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Morocco’s Deadly Stampede Tragedy Incites Anger and Criticism · Global Voices
Matthew Greene

Protester in Casablanca in 2011 holds a sign that reads: “Boycotting the Elections is a national duty.” Protests have increased in recent years in Morocco on a wide range of issues. Maghrabia CC BY 2.0
On Sunday morning, November 19, at least 15 women died and 10 others were wounded in a stampede during the distribution of food aid in the region of Essaouira in southwest Morocco. The tragedy sparked immediate critique condemning the absence of social welfare and basic rights for Morocco's poorest citizens.
The stampede occurred in the rural town of Sidi Boulalaam, about 60 kilometers from Essaouira, when the victims were crushed and suffocated as the crowd gathered to collect basic food items at a local market. Approximately 600 people were present when the scramble began to unfold, though the specific circumstances leading to the unrest remain unclear.
The Ministry of Interior announced that it had opened an investigation after reporting the incident Sunday afternoon. Later, it issued a statement claiming that the distribution went forward without proper permission from authorities, according to the Moroccan online Arabic news site Lakoum.
However, the online paper Al-Yaoum quoted the organizer Abdelkabir al Hadidi, a jurist in Casablanca, who disputed the remark, claiming that the charity event was legal and carried out under the supervision of local authorities. Al Hadidi added that food distributions organized in previous years saw similar crowd sizes and were handled without any serious incidents.
But according to one witness interviewed by Lakoum, officials in charge of the event had pushed women in the crowd together until an iron barrier collapsed on them. The same witness described how the crowd had been confined to a closed space and when cries for help began to erupt, the screams were ignored and even laughed at by at least one official.
Asma Chaabi, a member of Parliament from Essaouira belonging to the Progress and Socialism Party, posted a Facebook response on Sunday night that her party will follow the appropriate procedures to review the incident in parliament:
كما يعلن الحزب أنه حريص على متابعة هذه القضية باهتمام بالغ، وأنه سيمارس اختصاصاته وصلاحياته وفق ما يمنحه له الدستور والقوانين الجاري بها العمل، وعبر مختلف المؤسسات بما فيها التشريعية عبر فريقيه البرلمانيين بالمطالبة بتخصيص الجلستين الأسبوعيتين للأسئلة الشفوية لهذه الفاجعة
The party also announces that it is keen to pursue this issue with great interest and that it will exercise its powers in accordance with the constitution and the laws and through the various institutions, including the legislative, through its parliamentary teams, and demands the allocation of two weekly sessions of questioning on this tragedy.
Moroccan social media users were swift to respond to the tragedy with critique and condemnation:
On Twitter, a cartoon depicting a bleeding flour sack circulated:
#Essaouira pic.twitter.com/cV6CjB070F
— Hassan Boulham (@HassaneBoulham) November 20, 2017
Twitter user Hafida Bachir emphasized that the female victims were killed in collecting food for their families:
Mourir pour se nourrir, une honte ! #Essaouira https://t.co/jRmUdqBGEJ
— Hafida Bachir (@HafidaBachir) November 19, 2017
To die for food, a shame!
Lamia Bazier, founder of Empowering Women in the Atlas, suggested that government spending projects are not addressing the nation's inequality levels:
Combien de drames encore pour nous rappeler qu'au delà des beaux forums, des autoroutes et des malls – la réalité marocaine c'est aussi et surtout ça? #Morocco #Essaouira #فاجعة_الصويرة #essaouira #dahaya_thin pic.twitter.com/m6UJXc1Oos
— Lamia Bazir (@LamiaBazir) November 19, 2017
How many dramas still remind us that beyond the beautiful forums, highways and malls – this is the Moroccan reality above all that.
The former director of the banned Demain Magazine (Ali Lmrabet) similarly focused on Morocco's socioeconomic conditions with a critique of the Kingdom's elite:
Estampida mortal en #Marruecos. 1er balance : 15 muertos.
Esta pobre gente, hambrienta, buscaba comida durante una repartición de alimentos en Sidi Boualem.
Cuando nuestros ricos dirigentes tienen cuentas en #Suiza y sociedades offshore en #Panama.?
— Ali Lmrabet (@Alilmrabet) November 19, 2017
Deadly stampede at #Morocco. 1st count: 15 dead. These poor, starving people sought food during a food distribution in Sidi Boualem. When our leaders’ rich have #Swiss accounts and offshore companies in Panama ?.
While recent studies suggest that poverty rates in Morocco are declining, many Moroccans, especially those in rural areas, continue to live below the poverty line. An estimated 19% of the rural population lives in poverty, according to the World Bank.
Rural areas like Sidi Boulalaam that depend largely on the agricultural sector have also suffered from conditions of drought. According to a Reuters report, between 2015-2016, as many as 70,000 Moroccans lost work in agriculture as a result of severe drought.
Climate conditions are expected to worsen across the Middle East and North Africa in the coming decade that could greatly impact food security in the region. Morocco experienced protests earlier this autumn in the southern city of Zagora over a water shortage crisis that highlighted the country’s struggle with managing natural resources and its potential consequences.
In the winter of 2015, residents of Tangier protested increasing energy prices for consecutive weekends that drew national attention to Morocco’s dependency on foreign energy. The country depends on imports for nearly 97% of its energy.
The state is hoping to abet these challenges with heavy investment in renewable energy projects and also agricultural reforms designed to assist rural communities by promoting sustainable development, but face significant criticism from activist groups from within Morocco and throughout North Africa.
Meanwhile, Moroccan King Mohammed VI called for local authorities to take all necessary measures to offer support for the families of the stampede victims. The King also pledged to pay the burial expenses for the dead and the hospitalization for those injured, according to a press release from the Ministry of Interior.

author: Matthew Greene


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Serbian Journalists Call on Citizens to Support a Media Freedom Campaign · Global Voices
Milka Domanovic

Street action for media freedom in Belgrade, Serbia. Messages written on the stand: #ForFreeMedia #StopMediaDarkness and #SupportTheDemands. Photo by Anđela Milivojević, used with permission.
Serbian journalists and activists rallied in the streets of Belgrade and four other Serbian cities on November 19 to garner support from citizens for demands they have made to Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabic.
Street actions were organized in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Vranje, where journalists and activists distributed leaflets to citizens, promoting the list of 13 demands regarding media freedoms and journalists’ safety. The list was created by the group For Media Freedom and included recommendations gathered from media and civil society organizations, journalism associations, activists and ordinary citizens.
“The most important part of the action of the group ‘For Media Freedom’ is to remind citizens that media and journalists are necessary because they cannot [live] without information,” explained Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia president Slavisa Lekic.
? Danas smo na tri mesta u #Beograd
- Terazije
– Trg republike
– Knez Mihailova (Ruski car)
Svratite, potpišite podršku, proširite vest o #ZaSloboduMedija ??? pic.twitter.com/qi4vVXfOZC
— CINS (@CINSerbia) November 19, 2017
Today we are at three locations in Belgrade:
– Terazije
– Trg Republike (Republic Square)
– Knez Mihailova (Ruski car)
Drop by, sign the petition for support, spread the news about #ForMediaFreedom
The list of 13 demands outlined urgent measures necessary to secure equal treatment for all journalists and prevent the collapse of free media in Serbia. Independent journalists have been repeatedly ignored and prevented from asking ‘difficult questions’ to public officials or barred from obtaining information in the public interest. Independent journalists are often labeled as ‘spies,’ ‘traitors’ or ‘foreign mercenaries.’
For Media Freedom has also asked authorities to solve all cases of murdered journalists, and to investigate recent attacks. The list included demands regarding the independence of public broadcasters, which are seen as pro-government media outlets, and for the elimination of pressures against journalists including those exercised through the judiciary.
Sutra u novoj akciji #ZaSloboduMedija u Kragujevcu, Nišu, Vranju, Beogradu i Novom Sadu. Budite sa nama od 12 do 15h #StopMedijskomMraku pic.twitter.com/gy7PuzMTJV
— Antonela Riha (@RihaAntonela) November 18, 2017
Image: #SupportTheDemands
Tweet: Tomorrow [we are] in the new action #ForMediaFreedom in Kragujevac, Nish, Vranje, Belgrade and Novi Sad. Be with us from 12 to 15 hrs #StopMediaDarkness
Before petitioning for signatures from ordinary citizens, the journalists presented PM Brnabic with the list. She then promised to respond to their demands in ten days, without any speculations as to what kind of response might be expected.
“For Media Freedom” began as an informal group in September 2017 after a series of incidents against free and independent media occurred, including the closure of the prominent weekly Novine Vranjske [Vranje Newspaper], which had been published for more than 20 years in the southern Serbian town of Vranje.
The founder of Vranjske and former head of the Serbian journalists’ association Vukasin Obradovic went on a hunger strike on September 19 to protest the newspaper's closure, which had been subjected to political and financial pressures and also against the “decline in media freedoms in Serbia.”
Roughly one hundred journalists, editors, and activists gathered the same night in a protest known as ‘I stand with Vranjske’, showing their support for Obradovic, after which he ended his strike and joined the group ‘For Media Freedom’ and continued publishing Vranjske online.
However, Obradovic recently announced that he was unable to provide funds for journalists and contributors and that he was forced to shut down the portal vranjske.co.rs as well.
Zbog nemogućnosti da, kao vlasnik, osiguram minimalne uslove za dalje funkcionisanje i, pre svega, obezbedim redovnu isplatu ličnih dohodaka za stalno zaposlene i honorara za saradnike, prinudjen sam da donesem odluku o prestanku rada portala https://t.co/CMOXJqaEOA.
— Stojim uz Vranjske (@V_Obradovic) November 21, 2017
Due to inability to secure minimum conditions for work, and to provide regular payment of salaries for the regular employees and fees for the freelancers, as the owner I was forced to bring a decision to cease functioning of the portal vranjske.co.rs.
On September 28, For Media Freedom also staged a website blackout in defense of free speech, using the black screen to symbolize a world without free media.
Journalists from #Serbia & others from region (in solidarity) stage symbolic protest & ask @JHahnEU to be more vocal about the lack of media freedom in Serbia. #EUWBmedia pic.twitter.com/2MReocVeZZ
— Agon Maliqi (@AgonMaliqi) November 9, 2017
The group also organized a protest on November 9 at the recent EU and Western Balkans Media Days in Tirana, Albania by standing in black shirts with the sign #EUdoMore, asking the EU to support professional journalism in Serbia and not to ignore a deteriorating situation for Serbian media.
Journalist Tamara Skrozza, a member of For Free Media, told the panel in Tirana that the EU should do more so that “[they] could believe again in their messages that media freedom are a priority in the process of EU integration.” The panel was attended by EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, a member of the European Commission in charge of overseeing the accession and negotiation process of future EU member states such as Serbia.
Serbia has achieved “some level of preparation concerning freedom of expression” according to the latest EU progress report on Serbia from November 2016, but made no progress the previous year.
In the latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders for 2016, published in April 2017, Serbia was ranked 66th, a decline of seven positions compared to 2015. The report further specified: “Media freedom has declined ever since Aleksandar Vucic, Slobodan Milosevic’s former information minister, became Prime Minister in May 2014.”
Vucic, who is now the president and still the most powerful person in the country, is not officially against the free press, but he has effectively curtailed press freedoms by choosing several media outlets which serve as government mouthpieces and stage campaigns against opposition, independent journalists, state enemies, so that Vucic presents as a pro-EU reformer.

