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Granada, Colombia: An Emblem of War and Peace · Global Voices
Marco Sarmiento

Granada, Antioquia. March of the people of Granada on 9 December 2000. The mobilization was supported by the Multi-Institutional Committee against the paramilitary incursion of 3 November and the armed takeover by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) of 6 and 7 December of the same year. Source: Local archive of the United Victims Association of the Municipality of Granada (Asovida). Photo by Jesús Abad Colorado.
Granada, a Colombian town of 10,000 people located 370 kilometers from the country's capital, suffered war for the last 25 years. But during this time, its residents also managed to build spaces of peace and reconciliation.
The government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed an agreement in November to end their fighting, but the stroke of a pen doesn't mean all is magically well. Building peace will neither be easy or quick, but lessons from places like Granada will pave the way for achieving it.
The book “Granada: Memories of War, Resistance and Destruction”, published by the National Center for Historical Memory – an institution established by the Colombian government to document the war and its victims in the last 50 years – explains:
La población civil echó mano de la fuerza de los argumentos y de la identidad colectiva, y con el firme propósito de hacer de Granada un ‘Territorio de paz’, desarrolló un repertorio de acciones colectivas e individuales que les permitió sobrevivir, resistir y reconstruir sobre las ruinas dejadas por la confrontación armada.
The civilians relied on the strength of their cause and on their collective identity, and having the firm intention of making Granada a ‘Land of Peace’, they developed a repertoire of collective and individual actions that allowed them to survive, resist and rebuild on the ruins left by the armed confrontation.
Due to its privileged geographical location in a mountainous area, near the Medellín–Bogotá highway, Granada became the target of guerrilla fighters, paramilitaries and the army starting in the mid-1980s. It endured threats, massacres, car bombs, displacement, military occupation, kidnappings and extrajudicial executions.
The following video summarizes Granada's tragedy and its reconstruction since 1982. As one of its inhabitants recounts: “The pain united us and the solidarity moved us.” Thanks to popular mobilizations, community action boards, cooperatives, associations to promote social projects, community assemblies, and the intervention of the Catholic Church, the effects of the war did not destroy the community and its values.
Para esos momentos de violencia, Granada estaba toda unida alrededor de un proyecto común. No habían diferencias de ningún tipo, ni de color, ni de partido, ni biológica, ni nada. Todos mirando para un mismo lado, unidos y junticos y cogiditos de la mano.
Despite those violent times, all in Granada were united around a common project. There were no differences based on color, party, biological aspects, or any other kind. All were on the same side, united together.
Despite the fracture of the social fabric, people's creativity and endurance managed to alleviate its effects. A woman recounted on 26 September 2014 to the National Center for Historical Memory's Educators Focal Group:
En el barrio donde vivíamos teníamos las llaves de una casa que era un sótano, aquí las casas se construyen en el subsuelo, suelo y arriba, por eso fue que se cayeron tantas casas…y nosotros sabíamos que se iban a entrar la guerrilla o los paramilitares y todos corríamos con colchonetas, termos con agua panela, paquetes con galletas Saltinas y todos nos metíamos por un solar… hágase de cuenta un gheto como en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. (CNMH, Grupo
Focal Educadores, mujer, 26 de septiembre de 2014).
In the neighborhood where we lived we had the keys to a house that was a basement, here houses are built below, at and above ground level, that's why so many houses collapsed… and we knew that the guerrillas or the paramilitaries were going to come in, so we all ran with mats, thermoses with sugar cane water, packages of saltine crackers, and we all sneaked into in a building site … like a ghetto in World War II. (NCHM, Educators Focal Group, woman, 26 September 2014).
During the region’s occupation by paramilitaries — unofficial forces that sprung up to fight the FARC, but which have also perpetuated violence — from 2002-2004, the night-time curfew forced the population to create indoor meeting spaces. A former city hall official told the National Center for Historical Memory in an interview on 19 September 2014:
Desde lo social se hicieron cosas que ahora es común verlas, en ese entonces no, las llamábamos las lunadas, era encontrarnos en una casa, en un espacio amplio muchas personas a hablar o a ver una película, lo que se conoce ahora como pijamadas, con los psicólogos hacíamos unos trabajos grupales, y hasta de amanecernos una noche todos juntos viendo una película o haciendo actividades. (CNMH, hombre, exfuncionario de la alcaldía, entrevista, 19 de septiembre de 2014).
Regarding the social life, we had activities that now are common, but at that time were not, like lunadas (parties), when we gathered in a house with a large space, where people talked or watched a movie, having what is now known as a slumber party. We also did some group work with psychologists, and we even spent the whole night together till dawn watching a movie or doing other activities. (NCHM, man, former city hall official, interview, 19 September 2014).
Between 2004 and 2010, on the first Friday of each month, the people of Granada lit candles at the doors or on the balconies of their houses in memory of the victims of the war, according to the book “Granada: Memories of War, Resistance and Destruction”:
[…] then the initiative gained strength and people began to overcome their fear and to walk with the lights to the atrium of the church, turning this into an act of resistance.
At the same time, the “Opening Paths for Life” initiative was created, in which residents followed the roads that the murderers walked with their victims, with the aim of giving new meaning to the victims’ lives. A Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) was made with colored stones painted with the names of the 128 missing persons from the region, and the “Park of Life” was built as a permanent place to exhibit the stones.
Source: The National Center for Historical Memory
The Salón del Nunca Más (Hall of Never Again) is a permanent exhibition in the House of Granada Culture, which displays 254 photographs, videos and texts about the victims of the war and their relatives.
The Hall of Never Again. Photo from the United Victims Association of the Municipality of Granada (Asovida), 2007.
In the video below, residents of Granada explain the reason for setting up the hall: “We want to raise awareness in the community, gather the history of the municipality and know there is remembrance.”
Stories written by the victims’ relatives are displayed next to the photographs. Among them, university student María Laura Idárraga Alzate wrote:
Delante de las víctimas reposan con mucho cuidado las bitácoras que las familias se encargan de llenar día a día. En sus páginas están descritas noches de dolor, de infinita pena por la ausencia del ser amado. Estos diarios son una prueba del poder que tiene la palabra junto con el recuerdo.
In front of the victims’ photographs lie the journals that the families take upon themselves to fill out every day. Their pages contain the description of the nights of pain, of infinite sorrow for the absence of the loved ones. These diaries are proof of the power of words and memory.
The Hall also hosts exhibitions including “Traditions and Ghosts of Everyday Truth,” which explores the popular myths that are associated with the actual tragedy, such as La Patasola (“One-Legged Woman“), Madre Monte (“Mother Mountain“), La Llorona (“The Weeping Woman“), Mohán (“Mother of Water“), and El Costalón, all figures related to land mines, missing people, widows, and forced recruitment.
This is how the Hall‘s website describes itself:
“Este es un lugar que todo colombiano debería conocer para que lleve en su memoria las atrocidades que este país cometió con personas ajenas a esta guerra”.
This is a place that every Colombian should know about in order to carry in his memory the atrocities that this country committed against innocent people in this war.

author: Marco Sarmiento


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Haitian-American Singing Sensations Team Up Just In Time for Women’s History Month · Global Voices
Atiba Rogers

The Haitian/Haitian-American duo Anie & Riva. Photo by Francesca Andre, used with permission.
Where there's music, there's blending. Anie & Riva, a Haitian/Haitian-American duo, provides a mix of soul, jazz and Haitian creole melodies — and in early March they're bringing it to BAMcafé, an initiative by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the long-standing, vibrant and well-regarded multi-arts center located in Brooklyn, New York.
When they linked up to share their musical roots, solo artists Anie Alerte and Riva Precil began to create sounds for listeners to fall back on. The duo uses the vibrations they've honed from their homeland to bring their eclectic fusion of musical styles to life; their collaboration conveys the beauty, unity, and culture of Haiti in a way that only music can express:
Haitian-American photographer Francesca Andre, who has been working on the duo's promotional images, explained, “We don’t have too many Haitian singers who sing traditional songs.” Both Anie and Riva grew up in Haiti; Riva’s voice and energy are reminiscent of Lunise Morse from the Haitian band, RAM, and Anie gained a lot of stage experience performing in Haiti with groups like Haiti Couer de Femme.
Global Voices had the pleasure of speaking with Riva, who graduated from Loyola University in the US state of Louisiana with a degree in music therapy, about this exciting musical merger, education and the role of music in today's world.
Global Voices (GV): As a performer, how do you connect with your audience?
Riva Precil (RP): Through sound vibration. Even though the bulk of my repertoire is in Haitian Creole, people are usually able to pick up on the overall message of the song based on the melodies and energy throughout a performance. A sad song is usually slow and minor while a jovial song is more upbeat and major.
GV: How did your musical collaboration with Anie evolve?
RP: Anie and I met a little over a year ago; someone in Haiti had mentioned to me that they discovered an artist they thought I would love, and they were absolutely right! She moved to New York a few short months after and we met at a show that we both performed at. We're both very different artists, but share the same passion and therefore meet somewhere in the middle. It's a beautiful vibe when we link up. We try to perform together any chance we get.
GV: What made you both decide to blend soul, jazz and creole — and what similarities brought them together?
RP: Well, I grew up in Haiti and my father is Haitian, so that's where the creole came from. My mom is a big soul fan and listened to all the greats, so that's where that came from. And I went to college in New Orleans where my love for jazz only grew deeper. When I auditioned at the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, I sang “My Man” by Billie Holiday. I'm a potpourri of musical influences.
Haitian-American singer Riva Precil. Photo by Francesca Andre, used with permission.
GV: Music is, in many ways, your life. Tell us a little bit about what it was like taking on a major like music therapy:
RP: Music therapy is like a combination of music and psychology mashed up into one major. My time was split between chorus, musing theory, songwriting, psychology, and of course the usual suspect core classes. It was quite an amazing experience, as we were sent out into the field to do hands-on music therapy sessions. I've worked with premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), children's hospitals, centers for the mentally or developmentally disabled, end-of-life care, geriatrics, and more. Each population has unique needs so sometimes I would sing to them, sing with them, or work on movement and mobility. It's really quite a vast and fascinating field.
GV: How accessible is your music in Haiti?
RP: It's available online, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and can be found on YouTube. The physical CDs are available at select stores in Haiti. [We've both] gotten a tremendous amount of support through social media from around the world, which I'm very happy about.
GV: How important has social media been to this mashup?
RP: Very! Social media is such a wonderful platform to get the word out to large amount of people in a short amount of time. Word of mouth is still a thing, but unfortunately not as effective in this day and age.
GV: What has the online response been like to your performances on YouTube, especially since integrating these musical genres?
RP: Very positive, they've been well received overall. People have been riding the wave along with us. I get videos of people singing and dancing to [the] music, letters of support and encouragement, I meet girls who tell me that they didn't embrace their culture before […] and now they want to learn more and truly embody the essence of their culture. That brings me immeasurable joy.
GV: How does being a Haitian-American artist around this time feel?
RP: I feel like it's the thing to be! A few years ago, I don't think it was as cool as it is now. It's definitely hipper now that we have such an overwhelming amount of Haitian pride circulating, particularly from the youth. It's such a great time to be an artist of Haitian descent.
GV: How much are you looking forward to your performance at BAM and what do you want people to take away from it?
RP: I am beyond excited! When I was creating my list of dream places to perform, BAM was in the top three. I'm so elated to see my dreams come to fruition and what better way than to be doing [so] alongside my fellow Haitian sister in honor of Women's History Month?
GV: How have you prepared for this performance?
RP: Rehearsals — separately and together — so that we're all on the same page, promoting through as many media as possible and just getting everyone's spirits in the right place in time for the big day. We're all very much looking forward to it.
If you're lucky enough to be in New York on Friday, March 3, 2017, you can catch Anie & Riva's show at BAMcafé, 9:30 p.m. in the Peter Sharp Building.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Atiba Rogers


