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Local Elections in Portugal Confirm Distrust of Political Parties · Global Voices
Hugo Ferro

The electoral campaign was marked by several ups and downs which have revealed distrust of the political parties. The best example was the success achieved by the Facebook page Tesourinhos das Autárquicas (Little Gems from the Local Elections), with more than 127,000 followers, which satirises various election posters (as in this image, PSD´s poster on a dumpster) and other moments from the campaign.
[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
Despite most of the national and international media focusing on the defeat of the incumbent government party, the Social Democrats Party (PSD), in the Portuguese local elections, the truth is that the big losers are actually all of the political parties.
A look at the general results reveals some interesting figures, such as the abstention rate of 47.36 percent, the highest ever rate in local elections. As for those who did vote, 3.86 percent of the votes were left blank, spoilt votes made up 2.95 percent, and the votes for independent candidates reached 6.66 percent.
Numbers from the Local Elections, shared by Paula Montez on Facebook. “Absent: 47.36%, Blank votes: 3.86%, Spoilt votes: 2.95%. Total: 54.17%. 4,679,063 constituents did not vote for anyone! And the parties still say they have been elected by the majority.”
Strangely, none of the party leaders in their declarations made after the results were announced made reference to the fact that the electoral party system has only won the support of less than half of the population.
Minister for Defence Aguiar Branco was the only one to point out that:
É muito perigoso pensar que a democracia pode viver sem partidos.
It is very dangerous to think that democracy can exist without parties.
The results don't seem to be worrying the main political party figures, but maybe it is the right time to rethink the electoral system, since it seems to be deteriorating. In 2011, Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva was voted in during an election in which 53.37 percent of the electorate abstained from voting, and in the parliamentary elections of the same year the abstention rate was 41.24 percent. The number of blank and spoilt votes has doubled since the last local elections in 2009.
Voters and candidates abstain from social networks
In social networks too, “the lack of interest in the almost two-week-long campaign was clear”, reported Público newspaper. The article by Hugo Torres highlights “the dangerous political indifference” of the voters, the fact that the “candidates did not know how to utilise Facebook to increase the interest of voters”, and further adds that “the absence of televised debates may have been the main factor in the silence of the web users”.
The television networks opted not to provide coverage of the electoral campaign because of their interpretation of a law laid down by the National Elections Commission (CNE), stipulating that all candidates, independent of their power or influence, receive equal treatment from the mass media.
The CNE also imposed limits on propaganda, including on social media, regardless if published by candidates or ordinary citizens, subject to penalty of a fine or up to six months in prison:
No dia e na véspera da eleição autárquica é proibido fazer propaganda, independentemente do meio utilizado, conforme prevê o artigo 177.º da Lei Eleitoral.
On the day and on the eve of the local elections, propaganda is prohibited, regardless of the means employed, as provided in Art. 177 of the Electoral Law [which is prior to the era of online social media].
Spoilt vote shared on Twitter by Manuel Portela (@ManuelP264). The voter inserted one extra option with the name of a football player and his team.
This could perhaps explain the fact that on the day of the elections, on Twitter, the hashtag #autárquicas2013 (local elections 2013) only started trending when the results started coming through. Even so, the use of the hashtag was criticised by some users, uninterested in the outcome of the elections.
Others took to Facebook to discuss the validity of the political system, such as the economist Vitor Lima:
O problema aqui é o sistema e não o governo que dele emana. Alguma coisa estava em vias de mudar com estas autárquicas? Creio que não. E por isso não votar ou votar branco/nulo é uma das escassas possibilidades de nos manifestarmos contra o sistema e a classe política, TODA ela unidinha na manutenção do sistema.
The system is the problem, not the government which results from the system. Was anything going to change with these local elections? I don't believe so. Thus, choosing not to vote, or leaving blank/spoilt votes, is one of the few ways in which we can protest against the system and the political class, all of whom are united in maintaining the [current] system.
Winners and losers
It is a fact that the incumbent PSD party received their worst results in the local elections in 20 years, but it is also a fact that the Socialist Party (PS), the biggest opposition party, lost some of its most important municipalities, such as Braga, Matosinhos, Évora and Beja.
It is worth mentioning that there was a record number of 80 independent candidates. Thirteen of these candidates were elected, but a large number of the independent candidates were previously associated with one of the parties or have already been mayors in the past. The most prominent case is that of Rui Moreira, who won the district of Porto, the second biggest city in the country. He was supported by the Popular Party (CDS-PP), which is one of the parties of the current coalition government, and whose candidates were elected in some municipalities in the north of the country (which is generally more conservative), one in Madeira where the electorate traditionally votes for PSD, and another in the Azores.
Also worth observing are some important victories of the CDU coalition made up of the Portuguese Communist Party and the Environmentalist Party “The Greens” – which is openly against the austerity measures and made this the main point of their campaign. The coalition managed to win back some important cities in the south of the country such as Évora and Beja, which they had lost to PS in the 2009 elections.
From abstention to Euro-scepticism
These were the first local elections since the 78 billion euro bailout (about 111 billion US dollars) and the coming of the so-called Troika to Portugal, which is composed of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission. The results of these elections are a clear demonstration of the discontent of the Portuguese population in relation to the conduct of the political parties, especially those who support the bailout and the austerity measures.
The senior members of the EU and the IMF are reviewing the conditions necessary to meet the targets, demanding even more cuts, and there is talk of the need for a second bailout. This would prolong a recession which has already lasted two and a half years, and has caused an increase in unemployment, reaching an official record level of more than 17 percent.  A rate that is higher than 27 percent, if we include those who are not registered at job centres, the so-called real unemployment figure. Youth unemployment, according to the latest information, is already more than 42 percent.
The European Parliament elections in May 2014 are highly likely to be one of the most important tests of the electoral participation of the citizens. These are traditionally the elections with the lowest turnout. In 2009, there was an abstention rate of 63.22 percent which, as well as demonstrating discontent with the party system, could point to an embarrassing Euro-sceptism.

author: Hugo Ferro


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Malaysian Communist Leader Chin Peng: Hero or Terrorist? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Communist Malayan Party leader Chin Peng died in Bangkok last month at the age of 88.
A mourner pays his last respects by laying flowers. Photo by Hon Keong Soo, Copyright @Demotix (9/23/2013)
Chin Peng was a controversial but important figure in Malaysia and Singapore. He led the resistance against the Japanese occupation during the Second World War; and then subsequently, against the British colonial forces in the late 1940s and 1950s. As an independence fighter, he was called by some as “Malaysia’s version of Myanmar’s Aung San, Indonesia’s Soekarno and Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh”.
But his campaign to establish a communist state which led to many years of civil war also made him unpopular.
He lived in exile in Thailand even after a peace agreement was finalized with the Malaysian government in 1989.
Malaysian officials have rejected the request to bring home the ashes of Chin Peng by claiming that he was not a Malaysian citizen. Furthermore, they are worried that a memorial could be erected by Chin Peng’s followers.
Before his death, Chin Peng wrote a letter to family and friends. Below is an excerpt of the letter:
I have given both my spiritual and physical self in the service of the cause that my party represented, that is, to fight for a fairer and better society based on socialist ideals.
I wish to be remembered simply as a good man who could tell the world that he had dared to spend his entire life in pursuit of his own ideals to create a better world for his people.
It is my conviction that the flames of social justice and humanity will never die.
But Barrie accused Chin Peng of being a terrorist:
It makes me sick to the bone whenever I read articles or news that claim Chin Peng was some hero to be worshipped. Isn't this like glorifying and making a hero out of Hitler? Or for that matter, Osama bin Laden?
Redbean explains how Chin Peng could be seen either as a good or bad patriot:
Chin Peng was a good man turned bad for fighting the British. If one is a member of the British Empire, Chin Peng was bad. If one was anti colonialism, Chin Peng was a patriot.
Koon Yew Yin echoed Chin Peng’s desire to return to his homeland:
…he yearned to return to his homeland and to die in his birth place. He also emphasised that Malaysia is a rich country and that the Chinese must work together and cooperate with the Malays to make Malaysia a better country.
Meanwhile, Azeem Abu Bakar agrees with the decision not to bury Chin Peng in Malaysia:
Should his ashes be allowed to be buried in Malaysia? No, because the tomb will be hailed by certain quarters. Indeed, the ashes could not resurrect and threaten our lives. He should be buried at sea away from anybody’s reach. It would be deemed offensive to Malaysians, even more so to the families of the brutally killed victims, should his remains be brought into the country and hailed like a hero.
Miyagi praises Chin Peng:
For all the ideological differences between Mr Ong’s comrades and the ones that built Singapore and Malaysia — I and many others consider Mr Ong Boon Wah, alias Chin Peng, a true patriot of the independent nations of Singapore and Malaysia. He fought tooth and nail for what he believed to be true and just — and held out for as long as his mind and body could muster — values we must admire
Malaysian opposition MP Tian Chua went to Bangkok to pay his last respects to Chin Peng:
I came as a friend and family and also as a Malaysian. We have our evaluation of his role in the country even if we agree or disagree over his ideology. We must recognize that he was part of Malaysian history. He and his generation have shaped what we are today. And together with other leaders in Southeast Asia, they shaped the map of Southeast Asia
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi elaborates on the decision not to allow the return of Chin Peng to Malaysia:
We know that if his body or ashes are brought back, there will be some who will deify him as a warrior-hero or make a monument to him. This will further break the hearts of our veterans and their families on top of the cruelty of Chin Peng and the communists.
MP M Kulasegaran clarifies that he is not in favor of communism but he believes the ashes of the late communist leader must be brought home to Malaysia:
I contend that the CPM's struggle against the Japanese during the latter's occupation of Malaya was valiant and their resistance to the British colonials after the defeat of the Japanese hastened the grant of independence to Malaya in 1957.
For that reason and also in deference to the terms of the 1989 peace accords, Chin Peng’s ashes should be allowed the courtesy of entry into the country and internment in the place of his wish.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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Slovakia, Where Receipts Double as Lottery Tickets · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

