Daily Archives: October 11, 2019

There are differences between free speech, hate speech and academic freedom and they matter – The Conversation AU

Posted: October 11, 2019 at 6:48 pm

Last week, posters appeared at the University of Auckland inviting young white men to assume the mantle of re-taking control of our own country and to confront anti-racism ideology.

The group was obviously unaware of the significance of the British High Commissioners expression of regret, in the same week, for the killing of several Mori people during their first encounter with the English explorer James Cook in 1769.

At least 1,300 academics and students signed an open letter, arguing that racism and white supremacy have no place at the university and challenging the Vice Chancellors initial position that there is no justification for removing the posters.

This week, the Vice Chancellor changed his position, telling staff that a debate about free speech should be put to one side for now, as the most important matter was the real hurt and sense of threat that some people in our university community feel in response to these expressions of white supremacist views.

Read more: Academic freedom is under threat around the world here's how to defend it

Neither the Vice Chancellor nor the signatories to the open letter bring academic freedom into the debate. But minister of justice Andrew Little, a former president of the New Zealand University Students Association, argued that there is no principle of academic freedom that says white supremacy ought to be protected.

Free speech, hate speech and academic freedom are related but different. And the differences matter.

Free speech is the right to say whatever one likes. It is unconstrained by the disciplines of reason and objectivity. It doesnt require factual accuracy. As with academic freedom, it doesnt matter if ones opinion is unpopular. Both free speech and academic freedom are essential to democracy.

Free speech belongs in universities as much as anywhere else. It is the right to hold opinions and to challenge the opinions of others. A Chinese student in New Zealand once asked me if it was alright to criticise the prime minister in an essay. This underscores the importance of free speech, but also the need for great caution in setting its limits.

Academic freedom protects free speech on the one hand, but conditions it on the other. Universities cannot support the unrestricted pursuit of knowledge if one cannot think freely. But knowledge cannot be tested and doesnt advance if there isnt also a duty to be well informed and reasoned - and willing to have ones ideas scrutinised by others.

In a university, the test of a reasonable opinion is higher. One cannot say whatever one likes and call it academic freedom.

Both free speech and academic freedom are limited by hate speech.

According to the United Nations, hate speech is:

any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor.

When people say that they want to reclaim a country as their own and contest anti-racism they are saying overtly and unapologetically that they dont want others to have a democratic presence. They are saying that they dont want others to have free speech. Nor do they want academics who are not young white men to have academic freedom.

These arent democratically legitimate differences of opinion because toleration is not the solution to intolerance.

There are differences between what is wrong and what is intolerably wrong. There are some views that a free society cant tolerate.

Racism is intolerably wrong because it denies some people human equality. It creates a hierarchy of human worth and causes serious harm to its targets.

Read more: Friday essay: networked hatred - new technology and the rise of the right

In Australia, free speech is restricted under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 which provides that:

It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if:(a) the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and(b) the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the group.

There are significant qualifications to these restrictions. But, in spite of these, in 2014 the attorney general told parliament that the act imposed unreasonable constraints on peoples right to be bigots.

The conservative think tank the Institute of Public Affairs claimed in 2018 that university policies curtailing free speech had dramatically increased in the preceding two years. The University of Sydneys Vice Chancellor argued that robust processes ensure that freedom of speech from all parts of the spectrum is alive and well on our campuses.

But earlier this year, a government-commissioned inquiry found that claims of a freedom of speech crisis on Australian campuses are not substantiated. The review also found that universities should not allow visitors to use their premises to advance theories or propositions which fall below scholarly standards to such an extent as to be detrimental to the universitys character as an institution of higher learning.

Defending a right to bigotry, or to express hate speech, trivialises what the denial of both free speech and academic freedom can really look like. In China, for example, the state has warned against the presence of mistaken views in universities, including the study of constitutional democracy, civil society, economic liberalisation, freedom of the press, challenges to socialism with Chinese characteristics and discussion of universal values including academic freedom.

In the case of the white supremacy posters, it would seem that University of Auckland academics, not the Vice Chancellor, had the stronger argument.

