Practice Topic 1 Should national governments apologize for their slave trade past

by acknowledging that slavery was a crime against humanity and compensating the
victims’ families?
*Can you narrow down your thesis statement and make the claim more specific?
*Which 3 arguments?
*Counter-argument and rebuttal?
*How do you cite?
*Can you think of a catchy hook?
*Can you describe the setting of this controversy?
*Which main point do you want to make? What is your purpose?
*Who is your audience?
*Can you think of a call for action?
*Can you think of a creative title?

CASE 1 The Netherlands

The Netherlands told to apologize for slave trade past

Mayor of Amsterdam makes formal apology but PM Mark Rutte has in the past said
the government has no plans to do the same.

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema at a national remembrance of slavery abolition

event on July 1 | Koen Van Weel/AFP via Getty Images
BY ELINE SCHAART, CNN, July 1, 2021
The Netherlands must apologize for its slave trade past and recognize that slavery
was a crime against humanity, a committee advising the government said Thursday.
The committee, set up last year by Internal Affairs Minister Kajsa Ollongren, also
called on the government to tackle institutional racism in the labor market, housing
market and education system, which it said was the result of the country’s links to
slavery and colonialism.
Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said last year the government had no plans to
apologize for the Dutch role in the slave trade, and only 35 percent of the population
back the idea, according to a survey by TV current affairs program EenVandaag.
Last year, two of the four coalition parties — D66 and ChristenUnie — called on the
government to take a stand but Rutte said that a formal apology risked increased
polarization.
The Netherlands on Thursday celebrates Keti Koti — the anniversary of the abolition
of slavery in its former colonies of Suriname and the Dutch Antilles.
The four largest Dutch cities — Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague —
recently called for Keti Koti (which means “broken chains” in the Sranantongo
language) to be turned into a national holiday. The advisory committee said July 1
should be turned into a national day of remembrance.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema on Thursday made a formal apology for the
city’s role in the slave trade.
“On behalf of the city’s administration, I apologize for the active involvement of the
Amsterdam city council in the commercial system of colonial slavery and the
worldwide trade in enslaved people,” Halsema said during a Keti Koti ceremony. “It is
time to embed the great injustice of colonial slavery into the identity of our city,
through broad and unconditional recognition.”

Case 2 The United States

Following a catastrophic storm, a new investigation begins at Florida's Dozier

School for Boys
By Susan Scutti, CNN, July 17, 2019
A catastrophic storm may help bring justice to the families of victims of a notorious
Florida reform school. On Monday, Dr. Erin Kimmerle, a University of South Florida
forensic anthropologist, began an investigation of 27 "anomalies" discovered by an
engineering firm hired by the state's Department of Environmental Protection to help
clean-up following Hurricane Michael, according to Florida's Department of State.
Though the 27 anomalies discovered by radar are "consistent with possible graves,"
according to Governor Ron DeSantis, only fieldwork will determine whether human
remains are present at the site. "We understand there are a lot of people who care
deeply about our findings," Kimmerle said in a statement from her university.
Among those who care deeply is Reverend Russell Meyer, a former member of the
Dozier state commission and now a Dozier stakeholder.
"What's there? Nobody knows what's there," Meyer told CNN. "There is a lot of
legend and a lot of local stories of various kinds of activities that have gone on in this
area, and we just want the evidence. Tell the truth and have a clear history."
Dale Landry, a former member of the Dozier task force representing the NAACP and
now a stakeholder, told CNN: "For many of us, this came out of nowhere. We were
totally shocked. We don't know what we're going to find. Everybody is sitting on pins
and needles waiting."
Fieldwork
The 27 "anomalies" are located less than 200 yards from a section on the Dozier
school property known as Boot Hill Cemetery, where, previously, USF researchers
found 55 graves.
The first priority for Kimmerle, who led the original 2012 excavation at Dozier, is
determining whether or not the anomalies are human burials. Yet, she and her USF
colleagues are also tasked with analyzing as much of the nearly 1,400 acre property
as possible to identify any additional areas of interest warranting further
investigation.
This field work will involve the use of similar methods and processes, according to a
government statement. The USF researchers will remove topsoil from the ground for
analysis and then test and excavate by hand. If needed, the researchers will also
provide forensic analysis and DNA testing.
Depending on what's found, the researchers may use light detection and ranging
technology (LIDAR) to determine if there are any additional "areas of concern" on the
site, according to a university statement. "Our objective is to answer as many
questions as possible, as we have done throughout the course of our research at the
site," said Kimmerle.
The investigation could take from 6 months to one year, according to Florida's
department of state, which plans to communicate updates or discoveries as they
develop.
Past
Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys (earlier known as the Florida State Reform School
and Florida Industrial School) opened on January 1, 1900, on 1400 acres of land.
Originally, the school was intended as a refuge for troubled children, including those
found guilty of theft and murder, according to a USF report.
Later, children guilty of minor offenses, including truancy, and innocent children,
including orphans, were placed in the school.
Many families and witnesses believe children died under questionable or suspicious
circumstances at the school, the USF report said. Between 1914 and 1960, burials
occurred on school grounds in an area known as "Boot Hill," where white crosses
commemorating 31 burials were placed decades later. In 2011, the school closed.
Shortly thereafter, the USF research team began its work to identify those buried at
the school and the circumstances of their deaths.
What they found incited "great controversy" in the community, Meyer said. Some
local voices "strongly objected" to the USF research, while "a lot of people" simply
did not want to believe "the story of the horrors" that had taken place at the school,
he said.
Florida lets university exhume bodies at school where boys disappeared
"In its heyday, Dozier was considered a great institution," Meyer said. Each year,
boys at the school would design a huge Christmas display and "cars would line up
for a couple of miles" to see it. Many people in Jackson County had worked there or
had family who worked there or had a business serving the school. Add to that, the
school, which was also a working farm, received children from throughout the
country. "We have to remember this school at its height was the largest reformatory
school in the country," Meyer said.
Inevitably, then, the original USF investigation became a subject of contention. Civil
rights and race questions were raised once the researchers discovered that most of
the remains were African American boys. It was "very disconcerting" that "some
great horror" had gone on at the school, Meyer said.
At times, the researchers required police protection, he said.
Present
Today, attitudes about the current investigation are different.
"I'm very happy to say that everybody is at the table and there is a consensus for
moving forward to find out what we can possibly know about the property and come
up with a clear history," Meyer said.
Hurricane Michael changed the environmental situation for the better. Assessment of
the property had begun prior to the category 5 storm, yet damage done by hurricane
opened up clearings on the property where previously there were none, Meyer said.
"Before Hurricane Michael, the foliage in the area was in many cases so extremely
thick that LIDAR could only do so much" for those investigating the property for
hidden graves, he said. The new clearings might also make it possible for the USF
researchers to investigate beyond the 27 anomalies and either prove or disprove
community rumors of other illicit burials on school grounds, Meyer said.

