User:Jlfriedman4/sandbox

Week 3
Rwandan Genocide


 * Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you?
 * As the topic is so broad, the word “relevent” becomes broad. Everything seems
 * Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added?
 * For the most part, but it appears that very little has been added since 2008, and even less since 2014.
 * What else could be improved
 * The aftermath & political conditions after the Genocide ended could be improved and clarified. Also, the “revisionist” ideas are hard to understand and might be better if they referenced something that had been clearly brought up earlier.
 * Is the article neutral? Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
 * No, the article seems to balance multiple viewpoints, especially in the Revisionist section
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
 * Not that I see, it seems pretty balanced.
 * Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article?
 * Most i texted seem to work and directly relate to the articles works
 * Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?
 * The article seems to rely on mostly unbiased media sources academic journals, and NGO/watchdog groups. I would not necessarily say they were biased, but some of those academic journals (specifically those mentioned in the “revisionist section) had a goal of proving the status quo wrong.

Talk Page


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
 * There have been some conversations, but not too many. one interesting one was about whether to trust a government death figure vs and outside one
 * There are some interesting debates about revisionist and how to approach it, but they seem unresponded to
 * For the most part, it seems like quite a bit of correcting sources and symantics
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
 * It’s rated B class
 * It’s part of the following and rated as follows
 * WikiProject Military history show(Rated B-Class)
 * WikiProject Africa / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Rwanda show(Rated B-class, Top-importance)
 * WikiProject Disaster management show(Rated B-class, High-importance)
 * WikiProject Human rights show(Rated B-class, High-importance)
 * WikiProject Death(Rated B-class, High-importance)


 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?
 * There is no discussion about the genocide in terms of censorship in this so this question doesn't apply (yet)

Article selection & Homework about Testing citations
Back to Rwandan Genocide...


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
 * Not right now, but it is missing any discussion of how media censorship and government control of the media led to such a genocide and what happened after
 * Is it written neutrally?
 * It seems to be written neutrally and works to balance the revisionist critiques of the government in
 * Does each claim have a citation?
 * For the most part it seems most have citations
 * Are the citations reliable?
 * The citations seem to rely on mostly newspapers, NGO's and academic journals/history books so yes.

Even in 2018, Rwandan journalists are not granted freedom of the press and fear the repercussions from their reporting

General Information Control
Article 38 of the Constitution of Rwanda 2003 guarantees "the freedom of expression and freedom of access to information where it does not prejudice public order, good morals, the protection of the youth and children, the right of every citizen to honour and dignity and protection of personal and family privacy." However, in reality, this has not gaurunteed freedom of speech or expression given that the government has declared many forms of speech fall into the exceptions. Under these exceptions, longtime Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, asserted that any acknowledgment of the separate people was detrimental to the unification of post-Genocide Rwanda and has created numerous laws to prevent Rwandans from promoting a "genocide ideology" and "divisionism." However, the law does not explicitly define such terms, nor does it define that one's beliefs must be spoken. For example, the law defines divisionism as ‘the use of any speech, written statement, or action that divides people, that is likely to spark conflicts among people, or that causes an uprising which might degenerate into strife among people based on discrimination’. Fear of the possible ramifications from breaking these laws have caused a culture of self-censorship within the population. Both civilians and the press typically avoid anything that could be construed as critical of the government/military or promoting "divisionism."

Information Control in the Media
Article 34 of the Rwandan constitution states that “freedom of the press and freedom of information are recognized and guaranteed by the state,” however, the constitution does not in practice prevent media restrictions. In response to the effects of the radio broadcasts in encouraging the genocide, in the years following the genocide, Rwanda's government imposed strict guidelines for freedom of speech and press in relation to the genocide and the Hutu & Tutsi ideologues. Kagame proposed that these laws were necessary for retaining national unity and protecting against future genocide. These strict media laws have translated into banning government criticism and restricting freedom of speech. Furthermore, the country's broad definition of the limits of free speech has allowed for police to make their own interpretations of the law and exile journalists as the government pleases. According the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the government threatens journalists who investigate or criticize the government. The CPJ proposed that these threats and the possible jail sentences cause journalists to self censor, even beyond what would normally be censored by the government.

