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Burundi: Violent Suppression of Demonstration Support for Imprisoned Journalist · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

On Tuesday January 8, 2013, the Court of Burundi sentenced Hassan Ruvakuki, journalist and correspondent for the Radio France International (RFI) Swahili service, on appeal, reducing his sentence from life imprisonment to three years. Since that date, media professionals had demonstrated outside the Court every Tuesday until they were violently stopped and dispersed by the authorities in Bujumbura on February 19.
News blog africanaute.com published [fr] an article about these events:
La police a dispersé ce mardi 19 février 2013, à Bujumbura une marche des journalistes pour demander la libération du correspondant local de la Radio France Internationale (RFI, section Swahili), Hassan Ruvakuki.
Dans la débandade généralisée, certains manifestants ont été blessés, tandis que d'autres ont été victime de malaise lié à l'inhalation de gaz lacrymogène.
Des manifestations de soutien à M. Ruvakuki se sont multipliées ces derniers temps dans les rues de Bujumbura, mais c'est la première fois que la police fait recours à la violence contre le manifestants.
Demonstrations in support of Mr Ruvakuki increased greatly during February in the streets of Bujumbura, but this is the first time that the police have made recourse to violence against the protestors.
Rémy Harerimana noted [fr] on blog echos-grandslacs.info that on February 19, 2013:
Aujourd’hui certains des représentants des organisations de la société civile burundaise se sont joints aux journalistes dans ces manifestations. Nous devons être solidaires a indiqué Faustin Ndikumana, président de la PARCEM, une organisation de la société civile.
How did the situation deteriorate?
Website categorynet.com recapped [fr] how Hassan Ruvaku’s ordeal began:
Hassan Ruvakuki est accusé de complicité avec un groupe rebelle pour s'être rendu en Tanzanie, en novembre 2011, afin de couvrir la naissance d'un mouvement d'insurrection. Le journaliste, emprisonné depuis le 28 novembre 2011, avait été condamné en première instance à la prison à perpétuité pour “terrorisme”.
Après une requalification des charges en “participation à une association formée dans le but d'attenter aux personnes et propriétés” et plusieurs ajournements d'audience, la Cour d'appel avait commué la sentence en trois ans de prison ferme.
Sourd aux protestations internationales, le ministère de la Justice a utilisé le prétexte d'un pourvoi en cassation par le ministère public pour s'opposer à la libération conditionnelle du journaliste. Le pourvoi n'a cependant pas été notifié à l'avocat de Hassan Ruvakuki.
Deaf to international protests, the Minister of Justice used the pretext of an appeal by the Public Prosecutor to oppose the conditional release of the journalist. However, Hassan Ruvakuki’s lawyer had not yet been notified of the appeal.
An article by Marie Umukunzi on news blog jambonews.ne criticised [fr] the way the trial unfolded:
Le procès a été entaché par de nombreuses violations telles que la détention du journaliste dans le camp militaire de Cankuzo, un séjour au commissariat de police dépassant la durée légale prévue par la loi, le refus au journaliste d’une assistance juridique lors du passage devant le juge qui a prononcé la mise en détention.
L’avocat du journaliste, maître Onésime Kabayabaya a mis en évidence l’ingérence du pouvoir politique dans cette affaire judiciaire. Sur les ondes de RFI, il déclare que le premier vice président burundais aurait accusé le journaliste d’être coupable d’actes de térrorisme lors d’une rencontre avec le corps diplomatique. De plus, le Président burundais Pierre Nkurunziza défendait sur les ondes de la BBC la condamnation du journaliste.
Website burunditransparence.org had published an article following the first trial in June 2012 remarking that [fr]:
Ce Mercredi 20 Juin 2012 à CANKUZO, le Tribunal de Grande Instance de cette entité administrative a condamné le journaliste Hassan RUVAKUKI de la radio BONESHA FM de Bujumbura et de la RFI pour une peine à perpétuité. Seize (16) de ses coaccusés ont été également condamnés de la même peine, au moment où neuf (9) autres ont été condamnés pour une peine de quinze (15) ans.
La raison de cette condamnation d'Hassan RUVAKUKI n'est autre que de s'être entretenu avec le chef des rebelles ou insurgés des FRD-ABANYAGIHUGU. Chose pourtant très normale pour tout homme engagé dans le journalisme. Partout au monde, les journalistes de grandes chaines de radios et de télévisions comme CNN, FRANCE 24, TV5, ALDJAZIRA, RFI, BBC, etc.. ne s'abstiennent pas d'engager des interview avec les rebelles, les insurgés et voir même des terroristes et aucun pouvoir ne les a collé les identités de ces derniers.
Border between Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo by Flickr user Dave Proffer via Wikimedia Commons
Since its 1962 accession to independence, the ex-Belgian colony of Burundi has lurched between violence and civil war interspersed with rare moments of calm. Pierre Nkurunzia's arrival to power, and ex-Sports Teacher and ex rebel chief had raised hopes for a lasting peace, having himself been injured during his days as a guerilla between 1993 to 2003. He was elected head of government by the National Assembly and the Senate in 2005, following an agreement signed under Nelson Mandela in Arusha on August 29, 2000. He was reelected president in 2010 nearly unanimously, receiving more than 91% of votes, the opposition having boycotted the elections.
Website fr.rsf.org/report-burundi criticised him [fr] in an article entitled Burundi Barometer of Press Freedom 2013 [fr]:
Élu à la tête du pays en 2005, le président Pierre Nkurunziza a beau claironner son attachement à la liberté de la presse, rien n’y fait. Les journalistes du Burundi sont entrés, depuis son accession au pouvoir, dans une période de menaces et d’incertitudes. Certains ont été incarcérés. Plusieurs autres ont quitté le pays, de peur de tomber à leur tour dans le piège tendu par les services de sécurité aux hommes et femmes de médias qu’ils considèrent comme des “perturbateurs”.
A conference between the Burundi government and those of other countries, development partners and national and international Civil Society organisations, took place in Geneva on October 29 and 30, 2012. The conference was held to discuss CSLP II [fr], the second Strategic Framework for Growth and the Fight against Poverty, covering the period 2012 to 2016 and was intended to allow discussions about peace and good government.
Before the conference, while hailing the postive advances made in terms of government measures taken with respect ot civil liberty and national reconciliation, NGO Human Rights Watch had published its recommendations for participants in an article entitled Burundi: Human Rights Recommendations for Geneva Conference:
Burundian civil society organizations and the media are generally able to express themselves openly and to investigate and denounce human rights abuses when they occur. But at the same time, these basic freedoms are under threat. Burundian activists and journalists face persistent intimidation, harassment, and threats by government and intelligence officials. Several draft laws before the National Assembly in 2012, including a revised press law and a law on public gatherings, contain severe restrictions to freedom of expression and assembly.
According to an article posted by website arib.info on February 26, 2013, workers in the information sector wearing T-shirts with a picture of Hassan Ruvakuki had again gathered together in Independence Place, right in the middle of Bujumbura, to start a silent march towards the Court.
This support for Hassan Ruvakuki has passed the borders of Burundi. More than 2650 media and press workers and sympathisers from several African countries [fr] had signed a petition demanding his release.
The leaders of Burundi need to understand that, as in other African countries, not respecting legislative texts during management of government normally results in violence and political instability.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Chinese Parents of Gay Children Call for Equal Marriage Rights · Global Voices
Abby Liu

More than 100 parents of gays and lesbians from different parts of China have sent an open letter [zh] to delegates of China’s National People’s Congress asking the government to legalize same-sex marriage.
The letter, published with the help of the Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays affiliate in China, details the difficulties gays and lesbians experience in China and the anxieties this causes for the parents of gay children. About 60 million homosexuals live in China, about 4 percent of the population, according to the letter:
我们的孩子有些跟同性伴侣已生活了近10年，他们相互照应，相亲相爱，却不能在另一伴生病需要手术时合法签字。身为同性恋者的家长，我们时常感到焦虑，因为不能合法结婚，我们孩子在领养下一代、生病手术签字、继承伴侣财产、甚至买房等各方面都受到不同程度的影响。
Some of our children have been living together with their partners for nearly 10 years. They love each other and take care of each other, but can’t even sign legally as a family member when their other halves are sick and need an operation. We often worry about this. The fact that they can’t legally marry puts them in a difficult situation when they try to adopt children, sign for their partner's operations, inherit assets from a deceased partner, or even buy an apartment.
The news of the letter came after two Beijing lesbians were not allowed to register at a marriage registry earlier in the week.
Gay marriage has since become a hot topic on the popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo. A search of “gay marriage” yielded [zh] 22,994,467 discussions on the afternoon of February 27, 2013.
A lesbian couple holding a sign that says “we want to get married.” (A screenshot from youku)
The National People's Congress is scheduled to convene for its annual session on March 5, 2013. Although none of the congressional delegates have commented yet, many Chinese intellectuals think it's encouraging to witness open discussion about the topic.
Lawyer Yuan Yulai commented [zh]:
看来，中国确实已经不是原来的那个中国。
Looks like China is indeed no longer what it was before.
Famous columnist Lian Peng wrote [zh]:
看到@新华视点 发的呼吁关注同性恋群体的微评，以及@头条新闻 将南都“百余名同性恋父母致信人大代表呼吁修改婚姻法”推为首条，感觉很温暖。中国同性婚姻之路任重道远。不管你是否赞同，要知道性取向不依人意志为转移的，对于别人的不同要学会尊重、理解和包容，这样的社会才是真正自由和宽容的社会。
Having noticed that on Weibo Xinhua News called for more attention to the gay community, and that Sina news picked up “the open letter” as the top news, I feel it's a positive sign. There’s still a long way to go on the road of gay marriage, however, whether you agree or not, you should know that sexual orientation doesn’t change according to one’s will, for those who are different from us, we should learn to respect, understand and tolerate, this kind of society is a truly free and tolerant society.
Li Mu, another Chinese columnist living in Canada was very optimistic [zh]:
同性婚姻合法化，在中国只是时间问题。
Same-sex marriage will be legalized in China, it’s just a matter of time.
However, some netizens expressed sharp criticism towards gay marriage. Lu Qi, editor of a history website, urged [zh] for a ban on gay marriage:
中国早在商周时期就已有禁止“比顽童”（同性恋）的律法，同性恋的发展表明人类社会的发展和稳定受到严重危害。在中世纪欧洲，凡是同性恋者均会被处以极刑。如今在我国，随着男女比例的日益加大，同性恋现象的日益严重，立法禁止同性恋已经是迫在眉睫的大事。禁止同性恋、让父母不再蒙羞是我们的呼唤。
As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there have been laws against homosexuals. The development of homosexuals has showed that it can harm the stability of society. In medieval Europe, all homosexuals were sentenced to severe punishment. Today in our country, with the widening of the male and female ratio and the growth of gay community, passing a law to ban gay marriage is an urgent issue. It is our call to ban gay marriage and make the parents no longer feel ashamed.
It's not the first time the issue of gay marriage has been brought to the table in China. As early as 2007, a survey done by sexologist Li Yinhe showed [zh] that in China's middle- and large-sized cities, more than 80 percent believe homosexuals are created as equal as heterosexuals. In March 2012, 10 parents of Chinese homosexuals wrote to China’s top legislative and political advisory bodies to call for legislation criminalizing discrimination against gays.
A recent estimate by leading sexologist Zhang Beichuan claimed that approximately 10 million homosexual individuals in China are married to heterosexual partners, and that nearly 80 to 90 percent of gay men are already married to or will eventually marry heterosexual women.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Abby Liu