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Milka Domanovic


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13 Things Banned (or Strongly Discouraged) in Tajikistan · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Tajikistan in red. Adapted from Asia laea location map.svg (by Uwe Dedering).CC 3.0.
Over the last few years, ex-Soviet Tajikistan has developed a reputation as a country that likes to ban things. While some of the bans appear linked to the government's fears over religious extremism, others are more difficult to fathom.
The New Year characters Ded Moroz and Snegurochkha at Lenin Square in Voronezh, Russia. By Shallin. Creative Commons 3.0.
The first ban on this list has been in force since late 2015. Tajikistan banned New Year — the most important holiday of the Communist era — in schools and universities. Privately, Tajik families are still allowed to celebrate New Year, of course, although there are also restrictions on private celebrations (more on that later) so they would be best advised to do so modestly.
Indians enjoying the festival of Holi. Photo by pashminu. CC0.
According to Eurasianet.org:
On May 15 [2016] police aggressively dispersed a gathering of young people celebrating the Hindi fesitival of Holi in Dushanbe on the grounds that the event was haram — not in compliance with Muslim customs. What particularly aggrieved the public was the level of physical violence used against the underage children.
Still, as the saying goes, when God closes a door, he opens a window.
Tajiks now have other days on which they can freely celebrate. There is the newly created President’s Day, on November 16, Flag Day on November 24 and then National Language Day on October 5, which happens to fall on President Emomali Rahmon’s birthday.
Very few people in Tajikistan celebrate Holi anyway. But the crackdown on on the festival last year followed police detentions of fancy-dress ghouls and vampires marking the more popular holiday of Halloween in 2013 and 2014. It is ironic that in  this case police invoked Islam when they broke up the celebration, because, as will become clear, local authorities don't like that much either.
But what holiday do Tajik authorities actually like? The answer to that is simple: Nowruz. Nowruz, which marks the spring equinox, is sufficiently pagan so as not to contribute to growing religiosity in the secular, majority-Muslim country, and also emphasises Tajikistan's Persian heritage.
Birthday Cake by Will Clayton. Uploaded onto Flickr. CC 2.0.
If you are brave enough to celebrate your birthday in a cafe or restaurant, spare some extra cash for the fine.
Amirbek Isayev learned this lesson at his own cost when he was fined the equivalent of $600 — a huge sum in Tajikistan — for bringing a tell-tale cake to a pub in Dushanbe. Prosecutors opened their case against Isayev when a photo featuring him and the cake at the pub surfaced on Facebook. Had he been celebrating with a steak, he might have got away with it.
Prom photo by Sean McGrath. CC 2.0.
Spoilsports? You bet. School leavers parties — another great Soviet tradition — were banned in 2016. Officials never really explained the ban, but it is possible they had two targets in mind: gift-giving among teachers and students, and drunken leavers’ party mayhem in the country's capital Dushanbe. Either way, graduation from school is now a much more somber affair.
And weddings are much more threadbare, thanks to the ever tightening Law on Functions; the same law under which Amirbek Isayev was prosecuted. The latest amendments to legislation that first came into force in 2007 are the most prescriptive so far as the government continues to urge people to spend less on key life events.
A passage from an RFE/RL article published in September this year offers an idea of what happens to families that fall foul of the law.
Final preparations were in full swing at Zaidullo Khudoyorov's home in southern Tajikistan as the family got ready to celebrate the marriage of his eldest daughter.
Just hours before the party, however, a group of local officials raided the house and confiscated most of the food the family had prepared for the banquet.
The officials deemed the quantities of food “wasteful” and in violation of a newly amended Tajik law that regulates and limits how much families spend on weddings, funerals, and all other private functions.
“We managed to prevent a lawbreaking in the village,” said Kholmurod Ibrohimov, an official who took part in the August 26 raid, in Dahana, on the outskirts of the city of Kulob.
“During the raid, we established that the family prepared a wasteful amount of food, such as special flatbreads and halva for the banquet at the bridegroom's house,” Ibrohimov said on September 18, after reports of the seizure emerged. “We seized the food and handed it over to the Kulob psychiatric hospital.”
Ibrohimov also pointed out that the cost of the food was incompatible with the “impoverished” family's income.
The Funerals of Inca Atahualpa by Luis Montero, 1867.
It's true! This ban came in two months ago. Read it and weep!
To discourage women from wearing the Islamic hijab, Tajikistan has passed a law that urges citizens to wear traditional clothes. pic.twitter.com/qPWQggtRfB
— RFE/RL (@RFERL) August 31, 2017
Several Western media outlets reported in September this year that Tajikistan had banned the hijab, although the law that was passed did not mention the hijab by name. Rather it called for protection of traditional, or ‘national’ clothes from their ‘foreign’ competitors. At any rate, life has become harder for hijab-wearing women in recent years, as the government cracks down on forms of dress common in the Middle East and neighbouring Afghanistan.
In addition to a ban on the hijab in state educational institutions, there have been bans on the sale of hijabs in certain cities and reports that women wearing hijabs were turned away from state hospitals. Tajik women can still cover their heads, and are often encouraged to do so, but not their chins. Something like this is just fine:
Original image from Atlas of Beauty. Viral image shared by rise.gr.
Meme shared on Vk.com
As mentioned, you can't pigeonhole Tajikistan's culture of government bans. While Middle Eastern clothing is facing a hard time, flesh-revealing garments aren't fairing any better.
In fact, as of last year, it is as difficult to wear shorts in a government building in Tajikistan as it is in Saudi Arabia. Short skirts have long been banned in schools and are being officially discouraged in public.
Since we have already seen what the ideally dressed Tajik woman looks like, above is an example of a suitably dressed Tajik man.
This Topatcoo t-shirt would likely be banned in Tajikistan.
Long beards are on the outs in Tajikistan. Again no law specifically bans beards but religious clerics, who set the tone for facial hair in the country, have been instructed to keep beards to a maximum length of three centimetres. What's more, Tajik police have seemingly been given free reign to forcibly shave thousands of bearded men. In a popular blog post quoted by Global Voices in 2015, blogger Rustam Gulov complained of being forcibly shaved:
They came for me too… Today, three policemen took me to Khujand police station and shaved my beard forcedly. This country does not have a future!
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama pose for a photo during a reception at the Metropolitan Museum in New York with, H.E. Emomali Rahmon President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson). CC 2.0. While Emomali surely features in the registry of Tajik names, Michelle and Barack might not.
This law concerns citizens of the Tajik ethnic group. As of 2016, citizens have been mandated to call their children names from an official state registry. Notably the registry excludes some popular Arabic-language names, although officials said the law on names is also to prevent children being named after household objects — ‘Mop’ for instance. “John” would also be out of bounds for Tajik-speakers, according to Open Asia, which created its own questionnaire on things that are and aren't banned in Tajikistan earlier this year.
What is Pret A Manger in Tajik? Image by Zhangyang. CC 2.0
Opening an Italian restaurant in Dushanbe? Don't call it Bella Italia or something similar, as  the law on the state language mandates that restaurants must have Tajik names. In practice, this is not always the case. But Open Asia notes that a Indian restaurant called Salaam Namaste fell foul of the law and had to pay a fine of nearly $100.
Floyd Mayweather and Connor McGregor duke it out. Screenshot from Vimeo.com.
Dushanbe will probably not be hosting Connor McGregor anytime soon. This year Tajikistan's sports and culture ministry banned professional boxing along with various strains of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Reporting on the proposed ban in September, AFP wrote:
Tajikistan's sports committee said Wednesday it is seeking to ban professional boxing and several types of martial arts in the impoverished ex-Soviet nation over concerns they promote violence and extremism.
The committee said in a statement the ban was being proposed “taking into account the (need to) prevent violence, and prevent the lowering of honour and dignity in sport.”
The ban has since gone into force, with authorities trying to introduce “gushtingiri,” a national marital art, instead. Research has indicated that violent sports are popular among some ISIS recruits. Tajik authorities say over a thousand citizens have joined extremist groups fighting in Iraq and Syria.
Global Voices community members from 60 countries captured by a drone. Image courtesy @ka_bino and PR Works. Taking this photograph in Tajikistan would have been legal at the time it was taken in 2015, but illegal just over a year afterwards.
Reading all of this, you're probably thinking Tajikistan is not somewhere that will allow people to fly remote-controlled objects around in the sky for no good reason. You would be right.
But Tajikistan was not among the first countries to ban drones, only getting round to a ban last year. Amendments to the country's air code “aimed at preventing flights of unmanned aerial vehicles (controlled) by terrorist organizations and drug traffickers” according to a lawmaker in the country's parliament.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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Malaysian Authorities Blocked Websites Reporting on Massive Personal Data Theft Scandal · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Between May and July 2014, 46.2 million phone numbers in Malaysia were obtained through a data breach and leaked online.
Secure Data, Data Privacy. Image from Flickr by Blue Coats Photos. CC BY-SA 2.0
But most Malaysians did not know about the breach until technology news portal Lowyat.net reported the news on October 19, when someone tried to sell the data through the website’s forum page.
The leak included postpaid and prepaid mobile phone numbers, customer details, addresses as well as SIM card information from 14 different telecommunication companies. Also included in the leak was the medical information of about 80,000 persons from the databases of three medical associations. It is reportedly the largest case of personal data breach in Malaysian history.
The government regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) asked Lowyat.net to take down the article while a probe into the breach is being conducted. The article was removed but restored a few days later. MCMC said it worked with telcos to determine the cause of the data breach and is already preparing to arrest a suspect.
Dissatisfied with the slow action of the government and telcos in providing information to the public, tech blogger Keith Rozario created and uploaded the Sayakenahack microsite on November 12, 2017 to help users verify if their phone number was among those leaked in 2014. Rozario is a Malaysian architect based in Singapore who blogs about technology issues.
Screenshot of the Sayakenahack website
Rozario clarified that the data he used in Sayakenahack is already publicly available and that he merely made it easier for ordinary Internet users to verify whether their personal information was affected. He added that the privacy of users is protected because the website does not reveal the complete information of those who submitted their phone numbers.
According to news reports, Sayakenahack was visited by 150,000 people within 36 hours of operation.
But acting upon a formal request from the Data Privacy Protection Department, MCMC blocked Sayakenahack for violating the Private Data Protection Act of 2010.
Rozario advised users on how to access the website through other means, but he agreed to take down the website on November 19.
Like Rozario, Lowyat.net is frustrated with the slow response of authorities:
We are extremely concerned that no remedial action has been taken by the service providers involved to protect those that have been affected by the breach. In this day where everything is stored electronically, data security breaches are not something to be taken lightly.
But it supported the decision of MCMC to block Sayakenahack:
Keith Rozario is the good guy here, who set up the site for a very noble purpose, however, that does not stop unscrupulous individuals from abusing the data for their own needs. There will also always be a big question mark on whether it is right for the data to be manipulated in any way without consent from the actual owners.
For his part, Rozario defended his decision to create Sayakenahack:
I believe that you have a right to know about it, in a timely manner. Authorities can’t sit on the data for weeks without letting you know on any pretense.
To ban Sayakenahack is to say geeks and hackers can access the data — but not the average joe. It’s emphasizing that normal people don’t deserve that knowledge while geeks and hackers do.
This is elitism, and it’s wrong.
Some Twitter users criticized the MCMC for blocking Sayakenahack:
MCMC and other government department should not and must not have power to censor. It is ineffective and it is not helpful to the citizen. It also show the attitude of government not wanting to solve problem but to cover up. https://t.co/lFkyF2Uftl
— sweemeng (@sweemeng) November 16, 2017
This is probably the country’s biggest data leak/tech scandal, and @SKMM_MCMC’s way of dealing with it seems to be just censoring and covering everything up.
What exactly are they trying to hide? https://t.co/QTs1i1wMiP
— Zurairi AR (@zurairi) November 16, 2017
Eric Paulsen of Lawyers for Liberty accused the MCMC of prioritizing the arrest of Internet users who are ‘insulting’ politicians on social media instead of strengthening the country’s data protection capabilities.
What have MCMC done to ensure that the personal data stored on public and commercial websites are secured? Did these websites and MCMC know about the breach earlier but failed to inform the public or their customers? MCMC should also be updating the public from time to time regarding the progress of their investigation instead of keeping a general silence on the matter.
MCMC must get their priorities right. Instead of wasting valuable resources in trying to rein in ‘insulting’ remarks against the Prime Minister and other personalities, MCMC should be focusing on real crimes and issues like fraud and data security.
Rozario’s work was appreciated by The Star newspaper which published an editorial after the blocking of Sayakenahack:
Thanks to him, a few Malaysians can enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing their personal information was not leaked.
For this much needed public service – filling in the gaping chasm of inactivity on the part of the telcos concerned – the MCMC decided to block the site
It is a pity that instead of lauding his effort, too many of us decided to shoot the messenger

