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50th Anniversary of Dictatorship in Brazil: A French Torturer in South America · Global Voices
Pública - Agência de jornalismo investigativo

The original version of this article, written by Anne Vigna, was published by Agência Pública's website [pt], on 1 April 2014, the 50th anniversary of the military coup in Brazil. All links lead to websites in English unless otherwise stated.
The interview with Paul Aussaresses, published in the 23 November 2000 issue of Le Monde [fr], had an explosive impact in France and Algeria. For many years, historians and journalists had been searching for a soldier's testimony about the methods used by the French against militants from the National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian War of Independence (1955-1962). Aussaresses, aged 82 at the time of the interview, admitted to torture and covering up murders, executions and death squads. He claimed to have no regrets. By the time of his death [pt] in December 2013, he had never revealed the identities of the members of his death squads.
Aussaresses was considered to be one of France's most skilled officials in counter-insurgency.
For many years, Aussaresses's activities remained a mystery, with little known about his participation in the perpetration of the Brazilian military dictatorship and France's activities during that period. Then Rodrigo Nabuco, a historian originally from Rio de Janeiro who has lived in France for many years, began to delve into French government documents to bring to light the voice of the “executioner of Algiers” and his accounts of the time he spent time in South America. Nabuco's thesis [pt] “Conquering minds and trading weapons: French military diplomacy in Brazil” – the reports of the military attachés kept secret for 30 years in the French embassy.
The general in command
Aussaresses was considered one of France's most skilled officials in counter-insurgency. Trained in intelligence techniques in London during World War II, he became commander of the parachute brigade 11e Choc, the military arm of the French secret services overseas. Years later, in his first book [fr] of memoirs published in 2001, he clearly explained his mission:
Fazer o que chamávamos “guerra psicológica” [pt], em todos os lugares que fosse necessário, como na Indochina. Preparava meus homens para realizar operações clandestinas, colocação de bombas, ações de sabotagem ou a eliminação de inimigos.
To carry out what we called “psychological warfare“, in any place in which it was necessary, such as Indochina. I prepared my men to undertake clandestine operations, to place bombs, and to engage in acts of sabotage or elimination of the enemy.
Three years after France's defeat in Vietnam in 1957-58, French troops were victorious in the Battle of Algiers. Aussaresses played a vital role in the French parachutists’ victory, divided into operational zones and acting on “intelligence” – from the encirclement of targets to torture, executions and massacres that resulted in the “disappearances” of 4,000 people.
Algeria ended up winning independence in 1962, but France's experience of anti-guerilla warfare made them specialists in “revolutionary warfare” at a time when the United States was entering Vietnam. France promoted its military doctrine to its allies in the Cold War through magazines, books and courses led by Aussaresses himself in the United States. There, his influence remained. The 1956 film “The Battle of Algiers”, in which Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo denounces French troops’ killing, torture and lies – and which Aussaresses considered “marvellous, very true to reality” – was even shown in the Pentagon [pt].
Brazil, 11 September 1973
Admired around the world, with the profile of a soldier trained for torture and execution, the general appeared the ideal candidate to arrange the Pompidou government's diplomatic mission in Brazil during the ‘years of lead’. In his first reports from Brazil, Aussaresses recounts coming into contact with former pupils from his US courses. They “resulted in friendly contacts from a personal point of view but which were also useful for the services”, he wrote [fr].
He felt at home in the company of his friend, the general and future president João Batista Figueiredo, about to take on the leadership of the SNI (National Intelligence Service) in the Geisel government (1974). He was also close to the police deputy Sérgio Fleury, a torturer symbolic of the Brazilian dictatorship – he even mentioned him in his second book of memoirs “I haven't said everything yet” (“Je n’ai pas tout dit” [fr], in French, 2008) as head of the death squad.
In an interview [pt] with the journalist Leneide Duarte-Plon following the publication of his book of memoirs, Aussaresses recounted a revealing episode about how the head of the French diplomatic mission, Michel Legendre, viewed the activities of his military attaché in Brazil:
Um dia o embaixador me disse: ‘Você tem amigos estranhos’. Eu respondi: ‘São eles que me permitem manter o senhor bem informado’. Ele não disse mais nada.
One day the ambassador said to me: ‘You have strange friends’. I replied: ‘They are the ones who allow me to keep you well-informed.’ He didn't say anything else.
Until recently, little was known about Aussaresses’ time in Brazil beyond what the general himself had revealed. On the Brazilian side, the archives remain closed. Journalist Lúcio Castro, during an investigation for an ESPN special report [pt] on Operation Condor, failed to obtain any official documentation from Itamaraty [the headquarters of Brazil's Ministry of External Relations] in response to a request for information about Aussaresses. The only documents sent by the Ministry were letters from the French embassy requesting visas for his daughters and other matters of minimal interest. Not even the general's date of arrival in Brazil can be found in the documents, which can be viewed on the website Documentos Revelados [pt] [Documents Revealed].
On the French side, however, revelations continue to emerge. The documents obtained by Nabuco are fundamental to understanding French attachés’ role in the Brazilian dictatorship and the trade in weapons. For example, Nabuco has used the documents to determine that the exact date of Aussaresses’ arrival in Brazil was 11 September 1973, noting that this was the same day as the military coup in Chile:
“Difícil acreditar em coincidência. Com a liberação dos documentos [sobre o golpe no Chile] nos últimos anos, não resta dúvida sobre o respaldo do Brasil ao golpe do Chile, e é impossível imaginar que um coronel paraquedista altamente especializado como ele, não haja dado ao menos sua opinião”, diz Nabuco.
“It's difficult to believe it was a coincidence. With the liberation of documents [regarding the coup in Chile] over the last few years, there can be no doubt as to Brazil's support of the Chilean coup, and it is impossible to imagine that a highly specialised, parachutist colonel like him would not at least have given his opinion”, says Nabuco.
Brazil and France: a long-standing relationship
Nabuco also notes that French participation in the Brazilian military dictatorship began before the coup in 1964:
A cooperação militar francesa com o Brasil é antiga e significativa desde os anos 1920, com as missões militares, o intercâmbio de oficiais em escolas militares, etc. Mas esta cooperação vai assumir um papel fundamental nos anos 1960, 1970, um papel nunca visto nem antes nem depois.
French military cooperation with Brazil is long-standing and has been significant since the 1920s, with military missions, swapping of officials in military colleges, etc. But this cooperation played a fundamental role in the 1960s and 1970s, a role seen neither before nor since this period.
The French saw the Brazilian dictatorship as an opportunity to recover their influence over military missions that had been lost to the Americans. In his book “A Ditadura Escancarada” [pt] [“The Wide-Open Dictatorship”], journalist Elio Gaspari highlights that the Brazilian military hierarchy “drew upon two classic cases of anti-insurrectional action”: Vietnam and Algeria. Although Vietnam was not considered a “suitable” example because of the frequent executions of civilians, Algeria “was already on the bookshelves of military libraries”.
The man who the French government named military attaché and who was received with open arms in Medici's Brazil had commanded a massacre in Algeria that resulted in the deaths of 7,500 people in two days – 2,000 of whom were executed after being taken prisoner and interrogated in a stadium transformed into a concentration camp. And, as the facts suggest, any similarity with the Chilean National Stadium which saw the same fate in 1973 is more than a mere coincidence.
Relations between the two countries – through Paul Aussaresses – were only just warming up.


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Alleged Human Rights Violations During Agrarian Strike in Colombia · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

The website People's Congress publicly denounces [es] human rights situation during the ongoing agrarian strike [es] in Colombia. They report alleged human rights violations in different regions: Catatumbo and Cúcuta, San Pablo–Bolívar, Sogamoso – Boyacá, Northern Santander- Hacarí, Yopal- Casanare, Boyacá, Berlín – Santander, Pinchote – Santander y Arauca. They also made a call:
To international human rights advocate entities, to intervene and demand a quick and real solution to the situation the country is facing.
To the national and international community and to human rights advocate entities, to speak out regarding the facts mentioned in this claim.
To the national and international community and to human rights advocate entities to demand for the safety of people taking part and every spokesperson of the national strike.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Juan Arellano


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China: Online Protest Against Dog-Meat Festival · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Online poster against June 21 dog meat festival in Yulin city, Guangxi province. The poster calls for abolition of the Dog Meat Festival. The dog says: Please don't eat us, we are human's friends. Story from ChinaSMACK.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China-Vietnam clash in the Paracels · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“South Sea Conversations” analyses China's motivation behind its aggressive move in the Paracels: maximal claim to maritime rights and forcing Vietnam to consider the “joint development” of energy resources in the disputed area.


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Erykah Badu Still Plans to Perform for Gambian Dictator Yahya Jammeh · Global Voices
Demba Kandeh

American singer-songwriter, record producer, activist and actress Erykah Badu. Photo released under Creative Commons by Wikipedia user Radiobums.
US singer Erykah Badu has once again become the target of criticism over a planned performance for President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia shortly after she received flak for performing for King Mswati III of Swaziland at his 46th birthday celebration.
Activists accused Badu of “endorsing a brutal dictator” for that concert, but the singer has refused to apologise, arguing that she doesn't “keep up with current events” and her “harmless” visit did not help “further [Mswati's] political agenda”.
On Twitter, she was similarly defiant over the scheduled performance in The Gambia:
I'm not performing in Gambia?? Thats false advertisement ..BUT, if I were.. It would ALSO be for the PEOPLE. . MUSIC HEALS. I stand firm.
— ErykahBadoula (@fatbellybella) Mayo 3, 2014
President Jammeh's regime routinely cracks down on the opposition and the media. In its submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Gambia, the human rights organisation, Amnesty International, said, “Since Gambia’s first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2010, the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated. The government continues to stifle freedom of expression and commit other human rights violations with impunity.”
Web users have waged a campaign online to enlighten the singer about the Gambian dictator.
Dr Amadou Sacttred Janneh wrote on his Facebook page:
Join the campaign on Twitter. Send a message of disapproval to Eryka Badu @fatbellybella
Uproot Dictator Jammeh commented:
Please tell her that upon arrival she will be greeted by hungry uniform men with big guns!!!
Deborah Aparicio vowed to never buy her music:
It's incredible how ignorant and heartless she can be. I will never buy any of her music. She's an awful person.
In a column posted at Slate by Pedro Pizano and Jeffrey Smith, the authors argued Badu's “response to being called out for” performing for “Swaziland's brutal dictator” was “worse than the performance itself.”
On Twitter, Coalition for Change, an organization against the Gambia's dictatorship, responded to a tweet from Badu:
@fatbellybella Dr Dictator Jammeh, Gambia's chief physician will share healing techniques…but don't drink any concoction of his PLEASE.
— Coalition for Change (@ChangeGambia) May 3, 2014
President Jammeh claims that he has a miracle paste that cures HIV and AIDS.
Fatou Camara, a former Gambian television star and host of the country's most popular TV show “The Fatu Show”, tweeted about her suffering under President Jammeh's regime:
@paulinevetuna @fatbellybella I wish she google me, i was arrested by Dictator #jammeh and detained for 25 days without access to my kids
— Fatou Camara (@Fatushow) May 3, 2014
Jeffrey Smith shared this photo of Badu from the Gambia Roots Festival Facebook page showing her alongside other prominent artists scheduled to perform in Gambia:
Erykah Badu's picture & name also feature prominently on The #Gambia‘s Roots Festival Facebook page. cc: @okayplayer pic.twitter.com/5trikv5EHt
— Jeffrey Smith (@Smith_RFKennedy) May 6, 2014
According to a blog post on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders, Badu is unapologetic about performing for dictators:
If Badu bristles under criticism for entertaining King Mswati, she'll really be frustrated by the world's reaction when she performs at a concert this May sponsored by the dictator of The Gambia. After seizing power in 1994 military coup, Yahya Jammeh is best known for spending millions of dollars on private parties, for promising to inflict “the ultimate penalty” on homosexuals, for warning the UN that gays are “a threat to human existence,” for claiming that he can cure AIDS in three days, and for executing and disappearing hundreds of his critics. After her Swazi quagmire, perhaps Badu will reconsider her scheduled performance in The Gambia, where she would provide cover for yet another despot, this one a lot more murderous than King Mswati.