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Maldivians Are Outraged Over a Rumored Deal to ‘Sell Off’ Faafu Atoll to Saudi Arabia · Global Voices
Rezwan

An existing resort in an island in the Faafu Atoll, Maldives. Image from Flickr by Warren Rohner. CC BY-SA 2.0
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud is scheduled to visit the island nation of Maldives next month, and rumors are swirling that he will sign a landmark agreement to lease its Faafu Atoll for up to 99 years to develop a Special Economic Zone.
The details of the agreement are not yet available, but that hasn't stopped Maldivians from protesting on social media against the supposed plan, which many have characterized as the government “selling off” national territory.
#Maldives islands being sold off to world's super-rich. Locals to be forcibly moved & crowded onto a handful of designated reclaimed areas
— AzraNaseem (@Manje) February 17, 2017
Time to store a few grains of sands from the beaches of faafu atoll.A reminder of when our foot freely ran across it.That's when we owned it
— Dr.Aishath Ali Naaz (@aishathalinaaz) February 20, 2017
According to reports, the Saudis are interested in buying a Maldives atoll to develop a world class city for the wealthy from around the world. Their eyes are allegedly set on Faafu or Northern Nilandhe Atoll, comprising of 18 islands, five of which are inhabited by around 6,000 citizens.
Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom said in a speech to the people of Magoodhoo, one of the inhabited islands of Faafu Atoll, on January 24 that the Saudi government had a special interest in Faafu Atoll. The president also said the project would bring several hundreds of employment opportunities.
According to Maldives’ Finest, a news website focused on the country's resorts, Saudi plans for Faafu Atoll includes building an international city with state-of-the-art amenities, including branches of the world’s top universities, medial facilities, leisure arrangements, shops and restaurants to accompany the natural beauty and beaches of the islands.
However, there are widespread rumors about the state allegedly selling off part of the atoll to the Saudis. The anti-grafts organization Transparency Maldives has called on the government to divulge its plans for Faafu Atoll.
Last September, an investigative exposé by Al Jazeera titled “Stealing Paradise” revealed instances of corruption by President Abdulla Yameen and his government (see Global Voices report). The documentary exposed 59 corrupt land lease deals in which the vice president engineered agreements with major casinos and hotel companies that leased entire islands for amounts reaching into the millions. The Maldives treasury saw only a small proportion of these revenues, while the rest — about USD $80 million worth — was distributed to corporations owned by the vice president's relatives and friends.
Aisha Hussain Rasheed wrote in a Facebook status why she would oppose the sale of Faafu Atoll:
Maldivians, today, are suffering the consequences of allowing political elites make decisions on our behalf without any accountability; getting behind decisions made by political leaders based only on short term personal benefits, partisan political interests and empty nationalistic, religious or political rhetoric. The possible sale of Faafu atoll (or part of the atoll) to the Saudis is not just on the government; it's also on the opposition, which allowed the constitutional amendment to go through, because that MIGHT secure the release of THEIR president. It's also on all of us, for allowing this system and atmosphere to continue.
Mohamed Shahid called for citizen action:
This is no time for despair or giving up. This is a time for organizing, stop selling our Islands and reefs and Faafu Atoll fighting back.
On Twitter, people vented their anger using the hashtag #SaveFaafu:
We, the people of Maldives are totally opposed to a sale or lease of #Maldives land to another country. #SaveFaafu @KingSalmanEn pic.twitter.com/7pyx6cWQGz
— Hussain Shareef (@hussainlongey) February 22, 2017
Dredge Faafu lagoons, reclaim land, build water villas & spas, sell to super-rich; Faaf people work as butlers, cleaners, waiters #tharaggee
— AzraNaseem (@Manje) February 22, 2017
I stand against selling land to foreigners without people's say. Stop selling Faafu atoll to Saudi royal family. #SaveFaafu pic.twitter.com/I0Tv0Lc5O7
— Amir Ahmed (@E8Amir) February 20, 2017
All the powers of the State of the #Maldives are derived from, & remain with, the citizens. #SaveFaafu pic.twitter.com/Vyee1FE6ZX
— Shamau Shareef (@schamau) February 22, 2017
I am a Maldivian & I am against da sale of Faafu atoll or any islands from my country to Saudi Arabia or any other foreign party #saveFaafu pic.twitter.com/fPDwWPiuaR
— Khalis8989{Heris} (@khalis8989) February 22, 2017
“Faafu” isn't only the name of the atoll, but is also a letter in alphabet of the Maldivian language Dhivehi. Twitter user Tedry shared an image of the alphabet with the letter replaced with a picture of the Saudi king:
No more Faafu pic.twitter.com/x00Rkefku0
— Tedry (@tedry) 21 de febrero de 2017
The Maldives’ mainstream media is not reporting much and there is a report that journalists were given cash “gifts” at a Saudi Embassy event:
This is bribery may be to silence criticism over negotiations to sell Faafu atoll to Saudi Arabia or for favourable coverage of King's visit https://t.co/taNMhyLtaZ
— ahmed adam (@ahm3da) February 20, 2017
The rumored agreement will have geopolitical implications too, argues Mickail Naseem:
Faafu Atoll sale isn't just about less land for natives, much wider implications. Allows our islands to be used for geopolitical standoffs.
— Mickail Naseem (@MickailNaseem) February 20, 2017

author: Rezwan


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One Photographer’s Stunning Glimpse Into the Beauty of Trinidad & Tobago’s Traditional Carnival Masquerade · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The magic of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival: Traditional masquerader Tracey Sankar-Charleau and her son Jude getting ready for their performance at Adam Smith Square on February 23, 2017. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
It's Fantastic Friday in Trinidad and Tobago — the glorious day that ushers in the Carnival weekend — and the excitement is palpable. Of course, aficionados of the festival have been in non-stop Carnival mode since the beginning of the week, when Machel Monday — arguably the biggest concert of the annual Carnival calendar — rocked the chock-full national stadium with heavy-duty, star-studded soca and dancehall sets. (The event also rocked much of the internet with seemingly unsanctioned live streams.)
The music for Carnival 2017 is rich and eclectic — and it has grabbed much of the attention as partygoers dance, gyrate and “jump up” to its hypnotising beats. But if soca is the heartbeat of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, the “mas” (short for “masquerade”) is the heart itself — as pure as it is wicked, and full of energy.
Carnival photographer Maria Nunes has been photographing the festival for years now. She has a special love for traditional mas characters and in an effort to preserve this aspect of Carnival's history, captures them on camera in a reverent, passionate way. On her Facebook page, she explained:
Without Carnival I would be at a complete loss. Carnival is where I get my energy, my enthusiasm, my inspiration to make it through the rest of the year. These few days make my soul sing and dance. I am immensely thankful for [the] people […] who dream up wonderful creations and bring them to life so beautifully. It only takes a little light to dispel darkness.
Nunes’ discerning eye offers an intimate look at this year's portrayals. It's like being there…almost!
A participant at the 2017 stickfighting preliminaries, Moruga, south Trinidad. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Stickfighting is a centuries-old tradition (dating back to slavery) where men would duel with “bois” (sticks) in “gayelles” (rings), accompanied by chanting or singing (usually in Patois) to the beat of African drums.
The 2017 stickfighting preliminaries in Moruga: Zangi of Bois Academy (left) battles Chuffy of Rio Claro. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Molombo Drummers at the 2017 Stickfighting preliminaries, St. Mary's Junction, Moruga. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Large crowds would gather to witness the fierce fights, which would, at times, result in the maiming — or even death — of one of the opponents. The winner would enjoy the status that came with his triumph, which carried a lot of social currency.
A spectator gets caught up in the action at the 2017 stickfighting preliminaries in Moruga, Trinidad. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
The practice was banned by the colonial authorities in 1880 in response to the Canboulay riots, but was re-introduced (with strict rules) in 1937. Each year, the Canboulay riots are re-enacted and remembered as a sign of resistance, celebrating the rebellious spirit that forms the foundation of the festival.
Chuffy of the Rio Claro gayelle at the 2017 stickfighting preliminaries in Moruga. Chuffy was King of the Rock in 2015. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
A character from the Moko Jumbie traditional mas portrayal “Storm at the Edge of a Knife” by the band “Touch D Sky”, designed by Alan Vaughan. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
The cast of characters that forms the traditional mas of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is wide and varied — burrokeets (costumes that depict riders on donkeys), fancy sailors and Indians, pretty (and scary) devils, and the list goes on. Nunes caught some of the this year's very best, which included a mother and son portrayal of some intimidating folklore characters: a lagahoo (a mythical creature similar to a werewolf, but which has shapeshifting powers) and a douen (believed to be the lost souls of unbaptised children whose feet face backwards).
Tracey Sankar-Charleau and her son Jude in performance as “Lagahoo” and “Douen”. Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Tracey Sankar-Charleau as “Lagahoo”; photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Bat costumes — typically comprising a body suit, an ornate headpiece and spectacular wings — are also popular. The headpiece is often made out of papier mâché and the wings crafted using the Carnival art of wire bending, but the best part of any bat mas is the dance that goes along with it: the masquerader twirls, lunges, and flaps his wings in a series of mesmerising movements that mimic how bats fly.
Rosemarie Paul's bat portrayal, “What they do with my Carnival?” Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Moko jumbies, those sky-high, otherworldly stilt dancers that are rooted in West African tradition, help make Trinidad and Tobago Carnival magical. Oral tradition has it that the height of the stilts gives the jumbies the ability to discern evil more quickly than lesser (or at least shorter) mortals, so the character is viewed as a symbol of protection. The stilt walkers play their mas on stilts that are 10 to 15 feet high; these are covered by long, full skirts or flowing pants, to give the illusion of giants — it is an incredible performance to watch.
“Touch D Sky” Moko Jumbies in their presentation “Storm at the Edge of a Knife”. Designed by Alan Vaughan; band leader, Adrian Young; Photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Female stilt dancer in her Moko Jumbie costume; photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Touch D Sky's 2017 Moko Jumbie presentation, “Storm at the Edge of a Knife”; photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
No traditional mas would be complete without a devil portrayal. The “pretty devil” costume draws from the foundation of a mediaeval jester's costume, but it has evolved in different ways. Still, there are usually bits of colourful fabric, bells, whistles — and of course, horns, which may be crafted from a wire base and disguised with cloth. The Jab Molassie hybrid of devil mas sports a wire tail, horns and a trident; the masquerader adorns himself with chains, locks and other accoutrements, and smears his entire body with paint, grease, mud or clay. The Jab often “wines” (suggestively gyrates) to a compelling, rhythmic beat played on tin pans by imps, some of whom also hold the devil's chain, attempting to control him as he cavorts wildly in character.
Ricardo Felicien's 2017 “Jab Molassie” portrayal; photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.
Yes, the doors to Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2017 are beginning to open on this Fantastic Friday — or as Maria Nunes puts it, “Carnival is upon us. Give thanks for those who shine their light into the darkness.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Russian Government Youth Group Wants to Make Wikipedia More Patriotic · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

