Tag Archives: 2: Unfavorable

Nationality + Migration

Tanzania News | Indian

Tanzania president seizes passports of Indian workers for project delays
  • President John Magufuli ordered the seizure of the passports of employees of Overseas Infrastructure Alliance until the water project they are overseeing is complete.
  • The project, based in the southern town of Lindi, was originally set to be completed by March 2015.
  • The seizure comes as the president has aggressively pursued measures to cut wasteful spending and target corruption while courting foreign businesses.
Read

“Tanzania’s Magufuli orders seizure of expatriate construction workers’ passports” (Reuters | March 2017)

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

U.S. Feature | Black Immigrants

Integrating Blackness into U.S. Immigration Justice

The surge in the visibility of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. following the election of Donald Trump has increased the workload of immigration activists, particularly those fighting for justice for Afro-Latinx and black Muslim immigrants. In addition to broader xenophobia, black immigrant communities have been subject to broader anti-black racism that has compounded their insecurity, including disproportionate profiling and deportation, high unemployment rates, and marginalization by other immigrant communities. Recent media coverage has examined the challenges that arise at the intersection of being black and immigrant in a hostile political climate.

Read

“Meet the Afro-Latinx Activists Empowering Black Immigrants” (teleSUR English | February 2017)

“Black immigrants in U.S. fear profiling may drive up deportation rates” (Free Speech Radio News | February 2017)

“Black Muslims Face Double Jeopardy, Anxiety In The Heartland” (NPR | February 2017)

“Black and Muslim, some African immigrants feel the brunt of Trump’s immigration plans” (PRI | January 2017)

Study

The State of Black Immigrants (Black Alliance for Just Immigration + NYU School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic | 2016)

Connect & Support

Black Alliance for Just Immigration
African Communities Together
Black Immigrant Network
UndocuBlack

(Image Credit: Erik McGregor/Getty Images, via NPR)

 

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Japan News | Koreans & Chinese

Growing scandal over ultra-nationalist kindergarten exposes battle over education in Japan
  • The Tsukamoto Kindergarten has drawn attention for promoting notions of Japanese “purity” and “uniformity” and racist statements made about Koreans and Chinese.
  • Ideological education has become a growing point of contention between liberals and conservatives, with the former worrying that so-called “traditional education” indoctrinates young children with the same ultranationalist spirit that fueled Japanese imperial expansion and led to World War II.
  • The school sits at the center of an expanding political scandal involving Japan’s First Lady and a suspicious deal that allowed the land on which the school was built to be purchased from the government at a steep discount.
Read

“Nationalist Osaka preschool draws heat for distributing slurs against Koreans and Chinese” (The Japan Times | February 2017)

“Bigotry and Fraud Scandal at Kindergarten Linked to Japan’s First Lady” (The New York Times | February 2017)

“Shinzo Abe and wife under pressure over ties to ultra-nationalist school” (The Guardian | February 2017)

(Image Credit: Ha Kwiyeon/Reuters, via The New York Times)

Gender, Ideology + Affiliation

China News | Activist Women

Chinese feminist group’s social media accounts suspended
  • The Weibo account for prominent feminist group Feminist Voices was recently suspended, with the group’s social media editor suspecting posts about anti-Trump demonstrations in the U.S. having spurred the gag.
  • Weibo administrators indicated the group will be unable to post through the account for 30 days for “violating national laws.”
  • Beyond the suspension, activists reported broadening crackdowns on feminist activity, including social media attacks by commentators paid by the government to support the Chinese Communist Party on social media.
Read

“Chinese Feminist Group’s Social Media Account Suspended” (The New York Times | February 2017)

“Chinese Feminists Protest Gag Order on Social Media Account” (Radio Free Asia | February 2017)

“Women In China Are Protesting After A Feminist Account Was Shut Down For Posting About The Women’s March” (BuzzFeed News | February 2017)

(Image Credit: Feminist Voices, via The New York Times)

Gender

India News | Women

Pro-choice advocates push to expand abortion window in India
  • Indian women can currently obtain an abortion up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy, after which termination procedures are legally permissible only on a case-by-case basis in cases of danger to maternal health.
  • Advocates argue that many victims of sex crimes do not report pregnancies until late, leaving a very small window of time to abort the pregnancy.
  • Advocates are now pushing to extend the window to 24 weeks and to equip doctors with the legal power to grant abortions rather than forcing women to pursue permission through law enforcement and the courts.
Read

“Victims of sex crime race strict Indian abortion deadline” (The Thomson Reuters Foundation | February 2017)

