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Israel, Gaza, War & Data – The Art of Personalizing Propaganda · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

Instagram co-tag graph, highlighting three distinct topical communities: 1) pro-Israeli (Orange), 2) pro-Palestinian (Yellow), and 3) Muslim (Pink). Visualization created from Gephi.
If you’re rooting for Israel, you might have seen videos of rocket launches by Hamas adjacent to Shifa Hospital. Alternatively, if you’re pro-Palestinian, you might have seen the following report on an alleged IDF sniper who admitted on Instagram to murdering 13 Gazan children.
While war rages on the ground in Gaza and across Israeli skies, there’s an all-out information war unraveling in social networked spaces.
Israelis and their proponents are likely to see IDF videos such as this one detailing arms and tunnels found within mosques passed around in their social media feeds, while Palestinian groups are likely to pass around images displaying the sheer destruction caused by IDF forces to Gazan mosques. One side sees videos of rockets intercepted in the Tel-Aviv skies, and other sees the lethal aftermath of a missile attack on a Gazan neighborhood.
Not only is there much more media produced, but it is coming at us at a faster pace, from many more sources. As we construct our online profiles based on what we already know, what we’re interested in, and what we’re recommended, social networks are perfectly designed to reinforce our existing beliefs. Personalized spaces, optimized for engagement, prioritize content that is likely to generate more traffic; the more we click, share, like, the higher engagement tracked on the service.
Content that makes us uncomfortable, is filtered out.
The founder of Avaaz.org and Chief Executive of Upworthy Eli Pariser warned in his TED talk about the Filter Bubble:
In a broadcast society, there were gatekeepers, the editors, and they controlled the flows of information. Along came the Internet and it swept them out of the way, and it allowed all of us to connect together, and it was awesome. But that’s not actually what’s happening right now.
We’re not seeing different viewpoints, but rather more of the same.
A healthy democracy is contingent on having a healthy media ecosystem. As builders of these online networked spaces, how do we make sure we optimizing not only for traffic and engagement, but also an informed public?
As I’m writing this post, details of an Israeli Air Force missile attack near the entrance of a United Nations school in Rafah are emerging. The attack killed at least 10, injuring many more. The IDF claims it had targeted three members of the Islamic Jihad riding a motorcycle near the school, not the school itself.
Within the hour, top English-language news portals are leading with the story (for more see image gallery):
When we take a look at some of the top Israeli digital media portals, there’s little mention of the incident at all (headlines translated from Hebrew):
As you can see, there’s almost no mention of the incident across major Israeli media portals.
Ha’aretz does cover the story, but Ha’aretz also has less than 10% readership, as it is considered to engender extreme liberal views. In the fallout of this war, the paper is also losing subscribers angered by published articles critiquing the IDF.
Israelis are convinced that media around the world is one-sided, anti-Israeli, and heavily biased towards the Palestinian cause.
Yet few come out against their own clearly biased, heavily concentrated and privately owned media (see: Mozes family , Sheldon Adelson).
This illustration originally created by Carlos Latuff, a cartoonist, artist and activist based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was heavily shared amongst Israeli users on Facebook over the past month.
The following illustration, created in 2012 in response to CNN’s whitewashing of Bahrain dictatorship, has been popularly shared across Israeli Facebook pages over the past weeks. It depicts common Israeli sentiment towards western media, as irrational and detached from reality.
These very deliberate choices made by media outlets affect our reality, how well we’re informed as a public.
Should Israelis show more sympathy towards the U.N. school attack? And if so, who is to blame?
… the landscape is much more nuanced, and highly personalized. We construct a representation of our interest by choosing to follow or like specific pages.
The more we engage with certain type of content, the more similar content is made visible in our feeds.
Recommendation and scoring functions learn from our social connections and our actions online, constructing a model that optimizes for engagement; the more engagement, the more traffic, clicks, likes, shares, and so forth, the higher the company’s supposed value. Our capitalistic markets appreciate a growing value.
Facebook plays a key role at disseminating information to the population at large. While some Israelis share news articles in their feeds, many use content sourced by a number of very popular Facebook pages. These are public pages that typically surface funny memes, or buzzfeed-style attention-grabbing images, highly shareable content perfect for Facebook feed-style interactions.
StandWithUs (413k likes), an international non-profit organization dedicated to “informing the public about Israel and combating extremism and anti-Semitism” had no mention of the U.N. incident. The same goes for Kikar Hashabat (117k likes) and Tweeting Statuses (605k likes), a heavily followed humor and media curation page.
Instead, the following map of the Gaza Strip as a minesweeper grid was posted, with the following comment: “currently spreading on WhatsApp”.
The group’s moderator clearly received the image from a WhatsApp group, and posted to this public FB page, which received over 11k likes, hundreds of shares and so far, 133 comments, ranging from critiques to justifications; a highly polarized stream of comments.
Once again, the Israeli sources had not even a single mention of the U.N. incident. It wasn’t covered by Israeli media, nor was it surfaced through popular Facebook pages.
The graph below represents Twitter accounts responding to a different incident at the UNWRA school in Beit Hanoun between July 25th and 30th. It is still unclear who is to blame for firing at the school, although someone clearly learned their Google SEO tricks (click here to see who comes up first on Google search).
Nodes are Twitter handles, and their connections represents who follow relationships. The larger a node, the higher its centrality, the more followed that account is within this group. The closer together two nodes, the more connections they share. Different colors represent communities, effectively regions that display significant levels of connectivity; nodes of the same color are much more inter-connected compared to the rest of the graph.
This network graph details the landscape of Twitter handles responding to the UNWRA school bombing. Visualization created from Gephi.
Network graphs are mathematical tools used to model relations between objects, and are incredibly helpful when working with social data. Analyzing their structure helps us gain insight into our culture and society. In this case, we see a clear separation between the two sides. On the right, a clearly “pro-Palestinian” group of activists (in green) as well as a variety of media outlets and journalists (in gray). The gray cluster of bloggers, journalists and international media entities is closely connected with the group of pro-Palestinian activists, which means that information is much more likely to spread amongst the two. This structural characteristic of the graph reinforces general Israeli sentiment regarding international media bias.
The “pro-Palestinian” side. Visualization created from Gephi.
Two of the most popularly forwarded posts from within this side of the graph are:
I've just been to the UNWRA school that was shelled last night 13 dead. 4 shells bracketed school. Targeted or not, area is civilian.
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) July 30, 2014
Our correspondent @paulmasonnews holds up shrapnel collected at UNWRA school in Gaza http://t.co/hQ8jNFwV1h #c4news pic.twitter.com/uS726ISRU8 — Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) July 30, 2014
Alternatively, on the other side we encounter the “pro-Israeli” groups, including media outlets, Israeli public personas, and various American zionists (light blue), as well as American conservatives and Tea Party members (dark blue).
Pro-Israeli side. Visualization created from Gephi.
Popularly shared posts within this group include:
How many times can UNWRA claim to be “shocked” by rockets in their schools before people stop buying it? Third time: http://t.co/qwhB9HiBDl — Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) July 29, 2014
What is UNWRA ? $1 billion annual budget to teach this to the Gaza kids: #hate #war #Nakba Day http://t.co/7FEY9TgMYL pic.twitter.com/OYTdME4FHm
— TB. (@tom_bench) July 30, 2014
There’s a clear difference in frame when we compare one side of the graph to the other. None of the information shared is false per se, yet users make deliberate choices about what they choose to amplify. This is a representation of their values, and the values of their connections.
Messages passed along in one side of the graph will never reach the other.
Certain nodes are more strategic when trying to bridge between the two sides. In this case, Haaretz accommodates the most connections on both the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli sides of the graph, having the highest betweenness centrality.
Compared to all other nodes in the graph, Haaretz is most likely to spread throughout the wider network. It has the most potential for bridging across biases and political barriers.
On Instagram we see similar dynamics play out. The language used to describe pro-Israeli content includes tags such as: #IsraelUnderFire#IStandWithIsrael #PrayForIsrael and #Peace. On the other side of the conflict, we see: #FreeGaza, #PrayForGaza, #Genocide and #BoycottIsrael.
Content and conversations on Instagram are split into several camps, where once again, we’re effectively all talking to people like us.
Call it Homophily, call it the Filter bubble, it is a prevalent phenomenon everywhere we turn.
Personalized online spaces are architected to keep us coming back for more. Content that is likely to generate more clicks, or traffic is prioritized in our feeds, while what makes us uncomfortable, fades into the ether.
choosing to ‘like’ the Israeli politician Miri Regev produces a list of similar politicians.
We construct our social spaces — we may choose to follow a user, like a page or subscribe to updates from a given topic.
When we like a Facebook page we are recommended other similar pages (see: collaborative filtering) based on past actions taken by other users on the site. For example, when I chose to follow Miri Regev (left image), a conservative Right-wing Israeli politician, the system recommends other Right-wing Israeli politicians, many of which share her political agenda.
The underlying algorithmics powering this recommendation engine help reinforce our values, and bake more of the same voices into our information streams.
Facebook’s trending pages aggregate content that are heavily shared (“trending”) across the platform. If you’re already logged into Facebook, you’ll see a personalized view of the trend, highlighting your friends and their views on the trend. Give it a try.
Now open a separate browser window in incognito mode (Chrome: File->New Incognito Window) and navigate to the same page. Since the browser has no idea who you are on Facebook, you’ll get the raw, unpersonalized feed.
I was surprised to find a relatively sane discussion happening in one social network — Secret.ly, an app that lets you share anonymous messages with your friends. The service published a page with a list of posts about the conflict. I found one of particular interest, not only for the topic, but the actual discussion that unfolded.
The combination of anonymity and some proxy for social ties seemed to calm down the typically polarized and extreme tone of conversations.
It also helps that the service is still quite small, relatively speaking.
We need to be more thoughtful about adding and maintaining bridges across information silos online. In the Twitter example above, Ha’aretz is clearly positioned well in the network to make important impact on both sides, yet due to that, Ha’aretz also struggles to find its core audience, hence secure enough budget to operate and grow. If you made it this far down the article, you clearly care about the topic. There are two ways you can help:
Thoughts? Comments? Find me here — @gilgul
New York City-based Gilad Lotan is the Chief Data Scientist at Beta Works. He's a visualization geek and he writes about data and Middle East politics.
Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive

author: Gilad Lotan


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Overcrowded Passenger Ferry Sinks in Bangladesh; 2 Dead, More Than 100 Missing · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladeshi rescue workers search the waters where an overloaded ferry capsized in the Padma River in Munshiganj, 30 km south of capital Dhaka. Image by Fahad Kaizer. Copyright Demotix (4/8/2014)
A passenger ferry capsized in Padma river en route to Mawa in Bangladesh, some 30 kilometres south of the capital Dhaka. Strong currents led to the accident around 11 a.m. Bangladesh time on Monday. The vessel was over capacity at the time with at least 250 people on board.
Efforts are ongoing to rescue the passengers from the river. At least two people have died, and more than 100 are reported missing according to latest reports.
The moment the ferry capsized was captured by an unknown person on a mobile phone from a nearby vessel. The video was uploaded to YouTube and Facebook by a number of users like RisingBD, and it went viral.
The rescue operations are being hampered due to strong currents and big waves in the Padma river. The rescuers are yet to identify the place underwater where the ferry submerged.
Bangladesh has been struck with these kinds of repeated tragedies during monsoon season in recent years. The reason includes poor design and quality control of as many as 10,000 vessels plying in the country and overloading of passengers, especially during festival (Eid) time.
Diaspora Blogger Haseeb Mahmud reacted cynically on Facebook after hearing about the disaster:
লঞ্চ ডুবি হইছে। শত শত লোক ডুবে মারার খবর কিছুক্ষণের মধ্যেই আসতে শুরু করবে।
যেটা হবে,
– সীমিত সম্পদ নিয়ে একটা উদ্ধার অভিযান
– ফেইসবুকে ঈদ পরবর্তি নতুন ইস্যু। স্ট্যাটাস, ইভেন্ট, ফান্ড কালেকশন।
– প্রচুর ক্যামেরা সহযোগে শাহবাগে মানববন্ধন
যেটা হবে না,
– ব্যাটারি রিক্সা থেকে শুরু করে বিমান পর্যন্ত যানবাহনের একটা কার্যকর কন্ট্রোলিং বা মান নিয়ন্ত্রন সিস্টেম গড়ে তোলা। এবং এই সিস্টেম যাতে গড়ে ওঠে সেটার জন্য একটা দীর্ঘমেয়াদি নাগরিক আন্দোলন (এঞ্জিওদের ফান্ড কালেকশন দৌঁড়ঝাপ বা বছরে একটা সংবাদ সম্মেলনকে আন্দোলন বলা হচ্ছে না এখানে) চালিয়ে যাওয়া।
– বিভিন্ন কাজে হাজার হাজার কোটি টাকার গল্প কদিন পর পর শোনা গেলেও যাত্রাপথের নিরাপত্তা বাড়ানোর জন্য কোন টেকাটুকা বরাদ্দের খবর পাওয়া যাবে না।
– মৃতদের বহু লাশ খুঁজে পাওয়া যাবে না। জানাও যাবে না তারা কে ছিলো, তাদের নাম কী।
– এতোগুলো মৃত্যুর জন্য দায়ী ব্যক্তিদের কোন বিচার হবে না।
A ferry has sunk. We will soon hear the news of the deaths of more than hundreds of people.
What will happen:
- A rescue effort with limited resources
– A new issue to post about on Facebook after the Eid holidays. Statuses, events, fund collection.
– Human chain in front of media cameras in Shahbag
What will not happen:
- Build a proper quality control mechanism for the vessels and a controllable traffic system. A long-term citizen movement is required to achieve this system (not the usual sporadic press conferences or fund collection by NGOs).
– No extra budget allocation will be made to increase safety in inland water travel.
– A lot of the bodies will never be found. Worse, we will never know who they were, not even their names.
– No one will be prosecuted for negligence or be deemed responsible
Bangladeshi onlookers gather near the scene where an overloaded ferry capsized in the Padma river in Munshiganj. Image by Fahad Kaizer. Copyright Demotix (4/8/2014)
Twitter user À Muse Dë Erato accused local TV channels of airing the launch capsize video over and over for increased viewership:
They said humanity died in gaza by israli and they showing Launch sinks in Padma video again again 4 TRP #Bangladesh
— À Muse Dë Erato (@rafisBlackDiary) August 4, 2014

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Serbia Hit With More Floods Only 2 Months After Devastating Deluge · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

A man uses a boat to navigate the streets in Vršac, Serbia, during a new wave of flooding in July 2014. Photos collected by Nenad Kiss from social media users, widely circulated online.
After massive floods in several Balkan countries in May 2014, a natural disaster the size of which the region hasn't seen in over a century, Serbia was hit with new floods during the last days of July.
Authorities have thus far recorded damage amounting to over 1 billion euros (1.4 billion US dollars) in Serbia alone and many homes and lives have been lost. On July 30, 2014, around 10 p.m., heavy rainfall began over the majority of the country and didn't die down until some 12 hours later. The Kostolac power plant that provides electricity for a large part of Serbia, including the capital city, was barely salvaged in the May floods with the help of citizens and special forces. Once again, it was endangered by floodwater.
The damage this time around has not been recorded officially yet, but some towns that fared rather well during the massive floods in May have not been as lucky. The town of Vršac alone saw some 200 liters of floodwater per square meter in its streets and homes over just a few days. Social media users collected and shared images of the flooding and damage in Vršac:
Flooding in Vršac, Serbia, during a new wave of flooding in July 2014. Photos collected by Nenad Kiss from social media users, widely circulated online.
Another view of Vršac during flooding in July 2014, taken from an apartment building. Photos collected by Nenad Kiss from social media users, widely circulated online.
An example of the extent of floodwater damaging homes throughout Serbia, this one in in Vršac during a new wave of flooding in July 2014. Photos collected by Nenad Kiss from social media users, widely circulated online.
The central Serbian town of Topola also saw plenty of flooding and damage, and a new state of emergency for the municipality was declared on July 31, 2014, while other cities and towns such as Trstenik, Požarevac, Kraljevo and Vrnjačka Banja were also hard hit by flooding and fires caused by the thunderstorms and lightning that accompanied the rainfall.

author: Danica Radisic


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Sonia Ordóñez, Translating Threats to Free Expression Online for Global Voices Advocacy · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

