are all imported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and locals are being crowded out .
Chinese are building hotels and the soaring rents are beyond the reach of locals .
A former restaurant owner warns that soon there will be only Chinese restaurants for Chinese customers .
The Cambodians feel they don ’ t stand a chance .
Sihanoukville used to be a sleepy place , but that has all changed – especially at night .
There are now drugs and violence on the street .
There is a lot gambling and drinking now .
Gambling is illegal for Cambodians and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China .
So , about 80 casinos have sprung up in Sihanoukville .
The Cambodians charge that the Chinese don ’ t integrate into local cultures now – as they did in the 18th and 19th A joke is making the rounds that you can now travel to China without a passport and without leaving your own country .
Sihanoukville is now almost part of China !
The Chinese have financed almost everything built recently : the extension of the port , new roads , bridges , and factories .
Many Cambodians are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boom .
Rising prices and rents are making the poor poorer .
However , it ’ s a bonanza for land and home owners .
2 .
Kashgar , China : This is a city in the Uighur region of China where most people are Muslims who are distrusted by Beijing .
It is a city where mass surveillance is the norm now .
China has shut down mosques .
The old city is being demolished .
For Uighur culture , it is a terrible loss .
A sixth-generation potter who worked in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan to demolish all the old buildings in the name of “ progress ” .
However , he told the Chinese that he can ’ t make his pottery in a modern building .
The old Uighur city is being torn down to make way for a new Chinese one .
Up to one million Uighurs are reportedly being held in “ Re-education Camps ” .
3 .
Bagan , Myanmar : In Myanmar , resistance is already growing .
Locals in Kachin have blocked a new dam project , asking how the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country while leaving locals without electricity and flooding them out of their homes .
When the Myanmar government stopped the Chinese dam project , it did not get beyond the first concrete piers in the river .
However , the locals have not been allowed back into their homes and fear that the Chinese will not stop until they get their dam .
4 .
Hambantota , Sri Lanka : The video interviews a farmer who was forced off his land to make way for a harbor .
He says the land he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his old farm .
His life and that of many others who used to live in Hambantota has been turned upside down .
A harbor expansion project swallowed their farms .
Their protests were of no avail and the promises to compensate them came to nothing .
When their lands were taken , they were told they would get jobs in the port , but only Chinese were hired .
The Chinese are in control now.The former president of Sri Lanka promoted deals with China .
Massive infrastructure projects have been built that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ – including a huge modern airport where there are no flights , an unused convention center , highways that have almost no vehicles , and a hospital with no doctors or patients – all built by Chinese and paid for by loans from China on which Sri Lanka must pay 12 % interest .
The situation is a theater of the absurd .
The debt is a millstone around Sri Lanka ’ s neck .
It is looking for foreign investors , but no one is interested .
5 .
Pakistan : In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 10 years building a highway that is barely used .
Yet , the road has come at a very high price because Pakistan is deeply in debt to China .
The video shows that China is throwing its weight around all along the New Silk Road , enriching itself in multiple ways at the expense of the people in one country after another .
Many people feel powerless and victimized by the Chinese takeover and power grab – often in collusion with their own corrupt governments that are given bribes to facilitate the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China promotes the New Silk Road as a means to enhance commerce , collaboration , and the exchange of goods in win-win situations , the reality is that it looks like an imposition of a Chinese empire – replete with abusive attitudes and contempt for others ’ rights and cultures .
• Kyrgyzstan : To improve infrastructure , the country has gone deeply into debt to China .
However , the people interviewed say they haven ’ t seen any good come of the investments .
In 2018 , after weeks of violent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crowd of about 1,000 people burned the building to the ground .
The old Soviet-era mine was believed to contain 40 tons of gold .
The Chinese wanted to take it over , but the locals said it was their land .
• Belgrade , Serbia : The Chinese are building an unnecessarily expensive high-speed railroad between Belgrade and Budapest , Hungary as China ’ s gateway to the heart of Europe .
Chinese banks are making the loans and Chinese companies are doing the building .
Although the Chinese repeat that this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the benefits are on the Chinese side and all the risks are on the Hungarian side .
So , China wins twice .
• Marseilles , France : The video interviews a man who works in a clothing shop who says nothing is made in France anymore .
Everything is made in China – from big companies to the luxury labels .
• Bordeaux , France : The video visits a Chinese wine maker from Hong Kong who owns the vineyard .
His family has been buying vineyards in southwestern France for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 14 hectares of vines .
Since 2015 , his family has bought almost one vineyard a year .
China is a key importer of sweet , white wines .
The Chinese market is the driving force behind the soaring prices for wines .
When people at a market were interviewed , one man said it is terrible that the Chinese are everywhere – in the French chateaux and wines .
• Duisburg , Germany : Duisburg is the home of Europe ’ s largest inland port .
Thanks to China , it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
China is acquiring stakes in Germany companies .
The harbor ’ s CEO sees opportunities and risks .
He feels that it is not right that German companies can not acquire more than a 50 % right in Chinese companies while the Chinese can purchase 100 % of European companies .
He ’ s worried and feels that , in the end , it ’ s a political question .
“ Made in China ” is starting to take on a whole new meaning with the New Silk Road – a concept @ @ @ @ @ @ @ domination of the rest of the world that didn ’ t see this threat coming in time to stop it .
Now , there seems to be no turning back .
The West will have to learn to cope with this new bully on the block .
China ’ s plan seems to be to own and control almost everything and everyone – and to profit massively from that experience .
So , its power will continue to grow exponentially and rapidly .
“ The Belt & Road Initiative Is a Trillion-Dollar Blunder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ five-person panel on which three panelists answered “ No ” and two panelists answered “ Yes ” to the proposition “ The Belt and Road Initiative is a Trillion-Dollar Blunder ” .
NO : Panelists on the “ No ” side said that China ’ s Belt and Road Initiative ( aka The New Silk Road ) is marketing genius and a way for the Chinese to develop political leverage around the world .
BRI meetings attract about as many heads of states as the UN General Assembly and they are all there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ checks .
They want to align economically with the Chinese .
The main reasons China is undertaking this initiative are not economic , but strategic and political .
The BRI gives China access to minerals and markets as well as political influence to gain support for its positions .
It establishes China as an alternative for countries to rely on for investments .
This is part of the ideological competition .
It is not about economic ROI , but political and strategic ROI .
China is offering win-win solutions .
However , some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or are trying to refinance their loans .
The problem for the US and its allies is that they don ’ t have a counter offer .
YES : Panelists on the “ Yes ” side said China ’ s BRI is based on a false premise because it ignores the fact that building infrastructure does not produce growth , but is the result of growth .
China is building bridges to nowhere .
Since no one is going to be on the high-speed train from Beijing to Moscow , it won ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ savings and tax revenues that allow the government to finance development of infrastructure .
The sea route may be more viable than the land route .
China is failing to provide education for 60 million children in rural areas .
The government has neglected investing in rural areas , public health , and basic education .
Yet , they are spending this largesse on other countries .
The BRI is not sustainable because it is happening at the expense of domestic investment in public health and education .
The panelists who think the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for China are ignoring the oppressive way that China is implementing the BRI in many countries .
China is leaving a trail of bitterness , resentment , and anger as countries feel disenfranchised and cheated out of their lands , homes , and money .
Along the BRI route , China is acting more like an insensitive invading force than a partner .
Those abuses could cause a global backlash against China .
Rise of China : Three Things To Know Kerry Brown , author of The World According to Xi : Everything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China , authored several other books including CEO China : The Rise of Xi Jinping , and China ’ s World : What Does China Want ?
.
He is Professor of Chinese Studies at King ’ s College London .
Brown says China is now the most powerful country on Earth .
Its manufacturing underpins the world ’ s economy , its military is growing at the fastest rate of any nation , and its president – Xi Jinping – will set the pace and tone of world affairs for decades .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Chinese Constitution – an honor not seen since Chairman Mao Zedong , founder of the People ’ s Republic of China in 1949 .
In the TED Talk “ China ’ s rise : The three key things everyone needs to know ” , Brown points out that we know China matters because the US is having a trade war with China .
It is the world ’ s biggest economy , the world ’ s largest exporter , and the world ’ s second largest importer .
Many of the products @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China ” .
From 1949-1976 , there were only 740,000 movements in and out of China .
However , in 2018 , 140 million Chinese tourists traveled the world .
The story of China is the rise of a nation after a tough modern history for the fifth of humanity .
The US and Europe must update their thinking about China now in the following three ways : • Restored Image : A thousand years ago , China invented the three great propellers of modernity : the printing press , the magnetic compass @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because China failed to industrialize , it got left behind during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th China went through what it calls its “ Century of Humiliation ” during the Opium Wars of the 19th century .
So , the West is used to seeing China as weaker and marginal .
However , China has emerged and is now economically and politically powerful – and is on center stage .
• Naval Power : Until the 1980s , China was only a land power .
However , although China is still technologically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world ’ s largest navy .
So , China is now a naval power for the first time in modern history .
• Chinese World View Order : No one really knows what the world will look like as China becomes the dominant power in the world because the world does not know what China ’ s values are now .
China is built on a profoundly different intellectual tradition from that of the West .
We are now at a crossroads in which we must make a choice .
We can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or we can maintain a balance between the two world views .
In 1968 , Richard Nixon warned that the West can not ignore the ideas and aspirations of a fifth of humanity .
For that reason , President Nixon went to China in 1972 to “ open ” China and initiate a dialogue .
The West must now recognize that this is a period of great transformation .
For the first time in modern history , the West must pay close attention to China which thinks in a very different way .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world .
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Op-Ed by Neenah Payne
The New Silk Road is a vast undertaking which demonstrates the power and global vision of China and President Xi Jinping. It is a gigantic infrastructure project that Beijing says will benefit all the countries involved and has been forging ahead at a rapid pace. A team of reporters traveled by sea and land along the New Silk Road to learn how China, with the largest investment program in history, is expanding its influence worldwide as hundreds of billions of dollars flow into new infrastructure in 65 countries.
“The New Silk Road, Part 1: From China to Pakistan | DW Documentary” explains that the old Silk Road which operated for about 1,000 years until the 14th century was legendary. After Marco Polo extolled the wealth of the Indies, Christopher Columbus sailed west to find a short route to the east. The New Silk Road is a mammoth project intended to connect Asia, Africa, and Europe. It will link 65 nations through a network of roads, railways, ports, and airports.
This two-part documentary first journeys the new Maritime Silk Road and shows some of the major problems the Chinese are creating for other countries. Because China is an economic powerhouse that wields enormous financial clout, it is hard for poorer countries to protect themselves. So, China’s self-interest and geopolitical ambitions are running roughshod over one country after another.
The video concludes that China wants the free exchange of goods and capital for its own benefit, but not the exchange of cultures or ideas. China is being a bully in confiscating lands for its own benefit at the expense of one country after another. What is happening in the countries visited bodes poorly for what is happening along the rest of China’s New Silk Road. The documentary asks: “Is the New Silk Road part of a plan for conquest?” and concludes that China is building an empire.