author: Demba Kandeh


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Freedom of Speech, the Right that Makes the Defense of Other Rights Possible · Global Voices
Elvira Herrera

General Assembly of the United Nations. Photo on Flickr from user dnotivol. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
When in 1993 the United Nations (UN), by UNESCO's recommendation, proclaimed May 3rd World Press Freedom Day, it recognized that a free, pluralistic and independent press is an essential component of any democratic society.
But what does that mean?
Just as Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon points out, journalism offers a basis for informed debate on topics of public interest, the conclusions of which, made into decisions, affect the lives of the citizens. When an opinion is repressed or censored, the society loses a version of the facts and a perspective that is necessary for the resolution of its problems. This is why limiting the expression of one person affects the right of the entire population to be informed. Also, as Ban Ki-moon says, there can only be good government when journalists have the freedom to examine, scrutinize and criticize. The freedom of the press is not just a privilege, but an essential right established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that protects all of us.
El daño al agredir a la prensa es dejarnos sin información: @article19mex http://t.co/4aXkEO8rUn
— AnimalPolitico.com (@Pajaropolitico) May 3, 2014
The harm of attacking the press is that we end up without information.
Furthermore, speech is the channel through which we are able to show indignation or speak out against something that is unacceptable. It is, therefore, a right that makes the defense of other rights possible [es]. Consequently, in the defense of human rights, freedom of the press is vital.
However, today we must remember the freedom of the press in a troubling environment of violence, censoring and attacks on the freedom of speech of all citizens, particularly in the journalism sector. In many countries publications are still censored, fined, suspended or closed, while male and female journalists, editors and press workers are harassed, attacked, arrested and killed.
Por nuestro derecho a la información. Respeto a la vida de lxs periodistas.#PrensaNoDisparen @NoDisparePrensa pic.twitter.com/Nns8Yr1c5Z
— Juan Yves Palomar (@JuanYvesPalomar) February 25, 2014
For our right to information. Respect for the lives of journalists [don't shoot at the press]
At the beginning of May 2014, Mexico was classified by Freedom House as “an unsafe country” for journalists [es]. Organizations like the Inter American Press Association, Reporters Without Borders, Article 19 and many other members of civil society [es] have called 2013 the year with the most aggressions against reporters, photographers and the media, recording 330 cases of damages against the press and the deaths of 76 journalists, along with 16 disappearing between 2000 and 2013. To this we add the current threat of internet censoring, also considered an attack on the freedom of the press, which is being removed from the secondary legislation initiative dealing with telecommunications that is soon to be in effect, halfway through this year.
Balean a director general del #PeriódicoNoroeste http://t.co/W1C6VXGqcc
— Noroeste.com (@noroestemx) April 3, 2014
General director of the #PeriódicoNoroeste [Northwest Newspaper] is shot.
http://t.co/4NPbSS2MUZ Amenazaron anoche a periodistas de “Noroeste” en Mazatlán
— luis cardona (@cardonamex) February 24, 2014
Last night, journalists from “Noroeste” [newspaper] were threatened in Mazatlán.
Goyo, periodista,fue secuestrado hace unas horas. Aún puede aparecer con vida. #HastaQueAparezcaGoyo RT. RT
— Versión _audio (@version_audio) February 10, 2014
Goyo, a journalist, was kidnapped a few hours ago. He may still be found alive [until Goyo appears].
Veracruz vuelve a ser noticia, nuevo ataque a la libertad de expresión contra radios comunitarias: http://t.co/DCrAt4kqQh #prensanodisparen
— AMARC México (@amarcmexico) March 6, 2014
Veracruz in the news again, new attack on freedom of speech against community radio stations.
Although Mexico has different systems and processes in place for protecting the rights of journalists, such as the Law for the Protection of Journalists, the Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the violence continues, and it has brought about comments and criticism from the international community. A year after its implementation, international organizations agree that the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists is not very trustworthy. They have the same opinion of the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Attention to Crimes Committed Against Freedom of Speech (FEADLE).
Llaman a rediseñar Mecanismo de #ProtecciónAPeriodistas: http://t.co/udClQTdMSB
— Diario Jurídico MX (@Djuridico_mx) February 19, 2014
Calls to redesign the Mechanism for the protection of journalists.
They show the 17 recommendations on freedom of speech that Mexico was given in October of 2013 during its second round facing the Universal Periodic Review.
AQUI las 17 recomendaciones en materia de #Libertaddeexpresión hechas a #México en el #EPU y aceptadas por el gob https://t.co/4iN4vEOgAv …
— Claudia Romero (@Viraviendo) April 9, 2014
HERE are the 17 recommendations on freedom of speech made to Mexico during the Universal Periodic Review and accepted by the government.
Without a doubt, because of the censoring and self-censoring that attacks on freedom of speech impose, a lack of information is what we are left with. Let's take advantage of this day to thank those who bravely allow us to continue learning about different fragments of a reality that concerns us all, and to reflect upon what freedom of speech gives to us and means to us. How free are we? What would happen if nobody were to alert us of the health risks of consuming certain products, the environmental risks of favoring certain technologies and the socioeconomic risks of opting for certain policies? Journalists belong to a profession, but communication belongs to all of us. To what degree are we, as bloggers, Twitter users, and social media users, also journalists? How do I exercise my freedom of speech? And how do I allow others to do the same?
#UNP3MAYO la libertad de expresión no es exclusivo de la prensa. Es de todos. Todos debemos ejercerla sin miedo.Yo trato todos los días.Tu?
— Jean Cano (@jean_cano) May 3, 2014
Freedom of speech is not just for the press. It's for everyone. We should all practice it without fear. I try to every day. Do you?
Quienes trabajamos como periodistas no queremos que nos feliciten hoy, sino que nos respeten siempre. #LibertadDePrensa. #PrensaNoDisparen.
— Denisse Hernández (@jenytsey) May 3, 2014
Those of us who work as journalists don't want you to congratulate us today, but to respect us always.

author: Elvira Herrera


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Guatemala: ¡PODER!, Tale of Two Girls · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Stories are powerful. They define who we are and what we care about. When the stories that are told about us are positive, they can empower us. When they are desolate, they can make us feel insecure or question ourselves.
¡PODER! (Spanish word that means power) is a docudrama film, directed, written and edited by Lisa Russell, Emmy-winning filmmaker. This film tells the real life story of Elba Velasquez and Emelin Cabrera, two indigenous girls from Guatemala, who challenged the mayor of their small town of Concepción Chiquirichapa to create girl-friendly municipal public policies. These public policies ensure that the local government addresses girls’ unique needs in the areas of health, education, HIV prevention and culturally-relevant family violence prevention. According non-profit Let Girls Lead, only 10 percent of Mayan girls finish primary school and nearly half have babies before they turned 18.
On March 12, ¡PODER! had its world premiere at the United Nations 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York City.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Helping Children Learning Urdu Alphabets  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Chowrangi blog informs about a free interactive mobile app which introduces kids to Urdu alphabets and words. The app titled “Urdu Ustad” originally had the diaspora Urdu-speaking families as its target audience, but recently majority of download requests have come from Pakistan proving its usefulness.

author: Rezwan


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Hong Kong: Domestic Worker Slapped, Kicked and  Forced to Work 21 hours a Day  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Another foreign domestic worker abuse case was exposed. The victim Rowena Uychiat was allegedly forced to work 21 hours a day (6am till 3am) without a day off. She claimed to have been slapped, kicked, verbally abused and had her hair pulled. Tom Grundy reported the case in detail.
Photo taken from the press conference by Tom Grundy.