Florida to exhume bodies buried at former boys school

Landry said "there's a lot of stuff being uncovered as a result of the Hurricane. For
many of us, we feel that those were the spirits calling out." These "voices of the
dead" need to be heard, he said: "We're holding and waiting."
Meyer said, "Dozier, in my opinion, represents the story that happens when we turn
our backs on public accountability of the institutions we create for caring for children
in need and at risk."
"We have to remember the victims -- they were completely innocent," he said.

Rooted In History, 'The Nickel Boys' Is A Great American Novel

by Maureen Corrigan, July 16, 2019
It's pretty rare for a writer to produce a novel that wins the Pulitzer Prize and the
National Book Award and, then, a scant three years later, bring out another novel
that's even more extraordinary. But, that's what Colson Whitehead has done in
following up his 2016 novel, The Underground Railroad, with The Nickel Boys. It's
a masterpiece squared, rooted in history and American mythology and, yet, painfully
topical in its visions of justice and mercy erratically denied.
By Whitehead's own admission, the disturbing true story that informs The Nickel
Boys derailed him from the crime novel he'd been planning to write. A few years ago,
Whitehead read news reports about The Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, a
segregated reform school in Florida that opened in 1900 and was finally shut down in
2011. Unmarked graves of boys brutalized and even possibly murdered at the school
were discovered — and are still being discovered — by forensic archaeologists. In
Whitehead's novel, The Dozier School is renamed "The Nickel Academy" and it's at
this house of horrors that his main character, an African American teenager named
Elwood Curtis, winds up.
It's the early 1960s and Elwood has been listening to a record album of Martin Luther
King Jr.'s speeches that his grandmother gave him for Christmas. Elwood has
absorbed Dr. King's message that he "must walk the streets of life every day with [a]
sense of dignity and ... somebody-ness."
The other kids in high school think he's a goody goody, but industrious Elwood
believes in the meritocracy and, in fact, he's already been offered an opportunity to
take classes at a "colored college" miles away from his home in Tallahassee. To get
there he has to hitchhike. That's when Fate steps in in the form of a black man
driving a bright green Plymouth Fury, which turns out to be stolen. Even though
Elwood is but a clueless passenger, he's sent to the Nickel Academy for car theft.
Whitehead's novel is short and intense; its chapters as compact as the isolation cells
that Nickel boys are thrown into and sometimes never leave. One way that
Whitehead uses the narrative spareness of The Nickel Boys to devastating effect is
by tightly juxtaposing scenes and images and letting the contrasts silently sink in.
For instance, Elwood's arrival (in handcuffs) at The Nickel Academy is made all the
more wretched by the fact that the school — all green lawns and red brick — looks
like his intended college, at least on the outside. And a shattering chapter about a
rigged and vicious boxing match that nods to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is
followed by a description of the annual Christmas Fair at The Nickel Academy. The
child-friendly displays of Santa and gingerbread houses are constructed by the
forced labor of the Nickel boys — boys, who, we're told, years later:
"could have been many things had they not been ruined by that place. Doctors who
cure diseases or perform brain surgery, ... [S]ure not all of them were geniuses ... but
they had been denied even the simple pleasure of being ordinary. Hobbled and
handicapped before the race even began, never figuring out how to be normal."
At Nickel, Elwood makes a friend whose name is Turner; Turner is an expert
whistler, often breaking into the theme music from The Andy Griffith Show. (Another
disorienting juxtaposition.) He's also more skeptical, especially about the civil rights
movement and the chances of justice within the walls of Nickel or beyond. Turner
goes along to get along and, as Elwood begins to do the same, he feels his spirit
dying. We're told that Elwood wakes up at night and realizes that:
"In keeping his head down, ... he fooled himself that he had prevailed. ... In fact he
had been ruined. He was like one of those Negroes Dr. King spoke of in his letter
from [Birmingham] jail, so complacent and sleepy after years of oppression that they
had adjusted to it and learned to sleep in it as their only bed."
Before he gives up, Elwood resolves he'll make one last gesture of faith in the
possibility that someone in power cares about correcting injustice. You may think you
can guess how that effort ends, but you'd only be partially right. The Nickel Boys
issues a complex and deeply affecting verdict on whether or not the arc of the moral
universe does indeed bend toward justice. But my "verdict," so to speak, on The
Nickel Boys is much more straightforward: It's a great American novel.
Copyright 2019 Fresh Air.
Case 3 Canada