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There are differences between free speech, hate speech and academic freedom and they matter - The Conversation AU

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The Coalition: Where protesting free speech is only a right for the Right – Independent Australia

Posted: at 6:48 pm

The Morrison Government, for all its pretensions and rhetoric, has shown that its commitment to basic human rights such as of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of association is paper-thin at best.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has demonstrated his contempt for our democratic freedoms on many occasions. Most recently, by snubbing the UN Climate Change Summit, before summarily dismissing themost significant display of freedom of assembly of our era, in which300,000 Australians took to our streets protesting climate inaction.

Morrison could hardly disguise his derision, as he insisted Australias response to global warming was just fine and declared that climate protests were causing needless anxiety in children.

Democratic freedoms, as far as the openly Pentecostal PM is concerned, only refer to so-calledreligious freedoms. The most recent manifestation of this commitment to freedom involves the establishment of religious freedomlegislation which seeks to give special rights to those who refer to themselves as religiousto say whatever they like to whomever they like, while not extending the same freedom" of speechto their non-denominational counterparts.

Meanwhile, that beacon of the freedom of speech brigade, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, now wants to cancel welfare payments for anyone exercising such freedoms by protesting climate inaction. Dutton has called for mandatory gaol terms, as well as urging others to name and shame protesters on Newstart. Senator Michaelia Cash, unsurprisingly, supported this view.

And now, Member for Goldstein Tim Wilson explains, for all our ignorant benefit, the difference between good protests and bad protests.

In 2016, when his Government subjected LGBTI people to a same-sex marriage plebiscite, Wilson cried, with dramatic effect, but backed it anyway. Today fresh from enjoying the LGBTI communitys campaigning while he toed the party line on marriage equality Wilson is now practically a rebel.

Suddenly, so interested in the democratic right of free speech is Wilson, that he went to the Hong Kong protests and joined in with pro-democracy activists along the way ensuring to take plenty of selfies for his social media campaign.

Wilson then resorted to the old Im-the-adult-in-the-room-logic when, in a train-wreck interview on ABCs Afternoon Briefing, Patricia Karvelas questioned his commitment to freedom of speech, asking him:

Is it just some protests you like and not others?

Thats a sort of childish assertion, frankly, he replied. Firstly, people have a right to protest and Ive always argued that.

Got it. Unless, of course, you count the time, only eight short years ago, when Wilson tweeted about protesters:

Walked past Occupy Melbourne protest, all people who think freedom of speech = freedom 2 b heard, time wasters ... send in the water cannons.

A garbled explanation followed in which Wilson claimed he had been joking about the water cannons and that the

The Occupy Melbourne protest wasnt just a protest it was an occupation You cant just take over public land

Hong Kong represents good protesting, it seems, while protesting of any description in Australiais extremist, disruptive and not to be tolerated. Apparently, the distinction is in the occupation of public land!

For the record, as the former IPA policy director for climate change policy and intellectual property and free trade, Wilson was an active critic of the Human Rights Commission presumably until a convenient act of cronyism saw him appointed as its Commissioner.

Key policies pertaining to democratic freedoms from that little gem, 20 Policies to Fix Australia, include the following:

Naturally, Tim took these fundamental principles to his role as Human Rights Commissioner, where he enthusiasticallyadvocated for changes to Section 18C of theRacial Discrimination Act, and referred to the prosecution of Andrew Boltfor vilification of Indigenous Australians, as an infringement on Bolt's right to freedom of speech.

Freedom of speech for the Morrison Government is a right, but only for the Right.

This is only half the story!Read more in theIA members-only area.It takes less a minute tosubscribe to IAand costs as little as $5 a month, or $50 a year a small sum for superb journalism and lots of extras.

You can follow executive editorMichelle Pinion Twitter@vmp9. Follow Independent Australia on Twitter at@independentausand on FacebookHERE.

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Free Speech Moment for Facebook! Platform Allows Trump Ad That CNN Banned – NewsBusters

Posted: at 6:48 pm

Facebook is taking a free-speech approach to political campaign ads, and letting users decide what is or is not fake news. Naturally, the left is upset about it.

President Trumps re-election campaign launched a new ad both on television and social media last week that condemned Vice President Joe Bidens role in the Ukraine controversy.

According to USA Todays coverage, The ad says that Biden promised money to Ukraine in exchange for firing a prosecutor that was looking into a Ukrainian gas company with ties to his son Hunter Biden.

