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The Cherán Indigenous Community’s Remarkable Road to Self-Rule in Mexico · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

A nursery in Cherán. This community initiative is responsible for the reforestation of some 1500 hectares, including the planting of fir trees in many parts of Michoacán.” According to the women who work in these seedbeds, [the nursery] has become a viable economic option that employs people from four communities on a rotating basis.” Photo from @Talladeboina36 for Más de 131. Used with permission.
“For Justice, Security and the Restoration of our Territory”—that's the slogan emblazoned on the uniform of the people in charge of security in Cherán, one of the main indigenous communities in the heart of the State of Michoacán in western Mexico. The story of Cherán's resistance goes back centuries to when it held off the Aztec empire, a foreshadowing of the spirit of independence that enabled it to take on organized crime and successfully re-establish political self-governance and self-defense in 2011.
Until recently, like many rural areas of the country, Cherán had experienced a rising tide of violence as unwelcome elements increasingly moved in to exploit its natural resources. As described in the documentary “Resistencia de Cherán“ (Resistence of Cherán):
Cherán estaba conformado por 27,000 hectáreas de bosque [que fueron] devastadas, quedándonos con un total más o menos 7 mil héctareas. O sea que nos devastaron 20,000 héctareas. No nada más acabaron con el bosque, sino que también fueron acabando con nuestra fauna, con nuestros animales, con todo lo que acontece en un pueblo p’urhépecha.”
Cherán was made up of 27,000 hectares of forest [which were] destroyed, leaving a mere 7,000 hectares. In other words they razed 20,000 hectares to the ground. Basically, there was no forest left, and what's more, they destroyed the fauna, our animals, everything that affects the lives of the Purépecha people.”
Another member of the community interviewed in the documentary recounts how partisan politics prevented a concerted response to threats against and abuse of the region's indigenous inhabitants:
Pasaban por aquí los vehículos por todas las calles principales de la comunidad. Todavía ellos en forma burlona pasaban por las calles y no nada más eso sino que llegaban a las tiendas, saqueaban y se iban. Nadie les podía decir nada. Las mujeres, los hombres, nosotros, con esa impotencia de no poder gritarles o detenerlos. Era urgente lo nuestro, era una desesperación, pero no se podía concretar porque estábamos divididos, cada uno pertenecía a diferentes partidos políticos.
Their cars and trucks would drive down all the main roads of the community. They would mock us as they passed and not just that, they would go into stores and ransack them and then leave. Nobody could say anything. Women, men, all of us, we felt powerless to yell or stop them. Our situation was critical, it was desperate, but nothing tangible could be done because we couldn't agree, each of us belonged to a different political party.
The community approached local and municipal authorities on repeated occasions asking for help—all to no avail. Frustrated, several members of the community banded together and, under the leadership of a group of courageous women, they took matters into their own hands. Early in the hours of April 15, 2011, they faced down the trucks used for the clandestine cutting of trees. In another documentary titled “Cherán: tierra para soñar” (Land of our dreams), one of the women who took part describes the events of that fateful day:
Cuando nosotras fuimos estaba todavía oscurita la mañana, eran como las 6:30 de la mañana. Estaban dando las campanadas porque iba a dar misa […] Yo nunca pensé que esto iba para largo […] Éramos cinco mujeres nomás de aquí de este barrio, puras señoras, señores no había, habían unos cuantos señores pero en su mayoría pura mujer […] Correteamos a los carros a puras pedradas, una señora hasta se tropezó y se raspó toda la rodilla porque el carro le dio de reversa…
When we set out it was dawn and still dark, around 6:30 in the morning. The church bells were ringing calling people to mass […] I never really thought this would go far […] We were just five women from here, from this neighbourhood, a bunch of older women, there were no men, maybe a few men but mostly women […] We chased after the cars throwing stones, one woman even got hit and scraped all the skin off her knee when a car backed into her…
The showdown galvanized the community, which put up barricades to control who came into the area. They implemented a neighbourhood watch system with groups patrolling both the town and the mountain forests, and they met around bonfires to forge pacts and ensure that nobody outside the community interfered in its administration. In a press release put out two weeks after these events, the people of Cherán pointed to the blatant lack of response on the part of government officials.
The rusted remains of a truck belonging to organized crime, a monument of sorts to the determination of the people of Cherán: “The first work of art, built from the skeleton of these narco vehicles, which was crucified or, more aptly, stretched out and erected to be exhibited as a war trophy.”  Photo courtesy of @Talladeboina36 for Más de 131. Used with permission.
In November of the same year, in response to the community's explicit request, the Superior Court of Mexico's Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary cancelled municipal elections in Cherán, which opened the doors to autonomous consultation within the community. The K'eris Council (a council of elders in the Purépecha language) has since been established and self-governance is practiced without recourse to elections and independent of the formal system of Mexican political parties.
2014 marked yet another victory in the defence of Cherán's territory and the collective rights of its indigenous population. Mexico's Supreme Court recognized the community of Cherán's right to consultation each time legislative or administrative changes are proposed, which might have an impact on the community and its way of life, in accordance with the terms of international conventions.
Today, almost four years after political autonomy was achieved, the inhabitants of Cherán are firm in their resolve, although they acknowledge the path chosen does present its own challenges. 2015 is a year in which Mexicans go to the polls in local and federal elections, and political pressure and interests have already begun to manifest themselves. In fact, late last year, a group submitted a petition to the electoral authority in Michoacán in which they requested the traditional system of political parties be restored. In the end, the electoral authority decided in favour of communal government, acknowledging the people of Cherán's right to determine their own future.
After discussions around bonfires and throughout the four communities, the people decided to maintain their autonomous political status, in keeping with their history and traditions. This consensus is underscored by testimony compiled by the journalism cooperative Subversiones in its video: “Partidos ojetes, Cherán no es un juguete” (Partisan SOBs, Cherán is not a toy):
La misma gente determina qué se hace y qué no se hace en la comunidad. Los partidos políticos no hacen eso, ellos son lo que determinan qué hacer y qué no. Entonces pues, ahora se maneja que la Asamblea es la máxima autoridad y es donde uno puede hablar y puede ser escuchado por los demás y por las mismas autoridades. [Eso] no lo hacíamos antes.”
The people themselves decide what can and cannot be done in the community. Political parties don't do that, they were the ones who determined what to do or not to do. But, now the Assembly is the supreme authority and it is where one can speak and be listened to by the other [members] and by political officials too. That did not happen before.”
Cherán's autonomy is also expressed and strengthened through its use of alternative media. A tangible example is the work that has gone into documenting and protecting the community's traditions through its blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel. Cherán also has its own community radio, Radio Fogata, launched in 2011 and run by young people; and last November it unveiled TV Cherán, a second broadcast of which is in production to highlight the significant effort being made to ensure the voice of the people of Cherán continues to be heard.
While trees quietly grow in the mountains of Michoacán, in the villages they sing the ballad of the legendary people of Cherán and proudly hold up the multicoloured banner symbolizing their united strength, Juchari Uinapekua.
Hijos de la madre tierra / Nuestros cantos, nuestros rezos
Se van elevando al cielo / Pa que escuchen nuestros sueños
Ya se despertó mi pueblo / Saliendo a encender el fuego
La semilla va creciendo / La esperanza está creciendo
Children of mother earth / our songs, ours prayers
Are rising up to the heavens / that our dreams may be heard
My people have awoken / they've begun to light the fire
The seeds are growing / hope is growing.

author: Giovanna Salazar


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Tsarist Russia Bans Internet Porn · Global Voices
Will Wright

Ilya Repin's “Ivan the Terrible Killing His Son,” featuring former porn star Sasha Grey. Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Vladimir Putin once said half the Internet is nothing but “porno materials.” While a major academic study in 2010 found that, in reality, just 4 percent of websites were pornographic, it's an undisputed fact that there is indeed a lot of adult-rated material on the Web.
If the Russian court system gets its way, however, the number of legal pornographic websites on the RuNet could drop to zero. That's right: a district court in Tatarstan has banned 136 porn sites, and the language of its ruling implies that all Internet porn is hereby against the law.
On April 13, 2015, the newspaper Izvestia reported that a court in Tatarstan's Apastovsky district has ordered Roskomnadzor, the federal government's media watchdog, to add 136 websites to its Internet blacklist, if the sites fail to purge themselves of all pornographic content within the next three days. The list of websites includes xHamster, one of the most popular destinations for pornography in the world.
The local district attorney's office, which petitioned the court to crack down on Internet porn, cited in its suit obscure international agreements from the early twentieth century, Izvestia reported.
First, prosecutors pointed out that international treaties constitute an integral part of Russian law according to the Russian Constitution, even arguing—rather unorthodoxly—that international obligations take priority over domestic legislation, when the two are in conflict. Then, prosecutors cited the Convention for the Suppression of the Circulation of Obscene Publications, signed in Paris in 1910, and the subsequent international agreement signed in Geneva in 1923, both of which ban the production, possession, and distribution of pornographic materials.
The signatories to these international accords were, of course, the Tsarist Empire and the Soviet Union, and the Apastovsky district attorney says today's Russian Federation is still bound by these agreements.
According to an adult-film maker who spoke to Izvestia, Russian law is very vague about regulating pornography. The only law on the books, he says, is Article 242 of the federal criminal code, which delineates several illegal types of distribution, but does not clearly define legal ways to advertise, disseminate, and trade in porn.
How did the Tartarstan prosecutors flag 136 websites—Russia's largest-ever single ban request—for Roskomnadzor's blacklist? The district attorney's office says it searched Yandex (Russia's leading Internet search engine) for the terms “Kazan prostitutes” and “porno video.” Film experts at the Ministry of Culture then examined the websites on this list and confirmed that they are indeed brimming with pornographic content.
It remains unclear if Roskomnadzor will block these websites across Russia or only in Tatarstan. It is also unknown if Roskomnadzor and the Apastovsky district attorney will stop with these 136 websites, or wage a larger campaign against the millions of other porn sites online.
Whatever happens, this is just the latest episode in a broader crackdown on the Internet that has taken place in Russia since Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012. For some Russian Internet users, like musician Sergei Shnurov, Putin's third presidential term has already spoiled porn, whatever happens in Tatarstan:
На телевидении — Путин, на радио — Путин, в Интернете — тоже Путин. Боюсь уже порно включать…
— Собака Шнурова (@YaTebyaEbal) March 10, 2015
Putin on the television. Putin on the radio. Putin's also on the Internet. I'm afraid even to look at porn…