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In Burning Rage for Water, Iran Farmers Take On Security Forces · Global Voices
Farid

An anonymous video on YouTube shows angry farmers from eastern part of Isfahan in Iran on Wednesday, February 27, 2013 among burning busses in ongoing protests against water shortages. There are credible reports of clashes with security forces, but detailed information is limited and official media is silent.
Another video shows that only days earlier, farmers busted open a water pipe carrying water from Zayanderood to Yazd as part of their protest for access to water which is vital to the survival of their crops.
Iranglobal reports that the farmers had been protesting for at least one month about their lack of resources, but received no official response to their demands.
Angry farmers burn busses in Isfahan. Screenshot from video.
There are some photos and video from the farmers protest on Zayanderood on Facebook.
Burned busses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6kaoUaanpE&feature=player_detailpage
Five dead?
Sasemadehy says unconfirmed reports speak of five deaths and several injured in clashes with security forces. The government has allegedly cut off communications from Khurasgaran in Isfahan and has sent more security forces to repress farmers.
Breaking the water pipe
Protests appear to have become more forceful after February 22 when the water pipe was broken.

author: Farid


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Latin America Turns to iPhone App to Take Hammerhead Sharks Off the Chopping Block · Global Voices
Katie Manning

The 400-pound hammerhead shark, hunting through the waters of Latin America, first marked its territory 400 million years ago. Now, the process of “finning”  — chucking their bodies seaward after sawing off their pricy fins — threatens to wipe them off the map.
Countries across Latin America are on a mission to wrangle them onto the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) list for protection. They’re armed with a new iPhone app that promises to make fin identification  — previously a roadblock to protecting the prehistoric predator  — quick and easy.
“Basically, you push a button. It asks a question. You look at the phone, and you say, ‘Does it have a big white patch on there?’ You click ‘yes,’ and it just guides you through, and at the end it tells you the answer to what it is,” explained Demian Chapman, a marine biologist with PEW Charitable Trust's shark-saving campaign. He streamlined his shark fin research from a stack of paper into an all-inclusive icon, tentatively titled “shark fin soup.”
Cites tussled with the idea of putting three hammerhead sharks — scalloped, great and smooth  — along with the oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish on their endangered species list in 2010. They rejected all but the porbeagle shark, pointing out that regulators have to be able to tell fins of different species apart to enforce the law, previously thought to be an impossible task. Listing the sharks at the March 2013 meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, would help fund financially strapped programs in Latin America and restrict global trade.
Defenders of Wildlife, an animal advocacy group, blogged:
Being listed under CITES would mean that international trade in the fins and other parts of sharks would be closely monitored and regulated to make sure that the species would not be threatened with extinction. Given that one of the largest threats to the species is due to trade, regulation could make a huge difference.
Inspiration for the app first struck Chapman from Chinese fin traders. They easily rattle off names for each shark’s fin and fork over a different value for each one.
“If Chinese traders can tell the sharks apart, so can customs workers and other enforcement. We found that it is very easy to train people to do what the Chinese traders do,” said Chapman.
Hammerhead shark, Cocos Island, Costa Rica. Image from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Tens of millions of sharks end up in shark fin soup each year, according to Oceana, a marine conservation group. Diners prefer the larger hammerhead fins, chalked full of a key soup ingredient called fin needles.
Thanks to their beefy fins, hammerhead numbers plummeted 80 percent in some regions.
In Panama, hammerheads swim to shore to give birth, making them easier prey than deep sea fish for smaller boats. As a result, 96 percent of cleaved fins belong to sharks too young to have reproduced, according to MarViva, an organization that helps enforce fishing laws in Central and South America.
Chapman flew to Latin America, where the fin trade is booming, to collect samples. He has gathered, photographed and analyzed over 1000 fins from more than 40 shark species around the world. His team crossed referenced their findings with DNA samples to ensure accuracy.
They transformed their research into an app, currently formatted for the iPhone with future designs to make it available across the board for smartphones.
Every shark on the app sports unique characteristics on their dorsal fins.
“The oceanic whitetip, as its name implies, has this massive white patch, which is very distinctive on the top of its dorsal fin. The porbeagle actually has a similar white patch, but it’s on the lower edge of the fin,” said Chapman.
Questions flash: “Is it a shark fin? Are the edges black or white? The questions are very specific… We make decisions based on those answers, that’s what computers are really good at,” said George Mandala, the app developer.
Untrained law enforcement will sort through fins with enough knowledge in hand to spot a red flag, allowing for further testing to find out if a fin belongs to an endangered species.
“These guys are not marine biologists. This boils it down for them to really quickly be able to say yes or no,” said Mandala.
Scientists will verify and answer questions through an email feature.
“We can agree or disagree and give you pointers on things to look for,” said Chapman. “What we’re really interested in is taking away the ability of people to break the law and just slip fins through with enforcement not being able to know what they are looking for.”
The app intrigued other endangered species groups, who struggle with authorities catching endangered animals being traded, Mandala said.
“From a computer programming standpoint, a question is a question, so if they wanted to do it for elephants, or lions, or tigers, or whatever, it could be retrofitted to that.”
Scientists lack data about migratory patterns and exactly how many fins make it to market. The app, currently available in English, French and Spanish, will send key information that will help collect statistics: fin photos, location and a description.
Latin America launches hammerhead rescue effort
In Latin America, Honduras first petitioned that the three species of hammerhead join the Cites list. Costa Rica and Brazil immediately signed on, followed by Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador.
Although Panama voiced support, the Defenders of Wildlife launched their “Ask Panamá to Support Shark Conservation” campaign to turn up the pressure on the Panamanian government to support the predator at the Cites meeting next week.
The petition reads:
Panamá may cast the decisive vote on these critical proposals…This is a critical opportunity to put badly-needed controls in place to halt the rapid decline of these top predators.
MarViva and other shark advocacy groups promoted the campaign through Twitter and Facebook. So far, it has 17,808 signatures.
Latin America leads hammerhead protection, according to Sean Juan Posada from Mar Viva.
Last year, the president of Honduras outlawed shark fishing entirely. Honduras hosted its neighbors at a conference to raise awareness and rally shark support in October, where Posada and representatives from Latin American nations first laid their eyes on the identification app.
Overcoming the hurdles to convince Cites to list the sharks, he said, will open up the funding needed to get them protected.
“Getting support from authorities is our biggest challenge. They don’t have the resources. They don’t have boats, or people to cover extensive areas,” Mr. Posada said. “They have laws, but the ability to enforce the law is lacking.”
Chapman said he’s “very interested in making sure there are still sharks around for me to study for people to swim with for tourism and to fulfill their ecological role. They need protection and they need someone to speak up for them.”

author: Katie Manning


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Online Course in Spanish on Election Coverage  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is offering a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in Spanish on “How to Improve Electoral Coverage.” The course will be taught by Colombian journalist María Teresa Ronderos from March 8 to April 19, 2013. Ronderos says the course is for journalists and also “for bloggers and tweeters, or people who follow their electoral processes through Facebook […] or simply for citizens who are interested in knowing more about their elected officials and what's the state and situation of democracy in their country.”

author: Silvia Viñas


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Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe Make Music · Global Voices
Mário Lopes

Photo from the album “Contemporary Portugal with São Tomé e Príncipe” from Pantalassa's Facebook page  (used with permission).
Until March 1, 2013, Pantalassa, a cultural association working with Portuguese language countries, is organizing a multidisciplinary program of artistic residences in the “marvelous islands” of São Tomé and Príncipe, together with CACAU. The mutual sharing of experiences and affections is presented in a photo-album, which is being updated throughout the project [all links in pt].

