INVITATION Apply for a place at a free April webinar on investigating conspiracy theorists in Europe. @Belllingcat, together with European investigative newsroom @LHreports, is offering a limited number of free webinar places
You’ll learn how to research social networks & online platforms used by the likes of #QAnon enthusiasts across the continent. It will cover Telegram, VK, 4chan/8kun & other relevant niche social networks
Who can Apply? Individuals, organisations, universities & schools can all apply to take part. Members of any military or intelligence service are not permitted to join our workshops
Applications from gov’t employees are considered on case-by-case basis to be sure there are no ethical issues regarding participation. We restrict access to our workshops from members of police forces, but can make exceptions depending on participants' areas of responsibilities
If you are interested in participating in one these webinars, please apply via this form
by March 23, 2022, providing details of your background & experience researching or covering these topics: forms.gle/JT8BK9bPqB3edg…
A committee will select the participants. Preference will be given to individuals or orgs who have a special interest or experience working with the wider topics of the workshop, as well as to those who struggle to afford the fee for @bellingcat’s paid-for trainings & webinars
The webinars are planned to take place in April 2022 (EU time zone). If selected, you will be contacted via e-mail by March 31, 2022.
THREAD. Looming food crisis caused by invasion of #Ukraine seen by “Big Ag” (agricultural lobby & their political allies) as an opportunity to throttle the EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy. But this could compromise future food security + puts animal feed over food. We explain:
Big Ag’s argument is: the war threatens EU’s food supplies so we should roll back environmental considerations in #F2F & #CAP, like curbing the use of chemical fertilisers & pesticides and keeping some land to restore & protect nature
But take cereals, one of the key commodities at stake: The EU is a NET EXPORTER of cereals & has a self-sufficiency rate of 112%. Last year, the EU exported 44.8m tonnes & imported only 19.7m tonnes. Source: EU data.
The leadership of @Frontex faces the most serious fallout to date from @LHreports investigations, as we can reveal the findings of a damning report from the EU anti-fraud watchdog OLAF, confirming they covered up pushbacks spiegel.de/ausland/eu-ant…
The 200-page OLAF report, based on the testimony of 20 witnesses incl. multiple staff from Frontex, is considered so sensitive that it has only been shared with the agency’s Management Board & a committee of MEPs
In it, staff members testified that senior leadership at the multi-billion euro agency harassed staff & covered up multiple rights abuses including the common practice of leaving refugees adrift at sea in life rafts
1/ "They're not letting the black girl go." This video captures a disturbing scene at a railway station in Ukraine as a young woman is prevented from boarding an evacuation train. @LHReports investigates this case & others
2/ The video appears to be a case of racial discrimination & taking place at Lviv station 🇺🇦
Captions on some versions of this video say that a white girl was let on but this isn't clearly shown in the video
3/ In an Instagram post from foreigners in Ukraine discussing the video someone who claims to be a friend of the woman pictured says the woman was hurt in the incident but ultimately able to board an evacuation train.
Squeezed by strict regulations in The Netherlands, Dutch chicken giant Plukon took their model of industrialised poultry farming to France. It means less autonomy for French farmers, a full-stop to organic production methods & increasing local resistance
Following the acquisition of French poultry firm DUC by Plukon, @LHreports together w/ @Mediapart & @FTM_nl investigated how the drive for mass-produced chicken, has impacted the farmers and citizens around #Chailley in northern France
Plukon is reshaping the poultry industry in the area, doubling the capacity of the slaughterhouse in #Chailley to 265,000 chickens (113 daily truckloads). It aims for 80 new mega-farms in a region that already hosted 120
Last Sept 2 bodies washed up on Turkey's Aegean coast. Witnesses & open source evidence confirm that the drowned men, one from Ivory Coast, the other Cameroonian, had been on the Greek island of Samos only days before.
As part of a European media consortium, we investigated, finding evidence to suggest that the pair drowned after being thrown overboard near the Turkish coast, in a new tactic from the Greek coastguard
Greece has rescued tens of 1000s of asylum seekers in the Aegean & claims its recent tough stance saves live. But the drop in crossings was achieved by detaining arrivals & pushing them back on engine-less life rafts
Fear, racism and exploitation: In a new investigation @LHreports reveals how pork companies subsidised by Spain and the EU have been responsible for abusive labour practices in the country’s slaughterhouses
In a joint investigation @LHreports with @lamarea_com & @eldiarioes interviewed dozens of current & former employees from Catalunya to Andalucía, union reps, legal experts, doctors & health & safety inspectors to reconstruct live inside the abbattoirs
A former employee of “Le Porc Gourmet” slaughterhouse, owned by Grupo Jorge, one of the biggest conglomerates in Spain’s meat sector, told us of ‘slavery’ conditions migrant workers were submitted to: “I feared for my live and for that of my family”