Threatscape - Mapping global risks in a changing world

Mapping online hate is a special project of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University. This project supported by Heritage Canada's Digital Citizens Initiative. The initiative features interviews with experts and practitioners about online hate in Canada and Quebec more specifically.

Namrata Kolachalam speaks about the measures taken by Narendra Modi's government in India, the impact of the pandemic on Asia's largest slums in Mumbai, and the continued rise of Islamophobia in the country. The global pandemic has only accelerated national identity politics and Muslims have been used as scapegoats.

Namrata Kolachalam is a writer based in Mumbai. She previously worked as a spokesperson for the Obama administration

Nick Aspinwall speaks about Taiwan's response to COVID19, which has been praised around the world, how the country is positioning itself on the world stage, how its relationship with China will evolve. We also discuss The Philippine's disastrous response to the virus, why urban poor populations are particularly at risk, and how President Duterte continues to crack down on critics amid the pandemic. Nick Aspinwall is a journalist based in Taipei. He is an editor at Ketagalan Media, a Taiwan-focused online media outlet. He reports on migration, the environment, labor rights, and the human consequences of cross-strait politics. He has written for The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, South China Morning Post, and AL Jazeera.

Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan (Professor, Mental Health, Trauma. Dean of the Institute of Psychotherapy & Psychotraumatology Uni of Duhok, Director Institute of Genocide and Peace Studies) discusses the vulnerability of Yazidis in Northern Iraq and the need for the international community and the UN to help them during the global pandemic.

How do you hold elections during a pandemic ? Should they be postponed? Looking at the case of Poland and other European countries, Paige Morrow, Senior Legal Officer at Article19, discusses various approaches and what it means for democracy. She also talks about the importance of access to truthful information and the combating online misinformation.

Geoffrey York, journalist at the Globe and Mail, speaks about the situation on the African continent, particularly in South Africa, how journalists are covering the pandemic in an accurate way, and the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories on WhatsApp and how the authorities are responding to the challenge. 

Geoffrey York is The Globe and Mail’s Africa Bureau Chief, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been a foreign correspondent for the newspaper since 1994, including seven years as the Moscow Bureau Chief and seven years as the Beijing Bureau Chief.

Serge Stroobants, Brussels Representative at the Institute for Economics and Peace, speaks about the situation in Brussels, the response of terrorist groups to the Coronavirus and the need to remain aware of the terrorist threat even during a global health crisis. Serge also speaks about natural disasters and other global threats, and how governments and international agencies should respond to the global crises, and the need to invest in positive peace.

Serge Stroobants is the Brussels Representative at the Institute for Economics and Peace team. He is Assistant-Professor at Vesalius College in Brussels

Rema Jamous Imseis, UNHCR Representative to Canada, discusses the UN's work to protect and assist refugees and IDPs during the global pandemic.

Terry Glavin speaks about the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machinery amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Glavin is a Canadian journalist who has worked as a reporter, columnist and editor for a variety of newspapers. His assignments in recent years have taken him to Afghanistan, Israel, the Russian Far East, the Eastern Himalayas, China and Central America.

Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad speaks about the spread of the coronavirus in Iran, where trustworthy information has been obscured by misinformation, propaganda and conspiracy theories spread by the country's political and religious leadership

Masih Alinejad is an Iranian journalist, author, and political activist. Contracted by the U.S. Agency for Global Media, Alinejad currently works as a presenter/producer at VOA Persian Service, a correspondent for Radio Farda, a frequent contributor to Manoto television, and a contributing editor to IranWire