ncoca

ncoca, 6 months ago to indonesia

Just blocked a so-called leftist who responded to my Al Jazeera piece linking indigenous land grabs in #Indonesia to paper pulp exports destined for #Xinjiang by saying that the #Uyghur forced labor allegations are a "conspiracy theory."

Wish there weren't so many of those here on #Mastodon.

ncoca, 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago) to Taiwan

Over the last 2+ years, everytime I got a press release or saw a Tweet about a global ranking or report from an ngo or non-profit, I checked to see if it included #Taiwan or not, and added it to a spreadsheet.

I found that #climate & #environment groups were the most likely to erase Taiwan or include it as part of #China, while #humanrights and #pressfreedom NGOs all included Taiwan.

Wrote about this, with insights from Taiwanese experts, for @hkfp

https://hongkongfp.com/2023/08/06/why-are-the-worlds-climate-and-environment-ngos-trying-to-erase-taiwan-from-the-map/

ncoca, 5 months ago to indonesia

For this piece, I explored #Indonesia & #Malaysia's plans to be carbon-storage hubs, aided by #Japan. They want to store CO2 shipped from abroad. But, in reality, these plans are greenwashing and may be for another alternative - using CO2 to tap difficult #oil and #gas fields.

My latest for @energymonitorai https://www.energymonitor.ai/tech/carbon-removal/indonesia-and-malaysia-want-to-become-ccs-hubs-what-does-it-mean-for-the-energy-transition/

ncoca, 10 months ago to indonesia

I initially went to #Indonesia, back in 2011, because of the country’s troubling history with deforestation, driven primarily, historically, by demand for tropical commodities including #palmoil #paperpulp & #rubber.

In the past decade, as I’ve covered these issues for numerous outlet, much has changed. In some ways there has been real progress in increasing traceability and stemming deforestation, but at the same time, much of the supply chain remains opaque.

ncoca, 1 year ago (edited 11 months ago) to humanrights

This was probably the most difficult article I've ever done - supported by a #PulitzerCenter grant, and took 5-6 months and a lot of data research and fact-checking. Collaborated with a local journalist, Tonggo Simangunsong, from Medan.

It links #humanrights abuses in both #Indonesia and #China, including #Uyghur #ForcedLabor to Sumatran deforestation, and global garment supply chains.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230414003530/https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/4/14/how-chinas-xinjiang-fuels-indonesias-deforestation-scourge

ncoca, 5 months ago to China

#China security allegedly funded a far-right #European politician to gather data and "influence public opinion and politics in its favor," including attacking experts raising issues around #Uyghur human rights.

And if you are surprised a "#Communist" party is linked to the far-right...you shouldn't be.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/12/15/how-chinese-spies-gave-orders-to-a-far-right-european-politician_6345886_4.html

ncoca, 9 months ago to india

Is there any dumber than assigning nationality to historical figures who were not only born centuries before said countries and borders existed, but before the idea of "nationality" and "nation" existed?

Yes. Assigning nationality to mythical figures and mythical kingdoms.

(I really, really hate #nationalism.) #India #Nepal #Sita #Buddha

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/behind-times/nationalism-nepal-right-side-history

ncoca, 1 month ago to indonesia

#Indonesia is getting spyware from #Israel (and elsewhere). Is this why the government has been fairly quiet on #Gaza?

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/05/unravelling-a-murky-network-of-spyware-exports-to-indonesia/

ncoca, 7 days ago (edited 6 days ago) to india

A reminder that #capitalism could have preferred #democracy in #India to die, with no consideration for the lives of those - #Kashmiris, #Muslims, activists, #journalists, #indigenous communities, and others - who would suffer under #BJP #Hindu majoritarian rule, especially if they got a 400+ seat mandate.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/stock-market-live-updates-today-4th-june-bse-sensex-nifty50-pm-modi-stocks-market-reaction-to-lok-sabha-election-results-2024/liveblog/110686035.cms

ncoca, 4 months ago to Taiwan

Every article I've seen on the #Taiwan #election results has been framed as "China xx" or "Results will anger #China", the exact same framing.

Another example of western, English-language #media failing #Asia.

ncoca, 6 months ago to Japan

Which country in Asia has the highest per-capita solar & wind generation?

The answer? Not China. It's actually #Japan. Good luck finding any articles that mention that online.

AND did you know the US has more than 2X the per-capita wind/solar production of #China. You'd never guess this from the incessant China-praise on social media & from environmentalists alongside the (often deserved) criticism of the US & Japan's #Energy & #Climate policies (including from me).

ncoca, 7 months ago to Israel

I saw some posts saying "if a Muslim country did what #Israel is doing, the reaction would totally different!"

