text:
Video of Mother Hitting Daughter With Belt Goes Viral in Trinidad & Tobago · Global Voices
Jason Nathu

A video depicting a mother's idea of ‘discipline’ is spreading like wildfire in Trinidad and Tobago, prompting strong reaction from the blogosphere.
An unidentified mother and her twelve year-old daughter are the subject of the video, which has been posted and reposted on Facebook and other social networking sites. The video shows the mother hitting the child several times with a belt, after the child was alleged to have posted suggestive photographs of herself online. Note: Global Voices has neither linked to nor embedded the original video out of respect for the rights of the child and the laws relating to abuse and domestic violence in Trinidad and Tobago.
In a blog post on the issue, Code Red For Gender Justice discussed the concept of old-fashioned West Indian discipline:
I watched my grandmother punch my cousin in the face for breaking eggs on her way back from the shop. My father once ripped a shirt off my teenaged sister. I will not even write what I have seen and heard my neighbour do to his son.
Remembering those occasions in which I experienced or was forced to bear witness to physical and emotional violence is traumatic. Sometimes the very ways in which Caribbean parents seek to demonstrate love, care and guidance are the very ways that will destroy you.
The author continued:
We have to know better so we can do better.  We have to unlearn.
But we can’t begin that process of unlearning and re-learning if we are going to get all righteous and pretend like violence is not an everyday, normalised part of life.  The mother who made the video and posted it online knew that her Caribbean viewers would recognise ‘good West Indian discipline’ when they saw it.  She made that video for us, to let us know she is a good mother, a tough mother.  She knows that after what her daughter posted online people would be asking questions about what [kind of mother] raises the…force-ripe 12-year-old that would post risque photos online.
Reaction to the video has ranged from praise for the mother's actions to horror and condemnation:
You feel if the child was behaving the mother would've resorted to such actions? Jusso a mother would beat her child like that?
— Quacey ملك الذات (@QuaceyL3) April 22, 2014
I don't think that licks is the answer but lawd that child test that mother to her last
— kai a. barratt (@cutedougla17) April 22, 2014
(“Licks” is a common West Indian term for corporal punishment.)
Other Twitter users were not amused:
Now looked at the post with the girl getting licks, that type of abuse is shameful & anyone endorsing that is equally loathsome
in what way is sharing that child beating video online not akin to distributing child pornography? #trinidad
— Wesley Gibbings (@wgibbings) April 23, 2014
— Anonymous (@indiesoultt) April 21, 2014
@PimpetteLala I could not disagree more eh. To descend to that level of licks is the culmination of failed parenting
— Kevin Ram (@kramtt) April 22, 2014
@tv6tnt I reported this video to YouTube and its no longer available. TV6 please delete this video and let's not be part of the abuse.
— clc (@clc315) April 23, 2014
My View, a blog by Phillip Alexander, suggested that the end justifies the means, but many Twitter users challenged this kind of thinking:
@tv6tnt "Licks" is the source of our violent society. Generations grow up knowing to inflict pain on people if they do something wrong.
— LifesupportCaribbean (@LifeSupportTT) April 23, 2014
Many took to Facebook to debate the issue. In the discussion group True Trini Discussing Real Issues, the comments were varied. Vishnu Ramoutar commented:
Painful for the child both physically and mentally. This can affect her for a very long time. Her mother is disgusting. No shame or care for her daughter. Not in public. No way. Zero tolerance for her.
Tara S. Ramlochan had a different view:
Spare the rod and spoil de Chile…suppose she didn't do that and the girl come home wit big belly…fuss ting allyuh go say is upbringing and statutory rape…
In contrast, Code Red highlighted the comment of one mother:
growing up in a caribbean household…i know that the traditional mindset is that this is no big ting. as a mother who has struggled to find alternative ways to discipline and teach my boys other than the belt, i understand the moms (sic) frustration…but the truth is that this is wrong. its (sic) abusive, humiliating and does more harm than good in the long run. the problem is how to change this mindset that is so ingrained in caribbean culture?
The post also examined how discipline has traditionally been addressed in regional societies:
We have experienced violence and are living with that trauma.  We have used violence. We have failed to consider other alternatives. We have justified our use of violence. Violence has become a normal and natural response.
In a follow-up entry, the blogger was honest about the feedback she received on her initial post:
One of the key pieces of feedback I received was that I was complicit in the public shaming and violence against the pre-teen girl by sharing the video…and linking to it on the blog. If we wanted to talk about child abuse surely we could do that without exploiting a 12-year-old girl. I agree.
It took me sometime to come to that agreement though. I have witnessed children being beaten daily in school settings. I understood that it was abuse but part of the way that it was normalised in my mind meant that in some ways I had also minimised it.  I was wrong.
Another criticism was about shaming readers who expressed disgust at the video:
Someone suggested that by engaging in such shaming I was complicit in normalising violence against children.  That I found it difficult to believe that the video literally made some people sick to their stomachs says…that I have experienced violence against children to be a very common feature of everyday life in the Caribbean [and] completely failed to consider that people may witness violence everyday and find it reprehensible, traumatic and stomach-churning.
In another post, Code Red examined the role of new media in the whole equation:
Many people mentioned that a 12-year-old has no right with a facebook account (this violates Facebook’s Terms of Use) and that the mother should have been monitoring her daughter’s internet usage. These harms did not begin with the internet, though they are surely amplified by it.
Changes in technology aside, social media usage has come to mean that you are modern and that you are participating in global culture. Teens don’t want to be left out. Children without regular access to internet or facebook accounts experienced these privations to be a source of embarrassment just as other markers of poverty are.  When the kids leave facebook it will be for the next hottest thing, not because parents have managed to push them offline.
We could all do with some media literacy…being a lot more critical about how we engage social media and thinking critically about what it has come to represent.
Perhaps one of the most important lessons to come out of Code Red's online discussion was this realisation:
Sharing the video was a bad judgement call.  The video (and articles) reaching so many…was a result of readers liking, commenting, reading and re-sharing.  Its popularity was co-constructed.  We need to co-construct a media literacy for our times.
The 12-year-old's older sister has since posted a video defending her mother's actions, calling the beating “a last resort” and saying that her motivation was “love”.

author: Jason Nathu


text:
Win Tin: Myanmar’s Longest-held Political Prisoner Dies at 85 · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Veteran Burmese journalist and pro-democracy activist U Win Tin died of renal failure on April 21, 2014 at the age of 85.
Win Tin, legendary Burmese journalist and activist, died last April 21. Photo from @hrw (Human Rights Watch
Before the rise of the military junta in the 1960s, Win Tin was editor of Myanmar’s most popular newspaper. In 1988, he helped form the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and supported the candidacy of Aung San Suu Kyi.
He was accused of being a communist and got arrested in 1989. After three years, his prison term was extended after he was charged with sedition. In 1996, he was convicted again to another seven years in jail after he sent an 83-page report to the United Nations about the poor prison conditions in Myanmar.
He was finally released in 2008 after being incarcerated for 19 years. But despite regaining his freedom, he continued to wear a blue prison shirt in solidarity with other political prisoners.
He remained a loyal and good friend of Aung San Suu Kyi although he was critical of some of her political decisions including the participation of the NLD in the elections.
Win Tin was Myanmar’s longest-held political prisoner. Unlike Aung San Suu Kyi who was placed under house arrest, Win Tin was detained in a cell designed for military dogs.
Zin Linn, a former political prisoner, described Win Tin’s prison cell:
They put him alone in his cell. The cell was 8.5 x 11.5 feet. There was only a bamboo mat on the concrete floor. Sleeping, eating, walking and cleaning the bowels were done in the very same place. He could not see the sun, the moon or the stars. He was intentionally barred from breathing fresh air, tasting nourishing food and drinking a drop of fresh water. The worst thing was to stay lonely in such a cage for years.
He called Win Tin ‘the most valiant journalist in Burma’:
For the junta, U Win Tin is really a rocky mountain. Although they wish to crush that mountain, they could never do it. But as tough as was with his oppressors, his tenderness towards his comrades and his people was boundless. He truly deserves great honor for his sacrifices.
Kyaw Zwa Moe, editor of the Irrawaddy magazine, noted how Win Tin never compromised with the ruling junta despite his failing health:
But for any oppressive government, Win Tin was a great enemy. Due to his political activities, the former regime put him in jail for nearly two decades, tortured him, withheld medical treatment and confiscated his home. When they eventually released him in 2008, they demanded that he remain on parole. Still, despite their pressure, he never backed down from his principles.
Ye Htut, deputy minister of information, released a statement in behalf of the government:
We have different political views than Win Tin, but we all take our hats off to him for his commitment to his beliefs and for his sacrifices. Though we don’t agree with him, we take seriously his good intentions to make the country developed, democratic and prosperous in the ways he believed. We believe U Win Tin’s death is a great loss—not only the loss of an open voice of criticism in Burmese politics, but also Burmese media has lost a journalist of experience and wisdom.
Mya Aye, member of the 88 Generation Students Group, recognized Win Tin as a humble and selfless leader:
We must be proud of him and think of him as a role-model politician …He didn’t want to bother anyone. He even had a wish for an immediate funeral. He was a selfless man. He didn’t want any property for himself, he only served the country. He deserved to see that which he sacrificed for.
Aung Zaw described Win Tin as a guiding light of the democracy movement:
Win Tin was a keen, unrelenting government critic to the very end, intent on taking down all the obstacles on Burma’s long road to democracy.
Without his guiding light, it’s hard to imagine how the democracy movement will treat the many challenges ahead during this unpredictable democratic transition, where there are still many wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Kay Mastenbroek, who made a video documentary about Win Tin, remembered the late journalist as a man who dared to say “no”, when all others said “yes”:
For me, the film tells a story of a strong and independent mind – a man who dared to say “no”, when all others said “yes”. A man who liked to be alone sometimes, but also appreciated the company of the many friends he made during his life. From time to time, he was a little bit obstinate and rebellious, but it’s this kind of person that makes it all more interesting, I think.
I will miss my uncle from Burma, because I would have liked to show him that many journalists and filmmakers will continue to work for better journalism in his country. He would have liked that.
Kenneth Roth, executive director of the Human Rights Watch, paid tribute to Win Tin:
U Win Tin was the exemplar of dignified courage and principle against decades of brutal military rule.
U Win Tin inspired an entire generation of activists who have taken up his call and struggle to make Burma a rights-respecting democracy.
The U.S. Campaign for Burma also honored Win Tin:
As the movement to establish a free Burma continues, let us pay homage to a man who dedicated his life to the cause. U Win Tin was a journalist, a prisoner, a leader, and an icon. Though he is no longer with us, we hope to help create the type of country U Win Tin sought: one represented by the people, all people, unbound by authoritarian control.
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Secretary-General Debbie Stothard recalled how Win Tin never backed down in criticizing the ‘flawed reform process’ undertaken by the current civilian government:
When many were applauding the recent progress in Burma, we needed Win Tin to remind us of the sober reality of the country’s flawed reform process. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Algeria’s Opposition Report Threats, Intimidation Following President’s Reelection · Global Voices
Abdou Semmar

