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Egypt’s Vietnam: Why Egyptians Are Opposed to a War in Yemen · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Decisive Storm artillery rocks a Yemeni neighbourhood in the capital Sanaa. Photograph shared by Alaa Al-Eryani on Facebook. “This was in Faj Attan near our house. Can't imagine the terror my family and friends are going through right now..” she explains.
Egyptians are turning to social media to voice their refusal of any involvement on the part of their nation's ground troops in a war on Yemen.
Egypt, which is part of a Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing Yemen since March 26, announced that it was ready to send ground troops into the war-torn country. Backed by its Gulf Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Saudi Arabia started an airstrike operation, dubbed Decisive Storm, against Houthi fighters who have been in control of large parts of Yemen since January.
Many Egyptian netizens reminded readers of a leaked recording, in which Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi allegedly described the Gulf's Arabs as having “money like rice” — meaning in abundance — implying that Egypt was involved in the war for the sake of money.
They even drew comparisons, saying that Egyptian soldiers are being sacrificed in Saudi Arabia's war on Yemen in exchange for rice.
Egyptian blogger Nawara Nagm takes a stab, telling her 759K followers:
ولو انت ماعندكش مشكلة اخلاقية مع العدوان وقصف الاطفال ما عندكش مشكلة كمان مع موت جنودك قصاد الرز؟ #لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
If you don't have an ethical problem with war and the killing of children, then you should also have no problem when your soldiers die in exchange for rice
She adds:
ونروح نموت، وفي الاخر نتعاير بالرز اللي ما دخلش جيب ولا عيل من العيال اللي حتنزل بري #لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
We go and die and in the end they make fun of us about the rice, which did not go into the pockets of any of those children who will be involved in the land war
In another tweet, Negm wonders why Parliament is not involved in the decision-making process:
طالما التجنيد اجباري والمواطنين مشاركين فيه بعيالهم، يبقى لهم حق يشاركوا برأيهم عيالهم تموت ولا لا من خلال برلمان ولا حتى استفتاء
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
As long as conscription in the army is compulsory and people are involved in it with their children, then they have the right to express their views on whether their children should live or die through the Parliament or at least have a referendum
She then describes the scene in Egypt, with Government-backed media drumming up for war, saying:
وخلاص احنا حفظنا الخطوات: تأهيل اعلامي، اللي يعترض يبقى خاين وعميل وجاسوس، حبس شوية ناس، يعمل اللي هو عايزه
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
We know the drill: media preparation, and those who object are labelled as traitors, [foreign] agents and spies. He will arrest a few people and then do what he wants
He refers to Sisi, whom Negm does not mention by name as this next tweet reflects:
طلع قوانين، واخد قروض حنتبدس فيها حتى بعد ما هو يموت، ودخل حرب، من غير مشورة اي حد، وكمان يبعت الناس تموت بغير استشارتهم
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
He issued laws and took loans which we will have to pay for until after he dies; and entered a war, without advice from anyone; and he will now send people to their death without getting their permission
She concludes:
هو مش من حقه ياخد عيال الناس يرميهم في اليمن من غير موافقة مجلس شعب ولا حتى استفتاء
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
He has no right to take away people's children and throw them in Yemen without the approval of Parliament or even a referendum
Adel Zidane describes the Egyptian intervention in Yemen as a war of “oil in return for blood.” He tweets:
لا لحرب يحركها منظور النفط مقابل الدماء #لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن
— عادل زيدان (@zidane200882) April 5, 2015
No to a war moved by the perspective of oil in exchange for blood
Having Egyptian forces fighting in Yemen brings back bad memories from the North Yemen Civil War, (1962 -1970). In that war, Egypt and Soviet Russia backed the newly born Yemen Arab Republic, while Saudi Arabia and Jordan, supported by Britain, fought on the side of recently upstaged Imam Muhammed Al Badr, who escaped to Saudi Arabia to rally support. Thousands of Egyptian soldiers were killed in the war.
Yemeni Ammar Al Aulaqi reminds us:
“Yemen is my Vietnam, I sent a company there and ended up reinforcing it with 70,000 troops.” Gamal Abdel Nasser 1967 pic.twitter.com/YopUEUAVX9
— Ammar Al-Aulaqi (@ammar82) April 5, 2015
Negm too reminds her followers about this, saying:
اليمن دي اسمها التاريخي “فييتنام مصر” احنا حنتخيط، احنا مش عارفين نتصرف في سينا حنتصرف في اليمن؟
— يا رب انت عارف بقى (@nawaranegm) April 5, 2015
Yemen is historically known as Egypt's Vietnam. What will we do in Yemen when we don't even know what to do with Sinai?
The Egyptian army has been embroiled in a war in Sinai against “terrorists,” among them the State of Sinai, a jihadist group that was previously named Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis (ABM) before announcing its allegiance to the radical group ISIS.
From Egypt, Carmen wonders why new war fronts are being opened in the region:
#لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن #لا_لتدخل_الجيش_المصرى_فى_اليمن سينا مليانه ارهاب وداعش فى فى ليبيا .. بتفتحوا علينا جبهات تانيه ليه مش حملها ؟
— كارمن (@Rihamzad) April 5, 2015
No to the Egyptian land incursion in Yemen. Sinai is full of terrorism and ISIS is in Libya. Why are they opening up new war fronts which they cannot handle?
She adds:
#لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن #لا_لتدخل_الجيش_المصرى_فى_اليمن ماتزودوش فاتوره الدم الى البلد دى بتدفعها كل يوم ..من حقنا نخاف على جيشنا
— كارمن (@Rihamzad) April 5, 2015
Don't increase the blood bill which this country pays everyday. We have the right to be concerned for our army.
Egyptian Hamdy Mansour adds:
#لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن بيقولك علشان الجنود الغلابة المصرين ..! طب جوي و الغابة المدنيين بتوع اليمن ..! دوال عادي شعب يموت يعيش مش قضية
— انا منصور حمدي شخصيا (@mansourhamdy2) April 5, 2015
They tell you they are against the land incursion into Yemen so that the poor Egyptian soldiers do not get killed! What about the aerial bombardment and the poor Yemeni civilians being killed! Obviously, that's normal and whether a nation lives or dies is not an issue.
From Lebanon Riena Jalal, summing up the situation with her tongue in her cheek, echoes this sentiment. She tweets to her 13.1K followers:
تدخلها الجوي عادي والناس الي عم تموت جراء قصف طيرانها عادي؟ لكن التدخل البري يعني مقتل جنود مصريين.. يا للعار #لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن
— riena (@ro_jalal) April 5, 2015
Air intervention is normal
And the people dying as a result of air bombardment is also normal?
But a land incursion will mean death for Egyptian soldiers. What a shame!
And from Bahrain, @lbanna74 reminds her 2,000 followers:
#لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن لما ولاد مصر ترجع في توابيت اوعو تقولو عليهم شهدا دول بيحاربو علشان فلوس الخليج
— عاشقة البحرين (@lbanna74) April 5, 2015
When the Egyptians return in coffins, don't call them martyrs. They left to fight in exchange for the Gulf's money.
More reactions can be found under the hashtag #لا_لتدخل_مصر_البري_في_اليمن which translates as No to the Egyptian Land Intervention in Yemen from Arabic.
Also read:  Egypt's Vietnam: Lessons from the last time Cairo waded into war in Yemen
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Pakistan was a part of the Saudi-coalition bombing Yemen. Apologies for the error.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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In Bangladesh, a Mobile App Provides a Platform Where Women Can Feel Free to Talk · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

Women’s participation in economic activities in Bangladesh has increased but their health issues are being neglected. Image by Zakir Hossain Chowdhury. Copyright: Demotix (03/10/2011)
When you hear the word Maya Apa, its sound like a human name. But it is not. It is an Android-based mobile application. This application gives advice on a variety of health, social and legal issues to the women of Bangladesh.
Through this app any woman can ask any question without revealing her name. The app maintains total anonymity for its users, who only need an email address to register. Expert advice is usually provided within 24 to 48 hours by a team of doctors, lawyers and counsellors. They respond in the language indicated by the user’s questions. A startup called maya.com.bd has launched this mobile app for women in Bangladesh. The developers of the app, Achia Khaleda Nila and Shubrami Moutushy Mou, both women, argue that the app can be instrumental in empowering women in the country. The app was funded by development organisation BRAC.
The status of women's health in Bangladesh is not satisfactory. Each year 600,000 women die from complications related to pregnancy. A massive 66% of adolescent girls get married before the age of 18 and 64.3% become pregnant before that age. These young girls cannot talk about their health problems to one another because of the social stigma attached. As a result, various types of health, social and legal problems go unsolved. These women are the app's main constituency.
Shahana Siddiqui, Head of Content and Communications at Maya, told the New York Times:
In Bangladesh, women’s health and bodies are always discussed within the context of pregnancy, and prior to that it is as though their health is not an issue. she says. Maya provides a platform where women can freely speak about their emotional, medical, legal, and social needs anonymously, without being judged.
Taniza T is a doctor by profession. She has seen problems connected to women's health up close in Bangladesh. She wrote a review of the App at the Google Play Store:
Impressive. Being a doctor I know how ppl hesitate to talk about their health related issues for long time before actually consulting to a professional. I love the concept and the app is phenomenal. But I would really like to see rapid response to questions. So 4 stars. I see great possibilities.
Maya village, the Facebook page of maya.com.bd, mentions that they earned positive responses from women who use the app to ask for advice on health, legal and psychological issues.
Aanika Islam expects that every women in Bangladesh to benefit from this app. She tweets:
Maya apa: Bringing information to every woman in Bangladesh – http://t.co/IndzECKdsy
— Aanika Islam (@aanika_islam) March 26, 2015
Maya Apa app can be downloaded from Google Play Store free of charge. Samsung Mobile Bangladesh also announced that this app is now available for all Samsung Smartphones sold inside Bangladesh as part of their corporate outreach.
The app has emerged at a time when the Bangladesh communications market is showing no signs of slowing its growth. In Bangladesh there were 121.860 million mobile subscribers as of the end of January 2015. Half were women. Furthermore, 80 % of mobile phones will be internet-enabled by 2016. The app has been developed with basic Smartphones in mind in a bid to reach to everyone, especially rural women.
Beyond Bangladesh, women in any country in the world will be able to use Maya and take advice on their problems.
Ivy H Russell, Maya's founder, wants to continue building the app.
She told local media:
We are motivated to continue innovating with the Maya Apa app. Our mission is to connect women to the knowledge they are looking for through technology, and there is a lot more on the roadmap this year.
Here is Ms. Russel's TEDxDhaka talk explaining the initiative:
Maya's team also won a prize at the Bangladesh Brand Forum's Inspiring Women Award 2015 in the Best Start Up category.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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In China, ‘Cooperative Marriage’ Means a Gay Man and a Lesbian Woman Wed Each Other · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