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PHOTO: Censored Iranian Writer Dowlatabadi Caught Next to Iran’s Chief of Censorship · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Iranians on social media were amused after a photo of Iran's much celebrated and censored 73-year-old novelist Mahmoud Dowlatabadi emerged on Twitter, showing him sitting with a look of indifference next to the man in charge of censorship in Iran – the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati. The photo was shot at the funeral of musician Mohammad Reza Lotfi.
In the post below BBC Persian presenter Ali Hamedani described the photo:
ديدني: علي جنتي، دستيار حسن روحاني و كلنل ما محمود دولت آبادي! كلنل كراواتي ما، بي تفاوت، سيگار دود مي كند pic.twitter.com/roFOb0c0Ts
— Ali Hamedani (@BBCHamedani) May 4, 2014
“Must see: Ali Jannati, Rouhani's man, and our own Colonel Mahmoud Dowlatabadi. Our tie wearing Colonel, indifferently puffs his cigarette.”
@GEsfandiari حرکتش قوی بود. :) از صبح حال کردم باهاش.
— Nariman Gharib (@ListenToUs) May 4, 2014
“@GEsfandiari His move was strong :). I've been enjoying it since this morning.”
@ListenToUs نگاه و حالت آقاي دولت آبادي فوق العاده است.
— Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) May 4, 2014
“@ListenToUS Mr. Dowlatabadi's look and gesture are brilliant.”
The photo left a poignant mark on viewers familiar with the work of both Lotfi and Dowlatabadi, which have been banned on occasion by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. In another image, covered less prominently on social media, Dowlatabadi and Jannati are captured in cordial conversation.
دولت‌آبادی و جنتی( وزیر فرهنگ) از نمایی دیگر… pic.twitter.com/jMm0WgJav6
— Sam.Kia (@Sam1Kia) May 5, 2014
“Dowlatabadi and Jannati from another perspective.”
Dowlatabadi was invited to eulogize Lotfi’s life and career at the ceremony. The two were known to have spent 10 years developing an oral and musical rendition of Dowlatabadi’s famous 3000-page, 10-volume epic novel Kelidar.
Dowlatabadi told ISNA reporters, “Our work on Kelidar began years ago, even before we applied to distribute our work through the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance, which was rejected.”
Mourners raise their hands as writer Mahmoud Dowlatabadi speaks at Mohammed Reza Lotfi's funeral ceremony. #Iran pic.twitter.com/KhcaC6l5R0
— Hanif Z. Kashani (@hanifzk) May 4, 2014
Dowlatabadi is a celebrated contemporary Iranian writer, having won the 2013 Jan Michalski prize in literature for his novel The Colonel. The novel is about the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and its violent effects on a Colonel in the Shah's army and his family. The book is available in English and German, but has not been authorized to be published within Iran by the Ministry.
Dowlatabadi recently received criticism from dissident and exiled musician Shahin Najafi in the video below entitled, “A message from Shahin Najafi to the artists who welcomed the Akhoond [cleric] Rouhani at Rudaki Hall.” Najafi criticized Dowlatabadi and the other artists who agreed to speak and work with President Hassan Rouhani's administration. He claimed these artists humiliated themselves and their work as artists through the association.

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Russia’s War of the Roses · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Russia's War of the Roses. (A spoof of the 1989 film starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.) Images mixed by author.
Just outside the Kremlin, there is a public park called Alexander Gardens, where you'll find several monuments to the Soviet Union's victory over fascist Germany, including a wall with stone slabs dedicated to the 12 “hero cities” of the war. Before Russia annexed Crimea earlier this year, Ukraine was home to three different “hero cities.” Today, after the loss of Sevastopol, there are only two such cites in Ukraine: Odessa and Kiev. After last week's deadly fire in Odessa, and months of tensions between Moscow and Kiev, it's no surprise that the hero-cities memorial has become an important stage in Russian politics. In the past few days, two groups have swept through Alexander Gardens with decidedly different messages.
Да кстати Одесса ! pic.twitter.com/hvTp0bTMA8
— Пелагия Благородие (@pel13132) May 6, 2014
And, by the way, this is Odessa!
On May 5, 2014, more than 7 thousand people reportedly gathered outside the Kremlin to show support for Odessa, Kramatorsk, and Slaviansk, observing a minute of silence for the victims of the Ukrainian government's supposed failures. A Duma deputy from United Russia, the country's ruling political party, attended the demonstration, thanking those who came for illustrating Russia's commitment to Ukrainians’ welfare. People came with flowers, burying Odessa's slab under roses and candles.
единственная из посвященных городам-героям стела в Александровском саду у Кремля, оставленная без цветов – Киевская pic.twitter.com/uB5ZpiPUNG
— Feldman (@EvgenyFeldman) May 5, 2014
The only hero-city slab outside the Kremlin in Alexander Gardens without flowers is Kiev's.
No one, it seems, brought flowers for Kiev. The same day as the demonstration for Odessa, photographer Evgeny Feldman tweeted an image of Kiev's flowerless slab in Alexander Gardens. It was the only hero city in the park without flowers. It seemed that Kiev, the seat of a revolution that recently ousted a Moscow-friendly government, was no longer considered such a heroic place. With the Kremlin accusing Kiev of “criminal irresponsibility” for allowing scores of people to be burned to death in Odessa, denying the city its roses was a powerful denunciation.
A Moscow woman leaves flowers at Kiev's hero-city WWII monument. May 7, 2014. Facebook.
Not all Muscovites wanted to send this message. Over the next two days, Kiev's hero-city slab was also covered in flowers. Dozens of people came to the monument with roses for the neglected city, responding to the previous day's demonstration with a gesture of their own. Flower-bearers photographed themselves and tweeted the images, reminding Internet users that there are still many Russians who aren't willing to rewrite history for the sake of sticking it to Ukraine's new government.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Saint Lucians Defend Country’s Image After Hotelier’s Murder · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

The murder of a wealthy hotelier in Saint Lucia has sparked debate in the Facebook forum Saint Lucians Aiming for Progress. The discussion centered on foreign perception of the island's crime situation (the victim, Oliver Gobat, was a British citizen who had ties to St. Lucia) and the way this could affect the tourism industry.
The impetus for the online discussion was a series of articles posted in the Daily Mail newspaper in the United Kingdom. Many of the commenters took umbrage at some negative statements made about the island – and what might have been the motivation for the murder – both in the comments sections and by fellow citizens. Others argued that Saint Lucians need to be less defensive and take an honest look at the situation.
Dinesh Daswani believed it is the responsibility of Saint Lucians to change the perception of the island:
You can't stop them from having an opinion or writing negative comments…you can only manage to educate them and reply to making it positive. What is written can't be changed but how you reply to reassure them can change their attitude. Learned that from the best in the business!
Dianne Leslie did not think that external perception of the island is that bad:
I think critical analysis is missing here. Some statements are way too simplistic. I work out with a woman who just booked her entire wedding party to St.Lucia (30ppl). She did all of her research, read about increased crime, but did not feel threatened by it…'crime is everywhere, can't be [worse] than DC’. This is the general attitude about crime in the Caribbean, in my experience. This is not to say we do not have a problem, but at this point it is manageable, and crime is not the first thing that comes to mind when ppl hear St. Lucia. We don't want it to get to that point.
Andy Dolcy felt that the negative comments were rooted in ignorance:
You will always get comments like this because some people were brought up very ignorant and would not change their thinking of small developing countries. I think that the consulate in London and all other St Lucian consulates need to reassure the masses that this is not a true reflection of our country.
Michael Oliver Theobalds suggested that more attention be paid to crimes in England:
A 15 year [old] stabbed a teacher to death in front of other pupils in a school in Leeds…maybe the Daily Mail should pay more attention to England's crime wave. That paper has always had a personal vendetta against St. Lucia. I don't know why but having shrinking circulation…let's hope many sensible Brits can see through them.
Cha Cox-Jules said that all crime should be considered bad, no matter where it happened:
Crime is wrong. Full stop! No ifs no buts or maybes about it we all know that it's wrong! St. Lucian's (sic) were killed in Foreign countries in some of the most gruesome ways! Raped! Robbed! And you never hear our people come out and say these mean things about the countries where such has happened. A lot of the times when such ignorant comments are made we just learn to take our blows like the grown ups that most of us are and try to show that we are different, by not quarreling and hyping up ourselves for everything. We are rational thinking human beings we just need to learn to control ourselves. Most times when people write these absurd and untrue comments, they do so out of hurt.
He concluded:
So…. Let's take our blows and ignore foolish comments! We all know how some of these international countries are the very same bullies that try and fight against, so before anything negative happens they will be there to spread the propaganda full investigation or not. It could have been a man from the moon who came to St. Lucia and did the crime, the fact that he did it in St. Lucia, he [is] a St. Lucian, but mind u if it was in their country they will clearly state what planet he or she came from, so that their country never looks bad.
Longly Francois believed that actually solving more of the crimes would restore more confidence in the safety of the island:
What has to be done is show with the increase we have in crime we also have an increase in solved cases. This will show we take crime seriously and also give visitors the faith that even if some idiot tries to turn their vacation into a nightmare he will pay for it.
Allan Amedee warned against baseless speculation:
I did caution about all the speculation. However, he's still someone's son, brother, father and loved one. Us Lucians sometimes like to jump the gun and are quick to denigrate our beautiful Isle. It's a national preoccupation that I find distasteful. Lucia may not be the best but, it's certainly not the WORST.
Grand Anse asserted that regardless of the details of the case, the fact that it happened in Saint Lucia will have a negative impact on the perception of the island:
No matter what, this crime quite obviously will have a negative impact on St. Lucia…we need to be proactive in how we deal with this, not just in the investigation, but the image of St. Lucia and how we deal with crime in general. In order for Antigua to regain their numbers they had to put out some stronger measures and greater enforcement, which naturally benefited the country in general.
He concluded:
In the meantime family and friends are grieving and subjected to all kinds of speculation. Allow them the peace and dignity that we would wish on ourselves in such a terrible situation, without the hearsay. Facts I hope, will come to light, while the investigation takes place, I hope all of those involved in enforcement tourism and associated sectors are getting measures in place so that this does not too adversely affect the economy, and to try to prevent such incidents in the future. We all have a lot of work to do.

author: Matthew Hunte


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Saudi Blogger Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison, 1000 Lashes · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

On 7 May, a criminal court in Jeddah sentenced blogger Raif Badawi to ten years in prison and a thousand lashes for “insulting Islam”. Badawi was prosecuted for developing “Saudi Arabian Liberals”, an online forum he launched in 2008 debating the role of religion in the conservative kingdom.
The 32-year-old was also ordered to pay a one million riyals fine (approximately US$266,600).
The verdict is subject to appeal. But Badawi's lawyer, Waleed Abu al-Khair, has also been jailed for setting up a human rights monitoring group, according to Human Rights Watch.
Arrested in June 2012 and tried in July 2013, Badawi originally was sentenced to six years in prison and 600 lashes. In December 2013, an appeals court overturned the initial verdict and referred the case back to the Jeddah Criminal Court.
Sad day for #humanRights #raifbadawi pic.twitter.com/zUTvOWe6Kg
— Yes we can (@Jihane_MD) May 7, 2014
Saudi Arabia, Britain's ally & top arms customer, has sentenced blogger @raif_badawi to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes #IStandWithRaif
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) May 8, 2014
On his website, Badawi and other contributors posted articles critical of Saudi religious authorities and declared May 7 a day for Saudi liberals.
السجن بسبب منتدى يرحب بالجميع أن يتحاور،أن يطرح قناعاته للنقاش! منذ متى يغير السجن الفكر؟! #الحكم_على_رائف_بدوي pic.twitter.com/83g1ZznGXd
— طاهر الزهراني (@6aher_alzahrani) May 8, 2014
Jail over a forum that welcomed everyone to debate and present their arguments for discussion. Since when prison changes thought?
رائف كان ينتقد المجتمع الازدواجي و يدعوا للأنسانية و احترام الرأي الاخر اذا كانت هذه جريمه فانا مجرمة #السجن_10سنوات_لرائف_بدوي
— أميمه Omaima (@Omaima) May 7, 2014
Raif criticized a double-standard society and called for humanity and respect for the other's opinion. If this is a crime, then I declare myself a criminal
Prosecutors had previously charged Badawi with apostasy, a charge which could carry a death penalty in the Saudi kingdom.

author: Afef Abrougui


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Colombia: Controlling Chemical Substances to Avoid Acid Attacks · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

To avoid acid attacks that target mainly women in different parts of the country, Colombian government is about to control [es] retail sales of caustic acids and chemical substances: sulfuric acido, hydrchloric acid, muriatic acid, phosphoric acid, nitric acid and sodium hydroxide, in the form of aqueous solution and flakes.
RCN Radio informed on Twitter:
Gobierno alista decreto de reglamentación para venta de ácidos http://t.co/V9ABC4OXvz
— RCN La Radio (@rcnlaradio) Mayo 6, 2014
Government is preparing a decree to regulate the controlled sale of acids.


