text:
Conspiracy Theory Blaming China’s Stock Market Plunge on Foreign Forces Finds Online Support · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Image from Twitter user @StockCats on Chinese government's intervention of the stock market.
China’s steep market drop in early July zapped US $3 trillion worth of yuan from investors’ pockets. More than half of the listed companies temporarily suspended trading and the Chinese government rolled out several measures to try to right the ship.
Pretty soon after the fallout, rumors began to circulate that blamed hostile foreign forces of “malicious” short-selling. Yet, in a market which consists of 99% domestic investors, even state-controlled media had to clarify that the conspiracy theory could not explain the plunge. Though the Ministry of Public Security said it would help the China Securities Regulatory Commission investigate evidence of “malicious” short selling of stocks and indexes, thus far no official report has been released.
But the conspiracy theory of foreign manipulation reemerged with an accusation made by Lin Zuoming, chairman of a state-owned aerospace and defense company called China Aviation Industry Corp.
Lin's statements appeared as a headline news on Weibo, China's most popular social media platform on July 19:
中航工业董事长林左鸣：6月18日香港政改方案搁浅当天A股进入暴跌通道，6月29日亚投行签字当天A股仍遭暴力砸盘。时间上的惊人巧合并非偶然，而是有预谋的恶意做空。目的是诱导人民对政府不信任，最终破坏改革，直至击溃整个经济。在A股打响这场经济战争，是冲着五星红旗来的。
Lin Zuoming, chairman of China Aviation Industry Corp., said in an interview with a state newspaper that China’s stock market crash resulted from deliberately malicious short-selling aimed at breaking people’s faith in government, ultimately damaging China’s reform and crashing the economy. “It’s an economic war to change the five-star red national flag.
He further elaborated his point in a July 21 opinion piece on Huanqui.com, a nationalistic news portal:
这一次的矛头明确针对中国了，直接挑战中国共产党的执政地位，考验我党驾驭经济的能力。做空势力想通过一连串事情导致经济滑坡，社会不稳定，甚至可能借机策动颜色革命。如今这个世界，经济、政治和军事是难以分割的，是一场立体战争。
This short-selling directly challenged the ruling position of the Communist Party of China, testing the party’s ability to manage the economy. The short-selling powers tried to use the plunge to make China’s economy slump and its society to become unstable, even to mobilize a Color Revolution.
His remark, despite not being grounded in reality, has gained much support online, but many finance and economic experts criticized the nationalistic conspiracy theory. Liu Shengjun, a well-known economist, mocked the executive for his opinion on Weibo:
微臣以为，像林“左鸣”同志这样政治觉悟高、对敌人动向嗅觉极佳、口才好、既有股市谋略又有操作经验的同志，担任一家公司董事长太屈才了。我承认辩论不过他…臣力荐他担任《环球时报》总编辑
Your majesty, your humble servant's view is that comrades like Lin “Zuoming” [Lin's name literary means “voice from the left”] are very sensitive to political fights and spotting the enemies. With his excellent talent for debate and knowledge of stock investment strategies, it is a waste for him to be the chairman of a company. I admit that I could not win against him in a debate… your humble servant wants to nominate him as the editor-in-chief of Global Times [China’s nationalist newspaper]…
Since late June, the Chinese government has introduced a series of measures to pump up the stock market:
Regardless of whether the conspiracy theory holds or not, it is true that the finance system has become a significant part of Chinese national security, as reflected in its newly passed National Security Law. It is not surprising to see government mouthpiece People's Daily maintain that the official support was necessary to prevent a stock market disaster and argue that regulators in other countries have used similarly measures to head off potential market meltdowns.
The newspaper commentary did not address why regulators stood by and watched as credit poured into the stock market, fueling a prolonged advance that ultimately came undone. The newspaper also didn’t explain why it cheered the bull market before the fall.
The market collapsed essentially because stocks were overvalued and margin trading was excessive. Regulators moved too slowly to bring unsupervised margin trading under control. Investors got burned for believing the government could stop share prices from falling, and they were proved wrong; the predictable plunge damaged middle-class assets.
For months, the government urged households to invest in the stock market to generate more capital for state-run companies being weaned off bank loans, and editorials in China’s state-run news media celebrated the rising indexes. Market adulation reached its peak in April, when a commentary of People’s Daily told readers the 4,000 point mark reached by the Shanghai Stock Exchange was “only the start of the bull market.”
If anyone has to be made accountable, it's the central government, state media and regulators, not “hostile foreign forces.”

author: Jack Hu


text:
Destroying a Mountain: Mexican President Orders Expropriation of Native Lands for Freeway Project · Global Voices
Mas de 131

Members of the indigenous Otomi community in Xochicuautla protest the construction of a freeway through their land. Photo by Daniel Vargas Más de 131.
Life on the mountain just beyond the “Campamento de Paz de la Digna Resistencia” (Peaceful and Dignified Resistance Camp), located in a dense forest between the Mexican capital and the city of Toluca, was finally returning, before it was destroyed in October 2014.
“No one can beat the mountain. Even as it is, it only takes three years for the trees to grow [back],” one member of the local Otomi community explains, strolling along an area where the Toluca-Naucalpan highway is to be built.
The Otomis (or ñätho, as they are referred to in their own language) set up the Resistance Camp to halt the destruction of their lands, and the six houses they've built on it, when they learned of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's order to expropriate close to 100 acres for a highway project.
The project's construction contract went to the Teya Corporation, part of Grupo Higa, a corporation that previously built a seven-million dollar house as a gift for the president in Lomas de Chapultepec, an area with the highest property appreciation values in the country. The scandal attracted worldwide attention less than a year ago, in November 2014.
Women at the camp say the psychological terror has not stopped since construction began. It's not simply watching the trees fall or seeing the mountainside without vegetation; it's the constant presence of police and the division in the community between those who benefit from the development and those who don't. When the police come around, “children scream in defense of their sacred mountain,” women at the camp say, while those who stand to benefit “offer the officers flowers, bread, and fruit.”
The intimidation of women and children is constant. Photo by Ariadna Leon Más de 131.
A day after learning of the presidential decree, the Otomis arrived at the National Human Rights Commission to demand some measure of protection from the incursion by police and the Teya Corporation.
The President's written decree, however, states that the Otomis were consulted between June 5-12, in accordance with the first and second articles of the Mexican Constitution and Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization, as well as the United Nations declaration regarding the rights of indigenous peoples.
“Es una consulta que se inventaron en unos días” asegura José Luis Fernández, vocero y comunero de Xochicuautla. “El presidente dice que fuimos consultados. Es una gran mentira. No puede haber una consulta de pocos días como dice el decreto”, denuncia.
“It's a consultation they made up over a few days,” assured Jose Luis Fernandez, spokesperson and Xochicuautla community member. “The President says we were consulted. That's a big lie. There could not have been a consultation in the short amount of time stated in the decree.”
Fernandez related how, in 2007, topographers began surveying the land without consulting its inhabitants. A year later, armed with information about the project that they themselves sought out, the community called an assembly to decide if it would consent to the highway's construction.
“On Februrary 24, 2008, after examining our community practices and customs, we decided against it,” recounts Fernandez.
The decree states as its first point that the expropriation of land for construction of the Toluca-Naucalpan Highway will be carried out for “public use.” It also states that the indigenous people will be compensated approximately $674,000 dollars.
“Esta obra enlaza directamente con el Aeropuerto Internacional de Toluca a toda la zona norte y noroeste de la zona metropolitana de la Ciudad de México, lo que significa una enorme aportación al desarrollo socioeconómico de toda la región centro del país”, dice el decreto.
“This project directly links the Toluca International airport with the north and northeastern metropolitan areas of Mexico City, which would mean an enormous boost to the socioeconomic development of the entire central region of the country,” states the decree.
What the decree does not say is that a federal highway already runs from the city of Toluca to Naucalpan. It also fails to mention that it will be a toll road, thatthe Teya Corporation won its construction contract in 2007, when Peña Nieto was governor of the state of Mexico, where the proposed highway is to be built.
In 2014, Peña Nieto expropriated Huitzizilapan and other neighboring communities of Xochicuautla.The freeway was 34 percent complete at the end of 2014, according to the state government.
Just a few months after Peña Nieto took office as President, Banobras (Mexico's National Works and Public Services Bank) allotted over $172 million, in order to finalize the project by the second half of 2015.
Teya has a subsidiary, Autovan Inc., which the Federal Attorney General, the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Mexican Environmental Protection Agency have accused of “rights violations,” “destroying vegetation,” and “cutting down trees” in wooded and communal indigenous (Otomi) lands.
Since 2011, the state government has sent riot police to monitor community meetings in Xochicuautla, detaining 22 members: 14 in May 2013 and eight in November 2014. Everyone was released after a few days because of a lack of evidence.
Besides Xochicuautla and Huitzizilapan, construction has affected the Otomi community of Ayotuxco, which filed an appeal to stop Teya's bulldozers, which have already destroyed part of their land.
The project cuts through a forest that separates the country's capital and the city of Toluca. The forest falls under the protection of state laws, such as the one designating the Otomi-Mexica State Park as an ecological reserve.
The Otomi-Mexica forest is key for the preservation of the aquifer that supplies water to Mexico City and Toluca. The forest is also home to native species such as the aquatic salamander and deer. It is one of the traditional routes used by several indigenous communities that ascend the mountain where they conduct rituals to seek a fruitful harvest as well as natural and spiritual balance in the region.
Partial view of the Otomi-Mexica Forest which is critical for the preservation of the aquifer as well as native traditions. Photo by Daniel Vargas Más de 131. (Translation left sign: “Here we breathe struggle, the sub-reality of living in a community with no more identity; right sign: No repression, no devastation, no intimidation, no freeway.”)
Xochicuautla has been defending its forests for eight years, employing various strategies, such as holding forums with other indigenous communities, like the Yaqui Tribe from the northern state of Sonora, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, who took up arms in 1994, and the families of the missing 43 students in Ayotzinapa, who will visit the indigenous community on July 20.
By defending this sanctuary, the community is deserving of the Sergio Mendez Arceo Human Rights Award, the most prestigious independent recognition in Mexico.
At a July 15 press conference, the Zeferino Ladrillero Center for Human Rights, which is providing legal assistance to the Otomis, announced that Xochicuautla approved a “reappropriation counter-decree,” in order to return the land that has already been appropriated. The “counter-decree,” signed by community representatives and the Indigenous Supreme Council, intends to create a legal precedent in Mexico.
Armando Garcia, a delegate for practices and customs, has called on the general public and other indigenous groups to support their cause and join their camp.
“It is clear that agrarian law has served to legalize the displacement of native and indigenous groups, not only in Xochicuautla. There is also opposition to La Parota Dam in the state of Guerrero and to the construction of an aqueduct in the territory of our friends, the Yaqui Tribe,” says Fernandez, spokesperson and Xochicuautla community member. “The same thing is happening all over Mexico,” he adds.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mas de 131