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Will Wright


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Where Now For Peru and Chile After Spying Allegations Edge Closer to Fact? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

The presidents of Peru and Chile during happier times. Peruvian government photo from Flickr.
This post was originally published on the blog Globalizado.
At the beginning of this month, Chile responded to a second note of official protest from Peru after a senior Chilean intelligence official appeared to acknowledge in a leaked conversation with his Peruvian counterpart that the country had snooped on its South American neighbour.
Chile continues to deny the accusations. Peru's President Ollanta Humala stated on March 31 that Chile must take responsibility and apologise, or face sanctions.
Humala has been in an abrasive mood since the conversation between the two officials, hosted on the messaging application WhatsApp, was leaked by a leading Peruvian journalist at the end of last month. The scandal — which dates back to the arrest of three Peruvian navy officers on espionage charges in February — has spilled over into Peru's lively domestic politics, where Humala is on the back foot.
The Peruvian officers, accused of having sold sensitive information to the Chilean navy, are currently being investigated by a military court.
Se filtra supuesta conversación entre directores de inteligencia de Chile y Perú que probaría el espionaje. pic.twitter.com/noe6sx44Ms
— Camilo Carreño (@camilo_carrenho) March 29, 2015
An alleged conversation between the directors of intelligence from Chile and Peru proving the espionage case was leaked.
When news of Chile's confession via social media first appeared at the end of last month, gossip brewed that it could be a smokescreen to obscure alleged corruption cases involving people connected to President Humala from the media spotlight.
If that was the government's intention, it seems to have worked: Peruvian media is trawling over the espionage story and the Peruvian blogosphere has also focused its attentions on the incident.
In his blog, Cesar Gutiérrez says Peru's Humala was guilty of “outbursts of convenience” at a difficult time for him and his supporters politically.
No hay casualidades en política y la denuncia ha hecho que toda la clase política tenga que alinearse en una legítima y necesaria protesta enérgica contra la actitud chilena. Pero es exagerado que Ollanta Humala esté haciendo crisis de gobierno con intervenciones repetitivas y con voceros en el Congreso, que están pidiendo que se revise las relaciones comerciales entre ambos países. No sirve de nada el patrioterismo, queremos que el gobierno sea manejado con responsabilidad y no con exabruptos convenidos.
There are no coincidences in politics and the report has aligned the entire political class in a legitimate and strong protest against Chile. But Ollanta Humala's repeated interventions in Congress asking for revision on trade relations between the two countries are exaggerated. There is no use for flag-waving, we need the government to handle the incident with responsibility, not with outbursts out of convenience.
As for Chile's response denying espionage, Theodore Dale believes the matter should be brought, if duly proven, before international organizations such as the UN in Peru or the OAS.
Los últimos acontecimientos de espionaje chileno, que son “graves” para la integración del Perú con Chile y las buenas relaciones que deben existir entre dos pueblos hermanos, ponen de manifiesto, nuevamente, un tema que se conoce y que Chile realiza por décadas, acciones que aún no han tenido el escarnio necesario y suficiente, para que nuestro vecino del sur comience a respetar a un País que les abre las puertas a su inversión y a la integración y que generosamente les tiende la mano, mientras por debajo y en forma solapada y cobarde, nos siguen husmeando, identificando nuestra seguridad, nuestras riquezas, nuestros proyectos, nuestras estrategias, nuestras ideas y nuestro rumbo hacia el desarrollo. Acciones que son típicas de una política de Estado que se mantiene durante todos los gobiernos Chilenos y que amparado, justamente en “negar siempre”, demuestran y desnudan lo que realmente significa para el gobierno de Chile esta relación: envidia, ambición, deshonestidad, mezquindad y aprovechamiento.
The latest Chilean espionage incident, harmful for the good relations and integration between the two countries, reveals one more time a Chilean practise that has been going on for decades. Those actions have not yet been properly responded to, in such a way that our southern neighbour might begin to respect a country that opens the doors to its investment and reaches out generously for integration. Cowardly, behind the scenes they keep spying on us, trying to unearth Intelligence data on our projects, resources, strategies and ideas that mark our path towards development. These actions demonstrate a state policy sustained by every Chilean government that is based on denial, dealing with the relations between the two countries in a way that is greedy, exploitative and dishonest.
The espionage buzz has also triggered academic debate.
Peruvian historian and university professor Parodi Daniel Rivero responded to an article penned by his Chilean colleague Joaquín Fermandois in the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, wherein Fermandois argued that espionage is a normal state practice and branded the Peruvian reaction as hypersensitive, linked to the memory of the Pacific War between the two countries that lasted from 1879 to 1883.
me pregunto por las razones históricas que explican que Chile sostenga aún un discurso y práctica favorables al espionaje. Un primer elemento a considerar es la conformación de la identidad nacional chilena en el siglo XIX y la común referencia a la metáfora de la “fortaleza sitiada”; es decir, al pequeño y emprendedor país rodeado por tres rivales muy poderosos que lo amenazan. No parece casualidad, pues, que el diputado Jorge Tarud haya deslizado la idea de que esta denuncia de espionaje esconda una conspiración peruano-boliviana en contra de su país.
I wonder what historical reasons could explain Chile's defense of espionage. A first element to ponder would be the formation of the Chilean national identity in the nineteenth century and the common reference to the “besieged fortress” metaphor; i.e. the small and entrepreneurial country surrounded and threatened by three powerful rivals. There seems to be no coincidence, then, that the MP Jorge Tarud [who chairs the foreign relations committee in the Chilean parliament] has thrown up the idea that the espionage report hides a Peruvian-Bolivian conspiracy against his country.
Pointing out that conspiracy theories exist on both sides of the border, Rivero added a note about “Peruvian hypersensitivity”:
…no pretendo desechar las observaciones que Fermandois le hace al Perú. En efecto, nuestra excesiva sensibilidad frente a todo lo que viene de Chile es una realidad que debemos enfrentar desde las políticas educativas. Al contrario, lo que trato de mostrarle a mi colega es que en Chile también existen sensibilidades frente a sus vecinos, además de un nacionalismo férreo que acompaña un particular proceso de consolidación del Estado. Por eso nos debemos una mutua proclividad a tratar estos temas conjuntamente, porque la historia no la vamos a cambiar, pero si podemos difundir más los episodios que nos unen y comenzar a vernos con una mirada diferente,
… I do not intend to discard Fermandois’ analyses about Peru. Indeed, our excessive susceptibility to everything that comes from Chile is a reality we must face through education policies. On the contrary, what I try to show my colleague is that in Chile there are also sensitivities regarding its neighbors, plus a strong nationalism that goes hand in hand with a particular process of state-building. So we owe each other a compromise, history will not change, but we should propagate more of the facts that unite us in order to begin looking at each other with different eyes.
He then states what he considers to be the summary of Peruvians’ claim:
Es cierto que, en 2009, el ex-presidente Alan García aceptó las satisfacciones chilenas por el caso Ariza y sin embargo nos han seguido expiando. Por eso, más allá de las formas diplomáticas, el mensaje del Perú es clarísimo: no nos gusta que nos espíen y aunque queremos la integración, no la encontramos compatible con el espionaje. ¿El gallo canta más claro?
It is true that in 2009, former President Alan Garcia accepted Chilean explanations on the Ariza espionage case, but still, they kept spying on us.Therefore, beyond the diplomatic context, Peru's message is clear: we do not like being spied on and we don't consider integration compatible with espionage.
On his blog, economist César Vásquez Bazán revealed the history of Chilean espionage cases in Peru, before the Pacific War broke out in 1879.
He also examined in the volume of arms imports from Chile in recent times, highlighting that the amount is three-and-a-half times more than what Peru purchases in the same categories, and noting a similar buildup in the prelude to the Pacific War.
¿Por que dedica Chile un promedio de cuatro mil cuatrocientos millones de dólares anuales a gastos militares? La respuesta expresada en pocas palabras es porque Chile tiene la conciencia sucia por el robo hecho de los territorios de Tarapacá, Arica y el litoral boliviano en 1879. Cree que gastando 2.5 veces más en fuerzas militares que el Perú, disuadirá cualquier intento de recuperación de esos territorios por sus legítimos propietarios. […]
Chile quema el dinero en armamento y en matones de uniforme, lo cual es una vergüenza en un país con dos millones de seres humanos viviendo debajo de la línea de pobreza, con 16.3% de desempleo entre los jóvenes de 15 a 24 años de edad, y con una educación cara y elitista que discrimina cada vez más contra los pobres.
Why does Chile spend an average of $4.4 billion annually on military expenses? The short answer would be because Chile is guilty of stealing the territories of Tarapaca, Arica and the Bolivian coast in 1879. They believe that spending 2.5 times more on military forces than Peru will discourage any attempt of recovering these territories by their rightful owners. […]
Chile wastes money on weapons and thugs in uniform, which, for a country with two million people living below the poverty line, with 16.3% of unemployment rate among people between the ages of 15-24, and with an expensive and elitist education system that increasingly discriminates against the poor, is a shame.