The Guggenheim in downtown Bilbao, Spain, where Sonia Ordóñez was born. Photo by Flickr user Andres Miguez. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Sonia Ordóñez is a volunteer Global Voices translator who has devoted most of her time to translating stories for Global Voices’ Advocacy project, which is dedicated to protecting freedom of expression online. For many weeks over the last two years, Sonia has translated the Netizen Report, a weekly round-up of digital rights issues from around the world. We spoke with Sonia to learn more about her life and work.
Global Voices (GV): Tell us about yourself. Where are you from? What are your hobbies?
Sonia Ordóñez (SO): Soy de Bilbao, en España. Viví durante muchos años en Londres, donde estuve primero estudiando y luego trabajando en banca. En julio de 2009, después de pensarlo mucho, me trasladé a El Cairo, Egipto (mi marido es egipcio). Aquí primero me tomé un año sabático e intenté mejorar mi árabe. He trabajado de profesora (inglés y español) en uno de los colegios británicos de El Cairo. Actualmente trabajo como traductora independiente.
Sonia Ordóñez (SO): I'm from Bilbao, Spain. I lived in London for many years, where I studied and later worked in banking. In July 2009, after thinking long and hard, I moved to Cairo, Egypt (my husband is Egyptian). Here, I initially took a sabbatical year and tried to improve my Arabic. I have taught English and Spanish in one of the British schools in Cairo. I am currently working as a freelance translator.
GV: When did you start working for GV and what keeps you in the community?
SO: Desde 2012. Decidí colaborar y sigo haciéndolo porque las historias que contamos/traducimos muchas veces no tienen ninguna cobertura en otros medios, aunque para las comunidades son temas realmente importantes. Y además, siempre hay algo interesante y nuevo que aprender, con posts que reflejan lo que la gente de cada zona está viviendo sobre el terreno. Por ejemplo, los levantamientos árabes, cobertura de protestas en todo el mundo, por diferentes problemas, pero siempre desde el punto de vista ciudadano, de la calle.
SO: Since 2012. I decided to contribute and I continue doing it because the stories we tell/translate often times are not covered by other types of media, even though these topics are very important to these communities. In addition, there is always something new and interesting to learn from these posts, which capture what people all over the planet are experiencing. For example, the Arab uprisings, coverage of protests around the world for different problems, but always from the point of view of the people, of the street.
GV: You usually translate articles related to activism for Internet rights. Why?
SO: Me interesan sobre todo los temas de derechos, sobre todo la libertad de expresión, porque en muchos países del mundo es un derecho que la gente aún no puede ejercer. Sin libertad de expresión no es posible la democracia, y hoy en día Internet puede ser la única válvula de escape para decir lo que realmente piensas, aunque como sabemos también esa libertad se ve amenazada por gobiernos de todo el mundo, incluso aquellos que se autodenominan democráticos.
SO: I am interested in issues regarding people's rights, in particular freedom of expression, because there are many countries in the world where people still aren't able to exercise this right. Without the freedom of expression, democracy is impossible, and nowadays, the Internet may be the only tool available to convey how you really feel, although we are aware that this liberty is also threatened by many of the governments around the world, including those that call themselves democratic.
GV: Is it dangerous to be a professional translator where you live?
SO: Nunca he tenido ningún problema, pero soy muy consciente de la realidad actual y del ambiente que me rodea, con muchos activistas y periodistas en la cárcel. Ese es uno de los motivos por los que hace tiempo decidí no escribir y dedicarme a traducir, porque otras personas han tenido que dejar trabajo, familia y amigos atrás para evitar graves problemas.
SO: I've never had any issues, but I am very aware of the current reality and my surroundings, there are many activists and journalists in jail. For that reason, a while ago I decided not to write but to focus on translating, as there have been people who have had to leave their work, family and friends behind to avoid serious problems.
GV: Do you consider translation a form of activism as well?
SO: Puede serlo, por supuesto. A mí me parece muy importante dar a conocer temas que no tienen cobertura en español, temas que afectan directamente a mucha gente de otros países y necesitan nuestra atención. Porque los medios tradicionales no se interesan, a menos que puedan “vender” la noticia, y eso normalmente significa que si no hay sangre de por medio las historias de abusos y violaciones de derechos no aparecen en ningún medio.
Pero se puede luchar contra ese ambiente de indiferencia, dando a conocer las historias a una audiencia mucho más amplia a través de la traducción. Y creo que eso es importante tanto para las nuevas audiencias como para la comunidad que vive la historia, porque crea solidaridad y puentes, y también puede dar lugar a colaboraciones entre distintas regiones. Sobre todo en la era de la tecnología, donde la mayoría podemos informarnos, si queremos.
SO: It can be, of course. I feel it is very important to bring to light those issues that aren't covered in Spanish, issues that directly affect many people from other countries and need our attention. Because traditional media is not interested, unless they can “sell” the story, and normally that means if there is no blood, the stories about abuse and violation of rights don't appear in the media.
But we can fight against the indifference by getting these stories out to a much broader audience through translation. And I believe this is important not only for the new audience but also for the people who live the stories themselves because it creates togetherness and builds bridges, and it could lead to collaborative ventures within different regions. Especially in the age of technology, when most of us can educate ourselves, if we choose to.
GV: What's it like working as a translator in Cairo?
SO: Yo traduzco inglés-español-inglés y los proyectos los organizo en línea, con la mayoría de los clientes de Estados Unidos, América Latina, algunos en España. Es decir, en realidad yo no trabajo en Egipto, aunque me encuentre aquí físicamente. Para trabajar como traductora aquí necesitaría un nivel de árabe que desgraciadamente no tengo, aunque puedo hablar árabe egipcio coloquial y también leer y entender los mensajes y los tuits en árabe que aparecen en los posts de GV sobre la región.
SO: I translate English-Spanish-English and I organize my projects online, with the majority of my clients in the United States, Latin America, and some in Spain. In other words, even though I am physically here, I don't really work in Egypt. For me to be a translator here I would need to have a certain level of Arabic that I unfortunately don't have, although I speak colloquial Egyptian Arabic and can also read and understand the posts and tweets that appear in Arabic on GV posts about the area.
Cairo Tower in Egypt, where Sonia Ordóñez currently resides. Photo by Ahmend Santos from Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0
GV: What is the most difficult thing to learn in Arabic?
SO: Bueno, además de que utilizan su propio alfabeto y escriben de derecha a izquierda (para mí fue como aprender a leer desde cero, como los niños en la escuela), existe también una gran diferencia entre el árabe que se habla a diario en la calle y el árabe clásico moderno que se utiliza en ocasiones más formales, con un vocabulario y pronunciación muy distintos. Yo me defiendo bastante bien con el dialecto coloquial, lo hablo y entiendo, puedo leer (y escribir cosas poco complicadas), pero cuando se trata de árabe clásico la verdad es que aún me pierdo, aunque pueda entender el sentido general del texto o discurso.
SO: Well, in addition to the fact that they have their own alphabet and write from right to left (for me it was like starting from scratch, like the kids in school), there is a huge difference between the spoken everyday Arabic and the classic modern Arabic used in more formal occasions, with very different vocabulary and pronunciation. I do pretty well with the coloquial dialect, I speak and understand it, and read it (and write things that aren't very complicated), but when it is classic arabic, honestly, I still get lost, although I may be able to get the gist of the text or speech.
GV: Besides translation and digital rights, what other interests do you have?
SO: Mi pasión siempre ha sido la política. Es algo que aprendí sobre todo de mi padre, cuya vida estuvo marcada por las consecuencias de la guerra civil española. Cuando comenzaron las protestas en Egipto en enero de 2011, la mayoría de los extranjeros se marcharon del país, muchos para no volver. Yo me quedé. Y aunque hubo días muy duros (la embajada española ya se había puesto en contacto para preparar una posible evacuación), siempre me he considerado testigo privilegiado de la historia de este país. Creo que Egipto aún nos dará más de una sorpresa, y espero poder presenciarlo desde cerca.
SO: Politics has alway been my passion. This is something I learned form my father in particular, whose life was marked by consequences from the Spanish Civil War. When the protest started in Egypt in January 2011, most of the foreigners left the county, many never came back. I stayed. And although there were some very difficult days (the Spanish embassy had already arranged a possible evacuation), I have always considered myself a privileged witness to this country's history. I think Egypt will surprise us at least once again, and I hope to experience it from near.
GV: As a Spaniard, has it been difficult adapting to everyday life in Egypt?
SO: Define “normal”, jaja. Sí, claro. La cultura es muy distinta, aunque la gente es muy amable y siempre ofrecen ayuda. Además, cuento con el apoyo de otras personas extranjeras que también, por distintos motivos, viven aquí en Egipto. Porque no puedes esperar que los egipcios cambien por ti, eres tú quien se tiene que adaptar. Es curioso porque ellos creen que los españoles y los egipcios tienen mucho en común, como países mediterráneos, pero yo no estoy tan segura…
Lo mejor de los egipcios es su sentido del humor. Aunque a veces den una imagen muy conservadora, siempre les gusta pasárselo bien, reirse de todo, incluso en situaciones duras. .
Por otra parte, Egipto es un país de mayoría musulmana, pero no existe ninguna obligación para las mujeres de llevar el velo, ni de vestir de negro riguroso, tipo niqab. Por supuesto, no vas a ver a las jóvenes egipcias por la calle en minifalda o pantalones cortos, o en camisetas de tirantes, aunque luego muchas se pongan el bikini cuando van a la playa. Yo creo que es un tema más cultural que religioso, porque no cabe duda que la presión social es enorme. Es una sociedad muy machista, desgraciadamente.
SO: Define “normal,” haha. Yes, of course. The culture is very different, although the people are very nice and always offer to help. In addition, I count on the support of other foreigners who for other reasons also live here in Egypt. You can't wait around for the Egyptians to adapt to you, you are the one who needs to adapt. It's interesting, they think that the Spanish and the Egyptians have a lot in common, as Mediterranean countries, but I am not so sure of that…
The best part of the Egyptians is their sense of humor, although they may at times appear very conservative, they always like to have a good time, laugh at everything, including difficult situations.
Furthermore, Egypt is a country made up of mostly Muslims, however women are not obligated to wear a hijab, nor do they have to dress in all black, niqab style. Of course, you won't see young Egyptian women out wearing miniskirts or shorts or tank-tops, although many of them do wear a bikini when they go to the beach. I think it is more an issue about culture than it is religion because there is no doubt that the social pressure is enormous. Unfortunately, it is a very chauvinistic society.
GV: You've lived in various countries. Do you miss Spain? What countries would you like to visit?
SO: ¡Claro! De mi país echo de menos a la gente, a mi familia y amigos. También la comida, la forma de ver las cosas, y ese carácter tan directo que tenemos. Intento ir a Bilbao al menos dos veces al año, por Navidad y luego también en verano. Cuando no estoy allí sigo en contacto a través de Internet, sobre todo Skype. También echo mucho de menos Londres, una gran ciudad con tantas oportunidades…
Aunque he estado de paso, me gustaría conocer Turquía. Y cuando digo conocer me refiero no a ir de turista, sino de pasar un tiempo allí, especialmente en Estambul. Y también Australia, otro país en el que no he estado nunca.
SO: Of course! I miss the people from my country, my family and friends. Also the food, the way of seeing things, and that very forward way of being. I try to go to Bilbao at least twice a year, for Christmas and also in the summer. When I am not there, I keep in touch through the Internet, especially with Skype. I also miss London a lot, it is a wonderful city with so many opportunitites…
Although I passed through Turkey, I would like to really see Turkey. And when I say see, I don't mean do the tourist thing, I mean spend some time there, especially in Istanbul. And also Australia, that's another country I've never been to.
You can follow Sonia Ordóñez on Twitter @baraka18.

author: Juan Arellano


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VIDEO: Development Master Plan for Brunei’s Capital · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

This video shows the master plan to develop Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei's capital city, into a “livable, uniquely Bruneian, riverfront city.”

author: Mong Palatino


text:
5 Free Apps, Podcasts and Blogs to Learn Quechua · Global Voices
Autor Invitado

Collage of images created by the author, used with permission.
The following text, written by Américo Mendoza-Mori, originally appeared on the Peruvian website SienteMag. It is republished here with the author's permission.
There are several stereotypes about Quechua. Is it a dead language? No, there are an estimated 6 to 8 million speakers in South America. A simple language? You cannot imagine the suffixes this language contains. That it’s limited to agriculture, folk songs and shamanic sessions? No, many everyday conversations are held in Quechua.
In spite of discrimination, prohibitions, and a lack of institutions to promote it in the last few hundred years, this language family has much to offer.
Several universities throughout the world (England, Germany, the United States, France, etc.) teach Quechua with pride, while in Peru we treat its speakers like second-class citizens. There are rock and salsa groups that sing in Quechua. There are literary magazines and radio and television programs in Quechua. Add to this the great ancient knowledge preserved by their speakers.
For lovers of social media and smartphones, here is a list of useful courses for learning and promoting Quechua. It should be noted that Quechua is not really a language, but a language family. The courses mentioned here use mainly the variant known as Southern Quechua (which is what is spoken in Cusco, Ayacucho and Cochabamba). All are free.
Do you like podcasts? The Center for Latin American Studies at New York University broadcasts a program that you can download to your iPhone or computer. They interview painters, musicians, professors and a myriad of other characters.
If you have a basic level of Quechua, the podcasts will help a lot, as they are intended for college students interested in the Andes. It can be downloaded for free from the website and iTunes.
In collaboration with Rising Voices, this site offers a collection of audio, including poems, songs and stories in Quechua from different parts of Peru. They can be downloaded via SoundCloud.
This is a Quechua-Spanish dictionary that for now is only available on Android. It also offers dictionaries in Aymara-Spanish, Guaraní-Spanish, and Mapuche-Spanish. It shows up in the Apple AppStore, but at the moment it doesn't work. It can be downloaded from Google Play.
The Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, through PromPeru, has launched a smartphone app where you can learn basic and useful phrases in Quechua. The format is fairly simple to use, designed for the tourist or those interested in Quechua.
The application has a problem, and that is that it includes some words that nobody uses. In the lesson about professional careers, it includes “Qelqa rimaq kamayoq’, which literally translates as ‘speaker of the written’, but the app translates it as ‘journalist’. On the other hand, the lesson on the days is correct, but the app uses the Castillian words to name the days; even though Quechua has its own words for them, they aren't normally used in everyday life.
What is this about? The Highest Academy of the Quechua Language in Cusco, which has collaborated in the development of this application, wants to avoid the ‘Castilianization’ of Quechua words so it invents words or brings back words already in disuse. While the intention is good, it’s obvious that Quechua and Castilian have coexisted for almost 500 years and inevitably along the way there have been linguistic exchanges and borrowing. There are many words from Spanish like ‘liwru’ (libro/book), ‘manna entendinichu’ (no entiendo/I don’t understand) or ‘manna parlanichu’ (no parlo/I don’t speak).
I can recommend all of the lessons from this app except the fourth (professions). Also included is a short dictionary and an impressive list of names in Quechua with their translations. You can download it from the Apple AppStore and from Google Play.
Lorena Chauca had a great deal of affection for Quechua, the language spoken by her grandparents. Her eagerness to learn spurred her to create the blog ‘Allillanchu!’, which has very useful resources and information not only for learning Quechua but for understanding songs and Andean culture.
Sadly, this young journalist died in an accident in 2012, but her love and dedication to disseminate Quechua is reflected in this course. She would surely be very happy to know that her blog is a tool used by many people.
Américo Mendoza-Mori is a young Peruvian researcher in cultural and creative ventures for Latin America, focusing on the Andes and Brazil. He is a cultural consultant. You can follow him on Twitter at: @ameriqo.

