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Chinese President’s Ambitious Xiongan Dream Sparks Skepticism · Global Voices
Jack Hu

An infographic comparing Xiongan to Shenzhen and Pudong special economic zone. From Chinese state-owned China Daily.
After the initial frenzy in property and stock markets as a response to China’s announcement of a new economic zone near Beijing earlier this month, concerns and doubts over President Xi Jinping's bold initiative have begun to surface.
China announced it would establish the Xiongan New Area, “a strategy crucial for a millennium”, in the underdeveloped Hebei Province that is part of China's arid north, in a bid to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The decision — which is expected to ease demographic and economic pressures on the heaving 22-million city of Beijing — is being billed as having the same national significance as the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Shanghai Pudong New Area in south China, according to a circular issued by the Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council.
Specifically, the plan should reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in notoriously smoggy Beijing and prompt a relocation of industry, while curbing population growth and soaring housing prices in the capital.
Shortly after the announcement, Xiong, Rongcheng and Anxin — the three under developed counties 130 kilometres south of Beijing selected as the site of the new economic zone — were transformed overnight into property investment hot cakes, even as authorities attempted to tamp down speculation by rolling out purchasing restrictions.
The investment frenzy has extended to the stock market, where more than 40 Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong-listed companies related to the new area, primarily developers as well as steel and cement factories, surged in the past week.
But given that many of China’s recent experiments in building new economic zones have failed, what makes Xi's Xiongan plan any different?
The most notorious failure in the last decade is the Caofeidian New Area, an island 230 kilometres east of Beijing, which had been planned around the relocation of Capital Steel, one of China’s largest state steel firms, from Beijing. Once touted as a future hub for heavy industry, it now resembles a ghost town low on meaningful investments.
In Tianjin, a municipality 130 kilometres southeast of Beijing, the authorities promised to build the world’s biggest financial center, Binhai New Area. Binhai first emerged as a project in the 1990s but never blossomed as planned.
Last month alone the Chinese government added seven “new free-trade zones” across the country, aimed at spurring regional economies under pressure from China’s economic slowdown.
Despite the market frenzy, financial analysts have been more sober in their analysis of Xiangan's potential.
Liao Qun, chief economist at China Citic Bank International said that coastal areas tend to grow faster. Merrill Lynch's research predicted that the new area would not herald another round of massive infrastructure investment in China. Nomura analysts estimated that direct incremental annual infrastructure and property investment there could be around 500 billion yuan ($72.5 billion) in the next five years, translating to just 0.3-0.6 percent of GDP.
Some Chinese economists and researchers have also been worried about the new area’s future as economic and political reforms move along sluggishly.
Li Zuojun, a fellow within the state think-tank Development Research Center of the State Council, said on China’s social media platform Weibo:
【新区持续成长的条件】设新区易，使新区持续健康成长难。新区持续健康成长需要以下条件：一是产生和壮大一批有市场竞争力的企业；二是聚集和成长一批有创新意识的创业者；三是建立一整套能激发社会活力的体制机制；四是起步时利用国家倾斜政策但不依赖于囯家政策；五是在开发过程中对资源环境保持敬畏
[Conditions for the sustainable growth of a new area] It is easy to set up new area, but tough to sustain its growth. Here are some of the necessary conditions for the new areas to sustain growth: 1. Ability to produce and energize a batch of competitive companies; 2. Ability to aggregate a large number of innovative entrepreneurs; 3. A system to boost social innovation; 4. Should not be dependent on national policy favors beyond the start up period; 5. Should treasure resources and environment during development.
Xiao Feng, a popular current affairs commentator, warned the new area risked being overhyped:
特区“特”在观念。没有体制突破，难称特区。如果没有观念突破，雄安新区不过是另一次概念炒作——深圳当年的兴起，靠的可不是房地产商，而是一大批体制反叛者。而在计划经济色彩浓重的河北，如何能吸引和包容那些体制另类？
If the idea of “special” in special development area does not transgress the pre-existing system, it can't be really special. If it does not transgress our imagination, Xiongan New Area will just be another hype-driven concept. The success of Shenzhen Economic Zone did not depend on property developers, but a large number of rebels who wanted to change the [centrally planned] system. In Hebei, where people believe in the planned economy, how can they attract and embrace alternative [people] who go against the establishment?
Ordinary Weibo users also cast doubts on the development of the new area, under the Weibo Headline News’ comment threads:
又一个大型政府炒房楼盘诞生了！
Another large speculative property project designed by government emerges!
别炒作这些了，踏踏实实做点实业吧，不然什么比肩深圳上海，那就是个笑话，这破地方本来就人文文化，意识形态，商业环境都落后，现在还啥都没干呢先炒房，能发展起来才怪了。
Less hype and more serious development of industry, otherwise the idea of catch up with Shenzhen and Shanghai will remain a joke. How can [Xiongan] be successful when it begins with property speculation in an area that is backwards in terms of culture, ideology and business environment？

author: Jack Hu


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Kids Envision Hong Kong’s Future: Underwater Housing, Pollution, Space Journey and Integrity · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

‘Love Hong Kong Build Hong Kong Co-build Hong Kong’, Chan Sau-yee. Image from HK government via HKFP.
This post was written by Hong Wrong and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on April 16, 2017. The version below is published on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
Thirteen Hong Kong primary school students won awards in a government competition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the city’s handover to China on April 14.
Sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom of Great Britain to China on 1 of July 1997.
Receiving over 3,000 submissions from December to February, the theme of the poster competition was “When I’m 20.” Children were asked to design a poster to share their thoughts of what life will be like when they enter their 20s. Secondary school students and members of the public were also invited to film videos on the theme of “togetherness.”
HKFP’s picks from the poster collection:
Love Hong Kong Build Hong Kong Co-build Hong Kong by Chan Sau-yee (see top photo)
Eleven-year-old Chan Sau-yee won the competition with his colourful creation imagining a city with underwater houses:
To solve the problem of insufficient land supply, the government seeks land both in the urban areas and the countryside to build houses.
Why not think outside the box and build a city at the bottom of the sea by constructing large community houses and luxury flats so that Hong Kong's admirers of the sea can have one more option?
‘Reflections for Hong Kong People – Garbage Hong Kong’, Lau Tsz-wang. Image from HK Government via HKFP.
Reflections for Hong Kong People – Garbage Hong Kong by Lau Tsz-wang
Eleven-year-old Lau Tsz-wang won the runner-up prize with an apocalyptic vision of the city’s future:
In my painting, Hong Kong has become a city of garbage where the air is toxic and everybody has to wear an oxygen mask, whilst buildings are damaged…
My painting is to remind people of [the importance of] environmental protection, not to generate garbage, so that our future would not look like my painting.
‘Hong Kong Number One, Rising High to the Sky: The 30th anniversary of the Return of Hong Kong to the Motherland’, Chu Ching-fung. Image from HK government via HKFP.
Hong Kong Number One, Rising High to the Sky: The 30th anniversary of the Return of Hong Kong to the Motherland by Chu Ching-fung
Third prize was won by Chu Ching-fung, who had a more optimistic view of the city’s destiny:
By the time I am 20, I shall be a journalist…The first Hong Kong-built space shuttle (Hong Kong No. 1) was launched on the date of the 30th anniversary as everybody cheered and felt greatly encouraged… This is what I reported on [the] scene.
‘From Hong Kong to the Universe’, Leah Lai. Image from HK government via HKFP.
From Hong Kong to the Universe by Leah Lai
Leah Lai, 9, won a merit for her poster inspired by her love of Hong Kong’s trams.
Trams have not only been running between the east and the west of Hong Kong Island,” she wrote. “When I’m 20, we may take the trams from Hong Kong to the universe to have a wonderful and amazing tram tour.
‘Be honest and a person of commitment’, Wu Lok-yi. Image from HK government via HKFP
Be Honest and a Person of Commitment by Wu Lok-yi
Nine-year-old Wu Lok-yi seems to have cast a critical eye on Hong Kong’s news events while drawing this merit-winning poster:
When I am 20, I shall be a mature person. When I am 20, I shall be an honest person. When I am 20, I shall be a person with commitment. When I am 20, I will not be a person that schemes all the time.
I will never be a dirty hypocrite as often reported in the news.
‘I would like to be an astronaut when I grow up’, Leung Lai-man. Image from HK government via HKFP.
I Would Like to be an Astronaut when I Grow Up by Leung Lai-man
Although the subject of 9-year-old Leung Lai-man’s poster carries a Chinese flag, Leung says that by age 20…
I shall be working at NASA of the US in future.
I find a planet that has never been discovered before. After a while, I find a creature in space and I am very excited.
I see the entire Milky Way in space and return to Earth after one year, a very long time indeed.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Lebanon’s King of Comedy Is on a Global Mission to Make Everyone Laugh at the Same Joke. It’s Working. · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Lebanese-American comedian Nemr is as comfortable performing in Saudi Arabia as he is in the US. Credit: Maria Abou Nassar
This story by Carol Hills originally appeared on PRI.org on April 13, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
Some advice from an Arab son. If your career choice is to become a comedian, don't expect your dad to be very excited.
Here's how Lebanese-American Nemr Abou Nassar's dad responded: “You want to become a clown?” No, explained Nemr, a stand-up comedian. His dad remained skeptical. “Oh, you're going to stand up and be a clown!”
The riff goes on. Nemr's father buys a horn, the kind you put on a bicycle, and for the next eight years, he squeezes it every time his son visits: “Everybody, the clown is here.”
Then Nemr makes it onto the cover of Rolling Stone and suddenly his father changes his tone. “This is my son the comedian. I always told him follow your dreams.” But instead of Rolling Stone, he pronounces “Throwing Stones,” in a thick Arabic accent.
This was the May 2014 cover of Rolling Stone (Middle East). Credit: Rolling Stone
Nemr says his father is a huge fan, “as much as an Arab father would be a fan of his son because it's against Arab culture to ever encourage your children. It's a constant thing to keep them humble.” His father's only no-go zone is swearing. “If there's the funniest joke in the world and somebody drops an f-word, he just shuts down. He doesn't like that.”
But all those jokes about him? Nemr says his father just nods, “as long you're making money.”
The Arab father topic is intentional. Nemr performs in English across the Arab and Muslim world and now in North America. Right now, he's on a world tour, everywhere from Oklahoma to Saudi Arabia. “You don't really need to be from anywhere to actually relate to a father who has high expectations for their son.”
Nemr's global reach reflects his own experience. Born in Lebanon in 1983, his family moved to San Diego, California, when he was 2, during his country's long civil war. But just nine years later, his family moved back to Beirut. He found American issues like drugs and missing children too scary, telling his son: “In Beirut, the only danger is war. We can run away from that and hide.”
Nemr believes in the power of comedy to bring people together. “Right now, the world's at war not with an army but an ideology, and when you're breaking down the artificial barriers between Muslims, Christians and Jews, by putting them in the same room, not bringing up the religion, bringing up stuff that everybody's laughing together at, the next time somebody tries to infiltrate those divisions, they don't exist anymore.”
Credit: Maria Abou Nassar
And this may come as a surprise to many Americans: Nemr actually feels a tad of self-censorship when he performs in the US.
“Here, there's an air of political correctness right now, which is horrifying, as far as I'm concerned, for comedy. It kind of constricts your freedom of expression, which is strange, in what should be the most liberal art form, which is standing up and talking about an idea.”
In Lebanon, he can say anything. But when he's on stage in the US, he has to be careful, or give more explanation. Like his joke about ISIS.
“It's a silly joke about [American singer] Bruno Mars being an Arab because his songs don't make any sense unless you're an Arab.” Nemr sings a few lines from the Bruno Mars hit, “Grenade.” “I'd catch a grenade for you. Throw my head on a blade for you.” To Nemr the ISIS connection is obvious: “In which situation would you ever be walking with your girl down a boulevard and somebody throws a grenade at you, giving you the opportunity to step in and be the hero.”
The punchline: Only if you're dating someone from ISIS.
Nemr says American audiences wince a bit and shift in their chairs. “It occurred to me that because people are dying, Americans were like, ‘No that's inappropriate.’ Then, I have to explain that in the Middle East, if we don't joke when people are dying, we're never going to tell a joke. Because people are always dying. In the Middle East, I would have coasted right through that punchline.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Urbanisation in Chechnya: Why Do People Leave Their Ancestral Villages? · Global Voices
OC Media

