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Revolutionary Band Laal’s Facebook Page is Now Accessible in Pakistan. Hooray? Not Really. · Global Voices
Nighat

Laal performing in Karachi in 2011. Photo by Dewaar via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Social media in Pakistan was buzzing with anti-government sentiment last week after the popular Facebook page of progressive and leftist rock band ‘Laal’ was blocked countrywide.
In a blocking spree, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) sent multiple requests to Facebook which blocked various leftist and progressive pages locally. Shortly thereafter, the block on Laal's page was lifted, though others remain inaccessible.
With more than 400, 000 likes, Laal's page has a strong social media fan following– the huge uproar over the blocking was no surprise. But while the page is now accessible again, the question remains — what specifically caused Laal, a self-described itself ‘revolutionary band,’ to be blocked in the first place?
Four events that may have triggered the blocking of Laal's page:
1. Recently, Hamid Mir, a leading Pakistani TV journalist, accused the country's top spy agency the ISI, of orchestrating an assassination attempt on him, which he narrowly escaped. The general public and various other news channels portrayed Mir and his TV channel as “anti-ISI” and anyone supporting the anchor as “anti-army” and an “Indian agent”.
Laal expressed an opinion about local media coverage of the incident on their page:
“[Hamid] Mir may be right or wrong in his accusation, only evidence will determine that. But this attitude of calling all those who criticise the ISI as traitors is totally ridiculous and deeply fascist. It is the reason why violence, death and destruction continues to flourish in Pakistan.”
Anything anti-army is taken almost as seriously as blasphemy in Pakistan, so this may have been the cause of the block.
2. Band member Dr. Taimur Rahman openly spoke out against peace negotiations with Taliban:
“Dear negotiations committee. One cannot solve extremism by accepting the Talibanization of Pakistan”, and “Don't bow to the Taliban just because they are violent and aggressive. Fight them.”
3. The group also discussed what has become an unspeakable issue –- the missing persons of Balochistan and the hunger protest a youngster went through in the last few months.
4. In line with its pro-Communist standing, Laal also regularly shares revolutionist poetry and passages of figures like Habib Jalib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Bhaghat Singh and Marx and Lenin. While the content does not constitute blasphemy or anything close to it, it does have the potential of triggering a mass movement or inciting people to take action against the government’s dubious ways of dealing with terrorism.
Laal banned campaign image from Laal Facebook page.
Laal is unblocked. Hooray? Not really.
Laal's Facebook page was made accessible in the country after just two days. Good news? Yes, but not as much as you think. Remember that Laal has a pretty strong fan base and an equally strong support system with reach extending to lawyers, advocacy groups, local and international media.
Other banned page owners who have been blocked cannot fight back in a similar way. Are these people left with any options after they’re blocked?
For the record, PTA does not deign to first ask the page owners to take the “immoral” content down before going straight to the court of Facebook. Interestingly, the PTA Act 1996 does not say that the regulatory body is allowed to directly put forward requests of blocking web pages.
It is the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Evaluation of Websites (IMCEW) that directs PTA to block content it deems to be against the law. The validity and steps involved in this process of ‘requesting’ is ambiguous and impossible to challenge, to say the least.
So who is really in charge here – PTA, IMCEW, MoIT, or some “higher-ups”?
Taimur talks about such issues from time to time and has become more aggressive after falling prey to this blocking spree. However, major news outlets don’t cover smaller pages as vigorously as they did in this case. ‘Roshni.pk’ and ‘Talibaans Are Zaalimaans’ are only two of the many other pages that remained blocked.
The unblocking of Laal may look like a win, but if you step back and assess the bigger picture, it only reveals the extent to which the government can censor with impunity.
The spontaneous unblocking was clearly a ploy to stop us from creating more outrage — the unblocking of Laal was a minor battle won in a war we are losing.
Here are some other pages that are equally progressive, anti-Taliban, or anti-capitalism and are devoid of blasphemous content but are still victims to the state blocking spree:Roshni Pakistan,TalibaansAreZaalimaans, Lashkar e Bhangvi,Zalaan, Bhensaa and Saeenjii.
Nighat Dad is a Pakistani lawyer, who focuses on cyber crime, privacy, surveillance, Internet law and policy, technology and human rights. She is also the founder and director of Digital Rights Foundation, Pakistan.

author: Nighat


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Australia’s Socceroos Proud in Defeat to Chile at #WorldCup2014 · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Tim Cahill in The Age newspaper's 15 June 2014 edition.
Australians have a long tradition of finding national pride in our defeats. The ANZAC experience at Gallipoli in the First World War is the best known instance. The 1-3 loss to Chile in the #WorldCup2014 is the latest example.
Lisa Singh, a Labor senator for Tasmania in the federal parliament, put it succinctly:
Congrats @Socceroos you make Australia proud #GoSocceroos
— Lisa Singh (@Lisa_Singh) June 14, 2014
Self-styled ‘sports broadcaster’ Francis Leach is travelling with the Green and Gold Army (@GGArmy), as fans of the Australian national team are styled.
Courtesy of Francis Leach.
He is definitely enjoying himself:
Aussies everywhere! Our Brazilian waiter in Gramado (on the right) busts out his @gomvfc scarf! @GGArmy @Socceroos pic.twitter.com/loXGh15mjO
— Francis Leach (@SaintFrankly) June 15, 2014
@geeksrulz was showing some bravado, given that Australia plays Spain in the first round:
Bad luck Socceroos. Valiant effort. More fighting spirit than the World Champion Spain. #CHIAUS #SBSworldcup
— Winker Tiny Abbitt (@geeksrulz) June 13, 2014
The Socceroos know how to reward the faithful:
@Godders_20 Thanks for your support. Here's a signed @Socceroos team photo from Mile Jedinak #GoSocceroos pic.twitter.com/YxwV3yriw1
— Socceroos (@SocceroosReply) June 15, 2014
It would not be football unless there were accusations about the refereeing and cheating. Our solo scorer Tim Cahill joined the chorus:
Cahill blasts ‘cheating Chileans’, referee: Socceroos star says Australia was robbed of a clear penalty in the… http://t.co/Vh7aXzrY18
— Wendy Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Pope (@pinkalchemy) June 14, 2014
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is travelling overseas, has continued his problem with names during the trip. After earlier referring to Canadia, he mixed up the name of captain Mile Jedinak, causing the hashtag #Mike to trend down under.
Draped in an Aussie scarf, the PM records a message of support for the #Socceroos and gets the captain's name wrong http://t.co/bonFF07JLJ
— Stephen Spencer (@sspencer_63) June 13, 2014
Political commentator and critic of the PM Van Badham tweeted:
Tony Abbott gets the name of the Socceroos captain wrong. Please JESUS: don't ask him to explain the offside rule. http://t.co/wcp22H0P8f
— Lady Van Badham (@vanbadham) June 14, 2014
But let’s not end on a sour note. Sam McMillan shared this moment:
The World Cup is about more than just winning or losing. Bresciano = class act. @Socceroos pic via @Godders_20 pic.twitter.com/HpLGlQXGF6
— Sam Mac (McMillan) (@MrSamMac) June 15, 2014

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Kevin Rennie


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VIDEO: Zambian Minister Mixes Up Barack Obama With Boko Haram in Viral Gaffe · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