But that just happened, a few months ago, when #Azerbaijan - a Muslim-majority country - blockaded & launched attacks on the contested, Armenian-populated region of #Nagorno-Karabakh

There were also #genocide warnings! It's likely the region will now undergo ethnic cleansing - a forced migration of Armenians from their homeland

Obvious parallels & hypocrisy

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/18/genocide-warning-in-nagorno-karabakh

ncoca, 1 month ago to workersrights

Amazing to see the #ILO finally taking #Uyghur forced #labor seriously. Knowing what I do about the organization, this is a huge shift and one that, I imagine, only happened due to the dedicated work of academics and activists on this issue.

https://jamestown.org/program/updated-ilo-forced-labor-guidelines-directly-target-uyghur-forced-labor/

ncoca, 6 months ago to tech

The #tech community in Japan is quite disappointing.

Completely western-oriented. Nearly no one doing #opensource, #privacy #digitalrights or interested in issues like #disinformation or #surveillance It's all start-up and developers.

As bad as it was in the #BayArea at times, at least there was a thriving OS/digital rights/privacy community there. Here, it's like only the worst of the Bay Area exists, in a tiny Euro-American centric bubble.

ncoca, 30 days ago to TeslaMotors

Too much criticism of #Biden's #EV #tariffs ignoring basic facts about #China & #BYD

A reminder about why #Chinese #electric vehicles are so cheap - more than mere "innovation"

• non-existent labor protections, & no real labor unions in Chinese factories = cheap workforce (unlike unionized Detroit)

• minimal lacking sourcing standards for raw materials = widespread supply chain #humanrights & #environmental abuses

• massive subsidies & domestic market protectionism

https://leadthecharge.org/scorecards-summary/

ncoca, 1 month ago to climate

Stunning. 34% of the population in Chinese prisons are #Uyghurs, who make up ~1-2% of the population.

China has a top-down strategy to, basically, criminalize an entire ethnic group and, with time, eliminate their unique cultural, religious, and social identity.

Partnering or working with the Chinese government means supporting these genocidal policies. That includes #climate & #environment groups, too.

#Genocide #Uyghur #China #Islam #Muslim

https://uhrp.org/insights/uhrp-analysis-finds-1-in-26-uyghurs-imprisoned-in-region-with-worlds-highest-prison-rate/

ncoca, 9 months ago to chinese

This would only surprise you if you were ignorant enough to think that the #CCP is still a "leftist" party & not, in fact, a #Chinese Han-enthno-centric, patriarchial, male-led hyper-nationalist party that has long abandoned it's Marxist roots. #China #Germany

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3232830/odd-couple-german-far-right-shows-unlikely-affinity-communist-china

ncoca, 3 months ago to journalism

I'm considering the future of my #newsletter #AsiaUndercovered, and seeking a collaborator who wants to work with me on a revamp and relaunch.

anyone interested? Details here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nithincoca_asia-undercovered-activity-7171761613056667648-9u0E

#Journalists #Journalism #Asia #SEAsia #SEAToots

ncoca, 6 months ago to indonesia

I regularly write articles that criticize #Indonesia, #China, and #Japan - for environment, human rights, energy, geopolitics, etc.

I only get pushback here, on Mastodon, about one of those countries. Guess which one is it?

ncoca, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to China

Took a glance at the #birdsite and saw several #China experts tweeting about #Ukraine, #Gaza, calling out #Israel & #Russia for their #humanrights and #warcrimes.

They are all people, who to this day and despite their "expertise," have never posted or said a single thing about the genocide happening in #Xinjiang to the #Uyghurs, or the horrific colonial boarding schools in #Tibet.

ncoca, 3 months ago to Smoking

This chart explains, quite clearly, why I have so few #Indonesian male friends.

#smoking #Indonesia #gender #health

ncoca, 1 month ago to microsoft

Does #Microsoft #Word no longer allows people to open .ODT files? Have, a few times, had to safe .ODT files as .DOCX via LibreOffice so that Word users could open it.

.ODT is an open source file format, so its a deliberate choice for Word to not be compatible.

Why do people pay for a shitty product that lacks such basic functionality?

ncoca, 3 months ago to climate

Euphemisms in a #climate talk - in one #SEAsian country, "anti-corruption" drive is creating "policy uncertainty" that harms progress on the #energytransition.

Of course, the "anti-corruption" drive they are referring to is the arbitrary arrest of environmentalist and human right defenders by an increasingly #authoritarian government.

#ContextMatters

ncoca, 3 months ago to islam

While I'm happy to see this, I wonder if it will matter. It seems like a #fatwa to do something positive never gets as much attention - or action - as the ones to do something negative...

(Obviously, this is not unique to #Islam)

#Indonesia #Climate #Environment

https://econusa.id/en/ecoblogs/mui-damaging-the-environment-is-haram/

skinnylatte, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to random

After eating tempeh from a wet market in Surabaya recently, the Trader Joe’s tempeh is extremely disappointing. It tastes more like the idea of tempeh

#Food #TootSea #Indonesia