Photo taken from visitchechnya.ru and used in original article on OC media's website.
The following is a version of a partner post written by Kazbek Chanturiya that first appeared on the website OC Media.
Chechnya, like many other modern-day republics of the Russian Federation, has experienced desolation of highland villages and an outflow of people — mostly young people — to the cities in the plains. People commonly say that they leave their ancestral villages in search of a ‘better life’. Reality often falls short of migrants’ expectations, however, because even the republic's largest city, Grozny, with its shiny skyscrapers, often fails to provide them what they’re looking for.
During the active phase of the wars in Chechnya, virtually all Chechen villages were densely populated. In an attempt to save their lives, people fled from the hostilities and Russian military forces that enjoyed impunity. Only the most stubborn, or those who tried to save their homes from plundering and looting, stayed in the cities.
Many such people were killed or wounded as a result of shelling or targeted killings. Many families lost their breadwinners overnight.
The villages took in anyone who was fleeing the wars in the traditional spirit of Caucasus hospitality. People were accommodated in schools, kindergartens, and private buildings.
The people from the cities marvelled at their generosity and the abundance of food on the tables. All the food came from local farmsteads, including meat, which mountain folk in the republic boast of eating three times a day.
Some 10–15 years ago the majority of Chechens lived in a village, but the shift towards urban living has taken place rapidly. As a rule, villages have large plots of land, sometimes stretching to half a hectare. This cultivated land was enough to feed several families. In addition, people kept various livestock: chickens, geese, ducks, sheep and cows. All this made Chechen families self-sufficient, or at least less dependent on the state.
Agriculture has been preserved in the highlands, which are isolated from cities, but in settlements within a 50 kilometre radius of Grozny, many of the gardens have become overgrown with weeds.
Some families cultivate small pieces of land of  two square metres, to plant parsley, dill, and green onions. The remaining land has become fallow and the number of domestic animals traditionally kept by Chechen families has decreased. If before, each Chechen family kept at least two cows providing year-round dairy products, nowadays few know how to milk a cow. The dark side of urbanisation has reached Chechen villages as well.
The majority of mountain folk now live on the plains. After adapting to city life, they can no longer imagine themselves in a rural environment. The older generation is displeased with this situation. The elderly believe that the soul of the nation has disappeared. Children’s laughter has vanished from the villages.
“Without people, this is just land, like anywhere else. It is people who fill a territory with meaning and purpose. The current trend is bad. People leave their native places,” Vakha Musayev, a 70-year-old resident of a village in Shatoy District told OC Media.
According to Musayev, young people leave their villages in the hopes of getting rich and providing an education for their children. He doesn’t like this state of affairs.
“A person must hold onto their roots. Without this, their children will turn into people without a clan and tribe, if they lose contact with their native places,” the old man sighed.
Movldi Aybuyev, 52, lived most of his life in one of the villages in Chechnya's Urus-Martan district. He only attended eight years of school and has worked with cattle since childhood. He knows a lot about horses and prides himself on his vaulting skills. In 2004, he received 350,000 roubles ($6,150) in compensation for the destruction of his house during the war. He bought a car and rented a flat in Grozny, which he had only previously visited a couple of times in his life.
He liked his new life in the capital. When he ran out of money, he began to work as a taxi driver, even though his car had already started to become rusty by that time.
In his home village, he has half a hectare of fertile land, all overgrown with weeds. In better times, when his parents were alive, the land offered a large crop of potatoes and garlic. The money earned by selling these was enough.
But now, Aybuyev says that agriculture is hard work and that he wants to have some pleasure in life. He doesn’t mind that he must pay for literally everything in the city. That’s how he carries on living, waiting to be hired under the table.
It is partially the fault of systemic corruption that people choose to leave their villages for cities.
In the cities, a person can be registered as having a disability for a year, or even for life. A bribe of 15,000–₽20,000 roubles ($260–$350) is enough to secure such a status that can guarantee a stable income. If all family members are registered as disabled, the allowance is high enough to never work physically again. But there is no such state programme to support people living in mountainous regions.
At the same time, some retain a fondness for their rural pasts. Physician and therapist Liza Asuyeva recalls the time when she and her mother and brother lived in the village and the land they lived off could feed their whole family.
“One year, we planted potatoes on our small piece of land of 400 square metres. We managed to collect 21 sacks of high-quality potatoes. We also had garlic, onions, and beans. We had chicken and ducks. We used to sell eggs to our neighbours, who had no chicken, but many children. Mum also turned one room into a nursery school for our neighbours’ children. We had money and we could buy a car, we could buy anything we wanted. Of course, it was hard to work the land. Mum used to wake up early in the morning to remove Colorado beetle’s larvae from the potatoes’ petals. She never used any pesticides,” Asuyeva says of her happy childhood.
As the flow from the villages to the cities increases, there is also a trickle in the other direction. Wealthy businessmen and government officials consider it prestigious to build huge palaces in their ancestral villages, so as to visit them occasionally and host barbecues for numerous guests against a backdrop of towering mountains. They look down from their balconies at the empty houses and once densely populated land, now overgrown with weeds, whose owners left in search of a better life.

author: OC Media


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Voting Is Underway in Turkey’s Referendum. What Is at Stake? · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Erdogan. Pixabay image. Public domain.
The last time there was a referendum in Turkey was seven years ago, and all the changes were approved. But in the seventh referendum in its history today, the country is more markedly divided and the spoils are much greater.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been the country's preeminent politician for the last 15 years has consolidated personal power, stripped away checks, and undermined rivals inside the courts and the government. He also has unleashed an unprecedented crackdown affecting nearly all spheres of public life, following a failed coup attempt in July of last year.
And yet, for Turks voting ‘Yes’ in tomorrow's referendum, Erdogan is the man that scaled back the military's outsized influence over domestic politics, the protector of religious Muslims and the face of the ‘New Turkey’ brand he proclaimed in 2014.
His opponents see a ‘Yes’ victory as a doomsday of sorts.
According to 18 amendments proposed to the constitution, if the ‘Yes’ vote wins, Turkey would no longer be a parliamentary republic. The position of Prime Minister, currently the most powerful according to the constitution, would be abolished and Turkey would become an executive presidency. President Erdogan would be able to run for the presidency in 2019, and if elected, could stay in power until as late as 2029.
The changes will also give the new president the right to dismiss the parliament and appoint ministers and other high-ranking officials without vetting processes. It would allow him to appoint half of all senior judges.
The president would also have the right to call referendums, declare emergency situations and issue decrees with the force of law. Supporters of the changes and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) argue it would speed up the decision-making process in the country.
People of #Turkey you have the power. #Turkeyreferendum #Hayir pic.twitter.com/kbiaxpELno
— Lala (@Lalaiam) 15 апреля 2017 г.
A cartoon by Carlos Latuff shows a caged bird, representing the “Yes” vote (Evet) and a free bird, representing the “No” vote (Hayir).
Referendum in Turkey#YarınHayırÇıkacak pic.twitter.com/xRg5z8tpfc
— Alfons López Tena (@alfonslopeztena) 15 апреля 2017 г.
“Turkey’s story tells the world just how fragile democracy is vis-a-vis populist demagoguery” – Turkish writer @Elif_Safak #viewsnight pic.twitter.com/SN7rq665d2
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) April 11, 2017
#Turkeyreferendum yarın sabah yeni bir Türkiye ile uyanacağız evet de olsa hayır da olsa biz böyle olacağız … pic.twitter.com/Y6HWlCW9y3
— ADEM ADIGÜZEL (@adem10031981) 16 апреля 2017 г.
We are going to wake up to a new Turkey tomorrow morning no matter what the outcome is we are going to be like this (yes and no voters standing side by side).
#TekVatan#TekBayrak#TekMillet#TekDevlet için,#EVET
Hiçbirşey Eskisi gibi Olmayacak.!#Turkeyreferendum pic.twitter.com/93fSebK6MZ
— Ahmet ELDEN (@eldenahmed) 16 апреля 2017 г.
For #OneMotherland #OneFlag #OneNation #OneState [my vote is] #YES Nothing will be the same!
If the ‘No’ vote wins, then proposed amendments will be put aside indefinitely.
Criticism of the vote has focused both on its potential outcome, and also the fact that Turkey is not currently in a strong position to hold a referendum.
Since last year's attempted coup, some 200 media platforms have been shut down, over 150 journalists have been put behind bars, and civil society has been cowed by an unofficial purge, significantly constricting political space for opposition to Erdogan.
Some 71,000 people were questioned following the coup attempt, which was attributed to Erdogan's US-based rival Fethullah Gulen. According to a recent story on the outcomes of purges in Turkey by the New York Times, 41,000 people were issued charges. Members of the pro-Kurdish, pro-democracy HDP party in parliament have been stripped of their immunity and are awaiting trial.
One man that still enjoys the freedom of speech is Erdogan himself. In past weeks, Turks have witnessed their president compare Germans and the Dutch to Nazis, call Holland a “banana republic” and demand sanctions against the country following a bizarre and alarming conflict over his party's right to campaign for ‘Yes’ in foreign countries. Voting ‘No’, he has said, is equivalent to a vote for terrorism.
Many ‘No’ voters fear that however the vote concludes, a new kind of terror, directed by the state, is just beginning.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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‘Children Were Dying Everywhere’: A Syrian Videographer Recounts the Al Rashideen Explosion That Killed Over 100 · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