A screenshot of the video showing Zambian Minister Nkandu Luo speaking at a solidarity march on May 17, 2014, for the girls abducted by jihadist group Boko Haram.
American President Barack Obama's last name has more than once been confused with deceased al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's similar-sounding first name. But Barack with Boko Haram? That might be a first.
Zambian Minister Nkandu Luo made that very blunder during a solidarity march held in the capital Lusaka on May 17 for the close to 300 girls abducted by the militant Islamist group in Nigeria. Video that has surfaced on the Internet shows Luo, who is the minister of chiefs and traditional affairs in President Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front (PF) government, addressing marchers who converged at the Lusaka Civic Centre:
[T]hings which we are doing here in Zambia to continue singing the song of peace, to continue campaigning for the girl children, that way all these criminals in the name of Islam the Barack O, Barack O, whatever, will not, aah, will not abduct our children.
Luo laughed off the slip-up, and more than a few people in the audience chuckled at the mistake.
The story was first reported by the Post, a pro-PF private newspaper, which stated that people were poking fun at the video on social media networks. The video was widely shared on WhatsApp's smartphone messaging service.
Zambia’s First Lady Christine Kaseba also addressed a gathering and posted a picture of herself on the State House Facebook page calling for the release of the 300. She was quoted saying:
Zambia's First Lady Christine Kaseba pictured holding a handwritten “Bring Back Our Girls” poster. Photo from the State House Facebook page.
Tell the world that we in Zambia care. We the Zambian Christians, Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists care because we in Zambia believe in peace.
Zambians on Twitter could not help but take jibes at Luo, a microbiology professor-turned politician.
So our very own “profesure” Nkandu Luo has no depth. Boko haram or barak Obama get schooled professor. Our country shamed.. #professorblonde
— Sam (@samchrw) June 12, 2014
“@AbelMusuka: When Professor Nkandu Luo Refers to Boko Haram as Barak Obama#DeathByLaughter”RT Our only female Microbiologists Professor!
— GEORGE MUMBI (@georgemumbi) June 12, 2014
“@Benny_blow: “Barack O–, Barack O–…Whatever!”. Nkandu Luo, zero out of ten.” Fail
— Miss Dori (@Kaysmeen) June 12, 2014
Agony is when Prof NKandu Luo fails to differenciat #BokoHaram and #BarackObama when addressing puplis
— Chilufya (@Psalmist115) June 12, 2014
Who are these criminals named Barack-O who are abducting children? Professor Nkandu Luo has strong words for them. Ah whatever…
— MissBwalya (@missbwalya) June 12, 2014
Am in stitches after watching the clip were Professor Nkandu Luo ‘mistakes’ Boko Haram for @BarackObama
— ♣♡AJ's mummy♣♡ (@namzymcmoses) June 12, 2014
Perhaps Luo’s blunder was a Freudian slip that the U.S. government should play a bigger role in ensuring the safe return of the Nigerian girls. Or it was simply a run-of-the-mill verbal gaffe. Either way, at least the message to the kidnappers – #BringBackOurGirls – was sent.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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54 Days in Prison and Counting for Ethiopia’s Zone 9 Bloggers · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Free Zone 9 Bloggers banner. Original design by Hugh D'Andrade, remixed by Hisham Almiraat.
It has been 54 days since six members of the Zone Nine blogging collective  [am] and three journalists believed to be associated with the group were arrested in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The group formed in 2012 in an effort to report on and increase public discussion about political and social issues affecting a diverse cross-section of Ethiopian society.
On their Facebook page, they describes themselves as young Ethiopians seeking to use fact-based reporting and analysis to create a new, more nuanced narrative of life in Ethiopia today:
Zone9 is an informal group of young Ethiopian bloggers working together to create an alternative independent narration of the socio-political conditions in Ethiopia and thereby foster public discourse that will result in emergence of ideas for the betterment of the Nation
The bloggers have appeared in court at four times since their arrest on April 25, 2014 — their next court date has been set for July 12, 2014. Each time, police have asked for more time to carry out their investigation of the group. Although they have been informally accused of “working with foreign organizations that claim to be human rights activists and agreeing in idea and receiving finance to incite public violence through social media,” they have been issued no formal charges as of yet. Close friends and allies of the group fear that they will be charged with terrorism, similar to journalists Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu, both Ethiopian journalists who have been in prison since 2011.
Following their arrest, Global Voices Online released a statement calling for their release, invited supporters to join the #FreeZone9Bloggers campaign through letter-writing and online efforts, and organised the FreeZone9Bloggers Tweetathon on May 14, 2014.
As the Zone9 bloggers continue to languish in jail, the Ethiopian government is allegedly training bloggers to attack those who criticise the government online:
The Ethiopian Government is trying to reduce online criticism by training recruits to attack information on the web that are critical of its administration, the Ethiopian Satellite Television Service (ESAT) reported.
According to the report, in the second round of new recruits, 235 bloggers were trained in Adama on Facebook and other social media sites on how to shape public opinion by posting comments and documents that support the regime.
The training was given to selected people from different ethnic groups who support the regime, and that the trainees report directly to government officials, ESAT said.
So far, the trainees have opened 2,350 Facebook, Twitter and blog accounts to show the Ethiopian regime in a favorable light, and to criticize anti-government articles, websites, the Ethiopian opposition and the Eritrean government
Nigerian British YouTube comedian Ikenna Azuike dedicated an episode of his satirical news show “What's Up Africa” to the bloggers’ plight. In “Zone 9 Bloggers Paradise in Ethiopia,” he jests:
Just because [Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn] ordered the arrest of nine people who happen to be bloggers and journalists doesn't mean this is part of the biggest crackdown on dissent since the 2005 post-election mass arrests.
Why is the Ethiopian government afraid of bloggers? Alemayehu G. Mariam explained:
“Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets,” fretted Napoleon Bonaparte, dictator of France, as he declared war on that country’s independent press. For the regime in Ethiopia, the pens and computer keyboards of a handful of independent journalists and bloggers are more to be feared than ten thousand bayonets mounted on AK-47s. All dictators and tyrants in history have feared the enlightening powers of the independent press. The benighted dictators in Ethiopia fear the enlightening powers of an independent press more than the firepower of several fully equipped infantry divisions.
Total control of the media and suppression of independent journalists remains the wicked obsession of the regime. They believe that by controlling the flow of information, they can control the hearts and minds of the people. They believe they can fabricate truth out of falsehood by controlling the media. By crushing the independent press, they believe they can fool all of the people all of the time. But they know deep down in their stone cold hearts that “truth will not forever remain on the scaffold, nor wrong remain forever on the throne.” They live each day in the land of living lies fearful of losing their throne.
The author continued:
The E bloggers and journalists are special Ethiopian heroes and heroines. They are truth-tellers and -warriors. They fight tyranny with their pens and computer keyboards. Their ammunition are truth, words, ideas, facts and opinions. They slay falsehoods with the sword of truth. They chase bad ideas with good ones and advocate replacing old ideas with new ones. They fight the people’s despair with words of hope. They teach the people that fear is overcome with acts of courage. They fight ignorance and powerful ignoramuses with knowledge and reason. They stand up to arrogance and hubris with defiant humility. They seek to transform intolerance with forbearance; resist oppression with perseverance and defeat doubt with faith. They fight with their pens and keyboards on the battleground that is the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people.
On Twitter, friends and supporters are keeping awareness alive using the hashtag #Zone9Bloggers:
@gerardvanmourik @endalk2006 @Eshete #zone9bloggers will overcome someday! #change will visit #ethiopia and no one will be able to stop her
— twsgy™ (@twsgy) June 10, 2014
@natnaelteklu this sums up why #Zone9Bloggers or any concerned citizen is jailed in #Ethiopia, #FreeZone9Bloggers pic.twitter.com/wO11vcRtzd
— Fitsum Tilahun (@fitse_t) June 10, 2014
Slowly losing track of # of days #Zone9Bloggers jailed, but not losing track of them. 1 is a numerical issue, the other is a human issue.
— Maaza Mengiste (@MaazaMengiste) June 7, 2014
What makes#Zone9Bloggers incarceration different from a multitude of injustices's z regime taking long 2come up with usual concocted charges
— Kiflu Hussain (@HussainKiflu) June 10, 2014

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Afghans Survive Severed Fingers to Cast Second Round Votes · Global Voices
Samea Shanori

The Independent Election Commission is embroiled in a scandal following the 2014 Afghan vote. Photo via Wikipedia Commons
Seven million Afghans went to polling stations on Saturday according to the Independent Election Commission to elect Hamid Karzai's presidential successor in a run-off vote that will determine the first democratic transfer of power in Afghanistan's history. Nearly 40 percent of the voters were women.
Approximately 18 Afghan soldiers and 76 civilians were reported murdered during the vote and more than ten people reported that their fingers were chopped off by the Taliban to discourage them from casting votes.
It didn't appear to work. Ahmad Shuja, a Human Rights Watch research associate, described the people's determination to vote:
Taliban tried to rock Kabul with rockets, an earthquake rocked it when polls started, but voters are rocking it hardest. #AfghanElections
— Ahmad Shuja احمدشجاع (@AhmadShuja) June 14, 2014
Preliminary results expected by July 2 will point to whether Abdullah Abdullah or Ashraf Ghani becomes the next head of state. Full results will appear on July 22. An Afghan journalist, Farzad Lami, expressed the importance of the occasion in a pertinent tweet:
15 years ago people in #Afghanistan did not have the right of how to dress up, today they're going to elect their leader. #AfghanElections
— Farzad Lami (@FarzadLameh) June 14, 2014
Concerns over the country's long-term future remain. Asia Society's Afghanistan fellow Ramin Anwari wrote:
Millions of ppl showed their maturity by voting in #Afghanistan #election; only if politicians R too mature enough 2 respect their vote.
— Ramin Anwari (@raminanwari) June 16, 2014
Voice of America journalist Zheela Jan quoted one of the voters whose finger was cut reportedly by the Taliban:
#AfghanElectionsIn Herat, the man whose finger Taliban cut told @ashnatv that he has 9 more fingers to vote anytime: https://t.co/L6HP7IBtVy
— zheela-jan (@ZheelaJ) June 15, 2014
Afghanistan is facing many challenges – the security threat from the Taliban, a basket-case economy, weak law enforcement and endemic corruption, to name a few. However, following months of campaigning and a great turnout in the first and second round of elections it is clear Afghans are determined to move ahead despite these challenges.
Electoral fraud remains a major issue, and some media have already expressed doubt over the IEC's claim of a 7 million turnout. Moreover, IEC Secretariat Chief Zia-ul-Haq Amarkahil's staff were caught with unused ballots trying to leave the IEC headquarters. A committee has been formed to investigate the matter. Amarkhail, accused of using the ballots in favor of a specific candidate, denied all allegations and claimed he is being framed.
During a press conference after the election day, candidate Abdullah demanded an investigation into the matter, threatening not to accept the results of the elections unless one took place. Candidate Ghani also expressed his concern over fraud and requested an investigation via Twitter:
We want both IEC and ECC to take fraud seriously .. and investigate it – Dr. Ghani
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) June 14, 2014
Ghani's team had previously asked voters to contact them in case fraud was seen or suspected.
Everyone – please call us on these numbers if u've found about fraud or misbehaviour with our observers: #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/d1rujdPiM4
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) June 14, 2014
Attacks and clashes occurred between the supporters of the two running teams. According to local media, Ghani's supporters were beaten up by Abdullah's supporters. But a tweet from Abdullah Abdullah's Twitter account suggested Ghani's men were the aggressors [fa]:
اعمال خشونت و لت و كوب ناظرين ما توسط هواخواهان تيم اخير كاملاً يك عمل غير اخلاقى و مخالف موازين و اصول انتخاباتى است!
— Abdullah Abdullah (@AfgPresident) June 14, 2014
Violent attacks on our election observers by the opposing team is not only an immoral act, but also against the rules and regulations of the elections.
By July 22, the results will be in. It will be up to the two remaining candidates to decide whether they respect or contest them.

author: Samea Shanori


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The Appropriate Way to Talk to People With a Disability · Global Voices
Luis Flores

Image by panshipanshi on Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Salvadoran Jaime Vázquez Villalta explains in this article the appropriate ways to talk to people who have a disability:
Al dirigirse a un familiar, amigo o conocido que presenta algún tipo de discapacidad, en primera instancia debemos asumirlo como una persona, con virtudes, talentos, fortalezas y debilidades, pero ante todo, como una persona porque eso es, un ser humano que forma parte de la sociedad.
When you talk to a relative, friend or acquaintance that has some kind of disability, in the first place we should treat them as an individual, with virtues, talents, strengths and weaknesses, but above all, as a person because that's what they are, a human being that is part of society.
The author, who uses a wheelchair, has the goal of educating other people on his blog Desde mi silla (From my wheelchair) to create a more equal society.

author: Luis Flores


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Chilean Football Fan Got Mixed Up and Missed His Team’s First Match · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

A Chilean football fan who wanted to cheer his national team on at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil missed his team's first game with Australia because he mixed up the cities Curitiba and Cuiabá.
During an interview with a reporter in Curitiba, the distracted fan said he was happy to be in Brazil, “a beautiful country”. The journalist told him that the match against Australia was scheduled in Cuiabá… 1,700 kilometers away from Curitiba.
Twitter users reacted almost immediately:
[CooperativaTV] Hincha de #CHI despistado viajó a Curitiba en lugar de Cuiabá #PasiónenCooperativa http://t.co/EfsHUh5NBz
— Cooperativa (@Cooperativa) junio 15, 2014
Chilean fan went to Curitiba instead of Cuiabá.
Hincha chileno que dijo confundió Cuiabá, por Curitiba y quedó a 1.700 km de distancia del debut en el Mundial dice fue broma a periodista
— SalvadorSchwartzmann (@S_Schwartzmann) junio 17, 2014
Chilean football fan who mixed up Cuiabá and Curitiba, 1.700 km away from his national team debut on the World Cup says he was joking the reporter.
En todo caso, mi vida es bastante mejor que el mino que confundió Cuiabá con Curitiba …. Jajajajaja, morí…. Jajajajaja #CHI
— Marce Mercado (@MarceMercado) junio 16, 2014
Anyway, my life is way much better than the guy who got mixed up with Cuiabá and Curitiba, LOL! I dropped dead… LOL!!!

