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Critics of ‘Military Impunity’ Take On Indian-Administered Kashmir · Global Voices
Ajin K Thomas

Indian Army on duty in Jammu and Kashmir. Image from Flickr by Kris Liao. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The recent violence and unrest in Indian-administered Kashmir has invited harsh reprimands from South Asia and beyond. The US public intellectual Noam Chomsky has described the situation as “shocking” and has drawn a parallel between Kashmir and the struggle of the Palestinian people. There have been numerous protests in universities and public spaces, where people are awakening to the news of bloodshed. Many analysts argue that one of the main reasons for human rights abuses in the area is the 1978 Public Safety Act and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which provide the basis for military impunity in Kashmir and other conflict areas in Northeast India.
Twelve million people live in the Indian portion of Kashmir, which is geographically divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in entirety by both. Many separatist politicians, rebels, and civilians reject India’s sovereignty over Kashmir and have been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan, with militant undertones, since 1989. Following the start of an armed uprising, Kashmir experienced rapid militarisation. Today, it is the most densely militarised zone in the world, with a presence of more than half a million soldiers.
The Indian writer Arundhati Roy argues that her country is in denial about the Kashmiri people's freedom—(azadi).
While we denounce—as we must—the gunning down of unarmed protesters by the security forces, the attacks on ambulances and hospitals by policemen, and the blinding of teenagers with pellet guns, we have to keep in mind that the real debate cannot only be about the violation of human rights by Indian security forces in the Kashmir valley. Egregious though they are, those violations are the consequence—the inevitable and unavoidable consequence—of the militaristic suppression of a people’s struggle for freedom. Kashmiris are not fighting for the establishment of the rule of law or an end to human rights violations. They are fighting for azadi. For this, they are prepared to face down bullets with stones. For this, they are prepared to die in numbers.
In a letter to UN officials monitoring human rights violations, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society states:
With the presence of an estimated 700,000 armed forces, Jammu and Kashmir is today the most militarized zone in the world and its civilians have faced widespread and systematic attacks at the hands of Indian State forces over the last 26 years.
Kashmiri Blogger Aaqib at Amoz-i-Bulbul mentions:
With the enactment of armed forces special powers act (AFSPA), state administration has been paralyzed, and pushed to a corner with a status of a “nonchalance spectator”.
After the death of Burhan Muzaffar Wani, the commander of the Kashmiri separatist group Hizbul Mujahideen, the Supreme Court struck down the inevitability of “special powers” to the military and the police, which many credit with contributing to gruesome human rights abuses. The Public Safety Act (PSA), which allows for incarceration without trial for two years (among other shocking provisions), is idiosyncratic to Kashmir. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has broader provisions for policing a conflict-ridden region. The state of Tripura dismissed the AFSPA back in May 2015, seeing a wane in terrorism. With the merger of the AFSPA, PSA, and other legalities, more than 94,290 locals (including 7,038 prisoners and about 8,000 “disappearances”) have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir since 1989, according to the Research Section of Kashmir Media Service.
Thma U. Rangli Juki (“Tur”) writes in Riot.in, a webzine from Meghalaya:
The AFSPA is widely considered to be a legislative measure unique in its absolute disregard of the rights of the residents against unlawful exercise of coercive power. The law exposes people to wanton and reckless use of force by security forces as it grants them absolute power and authority to use force.
Tur also mentions that multiple international authorities have recommended that the Indian government repeal or at least amend the AFSPA to make it more compliant with international human rights laws.
In recent weeks, there have been protests, among other places, in Delhi and Calcutta, where demonstrators called for the revocation of AFSPA and PSA, and the immediate demilitarisation of the region. Protesters argue that AFSPA and PSA directly facilitate the disappearances and mass extrajudicial killings that have plagued the region.

author: Ajin K Thomas


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How Economic Hardship Pushed a Tiny Town in Macedonia Into Becoming Pro-Trump · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

“Boss Trump, ode to Nast” uploaded by Flickr user DonkeyHotey on March 27, 2016. This image of Boss Trump was adapted from Thomas Nast's famous political cartoon titled The “BRAINS,” which was originally published in Harper's Weekly on October 21, 1871.
Macedonians from the little town of Veles own a number of pro-Trump websites that pose as news sites and have been traced as a source to fake reports. This news came as a surprise to many in the tiny land-locked Balkan country of two million people.
The American website Washington Examiner broke the story in April. Their report showed that the ICANN WHOIS records for the pro-Trump websites showed the names, addresses and contact information of Macedonia-based owners. All the websites used catchy domain names: UsaNewsFlash.com, 365UsaNews.com, WorldNewsPolitics.com. The Washington Examiner explained that the websites were “presumably designed to sway undecided voters toward presidential candidate Donald Trump”
Велес <3 <3 <3 Доналд Трамп.
— Марио Жардел (@NoLuckMakedonec) April 7, 2016
Veles <3 <3 <3 Donald Trump
At first, online conversations about this report revolved around the possible link between the local right-wing ruling party and conservatives in the US. There have been ties in the past.
However, an investigation by the non-profit news site Meta.mk revealed something completely different. Meta.mk reporters got in touch with the people listed as owners of the pro-Trump news domains. Two owners granted them interviews. One owner is a computer science student, and the other is an English language teacher. They explained that they promote Trump to earn money from ‘clicks’ on online ads embedded on their site.
Veles is a former industrial town, which has fallen on hard economic times. Much of its employable youth move to the capital Skopje, or to western European cities in search of jobs. Local economic opportunities are limited, and ties to the ruling party are a dominant prerequisite for prosperity.
One of the interviewed owners explained that he do not care about journalistic standards and truthfulness of his content, or the consequences of misinforming US voters:
– Нешто пишувам, нешто преведувам, нешто преземам од други веб-страници. Само прикачувам вести и ништо друго. Најмногу пишувам за Доналд Трамп затоа што народот најмногу сака за него да чита, но пишувам и за други. […]
Знам дека не е сè точно што се пишува на веб-страницата, исто како што не е точно сè што се пишува и на македонските веб-страници. Но, за секоја вест имам напишано извор од каде е пренесена – вели Мирон Брезев од Велес.
“Some of it I write myself, some of it I translate from parts I take from other websites. I only publish news and nothing else. I mostly write about Donald Trump because that’s what people want, it seems, to read about the most, but I write for others as well. […]
I know that not everything is true that appears on the website, just like many Macedonian websites. But for every piece I’ve written I have added the source from where the story originated from,” said Miron Brezev from Veles.
Soon after the owners talked to the Meta.mk reporters, the websites noted within the Examiner and Meta.mk articles replaced information about their real owners with data of a company that provides anonymization services.
Change of registration records of a pro-Trump website documented by Meta.mk News Agency.
Twitter user @Pipelinemkd used the mocking tone of government announcements to comment on this phenomenon:
Зголемен наталитетот на кликбејт сајтови за Доналд Трамп во Македонија. Велес и Куманово моментално со најголем раст.
— Алехандро™ (@pipelinmkd) May 4, 2016
The birth rate of pro-Donald Trump click bait sites increased in Macedonia. Currently Veles and Kumanovo display the biggest growth rate.
Panorama of Veles, Macedonia. Photo by Wikipedia user Makedonec, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Other Macedonian social media users explained that there's a cottage industry based on the creation of websites about topics of interest to American audiences. There are even “Internet Business and Marketing Training” courses where people with basic English-writing skills can learn to set up WordPress websites and then publish “news” about various subjects. Embedded ads can provide some income, but it seems that the biggest benefit in this industry are the people providing the courses. They advertise on social media and seem to have ready supply of new students.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Marko Angelov


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Jalisco Moves to End Political Immunity and Usher In a New Kind of Politics for Mexico · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