This report contradicts what President Xi says about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aka “New Silk Road”. He calls it a “win-win” operation that benefits all countries involved. President Xi has promoted the BRI as a collaborative endeavor that promotes peace. The reality seems shockingly different now.
Return of the East
In the TEDx Talk “Rise of China: A Return to the Natural Order of Things”, Malcolm Turnbull says that the big geo-political story today is the rise of Asia – particularly China. Turnbull, Australia’s 29th Prime Minister, is the author of A Bigger Picture. Turnbull points out that the world has never seen so much economic growth occur so quickly. There’s a gigantic shift in the center of gravity of the world’s economy. The pace and scale of this shift is utterly unprecedented. There has never been a country as big as China that has grown so fast.

However, this is a return to the natural order of things because for most of the last 2,000 years, China and India were the two largest economies in the world until the middle of the 19th century when they became subject to colonization, conquest, and extraordinary violence. They went through 150 years of abuse which China calls a “Century of Humiliation”. The rise of China and India restores them to the place that both history and population say they should be.
Turnbull points out that many Americans are struggling now to come to grips with the rise of China which presents a unique challenge to the United States. Americans are not coping well with the reality that China is catching up fast. There is an anxiety in the US now because Americans have long had a very deep sense of their own exceptionalism. Since birth, Americans have been assured that they would always be the most powerful, richest, and cleverest nation on Earth. However, the US is no longer the sole, unchallenged superpower now. In addition, our economy is shrinking. When 42,000 factories closed in the US from 2001-2010, 5.5 million manufacturing jobs were lost.
In That Used To Be Us, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman discusses the growing sense of inadequacy Americans feel as they compare the US to China. Obama said in 2010, “It makes no sense for China to have better rail systems than us and for Singapore having better airports than us – and we just learned that China now has the fastest super computer on Earth. That used to be us.” Turnbull says there is a growing awareness that the West is falling increasingly and dramatically behind – and has already lost the lead in multiple critical areas. Yet, from the Chinese perspective, this dramatic shift is just a return to the natural order of things.
So, now there is a balance of power that is not just between the US and Russia, but between the West and the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) which China is leading. Turnbull says that the West should not be resentful about being overtaken by other countries. Instead, we should ask why we aren’t doing better. Turnbull says that, unlike Russia and the US, China does not want to export its ideology or political system. However, the Belt and Road Initiative calls that into question!
Major Complaints on Maritime Silk Road
The New Silk Road has made promises of prosperity and growth to many nations. However, China’s ambitions and the speed at which it is moving forward also pose risks that doubts will be ignored, traditions will be cast aside, cultures destroyed, people displaced, and that many will be left behind.
1. Sihanoukville, Cambodia: It has become popular with Chinese looking for a beach vacation. However, some locals feel the Chinese behave badly and have taken over their city in just one year. Chinese construction projects are transforming the city. Old Sihanoukville has practically vanished. The workers, materials, and projects are all imported from China.The Chinese are there in force and locals are being crowded out. Chinese are building hotels and the soaring rents are beyond the reach of locals. A former restaurant owner warns that soon there will be only Chinese restaurants for Chinese customers. The Cambodians feel they don’t stand a chance. Sihanoukville used to be a sleepy place, but that has all changed – especially at night. There are now drugs and violence on the street. There is a lot gambling and drinking now. Gambling is illegal for Cambodians and also for Chinese – but only in China. So, about 80 casinos have sprung up in Sihanoukville. The Cambodians charge that the Chinese don’t integrate into local cultures now – as they did in the 18th and 19th
A joke is making the rounds that you can now travel to China without a passport and without leaving your own country. Sihanoukville is now almost part of China! The Chinese have financed almost everything built recently: the extension of the port, new roads, bridges, and factories. Many Cambodians are unhappy and feel like losers in the boom. Rising prices and rents are making the poor poorer. However, it’s a bonanza for land and home owners.
2. Kashgar, China: This is a city in the Uighur region of China where most people are Muslims who are distrusted by Beijing. It is a city where mass surveillance is the norm now. China has shut down mosques. The old city is being demolished. For Uighur culture, it is a terrible loss. A sixth-generation potter who worked in a 400-year-old house said that the Chinese plan to demolish all the old buildings in the name of “progress”. However, he told the Chinese that he can’t make his pottery in a modern building. The old Uighur city is being torn down to make way for a new Chinese one. Up to one million Uighurs are reportedly being held in “Re-education Camps”.
3. Bagan, Myanmar: In Myanmar, resistance is already growing. Locals in Kachin have blocked a new dam project, asking how the Chinese could produce energy for their own country while leaving locals without electricity and flooding them out of their homes. When the Myanmar government stopped the Chinese dam project, it did not get beyond the first concrete piers in the river. However, the locals have not been allowed back into their homes and fear that the Chinese will not stop until they get their dam.
4. Hambantota, Sri Lanka: The video interviews a farmer who was forced off his land to make way for a harbor. He says the land he was given is not as good as his old farm. His life and that of many others who used to live in Hambantota has been turned upside down. A harbor expansion project swallowed their farms. Their protests were of no avail and the promises to compensate them came to nothing. When their lands were taken, they were told they would get jobs in the port, but only Chinese were hired. The Chinese are in control now.The former president of Sri Lanka promoted deals with China. Massive infrastructure projects have been built that are barely used or not at all – including a huge modern airport where there are no flights, an unused convention center, highways that have almost no vehicles, and a hospital with no doctors or patients – all built by Chinese and paid for by loans from China on which Sri Lanka must pay 12% interest. The situation is a theater of the absurd. The debt is a millstone around Sri Lanka’s neck. It is looking for foreign investors, but no one is interested.
5. Pakistan: In Islamabad, China and Pakistan have spent 10 years building a highway that is barely used. Yet, the road has come at a very high price because Pakistan is deeply in debt to China.
The video shows that China is throwing its weight around all along the New Silk Road, enriching itself in multiple ways at the expense of the people in one country after another. Many people feel powerless and victimized by the Chinese takeover and power grab – often in collusion with their own corrupt governments that are given bribes to facilitate the growing Chinese domination.
So, while China promotes the New Silk Road as a means to enhance commerce, collaboration, and the exchange of goods in win-win situations, the reality is that it looks like an imposition of a Chinese empire – replete with abusive attitudes and contempt for others’ rights and cultures.
Major Complaints on Land Silk Road
Kyrgyzstan: To improve infrastructure, the country has gone deeply into debt to China. However, the people interviewed say they haven’t seen any good come of the investments. In 2018, after weeks of violent protests over a gold mine, a crowd of about 1,000 people burned the building to the ground. The old Soviet-era mine was believed to contain 40 tons of gold. The Chinese wanted to take it over, but the locals said it was their land. Belgrade, Serbia: The Chinese are building an unnecessarily expensive high-speed railroad between Belgrade and Budapest, Hungary as China’s gateway to the heart of Europe. Chinese banks are making the loans and Chinese companies are doing the building. Although the Chinese repeat that this is a “win-win” situation, all the benefits are on the Chinese side and all the risks are on the Hungarian side. So, China wins twice. Marseilles, France: The video interviews a man who works in a clothing shop who says nothing is made in France anymore. Everything is made in China – from big companies to the luxury labels. Bordeaux, France: The video visits a Chinese wine maker from Hong Kong who owns the vineyard. His family has been buying vineyards in southwestern France for years. Their latest acquisition includes almost 14 hectares of vines. Since 2015, his family has bought almost one vineyard a year. China is a key importer of sweet, white wines. The Chinese market is the driving force behind the soaring prices for wines. When people at a market were interviewed, one man said it is terrible that the Chinese are everywhere – in the French chateaux and wines. Duisburg, Germany: Duisburg is the home of Europe’s largest inland port. Thanks to China, it is becoming Europe’s main logistic hub. China is acquiring stakes in Germany companies. The harbor’s CEO sees opportunities and risks. He feels that it is not right that German companies cannot acquire more than a 50% right in Chinese companies while the Chinese can purchase 100% of European companies. He’s worried and feels that, in the end, it’s a political question.
“Made in China” is starting to take on a whole new meaning with the New Silk Road – a concept made in China that seems to spell domination of the rest of the world that didn’t see this threat coming in time to stop it. Now, there seems to be no turning back. The West will have to learn to cope with this new bully on the block. China’s plan seems to be to own and control almost everything and everyone – and to profit massively from that experience. So, its power will continue to grow exponentially and rapidly.
BRI: Trillion-Dollar Blunder?
“The Belt & Road Initiative Is a Trillion-Dollar Blunder || Debate #2” shows a five-person panel on which three panelists answered “No” and two panelists answered “Yes” to the proposition “The Belt and Road Initiative is a Trillion-Dollar Blunder”.
NO: Panelists on the “No” side said that China’s Belt and Road Initiative (aka The New Silk Road) is marketing genius and a way for the Chinese to develop political leverage around the world. BRI meetings attract about as many heads of states as the UN General Assembly and they are all there because they want Beijing to write more checks. They want to align economically with the Chinese.