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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VIDEO: Why Some Students Migrate to Beat China’s ‘Unfair’ University Entrance Exam · Global Voices
Richard

A protest in Shanghai in 2012 against the opening up of the city's gaokao to non-Shanghai residents. Photo from Chen Wei Bin's blog.
It's time once again for the gaokao. Every June since 1978, millions of young people throughout China have taken the notoriously difficult Chinese National Higher Education Entrance Examination with hopes of going on to university and moving up what is seen as one of the country's fairest social ladders. Students prep for hours upon hours, pulling grueling all-nighters. Parents do what they can, some in more unique ways than others.
The test is supposed to give all students an equal shot at higher education despite their income level or location. But inequality between each region's examination remains a contentious issue. At the heart of the concern is a quota system that gives advantage to students from certain areas of China over others. People could in theory manipulate the system, then, by moving to the right region.
With each province allocated a different quota by the education authorities, locals aren't keen on the increased competition that the children of migrant parents represent. In January 2014, prominent Chinese citizen rights activist Xu Zhiyong was sentenced to four years in prison for “disrupting public order” because he helped migrant parents organize a protest in 2012 outside Beijing's education authority demanding their children be allowed to take the exam in Beijing.
At the time, however, there were also counter protests in major cities against the prospect to protect local residents’ spots. The rules were eventually changed allowing some migrant students in China to take the exam away from their registered permanent residence, except in Beijing.
This regional inequality is the subject of an infographic video recently uploaded by Feideshou (飛碟說), an independent online video producer, on major Chinese video platform Youku. The video, which explains why the exam system is unfair, has been played more than 1 million times with more than 1,400 comments. Below is Feideshou's YouTube backup copy of the video along with the subtitles translated by Global Voices:
In the comment section of the video, people are still debating the issue of gaokao fairness. “No one can criticize” (誰都說不得) believed unfairness is a part of life that must be accepted:
是不咋公平，各地的大学主要是对本地的考生比较优惠。在大学眼里，高考600分和高考550分的学生，素质都差不多，并没天才到哪儿去。能跟上学校教学就可以了，对当地学生优惠下，挺现实的。不公平就是这么个现实，沿海城市人均收入远高于内地，大家伙能做的，不也只有去北上广深打工吗？教育现状不会改变，只有自己努力，考验总是全国统一考试和录取了吧。
It is not fair. All universities are favoring local students. In the eyes of the universities, whether students get 600 or 550 points is similar. There is no such thing as talent. They only expect the students to be able to deal with the curriculum. That they favor local students more is just being practical. The issue of unfairness is part of reality. In coastal regions, their income is higher than inland. People deal with the situation by moving around and find their jobs in Shenzhen and Guangdong. The education system won't change, Everyone has to find their own way to university.
The US examination system may be more fair than the communist Chinese one, oceanswimmer wrote in a sarcastic remark:
考美国的SAT不分北京户口 河南户口 美国大学择优录取 遗憾的是 高考公平只能体现在考美国的大学 呵呵 北上广考生暂时得到了巨大好处 可长远来看 天朝损失了的一种精神
The SAT exam in the US will not differentiate between a Beijing resident and a Henan resident. The universities in the US will select the best students. The sad thing is the supposed fairness of the gaokao is only reflected in the US [education system]. Haha. Those who travelled north to take the gaokao have benefited from the loophole. In the long run, the Empire has lost its spirit [of fairness].

author: Richard


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Between Ukraine and Russia, Kazakhstan’s Chocolate Might Come Out a Winner · Global Voices
Zukhra Iakupbaeva

Rakhat chocolate. Screenshot taken from a YouTube video uploaded by Maxim Bykov.
Kazakh “chocolate patriots” are hoping that Ukraine's loss might be their gain.
When the struggle between Russia and the West over Ukraine was just warming up last summer, Russia unceremoniously elbowed Ukrainian chocolate-maker Roshen out of its domestic market. At the time, the move was widely interpreted as a punishment for Kiev's pledge to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, rather than join Moscow's alternative – the Customs Union.
The ban on Roshen imports was subsequently lifted in November after then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich gave in to Russian pressure and fatefully U-turned on the EU agreement. There was more bad news for Roshen in March this year – the Kremlin shut down the company's Russian factory over a month after the Maidan protest movement toppled Yanukovich and just days after Crimea voted to join Russia and secede from Ukraine in a controversial referendum.
With Roshen's owner Petr Poroshenko recently becoming president of Ukraine and reiterating his endorsement of the pro-EU stance of the Maidan movement, Roshen's foothold in the giant Russian market now appears to be a thing of the past.
But what has all that got to do with Kazakhstan?
As with Roshen [ru] before the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, over 50 percent of Rakhat's exports go [ru] to the giant Russian market. “Every year, Rakhat's chocolate becomes more in demand in Russia,” concluded [ru] Nadezhda Belimenko, the company's marketing director last year. Following Roshen's very public divorce with Russia, Kazakhstan's chocolate patriots are hopeful that share will continue grow.
It is important to know first that the Kazakh people are extremely proud of their national chocolate, produced by locally based confectioner Rakhat. Ahead of the Olympic Games in London in 2012, the Kazakh national boxing team even brought the chocolate as a souvenir from Kazakhstan to share [ru] it with other athletes. As one Kazakh blogger writes [ru]:
Когда едешь в другую страну, то хочется привезти что-то что напоминала бы о ней и символизировала ее. Часто из таких путешествий привозят магниты или кружки с названием городов. Конечно, такое можно купить и у нас, но я предложу Вам вариант поинтереснее. Это шоколад со вкусом патриотизма от компании «Рахат».
When you go to a different country, you want to bring back something that recalls and symbolizes [that country]. Often from these trips you bring back magnets or cups with the names of cities on them. Of course, you can buy these things in our country, too, but I would suggest a more interesting option: the chocolate that tastes of patriotism made by the Rakhat company.
For a republic determined to rid itself of “brand Borat”, Rakhat is something of a coat of arms.
Rakhat's patriotic brands “Astana” and “Kazakhstan”. Screenshot taken from a YouTube video uploaded by Maxim Bykov.
On June 11 a popular article on the Kazakh news platform nur.kz raised [ru] the possibility that industries in Kazakhstan might profit from Russia and Ukraine's sticky relations. Kazakhstan, after all, is a full member of the Russia-backed Customs Union (soon to become the Eurasian Economic Union) that Maidan vociferously opposed and succeeded in rejecting.
But in the comments below the article, Kazakhstanis were mostly interested [ru] in discussing the implications of the Kiev-Moscow schism for Rakhat's chocolate:
Ай молодцы! Завалим Россию Рахатом!!!! Я только за!
Ah great, we will flood Russia with Rakhat [chocolate]!!!! I am for it!
Я когда еду в гости в Россию, всегда везу с собой шоколад “Казахстан” рахатовский и водку “Хаома” пр-ва “КокшеМинВоды”. Ни один шоколад и водка российского производства не сравнятся с нашими. Реально, люди пробуют шоколад и говорят “вкус детства”.
When I go to visit Russia, I always carry with me Rakhat's chocolate “Kazakhstan” and “Khaoma” Kazakh vodka. Neither the chocolate nor the vodka produced in Russia can be compared with ours. When people try Kazakh chocolate they call it “the taste of childhood.”
Roshen has a big assortment [of chocolate] – we are not there yet. We need to expand and AVOID buying Roshen.
In its time the Soviet Union backed the wrong horse. They [implying Russians] thought [Ukrainians] were their fellow Slavs and built many factories producing finished products there. And we were left with nuclear polygons and ore processing plants.
The Koreans bought Rakhat for the Chinese market.
Товарооборот между нашими странами достиг 26,5 млрд долларов. Сейчас значение Казахстана для России все больше и больше растет в силу известных событий в Украине. Россия все больше ориентируется на восток, на Китай. А Казахстан – это естественный мост между Россией и Китаем”.
Trade between [Russia and Kazakhstan] has reached 26.5 billion dollars. Now the value of Kazakhstan to Russia is growing more and more because of the current events in Ukraine. Russia is gradually oriented to the east, to China, and Kazakhstan is a natural bridge between Russia and China.

author: Zukhra Iakupbaeva


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Laos Development NGOs Silent on Human Rights · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Writing for The New Mandala, Randall Arnst bemoaned the silence of Laos devleopment NGOs over the disappearance of prominent NGO worker Sombath Somphone:
…while UN rights bodies have repeatedly raised concerns, their sister agencies working in development have said virtually nothing. At the bi-lateral level, while diplomats have spoken up, development programs continue unaltered, except that several have increased their assistance.
He also analyzed the state of civil society in Laos and made the following conclusion:
The vitality and self-reliance of the more foundational or informal aspects of civil society are being weakened, in large part through state and capacity-building efforts supported by donors and development agencies.
However, as the space for these organisations to fulfil roles as part of a broader and more viable civil society is increasingly constrained and threatened, those same donors and development agencies remain largely silent.

author: Mong Palatino


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Let Colombia End Its Civil War · Global Voices
NACLA