Why Canada is mourning the deaths of hundreds of children

By Holly Honderich, BBC News, Washington, 1 July 2021

The discovery has prompted an outpouring of grief - IMAGE COPYRIGHT GETTY

IMAGES
The discovery in May of the remains of 215 Indigenous children - students of
Canada's largest residential school - prompted national outrage and calls for
further searches of unmarked graves.
Since then, two more unmarked gravesites have been found, providing previews of
investigations by Canada's First Nations into the deaths of residential school
students. A rising tally of these sites - more than 1,100 so far - has triggered a
national reckoning over Canada's legacy of residential schools. These government-
funded boarding schools were part of policy to attempt to assimilate Indigenous
children and destroy Indigenous cultures and languages.
In May, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir announced that the
remains of 215 children had been found near the city of Kamloops in southern British
Columbia (BC). Some of remains are believed to be of children as young as three.
All of the children had been students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School - the
largest such institution in Canada's residential school system.
The remains had been confirmed days before with the help of ground-penetrating
radar technology, Chief Casimir said, following preliminary work on identifying the
burial sites in the early 2000s.
The full report into the remains found is due in late June, and the preliminary findings
may be revised. Indigenous leaders and advocates have said they expect the 215
figure to rise. "Regrettably, we know that many more children are unaccounted for,"
said Chief Casimir in a statement. Thousands of children died in residential schools
and their bodies rarely returned home. Many were buried in neglected graves.
In June, the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced it had found 751
unmarked graves after a similar investigation - the largest such discovery to date.
The remains were found near the former Marieval Indian Residential School, which
operated from 1899 in 1996 under the control of the Roman Catholic Church.
Cowessess leaders have not yet determined if all of the unmarked graves belonged
to children. Technical teams will continue the investigation to provide verified
numbers.
Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme emphasised that the discovery was of unmarked
graves - not a mass grave site - and suggested that the Catholic Church may have
removed grave markers at some point in the 1960s.
Then, just a week later, the Lower Kootenay Band in British Columbia said the
remains of an additional 182 people had been found near the grounds of the former
St Eugene's Mission School. St Eugene's was operated by the Catholic Church from
1912 until the early 1970s. Some remains were found in shallow graves, the Lower
Kootenay Band said in a statement.
To this day there is no full picture of the number of children who died in residential
schools, the circumstances of their deaths, or where they are buried. Efforts like
those of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation and the Cowessess First Nation
are helping to piece some of that history together.
The Kamloops school, which operated between 1890 and 1969, held up to 500
Indigenous students at any one time, many sent to live at the school hundreds of
kilometres from their families. Between 1969 and 1978, it was used as a residence
for students attending local day schools.
Of the remains found, 50 children are believed to have already been identified, said
Stephanie Scott, executive director of the National Centre for Truth and
Reconciliation. Their deaths, where known, range from 1900 to 1971. But for the
other 165, there are no available records to mark their identities. Children "ended up
in pauper graves," Ms Scott said. "Unmarked, unknown."
The findings incited anger throughout Canada, with people creating makeshift
memorials across the country. But for Indigenous leaders, the discovery was not
unexpected. "The outrage and the surprise from the general public is welcome, no
question," said Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde following
the BC report. "But the report is not surprising."
"Survivors have been saying this for years and years - but nobody believed them,"
he said.
What are residential schools?
The Kamloops residential school was one of more than 130 others like it. The
schools were operated in Canada between 1874 and 1996.
A linchpin in the government's policy of forced assimilation, some 150,000 First
Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken from their families during this period and
placed in state-run boarding schools. When attendance became mandatory in the
1920s, parents faced threat of prison if they failed to comply.
The policy traumatised generations of Indigenous children, who were forced to
abandon their native languages, speak English or French and convert to Christianity.
Christian churches were essential in the founding and operation of the schools. The
Roman Catholic Church in particular was responsible for operating up to 70% of
residential schools, according to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. "It
was our government's policy to 'get rid of the Indian' in the child," said Chief
Bellegarde. "It was a breakdown of self, the breakdown of family, community and
nation."

Indigenous children at a residential school in 1950 - MAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY

IMAGES
The landmark Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report, released in 2015,
described the government-led policy as cultural genocide. The 4,000-page report
detailed sweeping failures in the care and safety of these children, and complicity by
the church and government. "Government, church and school officials were well
aware of these failures and their impact on student health," the authors wrote. "If the
question is, 'who knew what when?' the clear answer is: 'Everyone in authority at any
point in the system's history.'"
Students were often housed in poorly built, poorly heated, and unsanitary facilities,
the report said. Many lacked access to trained medical staff and were subject to
harsh and often abusive punishment. The squalid health conditions, the report said,
were largely a function of the government's resolve to cut costs.
"We have records in our archives of school administrations arguing with the Indian
affairs government at the time about who was going to pay for the funerals of
students," Ms Scott said. "They would do it all at minimal expense."
What do we know about the search for missing children across Canada?
Research by the TRC found that thousands of Indigenous children sent to residential
schools never made it home. Physical and sexual abuse led some to run away.
Others died of disease or by accident amid neglect. As late as 1945, the death rate
for children at residential schools was nearly five times higher than that of other
Canadian schoolchildren. In the 1960s, the rate was still double that of the general
student population.
Children's shoes have been left at makeshift memorials across Canada - MAGE
COPYRIGHT GETTY IMAGES
"Survivors talked about children who suddenly went missing. Some talked about
children who went missing into mass burial sites," said

TRC chair Murray Sinclair in a statement in May. Other survivors spoke of infants
fathered by priests at the school, taken from their mothers at birth and thrown into
furnaces, he said. In 2015, it was estimated some 6,000 children had died while at
residential schools. So far, more than 4,100 children have been identified. "We know
there are lots of sites similar to Kamloops that are going to come to light in the
future," Mr Sinclair said. "We need to begin to prepare ourselves for that."
What has been done?
In 2015, the TRC issued 94 calls to action, including six recommendations regarding
missing children and burial grounds. Prime Minister Trudeau promised to "fully
implement" all of them.
• According to a running count by the CBC, 10 of the projects have been
completed, 64 are in progress and 20 have not begun
 • The TRC, struck in 2009, fought for the issue of unmarked burial sites to be
included in its mandate
• In 2019, the government committed C$33.8m ($28m; £19.8m) over three
years to develop and maintain a school student death register and set up an
online registry of residential school cemeteries
• So far, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says it has received
just a fraction of this money
What has been the reaction?
In June, Mr Trudeau said he was "appalled" by Canada's legacy of residential
schools and pledged "concrete action" - but provided few details.
"Trudeau has been willing to move on this, he's got a lot of words, but we really need
to see action," Ms Scott said. Ms Scott, along with Chief Bellegarde and other
Indigenous leaders, have pressed the government for a thorough investigation of all
130 former school sites to find any unmarked graves. These children have been
"discarded", Chief Bellegarde said. "That's not acceptable."