“No nos soltemos, los muros sí caen” (Don't let go, the walls will fall). Photo from the Facebook page of Pedro Kumamoto.
In Jalisco, located in western Mexico, the state Congress oversaw a historic session on July 14, 2016, when they approved the removal of the fuero, a law that offers constitutional protections to the political class and government employees, preventing them from being prosecuted for crimes while still in office. The approved reform would take this political privilege away from 1,598 public employees, including the governor.
To be enacted, the constitutional reform needs the support of at least 63 of the 125 city councils in Jalisco. Whatever happens with the city councils, the Jalisco Congress’ unanimous endorsement is being widely described as a milestone in the fight against political impunity and corruption.
Quitar #Fuero en Jalisco 1 gran paso.
Los legisladores locales en los Estados + impunes repliquen ya.@CarlosGidiB https://t.co/3tQFSUNyWh
— Fiscalización #Data (@Fiscalizador75) July 8, 2016
In a press release, the Jalisco Congress stated:
“[el fuero] ha sido ejercido con exceso y abuso que los ciudadanos consideran un símbolo de corrupción, impunidad, prepotencia, privilegio […]”.
The independent Senator Pedro Kumamoto was one of the main promoters of the constitutional reform, since April when he presented an initiative to eliminate the law and civilianize political proceedings.
It's worth mentioning that, thanks to the political reform of 2014 that laid down the rules for independent candidates at local and federal levels, Pedro Kumamoto was the first independents to become a senator without the backing of a political party. His candidacy arose as part of the innovative political project Wikipolítica. Rodrigo Cornejo, Wikipolítica's Jalisco coordinator, said in an interview with MediaZoom:
La manera wiki de hacer política es, como su nombre lo dice, rápida y sin trabas, que se basa en la auto organización de grupos (nodos) independientes y el establecimiento de puentes de comunicación online y offline.
As shown in the following video that formed part of the electoral campaign of Kumamoto, Wikipolítica maintains that people must be at the center of democracy, and that they are the “motor and reason for institutions”. With that in mind, the campaign pointed out:
Esto ya comenzó. Nadie mejor que nosotros, las personas y no los partidos, para hacer de la política la semilla del encuentro. Somos las grietas de ese muro que va a caer.
La partidocracia, el clientelismo y las cúpulas de poder empezarán a venirse abajo si te unes. Vamos a habitar el gobierno.
Soy Pedro, uno de los ocupantes, y soy el primer candidato independiente al Congreso Local en la historia de nuestro estado. Tengo la seguridad de que no estoy solo. Ya somos miles y cada día somos más.
It has now started. No one better than us, the people and not the parties, to turn politics into the seed of assembly. We are the cracks in the wall that is going to fall. The traditional parties, the favoritism, and the circles of power will start to come down if you join. We will occupy the government.
I am Pedro, one of the occupants, and I am the first independent candidate for the local Congress in the history of our state. I am sure that I am not alone. We are already thousands and every day we are more.
The Wikipolítica project, with Pedro Kumamoto as its chief spokesperson, has benefitted from the participation of citizens, dialogue, and collective intelligence, receiving a large backing from various segments of Jalisciense society. Their initiative #FueroNoJuicioSí (Impunity No, Judgement Yes), for example, had the support of diverse groups like Ciudad Pixel, who created the web site FueroNo.Org to help with the dissemination of the project and to promote participation through the use of social media and digital formats.
Screencapture of the Facebook page of Ciudad Pixel.
Are you tired of congressmen who use threats and get away with anything?
Are you tired that first-class governments and second-class citizens exist?
Go to fueron.org and pressure congressmen to back this initiative.
In this way, a little more than a year after Pedro Kumamoto started his term as senator from the 10th district of Zapopan, and with the removal of the fuero from the political class in Jalisco, it is possible to celebrate several triumphs from and for citizens and confirm that #LosMurosSíCaen (The Walls Will Fall).
“Waiting A Year is Worth It”. Video from the Facebook page of Pedro Kumamoto.
A year ago, generous and brave people harvested their first victory, a first glimpse of hope started to bloom, and on it new thoughts and actions about what's possible are being sowed, if we participate. Let's keep reclaiming politics to reunion, let's inhabit life in common, and let's continue getting involved. Today, we tell you, eye to eye: it's been worth it.

author: Giovanna Salazar


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Playing Pokémon Go in China Is Not Easy, but Many Are Still Risking It · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from Youtube.
Pokémon Go has not been officially released in China, but Chinese players are finding creative ways to access the record-breaking augmented reality game, which has captured the imaginations of millions of mobile users around the world.
The game uses Google Maps data to superimpose characters from the Japanese Pokémon video game series into your geographic surroundings. As you walk, your smartphone uses GPS to track your position in the world, and it will know if you get close to one of these characters. You can then capture the character on your phone screen, train it, and then deploy it in the “augmented reality” battlefield that is Pokémon Go.
Launched on Apple's App store in select countries on July 6, 2016, it was developed by US-based Niantic Labs. The game is technically ‘unavailable’ in China's App store, but some people have found ways to download and play it anyway.
Here are six things that make it hard — and risky — to play Pokémon Go in China:
To be displayed on Chinese app stores, all online games — including Pokémon Go — have to be approved by the censor board. Since Pokémon Go has yet to receive such approval, fans have to register their phone with an overseas Apple ID in order to find and download the Pokémon Go app.
To register a gamer account, players need a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to climb over the Chinese Internet filter or the so-called Great Firewall and access the game server. The gamer also needs to register a Google account, as Google services are also blocked in China.
Since the game's GPS features are locked in most part of the country, players have to spoof their GPS location. In early July, many Chinese players set their location to Australia, leading to numerous server problems.
After the game launched in Japan on July 22, Chinese players spoofed their location again, which resulted in some technical problems. Moreover, a few of them used the game for making political statements. According to TechAsia, Pokémon Go's Japanese servers have reportedly been flooded with Chinese players, and one of them appeared at the Yasukuni Shrine, a politically sensitive site honoring those who died serving the Emperor of Japan during wars from 1867–1951:
A post that reached the top of Reddit’s massive Pokémon Go subreddit, for example, complained about high-level Chinese players monopolizing Japan’s Pokémon gyms. Some even used the game as a form of nationalist protest. A photo posted with the Reddit thread shows the gym at the Yasukuni Shrine being dominated by a player with a high-level Dragonite nicknamed “Long live China!”
As the Yasukuni Shrine is a well-known location among Chinese, it is quite natural for Chinese players to visit the site. Though only a small number of players would use the game to make political statements, such an act is likely to attract a large amount of attention, as well as generate antipathy between people in the virtual world and fuel extreme nationalistic reactions in the real world.
The game is not as much fun if you cannot actually interact with the real world environment. In some parts of China, including Xinjiang and the Northeastern region (Dongbei), the game's GPS has not been locked and players can actually capture Pokémon characters there. Of course, if you are not a local resident, you have to travel there to play the game.
One gamer named @chekailiuhai shared some tips on playing the augmented game in Dongbei on popular Chinese microblogging site Weibo:
玩pokemon 虽然东北不是封锁区 开数据或wifi就能玩 但是小精灵特别少 如果开vpn在家溜达两圈就能逮到3只
Playing Pokémon Go. Though Dongbei is not inside the locked region, if you just access the game with a local connection or wifi, the number of Pokémon is very limited. If you use VPN, you can capture a few just by walking around at home.
As some has pointed out on Weibo, using a VPN in Xinjiang can result in mobile services being cut off completely.
Also, since the game launched on July 6, a conspiracy theory about Pokémon Go has been circulated on social media, claiming the game is a US government-sponsored project aimed at collecting sensitive geo data.
For example, on July 25 the Communist Youth League from Henan province posted an article on Weibo quoting various sources commenting on the companies behind the game's GPS technology:
但是，游戏的技术基础GPS，追根溯源来说，是来自CIA和美国国家地理空间情报局。这两家机构可不是慈善机构，其中的交易，笔者对此的分析推测应该是游戏以使用该技术获取的地理数据作为交换 […]
7月11日，中国东三省和新疆地区解锁就已经解锁了，网上有部分玩家称某个游戏的站点被定位在了沈阳军区大院。东三省，是我国军工单位分部较密集的地区；新疆，是我国内陆的敏感地区。为何我国最先解锁的是这些地区？
However, the GPS technology of the game comes from CIA [IN-Q-Tel] and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. These organizations are not charities and I can induce that the game developer will hand over the geo-data [to the US agencies] in exchange for the game's technology.
On July 11, the three provinces in Dongbei and Xinjiang unlocked the game's GPS, some players claimed that some characters are located only a yard from the Shenyang military base. Dongbei is a region where there is a large number of military organizations and Xinjiang is a sensitive region. Why were these areas the first to unlock in China?
According to a local gamer, @lizexipablo, Dongbei and Xinjiang were ‘not unlocked’ on July 11. He says he has been accessing the game since its launch. He elaborated that the game developers have drawn a GPS locked zone according to this map:
Even though the conspiracy has little evidence backing it up, as geolocation technology is used in many mobile apps, it still received some echoes online. Charles Liu from Nanfang quoted a netizen comment from Weibo:
Then, when war breaks out, Japan and the US can easily target their guided missiles, and China will have been destroyed by the invasion of a Japanese-American game.
Given the spread of extreme patriotic sentiment targeting foreign brands, Chinese gamers playing Pokémon Go may also risk being labelled traitors and subjected to bullying or attacks online or offline.
All this raises the question: Is there a safe way to play Pokémon Go in China? Under such political circumstances, the safest way to play the game is to spoof your location and hope that others think you are ‘performing patriotism’ on overseas servers.
However, given the massive population of Chinese gamers, the minority of nationalist trolls has already caused resentment and anger in other countries. The most reasonable solution is to wait for an official launch of the game inside China. Niantic Labs is also applying for the game’s trademarks in China.
But ordinary netizens don't think Chinese authorities will let the game enter the country.  A Chinese Twitter user explained:
I think Pokémon Go should be locked in mainland China. Just imagine one day Nintendo's server had some technical problem and released a Mewtwo [a Pokémon character] at Tiananmen Square. Then a large number of gamers would chase after Mewtwo carrying Xiaome's mobile chargers [which are not very safe and could explode if over-heated]. Do you think the police officers would believe that they were chasing after the characters? They would think that the group of people were about to launch a terrorist attack!