text:
Eiffel Tower Plans? Beware of the ‘Paris Syndrome’ · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Japanese tourists in Paris by Lantus. CC 2.0
Paris, commonly referred to as the “City of Lights” worldwide, receives on average 20 million visitors a year, making it one of the world's top tourist destinations. The city also carries a significant aura with tourists who perceive Paris as a land of culture and romance with all the expectations that such label entails. Once the novelty of a mega-city wears out, however, reality usually settles in. And reality often bites. After the great monuments and cultural landmarks, there are the less glamorous aspects of city life: dense traffic, pollution, petty crimes, and language barriers. The come-down from the initial high has a name: the “Paris Syndrome”.
Eiffel tower at dawn, taken from place du trocadero by Nitot. CC 3.0.
The Paris Syndrome was defined by a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, Professor Hiroaki Ota. He describes it as follows:
Japanese travelers often held idealistic views of Paris, mostly concerning culturally specific expectations of service industry customs, societal manners, and urban hygiene. When Paris did not live up to these expectations, a small group of travelers would descend into depression. Often, depression turned into psychosis, and lead to medical treatment.
The cultural shock has been so regular that the Japanese embassy in Japan created a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from the syndrome.John Menick even investigated the concept in a video now available on YouTube:
Eriko Thibierge-Nasu, a Japanese psychoanalyst, explains to a French reporter the potential extent of the culture shock:
Il y a pas mal de grèves, les gens peuvent être un peu agressifs verbalement, on peut se faire voler son porte-feuille dans le métro, le taxi peut arriver avec un quart d'heure de retard. C'est quelque chose d'inconcevable au Japon
There are a lot of worker strikes, people can become verbally abusive, your wallet could get stolen in the streets, and a taxi can arrive 15 minutes later than planned. All of this is difficult to comprehend in Japan.
Katada Tamami, a Japanese scientist, wrote in the Journal of Nissei Hospital about the extreme case of a Japanese professor who moved to Paris and underwent several psychological hardships:
It was a case of manic-depressive disorder who presented his symptoms, insomnia, fluctuation of mood, aggression, irritation and rise in sex drive. Separated from his family, living alone in Paris, he has lost his identity when he worked as professor and fulfilled his duties as father and husband at home is Japan. Moreover, his fantasy and idealization of Paris, characteristic of Paris syndrome, played a great part in his abnormal behaviors searching for his lost youth and love affair.
While the cultural shock for Japanese tourists is the most observed occurrence of the syndrome (a little less than 1 million Japanese citizens come to visit Paris each year and an average of 12 Japanese travelers a year suffer from it), other visitors have also experienced depression after visiting the city. In a video, American traveler Mark Wolters lists a few items that struck him while visiting Paris. Some were positive, others not so much, such as the following notes:
-The Amount of People Who Smoke
-Dog Poop… Lots of Dog Poop…
-How Restaurants Close in the afternoon
-The Amount of Beggars You See (and pickpockets)
Professor Mark Griffiths is a Psychologist and Professor at the Nottingham Trent University. He did a bit of research on the Paris Syndrome and reviewed the scientific literature on the subject. Griffiths highlights the fact that there are two main types of the syndrome:
Type 1 [Classic]: These individuals typically have a problematic psychiatric history and may travel to Paris for idiosyncratic “strange” or delusional reasons. However, the onset of the symptoms is immediate upon arrival in Paris (and may even begin in the airport).
Type 2 [Delayed Expression]: These individuals do not usually have a personal and/or familial psychiatric history. The reasons for visiting Paris are typically for ‘normal’ travelling reasons but the onset of the symptoms is much later than the ‘classic’ type (i.e., three months or longer after arriving in Paris).
Christophe Soullez, a Paris resident and criminologist, explains that Asian tourists are often specifically targeted by local thieves, which adds to the Paris Syndrome. However, specific measures are now in place to protect them:
On sait que les touristes sont particulièrement visés par les voleurs à la tire ou à l’arraché. Ce phénomène, qui touche surtout Paris, est tellement problématique que nous avons dû demander aux groupes de police judiciaire de se concentrer l’été principalement sur la prévention. Au Japon les vols à la tire n’existent quasiment pas. Les touristes ne vont donc pas se méfier de délinquants organisés.
We know that pickpockets and purse snatchers particularly target tourists. This phenomenon, which affects mostly Paris, is so problematic that the police had to ask for the help of the judicial police department to focus more on crime prevention. In Japan, pick-pocketing is almost non-existent. Tourists will therefore not be as aware of organized criminals around them.
Fear not for your next Paris visit though, it is far from being all dread. Most Paris residents are aware that adapting to the Parisian lifestyle can be a challenge. But once you get passed the initial hurdles of adapting, which exist in any big city where locals speak a foreign language, you can start enjoying the perks. Here are some lesser known tips to enjoy a quieter Paris, courtesy of Global Voices‘ own French editor, Claire:
Cet été, sans hésitation, nous leur conseillons le quartier du Jardin des plantes.  Le plus ancien des grands parcs de Paris, qui fut d'abord le jardin des plantes médicinales du roi, doit beaucoup à la Révolution française qui en fit un temple de la science mais il a maintenant un charme ‘bourgeois’ et ‘province. Dans une tête parisienne, Jardin des Plantes rime presque automatiquement avec ‘thé à la mosquée’, juste en face. Dans cette très jolie mosquée de Paris inaugurée en 1926, les moineaux très familiers se serviraient presque dans votre assiette quand vous prenez un thé
This summer, we suggest haging out around the “Jardin des Plantes”. It is the oldest of the major parks in Paris and it was initially the king garden for medicinal plants. Following the French Revolution, the authorities decided to transform the park into a science museum, but it has kept its “bourgeois” and provincial touch. For a Parisian resident, the Jardin des Plantes is almost automatically associated with getting tea at the mosque, located right at the entrance. In this beautiful mosque, opened in 1926, the friendly sparrows will almost eat off on your plate, as you enjoy your tea.
In the end, maybe this syndrome is not specific to travelers to Paris, but just a common case of homesickness. Still, surely more can be done to ensure a better experience for visitors. Philippe Adam, a Parisian writer who penned many articles about the relationship between France and Japan, perhaps sums it up best:
On rend assez mal aux Japonais l'affection qu'ils portent à la France
We are not doing a good job of reciprocating the affection that Japanese visitors have for France.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


text:
#HackingTeam Leaks: Lebanon’s Cybercrime Bureau Exploited Angry Birds to Surveil Citizens’ Mobile Devices · Global Voices
Zalfa Quino

Red bird pilot by fORCEMATION via deviantart.com (CC BY 3.0)
Since the massive hack of the controversial Italian security and surveillance technology firm Hacking Team, journalists and human rights defenders in the Arab region have been carefully combing the 400GB of leaked data.
Hacking Team is best known for its “Remote Control System” which the leaks confirm has been used by oppressive regimes in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Sudan, UAE, Oman, Morocco and Egypt to surveil and intimidate political opponents, journalists, and human rights advocates.
Two weeks ago, WikiLeaks published more than 1 million searchable emails from the hack, which have shed light on the modus operandi of the firm’s team, their communication with clients, and their regular analysis of the political dynamics in the Middle East and elsewhere.
In a previous post, we explored leaked files confirming that the Lebanese Army purchased Hacking Team’s Galileo spy software, among other products. WikiLeaks’ searchable database indicates that Lebanon’s Interior Security Forces (ISF), General Security and the Cybercrime Bureau also contacted Hacking Team in an effort to purchase the software. A simple search for any of these terms in WikiLeaks database renders dozens of results.
Among emails exposed in the leak, the first signs of communication between ISF, its intelligence branch, and Hacking Team appear in 2014. These and all other communications between Lebanese officials and Hacking Team were mediated by PSEC & KAF, a private electrical and engineering services company in Lebanon.
Emails indicate [see PDF reproduction of email attachments]* that Hacking Team conducted a “proof of concept” demo on July 23-24, 2014 on the Interior Security Forces premises in Beirut. A rough translation of the report indicates that during the demo, ISF personnel were able to successfully infect target devices. With the help of Hacking Team staff, they created a technical “backdoor” in the devices (a virtual channel through which authorities can monitor a user’s activities) by exploiting a security flaw in the mobile phone game application Angry Birds:
Along with the Lebanese Army and the Interior Security Forces, the Cybercrime Bureau established contact with Hacking Team on February 25, 2015. Their email read as follows:
Sirs,
This is cybercrime and IP Bureau-interior security forces-Lebanon.
Please note that we are a law enforcement agency in Lebanon,specialized in cybercrime investigations and we think that your software “GALLILEO-remote control system” could be helpful in our job.
Therefore,you are kindly requested to provide us with all the details about that software including the features,price,contact person and email address in case we need any support,and how this
software could be helpful in our criminal investigations.
Best Regards.
Cybercrime and IP bureau
Interior security forces
Further emails indicate that a demo for Galileo RCS took place in Beirut on March 30, 2015 in the offices of the Cybercrime Bureau. A reproduction of the report from the demo appears below.*
The report also indicates that the Cybercrime Bureau had contact with Gamma, another leading surveillance technology company and creator of FinFisher, a spyware product with capabilities similar to Hacking Team’s Remote Control System.
The demo focused mainly on mobile infection and interception. The demo and reports were followed by an offer revealing that the Cybercrime Bureau pursued a contract under which they targeted 50 individuals for a total of 450,000 Euros.
Several activists and bloggers who have been subject to repeated summons and investigations by the Lebanon’s “cyber watchdog”, the Cybercrime Bureau, now suspect that authorities used Hacking Team products to infect their devices and monitor their communications.
In a recent article on data privacy and digital surveillance in Lebanon, journalist Habib Battah described a tense local scenario in which citizens and various government agencies have widely varying interpretations of what constitutes lawful surveillance in Lebanon. Here, he summarizes a common approach taken by Lebanon’s Cybercrime Bureau in the course of investigations:
When summoned, the cyber crime bureau agents reportedly pressure bloggers to sign draconian documents vowing to refrain from mentioning the company or individuals they have criticized in the future. In some cases, bloggers have claimed that police agents tricked them into giving up information by sending malware to their computers, a practice [Major Suzan Hajj Hobeiche, head of the Cybercrime Bureau] seemed to endorse by claiming ‘ethical hacking’ used by law enforcement is sometimes needed to protect the greater good. Yet, increasingly that greater good seems to be defined by the interests of the wealthy and well-connected…many activists and lawyers worry that the bureau is unregulated and poses a threat to free speech.
In its message to Hacking Team, the Cybercrime Bureau describes itself as a “law enforcement agency” within the Interior Security Forces. This is not entirely accurate. The Cybercrime Bureau was established under Memorandum 204/609 in 2006, but no decree was issued to amend the organizational structure of the Internal Security Forces, an amendment that is technically required for such a maneuver.
Many civil society advocates regard the bureau as an illegal entity. In a 2014 article for The Legal Agenda, lawyer Ghida Frangieh raised several questions regarding the vagueness of the bureau and its actual duties. Like Battah, she noted that over the last couple of years, multiple journalists, activists and bloggers were summoned by the bureau as part of an effort to have certain material removed or censored from the web.
Frangieh also pointed out that “despite the fact that the confidentiality of electronic communications is protected under Law 140/1999, this Bureau is equipped with the necessary technical capability to access private correspondence among Lebanese users.” In other words, the Cybercrime Bureau seems to be conducting surveillance outside the boundaries of local law — and using Hacking Team software to do it.
For more information about the Cybercrime Bureau and ongoing analysis of its actions follow @legalagenda, @smex and @maharat_Lebanon.
* Attachments to select emails mentioned in this story, and hosted on WikiLeaks, may contain malicious code. In order to avoid harm for our readers and our site, we took screen captures of the attachments using Google Docs Viewer and loaded them to our site as images. We advise anyone reviewing or opening attachments in emails from the Hacking Team leaks, whether on WikiLeaks or other sites, to proceed with caution.

