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Student Faces Criminal Charges for Disrupting Philippine President’s Speech on Independence Day · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Statement on Em Mijares’ shirt reads “Sometimes it is necessary to shout so that those playing deaf can hear.” Photo from @xianneangel.
Philippine President Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III was delivering his Independence Day speech when somebody from the crowd shouted: “Oust the pork barrel king! There’s no change in the Philippines!”
The person who disrupted the president's speech was student leader Emmanuel Pio Mijares. The president was speechless for a brief moment, as the Chronicle of Carlos recounts:
It was not the usual platitudes at the podium by the President, who seemed to be caught off guard during his Independence Day speech in Naga City by a brief chanting some 40 feet away. The words “Patalsikin ang pork barrel king! Walang pagbabago sa Pilipinas” rang through the mass of civil bodies and involuntarily filled in the two-second gap. In that brief moment, 19-year-old Ateneo de Naga student Emmanuel Pio Mijares seemed to deliver a dagger that disrupted Aquino’s thoughts and disturbed his imagined peace.
The student leader was promptly dragged by elements of the Presidential Security Group and police off the premises and arrested. The security forces then allegedly forced him to swallow the banner he unfurled during the lightning protest and put him in jail for 24 hours. Mijares was freed only after posting bail to the tune of P8,000 (around $US200).
Criminal charges were also slapped on Mijares for allegedly causing “tumultuous disturbance” and the “assault upon an agent of a person in authority.” His protest action has been described as a case of “heckling” against the president in most mainstream media reports.
The young activist did not feel any remorse for his lightning protest and instead saw it as his own contribution to a growing mass movement calling for genuine reforms. Massive anti-pork barrel protests set off that very day with 10,000 taking to the streets of the national capital Manila and thousands more in other major urban areas across the country. Many Filipinos have decried the persistence of the pork barrel system, or the use discretionary lump sum funds for the pet projects of government officials, in spite of the Aquino administration’s anti-corruption rhetoric.
Social media has been abuzz with commentary in the wake of Mijares’ disruption of the President’s speech. Most detractors decry Mijares for his “lack of etiquette” and thus deserved the punishment as a consequence of his actions. These are the lines of John C. Jacinto in a comment over Angela Stuart Santiago’s blog:
the heckler should suffer the consequences of his action. alarm and scandal are crimes defined and penalized under the revised penal code. this is a police matter pure and simple. he could have delivered his message to the president by writing him a letter. but to heckle the highest official of the land is sobra na. good manners and right conduct must be observed at all times.
Cocoy of the Pro-Pinoy Project described the disruption of the President’s speech as a form of disrespect:
The long standing problem — one that many in the public share is a single blindness to uncivilly. Online, and offline, yes, you may disagree with Noynoy Aquino the man, but where does that disagreement end, and respect for the office begin?
But others, like The Marocharim Experiment, defended Mijares’ action as a form of political expression:
What Pio Mijares did is still a political act, a political expression, and it speaks volumes about the kind of political action you can expect from those who share his beliefs. Yet the treatment of him speaks something about the kind of politics that this administration subscribes to. The latter is far more damning than the former.
Prof. Sarah Raymundo of the University of the Philippines meanwhile praised Mijares for his activism.
In disrupting the president’s speech, Emmanuel embodied the people’s desire for change. The banner he held shows that the act was an organized plan fuelled by collective daring. Like many of us who took to the streets on the same day, he was righteously agitated, his slogans were radical. But only he had owned the chance to show the president how uncompromisingly empowered we are as a mass movement.
Some reactions on Twitter:
against his enemies, Mr. Aquinodoes not have the skin to take criticisms. Mijares had exposed that very well. http://t.co/Z023QRvqUZ
— rosal alba mal (@rosal_alba_mal) June 15, 2014
Welp. That Em Mijares episode is not helping our president's case, is it? Just let the kid go. Really.
— Marcelle Fabie (@mistervader) June 13, 2014
Student Em Mijares from Ateneo de Naga arrested for denouncing Aquino. Aquino et al still free despite stealing billions from Filipinos.
— Ina Silverio (@InaSilverio) June 13, 2014
Y'know, PNoy can free Em Mijares to prove that he really does value the freedom to dissent. http://t.co/0Q6nMpf1Xi
— Dean Lozarie (@deantastic) June 15, 2014
In any case, none of us has a bigger set of balls than Em Mijares. #respect
— Ian Taduran (@iantaduran) June 12, 2014

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Stop Using Growth as an Excuse to Pollute, African Activists Say  · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Extreme flooding hit Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after unusually heavy rains saturated the East African capital city in April 2014. Photo by Peter Stanley. Copyright Demotix.
[Most links lead to French-language pages]
On World Environment Day (WED) 2014, environmental activists across Africa took the opportunity to caution against forsaking the environment in the rush to promote economic growth. This is not a zero-sum game, they warned.
The theme for the U.N.-sanctioned day this year on 5 June was ‘raise your voice, not the sea level‘ with a focus on island nations facing the treat of climate change. Many regions throughout the African continent are vulnerable to climate change — mainland and islands alike. Blog newsmada.com out of Madagascar explained in a post earlier this year:
Avec le développement des villes côtières en Afrique et en Asie, les plus pauvres de leurs résidents sont pour la plupart rejetés aux confins des zones habitables, là où les conséquences du changement climatique entraînent les plus grands dangers.
En Afrique subsaharienne, les chercheurs ont identifié la question de la sécurité alimentaire comme le défi suprême, en raison des risques de sécheresse et d’inondation et sous l’effet de la modification des régimes de précipitations. Avec un réchauffement de 1,5 à 2 °C, sécheresse et aridité rendront entre 40 et 80 % des terres agricoles impropres à la culture du maïs, du millet et du sorgho à l’horizon 2030-2040.
With the development of coastal cities in Africa and Asia, the poorest residents are jettisoned to the margins of residential areas, places where the consequences of climate change pose the greatest dangers.
Researchers in sub-Saharan Africa identified the main challenge as compromised food safety due to rainfall pattern changes and the risks of drought and flooding. A temperature increase of between 1.5 to 2°C could cause drought and aridity and render 40 to 80% of agricultural land unfit for cultivation of maize, millet and sorghum by the 2030s.
The Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP), an initiative launched by former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2002, published various studies and articles on the environment over the year. On March of 2014, prior to WED, Dr. Denis Sonwa analyzed the difficulty reconciling forestry protection with the needs of development in an article on the CBFP website:
Contrairement aux perceptions dans le monde développé, le développement et la conservation ont été perçus comme antagonistes dans les pays en voie de développement. La forêt et la production agricole intensive semblent être incompatibles. Selon un récent rapport de la Banque mondiale, certaines des conditions (éloignement, faible niveau de financement et d’investissement dans le secteur agricole, peu d’exploitation minière, faible consommation énergétique par ménage, etc.), qui ont contribué au maintien de la biodiversité et au stockage du carbone forestier en Afrique centrale, changeront dans un avenir proche, avec un risque d’augmenter la déforestation. Sans forte volonté et sans changement en profondeur, consistant à aller au-delà du secteur de la biodiversité pour la sauver, les efforts actuels risquent d’être vaines.
Contrary to perceptions in the developed world, development and conservation were seen as mutually exclusive in developing countries. Intensive agricultural production seems to be incompatible with forestry. According to a recent report by the World Bank, some of the conditions (remoteness, low level of funding and investment in the agricultural sector, little mining, low energy consumption per household, etc.), which have contributed to maintaining of biodiversity and forest carbon storage in Central Africa, will change in the near future, with a risk of increasing deforestation. Without great will or profound change, such as going outside the biodiversity sector to save it, current efforts are likely to be in vain.
In Mauritania, singer and human rights activist Malouma dedicated a video to WED with lyrics set to images by Frederic Bacuez and published on ornithondar.blogspot.fr. She sings:
Arrêtons de massacrer Arrêtons de polluer Sous prétexte de bâtir Y aura-t-il un sauveur ? Le ciel, votre protecteur Et la terre, votre mère Les plantes vos soeurs Et l'eau votre source Eh compagnons ! Protégez la nature
Let's stop killing / Let's stop polluting / Using growth as an excuse / Will there be a savior? / The sky, your protector / And the earth, your mother / Plants, your sisters / And the water, your spring / And friends! / Protect nature
Raphael Kafando analyzed the link between food self-sufficiency and climate change on blog cnpress-zongo.ning.com, comparing the concept of green economy to the realities of his own country, Burkina Faso:
Dans un Etat où l’autosuffisance alimentaire reste une priorité, où l’industrie reste embryonnaire et que l’Etat veut à tout prix attirer les investisseurs, l’environnement est-il la première préoccupation ? ? Dans un pays où le boom minier est considéré comme une aubaine inespérée et où l’objectif est de donner du travail aux chômeurs sans forcément tenir compte de la pollution de ces industries, peut-on vraiment parler d’économie verte ?
In a country where food self-sufficiency remains a priority, industry is still in its infancy and which is keen to attract investors at any price, is the environment the number one concern? In a country where the mining boom is regarded as a godsend and the priority is getting the unemployed into work without actually considering the pollution produced by these industries, can we really talk about the green economy?
Julien Dembele of Senegal wrote impassioned tribute to former United States Vice President Al Gore for his ‘personal crusade’ for the environment. Dembele also wrote a French-language article entitled ‘Top 10 Reasons to Protect the Environment‘ stating:
Un environnement sain égal une santé assurée […] En 2003, l’OMS a rapporté que 21% des maladies de l’homme étaient directement liés à l’environnement. Trois facteurs principaux ont été identifiés comme responsables de près des trois quarts des maladies dues à l’environnement. Il s’agit de – l’eau, l’assainissement et l’hygiène ; – la pollution de l’air domestique ; – les traumatismes d’origine physique. Des actions sur ces trois facteurs permettront une réduction importante des maladies liées directement à l’environnement, ainsi que sur d’autres qui le sont indirectement.
A healthy environment equates to good health […] In 2003, the WHO reported that 21% of human diseases were directly linked to the environment. Three main factors have been identified as causing nearly three-quarters of environment-related diseases or poor health. These are – water, sanitation and hygiene – domestic air pollution – physical injury. Action on these three factors would enable a significant reduction of diseases directly and indirectly related to the environment.
He also penned a protest letter addressed to the director of Senegalese Television (RTS-TV) after it broadcast an advert for an insecticide considered unsafe for humans.
Awareness of the environment's importance is certainly on the rise in Africa. But will this mean that countries sacrifice some of their bad habits for a cleaner, healthier future?