author: Mong Palatino


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Social Media Rumors Escalate Buddhist-Muslim Violence in Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot allegedly showing the house of a Sri Lankan Muslim damaged by a mob attack by Sri Lankan Buddhists. Video by Haroon Ali via YouTube.
Tensions between Sinhalese Buddhists and members of the minority Muslim community in southern Sri Lanka have escalated in recent days. Police say this is thanks in part to the spread of false information on social media.
Clashes in the coastal town of Gintota, in Galle state, reportedly began after a Muslim child was knocked down by a Sinhalese motorcyclist on 13 November 2017, for which he paid compensation to the victim to settle the matter. On 16 November 2017, a group of Sinhalese young people assaulted two Muslim motorbike riders, citing the 13 November incident. One of the riders ended up in the hospital for his injuries.
Reacting to that incident, a group sympathetic to the Muslim rider attacked two houses belonging to Sinhalese people, resulting in one Sinhalese man was hospitalized. The police made several arrests that day apprehending the persons responsible for triggering violence.
Ratnasiri Malalagama and Nandana Nanneththi reported at the World Socialist Website:
At 4.17 p.m. on Friday, an individual called Uchitha Arunodha Gunasekera posted a note on his Facebook page calling for everyone in the Galle area “to gather at the Thuparamaya temple in Gintota against Muslims.” The violent attack was discussed and prepared at the temple.
Then on 17 November 2017 night, a small mosque and several houses belonging to Muslims in Gintota were attacked by Sinhalese mobs.
#Gintota: About 66 houses & 26 shops damaged in clashes & 5 injured ppl are admitted to Karapitiya hospital, says Minister Vajira Abeywardene; Minister Vajira was hooted & chased away from a Buddhist temple; BBS Gnanasara thero was also seen in #Galle. #SriLanka pic.twitter.com/B3ceV4nP1d
— Saroj Pathirana #lka (@sarojpathi) November 18, 2017
YouTube user Haroon Ali uploaded a video allegedly showing the damages to properties:
Since then, several people have been injured and multiple vehicles (owned mostly by Muslims) have been destroyed. At least 62 homes and businesses were attacked in the Gintota area.
Special Task Force (STF) police officers have been deployed to the area and have imposed a night curfew as a security measure to prevent further violence. Nineteen people, 16 Sinhalese and three Muslims, have been arrested.
19 arrested over last night violence in Ginthota Galle, Situation calm now, Police curfew expected to be withdrawn at 9 am – Police pic.twitter.com/Z5DHBTg4cX
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) November 18, 2017
Unfounded rumors on social media have caused the situation to escalate even further, police say. In particular, they have pointed messages claiming that Muslims were planning to attack a Buddhist temple. The police have also said that they are investigating into persons who had published false or inflammatory reports on the incident and that they would be arrested for it.
Muslims make up roughly 10 percent of Sri Lanka's population of about 21 million, while 70% adhere to Buddhism (mostly of the Theravada school) and most others to Hindu traditions. Ethnically, 75% are Sinhalese, about 10% are Sri Lankan Moors (who are Muslims and speak Tamil) and almost 15% are Tamils (Sri Lankan and Indians).
Tensions have risen between the two communities this year, with sporadic incidents of Buddhist hardliners targeting the Muslim community with accusations of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalizing Buddhist archaeological sites. More than 20 attacks on Muslims, including arson at Muslim-owned businesses and petrol-bomb attacks on mosques, have been recorded since April 2017.
Following the latest violence, some were left questioning if the government response was sufficient:
Who ordered to withdraw STF personnel from #Gintota within hours after Thursday night clashes? And why? Responding to Minister Vajira Abeywardene, DIG #Galle says he has no such powers. “May be an order from above” #SriLanka pic.twitter.com/GGpldozztP
— Saroj Pathirana #lka (@sarojpathi) November 18, 2017
Still i didnt got how they are?
Well planned from yesterday there was several forces in #ginthota #galle.but once the group landed and started distroying houses and fight,no any forces at there.dont know weather they took some break time#shame #SriLanka @RW_UNP @MaithripalaS
— Mõhâmmëđ Hãmđý (@mohamadhamdyce) November 17, 2017
Disgusted with the way how govt is responding to a conflict. Never felt this insecure in my home town ever before #ginthota #gintotariots #saynotoracisim #motherland #srilanka
— Shehan Sameen (@shehanshameen) November 19, 2017
Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka vowed to take action against rumor mongers: “Some political groups are now on a desperate mission to turn this minor brawl into a Sinhala-Muslim clash,” he said.
But not all social media messages about the clashes are unfounded. This cartoon by Cartoon Lanka argues that mainstream media in Sri Lanka are ignoring a very real conflict at hand:
How Mainstream Media and Social Media reacted on #Gintota Issue!
Cartoon by Gihan de Chickera #lka #SriLanka #Galle pic.twitter.com/m53AShccgg
— Political CartoonLKA (@cartoonlka) November 20, 2017
Misinformation nevertheless has been a persistent problem in Sri Lanka. A July editorial by Global Voices partner Groundviews recalled past examples of incitements against minorities and highlighted the activities of the Buddhist hardliner group Bodhu Bala Sena:
When this group first became active, they spread hate messages, mainly through Facebook, claiming, for example, that popular Muslim-owned shop No Limit was giving out toffees which, when consumed, would render Sinhalese mothers infertile. These rumors persist even today.
The editorial noted that:
Sri Lankans tend to digest media uncritically and unquestioningly. This will have to change in order to stop misinformation from spreading – and this can be done through spreading awareness – whether through short videos, articles on how to spot fake news or training.