author: Mário Lopes


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Powerful Union Leader “La Maestra” Arrested in Mexico · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Elba Esther Gordillo Morales, leader of the National Education Workers’ Union (SNTE) and a controversial figure on the Mexican political scene, was arrested on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, on charges of money laundering.
For more than twenty years, Gordillo, or La Maestra [The Teacher], has led the SNTE, perhaps the largest labor union in Latin America. La Maestra also founded the minority political party Nueva Alianza, which during last year's electoral process nominated Gabriel Quadri de la Torre as a presidential candidate.
Gordillo has been charged with the federal offense of “transactions involving illegally obtained resources” – colloquially known as “money laundering” – which carries a sentence of five to fifteen years in prison, plus a fine. Her arrest was ordered by the court and carried out in the State of Mexico when Gordillo arrived at the airport in a private plane coming from the United States.
This offense is taken seriously under Mexican penal law, and consequently the defendant will not be released on bail for the duration of the trial. It is possible that the commission will charge Gordillo with other crimes, including tax fraud, or that it might investigate and try her as a member of a criminal organization, which would mean a harsher sentence.
After she was taken into custody, Gordillo was sent to the Santa Martha Acatitla Social Rehabilitation Center [es] in Mexico City.
Her arrest has drawn mixed reactions among Mexicans, some celebratory and others skeptical.
Journalist Carlos Puig [es] described the power wielded by La Maestra since she took over the SNTE as follows:
Elba Esther Gordillo, image from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons license (CC-BY-NC-ND)
En 24 años la señora Gordillo creció, acumuló dinero y poder. Entendió que su fuerza dependía en buena manera de lo que consiguiera para sus agremiados y fue generosa: privilegios, cuidados, salarios, plazas. Allá adentro la adoraban. La hicieron lideresa para siempre y para todo. Se enfrentó a su partido con furia y cuando se hartó formó otro. Se aprovechó de los bisoños panistas y logró posiciones en el gobierno y una intervención directa en la elaboración de la política educativa.
Empezó a lucir sus riquezas, era público que vivía por temporadas en la zona más lujosa de San Diego; presumió sus gustos caros, la afición por los vuelos privados. Desestimó los sondeos que le decían que era un personaje poco querido. Que las encuestas la ponían en los últimos lugares de popularidad asociada con corrupción, cinismo.
Como había visto a Salinas, vio a Zedillo utilizar la fuerza del gobierno y la utilización de la PGR para borrar adversarios políticos pero no aprendió.
Ella se creyó inmune. Creyó que seguía tratando con panistas, tal vez. Y estiró y estiró la liga hasta que la rompió.
In 24 years Ms. Gordillo flourished, accumulating money and power. She understood that her strength depended on how happy she kept her members, and she was generous: privileges, attention, salaries, positions. They loved her in there. They made her their leader forever and of everything. She furiously faced down her party, and when she got sick of it, she created another. She took advantage of the naive PAN and wrangled government positions and direct involvement in educational policy.
She began to reveal her wealth; it was public knowledge that she lived seasonally in the most affluent neighborhood of San Diego; she showed off her expensive taste, her fondness for private planes. She disregarded the polls that said she was an unpopular figure. The popularity rankings that placed her toward the bottom and associated her with corruption, cynicism.
As she had seen with Salinas, she saw Zedillo use the force of the government and the Attorney General to remove political adversaries, but she didn't learn.
She thought she was immune. She thought she was still dealing with the PAN, perhaps. And the rubber band stretched and stretched until it snapped.
Meanwhile, one of Gordillo's main detractors, journalist Carlos Loret de Mola [es] described her thus:
La persona que más daño le ha hecho a la educación en México, la dirigente sindical que robó dinero de los maestros para enriquecerse, la mujer que quitó dinero de las aulas de los niños para beneficiarse personalmente, está tras las rejas.  Le llamarán “El Quinazo” del presidente Enrique Peña Nieto.
The person who has done the most damage to education in Mexico, the union leader who stole money from teachers so that she could prosper, the woman who took money from children's classrooms for her own benefit, is behind bars. They will call her President Enrique Peña Nieto's “El Quinazo”.
The event known as El Quinazo refers to the arrest of another union leader, Joaquín Hernández Galicia, “La Quina”, at the start of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari's term in 1989.
Two-time presidential candidate (and vehement antagonist of the current administration), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (@lopezobrador_) [es], said about Gordillo's arrest:
@lopezobrador: En busca de legitimidad el corrupto de EPN [Enrique Peña Nieto] recurre al quinazo contra su exsocia. Es afianzar el salinismo como política. Son otros tiempos.
@lopezobrador: In search of legitimacy the corrupt government of EPN [Enrique Peña Nieto] resorts to the quinazo against his ex-associate. It's reinforcing Salinism as a policy. These are different times.
Along the same lines, Twitter user Claudia Flores Glz (@taller2006) [es] said:
@taller2006: Al final lo de la maestra #Elba es sólo un ajuste de cuentas, como se acostumbra en México.
@taller2006: In the end the story of la maestra #Elba is just a settling of accounts, business as usual for Mexico.
Professor Ciro Murayama (@ciromurayama) [es] took the opportunity to make fun of the fact that one of the country's leading journalists had left to report on the events in Rome:
@ciromurayama: López Dóriga, con su olfato periodístico, nos informa desde Roma lo que ocurrió en Toluca.
@ciromurayama: López Dóriga, with his nose for news, reports from Rome what happened in Toluca.
User Esteban Salinas (@probusmex) [es] noted a central element in this type of crime: money.
@probusmex: Bueno al fin detuvieron a Gordillo, espero que no pase lo que pasa siempre y se pierdan mágicamente esos miles de millones. Que los regrese!
@probusmex: Well they finally arrested Gordillo, I hope that what always happens is not going to happen and they magically lose those billions. Hope they come back!
Someone calling himself Engaña Bobos (@luigif49) [es] pointed out that there are other union leaders who should share La Maestra's fate:
@luigif49: Que bueno que Elba Esther Gordillo pague por ser tan RATA, pero ¿cuando caé Romero Deschamps, Martín Esparza y tantos igual de ladrones?.
@luigif49: It's great that Elba Esther Gordillo is paying for being such a THIEF, but when will Romero Deschamps, Martín Esparza and other equally bad thieves fall?
Fernando Iglesias (@ELFERKING) [es] took the opportunity to express his happiness over Gordillo's arrest:
@ELFERKING: Detenciones como la de Elba Esther Gordillo me dan esperanza y me hace muy feliz, gente abusiva y ratera como ella y Deschamps deben pagar
@ELFERKING: Arrests like Elba Esther Gordillo's give me hope and make me very happy, abusive and thieving people like her and Deschamps should pay
Dr. Miguel Carbonell (@MiguelCarbonell) [es], researcher and opinion leader on legal issues in the country, wrote:
@MiguelCarbonell: Al ser un proceso por delincuencia organizada los plazos se duplican. El juez tiene 6 días para dictar auto de formal prisión.
@MiguelCarbonell: Because the trial is for organized crime the deadlines are doubled. The judge has 6 days to issue a detention order.
Similarly, Carbonell noted about the detention center in which Gordillo was held:
@MiguelCarbonell: En el penal de Santa Martha Acatitla no se duerme con tanto comodidad como en San Diego, California. Ni modo. #Gordillo
@MiguelCarbonell: In Santa Martha Acatitla prison they don't sleep as comfortably as in San Diego, California. No way. #Gordillo
The news of the arrest of someone like Gordillo has an important impact in a society like Mexico, which for decades has been seriously abused by the political class and the powers that be, like the SNTE and other unions. Reactions will surely continue to emerge over the next days, but the trial of La Maestra is just beginning.

author: J. Tadeo


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Christian Protests Target Puerto Rico’s Rising LGBTQ Rights · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

The demonstration by a coalition of Christian groups [es] of distinct denominations known as “Puerto Rico Rises Up in Defense of the Family” that took place on February 18 highlights one of the country's most controversial current issues: LGBTQ rights.
Puerto Rico has a contradictory relationship when it comes to the LGBTQ community. On the one hand, it has figures that have publicly revealed their identities as gay men, such as superstar Ricky Martin, who has a huge fandom, and boxer Orlando Cruz, who, upon revealing he was gay, received a lot of praise for having had the courage to do so while being active in the sport. On the other hand, it also has figures like Antulio “Kobbo” Santarrosa, better known as La Comay, who, up until recently, was the producer and host of a widely watched local television program in Puerto Rico (in which homophobic language was quite common) and was forced to resign after a boycott was organized on Facebook due to some of his statements that insinuated that a victim of torture and murder got what he or she deserved for being in a place where there was “prostitution and homosexuality.”
The “Puerto Rico Rises Up” demonstration came about in the context of amendments proposed to Law 54 (Law of Prevention and Intervention in Domestic Violence) that looks to extend legal protection to couples who have a common law marriage and same-sex couples. The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico decided [es] that the law does not protect people in “adulterous” relationships nor people in relationships with the same sex.
It is estimated that around 200,000 people attended the demonstration that congregated in front of the Capitol Building of Puerto Rico (it is worth noting that on the other side of the Capitol there was another, smaller simultaneous demonstration in favor of the proposed amendments). Nonetheless, the Puerto Rican blogosphere shared reactions on the march. FulanoX [es] pointed out some planning inconsistencies for defenders of the family model composed of a man and a woman:
Aerial view of the “Puerto Rico Rises Up” demonstration on February 18. Photo taken from blog El Ñame.
Claro, no escuché a ningún religioso querer regresar a los harenes y concubinas. En la biblia, el Rey David, además de sus esposas, […] Tenia concubinas. […]
Este, como otros tantos ejemplos, demuestra que la defensa de la familia “tradicional” es una total hipocresía religiosa para justificar el miedo al cambio. Lo mismo sucedió cuando los sectores religiosos citaban a Pablo para justificar la discriminación hacia la mujer.
Of course I didn't hear a single religious individual wanting to return to harems and concubines. In the Bible, King David and his wives, […] Had concubines. […]
This, like countless examples, demonstrates that the defense of the “traditional” family is complete religious hypocrisy to justify fear of change. The same thing happened when religious sectors cited Paul to justify discrimination against women.
In her blog Sin mordazas [es], Ivonne Acosta provides an energetic criticism of the motives behind the demonstration:
Esos miles de fundamentalistas religiosos no les interesa que se entregue el aeropuerto, que haya miles de puntos de drogas, que la educación pública esté en su peor momento, que el crimen siga en aumento, que la basura nos arrope, que enfermarse sea un lujo no permitido y que haya tanta violencia. Les importa solamente la homosexualidad. Todo en nombre de un prejuicio hacia los que no encajan con sus ideas que ya van quedando más que atrasadas.
These thousands of religious fundamentalists are not interested in what is being delivered to airports, that there are thousands of drug trafficking points, that public education is in its worst state, that crime continues to rise, that waste is flooding us, that getting sick is a luxury not permitted and that there is so much violence. They are interested solely in homosexuality. All in the name of prejudice against those that do not fit into their ideas that increasingly become more and more backward.
Érika Fontánez Torres, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Puerto Rico, remains optimistic [es] that progress can be made:
A pesar de la marcha multitudinaria […], mi impresión es que estamos justo avanzando hacia una sociedad en la que este tema y sus resistencia al cambio sea cosa del pasado y que este gobierno no tiene razones públicas (no se trata de lo que el Gobernador en su fuero interno quiera creer) para negar una reforma hacia la igualdad de derechos.
Despite the mass march […], my impression is that we are in fact progressing towards a society in which this issue and its resistance to change are things of the past and that this government does not have public reasons (it is not about what the governor wants to believe deep down) to reject a reform for equal rights.
Fontánez Torres's optimism has its grounds. The Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, recently issued an executive order  [es] that extended the medical coverage the city government offers its employees to common law couples, independent of whether they are heterosexual or same sex couples.
Nevertheless, there are moments in which the arrival of changes necessary for a more equal society seem to take a bit more time. On February 20, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico decided in a 5-4 vote that a woman cannot adopt her same-sex partner's biological daughter unless the biological mother cedes her rights as a mother to her partner.
Mariana Iriarte Mastronardo, spokesperson for the feminist coalition Movimiento Amplio de Mujeres de Puerto Rico, points out the urgency of taking action [es] to create clear and precise legislation so that everyone remains protected equally:
De ninguna manera, podemos dejar que nuestros derechos y los derechos de nuestros hijos y nuestras hijas queden sujetos a interpretación. El Estado tiene el deber de protegernos a todas y a todos por igual.
Under no circumstances can we let our rights and the rights of our sons and daughters be subject to interpretation. The State is responsible for protecting all of us equally.
Writing for digital magazine Politic365, jeanvidal summarizes the situation in the following way:
Puerto Rico still has a long way to go on LGBT rights. The current administration is much friendlier to the LGBT community than the previous administration ever was. […]
However, we must not forget that in a deeply (socially) conservative place like Puerto Rico, actions will speak much louder than words. Governor Garcia Padilla and his legislative majority have a golden opportunity to place Puerto Rico in the 21st Century of LGBT rights. The next four years will bear witness to that.