author: Autor Invitado


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5 Things One Blogger Thinks You Should Know About People of African Descent in Trinidad & Tobago  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

We have evidence in our culture, historical facts, which show how the African experience in the Caribbean has helped define our landscape and spirit.
In honour of emancipation, Amilcar Sanatan shares five things about Afro-Trinbagonians you never knew: they are not a monolith, they don't all vote along ethnic lines, they may not always recognise the extent to which Africanness has been degraded and could do with a few lessons in ethnic pride from other races, and they need to understand the ways in which emancipation must mean equality for all.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Another Tajik Blogger Speaks Out For Alexander Sodiqov · Global Voices
Mahina Shodizoda

Alex Sodiqov with his wife and daughter. Shared via www.freesodiqov.org
This post is part of our campaign #FreeAlexSodiqov: GV Author Detained in Tajikistan.
In an August 4 post LiveJournal user Icekandar writes about Alexander Sodiqov, the young scholar, blogger, and Global Voices community member facing espionage and treason charges in Tajikistan.
After providing brief details about Alexander's arrest and the charges made against him, the blogger discusses the elements of the case that disturb him most:
Честно признаюсь, меня в этом деле удивило больше всего непонятное поведение наших властей. Уверен, что они уже на следующий день после ареста Саши поняли, что он всего лишь исследователь. У него не было ни специальных средств, которыми пользуются шпионы, ни дипломатической неприкосновенности, ни влиятельных покровителей. Он оказался простым гражданином Таджикистана, получающим образование за рубежом. Так почему же наши органы не выпустили Сашу сразу, не поднимая международный скандал?
Let me be honest, what has been the most surprising thing for me in this case is the behavior of the authorities. I am sure that the day after arresting [Alexander] they understood that he was just a researcher. He did not have any of the special equipment typically used by spies, diplomatic immunity, or powerful supporters. He turned out to be an ordinary citizen of Tajikistan studying abroad. So why didn't our security services free [Alexander] immediately, without causing an international uproar?
The blogger offers his opinion as to why this did not happen, suggesting that Alexander's arrest will have important implications that the Tajik government has failed to consider:
Мне представляется, что наши органы не совсем представляют себе последствия таких дел для страны. А последствия эти весьма серьезные. В первую очередь, арестом ученого органы нанесли большой ущерб имиджу Таджикистана. Западные посольства и организации еще долго будут помнить арест Саши и его обвинение в шпионаже. Рейтинги, составляемые различными международными правозащитными организациями, обязательно отразят это дело. И ученые со всего мира тоже этого не забудут и много раз подумают прежде чем приехать к нам или согласиться на сотрудничество с нашими вузами. Туристы, которые прочитают о деле Саши в интернете, тоже не захотят ехать к нам. Ведь большинство туристов едут в ГБАО, а именно там и арестовали Сашу. Серьезные западные компании много раз подумают прежде чем инвестировать в нашу страну. Иностранные СМИ, которые будут писать о Таджикистане, еще долго будут упоминать нас как страну, в которой арестовывают ученых.
I think our [security services] do not quite realize the implications of such cases for the country. The implications are quite significant. Firstly, this scholar's arrest has done significant damage to Tajikistan's international image. Western embassies and organizations will not hurry to forget [Alexander's] arrest and espionage charges laid against him. This case will definitely affect [Tajikistan's] position in the various ratings compiled by international rights groups. Scholars from all over the world will also remember [Alexander's arrest] and will think twice before visiting Tajikistan or agreeing to cooperate with our institutions of higher education. Foreign tourists who will learn about [Alexander's] case on the Internet will also not want to visit our country. Most tourists choose Tajikistan to travel to GBAO, and this is exactly where [Alexander] was arrested. Serious western companies will rethink before investing in our country. Foreign media reporting on Tajikistan will remember us for a long time as a country that arrests scholars.
Finally, Icekandar notes:
Будут и последствия, которые коснутся тысяч молодых таджикистанцев, получающих образование за рубежом. Самые талантливые и образованные из них едва ли захотят вернуться в Таджикистан и заниматься научной деятельностью здесь. Ведь научная деятельность подразумевает сбор и анализ информации, беседы со всеми людьми – а это у нас, получается, приравнивается к шпионской деятельности. Вот и будут наши молодые, талантливые граждане работать на западе и способствовать развитию западных стран…
There will also be implications for thousands of young Tajikistan nationals who presently study abroad. The most talented and well-educated among them will hardly wish to return to Tajikistan and do academic work here. Academic work implies the gathering and analysis of information, interviewing people, which, as it turns out, we [as a country] view as spying. So, our young, talented fellow citizens will work in the west and help those western countries develop further…

author: Mahina Shodizoda


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Following a Ceasefire in Gaza, Infographics Show the Scale of 30 Days of Death and Damage  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

#Gaza war in numbers http://t.co/eAbHKuP77V shared by journalist @jncatron
Scores of infographics are being shared online showing the overall toll of Israel's latest incursion into Gaza.
A 72-hour ceasefire started today after 30 days of Israeli shelling and a land incursion into the Palestinian enclave, which was met by Hamas rockets, that has left at least 1,868 Palestinians and 67 Israelis dead, according to one such infographic. Among the Palestinian dead are 246 women and 426 children. The 9,563 Palestinians wounded include 1,853 women and 2,877 children.
This is the fourth time Israel and Gaza commit to a ceasefire since Israel started bombing Gaza on July 8.
Since Israel launched a massive offensive against the 40-kilometer-long coastal strip on July 8, their military has bombed residential neighborhoods, markets, schools, a playground, hospitals, shelters and refugee camps, leading to a 75 percent civilian death rate. On July 28, Israel attacked the only power plant in Gaza, plunging the congested strip of 1.8 million people into darkness.
With no where to escape, the number of Palestinians displaced in Gaza could exceed 400,000 people, according to the UN.
Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, a Geneva-based organistion, which aims to end human rights abuses among individuals living in the MENA and bring perpetrators to justice, shares this infographic:
#InfoGraphics Israeli Assault on #Gaza by Numbers in 30 Days http://t.co/nDGBs9Wlg8 pic.twitter.com/Oglouoguf5
— Euro-Mid (@euromid) August 5, 2014
In a series of charts and graphs, Euro-mid says 1,487 or 79 per cent of the 1,875 Palestinians killed during the previous 30 days were civilians; 299 were members of resistance groups, and 89 people were described as “unknown.” Among them were 426 children and 255 women.
Israeli Assault on Gaza in numbers (Source: Euro-Mid)
It lists the Israeli fatalities at 67, including three civilians and 64 soldiers. Among them were 57 Israelis, two Americans, one French national, two Belgians and two “unknown.”
The number Palestinians wounded is listed as 9,563, including 1,927 women and 2,877 children.
Among the dead on the Palestinian side are nine UNRWA personnel, 16 health professionals and 12 journalists.
Damage to the health and education sector in Gaza. Source: Euro-Mid
Another chart details damage to the health and education sectors. In total, 13 hospitals were damaged, 10 health clinics were destroyed, 34 health facilities were closed and 12 ambulances damaged.
In total, 98 government schools and 90 UNRWA schools were damaged, effecting 152,000 students. Six Gazan universities were also damaged in the war, effecting around 100,000 students.
At least half a million Palestinians are internally displaced in Gaza, with no where to go to (Graph source: Euro-Mid)
About half a million Palestinians have been internally displaced. A total of 310,000 had to move from their homes due to Israeli threats, 165,000 moved because their homes were destroyed and 254,000 are described as internally displaced persons (IDPs) in UN shelters.
Overall, Israeli shelling and bombing targeted 10,604 homes. Out of those, 1,724 were completely destroyed and 8,880 were partially destroyed.
Religious sites also came under fire. The Euro-mid says 42 mosques were totally destroyed and 90 partially destroyed. A church was also partially destroyed, in addition to 10 Muslim cemetaries and one Christian cemetery.
A graph showing public utilities destroyed in Gaza. Source: Euro-Mid
Gaza, which already suffers from a crippling siege, now faces acute water and power shortages. This chart says eight water supply and waste water plants have been destroyed, effecting 700,000 people. Also, 19 electricity facilities were bombed in the war, plummeting Gaza's 1.8 million population in the dark.
From the Netherlands, Rohan Nagel, who described himself as a human rights activist who is a tech geek, shares those two infographs, showing the damage:
UN – SitRep breakdown for the 4th of August. #FreePalestine #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/gwAtIoltyY
— Rohan Nagel (@RohanNagel1997) August 5, 2014
Page 2 of the Sitrep breakdown. #FreePalestine #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/oEgRZ41QCi
— Rohan Nagel (@RohanNagel1997) August 5, 2014
Since Israel launched a massive offensive against the 40-kilometer-long coastal strip on July 8, their military has bombed residential neighborhoods, markets, schools, a playground, hospitals, shelters and refugee camps, leading to a 75 percent civilian death rate. On July 28, Israel attacked the only power plant in Gaza, plunging the congested strip of 1.8 million people into darkness.
With no where to escape, the number of Palestinians displaced in Gaza could exceed 400,000 people, according to the UN.
This is Israel's third military operation in Gaza in six years. Excessive restrictions from Israel in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank is why most of the world and the United Nations considers this territory “occupied” by Israel.
Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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How a Jewish-American Author’s Facebook Page Became a Hub for Citizen Reporting on Gaza · Global Voices
L. Finch

