The Centre for Investigative Journalism present Source! the 10 year anniversary edition of the CIJ Logan Symposium.
Investigative journalism is in flux. Journalists need sources, but in the digital age those sources make contact in different ways, and sometimes don’t want to talk to journalists at all. What’s the best way to protect sources when reporting is often done remotely, when our sources are under threat and when keeping our sources safe can sometimes be a matter of life and death? Should we trust technology to keep us safe, or stay close to traditional journalist tradecraft and trust only our wits?
Led by investigative journalists, the newest edition of the biennial CIJ Logan Symposium, Source! brings together some of the most courageous and innovative new investigative reporters and outlets in the world to forge alliances against official censorship, surveillance and deceit – and to talk candidly about the landscape for the profession and its future prospects.
This time the CIJ partners with Freedom of the Press Foundation in New York, Disclose in Paris, Reporters United in Athens, The Public Source in Beirut and Declassified in London to bring you talks and presentations that tackle the most pressing issues facing us all – how best to protect sources and whistleblowers, to deal with government harassment and gagging orders and to make the most of exciting new investigative tools and methods.
Independent Journalism Awareness Raising: Spotlighting people and communities on the ground
+972 Magazine is an independent, online, nonprofit magazine operated by both Palestinian and Israeli journalists. Founded in 2010, their mission is to provide in-depth reporting, analysis, and opinions from the field in Israel-Palestine. The name of the site is derived from the telephone country code that can be used to dial throughout Israel-Palestine.
The magazine’s core values are a commitment to equity, justice, and freedom of information. +972 believes in accurate and fair journalism that spotlights the people and communities working to oppose occupation and apartheid as well as showcasing perspectives often overlooked or marginalized in mainstream narratives.
+972 Magazine does not represent any outside organization, political party, or agenda. They publish a wide variety of views that do not necessarily represent the opinions of the +972 editorial team.
Johns Hopkins University first-ever Fencing newsletter! Winter 2024
Getting back involved with the Hopkins Fencing community, we are in the midst of another exciting season where women rank #4 (DIII) team holding a 6-3 record most recently beating #5 Tufts. The men are tanked #2 (DIII) and #14 overall having started with a 12-2 record. Twenty-two Hopkins fencers competed at the U.S. Fencing NAC in Atlantic City.
The Abraham Initiatives in the New York Times article "Why the Campus Protests Are So Troubling"
From the newsletter:
In May of this year, New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman encouraged his readers to make a difference – not just a point. He named The Abraham Initiatives as a crucial organization to support during the emergency period, when what matters most is real, on-the-ground impact.
In other words, supporting The Abraham Initiatives is not just a way to express your values; it makes a shared future possible.“What Palestinians and Israelis need most now are not performative gestures of disinvestment, but real gestures of impactful investment…Invest in groups that promote
Arab-Jewish understanding, like the Abraham Initiatives.”
- Thomas Friedman, nytimes.com
The impact of investing in shared society has never been more evident. Throughout the past year, we have implemented new measures to prevent intercommunal violence in the mixed cities, begun developing a program to improve Jewish-Arab relations in workplaces, and advocated for the full implementation of laws directing resources to Palestinian citizens.
Combatants for Peace Event Recording: Another Way Forward -Co-Creating Amid Catastrophe
This conversation emphasized the vital role of solidarity in times of crisis. Our speakers reflected on the complexities of human agency, the need to move beyond simplistic binaries, and the importance of building coalitions, repairing ruptured relationships, and recognizing the humanity in all people.
Each speaker shared a personal mantra for navigating these painful times and entering 2025 with strength. Mehra offered, "Two truths in one heart," emphasizing the balance of acknowledging diverse realities while fostering unity. Souli shared wisdom from an Arabic scholar: "Two thousand steps to turn an enemy into a friend, not one step to turn a friend into an enemy," highlighting the steadfastness and trust needed to build lasting peace. Avner shared, "Whatever there is that you don't want to be done to yourself, don't do it to others," reminding us to ground political actions in compassion and respect. Let's hold fast to these mantras as we step into the new year.
Human Rights Foundation steps up to help Ukraine
Reposted from HRF’s newsletter!
As we approach the third anniversary of the brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is ramping up his attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure. Hospitals, kindergartens, apartment blocks, electric grids, and power plants come under daily attacks, taking the lives of innocent civilians. Putin’s bombardments are meant to destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and undermine Ukraine’s resolve to fight for its sovereignty and freedom. By attacking these targets, Putin seeks to deprive Ukrainians of access to essential things necessary for survival, such as heat, and force them into submission.
As we enter the winter season, HRF is stepping up to help Ukraine overcome the harsh realities of winter. We are launching a campaign to raise money for generators to make sure as many people in Ukraine as possible have access to energy, the Internet, and heat. Winters in the country can be particularly cold, with temperatures going as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit). For many, a generator can be the difference between life and death.
We hope you will consider donating to our new fundraiser, Power Ukraine. Together with our partners on the ground, HRF will purchase and deliver generators to at-risk communities in Ukraine. We will target regions located near the frontlines, which experience frequent shelling, airstrikes, and prolonged power outages.
Watch HRF’s video to learn why generators are important and how they keep Ukrainians warm and safe amid relentless missile strikes.
Together, we can help local residents there and alleviate the hardships they go through. Every donation counts, and will go a long way in saving Ukrainian lives.