author: Oiwan Lam


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Ugandans Don’t Want Their Government to Bail out Big Businesses · Global Voices
Prudence Nyamishana

A public school in Uganda. Tweeps argue that taxpayers money need to bail out schools like this one. Image released under Creative Commons by The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance.
When news broke that the government of Uganda intends to use 1 trillion shillings (US$300 million) of taxpayer money to bail out defaulting businesses, Ugandans on Twitter called the move a ‘scam” and suggested the bailout money go towards Uganda's neglected public schools instead.
The companies that the government wants to rescue accumulated debt from loans they privately acquired from various banks in Uganda. Many of the businesses are run by powerful well-connected tycoons. Some central bank and ministry of finance officials are against the bailout plan.
David Mpanga, a Ugandan lawyer, called the plan “socialisation of loss”:
The privatisation of profit and socialisation of loss. Must we all pay for business failure when we didn't all share in the profits made?
— David F.K. Mpanga (@dfkm1970) July 22, 2016
Allan Ssenyonga was surprised to find out that one of the enlisted businesses is a discotheque:
Club Silk is one of the companies in need of a bail out. Is this really a priority for Uganda?? #ScamBailOuts
— Allan Ssenyonga (@ssojo81) July 22, 2016
Fredrick Tumusiime suggested:
For any #bailout, the public must acquire a stake in the firm(s). No public money for private sins. #ScamBailOuts https://t.co/kQ95Ky2cqB
— Fredrick Tumusiime (@tufre80) July 22, 2016
Ugandans questioned the rationale of plans to help well-connected and powerful tycoons in a country with little investment into infrastructure, and dilapidated schools and hospitals.
Sarah Bireete suggested that the government bail out poor schools:
Poor Ugandans can't continue to subsidise the rich #ScamBailOuts Bailout schools with no classrooms, books &latrines pic.twitter.com/YkNYlFEQd1
— Bireete Sarah (@SarahBireete) July 23, 2016
Jeff shared a photo of a company that the government should be helping out:
A photo representing the companies that need bail out by the Government using taxpayers money #ScamBailOuts pic.twitter.com/nZuldcEzBH
— Jeff 4.7.1™ (@andsjeff) July 23, 2016
And another photo of a dilapidated public school:
Karungu Seed School,Buhweju District.
Does it need a BailOut? NO,Bailout companies that don't pay Tax #ScamBailOuts pic.twitter.com/giwY9J1zXa
— Jeff 4.7.1™ (@andsjeff) July 23, 2016
While Samwise Gamgee advised:
If Bailing them out is a matter of National Importance, sharing their profits should be a matter of National Importance too. #ScamBailouts
— Samwise Gamgee (@Sambannz) July 22, 2016

author: Prudence Nyamishana


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A Documentary Shows Macedonian Students Are Still Living in Dismal Conditions, Despite Government Promises · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

“Green Walls, Black Food” screenshot.
A documentary called “Green Walls, Black Food,” published online two years after the Macedonian government promised to improve the conditions in state-owned student dorms, shows little progress has been made.
Sandra Gjorgieva, who wrote the screenplay, directed and edited the film, is a student of the Faculty of Drama Arts in Skopje. In the YouTube description, she said the biggest problem she encountered while making the documentary was fear. Even though the students would complain in private about the miserable state of the facilities, they were afraid to talk on camera:
The representation of this horrible dormitory it is a representation of all the student dormitories in Macedonia. Green walls, black food, cold water, ruined rooms and toilets. This is an everyday picture of a student who is not from the capital and does not have money to pay for an apartment.
A very long time ago this enormous building was an elite acommodation for students all over the world, it won a prize for Best Architecture. Today it is a shame for a student to live there. The main problem is the passivity and the fear students have to speak up for their conditions there. This film is an eye opening for the public and a call for the students to wake up and demand their right to live in an apropriate home. [all sic]
The film includes an interview with architect Gjorgji Konstantinovski, who designed the dorm and won numerous awards for it in the 1970s. After seeing the footage, he said:
As a mother cares about her child, so we, the architects, care about our works and art. When I saw my child in that state, while knowing how it was, can you imagine how I felt? Terrible!
In 2014, Global Voices covered Operation Student Dorm, an initiative launched by a group of digital activists residing in the Goce Delchev Student Dorm in Skopje. In March of that year, they leaked photos of their living conditions on their blog and on photo-sharing site imgur.com. Several foreign news sites republished them soon afterward.
While such living conditions were considered “normal” in Macedonia and ignored by the authorities for years, the ensuing international scandal prompted them to act — but not before trying to intimidate students (such as labeling them as “traitorous”) and stifle discussions (access to Facebook and other websites for the residents of the dorm was cut off).
In April 2014, the government promised full reconstruction of Goce Delcev, the most populous dorm, which houses 1,200 students, over the summer, and started public procurement for construction services. The contract was given to company with direct ties to the ruling party.
In September 2015, independent news site Kosovo 2.0 reported the roof of a hall at Goce Delcev collapsed, raising once again the issue of poor housing standards for students.
Over two years later, only а quarter of the dorm, called “the Block B,” has been reconstructed. Ruling politicians have issued promises that the other three blocks will be fixed by the end of 2016 or in 2017.
Screen shot with Gjorgji Konstantinovski quote from the documentary “Green walls, black food.” Caption: “With every step a student takes there, he should learn something. He should learn beauty and aesthetics, he should learn art.”


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Iran Takes Aim at American Sanctions by Threatening Apple · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Iranians visiting an unofficial Apple vendor in Tehran. Image taken from ICHRI and used with permission.
A version of this article was originally published on the website of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Officials in Tehran have told Apple that it must open an office in Iran or face a nationwide ban on all Apple products. The ultimatum, officials say, is intended to capture lost tax revenue on the millions of iPhones smuggled into the country every year, but experts say the real goal is to weaken US sanctions that currently restrict investment flows into Iran.
“If [Apple] does not register an official representative office in Iran, all phones produced by this company will be confiscated from stores,” said Abbas Nakhaei, the head of Iran's Anti-Smuggling Task Force, in an interview with the hardline Tasnim News Agency on July 17, 2016.
Bringing Apple officially into the country would be a huge victory for Iran, which has argued that the benefits of signing the nuclear deal and the easing of international sanctions have not brought the expected foreign investment into the country.
Iran is able to sell its oil internationally and non-American companies are now free to set up shop in the country, but US companies (including some businesses in high demand) are still effectively banned from operating in Iran, due to remaining sanctions that Washington has kept in place against the Islamic Republic.
With their ultimatum to Apple, Iranian officials ostensibly want to end the country's massive iPhone smuggling industry, which deprives the government of much-needed tax revenue. There are an estimated 6 million active iPhone users in Iran, according to a July 20, 2016, report in the newspaper Donya-e-Eghtesad, though most of these phones were smuggled in from Dubai.
The ultimatum's larger goal, experts believe, is to break down barriers erected by US sanctions against Iran. If Apple can be pressured to establish an office on Iranian soil, the company would be forced to resolve the technical and legal issues currently preventing its (and other businesses’) operations in the country. Tehran appears to be confident that other companies will follow Apple's lead. By targeting Apple, the Islamic Republic is trying to force open the door for other US companies to enter the Iranian market.
Apple may be unlikely to comply, at least in the near term, and it would be surprising if it were to risk the legal and financial repercussions of violating American sanctions without first discussing the matter thoroughly with US officials.
Washington has argued that Iran's difficulties attracting foreign investment are Tehran's problem, blaming the country's obsolete banking sector and opaque business environment. Nevertheless, ongoing US sanctions against Iran over human rights abuses, terrorism, and a ballistic missile program have significantly helped discourage Iran's foreign-investment climate.
In addition to the ultimatum to Apple, Iran’s Anti-Smuggling Task Force said all iPhone users in Iran must register their phones within the next few weeks. Every mobile phone has a unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. If iPhone owners do not register that number by September 22, 2016, the authorities say they would cut service to the devices. Retailers are also being required to register all new iPhones.
“Retail stores are not permitted to sell any brand that has not been registered with the Industries, Mines, and Trade Ministry [If they sell unregistered phones] they will be dealt with,” said Karimi Khorasani, the chairman of the Telecommunication Retailers Union, on July 21, 2016.
Iranian policymakers advocating these new measures find themselves at odds, however, with the law-enforcement officials who will be charged with implementing the new regulations.
On July 23, 2016, the head of the Communication Ministry’s Public Relations and Information department announced a delay in registering mobile phones, due to a lack of preparation. On July 25, however, Ghassem Khorshidi, the spokesperson for Iran’s Anti Smuggling Headquarters, announced that a trial implementation was already underway with a select number of users.
A decade ago, in 2006, the government already tried once to force all people with mobile phones to register their devices with the state, in order to combat smuggling. The effort failed, however, “because mobile operators refused to cooperate,” according to Alireza Golestani deputy chairman of Central Taskforce to Combat Smuggling of Commodities and Foreign Exchange, on October 30, 2015.
An Apple retailer in Tehran who asked not to be identified told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that iPhones are selling for about 10 percent more, since Iranian officials threatened to crack down on Apple products.