Screenshot from Naomi Wolf's page.
The web is a noisy place where disinformation abounds and dialogue often devolves into name-calling. This is especially true for Israel's “Operation Protective Edge” in Gaza, which has killed more than 1,865 and wounded nearly 9,500 Palestinians.
Best-selling Jewish-American writer Naomi Wolf is trying to cut through the noise on her personal Facebook page. She and her more than 79,000 followers (and growing) are curating and verifying news as well as sifting through the propaganda and media bias.
Her page has become an unrelenting feed of crowdsourced information on the bombardment in Gaza as well as a place where respectful discussion is encouraged. On Aug. 4, she wrote:
Leaving you with this tonight. Taking 24 hours off to process (and recover a bit from) this very difficult two weeks. Please follow and post from Mohammed Omer, Denny Cornier, HRW, and pls post news events we care about and do that great community moderating. Four million strong for a better world, salaam shalom.
Making Peace
BY DENISE LEVERTOV
A voice from the dark called out,
“The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war.”
But peace, like a poem,
is not there ahead of itself,
can’t be imagined before it is made,
can’t be known except
in the words of its making,
grammar of justice,
syntax of mutual aid.
As more and more innocent Gazans have died in the bombings and schools, neighborhoods, hospitals and shelters have become targets, the Israeli propaganda machine has worked hard to characterize the assault as justified self-defense against Hamas, which has ruled the coastal strip since 2007 under a seven-year blockade from Israel, for firing hundreds of mostly homemade rockets into Israel. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in Gaza and three civilians killed in Israel.
Mainstream media have also muddied the online waters with skewed reporting, such as presenting the situation as an evenly matched conflict or mincing words about who's responsible for civilian deaths. The issue of Israel and Palestine was already a topic of heated disagreement, and the latest violence has only made civil debate more difficult.
“People finally managed to enter #Khuzaa today and discovered the extent of the destruction. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel,” photojournalist @Lazsim tweeted.
“In a time when there's so much spin in news and the Muslim world sees one news stream and the Western world sees another news stream and so we'll never understand each other, people from all over the world and as you can tell from the comments every political persuasion and religion are coming to this forum to communicate and also to get a more nuanced picture of the news,” Wolf told Global Voices in an interview.
The outspoken author is perhaps better known for her controversial writings on feminism or her arrest at an Occupy Wall Street protest in New York in 2011 than her involvement in citizen journalism, but the community of amateur reporters on her Facebook page is no accident. Wolf co-founded a citizen reporting platform called DailyCloudt.com two years ago, but demand was so high that the team took it down four months later to revamp the technology, she said.
The website isn't up and running — she promised it would relaunch as soon as possible — but Wolf's personal Facebook page certainly is. She said she sees the page as a kind of beta test for DailyCloudt.com, and hopes to migrate the community of citizen journalists there to the website once it's live again.
Naomi Wolf at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival. Photo from Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0
Wolf is trying to teach her followers the basics of journalism, such as verifying pieces of information with at least two independent sources. Citizen journalists often spot things before professional journalists do, she said, pointing to her page's early coverage of sanitation issues and the threat of disease in Gaza given the shortage of electricity and clean water. In a difficult reporting environment like Gaza, “it's very compelling and helpful to teach people how to verify news and how to report the news, and also teach them what isn't news. A Hamas website isn't a news source. An IDF website isn't a news source. […] There are better and worse sources,” she said.
The page, which Wolf runs with the help of producer Danielle Holke, has steadily grown since the start of the offensive in Gaza on July 8. User engagement has jumped — more than 100 percent in one week — and its reach has expanded to at least 3.6 million users, Wolf said.
A post published on June 22 in which Wolf described walking out of synagogue because of the silence on Gazan deaths was shared more than 14,800 times and helped boost the page's visibility:
Challenged below for why I am mourning genocide in Gaza. I mourn genocide in Gaza because I am the granddaughter of a family half wiped out in a holocaust and I know genocide when I see it. People are asking why I am taking this ‘side’. There are no sides. I mourn all victims. But every law of war and international law is being broken in the targeting of civilians in Gaza. I stand with the people of Gaza exactly because things might have turned out differently if more people had stood with the Jews in Germany. I stand with the people of Gaza because no one stood with us.
The page has also attracted attention for different reasons. Wolf posted on Aug.1 that she had received a warning from Facebook “probably due to the graphic nature of the images that were posted by contributors and citizen journalists, of wounded and dying in Gaza.” The social network had removed a photo that it said violated its standards, she wrote.
Wolf has featured stories that counter common narratives, such as that Hamas uses Gazans as human shields or that no Israelis support peace. Because it's her personal Facebook account and not a page dedicated exclusively to citizen journalism, the lines between opinion and reporting can be blurred — she regularly speaks out against Israel and calls its assault genocide. She has made it clear, however, that there is room for dissenting views as long as people stick to the community guidelines, which encourage people to engage others on the page in a respectful and civil manner.
Commenters regularly debate on the page, and it's no surprise that not everyone agrees. People from across the political and religious spectrum have challenged Wolf. “This ‘all views are welcome’ does nothing but obscure the issues and perpetuate notions that this latest carnage is something debatable. All views do not necessarily warrant a legitimate platform. And in this particular case, it does not at all,” one commenter wrote.
The point isn't that everyone should agree, but that they should communicate. “We the ordinary non-psychopathic people need to keep communicating, keep sharing, keep talking,” another commenter wrote. “When we people stop doing that, that's when evil can get in and prevail.”
Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive

author: L. Finch


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Malaysia’s Longest Serving PM Repeats Call to Censor the Internet · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Photo by Syrenn, via Wikipedia. Released to public domain.
Former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has reiterated his demand that the Malaysian government censor the Internet in order to “protect public morality”.
Mahathir was Malaysia’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003, but continues to wield influence in the ruling coalition that has been in power since the 1950s.
A few months ago, media outlets quoted Mahathir saying that he supports the stricter regulation of the Internet. On August 1, 2014, he repeated this line and justified his proposal to censor the Internet through his popular blog.
Mahathir began by explaining why he is backtracking on his earlier pledge to keep the Internet free from censorship.
Not knowing the power of the Internet, I promised that we would not censor it. But today I have changed my mind…I have done so because the players, including those controlling the servers have been applying their own censorship of what can appear in this alternative media [sic]. I myself have suffered from such censorship.
Mahathir claimed that a July 24 blogpost he wrote about Jewish people and Israel's attacks on Gaza has been “prevented from being linked to Facebook without any explanation.” The post referenced the Holocaust and accused Jewish people today of “behaving worse than Nazis, not caring at all for the sufferings and deaths they inflict upon others.” At the time of publication, Global Voices could not determine the veracity of this claim.
Mahathir also said that his blog has been rejected and blocked by various blog and web hosting platforms and that it is being continually targeted by spam and virus attacks.
He condemned blogging platforms, social media sites, and hosting services for exercising control over content posted by their users.
The internet is not the free alternative to the state-controlled print and electronic media it is touted to be. It is subject to even more censorship than Governments could exercise. The people who [host] these platforms and servers can censor. And various other means are available to the powerful controllers of the new media for them to censor in the interest of their politics.
Paradoxically, Mahathir cited these examples to support his argument that the Internet needs more regulation and control by governments. He then argued that the Internet is less free than mainstream media, which is under state regulation in Malaysia:
There is no freedom of the alternative media. Governments and the owners of servers and platforms and assorted others can censor the alternative media. It is actually less free than print and electronic media operating under Government licences.
I think it is time we stop talking of the freedom of the press. Let us admit that the press needs to be censored. It needs to be censored because freedom, any kind of freedom will always be open to abuse. The worst abuses are in the field of morality.
Mahathir bemoaned the fact that children can easily access porn and that they are not safe from online sexual assault. He also criticized the growing acceptance of LGBT people whom he called the ‘indeterminate’ and ‘abnormal’ sex.
To protect the children and the public, Mahathir argued that that it is time to censor the Internet:
Incest, child sex, sex with animals, sexual parties, sex in public and many other practices which we still feel are wrong will soon be a part of the expression of freedom and equality. All these will promoted on the internet.
I don’t care how sacred is freedom but I think the time has come for Governments, at least the Malaysian Government to censor the internet.
Mahathir’s contention that his post was blocked by Facebook is indeed a cause for concern but his proposed remedy – the absolute censorship of the web – is alarmist, draconian, and a backward approach to advocating for a safer Internet. He should recall the bill he signed in 1999 which laid down a framework illustrating why the Internet must remain open and free for the benefit of society.
Mahathir’s blog article triggered widespread discussion and was also reported on by global media. Malaysiakini, a Malaysia-based alternative media platform, compiled some of the comments by their readers. Ian2003 reminded Mahathir that in Malaysia, bloggers do not only face censorship but also legal persecution:
At least his blog is blocked due to real sedition and unsubstantiated defamation but in our own country, anything that is against the government and especially if it is the truth it'll not only be blocked but the writer would be charged as well either for sedition or be detained to ‘protect’ him or her.
J Ng asserted that there are greater benefits in maintaining a free and open Internet:
Dissemination of untruth has been the norms of our mainstream media in Malaysia. It is a fact that digital information has bought about certain negative social behaviour but the positives far outweigh the negatives.
At Malaysian Insider, a reader named MYY98000 wrote that censoring the web will be more disastrous for Malaysia:
I'm glad Dr. Mahathir is no longer our PM, and it's highly unlikely that he'll ever be voted back into the office. Instead of playing the role of a wise elder statesman, he continuously spews irrational rhetoric on how the country should be run. Times have clearly changed and the access to free information shouldn't be stymied. Censoring the Internet is akin to putting a cap over a volcano's vent, the pressure would eventually blow the lid off and cause more devastation.
Meanwhile, a member of an opposition party described Mahathir’s proposal as “an act of anti-democracy, dictatorship and was tyrannical, and it should be protested by all.”
Mahathir may be retired, but his views are respected and accepted by the leading members of the ruling coalition. His proposal to censor the web should be seen as a credible threat to online freedom — and a call to action for all Malaysians who want to protect the open Internet in their country.