This article is a joint-publication of NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) and Foreign Policy in Focus, and was originally published on June 4, 2014.
Mauricio Moreno / Flickr
Colombia has been the host of some of the most extreme and brutal violence in Latin America’s history. The country’s half-century long conflict has taken the lives of almost a quarter million women, men, and children, and displaced nearly six million more. The United States has financed much of the conflict in recent years, investing $9 billion since 2000—much of it to bolster Colombia’s security forces.
Yet peace may be near. On May 16, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s largest guerrilla group, signed a preliminary accord on the third of five negotiating points in their ongoing peace talks in Havana, Cuba: illicit drugs. The agreement offers a viable plan for the FARC to end its involvement in the Colombian drug trade, alternatives for the small-scale cultivators of crops destined for illicit drug markets, and meaningful policy reforms at the national level for addressing issues of drug consumption and public health.
Hope too lies with an announcement that came earlier the same day. Following national and international pressure—including an inter-parliamentary letter signed by 245 representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland—the FARC announced a unilateral ceasefire. While the government maintains that it will not end military operations until an agreement is signed, and though the FARC’s temporary ceasefire ended on May 28, this act is encouraging because it both significantly decreased violence and will likely increase confidence at the negotiating table. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, hundreds of thousands of Colombians continue to be affected by the conflict every year. Ensuring that all parties respect international humanitarian law is essential and will likely help to advance the peace talks.
Domestic political shakeups, though, threaten to disrupt this progress. In the first round of Colombia’s presidential elections on May 25, sitting president Juan Manuel Santos, who began the talks to the dismay of many former political allies, came in second to conservative hardliner Oscar Ivan Zuluaga. Zuluaga, who is allied with former president (and current senator-elect) Alvaro Uribe, has made clear his skepticism towards the talks. While he has now softened [es] his stance in advance of the runoff election, his longtime opposition to the process remains concerning. Santos and Zuluaga will face off in a second-round vote on June 15 (*).
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The accord on the drug issue—declared a “partial agreement,” as no individual agreements are final until all points on the agenda have been agreed upon—is little short of historic. The language, which was agreed upon by both parties, reflects a significant shift away from the prohibitionist approach to drug policy. Adopting some of the proposals of the growing community calling for drug policy reform, the accord acknowledges that “evidence-based alternatives” to current policies are needed to address problems that may be associated with drug consumption, and distinguishes between the cultivation of crops for the illicit market and drug trafficking.
Furthermore, it calls for the expansion of crop substitution programs, recognizing that many rural communities rely on coca and opium poppy cultivation for their economic livelihoods. However, it stipulates that “supportive measures…will be conditioned to…agreements on substitution and no-replanting,” implying that cultivators would be required to cede their earnings from crop cultivation before they see the benefits of alternative crops. Experience in Latin America has shown that conditioning assistance on total eradication harms the chance of developing lasting alternatives, as cultivators lack a successful bridge between when the cultivation of crops for the illicit market ends and alternative livelihoods become sustainable. Not surprisingly in these circumstances, many growers return to the cultivation of coca and poppy crops. A more effective model would be to offer a phasing out period and/or subsidies to cultivators until meaningful alternative livelihoods are actually in place.
Yet while proper sequencing on reducing crops for the illicit market will need to be reviewed, the parties get it right on local involvement. Opting for what one Colombian analyst described [es] as “building the state from below,” the development program would rely heavily on and actively engage with local communities to ensure their participation—and hence the program’s sustainability.
The most monumental point came with the government’s concession to de-prioritize—though not entirely retire—the destructive and ineffective aerial herbicide spraying of coca crops, opting first for alternative development and manual eradication before spraying crops. In more than a decade of its use in Colombia, aerial spraying has served only to disperse coca crops, destroy poor farmers’ livelihoods, and engender local distrust for government authorities, as the only contact many communities have had with the state has been the occasional visit of a plane conducting aerial spraying.
The agreement also addresses drug consumption, an issue generally thought to be outside the purview of the peace talks. While details here are scant, linking this issue to the peace talks will help continue regional debates on drug policy reform. Recognizing that drug policy should be based on respect for human rights and public health is a valuable contribution.
But a full agreement, if eventually signed, will not be a panacea. Taking the FARC out of the cultivation and trafficking business will not independently solve the drug issue or the associated violence. As long as there is worldwide demand—and particularly U.S. demand—for drugs, criminal organizations will find a way to supply them. Furthermore, an accord will likely leave a power vacuum in rural regions of the country as the FARC demobilizes and cedes those territories. There is a good chance that right-wing paramilitary successor groups and criminal gangs will try to fill it. Establishing a positive state presence and providing basic services will be a major challenge, especially in regions where the armed forces have been the primary face of the state.
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Because of these continued challenges, the United States has an important role to play in the implementation phase, both in supporting Colombia financially and in granting the Colombian government political space to implement the accords—even when they contradict U.S. policy priorities. A State Department communique on the drug policy agreement, which highlights the continuation of forced eradication, raises questions about whether the United States will help or hinder the advancement of the peace process.
Nearly two of every three aid dollars destined for Colombia goes to the public security forces. Will the U.S. government be willing to shift aid to build peace rather than continue war?
Achieving durable reductions in poppy and coca crop cultivation for illicit drug production will require implementing alternative livelihoods and connecting long-forgotten rural areas with the national infrastructure. After decades of waging a largely ineffective “war on drugs” in Colombia, will the United States allow its longtime ally to break with the prohibition-focused model and explore alternatives to the current militarized approach? Some of the most revolutionary agreements in the accord, such as all but ending aerial spraying, would challenge the existing U.S. approach.
These questions, and the many more that will be raised as the talks progress, will likely dismay hardliners in the U.S. government who are not ready to shift drug control tactics. But with little progress to show after decades of violence and billions of dollars spent, the Colombian and FARC negotiators have made an important step toward ending decades of violence. The United States should stand ready to support Colombia, both financially and politically, in the coming months and years—and it should know when to stand down.

author: NACLA


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Neighbor Bhutan Rolls Out the Welcome Mat for India’s Prime Minister Modi · Global Voices
Rezwan

Newly sworn-in Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) shakes hands with Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay during a meeting in New Delhi. Image by Amit Kumar. Copyright Demotix (27/5/2014)
Narendra Modi, prime minister of one of the world's largest economies, meet Tshering Tobgay, prime minister of one of the smallest.
Newly elected Modi made his first trip abroad to neighboring Bhutan, arriving on Sunday, June 15, 2014, for a two-day official visit. India is Bhutan’s largest trade partner and provides a hefty amount of development assistance to the mountain nation – about one-third of India's overall annual foreign aid, to be exact. Last year India announced a development assistance package of Indian Rs 4,500 crore (about 750 million US dollars) for the neighboring country's 11th Five Year Plan.
For its part, Bhutan is an important source of energy for India, with India likely to import 10,000 megawatts of electricity from Bhutan by 2020. Cooperation between the two countries on hydropower projects has already started.
Bhutan and India traditionally share warm bi-lateral relations. According to reports, Modi's visit is to re-assert Indian influence in the region, offer financial and technical help, and tackle China's growing influence in this region.
Social media played an important role in the elections that saw Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) come to power last month. Post-elections, Modi continues to be a hot topic of discussion online, and his visit to Bhutan – his first foreign visit as prime minister – was no exception. Some saw his trip as a positive step, like Twitter user Kuldeep Sharma:
Modi's Bhutan visit. A right step in mending fences with our neighbours n countering Chinese influence.
— Kuldeep Sharma (@Kuldeepcs) June 15, 2014
Others didn't see the logic behind the leader's actions. Journalist Seemi Pasha in New Dehli thought there were other pressing diplomacy matters to deal with first:
Issues relating to Pak, China, Sri Lanka even Bangladesh crying for attention. Why is Modi visiting Bhutan first? #SoftLaunch ??
— seemi pasha (@seemi_pasha) June 9, 2014
Modi was greeted at the airport by Prime Minister of Bhutan Tshering Tobgay, who is quite active on Twitter and was a regular blogger before his election. True to form, Tobgay documented the meeting with Modi:
PM @narendramodi led in traditional chhipdrel procession to Tashichhodzong to receive an audience from HM the King pic.twitter.com/lrv7Sat6nn
— Tshering Tobgay (@tsheringtobgay) June 15, 2014
Very good discussions with PM @narendramodi He declared B4B: that Bharat is there for Bhutan, ready to support in all our endeavors.
— Tshering Tobgay (@tsheringtobgay) June 15, 2014
Supreme Court inaugurated by PM @narendramodi The impressive structure, already a landmark, was built with Government of India assistance.
— Tshering Tobgay (@tsheringtobgay) June 15, 2014
Modi's Twitter account also provided a peek into the trip:
PM Narendra Modi and Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in front of portrait of Padmasambhava pic.twitter.com/kBxHcsq395
— Narendra Modi PM (@Narendramodi_G) June 15, 2014
Bhutan made sure to greet Modi with a warm welcome. Bhutanese blogger Yeshey Dorji posted some photos on his blog showing how the capital Thimphu was decorated and spruced up:
As I walk along the road to observe the preparations, I am convinced that PM Modi will be satisfied that the Bhutanese people worked very hard to make him feel loved and welcome in a country that believes that his visit marks the second stage in Indo-Bhutan relations.
Engineer and blogger in Pune, India, @tokyanachu sarcastically took note of the effort:
It seems that Bhutan spent 90% of its GDP in welcoming Modi. #Austerity
— HA! (@tokyanachu) June 15, 2014
Blogger Peldhen Nima wrote that media reports were speculating that the Indian prime minister, who arrived in Bhutan to sunshine and wind, was bringing billions of rupees with him to aid Bhutan. Details of the funding aside, Nima was grateful to Modi for something quite different. “Now its lots of rain here. Good for the wilting paddy plants. Thank you Modi ji for bringing in lots of rain,” he wrote.