author: Rezwan


text:
The Young Musicians From “Symphony for Peru” Touched Souls at Madrid’s Royal Theater · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Members of Symphony for Peru in Madrid, Spain. Image used with permission.
Symphony for Peru is an organization created by renowned Peruvian operatic tenor, Juan Diego Flórez, as a way to change the lives of disadvantaged Peruvian youth through music.
According to the website, data obtained from a study of children who participated in the program, show a marked improvement in many areas of their lives:
20% MÁS CREATIVOS
30% MÁS SEGUROS DE SÍ MISMOS
29% MENOS AGRESIVOS
20% MORE CREATIVE
30% MORE SELF-ASSURED
29% LESS AGGRESSIVE
Currently, there are about 7000 children and over 20 formation centers all over the country that have felt the benefits of Symphony for Peru. In 2014, the Development Effectiveness Overview (DEO) stated:
The project established four musical centers in four very different areas in Peru: the marginalized, urban ghettos of Trujillo (coastal), Huancayo (mountain), Huánuco (rainforest), and Manchay-Lima (desert). Each center brings music to […] children and adolescents living at or below the poverty level. […] The setting of the program helps children build their self-esteem, encourages them to have goals in life and to achieve those goals, promotes improved school performance, strengthens family ties, and facilitates positive involvement in their community.
On the group website, we can find accounts from some of the children who participate with the orchestra about what the program means to them:
La música para mí es algo que se debe tocar con sentimiento, con emoción [pero que necesita también] de disciplina. Cuando toco el violín me siento más feliz, más emocionada. Contenta de poder tener en mis manos un instrumento que me llena de felicidad.
To me, music is something that has to be felt while being played, with excitement [but it also needs] discipline. When I play the violin, I feel happier, more excited. Happy to have an instrument in my hands that makes me so happy.
On October 29, 2017, a group from Symphony for Peru — alongside founder Juan Diego Flórez — made their way to Spain to participate in the 15th anniversary celebration of Volunteers Telefónica at Madrid's Royal Theater.
Part of the group at Lima airport, before flying to Spain. Image used with permission.
On their Facebook page, the group uploaded a brief interview with Flórez, rehearsal videos and a rendition of the well-known song, Mambo No. 5:
Sinfonía por el Perú en el Teatro Real
#SomosSpp?Gran concierto ayer Domingo 29 en el Teatro Real con Sinfonía por el Perú y la Escuela de Música Reina Sofía por el 15 Aniversario de  Voluntarios Telefónica ✨???¡Gracias Telefónica y Fundación Telefónica por la inolvidable experiencia!#CantoTocoCrezco
Geplaatst door Sinfonía por el Perú op maandag 30 oktober 2017
Symphony for Peru at Royal Theater
We are all Symphony for Peru ?Great concert yesterday, Sunday 29 at Royal Theater with Symphony for Peru and Queen Sofia Music School to celebrate 15 years of Volunteers Telefónica ✨??? Thanks, Telefónica and Telefónica Foundation for such an unforgettable experience! #ISingIPlayIGrowUp
Publicado por Symphony for Peru on October 30, 2017.
While they were in the Spanish capital, Symphony for Peru also took the opportunity to rehearse with members of the Queen Sofia Music School. It was a moment for both groups to exchange and share experiences through music.
Rehearsals before performing at Royal Theater. Image used with permission.
On Twitter, the group shared videos and photos of their tour in Spain and some of the events they participated in:
Gran concierto en el @Teatro_Real con @jdiego_florez , Sinfonía, la @EscuelaSMRSofia por el 15 Aniv. de @VolunTelefonica @fundacionTef ??❤ pic.twitter.com/wjP0nMIETg
— Sinfonía por el Perú (@SINFONIAperu) 30 de octubre de 2017
Great concert and Royal Theater, with Juan Diego Flórez, Queen Sofia Music School on the 15 anniversary of Volunteers Telefonica.??❤
¡Orgullosos de nuestros chicos! ?❤ https://t.co/bPnG194j8K
— Sinfonía por el Perú (@SINFONIAperu) 28 de octubre de 2017
Very proud of our kids! ?❤
concierto de Sinfonía por el Perú en Teatro Real de Madrid https://t.co/XvCufb154Q
— Rafaella León (@MaiteCis) 29 de octubre de 2017
Symphony for Peru concert at Royal Theater, Madrid.
———-
Symphony for Peru concert at Royal Theater, Madrid.
With all these activities, these young musicians have started on a path that will certainly allow them to “sing, play, grow!“.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
An Affordable University Education Is at Risk in Post-Hurricane Puerto Rico · Global Voices
Ana Portnoy

University of Puerto Rico. Photo: Alan Levine. Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Long before hurricanes Irma and María utterly devastated Puerto Rico in September 2017, the most important public higher education institution on the archipelago was weathering a storm of its own: austerity. And some are now sounding the alarm that these natural disasters have given authorities an excuse to push through even more draconian measures at the University of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico, a US territory, currently struggles under the weight of a $74 billion debt, and $49 billion in pension obligations, the likes of which are a product of a decades-long recession, illegal bond issuances and trades, and an overly advertised tax haven. The legal framework that made these practices possible and established Puerto Rico as an exception to the US tax code was enacted by the US Congress. This has lead many to argue that Puerto Rico’s debt is inherently colonial.
To try to deal with Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, US lawmakers passed legislation called PROMESA, which, among many things, created an unelected oversight board and a process for restructuring the debt. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law in June 2016, and thus, the Fiscal Control Board was imposed on Puerto Rico — with very little say from the people of Puerto Rico, who, despite being US citizens, do not have voting representation in US Congress and cannot vote for president.
The Fiscal Control Board's reign has been characterized by austerity, and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) figures among the public institutions it has singled out for steep budget cuts, campus and academic program eliminations and consolidations, tuition spikes, and payroll reductions — recommendations that UPR's administration and the local government seem largely intent on following. With rumors regarding the privatization of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority (PREPA) making their rounds as well, fear emerged that UPR could eventually head in the same direction.
A considerable portion of UPR's student body and faculty, however, were resisting these measures, a two-month-long student strike earlier this year an example of this struggle.
But then hurricanes Irma and María hit the archipelago with tremendous force, and the UPR campuses, all 11 of them, suffered considerable damage. After hurricane María, UPR assessed more than $118 million in losses system-wide; UPR-Humacao registered as the campus that suffered the most devastation, having been the closest to the area through which the eye of the hurricane entered Puerto Rico. Between hurricanes Irma and María, all campuses were closed for almost a month to more than five weeks.
Before UPR decided to reopen its campuses, a number of universities stateside, such as Tulane University and Brown University, as well as private universities in Puerto Rico, started hurricane-relief programs, offering students an opportunity to continue their academic semester and studies. When UPR finally reopened, campuses were still plagued by fungus infestations, power outages, non-potable water service, closed libraries and research centers, and damaged classrooms, offices and public spaces.
This combination of forces could represent a problem for UPR: it could lose a significant portion of its student body, and that could put UPR at greater risk than before of falling victim to what Canadian journalist Naomi Klein calls the shock doctrine: a “brutal tactic of using the public’s disorientation following a collective shock […] to push through radical pro-corporate measures”. Faculty members, like professor Maritza Stanchich from UPR-Río Piedras, argued as much on Facebook:
OJO, while perhaps for some this is well-intentioned, initiatives to offer students in hurricane-affected areas in-state tuition in states such as Florida might also embolden further shock-doctrine-style shake ups at UPR. Tulane, after all, was not in the same boat, so to speak, pre Katrina. Entiendo el impulso positivo de estas iniciativas estudiantiles, pero creo que sería ingenuo pensar que no se podía utilizar de manera nefasto para la UPR. [Editor's note: This was a public Facebook post uploaded on September 29, and there have been many exchanges about this since.]
CAREFUL, while perhaps for some this is well-intentioned, initiatives to offer students in hurricane-affected areas in-state tuition in states such as Florida might also embolden further shock-doctrine-style shake ups at UPR. Tulane, after all, was not in the same boat, so to speak, pre [Hurricane] Katrina [which devastated the US Gulf Coast in 2005]. I understand the positive intention of these student initiatives, but I think it would be naive to think that they couldn't be used in a disastrous way for UPR. [Editor's note: This was a public Facebook post uploaded on September 29, and there have been many exchanges about this since.]
UPR found itself in a lose-lose situation. It could decide not to continue with the semester because proper recovery would take time, but watch as a portion of its student body was snatched away by universities stateside and by private universities and colleges on the island itself. Or it could decide to reopen (which it did), but watch a portion of its student body leave anyways, due to the fact that the university hadn’t (and hasn't) been fully and properly rehabilitated.
But in the view of many students and staff, the hurricanes only exacerbated the situation. UPR was already in trouble thanks to years of corrupt and inept government administrations and the debt crisis, as Verónica del Carmen, a student from UPR-Río Piedras, noted:
Este semestre no estoy matriculada en la universidad. Así que no me toca regresar el lunes. Pero las leo, los escucho y me siento angustiada, triste, nerviosa, pero sobretodo me siento encabroná, porque si estuviese matriculá me tocaría elegir entre trabajar o estudiar. Entre comer o coger guagua. Probablemente estaría planificando con alguna corilla cuál será el refugio con agua y el mejor espacio pa descansar y poder ir a “estudiar”. Pienso en las posibilidades y me encabrono más. El gobierno y la administración universitaria tienen excusas demás pa continuar privatizando la UPR y el acceso a la educación. El paso del huracán María les abrió el camino pa terminar de implementar sus planes. Cerrar recintos, aumentar costos de estudio, disminuir ayudas económicas, dejar perder edificios y residencias para estudiantes, en fin, que la UPR sea pa quienes puedan pagarla.
I'm not registered at the university this year, so I don't have to go back on Monday. But I read you, I hear you, and I feel anxious, sad, nervous… But mostly, I feel pissed, because if I were registered I'd have to choose between working or studying. Between eating or taking the bus. I would probably be planning with friends which would be the shelter with water and the best space that we could go to rest and “study”. I think of the possibilities and get even more pissed. Both the government and the university's administration have more than enough excuses to continue the privatization of UPR and the access to education. Hurricane María's passing paved the way for them to finish implementing their plans. Closing campuses, increasing the cost of tuition, cutting grants and financial aid, letting buildings and student residences fall into ruin, in other words, that the UPR can only be for those who can afford it.
Recently, UPR’s Governing Board instructed that all deans should review all academic programs with the intention of substantially reducing the number of required credits, and present curricular alternatives so as to offer two-year programs of study (associate degrees).
At UPR-Mayagüez, where the rector was quick to implement the board's resolution, professor Jorge Schmidt and many other faculty members worry the decision prioritizes profit over academic excellence, and would debilitate UPR’s role as a leading academic and research center:
“Se aprovechan del momento trágico que vive el país para neutralizar la posible oposición a sus medidas anti-académicas que pretenden convertir a la UPR en un centro de adiestramiento para empleos técnicos.
They're taking advantage of the tragic moment the country is going through to neutralize any possible opposition to their anti-academic measures that intend to convert UPR into a training center for technical jobs.
UPR is the most important public higher education institution in Puerto Rico. A total of 46.1% of the population lives below the poverty line (and the numbers will increase post-hurricane María), and economic accessibility is already a problem for many who study at or want to attend the University of Puerto Rico. If UPR is privatized, a considerable sector of the population may find that they no longer have access to an affordable education on the archipelago.

author: Ana Portnoy


text:
#SOSManus: Police Evict Asylum Seekers at Australia’s Former Detention Camp in Manus Island · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