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Crossroads: Video Stories of Migrants in Malaysia · Global Voices
Seelan Palay

Crossroads is a video advocacy project aimed at developing and strengthening the advocacy and documentation capacity of migrant workers, refugees, stateless persons, and their support organisations in Malaysia. It is a collaboration between  EngageMedia and  Citizen Journalists Malaysia.
Malaysia has the highest numbers of migrant workers in Southeast Asia. According to government statistics from July 2013, the country has 2.1 million registered migrant workers and an estimated 1.3 illegal migrant workers within its borders. This means one in three workers comes from outside Malaysia.
Workers without valid documentation are considered illegal and are often subjected to various forms of abuse – ranging from illegal withholding of salaries, to engagement in bribery, and rape. However, the reality of the workers’ situations are not widely known or reported in the media. Various negative stereotypes exist in a hostile climate in the host community.
Crossroads Introduction
EngageMedia believes that by supporting migrant workers to take the lead in telling their own stories through video, Malaysians will gain a better understanding of their personal experiences, in order to correct the stereotypes and foster a climate of tolerance. The workers will also have the necessary skills to use video for evidence and documentation as aid in advocacy.
In the past year, we organised a total of 12 workshops in Klang Valley, Selangor, and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. For the 15 participants which included Indonesians, Nepalis, Malaysians, and Burmese, we provided skills in storytelling, video advocacy, storyboarding, video shooting and editing, online/offline video distribution, and online subtitling with Amara.
Cupin's Tale: Even Chickens Listen
Our participants came from various backgrounds, such as Karmadi (pictured top-right), who is an Indonesian migrant in Malaysia working in the construction sector. He made the time to attend all the training sessions despite his difficult work schedule, and recently purchased Malay-language books on photography to continue practicing around his various job-sites. He hopes that he “can use his new video and photography skills to do more than construction work”. In the video, Karmadi explains the hardships experienced by undocumented workers:
The authorities are not interested to know why the migrants are undocumented. They just want to punish them. No one wants to be an undocumented worker, but due to poor laws and enforcement, it gives agents a lot of opportunities to deceive desperate migrant workers.
The final videos produced by Karmadi and the other particpants were compiled into a DVD toolkit featuring 12 videos organised in five chapters according to the theme of migration they touch upon, namely, The 6P Programme, Support Systems for Migrant Workers, The Role of Law Enforcement Authorities, Seeking Protection, and Protecting Children. It also includes a Study Guide designed to give context to these videos for use in educational and advocacy purposes.
School of Hope
On 15 December 2013, a launch screening was organised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in collaboration with Tenanganita, a migrant rights NGO. The event was graced by its founder, the late Dr. Irene Fernandez, who reminded the 200 migrant worker guests of their fundamental human rights and stressed the importance of using video, among other means, as tools for evidence and documentation.
As project lead, I learned as much from the participants as I shared with them. These are not only stories of struggle in a foreign land, but also of resilience and hope for a better future. All the videos from the project and a PDF version of the Study Guide can be viewed and downloaded here.

author: Seelan Palay


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Exhibition in Taiwan: Monument for the Self-immolated Tibetans · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

An oil painting exhibition, Monument for the Self-immolated Tibetans, is being held in Taipei Liberty Square. The portraits of the self-immolated Tibetans are drawn by Beijing artist, Liu Yi based on Tibetan writer Woeser's reports. The exhibition is opened between May 1 and May 20.


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GV Face: Taiwan’s Sunflower Protests · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Join the live video hangout on Google Plus on May 9, 2014 (11:00AM UTC/GMT)
Sunflowers have become the symbol of a protest movement in Taiwan that calls for continued autonomy of the country, amidst strong political pressure for more trade and unification with China.
Protesters stormed and occupied Taiwan's main legislature for several weeks and used social media to communicate their aims and activity in very creative ways.
Is the movement to defend democracy itself democratic?
On GV Face today we talk to Portnoy Zheng, co-editor of Global Voices in Chinese on how the protests have been received in Taiwan.
Also see:
Global Voices Special Coverage on Taiwan's Sunflower Protests

author: Solana Larsen


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Hong Kong: On Urinating on the Street · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

To engage with the social debate triggered by a toddler's wee and poo, Evan Fowler urinated in a public street and explored the meaning of civilization in his writing at the House News.


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Mauritanian Police Clamps Down on Black Protest · Global Voices
أحمد جدو

On May 4, 2014, Mauritanian police broke up  [ar] a massive gathering in Nouakchott. People were commemorating [ar] the return of a group of Mauritanian blacks [ar] from Senegal in 2008 [en] , after being subjected to forced displacement in the aftermath of the bloody events [en] which occurred between 1989 and 1991.
On April 29, protesters marched from 400 on feet from the southern city of Bougi. It took them a couple of days before reaching the Mauritanian Capital.
These former refugees demand the implementation of the tripartite agreement signed in 2007 [en], between Mauritania, Senegal and the UN Refugee Agency regarding their situation.  They also want their citizenship papers [en]. They are asking for employment in the agency handling their affairs and the integration of their youth in the country's economic life.
The blog “Free Opinion” slams the way the government is dealing with those people [ar]:
خرجت مسيرة العائدين إذا وقطعت هذه المسافة  الطويلة (حوالى 400 كلم)  سيرا على الأقدام  تطالب بحقوق مشروعة لهم كموريتانيين ظلموا  في فترة من الفترات، ظانين أن النظام العسكري  سيلبي تلك الحقوق، إنها فقط تصحيح الأوراق  المدنية وحق التشغيل وتصحيح وضعيات  الموظفين المفصولين، لكن الشرطة والقنابل  المسيلة للدموع كانت بإستقبالهم بعد أن عجزت  عن ثنيهم للعودة من حيث أتو، هذا التعامل الفج  ينم عن ضعف وعنصرية من النظام العسكري  تجاه قضية ستظل تنخر جسد الدولة الموريتانية إذا لم يوجد لها حل وافي وسريع، ولكن يبدو أن هذ التعامل لا ينم عن سعي لحل إحدى أكبر المشاكل التي تعانيها موريتانيا.
The march of the returnees kicked off and they crossed that long distance (around 400 km) on foot, demanding their legitimate rights as Mauritanians who were persecuted at some point. They marched thinking that the military regime will satisfy these rights; i.e the right to correct their citizenship papers, access to employment and settling the conditions of fired employees. But they were welcomed with police and teargas shells, after they (authorities) failed to dissuade them from returning to where they came from.  This crude treatment emanates from weakness and racism of the military regime towards an issue which will continue to eat into the Mauritanian state body, unless a prompt and proper solution is found. But it seems that this treatment doesn't emanate from an attempt to solve one of the biggest problems which Mauritania suffers from.