author: Juan Arellano


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China Finally Releases Five Detained Feminist Activists · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Image from Facebook Group Free Chinese Feminists.
The families of five women's rights activists, who were detained after planning to protest against sexual harassment in public transportation, have received notice of bail pending trial.
According to one of their lawyers, Liang Xiaojun, the five, as suspects of a crime, will be under surveillance for a year and their rights, such as the ability to travel abroad, will still be curtailed. The police can detain them again at any time or interrogate them further.
Zheng Churan, Wang Man, Li Tingting, Wei Tingting and Wu Rongrong were arrested in March ahead of the International Women's Day.
The police attempted to press charges of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”, for which the maximum penalty is five years in prison. International feminist circles have been campaigning for over a month for their release.
The current situation indicates a conflict between the police authorities and the prosecutors. Michigan University Professor Wang Zheng, an active member of the campaign, commented (via Facebook Group Free Chinese Feminists):
In the Chinese context, this is the first time that a group of detained social activists are released all at once. This decision suggests: one, the unprecedented huge mobilization of global feminist and other non-governmental organizations’ support is effective. The massive grassroots based petitions not only pushed their own respective state politicians to respond, it also demonstrated clearly to the Chinese government that this petition is not instigated by a nation- based political enemy, but by a global political force – transnational feminists and other grassroots organizations for social justice and equality. This global political force cannot be suppressed by the Chinese state, or any national state. And no nation state should treat this global political force as its enemy. That would be too foolish.
Two, the Chinese government is not a monolithic entity and the decision is a compromise among different political factions or state branches. It can be imagined how ferocious the contentions behind the scenes were over how to handle this hot potato in their hands. The final compromise shows clearly that there were officials in the system who pushed very hard towards a positive solution.
She stressed that:
As long as non-governmental organizations’ activism for advocating and implementing laws relating to gender equality or any other issue is defined as criminal, there will be no safe zone for feminists as well as activists working in other realms for social justice. Thus, our efforts cannot stop here with the release of the five.
As the Global Summit for Women is approaching, the professor urges the United Nations to take steps to free the five from political persecution.
The battle is not yet over, as the activist network Free Chinese Feminists has warned. Social media hashtags for the campaign are: #FreeTheFive #FreeChineseFeminists #FreeBeijing20Five

author: Oiwan Lam


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He Stole, Was Caught, Asked for Forgiveness and Was Forgiven · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Screenshot of video on YouTube posted by user KDNA15TV.
He had probably thought it would be easy to steal some shampoo from the owner of a store in Peru, but things went bad for this thief.
The man and his accomplice entered a store in the Peruvian city of Huancayo, saying they were buying some liquor, and when the owner was distracted, they took a box of shampoo. The owner noticed what had happened and asked for help from security guards. To prevent the situation from escalating, one of the thieves knelt down to ask for forgiveness. The owner, a woman, was so moved by this reaction that she didn't press charges. The accomplice also benefited, although he didn't ask for forgiveness.
The guy claimed he will never again commit an act like this one.
The blog Noticias Huancayo Perú summed it up:
Se arrodilló y pidió perdón a la anciana manifestando que era la última vez que robaría. La agraviada […] al aceptar sus súplicas del ladrón negó en denunciar el hecho.
He knelt down and begged the old lady for forgiveness, claiming it would be the last time he'd steal. The affected lady […] while accepting the thief's pleas, refused to report the incident.
User KDNA15TV posted a video with the events:
Ladrón fue perdonado tras disculparse de rodillas por robar una caja de champú: Junto a su cómplice, el … http://t.co/NTCouDU3sL #news
— Puesto de Periódicos (@Newsstand_) abril 13, 2015
Thief got forgiveness after kneeling down for stealing a box of shampoo. Along with his accomplice…

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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How Do Madagascar’s People Get By on So Little? With Lots of Ingenuity · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Screen capture of the trailer for “Ady Gasy”, a documentary on trying to make ends meet in Madagascar by Lova Nantenaina via YouTube
Madagascar has had a string of bad luck over the past few years. Its economy is still struggling to recover after being hit by repeated cyclones and political crises. The Malagasy population has grown accustomed to try to make ends meet in spite of daunting challenges.
Ady Gasy (The Malagasy Way) documents this way of life that is unique to Madagascar's culture and society. Rejecting the overconsumption that plagues the developed world, the film examines how the people of Madagascar have embraced a conservationist lifestyle of re-purposing and self-reliance in the midst of a global economic crisis, using ingenuity as their inspiration.
Despite Madagascar's endemic poverty, famine and flooding, the documentary, by up-and-coming filmmaker Lova Nantenaina, isn't seeking viewers’ sympathy. It rather focuses on how the Malagasy people have overcome their daily struggles, as seen through the eyes of a child (the main character of the documentary). Audiences and critics have given the film mostly positive reviews. French film critic Rémy Roche reports how the documentary displayed this ingenuity in great detail:
Ce que veut montrer Ady Gasy (prononcer as “Ad Gash”), du nom d'une expression commune là-bas: débrouillons-nous. Et il savent faire, pour survivre. Un briquet jetable ne se jette pas, il se répare et se recharge de gaz, de vieux pneus on fait de belles sandales inusables, on transforme une ampoule grillée en lampe à pétrole, des boites de conserves vides on fabrique des jouets
Ady Gasy (pronounced “ad gash”) is a common phrase here that means: finding a way. That is their thing, they know how to survive. A disposable lighter is not to be thrown, it must be repaired and re-filled with gas. Old tires are to be made into tough, beautiful sandals. A dead light bulb is transformed into an oil lamp and empty cans become handmade toys.
Scenes from the documentary “Ady Gasy”
For Malagasies, it was crucial that the film give an accurate portrayal of the situation while avoiding presenting the citizens as victims. Kalabasivava, a Malagasy researcher residing in France, explains why:
C'est un vibrant hommage à la résistance et au courage d'un peuple longtemps abandonné et soumis à diverses contraintes extrêmement difficiles
It is a vibrant tribute to the strength and courage of a long-abandoned people, a population that has faced extremely difficult constraints with dignity
Watch the trailer below:
Tomavana, a Malagasy citizen who watched the world premiere of the documentary in Switzerland, was won over by the vision of the filmmaker:
Lova Nantenaina donne la parole au rocher sur laquelle la société malgache est solidement bâti: le peuple. Sans fard ni complaisance, le regard qu’il propose est une incursion dans le quotidien des « gens ordinaires » à Madagascar. Le spectateur est invité à cheminer au travers des dédales de ruelles, de quartiers qui abritent ces petits ateliers, autant de repères pour des petits métiers où la vie bouillonne et où l’espoir foisonne, un terreau fertile pour la résilience du peuple malgache.
Lova Nantenaina [the filmmaker] call on the foundation of the Malagasy nation: its people. Unvarnished and never complacent, his documentary is a foray into the lives of ordinary people in Madagascar. The viewer is invited to walk through the streets of various neighborhoods that are home to many small workshops, a typical set-up for small handicraft shops where life is buoyant and hope abounds. Those workshops are the seeding ground for the resilience of the people of Madagascar.
Lova Nantenaina at the premiere of his film. Used with his permission
Sandrine Marques, on her blog on Le Monde, adds that oral storytelling is an integral part of both Malagasy identity and the film:
De l'art oratoire pour conjurer la misère et célébrer les vertus de la solidarité. Voilà en quoi consiste l'argument de ce documentaire aussi humble que son sujet et qui nous montre les différentes facettes de la débrouille à Madagascar. L'expression « ady gasy » recouvre plusieurs sens dans la culture malgache et concerne autant les pratiques culturelles, culturales que médicinales.
Oral storytelling is one way to ward off misery and celebrate the virtues of solidarity in the country. That is the main argument of this documentary, which is as humble as the topic it is tackling. It shows us the different facets of resourcefulness in Madagascar. The term ady gasy has several meanings in the Malagasy culture; cultural and medicinal practices are an integral part of that ingenuity.
Surprisingly, it is worth noting that the Malagasy film industry is witnessing a creative boom in spite of the economic stalemate. Colin Dupre of INA Global explains this paradox:
Sur l’île rouge, il n’existe plus de salles de cinéma et aucune structure étatique n’est véritablement en mesure d’œuvrer pour le développement du secteur, faute de volonté politique, faute de financements… le véritable renouveau est venu du format court. Un court-métrage coûte moins cher, et le réalisateur n’a pas à besoin de chercher un apport financier auprès des financeurs du Nord. Ainsi donc, libéré de toute contrainte scénaristique et esthétique, le court-métrage s’émancipe du formatage subi par le long métrage… ll y a une vraie mutualisation des compétences durant le processus de création. Il s’agit d’un des rares secteurs artistiques à Madagascar où les acteurs collaborent afin d’optimiser les résultats.
On the Red Island [a nickname of Madagascar], there are no movie theaters anymore and no state structure is truly able to help the development of the industry because of a lack of political will and funding … The real revival of the film industry came from the use of the short films. A short film costs less, and the director does not need to seek financial support from the financiers of richer nations. Thus it freed filmmakers from the constraints and aesthetic of standard movies, in effect, short films are emancipated from the format imposed on feature movies… Additionally, there is a true collaborative sharing of skills during the creation process in Malagasy films. This is one of the few sectors in Madagascar where the artists work together to maximize results.
Lova Nantenaina is very clear on what he hopes his film will achieve. He states in his latest interview:
Il est de notre devoir de donner confiance à tous ces héros du quotidien
It is our duty to give confidence to these everyday heroes who make Madagascar
The documentary is showing in Europe and in Madagascar through June. Here is a list of locations where one can catch a session.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Inside Amsterdam’s ‘New University’ Student Occupation · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Jacques Rancière's speech at the occupied Maagdenhuis on March 24, 2015. Photo by Nicola Zolin. Used with permission
By journalists and photographers Roberto Pizzato and Nicola Zolin.
A new wave of student movements and occupations of university buildings is taking place around Europe. In Amsterdam, on March 25, 2015, the movement Nieuwe Universiteit (New University) marked the first month of occupation of the Maagdenhuis, an administrative building of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) located in Spui at the very center of the city.
Until April 11, when they were evicted by riot police, a group of students occupied the building, organising a range of activities such as lectures, workshops and presentations and supported by local and international intellectuals. The students demanded direct democracy, participation in the university’s management processes, and the halting of financial cuts and the progressive corporatization of the university.
University student movements rising up around Europe are proof of one of the biggest crisis of our time: the crisis of knowledge. It is when knowledge has become unchallengeable and indisputable that people feel disconnected from the world in which they live, and from the contribution they themselves are aiming to make to society.
Education for a human being is a window to the world. It should trigger curiosity and offer the keys for people to dream and to be creative and inspired in envisioning the world they desire to live in. However, when universities appear condemned to reflect the structures of the current economic and highly bureaucratic financial system, there is little room for honest dialogue and critical confrontation, and for the wise exploration of challenging narratives and alternatives within this current phase of human history. In the context of this gloomy scenario, groups of students disillusioned by the perspectives of the present and inspired by fresh ideals have chosen to react by occupying university buildings.
On February 13, academics and students of the Nieuwe Universiteit occupied the Bungehuis building in response to reforms announced by the UvA. After negotiations with the Board of Directors failed, the occupiers, who refused to leave the building, were evicted by the police. That same night, a group of students forced the door of the Maagdenhuis, the UvA's main administrative building, and began the occupation that continued until April 11.
The movement’s goals are pursued through a process of direct democracy and self organisation. In a pamphlet entitled “Antithese”, students and academics behind the Nieuwe Universiteit movement affirm that they “were finally ridding ourselves of a sort of postmodern cynicism”. The action of occupation, in other words, is for them a reaction to the growing apathy of the younger generations who have internalised a feeling of powerlessness. “The logic of the system is to produce people who are unable and feel that they are unable and that agree that they are unable,” said Jacques Rancière, a French philosopher who spoke at the Maagdenhuis during the occupation.
In this first month of activities at the Maagdenhuis, the movement hosted workshops, feature films and documentaries screenings, music concerts and daily lectures with professors and intellectuals such as American activist David Graeber, a leading figure in the Occupy movement.
During these weeks, the word “occupation” was often replaced with the word “liberation”. In the pamphlet “Onruststoker”, a member of the movement acknowledged the lack of a concrete plan for the future. “The negation of what is by no means a final stage,” the member wrote, can be pursued through creative freedom that “animates our ideals, rough, subjective and diverse as they may still be, into experiments.”
Jacques Rancière's speech at the occupied Maagdenhuis on March 24, 2015. Photo by Nicola Zolin. Used with permission
“We are not only occupying this space,” said Michiel, a student who joined the movement after the occupation of the Maagdenhuis had begun. “We have started feeling part of a big family, as new occupations are happening elsewhere.”
The news of the occupation of an administrative building at the London School of Economics (LSE) in London on March 18 brought new confidence to the students in Amsterdam. As a representative of the LSE occupation said: “the power of occupations is that they create a domino effect: this is only the beginning.”
A few weeks earlier in Canada, students had started strikes at York University and the University of Toronto, lamenting the insufficient and unequal allocation of resources to course instructors and teaching assistants.
At the time of the occupation, the students in Amsterdam were confident that their demands would be heard. “One of the demands is the stopping of real estate speculation with money that is supposed to be for research and teaching,” said Joyce Pijnenburg, a former UvA student who renounced a career in academia on account of the dysfunction that she was now denouncing.
Jacques Rancière's speech at the occupied Maagdenhuis on March 24, 2015. Photo by Nicola Zolin. Used with permission
“In 1969, the government listened to the students and changed the governance of the university by means of law,” recalled Michele Mugia, a UvA philosophy student and activist. Mugia was a leading organizer of events and meetings during the month of occupation and he was proud to report that “everyone here believes they have written history and future at the same time.”
Bertie Kaal, a teacher at the UvA who supports the struggle of the Nieuwe Universiteit, recalled that “the achievement of the occupation of the 1969 were lost in the following decades, as the top-down system gradually became dominant”. Kaal said that most teachers were now afraid to protest, fearing that they would lose their jobs. “I am happy that the students are protesting also because the professors aren’t doing it,” Kaal said.
The students behind the Nieuwe Universiteit united and claim to be fearless. “Other movements and political parties have gotten inspiration from us,” said Michiel, “and the sense of what is possible if you start acting and creating what you believe you stand for. That’s what we’re seeing happening here.”

