text:
Massive Nude Photo Leak Raises Issue of Online Protection Laws in Trinidad & Tobago · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

Online data privacy protection and government surveillance have become key issues following the leak of hundreds of nude photos of Trinidadian women and girls. Image by Perspecsys Photos, used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Trinidad and Tobago has found itself in embroiled in a scandal involving hundreds of nude photos of young Trinidadian women and girls being circulated online and through mobile apps. Police suspect it is part of an online pornography ring, and that some of the photographs are being sold.
The leak allegedly affected women and girls who shared their photos with people they trusted. The photos were subsequently shared with an online database. One victim said that her face was photoshopped onto another woman's body. Those affected have come together and formed a revenge porn support group and some have told their stories to the media.
The country's Children's Act advocates imprisonment for those convicted of making, distributing and even accessing child pornography online. For adults affected, the consequences are less clear. At least according to one lawyer, remedy for adults may be limited to civil lawsuits.
Colouring online discussions about the scandal has been the commentary of controversial temporary independent senator Dr. Kriyaan Singh. (Singh was acting for senator David Small, who was abroad, but has since returned to his post.) In an initial Facebook post about the issue, Singh wrote that he “fully support[s] nudity”:
Be proud of your sexiness and to ass with the low life scums who share nudes of others to these sites. Just remember being naked online privately is not illegal and it is never a grounds for dismissal
In another Facebook post, which was public, he offered to help the women and girls:
To all the ladies on the list.
Please form yourself into a group. Record
Name
Age
When you took the pics
How you took it
Who took it
What method you sent it on
WHO YOU SENT IT TO including relationship
IF YOU SENT YOUR DEVICE TO REPAIR, date and where
If you all form a group I am willing to assist in whatever way I can through my support from attorneys to deal with the scums bags who did this and whoever is the idiot who started the website
You all seriously have my full support.
He later provided this update:
So my simple investigation in speaking with several of the girls on the list, some who are still under age revealed that they each only sent pics to one person.
That narrows it down to who started sharing their private photos without their consent on triniporn
Ladies if you are friends with them and have been asked for pics please state so now and take action
Singh also offered an avenue for them to tell their story anonymously:
If any of the girls on the porn list would like to anonymously speak to the media please message me. One reporter is interested in their side of the story
While he has his supporters, Singh has been criticised by political and civil society groups, including Fixin’ T&T, which argued that the former senator's social media posts — both on this issue and on others — do not carry the spirit of impartiality that independents are supposed to embody.
And they aren't the only ones. Writer and political blogger/commentator Rhoda Bharath wrote to the country's president asking him to revoke Singh's appointment, explaining:
I, along with other right thinking citizens, have observed a disturbing trend in the comments and posts made by Dr Singh on social media. I have attached for your perusal several screen shots of posts or comments that appear to be either politically charged, ethnically prejudiced or sexist in nature, if not openly derogatory.
There was also an online petition circulating in an effort to have Singh removed on the grounds that he is not impartial and “continues to display an attitude of disrespect on social media that is unbecoming”. Yet, attorney Justin Phelps, in a public Facebook post, cautioned:
That's a dangerous road because it means that anything not packaged according to our colonial threshold for decent is also incompetent.
The leak once again raises questions about online privacy and sexuality — an issue Trinidad and Tobago has grappled with in the context of the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Amendment Bill, which would give the authorities more crime detection power by expanding the scope of the country's Strategic Service Agency to include serious offences such as homicide, terrorism, human trafficking, corruption and cybercrime. Currently, the Act focuses primarily on drug-related crimes.
The bill passed in the Senate in early May and was finally approved by the president; it now awaits proclamation in order to take effect.
The country's opposition — and some independent senators — voted against the bill, arguing that it would infringe privacy. The country's Chamber of Commerce also had concerns about checks and balances for the process. The amendment will make it much easier for the SSA to engage in information-gathering through certain types of telecommunications surveillance.
Many people send nude or sexually explicit images of themselves which they intend to be private — as was the case here — so the SSA Act is timely. Netizens are interested in how it will deal with technology and treat these kind of privacy infringements. Even when the SSA Act is finally proclaimed, the law will not be made retroactive.
Readers who are worried about the privacy of their online communications should know that any photo posted online — be it on social networks or mailing lists — can be found, downloaded, redistributed and tampered with using software like Photoshop. Once it is posted or sent, netizens need to understand that they no longer have control over where it might go. The best ways to share anything private, including naked pictures, is to use end-to-end encrypted messengers such as Signal, or encrypted email solutions like Tutanota or Proton Mail.
Learn about these and other privacy solutions with the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Surveillance Self-Defense guide, which is now available in eleven languages.

author: Flora Thomas


text:
Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner May Have Finally Landed in a Scandal He Can’t Overcome · Global Voices
Christopher Moldes

On June 18, a summer excursion turned tragic when a storm overtook a group of children and instructors out for a boat ride at a summer camp in Russia’s Karelia region. Fourteen children died as a result, and several investigations were launched against the camp directors, who are accused of approving the excursion despite knowing about the inclement weather, and of being in violation of several safety measures. In response to the tragedy, Pavel Astakhov, Russia's commissioner of children's rights, personally spearheaded an investigation. He met with the survivors, and opened their conversation with the now-infamous icebreaker: “How was the swim?”
Pavel Astakhov's final flub. Image by Kevin Rothrock.
Astakhov’s insensitive nonchalance ignited a firestorm on the Russian Internet. Almost immediately after his botched visit, a petition appeared on Change.org demanding Astakhov’s resignation. The petition argues that his words are unbecoming of someone in charge of children’s rights. This was not Astakhov’s first controversy surrounding his words and his position as commissioner. In 2015, when a 17-year-old Chechen girl married a 57-year-old man, Astakhov said that women mature earlier in the Caucuses, and that several regional laws allow for under-aged children to marry.
At the time of this writing, the petition has amassed more than 153,000 signatures. This response prompted Astakhov to question the legitimacy of the petition. In his view, Change.org is an American site that shouldn’t be used to express Russian social opinion. What’s more, he challenged the notion that Russians had even visited this site, pointing to the allegedly large numbers of Ukrainians that troll him on Instagram, suggesting that they pose as Russians. In response, Change.org assessed its data and concluded that more than 95 percent of the people who have signed are Russian citizens, with Ukrainians making up less than half a percent of the total.
Apparently backed into a corner, Astakhov then tried to explain his question to the children as an effort to obtain information vital for the investigations, and that his words had been taken out of context. A few days later, he wrote on Twitter suggesting that the mayor of Moscow send the 33 survivors to the Black Sea for an all-expenses-paid vacation. Commenters were quick to react, questioning the idea of sending survivors of a boating accident to another body of water.
Regardless of whether or not Astakhov was trying to save face with his vacation suggestion, it appears that he might have succumbed to pressure and submitted his resignation. While Astakhov's office has refused to comment on the rumor, and the Kremlin's press secretary says he hasn't heard about any resignation, the news agency RBC says it's talked to two sources in the Kremlin who confirm he will step down from his post, as soon as he returns from vacation. (Astakhov is said to be on holiday in Monte Carlo at the moment.)
The satirical news community “Lentach” summed it up best, perhaps, with an image it created immediately following reports about the resignation. The picture reverses Astakhov's conversation with the boating accident survivors, now showing one of the young girls asking him, “So how was the job?”
Павел Астахов написал заявление об отставке, сообщает РБКhttps://t.co/3cS1e3U5lK pic.twitter.com/cjbDPzodGU
— Лентач (@oldLentach) June 30, 2016
Pavel Astakhov has tendered his resignation, RBC reports.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Christopher Moldes


