were organized, crime rules, ah, where conglomerates make their own laws? what's true, what's vague? it doesn't matter. the only criteria is worked. we'll hook people. we shit light on the opaque world. who's behind benefits and why are they a threat to us all o peak world starts january 5th on d, w a. this is the dublin years asia coming up today, especially in addition looking back of the ongoing challenges to democracy across asia. why democracy is more than just a fancy word, and why citizens should be bodied when governments act with impunity against them would be given me in my whether cool as to a democratically lead government in february and brought it out to lead us to court

. what next for a country that had only recently returned to the democratic party? hong kong was forced to draw a democratic line dictated by beijing, one that sent the city to thomas. but read a band of boys brought some respite with their cantonese pop songs. with not much to sing and dance about in india where a new government regulations target post on social media. something activists have called digital authoritarianism. and the filipino nobel prize winner who explains why social media companies are also to blame for weakening democracy around the globe of rollback democracy global tearing apart. she already has big. it's because of the top

ah, my british manager, thanks for joining us. on the morning of the 1st of february this year as me and my was set to hold its 1st session of parliament with the newly elected government, the army took over a cou that some soul coming many others didn't. the army led by this man mean on hearing claimed fraud in recent elections, where nobel laureate, on sang, sushi is body swept to paw. what followed was a bloody crack down as people rose up to protest then mandate that full stolen right before their eyes. barrows, i don't nighttime arrests on the 1st of february, democratic leaders locked up after winning an election landslide limit among those carted away nobel peace prize winner and de facto political leader and song suit she the hunt as leader said,

the army intervened after protests over legit election fraud way, he cited myanmar as 2008 constitution drafted by the army, which includes the power to suspend government. y'all dubois, i mean the army is always there for the citizens camera. it always acts according to the law and obeys the constitution of 2008. it is our part, the army held the election so that all the parties could have justice. immediately more protest swept the country, and in late february, a general strike that didn't stop the military government from arresting thousands of people. demonstrators were killed and some protests became violent. since then, the democracy movement has suffered severe setbacks, ang songs, which she was charged with a variety of offences ranging from illegal use of walkie talkies to subversion. while some activists took up arms making common cause in rural areas with militant

members of persecuted ethnic groups like the qur'an, who had long been at war with the state. d. w, spoke with journalist, a men sant earlier this year about what that could mean. you know, in many ways no one has been in civil war for the last 70 or so years. i think what we really see now is the beginning of an all out war in which even the city centers are affected and no one's really safe. whereas before, you know, people are safer, safer, especially if they went over in areas. it's far from clear what the international community can do. the military leadership has already survived years of international sanctions and pariah status on the world stage. with democratic liter sidelined, the bloodshed seems almost certain to go on to hong kong next. but all democratic protest continued to be constrained by the national security law. in the 18 months since it's been in force, at least

a $150.00 people have been arrested, including well known hong kong like media tycoon, jimmy ly, and student leader, joshua wong. the cracked on them freedoms in their city has left many hong kong as contemplating their future. should their stay or should they go to their protests or do they move on with their lives as best as they can. but in the midst of this gloom, there has been some welcome destruction. a new boy band that's redefining the cantonese bob. hong kong was famous for in the eighty's. hundreds of people gathering a shopping mall in hong kong. but this time they're not protesting. their super sense of mirror and the latest boy band sensation to day 3 of nearest 12 members are making an appearance. after all, the social upheaval in hong kong is a senior included, imagined

a lot of bad things happened in hong kong in the past. yes, i saw that i, many citizens were upset for a long time, but there was no emotional outlet with mirror. hong kong has become a lively place again. i pro democracy protests a freedom shrinking national security law. and a clamp down on activists all have dominated life in hong kong. and on top of the political turmoil is a pandemic that still has new and in site. for many mirror has become a welcome escape. besides relieve the group, also offers believe that the cities pop culture is due, thriving, some say their music has marked

a new era of canto pop for a city that few so beaten down. suddenly there's something people can feel proud of again, delva. whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. it's a local group. of course we need to support them. they represent our spirit, hong kong, as should support hong kong us. go to church and get you join. the band came out of a t. v. talent competition. episode after episode, dozens of contestants gave their role to advance to the next round their persistence catcher to the hearts of people all ages where they will find guardians again the boys worked hard for their dreams. and that's the mirror of our young people to day. for my death, many of them few very disillusioned jada i am being on leave. i think the boy band can encourage young people to endeavor, gallagher. for some the group holds up

a mirror to hong kong is telling them they can still have dreams. in february india, past new rules that essentially allow the government to determine what people can and can't post on social media. it was a move, some activists likened to digital authoritarianism. this was evident just a few months later in april as the country buckled under the strain of a 2nd covered wave. as indians shared please for help and information on availability of beds, oxygen and other medical supplies. the government asked twitter to take down posts, criticizing its response, treats such as this one from member of parliament from the opposition congress party run for a day where he pointed to the collapse of the health care system in india. due to the more than 200000 cases being recorded daily minister in the state of west bengal molar. got oak lamented that the government had underplayed the code on about a situation of the country. where spent goal was one of the indian states was affected by the rising cases. the government didn't officially see why it had asked twitter

to take down these critical threats. but i asked one of india's leading voices on the spread of online misinformation and hate prefix enough if he thought the move was justified. these are all very june with no element of misinformation i hate and does not at all to meet the standards of today as a platform to police these tweets. so is the government then using its powers to block descent on social media? absolutely, all of these tweets, which would be considered critical of the government and the government is forcing platforms. and unfortunately the platforms are buckling as well. but the government is forcing at homes to adhere to certain names where you know that descent is but what not. social media companies themselves, what part do they play in keeping the democratic spirit alive?