author: Zalfa Quino


text:
Taiwanese High School Students Arrested After Protesting New Textbook Guidelines · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

High-school students entered the Ministry of Education. Photo from independent reporter Yu Yo Lin.
Many high school students in Taiwan will have a more colorful answer than usual to the question “What did you do during your summer vacation?” when they return to the classroom in the fall.
A good number have spent the holidays protesting against new history textbook guidelines rather than having fun, and last week some were even arrested.
The protests, which began in June 2015, take issue with the Ministry of Education's new curriculum that recounts the history of Taiwan through a united-China perspective (from ancient China to Republic of China) instead of from a Taiwanese perspective.
For example, the original guidelines emphasize who Taiwanese are (including the history of its aboriginal peoples and migrants) and how Taiwan interacts with the world, but the new guidelines focus on how Taiwan interacts with China under the assumption that Taiwan is always part of China. Because none of the members in the supervision team for the revisions of the guidelines specialized in history and the major player in the supervision team (Prof. Hsiao-Po Wang) is a close friend of President Ma Ying-Jeou, critics say the revisions are just a political move by the ruling Kuomintang party, meant to build support for reunification with the People's Republic of China.
The guidelines will go into effect in August. Ahead of the change, 30 high school students  entered the office building  of the Ministry of Education on July 23 to protest and were arrested by police. Three reporters who followed these students were also arrested. All of them were charged with forcible entry into the building.
The Juvenile Law Garden released 11 students who are minors and demanded their parents accompany them home. Nineteen adult students made bail, while three reporters refused to pay. Later, they were released without paying bail, but the charge have not been dropped.
Students were arrested by the police. Photo from independent reporter Yu Yo Lin.
In response to the arrests, student activist group the Northern Area Student Alliance against New Textbook Guideline proclaimed on Facebook that the July 23 action was just the beginning:
教育部不但不正視學生訴求，從去年五月底開始逃避與學生的座談會，堅持以各種方式令新課綱上路;[…]我們要馬上撤銷微調課綱，我們要立即釋放被逮捕的學生，我們不訴求虛假的道歉，我們要訴求正義的實現。
Since last May, the ministry has not dealt with students’ requests, has avoided attending public forums, all while insisting that they go ahead with the new guidelines. […] Our goal is [to force them] into withdrawing the new guidelines. We demand the release of the students, we don't want to listen to a hypocritical apology and want justice to be upheld.
One of the three arrested reporters is from independent news site coolloud.org. The news organization urged the government to respect freedom of the press and release the reporters.
Three reporters arrested by the police. Photo from coolloud.org.
苦勞網記者宋小海於昨日（7/23）晚間11點半趕赴教育部採訪反課綱高中生最新行動，有幸在第一時間尾隨翻牆學生進入教育部，目擊了學生行動與警方逮捕的過程。[…]台北市警局表示，因為教育部已經提告，必須釐清三人「是否與高中生一樣有侵入行為」。
在此，苦勞網要對警方在新聞現場強硬限制記者採訪工作表達強烈抗議
Yesterday (7/23), Cooulloud reporter Shiau-Hai Sung went to the Ministry of Education to report on the actions of high school students protesting against the new textbook guidelines. He was lucky to enter the building of the Ministry of Education with the students and witnessed the students’ action and how the police arrested the students. […] Taipei City Police Department said that the Ministry of Education sued [all the people entering the building], so they need to clarify whether these three reporters forcibly entered the building like other high school students.
Coolloud expresses serious disagreement with the police's forcible restriction of the reporters’ work at the scene.
The Ministry of Education announced the new textbook guidelines on January 17, 2014, and claimed that the adjustments were minor. But closer reviews revealed the changes were much more in-depth than advertised.
Moreover, the ministry was accused of violating procedural justice as the textbook revision committee members were asked to cast their vote in a box and the votes were only counted by the committee secretary after the meeting was dismissed. Even after controversy arose, the ministry refused to release the meeting minutes or the voting results to the public.
To defend citizens’ right to access public information, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights sued the ministry for their black-boxed procedures, and the Taipei High Court ruled that it should put the committee minutes and voting details under public examination.
Words left by the protesting students: This is our land, and this is our history. Photo from Denis Chen's Facebook page
The ministry insists that despite the procedural errors, there is nothing wrong with the new guidelines. However, the fact that none of the members in the supervision team for the new textbook guidelines are specialized in history provoked a public statement signed by more than 100 history researchers and teachers expressing their opposition to what they call unprofessional edits and additions.
Moreover, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has stated that the its party's mayors will not follow the ministry's new textbook guidelines in their cities and counties.
Despite these opposing voices, the ministry insists moving forward with the new guidelines as scheduled without changes. Therefore, these high school students will end up spending their summer vacation protesting outside the ministry or even inside jail.
History professor Yi-Fen Hua explained in a blog post why the new textbook guidelines are doomed to fail:
過去的掌權者可以透過各級學校歷史教育，灌輸國民特定意識形態，加深對敵我關係的認知。[…]年輕世代對「國家」、「歷史」與「世界」的認知，不再是透過意識形態教育的灌輸來取得；而是透過親身接觸、實際碰撞、近距離觀察，並參考網路世界提供的五花八門意見。當年輕世代必須以自由開放的多元視野來面對二十一世紀全球化浪潮帶來的嚴峻挑戰，黨國歷史教育想強力灌輸給他們的「大中國國族意識」，剛好只是幫倒忙而已。
In the past, the person in power could push a specific ideology as well as their vision of who the enemy is and who we are through history education in schools. […] The younger generation no longer recognizes ‘nation’, ’history’, and ’world’ through the instruction of ideology. They see the world on their own through personal contact, close observation and the overwhelming amount of information on the Internet. While the younger generation must have a free, open and multicultural perspective to face the austere challenges of globalization in the 21st century, the ‘big Chinese nationalism ideology’ in the new history textbook guidelines from Kuomintang don't help.

author: I-fan Lin


text:
Ostula and Mexican Army Hold to Clashing Versions of Recent Attack · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Image shared by several media. Shows the Mexican Army in Santa María de Ostula. Independent press and local sources denounced attacks to civilians during an operation. This and other photos have come forward during the coverage that has captured Internet users’ attention in Mexico.
In Mexico, the independent investigation agency SubVersiones has published a compilation video that chronologically shows what events that took place on July 19, 2015, in the indigenous Nahua community of Santa María de Ostula. That day ended with four wounded and a dead child, after Mexican soldiers allegedly opened fired on civilians during an operation designed to arrest a leader of a local self-defense group.
SubVersiones‘ video starts with footage of villagers armed with sticks, yelling at the soldiers to go look for the runaway drug lord Joaquín El Chapo Guzman, among other things. Soon, shots are fired from army vehicles, in a barrage that likely included the bullets that killed one and injured four.
Some villagers attacked the soldiers with rocks in an apparent attempt to halt their advance:
En varios momentos se puede observar que el ejército se parapeta en posición de tiro. En otras escenas se aprecian los gases lacrimógenos lanzados por la policía estatal. Estas imágenes contradicen la versión oficial que niega las agresiones del ejército que sostiene que los tiros fueron al aire. La magnitud del operativo es también una muestra de que esta acción estuvo dirigida no sólo a Semeí Verdía sino a desestructurar la organización comunitaria.
In various moments, one can observe that the army was standing in a shooting position. In other scenes, one can see tear gas thrown by the state police. These images contradict the official version that denies that the army committed any aggression or fired any shots, other than some into the air. The magnitude of the operation is also proof that this action was not only aimed at apprehending Semeí Verdía, but also had the objective of destroying the community's self-organization.
The description given by Subversiones supports Ostula citizens’ accusation that the military shot openly at civilians.
On the other hand, Michoacan's Coordination Group rejected the claim that soldiers fired at locals protesting that day in Aquila Municipality. General Felipe Gurrola, who is in charge of the Special Security Unit in Michoacan, said at a press conference:
El Grupo Antimotines respondió a la agresión con la activación de gases lacrimógenos y de humo, con el propósito de dispersar a los manifestantes; el caos fue aprovechado por civiles armados que se retiraron del lugar y se ocultaron entre la maleza.
The Antiriot Group responded to the attack with tear and smoke gas in an effort to scatter the demonstrators; civilian armed groups took advantage of the chaos and later retreated and hid in the bushes.
YouTube user Victor Americano uploaded a video showing, from the soldiers’ point of view, the aggression described by General Gurrola.
Civilians were the only ones to suffer on July 19, the military has pointed out. At least one soldier was allegely injured by a piece of shrapnel.
Con ello está claro que sí hubo disparos por parte de civiles armados el domingo anterior, en el puente de Ixtapilla, en contra de elementos del Ejército Mexicano
With this [evidence], it is clear that there were shots coming from armed civilians, last Sunday on the Ixtapilla bridge, against elements of the Mexican Army.

