Farmers in India March For Six Days For Change In Agrarian System

Photo: The farmers were elated that their voices were finally heard (Kiran Mehta/Al Jazeera)

Thousands of farmers marched to Mumbai to demand better conditions for themselves in the country. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), abbreviated CPI(M), drew a parallel between this movement and the historic Salt March led by renowned nonviolent activist Mahatma Gandhi during British colonial rule. All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), a farmer-oriented political front connected to the CPI(M), is guiding this mobilization in Maharashtra state and is joined by many tribal farmers.

Around half of India’s labor force works in agriculture, but the industry makes up only 14% of the nation’s GDP. Infrastructure is lacking and support is far too inelastic, unable to support citizens in times of blight or drought and unable to accomodate or store surplus. These deficiencies are only deepened as climate change makes crop output ever more erratic. India’s agrarian system is severely failing farmers — destroying livelihoods and creating a trend of suicide among many who feel they will never escape hopeless debt. Activists estimate that between 2015 and 2016, nearly 12,600 farmers committed suicide. This occurs with alarming frequency during times of crop failure, highlighting the severity of the shortcomings of the agrarian system in India.

More than 45,000 protesters gathered in Mumbai after six days of walking. They were supported by community members, who brought them food, water, and slippers to replace their worn out shoes, in a show of solidarity. Some marchers were in their 60s and 70s, have depended on the land for decades, and left their livelihoods to be a part of the process. With this sacrifice, these farmers legitimized the cause and proved their conviction to it. In Mumbai, members of the march were seen greeting the police posted at the scene. Their friendliness illustrated their respect for and willingness to work with the government. A parade of state ministers from various political parties passed through the gathering, speaking with leaders of the protest to hear their appeal.

Their vision of tomorrow was made clear through their specific demands from the government. Their top priority was loan forgiveness for expenses associated with their farms. A loan forgiveness program had been promised last year, but has not yet been implemented. Next, since the government buys a large portion of crops to protect farmers from volatile market prices, they requested an adjusted and appropriate fixed minimum price for their produce, accompanied by a raise in their wages to at least one and a half times the cost of their crops. With this, they also called for the national pension amount to be increased. Furthermore, they asked for land titles to be transferred to the indigenous farmers who have worked the land for generations.

Talks between AIKS representatives and state ministers ended in success when the government promised to follow through within six months on 100% of the demands made. In response, the farmers agreed to withdraw their protest, and trains were arranged to transport the famers back to their homes.

No action has yet been taken in the week and a half since the marchers withdrew their protest. As the farmers return home, they are optimistic but cautious. As one farmers says, “We are happy that they listened to us, but let’s see when the promises are implemented.” The long march to Mumbai was a counterpart to a mass sit-in by farmers in Rajasthan last month. A similar mass mobilization is in the works in Uttar Pradesh, as AIKS encourages farmers to raise their voices and fight for their rights, and to use allied law- and policymakers to create change. The government has not upheld its promises in the past, so it is imperative that the people keep the pressure on.

Murder of Brazilian Activist Brings People Power out in Force

Photo: Supporters rally in Rio de Janeiro, protesting the assassination of activist and Councilwoman Mariella Franco. Dado Galdieri. Bloomberg.

The recent murder of Brazilian human rights activist and Councilwoman Marielle Franco has deeply shaken the communities she advocated for. More than a thousand people have taken to the streets of Rio de Janeiro in protest of not only her killing, but also its suspicious and abhorrent context. By mourning her loss, their voices prove something important: She was not alone.

Marielle Franco had been called a rising star in Brazilian politics. She was a powerful voice for the poor, LGBT communities, black people, and women. Born in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, Franco built her career on the pursuit of human rights and equality, making incredible advances and eventually holding elected office. She was elected to the City Council in 2016 – one of only seven women among the 51 members, and the only black female. Igarapé Institute director Ilona Szabó, an expert on public safety policies, lamented the loss of Franco for Brazilian society. “She represented hope for so many women who never felt like they had a voice.”

Franco had also been an outward critic of police brutality in Brazil. The streets are patrolled by a military police force whose grave abuses have been documented by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In 2017, police killed more than 1,100 people in Rio alone. There, in January, they committed one out of every four homicides. These grave injustices are notoriously difficult to pursue, and justice is almost never reached. Days before her assassination, Franco had posted a series of tweets criticizing the military police of Rio, leading many now to conclude their responsibility for the targeted attack. “To dare to murder someone with a profile as high in Rio de Janeiro as Councilwoman Marielle Franco takes a lot of confidence that there will be no justice.”