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Moscow’s Birthday Card to Barack Obama. Is This Racist? · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

“A banner unveiled across the exterior of the U.S. embassy in Moscow,” RuptlyTV, YouTube screen capture.
In the United States, Barack Obama celebrated his 53rd birthday yesterday. In Moscow, an anonymous group of young people climbed atop the U.S. embassy and hung a banner mocking the American President. The sign, pictured above, read, “I see nothing, I hear nothing, and I speak the truth to no one,” featuring three caricatures of Obama, likening him to the “three wise monkeys” of the Japanese proverb.
Photographs of the Obama sign amused many in Russia, where Washington's support for the new government in Kyiv has made the United States more unpopular than ever. The online conversation seems to have changed when your humble RuNet Echo editor started a debate about whether the banner was in fact a racist attack on the first African-American U.S. President. Indeed, Russian Twitter users are no strangers to jokes comparing President Obama to monkeys, such as Duma deputy Irina Rodnina's infamous retweet of a doctored photo of the Obamas looking hungrily at a banana.
Tweets about the banner being racist attracted reposts from dozens of people, including the Guardian's Shaun Walker, the Carnegie Endowment's Andrew Weiss, and even Estonian President Toomas Ilves. Dozens more, usually writing from Russia, contested the idea that the sign is racist, arguing that jokes about the “three wise monkeys” are common in political satire.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Forgot Your Password? Don’t Worry, the Kremlin Has It. · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Want to become a Russian blogger officially? The government is happy to begin by receiving your login and password. Images mixed by author.
If you are officially recognized as a blogger in Russia, your name will soon appear on a state “blogger registry.” Only a handful of names have appeared on the list since its launch last Friday, but there's no telling how many bloggers Russia's communications agency, Roscomnadzor, will add to its records.
Apart from collecting bloggers’ names and URLs, Roscomnadzor asks bloggers to share something every Internet user knows never to divulge: their logins and passwords.
In a recent interview, Roscomnadzor director Aleksandr Zharov argued that being in the registry will allow bloggers to “legalize their business” and attract the attention of advertising firms. Indeed, Zharov and the Russian government encourage Russian bloggers to contact Roscomnadzor directly, to find out if they qualify to join the registry.
But not all bloggers are eligible for the registry — “official” bloggers are those who maintain a daily audience of over 3,000 visits. “Winning recognition” from the state is exactly how the government hopes to promote the new system.
On July 30, the good people at TJournal.ru attended a demonstration of Roscomnadzor's blogger registration process. The government is still fine-tuning tools for measuring bloggers’ daily audiences, a tricky process as many social networks, like Facebook, do not publish user-specific traffic statistics. To expedite the counting procedure, Roscomnadzor suggests that bloggers submit their logins and passwords, so that the registry can track audience volume and behavior, in a fashion similar to that of a third-party app.
It's unclear how many Russians have trusted the government with their social network passwords, but we know that roughly 130 people appealed to Roscomnadzor on the day the blogger registry launched.
Needless to say, the potential for the government to abuse this policy and use login information to monitor and manipulate bloggers’ activities is daunting.


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The Kremlin Is Fighting the Internet by Buying It Up · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

A marriage of Russian media old and new. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
The Russian government has tightened control over all media platforms, but it's been especially active in corralling the Internet. News programs and other video content from state Russian television will soon flood top news websites in Russia, creating a monolithic news agenda in a market where independent media outlets have all but disappeared.
According to a new agreement between Pervyi Kanal (state-owned Channel One) and the media holding Rambler & Co., websites like Gazeta.Ru and Lenta.Ru will carry the government-controlled channel's daily news bulletins, while other websites from the holding might rebroadcast Pervyi's films, documentaries, and sports programming.
TJournal.ru points out that examples of embedded video content from Pervyi Kanal are already available on Lenta.ru, like this conspiratorial piece about U.S. and U.K. ‘agents’ in Germany. The 34-second video is dropped squarely in the middle of the news story, cutting it in half.
Reactions to the marriage of independent media content and state-run TV videos were swift and merciless. Twitter user Ivan Yermokhin joked that Pervyi Kanal doesn't go far enough:
Лучше заглушку на сайт и ссылку на первый канал, чего уж тут. RT @FastSlon: Лента и Газета.ру покажут новости Первого http://t.co/yXaZU4bL2M
— Иван Ермохин (@ermokhin) July 28, 2014
Better to put a cork on the website and just offer a link to Pervyi Kanal. Why stop there! RT @FastSlon: Lenta and Gazeta.ru to show Pervyi's news.
User “Marigold” wondered whether the video content would also be syndicated on popular Twitter accounts:
А когда Первый будет в тви @navalny ? RT @ColtaRu «Лента.ру» и «Газета.ру» будут транслировать новости Первого канала http://t.co/gjmc1RYROC
— marigold (@the_yelya) July 29, 2014
So when is Pervyi going to be in @navalny's Twitter feed? RT @ColtaRu: “Lenta.ru” and “Gazeta.ru” to broadcast Pervyy Kanal's news.
Journalist Roman Dobrokhotov suggested facetiously that the state TV channel should just take over every online platform:
Ну и правильно ящетаю. Все эти интернет-СМИ – баловство, надо просто на всех сайтах (даже порнушных) транслировать только Первый канал.
— Roman Dobrokhotov (@Dobrokhotov) July 28, 2014
I think this is all right on. All these Internet media are a waste of space. We just need to broadcast Pervyi Kanal exclusively on all websites (even the porn ones).
It's a wonder that a content partnership between Russia's main state TV channel and Rambler & Co. has taken this long. Co-owned and run by Alexandr Mamut, an oligarch loyal to the Kremlin, joining Rambler & Co. with the traditional mainstream media seems like a no-brainer, given the Kremlin's campaign to expand its presence online. In fact, Pervyi Kanal recently created a special department to improve its Internet ratings. The main task of that department is to increase the online influence of television programming. The Internet is perceived as “the main competitor of television, especially for younger viewers,” says a financial report the station published last year.
At Rambler & Co., Mamut's takeover in March 2013, brought massive changes to the editorial lineup of the main news websites in Russia, changing the face of Russian independent journalism. Gazeta.ru got a new, pro-Kremlin editor in September 2013 and lost most of its journalists shortly after. In March 2014, Mamut personally fired Lenta's editor Galina Timchenko and replaced her with a government-friendly successor, causing the majority of Lenta's newsroom to abandon the site in protest.
Changes in media ownership and content-sharing initiatives are certainly not the only tactics the Russian government has used to exert its influence on the Web. In recent months, Russia has adopted a number of laws that regulate and limit user activity online, including the infamous Blogger Law and anti-obscenity legislation, which came into force on August 1. Major opposition portals, such as Kasparov.ru, Grani.ru, and the blog of opposition leader Alexey Navalny have been on a government blacklist since early 2014. Most recently, the government published a 4-million-ruble procurement contract for decrypting the Tor anonymity network, which many Russian Internet users employ to circumvent state censorship. Given Russia's precarious international position and the Kremlin's steadfast posturing, we are unlikely to see Moscow pull back from its digital offensive.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Trinidadians Stand in Solidarity With Gaza on Twitter, on TV and on the Streets · Global Voices
Jason Nathu

Trinidad and Tobago Muslims gather in the Queen's Park Savannah on 1 August, 2014 in support of the people of Gaza. Photo posted on Trinidad and Tobago Muslims Facebook page.
As protests continue throughout the world in support of the people of Gaza, netizens in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago have also been showing their solidarity with Palestinians. Messages of support, disgust, shock and horror have popped up on Twitter from concerned Trinidad and Tobago nationals.
Among them, veteran journalist Ira Mathur noted that the collapse of the ceasefire on 1 August, 2014, seemed like an act of ‘ethnic cleansing':
Sounds like ethnic cleansing to me http://t.co/AR7WqEXfRV
— Ira Mathur (@irasroom) August 1, 2014
At least 1,865 Palestinians have been killed and more than 9,500 injured since Israel launched a massive assault against the 40-kilometer long coastal strip on July 8. Seventy-five percent of Palestinians killed in this offensive have been civilians.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas, a group that has ruled Gaza since 2007 under a seven-year blockade from Israel, for firing hundreds of rockets across the border into Israel. Since the offensive started, three civilians have been killed in rocket attacks on Israel and 64 Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in Gaza.
Wikileaks released documents on 2 August that suggest Israel is deliberately using “disproportionate force upon any village that fires upon Israel” in Gaza, and Israeli authorities “intend to keep the Gazan economy functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.”
Many others have been posting similar sentiments. Writer Dylan Kerrigan posted about the perceived bias in media coverage in favour of the Israelis:
wow. MSM gone crazy about one captured Israeli soldier. The duplicity is mind blowing. Only Israeli lives matter to Western press #Gaza
— Dylan Kerrigan (@rumagin) August 1, 2014
Israel and Hamas agreed to a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire on 1 August so Gazans could bury their dead, take care of their injured, and restock food supplies. The ceasefire was violated after 90 minutes in the town Rafah where shelling killed dozens of Palestinians and injured hundreds more.
Israel and the U.S. blamed Hamas for breaking the ceasefire by capturing a soldier after the ceasefire, but 48 hours later said the soldier was never captured and was actually killed in combat. Hamas’ militant wing maintains they engaged with Israel soldiers in Rafah before, not after, the ceasefire.
Another poster pointed to the continuous killing of children in Gaza:
Totally ridiculous “@Joey7Barton: An innocent child killed on average every hour in Gaza. How can this continue? #StopKillingChildrenInGaza“
— cherisse moe (@cherissemoett) July 31, 2014
On 1 August, concerned citizens staged a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people:
Muslims and other concerned citizens to walk in solidarity around the QPS for the conflict in Gaza#freepalestine pic.twitter.com/OX2jU6qMbi
— Cherrylene Lewis (@cherrylenelewis) August 1, 2014
One local broadcaster, the Islamic Broadcast Network, hosted a ‘Telethon for Gaza’ on 27 July, to assist in the relief effort.
Screenshot Of IBN TV8 Telethon for Gaza on 27 July, 2014. Photo by Jason Nathu with permission.
On Facebook, several local pages have been established in the past few weeks to highlight this issue. “Trinidad Muslims – Free GAZA” has been posting images of the casualties of the conflict, while United Voices For Humanity has been keeping netizens up-to-date on local solidarity efforts.

author: Jason Nathu


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Accessibility and Lack of Appreciation for Young HIV Carriers Fighting AIDS · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Image on Flickr by user max_thinks_sees (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Under the premise that AIDS is the second cause of teenager deaths in the world and the nvisibility for vulnerables populatons in this field, Puerto Rican journalist Natalia A. Bonilla Berríos writes about the participation of L’Orangelis Thomas Negrón, HIV carrier from birth, on the XX 2014 AIDS International Conference held last July in Melbourne, Australia.
Thomas wonders how accessible is life expectancy for teenagers and young people living with AIDS in the world? And she develops an answer:
Hice mención de las poblaciones claves y cómo, el no reconocerlas es una agresión a su propia existencia, y más aún cuando se es adolescente. La expectativa de vida, que se dice que es la misma que las personas que no viven con VIH, y cuán real es esto, cuando hay países que criminalizan el VIH y la homosexualidad; cuando quienes hemos vivido toda la vida con VIH no sabremos qué pasará con nuestros cuerpos en cinco o diez años porque no hay estudios suficientes; cuando las mujeres y transgéneros somos víctimas de violencia de género; o cuando migrantes y trabajadores/as sexuales no tienen acceso a la salud. Sobre todo, el hecho de que países desarrollados están a punto de firmar acuerdos que afectará el costo de los medicamentos genéricos de los cuales los países en desarrollo dependen.
I mentioned key populations and how no acknowledging them is an aggression against their existence itself, even more for teenagers. About life expectancy, said to be the same as individuales who live free of HIV, and how real that is, when some countries penalize HIV and homosexuality, when those of us who have lived our whole lives with HIV don't know what will happen with our bodies in five or ten years as there are no enough researches, when women and transgenders are victims of gender violence or when migrants and sex workers don't have access to healthcare. Above all, that fact that developed countries are about to suscribe agreements that will affect the costs of generic drugs, on which developing countries rely.
Visit Natalia Bonilla's blog. On Twitter, look for @nataliabonilla.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Cameroon Just Witnessed a Brutal Islamist Attack. But You Wouldn’t Know It Watching Network TV. · Global Voices
Dibussi Tande