A clumsy new campaign called “Virtual Front” is coming to Russia next month, led by a government youth group that aims to make Wikipedia’s Russian edition more “truthful and patriotic.”
Image: Pixabay, edited by Kevin Rothrock
The idea behind the project, which belongs to the State Duma’s Youth Parliament (а body created early in Vladimir Putin’s first presidency to elevate ambitious young people interested in government work), is that Wikipedia currently lacks good information about “Russian history, Russian ancestors, and Russian leaders.”
According to Maria Voropayeva, the Youth Parliament’s deputy chairperson, young people in Russia need to be better educated about these subjects, in order to cultivate Russian patriotism. She also says she favors removing some content now found on Wikipedia, arguing that the website shouldn’t publish quotes by extremists or militants.
For the last year or so, Voropayeva has headed another project by the Youth Parliament called “I Take Pride in Russia Every Day,” which has published a handful of videos on YouTube, some featuring short patriotic statements from young people in cities throughout the country. The videos were made in the same spirit as Virtual Front, encouraging Russians to fight back against a hostile world that misunderstands their country.
“With every new day, there’s more trash on the Internet,” a woman tells the camera in the most popular video shared by “I Take Pride in Russia Every Day.” “Russia is the aggressor. We’re all invaders. They’re threatening us! People, what’s going on!”
“Why does someone have the right to laugh at our suffering? Or is nothing off limits in the race for money?” another woman asks vaguely, apparently referring to Metrojet Flight 9268, the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt in October 2015.
“He who comes to us with the sword will die by the sword,” a young man says grimly.
Facing the threat of Internet trash, jokes about suffering, and swords, the Youth Parliament says it will respond with a campaign to add 10,000 articles to Russian Wikipedia.
After hearing about “Virtual Front,” Rustam Nuryev, one of the leaders of Wikimedia in Russia, asked on Facebook, “Why so few articles?”
In fact, there are more than 1.3 million articles on Russian Wikipedia today, and more than 2,000 have appeared naturally in the week since Virtual Front was announced.
Once it goes live in March, Virtual Front won’t be a horizontal social movement, and taking part means submitting draft Wikipedia articles to a coordinating board staffed by dozens of teachers and fact-checkers across the country. Once they’ve approved your article, it’s then reviewed again by a core group in Moscow.
Russia’s Youth Parliament has not revealed how it will fund this massive undertaking, and its byzantine process for writing new Wikipedia articles — something anybody can do on their own — is supposed to produce 10,000 articles by September.
Ksenia Selezeneva, Virtual Front's coordinator, in the State Duma. Photo: Instagram
Why all the gatekeepers in a campaign that could likely deliver more, if the Youth Parliament instead simply encouraged — openly and without bureaucracy — Russia’s proud citizens to write more on Wikipedia?
The short answer appears to be “quality control,” but the real reason is politics, judging by the hour-long press conference on Feb. 17, when organizers unveiled Virtual Front.
At that event, a young woman stood up and asked how the campaign plans to handle “the different liberal movements, such as ‘The Fifth Column,’ which disinform people on social media.”
This was Duma deputy and Cossack chieftain Viktor Vodolatskiy’s moment to shine:
Если люди привыкли пить из бочки с грязной и мутной водой, они не перестроятся на бочку с хрустальной родниковой водой. Уже привыкли, адаптировались к грязной воде. Поэтому «пятая колонна» имеет свое сообщество, которое читает, что они пишут. Наша задача сегодня — хрустальной чистой водой вымывать всю эту грязь.
If people have gotten used to drinking from a barrel of filthy, muddy water, then they won’t want to switch to a barrel of crystal spring water. They’re already used to it, and they’ve adapted to the dirty water. So the ‘fifth column’ has its community, which reads what they write. Our task now is to wash away all this filth with crystal spring water.
According to the opposition website Rublacklist.net, Wikipedia editors in Russia haven’t expressed much interest in Virtual Front, commenting that initiatives to create more articles are generally welcome, but anything written with political bias will be rooted out by moderators enforcing the website’s standards on objectivity and citations.
However clumsy the Youth Parliament’s approach to Wikipedia may be, it’s still an improvement on a government order issued by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev last August, when he established a working group to study the creation of an all new Russian-engineered Wikipedia clone.
Medvedev’s effort later stalled, and Virtual Front could represent the new, slightly less ridiculous direction of Russia’s government-driven patriotism in the world of online encyclopedias.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Short Video Documentary Explores Japan’s Flashy Art Truck Subculture · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

‘Dekotora’ trucks in Japan. Image by Flickr user Kanon Serizawa. Image license: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
They are flashy, visually compelling and look like they're a hobby that costs a lot of money: anyone who has ever been to Japan has probably come across Japan's “art truck” subculture. Known as dekotora (デコトラ, short for “decoration trucks“), Japan's art trucks are tricked out with flashing neon lights, airbrushed murals and lots and lots of chrome.
Great Big Story has just released Inside Japan’s Tricked-Out DIY Truck Culture, a short video documentary about dekotora. The video features English subtitles, and lots of images of flashy trucks.
Like any other subculture, there is also a vibrant dekotora community on Instagram. Here are a few shots of Japan's “decoration trucks.”
#JDM #Dekotora #ArtTruck #Bippu #HotRod #Kustom #Lowrider #KaliforniaLook #Hardcore #HardcoreJDM #デコトラ #ビップ
A post shared by KaliforniaLook (@kalifornialook) on
While dekotora is dominated by hard-core hobbyists, it's not unusual to see freighters, dump trucks and other vehicles livened up with striking decorations on Japan's streets and highways.
Here is what looks like a stylized dump truck cruising up the Tohoku Expressway:
Typical Japanese truck art. #bonx #gomakenoise #菅原文太 #仁義なき闘い #東北道 #デコトラ
A post shared by Takahiro Miyasaka (@takahir0miyasaka) on
Not all dekotora are particularly flashy, but all display the unique personality of their owner:
#プロフ画 #プロフィール画像 #トップ画 が前の #インパラ のままだな！w と指摘されたのでとりあえず変えてみましたwww #kurustagram64 #kurustagram64_photography #Photography #プロフ画 #海坊主参上 #いかつメン #ごっつメン #関東み組 #美道丸 #仕事車 #デコトラ
A post shared by 海坊主 (@kurustagram64) on
#ProfilePhoto It looks like a Chevy Impala from the front! #worktruck #dekotora
It was once not unusual to see delivery trucks decorated with murals. This truck features a triptych mural (on its sides and on its rear cargo doors) that depicts a scene from the 2001 animated film “Kai Doh Maru” (怪童丸):
三面絵画アート車って減って来ましたね〜。 #三菱ふそう #fuso #ファイター #fighter #デコトラ #arttruck #翔龍水産 #怪童丸
A post shared by Dice Kobarn (@slow_cedric) on
There aren't as many delivery trucks with murals as there used be, huh? #MitsubishiFuso #fuso #FusoFighter #dekotora #KaiDohMaru
This owner of this truck is visiting a temple in Inuyama, north of Nagoya. The has been outfitted with chrome grills and rails, as well as a mural featuring popular cartoon hero Anpan Man:
#いい天気 #アンパンマン に食いつく #安全祈願 #デコトラ  またよろしくお願いします( ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )◞♡⃛
A post shared by さとこ (@satokonbu1122) on
#sunnyskies Taking a bite of #AnpanMan. #sayingour prayers #dekotora #thanksforlookingatmyphoto ( ´͈ ᗨ `͈ )◞♡⃛
Many truckers practically live in their rigs. Here's a shot looking out the windscreen, below curtains typical of many working trucks in Japan:
#おはようございます #めっちゃ雨#天気 #現場近くで #待機丸 #今日も１日 #よろしくお願いします  #安全運転で#仕事終わったら#洗車#笑 #デコトラ #プロフィア
A post shared by 真央 杉浦 (@mao.s.9) on
Good morning! It's totally rainy today! #waitingtoload #anotherday #pleasedtomeetyou #safedriving #whenwork'soveri'mwashingmytruck #lol #dekotora
Japan's dekora art trucks can be explored on Instagram using the hashtag #デコトラ

author: Nevin Thompson


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Why Benjamin Netanyahu Can’t Fly Over Indonesia · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