author: Guest Contributor


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Mapping Lebanese Journalists on Twitter · Global Voices
Thalia Rahme

Mustapha Hamoui, aka @Beirutspring is mapping the presence of Lebanese journalists on Twitter. For that he is compiling a list with their Twitter handles. The list includes non-Lebanese journalists who also report on the country. You can access the Google doc or update it here.

author: Thalia Rahme


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Mexican Group Receives International Journalism Recognition Julio Anguita Parrado · Global Voices
Mary Aviles

Periodistas de a Pie (@periodistasdeapie), an active journalist organization that aims to raise the quality of journalism in Mexico, received the International Journalism Award Julio Anguita Parrado in Spain.
Through training and exchanging investigation techniques, experiences, reporting strategies, narrative styles and ways of approaching a story with colleagues, the group aims to challenge censorship.
El rector de @Univcordoba y el alcalde entregan el VIII Premio Julio Anguita Parrado pic.twitter.com/QrSiJ8ILSY
— Elena Lázaro Real (@LazaroElena) April 7, 2015
The dean of the University of Córdoba and mayor hand out the 8th Julio Anguita Parrado Award.
Elia Baltazar, a member of Periodistas de a Pie, said in an interview that journalism in her country has recognition only from some sectors. We can see evidence of that in the impunity that exists when it comes to journalists being killed.
“Los que hemos elegido esta profesión no pretendemos cambiar nada sino informar para que sean los ciudadanos quienes tomen las decisiones para cambiar las cosas. Queremos una sociedad abierta, donde los periodistas podamos cumplir nuestra labor sin arriesgarnos porque una sociedad mejor informada va a ser una sociedad que tome mejores decisiones”, apunta.
Those of us who've chosen this profession don't pretend to change anything, just to inform so the citizens can be the ones who make the decisions to change things. We want an open society, where journalists might be able to fulfill out work without risks, because a better informed society will be a society that makes better decisions.
The jury of the 8th Julio Anguita Parrado Award, named after the Spanish journaist that passed away ten years ago while covering the war in Irak, valued the “informative work, silent, without showing off, carried out by communicators in absolute heroic circumstances, in a place where their ives and integrity are under constant threat”.

author: Mary Aviles


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President Obama’s Visit to Jamaica Wasn’t All ‘Irie’ · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

