Yeah, and not to forget:

One interviewee admitted to paying for access to a data set. “I bought access to an official archive and altered the data to support my hypotheses.”

Probably, but as the article’s authors say, hate “does not mean rage, anger or general dislike”. It appears to be a different concept.

Here is tbe study: Active self-treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan

Removed by mod

North Koreans Executed By Kim Regime For Violating COVID Restrictions

A new report from the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU) provides eyewitness testimony that the Kim regime publicly executed violators of Pyongyang’s draconian COVID-19 quarantine measures.

Reports of shoot-to-kill orders for anyone attempting to cross the North Korean border during the pandemic were previously covered by NKNews in October 2020, but new testimony in the KINU report grants further credence to these dark realities.

Public executions have long been a feature of the Kim regime’s policies – ranging from public executions of Christians for being caught with a Bible to the purging of Pyongyang’s elites to tamp down on any semblance of revolutionary spirit. A 2019 report from the Transitional Justice Working Group put a finer point on the matter – of the 600 defectors interviewed, they documented “323 reports of sites of state-sanctioned killings”. According to the same report, 83 percent of North Koreans surveyed said they witnessed a public execution.

It just puzzles me that you don’t know which media you trust. How do you verify then? What do you read?

@Radicalized

What sources do you trust if I may ask?

I guess whoever made this footage and made it available to Western media may have risk their lives. Everything else than govrrnment propaganda is strictly prohibited in countries like North Korea.

Just one recent information:

North Korea Events of 2023 - Freedom of Expression and Information

In March and April [2023], authorities reportedly conducted public trials in Ryanggang province under the law. One trial targeted 17 young people for watching unsanctioned videos and using South Korean language. One leader of the group was sentenced to 10 years of forced labor. In another trial, 20 youth athletes were sentenced to three to five years of forced labor for using South Korean vocabulary.

Just two more pieces for those interested.

China’s Pioneering Gay Rights Group Halts Operations Under ‘Force Majeure’ (May 2023)

The 15-year-old Beijing LGBT Center, one of the pioneers of the “different sexual orientation movement” in China, announced this week that it had terminated its operations without explanation.

Analysts said the closure of the well-known rights center was seen as inevitable and a reflection of the increasingly repressive political environment in China under Xi Jinping.

[…] In 2019, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed the Special Act on Same-Sex Marriage, becoming the first country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage, but the regulations stipulated that married same-sex couples could adopt only children biologically related to one of the partners […] Taiwan is now leading Asia in same-sex marriage legislation.

The Chinese government claims LGBTQ+ people are protected from discrimination. Our interviews with 26 activists tell another story (October 2023)

The evidence suggests LGBTQ+ activists in China have had a particularly tough time since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. The effects of targeting have spiralled in the past few years, reflected in the abrupt closure of the Shanghai Pride in 2020, and the 2021 shutdown of LGBT Rights Advocacy China – an organisation that held law-based campaigns.

You appear to be in the ‘wrong’ area :-) … here we go: https://web.archive.org/web/20240114053659/https://www.afr.com/world/asia/taiwan-s-vote-is-a-crack-in-the-new-axis-of-autocracy-20240114-p5ex2n

That was in the 1980s.

@astral_avocado, you appear to have (intentionally?) missed some details.

strip them naked […] forcing them to sit on their knees in the street for hours while being harassed and treated with contempt.

How many hours does it take to “determine whether they have a bomb vest on,” especially when they are naked?

Why exactly do they do that while people sit on their knees in the streets and treated with contempt?

This is really hard to grasp, maybe you can enlighten me.

In Israeli army camps, Gazan detainees subjected to torture and degrading treatment

New testimonies concerning the systematic torture and inhumane treatment meted out to Palestinian detainees in Israeli army camps—some of whom have been forcibly disappeared from the Gaza Strip—have been received by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

The Israeli army and Shin Bet investigators have treated the Palestinian detainees like “non-human animals”, according to testimonies received by Euro-Med Monitor from newly-released people who spent several days in Israeli custody.

The majority of the horrific torture operations, according to the testimonies, start as soon as people are taken from their homes or asylum centres, where many Gazans are sheltering from the ongoing Israeli attacks. Soldiers then beat the detained people and strip them naked, except for their undergarments, forcing them to sit on their knees in the street for hours while being harassed and treated with contempt.

It’s should be unnecessary to say, but as here are some ‘whataboutists’ around: yes, Hamas is terrorist organisation. And so is the Israeli right-wing, racist government of Benjamin Netanyahu. There is no difference between the two.

@lisko

This was only one incident, and hopefully it won’t be repeated elsewhere.

Such incidents happen often in Afghanistan, and mostly against women. The central government bans girls from education, just to name another example.

There is another article by CBS quoting representatives of the central government:

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban regime’s chief spokesperson, confirmed the arrests to CBS News on Monday, saying "a group of women who were involved in modeling to promote clothes were detained, advised in front of their family members […]

The person said that after several hours of searching [for a woman detained by the Taliban], the family found the woman at a local police station late Tuesday evening, where Taliban officials demanded money, along with her passport and other documentation, as a penalty and “to guarantee that she will not violate the dress code in the future.”

The family member said the authorities told the family they would “take her biometrics and photos, and if she violates the dress code in the future, she will be imprisoned for a longer period.”

Recent arrests of women in Kabul Afghanistan for ‘bad hijab’, confirmed by the Taliban, regrettably signified further restrictions on women’s freedom of expression and undermines other rights," [United Nations special envoy for Afghanistan] Bennett said in a social media post.

Source (emphasis mine)

Addition: a few more ‘incidents’ can be found across the web, some samples are at HRW’s website on Afghanistan.

The mafias that control Ecuador from inside their prison cells

Gangs are running profitable businesses inside the correctional facilities, and even have the keys to their own units. Recent rioting showed the extent of their power, posing a difficult challenge for the government of Daniel Noboa.

Regarding the ‘1984 social credit system’ there are a lot of good resources which tell a story far diffrrent from yours. One recent example is tbe documentary ‘Total Trust’ by Chinese film maker Zhang Jialing. The film’s introduction says:

Total Trust is an eye-opening and deeply disturbing story of surveillance technology, abuse of power and (self-)censorship that confronts us with what can happen when our privacy is ignored. Through the haunting stories of people in China who have been monitored, intimidated and even tortured, the film tells of the dangers of technology in the hands of unbridled power.

Watch the film. There are many reviews about it (and other sources about surveillance in China). It’s really easy to find on the web.

I think this law has similar intentions.

Addition: @megopie it would be great if you could post a source of what you say. Thanks in advance.

There’s a long read on what has changed since Xi has been leading the CCP. The rules have slightly changed.

Xi Jinping only wants the most devoted Chinese Communist Party members

Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose real power derives from his position as the head of the ruling Communist Party, has placed more emphasis on quality over quantity. He has demanded absolute loyalty from party members, launched an ideology drive to shore up their faith, and unleashed a crackdown on internal dissent. Members are bound by more stringent rules – and millions of cadres have been investigated for violating them in the past nine years since Xi took control of the party.

@deegeese

Funny you blame the foreign government for covering it up, and not your own government who literally said they wanted liberal areas to get sick.

You mean this?

China’s December factory activity likely contracted for third month

The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) likely was at 49.5 in December from last month’s 49.4, according to the median forecast of 24 economists in a poll conducted Dec 22-28. The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction.

I don’t know how whataboutism helps China or anyone else, but there are several countries with high degrees of inequality. You should also provide a source for your data. Gini coefficient for US