[All links lead to Slovak-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
Slovakia, which boasts the European Union's second worst tax collection rate after Greece, is betting on a national lottery to pull in more revenue.
“First toss of the [national] receipt lottery. ‘And the tax audit wins'”: Bloggers are already ridiculing the new government-organized lottery and insinuating there is corruption involved. Image courtesy of Cynicka Obluda, used with permission.
It has been some 20 years since the country introduced the value-added tax, or VAT, but the so-called grey economy remains a way for retail and services to get around it. Many businesses and stores will offer to sell goods or provide services for a lower price “off the books”. When purchases are made in this way, the seller excludes VAT, often lowering the price of the actual good or service as well, to tempt customers to pay in cash so neither side will have to report any part of the transaction to authorities or pay any tax.
The government's fix is simple: every customer receives a receipt upon payment of any legal purchase. Once a customer has paid and received their receipt, they can register with state-owned company Tipos to enter the lottery using that receipt. Registration for the lottery is free and also available online, while prizes range from cars to cash.
The tax department also plans on using this lottery and all the receipts entered to check shops and businesses [sk]. All winning receipts and perhaps other receipts will be cross-referenced with the sales records of the shop or business that issued them, to make sure the receipt was not forged or the sale “faked” in any way, within 48 hours of picking each winning receipt.
Authorities have also warned participants of the lottery that entering with a forged or “fake” receipt will automatically disqualify them from the lottery. Authorities have not been clear, however, on the process to be used or how extensively they will be checking entered receipts and the businesses that issued them.
Slovakia's officials expect that this will make citizens more eager to get their receipts, which would raise the number of legal purchases, and that fewer business owners will risk issuing fake receipts, solving two major issues the government has had regarding VAT in one blow.
Those who are optimistic about the idea cite the success of Taiwan's similar tax lottery, which raised tax collection significantly. Those who are more wary of the concept point out that this kind of national lottery was an extreme failure in Georgia, where the government shut down the lottery just months after it was introduced.
Others are weighing their thoughts about it online. A reader on IT news site dsl.sk commented on an article that explained some of the issues the lottery site was having the first day of registration, referring to the fact that citizens tend to pay less for goods and services when they do not ask for a receipt:
zľava: Zaregistruj svoj blocek a mozno vyhras. Dohodni sa bez blocka a vyhras urcite.
zľava: Register your receipt and maybe you will win. Make a deal without a receipt and you will win surely.
Many are showing their discontent [sk] with making more money available to Slovakia's corrupt government [en] officials:
janosp: Tankuj v zahranici, bojujes s korupciou na Slovensku. Blocek? Od zivnostnika? Ja nechcem! … naco zivit stat? Naco posielat do statneho rozpoctu dalsie dane, aby ich SMER-ACI rozkradli???
janosp: Buy fuel abroad, you fight corruption in Slovakia. Receipt? From small entrepreneurs? I do not want to … for what, to feed the state? For what, to send more money to the state budget, to let it be stolen by people from the ruling party???
User refuge_ on this discussion forum replied to user janosp, saying that there is always the risk that money will end up in the pockets of the country's corrupt politicians:
A viete o tom, že ak tankujete v Rakúsku alebo Nemecku, tak daň, ktorú tam zaplatíte, sa k nám možno dostane v podobe Eurofondov?
And do you know that when you are buying fuel in Austria or Germany that tax you will pay there could come back to us through EU funds?
Another user, Zappa, and others like him have decided to simply disregard the whole idea, many believing it won't solve anything:
Zappa: ignorujem celú stupídnu lotériu už len s princípu
Zappa: I'm ignoring the whole stupid lottery already out of principle
Some netizens are saying [sk] this lottery already has winners. The first “winners” are companies paid by Tipos to render several services related to the lottery. Approximately 178,000 euros (about 240,000 US dollars) has been spent so far for the implementation of the systems used for the new lottery. There are also estimates that somewhere between 150 and 200,000 euros (about 200,000 to 270,000 US dollars) has been spent on creating an advertisement campaign and another 300 to 350,000 euros (about 400,000 to 475,000 US dollars) on advertisement space to popularize the lottery. A popular singer of the older generations, Eva Máziková, has been hired to be the face of the campaign.
“Always keep your lobotomy receipt!” A parody of the advertising campaign for the national VAT receipt lottery, featuring singer Eva Máziková. Image courtesy of Cynicka Obluda, used with permission.
When asked by media [sk] and the public, neither Máziková's manager nor Tipos’ director wanted to say how much the singer had been paid for appearing in the lottery ads. Some have sarcastically commented that “maybe she will be paid without a receipt.”
Off to a rocky start
Despite big money spent on the infrastructure for the lottery, the system collapsed on the first day of registration, with an average of 300 registrations per minute. Tipos quickly made a statement claiming the system was down because of a DDoS attack. Readers of an article about the alleged DDoS attack on IT news site dsl.sk, however, were not buying into the story:
m8642: Jasne, DDoS. Rovnaka vyhovorka ako pouzil Statisticky urad pocas volieb. Ved kto uz mohol cakat taky velky zaujem?
m8642: Of course, DDoS. The same excuse was used by Statistics Office during elections. Who could have been expecting such big interest?
Another reader also commented cynically, attaching a link to Tipos site access history for evidence:
Houston: Utok? Tak mozno podla Tiposu … Takze kuk na linku Telekomu: http://www.six.sk/mrtg/telekom.html Ja tam teda ziadny utok nevidim, ci?
Houston: Attack? Maybe according to Tipos… So look at [Tipos’s] Telekom link: http://www.six.sk/mrtg/telekom.html I do not see any attack there, or [am I missing something]?
Other IT knowledgeable users on discussion boards took a quick analytic look at Tipos’ claim, debunking it several times over.
Tipos’ lottery registration system had several issues aside from the site's down time. Another IT news site reported [sk]:
Some people had problems with registering a Tipos account because Google mail recognized emails from Tipos as spam. Some other email services recognized it as an attack and blocked access from Tipos servers.
Echoing the cynical opinion of most, one netizen dubbed this the “Double Lottery” in an image posted on Cynicka Obluda:
Minister of Finance: “We poured a lot of money into that thing with the receipts, but no one yet knows how it will end. And that's why we call it a lottery.” Image parody of Slovakia's Minister of Finance explaining the lottery. Image courtesy of Cynicka Obluda, used with permission.

author: Tibor Blazko


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Senior Citizens Fight High-Voltage Tower Construction in South Korean Town · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

In the small South Korean rural town Miryang, senior residents are doing all they can to stop the construction of extra-high voltage transmission towers across their land.
The state-owned power provider, Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) plans to build dozens of 765-kilovolt transmission towers [ko] across Miryang that would affect 30 villages and 1,800 households. Opposition is fierce. Most of the town's population, elderly farmers in their 60s and 70s, have resisted for over eight years now, citing health risks and expressing their strong attachment to their lands where they have lived for decades.
The fight made national headlines around January 2012 when a 74-year-old man set himself on fire in protest. A series of dramatic demonstrations have flipped public opinion toward the residents, and KEPCO temporarily halted the project on March 2013.
After 126 days of hiatus, the construction resumed [ko] on October 2, 2013 and protests have erupted, both at the construction site and in front of the KEPCO building in Seoul. Five people were detained after having minor physical clashes [ko] with police.
People show their support for the Miryang protest. Image by ‘Stand with Miryang, Stop the 765kv Towers’. Used with permission.
KEPCO seemed to back off a little. However, they sued or applied injunctions against 15 residents, who are either farmers or unemployed, for hindering their construction. And despite KEPCO's claim that they had reached an agreement with 15 villages, the opposition issued a statement denying anything of the sort, stressing that residents aren't interested in monetary compensation. One local media outlet even reported that KEPCO had an internal research document [ko] admitting the high voltage transmission tower can be a serious health hazard to the residents in the affected area.
Environmental and civic groups have joined the senior citizen's uphill battle. Facebook page Stand with Miryang, Stop the 765kv Towers shared photos of recent protests (below) and citizens holding signs in support of Miryang's struggle. (above).
People protest in front of the KEPCO building. Image by ‘Stand with Miryang, Stop the 765kv Towers’. Used with permission.
Net users expressed shock at the government's decision to use police force against the elderly farmers. About 2,000 riot police agents were deployed [ko] to the site (initially, 3,000 were expected [ko] to be dispatched):
최악의 불상사 우려되는 밀양 송전탑 공사 http://t.co/Z3ZjWSTFNZ 주민들은 대부분 나이 많고 힘없는 노인들이다. 수천명의 경찰을 동원해 이들을 몰아내고 공사를 강행하겠다는 건 전쟁 상황에서도 상상하기 힘든 일이다.
— 들풀 #시국선언 (@wow815) September 29, 2013
Worries of the worst case scenario looms over the Miryang tower construction (site). Residents are mostly old, helpless elderly people. They want to forge ahead with the construction by kicking away these people with several thousand police agents! Such action is something unimaginable even in a war-time situation.
@MyoungrrangAndy: […]밀양에 경찰병력이 계속 늘어가고 있답니다. 주민의사 무시하는 공사 강행은 명백한 폭력입니다.
@MyoungrrangAndy[…] I've heard the number of police forces in Miryang keeps increasing. Pushing ahead with the construction against the resident's wishes is clearly an act of violence.
As violent clashes seem inevitable, many recalled the Yongsan disaster four years ago, in which six people were killed in an accidental fire started while police attempted to break-up a sit-in of evicted residents in a building in Seoul:
밀양 송전탑 공사 재개를 앞두고 송전탑 건설 현장에 10월 2일쯤 경찰 기동대 34개 중대 3000여 명을 투입하기로 했다고…어르신 몇 분에 3000명? 용산참사의 비극을 벌써 잊었는가? http://t.co/mm4AG77oDf
— 불꽃, 정중규 (@bulkoturi) September 28, 2013
As day of resumed construction on the Miryang transmission tower draws near, they have decided to deploy 3,000 riot police agents (34 squads) to the site on October 2… 3,000 police against a few elderly citizens? Have they already forgotten about the Yongsan disaster?
밀양 송전탑 사태, 국가는 공익목적이라는 이유로 주민의 삶을 파괴해서는 안된다. 공익에 꼭 필요하다면 주민을 설득하고 삶의 대책을 반드시 마련해준 뒤에 시행해야 한다. 아무 대책마련도 없이 공익만 들이대면 된다는 후진적 사고가 용산사태를 불렀다.
— 강려(江廬) (@Riverside_hut) September 30, 2013
The Miryang Transmission Tower crisis shows that the government has no right to ruin individual lives for the sake of the public interest. If it is something really necessary for the public interest, they need to persuade the [affected] residents and must provide them with alternative options. This moronic idea of forging ahead claiming it benefits the greater public good without making any preparations is what led to the Yongsan disaster.
밀양 송전탑 사태의 평화로운 해결을 바랍니다. 부디.
— jiyouuu (@jiyouuu) September 30, 2013
I really hope for a peaceful resolution to the Miryang transmission tower crisis.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Trinidad & Tobago: Crime Fighting – There’s an App for That!   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gerard Best blogs about a new open data initiative aimed at stemming the tide of crime in the country.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Vote Like a Chilean Legislator with Populus · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