text:
Technology, Engineering and Incredible Discoveries Mark the Panama Canal Expansion · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Panama Canal, image on Flickr by user Jose Jiménez (CC BY-SA 2.0).
On June 26, 2016, a day that Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela described as “historic for the nation,” the expansion of the Panama Canal on the Atlantic Panamanian coast was inaugurated in the capital and in several provinces amidst national flags and the sound of music played by students and bands.
The Panama Canal is a man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean at the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama. It has a total length of 77 miles and was originally inaugurated on August 15, 1914. For over a hundred years this short and fairly cheap key conduit has sped up the economic and commercial exchange in the region. The recently opened expansion project took around ten years to complete.
Chinese vessel Cosco Shipping Panama was the first ship that sailed through the newly extended Panama Canal, thus opening traffic into the new locks at Agua Clara at the Atlantic watershed.
According to the official Panama Canal website, the decision to build a third transit lane came after thorough studies and analysis and it aimed to double its capacity. The website also shows the progress of the expansion program with graphics and includes photos and videos.
On Twitter, users celebrated this new phase of the canal, which has shortened distances in the American continent. Some talked about the next project, whatever that may be:
Vamos Panamá ahora planeemos siguiente mega proyecto. El tren tránsistmico de Bocas a Darien y reinventar ciudades pic.twitter.com/d5sHxDWroF
— Rubén Bustamante R. (@RBTax) 26 de junio de 2016
Go, Panama. Let's plan now the next mega-project. The transisthmus train from Bocas to Darien and reinvent cities.
Some others compared realities from different eras:
Saber que el Canal de Panamá que me tocó conocer ya es sólo un canalcito en comparación con lo que inauguran hoy pic.twitter.com/hfZjn6Wita
— Cesar Olse (@cesarolse) 26 de junio de 2016
The Panama Canal I visited is now a tiny little canal compared to what's being inaugurated today.
There are also images of the Cosco Shipping Panama, the first ship that went through the expanded Canal:
First vessel passes through expanded Panama Canal https://t.co/7e41673zAk pic.twitter.com/67j2qdq99F
— News (@orbitcollection) 26 de junio de 2016
A local outlet posted a video showing people gathered there, and the BBC recalled how the Canal changed the world:
Personas en Cocolí en espera de también ser testigos del tránsito del Cosco Shipping Panama #AmpliaciondelCanal pic.twitter.com/nPKeq88RiS
— Noticias 7 Días (@noticias7d) 26 de junio de 2016
People at Cocolí waiting to witness Cosco Shipping Panama sailing through the expanded Canal.
5 cosas que cambiaron en el mundo con el Canal de Panamá https://t.co/9WT5tpJ9c9 pic.twitter.com/Z9xUeIN9D1
— BBC Mundo (@bbcmundo) 26 de junio de 2016
Five things that changed in the world with the Panama Canal.
During the decade the Panama Canal expansion works were taking place, more than 2,200 different archeological objects were found and classified, thus telling the commercial history of the isthmus of Panama since pre-Columbian times:
Dientes, dagas, chimeneas, restos de puentes y cementerios abandonados por las compañías de Francia y Estados Unidos a principios del siglo pasado, evidencian el papel de tránsito humano que ha tenido Panamá.
Teeth, daggers, chimneys, remains of bridges and cemeteries abandoned by French and American firms at the beginning of the last century show the role that Panama has had in human transit.
Tomás Mendizábal, the man responsible for classifying the items found during the various stages of the expansion process, said, “I find it odd, […] incredible, to dig in a little village lost in the middle of the Panama jungle and find European products along with handicrafts from Mexico.”
Since 2014, some media outlets have covered the amazing archaeological treasures that were emerging from the mountains of removed soil in the working area:
Durante las excavaciones, voladura de cerros y tala de espesa vegetación, se han hallado fósiles de unos 3.000 invertebrados y 500 vertebrados, y de más de 250 plantas, como las de un bosque consumido por el fuego de una explosión volcánica, precisó Hortensia Broce [bióloga especialista en paleontología de la Autoridad del Canal].
[…] también salieron fragmentos de objetos de la época precolombina, colonial, departamental […] y republicana […]. Trozos de vasijas de cerámica, puntas de flecha y parte de un ajuar funerario precolombino, una daga del siglo XVI, una chimenea de 1908, una colección de botellas, vagones y cubos para mezclar concreto de la época de construcción del Canal, aparecieron en zonas del Pacífico y el Atlántico.
During the digging, mountain blasting and clearing of thick vegetation, about 3,000 invertebrate and 500 vertebrate fossils were found, and also over 250 plants from a forest consumed by fire of a volcanic explosion, pointed out Hortensia Broce [biologist, specialist in Paleontology of the Canal Authority].
[…] fragments of objects from pre-Columbian, colonial, departmental […] and republican times […] also emerged. Bits of ceramic pots, arrowheads, and parts of a pre-Columbian grave, a 16-century dagger, a chimney from 1908, a collection of bottles, wagons and buckets for mixing concrete dating from the time when the Canal was built, were found both in the Pacific and Atlantic areas.
In 2009, fossil teeth of Central American primates appeared as well. Jonathan Bloch, leader of the University of Florida team that investigated this finding, commented:
[…] estos son los dientes de un mono de Sudamérica que, de alguna manera, logró hacer lo que ningún otro animal pudo hacer en aquella época: cruzar la vía marítima de Centroamérica hacia la Norteamérica tropical hace 21 millones de años.
[…] these are the teeth of a South American monkey that, somehow, managed to achieve what no other animal was able to do back then: cross the Central American water route to tropical North America, some 21 million of years ago.
Also on Twitter were photos and videos of the findings that have emerged during the expansion works:
Hallan tesoros arqueológicos durante la ampliación del Canal de Panamá https://t.co/aaCowBstE3 pic.twitter.com/JmwcwgaPpx
— lainformacion.com (@la_informacion) 27 de junio de 2016
Archaeological treasures were found during expansion of Panama Canal.
Los tesoros arqueológicos hallados en la “basura” histórica del Canal de Panamá https://t.co/J3t9ipdNDQ pic.twitter.com/qNtRiXMNGD
— Conlanoticia (@conlanoticia) 25 de junio de 2016
The archaeological treasures found in the historic “trash” of the Panama Canal.
Recorrido por algunos de los hallazgos arqueológicos de la ampliación del Canal de Panamá, como botellas, armas,… https://t.co/F6BQa6r7Ab
— Deep Science (@Beyondearthmx) 24 de junio de 2016
A tour around some of the archeological findings of the expansion of the Panama Canal, such as bottles, weapons…

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
Telegram Bug Leaks Russian TV News Station’s Internal Chats to Random User · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Telegram confronts a curious bug problem. Image by Kevin Rothrock.
A Russian Telegram user has reported receiving strange notifications from Telegram chats she was never a member of. The unsolicited messenger notifications have, among other things, allowed the user to follow the internal chat of the social media team of the Russian independent channel TV Rain. How and why did this happen? And what does it say about Telegram's supposedly secure systems for communication?
TJournal reports that Telegram user Anna Gorbacheva bought a used iPhone from an acquaintance in November 2015. While they did not do a factory reset, the previous owner logged out of all her social media accounts and the iCloud. At first, the new phone worked perfectly.
But a month later, the strange notifications began to appear on her screen:
Left: A screencap from Anna's iPhone showing the notifications from the TV Rain SMM chat on her lock screen. Right: A screencap of her unsuccessful attempt to send a message back. Image via tjournal.ru.
Concerned that she was unintentionally eavesdropping on other peoples’ private conversations, she wrote to Telegram. She told TJournal:
В январе на заблокированном экране всплыло сообщение из какой-то беседы, в которой я не состою. Я удивилась и открыла Telegram. Чат не отображался, хотя уведомления продолжали поступать. Написала в поддержку, приложив скриншоты.
In January, I saw a message on my lockscreen from a conversation I was never a part of. I was surprised and opened my Telegram. The chat wouldn't show up, even though the notifications of new messages kept coming. So I wrote to support, and sent some screenshots.
Telegram's support did not reply, so Anna simply deleted Telegram altogether. But recently, she needed the messenger for her work at an advertising agency, so she set it up again. And the notifications returned.
As previously, Anna could see the notifications for messages, but could not access the chats themselves. Her attempts to send her own messages to the chats failed. And there were no signs that other chat participants had any idea an outsider was watching their conversations. At TJournal's request, Anna even recorded a video with proof of the unsolicited notifications.
The most recent notifications came from a Telegram chat called “SMM” (short for “social media management”), and having spotted a few names (such as Ilya Klishyn, Aleksey Abanin, and Daniil Zubov), Anna soon realized she was now privy to the internal social media discussion of the TV Rain editorial team. She also noticed that the links to stories discussed in the chat would quickly appear on the TV Rain's Twitter, Facebook, and VKontakte pages.
When contacted by TJournal, Telegram's founder Pavel Durov acknowledged the issue was a software bug, but speculated that Anna must have gotten her phone from a friend who previously worked for TV Rain and had access to the chat. Anna denies her friend has ever had any connection to TV Rain.
She told TJournal that since buying the phone, she never gave anyone else access to it and that her Telegram account was the only one that ever logged in on the device.
Telegram boasts secure communications, however security experts have questioned the robustness of its cryptography. Apart from “rolling its own crypto” instead of relying on existing encryption solutions, there is the matter of device dependence. By default, Telegram uses text-based authorization, which allows users to connect new devices to Telegram accounts simply by entering a verification code received via text message on a smartphone. Two-step verification can be enabled, but is not required.
But these known elements of Telegram's systems do not fully explain why Gorbacheva, whose device had seemingly never belonged to anyone associated with TV Rain, suddenly began receiving notifications of their private messages. Gorbacheva's experience suggests that Telegram's security flaws may be worse than critics previously thought.
Anna is at a loss as to how or why she is able to see the messages from a chat to which she does not actually have access. Repeated entreaties for help finally got Anna a response from the Telegram support service. They told her to exit out of all active sessions of the messenger. But that did not help, and Anna continues to receive strange notifications in her Telegram app.
When TJournal investigated the matter further, it turned out that changing accounts and logging in after another user had logged out was a common Telegram bug: Several different users reported gaining access to contacts and messages from those whose accounts were previously active on their devices, after those users had logged out. Short of deleting their newly set up accounts from the devices and from Telegram wholesale and losing all user data, there was no ways to resolve the privacy issue.
Founder Pavel Durov says Telegram is now deleting the cache of old user data when faced with this issue, but users who met with the problem before the bug became official, are on their own. Anna is still receiving notifications about the social media routine of TV Rain, despite having logged out of all active sessions of Telegram. Telegram said her best option would have been to do ao factory reset on the phone after the previous owner had logged out of her account.
So what do you do if your Telegram suddenly starts spewing unsolicited notifications or showing strange contacts? Durov says the only sure-fire solution is to deactivate your Telegram account by opening this link directly in the messenger, which will make all your chat logs and files disappear.
Telegram said the messenger “is not meant to be used on other people's devices,” hence the contact list merging reported by some users. One user was advised by the messenger's support service to “only use your own account on your own devices,” basically acknowledging the messenger's dependence on hardware. But the messages from strange chatrooms that Anna has reported remain a mystery. And Telegram's reputation as a secure messaging app hangs in the balance.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
The ‘Achievement Epidemic’ in Vietnam Schools · Global Voices
Loa