author: Ángel Carrión


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Misogyny Still a Problem in Bangladesh  · Global Voices
Lou Flandrin

Dibarah shares her experience of being back home in Bangladesh after studying abroad for 3 years. She criticizes the prevailing misogyny and public sexual harassment that women have to face everyday. Rather than being pessimistic, she decides to try to improve the situation “by staying defiant of misogyny.”

author: Lou Flandrin


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Russia’s Feds Now Using Bloggers to Investigate Bloggers · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Last week, blogger and corruption fighter Alexey Navalny was on top of the world, after he published information that led to the eventual resignation of a Duma deputy. The Russian Internet, however, is a fickle mistress. Today, Navalny is himself the victim of bloggers.
On February 27, 2013, Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin tweeted [ru]:
Следствие установило факт незаконности получения Алексеем Навальным адвокатского статуса. Подробности скоро на сайте sledcom.ru
An investigation determined that Alexey Navalny has unlawfully received his attorney's credentials. Details to follow on sledcom.ru
This was an odd statement to come from the Russian agency sometimes compared to the FBI. Although Navalny is indeed a lawyer, and is being investigated by the Committee on several matters (investigations many say are politically motivated), his credentials as an attorney are irrelevant to those cases and are outside the scope of the Committee's jurisdiction.
Alexey Navalny, photo by Valya Egorshin, CC 2.0.
Nevertheless, the Committee soon published more information in a press release [ru], alleging that Navalny never completed the two years of relevant work experience that is required for receiving the credentials (in addition to law school). Navalny allegedly submitted documents to the Kirov Bar Association claiming to have worked part-time as the Deputy Director General for Legal Affairs at a firm where he was also the Director General. The press release further claims that the firm did not exist at the time.
Of course, such allegations are a direct attack on Navalny's credibility as an anti-corruption activist. However, putting aside their validity and pertinence, where did the Investigative Committee come up with these accusations? Incensed blogger Maksim Kononenko had his own theory, first tweeting [ru] at the spokesman:
VladimirMarkin Владимир, вам бы, конечно, научиться работать. Пресс-сопровождение у вашей конторы отвратительное. Вы некомпетентны.
VladimirMarkin Vladimir, it would be nice if you learned how do do your job. The press support of your office is abhorrent. You're incompetent.
(After Markin's retweet of this statement, Kononenko reacted [ru] with “I'm f*cked”.)
Kononenko later explained why he was so upset on his blog [ru] Idiot.fm:
Но вот такое ощущение, что начальники Следственного комитета о существовании этих следователей не подозревают. Они рапортуют об успехах, скомпилированных из публикаций в газетах и блогах. […] Спасибо, Кэп! А откуда вы это узнали? Закон прочитали? Или же пост на Идиоте?
I have a feeling that the heads of the Investigative Committee don't know about the existence of investigators. They report successes compiled from newspaper and blog publications. […] Thanks, Captain [Obvious]! Where did you learn this? Did you read the law? Or a post on Idiot[.fm]?
The complaint is understandable — Kononenko has single-handedly tried to force the issue of Navalny's legal experience for more than a year [ru] with little traction. The Committee's press release contains no new information to one of his readers. The document Navalny submitted to the Kirov Bar is widely available on the Internet. As is the fact that his firm OOO “Allekt” was essentially a one man show. Furthermore, some of the language of the press release follows almost word-for-word a LiveJournal post recently written by NASHI-member and Navalny-hate-blogger Konstantin Goloskokov, linked by Kononenko. Compare Goloskokov [ru]:
[…] при этом директором указанного ООО был также он. Т.е. он был заместителем самого себя.
[…] at the same time he was also the director of the mentioned OOO. That is, he was his own deputy.
and the press release [ru]:
При этом следует отметить, что генеральным директором этой компании также являлся А.Навальный. То есть он сам себя назначил и руководителем, и своим заместителем.
At the same time we should note that A. Navalny was also the general director of this company. That is, he appointed himself the boss and the deputy.
Although there are definitely questionable aspects about the way Navalny got his credentials (while he received his law degree in Moscow, he was accredited in the provincial Kirov, where he worked closely with regional governor Nikita Belyh), Kononenko claims that his own motivation is an innocent quest for truth. According to him, he is just trying to get to bottom of case, and Navalny is being evasive in his answers [ru]. Unlike Goloskokov, Kononenko doesn't particularly mind if Navalny got his experience by working for himself (likely not illegal) — he just wants an unequivocal answer [ru]:
Меня совершенно не волнует, лишат Навального статуса или не лишат его статуса. […] Я просто хочу, чтобы Навальный ответил на один простой вопрос
I don't really care if Navalny loses his accreditation or not. […] I just want for Navalny to answer one simple question.
In fact, Kononenko even went as far as to defend Navalny, debunking [ru] Investigative Committee accusations that Navalny claimed experience when the firm didn't yet exist. Navalny's own response to the Investigative Committee accusations was outraged in tone, but low on details [ru]:
Все документы изъяли какие могли – так и жалуйтесь в палату адвокатскую. […] Пока все такие жалобы были безуспешны, потому что написано в них полная туфта, которая при критическом рассмотрении моментально вскрывается.
You've got all the documents you could – so complain to the bar association. […] So far such complaints have been unsuccessful, because they are filled with utter poppycock, which is immediately evident to the critical eye.
While Navalny did not specify which part of the allegations is poppycock, he did get some support from a fellow lawyer, Mark Feygin, who defended [ru] Navalny in a comment on Snob.ru:
Вопрос о лишении статуса будет решать Московская адвокатская палата. И я уверен, что адвокатская палата не сдаст Алексея Навального по столь надуманным обвинениям.
The question of loss of accreditation will be decided by the Moscow bar. I am sure that the bar will not give Aleksey Navalny up on such spurious accusations.
Meanwhile, other bloggers have also began to question Navalny's credentials. Journalist Oleg Lurie, for instance, hit the law books [ru] in order to find out what happened. He claims that even Navalny's version of events (that he worked self-employed to gain legal experience) still would not fulfill the credential requirements, because the firm never had a Legal Department.
Though Navalny certainly has ‘bigger fish to fry’ than his attorney-status, one wonders if he will eventually take the time to explain what happened. It would be high irony indeed, if Russia's most notorious anti-corruption blogger decided to ignore the muckraking of his netizen cohort.

author: Andrey Tselikov


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World’s Grumpiest Traveler Smiles Virtually :-) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

It's not true that Vitaly Zelkovsky [ru], better known as “the world's grumpiest traveler,” never smiles. He does – virtually, at least. Reacting to the unexpected fame, Zelkovsky re-posted a Broken News Daily “report” about himself and exchanged a few words with two of his VKontakte friends. Both times, he used smilies:
“[…] If you work hard enough on something, it will definitely bring results :-)”
“You should just do what you love to do and the reward will find the hero :-)”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Squatters Call Venezuela’s Highrises Home · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In Margarita Island, there’s Corocoro, an unfinished apartment block which was under the control of FOGADE (the State’s entity in charge of taking over assets from failed banks) until June 2009 when it was invaded. Right now, there are a thousand people living there.
In Caracas Chronicles, Gustavo Hernandez Acevedo writes about “vertical squats” in Margarita Island.


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Zambian Opposition Lobby for Suspension from the Commonwealth · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
President Sata as a victim of the Public Order Act when he was an opposition leader himself. Picture courtesy of Zambian watchdog.
Zambia’s opposition parties have called upon the Commonwealth to suspend the country amid claims of a deteriorating political environment. They accuse Michael Sata’s Patriotic Front (PF) government of using the Public Order Act to severely curtail opposition party activities. Ironically, the Public Order Act was a piece of legislation that the Zambian President had to contend with as an opposition leader. However, since coming to power, he has stated that he has now “fallen in love” with the Act.
Two opposition leaders – the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD)’s Nevers Mumba and United Party for National Development (UPND)’s Hakainde Hichilema – are currently on trial for various political offences covered by Public Order Act. Mumba and Hichilema also attended the recent gathering of opposition leaders in South Africa – known collectively as the Coalition for the Defence of Democratic Rights (CDDR) – that made the demand for Zambia’s suspension from the Commonwealth.
Hichilema said at the press briefing:
If you objectively look at the pattern of abuses committed by this government, not just against the opposition parties but also against civil society and business competitors of the allies, it is difficult not to conclude that we are on the road back towards the one-party state.
At the same briefing, Mumba explained why the CDDR had to issue its statement abroad:
If there were respect for human rights in Zambia, we would not be here […] We are here today because the signs on the ground are similar to those in Uganda under Idi Amin. We have refused to reverse the gains of independence and we are here to tell the international community.
President Sata publicly claimed that the opposition leaders were claiming asylum in South Africa, a request that the South African President Jacob Zumba turned down after Mumba’s and Hichilema’s return to Zambia. Even more embarrassing for the government was a claim made by the Chief Government Spokesman and Information and Broadcasting Minister, Kennedy Sakeni, that former President Rupiah Banda had also attended the press briefing. However, the former President’s office denied attending the event.
However, one opposition party, the National Restoration Party, criticized the CDDR for staging the meeting and press briefing on foreign soil. The party’s Youth League representative, Aquino Mutale, said:
At no time has any Opposition Political Party been denied their freedom to hold Press Conferences from their respective Secretariats – not even Dr Nevers Mumba from his Kabulonga Home! Today we ask, why South Africa!? […] If what their demands to the Commonwealth succeed, who would suffer the repercussions? Is it not the very people they claim to speak on behalf of? Is it not the ordinary Zambian struggling to survive[?]”
Writing on the Zambian Eye page on Facebook, Ray Panji Mwanza said:
It’s funny how people complain about results instead of targeting the cause….the press conference and all the complaints are simply fruits of which the root cause is Sata’s ancient style of governing…..if people don’t want our nation to end up another Zimbabwe, the solution is not in condemning Nevers & co, but condemning and standing up to PF’s old-fashioned dictatorial rule…
This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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China Considers Pollution Data a State Secret · Global Voices
Abby Liu

China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has rejected a Chinese lawyer's request for the details of a national survey on soil protection after deeming the information a state secret. The public and media are now pressing the Ministry to reverse its decision. China experts at Chinafile are holding a discussion: How Long Can China Keep Pollution Data a State Secret?