author: Elizabeth Rivera


text:
Russia to Web Anonymizers: Shut Up and Go Away · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The Kremlin is officially cracking down on online anonymity. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Russia is now officially cracking down on anonymizing web services—tools that allow users to access content and websites that might be banned in the country. Roscomnadzor, Russia's Internet censor, has added the anonymizing service NoBlock to its blacklist registry.
The block came after a court in Anapa decreed the service could be used to access content that had earlier been added to the extremist materials list. The court decree from 13 April, 2015, says NoBlock would allow Internet users “to have full access to all banned websites through anonymous browsing and user IP masking.”
The same court in Anapa was quite busy in April, and banned two other anonymizers, with the respective decrees essentially carbon copies of the one above, but those websites have not yet been added to the Roscomnadzor-managed blocked websites registry. Several other Russian courts, including some in Bashkortostan and Dagestan, have also ruled to block anonymizers, but the court decrees do not reveal the specific addresses of the banned websites.
In May, RosKomSvoboda, a Russian Internet freedom and human rights organization, reported that the very same Anapa city court also ruled to block part of their website on the grounds that the page in question was an anonymizer. In fact, the section of the website owned by RosKomSvoboda only provided instructions on how to bypass geoblocking and access websites blacklisted in Russia.
It's worth noting that in almost all of the rulings, the court cited existing legislation not specific to Internet anonymization services, such as the law on extremism. Still, the fact that the court specified the term “anonymizer” as one of the premises for blocking the websites is cause for concern, since anonymizers, proxy-servers, and other similar tools are not explicitly prohibited in Russia.
Russian officials have debated restrictions on VPNs and anonymizers for quite a while. In 2013 Russian media reported that the Federal Security Service (FSB) was considering lobbying the State Duma with a bill banning “Tor and other anonymizing proxy servers,” but the idea never got out of committee. In February 2015, Leonid Levin, an MP heading the parliamentary committee on information policy and communications, suggested that access to anonymization and circumvention tools such as Tor, VPNs, and proxy-servers needed to be restricted.
In 2014, the Russian Interior Ministry offered almost 4 million rubles (about USD $100,000) to anyone who could devise a way to decrypt data sent over the Tor network. Most recently, in July, Russian media reported that the Kremlin commissioned a study of “possibilities of influencing the development of the Russian segment of the Internet,” that included looking into methods of preventing anonymous activity online and developing ways of regulating and filtering information posted anonymously, analyzing encryption methods, and monitoring encrypted online traffic.
RuNet Echo's own analysis shows that Tor use has been on the uptick in Russia, ostensibly in response to the Kremlin's efforts to regulate or censor content online. Though a recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression recognizes encryption software and anonymizing tools as “essential to free speech,” the Kremlin seems to be eager to curtail the use of the software that facilitates anonymity and free expression online.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
Russian Censors Threaten to Shut Down Business Website for Writing About Bitcoin · Global Voices
Darina Gribova

Scrooge McDuck, lover of coins, would never have let this happen. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Picture a book that has pages added to it almost every day, though the plot never seems to change. You might as well be reading the story of Russian censorship, which got another update today, when the Kremlin's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, threatened to block another news website. Officials today told Zuckerberg Pozvonit, or “Zuckerberg Calling,” which focuses on news related to Internet entrepreneurialism, that it must delete or edit within the next three days an article it published about bitcoins. If the website refuses, Roskomnadzor will block it.
The suddenly controversial article, titled “What Are Bitcoins and Who Needs Them?” (available here and archived here), was published more than two years ago in April 2013.
Roskomnadzor's warning is a response to a February 2015 court decision in Astrakhan, which determined that Zuckerberg Pozvonit‘s article contains “the propaganda of tax crimes in the area of legalizing [money laundering] income obtained in a criminal way” and “has a negative impact on the legal consciousness of citizens.”
Roskomnadzor actually resisted enforcing the court order at first, appealing to the court for clarification, arguing that the article in question was merely informational. “The court's decision contains no ambiguity,” the court answered in July. (Copies of both Roskomnadzor's appeal and the court's response are avaialble on Zuckerberg Pozvonit‘s website.)
Vyacheslav Tsyplukhin, who publishes Zuckerberg Pozvonit, stated on Facebook that, according to its editorial policy, ZP media intentionally avoids any political issues. Given this, Tsyplukhin says he is surprised by the court's decision:
Мы ещё не обсуждали этот вопрос коллективно, но я буду отстаивать позицию, что мы не должны ничего удалять. Пускай закрывают сайт, а потом объяснят 1,8 млн читателям и всей отрасли, что происходит.
We haven't discussed this issue collectively yet, but I maintain the position that we don't have to delete anything. Let them close the website, and then let them explain to our 1.8 million readers, and to the industry, what is going on.
Ironically, two weeks ago, during his visit to a youth summer forum, Vladimir Putin signaled his tacit support for using bitcoins in Russia, stating clearly that the crypto-currency shouldn't be banned. “One can use them,” he told the crowd. “They're spreading to ever more places, these days.”

author: Darina Gribova


text:
Africans Take Jabs at One Another With #IfAfricaWasABar Hashtag · Global Voices
Prudence Nyamishana

A public drinking place in Joe Slovo Park, Cape Town, South Africa. Creative Commons photo uploaded by Wikipedia user Discott.
There are those days when Africans on Twitter decide to pick on each other. A random tweet started by Siyanda- Panda, a writer from Botswana, sparked this hilarious #IfAfricaWasABar hashtag.
Siyanda asked:
If Africa was a bar, what would your country be drinking/doing?
— Siyanda-Panda (@SiyandaWrites) July 27, 2015
Nigeria and Kenya seemed to have their fair share:
#IfAfricaWasABar Kenya would be that guy who takes photos with other people's drinks
— Mayor_wa_kashagama (@Norman_Kamuntu) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasABar Kenya would the guy who owns the bar,the cabs outside,the butchery next door and the chemist across the road.
— Kenyan Facts (@KResearcher) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasABar …Nigeria would be that guy that's old enough to be in the bar but he has a fake ID saying he's 19
— Mr Wonderful (@NickkTitan) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasABar Nigeria would be the fat rich dude trying to dance with every girl.
— WILL SESSIONS (@OfficialBafmiQ) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasABar Nigeria would be that noisy guy who is always looking for attention.
— Ikua Macharia (@Di_Macharia) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasABar the dee-jay would be Nigerian
— tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) July 27, 2015
Madagascar would be the quiet one, according to @Nanjala1:
#IfAfricaWasABar Madagascar would be the girl who came alone, had a drink and a dance, and left before anyone noticed.
— Nanjala Nyabola (@Nanjala1) July 27, 2015
Zimbabwe would be stuck in the past, @Captain_FBS tweeted:
#IfAfricaWasABar Zimbabwe would be that guy who annoys everyone about “back in the day when I used to have money”
— Goddy (@Captain_FBS) July 27, 2015
Tanzania was the butt of a few jokes:
#IfAfricaWasABar …Tanzania would be that group of girls that dont get approached all night so they claim it was a “Girls Night Out” anyway
— Mr Wonderful (@NickkTitan) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasAbar Tanzania would be that guy whose English takes a walk when he gets drunk
— Elektrolyte (@julimuffn) July 27, 2015
Ethiopia wouldn't have to worry about the bill, @Chrisposure joked:
#IfAfricaWasABar all the guys would be sending over drinks to Ethiopia.
— Topher (@Chrisposure) July 27, 2015
Even Boko Haram would be at the bar:
#IfAfricaWasABar #BokoHaram would turn up for Ladies night like… pic.twitter.com/6kgMI5Zai1
— Ryan Cummings (@Pol_Sec_Analyst) July 27, 2015
US, China and Europe were also dragged into the tweef:
#IfAfricaWasABar Europe and China would be very very drunk….
— Ryan Cummings (@Pol_Sec_Analyst) July 27, 2015
#IfAfricaWasABar in an expensive hotel, there would be A LOT of sleazy old white men creeping the place out.
— AFRICA IS A COUNTRY (@AfricasaCountry) July 27, 2015
#ifafricawasabar the U.S. & Europe would be lecturing everyone about drinking too much, all the while topping up their glasses.
— samira sawlani (@samirasawlani) July 27, 2015

