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How Should Middle Eastern Women Dress in Public?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

How should Middle Eastern women dress? The way they want
This question, posed by a University of Michigan study, is drawing laughs – and criticism online. Most reactions came after this report on the Huffington Post.
The survey, conducted in seven “Muslim majority countries”, details what people think is an acceptable dress code for women in public in their countries. According to the poll, the majority of people in those countries, “do not think a woman should fully cover her face.” In Saudi Arabia, for example, 63 per cent of those polled said a woman should wear the veil which covers the face, but reveals the eyes – a common dress code for women in the conservative kingdom. Respondents from Lebanon and Turkey preferred women not to cover their faces – or hair.
On the Washington Post blog, Max Fisher notes:
Veiling is such a sensitive issue in much of the Middle East because, in many ways, it's about much more than just clothing. It's about religious vs. secular identity, about the degree to which women are or are not afforded equality and about embracing or rejecting social norms that are seen as distinctly Islamic.
On Twitter, the reactions are more fierce.
Palestinian Lena Jarrar asks:
What kind of sh*t is this? Why should Middle Eastern Women look to ur polls?….“@HuffPostLive: How should Middle Eastern women dress? ..
— Lena (@LRJarrar) January 9, 2014
M Ibrahim adds:
What ever is too normal for Lady Gaga RT @Adverse101: Comfortably. RT @HuffPostLive How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— M. Ibrahim (@Red_MHI) January 9, 2014
Hend, from Libya, takes several jabs at the poll. She tweets:
Without a poll. RT @HuffPostLive  How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— Hend (@LibyaLiberty) January 9, 2014
Just like Middle Eastern men – on the outside of their bodies. RT @HuffPostLive  How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— Hend (@LibyaLiberty) January 9, 2014
By starting early in childhood. Soon after birth, preferably. RT @HuffPostLive  How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— Hend (@LibyaLiberty) January 9, 2014
And Egyptian Mohamed El Dahshan joins the fray, saying:
Underwear first. Unless they're Wonderwoman, in which case underwear is last. RT @HuffPostLive How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— Mohamed El Dahshan (@eldahshan) January 9, 2014
In clothing made of fabric. Or animal skins. preferably no polyester though. RT @HuffPostLive  How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— Mohamed El Dahshan (@eldahshan) January 9, 2014
And Siddhartha Chatterje wonders:
Why is it the headache of every group other than middle eastern women?  MT @HuffPostLive: How should Middle Eastern women dress?
— Siddhartha Chatterje (@ma_falesu) January 9, 2014


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‘Just Bloody Pictures’: Crime Reporting in Honduras · Global Voices
Fundacion MEPI

Reporter in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Photo by Carlos R. Ordoñez. Copyright Demotix
This article was written by Ana Arana and Daniela Guazo for Fundación MEPI. This is the second part in a series about crime reporting in Honduras. You can find the first part here.
When reading most Honduran newspapers, readers go away with little understanding of what is occurring in the country. Most crime stories are written without context or explanation and are accompanied by bloody, gory pictures. Local media write these crime stories purposely, as a safety mechanism because of entrenched fear and trepidation among local reporters and editors, according to interviews with reporters and editors and a review of various newspapers in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula by Fundacion MEPI, a regional investigative journalism project based in Mexico City.
Number of journalists killed in Honduras. From 2010 to 2013, 28 journalists were killed in the whole country. Click on image to visit article with interactive graph
MEPI's analysis found that the news media reports extensively about youth gang criminal activities, but they seldom write about the presence of international organized crime groups and their connections in Honduras to the security forces and to business and political sectors. In private interviews, editors, reporters and news analysts, who asked for anonymity recounted strategies applied in newsrooms to protect their staff of violence. Twenty-nine journalists have been murdered in Honduras in the last four years, with 16 of them were killed because of their work, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ. MEPI has completed similar investigations on how the media works under threat of violence in the Mexican regional press.
Click on image to visit article with interactive graph
The content analysis by MEPI showed that seven out of ten stories about crime published in both San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa media did not include details about the victims, nor the possible reasons for the crime. Gruesome pictures were often spread across the pages with headlines such as: “Found dead after visiting his Mother,” “Three men are executed and placed in plastic bags,” or “Transvestite is taken out of his house and killed.”
MEPI's content analysis found that the media has been correctly reporting on a wave of violence of great proportions and premeditation. According to the stories, 80 percent of the crimes were committed with firearms and 20 percent of the victims were tortured before and after they were killed. Many of the bodies were found tied up and packed inside black garbage bags, a practice also favored by Mexican organized crime groups.
Click on image to visit article with interactive graph
In March 2012, newspaper accounts described an escalation in the number of victims found decapitated or with their bodies cut to pieces. None of the stories, however, provided reasons as to why the new killing method was introduced in Honduras. A crime reporter told MEPI that the new killing methods could be tied to the Mexican organized crime group, Zetas, former military special forces-turned bandits, who built up a reputation for their brutality in killing opponents, and who have a presence in Central America. “About a year and half ago, bodies in plastic bags started appearing. The government won't accept it is linked to the Zetas,” he said.
Click on image to visit article with interactive graph
Like in Mexico, criminal groups also leave messages at the crime scenes. Some of the messages are carved out in the victims’ bodies. Other messages are scribbled by hand in cardboard signs that are placed next to the bodies. In 2012, several victims were found in both Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula with a hand or foot missing. The message was cryptic to the uninitiated. But a criminal investigator in El Salvador said that often those mutilations have specific meanings. A missing hand means the victim stole; a missing foot, he fled. Both are messages to the victim's friends.
In Mexico, several media leaders were critical of the media when it published the messages left at crime scenes, and most newspapers and television news programs have stopped publishing or broadcasting them. The media agreed that they were becoming messengers in criminal groups’ vendettas. The Honduran press, however, continues to publish the messages.
More than 70 taxi and bus drivers were killed in 2012. They are the two top jobs and occupations that are high risk in Honduras today. But MEPI did not find any stories explaining to readers why these jobs have a higher probability of violence on the job. The stories also do not explain if the government has any program to improve security for workers in these occupations.
Similarly, five out of each 10 murders in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in 2012 were carried out by men who rode as passengers in motorcycles, although there is a law prohibiting two riders in a motorbike.
Stay tuned for the third and final instalment in this series about crime reporting in Honduras.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Fundacion MEPI


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Peruvian Volunteer Firefighters Fight More than Just Fire · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

During the first 24 days of December 2013 alone, the General Corps of Volunteer Firefighters of Peru [es] took care of 454 fires in Lima, Callao and Ica.
One of the most serious fires occurred on Tuesday, December 10, 2013, in a tire warehouse in the Limean district of La Victoria, which was extinguished after hours of hard work by the firefighters. About this, the blog Prensarte reported [es]:
Luego que el jefe departamental de Lima […] denunció que empleadores de tres bomberos de la compañía 115 de Chaclacayo los despidieron por ausentarse de sus centros de labores mientras atendían el incendio en la av. Nicolás Arriola en La Victoria, El jefe de Comunicaciones de la Compañía […] rectificó que se trataba de la preocupación de varios bomberos que sentían sus puestos de trabajo amenazados y que así se lo comentaron.
Por su parte, León, aclaró horas después reincorporaron en sus trabajos a los bomberos denunciantes quienes no quisieron identificarse para evitar más problemas con ellos.
After the Lima departmental chief […] claimed that employers of three firefighters of Unit 115 from Chaclacayo were fired for being absent from their jobs while they were fighting the fire at Nicolás Arriola Avenue in La Victoria, the Head of Communications Office of the unit […] rectified it was the concern of many firefighters who felt their jobs were at stake and they let him know that.
Meanwhile, León explained that hours later the fired men were reinstated in their jobs, and that they didn't want their names to be known to avoid having problems.
The so called “men in red” prevent, control and put out fires, assist with car accidents and emergencies, and rescue threatened lives, all on a voluntarily basis, meaning they don't receive any payment for their services.
As early as November 2012, the blog Nuevo Reporte presented [es] “the sad reality faced by the General Corps of Volunteer Firefighters of Peru”:
Desde hace varios años, se vienen detectando fallas en los equipos antiquísimos con los que cuenta para hacer su denodada labor los muy pocas reconocidos Bomberos Voluntarios del Perú. Pues, los equipos son inutilizables debido a averías, roturas e ineficiencias presentadas en el momento que más se necesitan, al salvar vidas.
For years now, several flaws have been detected in the ancient equipment used to carry out the dauntless labor by the barely appreciated Volunteer Firefighters of Peru. Thus, their equipment is hardly usable due to breakdowns, tears and defects that appear when they are most needed, when saving lives.
Furthermore, website Sin sentido reviews part of the history [es] of Peruvian firefighters and explains their current situation:
Volunteer firefighter in Peru. Photo by Ms. Akr on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Actualmente, si bien sus miembros trabajan ad honorem – a diferencia de lo que sucede en otros países – el Cuerpo de Bomberos es un organismo descentralizado que depende de la Presidencia del Consejo de Ministros y cuenta con un presupuesto para compra de materiales, equipos y mantenimiento de unidades. Sin embargo, muchas de sus compañías se encuentran en pésimo estado, […] [lo que] ha dificultado su trabajo, no obstante los bomberos mantienen su espíritu en alto y cada vez son más los jóvenes que desean ser parte del servicio voluntario. […] Recuerden que los bomberos siempre están prestos a atender todo tipo de emergencias las 24 horas del día, por lo que deberíamos ayudarlos a que hagan mucho mejor su labor :)
Today, although members work pro bono –unlike other counties– the Firefighters Corps is a decentralized organ dependent of the Presidency of the Cabinet of Ministers and has a budget for purchasing material, equipment and units maintenance. However, many of their units are in a lousy condition […] [and this] has complicated their work; nevertheless, the firefighters keep their spirits high and each time there are more and more young people who want to be part of the volunteer service. […] Keep in mind that the firefighters are always ready to take care of all kind of emergencies, 24 hours a day, so we should help them carry out their tasks in a much better way :)
As told by the website Doug Copp's Blog, there were Peruvian volunteer firefighters in the rescue efforts in New York immediately after the 9/11 attacks:
My name is Efrain Huaman Carrion and I am a volunteer firefighter in Peru. I’m part of the International American Rescue Team. […] I volunteered at the World Trade Center after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
[…]
When the attacks happened, I didn’t think twice about coming to help but I couldn’t get a flight. I was finally able to buy a ticket to come help my brother firefighters and police.
On Twitter, users expressed their appreciation for the firefighters’ work, many times hindered because of the daily needs they face and for various administrative hindrances:
Un saludo especial de año nuevo para los bomberos voluntarios del Perú, que se arriesgan a diario por todos nosotros. GRACIAS!!
— Claudia Bérninzon (@clauberninzonb) enero 1, 2014
A special New Year's greeting for the volunteer firefighters of Peru, who take daily risks for all of us. THANKS!!
Bomberos del Perú – Los Nuevos Peruanos. pic.twitter.com/8W0lRUJaZm
— Walter Meléndez R. (@amigoperu76) enero 3, 2014
Peruvian firefighters – the new Peruvians.
“We admire the firefighters’ spirit of service”.
¿Cómo celebraron el Año Nuevo 2014 los bomberos? http://t.co/V9tfQoRbFT »ElComercio #Tecnologia #Peru
— Ciencia y Tecnologia (@Peru_Tecnologia) enero 2, 2014
How did [Peruvian] firefighters celebrate New Year's?
Bomberos atendieron 54 incendios y 23 accidentes de tránsito en Año Nuevo: El Cuerpo General de Bomberos del Perú atendió 54 incendio…
— Hεcτσя Jσѕέ;™ (@HECTORMUNDIALRD) enero 2, 2014
Firefighters took care of 54 fires and 23 car accidents on New Year's: the General Corps of Firefighters took care of 54 fires…
Lastly, newspaper Diario16 tweets:
#Congreso de la república propone pensión vitalicia para los #bomberos http://t.co/WXo9bjXn74
— Diario16 (@Diario16) enero 3, 2014
National Congress proposes a life annuity for firefighters.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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PHOTOS: Humans of Shanghai · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York Facebook page has inspired many photographers around the world to share photos and stories of ordinary people on the streets in their own cities, including in Shanghai. The Humans of Shanghai page was created in March 2013 and features scenes of daily life in the Chinese metropolis.
Check out some of the photos from the page below.
Photo from Humans of Shanghai Facebook page
Photo from Humans of Shanghai Facebook page
Photo from Humans of Shanghai Facebook page
Photo from Humans of Shanghai Facebook page
Photo from Humans of Shanghai Facebook page