Rwandan journalists are required to obtain licenses from the government controlled Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA). Article 34, along with the bans on speech that includes genocide ideology and divisionism, has commonly been used as a method for revoking journalists licenses. Commonly, these laws are used to block opposition voices such as when the government blocked Inyenyeri News, The Rwandan, and Le Prophete. In a documentary, BBC mentioned that a significant number of Hutus were killed and discussed theories of the RPF shooting down the president's plane. In response to the documentary, the Rwandan government shut down BBC in the local to BBC promoting a "revisionist" position on the genocide in a documentary.

Information Control in Education
While before the genocide, Rwandan history textbooks would acknowledge and highlight differences between Tutsi & Hutu people, today, the only government approved Rwandan history textbook stresses the Rwandans as one people and virtually ignore the ethnic differences and pre-genocide conflicts. Furthermore, both many Rwandan people and international scholars feel that the teaching of the genocide does not properly teach students the entire story of the genocide. In 2016, Rwanda introduced a curriculum that hoped to bring more balanced discussion to the topic of the genocide, however, the Rwandan laws relating the "divisionism" and genocide ideology" still limit the scope of such discussion. Teachers are reported to fear the repercussions from discussing the genocide in a non-approved way and self-censor opinions under these rules.

Information Control in Politics
Since taking office, Kagame has implemented information and media controls to prevent the spread of dissent. Kagame's administration threatened and imprisoned journalists for breaking his rules or disrespecting his government and military. There have been multiple specific instances of Kagame using these laws to limiting the free speech of his political opponents. Kagame's censorship of access to independent media and human rights organizations that does not support his administration has been viewed as a route to eliminating political dissent during elections. His 2010 election opponent, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for "conspiracy against the country through terrorism and war" and "genocide denial". In 2017, his administration attempted to create rules that would require government approval of all social media by politicians in order to ensure opposition candidates were not "poisoning the minds" of Rwandans. After international backlash, this policy was never enacted. One of his 2017 political opponents, Diane Rwigara, is currently on trial and faces the prospect of 22 years in prison for incitement and fraud due to the content of her campaign. There are often rumors of political opponents being assassinating, even after they have taken refuge in other countries. The two very well known instances of this were the assassinations of Patrick Karegeya & Andre Kagwa Rwisereka. Karegeya was a former Rwandan chief of external intelligence and founder of the opposition party, Rwandan National Congress, who was murdered in South Africa, and Rwisereka was a founding member of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda.

Information Control in DDOS
Low Orbit Ion Cannon uses for knowledge control -- perhaps this is turning more into DOS attack

Operation Payback Addition

After Wikileaks ____, many banks and payment processors such as _____ ended their relationships with Wikileaks, halting Wikileaks access to money ___. To Anonymous members, this attack represented a form of political protest. Companies were censoring Wikileaks through crippling its presence on the Internet and in trade, Anonymous members were