First Nations community members gather for a vigil in Marieval after a discovery of
unmarked graves - MAGE COPYRIGHT GETTY IMAGES
The discoveries also cast a shadow over the country's 1 July Canada Day holiday.
Municipalities across Canada called off celebrations this year in recognition of the
findings.
The preliminary findings have also renewed demands for an apology from the
Catholic Church - one of the calls to action in the TRC report.
In 2017, Mr Trudeau asked Pope Francis to apologise for the church's role in running
Canada's residential schools - but the church has so far declined. The United,
Anglican and Presbyterian churches issued formal apologies in the 1980s and
1990s. An apology from the Catholic church would be "healing", said Chief
Bellegarde. "It's part of closing that wound." News of the BC discovery spurred a
global response, prompting statements from Human Rights Watch and the United
Nations.
Canada’s government needs to face up to its role in Indigenous children’s
deaths

Cindy Blackstock and Pamela Palmater, 8 Jul 2021

It’s time for ministers to stop consigning the residential schools scandal to a ‘dark
history’, and deal with ongoing injustices

A makeshift memorial at former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British

Columbia, where the remains of 215 Indigenous children were found. Photograph:
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Ground-penetrating sonar found the children’s bodies that the survivors of Canada’s
“residential schools” always knew were there. For more than a century, these
schools functioned as re-education camps run by the Canadian government and
Catholic church to assimilate Indigenous children. Children were raped, locked in
chicken coops, shocked in an electric chair, subject to medical experiments, confined
by electric fences and all too often dug the graves of other children who were buried
in unmarked graves. This happened under the cover of the Bible, while the Canadian
government promoted itself as a bastion of human rights.

More than 1,000 unmarked children’s graves have been discovered at former
residential schools. Why was the truth buried for so long? The answer lies in the
weaponisation of history. In his presidential address to the Royal Society of Canada
in 1922, Duncan Campbell Scott, the Canadian civil servant who ran the residential
schools at their peak between 1913 and 1932, noted that historians had a “duty and
obligation to accept no statement without documentary evidence”. For years, the
Canadian government mounted a potent colonial propaganda campaign that was
abetted by the churches to cover up wrongdoing. Leading perpetrators in the
residential school scandal were exalted in history books while statues of them were
erected in prominent places. Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples were dehumanised,
ensuring that any leaked reports or evidence of wrongdoing would receive little
attention.

The Canadian government is now doubling down on the narrative that the residential
schools are part of its “dark history”. This detracts from ongoing injustices in the
present day, such as its litigation against First Nations children and residential school
survivors in court. The Catholic church has sent prayers, but has refused to issue a
papal apology or make proper financial reparations to survivors and disclose
residential school records.
For years, the Canadian government promoted the myth that “people back then did
not know better”. Yet there were whistleblowers who had attempted to raise the
alarm. In the same year that Scott gave his address to the Royal Society of Canada,
the public health physician Peter Bryce published The Story of A National Crime, a
report detailing Scott’s stonewalling of public health measures in residential schools,
where child death rates were 25% a year. Bryce had been raising the alarm since
1907, when his first report linking inequalities in Indian public health and terrible
health practices in residential schools to prolific death rates was leaked to the
newspapers.
Bryce refused to stay silent, despite the efforts of the church and the Canadian
government to discredit him. So the government erased Bryce and others like him
from history, ensuring there was no mention of Bryce or his report in school
curriculum. He was buried in Canada’s national Beechwood cemetery; for decades,
only his family visited his grave.
Bryce was not the only whistleblower. Children in the “schools” pleaded for help too.
A 1923 letter written by little Edward B to his parents said the boys in the schools
were so hungry that they were eating cats and wheat. His letter found its way to
Scott, who responded that “99% of the children in the schools were too fat anyway”.
Scott was initially acclaimed by the government of Canada as a loyal public servant
and confederate poet. But as the children who survived the residential schools
summoned the strength to tell their truths, Bryce’s report resurfaced alongside the
reports of hundreds of other whistleblowers. Scott’s image was slowly tarnished, but
the rust only set in when the children’s bodies were found. In fact, until just a few
weeks ago, the government of Canada website listed Scott as a “Person of National
Significance” for being an “advocate for education”. This is despite the fact that Scott
himself admitted that “50% of the children who passed through these schools did not
live to benefit from the education which they had received therein”.
As historians try to educate Canadians and peel back the colonial propaganda that
allowed the truth of Canada’s residential schools to go unexamined for so long,
others are taking matters into their own hands by burning churches and removing
colonial statues. In 2015, after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its
final report documenting the horrors of the “schools,” a plaque was unveiled beside
Bryce’s gravesite in Beechwood Cemetery. Duncan Campbell Scott is buried there
too; a year later a historical plaque with the phrases “confederate poet” and “cultural
genocide” was revealed. The aim of these plaques is to give proper weight to the
historical legacies of these individuals. The historical research behind the plaques
informed the school curriculum, and now Bryce’s grave is one of the most visited in
Beechwood.
In 2013, Bryce was mentioned in legal proceedings against the Canadian
government for discriminatory underfunding of First Nations children’s public
services. In 2016, a legal ruling was issued ordering the government to cease its
discriminatory conduct Government ministers welcomed the decision but have done
little to fix the problem. It has taken 19 further orders and counting to get Canada
closer to ending the inequities in First Nations children’s public services that Bryce
pointed to 114 years ago. But the people who were unheard are now coming
forward. It’s long past time to listen, make reparations and end the injustices and
propaganda that led to the deaths of so many young children.
Cindy Blackstock, a member of the Gitxsan First Nation, is the executive director of
the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and professor at McGill University.
Pamela Palmater, a member of Ugpi’ganjig (Eel River Bar First Nation), is professor
and chair in indigenous governance at Ryerson University
Practice Topic 2 China’s Silk Road: a form of neo-colonialism?
Chinese President Xi Jinping believes the revival of the spirit of Silk Road will
strengthen China's commercial tentacles and its soft power. But not everyone
agrees with him.

The initiative covers more than half of the world's population and a total infrastructure
investment need of around 5 trillion dollars. (TRT World and Agencies)
Last week, China delayed its 1.1 billion-dollar investment in a Sri Lankan port to build
an industrial zone after hundreds of people protested against being evicted from their
land.
The investment formed part of China's modern-day Silk Road project, that President
Xi Jinping calls the "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiative.
But some people are worried that the project might represent a new kind of
colonialism.
Similar scenes occurred in Bangladesh early this month. One person was killed and
a dozen others were injured in a protest against a Chinese-backed power plant in the
capital of Dhaka. (TRT World and Agencies)
"We are against leasing the lands where people live and do their farming, while there
are identified lands for an industrial zone. When you give away such a vast area of
land, you can't stop the area becoming a Chinese colony," DV Chanaka, a local
politician in Sri Lanka said.