author: Abby Liu


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Silent Treatment on Violence against Women in Guinea  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Boubacar Sanso Barry for Guinée Conakry Info wrote an in-depth report on the undercovered issue of violence against women in Guinea. Even though the National Agency on Gender reports that 80% of Guinean women were victims of psychological or physical abuse [fr], the topic seems to be too often ignored by national media. His report underlines one of the factor [fr] for the lack of coverage :
La question de la violence conjugale ne fait pas partie des politiques publiques. Je n’ai jamais entendu un homme ou une femme politique faire de cela un sujet de débat. Plusieurs informations non officielles font état de violences conjugales au sein des familles de ceux qui dirigent ou qui ont dirigé ce pays. En fait, dans le paquet des droits que les femmes de Guinée revendiquent, il n’y a pas la question des violences conjugales. On parle surtout de l’accès à des postes de responsabilité, de la représentativité au niveau des institutions..
The issue of domestic violence is yet to be fully integrated in the public policy discussion. I never heard of any politician make this a topic of debate. Several unofficial reports indicate that domestic violence exists within families of those who lead or have led this country. In fact, in the ensemble of women rights that Guinean women demand, there is no mention of the issue of domestic violence. The topics mentioned are mostly about rights such as access to positions of responsibility, representation in political institutions etc..

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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South Korea: Political Revenge on Whistleblower? · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Kwon Eun-hee, a policewoman and ex-chief investigator at Seoul Suseo Police station, revealed last summer that her team had received pressures and ‘unreasonable orders’ from superiors to reduce the scope of an investigation into the spy agency election manipulation scandal. Although net users lauded Kwon, her bold act seems to have taken its toll; local media reports [ko] that Kwon has failed to get a promotion which was considered ‘a sure thing for someone with Kwon’s resume and qualifications’, adding that if that happens one more time, by law she would be forced to leave her position in four years. Many suspect it is a politically-motivated decision, including prominent citizen journalist Media Mongu who commented it is ‘a scary revenge’ [ko] and embedded a highlight video of Kwon's revelations.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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The Faces of Those Affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

Screenshot of Project Aceh Tsunami Archive. The project page allows users to view the three-dimensional terrain of Google Earth overlayed with stories of people who survived the tsunami disaster as well as photos collected from immediately after the disaster.
[All links lead to Japanese-language webpages unless otherwise noted.]
A group of researchers in Japan in cooperation with the Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center of Syiah Kuala University in Indonesia have used Google Maps to publish an extensive digital archive of stories and images of people in the Indonesian province of Aceh, one of the areas hardest hit by the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami [en].
Project Aceh Tsunami Archive was developed by three professors, Hidenori Watanave, Hiroyuki Yamamoto, and Yoshimi Nishi, and their students to digitally archive the stories of Aceh's damage and recovery toward a brighter future.
Hiroyuki Yamamoto shared his hope that there is something everyone can learn from the disaster recovery process:
被災から復興への過程は人類共通の財産です。その過程そのものが他の被災地域にとっても大変参考になる資料ですし、被災地域以外にとっても教育・防災で参考になる点が多くあります。この点で、復興に向けて町が変化すること自体が記録すべきものだと考えます。モニュメントとして一部の象徴的な爪跡などを残す動きはありますが、復興の過程で被災の面影が全く感じられなくなるほど変化するエリアもあります。私たちが継続的に定点調査し、日々の変化を記録しているアチェ津波モバイル博物館のデータをもとに、一般の人に使いやすくデザインされたアチェ津波アーカイブにより、被災地の内と外が繋がり、アチェの経験が人類共通の財産となることを期待します。
The process of recovery from the disaster has universal interest. It serves as a reference which will be very helpful for other affected areas, as well as helpful in disaster prevention education outside the affected area. In this regard, we believe that the changes in the region towards recovery should be recorded. Even though there is a movement to preserve damage as a monument, some areas undergo such drastic changes during reconstruction that no damage from the disaster can be traced. I have been researching the regions on a regular basis along with the data sets from Aceh Tsunami Mobile Museum. I hope that our usefully designed interface for the Aceh Tsunami Archive will help connect the people inside and outside of the affected region, and that the experience of Aceh will be shared as common property of mankind.
Users have the option to select what information appears on the map, such as stories, photos, and aiding countries. By clicking the round photos of people, users can read the story of disaster victims in both Indonesian and Japanese. These stories of survivors were originally compiled and published by Badan Arsip Provinsi Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the library branch of the National Archives of Indonesia in Aceh, and will be updated more in the near future as more of the text is translated into Japanese.
Screenshot of the Aceh Tsunami Archive showcasing the story of Intan Mayasari, survivor of the disaster who quickly ran out of the house after the earthquake.
Project Aceh Tsunami Archive is a counterpart to the already published East Japan Earthquake Archive [ja], so both sets of information can be viewed on a single globe integrated in Google map.
Hidenori Watanave, who has worked on a series of digital archive projects including the aforementioned archives as well as the Tuvalu Visualization Project [en], Nagasaki [atomic bomb] Archive, Hiroshima Archive, and Peace Learning Archive in Okinawa, wrote:
現地の学生たちは、口を揃えて「津波の記憶が薄れつつある」と話していました。このことには、日本とインドネシアの国民性の違いもあらわれているかも知れません。しかし学生たちは、未来に記憶をつなぐ研究活動を精力的に続けています。また、被災遺構である発電船や、打ち上げられた船の周りに集って遊ぶ子どもたちなど、津波の記憶が「日常」のなかに定着しつつある例も見受けられました。こうしたバンダアチェの被災状況、そして現状を知ることは、日本の将来を考える手がかりとなるかも知れません。
The students in Aceh unanimously said that the memories of the tsunami are fading away. That's something different from Japanese counterpart victims, which may reflect the different characteristic of each nationality. Yet these students are working hard so that their experience will be preserved for the future. We have also seen children playing around the powership and the stranded ship, which are remnants of the tsunami. These scenes are example of memories of the tsunami staying in everyday life, and knowing the condition of the effects and aftermath of the disaster may give clues to how we think about the future of Japan.

author: Keiko Tanaka


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12 Music Videos That Struck a Chord in Taiwan in 2013 · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Taiwan Music Writing Group, a collective blog for music commentary, has published a roundup of the music scene in Taiwan in 2013. Here is a collection of 12 of those artists and groups, accompanied by music videos from YouTube.
The most distinctive feature of the year in music coming out of Taiwan was a strong touch of reality, according to the blog:
社會寫實的歌曲同連續不斷的政治議題、政治問題，一口氣爆炸開來！整座台灣島似壓著一股鬱悶，身為樂手，只好寫歌出氣 […]
Countless songs that reflect the social reality of Taiwan have emerged against the backdrop of political debates and problems. The whole Taiwanese island is suffocating with a sense of melancholy and depression. Musicians can only express themselves in music […]
1. Chang Chen-Yue
伴隨著東海岸在環境保護與發展主義的政治角力下，連痞痞的張震嶽也現出阿美族血統，高呼：「我是海雅谷慕！」
With the tension between environmental protection and economic development in the east coast of Taiwan, even the playful Chang Chen-Yue presents his Amis origin and sings: I am Ayal komod [Ayal komod is Chang Chen-Yue’s indigenous Amis name].
2. Tizzy Bac
想起遊行當天的晚會，也是我第一次聽見Tizzy Bac的新歌＜這是因為我們能感到疼痛＞，他們想傳達的信念，絕不難
Remember the evening party during the protest [anti-nuclear], that is the first time I heard the new song from Tizzy Bac, “Feel the Pain”. Their message is straightforward.
3. Lin Sheng-Xiang
拿遍大獎的林生祥則聚成樂隊，回歸民謠搖滾，《我庄》充滿詞人鍾永豐自傳式寫作，幾乎可以當作農村社會課本了！
After Lin Sheng-Xiang got all the awards he wanted, he and his band returned to folk rock. Their album “I-Village” almost seems like the autobiography of the lyricist, Yung-Feng Chung. It can be read as a rural sociology textbook.
4. Village Armed Youth
長期於社運現場現身的農村武裝青年，收束憤怒，《幸福在哪裏？》多了許多徬徨，未來怎麼走，就像望水東流，不見盡
The Village Armed Youth, an activist music band involved in Taiwanese social movements, has suppressed their anger. In their new album, “Where is happiness?”, the songs are full of anxiety. What is our future? The future is like a flowing river, and you can't see its end.
5. Softlipa
搖滾之外，更令人驚喜的是嘻哈樂圈，繞舌歌手們能從更另翼的角度切入社會 […] 蛋堡的＜仇人的孩子＞亦不惶多讓，畫出一幅破碎的家庭圖像，不論中產與底層，這樣的悲劇似乎一直都在都市各個角落裡發生，他的《你所不知道的杜振熙之內部整修》聽來霧氣瀰漫，就像不停雨的台北城，坐在出租房間裡的男子自白。
Apart from rock bands, hip-hop circles are full of excitement. Rappers tell stories about society from another angle. […] Softlipa’s “Enemy's Kids” depicts broken families from both the lower class and the middle class. Such tragedies kept happening in the city. His other song, “The Unknown Renovation Inside Du Jen-Shi” sounds foggy, like a man talking to himself in a rented apartment in rainy Taipei city.
6. Ciacia
The 2013 music scene also sees the reemergence of avant-guard singers of the 1980s and 1990s, like Ciacia, who released a new album “She & Me”.
7. Sugar Plum Ferry
Sugar Plum Ferry also released a new album, “Hometown of Glitter”.
8. Ming-Yu Hsieh
可誰都沒有謝銘祐的《台南》風光，金曲、金音皆獲獎，他的作品裡不見印象中的台南美食、觀光客、文青咖啡店，只有歲月粉刷過的老城門、老朋友、老故事、老記憶，他像是懷舊的中年老者，在鳳凰花艷紅紛飛的台南土地上，彈唱默禱，腳踏實地。
9. Sonic Deadhorse
前有古人回歸，後有來者浮出檯面，他們在音樂元素上，不再留戀於傳統四件式樂器，曲風亦不限於民謠、瞪鞋、後搖、後龐克，更願意結合數位聲響…藏於地下許久的音速死馬（Sonic Deadhorse）終於發行正式專輯，奇情前衛的影音表演，獲得樂評人一致好評。
While the seniors returned to the stage, new faces could not wait to show up. They do not constrain themselves to the conventional four major music instruments, and their music genre is not limited to folk, shoegaze, post-rock, or post-punk. They are more willing to combine digital acoustics in their music […] Sonic Deadhorse has been hidden underground for a long time. They finally issued their new album. The edgy audio-visual performance has very good reviews from music critics.
10. Chiu-Pi
年輕的藝術家邱比透過一台IPad作曲，唱出極簡主義樂派的愛情神話《我們就要相愛》。
The young artist Chiu-Pi composes his music using an iPad and sings in a simple style a love story, “We Must Love.”
11. Baobu Badulu
保卜，首張專輯《我愛台坂》充斥海洋性格，是相當容易入耳木吉他演奏專輯。
Baobu Badulu’s first album, “Love Taiban”, reminds people of the ocean. The acoustic guitar on the album is simply appealing.
12. Fred Van Hove and Shih-Yang Lee
The Music Writing Group's pick for jazz music is Fred Van Hove and Shih-Yang Lee's “Galactic Alignment: Piano Duo Improvisation”.
More reviews of Taiwanese albums in 2013 can be found in other articles published on the Music Writing Group: (I), (II), (III), (IV), and (V).