“This picture is enough to wake up Australia and show how a cruel politician like Peter Dutton is using Australian people for his own political benefit.” Photo and caption by Behrouz Boochani, used with permission
Increasing levels of violence by police appear to be bringing an end to the confrontation at Australia's former Manus Island regional detention centre in Papua New Guinea, where hundreds of asylum seekers have been refusing to move to new facilities.
For years, Australia had sent would-be refugees who arrived by boat to the centre. But in April 2016 the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court ordered its closure after finding that the detention of asylum seekers there was illegal, and it was officially closed at the end of October 2017.
However, hundreds of detainees refused to leave, citing fears for their safety, given tension between them and the local community, as well as mistrust of the Australian authorities.
With police moving to end the standoff, photos and video are popping up on social media, with many yet to be verified. Pakistani detainee Ezatullah Kakar posted this message with video appearing to show police wielding batons and roughly grabbing detainees:
#AUS_PNG You Destroyed Our Life, We lost everything Familys, Friends, even own Self Respect, We will Never Forget Your Treatment, We Realized we Are Not human Beings, World Forget About us, We Are better killed Here In The New Prison Camp Lourengo Manus. #MANUS pic.twitter.com/c7Fi9FYXl4
— Ezatullah kakar (@EzatullahKakar) November 23, 2017
Iranian journalist and detainee Behrouz Boochani has been one of their voices. Yesterday he was held under arrest for two hours before being forcibly relocated.
Military arresting @amnesty media award winning journalist @BehrouzBoochani, just now on #Manus.
Please share this photo tagging @PeterDutton_MP & @TurnbullMalcolm, holding them accountable that no harm will come to our brother.#SOSManus pic.twitter.com/s6U4QxsvXO
— Jarrod McKenna ن (@jarrodmckenna) November 23, 2017
Boochani tweeted afterwards:
I’ve just been released. They hancuffed me for more than two hours in a place behind the prison camp. The police commander yelled at me ‘you are reporting against us.’ They pushed me several times and broke my belongings. Will write more about it later.
— Behrouz Boochani (@BehrouzBoochani) November 23, 2017
Earlier, 12 Australians of the Year had raised their concerns about the situation on Manus, calling on the Australian government to restore basic services at the centre:
12 former Australians of the Year condemn Aust Govt's action on Manus, calling for urgent humanitarian intervention https://t.co/DcttZTYr8W
— David Manne (@david_manne) November 22, 2017
Not everyone on social media agreed with them. Robert Johnstone posted this comment on a Facebook update by Behrouz Boochani:
Good on Minister Dutton for his tough stance on this . These so called refugees are grown up
People and knew what they were embarking on when they jumped in a boat . No one twisted their arms , they are solely to blame for their predicament. If you want to
come to our country come the proper way not through the backdoor like a crim.
The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his immigration minister Peter Dutton continue to implement a tough stance on the matter. Some would like them to be held to account in court:
.@IntlCrimCourt breach of PNG court orders is happening again. this is a crime against humanity #SOSManus #Manus #refugees https://t.co/FlRIHWgbiI
— Tracie Aylmer (@taylmer) November 23, 2017
The Manus standoff had already been receiving international attention and not just from the UN refugee agency:
UNHCR – Australia urged to ensure protection, assistance and solutions for refugees on Manus Island https://t.co/yUOxOUNMhO
— UNHCR News (@RefugeesMedia) November 21, 2017
This is outrageous but I am so glad you are out (though far from free). Everyone should be following @BehrouzBoochani for direct dispatches from inside the prison camp on #ManusIsland https://t.co/3zThvX5Kfo
— Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) November 23, 2017
Meanwhile the situation is changing by the hour. Developments can be followed through the Twitter hashtag #SOSManus.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Journalists Face the Sharp End of Growing Violence and Insecurity in Afghanistan · Global Voices
Maisam Iltaf

Photo by Yosuf.mohseni CC BY-SA 4.0.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber struck a banquet hall in Kabul shortly after a political gathering ended. Among the 19 victims, eleven of whom were civilians, was Husain Nazari, a cameraman for the Rah-e-Farda TV channel. Taqi Sadeed, a reporter and colleague of Husain Nazari, was also injured in the November 16 blast.
Such suicide attacks have become routine in Afghanistan's capital as the weak Government of National Unity struggles to cope with a growing insurgency spearheaded by the Taliban and groups loyal to ISIS. Positioned on the frontline of major political events, journalists represent a group at particular risk as violence and insecurity deepen.
Sadly, Hussain Nazari cameraman for #FardaTV passed away after being wounded in yesterday's #kabulblast in #LabeJar area.
RIP pal ? pic.twitter.com/xQRrSNtpNL
— Zakarya Hassani (@ZHassani7) November 17, 2017
It was only days before that Shamshad TV, a private television station, was stormed by the ISIS insurgents, who detonated explosives at the gate of the broadcaster's main building in Kabul, killing a security guard and wounding dozens of others on November 7.
A presenter who sustained injuries during the blast returned to the airwaves the same day, wearing bandages on his hands.
Afghan resilience: This anchor got injured on the Islamic State attack on Shamshad TV, now he is back on his show, discussing the attack. pic.twitter.com/Sb5h0nb5yW
— Habib Khan Totakhil (@HabibKhanT) November 7, 201
President Ashraf Ghani tweeted:
I visited Shamshad TV this evening and met with the staff, despite facing the cowardly attack they're determined to carry on with their jobs. I commend their resolve to not allow fear and terrorism to break their spirits, and thank them for their sacrifices and commitment to AFG. pic.twitter.com/S8Kzb1bwIO
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) November 19, 2017
Sediq Sediqqi, director at the Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) tweeted:
Free press is one of the most precious achievement we as a nation have in the past 16 years; it is so vibrant now that nothing can stop it; #ShamshadTV
— Sediq Sediqqi (@SediqSediqqi) November 8, 2017
Sediqqi is right to note that the emergence of a free media is among the notable achievements registered after the Taliban regime was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
An impressively professional and modernised media sector emerged from a base of almost nothing. By some estimates, there are now nearly 1,000 news and media outlets operating in the country, some with support from international donors, others with backing from wealthy businessmen.
But Sediqqi is wrong to suggest that nothing can reverse these gains.
In July, Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJCS), an independent watchdog, said that Afghanistan is the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists, after Syria.
According to the committee, 10 journalists have been killed in the first half of this year, a 35% rise against the same period last year.
Afghan journalists are routinely beaten and intimidated by all sides in the country's ongoing conflict.
These figures emerged after the same committee called 2016, the “bloodiest year ever for journalists and media in Afghanistan”, with 13 journalists dying in total. The 101 cases of violence against the media that year represented a 38% increase vis-a-vis figures for 2015.
Journalism in Afghanistan appeared under particular threat in January last year when TOLO News, the nation’s largest private broadcaster, came under a Taliban attack. Six staff were killed and at least 20 staff wounded in the ghastly assault.
The Taliban, had previously threatened the television channel after it reported allegations of “summary executions, rape, kidnappings and other abuses committed by Taliban fighters during the battle for Kunduz”, according to Aljazeera.
The strengthening insurgency has dramatically worsened the climate of fear in which journalists operate. But rights groups have noted that the government's desire to win the information war has also led to authorities applying ever increasing pressure on journalists.
In fact, “groups and individuals affiliated with the government have been responsible for at least 34 instances of violence and intimidation against media workers” in 2017 according to the AJSC. That represents nearly half of all documented violence and intimidation against journalists from January to June this year.
These trends, coupled with the  prospect of increasing official censorship, make Human Rights Watch's stark warning from 2015 as relevant as ever:
Afghanistan’s Constitution and international law guarantee freedom of expression, including for the media. The fragile gains in media freedom since 2001 are sustainable only if the government, with the long-term support of donor governments, takes urgent measures to end the threats, intimidation, and violence against Afghan journalists and media organizations. Leadership is critical. To ensure that Afghanistan’s burgeoning media sector continues to develop and is not selectively silenced, the new administration of President Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah should publicly reiterate their support for media freedom and press government institutions to take decisive steps against those seeking to undermine it.

author: Maisam Iltaf


text:
Russian TV Backs Down After Calling Armenian Hero ‘Fascist Collaborator’ · Global Voices
Eurasianet

“Nzhdeh” by Avo. Public domain image.
The following is a partner post from EurasiaNet.org written by Joshua Kucera. Republished with permission.
A Russian state television station has apologized after airing a segment about an Armenian war hero's collaboration with Nazi Germany.
TV Zvezda, a station affiliated with Russia's Ministry of Defense, ran a feature on November 19 about Garegin Nzhdeh, a controversial Armenian nationalist figure. Nzhdeh fought against the Bolshevik takeover of Armenia in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, and then later allied with Nazi forces in World War II against the Soviet Union.
The hostess of the program, Veronika Krasheninnikova — a senior official in the ruling United Russia party — noted that a statue of Nzhdeh had been erected in Yerevan in 2016, and connected his valorization with Armenia's growing ties with the European Union.
“The association with the European Union is not the only thing Armenia is doing like Ukraine — it's difficult to believe, but Yerevan also is valorizing fascist collaborators,” she said.
Krasheninnikova referred to Nzhdeh as “Armenia's Bandera,” referring to the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, who also collaborated with Nazis and also has become a hero to many in Ukraine today. And she compared the insignia of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) to that of the Nazi Third Reich.
This is just the latest in a series of historical disputes between Armenia and Russia, which have also touched on the Stalinist purges of 1937 and an effort to remove the names of Bolshevik heroes from Yerevan's streets.
But the comparison of Armenia with Ukraine is especially explosive coming from Russia, which has relentlessly exploited contemporary Ukraine's heroization of nationalist, and occasionally fascist, figures as justification for its multi-pronged attacks on Ukraine.
But Armenia is no Ukraine — it is one of Moscow's closest allies, and hosts a Russian military base.
Armenian officials quickly responded.
“Garegin Nzhdeh is one of the greatest heroes of the Armenian nation and monuments to him should be erected not only in Yerevan, but also in different parts of Armenia,” Eduard Sharmazanov, a spokesman for the RPA, told RFE/RL. “Armenia is a sovereign country and will decide itself whose monuments to erect.”
Sharmazanov added that the comparison of his party's logo to Nazi symbology was “ridiculous and politically blind.”
TV Zvezda quickly backed down, apologizing and removing the segment from its website.
“In a segment devoted to relations between Armenia and the European Union, hostess Veronika Krasheninnikova provided incorrect formulations and assessments with respect to Armenia,” Zvezda's president wrote in a letter to Armenia's ambassador to Moscow, Vardan Toghanyan. “We offer our apology for the mistake.”
A spokesman for the embassy, Levon Torgomyan, said the television station leadership told them that “it was an error and a misunderstanding” and expressed hopes for “neighborly relations going forward.”
Krasheninnikova has in the past appeared to be a booster of Azerbaijan, Armenia's foe. Last year she gave an interview to the website Vestnik Kavkaza in which she fawned over Azerbaijan's successes under President Ilham Aliyev. “Azerbaijan will be a prosperous country with a close military-political and economic alliance with Russia,” she predicted.
Azerbaijan has followed the controversy over Nzhdeh with evident glee; the Azerbaijani media closely covered the story of the TV Zvezda report and Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev has spoken at length on it. “Nazi propaganda has become a state policy in this country [Armenia],” he said in an interview with News.az. “Armenia's national ideology based on racial chauvinism formed by Nzhdeh Garegin is today the ideological trend of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia and, ultimately, the Armenian government.”
Geopolitical cynicism aside, Nzhdeh is widely considered to be a questionable figure to lionize. And historians do place his legacy, and recent rehabilitation, in the same context as Ukraine and other post-Soviet states.
“All post-Soviet countries are rewriting their history at the moment. Those who were heroes are now enemies; former enemies, even fascists, are now heroes,” said Armenian-American historian Ronald Grigor Suny in a recent interview. “This is happening in the Baltics, and in Armenia. Some people who collaborated with the Nazis, such as Garegin Nzhdeh, are now considered heroes.”
And Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, objected to the statue Yerevan erected to Nzhdeh last year.
“The fact that they built the statue is quite outrageous,” Zuroff told the Jerusalem Post after the statue was put up. “We must object to any glorification of individuals who fought with the Nazis or extended any assistance to the forces of the Third Reich.”
Zuroff connected the statue of Nzhdeh with “roblematic phenomenon in Eastern Europe at the moment in which history is being rewritten to minimize local collaboration with the Nazis,” the Post reported.
“This is therefore an unfortunate mistake and is an insult to the victims of the Nazis and all those who fought against the Nazis,” Zuroff said.