El Al is the flag carrier of Israel. Photo: Flickr / Andrew Thomas (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Normally, it takes just eight hours to fly from Singapore to Australia, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent eleven hours making this trip this week, in order to avoid Indonesian airspace.
Netanyahu was the first Israeli head of state to visit Australia.
Analysis: The strange route Benjamin Netanyahu took to get from Singapore to Sydneyhttps://t.co/xT0nvsYya6
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 22, 2017
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the flight detour was normal, given that Indonesia refuses to permit any Israeli carriers to enter its airspace.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-dominated nation, doesn't have a formal diplomatic relationship with Israel.
Last year, the Indonesian government said it would normalize ties with Israel once Palestine gains Israel's recognition as an independent state. The government issued this statement after Netanyahu called in an effort to establish formal diplomatic ties between the two states.
Some in Indonesia, especially supporters of Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), welcomed the government's refusal to let Netanyahu into Indonesian airspace, and the move has helped ingratiate Jokowi to some hardline Muslim clerics, who in the past have accused the president of being too reticent to defend Islam.
Writing on Facebook, Andreas Bambang is an example of one Indonesian who approved of Jokowi's decision:
Wahai Haters, selain ketegasan soal Freeport, Inilah alasan lain mengapa saya bangga pada Presiden Joko Widodo. Tegas! Pesawat Netanyahu Berbendera Israel Dilarang Melintasi Wilayah Udara Indonesia. Masih berani kalian bilang Jokowi antek asing, PKI, Komunis, Zionis? Saya kira tuduhan bodoh itu harusnya ditujukan ke para petinggi MUI, yang diam-diam bulan lalu menemui Presiden Israel Reuven Rivlin di kediamannya di Israel. Jokowi yang berjuang serius demi Kemerdekaan Palestina malah kalian tuduh yang macam-macam!
To the haters, besides his firm stance on Freeport, this is another reason why I was proud of President Joko Widodo. He's tough! Netanyahu's Israeli carrier was denied from passing on Indonesian airspace. Still dare accusing him as pro-foreign [powers], pro-Indonesian Communist Party, being a communist, or zionist? Jokowi is  serious in his fight for Palestine's independence, and all you do was accuse him of many things.

author: Juke Carolina


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Macedonia’s Ruling Party Is Draining Civil Society Groups’ Time—and Money · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Civil society representatives hold a press conference in Skopje. The sign behind them reads, “We Must Protect Civil Society.” Photo by Vančo Džambaski via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Macedonian ruling party leader and former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has pledged to ‘cleanse’ Macedonia’s long-embattled civil society sector. In a public statement circulated in early February, he warned civil society organizations (CSOs) in the former Yugoslav republic to get ready for a ‘final showdown.’
In another recent statement, Gruevski spoke of a need for the “de-Sorosization” of Macedonian civil society and argued that rather than seeking support from foundations and governments outside of Macedonia, the country's civil sector should instead rely on the Macedonian government for financial support. This proposal would make CSOs entirely dependent on the government and undermine the basic premise of many civil society organizations, which is that they decline financial support from the government in their jurisdiction, in order to maintain accountability to the public. It is also difficult to imagine that the ruling party would provide support to any of the groups that it has routinely attacked over the last two years.
Gruevski also has alleged that 90-95% of CSOs in Macedonia are financed by liberal billionaire and foundation chair George Soros, or by foreign governments under Soros’ control. These claims are baseless and false.
Coinciding with these claims has been the appearance of a “Stop Operation Soros” campaign, now known informally as “SOS”, which promotes a message seemingly in line with Gruevski's party position on the issue.
These rhetorical threats come in the wake of special parliamentary elections that took place in December 2016 and left neither the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party nor the leading opposition party, the Social Democrats, with a majority of seats in the parliament. The special elections were held in an EU-brokered effort to re-stabilize the country, which has been in mired in political crisis since revelations of widespread illegal wiretapping by the ruling government surfaced in 2015.
Editor's note: Global Voices is a grantee of the Open Society Foundations, which are part of the Soros network.
While many civil society organizations are accustomed to pressure from Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party — the party was previously implicated for using state resources to conduct massive illegal surveillance, including wiretapping of journalists and activists — threats against CSOs have spiked since the elections in mid-December.
A defamatory flyer with blacklists of CSOs and activists signed by GDOM, a ruling party proxy group in Macedonia.
Flyers listing the names of dozens of civil sector activists were distributed in the mailboxes and under windshield wipers of citizens of Skopje, the nation's capital, shortly before the December elections. They included allegations about civil society advocates receiving “mercenary” money, repeating claims from defamatory articles in pro-government about some of the individuals on the blacklist. The flyers were signed by GDOM (Gragjansko dviženje za odbrana na Makedonija – Citizen Movement for Defense of Macedonia), an entity that acts as a proxy for the more radical positions advocated by VMRO-DPMNE.
Individual activists also have been regularly targeted with threats and hate speech on Twitter and other social media platforms, a phenomenon that has had increased concerns about the safety of CSO workers and their families.
Gruevski's surrogates in recent weeks has openly smeared CSO leaders, promoting unsubstantiated claims of collusion between foreign forces, Macedonia’s leading opposition party and a certain set of CSOs. Affected CSOs held a public conference stating that the allegations of wrongdoing are lies and only intended to intimidate and silence the civil society sector and independent media. They have demanded retractions and apologies for the lies.
In recent weeks, state institutions such as the Public Revenue Service have launched a series of inspections and financial audits of 21 CSOs, many of which were also targeted in the aforementioned flyers and online attacks.
The 21 CSOs subjected to inspections issued a joint public statement addressing the inspections and concurrent attacks:
[This] represents a foray against the open society, against the independent and unbowed civil voice. In other words, “SOS” and its order-givers are troubled by the free and independent associating and acting, freedom of expression and all democratic values and principles in general. Therefore, they launch untruths, manipulative data and false information in the public with one intention – silencing the civil society, discrediting and blackening its pledges and achievements.
[…]
We emphasize that we HAVE NOT been wanting to destabilize the country and we HAVE NOT caused crisis, we HAVE NOT been working for any party’s objectives, we HAVE NOT been purposely created before elections, we HAVE NOT informed refugees to cross the border illegally, we HAVE NOT been paid to attend protests, we HAVE NOT received millions on our accounts for party objectives.
An additional 106 organizations in the country have publicly declared their support for the group, with total of 127 CSOs signing the joint open letter.
The same 21 organizations all participated in the pre-election civil campaign “We decide”, which sought to improve public understanding of the electoral system and rules, given that a large percentage of Macedonian citizens believe that their ballots are not secret, and that political parties can find out how they've voted. A primary goal of the campaign was to encourage citizens to vote according to their own preferences, despite these fears.
Activists holding sings reading “I won't be silent!” during a “We decide” event in Kumanovo, Macedonia, Nov 5, 2016. Photo by Vančo Džambaski, CC BY-NC-SA.
On February 4, Nova TV reported that the Organized Crime Department at the Public Prosecution Skopje had started a preliminary investigation for unlawful financing of the electoral process against several CSOs and the opposition political party Besa.
By law, all CSOs must publish their annual financial reports by April 30 every year. The targeted NGOs are in compliance with this law, and some have published external audit reports. Other registered CSOs, such as Macedonian Association of Journalists (MAN) and the Association for Spiritual Unification of Setinci, Popadinci and Krushodari that had received government grants, have not been fulfilling this obligation and have not been subject to inspections. They also are known for promoting the positions of the ruling party.
As part of the inspections, auditors asked multiple CSOs to submit five years’ worth of documentation of their funds and spending, and it has required that these documents be submitted in the Macedonian language. The majority of the funding received by these CSOs comes from entities outside of Macedonia, such as private and intergovernmental foundations in the EU, with whom contracts are typically written in English. So far, all communication with the state involving English-language contracts with foreign donors has not required providing translations, including communication for tax purposes with the Secretariat for European Affairs, and the CFCD unit of the Ministry of Finance.
The Public Revenue Service has also stipulated that CSOs will need to hire court-approved translators to translate the materials from English to Macedonian, at a rate of approximately USD $10 per page. With hundreds and in some cases thousands of contract pages needing translation, the requirement has placed substantial administrative and financial burdens on CSOs. The legal basis for the request has not been officially explained, and has left some CSOs asking for reconsideration by the State Revenue Office.
The 21 CSOs say inspectors also requested that they prepare additional information regarding financial flows in and out of the organization. Staff members were asked to complete tables detailing the names, tax/personal ID numbers, the purpose, country, amount, date, currency for each grant or revenue instance, as well as for each payment made. Completing these forms requires large amounts of manual work copying data from hundreds of invoices and contracts. The time necessary to comply with this order (months of man-hours) far surpasses the initial deadlines set by the Public Revenue Office.
All told, the inspections combined with other investigations into CSO activities and the smear campaigns have leave little doubt that these are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a coordinated effort to drain them of resources and ultimately weaken their influence on public life.
At the moment, significant resources of the targeted CSOs have been focused on dealing with these forms of pressure, with complete dedication to providing full cooperation and fulfilling the requests of the state institutions. In parallel, civil society groups around Europe — including European Digital Rights, Young European Federalists and the European Federation of Journalists — have expressed concern about the targeting of their colleagues in Macedonia.