Children in a classroom at Thuong Nong Primary School, Tam Nong District, Phu Tho Province in Vietnam. Photo and caption by ILO/Truong Van Vi. Source: Flickr. CC License
This article by Nguyễn Linh Chi is from Loa, an independent news website and podcast that broadcasts stories about Vietnam. It is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The sound of cicada. The vibrant red color of the Flamboyant Trees’ blossoms. These are the distinctive signs of summer in Vietnam, as well as exam season. It is the most important time in a student’s life: The high school graduation test also determines college admission.
Vietnam’s first university, Văn Miếu Quốc Tử Giám or the Temple of Literature in Hà Nội, is humming with activity this time of the year. Students come here to pray for good luck before the big exam. Families make generous donations to the temple in hopes it will bring blessings to their children.
“My parents want me to get into college so I can have a brighter future,” says 17-year-old Đỗ Mai from Hà Nam province, south of Hanoi, one of the high school students taking the big test this year. Her dad is a retired soldier, her mom is a rice farmer. Mai applied to college this year with the hope of furthering her education, as well as making her parents proud.
She recalls distinctively what her mom once said to her:
A couple of years ago, my mom told me after a long day of working in the rice paddies: ‘You got to study really hard so you don’t have to do this kind of intensive field labor like me. Chances are in a couple of years, we won’t even have the rice paddies anymore. They are industrializing everything. Once they open factories here we will lose our paddies.’
This year, about 600,000 youths have registered their intent to go to college, in a country that has a little more than 400 accredited institutions. The shortage of university slots has made a rigorous testing system all the more competitive. Students are tested on a minimum of four subjects: math, literature, and English are mandatory. The fourth subject can be freely chosen from biology, chemistry, geography, history, and physics.
“I’m worried the most about English because I find it very boring to study,” Mai says. “But it is a mandatory subject so I’m worried.”
According to the Ministry of Education, the exam format this year will be similar to that of previous years: 60 percent of the material is considered “easy”, designed so students who only wish to graduate from high school can do well just by demonstrating their basic understanding of the lessons, while the other 40 percent of the test is made more difficult to challenge college candidates and categorize student levels.
Once the exam scores are announced, students can start registering for their college of choice. Based on the number of applicants and their performance, schools will then determine the accepted test scores.
Mai says if her results allow, she would like to study to become a preschool teacher.
They said I was good with kids since I was in sixth, seventh grade, so I should study to become a preschool teacher,” she explains. “They also said teaching jobs are among the harder ones to find after college, and it’s going to be a challenge dealing with upset children. But I made the decision to go with it anyway.
The preschool education program Mai chose is a highly competitive one. There were reportedly more than 15,000 applications to Hà Nội’s National College of Education in 2011, but the school only accepts 1,800 students a year. That’s a 12 percent acceptance rate, which is even more competitive than any Ivy League schools’ in America. Mai would have to score exceptionally well in order to make it to her desired program. And even if she completes her teaching degree, she may not find a job in the field she trained for. In 2013, the Education Ministry paused the teaching program due to “a sign of mismatch between supply and demand.”
According to Vietnamnet News, many graduates who have a teaching degree report that they can’t find jobs, so they have had to switch industries and explore jobs in different fields.
Bùi Văn Thuận, a chemistry teacher at the private high school Bình Minh in Hà Nội, says that mismatch points to another problem with Việt Nam’s education system: the lack of vocational schools for students.
I think families’ expectations and the career guidance given to students are unrealistic and not that helpful. There are many students out there who are talented in many skilled areas, mechanical for example. They could take a two-year training program on that specific skill, be excellent at it and graduate with a practical degree. But instead, they feel they must go to college. As a result, students may not study what they are truly interested in or passionate about.
Thuận says Vietnamese youths are under a lot of pressure as they are often taught that going to college is the only path to succeed in life. The nationwide exam takes place only once a year, so they can’t afford to disappoint their parents. He says the so-called “achievement disease” among parents is what has made the college admissions process become so stressful:
Vietnamese care a lot about reputation. If the neighbor’s kids get into college, they feel the pressure that their children have to make it too in order to not lose face. This is why many parents are more stressed out about the exams than the students themselves.
To make it easier on the kids, some parents have resorted to unethical practices to heighten his or her scores, so much so that it has now become part of the exam ritual, says Thuận. Before the test, many high schools hold meetings to collect what is called an “exam fee” from parents. In reality, this fee is used to bribe test proctors so they could be more lenient with monitoring students.
In Hanoi, this fee ranges from 500,000 to 600,000 đồng. In the provinces, this rate is lower, around 200,000 to 300,000 đồng per student.
At the low end, 200,000 đồng equate to just about 10 US dollars, but the benefit is mutual: proctors earn extra income, parents feel more secure that their children have a better chance of scoring high in the exam, and the school gets to maintain high graduation pass rates on their students. Due to this practice, cheating has become common at high school graduation exams. A survey by Thanh Niên news found that, almost 85 percent of students acknowledged seeing rampant cheating on high school graduation exams – and Vietnamese educators say the findings come as no surprise. Thuận says:
After the exams, the entire school becomes white, covered with used cheat sheets. Students litter them in the school yard after they are done. Under the current exam system, the pass rate would only be about 40 percent at most if proctors monitored students closely.
This year the Education Ministry has come out with new measures to reduce cheating. Students who cheat will not be allowed to proceed with the rest of the exam and the next subjects. Mai says it is a risk she won’t take:
Cheating has a negative impact on me. If I’m caught, they will make the cheat subject zero, so I won’t be able to graduate from high school, and ultimately, I can’t go to college.
Mai says if she doesn’t make it to college, she will look into other career options such as getting a certification for a desk job, or even learning to become a seamstress.
The big exam is only a couple of days away. She tells herself: “Study harder! I’ll make my dream come true and move toward my future!”
One thing she is sure of is that she will not be a farmer like her mom.
Listen to the podcast about the issue:

author: Loa


text:
The Week That Was at Global Voices Podcast: Brexit, Brexit Everywhere · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

This week we take you to Brazil, Russia and Tanzania. We also speak with Global Voices Caribbean editor Janine Mendes-Franco about the reaction to Brexit in her region and with Global Voices contributor Arzu Geybulla about the inequality and social injustice that lies behind the glitz and glamour in Azerbaijan.
Many thanks to all our authors, translators and editors who helped make this possible. This episode features stories by Amanda Lichtenstein, Kevin Rothrock, Fernanda Canofre, Janine Mendes-Franco and Arzu Geybulla.
In this episode of the Week that Was at Global Voices, we featured Creative Commons licensed music from the Free Music Archive, including Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0); It Always Rains in England by Ergo Phizmiz (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); Anxiety by Kai Engel (CC BY 4.0); Camera-Eye by happiness in aeroplanes (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0); Linger by David Szesztay (CC BY-NC 3.0); and False Note by VYVCH (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
Image used in SoundCloud thumbnail is a meme shared widely on Caribbean social media.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


text:
Why Everyone in Madagascar Is Making Jokes About Pineapple · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Je suis pineapple, or I am pineapple. Via Mirana (with permission)
When it comes to memes, pineapple is the new orange, at least in Madagascar.
Social media in Madagascar has become quite pineapple-flavored over the past few days. Why the sudden fervor for the spiky fruit? Here is a bit of context on the current social situation on the Red Island.
Madagascar came up as the world's poorest country in one of the poverty indices published by the World Bank (and reported by media outlets such as Radio France Internationale). The criticism of the economic status of the country did not sit well with the president of Madagascar. He challenged observers, local media and citizens to “provide evidence that the country was getting poorer.”
Malagasy netizens quickly obliged in a biting manner:
Mbola tsy porofo ihany ve izao ry filoha #Madagascar #WASH https://t.co/7RzRNRO9vk
— Touti Rakotonirina (@strakotonirina) May 28, 2016
Is this graph here not enough evidence Mr President ? #Madagascar #WASH
Koolsaina, a Malagasy community blog, posted the following photo on its website:
Malagasy citizens going through trash pile ups in Antananarivo. Via Koolsaina
Following that first tense exchange between the president and Malagasy netizens, another Malagasy community website, Tananews, posted a photo of First Lady Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina wearing a a green dress with a pineapple motif on the front:
The Malagasy president and the first lady at an independence day ceremony. Via Tananews
Tananews added a link and a comment with a hint of sarcasm that said, “Indeed, not everyone is poor in Madagascar.” The link showed that the dress was probably designed by high-end clothing brand Dolce & Gabana that sold for US $7,745 on the website of department store Nieman Marcus (it is unclear whether that is the actually cost of the dress that the first lady was wearing).
The outrage was swift on the Malagasy web. A flurry of memes with the hashtag #mananasy (pineapple) appeared within days on various Malagasy websites and social media. Here are a few memes that were widely shared:
Spoof of Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg's profile wondering about pineapples in Madagascar. The meme reads, ” Do you know how to wear Pineapple as they do in Antananarivo ? (play on word with a traditional folk song)” Created by vaovao farany.
Beggar: “Can I have US $7,000 please?” First lady: “I have no pineapple for you.” Via the POV Facebook page
“New pineapple haircut because I want to be famous too.” Via Rivo Francis on Facebook
“Did you know that the brand Dolce & Ananas was all the rage in Madagascar?” “Anana” means pineapple in French. Via Aina Rakotoson on Facebook
Tragically, all the jokes about pineapple came a few days after tragedy struck the country's independence day ceremony. A grenade exploded into the crowd watching the military parade in the national stadium, killing three people and injuring 91. Here is a video of the aftermath:
The whole conversation on “Pineapple-Gate” comes at a time when a major bill on freedom of speech and ethics online is being prepared by Malagasy authorities. The early returns from insiders on how the bill will shape up hint that it will severely restrict free expression online and will include heavy fines for any materials deemed to be libel. The bill should be submitted to the parliament for approval in the coming weeks.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


text:
Will Outrage Over Recent Murders Help Honduran Environmental Activists Achieve Their Goal? · Global Voices
Ensia