A bridal store in Zhejiang province, China. Photo by Flickr user Bill L. CC BY 2.0
This article and radio report by Ruth Morris for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on April 2, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Gays and lesbians are getting married in China — but not in the way they might hope.
Same-sex unions are still illegal in China, and members of the Chinese LGBT community face the same intense parental pressure as their straight friends to get hitched and produce grandchildren.
“In our culture, a person who doesn’t get married will be considered to be disobedient towards their parents,” says a gay man identified as John, a lawyer in his 30s.
So John turned to a solution known as a “cooperative marriage:” He married “Xiaodan,” who is lesbian, a year ago. In a nation where being gay is not acceptable, John and Xiaodan asked not to be identified by their real names.
Cooperative marriages seem to be gaining popularity as matchmaking websites and apps get into the act. One service, Chinagayles.com, boasts more than 45,700 successful marriages. John and Xiaodan's own longtime partners got married to each other just a week after their wedding.
But the arrangements aren't always just a matter of a quickie ceremony and a convenient excuse for relatives. The couple spoke to me at the apartment John bought for Xiaodan and her partner as part of their marriage contract. It’s a spotless one-bedroom with a small sofa and no dining table. John says the idea was to create a space where parents and in-laws were less inclined to drop by unannounced for a meal, or to spend the night.
The marriage contract also divvies up wedding expenses and even covers child support; both John and his wife eventually want a child. He’ll pay 70 percent of the expenses, she’ll pay 30.
John is out to a handful of friends, but he worries his elderly parents would spend the rest of their lives worrying about him being marginalized if he were to come out to his family. “I want them to see the positive part of my life,” John says.
Xiaodan says she entered a cooperative marriage because she wanted to have a child and to make her parents happy. Chinese New Year is an especially taxing time for young, unmarried gay people. It's “Christmas times five,” she says — and with blind dates. But she admits it’s also difficult for parents.
“Sitting around the table, everyone asks, ‘When did your daughter start dating? When will she get married?’” Xiaodan says. “It’s a constant comparison: Who has a baby first? Whose grandchild does better in school? Whose child earns more money? I only run into these people once in a while. But for my parents, they are always in this environment.”
LGBT advocates say China’s one-child policy has upped the ante, intensifying pressure on only children to carry on family lines. But they're divided on the value of cooperative marriages as a solution.
Some see the unions as a more honest option than entering a traditional marriage while keeping true sexual preferences a secret. Others, like Steven Bielinski, an American gay rights advocate and the founder of Shanghai LGBT Professionals, thinks of them as a poision pill.
“If people decide to disappear into these marriages of convenience, it’s only going to acquiesce to the status quo of stigma here in China,” he says. “By entering into these marriages, it’s reinforcing heterosexual marriage, heterosexual identity, as the only acceptable, normative, positive lifestyle for people.”
There is at least one place in China where gay lifestyles are discussed quite openly: the Internet. Bielinski points to a 2014 survey by Baidu, China’s largest search engine, which found 86 percent of users aged 18 to 25 “totally accept homosexuality.”
But, back in her tidy apartment, Xiaodan says even if China were to legalize gay marriage, it would take years — if not decades — for social attitudes to change. And besides, the pair even enjoyed their wedding; John’s partner was his best man, Xiaodan’s partner was her maid of honor.
“When we were taking wedding pictures, we took some of just the men — me and my partner,” John says. “Actually, I didn’t feel the wedding was for me and Xiaodan. I felt it was for me and my boyfriend. And the women, they felt it was their wedding too.”
As John makes tea, Xiaodan takes a few wedding photos out of a drawer and frets over her appearance like any other bride. “I really don’t like this because it’s so tight,” she says, pointing at a picture of herself in a fairytale wedding gown, a tiara tucked into her hair. “I can’t imagine this is me!”
Reality is no fairy tale, either. Xiaodan’s partner is seeing someone else, so Xiaodan has moved out. For now, her plans to conceive a baby with John through artificial insemination are on hold.
“I used to think my life was so beautiful, so happy, and I wanted to show that to my baby,” Xiaodan says. “Now I feel financial pressure, relationship pressure, family pressure. I’m a bit scared.”
John says he respects Xiaodan's choices no matter what, but he thinks she might regret not moving ahead on having a child. If and when they do have a child, he says, “I will let him or her know that love between the same gender is very normal, and sometimes great.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Nigerians Want ‘Magic’ from President-Elect · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Nigeria's president elect Muhammadu Buhari. Photo used with permission from Statecraft Inc (Photo: Kelechi Amachi Obi, Styling: Uche Nnaji).
On March 28, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a president. The two main contenders were Dr Goodluck Jonathan — the incumbent — and General Muhammadu Buhari. History was not only made but the ‘impossible’ happened — a Nigerian incumbent lost an election. General Muhammadu Buhari was elected as the President of Nigeria beating Dr Jonathan with over 3 million votes. Buhari will be sworn in on May 29, 2015.
The euphoria of victory was palpable considering the near ‘impossibility’ in the African context for a sitting president to be voted out of office. Besides, there was significant fear of post-election violence with the International Criminal Court in The Hague issuing a stern warning to Nigerian politicians: “incite violence and go to jail”. In addition, many mainstream foreign media had stoked tension with false reporting during the vote.
Esther Agbarakwe was not happy with the stereotyped narrative:
Foolish Headline – > @CBNNews: Muslim candidate beats Christian in Nigerian presidential election, NOW WHAT? http://t.co/r9EbtDUBsL
— Esther Agbarakwe (@estherclimate) April 1, 2015
Highlander said:
Not the story they hoped for RT@HL_Blue: Watch CNN move on swiftly from Nigeria
— Dame Jayla Peperempe (@Miss_Jayla) March 31, 2015
Sifa Gowon was furious:
Thank you @Reuters for your ‘balanced’ reporting about the elections that have been almost 90% violence free. Nothing good to report, eh?
— Sifa Asani Gowon (@sifushka) March 29, 2015
Joghead Jones warned thus:
Dear @cnni , your report is wrong , please retract before we bring the anger of 170m people to your doorstep
— Jughead Jones (@borie_nla) March 29, 2015
However, this anger was averted by the gesture of the incumbent, Dr Jonathan, who immediately conceded defeat when the outcome became clear and phoned the President-elect to congratulate him. The video of President Jonathan’s concession speech can be watched here, below is the text:
Fellow Nigerians, I thank you all for turning out en-masse for the March 28 General Elections. I promised the country free and fair elections. I have kept my word. I have also expanded the space for Nigerians to participate in the democratic process. That is one legacy I will like to see endure. Although some people have expressed mixed feelings about the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), I urge those who may feel aggrieved to follow due process based on our constitution and our electoral laws, in seeking redress. As I have always affirmed, nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. The unity, stability and progress of our dear country is more important than anything else….
The president-elect, Buhari also gave an inspiring acceptance speech:
I am immensely grateful to God for this day and for this hour. I feel truly honoured and humbled that the Nigerian people have so clearly chosen me to lead them. The official announcement from INEC was the moment the vast majority of Nigerians had hoped and been waiting for. Today, history has been made, and change has finally come. Your votes have changed our national destiny for the good of all Nigerians.
INEC has announced that I, Muhammadu Buhari, shall be your next president. My team and I shall faithfully serve you. There shall no longer be a ruling party again: APC will be your governing party. We shall faithfully serve you. We shall never rule over the people as if they were subservient to government.
Buhari also promised to fight corruption, which he described as an “evil worse than terrorism”:
Furthermore, we shall strongly battle another form of evil that is even worse than terrorism—the evil of corruption. Corruption attacks and seeks to destroy our national institutions and character. By misdirecting into selfish hands funds intended for the public purpose, corruption distorts the economy and worsens income inequality. It creates a class of unjustly enriched people. Such an illegal yet powerful force soon comes to undermine democracy because its conspirators have amassed so much money that they believe they can buy government. We shall end this threat to our economic development and democratic survival. I repeat that corruption will not be tolerated by this administration.
The example of people's votes actually counting in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, has great implications for the continent as a whole. How long will sit-tight leaders in other countries be able to hold out for now?
Yet Nigeria’s president-elect will be burdened by expectations, explains Simon Kolawole:
To be honest, I don’t know whether to rejoice or sympathise with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari anytime I read all the sweet comments about him on social media — especially on Twitter. I don’t know any presidential candidate who has been so idolised in recent times — which is an excellent accolade any politician will gladly take. On the one hand, it is good for him. He will not be complaining at all. No politician will complain about such good fortune, especially with only a few weeks to an election. On the other hand, my God! The expectations are sky-high. Incredible. From what I am reading, Buhari is expected to perform nothing short of magic in Aso Rock…
Micheal Olorunfemi thinks that Buhari has to make tough economic decisions especially in the key petroleum industry, which low world prices have rocked:
Two major areas I expect him to work on are, the upstream and the downstream of our oil and gas sector. At the upstream, multi-national companies are not investing in the country’s oil and gas because they can’t make profits. Our reserves are depleting because exploration is not done to expand it. Indigenous investors don’t have the finance to undertake exploration. The plummeting price of oil has also made things more difficult.
Two is the question of the downstream, which today is a total collapse. With the refineries not working, we continue to depend on importation of products from outside. That is why on the question of subsidy, government must have to come out and clear that and remove subsidy. If there are no more subsidies, any marketer can import and sell at the market price. Government would still be there to ensure marketers don’t sell above the market price or exploit Nigerians. The government must stop sustaining deficits in terms of oil and gas.
Professor Remi Sonaiya, the only female presidential candidate in this election, advised General Bihari:
I also wish to note that the expectations of Nigerians for a better quality of life are very high. I pray that God will grant the General the wisdom to rise up to the challenge and live up to the challenge and live up to the promises of his campaign.
But the expectations Nigerians have for the president-elect's first term in office are “overwhelming” says newspaper publisher, Sam Nda-Isaiah:
I congratulate General Muhammadu Buhari for this feat. The political rescue mission that started with the 2003 presidential election through the 2007 and 2011 presidential elections and which cost the lives of people like Marshal Harry, Chuba Okadigbo, and many others, has finally come to fruition. But I also sympathize with the president-elect because majority of Nigerians want change in their lives like from the day after his swearing in as president. That would be expecting magic.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Photographer Shows How it Feels to Ride in Singapore’s Crowded Trains · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Since 2011, photographer Edwin Koo has been taking photos of passengers on Singapore’s Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) to “paint a collective portrait of society”
In particular, he “captures the everyday theatre that happens in front of train doors” where people are “forced to the edge” because of overcrowded train coaches. There are about 2.8 million MRT passengers and many of them have been demanding the government improve the efficiency of the train service.
I photographed people who were forced to the edge of the train doors to show how dire the situation was. These photographs were born from a sense of frustration and alienation.
The crowded trains presented an ever-changing theatre each time the doors opened and closed, revealing interesting protagonists, diverse lives and a myriad of emotions. The camera gave me a chance to see what my eye would have missed – a collective portrait of Singapore, always in transit.
Edwin explains why he took photos of strangers and asks his fellow commuters for understanding:
This is the nature of the project: candid, transient, no encore, no recourse – until now. All the photographs made are, in one way or another, you and me. We are all commuters, all 2.8 million of us.
…the photos of Transit are not acts of self-gratification, not weapons of malice, and definitely not tools of instantaneous incrimination. They are a collective portrait of the society that we live in today.
Below are some photos which Edwin uploaded on Facebook:
Edwin’s photos will be compiled in a book called Transit which will be launched this week. He assures his readers that he will not be making a profit from the book.