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


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New Clashes Over Immigrants Sweep South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

People's March Anti-Xenophobia Jeppe street, Johannesburg, outside Little Ethiopia. April 23, 2015. Photo: Dyltong / CC 4.0
South Africa is currently in the midst of another wave of attacks against African immigrants. This week in Pretoria and Johannesburg, crowds shouting xenophobic slogans looted and burned down businesses and homes owned and occupied by foreigners.
Similar violence gripped the country in 2008 and 2015, when rioters killed several people and destroyed large amounts of property.
On Friday, police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse clashing crowds of anti-immigrant protesters and immigrants in the capital, following a large anti-immigrant demonstration.
Protesters blame immigrants for the country's high crime rates — particularly when it comes to prostitution and illegal drugs — and accuse immigrants of taking jobs away from South African citizens. According to estimates, roughly 2.2 million immigrants now reside in South Africa, which is one of the continent's main destinations for asylum seekers.
According to South African President Jacob Zuma, South Africans are not xenophobic, but they are are fed up with crime, he says.
Many Internet users have condemned the latest wave of attacks against immigrants, and some have offered theories about why xenophobia seems to appeal to lots of people in South Africa.
On Twitter, Leandri J van Vuuren said the whole thing boils down to the government's failure:
Cause of #xenophobia in South Africa: scarcity of resources, lack of housing, service delivery, education & jobs. Government is failing us.
— Leandri J van Vuuren (@Lean3JvV) February 24, 2017
Lola de Lola argued that xenophobia can't solve South Africa's social problems:
Every society in this #madworld has deep social problems but #Xenophobia is not the solution, we shall be ashamed. South Africa stop it.
— LolaDeLola (@Lola_de_Lola) February 24, 2017
“Lord Skibabs” said crime has no nationality:
? “Fight crime, not fellow Africans” Crime doesn't have a nationality #Xenophobia #SouthAfrica ? pic.twitter.com/bP6oEQCRPQ
— Lord Skibabs (@Skibabs) February 24, 2017
Abdulrahman lamented:
South Africa…this is not the rainbow nation you used to be! ? #Xenophobia #enca #SABCinquiry
— Abdulrahman (@Rahmanchulo) February 24, 2017
“Rainbow nation” was a term coined in 1994 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to describe post-apartheid South Africa, and Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first president, later popularized the phrase.
Noting that the protests and violence have mostly targeted foreigners from African countries, Amandla wrote:
“South Africa belongs to all who live in it” is non-applicable to African nationals but applicable to white foreigners? Sidakiwe la eMzansi.
— Amandla! (@AmandlaMobi) February 24, 2017
Samba Thiam, head of the Economic Bureau at the Embassy of Senegal in South Africa, shared his personal experience on Twitter:
Associating foreigners with crime is so silly. Have been facing xenophobia since day-1 in South Africa as diplomatic agent. Still dealing!
— Samba Alassane Thiam (@jesuismackysall) February 20, 2017
Some argue that the term “afrophobia” should replace “xenophobia”:
@shewolfmo there is no xenophobia in South Africa, it's afrophobia Indians, Pakistanis and White people not affected by these attacks
— HEMEDI MOHA® (@HemediMoha) February 24, 2017
Another Twitter user named Munyati suggested:
At this rate, we might have to think about dropping the “Africa” from South Africa. #Xenophobia #XenoMarch #Xenophobicattacks #TshwaneUnrest
— Munyati (@GotMunyati) February 24, 2017
Motshubane called for a national psychological evaluation:
South Africa needs to go for a psychological evaluation of sorts… something twisted in the way we view things. ? #Xenophobia
— Motshubane (@motshubane) February 24, 2017
Al Jazeera correspondent Haru Mutasa called on journalists to educate South Africans about the role African countries played during the anti-apartheid struggle:
xenophobia, journalists need to do stories on how the region helped southafrica during apartheid, maybe ignorance can change to knowledge?
— harumutasa/aljazeera (@harumutasa) February 24, 2017
On Facebook, Robert Shivambu, a media manager working with Amnesty International, confessed:
Today is one of those days that I am ashamed to say that I am South African. #NoToXenophobia
Those who support the demonstrators reject the label “xenophobia.” Joe Selimo, for example, argued that South Africans are fighting drugs and prostitution, not immigration or foreign culture:
Why is it #xenophobia when south Africans fight drugs nd prostitution in their area,they're the ones who suffers at the end of the day
— Joe selimo (@Mjselimo) February 23, 2017
“Lemenemene” asked if it isn't the protesters’ critics who seem to embrace xenophobic notions about South Africans:
How does one go about unpacking the perception held by a lot of foreigners that South Africans are lazy without coming across as xenophobic?
— Honorable Lemenemene (@HovaXXI) February 24, 2017
Senzo Mncwabe said South Africans simply need space:
@Boity its not xenophobia each an every person must go where they was born we need a space in south africa its not china here please
— Senzo_mncwabe (@senzo_weezy) February 24, 2017

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Police in Hong Kong Want It to Be Illegal to Insult Them · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hong Kong police protests in 1977 and 2017. Photo from Stand News. Non-commercial use permitted.
A crowd of more than 30,000 people gathered in Hong Kong this week to protest a prison sentence handed down to seven police officers convicted of assaulting Ken Tsang, a protester in the 2015 pro-democracy Occupy movement. Police officers and supporters of the police expressed their outrage about the verdict, calling on the government to outlaw insults against law enforcement. The large turnout recalled similar mass demonstrations in Hong Kong by police the in 1970s, when protesters demanded amnesty for officers accused of corruption.
With the support of pro-Beijing lawmakers, four major police unions are demanding new legislation to ban insults against law enforcement, which they say is necessary for officers to “reclaim their dignity.”
In a speech during the rally, one police officer compared the insults law enforcement officials face in Hong Kong to the persecution Jews endured in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
How I would describe it is: it’s like in the second world war. We are Jews, and we are being persecuted. We are like the Jews being persecuted by the Nazi armies. Am I right?
This comparison actually won the applause of many in the crowd, and thousands of his colleagues responded by beginning to chant “Yes!” in unison. Others were shocked, however, by what they felt was a spectacular distortion of history.
Both the Consulate-General of Israel and Germany have issued press statements expressing “regrets” about the Holocaust reference. Germany’s statement said:
The reported reference to the Holocaust shows a regrettably insufficient knowledge of historical facts. The Jewish population in Germany was persecuted by the State and all its organs during the Nazi dictatorship and millions lost their lives. Therefore the comparison between the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and police officers convicted for an abuse of power is utterly inappropriate.
Later in the rally, another police officer announced that he was fed up with the limits of professionalism, and then shouted at the crowd, “Fxxk your mother!” explaining that he wanted to give the audience a taste of what he and his colleagues encounter on a daily basis. Thousands of other officers soon joined him, chanting the obscenity over and over again.
The mass assembly resembled another demonstration by police 40 years ago, when police protested against an anti-corruption campaign. The rally in 1977 turned violent, resulting in attacks on five officers from the from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Eventually, then-Governor MacLehose conceded to police and granted amnesty to all officers who had not been investigated by Jan. 1, 1977. It was at this time that Hong Kong's government also started rebuilding its police force as a civil service with new standards of professional practice.
As police and their supporters took to the streets, Internet users shared photos comparing the 1977 and 2017 events, often expressing fears that police would sacrifice their professionalism for impunity from the law. Blogger Kursk Edward wrote:
77年的警察集會，姑且可以理解為要求重新開始的機會。最後，政府說服了社會接受警隊重新做人，往後的日子，政府大幅度改革警隊－－提升待遇、改善管理及訓練、嚴厲打擊貪污，還有一系列形象工程。[…]
四十年過去，2017年2月22日，過千警察集會。這次他們要求什麼呢？
是支持「七警」。[…]
警察支持同袍，看似十分正常，可是再想深一層，這場集會其實反映了一個很令人不安的想法－－就是他們認為七警這樣濫用私刑是情有可原的。
他們認為濫用私刑入罪這件事可以當著全香港人面前，自覺理直氣地集會聲援。本來法庭判濫用私刑的警察罪成，正常的警隊要得到市民尊重，最應該做的就是表現出承擔和反省。[…]那些警察為什麼覺得自己這麼理直氣壯？從警隊管理層的言論到兩個警察工會的組織動員手法，不難感覺到這是一場政權把警隊改造成鎮壓機器的大龍鳳。
和應這場大龍鳳的，還有一堆面目猙獰的愛港力中老年藍絲，以及全港也認識的向氏家族，這可謂對於警隊的最大諷刺。
Police rally in 1977 can be understood as a pledge for a new beginning. Eventually the government persuaded the public to give the police a chance to self-reform. Later on, the government introduced reform – improved their income, management and training, fought against corruption and improved the police’s image […]
40 years had passed. On Feb. 22, 2017, thousands of police officers protested. What are their demands? To support the seven convicted colleagues.
It's normal to support one’s colleague, but the assembly delivered a worrisome message: the police believe that the abusive use of power of their seven colleagues can be pardoned.
They think they can demonstrate in front of the public in defense of the seven cops’ abusive use of power. If they want to win respect from people, they should have accepted the court’s rule and reflect upon their practice. […] Where does their sense of righteousness coming from? Judging from the mobilization of the unions and the public speech delivered by the police management, this is probably a show to transform the [public servant] police team into state apparatus for political crackdown
The greatest irony is that, in this show, we also see the pro-Beijing political groups and triad affiliated members backing up the police.
Others pointed out that the proposed law banning “insults against police officers” is a move to sharpen the police's teeth and reinforce their privilege. A media worker wrote to the independent news platform Stand News:
令人嗤之以鼻的是，竟說自己工作辛苦，經常被市民辱罵。那我想問，雨傘運動時的新聞工作者被你們、藍絲團體辱罵時，他們也能像你們利用權力去胡作非為嗎？辛勞工作、經常被問候父母的行業，數之不盡，但他們沒你們那麼well paid，亦沒有政府的「細心呵護」。到了現在，因七警受到法律的制裁，就開著所謂集會在訴說自己的工作有多麼的辛苦，多麼的痛苦。但一個問題已能打破你們的荒謬言詞：辛苦、有壓力時就可以胡亂打人了嗎？
The most ridiculous thing is they keep complaining about their hard working conditions — meaning the insults they sometimes hear. Yet, during the Umbrella protest, so many media workers were insulted by the pro-government protesters, and did they ever fight back? So many occupations in our society have to deal with the F words, they are not as well-paid as the police, and they are not “delicately protected” by the government. But as soon as seven cops are punished by law, police hold an assembly to complain about their hard work and suffering. Yet you can’t even answer a simple question: can you randomly beat up people when your work is hard and you're under pressure?
Lawyer Thomas Tse approached the issue from legal point of view, arguing that Hong Kong police have more than enough legal protections, as it is:
「阻差」、「拒捕」和「襲警」這類只有警員充當唯一証人罪行，一直被警察在無罪可告下，被警方用來對付態度傲慢「得罪阿Sir」的當事人，已是臭名遠播的罪行。
因此訂立「辱警」罪，市民將會永無寧日，每次遇上警察，只能立即按著手機進行拍攝，以防被屈，但這樣做往往會引起更大的敵對情緒，一發不可收拾，因此，「辱警」罪是一項進一步破壞警民關係的最佳罪行 […]
“Obstructing the duty of a police officer,” “resisting arrest,” and “police assault” — all these charges are based on police officers’ testimony. It is customary that when the police cannot find another law to charge an arrogant offender, they would use the above law.
So, if “insulting police officer” were passed, ordinary citizens would not have peace. Whenever they approached by police, they could only turn on their mobile camera to prevent a one-sided story. But such behavior would aggravate the antagonism between the two. That’s why [the law on] “insulting police officers” would further destroy the police's relationship with the citizenry.
In response to the mass rally by police, Civic Human Right Fronts, a coalition of local NGOs, protested in front of police headquarters, demanding that the commissioner respect the court’s verdict and sentence, and even apologize to the public for the officers’ misconduct with activist Ken Tsang.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Renowned Bangladeshi Artist Shahabuddin Ahmed Completes Residency in Indian President’s House · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladeshi artist Shahabuddin Ahmed. Screenshot from YouTube video by Sayeed Iqbal.
Bangladeshi painter Shahabuddin Ahmed became the first foreign artist to live in Rashtrapati Bhavan, the home of the Indian President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, as an artist-in-residence.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan is a majestic residential complex with a lot of history located at the western end of Rajpath in New Delhi, India. Ahmed's residency was from February 18 to 22, 2017.
Artist & freedom fighter, Shahabuddin Ahmed of Bangladesh and daughter Chitralekha commenced their residency in Rashtrapati Bhavan today pic.twitter.com/ieUIRrUQtW
— President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 18, 2017
Ahmed is a leading Bangladeshi painter who is renowned across the world. He was born in 1950 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dhaka. In 1971 he joined the Liberation War effort for Bangladesh and fought for independence from Pakistan. In the mid-1970s he received a scholarship to study at the Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris and has since lived there for over four decades.
According to the Arts Trust, which promotes contemporary Indian art, Ahmed relies heavily on the power of motion as his mode of artistic expression: “His baroque like figures turned towards space seeking light and energy, are a strange mixture of Western influence rooted to his place of origin.” The artist's works are often monochromatic with splashes of bright unusual colors.
Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/VSuXtffppr
— Ishtar (@EvarHussayni) August 10, 2016
Ahmed's works are displayed in many galleries across the globe including the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Bourg-en-Bresse Museum in France, the National Museum of Bulgaria, and the Seoul Olympic Museum in South Korea. In 1992, Ahmed received the “Fifty Master Painters of Contemporary Arts” award at the Olympiad of Arts, Barcelona, besides being awarded the prestigious French title of “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” (Knight in the Order of the Arts and Literature) in 2014 for his contribution to art. In Bangladesh, he received the Independence Day Award (Shwadhinata Puroskar) in 2000.
As part of the residency, a solo art exhibition of Ahmed's work titled “Shanti” (Peace) was held at the Rashtrapati Bhawan Museum Art Gallery. The collection comprised of 12 paintings of iconic figures of freedom like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and the architect of Bangladesh's independence Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan museum complex cost 800 million rupees and opened last year. It is India's only underground museum with state-of-the-art virtual reality exhibitions.
Exhibition of paintings of Bangladeshi artist Shahabuddin Ahmed at Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Art Gallery will conclude tomorrow pic.twitter.com/GTK7AOhMQt
— President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) February 21, 2017
Shahabudding told in an interview with the Asian Age why he titled the exhibition as “Shanti” (Peace):
The south Asian continent is becoming a super power and the world is looking towards us. We are young, robust and have the strength to lead a peaceful life unlike the Western world, which is thriving through sale of weapons. We have never used weapons for power. With the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, India and Bangladesh have shown the world that we have won wars through non-violence.
In 2013, Indian President Mukherjee started this ‘In-Residence’ programme for scholars, artists and writers with the aim of encouraging the creative and innovative potential of people and open up Rashtrapati Bhavan for greater participation and involvement of ordinary people in its activities.


