A Ph.D. student at Michigan State University said his mother was arrested in Bangladesh after he criticized the country’s government in a Facebook post.
This is specific to journalists, but it’s relevant:
Pulled one example:
In March, 2023, Awami League’s armed cadres, loyal to Sheikh Hasina beaten the brother of Al-Jazeera I-Unit journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan in front of his home in Dhaka. The attacker, while attacking, said, “Your brother writes against the prime minister, against the government? He’s a journalist? Now you’ll see.”[19] Zulkarnain Saer Khan exposed the corruption of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Al-Jazeera documentary All the Prime Minister’s Men in 2022 and led an investigation against Sheikh Hasina’s close aide Abdus Sobhan Golap’s corruption who secretly bought nine properties of 4 million USD in the New York.
I remember this from when I was looking up a few places that surprised me when going through the Press Freedom Index. It might just be because I’m not familiar with these places, and it speaks to the assumptions we might make, but I was surprised to see a few countries so far down the list / below other ones.
As a Frenchman, being behind Costa Rica and Namibia is shameful…
Why is it shameful to be behind Namibia and Costa Rica?
South America and Africa aren’t the first places you think about when someone mentions freedom of the press. France is the “country of human rights”, it should be top 10, and it’s not even top 10 in Europe.
Namibia consistently ranks as the top country in Africa regarding press freedom and has been a stable democracy ever since being freed from colonial rule by South Africa.
(South Africa had a mandate over Namibia I mean, the Apartheid fucks attempted to implement Apartheid there, not free the country).
There’s still issues with women’s rights and those of sexual minorities, as well as various indigenous groups being marginalised and having poor socio-economic status (notably San) but overall that’s more of a function of where the country came from, and not where it’s going.
You should be exactly as ashamed of being behind Namibia in press freedom as you’re ashamed of being behind Germany. Also, that your former colonies fare much, much worse. Git gud. And you can find solace in the fact that the UK ranks below you.
Thank you, that guy is so bigoted he didn’t realize I was calling him out.
Not if you’re absorbed in snooty eurocentric self righteousness they’re not
Maybe you’re just a bigot.
Costa Rica is in Central America.
France is one of the main reasons Latin American and African countries are in the positions they’re in… I don’t see how France could be the “country of human rights”
I had the same reaction to that comment.
France is the “country of human rights”
There has literally never been a single moment in history when this was even remotely true. France has done more harm to humanity than nearly any other civilization in recorded history.
French politicians and journalists often refer to France this way. Of course, it’s not true, especially considering the number of times it was sentenced by the European court of human rights.
Cuz “not European” is inherently disadvantageous for some. Aka the soft bigotry of low expectations.
What a piece of shit country Bangladesh is.
Shit hole country. Added it to the list.
Don’t buy clothes made there. You have to send a monetary message to the companies that enable these governments by doing business with them. Money is the only language that anyone in power understands.
Hey, honest question, will an individual purchase being cancelled matter at all? Unless someone is on the board for government policy or maybe if you’re like a garment importer or something maybe you can hit em where it hurts but otherwise i feel like this is just some wishful thinking.
As a solitary individual? Not even a little bit. But if enough individuals make a stand, it gets noticed. Without a marketing campaign to raise awareness there wouldn’t be a significant impact. But you at least know that you’re not personally supporting such behavior. If enough people make a similar decision then it could get some exposure and gain traction. There are a lot of companies I won’t do business with because of their ethics. They don’t care, but I do. So I guess I’m saying there are two parts to it, your personal choices, and a movement that actually impacts the companies and country. The latter is a full-time job to enact, the former is something you can easily control.
The world will learn of our peaceful ways… through force!
If there were ever a time to say it… “Damn, son…”