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in Ambalantota also protested against the project. The
banner reads "peaceful protest against selling of Hambantota port and land
grabbing. (TRT World and Agencies)
But authorities argue that the partnership arrangement with China is necessary to fix
Sri Lanka's economy.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe blamed the country's debt on former president
Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose government was friendly to Beijing.
He said the industrial zone was necessary to make the port and the nearby Chinese-
financed airport, also running at a heavy loss, viable.
"The port can't be taken away," Wickremesinghe said, adding that his country's
former British colonial rulers did not take away the Trincomalee harbor or the
Colombo port.
The Chinese economy contributes more than 30 percent to the global economic
growth. (TRT World and Agencies)
What is the OBOR?
Xi revealed the OBOR initiative in 2013, a year after he came in power.
It's an intercontinental trade and infrastructure project that opens up new land and
sea routes for Chinese goods. The project includes building roads, railways, ports
and other links and conjures the spirit of the ancient Silk Road back.

Silk Road was an international commercial line where the globalisation started. But it
became unusable due to wars. (TRT World and Agencies)
The revival of the Silk Road is a central feature of Xi's grand foreign policy.
The Chinese leader believes it would strengthen China's commercial tentacles and
its soft power by binding the country with more than 60 countries around Europe, the
Middle East and Africa.
"The initiative aims to achieve complementary advantages, narrow down the
development gap among regions, speed up the process of regional integration so as
to realize joint development and common prosperity among Asian and European
countries and related regions," Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister said.

China plans to
invest a 4 trillion dollars in OBOR countries. (European Parliament)
What has been done so far?
Companies in China have mobilized to kick-off trading in OBOR countries. Besides,
many big state owned enterprises have an OBOR department.
Wang Yi announced that the country will organize a summit forum on OBOR in
Beijing in May. "We believe the forum will be a great success and make the initiative
better serve the world," he said.
China in Africa: win-win development, or a new colonialism?
By Nick Van Mead in Bagamoyo, 31 Jul 2018

Fishermen near Bagamoyo, Tanzania. In 10 years the sleepy fishing villages here
could be razed to create space for Africa’s largest port. Photograph: Gideon
Mendel/Corbis/Getty

The tiny fishing village of Bagamoyo is set to become Africa’s largest port in a $10bn
Chinese development. Are locals right to be optimistic? As their hand-built wooden
dhow approaches the shore, Ibrahim Chamume and his fellow fishermen take in the
sail and prepare to sell their catch to the small huddle of villagers waiting on the
white sand. He has been making a living like this on the Indian Ocean since he was
14. His father was a fisherman, too.

Now in his 30s, Ibrahim says earning enough from traditional fishing is tough, but
has its compensations. There is the view across the tranquil lagoon to the mangrove
swamps; the unspoiled beaches and bays; the lush vegetation and smallholdings
growing maize, cassava, cashews and mango. Such scenes must have played out in
the tiny Tanzanian village of Mlingotini for centuries.

The new colonialism: China’s BRI or Silk Road project is coming to be seen
across Asia as the road to ruin
Nayan Chanda in TOI, August 24, 2018
Five years ago, amid great fanfare, the Chinese president launched the new Silk
Road project, since then termed the Belt and Road Initiative. The massive
infrastructure project, involving 78 countries and $1.2 trillion in investment, was said
to have been inspired by the ancient Silk Road Spirit of “peace and cooperation,
openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit.” It was thus a bit of
a shock to hear Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad -– standing in Beijing’s
Great Hall of the People – call BRI a “a new version of colonialism”. He even
compared the Chinese-Malaysian deal with “unequal treaties” that Britain had
imposed on China after the Opium War. The ripple of Mahathir exemplifying the
growing concern about non-transparent deals of BRI is likely to be felt far and wide.

Mahathir announced the cancellation of the $23 billion rail and pipeline project as he
feared it would place his country under a crippling debt burden. In fact, risk among
some of the BRI loan recipient countries has grown enough for the managing
director of IMF to issue a warning. The latest example of the danger is Sri Lanka
which, unable to pay off its debt, handed over an entire port to China for 99 years.
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship of China’s Silk Road project costing
some $60 billion, has now brought Pakistan perilously close to a balance of
payments crisis. Left with foreign exchange worth two months of imports Pakistan is
close to seeking an IMF bailout, which would not only require painful structural
reform but hurt the Chinese project by forcing the revelation of terms of agreement.
Meanwhile US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has warned that the US would
oppose an IMF bailout. Pakistan also would not have missed a Pentagon report last
week that stated, “countries participating in BRI could develop economic
dependence on Chinese capital, which China could leverage to achieve its interests.”
Malaysia has now unveiled the closed bidding benefiting Chinese companies, not to
mention import of Chinese labour. They also found shoddy planning that condemned
the railroad to be a losing concern. More shocking, the BRI invested money was
siphoned off to a corruption-ridden Malaysian state fund. There is growing concern in
other countries. Indonesia’s $5.5 billion Jakarta-Bandung rail project has stalled over
concerns about its high cost. Myanmar and Nepal too have slowed down Chinese-
backed infrastructure projects. According to US-based consultancy RWR Advisory
Group, some 14% of the Chinese-invested BRI projects have run into trouble
because of various concerns.

In Pakistan, where China has invested $62 billion to build road, energy and power
networks, its projects have raised concerns. While much of the details of bidding in
CPEC projects remain opaque they have brought in a flood of Chinese workers. In
addition to workers brought in by companies many enterprising Chinese have come
on their own thanks to a bundle of 30,000 visas that were granted. Over the years
their presence has begun to cause social problems and provoke security threats.
Although Pakistan has deployed 15,000 military personnel as part of the Special
Security Division to protect BRI projects, it is impossible to guard every Chinese
national working in the country. Since 2014 some 44 Chinese citizens are reported to
have been killed – some by Islamist militants and others by Baluchis.