a very important one. according to philippines, john list marianna as her. she's a joint winner of the 2021 nobel peace prize. when i spoke to her in october after the award was announced, she explained why social media companies in her country are responsible for twisting funds and how ultimately that is affecting democracy. here is a part of that interview. i think that the rollback of democracy globally, and that tearing apart of the shared reality has as been it's because of tack, it's because news organizations lost our gatekeeping powers to technology and technology. took the revenues. we used to have a, you know, a long with a took the powers, but they abdicated responsibility. and i think this is, is a wake up call at that's happening. not just for journalists with the nobel with the nobel spotlight, but also you are seeing many more sophisticated discussions about what exactly is

wrong that we're moving finally away from content moderation to where we should be, which is algorithmic distribution algorithmic amplification and how it has insidiously manipulated human beings on the platform. you have, you have been at facebook, you have been a part of many panels at facebook that has looked at just things like these. and i mentioned facebook because it is very popular in the, in the philippines. what would you like to see happen with big tech like facebook? i think the horror, the problem is that all the social media platforms treat lies and facts, identically, their data points rate. and the research has now shown us that on social media lice laced with anger and spread faster and further than facts. so you can say that the world's largest delivery platform of news is actually biased. again,

facts and biased against journalism. but as a result of that fundamental choice that the tech platform that made, we have cheap armies on social media, rolling back democracy in $81.00 countries around the world that is from oxford university computational propaganda research project. so it's, i think, so here's the other thing that dawned on me that the last time a journalist was given, this honor was in 1936. he wasn't able to go accept the order in person in our slow because he was in a nazi concentration camp anguished in, in the nazi concentration camps. and so i think that's the signal that the nobel committee is telling us again, that we're kind of at this existential moment where we could lose our rights. we could lose democracy if we lose the facts about president i'm

with for you to check out some of our other stories on our website over the phone overflow. we believe you today with these pictures of photos once from across the region, from this posture up to you next time. ah, the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing? what does the latest research say? information and context? the corona virus update the code 19 special next on

d w. sometimes a seed is all you need to allow the big ideas to grow. we're bringing environmental conservation to life with learning pass by global ideas. we will show you how climate change and environmental conservation is taking shape around the world and how we can all make a difference. knowledge grows through sharing, download it now for free. oh, brazil has been a latin american leader in fighting the corona virus. but it wasn't always that way . the country was battered by the coven 19 pandemic, with 618000 debts. it's 2nd only to the united states for the number of fatalities

. now infections in brazil have plummeted to do to high vaccination rates. nearly 80 percent of adults have been vaccinated at least once. but fear remains, particularly as the country prepares for the impact of the new omicron variant. welcome to your coven, 19 special. i'm daniel winter. brazil is ending the year on a high, not have covered cases like some countries but vaccinations. let's take a look now at how the country face down mounting deaths and a president who down played the impact of the virus to become one of the world's most vaccinated populations against coven. hardly any one in the world thought it possible. a year ago. the corridor, this hospital in the brazilian city of toledo is deserted. a lot of the emergency equipment has been put away in the storage room. this is the result of what my b, brazil's most successful vaccination drive against corbett 19. she goes with us. we

used to have 40 intubated patients here. now we don't have any. and it's very rare for us these days to have to provide that level of intensive care cases that are also much less severe than before. so we can think more carefully about how best to treat those who are sick and to give them a better prognosis. my stamps will be processing major with oversee it is a far cry from the 1st half of 2021. copied casualties peaked in april, reaching more than $4000.00 deaths in a 24 hour period, brazil's mega city. so paolo was averaging between 70800 deaths a day to day. it is the country's poster child for corona virus. vaccinations with 99 percent of adults here having received at least one shot by november. i

asked her history course, i think people should get vaccinated and that means every one of us had oprah linna as it is their mice, me or that the me view. many brazilians are afraid of a virus and get vaccinated, so as not to be contagious. as soon as i come at all man in record, star brazilians believe in vaccines. after all, we have been getting vaccinated against tropical diseases for a long time. we like it but while brazil may have turned a corner in fighting the pandemic for now, there is one persistent problem. poverty has been exacerbated. ordinary brazilians are struggling earlier in the year, we met sylvia dale since a cook, who was supporting 3 other adults as the only one in her family to still have work . oh, be it just one day a week. she used to work other jobs too, but her other employers let her go for fear of infection that won't be got us up.