Barakat movement members protest during the Algerian election. Photo via Algerie Focus. CC-license-NC-2.0
All links forward to French-language pages unless otherwise noted.
Today in Algeria, belonging to the opposition seems to carry more risk than ever before. Smear campaigns, slander, vilification and even death threats are a regular part of online life. Offline, intimidation, police crackdowns, breaches of privacy and political pressure are commonplace.
Since presidential elections held on April 17, 2014, the Algerian regime has stepped up its repression of opposition groups with threats against those who opposed a fourth term for the 77-year-old ailing incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. An amendment to the country's constitution allowed Bouteflika, who has been in power since 1999, to run for a fourth term.
Throughout the electoral campaign that began in late March, protesters and cyber-activists advocating for democratic elections were subjected to defamation and police aggression. The intimidation did not end with Bouteflika's landslide reelection, which was marred by allegations of fraud [en].
The Barakat! Mouvement (Enough is Enough Movement, in English), one of the major organizations of dissent in Algeria, was among the first targets. Its rallies were broken up with a heavy hand by police, and some members were reportedly beaten or arrested without reason. The Algerian regime and its media apparatus targeted important leaders of the movement by making personal information of theirs public.
Lilia Oufellia, blogging for TS Algeria, wrote about the defamation campaign against the members of the Barakat movement:
Les pages Facebook créées à cet effet essaient de convaincre les Facebookers de ne pas suivre les boycotteurs et ceux qui appellent à des marches contre le quatrième mandat, notamment le mouvement Barakat. Le mouvement Barakat est ouvertement diabolisé. Sur une des pages, des photos des capitales touchées par le Printemps arabe sont publiées. Le groupe incite les fans à prendre leurs précautions contre « les ennemis de l’Algérie ».
Facebook pages are created for the sole purpose of trying to convince Facebook users to not support protesters against a fourth term, including the Barakat movement. The Barakat movement is openly demonized there. On one of the pages, photos of capital cities within the Maghreb rocked by the Arab Spring are widely distributed online. One page encourages its fans to take precautions against “the enemies of Algeria.”
Ennahar TV and Numidia News, two recently established TV channels known for their openly pro-regime stances, launched a media campaign against the movement. In one report by Numidia News, which is owned by a business tycoon close to the president, Barakat supporters were accused of treason, described as enemies of Algeria, and even portrayed as ”dangerous” terrorists.
Reports depicted the movement as a secret initiative of western countries. Bouteflika often referrs to their actions as undertaken by “the foreign hand”.
Online, Algerian authorities have created dozens or more Facebook pages and groups, where they post the personal information, photos and contact details of opposition members. Pages include Barakat Escroquerie, La Résistance Virtuelle Algérienne, and La ligue nationale de défense de l’Algérie. Algerian reporter Siwel explained how the secret service infiltrated social networks online:
Les services des Renseignements généraux (RG) et du Département de renseignements et de sécurité (DRS) en Kabylie, ont acquis un important lot de matériel sophistiqué pour bien mener leur mission de répression. Rien n’est laissé au hasard. La vie professionnel et intime des militants de la cause démocratique est par ailleurs passée au peigne fin.
Secret Services (RG) and the Department of Intelligence and Security (DRS) in Kabylia acquired a large batch of sophisticated equipment to properly carry out monitoring and repression [online]. Nothing was left to chance. The professional and personal life of activists for democracy are monitored very closely.
Calls for assassination have been posted as well and shared on these Facebook pages, as the following screen shots show:
Screen shots of the Facebook page Barakat L'escroquerie. One comment says: “il faut le tuer le mec kan c'est l'ennemi du pays” (We need to kill this guy. He is the enemy of the nation).
The strategy recalls practices of the government during Algeria's civil war in the 1990s that devastated the country for more than a decade. Back then, opponents and intellectuals were murdered after their personal info was made available in the public arena. Such was the case of Sidali Ben Mechiche, a journalist killed on October 10, 1988, and Djamel-Eddine Fahassi, killed on March 8, 1995.
These threats have sparked panic and anger among the opposition. Some, like journalist Idir Tazerout, have decided to take legal action, although the independence of the country's justice system isn't reliable. Others have preferred to stay quiet for a while in order to protect their families. And then, there are those who stand firm for a free and democratic Algeria.

author: Abdou Semmar


text:
Colombia: Free Cinema Festival in Bogota · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

A festival of free cinema will be held on May 8 in Bogota. This festival has the precedent of three earlier versions held in the city of Barranquilla (the last one in October 2013). The festival's name will be New narrations for multiple screens.
CC Cinema Festival – Bogota under CC by 2.0 licence
You can follow the updates on their Facebook page, FestiCineCC Bogotá [es], visit their website [es] or be part of the event at the Cinemateca Distrital from 12.30 p.m.
Here you can read more about free content and Creative Commons licences.

author: Cati Restrepo


text:
El Salvador: Flower Carpets on Holy Week in Ayutuxtepeque · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On the occasion of recently past Holy Week, the blog Hunnapuh went all over [es] the main streets of Ayutuxtepeque district in San Salvador, and captured images of flower carpets for the procession of the so-called “Holy Funeral”.
Preparation of a flower carpet. Image used with permission by blog Hunnapuh.
Holy Week flower rug. Image used with permission by blog Hunnapuh.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
Hordes Flock to ‘Apparition’ of Jesus in Cameroon Home  · Global Voices
Dibussi Tande

Residents of Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital city, woke up on Wednesday, April 16, 2014 to the news that the image of Jesus Christ had appeared in a home in the Odza neighborhood. This sparked mass hysteria [fr] as the faithful and the curious flocked to the neighborhood to see [fr] the Easter miracle for themselves.
A few days later, Mgr. Samuel Kleda, the Archbishop of Douala, dismissed [fr] the alleged apparition as a hoax, but this did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the faithful who continued to throng to the home of Amougui Minkan. Some even scaled the fence around the house to avoid the long lines.
News of the apparition instantly became a trending topic in Cameroon on Twitter where users tweeted about the claim with incredulity and levity.
Blogger @ngimbis questioned what exactly people were seeing on the wall:
Jésus sur le mur à Odza. Massa! faut avoir les lunettes de visée céleste pour le voir hein? pic.twitter.com/abbseMEAWk
— Florian Ngimbis (@ngimbis) April 17, 2014
Man! You will need celestial telescopic sights to see him, right?
Many found it hilarious that Jesus would choose to appear in Cameroon of all places:
That Jesus is back ?? lol even if Jesus gonna come back it can't be in Cameroon…Nopeeee!****
— IG:adamiby (@adam_ib_rahim) April 17, 2014
The fact that the apparition occurred in Odza, which is next to Nsimalen, a neighborhood where there was an apparition of Mary, Jesus’ mother, in May 1986 was not lost on many:
Apparemment Jésus et sa mère ont déménagé pour deux quartiers voisins: Odza et Nsimalen!! Le Cameroun est béni
— #Yeezus2.0 (@FrLoEko) April 18, 2014
Apparently, Jesus and his mother have moved into two neighborhoods that are next to each other. Cameroon is blessed
@ntrjack could not resist going back to the age old debate about Jesus’ race:
Massa, même dans les apparitions Jésus est Blanc. La fin d'un débat. “@Joorynhairlover: “jésus” d'Odza pic.twitter.com/xpZQMpibs3“”
— Jackson™ (@ntrjack) April 17, 2014
So Jesus is white even in apparitions. This settles the debate
And @lesikanel teased:
J'attends toujours qu'on poste le Selfie avec Jesus a Odza.
— Nelson Simo (@lesikanel) April 17, 2014
I am still waiting for someone to post a selfie with Jesus at Odza
To some, the apparition was an opportunity for some social and political commentary. For @TjatBass, Jesus appearing in Yaounde was of no consequence:
Jesus là aime beaucoup le Cameroun, hein ! Mais il ya toujours la galère, beaucoup d'injustice et de gens qui meurent là bas. wèèèèèhhhhh
— Tjat Bass (@TjatBass) April 17, 2014
Jesus really loves Cameroon! But there is still misery, lots of injustice and many people are dying.
@ngimbis on the other hand reminded Cameroonians that President Paul Biya had still not been seen or heard from since he attended the Africa-EU summit in Brussels on April 2-3, 2014:
si ça se trouve, le Jesus d'Odza est venu assurer l'intérim de notre président porté disparu depuis un certain somme de l'UE.
— Florian Ngimbis (@ngimbis) April 17, 2014
If he is found, Jesus of Odza will serve as the interim for our president who has been missing since the EU summit.
Business has been booming in Odza since the apparition. Not wanting to be left behind, the owners of the home where Jesus is said to have appeared are now asking for donations:
Jesus le fils de Dieu qui est Dieu est apparu au Cameroun à Yaoundé, pendant la semaine sainte, dans une maison. L'entrée est payante…#DDL
— Serge Mbarga Owona (@Manekang) April 17, 2014
Jesus the son of God appeared in Yaounde, Cameroon during Holy Week. In a house. There’s now an admission fee.
A week after the legend of Jesus of Odza began, many are still making the pilgrimage [fr] to Odza while the debate about the authenticity of the apparition rages on. In the meantime, the dominant view seems to be this one colorfully expressed by @Difredsimpson:
#JesusAYaounde hahahahaha bullshit of the month pic.twitter.com/eHPxuVhWSU
— Simpson (@Difredsimpson) April 18, 2014

author: Dibussi Tande


text:
Iran:Remember Jailed Gadget Bloggers · Global Voices
Farid

Electronic Frontier Foundation, in an article,talks about jailed gadget bloggers, who used to run one of the best websites in Iran for gadget news,Narenji.There is an online petition to support Narenji's bloggers.