Brandon Silver, RWCHR Director of Policy and Projects, recipient of 2024 Outstanding Human Rights Lawyer Global Magnitsky Award
Brandon Silver, RWCHR Director of Policy and Projects, Convisero mentor, and newest recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Human Rights Lawyer Global Magnitsky Award, in conversation with Bill Browder, head of the Global Magnitsky Campaign, and Kate Gerbeau at Frontline about the urgency of ramping up the use of global sanctions and the challenges ahead in a second Trump era.
Adam Theater Debut - "Library Lion"
Adam Theater, founded by Convisero mentor Ran Bechor, is a one-of-a-kind professional theater company producing plays exclusively for kids and young adults. Our immersive plays speak directly to our young audiences’ growing minds — in a language they can understand, with stories they can relate to. Through our work, we’re helping kids and teens find their voice, discover their identity, and experience the magic of the theater.
Our inaugural play “Library Lion” is set to premiere as a site-specific play September 2024 in the Boston Public Library. The musical play’s adaptation, by playwright Eli Bijaoui, is based on one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Children's Books of All Times, by Michelle Knudsen, set to music by Yoni Rechter. Lion puppet design & build by The Jim Henson Company.
Established, May 2023 Boston based Adam Theater is a non-profit 501(c)3 professional theater offering a repertoire of plays for young audiences and families.
The pillars of Adam Theater | So Much More than Child’s Play
Contemporary Theatre - A theater that constantly questions its relevance and strives to emphasize live performance and the direct encounter between art and its audience.
To present high quality art to children and their families. Our professional theatrical productions stimulate our audiences’ growing minds — we elevate them, nurturing the maturity they have within. And in the process, we set them on a path of self discovery, helping them tell their own story, with themselves at the center of it.
Education & Family - Through stories, fairy tales, and live performances, a child learns to decipher their culture and self, formulating their own personal hero's journey. Adam Theater is a theater for the entire family; it invites families to come and watch together artworks that will serve as a common fictional world for the family and the community, through which it is possible to generate a conversation about everyday life, culture, and ethical questions.
Hebrew Culture - Everything ever written in Hebrew. Hebrew culture is based on Jewish tradition, but interprets it through modern, secular, and universal lenses. During the 18th century in Europe, there was the start of the Hebrew culture renaissance, great emphasis was placed on the narrative and the point of view of the other (not necessarily Jewish). Therefore the roots of this culture carries within it universal values. In order to introduce Hebrew Culture into the American mainstream, we are intentionally seeking and creating collaborations with known American cultural brands, and institutions. Thus, The Boston Public Library and Jim Henson Company are under the same umbrella as S.Y. Agnon and Yoni Rechter. The combination of American culture with Hebrew culture is key to breaking through the cultural glass ceiling placing Hebrew culture front and center in mainstream America.
Vision | Open Curtains, Opening Minds
Educate generations of children in the Boston area, and beyond, for the love of theater as high quality art, storytelling, and universal democratic values. Direct exposure to ethical questions allows children freedom of thought and choice.
"Seeking Relief From Brain Injury, Some Veterans Turn to Psychedelics"
Convisero mentor Boaz Wachtel has researched on ibogaine as a treatment over the course of his career and has been an active advocate of its use (such as in this published September 2024 Haaretz article) for such cases described below.
The article released just on December 16, 2024 below shows ibogaine’s use gaining momentum in mainstream treatment options.
“Unable to find effective treatments at home, veterans with brain-injury symptoms are going abroad for psychedelics like ibogaine that are illegal in the U.S.” Full article found at the New York Times linked here.
Excerpt below:
Their drug of choice is ibogaine, an alkaloid derived from the bark of the iboga tree. It is illegal in the United States and has a reputation for causing dark, harrowing trips. But research on animals has shown it can spur the release of natural proteins in the brain that repair and reconfigure neural networks. That leads some researchers to consider it a potential treatment for traumatic brain injury.
Psychedelic clinics typically administer ibogaine in a single dose, followed the next day by a dose of the poison of the Sonoran desert toad, called 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful short-acting psychedelic that tends to give users an overwhelming feeling of spiritual connection, earning it the nickname “the God molecule.”
In most cases, the patient uses each drug just once, and participates in psychotherapy beforehand and afterward. Navy SEALs in particular have become involved with ibogaine, in part because several ibogaine clinics in Mexico are just a few miles from a major SEAL base in Southern California. Most wait until they have left the Navy, but dozens who are still on active duty make the trip each year, several SEALs said.
Rashid's Khalidi - Palestinian-American Historian - 'Israel Has Created a Nightmare Scenario for Itself. The Clock Is Ticking'
The story isn't Hamas, religion or terrorism. Rashid Khalidi, the preeminent Palestinian intellectual of our time, is convinced that the Israelis simply don't understand the conflict - living in a 'bubble of false consciousness.' Link to full article here
First EPIIC Symposium on International Terrorism can be found here which includes Professor Khalidi’s talk on The Media, Terrorism and the Palestinians. We invited a wide range of Israeli and Palestinian scholars, journalists, strategic experts, economics, human and civil-rights advocates, religious leaders, and diplomats to engage in a vigorous and free exchange of ideas. They were invited to participate in an academic endeavor, one marked by a spirit of reconciliation, not recrimination.