President Obama in at Keehi Lagoon Beach Park in 2008. Photo by Justin Sloan, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
United States President Barack Obama was in Jamaica last week to meet with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government to discuss pressing bilateral issues — including crime and security — prior to his attendance at the Seventh Summit of the Americas in Panama City. It was the first visit to the Caribbean island by a sitting U.S. president since Ronald Reagan over 30 years ago.
Falling oil prices and the fallout from the 2009 global economic crisis have left many regional economies, including Jamaica's, flailing — and therefore dependent on the economic might of other superpowers like China and vulnerable to oil alliances like the Venezuela-led PetroCaribe. Caribbean outreach is a strategic move for the United States as it seeks support in the face of threats from extremist groups around the world.
The Jamaican blogosphere could not contain its excitement in the prelude to Obama's arrival, with bloggers lauding the U.S. president's positive example and the Jamaican media extensively covering the visit.
Other netizens, however, criticized authorities for making last-minute repairs — such as conducting road work at night — ahead of his visit. On Twitter, users suggested that the whole thing was superficial window dressing:
No matter what happens the night before, I'm betting @JamaicaGleaner‘s front page WILL MENTION NO CRIME on the day #Obama lands in #Jamaica.
— Miserable Jamaican (@cross_angry) April 7, 2015
You know when yu havin a family/foreign visitor comin to your home and you fix up the place… that's how it is right now in #Jamaica #Obama
— Yaardie (@Yaardie876) April 7, 2015
If only #Obama could visit #Jamaica every year, the country would be first class, move out the way vision 2030. Ppl worshipping a mere man
— Kayon Brown (@KayCamz) April 7, 2015
The sentiment was echoed in a meme on Jamaican Jokes’ Facebook page:
Blogger Emily Crooks mused about issues that Jamaica was grappling with — controversial topics like gay rights, for instance — and suggested that the manner in which government officials were falling over themselves to make Jamaica Obama-ready while they ignored such concerns was an insult to the citizenry:
In the debates leading up to the 2011 general elections, Portia Simpson Miller in her bid to appease the gay community, promised that she would bring the provisions under the Offences Against the Person Act which criminalize sex between consenting adults of the same sex to the parliament for a conscience vote. […]
The Prime Minister demonstrated her intention not to move on her promise when confronted by gay rights activist[s] in New York. […] I hope for the sake of minorities the world over that the gay rights activists refuse to back down. I hope they picket every and any venue in which the Prime Minister or any other person who has made an unfulfilled promise to the electorate speaks. I hope they are not prepared to resile from their positions especially since the electorate in Jamaica has long lost its fire.
Jamaica has an international reputation for homophobia.
Cucumber Juice penned a letter to the U.S. president in which she drew attention to all the hardships Jamaicans regularly face, noting that Obama would witness none of them:
The visible preparations for your visit began about 3 weeks ago when Prime Minister Simpson-Miller appeared in Parliament to make the announcement. I must admit it was strange to see her there as around the same time a large fire was ripping through our main garbage dump (despite many announcements and pronouncements we do not have a landfill) turning the air for almost 50% of the island’s population living in three parishes into a toxic smoky soup, and she’d been strangely mum about it. […]
Your view from Air Force One and Marine One as you arrive and move about should be breathtaking. Jamaica is a verdant, hilly, paradise. Often I worry that we do not take its unique and breathtaking landscape seriously…we don’t care for it as we should. We have not quite gotten around to declaring national parks (and meaning it) and enjoying them or holding steady about our endangered and protected areas but, you know, we trudge along to the IMF tune. […]
Unfortunately you won’t be able to nip over for crab or roasted corn or roasted yam when you visit National Heroes Park. The crab vendors usually do snappy business, especially on Friday nights. Although Friday night crab business should be roaring and lively with tales of who saw President Obama visit National Heroes Park, that is doubtful because the crab and other vendors’ stalls are gone; they say it is temporary…I have learned to mark deeds not words.
Other blog entries, like this one from Active Voice, offered a more humourous take on the president's visit:
Who knew how much Jamaicans love Barack Obama? I didn’t until he arrived yesterday and the country went into full One Love mode. […] Others noted that POTUS’s arrival had displaced the live draw of Cashpot, a national lottery, that never yields its airtime not even for the Olympics. Obama has managed to stop Cashpot and NOTHING stops Cashpot tweeted @jomariemalcolm in awe while Alison Stuart said: What! He stopped Cashpot!!!!! He mus really be a powerful man!!!!!!!
Regional bloggers contributed to the humour in the form of memes. This post, by satirical blog The Late O'Clock News, invented a story about Obama going missing in the company of a young man called “Steppa”, who asked the president about the United States’ policy on the decriminalisation of marijuana:
Steppa explained the incident to our reporters:
‘I and I had to show di president how di real Jamaican experience is. He tell me how stressful it is managing a big and powerful country like the U.S., and how dem Republicans ah give ‘im nuff fight down. So dat is when me say ‘Me have just the right thing to ease di stress’. After some deep meditation, we went looking fuh some ital to satisfy the cravings.’
Before falling into a deep sleep on the couch at his hotel room, the President of the United States had this to say:
‘I am humbled and thankful for this experience. I realise now that I am the leader of a wicked, Babylon system but not for much longer. I am a child of Africa, like my father Haile Selassie and…and…wait, what was I saying again?’
Obama was warmly welcomed in the Caribbean, humour and all, but there were still some that were sceptical of his motives for the visit. Barbados Underground posted a blog entry that suggested Obama cannot be trusted:
A few days ago he came bearing gifts. A paltry Trojan horse to the Jamaican people. Today he is being quoted in the media as promising not to interfere in the internal affairs of countries in South & Central America and the Caribbean. […]
This is the same sneaky fellow who, less than weeks ago, believed he had reason to designate The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela as an existential threat to the United Stated. Of course, he has since backed off so as not to create the type of isolation he faced at his last meeting with this regional grouping. […]
We are encouraged that countries like Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba and Bolivia will form a vanguard against American hegemony, presented under any guise. Unfortunately, sycophantic countries like Barbados and Jamaica will always revel in the notion that a titular Black man, as president of the United States, means less viciousness, is one of us.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Tracking Infrastructure Damage in the War in Yemen · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Hundreds of people have been reportedly killed in fighting in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign against the country on March 26. Backed by its Gulf Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco,and Sudan, Saudi Arabia started an airstrike operation, dubbed Decisive Storm, against Houthi fighters who took control of Yemen in January.
Reports from the ground say that a refugee camp, schools, airports, a bridge, factories and homes have been destroyed so far.
Yemeni blogger Noon Arabia explains:
19 days of #OpDecisiveStorm airstrikes on #Yemen achieved so far:death,suffering, deteriorating living conditions,infrastructure destruction
— نون عربية (@NoonArabia) April 13, 2015
She adds:
Sana'a now without electricity, gas, internet, soon food & water while Aden has been suffering earlier & much more. #Yemen #OpDecisiveStorm
— نون عربية (@NoonArabia) April 13, 2015
We are tracking news and stories on the infrastructure damage in Yemen in this war at Global Voices Checkdesk, a partnership project with Meedan.
Checkdesk is a liveblogging tool for journalists, with built-in tools to allow citizen journalists and staff journalists alike to make and verify reports. Anyone from the newsroom community can submit a report — a Tweet, a photo, video or other type of media — and add details that bring important context to the report. Staff journalists can then add these reports to a developing story.
Email us here to join our team.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Tracking the Death Toll of the War in Yemen  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Hundreds of people have been reportedly killed in fighting in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched a military campaign against the country on March 26. Backed by its Gulf Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia started an airstrike operation, dubbed Decisive Storm, against Houthi fighters who took control of Yemen in January.
We are tracking news stories and leads on the death toll in this war at Global Voices Checkdesk, a partnership project with Meedan.
Checkdesk is a liveblogging tool for journalists, with built-in tools to allow citizen journalists and staff journalists alike to make and verify reports. Anyone from the newsroom community can submit a report — a Tweet, a photo, video or other type of media — and add details that bring important context to the report. Staff journalists can then add these reports to a developing story.
Email us here to join our team.


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UAE Minister to Pakistan: ‘You Need to Take a Clear Stance on War in Yemen or Else’ · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Picturesque scene of Sana'a until you realize those are anti aircraft weapons zipping through the sky. #Yemen” tweets Yemeni blogger @amelscript, who shares this photograph on Twitter
Pakistan came under fire for refusing to send its troops to fight in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.
Taking to Twitter, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash criticised Pakistan for not standing with the Arabian Gulf in its hour of need. He said that at the time Gulf investment was welcome in Pakistan, Pakistanis are not supporting Gulf Arab countries in its war on Yemen.
He tweeted to his 120K followers:
قرار البرلمان الباكستاني و الذي ينص علي (الحياد في الصراع اليمني) و يعرب (عن دعمه الصريح للسعودية) متناقض و خطير و غير متوقع من اسلام أباد.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) April 10, 2015
The Pakistani parliament's decision which states Pakistan's neutrality in the Yemen conflict while stating its support to Saudi Arabia is contradictory, dangerous and unexpected from Islamabad
The Pakistani parliament voted on Friday that Pakistan would not take part in the military intervention in Yemen, now in its third week.
Hundreds of people have been reportedly killed in fighting in Yemen since Saudi Arabia launched the military campaign against the country on March 26. Backed by its Gulf Arab allies, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Turkey and Sudan, Saudi Arabia started an airstrike operation, dubbed Decisive Storm, against Houthi fighters who took control of Yemen in January.
In another tweet, Gargash says:
الخليج العربي في مواجهة خطيرة و مصيرية و أمنه الإستراتيجي علي المحك، ولحظة الحقيقة هذه تميز الحليف الحقيقي من حليف الاعلام والتصريحات.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) April 10, 2015
The Arabian Gulf is in a dangerous and decisive situation and its strategic security is at stake. This moment of truth distinguishes between the real ally and the ally who is only there in the media and through statements
In a threatening tweet, Gargash adds:
باكستان مطالبة بموقف واضح لصالح علاقاتها الاستراتيجية مع دول الخليج العربي، المواقف المتناقضة و الملتبسة في هذا الامر المصيري تكلفتها عالية.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) April 10, 2015
Pakistan is required to take a clear stance for the benefit of its strategic relations with Arab Gulf states. Such contradictory and ambiguous stances in this crucial matter will have a high cost
Yet another tweet alludes that Pakistan is siding with Iran in the war in Yemen:
يبدو ان أهمية طهران لاسلام أباد و انقرة يفوق أهمية دول الخليج، بعدنا الاقتصادي و الاستثماري مطلوب، و يغيب الدعم السياسي في اللحظة الحرجة.
— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) April 10, 2015
It seems that the importance of Iran to Islamabad and Ankara exceeds the importance of the Gulf states. Our economic and investment support is required but their political support is absent at the crucial moment
And while Ankara has voiced its support for the war on Yemen, Turkey has not been directly involved in the operations, offering its ability to provide logistic and intelligence support instead of troops.
However, many came to the support of Pakistan in its decision. Egyptian Ahmed Khalil tweets to his 77K followers:
باكستان رفضت الاشتراك في العدوان على اليمن ، نامل ان يرفض الجيش المصرى الاشتراك فى العدوان ، جيشنا للدفاع عن حدودنا فقط
— Ahmad (@ahmad_khalil) April 10, 2015
Pakistan refused to take part in the war on Yemen. We hope that our Egyptian army refuses to take part in the war. Our army is to protect our boundaries only.
Bahraini columnist Kassim Hussain says the situation is getting “complicated”:
#bahrain: من اخبارالجمعة:برلمان باكستان يمتنع عن تأييد الحرب باليمن ويدعو للحياد والسعودية تمنع طائرة باكستانية من دخول اراضيها.الامورتتعقد
— قاسم حسين (@kassimhussain1) April 10, 2015
Pakistan's parliament refuses to support the war on Yemen and calls for neutrality and Saudi Arabia prevents a Pakistani airline from entering its territory. It's getting complicated
And Fouad Ibrahim, with 20.8K followers on Twitter, wonders:
هل بدأ ال سعود يفقدون صوابهم..اليوم منعوا طائرة باكستانية تقل معتمرين بحجة “الحفاظ على سلامة الأجواء”.. تعاقب باكستان لرفض الانخراط في الحرب
— fouad Ibrahim (@fuadibrahim2011) April 10, 2015
Have the Al Saud started to lose their senses? Today they prevented a Pakistani plane with pilgrims under the pretext of “protecting the safety of airspace.” Pakistan is being punished for refusing to take part in the war
According to Pakistani daily Dawn, “a Pakistani airline passenger aircraft was barred from entering Saudi airspace Friday on the grounds that the airline did not have the required documents.”