author: Farid


text:
LiveJournal Fights Coming Censorship, But Don’t Tell Anyone · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Images remixed by Andrey Tselikov.
A bill that will equate popular bloggers with mass media [Global Voices report] has passed Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma. All that remains now are the rather perfunctory steps of passing the Federation Council, and approval by President Vladimir Putin. It now appears a fait accompli that starting with August 1, 2014 Russian bloggers with over 3,000 daily unique readers will be required to register in the same way an online newspaper does. However, some RuNet giants are already fighting back, proving ahead of time that enforcing such a law will be a logistical nightmare.
Earlier, Yandex.ru, Russia's most powerful search engine, stopped ranking blogs [Global Voices report] on its website. Now, on April 23 Dmitry Pilipenko, head of LiveJournal Russia, posted [ru] the following news in his LJ blog:
С сегодняшнего дня в профайлах всех блогеров и сообществ, количество подписчиков которых превышает две с половиной тысячи, будет отображаться не фактическое число пользователей «В друзьях у», а 2 500 +. Фактическое значение остается доступным только для владельцев блогов и владельца и смотрителей сообщества.
Отмечу, что данные изменения касаются только тех пользователей, которые используют Кириллические сервисы LiveJournal.
Рейтинг пользователей и сообществ, формировавшийся по просмотрам, также прекращает свою работу.
Перечисленные выше изменения обусловлены планами по ряду мер для оптимизации работы сервиса. Все совпадения случайны.
Starting today, all blog and community profiles where the number of subscribers [“friends” -ed.] is larger than two and a half thousand, will display 2,500+ instead of the actual number of users who are “Friends of”. The actual number will be available only to owners of blogs or the moderators of communities.
I must add that these changes only affect those users who use the Cyrillic services of LiveJournal.
The rating of users and communities, which was formed based on page-views, will also stop.
The above changes are based on plans to take measures to optimize the service. All coincidences are accidental.
Pilipenko's coy wink at the end of this press release makes it clear that the move is directed at making the coming “3,000” regulations harder to implement. However, it is doubtful if it will do anything to stop Roskomnadzor in the final reckoning — in the end the Kremlin can always flex its subpoena muscles, and gain access to LiveJournal servers from the inside. Perhaps it is the spirit of opposition that counts.

author: Andrey Tselikov


text:
#NETmundial, Tweets from São Paulo, Brazil · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Here we share some Storify stories that sum up what happened on the first day of NETmundial, the conference on the future of Internet governance in São Paulo, Brazil (April 23 and 24, 2014).
In English:
– @APC_News: #NETmundial officially kicks off
– First impressions of #NETmundial.
– @PdF_Europe: NetMundial 2014 – Day 1.
– @DrRimmer: A Magna Carta for the Internet: A Digital Bill of Rights Proposed at #NetMundial2014.
In Spanish:
– @ialaw: Primera Jornada de NetMundial 2014.

author: Juan Arellano


text:
Call to Stop Construction to Protect the Leopard Cats in Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

A small leopard cat. Photo is taken by the Wildlife First Aid Station and reprinted by leopardcatgo.
Leopard cat is listed as a vulnerable species [zh] in Taiwan. Since the big cats live in the forests and jungles in both plains and in hilly areas and their home range is very broad, their habitats in Taiwan are easily disturbed by new construction projects. The Taiwanese environmental evaluation committee had temporally rejected the request from the Miaoli Government to develop an alternative road in Miaoli across the habitat of leopard cats on April 16 2014 after a round of protests and petition. However, this development project was not dropped, and more development projects in this area are coming up. A facebook page [zh] was set up so people who want to protect the leopard cats in Taiwan can be well informed and mobilized.

author: I-fan Lin


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Green Business · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

ICT Pulse puts forward six suggestions to make offices greener.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
USA Makes Kremlin Propaganda Easy, Again · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Rake's progress. Images remixed by Kevin Rothrock.
“There are no American mercenaries in #Ukraine, it's all #Kremlin lies and propaganda” tweeted [ru] the US State Department's official Ukraine Twitter account recently, prompting Russian journalist and emigre Oleg Kashin to ask [ru] if it is possible that anyone would be convinced by such a statement. Indeed, by responding to every single internet troll with renunciations, US foreign officials risk looking shrill and shifty. Perhaps this is why they have ignored the most recent conspiracy theory making the rounds on RuNet.
The silence would be a welcome respite from the failures of US diplomacy to connect with ordinary Russians [Global Voices report], if the reason for the conspiracy theory wasn't such a glaring failure in the first place. It was Twitter user @Dikuschka who first drew attention [ru] to a US Government “request for a proposal” [ru] for the reconstruction of a Ukrainian school last fall. No big deal, except that the school in question is in Sevastopol, home to Russia's Black Sea naval base. And the request came from the US Navy's Facilities Engineering Command.
The combination certainly sounds suspicious, and it was easy enough for pro-Kremlin twitter [ru] users [ru] to turn what looks to be actually a school reconstruction under the auspices of US European Command's Humanitarian Assistance program, into the “construction of a US Naval base.” The meme spread through RuNet, via humor websites like Pikabu [ru], newspapers like Komsomolskaya Pravda [ru], and even the (fake) Twitter account of Crimea's leader Sergey Aksyonov (the account is currently suspended).
The idea that the US Navy is simply doggedly pursuing a sometimes awkward policy of winning “hearts and minds,” without regard for how it might look, will probably fall on deaf ears for most Russians. (Simply imagine Russia remodeling schools near US Marine Corps fatalities on Okinawa.) Komsomolskaya Pravda cited a source from Russia's Black Sea fleet command, saying “I don't think that the US Navy would give out money to reconstruct a Sevastopol school just because, what would be the point?” A post [ru] at the VKontakte group “Antimaidan-Berkut” proposed that rather than building military facilities outright, the reconstruction would prepare the school for the children of US servicemen who would be stationed at such hypothetical military facilities.
The request for proposal, with an estimated cost of remodeling Sevastopol School #5 between $200 and $500 thousand, is still up on the Federal Business Opportunities website. On April 15, 2014, however, it was canceled, “due to the current climate in Ukraine.”


text:
VIDEO: Iranian Students’ Protest During Conservative Politician’s Speech · Global Voices
Farid

A group of students at Iran's Amirkabir University in Tehran chanted pro-opposition slogans, held placards and waved the Iranian flag during a speech by failed conservative presidential candidate and former top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili on 14 April 2014.
The shouted slogans supported Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the Green Movement protests that rocked the country following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad‘s reelection in 2009 by a landslide. Protesters considered the elections results fraudulent, and millions rallied for Ahmadinejad's removal.
But authorities began a widespread crackdown on the movement in early 2010, and Mousavi and Karroubi, both former presidential candidates, as well as Mousavi's wife Zahra Rahnavard were placed under house arrest on 14 February 2011.
Students at Amirkabir University chanted, “Our vote is for imam's prime minister,” a reference to Mousavi, who was prime minister from 1980 to 1988 when Ruhollah Khomeini was in power as the country's supreme leader.
Meanwhile, conservative Basiji students sitting in the front rows, who support Jalili, chanted “down with the US.” They can be seen toward the end of the following YouTube video, which begins with pro-opposition students:
The main topic of Jalili's main topic was the country's nuclear achievements.
Alireza Taba tweeted that some of the protesting students faced university discipline afterward:
احضار دست‌کم ۹ دانشجوی معترض به #جلیلی به کمیته انضباطی http://t.co/vs1XApF5h9
— Alireza Taba (@alirezat) April 17, 2014
At least nine students who protested during Jalili's speech were called to disciplinary committee.
Hanif Z.Kashani reported:
Students Crash “Nuclear Party” & their songs & slogans drown out Saeed Jalili & Basiji students via @Shimazadi #Iran http://t.co/MHg47qpagP
— Hanif Z. Kashani (@hanifzk) April 16, 2014
On Twitter, user amirHP tweeted about the protests:
#جلیلی به مناسبت روز هسته ای اومده #امیرکبیر شعار یا حسین #میرحسین شعر غالب است. یاد دولت امید زنده است
— amirHP (@amir_HP) April 14, 2014
Jalili came for the nuclear day event but pro-Mousavi slogans are the dominating slogans.
َUser Asame wrote:
«حسن حسین نداره؛ جنبش ادامه داره» شعار دیروز بچه های امیرکبیر موقع سخنرانی #جلیلی دمشون گرم
— اسامه (@O_s_a_m_e_h_h_p) April 15, 2014
It does not matter if it's [current Iranian President] Hassan [Rouhani] or Hussein [Mousavi], the movement continues.


text:
Fighting Rising Acid Attacks Against Women in Colombia · Global Voices
Lully

[Links are to Spanish-language pages.]
New acid attacks occurring in the last several weeks have put Colombians on alert. Despite the fact that legislation was adopted in 2013 stiffening the penalty for such actions, they appear insufficient to stop the rising tide of incidents of this type, which have claimed 926 victims in the last 10 years. For all these cases, only three culprits have been sentenced.
Recently, a media storm erupted following an acid attack against Natalia Ponce, a young women from a well-to-do family who was assaulted by someone she knew; he was later caught. The incident provoked reaction on Twitter and in different media, where the outcry against abuse of women was unanimous:
Inadmisible el ataque con ácido a Natalia Ponce! Mañana puede ser cualquier. #NiUnaMás Necesitamos una justicia MÁS FUERTE!
— Mariana Cordoba (@MariCordoba) marzo 29, 2014
Unacceptable this acid attack against Natalia Ponce! Tomorrow it could be anybody. No one more. We need STRONGER LAWS!
Que tristeza, que impotencia y que cobardía esos ataques con ácido a las mujeres, es una modalidad que me deja perplejo y sin palabras.
— julian orrego (@julianrocka) abril 1, 2014
Sadness, helplessness and cowardice [I feel for] these acid attacks against women; it is a method that leaves me perplexed and speechless.
Después de India y Pakistán, Colombia es el tercer país en el mundo con más ataques a mujeres con ácido.
— Andrea Bernal (@andrebernal26) abril 7, 2014
After India and Pakistan, Colombia is the country with the third highest rate of acid attacks against women.
The blog “Rostros sin Ácido” [Faces without acid] shows pictures of various women who have been attacked and who, as they demonstrate, “have decided to reveal themselves in order to sensitize society and demand government policies that will enable them to remake their lives”:
Gina Potes, 35 years old
Viviana Hernández, 28 years old
Nubia Espita, 33 years old
Nevertheless, the blog ¿Quién se beneficia de tu hombría? [Who benefits from your masculinity] demonstrates that the matter is not exclusively directed at women and, after denouncing the stigmatization, affirms:
Todo esto resulta llamativo porque de los 926 casos de ataques con ácido registrados en el país durante los últimos diez años, entre las víctimas hay 471 mujeres y 455 varones. Es decir, los hombres constituyen el 49% de los agredidos, pero apenas han recibido atención mediática o política.
All this is noteworthy because of the 926 cases of acid attacks confirmed in the country during the last ten years, there are 471 female victims and 455 male victims. In other words, men make up 49% of those assaulted, but they have received almost no media or political attention.
Following the attack on Natalia Ponce, there were two more: on April 2, Sorleny Pulgarín, a 23-year old woman was attacked with acid in the Engativá neighbourhood, South of Bogota. This was followed by the unfortunate death on April 9 of Alejandro Correa after he was doused with acid in the town of la Estrella, Antioquia, supposedly out of jealousy.
The authorities discovered the alleged lie by Inés Carrillo, who apparently faked being a victim of an acid attack in order to receive the $38,900 (75 million pesos) indemnity offered by the government. The story generated strong reactions against her:
La ignorancia y avaricia de Ines Carrillo presunta victima de ataque con ácido la podria llevar a la cárcel.
— Wilmar Perea S. (@wilpersi0611) abril 16, 2014
The ignorance and greed of Ines Carrillo, supposed victim of an acid attack might just land her in jail.
La sra Ines Carrillo de Bosa no fue atacada con ácido, ella se quemó en un accidente casero, su familia quiso acceder a la recompensa.
— General Palomino (@GeneralPalomino) abril 14, 2014
Ms Ines Carrillo was not attacked by acid, she burned herself in a household accident, her family wanted compensation.
Meanwhile, associations have formed and new initiatives have been proposed to fight these attacks, which affect victims both physically and psychologically. However, people continue to demand solutions, as does “El Profe” in his comment on the El Líder.com site, where he asks that the sale of dangerous chemicals be restricted:
Se debe prohibir la venta libre de este producto igual como lo hacen con las armas, su venta es supervisada por el ejercito, se debe tomar registro de los vehículos que se les cambie el acido y la policía debe ser conocedora de estos.
The sale of this product should be prohibited just as it is done for weapons, whose sale is supervised by the army, there should be a register of vehicles whose acid has been changed and the police should be aware of it.