author: Rezwan


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Researchers in Peru Unearth a New Section of the Incan Trail Near Machu Picchu · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Machu Picchu. Image on Flickr by szeke. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Machu Picchu may be an ancient city, but there are still new things to discover. A new section of the Inca Trail, the vast network of paths built by the Incan empire, of which some of the most popular with hikers nowadays lead to Machu Picchu in today's Cusco, Peru, has been discovered. It leads from Wayraqtambo (Wind Inn), behind Machu Picchu, to a lookout spot that provides unique views of the Inca llaqta (village).
Cusco's Decentralized Direction of Culture announced the finding on their website, which was republished by site Cusco 2.0:
El impresionante camino descubierto consta de aproximadamente un kilómetro y medio de largo y entre 1.20 y 1.40 metros de ancho, variando según la topografía del terreno. Aún no puede ser apreciado en su totalidad por estar cubierto por vegetación, pero gracias al equipo de investigadores del Parque de Machu Picchu, algunos tramos pudieron ser liberados de la maleza y árboles que los cubrían, evidenciando muros de contención de factura inca de hasta tres metros de altura.
The impressive discovered trail is about a kilometer and a half long and between 1.20 and 1.40 meters wide, and it varies according to the land topography. It can't be fully appreciated yet as it is covered by vegetation, but thanks to the researchers team from Machu Picchu Park, some parts are now free from underbrush and trees that were covering it, thus showing Inca-built containment walls that go up to 3 meters high.
Meanwhile, website Mystery Planet noted:
Hoy en día solo el 25 por ciento de la red vial inca es visible. El resto fue destruida antaño por los conquistadores o contemporáneamente por construcciones modernas. Aún así, investigadores en Machu Picchu anunciaron el reciente hallazgo de una nueva sección de camino […] ubicada en la parte posterior de la montaña Machu Picchu, entre los sitios arqueológicos de Wiñay Huayna e Intipata.
Today, only 25 percent of the Inca road network can be seen. The rest of it was destroyed long ago by the conquerors or more recently by modern buildings. Researchers in Machu Picchu, however, announced the recent finding of a new section of the trail […] located at the back of Machu Picchu, between the archaelogical sites of Wiñay Huayna and Intipata.
Newspaper La Nación went into further detail:
El Camino Inca (Qhapaq Ñan, en idioma indígena) es una red vial de 40.000 kilómetros que unía Perú, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina y Bolivia que se acabó de construir durante el imperio inca y cuya mayor parte se encuentra en Perú.
Varios gobiernos de la región han solicitado, de manera conjunta a la ONU, que declare al Camino del Inca como Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad.
Inca Trail (Qhapaq Ñan, in indigenous language) is a road network of about 40,000 kilometers that connected Peru, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia whose construction ended during the Inca Empire, with its main part in Peru.
Several governments in the region have jointly asked the UN to declare the Inca Trail as World Heritage Site.
On Twitter, users shared the news, and many of them posted photos and images of the Cusco sanctuary:
Nuevo camino inca a #MachuPicchu fue descubierto. Su tramo es de 1.5km y en él se puede apreciar un túnel Inca. pic.twitter.com/llYHK2Uk2W
— Visita Perú (@peru) junio 9, 2014
New Inca road to Machu Picchu was discovered. Its 1.5km long and there you can see an Inca tunnel.
[VIDEO] Camino Inca hacia Machu Picchu es el destino favorito para los ‘mochileros’ http://t.co/sXRx5N5Vq0
— AméricaNoticias.pe (@noticiAmerica) junio 6, 2014
[VIDEO] Inca trail to Machu Picchu is favorite destination for ‘backpackers’.
Even some Catalan users shared the news:
Descobert un tram del Camí #Inca construït fa 500 anys que porta al #MachuPicchu. S'havia mantingut ocult a la selva http://t.co/9q1vlXkD5y
— Sapiens.cat (@sapienscat) junio 12, 2014
500-year old section of Inca Rail to Machu Picchu recently discovered. It had been hidden in the rain forest.


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‘How to Find Happiness at 2:30 in the Morning’ · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On the blogs section of Spanish-language virtual magazine OhLaLá!, 17-year-old Octavio reflects on the pursuit of happiness. Among other things, he notes:
Y escuchar música en el colectivo entraría en esta categoría. Poner el celular en aleatorio y que las canciones vayan pasando, generándote distintos estados de ánimo, mientras mirás la calle y todo lo interesante que hay en ella, y todo lo interesante que hay en la raza humana, que se manifiesta de distintas formas.
Todo eso hasta que sube alguna mujer mayor al colectivo, y le tenés que dar el asiento. Y al “tener” que hacerlo, se convierte en una tarea obligada que me quita las ganas de hacerlo. A veces lo hago igual. Y a veces no, porque pienso en mi felicidad más egoísta. […] Además odio los autos. Bah, odio los colores de los autos. Teniendo tantos colores hermosos, ¿qué colores vemos en las calles cada día? Negro, gris, blanco. Todo esto, claro, contribuye a la deshumanización y alienación de la gente. Todos los días estos no colores. Tal vez sea un plan del imperialismo. Puede ser. Cuando crezca, ocupe la posición que ocupe, voy a impulsar un plan para pintar los autos con colores psicodélicos. Alegraría la vida de todos.
And listening to music on public transportation would fit in this category. Setting the cellphone on shuffle and letting the songs play, generating different moods, while you look at the street and all the interesting things there are in it, and all the interesting things there are in the human race, exhibited in so many ways.
All of this until an elderly woman gets the bus and you have to give up your seat. And “having” to do so makes it a duty and I don't feel like doing so. Sometimes I do it anyway. And sometimes I don't because I think of my most selfish happiness. […] Besides that, I hate cars. Bah, I hate car colors. With so many beautiful colors, what colors do we see on the streets every day? Black, gray, white. All of this, of course, contributes to dehumanizing and alienating people. Day after day, those non-colors. Maybe it's an imperialistic plan. It could be. When I grow up, no matter what position I have, I'm going to promote a plan to paint cars with psychedelic colors. This will make everybody's life brighter.


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This Experiment Tried To Test India’s Rape Problem. The Results Might Startle You. · Global Voices
Nikhil Dhingra

A girl's voice desperately cries for help from within a white van in India, where she is presumably being raped, but many walk past nonchalantly, ignoring her pleas. A few people try to intervene.
Thankfully, no one is actually in danger. The jarring scene is choreographed, part of a viral social experiment video posted on June 4, 2014 by YesNoMaybe, a local entertainment group from India, to draw attention to the “rape culture” plaguing India. ”We hear about rapes every day in India, which leads to widespread protest. Thousands of people attend candlelight marches,” the video description reads. “But only a handful of people act when it really matters.”
The video was posted not long after the recent brutal gang-rape and hanging of two young girls in a rural village in India. Within 24 hours of being posted, YesNoMaybe’s Facebook page reported that it had reached over 150,000 views. By June 12, 2014, it had a million (and currently has 1.65 million). After a few days, the video had received coverage from various Western media outlets such as Time magazine and The Telegraph.
Many were appalled at the lack of concern shown by some of the passersby in the video when screams could clearly be heard. The video sparked widespread outrage at the way India handles the issue of rape, and fueled even more frustration among those fighting to remedy the problem.
Some, such as Urmi Agrawal, wrote on the Facebook page’s comment section that the video made an important point:
this movie shud be shown to our so called youth who belive in candle march and talking on social media….but when the strom hit the ground, they do nothing!
Others, however, focused their attention towards the coverage of the video by major news outlets. Ruchika Tulshyan, a blogger for Forbes Magazine, took issue with Time's headline, “Are Indians As Nonchalant About Rape as This Video Suggests?”:
Hey @TIMEWorld, good roundup, but not a good headline. Are Indian people nonchalant about rape? http://t.co/RIq9z4hVDO
— Ruchika Tulshyan (@rtulshyan) June 12, 2014
Ankush Boravke, a freelance photographer, took a darker view:
#time got it all wrong. There is no hope in #india http://t.co/F46uCPfgL3
— Ankush Boravke (@Ankush_Boravke) June 12, 2014
Some people in the YouTube comments section criticized the people behind the video. Tirthankar Dubey, an Indian expat living in London, praised the video’s intentions, but pointed out that the video made it seem as if the filmmakers didn't open the van to prove to those concerned that there was no woman being raped.
After numerous other comments similar to Dubey’s surfaced on the video’s YouTube page, YesNoMaybe eventually issued an official response via YouTube comment:
“Alright here's something you all should know -
1. We talked to all the heroes for a good 5 minutes.
2. We opened the door and showed them what's inside.
3. All of them (including the first guy appreciated what we were doing)
4. On being asked if they would do the same again if needed – ‘Definitely, why not?’”
Nonetheless, some people began to question the publicity that this video gained for India and if the creators were actually damaging India’s reputation rather than raising awareness.
A biker from Mumbai with the YouTube username “Oggy F” began to question what the video really accomplished:
To be honest, these “social experiments” only damage the already horrible image India has globally. If you're so concerned about what our society thinks, spend your time conducting workshops and creating awareness (among women and men). Videos like these give the world an opportunity to say India is the rape capital of the world.
Rape is certainly a serious issue in India, but do videos like this one help solve the problem? What do you think?

author: Nikhil Dhingra


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What the Thai Junta Should Learn from the Burmese Junta · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Aung Zaw of The Irrawaddy compares and contrasts the Thai junta and the military-backed govenrment of Myanmar:
The Thai army has carried out more than a dozen coups in past decades, but always relinquished power to a civilian government after a number of years.
The Burma Army staged two coups, one in 1962 and one in 1988, and ruled the country for more than half a century
Today, many Burmese still feel that the country is under control of military men and ex-generals in the government and Parliament—in spite of the “sweeping reforms” celebrated by Western governments.


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What to Do Before Pregnancy · Global Voices
Luis Flores

Image by Elvis Huang on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
[All links direct to pages in Spanish.]
Zahir Aileen, author of the blog Las netas de mamá (Mom´s truths), lists a series of important recommendations to women who want to get pregnant in this article:
Si ya tomaste la decisión de ser madre espera solo un poco (uno a tres meses) para darte un espacio de preparación para tener una salud óptima para vivir tu embarazo y permitir que tú bebé se desarrolle adecuadamente. Este es el motivo por el cual es mejor comenzar a actuar tal como si estuvieras embarazada antes de estarlo de verdad.
If you already made the decision to have a baby, just wait a while (one to three months) to give yourself time to prepare in order to be in excellent health ahead of your pregnancy and let your baby grow properly. This is why it's better to start acting as if you were pregnant even before you are.
The blog is dedicated to share interesting issues for parents and those who are expecting. You can follow them on Twitter.