In any case, if the murder was an attempt to silence Franco, it has rather had the exact opposite effect. With more than a thousand people protesting the death, speaking out for both justice and their rights, the movement is far from over. Franco may have been a minority in Brazilian legislature, but as a black, bisexual woman from poverty, she represented the voices and rights of repressed groups that together constitute a solid majority of Brazil’s population. An activist at a recent march shouted over and over that “Marielle’s voice will not be silenced,” but her voice was never singular anyway.

Franco was a representative of the people and her murder is a serious tragedy for Brazil. It is a mistake, however, to think that her people or their political ambitions have also been defeated. As is evidenced by these recent demonstrations, the fight for civil rights is on, leaders are quickly emerging, and many historically oppressed people have begun to realize just how powerful they really are.

“O, Canada, You’re on Native Land”

Photo: Volunteers construct a ‘watch house’ as a gathering spot for Indigenous elders and people opposing the TransMountain pipeline on Saturday, March 10. Photo by Trevor Mack (National Observer)

Ten thousand people gathered to condemn the expansion of an oil pipeline in Canada on Saturday. Their chants of “Water is life”, “No consent, no pipeline”, and “Keep it in the ground,” filled the air, along with the sound of drums played by members of First Nations. They are standing up to Kinder Morgan, an energy infrastructure giant in North America. “We cannot sit by idly and let this project go with the way it would threaten our livelihood, our lives, our territories, our waters and our culture,” said Dustin Rivers, a Squamish Nation leader. First Nations were further joined  in their protest by non-indigenous locals, Greenpeace Canada, and local environmental groups like Stand.Earth.

Kinder Morgan has received the go-ahead from the Canadian government to construct the TransMountain pipeline, which would transport oil extracted from tar sands in Alberta, nearly tripling the flow of oil into the Vancouver area. According to Canada’s National Energy Board, the project “is in the public’s interest,” but would have “significant adverse effects” on endangered orcas that live in the waters off the coast of Washington. A Greenpeace press release presented research expecting the pipeline to spill over 30 times in a 50-year span, threatening drinking water, rivers, lakes, and streams, and risking the extinction of the local orcas.

Protesters erected a watch house on top of the current pipeline and blocking the planned route for the expansion. This initiative is called ‘Kwekwecnewtxw’ meaning “place to watch from.” This indigenous tradition has existed for thousands of years, posting a guard to watch for enemies and dangers to the tribe. A speaker at the protest, Will George, is a Tsleil-Waututh member who has promised to remain in the house “as long as it takes” as a modern defender of the community.

Also planned is the construction of tiny houses. There will be ten homes erected and placed strategically along the more than 500 km pipeline route. This will block access to the pipeline as a tangible assertion of indigenous sovereignty. Each tiny house will provide housing to a Secwepemc family, as the population is facing a housing crisis resulting from “deliberate colonial impoverishment.” Additionally, the project aims to fully power the houses through solar panels, consistent with the community’s efforts against nonrenewable energy. Greenpeace Canada provided manpower and logistical support for this project.

As the next step in the campaign, those allied with the cause are being asked to risk arrest in a mass demonstration of civil disobedience. “Every step of the way, we will continue to oppose Kinder Morgan and the financial institutions bankrolling this climate-killing, Indigenous rights-bulldozing pipeline,” said Mike Hudema, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Canada. The campaign’s website stipulates that violence will not be tolerated.

The struggle is also being fought in the courts. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once said that “Governments might grant permits, but only communities can grant permission.” First Nations have legally challenged the project, saying that the land Kinder Morgan wants to build on was not and will not be ceded. They are clear that consultation with them was inadequate. If the project continues, it will be without having met the minimum international regulations for extractive practices on indigenous lands, which involve the community’s free, informed, and prior consent. Development is therefore illegal under the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and in violation of the protections outlined in Section 35 of Canada’s Constitution.