author: Lully


text:
Do Not Blame the West for Africa’s Woes · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Gershom Ndhlovu argues that Africa leaders are making a mistake by blaming the West for Africa's problem:
At the last EU-Africa Summit held in Belgium, Zambia's president Michael Chilufya Sata reiterated what other African leaders had said in the past about the West contributing to wars on the continent through the sale of guns and other military hardware. Quoted by Eil D’Afrique, Sata told the gathering that Africa had no gun factory that fuels conflict and that Europe was responsible for conflicts on the continent because weapons used in conflicts are manufactured in Western countries. “Most poor child soldiers involved in conflicts in Africa carry guns manufactured in Europe that cost thousands of dollars. These poor children could not have money to buy these weapons,” said Sata.
In its post-independence existence, Africa has had its fair share of coups and counter-coups and civil wars. Of course, most of these were brewed in smoky backrooms where Western diplomats met military officers while sipping on expensive wines and spirits, enticing them with not only the control of national resources if they kicked out an anti-Western radical leader but also the support of their capital. This is how megalomaniac tyrants like Mobutu Sese Seko rose to power and maintained a hold on it.
But to blame all or most of the recent conflicts in Africa on Western countries and European gun factories is being disingenuous and burying heads in the sand, ostrich-like. It is pathetic that African countries still blame their former colonial masters today for their economic failures clearly caused by corruption, mismanagement and sheer incompetence

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
GV Face: Live from the Internet World Cup  · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

This week's GV Face comes to you live from São Paulo, Brazil where government, civil society and corporate representatives from around the world gathered this week at NETMundial to hash out a “roadmap” for global Internet governance in a post-Snowden world.
Ellery Biddle of Global Voices Advocacy is joined by Marianne Diaz and Ben Wagner.

author: Solana Larsen


text:
“I Sold Out to China”-One Journalist’s Experience with China’s Censors · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Leslie Anne Jones from aeon talks about her personal experience with China's censors during her time as a journalist for a local expat magazine. She discovers how she was not permitted to document the true Xinjiang she had observed during her “propaganda” trip there.

author: Abby Liu


text:
Myths and Environment · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On a short post, Panamanian website Avarana notes [es] “We have to save the Earth” and reflects on what each of us has to do to preserve our environment:
We have to save the Earth. Frankly, the Earth doesn't need to be saved. Nature could not care less if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived disatrous and catastrophic changes for millions and millions years. During that period, there is an agreement that 99 percent of every species has come and go, while the planet is still standing. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment – to assure it for us, our children, and the world we know. If more people could see that the problem is saving ourselves, we would probably find more motivation and commitment in doing so.


text:
Ukrainian Artists Cage Russians Like Animals · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

A group of artists in Kiev has opened a new exhibit that many Russians are calling dangerously xenophobic. Yesterday, April 24, 2014, the “Ukrainian Cultural Front” presented four interactive installations intended to criticize Russia for its opposition to the EuroMaidan movement and its interventions in southeastern Ukraine. The most controversial exhibit (titled “Beware of Russians!”) featured three homely-looking men trapped behind a fence, dressed as stereotypical Russians. (One man wore a tracksuit, another donned military camouflage, and a third sat on a flattened cardboard box, playing the balalaika and begging for spare change.) Posted on different sides of the fence were signs like those one finds at a zoo, reading “Beware of Occupiers!” and “Please Do Not Feed!”
Sign reads, “Please do not feed!”
A “lowly Russian,” performing for money and drinking away the profits?
Taking pity on the “foreign occupiers.”
The art exhibit was in such obvious bad taste, many Russians seem to believe, that several of the RuNet's most vocal patriotic bloggers simply reposted photos from the installation, not even bothering to specify their objections. Of course, many others found it necessary to articulate the dangers of Russophobia. Publicist Dmitry Olshansky, whose Facebook texts are among the Russian blogosphere's most vociferously pro-intervention, wrote threateningly that the “motor” of today's conflict between Russia and Ukraine rests entirely on “Ukraine's certainty that Russians will never respond to anything.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Venezuela: Conclusions on the Dialogue  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

“The map we don't want to see.” Image by Juan Carlos Aristimuño on Flickr. Used under the license  Atribución-SinDerivadas 2.0 Genérica (CC BY-ND 2.0).
(Links in Spanish are signaled as [es])
Daniel Lara Farías, @DLaraF [es], writes [es] on Infociudadanos about the dialogue [es] between the government and the opposition. He launches criticism against the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello (links added).
Due to Diosdado's lack of credibility within the fraction of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela itself, parliament is unable to parley. Therefore, a dialogue must be set up in Miraflores Palace with international and ecclesiastical guarantors. This is because thanks to Diosdado's ways and means, nobody believes the conversations with a regime that in full debate, calls a female representative opponent a prostitute, splits the head open of a Democratic Action representative, and prohibits the rest from speaking. In other words, Diosdado prohibited the parley in parliament.
But he also criticizes opponent, Henrique Capriles:
But if Capriles is right when he says that the political crisis begun in April 2013 when he was robbed of the election, there is nothing left to do but to also make him responsible for it. He spent a year driving upwards in idle, without pressing the accelerator! A year later, violence is ignited by the citizen's frustration knowing that problems mount up and the government doesn't resolve them. We can't vote out the government because the elections are fixed. Who are the responsible ones? The ones on the street, risking the threat of jail, death, and persecution? Or the ones that robbed the election and the idiots that allow themselves to be robbed?


text:
El Salvador: Letter to Minister of Public Works · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

[All links direct to pages in Spanish.]
On the blog Siguiente página, Paolo Lüers posts a letter addressed to the Minister of Public Words of El Salvador, Gerson Martínez, where with some irony he makes reference to the announcement made by the minister on a local TV station where he stated that by mid May the new Integrated Transportation System for the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador (SITRAMSS, for its Spanish name) will start working:
Mid-May? But that's three weeks from now. […] the construction of the stations has just started. But you say it all will be working in three weeks.
The drivers haven't been trained yet for those new and extra-long buses. And until now, there are no garages for the maintenance of the new buses. In fact, nobody knows where they will be built. But you say it all will be working in three weeks.
The government hasn't negotiated the fees for the new system, nor the way how the system will be connected to the old bus lines. Well, the authorized buses of the current lines don't know the routes of their buses, as they won't be able to go via Juan Pablo road. But you say it all will be working in three weeks.
He ends by saying:
Well, my dear Gerson, it's been 5 years already and we got to know your talent on improvisation and your way of dealing with the resulting vehicular chaos. You are going to do well in this new improvisation test. […] We all have already summoned all of our patience and resignation.


text:
#EPNStop : Human Chain in Mexico against #LeyTelecom  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

A human chain protest against the Telecommunications Bill proposed in Mexico took place in Mexico City, the country's capital, on Saturday, April 26, 2014. The chain was planned to link the official residency of the Mexican president in Los Pinos to the headquarters of Televisa [es] in Chapultepec, covering an approximate distance of 7 kms. But the police prevented the protesters to reach Los Pinos, so it had to start at Avenue Chivatito, close to the National Auditorium.
De las redes a las calles, TT's en Twitter, ríos de gente en la calle defendiendo la libertad pic.twitter.com/NtIIRxM7NC#CadenaHumana#EPNStop
— YoSoyRed.com (@YoSoyRed_) April 26, 2014
From the web to the streets, TT's in Twitter, rivers of people on the streets defending freedom
Ya se juntó #CadenaHumana desdeTelevisa hasta el Auditorio #EPNStoppic.twitter.com/kF6e7nOSX2
— Espejored (@Espejored) April 26, 2014
The human chain is already in place from Televisa to the Auditorium
Así se ve la #CadenaHumana desde las alturas, no lo pueden ocultar ;) pic.twitter.com/9JMSDH7nEb via @diariodfmx#EPNStop
— YoSoyRed.com (@YoSoyRed_) April 26, 2014
This is how human chain looks from above, they cannot hide it ;)
In this short video [es] from user Animal Político (Political Animal) you can see some snapshots of the protest that took place after the human chain:
The following video [es] from user Frank Sánchez is one of many videos created to raise awareness of the threat to freedom of expression and human rights that the bill poses.
Others, however, thought this protest was organized by Carlos Slim since the Telecommunications Bill could negatively affect his business as well. Twitter users used the hashtag #CadenaTelmex -Telmex is one of the major companies in Slim's holding- to comment their thoughts and try to counteract #CadenaHumana in a “trending topic war”.
Esta #CadenaHumana parece que es una #CadenaTelmex, de donde vengo les dicen #Acarreadospic.twitter.com/7FRkmMBtOD
— Arturo Moreno D. (@ArturoMorenoMX) April 26, 2014
This human chain seems more like a Telmex chain. Where I come from, they call it hauled people.
On the streets, some took the opportunity to defended their right to protest and criticized those who stay silent.
Vale más… #CadenaHumana#NoMasPoderAlPoderpic.twitter.com/YdvH1nBeQM
— yonomellamoJavier (@elbaxter) April 26, 2014
It's worth more… human chain; no more power to the power.
On the t-shirt: A stupid protest is worth more than a stupid who doesn't protest
Meanwhile, Congress announced they'll postpone this bill's voting until June:
Postergan hasta junio discusión de ley Telecom. Quieren que se discuta al mismo tiempo que el Mundial. pic.twitter.com/ngP0tC99m6
— Denise Dresser (@DeniseDresserG) April 26, 2014
They postponed the discussion of the Telecom bill until June. They want it to take place at the same time as the World Cup


text:
“HeartBleed”: Defect in Information Encryption Threatens Internet User Security · Global Voices
Marco Molina