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A Calendar of Human History, According to Uruguayan Writer Eduardo Galeano · Global Voices
NACLA

Eduardo Galeano. Photo by Flickr user Mariela De Marchi Moyano. CC BY-SA 2.0
This article originally appeared on TomDispatch and was republished by NACLA prior to Eduardo Galeano's death on Monday.
Eduardo Galeano is one of Latin America’s most distinguished writers. He is the author of Open Veins of Latin America, the Memory of Fire Trilogy, Mirrors, and many other works. His newest book, Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History (Nation Books), is just out in paperback and is excerpted below. He is the recipient of many international prizes, including the first Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom, the American Book Award, and the Casa de las Américas Prize.
Mark Fried is the translator of seven books by Eduardo Galeano, including Children of the Days. He is also the translator, among other works, of Firefly by Severo Sarduy. He lives in Ottawa, Canada.
(January 15)
In 1919 Rosa Luxemburg, the revolutionary, was murdered in Berlin.
Her killers bludgeoned her with rifle blows and tossed her into the waters of a canal.
Along the way, she lost a shoe.
Some hand picked it up, that shoe dropped in the mud.
Rosa longed for a world where justice would not be sacrificed in the name of freedom, nor freedom sacrificed in the name of justice.
Every day, some hand picks up that banner.
Dropped in the mud, like the shoe.
(February 17)
The peons on the farms of Argentina’s Patagonia went out on strike against stunted wages and overgrown workdays, and the army took charge of restoring order.
Executions are grueling. On this night in 1922, soldiers exhausted from so much killing went to the bordello at the port of San Julián for their well-deserved reward.
But the five women who worked there closed the door in their faces and chased them away, screaming, “You murderers! Murderers, get out of here!”
Osvaldo Bayer recorded their names. They were Consuelo García, Ángela Fortunato, Amalia Rodríguez, María Juliache, and Maud Foster.
The whores. The virtuous.
(June 9)
In the year 1901, Elisa Sánchez and Marcela Gracia got married in the church of Saint George in the Galician city of A Coruña.
Elisa and Marcela had loved in secret. To make things proper, complete with ceremony, priest, license and photograph, they had to invent a husband. Elisa became Mario: she cut her hair, dressed in men’s clothing, and faked a deep voice.
When the story came out, newspapers all over Spain screamed to high heaven — “this disgusting scandal, this shameless immorality” — and made use of the lamentable occasion to sell papers hand over fist, while the Church, its trust deceived, denounced the sacrilege to the police.
And the chase began.
Elisa and Marcela fled to Portugal.
In Oporto they were caught and imprisoned.
But they escaped. They changed their names and took to the sea.
In the city of Buenos Aires the trail of the fugitives went cold.
(August 13)
In 1816 the government in Buenos Aires bestowed the rank of lieutenant colonel on Juana Azurduy “in virtue of her manly efforts.”
She led the guerrillas who took Cerro Potosí from the Spaniards in the war of independence.
War was men’s business and women were not allowed to horn in, yet male officers could not help but admire “the virile courage of this woman.”
After many miles on horseback, when the war had already killed her husband and five of her six children, Juana also lost her life. She died in poverty, poor even among the poor, and was buried in a common grave.
Nearly two centuries later, the Argentine government, now led by a woman, promoted her to the rank of general, “in homage to her womanly bravery.”
(September 17)
The centenary celebrations were over and all that glowing garbage was swept away.
And the revolution began.
History remembers the revolutionary leaders Zapata, Villa, and other he-men. The women, who lived in silence, went on to oblivion.
A few women warriors refused to be erased:
Juana Ramona, “la Tigresa,” who took several cities by assault;
Carmen Vélez, “la Generala,” who commanded three hundred men;
Ángela Jiménez, master dynamiter, who called herself Angel Jiménez;
Encarnación Mares, who cut her braids and reached the rank of second lieutenant hiding under the brim of her big sombrero, “so they won’t see my woman’s eyes”;
Amelia Robles, who had to become Amelio and who reached the rank of colonel;
Petra Ruiz, who became Pedro and did more shooting than anyone else to force open the gates of Mexico City;
Rosa Bobadilla, a woman who refused to be a man and in her own name fought more than a hundred battles;
and María Quinteras, who made a pact with the Devil and lost not a single battle. Men obeyed her orders. Among them, her husband.
(November 14)
On this morning in 1889, Nellie Bly set off.
Jules Verne did not believe that this pretty little woman could circle the globe by herself in less than eighty days.
But Nellie put her arms around the world in seventy-two, all the while publishing article after article about what she heard and observed.
This was not the young reporter’s first exploit, nor would it be the last.
To write about Mexico, she became so Mexican that the startled government of Mexico deported her.
To write about factories, she worked the assembly line.
To write about prisons, she got herself arrested for robbery.
To write about mental asylums, she feigned insanity so well that the doctors declared her certifiable. Then she went on to denounce the psychiatric treatments she endured, as reason enough for anyone to go crazy.
In Pittsburgh when Nellie was twenty, journalism was a man’s thing.
That was when she committed the insolence of publishing her first articles.
Thirty years later, she published her last, dodging bullets on the front lines of World War I.
(November 25)
In the jungle of the Upper Paraná, the prettiest butterflies survive by exhibiting themselves. They display their black wings enlivened by red or yellow spots, and they flit from flower to flower without the least worry. After thousands upon thousands of years, their enemies have learned that these butterflies are poisonous. Spiders, wasps, lizards, flies, and bats admire them from a prudent distance.
On this day in 1960 three activists against the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic were beaten and thrown off a cliff. They were the Mirabal sisters. They were the prettiest, and they were called Las Mariposas, “The Butterflies.”
In memory of them, in memory of their inedible beauty, today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. In other words, for the elimination of violence by the little Trujillos that rule in so many homes.
(December 9)
In 1986 the Nobel Prize for medicine went to Rita Levi-Montalcini.
In troubled times, during the dictatorship of Mussolini, Rita had secretly studied nerve fibers in a makeshift lab hidden in her home.
Years later, after a great deal of work, this tenacious detective of the mysteries of life discovered the protein that multiplies human cells, which won her the Nobel.
She was about eighty by then and she said, “My body is getting wrinkled, but not my brain. When I can no longer think, all I’ll want is help to die with dignity.”

author: NACLA


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Bengali New Year Takes a Colorful Stand Against Religious Extremism in Bangladesh · Global Voices
Rezwan

People celebrating Pahela Baishakh at Mangal Shobhajatra (Rally), a procession organised by Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to welcome the Bengali new year. Image by Sourav Lasker. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)
The past few months have been particularly tough for Bangladesh as continuous political turmoil and violence left over 120 people dead. The recent killings of two free-thinking blog activists and the emergence of a new militant wing that seeks to murder atheists have worried many.
Whenever the country has found itself in trouble, Bangladeshis have embraced their roots, taking solace in art and culture to unite against any challenges they face.
On Tuesday, April 14, 2015, people did just that in Bangladesh, welcoming the Bengali New Year 1422 with the resolve to continue the fight against communalism and religious fanaticism.
Bengalis, who are overwhelmingly the largest (98%) ethnic group in Bangladesh, customarily celebrate the New Year (Pohela Baishakh) with colourful procession and festivities. This year's festivities had a special theme: “Onek Alo Jaalte Hobe Moner Ondhokare” (Burn many lights in the darkness of hearts). It was chosen to commemorate the recent assassination of blogger and writer Avijit Roy and online activist Oyasiqur Rahman. A 20-foot-tall statue symbolising the rise of communal forces was at the procession, reminding everyone to reject such strife.
People carried colourful costumes in the Mangal Shobhajatra (Rally). Image by Sourav Lasker. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)
Pohela Boishakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar, celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in the Indian state of West Bengal by Bengalis. Hundreds of fairs and events welcoming the New Year takes place in many parts of Bangladesh and in West Bengal in India. The largest festivities happens in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, where tens of thousands of people wearing multicoloured masks and traditional dress march in the Mangal Shobhajatra procession marking the New Year.
Tanvir Haider Chaudhury wrote on Facebook:
আপনি যেখানে থাকুন, পারলে ঢাকা চলে আসুন। পৃথিবীর সবচেয়ে আনন্দময়, উৎসবমুখর জায়গা এই মুহূর্তে ঢাকা।
শুভ নববর্ষ।
Wherever you are, please come to Dhaka if you can. Right now Dhaka is the happiest place on earth full of festivities. Shuvo Noboborsho (Happy new year).
While Twitter user Bappy tweeted a photo:
No race can beat Bengali in celebration & hospitality ! #BengaliNewYear #pohelaboishakh pic.twitter.com/i46i9xGzIi
— Bappy (@im_bappy) April 14, 2015
Crowds celebrated Pahela Baishakh at Mangal Shobhajatra, a procession organised by Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to welcome the Bengali New Year 1422. Image by Sk. Hasan Ali. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)
Anila Haque thanked Google for creating a doodle for the occasion:
শুভ নববর্ষ (Shubho Noboborsho 1422)!!! Thank you Google! :) Bangla New Year 1422 #GoogleDoodle https://t.co/zVFAdHMWEc
— Anila Hoque (@tweet2Ann_E) April 14, 2015
Gargie Ahmad hoped that the New Year would bring an opportunity to start anew:
Happy Bengali new year, শুভ নববর্ষ, welcome 1422! Much to be sad about in world, but hoping fresh year brings fresh starts. #pohelaboishakh
— Gargie Ahmad (@GargieAhmad) April 14, 2015
To the Bengalis, hilsa isn't just a fish. It's an integral part of the culture and heritage. Be it fried or cooked with mustard, hilsa is a must in Pahela Baishakh celebrations. Image by Sourav Lasker. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted in Bengali:
পয়লা বৈশাখে সব বাঙালী বন্ধুদের আমার শুভেচ্ছা। আগামী বছরটা দুর্দান্ত কাটুক সকলের, শুভ নববর্ষ !
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 14, 2015
My good wishes to all the Bengali friends on Pahela Boishakh. Hope the following year will be great for everyone. Shuvo Noboborsho (Happy New Year).
‘Nokhsikatha’ graffiti by the Students of Fine Arts Institute on the walls of Dhaka University Fine Arts Institute where the rally begins. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)
And other netizens tweeted out images of the holiday:
#pohelaboishakh dinner with traditional hilsa (ilish) fry #noboborsho @urmeechakma pic.twitter.com/5grzb5m1MB
— Raqib Chowdhury (@raqibc) April 14, 2015
Happy Bangla New Year 1422… & Happy Pohela Boishakh to all… Our #BD every year looks beautiful like that one… pic.twitter.com/gAtrBsf4LY
— Its Me ! ❤ (@PathanAnanya) April 14, 2015
‘Nokhsikatha’ graffiti by the Students of Fine Arts Institute on the walls of Dhaka University Fine Arts Institute where the rally begins. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)

author: Rezwan


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Cuba at the Summit of the Americas: The Struggle for Voice and Representation · Global Voices
Elaine Díaz