author: Mong Palatino


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Thailand’s New Security Law ‘Annihilates Freedom of Expression’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

File photo of General Prayuth Chan-ocha, the incumbent Prime Minister of Thailand. Prayuth signed a new security law to replace martial law in the country. Photo by Vichan Poti, Copyright @Demotix (9/4/2014)
After eleven months, the Thailand government finally lifted martial law in the country on April 1, 2015; but it quickly signed a new security law which some human rights groups described as even more repressive.
Thailand’s army launched a coup last May, purportedly to end the street clashes between opposition and pro-government forces. It imposed martial law, controlled the newsrooms of major media stations, and banned political gatherings. An interim constitution was drafted which led to the establishment of a military-backed civilian government led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha. The new government is known as the National Council of Peace and Order. But martial law remained in effect despite the appointment of civilian authorities.
Invoking article 44 of the interim constitution, Prayuth signed Order Number 3/2558 (3/2015) which repealed martial law but imposed harsher security measures across the country. The new order provides for the appointment of “peace and order maintenance officers” from the ranks of the military who are delegated with sweeping powers to defend the security of the state. These army personnel can search homes, summon and arrest troublemakers, confiscate properties, and detain suspected individuals in special premises for up to seven days even without judicial authority.
Freedom of assembly is still curtailed as stated in article 12 of the order which bans “political gatherings of five or more persons”.
These cartoons by @stephffart reflect the sentiment of many activists and democracy advocates in Thailand with regard to article 44:
MAD JUNTAX – Fury road to Democracy ( or not ) – cartoon 2 pic.twitter.com/4z2cxxud0a
— stephff art (@stephffart) April 4, 2015
Cartoon for the Nation ‘s monday – Prayut Max 3 pic.twitter.com/OS2M8BaFW9
— stephff art (@stephffart) April 4, 2015
The order is also a threat to free speech. Article 5 of the order could be used to stifle dissent. The provision reads:
Peacekeeping Officers are empowered to issue orders prohibiting the propagation of any item of news or the sale or distribution of any book or publication or material likely to cause public alarm or which contains false information likely to cause public misunderstanding to the detriment of national security or public order. (Unofficial translation by iLaw, the Freedom of Expression Documentation Center)
Reacting to this provision, the country’s media giants represented by the Thai Journalists Association, National Press Council of Thailand, Thai Broadcasting Journalists Association, and News Broadcasting Council of Thailand banded together and issued a statement which criticized the article as “the greater threat to press freedom and freedom of expression than the lifted Martial Law.”
They urged the NCPO to clarify the intent of the article and provide a more specific definition of “national security threat” and “dissemination of false information.”
Without any clear definition of national security threat, cause of public alarm and dissemination of false information, the authorities might over-exercise or abuse their power, which is very contradicting to the NCPO order.
They also warned that this particular provision would affect millions of Internet users:
Civilians are also at risk, as people who communicates and discusses topics through online social media that contain information viewed by the authorities as threat to national security, cause of public alarm, spreading of false information or public misunderstanding will be punished on the same condition.
Referring to the same article, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance asked:
What is the criteria for determining if the content in question ’causes alarm’ or is ‘false information likely to cause public misunderstanding’? If the content in question is true and factual, can truth be a defense against such a prohibition?
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein was more direct when he assailed the NCPO’s new order as a measure that would ‘annihilate freedom of expression’ in Thailand. He added:
Normally I would warmly welcome the lifting of martial law, but I am alarmed at the decision to replace martial law with something even more draconian, which bestows unlimited powers on the current Prime Minister without any judicial oversight at all.
News about the lifting of martial law in Thailand was initially met with skepticism since it was announced on April Fools’ Day. But the Thai junta was clearly not joking when it passed a more brutal law to replace martial law.


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After Gunmen Kill at Least 147, Where Is the World’s Solidarity With Kenya?  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Relatives line up at the Chiromo funeral home in Nairobi to identify bodies of their kin killed after Al-Shabaab attacked Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya. Photo by Boniface Muthoni. Copyright Demotix
Al-Shabaab militants attacked Garissa University College in Kenya on 2 April 2015, killing at least 147 people, mostly students, and injuring 79. More than eight times as many people were cut down by the violence than were killed during the Charlie Hebdo shooting in France, which left 17 dead, yet the Garissa tragedy hasn't prompted anywhere near the same level of international solidarity as the Paris attack.
There was a similar criticism after the Baga massacre in Nigeria, which occurred around the same time as the Charlie Hebdo killings. While the latter saw an unprecedented show of sympathy with more than 40 heads of states participating in a rally of national unity, the former received scant coverage and attention.
In the wake of the horrific Garissa violence, Twitter users were quick to notice the lack of international reaction. Shekhar Kapur from Mumbai, India, concluded:
Lack of International reaction to the #GarrisaAttack compared to #JeSuisCharlie shows how little the world cares about #AfricanLivesMatter
— Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) April 5, 2015
While Idriss Ali Nassah observed:
U jumped on #IamCharlie bandwagon.U even changed your profile pictures, but haven't said a word about #GarrisaAttack.Please ask yourself why
— Idriss Ali Nassah (@mynassah) April 5, 2015
Let's see how many of the African presidents who rushed to Paris for #CharlieHebdo march will head to #Kenya to protest #GarrisaAttack
— Idriss Ali Nassah (@mynassah) April 2, 2015
Life is sacred everywhere, @borderlessciti wrote, tweeting at media heavyweight Oprah Winfrey and Huffington Post editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington:
@Oprah @ariannahuff Every human life is Sacred, whether in #Paris or #Garrisa! #147notjustanumber #GarrisaAttack pic.twitter.com/It1OGNPaLw
— borderless citizen (@borderlessciti) April 5, 2015
Observers criticised what coverage Western media did give the attack, as well.
After CNN wrongly placed Tanzania in Uganda and Nairobi in Nigeria on a map of East Africa, the Africa is a Country blog suggested that people switch off television news to make sense of the attack:
To make sense of the attack by Al Shabaab on Garissa University near Kenya’s border with Somalia (official count of fatalities are 148; others say closer to 200), you may want to switch off television news. Especially since CNN is moving Nairobi to Nigeria and Tanzania to Uganda. Crucial will be how these attacks will be framed in the next few hours and especially how the Kenyan state will respond (already they’ve blamed the judiciary and in the past they’ve round up Somalis despite little evidence). Equally important is public opinion. So, like we did at the time of the attack by Al Shabaab on the Westgate Mall in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, we’ve compiled a bunch of links, including some twitter accounts, we suggest you read or follow.
Idriss Ali Nassah stressed the need for Africa to tell its own stories:
BBC is broadcasting a debate, CNN is fixated on the Iran nuclear deal. Africa needs own media houses to tell our stories #GarrisaAttack
— Idriss Ali Nassah (@mynassah) April 2, 2015
KiGossip.Com wondered why a CNN journalist would ask a survivor if he/she was scared:
So, a CNN Journalist asked a survivor from the Garrisa Attack: ‘WERE YOU SCARED'? Absolute MADNESS… Dis chap sd be FIRED.
— KiGossip.Com (@KitamirikeAndy) April 6, 2015
However, a few users noted that even local media houses are not doing a good job:
Let's just agree that local media did/has done a shoddy job in covering #GarrisaAttack. Bait headlines and shallow reporting.
— PluckyAdage (@PluckyAdage) April 5, 2015
As @StandardKenya runs pictures of families in pain but quotes from politicians. Shame on you. #147notjustanumber pic.twitter.com/ppji2gHMDL
— Ory Okolloh Mwangi (@kenyanpundit) April 5, 2015
Africans blaming the West from moving on so fast from the #GarrisaAttack yet our own media moved on first.
— AyoBrayo (@iOceanBrayo) April 6, 2015
JuwelsM argued that Africans should drive their own narrative:
@mynassah We r all terribly guilty of undervaluing ourselves.Perhaps it's time we stop waiting 4 the West 2 decide 4 us what's important.
— JuwelsM. (@JuwelsM) April 5, 2015

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Meet Mexico’s Crowdfunding Campaign Against Censorship and Bots · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Photo from loquesigue.net, used with permission.
The Mexican groups #YoSoyRed and #loQueSigue have organized a crowdfunding campaign to develop an open-source software that monitors and identify bots used by the Mexican government to influence public opinion and trends in Twitter.
The presentation included some harsh criticism of the groups responsible for the bot nets:
A quien usa esos bots no le gusta la libre información y el libre intercambio de ideas. Tampoco le gusta que el mundo sepa lo que ocurre en México. […] ¿Qué pasaría si aparte de actuar en masa contra los bots través de un super medio que  existentes y blogs?
Whoever uses these bots does not like free information and the free exchange of ideas. Nor would they like the world to know what happens in Mexico. […] What if there were a way (other than using bots) to spread widely and instantly everything the authorities wish to censor through a super medium that connects all existing free media and blogs?
Two examples of how bots can endanger human lives and change trends in social networks are #1DMX and the most recent #Yasequenoaplauden.
The following video explains how the hashtag #YaSeQueNoAplauden, a criticism of the Mexican President, Enrique Peña Nieto, disappeared among the trends on Twitter despite its 133,462 tweets. By comparison, the visible topic trends #MeDesmoronoComoElPAN and #MePasóEnElMetro, according to Topsy, had only 13,411 and 3,046 tweets, respectively. The video suggests that attacks employing bots caused the disappearance of the #YaSeQueNoAplauden hashtag from Twitter trending topics in Mexico and worldwide.
People from LadoB talked to Alberto Escorcia, the developer behind the crowdfunding project, who says the proposed software “would have the ability to analyze millions of messages and could also measure various parameters such as speed trends and its geographical origin.”
Así, en lugar de actuar cuando ya está el el HT creado podemos actuar antes de que surja con una algoritmo de respuesta inmediata que leyendo en tiempo real todos los tweets de México detecte cuando un grupo de bots se está formando.
So, instead of acting when the HT is already created, we can act before it emerges with an immediate response algorithm that reads in real time all the tweets from Mexico and detects when a group of bots is being formed.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Nigerian Netizens Already Have a #ToDoListForBuhari, the Country’s President-Elect · Global Voices
Kofi Yeboah

