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A few hundred people gathered in central Madrid, with thousands more rallying in nearly 80 cities across the globe. On Saturday, December 6, the Venezuelan diaspora responded to a call from Maria Corina Machado, the leading figure of the opposition to Nicolás Maduro's regime, ahead of the ceremony where she is set to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10 in Oslo.

On Plaza España, Venezuelan flags mixed with placards condemning the government in Caracas. For a long time, the opposition wanted to show a united front as Washington increased pressure on Venezuela. "The Nobel is a huge step forward for us. It means there is no longer any disagreement about the criminal nature of Maduro's regime," said José Antonio Vega, Spain coordinator for Vente Venezuela, the party founded by Machado in 2012.

The opposition leader, forced to go underground in Venezuela, confirmed that she would travel to Norway in person to receive her award, despite the risk of being declared a fugitive by authorities. The Nobel Committee awarded her the distinction on October 10 "for her tireless work in support of the democratic rights of the Venezuelan people, and for her fight for a fair and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy."

cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/46973777

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

Hotznplotzn

2025-12-09 08:42:39

‘I don’t know who I can trust,’ says Canadian YouTuber harassed by Chinese government

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

‘I don’t know who I can trust,’ says Quebec YouTuber harassed by Chinese government

Yao Zhang knew something was up when she started seeing fake sexually explicit images of her circulating online.

^{Gaétan Pouliot (CBC)}

cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/40061691

Dec 08, 2025

In late 2024, Israeli lawmakers approved a ban on UNRWA in Israel over disproven allegations that some of its staffers were Hamas members who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack. Those accusations led to numerous nations suspending financial support for UNRWA, although most of the countries have since restored funding. Israel has also sought to ban UNRWA from Gaza since early 2024.

Israeli forces have killed more than 370 UNRWA staff members since October 2023 and destroyed or damaged over 300 of the agency’s facilities in Gaza. Lazzarini and others have also accused Israeli forces of torturing UNRWA staffers in a bid to force false confessions of Hamas involvement.

Peter Link

2025-12-09 05:07:28

Israeli Raid on UNRWA Compound Slammed as 'Dangerous Precedent' | Common Dreams

Dec 08, 2025

In late 2024, Israeli lawmakers approved a ban on UNRWA in Israel over disproven allegations that some of its staffers were Hamas members who took part in the October 7, 2023 attack. Those accusations led to numerous nations suspending financial support for UNRWA, although most of the countries have since restored funding. Israel has also sought to ban UNRWA from Gaza since early 2024.

Israeli forces have killed more than 370 UNRWA staff members since October 2023 and destroyed or damaged over 300 of the agency’s facilities in Gaza. Lazzarini and others have also accused Israeli forces of torturing UNRWA staffers in a bid to force false confessions of Hamas involvement.

Israeli Raid on UNRWA Compound Slammed as 'Dangerous Precedent'

"This latest action represents a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations member state to protect and respect the inviolability of UN premises," said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.

^{brett-wilkins (Common Dreams)}