This photo of Syrian journalist Abd Alkader Habak trying to rescue a child from Fua has become iconic. Habak spoke to Global Voices about what happened. Photo used with permission.
Warning: This post contains graphic images.
On April 15 at approximately 15:30 local time, a huge blast hit a convoy of coaches in Syria's rebel-held Al Rashideen that were carrying evacuees from the besieged regime-held towns of Fua and Kefraya.
A suicide bomber driving a (reportedly blue) van supposedly carrying aid supplies blew himself up near the convoy, according to a number of reports. Over 100 people were killed in the massacre, according to the White Helmets, the civil defense group operating in rebel-held areas.
SCD teams were able to recover 100+ dead bodies & attended to 55 injured after a car bomb targeted the displaced exchange point in Rashdien pic.twitter.com/t3dynqSnwB
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) 15 April 2017
Most of the victims were from Fua and Kefraya, including 68 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Among the victims were also between six and nine people from the city of Zabadani and one person from the city of Madaya who came to welcome their relatives on the buses. A number of rebels guarding the convoy were also reportedly killed.
Among the many people who tried to take the injured to safety was Abd Alkader Habak. Habak is a 23-year-old videographer from Idlib who spent four years in Eastern Aleppo and witnessed the brutal siege by the Assad regime that finally lead to the fall of Aleppo in December 2016.
He told Global Voices he had gone to Al Rashideen to document the evacuation. He and his colleagues, other media activists and journalists, had been waiting in Al Rashideen for two days before the convoy arrived.
But Habak then found himself amidst a scene of mass murder. His attempt to rescue a child from Fua was widely shared on social media. Ahmad Al Khatib, a journalist from Aleppo, republished the photos with the following message:
Our humanity and our revolution are bigger and stronger than the terror of #Assad bigger than his crimes.. stronger than your hatred pic.twitter.com/X1QGV07Utj
— Ahmad Alkhatib (@AhmadAlkhtiib) 15 April 2017
In an interview, Habak described the moment of the explosion (via voice notes – translation by the author):
One of the groups was distributing chips and sweets to the children. I was nearby, taking photos. I went to say hi to a colleague who was on the other side of the road when it happened. I don't remember what I felt at first but I found myself flying and then falling hard on the ground. I didn't know what was happening or what to do. Was it the regime? But then I remembered that it was not possible. We were used to the regime's airstrikes but we heard no planes above us.
I then stood up and picked up my camera. I ran around and found my camera on the ground. I then saw a child, or what looked like a child, and I ran towards him to try and remove him from here. I tried to take photos but it was very hard. Civilians from Fua and Kefraya that survived got out of their buses and started running as fast as they could. I saw about 30 Tahrir Al Sham militants as well as from Ahrar Al Sham killed and it was Ahrar Al Sham that was responsible for the security of the convoy. It was a very difficult scene. Children were dying everywhere. I saw members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent fleeing the scene and didn't come back until it was too late.
So me and my colleagues told ourselves that we had no other choice but to remove our cameras and to help the people ourselves. We started helping children. Every injured we saw we'd help them get to safety. People that we thought weren't in immediate danger we would leave them and go to those we thought were about to die. The majority of the injured I saw were children because the explosion happened right next to the group that was distributing chips and sweets.
It was very difficult to watch. We would remove the injured but couldn't do much before the ambulances arrived. Civil society groups sent ambulances and they took a while to arrive. One harrowing scene I saw was a child on the floor with his face covered, so I ran to him but someone else stopped me and told me that the child is dead. I go anyway and see that the child is breathing but with great difficulty. I take the child and I run to the first ambulance I see, I put him in the car and told the driver to go immediately. The child was dying but held my hand and didn't let go. It was very difficult. I can't describe it.
Habak was also interviewed by the UK's Channel 4 which featured footage he took:
That's what happened and that's what I saw with my own eyes. https://t.co/rXBdxjjh3P
— Abd Alkader Habak (@AbdHabak) 16 April 2017
At the time of writing, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack. Two rebel groups, Ahrar Al Sham and Sham Legion, have pointed the finger at the Assad government, which in turn blamed “a terrorist driving a car blew himself up”, according to pro-regime outlet Damascus Now. Pro-rebel outlet Arabi 21 also reported that it was someone driving a car and blamed the regime of being behind the violence.
Ahrar Al Sham has announced an “investigation” and their willingness to “work together with any independent international party”, according to Muhammad Abu Zeid, the group's official spokesperson. Meanwhile, ISIS channels have reportedly celebrated the attack.
As many pro-opposition journalists were on the scene, images and videos of the massacre were quickly uploaded and shared on social media, prompting widespread outrage across political lines, with some even comparing it to the chemical attack in rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017. Evidence points to the Assad regime as being behind that attack, which allegedly was the 175th of its kind since 2011.
Leila Al Shami, co-author of “Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War” and a Global Voices contributor, observed after news of the explosion broke:
Every day brings more atrocities, more suffering #Syria
— Leila Al-Shami (@LeilaShami) 15 April 2017
Others chose to share images of Syrians, both civilians and rebels, attempting to rescue the injured:
White helmets and Syrian Arab Red Crescent working side by side after the horrendous attack pic.twitter.com/iIjI9wZi9K
— Syrian Lense (@SyrianLense) 15 April 2017
Opposition Member (Human) who Run to help woman from #Kafria, he didn't say she's Shia let her died
he Runs to Help as if she was his mother pic.twitter.com/DYC8zFCRxR
— Ahmad Alkhatib (@AhmadAlkhtiib) 15 April 2017
Another media activist (Terrorist in the world eyes) Runs to save some children's who got injured because of the #Assad car bomb .. pic.twitter.com/q6qHzaAHRt
— Ahmad Alkhatib (@AhmadAlkhtiib) 15 April 2017
A symbol: Civil Defense @SyriaCivilDef helping an elderly woman from #Fuah/#Kefraya after today's bombing in W. #Aleppo. #Syria pic.twitter.com/EJ5SIwl84s
— Qalaat Al Mudiq (@QalaatAlMudiq) 15 April 2017
Opposition Media activist Run with Injured child by the #Assad car bomb West #Aleppo today
Who killed children's in Khan Shikhon he did this pic.twitter.com/bYbEmV1skM
— Ahmad Alkhatib (@AhmadAlkhtiib) 15 April 2017
#ثورة_شعبية_لا_حرب_طائفية
RevolutionNotCivilWar# pic.twitter.com/hXz2EHGUNU
— Yousef Talha (@ysef22884) 15 April 2017
Some of the injured were treated in a field hospital in rebel-held Idlib, as this report by Qasioun News Agency shows:
The evacuation was part of the Iran and Qatar-brokered “Four Towns” agreement, which was meant to alleviate suffering in four besieged towns: Fua and Kefraya besieged by rebels, and Madaya and Zabani near Damascus besieged by pro-regime forces.
The agreement was sectarian in nature. Fua and Kefraya are both Shia-majority towns, whereas Madaya and Zabadani are Sunni-majority towns. Qatar took “responsibility,” via Ahrar Al Sham, for Madaya and Zabadani, and Iran, via the Lebanese pro-regime militia Hezbollah, for Fua and Kefraya.
At the end of March 2017, non-profit journalism organization Syria Direct reported on some of the details of the agreement:
Under this week’s deal, reportedly brokered by Qatar and Iran, all of the roughly 20,000 residents of Shiite-majority al-Fuaa and Kufraya in Idlib province would be evacuated from the rebel-blockaded, bombarded towns over a 60-day period beginning on April 4.
In exchange, fighters, their families and any residents choosing to leave the regime-blockaded Outer Damascus towns of Zabadani and Madaya, home to a combined 40,000 people, would be permitted to do so.
Notably, it seems that neither the United Nations nor the Assad regime played a major role in the negotiations. However, the agreement was highly controversial from the start, due to its nature (a swap of civilians along ideological or religious lines) and the recent history of Syria (in March 2017, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria described a different deal between rebels and the regime, which led to the evacuation of the remaining population in besieged East Aleppo, as a war crime of forced displacement).
Needless to say, the massacre in Al Rashideen threatened the “Four Towns” agreement. Shortly after the explosion, civilians from Madaya waiting to be evacuated released the following statement declaring their condemnation of the massacre as well as expressing concern for their own safety:
نحن أهالي مدنية مضايا العالقين في كراجات الراموسة الخاضعة لسيطرة قوات نظام الأسد في حلب، من داخل حافلات التهجير القسري التي تقلنا من مدينتنا في ريف دمشق نحو مدينة ادلب شمال سوريا، ندين التفجير الذي استهدف منطقة الراشدين حيث يتجمع أهالي مدينة الفوعة.
ونناشد الأمم المتحدة والصليب الأحمر الدولي، والمنظمات الدولية المعنية، بتأمين الحماية اللازمة لإيصالنا نحو وجهتنا في ادلب، بعد الإحتقان الحاصل اثر التفجير الذي استهدف في منطقة الراشدين.
ونحمل الجهات الراعية لإتفاق المدن الأربعة الذي تم على أساسه إخراجنا من مدينتنا كامل المسؤولية على سلامتنا، خاصة بعد استنفار البلدات الشيعية المحيطة بنا، واستنفار قوات النظام المحيطة بنا.
ونؤكد على أننا ننتظر إتمام الإجراءات منذ أكثر من 15 ساعة بعد رحلة دامت 188 ساعة، وسط ظروف إنسانية سيئة جداً.
We, civilians of Madaya, who are stuck at the Ramouseh checkpoint under the control of the Assad regime in Aleppo, inside the buses that will forcibly displace us from Madaya in the countryside of Damascus to the city of Idlib in northern Syria, condemn the bombing that targeted the people of Fua in the Al-Rashedin area.
We appeal to the United Nations, the International Red Cross, and the relevant international organizations to provide the necessary protection for us to reach our final destination in Idlib after the explosion in the Al-Rashidin area.
We hold the sponsors of the agreement between the four cities accountable for our safety, especially after the outrage in the Shiite towns surrounding us, as well as by regime forces.
We confirm that we have been awaiting the completion of the procedures for more than 15 hours, after an 18-hour journey, under poor humanitarian conditions.
Luckily, the bus convoy from Zabadani and Madaya reached rebel-held Idlib, and the bus convoy from Fua and Kefraya reached the Jibreen center for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in regime-held Aleppo without incident.
#Madaya
The displaced from Madaya arrived to Idlib pic.twitter.com/uP0iqKzLxc
— ًWard Alyafe (@ward_alyafe) 15 April 2017
After deadly attack earlier, remaining deportees from Fuah & Kefraya buses have made it to their destination: the #Aleppo Jibreen IDP center pic.twitter.com/KVIVASYKVr
— Siege Watch (@SiegeWatch) 15 April 2017