After the hearing on the human rights situation in Bajo Aguán held at the IACHR on April 5, 2016 , a vigil was held at the gates of the OAS by Berta Caceres , killed on March 3, 2016 in Honduras. Photo by Flickr user Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Victoria Molina was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
When Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres was gunned down in her home last spring the international community and even activists in the notoriously violent country were shocked. Her death followed threats related to her support for indigenous people fighting the construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam along the Gualcarque River.
A few days after her death, Nelson García, another leader of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (known as COPINH), which Cáceres founded in 1993 to advocate for the native Lenca peoples’ rights, was also murdered.
Have these recent deaths made a difference in indigenous efforts to protect the environment? Though change is slow, there is some indication that they are not going unheeded.
“Berta had such an amazing support network and she had done so much great work in reaching out to other organizations both domestically and internationally that there’s this enormous outrage when she was assassinated,” says Danielle DeLuca, project manager for the US-based nonprofit Cultural Survival, which advocates for indigenous groups around the world.
Honduras has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and it is notoriously unsafe for environmental activists. According to the not-for-profit justice organization Global Witness, at least 109 people were killed in the country between 2010 and 2015 for taking stands against dams, mining, logging or agricultural projects. Scholars and activists blame a combination of organized crime and a deficient judicial system that has led to corruption — all born of a history of poverty, inequality, political instability and the protection of corporate interests over indigenous rights.
Rosana Resende, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Florida, says the economic culture of entrepreneurialism and lack of restrictions that gained momentum in Latin America in the 1980s set the framework for increased privatization of global resources. Also during the 1980s, much of Latin America was crippled by a debt crisis. The International Monetary Fund and other institutions implemented a number of policies, known as the Washington Consensus, to reform the region’s economy. These policies privatized government industries, opening them up to foreign direct investment and liberalizing trade. Transnational companies entered indigenous territories historically cared for by local people to extract resources.
“It was the privatizing and foreign direct investment pieces that really led these countries to becoming vulnerable to large extractive corporations,” Resende says.
Since 2009, DeLuca says, Honduras and the United States increased the call for investment into the country in response to high poverty levels. But the investment and job creation has been a double-edged sword: “Along with that investment comes often a disrespect from corporate entities for human rights and indigenous people’s rights,” she says.
The Lenca began opposing the Agua Zarca Dam project in 2006; the Gualcarque is sacred to them, and they are concerned about the dam’s environmental impact on the river and its life. Cáceres organized peaceful protests to voice the community’s discontent. She helped push the largest dam builder in the world, China’s Sinohydro, to withdraw from the project. In 2015 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in recognition of her activism. Death threats against her increased. On March 3 of this year, her killers made good on them.
This time, though, the violence has brought unprecedented backlash. Less than two weeks after Cáceres was killed, the Dutch development bank FMO suspended all activities in Honduras. Finnfund, a Finnish development finance company, suspended its payments to the Agua Zarca project a few days later.
FMO sent a letter to the president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, expressing concerns and urging his administration to take immediate action to stop the violence against activists. “The right of speech for those who stand for their rights and livelihoods of people are of very high value to FMO,” the letter read. “Every individual should be able to feel safe when defending their position. FMO rejects and condemns any violence against those individuals or groups.”
FMO also is sending a fact-finding mission to Honduras that will include the bank’s CEO and energy sector director, says senior press officer Paul Hartogsveld. The mission will also include a delegation of independent experts to determine and validate the procedures that have been applied to Agua Zarca. “After that we will make a final decision on the project and our suspension of Honduras,” Hartogsveld says.
The violence also has strengthened the resolve of the Lenca indigenous community to fight the Agua Zarca dam and other development projects Berta Cáceres opposed. Cesario Padilla, a journalist and activist in Honduras, says while the climate of terror within these communities now feels permanent, at the same time there is a strong willingness to continue the struggle for indigenous rights to co-exist with natural resources.
For example, leaders of COPINH met with the vice-minister of the Honduran Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mining two weeks after Cáceres’ murder to request that the ministry cancel the permit for the Agua Zarca dam. Members of COPINH have also been protesting outside the Public Ministry in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. And, in an initiative they titled “Justice for Berta Cáceres,” they called on Hondurans abroad and other sympathizers to protest peacefully outside Honduran embassies in their countries on June 15 to demand transparency on the murder investigation and a cancellation on the Agua Zarca dam.
According to Tomás Gomez, the current coordinator of COPINH, the military presence near the area where the Agua Zarca dam is being built has increased and members of COPINH continue to be intimidated and threatened. But there are also indications that the Honduran government is finally heeding calls to ferret out corruption. After global pleas for action, four suspects — two of them associated with Desarrollos Energéticos S.A., the local private energy company building Agua Zarca — were detained in Honduras in early May in connection with Cáceres’ murder.
But Padilla says the Honduran government still shows reluctance in taking action on two of the Cáceres family’s main demands: to allow them and their team of lawyers to be a part of the investigation into Berta Caceres’ murder and to allow an independent investigation led by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
The detentions “are an act of goodwill,” Padilla says. “But these demands have not been met, and therefore there is still much distrust in the actions of the Honduran government.”
Environmental and human-rights activists fear continued killings, threats and persecution. Padilla and DeLuca say the Honduran government needs to do more — in terms of protection for Berta Cáceres’ family, other members of COPINH and Gustavo Castro, the only witness to Cáceres’ murders; getting to the bottom of the murders; and scrutinizing projects that threaten indigenous people and the environment.
The Honduran Public Ministry, the government entity handling the Cáceres case, did not return numerous calls and emails requesting comment.
DeLuca says the continued hostility toward COPINH after the murders is a clear sign the crisis won’t be solved without the help of other nations with a stake in the country. She calls on U.S. citizens in particular to urge the Department of State and Congress to put pressure on Honduras to accept an independent investigation.
“We don’t have confidence in the state of Honduras to conduct an independent investigation,” DeLuca says.
Ultimately, activists hope to change the nature of development in Honduras to give local communities a voice when their interests conflict with those of international development corporations. As part of that, Cáceres’s daughter, Laura Zuñiga Cáceres, is calling on other countries to consider human rights in their investment decisions.
“It is also important that the international community reflect about the role played by their own governments in Honduras,” she says.
Resende says it remains to be seen whether Cáceres’ murder is a sufficient catalyst to effect policy that is centered on the people.
“Little change is possible, but we are also currently experiencing a moment in time when activism is gaining momentum,” she says.  Code Embed v2.2.1
  End of Code Embed code
Victoria Molina is a journalism student at the University of Florida whose research focuses on inter-ethnic relations in Eastern Europe, immigration and neoliberalism in developing countries. Her writing and radio broadcasts have appeared in WUFT News and WUFT Noticias, the NPR affiliate news platforms at the University of Florida. She tweets from @vmsugranes.
She produced this feature as a participant in the Ensia Mentor Program. Her mentor for the project was Cynthia Barnett. Some of the quotes in this piece were translated from Spanish. The piece also appears in Spanish at LatinAmericanScience.org.
.postContent

author: Ensia


text:
ExxonMobil’s Significant Oil Find Off Guyana Leads to Questions About the Country’s Future · Global Voices
Alex Abdelwahab

ExxonMobil's Oil Exploration ship, the Deepwater Champion. Photo by flickr user Michael Elleray, used under a CC BY 2.0 license.
U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil made waves in Guyana on Thursday June 30, 2016 by announcing it had confirmed a “world-class discovery” of oil offshore. The company said results from its exploration well in the Stabroek block, about 120 miles (193 kilometres) offshore Guyana, found between 800 million and 1.4 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
Guyana's natural resources minister, Raphael Trotman, called the discovery fantastic news, telling News Source Guyana that “the future of Guyana has now been written and I think that this is going to send ripples throughout the world.” Minister Trotman added that the country was receiving support and guidance from the international community, including the Canadian, U.S. and Mexican governments, the European Union and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The exploration well, known as Liza-2, is ExxonMobil's second in the area, which is filled with high-porosity sandstone. In 2015, its first well, Liza-1, located about two miles (3.3 kilometres) from Liza-2, also found significant reserves oil.
That first discovery led to a resurgence of a territorial dispute between Guyana and neighbouring Venezuela, with Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, issuing a decree on May 27, 2015 that laid claim to a large part of Guyana and its territorial waters. This latest oil find is likely to further exacerbate that dispute.
According to Venezuela, the dispute, which dates back to a land survey done in 1841 by the then colonial British government, has never been formally resolved. It claimed the results of an arbitral tribunal in 1899 that found largely in favour of Great Britain were invalid, after the U.S. council representing Venezuela in the dispute alleged undue influence by the British in the decision. Subsequently, in 1966, the Treaty of Geneva was signed in an attempt to resolve the controversy; it is technically still in force, though no definite solution has been found.
The waters around Guyana are largely unexplored. According to a Forbes story quoting Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, the 3-D seismic survey that Exxon conducted in the area was its largest in history — “the equivalent of 1,400 Gulf of Mexico blocks”.
A 3-D seismic survey is a geophysical exploration method used extensively in the oil and gas industry. It creates a shock wave or seismic wave to analyse the properties of the earth and there are concerns that the noise from this high-energy seismic source in marine surveys may disturb or injure animal life, particularly cetaceans like whales, dolphins and porpoises which use sound to communicate with one another.
The oil discovery announcement drew hundreds of comments on Facebook, with many Guyanese supportive of the discovery and its prospects for the development of Guyana's economy. As Facebook user Seemouan Phillips put it:
It looks like we rich with blessings
But others were sceptical that citizens will see its benefits.
Facebook user Suzanne Defreitas-Johnson wrote:
Ummmm so where in this article did it say Guyana will profit from this find? Or will this new government do like every other ruler and allow these ppl to come and take without compensation?
Facebook user Samantha Mathurin-Springer added:
I hope the Guyana Government knows that this can affect Guyana in a positive or negative way depending on how it is handled. Many more will be interested in investing in Guyana. I hope they also do very good legal consulting before signing any contracts.. The previous governme (sic) seemed to have signed away the country. No repeats.
This follows a warning by civil society group Policy Forum Guyana that the country requires sweeping changes to effectively monitor natural resources — and this requires infrastructural changes that the group says “governance arrangements” are not in a position to effect.
The group made the statement at the opening of a symposium for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder group (MSG) related to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). Guyana is planning to apply to the EITI in November and the establishment of a multi-stakeholder group is a key requirement for it to become a member. The Norway-based initiative promotes public awareness of how countries manage their oil, gas and mineral resources.
This is not the first time that concerns have been raised about oil exploration in the country. In November 2015, Guyana's government faced accusations that the state didn't have the capacity to independently monitor ExxonMobil's compliance with environmental regulations. The worry arose after it was alleged that ExxonMobil was promoting and funding climate change denials.
At the time, Trotman, then the Minister of Governance, said the capacity of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was being increased and they believed they would have the capacity in five to ten years.