The main reasons China is undertaking this initiative are not economic, but strategic and political. The BRI gives China access to minerals and markets as well as political influence to gain support for its positions. It establishes China as an alternative for countries to rely on for investments. This is part of the ideological competition. It is not about economic ROI, but political and strategic ROI. China is offering win-win solutions. However, some countries are backing away from the BRI or are trying to refinance their loans. The problem for the US and its allies is that they don’t have a counter offer.
YES: Panelists on the “Yes” side said China’s BRI is based on a false premise because it ignores the fact that building infrastructure does not produce growth, but is the result of growth. China is building bridges to nowhere. Since no one is going to be on the high-speed train from Beijing to Moscow, it won’t make money. Economic growth provides savings and tax revenues that allow the government to finance development of infrastructure. The sea route may be more viable than the land route.
China is failing to provide education for 60 million children in rural areas. The government has neglected investing in rural areas, public health, and basic education. Yet, they are spending this largesse on other countries. The BRI is not sustainable because it is happening at the expense of domestic investment in public health and education.
The panelists who think the BRI is a political and marketing advantage for China are ignoring the oppressive way that China is implementing the BRI in many countries. China is leaving a trail of bitterness, resentment, and anger as countries feel disenfranchised and cheated out of their lands, homes, and money. Along the BRI route, China is acting more like an insensitive invading force than a partner. Those abuses could cause a global backlash against China.
Rise of China: Three Things To Know
Kerry Brown, author of The World According to Xi: Everything You Need to Know About the New China, authored several other books including CEO China: The Rise of Xi Jinping, and China’s World: What Does China Want?. He is Professor of Chinese Studies at King’s College London.
Brown says China is now the most powerful country on Earth. Its manufacturing underpins the world’s economy, its military is growing at the fastest rate of any nation, and its president – Xi Jinping – will set the pace and tone of world affairs for decades. In 2017, Xi became part of the Chinese Constitution – an honor not seen since Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
In the TED Talk “China’s rise: The three key things everyone needs to know”, Brown points out that we know China matters because the US is having a trade war with China. It is the world’s biggest economy, the world’s largest exporter, and the world’s second largest importer. Many of the products we buy now say “Made in China”. From 1949-1976, there were only 740,000 movements in and out of China. However, in 2018, 140 million Chinese tourists traveled the world. The story of China is the rise of a nation after a tough modern history for the fifth of humanity.
The US and Europe must update their thinking about China now in the following three ways:
Restored Image: A thousand years ago, China invented the three great propellers of modernity: the printing press, the magnetic compass, and gun powder. However, because China failed to industrialize, it got left behind during the Industrial Revolution of the 19th China went through what it calls its “Century of Humiliation” during the Opium Wars of the 19th century. So, the West is used to seeing China as weaker and marginal. However, China has emerged and is now economically and politically powerful – and is on center stage. Naval Power: Until the 1980s, China was only a land power. However, although China is still technologically behind the US, it has built the world’s largest navy. So, China is now a naval power for the first time in modern history. Chinese World View Order: No one really knows what the world will look like as China becomes the dominant power in the world because the world does not know what China’s values are now. China is built on a profoundly different intellectual tradition from that of the West.

We are now at a crossroads in which we must make a choice. We can commit to a Western or Chinese view or we can maintain a balance between the two world views. In 1968, Richard Nixon warned that the West cannot ignore the ideas and aspirations of a fifth of humanity. For that reason, President Nixon went to China in 1972 to “open” China and initiate a dialogue. The West must now recognize that this is a period of great transformation. For the first time in modern history, the West must pay close attention to China which thinks in a very different way. That shift in thinking is already reshaping the world.
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activistpost--2020-03-02--Flashpoints in Southern Syria Seek to Divide/Distract Syrian Gains in Idlib