Nigeria's President-elect Muhammadu Buhari. Photo used with permission from Statecraft Inc.
Just a few hours after opposition candidate retired General Muhammadu Buhari defeated incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria's elections, some of the country's voters were compiling a wish list of tasks for the president-elect on Twitter under the hashtag #ToDoListForBuhari.
The Twitter hashtag was started with a tweet from Sugabelly, a Nigerian manga artist and illustrator of epic comics:
Guys!!! Can we start a hashtag – #ToDoListForBuhari ???? @bubusn @FantaBender @OoTheNigerian @ChineEzeks @QueenCleo_92 @bimadew @AfroVII
— Sugabelly (@sugabelly) March 31, 2015
Nigerians have high expectations for Buhari, who campaigned with the slogan “Change“. Twitter users have so far asked for improved transportation systems, a tougher fight against corruption, practical solutions to youth unemployment, better security, access to Internet, solutions to maternal and mental health challenges and an enabling environment for investment.
To eliminate the threat posed by militant group Boko Haram, @kEsquire suggested that the president-elect should:
#ToDoListForBuhari Increase Military Funding
— What is your Truth? (@kEsquire) March 31, 2015
@iammagnetic6 also emphasised the need to prioritize saving the lives of the young girls abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014:
GodBlessBuhari,GodblessNigeria.#NigeriaDecided. first things first.(1) #BringBackOurGirls #ToDoListForBuhari — ADAORAH (@iammagnetic6) March 31, 2015
Sandra, a TedxYouth speaker, advised Buhari how to motivate police officers:
#ToDoListForBuhari Sanitise the Nigerian police force. Pay them better. Get them out of barracks and into communities to live.
— #WePledgePeace (@Sandra_coolfm) March 31, 2015
On the same topic of reforming the police force, Hassanool Basar suggested:
#ToDoListForBuhari – Reform the Nigerian Police Force – Nigerians shd nt be policed by ignorant thugs with zero understanding of the law
— Hassanool_Basar (@Hassanool_basar) April 2, 2015
Sharia law, which is mostly practiced in the Muslim-majority north, has been heavily criticised as unfairly targeting women. Sugarbelly advised the president-elect that the only law that should govern the country should be the constitution:
#ToDoListForBuhari – Get rid of Sharia Law. The ONLY law governing Nigerians should be the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
— Sugabelly (@sugabelly) March 31, 2015
On fiscal discipline, netizens suggested that there should be a reduction in government expenditure:
Cutting government waste starts with politicians and political appointees. We demand a 70% reduction across the board #todolistforbuhari
— Iyinoluwa Aboyeji (@iaboyeji) March 31, 2015
Recurrent expenditure has to be reduce. Capital expenditure to have larger share in the federal budget #ToDoListForBuhari
— A B Inuwa (@Abba_bI) April 1, 2015
To tackle corruption in the civil service, @temisol called for a restructuring process:
Restructure the civil service so that it isn't this gaping void sucking resources while producing sub-par results. #ToDoListForBuhari
— TT (@temisol) March 31, 2015
The need for constant supply of electricity was high on the to-do list. Nigeria has been battling with inconsistent power supply. @sugabelly again said:
#ToDoListForBuhari – Get rid of the Generator Cartels. Nigerians need constant electricity to be productive. — Sugabelly (@sugabelly) March 31, 2015
Oil stability was one of the main campaign messages of the president -elect. In achieving this goal, Abibba Princewill suggested a massive investment in the oil field:
#ToDoListForBuhari continue massive investments in the Niger Delta + provide incentives for Nigerians 2 study STEM subjects.
— Abbiba Princewill (@Bibbs_A) April 2, 2015
@eldivyn echoed the need for Buhari to focus on ensuring improvement in the health sector:
#ToDoListForBuhari Maternal Health. Infant mortality. Health tech. Mental health. Everything that has to do with health. We're suffrin! — RBL (@eldivyn) March 31, 2015
And in terms of Nigera's educational challenges, Rio Deja Naija suggested:
Build better schools so that young kids won't be roaming the streets selling pure water & Gari. #ToDoListForBuhari — Rio Deja Naija (@shangoshad) March 31, 2015

author: Kofi Yeboah


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Peru’s Congress Censures Prime Minister Ana Jara in the Throes of Domestic Spying Scandal  · Global Voices
Mary Aviles

Ana Jara during the 2015 congressional budget approval hearing. Image from Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
On March 30, Peru's Congress voted to censure Prime Minster Ana Jara Velásquez, in the wake of recent disclosures of inappropriate information-gathering by the country's intelligence agency, known as the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (DINI). According to newspaper sources, DINI spied on domestic targets including members of Congress, business executives, politicians and journalists.
The motion to censure was brought in response to the Prime Minsister's “failure to duly investigate, denounce and sanction those accused of committing illegal acts within the DINI.”
Ex-Defense Minister Pedro Cateriano became the country's new Prime Minister on April 2.
Ms. Jara, an ally of President Ollanta Humala, insisted that the agency's reporting was in keeping with publicly available information.
She wrote on Twitter:
Doy gracias al Señor JESUS por haberme dado la oportunidad de servir a mi país desde el Ejecutivo! Es una honra q “este Congreso me CENSURE”
— Ana Jara Velásquez (@anajarav) March 31, 2015
I am grateful to our Lord JESUS for having given me the opportunity to serve my country in the Executive branch! It is an honor that this Congress has CENSURED me.
By a vote of 72 votes in favor, 42 votes against, and two abstentions, Jara was removed from office. The Fuerza Popular, Concertación Parlamentaria, PPC-APP, Dignidad y Democracia and Solidaridad Nacional parties all voted against Jara.
Renowned Peruvian author and Nobel prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, a vocal supporter of President Humala during the 2011 general election campaign, sent a letter to Ms Jara “congratulating her” for having been censured by the congress. Ms. Jara later published the note on Twitter:
“Muy estimada Ana: estas líneas no son para darle el pésame sino, por el contrario, para felicitarla por haber recibido ese homenaje involuntario que le ha hecho el Congreso censurándola”.
Dear Ana: I respectfully submit these lines to you not as an expression of my condolences but rather to congratulate you for having received by way of censure an involuntary homage on the part of Congress.
The cartoonist Heduardo tweeted:
Los dos partidos más corruptos de la historia (mas sus piquichones PPC y Solidaridad) censuraron a Ana Jara. Ciertamente es una honra.ad) censuraron a Ana Jara. Ciertamente es una honra.— Heduardo (@heduardo50) March 31, 2015
The two most corrupt parties in history (on top of the disgruntled PPC [Christian People's Pary] and Solidaridad [National Solidarity Party]) censured Ana Jara. It certainly is an honor.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala also backed his former Prime Minister on social media:
Presidente #OllantaHumala: Quiero resaltar mi agradecimiento a la Premier #AnaJara.
— Presidencia Perú (@prensapalacio) March 31, 2015
President #OllantaHumala: I want to underscore my gratitude to Prime Minster #AnaJara.
But not everyone agreed with these gestures of support. Raygada Cáceres @Carayca, who describes himself as a politics and news analyst, said:
CARTA D FELICITACIÓN DE MVLL A ANA JARA, ES ARROGANTE XQ LA HACE COMO SI FUERA EN REPRESENTACIÓN DEL PERÚ Y COMO SI HUBIERA TRABAJADO PA EL.
— CarlosRaygadaCáceres (@Carayca) March 31, 2015
Congratulatory note from MVLL to ANA JARA, is arrogant because he writes as though he is doing so on behalf of Peru and as though she had worked for him.
Ms. Jara's tenure lasted just eight months. Peru's intelligence services are accused of carrying out more than 100,000 data searches on opposition politicians between 2011 and 2015 as well as on Vice President Marisol Espinoza, which has fuelled speculation about Espinoza's relationship with the The American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) ruling party she belongs to. DINI is also accused of spying on business leaders, military personnel, politicians and journalists. Faced with mounting evidence, Vice President Espinoza publicly requested the resignation of the Prime Minister and accused her of being the politician responsible for surveillance of members of the opposition.
Government supporters characterised the decision to censure Jara as “despicable,” arguing that she was not responsible for DINI's surveillance or data collection.
The Storify network has collected quotes by lawmakers made during the censure debate.
Meanwhile, the newspaper El Comercio captured the impact of the historical motion on social media:
[A Twitter timeline suggests censure was just a form of blackmail on the part of Congress in response to rumours that the president will soon dissolve the legislature.]
In accordance with Peru's constitution, President Humala was constitutionally bound to accept Jara's resignation, which must come within 72 hours of the vote. Humala submitted the candidacy of a new Prime Minister, Pedro Cateriano on April 2. It was accepted by Congress.
The censure motion unleashed its own brand of humor in social networks, as evidenced by a collection of memes:
[I am leaving the Palace…and going back to my regular congressional seat. “I've been kicked out of better places.”]
Global Voices recently covered another spy scandal that involved claims of Chile spying on its Peruvian neighbour; the case has led to two non-commissioned officers of the Peruvian Navy being court-martialed.

author: Mary Aviles


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The Latest News from the Crisis in Iran’s Lake Urmia · Global Voices
Iran Voices