author: أحمد جدو


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México: Senate Appoints the Seven Commissioners to the New IFAI  · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Headquarters of the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI). Photo from the author, J. Tadeo's blog.
On April 30, 2014, the Senate of the Mexican United States proposed the seven memebers who will make up the new agency that guarantees the fundamental right of access to information, as part of the reform of the constitutional text [es] in terms of transparency.
In due course, organizations like Fundar and Article 19 [es] have expressed their concern because the reform implies that the resolutions by the guarantor body may be fought by the government, which is disadvantageous for citizens seeking access to public information.
This is how te website Con los ojos abiertos [es] announced the nominations:
El Senado de la República aprobó el pasado 30 de abril el nombramiento de Francisco Javier Acuña Llamas, Areli Cano Guadiana, Oscar Guerra Ford, María Patricia Kurczyn Villalobos, Ximena Puente de la Mora, Joel Salas Juárez y Eugenio Rosendoevgueni Monterrey Chepov como comisionados del órgano garante del acceso a la información a nivel federal.
El dictamen presentado por las Comisiones Unidas de Anticorrupción y Participación Ciudadana, de Reglamentos y Prácticas Parlamentarias, y de Estudios Legislativos, fue aprobado el voto de 110 senadores como parte de los trabajos del último día del periodo ordinario, y a menos que sean objetados por el Presidente de la República, formarán parte del pleno del llamado #NuevoIFAI.
Last April 30, the Senate approved the appointment of Francisco Javier Acuña Llamas, Areli Guadiana Cano, Oscar Guerra Ford, Mary Patricia Villalobos Kurczyn, Ximena Mora Btridge, Joel Eugenio Salas Juarez and Monterrey Rosendoevgueni Chepov as commissioners of the guarantor body for access to information at the federal level.
The report, produced by the Joint Committee on Corruption and Citizen Participation, Parliamentary Regulations and Practices, and Legislative Studies, was approved on a vote of 110 senators as part of the work on the last day of the regular session. Unless they are challenged by the President of the Republic, they will be part of the full new IFAI.
In the meantime, México Infórmate and Colectivo por la Transparencia expressed regret [es] that among the names, none are of any person who is currently part of the Federal Institute for Access to Information and Data Protection (IFAI):
Es lamentable que el Senado haya desaprovechado la oportunidad de incluir a una persona del IFAI, que garantice la visión institucional y la continuidad del trabajo que ha llevado a cabo dicho instituto en los últimos años y la inclusión de una persona del movimiento de la sociedad civil organizada que ha impulsado y defendido la transparencia y el acceso a la información durante más de una década.
It is unfortunate that the Senate has missed an opportunity to include someone from the IFAI, ensuring the institutional vision and continuity of the work carried out by the institute in recent years, and the inclusion of someone from the organized civil society movement that has promoted and championed transparency and access to information for over a decade.
In their joint statement [es] they alluded to the names of the people excluded from the final list by the politicians:
Es una lástima que Cecilia Azuara y Rosa María Bárcenas, personas con amplia experiencia en la materia, que conocen el funcionamiento interno del Instituto y que no cuentan con ligas partidistas, hayan sido excluidas por los partidos políticos en la recta final de las negociaciones.
It is a shame that Cecilia Azuara and Rosa Maria Cecilia Barcenas, both with extensive experience in the field, who know the inner workings of the Institute and who have no partisan ties, have been excluded by the political parties in the final stages of negotiations.
Claudio Cirio [es] of the Red por la Rendición de Cuentas [Network for Accountability] referred to the appointment and the supposed gender equality that this entails:
El primero se refiere a que la equidad de género en realidad no es tan equitativa. Y no me refiero al hecho de que sean tres mujeres (una de ellas excelente decisión según mi gusto, Areli Cano Guadiana) frente a cuatro hombres (uno de ellos prácticamente injustificable su nombramiento, Eugenio Monterrey). Me refiero a que, a aquellas se les eligió para los periodos más cortos, dos para que estén en funciones hasta 2018 y una hasta 2020, mientras uno de ellos estará hasta 2023, dos hasta 2022 (y precisamente uno es Monterrey, ¿Lo estarán perfilando para un eventual relevo en su momento en la presidencia?) y el cuarto hasta 2020 (marzo 31 todos de cada año respectivo).
Quizá puede pensarse muy rigorista mi apreciación pero parte de una definición amplia del propio término de equidad, no sólo en el número sino en el trato en las designaciones. O cómo entendemos esa “Disposición del ánimo que mueve a dar a cada uno lo que merece” que según la Real Academia de la Lengua Española significa tal término. La pregunta incómoda es ¿Por qué ellos más tiempo que ellas?
The first relates to gender equality that actually is not that equitable. And I’m not referring to the fact that there are three women (one, an excellent decision in my opinion, Areli Cano Guadiana) to four men (one of them an almost unjustifiable appointment, Eugenio Monterrey). What I’m referring to is those chosen for shorter periods, two to be in office until 2018 and 2020, while one of them will be there until 2023, two to 2022 (and indeed one is Monterrey—are they getting him ready for an eventual disclosure of his time for the presidency? ) and the fourth to 2020 (al of them March 31 of each respective year).
One might think my assessment is very severe, but part of a broad definition of the term equality itself is not only in numbers but in the treatment of appointments. Or how should we understand the “state that means giving each one what they deserve”, which is the meaning of the word according to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language. The nagging question is: Why the males have longer terms than the females?
On Twitter, Senator Arely Gómez shared the following image with respect to the nomination of the seven commissioners:
Se aprueba por mayoría el dictamen de candidatos al #NuevoIFAI. Pasará al Pleno para su discusión y votación. pic.twitter.com/iskwJo5MXA
— Arely Gómez González (@SenArelyGomez) April 30, 2014
The choice of candidates for the IFAI has been approved by a majority. It will go to the plenary for discussion and vote.
About the fact that the appointment was made within the framework of “party quotas” that are customary in the Mexican political system, Alejandro Núñez T. said:
#NuevoIFAI “Las cuotas y los cuates terminan imperando”
— Alejandro Núñez T. (@Alexfujiwara) May 2, 2014
Quotas and the crony system prevails.
The appointments made on the basis of party quotas (distribution of appointments among the main political parties) was also mentioned by the expert on the subject and IFAI ex-commissioner, Juan Pablo Guerrero:
@tadeo_rc @mxinformate #NuevoIFAI con perfiles idóneos, combinado con CUOTAS. Mezcla rara, pero hay calidad. Soc civ ausente, x jugar limpio
— Juan Pablo Guerrero (@GuerreroAmparan) May 1, 2014
With suitable profiles, together with QUOTAS. Rare mix, but there is quality. Civil society [movement] is absent, x play fair
About this, Guerrero clarified:
Resultado de integración #NuevoIFAI: un organismo garante re-partido (3 PRI + 2 PRD + 2 PAN). Reto para comisionados: demostrar autonomía.
— Juan Pablo Guerrero (@GuerreroAmparan) May 1, 2014
Result for the new IFAI: A guarantor body re-partitioned (3 PRI + 2 PRN + 2 PAN). [translator’s note: PRI: Institutional Revolutionary Party; PRN: National Revolutionary Party; PAN: National Action Party] Challenge for commissioners: demonstrate autonomy
The National Center for Social Communication [CENCOS in Spanish] shared the following chart with comments on the appointments:
Estos son los 4 Comisionados y las 3 Comisionadas que conformarán el #NuevoIFAI pic.twitter.com/wcdRfqnAc6 vía @designaciones
— Cencos (@cencos) April 30, 2014
These are the 4 [male] commissioners and 3 [female] commissioners who will make up the new IFAI
Some users like Khemvirg Puente congratulated the people nominated by the Senate:
Felicidades a los miembros del #NuevoIFAI ahora a vigilar su desempeño
— Khemvirg Puente (@khemvirg) April 30, 2014
Congratulations to the members of the new AFAI. Now, they have to monitor their performance.
As mandated by the sixth article of the Constitution of the United States of Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto has ten working days to object to the appointments by the Senate. If there is no objection, the seven mentioned members will become the guarantor body commissioners for the right of access to information in the country, pending the appointment of the members of the Consultative Council (ten directors) of the organism in question.

author: J. Tadeo


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8 Extraordinarily Talented People From Yemen Everyone Should Know · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

If you do a Google search on the word “Yemen”, you probably will get news headlines about Drone strikes, Al-Qaeda attacks, kidnappings or killings. Well, there is more to Yemen than all that violence you read about in the media. Yemen is a land of history, heritage and humanity, yet the focus lately has shifted away from all that.
As researcher Atiaf Alwazir pointed out:
We are not simply headlines in the media. We are a country with diversity, beauty & love.Visit https://t.co/Dbw3Ey8v4L @HumansofYemen #Yemen
— Atiaf Alwazir (@WomanfromYemen) May 4, 2014
Here are some of Yemen's many talented youth whom you probably haven't heard of. Some of them are film directors who have been making a mark in the film industry, a videographer with a talented eye to capture beauty, a photographer challenging social norms and stereotypes, a talented artist with a message, and a musician impressively playing an old oriental instrument with new western tunes.
Sarah Ishaq
Ameen Alghabri, Sara Ishaq and AbduRahman Hussain at the Oscars
Sarah is a 29-year-old Yemeni-Scottish director whose film documented the bloodiest day of Yemen’s revolution, March 18, 2011, known as the Friday of Karamah, or Friday of Dignity, which led her along with two other Yemeni film makers who worked on the film Ameen Al Gaberi and Abdul Rahman Hussain to the Oscars. She was the first Yemeni ever and one of few Arabs to reach that stage. Her film Karamah Has No Walls (Dignity Has No Walls) was nominated in the short documentaries category at the 2014 Annual Academy Film Awards.
Sara directed another film, “The Mulberry House”, a personal memoir of her family and the revolution within her home echoing the upheavals beyond its walls, during the Arab Spring. Her second documentary film was screened at many film festivals, including the International Documentary Film Festival and Human Rights Watch Film Festival. She is currently working in her third documentary.
Another film by Yemeni director Mohammed Al-Asbahi was a finalist in the TropFest Arabia 2013. “Adults Only” is a tragic story about child brides in Yemen.
(Video uploaded to YouTube by TROPFEST Arabia)
However, the first feature film ever to come out of Yemen, and the first-ever Yemeni film to be screened at Cannes Festival was in 2005, by Yemeni-British film director, Bader Ben Hirsi, entitled “A New Day in Old Sanaa'a”.The 90-minute romantic drama, shows a real conflict between modern values and old ones in Yemen's conservative Islamic society.
(Video uploaded on YouTube by abdullah4140)
Abdurahman M. Hussain
This talented film maker, known among his friends as Afro, is the backbone of the SupportYemen media campaign that highlights social and political issues in Yemen. Abdulrahman co-directed and co-wrote “The Gift Maker”, co-directed “Karamah Has No Walls” and he also directed and edited all the videos of SupportYemen which can be seen here.
(Video uploaded to YouTube by Zoomcompetition)
Ameen Alghabri
Is a multi-talented Yemeni film and photography director who contributed to many Yemeni produced films and documentaries, including “Karamah Has No Walls”. He is also Yemen's best photographer to capture the beauty of its unique landscape. His web page offers a glimpse to some of his outstanding and widely shared photography work.
Ziryab Alghabri
Ziryab Alghabri is a talented videographer, who co-directed and produced films such as the “The Gift Maker“, winner of the British Council's Zoom Competition. He lately produced this amazing trailer of Socotra Island, a part of a project related to promote this amazing island in Yemen.
(Video uploaded to YouTube by gabreez studioz
Abdulrahman Jaber
Addulrahman Jaber is a visual artist, designer and photographer with a creative mind and a passion to create world brands. His website sheds light on his multi-talent and the work that he contributed to.
Boushra Almutawakel
Boushra Almutawakel is a freelance photographer and a mother of four. She was honoured in 1999 as the first Yemeni Woman Photographer, well known for her bold Hijab series portraits. Her works challenge the social norms she was brought up with, as well as stereotypical Western views about women from the Middle East.
The Hijab Series: Mother, Daughter, Doll by Boushra Almutawakel
Murad Subay:
Murad Subay at work
Twenty six-year-old Murad Subay is a talented Yemeni graffiti artist, a.k.a Yemen's Banksy, who uses his art to peacefully call for action by highlighting political and social messages on the walls of the city. The young artist started his first campaign “Color Your Street's Wall” in March 2012, which was the first of its kind in Yemen. In September 2012 he painted the faces of the forcibly disappeared in Sana'a, Ibb, Taiz and Hodeida, in the 2nd campaign called “The Walls Remember Their Faces”.
He started another street campaign called “12 Hours” on July 4, 2013, painting the walls of the capital Sanaa with a different theme for 12 hours in 12 successive months. His campaigns range from state executed kidnappings, gun control, sectarianism to anti-drones.
A graffiti by Murad Subay demanding a weapon-free peaceful life.
In describing his art, Murad said “street art has an amazing ability to highlight an issue in a single moment. Things like sectarianism, I don't need an hour-long lecture, with street art I only need a split second.”
Al-Arabiya interviewed Subay in 2012 while working on his first campaign, in  this video which shows his murals.
Subay has been chosen to receive the “Art For Peace Award” for the year 2014, which is given annually to artists around the world who were committed to spread the culture of peace through their art, by the Italian Foundation “Veronesi”. He will be receiving the Award in Milan, Italy, on November 14, at the 6th International Conference for Peace.
Yemeni activist Rooj Al-Wazir shared some of Subay's work on her Instagram account along with this comment:
Yemeni artists & activists often take their talents and opinions to the streets, the very place of resistance. These cement walls have been most useful for the creation of images for social justice. #art #graffiti #socialjustice #creativeresistance #sanaa #yemen
Ahmed AlShaiba
Yemeni musician Ahmed Alshaiba is a talented musician who demonstrates his skills once again with a version of Pirates of the Caribbean played on the Middle eastern string instrument, the oud.
(Video uploaded to YouTube by Ahmed AlShaiba)
His first sensational hit “Smooth Criminal” was widely shared on social media.
This is only a small list of the many multi-talented youth that Yemen is rich with and is proud to have. As you can see Yemen's got talent!