The article observed how a CNN spokesperson claimed that the ad does not meet the company's advertising standards. "A CNN spokesperson," according to the USA Today piece, "said in a statement that the ad does not meet its advertising standards.

Specifically, in addition to disparaging CNN and its journalists, the ad makes assertions that have been proven demonstrably false by various news outlets, including CNN.

Liberals were equally upset. The Democratic National Committee called for the ad to be removed. The Hill quoted the DNCs deputy war room director Daniel Wessel, who said, Yes, any false ad should be fact checked and removed, including this one, later adding, Facebook owes that to its users.

Facebook, however, has sided with freedom of speech a fact that left-wing media outlets found unacceptable.

In Newsweeks coverage, the outlet framed the change in rules not as a victory for free speech, but as a means of enabling politicians to post ads that contain falsehoods without violating any of the company's terms.

CNNs article Democratic National Committee slams Facebook for letting Trump 'mislead' Americans 'unimpeded' cited how DNC CEO Seema Nanda slammed the decision. She said that the DNC was "deeply disappointed in Facebook's decision to exempt statements from political candidates from its fact-checking policy."

On October 3, far-left Mother Jones wrote the damning headline that Facebook Just Gave Trump Permission to Lie. The article claimed that President Trump is taking advantage of a Facebook exemption that allows politicians to lie in advertisements to spread disinformation.

Facebook VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg wrote in a September 24 blog post that [w]e dont believe ... that it's an appropriate role for us to referee political debates and prevent a politician's speech from reaching its audience and being subject to public debate and scrutiny.

In that same blog post he explained how Facebook has had a newsworthiness exemption for posts that may not conform to Facebook community standards but are necessary for the public interest.

He said, This means that if someone makes a statement or shares a post which breaks our community standards we will still allow it on our platform if we believe the public interest in seeing it outweighs the risk of harm.

He then announced, [F]rom now on we will treat speech from politicians as newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard.

During his speech at the Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C. that same day, he asked, Would it be acceptable to society at large to have a private company in effect become a self-appointed referee for everything that politicians say? I dont believe it would be.

Instead, he proclaimed, In open democracies, voters rightly believe that, as a general rule, they should be able to judge what politicians say themselves.

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Free Speech Moment for Facebook! Platform Allows Trump Ad That CNN Banned - NewsBusters

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Review: In Terra Firma, a Wee Wet Country on the Brink – The New York Times

Posted: at 6:46 pm

We are becoming like all the other nations, the queen says in a moment of despair. We have unhappy prisoners, indifferent citizens and the young people refuse to reproduce.

Actually, the nation she rules with her husband, Roy, has just one of each of those things: one prisoner (a recent hostage, good at chess), one citizen (a doofus interested in pyrotechnics) and one young person (the 17-year-old prince, currently away on a mission).

Thats because Terra Firma, as the queen has named it, is a micronation: a self-declared kingdom located on an abandoned 6,000-square-foot antiaircraft platform six miles out to sea. It may not boast much land or populace, but it has a national anthem, a tatty flag, a centralized health service and a constitution if the queen could ever complete it.

Terra Firma, the play by Barbara Hammond about this country, likewise seems in need of more work. Ambitious and smart, it is not yet coherent, at least not in its world premiere, which opened on Thursday at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. Shifting from whimsical comedy to light satire to lumpy allegory, it quickly strips its gears and stops cold.

The whimsy, coming right at the start, proves especially deadly in Shana Coopers staging for a newly founded theater company called the Coop. Mild humor about the micronations pretensions to real statehood seems especially vaporous on the imposing set (by Andrew Boyce) and amid the foreboding ocean roar of Jane Shaws sound design. But at least the absurdity of the premise has a historical precedent: Terra Firma is based on a real place called Sealand, established in the late 1960s off the east coast of England.

The humans seem less precedented. As the citizen (John Keating) and Roy (Gerardo Rodriguez) hoist their hostage (Tom OKeefe) onto the platform and proceed to interrogate him, we might almost be watching a Three Stooges routine, except with less finesse. Clumsily handled as well is the back story: The citizen and Roy, believing that recent nearby explosions are the work of enemies bent on their destruction, are desperate to understand the danger theyre in.