Turkey and Israel continue their aggression against Syria in an increasingly overt and direct manner – and at the cost of what little if anything remained of either nation ’ s regional or international credibility .
Now there is news of violence erupting in southern Syria in Daraa along the Syrian-Jordanian border in a replay of the initial US-engineered proxy war initiated against Damascus in 2011 and confirms that the US – the common denominator linking Turkish , Israeli , and Jordanian aggression – is still hard at work attempting to perpetuate the Syrian conflict and reverse its flagging fortunes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Syria will likely be augmented by flashpoints elsewhere in a bid to divide and distract Syrian forces from their ongoing operations and successes in northern Idlib .
This helps expose that the ongoing confrontation between Turkey and Syria isn ’ t ultimately being engineered in Ankara or on behalf of Turkish interests – but instead in Washington and on behalf of US interests .
This may explain why Turkey ’ s otherwise dead-end foreign policy has not been altered to reflect the interests of Turkey both immediately or in the intermediate to long-term @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a last-ditch and desperate attempt to win Washington ’ s all-but-lost proxy war against Damascus .
The violence in Syria ’ s south is independent of Turkey ’ s operations in the north – but is clearly being coordinated to aid Turkey ’ s aggression .
Likewise – a renewed propaganda blitz has been organized across the Western media to help enhance the political impact of continued aggression against Damascus .
There are still columns published across the Western media by writers representing organizations funded by Western governments calling for regime change in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this happens .
There are also attempts to use the West ’ s protraction of this conflict and the resulting humanitarian impact to further demonize and pressure the Syrian government .
Turkey – in addition to its continued aggression within Syrian territory – has once again leveraged refugees – releasing them into Europe to fan the flames of public fear in the West .
This is not to gain Western support for Turkey ’ s military operations in Syria – as Turkey ’ s operations are carried out on behalf of the West @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another manufactured and exploited refugee crisis is meant to garner public support from the Western public so that Western governments can more aggressively involve themselves alongside their Turkish , Israeli , and other terrorist proxies .
Ultimately , this is a replay of all the same tricks used since 2011 .
The difference now is US and its proxies hold less territory in Syria – fewer cards politically upon the global stage – and face an entrenched Russia and Iran who have grown adept at countering US-fuelled violence and political ploys within and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggression against Syria is more likely a last-ditch effort to extract concessions before the final and inevitable conclusion of the conflict – with all but total war being capable of overthrowing the Syrian government and removing Russia and Iran from their growing positions of influence within Syrian territory .
Complacency is the biggest enemy .
Until every square inch of Syrian territory is liberated and its borders fully secured – the war will continue and the threat it poses to the Syrian state and its people will endure – however unlikely the nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
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Op-Ed by Tony Cartalucci
Turkey and Israel continue their aggression against Syria in an increasingly overt and direct manner – and at the cost of what little if anything remained of either nation’s regional or international credibility.
Now there is news of violence erupting in southern Syria in Daraa along the Syrian-Jordanian border in a replay of the initial US-engineered proxy war initiated against Damascus in 2011 and confirms that the US – the common denominator linking Turkish, Israeli, and Jordanian aggression – is still hard at work attempting to perpetuate the Syrian conflict and reverse its flagging fortunes amid it.
Dividing Syrian Forces
The violence in southern Syria will likely be augmented by flashpoints elsewhere in a bid to divide and distract Syrian forces from their ongoing operations and successes in northern Idlib.
This helps expose that the ongoing confrontation between Turkey and Syria isn’t ultimately being engineered in Ankara or on behalf of Turkish interests – but instead in Washington and on behalf of US interests.
This may explain why Turkey’s otherwise dead-end foreign policy has not been altered to reflect the interests of Turkey both immediately or in the intermediate to long-term future – and instead appears to be a last-ditch and desperate attempt to win Washington’s all-but-lost proxy war against Damascus.
Renewed Propaganda Blitzkrieg
The violence in Syria’s south is independent of Turkey’s operations in the north – but is clearly being coordinated to aid Turkey’s aggression.
Likewise – a renewed propaganda blitz has been organized across the Western media to help enhance the political impact of continued aggression against Damascus.
There are still columns published across the Western media by writers representing organizations funded by Western governments calling for regime change in Syria and the obstruction of reconstruction until this happens.
There are also attempts to use the West’s protraction of this conflict and the resulting humanitarian impact to further demonize and pressure the Syrian government. Turkey – in addition to its continued aggression within Syrian territory – has once again leveraged refugees – releasing them into Europe to fan the flames of public fear in the West.
This is not to gain Western support for Turkey’s military operations in Syria – as Turkey’s operations are carried out on behalf of the West’s own machinations. Instead – another manufactured and exploited refugee crisis is meant to garner public support from the Western public so that Western governments can more aggressively involve themselves alongside their Turkish, Israeli, and other terrorist proxies.
Futility
Ultimately, this is a replay of all the same tricks used since 2011. The difference now is US and its proxies hold less territory in Syria – fewer cards politically upon the global stage – and face an entrenched Russia and Iran who have grown adept at countering US-fuelled violence and political ploys within and beyond Syria.
This recent renewal of aggression against Syria is more likely a last-ditch effort to extract concessions before the final and inevitable conclusion of the conflict – with all but total war being capable of overthrowing the Syrian government and removing Russia and Iran from their growing positions of influence within Syrian territory.
Complacency is the biggest enemy. Until every square inch of Syrian territory is liberated and its borders fully secured – the war will continue and the threat it poses to the Syrian state and its people will endure – however unlikely the nation’s complete ruination may be.
Article source: Land Destroyer
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activistpost--2020-03-03--Schools Are Spying on Students — But Students Can Fight Back

San Francisco – Schools across the country are increasingly using technology to spy on students at home , at school , and on social media .
Today , the Electronic Frontier Foundation ( EFF ) launched a new Surveillance Self-Defense guide for students and their parents , so they can learn more about how schools are watching them , and how they can fight back .
The surveillance technology currently in use includes software to scan students ’ social media posts , cameras with facial recognition and other scanning capabilities , and microphones to “ detect aggression.
” Schools can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t control : if you have to download a certain kind of security certificate to use the school Internet , they may be monitoring your browser history and messages you send .
“ Some administrators argue that they need to use this technology to keep schools safe , yet there is little evidence that it works , ” said EFF Activism Project Manager Lindsay Oliver .
“ Instead , surveillance can make people second-guess everything they do or say .
When we are constantly spied on , we censor the way @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known as the ‘ chilling effect.
’ Students need space to experiment and learn without being monitored and recorded by their schools at every turn.
” School discipline disproportionately targets students of color , and it ’ s reasonable to think that additional , and more comprehensive scrutiny of their lives will only add to that injustice .
As a criminologist told Vice , LGBTQ+ students , who tend to look for support online as they explore their orientations and gender identities , “ find they ’ re under so much surveillance that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them out of those resources .
They learn not to look .
They learn not to trust online public spaces.
” In the new guide , EFF shows students and concerned parents what kind of technologies to watch for , how they can track you , and what it means for privacy .
For example , some schools are tracking students ’ locations , ostensibly to automate attendance or track school bus ridership .
This monitoring can be conducted through tools ranging from students ’ cell phones to ID cards with tracking chips @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you are off campus .
Location information is extraordinarily sensitive—it can reveal who your friends are and what you do when you see them , as well as what kind of medical appointments you might have or what sort of meetings or groups you attend regularly .
In some cases , student data is reported to school resource officers or the police , and it can be kept over time , creating a granular history of a student ’ s actions .
But what can students and concerned parents do ?
Often , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use the systems that schools have set up , if you ’ re able to , and encourage your friends to do the same .
But the new guide also shows students how to gather information on what ’ s happening and how to talk to adults about it .
“ Being under constant surveillance at home and school teaches kids to accept that people they should trust are spying on them—and that ’ s a lesson that will serve them poorly in later life , ” said EFF Associate Director of Research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for youth say constant surveillance is OK , what happens when a romantic partner wants access to every message on their phone ?
Or an employer wants your social media password ?
Invasive monitoring isn ’ t acceptable , no matter who tries to do it , and personal privacy matters.
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San Francisco – Schools across the country are increasingly using technology to spy on students at home, at school, and on social media. Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched a new Surveillance Self-Defense guide for students and their parents, so they can learn more about how schools are watching them, and how they can fight back.
The surveillance technology currently in use includes software to scan students’ social media posts, cameras with facial recognition and other scanning capabilities, and microphones to “detect aggression.” Schools can even track you on devices that they don’t control: if you have to download a certain kind of security certificate to use the school Internet, they may be monitoring your browser history and messages you send.
“Some administrators argue that they need to use this technology to keep schools safe, yet there is little evidence that it works,” said EFF Activism Project Manager Lindsay Oliver. “Instead, surveillance can make people second-guess everything they do or say. When we are constantly spied on, we censor the way we express ourselves. That’s known as the ‘chilling effect.’ Students need space to experiment and learn without being monitored and recorded by their schools at every turn.”
School discipline disproportionately targets students of color, and it’s reasonable to think that additional, and more comprehensive scrutiny of their lives will only add to that injustice. As a criminologist told Vice, LGBTQ+ students, who tend to look for support online as they explore their orientations and gender identities, “find they’re under so much surveillance that it affects them in ways that shuts them out of those resources. They learn not to look. They learn not to trust online public spaces.”
In the new guide, EFF shows students and concerned parents what kind of technologies to watch for, how they can track you, and what it means for privacy. For example, some schools are tracking students’ locations, ostensibly to automate attendance or track school bus ridership. This monitoring can be conducted through tools ranging from students’ cell phones to ID cards with tracking chips, and it can easily continue when you are off campus. Location information is extraordinarily sensitive—it can reveal who your friends are and what you do when you see them, as well as what kind of medical appointments you might have or what sort of meetings or groups you attend regularly. In some cases, student data is reported to school resource officers or the police, and it can be kept over time, creating a granular history of a student’s actions.
But what can students and concerned parents do? Often, the best solution is to simply not use the systems that schools have set up, if you’re able to, and encourage your friends to do the same. But the new guide also shows students how to gather information on what’s happening and how to talk to adults about it.
“Being under constant surveillance at home and school teaches kids to accept that people they should trust are spying on them—and that’s a lesson that will serve them poorly in later life,” said EFF Associate Director of Research Gennie Gebhart. “If authority figures for youth say constant surveillance is OK, what happens when a romantic partner wants access to every message on their phone? Or an employer wants your social media password? Invasive monitoring isn’t acceptable, no matter who tries to do it, and personal privacy matters.”
For Privacy for Students:
https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/privacy-students
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activistpost--2020-03-02--Mother Asks Scotland, UK, Angelina Jolie, and Pope to Stop the “Hell” of Conflict Mineral Mining in