author: I-fan Lin


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Voices from the Victims of Naphtha Cracker Pollution in Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Residents in the area of a petrochemical processing plant in Taiwan's western Yulin County are at risk for exposure to several toxic air pollutants that can cause various diseases, including cancers, according to a report by researchers from the National Taiwan University.
The comprehensive research on the impact of Formosa Plastics Group's naphtha cracker No. 6, released in July 2012, found that among the pollutants to which residents are likely to be exposed is the carcinogenic and liver-damaging vinyl chloride, which is an essential raw material in the manufacturing of PVC and other plastic products.
The findings echo those of the US Environmental Protection Agency, which saw “extensive” violations at Formosa Plastics’ plants in Louisiana and Texas in 2009. The Taiwanese company paid a settlement worth 13 million US dollars in that case to the US Department of Justice.
The Yulin Country naphtha cracker was met with public opposition over its possible health consequences from the start of construction in 1992. In 2009, the local government, which had welcomed the investment in their area, agreed to invite researchers from the National Taiwan University to conduct a three-year study to evaluate the health risk in relation to the complex.
Their damning results have inspired residents to take up a possible lawsuit against the Formosa Plastics Group [zh]. Jung Sheng-Hsiung reported on the progress at public news portal PNN:
台西鄉民陳財能則說，他的父親、母親、姊姊、哥哥，甚至年僅19歲的兒子，都因為肝硬化過世，他自己也罹患肝硬化5年[…]「有人說我愛『牽拖』，但如果真的是我爸爸的『種』不好，為何我嫁去外地的三個姊姊都沒事，只有留在當地的人生病死亡？」陳財能強調，六輕讓當地居民活在威脅之中[…]如果居民為了後代子子孫孫，決定對台塑六輕提起集體訴訟，他一定第一個加入。
The study has also prompted other nearby areas like Chuanhua County to push for a similar investigation into their situation. Chuanhua County is located north of the plant, and when the summer south wind blows, residents fear that it might carry some of the same air pollutants with it.
Jung Sheng-Hsiung, reporting for PNN, visited the affected villages from Chuanhua County and presented a photo feature titled as “The South Wind”. Jung has granted Global Voices permission to republish and translate part of his feature report.
台西村幾乎人人都會在冬天時下海捕鰻苗。按照老漁民說法，以前入夜後的濁水溪口簡直像夜市一樣熱鬧，四處都擠滿為了貼補家用而下海撈鰻苗的村民。然而好景不常，現在濁水溪口已經沒有什麼人在捕鰻苗了；原因無他，鰻苗正以急遽的速度消失中。
陳金鳳61歲，前年過世的丈夫許世賢幾乎什麼也沒能留給她；除了一棟已經繳了20年房貸還沒結清的破房子，還有幾年來為了治病所欠下的負債。許世賢還在世時，兩夫妻總是一起下田耕種，但他們名下沒有任何土地，只能幫人代種領工錢，家境一直不好。民國95年，不菸不酒不嚼檳榔的許世賢突然罹患口腔癌，四處求醫也無法獲得改善，最終在100年11月轉移肺腺癌過世，享年59歲。
談起許世賢的病，陳金鳳說自己只是沒讀多少書的鄉下人，無法多做說明，但她確實對丈夫的病感到疑惑–何以一名不煙不酒不嚼檳榔的鄉下農夫，會得到口腔癌、肺腺癌呢？
61-year-old Chin-Feng Chen's late husband, Shih-Hsien Hsu, who died two years ago, did not leave her anything except an old house, for which they have paid the mortgage for 20 years but still need to pay more. And the debt for his sickness is yet to clear. When Shih-Hsien Hsu was alive, they always did the farming together. Since they did not own any land, they could only farm for others to make an income. Their financial condition was never good. In 2006, Shih-Hsien Hsu, who never smoked tobacco nor drank alcohol or chewed betel nuts, was diagnosed with oral cancer. His health condition kept deteriorating despite help from doctors. He died in November 2011 at the age of 59 after the cancer spread to his lungs.
Chin-Feng Chen said that she does not have sufficient knowledge to explain why her husband died from oral cancer. However, she wonders how a person such as her husband, who was a farmer in the countryside without any bad habits such as smoking and drinking or chewing betel nuts, died from oral cancer.
魏林星今年74歲，3年前左肺葉長了顆6公分大的腫瘤，才知道自己罹患肺腺癌。考量到魏林星的年紀與腫瘤大小，醫生本來擔心她體力無法負荷，所以建議不要開刀，沒想到魏林星一句「我要和你（腫瘤）拼了」，並且證明自己體力充足，這才說服醫生動刀。
現在魏林星的身上有道長達15公分的疤痕，採訪時她非常大方地褪去衣物展示傷痕，因為那疤痕對她來說，彷彿不只是病痛的痕跡，更是自我堅韌求生意志的勳章。
74-year-old Lin-Shin Wei developed a six-centimeter-large tumor in her left lung three years ago, and was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma. Considering her age and the size of the tumor, the doctor suggested that the cancer not be removed through surgical measures because her prognosis might not be very good. However, Lin-Shin Wei said she wanted to fight the cancer and proved her body strong enough to receive the surgery. She eventually convinced the doctor.
Now Lin-Shin Wei has a scar 15 centimeters long on her body. She was proud to show the scar to me during the interview. To her, this scar is not only evidence of her illness, but also an award for her will to live.


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25 Influential Brazilian Black Women Online · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

#25webNegras: a list of the 25 most influential black women on the Brazilian web.
The website Blogueiras Negras (Black Bloggers, in the feminine), has created a list of the 25 most influential Brazilian black women on the Internet [pt].
The list includes human rights advocates, journalists, writers, researchers, feminists, urban artists and more, besides individual and collective blogs and Facebook pages that fight for gender equality and against racism and prejudice in Brazil.
Blogueiras Negras also adds a list of 10 inspiring black women online from around the world.

author: Sara Moreira


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7 Theories of Why Putin Freed Khodorkovsky · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

“Deal or no deal,” brought to you by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
Andrey Illarionov is a former economic advisor to Vladimir Putin, a libertarian senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC, and a tremendously active blogger on LiveJournal. Illarionov has devoted special attention in his blog to Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s unexpected release from prison last December, and his most recent piece on the subject itemizes several different explanations for Putin’s sudden decision to free his most notorious political foe.
Andrey Illarionov at the World Economic Forum in Russia, 2 October 2003, Moscow, CC 3.0.
Part of the motivation for Illarionov’s 3,240-word dissection [ru] of Khodorkovsky’s early release may have been Maria Baronova’s interview [ru] with Stanislav Belkovsky, which appeared in Slon.ru on December 31, 2013, where the latter called Illarionov “a good person, but not very smart,” in connection with Illarionov’s liberal views. In his LiveJournal post, Illarionov attributes to Belkovsky the first of seven prominent theories about why Putin pardoned Khodorkovsky, warning that Belkovsky’s explanation “shouldn’t be taken seriously or disseminated.”
The seven theories are these:
Illarionov rejects outright the idea that Putin has a merciful bone in his body. Repeating a phrase he coined in a December 22, 2013, post [ru] (also about Khodorkovsky’s release), Illarionov dubs Putin “KhZhL,” or “Хозяина железного ларца” (“Master of the Iron Box”), insisting that it’s simply implausible to argue that Khodorkovsky’s pardon was the result of a change of heart in Putin.
Illarionov credits Putin’s press secretary, Dmitri Peskov, and TV personality and Khodorkovsky-critic Vladimir Pozner with propagating this theory. According to Khodorkovsky himself, however, the pardon request addressed to Putin contained no admission of guilt.
Illarionov spends some time investigating this argument. Ultimately, he concludes that Putin selected the Germans as the formal mediators for Khodorkovsky’s pardon both as a favor to Angela Merkel (who suffered some in recent elections) and for purely “technical reasons” (given that Hans-Dietrich Genscher happened to be the most recent of many figures who lobbied for Khodorkovsky’s release). The reason to reject the idea that German diplomats actually spearheaded the pardon, Illarionov says, is that Genscher possessed no leverage over Putin that other, more powerful international figures lacked in past attempts to convince the Kremlin to release Khodorkovsky.
Illarionov attributes this theory to Khodorkovsky’s interview [ru] with Evgenia Albats of The New Times, where Khodorkovsky argued that, in order to bring order to the ranks, Putin needed either to free him or to throw former Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov in prison for corruption. Illarionov acknowledges that jailing Serdyukov would send a clear warning to Putin’s people, but he concludes that there was nothing logical about freeing Khodorkovsky as a signal.
Illarionov confesses that he initially subscribed to this theory, though he’s since come to reject it. Khodorkovsky’s release came too late to lure hesitant world leaders to Sochi, he says, and the pardon came too early to have an impact on the next G-8 meeting in June 2014.
This is another theory Illarionov attributes to Khodorkovsky, with a parting shot again at Belkovsky:
Своим якобы демократическим характером помилование Ходорковского смогло потрясти воображение только такой впечатлительной персоны, как С.Белковский, без устали пытающейся мистифицировать публику регулярно повторяемой им мантрой про осуществляемую ныне «перестройку-2». Ни один сколько-нибудь серьезный наблюдатель как внутри страны, так и за рубежом ни на йоту не изменил своего мнения о характере современного российского политического режима.
With its supposedly democratic nature, pardoning Khodorkovsky could stir only someone as impressionable as Stanislav Belkovsky, who’s tirelessly tried to bamboozle the public by repeating his mantra about the ongoing “Perestroika 2.” No serious observer, either in Russia or abroad, would change his opinion one iota about the nature of modern Russia’s political regime.
Finally, Illarionov offers and endorses a seventh theory explaining the pardon: that Putin freed Khodorkovsky on the condition that the latter would endeavor to reach a reduced settlement in Yukos’ suit in The Hague’s arbitration court (where the Russian government faces being saddled with damages that could exceed 100 billion dollars). In the meantime, the Kremlin holds as hostages Platon Lebedev and Alexey Pichugin, Khodorkovsky’s former Yukos colleagues, who remain in Russian prisons. Indeed, Illarionov bases the title of his LJ post, “The Abrek in the Kremlin,” on Putin’s supposed penchant for hostage-taking, comparing the President, known as “the German in the Kremlin,” to the Abreks, a North Caucasian mountain band who fought the Russian Empire in the 19th century.
In comments [ru] on the blog post, readers challenged aspects of Illarionov’s “deal of the decade” theory, questioning how a freed Khodorkovsky could be expected to convince Yukos’ other shareholders (at least three of whom are not in Russia) to reduce their claim against the Kremlin. (Illarionov muses at one point that Putin would probably be willing to stomach a 30-billion-dollar indemnity.) Ultimately, though, Illarionov admits that Lebedev and Pichugin will be doomed to remain in prison forever, if Khodorkovsky fails in his task. Putin’s terms to the former oligarch, Illarionov guesses, probably boiled down to, “It’s up to you, it’s your business, boy.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