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


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A Chinese Communist Party Ad Asks: ‘Who Am I?’ Social Media Responds: ‘Corrupt.’ · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

China Central Television's poster: Who am I?
This post was written by Gene Lin and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on July 27, 2016. An edited version below is published on Global Voices as part of a partnership agreement.
The Communist Party of China launched its first advertisement to celebrate its 95th anniversary. The video, titled as “Who am I?” was produced by the state-run China Central Television and has been vigorously promoted via both conventional and online media outlets.
The advertisement begins with the narrator asking “Who am I? What kind of person am I? Perhaps you have never thought about it.” It then shows a young teacher leaving a deserted classroom with the narrator saying, “I am the one who leaves last.” After that, shots of a street sweeper appear, and the narrator declares, “I am the one who comes to work the earliest.”
Other featured figures are a medical surgeon, police officer, dock worker and village-level party secretary. The concluding message is: “We are the Communist Party of China. We are always with you.”
State-affiliated media outlets and pro-government bloggers circulated the video on major social media platforms with short introductory remarks on July 27, such as the following:
Dear friends, have you noticed that our party has recently started issuing advertisements? Lets understand more about the [communist] party and make more contributions to it and to the country.
Some, however, weren't a fan of the advertisement. A blogger pointed out:
Advertising is a double edged sword… If the party cannot accomplish what it promises in the advertisement, then the party would put itself to shame.
Indeed, netizens started addressing the question “Who am I?” and the answers weren't always kind to the Chinese Communist Party:
I am the one promoted, I am the one who enjoys privileges, I am the one you can never surpass, as you can never overthrow the party.
You are [disgraced politicians] Zhou Yongkang, you are Bo Xilai, you are Guo Boxiong, you are Xu Caihou, you are Ling Jihua, you are the numerous hidden in the background.
Of course, these comments were quickly deleted, either taken down by censors or by their authors in an act of self-censorship.
The advertisement seems to be an attempt to re-establish party members in the eyes of Chinese as people's servants as opposed to privileged and corrupt ruling elites, an impression illustrated by the popular phrase “the Zhao family,” which first made an appearance around end of 2015.
The phrase comes from the novel “The True Story of Ah Q” by prominent Chinese author Lu Xun (1881-1936) and captures the relationship between “them” vs. “us.” Chinese netizens use the phrase to explain the power imbalance in current mainland Chinese society in which the private interests of “Zhao,” representing the Chinese Communist Party, override everything else. The term has been banned online since early January 2016.
Under Chinese Communist Party rules, media outlets should serve as the party's mouthpiece. The presentation of political propaganda in advertisement form is something new. The ad itself includes a lot of the emotional and sensational elements found in political ads from democratic societies during election time.
According to state-affiliated news outlet, the Paper‘s >report, this advertisement was filmed in Shanghai within three days, and the entire production took 20 days to complete. The next ad for celebrating the 95th anniversary of the party is titled “The Heart Beats.” The narrator will be an old soldier from the People's Liberation Army.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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A Pair of Serbian Politicians on a Motorcycle Inspires Hilarious Photoshop Battle · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Serbian politicians Ivica Dačić and Dragan Marković Palma enjoying the summer. Photo by anonymous author first posted on the Facebook page “Neguj mo srpski jezik” (“Nurture Serbian Language”) on July 26, 2016.
A photo of two Serbian politicians riding a motorcycle together has gone viral across social media.
The portal Nova energija (“New Energy”) published an overview of the hype:
Dva prijatelja na motoru, rekli bismo uobičajena letnja fotka sa vrelog asfalta. Međutim, kada su u pitanju ova dva prijatelja, to više nije uobičajena fotografija.
Ivica Dačić, ministar inostranih poslova Srbije i Dragan Marković Palma, [bivši] gradonačelnik Jagodine, uslikani su na motoru, a fotografija, za sada nepoznatog izvora, kruži Facebookom već danima.
Naravno, kako to obično biva, malo joj je trebalo da postane meme. Na sajtu 9gag.com, a i širom Facebooka, Dačić i Palma ubačeni su u različite situacije, od Pokemon Go igrice do serije Game of Thrones i vožnje zmajevima.
Two friends on a motorbike would make a usual summer photo with hot asphalt. However, when one considers who these two friends are, the photo becomes very unusual.
The photo from unknown source, showing Ivica Dačić, minister of foreign affairs of Serbia, and Dragan Marković Palma, the [former] mayor of Jagodina, has been making the rounds on Facebook for days now.
It was soon used as a basis for memes. On the website 9gag.com, and all over Facebook, Dačić and Palma ride through different situations, from Pokemon Go to Game of Thrones, and riding dragons.
Dačić and Palma, Akira-style.
Various memes quickly found the way from Facebook and Twitter to the pages of news portals.
The Internet exploded with photo shops of our local politicians riding a bike.https://t.co/KTFPudnnEe
DAČIĆ I PALMA ISKOČILI I NA @9GAG
— Kamiondzija ♐ (@KoleMali) July 27, 2016
Ivica Dačić, the leader of Socialist Party of Serbia, and Dragan Marković Palma, a member of parliament and the leader of the party United Serbia, are coalition partners. Recently, Palma proposed that Dačić become the presidential candidate for their coalition in the 2017 elections.
DAČIĆ I PALMA SRUŠILI INTERNET! Urnebesne meme koje teraju suze na oči! (FOTO) https://t.co/KhiEvl13Ja
— Telegraf (@telegrafrs) July 27, 2016
Dačić and Palma broke the Internet! Hilarious memes that bring tears to your eyes! (Photo)
Jedina bolja stvar od Dačića i Palme na mopedu jesu Dačić i Palma na mopedu u svemiru. Sa laserima. pic.twitter.com/SmnT9g5nQw
— Sajber 浪人 Vanderlast (@CyberWanderlust) July 26, 2016
The only thing better than Dačić and Palma on a moped are Dačić and Palma on a moped in space. With lasers.
Twitter user @slonoxy even made it easier for aspiring meme authors:
Ukoliko želite da pravite Dačić/Palma fotomontaže, evo ga layer sa transparentnom pozadinom. https://t.co/yaUx25NrWG pic.twitter.com/oswGrOnAP7
— Alesandro Simić (@slonoxy) July 27, 2016
If you would like to make Dačić/Palma photo montages, here's the photo layer with a transparent background.
Dačić and Palma, Game of Thrones-style.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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A Police Raid in Bangladesh Leaves Nine Suspected Militants Dead. ISIS or Not ISIS? · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Screenshot from the video “To the terrorists of Islamic States in Bangladesh”
Police in Bangladesh have killed nine suspected militants and arrested one after a gun battle on 26 July. Authorities say many of the dead are young university students who were preparing a massive attack at their hideout in Kalyanpur, just five kilometers away from the prime minister's office in Dhaka.
The raid was part of an anti-terror drive after assailants took hostages in a cafe in the Gulshan area of Dhaka on 1 July, killing 20 people, and militants attacked police guarding the congregation at Sholakia, where the largest Eid prayers in Bangladesh were taking place, on 7 July, leaving three dead.
The brutal group ISIS, an Al Qaeda offshoot which has come to control large parts of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the Gulshan violence.
Around midnight on 26 July, police say they raided the block in Kalyanpur and faced resistance from those inside. They surrounded the house, and around 6 in the morning “Operation Storm 26” was carried out to end the stalemate.
Exiled writer and feminist Taslima Nasreen wrote on Facebook of the raid:
জঙ্গি আস্তানা ঘিরে রেখেছিল পুলিশ। পুলিশকে চিৎকার করে ছেলেগুলো বলছিল– ‘’ তোমাদের বুলেট-প্রুফ জ্যাকেটের প্রয়োজন হতে পারে কিন্তু আমাদের তা দরকার নেই, কেননা আমরা আল্লাহর সৈনিক।যদি সাহস থাকে তবে বুলেট-প্রুফ জ্যাকেট খুলে সামনে আসো। আমরা শহীদ হব এবং বেহেশতে যাব, আমরা কোন কিছুর পরোয়া করি না।‘’
জঙ্গিরা বিশ্বাস করে তারা বেহেশতে যাবে। তাই তারা যেমন মারতেও দ্বিধা করে না, মরতেও দ্বিধা করে না।
Police surrounded the terrorists. The young men were shouting to the police, “You may need bulletproof vests but we don't need them, because we are soldiers of Allah. If you are brave enough, lose your vests and face us. We will be martyrs and will go to heaven, we don't fear anything.”
The militants believe that they will go to heaven. So they do not hesitate to kill, or get killed.
The police reported they found bombs, ammunition and two black ISIS flags. They said the militants destroyed their electronics devices, but the police were able to retrieve some photos of them posing in front of an ISIS flag in black clothing. The detained man, a student at Bogra's Government Shah Sultan College, claimed that he is an ISIS operative.
However, the police have claimed that they all are not from ISIS, but members of the banned local militant outfit Jamaat-ul Mujahideen, Bangladesh.
Over the past few years, Bangladesh has seen growing violence against mostly secular bloggers, outspoken critics of religious fundamentalism, members of religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians, police officers and some foreigners.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the July attack in Gulshan, as well as other recent attacks that have been escalating over the past few months, but the Bangladeshi government has denied that any international militant group operates in the country.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the Gulshan cafe attackers were “all Bangladeshi and had no foreign connections.” However, the assailants were in communication with ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq, sharing photographs of the killings that were then distributed by the group. According to the Site Intelligence Group, a company that monitors the online activity of extremist groups, a Bangladeshi ISIS fighter in Raqqah commended the Gulshan attack and threatened more violence.
Exiled journalist and blogger Tasneem Khalil wrote on his blog about the government's position:
What we have in Bangladesh is a curious case involving a terrorist group that publishes magazine articles to boast about its plans, while the government refuses to recognise the very existence of that terrorist group, and keeps on blaming the opposition parties for terrorist attacks.
The absurdity of this was captured in a recent article in Dabiq magazine (ISIS’ flagship English publication): “The [apostate] Bengali government will soon realize, by Allah’s permission, that shamelessly denying facts on the ground and playing childish blame games with the [apostate] opposition will be of no avail to them, as the Islamic State is indeed here to stay, inshā’allāh.”
According to Tasneem's analysis, ISIS has these goals: killing as many as possible in three target groups (foreigners, apostates and Hindus) and creating a “state of polarisation”.
After the Gulshan cafe siege, Bangladeshis were surprised to learn that the five assailants killed were from wealthy families, were good-looking and were exposed to Western education at home and abroad. Most of them ran away from their homes to join militant outfits and were reported missing by their parents, and some supposedly came to subscribe to violent ideologies while attending private universities.
One of the suspected militants killed in Kalyanpur was a US citizen and the son of a Bangladeshi millionaire who also had run away from home.
The Rapid Action Battalion has published a list of about 200 individuals who were reported missing over the last year and a half and who are feared to have dangerous motives for doing so. The people in the list range from politicians to businessman, from former civil and military officials to schoolteachers, and from masons to garment workers. Some of the missing men were traced to flying abroad to Malaysia and Turkey and then their trail mysteriously disappears.
The police have been largely ineffective in their earlier investigations of the killings of bloggers and critics of religious fundamentalism. A recent news report stated that in last five years, around five hundred suspected militants were granted bail, and some of them have continued down the path toward violence.
Blogger Ratmojur described on Facebook how authorities have allowed the situation to escalate:
ওরা আমাদের মেরেছে, খুন করতে শিখেছে প্রাক্টিক্যালি। এরপর বিচ্ছিন্ন ভাবে বিদেশি-হিন্দু সেবায়েত মেরে শিখেছে গেরিলা পদ্ধতিতে টার্গেট কিলিং এবং এসকেপ। এরপর ঘটেছে গুলশান ম্যাসাকার আর শোলাকিয়া হামলা। আপনারাও টার্গেট হবেন, হে মহামাণ্য রাজনীতিবিদগন, হয়তো অদূর ভবিষ্যতেই।
They first murdered the bloggers, learned how to kill practically. Then they killed foreigners and Hindu priests with guerrilla tactics where they could kill and escape. Then they undertook the Gulshan attack and the Sholakia attack. You are next, respected politicians, maybe soon.
Meanwhile, Bangladeshis have strong words for people who wish to do their countrymen and women harm. A video posted on Vimeo shows several Bangladeshis criticizing ISIS and promising their country will not succumb to the group's violence:
To Islamic State and Al-Qaeda members in Bangladesh: You are cowards. Religion could not make you human beings. You’re not religious but cowards. […]
You escape after your every secret attacks because you don’t have enough courage to say something openly, you don’t have any logics. Because you know very well that public will kill you if they identify you. Do you think that you can impress youths by your cowardice act and they will join you? The youths are preparing to destroy you for forever. […]
Even if all of you come from around the world can’t do anything to this country. You won’t find a way to escape. Bangladesh doesn’t know how to lose!