author: Prudence Nyamishana


text:
Battle of the Hashtags in Lead-up to Trinidad & Tobago’s General Elections · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Political cartoon from Darren Trinity Cheewah's #fullcorbeaux series. Used with permission.
As the September 7 general elections in Trinidad and Tobago draw closer, the ruling Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration has many pressing issues to address, including crime, campaign finance reform, accusations from disgraced ex-FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and corruption allegations. Yet, it has been focusing its re-election campaign on one main premise: that the country would be better off not electing the current leader of the opposition, Dr. Keith Rowley, and his People's National Movement (PNM) party.
A week ago the government launched the #NoRowley campaign, about which the Facebook group Poliwatch commented:
An hour ago at the Hyatt the UNC launched its ad campaign for #GE2015.
Two things to note:
1. Vasant Bharath says they have no idea what the campaign is costing but the UNC is footing the bill. This implies that the political party has a source of income. What is it?
2. The campaign is called www.NoRowley.com. The party's PR team insists it is not personal, but is factual.
UNC launches #NORowley campaign @CNC3TV pic.twitter.com/ALr0mUMaLj
— Khamal Ethan Georges (@khamal) July 20, 2015
The anti-Rowley ads are in heavy rotation, even popping up on You Tube streams:
There are #NORowley ads all over You Tube now…every time you click you get an ad!
— Katy Stickland (@crusoesgirl) July 22, 2015
My brother just complained to me that #NORowley ads are popping up all over YouTube on even religious videos and children content.
— Ria Rambally (@Ree_la_la) July 22, 2015
One ad in particular shows parliamentary footage of former prime minister and leader of the People's National Movement, Patrick Manning, calling Rowley “very, very angry”, “a raging bull”, and “completely out of control”. The satirical Facebook page for “Patos Manning” couldn't resist commenting:
Abt to watch p̶o̶r̶n̶ nature videos on YouTube and a NoRowley video pops up, killing my l̶i̶b̶i̶d̶o̶ desire to see animal antics! V immoral.
Netizens weren't too impressed either. In a public Facebook status update, Ghan Shyam, who was fed up of the tactics of both parties, said:
The #norowley campaign, like the #getoutkamla campaign launched by the PNM on May 24th 2015 ( but clearly was not followed through with) is juvenile and a bit distasteful. Rodney and Vasant looking like two idiots going around with cut outs of Rowley. Go attack the issues on a different level!
Another Facebook user, Anthony Morgan Beach, publicly posted his displeasure, complete with photos, at “the latest ploy in the UNC's [United National Congress, the main party in the coalition government] #NoRowley campaign”:
…to depict (not coincidentally) a single-parent (female), Afro-Trinidadian family suffering the indignity of an empty grocery shopping cart under the tenure of Dr. Rowley. Versus a full cart under the UNC.
Gather from that what you may.
Grocery carts; photo by Anthony Morgan Beach, used with permission.
Photo by Anthony Morgan Beach, used with permission.
This was only one example of the campaign moving from a virtual space into a real one — another instance that got people talking on Facebook involved a sign posted at the front of a Roman Catholic school that was posted publicly on The Archdiocese of Port of Spain's Facebook page:
Signage outside St. Peter's R.C. school in Point Cumana, Trinidad; photo via The Archdiocese of Port of Spain's Facebook page.
In response to several queries asking about the church's position on the sign, the archdiocese posted this response:
One Twitter user felt that the campaign direction was achieving the opposite effect from what was intended…
When you hear PNM you think Rowley & Now when you hear UNC or #AuntyKams you also think Rowley #AhLuvIt💞 @DrKeithRowley #NoRowley campaign😕
— Mřś. Ãbðôôł (@koretta) July 20, 2015
Another was at such a loss, he suggested that Jack Warner's Independent Liberal Party might actually be a safer bet than either the government or opposition:
The #ILP is truly this country's last hope. #norowley #noPP
— Vivic Harrinanan (@vharrinanan) July 30, 2013
The PNM has been using the hashtag #getoutkamla in its social media communications, though there does not appear to be a formal advertising campaign supporting it. They have also responded with an invitation to #KnowRowley. Facebook user Rhoda Bharath posted a black and white photograph of a young Rowley participating in a political march, with the comment, “He in this town a while now”:
There is also a public #KnowRowley Facebook page, where supporters have been making their own accusations against the current government, with many maintaining that the #NoRowley campaign is racist. Meanwhile, some supporters of #NoRowley were taking issue not with the man, but with his party's policies, saying:
This is a failure waiting to happen. Zoning of taxes and its use would not help rural communities. So poor areas would remain run down according to this plan. The poor stay poor and the rich stay rich. PNM Policies again.
Failure before launch. […]
#NOROWLEY
It's been 276 days since @DrKeithRowley promised the nation to roll out his Vision 2030 plan. #WeGotNothing #NoRowley pic.twitter.com/mTPYNvCGgT
— CRS HSN (@ChrisHosein1) July 29, 2015
In a public Facebook post, however, Marlon Rampersad summed up the public's frustration over the level of politicking in the country:
VAT Increases. Spending Cuts.
#NoRowley
PP/UNC/PARTY HACKS
ah hope allyuh know where allyuh taking this now eh. this is bordering on stink, nasty, dutty, if not there already.
we need to stop appealing to people's ignorance and worst yet, playing on said ignorance. you may not suffer; because you have it made. but ordinary poor people will suffer in the long run.
I wish people could wake up and reject this kind of nasty politics and say to ALL politicians that we deserve more. much more

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Funny Cartoons Illustrate People’s Concerns as Election Draws Near in Myanmar · Global Voices
Juan Cebu

Cartoonist Mg Mg Fountain believes that Myanmar's election process continues to exclude many people. The arrow reads “Let's vote”. This cartoon is widely shared on Facebook.
Myanmar Internet users are actively sharing political cartoons that reflect various social issues related to the November 8 general election.
This is the second election since the country embarked on a democratic transition in 2010. The ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will compete with the opposition party, National League for Democracy (NLD), which is led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The election is crucial since it will determine if the military-backed government is committed to implementing more democratic reforms in the country.
For more than five decades, Myanmar was under a military government, which was accused of committing human rights abuses and widespread corruption. Military rule began in 1962 when General Ne Win led a coup d'état and established a socialist government. After a major uprising in 1988, Myanmar (then called Burma) held a general election two years later but the military refused to recognize the landslide victory of NLD led by Suu Kyi. Opposition leaders were arrested and Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest while General Than Shwe established a new military regime.
In 2010, the regime was replaced by a civilian government but the army retained 25 percent of the seats in Hluttaw (Parliament). Further, the democratic transition in the past five years was marred by rising cases of communal violence, armed conflicts, land protests, online hate speech, persecution of journalists, harassment of students, and the rise of religious fundamentalists.
Cartoons have been a popular form of expression reflecting political issues even when Myanmar was under totalitarian rule. As the election draw near, cartoonists in Myanmar are continuing the tradition of using their drawings to comment on what is happening in the country. The Facebook page Brainwave (Nyanhlain) is featuring the works of some of these cartoonists.
Take a look at some of the most popular cartoons and social issues that are being widely discussed on social media.
One of the pre-election issues is the prevalence of errors in the official list of eligible voters across the country. Many are concerned that legitimate voters won't be able to vote on election day, prompting various groups to conduct election awareness campaigns. Voters are also encouraged to check their registration via online platforms like Let's Check Voter List.
Cartoonist Thiha (Sa Khan Thit) is worried over reports that the erroneous list of voters is already a nationwide problem:
Cartoon by Thiha (Sa Khan Thit), widely shared on Facebook.
Text in the cartoon: Since voter lists have errors in almost every town in the country, isn't it a proof of a national conspiracy?
Some cartoonists are also describing the way political parties behave during their campaigns. Kar Hlu Pyi drew a metaphorical cartoon on the lack of unity in the country, which got 3,000 likes and 1,000 shares on Facebook:
Cartoon by Kar Hlu Pyi, widely shared on Facebook.
Text in the cartoon: Hey, Hey… although it's true that we can move if we push together, this is not how you do it!
Cartoonist Min Htet Lu reflects on what people feel about the government's efforts to persuade voters:
Cartoon by Min Htet Lu, widely shared on Facebook
Text in the cartoon: [They] are really good: as the election draws near, they started repairing roads, schools, wells, etc. The only thing they do not repair is their habit.
[Translator's note: in Burmese language, the words “repair” and “change” are the same.
Cartoonists also reacted humorously to the president's remarks on his desire to serve a second term.
Cartoon by Hpaung Hpaung, widely shared on Facebook.
Text on the left: The president said he will consider serving a second term if the people wish so.
Text on the right: Well… He can then decide after reading the comments below [on Facebook].
For cartoonist Thura, many people did not react favorably to the president's statement:
Cartoon by Thura, widely shared on Facebook.
Text on the left (president): Regarding my second term, if people wish so, I will seriously contemplate serving again.
Text on the right: Oh my god… just be gone, already!
Mg Mg Fountain is skeptical about the future of the country:
Cartoon by Mg Mg Fountain, widely shared on Facebook.
Text on the top left: If [we] have the chance to run the country for next five years, poverty will not exist anymore.
Text on the right (map): What about me? Will I still exist then?
Cartoonist Htin Lin Kyaw illustrates the ‘people's desire':
Cartoon by Htin Lin Kyaw, widely shared on Facebook.
Text on the left: Do you know what would happen if there are no projects, no budget, no foreign investment, no crackdown, and important people like us!!?
Text on the right: Then it's the people's desire.
There are also concerns about the return of direct military rule. Thiha (Sa Khan Thit)'s cartoon on this issue got more than 8,000 likes on Facebook:
Cartoon by Thiha (Sa Khan Thit), widely shared on Facebook.
Text on the left: The army assures that there will be no coup as long as there is stability in the country.
Text on the right: People are just worried that [they] will create instability in order to perform coup.

author: Juan Cebu


text:
Iran’s University of Kurdistan Opens Department of Kurdish Language and Literature for the First Time · Global Voices
Iran Voices

The entrance to the University of Kurdistan. Image from ISNA use. Published with license for reuse.
This post first appeared on IranVoices.org and is translated into English and published here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Iran's University of Kurdistan has opened a new department of Kurdish Language and Literature. Bakhtiar Sajjadi, the new chair of the department, announced last week that 40 students have been accepted to start their studies this October.
Sajjadi told Kurd Press that the department was created with the permission of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The University of Kuridstan is the largest university in the province of Kurdistan, established in 1974.
This is the first time that an Iranian University offers Kurdish as a post-secondary level of study inside of Iran. Kurdish is one of many minority languages in Iran, alongside Turkmen, Baluch, and Azeri, that have vied for the freedom to speak, teach and publish in that language.
Iran's ethnic Kurds reside predominantly in northwestern Iran, close to the Iraqi and Turkish borders. Estimates suggest Iran has a population of around 6-7 million ethnic Kurds. Iran's Kurds have had a history of contention with authorities who have often denied the community basic rights and freedoms.
The moderate President Hassan Rouhani came into office with the promise to instate the language of minorities in schools. Iran has typically promoted a policy of assimilation in Iran's education system. Previous requests to set up formal post-secondary education in Kurdish language and literature by Kurdish authorities had been rejected. This had been a matter of dispute, according to BBC Persian, as opponents argue that education in minority languages endangers national identity.
Rouhani's associated Facebook page announced the news of the Kurdish Language and Literature department launch on July 24.
Social media responses to Rouhani's announcement in the program ranged from critical to celebratory. Many Iranians on the president's page criticized the government for not doing the same for Turkish language rights, while some users noted the government had done little to improve unemployment for Kurdish Iranians. Others, however, praised the president for delivering on campaign promises.