Heartbleed logo. Photo by Flickr user theglobalpanorama. CC BY-SA 2.0.
On April 7, 2014, OpenSSL publicly broke the news about the vulnerability called Heartbleed. The news caused a stir in the world of technology after the announcement. The vulnerability in the OpenSSL software was discovered by Neel Mehta; and Bodo Moeller and Adam Langley were asked to correct it.
The Heartbleed bug is a vulnerability found in some versions of OpenSSL cryptographic software libraries. These libraries handle security for the biggest websites. In summary, a vulnerability found in any part of the software (the often mentioned “heartbeat” extension, which allows a secure connection to the server where websites are hosted) allows hackers to read and collect data that is stored in the memories of these systems. This failure has the potential to be one of the biggest vulnerabilities of rapid expansion in the modern history of the internet. The vulnerability is present in versions 1.0.1 up to 1.0.1f of OpenSSL (but not in other versions of OpenSSL).
On the website Schneier on security, Bruce Schneier says:
Catastrófico es la palabra correcta. En una escala de 1 al 10, esto es un 11.
Catastrophic is the right word. On the scale of 1 to 10, this is an 11.
Meanwhile,  Matthew Green  writes in his blog
The problem is fairly simple: there's a tiny vulnerability — a simple missing bounds check — in the code that handles TLS ‘heartbeat’ messages. By abusing this mechanism, an attacker can request that a running TLS server hand over a relatively large slice (up to 64KB) of its private memory space.
At the root of HeartBleed is the encryption of data. By analogy, encryption is a secret language between two people. The Internet works by using certain security protocols and encryption commonly known as  Transport Security Layers (TSL) and previously, Sockets Security Layers (SSL). SSL and TSL are a set of open source tools known as Open SSL. It is also known as Open SSL and works on 66% of the net as the encryption protocol to keep internet users’ information protected from misuse.
What is the vulnerability?
The TSL Heartbeat mechanism is designed to keep connections alive even when not transmitting data. Heartbeat messages sent by a pair contain random data and payload length. The other pair is expected to respond with a mirror of exactly the same data.
So what happens if Open SSL is faulty? What happens is that these secret keys which are shared with the server are suddenly accessible to anyone. This means that there is a lot of information available to anyone and users will probably never know who else has access to the information.
The worst part is that this vulnerability has existed since December 2011, and many software packages started using the vulnerable version of Open SSL after May 8, 2012. This means that for two years, any website, application, bank or IM service using SSL security protocols was vulnerable.
This weakness is technically complicated to fix and it is not enough that information technology professionals use the patch on copies of Open SSL that are using their devices, applications or websites.
To avoid being victimized by this vulnerability in encryption protocols used on the Internet, one should first check that suppliers have updated the Heartbleed patch. Then the password must be changed.
The feeling of alert remains in force [Twitter links are in Spanish]
Google Dork para encontrar Juniper SSL VPNs vulnerables a #HeartBleed: El corazón de Internet sigue sangrando…. http://t.co/eczbWdnqon
— hackplayers (@hackplayers) abril 21, 2014
Google Dork to find Juniper SSL VPNs vulnerable to # HeartBleed: The heart of the Internet continues to bleed ….
#Heartbleed sí que puso a temblar a los database managers de todo el mundo y a nosotros a cambiar passwords. La vulnerabilidad es universal
— Clicerio MP (@ClicerioMP) abril 21, 2014
Heartbleed has shaken up database managers worldwide and made us change passwords. Vulnerability is universal.
[Infografía] #Heartbleed en resúmen… nota interesante sobre la ley de protección de datos… pic.twitter.com/aMMfMqd16I
— Juan Carlos Vázquez (@jc_vazquez) abril 21, 2014
[Infographic] # Heartbleed’s bottom line… interesting note on the data protection law.
#Heartbleed amenaza tu privacidad, ¡cambia tus contraseñas!: http://t.co/3wB85d4AX5
— AMIPCI (@AMIPCI) abril 21, 2014
Heartbleed threatens your privacy, change your passwords!
Mashable presents a list of web sites that are subject to the Heartbleed vulnerability for which it is recommended that we change our passwords.

author: Marco Molina


text:
Bob Marley – A New God for the Bhutanese Youth? · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Bob Marley has suddenly become a god among the already confused generation. The Rastafari Flag, with either Bob himself or with a marijuana leave on it, is all over the place. For someone who died in 1981 to brainwash smart kids of 21st century is so unbelievable.
Passang Tshering, a Bhutanese blogger and computer teacher at the Bajothang Higher Secondary School, Bhutan, wonders why Bob Marley is considered iconic among the Bhutanese youth today. Instead, he'd like to have them look up to the 12 people whose portraits he has hung up on the computer lab wall of his school
and wonder how they must have done what they have done. Wonder, Appreciate, and Get Inspired.

author: Aparna Ray


text:
Macedonian Activists Attempt to Break Media Silence on Corruption Scandal · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

Media in southeastern Europe have been plagued by censorship and corruption over the past several years, and Macedonia is no exception. In a recent corruption scandal, the majority of Macedonian media failed to even relay a claim by the country's largest opposition party that the prime minister was involved in an alleged illegal banking deal.
Zoran Zaev, the leader of political party Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM), published audio recordings that he claims directly implicate Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, the leader of the VMRO-DPMNE party, in a shady deal to sell now defunct bank Makedonska Banka to a Serbian businessman known as “Gazda Nini” (“Boss Nini”) in 2004. It allegedly involved a cash transaction of 1.5 million euros (about 2.1 million US dollars) under the table, not included in the official purchase sum.
As with other news of this type in Macedonia, the scandal gained almost no attention in international mainstream media, except for the consistent English-language coverage by regional independent outlet Balkan Insight, a piece [ba] by Al Jazeera Balkans in Bosnian, and a German Die Presse article [de].
A standard Reuters pre-election article fails to mention the scandal at all. A snap parliamentary election is set to be held in Macedonia for Sunday, April 27.
That's where social media users stepped in.
The audio recordings were published [video, mk] on April 17, 2014, on the opposition party's YouTube channels, including an English version, and on web news outlet Nova TV [mk]. They received tens of thousands of views [mk] and were discussed by social media users extensively, but the majority of Macedonian citizens were “spared” of learning about the scandal through mainstream information channels.
A satirical meme with banknotes of 1.5 million euros spread by Macedonia social media users. Widely used on social networks.
According to an article [mk] by seasoned Macedonian journalist Ljubomir Kostovski:
Оние што бројат објавија: веста за постоење на аудио докази за корумпираноста на премиерот од преку 100 телевизии, осум весници и над 100 портали, ја објавиле одвај 10 проценти. Блокадата беше целосна, кај најтиражните и најгледаните, „кај олихарските сопственици и уредничките тајкуни“ (Чомовски)
Those that count published the following: no more than 10 percent of over 100 TV stations, eight newspapers and over 100 news portals published the news. The blockade is absolute, among those with highest circulation and highest viewership, “with oligarchical owners and editorial tycoons” ([quoting former A1 TV editor] Chomovski)
Radio Free Europe in Macedonian documented the silence of newspapers [mk] and the citizens’ lack of awareness [mk] about the problem.
The mostly silent media devoted modest space about this issue only to report the denials from the prime minister, including a defamation lawsuit threat [mk], and from the ruling party, claiming the audio recordings are “a montage”. One crony-owned newspaper buried a short news item on the 12th page.
Moreover, public prosecutor Marko Zvrlevski refused [mk] to start an investigation based on the publicized information because the government “cannot expend resources based on every claim”, so the opposition party filed a formal request several days later. The decision whether an investigation will start is currently pending.
As a reaction to the media blockade, activist Nikola Naumov wrote the following Facebook note [mk]:
Груевски jа прогласи снимката за монтажа и најави тужба за секој медиум што ќе ја објави. Затоа 4 од 5-те национални телевизии, вклучувајќи ја и МТВ, како и поголемиот број на печатените и интернет медиуми, не ја објавија оваа снимка! Затоа, чувствувам потреба да ве информирам за оваа работа пред изборите во недела. За вакви снимки во нашето соседство политичари си даваа оставки и беа гонети од законот, а кај нас поминуваат без никој да ги забележи.
Gruevski said the recording is fake and announced that he'll sue any media that publishes it. Because of that, four out of the five national TV stations, including the public service MTV, as well as most of printed and Internet media did not publish this recording! Therefore I feel the need to inform you about this issue before the Sunday elections. Politicians in our region have resigned and have been under investigation in our region due to similar recordings, while in Macedonia they pass unnoticed.
Naumov called upon other social media users to follow his example and spread the information beyond the Internet, throughout their neighborhoods and personal networks:
Драги комшии, да се информираме!
April 23, 2014 at 8:55am
Драги пријатели,
денеска изрежав 40 ЦД-а со аудио снимката на Груевски, ги дополнив со објаснување на хартија и ги ставив во сите сандачиња во мојата зграда. Решив така да помогнам во ширењето на вистината за невидената корупција во оваа влада.
Досега сите поголеми медиуми ја игнорираа оваа афера, освен Телма. На социјалните медиуми снимката се прошири и ја погледнаа сите, но луѓето кои не користат интернет и не гледаат Телма, веројатно и не се информирани за нејзиното постоење.
Ми требаа не повеќе од 2 саати и 250 денари за да го направам овa. Мислам дека ако секој од нас на социјалните медиуми го направи ова во својот влез/зграда, ќе успееме да ги информираме барем луѓето во градовите за оваа снимка. Затоа ве молам, ве преколнувам, споделете го овој апел со вашите пријатели, изрежете ЦД-а и поделете ги на вашите комшии.
Dear Neighbors, lets get informed
April 23, 2014 at 8:55 a.m.
Dear friends,
I burned 40 CDs with Gruevski's recording today, added an explanation on paper and put them in all mailboxes in my building. I decided to do it to aid spreading the truth about the immense corruption of this government.
Until now, all major media except Telma TV ignored this affair. The recording spread via social media, but people who do not use the Internet and don't watch Telma probably are not informed about its existence.
I needed less than two hours and 250 denars [about 6 euros or 8 US dollars] to do this. I think if every social media user did this for their building, we could at least inform the people in the cities about this recording. Therefore please, I beg you, share this appeal with your friends, burn CDs and share them with your neighbors.
The note was followed by quick instructions on where to download the audio and how to copy it, alongside a short text explaining the issue.
CDs by Nikola Naumov
Already under duress [mk] due to their professional coverage of the current elections in Macedonia, the noted Telma TV continued to cover this scandal, as well as other allegations of corruption. During the night between April 23 and 24, their website was not accessible [mk]. It is unclear whether it was due to an attack or expired server quotas due to too many visits.
Since Naumov's online plea to the public for sharing of the information on this matter, Serbian daily Blic has picked up the story and published [sr] a short online article on the matter.