On the new online platform Populus.cl [es] citizens can learn about laws, vote on them and compare their choice with decisions made by members of Congress.
Citizens can answer questions on issues like health, internet and copyright, labor, culture, the environment, and more. The site provides background information to help users learn more about the law or citizen initiative. After they cast their vote, Populus shows users which legislators support or reject that particular issue.
“Do you support or reject Chileans voting from abroad?”
Sentidos Comunes [es] adds that the platform works “like a citizen thermometer so legislators can learn what people really think.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Deadly Storms, Delayed Aid Devastate Mexico’s La Montaña Indigenous  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Camp of indigenous people displaced by storms in La Montaña. Photo from The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center. Used with permission.
Two major storms, Tropical Storm Manuel and Hurricane Ingrid, hit Mexico last month, leaving behind 157 deaths according to the latest official reports. One of the hardest hit areas is La Montaña, a region in the southern state of Guerrero, considered one of the poorest and most marginalized areas in the country.
The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, which is based in La Montaña, described the situation in an opinion piece published in the online version of local newspaper El Sur [es]:
En la Montaña, esa región olvidada que conforman 19 municipios y más de 650 comunidades indígenas, el panorama es desolador. Cuando comenzaron las lluvias, nadie imaginaba la destrucción que dejarían a su paso. No hubo un solo aviso sobre lo que se avecinaba que permitiera tomar precauciones. Simplemente, la lluvia inició y se prolongó como si fuera interminable, con una furia devastadora nunca antes vista.
[…]
El conteo de los fallecimientos en la Montaña, que asciende ya a más de treinta personas, debe considerarse todavía preliminar pues el colapso de carreteras y caminos mantiene en la incomunicación a pueblos ubicados en los lugares más recónditos de Acatepec, Metlatónoc y Cochoapa.
In La Montaña, that forgotten region made up of 19 municipalities and more than 650 indigenous communities, the outlook is bleak. When the rains started, no one imaged the destruction they would leave in their wake. There was not a single warning about what was coming in order to take precautions. The rain simply started and lasted as if endless, with a devastating fury that had never been seen before.
[…]
The death count of La Montaña, which now amounts to over 30 people, must still be considered preliminary since the collapse of roads and paths have kept communities in the remote corners of Acatepec, Metlatónoc and Cochoapa isolated and unable to communicate.
The government has declared [es] all 19 municipalities of La Montaña a natural disaster zone.
The article also denounced the authorities’ slow response, which they say “reveals the discriminative face of the Mexican State”:
Pero ninguna autoridad de alto nivel de los gobiernos federal y estatal llegó a la Montaña los primeros días del desastre. Con las autoridades volcadas en el traslado de turistas acapulqueños, la penuria de las comunidades indígenas de la Montaña fue, en los hechos, relegada a segundo plano.
But no high-level authority of the federal and state governments came to La Montaña during the first days of the disaster. With authorities dedicated to the transfer of Acapulco tourists, the hardship of the indigenous communities of La Montaña was, in light of the facts, relegated to the background.
Camp of indigenous people displaced by storms in La Montaña. Photo from The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center. Used with permission.
WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America), which gave the The Tlachinollan Human Rights Center a Human Rights Award in 2009, also shared the Center's reports:
According to Tlachinollan, several indigenous communities in the region suffered from landslides; roads have been destroyed, crops vital to their survival have been washed away, and the communities are without electricity and phone service. Communities lack food, water, medicine, and gasoline but the government response has been slow and insufficient.
Furthermore, WOLA called on Mexican authorities to take action and “respond to the immediate needs of communities in the La Montaña region of Mexico in a coordinated and transparent manner.”
Paris Martínez reported for website Animal Político [es] on the people of Moyotepec and La Lucerna, two indigenous communities from La Montaña, on September 25:
Según los cálculos de sus autoridades tradicionales, en estos dos campamentos permanecen más de 3 mil personas, que han dado por perdidas sus viviendas y sus cosechas, ya sea por haberse derrumbado o por estar a punto de hacerlo. Y como Moyotepec y La Lucerna, los habitantes de al menos media centena más de localidades indígenas de La Montaña, permanecen en campamentos y refugios a los que la asistencia oficial apenas ha salpicado.
According to calculations made by their traditional authorities, in these two camps there are more than 3,000 people, who have lost their homes and their crops, either because they have collapsed or because they are about to. And like Moyotepec and La Lucerna, inhabitants of at least 50 indigenous communities of La Montaña remain in camps and shelters where official help has barely trickled in.
Martínez shared two videos of the camps.
In his report, Martínez highlighted that by September 22 the inhabitants of Moyotepec had been waiting eight days for help. He says that a few hours after reporters began releasing the testimonies of those affected, Army and Ministry of Health doctors, and trucks with blankets, water purification tablets and groceries arrived in Moyotepec. But he pointed out that the authorities were in such a hurry that they drove by the La Lucerna camp without providing any assistance.
At the end of his article, Martínez reported that the Secretary of Social Development, Rosario Robles, arrived to the region a day after that quick relief operation. Robles said that they'd been “all over the state of Guerrero” and that the alleged lack of attention to indigenous communities has been a problem of media coverage, not a problem related to their work.
Citizen media are not the only ones denouncing government officials’ negligence, as Nina Lakhani reported in Al Jazeera: “Several national newspapers started to suggest that authorities had neglected evacuation plans in Guerrero because they were too caught up in public holiday festivities.”
In an email sent to Global Voices this week, the Tlachinollan Human Rights Center said that indigenous youth are using social networks like Facebook to share information and organize the delivery of humanitarian aid to their communities.
Tlachinollan also reported that according to the governor of Guerrero, Ángel Aguirre Rivero, more than 13,000 people of La Montaña have been displaced and there are currently 49 camps where people are taking refuge after their homes were affected by the rains. Furthermore, 31 communities need to be relocated, and 215 – one third of the indigenous communities of La Montaña – have been isolated and unable to communicate since September 14.
At Tlachinollan, we are now all turned to the emergency, doing very different actions, from gathering humanitarian aid to bring to the communities and documenting how state aid is allocated, to opening channels of communication with federal authorities to remind them that this region is a priority as it is already one of the poorest in the country.


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The Trouble with Being Elected Mayor in Russia · Global Voices
Gina Lentine

Evgeny Roizman (right) and Mikhail Prokhorov (left), 24 December 2011, photo by johnnnyick, CC 2.0.
Last month's mayoral election in Yekaterinburg resulted in victory for the peculiar and controversial anti-drug activist and former Duma deputy Evgeny Roizman, who took 33.21% of the vote. Following the election, the Yekaterinburg State Duma (in what should have been a routine procedure) officially confirmed Roizman as mayor. Citing technicalities, four city parliament members of the opposition parties A Just Russia and the Party of Pensioners contested the confirmation meeting, also bringing a joint suit to a court in the Leninsky District to challenge the legality of the meeting's quorum procedures. The State Duma's oppositionists claim is that not enough representatives attended at the meeting, and a follow-up gathering was convened immediately afterwards, in violation of the law.
The deputies’ basic allegation is that last month's voting (on offices other than the mayor's seat) was rigged. “We do not dispute that the results of the mayoral elections are correct. The city has an elected mayor,” A Just Russia's Alexandr Burkov explained [ru] to the media earlier this week.
Outside of Moscow, Roizman's campaign was perhaps Russia's most captivating political experiment this year. Running on the ticket of Mikhail Prokhorov's independent party Civil Platform, Roizman brought into the open his vicious rivalry with the local Governor, Evgeny Kuivashev. Given Roizman's hard-fought victory and the context of a still unresolved conflict with Kuivashev and Sverdlovsk's regional authorities, what is the significance of these new procedural hiccups in confirming Yekaterinburg's mayor?
Some welcomed the unceremoniousness of Roizman's confirmation. LiveJournal user teh_nomad [ru] expects a long period of litigation ahead, writing:
Думаю, что в процессе “мэрствования” Ройзмана нас еще ждет очень много процедурных и других бюрократических судов. Ведь так хорошо сейчас звучат новости во всех газетах и по всем каналам о том, что прокуратура считает Ройзмана не легитимным мэром.
I think for Roizman's “mayorization,” we're can look forward to all kinds of procedures and other bureaucratic courts. After all, it's great to hear on the news, read in the newspapers, and see on all the TV channels that the district attorney thinks Roizman is an legitimate mayor.
Several bloggers observed how farcical it is that Yekaterinburg's elections this year, which were arguably fairer than in the past, still resulted in claims of electoral fraud. Reacting to complaints by the opposition, conservative television personality Vladimir Soloviev asked:
Так что выше : воля избирателей, приведших на выборах мэра Ройзмана к победе, или прокуратура?
— Vladimir Soloviev (@VRSoloviev) October 1, 2013
So what's worth more? The will of the voters, which led Roizman to victory in the election, or the district attorney's?
Another Twitter user with the suspicious handle @992121 quipped:
Я все ждала,когда они начнут валить Ройзмана,а они его даже утверждать на посту мэра не собираются!Вот это и называется “политический театр”
— Антонова (@992121) October 1, 2013
I was waiting for when they'd begin to undercut Roizman, and he hasn't even been confirmed to his post as mayor yet! Now this is what I call “political theater”[!]
LiveJournal user Alexandr Rokhmistrov addressed the election in a post titled, “The Opposition's Mayoral Troubles: Navalny Not Elected, and Roizman Deemed Illegitimate.” Waxing philosophical about the ills of entering into Russian politics (particularly mayoral elections), Rokhmistrov opined on the eventual corruption of all politicians, saying that even the most independent-minded opposition candidates eventually become a part of the establishment:
К тому же при высокой должности, искушений много всяких появляется, перед которыми даже закаленному «аппаратному бойцу» устоять трудно. Ну а коли человек, можно сказать прямо с уличного митинга в уютное кабинетное кресло попадает, как тут устоять перед бесчисленными соблазнами, да искушениями.
When in high office, all sorts of temptations appear, before which even the most seasoned “warriors of Beltway” struggle to resist. You can fall straight from the street protest into a comfy office chair, as you try to hold up to all the enticements and temptations.
On October 3, 2013, a Yekaterinburg court affirmed [ru] the legality of the State Duma's session that confirmed Roizman's electoral victory, proving wrong bloggers like teh_nomad, who anticipated a drawn-out legal process.