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


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Here’s Why Google Maps Changed Some Town Names in Crimea—And Is Now Changing Them Back · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

As if by magic, Google Maps changed some town names in Crimea overnight. Images edited by Tetyana Lokot.
On July 27 Internet giant Google renamed a number of towns, villages, and settlements in Crimea—a peninsula in Ukraine that has been under Russian control since early 2014—on their Google Maps service. The change came after the Ukrainian parliament altered the names of 70 geographic locations in Crimea in accordance with its “decommunization” campaign in May 2016.
Users of the Russian and Ukrainian versions of Google Maps noticed the differences immediately. For instance, according to a report by Meduza news website, the town of Krasnoperekopsk became “Yany Kapu,” Sovetskoe turned into “Ichki,” and Kirovskoe was changed to “Islyam-Terek.” Many of the new names have Crimean Tatar origin or other historic roots, replacing the Soviet-era variants.
The change on Google Maps immediately provoked a backlash from Russian and Crimean officials. The head of annexed Crimea Sergey Aksyonov accused Google in a Facebook post of “producing a propagandistic product” and of “trying to create their own reality.” Russian communications minister Nikolay Nikiforov also joined in the criticism, saying that if Google didn't stick to Russian laws and the Russian names of towns and villages (in Crimea), it would “prevent the company from doing effective business in Russia.”
Ukrainian foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin reacted to the backlash on Twitter, referring to what Ukraine believes to be illegal occupation of Crimea by Russia:
Renaming the stolen is a house of cards: it is bound to collapse under the weight of truth. #CrimeaIsUkraine
— Pavlo Klimkin (@PavloKlimkin) July 28, 2016
On July 28, a spokesperson for Google told RBC news website that they were aware of the changes made in accordance with Ukraine's “decommunization” law and of Russia's displeasure. Google told RBC they were “actively working to restore the previous version of the names on the Russian version of Google Maps.”
The Ukrainian government lost control of the Crimean peninsula in the spring of 2014, following a disputed referendum on seceding from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation. Most of the world does not recognize Russia's subsequent annexation of the territory of Crimea.

author: Tanya Lokot


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It’s an Eraser! It’s a Pizza! No, It’s Iran’s Olympic Uniform · Global Voices
Tori Egherman