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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TV Networks in Africa Squabble Over World Cup Broadcast Rights · Global Voices
Richard Wanjohi

Fans watch group matches at FIFA Fan Fest in Sao Paulo on the second day of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Photo by Julia Reinhart. Copyright Demotix.
As with other major sporting events, fans around the world will be glued to the TV – whether at home, a local community centre or a restaurant – watching their team and others battle it out in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
The story's no different in Africa (five African teams have qualified to play in the World Cup), but some fans on the continent might have a more complicated time tuning in, thanks to legal battles and network choices.
Thinus Ferreira, a South African blogger on news and analysis on South African TV, observed the challenges faced by viewers and TV providers on his blog TV With Thinus. In Kenya, he explained the telecast drama between Chinese-owned StarTimes, which has been accused of illegally hijacking a Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) signal of the World Cup:
StarTimes and Wananchi using the FIFA content on its pay-TV platforms, have allegedly breached the licence agreement between KBC and FIFA. KBC says that the two pay-TV operators broadcasting its signal of the 2014 FIFA World Cup matches it secured, will jeopardise its business since viewers won't feel compelled to tune in to KBC for the exclusivity it paid for. StarTimes allegedly went as far as hacking into KBC's terrestrial TV feed and pirating that signal to broadcast 2014 FIFA World Cup coverage on its pay-TV platform to not just viewers in Kenya but also in Uganda and Tanzania.
Two million viewers in Kenya tuned for the first two days of the World Cup, according to data research company GeoPoll.
CIPIT Law Blog, through the Strathmore University's Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law, argued that Kenya must do what it can to stop digital piracy of FIFA's matches.
In Zimbabwe and Namibia, fans hoping to watch World Cup matches through satellite pay-TV MultiChoice are out of luck. The company has blacked out the two country's broadcasting corporations on its digital satellite TV (DStv) service, Ferreira wrote:
These broadcasters legitimately secured the FTA rights to the 2014 FIFA World Cup matches in their respective countries.While viewers can now see Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) as terrestrial channels (only) during the soccer, their signals on DStv are terminated. On 11 June, right before the 2014 FIFA World Cup started, MultiChoice Africa suddenly sent this letter (right) (click to enlarge) to public broadcasters across Africa, like KBC and NBC in Kenya and Namibia, explaining why FTA (free-to-air) channels showing soccer World Cup matches on DStv will be going dark and will be blacked out.
Tell us about your experience. Have you had a hard time watching the World Cup on TV?

author: Richard Wanjohi


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African Union Moves Towards Gagging Free Speech Online · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

The 23rd African Union Heads of Government Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea starting on June 26, 2014, might adopt the African Union Convention on Security in Cyberspace and Personal Data Protection. Moses Karanja, in this article in AfricanHadithi, argues that this legislation might be a cover to limit online free speech in Africa:
The AU’s draft convention, seeking to secure online commerce requires full disclosure of identity information between contracting parties. This raises two issues: enforceability and privacy.
First, implementing these requirements will prove almost impossible for traders and their agents since acquisition, verification and safe storage are complicated processes demanding extra time and human resources. Second, promotion of online commerce requires striking a delicate balance between security and privacy. If a brick-and-mortar shop in Nairobi does not ask for my home address and tax PIN number, why should an online shop in Diblo Dibara, Indonesia ask for it?

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Alexander Sodiqov Is Not the First Person to Be Arrested in Tajikistan for Doing His Job · Global Voices
Zukhra Iakupbaeva

Alexander Sodiqov appears on regional television in GBAO. YouTube screenshot from a clip uploaded by Asia Plus.
On June 16, 31-year-old Tajik researcher and a former Global Voices editor Alexander Sodiqov was arrested in the town of Khorog by the Tajik State Security Service (GKNB) while he was with a local opposition leader. He was accused of “espionage and subversion.”
Tajik civil society, international organizations and Global Voices have emphasized [ru] that Sodiqov was conducting academic research on civil society and conflict resolution in Central Asia and that his research was in no way destabilizing to the Autonomous Region of Gorno-Badakshan (GBAO), where Khorog is situated.
While there are key differences, Sodiqov's case bears similarities to that of Ursunboy Usmonov, a long-time BBC journalist and Tajik national arrested and put on trial in Tajikistan for associating with a banned religious group three years ago. Usmonov was released after a month.
Currently, Tajikistan's siloviki – security chiefs – have directly or indirectly defended the decision of operatives of the GKNB (a successor to the Soviet-era KGB) to detain Sodiqov. GKNB head Saimumin Yatimov said [ru] on June 19 that foreign intelligence agencies were “undermining the safety of the [Tajik] people”, while MP Amirkul Azimov, a former head of the security council, said [ru] on June 21 that “Sodiqov's research activity does not mean he cannot commit crimes.”
Sodiqov and Usmonov
The Tajik state has a long record of political persecution, so it comes as no surprise that Sodiqov is not the first person to have his professional activities misconstrued as criminal.
In June 2011, Tajik police detained Usmonov, releasing a statement that said he was suspected of being a member of the banned Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The organisation has a complicated history with Tajikistan's secular government, which has accused its members of terrorism. Hizb-ut-Tahrir itself claims to be a non-violent Islamic movement committed to establishing a caliphate in Central Asia.
Similarly to Sodiqov, Usmonov had come into contact with members of the group for interviews, which were aimed at understanding and reporting sensitive religious and political issues in Tajikistan.
Civil society, international media and foreign diplomats strongly criticized the arrest of Usmonov, who had also provided objective reporting on the construction of a controversial but strategic hydroelectric dam.
Usmonov, who worked for the BBC for 10 years, was held for a month by Tajik authorities and put on trial in Tajikistan's northern city of Khujand. Usmonov was accused of possessing extremist literature and failing to report the activities of the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir organization to law enforcement agencies.
Like Usmonov, Sodiqov was interviewing people the government was unhappy with.
Sodiqov's video
Two days after his arrest, a video of Sodiqov which his research partner says is heavily edited was aired on GBAO regional television on June 18 and 19. Because the footage of Alexander appears to be heavily edited, Global Voices is not embedding the video or treating his words in it as direct quotes. In the video Sodiqov gives a biography of himself and a chronicle of how he came to be in Khorog on June 16, with details of his research with Dr. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter.
Despite editing, at no point does Sodiqov claim he was doing anything other than academic research.
The video appears most heavily edited in parts where Sodiqov appears to paraphrase the words of Alim Sherzamonov, the local protest leader Sodiqov was meeting at the time of his arrest.
Sherzamonov also believes [ru] the footage of Sodiqov was heavily edited. In particular, he denies the parts in the video that make it sound like he discredited the Aga Khan, a leading philanthropist and a spiritual leader to most of the GBAO population, who are ethnic Pamiris of the Ismaili-Shia faith. The bulk of Tajikistan is majority Sunni.
The Aga Khan Development Foundation has been working actively in Tajikistan since 1995 responding to the effects of a five-year-long civil war in Tajikistan in which many residents of GBAO fought on the losing side. (For an excellent background on the rivalry between Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon and GBAO's de-facto spiritual leader the Aga Khan, read Joshua Kucera's The Aga Khan's Tightrope Walk in Tajikistan.)
AKDN, which also funds the University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan and other educational projects for mountainous communities, claims to work toward the vision of an “economically dynamic, politically stable, intellectually vibrant, and culturally tolerant Tajikistan.”
That sounds like the Tajikistan Alexander Sodiqov, Ursunboy Usmonov and many others would want to live in.