Iran Voices looks at recent efforts to save Lake Urmia, one of the world's largest salt-water lakes. Photo by Davood Ghardar for ISNA News. Photo published for reuse.
This post first appeared on IranVoices.org and is translated into English and published here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
“I promise you if I am elected as the head of the executive branch, I will start working to save Lake Urmia on the first day,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said during his election campaign.
Indeed, the topic of Lake Urmia has become something of a national crisis. This lake is the one of the largest saltwater lakes on Earth located in the country's northwestern corner, close to the Turkish border, between the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan, and parts of northern Kurdistan. Researchers for the Journal of Great Lake Research have stated the lake is on the brink of a major environmental disaster. Urmia's receding shoreline has led to significant shrinkage in the lake's surface area, endangering an entire ecosystem. The video below outlines the severe changes between October 1972 and August 2014.
During his first cabinet meeting in August 2013, Rouhani established a working group to address the crisis. His cabinet's energy minister heads the group, while other members include the agriculture minister, the interior minister, and the Environment Protection Organisation. Other efforts include initiatives by the three provinces involved, Iran's Department of the Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to develop solutions for the government to implement. A meeting held in March of 2014 between these forces resulted in a 11-point action plan involving numerous institutions of Iran's government, including a campaign of national awareness. Other efforts include a 2 million dollar grant by the government of Japan to UNDP Iran to aid the restoration of the lake (the second phase of the grant was renewed this past March).
The most recent remark about the Urmia situation was from the dean for environmental protection in Eastern Azerbaijan, Hamid Ghasemi, who told ISNA news agency: “The average rainfall in the province from the beginning of the month of Mehr (mid-September) was 215.3 mm” [until the end of Esfand, or mid-March], compared to last year's rainfall of 117.1 mm.”
Despite the increase in precipitation, Ghasemi noted that water levels and lake volume had not changed from previous years. Ghasemi emphasized that the way towards “improving the water level situation” lay in increased precipitation alongside the redirecting of water from major dams in the area. He also noted the importance about creating awareness of the lake's conditions among local villages next to the lake, catering the campaigns to the local languages.

author: Iran Voices


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Turkey Blocks Twitter, YouTube, Scores of Websites After Prosecutor’s Killing · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

A police officer fires teargas in Istanbul during the Gezi Park protests, June 2013. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Twitter and YouTube are blocked once again in Turkey as of today, April 6, following the mass circulation of photos of a hostage crisis that ended with the death of a government prosecutor. According to Hurriyet Daily News, authorities have also blocked 166 websites that posted the photos.
Although Facebook was initially blocked for the same reason, the block was lifted after the company complied with Turkish officials’ orders to remove the offending images.
After a near-nationwide power cut on the morning of March 31, photos of public prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz with a gun pointed to his head began circulating on Twitter. Kiraz was taken hostage by leftist militants in an Istanbul courthouse and held for several hours in a crisis that ended late that night with the deaths of two of Kiraz’s captors and Kiraz himself, following an intervention by special police forces.
Kiraz had become a high-profile figure after being assigned to the case of Berkin Elvan, the teenage boy who died after being hit in the head by a teargas canister fired by police during the 2013 Gezi Park protests. President Erdogan (then Prime Minister) expressed no remorse for the boy’s death and dared to suggest that the teen, who had not participated in the protests, may have been working with a terrorist organization.
Kiraz was the fourth prosecutor to take on the Elvan case, but some say he was the first who took steps towards identifying those responsible for the killing. Despite Kiraz’s death, all government representatives including the President Erdogan hailed the police officers involved in the operation and described the operation as “successful”.
Just hours after Kiraz was kidnapped, images of Kiraz being held at gunpoint began circulating on Twitter. Allegedly taken by his captors, the photos were originally sent from an account that was suspended shortly after the photos appeared. The next day, April 1, 13 media outlets were banned from attending the prosecutor’s funeral, reportedly because they had published the photos. On the day of the incident, television news networks were forced by authorities to cease live reporting from outside the courthouse.
Turkish netizens are not shocked by this rash of censorship – after all, this happened before. In the run-up to the March elections in 2014, authorities blocked major social media platforms following the online circulation of audio recordings that purportedly featured the then-Prime Minister discussing with his son Bilal how the two should hide millions of dollars in cash. His inner circle was also affected – the leaked tapes pointed towards widespread corruption among AKP party members, friends, and CEOs. To dampen public unrest and reduce scrutiny, authorities opted to block YouTube and Twitter.
On April 2, a criminal investigation was launched against seven Turkish newspapers for publishing the controversial photographs. And as of today, Turkish Internet users are once again unable to access websites and platforms critical for news and information-sharing.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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The 147 People Killed in the Garissa Attack Are More Than a Statistic  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A screenshot from independent newspaper Daily Nation (@DailyNation) featuring photos of Garissa shooting victims, shared on Twitter.
The international and local media coverage of the Garissa University College shootings, which saw at least 147 people killed by Al-Shabaab militia, has been heavily criticised. While names of the attackers have been widely published, the victims have often been reduced to a number: 147.
In response, Kenyans online have made efforts to give names and faces to the victims of the barbaric violence.
Blogging at the Africa is a Country blog, Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina said Kenya is “not a nation if we can’t properly memorialize each and every citizen we lose”:
I want to see the names ages and photographs of those who died in Mpeketoni. Those killed during PEV. Stories. Forgetting is not good. It is in these acts, our public commons reawaken. The politics of saying we are not ready to face ourselves, the fullness of our pain, is the same politics that allows us to ignore it when a Kenyan strips the institution they are given to run, strips it dry, dry, and returns like a zombie, a plastic rubber-band zombie in some new form, to govern somewhere else again.
He continued:
I want to see three million Nairobians flood the streets to cry, and sing, and hug because our children have been killed. I want to stop feeling that we live inside mostly the private. I want never to hear the word self-empowerment again.
On Twitter, Ory Okolloh Mwangi explained why it is important in African culture to name the victims:
Naming and naming ceremonies a big deal in African culture. Signifies life past, present, future. And so we will name them one by one.
— Ory Okolloh Mwangi (@kenyanpundit) April 5, 2015
In order to humanise the victims, some Twitter users have tweeted the hashtag #147notjustanumber to share their names and photos:
RIP Elizabeth Nyangarora. Graduated in 2012 from St Andrews Kanga Girls High. #147notjustanumber #TheyHaveNames pic.twitter.com/CPVPzNw0RB
— Tom Vandenbosch (@TVandenbosch) April 5, 2015
This is Tobias, he died in #GarissaAttack; to us he's not a number, he's a son, bro, friend. #147notJustANumber pic.twitter.com/dUSLXnCv9V
— Mr. B (@Benogola) abril 5, 2015
R.I.P Ivy Betty Wanjiku (Shiko) 1st yr student #GarissaAttack #147NotJustANumber cc @Maskani254 pic.twitter.com/JqBZzXrTP0
— Ian (@ianmslim) abril 6, 2015
Angela ‘Ka/Jojo’ Kimata Githakwa #147notjustanumber #TheyHaveNames Karima Girls’ high School Alumni 2011 pic.twitter.com/NNl7KbX6MV
— Maskani Ya Taifa (@Maskani254) abril 6, 2015
#147notjustanumber We will keep their memories in our hearts forever. Please keep sending their bios and photos pic.twitter.com/9YXligTxgs
— #147notjustanumber (@Lovefied) abril 6, 2015
As attackers get headlines and their names live in immortality, their victims are forgotten as just statistics. #147notjustanumber
— DM Licker (@Owaahh) April 6, 2015
@Reclvse wrote that it is about lives and not statistics:
I like how Kenyans are mentioning names & telling stories of the Garissa attack victims to ensure #147notjustanumber. Lives, not statistics.
— [uncens***d] (@Reclvse) April 5, 2015
@lunarnomad spoke about the intention behind the hashtag:
I'm so tired of seeing bloody images in the media regarding #Garissa Check out #147notjustanumber to see the humans behind the bullets.
— mango (@lunarnomad) April 6, 2015
Mary Njeri Mburu tweeted:
I hope the print media will run free obituaries for victims of Garissa attack as they did after Westgate. #147notjustanumber #GarissaAttack
— Mary Njeri Mburu (@mburumaria) abril 6, 2015
Eunice shared a Kenyan proverb, under a different hashtag — #KenyanLivesMatter, a spin on the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States:
A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning. ~Kenyan proverb. My thoughts with you. #KenyanLivesMatter #GarrisaAttack
— Eunice (@EuniceKira) April 5, 2015


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Are the World’s Biggest Internet Companies Under the Turkish President’s Thumb? · Global Voices
Ahmet A. Sabancı

How the world saw Turkey's Twitter ban. Widely shared.
Twitter and YouTube were blocked in Turkey once again April 6, sparking plenty of fanfare across social networks.
This time around, the block was imposed after the mass circulation of photos from a hostage crisis that ended with the death of government prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz and two leftist militants on March 31.
The block on Twitter was reportedly lifted the night of April 6 after the service complied with removal requests from Turkish authorities. Facebook was much faster to meet their requests and was blocked only briefly. Google also appears to have complied with a removal request based on a April 6 court order, escaping a block completely.
By some estimates, up to half of Turkey's population uses social media, with 12-14 million Twitter users alone. It is a huge market.
İbrahim Kalın, a spokesperson for Erdoğan, said in an official statement that banning social networks should not be seen as an attack on freedom of speech. BGN News quoted him as saying “it would be wrong to view the social media ban as a curbing of freedoms.” The intention of the blocks — triggered by court orders — was, in his words, to curb the “spread of terrorist propaganda.”
Protecting ‘family values’ (and the ruling party)
Since August elections, more than 70 people have been prosecuted for “insulting” President Erdoğan, in many cases on social media. During Erdoğan's time as Prime Minister, there were hundreds of such cases. Just prior to the hostage crisis, two prominent cartoonists of the weekly satirical magazine Penguen received 11-month prison sentences for “insulting” the president.
Ever since the Gezi protests went viral, Erdoğan's ruling AKP (Justice and Development) party seems to view Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as a giant stains on its reputation. After the killing of Prosecutor Kiraz on March 31, rumors spread that government leaks  about the prosecutor's death which could potentially damage the party would soon emerge on social networks, although this has yet to prove the case.
Some Twitter users in Turkey were able to bypass mass censorship and access the site through proxies.
As @SpiritOfGezi pointed out:
3 MILLION tweets were posted in #Turkey since ban on twitter was imposed&still counting ;=) #TwitterisblockedinTurkey pic.twitter.com/5G1ODjFUty
— Spirit of Gezi (@SpiritOfGezi) April 6, 2015
But this does not apply to everyone — tech-savvy people are quick to find workarounds, but others are not so lucky. Analysts of the country's media space seem to agree that while the block is intended to decrease social media use in the country, authorities are perfectly aware that the block will not stifle conversation on Twitter altogether.
Folks tweeting about how the Twitter ban isn't working. The relevant comparison is with how much people tweeted before.
— Nate Schenkkan (@nateschenkkan) April 6, 2015
Turkish sociologist and media scholar Zeynep Tufekci suggests that the real goal of Erdoğan's campaign is to “demonize” social media and present it as a threat to “family values” and national unity. She writes:
Erdogan is not trying to block social media as much as taint it.
[…]
The battle isn’t between Internet’s ability to distribute corruption tapes and the government’s ability to suppress them. The battle is for the hearts and minds of Erdogan’s own supporters, and whether Erdogan can convince them that social media is a dangerous, uncontrolled, filthy place from which nothing good can come.
Since Erdoğan's election as president, he has moved to further limit the rights of netizens by changing laws affecting Internet rights. A soon-to-be-passed security law allows authorities to conduct broad-scale censorship and surveillance without prior judicial oversight.
What's more frightening is, today's ban comes even before amended Internet Law has come into effect. When it does, welcome ‘emergency rule'!
— YavuzBaydar (@yavuzbaydar) April 6, 2015
With Turkey getting closer to a general election, stirring a tense political atmosphere in the country, Erdoğan is looking for more ways to silence the people opposing him and AKP. Silencing opposition on social media brings them a step closer to this goal.
Playing the game
Al Jazeera Turkey reported Tuesday night, not long after the Twitter ban was lifted, that there was another Turkish court order aimed at Google. The court order gave Google four hours to remove all images related to the hostage crisis, or face a ban. At the time this article was written, a Google Image search shows far fewer photos of the prosecutor's kidnapping than before and — notably — the service did not get blocked.
According to Twitter's biannual Transparency Report, between July 1 and December 31, 2014, the Turkish government asked Twitter to withhold 2,642 tweets. In total, Twitter withheld 1,820 tweets requested by the government, amounting to 92% of the total tweets withheld by the service during that period. Moreover, accounts indicated by Turkey accounted for 72% of the accounts the service withheld during these six months.
Given its success with this approach, the Turkish government appears to have upped the stakes. Since Twitter's prior transparency report — covering activity from January 1 – June 30, 2014 — the service says: “We have received 156% more requests [from Turkey] with the number of accounts specified [for withholds] growing over 765%.”
Similarly shocking statistics are noted in Facebook's transparency report.
Currently it seems Twitter, Facebook and Google, far from damaging the image of the Turkish state, are actually doing their best to polish it.