author: Alex Abdelwahab


text:
Former Trinidad & Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning Dies, Days After Being Diagnosed with Leukemia · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Patrick Manning thanking his constituents post-2010 election, which he and his party lost. Photo by Taran Rampersad, used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
On July 2, 2016, Trinidad and Tobago netizens woke up to the news that Patrick Manning, who served three terms as prime minister of the twin island republic, had died from acute myeloid leukemia. His wife had publicly shared his diagnosis just the day before, asking people to pray for him as he began cancer treatment. No-one expected Manning to pass away so quickly; his family made the announcement on his official Facebook page:
At 8:15AM today, Former Prime Minister Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning passed away peacefully at the San Fernando General Hospital after battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Former Prime Minister Manning was surrounded by his family and loved ones.
The Manning family would like to thank everyone for their prayers, love and support during this trying time.
Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.
In the blogosphere and on social and mainstream media, tributes to Manning soon began. The popular politics and sports website, Wired868, republished a statement by Stuart Young, a minister of parliament and the public relations officer for the People’s National Movement, the party which Manning led (and which is currently in government):
On behalf of the members […] and […] the Executive of the PNM, I take the opportunity to express our sincerest and heartfelt condolences to Ms Hazel Manning, her sons and Mr Manning’s wider family.
Mr Manning served Trinidad and Tobago for decades as a leader with great vision and his passing is a loss to the Nation and to his party, the PNM.
We join in prayer for his soul and his family and thank him and his family for his life and his invaluable contributions.
The current leader of the opposition, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, also paid her respects to Manning, despite the fact that they had been bitter political rivals:
It is with deep sadness that we heard of the passing of former Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
On behalf all in the Parliamentary Opposition and the United National Congress [the current opposition party], we send our heartfelt sympathies and prayers […]
Mr Manning was Prime Minister by electoral victory three times in our history – 1995, 2002 and 2007.
He is also our longest serving Parliamentarian and one of the longest serving Public Servants in the region.
Indeed, his wife Hazel has always exemplified strength and fortitude in her family, something which was clear throughout their public life.
The grief we share at his passing is, without doubt, grief that will be shared by our fellow nations in the region.
We wish the Mannings God's guidance and support and pray that the former Prime Minister will find a place of joy and rest.
On his Facebook page, Senator Clarence Rambharat posted an old campaign video of Manning, saying:
A most memorable line, ‘Patrick, we stepping up with you’. Thanks for the service and thanks to the Manning family for allowing our former Prime Minister and Political Leader to serve. Rest in peace, Mr. Patrick Manning.
Some of Manning's regional peers remembered him as “a sincere advocate for regional integration”.
On Twitter, users remembered Manning's repartee on the electoral campaign trail as well as his eloquence in public speaking:
"We will beat dem in de east
We will beat dem in de west
We will beat dem in de north
We will beat in d south…."
—Patrick Manning
— † (@smokeohontas) July 2, 2016
"Our people will be at the center of all development, without people my Dear friends there can be no development…" – Patrick Manning
— Clydeen McDonald (@ClydeenMcDonald) July 2, 2016
Many other users of the microblogging service — including CARICOM‘s official Twitter account — also offered condolences:
Sad day for CARICOM.Former PM Patrick Manning,one of its true champions has fallen.His contribution in health&security will not be forgotten
— CARICOM (@CARICOMorg) July 2, 2016
Rest in Peace
The Honorable Patrick Manning 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/0NcEHQC7KW
— The BadGentsclubtt (@Badgentsclubtt) July 2, 2016
Rest in peace to our Former Prime Minister,Patrick Augustus Meryn Manning. A nation mourns a national great. 🇹🇹🙏🏾
— 86ix8 Family (@86ix8Family) July 2, 2016
Netizens also shared their feelings on Facebook. Trinidadian Michael Cherrie called Manning “one of the most courageous and complex leaders of our nation's history”, while Mollineau Chin Ashram noted that he was “a man that paved a political foundation for us.” Marsha Gomes-Mckie was appreciative of a visionary leader:
He loved his country, at times more than it loved him. Every time i see how the waterfront looks i will remember his vision for development. He is gone now and words are no longer useful. I send condolences to his family. May he live on in you. #PatrickManning #RIP Patrick Manning
This is not to say that Manning's tenure was without controversy. His administration was accused of corruption via the construction of the very same waterfront high-rise project, which eventually cost taxpayers billions of Trinidad and Tobago dollars (6.6 TTD = 1 USD). Many citizens also felt that he sometimes attempted to muzzle criticism against him and his government — and he received a lot of criticism over his plans for an aluminium smelter plant, the millions of dollars that were spent on the “monstrous” prime minister's residence and his refusal to include cultural stakeholders in the process of erecting the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), which is, at present, undergoing expensive remedial work to deal with issues related to its design and construction. NAPA — like many of the “megaprojects” undertaken during Manning's leadership — were increasingly awarded to foreign contractors.
Against that backdrop, Facebook user Sylvan Pardassie was amused at the outpouring on social media:
See all the HYPOCRITE coming out NOW…..Patrick manning Dead
Lets be real T&T if the man was bad and evil all the time he cannot be good and a saint NOW…….
Still, compatriot Pierre Elbourne had the last word:
RIP Mr. Patrick Manning. At this time it doesn't matter about Party Politics, the nation will morn the loss of another extraordinary man.
#PatrickManning

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Thai Activists Use Toys, Balloons and Dolls to Campaign for Democracy · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A ‘toy protest’ in front of a Bangkok prison where anti-Junta activists have been detained by the police for distributing flyers. Photo from the Facebook page of Liberal League of Thammasat for Democracy
Thai activists are getting more creative in their campaign to reject the proposed charter of the military-backed government.
After the arrest of more than a dozen activists who were merely distributing flyers about the charter, several groups across the country launched various types of activities to dramatize the call for democracy such as using toys and dolls to ‘speak’ for freedom and releasing balloons with a printed message that reads ‘campaigning is not a crime’.
The Thai army staged a coup in 2014 and has remained in power despite its pledge to restore civilian rule once it implemented political and economic reforms. It has drafted a charter which will be subject to a nationwide referendum on August. Activists and political parties describe the proposed charter as a threat to democracy because it allegedly contains provisions that will expand the authoritarian powers of the military.
Since 2014, protests and the gathering of five or more persons have been outlawed in Thailand. Recently, the Junta prohibited groups from campaigning for or against the charter and the upcoming referendum.
The police invoked these laws when they arrested members of the New Democracy Movement (NDM) who were caught distributing statements against the charter.
Some supporters of the NDM visited the detained activists while carrying pink balloons with the message “campaigning is not a crime.” Authorities confiscated the balloons.
Pink balloons confiscated from student activists. Latest item on #Thailand junta's list of security threats. pic.twitter.com/2BHQ9MecNf
— Sunai (@sunaibkk) June 27, 2016
This inspired students from Chiang Mai University to release purple balloons in support of the right of the people to speak about the charter.
Photo from the Facebook page of Liberal Assembly of Chiang Mai University for Democracy – LACMUD
The message in the balloon reads “campaigning is not a crime’. Photo from the Facebook page of the Liberal Assembly of Chiang Mai University for Democracy – LACMUD
Photo from the Facebook page of the Liberal Assembly of Chiang Mai University for Democracy – LACMUD
Activists from south Thailand also used purple balloons in their protest. The police briefly detained the protesters. Photo from the Facebook page of Min Law
Meanwhile, the Liberal League of Thammasat for Democracy initiated the ‘Free Dolls for FREEDOM: Let dolls speak for us’ campaign, which enjoins the public to share their views about the referendum and the charter by posting photos of dolls and toys. The campaign aims to demonstrate the injustice of the law, which prohibits the public from campaigning against the policies of the Junta. The campaign can be monitored through the hashtag #FreeDollsForFREEDOM.
The ‘Little Prince’ advocates the right of Thais to speak about the proposed charter and the referendum. Photo from the Facebook page of Liberal League of Thammasat for Democracy
Image from the Facebook page of Liberal League of Thammasat for Democracy

author: Mong Palatino


text:
This Jewish Family Is Hosting a Syrian Muslim Refugee in Their Berlin Home · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