On the left, Iran's redesigned Olympic uniform, from an image released by the country's Olympic Committee. On the right, Iran's original Olympic uniform.
As Iran's athletes prepare for the Olympic games, the team's uniform has come under public scrutiny. After the uniform was unveiled, complaints flooded in that it looked hastily designed or like a poorly done school uniform. One popular Iranian presenter even noted that the outfit bore similarities to an eraser.
A new designer was then brought in to modify the design. But Iranian social media users still weren't impressed. For many, the choice is now between a uniform that looks like an eraser or one that looks like pizza.
The video below sums up social media responses to the original blue-and-orange uniform's design. The clip begins with images of the flags of brutal militant group ISIS, and the narrator states:
Daesh [ISIS] has claimed responsibility for the design of Iran's Olympic uniform.
The narration continues with quotes from social media users.
The uniforms aren't even as well designed as school uniforms… I wouldn't even wear it to go to the corner store and buy yogurt…They are not even suitable for sharing on the “wall of caring.”
The video makes reference to a popular Instagram post by Iranian comic presenter Rambod Javan, in which he displayed the uniform next to a Pelikan eraser. The result? Well, you can see for yourself:
“I wish patience and tolerance for our Olympic team…Seriously, mashallah to the authorities on the choice of this design. Our athletes and all the training and hard work they've done… and then they are sent to the Olympics looking like this?” Iranian comic presenter Rambod Javan displayed the uniform next to a Pelikan eraser on Instagram.
Following the overall disdain for the drab uniform, a new designer, Kamran Bakhtiary, was tasked with sprucing up the outfit, and the revamped version was announced on Twitter by the Iranian Olympic committee:
لباس‌های کاروان #المپیک بر تن #احسان_روزبهانی و #مهسا_جاور pic.twitter.com/wUG1HzRJo0
— Iran Olympic (@Olympic_ir) July 28, 2016
The Olympic uniform worn by #Ehsan_Rouzbahni and #Mahsa_Javar.
But the new design is facing criticism too. Iranian satirist Kioomars Marzban likened the new uniform to Italian food:
از #لباس جدید #المپیک رونمایی شد | حالا پیتزا چی میل دارید؟ pic.twitter.com/3C91MJMLJX
— Kioomars Marzban (@kiamarzban) July 28, 2016
The new Olympic uniform has been revealed | Now what kind of pizza are you in the mood for?
Instagram user lady_ati asked followers to select their preferred uniform, as imagined on child-like cartoon figures:
The caption reads: “#Opinion_of_the_design_for_the_Olympic_uniforms_by_Kamran_Bakhtiary The Olympic team has decided to help the committee out with a poll. Let's see which design is preferred, the first Olympic uniform or the one designed by Mr. Bakhtiary. Myself, I like the first. You? 1 or 2?”
The original designer, Mahnaz Armin, finally broke her silence on the “misuse” of her design. Instagram user enaytialireza posted a screen capture of her comment.
In it, Armin claims that the Olympic Committee destroyed her design to cut costs. She writes that the project was taken from her and given to a young and inexperienced designer. Armin's account appears to have been taken offline since then.
Enaytialireza writes: “It smells like a professional designer got burnt — someone who has no taint of corruption…”
Finally, Twitter user @Aghajoon lampooned the new design in his tweet featuring a baby dressed as a watermelon.
#کامران_بختیاری نوشت که #لباس_المپیک اصلاح شده. طرح جدید اینه. دیگه کسی ایراد نگیره که آرامش ورزشکارا به هم نخوره. pic.twitter.com/RC9DaBq2YT
— آلِن (@Aghaajoon) July 28, 2016
#Kamran_Bakhtiary announced that the Olympic uniform has been modified. Here is the new design. So no one complain — we don't want to upset our athletes
For more on this story, check out IranWire and the BBC. And for more in-depth coverage on the 2016 Summer Games from Global Voices, read our special coverage page: Joy, Disappointment and Injustice at the Rio Olympics.

author: Tori Egherman


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Kyrgyzstan in War of Words (and Billboards) Over Women’s Clothing · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Photo highlighting the feared transition of Kyrgyz women from traditional clothes to those associated with Saudi-style Islam. Photo from Kloop.kg. Creative commons.
For a brief time, the two provocative banners focussed on women's clothing in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek faced off, each posing its own rhetorical question.
Only one had the support of the Central Asian country's secular president, and the second banner disappeared shortly after its debut.
EurasiaNet.org's Inside the Cocoon blog reported the appearance of the first banners as follows:
Residents of Kyrgyzstan’s capital woke up on July 13 to find stark and, to some, provocative billboards on some of the city’s main thoroughfares.
The huge poster shows three groups of women in a variety of female head covers — some of them in the niqab veil that covers almost the entire face — and the words “Oh poor nation, where are we headed?”
The meaning of the image is slightly cryptic. But the arrangement of the pictures — traditional Kyrgyz dress on the left, niqabs on the right and something looking like a halfway version of those two forms of dress in the middle — would suggest that whoever is behind the stunt is concerned at the stealthy spread of ultra-orthodox Muslim customs in the country.
President Almazbek Atambayev later spoke in support of the billboards, and pledged to put them up around the country, but denied being their originator.
Then, on July 28, the billboards received a response in the form of a banner asking the same question, but instead comparing the well-covered nomadic women of Kyrgyzstan's past with women in denim shorts and skirts.
Photo of banner in central Bishkek contrasting traditional and secular dress. Widely shared.
Highlighting secular fears about the growing role of Islamic influences from Arabic countries in the ex-Soviet republic of six million, one commenter on the news website Limon.kg wrote:
ну новые может и тупые,а вот предыдущие это как раз таки актуальные баннеры,которые внедряют зомбированным кыргызам в черных мешках что есть неправильно эти черные мешки.наши национальные вполне соответствуют нормам ислама.
These new banners are stupid, but the original banners were very relevant, opposing the zombification of Kyrgyz through the wearing of these black sacks. These black sacks are incorrect. Our own national clothing is completely in harmony with Islamic norms.
Others disagreed with this viewpoint, however, and one of the banners protesting the emergence of the niqab was burned in the religiously more conservative province of Batken.
The banners protesting secular women's clothing had disappeared from Bishkek's streets in confusing circumstances by July 29.
Bektour Iskender, founder of Kloop.kg, saw in both banners a familiar national patriarchy, which expresses itself in different forms at different times:
Кыргызские женщины — да как и женщины во всём мире, пожалуй — на протяжении всего обозримого прошлого были практически лишены возможности самостоятельно выбирать, во что им следует одеваться.
В отличие от многих скептиков, я склонен в целом видеть прогресс, пусть и еле заметный. Всё-таки кыргызская женщина в 2016 году имеет чуть больше свободы в выборе собственной одежды, чем кыргызская женщина в 1966 году или, тем более, в 1916 году.
Однако периодически в нашей стране заводятся паразиты — как правило, среди привилегированных гетеросексуальных цисгендерных мужчин — которые хотят отправить нас обратно во глубину веков. Они почему-то считают, что наделены истинным знанием о том, во что должна одеваться кыргызская женщина, и как она должна себя вести.
Kyrgyz women, like so many women throughout the world, have for the most part been deprived of the opportunity to choose how they should dress.
Unlike many skeptics, I tend on the whole to see progress, even if it is subtle. A Kyrgyz woman in 2016 has a little more freedom in choosing her own clothes than a Kyrgyz woman in 1966 or especially in 1916.
However, our country is periodically infested with parasites – usually privileged heterosexual men – who want to send us back through the mists of time. They somehow believe that they are endowed with the true knowledge of how a Kyrgyz woman should dress and behave.
Journalists from the same media outlet collated a series of amusing memes mocking the “where are we heading” slogans of the two contentious banners.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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Old Photos Bring Back Sweet Memories of Bangladesh’s Capital Dhaka · Global Voices
Pantha Rahman Reza