That danger, we quickly understand from the scripts broad hints, is ecological. When the young prince (Daniel Molina) returns from his reconnaissance mission, he brings with him a sliver of a hedge to decorate the homeland; it is apparently the last piece of greenery left in the world. And when a weather-beaten diplomat (T. Ryder Smith) arrives to negotiate the hostage crisis, we learn that the reason he is the first to heed Terra Firmas calls for help delivered in bottles cast out to sea is that there may be no one else left to answer.

The queen, unwilling to credit such dire suspicions, doubles down on her queenliness. Because she is played by Andrus Nichols the marvelously grave Elinor in Kate Hamills Sense & Sensibility a character that could easily turn camp instead comes across as somehow both deluded and brave. Despite her stained blouse and paste tiara, she practices holding her right arm aloft whenever she appears, as if searching for the perfect salute to comfort a grateful people.

This pathos gets at what the play does best: It understands and in some way forgives human limitation. It fares less well when it attempts a critique of rulers who reject reality even if its a reality they helped create. A parallel is suggested between the characters pride and the disaster now engulfing them, as if Terra Firma were the industrialized West in miniature, unable to steer away from the brink of climate change. In an authors note, Hammond writes that she saw in the story of the real Sealand a metaphor for the human predicament.

But that comparison is under-drawn and illogical; a few people stuck on a massive steel life raft for several decades cannot have much to do with rising sea levels and whatever else is eating the rest of the world. The Terra Firmans arent nuclear physicists who built faulty reactors like the characters in Lucy Kirkwoods The Children, a much more sophisticated treatment of the same theme. Theyre refugees.

So, in a way, are the members of the Coop, recently formed as a kind of breakaway republic from another theater company, Bedlam. Terra Firma, the Coops inaugural production, matches its mission to stage plays that resonate with timeless themes and universal truths, but in this case resonance isnt enough.

Thats a problem built into the bloated mash-up of genres: Comedy is based on particularizing human behavior, but allegory is based on generalizing it. In trying to be both, and an ecological tragedy as well, Terra Firma pulls in too many directions. Though the cast especially Nichols, OKeefe and Smith is strong, and Cooper makes lovely stage pictures on the rusty platform, theres something thin and self-defeating about the resulting circular logic. Like most life raft stories, Terra Firma doesnt hold water.

Terra Firma

Tickets Through Nov. 10 at Baruch Performing Arts Center, Manhattan; 212-352-3101, thecoopnyc.org. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes.

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New EU Ambassador to Seychelles accredited – News – Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles

Posted: at 6:44 pm

08 October 2019 | Foreign Affairs

The new Ambassador and Head of the delegation of the European Union (EU) to the Republic of Seychelles, H.E. Mr Vincent Degert, presented his credentials to President Danny Faure at State House this morning.

The President congratulated Ambassador Degert on his appointment and noted the appreciation of the Government of Seychelles for the long and fruitful relationship shared with the European Union. He said that the Government of Seychelles greatly values the partnership and is committed to enhancing it further.

"I would like to thank the European Union for all it has done for Seychelles. It has stood by us in good times and in bad times. We look forward to working with you in existing and also new areas of cooperation. The EU is like-minded, and we share a lot of common values, such as the utmost respect for democracy and rule of law. I look to the EU to continue providing the necessary support in terms of capacity building to consolidate what we have achieved together, said President Faure.

During the meeting, President Faure and Ambassador Degert discussed areas of common interest and value to both Seychelles and the European Union, such as the fight against terrorism, maritime security, trade and investment, financial stability, climate action, and environmental conservation. Furthermore, they talked on avenues to broaden their cooperation.

Speaking to the national media following the accreditation ceremony, Ambassador Degert said that during his mandate he will try his best to raise the level of cooperation between countries in the region.

Also present at the accreditation this morning was the Principal Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mrs Marina Confait, EU representatives and Officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

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Club Med to Open First Resort in the Seychelles – RusTourismNews

Posted: at 6:44 pm

It is now confirmed that work that started well over a year ago to transform the 87 room Beachcomber St. Anne Resort into a whopping 295 room Club Med is now nearing completion.