Pro-government Cubans protest against perceived irregularities in the granting of credentials and access to members of the anti-Castro opposition at the start of the Forum on Civil Society, a parallel event held at the Summit of the Americas. Photo by Norges Rodríguez, used with permission.
Things got ugly at the Civil Society and Social Actors Forum in Panama, the host nation of this year's Summit of the Americas, which witnessed a historic meeting between Raúl Castro and Barack Obama that helped ease a decades-long diplomatic stalemate between Cuba and the United States. Various members of Cuban civil society attended the forum, which partly broke down when different factions in the Cuban delegation began arguing and even fist-fighting, causing delays in the event's roundtables on citizen participation and democratic governance.
In 2009, the Organization of American States (OAS), which sponsors the Summit, lifted its 47-year-old ban on Cuba. Although Cuba declared it would never rejoin the OAS, Havana did agree to participate in this year's Summit.
The presence in Panama of Félix Rodríguez Mendigutia, the former CIA official who tracked down Ernesto “Che” Guevara in La Higuera, Bolivia, only served to heighten tensions. Cuban journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde found Mendiguetía's attendance to be sickening:
La imagen de Félix Rodríguez (…) es nauseabunda. Nos recuerda al Che que yace sobre un fregadero de la ropa sucia, en la lavandería del hospital de Vallegrande, en  Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Algunas de estas imágenes que tanto duelen e indignan, con un Ernesto Guevara enflaquecido y con cara de Cristo atormentado, las tomó el asesino como prueba de fe para sus jefes en la CIA.
The image of Félix Rodríguez […] is nauseating. It reminds us of Che lying in a sink full of dirty clothes in the laundry room of the hospital in Vallegrande, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Some of these photos, which are as enraging as they are painful, of an emaciated Ernesto Guevara, his face in Christ-like torment, were taken by the murderer himself as proof for his bosses in the CIA.
At the same time, the independent organization Cuba Posible announced its withdrawal from the Forum on Civil Society moments before it was scheduled to begin. Cuba Possible claimed there were significant irregularities in the accreditation process, which contributed to the “unfortunate clash at the doorway of the inaugural session”:
La delegación de la sociedad civil organizada por el Gobierno cubano decidió que si no entraban todos sus miembros, no entraría ninguno. Argumentaban que a todos los miembros de la sociedad civil opositora presentes en Panamá se les facilitaron sus credenciales, y el acceso expedito al recinto en un sitio ventajoso del mismo. Luego de reclamar activamente durante más de una hora, de manera exaltada, la posibilidad de acceder al plenario, pasaron a solicitar, además, la retirada del sector opositor de la cita. Finalmente una autoridad panameña decidió hacer pasar a todos los cubanos. Una vez dentro, continuaron protestando por lo que a todas luces constituye un trato discriminatorio. Al no ser debidamente atendidos, se retiraron de la Cumbre.
The civil-society delegation sent by the Cuban government decided that if all its members could not enter then nobody could. They argued that all the members of civil society representing the opposition in Panama had been awarded credentials and given priority access to select seating. After spending more than an hour loudly requesting access to the session, the Cuban delegation eventually asked to remove the opposition delegates. Finally, a Panamanian official decided to let all Cubans through. Once inside, they continued to protest, which clearly constituted discriminatory behavior. Having not been properly attended to, they withdrew from the Summit.
Several YouTube videos showing the moments before the scheduled opening of the roundtable session on governance show vocal complaints that “the Cuban delegation was discriminated against.” Panamanian organizers, meanwhile, have been quick to point out that delegations from “every country encountered similar logistical problems,” and they called for the session to proceed, emphasizing that there was in fact Cuban representation in the room.
“In the name of the delegation from Panama, I would like to tell you that you are not alone in having experienced difficulties,” one participant said. “The Panamanian delegation suffered the same problems. This is not a problem of discrimination—it's a logistical one—and I'm asking you to be more understanding.”
A pro-government Cuban delegation also disrupted the forum's roundtable on citizen participation by denouncing the Cuban opposition, shouting “Mercenaries out!” and “There is no forum!” The most dramatic turn of events was when a young Brazilian yelled out in the midst of the uproar:
Yo soy sociedad civil también. Yo soy ciego. Soy una persona con discapacidad. Y soy de Brasil. Yo quiero diálogo, no quiero gritar, yo sé gritar también, pero quiero dialogar con ustedes. Estamos aquí para dialogar.
I, too, am civil society. I am blind. I am a person with a disability. And I am from Brazil. I want to have a dialogue—I don't want to shout. I also know how to shout, but I prefer to have a dialogue with you. That is what we're here to do.
Cuban blogger Norges Rodríguez was one of the participants in the forum who asks, “If Cuba is one of the countries fostering a dialogue between the Colombian government and the FARC, why can we as Cubans not have a conversation amongst ourselves.” Meanwhile Taylor Escalona, another accredited Cuban posted the following on his Facebook profile:
#Cuba está un tanto indignada, no solo por el hecho de las trincheras, en un tiempo o momento que exigen dejarlas a un lado y pensar en común por el bien nacional, está indignada porque aquí debiéramos haber llegado con ánimos de dialogar y de exponer civilizadamante nuestros criterios, las discrepancias ciertamente no desaparecen de la noche a la mañana, de hecho, posiblemente nunca desaparezcan, pero (…) los argumentos pueden más que una “gritería”.
#Cuba is a little indignant, not just because of the trenches [battlefields], but at some point in time you have to leave that aside and think about the collective good. They are indignant because we should have come here ready to have a dialogue and to present our cases in a civilized way; differences certainly don't disappear overnight, maybe they never do, but (…) arguing can be a lot more than just “shrieking.”
One group of young people moved to a smaller venue and continued to debate the topic of citizen participation. Among them was a Rosa María Payá, who currently lives in the U.S. and is both a member of the anti-Cuban government faction and the daughter of opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, who died in a car accident in 2012. Payá apologized for the disruptions that prevented the round table being held as planned and added that “despite appearances, Cubans are a supportive and generous people.”
Video: mi intervención ayer en la mesa de participación ciudadana, nuestra propuesta a la mesa fue: https://t.co/fKIlzsDYTG @CubaDecide
— Rosa María Payá A. (@RosaMariaPaya) abril 10, 2015
Video: my input yesterday at the citizen participation round table; our proposal was:  https://t.co/fKIlzsDYTG @CubaDecide
The working group on the issue of security took place without incident. Cuban blogger Rouslyn Navia emphasized the importance of declaring Latin America and the Caribbean a peace zone and warned of the inherent dangers posed by foreign military bases in the region. Moreover, she called for governments to abandon the use of force and to look instead to peaceful means of resolving conflict, ending with a plea for nuclear disarmament.
When it came to the topic of health, the Cuban delegation demanded that governments “be transparent about the allocation of funding for healthcare” and requested that “they be accountable for the planning and management of financial resources and the results obtained from them.”  They also denounced “the corruption and kickbacks that sapped billions of dollars earmarked for healthcare and other program,” the solution to which would be a system to monitor and assess how resources are used and measure up against basic health indicators.

author: Elaine Díaz


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Tajik Authorities Hunt the Hijab and Battle the Beard · Global Voices
Abdulfattoh Shafiev