author: Eurasianet


text:
A Student’s Suicide Prompts Demands for Higher Education Reform in Afghanistan · Global Voices
Ezzatullah Mehrdad

Photo of protest mach by Baqi Samandar. Used with permission.
The recent suicide of a female student at a university in Kabul has triggered outcry and led to calls to end corruption and discrimination in Afghanistan's rotten higher education system.
Afghan students stormed social media and mobilised for a march at Kabul University in the days after a female student committed suicide, reportedly because her final thesis had been failed multiple times on November 19.
The suicide and subsequent protest were widely covered by local media.
Friends of Zahra Khawari, a senior student of Veterinary Science department of Kabul University have told journalists that she committed suicide aged 25 after her thesis was rejected for third time by her supervisor, Gul Mohammad Tanin. Police have confirmed the suicide and launched an investigation that has already seen her supervisor arrested on unspecified charges.
Ms. Khawari was living in a dormitory at Kabul University. She came from Daikundi province, a deprived province in the mountainous central part of the country. She allegedly poisoned herself at breakfast and died some time later in her room.
The scandal appeared to force the resignation of Afghanistan's acting minister of Higher Education. Abdul Latif Roshan stepped down November 22 and was replaced Najibullah Khwaja Omari.
As soon as the news of Zahra Khawari's death broke, Afghan Twitter and Facebook accounts were full of images of the student, along with messages of condolence and stern condemnation for her supervisor.
Zahra Joya, a journalist, poured out her anger in a post of few words on Facebook.
بشکند دستی که انسانی را مجبور می‌کند تا به زندگی‌اش نقطه پایان بگذارد
Break down the hand that pushed a person to kill herself.
Asif Ashna, a liberal-political activist, posted a widely-shared photo of Zahra converting a steel container into a chicken coop at her own expense and on her supervisor's orders.
In his Twitter post he said he regretted not using his time as a student at Kabul University to push for serious reforms:
وقتی تلاش و سرسختی #زهراخاوری را کنار خودکشی معترضانه اش می‌گذارم، بیشتر از پیش گیج می‌شوم. تجربه‌ای شخصی دانشجوی ام را مرور می‌کنم. چشم‌دیدها و وضعیت که شاید ما از کنار اش ساده گذشتیم و برای تغییر اش تلاش چندانی نکردیم. مبارزه و جدال‌های را که سرکوب و سبوتاژ شد. گیج تر می‌شوم. pic.twitter.com/jt2oRqj7Tv
— Asif Ashna (@AsifAshna) November 22, 2017
Mulling Zahra’s efforts [at university] and suicide protest, I feel confused. I review my own personal experiences and the things we ignored. There were so many changes we should have pushed for.
Many young Afghans, are hoping Zahra's death can become a focal point to modernize higher education, at least at the capital's flagship university.
A national newspaper opened a column, encouraging students to share their experiences and make suggestions for reforms. Many commented on the hurdles they had had to surpass to get heir diplomas.
The day after Khawari’s death, her fellow students called a march. Flooding the Kabul University campus they spoke out against discrimination and the “dictatorial” behaviour of lecturers towards students, who had struggled through difficult entrance exams and financial difficulties to enter the country's top university. Kabul University, they said, was a “dasher of dreams”.
Tahir Qadiry summed up the mood of protesters on Twitter:
What happened to #Zahra at #Kabul University is a small example of rampant corruption & chaos at state-run universities. Zahra committed suicide to rid of the mess & injustice. It recalls Bollywood movie #3idiots. Academic areas must remain academic pic.twitter.com/Gcouhi90Rs
— Tahir Qadiry (@tahirqadiry) November 21, 2017
Zakiiiieh, an Afghan twitter user, claimed that Zahra — a member of the long-suffering Hazara minority — may have been a victim of ethnic discrimination.
درد دارد.. تبعیض.. حذف سیستماتیک.. #زهراخاوری میتوانست نخبه، دانشمند، مخترع و آینده ساز این خاک باشد اما امروز زیر همین خاک با آرزوهایش باهم… https://t.co/tu5hd0eAeC
— Zakiiiieh (@zakrii09) November 21, 2017
It is so painful. Discrimination… Zahra could have been a genius, scholar, inventor and builder of this country. But she passed away with her dreams.
Perhaps most remarkably, some staff at the university joined in the calls. Younus Toughyan, a lecturer at Kabul University, posted on Facebook:
این بار نخست نیست که فضیحتی نا بخشودنی در پوهنتون کابل صورت می گیرد. در همین پوهنتون استادان هستند که بر شاگردان (فرزندان خودشان) تجاوز کردند و به جای تحذیر تقدیر شدند و به مقامات عالیه رسیدند. استادانی بودند و هستند که رشوه گرفتند و می گیرند و این مسئله به فیسبوکها رخنه کرد، هیچ کس آن را ندید و نشنید و نپرسید. سالهاست که در پوهنتون تعصبات ملی، سمتی و زبانی اعمال می شود. واقعن می شرمم که در کنار افرادی متجاوز، زانی، رشوت خوار و متعصب قرار دارم.
روان زهرا خاوری شاد و یادش گرامی باد. در کنار معترضین تا آخر دادخواهی می کنم. ننگ و نفرین بر وجدانهای بیمار
This is not the first time an unforgivable scandal happens at Kabul University. At this university, many lecturers raped their students and were reprimanded instead of being dismissed. They received bribes, evidence of which was shared onFacebook, but none of them were arrested. For years, lecturers have engaged in prejudicial behavior based on language, race and ethnicity. I am ashamed to work with them…I stand with the protesters till to the end. Death to the sick people.
The story of Zahra Khawari has resonated strongly with Afghan students because it embodies the personal sacrifices that so many of them have made to secure a diploma in a system riddled by graft and dicrimination.
Zahra's thesis, which initially focussed on methods of feeding sheep, was the final hurdle she faced before graduation. But according to her roommate, who was the first to find her after she took the poison with her breakfast, Zahra's supervisor Gul Mohammad Tanin found reason after reason to fail her, even after she changed topic:
Zahra went through a hard time working on her project, and spent so much money. Not once, but multiple times her dissertation was simply dismissed. She was no longer able to spend time working on the project because she is from a poor farming family. She came under too much pressure and finally killed herself.
Not that supervisor is the only alleged villain in Zahra's sad tale. According to some media reports, after she was found poisoned but still alive, the head of Zahra's dormitory did not immediately authorise her transfer to the hospital. Instead, the woman enquired with her friends and her aunt as to whether or not Zahra had a dormitory card to prove residency.
By the time her aunt was able to take her from the dormitory to the hospital, it was already too late.
The number one cause for suicide is untreated depression. Depression is treatable and suicide is preventable. You can get help from confidential support lines for the suicidal and those in emotional crisis. Visit Befrienders.org to find a suicide prevention helpline in your country.

author: Ezzatullah Mehrdad


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Rice Fields and Carabaos: A Glimpse of Rural Life in the Philippines · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Listen, can you not hear the song of a new life coming from the fields and the mountains? Photo and caption by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Veteran photographer and activist Lito Ocampo has been making frequent visits to his hometown of Pampanga, located in the central part of Luzon Island in the Philippines, to escape the noise and dirt of the capital region Manila.
His visits allowed him to recall his childhood while enjoying the quaint beauty of his birthplace.
Through photos he shared with Global Voices, Ocampo captured not just typical scenes in a lowland farming village, but also, perhaps unintentionally, the state of Philippine agriculture.
For example, the continuing prevalent use of carabaos reflects the backward condition of the country’s agricultural sector in general. The use of roads for drying crops indicates the lack of facilities available to farmers.
Beyond highlighting idyllic countryside life, Ocampo reminds young photographers to take in the plight of rural residents, especially farmers, who are among the country’s poorest people and suffer health risks due to the backbreaking work they undertake in the fields.
With urbanization continuing to spread, many farming villages and green habitats like the hometown of Ocampo can be instantly converted into commercial land or tourism centers. Thus, Ocampo’s photos can also be used to educate the public about problems regarding land use, the status of the land reform program and the pressing need to protect the environment.
Take a virtual tour of Sta. Rita town in the province of Pampanga:
Next to fisherfolk, farmers belong to the poorest sector in the Philippines. Photo by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Tagak (heron or egret) on top of a carabao. Photo by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Farmers are forced to use the roads to dry their crops because of lack of facilities. Photo by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Bathing is important for carabaos before they are used in the fields. Photo and caption by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Maya birds on electric wires, waiting to attack the grains of palay (rice) in the rice fields. Photo and caption by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Maya birds at the rice fields. Photo and caption by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
‘Car’ parking. Carabao shed. Photo by Lito Ocampo, used with permission
Photographer Lito Ocampo at an irrigation canal.