The Jellinek family in their home in Berlin, with their houseguest, Kinan, a Syrian Muslim refugee (second from left). When Chaim Jellinek told Kinan he was Jewish, Kinan said he had no problem with that. Credit: Daniel Estrin. Used with permission
This article by Daniel Estrin originally appeared on PRI.org on June 28, 2016, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
When the Jellineks’ 20-year-old son moved out of the house, a 28-year-old refugee from Syria moved in.
“The room was free,” says Chaim Jellinek, a Berlin doctor. “And we said, ‘OK, we try.’”
Germany has taken in hundreds of thousands of Syrian war refugees over the past year. Some Germans hosted refugees in their homes.
But the Jellinek family stands out as a German Jewish family hosting a Syrian Muslim in their home for the long term — at a time of growing hesitation among Germans, and German Jews in particular, about the million and a half newcomers to their country, mostly from the Middle East.
“I think most of the Jewish community want to welcome refugees. That’s one side,” says Chaim Jellinek, sitting in his living room on a recent Friday evening before Sabbath dinner. “The other side is that many Jewish people fear radical Islamism.”
The head of the Central Council for Jews in Germany, Joseph Schuster, told a German newspaper in November that Germany should set a limit on the number of migrants arriving.
“Many refugees are escaping the terror of Islamic State and want to live in peace and freedom,” Schuster said in the interview. “At the same time, they come from places where hatred of Jews and intolerance are an integral part of the culture.”
The Jellineks belong to an egalitarian synagogue in Berlin where men and women participate equally in the services. It’s an old synagogue that Nazi forces once seized and used as a warehouse.
The temple is involved in refugee aid, and the Jellineks have also dedicated themselves to the cause, co-founding a refugee assistance organization, FREEDOMUS, which published an informational handbook to help refugees overcome the difficulty of integration in Germany.
“I really think that that’s the only good way to solve that problem, to get a connection to the refugees and to welcome them,” Chaim says.
He and his wife Kyra were volunteering with Syrian refugees when they heard about Kinan, a pharmaceutical salesman who fled his native Damascus, made the long journey from Turkey across the waters to Greece, and then all the way north to Germany.
Kinan, who asked to be identified by his first name, was living under difficult conditions in a refugee center in Germany.
When Chaim Jellinek met him, he told Kinan his family was Jewish — and Kinan said he had no problem with that, Kinan recalls.
“You come from a place where there is war, and someone welcomes you,” he says. “To you, he seems like a really good person.”
Kinan says he knows there is bitterness between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East, but that he never saw Jews as an enemy. Yes, there is animosity between Israel and Syria, but that's a matter of politics and has nothing to do with religion, Kinan says.
Kinan, a Syrian refugee, prepares a meal for the Jellinek family's Sabbath dinner in Berlin. He says he learned out to cook from YouTube videos. Credit: Daniel Estrin. Used with permission
Kinan was in charge of the evening’s Shabbat dinner. He hovered over four dishes simmering on the stove: spiced rice; kawwaj, a Syrian stew he made with tomatoes and onions; ground beef with garlic; and lentil soup.
Kinan says he learned how to cook largely from YouTube. He started cooking for himself when he left Damascus on his own.
When the food was ready, Kinan and the Jellineks gathered around a long table: Chaim, Kyra, and their four children: Lilli, 8; Joshy, 12; Rosa, 18; and Béla, 20.
Chaim handed out yarmulkes for his sons to wear. Kinan put one on, too.
The family recited the blessings over the Sabbath candles, the wine, and the challah bread. They ate and joked for hours.
Kinan laughed along with them. Then he admitted he didn’t really understand much of the German. Everyone at the table laughed, him included.
He’s studying German in language classes full-time, and the Jellinek kids often help him with his homework.
“It’s amazing, because you learn a lot from each other — like cooking, like celebrating Shabbat,” says Rosa Jellinek, 18.
“A few weeks ago, he said goodnight to me, but he said it in the wrong way. I said, OK, you have to say ‘good night’ and not, I don’t know, ‘night good,’ or whatever you would have said in English,” Rosa says.
“He said it wrong three times for three evenings after that, but then he started saying it the right way,” Rosa adds. “It was nice to see that he learned more German, that I can help him.”
The Jellinek family lights the Sabbath candles for Friday night dinner. Chaim Jellinek says he thinks the only good way to integrate refugees is to welcome them. Credit: Daniel Estrin. Used with permission
On the sofa, Chaim Jellinek reflected on his country’s warm welcome for refugees.
“This has been one of the most important things in my life because with that moment, we saw a completely different Germany, something we hadn’t seen before,” Jellinek says. “Open-minded. Friendly, really friendly.”
He converted to Judaism years ago. Kyra’s mother survived the Budapest ghetto during World War II. The family is sensitive to the dilemma of being Jewish in post-Holocaust Germany.
As Germany has given a home to newcomers from a different religion and culture, Chaim says he’s felt more at home himself.
“We’ve been very lucky to meet Kinan,” Chaim says. “He opened a door for all of us to look at our country in a different way.”
Frank Hessenland contributed to this report.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Twenty Hostages Killed and Thirteen Rescued as Dhaka Hostage Siege Ends in Tragedy · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Image from Facebook courtesy Sheba.xyz
On Saturday, July 2, 2016, a joint force combining the Bangladesh Army, paramilitary group Border Guard Bangladesh, the police and the elite force Rapid Action Battalion stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery at a diplomatic neighbourhood in Gulshan area of Dhaka to end a hostage crisis.
Late Friday night, between seven and eight assailants stormed and took control over the cafe in the Bangladesh capital, an establishment frequented by expats, diplomats and wealthy Bangladeshi. The cafe/bakery has a very European feel and turns into a restaurant called O'Kitchen. Ironically, the restaurant is situated in one of the most secure areas of Gulshan; it is known as diplomatic zone, as the majority of the country's embassies and international organizations are located there.
The Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), the mouthpiece of the military, has confirmed that they found the bodies of 20 hostages — mainly foreigners, but also some Bangladeshis — most of whom were killed using sharp weapons. Thirteen hostages, including one Japanese national and two Sri Lankan nationals, were rescued and six perpetrators killed. During the Friday night standoff, two police officers were killed and more than 20 injured during a gunfight with the hostage takers, who hurled grenades at them.
Military confirms 20 dead in #DhakaAttack in press briefing. #Dhaka #Bangladesh
— Sadman Sadek (@SadekSadman) July 2, 2016
#DhakaAttack-Commando Op that brought an end to siege. Never imagined this would be a scene from a city we love. pic.twitter.com/sTMxWWRwIY
— Saber H Chowdhury MP (@saberhc) July 2, 2016
ISIS, an Al Qaeda offshoot which has come to control large parts of Iraq and Syria using openly brutal, oppressive and violent tactics, has claimed responsibility for the attacks; their affiliated media, the Amaq News Agency, shared on its Twitter account some gruesome images from the scene, including the bloody bodies of some hostages. The authenticity of the pictures — or the claim — could not be confirmed.
On Friday night, eyewitnesses claimed about eight assailants — armed with AK22 guns, swords and bombs and shouting Allahu Akbar (meaning “God is great” in Arabic) — barged into the restaurant taking more than 20 hostages, including foreigners. Some visitors were able to flee the scene right away and later shared what they witnessed. Two police officers were killed — as the first respondents, they were taken by surprise. As the night progressed, at least 40 people, including policemen, were injured.
During the 12-hour hostage situation, netizens living nearby expressed some of their most agonizing moments through social media. Facebook user Fahim Razzaq heard some of the first gunshots and posted:
I've been hearing gunshots from my room. Supposedly there is a hostage situation at Holey Artisan Bakery at Road No 79, Gulshan 2 next to Lake View Clinic where it is rumored 2 people may have been killed. If anyone on my facebook friend list happens to be at this side of Gulshan, please stay indoors, lock your gates and if you are out please do not come here till this situation fades. Please also spread the news to anyone else you know who lives in this area.
And on Twitter, Nikita Sampath wrote:
I just heard one more blast, this one was louder than the last two. This ordeal needs to end soon, and safely as possible. #DhakaAttack
— Nikita Sampath (@nikitavishaka) July 2, 2016
Soumir Baroi, whose fate is yet to be known, was trapped inside one of the bathrooms, but managed to establish contact with his brother through text messages. A young woman was also able to contact her father during the seige.
One rescued hostage told the media that the gunmen asked hostages to recite from Quran and tortured those who could not. They behaved well with those who could, even providing meals. Their main targets appeared to be foreigners.
There was soon a media blockade and the area within a four kilometre radius of the restaurant was cordoned off to allow the authorities to carry out the offensive against the attackers. However, some media were criticised for their irresponsible reporting:
I wish the media would not make up this information blockade by reporting on hostages or their families #Dhaka #Gulshan
— Quazi Zulquarnain (@nondeplume) July 1, 2016
On Saturday morning, authorities went into action as two armoured vehicles broke down the walls of the cafe to enter the premises. After a gunfight and explosions, six gunmen were killed and 13 hostages rescued. One gunman has reportedly been taken alive. Foreign missions are on high alert in Dhaka and embassies have asked their citizens to stay indoors.
For Bangladesh, this kind of attack is new, although Bangladeshi militants had previously murdered a number of secular bloggers and online activists. Since 2005, at least 23 bloggers, publishers, editors and activists have been killed and scores of others — including foreigners and people of other religions — attacked or threatened with death for their progressive and secular views.
Even as the hostage situation unfolded late Friday night, unknown assailants hacked a Hindu priest with sharp weapons inside a temple. They left him badly wounded, thinking he was dead, but locals rushed him to hospital where his condition remains critical. Another priest was killed that very morning by three men on a motorcycle, adding to the tally of dozens of brutal attacks in Bangladesh.
These attacks have long-term implications on Bangladesh's progress. Expatriate blogger and security engineer Ishtiaq Rouf wrote in a post:
The result of this earth-shaking attack will be terrible, especially for a country like Bangladesh. Imagine yourself in the shoes of an Argentinian citizen. They don’t care how much you cried over Messi’s retirement from international football, but they will care when the severed head of a fellow citizen will be broadcast over the internet. Imagine being an Italian citizen whose country houses some 50k Bangladeshi laborers. Or a Scandinavian citizen whose country funds countless projects. Or an orange-haired racist bigot who is looking for an excuse to uproot the RMG [Ready Made Garments] industry from cheap-labor countries like Bangladesh.
Rouf also issued a sombre warning:
So please let us stop protecting those who did nothing to stop this inevitable day from coming to pass. Let us not draw up more excuses for people and ideologies that inspire such acts.
Instead, we should treat this as a kick up our collective backsides. Do something, or something will have been done to you. Eventually. Surely.