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China Gives PM 2.5 a Chinese Name · Global Voices
Abby Liu

As Beijing continues to suffer from smog and sandstorms, a new initiative to choose a Chinese name for PM2.5 (sub-2.5 micrometer) pollutant particles has become a hot topic on Weibo. China Digital Times has translated some netizens’ comments.


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Cyclone Haruna Kills 23 and leaves 22,000 Homeless in Madagascar  · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

Cyclone Haruna has caused a total of 23 deaths, as well as 16 missing persons, 84 people injured and nearly 22,000 disaster victims, during just one week of February 2013 in Madagascar. These are the sobering statistics according to the National Disaster Management Office of the region, BNGRC [fr]. Despite the scenes of distress and messages from humanitarian organisations requesting urgent help, some feel that solidarity has been slow be felt in the affected region, the South West of Madagascar. Others accuse the capital, Antananarivo, of indifference, however, many agencies and associations in Madagascar and from abroad have rallied round to come to the aid of the region.
Major damage caused by massive gusts of wind combined with flooding
Winds accompanied by lashing rain reached 90 to 110 mph with gusts of up to 125mph destroying a number of buildings and flooding many houses.
Flooding in Tulear, Madagascar, following Cyclone Haruna – photo from Jan Marc Besse via Facebook
Andriamihaja Guénolé, who lives in Tulear, the town pictured above, told of the personal tragedies of the region’s inhabitants [fr] in his blog tulearenvie.mondoblog.org:
J’ai entendu dire que des parents, dans l’espoir de sauver leurs 3 enfants, les ont enfermés dans un placard. Ce dernier a été emporté par les eaux, on n’a plus aucune nouvelle, on ne sait pas si les enfants sont en vie. Une autre mère pas trop chanceuse, est tombée dans un puits avec son bébé dans les bras. Ni l’enfant, ni sa mère n’ont pu être sauvés. Mais on oublie souvent que si une telle catastrophe s’est produit après le passage de la forte tempête tropicale Haruna, c’est parce que des malins s’amusent à voler les gabions  qui longent la digue. Cependant, l’heure n’est pas au moment de désigner des coupables. Il est maintenant impératif de venir en aide aux sinistrés et rebâtir Tuléar.
Regarding material damage, the BNGRC gave a running total of [fr]:
Nianja Ranovelo posted photos showing the impact of the flooding on the BNGRC website:
Flooding in Tulear, Madagscar – Public Domain via The Nation
Executive Secretary of the BNGRC, Raymond Randriatahina, also stated that [fr]:
La ville de Morombe (dans la même région que Tuléar) a été détruite à 70%
On Facebook, Noeliniayna Randrianarisoa added that there were [fr]:
Chez nous à Ambovombe, onze morts, et 02 portés disparus
Here is a video of a road in Tuléar, published by Djedaw on YouTube, which shows the level of flooding in the town:
and another video from TVPlusReplay [mg]:
Solidarity with the region
Many messages of solidarity have been posted on various forums and Facebook pages [fr], some asking how they can help the victims.
Lalah in Antananarivo wrote to her friend in Tuléar [fr]:
De tout cœur avec les gens de Tuléar et une pensée spéciale pour toi mon cher ami Andriamihaja Guénolé
Lomelle in Mahajanga added [fr]:
Juste en voyant les photos d'après, on a le sang glacé. On est de tout coeur avec vous et j'espère que tu vas bien
Organisations rallied round to provide help. For example, Vatofototra proposed a collection of donations [fr] for the victims.  The Junior Chamber International, JCI, of Tuléar and Axius have organised distribution [fr] of food and urgently needed items.
Specialised agencies were also quick to react. The Platform for Regional Intervention in the Indian Ocean of the French Red Cross, PIROI, is sending 35 tonnes of relief materials from Reunion Island.
Action Against Hunger, ACF, also published a report on their activities in the region following the cyclone [fr]:
Un avion de 15 tonnes affrété par ACF et parti hier de Lyon arrive aujourd'hui à Madagascar pour apporter en urgence sur le terrain du matériel permettant d'assurer aux populations sinistrées un accès à l'eau potable : plus de 20 réservoirs, station de traitement de l'eau, pompes
The World Food Programme, WFP, has starting providing emergency food aid [fr] for 7,800 displaced people:
Le PAM distribue environ 40000 paquets de biscuits énergétiques nutritifs ainsi que 23 tonnes de riz, légumineuses et huile enrichie en vitamine A à Toliara
It seems the disaster-struck South West of Madagascar is at last feeling the effects of solidarity.

author: Rakotomalala


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Free Online Courses in Data Journalism · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

kdmcBerkeley is offering four free online training courses in data journalism. The one-hour courses demonstrate the basics of working with spreadsheets, maps and data visualization.

author: Solana Larsen


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Internet Post Deletion Business in China · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Caixin Magazine[zh] reported about the Internet post deletion business in China: “It costs thousands to delete a negative news article, hundreds of thousands in professional fees to get a key word blocked.’’ feichengdao has translated some excerpts from the report into English.


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New Web Game Targets Climate Skeptics · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

A new web game called Reality Drop rewards users for commenting or sharing links about articles related to climate change. It was unveiled in California by former U.S. vice president and environmental activist, Al Gore.


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Paulo Coelho Promotes “Pirated” Audiobook on YouTube · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Using his social networks to promote a pirate audio version of ‘The Alchemist’, the Brazilian best selling writer Paulo Coelho proposes readers to show the industry “that “piracy” is not a threat to their business”.
A year after writing that the more people ‘pirate’ a book, the better, Paulo Coelho finds an audiobook copy of one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time, ‘The Alchemist’. He walks his talk by linking to the YouTube version and proposing a deal: “If you listen to more than 5 minutes, please buy the book (or the audiobook) so the industry will understand that “piracy” is not a threat to their business. Nobody is watching you, as I said before. It is your decision, and I am sure it will be the best decision.”

author: Paula Góes


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Portugal Gets the Giggles Ahead of Austerity Protests · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

This post is part of our Europe in Crisis special coverage.
In the fight against tough government austerity, crisis-weary Portuguese are giving laughter a try.
Besides pursuing politicians with the historic and revolutionary song Grândola Vila Morena in public appearances, people in Portugal are speaking out against the government's tough tax hikes and spending cuts in creative, non-violent, and funny ways.
Humour is a useful tactic “when people affected by the issue are not being consulted”, according to Tactical Technology Collective's 10 Tactics. With the troika (European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund, and European Commission) overseeing the country's economy, Portuguese citizens shut out of the country's decision making are not surprisingly playing up the absurdities of political power.
The greatest enemy of authority is contempt and the surest way to undermine it is laughter.
– Hannah Arendt
Can I have your tax ID number?
Asking for receipts under the name of ministers has gone viral. Since January 2013, the government imposed a new legal measure that imposes fines up to 2,000 euros on consumers who don't ask for receipts. A list of tax ID numbers [pt] from several ministers soon started spreading around the social web.
A collection of crowdsourced scanned receipts is being uploaded to the Facebook page “Eu já pedi factura em nome de ministros” (I've already asked for a receipt under the name of ministers, with more than 2,500 likes at the time this post was published). This image, by Filipe Roque, reads, “To identify a pimp, use the adequate number.”
Call it either “austerity revenge” or a “hijacking” of ministers’ tax affairs, as international media reported, the fact is that thousands of bills in ministers’ name [pt] are flooding tax offices and confusing the system of declared income from politicians.
Who tweets this?
If you want to giggle a bit on Twitter, then follow “Pedro the PM” (@Passos_PM), a fake alter-ego of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho (also on Facebook). But don't be disappointed if he wont follow you: he only follows the Chancellor and the Finance Minister of Germany, Angela Merkel (@Angela_Merkel) and Wolfgang Schäuble (@Wolf_Schauble).
On February 22, 2013, he tweeted:
O Sr. Ministro Gaspar deseja saber quem foram os 500 engraçadinhos q compraram 500 calculadoras com factura em nome dele.
Later in the week, his thoughts were:
Durante o ajustamento temos vindo a acumular credibilidade. Também acumulámos recessão, falências e desemprego, mas não servem p negociar.
And he added:
Aos portugueses e às famílias deixo um conselho: não têm pão, comam credibilidade.
Also on Twitter and with a blog too, Manuel Parreira (@manuelparreira) has a rather peculiar way of lampooning the Portuguese left through extreme right-wing views.
For instance, on February 6, 2013, he suggested:
Porque não encerrar metade dos hospitais? Ao menos mantínhamos a TAP e a RTP.
He often makes parodies of Portuguese society, such as in a series of tweets in early February where he poked fun at citizens whining on Twitter and the Communist Party's rather dense and obsolete speech, as well as exposed the ridiculous red-tape at the European level. For instance, a tweet where he assumes the character of Edite Estrela, a member of the European Parliament from the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS), reads:
TwitEstrela: Estou numa reunião para estabelecer o regulamento preliminar para a uniformização das cores Pantone dos semáforos europeus.
Subverting public figures
The Independent called him “the fraudster who fooled a whole nation“. Artur Baptista da Silva was widely interviewed by Portuguese mainstream media as an economics expert, but he was discovered to have false credentials and zero experience on what he would be invited to talk about.
Various social media pages have been dedicated to satirizing the phony: there is a Tumblr blog and a Facebook page called Eu trabalhei na ONU com o Artur Baptista da Silva (I worked at the UN with Artur Baptista da Silva) [pt] with re-appropriated visuals of “Artur Baptista da Silva, UN's volunteer consultant, in several places”:
“Me, at the UN's Christmas party”
A photograph from late last year shows a protester in a hot pink bathing suit holding a sign that reads “I have the files of the submarines!” The tongue-in-cheek declaration is a reference to an obscure submarines deal between the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Paulo Portas, who was the the minister of state and defense in 2004, and the German Submarine Consortium (GSC), which has cost between 712 million and one billion euros in public funds, as stated on Wikipedia:
The cost of the purchase came due in 2010 and was a major factor in the budgetary crisis that erupted that year and led to political fingerpointing in what came to be known in Portuguese as caso dos submarinos (the case of the submarines).
When investigators started to look into the case, which involved corruption, Paulo Portas, who was considered a suspect by the attorney general, said the files about the purchase of the submarines “had disappeared”.
“I have the files of the submarines!” Photo shared by RiseUP Portugal on August 2012.
Portuguese citizens plan to take to the streets once again next Saturday, March 2, 2013 in a protest organized by the Que se Lixe a Troika (Screw Troika) [pt] movement, which was born from the momentum from the massive September 2012 protest.
This post is part of our Europe in Crisis special coverage.

author: Sara Moreira


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Religion Warps Politics as Bangladesh War Crimes Protests Continue · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

See our special coverage of Bangladesh's #Shahbag Protests
The protesting crowd's demand “We want capital punishment”. Photo by Arif Hossain Sayeed, used with permission.
Since the beginning of February, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis have been occupying a major intersection called Shahbag in the heart of Dhaka, calling for capital punishment for war crimes committed during the country’s liberation from Pakistan in 1971. But what began as a peaceful civic uprising may be taking a turn in the public’s perception as one that contradicts Islam.
While this moment has been in the making for decades, the current explosion of civic activity has a new and youthful character born out of optimism. The vitality and size of the crowd has surprised and delighted. As Shimul Bashar, a reporter for a private TV channel wrote of the #Shahbag protests on Facebook:
আমি আবার বলছি, শাহবাগের এইসব দিন ইতিহাস হবে। জীবনে এর চেয়ে বড় পাওয়া আমার নেই। মা, আমার চোখে ঘুম আসেনা। আমি শাহবাগের কথা ভাবি। আমার তার মুখ মনে পড়ে।
I reiterate that these days of Shahbag will be part of history. I do not have anything greater than this in my life. Mama, i can't sleep. I keep thinking about Shahbag. I remember the faces.
A movement sparked by bloggers
Shahbag protest in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 21st day. Photo by Zakir Hossain Chowdhury © Copyright Demotix (Feb 26, 2013)
It all began when the Bloggers and Online Activists Network (BOAN) initiated the call to occupy the intersection on February 5, and demand capital punishment for the secretary general of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, Abdul Quader Mollah, only hours after he was sentenced to life in prison by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh on 344 counts of murder, rape and torture committed in 1971.
Since then, demands for capital punishment have extended to all war criminals facing trial, and protests have spread across the country in the name of justice for the estimated 3 million people killed and 250,000 women raped during the liberation war. Local political and Islamic militia groups who opposed the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan participated in the killing, particularly targeting Hindus. And like Mollah, a number of indicted war criminals have held public office and lived a life of impunity until 2010, when proceedings were initiated against them by the war crimes court.
The battle for public perception
Islamists protest in Bangladesh over ‘blasphemous blogs’. Photo by Zakir Hossain Chowdhury. Copyright © Demotix (Feb 22, 2013)
The main battlefront for detractors of the Shahbag protests is now public perception, and this can have deadly consequences in a society where religious tension is constantly smoldering. In Bangladesh, where 89% of the population is Muslim, many are easily distracted by accusations of atheism.
Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami have distributed leaflets around the country saying that the bloggers who initiated the Shahbag protests are blasphemous, and have even called for the “death penalty for atheist bloggers“. At least three opposition-led newspapers have supported these claims with further incitements against the Shahbag protesters and individual bloggers.
One blogger at the forefront of the Shahbag protests, Ahmed Rajib Haider, was murdered outside his home in Dhaka on February 15. For years, he had been writing about war criminals and Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh under the pseudonym Thaba Baba (Captain Claw).
The blogger Hasib wrote:
খুন করার জন্য থাবাবাবাকে বেছে নেবার কারণ পরিষ্কার। থাবাবাবা ধর্মবিশ্বাসের নাস্তিক ছিলেন এবং সেটা তিনি উচ্চস্বরে জানানও দিতেন। জামাতের উদ্দেশ্য এখানে এই ধর্মবিশ্বাসকে আশ্রয় করে একটা বিভক্তি টানা। তারা এই বিভক্তি তৈরী করতে সফল।
It is clear why Thaba Baba was picked up and killed. He was an open atheist. The main target of the Jamaat (Islamist party) is to create division among bloggers using religion. They were successful.
Blogger Nir Shandhani writes of the frenzy that ensued after Rajib’s murder when a fake blog full of blasphemy was widely circulated and attributed to the blogger even though it was created after his death. The blog texts were downloaded, printed and distributed to incite hatred against Shahbag bloggers. Jamaat-e-Islami and its allies launched protests across country on February 22 against “atheist bloggers” in which 4 people were killed in clashes with police.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s government is quietly in favor of the Shahbag demonstrations since Jamaat-e-Islami is a political opponent who wishes to introduce Islamic law.
As the protests continue from strength to strength, youth are having their resolve tested by contradictory claims and threats. And less internet-savvy citizens in Bangladesh who may not know what a blog is must have concluded by now that it is something quite anti-Islamic.
On February 28, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayed was sentenced to death, leading to cheers in the Shabagh intersection, and deadly clashes between Islamists and police in Dhaka and other parts of the country. Jamaat-e-Islami say they will retaliate with a 48-hour “shutdown” of Bangladesh starting Sunday, March 3.
This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.


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Brazilian Family Loses Home to the World Cup · Global Voices
Pública - Agência de jornalismo investigativo

This article, by Andrea Dip, is a part of Agência Pública's special #CopaPública [pt] coverage, and was originally published on June 26, 2012, with the title Elisângela Got Home Just in Time to See it Being Torn Down: Watch the Minidoc [pt]
Elisângela wasn't home when authorities arrived without warning to tear down her house on Pavão-Pavãozinho hill in Rio de Janeiro.
Her 17-year-old daughter answered the door and was told that the property was going to be destroyed at that very moment. Panicking, the girl called her mother:
Tem vários homens da Prefeitura aqui na porta; eles estão dizendo que vão derrubar a nossa casa.
There are many men here from the city at the door; they're saying they are going to tear down our house.
Elisângela ran back home, tried to reason with the men, ask for some time to find another home, but it was no use. In a few hours, all that was left was debris. This happened in early 2011. To this day, Elisângela has not been compensated nor relocated. Her daughter had to go live with her grandmother, while Elisângela still searches for a new home.
Elisângela gazes at the site of her destroyed home. Photo: Agência Pública / Credits: Henrique Zizo
The minidocumentary “We Are the Legacy: the Story of Elisângela” (“O Legado Somos Nós: A História de Elisângela”) is the first in a series of video portraits being produced by the human rights organization Witness, which partnered with the Rio People's World Cup and Olympics Committee (Comitê Popular Rio Copa e Olimpíadas), in an attempt to tell the stories of those affected by forced evictions in Rio de Janeiro, directly or indirectly connected to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Priscila Neri, from Witness, explains that the idea is to give an alternative to the official narrative, which claims that everything is being done in compliance with the law and through constant dialogue with the communities.
Elisângela at Pavão Pavãozinho. Photo: Agência Pública / Credits: Henrique Zizo
In Elisângela's particular case, the justification provided at the time of the eviction was that her home was in a risk area in Pavão-Pavãozinho, but only some houses were destroyed and, according to the Rio People's World Cup and Olympics Committee, the city hasn't even removed the debris yet. The hill is located between two of Rio's most sought-after neighborhoods: Ipanema and Copacabana.
According to the dossier [pt] published by the Rio People's World Cup and Olympics Committee, the city intends to use the argument of geotechnical or structural risk to evict more than 300 families from the Pavão-Pavãozinho community:
Até o momento a Prefeitura não apresentou o laudo que comprove o risco e nem discutiu com a comunidade a possibilidade de realização de obras para garantir a segurança dos moradores.
Up until now the city hasn't presented any technical report that backs up the risk claim nor has it discussed with the community the possibility of carrying out infrastructural work to ensure the residents’ safety.
Still according to the Rio People's World Cup and Olympics Committee, engineers that have written technical reports about areas like the Pavão-Pavãozinho have pointed out that doing construction work to restrain or strengthen the slope, in order to eliminate the risk of slippage, would cost even less than relocating the families that live in the area.
Watch the minidoc:


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Self-Immolations Energize Bulgarian Protests · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

Protests continue in Bulgaria for 20 days without stopping. In the latest major protest, on Feb. 24, more than 200,000 people took to the streets of the biggest cities in the country – Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. Their demands against monopolies in the energy sector and revision of the political system remain unfulfilled. Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, speaking on Feb. 28, said he would create a caretaker government formed with the participation of civil society organizations. But the protests continue – on March 3, Bulgaria's National Day, there will be new rallies.
One of the reasons for the protests to continue are the self-immolations – three cases in less than a month, all largely neglected by the media.
One of the self-immolators, 36-year-old Plamen Goranov [bg], has become a symbol of the fight against the mafia and the political system. He is now called the “Bulgarian Jan Palach,” after the Czech student who set himself on fire in Prague in 1968, in protest against the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Plamen Goranov.
Goranov is one of the main critics of the mafia in his city, Varna, whose mayor Kiril Yordanov has been alleged to have ties with “the murky and powerful” TIM group. Yordanov has been the mayor of Varna since 1999. Activists believe that Goranov's self-immolation was in protest against TIM.
TIM is the informal name of a Varna economic holding group connected with “KhimImport,” founded in the mid-1990s. It is most often associated with the criminal activity of the 1990s and the economic activity of the 2000s.
According to an article [bg] in the Bulgarian newspaper “Capital,”
[…] TIM was created by ten people. All are former Marines from the “Tihina” section near Varna. This is a secret branch of the Navy, which for years has been trained as elite special forces – commandos, parachutists and divers. Most of the founders were former karate athletes who participated in the national team and took not one or two titles in international tournaments. […]
[…] In the early 1990s, reforms in the army left many former Marines unemployed. […] Good physical form and karate skills allowed the majority of them to engage in different activities requiring the use of force. […]
Bulgarian blog PsyGlass posted this [bg] about Plamen Goranov:
[…] What a name! Burning flame [refers to the translation of the name Plamen from Bulgarian]. […] Like most people, I learned about him from pictures and stories. Who is he? Why is he a hero? Why did he set himself on fire?
Plamen is a dangerous character, because he is still alive. His self-immolation is not comparable with the actions of Levski and Botev [Bulgarian national heroes]. Those whom we admire. Whose portraits we admire. But Plamen burned. He is real, his pictures are in color, they can be seen, and the background and visible context can be found. […]
[…] It's safer for heroes to have black-and-white portraits. So we can worship without questions, take their decisions for granted. They are white – perfect, flawless, bright. […]
[…] The courage to look honestly at Plamen, in all of his humanity, to ask burning questions, to seek explanations and to act according to the meaning that we find – this is the position of citizens, of humans. And maybe of heroes. […]
On the Bulgarian investigative journalism website (which was hacked a few weeks ago), a text about Plamen Goranov and the reasons for his act was published both in English and in Bulgarian, titled “Plamen Goranov – the Martyr of the ‘Bulgarian Spring’.” There is also an article about Goranov and democracy in Bulgaria on the Occupy.com website.
Bulgarian news blog, SamokoVest, has this [bg] on Goranov:
Plamen Goranov from Varna expressed his protest against the outrageous situation in the country and in his hometown with a staggering final act of negation. He was on fire and turned himself into a living torch for the protests.
Blogger Radan Kanev wrote [bg] about the symbolism of Goranov's self-immolation and asked why people aren't asking the government to act against the mafia:
[…] There is no compelling physical force against the citizens of Varna. No Soviet troops. Even no Bulgarian troops there. The sacrifice of Plamen Goranov is undoubtedly a protest against the shadowy power of TIM Group, which everyone talks about over coffee, beer and dinner. But Bulgaria has the power to oppose the shadow government. Varna has the power to stop it. The resources of the public authority are far greater than those of any group of thugs, any oligarch – or even all of them together. […]
[…] The only tanks that sparked this protest are the tanks of our silence. The silence of the politicians’ ‘public’ media … the silence of the otherwise noisy protests. […]
There is a Facebook group [bg] in support of Plamen Goranov, with more than 1,600 members. A concert rally has been organized through Facebook [bg] to help Goranov, who is in hospital now and in need of blood donations:
Sometimes courage causes fear inside us. Sometimes an act of understanding leads us to demonize or belittle. […]  Let us try to understand the sacrifice for the sake of an idea, and it will unite us rather than divide us. […] Let's donate blood – Plamen needs it. Let us unite, at least around the idea to help this man.
Let us pray for his health and life. The initiative is part of a series of events in support of Plamen Goranov around the country.

author: Ruslan Trad


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#Shahbag Protesters Fight off Atheist Shadow Cast by Islamist Groups · Global Voices
আলীম

See our special coverage of Bangladesh's #Shahbag Protests
Protesters calling for war criminals in Bangladesh to be put to death are pushing back after Islamists staging violent counter-protests accused the movement of being atheist and anti-Muslim.
Clashes between Bangladesh police and supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, the country's largest Islamist political party, making a stand against the popular Shahbag movement left four people dead and nearly 1,000 others injured, including 14 journalists, on February 22, 2013.
Rallies at mosques around the country, organized by Jamaat and 12 other like-minded Islamic parties angry over alleged insults to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (Sm) on blogs and Facebook from Shahbag supporters, turned violent. Protesters reportedly vandalized the Shaheed Minar, a structure in remembrance of martyrs for the Bengali language movement, in Sylhet, burned the national flag in Chandpur, and assaulted police and other Muslims during the tumult.
The secretary general for Jamaat, Abdul Quader Mollah, was sentenced to life in prison by an International Crimes Tribunal judge on February 5, 2013 for crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, in which an estimated 200,000 to 3 million people were killed by the Pakistani army with the help of local political and religious militia groups in Bangladesh.
Hundreds of thousands of people attend a grand rally at Projonmo Chattar in the capital's Shahbagh. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (21/2/2013)
The short-of-death sentence sparked protests in Shahbag square in Bangladesh capital Dhaka the same day, calling for those who perpetrated mass murder, rape, arson, and other crimes against humanity during the war to be hanged. The movement quickly spread throughout the country, supported by the local blogging community and a variety of political, cultural, and student organizations.
But the Islamist resistance to the movement has religious tensions rising in Bangladesh, where 89 percent of the population is Muslim.
Pro-Jamaat Islamists riot in Bangladesh over ‘Blasphemous Blogs’. Image by Zakir Hossain Chowdhury. Copyright Demotix (22/1/2013)
Shahbag supporters beat off the accusations of atheism and blasphemy online.
On Facebook, Nijhoom Majumder republished a famous photo that captured the moment when refugees from East Pakistan poured into India by the millions during the Bangladesh Liberation War as a reminder of the terrible history and why the protests should continue:
আমার মা'কে, আমার বাবাকে, আমার বোনকে, আমার ভাইকে এত তীব্র কষ্ট যারা দিয়েছিলো তাদের বিচার চাইতে গেলেই আমি নাস্তিক? তাদের বিচার চাইতে গেলেই আমি আওয়ামীলীগের দালাল? বিচার চাইতে গেলেই কি আমাকে এইসব অসভ্য প্রোপাগান্ডার মুখে পড়তে হবে?
Facebook user Dipu shared a video from his account about the Shahbag movement.
Former Jahangirnagar University student and Facebook user Saikat Shuvro Aich [bn] posted his reaction on the destruction of the Shaheed Minar and the burning of the national flag:
BNP is a “nationalist” party! But they supported the degradation of the two supreme icons of our nationalist feelings: the Shaheed Minar and our national flag. They strongly supported the hartal (strike) called by the people who committed this acts. They went silent when the Shahbagh movement started and then started making confusing comments. Sometime they talk about saluting the movement, then they said they are not supporting the movement and they will be countering this with their own gonotontro moncho (democracy stage) along with the people who degraded our flag and the Shaheed Minar!
I have heard the term political bankruptcy from childhood. Now seeing BNP, i understand the term. There’s no question of consideration for those who oppose seventy-one (liberation war). Ta Ta, BNP, bye bye.
Shashanka Baran Roy [bn] wrote on Facebook that he is optimistic about the movement:
They burned our national flag and destroyed the Shaheed Minar. This fight is from the soul of every person of this country except the Rajakars Al-Badrs. There is no option except victory.
Blogger, activist, and Facebook user Bijoy Majumder [bn], published:
What is the relation between the demand for hanging of atheist blogger’s and the burning of Shaheed Minar and the National Flag?
The students of Jamia Nuria Islamia Madrassa protest against Shahbag bloggers who express anti-Prophet Mohammad sentiments on their page. Kamrangirchar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image by Zahidul Selim. Copyright Demotix (24/2/2013)
People living in and outside the country are waging battles for and against the Shahbag movement on Twitter. Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) tweeted:
@TarekFatah: Islamists in Bangladesh threaten PM Hasina: “Arrest the #Shahbag bloggers or we will slaughter them one by one”. http://youtu.be/ngtkv6UWE1k
Shahed Haq (@BrotherShahed) tweeted about Ghulam Azam, one of the people accused of the war crimes:
@BrotherShahed: Politics101: #Shahbag #6: Ghulam Azam was one of the leading figures of the language movement #factcheck http://tinyurl.com/afxomkx
In reply to the tweet, Pinaki (@pim863) wrote:
@pim863: @BrotherShahed how do you sleep at night? look at this what ghulam azam said pic.twitter.com/I8vf6CtddI #shahbag #jamaatis are such liars.
Ishtiaq Opal (@opal_snaps) tweeted that Jamaat, despite its claims, does not support Islam or Bangladesh:
@opal_snaps: jamatis hiring pakistanis against us. how can they still live in this country? #shahbag will not end until jamatis end. pic.twitter.com/uNwXjJWMKp
Twitter user Iftekhar Chowdhury (@iftekhat_chy) had this to say:
@iftekhat_chy: FFollow the footsteps of Muhamaad (PBUH) that is the message Nouman Ali giving here, Don't follow #jamaat's #shahbag http://goo.gl/0VDzT
“Bangladesh Fan” (@BAN_FAN) wrote:
@BAN_FAN: Being a Muslim & Supporting Jamat are two different things. You can be a good Muslim and Reject Politics of Jamat #Shahbag #BanglaSpring
Anu Likhon (@anulikhon) tweeted a note to Jamat:
@anulikhon: Dear #jamat , so it is your best, u ppl can only terrorise ppl , Nothing more. #bangladesh rejects you. #shahbag
Shahbagh protestors gather for a flag rally at Rayerbazar Buddhijbi Monument Saturday. Image by Zahidul Selim. Copyright Demotix (23/2/2013)
The Internet was not only host to pro- and anti-Shahbag commentary. Supporters of the Islamic counterprotests even hacked the website of leading English newspaper The Daily Star, and Shahbag-supporting hackers broke into the website of the Bangladesh Islami Student Shibir. Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has until now blocked 12 blogs and Facebook pages [bn] administered by Jamaat-Shibir supporters on charges of inciting hatred and violence.
Jamaat leaders are not the only ones to face prosecution. A couple of leaders of the main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party and one leader of the ruling party Awami League also stand accused of genocide, rape, arson and crimes during the country's liberation from Pakistan in 1971.
Dr. Imran H. Sarker, convener of the Bloggers and Online Activists Network [bn], which organized the original Shahbag protests, detailed the six main demands of the movement in a speech on February 21 [bn]:
The 6-points
1. All involved in the murders of Shaheed Rajib Haider, Jafar Munshi, Bahadur Miah, Kishor Russel Mahmud have to be arrested within 7 days.
2. To ban the participation of anti-independence, terrorist group Jamaat-Shibir in politics, form charges and start legal action against Jamaat-E-Islami according to the amended law.
3. The economic institutions which finance the terrorist activities of the group have to be identified and brought within the confines of the law by creating an independent investigation commission.
4. To ensure the speed and endurance of the trial of the war criminals the International Criminal Tribunal has to be institionalized.
5. To ensure the safety of the general people and to stop the violence and terrorist activities of Jamaat-Shibir, law enforcing agencies have to take special steps to arrest the criminals, retrieve illegal arms and expose hideouts. The true face of this group has to be unmasked to the national and international media.
6. Take immediate steps against the mass-media which have incited murder and communal feelings to protect the war criminals.
Shahbag supporters say they will continue with their movement until their demand for capital punishment is met.

author: আলীম


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Tough Questions to Iran’s President Censored on State TV · Global Voices
Farid

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Source: Mehrnews.com
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB cut away suddenly from the broadcast of an interview with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on February 23, 2013 interrupting a question-and-answer session by replacing it with a television drama show. The office of the president issued a statement expressing their surprise, but IRIB's Public Relations Department said the interruption happened in coordination with Ahmadinejad's office. Whether it was coordinated or not, it was a hot topic online.
Several bloggers referred to it as censorship.
Cut-away moment
Tough questions
Shahbeldin Sheykhi writes [fa]:
Masoume Hatemkhani, a brave female journalist from Mehr news agency, asked essential questions of Ahamdienjad such as what happened to his promise to create jobs, his slogan to fight against economic corruption, the drop of the national currency… Ahmadinejad replied with standard answers… you can see the disappointment on the reporter's face… Ahmadinejad's policy is just immoral, an immorality that began 34 years ago with a failed revolution.
Ahmadinejad answered that the economic situation is good and that everything going on cannot be linked to his government, such as economic corruption…
Nedayeazadi writes [fa]:
The Islamic regime is against any kind of Iranian people's solidarity and unity… a reporter asked Ahamdinejad if according to his opinion, people should protect themselves against inflation, meaning they should avoid buying some goods in order to push their prices down…. I believe that Ahamdinejad's interview was cut-away to avoid more of such questions.


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Myanmar Children Photograph Civil War Impact · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Children in a refugee camp in Myanmar share their stories
Through photos, children of Kachin State document the impact of the civil war in the north part of Myanmar. Organized by Insight Out!, an international group of artists, the project involves the training of children in refugee camps to help them express and expose the situation in their communities.

author: Mong Palatino


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China: Moving the Capital? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

As the pollution and water shortage problem in Beijing is getting more and more serious, people are discussing about various proposals to move the capital city. Brendan O'Kane joined the conversation with more background on the previous proposals and recommendations.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Deadly Clash Between Police and Farmers in Myanmar · Global Voices
Juan Cebu

Pacerunning shared a short video recording of a woman being attacked by the police during a clash between farmer protesters and police in Maupin, Myanmar. In the video, one officer pushed a woman and it seems another officer was trying to attack her while others were trying to stop him.
The clash [my] between around 500 farmers and 200 police broke out on February 26, 2013 in Maupin of the Irrawaddy Division in Myanmar. One police was killed and a total of 45 people were injured. It started [my] when the police tried to disperse the group of militant farmers who refused to evacuate the land previously seized by the military government. One of the farmers says: [my]
We are so impoverished that if we do nothing, we will not be able to eat. So we can not back down.
The clash was subdued the following day. The government website reported that a state of emergency was issued in the area. Later, the Ministry of Home Affairs announced that stability was restored in the district.
According to The Irrawaddy, land protests have been rising in the country in the past two years:
Land protests have taken place in many parts of Burma since the former military regime handed over power to a quasi-civilian government two years ago. Land ownership problems plague many farmers, because under current laws, they rarely have actual ownership of their farmlands, even if their families have used them for generations.
Aye Nai also notes the rising cases of land grabs and subsequent land protests in the countryside:
With Burma primed for massive investment as the country continues with ongoing political reforms, land grabs have been on the rise. According to experts, the country’s shaky legal infrastructure allows forced relocation and appropriations to continue.
However, local farmers are feeling increasingly empowered in the absence of military rule to protest against development projects that threaten to forcibly remove them off land they work.

author: Juan Cebu


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Hong Kong’s Baby Formula Smugglers · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Alia from China Beat blogs Chinese netizens’ reaction on Hong Kong government's new restriction which limits tourists from taking more than 1.8kg infant formula milk across border everyday. The policy is meant to stop the outflow of  baby formula from Hong Kong to mainland China and prevent the shortage of local supply.


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Samaritan Law Passed in Chinese City · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shenzhen, a city in Southern China, recently has passed a set of law to protect good Samaritans from being sued by people they have helped. Mary Ann O'Donnell wondered if public morality can be legislated.


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Ukraine’s Roads: An Endangered Species · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainian drivers are as fond of using dashboard cameras as their Russian counterparts, a “phenomenon” that has recently become known internationally thanks to the Chelyabinsk meteor. This winter, Ukraine's roads have grown so grotesquely potholed – as if hit by hundreds of small meteors! – that many drivers couldn't help sharing their dash cam videos online.
By mid-February 2013, the public outrage over the appalling state of the roads temporarily stole the social media spotlight from the bizarre and ominous second trial of the already jailed ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko, and from the opposition's two-week 24/7 blockade of the Parliament.
Below is a small selection of the recent footage documenting Ukrainian drivers’ bumpy riding routines.
Among other things, Nazar Kovalyshyn, the author of the last video in the selection above, mentioned that the Ternopil-Lviv road had been repaired for the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, which Ukraine co-hosted with Poland last summer, spending $6.6 billion from its budget on preparations for the event. These preparations included large-scale road repairs in the host cities and all over the country. In Sept. 2011, President Yanukovych was quoted saying that he was “confident that the infrastructure built in Ukraine [would] serve many generations.”
The newly-repaired roads, however, have failed to survive their first winter – which says a lot about the quality of those costly repairs and confirms that Ukraine's reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries is well deserved.
“Euro 2012: The End.” (An anonymous image widely circulated online.)
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov sees the root of the road problem elsewhere. On Feb. 8, in a wordy Facebook post [ru], he (or whoever maintains his page for him) explained to nearly 24,000 of his subscribers that Ukraine “has 170,000 km of various roads,” of which only 2,731 km are “roads of the first category, i.e., those on which it is possible to drive comfortably.” According to PM Azarov, “the construction of 1 km of road surface in Ukraine costs approximately 40 million hryvnias ($4.9 million)”, or even more, whereas in Poland “it's almost twice as much,” and in Germany it's 2.5 times the Ukrainian cost, i.e., “100,000 hryvnias” ($12.3 million) per kilometer. The Ukrainian budget provides approximately 20 billion hryvnias per year ($2.5 billion) for road construction and repairs. “It's easy to calculate,” writes PM Azarov, “that these 20 billion [hryvnias] will be enough for just 500 km.” His conclusion:
[…] It is absolutely obvious that with the current levels of funding it is rather hard to expect a radical and very fast change of the situation. […]
It didn't take long, of course, for PM Azarov's readers to start posting their retorts.
Olga Bryga wrote [ru]:
In Poland, I was told the cost of the roads there (with drains, heating, hydroisolation and 20-year warranty) – 5 million hryvnias per km [$600,000] […]. And there is only one answer to the question of “Why are they sucking, squeezing, twisting the taxes out of us, while the roads remain [so embarrassingly bad]?” – [because] they are stealing [the money meant for the roads]. […]
Sergei Gorbach wrote [ru]:
Where does the price of 40 million hryvnias per kilometer come from?????????? It is $5 million!!!!???? Can anyone from the government conduct an audit and adequately and in detail explain in the mass media what this price is made of? […] The price of an autobahn in Germany is something I am able to understand. The materials, salaries, and, above all, the RESULT, can cost this much. But in Ukraine, where the materials are not imported, where salaries are dozen times lower than in Germany, and where there is NO RESULT, a road cannot cost this much. […] Trust me, I'm a long-time supporter of your political party and you personally. But I would like to tell you honestly that with each new election, I simply do not know what to reply to my opponents! There are no visible results!
Igor Ignatenko summed it all up [ru]:
In our country, road construction price tags are a few times higher than they should be. In Germany, 1 kilometer actually costs less than in Ukraine. It's just that in our country they know how to pocket a billion, not how to invest it. Because you don't really care what words are being used to curse you…
Five road workers are patching a pothole in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photo by Sergii Kharchenko, copyright © Demotix (5/02/13).
Much of the road crisis citizen-generated content and discussions, as well as media links, can be found in the “I Hate UkrAvtoDor” Facebook group [uk, ru], whose 4,801 members have publicly declared their hatred for the state agency responsible for maintaining Ukraine's roads. Journalist Andrey Chernikov, the group's founder, posted this introduction [ru] on his Ukrainska Pravda blog on Feb. 12:
While the roads of Ukraine haven't yet disappeared along with the snow, let's eternalize their memory.
Take photos, shoot video and post in the “I Hate UkrAvtoDor” group, if you accidentally come across a good road.
They, the roads, are dying out.
Let's leave warm memories of them.
Join us.
Recently, there have been attempts to hold rallies in Kyiv to draw the authorities’ attention to the road problems. Even though over a thousand people expressed their willingness to come to the UkrAvtoDor office on Feb. 18 [ru] and place car parts that broke off due to potholes by its entrance, only about 30 car owners (and many more journalists) actually showed up. Another action [uk], during which drivers were supposed to stop by the Cabinet of Ministers on Feb. 20 to change tires on their cars, also drew only a few dozen participants. To catch the relevant authorities in their offices, both events were scheduled to take place during work hours, but this strategy backfired, as many of those who wanted to attend, were busy working, too.
UkrAvtoDor has been the activists’ target before. In August 2012, members of the Democratic Alliance [en], a Ukrainian youth organization, were monitoring road repairs in Kyiv's residential areas, for which funds had been allotted from the budget, stenciling the words “Catch the Thief from UkrAvtoDor” next to potholes [photos are here; uk]. While the Kyiv campaign was not as bold and creative as the one in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where activists used to “spray-paint the portraits of local dignitaries around potholes, with quotes of their promises to fix the problem” (see this text by GV Author Vilhelm Konnander), it did bring some relief. Halyna Yanchenko wrote this [uk] in the “I Hate UkrAvtoDor” group:
[…] The repairs did take place at all the locations where we stenciled our slogan on the asphalt. Where there were no stencils, some 30 percent of the [necessary] repairs took place. […]
Other related citizen initiatives include UkrYama [uk, ru], inspired by the Russian project RosYama (more about it in this RuNet Echo text by Teplitsa/Greenhouses of Social Technologies), and 4road.net/Public Control [uk, ru]. An umbrella Facebook group – “The Ruin of Ukraine's Infrastructure. Enough!” [uk, ru] – has recently been set up to coordinate individual and group efforts to prevent the infrastructure collapse in Ukraine.
Ukraine


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Where do Chinese Weibo users live?  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Blocked in Weibo analyses the spatial distribution of Weibo users and finds out that roughly 23% of all Weibo posts come from Guangdong.