author: Zukhra Iakupbaeva


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Australian Shock and Outrage at Egyptian Sentencing of Al Jazeera Journalists · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Protesters hold signs saying ‘Free Peter’ and ‘Free AJ Staff’ at a rally in Martin Place, Sydney in support of the three Al Jazeera journalists being held in Egypt. Photo by Richard Milnes, Copyright @Demotix (2/27 2014)
Australians’ reactions to the prison sentences for three Al Jazeera English journalists in Egypt have been swift: shock and outrage. Journalists and friends in the media have led the way in calling for the release of Peter Greste and his colleagues, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. They have been found guilty of ‘airing false reports’ that ‘defame’ Egypt.
Shocking news that Australian journalist Peter Greste has been jailed for 7 years in Egypt http://t.co/4w9qcoKTqJ via @smh
— Kate McClymont (@Kate_McClymont) June 23, 2014
Australian, Al Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, jailed for 7 years in Egypt. A huge blow to him, his loved ones and press freedom. #news
— Helen Tzarimas (@Tzarimas) June 23, 2014
Heart breaking for Peter Greste, his co-accused, colleagues and family. A show trial with no purpose. Being a journalist is not a crime.
— Lucy Carter (@lucethoughts) June 23, 2014
Highly respected ABC Radio presenter Mark Colvin joined the expressions of anguish for his friend:
Can't pretend objectivity on the @petergreste story. He's a friend, and I've had the privilege to be friends with his parents Lois & Juris.
— Mark Colvin (@Colvinius) June 23, 2014
Within minutes the verdict appeared in six of the top Twitter trends in Australia.
Before the news came, another ABC journalist Tom Forbes tweeted this page from the New York Times:
A powerful message on the back page of today's New York Times. @PeterGreste #FreeAJStaff pic.twitter.com/s70z4VAgsF
— Tom Forbes (@tomforbes72) June 22, 2014
Amnesty Australia has quickly responded to people’s desire to act:
BREAKING: Egypt sentences Peter #Greste to 7 years in jail. Outrageous & unacceptable. Take action> http://t.co/1m0mn5haFa
— Amnesty Australia (@amnestyOz) June 23, 2014
Sydney academic Simon Chapman also has ideas about action:
Is there a fund we can donate to support #PeterGreste & colleagues’ needs in jail?
— Simon Chapman (@SimonChapman6) June 23, 2014
Retweets have been the order of the day with Sally Sara's call a popular one:
Go on …. It only takes 5 mins to email Egypt Embassy in support of Press Freedom and #PeterGreste. Email: Embassy.canberra@mfa.gov.eg
— Sally Sara (@sallyjsara) June 23, 2014
Alister Greste, Peter's nephew, has spoken for the family and for many Australians:
As a family we are devastated but our resolve is immense. The fight will continue and we will not rest. #AJTrial #freedom #FAMILY #fighting
— A_Greste (@AlisterGreste) June 23, 2014

author: Kevin Rennie


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The Inca Road Is a New World Heritage Site · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Somewhere in the Qhapaq Ñam. Photo on Flickr by user Rainbowasi. CC BY-SA 2.0
For the first time in the 40 years of World Heritage convention, six countries united to submit a joint application to designate a cultural site as world heritage. Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru requested that the Incan Road be included as a cultural heritage site.
The announcement was made in the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in in Doha, Qatar.
The international body highlighted that the Inca Road “represents a very valuable shared legacy, almost 60,000 kilometers long”:
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú comparten un nuevo #patrimoniomundial: #QhapaqÑan, sistema vial andino. ¡Felicidades!
— UNESCO en español (@UNESCO_es) junio 21, 2014
Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru share a new cultural legacy site: #QhapaqÑan, Inca road system. Congratulations!

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Chile Will Build the Biggest Telescope on Earth · Global Voices
María Angélica Marín

In Fotones Valley at Cerro Armazones in the Atacama desert, Chile, the construction for what will become the largest optical telescope in the world, with a diameter of 39 meters, are underway.
In 2010, the European Southern Observatory Board chose that location in the Chilean desert for the future E-ELT.2. It will be the most southern European telescope (known by its acronym E-ELT):
EN VIVO: Explosión del Cerro Armazones para colocar al mayor telescopio del mundo http://t.co/6vUYrwTfyW pic.twitter.com/XwKZPSGtG8
— FayerWayer (@fayerwayer) June 19, 2014
LIVE: Explosions at Cerro Armazones to set up the biggest telescope of the world.
Cerro Armazones houses an observatory with three telescopes, with diameters 1.5 meters, 84 centimeters and 41 centimeters, the results of a joint project between several Chilean and foreign institutions and the European Southern Observatory. Representative Fernando Comerón noted that “with E-ELT we are building a telescope for the 22nd century”. According to estimations, the works will go on for 10 years and the telescope will be fully functional two years later.

author: María Angélica Marín


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Hundreds of Thousands of Hong Kongers Are Defying China and Demanding the Right to Nominate Their Next Leader · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