Topkhana Road, Press Club Area, Dhaka (1965). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
It's extraordinary how much a place can change in 50 years. For example, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the most populous megacities of the world, but you wouldn't believe it from looking at old photos of it.
In the 1960s, British photographer Roger Gwynn came to Bangladesh as a volunteer for the non-governmental Service Civil International. He visited various parts of the country, which was then East Pakistan, and took photographs. Recently, some of his photos of were republished on a Facebook page called Bangladesh Old Photo Archive and went viral among Bangladeshi users.
Launched on 24 August 2011, the page has more than 171,000 fans. Over the years, this community has shared numerous photos of the area that is present-day Bangladesh — from the British colonial period to the 1990s. When you look at these archived photos, you get a glimpse of history, tradition and the lives of Bangladeshis over the past century.
The Roger Gwynn photos made many people nostalgic. They reminisced on the good old times and a few expressed a desire to return to those days.
Victoria Park area. Sadarghat, Dhaka (1967). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
Salim Omer Sher recalled a memory of Victoria Park in the 1960s:
Very nostalgic. I was a student in old Dhaka school and used to visit this park in mid 60s. In 1967 I was 17 years old, when this photograph was taken. Vivid memory of Victoria Park.
Handcart porters at New Market area. Dhaka (1965). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
Communication expert Wazir Satter remembered an era of cheap food after seeing a street photo of the New Market area:
And one of the restaurants there used to serve special malai cha (Creamed Tea). We the students of Dacca College used to visit this restaurant in 1967-69 for that cha and special gosht-porota (Meat Paratha), The name of the eatery was Chittagong Restaurant. A cup of malai cha was 4 anas (25 Poishas).
Street scene of Mirpur Road, New Market. Dhaka (1965). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
The photo sparked childhood memories for Babor Huq:
I use to walk these streets holding my father's hand to pick up his laundry from Lifa and have Kalojam (a type of sweet) from Moron Chand when I was a Todler. But some how I remember all those moments. I miss my father every second and praying for him.
Demra Road by Hardeo glass factory, Dhaka (1965). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
Ranajay Gupta was nostalgic too when he saw the Hardeo glass factory:
Interesting. Hardeo Glass Factory came up on land originally owned by my family at Tikatuli. I believe there was a ‘samadhimandir’ (memorial shrine) for my great-grandparents Sarat Chandra Gupta (after whom Sarat Gupta Road is named) and Manorama Gupta at a corner of the land. I am told the Rajdhani Supermarket later came up on the land; someone told me the samadhimandir still exists at a corner of the market.
Children are enjoying Bioscope show. Old Dhaka, Bangladesh (1960s). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
During those times Bioscope, a kind of traveling theatre, was popular entertainment. Syed Harun Rashid wrote:
The nostalgic time of bygone era! … I could very much relate to these boys. The sight n thought of being able to enjoy this, out of heaven, thing called Bioscope. I wonder the intense feeling of euphoria this seemingly negligible thing could produced in us will ever part from our memory….
Dhaka is known for its enormous traffic jams. But in the 1960s it was a tidy town. Rumi Aftab wrote:
So beautiful that period was! now it's always remaining over crowded and loaded with so many different types vehicles gives us discomfort feelings, time consuming too!
Street scene of Dhanmondi Road No 2. Dhaka (1965). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
The appearance of the city has changed so much that it's difficult to match the scenes shown in Gwynn's photographs to modern-day Dhaka. Facebook user Swargiyo Jiban wrote:
Hard to believe there was a big riverview. I grew up in rayer Bazar n mohammadpur area. Saw rayer Bazar and all the way Mohammadpur surrounded by extended burigongha river. There was a village used to call bochila,so much fun to go there by boat. It was a memory hardly I could remember fr 1982-86, left that area in 1987 and after 15 yrs later once I visited there was very shocking.. 15 yrs changes were huge, landmarks turned into different shapes couldn't even believe there was a river we were playing, swimming.. even all the way hazaribugh to kamrangir chor went by car.. unbelievable…
Syed Rahman does not like the current cityscapes of Dhaka:
That's where I grew up and miss my childhood and feel like how good days were those. Those were the golden days of my loving city of Dacca not Dhaka.
More photos of Dhaka:
Water carrier, Wari, Dhaka (1965). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
Morning street market – fresh fish on sale. Dhaka (1960s). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
A guy reading newspaper in a tea stall. Dhaka, Bangladesh (1965).
Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
Girls studying the Quran in a maktab. Dhaka (1960s). Photo by Roger Gwynn. Photo courtesy: Bangladesh Old Photo Archive.
See the whole album here.

author: Pantha Rahman Reza


text:
A Melting Pot of Global Music, Compiled from Haiti’s Past · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Tanbou Toujou Lou is the latest offering from Ostinato Records Credit: Courtesy/Ostinato Records
This article by Paulus van Horne originally appeared on PRI.org on July 28, 2016. It is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
How do you convey the sheer energy contained in Tanbou Toujou Lou, a 19-song compilation of Haitian meringue, vodou jazz and “electric folklore” from half a century ago?
A groove is one of the hardest things to capture in words. What adjective could do justice to a beat that demands you move your body?
What verb can fit the actions of musicians so perfectly capturing the sound of their cultural moment?
Hear for yourself the Afro-Caribbean rhythms that run through this album:
With such a groovy collection, it's easy to jump right into the music and start dancing.
But for the casual listener, it may be more difficult to imagine the colliding influences that spawned this array of sounds and rhythms.
Haiti has long been affected by the legacy of slavery in the United States and the Caribbean. From the moment European explorers stepped foot in the new world, Haiti operated on a slavery economy. And while it wasn't the only place like that, it's particularly notable because it was the site of a decade-long slave revolt, which lead to the island's independance and kickstarted indepence movements throughout French colonies.
In 1957, François Duvalier was elected president of Haiti. Duvalier turned dictatorial quickly. With his secret police, ruled the island with an iron fist. And yet, the nation's music flourished.
Tanbou Toujou Lou captures the bright side of Haiti, a musical tradition fed by the West African rhythms of former slaves, the cultural exports of the United States and surrounding Caribbean nations.
Today, six years after a massive earthquake killed 200,000 people on the island nation, media coverage of the country often remains focused on rebuilting and international aid. Left behind is Haiti's rich cultural contributions to the world through music and arts. With this release, Ostinato Records helps remind the casual listener of Haiti's important musical history.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Ignorance About Transgender Identities in the US and Mexico and the Challenges of Winning Asylum · Global Voices
Nidia Bautista

Image courtesy of Familia:TQLM.
Barbara Lopez Lezama, Agnes Torres Sulca, Hilary Molina Mendiola, Virgen Castro Carrillo, and Fernanda Valle. These are the names of five transgender women murdered in the last seven years in Mexico, whose stories appear in the Report on Human Rights Conditions of Transgender Women in Mexico, released this May by Cornell University and the Transgender Law Center. The new study documents human rights violations against Mexico's transgender women, many of whom have had to seek asylum in the United States.
Researchers found that transgender women in Mexico face brutal violence from state officials, including the police and military, as well as persecution by drug cartels. Societal factors like family rejection and economic marginalization also lead to violence against transgender women in Mexico. The report helps illuminate exactly how “invisibled” transgender women's human rights issues are in Latin America. Mexico has the second-highest index of crimes motivated by transphobia in Latin America, trailing only Brazil. Transphobic murders have also multiplied by ten since in the past six years.
The new study relies on both academic and media research, expert witness testimony, and telephone interviews with advocates at non-governmental organizations in Mexico and the US. The research is also meant to inform US immigration judges and asylum officers about the issues transgender applicants face.
Some of Mexico’s transgender women have migrated to the United States to apply for asylum (legal protection based on a well-founded fear of persecution either from state or private actors). While the US has its own long and terrible history of transphobia (transgender people report far higher rates of violence than non-transgender lesbians and gay men), rising transphobic hate crimes and stigma are factors driving transgender women to flee Mexico.
The report also highlights how the US immigration system has made accessing asylum particularly difficult. Immigration officials have refused to recognize transphobia and violence in migrants’ communities of origin during asylum proceedings. This, coupled with the transphobia and racism embedded in the immigration system itself, has contributed to the erasure of past experiences of violence and the denial of asylum for many transgender women. In 2012, less than 2 percent of Mexican applicants were granted asylum. There are currently no statistics recorded showing how many asylum-seekers were transgender people, compounded by the fact that many fear persecution based on their gender identity.
According to the report, immigration judges in the US have failed to recognize the differences between gender and sexual orientation, often conflating transgender women with gay men. The report stressed the importance of adjudicators’ awareness that sexual orientation and gender identity are distinct components of identity. Asylum decisions often refer to transgender women as gay men with female sexual identities. According to trans rights activists, this is an inaccurate and disrespectful description of gender identity.
This leads to another issue: the excessive weight given to minor advancements for gay communities in Mexico. Previous asylum decisions have rested on the premise that the legalization of same-sex marriage has benefited transgender women. However, the report states that not only have transgender women continued to face pervasive discrimination, hatred, violence, police abuse, sexual violence, and murder since the passage of same-sax marriage in 2010, but that it has worsened.
One of the report’s key findings is that the expansion of LGBT rights in Mexico, particularly same-sex marriage, has led to backlash against the transgender community. The legal recognition of same-sex couples has increased societal awareness about the LGBT community and produced significant backlash.
In 2015, there was an important asylum ruling in favor of transgender migrants. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in Alaska, Arizona, and the central district of California—recognized the mistake of confusing gender identity with sexual orientation in the case of a Mexican transgender woman, Erin Avendano-Hernandez. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) had previously ruled that the implementation of the same-sex marriage legislation in Mexico would make torture unlikely. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the BIA insufficiently considered transgender issues in their decision.
The Ninth Circuit granted Avendano-Hernandez asylum, and reasoned that transgender persons in Mexico are particularly vulnerable to harassment and persecution due to their public nonconformance with gender roles, and that the Mexican police specifically target the transgender community with sexual and money extortion. The court also stated that there is an epidemic of unsolved violent crimes against transgender persons in Mexico, that Mexico has one of the highest documented numbers of murders of transgender people in the world, and that Avendano-Hernandez, who takes female hormones and dresses as a woman, is a target for harassment and abuse.
This decision remains the exception when it comes to protecting transgender migrants’ rights, and activists continue to “visibilize” transgender issues, particularly in reference to the US’s immigration system. Flor Bermudez, the director of Transgender Law Center’s Detention Project, says:
Too often, transgender women who come to the U.S. desperately seeking safety from persecution instead find more violence and abuse in detention centers—only to ultimately be deported by immigration judges who do not understand the life-threatening dangers they face in Mexico. We need immigration judges to make asylum decisions based on the realities transgender women face in Mexico, and this report can be an important tool to educate them.
In grassroots organizing, violence against the transgender community has pushed them to defend themselves fiercely and push for rights on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Bamby Salcedo is a nationally recognized Latina transgender activist who “has brought voice and visibility to not only the transcommunity, but also to the multiple overlapping communities and issues that her life has touched, including migration, HIV, youth, LGBT, incarceration and Latin@ communities,” according to her website.
In 2007, Bamby was detained in the San Pedro Detention Center in Southern California, an immigration center that has since lost accreditation after failing to comply with mandatory standards. As an HIV positive transperson who identifies as a woman, Bamby was forced into the men’s facility and denied HIV antiretroviral drug treatment for two weeks.
In the following video by Fusion, Bamby explains her experience with abuse and harassment while in detention. According to police and medical reports obtained by Fusion, one man detained in the facility punched and fractured her nose after forcing himself on her in a bathroom stall.
Bamby grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she fell into a cycle of drugs, crime, and juvenile institutions. After migrating to the US, she faced imprisonment and constant street violence. She eventually agreed to be treated for drug addiction, and since then she's founded three transrights programs and organizations including Angels of Change, TransLatin@ Coalition, and TransLivesMatter National Day of Action.
Currently, Bamby continues to be an advocate for transgender visibility. Under Bamby’s leadership, the Los Angeles-based TransLatin@ Coalition, an organization that advocates for the rights of transgender Latinas in the US, has published reports like TransVisible: Transgender Latina Immigrants in US Society. When speaking about transgender women migrant rights, Bamby says,
There is still a lot of denial from society about the existence of our community. We need to raise awareness and bring consciousness about…who we are, what are the things that need to be addressed. But we cannot do it alone; we need everyone to be on the same page, politicians, churches, schools, businesses, just our society as a whole needs to learn and understand that we are here to stay.