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‘When I Educate You, You Reeducate Me’ · Global Voices
Luis Flores

Image by Ben Russell on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Teacher Luis María Llena talks about about his years of experience in education and how the contact with his students has helped him with his professional and personal growth. He invites the readers to reflect on the importance of sharing knowledge to reinforce them:
Mis alumnos de estos 25 años me han hecho ser quien soy. Tengo para mí que yo sería menos tolerante si no me hubiera dedicado a la educación, que me ha obligado a adaptarme a diferentes realidades colectivas (diferentes generaciones) y diferentes realidades individuales (cada alumno es diferente). Esta continua necesidad de adaptación ha hecho de mí un hombre que escucha, acompaña y crece disfrutando con esta tarea. Todo eso (y aún más) se lo debo a mis alumnos.
My students from the past 25 years have made me who I am. I reckon that I'd be less tolerant if I hadn't dedicated myself to teaching, as this has made me adapt to different collective realities (different generations) and different individual realities (each student is different). This endless need for adaptation has made me a man who listens, who walks along and grows enjoying the task. I owe all of this (and even more) to my students.
Llena has a personal blog, No hay mejor maestra que la vida (There is no better teacher than life), where he shares his thoughts in Spanish and Catalan. You can also follow him on Twitter


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The Case of Ciccone Printing House in Argentina · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Eva Row, a blogger for La cosa y la causa (The thing and the cause), writes about the Ciccone printing house, related to allegations against Argentinian Vice President Amado Boudou. Ciccone printing house had a large technical capacity, unused due to its poor economic situation:
(Ciccone) adeudaba a la Afip (Administración General de Ingresos Públicos) $239 millones de pesos. […] el gobierno siempre aspiró a devolver a la Casa de la Moneda la impresión de nuestros billetes, por una cuestión ideológica de independencia y soberanía. Pero el desguace de la Casa de Moneda como impresora de billetes llevaba larga data […] El gobierno expresa la decisión de estatizar Ciccone para que sea absorbida por la Casa de Moneda. Para eso la Afip pide su quiebra y la Casa de Moneda se presenta como aspirante
(Ciccone) owed the General Administration of Public Revenues $239 million pesos [about three million dollars]. […] the government always wanted to give back the National Mint the service of printing our bills, out of ideological independence and sovereignty. But the dismantling of the National Mint as bill printer was an old issue […]. The government expresses its decision of nationalize Ciccone for it to be taken over by the National Mint. So, the General Administration of Public Revenues asks for its bankruptcy and the National Mint shows up as applicant.
However, the judge who had to rule on the bankruptcy decided to give Ciccone to another firm and the Defense of Competency Committee weighed in. Although Ciccone will finally be nationalized, there have been allegations of mismanagement by the government and judiciary all along the way.
Follow Eva Row on Twitter.

author: Juan Arellano


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Bermuda to Get Public Access to Information Law · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Premier Dunkley has announced that [the] Public Access to Information law will be operational by April, 2015.  That’s 5 years after the law was passed, and 12 years after the topic was first introduced.
Vexed Bermoothes thinks better late than never.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Caribbean: Get Your App On!  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

ICT Pulse profiles eight “new and emerging Caribbean apps”.


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Footballers with Caribbean Roots at FIFA World Cup · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

No Caribbean nation is represented at the World Cup this year, but Repeating Islands takes note of quite a few players with regional roots.


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Global Voices Seeks Contributing Editor for RuNet Echo Project · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Global Voices is seeking a part-time Contributing Editor to support our coverage of Russian citizen media, as part of our RuNet Echo project.
The project provides comprehensive and deep reporting on and analyses of the Russian-language online community. The purpose of the initiative is to deepen our coverage and analysis of Russian-language blogospheres, online speech, and social networks.
The primary focus of our coverage and analysis is Russian-language online writing from and about the Russian Federation. Secondary content may also include Russian-language content from the former Soviet Union, as it relates to the Russian Federation.
The Contributing Editor will assist in producing and editing content for the project, including regular output of stories, translation, and networking. The editor will produce and/or edit several in-depth stories per week, as well as shorter posts linking and pointing to important topics, events, and writing as it occurs. The work will involve extensive translation, analysis, and further original research and reporting when appropriate, in order to elucidate and identify trends, ideas, and social and political currents within RuNet. Analysis will also examine how content in the Russian language space relates to other online communities, languages, and cultures, and offline Russian conversation, journalism, and social and political movements.
The Project Editor will also:
Interested candidates please send a resume, a writing sample, and a Letter of Interest explaining why you'd be a good candidate for the job to: krothrock AT globalvoicesonline DOT org
Global Voices Online will receive applications until July 4, 2014.
Interpreting RuNet is funded by a grant from the Open Society Foundations.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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44,000 Malagasy Children Die Every Year for Lack of Care. How Can We Stop It?  · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

Madagascan children by Yves Picq – CC-BY-SA-3.0
In Madagascar, 44,000 children under the age of five die each year, according to the latest UNICEF figures. That number is the same as the population of all children five and under in the entire Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region of France. It’s also the number of victims in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 15 times over.
The tragedy behind the number – losing a child – most often affects families of limited means. Two groups in Madagascar are particularly vulnerable in terms of public health: children younger than five, and pregnant women.
According to the World Bank, half of all children under five experience delayed growth, “a larger proportion than in any other country in Africa.” The maternal mortality rate is estimated at approximately 498 per 100,000 live births, and the causes of death are many, including limited access to skilled staff during delivery, poor prenatal care, and lack of emergency care.
The health record is appalling, yet there is no shortage of initiatives to change the situation.
In Toliara in southern Madagascar, a school lunch project is helping to fight the problems of chronic malnutrition. The organization Les Enfants du Soleil (Children of the Sun) houses and educates street children and children from needy families. The children also receive a noontime meal in the school cafeteria. Take a look at photos of children who benefit in this French-language YouTube video:
Other programs target specific problems such as sickle-cell anemia or malaria. The organization LCDMF (the initials stand for Fight Against Sickle-Cell Anemia in Madagascar) works to make the population more aware of this genetic disease affecting 2 percent of the Madagascan people. In the following video, the team leaders of LCDMF describe the past activities of the NGO and its objectives for the next three years. Two of their objectives for the upcoming years are to give better access to antibiotics for sickle-cell anemia patients and to convince Malagasy political leaders that sickle-cell anemia ought to be included in the nation's public health priorities:
In an open letter to Prime Minister Malgache Kolo Roger, LCDMF stressed the importance of treating this problem, especially in isolated regions without modern health facilities:
Ce problème crucial de santé publique qui affecte de manière dramatique les plus nécessiteux dans une région avec près de 20% de prévalence où un enfant sur cinq souffrant d’un syndrome drépanocytaire majeur est susceptible de ne pas survivre au-delà de l’âge de 5 ans, ne peut plus souffrir de demi-mesures. Il illustre à lui seul, parce qu’il s’agit d’une maladie transversale intéressant toute les spécialités médicales, l’exigence d’une prise en compte urgente de votre part de ces logiques de santé de proximité.
This is a critical public health problem that has a dramatic impact on the neediest inhabitants in a region with nearly a 20 percent disease rate and where one out of five children with major sickle-cell anemia is not likely to survive past the age of five. The problem can no longer be handled with half measures. Because sickle-cell anemia is cross-disciplinary and involves all medical specialties, this disease alone illustrates how essential it is for you to immediately take stock of the healthcare situation in our backyard.
Much remains to be done
Another area with a pressing need for action is maternal health, due to rapid population growth in Madagascar. For example, one out of five married women who wishes to space out or limit pregnancies has no access to family planning services (19 percent), and the abortion rate is estimated at one out of every 10 live births, according to the Madagascar National Institute of Statistics (INSAT) and the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA).
Despite these efforts, Madagascar is faced with certain weaknesses that hinder improvement in health indicators. The source of poor and uneven health outcomes lies in the disparities in household incomes and physical access to health services. Consequently, nearly one in four people (23 percent) with an illness did not seek care at a health center because they could not pay for it.
Availability of medication is also a real problem because the systematic failures in drug management and inventory tracking as well as distribution logistics hamper proper distribution of medications. As a result, the wealthy use health services four times more often than the poor: 40.9 percent of total expenses in this sector were attributed to the wealthiest fifth, whereas 10.1 percent were paid by the poorest fifth, according to the World Bank.
Experts agree that the need for action is urgent. UNICEF says vaccination and newborn diet monitoring are necessary to reduce infant mortality. To improve the public health situation overall, the priorities should be:
The situation is dire but not desperate, at least not yet. The proposed policies can be readily implemented if given the political will. The Malagasy children have waited 50 years for their collective health to be at the top of the national agenda. It is high time authorities are reminded that no respectable country would tolerate the obliteration of its future in such a manner, 44,000 times a year.

author: Rakotomalala


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The Unintended Consequences of Pakistan’s Operation Zarb-e-Azb · Global Voices
Rezwan

On June 15, 2014, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a joint-military operation involving Pakistan against armed insurgent groups such as the Taliban (TTP), al–Qaeda, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
The operation started exactly a week after the terrorist attack on the Karachi airport. Kashif Aziz at Chowrangi fears that innocent people will suffer and seek refuge elsewhere to avoid the military attacks and the backlash of the militants:
This offensive in Waziristan will bring a fresh wave of IDPs [internally displaced people] to other parts of Pakistan. They need to be accommodated with care.
Hope the operation will end swiftly and without much collateral damage.


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Journalist: Colombia’s President Was Reelected Because He Campaigned on Peace · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Image by Gobierno Federal on Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Journalist Natalia Bonilla writes on Ser Cosmopolita (Being Cosmopolitan) about the results of the run-off in Colombia's presidential election on Sunday, June 15. For her, the peace discourse was fundamental for the reelection of president Juan Manuel Santos:
“Paz”, la mejor palabra en su publicidad. Su repetición durante la campaña eleccionaria fue constante y por una razón: es tiempo de vivirla. El conflicto armado “pasó de moda”. Medio siglo de sufrimiento, miedo, heridas, frustración, fue suficiente. El pueblo, por un pequeño margen y con poca participación de la esperada, optó por Santos sobre su rival Oscar Zuluaga, conocido por su narrativa bélica y radical.
“Peace”, the best word in his advertising. It was constantly repeated during the campaign and for one reason: it's time to live it. The armed conflict is “out of style”. Half a century of suffering, fear, wounds, frustration was enough. The people, with a narrow margin and less turnout than excepted, chose Santos over his contender Oscar Zuluaga, known for his warlike radical speech.
At the same time, she notes that many people chose him not because they consider him the best, but because of his promise of peace:
Santos ha recibido una segunda oportunidad. No porque sea necesariamente el mejor candidato. No porque los pasados cuatro años fueron “increíbles” en comparación con otras administraciones. No. Recibió una segunda oportunidad porque el pueblo está harto de la cantaleta. Y basado en el lento proceso de negociaciones que ha llevado a cabo su presidente desde el 2011, ha querido arriesgarse.
Santos has gotten a second chance. Not necessarily because he is the best candidate. Not because the last four years have been “incredible” compared to other administrations. No. He just got a second chance because people are fed up with the same old story. And based on the slow negotiation process underway since 2011, they've wanted to take a risk.
Follow Bonilla on Twitter.