It was in late 2017 when the announcement was made that Club Med would take over though the ownership of the property would remain with Beachcomber for an initial 12 years lease and management. The present rebuilding, enlargement and upgrading will, when completed, bring the Sainte Anne Resort & Spa into the Club Med 5 Star segment at a cost of at least 80 million US Dollars. The resort, located on the island of St. Anne, is a 15 minutes boat ride away from Mahe with shuttle services leaving from a dedicated jetty. The 220 hectares large private island is surrounded by one of Seychelles marine national parks.

The Seychelles Minister responsible for Finance, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne said recently that he was hoping to see the reopening of the Ste Anne Resort in mid-2020 during the islands settlement celebrations that in earnest started on the island of Ste Anne itself.

Source: Saint Ange Tourism Report

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President Faure receives Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury – Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles

Posted: at 6:44 pm

08 October 2019 | Finance

President Danny Faure received the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the United States Department of the Treasury, MrMarshall Billingslea,for a courtesy call at State House this morning.

MrBillingsleaand his delegation are currently in Seychelles to further strengthen the relations between the United States of America and Seychelles in the financial system and see how they can assist in improving the countrys laws that deal with anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, among other areas.

President Faure welcomed MrBillingslea and his delegation to the country andreaffirmed Seychelles commitment to further advance the relationship with the U.S.A, a solid bilateral partner, and explore new avenues for collaboration.

During the meeting, the discussion between the Head of State and MrBillingslea centred on how Seychelles and the United States of America can intensify their cooperationin fighting money laundering, drug trafficking, marine security and other threats affecting the country.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, MrBillingsleadescribed the relations between the United States of America and Seychelles as very close and positive. He said that the economy of Seychelles is very strong. He said during his time in Seychelles he would be meeting with the Governor of Central Bank about expanding digital technology in the financial sector and getting the banking system fully digitised.

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President Faure receives Assistant Secretary of the United States Treasury - Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles

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The Top 10: Parliament buildings – The Independent

Posted: at 6:44 pm

Thanks to Allan Faulds, who compiled a heroic Twitter thread of the buildings housing the lower house of parliament of all 193 countries of the world, which is well worth reading in full and very funny. Here, in no particular order, are my 10 favourites.

1. Hungary(above).As Allan says, This is it. This is the parliament. A legislative building without compare. Gothic. Tick. Dome. Tick. Red. Tick. He also says it is unutterably gorgeous inside too, and Ill take his word for it.

2. Romania(see slideshow below). This also featured in my Top 10 great buildings in 2014. Its vast, and vastly impressive. Started in 1984 and unfinished by the time of Ceausescus death in 1989. Its finished now, but 70 per cent empty.

From 15p 0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

3. Trinidad and Tobago.Allan comments: One day, some guy who loves the colour red is going to review parliament buildings, and when he does, we will be ready with the Red House.

4. Armenia. Now that he has mentioned it, Allan is right about the mild university campus vibe, but it is a beautiful building, grand, symmetrical and the grounds look lovely.

Completed in 1904, the neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament Building is currently the largest building in the country

Getty/iStockphoto

The Palace of the Parliament in Romania is the heaviest building in the world. Started under communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1984, it was completed in 1997 after his execution

Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Red House, the Beaux-Arts style parliament of Trinidad and Tobago was the site of the 1990 Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt

Random 00021/Wikimedia

The National Assembly Building was designed by Soviet architect Mark Grigorian and completed in 1950

Getty Images

The new National Assembly building was inaugurated in 2015

David Stanley

The Capitol was completed in 1800 and remains one of the most famous government buildings in the world

Getty Images

The Sansad Bhavan, or Parliament House, was designed by the British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker. Completed in 1927, the building is inspired by the Ashoka Chakra, the wheel of the dharma

AFP/Getty Images

The Gothic revival Parliament Hill is currently undergoing a $1bn renovation

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Solar panels were recently added to the Seychelles' National Assembly rooftop

National Assembly of Seychelles

Bhutan's parliament hall features frescoes depicting the country's traditions and Buddhist values

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Completed in 1904, the neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament Building is currently the largest building in the country

Getty/iStockphoto

The Palace of the Parliament in Romania is the heaviest building in the world. Started under communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1984, it was completed in 1997 after his execution

Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Red House, the Beaux-Arts style parliament of Trinidad and Tobago was the site of the 1990 Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt

Random 00021/Wikimedia

The National Assembly Building was designed by Soviet architect Mark Grigorian and completed in 1950

Getty Images

The new National Assembly building was inaugurated in 2015

David Stanley

The Capitol was completed in 1800 and remains one of the most famous government buildings in the world

Getty Images

The Sansad Bhavan, or Parliament House, was designed by the British architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker. Completed in 1927, the building is inspired by the Ashoka Chakra, the wheel of the dharma

AFP/Getty Images

The Gothic revival Parliament Hill is currently undergoing a $1bn renovation

Getty Images/iStockphoto

Solar panels were recently added to the Seychelles' National Assembly rooftop

National Assembly of Seychelles

Bhutan's parliament hall features frescoes depicting the country's traditions and Buddhist values

Getty Images/iStockphoto

5. Angola. Again, if you like domes, symmetry, red buildings and gardens, and Allan and I do, this is another perfect parliament.

6. United States of America. I didnt include the Palace of Westminster on grounds of familiarity and I work in it, but the Capitol is so good that overexposure cannot bleach out its greatness.

7. India. Huge circular building the circumference is a third of a mile designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, built in the 1920s, with three semicircular chambers and a dome inside.

8. Canada. Ridiculous Disney castle design. I love it.

9. Seychelles. Allan calls it a beach resort parliament building, which is a compliment: I like the open veranda and balcony, and it does have solar panels.

10. Bhutan. As Allan says, the shallow gabled roofs may be standard in Bhutan, but they are pretty and also red with small gold pagodas on top.

Next week: Unlikely things named after battles, starting with balaclava.

Coming soon: You Havent Thought That Throughs, after Flick Drummond the Tory former MP said Boris Johnson was incredibly popular like the Pied Piper.

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk

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She Just Became The First Black Woman to Visit Every Country In The World – Because of Them We Can

Posted: at 6:44 pm

Jessica Nabongo, a Ugandan-American Black travel influencer, just became the first Black woman to document her visit to every country in the world, Pulse Nigeria reports.

Nabongo had already been bitten by the travel bug, beginning her travels in 2009, establishing herself as a travel influencer. But in 2017, she set out on a quest to travel the entire world. She was in Bali, Indonesia and had already traveled to 60 countries before embarking on her new journey. She decided to commit to this quest by visiting all 195 countries that are members of the United Nations.

The Detroit native said her love for travel began early. My parents normalized it in advance. I think this turned into wanderlust because my parents never made a big deal out of travel [it] wasnt something to be fearful of, she told Airbnb Magazine.

She was already running a full time travel agency called Global Jet Black when she made the decision to travel the globe and used her own funds to get started. But in order to begin, she stepped back from her agency and started documenting her excursions full time via Instagram @thecatchmeifyoucan and her blog of the same name. She began using her skills as an influencer to fund her new endeavors. Utilizing various brand partnerships and the money she made as a freelance writer, content creator, United Nations consultant and help from a GoFundMe she created, she was able to make her dreams a reality.

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ISLAMAPHOBIA Firstly, Islamaphobia is steeped in racism. It distorts the religion and gives it an Arab face. And while the origins of Islam (and Judaism and Christianity) are in the Arab world, most Muslims do not live in the Arab world, in fact only 20% do. 13% of the worlds Muslim population is in Indonesia. Around one third of Muslims live in South Asia e.g Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. They are not Arab though often mistaken to be. There are large populations of Muslims in Africa, Central Asia and Europe. More than 50% of Bosnians and Albanians are Muslim! Islam comes in many shades and nationalities, it isnt just the Arab boogeyman weve all been taught to fear. Ive traveled to nearly every Muslim majority country in the world, my first being Oman in 2012 and my most recent being Pakistan. I only had to cover my head the entire time in Afghanistan, Iran and Somaliland. I have had to cover my shoulders and legs and always keep a scarf handy just in case. There is a common misperception that traveling in a Muslim country for women is dangerous. This has not been my experience at all. While I have certainly been uncomfortable because typically most public spaces are dominated by men, it was not them making me feel uncomfortable, but rather my own reaction to being, the only woman in a space. Ive noticed substantially less harassment in the Muslim world versus traveling in Europe or North America. Of course this does not hold true for everyone as Ive heard stories of foreign women being harassed in Muslim countries as well. I have seen many women say they will not travel to the Muslim world because of the oppression of women, but that typically only refers to Arab countries, but not Morocco, UAE and Egypt because fave tourist destinations. There are bad people everywhere in all religions, but what traveling to 191 countries has taught me is that most people are good. Much of what is shown on the media around Islam is propaganda. I think it is best to travel and see for yourself and dont let the media scare you. Have you ever been to a Muslim country? What was your experience? @projectfairplay