The implications of terror are profound, reaching the most basic questions of morality, justice, and the fundamental underpinnings of the international system. The nature of the terrorist threat, and the policy the United States government adopts to confront that threat, will have profound consequences for American society and the structure of global relations. The topic is difficult because it arouses feelings of outrage and anger in nearly every observer. Whether the victims are shot by a Salvadoran death squad, blown up by Basque separatists, or thrown down the gangway of a hijacked aircraft, the sudden, seemingly anomic violence of the terrorist touches us with special horror. We are angered, puzzled, stunned. We have struggled to understand "the politics of atrocity" in all its forms, be it revolutionary terrorism or state regimes of terrorism. We have sought to comprehend the resort to terrorism as a political strategy and the repercussions of combatting it. We have also tried to understand the fundamental differences in values and ideologies that prompt the violent cycles of terror and counter-terror and we have tried to imagine ways the international community might limit, if not eliminate this scourge.
Sameer Arshad Khatlani - Guru Nanak: Guiding Light As Bigotry Becomes Order Of Day
Dear all,
Gurpurab is being celebrated today to commemorate the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, whose relevance has grown more than ever. Guru Nanak preached against religious prejudices and founded Sikhism as a monotheistic religion and a synthesis between Islam and Hinduism.
Guru Nanak’s relevance has grown more than ever before as he preached against religious prejudices and founded Sikhism as a monotheistic religion and a synthesis between Islam and Hinduism.
In August 2019, tensions escalated between India and Pakistan when New Delhi stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status to take full control of the Himalayan region. The two countries have claimed the region in full since the end of British colonial rule in 1947 and fought four wars over it.
Islamabad reacted to the change in the Muslim-majority region’s constitutional status. It downgraded diplomatic ties with India amid a lockdown and a communications blackout in Kashmir to prevent protests over the sweeping changes and restrictions.
The ties between the two countries deteriorated months after they were on the verge of another war. Islamabad retaliated against an Indian airstrike in Pakistan following a car bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir‘s Pulwama in February 2019.
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Meanwhile, the construction of a corridor to provide visa-free access for Indian pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib built at the last resting place of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, in Pakistan continued unhindered. It was finished and inaugurated within a year ahead of Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary in November 2019.
Common Ground
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, participated in the inauguration ceremonies of the corridor on either side of the border as the two countries found a rare common ground amid fraught relations.
Guru Nanak remained a unifier even as ties between India and Pakistan were at their lowest ebb. High-ranking officials of the two countries, who had been avoiding each other like the plague, rubbed shoulders with each other at the inauguration of the corridor on the premises of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib on the Pakistani side.
Centuries after he passed away, Guru Nanak remained a uniter. Nothing symbolises it more than the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. The gurdwara stands at the place where Hindus and Muslims are believed to have found flowers under a white sheet when they arrived for Nanak’s last rites.
Muslims buried a part of the sheet and flowers and built a mausoleum in Nanak’s memory. Hindus put their share in an urn and interred it. Both communities revered Guru Nanak equally. Guru Nanak’s relevance has grown more than ever before as he preached against religious prejudices. He founded Sikhism as a monotheistic religion and a synthesis between Islam and Hinduism.
Torn Apart
The composite culture Guru Nanak contributed significantly to is being torn apart with Muslims at the receiving end of bigotry passed off as nationalism for their erasure with full state patronage. Guru Nanak’s family was Hindu. But his association with Muslims was much deeper than is widely known. His teacher was a Muslim. He was the first to understand his spiritual prowess. The teacher called Guru Nanak a blessed and gifted child and attributed his superior intelligence to it.
Rai Bular, a Muslim landlord, was the one to prevail upon Nanak’s father and his employee, Mehta Kalu, to allow Guru Nanak’s otherworldly pursuits. While Guru Nanak wandered with holy men, Kalu wanted him to focus on his education. Bular was also the first to report miracles which indicated Nanak’s holiness.
Bular became Guru Nanak’s first devotee outside his family. He is said to have witnessed a hooded cobra shielding the Guru from the sun while he was sleeping under the open sky. Bular saw this as a sign of Nanak’s spiritualism. Bular also reported how the shade of a tree remained on Guru Nanak even when the position of the sun changed while he slept. He rushed to tell Kalu Nanak was an exalted person upon seeing this.
Bular was totally devoted to Guru Nanak and convinced Kalu that his son was a man of God. He dedicated much of his land to the Guru. Gurdwara Janam Asthan, which stands at the place of Nanak’s birth, and much of the city around it is located on the land Bular bequeathed to Sikhism’s founder.
Rai Hadayat, a 17th-generation descendant of Bular, led Guru Nanak’s 500th birth celebration. Bular’s family has continued a tradition of leading annual processions to celebrate Guru Nanak’s anniversaries in Nankana Sahib in what is now Pakistan.
Bular’s descendants are the custodians of the bequeathed land, whose revenues are spent on the welfare of the Sikh community and the maintenance of their places of worship in Nankana Sahib. Sikh emperor Maharaja Ranjit Singh bestowed the Rai Bahadur title on Bular’s descendant, Rai Issa Khan, a fellow Bhatti Rajput, and made him a revenue collector in recognition of his family’s contributions to Sikhism.
In May 2018, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), which manages Sikh places of worship, acknowledged Bular’s ‘immense contribution’ to Sikh history and erected his portrait at Amritsar’s Central Sikh Museum. The SGPC unveiled another Muslim Nawab Rai Kahla’s portrait at the museum in July 2017 for sheltering Guru Nanak’s spiritual successor, Guru Gobind Singh, in 1705. Kahla ruled a small principality in Punjab when he offered Guru Gobind refuge in defiance of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb’s decree.