Central Mosque in Dushanbe. Picture from RFE/RL. Used under creative commons.
Practicing Islam is becoming harder in Tajikistan, a majority Muslim post-Soviet state whose leadership is increasingly uncomfortable with the new “non-traditional” face of the religion in the country.
The government's vision for Islam is in keeping with practices in the Soviet Union, when religion was tolerated in private settings but was not to be seen or heard in public. Currently the state is launching stealth attacks on the hijab, beards, ‘no alcohol’ signs in eateries, the hajj pilgrimage, and the use of religious suffixes in names. Tajikistan's young social media-savvy demographic oscillates between protesting the changes and mocking the government.
A widely shared meme, which says: “Atlas is enough. National dress”(Tajikistan's colourful national dress, for women, usually worn as a long, flowing skirt is referred to as Atlas.)
The hijab has long been banned in schools, universities, and governmental offices. Now it seems the Islamic veil will not see the light of day, despite the fact custom dictates it is more important for women to wear it outside than inside.
Pressure on hijab-wearers began almost immediately after President Emomali Rahmon congratulated Tajik women on the occasion of Mothers’ Day (Tajikistan's version of International Women's Day) and called on them to wear colourful national dress rather than dark “foreign” clothes.
The Tajik authorities accepted the signal. Soon after the speech, Tajik state TV made an improbable link between wearing the hijab and prostitution, while the Mayor of the country's capital city Dushanbe issued an order for municipal authorities to dissuade women from ‘extremism’.  The Mayor of the second largest city, Khujand, demanded that the sale of “Iranian and Afghan” clothes be prevented, leading to inspections of shops selling Islamic clothing by police and tax officials.
The hijab hunt trended on social media as hundreds of users made comments. While some were opposed to “Dushanbe turning into Tehran or Kabul”, most condemned the authorities’ actions as an imposition against free will.
Recently Khujand has been going even further in its fight against ‘foreign appearances’. On March 31 a visitor to Khujand lost his way, and asked a local policeman how to find it again. The 38-year-old man, who grew a beard after a pilgrimage to the Kaaba five years ago, soon regretted his question.
He claims he was taken to a police station, beaten, and forcefully shaved. When Radio Ozodi contacted the police station in Khujand, the head denied his men had beaten the man, and added:
“…вале агар ин одам намуди зоҳириашро ба шакли арабӣ карда бошаду як метр риш монда бошад, ҷомеаи мо исломӣ нест ва қабул надорад”
…but if this man changed his appearance to an Arabic style and grew a beard of one meter in length, our society is not Islamic and does not accept that.
Two days later, on April 2, a well-known blogger and founder of blogiston.tj, Rustam Gulov, also got his beard shaved by police.
Вот и до меня добрались …Сегодня не с того, ни с сего, отвезли трое “оперативников” в худжандский отдел милиции и принудительно побрили бороду. У этой страны нет будущего!
They got to me too… Today, three policemen took me to Khujand police station and shaved my beard forcedly. This country does not have a future!
Gulov disliked the free barber service at the police station and sent an open letter of complaint to the President of Tajikistan.
Tajik netizens used the case to have a bit of fun, shaving beards off the historical figures depicted on Tajikistan's national currency the somoni in a widely shared meme. Global Voices has erased from the meme words that are insulting to Tajikistan's president and his family in order to comply with Tajik law.
Tajik lawyer Fayzinisso Vohidova was one of the first to inform people about another new tendency in Khujand. Herein eateries serving national food were urged to withdraw their ‘no alcohol’ signs, apparently to avoid violating the rights of those who drink alcohol.
Акнун дар нуктахои савдои хуроки умум фуруши машруботи спирти ичборан ба рох монда мешавад. Ахиран имруз чанд нафар сохибони ошхонахо ба ман мурочиат карданд, ки масъулини макомотхои давлати онхоро мачбур карда истодаанд, ки фуруши нушокии спиртиро хатман ба рох монда, хатто мизочро барои нушидан ва харидани он хавасманд кунанд, то ки бо ин рох накшаи андоз ичро шавад. Хатто бахона пеш оварданд, ки азбаски солхои ахир намозхон зиед шуда, шумораи майнушон кам шудааст, ба бучаи давлат зарар расидааст.
Now public eateries will be forced to sell alcoholic drinks. Recently, owners of some eateries told me that authorities are forcing them to sell alcohol too and encourage customers to buy and drink it, in order to meet the tax plan. They were told that the state budget was being damaged because of the increase in the number of those who pray, and the decrease in the number of those who drink….
On April 13, the state Committee on Religion Affairs issued a statement explaining why they banned pilgrimages to the Kaaba for people under 35 this year. Pilgrimage is one of five mandatory pillars of Islam for anyone who has the financial ability:
ин тасмим танҳо ба хотири эҳтироми бузургсолон гирифта шудааст, ки синнашон алакай ба ҷое расидааст ва тавону орзуи адои зиёрати хонаи Худоро доранд.
This decision was taken only as a respect for elderly, taking into account their age and ability and wish to visit the God’s House.
Under a post about the initiative on one of the biggest Tajik groups on Facebook, Mijgona Saidova wrote:
Агар насибамон ба 35 расидан набошад чи кор кунем?
If we have a fate not to reach the age of 35, then what shall we do?
Tajiks with religious suffixes in their names are also beginning to fret.
The Tajik Ministry of Justice wants equality for all, it says, and told Radio Ozodi on April 13 that it had drafted a new law to ban names which “result in discrimination of people, dividing them into different classes”, such as ‘mullah’, ‘khalifah’, ‘tourah’, ‘khojah’, ‘shaikh’, ‘amir’, ‘sufi’ and so on.
These nouns are often associated with Islam, and if the draft law goes through Tajikistan's rubber-stamp parliament they will be banned alongside the names of animals and products that come from ‘alien cultures’.
Once again Khujand was the first place to tap into the new initiative. Rustam Gulov, the blogger who lost his beard to the beard police, posted a picture of a big department store in the city that used to be called Hoji Abdulaziz: now it is just ‘Abdulaziz’.
In the meantime, paradoxically, authorities are constructing Central Asia's biggest mosque — funded by Qatar — which will join Central Asia's largest library, Central Asia's largest theatre and the second tallest free standing flagpole in the world in the capital Dushanbe.

author: Abdulfattoh Shafiev


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Ugandan Peace Advocate Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

This is Uganda (ThisIs256) is a platform of talented writers from Uganda who are determined to write positive stories about their country, banishing stories about poverty porn, hunger, Ebola, and tribalism, among others. They seek to represent an authentic, reflective, honest, and objectively balanced study about Uganda that you will never find anywhere else in mainstream western media.
Their latest story is about Victor Ochen, a former internally displaced person who was nominated by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker social justice organisation, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the past, AFSC nominated Desmond Tutu, Martin Luther King Jr., and US President Jimmy Carter, who all became winners. The organisation unsuccessfully nominated Mahatma Gandhi, who never won the Nobel Peace Prize, although he was nominated five times between 1937 and 1948.
Ochen, 33, founded the African Youth Initiative Network, based in Lira, Uganda, in 2005, which works in medical rehabilitation of victims of burnings, mutilations of all kinds, rape, and psychological torture as well as promotes youth leadership. It has grown to become an international network of medical professionals who help victims rebuild their homes and livelihoods. According to This is Uganda:
What Victor did out of sheer compassion added him to this prestigious list. As a teenager in Abia camp that was home of over 40,000 people, he formed a peace club with his peers in the camp. This initiative angered the elders “Why are you talking about peace that you have never seen?” He was enterprising; he risked his life to burn charcoal to raise his school fees. Then later he joined secondary school and could barely afford time to do his charcoal business so he became a cobbler, he used to repair shoes of kids at school. One day he landed a big job of mending the shoes of the school football team, unfortunately that money was stolen. His hard work and favor from the teachers saw him through high school.
Victor’s heart was home even when he worked with straight talk foundation in Kampala, interacting with the people in the field made him realize that the people of northern Uganda wanted more than hand outs but wanted and deserved more. That is when he left his job and started the African youth initiative Network. This initiative mobilizes communities especially the youth to pursue peace and human rights, reconciliation. They offer psychosocial support to the former victims of conflict, most of who suffer severe emotional pain and struggle with forgiveness, they have also supported over 5000 people with reconstructive surgeries especially the women whose lips were cut off, the initiative also supports income generating activities, have formed 100 peace clubs in schools and universities in northern Uganda and over 6000 young people have gone through the peace building and transitional justice programme.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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What Is Really Wrong With Policing in Maldives? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Blogger Kureege Fuluheh is a Maldivian ex-police officer, who writes about issues in policing and the police service in Maldives. The blogger analyses how the Maldives Police Service (MPS) is perceived by people over the last seven years and discusses what is the way forward:
Worrying is police’ behaviour towards members of public whilst on duty and the alleged association with crime groups to create fear. [..] In reality, policing has failed to deliver to public satisfaction due to lack of effective strategy and intra-organizational arrangements to cut crime and proactively police.
From crime recording, public engagement, enforcement to investigation, it is evident that policing is ineffective in these areas. [..]
Right now the policing landscape in Maldives fails to perform and deliver through arrangements akin to democratic principles. It is of utmost importance that a police reform bill paves way to create a policing architecture that holds police accountable to its public and public say is counted in how they are policed.


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A Filipina Woman Shares How She Ended Up on Indonesia’s Death Row for Drug Trafficking · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Mary Jane (right) is reunited with her mother (left) during a prison visit in 2013. Photo from Migrante
A Filipina worker facing the death penalty in Indonesia for drug smuggling has narrated the story of how she ended up in jail.
Mary Jane Veloso was arrested in 2010 in Indonesia after airport authorities found 2.6 kilos of heroin in her luggage, and the Indonesian Supreme Court sentenced her to die. She says she agreed to carry a suitcase without knowing what was inside.
Her story received little attention in the Philippine press in the past five years, but this changed when migrant groups appealed for a review of her case and when global groups urged Indonesia to reconsider its decision to carry out the death penalty for all drug-related cases.
A verbatim transcript of handwritten account of Mary Jane's case was shared by her sister. In broken English, she explained her reasons for leaving the country in 2010:
I’m work to Dubai United Arab Emirates. I’m there as a servant and my contract is two years. But I’m there for 10 months because have someone want to rape me, I decided to come back to Philippines on December 31, 2009, I’m comeback to my country but my money was not enough because my son already go to school… I need to work again…
Her neighbor, Christine, promised her work in Malaysia. But when Christine and Mary Jane arrived in Malaysia, Mary Jane was told that she had to meet someone first in Indonesia before she could   start working:
She said to me Im go to Indonesia in 7 days for Holiday In and meet a friends and if im comeback to Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Im start to my work.
So I don’t have any choice that I must go there and that time only in my mine… If im finish go to Indonesia im start to my work, because work is important to me, because of my child…
In Indonesia, she was stopped by authorities after drugs were found in her luggage. This was her reaction:
My body feel so cold… I can’t speak any thing… only I do that time… cry and cry!!! Because I know my life finish. Because drugs is no. 1 illegal… I hate myself why I believe with Christine… Why I don’t have negative thinking about her… and now I’m here… But I don’t know anything.
Mary Jane's family was interviewed in this video, who maintain that she left the country to work and not to smuggle drugs:
After learning her story and investigating her case, migrant groups believe that Mary Jane is a victim of human trafficking. Thus, they are appealing the Indonesian government to reconsider her case. Migrante sent this letter to the Indonesian president:
We believe that Mary Jane was a victim of large drug syndicates who take advantage of the unawareness, vulnerability and desperation of our people. We are pained that she has been meted the death penalty while the big true drug operators and syndicates go on with wild abandon.
The International Association of Democratic Lawyers, a UN-accredited group, also thinks that Mary Jane was denied due process because she was not given immediate legal representatives and professional translators:
Ms. Veloso was forced by economic circumstance to seek work outside of her country. Her intention was not to smuggle heroin into Indonesia. She only found out that was used to smuggle the contraband after arrival and arrest. Her sole intention was to find employment. Ms. Veloso did not receive sufficient legal services or the right to translators, and had no legal representation at all stages of their trials.
Mary Jane's parents appeal for clemency during a visit to the Indonesian Embassy in Manila. Photo from Facebook
Indonesia has denied all appeals to reverse the death penalty conviction for drug-related crimes. It said that it is necessary to win the war against the drug cartels, which have made Indonesia their drug trafficking hub.
Meanwhile, Filipino migrant groups all over the world, human rights lawyers, and some Indonesian civil society members are stepping up the efforts to save the life of Mary Jane.

author: Mong Palatino