author: Ahmet A. Sabancı


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Is Global Voices Blocked in Iran? Yes and No. · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

The block page that appears when you try to access globalvoicesonline.org in Iran. Image provided by Frederic Jacobs.
Is Global Voices blocked in Iran? Well, yes. And no.
Someone inside Iran recently told us that she couldn't repost a Global Voices article link on her organisation's website. Her audience wouldn't be able to access the post, she said, because our site was blocked in the country. This was news to us. The last time we had checked globalvoicesonline.org's status in Iran was October 2014. It was not blocked inside Iran. We checked again this week, and indeed the redirect page came up.
Strange turn of events, but after consultation with security researcher Frederic Jacobs, it turns out that you can outsmart these particular Iranian filters and access our site by adding “https://” to the beginning of the URL. Below you can see two screenshots of requests made on a proxy inside of Iran. On the left is the re-direct page users inside Iran see when they request “globalvoicesonline.org”. On the right is the page Iranian users see when they request “https://globalvoicesonline.org”. Curious.
On the left is the re-direct page users inside Iran see when they request “globalvoicesonline.org”. On the right is the page Iranian users see when they request “https://globalvoicesonline.org”. Image provided by author.
This is a useful illustration of the value of HTTPS in comparison to HTTP. While for many Internet users, these are simply a set of letters at the beginning of every website URL, the distinction between the two is pretty big. When you visit a website using just HTTP, your activity is easily visible for anyone with a bit of tech savvy and access to your network — this would of course include government agencies. But when you visit a website using HTTPS, your activity is more secure (that's what the S stands for). Your request to see a certain website travels through an encrypted channel — sort of like a tunnel — making it more difficult for outsiders to see what you're doing.
What our little experiment proves is that Iran is conducting HTTP host-based blocking of the Global Voices website, likely along with many others. But the encrypted address located with the HTTPS request is not blocked.
Does this mean that you can do this on any website blocked inside Iran? No. Take Facebook for instance. Users trying to access Facebook in Iran are blocked both over HTTP and HTTPS. Jacobs explains that with Facebook, the government is taking more advanced blocking measures. “It’s not just HTTP host-based filtering, but IP addresses of Facebook are unreachable from Iran,” he says. It's hard to predict how this might change in the future, but Jacobs surmises that it is likely tied to volume of users:
Iran has however been deploying more advanced rules to block OpenVPN, Tor and other circumvention software. It’s a matter of economics, really. They probably won’t put more resources into blocking a specific website unless a lot of people start using circumvention techniques to access it.
If anyone has the technology to see when this block occurred on the Iranian network, please comment here or contact us so we can correlate dates with possible content or events.
For an in-depth technical explanation of the Global Voices’ filtering case, we highly recommend reading Jacobs’ blog post, “A sneak peak into Iran's blocking of Global Voices.” There are many great circumvention tools that can help readers reach globalvoicesonline.org if they live in a country that blocks the website. Jacobs suggests Tor with ScrambleSuit.
Special thanks to Frederic Jacobs for his technical investigations and writing on this topic.

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Nigeria’s King of Lagos Threatens Igbo People to Vote His Way—or Die · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

HRH Rilwan Akiolu, Oba of Lagos (June 2, 2006). U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 1st Class Kurt Riggs released to Wikimedia Commons
His Royal Highness Oba Rilwan Babatunde Osuolale Aremu Akiolu I, the Oba (King) of Lagos has made a royal gaffe. At a meeting of Igbo leaders in the state, he recently threatened that any Igbo person that does not vote for Akinwumi Ambode (governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress) will “perish inside water”:
On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God, goes against my wish that Ambode will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water. I’m not ready to beg you. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi (Agbaje) is my blood relation and I told him that he cannot be governor in Lagos for now. The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody, but what you people cannot do in Onitsha, Aba or anywhere, don’t do it here. If you do what I want, Lagos will continue to be prosperous for you. If you go against my wish, you will perish in the water.
Here is an audio of the said speech shared on Twitter:
— Ronald Ike Nzimora (@ronaldnzimora) April 6, 2015
Although Nigeria runs a presidential system, it still retains monarchs of the various ethnic groups that make up the country. The traditional rulers no longer exercise sovereignty but only ceremonial powers. However, they remain a potent moral force with grassroots validity among their subjects.
The Oba of Lagos is one of the revered traditional monarchy in Nigeria, and Lagos is a former capital of Nigeria, an economic nerve centre and cultural melting point — with diverse ethnic nationalities as residents.
Nigerians will vote for state governors this weekend. The two major contenders for Lagos State governorship slot are Akinwumi Ambode of the APC (All Progressive Congress) and Jimi Agbaje of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The presidential elections, which were held on March 28, saw General Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive Congress (APC) defeating the incumbent, Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Though peaceful, the elections were, however, marked with ethnocentric political alignments with the South-East and South-South voting for President Jonathan, while most parts of North and South-West voted for General Buhari. These ethnic fault lines might play out in next Saturday elections. The Igbos of South-Eastern Nigeria gave block votes to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Netizens were naturally furious about the Oba of Lagos’ “hate speech” and threat.
Chxta said it was a call to unleash genocide on the Igbos:
I have thought about it. This is the fact: three national papers, This Day, Independent & PM News quoted him. Oba Akiolu threatened genocide
— Chxta of Greece (@Chxta) April 6, 2015
The Chairman of Nigeria Human Rights Commission thought that:
As a lawyer, ex-AIG & occupant of 1 of our most respected stools, Oba Akiolu may look back & admit these weren't his wisest words #Apologise — RightsAfrica (@chairmanNHRC) April 6, 2015
Adekunle was ashamed with Kabiyesi (king) and apologized to Ndigbo (the Igbo people):
Kabiyesi just made @realFFK and Dame Peshe look like learners! Apologies again to all Ndigbo on TL.
— Adekunle (@kunleadefioye) April 6, 2015
Writer Tunde Leye requested that the Lagos State governor, Tunde Fashola, sanction the Oba:
Your party wrote the ICC about Patience Jonathan's hate speech. I trust you will act on Oba Akiolu's hate speech @tundefashola — Tunde Leye (@tundeleye) April 6, 2015
The Oba should go, tweeted Foghi Batarhe:
I won't even bother to share that audio file. That Oba Akiolu should be deposed. Straight. He was even swearing by Allah.
— Foghi Batarhe (@Batarhe) April 6, 2015
Nze Slyva decried the ethnocentric sentiments that had characterized the election season:
I see anti Igbo sentiments everywhere. From the Oba who ‘owns’ Lagos to Mr Afolayan whose work I happen to admire a lot. Dalu nu o!
— Sylva Nze Ifedigbo (@nzesylva) April 6, 2015
However, not all were in support:
If I were an Igbo leader, I would tell my kinsmen it is in our enlightened self interest to align with the Oba. Give and take
— Atom Lim (@AtomLim) April 6, 2015
Obinze lampooned those defending the Oba:
The idiots who were defending the Oba with their fathers grave that he didn't make those comments have gone silent. Fools! — OBINZE (@UzoUriel) April 6, 2015
Typically, some Twitter users made jokes out of the discussion.
I just called my Uncle whose siblings where inside Oba Akiolu's mouth while he was speaking. HE DID NOT say that. ABIA.
— ‘Som Jolie (@ChisomBullet) April 6, 2015
Others made memes:
When you want to vote PDP but you're stressed about entering into the Lagoon: pic.twitter.com/6tPagEU4BP — Code Architect (@codeArchie) April 6, 2015
“No Lagoon can stop love…”
April 13th 2015: Yoruba boy going to visit his igbo girlfriend. No lagoon can stop the love… pic.twitter.com/9xYYF4P4R2
— Wale Gates (@walegates) April 6, 2015


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Sixty Million Russians Go Online Daily, New Report Shows · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

In 2014, Internet audience and penetration in Russia continued to grow. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
New audience research data compiled by RuNet giant Yandex reveals that Russia now boasts higher Internet penetration than any other BRICS or CIS country, but lower than that of the Baltics, with over 60 percent of Russian adults regularly using the web.
According to Yandex's data (sourced from “Public Opinion” foundation), as of the fall of 2014, 72.3 million Russians (62% of the country's adults) used the Internet at least once a month, and over 60 million went online daily. Compared to the fall of 2013, there were almost 6 million new users on the RuNet by the fall of 2014.
The Yandex Internet development report also provided data by region, highlighting factors like Internet penetration and average speed, cost of broadband and mobile Internet access, and the number of companies and organizations registered in the Yandex.Maps directory who list their own websites. As expected, in most of these categories, Moscow and Saint Petersburg were far ahead of the other Russian regions.
Internet penetration levels in various Russian regions (red shows growth during 2014). Moscow and Saint Petersburg top the list with close to 80% of adults regularly going online. Image from Yandex.ru.
Controversially, this year Yandex included Crimea as one of the “Russian regions” in its report for the first time since its annexation by Russian forces. TJournal notes that almost all of Crimea's indicators are the worst among all regions, apart from the cost of fixed access: 261 RUB ($4.75) compared to the Russian average of 362 RUB ($6.60) per month as of February 2015. But in terms of accessibility and speed, Crimea is far behind the rest of Russia, and its mobile Internet access is the poorest among all regions (likely due to the contested mobile frequencies, some of which are still owned by Ukrainian providers). The Crimean IT industry has also been in dire straits because of Western sanctions, with many companies cutting access to their services for the peninsula.
Number of online media websites by region (purple shows growth, grey shows decline). Moscow at the top, Crimea at the bottom and the only “region” showing a decline. Image from Yandex.ru.
Crimea was also the only “region” in Russia where the number of active Internet media declined during the year, likely due to the crackdown on Crimean Tatar and other local media, which were forced to re-register as Russian media entities, with many already shut down or facing closure.
Overall, Yandex found about 4,500 active media websites in Russia in February 2015, with a quarter of them operating in Moscow. Together, these websites publish close to 100 thousand news stories per day.