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‘Abita’, Animated Short Film About Fukushima Children · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

“Abita”, an animated short film about Fukushima children who can't play outside because of the radiation risk, delicately illustrates their dreams and realities. The film, produced by Shoko Hara and Paul Brenner, won the award for Best Animated Film at the International Uranium Film Festival in 2013.
Shoko Hara, a student in Germany who was born in Okayama in the western part of Japan, wrote about the metaphor she used in the film.
We used Japanese symbolism in our film. The Dragonfly represents the Japanese island, because of its form. It also symbolizes hope, perspective, dream, energy in Japan and it unites all the natural elements like water, earth and air. These were destroyed with the Fukushima disaster, they don't have any perspectives for their future. Furthermore dragonflies in japan are carriers of fertility. The Dragonfly represents the inner world of the child, that it wants to be free in the nature, but it can't. Dragonfly is a popular symbol in japan and we often use it in arts, poems and in literature.
Despite scarce media coverage in Japan, the film has been shared widely on social media.
Radiation remains a serious problem for residents in the area surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant since the plant suffered a meltdown following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.


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Arrested for Calling Zambia’s President Michael Sata a ‘Sweet Potato’ · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

When Catholic Priest turned politician Father Frank Bwalya called President Michael Sata a sweet potato on a little known community radio station in rural Zambia, he probably did not have the slightest idea that the phrase would become a global meme within a few hours and the story picked up by major international news outlets.
Fr. Bwalya, who heads opposition political party Alliance for Better Zambia, appeared on Radio Mano in Kasama, over 1,000 kilometers north of capital Lusaka, during which he said the president as crooked as a sweet potato which cannot be straightened, a common saying in the local language, Bemba. Police stormed the studios even before he could finish the interview and whisked him away. He was later arrested and charged with defaming the head of state.
A picture combo mocking the evolution of President Sata from “King Cobra” to “sweet potatoes” posted on Facebook.
The Huffington Post, Yahoo and many news outlets picked up the story not because of the arrest of the priest but rather the reason behind the arrest—comparing the head of state to a humble sweet potato.
The joke was not lost on one Twitter user who came up with an imaginary conversation between President Sata and his press aide George Chellah:
As Zambia's Potato-Gate rumbles on: Chellah to Pres Sata : Morning boss. Good news is you're mentioned in all the world's press…… ‘
— Richard Elsen (@Richard_Elsen) January 8, 2014
Another user bemoaned the reason for which Zambia was in the international news spotlight:
@Richard_Elsen @ErasmusMweene @LauraMiti sadly this is the one thing #Zambia gets in the international press for…umm!
— Monica Musonda (@monicamusonda) January 7, 2014
Regional President for entrepreneurship organization Kairos Society Erasmus Mweene posted where he first saw the story:
@munshyamunshya @monicamusonda @Richard_Elsen @LauraMiti I first read the ‘potato’ story on Voice of Russia today… It's depressing.
— Erasmus Mweene (@ErasmusMweene) January 7, 2014
Business consultant Trevor Simumba told of where he saw the story from:
@Richard_Elsen @LauraMiti I read even in San Francsico of all places! If he was not arrested nobody would have even heard of Frank Bwalya
— Trevor Simumba (@TrevorSim) January 7, 2014
News website Zambia Reports reported about the potato going viral around the world:
The story of the arrest of Father Frank Bwalya for calling President Michael Sata a potato has gone viral on a number of news websites including the Independent of UK, Yahoo, Metro UK, Yahoo, BBC and Al-Jazeera.
Several other websites in South Africa and the United States of America including the traditional Zambian websites have carried the article. The internet was also agog with various images of sweet [potatoes]
Fr. Bwalya is quoted as saying in an Al Jazeera story republished on Zambia Reports:
On that radio program, I strongly criticized the bad leadership of the president. I called him a crooked sweet potato that cannot be straightened. It is a commonly used phrase which is not insulting. It is to explain the attitude of a person who doesn’t want to be advised who doesn’t want to be counselled.
No stranger to police harassment, Bwalya spearheaded the “Red Card” campaign before the 2011 elections signifying the intention to kick out the then ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy out of government in favour of President Sata’s Patriotic Front.
Shortly after the PF formed government, Bwalya, who has since taken sabbatical leave from his priestly duties, was appointed board chairman of the power utility company Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation, but resigned the position within one year of being appointed and went on to form political party Alliance for Better Zambia.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Australia: ‘What Happens When A Politician Pisses Off The Internet’ · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Controversial Australian senator Cory Bernardi's latest book ‘The Conservative Revolution’ has enraged many netizens, especially his views on abortion, single mothers, IVF and same sex marriage. BuzzFeed Australia staffer Jenna Guillaume complied reactions in Oz in This Is What Happens When A Politician Pisses Off The Internet.

author: Kevin Rennie


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PHOTOS: Christmas Flooding in the Eastern Caribbean · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

On Christmas Eve several islands in the Eastern Caribbean, including Dominica, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, were affected by a tropical wave that resulted in several hours of rainfall, severe flooding and over a dozen deaths.
Many people were trapped and stranded because they were making last minute preparations for Christmas celebrations.
Saint Lucia, which still bears the scars from Hurricane Tomas in 2010, saw extensive flooding and the destruction of several bridges in the south-west of the island, isolating some communities. At least five deaths were reported, including one police officer who died in the course of a rescue effort.
A section of the Anse Ger Road in Saint Lucia collapsed
Terminal of the Hewanorra International Airport in Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia
In the online group St. Lucians Aiming for Progress, several people, particularly from the diaspora, organized to send relief to those in need. Many questioned the public information (or the lack thereof) relayed by the National Emergency Organization and the Meteorological Office prior to the storm.
Wayne Vitalis was very critical of Saint Lucia's emergency management:
Martinique's Met Office denies radar malfunction; St. Lucia's Met Office denies radar malfunction …….. But some Lucians deny incompetence. The Lord cannot help us with that! NEMO must answer for what they told the nation, not to mention the chaotic/non-response to guiding and coordinating the nation's response to the disaster.
Ananias Verneuil wondered if the fact that the storm came outside of the recognized hurricane season (June to November) could explain the response:
In my opinion this system came after normal hurricane season and therefore it was not considered to be cyclonic. In this regard, we all were caught with our pants down. It was a trough that contained unusual amount of rainfall that could not have been estimated before the down pour.
Minerva Ward sarcastically responded that it was unfair to expect the emergency services to be at work during the Christmas season:
Now I beginning to find yall real rude and outta place to expect NEMO and the Met Office to be working on Christmas Eve! Don't you'll know Christmas week everyting in government shut down. Yall actually expect government employees to be working?? The ppl must have been out on their shopping day you'll deh stressing the ppl with a stupid little upper level trough. Yall really expecting a lot!! So what if the whole country washes out to sea, it's Christmas and u dun know how tings run in St Lucia.
Fred Walcott felt that it would be prudent to find out what happened in the neighboring islands regarding the storm warning:
How did the other islands fare? Did they receive adequate notification? Were they prepared? What, if any, was the impact if they did receive adequate notice? This not an attempt to absolve NEMO or any other agency responsible for alerting the public. With enough notice people in flood prone areas can be persuaded to move to higher ground, companies can elevate their sensitive gear above known flood levels and cover same with damp-proof material. etc, etc. pre- Disaster mitigation procedures can be initiated. Like the island all utilities should have a disaster plan and execute regular disaster drills.
Runway of the Hewanorra International Airport.
The Piaye Bridge in the Southwest of Saint Lucia was washed away.
Part of the Vieux Fort highway,which had been originally been constructed as part of a U.S. base in the 1940s, collapsed
Gas Station in Bexon
House in Bexon
Flood damage in Bexon
Canaries Bridge , part of Saint Lucia's West Coast Highway, was washed away.
While there was flooding in Dominica, the self-proclaimed land of 365 rivers, there has been no report of casualties. However, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has estimated that the rehabilitation works would cost approximately EC$45 million dollars.
Elmshall Bridge in Dominica
Flooding in Roseau, Dominica
Mudslide in Citronnier, Dominica
Streets in Dominica filled with mud,
In St. Vincent, initial reports were that eight people (including children) died as a result of the storm, with some people still being reported as missing. The storm damage was particularly severe in the North Leeward region of the island. According to media reports, the E.T. Joshua Airport and the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital were both surrounded by water. The Grenadines escaped serious damage.
Caratal Bridge in Georgetown, St. Vincent.
Flood damage in Georgetown, St. Vincent.
Flood damage in St. Vincent
House in Rose Bank Where Five People Died.
The photos above are used with the permission of Tamiko Sabrina, Johnson Jkube James, Linus Cauzabon, Natalia Bhajan, and Yukanka Daniel.

author: Matthew Hunte


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China Introduces Online Video Game: “Fight Corruption”  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

China has started a serious crackdown on corruption in 2013, it’s now also online entertainment. China introduced an online video game called “Fight Corruption” online and encouraged web users to play the game by claiming that “everyone has a responsibility to fight corruption and embezzlement.” TeaLeafNation has more details.