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


text:
Will This ‘Toilet Cleaning’ Conflict Between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan Ever Stop? · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Most people can agree that there isn't anything wrong or shameful with being paid to cleaning one of these. Not Kazakh ministers, apparently. Creative commons.
It started with an off-colour remark from a minister and has continued through diplomatic channels, video addresses, and state awards. Put an end to it already.
Before Global Voices takes you through a bilateral scandal between two brotherly ex-Soviet Central Asian nations that began in May and has continued into July, it is important to understand one thing.
Despite broadly similar cultures, national histories and generally cooperative international relations, Kazakhstan is the big brother in this relationship and Kyrgyzstan is the small brother.
The two brothers are the same age — nearly 25 — but Kazakhstan is vast, three times as populous as Kyrgyzstan and rich with oil.
Like many big brothers it is also more authoritarian and displays a sense of superiority, while Kyrgyzstan, a country of two revolutions in the last 14 years, is more democratic and quarrelsome.
It doesn't know when to stop an argument. Ever.
This is how the last dispute between the two of them has played out.
Speaking at a public event in Kazakhstan on May 24 and quoting Chingiz Aitmatov — a Kyrgyz writer — Kazakh sport and culture minister Arystanbek Mukhamediuly seized the opportunity to remind Kazakhs that all was not well in their poorer, more democratic neighbour.
These were his words, as reported by RFE/RL:
Aitmatov wanted to prevent his people from taking […] senseless steps. And really he forecast those negative events that we have witnessed in Kyrgyzstan. When I go to Moscow, it is painful for me to see how young Kyrgyz girls have to clean public toilets there. Since there are no jobs, no prospects in their country, Kyrgyz have to leave.
His words were strongly contested on Kyrgyz social media.
Kyrgyz historian Ainura Arzymaytova said:
I suppose this Kazakh official was trying to hint to his people … ‘Look what happened to Kyrgyz people after their revolutions […] It was some kind of a maneuver to distract Kazakh citizens from their problems by offering them our problems to discuss.
And problems in Kazakhstan are plenty now.
After over a decade of continuous economic growth the crash in global oil has rocked the country of 18 million, fuelling a protest mood that peaked around government plans to extend land leases for foreigners.
In recent months as social discontent has blossomed, Kazakhstan's pro-government media has used Kyrgyzstan's bloody recent history — over 500 people died in political upheavals in the country in 2010 — to disincentivise political gatherings.
Women in Kazakhstan. Wikipedia image.
The following day Kyrgyzstan's foreign minister called in Kazakhstan's ambassador to the country over the comments, noting irritably, according to Reuters, that the remarks had been in tune with the negative press Kyrgyzstan had been receiving in the Kazakh media in recent times. Ouch.
The first speaker in the video says:
Yes, maybe we clean toilets, but it is honest work. We are not selling our bodies. We are just feeding our families and we make a big contribution [through migrant remittances] to Kyrgyzstan's economy. I want to tell the Kazakh minister I do not agree with his words. It is not correct. We are not here because life is good, but we have to feed ourselves somehow. Actually among us there are also Kazakh citizens and they also clean toilets. There is nothing to be ashamed of here. We clean toilets and offices. In the 10 years I have been [in Moscow] we have schooled two of our daughters and with God's help we will be able to re-do our home with modern fittings. We clean toilets here but when we go home we are well-respected.
Because it would, wouldn't it?
A family in Kyrgyzstan. Wikipedia image.
With anger over the comments still raw in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakh foreign minister Erlan Idrissov said almost a month later on June 20:
То, что мы видели в блогосфере, это в основном эмоциональные всплески отдельных кыргызских граждан. Ни в коем случае наш министр не намеревался, не хотел, да и не мог никак умалить самый близкий нам народ Центральной Азии.
What we are seeing in the blogosphere is mainly an emotional reaction on the part of individual Kyrgyz citizens. Our minister in no way intended, did not want and would not be able to offend our closest neighbouring people in Central Asia.
So that's where it ends, right? Wrong!
President Almazbek Atambayev, who seems to enjoy the rough and tumble of diplomatic spats, thanked them for their “active civic position”.
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev. Russian presidential press service. Available for reuse.
Speaking at a July 1 ceremony during which he was handing out “golden certificates” to high-achieving middle-schoolers, Kyrgyzstan's Atambayev appeared to have another veiled dig at the Kazakh culture minister:
Ни в какой работе нет ничего зазорного. Лучше быть уборщицей или дворником, чем вором-министром, который ставит себя выше других. Никогда не стесняйтесь ни одной работы. Любая работа — большая честь.
There is no shame in any kind of work. It is better to be a cleaner or street-sweeper than some kind of thieving minister. Don't be shy of work. Any work is a great honour.
Is that the end of it? Finally?
Kazakhstani Facebooker Rinat Balgybayev thought there was life in the dispute yet:
Теперь кто-то из наших должен ответить президенту Кыргызстана что быть министром-вором вообще не зазорно
Now it is time for one of our [representatives] to tell the Kyrgyz president that there is no shame in being some kind of thieving minister…

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


text:
According to the Indian People, The Real Brexit Happened In 1947 · Global Voices
Nikhil Dhingra

The Hindustan Times, August 15, 1947 edition. Public domain.
On June 23, 2016, citizens of the United Kingdom took part in a historic referendum to vote on whether or not they will remain in the European Union (EU). After a long and tumultuous few months of campaigning from both the Remain and the Leave camps, Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party prevailed, with 52% of the country voting to leave the EU.
Much of the Leave campaign's focus was on concerns about immigration  rather than on ideas about policy, with Farage perpetrating the idea that a massive influx of refugees into the UK through the EU’s open border system could lead to a spike in crime and terrorism and a departure from their traditional national identity.
The UK is the first nation to ever leave the EU and the repercussions from this vote were felt — both in the UK and in the global market — almost immediately. The pound fell to its lowest value in 31 years while investors have been pulling money out of Britain due to speculation about its financial future.
As the world continues to watch in anxious speculation about what Brexit will mean for the future of European economics and how this monumental decision will re-shape trading for the rest of the world, many countries have reacted to the Brexit news in remarkably different ways. Despite fears of a similar referendum for independence within Delhi, Indians have largely found the news of Britain’s exit from the EU to be comical and reminiscent of a similar Brexit that took place in 1947 within the nation.
The original #Brexit pic.twitter.com/gBFYngoW0U
— The Cult of Bajirao (@bizzarebhide) June 24, 2016
1948 :: Earl Mountbatten , Last Viceroy Leaves India #Brexit pic.twitter.com/LKJWWk2nw2
— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) June 24, 2016
Some Indians found Britain’s perceived threat to its national identity and sovereignty to be wildly hypocritical considering all of the countries, including India, that Britain has ruled over throughout its history. The Indian Brexit involved two centuries of mutinies and protests; the nonviolent movement led by Mahatma Gandhi compelled the British to grant India independence in 1947 and leave soon after.
Indians took to Twitter to express the irony that resulted from the Brexit vote and tried to understand the temperament that most Brits who voted to leave had towards their country’s border security. One Twitter user summarized India’s shock at the simplicity of the Brexit vote:
Meanwhile India is just blown away that you can get Britain to leave by voting
— Bobby Big Wheel (@BobbyBigWheel) June 23, 2016
Rohan, an Indian comedian based in Mumbai, warned the EU that Britain might take actions similar to their maneuvers after leaving India; that is, taking all of the wealth with them:
Dear EU, if Britain has any of your jewellery, now would be a good time to take it back
— Rohan (@mojorojo) June 24, 2016
Others, such as Derek Simon, could not comprehend how Britain’s citizens could be worried about immigration when they were usually the immigrants:
Can't think about #Brexit without thinking about this. pic.twitter.com/uRfIw7LGgu
— Derek Simon (@DartmouthDerek) June 24, 2016
Journalist Manu Joseph simply summed up India’s feelings regarding the Brexit vote in one tweet:
The finest Brexit was in 1947
— Manu Joseph (@manujosephsan) June 22, 2016
Unsurprisingly, many Indians share similar sentiments, believing that Britain’s vote is not only unprecedented but hypocritical based on the country’s history with oppression and violence.
Charu Sharma tried to predict what impact Brexit will have on India:
UK is the maximum revenue generator source for Indian companies. Maximum of Indian businesses choose to establish their European offices in the UK, to gain the flexible working operations in the UK and to avail the benefits of staying in Europe. Removing this gateway would be problematic for Indian businesses in the UK, who may choose to relocate and direct investment someplace else.
As Britain begins to prepare for the economic crisis that could follow in the wake of Brexit, India is preparing for troubles of its own. Despite all of the humor that Indians have about the vote, there are numerous reports of economic downturn in the region as a direct result of Brexit and even talk of the Kashmir region — whose territorial rights have been heavily disputed between India and Pakistan in the past — casting its own referendum on independence from either nation.
While Brexit might seem comical and ironic at first, its implications — both within India and throughout the rest of the world — could reshape the structure of global politics as we know it.

author: Nikhil Dhingra


text:
Defying Police Harassment, the Macedonian Colorful Revolutionaries Continue to Chant “Freedom” · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

