Spyke
lemmy.ca

This is specific to journalists, but it's relevant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_the_press_in_Bangladesh#Assault_and_harassment_of_relatives_of_journalists

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.

46
scvreply
discuss.online

Why is it shameful to be behind Namibia and Costa Rica?

5

Cuz "not European" is inherently disadvantageous for some. Aka the soft bigotry of low expectations.

9
Nixreply
merv.news

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”

10
barsoapreply
lemm.ee

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.

9

Thank you, that guy is so bigoted he didn't realize I was calling him out.

2
sh.itjust.works

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.

4

What a piece of shit country Bangladesh is.

44
lemmy.ml

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.

14
lemmy.world

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.

3

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.

5

It's certainly not the oppressive government that is to blame or morally scold here. Definitely. It must be the person just voicing their frustration with it that's the problem. Absolutely.

Really - just re-read what kind of BS you're saying.

12
mudethreply
lemmy.ca

Not everyone speaks to make a change. Some do it just because it's liberating to speak the truth.

8

You reached the end

Mother is arrested in Bangladesh after son in the U.S. criticizes government online | Spyke