Indigenous peoples are often on the frontlines of environmental people power movements. Their communities’ traditions have their roots in respect for the land and this uniquely positions them as “defenders of the earth.” Standing Rock’s NODAPL movement is another famous example of an anti-extractive industry campaign led by indigenous peoples, though it by no means stands alone; the UN states that indigenous groups help protect an estimated 80 percent of the planet’s remaining biodiversity. Through the assertion of sovereignty and jurisdictional rights over their ancestral lands, indigenous people are collectively resisting – forming coalitions and strong alliances with women’s, environmental, and youth movements. They are a shining example of people raising their voices against injustice. As climate activist Emily Johnson writes “Fundamentally, Trudeau was right: they do need our permission to devastate the world. . . What the industry is learning from all of these fights is that if we want to stop them, we can. More importantly, that’s what we’re learning.”

Journalist’s Murder Sparks Protests and Progress in Slovakia

Photo: Protesters in Slovakia demand justice over the assassination of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée. Joe Klamar. AFP.

Two weeks ago, an investigative journalist was murdered in an incident that police have linked to his work. Jan Kuciak and his fiancée were at home when an attacker shot and killed them over information that he exposed regarding tax evasion by prominent businessmen in the country. Threats had been made against him in the past, and police reports had been filed, but his death is nonetheless a huge shock.

Across Slovakia, this shock sparked a crisis. In the largest Slovak movement since the Velvet Revolution, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets, opposing not only the nation’s rampant corruption troubles, but also the politicians that allow them to go on. Robert Kalinak, who had been serving as Interior Minister, stepped down earlier this week as the people’s voices became too loud to ignore. They are calling now for the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Fico is currently serving his third term in office, having been in power now for more than a decade. In that time, the people of Slovakia feel that he has done far too little to combat corruption or cronyism, making the murder of Kuciak the final straw. The people are no longer willing to tolerate a system so broken that it cannot even protect those individuals trying to achieve justice.

In a too-rare case of people power movements, it seems that these protestors may really achieve this turnaround, and soon. Fico has agreed to step down from his role as prime minister. The move just needs approval from the nation’s president before becoming official. Even so, it demonstrates a degree of responsiveness and an emphasis on resolution that does imbue some hope in the nation.

Nevertheless, further demonstrations are planned for Friday in Bratislava. Nobody has yet been charged with the murder of Kuciak and his fiancée, meaning that for the time being, justice is still a long way from being reached. Not trusting the government to carry out this process, another dominant call by protesters has been for the intervention of Europol in the investigation. Even with the prospect of a promising future taking shape, true freedom in Slovakia will not be complete unless democratic rights are defended. The tens of thousands of people, emboldened and taking to the streets, are not going to stop short in their demands for justice.

A Look at the Failure of Aung San Suu Kyi

Photo: Agence France-Presse.

In 2012, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Elie Wiesel Award for human rights by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Earlier this week, the honor was rescinded. The news left people around the world to grapple with the implications of the reversion. How could it be that this leader, once among the most respected champions of human rights in history, has now so egregiously abandoned her virtues?

A Heroic Past

Suu Kyi is from Myanmar, a nation in Southeast Asia that spent almost 50 years under military rule. This regime was both repressive and resolute. Its hostilities brought pro-democracy activists out in protest, but their struggle would have to endure for more than 20 years before a civilian government was finally implemented. The world watched this situation with amazement, inspired by the tremendous drive and power of the Burmese people, the success of their nonviolent campaign, and the eventual victory that evoked a rare feeling of justice in the world. And the figurehead of this movement, the leader that came to personify its virtues and victories, is Aung San Suu Kyi.

First getting involved with the movement at the height of the protests in 1988, Suu Kyi became an outspoken advocate at the fore of the push for human rights and democracy. Her leadership threatened the ruling military junta, so as they cracked down on the movement in 1989, she was placed under house arrest and completely isolated from the outside world. Her image as a martyr of the movement was solidified when she refused a deal with the government that would allow her release, provided she never return to Myanmar.

Then, after the international system successfully pressured the junta to hold free elections the following year, and after Suu Kyi achieved a landslide democratic victory, the government’s refusal to concede or to release her rocketed Suu Kyi to international hero status. Her encouragement of disciplined civil resistance, rather than violence, seemed to place her among the ranks of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as history’s most incredible leaders. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, plus a slew of other accolades that recognized her relentless struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights. This included the Elie Wiesel Award, given “to an internationally prominent individual whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide and promote human dignity.”