author: Danica Radisic


text:
Menstruation Is Not a Shameful Secret. Let’s Talk Periods. · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

“Why do women hush themselves when it comes to discussing menstruation?”
asks Sourav Kumar Panda at Youth Ki Awaaz and goes on to discuss that in this day and age, keeping periods a ‘hush-hush’ issue is unnecessary – the time has come for us to break the silence and shame that our social mores have clamped around menstruation.


text:
PHOTOS: Forget Selfies, One Artist’s Sketched Portraits Have Taken Over Twitter in the Balkans · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

A collection of artist Radoje Rakočević's Twitter avatar portraits. Image by Radivoje Rakočević, used with permission.
In early February 2014, the Twitter feeds of users in several Balkan countries saw a drastic visual change. Over the next several weeks, instead of the headshots or selfies people tend to use as their avatars on Twitter, ink and pencil drawings of their previous avatars took over the popular social network.
The man behind the wave of avatar portraits is young artist and medical doctor Radoje Rakočević from Montenegro, better known to a wider audience on Twitter as @sirivoje. Currently a student of the School of Visual Arts of the University of Podgorica in Montenegro, Rakočević opened his Twitter profile after his professors suggested he use the network to follow other artists and promote his own work.
One of the dozens of avatar portraits by Radoje Rakočević. Image courtesy of the artists. Used with permission.
Always ready and willing to chat (or draw) online, Rakočević answered a few questions for Global Voices regarding his work and use of social media:
Profesori su smatrali da su moji radovi zreli i da zavrijeđuju da budu predstavljeni široj javnosti, a da mi društvene mreže pružaju mogućnost da skrenem pažnju na svoje umijeće . U početku sam crtao karikature koje su naišle na pozitivne reakcije, ali sam poslije nekog vremena dobio želju za promjenom u kreativnom smislu. Tačnije, uželio sam se klasičnog crteža olovkom i tušem koji sam potpuno zapostavio. Smatrao sam da je idealan način da se vratim u formu upravo to – da crtam portrete korisnika tvitera.
The professors considered my work mature and worthy of being presented to a wider audience, while social media would allow me to draw attention to my abilities. At first I drew caricatures, which were met with positive reactions, but after some time I wanted change, in a creative sense. Specifically, I missed doing classic pencil and ink drawings that I had neglected completely [for some time]. I thought this would be the ideal way to get that [technique] back in shape – to draw portraits of Twitter users.
Another example of how the artist manages to capture the personalities of people he has never met face-to-face. Image courtesy of Radoje Rakočević. Used with permission.
The result certainly got the artist attention from Twitter users from several countries in the region, and quickly. Soon enough, people were asking for their portraits, many offering to pay for the original drawing and wondering what else the artists could do. Rakočević's talent clearly shines through in the simple, black-and-white, yet lively and true-to-life portraits of people he has never seen and knows only through their 140-character tweets and avatars on the network.
The talented Rakočević, however, says that there are no particular rules to how he picks his “models” on Twitter and that the most important deciding factor is being “intrigued by a person's facial features”. In his chat with GV, he explained how it all works:
Ljudi se zahvaljuju na različite načine kada im pošaljem portret, nude mi i profesionalnu saradnju. Član jednog alternativnog muzičkog sastava iz Beograda mi je ponudio da za njegov bend izdizajniram omot albuma. Takođe, dobio sam ponudu da ilustrujem knjigu poezije, što mi je oduvijek bila velika želja. Ali, ono što mene najviše raduje jesu tri ozbiljna prijedloga koja se tiču organizovanja izložbi mojih radova.
Redovno poklanjam crteže ljudima koji me aktivno prate na tviteru, jer je logično da želim da nagradim one koji me podržavaju i pomažu da se za moj rad čuje.
People thank me in different ways when I send them their portrait [on Twitter], sometimes offering professional collaboration. A member of an alternative music band from Belgrade hired me to do their album cover. Also, I got an offer to design the cover for a poetry book, which is something I always wanted to do. But what made me happiest are three offers regarding organizing exhibitions of my work.
I regularly send portraits as gifts to people who actively follow me on Twitter because it makes sense that I would want to reward those who support me and help my work to be heard of.
An exceptional professional profile photo turned into a more exceptional hand-drawn portrait of a Serbian Twitter user. Image courtesy of Radoje Rakočević. Used with permission.
Rakočević, as mentioned, also holds a medical degree and works full-time as a graphic and web designer in a creative agency in Podgorica. Aside from creating portraits of regional Twitters daily, his portfolio is chock full of other, often more colorful work. Thanks to Twitter's new look, a gallery of the avatar portraits is also available on his profile there.
The only question we didn't manage to get an answer to from the artists is – when and how does he ever find the time for all that he does?
The artist tends to ignore the background and brings out the character of the person he is capturing instead. Image courtesy of Radoje Rakočević. Used with permission.
Radoje Rakočević claims that he chooses his virtual models when he is “intrigued by a person's facial features”. Image courtesy of the artist, used with permission.


text:
Raising the Dead to Fight Ukraine · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Images remixed by Andrey Tselikov.
If Russian military exercises on the Ukrainian border, combined with jingoistic rhetoric from the Russian parliament, weren't enough to worry about, RuNet bloggers are happy to help!
On April 25, 2014, Aleksandr Sokoloff, who runs a popular military blog on LiveJournal, published a post [ru] in which he called attention to photographs taken at a recent Russian Ministry of Defense meeting. This was the meeting where Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the start of the war games which are making everyone so nervous. Sokoloff wrote that these photos made him, a “seasoned” person, “flinch.”
Specifically, he was referring to photos of a 78 year old man in military uniform, Vladimir Lobov, a general who was the last Soviet military Chief of Staff, and who according to Sokoloff retired in 1994. In his position as Chief of Staff, wrote Sokoloff, Lobov was in charge of devising strategies for invasion of Europe, especially ones using large numbers of tanks. Lobov was also responsible for the oversight of the 1981 Soviet war-games, one of the largest in history.
Sokoloff's conclusion at seeing Lobov in uniform at a Ministry of Defense meeting was that the man had come out retirement, which can only mean one thing:
Российская Федерация действительно серьёзно готовится к полномасштабной войне и это последний намёк Западу, что в случае необратимого развития событий речь может пойти не о расчленении Украины по Днепру, а о расчленении Европы по Ла-Маншу.
The Russian Federation is really very seriously preparing for full-scale war, and this is the last hint to the West that if the events continue to develop the way they do, the end goal might not just be splitting Ukraine at the Dnieper, but splitting Europe at the English Channel.
Sokoloff's post gathered over 1,000 comments in the space of a day, most of them with varying levels of belief and incredulity. It also spread through VKontakte and Facebook, reposted [ru] there by publications like the nationalist Sputnik & Pogrom.
Later, Marina Yudenich, a writer with ties to the Kremlin and a popular pro-government blogger, tried to reassure [ru] her readers. Poking fun at armchair experts like Sokoloff, she claimed that while Lobov officially retired from the military 20 years ago, he has stayed on as a “leading analyst” at Russian Defense Ministry's “Inspector General's” office. As such, he is present at all large Ministry of Defense meetings, and, as it happens, is always in uniform.
If we take Yudenich's claims of this inside information at face value, perhaps full-scale war is a bit further from reality than paranoid bloggers would like their readers to believe.


text:
‘There Was No Palestine’? · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

A number of Twitter users from Palestine and the Arab region are taking to the microblogging site to refute a common Israeli discourse that Palestine never existed. “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people”, former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said.
While in 2011, in a YouTube video, former Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon said  that “in 1967 there was no Arab nation or State by the name of Palestine”. “Actually, was there ever?” he added.
Blogger and essayist Juan Cole wrote about this discourse:
One of the common assertions one finds in Zionist propaganda is that there “was never any Palestine.” This odd allegation is simply not true. Palestine has been used for a very long time to refer to the geographical area south of Sidon and north of the Sinai. There are medieval Muslim coins from a mint in that area with “Filastin” (Palestine) written on them. In the nineteenth century, diaries survive of locals who visited Damascus e.g. and wrote about how they missed “Filastin”, i.e. Palestine.
He adds:
If what is being alleged is that there was no nation-state called Palestine, at least before the League of Nations created one, that is banal. There were no nation-states until the 19th century. There was no “Italy” before 1860. Venice was Austrian, Genoa French. There was no “Germany” before 1870. Lots of small principalities, some of them under other rule or influence.
Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif started the hashtag  there_was_no_Palestine on April 15 and asked users to contribute pictures of life in Palestine before the 1948 forced eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their lands and villages:
Starting a #there_was_no_Palestine hashtag to collect pics of urban pre 1948 Palestinian life @arwa_th @muiz @RanaGaza @benabyad @PalFest
— Ahdaf Soueif (@asoueif) April 15, 2014
Shortly after, pictures started pouring in.
#there_was_no_Palestine#Map. My grandfather British Atlas copy 1939. #Beirut #Jaffa #Jerusalem #Damascus pic.twitter.com/mnBr8mS7DW
— Areej Saeئb (@meetareej) April 16, 2014
#there_was_no_Palestine an ID for a jewish german girl lived in Haifa1940, stamped"STATE OF PALESTINE"Ahmed mrowat pic.twitter.com/oq4gcOdvrq
— Arwa Adeeb (@arwa_th) April 19, 2014
#there_was_no_Palestine Arab Union Women of Ramallah1928 الإتحاد النسائي العربي في رام الله pic via ahmed mrowat pic.twitter.com/pMckUjDKmN
— Arwa Adeeb (@arwa_th) April 15, 2014
Checkpoint between lebanon and palestine in the 30s so #there_was_no_Palestine ? pic.twitter.com/On35Tbuo2u
— Elias Khoury (@eliaskhz) April 16, 2014
1927 Palestinian Coin
Laure Dakkash in Palestine Broadcasting House, Yafa, 1943. Via @arwa_th Ahmad Mruwwat archive #there_was_no_Palestine pic.twitter.com/3Ii7JODAdI
— Ahdaf Soueif (@asoueif) April 15, 2014
Old Palestinian newspaperSo how do u say :#there_was_no_Palestine ?!! pic.twitter.com/dekDUBDdWo
— Yazeed Aldigs (@YAldigs) April 19, 2014
#there_was_no_Palestine collection http://t.co/dkhu4Yg6TD a wedding at #Ramallah, #Palestine 1900 pic.twitter.com/IqtQ99Px1o
— Haitham Sabbah (@sabbah) April 19, 2014
User Ali Hussein El Helou chose to share a video featuring a football match between Australia and Palestine in 1939.
Australia V Palestine Football Match (1939): http://t.co/7cIf2PjXWi via @YouTube
— ALI HUSSEIN EL HELOU (@ALIHUSSEINELHEL) April 21, 2014
For more photos, Haitham Sabbah, compiled a list of photos on life in Palestine that date back to 1900.