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What’s in a Scarf? A Robot Restaurant in Bangladesh Serves up Controversy · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

A robot wearing a scarf is serving in a restaurant. Image via Sharif Saladin Sarkar. Used with permission.
A restaurant in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has been in the headlines recently for employing robot waiters. Now, it is in the news for another reason — one of the robots has been spotted sporting a scarf.
Many have questioned the motives of the restaurant owners for scarfing up the “female” robot, spurring a debate about the boundaries of conservatism in the South Asian country.
In a video, citizen journalist Nazmul Shahadat explained the functions of the robot waiter. Note that the robot with breasts is not wearing a scarf in the clip made soon after the cafe opened.
According to the report, there are two robots bringing food to customers at the restaurant called simply Robot Restaurant. One is a male robot and the second is a female robot. Each robot weighs about 30 kilograms and they are both 1.6 meters in height. Each robot costs the equivalent of $9,750 and can run on batteries for around 18 hours.
But Bangladeshi social media channels were in no mood to hail technological achievements, focussing instead on news the female robot had been seen wearing an “orna” or scarf, which is worn by devout Muslim girls after puberty in Bangladesh.
The “orna” is part of the purdah system, a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities in South Asia. It serves multiple purposes — segregation, identifying the female sex, and fulfilling the requirement women cover their bodies to conceal their form.
Ishrat Karin Eve wrote on Facebook:
অবিশ্বাস্য! আমরা এ কেমন সমাজে বসবাস করি। নারীর প্রতি কোনো ধরনের সম্মান নেই। তারা একটি রোবটের গলায়ও ওড়না তুলে দেয়।
পিতৃতান্ত্রিক সমাজের জন্য এটা লজ্জাকর।
Incredible! What a society we live in! There is no respect for women. They even put a scarf on a robot.
This is the shameful act of a patriarchal society.
Earlier this year, a revision in Bangladeshi primary textbooks fuelled controversy as “orna” was introduced as exemplifying the Bengali letter “o” (“ol,” or vegetable, was the prior example).
An opinion piece in the New York Times cited the switch as representing creeping Islamism in the South Asian country.
Representatives of the restaurant confirmed to local media that the scarf was deployed to distinguish the female robot.
Mayesha Arefin railed on Facebook:
আমাদের সমাজে রোবট বেচারাদেরও ওড়না পরিধান করতে হয়!ওড়না এর আগে রোবট নিশ্চয় একটা সাধারন উন্নতমানের যন্ত্র ছিল তবে ওড়না পেচানোর পর এটা মেয়ে রোবট হয়ে গেছে,তারমানে রোবটের লিঙ্গ নির্ধারণ করা হয়ে গেল শুধু মাত্র ওড়নার কারনে…
তবে কি সমাজের চোখ রোবটের বক্ষেও যায়?? /
In our society, even the female robots have to wear “orna”! What they are saying is that the robot is an intelligent machine, but has changed its gender after wearing a scarf. Does that mean the scarf is the primary means of female identification?
Is that because people have been leering at the robot's bosom?
Shahana Hanif commented on Mayesha Arefin's post:
We all know why that robot has a scarf/orna around the chest. In patriarchal society this is what happens #modestrobot #bukdhakarobot #sarcasm
Some also defended the act. Sheikh Tanjim Ahmad wrote on Facebook:
এ কেমন কথা? একটা মেয়ে রোবট (রোবট তো রোবটই) ওড়না পড়েছে তা এতে ‘রোষানল'এর কী আছে? ওড়না না পড়ে বিকিনি পড়লে কি প্রগতিশীল রোবট হয়ে যেতো?
Why such fuss? One female robot (a robot is a robot) has put on a scarf so why are we “offended” by it? Will it be seen as progressive if the robots are in bikinis?
In majority-Muslim Bangladesh, girls and women are strongly encouraged to keep in line with purdah. Popular Facebook pages such as “Hey Girl, Where Is Your Orna?” engage in moral policing, telling women to wear the orna to hide their form.
Journalist Ishrat Jahan Urmi wrote on NTV Online:
তাই রোবটের গলায় ওড়না পেঁচানো নিয়ে কেন জানি খুব বিস্ময় কাজ করেনি আমার। এইটা কেন স্বাভাবিক নয়? যে দেশে পাঠ্যবইয়ে ‘ও’ তে ‘ওড়না’ পড়ানোর নিয়ম চালু হয়, যেদেশে গর্ব করা জিডিপি গ্রোথে অর্ধেক সমান অবদান রাখার পরও প্রতিনিয়ত কর্মক্ষেত্রে, গণপরিবহনে নারীকে হয়রানির শিকার হতে হয়, নিজেকে ‘কাভার্ড’ করতে করতে যে দেশের গ্রামের, শহরের মেয়েরা ক্রমাগত মমিতে পরিণত হয়, সে দেশে রোবটের গলায় ওড়লা নিয়ে কী বলার থাকতে পারে আমি জানি না।
I was not surprised to see that the robot had to wear a scarf. Isn't that normal here? In a country where texts have been changed to teach [children] that “o” means “orna”, a country where women and girls get threatened and abused on public transport and in workplaces, even though they contribute to half of GDP growth, where women and girls in rural or urban areas turn themselves into mummies by putting on layers after layers of clothes to cover their forms. What to say if a robot is covered by a scarf?
Anna Nasrin commented on the Women Chapter blog:
রোবটের গায়ে ওড়না জড়ানোতে দেখতে পাচ্ছি আমাদের অনেকেরই টনক নড়েছে; আমাদের নৈতিকতার মানদণ্ডে এটাকে খুব আপত্তিকর বলে মনে হয়েছে। তাই অনেককেই দেখছি, রেস্টুরেন্ট কর্তৃপক্ষকে বিকৃত মানসিকতার বলে দাবি করছে। অথচ রক্ত মানুষকে যখন এই বাড়তি কাপড়ের টুকরোয় মুড়িয়ে সংরক্ষণ করা হয়েছে যুগ যুগ ধরে, যা চলছে এখনও তখন কিন্তু আমাদের মনেই হয়নি বিকৃতি, মনে হয়নি এভাবে মানুষকে অসম্মান করা হয়।
I see that people have woken up after the scarf on robot incident. We find it morally abhorrent. Some even commented that the restaurant owners have twisted thoughts. But when women and girls are covered in layers of clothes (in the name of purdah) for ages, which still persists, people do not think of it as a perversity. Nor do they think they were disrespected for all these years.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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Fashion, Faith and Culture Come Together Through the Global Art of Head Wrapping · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Model Aliyyah Abdul-Raul wearing designs from Ohio-based designer Chimiwear poses in front of the camara at a past Beautifully Wrapped Headwrap Expo. During the event, fashion shows take place every hour and features different looks from designers. Credit: Courtesy of Felicia Tolbert
This story by Frances Kai-Hwa Wang originally appeared on PRI.org on October 27, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
There’s no shortage of glam at a yearly fashion show in the US state of Michigan where men, women and children glide down a runway while music booms in the background. But what sets this catwalk apart is the celebration of modest and “fly” looks. The models, wearing colorful headwraps or headscarves, are showcasing sleek and stylish clothes without showing skin. Near the runway, there’s a cacophony of color as vendors display fabrics, art and jewelry from around the world.
At the center of it all is Zarinah El-Amin Naeem. The native Detroiter and anthropologist created the yearly event bringing together groups with traditions of covering one's head. This includes Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, Black Hebrew Israelites, Orthodox Christians and African Spiritualists.
El-Amin Naeem says the Beautifully Wrapped Headwrap Expo brings people of diverse backgrounds under one roof to share ideas and learn from one another.
“Real people talking face to face, not just reading about each other, is key to our moving forward as a society,” says El-Amin Naeem.
Anthropologist Zarinah El-Amin Naeem wrapped her head as a young woman for style and later as a way to express her religion. After extensive traveling, she realized that there are many cultures around the world that traditionally cover the head. Credit: Courtesy of Felicia Tolbert
It was, she says, “a way to visually identify as a Muslim woman. There were a lot of Muslim women who covered and I enjoyed the fact that people were able to see they were Muslim at a glance.”
People, she found, began to treat her differently. While traveling outside of the US during college and while working in international development in Egypt and Sierra Leone, El-Amin Naeem discovered how many cultures around the world wrap their heads and the great diversity in headwrapping styles. Her headwraps became a way of opening the door to conversations with other people.
“As an African American Muslim woman, and a traveler, I noticed the curiosity in my wraps,” El-Amin Naeem says. “People would stop and ask me how to tie them, where I got the fabrics, why I wore them and more. I started doing little impromptu workshops in bathrooms, and that grew into formal workshops at libraries.”
El-Amin Naeem eventually created Beautifully Wrapped, an international and interfaith organization with the goal of building love and humanity through the global art of headwrapping.
Since 2013, El-Amin Naeem has organized the annual headwrap expo, which attracts hundreds of men and women around the US. This year's event will be on Oct. 29 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
“Broadening the understanding of the practice [of headwrapping] is important because women's dress, and in particular Muslim women's dress, has been politicized so much in today's world,” says El-Amin Naeem. “Many Muslim women feel like it is a burden that they and only they bear. However, when you see the full scope of the head covering practices, it causes you to wonder why one group — Muslim women — have been the focus of this debate.”
For many, according to El-Amin Naeem, the expo is a chance to learn something new — from unique textiles to fresh looks. There are tutorials, an artisan’s market for fabric and the hourly fashion shows featuring about a dozen designers.
“For some, it is their first time wrapping. For others they feel stuck and just want to try a new style,” she says.
The expo is also a place for groups to ask questions of one another and build relationships. Last year, Princess Anne Oluwaseun Besimen-Akinfenwa with the Odua Organization of Michigan gave a presentation about the Yoruba culture in West Africa.
“I took away so much from other panelists,” she says. “I got a better understanding of head covering in the Sikh tradition.”
During a Headwrap Expo, a Sikh man is showing the crowd how to wrap a dastar or turban. Credit: Courtesy of Felicia Tolbert
Aside from learning about differences between traditions, there’s also an opportunity to relate to one another — especially because covering one’s head today can sometimes spur suspicion or criticism.
“In a way, covering for many affords you the opportunity to express yourself, but it can also make just traversing life a bit more difficult,” says El-Amin Naeem. “I always say that to cover your head in a society that does not value the practice, you must have a bit of backbone. You are no longer invisible.”
Andrea Grinberg is a professional cellist and owner of Wrapunzel, a website for women who cover their hair. Grinberg is Jewish and remembers one year at the expo when a Muslim man approached her after a presentation saying he was surprised by the many similarities between Grinberg’s faith and his own.
“I’ve never even met a Jewish person before,” the man told her.
Grinberg calls the interaction amazing.
“And that’s really what it’s about,” says Grinberg. “I know Zarinah really aims to facilitate conversations.”
Cellist and Jewish hair wrapping instructor Andrea Grinberg is pictured in the Beautifully Wrapped annual calendar. Grinberg runs an online community called Wrapunzel, where women who wear headscarves can connect with one another. Credit: Courtesy of Yonatan Grinberg
During another year, after the Nation of Islam performed a stepping routine, there were some concerns from members of the Jewish community that the performance seemed military and political in nature. But the two groups spoke, Grinberg says, and learned that the movements were supposed to empower women and were meant to be done in private rather than as a public performance.
“If these [different] sorts of people can really come together and have such a great time together, then anything is possible,” says Grinberg.
As a vendor, Grinberg says she appreciates the opportunity to engage with people directly, along with learning about different styles of headwraps.
“There’s a real feeling when you go to the expo, that it’s fashion, it’s culture, it’s fun, it’s beautiful, and everything, but there is really something deeper going on. And I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that when I walk there,” says Grinberg.
Every year, Beautifully Wrapped publishes a wall calendar featuring images of  women from different backgrounds who cover their heads. El-Amin Naeem also created Niyah Press, which helps people disseminate stories not normally heard in the mainstream, and Enliven Your Soul, which takes groups of women on cultural tours to places like Morocco and Indonesia. For her next act, she's raising money to create a traveling mixed-media exhibition that will take conversations about fashion, faith and culture out to communities across the US.
“We have to consistently build up our community armor and as a whole say we care about each other's well-being, we love each other, and we are going to have to work through our differences,” says El Amin Naeem.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Hippos Mysteriously Die in Droves at a Namibian Natural Park · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Screenshot of a Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) report on YouTube showing lifeless hippos in Namibia.
Namibia's Ministry of Environment announced on October 10 that about a hundred hippopotamus carcasses had been discovered in Bwabwata National Park, in the northwest of the country.
The hippo hecatomb represented a loss of more than 8% of hippos living in this Namibian national park, in a country that heavily relies on its biodiversity and ecosystem to attract tourists. From available data, tourism contributes to 16% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 17.7% of the total number of jobs.
The news caught the attention of the world's press and made the rounds on social media. Joe Bauwens, who has worked in tourism and is specialised in fauna, mineral exploration, development, conservation, education and environmental chemistry, posted on his blog Sciency Thoughts about the leading theory on the cause of the deaths:
Photos and video from local news outlets showed the carcasses lying in the water, many belly up.
S’il s’avère qu’il s’agit réellement de la maladie du charbon, qui aurait provoqué la mort de tous ces hippopotames (retrouvés couchés sur le flanc et dans les eaux fluviales), alors il se pourrait qu’ils ne soient pas les seuls à être les victimes de cette maladie. Un certain nombre de buffles d’eau morts auraient également été découverts. De plus, les crocodiles qui se nourrissent d’hippopotames morts pourraient également être infectés par la bactérie Bacillus anthracis.
Les habitants locaux et les autorités namibiennes soupçonnent les épidémies de fièvre charbonneuse comme étant responsables de la mort de 300 personnes en 2004 (après qu’elles aient bu de l’eau contaminée), ainsi qu’un autre incident moins grave, survenu en 2010. « Il s’agit d’une situation que nous avons déjà vue auparavant.Cela est déjà arrivé en Zambie, et cela se produit principalement lorsque le niveau de la rivière est bas », a expliqué Colgar Sikopo, directeur des parcs et de la gestion de la faune de la Namibie.
If the cause of death for all those hippos (found belly up in the water) is really anthrax, they might not be the only victims of this illness. A number of water buffaloes have also reportedly been found dead. Moreover, the crocodiles feeding from the dead hippos might also be infected by the Bacillus anthracis bacteria.
The locals and the Namibian authorities suspect an epidemic of anthrax was behind the death of 300 people in 2004 (after they drank contaminated water), as well as another less serious incident in 2010. “This is a situation that we have seen before. It happened in Zambia before and it mainly occurs when the level of the river is so low,” explained Colgar Sikopo, the director of the parks and responsible of the fauna in Namibia.
The article added:
Hormis les épidémies de fièvre charbonneuse, les scientifiques ont également, récemment, enquêté sur une autre souche mystérieuse et hybride de l’agent pathogène, liée à la mort de chimpanzés, de gorilles et d’éléphants.
Cette souche serait responsable de près de 40% des décès d’animaux du parc national de Taï, en Côte d’Ivoire, au cours de la période d’étude des scientifiques. Cependant, il n’y a aucune preuve que cette souche particulière soit à l’origine des décès des hippopotames. […]
En plus de la faune sauvage, il y a environ 5500 personnes qui vivent dans la région du parc national de Bwabwata. Actuellement, les autorités les avertissent de se méfier de la zone touchée et surtout de ne pas consommer de la chair d’hippopotame. « Nous conseillons fortement de ne pas consommer cette viande. Nous faisons de notre mieux pour brûler chaque carcasse afin de prévenir la propagation de la maladie, mais aussi pour nous assurer qu’aucune personne n’atteigne ces animaux et n’exploite leur viande », a déclaré Sikopo New Era.
In addition to anthrax outbreak, scientists have also recently investigated another mysterious, hybrid strain of the pathogen, linked to the death of chimpanzees, gorillas and elephants.
This strain is responsible for about 40% of the death of the animals in the National Park of Taï, in Côte d’Ivoire, according to scientific studies. However, there is no such proof showing that this particular strain has caused the death of the hippos. […]
Approximately 5,500 people cohabit with the wild fauna in the region of the Bwabwata National Park. At the moment, authorities are advising them to beware of the contaminated area, and mostly not to consume hippos flesh. “We strongly advise that they must not consume this meat. What we are doing is we are trying our best to burn every carcass to prevent further spreading of the disease, but also to ensure that no person gets to these animals and starts feeding on the meat,” Sikopo told New Era.
Anthrax is caused by a bacteria, Bacillus anthracis, whose spores can lay unnoticed in nature for years or even decades, waiting to be eaten by humans, other mammals and some birds.
Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD, writing for MedicineNet.com says the bacteria strikes in many parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, South Europe, Americas and Australia.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