author: Tanya Lokot


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The Situation in Yarmouk Refugee Camp has Reached Catastrophic Levels · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Residents of Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus, Syria. Photo: UNRWA/Walla Masoud
The situation in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria, has reached catastrophic levels, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). It is still hard to properly estimate what exactly is going on in the camp, but reports by local activists suggest that a large part of the camp has been overrun by ISIS and Jabhat Al Nusra, an affiliate of Al Qaeda, who are both fighting Palestinian and Syrian militias in the camp.
To make things even worse, the Syrian government has been bombing the area since Sunday according to both local activist Hatem al-Dimashqi and the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian conflict through a network of local activists.
In an official statement, Pierre Krähenbühl, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, said that the situation in Yarmouk is “more desperate than ever”, adding that as of now it is “simply too dangerous to access Yarmouk”. There are currently 18,000 civilians trapped in Yarmouk, among whom are 3,500 children, living in horrific conditions. “Right now, what is on the mind of people at Yarmouk is bare survival,” he added. Tweeting from Jordan, Krähenbühl is calling on the international community to act immediately to save the civilians of Yarmouk:
Time for int'l mobilization to save Palestinian and Syrian civilians in Yarmouk. Call on world leaders to act before too late. #SaveYarmouk
— Pierre Krähenbühl (@PKraehenbuehl) April 5, 2015
Bloodshed in Yarmouk appalling. Credibility of int'l system tested. World political, religious & other leaders must act 2 #SaveYarmouk RT
— Pierre Krähenbühl (@PKraehenbuehl) April 5, 2015
Speaking to Germany's Deutsche Welle, Christopher Gunness, spokesman for UNRWA, described the situation as already catastrophic even before current escalation, saying that “Yarmouk was already a place where women had died in childbirth for lack of medicine, where children had reportedly died of malnutrition. So things were already appalling. Last September we had the main water supply into the camp destroyed. So people are heavily dependent on the supplies of UNRWA. Things were absolutely inhumane. Yarmouk was a hell hole frankly. And with the eruption of this intense fighting, things got dramatically worse.”
The current inaccessibility of Yarmouk is already having terrible consequences on the civilians trapped there, and as of now it is impossible to properly estimate the damage. According to Yarmouk-based Hakim Said who spoke to “Syria Direct” last month, prior to ISIS’ takeover, the aid sent by UNRWA is far from being enough to sustain the civilians, who are already heavily dependent on UNRWA for survival – 95 per cent of the Palestinian population in Syria is completely dependent on UNRWA. “We are not satisfied because we do not know when we will get more aid packages”, he said. “We will finish the ones that we just received within a week. The amount of bread is not enough for more than for two days.”
Funeral of two killed by shelling inside of Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, April 2015. (Photo: Jafra Foundation for Youth Development and Relief)
Among the armed groups fighting ISIS and Nusra are Jaysh al-Islam and, most importantly, Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis. Speaking to The Guardian, a Jaysh al-Islam spokesperson claimed that his group had killed 80 ISIS fighters and that they “can definitely repel the assault.” Furthermore, in an official statement published on Twitter, Aknaf Beit Al-Maqdis said that it is fighting ISIS and Nusra:
أكناف بيت المقدس تصدر بيان صحفياً تؤكد فيه استمرارها بالدفاع عن #مخيم_اليرموك ضد هجوم #داعش المدعومة من #جبهة_النصرة pic.twitter.com/V0C5hprUq6
— مجموعة العمل (@actgroup_pal) April 4, 2015
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, […] your brothers, Aknaf Beit Al-Maqdis is confronting the barbarian attack on the Yarmouk camp by the criminal ISIS and in cooperation with Nusra for the past 4 days. […] We at Aknaf Beit Al-Maqdis are defending the capital of the Palestinian diaspora and the blood of our people […]
Jaysh Al Islam also released a statement, published on its English-language Twitter account, praising Aknaf Beit Al-Maqdis and condemning Nusra for its alliance with ISIS:
Statement about the recent developments in the Yarmouk camp pic.twitter.com/WchHaIVrNf
— Army of Islam (@IslamArmy_Eng) April 6, 2015
Writing on Mondoweiss, the Jafra Foundation for Youth Development and Relief, a Yarmouk-based humanitarian NGO, has chronicled the recent events between April 1 and April 4. In addition to information covered above, the Jafra Foundation has documented the killing of Yarmouk activists by both ISIS and the Syrian regime. Among the victims were Jamal Khalifeh and Majed Al Omari. Khalifeh, who was killed by regime shelling, was a 27-year-old media activist and co-director of a short film entitled ‘Siege‘ highlighting life under siege in Yarmouk. Majed Al Omari was a 21-year-old coordinator of Jafra's Team Services inside Yarmouk. He was killed on April 3 by ISIS forces, “shot by sniper fire in the street near his home”.
Left: Jamal Khalifeh. Right: Majed Al Omari. Photos: Jafra Foundation for Youth Development and Relief
Mohamad Bitari, the Spain-based spokesperson for the Network of Organizations of the Palestinian Civil Society in Syria and himself a native of Yarmouk, was interviewed by Global Voices’ Leila Nachawati for the Spanish daily El Diario. In the interview, he spoke of the situation on the ground. Here are a few extracts of his answers:
[…] La lucha se libra en varios frentes, contra ISIS y contra las fuerzas de Asad a la vez. Es durísima, pero no ha cesado […] El campo lleva dos años ocupado, aislado, con la gente muriendo de hambre, y a pesar de eso resiste. El régimen no ha conseguido someterlo y para justificar su destrucción total, hacía falta que entrase Daesh.
[…] The fight is happening on various fronts, against both ISIS and Assad's forces at once. It is very hard, but it hasn't stopped […] The camp has been occupied for two years, isolated, with people dying of hunger, and yet it still resists. The regime has not succeeded in submitting it and is using the entrance of ISIS to justify its complete destruction.
When Nachawati asked him if he was implying that Assad's forces joined forces with ISIS to “end Yarmouk”, he responded:
El día que entró ISIS al campo, aviones de Asad lanzaron durante horas entre quince y veinte barriles explosivos, además de decenas de cohetes. Todos se cebaron en zonas civiles, ni uno solo sobre las zonas por las que avanzaba ISIS. Es fácil de comprobar. Que estén oficialmente enfrentados no significa que no tengan objetivos comunes.
The day ISIS entered the camp, Assad's planes dropped between 15 and 20 barrel bombs for hours, in addition to tens of rockets. They were all concentrated in civilian areas, not one over areas in which ISIS was advancing. It is easy to verify. That these two have officially faced each other does not mean that they don't have common objectives.
Meanwhile in Palestine, both Gaza-based Hamas and West Bank-based Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have harshly condemned ISIS and are repeating UNRWA's call for international aid. Hamas held a rally in Gaza attended by hundreds with senior Hamas official Salah Al-Bardawil addressing them by saying “for the thousandth time: hands off the Yarmouk camp, hands off our people, hands off the slaughtered, killed and starved.” Meanwhile, Saeb Erakat, a chief Palestinian negotiator of the PLO, has said that there are “reports of kidnappings, beheadings and mass killings.. coming out from Yarmouk, which is under a brutal campaign of murder and occupation at the hands of the terrorist group of Daesh [Arabic word for ISIS] and its allies.”
And finally, activists involved in the struggles in both Palestine and/or Syria are expressing their anger on Twitter. Independent journalist Rania Khalek, decried the late international attention to Yarmouk:
Arabic media is talking about it nonstop, which isn't bad. But ppl have been trapped, starving & bombed in Yarmouk for years now.
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) April 5, 2015
London-based activist Daniel Wickman listed to his 17,000+ followers a number of actors he accused of abusing Palestinians over the years:
Israel occupies them, Assad starves them, Egypt blockades them, the US smiles and lets it happen, and now ISIS joins in the fun. #Yarmouk
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) April 6, 2015
Dubai-based Jenan Moussa tweeted to her 88,000 followers with the hashtag #SaveYarmouk:
Tragedy of Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk: 1st siege, then bombs, now ISIS. People need safe route out. #SaveYarmouk pic.twitter.com/XtVkanrP35
— Jenan Moussa (@jenanmoussa) April 5, 2015

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Who the Hell Keeps Leaking Kremlin Correspondence? · Global Voices
Will Wright