Sources/Notes

 * Rwanda
 * https://cpj.org/reports/2014/12/legacy-of-rwanda-genocide-includes-media-restricti.php
 * "threaten harsh penalties for insulting officials and a continued intolerance for opposition, which makes it risky to undertake investigative or critical journalism"
 * evidence suggests that journalists are still threatened and imprisoned for their work
 * "tight controls are necessary to preserve national unity and guard against a return to ethnic violence"
 * Lurking in the background was the penal code, which criminalized spreading of genocide ideology and divisionism.
 * The state media—both print and broadcast—remained tightly controlled during this time under a director appointed by cabinet, with the role doubling as spokesman for the president’s office.
 * the Media High Council (MHC), an oversight body with a majority of members appointed by government
 * https://www.dw.com/en/rwanda-censorship-or-self-censorship/a-18118956
 * "Kagame has always said that tight media controls are necessary to retain national unity and prevent renewed ethnically motivated violence."
 * https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2012/02/05/can-censorship-help-heal-rwanda/CwneUjf4MDWlxvAhai23pN/story.html
 * Key takeaways:
 * "Journalists operate in fear of prosecution for pointing to ethnic divisions, or even just for criticizing the government."
 * " They, along with the rest of Rwanda’s citizens, are constrained by speech laws. Among the offenses punishable with long terms in prison are not only advancing a “genocide ideology,” but also “divisionism” and showing disrespect for the president. In practice, any mention of Hutu and Tutsi political differences, or accounts of the genocide that differ from the official version, are risks for prosecution."
 * "“Talk crimes” — divisionism, preaching the genocide ideology, showing disrespect for the president — are so open-ended and aggressively enforced that people censor themselves, perhaps even beyond what Kagame and his aides intended."
 * https://www.theguardian.com/law/2010/aug/09/rwanda-paul-kagame-media-censorship
 * https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/mar/02/rwanda-free-speech-genocide
 * https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/rwanda
 * not necessarily used
 * https://www.opentech.fund/news/new-report-investigates-internet-censorship-during-rwandas-2017-presidential-election/
 * https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/26/africa/radio-station-shutdown-rwanda-africa/index.html
 * Interesting example of radio being shut down
 * https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2017/rwanda
 * In 2016 and 2017, numerous independent news outlets and opposition blogs that have been blocked for years remained inaccessible, including the websites of Inyenyeri News, The Rwandan, and Le Prophete.23 Independent regional news outlets such as Great Lakes Voice and websites of the Rwandan diaspora such as Rugali are also blocked and only accessible via web proxy. There is no transparency behind the government’s blocking decisions and no avenue for appeal.
 * According to journalists interviewed anonymously, government officials regularly order journalists to remove critical stories from online outlets or face blocking.27 Local journalists refer to the practice as “kunyonga,” which means “shooting down anonymously.”
 * In May 2017, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) established new regulations requiring all candidates in August's presidential elections to seek approval for campaign messages they plan to post online, which the NEC executive secretary claimed was necessary to ensure that social media messages were not “poisoning the minds” of Rwandans.
 * https://www.article19.org/resources/rwanda-national-election-commission-to-censor-candidates-online-campaign-messages/
 * ARTICLE 19 is concerned by a new regulation by Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) requiring all candidates in August’s presidential elections to seek approval for campaign messages they plan to post online. The regulation allows the NEC to censor any campaign message it disagrees with, or which is critical of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) party, and is hugely restrictive of political speech during the election period.
 * Article 38 of the Constitution of Rwanda 2003 guarantees the freedom of expression and freedom of access to information where it does not prejudice public order, good morals, the protection of the youth and children, the right of every citizen to honour and dignity and protection of personal and family privacy.
 * https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=204156#wrapper
 * https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2014/03/tackling-legacy-1994-genocide-media-reform-rwanda/
 * "requiring state approval for the launching of new outlets, as well as state-led definitions of legal duties required of journalists."
 * Freedom House, in their 2013 Freedom on the Net summary, identified that the “Government-run Media High Council systematically monitors all print and broadcast media coverage during the country’s annual genocide mourning period every April.”
 * https://rsf.org/en/rwanda
 * "In 2015, the government banned BBC radio broadcasting in the local Kinyarwanda language after a BBC TV documentary referred to the deaths that took place during the advance on Kigali in 1994 led by Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s current president."
 * https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18fs550
 * The RPF portrays RTLM and Kangura as cautionary tales about the dangers of too much press freedom and private media. In reality, however, RTLM and Kangura testify to the dangers of government control and manipulation of the media.
 * "The RPF accused the Liberal Party of promoting ethnic ‘divisionism’ by advocating on behalf of Tutsi genocide survivors."
 * “The RPF justifi es its censorship and propaganda on the grounds that political pluralism and press freedom have led – and will lead – inexorably to hate media and incitement to genocide. “
 * "The RPF accused the Liberal Party of promoting ethnic ‘divisionism’ by advocating on behalf of Tutsi genocide survivors."
 * “The RPF justifi es its censorship and propaganda on the grounds that political pluralism and press freedom have led – and will lead – inexorably to hate media and incitement to genocide. “

DDOS


 * Chinese governments use DDoS attacks in early 2010 to bring down Chinese human rights sites
 * Chinese government attacks Change.org due to petition to release Chinese prisoner Ai Weiwei.


 * https://www.jstor.org/stable/23340063?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
 * http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0002764213479370