A Horrific Present

To those aware of the situation in Myanmar today, rescission of the award based on its above criteria will come as no surprise. To those unaware, let these standards underscore the severity of what is going on. The Rohingya people, a legally unrecognized group in Myanmar, are undergoing a systematic ethnic cleansing by the country’s military. More than half a million Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh, desperately trying to escape persecution and the destruction of their homes and villages. UN Secretary General António Guterres has called the crisis “catastrophic.” And despite the overtly devastating human rights abuses unfolding in Myanmar, Suu Kyi, the nation’s civilian leader, has failed to do anything.

“As the military’s attacks against the Rohingya unfolded in 2016 and 2017, we had hoped that you—as  someone we and many others have celebrated for your commitment to human dignity and universal human rights—would have done something to condemn and stop the military’s brutal campaign and to express solidarity with the targeted Rohingya population,” reads the letter to Suu Kyi from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “The National League for Democracy, under your leadership, has instead refused to cooperate with United Nations investigators, promulgated hateful rhetoric against the Rohingya community, and denied access to and cracked down on journalists trying to uncover the scope of the crimes in Rakhine State.”

The Harsh Reality

It is incredibly difficult to see heroes fall. When it happens, though, it becomes incredibly easy to question whether there are any true heroes in the world. If the Rohingya crisis happened after Suu Kyi’s fall from political power, for example, she would have lived on forever as a hero. Only because this is happening today can we see that she perhaps never truly was one.

How, then, do we reconcile Suu Kyi’s incredible triumph of human rights in the past with the horrific ethnic cleansing happening under her rule today? To do it, we have to remove her from the equation almost entirely. See, Aung San Suu Kyi was not the revolution. She has come to symbolize its victory, yes, but that battle was fought and won with people power. Citizens of Myanmar who stood up for their rightswho committed themselves to nonviolence, who participated in the democratic process, and who endured this struggle for more than 20 yearsthey were the revolution.

People power won. Aung San Suu Kyi played a huge role the process, but the world rewarded her too much for it, overlooking a few critical points. First, nonviolence is a tactic, not simply a virtue. All those who use it need not be virtuous. Second, a leader fighting for their own people’s rights does not mean that they would do the same for all. An article from 2012 in Foreign Policy, written just about one year into Suu Kyi’s leadership, was already criticizing her neglect of minorities in Myanmar. Third, perfect human beings do not exist, even though the world yearns for them. Digging deep enough into the history of any revered figure will reveal faults, although most are greatly outweighed by the benefits of that person’s existence. Often, however, in the midst of awarding and celebrating a newly crowned hero, nobody is digging.

The biggest lessons to take away from this tragic situation regard leaders, humanity, and the dangers of putting too much trust in either. Just as Aung San Suu Kyi began encouraging the nonviolent mobilization of citizens decades ago, they should today be mobilized against her. People power is still the key to a better world.

World’s Longest-Jailed Journalist Freed in Uzbekistan, but Media Struggle Continues

Photo: Shamil Zhumatov. Reuters. Via The Committee to Protect Journalists.

It has recently been announced that the longest-jailed journalist in the world is free. After 19 years, Uzbekistan has released Yusuf Ruzimuradov, now 64 years old. The journalist had originally been detained for his work at an independent newspaper called Erk, or Freedom. The government, seeing this paper and its writers as a political threat, arrested Ruzimuradov and his editor, Muhammad Bekjanov.

Both reporters were sentenced originally to 15 years in prison after a sham trial that convicted them for publishing and distributing a banned newspaper, which by extension was considered part of an attempt to overthrow the government. Those sentences were arbitrarily extended in the prisons until finally both journalists were recently released. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has confirmed that Ruzimuradov was freed in late February, even though the news is only just emerging.

The organization sees this as a definite victory, but is not consumed merely by celebration. “Today, we can breathe a sigh of relief that Yusuf Ruzimuradov–the longest imprisoned journalist in the world–has finally been released in #Uzbekistan, but we remain outraged at the grave injustice that robbed him of 19 years of his life,” the CPJ tweeted. The organization is calling further on the Uzbek government to release the other journalists still being held as political prisoners.

Two such trials are set to begin sometime this week. Yet one of the journalists on trial, Bobomurod Abdullaev, has had his court date postponed after undergoing harsh torture inside the Uzbek prison. The independent journalists concerned have been charged with “conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional regime” and are facing up to 20 years in prison. Human rights groups have been urging that these charges be dropped and the prisoners be released immediately. Last month, 12 organizations issued a joint statement on the subject: “Uzbek authorities should ensure a thorough, impartial, and independent investigation into the alleged torture and other ill-treatment of a detained independent journalist … Uzbek authorities should immediately release Bobomurod Abdullaev and other people detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.”