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There’s Talk That Beijing Could Override Hong Kong’s Election Result If It Doesn’t Like the Winner · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ex-Chief Executive and Vice Chair of Beijing's top consultation body Tung Chee-Hwa said the central government would not appoint John Tsang even he wins the election. Photo from Stand News. Non-commercial use.
It's an open secret that Beijing interferes in the election of Hong Kong's top leader, known as the chief executive, despite the city's autonomy, which is enshrined in its constitution. But for the first time, a former chief executive has explicitly stated as much.
Tung Chee Hwa, who served as Hong Kong's first chief executive from 1997 and is the current vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body in China, suggested in a closed-door meeting that Beijing will not appoint chief executive hopeful John Tsang — even if he gets a majority of the votes from the 1,200-member election committee.
Hong Kong does not have universal suffrage, and the right to nominate and elect the city’s chief executive is restricted to the members of the election committee. Even so, Beijing has the power of appointment and could refuse to appoint the election committee winner if it doesn't approve of the result.
John Tsang is a former financial secretary who is preferred by the Hong Kong business sector and local professional groups. In early February, he made a show of his popular support with a crowdfunding campaign for his candidacy.
But he isn't Beijing's “chosen one.” In fact, Wang Guangya, the director of China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, was reported to have said that Tsang was Beijing’s “least-preferred candidate.” So according to sources from several local media outlets, Tung explained in a meeting with advisers of his think tank that he persuaded the then-Chief Secretary Carrie Lam to run for the top job in order to avoid Beijing exercising its substantive power of appointment.
About a month ago, another member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chan Wing Kee, told election committee members from the business sector in a closed-door meeting that if they would not support Carrie Lam, they would be viewed as standing against the Chinese central government.
Hence, Tung’s suggestion has been interpreted as a warning to the pro-Beijing election committee members who prefer to vote for John Tsang rather than Carrie Lam.
Citizen media platform inmediahk.net interviewed a number of election committee members from Hong Kong's pro-democracy political camp commenting on Tung’s speech:
教育界葉建源稱十分震驚，質疑中央干預選舉：「選委仲有咩實際權力呢？有咩意義呢？」
Yip Kin Yuen from the education sector was shocked to hear Tung’s suggestion. He criticized the central government for interfering the election: “Does the election committee have any real power? What’s the point of having an election committee then?”
法律界郭榮鏗則表示十分憤怒，中央此舉是「屈機」，稱行政長官選舉已是小圈子選舉，卻要再遭操控，「勝出但唔任命，咁都得？」
Dennis Kwok Wing-hang from the legal sector was very angry. He criticized the central government for being excessive in exercising its power, saying the current election is undemocratic and restricted to a small circle, yet they still want absolute control, “how can they not appoint the winner?”
公民黨黨魁、立法會議員楊岳橋強調，在《基本法》下進行的任何選舉，「不論提名和結果都是實質的」，認為任何人嘗試干擾選舉，都已是違反《基本法》第22條。楊岳橋質疑董建華是帶頭破壞一國兩制及《基本法》[…]
The chairperson of Civic Party and lawmaker Alvin Yeung pointed out that any election, as long as it is conducted according to [Hong Kong's constitution, known as the] Basic Law, the nomination and election result should be substantial. If anyone attempts to manipulate the election, it is against Basic Law Article 22. Yeung questioned Tung for violating the One Country, Two Systems principle [on which Hong Kong's autonomy is based] and the Basic Law […]
According to the Basic Law's Article 22:
No department of the Central People's Government and no province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government may interfere in the affairs which the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region administers on its own in accordance with this Law.
[…] All offices set up in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by departments of the Central Government, or by provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the personnel of these offices shall abide by the laws of the Region.
In reaction to Beijing's intervention, 30 election committee members from the legal sector released a joint statement suggesting that Tung's chat may have violated the law.
On Facebook, political news commentator Lai Chak Fun urged Hong Kongers to be vocal in their support for John Tsang:
董建華公然表明今次選舉是假選舉，曾俊華即使當選，中央也不會任命。不管老懵董是否代表習近平，抑或誣陷中央，香港人都要更全力支持曾俊華，用民意和中共賭一舖，要是它横逆民意，定必要付出沉重的政治代價。
Tung Chee-hwa now explicitly said that the election is fake — even if John Tsang wins, the central government will not appoint him. I can’t tell if Tung really represents Chinese President Xi Jinping or he just spreads rumor that makes the central government look ugly. But amid such context, Hong Kong's people should give strong support to John Tsang and use public opinion as chip to negotiate with the central government. If it goes against public opinion, it has to pay the political price.
Within the pro-Beijing business sector, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing offered another strategy to deal with the political pressure. He declared during a public function that he will not be nominating any candidate in the chief executive race, as a way to avoid offending anyone. But he added:
But I will definitely cast my vote […] No one will know who I will vote for and I will not say it publicly.
In 2012, Li nominated Henry Tang and disclosed that he knew Beijing had chosen CY Leung two weeks ahead of the election, yet he still voted for Tang.
Li’s tactic has provided a way out for pro-Beijing election committee members, as another political commentator “Tammar Nan” pointed out on independent media outlet Stand News:
如果選委因各種利益問題怕公開得罪西環、張德江，又唔情願在受壓下支持林鄭，唯一方法就是學李嘉誠，個個都唔提名。
超人慌死大家唔知，仲特別強調最後投暗票，冇人知。大家仲唔醒！
For those election committee members who were afraid of offending the China Liaison Office and Zhang Dejiang [a top Chinese leader responsible for Hong Kong affairs] but don’t want to be pressed to support Carrie Lam, the only way is to follow Li Ka Shing’s example and refuse to nominate anyone.
Li even reminded them to cast anonymous votes during the election. Please stay smart!
In addition to closed-door lobby, concrete actions have been taken to make sure that Carrie Lam has enough support. Local news outlet Hong Kong Economic Journal recently quoted a source from the election committee that the Beijing Liaison Office, which represents China's central government in Hong Kong, has filled out nomination forms nominating Carrie Lam for 51 members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference who are ex officio members of the chief executive election committee and asked them to sign their names. If they refused they would be reminded how they got their CPPCC membership.
The election of the chief executive will take place on March 26. In addition to John Tsang and Carrie Lam, two other potential candidates, Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a lawmaker and former security secretary, and Woo Kwok-hing, a retired judge, have started lobbying members of the election committee to endorse their candidacy by giving them their nomination.
Beijing most likely controls a majority of votes in the election committee, but if it fails to convince the business sector to support Carrie Lam while forbidding its loyalists from endorsing John Tsang — the more popular candidate – the next chief executive of Hong Kong might end up being as unpopular as the current Chief Executive CY Leung, who is nicknamed 689 for the number of votes he received from the election committee back in 2012.