700,00 Hong Kong citizens had voted for their right to nominate the chief executive by the end of June 22, 2014. Image from Occupy Central with Love and Peace's Facebook page.
About 700,000 Hong Kong citizens have voted so far in an unofficial referendum hosted by civic group Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) on democratic electoral reform, earning the ire of communist China.
China has promised Hong Kong a direct vote for the next chief executive in 2017 instead of election via a largely pro-Beijing committee made of up representatives of different economic sectors and Hong Kong politicians. But the Chinese government insists that all candidates should be selected by a nominating committee, claiming that it is the only lawful means to do so according to the former British colony's constitution — the Basic Law.
People in Hong Kong, which enjoys a high level of autonomy under the “one country, two systems” principle, worry that the nominating committee is a way for China to ensure only puppet candidates are chosen. One of the criteria of a chief executive set by Beijing is he or she must “love the country and love Hong Kong.”
The referendum, held in partnership with University of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Programme, includes three different options for electing Hong Kong's next leader, and all three include allowing the people to choose the candidates. Voting opened on June 20, 2014 and will end on June 29.
In the first two days alone, 700,000 participated, despite ongoing massive DDoS attacks targeting its voting system that began on June 14 when it opened for pre-registration. The scale of the attacks has led many to believe that the Chinese government is behind them. TV propaganda has pushed the idea that the nominating committee is necessary, and Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times called the referendum “an illegal farce” and “ludicrousness.”
Before the referendum began, Occupy Central expected 300,000 votes, but is now estimating that a million citizens could participate by the end. The group is planning protests if the government doesn't act on the demands for universal suffrage.
“For those who are still sleeping, wake up.” Civil referendum poster by San Wong via House News. Non-commercial use.
Lester Sum, vice secretary of Hong Kong Federation of Students, wrote on citizen media platform inmediahk.net about the implications of civic referendum:
港人堅持爭取民主普選已超過30年，不少民主路上的同路人由黑髮等到白髮，白髮的甚至有的都已撒手人寰，香港都還未有落實真普選的一天。香港人，我們還要再等嗎？我們還要被中共這滿口謊言的政權騙下去嗎？
更重要的是，這次的政制改革，很有可能會一錘定音、成為香港最終的政改方案。假若一個爛的、假的普選方案獲得通過，香港未來數十年的命運將繼續被中共、地產商、權貴牢牢操控着，政治權力也終將不會回歸人民手上，政府也永遠不會是為港人服務的政府。[…]
如果我們都同意香港必須改變，必須落實一個由人民當家作主的政治制度，就讓我們用行動、用選票，向中共政權、向梁振英此等腐敗政權，展示香港人爭取普選、爭取公民提名的決心。希望在於人民，改變始於抗爭。6月22，全民投票，全民共同撰寫歷史，自決我城命運。
Hong Kong people have been struggling for universal suffrage for more than 30 years. Their hair has turned grey along the path toward democracy. Some have left this world. Yet we still don't have genuine democracy. Should we continue to wait? Should we continue to believe the lie of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?
More importantly, the upcoming political reform may be the last chance for us to make thing right. If a fake universal suffrage proposal has passed, Hong Kong's fate would be controlled by the CCP, property developers and the privileged class. The political power will not be given to the people, and the government will never serve the people. […]
If we agree that Hong Kong must be changed and that we have to implement a political system that gives power to the people, let us act, use our vote to show our determination for universal suffrage and citizen nomination to the corrupt power of the CCP and [current Hong Kong Chief Executive] Leung Chun-ying. The hope is in the people, the change begins with struggle. The civil referendum on June 22 is the moment the city's fate is written.
Instead of expressing himself in words, Eric Chow designed a series of posters to show the referendum as a means to defend freedom of expression, the rule of law, human rights, local culture and social justice.
“Defend rule of law and justice with your vote in June 22.” Image by Eric Chow.
Cheung Yuen Man, a local writer, took a more personal approach and wrote a letter to her senior family members who escaped to Hong Kong from China and became apolitical or even conservative:
我沒有忘記你當年是游水來港的。[…]而是風高浪急的大海，每一個浪都淹過你的頭顱，那時香港海域還有鯊出沒。你蹤身下海的一剎，到底要多大勇氣﹖[…]你們當年是求安穩，如今我們求的也不過是這些。也許甚麼一人一票，普選，民主自由這些崇高的字眼你不熟悉而其實我也不太懂，那我們就來談談日常生活：我們希望不會無故被迫遷；努力讀書便能上大學不用使黑錢；希望可以在臉書上繼續吹水，希望吃菜不會吃著黑心菜，養的狗不會被當街生劏或打死。[…]其實我們也想當順民。只是這個政府沒有叫人當順民的能力。我們這一代，並沒有和你們相差太遠；唯一的分別，是那時你們還有一個叫「香港」的出路，而我們已無路可逃。
I haven't forgotten that you swam to Hong Kong. […] The waves in the sea were huge and every one of them covered your head. In those days, there were sharks near Hong Kong. Imagine how much courage you had when you jumped into the sea. […] You were seeking stability in those days. Now we are also seeking the same stability. Maybe you don't know much about terms like “one person one vote,” “universal suffrage,” “democracy” and “freedom.” Neither do I. Let's talk about everyday life: We hope that we won't be forced out of our homes, we hope that we don't have to bribe someone to get into university, we hope that we can still chat freely on Facebook, we hope that our vegetables are not poisonous and our dogs won't be butchered on the streets. […] We want to be obedient. But the government has lost its ability to ask people to obey. Our generation is similar to yours. The only difference is that you could escape to “Hong Kong,” while we have no where to go.
Political news columnist “Timar Man” called the 700,000 votes so far a public opinion revolution in the House News:
即使再動員更多職業紅衞兵組織，同洶湧嘅投票市民一比，即刻變成鬧劇，數以十萬計市民表態，猶如洗太平地，沖走呢類牛鬼蛇神。[…] 過去幾日，我們所經歷的是一場民意革命，香港走出了一個全民投票新模式，其影響也不限於2017真普選，也不限於佔中運動。小小香港一個全民投票，觸發國家級網絡戰，可見在某些人眼中，需要將全民投票消滅於萌芽狀態，正因為他們也知道，這個Pandora box打開後，將會釋放出新的本土政治能量。
No matter how many professional red guards were mobilized [by the pro-Beijing clan], when compared with the turnout of the civil referendum, they were just clowns. The voices of hundreds of thousands of people has exercised all the ghosts and spirits. […] We have experienced a public opinion revolution in the past few days. Its impact is no smaller than universal suffrage in 2017 and the Occupy Central campaign. A small civil referendum in Hong Kong has triggered a state-scale cyber war. It is obvious that someone is trying to nip this in the bud. They know that this Pandora's box will release political energy into Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong government will soon present a reform package for the election of the legislature in 2016 and the chief executive in 2017. It recently completed the public consultation phase, and the consultation report is due in a few months. On the surface, reform sounds promising. But the government has stressed that the reform must be within the framework of the Basic Law, and interpretation of that law rests largely with Beijing, so civic action from Hong Kongers is important.
Another unofficial referendum is planned, pitting the citizen proposal against the government proposal after it is released, and if the citizen proposal wins, Occupy Central plans to peacefully take over the city's Central District.
Follow our in-depth coverage: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution

author: Oiwan Lam


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Costa Rica’s Pre-Columbian Stone Spheres Declared World Heritage · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Pre Columbian spheres, image on Flickr by user Anita363. CC BY-NC 2.0.
Four archaeological sites with pre-Columbian stone spheres located in the canton of Osa, Puntarenas, in Costa Rica were included in UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The decision was announced on Monday, June 23, 2014, during the 38th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha, Qatar.
Costa Rican former president Laura Chinchilla expressed her gratitude for the news on her Twitter account:
Gracias @UNESCO_es por haber creído en nuestra propuesta y declarar Parque Arqueológico de Esferas Precolombinas #patrimoniomundial
— Laura Chinchilla M (@Laura_Ch) junio 23, 2014
Thanks UNESCO for having faith in our application and including the pre-Columbian spheres archaeological park in the list.


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Debunking Rumors that Algerian Fans Burned Down a Church in Lyon, France after World Cup Win  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

On June 22 at the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, Algeria defeated South Korea 4-2 to keep its chance of qualifying to the knock-out round alive. Scenes of joy were numerous in Algeria [fr] but also in France where a dynamic Algerian community resides.
The joy was tempered by rumors that a church in Lyon, France was burned down during the celebration. The rumors turned out to be a complete lie spread by extreme right groups based on erroneous photos. Adrien Sénécat explains the details of his fact-checking on the story [fr] :
Peu après le coup de sifflet final dimanche, des tweets ont indiqué qu'une église aurait brûlé dans le quartier de la Duchère, à Lyon. Message notamment relayé par le Bloc Identitaire et des sites proches de l'extrême-droite. Sauf que l'église en question n'a pas brûlé, comme l'ont signalé plusieurs internautes sur les réseaux sociaux. Une église a en revanche bien été incendiée à la Duchère… mais en 2006 (et sans aucun rapport avec un match de l'Algérie).
Shortly after the final whistle on Sunday, some tweets suggested that a church had burned down in the area of Duchère in Lyon, France. These tweets were relayed by Bloc Identitaire and other similar extreme-right group websites. The thing is, the church was still intact, as reported by several twitter users.A Church in Duchère was lit on fire … but in 2006 (and it had no relation whatsoever with an Algerian football).