Guru Gobind gave Kahla a holy pitcher known as Ganga Sagar, which holds water despite its asymmetrical holes, and a sword as a token of gratitude. Kahla’s descendants have preserved the relic, which they took to Pakistan in 1947 after they were uprooted from the Indian side of Punjab at the time of the Partition in 1947. It has remained in the custody of Rai Azizullah Khan, a former Pakistani lawmaker, since 1975.
The courage Nawab Sher Mohammad Khan, the ruler of Malerkotla in what is now the Indian side of Punjab, showed in speaking out against the execution of Guru Gobind’s sons, Zorawar and Fateh, in 1705, ensured his kingdom remained untouched in 1947 when the subcontinent’s division triggered violence.
Centuries-old Coexistence
The violence left around a million dead and triggered a virtual exchange of populations between the Indian and Pakistani sides of Punjab. It damaged the centuries-old coexistence and continues to cast a long shadow.
But Malerkotla has remained untouched by the upheavals. It remained the Indian Punjab’s only Muslim pocket while the rest of the region was emptied of Muslims in 1947. Malerkotla continues to be an exception even amid the fresh wave of violence against Muslims thanks to what is seen as Guru Gobind’s blessings to Malerkotla.
Guru Gobind is believed to have blessed the nawab that ‘his roots shall forever remain green’ when he learnt about his stand against Zorawar and Fateh’s execution. Baba Bulleh Shah, a Muslim saint and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, also spoke out against the Mughal highhandedness. He was a friend of the ninth Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur and hailed Tegh Bahadur as a ‘holy warrior’ when he was executed.
The saint earlier dissuaded the guru from seeking revenge on Muslims for Aurangzeb’s attitude towards the Sikhs. He followed in Guru Nanak’s footsteps and promoted inter-religious harmony. Nanak travelled to Arabia in the 16th century with his Muslim companion, Mardana, for inter-religious dialogue, which provided him with deep insights into Islam. In Baghdad, Guru Nanak stayed with a Muslim saint. A courtyard at the tomb of the saint in Baghdad commemorates Nanak’s stay in the city.
The Muslim descendants of Mardana, known as rubabis, performed kirtans or devotional songs at Amritsar’s Golden Temple for generations before partition ended the tradition. They began the practice at the instance of the ninth Sikh Guru Guru Tegh Bahadur as Mardana played a musical instrument called rubab as Guru Nanak sang his poetry.
Baptized Sikhs alone have since 1947 been doing kirtans as partition tore apart Punjab’s syncretic culture. But syncretism remains integral to Sikhism, whose scripture Guru Granth Sahib includes the writing of Muslims including Baba Farid.
Guru Arjan, who compiled the first edition of the scripture and had it installed in 1604 at the Golden Temple, is widely believed to have invited Mian Mir, a Muslim saint, to lay the shrine’s foundation in Amritsar. Muslim holy men such as Farid, whose picture adorns the entrance of Gurdwara Janamasthan and is among revered Muslim figures in Sikhism, also made vital literary contributions.
Waris Shah gave full shape to Heer-Ranjha and contributed to Punjab’s syncretic culture until the revivalism in the 19th century weakened it. But Guru Nanak has remained a guiding light, who in poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal’s words ‘awakened India from a deep slumber.’ Iqbal hailed Nanak as ‘mard-e kaamil [perfect]’ in a poem about him.
Iqbal lamented that ‘our people paid no heed to the message of Gautam [Buddha]’; and did not recognise the worth of that ‘jewel of supreme wisdom’. In another poem, Iqbal paired Guru Nanak with Muslim saint Moinuddin Chishti and wrote: ‘The land [India] in which Chishti delivered the message of truth; the garden in which Nanak sang the song of oneness that homeland is mine, that homeland is mine.’
Sameer Arshad Khatlani is a journalist and the author of The Other Side of the Divide.
Alex Gladstein - How to Dictator-Proof Your Money
Cash is king, even if you are an activist leading a democratic movement against some of the world’s worst dictators. That’s why Bitcoin has quickly become the currency of choice for dissidents working everywhere.
April 2024 - Reposted from Journal of Democracy
Human-rights activists around the world have a new tool: unstoppable electronic cash. From Russia to Cuba to Nigeria, advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations are increasingly adopting Bitcoin — an open-source, decentralized, censorship-resistant digital currency — to help keep their donations coming and their payrolls flowing, even when authoritarian regimes and state forces shut down their bank accounts.
In almost every dictatorship, the financial system is weaponized. Whether it be Erdogan in Turkey, the military regime in Zimbabwe, the Gnassingbé family in Togo, the Maduro junta in Venezuela, or Putin in Russia, a “first-choice” tool of autocrats when dealing with dissidents or political opponents is financial deplatforming. Protests are expensive, and if organizers can no longer receive donations or pay community members, democratic momentum can fizzle out. Within this context, Bitcoin’s rise as a dissident currency of choice starts to make sense.
Bitcoin’s spread as a currency of choice for activists accounts for a small portion of its global appeal as money for people living in antidemocratic countries or with access to nothing more than weak currencies. As of today, only about 1.2 billion people enjoy the benefit of a liberal democracy that protects property rights and free speech and a native reserve currency such as the dollar, euro, or yen. Everyone else — meaning more than 80 percent of humanity — lives either under tyranny or a weak currency that is prone to devaluation and very hard to use abroad.