Mother Asks Scotland, UK, Angelina Jolie, and Pope to Stop the “Hell” of Conflict Mineral Mining in the Congo

Metals required to operate common digital , electronic , and wireless devices are often referred to as “ Conflict Minerals ” because of well-known and widely reported environmental and humanitarian costs associated with mining for them .
Some prominent tech companies are already being sued for business practices that have caused injuries and death to child and adult miners in the Congo .
A Congolese mother and public advocate has been casting a wide net asking for help to stop this in her country .
Women and children burnt to death , rape as a weapon of war , kids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of being witches and murdered with machetes .
This is the mind-bending reality of 21st century life in the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ) .
Brave mum Terese Mema Mapenzi deals with the aftermath of these atrocities every single day .
She said : “ We hope Scotland can help save us from this hell.
” Sexual violence counsellor Terese revealed how she deals with this daily onslaught of gang rape , castration , murder , child malnutrition and deadly disease – all directly linked to the explosion in our use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the frontline in DRC with the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund .
We met the women whose lives have been torn apart in the battle for natural minerals essential for every text , tweet or post on social media we send via our mobile phones .
Terese is the sexual violence programme lead for Sciaf ’ s partner Centre Olame .
She helps women and children who have suffered horrific sexual violence at the hands of rebel militias who fund their lawlessness by mining coltan .
Coltan is a conflict mineral – a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and human rights abuses , sold or traded by armed groups .

By B.N. Frank
Metals required to operate common digital, electronic, and wireless devices are often referred to as “Conflict Minerals” because of well-known and widely reported environmental and humanitarian costs associated with mining for them. Some prominent tech companies are already being sued for business practices that have caused injuries and death to child and adult miners in the Congo. A Congolese mother and public advocate has been casting a wide net asking for help to stop this in her country.
From The Daily Record:
Women and children burnt to death, rape as a weapon of war, kids as young as five enslaved or accused of being witches and murdered with machetes.
This is the mind-bending reality of 21st century life in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Brave mum Terese Mema Mapenzi deals with the aftermath of these atrocities every single day.
She said: “We hope Scotland can help save us from this hell.”
Sexual violence counsellor Terese revealed how she deals with this daily onslaught of gang rape, castration, murder, child malnutrition and deadly disease – all directly linked to the explosion in our use of smartphones.
The Record went to the frontline in DRC with the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund.
We met the women whose lives have been torn apart in the battle for natural minerals essential for every text, tweet or post on social media we send via our mobile phones. Terese is the sexual violence programme lead for Sciaf’s partner Centre Olame.
She helps women and children who have suffered horrific sexual violence at the hands of rebel militias who fund their lawlessness by mining coltan.
Coltan is a conflict mineral – a substance mined in conditions of armed conflict and human rights abuses, sold or traded by armed groups.
Read Full Article


activistpost--2020-03-02--Amazon Deletes Over a Million Items for Price Gouging or False Advertising About Coronavirus

Amazon says it has pulled more than 1 million products for price gouging or for falsely advertising effectiveness against the coronavirus .
The company said in a statement that it has “ always required sellers provide accurate information ” on product pages and removes those that violates its policies .
Amazon said that third-party sellers must follow its Fair Pricing Policy , which states companies can ’ t set a price “ significantly higher ” then seen in other places or sell an item that “ misleads customers.
” The removal comes after Wired found sellers gouging the prices of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or charging people “ exorbitant shipping costs , ” according to the magazine .
In one instance , the publication found a seller with face masks for as much as five times their normal price .
“ We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis and , in line with our long-standing policy , have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers , ” an Amazon spokesperson told CNN Business .
“ We continue to actively monitor our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policies.
” Third-party sellers on Amazon have come under criticism in the past for selling defective or fraudulent products with little oversight .
Fear has also gripped consumers as the coronavirus continues to spread .
Major stores , like CVS and Walgreens , warned last week that there might be shortages of disinfectant products like hand sanitizers and cleaning wipes .
There are now more than 88,000 coronavirus cases around the world .
It has killed more than 3,000 people , with the vast majority being in mainland China .
Sean Walton is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sheeple .
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By Sean Walton
Amazon says it has pulled more than 1 million products for price gouging or for falsely advertising effectiveness against the coronavirus.
The company said in a statement that it has “always required sellers provide accurate information” on product pages and removes those that violates its policies. Amazon said that third-party sellers must follow its Fair Pricing Policy, which states companies can’t set a price “significantly higher” then seen in other places or sell an item that “misleads customers.”
The removal comes after Wired found sellers gouging the prices of coronavirus-related products, like face masks, or charging people “exorbitant shipping costs,” according to the magazine. In one instance, the publication found a seller with face masks for as much as five times their normal price.
“We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis and, in line with our long-standing policy, have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNN Business. “We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies.”
Third-party sellers on Amazon have come under criticism in the past for selling defective or fraudulent products with little oversight.
Fear has also gripped consumers as the coronavirus continues to spread. Major stores, like CVS and Walgreens, warned last week that there might be shortages of disinfectant products like hand sanitizers and cleaning wipes.
There are now more than 88,000 coronavirus cases around the world. It has killed more than 3,000 people, with the vast majority being in mainland China.
Sean Walton is a researcher and journalist for The Daily Sheeple. Send tips to sean.walton@thedailysheeple.com.
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Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


activistpost--2020-03-03--Coronavirus vs. the Mass Surveillance State: Which Poses the Greater Threat?