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Hacking Global Voices Special Coverage · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

How could we make Global Voices complex, ongoing stories more beautiful, accessible and useful? MIT Media Lab’s Center for Civic Media invited a diverse group of technology and storytelling mavens to a full day of hacking, using the example of our recent special coverage of the #Shahbag protests in Bangladesh as a way to explore online storytelling techniques. Ivan Sigal shares learnings from the day. Other notes from Matthew Battles on Metalab and Heather Craig on Center for Civic Media's blog.

author: Solana Larsen


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Iran Voices: New Site Polls Citizens on Local Government · Global Voices
Denise Ajiri

Iran Voices Homepage
Iran Voices has a mission different than most other Iran-related websites. The new website calls for accountability from local authorities with an online survey of citizens.
Periodically, Iran Voices will publish reports about specific cities based on the surveys and send them to media, local politicians and the municipality itself.
The very first report, in October 2013, was about the city Ahwaz, at the center of the oil rich Khuzestan province. It was based on survey responses from 52 citizens.
Ahwaz Bridge. Photo by Arad M. shared on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
According to the report, the main priority of survey respondents was to have more green areas, followed by more jobs, more security, and a solution for air pollution. Among the public institutions, citizens said the judiciary system and security forces provide the least satisfying services, followed by governmental offices, hospitals, banks and the municipality.
Iran Voices acknowledges that a small sample of the population cannot be fully representative of a city as a whole, but says it can be an indicator. To this end, the main idea behind the project is that all voices should be heard.
60% of survey respondents say local representatives have never asked for their opinions, while 90% say they wish their voices were heard.
A local news hub
Iran Voices also aims to compile and highlight Iran’s local news, which is often neglected by the media's Tehran-based news angles and focus on national politics.
Iran Voices hopes to become a platform where Iranian citizens can talk about local issues and problems of their villages, cities, provinces and regions, a platform for citizens and civil activists to exchange ideas and reach out to officials.
A director of Iran Voices says to Global Voices, “Our initiative is a small step to raise awareness, beyond haggles and hassles, about people's daily concerns including the behavior of public authorities.”
“There are millions of topics about Iran which circulate on social media in Farsi on a daily basis, however most of these topics are focused on general policies and capital-related events,”  says the director, who wishes to remain anonymous.
“At Iran Voices we believe that issues and events happening in other provinces, cities and villages are no less important than what is going on in Tehran. Therefore our website took a step forward in order to cover these local issues.”
Iran Voices categorizes the news under different headings such as economics, health, culture, sports and education. It also uses the Ushahidi software which enables users to categorize information geographically and place it on a Google Map.
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the United States funds the project.

author: Denise Ajiri


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Latin America’s Black Metal Fans, Punks and Otakus · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Santiago, Lima, Mexico City and Oaxaca have been some of the cities in which photographer Carla Mc-Kay has photographed punks, thrashers, transvestites, black metal fans, new waves and otakus, recording their everyday lives in their habitat.
Sentidos Comunes has published Carla Mc-Kay's photographs in a photo essay titled “Street Youth” [es].

author: Silvia Viñas


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Monitoring the Russian Internet for Big Bucks · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

The FSO's emblem graces LiveJournal's logo. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
The Russian Federal Protective Service (FSO) is asking software developers to design a system that automatically monitors the country’s news and social media, producing reports that study netizens’ political attitudes. The state is prepared to pay nearly one million dollars over two years to the company that wins the state tender, applications for which were due by yesterday, January 9, 2014. Though the FSO’s RuNet-monitoring contract has been online [ru] at the government’s official Procurement Portal, www.zakupki.gov.ru, since December 18, 2013, news of the project broke only today, January 10, 2014, when the newspaper Izvestia published an article [ru] about it.
Izvestia’s coverage of the story bears all the hallmarks of Kremlin-friendly reportage, sandwiching comments by one critic of the FSO between two supporters of monitoring the Internet. Indeed, Izvestia quotes Maxim Kononenko, a pro-Putin RuNet guru, as its lone opponent of the FSO. (Kononenko doesn’t actually oppose the project, but only argues that the FSB, rather than the FSO, should oversee such work.) Journalist Sultan Suleimanov tweeted the following joke about Izvestia’s apparent integrity:
Когда надо, известия работают тру-пропагандистской машиной. Вот к мониторингу блогосферы http://t.co/lTyUd5kU5J взяли «критику» от кононенко
— Султан Сулейманов (@sult) January 10, 2014
When it must, Izvestia works as a true propaganda machine. See how, for the blogosphere monitoring story, they went for “criticism” to Kononenko.
Anton Nossik, another titan of the Russian Internet and an extremely popular blogger, agrees that Izvestia’s article played the role of propaganda, but he sees it as distraction rather than promotion. According to Nossik [ru], the FSO’s grand monitoring system is nothing more than cheap scheme to siphon money from the state budget, charging millions of rubles for software that simply googles publically available content. More importantly, Nossik discovered that the FSO hired a company to design an identical project [ru] in September last year, when the price tag was far smaller, at just over 200 thousand dollars.
Anton Nossik, 21 February 2007, public domain.
One week after the FSO launched a second auction for a new round of Internet monitoring, an entrepreneur named Lana Istomina [ru] lodged a complaint with the Federal Antimonopoly Service, objecting to terms in the FSO’s 75-page contract [ru] that specify the need to use one of four preselected media-monitoring software tools (Glass, Medialogia, Prism, or Medialogia-BAZZ). According to Istomina, the FSO’s refusal to accept bids built on equivalent tools represents a violation of Russian antitrust law.
Nossik argues that Istomina’s complaint was her way of disrupting a redundant tender clearly designed to waste a million dollars on a system that the government already bought:
Весь смысл тендера — второй раз заплатить государственными деньгами за то же самое, что уже куплено в прошлом году. ИП Истомина Л.А. так написать не может, потому что она не может это доказать. Но схема эта не блещет новизной и революционностью, мы такое видим из года в год. Объявление тендера на создание уже существующего продукта — простой и удобный способ по-быстрому освоить бюджетное бабло под благовидным предлогом.
The whole point of the tender was to pay out state money for a second time for the same thing they’d already bought last year. Now, the entrepreneur Lara Istomina can’t write that because she can’t prove it. But this scheme hardly shines as novel or revolutionary. We see the same thing from year to year. Announce a tender for the creation of an already-existing product—it’s an easy and convenient way to spend some quick government cash on a reasonable pretext.
Nossik believes that the officials responsible for arranging the tender also planted in Izvestia the “grand nationwide horror story” of FSO censorship, in order to divert attention away from their crime. Nossik’s theory is familiar in the Russian media sphere, where any major news event produces a range of skeptics who are inclined to view the story as plot to manipulate public opinion and pursue private gains. (For instance, after Ivan Okhlobystin’s homophobic letter to Vladimir Putin earlier this week, political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky produced an interpretation [ru] of the stunt that mirrors Nossik’s tone, calling Okhlobystin’s letter a “PR move” with ulterior motives.)
Because it’s so common on the Russian Internet, Nossik’s skepticism about the FSO’s monitoring project would be easy to dismiss. That, however, could be a mistake. The fact that the FSO already operates an identical monitoring project, the steep rise in the cost of this already-completed and automated work, and the presence of Ms. Istomina’s antitrust complaint—it all lends credence to Nossik’s suspicions.
In other words, Russian bloggers now screaming bloody murder about state censors may be ignoring the real bad guys, petty crooks that they are.


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No Girls Allowed at New Cosmology Public School in Japan · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

Photo taken at Jaxa Space Center in Tsukuba by Phil Knall (CC BY-NC)
In collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), a new public school specialized in cosmology education in the southernmost peninsula of Kagoshima prefecture is set to recruit students from all over Japan.
The school sits 20 kilometers away from Uchinoura Space Center and will educate from 7th grade to 12th grade starting in April 2015. It will be the first public school to require all students to live in a dormitory.
Reaction to the news of the school's creation among Web users has been very positive. Twitter user ririri, who is a student, commented with excitement:
「「宇宙学」も学べる学校」ってやすげえな。面白そう。再びの宇宙時代を日本が牽引するためにも期待。　｜「宇宙学校」、都内でも説明会　ＪＡＸＡ提携の全寮制 – 朝日新聞デジタル (http://t.co/LZZUjUypd8) http://t.co/9ct3ls0UIa
— ririri@明るい未来 (@ririri1108) 2014, 1月 7
A school that teaches “cosmology”, that's awesome. Sounds exciting. I hope a school like this will help Japan lead the future of the space age!
Some users drew connections between the school and a comic book series called Twin Spica, a science fiction story about a group of Japanese high school students training to become astronauts. In the comic book, main character Asumi Kamogawa, a female student, enters the Tokyo Space Academy:
Cover art of the first Twin Spica manga volume featuring lead character Asumi Kamogawa (image from Wikipedia, ©mediafactory)
ふたつのスピカを思い出すなあ 「宇宙学校」、都内でも説明会　ＪＡＸＡ提携の全寮制 – 朝日新聞デジタル (http://t.co/SnSt1UK4sG) http://t.co/WV7ATxSE05
— ピッポくん (@merlin80586) 2014, 1月 3
It reminds me of Twin Spica.
ふたつのスピカって思ったら思ってる人沢山いた。 / “「宇宙学校」、都内でも説明会　ＪＡＸＡ提携の全寮制：朝日新聞デジタル” http://t.co/j1MxKNEAYs 他61コメント http://t.co/sXGYRzJYf5
— ぽじとろ (@positoro) 2014, 1月 2
Looks like many people were reminded of the Twin Spica like me.
However, there is one significant difference between the school in the sci-fi comic book and the new public school: The latter will be only open to boys.
Twitter user APICa wondered [ja] in disappointment:
ロマンあるけどなんで男子校なんだろ。女性宇宙飛行士もいるし、共学の全寮制高校もあるのに ：「宇宙学校」、都内でも説明会　ＪＡＸＡ提携の全寮制 – 朝日新聞デジタル (http://t.co/ecpIDQ6DoA) http://t.co/RP5D0JU6uV
— APICa (@APICa208) 2014, 1月 7
The school is so romantic, but why does it have to be only for boys when we have female astronauts, and there are other high schools that have co-ed dormitories?
Hatena bookmark user Unimmo commented [ja] with suspicion whether the school is intentionally discriminating against women:
女性は宇宙にふさわしくないとでも？
Are you saying that space is not for women?
Yuki pondered if the decision was less about gender and more about economics:
費用の面で、男子校なのかな。女性の宇宙飛行士いるのに残念だわー。 / “「宇宙学校」、都内でも説明会　ＪＡＸＡ提携の全寮制：朝日新聞デジタル” http://t.co/YmjkkYjBMd 他55コメント http://t.co/jTxWnWYPtT
— yuki (@yuki_meganeinfo) 2014, 1月 2
It's sad when there are female astronauts out there. Maybe it's only for boys due to cost?
The news, however, did not fuel a gender issues debate online, though many users did continue to express their disappointment with the limitation. Despite the boys-only rule, the unique school will likely carry on gaining the attention of space-loving netizens.


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Predictions for China’s environment in 2014 · Global Voices
Abby Liu

China experts predict the main environment issues for China in 2014: Air pollution, waste management and and water shortages. chinadialogue has more details.


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Submit Your Film to Social Impact Media Awards · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Does your film tell a powerful story to impact social change?
Submit documentaries, features and shorts to the Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA) before January 21, 2014.
Over 340 films from 102 countries have already entered. Follow SIMA on Facebook and Twitter to be notified of the winning films.