In Gaza today, one of the only ways to get money into the besieged territory is with Bitcoin. In Cuba, a good way to short-circuit the Communist Party’s predatory dual-currency system is to send Bitcoin to family and friends, which they can freely trade for goods, services, or Cuba’s digital currency. In Ukraine, in the days after Vladimir Putin’s invasion in 2022, the banking system went down, but Bitcoin kept working, and groups like the Open Dialogue Foundation were able to save lives by using it to get equipment and aid where it needed to go. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently frozen the bank accounts of the country’s main opposition party, and has frequently targeted the accounts of environmental groups, labor organizers, and abolitionists. But Bitcoin is beyond his grasp.
In Venezuela, where hyperinflation destroyed a once-proud and productive country, and created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, Bitcoin played a key role in helping people escape with their wealth intact. Many like Mauricio Di Bartolomeo, who now runs a successful payments company in Canada, were able to emigrate with their wealth intact and accessible via a seed phrase of twelve words that could be written down, sent abroad, or memorized.
In Afghanistan, the humanitarian Roya Mahboob started paying her female employees in Bitcoin in 2013, as male relatives would seize cash and other digital-payment forms were sanctioned or not available. Bitcoin, she said, gave the girls and women that she worked with freedom and sovereignty. Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021, Bitcoin remains a critical way for her to get money into Afghanistan to fund underground education for girls who have been out of school for more than two years. Dollars simply don’t work for this purpose, but Bitcoin does, with the teachers on the receiving end able to walk into town and swap the digital currency for cash at hawala brokers.
Bitcoin was invented in 2009, and only really began to find widespread global use after its price bubble in 2017. For many years, it didn’t make a lot of sense as an activist currency, simply because it was something few people would accept. But that has changed dramatically. Today, in nearly every place on earth, there is someone happy to buy Bitcoin in exchange for local currency — whether on Telegram, in person, on WhatsApp, or on some kind of exchange — making it an ideal technology for getting value to some of the toughest places in the world where the banking system can no longer safely meet activists’ needs.
In Hong Kong, activists send Bitcoin to colleagues inside the now-occupied city, who withdraw it at ATMs without needing to show ID, keeping out of the Chinese Communist Party’s watchful eye. In Belarus, democracy protesters keep their marches going and journalists keep their stories flowing with Bitcoin. In Zimbabwe, the military regime is trying to impose a new currency, causing chaos in exchange markets. But Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention keeps working, processing new transactions every ten minutes, without government interference.
Perhaps the most surprising case was revealed at the 2022 Bitcoin Conference in Miami by North Korean human-rights advocate Yeonmi Park. She explained to the audience that most people who escape from North Korea are vulnerable women, who are often sex-trafficked or enslaved without ID and without even speaking the local language. Christian missionaries are one of the only groups working to free them. She explained that it was hard to send dollars to help the pastors on the ground in northeastern China do this work, but with Bitcoin it was much easier. If Bitcoin can work on the North Korean border, or in Gaza, or in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then it can work just about anywhere.
Some of these early adopters are gathering on the University of Virginia campus this weekend, as the Serbian-based Center for Applied NonViolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) hosts its 5th People Power Academy, an event focusing on equipping the leaders of global democratic movements with better tactics and tools for revolutionary change.
CANVAS itself, founded by Srdja Popovic, has recently incorporated Bitcoin education into its global programs. The Freedom Academy — a project of the World Liberty Congress, founded by Garry Kasparov, Masih Alinejad, and Leopoldo López — is in its second year of Bitcoin education, having hosted trainings and events to help its community members in Africa, Europe, and Latin America use this new tool to overcome authoritarian controls and surveillance. They will be in attendance, as will Anna Chekhovich, the financial director of the Alexei Navalny–founded Anti-Corruption Foundation, which started using Bitcoin in 2016 as a reaction to the increasingly censorious and confiscatory Putin regime. Also present will be Félix Maradiaga, a Nicaraguan civil society leader who recently spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, about the Ortega regime’s strategy of freezing the bank accounts of anyone it doesn’t like, ranging from activists to the Catholic Church.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) — where I serve as chief strategy officer — has run Bitcoin and human-rights programming since 2017. Each year, we add more, as we see governments around the world step up their attempts to fluster dissidents and opposition groups by cutting off their funding. HRF focuses on authoritarian regimes, where this behavior is unfortunately commonplace. But the world arguably saw the first major practical use of Bitcoin in 2011, when Julian Assange posted a Bitcoin address on the WikiLeaks Twitter page in response to the U.S.-led banking blockade of the whistleblower organization.
Two years later, HRF was contacted by activists on the frontlines of protests against the Viktor Yanukovych regime in Ukraine. They asked us, and our chairman Garry Kasparov, if we could help them with a Bitcoin fundraiser. Their bank accounts were closed or shut off from the outside world. As they titled their Reddit post about the fundraiser, “Only Bitcoin Can Reach Them.” To our surprise, the campaign was a success, and the protesters received the much-needed aid, despite the government’s efforts to keep them isolated. Over the years, we kept seeing cases like this pop up, eventually prompting us to run regular programming connecting Bitcoin developers and entrepreneurs with dissident leaders in authoritarian countries. In 2020, we launched the Bitcoin Development Fund to make grants to related open-source software and educational projects in authoritarian regimes. Since then, we have made more than a hundred grants across more than forty countries, deploying more than US$4 million.
