East Asia Seminar Series
Transnational Repression: Problems and Solutions When Foreign States Interfere
January 26, 2024 | 4:00PM - 5:00PM
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Online
This event was held online via Zoom
ABOUT THE EVENT
From election interference to overseas police stations to assassinations, foreign governments have found numerous ways to engage in repression on democratic soil. It is not simply Beijing trying to influence democratic politics. The assassination of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last summer has pointed to potential complicity by India’s Modi’s government, for example. As tensions escalate between Canada and two Asian powerhouses, and elsewhere around the globe, what are the problems and solutions? This panel of experts discussed transnational repression to probe into this urgent issue.
ABOUT THE PANEL
Sanjay Ruparelia is an Associate Professor of Politics, and the Jarislowsky Democracy Chair, at Toronto Metropolitan University. His major publications include Divided We Govern: Coalition Politics in Modern India; The Indian Ideology; and Understanding India’s New Political Economy: A Great Transformation. Ruparelia serves as co-chair of the Participedia network and associate editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian Politics, and hosts On the Frontlines of Democracy, a monthly podcast/lecture series. He is currently a visiting fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, USA, and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, South Africa.
Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra, PhD, is a Historian, exhibit curator, storyteller, and founder of Belonging Matters Consulting. She is a passionate activist, building bridges between community and academia through museum work and has been featured in the Knowledge Network series “B.C: An Untold History,” as well as been featured on local, and international podcasts and media.
Suzanne Scoggins, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of Asian Studies at Clark University. Her research focuses on policing and security in reform era China and explores themes of local governance, state legitimacy, and authoritarian control. Her first book, Policing China: Street-Level Cops in the Shadow of Protest, is out with Cornell University Press, and her academic articles have appeared in Comparative Politics, the Journal of Chinese Political Science, and the China Quarterly, among others.
Noura Aljizawi is a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto. Her work takes an in-depth look at human rights issues connected to disinformation, digital authoritarianism, and digital transnational repression. She also serves on the board of the Center for Victims of Torture and is a member of Humanitarian Dialogue’s expert group as well as Just Tech and Migration Community’s steering committee. Her work on Security Planner, a platform that provides peer-reviewed recommendations for staying safe online, was recognized with an Excellence in Innovation Award by the University of Toronto.
(Introductory Remarks and Co-Chair) Joanna Chiu is a senior reporter covering national and foreign stories for the Toronto Star and the author of China Unbound: A New World Disorder. As a globally-recognized authority on China, Chiu is a regular commentator for international broadcast media. She was previously based in Beijing as a foreign correspondent, including for Agence France Presse (AFP) and Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) specializing in coverage of Chinese politics, economy and legal affairs. In Hong Kong, she reported for the South China Morning Post, The Economist magazine and The Associated Press.
(Moderator and Co-Chair) Diana Fu, PhD, is an Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science at The University of Toronto, and Director of the East Asia Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. She is a Non-Resident Fellow at Brookings Institution, a China fellow at the Wilson Center, and a public intellectuals fellow at the National Committee on US-China Relations. Her research examines civil society, popular contention, state control, and authoritarian citizenship in China.
(Concluding Remarks and Co-Chair) Solarina Ho is the Toronto chair of NüVoices and a co-host of the NüVoices podcast. She is a freelance journalist and writer, covering a broad range of general, health, and business news for a variety of publications and organizations. She spent nearly 15 years as a correspondent for Reuters and has also written for publications and outlets including CTVNews.ca, The Globe and Mail, WebMD/Medscape, and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Co-Sponsors: East Asian Seminar Series and NüVoices
Asian Institute asian.institute@utoronto.ca
Speakers
Sanjay Ruparelia
Associate Professor, Jarislowsky Democracy Chair
Department of Politics & Public Administration
Toronto Metropolitan University
Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra
Historian, Exhibit Curator, Storyteller, and Founder of Belonging Matters Consulting
Suzanne Scoggins
Associate Professor, Political Science; Director of Asian Studies, Center for Gender, Race, and Area Studies
Clark University
Noura Aljizawi
Senior Researcher, Citizen Lab
Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy
University of Toronto
Joanna Chiu
Author, Journalist for NüVoices, and Senior Reporter for the Toronto Star
Diana Fu
Associate Professor of Political Science at The University of Toronto; Director of the East Asia Seminar Series, Asian Institute; Non-resident Fellow at Brookings Institution