author: Noon Arabia


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Crowd Boos Ukrainian Governor During Victory Day Speech · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

A woman carrying a child charges the stage in disgust, after the Governor speaks ill of the Red Army and ambiguously about Hitler. Kherson, Ukraine. May 9, 2014. YouTube.
The legacy of the Second World War is stronger nowhere than in the former Soviet Union. Indeed, Russians refer to the Eastern Front, where the lion’s share of the fighting and dying took place in Europe, not as “World War II,” but as the “Great Patriotic War.” The USSR’s victory over fascism was the nation’s crowning achievement. For many today, the war remains a sacred event—a testament to the Soviet peoples’ strength and endurance.
Yesterday, on the 69th anniversary of Victory Day, the governor of a region in southeastern Ukraine enraged a crowd when he compared the Soviet military to Nazi Germany, saying that both Stalin and Hitler feigned a commitment to liberating the captive Ukrainian nation. The governor, Kherson’s Yuri Odarchenko, also implied that Russia entertains similar methods today when the Kremlin courts separatists in Ukraine’s southeast.
Here is a translation of the Governor’s main comments:
Today, celebrating Victory Day, we remember the turbulent events that occurred during the Great Patriotic War. We remember that people fought against aggressors who tried to take our land.
Those aggressors [Soviet troops] were motivated not just by the desire to take our land and enslave our people, but they also propagated slogans about the supposed liberation of nations of people who were living on the lands that Hitler was trying to seize. If you study history, we see that it was [Hitler] who was the first to propagate the slogans “liberating people from the Communist yoke” and “liberating people from the tyrant Stalin.”
This was Hitler’s first motivation, when he tried to take territory. But our people came together in our willingness to defend our native Ukraine, and presented a united front, showing [Hitler] that people can and will win back their territory. Today, the same thing is happening on Ukraine’s borders.
Yuri Odarchenko, Governor of Kherson, Ukraine. Khersonline.net.
As Odarchenko spoke of “the tyrant Stalin,” many in the crowd began booing and whistling. According to local news website Khersonskie Vesti, supporters of Ukraine’s Communist Party led the effort to interrupt the speech. Before long, a woman carrying a young child forced her way to the stage, grabbed the microphone from Odarchenko, and threw it to the ground. When the Governor moved to another podium several yards away, somebody else from the crowd approached and ripped away the microphone stand. Someone captured the entire spectacle on camera, and soon posted it on YouTube, where the video has attracted over 300 thousand views in less than 24 hours.
What was Odarchenko trying to say about the Nazis and the Soviets? The Russian media is portraying the speech as pro-Hitler. A more accurate reading is perhaps that the Governor was equating Communist Russia and Fascist Germany, implying that both foreign powers swept through Ukraine with promises of self-determination, though in reality they delivered only subjugation. Odarchenko gave his speech surrounded by elderly veterans—men who presumably fought in the Red Army, under Stalin’s command. The Governor doesn’t linger on this fact, instead recasting Ukraine’s war effort as a purely Ukrainian triumph. It doesn’t make much sense, except in the modern context of an independent Ukraine threatened by its Russian neighbor.
On a holiday that honors the millions who battled and sacrificed ostensibly to preserve the Soviet Union, lo and behold, Odarchenko offended people with his remarks.
As the feud between Moscow and Kiev escalates, Odarchenko’s Victory Day speech will likely become another episode that Russia’s supporters believe encapsulates Ukrainians’ betrayal of a shared past. Because it was captured on camera and uploaded to YouTube, hundreds of thousands of people will witness the affront in living color. The Communists in Kherson are mad, and so are many of the 143 million Russians next door.


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Investigative Journalists Report on Macedonian Government Official’s Hidden Wealth · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), together with Macedonian Nova TV and the Czech Center for Investigative Journalism published an investigative piece about the amassed wealth of the head of Macedonian Secret Service Sasho Mijalkov, who also happens to be a first cousin to the current Prime Minister of Macedonia. Among other things, the article cites:
Mijalkov belongs to a small clique of men who run Macedonia – men that include his cousin and best man.  Meanwhile, under his leadership, his agency has been criticized for dodging oversight, failing to meet European Union standards and for intruding in places it should not.
This career government official owns number of businesses and properties in Macedonia and Czech Republic, where his father Jordan Mijalkov (1933-1991) hеld the position of manager of a foreign trade company during socialist Yugoslavia.
The Mijalkov-Gruevski political dynasty has held power during much of Macedonia's transition. Jordan Mijalkov was the first Minister of Interior after the country gained independence, until his death in car crash. His sister's son Nikola Gruevski was Minister of Finance (1999-2002) and Prime Minister (2006-2014). The son, Sasho Mijalkov, who is seen as the grey eminence behind the family “throne”, served in Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito's Honor Guard alongside his brother as military policemen [mk], and has held high positions in the ministries of Defense and Interior of Macedonia since 1998. He was a protagonist in a recent story covered by Global Voices, regarding the use of a defamation lawsuit as a means of punishment and intimidation against independent media.

author: Danica Radisic


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Malaysian Opposition Lawmaker Charged with Sedition over Satirical YouTube Video · Global Voices
Jerrenn Lam

A Malaysian politician has been charged with sedition on Tuesday over a video posted on YouTube.
Teresa Kok is a federal MP and vice-chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), one of the parties that form the federal opposition coalition. She was charged under the Sedition Act, a colonial-era law that could mean a three-year jail sentence.
Teresa Kok
The video in question is titled ‘Onederful Malaysia’ (at the bottom of this post) that was posted on YouTube as part of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Malaysia, and is described as a political satire that pokes fun at the government.
Teresa Kok pleaded not guilty and vowed to fight the charges filed by the government:
Anyone who has seen my video will know that it is merely a political satire where the issues and jokes raised by the actor and actress are in jest and they were topics of discussion by ordinary people in the country.
Prosecuting me over a simple political satire not only shows how hollow and insincere is the Prime Minister‘s promise to repeal the Sedition Act, it also shows how political darkness has now returned to this nation after the last general election.
I will fight this heinous charge to the end. I have not committed any crime and I shall be proven innocent in court.
Ms. Kok has received support from her colleagues and some netizens.
Teresa Kok video is National threat…#ISMA comments on religious and racial issues ..??Why such selective and ugly prosecutions? #shame
— Ir.Kumar (@skumar176) May 7, 2014
What will Obama say of Najib if he is informed YB Teresa Kok will be charged for sedition over the video clip ?
— Ngeh Koo Ham 倪可汉 (@ngehkooham) May 5, 2014
Hazlan Zakaria believes the video raised some valid issues:
But anyone who has seen the video will notice the jab here is on continuing piracy and kidnappings in Sabah which is still a concern…
Granted the political satire may be a tad off colour, but the issues it poked fun at are valid concerns.
But Sasha Pranth thinks the video and the scandal it caused hurt the image of women politicians:
I assumed (wrongly) that as a member of parliament Teresa would fight our battles in Parliament, not in front of a camera, posing as a TV chatshow host. That video was in bad taste, more so because it has given the BN (ruling party) ammunition to attack her along racial and religious lines. A very foolish political move on her part.
She could have put her time to better use by calling for unity despite our country's many ills. That's the Teresa I thought I knew. She cannot play the victim now when she herself caused this silly and now, overblown fiasco to happen in the first place. In my view, she kinda blew it for women politicians.
A Chandrakumanan, information chief of the People's Progressive Party of the ruling coalition, supports the government's decision to charge Teresa Kok
How could Teresa Kok as a Member of Parliament come up with such a video clip provoking the people with a mischievous hidden agenda? Does it look good to make fun and joke about the government’s policies and then you come up and say it’s satirical? Does it make sense, or does she think everyone is stupid?
Watch the video below:

author: Jerrenn Lam


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Memes Greet Turkey PM Erdoğan’s Angry Walkout from Domestic “One Minute Show”  · Global Voices
Erkan Saka

“Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stormed out of a speech delivered by Turkish Union of Bars head Metin Feyzioğlu, accusing Feyzioğlu of being ‘rude’ in a speech criticizing the government's performance,” reports Turkish daily Hürriyet today [May 10, 2014].
Social media users were quick to create internet memes [English translation offered], which have become a constant staple since the Gezi protests broke out last year, to convey political criticism in a humorous manner.
Pro-Erdoğan political trolls were quick to create two anti-Feyzioğlu hashtags while another hashtag supported him
The speech took place during the occasion of the 146th anniversary of the establishment of the Council of State in the capital city Ankara.
You can watch the video of Erdoğan's domestic “one minute show” here.
PM Erdoğan increasingly targets his criticism of higher judiciary members, who remain to be the only state actors to function as check and balance powers against a strong government in Turkey.
The criticism today reached a new level with Erdoğan's body language. It seems that if President Abdullah Gül had not prevented him, he would have walked to the stage to face off with Mr Feyzioğlu.
In less than four hours, three Twitter trending topics rose to worldwide trends. Pro-Erdoğan political trolls were quick to create two anti-Feyzioğlu hashtags while another hashtag supported him. A Twitter user, Emre Erdoğan, provided a visualisation of these Twitter messages based on geo-locations here:
Anatomy of a divide: geolocations of #YanındayızFeyzioğlu, Istanbul pic.twitter.com/8P8GkZY6of
— Emre Erdoğan (@urbanhobbit) May 10, 2014
I may agree with a pro-Republican People's Party (CHP) analyst, İlyas Başsoy, who believes that this theatrical move is designed to serve Mr Feyzioğlu's possible move to main opposition party CHP's leadership. As a master tactician in electoral politics, Erdoğan knows that Feyzioğlu's ultra secular nationalist political standing may prevent many political opponents and Kurdish citizens in general join ranks at CHP.