To be clear, there are many challenges with using Bitcoin. The currency remains volatile day-to-day, prompting some activists to supplement Bitcoin use with “stablecoins,” such as Tether, that are pegged to the U.S. dollar but come with the downside of being centralized and freezable. Bitcoin transaction fees can be high (currently around $5 to $10 at the time of writing), so more and more Bitcoin apps are adding technology called the Lightning Network that can send Bitcoin transactions for pennies. Of course, true bad guys can also use Bitcoin — just as they can use encrypted messaging apps such as Signal — as it cannot discriminate and is money for anyone. The biggest obstacle remains education: Most activists still haven’t heard about Bitcoin being a human-rights tool, and it remains difficult for newcomers to sort through the vast sea of scams and Ponzi schemes in the cryptocurrency space to focus on Bitcoin. Given enough time, however, anyone can learn how to overcome these obstacles.
If you are running a human-rights group and your bank account hasn’t yet been frozen, flagged, or compromised, it likely will sooner rather than later. The human-rights defenders gathered at the People Power Academy in Charlottesville know that. The good news is, there’s a tool they can use to keep their work going, even if dictators want them to stop.
Alex Gladstein is chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation and the author of Check Your Financial Privilege and Hidden Repression.
30 Birds Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, Nila Ibrahimi Has just won the 2024 International Children’s Peace Prize!
We are thrilled to announce that 17-year-old Nila Ibrahimi, 30 Birds’ Global Ambassador for Women and Girls, has won the International Children’s Peace Prize 2024!
Three years ago, while Nila was in hiding in Pakistan, she recorded videos for supporters, helping us raise the funds to bring her and hundreds of others to safety.
Today, she runs her own nonprofit, speaks on behalf of 30 Birds on the global stage, and has inspired thousands with her voice and her song.
Nia’s story embodies the leadership journey we hope for all of the girls we support at 30 Birds. Our leadership and education programs are designed to take the girls from merely surviving, to growing and thriving. May Nila’s voice continue to be a catalyst, motivating others to take action in building a world where all Afghan girls can learn, lead, and live freely.
We are collecting letters and notes of congratulations for Nila, so if you’d like to wish her well, please email info@30birdsfoundation.org
Josh Goldblum honored as Blooloop 50 Influencers
Founder and CEO of Bluecadet
The blooloop 50 celebrates the work of fifty key individuals whose creativity, passion and drive has helped shape and improve the industry.
Influencers are those who impact the attractions business with their innovation and creativity. Each year our readers vote in their thousands to recognise the people they think have had the most impact in the last 12 months.
Padden Murphy - America Works: How Entrepreneurial City Leaders Can Shape the Future of Work Now
Author: Padden Murphy
Reposted from Hatch
Dramatic changes to the way we work are already in motion. Automation, artificial intelligence and advanced robotics are having cascading impacts on the workforce. This report presents the state of work in cities today and investigates the five drivers that will shape the next 10 years and strategies for city leaders across four pillars: Opportunity, Talent, Place and Social Infrastructure.
The future of work will be defined by entrepreneurial city leaders. The strategies and case studies outlined in this report showcase mayors and city leaders who turned bold visions for their city into actionable plans with clear goals, owners and integrating community voice.
Many of the challenges cities face, and the strategies outlined in this report, require city leaders to embrace bold ideas, allow for agility and adaptability, and test innovative solutions through policy, programs and public-private partnerships. As conveners, employers and policymakers, city leaders can take entrepreneurial steps to successfully navigate the changing nature of work and build inclusive cities of opportunity and community for years to come. Download the report to learn more.
Ariel E. Levite Op-ed: Israel's Security Is Crumbling..
Author: Ariel E. Levite
Reposted from Haaretz
It's an axiom that a nation's defense strategy must rest on four legs – diplomacy and statesmanship, military (including intelligence), economy and society and information (including public diplomacy). But over the last year, it has become clear that Israel is pinning all its hopes for security solely on one leg – the military. And the results have been commensurate with this single-minded focus. Its military achievements (both overt and covert), however impressive they may be, have been confined to operational gains.
We have scored great successes invading, killing and destroying our enemies to the extent needed, and perhaps even beyond it. But since those accomplishments haven't been accompanied by any effort on the diplomatic, socioeconomic and information fronts, Israel is faltering in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Lebanon, as well as against Iran and its proxies in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The latest retaliation against Iran does not change this reality, with Iran retaining its highly advanced nuclear weapons threshold, and leveraging it.
Israel hasn't been wise enough to translate the investment, sophistication, risk and sacrifice entailed in its military gains into a better, stable security situation.
The threat horizon looks more worrying than ever. We're facing a guerrilla war of indefinite duration in Gaza, a wave of terror in and from the West Bank, both an air and a ground war in Lebanon, direct military clashes with a nuclearizing Iran and growing friction with its proxies throughout the Middle East and perhaps even beyond.
Israel's military power and intelligence prowess is succumbing to the toll exacted by the supreme effort invested in an entire year of constant fighting on multiple fronts. Meanwhile, one terror attack follows another. For every terrorist, let alone leader, we manage to kill, a successor thirsting for vengeance arises and manages to inspire others to follow him.
Deterrence, killing and destruction are at times absolutely necessary. But their benefits, if when real, are necessarily temporary and depend on a nonmilitary leg to complement them.