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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5 Places in Brazil Where People Were Protesting, Not Cheering During the World Cup Kick-Off · Global Voices
Global Voices Portuguese

People protested throughout the country during the opening day of the World Cup. Photo: Mídia Independente/Facebook
As Brazil's national squad warmed up in São Paulo for the first match of the most expensive World Cup in history, the streets outside the Arena Corinthians and throughout the country were teaming with people protesting FIFA and the Brazilian government.
It was a similar scene to protests last year during the Confederations Cup, also held in Brazil. In host cities as well as non-host cities like Belém in the north, people rallied against the costly investment of public money in preparations for the World Cup instead of in sectors such as education and public health, among other things. According to the Brazilian government, 25 billion reais (11 billion US dollars) was spent on the event.
For protesters, violence from military police was a real worry and has been one ever since a wave of anti-government protests known as the Vinegar Revolt that rocked the country in 2013 was met with a heavy-handed crackdown. In São Paulo, a group of 40 trained volunteers have announced they will be registering and cataloging incidents of police brutality.
The protests on June 12, 2014, followed the trend, and several were injured during confrontations with police, including journalists. Take a look at five of the most notable protests below.
This photo of an indigenous teen protesting during the opening ceremony of the World Cup circulated widely on social media.
1. SÃO PAULO | Four journalists are injured on the street, and an indigenous teen pulls off a protest inside the stadium.
São Paulo was home to the most violent clashes between police and protesters. Four journalists were injured, including two CNN reporters.
In spite of all security procedures at Itaquerão stadium to deter protest posters, a young indigenous man managed to stage a brief protest on the pitch during the opening ceremony. He and two teenagers, one of African descent and the other of European descent, were invited on as a representation of Brazil's cultural heritage.
For those watching on TV, the teens waved to the crowd as they exited – and that was it. But those in the stadium saw him pull a red banner with the word “Demarcação” (Demarcation), making a public plea for the demarcation of indigenous lands. Photos of the protest were widely shared on social media.
2. PORTO ALEGRE | 15 people are arrested for protesting and a photographer is hit by a police-thrown stun grenade.
In the southern city of Porto Alegre, demonstrations were organized by the group Fighting Block for Public Transport (Bloco de Luta pelo Transporte Público) and gathered between 300 and 1,000 people. The protest started late morning and came to an end when the local military police threw tear gas and stun grenades at the crowd. A photographer who was covering the march was hit by one of the grenades used by police.
Members of the militant anarchist group Black Bloc were roundly criticized for breaking bank windows and vandalizing other commercial properties during the demonstrations.
3. RIO DE JANEIRO | Ten thousand people protest to a Carnival beat, but police ruin the party.
The protest in Rio gathered around 10,000 people downtown. It began peacefully, with protesters playing Carnival music, seen here in this YouTube video:
But according to the collective Independent Media (Mídia Indepedente), police upped the tension between officers and protesters by pushing people and wielding batons. Violence broke out when the group reached the monumental aqueduct in the historical neighborhood of Lapa. At least two independent journalists from Collective Mariachi were reportedly beaten by the police and arrested for throwing trash on the ground.
By the end of the protest, 14 people were arrested and three were injured.
4. BELO HORIZONTE | An independent journalist is arrested and reportedly tortured by five police officers.
While hundreds of people gathered to protest in Belo Horizonte, a Brazilian photographer for Reuters was hit in the head by stones thrown from both protesters and police.
Karinny de Magalhães, an independent journalist working for the collective NINJA, was arrested and reportedly tortured by five police officers. She testified that she heard the officers say that protesters were “the cancer of the world” and they “should all die”. According to her, the military police's use of force showed how unprepared they are to deal with civilians.
5. FORTALEZA | A plainclothes private security officer takes an independent journalist's camera during a protest in front of the FIFA fan fest.
The independent journalism collective Nigéria covered the protest in Fortaleza, and they reported that adults, youth and children of social movements, housing advocacy groups and anti-capitalist groups gathered in front Náutico Beach in an area known for its luxurious hotels and elite condos.
They were monitored closely by a dozen specialized military police officers as they marched the few blocks to reach Iracema Beach, where the local FIFA fan fest was packed with hundreds of spectators. Protesters shouted rallying cries, criticized FIFA’s “exploitative” actions and called for police demilitarization.
There, a group burned a Fuleco – the official World Cup mascot – toy. At some point, police clashed with a number protesters and resorted to tasering some in order to detain them. FIFA private security personnel intervened. One of Nigéria's journalists had his camera hit and taken away by a man in plain clothes, who then tossed it, and another security officer prohibited the journalist from retrieving it.
The collective published footage of the confrontation, including unsuccessful attempts to reclaim the camera:

author: Global Voices Portuguese


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Global Voices Members Win Knight News Challenge Awards To Strengthen the Internet · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Global Voices co-founder, Rebecca MacKinnon, was awarded a Knight News Challenge award to develop a global ranking of Internet companies. Photo by Brooke Bready.
The Global Voices community congratulates two treasured members of our community who are among the winners of the 2014 Knight News Challenge. The results of the competition were announced today at the MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This year, the Miami-based Knight Foundation awarded a total of US$3,466,000 to projects responding to the question: “How can we strengthen the Internet for free expression and innovation?”
Global Voices’ co-founder, Rebecca MacKinnon, received $300,000 to develop Ranking Digital Rights along with colleagues at the New America Foundation. The grant will enable Rebecca and her team to rate Internet companies on how well they protect the privacy of their users, and publish a global ranking to help encourage companies to improve their practices.
“People are using social media platforms, telecommunications services, smartphones from these companies,” Rebecca said. “What are their policies and practices?” Rebecca added that Ranking Digital Rights was inspired by a conversation that took place at the 2012 Global Voices Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. “I was brainstorming with a bunch of people about how we hold companies accountable, and [Egyptian community member] Mohamed ElGohary said, “I'd like to see a list.” And other people continued to tell me the same thing.”
Jillian C. York's Knight News Challenge-winning project will collect data about censorship on online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The project from the other Global Voices laureate, Jillian C. York, also takes on private companies, though from a different angle.
Jillian, who joined Global Voices in 2007 and serves on the board as volunteers’ representative, was awarded $250,000 for OnlineCensorship.org, a platform she'll develop with colleagues at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where she's Director for International Freedom of Expression. Currently in alpha, the platform will collect data about incidents of censorship on online platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, with the aim of helping society better understand and manage censorship and free expression issues.
“Many of us have experienced the phenomenon of social media companies taking down our content or deactivating accounts,” Jillian said. “It's really a global phenomenon. I hope the Global Voices community will contribute to the data, which will enable us to show companies and the world the real impact of private organisations on regulating online speech.”

author: Georgia Popplewell


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‘Happy’ in Thailand? How the Coup Regime Is Still Suppressing Democracy · Global Voices
Global Voices

NCPO-sponsored performance and party in Thailand. Photo by Prachatai via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The author's identity has been kept anonymous for safety reasons.
Three weeks after seizing power, the Royal Thai Army led by General Prayuth Chan-Ocha has been assuring the Thai people and the international community that everything is returning to normal. Curfew hours have been shortened and even lifted in many tourist areas and provinces. Reconciliation centers established by the army have been providing various free services to the community.
But despite these recent developments, suppression of pro-democracy movements continues. From mass media to academia, many disturbing signs of continuing repression in the country remain.
The coup regime has summoned and detained hundreds of critical journalists, academics and former politicians over the last three weeks. Martial law allows officers to detain people for no more than seven days — most detainees are eventually released but only after signing a contract pledging not to participate in any political movement or demonstration.
If they violate the contract, authorities will file charges against them and their bank accounts will be suspended. Those who refuse or fail to report to the National Council for Peace and Order (the official name of the coup regime, NCPO for short) are then pursued as criminals.
More people were arrested for expressing sentiments considered as a disapproval of the coup like carrying a blank paper. Raising a three-finger salute imitating the ‘District 12 sign’ from the film Hunger Games has been outlawed.
Though the graphic emblem of the coup has been removed from TV screens, censorship is still enforced directly and indirectly. But the emblem is just a symbol — self-censorship remains. News reports are like a feel-good-drama where everyone is happy under the wings of the junta: the standard narrative lends legitimacy to the army’s takeover and those who disagree with authorities are quickly tagged as enemies of the state.
When Facebook became inaccessible for one hour on May 28, 2014, many suspected that it was blocked by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT). MICT and NCPO denied that they restricted access to Facebook which they blamed on technical error.
But recently, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported that Telenor, which runs one of the mobile phone networks in Thailand through its subsidiary DTAC, acknowledged that there was an order from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to block the social networking site.
Police Major General Amnuay Nimmano of Metropolitan Police Bureau warned netizens that ‘liking’ the Facebook pages of anti-coup groups is already a criminal offense and argued that ‘liking’ subversive web pages is equivalent to spreading illegal data through a computer system.
All of this suggests that authorities really were attempting to block social media. But nobody knows why the restriction lasted for only an hour. Was it simply a technical glitch? Was it a dress rehearsal before the real show? Or could authorities not withstand the anger of netizens over the hour?
The Ministry of Education has forbidden teachers from criticizing the NCPO. The ministry is also drafting a new curriculum that would promote nationalism, discipline, and civic duties. Many people described this thought control project as a way to discourage Thai children from questioning the country’s authorities.
The NCPO has been organizing various spectacles across the country to promote the theme, “Returning Happiness to Thais.” These events include the offering of free food and drinks, musical performances of soldiers in uniform, and the taking of selfie pictures with soldiers holding a huge ‘happiness’ banner.
This is the reality of Thailand today: Under the coup regime, Thais are obliged to be ‘happy’.
The Global Voices community takes the security of our members very seriously. We omitted the name of this post's author in an effort to protect the security and safety of this person.