author: Elia J. Ayoub


text:
Pick Your Poison? Russian Orthodoxy or Banishment From Social Media · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Photo: Vitaly Milonov / Vkontakte
Critics of Vitaly Milonov, perhaps the most reactionary social conservative in the Russian parliament, have vowed to get him banned from Vkontakte, Russia’s most popular social network, where his online status features an “illegal expression” — “Ορθοδοξία ή θάνατος!” (“Orthodoxy or death!” in Greek).
According to the news site TJournal, the campaign materialized this weekend on the imageboard Pikabu, where a user named Vselensky drew attention to Milonov’s controversial status on Vkontakte. Almost seven years ago, a Russian court banned this phrase, and the Justice Ministry later added it to the federal government’s list of banned extremist materials.
Though Milonov has defended the slogan as an affirmation of his commitment to the Russian Christian Orthodox faith (meaning something like “Orthodoxy or I’d rather die!“), the judiciary ruled that the phrase could be interpreted as a threat to people outside the church, along the lines of “Adopt Orthodoxy or die!”
A devout religious conservative, Milonov has a history of using this expression in his political campaigning, and courts have fined at least two opposition activists for sharing photos of Milonov wearing a t-shirt bearing the same slogan. Milonov is considered to be the main architect of St. Petersburg’s ban on so-called “gay propaganda,” which later served as the basis for a similar federal ban. For his critics, Milonov’s efforts to silence gay expression make his defiance in expressing his extreme Christian views especially frustrating.
In November 2016, Dmitry Semenov, a former State Duma candidate for the opposition group Open Russia, was fined 1,000 rubles (about USD $17) for reposting the photos two years earlier. Local police even called Semenov in for questioning. Federal agents supposedly discovered his infraction on a “random sweep of social media,” but activists suspect that the police were looking for any excuse to harass a member of Open Russia.
Five months later, this time with a kafkaesque twist, a Russian court fined another activist for sharing Milonov’s banned slogan, albeit by reposting a photograph of Milonov wearing his t-shirt in December 2013.
The Chuvashia-based activist Dmitry Pankov was acquitted of any wrongdoing, but then, in March 2017, Pankov reposted a news story about his acquittal. The repost also contained the slogan “Orthodoxy or death!” and elicited new charges against Pankov. This time around, a Chuvash court convicted him of spreading extremism, directly contravening the previous verdict.
Responding to Vselensky’s post on Pikabu this weekend, user “Skallpill” claimed that he already complained once to Russia’s Attorney General about Milonov’s status on Vkontakte, which has apparently been in place for some time.
Skallpill also uploaded photos of a letter he says he received last December from the St. Petersburg district attorney, where the government claimed that only the Russian version of the phrase “Orthodoxy or death!” has been banned in Russia. In other words, Milonov appears to be using Greek as a loophole to skirt Russia’s ban on this slogan.
According to the letter, state prosecutors also showed an uncharacteristic willingness to take into consideration Milonov’s motives for using the slogan. “He explained,” the letter states, “that the phrase in Russian has an entirely different meaning to him personally than the one reflected in the [trial] where it was ruled extremist. […] The meaning of the expression for Vitaly Milonov is that ‘without the observance of Orthodox Christian norms and rules, for him there is no living,’ and he did not intend to incite hatred or enmity.”
Enraged by what they describe as preferential treatment by Russian law enforcement, Pikabu users have vowed to take the matter to Vkontakte, hoping to get Milonov's account suspended for spreading “extremist materials.” According to TJournal, staff at Vkontakte are still investigating the issue.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
#SaveDinaAli: Activists Call for Release of Saudi Woman Forcibly Sent Back to the Kingdom · Global Voices
Mohammed Al Nemer

Screengrab of the video released by Dina Ali while in Manila airport. Source: Twitter
A 24 year-old Saudi woman who allegedly fled her home to seek asylum in Australia was held in custody during her transit at the Philippines’ Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila until her family arrived to force her home.
The woman was identified as Dina Ali Lasloom, who was traveling from Kuwait to the Philippines where she was stopped by airport security and stripped of her documents.
During this time, Ali recorded a video in which she explained why she was seeking asylum:
.@cnnphilippines #SaveDinaAli I just received this video, her uncles just arrived in Philippines , they are going to murder her, please help pic.twitter.com/l2J15PS0gL
— Moudhi Aljohani (@Moudhi90) April 10, 2017
In it, she says:
My name is Dina Ali, and I am a Saudi woman who fled Saudi Arabia to Australia to seek asylum. I stopped in the Philippines for transit, they took my passports and locked me up for 13 hours, just because I am a Saudi woman, in collaboration with the Saudi embassy. If my family comes, they will kill me. If I go back to Saudi Arabia, I will be dead. Please help me, I am recording this video to help me and know that I am real and here. The Philippines government and Saudi Arabia are violating human rights and international law, I'm kept here as a criminal, I can't do anything and I can't go out. They took my passport and all my papers because they are waiting for my family to come and take me, who really wants to kill me.
It is unclear why Ali feared being killed if she was forced to return to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi authorities have so far not released any information as to her situation.
But in a statement, Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's Middle East Director, warned of the worst:
Saudi women fleeing their family or the country can face so-called ‘honor’ violence or other serious harm if returned against their will. Saudi authorities should immediately protect this woman from her family to ensure she’s not subjected to violence and should not punish her for fleeing.
Denying any wrongdoings, the Saudi embassy in Manila issued a statement on April 12, 2017, calling the case a “family matter”, adding that what circulated on social media is incorrect. The embassy confirmed Dina's return to the Kingdom:
(بيان صحفي)
حيال ما تداولته مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي بشأن المواطنة / دينا pic.twitter.com/0yITmOpbCm
— السفارة في الفلبين (@KSAembassyPH) April 12, 2017
The Embassy of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in the Republic of the Philippines confirms the incorrectness of what has been circulated on some social media platforms, pointing out that what happened was a family matter and the citizen returned home with the family.
The rights of women in Saudi Arabia are limited in many ways. Women are legally subject to a male guardian, who must give his approval for basic decisions on education, marriage, travel and even medical treatment. As Human Rights Watch explained in their “Boxed In: Women and Saudi Arabia’s Male Guardianship System” report:
In Saudi Arabia, a woman’s life is controlled by a man from birth until death. Every Saudi woman must have a male guardian, normally a father or husband, but in some cases a brother or even a son, who has the power to make a range of critical decisions on her behalf.
This reality appears to have been part of Dina's motivation to leave. At Manila airport, Dina approached Meagan Khan, a Canadian woman, to ask for help, and Megan reported her encounter on Facebook. Here is an extract:
I asked her why and she said in her country women have no rights and she wants to go to a country women has rights like, Canada, or USA, or Australia. I asked her why did she pick Australia? She said she's a teacher and while she was supposed to be working she put together the paperwork to get a visa and Australia was the easiest place to get papers to travel to without her family suspecting her.
And this is a screenshot from a message between Dina and her friend on Snapchat:
صديقتي هربت من اهلها وهي الحين بالفلبين واهلها مبلغين السفارة وماسكينها احد يعرف كيف يساعدها؟ ردوا تكفون pic.twitter.com/wIGBbI36qZ
— n (@nns6s) 9 de abril de 2017
Tweet: My friend fled her parents and she is currently in Manila. Her family told the embassy and they have her. Anyone knows how to help her? Please respond
Image: Dina: – Keep publishing if anything happens to me.
– In the transit area of the Philippines [Manila Airport]
– At 4:30 A.M. your time, my uncles will be arrive.
– I think I am going to be handed over.
Dina's video soon went viral and activists started using the hashtag #SaveDinaAli to show their support.
I stand with you Dina Ali.
Show your support#SaveDinaAli #HelpDinaAli #WhereIsAlaaAnazi pic.twitter.com/SLTfjDHBzo
— SaveDinaAli (@dina_save) April 14, 2017
.@nns6s @Dropdeadgorrgg @UNHCRPh @00__Reema @desamting @ranasaoe @mn377m @eMazeej @viviannereim @mohd_sl_o @Alanazi_Alaa @hrw Do not forget Dina. #SaveDinaAli pic.twitter.com/x37HJyhrx1
— Nora A. نورة الدعيجي (@Ana3rabeya) April 14, 2017
In honor of Dina Ali #SaveDinaAli pic.twitter.com/P6x2EwBk1D
— تماضر (@TamaderJS) April 12, 2017
كيف أعيش مطمئنة كامرأة تحت قانون يسمي قتل طفلة إسراف في التأديب واختطاف بالغة شأن عائلي؟ #الاختطاف_ليس_شأن_عائلي
— Rahaf Alruwaitie (@Arualic) April 13, 2017
How can I feel sure as a woman, under a law that calls killing a child “excessive discipline,” and kidnapping a family matter?
According to Reuters, Dina was put on a flight to Riyadh in the evening of April 11. Waiting for her at the Riyadh airport were journalists and Saudi activists.
Vivian Nereim, a Bloomberg News reporter based in Riyadh, went to the airport and described what she saw using the Arabic hashtag “Welcome Dina At The Airport”:
Small group of journalists & citizens waiting in Riyadh airport to see what unfolds. Come say hello if you're here #استقبلوا_دينا_بالمطار pic.twitter.com/xJgBq0XAbc
— Vivian Nereim (@viviannereim) April 11, 2017
2 Filipinas on the flight described a woman being carried on. 1 said she was screaming. “But she's ok alhamdullilah.” #استقبلو_دينا_بالمطار
— Vivian Nereim (@viviannereim) April 11, 2017
Another passenger heard a woman screaming “help, help.” No sign of her but doubt she would come out this door. #استقبلو_دينا_بالمطار
— Vivian Nereim (@viviannereim) April 11, 2017
#استقبلو_دينا_بالمطار Another passenger said she heard a woman shouting but her face was covered so she doesn't know her condition.
— Vivian Nereim (@viviannereim) April 11, 2017
I think that's all the information we're going to get from here. Saudi Human Rights Commission is following the case. #استقبلوا_دينا_بالمطار
— Vivian Nereim (@viviannereim) April 11, 2017
Another women rights activist, Alaa Anazi, was arrested when she showed up at the airport, according to @Ana3rabeya and a number of other activists on Twitter.
.@nns6s @Dropdeadgorrgg @UNHCRPh @00__Reema @desamting @ranasaoe @mn377m @eMazeej @viviannereim @mohd_sl_o URGENT: #WhereIsAlaaAnazi hashtag for woman missing after going to airport for #SaveDinaAli. Reports of detainment: https://t.co/wXmMSJkx7B pic.twitter.com/VzdgSOBbZS
— Nora A. نورة الدعيجي (@Ana3rabeya) April 12, 2017
Alaa's sister Nada spoke to Reuters. According to the news agency, Nada said “airport officials told her Alanazi had been sent to a police station in central Riyadh, but said she was unable to confirm her sister's whereabouts”.
Human Rights Watch denounced Alaa's detainment:
#السعودية: كأن انتهاك حقوق النساء ليس كافيا، يجب توقيف من يتضامن معهن أيضا؟؟ #SaveDinaAli #WhereIsAlaaAnazi https://t.co/VY8p1LoZ21 pic.twitter.com/ZxvOpRgRbj
— هيومن رايتس ووتش (@hrw_ar) April 14, 2017
As if the violation of women's rights is not enough, they must arrest those who sympathize with them as well??
As Dina's situation remains unclear, activists are continuing to use the hashtag #SaveDinaAli to keep the pressure on the Saudi government
Please don't forget to #savedinaali#where_is_Dina_Ali#StopEnslavingSaudiWomen285#سعوديات_نطلب_اسقاط_الولايه285 pic.twitter.com/dX7CnKqfRg
— M❣ (@Pum_Dum) 17 April 2017