While these human rights groups push for releases and reforms, the road to press freedom in Uzbekistan is long and perilous. Freedom House has ranked the status of the country’s press, net, and societal freedom as all “Not Free” in its annual reports. In its World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Uzbekistan at 169 out of 180 countries. This metric, placing the country as one of the most repressive in the world, has many implications. For activists celebrating the release of Ruzimuradov this week, it is a kind of reality check. The nation is still systematically oppressing free media. For those fixated more on this latter fact, however, every positive development is rather a welcome victory that inspires the continued fight for justice.

EDSA Commemoration Reminds the Country and President of the Strength of the People

Photo: Various groups stage a rally at the People Power Monument on February 24, 2018 to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the EDSA Revolution. Rappler

Sunday, February 25th marked the 32nd anniversary of the Philippine People Power Revolution: EDSA. In 1986, civil resistance against the rule of then President Ferdinand Marcos was championed by both civilians and the military and backed by the Catholic church, leading to the ousting of Marcos. The 2018 government celebrations coincided with protests by civic groups, the official wreath laying and flag raising ceremony alongside flowers and candles honoring martial law martyrs. Filipinos, with more than a century of recorded street protest starting with  one staged by the first workers’ union in the country in 1903, monitor the state of democracy in their country, prepared to defend their liberty and rights.

On February 20, 1986, Marcos proclaimed himself the victor of a snap election. On the same day, Corazon Aquino called for civil disobedience and the boycott of Marcos’ cronies’ companies. The stocks of those companies fell the next day as two million people took up her cause.

Marcos responded by threatening to reinstate martial law if Aquino led a nationwide strike, and by coordinating his own mass demonstration of support in return. Reports would later claim that over ten million pesos had been reserved to pay “supporters” to attend this rally in Marcos’ honor.

Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile announced two days later his defection from Marcos. He was joined by Lieutenant General Fidel V. Ramos, and other military personnel followed suit. The Catholic Church announced its support and urged people via radio to provide aid and guard the defectors against anticipated reprisals. Marcos, in retaliation, denounced Enrile and Ramos.

Before and during this time, various protests against the totalitarian regime had begun to coalesce into a movement. When, on February 23, Enrile and Ramos met along EDSA, they were surrounded and protected by a growing number of supporters in a movement that seemed increasingly like a revolution. Marcos answered their calls for democracy and an end to their subjugation with columns of armored tanks.

“Thus began the banded Filipinos’ show of force—through song and slogans; through earnest extensions of friendship to hard-faced soldiers; through the flashing of the Laban sign—symbol of Cory Aquino’s campaign and of the movement that carried her; through prayers and linked arms and rosaries, human barricades and flowers.”

On February 25 1986, Corazon C. Aquino was sworn in as the elected President, ushering in democracy and pushing the dictator Marcos out of a country that had unified for freedom.

This year, several groups marked the historic day with new protests. Some view Duterte as a president becoming a dictator, and camped out for over a week to protest the drug war and extrajudicial killings associated with it, martial law in Mindanao, and charter change. Martial law survivors Judy Taguiwalo, former Secretary of Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Satur Ocampo, former representative of nationalist and democratic Bayan Muna Party, attended the protests. Duterte currently faces accusations of crimes against humanity over his war on drugs. As many as 20,000 people may have been killed in police raids or vigilante shootings in attempts to stop the illegal trade.

Militant groups held another program in Quezon City. The groups gathered at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani to launch their “Congress of the Masses.” Among the issues they called out is the administration’s move for charter change, constitutional revisions they fear will only benefit Duterte’s allies. Farmers from disaster-hit areas in Samar also joined the militants in the march denounce the alleged militarization in the regions, and to demand proper rehabilitation for their lands.

As the People Power Revolution is celebrated, the drive for freedom is kept in the forefront of the minds of Filipinos, who watch warily as their President strengthens his power.

As a protester said “It is a warning to all would-be tyrants that the people will always resist and triumph over authoritarian rule, no matter how long and no matter how difficult.”

The Powerful Voice of the ‘Mass Shooting Generation’

Photo: Students stage a ‘lie-in’ in front of the White House to demonstrate against gun violence. NY Daily News.

19 years ago, the shooting at Columbine High School shook the US to its core and permanently changed the educational experience of American students. On that day, two armed students killed 13 people and injured more than 20, making it one of the most horrific and deadly shootings in the nation’s history.