author: Global Voices


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People in Hong Kong Have a Legitimate Reason to Freak Out When Facebook Is Down · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Facebook is down. Image from House News. Non-commercial use.
Facebook went down for a half an hour worldwide on June 19. Not a big deal, right? Wrong, at least in Hong Kong. The incident hit a nerve in the city, where some pro-democratic reform websites have recently suffered massive DDoS attacks suspected to be the work of mainland China.
Since June 14 the voting platform for an unofficial referendum on electoral reform has suffered outages, thanks to the attacks involving ten of thousands of computer networks throughout the globe, according to CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince via local newspaper Ming Pao's report. He is involved in helping the Public Opinion Programme at the University of Hong Kong to defend against the attack.
Hong Kongers believe that Beijing is behind it because the referendum advocates the people's right to nominate candidates for the city's chief executive. China has promised a direct vote in the next chief executive election, but says Hong Kong's constitution — the Basic Law — requires a committee to nominate the candidates, something Hong Kongers fear the mainland could essentially control.
Despite the attack, 700,000 people have voted in the referendum so far.
A few days later on June 18, another round of DDoS attacks paralyzed Apple Daily's websites for more than 10 hours. The media corporate is one of the few mainstream media outlets critical of the Beijing government. During the 10 hours when Apple Daily was offline, the newspaper posted their news updates on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
The following day, Facebook's temporary outage made many people anxious. Yuen Chan, an experienced journalist and journalism lecturer in Hong Kong, captured the sentiment in her blog:
But in the seconds that followed #Facebookdown, something strange, though predictable happened in Hong Kong. First of all, people thought the short must be directed at Hong Kong. They muttered about dark forces, hacking, the hand of the state.
When it could no longer be ignored that the outage was global, the questions turned to “what are we going to do now?” and even “are there going to be riots?”
She explains further why Hong Kongers feel so desperate when Facebook is down:
But in Hong Kong, there was something else at work. People weren’t just upset that they couldn’t see what their friends ate for lunch.  They were concerned about the loss of an important platform for the exchange and dissemination of information and a tool for social mobilization.
For some reason, Twitter has never really taken off in Hong Kong, and Facebook is the social media platform of choice for everyone from K-pop chasing teens, to their mums and dads; from radical activists to their opposite numbers on the pro-government side.
That means Facebook is where people share news, views and gossip on politics and social movements in a city where social and political tensions have rarely been higher.
A post from blogger “Dead Sister Still Alive” (姐死姐還在) about “The end of the world without Facebook” echoed Yuen Chan's concern about censorship and freedom of expression:
Facebook 今日死左個一刻，我真係相當恐慌 […]「冇Facebook 點算呀，世界末日架啦」。如果我唔係係office，我已經咆哮左出來啦。[…] –> 個手機whatsapp不停震，此時此刻，原來朋友仔都嚇到幾乎瀨屎，要double confirm 係咪只係自己瀨野上唔到。對於打工仔來講，冇左個Facebook 同送我上太空執行任務，同地面斷左聯絡一樣咁大獲。[…]
這邊廂，呀姐只係擔心個Facebook game 點解消失天與地 ；另一邊廂，香港很多人都恐慌網絡監控係唔係打到來？個世界就係咁，有人長期唔關心社會問題，到底佢係唔係要歷盡七七四十九個苦難，先會醒覺，反思同關心下「係咪個社會發生緊咩事」。[…] 係唔係網絡監控？Who knows? 但今次預演左一次「沒有Facebook 會如何」，原來真係好恐怖，我真係會好珍惜仲有機會發聲的日子，如果等到網絡certified 的時候，一切都真係太遲啦。
The moment when Facebook was down, I was terrified […] “What if there is no more Facebook? The World Ends”. Were I not in the office, I would have screamed. […]–> WhatsApp on my mobile kept buzzing, my friends were all horrified and they wanted to double check that the situation was happening to other people too. For ordinary working people, being without Facebook as like cutting a space mission off from Earth. […]
While my sister is concerned about why her Facebook game has vanished, many Hong Kongers are anxious about online surveillance and censorship. People have to suffer before they develop an awareness about social issues and pay attention to what happens in this society. […] Whether or not it is Internet surveillance at work, who knows? But it is a rehearsal of “what if we don't have Facebook anymore?” The situation is horrifying. I have to treasure the moment when we can still speak out. When the Internet is certified dead, everything will be too late.
Immediately following the attack, speculation about China's possible involvement took off. According to an expert from Taiwan, the Facebook downtime corresponded to a sudden barrage of traffic from China to the United States. Another Internet security expert said Facebook was under a large-scale DDoS attack, in which many compromised systems assail a single target.
Facebook later blamed the outage on a software update issue. With tensions between Hong Kong and China still high, however, that may not be much comfort.
Follow our in-depth coverage: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution


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Jonbeel, a Barter Market in the 21st Century · Global Voices
Rezwan

Tiwa women exchange their commodities by barter system, as part of the ‘Jonbeel Mela’ at Jonbeel lake. Image by Abdul Sajid. Copyright Demotix. (22/10/2010)
The centuries old Jonbeel Mela, a community fair in the northeast Indian state of Assam, has a unique ritual. Around 10,000 indigenous people from tribes like the Karbi, Khasi, Tiwa, and Jayantia of the northeast come down from the hills to the Jonbeel wetlands with their produce or catch and interchange with the local people in a barter system. Usha Dewani at the India Water Portal reports that the annual three-day festival has been celebrated since the 15th century. Around 100,000 people visit the market each year.

author: Rezwan


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Mexican Bloggers Support Their National Team · Global Voices
Luis Flores

Image by National Commission for Sports and Phyisical Education Mexico on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Samantha Martínez is blogging on Tarjeta Azul about the day-to-day at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. This time, she shares her passion for her country's national team, Mexico, and sums up the rivalry between this team and the local one, and shows her support for the Mexican crew:
¡Que se acaben los prejuicios! Apoyar y creer en el triunfo mexicano NO es patriotismo ciego, es optimismo. Mejor vivir así la vida, ver el vaso medio lleno. Recurriendo a los preceptos generales de autoestima y emprendimiento, el cuestionamiento principal es: Si tú no crees en ti mismo ¿Quién más lo va a hacer?. Creemos en ti México. ¡Vamos TRI! ¡A ganar!
No more prejudices! To support and believe in a Mexican victory is NOT blind patriotism, it's optimism. It's better to live this way, seeing the glass half full. By using these general self-esteem and endeavor precepts, the main question is: if you don't believe in yourself, who else will believe? We believe in you, Mexico. Come on, three stripes! Let's win!
Stay up-to-date with the World Cup via the author's blog and on Twitter.

author: Luis Flores


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Russian Bureaucracy’s Race to Police the Web · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

