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Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Silence Anti-War Voices on Yemen · Global Voices
Mohamed Hassan

Hundreds of Yemeni and Arab supporters rallied at the Marble Arch and then marched to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in London in a protest against the attack on Yemen. Photograph by See Li. Copyright: Demotix
Gulf Arab countries are stepping up the war on anti-war activists in the region. Kuwait and Bahrain have jailed activists for speaking up against the Saudi-led war on Yemen. This crackdown continues in the steps of a historic trend across the region to rein in opposition voices.
Hundreds of people have been reportedly killed in fighting in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign against the country on March 26. Backed by its Gulf Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Saudi Arabia started an airstrike operation, dubbed Decisive Storm, against Houthi fighters who took control of Yemen in January.
On March 26, two people were arrested for “exploiting situation in Yemen to disrupt the peace and endanger security and civil order,” according to a tweet by the country's Ministry of Interior:
2 persons arrested for exploiting situation in Yemen to disrupt the peace and endanger security and civil order #Bahrain
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) March 26, 2015
According to UAE English daily Khaleej Times:
In a statement, the ministry highlighted that a delicate situation was prevailing in the region and special measures had been taken by Bahrain and other GCC countries to solve an internal Arab matter as well as to support the legitimacy, security and stability in Yemen.
The Interior Ministry warned against any attempt to exploit the current situation and cause disunity among the ranks of citizens and residents by spreading malicious information through digital media or issuing statements against the approach of Bahrain.
The Interior Ministry said it will take legal action against anything that could risk the safety and security of the society and stressed that the situation required strong national unity to promote security, general order and stability.
This was followed by the arrest of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, on April 2.
According to Index on Censorship, Rajab, who is already awaiting trial on other charges related to his use of Twitter, was arrested on two new additional charges:
On 2 April 2015, security forces surrounded Mr. Rajab’s home and arrested him in relation to two new charges involving a series of recent tweets and an opinion piece published in the Huﬃngton Post. The ﬁrst charge is for “insulting a statutory body” in connection to his documentation of mistreatment and torture in Bahrain’s Jau Prison. The second charge of “spreading rumors during wartime” relates to his reporting on civilian deaths in Yemen, in contravention of a government prohibition of any public mention that is critical of the conﬂict. If he is convicted on all current charges, Mr. Rajab could face more than 10 years in prison.
Rajab is still in prison, awaiting trial.
Kuwait too has intensified its crackdown, arresting two activists on April 2, who were held for five days and questioned over their tweets on Yemen. Former MP and lawyer Khaled Al-Shatti and academic and writer Salah Al-Fadhli were both arrested over comments they wrote on Twitter, criticising the Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen, which Kuwait is involved in, and objecting to Kuwait's involvement in the operation. The tweets were seen by the authorities as offensive to the Amir (ruler) of Kuwait and critical of neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Rana Al Sadoun tweets:
غدا يعرض المحامي خالد الشطي و الدكتور صلاح الفضلي على النيابة العامة مجددا بسبب تغريدات اعتبرت تحبيط للجيش ،التدخل بصلاحيات الامير،السعودية
— Rana Jasem Al-Sadoun (@Ranoooya) April 4, 2015
Tomorrow lawyer Khalid Al-Shatti and Dr Salah Al-Fadhli will be brought to the prosecutor's office for demoralizing the army and interfering with the Amir's authorities
The two were freed on a 10,000 US dollar bail each.
On the Washington Post's blog Monkey Cage Madeleine Wells, a PhD candidate in political science at the George Washington University, explains the underlying causes which has led Kuwait to nip such dissent in the bud:
What has changed since that would lead Kuwait to join with its Arab allies in a potentially controversial and sectarian cause that could rock the boat with its Shiite allies at home? The answer is that Kuwait, along with many of its neighbors, has become more authoritarian in the aftermath of the region-wide and domestic uprisings that started in late 2010. The ruling elites of the Sabah family are reeling from the cross-class Islamist-tribal-youth coalition that has only intensified its demands for political reform since the Arab Spring, in addition to intra-family factionalism and allegations of coup plotting. To deal with this situation, Kuwait has revived some unique ways of stemming the ongoing opposition movement. In 2014, over 30 people were deported and stripped of their citizenship for supposedly undermining the country’s security. Most recently, at least 18 people were reportedly arrested at an March 23 anti-government protest, including regional human rights defender Nawaf al-Hendal, who had addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council only three days earlier. Hendal has since been released but his case has been referred to Kuwait’s Criminal Court.
More importantly, in the past few months it has become clear that there is not only a red line for Kuwaitis criticizing the emir, but a taboo on criticizing Kuwait’s regional allies as well. Several other Kuwaitis who have criticized the Saudi regime or involved themselves in public domestic opposition campaigns have been targeted as well.
She further explains:
This regional criminalization of dissent is something that has been facilitated by the Gulf Cooperation Council’s Security Pact, which Kuwait was the last state to sign. The pact has given legal means for the persecuting of opposition forces all over the Gulf, ostensibly on security terms.
Such a crackdown is having support on the ground. On Twitter, Kristin Diwan, a political science professor and Arabophile, tweets a link to an article in a Kuwaiti daily praising the crackdown:
Kuwaiti op-Ed writer links Yemen Decisive Storm op w/”decisive” crackdown on domestic political opposition http://t.co/5yxPTvS1PE
— Kristin Diwan (@kdiwaniya) April 1, 2015
Back in Bahrain, Rajab is accused of “distributing false news.” Bahraini blogger Ali Abdulemam, who was forced to flee his country and was stripped of his nationality, wonders if other people spreading false news will also be punished. He tweets:
هل ستتم محاسبة وزير الخارجية بتهمة بث أخبار كاذبة والإضرار بدولة صديقة نتبادل معها سفارات http://t.co/zDvnl0x5vU http://t.co/jbeqjZG6Qs
— Ali Abdulemam (@abdulemam) April 5, 2015
Will the Foreign Minister be held accountable for distributing false news and harming a country Bahrain holds diplomatic ties with?
The tweet refers to a tweet made by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa on April 5, claiming that Kuwaiti customs and security have uncovered a shipment of Iranian explosives, on their way to Bahrain.
نحيي يقظة رجال الأمن و الجمارك في الكويت لاكتشافهم شحنة المواد المتفجرة القادمة اليهم من ايران في طريقها الى البحرين . الارهاب يستمر
— خالد بن احمد (@khalidalkhalifa) April 4, 2015
We applaud the caution of customs and security personnel in Kuwait for uncovering a shipment of explosives on its way from Iran to Bahrain. Terrorism continues.
When the Bahraini Ministry of Interior denied the news, Al Khalifa did not delete the false news. He just tweeted the denial.
وكالة أنباء البحرين: مدير عام أمن المنافذ: ما تردد عن ضبط مواد متفجرة كانت متجهة للبحرين“ غير صحيح”
— خالد بن احمد (@khalidalkhalifa) April 5, 2015
Bahrain News Agency: Ports director general announces: What has been circulated about the capture of a shipment carrying explosives on its way to Bahrain is not true.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia witnessed anti-war protests too in Awamiya, in its Eastern province. Toby Matthiesen tweets:
News that 1 #Saudi security officer and 1 Asian expatriate killed in Awamia today, dozens of locals arrested and injured, houses burnt down
— Toby Matthiesen (@TobyMatthiesen) April 5, 2015
A Long History of Repression
This isn't the first time a war abroad has had repercussions in the Gulf. This trend is actually older than some of the countries that are in the Decisive Storm coalition.
In 1956, when the United Kingdom, France and Israel participated in the Suez Crisis, Bahrain witnessed a labour strike in protest against the attacks. A week after the strike, protests and clashes reached British companies and Bahrain seized the opportunity to deal with its domestic problems. The popular High National Council that represented the opposition at the time was dissolved and its leaders arrested and sentenced to exile. A month later, martial law was declared and all publications were banned [1]. Many would consider that an overreaction, considering that Britain had its own wave of protests where the Labour Party led an anti-war campaign that at one point developed close to a fist fight in the House of Commons [2]. Needless to say, the UK did not close down or dissolve the Labour Party.
A 1959 document, named “Internal security schemes in Qatar and Bahrain. Code BA file 11914“, details the measures the British and local forces were given to counter any potential protests in response to potential military operations. It included eavesdropping to wireless communications, a move that is still very much in place, as a Kuwaiti newspaper reports:
الشاهد الكويتية:أجهزة حديثة وفرقة اقتحام لتعقب المغردين المشبوهين… #kawait http://t.co/zNnB1JQ8EZ
— Al-Wasat News (@alwasatnews) February 23, 2015
Alshahed Kuwaiti newspaper: New equipment and a special attack force to track suspicious Twitter users
In the 1980s, during the first Gulf war between Iraq and Iran, Kuwait deported a number of those assumed to be Iraqi-opposition or anti-war activists, including undocumented Kuwaitis as well as Iraqis, even though Kuwait was on the side of Saddam Hussein at the time. Some estimate the number of those deported at over 60,000.
While the recent wave of crackdown on anti-war voices is alarming within the current situation, there appears to be a concerted effort to amplify the sound of war drums. From the single song “Oh Welcome War” to the “Decisive storm poet,” a new identity is being formed around the culture of war in the region.
Journalist Abbas Al Lawati tweets about a song by a Saudi singer entitled “Welcome, War”:
Saudi singer launches “Welcome, war” song on radio in support of the #Yemen war. #Bringiton pic.twitter.com/bl9Qm23InP
— Abbas Al Lawati (@allawati) March 30, 2015
And Adawa Alwatan tweets about a poetry contest to celebrate the war on Yemen:
“القانوس”: قناة الأصايل تستعد لإطلاق مسابقة شاعر “عاصفة الحزم” – صحيفة أضواء الوطن الإلكترونية http://t.co/0GxEnOclqX
— صحيفة أضواء الوطن (@adwaalwatan) April 2, 2015
Alasaiel channel is getting ready to launch the Decisive Storm poet competition
What is more alarming is bringing religion into the equation, pitting the war as one between Sunni Muslims against Houthi “apostates”. A group of Bahraini organizations published a full page paid advertisement in a pro-government newspaper declaring Houthis apostate and excommunicating them. The list of NGOs include Karama Human Rights Group and a drug rehabilitation institute.

author: Mohamed Hassan


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Battle-Weary Colombians Demand Peace on Day for Armed Conflict Victims · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

”Let's mobilize!” Invitation to the march for peace held on April 9 in Colombia. Photo: Instituto Popular de Capacitación used under Creative Commons license.
April 9 marked a solemn day across Colombia as it celebrated National Day of Memory and Solidarity with Victims of the Armed Conflict. The importance of the event cannot be understated in a country that has lost so many of its citizens to an internal armed struggle that has persisted for more than half a century.
At the same time, morale has been buoyed recently by the peace talks underway in Havana, Cuba, where the Colombian government has been meeting with the largest left-wing rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in an attempt to seek a resolution to the conflict.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted about the National Museum of Memory project on the occasion:
#PorLasVíctimasPorLaPaz, para restaurar su dignidad, reconocer su dolor y reparar el daño sufrido, levantaremos Museo Nacional de la Memoria
— Juan Manuel Santos (@JuanManSantos) April 9, 2015
#PorLasVíctimasPorLaPaz [for the victims, for peace], to restore their dignity, recognize their pain, and repair the harm they have suffered, we will build a National Museum of Memory.
The National Centre for Historical Memory also took advantage of the day to promote the construction project:
Víctimas del conflicto de todas las regiones y de todos los actores armados tendrán espacio en el #MuseodelaMemoria http://t.co/EiXm2OSW55
— Centro Memoria H. (@CentroMemoriaH) April 9, 2015
Victims of the conflict at the hands of all armed perpetrators and from all regions [of the country] will have their place in the #MuseodelaMemoria http://t.co/EiXm2OSW55
Despite the homage to the victims, the day was mainly characterized by peace marches organized in different cities throughout the country, and Colombians were vocal in their opinions.
Michela Gómez (@ MichelaGOMEZ) summed up her impressions of the day:
Por lo que vi la #MarchaPorLaPaz fue todo un éxito los que queremos paz somos más
— Soy..YO (@MichelaGOMEZ) April 10, 2015
From what I saw #MarchaPorLaPaz was a big success, those of us who want peace are in the majority.
Meanwhile, Mateo Granada (@mateo_granada) thought that a day of marches and commemoration of the victims is not enough to secure peace:
#MarchaPorLaPaz Yo creo en la paz, pero ésta no se logra llenando portadas en revistas y titulares en la televisión.
— Mateo Zapata (@mateo_granada) April 10, 2015
#MarchaPorLaPaz I believe in peace, but you don't get it with magazine covers and television headlines.
Finally, Andrés Arcos (@andresarcosrent) raised an issue for debate: was this a march for peace or a march in memory of Colombian victims?
A ningún noticiero escuche hablando de la marcha en apoyo a las víctimas. Todos hablaban de una tal #MarchaPorLaPaz
— Andres Arcos (@andresarcosrent) April 10, 2015
I didn't hear a single news report about a march in support of the victims. They all talked about the peace march #MarchaPorLaPaz
One thing is certain: the issue of genuine peace is a challenge for Colombia, a country in which people freely offer their opinion about what should and should not be and the path going forward. A particularly salient example of this can be found in the participation of indigenous peoples, who are especially vulnerable to violence and made their presence known in the marches:
“Marcha por la paz Asociación de Cabildos Indígenas del norte del Cauca. recorrido Miranda – Corinto C. pic.twitter.com/6PEKOioRaX
— Kiwe Nasa (@KiweNasa) April 9, 2015
“March for peace [by] the Association of Indigenous Councils of North Cauca. Miranda – Corinto C. route  pic.twitter.com/6PEKOioRaX
In fact, as reported by César Pachón (@CesarPachoAgro), it was the so-called Indigenous Guard that led the march in the city of Bogota:
@GuardiaIndigena: encabezó #MarchaPorLaPaz #MeMuevoPorLaPaz @ONIC_Colombia @KiweNasa @ColombiaNativa @Actualidadtnica pic.twitter.com/fZtoUBM0TY
— César Pachón Achury (@CesarPachonAgro) April 10, 2015
The Indigenous Guard led the March for Peace.
The range of public opinion is broad, especially over key issues such as the unilateral cease fire declared by the FARC in December 2014 and the announcement by the government of funds earmarked for the victims.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Cati Restrepo


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Cartoon Mascots in China Make Social Policing Cute · Global Voices
88 Bar

Fuwa. Image from Wikipedia
Below is an edited version of “Mascots: the Cutest Social Police” by Christina Xu, originally published on the blog 88 Bar and republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In the years leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Fuwa (福娃, “dolls of good fortune”), the official Olympic mascots, were everywhere: on billboards, in TV ads, made into stuffed toys, and erected as mini-statues in malls and airports all across the country.
Since then, hyper-cute anthropomorphic mascots designed through public contests have become all the rage. In addition to being great for merchandising and photo opportunities, these mascots are also often used to encourage and model “civilized” (文明) behavior.
Tian Tian (天天, “Everyday”) is the official mascot of the “Sunny Border” branding campaign, a joint effort between several governmental departments to give the Chinese border control a friendlier face-lift.
A Tian Tian poster in the immigration line at Shanghai Pudong. Photo by Christina Xu
In posters around immigration areas (and in billboards near airports), Tian Tian greets visitors and promises them a “friendly, efficient, and professional” experience. In a press release promoting the campaign during its 2012 launch, Tian Tian was highlighted as being a hit with kids.
Tian Tian on a billboard near Shanghai Pudong airport. Photo by Christina Xu
Chang Chang (畅畅) was selected as the official mascot of the Shanghai metro following a three-month contest in 2009. You’ll spot him in signs and videos around Shanghai’s metro stations encouraging good behavior or issuing warnings, as well as in special merchandising booths in popular stations.
A Chang Chang toy poses with fan letters and next to a safety sign normally posted near the track that reads, “For your personal safety and convenience, please don’t loiter here during high traffic areas.” Image from SHMetro.
Tian Tian and Chang Chang are part of a growing bestiary of mascots for all kinds of faceless infrastructure. In my travels, I’ve spotted them for fire departments, banks, and a huge number of public spaces such as malls and airports. They seem to be primarily intended for display in the physical environment—as statues, characters in PSAs, merchandise, and signs and banners—rather than on websites or in social media.
The videos and signs they star in are part of a series of nationwide awareness campaigns to model “civil” behavior” and spread new norms about acceptable public behavior, specifically targeting newly urbanized migrants learning to share urban public spaces for the first time.
The mascots advocating these norms—don’t stand too close to the train tracks, do conserve tap water, don’t smoke indoors, do stand in orderly lines—increase the visual appeal and friendliness of these mandates, especially to the younger generation. These mascots represent not only an interesting part of China’s contemporary visual language, but also a soft mechanism (or accessory) for social regulation.

author: 88 Bar


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Is South Africa Off Limits to Other Africans? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A screenshot of a YouTube video posted by Ren TV showing an attack on an Ethiopian national.
Recent violence in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Durban is being attributed to comments made by the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, who allegedly told foreigners to go home. The attacks involved beatings, killings, and burning and looting shops and property owned by foreigners. Five people have been killed, including a 14-year-old boy who was shot on Monday. Over 1,000 foreigners have fled their homes.
Some South Africans accuse foreigners of taking away jobs, businesses, and engaging in criminal activities.
Between 2000 and 2008, at least 67 people died in xenophobic attacks. In May 2008, a series of riots left 60 people dead. In January this year, four people were killed in Johannesburg in similar attacks.
Using the hashtags #XenophobicSA and #AfrophobicSA South Africans and non-South Africans immediately took to Twitter to express their disgust and shock at the brutality displayed by South Africans and lack of action from the South African government.
Nakaka Ronald, a technology adviser from Tanzania, wrote:
Steve Biko's #blackconsciousness philosophy & sacrifice are rendered meaningless in #AfrophobicSA & #XenophobicSA pic.twitter.com/cjXuxKyWCF
— Nakaka Ronald (@rnakaka) April 15, 2015
(Black Consciousness is a political and philosophical movement to transform Black thought that was founded by South Africa anti-Apartheid hero Steve Biko.)
Oyinlola, a poet and author based in Ireland, asked South Africans:
Hello South Africans do you realise you have your citizens in other African countries too? #SouthAfrica #XenophobicSA
— Oyinlola (@lollybubbles) April 15, 2015
Ghadafi Ghadafi from Kenya asked:
How different are they from the whites that lynched and hanged Blacks or the whites that imposed apartheid on them? #XenophobicSA
— GHADAFI GHADAFI (@DunMillz) April 10, 2015
Another Kenyan Twitter user, Nyawira Njoroge, wrote:
I have always thought that I would feel at home anywhere in Africa. Clearly I was naive. #XenophobicSA
— Nyawira Njoroge (@NyawiraNjoroge) April 11, 2015
Responding to claims that foreigners take up local jobs,Abi Mwachi, a medical doctor based in Mombasa, Kenya, suggested:
The easiest way to get a job held by an expatriate is to go to school; not to a machete's shop. #XenophobicSA #xenophobicattacks
— Abi Mwachi M.D (@abimwachi) April 10, 2015
Joan Mumbua concluded that Africa will remain a Third World continent:
As Kenya is busy fighting terrorism #XenophobicSA are busy terrorizing their fellow Africans. We will remain a 3rd world continent! Nkt
— Joan mumbua (@Joangor25) April 10, 2015
Meanwhile, James Chikonamombe, a Zimbabwean national based in the US, saw the attacks as evidence of the failure of Pan Africanism (a political philosophy that promotes solidarity among Africans):
Pan-Africanism (however defined) is the toughest sell to Tribal Africans (however defined). #XenophobicSA
— James Chikonamombe (@Zichivhu) April 11, 2015
Referring to the recent removal of the colonialist statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, Ashley Mendelowitz tweeted:
The irony of taking down colonial statues one day and fellow Africans the next #XenophobicSA
— Ashley Mendelowitz (@AshMendelo) April 11, 2015
South African journalist Nomsa Maseko addresed her tweet to South Africans and the country's political leaders:
Where are South Africa's political leaders, church elders and youth leaders? Moral courage? Setting the agenda? #XenophobicSA #AfrophobicSA
— Nomsa Maseko (@nomsa_maseko) April 15, 2015
Another Twitter user compared the attackers to militants from the militant groups Al Shabaab and Boko Haram:
There's no difference between Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and the people responsible for burning those children alive. #XenophobicSA
— President Vusani (@Vusani_) April 11, 2015
Zimbabwean poet Larry Kwirirayi warned social media users against spreading misinformation:
While what is happening in SA is horrible, be careful abt recycling old pics of violence in SA & acting like they're current. #XenophobicSA
— larry kwirirayi (@kwirirayi) April 15, 2015
South Africa is like Egypt, wrote James Chikonamombe:
#XenophobicSA: Like Egypt, SAfrica is “in” Africa but not “off” Africa.That's the sad reality, thanks to 300yrs of mental oppression.
— James Chikonamombe (@Zichivhu) April 15, 2015
Tweeting from South Africa, a supporter of a borderless Africa observed:
These Xenophobic attacks have nothing to do with people entering borders illegally, we are just wired to hate other Africans #XenophobicSA
— Thapelo (@mokhathi) April 11, 2015
Mukula and Caroline Kere discussed how other Africans have sacrificed for South Africa's liberation:
@Mukulaa we did the same in high school, we gave 50 shillings, it's more #AfrophobicSA than #XenophobicSA ,they dislike “OTHER” Africans …
— Caroline Kere (@carolinekere) April 12, 2015
On the same point, AKA said:
During Apartheid it was these same “foreigners” that sheltered our freedom fighters …
— AKA (@akaworldwide) April 15, 2015
Some Twitter users took note of the fact that businesses owned by white immigrants were not attacked.
Tatenande from Namibia asked:
How many white foreign owned shops have been looted? #XenophobicSA
— tatenande (@tatenande) April 15, 2015
However, Wadzanai Thembani, argued:
Dear @BBCAfrica @africarenewal @DA_News @allafrica #XenophobicSA #Xenophobia #Africa things have got to change pic.twitter.com/f2E9aWC7tK
— Wadzanai Thembani (@wadziethembie) April 15, 2015

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Japan’s ‘Vagina Artist’ Denies Obscenity Charges · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Megumi Igarashi, July 24, 2014, YouTube screen capture.
Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi, nicknamed “The Vagina Artist” by the Western media, says there's nothing obscene about artwork based on her genitalia.
ろくでなし子こと五十嵐恵さん初公判　「私は猥褻ではない」と無罪主張: （´-`）.｡oO（法廷画かわいく描いてもらってうれしー(^o^) pic.twitter.com/elz29EsKx5 — ろくでなし子 (@6d7… http://t.co/oYNx4qixqV
— えりな (@hiroyasu_i) April 15, 2015
(Megumi Igarashi)'s first court appearance, declares herself not guilty of obscenity charges. （´-`）.｡oO (I'm also so glad the courtroom artist was able to portray her so well.  ー(^o^)
Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Igarashi in July 2014 for allegedly emailing crowd-funders of her art project links to a webpage, where they could download 3D data that could be used to create vulva-shaped kayaks based on the shape of her genitals.
Igarashi was again arrested several months later for displaying another artwork based on the shape of her genitalia in a Tokyo sex shop—a clear case of police harassment, according to her lawyer.
For several months prior to her arrest in July 2014, Igarashi, who also goes by the pseudonym ‘Rokudenashiko” ( ろくでなし子 or “good-for-nothing girl”), had gained notoriety for creating and displaying a variety of works of art based on the shape of her genitals.
わいせつ行為で起訴されているろくでなし子こと五十嵐恵の作品が問題になっているが、ここで例の作品を見てみましょう pic.twitter.com/pYDp8E5kOs
— やまもとぅー (@yamamoto1997y) April 15, 2015
Megumi Igarashi, aka Rokudenaishiko, is the Tokyo artist accused of obscenity. Let's take a look at a few samples of her artwork.
In Japan, media portraying either the male or female genitalia are illegal under Article 175 of the penal code. The prohibition dates back to the Meiji Period, when Japan adopted Western practices and institutions in the latter half of the 19th Century.
Interestingly, Article 175 offers no clear guidance to police or courts about what constitutes obscenity in these cases:
…There is not a clause in this article, which defines the term “obscenity” and “neither government administrators nor the courts were legally compelled to specify what constituted “obscene material“. It is little wonder that multiple interpretations have been given to this article with regards to its application. If we consider visual material such as manga or cinema, the law has interpreted the term obscenity in this article as the exposure of pubic hair, the adult genitals and the sexual act. Thus, if this should happen the exposed parts in any kind of visual material should be hidden with what in Japan is called bokashi (blurring or fogging) or with a digital . This extremely vague definition of obscenity has created numerous inconsistencies in court decisions, which are central to the current debate on freedom of speech in Japan.
Japanese culture also has a strong taboo about discussing or even acknowledging vaginas (although Holland-based Metroplis TV, the publisher of the informative clip below, has no problem with using the term “Pussy Boat” to describe Igarashi's vulva-shaped kayak):
If convicted, Igarashi faces up to two years in jail and fines of up to 2.5 million yen (US $20,900).

author: Nevin Thompson


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Liberland, the Balkans’ Newest Micronation, Is Looking for Citizens · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

The “official” flag of the Republic of Liberland. Design by Vít Jedlička, used under Creative Commons license.
The latest trending story to take Eastern European social networks by storm is that of Europe's newest nation, the Republic of Liberland. The sapling country, yet to be recognized by any other country or the international community, is situated on a 7-square-kilometer patch of land on the Danube between Croatia and Serbia that has remained “no man's land” as part of a larger border dispute between the two countries since 1947.
When the news first landed on social networks in the Balkans on April 14, 2015, many assumed it was a late April Fool's gag. Liberland, however, is now being taken more seriously after reliable sources such as Serbia's independent Beta news agency confirmed and republished the announcement.
Europe's latest micronation (not to be confused with a microstate, which is simply a very small official country) seems to fully intend to become an official state. Liberland's president, a Czech citizen by the name of Vit Jedlicka, claimed on Liberland's Facebook page just a day after the announcement that over 1,000 people had already applied for citizenship. Jedlicka is a graduate of the CEVRO Institute of Political Science and has written extensively online about European politics, economy, and social issues. Liberland's “official” Facebook page has too gained tremendous popularity, garnering almost 17,000 likes by mid-April 2015 and growing at a fast rate.
Liberland received today more than 6000 registrations and 1000 full applications for citizenship
Posted by Vít Jedlička on Wednesday, April 15, 2015
While some still believe Liberland is a joke or an attempt to draw attention to issues that Europe is facing, many are now seriously discussing the micronation's chances of becoming the world's third largest microstate and an official country. Due to the fact that the territory is de facto terra nulius and Liberland seems to have all the elements of a state, neighboring countries and the international community may have a difficult time explaining why they would refuse to recognize it.
A part of that discussion also revolves on whether the Wikipedia entry about Liberland should be deleted from the world's largest curated knowledge site. While only a couple of Wikipedia editors called for the removal of the article, calling it “another fantasy country”, most other editors and commenters said that the article should be kept, either because it was simply a valid story to have information on or because it may actually stand a slim chance at becoming a European nation.
One Wikipedia editor explained:
This is quite likely to have significance since it's in a terra nullius created by a border conflict. Any act that's done towards this non-recognized nation is likely to have an impact on the legitimacy of either side's claims, so it definitely passes when examined for long-term notability.
Some of the founders of Liberland, upon planting the country's flag on the territory between Croatia and Serbia. Photo from Liberland.org official press release.
According to Liberland's website and the Wikipedia entry, the country's official languages are Czech, Hungarian and Serbo-Croatian, while the country's geographical coordinates are 45°46'N 18°52'E. Jot that down somewhere for a future geography test, just in case.
Applying for citizenship is as easy as sending an email with a scan of a valid photo I.D., a cover letter explaining reasons for wanting to become a citizen of the Republic of Liberland, and a telephone number, if convenient. There are restrictions to citizenship, however, as the official website and the president of Liberland himself state that they are not interested in those who identify as neo-Nazi, communist, or extremist. Individuals convicted of “serious crimes” will also immediately be refused citizenship.
What just might someday become the third smallest country in Europe, after the Vatican and Monaco, promises very low or no taxation of its citizens (see “tax haven” for more information) and a nation of citizens who:
All this, indeed, would be refreshing for Europe. In the meantime, whether or not the country is ever officially recognized, Liberland raises some poignant questions regarding human rights, economic status, growing extremism, and corruption for other countries in Europe.
People from across the globe are commenting on Liberland's social media pages in support of the stances that it claims to stand for — free speech, a free market, and abolition of any kind of extremism and discrimination. Users are often pointing out that these are fast-growing issues in some European countries, as well. Can Europe find its way back to rule of law or will it take a new nation to set new norms for the old continent?

author: Danica Radisic


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New Internet Rules in China Target Usernames, Avatars as Subversive Tools · Global Voices
pao-pao.net

Anti-umbrella sketch by Ellery Roberts Biddle.
This is a modified article based on an interview with Wu Tun, an online shop owner whose Taobao shop was forced to shut down in November 2014. The interview was conducted by Yi Que Tang and first published in Chinese on pao-pao.net. The English version was translated by Mandy Wong and edited and republished on GV under content partnership agreement.
New Internet regulations in China criminalize the use of screen names and profile pictures that are deemed to violate existing laws, pose a threat to national security, destroy ethnic unity, or defame others.
A few days before the regulation went into effect on March 1, more than 60,000 user accounts were deleted from major social media platforms. More than 7,000 were deleted in March, the first month of the implementation of the rules.
China introduces new regulation to restrict Internet users’ screen-names and profiles. Image from Jason Ng's Kenengba. Licensed for non-commercial use.
On February 4, China’s State Internet Information Office released the Regulation on the Management of Internet User Accounts, which lists nine restrictions concerning users’ screen names. The rule was put into force as part of a broader set of regulations on user identity in China — users were now be required to register for online services using their real names. Although they may still use avatars or handles, they will need to do so in accordance with the new policy.
This could pose problems for many Internet users in China. Netizens with a clear political position often use their screen names, avatars or background image of their social media profile pages to make a political statement. For example, users who believe in universal value sometimes add “MZ” (short form of Minzhu, meaning democracy in English) in their user ID. During the escape of the blind human right activists Chen Guangcheng (Chen escaped to the US Embassy in Beijing in 2012), his supporters changed their screen name to “In Need of Guang [Light] and Cheng [Sincerity]”. Avatars too have a similar function. During the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, supporters from mainland China changed their profile picture to the movement's icon of the open umbrella.
In the case of Wu Tun, if Wu changed his profile picture to the image of the T-shirt to show his support for Ai Weiwei, most likely his account will be suspended under the “Nine restrictions” of the new regulation on user accounts.
The restrictions could be interpreted to cover almost everything. For example, one of the restrictions is “spreading rumors and disrupting public order.” But really, who can judge whether a piece of information is rumor in China? And how can a profile picture and self-introduction “disrupt public order”? The authority controls the “ultimate power to interpret” the restrictions. Recently a mainland Chinese netizen published a photoshopped picture of Xi Jinping in his WeChat friend circle and was summoned by the police, who accused him of “disrupting public order.”
Many netizens have expressed their doubts about the restriction on “subverting state power and destroying national unity.” Again, how can an avatar destroy national unity? It seems that any image that can be interpreted as critical towards the authorities can be prosecuted under the new user account regulation.
The Chinese Internet has adopted a close door policy and the space for speaking online is shrinking rapidly. Many choose to remain silent out of frustration and fear.


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The European Union Won’t Give e-Books Reduced VAT · Global Voices
Dominic Fernández

The European Union Flag. Shared image by Blog Sinerrata Editores, used with permission.
On March 5, 2015, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that the reduced value-added tax (VAT) established for printed books should not apply to digital books, considering everything distributed or delivered electronically or via Internet as a service. Amalia Lopez questions the resolution on the Blog Sinerrata Editores:
Lo que más me ha llamado la atención es que refuerzan la decisión utilizando el argumento del soporte, […] que igual tuvo sentido en algún momento del pasado pero hoy en día me resulta completamente absurdo. Es verdad, el libro electrónico es un archivo no un objeto pero, ¿es un libro menos libro porque lo guardo en mi ordenador o mi lector electrónico en vez de en la estantería? ¿Cuándo leo un libro digital la experiencia cultural es menor que cuando es un libro de papel? Es decir, lo que este tribunal ha sentenciado (o esa es mi interpretación) es que lo que hace de un libro un producto cultural y por tanto merecedor de un impuesto reducido (y un menor coste para los consumidores) es el papel en el que está impreso.
What struck me was that they used the format as an argument to reinforce their decision, […] which maybe could have made sense at some point in the past, but nowadays, I find it completely absurd. It is true, an e-book is a file and not an object, but does it make a book less of a book if I keep it on my computer or my e-reader rather than on the book shelf? When I read a digital book, is the cultural experience lesser than when a read the book on paper? That is to say, what this court has ruled (or, at least, that's my interpretation) is that what makes a book a cultural product, thus deserving reduced tax (and a lower cost to its consumers), is the paper on which is printed.
The sentence includes books downloaded or viewed online and encompasses electronic formats for computers, smartphones, e-readers or any reading devices.
You can read more on the subject on Amalia Lopez's post for Sinerrata Editors, and follow them on Twitter: @Sinerrata.

author: Dominic Fernández


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There’s Already a Rap Song Dedicated to Russia’s Twerking Bee-Costumed Teens · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Bumblebee Man defends his kindred spirits in Orenburg. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
A peculiar story captivated Russian Internet users earlier this week: video footage of more than a dozen teenage girls in skin-tight bee costumes “twerking” in unison at a concert in Orenburg.
Twerking, if you don’t know, is a relatively newfangled dance move that involves giggling your hips in a low, squatting stance. If you’ve ever answered nature’s call in the outdoors, during an earthquake, you may have twerked a bit yourself, if only by accident.
Most people reacting to the Orenburg dancers seem to have made two mistakes: (1) they assumed the concert took place at a school talent show, and (2) they thought the participants were as young as 13.
It turns out the video is from a January 31 event at the Credo dance studio (not a high school), and the girls onstage were no younger than 16. According to the woman who runs the dance school, all the underage dancers needed to get the approval of their parents in order to participate.
None of this stopped local police from launching a case against the dance studio, after a preliminary investigation determined that the school committed “criminal negligence” and promoted “obscene behavior.” Following these accusations, Credo suspended all classes until the case is resolved.
But the crackdown didn’t end there.
On April 14, Orenburg’s local government established a formal commission to inspect all the private dance studios in the city. A top official said the government will review these schools’ dance routines “from a moral perspective.”
The story has enjoyed massive attention online and in the news, across Russia’s political spectrum. Consider an example from Russian television: Ordinarily, no two TV news stations are more different than the pro-Kremlin channel LifeNews and the independent station TV Rain. This week, however, women at both channels got on-air lessons in twerking.
Just for the record, today was weird. Both @lifenews_ru and @tvrain sent female staff for twerking lessons. pic.twitter.com/Bwglhw5voh
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) April 14, 2015
This scandal offers something for everyone: Russia's liberals have delighted in the irony that the country's young women study sexualized American dances, while politicians preach against Western promiscuity; Russia's conservatives have used the incident as evidence that foreign values are corrupting the country's youth; and newspapers have lapped up an increase in traffic, as readers come looking for racy new images of teenage flesh.
For all its viral popularity, there has been some trouble talking clearly about Orenburg’s twerking teens. Most people, whether they mean to condemn the dance or just to mock the irony of twerking in a “moral nation,” seem to view the scandal as an issue of child abuse, or at the very least they say it’s the dancers’ youth that makes the video so shocking.
The protest banner many young people in Orenburg have started making their avatars on VKontakte.
Another way of viewing this story is as an attack on women’s rights. Some young people in Orenburg are changing their profile pictures on VKontakte, Russia’s most popular social network, to a banner that reads, “We don’t want to fight, we want to dance” (see right).
On April 14, Dasha Murzaliyeva, who apparently attended Credo, wrote a public post shaming the “under-sexed old men” who criticize the twerking-bee dance. She offers the following advice to dance instructors:
[…] понимайте какого возраста ваши девочки и не гоните со стрипперденсом и тверком 13летник горячих чикит на обозрения мужиков, у которых секса кроме как с руками уже много лет не было и их жен, которые не то, что задом двигать не умеют, а ноги не всегда побрить догадываются […]
[…] know your girls’ ages and don’t have your 13-year-old hot chicks doing stripper-dancing and twerking in view of men whose sex lives were long ago limited to their own hands, and whose wives can’t so much as move their butts, and don’t always bother to shave their legs […]
Murzaliyeva goes on to say that dancers should “steer clear of politics, especially the politics of the Russian Orthodox Church,” and jokes that Russian fans of twerking should “flee the country before you’re all declared American spies and hip hop is banned.”
On April 15, a local rapper even released a song, titled “The Dance of the Bees,” dedicated to the women of Credo, saying the media has been “too aggressive” against the dance studio and made a scandal out of nothing. One of the song’s lyrics reads, “Thanks to this, Oren’s had its moment in the sun—even the BBC talked about us, now can we be done?”
The tune has almost 600 “likes” on VKontakte.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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What Does Censoring Nude Art Say About Us and Our Social Networks? · Global Voices
Carmen Victoria Mendez

Window with a view towards Sucre. Image by Erika Ordosgoitti.
The nude, one of the oldest and most recurrent subjects in the art world, has led to the suspension of many Facebook accounts over the years. One recent and widely reported example was the account of Jerry Saltz, an art critic from New York Magazine. Last month, his account was suspended because he shared images deemed inappropriate, according to the network's terms of service.
On digital media, inappropriate often means naked. In Saltz's case, the images were provocative and deemed to be pornographic, according to the New York Times’ ArtsBeat blog. But the same criteria has been applied to a broad range of images, from breastfeeding mothers to artists whose works reveal nipples, penises, and in particular, vaginas. The female reproductive organ seems all but banned from social networks, even in the case of a reproduction of Gustave Courbet's famous 1866 painting The Origin of the World.
Venezuelan performance artist Erika Ordosgoitti, whose art focuses primarily on the female body, is another example of a person who has faced numerous challenges due to her publishing nude works on social media. Among other works, Facebook has censored a portrait of her naked body five times in a row.
Screenshot of a report on pornographic content in Facebook saying that Erika's photo has been reported and therefore, deleted. Shared by Erika Ordosgoitti.
The above text, explaining Facebook's reasons for deleting the photo reads: “We have reviewed the photo reported on the basis of nudity or pornography. As it infringes our Terms of Service, it was removed. Thanks for reporting. We already told Erika Ordos that we deleted her photo, but we did not tell her who filed the complaint. Facebook never discloses the identity of the person filling the report.”
Global Voices asked Ordosgoitti to tell us about her experience with censorship on social media platforms. From there, we started to think about how both users and system administrators facilitate censorship. This post will be the first in a series of publications that will address the different ways of dealing with art censorship, based on the stories of Erika Ordosgoitti and other artists who have been restrained by social networks’ terms of service and by social conventions.
Ordosgoitti's latest exhibition, titled Comida de moscas (Food for Flies), comments on the censorship that she has experienced and managed to document.
Warning: The photograph shown below contains graphic language.
Los primeros años fue un fenómeno de redes. Continuamente me cerraban la cuenta, me bloqueaban, me advertían; yo deliberadamente insistía. Recibí muchos insultos y algunas pocas amenazas de muerte.
In the first years, the page went viral online. They continually closed my account, blocking me, and warning me, and I kept on deliberately posting my work. I received many insults and a few death threats.
Video installation with insulting comments received by Ordosgoitti from users in Internet. Shared image by the artist and published with permission.
Venezuelan artist Eliseo Solis Mora found himself in a similar situation not long ago. He was blocked by Facebook for publishing a self-portrait—a frontal nude that is part of a performance art piece. He writes:
Las redes hoy son un medio complejo. Me han censurado en varias de ellas por los contenidos de mis fotos. En Facebook  publiqué una imagen de Esther Ferrer y me bloquearon. Me volvió a ocurrir con un desnudo que luego dediqué a Ai Weiwei. En Instagram borraron automáticamente una imagen mía que fue denunciada…
Networks are nowdays a complex medium. I have been banned for my photos. On Facebook, I posted a picture of Esther Ferrer and they blocked me. It happened again with a nude that I later dedicated to Ai Weiwei. On Instagram, they automatically erased an image that was reported.
Ordosgoitti says artists are usually blocked or censored because of complaints filed by other users with access to their accounts.
He tenido ya unas siete cuentas diferentes en Facebook. En la actualidad conservo dos, una oficial y otra alternativa, por lo general una de ellas está bloqueada, entonces uso la otra para superar el bloqueo
I've had about seven different Facebook accounts. Currently I have two Facebook accounts: an official account and an alternative one, and usually one of them is blocked, so I use the other to bypass this.
The artist says the criteria for censorship are applied loosely and unequally. She also notes that users who file unreasonable complaints face no penalties:
Responsabilizo de esta censura en primer lugar a Facebook porque sus políticas promueven conductas de sapeo [delación] anónimo. Considero que esta política es injusta, porque no me da derecho de saber quién me está denunciando ni sus razones […] Al denunciante se le agradece, sin saber si su denuncia es válida. Aunque las condiciones de publicación son claras, las razones de censura no lo son, porque en la actualidad (no siempre fue así) se supone que sus intenciones son excluir la pornografía o imágenes sexuales explícitas, por lo tanto quedarían exentas las imágenes científicas o artísticas pero ¿cómo diferenciar imágenes pornográficas o vulgares de imágenes artísticas?
Facebook is the first to be blamed on this form of censorship because their policy promotes anonymous reporting. I believe this policy is unfair, because it doesn't give me the opportunity to know who is denouncing me and why […]. They thank the user who's complaining, without even knowing if the report is valid. Although the terms of use are clear enough, the reasons for censorship are not, because nowadays (and it was not always like this) it is assumed that their intention is to exclude pornography or sexually explicit images, a policy that can thereby extend to exempting scientific and artistic images. But how do you differentiate pornographic or vulgar images from artistic ones?
Facebook's decision to protect the identity of those who denounce images reflects an intention to keep these situations from instigating conflict between users. But it also presents new challenges, as the artists indicate.
Solís Mora, whose body images online have also encountered censorship, considers the criteria for censoring artistic images on digital media undemocratic:
…las celebridades tienen mayores libertades. Prueba de ello es el famoso wallpaper de Kim Kardashian exhibiendo el trasero, que se volvió viral a través de las redes sociales. Hay algo interesante que uno nota nada más al abrir el Instagram: a diario se publican este tipo de imágenes, que tienen miles de likes y son sexismo puro, pero hay obras de arte que son automáticamente bloqueadas…
…celebrities have more freedom. Proof of this is the famous wallpaper with Kim Kardashian showing her butt that went viral through social networks. There is something interesting that you notice when you open Instagram: there are sexist images published everyday with thousands of ‘likes’ while there are works of art that are automatically blocked …
Solís Mora recently published a warning—or rather a manifesto—on his Facebook wall:
Sí en esta cuenta, que en gran medida está manejada como herramienta de trabajo, me desnudo y tú que lees (sé no son tod@s) la denuncias o sencillamente no te gusta, pasa la página…Recomiendo entonces que si eres mi amigo o amiga virtual, entiendas que soy un artista y mi libertad creadora es total, aquí solo muestro arte.
If on this account, which is largely handled as a working tool, I show my naked body and if you, dear reader, don't like it, just turn the page … I recommend then, that if you're my friend or virtual friend, try to understand that I am an artist with total creative freedom and that what I show here is art.
Like Ordosgoitti, Mora has been bullied and even received death threats because of his work. For him, censorship from cultural institutions has always been something he's had to deal with, but the constraints on his online artistic freedom, he says, are growing:
El problema va más allá de la mera denuncia, es la imposibilidad de ser libre. Sin embargo, me gusta que hoy se hable del desnudo, aún cuando es el tema más antiguo del arte…
The problem goes beyond reporting—the real problem is the lack of freedom. However, I like to hear people talking about nude, even though it is the oldest subject in the art world…

author: Carmen Victoria Mendez


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Caracas #SmartCityHack Proposes Solutions to People’s Problems · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

The Venezuelan edition of the Hackathon Smart Cities took place in Caracas from 6 to 8 March, 2015. Don't you know what a hackathon is? If so, read this post!
The #SmartCityHack event was simultaneously organized in 27 cities by Global Datafest.
“@forummedia: 5historias de querer es poder detrás del #SmartCityHack Caracas http://t.co/lhJQKWV6xr @Emprende #coctelfinanciero @ID_enlinea
— Carolina (@cmr0311) April 9, 2015
5 histories from behind  #SmartCityHack Caracas showing that where there is a will, there is a way
The Venezuelan edition, organized by SDI Innovation and Wayra accelerator, yielded positive results, serving as inspiration for innovative projects aiming to improve citizens’ quality of life. Estefanía Salazar, a Global Voices contributor, wrote a review of the event for the Spanish-language website Komunumo, highlighting some of these projects:
- CCSMoveOn: es un “Waze” del transporte público. Permite al usuario generar rutas con su teléfono inteligente, con la posibilidad de enviar alertas por SMS sobre posibles eventualidades.
- Compártelo: es un sistema de referencias para Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas basadas en recomendaciones cara a cara.
- Caracas CityCare: Conecta problemas urbanos con propuestas de solución en una misma interfaz.
- Favor x Favor: sistema para favorecer el intercambio gratuito de servicios y bienes entre vecinos de una comunidad.
- Identidad en Línea: sistema de nube para facilitar la difusión encriptada de información y procesamiento de documentación de usuarios de servicios públicos o privados.
- Iniciativa Yokoima: comunidad de intercambio de información y servicios interesados en la recuperación del río Yokoima en la ciudad de Upata (estado Bolívar) […]
- CCSMoveOn: “Waze” for public transport, allowing the user to generate routes using a smartphone, with the ability to send SMS alerts about possible eventualities.
- Share it: a reference system for small and medium-size businesses based on face-to-face recommendations.
- Caracas CityCare: Connects urban issues with proposed solutions in a single interface.
- Favor x Favor: a system that encourages free exchange of goods and services between community members.
- Online Identity: a cloud system to facilitate the spread of encrypted information and process public or private user’s documentation.
- Yokoima Initiative: an information and service exchange community aiming to recover the Yokoima River in the city of Upata (Bolivar state) […]

author: Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez


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China Jails Prominent Journalist Gao Yu for Leaking ‘State Secrets’ · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Gao Yu. Photo from Wikipedia Commons.
Gao Yu, a veteran Chinese journalist, was sentenced by the Beijing Court on April 17 to seven years in prison for having “illegally provided state secrets to foreigners”.
Since the court did not specify what exactly she leaked, China observers believe the so-called “state secrets” are a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) directive, known as Document No. 9, outlining their ideological battle against western values. It specifically references seven topics (known as the “seven speak-nots”) that university professors shouldn't teach: universal values, press freedom, civil society, citizens’ rights, the communist party's past mistakes, crony capitalism and judicial independence.
Gao Yu began her journalist career in 1980s. She was jailed for more than a year after the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests for supporting the movement in her reports. She was jailed again for six years between 1993 to 1999 for leaking state secrets.
In this latest round of persecution, the 71-year-old reporter was detained in April 2014 and made to “confess” on state-run Chinese Central Television for making a “big mistake” after the police detained her son.
Overseas Chinese communities were outraged by the news of Gao Yu's sentence. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, a NGO coalition established after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, protested outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, calling for her immediate release.
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China protested outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong soon after they heard the result of the court sentence. Photo from Twitter user @HKfighter
On Twitter, political dissident Hu Jia, who iscurrently under police surveillance in Beijing, explained why Gao Yu received such a harsh sentence for doing her job as a journalist:
“七不讲”是中共丑行，更明确的说是 #习近平 的专断丑行。中国是一个揭丑也会被判监禁的国家。高瑜案件令世界知晓共产党是多么反普世价值。RT@csxq #七不讲 哪里是什么国家机密？这根本就是这个国家的真相！#高瑜 #FreeGaoYu #GaoYu
— Hu Jia 胡佳 (@hu_jia) April 17, 2015
The “seven speak-nots” revealed the ugly side of the CCP. More accurately, it pinpoints the despotic nature of [current Chinese President] Xi Jinping. China is a country where revealing the ugliness of the state means jail time. Gao Yu's case exposes to the world how the CCP goes against universal values.
Wu Zuolai, a current affairs commentator, argued that the communist party's document should not be regarded as a state document:
将一个七十多岁的老记者判七年,太可耻了,高瑜哪来的国家秘密?所谓七不准,应该是公开的文件,本来就应该公诸于众,高姐顶多是传播了贵党文件.当政党是文件怎么可能是国家秘密呢?太无耻了.引发国际性抗议,会极大丑化新政.
— 吴祚来 (@wuzuolai) April 17, 2015
To sentence a 71-year-old journalist to seven years in prison is shameless. What sort of state secrets did Gao Yu leak? The “seven speak-nots” should be public document for people to read. Sister Gao only distributed the party document. As the ruling party, the document belongs to the party, so how can it be a state secret? Isn't this shameless? If the incident provokes international protest, the new leadership will be making themselves look ugly.
Wang Dang, a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement, believed the case will serve as a wake-up call for those who still have hope for China's new leadership under Xi:
這就是一些人嘴裡的“進步了的中國”，一些人歌功頌德的習近平的“中興新政”，這就是一個所謂充滿自信的政黨的所作所為：他們可以禁止討論憲政，但是禁止讓外界知道他們的禁止。多麼荒唐，多麼滑稽，多麼卑劣，多麼狠毒。
這告訴我們：習近平上台之後，中共在政治上繼續大步後退，繼續向嚴厲打擊異議人士的方向大步邁進，只要習近平還在台上，中國的人權狀況將繼續呈現最黑暗的狀況；
任何對習近平會開明專制的期待，在我看，都是完全不了解中國，不了解太子黨和習近平的表現。高瑜用自己的自由，告訴了我們這一點，你如果還是看不到，還說習近平會政治改革，那你不是瘋子，就是傻子。
Some people keep praising Xi Jinping's policies as a “revival”. [Gao's case] reveals the true nature of “progressive China”. These are the acts of the so-called “confident party” — forbid any discussion of constitutional rule, forbid the world from knowing what they have forbidden. So ridiculous, so shameless and so cruel.
The case tell us: even after Xi Jinping took over the leadership, the CCP has continued to regress in its political reform and become more heavy-handed in its crackdown on dissent. As long as Xi is still in power, it will be a dark time for human rights.
Any expectations for Xi's authoritarian rule are based on their ignorance of the politics of the princelings, Xi Jinping and China. Gao Yu used her freedom to tell us this fact. If you still can't see it and expect that Xi will bring political reform, you are either nuts or an idiot.

author: Oiwan Lam


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France Launchs National Campaign to Curb Racist and Anti-Semitic Acts · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

“The Republic United Against Racism and Anti-Semitism”. Infographic on the national campaign. Public domain
On April 17, the French government unveiled a national campaign to combat racism and anti-Semitism in France. The objective of the campaign is to fight all prejudices, raise awareness and get citizens engaged in the conversation.
One hundred euros will be allocated over three years to educate and promote cultural diversity. The hashtag #planantiracisme (the plan against racism) was the number one trending topic on Twitter on the day of the announcement.
According to the Report on Racism and Antisemitism by the Commission Nationale Consultative des Droits de l’Homme CNCDH (National Comission on Human Rights), there was a 30% increase in racist acts in 2014 (from 1,274 in 2013 to 1,662 in 2014). Anti-Semitic acts went from 423 in 2013 to 851 in 2014, including the attack on the kosher store after the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Finding Christianity in Japan, Where Believers Are a Small Minority · Global Voices
Izumi Mihashi

Sunset illuminates a crucifix. Image courtesy Flickr user Sharon.
In terms of number of followers, Christianity is often considered a major world religion. However, there are very few Christians in Japan, where less than 1% of the population observes the Christian faith.
In Japan, spirituality as it is understood and practiced in the West or in the Judeo-Christian tradition is not common. For the average Japanese person, Christianity is associated mainly with getting married in a faux chapel with a faux priest.
感動のチャペルウエディング(／_;)/ pic.twitter.com/vE8ywgpLKF
— ぷうママ (@sheep4016) February 14, 2015
What an awesome chapel wedding (／_;)/
Using pseudonyms, some Japanese people are going online to profess their Christian faith. One blog post in particular has prompted dozens of comments about Christianity in Japan.
In the blog post, an anonymous blogger in Japan describes his relationship with Christianity:
「周囲の人はうまく出来てるのにどうして自分はできないのか」という劣等感があって、周囲の人に冷たくされる度に怒りと悔しさで泣きたくなって、なんで自分だけという気持ちだった。
よく言われるように、世界を変えるには自分が変わるしかない。
そこでひらめいてしまった。神様的なものが愛してくれると思えばもしかしていいんじゃないか？と。
こんな自分でも神様は愛してくれる、神様は認めてくれる。これが結構いい感じにはまって、気持ちは楽になるし心も落ち着いた。
正直なところ神様が居るとは思ってないし信じているとは言いがたい。
でもとりあえずそこに居るという事にして、神的なものに愛されていると思うようにしたら、それじゃあこんなに愛してくれる神的なもののために感謝しましょうと思うようになったんだけど、この感謝が非常に良い。
恥ずかしながら、今までどれだけ他人に感謝せずに生きてきたのかを思い知らされた。
I have an inferiority complex: why is it that the people around me are so successful, yet I can accomplish nothing? So when others around me are cold to me, I feel like crying with sorrow and rage, and wonder why it is that I alone must suffer like this.
It's often said that if you want to change the world, then you must change yourself. And it came to me in a flash. Maybe all that I can do is accept that there's some sort of divine being who loves me.
Speaking truthfully, however, I don't believe that God exists, and so it is hard for me to say that I have faith.
But I tried assuming God exists and imagined myself loved by that kind of existence, which led me to thank him for his abundant love. I never experienced something better than this thankfulness. I am ashamed to say that made me realise how I had been unthankful to others.
The blogger here is conflicted; he wants to have Christian faith, but is unsure if God even exists.
However, it seems religious devotion brought the blogger bewilderment as well as joy.
ああでも待って、これって宗教にはまるコースまっしぐらじゃない？というかはまってない？
でも、一度感銘を受けたものを追い出すのは無理、もう手遅れだけど、今のところ教えは人間として生きるのに非常に真っ当な事しか言ってないので、もっと聞きたい、それに近づいて豊かな生活を送りたいという気持ちがあるんだけど、宗教だし、と思うと迷う。
親は嫌がるだろうなぁ。まああの人達は何をやっても反対するから、何をやろうとたいして変わらんか。
他人には言えないなぁ
Oh, but wait, isn’t this a typical pattern of involvement with a religion? Or am I already involved with it?
I cannot expel something that has made an impression on my heart. It is too late to think it over anyway. The doctrine teaches me to how to live life as a human and it all sounds very decent to me. I am inclined to listen to it, and live a spiritually rich life by coming closer, but I cannot make up my mind because it is a religion.
I guess my parents would not like me believing in religion. Oh well, since they contradict me no matter what I do, what I do makes little difference.
I must keep this feeling secret.
Many commenters responded negatively to the post. Commenter takass32 denied the existence of a god.
実際には存在しない「自分に寛容且つ立派な人」を脳内にシミュレートできる、つまり信じられる事が宗教の本質なのかと思いました。
I suppose the ability to imagine or believe in a non-existent person who is honorable and tolerant of yourself is the essence of religious devotion.
honeybe, another commenter on the blog post, had a more positive opinion about having faith, but also made it a point to highlight the negative aspects of religion.
別に宗教にハマることは悪いことではない。周りの人間に悪影響をおよぼすこと(しつこい勧誘、なにかを売りつける、宗教的観念を押し付ける等)が悪なので。
There is nothing wrong with getting involved with a religion unless you generate a negative effect on people around you, such evangelising persistently, trying to sell religious tracts, or imposing religious ideas.
Commenter ketudan considered the possibility that the blogger may be in danger of joining a cult.
残念ながらキリスト教もカルト・新興宗教だらけなので一度その教会や会派の名前でググるくらいはしておいたほうがいい。俺も昔宿題で近所の「確かな教会」に礼拝に行ったが和室でギター掻き鳴らす邪教の館だった。
Unfortunately, there are tons of cults and new religions that define themselves as “Christian”, so I advise you to Google the name of that church or the religion.
I had a homework assignment once to attend a service in the past so I visited “a decent church” in the neighborhood, but what I found there was a kooky cult in which someone pretending to be a minister played the guitar in a Japanese-style room.
gohankun felt sympathy for the sheer difficulty of having a religious faith in Japan.
日本で特定の宗教を持つというのはしんどいことだよね。クリスチャン家庭に生まれて自分もクリスチャンなので色々辛い思いもしてきたし今も時々するよ。欧米に生まれてたらどんなに楽かと何度も思ってきた。
It sure is tiring to have a particular religion in Japan. I have undergone hardships because I come from a Christian family and I am a Christian, too. I still suffer sometimes. There are times when I wish I had been born in the West. Life would be much easier then.
Commenter nows_s came to the conclusion that religion is just another way to get through life.
人生は、一人で立ち向かうには重過ぎるので、神仏に帰依したり、国家にすがったり、恋愛や2次元キャラやニコチンや酒に溺れたりする。それで何とか気楽に生きてけるなら、まあ、いいじゃん
Life is too much for one person to confront, so we submit to the gods, rely on a country, or become addicted to love affairs, two-dimensional characters, nicotine, or alcohol. If that somehow enables us to live an easy life, then, what's the problem?

author: Izumi Mihashi


text:
Latin America Mourns Eduardo Galeano, One of the Continent’s Greatest Writers · Global Voices
Andrea Arzaba

Eduardo Galeano by Argentinian cartoonist Pablo Fernando Chumbita “Chumbi”. Image taken from Instagram with authorization.
Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano was fond of writing about historical events that took place in April. He wrote about Brazil's 1964 military coup, Picasso's 1973 death in France, Morocco's 1987 completion of a wall across the Sahara desert, and much more. It was on a day in April that Galeano died this year at the age of 74 after battling lung cancer for several months.
The Uruguayan newspaper Brecha, where Galeano was a founder and a longtime contributor, published an obituary following news of his death:
A veces, la muerte miente, escribió hace poco más de un año, impactado por el fallecimiento de su amigo Juan Gelman. Y dijo más, aseguró que el poeta seguiría “vivo en todos los que lo quisimos, en todos los que lo leímos, en todos los que en su voz hemos escuchado nuestros más profundos adentros”.
Hoy, cuando su propia muerte nos obliga a miramos en el espejo de aquellas palabras, amanecemos con tristeza a la noticia de que se nos fue Eduardo Galeano, fundador y referente de nuestro semanario, integrante durante años de su Consejo Asesor y colaborador asiduo de sus páginas.
Hasta siempre.
Tus compañeros de Brecha
Sometimes, death lies, he wrote a year ago, as he was shocked by the death of his friend Juan Gelman. He said the poet would “live in all who loved him, in all who read him and inside of everybody who's voice reached his/her deepest himself.”
Today, when his own death forces us to look to ourselves in the mirror of those words, we woke to the news with sadness that we lost Eduardo Galeano, our founder, a member for years of our Advisory Council, and a regular contributor.
Farewell.
Your friends from Brecha
In the 1970s, Galeano attained worldwide recognition for his 1971 book, “The Open Veins of Latin America” — the same book Hugo Chávez gave Barack Obama, when they first met in 2009. Later in life, Galeano criticized his own book, which is still used in classes on Latin American politics.
In “Open Veins,” Galeano wrote that Chile with its vast nitrate deposits, Brazil with its abundant rain forests, and small Venezuelan towns with their oil reserves “had painful reasons to believe in the mortality of fortunes that nature bestows and imperialism usurps.”
Brazilian theologist and founder of the Liberation Theology, Leonardo Boff, mourned Galeano’s departure on Twitter:
Eduardo Galeano era um grande frasista. Sempre eteve ao lado das vítimas.Há dias em Monteviedo quis visitá-lo mas já não era tarde demais.
— Leonardo Boff (@LeonardoBoff) April 13, 2015
Eduardo Galeano was a great phrasist. He has always sided with the victims. A few days ago in Montevideo, I tried to visit him, but it was already too late.
Before working as a journalist, Galeano had many jobs, ranging from working as a bank teller and a factory worker to being a cartoonist. It was in journalism, at the newspaper Marcha (which published Juan Carlos Onetti and Mario Benedetti) and later at Brecha, where Galeano found his calling. When Uruguay slipped into dictatorship, he had to leave the country, spending his exile years in Argentina and Spain. Years later, in 1985, Galeano returned to Uruguay. He supported Uruguay's first-ever left-wing government, writing a famous pro-government article in The Progressive, titled “Where the People Voted Against Fear.” Last year, fans welcomed a rumor that Galeano might run for a seat in the Senate, though Galeano quickly squashed the idea. Even without any elected office, however, Galeano remained a politically influential public voice. As Uruguayan newspaper El Pais reports:
El 1° de marzo pasado recibió al mandatario boliviano, Evo Morales, en su casa y eso le significó un esfuerzo muy grande ya que se encontraba desde hacía tiempo con problemas de salud.
Last March 1, Galeano received Bolivia's president Evo Morales in his house, but this was hard for him since he already had health problems.
Yesterday, famous singers, politicians, journalists, and academics throughout Latin American published their condolences about Galeano's death. Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska tweeted:
Galeano recogió episodios, sentimientos e ideas de nuestra historia que más lo impactaron y nos las devolvió de modo que no se nos olvidara.
— Elena Poniatowska (@Eponiatowska) April 13, 2015
Galeano collected episodes, feelings and ideas that shocked him from our history and he gave them back to us so that we do not forget them.
Rene, from the Puerto Rican band Calle 13, published a letter on Facebook, recalling how he first met Galeano:
“Eduardo, tengo un problema, soy muy despistado y a veces se me hace muy difícil seguir una conversación”. A lo que él me contesto, “yo también soy despistado y de los peores”. Desde ese momento en adelante todo fluyó de forma natural, como si fuésemos amigos de antaño. Eduardo empezó a hablar mientras mi esposa y yo escuchábamos. Fue como escuchar al tiempo narrando historias.
“Eduardo, I have a problem, I am get very distracted and sometimes I find it very difficult to follow a conversation.” To which he replied, “I'm also clueless and one of the worst.” From that moment on, everything flowed naturally, as if we were old friends. Eduardo started talking, while my wife and I listened. We felt we were listening to time narrating stories.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff wrote on Facebook:
Hoje é um dia triste para todos nós, latino-americanos. Morreu Eduardo Galeano, um dos mais importantes escritores do nosso continente. É uma grande perda para todos que lutamos por uma América Latina mais inclusiva, justa e solidária com os nossos povos.
Aos uruguaios, aos amigos e à nossa imensa família latino-americana, quero prestar minhas homenagens e lembrar que continuamos caminhando com os olhos no horizonte, na nossa utopia.
Today is a sad day for all of us Latin Americans. Eduardo Galeano, one of the most important writers of our continent, has died. It is a great loss to all who fight to see a Latin America that is more inclusive, just, and in solidarity with our people.
To all Uruguayans, friends, and our huge Latin American family, I want to pay my respects and remind you to keep on walking with eyes on the horizon, in our utopia.
¡Hasta siempre Galeano! You might be gone, but your voice will stay through your texts.

author: Andrea Arzaba


text:
Prejudices Erode in Chilean Floods as Colombian Immigrants Mount a Relief Effort · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Parts of of Chile were flooded by torrential rains. Veoverde.com. (Published under a reuse license.)
In recent years, various communities of Colombian immigrants, who left their country in search of better opportunities, have gathered together in northern Chile. Initially, these migrants came to Chile attracted by the image of political stability, the country's economic growth, and the promises of the lucrative mining industry. For others, the relentless violence that hounded many areas in Colombia was what drove them away. Many of these migrants found some measure of economic stability and personal security in their new homes, but they've also faced discrimination from people prejudiced against Colombians in general and African descendants in particular.
Some Chileans say Colombian immigrants are responsible for an increase in crime, and symbolic acts against Colombians have become more prominent. Large anti-immigrant rallies in the city of Antofagasta are just one example.
Following clashes between immigrants and locals, Global Voices together with other media outlets organized a Google Hangout on March 13 to discuss the exodus of Colombian nationals to Antofagasta. The event included personal testimonies by Colombian migrants in Chile, and comments by experts on migration in the region, and journalists who closely follow these stories.
The worst storm in the past 80 years recently struck northern Chile, particularly damaging the cities of Atacama and Antofagasta, where torrential rains caused the River Copiapó to spill its banks. While locals tried to cope with the floodwaters and mud that covered the roads, houses, and bridges, groups of Colombian migrants attracted significant public attention by organizing an efficient relief effort. Online, people shared images of Colombian volunteers shoveling mud and clearing the roads, wearing the shirts of their national football team, and pitching in where ever their help was needed.
On Facebook, Maite Vanessa Castro, a woman originally from Cali, Colombia, and now resident in Copiapó, shared photos on of the work.
Meanwhile, some people on the scene in the flood-affected areas said Colombian volunteers, not the Chilean authorities, were ”the first to arrive” and offer assistance:
Los inmigrantes colombianos colaborando en Copiapo. Esas son las buenas imagenes. pic.twitter.com/sq3hT45K9B
— Nicolás Copano (@copano) March 28, 2015
The Colombian immigrants collaborating in Copiapo. These are the photos.
[Hermanos] Colombianos inmigrantes se organizan para ayudar a los afectados en Copiapó – pic.twitter.com/qJKFRaVB19” #AméricaUnaSola @LibardoBuitrago
— Reportero Movil2 (@MOVIL2) March 29, 2015
[Brothers] Colombian immigrants organize themselves in order to help those affected in Copiapó.
Many online said the images should bring the public to reconsider how it views immigrants.
Para aquell@s q piensan q TODOS los inmigrantes son delincuentes, las imágenes de los colombianos en #Copiapó son tremendo tapabocas.
— Daniel Chávez Campos (@dchavezcampos) March 30, 2015
For those who think ALL immigrants are delinquents, the images of Colombians in #Copiapó are incredible silencers.
Ahí están los hermanos colombianos ayudando a despejar las calles de Copiapó. Pensar que para algunos son un problema pic.twitter.com/496fXlUSff
— Furação (@pupimayer) March 28, 2015
Here are the Colombian brothers helping to clear the streets in Copiapó. To think that for some they are a problem
ⓒⓐⓜⓑⓘⓔ ⓓⓔ ⓐⓒⓣⓘⓣⓤⓓ ⓟⓤⓔ aquí están los “colombianos de mierda” [sic], ayudando a despejar calles de #Copiapó. pic.twitter.com/A17JCIfbff“
— ⓕⓔⓡ (@mafermil) March 29, 2015
Change your attitude, here are ‘those Colombian shits’ helping to clear the streets
Some Chileans made a point of expressing their appreciation for the volunteer work by the Colombian community:
#Copiapo inmigrantes colombianos. Mis respetos. pic.twitter.com/yQoidcdsp7
— MarioAlberto™ (@MarioMoya1976) March 28, 2015
#Copiapo Colombian immigrants. My respect.
No espero menos d Cachacos y Corronchos. Colombia la tengo pegada y se d su valia y solidaridad.Bah! Latinoamericanos http://t.co/9pNOlTz5QU
— Carlos Weber (@WeberCweber) March 30, 2015
I don't expect less from Cachacos and Corronchos. Colombia, you're close to my heart and I know of your worth and solidarity. Bah! Latin Americans
Que este país se llene de colombianos!http://t.co/I32xaM2ERK
— Luis Eduardo Thayer (@eduardothayer) March 30, 2015
Let's fill this country with Colombians!

author: Elizabeth Rivera


text:
Tanzania’s Cyber Crime Bill Gives More Power to Police, Less to People · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A young man texting on his mobile phone in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Photo by Pernille Baerendtsen, used with permission.
Pernille Baerendtsen contributed reporting to this post.
On April 1 2015, the Tanzanian parliament passed a cyber crime bill that attempts to address child pornography, cyberbullying, online impersonation, electronic production of racist and xenophobic content, unsolicited messages (i.e. spam), illegal interception of communications, and publication of false information — all in one law.
During the same parliament session three other bills were presented too: Access to Information (ATI), Media Services, and a Statistics Bill. However, the cyber crime bill is new, and the version posted online (not the final version) caused debate instantly.
As in many other countries, online fraud and financial scams indeed are a persistent threat in Tanzania. But the bill covers much more than this. And it has now passed the parliament despite criticism from opposition politicians, social media practitioners and human rights activists. Leading opponents of the legislation from civil society say they will take the government to court if the president signs the bill into law. The Citizen, a local newspaper, has identified several of the most concerning areas of the bill for Internet users.
In an analysis for CIPESA, a regional ICT policy group, Ugandan journalist and analyst Juliet Nanfuka writes that the primary aim of cyber crime bill should be to safeguard citizens’ rights on the Internet. Instead, she says, it shows an “overt disregard for press freedom and freedom of expression, [grants] excessive powers to police, and [limits] protections afforded to ordinary citizens.”
The bill outlaws the publication of “misleading, deceptive or false” information, a measure that Nanfuka noted presents a clear threat to free and open expression online. It gives police wide ranging ability to search the homes of suspected violators of the law, seize their electronic hardware, and demand their data from online service providers. Aidan Eyakuze and Ben Taylor, both of whom work for the independent East African initiative Twaweza, argued that the bill gives too much power to police without meaningful oversight:
…the bill gives even very junior police officers the power to search and/or seize any computer equipment or data, including the content of messages, with no meaningful justification required or oversight provided. This includes demanding information from internet service providers and mobile phone networks.
Tanzanian blogger Thinklessactmore noted that police could use the law to “harass online activists in the name of suspicion of cyber bullying without due [process] of the law.” Twitter user Sultan Rajab, a tax and financial consultant in Tanzania, said he thought well of the bill, but was concerned about the powers it bestows upon police:
@JMakamba it is a good bill/law. I am worried about the power given to our police. Ignorant & low income earners might suffer.
— Sultan Rajab (@SultanKipupwe) April 1, 2015
The bill also criminalizes the sending of information “without prior solicitation” by electronic means. While this section is intended to address spam and phishing attacks, it could be interpreted quite broadly. Maria Sarungi Tsehai, a communications expert and founder of the organisation Change Tanzania, asked:
“@jpb4rretto: @MariaSTsehai How is any message transmitted with solicitation? Call me and ask me to write you and email? #CyberCrimeBill“
— Maria Sarungi Tsehai (@MariaSTsehai) April 2, 2015
The Cyber Crime Bill relates to the aforementioned new bills on Access to Information, Media Services, and Statistics — all of which could have a serious impact on free expression in Tanzania. But unlike the Cyber Crime Bill, none of these three bills have been shared with the public in their current versions.
Commenters on social media and journalists are sharing opinions on why they think the Tanzanian government has an interest in keeping these bills from the public, while at the same time rushing the process. Some question if it is due to the fact that Tanzania is preparing for elections in late October 2015. Tanzania's ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), over the past few years increasingly has confronted the growing influence of opposition parties. At the same time, journalists and media have also faced threats and violence.
Writing on Washington Post blog, Keith Weghorst and Ruth Carlitz argue that fast-tracking the bills is “consistent with the behavior of a ruling party willing to hold onto power at all costs.” They write, “The more that the government can weaken the legitimacy of opposition criticism—by monopolizing the flow of public information—the better they are positioned to prevent scandals and poor performance from hurting them at the polls.”
Thinklessandactmore was impressed that Tanzania has realized the need to regulate the Internet use, but said the bill was rushed into parliament:
It’s important to have [a] law that would regulate online activities and the use of internet but it should be done in a right way. There is no hurry in having such law; there was none in the past 53 years of independence. If it takes one or two years to have a better cyber-crime law be it so, let’s conduct enough research on the issues; collect different opinions about the bill before it is present in the parliament.
Lwanda Magere, a software engineer, accused its authors of using a “copy-paste” strategy:
Cyber Crime Bill Tanzania: copied and pasted, almost zero ability to implement.
— Lwanda Magere (@nndekindo) April 7, 2015
Tanzanian blogger PATO jokingly shared a photo showing the number of members of parliament who passed the bill:
These are your MPs that passed the #CyberCrimeBill y'day! Vote wisely in October fellas! pic.twitter.com/pEScSHYYPZ
— PATO♠ (@PatNanyaro) April 2, 2015


text:
In Finland’s ‘Open Prisons,’ Inmates Have the Keys · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Jukka Tiihonen served the last few years of his sentence for murder at this open prison on Suomenlinna Island. Credit: Rae Ellen Bichell. Published with PRI's permission
This article and radio report by Rae Ellen Bichell for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on April 15, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
To find the inmates at the prison in Kerava, Finland, just walk down a tree-lined path and open the door to the greenhouse.
“It’s quite relaxing to be here,” says Hannu Kallio, a convicted drug smuggler. “We have bunnies.”
The 70 inmates in this facility go to work every day in the greenhouse. Today, they’re potting seedlings in preparation for a big spring sale. And yes, there’s a pen of bunnies to hang out with and pet. There are also sheep.
But there aren't any gates, locks or uniforms — this is an open prison. Everyone at the Kerava open prison applied to be here. They earn about $8 an hour, have cell phones, do their grocery shopping in town and get three days of vacation every couple of months. They pay rent to the prison; they choose to study for a university degree in town instead of working, they get a subsidy for it; they sometimes take supervised camping and fishing trips.
Inmates know it wouldn’t be hard to escape. “You can go if you want,” Kallio says. “But if you escape, you go back to jail. Better to be here.”
Each spring, hundreds of people come to the Kerava open prison to picnic, pat the animals and buy plants cultivated by inmates. Credit: Courtesy of Criminal Sanctions Agency, Finland
Open prisons have been around in Finland since about the 1930s. Back then, they were more like labor colonies. These days, they’re the last step of a prison sentence before inmates make the transition back to regular life.
“There is no idea that we are locking people up for the rest of their lives,” says Tapio Lappi-Seppälä, head of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Helsinki, “because if that’s the case, you really should invest and make sure that there is the possibility of rehabilitation.”
It wasn’t always like this. A few decades ago, Finland had one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Europe. Then, in the 1960s, researchers across the Nordic countries started investigating how much punishment really helps reduce crime. The conclusion: It doesn’t.
“This was the first time that you had critical research showing that imprisonment really doesn’t work,” Lappi-Seppälä says.
Over the next three decades, Finland remade its penal policy bit by bit. By the end of this period of “decarceration,” Finland had one of the lowest rates of imprisonment on the continent. Lappi-Seppälä says crime didn’t increase as a result.
“The lesson from Finland was that it was perfectly possible to drop the use of imprisonment [by two-thirds,]” he says, “and that did not disturb the crime trend development in Finland.”
What did work was a gradual reintroduction into normal life, the kind that the open prisons offer. About a third of Finnish inmates are housed in open prison, and Finland’s Criminal Sanctions Agency says inmates who go through open prisons are less likely to be arrested again. The reoffending rate drops almost 20 percent.
Open prisons also cost less. Esa Vesterbacka, head of the country's Criminal Sanctions Agency, says that by eliminating the need for extra security systems and personnel — and by housing people in what are essentially dorms — the cost per prisoner drops almost a third. It isn’t the main reason for having these kinds of prisons, Vesterbacka says, “but, of course, if you can make something cheaper that’s good nowadays.”
There's even an open prison at Helsinki’s top tourist attraction, Suomenlinna Island. The island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it swarms with tourists in the summer. Yet the only thing that separates the prison grounds from a block of residential apartments and museums is a yellow picket fence.
Inmates at the Suomenlinna open prison live in blue dormitory-style housing. A picket fence is all that separates the prison grounds from the rest of the island, a popular tourist destination. Credit: Courtesy of Criminal Sanctions Agency, Finland
“You really don’t realize that you are walking in the middle of an open prison,” Lappi-Seppälä says. “Nobody thinks of it. But I don’t think even the American tourists find it scary.”
Locals seem to agree. When I talk to residents near the Kerava and Suomenlinna open prisons, most seem confused when I ask if they’re concerned about sharing the town with convicts. Some tell me that the prisoners improve the community by restoring historic sites or cleaning up public spaces.
It’s tempting to wonder how this system might work in other countries — notably the US, which incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Heather Thompson, a professor of history at Temple University who studies mass incarceration and prison populations, says it’s hard to know because the US isn’t having that discussion.
“We're just now getting to the point of recognizing that we're incarcerating far too many people. We have yet to have a conversation about the actual conditions of confinement, what it is that people actually experience in prison so they can be whole human beings when they return.”
When I spoke with Hannu Kallio at Kerava open prison, he was about to move out to spend the last months of his sentence at home, working at a recycling center and living with his wife, daughters and Jack Russell terrier.
A fellow inmate, Juha, who doesn't want to give his last name, is expecting his first child. He's serving a life sentence, but most such sentences in Finland are commuted to 10 or 15 years. ““It’s a pretty big deal,” Juha says, “but I don’t know when I’m going to get out. Basically, his mother is going to raise him.”
Juha’s not sure when he’ll be able to go home to his new family, but he knows that he eventually will. And for someone who started out in maximum-security prison with a life sentence, that says a lot.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Malaysian Cartoonist Vows to Continue Fighting Government Abuses Despite Sedition Charges · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

From the Facebook page of Zunar Kartunis
A Malaysian cartoonist facing several sedition charges has vowed to keep on using his pen to criticize government corruption, human rights violations, and abuses of power.
Zulkiflee Sm Anwar Ulhaque, more popularly known as Zunar in Malaysia, is a political cartoonist who has been arrested twice for alleged violations of the Sedition Act, a colonial-era law. Zunar, who was arrested earlier this month, was charged with nine counts of sedition. If found guilty, he can be detained for a maximum of 43 years. He is currently out on bail.
Zunar has been critical of the ruling coalition which has been in power since the 1950s. Because of his activism, five of his cartoon compilations are banned in Malaysia. Even those who print, distribute, and sell these books are harassed by the government.
Instead of backing down, Zunar refuses to be intimidated. He once said that “as the regime sharpens their iron fists, my pen gets sharper!”
He added:
Talent is not a gift, but a responsibility. So I will use it as a tool to convey people’s voice through art and to push for total reform for a better Malaysia. I will not keep quiet. How can I be neutral, even my pen has a stand!
From the Facebook page of Zunar Kartunis
Asked about his technique, Zunar explained that it’s important for an artist to ‘take a stand‘ and convey the right message to the reading public:
My ideas are based on current issues, especially politics. When an issue arises, the first step is to understand the issue from different sources and perspectives. After gathering all information, the second step is to take a stand on the issue. This is actually an important step because it will determine the direction of my cartoons. The right stand will convey the right message. I do not want to convey the wrong message just to get people laughing.
This cartoon was widely shared after Zunar was arrested this month. Zunar said he will continue to draw even if he is detained:
Cartoon Zunar: Until last drop! pic.twitter.com/caunwHy3xF
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) April 3, 2015
This cartoon was used as a basis to charge Zunar with sedition. Najib Razak is the incumbent Prime Minister who is accused by jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of using the courts to silence critics. Anwar, who is serving a five year sentence for sodomy, says his case was politically motivated.
Cartoon Zunar: PM Najib is the judge! pic.twitter.com/3FbAZQwxVm
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) February 10, 2015
Human rights group Suaram defended Zunar and lambasted the government for arresting its critics:
Persecuting and prosecuting people for dissenting or for criticising the government goes against the very fundamental principle of democracy and accountability of government. Democracy demands the active participation of citizens in the political process, and that includes the right to criticise, and the right to decide the government of the day.
Below are some of Zunar’s cartoons posted on Twitter. Zunar has been critical of the new taxes (GST) imposed by the government and what he sees as continuing corruption in high places. He showed how the GST will hurt the ordinary rakyat (people):
Cartoon Zunar: 6 percent, 6 percent! pic.twitter.com/ZdrWqfATl5
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) April 2, 2015
Cartoon Zunar: Rakyat 6%, Govt 7 Series pic.twitter.com/wNSnc02aEy
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) April 9, 2015
Zunar's cartoon about the passage of the new sedition law which activists believe will undermine online dissent:
Cartoon Zunar: Sedition Act ala Malaysia pic.twitter.com/gqVz7U4KXf
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) April 11, 2015
Zunar depicted the new anti-terror law (Pota), which was approved by the parliament this month, as a repressive measure:
Cartoon Zunar: POCA is inhuman! pic.twitter.com/i9ZiEJSbzy
— Zunar Cartoonist (@zunarkartunis) April 8, 2015
In 2011, Zunar received the ‘Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award’ by the Washington-based Cartoonist Rights Network International.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
US Ambassador Kennedy Visits Hiroshima Acknowledging Legacy of Atomic Destruction · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Reproduction of The Hiroshima Panels (原爆の図) by Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi, displayed at Higashi Honganji Temple Gallery, Kyoto. Photo courtesy Nevin Thompson.
US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy visited Hiroshima in April, generating goodwill from her Japanese hosts.
今日広島を訪れて、核兵器のない世界のために努力を続けることが大事なのだという思いを新たにしました
— キャロライン・ケネディ駐日米国大使 (@CarolineKennedy) April 17, 2015
Visiting Hiroshima is a profound reminder that we should continue working toward a world without nuclear weapons
— キャロライン・ケネディ駐日米国大使 (@CarolineKennedy) April 17, 2015
As US ambassador to Japan, Kennedy attended the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombing in August 2014 – only the second time a sitting US ambassador had attended the annual memorial service for victims of the 1945 Hiroshima bombing.
John Roos, Kennedy's predecessor as US Ambassador to Japan, was the first US representative ever to attend the official annual August memorial service in Hiroshima. Roos attended the service in August, 2010, marking the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings and the end of World War II.
As Caroline Kennedy's predecessor, John Roos also established deeper ties between the US and Japan following the 2011 Tohoku disaster, where he helped lead a massive American aid and recovery effort in Japan's stricken northeast.
What also makes Ambassador Kennedy's April visit to Hiroshima notable is that she also visited Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Museum and laid a wreath at the cenotaph for A-bomb victims — unprecedented for a sitting US ambassador.
Ambassador Kennedy, the only surviving offspring of President John F. Kennedy, had first visited the Hiroshima museum in 1978 when she was accompanied her uncle, then-US Senator Edward Kennedy.
The American ambassador's decision to visit the Hiroshima memorial and Peace Museum is significant to many Japanese people, and follows President Obama's 2009 and 2013 calls for nuclear disarmament. Residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only two cities in the world to experience a nuclear attack so far, have long called for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Kennedy's visit to Hiroshima comes exactly one month after Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui expressed disappointment over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks in a documentary broadcast that Moscow was ready to put its nuclear weapons on alert amid the crisis in Ukraine, just as Japan was finalizing a trade agreement with Russia; Japan later imposed sanctions on Russia over the Crimean invasion.
【#広島】「被爆地ヒロシマの願いに背くものだ」広島市長、プーチン氏のウクライナ危機・核兵器準備発言を批判 毎日新聞 3月16日(月)21時50分配信 　ロシアのプーチン大統領が、ウクライナ南部クリミアを１年前に… http://t.co/YM7KdNV8EW
— DatNews (@DatNews) March 16, 2015
“Russia is ignoring the pleas of Hiroshima, (a city that has experienced first-hand the horror atomic bombing).” – Hiroshima mayor criticizes Russian President Vladmir Putin over Ukraine nuclear weapons remarks. [Putin says he was prepared to put nuclear weapons on standby during Crimea crisis one year ago.]
Russia's ambassador to Japan, Evgeny Afanasiev responded:
【New】「ロシアの核を責める前に、原爆投下したアメリカに抗議を」 広島市長に駐日大使が反論 http://t.co/WQRoQ5RloT pic.twitter.com/Yo9ipn31ho — ハフィントンポスト日本版 (@HuffPostJapan) April 13, 2015
“Before criticizing Russia over nuclear weapons, talk to America, the country who dropped the bomb on you (first).” Russian ambassador's response to Hiroshima mayor.
However, many Hiroshima residents were just glad that Kennedy threw the opening pitch for hometown baseball favorites the Hiroshima Carp.
Go Carp! pic.twitter.com/AGHE8gw3uq
— キャロライン・ケネディ駐日米国大使 (@CarolineKennedy) April 17, 2015