author: Iran Voices


text:
To Ululate or Not to Ululate for President Obama? Kenyans Are Asking That Question · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenyan TV host and anchor Julie Gichuru. Creative Commons photo by the World Trade Organisation.
Kenyan TV host and anchor Julie Gichuru welcomed  US President Barack Obama at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in a unique style: She ululated to welcome him during his official visit to Kenya.
Ululation is commonly used in Africa as a cheer, mourn or attention-seeking sound by women. The YouTube video below posted by Citizen TV shows Gichuru ululating:
Her ululation has ignited online debate about whether the occasion was right for it. Some are strongly in support of her, while others think otherwise.
After a story of her ululation was posted on Kenya Today website, readers took to their keyboards to express their views.
Eve liked the gesture:
she is an African woman.
I liked it too.
An anonymous reader asked:
Whats wrong with ululating? I thnk it was a very unique way of welcoming the heads..its different from the usual official ways….sometimes its good to appreciate we are Africans and this is part of us! Stop hating!
James Mathu noted:
I liked it.It’s African and I dont think President Obama took offense to it.I bet he wanted to know about it’s origin and meaning.
Wakisome thought what she did was part of African culture:
it depends on which angle you look at it. infact the African way of appreciating our kings, heroes and heroins to the podium is through ululation. it is very African and I remember her saying to do it African way. I mean what’s wrong with that? I think she right.
Mimi said that those who are complaining have been brainwashed by Western imperialism:
These complainants Guchurus welcome is a direct evidence of how western cultural imperialism has brainwashed black Africans to turn against their modes of speech and communication. Keep it up Gichuru.
The ululating made Onyango proud of his Kenyan and African heritage:
I liked the way Julie did it, it is unfortunate that some of us are unable to appreciate themselves to the extent that they extend their self-hatred to other people, Julie is Julie and let her be Julie and she cannot be anyone else but herself. She made me proud to be a Kenyan and an African and I appreciate our diversity.
While Mimi went further by suggesting that the practice should me made official:
Julie give us more and more of this! Actually, why not make it the official Kenyan welcome style!
Referring to those who are criticizing Gichuru, Justus Atuti warned:
I thought Gichuru did so well and her did was so African, a reflection of who we are as a people. With this level of hatred, Kenya is as good as dead. 2017 is a dangerous year for us all.
However, one reader claimed that ululating on a microphone is a health hazard:
Why must we hide behind culture and tribalism when avoiding correction?Then why do we go to school? Journalists have their ways of doing things and 2 wrap it all,it is health hazard to spat on mike in the name of ululation,just for your good ears to listen. African ululate a lot but this time round,my sister Julie,it was a little bit bad so next time try and change on it. Let’s avoid ths political mood,it has cost Auma to reign where it’s known well as your domain and actually,she won. Wish u better next time my sister Julie.
Utamaduni thought it was unprofessional:
Its all got to with journalists putting aside professionalism to pander to the whims of politicians and its rampant in this country.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Azerbaijan’s Political Prisoners, the State and its Secret Society · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist of world renown. Photo by Abas Atillay, RFER/L. Creative commons.
Is this Azerbaijan's pro-government take on the Illuminati?
A new chapter in the sorry lament of Azerbaijan's justice system is the appearance of pop-up trial attendants that fill out courtrooms for important hearings, apparently to deny spaces to other spectators. Some say they can also throw a rock or two when needed.
They have been a key feature in ongoing proceedings against well-known investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova. Ismayilova has been held since December 5 on charges of inciting suicide, tax evasion, illegal business activity, abuse of office and embezzlement.
They have also taken up numerous seats at the trial of rights activists Leila and Arif Yunus, accused last year of spying on Azerbaijan for rivalrous neighbour Armenia.
Critics across the world have declared the charges against Ismayilova and the Yunus’ as bogus and an attempt to silence critical voices inside Azerbaijan, one of the most repressive states in the former Soviet Union.
These nameless trial attendants are typically welcomed with open arms by internal staff, avoiding by means of a miracle — or perhaps secret hand shake — the scrutiny that family members, friends, and colleagues of defendants typically face when trying to access proceedings.
They carry cell phones, which are normally are not allowed in court, and occupy the majority of available seats inside the poky courtrooms. When approached by journalists, they present themselves as relatives and friends of the defendants and yet fail to know anything about them.
But their skill set is allegedly not confined to passive trial-watching.
During Ismayilova’s trial, which began July 24, some local reporters from Azerbaijan's under-pressure press attempted filming behind the court, where Ismayilova's supporters were rallying. They were pelted with rocks by unknown assailants for their troubles.
No-one took responsibility for the attack. But if it wasn’t the work of the secret society then who was it?
Supporters of Azerbaijani investigative journo Khadija Ismayilova rally outside courtroom where she's standing trial https://t.co/xuQ0vLtUZW
— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 24, 2015
With the mystery attendants occupying all the good seats, Ismayilova’s friends and colleagues had to stand and wait outside the courtroom, chanting Khadija’s name in support and clapping as loudly as possible.
Activists Barred From Baku Courtroom As Ismayilova's Trial Begins: Supporters of journalist Khadija Ismayilova… http://t.co/IkEFmIl0bU
— Kazakhstan NewsLinks (@dlkazakhstan) July 24, 2015
The repressive Azeri state is an expert at political stuffing. It stuffs ballot-boxes with votes, newspapers with lies, and now, it seems, courtrooms with fake attendants.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


text:
‘Drunk and Half-Naked’ Russian Soldiers Take a Beating in Tajikistan · Global Voices
Abdulfattoh Shafiev

Russian military vehicle. Wikipedia image.
Allegedly drunk, scantily clad Russian soldiers from Moscow's largest foreign military base got a shock when partying in the Tajik town of Kulob: a gang of Tajik youth unimpressed with their behaviour soon set on them.
The July 28 brawl that ensued has since spilled onto social media, sparking confrontations between supporters and opponents of the base.
Tajikistan, which would have limited capacity to defend its 1,200 kilometer border with Afghanistan in the event of a serious incursion, looks to Russia for security.
But the base, which houses members of Russia’s 201st Motor Rifle Division, is unpopular with locals, who complain it has caused infrastructural and psychological damage in the area due to live fire military exercises. There have even been cases where livestock have died after being hit by stray bullets, they say.
News of the fray was passed over by Russian media and was only briefly mentioned by pro-Russian media in Tajikistan. Supporters of the base called the reports a “provocation” and appealed for perspective.
US-funded Radio Ozodi came under intense attack for publishing information about the fracas on its Facebook page:
Озоди, вы че за шляпу печатаете?! Вы хуже желтой прессы. Это больше похоже на сплетни и провокацию
Hey, Ozodi, what are you publishing? You are worse than tabloids. It looks like a provocation.
Полнейший бред 201 дивизия помогоет нам в оборонаспособности государство!
Nonsense! The 201st division helps us in defending the state!
Полнейший бред!!!молчали а теперь заговорили видно кому то не выгодно нахождение базы в РТ
Nonsense! You were silent and now you have started talking? It seems someone does not want this base in TJ
Сразу уяснилось, под чьим финансированием функционирует данное агентство и чьи интересы лоббирует.
It is clear who finances this news agency and whose interests it lobbies.
Some commenters suggested closing the base:
201 базе пора бы дамой в россию
It is time for the base to go back home to Russia.
Их надо изгнать с нашей стране. И все….
We should send them from our country once and for all….
But they received replies underlining the country's dependence on Russia:
выгоните их получите в подарок 2 млн мигрантов обратно.
Send them off and receive your two million migrants back.
а не имеет значения, что благодаря им у нас сейчас не Афганистан? Собственная обороноспособность до введения сюда этой дивизии была на нуле, да и сейчас оставляет желать лучшего
Don’t you consider it important that thanks to this base we are not Afghanistan right now? Before the base our own defensive potential was zero and now we also have nothing to be proud of.
The 201st Russian military base, which currently hosts about 7,500 military personnel across three facilities, is the only Soviet military station that was not nationalized by the host republic after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During the Tajik civil war between 1992 and 1997, the base continued to operate under the Russian flag. In October 2012 Moscow won a new 30-year term at the base. The Kremlin also has a Space Control System and Okno Space Surveillance System in Tajikistan.
While officially it adopted a neutral stance towards the conflict, many accused the 201st base of providing military assistance to the pro-government faction and effectively bringing incumbent President Emomali Rakhmon to power. Recently, Moscow announced that more than 300 Russian troops were killed during the Tajik civil war — an argument for those who say Russian soldiers were active participants in the conflict.
According to an interstate agreement, Russian soldiers stationed at the base cannot be prosecuted in Tajikistan for any crimes they commit, even those they commit outside the boundaries of the base.
Parviz, an Ozodi reader, wrote:
Аз кормандони Шӯъбаи корҳои дохилӣ дар шаҳри Кӯлоб илтимос мекунам, ки нисбати шербачаҳои Кӯлоб, ки дифоъ аз номусу фарҳанги хеш карда, бо ин русҳои бадмаст даст ба гиребон шуданд, ягон делои ҷиноӣ боз накунанд ва ҳамаи онҳоро ҳарчӣ зудтар раҳо кунанд. Баръакс бояд ҳама он аскарони русро, ки нимашаб бо бадани урён ба кучаи марказии шаҳр баромада, тартиботи ҷамъиятиро вайрон карданд, ба ҷавобгарӣ кашида, агар лозим ояд онҳоро аз Тоҷикистон ихроҷ намоянд. Мо дар давлати соҳибистиқлол ва мустаъқил зиндагӣ мекунем ва бояд дар тасмимгириҳои худ на аз Путин тарсему на аз Кремл.
We are kindly asking the Kulob police not to prosecute the local lions who defended our honor and culture and got into a fight with these Russian drunks. Please, free them. Oppositely, those Russians who came half-naked into the centre of the city at midnight should be punished and deported. We live in an independent country and should not be scared of Kremlin or Putin in our decisions.
Another Facebook user concluded that it is his fellow countrymen that are guilty for allowing the soldiers do whatever they want:
Сами виноваты. В Чечне, Ингушетии, да и Дагестане себя так не ведут. Просто потому, что нарваться можно. В Афганистане, кстати, тоже. А ведь там тоже таджики живут.
Это и от слабости религии тоже, ведь защита чести – обязанность муслима.
It is our own fault. They don't behave like this in Chechnya, Ingushetia, and even in Dagestan. Because they know they will get a response. Even in Afghanistan, where Tajiks live. This is our poor attention to religion. Every real Muslim should defend his honor.
The scenes of hooliganism and violence on July 28 were insignificant in the context of other PR disasters the 201st base has suffered during its time in the country. In 2009 and 2014 respectively, two taxi drivers were allegedly murdered by Russian soldiers. All four murder suspects were surrendered to the Russian side for further prosecution.

author: Abdulfattoh Shafiev


text:
“Ethiopians Should Not Wait for Obama to Give Them Democracy” · Global Voices
Global Voices