Related Reading

“India’s population surges as men remain reluctant to use contraceptive measures” (The Hindustan Times | February 2017)
“US abortion funding cuts hit Indian NGOs” (The Economic Times | January 2017)

Nationality + Migration

South Africa News | Immigrants

New anti-immigrant wave rolls over South Africa, leading to violence and arrests
  • Pretoria stood at the center of a new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in the country, where anti-immigrant protesters took part in marches and others looted at least 20 immigrants’ shops.
  • At least 136 people were arrested during a march after police used tear gas and other dispersal tactics.
  • Protesters have accused immigrants of bringing crime and sex work to South Africa as the nation experiences high levels of unemployment.
Read

“South African police break up anti-immigrant protests” (Reuters | February 2017)
“Pretoria brought to a standstill during anti-immigrant march” (News24 | February 2017)
“20 shops belonging to immigrants looted in South Africa” (The Guardian (Nigeria) | February 2017)

(Image Credit: James Oatway/Reuters)

Gender

Russia News | Women

Putin signs law reducing punishment for domestic violence in Russia
  • Perpetrators who physically assault family members but do not cause broken bones will now only be subject to 15 days in prison or a fine if the violence only occurs once a year.
  • Previously, the crime had carried a maximum jail sentence of two years, but conservative politicians and advocates argued the state was intruding in private affairs.
  • A spike in reports of domestic violence in Russia’s fourth-largest city following the passage of the law has sparked concerns that the law has increased women’s vulnerability to violence in a country that sees 12-14,000 women die a year as a result of domestic violence.
Coverage

“Putin approves legal change that decriminalises some domestic violence” (The Guardian | February 2017)
“Domestic violence reports soar in Russian city following partial decriminalisation” (The Independent | February 2017)
“Majority in Russia See Domestic Violence as Serious Problem” (Gallup | February 2017)

 

Nationality + Migration

U.S. News | Refugees & Immigrants

Refugees and immigrants traveling to U.S. reportedly stopped at airports following executive order
  • President Donald Trump issued an executive order halting refugee resettlement in the U.S. for 120 days.
  • The order also creates a 90-day suspension of visas for nationals from”countries of concern,” expected to include Muslim-majority countries with little to no connection to Trump’s business interests including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
  • The suspended visas and refugee ban have led to the detention of and refusal of passage to immigrant airport travelers.
Read

Full Executive Order Text: Trump’s Action Limiting Refugees Into the U.S. (via The New York Times)

Coverage

(Image Credit: via Politico)

Religion + Belief

China News | Christians

Christians see restrictions on Christmas celebrations as crackdown by Chinese government continues
  • A hotel in Zhejiang province canceled plans to host two services by local churches after a warning from the government.
  • Zhejiang authorities have also moved to prevent informal “house churches” from operating and have banned all forms of religious activity in hospitals.
  • Officials have condemned many forms of religious expression in the name of national security, considering Christianity an example of the “infiltration of hostile Western forces.”

Read more:
“China Cracks Down on Christmas Celebrations, Bans Protestant Services” (Radio Free Asia)

Additional reads:
“China’s Zhejiang Bans Religious Activities in Hospitals as Crackdown Widens” (Radio Free Asia, August 2016)
“Decapitated Churches in China’s Christian Heartland” (The New York Times, May 2016)

(Image Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press, via The New York Times)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Brazil News | Indigenous

Budget cuts and proposed land rights and environmental rollbacks threaten indigenous communities in Brazil
  • Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI), the government agency responsible for the protection of indigenous communities, faces large budget cuts under President Michel Temer’s government that advocates say could increase the insecurity of indigenous groups, particularly of the more than 100 uncontacted groups in the country.
  • A draft decree seeks to increase the level of scrutiny applied in the demarcation of indigenous land reservations, annulling certain previously secured land rights and making the recognition of new claims considerably more difficult.
  • A proposed bill seeks to overhaul environmental licensing protocol, shifting from federally managed licensing procedures to flexible, state-based determinations of licensing necessity for agricultural and land-use projects.

Read more:
“Temer government set to overthrow Brazil’s environmental agenda” (Mongabay)
“Brazil’s plan to roll back environment laws draws fire: ‘The danger is real’” (The Guardian)
“Brazil budget cuts put uncontacted Amazon tribe at risk, say activists” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Ricardo Stuckert/The Guardian)

Gender

Lebanon News | Women

Appointment of man as Lebanon’s first women’s affairs minister sparks outrage
  • The appointment of Jean Ogasapian to the new post in Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri’s newly formed government drew widespread condemnation from women’s rights leaders and organizations, a further injury on top of the appointment of only one woman to the 30-member government.
  • The stakes are high as advocates work to combat high levels of domestic violence and discriminatory citizenship laws that deny women the power to pass citizenship on to their children upon marrying non-citizens.
  • Social media derision has given way to calls for protests against an appointment viewed as illegitimate and in line with the establishment of a cabinet built through nepotism and loyalism rather than competence.