The fact that massive Chinese investment in Gwadar deep water port in Balochistan
and highways linking it to China brought benefits mainly to China and in a small
measure, to the federal government has provoked Baluchi nationalist anger. One
report says over 90% of the revenue from Gwadar port would go to the Chinese
operators and most of the power generated in the province would go to China. It is
not hard to see why Baluchis are angry and Mahathir sees China’s new Silk Road
project as a road to ruin.
Practice Topic 3 The Dutch government should take more action to ensure a safe
environment for all journalists lest we become a second America

Trump's attacks on media raise threat of violence against reporters, UN

experts warn.

By Sabrina Siddiqui and David Smith, Washington, Thu 2 Aug 2018

President condemned for ‘strategic’ attacks as Sarah Sanders refuses to disagree
with Trump’s view of the press as the enemy.
There was a ‘CNN sucks’ sign at a Trump rally in Tampa on Tuesday night. Trump
has intensified his criticism of the media and embraced the hostile attitude among his
supporters towards members of the press. Donald Trump’s attacks on the media
have been condemned by experts at the United Nations, who warned that the US
president’s vitriolic rhetoric could result in violence against journalists.

In a joint statement, two experts on freedom of expression - David Kaye, who was
appointed by the UN human rights council, and Edison Lanza, who holds the
corresponding position at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said:
“These attacks run counter to the country’s obligations to respect press freedom and
international human rights law.”
Trump’s attacks “are strategic, designed to undermine confidence in reporting and
raise doubts about verifiable facts”, they added, while noting the president “has failed
to show even once that specific reporting has been driven by any untoward
motivations”.

“We are especially concerned that these attacks increase the risk of journalists being
targeted with violence.” The rebuke comes as Trump has intensified his criticism of
the media and appeared to embrace the hostile attitude among his supporters
towards members of the press.

The president unleashed a Twitter tirade against the media on Sunday, labeling
reporters as “unpatriotic”.

Dutch state broadcaster pulls logo from vans after attacks

NOS takes unprecedented step amid far-right risk, saying journalism is ‘under attack’
By Jon Henley, Europe Correspondent, 16 Oct 2020

The Dutch state broadcaster has removed its logo from outside broadcast vans as
politicians complained of a steep rise in threats and the national counter-terrorism
agency warned of a heightened risk of far-right violence in the Netherlands.
The broadcaster, NOS, said it had been forced to take the unprecedented step
because “almost daily, journalists and technicians on the road to report are
confronted with verbal abuse, garbage is thrown, vans are blocked [and] people
bang on their sides or urinate on them”.

Attempt to murder Dutch reporter – “even in a country ranked 6th in the press
freedom index!”
John de Wit, RSF, July 7, 2021

Following the arrests of three suspects in last night’s shooting attack on crime
reporter Peter R. de Vries in the heart of Amsterdam, Reporters Without Borders
(RSF) calls on the Dutch authorities to conduct a swift and thorough investigation
and to protect journalists who could be targeted by organised crime, so that this
murder attempt does not have a chilling effect on journalism.
Peter R. De Vries was badly injured in the attack, which occurred shortly after he
participated in an RTL Boulevard TV program about a criminal case. A specialist in
covering crime for more than 40 years, this veteran reporter enjoys a great deal of
respect in both the journalistic community and Dutch public. At the same time, he
has received threats from within organised crime circles in connection with his
coverage of both old and ongoing cases. The police said they have detained three
suspects in the shooting.

“The attempted murder of Peter R. de Vries shows the scale of the increase in
threats against journalists in Europe” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.
“It is staggering to see that such an attack can be carried out in one of the countries
where press freedom is guaranteed most, the Netherlands being ranked 6th in RSF’s
World Press Freedom Index. Deloire added: “We ask the Dutch authorities to
conduct a swift and thorough investigation and to guarantee the protection of
journalists who could be targeted by organised crime. Everything possible must be
done to prevent this cowardly attack from having a chilling effect on journalists.”
Deliberate killings of journalists have become more frequent in the European Union
in recent years. After the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in 2017 and
Jan Kuciak in Slovakia in 2018, Greek crime reporter Giorgios Karaivaz was
murdered in Athens in April.

Assailant fires five rounds from close range in attack family describe as ‘worst
nightmare’

Peter Cluskey, The Times International, Wed, Jul 7, 2021

Dutch investigative journalist Peter R De Vries was fighting for his life in an
Amsterdam hospital on Wednesday, more than 24 hours after being shot in the head
in an attack that King Willem-Alexander described as “an assault on journalism, the
cornerstone of the rule of law”.
De Vries (64) was taken to Amsterdam university hospital where doctors described
his condition as “critical”. His son Royce said the family’s “worst nightmare” had
become a reality, and thanked the hospital and the public for their support.
Five shots were fired from close range at the journalist – who made his name for his
coverage of the kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken in 1983 – as he left
the studios of broadcaster RTL, where he was a frequent commentator, shortly after
7.30pm on Tuesday.
One local resident who heard the shots told how she held the crime reporter’s hand
as they waited for help. She said there was a lot of blood on his face and he was
unable to speak.

The shooting took place in the vicinity of the Leidseplein, a local hub of restaurants
and bars, and police immediately began gathering forensic evidence, interviewing
eyewitnesses and downloading video footage from surveillance cameras.
YouTube said it had removed “hundreds” of videos of the immediate aftermath of the
attack and arrival of emergency services.
Amsterdam police chief Frank Pauw said two men had been arrested after a suspect
car was stopped on the A4 motorway near Leidschendam on the outskirts of The
Hague. He said officers believed one might be the gunman.

The two were described as a 21-year-old man living in Rotterdam and a 35-year-old
Polish national living in Maurik, east of Rotterdam. They’re to appear in court on
Friday.

A third suspect, an 18-year-old man arrested as the manhunt got under way in
Amsterdam, was released without charge.