text:
After 10 Years of Legal Battles, Mozambique’s Only LGBT Organization Takes a Step Closer to Legal Recognition · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Members of Lambda at an event in 2013. Photo: Lambda/Flickr, published with permission.
Lambda, Mozambique’s only organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights, took an important step towards legal recognition, which it has struggled with for over a decade.
The Constitutional Council of Mozambique – equivalent to the Supreme Court – ruled that the status of Lambda did not violate the republic’s constitution, as had been alleged by government officials.
Since 2008, Lambda had successive applications for formal registration as an association ignored by the Ministry of Justice, the body responsible for the registration of civil society organizations.
According to the activists, government officials had said informally that the request could not be processed because it went against a clause of the 1991 Law on Associations. That particular clause blocked the registration of organizations which pursue aims that are contrary “to the moral, social, and economic order of the country and offend the rights of others or the public good”.
On 31 October, the Council declared the clause to be unconstitutional for contradicting the constitution’s Article 52, which says that “armed organizations which are military or paramilitary and those which promote violence, racism, xenophobia, or which pursue aims contrary to the law are prohibited”. The Council ruled that those are the only kind of associations prohibited from registering.
The Council’s decision did not mention specific associations, but according to Lambda’s executive director, Danilo da Silva, the ruling finally opens the door for the organization’s legal recognition. He told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle:
“Este posicionamento do Conselho Constitucional vem de alguma forma desarmar esta justificação que informalmente era-nos passada”.
This stance of the Constitutional Council to some measure disarms this justification which was given to us informally.
The legalization of Lambda adds to the gradually more favourable environment for Mozambique’s LGBT population, one of the few countries in Africa where homosexuality is not a crime. For example, in Sudan, and parts of Nigeria and Somalia, homosexuality is punishable by the death penalty, and life imprisonment in Uganda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone.
The former Portuguese colonies are among the most tolerant countries for LGBT people. Cape Verde, for example, was the second to decriminalize homosexuality, in 2004, and one of only six African countries to sign a document in 2008 from the UN’s General Assembly condemning violations of sexual minorities’ rights.
Some Cape-Verdean jurists also argue that parts of the Civil Code that restrict marriage to only people of the opposite sex are unconstitutional because they predate the constitution’s promulgation. The documentary “Tchindas”, which told the story of Tchinda Andrade, a prominent transgender activist in the country, won various international awards in 2016.
However, even in less restrictive countries, the LGBT population is not free from prejudice and violence. In Angola, where the law is vague when in comes to homosexual activity, the LGBT community lives anonymously and faces discrimination in access to healthcare and education, according to Carlos Fernandes, director of Associação Iris Angola.
Generally, the decision of Mozambique’s Constitutional Council received pushback from some sectors of society. On a much-commented online post by journalist Ericino de Salema, for example, many spoke out against Lambda’s recognition and homosexuality itself.
Danilo da Silva, Lambda’s executive director, responded in a post to those comments:
Vejo muito ressentimento naqueles que querem usar do poder coesivo do Estado para fazer valer os seus preconceitos. É uma pena pois viver em sociedade é saber respeitar os outros, mesmo que não simpatizemos com as suas escolhas de vida, desde que estas não nos afectem.
Direitos fundamentais são direitos de todos os moçambicanos, não são privilégios para alguns.
Vamos tod@s aproveitar a oportunidade para aprender com aquele acórdão que não é só uma vitória para as pessoas LGBT, mas para todos que são e tem ideias diferentes. Aquele acórdão é um ode à igualdade, a paz e a harmonia social.
Hoje estou muito orgulhoso de ser moçambicano.
I see a lot of resentment in those who want to use the coercive power of the state to enforce their prejudices. It is a shame since living in a society is knowing how to respect others, even if we do not sympathize with their life choices, as long as they do not affect us.
Fundamental rights are rights for all Mozambicans, they are not privileges for some.
Let us all take the opportunity to learn from this ruling that it is not only a victory for LGBT people, but for all who are different and have different ideas. That ruling is an ode to equality, peace, and social harmony
Today I am very proud to be Mozambican.

author: Dércio Tsandzana