For now, Israeli society is bleeding, riven and scarred, while the fate of the hostages is gnawing away at our social contract. Most of the country's population depends on alerts from the Home Front Command, our air defense system and the Shin Bet to maintain any semblance of a normal life in light of the unending waves of rockets and missiles, drones and frequent terror attacks. Those hostages in Gaza who are still alive are enduring mortal suffering, and their numbers are dwindling. Only parts of society are still willing to enlist and/or continue serving in the military. Israel's economic situation is deteriorating and showing strains, while many businesses are moving their centers of activity abroad, either by choice or necessity.
The foundations of Israel's scientific, technological and commercial superiority are in real danger. The functioning of most government ministries has been pitiful and is driven mainly by narrow, short-term political considerations. Trust in them – and, even more importantly, in our ability to forge a better future for this country and nation – is disappearing among wide segments of society. Many, too many, have already despaired of living in Israel or are considering migrating.
The world is closing in on us. Even our best friends are having trouble standing beside us or backing us up, at the very moment when, more than ever before, we need their support and assistance, material, political and moral, both to sustain the fight now and to recover afterward. Belief in the justness of our cause is being steadily eroded in the absence of any viable vision that could present a credible alternative to a perpetual, multifront war.
The country's leadership, which in the past was wise enough to address all these issues, has consistently eschewed the opportunity to present Israelis or our partners elsewhere any credible vision for ending the fighting, any practical way to transform the fight and leverage its gains into a different, better, stable reality, or even to offer any strategy for surviving until then.
Nor are we seeing any realistic plan of action for coping with all of these challenges in the long run. Instead, myopia prevails, and we keep on hearing the mantra that we have to unite and support the leadership that is steering us into an escalating, never-ending war on multiple fronts.
But perhaps we're doing an injustice to the current government, and especially to the person who heads it, by implying that they have no strategic vision. Perhaps it does exist, but they simply haven't bothered to share it with us. Actions on the ground as well as statements here and there hint that this may indeed be the case, at least with regard to an ongoing occupation of Gaza and building some settlements there, annexing the West Bank and encouraging Palestinian migration from it (ultimately turning Jordan into Palestine), attacking Iran's nuclear facilities ourselves in the hopes that the United States will join in and finish the job once and for all, establishing a security zone in southern Lebanon and, above all, inciting our enemies' populations to rise up against their leaders in the hopes that regimes friendlier to Israel will emerge in their stead.
It seems clear that diplomatic agreements (starting with a hostage deal and continuing with forming an Arab-led governance scheme for Gaza, not to mention the West Bank) aren't part of the current government's agenda. Nor is a realistic plan to bolster our security, enhance social cohesion and mobilize society toward renewal, reviving the economy, improving Israel's international standing, strengthening Israel's relationship with the United States and more.
Given that we are a country whose future hinges on remaining a vibrant, modern society, our very survival as a nation now depends on closing ranks behind a clear vision and a plan of action to implement it, led by a competent political leadership and professional staff capable of advancing this. For this reason, Israelis now have no choice.
They must demand that the government immediately lay out for all to see its strategy for bailing us out of the current predicament – not only regarding the three neglected legs of the country's defense strategy, but also on how to maintain its military and security superiority over time given the serious challenges it faces both from within and without. For instance, over the long run, it can't continue relying on a constantly shrinking segment of society to bear the military burden, now that it's more difficult and burdensome than in the past.
But we should not confine this demand solely to the current leadership. Everyone in the opposition who presumes to provide an alternative to this leadership must be expected to do likewise. They must present us with their alternative vision, a practical plan of action and an inspiring team to carry them out. It's vital to have a public debate about these contrasting visions now, then put them to the voters for a decision.
Political leaders who refuse to explain to us their vision and plan of action for realizing it should be forced to vacate their positions immediately. Living by the sword forever, and continuing to run in place, are a surefire recipe for undermining the Zionist dream.
Dr. Ariel (Eli) Levite is a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Matt Bai Op-Ed: What Biden’s aides did that infuriated people
Author: Matt Bai
Reposted from The Washington Post
If there were any lingering doubts about whether Democrats did the right thing by pushing Joe Biden off the ticket in July, any remaining thought that maybe the president — even in a somewhat diminished state — was right to think that he could have beaten Donald Trump, then the exit polls from this week’s election should have put them to rest.
Because however history remembers Biden (and I think it will be kinder), it’s clear that a solid majority of Americans have determined his presidency to be a decisive failure. In Pennsylvania and Georgia, states Biden narrowly won in 2020, just over 40 percent of voters this week approved of his job performance. Nationally, that number was a tick lower, and roughly consistent with just about every poll over the past two years.
More than two-thirds of voters said the economy was in bad shape, but I don’t think that alone tells the story of Biden’s repudiation. The real reason, I think, goes deeper than any one policy or economic indicator.
Biden’s term started out promisingly enough. I thought he misread his mandate and pursued a more expansive agenda than a lot of voters endorsed, but however one judged the substance of his presidency, you couldn’t argue with his legislative success. Biden signed into law about $2.5 trillion in short-term aid and longer-term investments in education, energy and infrastructure. His administration bungled the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, but he rallied Europe capably in its defense of Ukraine.