and the me a, you live on that, that this pandemic is difficult. it's going on. i love her starving and look at that apart. from l have damage it does to your health. look at this cannot be met. we're all on the same boat. back bottom of the middle back every afternoon. sylvia was chewing up the food donations since the beginning of the pandemic in brazil in march last year. the residence association has been distributing rations. the latest figures show the economy stagnating, and inflation rising. food prices increasing while jobs remain few and far between . while the worst may be over, the pandemic is still ravaging brazil, bringing poverty and hunger to more and more people. and let's get more now. it's fabulous al, a research dr. specializing in infectious diseases. thank you very much for joining us. our fabio. and what's your opinion on why brazil has been so quick to take up the vaccines? thank you for having me here. daniel. well, i think that,

and we've known we've known that for sure for decades that the main reason for the success in brazil with vaccination is the public health system that is universal in brazil. so free for every brazilian. and within this system, there has been for decades, very complex and efficient vaccination system that has worked to get even to very remote areas in the country. so we created a culture of vaccination as well as the for structured, needed to get to every brazilian as quick as possible. and so it was that infrastructure which already existed that overcame the resistance from the top of national government. would you say? yes, especially because this health care system that we have in brazil that is similar to what has been reference in the u. k. provides institutional

structure. so it's very solid. so our institutions are stronger than any previous already or and temporary government who will not. that might not be supporting this system as much as needed. so obviously there were several and major limitations because it's been under funded chronically. but still it's in place and working and it has the population more to 75 percent of the population actually uses the system regularly and it is structured in a way that locals. our agents are community agents that knock on people's doors and follow the health situation. of the entire family, so they rely on this system. the brazilians rely on this public health system. and that's why vaccination was not such a new idea or challenging idea. despite all the difficulties that we had with communication and just goes to show how important that kind of long term investment

in education around vaccines, especially around infrastructure and how that re pays off. but when we go to the short term, is it time for brazil now to open up a new year, open up the carnival? is some politicians are suggesting or is that just too early? well, we are going through a new moment. we're learning as time goes by how to deal with the demick and not only from the perspective of the virus and disease, but also as a community, as a global society. so after 2 years of going back and forth with locked downs and strict measures, we have to learn how to better handle the situation because it's a much different situation from what we had 2 years ago. as was mentioned in brazil, we have the majority of the population in major cities like some polar and rio over

90 percent of the adult population is fully immunized. so even if we have a surge of cases which is likely to happen is already starting at this point, like we see in europe and north america, we expect that hospitalizations and the death toll will be very different. and a lot. ready smaller than we had in previous waves. so hopefully and we are preparing for that situation. we will deal with mild disease that will actually create pressure on the health care system, but not in hospital. is it hospitalizations and decimals. ok. and your mentioning in that the will factoring in the, on the cron variant and the new wave which could come from that sort of flexibility and pull that as well with dealing with new variance. but i want to move on to, as we saw in the report, the fact that poverty has wasn't in brazil. what's the connection in brazil between poverty and cove? it well, it's a direct connection as it is, i think,

worldwide. because as we have to slow down the economy and all the activities, the social activity is those who are more vulnerable, i have less opportunity to earn dear basic needs. and that creates an even bigger difference between those who have more of the funds and, and the money from, from the country and those who have less access. so this is creating, increasing this difference in brazil and in many other parts of the world. right, well, it's a plenty of lessons to learn from brazil. it seems fabiola, i'll thank you very much for that. thank you. and now it's time for you to ask and for us to unsub his if you a question for our science correspondent derek williams. oh,

can vaccines and the pandemic? oh no, it's interesting to look on nearly 2 years of reporting on this pandemic and, and realize how much our ways of thinking about some things have changed over that period of time. remember, for instance, when we all more or less thought that if we could just manage to vaccinate 60 to 70 percent of the world, then we'd had heard immunity and, and sars covey to would be conquered and were just sort of magically go away. well, along with vaccine hesitancy in many places, the arrival of new, more highly transmissible variance and waning vaccine induced immunity, of gonna put paid to that idea. experts don't talk about heard immunity much anymore. and i think that's because it's always been pretty closely associated with

the thought that we'd be able to eradicate coven 19. and, and most scientists no longer believed that we'll be able to do that. in fact, the most thank. now that the declaration that the pandemic is finally over when it comes, that it'll be a less of a bang and kind of much more of a whimper. for most experts, the goal has start being to wipe out the disease entirely, but instead to manage it as we do others and bats where vaccines will play a really major role. though the evidence indicates that vaccines don't do as much as we'd like to hinder the transmission of stars covey to or to stop infection with the virus entirely. they do generally prevent the development of severe symptoms that can lead to hospitalization and death. so in that sense,

vaccines pan and a pandemic, i'm not by helping us to wipe out sars, coffee do completely like the smallpox vaccine wiped out that pathogen, but instead by protecting enough people well enough that one day we'll be able to live with coke 19 ike we already live with the flu. hm. and that's it for ya. cove at 19 special. i'm daniel winter from me and the whole team stay healthy. stay safe and see you again soon. with

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