The mad mad mad world of Russian Internet policing. Images mixed by author.
Russia’s lawmakers and police are in a race to take control over the Internet. For more than two years, the parliament has spewed out legislation that imposes new restrictions on Internet use. Now, engorged by these new laws, Russia’s authorities can legally shut down, lock up, or block off just about anything happening online. The Kremlin has been careful to avoid targeting Russia’s e-business sector, but political expression on the Web has become increasingly unsafe.
Despite the rapid growth of the country’s Internet regulations, Russian police have managed to outpace lawmakers, prosecuting Web users for acts that haven't even been formally criminalized. On June 20, the Duma took a step toward closing this gap, passing legislation that would allow the government to send people to prison for up to five years – all for disseminating, or re-disseminating, “extremist materials.”
The new legislation fits perfectly with the “turning of the screws” so evident in Russia under Vladimir Putin’s third presidential term, but the first draft actually dates back to August 2011, well before Russia’s “Winter of Discontent.” Regardless, the authors’ suspicion of Internet freedom is especially pronounced in an explanatory note attached to the first draft, which reads in sparkling, bureaucratic jargon:
Компьютеризация российского общества, увеличение числа пользователей международной компьютерной сети “Интернет” приводит к необходимости совершенствования российского законодательства с целью обеспечения эффективности его противодействия новым вызовам и угрозам современности. […] Отсутствие адекватной реакции на размещение экстремистских материалов в международной компьютерной сети “Интернет” со стороны органов государственной власти, призванных бороться с любыми проявлениями экстремизма и разжигания национальной и межэтнической розни, культивирует чувства вседозволенности и безнаказанности у лиц, совершающих эти деяния.
The computerization of Russian society and the growth in the number of Internet users creates a need to update Russian laws in order to ensure that they effectively meet modern challenges and threats. […] State authorities are charged with battling any manifestation of extremism and ethnic or national conflict, and an inadequate response to the distribution of extremist materials on the Internet cultivates a sense of permissiveness and impunity in the perpetrators of these acts.
Police action against “extremist retweeters” is nothing new in Russia. In February last year, police charged a figure in one of Russia’s smaller political parties with a hate crime for republishing a satirical LiveJournal post by Lev Sharansky, a parody Internet personality notorious for exaggerated political speech. Stas Kalinichenko, a blogger from Kemerovo, has been in and out of courts since last November for retweeting a photograph of an anti-government leaflet. Earlier this year, federal law enforcement officers arrested a philosophy professor at Moscow State University for reposting in an online forum an article that discussed the possible overthrow of the Kremlin. Just this month, a trial began in the Siberian city of Barnaul in which state prosecutors have accused a political activist of “liking” (on a social network) a photograph deemed extremist.
These are just a few recent examples. There are others.
The legislation that will criminalize “extremist” retweets represents just the latest episode in the Kremlin’s Internet crackdown. This approach to law enforcement risks penalizing Internet users who repost materials without any intention to incite violence. Given the Russian government’s extremely broad understanding of “extremism,” outlawing such reposts also threatens any remotely anti-government online commentary with a police response.
For all the worrying conclusions one can draw about the Duma’s latest legislation, the most frightening truth may be that Russia’s law enforcement agencies don’t always wait for lawmakers to grant them formal authority when it comes to policing the Internet. In other words, we have no idea what police in Russia are up to online today.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Twitter’s Game of Cat and Mouse in Russia · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Images mixed by author.
Senior representatives from Twitter, led by its head of global public policy, Colin Crowell, have met with Alexandr Zharov, the chief of Roscomnadzor, Russia's federal communications agency. After the pow wow, Zharov announced to reporters that Twitter has agreed to create a special representative to Russia. Based in Dublin, where Twitter has its international headquarters, the world's largest microblogging service will dedicate someone to liaison with the Russian government, to handle legal requests to censor accounts accused of extremism and other crimes. Twitter hasn't yet decided whom to cast in this new role, though Crowell and his team tomorrow will consult with the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC), a noncommercial group that brings together major players in Russia's communications market.
Zharov says that Twitter has agreed to obey Russian demands to block access to various “extremist blogs,” including the Ukrainian far-right group Pravyi Sektor, which is already unavailable to Twitter users who set their accounts’ location to Russia. (Admittedly, this form of censorship is easily circumvented – users need only change their settings.) How Twitter proceeds from here is still unclear. Zharov's statement implies that Twitter will most likely block more accounts in the future, when Roscomnadzor demands it. But will Twitter block those accounts in a more effective way? Will Twitter delete the accounts outright? Zharov claims that his concerns are not limited to Russian users, meaning that Roscomnadzor might insist on account-deletion in addition to account-blocking.
In an official statement on Roscomnadzor's website, the agency says it's sent Twitter a list of 12 accounts identified as extremist by Russia's Attorney General. “Roscomnadzor expects that [Twitter's] administrators will take action to delete these accounts or restrict access to them within Russian territory,” reads the press release. According to Max Seddon at BuzzFeed, Twitter denies that it has promised to delete any accounts.
Today and tomorrow, Twitter executives will ponder whom to tap to be their go-between with Russian censors, but Roscomnadzor hasn't wasted any time naming its contact person, Maxim Kzensov, the agency's deputy director, who made headlines last month after threatening to shut off access to Twitter and Facebook “in a matter of minutes.” Kzensov's comments appeared in an interview, where he criticized American Internet giants for failing to establish legal representation in Russia, allowing them to circumvent censorship and taxation laws.
Creating an official liaison to Russia marks an important concession to the Kremlin, but Twitter is stopping short of establishing a formal legal office in Russia. In May, Kzensov complained that “Twitter and Facebook don't exist legally in Russia,” though the latter does have a Russian-language manager based in London. (Kzensov was likely referring to Ekaterina Skorobogatova, Facebook's Emerging Markets Growth Manager.) Google, on the other hand, has had an office in Moscow since 2005.
A pattern is emerging in the relationship between the Kremlin and Twitter, where Moscow makes sweeping demands of the website and then touts the resulting compromise as a victory for Russian sovereignty. The game can't go on forever, however, and it is only a matter of time before Twitter's wiggle room runs out.


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Mapping the 567 Ebola Cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone   · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone as of June 18 2014 via CDC – Public Domain
On June 16, 49 new Ebola cases, 12 of them deadly, were reported by the WHO. Bart Janssens, director of operations of The international NGO Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF)) released a statement saying that:
The epidemic is out of control, with the appearance of new sites in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, there is a real risk of it spreading to other areas. Ebola is no longer a public health issue limited to Guinea: it is affecting the whole of West Africa.
Since the onset of the outbreak in February 2014, 567 cases have been reported. 398 suspect and confirmed cases were suspected and confirmed in Guinea, 97 in Sierra Leone and 33 in Liberia. There is no specific treatment for the virus with a typical high death rate.
Follow our in-depth coverage: The Struggle to #StopEbola in West Africa


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French Startup Companies Want to Make Your Home Smarter · Global Voices
Mathieu Carrere