author: Erkan Saka


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Two People Are Driving Around Europe to Find What It Means to Be European · Global Voices
Marie Bohner

[All links lead to French-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
Twenty European countries. Thirty-two cities. One 1970s VW Bulli.
That's Claire Audhuy and Baptiste Cogitore's plan for the next six months, as they embark on their Europa Bulli Tour on May 10 in the hopes of creating a concrete portrait of the European identity.
Audhuy and Cogitore, who are the two founding members of theater ensemble and publishing group Rodéo d'âme (Rodeo soul) in Strasbourg, France, will produce a movie of their adventure, which has stops in Trieste, Minsk, Sarajevo, Skopje, Chisinau and Berlin, among many others.
The trip takes on additional meaning as the European Parliament prepares for elections on May 20. With the economic crisis still hitting the continent hard, the merits of belonging to the European Union is being questioned [en] in many European nations. Participation in the European elections is threatening to be low because of disillusionment with the economic union.
The pair, who have secured several media partnerships, will blog during the tour as well as update their Facebook page and Twitter account Twitter account.
Global Voices caught up with Audhuy just as their journey was set to begin.
Claire Audhuy. Used with her permission. Photo by Pascal Koenig
Global Voices (GV): How did this project come about?
Claire Audhuy (CA): Nous (Baptiste et Claire) quittons aujourd'hui le monde étudiant, et nous fêtons en même temps les dix ans de la création de notre compagnie : il nous semblait donc que le moment était venu de faire un projet tous les deux, ensemble, avant de partir, qui sait, vers d'autres horizons. Par ailleurs nous nous sommes déjà beaucoup interrogés sur l'Europe et les Européens dans nos différents travaux, comme dans le projet Penser et parler l'Europe en 2011. Mais nous l'avions fait d'ici, d'Alsace, de France, de Strasbourg. Nous voulions donc aller là-bas, vers l'Est de cette Europe encore indéfinissable pour nous. Au départ, le projet n'était pas centré sur l'actualité. Mais aujourd'hui l'actualité va fortement influencer notre tour, comme par exemple en Ukraine.
Claire Audhuy (CA): We (Baptiste and I) have just left our lives as students behind. This year, we also celebrate the tenth anniversary of our theater ensemble. So we felt that it was the right time for the two of us to launch a joint project before we both go our own way. Additionally, the topic of European identity is a subject we already tackled before in our various works. We have already interviewed many Europeans on this subject when we participated in the Thinking and Discussing Europe Project in 2011. But we did that from here, Strasbourg, France. So we wanted to go to eastern Europe, a region that is still a bit elusive for us. Initially, the project was not supposed to be impacted by current events. But clearly current news will probably strongly influence the tour, especially when we reach Ukraine.
A video preview of the Europa Bulli Tour
GV: Have you already set up interviews with some people on your journey? If so, could you give us a preview?
CA: En arrivant à Trieste, à la mi-mai, nous aurons le plaisir de rencontrer Boris Pahor, un monsieur de 101 ans, écrivain résistant, déporté au camp du Struthof en Alsace, grand témoin de la seconde guerre mondiale, qui s'efforce de faire entendre toutes les voix des victimes, pas seulement celles de la mémoire juive. Lui-même portait le triangle rouge chez les déportés, la marque des prisonniers politiques. A la frontière bulgaro-turque, nous allons conduire des entretiens dans un camp de réfugiés. Nous allons rencontrer le directeur du camp, les réfugiés, mais aussi le personnel de Frontex, avec cette interrogation à l'esprit : l'Europe est-elle une Europe qui se défend ou qui s'enferme? A travers notre voyage, nous allons aussi nous intéresser tout particulièrement à la communauté rom, minorité emblématique d'un certain nombre de problématiques européennes. Nous allons découvrir un théâtre mis en place par des jeunes Roms en langue romani. Nous irons passer la nuit à l'Hotel Gelem en Macédoine, une sorte de chambre d'hôte rom qui permets de découvrir la communauté de l'intérieur en y étant invité : à nous de nous intégrer, et non pas l'inverse comme on l'exige trop souvent des Roms en Europe. Nous allons aussi rencontrer les membres d'un groupe de rap romani. Affaire à suivre!
L'idée est aussi d'aller, dans la continuité du projet Les gardiens des lieux en Alsace, voir ce qui se passe dans les synagogues désaffectées en Europe aujourd'hui, en s'interrogeant sur le renouveau et la mémoire du judaïsme en Europe. Par exemple, nous allons visiter une synagogue qui abrite aujourd'hui un théâtre de marionnettes, le Pozoriste Lutaka Mostar.
Toutes ces histoires plurielles, différentes, vont peut-être nous aider à appréhender l'Europe que nous cherchons.
CA: We will arrive in Trieste in mid-May where we will have the pleasure to meet Boris Pahor, a 101-year-old man, resistance activist, writer and one of the great witnesses of World War II who was deported to the Struthof concentration camp in Alsace, France. Pahor is trying to get all the voices of the WWII victims heard, not just those of the Jewish community. He himself wore the red triangle at the camp, the sign that denotes political prisoners. At the Bulgarian-Turkish border, we will conduct interviews at a refugee camp. We will meet the director of the camp, the refugees, but also the staff of Frontex with this question in mind: Is Europe protecting itself or isolating itself from the rest of the world? Through our journey, we will also pay special attention to the Roma community, the emblematic figure of a number of European issues with minorities. We'll have a look at a theater set up by young Roma in the Romani language. We'll spend the night at the Gelem Hotel in Macedonia, a sort of bed and breakfast managed by the Roma community that gives a glimpse of the community from the inside by inviting outsiders to integrate themselves into their way of life and not the other way around, as often is the case of Roma in Europe. We will also meet with members of a Romani rap group. A group to definitely keep an eye on!
Similar to the gardiens des lieux project in Alsace, we also had this idea to go see what happens in abandoned synagogues in Europe today, with the overarching theme of the renewal of Judaism in Europe in mind. For example, we will visit a synagogue that now is home to a puppet theater directed by Lutaka Mostar.
The hope is that all these different stories will perhaps help us understand which Europe we really want.
The planned itinerary of the Europa Bulli Tour, as seen on the blog here: http://www.bullitour.eu/l-itineraire/
GV : How will you handle the language issue?
CA: Nous parlons tous les deux français, allemand et anglais. Mais nous ne souhaitons pas que cela nous limite dans les rencontres vers toutes les autres communautés, comme par exemple avec les jeunes Roms qui ne parlent que romani, ou avec un poète tsigane hongrois qu'on nous a chaudement recommandé. C'est pourquoi nous avons des fixeurs dans chaque pays pour nous renseigner et nous conseiller, et des traducteurs (via les lycées, les instituts français, et autres) pour nous assister dans nos démarches. Le rôle des traducteurs est essentiel pour que les rencontres aient vraiment lieu, comme nous avons pu l'expérimenter déjà dans une pièce, Traversées, que nous avions montée en arabe dans le camp de réfugiés palestiniens d'Aïda en 2013.
CA: We both speak French, German and English. But we do not want that to limit us as far as meeting with communities, like young Roma who speak only Romani, or a Gypsy Hungarian poet who we were told we had to meet. This is why we will have fixers in each country to inform and advise us and translators (from high schools, French language institutes, etc.) to assist us in our efforts. The role of translators is essential for meetings to really take place. We have experienced their critical role before, when a play we wrote in French was acted in Arabic in a Palestinian refugee camp in Aida in 2013.
GV: Why focus on meeting with contemporary artists?
CA: Les artistes vers qui nous allons sont engagés, ils racontent des histoires qu'on pourrait oublier. Ils sont les observateurs du monde et de la société, et proposent un autre regard. Il y a par exemple cet artiste incroyable, qui vit seul dans un village abandonné au milieu de la Transylvanie, Tara (Von Neudorf), et qui a installé son atelier dans une église désaffectée. J'ai hâte de le rencontrer !
CA: The artists we are set to meet tell stories that could be forgotten in the near future. They are observers of the world and they offer a different perspective. For example, there is this incredible artist who lives alone in an abandoned village called Tara (von Neudorf) in the middle of Transylvania and his studio is located in an abandoned church. I cannot wait to meet him!
GV : What does social media bring to the project?
CA: Les médias sociaux tels que facebook et twitter nous permettent de mettre en avant des éléments phares pour inviter les gens à aller plus loin. Ce sont aussi des moyens de toucher beaucoup de gens qu'on ne connaît pas, notamment par le biais des communautés, comme par exemple la communauté qui s'est constituée autour du véhicule Bulli.
CA: Social media such as Facebook and Twitter allow us to highlight the core elements of our findings and then invite people to look further on their own. They are also tools to reach out to a lot of people you do not know, particularly through community forums, like the community that has formed around our Bulli car.
The Bulli car. Photo by Baptiste Cogitore. Used with permission
GV: What are the first events on the Europa Bulli Tour?
CA: Avant notre départ le 10 mai, il va y avoir un concert au Collège doctoral européen de Strasbourg le 6 mai, en entrée libre, avec deux groupes français, qui puisent dans les répertoires de musiques d’Europe de l’Est. En première partie, un concert d’Arsène Rigoulot, qui propose des musiques d’Ukraine pour deux violons et une guitare, puis le groupe Taraf’Algar  dont le répertoire est plutôt autour des musiques klezmer, tzigane, des Balkans et d’ailleurs. Une vraie invitation au voyage ! Venez nombreux !
CA: Before we leave on May 10, there will be a concert at the European Doctoral College of Strasbourg on May 6. There is no entrance fee and two French groups that draw inspiration from eastern music will perform. In the first part, Arsène Rigoulot will play music from Ukraine with two violins and a guitar, and then the Taraf'Algar group will take over with Klezmer, Gypsy and Balkan repertoire. It is an open invitation to travel! Please do come on over!

author: Marie Bohner


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Why Blogging is a Threat to the Ethiopian Government · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Beza Tesfaye explains why blogging is a threat to the Ethiopian government following the arrests of nine Ethiopian bloggers:
As I write this, I am eerily reminded that in Ethiopia, expressing your views can get you a first class ticket to prison.
From April 25 to 26, 2014, nine Ethiopian bloggers and journalists were arrested. As we celebrated World Press Freedom Day on Saturday, they were being detained in Addis Ababa’s notorious central investigation office. Though charges have not officially been filed, the group is accused of “working with foreign human rights activists” and “using social media to destabilize the country”. If prosecuted under Ethiopia’s controversial Anti-Terrorism Law, they could face the death penalty.
The arrests are part of a disturbing trend in Ethiopia, which has frequently ranked as one of the most repressive places for press freedom in recent years.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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“With Loose Hair” · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Denise Duncan, author of the blog Este no es el blog de Denise, shares an incident [es] that happened to her in the subway, when she faced two youngsters who were staring at her hair:
ME: Hey, I know you two are talking about my hair and that you are staring at it. And no big deal. You can take a look at it, I know it's flashy and I understand you are curious. I don't consider that offensive, in fact, what can I take as an offense is you pretending you weren't talking about me, but not that you were looking at my hair.
HIM: The thing is, I like it a lot.
When the boy asked her permission to touch her curly hair, she refused adamantly and then explained:
I'm not a teddy bear, I'm not a toy, I don't wear a wig. Don't insist. I'm not Marge Simpson. […] I am a person, not a character and your curiosity does not offend me, you making a thing out of me, that offends me.