author: Mohammed Al Nemer


text:
So You’d Like to Start Computing in Your Own Language · Global Voices
Derek Lackaff

Battle for Wesnoth (Scottish Gaelic localization). Image courtesy iGàidhlig.net, © 2017 Battle for Wesnoth, licensed under the GPLv2+.
A version of this post was originally published at r12n.
GunChleoc is Chieftain (project manager) for the strategy game Widelands and a free software localization expert. Here are her tips on how to start a localization initiative for a language of few speakers:
1. Translate free software.
It is much easier to get your locale added, and you can contact the developers directly if you are having any issues. It is usually also a lot easier to get to test your translation.
Then you can be sure that there will be another release in the future that can contain your language. Check out if it has a workable translation system, then download the software and make sure that you like it. Translating something you don’t like isn’t much fun. Also, software that can be run on multiple platforms is best (Linux, MacOS, Windows).
Pick a piece of software that doesn’t have too many strings in it. It won’t be so scary this way, and you can take joy in the completed product faster. Then move on to high-visibility projects like Firefox.
This way, you can spot mistakes more easily and correct them as you use it. You can also go for a piece of software that your language community requested, but make sure that it isn’t too big until you have a bit of experience under your belt. Or if it’s too big but you really want it, ask the developers if it is fine to translate just the most important strings, like menu entries.
“Log in” and “Sign in” are the exact same thing, so are “directories” and “folders” on your hard disk. Some of this terminology baggage is due to the history of computing, and there is no need for you to take it on. Before you do this, make sure that the two English words really do mean the same thing.
If you can find a second person to team up with on your localization effort, even better.
Many projects are translated via online platforms that have an integrated translation memory, but you can also get free offline tools like Virtaal or Poedit. Especially when you start working on multiple projects, having everything in your own translation memory will help you keep consistency and speed up translation, because you won’t have to type your translation for “OK” for the bazillionth time. I use a mix of both, but always make sure that I at least download everything and feed Virtaal regularly.
When requesting things that you need for your language, remember to always be polite — most free software developers are doing this as a hobby in their spare time. So, it is really important to keep it a friendly and fun environment for everybody (not saying that work places shouldn’t be fun and friendly too…). Also, developers always have more bugs to fix and features that they want to implement than their spare time allows. So, please be patient and only send the occasional polite reminder when you need to.
If you don’t have any technical skills, a spreadsheet will do to get you started, but a real database will be better in the long run. This will help you keep consistency and also help your users if they wonder what a new term means. Consistency is very important for your users, otherwise they will get confused. For example, German has two different translations for “Log in,” one of which (anmelden) can also mean “Register” in different localizations. Not good.
Have a look at iGàidhlig for an example on what such a website can look like. Depending on your language’s situation, instructions on how to install a keyboard and a font set might also be needed. If you can partner up with somebody who is good at working with the community and at marketing, great.
This will put your language on the computing map, and it’s a requirement if you hope to eventually get your language on mobile devices. You will need to provide the data, so this will be another (pretty geeky) localization job.
Just keep working away at your files bit by bit and you will get your translation finished.

author: Derek Lackaff


text:
Ugandan Academic and Sanitary Pad Campaign Leader Faces Criminal Charges For ‘Computer Misuse’ · Global Voices
Prudence Nyamishana

Ugandan academic and government critic Dr. Stella Nyanzi. Photo shared on her Facebook page.
Ugandan academic and feminist Dr. Stella Nyanzi has spent ten days behind bars for allegedly violating Uganda's Computer Misuse Act of 2011.
Nyanzi is an outspoken critic of President Yoweri Musveni, and has become a leading voice in a campaign to subsidize sanitary pads for poor women and girls in Uganda.
Arrested and detained on April 7, Nyanzi has been charged with engaging in “cyber harassment” and “offensive communication” (sections 24 and 25 of the Computer Misuse Act) towards President Yoweri Museveni and his wife Janet Museveni on Facebook. Among other things, she compared the President to “a pair of buttocks.”
On social media, Nyanzi's story has become a rallying opportunity for Ugandans who oppose the Musveni government, with many of them using the hashtag #APairofButtocks to voice their frustrations.
Officials say she will remain behind bars until her next hearing, scheduled for April 25.
A few days prior to her arrest, Nyanzi was interrogated by police for raising money to buy sanitary pads for school girls without registration, which they told her was contrary to the Public Collections Act of 1966. Nyanzi went missing after speaking at an April 7 Rotary Club event in Kampala, as seen in the advertisement above. Several hours later, police said that she was in their custody.
A medical anthropologist who specializes in African sexuality, Nyanzi commands a large audience on her Facebook page, where she has more than 141,000 followers. Here, her messages are her sword. On average, she responds to every comment. She uses sexual language to challenge the practices of the current government and also challenges other social beliefs in a country where social conservatism still prevails in many sectors.
Dr. Stella Nyanzi in court on April 10, 2017. Photo by Voice of America, licensed for reuse.
Nyanzi has publicly questioned an unfulfilled election campaign promise of President Musveni to provide sanitary pads to poor girls, some of whom miss school or even drop out because they can’t afford them. In 2016, she attracted headlines when she stripped naked to protest the closure of her office, following a dispute with her dean, and posted a video clip of the incident on her Facebook wall.
After Nyanzi wrote that Uganda's First Lady Janet Museveni told the nation there was no money to fulfill her husband campaign promise to girls, the First Lady responded in a televised interview, saying that she had forgiven Nyanzi for “insulting” her. In response, Stella wrote a Facebook post saying that she hadn’t asked her forgiveness for her words. In another recent post, Nyanzi compared President Musveni to “a pair of buttocks.”
Nyanzi since has joined a group of Ugandans who started the #Pads4GirlsUG campaign to solicit money to buy sanitary pads.
@#Pads4GirlsUg gave reusable and disposable sanitary pads, soap, a booklet and drink to girls in Masaka. pic.twitter.com/Cg0B0PhMGJ
— Stella Nyanzi (@drstellanyanzi) March 15, 2017
Mrs. Musveni was also under fire from Nyanzi in late March, after the First Lady told the press that Ugandans should stop carrying their children to school on boda-boda (passenger motorcycles). Low-income parents commonly use this as a means of transport, despite the dangers that it can bring. This is nothing new coming from the First Lady — in the past, such statements have earned her comparison with Marie Antoinette.
In response to the First Lady's boda-boda comment, on March 29, Nyanzi wrote on her Facebook page:
She opened her lying mouth and said, “Walk your children to school,
I walked four kilometers to and from school when I was a child!”
The lazy pig that flew her children in aeroplanes to school looked down her long piggy nose and told us to walk our children to school.
Do as I say, not as I do, she says through her lying teeth.
On March 30, Nyanzi was suspended from her job as a lecturer at Makerere University, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. It is worth noting that the First Lady also serves as Uganda's Minister of Education.
Two days before her abduction, Nyanzi's house was raided and she was taken in for questioning by police for a few hours. Shortly thereafter, she hosted a Facebook live session in which she described the incident. The session garnered more than 1 million views.
On April 9, local NTV reporter Gertrude Uwitware, who had expressed support for Nyanzi on her Facebook page, was abducted in Kampala and held against her will for several hours before being released. It is unknown whether the incident was connected to her support for Nyanzi, but advocates including human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo, who is aiding in Nyanzi's case, suspect that it was.
The African Centre for Media Excellence and the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in Uganda, along with international organizations including Amnesty International, have condemned Nyanzi's arrest and prosecution. These and other groups have also spoken out in support of Uwitware.
The hashtags #FreeStellaNyanzi and #APairofButtocks immediately trended following Nyanzi's arrest and continues to be used by Ugandans and supporters. Ugandans have shown their support despite the environment of fear.
Stella Nyanzi's message cannot & will not go away even though you arrest her a million times. Grave mistake to kidnap her #FreeStellaNyanzi
— Grace Natabaalo (@Natabaalo) April 8, 2017
If security operatives think they can intimidate or threaten the entire country then let us make #FreeStellaNyanzi our business.
— Nandala Mafabi (@NandalaMafabi) April 9, 2017
Stella Nyanzi is charged with calling long-time President Museveni “a pair of buttocks” #Uganda pic.twitter.com/6QzAfebpOr
— Michael O'Hagan (@micoh) April 10, 2017
Some supporters have looked back to 40 years and retweeted words by former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada:
Freedom after speech pic.twitter.com/5AujATUVEZ
— Calestous Juma FRS (@calestous) March 2, 2017
Jongo Asiimwe joked:
Even Google knows. #PairOfButtocks. #FreeStellaNyanzi pic.twitter.com/iB3qijt1JM
— Jongo Bravin Asiimwe (@jongobravin) April 11, 2017
Discussing Nyanzi's plight, Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire noted:
Nyanzi is not the only victim of this brute attack on academic freedom. Contributors and editors of the anthology, Controlling Consent, whose copies were confiscated by authorities recently are also victims. The anthology contained academic analyses of the 2016 Ugandan presidential and parliamentary election. The message is loud and clear. Academics are only allowed to be critical in spaces that are inaccessible to the public. When they engage publicly, the state clamps down on them. Even Facebook and other social media platforms are not immune from this repression!
To contribute online to the Pads for Uganda campaign, visit the official GoFundMe page.