Finding the leak in the Kremlin has been tricky business, when it comes to Anonymous International. Images edited by Kevin Rothrock. (Original photo is a scene from the spy comedy Archer.)
In Russia, the data-leaking group Anonymous International struck again on Tuesday, March 31, releasing an online archive of around 40,000 text messages that the group claims belong to Timur Prokopenko, an influential Kremlin official.
This is not the first time that Anonymous International has targeted Prokopenko, who helped shape the Putin Administration's domestic policy from 2012 to 2014. In fact, as recently as February of this year, the group published roughly 9,500 emails allegedly belonging to Prokopenko. In addition to the SMS messages at the end of March, Anonymous International also leaked yet another trove of messages in early April, this time including correspondence lifted from the messaging app Telegram, and again supposedly from Prokopenko.
Anonymous International emerged at the end of 2013, when it published the full text of Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s national address a few hours before the speech was broadcast on television. Ever since, the group has busied itself with exposing the inner workings of certain political forces in Russia.
Anonymous International is widely known by the name that its “press office” goes by, Shaltai Boltai, which is what the nursery rhyme character Humpty Dumpty is called in Russian.
The group publishes the leaks on its website, b0ltai.org. However, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor ordered access to the site blocked in July 2014, and it is accessible in Russia today only through a virtual private network or a mirror site. The group also tweets from the accounts @b0ltai, which is also blocked in Russia, and @b0ltai2, a duplicate account that is still accessible in the country. In announcing the new text-message leak, Shaltai Boltai tweeted:
СМС переписка из Управления внутренней политики АП РФ. 2011-2014 гг. http://t.co/j8NfmvrlWB
— Shaltay Boltay (@b0ltai2) March 31, 2015
Text-message correspondence from the Department of Internal Policy of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation. 2011–2014.
Intriguingly, Shaltai Boltai has been willing to speak about the group's activities with journalists, although getting a face-to-face meeting often requires elaborate security measures. Meduza's Daniil Turovsky had to travel to Thailand, for example, just to meet a Shaltai Boltai representative.
In Bangkok, one of the group's members revealed to Turovsky new details about their operation: “You understand, Anonymous International isn’t my main job—it’s not our main job. We don’t do it all the time. Shaltai Boltai is a byproduct of other games. We do information technology security… Our work is gaining access [to information]. … We have a small circle of regular clients. It’s enough for us. Our prices start at around $30,000. I won’t say how high they go. We earn enough to live comfortably and to travel.”
According to a Meduza write-up of Anonymous International's latest leak, several exchanges stand out from among Prokopenko's 40,000 text messages, such as his conversations with Nikolay Molibog, general director of the Russian media group RBC, and with Alexander Zharov and Maxim Ksenzov, the head and deputy head of the Kremlin's media watchdog, Roskomnadzor.
Prokopenko supposedly tried to influence editorial policy at RBC and suppress stories that did not tow the official government line, including stories related to Ukraine. Other text messages allegedly show Prokopenko's close communication with the Roskomnadzor leadership, such as a discussion about prosecuting the creator of the popular nationalist website Sputnik & Pogrom for promoting extremism. (Prokopenko apparently argued against doing this.)
In one exchange, Roskomnadzor deputy head Maxim Ksenzov allegedly texted Prokopenko about his readiness to block the BBC in Russia after the outlet published a story about activists in Siberia who support a devolution of political power away from Moscow toward the regions. Prokopenko supposedly advised against the move, however, warning Ksenzov that blocking the BBC in Russia could put Russia Today’s position in the UK at risk, and Ksenzov never followed through with the action:
02.08.14 16:12 Ксензов: У меня есть основания блокировать русскоязычный сайт bbc. Но шуму будет на весь мир
02.08.14 16:14 Прокопенко: Угу. Помни, что там Russia Today может пострадать
02.08.14 16:12 Ksenzov: I have reason to block the Russian-language site of the BBC. But this will cause a world-wide uproar
02.08.14 16:14 Prokopenko: Uh-huh. Remember that Russia Today may be affected [in the UK]
In a post to Facebook on April 1, RBC general director Nikolay Molibog confirmed that the leaked correspondence between him and Prokopenko is genuine. Molibog apologized for the few instances where his communications seemed like inappropriate contact with the state, but defended the association with Prokopenko on the whole, saying it is “normal” for the head of a major media group to be in touch with government officials. Molibog also reiterated that he is not responsible for managing RBC‘s content. That job falls to Maxim Solyus, RBC‘s chief editor.
Another journalist featured in Prokopenko's text messages, Znak.com‘s Yekaterina Vinokurova, is also struggling to save face. Vinokurova is known for basing her reports on anonymous Kremlin sources, and Prokopenko, it seems, was one of these sources. In his correspondence with Vinokurova, however, Prokopenko was less than accommodating. In one instance, Vinokurova asked for help getting in touch with Rustem Adagamov's ex-wife, who'd just accused Adagamov of raping his own 12-year-old stepdaughter, but Prokopenko refused. Almost a moment later, however, he apparently passed along the ex-wife's contact information to Yana Lantratova, a member of the Kremlin's Council for Human Rights.
In addition to instances of Vinokurova looking rather desperate for information (and for accreditation at state events, in another exchange), many working through the SMS archives discovered racist remarks that Vinokurova made about Tajik schoolchildren. “I was in a nationalist stage at the time,” she explained on Twitter, when confronted about the comments by journalist Roman Dobrokhotov (whose website The Insider has extensively covered all Anonymous International‘s leaks).
Vinokurova has questioned the ethics of reading and reporting what is essentially stolen private correspondence, saying her comments were never meant for the public. Additionally, she alleges that some of the content that's supposedly part of her correspondence with Prokopenko is actually forged.
Popular columnist Oleg Kashin published an op-ed on Slon.ru arguing that the Prokopenko text-message leak suspiciously reveals nothing illegal or even all that bad in the actions of state officials. Everybody in the Kremlin is basically just doing their jobs, the SMS archive seems to suggest, while people in the press—like Molibog and Vinokurova—are the ones behaving unexpectedly.
Kashin also mocks the popular theory that Anonymous International represents one of the so-called “Kremlin towers,” referring to the theory that its leaks are aimed at weakening one of the several interest groups battling for dominance in the Russian state and economy.
Этот миф о межбашенной войне оказался самым живучим мифом путинского времени, старшее поколение еще помнит времена, когда политологи рассуждали о противостоянии кремлевских силовиков в лице Игоря Сечина с кремлевскими «либералами» в лице Владислава Суркова, – смешно вспомнить. Как будто это так естественно для корпорации – война между службой безопасности и пиар-отделом.
This myth about the inter-tower war has proved to be one of the most resilient myths of the Putin era. The older generation still remembers a time when political experts debated the conflict between the Kremlin's siloviki [Russia's military-security establishment], led by Igor Sechin, and the Kremlin's “liberals,” led by Vladislav Surkov. It's funny to remember. It makes about as much sense as a war inside a corporation between the people in charge of security and those in charge of public relations.
In a recent press conference, President Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov downplayed the group's latest information breach, saying, “I don't think a lot of people read these publications.” Judging by the chatter and interest generated online by Anonymous International's recent leaks, however, it is difficult to agree with Peskov's assessment.

author: Will Wright


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Syria’s Yarmouk Camp Between the Hammer of Hunger and the Anvil of Extremism  · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

Syrian-Palestinian eating from the garbage. Photograph taken 03/03/2015 by LensDimashqi on Tumblr. Used under CC.BY. 2.0
A total of 18,000 Palestinian refugees living in “inhumane conditions” in the Yarmouk Refugee Camp in Damascus, Syria, are trapped between the hammer of hunger and the anvil of extremism.
Bombed by the Syrian regime and now under attack by ISIS since April 1, the Palestinian refugees have already been under a two-year siege, with no water and very little food trickling in. The camp is located around 10 miles away from the presidential palace, but this did not stop Syrian President Bashar Al Assad's regime from dropping barrels bombs over the heads of the people, who retreated to their food-empty residences, afraid to venture out to streets full of armed extremists. According to news being circulated on social media, ISIS is arresting, executing and beheading the camp figures and clashing with other opposition armed groups.
Many activists blame the ISIS invasion on the Assad regime's army giving them the opportunity to do so. They note that at a time when it is impossible to enter food and medical aid to the Palestinian refugee camp, ISIS militias appeared suddenly inside the camp.
“To know what it is like in Yarmouk, turn off your electricity, water, heating, eat once a day, live in the dark, live by burning wood.” – Anas, Yarmouk resident.
According to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), this is the situation of 18,000 Palestinian refugees of the 160,000 who used to live in the camp. They remain trapped in Yarmouk Camp with no successful distribution of food and other relief aid since December 6, 2014. Although people took the streets on January 18, 2015, to protest the siege imposed by the Assad regime since July 2013, the crisis has left at least 200 people dead from starvation. After a year of posting a video showing the despair of distributing food in Yarmouk Camp, another documentary, entitled Siege, emerged from the heart of the camp on April 3. The short film records the daily life in four sketches that reflect how people suffers from food and utilities shortages.
Another video posted on February 6, 2015, by Sami Alselwadi shows a Palestinian refugee resident blaming his government for leaving the camp to starve to death without taking action against Assad regime. Then the footage moves to a what is believed to be a truck full of bread being distributed to people by throwing the packages to the air for a lucky catcher. In his words, the man blames Mahmood Abbas, the Palestinian president:
All this is hunger, Abbas. You are in Ramalla, and you don't know what your Palestinian people are suffering here. Thousands of people are in hunger here. Where are you from this? Shame on you.
ISIS claims it is there to help the besieged refugees of Yarmouk Camp. But this is what they do. Photo via @AlaaAllagta. Used under CC. BY 2.0
As of April 1, reports on social media confirmed that ISIS forces have entered the besieged camp and now control 90% of the camp. Netizens are closely following the news flood of this dramatic development. Twitter users reported that ISIS entered the camp after Al Nusra front, an affiliate of Al Qaeda in the Levant, eased their access from Hajar Aswad, a neighboring town.
#Syria – #ISIS Control Most Of The #Palestine Refugee Shelter – #Yarmouk camp in #Damascus #Syria: PLO Conformed pic.twitter.com/zbIq3M3xTC
— Terrormonitor.org (@Terror_Monitor) April 1, 2015
A yr after the world's inaction for these thousands starving in besieged Yarmouk, Isis has entered the camp. #Syria pic.twitter.com/tUWFAww4HF — The Syria Campaign (@TheSyriaCmpgn) April 1, 2015
Tom Finn and Linah Alsaafin explain the sudden appearance of ISIS and how they approached the camp from a neighboring town:
.@LinahAlsaafin and I ask a journalist inside #Yarmouk camp: how did ISIS get into Damascus? http://t.co/JATRTsdDBTpic.twitter.com/kbBYbHihVW
— tom finn (@tomfinn2) April 1, 2015
While Talal Alyan shares a photograph from inside the camp:
Photo a friend in #yarmouk sent of Akhnaf fighters, who have been repelling ISIS offensive all day #syria #palestine pic.twitter.com/4XgwrVjsI7
— Talal Alyan (@talalalyan) April 1, 2015
A map of the parties who control the camp was shared by Rami Allolah with his 16K followers on Twitter, showing the fragmented area controlled between ISIS, Palestinian armed groups, FSA (Free Syrian Army), the Assad army and Al Nusrah.
#Map Military situation in #Yarmouk camp south #Damascus via @uygaraktas#Syriapic.twitter.com/X7YofISyGx — Rami (@RamiAlLolah) April 3, 2015
Activists didn't wait for long to report ISIS’ horrifying killings, which started to spill into the news stream as Raqqa_SI confirmed to his 21K+ followers:
#ISIS beheaded alot of young people in #YarmoukCamp and Coordinating of #Yarmouk city didn't publish the photos because they are so terrible
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_Sl) April 4, 2015
Also read: The Situation in Yarmouk Refugee Camp has Reached Catastrophic Levels

author: Rami Alhames