Emboldened by the citizenry ’ s inattention and willingness to tolerate its abuses , the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expands its powers .
The war on terror , the war on drugs , the war on illegal immigration , asset forfeiture schemes , road safety schemes , school safety schemes , eminent domain : all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state ’ s hands .
It doesn ’ t even matter what the nature of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ national emergencies , “ unforeseen economic collapse , loss of functioning political and legal order , purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency , pervasive public health emergencies , and catastrophic natural and human disasters ” —as long as it allows the government to justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security .
Now we find ourselves on the brink of a possible coronavirus contagion .
I ’ ll leave the media and the medical community to speculate about the impact the coronavirus will have on the nation ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s War on the Coronavirus impact our freedoms ?
For a hint of what ’ s in store , you can look to China—our role model for all things dystopian—where the contagion started .
In an attempt to fight the epidemic , the government has given its surveillance state apparatus—which boasts the most expansive and sophisticated surveillance system in the world—free rein .
Thermal scanners using artificial intelligence ( AI ) have been installed at train stations in major cities to assess body temperatures and identify anyone with a fever .
Facial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people ’ s movements constantly , reporting in real time to data centers that can be accessed by government agents and employers alike .
And coded color alerts ( red , yellow and green ) sort people into health categories that correspond to the amount of freedom of movement they ’ re allowed : “ Green code , travel freely .
Red or yellow , report immediately.
” Mind you , prior to the coronavirus outbreak , the Chinese surveillance state had already been hard at work tracking its citizens through the use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationwide .
Equipped with facial recognition technology , the cameras allow authorities to track so-called criminal acts , such as jaywalking , which factor into a person ’ s social credit score .
Social media credit scores assigned to Chinese individuals and businesses categorize them on whether or not they are “ good ” citizens .
A real-name system—which requires people to use government-issued ID cards to buy mobile sims , obtain social media accounts , take a train , board a plane , or even buy groceries—coupled with social media credit scores @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” are banned from accessing financial markets , buying real estate or traveling by air or train .
Among the activities that can get you labeled unworthy are taking reserved seats on trains or causing trouble in hospitals .
That same social credit score technology used to identify , track and segregate citizens is now one of China ’ s chief weapons in its fight to contain the coronavirus from spreading .
However , it is far from infallible and a prime example of the difficulties involved in navigating an autonomous system where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For instance , one woman , who has no symptoms of the virus but was assigned a red code based on a visit to her hometown , has been blocked from returning to her home and job until her color code changes .
She has been stuck in this state of limbo for weeks with no means of challenging the color code or knowing exactly why she ’ s been assigned a red code .
Fighting the coronavirus epidemic has given China the perfect excuse for unleashing the full force of its surveillance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as Eamon Barrett acknowledges in Fortune magazine , is what happens after : “ Once the outbreak is controlled , it ’ s unclear whether the government will retract its new powers.
” The lesson for the ages : once any government is allowed to expand its powers , it ’ s almost impossible to pull back .
Meanwhile , here in the U.S. , the government thus far has limited its coronavirus preparations to missives advising the public to stay calm , wash their hands , and cover their mouths when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t go underestimating the government ’ s ability to lock the nation down if the coronavirus turns into a pandemic , however .
After all , the government has been planning and preparing for such a crisis for years now .
The building blocks are already in place for such an eventuality : the surveillance networks , fusion centers and government contractors that already share information in real time ; the government ’ s massive biometric databases that can identify individuals based on genetic and biological markers ; the militarized police , working @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and able to coordinate with the federal government when it ’ s time to round up the targeted individuals ; the courts that will sanction the government ’ s methods , no matter how unlawful , as long as it ’ s done in the name of national security ; and the detention facilities , whether private prisons or FEMA internment camps , that have been built and are waiting to be filled .
Now all of this may sound far-fetched to you now , but we ’ ve already arrived at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s 1984 , Aldous Huxley ’ s Brave New World , and Philip K. Dick ’ s Minority Report .
It won ’ t take much more to push us over the edge into Neill Blomkamp ’ s Elysium , in which the majority of humanity is relegated to an overpopulated , diseased , warring planet where the government employs technologies such as drones , tasers and biometric scanners to track , target and control the populace .
Mind you , while these technologies are already in use today and being hailed for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefits , it won ’ t be long before the drawbacks to having a government equipped with technology that makes it all-seeing , all-knowing , and all-powerful——helped along by the citizenry—far outdistance the benefits .
On a daily basis , Americans are relinquishing ( in many cases , voluntarily ) the most intimate details of who we are—their biological makeup , our genetic blueprints , and our biometrics ( facial characteristics and structure , fingerprints , iris scans , etc . )
—in order to navigate an increasingly technologically-enabled world .
Consider all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , hunted , hounded , and stalked by the government and its dubious agents : By tapping into your phone lines and cell phone communications , the government knows what you say .
By uploading all of your emails , opening your mail , and reading your Facebook posts and text messages , the government knows what you write .
By monitoring your movements with the use of license plate readers , surveillance cameras and other tracking devices , the government knows where you go .
By churning through all of the detritus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you go , what you say—the government can predict what you will do .
By mapping the synapses in your brain , scientists—and in turn , the government—will soon know what you remember .
By mapping your biometrics—your “ face-print ” —and storing the information in a massive , shared government database available to bureaucratic agencies , police and the military , the government ’ s goal is to use facial recognition software to identify you ( and every other person in the country ) and track your movements , wherever you go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government will soon know everything else about you that they don ’ t already know : your family chart , your ancestry , what you look like , your health history , your inclination to follow orders or chart your own course , etc .
Of course , none of these technologies are foolproof .
Nor are they immune from tampering , hacking or user bias .
Nevertheless , they have become a convenient tool in the hands of government agents to render null and void the Constitution ’ s requirements of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and seizures .
The ramifications of a government—any government—having this much unregulated , unaccountable power to target , track , round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling .
Imagine what a totalitarian regime such as Nazi Germany could have done with this kind of unadulterated power .
Imagine what the next police state to follow in Germany ’ s footsteps will do with this kind of power .
Society is rapidly moving in that direction .
We ’ ve made it so easy for the government to watch us .
Government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you read , how much you spend , where you go , with whom you interact , when you wake up in the morning , what you ’ re watching on television and reading on the internet .
Every move you make is being monitored , mined for data , crunched , and tabulated in order to form a picture of who you are , what makes you tick , and how best to control you when and if it becomes necessary to bring you in line .
Chances are , as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already been assigned a color-coded threat assessment score—green , yellow or red—so police are forewarned about your potential inclination to be a troublemaker depending on whether you ’ ve had a career in the military , posted a comment perceived as threatening on Facebook , suffer from a particular medical condition , or know someone who knows someone who might have committed a crime .
In other words , you ’ re most likely already flagged in a government database somewhere .
The government has the know-how .
Indeed , for years now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conspired to acquire near-limitless power and control over biometric information collected on law-abiding individuals , millions of whom have never been accused of a crime .
Going far beyond the scope of those with criminal backgrounds , the FBI ’ s Next Generation Identification database ( NGID ) , a billion dollar boondoggle that is aimed at dramatically expanding the government ’ s ID database from a fingerprint system to a vast data storehouse of iris scans , photos searchable with face recognition technology , palm prints , and measures of gait and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scars , and tattoos .
Launched in 2008 , the NGID is a massive biometric database that contains more than 100 million fingerprints and 45 million facial photos gathered from a variety of sources ranging from criminal suspects and convicts to daycare workers and visa applicants , including millions of people who have never committed or even been accused of a crime .
In other words , innocent American citizens are now automatically placed in a suspect database .
For a long time , the government was required to at least observe some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how it could access someone ’ s biometrics and DNA and use it against them .
That is no longer the case .
The information is being amassed through a variety of routine procedures , with the police leading the way as prime collectors of biometrics for something as non-threatening as a simple moving violation .
The nation ’ s courts are also doing their part to “ build ” the database , requiring biometric information as a precursor to more lenient sentences .
And of course Corporate America ( including Google , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has made it so easy to use one ’ s biometrics to access everything from bank accounts to cell phones .
We ’ ve made it so easy for the government to target , identify and track us .
Add pre-crime programs into the mix with government agencies and corporations working in tandem to determine who is a potential danger and spin a sticky spider-web of threat assessments , behavioral sensing warnings , flagged “ words , ” and “ suspicious ” activity reports using automated eyes and ears , social media , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and you having the makings for a perfect dystopian nightmare .
This is the kind of oppressive pre-crime and pre-thought crime package foreshadowed by George Orwell , Aldous Huxley and Phillip K. Dick .
Remember , even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted , corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation .
In the right ( or wrong ) hands , benevolent plans can easily be put to malevolent purposes .
Surveillance , digital stalking and the data @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a society in which there ’ s little room for indiscretions , imperfections , or acts of independence .
This is the creepy , calculating yet diabolical genius of the American police state : the very technology we hailed as revolutionary and liberating has become our prison , jailer , probation officer , Big Brother and Father Knows Best all rolled into one .
It turns out that we are Soylent Green .
The 1973 film of the same name , starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson , is set in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ starving New York City whose inhabitants depend on synthetic foods manufactured by the Soylent Corporation for survival .
Heston plays a policeman investigating a murder , who discovers the grisly truth about the primary ingredient in the wafer , soylent green , which is the principal source of nourishment for a starved population .
“ It ’ s people .
Soylent Green is made out of people , ” declares Heston ’ s character .
“ They ’ re making our food out of people .
Next thing they ’ ll be breeding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , how right he was .
Soylent Green is indeed people or , in our case , Soylent Green is our own personal data , repossessed , repackaged and used by corporations and the government to entrap us .
Without constitutional protections in place to guard against encroachments on our rights when power , technology and militaristic governance converge , it won ’ t be long before we find ourselves , much like Edward G. Robinson ’ s character in Soylent Green , looking back on the past with longing , back to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whom we wanted , buy what we wanted , think what we wanted , and go where we wanted without those thoughts , words and movements being tracked , processed and stored by corporate giants such as Google , sold to government agencies such as the NSA and CIA , and used against us by militarized police with their army of futuristic technologies .
We ’ re not quite there yet .
But that moment of reckoning is getting closer by the minute .
In the meantime , we ’ ve got an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and wash your hands .
Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze .
And stock up on whatever you might need to survive this virus if it spreads to your community .
We are indeed at our most vulnerable right now , but as I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , it ’ s the American Surveillance State—not the coronavirus—that poses the greatest threat to our freedoms .

