Tambal Hamilton (Arabic version)
__________________كم من الدماء سيهدرها الشعب السوداني للحصول على الديمقراطية؟
After the Coup in Sudan: Key (Short-Term) Indicators
On Monday morning, the Sudanese military seized power from the transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, which had been in place since the Sudanese people overthrew long-time dictator Omar al Bashir in 2019. Speaking on state television, military leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, declared a state of emergency. He announced the dissolution of the […]
Facebook strikes deal in Australia
I spoke with Lana Zak from CBS News about the amendments to the Australian media bargaining code and what Facebook’s news blackout means for its users beyond Australia’s borders. You can access the interview here. I don’t support the law the Australian government is trying to pass – I think there are better ways to […]
Facebook’s Unconscionable Action in Australia – and What It Means for the Rest of the World
The proposed law that the tech giant is fighting has problems, but Facebook’s removal of news is inexcusable. This week, Facebook hit the kill switch on news for the 17 million Australian users of its platform. Its action was in response to a proposed law advancing through the Australian Parliament that aims to level the […]
De-Platforming Following Capitol Insurrection Highlights Global Inequities in Content Moderation
The de-platforming of President Donald Trump and the associated purge of white supremacist social media accounts has spurred news coverage heralding the “unprecedented” nature of the bans that companies, including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, have put in place. Such claims stem from a United States-centric perspective. On a global scale such de-platforming is commonplace. Still, […]
Sudan has made amends. Let’s take it off the terrorism list.
The U.S. government is poised to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, based on an agreement that requires Khartoum to pay $335 million to American victims of terrorist attacks. The deal recognizes that Sudan has met the delisting requirement of a “fundamental change” in leadership following courageous work by the Sudanese […]
New Zealand Responds to Covid-19
OKIATO, New Zealand — Since the start of the novel coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand has drawn global attention for the effectiveness of its response. But in recent weeks it has experienced an uptick in infections — even prompting President Trump to sneer at what he called its “big surge.” Perhaps he’s just jealous. In fact, […]
Bashir and the ICC
Most of the media got ahead of this story in initial reporting. I spoke with Jen Kirby at Vox about what the Sudanese transitional government’s statement on the ICC means. “Cautious optimism is the name of the game,” Hamilton said. “It’s nowhere near a done deal, but I think the fact that the conversation is happening […]
Sudan’s New Minister of Justice
Nasredeen Abdulbari was in the Georgetown University Library, working on his doctoral dissertation, when he received a call on his phone. “You’ve been nominated to be the Minister of Justice,” the man on the other end told him. Fifteen years ago his community was decimated by a genocide that catalyzed thousands of ordinary Americans to […]
Beyond Takedown: Expanding the toolkit for responding to online hate
Rebecca J. Hamilton (with Molly K. Land), Beyond Takedown: Expanding the Toolkit for Responding to Online Hate, in Propaganda and International Criminal Law (Predrag Dojčinović, ed.)(2019). The current preoccupation with ‘fake news’ has spurred a renewed emphasis in popular discourse on the potential harms of speech. In the world of international law, however, ‘fake news’ […]