Read more:
“Lebanon protests urged after man picked as first women’s affairs minister” (The Guardian)
“Lebanon appoints man as first ever women’s affairs minister” (The Independent)
“Lebanon’s first minister for women is a man” (The Washington Post)

(Image Credit: Handout/Reuters, via The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Madagascar Feature | Chinese & Malagasy

The Ambivalent Xenophobia in Chinese-Malagasy Relations

Source: AFP YouTube

The history of Chinese immigration in Madagascar is a complex tale that begins during the era of 19th-century French colonialism and continues into the contemporary era of globalization. Now entrepreneurs and investors rather than imported labor, the new generation of Chinese immigrants has concerned itself less with integration than with taking advantage of trade and investment opportunities in the island nation, at times to the detriment of the environment and local economic practices. Currently, more than 800 businesses have expanded the Chinese-national population to nearly 100,000, alarming many Malagasy and prompting accusations of politicians “selling off” the country. Over the last few years, international media have begun to examine the complicated relationship between xenophobia, economic exploitation, and fears of imperialism fueled by colonialism anxieties in a politically precarious country still wracked by poverty.

Read:
“A Madagascar, la forte présence chinoise passe de plus en plus mal” (AFP, in French)

Additional:
“Madagascar protests halt activity at Chinese gold mine” (News24, October 2016)
“Madagascar’s Chinese Vanilla” (Al Jazeera, April 2015)
“Who Knew? Madagascar Has Africa’s Third Largest Chinese Population” (ChinaFile, March 2015)
“China’s rosewood craving cuts deep into Madagascar rainforests” (The Guardian, February 2015)
“Influx of Chinese transforms the landscape of Madagascar” (The South China Morning Post, August 2013)
Chinese people in Madagascar (Wikipedia)

Race + Color + Ethnicity

U.S. Feature | Hispanic/Latinx

L.A.’s “Brownout” in Hollywood Depictions

Despite comprising half of the population of Angelenos, Hispanics have been largely absent from the center of Hollywood narratives using the City of Angels as its backdrop. The Guardian examines the reception of the depictions that have managed to make it to the big screen, a brief history of Hispanic actors’ relationship to Hollywood, and the tales of bigotry encountered in an industry whose whitewashed screens have often drained the nation’s most vibrant and multicultural cities of color and complexity, further distancing those at the margins from the idea of “Americanness.”

Read:
“Hollywood’s hidden Hispanics: why LA’s Latinos are invisible on screen” (The Guardian)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief

China News | Hui Muslims

Popular website for Chinese Muslims goes down following posting of Xi-critical letter
  • China Muslim Net, a site focused on content related to Hui Muslims in the country, became inaccessible after the site published a letter critical of President Xi Jinping, though the official cause of the issue has not been revealed.
  • The letter reportedly denounced Xi for the jailing of advocates and intellectuals and called for the release of Kwong Pyong, a student who disappeared after posting pictures of himself online wearing a satirical t-shirt comparing Xi to Hitler.
  • The Chinese government has cracked down on religious expression and expressed fears of extremism in the country as it has engaged in protracted conflict with Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

Read more:
“Popular Chinese Muslim website down after posting letter critical of Xi” (Reuters)
“China Shutters Muslim Website After Protest Letter to PresidentChina Shutters Muslim Website After Protest Letter to President” (Radio Free Asia)
“Chinese Muslim website blocked after Xi Jinping letter” (Al Jazeera/AFP)

Age, Health + Ability

U.S. Feature | Children with Disabilities

Failing Students with Disabilities in Texas

An extensive multi-part series by The Houston Chronicle has revealed the devious tactics the Texas Education Agency and school administrators have deployed to reduce the number of students with disabilities their schools serve, masking an alarming decrease in support beneath the glean of “improved pedagogy” and “early intervention.” An arbitrary, unscientific 8.5% benchmark was set across the state for the percentage of students taught in special education classes, which necessitated a dramatic and at times aggressive reduction in the number of students evaluated and identified as in need of special education. From stories of families trapped in bureaucratic labyrinths to data on the disproportionate negative effect on English-language learners, the Chronicle series investigates the broken system responsible for the education of children with disabilities and the political struggle to right the listing ship.

Read:
“Denied: How Texas keeps tens of thousands of kids out of special ed” (The Houston Chronicle)

(Image Credit: Marie D. De Jesús/The Houston Chronicle)