Biden performed well enough to stave off his party’s losses in the 2022 midterm elections, which emboldened him to run again. But by then, his approval ratings had already been dropping for months. Consumers were reeling from inflation — the result, at least in part, of massive public spending. Americans were increasingly concerned about migrants streaming across the southern border, too.
Underlying all of this, always, was the issue of Biden’s age. He simply didn’t look or sound up to the job. He shuffled rather than strode, slurred his words, kept to scripted material. When Biden gave a perfectly average State of the Union speech earlier this year, managing to depart from the text with a quip here and there, Democrats — and, truth be told, much of the news media — rejoiced as if he’d just won the “kitchen debate” with Nikita Khrushchev.
The problem wasn’t merely the president’s age. It was his denial of reality — and his party’s. White House aides portrayed Biden as keeping his young advisers working late into the night, quizzing them for details. They repeated this nonsensical idea that he was the only Democrat alive who could beat Trump, just because he was the only one who had. Democrats denounced anyone who raised the fitness issue as ageist and accused us of abetting Trump.
Ultimately, of course, the world saw Biden at his worst in a televised debate, and party insiders were forced to act, too late. But we’ve been through all that already. The point I want to make is that there’s a common thread in all of this.
Canada reportedly foils Iranian plot to kill former justice minister Irwin Cotler
Reposted from The Guardian
Canadian authorities foiled an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate a former justice minister and rights activist who has been a strong critic of Tehran, the Globe and Mail newspaper has reported.
The 84-year-old was justice minister and attorney general from 2003 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2015 but has remained active with many associations that campaign for human rights around the world.
According to the Globe and Mail, he was informed last month that he faced an imminent threat – within 48 hours – of assassination from Iranian agents.
Authorities tracked two suspects in the plot, the paper said, citing unnamed sources.
In an email to AFP, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, where Cotler is international chair, confirmed the Globe and Mail report.
Cotler “has no knowledge or details regarding any arrests made”, said Brandon Golfman, an organization spokesman.
“We cannot comment on, nor confirm specific RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) operations due to security reasons,” a spokesperson for Dominic LeBlanc, the public safety minister, told AFP.
Jean-Yves Duclos, the government’s senior minister in Quebec province, where Cotler lives, commented that it was likely “very difficult for (Cotler), in particular, and his family and friends to hear” about the alleged plot.
Another senior government minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne, called the plot “very concerning.”
Cotler had already been receiving police protection for more than a year after the 7 October 2023 attack in Israel by Hamas.
He is Jewish and has advocated globally to have Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps listed as a terrorist entity.
Cotler’s name reportedly also came up in an FBI investigation of a 2022 Iranian murder-for-hire operation in New York that targeted the American human rights activist Masih Alinejad.
Ottawa, which severed diplomatic ties with Iran more than a decade ago, listed the Revolutionary Guard as a banned terror group in June.
As a lawyer, Cotler also represented Iranian political prisoners and dissidents. He is also international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and a strong backer of Israel.
His daughter, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, is an Israeli politician and diplomat who previously served as a member of Israel’s parliament.
Celebrating the Hon. Irwin Cotler
This past Sunday, November 3, TAU Canada and 550 guests celebrated the remarkable life and legacy of The Honourable Irwin Cotler.
Family and friends from Canada and beyond gathered in Montreal, in what became an unforgettable and powerful event. We paid tribute to a very special person, who has dedicated his life and career to making the world a better place. As former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosie Abella said in her special address, “We are all better people today because of Irwin.”
Funds from this campaign will support the continued work of the Irwin Cotler Institute, the Cotler International Graduate Fellowship Program and the Annual Global Antisemitism Report at Tel Aviv University, in its fight against the global surge of antisemitism and hate, with a focus on protecting Democracy, Human Rights and Justice.
As one of Irwin’s close friends, Stephen Lipper, said, “The evening celebrating Irwin Cotler was a never to be forgotten event. Everyone joined together in an evening of love and appreciation for the person who did so much for human rights throughout the world. The speeches were outstanding, given by very special people, who were very important in Irwin’s life, as Irwin was in theirs.”
How to protect elections and democracy in a critical year
October 21, 2024 - Posted by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The United States is approaching its election day on November 5. For the next month, the Bulletin's magazine issue on elections, democracy, and the information ecosystem will be available to all readers, including the below articles. Read more.
To protect democratic values, journalism must save itself
Sara Goudarzi
The United States is approaching its election day on November 5. For the next month, the Bulletin's magazine issue on elections, democracy, and the information ecosystem will be available to all readers, including the below articles. Read more.
Interview: Lawrence Norden on US election security
Dawn Stover
A deep dive into the nuts-and-bolts of election security, resiliency, ballots, and ballot-counting, and why it would be so hard to produce a false result. Among other things, 99% of polling places now have paper printouts of each electronic vote, offering hard physical evidence—a paper trail—in the event of an audit or a full-blown recount. That was not the case a decade or so ago. Read more.How to protect elections and democracy in a critical year
The United States is approaching its election day on November 5. For the next month, the Bulletin's magazine issue on elections, democracy, and the information ecosystem will be available to all readers, including the below articles. Read more.
Indian nuclear weapons, 2024
HANS M. KRISTENSEN, MATT KORDA, ELIANA JOHNS, MACKENZIE KNIGHT
In the most recent edition of the Nuclear Notebook, experts from the Federation of American Scientists estimate that India may have produced enough military plutonium for 130 to 210 nuclear warheads and the country’s warhead stockpile is likely growing. Read more.