author: Gina Lentine


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‘Enough Forced Evictions!’: Amnesty International Takes On Brazil World Cup Construction · Global Voices
Melissa Rossi

[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
While many Rio de Janeiro residents, known as cariocas, are looking forward to the exciting games, colorful banners, and renovated stadiums of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in the city, other less fortunate Brazilians will remember the event forever with grief and indignation over losing their homes for event construction.
Launch of the campaign Basta de Remoções Forçadas! (ativismo.anisitiabrasil.org.br) in front of the Deputy Chamber of Rio de Janeiro, in Cinelândia. Photo by AF Rodrigues, shared by Amnesty International Brazil.
According to Amnesty International Brazil, 19,200 families have been removed since 2009 in the city of Rio de Janeiro as the city makes space for the infrastructural demands, such as road and parking lot construction and the revitalization of Rio's port, considered necessary improvements for hosting the World Cup and the Olympics.
As a response to these removals, Amnesty International Brazil has launched the campaign Basta de Remoções Forçadas! (Enough Forced Evictions!). Renata Neder, representative of the human rights branch of Amnesty International Brazil, stated:
Há evidências de situações de violação do direito à moradia e remoções forçadas na cidade do Rio de Janeiro em decorrência de grandes intervenções urbanas e preparação para os megaeventos esportivos. A campanha quer chamar a atenção das autoridades locais para violações que já aconteceram e evitar que elas se repitam
There is evidence of the violation of the right of property and forced evictions in the city of Rio de Janeiro as a consequence of the large urban interventions and organization in light of the mega-sports-events. The campaign wants to call the attentions of local authorities to such violations and to avoid that they are repeated
More than 19,000 families have been displaced since 2009 in Rio de Janeiro, according to the city government itself. A public hearing at the City Council on “Removals by Big Projects in Rio de Janeiro” took place on September 27. Shared by Racismo Ambiental (CC BY-NC 2.5 br)
Amnesty International's campaign focuses mostly on the Providência and Vila Autódromo communities in Rio that are directly affected by the construction of the Transoeste [en] express bus route. The fast transit route connects Rio’s port area in the northern part of the city to the rich Barra da Tijuca neighborhood in the western part, where most of the Olympic Games’ infrastructure will be located.
The report points out that families removed by the construction of the Transoeste were not properly informed about what was going to happen, receiving short-term eviction notices, being relocated to areas extremely far away or were given inadequate compensation, when they received a compensation at all.
The campaign calls for the signing of a petition addressed to Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes, asking for proper legal guarantees for the families and for the immediate halt of forced evictions.
The campaign also gained momentum on the Facebook page of Acorda Brasil (Wake up Brazil):
E se fosse a sua casa?
Moradores do Morro da #Providência, na zona portuária do Rio de Janeiro, reclamam da falta de transparência e da imposição dos projetos sem prévia negociação com a comunidade diretamente afetada: “Eles só chegaram para mostrar: ‘Isso é o que nós temos. Esse é o projeto que vai ser inserido, queiram vocês ou não’. Não houve participação, [o projeto] já chegou pronto. A #comunidade não participou de nada.
What if this was your home?
Residents of the Providência community in Rio’s port area are protesting against the lack of transparency and the imposition of projects without prior negotiation with the community directly affected by it: “They only showed us: ‘This is what we have. This is the project that is going to take place whether you like it or not’. There was no participation, [the project] was presented in its completed phase. The community did not participate at all.”
Amnesty International also published anonymous statements of residents on its site. Read one of them below:
De uma certa forma, eu perdi a minha casa por causa da Copa. Eu não consigo mais sentir aquela alegria com a Copa depois disso…” (Jorge Santos, ex-morador da Vila Recreio II, morava lá há 16 anos). Jorge foi o último morador a ser removido. Ele e mais 11 famílias só receberam a indenização no final de 2012, mais de um ano depois da remoção da comunidade.
In a way, I lost my home because of the World Cup. I can’t even feel happy about the Cup after this… (Jorge dos Santos, former resident of Vila Recreio II, lived there for 16 years). Jorge was the last resident evicted. He and another 11 families only received compensation at the end of 2012, more than a year after they were removed.
Evicted community in the West Zone of Rio for the construction works of the Olympics 2016. Photo on Flickr by UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
On Twitter, the debate on forced eviction gained momentum under the hashtags #direitoamoradia (#righttoahome) and #remoções (#evictions).
Rádio Debate (@radiodebate), a daily radio show from the University of Ceará, tweeted:
Entre 150 e 170 mil pessoas estão ameaçadas de perder suas casas. Governo e Prefeitura não confirmam esse dado. #direitoamoradia
— Rádio Debate (@radiodebate) July 10, 2013
A Twitter account that shares human rights updates in Brazil (@direitoshumanos) tweeted a video by the Rio People's World Cup and Olympics Committee (Comitê Popular Rio Copa e Olimpíadas) with:
A Verdade sobre as #Remoções no Rio de Janeiro – “114 Vídeos, Uma Só História” http://t.co/wFJNeKhmnr – http://t.co/VXhFnbQMLo
— direitoshumanos (@direitoshumanos) September 30, 2013
What is important to remember about the debate is that the issue at stake here isn’t the modernization of Rio’s infrastructure, which is needed for harboring large international events, but the extremely questionable manner in which it is being carried out, often without the consent of people living in the communities who suffer evictions without the proper legal safety-nets, such as adequate compensations and even basic consent.
The challenge here is not about being prepared with the proper infrastructure to host these events, it is rather about being seen as a country with dubious democratic practices, that treats its citizens differently according to their economic status and that does not guarantee the essential right of property to those most in need of being protected.
Also Global Voices past FIFA-related eviction coverage:
28 May: Interview: Cartoonist Slams Forced Evictions in Brazil for World Cup
24 May: Brazil's Indigenous Fight Back Against State Development
2 April: Century-Old Trees Face the Axe in Brazil
25 March: Brazil Violently Ousts Indigenous Village Ahead of World Cup
10 March: FIFA Beware! Journalist Teams Up with Brazil's World Cup Victims
5 March: Carnival Samba Takes Aim at World Cup in Brazil
4 March: VIDEO: Brazil Bulldozes Neighborhood Without Warning for World Cup
1 March: Brazilian Family Loses Home to the World Cup

author: Melissa Rossi


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GV Face: Saudi Women Will Drive · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

On October 26, 2013 thousands of Saudi women have vowed to defy the kingdom's ban on female driving.
In this week's edition of GV Face, we meet Jeddah-based blogger and writer Tamador Alyami, who is supporting the #Women2Drive campaign.
We talked about the campaign, life for women in Saudi, and how activists handle naysayers like the cleric who recently said “we find that most of those who drive cars continuously deliver children with varying degrees of clinical dysfunction.”
GV Face is hosted by our Managing Editor Solana Larsen and Deputy Editor Sahar Habib Ghazi.
Also Read:
Sep 2013 Saudi Clergyman Delivers Ground-breaking Science on Why Women Shouldn't Drive
Sep 2013 October 26th: A Day for Defying Saudi Ban on Women Driving
Oct 2012 Saudi Arabia: Women2Drive Steps Up Tone; Blames Government Policies
Nov 2011 Saudi Arabia: Outrage Over 10 Lashes for Female Driver
Jun 2011 Saudi Arabia: Women Behind the Wheel
May 2011 Saudi Arabia: Woman Arrested for Driving
May 2011 Saudi Arabia: A Woman Challenges the Law by Driving in Jeddah

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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One-Third of the World’s Babies Don’t Have Birth Certificates · Global Voices
Bah Abdoulaye