author: Prudence Nyamishana


text:
Who Removed Thailand’s 1932 Revolution Plaque? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The original brass plaque commemorating the 1932 Siamese Revolution. Image from Prachatai, a content partner of Global Voices.
A brass plaque marking the site of the historic proclamation ending 700 years of absolute monarchy in Thailand was mysteriously removed early this month. It was replaced by a new plaque honoring the monarchy.
The plaque, which is only 30 centimeters in diameter, commemorates the June 24, 1932 bloodless coup which led to Thailand’s transition from absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The event is known as the Siamese Revolution.
The plaque had this inscription:
At this place, on the dawn of June 24, 1932 we the People’s Party have birthed the Constitution for the nation’s progress.
While the new plaque honoring the monarchy has this inscription:
Long live Siam forever! Happy, fresh-faced citizens build up the power of the land!
It also quotes the motto of the Chakri dynasty, Thailand’s current royal house:
Loyalty and love for the Triple Gem, one’s clan and having a honest heart for one’s king is good. These are the tools to make one’s state prosper!
Many activists consider the marker as the site where Thai democracy was born. A national artist also believes the plaque should be considered a national treasure. But royalist forces insist it is an insult to the monarchy, which they describe as a beloved and unifying institution in the country. Some royalist forces even threatened to remove the marker in 2016.
Officially Tolerated Vandalism 4 Destruction Of Hist Monument -
1932 DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION PLAQUE REMOVED#Thailand https://t.co/F96037z9vX pic.twitter.com/fRFAsQ2hrB
— Monty's Freedom (@MontySay) April 16, 2017
Since 1932, more than a dozen coups have been staged by Thailand’s army. The last coup was in 2014 which saw army leaders occupying top positions in government. The current prime minister is the former army chief. Despite the approval of a new constitution, the military continues to control the bureaucracy. And even if civilian rule is restored once elections are held, the new constitution guarantees continued influence of the military in all levels of bureaucracy.
Since coming to power in 2014, the military-backed government has been aggressive in arresting individuals accused of insulting the monarchy. Critics believe the army is using the Lese Majeste law (Anti-Royal Insult law) to stifle dissent and the clamor for the restoration of democracy in Thailand.
No one has claimed responsibility for removing the plaque. But some are suspecting that the military-backed government could have provided support since it’s nearly impossible to replace the marker without getting attention, as it is located in a busy intersection in Bangkok, the country’s capital. Authorities have denied this accusation.
This is not the first time that a marker honoring the 1932 revolution was removed. In 2014, a monument was demolished by the government in north Thailand.
The blog Political Prisoners in Thailand, which is critical of the junta, accuses the government of supporting those that removed the marker:
Make no mistake, this is an act of political vandalism by a faction that feels it is putting right the “natural” order of things in Thailand, sweeping aside the remnants of 1932.
The junta has demonstrated that it is a part of this reactionary royalism based in a desire to expunge 1932.
Many Twitter users expressed shock over the removal of the memorial plaque. Some even wanted to immediately remove the new plaque:
@rosarinmo @PravitR There is no place for a fake. It should be removed and melt down immediately.
— YoshiO (@YoshiOhbaya) April 16, 2017
Military regime said no idea who stole Revolutionary Plaque yet not rushing to investigate & catch thieves. More than suspicious! #Thailand
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) April 16, 2017
@KhaosodEnglish Removal of the 1932 plaque is an ironic reminder that Thais may have ended absolute monarchy in 1932 but absolute dictatorship exists today.
— JQ Public (@JQP6) April 15, 2017
An online petition was launched urging the government to find the plaque and punish those who defaced the historic marker.

author: Mong Palatino


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A Collaborative Project Maps the World’s Vulnerable Communities Before Disaster Strikes · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Viewing submissions to the server in the field. CC-BY David Luswata.
When disaster strikes, being able to count on accurate information can mean a world of difference for first response teams. Knowing where people live, the best ways to get in and out, as well as locations of water and other basic necessities are all of great importance to those working to save lives.
Unfortunately, vulnerable people especially those living in rural communities are more likely to live in areas not properly mapped.
The Missing Maps project, an open, collaborative project, is working to fill in this “missing” information. Combining the work of volunteers contributing remotely, on-the-ground community leaders, and humanitarian organizations, the project works hand-in-hand with the OpenStreetMaps platform to collect data in a free and open manner.
Volunteers around the world participate by reviewing satellite imagery to identify and map buildings, roads, and other essential landmarks. They can do so in their own free time or as part of an organized “map-a-thon”. This initial information can then be verified by groups on the ground in close contact with community leaders.
One of the largest Missing Maps projects took place in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea to map more than 7,000 communities that were severely affected by the recent Ebola epidemic. Following this mapping work, humanitarian organizations now have access to accurate names and locations for these villages, which can play a major role in any future crisis response.
Project area and communities visited for rapid assessment and detailed mapping. CC-BY American Red Cross.

author: Eduardo Avila


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In Turkey, There’s No Room for Maybe Anymore · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