In the 19 years since, there have been so many more mass shootings in the US that the Columbine attack is no longer even among the top 10 deadliest in modern American history. In fact, five of these most fatal attacks have occurred just within the past year and a half. Breaking news no longer delivers the shock that it once did. Although always heartbroken, many Americans have long since stopped asking how something like this could happen.

There is a new emerging set of voices, however, that will not so easily be quieted by the usual political “thoughts and prayers” rhetoric. The high school students of today, a demographic born within the past 19 years, have grown up in a world that treats gun violence at schools like an unfortunate fact of life. Some are calling them the ‘Mass Shooting Generation.’ From the time they entered school, they were put through active shooter drills and made to practice lockdowns, silently huddled together on the floor in the darkest corner of a classroom.

Now, these students are reaching adulthood, finding their political voices, and, in the wake of the Florida shooting, speaking out. Above all else, they want increased gun control. This is one of the most controversial topics of US political discourse, made ever worse by the huge sums of money paid to officials by the National Rifle Association (NRA) pro-gun lobby. In 2016, the NRA spent more than $30 million to help elect Donald Trump. The students are now pleading that he listen to them instead.

Still, Trump insists that the mental health of the shooter was behind this incident, denying that the incredible ease of access to guns in the US played a role. Emma Gonzales, a teenager speaking at a recent anti-gun rally, countered that gun control is paramount issue here, that nothing else could have prevented the attack. “We need to pay attention to the fact that this isn’t just a mental health issue,” said Gonzalez. “He wouldn’t have harmed that many students with a knife.” It is imperative to note also that the Florida shooter bought his gun legally, passing the required background checks despite a violent history.

Knowing that words are not enough, the ‘Mass Shooting Generation’ has decided to act. On Monday, students staged a ‘lie-in’ demonstration outside the White House. Despite the cold, wet weather, they lay on the ground to symbolize the students slain in so many horrific attacks. At a Florida high school not far from the recent attack, student protesters held signs that said, “It could’ve been us.” and “Your silence is killing us.”

More demonstrations are planned across the country in the coming weeks, including student marches on the Florida Capitol, a protest in Washington D.C., a nationwide school walkout, and then in April, The National Day of Action Against Gun Violence in Schools calls for a massive show of solidarity and empowerment across the country. This day, the 20th anniversary of the Columbine shooting, will mark also 20 years of the latent fear and grief that have become endemic to American schools. It will also hopefully spark a new era of healing and progress in the US against gun violence, led by the students affected most.

#RiceBunny – The Resilient #MeToo Movement in China

Photo: This image circulating on Chinese social media explains the origin of the movement’s adapted hashtag.

#MeToo has been one of the most profound developments in the modern feminist movement. Far more than a hashtag, it has been a conduit for unity among women, enabling many for the first time to openly share the abuses committed against them without fear of being silenced or of retribution from the powers that be. It has realized overdue consequences to a tremendous number of men in high positions – men who have so long abused their power over female colleagues in completely unacceptable ways. #MeToo is powerful. Celebration of its victories, however, should not completely overshadow the movement’s ongoing struggles.

China is a male-dominated, highly censored culture. Needless to say, it is absolutely not conducive to social media campaigns, especially those that challenge men in positions of power. When the Weinstein story first broke in the US, launching the #MeToo movement, Chinese state-run media ran articles affirming that, “Chinese traditional values and conservative attitudes tend to safeguard women against inappropriate behavior from members of the opposite gender.” Statements like these met immediate backlash, however, from women whose personal experiences told a very different story. Nevertheless, the Chinese government’s longstanding policy of writing off feminist groups as ‘Agents of Western Interference’ seemed to again stifle any effectual change from taking off at that time.

The #MeToo movement first breached Chinese media when Luo Qianqian, a citizen of China living in the US, decided to share her story. Luo had been sexually assaulted by a professor at her university. She recalls that he pounced on her while she cried and pleaded with him to stop. Although he did withdraw from the advance, the encounter ended with him begging for her silence on the incident, and her realizing that she had no choice but to comply. That silence finally broke when she shared her story on China’s primary social media platform Weibo. In her post, she told her story and urged others to do the same with the hashtag #WoYeShi (directly translated: #MeToo).