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Trinidad & Tobago Carnival 2017 Crowns Its King and Queen · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Gloria Dallsingh portrays “Glamour Queen” for the band Kallicharan Carnival. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Trinidad and Tobago Carnival prides itself on its traditional masquerade, but Carnival lovers are just as appreciative of the “big” mas — the incredible and often massive costumes that compete for the coveted titles of King and Queen of Carnival. Not only are they works of art; they are also feats of engineering!
These individual costumes are usually part of larger Carnival bands, which each have their following and portray different themes from year to year. Widely shared on Facebook, here's a quick look at some of the beauties that photographer Damian Luk Pat captured as they crossed the main stage at the country's Carnival mecca, the Queen's Park Savannah, for Carnival 2017.
Carnival is an escape from the rigors of everyday life. Many Carnival King and Queen contenders transport spectators to other lands (Africa, China, Arabia) and other worlds (enchanted rainforests and underwater kingdoms). Either way, you are immersed.
“Wings of Africa” portrayed by Ryan Sooknanan; photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Raymond Mark's portrayal of “The Yellow Emperor And The Winged Dragons”, for the band “Chinese Dynasty”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Some costumes this year represented various aspects of life in Trinidad and Tobago. “Down de islands” (DDI), for instance, depicted in the portrayal below, refers to an idyllic cluster of islands off the north west coast of Trinidad that is home to the country's boating industry. It is also a favourite domestic tourism getaway.
Christopher Saldenha portrays “Down The Islands” for the band Soar! Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
The 2007 King and Queen contenders also included a nod to the country's national instrument, the steel pan, which was birthed in Trinidad and Tobago and is the only surviving non-electronic instrument to have been invented in the 20th century.
Ronald Mayers portrays “Musical Vibrations” in the Fancy Sailor category for the band “Swirls!” Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
There was also a modern take on the Midnight Robber, one of the most iconic traditional Carnival characters. Reminiscent of a bad-guy cowboy with his wide-brimmed, fringed hat, the robber is very flamboyant, sporting a cape that goes well with his signature “robber talk”, which is rather highbrow and quotes liberally from biblical verses, Shakespearean monologues and other famous literary sources. The character typically uses props (fake pistols, swords and even miniature coffins) to enhance his intimidation quotient.
Masquerader Roland St. George portraying a costume entitled “Doodad Daddy”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Other portrayals depicted topics of interest — social, political and otherwise — with originality and a bit of humour. The Zika threat in the region and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump were just two of the issues covered.
Ronald Blaize as “De Injector”; photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Clyde Blaize's “Category 5 – Hurricane Trump” for the band “D’ Element – Earth, Wind and Fire”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
This is one aspect of traditional Carnival that maintains its allure year in and year out. Featuring colourful and elaborate headdresses adorned with hundreds of feathers, the more modern King and Queen costumes for these bands are expensive to make, due to their sheer size and the materials used. The most popular bands of this genre tend to spring from south Trinidad, with longtime band designer Kallicharan leading the charge.
“Lady in Blue” is portrayed by Laura Rampersad for the band “Kallicharan Carnival”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Lionel Jagessar Jr. portrays “Monia Haka – Out of the Ashes” for the band “San Fernando Heartbeat”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Rose Marie Kuru's “Queen Chirapaq – A Tribute to Esther Theodore” for the band “Lionel Jagessar and Associates”; it eventually placed third in the Queen's competition. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
It's always incredible to see how brilliantly various animals are represented in the mas — birds are a favourite, as are powerful, elegant species like tigers and mythical creatures such as dragons — and they all seem to have personalities, which the masquerader further brings to life through the dancing.
“Nazgul – Harbinger of Death”, portrayed by Ravi Lakhan in the Creative category for the band “Journey Beyond Imagination”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Veteran masquerader Roxanne Omalo’s “Sheera – The Ice Queen” actually earned the same number of points as the costume that was finally voted Queen of Carnival, but the judges’ nod went to her competitor. Still, it was a strong portrayal that made quite an impact on stage.
“Sheera – The Ice Queen”, portrayed by Roxanne Omalo. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
Of course, the Carnival gods are not always benevolent: the costume below experienced an onstage mishap, collapsing and breaking when the masquerader tried to open the wings. Although he bravely attempted to carry on, the weight of the costume was too great.
Glen Dave Lakhan portrays “Argus Le Grand”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
More and more common is the incidence of Moko Jumbie (stilt walker) costumes competing in the King and Queen of Carnival competition. A skill that is typically found in the traditional mas circles, it is always a joy to see these artists on stage — a stark departure from the heavy costumes that are usually borne with the help of wheels.
Qiana Moore's portrayal, entitled “I Am Not the Bird of Paradise, I Am a Bird from Paradise!” Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
As dazzling as all the costumes are, someone had to win. In the King of Carnival competition, defending champion Ted Eustace grabbed the title once again, with his futuristic portrayal of “Crypto – The Lord of the Galaxy”.
2017 King of Carnival, Ted Eustace, with his costume “Crypto – The Lord of the Galaxy”.
The Queen of Carnival honour, meanwhile, went to the captivating “De Nebula”, portrayed by Krystal Thomas for the band “Paparazzi”.
2017 Queen of Carnival Krystal Thomas, portraying “De Nebula” for the band “Paparazzi”. Photo by Damian Luk Pat, used with permission.
You can find the full results of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2017's Kings and Queens here.


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US Activists, on Overdrive to Respond to Trump’s Immigration Plans, Are Making New Alliances · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Asha Noor, second from the right, protested at Detroit Metro Airport on January 29, 2016. “We still have to address the daily issues of police brutality, mass incarceration and surveillance on blacks and Muslims,” she says.“We still have to address those issues, and fight the ban.” Credit: Courtesy of Asha Noor
This story by Martina Guzmán originally appeared on PRI.org on February 15, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
Organizing is not work for the weak.
In the US city of Detroit, “activists are in overdrive,” says Adonis Flores. “Even before I shower, my mailbox is almost full. And soon as I wake up my phone starts ringing from members of the community who feel afraid and have lots of questions about the executive orders.”
He’s a Mexican immigrant-turned-activist who started working in support of the DREAM act to protect undocumented people brought to the US as children, then later the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, in 2010.
His latest task is to organize opposition to President Donald Trump’s executive orders that give broad power to Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and the indefinite suspension of Syrian refugees’ admission into the US and the 90-day entry ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, which the Trump administration is considering rewriting after courts have suspended its implementation.
From his busy mornings, Flores runs to planning meetings with staff at Michigan United, the immigrant advocacy organization where he works. The office is a frenzy of activity the minute he walks in the door. The phones ring nonstop. Droves of people come in, asking for help for loved ones who are stranded in other countries and to get referrals to reliable attorneys who can help them. Volunteers constantly walk in and out. Flores sits on conference calls throughout the day, then runs to meetings across town. He says it's a crazy time.
“I have to train volunteers, call people to attend information sessions, respond to the barrage of media calls and return emails,” says Flores.
Detroit has a long history of activism. Brothers Victor, Roy and Walter Reuther organized around harsh working conditions in the auto industry. The Reuthers championed industrial democracy and created the UAW labor union 1935. Later, union leaders joined forces with Martin Luther King, Jr. and fought for civil rights for African Americans. Recently, Monica Lewis Patrick, Claire McClinton, Debra Taylor and Nayyirah Shariff’s organizing and unrelenting pursuit of justice let the world know about water crises in Detroit and Flint.
Now Detroit faces a different challenge. When Trump signed the executive order for the refugee and immigration ban, metro Detroit, home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans, felt its effects immediately.
Flores remembers being in shock when he heard the news: “The first thing I thought was, what are we going to do? We are so unprepared. It’s such short notice.”
Nonetheless, communities came together. Organizers of the Women’s March got permits to hold a rally at Detroit Metro Airport, then word of the demonstration filtered down to organizers and their networks.
“I felt energized,” says Flores. “Everyone came together so quickly. The community, the country came together — I felt a lot of hope.”
The ban and the day-to-day changes created by legal decisions on the executive orders created an unlikely esprit de corps among Detroit activists. Together they organize, share the latest information and use each others’ language skills to translate flyers into Spanish or Arabic.
“We have not had a very good history at collaborating with different communities in the past,” says Flores, who himself was brought to the US without proper documentation when he was 9. He’s 28 now. “After Trump got elected, there is now a sense that an attack on one community is an attack on all of our communities.”
One of Flores’ fellow organizers is Fatou Seydi Sarr, founder of the African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs. Theirs is a unique alliance of Mexican and Senegalese immigrants, two communities that don’t often mix. Language, cultural barriers, religion and racism keep these populations apart. But strange times call for unlikely partnerships, especially if they are all working toward the same agenda.
Sarr is a leader of Detroit’s West African community, and as an activist she faces her own unique set of challenges. Her community has been on the fringe of social justice organizing for years.
“It’s hard to get African immigrants from Guinea, Senegal and Mali out to protest against the Muslim ban,” she says. “West Africans don’t organize and protest because they feel they will get arrested. It’s a risk for them. They know they will be a target because the over-criminalization of black American men impacts African immigrants.”
Sarr says she often feels exhausted by the demands of organizing. West African immigrants in Detroit commonly communicate through texts and phone calls, and some speak only French. The silver lining, she says, is using the wide opposition to the ban to reach leaders she had not connected with before.
“I was able to have African leaders from the Kenyan community show up at Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s meeting addressing the ban,” says Sarr. “And with the support of Adonis Flores, we secured a Know Your Rights event with the president of the Guinea Association.”
Sarr immigrated to the US because she was studying in Paris when she met a tourist from Detroit. They fell in love, got married and moved to the motor city. She is fairly new to being an activist; she first joined the struggles of black Americans after Trayvon Martin was murdered in 2012. “I was out on the streets when Trayvon and Mike Brown and Ranisha McBride was shot,” says Sarr, who was 35 years old at the time.
Detroit has experienced extreme crises in the last decade. The appointment of an emergency manager, mass water shutoffs, environmental injustice and and an abysmal public school system have forced people to take to the streets — with little support from white people in the protests.
But Trump’s presidency has been a call to action for people who had not previously been politically active. Millions across the country have taken to the streets before and after Trump’s inauguration. Sarr says she’s seen a change particularly in how white people in Detroit are taking on the causes that have long been important to her. “I am not mad at them,” she says, “but I do recognize their privilege. The ban is now making people look at the system differently now that their their way of life is being attacked.”
Longtime organizer Asha Muhamed Noor works across town from where Sarr lives. Her office is in Dearborn, just outside Detroit. The neighborhood is dotted with multiple restaurants, bakeries and a mosque in this mostly Yemen community.
Noor is an advocacy specialist for the campaign TAKE ON HATE, led by the National Network for Arab American Communities. The campaign is a grassroots effort challenging discrimination against Arab and Muslim Americans and refugees in the US.
Unlike Flores and Sarr, Noor has been organizing since she was 16. She’s now 26.
“I started working around issues with Somali youth. Somalis have been targeted for a long time. I used to organize protests at the State Department,” Noor says of the years she lived in Washington, DC. “My family was at a protest weekly. They marched for Palestinian rights, against the bombing of Somalia, for DACA or immigration. We are very politically active and engaged.”
Noor says everyone [in Dearborn] knew someone who was being affected by the ban. “We started work in rapid response. Many of us didn’t sleep for the first 73 hours.”
Now that the ban has been temporarily halted by federal courts, Noor has a moment to breathe.
What surprises Noor most is not that Trump signed the executive order, but how fast he did it. “I thought, ’How could this happen so soon?’” says Noor. “He didn't wait a week before he started targeting oppressed communities. That move gave me insight into what the next four years would like be for my people.”
“We still have to address the daily issues of police brutality, mass incarceration and surveillance on blacks and Muslims,” she says.“We still have to address those issues, and fight the ban.”
Now activists like Flores, Sarr and Noor are busy preparing for future executive orders that will be signed, and four years of a Trump presidency. During the week of February 14, the Department of Homeland Security conducted raids across the US and arrested more than 680 people. While the actions were similar to deportations that occurred early in President Barack Obama’s administration, Trump’s tougher stance and a lack of information fueled fears amongst immigrants.
Activists and advocates are in the thick of trying to understand the new rules while fighting battles that have been brewing for decades. And one month into the Trump administration, they’ve found resolve.
“My shock is over,” says Noor. “We are bracing ourselves for what’s next.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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You Can Now Nominate Candidates for the 2017 Kenya Blog Awards · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Several BAKE Awards 2016 winners. Photo used with permission.
The Kenyan Blog Awards is now taking submissions for this year's ceremony. The call for nominations began on Jan. 9 and runs until March 10. Bloggers and fans can submit nominations in several different categories.
Launched in 2012 by the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE), the Kenyan Blog Awards, also known as BAKE Awards, recognises and honors exceptional Kenyan bloggers. The competition, according to the organisers, is open to all Kenyans and corporate brands that operate in Kenya.
BAKE is a community organization that represents a group of Kenyan online content creators, spearheading several projects such as digital training, the Kenyan Blog Awards, and the citizen-journalism website Kenya Monitor.
This year's addition of two new awards, for Best Lifestyle Blog and Best Human Rights Blog, brings the contest's total to  21 categories. Organisers have also introduced a rule that makes winners of three or more awards ineligible in this year's ceremony.
Once all submissions are received, the judging phase will take place between March 11 and March 24, before online voting opens to the public, beginning on March 27 and concluding on May 9.
Finally, at a public event on May 13 at the Radisson Blu hotel in Nairobi, the 2017 winners will be announced.
Last year, according to organisers, the BAKE Awards received 4,899 submissions in 19 categories and over 500,000 public votes. The organisers also noted that women candidates did well with women voters, such as Jamila El-Jabry (lifeinmombasa.com), Dr. Claire Kinuthia (theycallmedaktari.com), Maryann Waweru (mummytales.com), Rachael Muthoni (safari254.com), Diana Kaluhi (kaluhiskitchen.com) and Lucia Musau (luciamusau.com) — all winning in different categories.
You can check out the full list of the 2016 winners here.