The Ak Saray Presidential Palace in Ankara. Creative Commons. By author Ex13.
“This country is split down the middle like a watermelon,” political commentator Hasan Celik kept repeating again and again in a live broadcast on Kanal D* as the results of the country's controversial April 16 constitutional referendum trickled in.
Initially they showed a convincing victory for ‘Yes’ in a vote on granting vast new powers to the previously ceremonial office currently occupied by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. By the end of a long night that margin had narrowed significantly, and complaints of violations in the vote were rife.
According to the preliminary count, ‘Yes’ won with just 51.3% of the vote.
The changes passed on Sunday will allow the new president the right to dismiss the parliament and appoint ministers and other high-ranking officials without vetting processes. They will allow him to appoint half of all senior judges, call referendums, declare emergency situations and issue decrees with the force of law. They mark the end of Turkey's parliamentary republic.
Erdogan's campaign was launched in the middle of an emergency situation following a failed coup attempt last summer that saw opposition politicians and unsympathetic media outlets fall under criminal investigation.
It won the day by winning the country, but it lost out to ‘No’ in key cities including Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, highlighting swelling opposition to his AKP (Justice and Development Party).
Majorities and playing tough to get them have been the theme of the past two years for Erdogan and AKP. In June 2015, the party that has dominated Turkey's post-millennial politics suddenly lost control of the parliament as the pro-Kurdish, left-leaning People's Democracy Party (HDP) entered the legislature for the first time in a dramatic vote.
The parliament's four parties, however, could not agree a ruling coalition. This paved the way for a fresh vote in November, for which AKP ran a campaign rooted mostly in fear amid attacks on the free press and government military operations in the country's Kurdish-populated southeast. The party regained its majority.
After Sunday's referendum, even AKP party members expressed surprise at how tight the results were.
‘Results are not what we expected,’ Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak says https://t.co/baStUxxXEG pic.twitter.com/67QoUbtucN
— Hürriyet Daily News (@HDNER) April 16, 2017
Erdogan winning the referendum, but losing Turkey's 3 large cities, including Istanbul, for the 1st time since 2002
— Soner Cagaptay (@SonerCagaptay) 16 апреля 2017 г.
And yet, in their victory speeches, neither current Prime Minister Binali Yildirim — whose post will be retired as a result of constitutional changes — nor President Recept Tayyip Erdogan, gave much credence to the other 48 percent plus of voters who voted against the amendments.
Nor was there mention from either man of the reported violations that undermined the vote.
This video was circulating widely on social media platforms and was even featured on one of the Turkish television channels following election results live.
CHP bu video ile itiraz etti ve video an itibariyle tüm Sosyal Medya'dan kaldırılmaya başlandı. Lütfen çok seri YAYALIM silinmesi geciksin pic.twitter.com/hdrBwNM3im
— larenta (@birkadehviski) 16 апреля 2017 г.
CHP opposed the referendum with this video and now it is being removed from all social media platforms. Please lets spread as fast as possible so we stall the removal
There was also the controversy of Turkey's Higher Election Board changing an important regulation by allowing electoral officials to count unstamped ballots despite that decision violating the electoral code.
Head of Turkey's Election Board says they validated unstamped ballots, which are normally discarded, to reflect voter will #TurkeyReferendum
— Ayla Jean Yackley (@aylajean) 16 апреля 2017 г.
As a result of these and other violations, opposition parties contested the outcome of the vote, something that is virtually without precedent in Turkey's modern history.
Neither CHP nor HDP, 2nd & 3rd biggest parties of Turkey conceded to results.
This is happening for first time in 70 years for a good reason
— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) 17 апреля 2017 г.
At around 11 pm local time, citizen journalism platforms began sharing videos of what appeared to be organized neighborhood action protests in Istanbul's Kadikoy, Moda, Besiktas and Cihangir neighbourhoods.
There was also a familiar noise coming from many more neighbourhoods; the banging of pots and pans, which became a popular protest action during the 2013 Gezi protests that set the stage for a new, concerted opposition to Erdogan's rule.
Referandum sonuçlarını ‘Şaibeli bulan’ yurttaşlar, Beşiktaş'ta da toplanmaya başladı. pic.twitter.com/kGRFDbXxST
— dokuz8 (@dokuz8haber) April 16, 2017
Citizens who have found Referendum results questionable have started gathering in Besiktas as well.
President Erdogan was unshaken, signalling that among his first decisions as an emboldened president would be the introduction of capital punishment in a balcony speech that seemed to push Ankara even further away from its stated goal of accession to the European Union.
Erdogan in his ‘victory’ speech had one promise for Turkey: bringing back the death penalty.
Where to start?
So many he wants to kill?
— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) 17 апреля 2017 г.
The vote's outcome has caused consternation and celebration in almost equal measure. But there was a sweeping consensus about one thing: just how much Turkey has changed in the space of a few years.
As we digest the referendum results let's not forget: 153 journos will spend yet another night behind bars in Turkey #FreeTurkeyJournalists
— P24 (@P24Punto24) 16 апреля 2017 г.
* An earlier version of this article named the channel Hasan Celik made the comments on as CNN Turk. Although Celik is a presenter on CNN Turk he made the comments on Kanal D where he appeared as a guest analyst.


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Kazakhstan’s Great Alphabetical Distraction · Global Voices
Dina Baidildayeva

Kazakhstan's latin script, as used under the Soviet government prior to the switch to cyrillic. The languages has also been rendered in Arabic script in the past. Public domain image from 1924.
As Kazakhstan's 76-year-old authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbayev battles with his own mortality and a pronounced economic slowdown, he has become increasingly fond of making grand announcements and issuing legacy-shaping decrees.
This was evident most recently on April 12, when he ordered authorities to begin preparing for the switch from the Cyrillic alphabet to a Latin based script. The switch will begin by the year's end and should be finalised by 2025.
The initiative is part of Nazarbayev's strategy to make Kazakhstan one of the 30 most developed countries in the world. In his article published in the Kazakh state newspaper “Егемен Қазақстан” (Independent Kazakhstan) he wrote that switching to the Latin alphabet has “deep logic” and will help adapt to “contemporary technology and communication as well as scientific and educational developments in the 21st century”.
Some laud the switch as a means of developing Kazakhstan's Turkic-based language, which is often overshadowed by Russian in public life. Facebook user Tolegen Baitukenov, for instance believes that Latinisation is better suited to Kazakh, and will help non-speakers learn it more easily:
It's good if we switch to Latin alphabet as Kazakh language is very different from Russian. The Latin based script will help non-Kazakh speakers to learn Kazakh faster by realizing that it's a foreign language as it's very different from Cyrillic Russian.
Others see it as a drift away from what Russian President Vladimir Putin rather presumptuously calls a “Russian World” (Русский мир) that includes countries such as Kazakhstan, something Putin ally Nazarbayev has insisted is not the case.
But many see instead of both these things a massive waste of scarce budgetary resources.
Nazarbayev's long time opponent-in-exile, fugitive banker Mukhtar Ablyazov summed up this view in a post liked by almost 500 people:
I see that many are concerned with this news of switching to Latin script more than corruption among high-ranking officials, low living standards, or police and judicial lawlessness in Kazakhstan. There are so many problems in the country that should be immediately addressed. Billions of dollars will be spent for restructuring the education system. How can changing the alphabet solve the problems in our education system? […] All languages of the world are already integrated into the modern computer — even hieroglyphs. Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are not going to change their script to better adapt to contemporary challenges.
Ablyazov, who has made no secret of his desire to bring down the government, and who is being tried in absentia for massive-scale fraud in Kazakhstan, also noted in his post that the government regularly uses announcements such as these “to distract from more current problems” in the country.
Kazakh social media users know that strategy too well. As recently as March, an MP in parliament — not for the first time — raised the issue of renaming the capital Astana and “other important state objects” after Nazarbayev, just as the government was preparing to divert $3.4 billion to the country's struggling banking sector. The MP's comments became a key talking point, while news of the bailout slipped into the background.
In this vein, Facebook user Zhanara Akhmet wrote that the long-planned alphabet-switch might have been sped up in order to divert attention from another unpopular government initiative. Specifically, Akhmet noted that lawmakers had begun discussing once more a controversial land reform bill that was shelved after anti-government protests of unprecedented scale.
Elsewhere in Central Asia, the region's two most autocratic countries, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, long ago made the switch from Cyrillic to Latin, with few obvious benefits.
Uzbekistan-born journalist Daniil Kislov, who edits the popular Central Asia-focussed Fergana News website called in a blog for Kazakhstan “not to repeat the same mistake” already made by his homeland's government:
The said transition period is going to be long, expensive and painful, as it will consume so much in terms of financial, emotional and intellectual strength from society, that the historical and cultural effect of the Latin script could be rendered completely ineffective.
Those words will likely fall on deaf ears, however, such is the pace with which the legacy of a man declared ‘Leader of the Nation’ in 2010 is taking shape.
With his contribution to the country's development already constitutionally acknowledged, and with parks, schools, a university and films and books dedicated to his honour, the name ‘Назарбаев’ is already firmly inscribed in Kazakhstan's history. Now the wily strongman is determined to see it is written ‘Nazarbayev’, instead.

author: Dina Baidildayeva


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Russian Math Instructor Faces Criminal Charges for Online Posts He Says He Didn’t Write · Global Voices
William Cohen

Russia 24 news segment on the arrest of Dmitry Bogatov. Source: YouTube
A Russian math instructor is being accused of “preparing to organize mass disorder” and making “public calls for terrorist activity” via a series of online posts published to a Russia-based tech discussion platform on March 29.
Russian police identified Dmitry Bogatov by tracing the messages to his IP address, but the 25-year-old free and open source software advocate has denied writing the messages.
Many in the Russian media and blogosphere are speculating that the true author of the messages somehow assumed Bogatov's IP address, either through IP spoofing techniques or by using Tor, the anonymous browser.
Bogatov's arrest comes amidst an ongoing crackdown on Internet privacy in Russia, with lawmakers most recently proposing legislation that would make social media illegal for children under 14 and require adult users to verify their identities by passport.
On March 29, someone with the username “Ayrat Bashirov” and Bogatov’s home IP address wrote a series of posts on the website sysadmins.ru, an online forum for systems administrators. One post called for protesters to go to an unsanctioned, anonymously organized—and ultimately under-attended—demonstration on April 2 with “rags, bottles, gas, turpentine, styrofoam, acetone.” Another post linked to the music video for Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” or, as investigators put it, “a video recording with insubordination to the legal demands of the police, and mass disorder.”
It's unclear whether it was Kanye or the Molotov cocktails that did it, but the posts drew the ire of Russia's Investigative Committee, which on April 1 opened a case—without naming names—against the person posting as Ayrat Bashirov.
On the night of April 5, investigators came to Bogatov’s apartment where they seized his computer equipment. They took him into custody the next day. Some hours later, a judge denied the Investigative Committee’s request to hold Bogatov in custody, ruling that the charges were not serious enough to warrant his continued detention. Investigators then added a second and more serious charge of inciting terrorism, and he was brought back into court the following day. This time, a judge approved his detention for another 72 hours. On April 10, the court upheld the charges, formally arrested Bogatov, and ordered that he be held until his trial on June 8.
The case against Bogatov appears to rest entirely on the fact that the offending posts were made from his home IP address.
Bogatov has a strong alibi for being away from his computer when at least some of the posts were published. Surveillance footage shows Bogatov and his wife leaving a supermarket four minutes before one of the posts was made on March 29. Given that the supermarket is half a kilometer from their home, it is unlikely that Bogatov could have made it home and posted online within four minutes.
Furthermore, since Bogatov’s detention, the profile for Ayrat Bashirov has remained active online, making numerous posts, commenting on his own supposed arrest, and even exchanging private messages with a journalist from Open Russia, saying that he is “of course not Bogatov.”
It appears likely that Bogatov was running a Tor exit node from his home computer. As a user on Geektimes pointed out (and as Tor's records confirm), several hours before Bogatov’s detention—likely around the time authorities were searching his apartment and seizing his computer equipment—an exit node that had been operating for more than a year and a half under Bogatov’s name went offline. The email address associated with the node matches the address listed on Bogatov's Github page.
The Tor network is a collection of servers located across the world, run mostly by volunteers. The network helps users connect to the Internet anonymously by sending traffic between at least three Tor servers, typically located in different countries, before allowing it to reach its destination. This makes it nearly impossible for anyone monitoring the Internet to understand where the traffic is coming from and where it is going. Tor “exit nodes” are the final set of servers used in the connection process. This is where a user’s traffic exits the Tor network and connects to the world wide web. When traffic sent through Tor reaches its destination, only the exit node can be traced.
Whoever was posting as Ayrat Bashirov clearly was—and still is—using either Tor or some other method, such as IP masking, which would allow the person posting as Bashirov to make it appear as if he was operating from Bogatov's computer, even when he was not. According to Bogatov’s attorney, the person has posted from more than one hundred different IP addresses across Russia and in Norway, the Netherlands and Japan.
It is possible that Bogatov was posting as Bashirov using Tor or another anonymization technique, and simply forgot to turn on the connection when some of the posts were made, revealing his true home IP address. But this seems less likely, given the grocery store footage, and the fact that Ayrat Bashirov remains active online.
Running an exit node can be a risky endeavor, especially in Russia, where in the past Tor has been targeted by proposed legislation intended to curb online anonymity. And regardless of location, Tor advises volunteers who choose to do so to take precautions, including not running it from their home internet connections. This would not be the first time that someone running an exit node has fallen under suspicion from law enforcement for criminal activities committed through their connection. A post on the forum toster.ru describes at least one instance of an exit node operator in Russia being questioned by police for a bomb threat sent from their IP address.
If this is indeed what happened with Bogatov, it remains unclear whether prosecutors are pursuing the case due to a poor understanding of how Tor works or for some other reason, such as to send a warning to the many Russians using Tor and other VPN services. Notably, the Investigative Committee’s interest in Bashirov’s posts came amidst an online crackdown leading up to demonstrations on April 2.
Bogatov’s case also raises questions about the future of Tor and VPNs in Russia. Last year, one of the largest VPN providers stopped providing Russian IP addresses after the government seized its servers when the company refused to comply with new laws requiring that they locate their servers on Russian soil. In the past, Russian lawmakers have discussed the idea of banning VPNs, and this January Roskomnadzor, the agency that oversees the internet in Russia, blocked one VPN service.
In the meantime, the hashtag #freebogatov has appeared on social media, and Tor advocates have launched an appeal to rename exit nodes in his honor.