The people celebrate the release of the Colorful Revolution van on June 27, 2016 in Skopje. Photo by F. Stojanovski, CC BY.
One of the key demands of Macedonia's Colorful Revolution is putting an end to the misuse of power by law enforcement bodies in the persecution of protesters, who view this excessive use of police force as a form of harassment. The movement takes its name from protesters — who have been speaking out against state corruption — tossing paint on government buildings and landmarks.
Some prominent protesters have been put under house arrest, or are frequently detained through dramatic arrests involving special police forces. Such detentions do not last, as the police cannot press criminal charges for ‘vandalism,’ which is a mere misdemeanor under Macedonian law. However, they do serve as tool for intimidation, not just for the protesters, but also for supporters of the ruling party who might consider defecting.
In several cases, such police actions have sparked new protests, including spontaneous gatherings in front of police stations whenever news about a new detention spreads via social networks.
During a June 27 protest, police attempted to arrest the drivers of a van that was carrying audio equipment and supplies for use by the protesters. Traffic police and about 30 members of Alpha — a special police unit comprising mobile, armed, plainclothes officers in charge of countering violent urban crime — stopped the van near the parliament building. The people who were standing in front of parliament listening to speeches moved towards the van; once the protesters approached them, the police fled. One of the protesters, Zamir Mehmeti, then climbed the van and, holding a Macedonian flag and a flare, gave an impromptu speech:
Ова е уште еден доказ дека ако сме сите сплотени, не Митко Чавков, туку никој не ни може ништо. Тие се кукавици, научени се да прават проблеми кога нема да наидат на отпор, тие нема да можат ништо.
This is another proof that if we are united, nobody can harm us, nor [Minister of Interior] Mitko Čavkov. They are cowards, they are used to making problems when nobody is daring to resist them, otherwise they are powerless.
The people responded by chanting: “Freedom! Freedom!”
Activist Alek Gochev and Lidija Dimova, MP, in the ‘Colorful Revolution’ van minutes before their attempted arrest. Photo: F. Stojanovski CC BY.
The van was driven by Lidija Dimova, a member of parliament who sits in opposition. The portal Slobodna Makedonija (Free Macedonia) reprinted the Facebook status of activist Alek Gochev, who was riding shotgun:
На заминување од протестот повеќе од 30 полицајци не сопреа заедно со пратеничката Лидија Димова која го возеше комбето на денешниот протест. Во моментот кога толпата која беше пред Собрание разбра за сопирањето од страна на полицијата се упати кон нас со цел да помогнат. Нашата полиција кога разбра дека толпата граѓани се упати кон нас за 5 секунди буквално влегоа во коли и се разбегаа како најголема мафијашка банда, тоа ли е нормална полиција?! Фала ви добри луѓе, за вас вреди човек да се бори и да живее!
After departure from the protest more than 30 policemen stopped the van, driven by Lidija Dimova, MP. At the moment when the crowd gathered in front of the Parliament heard about this, they started coming towards us in order to help us. When our police realised that the citizens are approaching, it took them literally 5 seconds to enter their vehicles and escape as some kind of mafia gang. Is this a normal police?! Thank you, good people, you make our fighting and living worthwhile!
Later that evening, after the protest ended and people were walking back towards their homes, the police did manage to arrest two other prominent protesters. Pavle Bogoevski and Simona Spirovska were surrounded by special policemen and detained — allegedly for not producing I.D. cards — at the nearby police station. Both were released shortly afterwards, as protesters began to gather in front of the station, having been alerted via their social networks.
Activists Simona Spirovska and Pavle Bogoevski, photographed during painting of the Skopje main square red during protest performance commemorating the murder of Martin Neškovski on June 6, have been singled out for police harassment. Photo by Vančo Džambaski, CC BY-NC-SA.
This was not the first time that Bogoevski suffered a ‘spectacular arrest.’ In Macedonia, this term is used to describe a police procedure meant as a show of force and performed with a large number of heavily armed officers. Pro-government television crews often get invited to record such events and then broadcast the footage to emphasize the victim's humiliation. Leaked wiretaps have shown that such coordination is being done by high-ranking officials of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE — in fact, the Special Prosecutors’ Office is currently investigating the 2011 arrest of opposition leader Ljube Boškoski as a case of torture.
Bogoevski also seems to be targeted. On June 19, riot policemen detained him during another Colorful Revolution action, when the activists attempted to display a critical banner close to where the ruling party was celebrating its anniversary. Not being allowed near the celebrations, the protesters tried to unfold the banner across the Vardar river, about a hundred meters away. The banner's text ironically asked, “When will you celebrate 10 years of MVRO?”, referring to wordplay that the former Minister of Interior used in a leaked wiretap, combining part of the name of the ruling party (VMRO) with the acronym for Ministry of Interior (MVR). In the wiretap, the minister explains how her official premises served as the party's local campaign headquarters during rigged elections.
When some known ruling party thugs attempted to storm the activists’ gathering and grab the banner, the police intervened, preventing further physical violence. However, they let the attackers go and pinned Bogoevski to the ground, even though he was reportedly not resisting arrest at all and had, in fact, been trying to lower the tension during the whole event:
Го пуштија @PavleBogoevski #ШаренаРеволуција #протестирам pic.twitter.com/O4WYMoHG36
— Filip Stojanovski (@razvigor) June 19, 2016
Moment of releasing Pavle Bogoevski from the police station.
Over a hundred people quickly gathered in front of the police station. It was difficult to estimate exact numbers, since — quite curiously — the street lights in the area had been turned off, although they worked normally in the neighboring streets. Subsequent to the protest starting, Bogoevski was released, but only after the police slapped him with a misdemeanor charge “for not heeding a direct order” by a police officer.
Group of Colorful Revolution protesters celebrating the release of Pavle Bogoevski (in the middle) from police custody. Photo by Vančo Džambaski, CC BY-NC-SA.
While most of the incidents using excessive force and harassment against protesters have backfired, many Colorful Revolutionaries are asking, “What next?” as they brace themselves for a more severe backlash before the anticipated fall of the regime.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Refugee Children in California Say Discrimination at School Is Getting Worse · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Amira Matti and her brother, both from Guatemala, rest after soccer practice at YALLA, a San Diego-based after-school program that teaches soccer to refugees and immigrants and provides academic mentoring. Credit: Jean Guerrero
This article by Jean Guerrero originally appeared on PRI.org on June 27, 2016, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Amira Matti, 11, remembers the day her little brother was almost kidnapped near their home in Guatemala City. “My little brother comes running to us and he says, ‘Someone tried to get me,’” she said. “It looked like he’d seen a ghost.” A passing driver had rescued him from the kidnappers.
So Amira's family decided it was time to get out of Guatemala, with its rising gang violence, and head for the United States. On the way, Mexican officials stopped the family and put them in a detention center for more than five months. Amira said it was a nightmare.
“You couldn’t sleep because there were these huge bugs that were roaming around the whole place,” she said. “It was like a thousand of them.”
When the family made it to the US, they applied for asylum in San Diego. Amira thought the hard part of their journey was over. She realized it wasn’t as soon as she started second grade — learning English was tough, and she had missed months of school when she was detained in Mexico. “Those past five months I didn’t learn anything,” she said. “I felt dumb because I didn’t know the answers to any questions my teacher would ask me.”
Amira's family is among a rising number of refugees fleeing violence in Central America who are encountering challenges in the form of discrimination and educational difficulties.
She said her classmates bullied her. “Kids would come up to me, and say, ‘Hi, weird girl,’ and I wouldn’t understand anything because I didn’t know any English in the beginning and I would think, this is a country I’m not supposed to be in. I’m not welcome here,” she said.
But then her family learned about YALLA, an after-school program that started six years ago. It teaches soccer to refugees and immigrants, using the sport as a fun hook for serious academic services.
Coached by YALLA’s mentors and its English-language software that helps with reading and writing, Amira quickly caught up with her classmates. “When you didn’t understand something in English, it would explain it to you in Spanish, and it would tell you to repeat it,” she explained.
She also, finally, felt like she belonged somewhere. At YALLA there are students from Iraq, Sudan, Honduras and elsewhere. They bond because they’ve all been uprooted.
Amira’s little brother Matti (his first name is the same as his last), 8, also practices English in the YALLA program. Riyam Mansoor, an Iraqi refugee, helps him. Mansoor says many of the program's mentors are immigrants, and their friendships with the students are key to success.
The soccer part helps build ties too. “With soccer, you don’t usually need a language to speak in. It’s like a universal language,” she said.
Mark Kabban, who started the YALLA program, said soccer helps the staff build friendly relationships with the students. “We’re able to have healthy manipulation,” he said. “We’re able to influence them a lot more in their academics because of the things we have in soccer.”
This year, 20 high schoolers graduated from the YALLA program, receiving a record $2.4 million in college scholarships. But Kabban has noticed a change ahead of the next funding round: Some donors are withholding their support. He thinks it’s because of the current immigration debate in the US electorate.
“Politically, what’s happening I think in the shift of public attitude towards immigrants, especially people coming from the Middle East, has affected our young people,” said Kabban.
“There have been some donors who don’t like that we serve Muslim kids,” Kabban said, who would not name a particular donor. “At the end of the day, I’m like, if they don’t want to invest in the diversity of our kids, then I don’t want their money.”
Kabban also said that YALLA students are complaining of more discrimination at school.
“Our scholar athletes are coming to us and saying ‘we feel discriminated against,'” he said. “In our six years, I’ve never heard that before. And I don’t know what to tell them other than, hey, this is who we are and we’re going to stick together and we’re going to keep working hard and we’re going to keep being the best people we can be.”
Amira said she feels supported at YALLA, and has learned to believe in herself and her big ambitions — she wants to be a heart surgeon — even though some of her non-immigrant classmates have told her she can't be a surgeon because she’s Guatemalan.
Amira said she is keeping her eye on the goal.