Award winner
After the Heineken kidnap, Peter De Vries wrote a novel which became a film,
Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, starring Anthony Hopkins.
He won an Emmy Award for his investigation into the disappearance of Natalee
Holloway, an American teenager who disappeared on the Dutch Caribbean island of
Aruba in 2005.
Recently, De Vries has been an “adviser” to Nabil B, a witness in the high-security
trial of Ridouan Taghi, arrested in Dubai in 2019 in connection with a string of drugs-
related killings – including the shooting dead of Nabil B’s lawyer, Derk Wiersum, the
same year.

With the country on tenterhooks, acting prime minister Mark Rutte described the
attack as “shocking and inconceivable”, while acting justice minister Ferd
Grapperhaus said it was “a black day” for freedom of the press.
Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, condemned the “cowardly and brutal attack”.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described investigative journalism
as “an asset for democracies”.
The National Union of Journalists said violence against journalists had to be taken
more seriously by governments.

The Netherlands ranks first globally for press freedom

08 May 2014, By Alexandra Gowling

The latest Freedom of the Press report has rated the press in the Netherlands as the
equal freest in the world, along with those of Sweden and Norway.

Across the world, on the other hand, press freedom has fallen to its lowest point in
over a decade, with set-backs to the open reporting of news by journalists apparent
in most continents. The world’s worst-rated countries were Belarus, Cuba, Equatorial
Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The report is compiled by analysts who reach their conclusions after gathering
information from professional contacts, the findings of other human rights and free
press organisations, specialists in geographic and geopolitical areas, government
and multilateral reports, and domestic and international news media.

Global press freedom declines

Of the 197 countries and territories assessed in 2013, a total of 63 were rated free,
68 were rated partly free and 66 were rated not free: roughly a third in each
category.
While there were improvements in some places, especially in some Sub-Saharan
African countries, the report found an overall decline. This was driven in part by
deterioration in several Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Libya and Jordan.
The report also found marked setbacks in Turkey, Ukraine and a number of
countries in East Africa and a worsening in the relatively open media environment of
the United States.
"We see declines in media freedom on a global level, driven by governments' efforts
to control the message and punish the messenger," said Karin Karlekar, project
director of the report.

"In every region of the world last year, we found both governments and private actors
attacking reporters, blocking their physical access to newsworthy events, censoring
content and ordering politically motivated firings of journalists."
Press freedom in the Netherlands
Along with Norway and Sweden, the Netherlands was rated as having the world’s
freest press, up from second place last year. This comes from having strong legal
protections for the press and all citizens being able access to diverse content in all
media forms, with governments that respect media freedom and editorial
independence.
Also, last year Dutch newspapers launched a website called Publeaksthat allows
whistle- blowers to securely and anonymously leak information to the press, to help
denounce abuses and stimulate investigative journalism. The one area of difficulty
the report identified their struggles with regulating hate speech without imposing
burdensome legal restrictions.

Press freedom in Europe

Europe as a region has the highest level of press freedom, but the average score for
the continent had the second-largest drop worldwide in 2013. While the top 10
countries for press freedom were all in Europe and the majority of countries (69 per
cent) are rated free, the region experienced a real set-back in 2013.
The most significant decline was in Turkey, which moved from the partly free into the
not free category. Turkey was the world’s leading jailer of journalists in 2013.
The decline in Greece was nearly as strong, following on from a decline in 2012 that
took it out of the free and into the partly free category, where it remains. The decline
was caused in large part by the government’s abrupt shutdown of public broadcaster
Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) in June.
A decline was also registered in the UK due to the fall-out from revelations of NSA
surveillance in The Guardian, where the newspaper’s offices were searched by
security services and hard drives containing potentially sensitive source material
were destroyed.

On the other hand, Italy’s score improved slightly, as self-censorship and the
influence of advertising revenue on content decreased after Silvio Berlusconi
stepped down as premier in late 2011.
Index details by Reporters Without Borders (rsf.org)

Press freedom under threat: International mission to the United States

Margaux Ewen, RSF North America, MAY 02, 2018
In recent years, press freedom organizations have become increasingly concerned
by the challenges faced by the media in the United States (US). These challenges
include: record numbers of prosecutions against whistleblowers; the restriction of
public information, on the grounds of national security; the direct stigmatization of
media workers by politicians; and physical attacks and arbitrary arrests of journalists
by law enforcement officials. These concerns inspired an unprecedented press
freedom mission to the US in January 2018. Through interviews with journalists in
Texas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois and Washington DC, the mission gained a
deeper understanding of the challenges media workers face locally and nationally.
This short mission only scratched the surface of the complex issues at stake,
however, our findings still paint a perturbing picture for press freedom in the US.
Despite this, we also found that in some sectors the press was bolstered and further
emboldened by the challenges they face. This report outlines five intersecting areas
of concern, which are fundamental to the protection of media freedom. 1 Protests
and public events The physical safety of journalists covering protests or major events
is essential for press freedom. We received reports of journalists being arrested and
even assaulted by law enforcement officials at a local and state level. Law
enforcement officials have also refused to recognize the rights of journalists to report
freely on events of public interest. This lack of understanding of journalists’ rights
and examples of open hostility towards the media are particular issues of concern.
While, this does not reflect a federal policy, it is paramount that state and local
authorities ensure the safety of journalists and the freedom to report on matters of
public interest. 2 Crossing the border Reports from journalists indicate an increase in
border stop and searches of media workers. We heard about 18 journalists who
have been subject to a total of 95 more detailed secondary stop and searches since
2008. Of these, ten were forced to hand over their cellphones. Journalists have little
legal protection when it comes to electronic device searches. Press freedom groups
have also been monitoring cases in which journalists have been denied entry into the
US. Submitting journalists to searches or denying them entry not only makes their
work increasingly difficult but sends a negative message about press freedom
globally.7 3 Source protection Investigative journalism relies on sources and
whistleblowers to uncover major stories and issues of public interest. Over recent
years, the protection of sources had been weakened by a number of prosecutions,
particularly the increasing use of the Espionage Act 1917. These prosecutions
rocketed under the Obama administration. Other troubling developments include: the
Department of Justice seeking to review its media subpoena guidelines; Attorney
General Jeff Sessions, failing to promise that he will follow the current guidelines;
and assertions that the Department will seek to imprison whistleblowers. The mission
considers that this shift reflects forthright rhetoric by President Trump who has
likened those who leak information to Nazis.1 Targeting journalists’ sources and a
crackdown on whistleblowers could restrict the reporting of public interest issues and
prevent important information being made public. 4 Free flow of information The US
has a freedom of information law that should, in principle, make it easier for
journalists to uncover information that is of interest to the public. However, the
mission found that the system is lethargic and frequently unresponsive. We received
reports of untimely and obstructive responses 1
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/donald-trump-russia-claims-dossier-report-
tweet-unverified-kremlin-fabrication-a7521456.html from official bodies and the
inconsistent application of the law and its guidelines, particularly concerning the fee-
waiver for journalists and the rejection of requests on grounds of national security
under overly broad and arbitrary guidelines. 5 Deteriorating rhetoric There has been
a change in the political landscape in which media workers have found themselves,
particularly over the past two years. The rhetoric that Trump and his administration
have used to disparage and discredit the media, before and after the 2016 election,
is of grave concern. Political leaders’ words have ramifications beyond the
immediate news cycle. It appears that members of the public and other local
authority or political figures have felt emboldened by the media strategy of the
current administration and journalists have found themselves subject to increasing
abuse, harassment, and threats, particularly online. Press freedom relies on the
safety of journalists and their sources. In order for media freedom to thrive,
journalists need the freedom to report and access information in the public interest
and we need political representatives who facilitate this freedom, even when they
receive criticism. By openly and aggressively targeting journalists and media outlets,
the current US administration 8 risks undermining media freedom and creates a
culture where journalists find themselves unprotected. Self-censorship Journalists do
not operate in a vacuum and the press is subject to economic, political, and social
pressures that have an impact on its freedom to report openly. The mission received
reports, particularly from local media, where economic or political pressures had led
to questions of self-censorship. If the issues identified in this report are not
addressed, self-censorship could become a greater challenge for the US media.
What happens to media freedom in the US also has implications beyond its borders
The mission found inspiration in the many professional, brave and determined
journalists whom we met. While our findings are a serious cause for concern in the
US and beyond, they are by no means a terminal diagnosis for press freedom in the
US. The recommendations gathered in this report if followed, would pave the way for
strengthened media freedom in the US.
World Press Freedom Day 2021

