Post #452

▫️Post-Truth in the Age of Gold Rush ▫️ Mozambique's remote area shows that facts are no more in the age of digitalization ⚡️This week, in Mozambique’s northern province of Nampula the Migration Service detained 5 Chinese nationals and other foreign nationals for informal gold mining and unlawful stay. ⏩ Officials say the detainees carried fake ID papers and residence documents that didn't correspond state databases — which means there might have been created "a parallel machine to that of the State printing documents for nationals and foreigners". Gold thus attracts paperwork of its own. 🔥 This arrest lands inside a tense moment in Mozambique's remote region of Nampula. Since late December civil society groups and the Government have been engaged in an informational tug of war over what the former call deadly clashes between the police and miners in Mogovolas district on December 29. 🏹The government claims the police involuntarily killed 7 people that day in the act of counter-insurgency self-defense, while the interpretation of the human rights activists implies that up to 38 illegal gold miners were murdered. The police in this reading of events had allegedly demanded informal payments from miners, which triggered a violent escalation. Some may see today's endless flow of information as a remedy against clandestine illegal activities or as a tool of bringing unpleasant facts to the spotlight. However, in practice it more and more often helps criminals, governments and interested groups distort the reality in the way they need. ⏮Independent, Honest, Yours - @devilsbelow🔸