Barack and Michelle Obama greet Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn and Ms. Roman Tesfaye at a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in 2014. Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon, released to public domain.
US President Barack Obama made history this week by becoming the first sitting president to visit Ethiopia and to deliver a speech before the African Union.
Obama's plan to visit Ethiopia was rebuked by human right advocates who argued that it would award undue praise to the Ethiopian government, which has pursued a crackdown on local media workers resulting in dozens of detentions and multi-year prison sentences, including the jailing of six members of the Global Voices community. The ruling party also secured 100% of parliamentary seats in the May 2015 elections, leaving Ethiopians suspicious that authorities had interfered with electoral systems.
The tone of the disappointment and anger began to ease after the release of several bloggers and journalists prior to the arrival of President Obama.
Barack Obama and PM Hailemariam Desalegn hold a press conference at the National Palace. Public Domain photo by the White House.
During his visit, President Obama and PM Desalegn were joined for a state dinner by prominent Ethiopian figures including artists, sportsmen and politicians. However, the leader of the Ethiopian Blue Party Yilikal Getnet turned down an invitation to the dinner, saying “it would amount to taking part in a luxurious dinner while millions suffer in Ethiopia.”
Displeased with President Obama's support for the Ethiopian government, Jawar Mohammed, a prominent advocate in Ethiopia-Oromo affairs, wrote on Facebook:
The US is now firmly and officially endorsing authoritarianism in Ethiopia
When we look at the statements by US officials Donald Booth (former ambassador to Ethiopia who said the 2010 election was good enough), Wendy Sherman (Deputy Secretary of State), Susan Rice (national security adviser) and now president Obama who in his speech twice declared the regime is democratically elected, we reach a conclusion that the United States [has] decided to publicly align itself with the Ethiopian authoritarian regime, both in words and deeds. The US has always supported this regime practically through massive aid, however, even George Bush's administration maintained verbal criticism of the authoritarian nature of the regime. The US has now gone blunt as Obama's administration has officially and openly endorsed the ‘developmental dictatorship’ narrative. Why is that?
1) Somalia- after the attempt to replace Ethiopia by Kenya and Uganda as its own extended hand for messing with Somalia's internal affairs failed to produce result, America is now back to the old tactic of fully relying on Ethiopian army and intelligence.
2) China- While US remains increasingly dependent on Ethiopia for its security interest, China has developed unmatched influence in the economy. William Davison nicely summarized this reality in his latest report, writing ” When Barack Obama became the first sitting President of the United States to touch down in Ethiopia’s capital on Sunday evening, it was at an airport being upgraded using a $250-million Chinese loan. His convoy then zipped along a six-lane urban expressway, also funded by the Export-Import Bank of China, to Meskel Square, where the two lines of a new Chinese-built electric railway intersect. Towering over the capital’s southwest, he may have spotted the headquarters of the African Union, a $200 million giveaway from China’s leaders.”
Such investment gives China significant influence not only over Ethiopia but also the rest Africa through the African Union which is located there.
Reacting to his Jawar's assessment, Amin Kedir advised:
Dont depend on external body to bring change, justice, democracy, etc for your internal issues. Mr. Obama come for his own benefit (his country benefit), dont expect more changes from Mr.Obama.
Kedir Tibeso did not expect much from Obama either:
Dictators are always dictators, and america want ethiopia for its own benefit. i do not expect any thing from obama.
Concurring with Jawar's arguments, Mohammed Siraj wrote:
Excellent analysis. Those who anticipated long for America to liberate them, be informed that America [is a] pragmatic country that run after its own interest. This is a good opportunity to get calm and think [about] the ineffective path being traveled so long.
The problem is not Obama but the lack of a united opposition movement based on ideology rather than tribe, noted Abo Ethio:
As long as z opposition groups are not united and show their strength (tangible), USA will continue to supporter z opperssor. You should hv to make note on what he spoke in Kenya, regarding ethnic based politics……. We will not have a strong alternative as long as we continue to organize our politics based on ethnic groups rather than the well founded political ideology n understanding of z geo-politics.
Many commenters on the visit concurred that Ethiopians should not wait for the US to build a democratic government in their country. They control their own destiny, wrote Falmataa Lamii:
[…]This is more than enough for us that USA Compromise Democracy with Security!! They are running after their national security. They don’t care about innocent people killed and jailed by those dictators! The western world (USA) always pleased dancing over the dead bodies the innocent people and wining of innocent blood!!
Therefore no more begging USA to generously give us Democracy!!! The western world (USA) officials (OBAMA) are not daddies of Democracy. But it is the result of united hands of the people! The united hands of our people are stronger than that of Western world (USA)!
Let us do that and reign the democracy we are longing for!!!!
During Obama's address to the African Union, Adam took note of Obama's support for presidential term limits:
Great speech Mr President. I hope that The African Union council must adopt new policy for African governors or promote maximum two terms in office for all African President. This will help growth and developments of the continent.
Note: This post was removed from Facebook as of Aug. 10, 2015.
For a summary of what transpired during his visit to Ethiopia, read these highlights from Horn Affairs blog.

author: Global Voices


text:
German Digital Rights Pioneers Investigated for Treason · Global Voices
Lena Nitsche

Markus Beckedahl at a Wikimedia Salon event in 2014. Photo by Agnieszka Krolik via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Leading digital rights advocates and bloggers Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister, along with an “unknown party,” are being investigated for treason for allegedly having leaked documents detailing Germany's plans to expand domestic Internet surveillance earlier this year.
The bloggers received an official letter from Germany's Federal Attorney General informing them that he had “initiated a criminal investigation on suspicion of treason against [the accused] on the basis of §§ 94 Abs. 1 Nr. 2, 25 Abs. 2, 53 German Criminal Code, due to criminal charges by the Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution.”
Netzpolitik.org is a critical german investigative blog with more than 30 authors who report mainly on issues concerning Internet surveillance and privacy since 2004. The website was awarded with the well-known Grimme Online Award in 2014. Beckedahl is also a founding director of the popular annual Re:Publica conference in Berlin, which focuses on digital rights and culture.
On their website, netzpolitik.org announced:
Today, we received a letter from the Federal Attorney General of Germany confirming ongoing investigations against our reporters Markus Beckedahl, Andre Meister and an “unknown” source, suspecting us of treason according to the German Penal Code.
In their statement, netzpolitik.org condemned the investigations as an attack on press freedom:
From the very beginning, the charges against our alleged source(s) were politically motivated and targeted to crush the necessary public debate about internet surveillance Post-Snowden. Whistleblowers in the public interest need protection, not prosecution for “treason”. Investigating the acclaimed media outlet netzpolitik.org as accomplices in treason charges is a direct attack on freedom of the press, which we thought was outlawed with the Constitutional Court ruling in the Cicero case 2007.
The last time such charges were brought against a journalist in Germany was in 1962, when the editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel was accused of treason for publishing secret documents about the German defense forces.
The netzpolitik.org bloggers have stated clearly that they will not be intimidated by the investigations and that their independent and critical journalism will continue:
The Federal Attorney General needs to drop the investigations against us and our alleged source(s) and instead investigate and charge the out-of-control secret services that are expanding their mass surveillance without public debate.
The investigation of netzpolitik.org has led to an uproar in mainstream and social media. #Landesverrat (#treason) immediately trended in Germany with many users expressing concern about the investigations.
#Landesverrat schön gerahmt neben Grimme Online Award und “Journalist des Jahres 2014″ pic.twitter.com/AIRxmLWGD9
— Linuzifer (@Linuzifer) 30. Juli 2015
#Landesverrat framed next to the Grimme Online Award and “Journalist of the Year 2014″.
Freedom of the press in Germany is in danger. via BBC News http://t.co/KuXGWe2Ujk#Landesverrat@netzpolitik#fb
— Torsten Larbig (@herrlarbig) 30. Juli 2015
Man könnte es auch #Landesverrat nennen, wenn Bürgermassenhaft überwacht werden. Man könnte.
— Herr B. (@legereaude) 30. Juli 2015
You could also call it #Landesverrat when citizens are under mass surveillance. You could.
“Bestrafe einen, erziehe hundert.” http://t.co/IyFDIlEGlq #landesverrat
— Udo Vetter (@udovetter) July 30, 2015
“Punish one, discipline hundreds.”
The investigation was also sharply criticized by the German Press Association. Michael Konken, Chairman of the German Journalists Association stated: “The investigations against the two journalists show, that the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has not learnt anything concerning freedom of speech,” arguing that bloggers had simply delivered the information that is in the public interest and that the public is entitled to know. He has urged the Federal Attorney General to stop the investigation immediately.