author: Nidia Bautista


text:
Pampulha Ensemble, Precursor to Brasilia, Gets UNESCO World Heritage Status · Global Voices
Adam Lee

Pampulha Church. Image: Flickr / Ludmila Tavares
On July 17, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awarded World Heritage status to Brazil's Pampulha Modern Ensemble, in Minas Gerais’ state capital, Belo Horizonte. The Ensemble includes four buildings: the Casino (now known as the Pampulha Museum of Art), the Ballroom, the São Francisco de Assis Church, and the Tennis Yacht Club, all designed in the early 1940s by Brazil's late-great modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer.
The UNESCO candidacy for Pampulha started in 1996 as one item on a list of many of Brazil's worthy heritage locations. However, it was only in 2012 that the Belo Horizonte government doubled down on its efforts, which finally bore fruit four years later—and for good reason. UNESCO's webpage for what is now Brazil's 20th World Heritage site hints at the factors behind its decision to bestow such an award:
The Ensemble comprises bold forms that exploit the plastic potential of concrete, while fusing architecture, landscape design, sculpture and painting into a harmonious whole. It reflects the influence of local traditions, the Brazilian climate and natural surroundings on the principles of modern architecture.
Surrounded by blue-tile panels painted by Brazil's best-known painter, Cândido Portinari, the Pampulha Ensemble includes a uniquely-shaped church, seen in the image above. Built in 1943 with the assistance of engineer and poet Joaquim Cardoso, the São Francisco de Assis Church abandoned architectural norms in favor of its groovy exterior and vaulted ceilings.
Its seductive curves were the cause of societal scandal at the time. Niemeyer, who was a lifelong Marxist, is said to have designed the church to represent the symbol of communism (although he never confirmed this himself).
And while the building's design spoke loudly, the church bell remained silent until 1959. According to the author Marcelo Cedro in a paper on Kubicheck and the Pampulha church, the absence of a cross caused Dom Cabral, the Archbishop of Belo Horizonte, to say “without the sign of the cross, the curves seem to want to pierce the soil in search of darkness.”
Cedro went on to say that the long-lasting non-consecration of the church may have been retribution for its “sins”—not only its sensual design, but the ostentation of the Ensemble, which included a casino.
While it was considered heresy by the Catholic Church, the city government called it a monument and bestowed upon it historical and artistic heritage status.
As for the Casino, it was originally planned as the Pampulha Ensemble's central element (perhaps due to Juscelino Kubitschek‘s love of gambling). Designed in a single night by Niemeyer, and built in 1942, it quickly became the place to be for Belo Horizonte's high society, even attracting sightseers from afar.
Aside from gambling, people also visited the location to enjoy live music and the dancefloor, as well as an almost circus-like experience of artistic performances. The casino as an idea, however, was short-lived due to a presidential decree banning gambling in 1946. It would take another eleven years before the building was repurposed in 1957 as the Pampulha Museum of Art. Today it houses a 1,600-piece collection of contemporary artwork.
The Casino / Museum of Art at the Pampulha Essemble, in Belo Horizonte. Flickr – Image: Rodrigo Denúbila
The “Casa do Baile” (Ballroom) was originally created in 1943 on an artificial island as an event space, with a restaurant and a ballroom. Affected by the nearby casino closure that had given the Ensemble an air of excitement, the Ballroom shut down in 1948 and was repurposed several times until it became the Reference Center for Architecture, Urbanism, and Design in 2002.
(Ballroom) Flickr – Image: David RSG
Modeled after a boat ready for entry into the water, the Tennis Yacht Club (originally known as the Golf Yacht Club) was built in 1942, and noticeably lacks the curvaceous features of the other buildings. The raison d'être behind its construction was to serve as a place of family fun and recreation, in addition to being the location for themed parties.
Tennis Yacht Club. Official Site
Oscar Niemeyer, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 104, was best known for co-designing Brazil's capital, Brasília, in the mid-1950s. While the Pampulha Ensemble might become known throughout the world now that UNESCO has placed it in the spotlight, a lesser-known fact is that “Pampulha was the start of Brasília,” according to Niemeyer himself. To understand better what was meant by such a phrase, one must go back at least to the 1940s, if not to the late 1800s.
In 1897, Brazil as a republic was just nine years old, and the previous capital of Minas Gerais state, Ouro Preto, was not only highly associated with mining and the monarchy but it also held little hope for viable growth. This required the founding and inauguration of one of Brazil's first planned cities, Belo Horizonte, known at the time as Cidade de Minas.
Some four decades later, in 1940, the mayor of Belo Horizonte, Juscelino Kubitschek, decided to create a planned district within the mostly-unused northern region of the city. The idea was to find a way to cope with population growth, for which, ironically, the planned city had not planned.
For the task, he called upon a rising name in the world of architecture, the 33-year-old Oscar Niemeyer, to create the Pampulha Modern Ensemble. This was the young architect's first solo project, and it would become the catapult for, as well as precursor to, the creation of Brasília. When Belo Horizonte's former mayor became Brazil's 21st president in 1956, he knew whom to call when faced with the task of moving the country's capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location as Brazil started to expand westward. (The idea itself traces as far back as 1763.)
Thanks to the success of Pampulha, President Kubitschek (aka the Father of Modern Brazil) knew he could trust Niemeyer, if not merely for his view on integrating nature into his art, for which Niemeyer said the following:
“Nem a linha reta, dura, inflexível, criada pelo homem. O que me atrai é a curva livre e sensual, a curva que encontro nas montanhas do meu país, no curso sinuoso dos seus rios, nas ondas do mar, no corpo da mulher preferida. De curvas é feito todo o universo, o universo curvo de Einstein.”
It's not the right angle that attracts me, nor the straight line, hard, inflexible, created by man. What attracts me is the free and sensual curve, the curve I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuous course of its rivers, in the waves of the sea, the body of a beloved woman. Curves make up the entire universe, the curved universe of Einstein.
In a practically unused part of his growing city, Juscelino Kubitschek, along with Oscar Niemeyer, never just saw what was actually there, but rather what could be—a feat both men would repeat more than a decade later in the country's new capital. Sadly, Kubitschek would die in a car accident in 1976 and wouldn't see his Belo Horizonte-born vision become a World Heritage site. The Pampulha Ensemble and Brasília—two of his biggest projects—would live on, however, much like the timeless architecture of his chief architect.
To hear the story of the Pampulha Ensemble straight from Niemeyer, be sure to check out this 23-minute short film (in Portuguese), titled “Pampulha—O Marco,” directed by Moacir de Oliveira.

author: Adam Lee