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The Press in Honduras Confronts Violence · Global Voices
Fundacion MEPI

This article was written by Ana Arana and Daniela Guazo for Fundación MEPI. This is the third part in a series about crime reporting in Honduras. Read the first and second installments for more information.
Journalists protesting in Honduras. “Murderous bullets will not silence us”. Photo by Lilian Caballero shared by Esther Vargas on Flickr under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Why has superficial crime reporting that relies on bloody photos and spreads, gained some much ground in Honduras? Few journalists and analysts understand it. But MEPI's content analysis and interviews with reporters and editors drew out multiple reasons: little access to timely official reports by the authorities,  a lack of government-media implemented safety mechanisms to protect journalists, and fear of retaliation,  if stories appear to have too much context and insight.
To elucidate the danger, one reporter told us, “A few years ago, in Tegucigalpa there was a bandit who was well known and was called The Black Cat.  The man controlled all drug sales in Tegucigalpa. If any reporter identified him in a story, he would go to the news outlet and demand to know who wrote the story.”
Many newsrooms forbid their journalists from reporting in low income neighborhoods controlled by violent youth gangs around San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, The media also shuns reporting trips to the departments of  Olancho, Atlántida, Puerto Cortés and Colón, centers of drug trafficking activity—most stories related to these territories appear in news briefs. “It is difficult to report on crime in our country,” said one editor in Tegucigalpa. “Relatives of crime victims do not want to talk to the press. And for our safety, we don't follow up crime stories.”
A debate on how to stop the media from using graphic pictures and reporting on crime has caused much discussion in Honduras.  “(Their reporting style) is related to the lack of training,” said a member of the Honduran Human Rights Commission who did not want to give his name because he was not authorized to talk on the record.  “They use bloody pictures to sell more newspapers.  They don't care.”
A poll conducted by DLA Consulting Group in March of this year backs this assumption.  The survey found that four out of 10 persons polled said that they were left “in fear, nervous and concerned” after reading the Honduran press.
Business groups and civic leaders have also complained about the press and the reality they paint of Honduras in their stories. Early this year, the Mexican pollster Mitofsky rated President Lobo, number 18—next to the last place—in a poll that ranked 19 presidents across the world. Lobo's approval rate is down to 27 percent of all Hondurans.   Lobo capitalized on the debate over too much violence in the media. He proposed to regulate content in the media, and issue sanctions if a news outlet published news that were deemed to promote crime, obscenity and any other element that attempted against “morality and good manners.” The law proposal was strongly criticized by the Honduran media and international freedom of the press organizations. Media owners reacted quickly and in May, representatives of all mayor newspapers and broadcasters agreed on a self-regulation code of ethics that would forbid the news media from publishing photos and broadcasting video that promotes “immorality and violence.” The President still accuses the media of making a profit out of promoting violence.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Last july, body parts of a man which appeared to have been partially burnt, floated on a small lagoon near sugar cane fields in San Pedro Sula.  It was the body of Aníbal Barrow, a television commentator who had been kidnapped by armed commandos two weeks earlier, with his family and a driver.  The driver and family members had been freed earlier by the gunmen.
Barrow was a close friend of President Lobo and was the second journalist with known links to the President murdered violently in the last two years. In May 2012, police found the body of Ángel Alfredo Villatoro, also a television broadcaster who had been kidnapped two weeks earlier.  His body was found dressed with a police special forces uniform.  Nobody understood the uniform and the message.  A few days before Villatoro was kidnapped, the police had taken away bodyguards that had been assigned to the reporter because of death threats.
Sound investigations on why reporters are getting killed have not been reached on any recent case.  “We have examined some cases deeply but can never reach any conclusions,” said one editor. Part of the reason many journalists are afraid to dig too deep in the cases of their dead colleagues is because they fear that in these cases, as in others in Honduras today, the authors could come from political, journalistic or police sectors, who may be operating in tandem with members of organized crime.
Official Communiques
A reporter's job is made more difficult because of a lack of government information that could explain the wave of violence. According to reporters and editors in both San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, the Coroner's Office and local and national police agencies do not provide statistics or comprehensive reports. The lack of official information is due to various reasons. One is the alleged collusion between members of the government and police sectors with organized crime, as reported in the U.S. State Department's Human Rights report as recently as last year.
But safety is also a concern for police officers and  government officials. More than 120 police officers have been killed violently in the last three years, according to the Human Rights Office and police reports. Even top government officials run into trouble if they delve in too deep.  In December 2009,   six months after former President Zelaya was deposed, the then anti-drug Zar, Arístides González was gunned down in Tegucigalpa just days after he announced that the government was going to take measures against several clandestine landing strips it had discovered in the department of Olancho in northwestern Honduras. González had ordered an investigation of a group that was working with the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel. The order to kill him was carried out by a local Honduran trafficker.


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Tributes to Footballer Akeem Adams After Sudden Death · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

On Wired868, Lasana Liburd in Trinidad & Tobago, excoriates the officials who he felt did not do enough to assist the late footballer Akeem Adams while the young athlete was still alive.
Above, a video tribute to Adams by his club, Ferencvaros.


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Why a 64-Year-Old Brazilian Indigenous Leader Spent 26 Hours in a Tree  · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

Urutau resisted for 26 hours at the top of a tree in protest against the removal of the occupation of Aldeia Maracanã. Photo: Facebook/Mídia NINJA
[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages except when otherwise noted. The original version of this post, in Portuguese, was published on December 19, 2013.]
On the morning of December 16, while a battalion of riot police of the Brazilian military police forcefully removed activists that had occupied one of the buildings of the former indigenous museum Aldeia Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro, José Urutau Guajajara, the leader of the Guajajara tribe, ran. At 64 years old, Urutau – a name that means owl in the indigenous language Tupi – climbed a tree as a form of protest against the eviction. And there he stayed for 26 hours.
At the end of the morning on December 17, 2013, Urutau was removed from the tree by firefighters and taken away in an ambulance. A diabetic, Urutau had access to water, controlled by the police. But beyond that, according to information from the activist media collective Mídia NINJA, police prevented any attempted delivery of food to him. Supporters of the occupation, who witnessed Uruatu's resistance, tried to circumvent the blockade by throwing food to him. According to independent media group ZUMBI, Urutau was taken directly to the police station, instead of being taken to the hospital.
The indigenous man demanded that a judicial order justifying the eviction be presented. According to information from the activist media group Olhar Independente (Independent Look), the judicial decision authorizing the eviction presented by the police was old, and as such, was no longer valid. A story published in the newspaper Extra confirmed the situation, revealing that an unidentified police officer had said that the orders were “not to evict them” because the action was “illegal.”
The Aldeia resists and insists
The mobilization around the occupation, which started on December 14, and Urutau's fight were followed on Facebook and on Twitter, with the hashtag #AldeiaResiste (Aldeia resists). International movements, such as the Spanish Take the Square [en] and Occupy Wall Street [en], also spoke out in support of the Brazilians.
The 14,000-square-meter complex that makes up Aldeia Maracanã, or Maracanã Village, was donated to the Indian Protection Service in 1910. From 1953 to 1977, the buildings served as the headquarters for the Museum of the Indian; however, since the change in location of the museum, the buildings have been abandoned. In 2006, indigenous from 20 different ethnicities reoccupied the locale.
Indigenous in one of the buildings of the complex. On the wall it reads, “Want to kill a people? Then rob them of their culture.” Photo: Facebook/Aldeia Maracanã
In August of 2012, the state government and the city government of Rio de Janeiro announced that the place would be demolished to make way for construction for the 2014 World Cup, as it is near the Mário Filho Stadium, known as Maracanã, which is the name of the neighborhood where the former museum and stadium sit. A petition asking for the recognition of the indigenous ownership of the village was created on Avaaz, explaining:
Neste local, indígenas de várias etnias vêm difundindo sua cultura há seis anos e em escolas particulares e públicas,exercendo direito garantido pela lei. Defendemos a criação de um centro de referência da cultura indígena.
In this place, indigenous people from various ethnicities have been disseminating their culture for six years, as well as in private and public schools, exercising their rights as guaranteed by the law. We defend the creation of a center of reference for indigenous culture.
During that time, indigenous representatives fighting for the village appeared in a video explaining their case:
The space was occupied four times in 2013, the first time in March [en]. A decree signed by Mayor Eduardo Paes in August, the time of the last occupation, recognizes the presence of the Maracanã Village community and provides for the definitive protection of the main building - which means that it can no longer be demolished for World Cup construction. At the end of September, “the judge of the 7th Court of the Federal Public Treasury signed a dispatch impeding the demolition” and determined that, without a official pronouncement from the government, the area should be given to the occupants, the indigenous.
Despite the decree and the judge's dispatch in favor of the community, there are no guarantees about the fate of the area, believes Demian Castro, the representative of the People's Committee of the Cup and the Olympics,  who told the Brazilian press that the privatization process of the Maracanã complex should be revoked. The consortium that has won the bidding to reform and operate the stadium for the next three decades, Maracana S.A., formed by the companies Odebrecht, IMX and AEG, has presented a new viability plan for the area to the Governor of Rio that is still under analysis.
Without any other solutions to the situation, on Saturday, December 14, activists returned to occupy the space. After an attempted expulsion on Sunday, on Monday morning 150 riot police troops obeying the orders of the state government surrounded the area and carried out a forced eviction of the occupants. Of the 30 people that were in the building, 25 were arrested, but have since been released.
At the end of Tuesday, December 17, after being forbidden from returning to the village, Urutau and other representatives of the group who were evicted from the building joined with students to occupy the rectory of the State University of Rio de Janeiro- UERJ. They asked for a meeting to discuss the Museum of the Indian project.
On January 6, 2014, the government of Rio released a note announcing that the contract with Maracana S.A. has been changed in order not to allow the demolition of the building of the Museum of the Indian.

author: Fernanda Canofre


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3D Dragon Breathes Life into 7-year-old Girl’s Vision in Australia · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

A 3D titanium dragon and a seven-year-old girl are the ingredients for the best good news story of the 2014 new year. Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) were proud to report on their blog:
3D Dragon – courtesy CSIRO Facebook page
Earlier this week we posted about a letter we received from Sophie, a 7-year-old girl. All she wanted was a dragon.
“Our work has never ventured into dragons of the mythical, fire breathing variety. And for this Australia, we are sorry,” we replied.
Sophie's very polite letter – courtesy CSIRO News Blog
They continued:
…We couldn’t sit here and do nothing. After all, we promised Sophie we would look into it.
So this morning at 9:32 a.m. (AEDT), a dragon was born.
You can watch it being made here:
Tech news site Gizmodo Australia’s reaction on twitter was typical and has been retweeted numerous times:
CSIRO 3D-Printed A Dragon Made Of Titanium For A 7-Year Old Girl, Because It Could – http://t.co/ukdVvvQLjx
— Gizmodo Australia (@giz_au) January 11, 2014
KMB clearly enjoyed some uplifting news:
Take an 'Ahhh' break from an otherwise cr@p 'news' day MT"@CSIROnews: Sophie asked. We made a dragon. http://t.co/pJ916dOkc0 ^VH"
— KMB (@rich_tapestry) January 10, 2014
So did Rachael McDiarmid:
Man I just LOVE the CSIRO. Legends! And great publicity. Accelerating our dragon R&D program http://t.co/OWNJShfNLj via @wordpressdotcom
— Rachael McDiarmid (@RJMcDiarmid) January 8, 2014
Damon Meredith saw the implications in this public relations coup for a government organization:
I, as a taxpayer, would support more dragon research. @CSIROnews http://t.co/7xzkhqGalq
— Damon Meredith (@DamonAM) January 9, 2014
Hugh Jørgensen was explicit about funding cutbacks:
And we're defunding these guys why? MT @CSIROnews Sophie asked, and we said we'd look into it. We made a dragon http://t.co/JiaL9fKYdR
— Hugh Jørgensen (@hughjorgensen) January 10, 2014
However, there was a sour note from John Derry:
I don’t give a crap about Sophie or her dragon. #csiro
— John Derry (@johnlderry) January 10, 2014
But Penny Timms liked the happy ending:
Who says news is always about disaster and destruction? A nice ending. #CSIRO makes #Brisbane girl a titanium #dragon http://t.co/0MFAfhaW0l
— Penny Timms (@pennytimms) January 11, 2014
It is a girl so its name is ‘Toothless’ as requested by Sophie Lester.
As she waited for the delivery of her dragon, her mother expressed her daughter’s delight:
Sophie's dragon – courtesy CSIRO Facebook page
Mrs Lester said Sophie was overjoyed with the CSIRO's response and has been telling everyone dragon breath can be a new fuel.
”All her friends are now saying they want to be a scientist and Sophie says she now wants to work in the CSIRO. She's saying Australian scientists can do anything,” she said.