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YASunidos Request Popular Consult on Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park   · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Yasuni National Park. Photograph used with permission from lasanta.com.ec.
(All links are in Spanish, otherwise noted as [en] for English)
On April 11th, 2014, the National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE by its Spanish name) was presented with 757,923 signatures by the YASunidos [YASunited] collective in order to hold a popular consult against the exploitation of the subterranean oil in Yasuni National Park's ITT Block (Ishpingo, Tiputini, Tampococha).
We interviewed YASunidos memeber, Mayah Cueva, in regards to the situation.
Global Voices: How and why was the YASunidos collective formed?
The YASunidos collective was formed as an activist, nonpartisan group against the oil exploitation in Yasuni National Park's ITT block. It was created in response to president Rafael Correa's announcement to end the initiative's search for international support that would stop the exploitation in this part of the Ecuadorian Amazon. On October 3rd, 2013, the National Assembly approved 108 out of 133 towards the exploitation of the ITT fields. 25 legislators voted against it.
GV: What motivates YASunidos to propel the popular consult?
MCF: President Rafael Correa has manifested that the Yasuni National Park [en] oil exploitation is imminent as “poverty has to be overcome.” We the activists have gotten together in order to defend this emblematic place of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Alternative plans have also been offered to stop the extraction of this natural reserve known as Plan C, “Wealth redistribution to avoid exploitation in Yasuni“. This popular consult looks for the approval to hold a debate with the entire Ecuadorian community, free information, and the indigenous communities’ initial consult, as they are the ones who inhabit this area.
GV: Where is the Yasuni National Park located?
MCF: Yasuni National Park is located in the Orellana and Pastaza provinces and the ITT fields (Ishpingo, Tiputini, Tampococha). It is surrounded by oil fields that continue to push the indigenous population into voluntary isolation. All of this provokes conflict, each time more frequently, amongst the settlers and the oil companies in the area.
GV: Does YASunidos have any political connections
MCF: As spokespersons for YASunidos, we have manifested that we are not linked to any political party. However, we don't reject citizen participation, independent of their ideology or if they participate in any party. We have denied entering into a state of confrontation with the head of state and we categorically reject their statements.
GV: What is YASunidos's position regarding the signature verification?;
MCF: Honestly, we are doubtful and have little certainty regarding the signature verification carried out by CNE seeing as how reliable evidence exists showing the lack of transparency. On April 25th, Judith Naranjo, a judge specialized in Childhood, Adolescence and Family, denied YASunidos representative, Luis Corral's, petition for precautionary measures. Corral was looking to suspend CNE's signature verification due to assumed irregularities that may have been held during its chain of custody, as can be seen in this video.
We point out that the procedure was performed without any clear or official protocol, the verifications were being done until the late hours of the night, and there was an absence of YASunidos supervisors.
GV: What's the current situation of the signature verification?
MCF: After the indexation period of collected signatures, the CNE plenary session anticipates to reunite in order to analyze the technical and legal reports, even though the organization's president, Domingo Paredes, went ahead stating that YASunidos obtained 359,761 valid signatures out of 583,324 needed for a popular consult.
The collective intends to contest the nulled signatures. It is unconstitutional to dispose or null the will of the masses due to mere regulatory formalities. The law in force is the Ecuadorian Constitution.
YASunidos members. outside the precinct where the signatures were verified, awaiting entrance. Photograph used with permission from lasanta.com.ec.
GV: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
MCF: The collective has inaugurated the #DefiendeTuFirma [Defend Your Signature] campaign onto its Twitter account, @Yasunidos. A call has also been made for international solidarity by means of a petition in a letter supporting YASunidos. There too is a request for a popular consult presented to the CNE, an opportunity to request that they respect our right to have one.


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After Six Months, Typhoon Haiyan Victims Continue to Demand Relief and Justice in the Philippines · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Also see Haiyan Devastates the Philippines, our special coverage page.
Typhoon Haiyan caused a ship to ran aground in Leyte, destroying houses in a crowded coastal village. Photo by Alessandro Pavone/ Save the Children
Six months ago, thousands died in Eastern Visayas in the Philippines after it was hit by super typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda). Today, thousands continue to suffer due to the lack of a comprehensive government master plan to rehabilitate the devastated region.
After learning about this report, Senator Chiz Escudero berated local officials for failing to understand the gravity of the situation:
This is very sad. Six months after Yolanda, more than a year after the previous disasters we don't even know what exactly the affected communities need? It is not about what we can give or what we will to give. This lackadaisical attitude is prolonging the anguish of victims. It is bordering on criminal already.
Exacerbating the problem is the lack of coordination among government agencies:
6 months after #Yolanda, Govt exec admits lack of coordination among agencies hampers rehab operations in Yolanda-affected areas.
— christina mendez (@xtinamen) May 7, 2014
Haiyan caused a storm surge last November which destroyed thousands of villages. More than 16 million people were affected by the disaster.
Several organizations have observed that the typhoon victims are slowly recovering but many problems persist. The Red Cross lamented that basic services have not been restored in some areas:
Affected communities have shown remarkable strength and many are on the road to recovery. However, high levels of pre-existing poverty are holding people back and in some areas basic services have not been re-established.
Only half of health clinics in the typhoon-damaged provinces have resumed operations which undermined the health of mothers and newborns. This report from Save the Children:
At a medical center in Eastern Visayas, several babies died from conditions that are normally treatable, such as hypothermia and hypoglycemia, often because nurses were unable to examine newborns properly at night because there was no power for lights.
Four months after the typhoon, only half of affected communities had seen their health centers reopen. Challenges in delivering critical childbirth and newborn care services were specially great in Tacloban and Leyte.
Meanwhile, Oxfam warned that 200,000 survivors in coastal areas are at risk of worsening poverty because the government plans to relocate them to safe settlements without adequate consideration as to how they will later earn a living.
Professor Carl Ramota visited the Palo campus of the country’s premier state university and reported the deplorable conditions in the school:
Six months after typhoon Yolanda decimated its campus in Palo, Leyte, there is still no clear plan for the rehabilitation or relocation of the UP School of Health Sciences. While nearby structures are already being reconstructed, the Palo campus remains in ruins. Worse, the asbestos roofing in the old SHS building has not yet been removed, posing a threat to the maternity clinic beside it and other residents.
Photo from Facebook page of Carl Ramota
Youth leader Divs Mosquera also visited Tacloban, the ‘ground zero’ of the disaster, and was moved by the stories of the typhoon survivors.
Months after Yolanda, Leyte is still a tent city. I've cried buckets since I arrived, hearing the survivors’ stories just breaks my heart.
Government statistics placed the number of dead at about 6,300. But the figures could be higher because dead bodies are still being retrieved in the region. Al Octaviano, a resident of Leyte province, said that many dead bodies are not being reported to authorities:
I personally retrieved 14 bodies — two children, four women, the rest were men. I tied them together so they would not be washed away by the sea, but you know when bodies are immersed in sea water, they fall apart. There are also many bones buried in the mud of the shallows, but people don’t report these anymore.
For its part, the government acknowledged the criticisms of its relief work but warned against politicians who are exploiting the situation to advance their political agenda:
…we are likewise cynical of those whose agenda includes misleading our people to believe that government is not sensitive enough to alleviate the suffering of the survivors.  We detest politicians and political groups who strive to put blinders in exploiting the vulnerability of victims of Yolanda.

author: Mong Palatino


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Macedonian Blogger Warns About Resurgent Neo-Nazi Iconography  · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Commemorating Victory in Europe Day, Macedonian blog Anfas (“en face“) recently documenting images used by Facebook users to warn about resurgent fascism in a post titled “Images of shame – Current Macedonian Neo-Nazi Iconography”.
The blogger also explained the importance of raising awareness of resurgent neo-Nazi iconography in Macedonia:
Овој фото албум го претставува нашиот срам. Но, тој треба да се види за да се осознае и препознае современата македонска неонацистичка иконографија, а со цел поефикасно да и се спротивставиме.
Таа е слична како и во другите европски земји: од класичната нацистичка, па се до современата неонацистичка, но прилагодена во македонски контекст (нацистички војник со претходното македонско знаме околу ракавот), кукасти крстови и стилизирани свастики, па дури и фотографија од срамниот дочек на нацистичката војска (ми се чини во Солун) приреден од страна на едно од екстремните крила на ВМРО, најверојатно она блиското на Ванчо Михајлов.
This photo album presents our shame. But it should be seen in order to raise awareness and enable recognition of current Macedonian Neo-Nazi iconography, so we can stand up to it more efficiently.
It is similar in other European countries: from classic Nazi, to contemporary Neo-Nazi, adapted to Macedonian context (a Nazi soldier with the old Macedonian flag on his armband), swastikas and stylized swastikas, even a photo of the shameful 1941 welcoming reception of the Nazi army (I think in Thesaloniki) organized by one of the extreme wings of VMRO, probably close to Vancho Mihajlov.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
China: Desperate Woman · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Could she be heard without stripping off her clothes? What does that tell about a country?
Liuzhou Laowai commented on a local news about a desperate young woman, stripped off, climbed out the window of an 11th floor Liuzhou hotel room and threatened to jump.

author: Oiwan Lam