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Kenyans Get an Early Start on Their Summer Election Season · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Kenyan citizen votes in 2007. Photo: Flickr / DEMOSH. CC 2.0.
Kenyans don't go to the polls until Aug. 8, but election fever is already gripping the country. On Twitter, one trending hashtag is #NotWithMyVote, which people are adding to tweets about their political hopes and fears.
Corruption has been a central theme in these tweets, and many Kenyans, arguing that corruption is holding back the nation's development, are now calling for the ouster of incumbent politicians.
Twitter users have reason to be angry; according to a 2016 survey by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Kenya is the third most corrupt country in the world.
Derrick Mecha used the hashtag to criticize Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta:
#NotWithMyVote should i vote for leaders who DAB????? I rather chew it??
— IG:Derrick97_Derro♔♚ (@derrickmecha) February 24, 2017
Mecha was referring to a controversial campaign by the president to motivate young people to register to vote, #UhuruDabChallenge. As part of the promotion effort, Kenyatta recorded a video of dab moves at the State House with a popular local dance group called FBI.
Tyson Wakhanu also stated his reasons for refusing to support the government:
I won't endorse govt that hates professionals;jails doctors, deny teachers & lecturers pay only to loot. at least #NotWithMyVote
— Tyson Wakhanu (@tysonwakson) February 24, 2017
A national strike by doctors and lecturers is also influencing voters. Earlier this month, a court ruled that members of the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union, a union body that governs all Kenyan doctors, should be jailed over the strike.
Clementine Osodo advised voters not to accept bribes:
A leader who bribes you will never be accountable to you. Do not accept bribes, vote wisely.#NotWithMyVote @CMDKenya @mukwanja
— Clementine Osodo (@tinaosodo10) February 24, 2017
Brenda Chebet made the following observation about voter bribery:
Leaders have failed,they should empowered people economically and not bribing them #NotWithMyVote @CMDKenya @sriungi @itsJabu @Kimaani
— Brenda Chebet (@BrendahRonoh) February 24, 2017
The Center for Multiparty Democracy, CDM-Kenya, said a failure in the country's leadership is a major reason for voter bribery:
@Wavinya_Ndeti: We failed as leaders because we don't empower our people economically, leaving them susceptible to handouts. #NotWithMyVote
— CMD-Kenya (@CMDKenya) February 24, 2017
But “Bwana Mdogo” thought voters should punish corrupt politicians by taking their money without voting for them:
“Voters should tell aspirants that ‘I'll take your money, but I dont see quality leadership coming from you’.” @Wavinya_Ndeti#NotWithMyVote
— Bwana Mdogo (@BwanaMdogo1) February 24, 2017
Edwin Ogutu echoed a similar sentiment:
Due to my current unemployed state,I'll take all the money dished out. Come election day I'll vote u out wth a broad smile.#NotWithMyVote
— Edwin Otieno Ogutu (@McOgutu_Taller) February 24, 2017
According to a report by Interthoughts Consulting, commissioned by the Center for Multiparty Democracy in partnership with Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a majority of Kenyans would vote for any politician who gives them money. The study also found that politicians recoup the money spent bribing voters by stealing from the government, once in office.
Shallom identified tribalism and corruption as the main problems in Kenya's electoral politics:
Most Kenyans are won on tribal basis. Majority of the rest won by bribe. They give you 200 knowing there is 200M to be stoln#NotWithMyVote
— Shallom (@shallomron) February 24, 2017
Rose Mute says she will protect the the country by praying and voting:
Will i stand by watch while my country is thrown into chaos by selfish leadership #NotWithMyVote I will pray and vote for good leadership .
— Rose Mute (@RoseMute1) February 24, 2017
Ahmed Mohamed says he wants a government that listens to him:
#NotWithMyVote if the doctors wont be heard..why vote for a govt that doesnt listen in the first place..imma boycott this election
— ahmed amin mohamed (@ahmadam09301749) February 24, 2017
“Shadow Walker” castigated unsympathetic leaders:
#NotWithMyVote will I allow leaders who sit back and watch as Kenyans starve while they run around in search of votes.
— Shadow Walker (@brian_mutoro) February 24, 2017
Arap Kobilo endorsed a “better the devil you know” attitude, arguing that President Kenyatta and his vice president, William Ruto, represent a safer bet than the election's four opposition leaders, Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka, and Moses Wentang'ula, who have formed the National Super Alliance to challenge the president's ruling coalition.
Better 2 thieves than 4 greedy of power #NotWithMyVote
— Arap Kobilo (@KiptumCliff) February 24, 2017
Michael Tsimangi disagreed:
There's never going to be a time where it's better having a thief as president. Why not give your acc. pin while you're @ it #NotWithMyVote https://t.co/DEpKcDBujh
— Michael Tsimangi (@MTsimangi) February 24, 2017
Robert Muga tweeted:
#NotWithMyVote leaders who promised Kenyans better healthcare and now Kenyans dying in hospitals without doctors
— Robert muga (@Robertmuga4) February 24, 2017
The doctors’ strike has brought the nation's public health care system to a halt, and an unknown number of patients have died, as doctors continue to stay away from work.
Clement Kange'the complained about incompetent leaders with criminal backgrounds:
Drop out of school,sell drugs,buy a degree then ask for a public office to protect this atrocity.I refuse this system.#NotwithMyVote
— clement Kange'the (@Clementkangethe) February 24, 2017
Francis said he wants a leader who puts development ahead of tribal politics:
#NotWithMyVote any leader who prefers devt to tribes and regional politics definitely has my vote
— Francis (@wambugumuragu) February 24, 2017
While many Kenyans blame politicians for the country's problems, Tyson Wakhanu said he blames the voters:
Sorry to say the politicians are not the problem, the problem is voters. they demand bribes not manifestos #NotWithMyVote #HarshReality
— Tyson Wakhanu (@tysonwakson) February 24, 2017
Osborned Osoro said he's against the tendency of “recycling” politicians:
#NotWithMyVote will i Elect the same Old people who have been there ever since and they have brought no change in my country.
— Osborne Orori Osoro (@Osisherman) February 24, 2017
Meanwhile, some remain unimpressed with Kendyans’ Twitter hashtag effort. Weke Junior expressed pessimism about the entire #NotWithMyVote campaign:
#NotWithMyVote campaign is zero work, if we already have voting robots.The mental slavery syndrome should be declared national disaster.
— weke junior (@weke_boy) February 24, 2017