Photo via BRAVO!
Out of the 150 million children born each year, 51million – more than one-third – are not registered at birth. In developing countries, one in four has a birth registration rate of less than 50 percent. Without a birth certificate, children are often prevented from attending school or receiving adequate healthcare and are more vulnerable to becoming child soldiers or working as exploited labourers.
But the Community of Saint Giles (Comunità di Sant'Egidio in Italian), a Catholic association of lay people that serves the poor, is trying to change that. The Community has developed the BRAVO! programme, which stands for Birth Registration for All Versus Oblivion, to push for higher rates of birth registration in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. It's one of many initiatives, including the DREAM programme to combat AIDS featured on Global Voices in August 2013, that the Community has undertaken.
Global Voices recently spoke with Evelina Martelli, project manager for BRAVO!, about the programme, where it is operating, and why birth registration matters so much.
Global Voices (GV): What is the BRAVO programme and how did it come about?
Evelina Martelli (EM): Il Programma BRAVO! è nato dall'esperienza della Comunità di Sant'Egidio per proteggere la vita dei bambini e garantire i loro diritti. In molti paesi africani e asiatici i membri della Comunità si sono accorti che i bambini che aiutano spesso non hanno nemmeno il certificato di nascita, e subiscono per questo pesanti conseguenze, tra cui quelle di non potersi iscrivere a scuola e di non ricevere cure mediche adeguate. In situazioni di conflitto, abbiamo visto che proprio i bambini senza certificato di nascita erano più esposti a essere arruolati come bambini soldato;  spesso questi bambini sono utilizzati per i lavori in miniera e nelle piantagioni perché i datori di lavoro non possono essere condannati per sfruttamento del lavoro minorile in quanto non è possibile dimostrare l'età dei bambini.
BRAVO!, acronimo di Birth Registration For All Versus Oblivion, è il programma a cui la Comunità di Sant'Egidio ha dato vita per garantire la registrazione allo stato civile di tutti i bambini. BRAVO! promuove e incoraggia la registrazione dei bambini al momento della nascita e risolve la mancata registrazione attraverso procedure di iscrizione tardiva. Sensibilizza genitori e figli sull'importanza del certificato di nascita e spiega le procedure necessarie a registrare gratuitamente le nascite. Promuove il miglioramento del servizio di registrazione formando gli ufficiali di stato civile, migliorando le loro condizioni di lavoro, creando nuovi uffici più vicini ai luoghi in cui le persone vivono. Contribuisce a rimuovere una causa importante del traffico umano, della schiavitù e dello sfruttamento minorile.
Evelina Martelli (EM): The BRAVO! programme was inspired by what the Community of Sant'Egidio experienced when protecting the lives of children and guaranteeing them their rights. In many African and Asian countries, members of the Community noticed that the children they were helping often did not even have a birth certificate, and because of this they suffered serious consequences such as not being able to enroll in school and not receiving adequate medical care. In conflict situations, we noticed that the children without birth certificates were more likely to be recruited as child soldiers. Often these children are used to work in mines and plantations because the employers cannot be convicted of exploiting child labour as it is not possible to prove the age of the child.
BRAVO!, which stands for Birth Registration For All Versus Oblivion, is the programme that the Community of Sant'Egidio has created to ensure that all children are registered. BRAVO! promotes and encourages the registration of children at the moment of birth and resolves the problem of non-registered children through late registration procedures. They make the parents and the children aware of the importance of birth certificates and explain the procedure to follow to register births for free. They also promote the improvement of the registration services by training the registry office officials, improving their working conditions and creating offices closer to where the people live. It contributes to eliminating a major cause of human trafficking, slavery and child labour.
La registrazione delle nascite è il riconoscimento ufficiale dell'esistenza di una persona. È un diritto umano fondamentale ai sensi dell’art. 7 della Convenzione dell’ONU sui diritti dell’infanzia.
I bambini non registrati allo stato civile non possono usufruire della protezione giuridica, sociale ed economica di uno Stato né accedere ai suoi servizi. Non possono, ad esempio, usufruire di prestazioni sanitarie, né frequentare la scuola, né conseguire un titolo di studio.
Privi di un'identità legale sono più facilmente esposti agli abusi o allo sfruttamento, alla schiavitù, al traffico di esseri umani, alla prostituzione, al lavoro forzato o all’arruolamento come bambini soldato. Se hanno commesso un reato, vengono trattati come adulti e non godono delle protezioni assicurate ai minori, come quella di stare in celle separate dai maggiorenni.
Grazie al certificato di nascita, da grandi potranno partecipare alla vita democratica del loro paese, eleggere ed essere eletti, potranno godere dei diritti di nazionalità, potranno viaggiare, essere assunti con un regolare contratto di lavoro, ereditare o avere titoli di proprietà ed essere parte attiva della società civile del proprio paese, contribuendo al suo sviluppo.
La registrazione allo stato civile riveste un’importanza fondamentale anche per gli Stati. Essa è infatti la principale fonte per l’elaborazione delle statistiche demografiche, che forniscono i dati necessari alle valutazioni sanitarie e di sviluppo umano, tra cui molti degli indicatori degli Obiettivi del Millennio (MDG).
EM: Birth registration is the official recognition of the existence of a person. It is a fundamental human right under Article 7 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Children who are not registered are not eligible for legal, social and economic protection from the state nor do they have access to its services. They cannot, for example, make use of health services, or attend school, or get a qualification.
Without a legal identity, they are more likely to be exposed to abuse through exploitation, slavery, human trafficking, prostitution, forced labour or conscription as child soldiers. If they commit a crime, they are treated as adults and are not offered the same treatment as other children, such as being in separate cells from the adults.
Thanks to a birth certificate, as adults they will be able to participate in the democratic life of their country, vote and stand for election. They will have all the rights of a regular citizen, be able to travel, be employed with a regular contract, inherit, own property and be an active part of civil society in their country, contributing to its development.
Registering births is of fundamental importance also to the country. It is in fact the main source for producing population statistics, which provide the data necessary for health assessments and human development, including many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
EM: Il programma è attivo in tutti i paesi in cui sono presenti volontari della Comunità di Sant'Egidio: circa 40 paesi tra Africa subsahariana, Asia e America Latina. I membri della Comunità spiegano alle famiglie che aiutano con i diversi servizi (scuole della pace, programma DREAM per la cura dell'AIDS, mense per bambini malnutriti, sostegno e aiuto alimentare per i bambini di strada, aiuto ai lebbrosi e alle loro famiglie) l'importanza della registrazione delle nascite e spesso le assistono nelle procedure per la registrazione. Organizzano feste nei quartieri poveri e nei villaggi per spiegare a genitori e figli l'importanza della registrazione e le procedure per effettuarla. Promuovono campagne di sensibilizzazione in collaborazione con le scuole primarie, con gli ospedali e le materni
In alcuni paesi africani, il Programma BRAVO! collabora con le autorità dello Stato per promuovere la registrazione dell'intera popolazione. Di concerto con le autorità competenti, elabora la strategia per  garantire la registrazione di tutta la popolazione che ancora non possiede il certificato di nascita e contestualmente migliorare le infrastrutture dello stato civile per garantire che in futuro tutti i nuovi nati vengano registrati immediatamente dopo la nascita.
In Burkina Faso, la campagna promossa dal programma BRAVO! ha permesso la registrazione di 3,5 milioni di persone (quasi un quarto della popolazione) e oggi BRAVO! è impegnato nella stabilizzazione del sistema, attraverso la formazione di personale, il sostegno agli uffici comunali di registrazione, le campagne di sensibilizzazione in tutto il paese.
In Mozambico, BAVO! sta promuovendo la registrazione della popolazione della provincia di Nampula che, con i suoi 4,2 milioni di abitanti, è la più popolosa del paese e sta formando il personale dell'intera provincia. Due nuovi centri di registrazione sono già stati costruiti in aree rurali e altri centri saranno presto inaugurati. Sarà così più facile registrare le nascite dei bambini alla nascita, usufruendo della gratuità.
EM: The programme is running in all the countries where there are volunteers from the Community of Sant'Egidio: about 40 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. Members of the Community explain the importance of birth registration to the families that they help through the various services offered (peace schools, the DREAM programme for the treatment of AIDS, canteens for malnourished children, food aid and support for street children, help for lepers and their families) and often help them with the registration process. They organise parties in the slums and villages to explain to parents and children the importance of registering and the necessary procedures. They promote awareness through campaigns in primary schools, hospitals and maternity wards.
In some African countries, the BRAVO! programme collaborates with the local authorities to promote the registration of the entire population. Together with the relevant authorities, they develop a strategy to ensure the registration of everyone who does not yet have a birth certificate and to improve the registry services so that in the future all newborns will be registered immediately after birth.
In Burkina Faso, the campaign promoted by the BRAVO! programme has brought about the registration of 3.5 million people (almost a quarter of the population), and today BRAVO! is involved in establishing a system, by training the staff, supporting the local registration offices and spreading awareness campaigns throughout the country.
In Mozambique, BRAVO! is promoting the registration of the population in the province of Nampula, which, with its 4.2 million inhabitants, is the most populated in the country, and is training staff in the district. Two new registration centres have already been built in rural areas and other centres will be opened soon. In this way it will be easier to register children at birth, taking advantage of the fact that it is free.
Photo via BRAVO!
EM: Le difficoltà sono soprattutto legate all'enorme diffusione del fenomeno della mancata registrazione. Su 150 milioni di bambini che nascono ogni anno, 51 milioni, più di un terzo del totale, non vengono registrati alla nascita. Fra i paesi in via di sviluppo, uno su quattro presenta un tasso di registrazione delle nascite inferiore al 50 per cento.
In Africa subsahariana si segnalano i tassi di registrazione delle nascite più bassi del mondo che vanno dal 55% al 67% di non registrati. In pratica si stima che due bambini su tre non siano registrati alla nascita.
È necessario che gli Stati investano risorse per garantire a tutti i cittadini la fruibilità dei sistemi di stato civile, ma è ancora più essenziale far comprendere l'importanza della registrazione per garantire i diritti umani, per promuovere il senso di cittadinanza e di partecipazione, perché gli individui si riconoscano non solo nell'identità familiare o clanica, ma anche nella più vasta comunità nazionale e si sentano cittadini partecipi di un destino comune.
EM: The difficulties are mainly linked to the fact that the non-registration phenomenon is widespread. Out of the 150 million children born each year, 51million, more than a third, are not registered at birth. In developing countries, one in four has a birth registration rate of less than 50 percent.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the rates of birth registration are the lowest in the world, ranging from 55 percent to 67 percent of the total births not being registered. Basically, an estimated two out of three children are not registered at birth.
It is necessary that the governments invest in this area in order to guarantee the use of the registry systems to all citizens, but it is also essential that the citizens understand the importance of registration to ensure human rights, to promote a sense of citizenship and participation, so that the individual will not only feel a sense of belonging to a family or a clan, but also to the wider national community and gain a sense of being citizens who share a common destiny.
EM: La crisi economica incide molto pesantemente sugli aiuti internazionali e trovare fonti di finanziamento è sempre più complicato. Un punto di forza del programma è il fatto che la sostenibilità è assicurata poiché, dopo la fase iniziale di adeguamento del sistema alle esigenze della popolazione, sono gli Stati a sostenere gli oneri di spesa del sistema di registrazione. Inoltre, negli ultimi anni, nella comunità internazionale è cresciuta la consapevolezza dell'importanza dello stato civile come base della democrazia e come strumento per la pianificazione e la misurazione dei progressi in campo sanitario, sociale ed economico. Il Programma BRAVO! ha potuto beneficiare del sostegno della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri in Italia e del Ministero degli Affari Esteri della Germania. I finanziamenti più significativi sono giunti però da sostenitori privati in Europa, da alcuni comuni italiani e da Kindermissionswerk, opera per l'infanzia della Chiesa Cattolica tedesca.
EM: The economic crisis has huge effects on international aid, and securing funding is becoming even more complicated. One of the strengths of the programme is that it is sustainable because, after the initial phase of the adapting system to the needs of the population, the government bears the burden of the expenses of the registration system.
Furthermore, in recent years, the international community has become ever more aware of the need for registration as the basis of democracy and as a tool for planning and measuring health, social and economic progress. The BRAVO! Programme has benefited from the support of the Italian prime minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Germany. The most significant funding, however, came from private supporters in Europe, some Italian municipalities and Kindermissionswerk, the German Catholic Church's children's charity.
EM: In questi anni, grazie a BRAVO!, abbiamo visto molti bambini ricominciare a studiare e molte famiglie sperimentare nuove opportunità. Madri che grazie al certificato di nascita hanno ottenuto la licenza di commercio, padri che hanno preso la patente. È molto bello vedere i primi frutti di questo lavoro e sapere che abbiamo contribuito a proteggere la vita di tanti bambini, molti dei quali forse non conosceremo mai di persona. È una protezione che li accompagnerà per tutta la vita.
EM: In recent years, thanks to BRAVO!, we have seen many children go back to studying and many families discover new opportunities. Mothers who, thanks to their birth certificate, have obtained a license to trade, fathers who have got their driving license. It is great to see the first fruits of this work and know that we helped to protect the life of so many children, many of whom we will never know in person. It is a form of protection that will accompany them throughout their lives.

