Tag: Her Song

Photo: YouTube

Rio de Janeiro, January 13, 2023 – Brazilian authorities must investigate all attacks on journalists covering the January 8 riots at the country’s capital and their aftermath, and adopt concrete measures to protect members of the press and reduce widespread hostility against the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

On January 8, thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro raided the National Congress, Presidential Palace, and Supreme Court facilities in a violent riot in the country’s capital Brasília, destroying furniture, equipment, art, and parts of the buildings, according to multiple news reports. 

According to the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) and the Federal District Journalists’ Union (SJPDF), at least 16 journalists were attacked or harassed at the capital on January 8, and at least 24 others have been targeted in the aftermath of the riots. Authorities have detained more than 1,200 people since the riots began, according to news reports.

“The extreme levels of hostility against journalists in Brazil covering the January 8 riots and other pro-Bolsonaro protests is alarming, and authorities must act immediately to identify the perpetrators and hold them accountable,” said Renata Neder, CPJ’s Brazil representative. “One of the tragic legacies of Bolsonaro’s government is the widespread animosity against the press. The new government must adopt immediate measures to reverse this trend and fulfill its responsibility to protect journalists.”

The journalists attacked on January 8 include:

(1) A journalist from the local O Tempo newspaper, who rioters held for 30 minutes inside the National Congress, where they slapped, punched, kicked, and threatened him with firearms, according to statements published by his outlet. The journalist, who declined to disclose his name, citing safety concerns, wrote in the statement that the rioters accused him of “infiltrating.” 

(2) Marina Dias, a reporter with The Washington Post, who was surrounded, pushed, kicked, pulled by the hair, and had her glasses broken by rioters who also attempted to grab her phone, according to multiple news reports and a tweet by the journalist. 

(3) Rafaela Felicciano, a photojournalist for the news website Metrópoles, who was surrounded by 10 men who kicked and punched her and then stole her cellphone and camera’s memory card, according to news reports.

(4) Two photographers, one working for AFP and the other for Reuters, who suffered physical aggression and had their equipment and cellphone stolen.

A full list including the other attacks on journalists can be found on the SJPDF’s website.

Abraji President Katia Brembatti told CPJ via messaging app that such attacks are “the culmination of a process that has been built over the years to characterize journalists as enemies to be defeated.”

“From the encouragement of rulers like Bolsonaro, media workers were dehumanized and delegitimized, becoming targets,” she said.

Between the presidential election run-off on October 30, 2022, and January 7, 2023, Abraji and the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ) documented 78 incidents of physical attacks, harassment, threats, or acts that damaged journalists’ equipment.

FENAJ President Samira de Castro told CPJ that the incidents “constitute a serious attack on press freedom in the country, which has been deteriorating over the last six years, with violence ranging from physical and verbal aggression to censorship by public agents, judicial harassment, and even murder.”

On January 9, representatives from four press freedom organizations met with Paulo Pimenta, head minister of social communications for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In a video tweeted on January 12, Pimenta said media workers “have suffered violence and hate while simply exercising their work, and this cannot be naturalized,” adding that he contacted the civil police chief in Brasília to request that journalist’s cases be handled differently so “investigations move quickly” and perpetrators can be identified and held responsible. 

In response to CPJ’s request for comment, the Federal District Civil Police emailed a link to a statement that said they remain “in operational readiness until public order is restored.” CPJ emailed the federal government press office for comment but did not receive any reply.

According to a statement Bolsonaro’s lawyer Frederick Wassef sent CPJ via messaging app, “Jair Bolsonaro strongly condemns the acts of vandalism and destruction of public property” and denies having any relationship with those who participated in the capital riots.

Photo: YouTube

More than 60 years ago, as many are aware, civil rights activists began organizing to desegregate businesses in Birmingham, Alabama. By the spring of 1963, tensions were at a boiling point due to a series of sit-ins, boycotts, and demonstrations designed to draw attention to racial injustices in the city. On April 12, 1963, Dr. King was arrested in Birmingham for not having an official permit.

In his germinal Letter from Birmingham Jail, King, while incarcerated, laid out the principles of nonviolent protest and social change. His message was that each voice – and life – is worthy of respect, dignity, and equality. And, love is the answer, not war – or hate. Deep down, we are alike more than we are different. 

When I taught Freshman Writing at Northwest Florida University, Cape Fear Community College, and Shepherd University, this was my favorite essay to teach. Every semester, without fail, his impassioned plea for nonviolence garnered more discussion and reflection than any other piece we studied. Many of the resulting student essays made me cry.

In his letter, Dr. King differentiates between two kinds of peace. “Negative peace,” as King explains, is the absence of tension; it’s an attempt not to rock the boat or cause conflict. Whereas “positive peace” is the active pursuit of justice. Rather than opposing people “on the other side,” as peacebuilder Ryan Wallace writes: “Positive peace challenges the status quo to make way for a more just world, expecting conflict to follow.” Instead of using violence to make change, peacebuilders use nonviolent direct action. 

King writes: 

“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored… We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

It is crystal clear that in the United States we are seeing the effects of a violent culture in our schools and on our streets. So too, violence and violent conflict, rather than natural disasters, are now the primary driver of forced displacement and refugee flight worldwide. While conflict is inevitable, violence is not. It is merely one way of dealing with our differences. It’s time we move beyond violent conflict and toward nonviolence.

A wise friend once shared with me that as peacebuilders, we are not merely “anti.” While many of us are anti-racist, anti-discrimination, anti-oppression, we are also standing up for something. Rather than being just anti-war, we are for peace. By default, being merely “anti” can easily lead us into creating enemies, or creating a “us” versus “them” situation.  Taking this type of warlike approach – in word or deed – ensures defeat. This is why Kingian Nonviolence Principles encourage people to “fight injustice, not people.”  We must keep an open mind and heart – and embrace the principles of nonviolence – as we seek to dialogue with others and make change. As A.J. Muste said, “There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.” It may take longer to collaborate and negotiate, but the results are longer lasting, and everyone benefits.

Everyone is connected to everyone else, and all that must be achieved for universal change is for the momentum to build enough to create a tipping point for good. Each person makes this so every day from the inside out. Each person can challenge themselves to learn and grow, as each personal realization is literally a realization for the planet.

Rest assured, peace and nonviolence aren’t just hearts and rainbows. There is growing proof that nonviolence is practical. It works. In 2011, social scientists Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan demonstrated that nonviolent movements are twice as effective as violent movements in achieving their goals. In their book, Why Civil Resistance Works, they share the data they collected from 323 protest movements between 1900 and 2006. They found that 53 percent of the nonviolent movements “managed to achieve their goal, usually a change of regime, compared with 26 percent of the violent movements.”

In his Letter, Dr. King also touches on our interdependence. He writes: 

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”

Let us each become a “vehicle” for this monumental shift toward a more evolved way to manage our conflicts. Though a challenging endeavor, Peace on Earth is possible…  and it’s coming. Since my first peace journalism trek in 2013, much has changed. People are waking up, becoming engaged and taking action for what they believe. The soil is ripe for pioneering peace activists and peace journalists to rock the world. 

Susan Beaver Thompson is a peace journalist and grant writer for United Way of Southern Nevada.