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Podcast: China’s Leftover Women  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Sinica Podcast invites Leta Hong Fincher, author of “Leftover Women“, a book about the state of women's rights and gender equality in modern China.
The podcast discusses hidden problems and obstacles that Chinese women are facing in society including domestic violence and the “leftover women” issue.
It's worth noting that according to the author, state media's propaganda, family-driven values and legal customs in things like the housing market “all effectively conspire to roll back much of the progress on gender equality China has made over the last twenty years.”

author: Abby Liu


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Reflections of a Colombian Voter During the FIFA World Cup · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On the blog Filosofía de a pie (Pedestrian philosophy), Alejandro Martínez notes that “the T-shirt is the flag”, amidst the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the Colombian presidential election, about “the wicked association of football and politics”:
La televisión y la prensa han catalogado a estas elecciones como las más álgidas desde hace años, quizás de los últimos dieciséis años, a pesar de que los dos candidatos representan formas muy parecidas de gobernar, con ideologías bastante similares y orígenes e intereses comunes. La verdadera razón es que, mientras las urnas se van armando, las calles se llenan con pitidos y vuvuzelas. Las banderas ondean asomadas a las ventanas y el tricolor se siente por todas partes. No, no es la fiesta de la democracia. No es el entusiasmo de un país que espera elegir a su representante. Es un pueblo que celebra el triunfo de quien los representa. Es una nación que se identifica con la felicidad de Armero, la actitud serena de Falcao e, incluso, la tranquilidad de Pekerman. Es un país que se recuerda en los pocos triunfos del pasado y en las posibilidades del hoy. Es la celebración del fútbol, el carnaval de la pelota.
TV and the press have classified this election as the most critical of the past years, from the last 16 years, although both candidates represent very similar governing styles, with very similar ideology and common interests. The real reason for that is while the polling stations are being set up, streets are filled with whistles and vuvuzelas. The flags wave from the windows and the three-colored [flag] is everywhere. No, this is not the party of democracy. It's not the enthusiasm of a country that expects to choose its ruler. They are people celebrating the triumph of those who represent them. It's a nation that relates to Armero's happiness, Facao's serenity and even Pekerman's peace. It's a country that remembers the few past triumphs and the possibilities of today. It's celebration of football, the carnival of the ball.


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Slow Internet Connectivity Holding Back Online Reporting in Cameroon · Global Voices
Dibussi Tande

In an interview with the online journal Tiptop Stars, Adeline Sede-Kamga, publisher of FabAfrique magazine and organizer of the recent Cameroonian bloggers hangout, assesses the state of online reporting in Cameroon:
I think a lot of people are getting their voices heard online these days. Although there are a few stronger voices out there, some amazing ones have disappeared into thin air. Slow Internet connectivity, is undoubtedly the number one killer of online reporting in Cameroon. We have heard through some unconfirmed source that there would be an introduction of cheaper and faster internet connection in 2015. We hope this project materializes sooner than later. Many companies are looking at shifting or splitting advertising budget to incorporate online platforms as well. That is good news for us. But until this happens, the companies cannot get effective value for money. Also, those in the entertainment world are craving for a better platform to promote themselves. Online reporters are ready to support them but again, Internet connection is the issue. If this is fixed, we can do quite much in promoting not only our country, but the people taking Cameroon to the world stage.

author: Dibussi Tande


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Hosting the World Cup or Olympics Isn’t All Fun and Games. This Website Breaks It Down · Global Voices
L. Finch

Screenshot from the Sport Better Cities website.
Think teams are the only ones who can win or lose at the FIFA World Cup or the Olympics? Think again. The sporting events can be a mixed bag for the cities that host them.
Sure, with millions of fans around the world tuning in to watch, hosting mega events like these can elevate the profile of the country. With proper planning, they can spur the construction of useful infrastructure, too. The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, which are often credited as playing an important role in making the city the modern metropolis that it is today, are held up by many as the example to follow.
But the events require the host city to invest an enormous amount of money that perhaps could be spent better elsewhere, like on education and health. People in Brazil, where the 2014 FIFA World Cup is currently underway, have protested the tournament for that very reason. There's also a real risk that the investment won't pay off, and the once shining venues might one day end up decaying and abandoned.
This can make reporting these events a complicated and sensitive affair. Two researchers from the Graduate School of Design and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University are trying to make it a little easier.
The pair have launched a new website, Sport Better Cities, dedicated to explaining the good and bad of the World Cup and Olympics from the city's perspective. The site packages information from media, academic and other sources into neatly compiled lists and posts, such as “Getting Realistic About the Economic Benefits of Hosting” (spoiler alert: the miracle economic boost customarily predicted before each event doesn't happen).
The researchers assure that they aren't trying to knock sports. “We love football,” the site explains:
We want to make it easier for journalists, sports, city and other enthusiasts to see the 2014 World Cup in its urban infrastructural and historical context. We hope that this will help stimulate more conversation about how sport can lead to better cities.
They eventually hope to “make the long-term urban development and infrastructural needs of host cities as much of a priority as hosting the Beautiful Game.”
Have some information worthy of sharing on the impact of hosting these events? Sport Better Cities is accepting submissions.

author: L. Finch


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Do You Know About the Deadly Violence Against Muslims in Sri Lanka? Not If You’re Reading Local Media · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot of the YouTube video of the speech of BBS Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero.
At least four people have been killed, 78 people injured and a number of Muslim shops and homes torched in recent clashes between Muslims and hardline Buddhists in the Sri Lankan coastal city of Aluthgama, but don't expect to learn much about it from Sri Lanka's mainstream media.
Those news outlets provided little to no mention of the unfolding violence, according to Ayesha Perera for Indian citizen media site Firstpost. Groundviews, an award-winning alternative citizen journalism site based in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, reported the “reasons range from orders from higher-powers to self-censorship over fear of pushback.” They took screen captures of some of the major newspapers as the riots were happening to prove the point.
In the absence of local coverage, social media and international news outlets have become the dependable sources for information. On Twitter, reports on the violence were shared using the hashtag #Aluthgama.
Fire services struggling to control another Muslim shop on fire #lka #aluthgama pic.twitter.com/hni2QOYG7j
— Dinouk Colombage (@Dinoukc) June 16, 2014
Third day. Lack of political leadership is appalling. So is police incompetence and moral cowardice of Buddhist Mahanayakes. #Aluthgama
— Vidura (@Apelankawe) June 17, 2014
Assistance/help to those affected by communal violence in Sri Lanka south town #Aluthgama still very much community based
— Amantha (@AmanthaP) June 17, 2014
Tension in Aluthgama was already boiling before the clashes, fueled by reports that a Muslim man allegedly attacked a Buddhist monk. After local Sinhalese Buddhists protested police inaction on June 12, 2014, authorities arrested a suspect and two others, and the situation appeared to die down.
But Buddhist nationalist organization Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) revived the anger on June 15 with a rally in Aluthgama. The group's secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, a Buddhist monk, delivered a fiery speech against the Muslim community. He said regarding the heavy police presence in the area:
I would like to say that it is Sinhala Police in this country. And the army in this country is Sinhala Army. Hereafter, if a Marakkalaya (offensive way of addressing Muslims) or any other Paraya (another abusive way of addressing foreigners) keeps so much as a hand on a Sinhala Person, let alone a Monk, it would be the end of all these fellows.
YouTube user Sri Lankan Expat uploaded the speech with English subtitles:
After the rally, BBS supporters marched into Muslim-majority areas chanting anti-Muslim slogans, and clashes eventually broke out. Several Muslim shops and homes as well as a mosque were vandalized or torched. The violence continued throughout the night, leaving three Muslims dead. Thousands of Muslims took refuge in nearby schools and other shelters.
The following night, a 58-year-old Tamil was mistaken to be a Muslim and flogged to death, bringing the count of those killed to four, according to the Colombo Telegraph.
The Foreign Correspondents Association of Sri Lanka posted photos to its Facebook page showing the devastation. BBC correspondent in Sri Lanka Charles Haviland tweeted photos as well:
Burnt-out Lanka Motors sales store #Aluthgama #SriLanka after anti-Muslim violence by hardline Buddhists. pic.twitter.com/SVry1TR4cE
— Charles Haviland (@cfhaviland) June 16, 2014
The Sri Lankan authorities imposed curfew in Aluthgama and the nearby Muslim majority Beruwala town to ease tensions. BBS, which maintains it was protesting peacefully but was pelted by rocks, blamed the police for the riots in Aluthgama and warned, “Do not make us have to tell the people to boycott Muslim businesses.”
Muslims make up 10 percent of Sri Lanka's mainly Buddhist population. Over decades, Muslims in Sri Lanka have been living peacefully amongst a largely accommodating Sinhalese and Tamil population. However, in recent years, anti-Muslim sentiment has been on a rapid rise amongst sections of the political class.
The phenomenon is simultaneous with a rise of Buddhist extremism. BBS has made headlines since 2012 for a number of violent protests and attacks against Muslims. The group succeeded last year in making authorities drop Muslim halal labeling and calling fellow Buddhists to boycott such products manufactured and sold at retail chains.
Blogger Tisaranee Gunasekara questioned why police and special forces failed to prevent the riots in Aluthgama. “Mobs are cowardly. At the first real sign of decisive action by the police and the [Special Task Force] the rioters would have melted away,” he wrote.
Indrajit Samarajiva, a blogger in Sri Lanka, warned that allowing extremist groups to act as they wish will have dire consequences:
What’s scary is that the government tolerates and even supports groups like this. It was this misconception that radicals can be controlled which led to so much bloodshed and toppled governments in the past. It is this appeasement of racism which sows the seeds of discord and war.
Some groups are taking a stand to counter the riots. Sri Lanka Unites, a youth movement, is encouraging its followers to speak up against hate. Campaign for Justice, a collective against racism, says it has organized a protest for June 18.