author: William Cohen


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Sri Lanka’s Tragic and Totally Avoidable Disaster · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sri Lanka's garbage mountain. Screenshot from YouTube
The death toll from last Friday's collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo rose to 28 people this Monday. Rescue workers say another 30 people are still trapped under the mud and debris, though hopes are fading that any of these individuals will be found alive. The garbage collapse buried roughly 145 houses in the Colombo slum.
Sri Lanka Air Force pictures of Meethotamulla Garbage dump disaster, at least 10 died & still many missing, around 150 houses destroyed pic.twitter.com/ID2fSKV9ly
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) April 15, 2017
Death toll of Meethotamulla Garbage dump collapse risen to 19 with army recovering 3 more death bodies this afternoon #lka #SriLanka
— Azzam Ameen (@AzzamAmeen) April 15, 2017
While people on #Srilanka celebrating #Aurudu2017 people in #Kolonnawa suffer from the waste disposed by us. https://t.co/Wk1nfSi2ep
— Ranga Pallawala (@Rangaslk) April 14, 2017
The 90-meter-high, 180-meter-long garbage dump collapsed last Friday, when a fire broke out. More than 1,000 emergency workers, including members of the armed forces, have been working to clear the wreckage. Almost as many people — 980 individuals in 228 families — are believed to have been affected by the disaster, and everyone in the danger zone has been evacuated and housed temporarily in a nearby school.
According to the police, state investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the landslide, and whether it was manmade or natural.
National Building Research Organisation advises to evacuate 130 more houses near Meetotamulla Garbage Dump, due to risk of further collap…
— Ranga Sirilal (@rangaba) April 15, 2017
Update from trusted source on #meethotamulla relief needs for displaced families https://t.co/zhrENp97Cs #lka #srilanka pic.twitter.com/3hnK0Kytqi
— Groundviews (@groundviews) April 16, 2017
Meethotamulla is notorious for its 16-acre garbage mountain and the strong stench that emanates in the air for miles.
Almost daily, trash collectors from the capital dump around 800 tons of municipal waste in Meethotamulla, often in haphazard ways that ignore basic safety protocol. This has been the case for the past two decades, and the locals living in the vicinity has long worried they could be buried under garbage, in the event of a natural disaster.
Years ago, officials planned to decommission the garbage dump and convert it into a “beautiful place.” This ambitious plan never materialized, however and now the locals find themselves confronting their worst fears.
Raisa Wickrematunge, a reporter at Groundviews, writes about the several ongoing plans to move the dump:
The issue of garbage disposal, and how to solve it, is complex and has long been debated. In 2015, there was a plan to transfer the compacted garbage at Meethotamulla to Puttalam, which came to a temporary standstill after environmentalists raised protests, as the new site at Arawakkalu fell within the Wilpattu buffer zone. The project was restarted at a different site, but with plans to allow the Meethotamulla dump to decompose. Other plans have included simply shifting the garbage to other areas such as Ja-Ela.
As recently as March this year, residents were agitating against the dump. Officials meanwhile, have continually said they are working towards a long-term solution, with the help of foreign experts.
Despite these plans and discussions, the dump in Meethotamulla only grew and grew. According to a report by Roar.lk, the Colombo Municipal Council has been in charge of the dump for the past two years, and has failed to maintain the site as well as the Sri Lankan Army, which used to call the shots.
The Sri Lankan government says it will pay 100,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($660) in compensation to the families of every individual killed in the Meethotamulla disaster, and up to 2.5 million rupees ($16,500) for property damages.
Many Internet users have nonetheless reacted negatively to the government's response.
When there is a disaster in #SriLanka #lka
Cartoon by Gihan de Chickera #meethotamulla pic.twitter.com/t8BHzGbNYS
— Political CartoonLKA (@cartoonlka) April 17, 2017
Apparently no doctors came to #meethotamulla to help out with the rescue mission. So much for all that love for the general public.
— Crys. (@malpapadam) April 17, 2017
Following the tragedy, the Sri Lankan government also announced that it has finally decided to retire the garbage dump in Meethotamulla, and will begin work on a waste-to-energy project which will ensure that the accumulated municipal solid waste (MSW) is disposed of in a hygienic and sustainable manner.

author: Rezwan


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The Kremlin Is Reportedly Planning a Major Mudslinging Campaign Against Putin’s Biggest Critic · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image: Alexey Navalny / Instagram, edited by Kevin Rothrock
The Kremlin has finally decided to take on Alexey Navalny, four sources tell the independent television station Dozhd. According to two of the sources (identified only as “individuals close to the Kremlin”), the campaign against Russia’s opposition leader will start sometime soon.
Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Sergey Kirienko, has reversed the Kremlin’s longheld position that Navalny poses no genuine threat to the regime, according to a source who regularly meets with Kirienko. The administration’s concern is reportedly that Navalny could mar Putin’s likely re-election next March, when the Kremlin is counting on a “beautiful victory,” with high turnout and without the need for open repression against the political opposition.
According to Dozhd’s report, a special team from Putin’s domestic policy crew has set up a war room somewhere outside the Kremlin to generate material designed to discredit Navalny. Dozhd says Alexander Kharichev and Andrei Yarin — two of Putin’s top domestic policy officials — will oversee the mudslinging effort.
“They’re filming videos, making viral clips, and designing little video games to discredit Navalny. They’re fighting him like he’s Hitler,” a source told Dozhd.
Political analysts told Dozhd that the public can expect the campaign against Navalny to resemble the character assassination of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, whose race for a seat in the State Duma derailed last year, after Russian network television aired hidden-camera footage of him cheating on his wife, which also precipitated a collapse of Russia’s democratic opposition alliance.
Online, where Navalny enjoys his greatest support and popularity, Russians are already mocking the news that the Kremlin is working on “videogames” to discredit the country’s most visible anti-corruption activist. “I can’t wait for the release of the videogame that will discredit Alexey Navalny,” Perm-based artist Anton Semakin tweeted sarcastically. “After the protests against corruption, the Kremlin has decided to crack down on Navalny, not on corruption,” the Russian comedian “Bob Farber” joked.
According to Dozhd’s sources, it was last month’s nationwide anti-corruption protests, spearheaded almost single-handedly by Navalny, that provoked the Kremlin’s new response. While the crowds may have represented only an infinitesimal sliver of the Russian population, Navalny’s anti-corruption efforts have undeniably coalesced into a larger movement. See RuNet Echo's March 28 report on “Russia's Youngster Uprising.”
And there’s statistical evidence that supports Navalny’s rising political profile: In early April, the Levada Center polling agency recorded a 10-percent drop in Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s approval ratings after Navalny released a bombshell investigation accusing Medvedev of widescale corruption.
Packaged in a sleek and entertaining video presentation, Navalny’s allegations have attracted more than 19 million views on YouTube.


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31 Years Later, the Lights Come Back on in Chernobyl · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

Polish adventurers entered the town of Pripyat in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and turned on lights for the first time since the 1986 nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Photo from Napromieniowani's Facebook page.
On April 26, 1986, a nuclear meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine caused radioactive material to be spewed into the atmosphere, exposing hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of people in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe to extremely high doses of radiation.
The effects of the nuclear fallout are still being felt: more than 500,000 people in Belarus, the country most affected by the disaster, have thyroid problems stemming from Chernobyl radiation, and more than 2 million people live in areas of the country that put them at high risk of contamination.
Last week, on the eve of the 31st anniversary of the disaster, a group of Polish adventurers decided to turn the lights back on in Pripyat, a radioactive ghost town located three miles from the Chernobyl reactor. Pripyat was evacuated the day after the meltdown and has been abandoned ever since—though it has become the center of the disaster tourism industry that has developed in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The lights come on at a school in Pripyat.
Using generators, the Poles were able to electrify some of Pripyat's buildings, lighting up the abandoned city for the first time in more than 3 decades. The adventurers posted the photos on the Facebook page they curate, Napromieniowani.pl.
This post has been updated to provide proper attribution for the photographs. They were originally posted on Napromieniowani.pl, and are republished here with permission.

author: RuNet Echo