By John W. Whitehead
“If, as it seems, we are in the process of becoming a totalitarian society in which the state apparatus is all-powerful, the ethics most important for the survival of the true, free, human individual would be: cheat, lie, evade, fake it, be elsewhere, forge documents, build improved electronic gadgets in your garage that’ll outwit the gadgets used by the authorities.”—Philip K. Dick
Emboldened by the citizenry’s inattention and willingness to tolerate its abuses, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expands its powers.
The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, asset forfeiture schemes, road safety schemes, school safety schemes, eminent domain: all of these programs started out as legitimate responses to pressing concerns and have since become weapons of compliance and control in the police state’s hands.
It doesn’t even matter what the nature of the crisis might be—civil unrest, the national emergencies, “unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters”—as long as it allows the government to justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security.
Now we find ourselves on the brink of a possible coronavirus contagion.
I’ll leave the media and the medical community to speculate about the impact the coronavirus will have on the nation’s health, but how will the government’s War on the Coronavirus impact our freedoms?
For a hint of what’s in store, you can look to China—our role model for all things dystopian—where the contagion started.
In an attempt to fight the epidemic, the government has given its surveillance state apparatus—which boasts the most expansive and sophisticated surveillance system in the world—free rein. Thermal scanners using artificial intelligence (AI) have been installed at train stations in major cities to assess body temperatures and identify anyone with a fever. Facial recognition cameras and cell phone carriers track people’s movements constantly, reporting in real time to data centers that can be accessed by government agents and employers alike. And coded color alerts (red, yellow and green) sort people into health categories that correspond to the amount of freedom of movement they’re allowed: “Green code, travel freely. Red or yellow, report immediately.”
Mind you, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese surveillance state had already been hard at work tracking its citizens through the use of some 200 million security cameras installed nationwide. Equipped with facial recognition technology, the cameras allow authorities to track so-called criminal acts, such as jaywalking, which factor into a person’s social credit score.
Social media credit scores assigned to Chinese individuals and businesses categorize them on whether or not they are “good” citizens. A real-name system—which requires people to use government-issued ID cards to buy mobile sims, obtain social media accounts, take a train, board a plane, or even buy groceries—coupled with social media credit scores ensures that those blacklisted as “unworthy” are banned from accessing financial markets, buying real estate or traveling by air or train. Among the activities that can get you labeled unworthy are taking reserved seats on trains or causing trouble in hospitals.
That same social credit score technology used to identify, track and segregate citizens is now one of China’s chief weapons in its fight to contain the coronavirus from spreading. However, it is far from infallible and a prime example of the difficulties involved in navigating an autonomous system where disembodied AI systems call the shots. For instance, one woman, who has no symptoms of the virus but was assigned a red code based on a visit to her hometown, has been blocked from returning to her home and job until her color code changes. She has been stuck in this state of limbo for weeks with no means of challenging the color code or knowing exactly why she’s been assigned a red code.
Fighting the coronavirus epidemic has given China the perfect excuse for unleashing the full force of its surveillance and data collection powers. The problem, as Eamon Barrett acknowledges in Fortune magazine, is what happens after: “Once the outbreak is controlled, it’s unclear whether the government will retract its new powers.”
The lesson for the ages: once any government is allowed to expand its powers, it’s almost impossible to pull back.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S., the government thus far has limited its coronavirus preparations to missives advising the public to stay calm, wash their hands, and cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze.
Don’t go underestimating the government’s ability to lock the nation down if the coronavirus turns into a pandemic, however. After all, the government has been planning and preparing for such a crisis for years now.
The building blocks are already in place for such an eventuality: the surveillance networks, fusion centers and government contractors that already share information in real time; the government’s massive biometric databases that can identify individuals based on genetic and biological markers; the militarized police, working in conjunction with federal agencies, ready and able to coordinate with the federal government when it’s time to round up the targeted individuals; the courts that will sanction the government’s methods, no matter how unlawful, as long as it’s done in the name of national security; and the detention facilities, whether private prisons or FEMA internment camps, that have been built and are waiting to be filled.
Now all of this may sound far-fetched to you now, but we’ve already arrived at the dystopian futures prophesied by George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report.
It won’t take much more to push us over the edge into Neill Blomkamp’s Elysium, in which the majority of humanity is relegated to an overpopulated, diseased, warring planet where the government employs technologies such as drones, tasers and biometric scanners to track, target and control the populace.
Mind you, while these technologies are already in use today and being hailed for their potentially life-saving, cost-saving, time-saving benefits, it won’t be long before the drawbacks to having a government equipped with technology that makes it all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful——helped along by the citizenry—far outdistance the benefits.
On a daily basis, Americans are relinquishing (in many cases, voluntarily) the most intimate details of who we are—their biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)—in order to navigate an increasingly technologically-enabled world.
Consider all the ways you continue to be tracked, hunted, hounded, and stalked by the government and its dubious agents:
By tapping into your phone lines and cell phone communications, the government knows what you say. By uploading all of your emails, opening your mail, and reading your Facebook posts and text messages, the government knows what you write. By monitoring your movements with the use of license plate readers, surveillance cameras and other tracking devices, the government knows where you go. By churning through all of the detritus of your life—what you read, where you go, what you say—the government can predict what you will do.
By mapping the synapses in your brain, scientists—and in turn, the government—will soon know what you remember. By mapping your biometrics—your “face-print”—and storing the information in a massive, shared government database available to bureaucratic agencies, police and the military, the government’s goal is to use facial recognition software to identify you (and every other person in the country) and track your movements, wherever you go. And by accessing your DNA, the government will soon know everything else about you that they don’t already know: your family chart, your ancestry, what you look like, your health history, your inclination to follow orders or chart your own course, etc.
Of course, none of these technologies are foolproof.
Nor are they immune from tampering, hacking or user bias.
Nevertheless, they have become a convenient tool in the hands of government agents to render null and void the Constitution’s requirements of privacy and its prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The ramifications of a government—any government—having this much unregulated, unaccountable power to target, track, round up and detain its citizens is beyond chilling.
Imagine what a totalitarian regime such as Nazi Germany could have done with this kind of unadulterated power.
Imagine what the next police state to follow in Germany’s footsteps will do with this kind of power. Society is rapidly moving in that direction.
We’ve made it so easy for the government to watch us.
Government eyes see your every move: what you read, how much you spend, where you go, with whom you interact, when you wake up in the morning, what you’re watching on television and reading on the internet.
Every move you make is being monitored, mined for data, crunched, and tabulated in order to form a picture of who you are, what makes you tick, and how best to control you when and if it becomes necessary to bring you in line.
Chances are, as the Washington Post has reported, you have already been assigned a color-coded threat assessment score—green, yellow or red—so police are forewarned about your potential inclination to be a troublemaker depending on whether you’ve had a career in the military, posted a comment perceived as threatening on Facebook, suffer from a particular medical condition, or know someone who knows someone who might have committed a crime.
In other words, you’re most likely already flagged in a government database somewhere.
The government has the know-how.
Indeed, for years now, the FBI and Justice Department have conspired to acquire near-limitless power and control over biometric information collected on law-abiding individuals, millions of whom have never been accused of a crime.
Going far beyond the scope of those with criminal backgrounds, the FBI’s Next Generation Identification database (NGID), a billion dollar boondoggle that is aimed at dramatically expanding the government’s ID database from a fingerprint system to a vast data storehouse of iris scans, photos searchable with face recognition technology, palm prints, and measures of gait and voice recordings alongside records of fingerprints, scars, and tattoos.
Launched in 2008, the NGID is a massive biometric database that contains more than 100 million fingerprints and 45 million facial photos gathered from a variety of sources ranging from criminal suspects and convicts to daycare workers and visa applicants, including millions of people who have never committed or even been accused of a crime.
In other words, innocent American citizens are now automatically placed in a suspect database.
For a long time, the government was required to at least observe some basic restrictions on when, where and how it could access someone’s biometrics and DNA and use it against them.
That is no longer the case.
The information is being amassed through a variety of routine procedures, with the police leading the way as prime collectors of biometrics for something as non-threatening as a simple moving violation. The nation’s courts are also doing their part to “build” the database, requiring biometric information as a precursor to more lenient sentences. And of course Corporate America (including Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.) has made it so easy to use one’s biometrics to access everything from bank accounts to cell phones.
We’ve made it so easy for the government to target, identify and track us.
Add pre-crime programs into the mix with government agencies and corporations working in tandem to determine who is a potential danger and spin a sticky spider-web of threat assessments, behavioral sensing warnings, flagged “words,” and “suspicious” activity reports using automated eyes and ears, social media, behavior sensing software, and citizen spies, and you having the makings for a perfect dystopian nightmare.
This is the kind of oppressive pre-crime and pre-thought crime package foreshadowed by George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Phillip K. Dick.
Remember, even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation.
In the right (or wrong) hands, benevolent plans can easily be put to malevolent purposes.
Surveillance, digital stalking and the data mining of the American people add up to a society in which there’s little room for indiscretions, imperfections, or acts of independence.
This is the creepy, calculating yet diabolical genius of the American police state: the very technology we hailed as revolutionary and liberating has become our prison, jailer, probation officer, Big Brother and Father Knows Best all rolled into one.
It turns out that we are Soylent Green.
The 1973 film of the same name, starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson, is set in 2022 in an overpopulated, polluted, starving New York City whose inhabitants depend on synthetic foods manufactured by the Soylent Corporation for survival.
Heston plays a policeman investigating a murder, who discovers the grisly truth about the primary ingredient in the wafer, soylent green, which is the principal source of nourishment for a starved population. “It’s people. Soylent Green is made out of people,” declares Heston’s character. “They’re making our food out of people. Next thing they’ll be breeding us like cattle for food.”
Oh, how right he was.
Soylent Green is indeed people or, in our case, Soylent Green is our own personal data, repossessed, repackaged and used by corporations and the government to entrap us.
Without constitutional protections in place to guard against encroachments on our rights when power, technology and militaristic governance converge, it won’t be long before we find ourselves, much like Edward G. Robinson’s character in Soylent Green, looking back on the past with longing, back to an age where we could speak to whom we wanted, buy what we wanted, think what we wanted, and go where we wanted without those thoughts, words and movements being tracked, processed and stored by corporate giants such as Google, sold to government agencies such as the NSA and CIA, and used against us by militarized police with their army of futuristic technologies.
We’re not quite there yet. But that moment of reckoning is getting closer by the minute.
In the meantime, we’ve got an epidemic to survive, so go ahead and wash your hands. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. And stock up on whatever you might need to survive this virus if it spreads to your community.
We are indeed at our most vulnerable right now, but as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, it’s the American Surveillance State—not the coronavirus—that poses the greatest threat to our freedoms.