author: Bah Abdoulaye


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New Romanian Law Takes Aim at Bucharest’s 65,000 Stray Dogs · Global Voices
Tamara Gocmanac

A deadly dog attack on a four-year-old boy last month has brought new attention to an old problem in the Bucharest area in Romania. A pack of dogs attacked the boy near a park and the boy passed away from the injuries.
The city reportedly has about 65,000 stray dogs, and animal welfare officials say about 1,100 people were bitten by stray dogs in Bucharest in the first four months of 2013. Romanian law was changed on September 9, 2013, legalizing euthanasia after stray animals spend 14 days in public shelter. The Romanian Parliament has ruled that all stray dogs will be killed if, after these 14 days, they remain unadopted.
As Romanian Insider reported:
The Chamber of Deputies approved the law which sets a two week day deadline for stray dogs in shelters to be adopted, following which they will be put down. City Hall, however, retains the power to delay the lethal injection.
The law passed by a majority of votes, with MPs from the Democrat Liberal Party (PDL), the Social Democrat party (PSD) and the National Liberal Party (PNL) all in favour of euthanizing stray dogs.[…]
During the debates, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Valeriu Zgonea, said none of the NGOs protecting stray dogs had filed a request to attend the vote.
On that day, hundreds of Romanians rallied in support of a plan to kill stray dogs in the capital after a tragic accident.
Aurica Anghel, the grandmother of the little boy who was mauled to death, also attended Sunday's demonstrations. Ms. Anghel told the BBC:
I hope for a change for the better – I don't want to see dogs on the street anymore.
Another citizen present at the rally said that in her neighborhood packs of dogs roamed the streets after dark, adding:
I'm afraid to go out.
The mayor of Bucharest, Sorin Oprescu, first announced a referendum would be held on the matter sometime in October. The actual question that would have been asked through the local referendum would have been: “Do you agree with euthanasia for stray dogs captured on Bucharest’s public domain, who will not be adopted within the legal deadline?” In the meantime, Romanian Parliament passed the law and President Traian Basescu said he would issue a Presidential decree backing the law already passed by Parliament, which would be the last step in the bureaucratic process of making the new legislature final.
The case has fired up a fresh debate about the packs of stray dogs, a problem that has plagued Romania for years, some calling it the biggest stray dog problem any country in Europe has had since World War II. Romanians seem divided over the two main options available: euthanasia or sterilization. While many people say the authorities should be able to take radical measures, including putting down dogs, animal rights groups advocate neutering and spaying the dogs.
However, efforts in recent years to sterilize the dogs and return them to the streets have proven inefficient. More than 6,500 stray dogs were sterilized in Bucharest last year, at the cost of some 200,000 euros (about 270,000 US dollars). Meanwhile, local authorities face severe overcrowding at city dog pounds and lack the funding needed to build and run more shelters.
The blog Romanian Journalist reported that new polls show that Romanian citizens would also most likely back the new euthanasia law:
New poll shows over one third of the Romanians (34,7%) believe stray dogs have to be sterilized and placed in shelters, 31,8% say they should be adopted or euthanized, while 25% say the solution for stray dogs is euthanasia.
But social networks are covered with thousands of messages describing peoples’ distress at the Romanian government's decision. In protest, thousands have changed their Facebook profile page to show a bright red dog paw under the name “Red Card For Romania”.
In protest of Romania's plan to euthanize stray dogs, thousands of netizens have changed their Facebook profile page to show this bright red dog paw.
Founder and President of Save the Dogs and Other Animals, Sara Turetta, tweeted:
#Romania #dogs People in The #netherlands protesting for the the new killing #law. @Roemenie @MatthijsvBonzel pic.twitter.com/uZXarYFnmC
— Sara Turetta (@sara_turetta) September 18, 2013
A personal trainer from Italy, Angel Fernandez, reported a cruel incident on Twitter:
#ROMANIA #DOGS LI DECAPITANO, LI MASSACRANO…stop al genocidio dei cani randagi in Romania #romaniastopanimalabuse pic.twitter.com/7JsKfHxFbU”
— Angel Fernandez (@angel19fdez) September 18, 2013
#ROMANIA #DOGS DECAPITATED, MASSACRED…stop the genocide of stray dogs in Romania #romaniastopanimalabuse
Twitter user and journalist Isabella P.P, along with many others, shared a link to a petition to stop the new law and what many are calling an open “massacre” of stray animals:
#Romania #Animals #Dogs #petition : Condemn Romanian President’s Call to Kill Stray Dogs http://t.co/QT3JDs7IDJ http://t.co/DquFhei8j8
— Isabella P.P (@ISAbella_P_PARF) September 18, 2013
Mina*Bad Yoga Kitty* reported about the involvement of celebrities regarding this case:
Brigitte Bardot, Pamela Anderson write open letter to #EU to ask President of #Romania to stop dog genocide http://t.co/RyXN6h3Ven
— Mina*Bad Yoga Kitty* (@MinaANDMaya) September 17, 2013

author: Tamara Gocmanac


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Open Screenplay Competition at the Barranquilla Creative Commons Film Festival · Global Voices
Harrison

Can you make a short film in one month?
The next Creative Commons Film Festival [es] in Colombia will have a display of creativity thanks to a short film competition based on open screenplays.
The festival is scheduled to take place in the city of Barranquilla from October 23-26, 2013.
Organizers invite producers and fans of audiovisual works to make a production based on one of the five screenplays under a Creative Commons license which are hosted on the festival website [es]:
Buscando ampliar la cantidad y variedad de productos audiovisuales libres, este año durante el Tercer Festival de Cine Creative Commons estaremos llevando a cabo el experimento #guioneslibres en el cual un grupo de 5 guionistas han escrito y liberado con licencia Creative Commons varios guiones para ser producidos y realizados por diversos equipos audiovisuales a nivel mundial.
Looking to increase the amount and variety of free audiovisual content, this year during the third Creative Commons Film Festival we will be carrying out the #guioneslibres [#openscreenplays] experiment, in which a group of five screenplay writers have written and freely made several screenplays available through a Creative Commons license to be produced and performed by a diverse audiovisual team on a global scale.
The Colombian Association of University Communications Departments and Programs (abbreviated as AFACOM in Spanish) posted a note about the competition [es] where they explain how the Creative Commons licenses work:
¿Creative commons?
Las licencias Creative Commons son unas licencias de derechos de autor más flexibles que el Copyright. El autor determina qué usos se le pueden dar a su obra, permitiendo una mayor flexibilidad al momento de difundir sus contenidos. Gracias a estas licencias han sido posibles la aparición de nuevos modelos de producción y distribución de contenidos, donde el autor y el público cobran protagonismo al reducirse los intermediarios.
What are Creative Commons licenses?
Creative Commons licenses are a group of licenses which are rights given by an author and are more flexible than a Copyright. An author determines what uses are permissible for his or her work, allowing for more flexibility when works are disseminated. Thanks to these licenses, new ways of production and distribution of works are possible, where the author and the audience become more important as the middleman is eliminated.
In the festival [es] website they explain the idea behind the open screenplay competition:
#GuionesLibres es un sencillo experimento, una forma de entender las nuevas lógicas de la creación audiovisual colectiva sin más pretensiones que mostrar que en la actualidad la creatividad no tiene que ver con fronteras.
#GuionesLibres is a simple experiment, a way of understanding the logic of collective audiovisual works with no more pretensions than to show that these days creativity has no limits.
They also share the competition methodology:
Photo of festiccbquilla on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Antes de la fecha límite marcada los realizadores o grupos de realizadores deben enviar a organizadores el link en Youtube o Vimeo donde visualizar su cortometraje o enviar el mismo por http://wetransfer.com al email festiccbquilla@gmail.com junto con los siguientes datos:
– Nombre guión escogido.
– Director: Nombre, dirección, teléfono, celular, email.
– Productor: Nombre, dirección, teléfono, celular, email.
– Información de Integrantes del equipo realizador con sus cargos y listado de créditos completo.
– Créditos de obras musicales, fotografías o cualquier otro contenido licenciado con Creative Commons usado en la realización del cortometraje.
Before the deadline noted, the producers or groups of producers should send to organizers the link on Youtube or Vimeo where their short film may be seen or send it through http://wetransfer.com to the email festiccbquilla@gmail.com together with the following information:
– Name of screenplay chosen.
– Director: Name, address, phone, cell phone, email.
– Producer: Name, address, phone, cell phone, email.
– Information about members of the production team with their responsibilities and list of complete credits.
– Credits for musical acts, photographs or any other content licensed under Creative Commons used in the production of the short film.
And they reveal the prizes that the winners will receive:
Primer Puesto Categoría Internacional: 1 Cámara Go Pro Hero 3 + Diploma de Primer Puesto + Merchandising del Festival.
Primer Puesto Categoría Nacional: 1 Cámara Go Pro Hero 3 + Diploma de Primer Puesto  + Merchandising del Festival.
Primer Puesto Categoría Local: 1 Cámara Go Pro Hero 3 + Diploma de Primer Puesto  + Merchandising del Festival.
First Place International Category: 1 Go Pro Hero 3 Camera + First Place Diploma + Festival Merchandize.
First Place National Category: 1 Go Pro Hero 3 Camera + First Place Diploma  + Festival Merchandize.
First Place Local Category: 1 Go Pro Hero 3 Camera + First Place Diploma  + Festival Merchandize.
As Angie Cabrera from Barranquilla says, the call is international:
No necesariamente tienes que estar en Bquilla para participar en #Guioneslibres, realizadores de cualquier parte del mundo están invitados!
— Angie Cabrera (@AngieCabrera_) September 17, 2013
You don't necessarily have to be in Barranquilla to participate, producers from any part of the world are invited!
You can follow news about the festival and the competition on Twitter [es] and on Facebook [es].
The deadline to send short films is this coming October 13th.
Come on and participate!

author: Harrison


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Pakistan’s Sindh Province Proposes Block on Skype, Viber and WhatsApp · Global Voices
Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman

The Sindh provincial government in Pakistan has unveiled its plan for a three-month ban on messaging apps Viber, WhatsApp, Tango, Skype and other Voice Over Internet Protocol-based calling and messaging applications in what officials call an “disrupt terrorist and criminal activities in the province, especially in the urban areas”.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon shared this news in a press conference on Thursday, 4 October, 2013 in the southern port city of Karachi. The Sindh government is waiting for an approval from the federal government in Islamabad.
Mobile Social Applications. Image from Flickr by Nurudin Jauhari. CC BY-SA
This is not the first ban on social media services in Pakistan. YouTube has been banned for more than a year and Facebook has been blocked on multiple occasions.
Organisations and activists protested against the proposed ban on messaging apps, calling it another curb to the fundamental rights and freedom of expression. Bolo Bhi, an advocacy, policy and research non-profit, issued an immediate press release:
This is a violation of fundamental rights of citizens and an acceptance from the government that they have failed to uphold law & order by resorting to ad hoc measuring and disrupting communications. Access should not be a victim to national security.
The government must focus on improving the law and order situation in the city instead of further restricting the rights of its citizens. There are other, more efficient methods to counter terrorism without compromising citizen’s basic rights to access and communication.
Netizens were also quick to react on Twitter. Writer Fatima Bhutto (@fbhutto) tweeted:
Don't give them any ideas “@masoodym @fbhutto why not put a ban on oxygen too in Sindh?”
— fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) October 3, 2013
Usama Bin Nasar (@ubinnasar) was sarcastic:
So whatsapp and viber will be banned in #sindh because terrorists are using them so whats next banning beds because they sleep in them?
— usama bin nasar (@ubinnasar) October 4, 2013
Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) doubted that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would approve:
PTA may not entertain Sindh Government's request to ban Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and Tango for various reasons.
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) October 3, 2013
Imran Ali (@imranaliwattoo) avised people how best to react to the proposed ban:
getting emotional gives us nothing but inability of controlling things #Sindh
— Imran Ali (@imranaliwattoo) October 4, 2013

author: Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman


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Pro and Anti-Military Rallies Planned for Egypt’s Tahrir Square  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

On Twitter, Nancy asks if the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party had really used the same poster for the movie, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, in calling for protests on October 6:
Did the #FjP seriously just use the World War Z poster to call for protests on #Oct6? h/t @POMEDwire pic.twitter.com/9nAhHRSrsF
— Nancy | نانسي (@nfm) October 4, 2013
Both Tamarod, which translates to rebellion, and the Muslim Brotherhood had called for rallies on October 6, which commemorates the 6th of October or Yom Kippur War, between the Arabs and Israel.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Protesters March Hundreds of Kilometers to Save Sundarbans from Coal Plant · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

Activists in Bangladesh marched more than 400 kilometers for five days from the country's capital Dhaka to Rampal near the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, to protest a proposed coal power plant there that would threaten the diversity of the forest's ecosystem.
The long march, which began on 28 September, 2013, was arranged by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports.
The coal power plant is going to be built in the area of Rampal in the southern Bagerhat district (see Global Voices report) which is only 14 kilometers away from the Sundarbans, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The groundworks and land development for the project has already began according to news reports.
Many environmental organizations have opposed it from the beginning. The UNESCO World Heritage Center has also expressed its concern over the environmental impact of this project. But the government in response to such concerns issued a statement 26 September that while the proposed power plant is situated 14 kilometers away from the Sundarbans, it is 72 kilometers away from the UNESCO designated world heritage site, which is deemed a “safe distance”.
It was earlier announced that the official launch of the construction of the plant will take place on 22 October, 2013. On 28th of September, the last day of the Long March, activists issued an ultimatum of 11 October, 2013 advising the government to cancel the power plant or else they would escalate their opposition to the construction the next day. But as of now, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joining in via video call are scheduled to lay the coal plant's foundation stone on 5 October, 2013 as part of an official ceremony to kick off construction.
The five-day march commenced after a brief rally in front of the capital's National Press Club. Image by Mohammad Asad. Copyright Demotix (24 September, 2013)
Leftwing political activist Firoz Ahmed described in a Facebook post [bn] how this power plan will cause environmental disaster and urged people to attend the march:
[…] কয়লাবিদ্যুৎ প্রকল্প থেকে উদগীরিত বিশাল ধোঁয়ার রাশি গ্রীস্মকালে মৌসুমী বায়ুর সাথী হয়ে গোটা উত্তরবঙ্গ এবং মধ্যবঙ্গকে কলুষিত করবে,সমুদ্র থেকে ভেসে আসা জলীয় বাষ্প কয়লার ধোঁয়ার সালফারের সাথে মিশে তৈরি করবে সালফিউরিক এসিড। মারাত্মক অম্লবৃষ্টিতে আক্রান্ত হবে এই অঞ্চলের মানুষ, প্রাণ, প্রকৃতি, কৃষি। শীতকালে আবার উত্তুরে বায়ুর ধাক্কায় তা আচ্ছাদিত করবে গোটা সুন্দরবনকে, সেখানাকার স্পর্শকাতর প্রাণব্যবস্থা অচিরে বিলুপ্ত হবে। বঙ্গোপসাগরের মাছের ভাণ্ডার, তিমি আর ডলফিনের বিচরণক্ষেত্রও বিনষ্ট হবে।
The toxic fumes from the coal power plant will be carried via the summer winds towards the middle and northern Bengals. The vapors from the ocean will react with the sulfur of the coal fumes and will be turned into sulfuric acid. Toxic acid rain will impact the people, agriculture and flora and fauna of these areas. In the winter, the northern winds will push those toxic clouds into the Sundarbans area killing its endangered species. Gradually it will affect the fish reserves of the Bay of Bengal including the dolphin safe havens.
“The Sundarbans not only saves the country from natural disasters, it also supplies natural resources including food. So we believe that we should all save Sundarbans”, wrote blogger and activist Kallol Mustafa:
সুন্দরবন আমাদের অস্তিত্বের সাথে যুক্ত। সুন্দরবন এতদিন আমাদের গোলপাতা, কাঠ, মোম,মধু,মাছ দিয়েছে, প্রতিরক্ষার দেয়াল হিসেবে ঘূর্ণিঝড় থেকে বাচিয়েছে। সেই সুন্দরবনের অস্তিত্ব যখন রামপাল কয়লা ভিত্তিক বিদ্যুৎ কেন্দ্রের জন্য হুমকীগ্রস্থ, তখন সেই বিদ্যুৎ কেন্দ্রের বিপদ থেকে সুন্দরবনকে বাচানো আমাদেরই দায়িত্ব।
Sundarbans is with our existence. The Sundarbans have given us wood, giant leaves, honey, fish and a protective wall across the coastal belt to save us from tornedos. When the very existence of the Sundarbans is in peril, then we should save it by stopping this power plant.
The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports started its five-day Dhaka-Sundarban Long March to press its seven-point demand, including scrapping the Rampal Thermal Power Plant project. Image by Indrajit Ghosh. Copyright Demotix (24 September, 2013)
Journalist and cultural activist Muniruddin predicted in an op-ed on BDNews24.com that the march would make history by saving the forest.
Everest conqueror Musa Ibrahim (@beyondallpeaks) tweeted a plea not to erect the power plant:
আমাদের সুন্দরবন টা হাজারো লাখো পাখির ‘টুই টুই’..প্লিজ ওদের টুই টুই গুলোকে নষ্ট করে দেবেন না..প্লিজ.. http://t.co/ZQJTlgV04v
— Musa Ibrahim (@beyondallpeaks) September 26, 2013
There are millions of birds tweeting in the Sundarbans. Please don't destroy their voices…
Jawwadul Fattah (@JawwadulFattah) gave reason to save the Sundarbans:
বিদ্যুৎকেন্দ্র আপনি যেকোনো জায়গায় স্থাপন করতে পারবেন, কিন্তু কৃত্রিম সুন্দরবন বানাতে পারবেন না…. #SaveSundarban
— Jawwadul Fattah (@JawwadulFattah) September 26, 2013
You can erect a power plant anywhere else.. but you cannot build an artificial Sundarbans… #SaveSundarban
Blogger Akter Ahmed wrote on Facebook satirically:
সুন্দরবনের ক্ষতি হইলে হোক। আমাদের বিদ্যুৎ কেন্দ্র দরকার। ইলেক্ট্রিসিটি থাকলে বাঘ, হরিণ, গাছপালা এইসব টিভিতেও দেখা যাবে। ব্যাপার না!
Don't care whether the Sundarbans will be destroyed. We want a power plant. If we have electricity we can see the tigers, deer and forest on TV. It doesn't matter.
Environmental activist and engineer Muntasir Mamun sees this from another perspective. He wrote:
আমি জানি কথাটা আমার বন্ধুদের খারাপ লাগবে, রামপাল নিয়ে আমার বেশ কিছু নামিদামী বন্ধুরা বল্গগীং এবং স্ট্যাটাস আপডেটের মাধ্যমে এর বিরধিতা করে আসছেন। কিন্তু খুবই লজ্জার বিষয় হলো তাদের সবারই বসার ঘরে এসি আছে ! এমনও কয়েকজন আছেন যারা মিনি এসি নিয়েই ঘোরেন। তো সরকার কেন আপনাদের কথা শুনবে? সরকারতো জানেই আপনাকে তুষ্ট করার জন্যই এত কিছু।
I know this will not be taken well by some friends, many well-known friends are opposing the Rampal power plants with their Facebook statuses and blogging. But they have air conditioners at home (and they suffer frequent power cuts). I know some who travels with mini ACs. So why will the government listen to you? They know that the power plant is to please you only.
Shaugat Ali Sagar, a diaspora journalist based in Canada, requested that the government disclose the environmental and economic survey of the project:
রামপাল নিয়ে কোনো ধরনের গোয়ার্তুমি বা রাজনৈতিক বক্তব্য চাই না। সরকারের উচিত হবে প্রস্তাবিত প্রকল্প স্থাপনের আগে পরিবেশ এবং অর্থনৈতিক উপযোগিতার যে সমীক্ষা (যদি হয়ে থাকে) হয়েছে তার তথ্য জনসম্মুখে প্রকাশ ও প্রচার করা।
We don't want any arrogant or political remarks on the Rampal power plant. The government should disclose the environmental and economic survey of the project (if its done) publicly before starting the project.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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The Gambia Quits British Commonwealth, Calling It ‘Extension of Colonialism’ · Global Voices
Demba Kandeh