The campaign manifested quickly in universities, where the power imbalance between students and their professors generally ranges from concerningly stark to unacceptably extreme. This systematic struggle facing university students, the most emboldened and socially active part of the population, should have created the perfect storm for #MeToo to explode. But the Chinese face an obstacle that the West generally didn’t: the government.

It is always a danger when people power movements adapt the tactics of other, successful movements and expect them to work the same way. In this case, Chinese students took the hashtag #WoYeShi (#MeToo) and began to share their stories, just like women in the rest of the world were doing. Something different happened, though, once their posts were published – they disappeared. Even though the Chinese government had seemed initially supportive of the movement, publicly firing the professor that assaulted Luo Qianqian, it quickly reversed course and worked to shut the momentum down.

In the face of such adversity, a new iteration of #MeToo was born in China. There was no other feasible way for the movement to proceed. With government sensors cleansing the internet of all expressly related content, women have begun to use alternate hashtags to continue to share their stories. That’s how #RiceBunny emerged, which in Chinese is pronounced “mi tu”. It serves the same function, but with a renewed and resilient fervor for the cause that a mere ‘copy-paste’ of the international movement could not quite achieve. In effect, the rise of #RiceBunny is much more than a clever circumvention of the censors. It is a powerful message from this generation of Chinese women, telling their government and the world that will not so easily let themselves be silenced.

Women’s Rights are Human Rights – Iranian Women Protesting the Veil Law

Picture – Hosein Ghazinoury. The Girl of Engheleb Street – “An Iconic Fighter for Women’s Rights in Iran”

In the struggle for women’s rights in Iran, enduring since the 1979 Revolution, a resurgent act of protest this week demonstrated the exasperation many have with the implemented Sharia Law. This policy sidelines women and bestows on them the “harsh reality of subjection to a patriarchal interpretation of Islamic law when applied by the legal machinery of a modern state.

Sharia Law – The Islamization of the Iranian Legal System

In the 1930s, jurisdiction of the Sharia courts was terminated in Iran. When the Pahlavi monarchy collapsed and Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, however, he reinstated the Sharia Law in 1979. This set the trend for subsequent changes and the notion of a centralized and unified legal system. As a result, wearing the hijab became compulsory for women. Moreover, the education system became segregated, and though universities remained mixed, regulations were implemented to separate the sexes in class and on campus.

This took a severe toll on women. Though their suffrage rights were maintained, most of the pre-revolutionary legal reforms were completely abolished. Thus, under the Islamic Law that prevails since the 1979 Revolution, women are absolutely forbidden to appear in public without the hijab to covering their heads and necks, concealing their hair. The Iranian government upholds the hijab as “an emblem of its religious and political identity” symbolizing “not only the Islamic government but also…the ideal type of Iranian women.” This is further emphasized as the government denies the “existence of many others who did not wear chadors or believe in hijab.”

Unfortunately, in spite of the protests and disagreements against the law upheld in Iran, women are still deprived of a primary right: the right to wear what they want in public. This is a basic right, a human right, which continues to be ignored.

Pushing the Boundaries – Protesting the Veil

As lawmakers and religious leaders are frustrated with the inability of the morality police to efficiently maintain the rules and ensure Islamic dress code is followed in public places, many women are pushing the boundaries of the discriminatory laws. “A renewed wave of protest to get rid of the strict laws that force Iranian women to wear hijabs in public has gained momentum.”

Iranian activist Masih Alinejad started a movement to get rid of the country’s dress codes and fight the compulsory hijab through her website My Stealthy Freedom. She encouraged women to send photos of themselves without hijabs in Iran, and later posted them with powerful messages to her website. Following this, Vida Movahed initiated an act of resistance, protesting the dress code imposed by the Iranian government by removing her headscarf. She boldly stood on a telecom box and waved her headscarf around. She was consequently arrested and, after approximately a month of detention, was finally released on Sunday, January 28. Her arrest had been followed by a wave of other women taking this risky act, leading to a wave of protests that spread across Iran in late December 2017.

This Monday, women took to the streets again and replicated Movahed’s act, reemerging on social media. These women are taking action and voicing their discontent with the compulsory hijab and long loose clothing for the government’s interpretation of modesty. After similarly protesting the veil law, Narges Hosseini was arrested this Monday.

The resistance went viral, as thousands of social media users shared messages of support. This also led to other Iranian activists starting various campaigns that have since gone global both on and offline. This movement has reached such a wide threshold that even protesters in the US, at the most recent Women’s March, waved placards with the movement’s slogan.