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China and Hong Kong: Mocking The Motherland’s Wind · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A netizen uploaded a poem from primary school textbook which praises the wind blowing from China to Hong Kong as blessing. Very quickly the so-called brain washing poem has turned into a subject for mockery. Details from Dictionary of politically incorrect Hong Kong Cantonese.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Political Discourse in 2013 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Qian Gang from China Media project analyzed the frequency of political terms in Chinese search engine, Baidu, and found the disappearance of terms like “constitutional rule” and “civil society” on the one hand, and the increase of terms like “Mao Zedong's thought” on the other.


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Chinese Feminist Activist Walks 2,000 Kilometers to Protest Sexual Abuse · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Traveling alone on foot is still a new concept in China. While some women like the adventurous idea, they worry about sexual harassment on the road. That’s why Chinese feminist activist Xiao Meili started her new project: Beautiful Feminist Walk- A Protest Against Sexual Abuse to Promote Women’s Freedom.
Xiao, the lead actor in the Chinese version of the “Vagina Monologues”, is walking all the way from Beijing to the southern city of Guangzhou – a distance of about 2,000 kilometers – to protest against sexual harassment and child abuse. She has already spent four months on the road and along the way has been collecting signatures, staging performances and handing out information to local governments. She has been sharing her experience on her blog with photos, writing and drawings.
Veteran feminist activist Xiao Meili (screenshot from youku)
Born in 1989 in China’s Sichuan province, Xiao has done many feminist projects to promote sexual equality and freedom. On Valentine’s Day in 2012, she was one of the three women who dressed up in blood-splattered wedding gowns in protest of domestic violence. She once occupied a men’s toilet to protest China's toilet inequity, calling for the government to provide more public toilet stalls for women (according to a Time magazine report, men take 30 seconds to use the bathroom on average, while women take 90 seconds). In August 2013, she shaved her head in protest of the discrimination against women students in university enrollment.
Xiao is currently making a living by teaching drawing and selling vintage things through online shop Taobao. She calls for donations on her Taobao page to support her journey. She also asks that women in local cities to walk with her, or provide a sofa for her to stay the night.
Check out the video below to see Xiao in action:


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Happy Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Inspired by American rapper, Pharrell Williams’ viral music video, Happy, Hong Kong based French multimedia journalist Helene Franchineau made a local music video, Happy Hong Kong.


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History of the Translation of the Bible into Malay Language · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Robert Hunt's paper on the history of the translation of the bible into Malay could provide more background into the current controversy in Malaysia where hundreds of bibles were recently confiscated for containing the word ‘Allah’ to refer to God. Non-Muslims are prohibited by law in Malaysia to use ‘Allah’ in their religious publications so as not to confuse the public.

author: Mong Palatino


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Hong Kong: Seeing Kitsch in Art · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Evan Fowler looked into the art history and explained the term “Kitsch” at the House News.
kitsch presents us with a fantasy, and feelings and emotions that we may wish to have but are not central to our actual experience of self. It trades in models and stereotypes, that at best we may aspire to or wish to believe, but nevertheless tell us nothing about ourselves.


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Viral Photo of a Giant Squid Found in California is Fake · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

Image widely circulated on the Internet. Originally, it appeared io lightlybraisedturnip.com on January 10, 2014. Image used under fair use.
This fake image of giant squid has been circulating widely on social media across many languages. Originally found on Lightly Braised Turnip, which appears to be a satire news website, the photo was accompanied by the description that a “giant squid was discovered on California coast and scientists suspect radioactive gigantism“, blaming the Fukushima nuclear accident for the existence of the large sea creature.
Giant squid (genus: Architeuthis) is a large, deep-ocean dwelling squid that can grow up to 13 meters (43 feet) naturally. Japanese blogger Piyohiko, suspicious of the photo, investigated [ja] the image online and quickly debunked it.
He searched for images of a “giant squid” on Google and found the original giant squid photo:
Photo of a giant squid posted on Xinhua News. The photo was taken by Enrique Talledo [es], who specializes in documenting the ocean
10秒ぐらいで見つけてしまいました！！
なんだか似てると思うのですが、気のせいでしょうか？
It took only 10 seconds for me to find !!
The image looks very similar to me, don't they?
Photographer Masahiro Ariga [ja] also noticed that the image was fake. He noted that the spectators of the giant squid image coincide with those of the photo below, uploaded to 4thmedia.org in 2011:
Photo taken November 3, 2011, which appeared on 4thmedia.org's reporting a whale found dead in Chile.
Ariga commented [ja] how quickly the fake image was circulated on Facebook:
このフェイク写真、驚いたことにフェイスブックで物凄い勢いで拡散している。
9日のお昼頃にネット新聞のページを見たとき、いいね！は1300だったのに、その夜にはなんと２万に達していた。イカが放射線によって巨大化したことを信じて不安になる人も多いようだ。
このでたらめ記事が、冗談で書かれたのかそれとも悪意があるのかは分からないが、事実として受けとっている人が少なくない。ネットという空間で嘘と不安が拡大されて、世界中に広まっていくのを、現在進行形で見ているところだ。
The fake photo [of a giant squid washed ashore along the Santa Monica coastline] is spreading at amazing speed. When I saw the online news at noon on January 9, it only had 13,000 Facebook likes. However, overnight, it was already reaching 20,000 likes. Looks like many people believed the news of a squid growing enormous due to radiation and became anxious.
It's not clear whether this fabricated news was written as a joke or with vicious intention, but many people accepted the news as fact. I'm observing how lies and anxiety are amplified on the Internet throughout the world.


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PHOTOS: Brutal Crackdown of Cambodia Labor Strike · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Soldiers threaten a female bystander during a crackdown of the labor protest in Phnom Penh. Photo from Licadho
The Licadho human rights group has uploaded a set of photos showing the brutal crackdown of a strike conducted by garment workers in Cambodia. The workers have been demanding an increase in their monthly minimum wage which is currently pegged at 80-100 US dollars.


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PHOTOS: How Pebble Mining is Destroying Villages in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Dozens of homes were destroyed in the Nga Pu Taw Township of Myanmar due to muddy waste produced by pebble mining companies.
Several houses destroyed by muddy waste. Photo from the Facebook page of The Irrawaddy


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PHOTOS: Mount Sinabung Eruption Displaced 20,000 in Indonesia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Mount Sinabung erupted when a cloud of dust and heat to form an image of human skull. Photo by Abdullah Arief Siregar, Copyright @Demotix (1/9/2014)
Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung, located in North Sumatra, has erupted more than 200 times since last year and has already displaced more than 20,000 villagers. The volcano has been dormant since the 1600s.
Volcano Discovery provides the latest volcanic activity of Sinabung:
The actively growing lava dome, being a mass of unstable, moderately viscous lava, frequently collapses in parts and produces hot bloack and ash avalanches (pyroclastic flows) that reached up to 4.5 km distance. According to the latest figures, the number of refugees from the 5-7 km exclusion zone has reached approx. 25,000.
Indonesia, located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, has more than 100 active volcanoes. But Carl believes Sinabung will only lead to medium size eruption:
The magmatic system under Sinabung does not in any way contain enough magma for a supereruption.
Since so little is known about this volcano it is probably a good idea to look at the surrounding volcanoes to get an idea of what might be in store. Just a few kilometers away is the double volcano system of Mount Sibayak/Mount Pinto, and that might give a good clue at what might be in store.
Evacuations have been ordered by authorities who also assured affected residents that aid will be delivered promptly to those who are in temporary shelters. But aside from displacing villagers, the eruption of Sinabung made a tremendous negative impact on the local agriculture.
Utami Irawati expressed solidarity to those affected by the eruption:
Thoughts and prayers for people around Sinabung. Stay strong, and I sincerely pray that things will get better soon :”(
— Utami Irawati (@utamiirawati) January 7, 2014
The photo below from Demotix shows Mount Sinabung throwing ash and lava in the air.
Mount Sinabung ejected lava and hot clouds over Berastepu and Bakerah villages. Photo by by Abdullah Arief Siregar, Copyright @Demotix (1/5/2014)
Farmers harvest tomatoes covered in a thick layer of ash from the eruption of Mt. Sinabung. Photo by Ahmad Ridwan Nasution, Copyright @Demotix (1/6/2014)
The eruption of Mount Sinabung on November 24, 2013 ejected ash in the air with a height of about 10,000km. Photo by Abdullah Arief Siregar, Copyright @Demotix (11/24/2013)


