Developers at the University of Maryland are using a holographic camera to capture people’s movements in three dimensions for what could be high-impact training, education and entertainment. It is technology with the power to transform how we learn and entertain ourselves. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more. VOA footage by Adam Greenbaum.
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Month: December 2023
A new campaign for Myanmar led by the son of imprisoned democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Kim Aris, is using tattoos as a publicity tool to raise humanitarian aid for the millions displaced following the 2021 military coup.
People in Myanmar’s diaspora are getting tattoos of a Burmese water dragon as a symbol of solidarity with the ongoing resistance movement inside Myanmar. And they are sharing pictures and videos of their tattoos and the associated live fundraising events on social media to create a buzz around the symbolic tattoo, and drive participants to its GoFundMe page.
A military junta overturned Myanmar’s election in February 2021 and arrested the leaders of the democratically elected government, including longtime democracy activist Suu Kyi. Thousands have been killed in the ensuing violence.
Aris, who himself just got a tattoo of the Burmese water dragon and shared a video of the procedure on the campaign’s Facebook page, told VOA that the dragon motif is a traditional symbol from Burmese culture and was inspired by the tattoo worn by famous Burmese kickboxer Too Too, who lost his life in prison along with many other political prisoners arrested during anti-coup protests.
“He represents a great deal of what has happened to many people in Burma,” Aris told VOA. “His body was never returned to his family, and it’s said he was tortured before he died. This has happened to many people in Burma.
“My mother has spoken often about freedom — freedom from fear — and the fact that nobody will be free until everybody is free,” Aris said. “There’s a long way to go until that happens, but I hope it can be sooner rather than later, and that this campaign can help it happen.”
The campaign, called “Freedom Tattoo for Burma Aid,” has taken off internationally since its launch October 30.
According to Aris, it has raised nearly $126,000 in donations from around the world, including donations from the United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States. Those who do not get the dragon tattoo are urged by campaign organizers to make donations through their GoFundMe page. From there, the funds are distributed to charities inside the country.
“We’re working with trusted charities who are actually on the ground in Burma, who can get the aid to where it’s needed. We can’t name them as it makes their work very difficult,” Aris told VOA.
Organizers of a November 22 campaign event in Thailand shut it down early, citing in a statement “unforeseen circumstances involving pressure from the Myanmar military on Thai authorities.”
Aris expressed his disappointment in the shutdown. “It’s very sad to hear about the Thais stopping an event like this, which is purely for humanitarian aid,” he said.
Aris said he recognizes that a major challenge of his campaign is getting international attention.
“It’s very hard to get the attention of the international media at present,” he said. “The way things are in the world, Burma gets pushed further and further back.”
Despite the challenges, Aris said he still has hope that his campaign can bring more awareness of what is happening in Myanmar to the wider world.
“I thought a tattoo would be something interesting,” he said.
“It’s not like someone going for a marathon or a walk, it’s something different. I thought it might get a bit more attention outside the Burmese community.”
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US lawmakers warned Thursday that the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to spread disinformation will only increase ahead of the 2024 elections in the United States. As VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson reports, social media giant TikTok is lawmakers’ top concern.
Camera: Saqib Ui Islam
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The United States plans to sign a memorandum of understanding to cooperate with South Korea and Japan in the fight against false propaganda and disinformation.
It will be the first such agreement that Washington signs with its Asian allies, and it comes as U.S. officials and lawmakers accuse the People’s Republic of China of conducting “deceptive online campaigns” targeting the United States and other countries. Chinese officials have rejected the accusation.
Liz Allen, the U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, is traveling to Asia this week. Allen will be sealing the agreement with South Korea and Japan on countering disinformation, according to U.S. and diplomatic sources.
U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have agreed to find ways to coordinate efforts to counter disinformation, after the three leaders held talks during their first trilateral summit at Camp David in August.
“President Yoon mentioned the threat from false propaganda and disinformation in his address to the joint session of U.S. Congress in April. In this regard, we are now discussing the possible follow-up measures with the U.S.,” an official from the South Korean Embassy told Voice of America on Thursday.
In a statement on Thursday, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul condemned the “increasingly deceptive online campaigns targeting the U.S. and other countries” by the Chinese Communist Party.
“The CCP has made clear it will use every tactic to spread its malign intent,” the Republican congressman said.
The South Korean government has identified 38 suspected fake Korean-language news websites that it believes are operated by Chinese companies. For example, in November, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said two Chinese public relations companies, Haimai and Haixun, were allegedly creating such websites, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency.
The State Department said Allen, while in Tokyo, will hold bilateral discussions with Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials that include a focus on countering malign foreign influence.
In a report issued in September, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center accused the Chinese government of using a combination of tactics in a bid to create a world in which Beijing, either explicitly or implicitly, controls the flow of critical information. The U.S. has warned that China is pouring billions of dollars into efforts to reshape the global information environment and, eventually, bend the will of multiple nations to Beijing’s advantage.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pushed back, saying the report by U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center “misrepresents facts and truth.” A spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry called GEC the command center of “perception warfare.”
James Rubin, special envoy for the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, has said that Washington is working with allies to detect and counter misinformation and disinformation around the world.
In May, the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding with North Macedonia, and in September, another with Bulgaria, both aimed at enhancing cooperation in countering foreign information manipulation.
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