A screenshot of CRTV news item showing the house of the Vice President that was burned down by Boko Haram.
It was the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram's most brutal and most spectacular attack ever on Cameroonian soil. When it ended, 14 people lay dead and 17 others kidnapped—among them the wife of Cameroon’s powerful Vice Prime Minister, Ahmadou Ali.
Not surprisingly, the international media covered the attack in Kolofata extensively, reporting throughout the day about the incident on July 27. Anyone relying only on Cameroon TV networks or local radio stations, however, might not have known that the country was literally under attack, and that Boko Haram had struck deep within Cameroon’s ruling elite. Cameroonians had to turn to foreign news networks and social media for that information.
Bate Felix, the Dakar-based West and Central Africa Reuters correspondent, was among the first to express indignation about the news blackout, lashing out particularly at the state-run Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV):
#Cameroon under maybe one the worst attacks by #Bokoharam, Vice-PM's wife and many kidnapped, but nothing on national TV? #newspriorities
— Bate Felix (@BateFelix) July 27, 2014
Bate added in utter disbelief:
@IGC_Cameroon This is just crazy at all levels for a national TV. Not even a short bulletin to inform people? #CRTV #newspriorities
— Bate Felix (@BateFelix) July 27, 2014
Chief Bisong Etahoben, a former chief editor at the Cameroon Post, chimed in:
@BateFelix It’s like trying to hide the moon with the palm. What stupidity!
— ChiefBisong Etahoben (@ChiefBisongEta1) July 27, 2014
Edouard Tamba, who used to report for Le Messager newspaper, joined the conversation with a sarcastic tweet in French:
Tout va bien. La Crtv télé rediffuse un vieux match opposant l'Inter au Bayern…
— Edouard TAMBA (@ETAMBA) July 27, 2014
All is well. CRTV is rebroadcasting an old football encounter between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.
Anthony Same questioned the lack of initiative showed by CRTV reporters based in the town of Maroua, which is a mere 80 km (50 miles) from Kolofata:
@AnniePayep @DjiaThink aucun journaliste de la Crtv à Maroua capable de mettre 5000 dans un OPEP jusqu'à kolofata ?
— Tony (@AnthonySame) July 27, 2014
So no journalist from CRTV Maroua is able to spend 500 Francs CFA [about $1 USD] on unlicensed taxi to Kolofata?
Surprisingly, Cameroon's private-owned media, which usually compensates for the shortcomings of the state-run press, also remained silent about the attack. Twitter user “Thierry HOT,” for instance, was quick to note the absence of coverage on the television station Canal2.
#Cameroun: @canal2 ouvre son “20h” par un sujet sur le ” centenaire de la résistance ” . Hallucinant @Melvin_Akam @MamessLidaf @azedjogus
— Thierry HOT (@Hotthierry1) July 27, 2014
Canal2 begins its 8:00 pm newscast with a report on the centenary of World War 1. Unbelievable!
Also on Twitter, Nelson Simo concluded dishearteningly:
Avec #Kolofata , on a la certitude que l'existence d'une centaine de télés et de radios ne garantit pas l'accès de l'information aux pop.
— Nelson Simo (@lesikanel) July 28, 2014
We now know that having hundreds of TV and radio stations does not guarantee the public access to information.
Only 12 hours after the attack, following a press conference by Cameroonian Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma to confirm that the attack had indeed occurred, did CRTV finally report on the events in Kolofata. It was transparent to many that the network needed to know how the government wanted the story framed, before it could discuss the incident on air.
The media’s inability to inform the public in real-time led Annie Payep, a journalist with the pan African TV network VoxAfrica, to call for a new journalistic ethos:
Il faut que la presse au #cameroun se remette en question. Pourquoi doit-on attendre l'annonce officielle pour en parler? #triste
— Annie Payep (@AnniePayep) July 27, 2014
The Cameroonian media should reassess itself. Why wait for an official announcement before reporting [on the Kolofata attack]?
Bate Felix thinks the answer to Payep's question is clear:
@AnniePayep Self-censorship or sheer incompetence. Not only #CRTV, media in Cameroon mostly silent about attacks until govt said something
— Bate Felix Tabi Tabe (@BateFelix) July 27, 2014
Twitter user @lucxsam was one of the few online who defended Cameroon's media:
Laissez nos journalistes tranquilles, ils prennent déjà trop de risques komsa. #AmadouAli c un boss ils sont prudents…
— Łëšş īś møře (@lucxsam) July 28, 2014
Leave our journalists alone! They are already taking too many risks as it is. Ahmadou Ali is a senior government official and they are being cautious.
It wasn’t until three days after the incident that CRTV finally broadcast the first images from Kolofata. Many Cameroonians, including Nina Sitchoma, were relieved to see the station report at last from the scene of the attack.
Enfin les images de l”attaque de #Kolofata à la Crtv. Du moins ce qui reste du domicile de #AmadouAli
— Nina Sitchoma (@Asitchoma) July 30, 2014
Finally images of Kolofata on CRTV. Or, of what is left of Ahmadou Ali’s home.
Not everyone was ready to exhale, however. Twitter user @dyManga thought it was ‘too little, too late':
Donc la #CRTV met 3jours pour nous donner les images de #Kolofata Ouiiiiii #NdemDuKmr lool
&mdash ; ☆Ice-Creaminel☆ (@dyManga) July 30, 2014
It took CRTV three days to broadcast images of Kolofata. Yes!!! LOOL
The Kolofata attacks demonstrate once again social media’s slow but steady ascendancy over traditional media when it comes to breaking news. Melvin Akam, a former editor of the Politics and Economics desk at Generation newspaper, perhaps summed up best the new reality of Cameroon's media landscape:
Sur #Kolofata, les réseaux sociaux ont relégué les médias traditionnels au moyen âge de l'information.
— Melvin Akam (@Melvin_Akam) July 27, 2014
#Kolofata: Social Media has relegated traditional media to the Middle Ages.

author: Dibussi Tande


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A Terrifying Experience at A Mumbai Train Station · Global Voices
Rezwan

Blogger Antarik Anwesan recalls an alarming experience at Goregaon train Station in Mumbai, India. A local train started from the platform without notice and the crowd hurried to get on board. As the train gathered speed quickly, some people fell from the door and two persons were miraculously saved from death. This was not reported in any media. The blogger highlights that although the casualties in the local trains are much higher each year, the government is not making provisions for safety for the ever-increasing demand on the local trains.


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Hong Kong Web Users Are Defending Originality As Game Clone ‘Tower of Saviors’ Hits It Big  · Global Voices
88 Bar

Left: Puzzle & Dragons, made in Japan in 2012. Right: Tower of Saviors, made in Hong Kong in 2013. (Image sources: AppAdvice, USGamer.)
Below is an edited version of the post “Anti-shanzhai memes, copycat gamemakers and Korean popstars“ by Jason Li, originally published on the blog 88 Bar.
Hong Kong was abuzz last month with the arrival of South Korean boy band sensation Big Bang as the newly minted spokesmen for local smartphone game Tower of Saviors. The subway system was plastered with ads announcing the partnership between the game and the musicians, both of which are popular in the city.
By all accounts, business is good for the makers of Tower of Saviors. Last October, Tech In Asia reported that the smartphone game had passed the 7 million download mark with an average revenue per paying user of 40 U.S. dollars. And in March, Pocket Gamer reported that China game publisher Forgame paid over 90 million U.S. dollars for a 21 percent stake in their parent company.
But behind the commercial success lies a mob of really, really angry netizens who accuse the game of being a shameless clone of another smartphone game made in Japan called Puzzle & Dragons. The similarities between the two have sparked a series of inventive and humorous anti-shanzhai memes on the web (shanzhai refers to Chinese imitation or pirated products).
One features the founder of Tower of Saviors’ parent company Madhead drinking out of a mug with the text, “Success depends on shanzhai.”
Translation: “Success depends on shanzhai.” Uploaded by Neerhtac to EVCHK.
Someone even created a parody app called Toilet of Plagiarists:
Screenshots of “Toilet of Plagiarists” from the Google Play Store.
The song below by Hong Kong hip hop artist Arho Sunny is not only funny, but also immaculately produced. The first verse of the song says:
Shanzhai, shanzhai, why are so many people buying
Be loud, copy quickly, then you can sell big
Twisting the original creation, and getting yourself “high”
Because this game is being played by tools
The creators of Tower of Saviors have received criticism for their imitation of Puzzles & Dragons since the game's early rise just over a year ago. At the time, Hong Kong legislative councilor Charles Mok was caught lauding them in newspaper Sky Post for their “work hard, play hard” attitude and for seizing the opportunity of Puzzle & Dragons’ not releasing a non-Japanese version. Two days later, Mok wrote a lengthy retraction in the Hong Kong Economic Journal, citing Facebook commenters who had pointed out the fallacies of his earlier article including one who even went as far as to “unfriend” him in anger.
But within these two days, Mok did his homework. First, he discovered that there are over 20 Puzzle & Dragons clones, which makes Tower of Saviors unremarkable in its mimicry (though it did disturb him that he publicly supported copycats).
Then, he found out that Tower of Saviors creators were previously involved with Pencake, a Facebook app company that was banned from Facebook for its unscrupulous business practices. Mok wrote, “If it is not the first offense, then it's a problem of honesty.” He ended the article with a Bruce Lee quote: “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” And added, “I've admitted it, will Madhead?”
Upright politicians and diehard netizens aside, most people actually don't care. One of the most common questions asked about the topic is simply, which game is better? Puzzle & Dragons lost points early by only being released in U.S. and Japanese app stores, which insulted gamers and pushed them into the arms of its clones.
Cloning games is not an uncommon practice; casual gamers are pretty forgiving about it. One recent example was the breakthrough puzzle game Threes, which was created in the U.S., then promptly cloned as 1024 in Beijing, which was in turn cloned and open sourced as 2048 in Italy — much to the dismay of its original creators who had labored on it for over a year.
One of the major underlying problems is that there's no clear or easy way to “copyright” a game (though it is possible to throw money at the problem in the form of flimsy software patents). As such, it's usually technically not illegal to clone and sell a game.
Only time will tell whether Puzzle & Dragons and Towers of Saviors will succeed over the other, flop entirely as a fad or co-exist in the marketplace. It's possible that the original's design will remain superior and “crush” its clones. But it's also possible that the clone's significant marketing budget with Korean pop stars will allow them to buy out entire markets.
What is already happening is that another Hong Kong-based game publisher, 6waves, is under fire for cloning smartphone games. It's already lost its case once, and it's slated to appear in court in San Francisco for another batch of products. Will Tower of Saviors follow a similar fate in the courts one day?