author: Lena Nitsche


text:
How China’s Online Civilization Army Turned a Youth Street Fight into a Patriotic Struggle · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hou Jusen in front of the computer. Image remixed by Weibo user 皇城牧羊
Hou Jusen, a Chinese teen from Shandong Province's Weihai city, recently picked a quarrel with another teenager online. The two boys fixed a date to settle the score in person and on July 22, along with their friends, they fought in front of a college in the city.
The incident was most likely just an ordinary street fight, as the city's police officers concluded in a message published on popular social media site Weibo. But Hou is not just any teen — he is an online “civilization volunteer”, a young person recruited and rewarded in exchange for posting pro-government and pro-Communist party comments online. Soon after the skirmish, members of the China Communist Youth League portrayed it as something ideological — a “patriotic youth” injured by an unidentified mob for expressing his love of country.
Since February 2015, the China Communist Youth League has recruited approximately 18 million civilization volunteers to “spread positive energy” online. The organization of the volunteers is in a form of hierarchical network lead by the party which analyzes public opinion and gives guidelines to network members who orchestrate the party's view. Huo had participated in an “online propaganda training” organized by the Shandong branch of the Communist Youth League from June 29 to July 2.
Online, Hou's peers from the civilization army swore to root out enemies in revenge, while those who oppose the policing of Internet comments under the pretext of “patriotism” ridiculed Hou and his comrades, saying that they deserved to be beaten up. Many expressed worry that similar incidents will recur and that the online battle will eventually spill over into physical conflict, similar to what happened during the Chinese Cultural Revolution half a century ago.
The online war of words began with Hou's tweet on July 22:
纳蛆几个LOW货，五六个打我一个又是辣椒水又是甩棍的，有本事你别跑啊，推墙推的走火入魔了吧？这样就想打垮我，太天真了 。
The bunch of debased maggots, five to six of them beat me with pepper water and rod. If you have the guts, don't run away, you wall-climbing gang are processed by devil. You are too naive to believe that you can beat me down with this.
The term “wall-climbing gang” refers to those who use circumvention tools to get around China's Great Firewall of domestic Internet censorship and access foreign websites. The message thus hinted that the fight is political in nature.
Hou's tweet was spotted by the official account of Shandong Youth League not long after, which framed the incident as an attack against an upstanding patriotic youth:
【关注！爱国青年被网络暴民群殴】有网友反映：威海青年@侯聚森-侧卫36 因为发表爱国言论被网络暴民堵在校门口群殴。在此之前，已有人冒他之名发表不法言论，现在又被施以暴力！爱国，竟成了被阴暗力量迫害的理由？￼施暴者必须受到法律惩处。侯聚森，你不孤单，我们都在你的身旁！@威海警方在线
Attention! Patriotic youth beaten up by violent online mob. Some netizens reported that Hou Jusen from Weihai was trapped and beaten by some online violent gang in front of the school gate for his patriotic comments. Before that, some people had used his name to publish illegal comments online, now they resort to violence. Patriotism has become motivation for such back-stabbing oppression. The law must be upheld and the attackers punished. Hou Jusen, you are not alone. We are standing beside you. @Weihai police
The message was re-posted more than 6,000 times, and the Central Communist Youth League also urged the public to pay attention to the incident in their official Weibo.
In response to these calls for justice, the Weihai city police investigated the street fight and reported on their Weibo account:
【回应社会关注：此案文登警方正在调查】7月22日13时30分许，山东省威海市文登区师范学校门口发生一起治安案件。接到报案后，文登警方迅速处警进行调查。经初步调查查明：当事人侯某在网上与他人发生言论纠纷后，相约文登师范门口，并发生肢体冲突。详细情况公安机关正在进一步调查中。
In response to public concern: Wendeng district police are following the case. At 13:30 p.m. July 22, a disturbance took place outside the gate of Normal College at Wendeng district of Weihai city. After the case was reported, Wendeng police started an investigation. The initial finding: Hou had some disputes with others online, they picked a time to meet outside the school gate and came to blows. Public security authorities will continue to follow the case.
Weibo screen capture by China Digital Times. The user says, “I want to break into the Wendeng police station.”
Usually in cases related to public disputes, both parties are placed in administrative detention. On July 24, Wendeng district police closed the case by ordering six individuals to spend seven to 15 days in detention; Hou was detained for 10 days. The police investigation triggered another round of debate.
Some labelled the Wendeng police as traitors, saying they wanted to break into the police station to express their anger. A remark from Weibo user “The Naked Gun” explains to some extent the logic of the patriot camp:
作为国家机关，公安机关不但需要打击违法犯罪，更应该以身作则维护国家的安全、荣誉和利益。[…] 当一个人因为爱国言论而被暴力侵害时，这已经不是治安案件，这是刑事案件！[…] 按照你们的逻辑，抗日战争应该叫中日互殴战争。日本鬼子欺负到家门口了也不能还手对吗？
As a national organization, the role of public security authorities is not only to crack down on crime, but also to defend national security, honor and interest. […] If someone was attacked because of his patriotic speech, this is not a public disturbance, this is a criminal case! […] according to your logic, the anti-Japanese war should be called a fight between China and Japan. Even if the Japanese bullied us and invaded our home, we should not fight back?
The Central Communist Youth League doubled down on that line of thinking in their Internet Opinion report published on July 25. The report criticizes the Wendeng police for not being sensitive enough when handling the case and also suggests there may have been “foreign forces” behind the street fight.
Some netizens were not convinced by the claims that Hou was completely innocent. They dug up Hou's online history on various social media platforms, which showed he has a history of picking quarrels online and using sexual foul language. Many criticized the Communist Youth League, accusing them of using patriotism as shelter for thugs or online bullies.
Both camps continue to squabble online, and worry is ripe that these nasty Internet comments could spill over into the streets again one day. Sekikouei, a professor from Jiangxi Normal University, slammed the online patriotic sentiment:
没有爱，整天喊打喊杀，今天叫嚣枪毙这个，明天叫嚣枪毙那个，这不是爱，而是恨啊。这样的爱国，当然也不是爱国，而是恨国。
历史已经证明，意识形态和阶级斗争那一套，不是爱国，而是害国祸国。[…]面对网络言论，我们不是组织专家学者讲道理，传播常识、知识和真理，反而是收买少不更事的年青学生，让他们在网上针对批评者和公知群体展开谩骂和人身攻击，这是培养年青人的爱国情怀，还是培养他们的斗争精神和流氓素质？
There is no love. They just pick quarrels and fights all day long. Today vow to execute this and tomorrow execute someone else. This is not love but hatred. Such patriotism is not loving one's country but hating one's country.
History has proven that ideological struggle is similar to class struggle. The result is not love, but harm to the country. […] When handling online opinion, instead of inviting experts and professors to engage in rational talk and pass on knowledge and truth, we seduce students who are naive and launch verbal and personal attacks on public intellectuals. Is this patriotic education? Or a cultivation of thugs?

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Need to Thank the Saints? Mexico Has You Covered · Global Voices
Yessika Gonzalez

“One day I discovered that my boyfriend David was in love with my brother and I felt hurt, angry and let down, but thanks to Saint Michael the Archangel I met José Antonio and fell madly in love with him, and now it makes me very happy that my brother and David love each other so much and are as happy as I am. I offer this retablito to give thanks to Saint Michael.”
Image taken from the facebook account Facebook Exvotos Mexicanos.
Divine intervention is a concept that provides hope and sanctity in the everyday lives of those in need, and believers in the phenomenon often express their gratitude with the giving of gifts or offerings. This gesture of thanks is traditionally known as ex-voto. The origins of ex-voto are far from recent, with figurines found in sacred places across Latin America, suggesting that the practice began even before colonisation.
Nowadays, this tradition of repaying deities for the miracles they have granted continues to thrive in countries throughout the continent and has captured the attention of the world thanks to Mexico's unusual pictures, or retablitos. This form of popular art has inspired the creation of online spaces and art exhibitions dedicated to them.
According to the blog Descubre México, the ex-voto image should illustrate the scene of the event in a detailed and descriptive manner. It is also important to have an accompanying explanatory text, enabling the viewer to understand better the scene. The retablito usually depicts the virgin or saint that is being thanked, and believers glorify them by placing it at the shrine.
The central scene of the ex-voto depicts the circumstances before the divine intervention. During the 18th and 19th centuries, these retablitos expressed fears of deadly illnesses and of dangers that travelers might face on their long journeys:
In this anonymous ex-voto from 1761: Our Lady of Pain and Saint Sebastian are being thanked for giving health after a critical illness. Image from Exvotos Mexicanos Facebook account.
However, the themes of the retablos are changing with the times, revealing new cultural anxieties. The bustle of today's city life has created new problems and insecurities, and urban violence and the risks associated with it have come to play a powerful role in the public psyche. Immersed in a society where there is less and less place for religion, devotees beg the saints for divine intervention in situations as diverse as games of wrestling, homophobia, or married life:
Saints are believed to intervene in many aspects of human life, including emotional ordeals, marriage and separations. Image taken form the blog “La gracia de dar las gracias”.
Cuando éramos novios Elisa era muy celosa y el día de nuestra boda hizo tal coraje después del banquete [de bodas] que murió de indigestión. Después de tres años de haber quedado viudo decidí casarme de nuevo y conocí a una linda y buena muchacha con la que me casé, y después [de] que regresamos de la luna de miel el fantasma de Elisa se empezó a aparecer en nuestro cuarto y se veía muy enojada y nos miraba con rencor y furia y a mi me dio mucho miedo y le recé a la Virgen de Zapopan [advocación mariana de la ciudad y municipio de Jalisco] y traje al cura que echó agua bendita en la casa y doy gracias porque Elisa por fin descansa en paz y nosotros podemos estar tranquilos en la casa sin su mirada acusadora.
When we were engaged. Elisa was very jealous and on our wedding day she got herself so worked up that she died of indigestion. After three years of being widowed, I decided to remarry and I met a kind and beautiful woman whom I married. After we got back from the honeymoon, Elisa's ghost appeared in our room and she looked very angry and she watched us with resentment and rage, and it really scared me, [so] I prayed to the Virgin of Zapopan and I brought the priest round who threw holy water in the house. I give thanks to Elisa for finally resting in peace and now we too can be at peace in our house without her accusing look.
This anonymous ex-voto dedicated to San Antonio shows the fear of rejection in the emotional life.
Image taken from the blog La Gracia de Dar las Gracias.
Desde pequeña yo era fea y recibí muchas burlas y rechazos por eso, pero no me acomplejé y nunca perdí mi sentido del humor y gracias a ese sentido del humor, Francisco, que es uno de los hombres más guapos del pueblo, se enamoró de mi y doy gracias a san Antonio porque nos casamos en una hermosa ceremonia donde fui envidiada por todos mis compañeros y conocidos.
Ever since I was little I've always been ugly and I was mocked and rejected for my looks, but I didn't let it get to me and I never lost my sense of humour and thanks to that sense of humour, Francisco, who is one of the most handsome men in the town, fell in love with me and I give thanks to Saint Antonio because we got married in a beautiful ceremony where I was the envy of all my friends and acquaintances.
On Facebook and Tumblr, you can find accounts dedicated, almost entirely, to the Mexican ex-voto. Displayed on these pages are retablitos with subjects ranging from the traditional themes of illnesses being cured, to more contemporary pieces relating to domestic violence, undiscovered infidelities, and even prostitutes looking for clients to support their families.
Image taken from the Facebook account of Exvotos Mexicanos.
Gracias virgencita de Guadalupe que mi esposo ya no me pega tanto. Te pedí y tú me lo concediste y ahora nos queremos tanto que soy muy feliz y aquí te lo vengo a agradecer. María Torres. Mayo 10, 1970
Thank you, Virgin of Guadalupe, now my husband doesn't hit me so much. I asked you and you granted my wish and now we love each other so much that I am happy and I have come here to thank you.
It's no surprise that in a country like Mexico, where undocumented immigration to the US is a huge issue, you can find lots of retablitos relating to the border between the two countries. Many immigrants have made ex-votos giving thanks for having crossed the border, for the success of a medical treatment in the neighbouring country or even for marriage to a US citizen.
In this video, shared by YouTube user Paurake, we see a sequence of “border ex-votos” expressing the gratitude of travelers who managed to get out of a US prison or who managed to pass by immigration authorities unnoticed. The retablitos in the video features various testimonies from migrants and their families giving thanks for being able to see their loved ones again, or for having survived the many dangers that come with crossing the border:
Dedico el presente retablo a la santísima Virgen de San Juan de los Lagos por haberme salvado de [que] un texano me llevara […] Me escondí debajo de un árbol con mi hermanito a la orilla de la carretera.
I dedicate this retablo to the sacred Virgin of San Juan de los Lagos for having saved me from being taken by a Texan… I hid beneath a tree with my little brother on the edge of the street.

author: Yessika Gonzalez