Tag: greta thunberg protest

Morphed Image of Greta Thunberg Shared Amid Farmers’ Protest ‘Toolkit’ Case

The morphed image shows the 18-year-old climate activist inside a train compartment while consuming food inside a train as children watch her through the window.

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg recently tweeted a toolkit detailing ways to support the ongoing farmer protests against the three new agricultural laws in India. Bengaluru-based climate activist Disha Ravi was accused by the Delhi police of ‘editing’ the toolkit that allegedly carried information to ‘wage war against India’. Ravi has been in judicial custody since February 14.

Meanwhile, a picture of Thunberg inside a train compartment is widespread on social networking platforms. The picture shows the 18-year-old consuming food inside a train as children allegedly watch her through the window. Twitter user @bembadep posted this picture and wrote, “India ask these anti forces #AskGretaWhy”. The tweet amassed over 700 retweets as of this writing. (Archive link)

Twitter user Umesh Singh Tomar also tweeted this photo thanking Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary for exposing Thunberg.

Several other users have tweeted this picture with the hashtag #AskGretaWhy.

Morphed image

Alt News performed a simple reverse image search and found the original photo published in an article in the British newspaper Metro from September 27, 2019. Unlike the viral image, this photo shows trees outside the window and not a group of children. Therefore, the image being shared on social media has been edited. The accompanying article states the picture was taken in Denmark.

It also states that Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, had shared the morphed picture of the climate activist.

Thunberg had herself posted the original photo on January 22, 2019.

The photograph of the children was found in a Reuters article dated August 23, 2007. It was shot by Reuters photographer Stephanie Hancock in Africa. The article is about people who fled villages and moved to the forests during the Bush War in Central Africa.

During our research, we discovered that Thunberg’s photo has been edited in different ways and shared on social media since 2019.

The Quint also published a fact-check report on this image on February 17.

A morphed photo of Greta Thunberg having food during a train journey was circulated online. This picture has been edited and posted online since 2019.

This article was first published on Alt News.

Rihanna and Greta Thunberg Speak Up for Farmers’ Protest, Face Vicious Troll Attack

A host of other celebrities, politicians and artists also expressed their support to the protest.

New Delhi: Popular singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday brought international attention to the farmers’ protest.

While this prompted a host of other global celebrities to express their support to the farmers’ protest, Rihanna and Thunberg also became the target of a vicious troll campaign in India.

The 32-year-old singer from Barbados, who has over 100 million followers on Twitter, took to the microblogging site and shared a CNN news article headlined, “India cuts internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash with police.”

“Why aren’t we talking about this? #FarmersProtest,” Rihanna wrote.

The singer’s tweet gained instant traction on Twitter, with more than one lakh retweets and two lakh likes within hours. At the time of publishing it, had over 1.9 lakh retweets and over 4 lakh likes.

Teenage activist Thunberg also shared the CNN article, but was more explicit in her support. “We stand in solidarity with the #FarmersProtest in India,” she wrote.

Rihanna’s tweet was lauded by Bollywood actors Richa Chadha and Swara Bhasker, who have been vocal supporters of the agitation. Actor Kangana Ranaut, who has aligned herself with the BJP, criticised Rihanna and labelled the protesting farmers as “terrorists”.

The ‘Umbrella’ singer was hailed by a section of social media users for speaking up at a time when many Bollywood celebrities have stayed mum on the issue. Last year, Punjabi star Gippy Grewal criticised the Hindi film industry for not standing up for farmers.

Only a few stars from Bollywood have come out in support of farmers. These include Diljit Dosanjh, Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha, Sonu Sood, filmmaker Hansal Mehta, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Divya Dutta and Neha Sharma.

Popular YouTuber Lilly Singh, whose channel is called Superwoman, shared Rihanna’s tweet and thanked the singer. “This is a humanity issue! #IStandWithFarmers and this narrative is TIRED,” she wrote.

Another young climate activist, Vanessa Nakate, also expressed support to the farmers. In a tweet, she tagged Licypriya Kangujam, a nine-year-old climate activist from Manipur.

US vice president Kamala Harris’ niece Meena Harris said everyone should be “outraged by India’s internet shutdowns and paramilitary violence against farmer protesters”. She added that “as we speak, the most populous democracy is under assault”.

Other politicians such as US Representative Jim Acosta and British MP Claudia Webb, activist Jamie Margolin, actor John Cusack, also expressed support.

Rihanna became the target of a vicious troll attack after her tweet. In India, ‘Chris Brown’ trended in response to Rihanna’s tweet. Brown assaulted Rihanna in 2009 and many Twitter users glorified or justified the domestic violence case.

There were also several derogatory references to her race, with some users justifying slavery. The Wire has seen these tweets but is not sharing them.

The international attention to the farmers’ protest has come at a time when the sites of their protest at Delhi’s borders have turned into fortresses. Police have put up multi-layer barricades and fences to stop the movement of vehicles. Internet services have also been suspended.

The strengthened security measures come after clashes during the Republic Day tractor parade.

Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding the government to repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

(With PTI inputs)