A post shared by Jessica (Jess) Nabongo (@thecatchmeifyoucan) on Aug 19, 2019 at 9:23pm PDT

Nabongo told CNN Travel that she wanted to travel the world to bring diversity to the landscape of travel. Its about changing the perception of female travelers, of travelers of color and of anyone who doesnt have the option of passing for a local in a given community. Racism is a thing. Theres nothing we can do to get around that. History has made it that way. I exist as a Black person in this world and Im not going to let that hinder me from going anywhere I want to go. Namely, everywhere, she said.

She uses her platform to document her voyages as well as shed light on important causes in various regions of the world including endangered species and environmental issues. Nabongo said her mission is important because representation is important. We see Instagram, the travel industry and we are just not seeing enough people who look like me traveling as extensively as I am. So I think its really important for me to be doing this for other people that look like me, she told BBC.

In the beginning, Nabongo set a goal to finish her mission by May 15, 2019, her 35th birthday. But she eventually changed the date to honor her late father, setting a new date of October 6, 2019.

My Dad passed in the city in 2003. What I decided is that for my last country which is Seychelles, were going to land on October 6th, which is his birthday. He hasnt been here for most of this journey but were able to bring him in the fold by getting there on his birthday. The reason I picked Seychelles is because it is in Africa, she said.

On October 6, 2019, Nabongo landed in Seychelles, a group of islands in East Africa off the coast of the Indian Ocean, completing her mission of visiting all 195 UN member countries.

Congratulations Jessica!! Keep inspiring us!

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Seychelles-based Crypto-Futures Exchange, CoinFlex, Starts Issuing the First Ever Libra Futures – bitcoinke.io

Posted: at 6:44 pm

CoinFlex, a crypto-futures exchange which launched in early 2019, is the first exchange to offer an Initial Futures Opening (IFO) linked to the launch of Facebooks Libra crypto project.

CoinFlex also happens to be the worlds first physically delivered cryptocurrency futures exchange. The exchange creates futures on coins that do not exist yet on blockchains that are well-funded in private markets but are yet to launch.

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CoinFlex is offering the Libra derivative that is expected to pay out based on the likelihood Libra will be operational by the end of 2020.

So far, the seychelles-based exchange has launched the Polkadot IFO, a future platform that provides an interoperability platform, and is now facilitating bets on whether Facebook can come close to meeting its target December 2020 launch date.

Speaking on the Libra IFO, Mark Lamb, CEO, CoinFlex, told Bloomberg:

Facebook has the ability to rival the entire global banking system from day one, but, because of that fact, when that first day will be is far from certain.

CoinFlex is offering physically-settled futures that will deliver Libra tokens if the stablecom goes live by December 20th, 2020 or the agreed settlement date. If Libra is not operational by then, investors will lose all their initial investment.

The initial price of Libra futures is set at 30 Cents, which is roughly 30% probably whether Libra will be operational on the said date. This means that if an investor ascribes an 80% chance to Libra being operational before the contract expiry date, they get pay equivalent of 80% of Libra. If the investor is wrong, they get nothing.

Here is the process on how to hold Libra futures on CoinFlex:

Short and long trades will be capped at $1.1 per Libra gain to account for changes in currency values that are backing the Libra stablecoin.

While Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook, has not committed to a timeframe on the Libra launch, head of Calibra, David Marcus, has reiterated that a 2020 launch remains the goal. It remains to be seen if the current regulatory environment will make it possible to launch by the said date.

Initial Futures Offering (IFO) explained

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Seychelles-based Crypto-Futures Exchange, CoinFlex, Starts Issuing the First Ever Libra Futures - bitcoinke.io

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