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Price War Kicks Off in China’s Budget Smartphone Market · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Xiami's founder Lei Jun announced the price cut of its Hongmi mobile with this online promotion poster.
China’s startup smartphone maker Xiaomi reduced the price of its cheapest model Hongmi, meaning “red rice” in Chinese, by 100 yuan (16.5 US dollars) to 699 yuan (115.5 US dollars), on January 7, 2014 to compete with its rivals. The company's CEO Lei Jun spread the news online through his microblog.
Hongmi, aimed at cash-strapped students, with specs of a 4.7-inch 720-pixel IPS screen, a quad-core processer, and an 8-megapixel camera, was launched in July and triggered a buying frenzy.
China’s smartphone giant Huawei, feeling threatened by Xiaomi, followed suit by launching its budget phone as a counterattack. In December, Huawei began to sell its budget model Honor 3C with a 5-inch 720-pixel LTPS panel, a quad-core processer, and an 8-megapixel f/2.0 camera, priced at 798 yuan (about 130 US dollars) for the 1GB RAM model. With better specs than Hongmi, the model has been wildly successful with customers. On December 25, the phone sold out online, selling 120,000 units in about one minute, according to the company.
Faced with the further price cut of Xiaomi’s Hongmi models, the executive of Huawei smartphone division, Yu Chengdong, claimed on his Sina Weibo account, a popular Twitter-like service in China, that Huawei would not continue the cut-throat competition:
上帝让谁死亡，必先让其疯狂。我们坚持产品质量、品质感、消费者体验与口碑，坚持精品路线不动摇！绝不为搞吸引消费者眼球的超低价需降低成本，而去做牺牲产品质量与品质的事情。
For those who must die, God will make them crazy. We will stick to quality and consumer experience, stick to fine product strategy. We will not take part in extreme low-price operations to draw consumers in by cutting costs and damaging quality.
Indeed Xiaomi's star is on the rise. In the three years since Lei Jun founded the company, Xiaomi has captured 5 percent of China's smartphone market as of the second quarter of 2013, overtaking Apple's share in the country, according to research group Canalys. The company’s market valuation is already estimated to surpass 10 billion US dollars.
Its major rival, Huawei, shipped more than 52 million smartphones in 2013 and plans to ship 80 million this year.
Lei published Xiaomi's remarkable annual sales report on Weibo:
小米2013年业绩：1. 销售手机1870万台，增长160%，超额完成了年初供货 1500万台的承诺。2. 含税销售额 316亿元，增长 150%。3. 12月当月，销售手机 322.5万台。我们再次承诺，2014年全年至少供货 4000万台！
Xiaomi's 2013 annual report: 1. sold 18.7 million smartphones in 2013, a 160-percent increase from 2012, more than the 15 million units estimated at the start of the year. 2. sales revenues, including taxes, rose 150 percent to 31.6 billion yuan (5.22 billion US dollars). 3. In December, 3,225,000 units were sold. We promise in 2014 there will be at least 40 million handsets [more than double the number it sold in 2013].
Despite the popularity of Xiaomi, some netizens don't like its online marketing strategy, as all its stock is often sold out within minutes. Complaints like this one made by Xin Xu are very common on Weibo:
为儿子抢了五次米3没见影，当米3无需预约销售时，已感觉厌倦恶心反胃了，决定放弃米3选择华为荣耀3X，我的放弃也许对小米算不上啥，但希望小米能记住：玩粉的结局是掉粉。别了，小米！
I’ve not bought Mi3 [another Xiaomi mobile phone model] for my son five times. I feet disgusted when consumers do not need booking and decide to buy Huawei's Honor 3X rather than Mi3. My giving up [of Mi3] does not cause much harm to Xiaomi, but it is a warning: If you fool your fans, you will lose your fans. Bye, Xiaomi!
Weibo user “Flowers flying everywhere in the river city” described Xiaomi's online sales as futures because tens of thousands customers have signed up for the new mobile phones but eventually they failed to get the actual product because they don't have enough stock. The manufacturing of the Xiaomi smart phone cannot fulfill the actual market need. The microblogger warned Huawei against similar practice:
华为荣耀3C，不要总学小米做期货，弄多了很反感
Huawei Honor 3C don’t learn from Xiaomi to make futures. It makes consumers disgusted.
“My skull has a bun” rejected Xiaomi CEO's explanation of the always-out-of-stock phenomenon for its low-price phones and believed Xiaomi deliberately limited the sales:
关于红米的期货质疑，雷军屡屡用产能爬坡来解释。没错，热门新机上市，一两个月内难买到很正常。但红米上市半年之久仍每月5万台进行放量，不是期货难道是现货？要说产能爬坡，恐怕放在对手荣耀3C的身上更合适,从第二周的12万到第三周的22万，都已经达到红米月供量了吧？到底是谁不尊重事实和历史规律？
Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has always used climbing production capacity to explain the doubt that Hongmi are like futures. Sure, it’s common that new models would be difficult to get in the first month or two. But how does Xiaomi explain that it still only sells 50,000 Hongmi per month, six months after its launch? In comparison, its rival Honor 3C's sale rose from 120,000 in the second week to 220,000 in the third.
IT manager Ren Yonghong cast doubt on Xiaomi’s future:
智能机说到底还是要用户体验、产品质量、工艺，用户的选择会越来越理性！预测小米的营销方式在2014年将受到极大的挑战！别说20%的市场份额，恐怕会遇到危机！
After all, smartphones should depend on consumer experience and quality. Consumers will be more and more rational with their purchases. I suspect Xiaomi’s sale model [without adequate manufacturing support] will be seriously challenged in 2014. It could suffer a crisis, the 20 percent market share is far too optimistic.

author: Jack Hu


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37 Million Students Start New Year with Free Textbooks in Bangladesh · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

A student lifts up a textbook during the “Textbook Festival Day” program organized bythe  Education Ministry in the capital's Government Laboratory School. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (2/1/2014)
More than 37 million school students in Bangladesh have received nearly 300 million free school books from the government as part of “Textbook Festival Day” on January 2, 2014, setting a new world record in free textbook distribution, according to Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid.
One of the aims of the annual textbook festival, which has been held since 2011, is to combat illiteracy in the country. According to UNESCO, about 80 percent of youth are literate in Bangladesh.
In the past few years, the country has made tremendous progress [bn] in its education sector. Bangladesh has achieved almost 100 percent enrollment of eligible children in primary schools, male-female student parity, and ensuring free textbook for all. In 1991, the rate of enrollment was only 61 percent. In 2011, the rate rose to 98.2 percent and in 2012 to 99.47 percent. The rate of female enrollment in primary schools increased from 32 percent to 51 percent and in higher secondary from 18 percent to 54 percent of total students.
In 2014 school year the total books distributed were 299,675,938 among 37,336,672 students of primary, Ebtedayee, Higher secondary School, Dakhil and vocational school systems. The new textbooks can also be downloaded for free or read online from the government's e-book website and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) site.
Blogger and educator Masum Billah noted on the site Articles on Education of Bangladesh another benefit of free textbooks:
Free book distribution for all the primary students emerges as a great contributing factor to reducing drop out.
Different media published photos of students’ happy faces as they received their textbooks.
Film producer Rowshan Ara Nipa remembered on Facebook her own memories of school, when it took at least a few months to receive a new book for the school year:
গত ৫ বছর ধরে জানুয়ারীর ১ তাং এলেই সব বিদ্যালয় গুলিতে এক অসাধারন আনন্দ উৎসব আমাকে সুখকর এক ঈর্ষায় ফেলে দেয় , আহ্হারে আমি যদি ওদের বয়সী হতাম তবে তো আমিও আজ এই আনন্দের ভাগীধার হতাম! তবে আনন্দ যে একেবারে হয়না তা ঠিক নয়, বছরের শুরুর এই দিনে এক সাথে এত কচি কাচার হাসি মুখ এর চেয়ে বড় কোন শুভেচ্ছা আর আছে কি?
খুব মনে আছে এই তো ৫ বছর আগেই কোন ছাত্র-ছাত্রী নতুন বই কবে পাবে তার কোন ঠিক ঠাক সময় ছিলনা, বছরের ৩ মাস পেরিয়ে গেলেও নতন বই এর দেখা পাওয়া বড় সৌভাগ্য বলে গন্য হোত অথবা ২/১ টা নতুন বই আর পুরোনো বই মিলে একটা সেট বানানোর প্রান পন চেষ্টা করা হোত । আমার মা- বাবা দুজনেই প্রাথমিক বিদ্যালয়ের শিক্ষক ছিলেন। নতুন বই তো দুরের কথা ফেব্রুয়ারী-মার্চ পর্যন্ত কোন বই ছাত্রদের হাতে নাই এ নিয়ে দুশ্চিন্তার অন্ত ছিলনা…
The date January 1 meant a day of joy, which makes me happily jealous, if I were like them I would be part of the celebrations. But it is grand is to see all those happy faces of the children.
I remember that only five years ago there were no guarantee for the students when they would receive books. It would be pure luck for the students if they could get one or two books from the whole set after three months. Both my parents were primary school teachers. They would worry a lot how they were going to carry on with teaching the curriculum in the absence of books till February or March.
Sandipan Basu made fun of the situation:
এখনকার পোলাপাইনগুলা অভাগা। আমাদের কালে আমরা বই না পাওয়ার অজুহাতে পুরা জানুয়ারি স্কুলে যাইতাম না। আর পোলাপাইনে এখন বছরের প্রথমদিনই বই পাইয়া যায়। ক্যামনে কি !!
Today's students have no luck. We could skip school for the whole of January because we did not have new textbooks. Now they get new books at the beginning of the year. How is it possible?
Students celebrating the “Textbook Festival Day” in the capital's Government Laboratory School. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (2/1/2014)
Bangladesh is advancing despite its problems. The distribution of books on the second day of the year is one such example. Blogger Arif Jebtik wrote:
যাঁরা ভাবে বাংলাদেশ এগুচ্ছে না, তাঁরা আমাদের বাংলাদেশ দেখেনি। আমি জানি এই দেশ কীভাবে কতটুকু আগাচ্ছে। [..]
আজ বই হাতে পাওয়া প্রিয় প্রজন্ম, তোমরা সুখে থাকো। তোমাদের যখন পিছু ফিরে দেখার সুযোগ হবে, সেই বয়েসে তোমরা যে বাংলাদেশে দাঁড়িয়ে থাকবে, সেই সুন্দর বাংলাদেশের কথা ভেবে আমি মাঝে মাঝেই তোমাদের ঈর্ষা করি…
Those who think that Bangladesh is not progressing, they are not aware of Bangladesh. I know how it is leaping forward. [..]
Please be happy that the new generation received new books on time. When you look back at this moment one day, like I am doing, you will have lived through that progressive Bangladesh, and I am very much jealous.
Political violence has been a feature of many people's lives in Bangladesh, including children. Freedom fighter and activist Akku Chowdhury wrote:
this is the kind of Bangladesh we would like to see…Children happy with new books seeking knowledge….not Children with gun powder learning to make human BBQ….we want violent free democratic and peaceful nation moving forward with the spirit of liberation war….we want leaders ready to walk the talk…leaders who lead by example….we want politicians who considers power as a public service but not self service to become wealthier….joi manush (hail humans)

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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Chinese Professor Crawls Like A Dog For Losing Bet on Reform · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Earlier in 2013 Chinese scholar Fan Zhongxin publicly wagered that the Chinese government would tackle the problem of official corruption by compelling them to disclose their income and holdings to the public by the end of the year. The punishment would be for him to crawl like a dog for half a mile. Now that he had lost his bet, he fulfilled his promise and uploaded a crawling photo to his micro-blog. More from Tea Leaf Nation.


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French Restaurant In Pakistan Closed For Not Allowing Pakistanis · Global Voices
Rezwan

Blogger Farzana Versey from Mumbai weighs on the hypocrisy regarding alcohol consumption by Pakistanis while reporting on a recent incident:
La Maison, run by Frenchman Philippe Lafforgue, in a part of his house at an upscale area of the capital Islamabad, has been forced to shut down after there was an outcry against this discriminatory policy. There was no board outside saying so; it was a discreet decision by the management.
As the owner stated:
“It’s not a discrimination thing. It’s a culturally sensitive thing. How can I serve pork and booze to Pakistanis without getting into trouble? So I have a rule: no locals getting in…I can’t open it up to the Pakistani people because I serve alcohol. If I start serving locals, which is obviously profitable, I will have to bribe the police…which I want to avoid.”
She adds:
Many of the elite like to show off their bars and collection of wines, but do not raise their voice against government policies over their eating and drinking habits.

author: Rezwan