19/11/2016 Reporters - Short Edition

Welcome to Reporters. I'm Karen Giannoni.

Welcome to Reporters. I'm Karen Giannoni.

From here in the world's newsroom, we send our correspondents to bring

you the best stories from around the globe.

In this week's programme:

Democracy Chinese style.

John Sudworth in Beijing sees how the Communist Party silences

independent candidates in one of the world's

biggest ever elections.

What we can see here quite clearly is the huge effort and expense that

China puts in to stopping people exercising their democratic rights.

A rare look inside Myanmar's secret state where Jonah Fisher finds

Total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering

the United States.

Life for Muslims in Trump's America.

Martin Bashir asks whether the divisions which emerged

during the election can ever be healed.

America's Muslims, including those here in Michigan,

must hope that the arc of Mr Trump's presidency will bend

towards reconciliation and away from the rhetoric that

marked his campaign.

And, one of the world's most recognisable faces.

Chris Buckler speaks to the Irish artist commissioned to paint

a new portrait of Queen Elizabeth.

I can't speak for what necessarily the motivation from the palace

or from the Queen's point of view was, but I think about the fact

that she did suffer.

After America, this week it was China's turn to go

to the polls.

The district elections are one of the world's biggest.

900 million people will vote in the next few weeks.

In theory, they are open to any candidate.

In reality, the Communist Party decides on who is on the ballot.

The Chinese authorities have been highly critical of what they see

as the farce of American democracy.

As John Sudworth's been finding out in Beijing, it's not so keen

on scrutiny of its own system.

We've turned up as agreed for an interview, but we find our

way to the front door locked.

Can you explain what you are doing?

By a group of men.

The person who lives here is doing something that's very

brave in China.

Trying to stand for election as an

independent candidate.

Hello...

We are hoping we can come in and talk to you?

Yes, she answers, come in.

Thank you.

Excuse me.

I think we have permission to go in and speak to this lady.

But it's no use.

It's my right to stand for election, she begins to tell me.

She tries again.

Why won't you let me open my door, she asks.

China often uses sinister, unidentified men to do its sensitive

police work and there are few issues more sensitive

here than democracy.

Every five years, hundreds of millions of Chinese people

get their only chance to vote.

The district elections are in theory open to any candidate.

In reality, the Communist Party decides who is on the ballot.

And the Communist Party-run media has this year been handed a gift.

The US election has been exploited to the full as proof of American

weakness and division and Chinese stability and strength.

China of course has its share of discord and dissent.

China's made huge capital out of what it sees as the farce

and the circus of the US election, the huge effort and expense that

goes into an artificial choice.

Who we can see here is the huge effort and expense that China puts

in to stopping people exercising their democratic rights.

All this for one independent local election candidate.

We are dragged away.

But the heavy handed control is as much a sign of insecurity

as it is of strength.

John Sudworth BBC News, Beijing.

One of the challenges facing a Trump presidency will be healing

the divisions which emerged during the election campaign.

American Muslims are seeking reassurance following his call

for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

The state of Michigan voted for Mr Trump but it is home

to a large number of Muslims.

Martin Bashir has been to meet some of them to find out what they think

about life under Donald Trump.

Prayers in North America's largest mosque in a state that

voted for Donald Trump.

His campaign has left its mark on Muslims.

The bigoted rhetoric, the hatred, the racism,

the xenophobia, the Islamophobia.

Someone's given a green light to individuals now that it's OK.

I was walking one way, he was walking the other way.

15-year-old Safa experienced the Trump effect at school just

a day after the election.

There was a boy who like told know take the towel off my head

so I told him to pull his pants up because he was wearing

very low saggy pants.

He thought that since our new President Elect

thought that, you know, Muslims are all terrorists,

he can do the same and project that on to others.

What many in the Muslim community perceived as an attack

on Islam culminated in the most dramatic proposal.

The name is there, it's radical Islamic terror,

total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering

the United States.

While Trump's rhetoric horrified Muslims in Dearborn,

it galvanised voters down the road in the recently bankrupted Detroit

who felt that immigration and globalisation had

done nothing for them.

His messages were very effective with the white working class

and we saw that with the results of Macon County and Monroe County

which are largely made up of the white working class,

they voted in numbers for Mr Trump.

Since winning in such unexpected fashion, Trump has made little

mention of Muslims, though his website still promotes

his proposal to ban them from entering the country.

Is it safe to be a Muslim in a country where Donald

Trump is the president?

I believe it is.

I really believe it is safe.

We have great confidence in our country and the

American people.

We want success.

We want America to be as good as it can be.

We want America to be great in his vernacular.

Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th President in January,

just four days after the annual public holiday honouring the life

of America's greatest civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King.

America's Muslims, including those here in Michigan, must hope

that the arc of Mr Trump's presidency will bend

towards reconciliation and away from the rhetoric that

marked his campaign.

Martin Bashir, BBC News, in Dearborn, Michigan.

Finally, she's one of the world's most famous faces which makes

the idea of painting a portrait of the Queen a daunting prospect.

Colin Davidson is the latest artist to be given the task

and the week his picture was unveiled by the Queen herself.

Chris Buckler has been to see it up close.

It is one of the most prized commissions.

But for any artist, there are nerves in revealing their interpretation

of one of the world's most iconic images, a face known

worldwide but seen through the eyes of one individual.

I'm very aware of the gravity of an Irish man being invited here.

The Monarch sits for relatively few portraits and this painting

was commissioned with a purpose - to mark the Queen's part

in advancing Anglo-Irish relationships.

And what I personally brought to it was I think the fact that

I have witnessed over many years the Queen's actions

in advancing healing.

And that probably makes one opinion of this portrait more

important than any other.

Her Majesty's historic visit to Ireland...

At an event in London organised by cooperation Ireland

which commissioned the painting, it was unveiled by the Queen.

APPLAUSE.

Among those invited were guests who reflect all shades

of political opinion.

From the island of Ireland.

And Colin's work has come to be a glimpse of how

things have changed.

His portraits of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness were painted

to be shown together, a sign of the divisions gone.

But pictures have also signified what also went before.

I can't speak for what necessarily the motivation from the palace

or from the Queen's point of view was to allow me to make this,

but I think about the fact she did suffer personal loss

through the conflict.

That makes this a paining of its time, a portrait of a Queen

defined by the landscape of a modern Ireland.

Chris Buckler, BBC News, Belfast.

And that is all from Reporters for this week, from me

Karen Giannoni, goodbye.