activistpost--2020-03-03--Internet Shutdowns in 2019: India Continued to Top List of Worst Offenders

India topped the list of countries that shut down the internet in 2019 with a staggering 121 shutdowns , more than half the 213 events recorded around the world , according to digital rights advocacy group Access Now .
Globally , 33 countries switched off access as compared to 25 in 2018 , the # KeepItOn report on internet shutdowns in 2019 said .
The shutdowns in 2019 were longer , geographically more targeted and included slowing down access to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook .
Following India , Venezuela was a global leader for shutdowns , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least 12 times .
After Venezuela , Yemen , Iraq , Algeria , and Ethiopia were the countries with the most shutdowns .
Pakistan had five incidents of mobile or broadband services being switched off while Indonesia experienced three .
Myanmar imposed the year ’ s longest internet shutdown in its Rakhine and Chin states where 500,000-600,000 Rohingya Muslims reside .
Authorities in Bangladesh also shut down mobile internet connections in refugee camps where mostly Rohingyas reside .
The shutdown has been imposed since early September 2019 and it is still ongoing .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ were meant to help ensure public safety , increase national security and to stop the spread of fake news , among others .
After scrapping the special provisions from its constitution regarding the Jammu and Kashmir state , the Indian government banned public gatherings , detained local leaders , cut off telephone lines and imposed a complete blackout of the internet for 175 days — the second-longest shutdown globally in 2019 .
It was also among the longest shutdowns recorded in India to date .
Some of these restrictions were lifted after India @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , termed indefinite internet blackouts unconstitutional and asked authorities for a policy revisit .
The ruling , however , failed to provide any immediate relief .
As of now , residents in India-administered Kashmir are only allowed to access slow 2G internet connections , are blocked from accessing most social media platforms , and can only visit white-listed websites that are vetted by the government .
Besides Kashmir , # KeepItOn documented incidents of internet shutdowns in other Indian states “ to stifle dissenting voices.
” Petitions were launched across high courts in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ following nation-wide protests against the controversial Citizenship ( Amendment ) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens in Assam .
While a court in Gawuhati city forced the Assam state government on December 20 , 2019 , to restore internet connectivity , which was disconnected on December 11 , 2019 , after demonstrations in 10 state districts , a court in Kerala also ruled on September 19 , 2019 in favour of a petition requesting right to internet access in a girls ’ hostel at night .
“ Shutdowns in Jammu and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shutdowns in India , followed by Uttar Pradesh , Rajasthan , and West Bengal , ” Access Now said .
The most common government rationale for shutting down the internet in India was “ precautionary measure ” or restoring public order .
The network restrictions , the report said , have served to hide a series of egregious human rights violations in Kashmir such as detaining and beating children , and restricting travel and access to the disputed region .
The full report can be accessed here .
Top image : India internet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 .
Created by National Law University Delhi and the Centre for Communication Governance ( CC BY ) Subscribe to Activist Post for truth , peace , and freedom news .
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By Waleed Tariq
India topped the list of countries that shut down the internet in 2019 with a staggering 121 shutdowns, more than half the 213 events recorded around the world, according to digital rights advocacy group Access Now.
Globally, 33 countries switched off access as compared to 25 in 2018, the #KeepItOn report on internet shutdowns in 2019 said.
1/ In collaboration with the #KeepitOn Coalition, we have been documenting #internetshutdowns since 2011. Today we launched our 2019 report. Below are some of the trends we observed ⬇ https://t.co/pJdCf3em2J pic.twitter.com/F2FMLJgOuX — Access Now (@accessnow) February 25, 2020
The shutdowns in 2019 were longer, geographically more targeted and included slowing down access to social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Following India, Venezuela was a global leader for shutdowns, blocking access to social media platforms at least 12 times.
After Venezuela, Yemen, Iraq, Algeria, and Ethiopia were the countries with the most shutdowns.
Pakistan had five incidents of mobile or broadband services being switched off while Indonesia experienced three.
Myanmar imposed the year’s longest internet shutdown in its Rakhine and Chin states where 500,000-600,000 Rohingya Muslims reside.
Authorities in Bangladesh also shut down mobile internet connections in refugee camps where mostly Rohingyas reside. The shutdown has been imposed since early September 2019 and it is still ongoing.
Governments justified their actions by claiming they were meant to help ensure public safety, increase national security and to stop the spread of fake news, among others.
Kashmir: the world’s second-longest shutdown in 2019
After scrapping the special provisions from its constitution regarding the Jammu and Kashmir state, the Indian government banned public gatherings, detained local leaders, cut off telephone lines and imposed a complete blackout of the internet for 175 days — the second-longest shutdown globally in 2019.
It was also among the longest shutdowns recorded in India to date.
Some of these restrictions were lifted after India’s Supreme Court criticized the shutdown, termed indefinite internet blackouts unconstitutional and asked authorities for a policy revisit.
The ruling, however, failed to provide any immediate relief.
As of now, residents in India-administered Kashmir are only allowed to access slow 2G internet connections, are blocked from accessing most social media platforms, and can only visit white-listed websites that are vetted by the government.
Besides Kashmir, #KeepItOn documented incidents of internet shutdowns in other Indian states “to stifle dissenting voices.”
Petitions were launched across high courts in different Indian states challenging the shutdowns ordered following nation-wide protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens in Assam.
While a court in Gawuhati city forced the Assam state government on December 20, 2019, to restore internet connectivity, which was disconnected on December 11, 2019, after demonstrations in 10 state districts, a court in Kerala also ruled on September 19, 2019 in favour of a petition requesting right to internet access in a girls’ hostel at night.
“Shutdowns in Jammu and Kashmir comprised about 68% of the shutdowns in India, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal,” Access Now said.
The most common government rationale for shutting down the internet in India was “precautionary measure” or restoring public order.
The network restrictions, the report said, have served to hide a series of egregious human rights violations in Kashmir such as detaining and beating children, and restricting travel and access to the disputed region.
The full report can be accessed here.
Article source: Global Voices
Top image: India internet shutdown map, January 2010 – March 2017. Created by National Law University Delhi and the Centre for Communication Governance (CC BY)
Waleed Tariq is a multimedia journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan.
Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.
Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.