A digital control panel for a house. CC BY-SA 3.0
The Internet of Things has given rise to new applications which improve the operation of buildings. It is a rapidly growing market, and, even better : French start-up companies are at the forefront of this sector.
Connected objects are gradually making their entry into French homes. At a time when the mobile Internet is becoming democratized, French people seem enthusiastic about home-management applications, especially in their attempt to save money on their heating bills.
Jean-Luc Beylat, president of Paris-based telecom company Alcatel Lucent, explained the significance of the growth of the Internet of Things in an interview with IT news site Silicon :
Je pense que nous sommes en train de vivre la première révolution technologique du 21éme siècle. Quelque chose d’aussi important que l’arrivée du train, de la vapeur ou de l’électricité. Ce n’est pas un hasard si des philosophes comme Bernard Stiegler s’y intéressent. Mais il faut bien attention faire à ne pas créer de blocages
I think that we are now experiencing the first technological revolution of the 21st century. Something as important as the invention of locomotives, steam power, or electricity. It's not a coincidence that philosophers such as Bernard Stiegler have taken an interest in this. But we must be very careful not to create obstacles.
The concept of domotique (domestic automatization) — meaning to network and automate the operation of the electrical equipment of a house or building, to conserve energy, or to improve comfort — actually originated in the 1980s. Today, we speak of “smart buildings”. This term refers both to the idea of individual connected houses (“smart home”) and to net-positive-energy buildings (“smart building”).
A feeder for house cats, controlled by internet in a home CC BY 3.0
Energy-efficiency “home services”, thus far, have not really found a market. However, a demand for information and customer service already exists, and is expected to strengthen considerably in coming years. Also, in the context created by European directives, by the Grenelle Environnement and by their resulting decisions, the development of new applications, and the performance and intelligence of the equipment, will lead energy providers to strengthen their relationship with their clients.
With increased savings, improved comfort and environmental protection, and increasingly encouraged to manage demand via more dynamic pricing offers, the clients will want to be better-informed and assisted by technologies for more relevant and valuable uses of their devices. An Accenture study published in 2013 revealed that only 22 percent of respondents in Europe trust their energy supplier on this point.
Eager to tap into this market, Qivivo, a start-up company in Nantes, sells an “intelligent thermostat” with associated web services for boilers and electric heaters.
For the system to work, the house needs only an ADSL box. Once installed, the thermostat connects to the box via a “gateway” module, with which it communicates. There is no need to make adjustments because a cloud-computing software solution controls the thermostat remotely through the Internet connection. So, the user does not have to do any manual work, and there are no wires to replace, because the solution is “plug and play”. If necessary, they can still take control via an application for computer, tablet or smartphone.
In addition, thanks to artificial intelligence algorithms, the thermostat optimizes the operation of the heating system by learning. The founder of Qivivo, Adrien Suire, explains how it works:
Durant la première semaine d’utilisation, le thermostat va se programmer pendant la nuit des cycles marche/arrêt pour déterminer le temps de montée en température. Par itération, le thermostat intègre dans son fonctionnement le comportement d système de chauffage, ainsi que la signature énergétique de la maison. De plus, en collectant les données météo, le système va être en mesure d’anticiper la demande de chauffage.
During the first week of use, the thermostat programs itself during a night of on/off cycles, to determine the time of the temperature rise. Through iteration, the thermostat integrates the behavior of the heating system and the energy signature of the house into its function. Additionally, by collecting weather information, the system will be able to anticipate the demand for heating.
Another French start-up company, Netatmo, also has a connected thermostat, with a “learning” version under development.
Its adjoining weather station measures the quality of outdoor air (humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure); another measures the quality of indoor air (concentration of CO2 and moisture). Again, it can be put into use immediately. The modules communicate with each other and the Internet box in the home using WiFi: the users can just download the Netatmo application on the device of their choice – computer, phone, or tablet – and configure it with the module.
For the implementation of its networked-habitat application “B Domo”, Netatmo has formed a partnership with Bouygues Telecom. Considering the current importance of indoor air quality, other partnerships could be imagined, especially with providers of air circulation systems.
Fertile with new enterprises specializing in networked objects, France is like a  Silicon Valley without knowing it. Digital technology has made its entry into buildings, and the market for Smart Homes will experience innovation, in an unprecedented boom. A step forward for a digital France which should not be missed.

author: Mathieu Carrere


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Homecoming Revolution in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Homecoming Revolution is an organisation that encourages skilled Africans to come back to the continent:
Homecoming Revolution, which showcases career, property, investment and entrepreneurial opportunities for expatriates in sub-Saharan Africa, has helped almost 360,000 South Africans to return home in the past five years. It has an active database of another 34,000 professionals who are considering moving back.
The organization, which started as an aid agency in 2003 but has since commercialized its operations, has business networks throughout South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, and will continue its expansion into other sub-Saharan countries this year.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Informal WiFi Networks Have Been Dismantled in Havana  · Global Voices
Elaine Díaz

Nauta, public Internet access center in Cuba. Photo from cubadebate.cu. Used with permission.
Over the course of the last month, several blogs [es] and media outlets have reported on the dismantling of wifi networks in the capital city of Havana, Cuba, by the country's authorities.
These artisanal networks are not connected to the Internet, and work through high-power devices that amplify the wireless signal, like NanoM2, which are purchased in the black market at prices reaching USD $230.
The networks are primarily used to play games, share TV shows, series, and movies. At his blog, La red cubana, Larry Press reports that when you hear of a network with anywhere between 120 and 400 users, you could imagine 120 to 400 users simultaneously downloading archives, posting content on social media, and communicating with each other. “But this is unrealistic,” he says. According to Press, the devices used to create and operate these networks, specifically the NanoM2, have certain merits, but do not allow “multiple users to simultaneously download the latest episode of their favorite television show from a PC server or browse the Web”.
To date, Cuban authorities had not impeded these informal connections, but the existence of groups of friends and neighbors that “began to link their personal routers about a decade ago for use in multiplayer computer games” was known, the Miami Herald noted.
Larry Press explains:
Sospecho, aunque no lo sepan, que los routers están ejecutando Commotion, un programa de red desarrollado por la Fundación New America, con financiamiento de USAID. Ellos han puesto a prueba las redes en varias ciudades, pero no estoy familiarizado con los informes que dan sobre los datos de rendimiento y capacidad.
I suspect, although they don't know it, that the routers are running Commotion, a network program developed by the New America Foundation, with funding from USAID. They have tested the networks in several cities, but I'm not familiar with the reports that provide date on performance and capacity.
In a Facebook debate a few weeks ago on telecommunications and Internet access in Cuba, Yosbani Deya pointed out that “the Agency of Control and Supervision of the Ministry of Communications of Cuba (…) prohibits by law any radiation over 100mW in WiFi APs of 2,4GHz”.
Nonetheless, journalist and professor Milena Recio, said that [es]:
Hace un año apareció el servicio Nauta, que venía con dos promesas: bajar los precios e implementar redes WiFi… Ninguna de las dos han sido cumplidas. Y de eso no se habla. Luego, llegan noticias de desmantelamientos de redes en barrios de La Habana. El marco legal no está claro. ETECSA tiene una concesión de exclusividad para el uso del espacio radioeléctrico con fines de telecomunicaciones. Concesión que es renovada una y otra vez y no se discute con nadie. Estas redes WiFi, barriales, son a-legales, y a-legal es también, hasta donde entiendo, su desmantelamiento policía mediante.
A year ago a service called Nauta appeared and came with two promises: lowering prices and implementing WiFi networks … Neither of the two were kept. And no one speaks about this. Then, news comes of dismantling networks in Havana neighborhoods. The legal framework is unclear. ETECSA has an exclusive concession for the use of radio telecommunication space. A concession that is renewed time and time again, and not discussed with anyone. These neighborhood WiFi networks are neither legal nor illegal, and so is their dismantlement by the police, as far as I understand.
To date, it is not known if wifi networks will continue to be dismantled in municipalities throughout Havana and others located in different provinces in the country. Larry Press ventures to say that it could be a pressure and control mechanism “to intimidate users in a context where there is uncertainty about what the rules are”. Another possibility is that “these networks could be seen as a threat to ETECSA's revenues.”
The featured image in this post is by Ed Yourdon from Flickr, used under the CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.

author: Elaine Díaz


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Jamaica: Beauty & the Beast · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The issue is that there is an idea in Jamaica of who is beautiful and who isn’t…that this idea of beauty is, to a large extent, a racially constructed one.
Kei Miller recounts a heartbreaking story of the dark side of beauty pageants and contends that the Miss Jamaica franchise represents “hierarchies of race and class as they still operate in Jamaica today.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Jamaica: The Colours of the FIFA World Cup · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Active Voice posts a compilation of tweets about the FIFA World Cup in which “race, religion, colour, ethnicity, nationality, all came in for comment”.


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Kyrgyzstan’s First Full Length Animation to be Released · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

Neweurasia.net report on the upcoming release of Kyrgyzstan's first animated film, Aku, drawn by Tolgobek Koichumanov. Judging by the trailer Koichumanov's illustrations will offer the perfect introduction to Kyrgyzstan, capturing both the republic's startlingly beautiful nature as well as the less startlingly beautiful aesthetic of its capital city, Bishkek. According to neweurasia.net:
The animated film tells the story of love between two people, which passed through the barriers of distance and time. A guy named Maksat and a girl named Aku had been friends since childhood. They grew up in a quiet little village on the shore of a mountain lake. And there wasn’t a day when they were separated from each other. Aku dreamed of seeing Paris, Maksat wanted to become an artist. