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New online database catalogues nearly 40,000 photos from Japanese wartime occupation of China · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Chinese and Japanese female paramilitary auxiliaries receive the ashes (of fallen soldiers), (国防婦人会員と共に遺骨の出迎をする愛路婦女隊員), from North China Railway Archive. Image taken at Changxindian Station, Beijing–Guangzhou railway, December 1939 (image detail). Image license: CC BY 4.0.
A new online database launched in February 2019 offers a glimpse of life under the wartime occupation of northeast China by Japan. The North China Railway Archive, which organizes the 39,775 photographs into a searchable catalogue, is a collaboration between several Japanese research institutes and the University of Kyoto, which came into possession of the photographs at the end of the Second World War.
So far in 2019, the University of Kyoto has organized several exhibits featuring just a small number of photos in the collection. Both the nature of the photos, which were intended to showcase or whitewash Japan's occupation of northeastern China, and the general tone of the photo exhibits, have reportedly provoked strong reactions outside of Japan, in China.
Image caption: “Peasants celebrate the opening of the Shidexian rail line and the dedication of monuments to fallen construction workers” (建設の人柱の墓と開通を喜ぶ農民), Wangjiajing, 1941. Image source: North China Railway Archive. Image license: CC BY 4.0.
As a primary source, the image scans in the collection include the original matte blocking, as well as detailed documentation about the location of the image, when the image was taken, the name of the photographer and notes about what is being depicted.
The images were originally intended to be promotional stock photographs, and were taken by North China Transportation Company (華北交通) employees. The company operated in the region controlled by the so-called Provisional Government of the Republic of China (中華民国臨時政府, in Japanese), a puppet state in northeastern China that was supported by and collaborated with Japanese occupation forces during the Sino-Japanese war.
The company managed thousands of kilometers of bus and rail lines in northeastern China, connecting the Jingjinji region surrounding Beijing with Harbin and other cities in Manchuria, the location of another Japanese puppet state in northeastern China.
Image detail: Stone buddhas at Yungang Grottoes in Datong in 1939. Image source: North China Railway Archive. Image license: CC BY 4.0.
Besides showing off Japanese infrastructure investments in the region and demonstrating the supposed orderliness and peacefulness of the Japanese occupation, the images also promoted tourist destinations throughout the rail network (map) operated by the North China Transportation Company.
Image detail: Drum tower near Kaifeng Station on the Longhai railway in 1939. Image source: North China Railway Archive. Image license: CC BY 4.0.
The sheer number of photographs in the collection means there are many scenes of city life in Beiping (now Beijing) and other parts of northeast China during the years of Japanese occupation in the 1930s and 1940s.
Image caption: “The view from Hengshui Castle” (衡水城外を望む). Image taken near Hengshui in July, 1941 (image detail). Original image source: North China Railway Archive. Image license: CC BY 4.0.
Since the photos were staged by photographers working to promote the North China Transportation company, there is no documentation of the extreme hardships suffered by Chinese people during the fighting and occupation of China during the Sino-Japanese War which lasted from 1937 to 1945. It's estimated up to 22 million Chinese civilians died during these years, while enduring brutality and atrocities at the hands of Japanese invaders, such as the Nanjing Massacre.
The online introduction to the North China Railway Archive makes no mention of Japan's role as occupier and colonizer, and instead focuses on the window on the past presented by the photo collection:
日中戦争のさなかに発足した華北交通が広報用に撮った写真には、戦闘状況はほとんど描かれておらず、地域の交通インフラの整備、資源開発、産業の育成をはじめとして、風土、民俗、文物など多様かつ多彩なイメージが盛り込まれています。グラビア雑誌や新聞、各種博覧会で公表された写真は軍などの検閲が必要でしたが、未使用の写真はそうした規制を経てはいません。そのため、この膨大なストックフォト全体を注意してみれば、80年近く前の中国の風景を読み取ることも可能なのです。その一部には、いまの中国で失われたランドスケープも含まれています。
The photographs taken by North China Transportation Company, launched in the midst of the Sino-Japanese War, were intended for public relations, and barely touch on battlefield conditions. Instead, the photos preserve the culture, folklore (of China at the time), as well as the development of regional transportation infrastructure, resource development and industrial development. While photos published in glossy magazines, newspapers and other places where censored by the military, unpublished photos (in the collection) did not undergone such censorship Therefore, if one pays close attention to this huge collection of stock photos, it is possible to glimpse the China nearly 80 years ago. Some photos portray landscapes now lost in China today.
Exhibits put on by the University of Kyoto, called “the China of 80 years ago” (８０年前の中国)  also present the photos as a resource to understand the past, and make no reference to Japan's wartime role.
Echoing an English-language article in the South China Morning Post, one commentator writing for RecordChina, a Japanese news site that focuses on China, noted:
「中国メディアの参考消息によると、両国のネットユーザーの注目点は大きく異なり、中国のSNS上では『歴史を心に刻み、国辱を忘れるな』との声が次々に上がったのに対し、日本のネットユーザーのコメントは鉄道沿いの風景などに集中していた。NHKも日中両国のネットユーザーの注目点の違いに触れ『多くの中国人にとって、中国に対する日本の侵略とその後の占領は記憶から消えない痛みのようだ』と伝えている」と紹介した。
The focus of internet users differed greatly (between Japan and China). On Chinese social media, there is comment after comment that says “Don't forget our history and don't forget (China's) national disgrace.” Comments by Japanese internet users focused on the scenery along the railway and so on.
The 39,775 images in the North China Railway Archive are organized by tag, by year, and according to the train station nearest to where the photograph was taken. The license allows the images to be freely shared and adapted, as long as credit and attribution is provided to the North China Railway Archive.

author: Nevin Thompson


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China’s Censored Histories: Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre · Global Voices
Citizen Lab

A viral image circulated on Weibo five years ago. via Reddit.
It has been 30 years since the rise and fall of the 89 Democracy Movement (八九民运) in China, that culminated with the infamous Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, 1989.
On that day, the Chinese military carried out a brutal crackdown on student-led demonstrations calling for democratic reforms. The Chinese Red Cross estimated that 2,700 civilians were killed, but other sources point to a much higher toll. A confidential US government document, revealed in 2014, reported that a Chinese internal assessment estimated that at least 10,454 civilians were killed.
The Communist Party of China has never publicly acknowledged these events or accounted for its actions with an independent investigation. There are no references to the 89 Democracy Movement in any history textbooks and most university students in China have never heard about the massacre.
This screen shot shows a collection of June 4 related images and keywords found censored on social media in China. The image is a famous photo that shows a street-level view of Tank Man, marked by the red circle.  Source: Censored Histories: June 4
Since the early days of the Internet in China, the movement and the massacre have been taboo topics for online discussion. And each year around the anniversary of the massacre, social media platforms and outspoken groups and individuals face heightened pressure to silence narratives about the movement.
To mark the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, our teams at the University of Hong Kong's Weiboscope and the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab developed a compendium of content that has been censored on social media in China due to its connection with the 89 Democracy Movement. With this work, we tell some of the forbidden stories of the largest democracy movement since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
China’s approach to controlling information and speech on social media relies on a system of “self-discipline” in which companies are responsible for keeping prohibited content off of their platforms.
Social media platforms like WeChat (the most popular chat app in China) and Weibo (China's Twitter-like platform) are expected to invest in technology and personnel to carry out content censorship according to government regulations that prohibit vaguely defined topics including online “rumors”, information that damages “national honor”, “disturbs economic or social order” or is aimed at “overthrowing the socialist system”. Failure to comply with regulations can lead to fines or revocation of operating licenses.
Weiboscope and Citizen Lab have studied how the self-discipline system works on microblogs, chat apps, live streaming platforms, and online games developed by a range of companies. Across these platforms, June 4 is one of the most consistently censored topics.
While they know their posts will be swiftly censored, Chinese netizens still routinely commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre on social media each June.
These users take a variety of creative and subtle approaches in this ritual. Coded words, memes, comics, derivative works, literature and photographs are used to reference June 4. Many users post emojis of lit candles to commemorate the crackdown. For them, the Tiananmen crackdown is not just a historical or incidental tragedy. It represents a life-long struggle to tell public history.
Drawing from our dataset of Weibo posts related to June 4, that were censored between 2012 and 2018, the Weiboscope team identified 1256 censored posts. Many of those were removed within 30 minutes of being published.
For the past ten years, Citizen Lab has been studying social media censorship in China and collected keyword lists that trigger censorship from a range of applications. June 4 is a consistently censored topic on all of the applications we have studied. To date, we have compiled a list of 3,237 keywords that appear to be related to June 4.
Together Weiboscope and Citizen Lab reviewed our June 4 related keywords and images to identify narratives and themes. We will explain our methods below.
News photo taken in 1989 Beijing by Jeff Widener of the Associated. Fair Use.
According to Weiboscope data, the infamous Associated Press photo “Tank Man”, originally shot by Jeff Widener, is the most commonly referenced photo in online commemoration efforts. In our research, we found dozens of images that make subtle or playful references to Tank Man.
One can find remixed versions of the image showing a lone man confronting a line of cigarette boxes, yellow duck toys, books, logos, computer mouses, or even just an empty street in Beijing.
A censored Weibo post shows the image of Tank Man photo with yellow rubber ducks replacing the tanks. Source: Weiboscope
The crackdown on Internet freedom in early June has become an iconic source of panic for the Communist Party of China. The Weiboscope dataset has brought to the surface posts censored for including seemingly benign keywords like “today (今天)”, “yesterday (昨天)”, and “tomorrow (明天)”.
Search results of “today (今天)” on June 4 2013 could not be shown in accordance with relevant laws and policies. Post Translation: “Save the history”. Source: Weiboscope
Censored keywords from the Citizen Lab dataset present a range of topics including references to historical milestones in the 89 democracy movement (绝食请愿, “hunger strike” a reference to hunger strikes staged by students during the protest to gain the attention of authorities), politicians (八九邓小平 “89 Deng Xiaoping”, the paramount leader of China during the movement) and student leaders (民运领袖王丹 “Democracy movement leader Wang Dan”, a prominent leader of the 89 democracy movement).
The keywords also show creative ways to refer to June 4 like numerals (“89VIIV”), homonyms (陆4, “Land 4,” the character ‘’陆 Lù’’ sounds similar to six ‘’六 Liù’’ in Chinese), and coded references (儿童节过后三天, “three days after Children’s Day”, Children’s Day in China is celebrated on June 1, three days prior to June 4) .
A user with a WeChat account registered to a mainland China phone number attempts to send a keyword phrase “六四纪念馆” (June 4 Memorial) in a group chat to users with international accounts and is blocked. When the keywords were separated, the message was received. Source: Citizen Lab
In symbolic acts of protest, a significant number of Weibo users have posted screenshots of system warnings, showing their failed attempts to post or even search for these three keywords. These types of posts also serve as a barometer for public sentiment towards the present regime.
Censored keywords across platforms also reference memorials of the event such as the annual commemoration held in Victoria Park in Hong Kong, which features a candlelight vigil (维园烛光, “Victoria Park Candle”).
How did we collect these censored keywords and images?
Citizen Lab and Weiboscope have used a variety of methods to understand how Chinese social media platforms censor content. Platforms in China generally use a mix of automated filtering, performed by machines, and manual removals, performed by humans.
Some platforms conduct filtering on their own servers, while others have censorship rules built into the application running on your device. Sina Weibo and WeChat both use the first approach (known as “server-side” censorship), which makes it very difficult to see what's happening on the inside.
But with companies that filter content within a user's application (known as “client-side” censorship), there are ways for researchers to examine the process, as all of the rules to perform censorship are inside of the application running on your device. Often these applications have built-in lists of keywords. When you type a message or post, the application checks your message. If you have used one of the keywords, then the message is not sent. Through reverse engineering, Citizen Lab has collected complete keyword lists for chat apps, live streaming platforms, and mobile games.
On top of this automated filtering, much online content is removed after it is published. Since 2011, Weiboscope has used a computer program to tracked the accounts of a random sample of users, alongside more than 50,000 influential Weibo accounts. The program automatically retrieves and downloads all new posts multiple times each day. If the program revisits a post and an error message “permission denied” is returned, the post is marked as “censored.”
As of the first quarter of 2019, Weiboscope had collected over 810 million Weibo posts, of which more than 700,000 are confirmed to have been censored after publication.
In the lead up to the 30th anniversary of June 4, Weiboscope and Citizen Lab will release Censored Histories: June 4, a series of posts that feature images and keywords that have been blocked on social media in China.
Photo of a memorial to former Chinese Communist Party secretary general Hu Yaobang, who helped navigate China away from orthodox Marxism. Hu was a catalyst for student protests in Tiananmen Square. Post translation: “Since that day, the Chinese have no more ideals.” Source: Weiboscope
The first post marks the April 15 1989 passing of Hu Yaobang, a former general secretary of the Communist Party of China who helped navigate China away from orthodox Marxism. His death was a catalyst for demonstrations that marked the beginning of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Stay tuned for more stories on the 89 Democracy Movement as June 4 approaches.
VISIT Censored Histories: June 4
VISIT Weiboscope's archive of censored June 4-related Weibo posts on the project website and Instagram.
VISIT Citizen Lab's archive of blacklisted June 4-related keywords on GitHub.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Citizen Lab


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Indian voters undeterred by missing names from electoral lists and violent clashes · Global Voices
Devika Sakhadeo

EVM used in the 2019 India general elections – Besides every candidate's name and party symbol on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), there is a blue button. Screenshot from YouTube Video by LatestLY.
On April 14, 2019, the world’s largest democracy voted in an election for seats at the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of India's Parliament. This election is crucial as it will determine the identity of the governing political party, and ultimately of the Prime Minister of India.
The 36 various Indian states and territories that make the Union of India are invited to vote in several phases, each entitled to a different number of seats based on their size. The ones voting in this first phase were Lok Sabha constituencies from Andhra Pradesh with 25 seats, Telangana with 17 seats, and Uttarakhand with 5 seats. Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Meghalaya also entered this first phase of elections, with two constituency seats each being up for voting. Finally Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep voted for one seat each, while seven seats were available for Maharashtra. A total of 91 constituencies went into this first phase.
On the first day of the election, the voter turnout in some states was seen to be high, with Northeastern Tripura registering a maximum voter turnout of 81.8 percent for its one constituency. Jammu and Kashmir recorded a voter turnout of 54.4 percent for its two constituencies, 50 percent was recorded in Bihar for its four constituencies, Uttarakhand witnessed 57.8 percent, Telangana saw a turnout of 60 percent and Andhra Pradesh had a 66 percent of voter turnout. The key state of Uttar Pradesh with the highest number of constituencies recorded a voter turnout of 64 percent.
Temperature: 4 degree Celsius.
And look at the huge voter turnout in this high altitude area of 21-Gnathang Machong, East Sikkim. Bravo!!@prakash03374729 pic.twitter.com/mkZWht3hTC
— Karishma Hasnat (@karishmahasnat) April 11, 2019
The election commission declared that barring a few incidents, the voting went on peacefully. There were however a few incidents that hampered with the citizens’ right to vote.
Andhra Pradesh reported of a violent clash and faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) that obstructed the entire election momentum and left 2 dead and 4 others injured.
Violent clash in Allagadda constituency of Kurnool. Seems, #TDP and #YSRCP is not fighting an election but prestige and do or die battle in #AndhraPradesh #Elections2019 pic.twitter.com/GaYd2uXcXs
— Aashish (@Ashi_IndiaToday) April 11, 2019
The two main political parties that clashed in Andhra Pradesh, were Telugu Desam Party and YSR Congress Party. The voting took a violent turn when the YSRC accused TDP of rigging the EVMs. As many voters reported faulty EVMs, both parties started the blame game. The situation escalated and led to clashes that were witnessed in Kotha Veerapuram and in T Sadum villages. In Veerapuram, police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the mob, while additional police force was brought in to control the situation. The clash ended tragically: local political leaders Chinta Bhaskar Reddy from TDP and K Pulla Reddy of YSRC died succumbing to severe injuries. According to a report by New Indian express, an a online news site, a booth-level worker of YSRC also died in T Sadum village.
Andhra Pradesh was not the only state that witnessed disruptions. Improvised explosive device (IED) explosives were detonated in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. This area has a history of Naxal clashes and two IEDs were detonated, one on Wednesday which was a day prior to the voting, and on the day of the voting. On the day prior to the voting, the IED explosive was detonated when a polling party was visiting the polling booth with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) providing security.
CRPF Battalion returning from polling booth fired upon in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, troop retaliates https://t.co/MH7daNDtiO pic.twitter.com/KlMli8rgnp
— Sneha Chaudhary (@MrsSnehaC) April 12, 2019
A CRPF Jawan sustained injuries according to a report. On the day of election, another device was detonated about 150 metres from the polling booth where people were queuing up to vote. No casualties were reported.
In Hyderabad, the capital of the centre-south Indian state of Telangana, many voters were turned down at the polling booths as their names were not to be found in the voting list. The voters felt deprived to exercise their right and were sent back. Some of them included executives from the corporate world such as Shobana Kamineni Vice Chairperson of Apollo Hospital, and RC Bhargava Chairman of Maruti Suzuki.
My mom @shobanakamineni wasn’t able to vote today. She checked 10 days ago and her name was on the list ! Now it’s deleted !! She pays Tax !doesn’t she count ? Isn’t she valued as an Indian citizen ? #frustrated #furious #disappointed pic.twitter.com/BcWpql5lru
— Upasana Konidela (@upasanakonidela) April 11, 2019
Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, tweeted:
Voters deleted in large scale https://t.co/5Qz7vkhuMQ
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 11, 2019
Apart from those incidents, the voter turnout seemed to have set the momentum for the elections. West Bengal was also among the states with a high voter turnout (81 percent). Andhra Pradesh had voting booths open till late due to faulty EVMs slowing down the process. Across all the constituencies, more than 50 percent of eligible voters cast their vote. Citizens of the country partook in various initiatives to encourage others to vote. Some took to Twitter to encourage more voters.
Kya aapne vote kiya? ?
As Indians, it is not only our right but also our duty to cast our vote for the right representatives to lead the world's largest democracy. If you haven't already, #castyourvote now!#EveryVoteCounts #EveryVoteMatters #Elections2019 #LokSabhaElections2019 pic.twitter.com/OVyLThYunI
— Namrata Sadhvani (@NamrataSadhvani) April 11, 2019
Dear @narendramodi , I have used my democratic right to participate in this festival of democracy. You had appealed to us #VoteKar . we have done just that. pic.twitter.com/zFefOfipR3
— bhupendra chaubey (@bhupendrachaube) April 11, 2019
In the state of Tamil Nadu, people even formed a human chain in order to encourage more voters to cast their vote.
Tamil Nadu: More than 3000 people form a human chain at Pamban Sea Bridge in Rameswaram to spread election awareness for 100% voter turnout in Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency. pic.twitter.com/cCkpr94vJX
— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2019
The next phase of election starts on April 18, to be followed by several others phases from April 23, April 29, May 6, May 12 and May 19, as India awaits to see who gets selected as the Prime Minister of India. The counting of the votes is to be done on May 23.

author: Devika Sakhadeo


text:
After a year of protests Nicaraguans don’t want just Ortega’s departure — they want a new beginning · Global Voices
Elisa Marvena

“They can't put their ideas in our heads, so they put bullets #SOSNicaragua” reads this protester's sign during a demonstration for political prisoners in Managua. Agosto, 2018. Photo: Jorge Mejía Peralta (CC BY 2.0)
Since mass protests against president Daniel Ortega erupted in Nicaragua in April 2018, the government has banned demonstrations, arrested thousands without trial, and shut down both alternative and mainstream media outlets. As attempts at dialogue have so far failed, the future of Nicaragua remains an open question.
The demonstrations were originally against a social security reform that would raise income taxes while reducing pension benefits. The initial crackdown by the authorities paved the way for a nationwide call for the resignation of President Daniel Ortega and first lady and Vice-President Rosario Murillo.
Figures given for the protests’ death toll vary, and have not been updated since last year as barriers to documentation efforts increase. In December 2018 the government closed down several NGOs that were keeping track of police violence and human rights abuses, including the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (Cenidh) and the Institute for the Development of Democracy (Ipade).
Also in December, two groups set up by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR)—the Special Follow-up Mechanism for Nicaragua (MESENI) and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts—were expelled from the country, leaving Nicaragua virtually without independent human rights observers and opening “a new stage in the repression”, according to Nicaraguan feminist activist and educator María Teresa Blandón.
Read more: ‘We are victims who assist victims': Documenting human rights violations in Nicaragua
The lowest estimate of the casualties, acknowledged by the government in August 2018, amounted to 197. Amnesty International, however, has estimated that there have been 322 deaths as of 18 September 2018, most of them caused by gunshots to the head, neck, and torso.
Blogger Ana Siú wrote recently on Medium about her experience of the April 2018 protests:
A través de una transmisión en vivo en Instagram, vi a una amiga de la universidad ser atacada por turbas. Escuché cómo ella gritaba y luchaba por no salir lastimada […] Finalmente, el “motorizado” la soltó, pero se llevó consigo el celular sin saber que seguía transmitiendo. Entonces dijo: “vamooos, vamooos. Hay que llevar estos celulares a revisarlos”. Esto siguió como por 20 minutos.
I saw a friend from University being attacked by a mob through Instagram Live. I heard her scream and struggle to avoid being hurt […] Finally, the man in the motorcycle [that had attacked her] let her go, but he took her phone. He didn't realize he was still live. Then he said “Let's go! We have to take these phones to be checked”. This went on for 20 minutes.
She also reflects on the protest of May 30, a historic rally held on the date Nicaragua celebrates Mother's Day where 15 people were killed:
Este día cambió la forma en que vivíamos las protestas. Los que estábamos en esa marcha multitudinaria vimos cómo asesinaron a jóvenes. Fue la primera vez que atacaron con balas de plomo a una marcha masiva. Nunca me había sentido tan cerca de la muerte como esa tarde.
That day the way we saw the protests change. Those of us who were in that massive protest saw how they killed young people. It was the first time they had attacked a mass protest with bullets. I had never felt so close to death.
While students barricaded themselves in universities in the capital Managua, rural workers blocked roads in the countryside. In June, protesters in Masaya declared the eastern city a “dictatorship-free territory”. The government cracked down on these protesters, who built in barricades to defend themselves and respond to police attacks. Demonstrators increasingly engaged in more violent methods and confrontations, which resulted in the death of 22 police officers as of August 2018, according to government data.
In mid-2018, the police deployed the so-called “operación limpieza” (clean-up operation) to dismantle barricades and prosecute suspected participants. Reports say that law enforcement acted in cooperation with paramilitary groups.
Many students, leaders of peasant movements, rights defenders and journalists were targeted in smear campaigns and persecuted, and some were charged with “terrorism”. Even health professionals who treated people injured in the riots suffered consequences. The Nicaraguan Medical Association said at least 240 such professionals were fired from public hospitals and clinics in retaliation.
Read more: Nicaraguan protesters and journalists face violent attacks on the streets and online
In September, protests were made essentially illegal, as all street activities now require advance permission from the authorities, which is often denied.
On February 27, 2019, dialogue was resumed between the government and the opposition party, Alianza Cívica por la Justicia y la Democracia (Civic Alliance for Justice and Democracy), following the release of a hundred people from prison. Unlike previous attempts at dialogue, however, this one did not include leaders of peasant movements and students, as some of them are incarcerated, and others are in exile.
As the country's crisis enters its second year, the urgency and anxiety about Nicaragua's future is conveyed through the hashtag #SOSNicaragua, which is deployed daily in conjunction with allegations, pictures of victims and accounts of students in prison and their families.
Read more: Nicaragua's diaspora activists bear a ‘double burden’
Nicaraguan news outlet Niú interviewed Nicaraguans who held a protest in February in neighboring Costa Rica, and they shared accounts of the difficulties of life in exile.
Alejandro Donaire, a student who says he fled the country after participating in a peaceful protest, told Niú how difficult it was to “feel part of a functioning society in a normal life,” after spending so much time “hiding, fleeing or protesting”.
Madelaine Caracas, spokesperson of the student group known as the Student Coordination for Democracy, also shared with Niú her aspirations for transformation in Nicaragua, which go beyond Ortega's departure:
[Tenemos que] erradicar autoritarismos, machismos, caudillismo y demás males que han penetrado en la cultura política del país […] Ahora, más que nunca, estamos seguros de que Ortega se va este año […] este año estaré en Nicaragua y tengo [esa seguridad] porque (Ortega) está ahogado internacionalmente, está ahogado económicamente y también porque la parte insurreccionada que se levantó en abril está hoy, más que nunca, más organizada.
[We need to] eradicate authoritarianism, sexism, personal autocracy and other ills that have penetrated the political culture of the country […] We believe more than ever that Ortega will leave this year […] that I will return to Nicaragua this year. And I have the certainty because Ortega is out of air internationally and economically; and also because those who participated in the uprising last April are now more organized than ever.
This last round of dialogues between government and opposition came to an end on April 3, with agreements reached on two of the four topics discussed. The government has pledged, firstly, to release all political prisoners and, secondly, to respect civil liberties. There were no agreements made regarding justice for the victims of violence or the expediting of the 2021 elections.
Opposition group Civic Alliance pointed out, however, that the government has so far failed to honor the agreements. Police repression of peaceful protests has reportedly continued. As of April 6, only 50 out of over 600 political prisoners had been released, and those that were were placed under house arrest.
Later, on April 17, following new threats of sanctions from the United States, over 600 prisoners were released to complete their sentences under house arrest, though but according to Civic Alliance, only 18 members of the group were on the list of political prisoners they had hoped to see out of jail. In the minds of people like activist and researcher Felix Madariaga, the new leaders of Nicaragua's future remain in prison today.
Meanwhile, opposition groups are calling for protests commemorating the anniversary of the events of April 2018. With the refusal of authorities to grant permission to the demonstration, new police crackdowns are anticipated.

author: Elisa Marvena


text:
A Global Voices story helps translation competition winners express their passion for the Czech language · Global Voices
Filip Noubel

Jan Faber, co-organizer of the translation competition, opens the awards ceremony. On the screen behind him is the GV text in its Yoruba version. Image by Filip Noubel and used with permission.
When Global Voices (GV) author Dércio Tsandzana wrote a story in late 2018 about an all-female flight crew in Mozambique, little did he know that his article would get a second life as the foundation text in a global translation competition organized in the Czech Republic.
Dércio's article, originally written in Portuguese, had already fared better than usual within GV, having been translated into 13 languages, including Arabic, Polish, Yoruba, Greek and Chinese. Dércio recalls the genesis of the post: “I got the news about this crew via a discussion group on WhatsApp, while attending a conference in Ghana about the Internet. I decided on the spot to write the story that evening. It is really an enormous surprise that of all stories, this one should be selected for the competition for translation into Czech!”
In February 2019, two Prague-based institutions, the Institute for Language and Preparatory Studies (ÚJOP) (a division of  Charles University), and the Czech office of the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission (DGT) contacted GV to request permission to use a GV text for their global competition of translation into Czech, now in its fourth year. The competition offers foreign students learning Czech the chance to test their skills in translating from their native languages into Czech. This year this list included speakers of Arabic, Chinese, French, Italian, Polish, Russian and Slovenian.
The finalists were invited to attend a two-day conference and the awards ceremony in Prague on April 11 and 12. I was present at the ceremony in my capacity as GV's Managing Editor, and presented the awards and diplomas to the winners. I also interviewed two of the winners about their experiences translating a GV article, and about why they had decided to dedicate themselves to learning a challenging language like Czech.
Vesna Dragar and Sofia Rogozhnikova upon being awarded 3rd and 1st positions respectively. Image by Filip Noubel and used with permission.
Sofia Rogozhnikova, who won first prize in the competition, explained that:
“It all started with my mother, who studied Czech when she was 16, as part of the Soviet-Czechoslovak Friendship. I went to a summer school when I was 15 and decided to live and study in Prague. I graduated in translation studies at Prague’s Charles University, and added Italian as my third language. I also studied in Italy and took the translation test with Italian. I now translate and also teach Czech as a foreign language. The text was not too challenging but it has some technical terms, and we were only allowed print dictionaries during the competition”.
Vesna Dragar, who came third, told me that:
“I chose Czech as a ‘rare’ language at my University in Ljubljana because I was a fan of Czech literature: the Brave Soldier Švejk, but also Kundera and Hrabal. Last year I participated in the competition and our text was the Little Red Hood tale, so I did not expect a story about Mozambique!”
According to Jan Faber, field officer at the DGT in Prague and himself a translator of English and Polish:
“This year we had 29 participants from Slovenia, Poland, France, Russia, Italy and Egypt. The Chinese university eventually had to withdraw, as they were not able to secure enough paper dictionaries to be used during the competition. We do not allow online resources and we are very strict about this, because it gives all the participants a level playing field, not no mention that with the Internet, the temptation to use “illegal” aids might be just too strong. Students were very enthusiastic to learn about GV and one of the participants from Poland will hold a presentation on GV for her colleagues at her home Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń. The 10 finalists, who were invited to Prague, participated in a translation workshop, where they tried, in small groups, to translate into Czech a fragment from a famous fairy tale by the Grimm brothers”
Asked if she knew previously about GV, Rogozhnikova admitted the competition was her first encounter, but added:
“I will definitely check GV because I like to compare sources of information to avoid fake news. I can check news in different languages, and GV offers a large choice all in one same place.”

author: Filip Noubel


text:
How alternative health magazines advance Russia’s soft power in the Balkans · Global Voices
Metamorphosis Foundation

Magazines Russian Doctor (Руски доктор), Better Life (Бољи живот), Russian Encyclopedia of Health (Руска енциклопедија здравља) and Russian Herbalist (Ruski travar). Photo by Meta.mk News Agency, CC BY-NC.
This is an edited version of a story by Meta.mk News Agency, a project of Metamorphosis Foundation. It is published here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Russian Doctor. Russian Herbalist. The Russian Encyclopedia of Health. On newsstands throughout the Balkans, alternative medicine magazines like these have become increasingly easy to find in recent years.
They seem to target senior citizen populations, and at least half a dozen of them are published in Serbia, according to their mastheads, and then distributed to neighboring countries. The magazine Russian Doctor, for example, has four different country-specific editions.
Almost all of those magazines’ color palette mimics that of the Russian flag, and a miniature version of the actual flag is often contained in their logos or displayed as part of the design of the internal pages.
Their content consists of mundane health advice, such as doing exercise and eating vegetables, but always framed as “Russian advice”. “Try not to depend on other people,” says an article titled “Russian advice for longevity” published on Russian Elixir: Teas and Balms, “you should feel passion for something. It's important to have good friends. Laugh more.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be a go-to cover model. He is there on the front page of Russian Herbalist #5, for example, along with a story titled “Exclusive: Vladimir Putin’s therapy with fungi.” The article inside is actually about the health benefits of mushrooms as determined by Russian specialists. The same issue includes another story about crystal healing, titled “Why Putin uses malachite.”
Sometimes, those pieces of Russian wisdom can feel a bit detached from the Balkans’ reality. At times, there are articles about the benefits of tea made from plants that can be found only in the Eastern Siberian taiga or the Russian steppe, or about how mare milk has been used as a traditional medicine in Yakutia.
Not all of these magazines’ sections are related to health, by the way. Russian Doctor, for example, has a section called The Great Russian Minds, which has featured celebrities like cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova. Its Macedonian version even includes a “Russian horoscope,” which is no different from the ordinary horoscope.
Logos and interior pages of several magazines promote Russian symbols as part of their graphic design. Photo by Meta.mk, CC BY.
While most of this content amounts to generally accepted common sense, they can pose harm when they peddle unproven cures of life-threatening diseases to vulnerable people.
For example, in the fifth issue of Russian Herbalist, an article titled “Russian treatment for hypertension in March” suggests drawing lines on one’s body with iodine during specific days of the month as a remedy for hypertension which “complements official medical therapy.” A few pages later, a different story claims that a tincture of a certain herb can “increase chances of healing” breast cancer, but without any mention of clinical trials.
Sometimes such advice could induce actual physical harm too. Another article on the same publication poses the question: “Can kerosene kill cancer?” and recommends drinking the fuel, starting with few drops and gradually increasing the daily intake to spoonfuls, while alerting that “there have been cases of negative effects and self-poisoning.”
In countries with an underperforming public health system, such claims could offer false hope for people who can’t afford quality private health treatment while also at times putting their lives in danger. “Every disease can be cured!,” proclaims the Russian Herbalist on the front page of its first issue.
The magazines run ads of local pharmaceutical and alternative medicine products. They are careful to protect themselves from liability through careful word choice and small print disclaimers. Some of the disclaimers read: “Our texts are of informative character only and should not be accepted as a replacement for therapy or medicines prescribed by your doctor,” or “the publisher is not responsible for the truthfulness of the advertisements and promotions,” and “the responsibility for the quality of products related to certain illnesses lies solely with those that recommend them as medicine. The company and the newsroom are not obliged to provide any additional explanations.”
Some people on social networks equate these publications with quackery.
citajte ruski doktor i mazi se zeljonkom dok kinezi i amerikanci iz dana u dan razbijaju CRISPR i priblizavaju se leku za rak …
— Pelikán Elvtárs 8 (@kazi_tibi) May 23, 2018
Read the “Russian Doctor” and anoint yourself with Zelyonka, while the Chinese and the Americans crack the genetic code with CRISPR and are getting closer to finding cure for cancer…
Two companies based in Serbia publish all the magazines we've surveyed. They are distributed in markets in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, and Slovenia.
Color Media, also known as Color Press Group, has the broadest portfolio: Russian Doctor (Руски доктор), along with its special editions Better Life (Бољи живот) and Elixir: Teas and Balms (Еликсир: Чајеви и мелеми), and Russian Encyclopedia of Health (Руска енциклопедија здравља).
The Serbian version of Russian Doctor is based on the publication Russian Folk Physician (Народный лекарь), while the Russian Encyclopedia of Health is marked as a licensed publication of a monthly called Encyclopedia of Health (Энциклопедия здоровья) in Russia.
Color Media subsidiaries have published a Macedonian-language edition of Russian Doctor (Руски доктор) since March 2016, as well as versions in Croatian (Ruski doktor) and Slovenian (Ruski zdravnik) since July 2017. The company's director, Robert Coban, has promoted them on social networks:
Svi vole rusku medicinu :) Slovenačko i hrvatsko izdanje magazina “Ruski doktor” @ Color Press Group https://t.co/nmvBOTH1ug
— Robert Coban (@robert_coban) July 13, 2018
Everybody loves Russian medicine :) Slovenian and Croatian edition of the magazine “Russian Doctor” @ Color Press Group…
The Russian Herbalist (Ruski travar) is published by another big Serbian media company called Novosti.
Some social media users in Serbia have commented on the connection between the promotion of Russia and local nationalism:
4 stuba srpstva:
1. Delije Sever
2. Kum
3. Paralija
4. Ruski doktor
— Zapad Todorović (@ZapadTodorovic) August 30, 2018
The four pillars of Serbhood:
1. Delije Sever [supporters of Red Star sports club]
2. The Godfather [family relations]
3. Paralija [summer vacation spot on the Greek coast]
4. Russian Doctor
Vodka against toothache:
Take a sip of vodka and hold it on the aching tooth, jumble and then spit it out. Repeat three times with short pauses to prevent irritation of the gums. (Russian Herbalist #5)
Contrary to the image portrayed by these magazines, Russia isn't particularly exemplary when it comes to its population's health. Its average life expectancy, for example, is among the lowest in Europe. At 71.6 years (77 for women and 66 for men, according to World Health Organization data from 2016), it ranks behind all Balkan nations except Kosovo.
The Balkan countries, in fact, fare better than Russia in that regard. The average life expectancy at birth in Serbia and North Macedonia are 75.2 and 75.7 years respectively, while in Croatia and Slovenia, the only ex-Yugoslav countries that are part of the EU, it's of 78 and 80.8 years respectively.
Medical research published in 2014 revealed that the probability that a Russian man will die before their 55 birthday is of 25 percent. The study blames alcoholism as the major cause, and tobacco addiction second in line. According to a story about the research published in the New York Times, death rates dropped during the Perestroika period when Gorbachev introduced a partial prohibition of alcohol, but increased again after the collapse of the USSR.
None of the magazines we've surveyed advised against alcohol or tobacco abuse.

author: Metamorphosis Foundation


text:
Pope Francis will visit North Macedonia in May, shortly after presidential elections · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Screenshot of the website papa.mk, set up by the Government of Republic of North Macedonia on occasion of the Pope's visit on 7 May 2019.
Pope Francis will visit North Macedonia in May 2019, just two days after the second round of presidential elections.
It will be the first time a pope visits North Macedonia. The visit is part of a three-day regional tour which will also include a stop in Bulgaria.
The government of North Macedonia has set up a website, papa.mk to facilitate the visit. In line with the multicultural character of the country, the website contents are available in three languages: Macedonian, Albanian and English.
Some citizens have questioned the government's ownership of the website, claiming that it contradicts the country's secular character.
Macedonian citizens can apply for tickets to the Pontiff's Holy Mass, which are free of charge, through local churches, while foreigners must secure their places through the website. The Mass will take place at the main square of the capital Skopje on May 7.
Catholics make up less than one percent of the population of North Macedonia, where about 65 percent have professed faith for Orthodox Christianity and about 33 percent are Muslim. Despite its small size, the local Catholic community is considerably diverse as it includes ethnic Macedonians, Albanians, Croats, Slovenes, and Poles.
On the other hand, the country has religious significance for Catholicism because the capital Skopje is the birthplace of Mother Theresa (1910-1997), officially honored as Saint Theresa of Calcutta. One of the most popular missionaries of the 20th century, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, she was born in an ethnic Albanian family whose house was situated precisely on what is now the main town square.
The political aspect of the visit surpasses its religious significance. As a head of state, the pontiff is scheduled to meet the prime minister and the outgoing president, whose mandate will end five days afterward.
The Macedonian public appears to see the visit as a sign of recognition by the West, and a boost to the government's efforts to bring the country closer to membership of NATO and the European Union. Such sentiment is apparent in a tweet from retired police general Stojanche Angelov, who commented on the preparatory visit by the chief of Macedonian Public Safety Bureau to the Vatican.
Благодарение на мудрата, храбра и одлучна меѓународна политика на оваа Влада, нашата мала држава со големи чекори оди напред!
Директорот на БЈБ Сашо Тасевски подготвува највисоко ниво на безбедност за престојот на Папата Франциск во Скопје.
Стево за Претседател! pic.twitter.com/zF2m2lvzL3
— Stojanche Angelov (@StojanceAngelov) April 17, 2019
Thanks to the wise, brave and determined international politics of this government, our small state moves forward with great strides! The Director of PSB Sasho Tasevski prepares the highest security level for the Pope Francis’ stay in Skopje.
Stevo [Pendarovski] for president!
A month ahead of Pope's journey, Vatican News, the information system of the Holy See, added Macedonian language to its repertoire. It is the 34th language available on the portal. Skopje Bishop Kiro Stojanov said this is “a first-fruit of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Visit.”
Ahead of #PopeFrancis’ Apostolic Journey to #NorthMacedonia on 7 May, @VaticanNews adds a page dedicated to the Macedonian language. https://t.co/2obxroAMcx
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 8, 2019
In September, the Pope will visit Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius. Global Voices has covered the reactions in Mozambique to the tour.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Sex abuse and harassment cases prompt protests at Turkey’s university campuses · Global Voices
Sevgi Yagmur Bulut

Protests at Ankara University on April 8. Photo by the University Collective of Women. Permission to use.
Earlier this month a 23-year-old woman alleged that she was beaten and raped by a 54-year-old professor working at Ankara University whilst she was serving as the vet on duty at the private veterinary clinic the professor co-owned.
In her testimony, the young woman, whose name has been redacted by local media as C.B. claimed that Professor Hasan Bilgili offered her dinner and asked her to drink with him.
She then explained what happened when she refused the offer:
He forced himself on me and kissed me. He hit my head three or four times on the floor. I passed out. When I opened my eyes, it was 1.30 AM.
The first person the young woman saw when she woke up was Bilgili's business partner, a veterinary surgeon called Serkan Durmaz.
He told her:
Something happened between you and him. Do not complain. These things will get you into trouble.
The gynaecologist she was taken to see by Bilgili and Durmaz, Huseyin Senyurt, had a similar message:
Even if you complain, nothing will happen. Just take this medicine.
Hasan Bilgili was arrested after C.B filed charges against him.
Standing in the dock at a pre-trial hearing he called the claims a conspiracy against him, and cited his status as a married man in his defence.
Ankara University released a statement via Twitter:
Üniversite dışında özel bir
klinikte yaşanan cinsel saldırı
haberi ihbar kabul edilerek,
saldırı faili olduğu iddia edilen
öğretim üyesi hakkında
soruşturma başlatılmış ve
adı geçen açığa alınmıştır.
— Ankara Üniversitesi (@AnkaraUni) 6 Nisan 2019
The news about the sexual assault at a private clinic outside the university was submitted and an investigation targeting the alleged assailant was launched. The aforementioned person has been suspended.
Hasan Bilgili had been accused of mistreating women before.
According to a Hürriyet newspaper report, both Hasan Bilgili and his brother Ali Bilgili, a pharmacology professor at the same university, were accused of harassing women students in 2007 and faced court as a result.
The judge ordered Ali Bilgili to be suspended from university work as a result of the accusations, while Hasan Bilgili had his pay docked. Both eventually returned to their positions.
Hurriyet newspaper article covering accusations against the Bilgili brothers in 2007.
More recently, in 2016, Hasan Bilgili was the subject of further sexual assault allegations, this time made by an exchange student who was studying at his veterinary department.
The day after the rape case went viral on Twitter, Ankara University students began a protest on campus targeting authorities’ perceived inaction over previous sexual harassment complaints.
During the protest, students chanted “we do not want a rapist teacher.”
The protests found an echo on social media.
Öğrencilerden eylem: “Tecavüzcü hoca istemiyoruz”
Ankara Üniversitesi'nde profesörlük yapan Hasan Bilgili, genç kadın hekimi darp ederek cinsel saldırıda bulundu. Olay üzerine üniversite öğrencileri bugün bir eylem gerçekleştirerek “sessiz kalmak suça ortak olmaktır” dedi. pic.twitter.com/2jeWEQqRCY
— Yol TV (@YolTV) 8 Nisan 2019
The students said: “Staying quiet means taking part in the crime.”
Ankara Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi'nde öğretim üyesi olan Prof. Dr. Hasan Bilgili kendisine ait hayvan hastanesinde çalışan veteriner Ç.'ye tecavüz etmesinin ardından Ankara Üniversitesi Veteriner fakültesi öğrencileri protesto ederek basın açıklaması yaptı. pic.twitter.com/GvTCcVXoDr
— ali haydar çelebi (@ali_haydar_1234) 8 Nisan 2019
After a teacher at Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Hasan Bilgili, raped B.Ç, who worked at his veterinary clinic, Ankara University Veterinary Faculty students staged a protest and issued a press statement.
The topic of sexual violence has been especially highly charged in Turkey ever since the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) controversially withdrew in February from its commitment to the ‘Gender Equality Attitude Certificate’, a document which bound it to incorporate gender equality principles across its work.
The higher education regulator's president cited aspects of the document “inappropriate for our values” as a reason for its withdrawal.
The University Collective of Women, a group founded in 2007 by women university students, told Global Voices that Turkish university campuses are increasingly becoming places of fear for many women.
“Students in faculty warn each other not to enter the rooms of teachers alone,” a spokeswoman for the collective told GV by telephone.
#TecavüzcüProfesör
İki kardeş aynı üniversitede profesör.İkisi de tacizci.Adlarına açılan birden fazla dava var.Yıllardır ceza almadan bulundukları konumda öğencilerle iç içe yaşıyorlar ve suç işlemeye devam ediyorlar.
Yeter artık. Suçlulara cezalarını verin. pic.twitter.com/fwH6OlKfcB
— Gülay Mubarek (@pipetlielmasuyu) 6 Nisan 2019
#RapistProffesor The two brothers are professors at the same university. There is more than one case against them. They have been living with students for years without being punished and they continue to commit crimes.
Enough is enough. Punish these criminals.
Ankara University's Support Unit Against Sexual Harassment, founded in 2011 after a spike in sexual abuse cases at universities, has pledged to continue investigating complaints and attempting to bring cases to court.
But unit coordinator Gülriz Uygur, a law professor at the university, says victims of abuse are often press-ganged into silence.
“Students cannot complain to us about sexual abuse they have faced, because they are threatened with notes and they are afraid,” Uygur told Hurriyet newspaper.
Accusations of sexual predation at Turkish higher education institutions this year have not been limited to the capital.
One university in the country's largest city Istanbul, the private Koç University, was hit by a giant scandal in March after a male student accused of sexually abusing a female counterpart faced no other punishment than a three-month suspension.
Koç Üniversitesi tacizin ve şiddetin üstünü kapatıyor ve biz #KampüsteGüvendeDeğiliz pic.twitter.com/CpyhmLrQA3
— Berfin Saman (@bsamann) 25 Mart 2019
Koç University is concealing the violence and abuse. We are #notsafeatcampus
The same month students at the Dokuz Eylul University in the country's third largest city, Izmir, protested against the head of the sociology department Professor İbrahim Kaya, who they claimed had been systematically abusing women students since 2014.
Women students taped slogans including “We do not want an abuser-teacher” onto the walls of the institution. Now they are preparing to file criminal charges against Kaya.

author: Sevgi Yagmur Bulut


text:
Bangladeshi paint company advert draws criticism from lovers of traditional Alpana art · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

More like painting on canvas than painting on a wall. You can find this style of painting in Tikoil, Gosaipur, and many other villages of northern Bengal. Photo Credit: Tareq Onu. Used with permission.
In Chapai Nawabganj, a district in northwestern Bangladesh, the villages all share one unique characteristic — traditional mud houses painted with colourful motifs known as Alpana.  Tikoil is one village that has gained fame as the Alpana Village.
On the occasion of the Bengali New Year (known as Pahela Baisakh), Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited, a leading manufacturer of paints in the country, has launched a new advertisement campaign featuring Tikoil village. The ad boasts of a synthetic alternative to the traditional paints used by Alpana artists, drawing widespread criticism from the online community.
A typical mud house in Bangladesh. Image from Wikimedia Commons by Kayser Ahmad. CC: BY-SA 3.0
Mud houses are integral to the heritage of rural Bangladesh and found in the highlands and mountainous regions. They sit on raised platforms made of compacted earth and straw mixed with mud is used to build the walls and floors. Unlike other houses, mud houses offer quite a comfortable living environment during the winter and summer seasons as they keep the temperature cool when it is hot outside and warm when it is cold outside. There is one mud house in Naogaon district in northern Bangladesh that boasts of 108 rooms.
The exact history of the tradition of Alpana in this region, which is known as Varendra, cannot be ascertained. However, people say that they have kept it alive for generations. Alpana artists are usually women who create these elaborate motifs during special occasions such as worshipping ceremonies or Muslim and Hindu weddings. Alpana is also painted inside the home.
The process of creating paint for Alpana art is based on an age-old technique. Natural colours are made from curry leaves, red mud, boiled red rice, granular sand, and other leaves.
The Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited ad suggests that the natural Alpana colours do not last long, leaving them prone to fade in rainwater. Instead, the company offers paint products that Alpana artists can use as an alternative to ensure that their paintings last longer.
As soon as the ad aired, many objected to the idea of using artificial colours. Freelance writer and photographer Apu Nazrul writes on Facebook:
সারা পৃথিবী যখন ইন-অর্গানিকের ধ্বংস থেকে বাঁচতে হন্য হয়ে অর্গানিক সোর্স খুঁজছে ঠিক সেই মুহুর্তে টিকোইল গ্রামে গিয়ে বার্জার অর্গানিক সোর্স থেকে রঙ তৈরী করা গ্রামবাসীর হাতে তুলে দিয়েছে নিজেদের সিনথেটিক রঙ। তার ফলে এখন নাকি আর কয়দিন পর পর রঙ করা লাগবেনা, রঙ স্থায়ী হবে৷ কি ভয়াবহ কথা! আলপনা ঘন ঘন আঁকা হতো বলেই না গ্রামবাসী এত দক্ষ হয়ে উঠেছে। স্থায়ী আলপনা বসে গেলে আর প্র্যাক্টিসের সুযোগ কই আর বৈচিত্র্যই আসবে কোত্থেকে?
When the whole world is switching to organic sources, Berger is offering their synthetic paints to the Alpona artists of Tikoil village. As a result, the artists will no longer need to paint every season, the color will last forever. What a horror! The skills of these artists developed because they had to frequently draw the Alpanas. If the wall paintings become permanent, how will they get the opportunity to practice and where will the different ideas come from?
On Twitter, Chowdhury Ripon criticised Berger for destroying the century-old tradition of creating Alpana drawings with natural colours:
Poor @BergerPaintsBD, can't even write common #চাঁপাই #শিল্পী #বাঙালি spellings rightly, now ridiculously replacing that villagers hundred years #culture of drawing #Alpona using organic colors.#শুভনববর্ষ #টিকোইল#Berger #OVC #Blunder #NuhashHumayun pic.twitter.com/3OtM6ZRg3T
— Chowdhury Ripan (@ripansays) April 8, 2019
Facebook user Farjana K. Tithi urged Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited to work on research and development to make natural colours sustainable.
Tikoil is not the only village in the region that is famous for its Alpana artwork. Artists also paint the neighbouring village of Gosaipur. Blogger, traveller and mountaineer Tareq Onu shared pictures of some photos of Gosipur in a Facebook album:
They are not professional painters; however, the walls of the houses have become so colourful with the creativity of the women of the house. Photo credit: Tareq Onu Used with permission.
These are not only works of art, but they also teach important moments in history like Bangladesh's Liberation War. Photo credit: Tareq Onu Used with permission.
Extinct dinosaurs have also been portrayed in these walls. A schoolgirl painted this one. Photo credit: Tareq Onu Used with permission.
Photo credit: Tareq Onu Used with permission.
Berger has yet to reply to any of the criticism. They have, however, sponsored the painting of 300,000 square feet (27,871 square meters) Alpana on the streets of Manik Mia Avenue in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on April 14, 2019, to celebrate the Bengali New Year.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


text:
‘Culture of killing and impunity’: Coffee shop shooting in the Philippines leaves two dead · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Passersby offer flowers and prayers at the storefront of the coffee shop where two employees were killed in a midnight shooting incident. Photo by The Good Cup Coffee used with permission.
In the late hours of April 11th, 2019, a lone gunman entered into The Good Cup Coffee Company in Cebu City — killing two people and critically injuring two more. As friends and family mourn the victims of the attack, many are blaming President Duterte's government for creating an atmosphere that normalizes violence and killings.
It was an otherwise regular night in an area of Cebu City known for its young professionals and college students. 29-year-old co-manager and barista John Michael Hermoso, 21-year-old student Kis Tryvl Ramos, and employees Sherwin Dean Rivera and Jerome Amada were closing shop shortly before midnight when a lone gunman entered and began shooting.
The gunman quickly escaped on a motorcycle that was waiting for him outside. John Michael was killed immediately while Kis was declared dead on arrival at the Velez Hospital. Sherwin and Jerome were left in critical condition.
The police continue to “look at all possible angles” to establish the motives behind the shooting.
Some critical voices, like University of the Philippines-Cebu (UP-Cebu) Prof. Henry Francis B. Espiritu, hold the Duterte government primarily responsible for the spike in killings in Cebu and other parts of the Philippines:
We hold the statements and pronouncements of this tyrannical regime and the politics of death pursued by this present regime responsible for making possible the bloodshed, murderous crimes, and the normalization of killing in our benighted country.
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), of which Kis was a member as a student journalist, also links this to the reigning culture of killings and impunity under Duterte:
The full details remain unclear, but what does remain clear is that this culture of killing and impunity has emboldened murderers to openly boast of their weapons and shoot people. The rotten system of society that allows this to occur has never been remedied.
While President Rodrigo Duterte won on an anti-crime platform which promised to secure peace and order, many now lament how the taking of lives have become commonplace in Cebu and the rest of the country.
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) listed Central Visayas (which includes Cebu City as the regional capital) as having the fourth highest number of killings related to Duterte's anti-drug campaign.
Set to graduate at the UP-Cebu with an undergraduate degree in psychology this June 2019, Kis was a student leader and student writer for the campus paper Tug-ani.
John Michael, one of the coffee shop’s managing partners, was supposed to take part in an international barista competition after winning the Philippine Brewer’s Cup last March 2019.
UP Cebu students, faculty, and academic employees held a candle lighting a day after the incident and a fundraising campaign has been initiated for the families of the victims.
The Good Cup Coffee Company's statement on the shooting incident called for justice and prayers for the victims and has been widely shared on social media. The shop is temporarily closed while streamers in memory of Kis and John Michael has been put up at the shop's storefront where passersby offer flowers and prayers.
who never failed to craft the best coffee for the people in this Ramos neighborhood especially to us medical students that help us cope in keeping us awake to study those sleepless nights. Rest easy sir and mam. JUSTICE for John Hermoso & Kis Ramos.
— Renzo DR (@renzodelro) April 11, 2019
I stalked Kis Ramos’ last tweets and it saddens me how she had no idea that her life will be stolen from her. We’re not that close but I know that she was bound to reach places. I hope that justice will be served for her and her workmates. #EndViolence pic.twitter.com/PdQ1Q9WvNf
— Odyssey ? (@ohhthesea) April 12, 2019
Rindiendo homenaje a la vida de John Michael Hermoso, Campeón 2019 del Brewers Cup Champion Filipinas https://t.co/BZuvH9a36C
— Ricardo Jordison (@RicardoJordiso) April 11, 2019
Paying homage to the life of John Michael Hermoso, Champion 2019 of the Brewers Cup Champion Philippines
Tanda ko pang isa si Kis sa mga nakapalagayan ko ng loob habang puyat kaming nagko-cover ng GASC sa Iloilo, taong 2018. Ang bilis. Hindi katanggap-tanggap ang sinapit niya/nila!
HUSTISYA PARA KAY KIS RAMOS! Hustisya para sa mga manggagawa ng The Good Coffee Company!
— shane cea (@shernielyncdc) April 11, 2019
I remember Kis was one of those I shared sentiments with while we were sleeplessly covering the General Assembly of Student Councils in Iloilo in 2018. Things happen too fast. What happened to her and her companions is unacceptable! Justice for Kis Ramos! Justice for the workers of The Good Coffee Company!
Kanang kadaghan namo nagmake ug [When you have made many] statements expressing rage and dissent against killings but this time it involves an org mate and a friend. It's really painful :(
Justice for Kis Ramos!
Justice for The Good Cup Coffee Company!
Stop the Killings!
— trisch ⚡ #22Colmenares #42KabataanPartylist (@trischure) April 11, 2019
One of Kis’ professors at UP Cebu, Dr. Phoebe Zoe Maria Sanchez, had this to share about her:
Ang among Kis Tryvl Ramos maayo ug buotan ang pagpadako. Abante si Kis sa panghuna-huna ug ang iyang dedikasyon sa pagtoon dili alang sa kaugalingon lamang kung di nagtan-aw usab sa kinatibuk-ang katilingban. Dili siya sama sa uban nga walay alamag sa katilingbanong kaakuhan bisan pa man sa tag-as nilang propesyon. Mabungahon ang mga yugto nga kauban si Kis sa klase sa Kasaysayan, sa Sosyolohiya ug sa Antropolohiya.
Our Kis Tryvl Ramos was raised well. Kis was advanced in thinking and her dedication to learning was not only for herself but also had as its purview the wider society. She was not like others who were ignorant of their societal embeddedness despite their high professions. Time spent with Kis in our classes in history, sociology, and anthropology were truly productive.

author: Karlo Mongaya


text:
Guinea’s President Alpha Condé tells supporters to be ready to fight · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Alpha Condé at the World Economic Forum in 2012 CC BY-SA 2.0
Although Guinea’s constitution allows only two consecutive terms in office, the country's current president, Alpha Condé, recently announced that he intended to seek a third term. To help achieve this, he has not hesitated to make calls to violence. In an analysis published on Horizon Guinée, Sonny Camara, a journalist based in Conakry (the country's capital), reported parts of a speech the president made on March 24, 2019:
«Je laisse mon manteau de président de côté. Je prends mon manteau de militant, car maintenant je suis prêt à la bataille contre ces gens», «… Soyez prêts à l’affrontement… », «… Personne en Guinée ne m’empêchera d’aller devant le peuple pour lui demander ce qu’il veut… » « … Si c’est pour vous marcher sur les pieds, soyez prêts à marcher sur leurs pieds pour qu’ils sachent que vous n’avez peur de rien …»
I will be taking off my president's hat. I am putting on my activist's hat, because now I am ready to fight against these people [in the opposition] […] Be ready for confrontation […] Nobody in Guinea will stop me from going before my people to ask them what they want [for the country] […] If [the opposition] wants to walk all over you, be ready to walk all over them so that they know that you are afraid of nothing.
Condé was elected as President of Guinea in 2010 as the first freely elected president in the country's history. However, the 2010 elections were not without controversies as observers, including the Carter center reported that nearly 1 million voters’ ballot were lost from the final count. Condé was reelected in 2015 with almost 58 percent of the vote. in 2016,  FRANCE 24 news channel reported that the mining company Rio Tinto paid Guinean government official $10.5 million for mining rights in the Simandou Region.
A few months after his re-election in May 2015, Condé began to suggest his intention to seek a third term. Ibrahima Diallo, director of Liberté FM, a radio station in Conakry, highlighted this 2016 report on Nouvelles de Guinée:
Mais, à entendre Alpha Condé dire à l’opinion publique nationale et internationale que le «souverain peuple» de Guinée décidera ou non d’un troisième mandat pour lui sous – entend que celui qui voulait être la «synthèse» de feu Mandela et d’Obama pour son pays est «pire» que ses prédécesseurs qu’il a toujours combattus durant sa vie d’éternel opposant. Aujourd’hui, quand Koro dit «c’est le peuple qui décidera», il veut juste faire porter par le vaillant peuple de Guinée le mérite pour lui de briguer «un éventuel mandat» après les deux consécutifs.
But, to hear Alpha Condé say to national and international audiences that the ‘sovereign people’ of Guinea will decide whether or not he will have a third term implies that he who wanted to be the ‘synthesis’ of the late Mandela and Obama for his country is ‘worse’ than his predecessors, whom he has fought all his life as an eternal opponent. Today, when Koro (ed's note: nickname for Alpha Condé) says ‘it’s the people who will decide’, he just wants to make the valiant people of Guinea legitimize his seeking ‘a possible term’ after the two consecutive ones.
Condé stuck to his plan by taking measures to ensure he avoided any bad surprises, including dismissing the president of the constitutional court, Kéléfa Sall, a move which did not follow legal procedure. Amadou Tham Camara, a reporter with Guinée News, wrote:
Après le travail de sape qui avait été fait à la CENI, c’est ainsi la deuxième institution constitutionnelle en charge des élections nationales qui vient d’être irrémédiablement fragilisée. Dorénavant, pour le parti au pouvoir, il existe un boulevard pour avoir la majorité qualifiée des deux tiers des députés lors des élections législatives prévues au premier trimestre de 2019. Cette majorité étant la condition sine qua non pour entamer la révision de la constitution. C’est un pas de géant qui vient donc d’être franchi pour faire sauter le verrou constitutionnel qui bloque le nombre de mandat du président de la République à deux.
After the undermining of the CENI [the national independent electoral commission], it is now the second constitutional institution in charge of national elections which has been irreparably weakened. From now on, for the party in power, there is an avenue to having the qualified majority of two thirds of deputies during the legislative elections scheduled for the first quarter of 2019. This majority being the necessary condition for initiating the revision of the constitution. It is thus a giant step which has been taken to break through the constitutional lock which limits the number of terms as President of the Republic at two.
It seems that Sall's mistake was to warn Condé — during his second term swearing-in ceremony, no less — against modifying the constitution. Sall said then:
La conduite de la nation doit nous réunir autour de l’essentiel. Ne nous entourons pas d’extrémistes qui sont nuisibles à l’unité nationale. Évitez toujours les dérapages vers les chemins interdits en démocratie et en bonne gouvernance. Gardez-vous de succomber à la mélodie des sirènes révisionnistes car, si le peuple de Guinée vous a donné et renouvelé sa confiance, il demeure cependant légitimement vigilant.
The management of the nation must gather us around what is essential. We do not surround ourselves with extremists who are harmful to national unity. Always avoid slips toward paths forbidden under democracy and good governance. Refrain from succumbing to the song of revisionist sirens because, although the people of Guinea gave you and renewed their confidence, they nevertheless remain legitimately vigilant.
The reaction of Guineans has been lively. At a press conference on March 29, organized by former members of the National Transition Council (a type of interim parliament) and hosted by the collective Ne Touche pas à ma Constitution (Don’t Touch My Constitution), Boubacar Siddighy Diallo, one of the speakers, recalled that Guinea’s constitution comprises two parts which form an indivisible whole. He made the point that together, these parts shield the constitution “from any possible tampering which could have consequences that compromise the peace and stability of our country.”
Opponents reacted strongly. At an opposition meeting, Cellou Dalein Diallo, president of the Union des Forces Démocratiques de Guinée (The Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea, a liberal political party), said:
L’opposition Républicaine a réaffirmé sa disponibilité à former une coalition avec toutes les forces vives de la nation, pour s’opposer au recul démocratique et à la présidence à vie qu’Alpha Condé veut s’octroyer …
The Republican opposition has reaffirmed its readiness to form a coalition with all the active movements of the nation, to oppose democratic retreat and the presidency for life that Alpha Condé wants to grant himself…
Sekou Koundouno, leader of the Forces Sociales de Guinée (FSG) the Social Forces of Guinea) announced on Facebook that his civil society group wrote to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asking her to ‘keep a close eye on our country and take a public stand to avoid chaos in Guinea. Similarly, Guinean citizens reacted on Twitter:
Les propos du président de la République sont extrêmement graves pour la paix et la quiétude sociale en Guinée. Une fois de plus, je condamne fermement cette habitude peu Honorable à notre pays. Nous devons impérativement interpeler la CEDEAO, l'Union africaine, l'ONU, etc. https://t.co/L3XI8COaoN
— Alseny Farinta Camara (@fareinta) March 26, 2019
The words of the president of the republic are extremely serious for peace and social calm in Guinea. Yet again, I strongly condemn this not very honourable habit of our country. We absolutely must call on the CEDEAO [the Economic Community of West African States], the African Union, the UN, etc.
Le peuple s’exprime partout en Guinée contre le troisième mandat. Tel a été le cas à Coyah tout à l’heure. Quatre jeunes auraient été interpellés sur instructions d’un des promoteurs du troisième mandat. Aucune intimidation ne freinera les guinéens dans leur quête de démocratie.
— Mohamed TALL (@tallmohamed2) March 31, 2019
Everywhere in Guinea, the people are speaking out against the third term. Such was the case in Coyah [a prefecture in Guinea's Kindia region] earlier. Four young people were reportedly arrested on the instructions of one of the promoters of the third term. No intimidation will stop Guineans in their quest for democracy.
Popular Facebook personality Alimou Sow chose irony as a way of commenting on the situation, alluding to the strong winds which hit Conakry on the night of April 2:
It seems that in Greek mythology Aeolus was the god of the winds (whence the adjective Aeolian). So, to Guinea Aeolus went that night to blow away, not only the demagogic posters, but also those who put them up and promote the third [term] #Nambara [Problems]. Gone with the wind. Good night #ennui
The most significant reaction, however, came from the Guinean writer and economist, Ibrahima Sanoh. On January 2, he launched his movement, Patriotes pour l’Alternance et le Salut (Patriots for Alternation and Salvation), to oppose any attempt by Condé to seek a third term in 2020.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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‘I keep silent and put up with it’: Surviving domestic violence in Armenia · Global Voices
OC Media

“We got married at the end of 2017. The wedding was not luxurious, but our love was strong,” Sona (not her real name) says.
Just a week after the small wedding feast, Sona’s husband attacked her for the first time, demanding that she tell him about her “dark past.”
“I don't know how the idea came into his head that I had had boyfriends in the past, that I had been in an intimate relationship, but he had no substantiated evidence of that. He was the first man in my life, but the doubt gnawed at his soul.”
“He beat me very harshly. He said he would kill me if I didn’t tell him who I was in an intimate relationship with, but I had nothing to say.”
Sona eventually left her husband.
“I went to my parents, but my husband immediately came after me. He apologised, begged me to go back, promising never to drink even a sip of alcohol…But I didn’t go.”
“A few weeks later, it turned out I was pregnant. This changed my life. I told him about the pregnancy, and again he asked me to go back to him, and I decided not to leave my child fatherless.”
Shortly after returning to him, Sona and her husband moved to Russia. He wanted them to move so that he could forget about her “dark past” in Armenia.
“Of course, I didn’t understand what past he wanted to forget about, but I went with him anyway. I wish I hadn’t gone… In Armenia, my parents-in-law protected me, but in Russia, I was completely alone. There was not a single day he didn’t drink. He would throw me against the walls like a ball.”
“During one beating, my hand was broken. They put a cast on it; I was eight months pregnant. He sent me to Armenia to give birth. After giving birth, I had surgery on my hand, but because my cast was put on incorrectly, there were some problems.”
Sona stayed in Armenia after giving birth, while her husband continued to live in Russia. Though the baby is already two years old, she has not found the will to divorce her husband.
“Everyday of my life is a subsequent denial of my own principles. I know my rights very well, but I don’t protect them. I keep silent and put up with the situation. I don't want my child to grow up fatherless. He is a bastard as a husband but he is a good father,” Sona says.
In December 2017, Armenia adopted a new law meant to tackle domestic violence, which entered into force in July 2018.
The law enshrined a legal and institutional basis for preventing domestic violence and protecting victims. It was to provide the necessary psychological, legal, social support to those subjected to violence, as well as, where appropriate, temporary financial support.
After the adoption of the law, many were convinced that it would provide protection for persecuted women.
But Marina Yeghiazaryan, a clinical psychologist at Armenia’s Women’s Rights Centre, says that she has not seen a decline in the number of women subjected to domestic violence.
“We continue to receive thousands of calls. The violence continues,” Yeghiazaryan says.
“Even today, many women are not informed; they cannot protect their rights. Many people also avoid resorting to going to a human rights centre, preferring instead to keep silent and not talk about their problems,” she says.
Gayane says that problems in her family began after the birth of their child.
“He was agitated about everything: while I walked, the sound of my footsteps; while I did the dishes, the sound from the water tap; while I did my hair, the sound of the hairdryer. He was the most infuriated when our newborn baby was crying. He was always saying: “Shut her up, I need to rest,” ’ Gayane says.
She says that while in normal families, the birth of a child warms couples, brings them closer, in her case, the opposite happened, and that her husband turned from a quiet man into a beast.
“It was a mystery to me what happened to him. When he slapped me for the first time, I was shocked, not from the pain, but from his attitude. He had never hit me before.”
“Once, when the baby was crying at night again, he threatened to kill both of us if I did not silence the baby very quickly. Later, the instances did not end with threats. He was attacking my baby.”
“I would cover my baby with my body so that the kicking could not reach her. He beat us like this for a month. One day, when he was at work, I took our clothes and ran away.”
The Women’s Support Centre runs the only shelter in Armenia for victims of domestic violence. The centre also offers psychological and legal support.
“In our shelter, we can accept a total of seven women and their children. The location of the house is confidential. It has all the conditions to make a person feel safe; she is provided with all necessary living conditions,” says the centre’s director, Hasmik Gevorgyan.
At present, five women are living in the shelter. Residents can stay for up to three months, though the period of their stay can be extended on a case by case basis.
According to Hovhannisyan, there are not enough resources to serve the number of women facing domestic violence.
When Gayane left her husband, she had almost no relatives in Armenia; all of them were abroad. Fortunately, the family of a close friend provided her with a place to stay.
“A victim of domestic violence should appeal to the police station, but at this point, problems can arise, if suddenly the victim needs a refuge from their abuser. The state has adopted the law, but it hasn't created shelters for victims,” she says.
“My friend and her husband saved our lives. A couple of times, my husband tried to enter the house, and we threatened to call the police. Only his brother somehow managed to calm him, and he asked me not to leave my husband.”
“I couldn’t forgive him and I wasn’t sure that one day, during my absence, he wouldn’t harm our baby.”
“Half a year has passed since those hellish days,” says Gayane, reflecting on her ordeal. “Now I'm thinking more soberly and I regret not leaving him sooner.”

author: OC Media


text:
In the mountains of northern Azerbaijan, football has become a goal for girls · Global Voices
Chaikhana.media

Shaki's girls’ team is shaking the world. Photo by Chai-Khana.org, used with permission.
The following is a story by Chai-Khana.org and is republished by Global Voices under a partnership agreement. Text and video by Ayten Najaf and Nurlan Babazade.
With 56 goals in 2017, 15-year-old Nahida is a champion in her local girls’ football league. She and her teammates from the Gənclik (“Youth”) team come from the city of Shaki, an ancient and impoverished city in the mountains of northern Azerbaijan.
Shaki is a conservative place where football is seen as a male sport; men dominate the clubs and football pitches. However, Nahida and other young female footballers are challenging that stereotype, one goal at a time.
The story of these girls from Shaki is no outlier; their enthusiasm mirrors a growing interest in women’s football throughout Azerbaijan. Today, according to the Azerbaijan Association Football Federation, there are 52 under 16 girls’ football clubs in the country, 36 of which were formed in provincial towns like Shaki.
Local coach Mammad Dashadov has played a valuable role in putting Shaki’s team on the map, and helping these girls feel that the football pitch is open to them, too.
“In general, since female football involves women and Shaki is a peculiar place, women’s football was seen as something strange. When we founded a women's football team in Shaki, there was some confusion; ‘what is women’s football?’ It seemed strange to locals,” says Dashadov, who trains three women’s football teams.
As the idea of women’s football seemed strange to parents in Shaki, Mammad first set an example himself. He formed the city’s first women’s football team with his two daughters, his brother’s two daughters, and his brother-in-law’s two daughters.
“I brought them together and formed a team to show people. Later on, some parents approached me and asked me to accept their daughter onto the team. So it was difficult in the beginning, but it became easier later on,” reflects Mammad.
A little while later Mammad approached the orphanage in Shaki and invited the city’s orphaned girls to join the team. That’s how he discovered Nahida and 13 other girls who were passionate about football and came to form the UGIM team of Shaki.
“It was my childhood dream to be a footballer. When Mammad teacher came to take girls to training, I went with them. I was a child and was just running after the ball among elder girls,” remembers Nahida with a smile.
Nahida was eventually noticed by the Azerbaijan Football Association and started playing in the national girls’ under-17 team.
While she still focuses on her education and regularly trains to improve her footballing skills, she still dreams of meeting some world-famous footballers, especially Cristiano Ronaldo.
Learn more about Nahida’s footballing dreams in this video.


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Will the Haitian president’s third pick for prime minister solve the nation’s security issues? · Global Voices
Joseph W. Alliance

Jean-Michel Lapin is set to become Haiti's latest prime minister. Screengrab via Youtube, Moise Dume, March 29, 2019.
Over the last two years in office, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse's government has gone through several prime ministers.
On March 21, the president nominated his Minister of Culture and Communication, Jean-Michel Lapin, as Haiti's interim prime minister, and on April 9, he decided to make him permanent. Haitians are hoping that Moïse and Lapin's relationship will usher in a better chance at stability and security in the troubled nation.
Jacques Guy Lafontant and his successor, Jean Henry Céant, did not survive long in the position. Lafontant paid for his inability to adequately respond to violent demonstrations unleashed by Haiti's socio-economic crisis that erupted last July. These first waves of popular discontent threatened to prematurely end Moïse's presidency. On July 14, 2018, after days of protests over huge increases in gas prices, Lafontant announced he would resign.
While Céant showed some apparent willingness to confront the crisis, his insistence on pursuing issues sensitive to the president — such as the PetroCaribe scandal — portrayed him more as Moïse's political nemesis than his collaborator. This conflict made their cohabitation uneasy, culminating in the parliament revoking Céant's position in March 2019:
Deputy Alfredo Antoine tells @Magik9haiti the poor performance reason used to fire ex PM @jeanhenryceant was a pretext. The real reason was article 149 & bc Senate made a political play. Ceant had no budget bc it had not been voted by parliament, he said.
— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) April 17, 2019
On April 15 and 16, as required by the Haitian constitution, Lapin submitted his legal documents to the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, for approval. After his documents are reviewed, Lapin can look forward to the parliament ratifying his statement of general policy:
L’arrêté nommant le citoyen Jean Michel Lapin Premier ministre de la République d’Haïti. pic.twitter.com/qkcfrfLRnF
— Président Jovenel Moïse (@moisejovenel) April 10, 2019
The decree naming the citizen Jean Michel Lapin Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti.
President Moïse has insisted that he wants the new prime minister to be someone who sticks more to his role of implementing the president's vision, and focuses more on the country's development rather than political divisiveness. But many, including Etzer Emile, a young local economist, felt that the president's choice of Lapin was not driven by the need to resolve the critical socio-economic crisis. Emile also suggested that the president had not learned the lesson that unattended economic troubles lead to further political instability.
Haiti's currency has continued to plummet, with 85 Gourdes worth just US $1, and inflation has reached 17 percent, the highest since the country's food crisis riots in 2008. In addition, the nation is dealing with a severe energy crisis and rampant insecurity. Intense blackouts and recurring fuel shortages have plagued ordinary Haitians.
Over the past two weeks, the United States-based fuel supplier Novum refused to deliver 150,000 barrels of gasoline until the Haitian government paid US $58 million in arrears to the company. Thus far, the government has accrued a total of US $2.5 million in penalties because of this payment delay. Haitians regard this situation as classic economic and financial mismanagement, coupled with poor governance:
MASSIVE TRAFFIC JAM IN PV thanks to D-“Freaking”-NC gas station dictating when and where people are allowed to drive… How can a country be governed like this??? #UNBELIEVABLE @jacquiecharles pic.twitter.com/cLgZMY8eWe
— Gessika Thomas (@GessikaThomas) April 5, 2019
Insecurity is on the mind of every Haitian as gangs continue to control traditionally violent hotspots surrounding Port-au-Prince, including Cite Soleil, Martissant and La Saline, but have also made their presence felt in other parts of the capital and various provinces.
The Haitian National Police, despite professional praise from the United Nations Security Council's report on Haiti, has consistently failed to dismantle these armed gangs. Over the last three months alone, gangs have claimed the lives of 13 police officers shot dead.
President Moïse recently announced on Twitter that he has met with the relevant authorities and instructed them to take measures to stop the gangs and re-establish a sense of security:
Aprés une importante rencontre avec les plus hautes autorités responsables de la sécurité du pays, j’ai passé des instructions formelles en vue de prendre des mesures urgentes pour contrer les bandits armés qui menacent la paix dans les foyers et la sécurité publique.
— Président Jovenel Moïse (@moisejovenel) April 17, 2019
After an important meeting with the highest authorities responsible for the security of the country, I have given formal instructions to take urgent measures to counter armed bandits that threaten home peace and public security.
More than words, however, actions are needed to bring calm and security to Haiti's population.
Lapin was welcomed into his new post on April 16 by the detonation of automatic guns in the areas near the country's parliament building in La Saline, a neighbourhood near Port-au-Prince. While submitting legal documents to the Lower Chamber as part of his ratification process, Haitian media reported that Lapin was asked about the security situation and compared the intense gang activities going on in the country as a guerilla scenario.
After 13 years of UN presence in Haiti, which did not do much to secure stability, the nation will be without a UN peacekeeping force as of October 2019, leaving Haitians to wonder whether the state has the capacity to provide public security. The UN presence was marred with rape scandals and a debilitating cholera outbreak.
The UN is now seeking to establish a special political mission that will essentially focus on development challenges, but unresolved issues may seriously impede its ability to make any significant contribution to sustainable development.
Brazilian peacekeepers of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, secure the streets around the National Palace, following the outbreak of protests against escalating food prices. April 8, 2008. UN Photo/Logan Abassi via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
With the possibility of having a new prime minister who will bend to Moïse's desires, the question remains: Will the government now be able to effectively address the issues that matter to Haitians, or will Lapin simply be used to protect the president's political interests?

author: Joseph W. Alliance


text:
A series of bomb attacks on churches and hotels spark terror in Sri Lanka · Global Voices
Rezwan

The historic St. Anthony's church at Kochikade in Colombo is a popular destination for Sri Lankans and tourists. More than 50 people died here in the morning of Sunday, April 21, 2019. Image by AntanO via Wikimedia Commons CC: BY-SA 4.0.
Sri Lanka was rocked by series of eight blasts on Easter Sunday morning (21 April 2019) in locations including churches and hotels across the country, leaving at least 207 people dead and more than 450 injured.
The six explosions in the coordinated bombings targeted churches packed with worshippers who were attending Easter Sunday services. These include St. Anthony's church at Kochchikade in Colombo, St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, and Zion Church in the Tamil-dominated city of Batticaloa. At least 67 people died at St Sebastian's church alone.
#SriLanka octet of terror pic.twitter.com/uf5xUCyUEt
— simulacra deorum (@digitalfolklore) April 21, 2019
The bombings also targetted luxury hotels in the capital city, Colombo — the Cinnamon Grand, the Kingsbury, and the Shangri-La, where at least 35 foreigners were killed.
35 foreigners among the victims of the bomb blasts in Sri Lanka.
Among the victims are nationals of; #USA, #Denmark, #China, #Japan, #Pakistan, #Morocco, #India and #Bangladesh – National Hospital Spokesperson.#lka #SriLanka
— News 1st (@NewsfirstSL) April 21, 2019
The seventh blast was at a small hotel in the suburb of Dehiwala in capital Colombo.
2 dead in an explosion took place inside a small hotel in Dehiwela pic.twitter.com/wR5wMinueb
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) April 21, 2019
The eighth blast was a suicide bomb in the Dematagoda district of Colombo which killed three police officers.
Minister @RWijewardene addressing the press just now says action will be taken to stop activity of all extremist groups in the country. Social media temporary banned. 12 hour curfew from 6pm. The Dehiwela n Dematagoda blasts seem to be by those in the ring running from the law.
— Harsha de Silva (@HarshadeSilvaMP) April 21, 2019
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. However, reports suggest that they were the work of suicide bombers.
The Sri Lankan government has declared an islandwide curfew from 6 p.m. local time to the next morning. Additionally, social media sites including Facebook and Instagram were temporarily blocked to prevent the further spread of false news.
Confirmed: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Viber, Snapchat and Messenger blocked in #SriLanka following series of deadly church and hotel attacks; incident ongoing #EasterSundayAttacksLK #KeepItOn ⬇https://t.co/xp4hSxvFOi pic.twitter.com/dcQ6COsWKB
— NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) April 21, 2019
Please think before you share – here are some useful infographics to help identify #fakenews and #misinformation. #lka #srilanka pic.twitter.com/ELppQuSyig
— Groundviews (@groundviews) April 21, 2019
However, Twitter was not blocked and is providing some useful information.
Archive of all #EasterAttackSL & #EasterSundayAttacksLK tweets at https://t.co/hBpmjSjukh Updated at least once every hour, for at least the next week. #lka #srilanka
— Sanjana Hattotuwa (@sanjanah) April 21, 2019
Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. Sinhalese (74.8 percent) constitute the largest ethnic group in the country, followed by Sri Lankan Tamils (11.2 percent) and Sri Lankan Moors (9.2 percent). In terms of religion, Buddhists (most of the Sinhalese ethnic group) comprise 70 percent of the 22 million population followed by Hindus (13 percent), Muslims (10 percent) and Christians (7 percent).
The country suffered a three-decade-long civil war between government armed forces and separatist Tamil militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which ended in 2009. The bombings have reminded citizens of the attacks of those times.
Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardane vowed to take all necessary action against any extremist group that is operating in the country. He also echoed the response of the New Zealand government after the Christchurch shooting last March:
State Minister/ Defence @RWijewardene urges media not to publicise names of today's attackers. He warned other extremist groups could exploit situation & create tension between communities. “Don't give extremists a voice. Don't help to make them martyrs” #EasterSundayAttacksLK
— dharisha (@tingilye) April 21, 2019
Cardinal Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Ranjith urged the people of Sri Lanka not to spread “hearsay” and to “wait patiently and work for peace and harmony”.
PM @RW_UNP met w ministers n senior military personnel; all measures taken to maintain peace. Security tightened. Please stay calm. Please act responsibly. Please NO politics. We must all act together as #SriLanka citizens. My condolences to all families who lost loved ones. pic.twitter.com/j6e3qEPgNt
— Harsha de Silva (@HarshadeSilvaMP) April 21, 2019
Freelance journalist and educator Kelum Samarasena agreed:
I think Srilanka must take a lesson from New Zealand. Let there be zero free coverage for the heinous terrorist outfit whose ultimate aim would've been the publicity. Focus on victims and the people uniting . Let them be the NEWS…
— kelum samarasena (@kelums) April 21, 2019
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe urged all Sri Lankans to remain calm and united.
People flocked to the hospital to donate blood:
Respect ? Sri Lankans??!
Massive Kindness ,We All Can Proud !
Blood donors are flooding , Large number of people donating bloods in hospitals following Government requests #LKA #SriLanka #EasterSunday #EasterSundayAttacksLK #EasterAttackSL #Colombo pic.twitter.com/15pegwOnlV
— Sri Lanka Tweet ?? (@SriLankaTweet) April 21, 2019
Just returned from Batticaloa hospital where I witnessed incredible sorrow but also people of all faiths and ethnicities working together to respond to the victims of today’s church bombing. Several referenced their own personal and collective histories of loss as they worked.
— ittappalaG adnanA (@ittappalaga) April 21, 2019
International leaders including Pope Francis condemned the violence.
Touched to see the condolences coming in from all around the world.
At such a state, let us Sri Lankans not get divided ♥#EasterSundayAttacksLK #srilanka
— Inshaf Caffoor (@inshafcaffoor) April 21, 2019

author: Rezwan