author: 88 Bar


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How the Singapore-Malaysia ‘Toll Wars’ Are Hurting Workers and Commuters · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Singapore-Johor Causeway. Photo from Wikipedia
Thousands of workers, students, traders, and tourists use the Malaysia-Singapore Causeway, which connects Johor City in Malaysia and the town of Woodlands in Singapore. This makes it a vital road and bridge network for the two countries. Toll fees are collected on both sides for the maintenance of the Causeway and to regulate the entry of vehicles.
On Aug. 1, Singapore increased the vehicle entry permit (VEP) fee. Malaysia, on the other hand, reciprocated by raising the toll fee near the Causeway. The cost of crossing the Causeway suddenly went up by almost 400 percent.
Singapore netizens quickly bemoaned the negative impact of the higher road fee on the domestic economy. Blogger “Better off Ted” warned that it will make trading between the two countries more costly:
These toll hikes are poorly thought out and will just hurt businesses and trade. Your food, raw material imports are going to be more expensive as traders claim that they need to recover their costs.
Jeff Cuellar blogged that the “price war” on the Causeway has already caused a lot of suffering:
The causeway is more than just a bridge – it’s a link between the two countries that accounts for plenty of commerce going both ways. Both sides should have known that any toll/fee increase from one side would elicit a reactionary “I’ll raise my toll too!” response from the other.
Now, we’re all caught in something of a “price war” that’ll only end up hurting everyone in the end.
In Malaysia, about 100 bus drivers refused to pay the new toll fee on Aug. 1, which caused heavy traffic. They only dispersed after local authorities promised to reconsider the toll rates. Because of the “bus strike”, thousands of commuters were stranded on the Causeway and were forced to walk in order to reach Singapore.
Commuters trek across causeway into Singapore after being stranded in JB bus strike http://t.co/jiRCZmYQH3 pic.twitter.com/AKLrAEYnLu
— TODAY (@TODAYonline) August 1, 2014
Buses on strike across causeway due to VEP toll charges #malaysia #singapore #causeway pic.twitter.com/3RQjPYGFLQ
— Rebecca (@beccaism) August 1, 2014
Stranded Malaysians walk across the Causeway: JOHOR BARU: Hundreds of Malaysians stranded… http://t.co/HQ1bXES1eS pic.twitter.com/p06ijmC3K9
— Dean Roon (@deanroon) August 2, 2014
The Johor Causeway should be opened up for people to walk into Singapore as an alternative to driving and paying.
— Sini Laken! (@Twt_Larkin) August 4, 2014
C.N. Chong wrote a letter to The Star, a Malaysian daily, explaining how the higher toll fee will hurt workers:
Paying such a large amount on a daily basis is already bad enough. Not every one of us daily commuters are rich simply because we are earning Singapore Dollars
We daily commuters certainly are a “trapped” bunch of people. The Singaporean tourists, weekend travellers and those coming over for business could consolidate and cut down on the number of trips in view of the exorbitant toll.
But the daily commuters, being working people cannot cut down on the numbers days they want to work.
Steven Choong from the opposition People's Justice Party demanded transparency in relation to the decision to increase the toll fee:
We Johoreans have never witnessed any obvious major maintenance work done on the Causeway in the last 25-30 years since the toll was first collected.
The rakyat [people] deserve accountability from all the ministries and departments involved and the income and expenditure accounts must be declared for public scrutiny immediately.
The “toll wars” between Singapore and Malaysia will generate higher revenues and profits, but the two countries must rethink the long-term impact of the higher fees on their respective economies.


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Putin Is Banning a Bunch of Western Imports. Russians Fear for Their Booze.  · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Russian social media users are raging about Putin's food and drink imports ban and preparing to cry over empty glasses. Images mixed by author.
Russians might soon find themselves missing Scotch whisky and French cheese. But especially the whisky. A new decree signed by Vladimir Putin bans the import of agricultural products from the countries which had earlier imposed economic sanctions on Russia. The decree, published on the Kremlin website today, will last for a year, prohibiting foods and beverages from European Union countries and the United States in retaliation for their attempts to pressure Russia on its role in the Ukrainian conflict.
The exact list of banned goods is still in the works – the only thing we know for sure is that baby food and wine won't be on it, according to Dmitry Medvedev's press secretary Natalya Timakova. Other officials have said the list will definitely include fruit, vegetables, meat products, cheese and dairy.
Russian internet users went ballistic at the news of the ban, but expressed the greatest concern about access to Western booze.
User Ivan Kolpakov was so concerned he forgot to turn off the caps lock:
А ЧТО С БУХЛОМ-ТО БУДЕТ БРАТЦЫ?
— Ivan Kolpakov (@kolpakov) August 6, 2014
WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN TO THE BOOZE, BROS?
Ivan Davydov was waving goodbye to his favorite drink before the list was even published:
Пожалуй, схожу сегодня, попрощаюсь с виски
— ivan davydov (@ivan_f_davydov) August 6, 2014
I guess I'll go and say goodbye to whisky today.
Even the usual jokes were filled with sadness, as Andrey Mima tweeted:
-Папа, водка подорожала. Ты теперь станешь меньше пить?-Нет, сынок, это ты станешь меньше есть.
— Andrey Mima (@amima) August 6, 2014
- Dad, vodka has become more expensive. Are you going to drink less?
– No, son, you're going to eat less.
A few people tried to see the positive side of the ban, like Nadezhda Astel, who hopes to finally make that diet work:
НУ ХОТЬ ПОХУДЕЮ!
— Надежда Astel (@astel_) August 6, 2014
AT LEAST I'LL LOSE WEIGHT!
The outpouring of feelings about the food and drink ban was mostly humorous, as users found increasingly elaborate ways to make fun of Putin's retaliatory tactics and their consequences. Denis Chuzhoy wondered what the ban would mean for foodies on Instagram:
Шёл 2015 год. Российские инстаграмы опустели…
— Денис Чужой (@fe_city_boy) August 6, 2014
As 2015 rolls by, Russian Instagram accounts are empty…
User “Wylsacom” suggested the lack of culinary choice might be good reason to take a short trip to a nearby country:
- Ты где был на выходных?- В Минске, обедал.
— Wylsacom (@wylsacom) August 6, 2014
- Where were you over the weekend?
– In Minsk, went for lunch.
Blogger Roman Volobuev had the business solution well in hand:
А еще я медиа-стартап придумал: я тут в Риге буду покупать разную еду, есть ее, и рассказывать вам какая она.
— Roman Volobuev (@romanvolobuev) August 6, 2014
Oh, and I came up with a media startup: I will buy all kinds of food here in Riga, eat it, and tell you what it tastes like.
For many users, the news immediately brought to mind memories of Soviet deficits and long lines in empty shops, which many of the 30-somethings in Russia experienced as children. Maxim magazine reimagined what that could look like today:
Этой осенью в российских магазинах. #новостибезподробностей pic.twitter.com/IG9knHUwrq
— MAXIM Online (@ru_maximonline) August 6, 2014
Coming this fall to Russian stores. (captions in image: “Is your Belorussian ribeye fresh?” “Have they put out any jamon?”)
On a more somber note, journalist Roman Dobrokhotov posted a black and white image of the old food shortages (and did so before the final ban news were announced):
Вообще-то Кремль уже когда-то назло Западу запрещал все иностранные продукты и выглядело это так: pic.twitter.com/ABJtMdiVYh
— Roman Dobrokhotov (@Dobrokhotov) August 5, 2014
Actually, the Kremlin has already banned foreign goods to spite the West, and this is what it looked like.
Dobrokhotov also started a flash-mob on Facebook, asking his readers to share memories of Soviet “good old” times, attracting many less than fond recollections of hardship.
Russian officials promise that the foreign goods ban will not impact local food prices and say the list will allow further changes. But the real question is: should Russians really be saying their farewells to their favorite booze? And should they be stocking up on Snickers and Kinder Surprises?
Those running the Twitter account of popular Russian startup news website “Цукерберг Позвонит” summed it up well: it seems pop culture wisdom totally flew over the heads of Russian officials:
Эй, вы не так поняли цитату Джобса "Stay hungry. Stay fooloish."
— ЦП (@morketolog) August 6, 2014
Hey, you completely misunderstood the Jobs quote “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”


text:
Shut Your Mouth, Russian Bureaucrat · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Sergei Belyakov, Russia's (now former) Deputy Minister of Economic Development. Images mixed by author.
The Russian government is extending a freeze on payments to workers’ privately-managed retirement funds, freeing up 300 billion rubles (about $8.3 billion USD) for the federal budget in 2015. When the state first halted deposits into the Russian pension system’s investment accounts in 2013, it promised it was only a temporary measure. The government won’t be keeping that promise, and one high-ranking economic official is already out of a job thanks to a bizarre online apology.
Russia’s Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Sergei Belyakov, lost his job today after sparring on Facebook with Natalia Timakova, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev’s Press Secretary. Medvedev fired Belyakov after the latter announced on Facebook that he is “ashamed” of the government’s decision to extend the moratorium on pension investment deposits. According to Belyakov, the move will harm the economy and damage the public’s trust in the state. “I beg everyone’s forgiveness for the stupid things we are doing and for the fact that we don’t value our own word,” he wrote.
Within minutes of publishing his apology, Belyakov received a comment from Timakova (later deleted), telling him that working in the government means “collective responsibility.” Timakova added, presumably insinuating that Belyakov can always resign, “If it’s too shameful, you know what to do.”
Belyakov didn’t take the hint. Instead, he defended himself in a publicly visible comment thread, at one point writing, “We [in the government] have ceased to feel ashamed about anything, and this is very bad.”
Belyakov describes his apology as a personal appeal, but not everyone viewed it that way. When Medvedev dismissed Belyakov, he cited a federal law that forbids officials from criticizing or even discussing “in public or in the mass media” the activities and decisions of state agencies.
Was Belyakov’s Facebook note a public pronouncement because his apology was visible to all users? Does Medvedev consider it public because anything on Facebook qualifies as “published in the mass media”? These technicalities raise interesting questions about the government’s understanding of the public and private spheres of political discourse. Whatever the legal specifics, however, Medvedev’s message to state officials seems clear: put a sock in it, or pack your things.