author: Afef Abrougui


text:
Tunisia: ‘I Too Set a Police Station on Fire’ · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Tunisian netizens launched the social media campaign “I too set a police station on fire”, in solidarity with a number of protesters prosecuted for “burning police stations” and other “acts of vandalism” charges during the 2011 revolution.
Blogger Azyz Amami tweeted on April 20:
#حتى_أنا_حرقت_مركز : حملة لمساندة النشطاء و الشبان اللذين يتعرضون للإيقاف بخلفية المشاركة في الثورة.
— عزيز عمامي (@Azyyoz) April 20, 2014
I too set a police station on fire: a campaign in support of activists and youth arrested for taking part in the revolution
Indeed, a number of young men are facing judicial prosecution over their protest activities during the 2011 revolution that toppled the 23 year rule of former autocratic President Zeine el Abidin Ben Ali.
‘Revolution is not a crime’, by facebook page I too set a police station on fire.
Among them is Saber Mraihi who spent more than one year in prison without trial for allegedly “assaulting a police officer”. Mraihi was arrested one year after the alleged assault took place on the basis of a video in which he reportedly said: “As long as we are here, these dogs [referring to police officers] will not come through.” Last January, a court finally acquitted Mraihi after ordering his release in May 2013.
Meanwhile, in March last year, a Tunisian court sentenced 10 protesters to 10 years imprisonment each for burning a police station in the town of Ajim, on the island of Djerba, in reaction to the fatal shooting of a local resident by a police officer.
According to a list compiled by the Facebook page, I too set a police station on fire, relatives of protesters killed during the revolution are also among those currently prosecuted, including Helmi Cheniti and Isam Amri, whose brothers were killed in Thala, central-west Tunisia, one of the first interior towns to revolt against Ben Ali's regime.
For their supporters, many of these charges are “fabricated” and the burning of police stations back then was a legitimate revolutionary act considering the level of police oppression which led to dozens of deaths and injuries during the late 2010 and early 2011 protests.
‘We were the ones who set police stations on fire and you were the ones who killed the martyrs’
Writing [fr] for the collective blog Nawaat, Henda Chennaoui says the campaign is claiming “the situational legitimacy of the revolutionary act”.
She also described the trials as “iniquitous”:
la liste des procès contre les jeunes de la révolution est longue. Les accusations sont souvent les mêmes ; formation d’un gang, diffamation, trouble à l’ordre public et violence contre la police. Beaucoup d’entre eux ont été arrêté et incarcéré, pendant des semaines, voire des mois, avant leurs procès. Les plus chanceux ont bénéficié d’une médiatisation. Les autres croupissent dans un semblant d’exil, comme le cas de Jihed Mabrouk, blessé de la révolution. Actuellement au Maroc, il a été condamné à trois mois de prison et une amende pour avoir dénoncé un des symboles du RCD dans sa ville, à Mahdia.
The list of trials against the youth of the revolution is long. The charges are often the same; forming a gang, defamation, disturbing public order and violence against police. Many of them were arrested and imprisoned for weeks, even months before the [start] of their trials. The most lucky of them benefited from media coverage. The others are rotting in a semblance of exile, like Jihed Mabrouk, who was injured during the revolution. Currently in Morocco, he was sentenced to three months imprisonment and a fine for denouncing one of the figures of the RCD [the former ruling party of Ben Ali] in his city Mahdia
On Twitter, Sarah Saidi expressed her willingness to burn more police stations:
محضرين رواحنا لمحاكمات بقانون مكافحة الإرهاب! أيوان #حتى_أنا_حرقت_مركز. وناوية نزيد نحرق ان حرقوا أحلامنا!
— sarah saidi (@sarahsaidi29) April 20, 2014
We are ready to be prosecuted under the counter-terrorism law. I set on fire a police station and I am willing to set more on fire if they burn our dreams


text:
8 Shocking Quotes from Malaysian Politicians · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Balik Cina is a new website which compiles some of the hilarious and notorious quotes made by Malaysian politicians.
Most of the quotes featured on the site were submitted by netizens. The quotes are linked to a news source which provides details and context of a particular issue.
Balik Cina is actually an infamous quote in Malaysia. Here’s the reason why the website is named Balik Cina:
Balik Cina literally means ‘go back to China’ in Bahasa Malaysia. The term Balik Cina was first popularized by the principal of a Shah Alam high school in July 2013. This term and other phrases of similar sophistication has since been trending in Malaysia. Inspired by the outstanding quality of public discourse perpetuated by Malaysian politicians, we started BalikCina.com to keep track of all exciting developments in our political landscape.
Balik Cina aspires to be the finest collection of all beautiful and inspirational quotes by Malaysian politicians and public figures.
Aizyl Azlee of The New Forward reviews the website and confirms that Malaysian politicians often spew out ridiculous statements:
Malaysian politicians say ridiculous stuff so often that most of us can barely keep up. Before we’re done laughing at one quote, there’s already another one going viral on the internet. So much so that we aren’t exactly able to remember half of what we’ve laughed at.
Below are eight examples of some of the memorable and shocking sound bites by Malaysian politicians in recent years:
1. Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor stirred controversy when he compared property valuation with women. He has since then apologized for his remarks but he blamed the media for misquoting him.
2. Prime Minister Najib Razak, the most prominent and active social media user in Malaysia, posted a photo of his meeting with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. But he probably thought he was at the Twitter HQ.
3. Aside from V-necks, the guidelines warned that “a preference for tight and bright coloured clothes” is an indicator of homosexuality.
4. Last month, an independent online website was denied permit for publication because of this reasoning:
5. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim probably assumed he could use the MH370 disaster to further undermine the credibility of the ruling government. It backfired.
6. An MP wants to censor the Internet to appease the Chinese relatives of missing Malaysian plane MH370. He blamed the unregulated media information as source of anger of the relatives.
7. Those sanitary pads must be the source of all bloody evils in the world.
8. Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation, has a law that bans non-Muslims from using the word Allah to refer to the Christian God.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
China’s Revised Environmental Law Toughens Penalties Against Polluters · Global Voices
Holly

Smog in Linfen, China. The city has been named one of the world's most polluted by various organizations. Photo by Flickr user sheilaz413. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
China will no longer cap pollution fines for companies in a renewed attempt to address its loose environmental regulations amid mounting public anger over runaway pollution.
The latest move is enshrined in amendments to the national environmental law, which was passed by the country's legislative body last week after a two-year discussion among scholars and officials. The revised environmental law will come into effect on January 1, 2015. The old law was adopted in 1989.
Chinese media have claimed the amendments make the new environmental law the strictest one in 25 years. The new law lends more power to environmental agencies to use punitive powers to rein in powerful polluters. It also vows to protect “red lines”, in reference to vulnerable ecology and water sources.
Authorities also hint through the amendment that they would allow more leeway for individuals to take legal action against environmental damages, which still remains a sensitive area of litigation in China.
China's unbridled economic development has been accompanied by severe environmental pollution, with companies often reluctant to enforce environmental laws. Its annual double-digit growth rate over the past three decades has turned the country into the second largest economy after the US, but the expansion-at-any-cost model has taken a heavy toll on the country's air, water and soil, great concerns for a public empowered by social media through which they air their grievances.
The alteration of China's environmental law underscores an urgency to tackle pollution head-on as the country reels from the widespread pollution. It came shortly after China released a sobering report admitting that nearly one-fifth of the country's farmland is polluted.
Liu Meng, a UN worker with a focus on China, explained what the law means for NGOs on microblogging service Sina Weibo:
过去由于一些高污染行业的“GDP效应“导致了地方政府的保护，NGO组织和环保律师在起诉污染行业方面存在阻力。新的修订案赋予一些社会组织向”污染大户“提起公益诉讼的权利，中国的非政府组织会在环保监督和推动方面将发挥更大的作用。近日河北正式启动公众参与环境保护立法，走在了前列！
Due to the “GDP effect”, many high-polluting industries gained local government's protection in the past, NGOs and environmental lawyers have a lot of difficulties in suing polluting enterprises. The new amendments have given a certain degree of rights to social organisations to sue “major polluting enterprises”, so China's NGOs will play a bigger role in environmental supervision. In recent weeks, Hebei province has announced it will initiate programs to allow the public to participate in the legislation of environmental laws, it has taken a lead role!
Zhu Haijiu, a professor of economics based in Zhejiang, wrote on Weibo:
环境的悲剧，本质上是法治的悲剧，是法治沦陷的体现。
The fundamental reason for tragedies in the environment is the tragedies in the rule of law, it shows the degeneration of laws.
Earlier, Zhu told Ifeng.com that it's still premature to consider the amendments’ progress:
新修订的环保法赋予环保部门更大的执法权来惩治污染企业，这算不算一个进步？笔者不这么认为，我们不能在“环保部门权力扩大”和“环境治理变好”之间划上等号。问题不在于环保部门执法力度够不够大，而在于执法能不能得到有效的监督，公众有没有途径对不作为的环保部门问责。因此，对不得力的环保执法部门的惩罚力度加大，而不是对污染企业的惩罚力度加大才算真正的进步。
The amendments will give environmental authorities greater power to punish polluting enterprises, but does this represent progress? I don't think so. We can't equate “a more powerful environmental agency” to “better environmental governance”. The problem is that law's implementation has been weak and it's not supervised effectively, plus the public has no channel through which they can hold environmental authorities accountable. Therefore, until we strengthen punitive measures against environmental authorities rather than polluting enterprises, we can't call it real progress.
Singling out a polluting factory in Foshan in Guangdong province, Weibo user “holdon2014″ offered a bit of tongue-in-check commentary:
你们创收的机会来了，处罚道明化工一厂保证你们罚到手软，年终奖领不完。
Your opportunity to make money has come! You will be spending endless time to issue fines to Daoming chemical factory number 1 and your year-old bonus will be handsome.