President of the Gambia Yahya Jammeh addresses the United Nations General Assembly on 24 September, 2013. During his speech, he condemned homosexuality, calling it one of the “biggest threats to human existence”. UN photo by Erin Siegal. Used under Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The tiny West African State of The Gambia has announced via state television that it will withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations, a fellowship of 54 countries that are mainly former colonies of the British Empire.
A statement released on Wednesday, 2 October 2013 stated that “the government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism.”
No further reasons have been advanced by the government, but relations between the Gambia and the UK in 2013 have been rocky. In April, the UK Foreign Office's annual Human Rights and Democracy Report was critical of the country's human rights record under President Yahya Jammeh, highlighting violations such as unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and discrimination against minority groups. The country's response to the report was sharp: “Britain has no moral authority to dictate moral standards of rectitude and democracy to any former colony in Africa”.
After the Gambia announced the decision to dump its membership of the international body headed by Queen Elizabeth II, netizens around the globe have reacted with mix feelings.
Mathew Jallow, an exiled Gambian journalist, saw the move as good for publicising President Jammeh's “stupidity“. Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, for years has earned the world's ire for his repressive rule, one that has been defined by executions, restricted freedom of the press and expression, persecution of homosexuals, and heavy-handed supression of political dissent:
Behind every dark cloud, there is a silver lining. Yahya Jammeh's Gambia withdrawal from the Commonwealth is more negative publicity worth one year's newspaper reporting. Today, ever country in the world will carry this withdrawal news and every Commonwealth member state, including the US, will have every lingering doubt about our claims, confirmed. This is what dictators do all the time. They create their own downfalls as they attempt to solidify their rules and barricade themselves within their crumbling worlds. Thank you Yahya Jammeh. All our efforts could not have publicized your stupidity better.
Commenting on his Facebook wall, Gambian journalist Sainey MK Marena analyzed the situation (post used with permission):
Gambia withdrawal from the Commonwealths attracts international headlines. The multi -million dollar question is why are we withdrawing our membership at a time when countries like Mozambique and others are seriously yearning to join the global body. Gambia has and continued to benefit from commonwealth in diverse areas including education/scholarship, sports and most recently the commonwealth proposed National Human Rights Commission. MY point is Gambia like any nation has right to withdraw from any association or organization but is should be based on credible and genuine reason (s). In 2003, Zimbabwe Under Mugabe withdraw from the Commonwealth for reasons best known to them but smallest country in the mainland African should take a different take and approached.
However, Sefa-Nyarko Clement seemed to disagree, writing on Facebook:
Great move, Gambia. Although I don't subscribe to the summary executions and despotic policies of Baba Jammeh, I support his withdrawal from the Commonwealth. Indeed, the Commonwealth of Nations has outlived its usefulness.
On Twitter, user Abdou (@abs2ray) criticised the president's behaviour:
I'm not against the Gambia withdrawing from the commonwealth in principle but as usual Yaya is acting erratically once again. #Gambia
— Abdou (@abs2ray) October 3, 2013
While the discussion on the Jammeh’s latest diplomatic rumbling continues, it remains unclear what the poorly impoverished nation will gain by quitting the Commonwealth.

author: Demba Kandeh


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Toppled Mayor Leaves Serbia’s Capital Without a City Government · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

Now former Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas at the 2010 XIV Electoral Assembly of the Democratic Party; official photo of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka), used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.
The mayor of Serbia's capital city, Dragan Djilas, was fired from his post on 24 September 2013, after a 5-hour debate at which he was present and a secret vote of city councilors that followed. The initiative was backed by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), its coalition partner the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), as well as the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).
The now former mayor and notorious national media mogul [sr] Djilas, was removed as Belgrade's top official due to suspicion of several cases of corruption and abuse of power. Djilas is also a top official of the Democratic Party (DS), which was in power in Serbia until last year's elections. He held a press conference on the day he was removed from office, stressing that these allegations were false and his removal was part of “a political deal” by the coalition in power. In an interview [sr] for Novosti daily, SNS representative and President of the National Assembly, Nebojša Stefanović, responded to Mr. Djilas’ claims:
Dragan Đilas tvrdi da vi zapravo kupujete vreme kako biste njega što duže provlačili kroz medije zbog navodnih afera?
- To su potpune besmislice. Kako je moguće, ako je sve rađeno u skladu sa zakonom, otvoriti aferu i pokazati dokument koji ukazuje na kršenje zakona. Meni to deluje kao unapred aboliranje ljudi za koje se zna da su krivi i da su punili sopstvene džepove. Očigledno je bilo mnogo toga u „Vodovodu i kanalizaciji“, „Infostanu“ i brojnim drugim preduzećima i na sve to su nam ukazali ljudi koji tamo rade i koji više ne mogu da gledaju da se nešto nabavlja po tri puta višim cenama. Pa i za rekonstrukciju Bulevara kralja Aleksandra je izabrana drugoplasirana firma čija je ponuda bila za 650 miliona dinara skuplja.
Dragan Djilas claims that you are in fact buying time to drag him through the media as long as possible for the alleged affairs?
- That is complete nonsense. How is it possible, if everything was done according to law, to open an affair and show a document that demonstrates illegal acts. To me this seems like absolving people in advance who are known to be guilty and having filled their own pockets. It's obvious there was much of this in [city utility companies] “Water and Waste”, “Infostan” and many other companies and we were pointed to all of that by people who work there and cannot stand to watch more procurements at three times higher prices. Even for the reconstruction of King Aleksandar Boulevard, the srunner-up company was chosen whose offer was 650 million dinars [approximately 5.7 million euros or 7.75 million U.S. dollars] higher.
In a recent related statement Deputy Prime Minister and leader of SNS, Aleksandar Vučić, explained that Mr. Djilas would still hold his duties for the next month, after which his party would delegate “a professional team” to run the capital city and guaranteed that city elections would be held within the next six months. Djilas, however, is calling for immediate direct local elections [sr], confident that he and his party could take the polls in this round. This scenario is highly unlikely, as the mayor of Belgrade is appointed by the Serbian National Assembly and direct elections would require an extensive process to change electoral procedures.
Vučić also mentioned what many fear and what Nebojša Stefanović discussed previously – that Belgrade's debt is much higher than city authorities and former Mayor Djilas made public. During his mandate, Djilas and his colleagues claimed the city's debt was somewhere between 400 and 600 million euro, while SNS representatives are now claiming that an ongoing investigation of the financial state of the city shows the debt to be twice as much as that, from 900 million euro upwards.
Dragan Djilas’ removal has been a hot topic on social networks, with many citizens happy to see him go. The former mayor has often been referred to as “Djitler” over his 5-year mayorship and many Belgraders continue to blame him for the inefficiency of city utilities and services, shady spending of city funds, and rising cost of living in Serbia's capital. While wary of the accusations put forth and the statements of other politicians most citizens don't trust any more than they do Djilas, many of their comments indicate that people are ready and looking for a change in Belgrade. Twitter user Marti Misterija from Belgrade says:
@BrankaVookovic Zavisi.Vidis da bi Djilas sad direktne izbore u Bg.Mukica misli da bi ih dobio na svoju 'popularnost' ;)
— Marti Misterija (@MartiMisterijaX) September 30, 2013
@BrankaVookovic It depends. See that Djilas now wants direct elections in Bg [Belgrade]. The poor sap thinks he could win based on his “popularity” ;)
— Marti Misterija (@MartiMisterijaX) September 30, 2013
Shortly after his dismissal, Djilas appeared on the popular television talk show “Utisak nedelje” (“Impression of the Week”) and viewers reacted on Twitter. When the former Mayor of Belgrade proudly listed his achievements, viewer Marko Milojević from Smederevska Palanka near Belgrade tweeted:
@utisak Ti si ponosan na to sto si uradio u Beograd?Sto si ga uvalio u dugove?!Treba da te je sramota,nemas ni malo stida ni obraza! #Djilas
— Marko Milojevic (@MarkoMilojevic0) September 29, 2013
@utisak You're proud of what you have done in Belgrade? That you shoved it into debt?! You should be ashamed, you have no shame and no pride! #Djilas
— Marko Milojevic (@MarkoMilojevic0) September 29, 2013
SNS representative in the National Assembly and Belgrade lawyer Vladimir Cvijan also reacted to Djilas’ list of achievements:
"Ja sam sagradio dva mosta" #Djilas #utisak NE, druže! To je sagrađeno iz budžeta! I zaduživanjem!
— Vladimir Cvijan (@VladimirCvijan) September 29, 2013
"I built two bridges" #Djilas #utisak NO, friend! That was built from the budget! And by going into debt!
— Vladimir Cvijan (@VladimirCvijan) September 29, 2013
But most citizens are simply looking for the facts and solutions to Belgrade's many on-going issues. Dragan Janjić, Vice-President of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, tweeted in response to a Twitter discussion on which major political party could offer a better mayor:
@nebojsavasic83 Ja se ne opredeljujem, pokusavam da se drzim cinjenica. A tacno je da je Djilas glavna meta medijske kampanje
— Dragan Janjic (@JanjicDragan) September 29, 2013
@nebojsavasic83 I don't choose  sides, I am tring to stick to the facts. But it's true that Djilas is the main target of a media campaign
— Dragan Janjic (@JanjicDragan) September 29, 2013
Another Twitter user, @spyEye from Belgrade, suggested during Djilas’ appearance on “Utisak nedelje”:
Unajmiti nezavisnu revizorsku kucu i problem resen. #djilas #utisak
— spyEye (@AustinPowerd) September 29, 2013
Hire an independent auditing company and problem solved. #djilas #utisak
— spyEye (@AustinPowerd) September 29, 2013
Dragan Djilas’ first and last tweet, for now, on this matter was on the day of his dismissal and it has received both support and criticism:
Ponosan na Beograd koji smo razvijali uz podršku svih vas. Pogledajte urađeno na http://t.co/5YY0dWBWl9 Tim koracima gradi se i bolja Srbija
— Dragan Djilas (@DraganDjilas) September 24, 2013
Proud of the Belgrade we developed with the support of all of you. Look at all that has been done on http://t.co/5YY0dWBWl9 These are the steps that build a better Serbia
— Dragan Djilas (@DraganDjilas) September 24, 2013
After the recent government reshuffle in Serbia, the fall of its capital's government is unsettling and brings additional instability to an already economically and politically weakened state. In a recent article, The Economist calls the dismissal of Djilas and his city regime, “the start of a bitter general election campaign” and “a nasty fight ahead”. In the meantime with Djilas and his cabinet only “technically” in office, Belgrade remains without a local government or plans to handle the many issues the capital faces daily.

author: Danica Radisic


text:
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