Anti-coup protesters prepare for a clash with riot police on March 02, 2021 in
Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar's military government has intensified a crackdown on
protesters in recent days, using tear gas and live ammunition, charging at and
arresting protesters and journalists.

This year’s World Press Freedom Day highlights the importance of information as a
public good, a theme of huge importance as the Covid-19 pandemic still grips the
world and fake news and disinformation continue to harm health, human rights and
democracy alike.

Speaking Truth to Power

In a world still consumed by the pandemic, the classic role of the press remains as
essential – and as under attack – as ever. Getting the story out remains a risky
endeavour. On World Press Freedom Day, IWPR recognises and celebrates those
continuing to speak truth to power.
When the Myanmar military overthrew the government, security forces shut down
national TV, radio, newspapers and – as our frontline report in this Spotlight shows –
restricted access to the internet and even smartphones. As the coup completes its
fourth month, according to the press monitoring group Reporting ASEAN, 77
journalists in Myanmar have been arrested, with 43 currently detained and arrest
warrants pending for a further 22.
While China has imposed a ‘patriotism’ test on all political candidates in Hong Kong,
the same is under way for the media. Controls have been tightened over the public
broadcaster, independent outlets shuttered, and journalists and media owners –
including Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital and Apple Daily – subject to arrest and
imprisonment.

And as Covid-19 ravages India, hit by the worst second wave of the virus, the
government focuses on censoring Twitter, compelling the removal of tweets from
professional reporters and citizens revealing the reality of the country’s health
disaster. In a world still consumed by the pandemic, journalists have themselves
been key workers – keeping populations informed, highlighting and combatting
orchestrated disinformation campaigns and helping to connect populations shut in
and fearful.
But as these examples from Myanmar, India and elsewhere show, the classic role of
the press remains as essential – and as under attack – as ever: to hold governments
to account, to shine a light on human rights violations, to give a platform to citizens in
need. In a rapidly evolving media and information landscape, the only certainty is of
change, and the disruption caused by the digital transformation is profound: on
finances, on quality and balance, on competition with other sources, from citizen
journalism to official propaganda. Partisanship in the press is high, trust in the media
low, and the future impact of unregulated and unregulatable social media platforms
is unknown.
Yet all of this only underlines the courage of individual journalists to report the news.
To have faith in the power of honest story-telling to make a difference. To represent
people’s interests, give them a voice and drive positive change.

At IWPR, we celebrate reporters globally, especially local journalists committed to

their communities, and juggling the fine balances of working – and living – in
dangerous environments. The success of reporters and citizen journalists inside
Myanmar to continue to report on the coup and share their information and images
with international media around the world may be a new paradigm in crisis reporting.
It is certainly a profile in bravery.

Around the world, in fact, local voices are making themselves heard. For every act of
government repression, there is a resistance, and in this Spotlight we highlight many
inspirational successes of people finding ways to make themselves heard.
People like Abjata Khalif, who runs a not-for-profit organisation in northern Kenya
producing untold and under-reported stories in local languages for often extremely
marginalised communities. As part of an innovative “listening programme,” people in
remote villages gather together to listen to solar powered radio or a package on a
USB stick. “People are kept abreast of the news, they listen and learn to see how
they can replicate ideas from around the world into their own remote setting,” he
said.
Or like Saeb Daoud,director of the Voice of Peace radio in Iraq’s Nineveh province,
who is working to rebuild trust and unity among the area’s diverse religious and
ethnic communities. Given the fierce backlash against the media’s attempts to hold
government and officials to account, he said, “I’m not sure what the future will look
like for freedom of the press.”

As always at this time of year, we commemorate our colleague Ammar al-

Shahbandar, IWPR’s Iraq country director killed six years ago on the eve of World
Press Freedom Day by an Islamic State bomb, as well as Iraqi reporter Sahar al-
Haidari and other journalist colleagues who have lost their lives in service over the
years. The stakes could not be higher: for the individuals, for their communities, and
for a world which against a deluge of lies above all needs honest information.