author: Holly


text:
Former Malaysian PM Blames Boeing for MH370 Disaster · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad wanted Boeing to take responsibility for the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airline flight MH370. He wrote in his blog:
Boeing built this aircraft. Boeing must explain how all these means of tracking the plane can be disabled, can fail. Either Boeing technology is poor or it is not fail-safe. I would not like to fly in Boeing aircraft unless Boeing can explain how all its system can fail or be disabled.
Boeing must accept responsibility for building an aircraft that can disappear in mid-air so completely.


text:
Mental Health Not a Priority in Cambodia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Writing for Southeast Asia Globe, Denise Hruby reported how the mentally ill in many rural areas of Cambodia are being treated:
…the mentally ill are still treated by traditional healers, who aim to drive out bad spirits by burning the skin, or by the untrained staff of one-room health clinics who prescribe everything from pain-relief tablets to cough syrup.
According to government spokesperson Phay Siphan, mental health is not a priority:
The government prioritises maternal health and malaria. For mental health, I know that other governments have the money to subsidise that, but we are poor.


text:
Pakistani Spies, Mir and the Missing People of Balochistan · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

In Quetta city, a boy holds an image of his father Jalil Reki, one of Balochistan's missing people, at the beginning of a protest that marched through Pakistan over 5 months. Tweeted by journalism student and activist @FaizMBaluch
A man was shot six times. Bullets went through his ribs, pierced his stomach, his thighs, and his hand.
I can’t say for sure that Hamid Mir, Pakistan’s most prominent TV newsman, was shot by the Pakistan military’s intelligence wing, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) or proxies acting on their behalf.
And neither can Mir’s employer of the last 12 years: Pakistan’s leading news channel Geo. Yet they broadcast Mir’s brother Amir Mir making an emotional, bitter and strongly-worded accusation against the military and ISI. The New York Times reported the story with the headline “Critic of Pakistan Military wounded in Karachi attack”.
The many people in Pakistan who are sharing memes that vilify Mir, calling him an Indian spy or puppet and tweeting their unconditional support for the country’s armed forces and spies, also cannot know with certainty who shot Mir.
But there is a good reason for suspicion. Mir has been receiving threats from individuals whom he calls the ISI within the ISI. For the past few weeks he has been very vocal about a topic on his popular news show that the Pakistan military and the ISI don't want anyone to discuss: their ugly role in the war in Balochistan.
According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), since 2010 the bodies of hundreds of Balochistan’s “missing people” have turned up bearing torture marks. In 2013 alone, 116 bodies were found across the province, 87 of which were identified by families who accused Pakistan’s security agencies of abducting their loved ones.
Fight the frame
The international media explains Mir's attack in the context of a larger story about Pakistani journalists at risk and the big bad Pakistani military. This angle explores the conflict between Mir's TV station Geo and most of the country's media, nationalists and the military.
It seems to me that the frame of media one-upmanship misses the real story, and a likely motive for the attack: the missing people of Balochistan.
Mir knew the risks of speaking out on Balochistan. Pakistan’s media avoided the subject for years. So did Mir.
The Pakistani media’s silence on Balochistan stems partly from self-censorship due to fear of the military, partly from a nationalist stance that treats silence as patriotism, and partly because few really understand what is going on in the southwestern province.
Balochistan’s foggy war
Pakistan's national media organizations such as Mir’s Geo employ only a few people in Balochistan. It is the country's largest and most resource-rich province, and also least populated and poorest. Insurgencies have been brewing and cooling here for decades. The government restricts media access for international journalists. These factors help explain why covering Balochistan is complicated and dangerous, and why reporting about the province is rare.
When did this insurgency become a war? I can’t say for sure, but some very smart people think it happened when the Pakistani state bombed and killed the most prominent face of the insurgency, 79-year old Nawab Akbar Bugti, in 2006.
Facts about the Balochistan war are hard to verify. Armed Baloch nationalists are seeking independence from Pakistan, and Pakistan's armed intelligence operatives are trying to suppress them, sometimes through extrajudicial means. The government maintains that separatists are funded by “outside forces,” which is a euphemism for India.
Various sectarian and Islamist militias also use the area for recruitment and training to fight wars in Iran and Afghanistan, which border Balochistan, and within Pakistan itself.
Sometimes these groups join forces in pursuit of money and resources. The result is the people living in Balochistan have to protect themselves from several different dangerous ideologies.
Some Baloch nationalists are trying to drive all non-Baloch and the Pakistan military out of the province. Military convoys are often bombed. Punjabi families who have lived in Balochistan for decades are now unwanted “settlers”; hundreds have been killed and thousands forced to flee the violence.
Organized sectarian militants are also killing the ethnic Hazara, who are Shia Muslims, and probably the largest casualty in this war. They are one of the largest non-Baloch groups in the province. Thousands have been killed since 2009 in attacks which have a level of sophistication that is outside the capability of Baloch insurgents.
The most under-reported element of this war is that Baloch men are being picked up by intelligence operatives. Respected journalist Mohammed Hanif detailed the plight of the families in a pamphlet published by the HRCP in 2012. Excerpts appeared in a few English dailies in Pakistan, but a larger discussion never ensued.
These families hope their missing sons and husbands will return. Too often, instead, tortured, lifeless bodies are dumped outside their homes. Unmarked graves appear years later; evidence of their deaths offers closure but not justice.
Mir, spies and the Baloch
Mir has recently become a vocal and persistent advocate for the missing and their families on his TV show. This might have gotten him into lethal trouble with the ISI.
Fifteen years ago, Mir had strong ties with the ISI and trusted relationships with the Taliban. His links to both groups allowed him to swing the last known interview with Osama bin Laden after 9/11. Those relationships evidently went sour. In 2010 he accused his former friends at the ISI of framing him for incitement to murder. In 2012 he blamed the Taliban for an attempt on his life.
Hamid MIr interviewing Osama bin Laden. From Wikimedia Commons CC-NC-2.0
What made Mir speak out now? Maybe he was moved by Mama Qadeer, a 72-year-old man who organized the families of other missing Baloch in a five-month, 2000-kilometer march from Balochistan’s capital city Quetta through the rest of Pakistan.
Hamid Mir joined the Long March on February 22 at Jhelum city. Photo tweeted by International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons Twitter account @IVBMP
Qadeer organized this unprecedented protest in an attempt to focus attention on his cause. He claims his son Jaleel was killed while in custody of intelligence agents in 2009. His advocacy now aims to help others whose sons have vanished get closure or justice.
On February 25, in a leading English-language daily, Mir urged the government to help recover Balochistan's missing people. The story, titled 72 year-old Mama Qadeer Baloch breaks record of Gandhi after 84 years, focused on the length and duration of the protest march, with the hope that the comparison would bring attention to an issue that has been systematically downplayed in the media.
Maybe Mir feels an affinity with the people of Balochistan because like him, they are now threatened from all sides. Like most Pakistani journalists who have been covering the not-so secret war in Pakistan’s northwest between the Taliban and the military, Mir was feeling increasing hostility and threats from his sources in the Taliban and the ISI.
Spies and intimidation
Pakistan's Ministry of Defence has petitioned the country’s broadcast regulation authority to cancel Geo's broadcast license. As I write this, Geo has voluntarily been made ‘less accessible’ by cable providers in most areas under army control or influence. Since Pakistan’s military owns or runs the largest property development companies in the country, Geo now risks being extensively censored across Pakistan.
“Pakistan Love ISI” poster with a headshot of ISI's chief on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad. Photo tweeted by former ambassador Husain Haqqani @husainhaqqani
The ISI has been increasingly aggressive and sloppy when dealing with journalists whose reporting assails its reputation. In 2011, journalist Saleem Shahzad's tortured body was found a week after he wrote a sensational story claiming links between Islamist militants and the armed forces. Before he disappeared he had received threats from the ISI.
Mir’s vocal stance in support of the rights of individuals being targeted by the state, by Islamist militants, and by others who resort to violence to further their political goals in Pakistan has nearly lost him his life.
It has also definitively placed him in opposition to those forces. We may not know who shot Hamid Mir, but we do know that the list of people willing to pick up a gun to get what they want in Pakistan is long. Mir was fortunate to escape with his life. But the battle for the rights of the missing in Balochistan is just beginning.
Sahar Habib Ghazi is a journalist who lives between Pakistan and the US. She worked at Geo TV 2005-2006. Sahar is currently the Deputy Editor at Global Voices. You can find her on Twitter @saharhghazi

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


text:
Sexy Monday: Between Sexual Expression and Censorship · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

(All links are in Spanish)
David Troya writes for Gkillcity about the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Communication's sanction on the newspaper Extra for its cover picture of model Claudia Hurtado and headline: “Start the week off right with your hot and sexy Monday. Damn, what a hot babe!”
Troya reflects:
If religious morals repressed our sexual desire and Extra opens the door to its enjoyment, why would we have censured it? For one simple reason, it has more to do with a woman's respect and protection versus the freedom of sexual expression. If we grow up validating a woman's worth predominantly on her ability to cause an erection, showing how voluptuous her butt is or how suggestive her breasts are, then it's going to be hard for us to value a woman for her intelligence or her honesty when we have the chance.
I should be noted that Diario Extra's “Sexy Monday” is a tradition that has been around for many years. On Mondays, it publishes pictures of a girl dressed in little clothing.
Mónica Mancero writing for the paper El Telégrafo [The Telegraph] gives a feminist-based opinion: “Debates generated by the subject of censorship should go beyond the strait-laced and reductionist view, which ends up victimizing a woman that supposedly needs to be defended and spoken for.”
Meanwhile Twitter user Andrés Vergara comments:
La nuevo modelo de #LunesSexy va a salir así (ver pic) para disminuir el machismo en Ecuador. #BuenVivir pic.twitter.com/RwS4RlUZqc
— Andrés Vergara (@AndresVergara) April 3, 2014
The new Sexy Monday model is going to look like this (see pic) as to diminish machismo in Ecuador. Good living.