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Tejo, Colombia’s Explosive National Sport · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Photo by blog Los Mundos de Hachero, used with permission.
Tejo or turmequé, a national sport in Colombia since 2000, has its origins in other game played in the Muisca community, which inhabited the Bogotá savannah 500 years ago, as Spanish journalist Jose Sanchez Hachero blogs on Los Mundos de Hachero.
Back then, the game was known as “zepguagoscua”. Tejo is meant for socializing and gambling, generally with beer drinks. Sanchez Hachero describes how it's organized:
[El juego] consiste en lanzar un disco metálico a través de una cancha en cuyos extremos se colocan unas cajas cubiertas de arcilla en la que yacen enterradas mechas (bolsitas) de pólvora que explotarán cuando se logre el impacto. El objetivo está en el centro de la caja, una suerte de círculo señalado por unas flechitas bajo el que se supone está la gran mecha. La diana se llama bocín y si tiene usted la dicha de aterrizar el disco metálico en semejante lugar se llevará seis puntos. El primero que reviente 9 mechas, a razón de tres puntos por explosión, se lleva el juego. Los puntos cambian según la puntería del tirador y si el proyectil impacta en el centro se otorgarán seis puntos, como decía, pero si la carambola es doble, es decir, en el centro y en una mecha, entonces el agraciado se llevará nueve puntos y los colombianos llaman a semejante gesta ‘Moñona’.
[The game] consists of throwing a metal disc across a field where on each side clay-covered boxes are placed with little bags full of gunpowder that will detonate on impact. The goal is to get to the center of the box, a sort of circle pointed to by some arrows, where the big fuse is. The target is known as “bocín” and if you are lucky enough and your disc lands on the spot, you earn six points. The first one who hits nine fuses, three points per blow, wins the game. Points may change according to the shooter's aim, and if the projectile hits the center, you get six points. But if you get a double shoot, that is, on the center and a fuse, then the lucky one will earn nine points. Colombians know that prowess as “Moñona.”
Follow Sanchez Hachero on Twitter.

author: Milton Ramirez


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The Framing of Jamaica’s “Gay Menace” · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

Rainbow Flag in sand; photo by Capes Treasures, used under a CC license.
The dismissal of Professor Brendan Bain from his post as head of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network (CHART) is an issue that still has legs in Jamaica. The Facebook group Real Change For Jamaica has been busy discussing Professor Bain's decision to take legal action against the University of the West Indies, which was responsible for the termination of his contract.
Albert Cee felt that Bain's constitutional rights had been violated:
If nothing else, the rules of natural justice dictate that a person should have a fair hearing before such drastic action is taken against them. That was not the case here, so I hope the Professor is justly rewarded both in monetary terms as well as in his Constitutional Rights being upheld.
Facebook user C. Anthony Francis suggested that the university was being controlled by the gay community:
UWI will hold that the gay community and others who [CHART] is supposed to serve, no longer have confidence in Prof. Bain because his professional opinion does not elevate homosexuality.
In contrast,Molly Stewart hoped that Professor Bain's lawsuit would not be successful:
I've read his article; in it the goodly doctor intimates that gays/homosexuals are to be charged with the spread of AIDS. His irresponsible writing and his homophobic beliefs continue to fuel anger and fear within the Jamaican population. The result [of] false and outdated reporting, while ignoring what other countries already know to be [the] truth – that anyone can spread the AIDS/HIV virus – shows his inability to hold a position of authority. It is injurious not only to the gay population, but to the community at large. He may be a great man to some but only because he espouses the same or similar beliefs of a people who refuse to think independently, and align themselves with how the majority feels, out of fear of being ostracized. FALLA FASHIN [Follow Fashion] I see is still very much alive and kicking in Jamaica.
Meanwhile, writer Marlon James was sceptical about a story published in the Jamaica Observer newspaper about the alleged gang rape of a male jogger in a Kingston neighborhood, implying that the story was simply widening the gap for sensible discussion of the gay rights issue:
‘He was found by some females who were shocked and even more surprised [HAD TIME TO SURMISE THE SITUATION, OBVIOUSLY] to see that he was bleeding heavily [VICTIM IS BATTERED AND TRAUMATISED, WITNESS SAYS, BUT LOOK AT HIS RECTUM!!] from his rectum,’ [A BATTERED AND BOUND MAN, WITH HIS ASS PLOPPED DOWN ON THE GROUND, YET BLOOD WAS APPARENTLY SHOOTING ANIME STYLE FROM HIS ASS—ALSO WHO CHECKS THE ASS FIRST?] one man, who said he assisted in untying the victim, [WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FEMALES IN THE STORY? NO UNTYING SKILLS? YOU WOMEN ARE NEVER ANY HELP—NOT EVEN A CELL PHONE AMONG YOU] told the Observer.
He continued:
‘Several persons [LIKE WHO, SINCE THIS WOULD BE THE FIRST TIME THEY ARE HEARING ABOUT THE EVENT?] have told me that they were in fear and are apprehensive to go back because of what happened. It was not a pretty sight,’ the jogger said [WHICH JOGGER IS THIS NOW?].
‘We used to protect the females and tell them to walk in groups, but it now seems we, the males, are the target. This cannot be allowed to continue,’ [DAMN BATTY BOYS] the man said.
James concluded:
COME ON, PEOPLE. EITHER THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN OR THIS IS WORST REPORTING SINCE THE LAST OBSERVER ARTICLE. #GAYAGENDA.
James added more thoughts in an updated Facebook post:
More fact checking goes into an Onion story than this male jogger gang raped business. The question I have is why people, even people who should know better, even people that I've assumed took at least one English class were so quick to believe it. People, even those who saw obvious holes in the story still refused to let it go completely, resorting to ‘if it no go so, it go near so’ logic. People want to believe in the gay menace so badly that when batty boy Kristallnacht finally happens they'll simply think those perverts had it coming.
The blogger at Slouching Toward Kingston was also critical of the Jamaica Observer story:
I jog there. Four days a week. Including that Monday morning, from about 4:20 in the the morning, to 5. And I didn’t see no women helping no man bleeding out his ass (excuse my double negatives). On Tuesday, i.e.: the day after the alleged incident, I had a day off from work, and when I went out, I did not hear about any such incident  from my friends in the adjoining communities of Meadowbrook Estate, Patrick City, or Duhaney Park. This is rather odd, as the last rapist in our community was easily identified and very well known, having done his campaign of rape and pillage on the poorly lit Daytona Avenue section of Patrick City. So for a man to have had been gang-raped, and no news or gossip of it for two days is rather odd in our community.
He linked it to what he considered the newspaper's political agenda:
I’m sure most of you have realized by now that all of the recent stories about homosexuals by the Observer are thinly disguised opinion pieces that have to do [with] them engaged in crime, banditry, corruption, or their second exploited hatred – the PNP. [The People's National Party, which, at present, sits in government].
I think it is fairly obvious that the Observer has a very serious problem with the Simpson-Miller [the leader of the party and Jamaica's current Prime Minister] administration. That is quite alright. But instead of relying upon rational arguments rooted in logic, economics, history or common sense, they have instead decided to create a ‘Gay Menace.’ It is a strategy that is working, at least in getting website hits. Just look at how the web hits rose yesterday, and how the comments just piled up.
But  what the Observer is trying its best to do is to create an instinctual association in the Jamaican people’s mind between Homosexuals, Criminals, and the PNP. They seem to be succeeding in associating criminals with gays.
Kei Miller followed up his earlier posts on the issue by examining the way that the homosexuals are being framed in the public discourse:
It has already achieved its desired effect – to portray gay people as armed, dangerous and powerful. One poster on facebook commented, ‘At least now we have a legitimate right to our homophobia!’ It doesn’t occur to him that Jamaica has one of the highest murder rates in the world and that no story of any other gang killing or murder or rape that is in the papers every minute of every day has ever borne a headline, ‘Heterosexual Gang kills 3 men in Portmore.’ ‘Heterosexual men gangrape woman.’
Other strategies to paint the gay community as powerful are more subtle. Consider even the term ‘gay lobby’. A Trinidadian activist, Colin Robinson, recently despaired at the phrase that I think imagines a tremendously organized group of men who probably meet under the cover of night, pulling up in their black limos, knowing each other by secret handshakes, and who evilly plot the moral destruction of the Caribbean. Colin writes  ‘What “gay lobby”? People struggling to carve out some space for humanity and dignity is a “lobby” now?’
Miller continued, by making reference to a piece of satire by one of his former students:
…The church with the law on their side, the church with the culture on their side, the church with the anthem and the pledge on their side, the church with the majority of the population on their side, the church who now insists on holding on to their disgust of homosexuality while claiming it isn’t homophobia – despite all of this, the church will continue in its bizarre demands to legislate the lives of others, to essentially hold power over them, to uphold laws that don’t affect their own lives, but the lives and freedoms of others – and the Jamaican church will be absolutely incensed that those whose lives are actually affected and limited and dissempowered by such laws should  have the audacity to protest this. Such protests or advocacy or lobbying will be labelled as bullying and the Jamaican church will claim to be the victims in this fight. For they have learnt the lesson well – the same lesson we all have learnt as children – that there is power in being the victim, or at least in being perceived as the victim. There is power in shouting out, ‘HE STARTED IT!’
In a related blog post by Miller, the writer took on the issue of paedophilia in Jamaica, which he says “is no laughing matter”, and its outrageous double standards:
In Jamaica there is much greater concern for a paedophilia that rarely occurs than there is for the kind that happens frequently. The sight of a pregnant 12 or 13 year old girl is just as likely to have people frowning at the child, slut-shaming her and outright blaming her (‘She too force ripe!’ ‘Look pon lickle she a run down big man!’ ‘ Before she study har book instead o study man!’) rather than the fully grown and supposedly responsible man who decided to have his way with her.
By contrast, if a boy of a similar age walked around showing the evidence of his buggery, it would evoke far more sympathy and outrage, and cause a witch hunt for the wicked man who had done the deed.
One of the great hurdles in confronting paedophilia in Jamaica is that it isn’t recognized for what it is –  overwhelmingly a heterosexual crime. And this despite what official statistics will tell us. Now, make no mistake, the crime happens to both boys and girls, but it would seem that as a country we are far more interested in protecting our boys than protecting our girls.
Miller connected the dots by referring to an online debate he had with a friend over “the same old  anxieties that many Jamaicans have about gay people gaining more rights in the society”:
She finally, and predictably, pulled for the emotionally manipulative paedophilia card. It was her little boy, she confessed. She worried about him. Would he be safe in a country where gay men had rights. Now I should tell you that my friend had a little girl as well, but clearly she was comfortable living in a society where it was this girl child who was statistically far more likely to be molested and raped. I challenged her about this and I pointed her to a fact she had obviously never considered, that the gay lobby she so despised was as much against paedophilia as she was – that this was common ground that they shared, and that those she perceived as her enemies would almost certainly stand alongside her in supporting more strident laws that targeted sexual predators in Jamaica.
Alas, my friend ended the argument right then and there. She did not want to find common ground with these gay people who repulsed her, and if gay people did not in fact support paedophilia, or were not paedophiles themselves, then how could she maintain her hatred? It was all too inconvenient – the truth.

author: Matthew Hunte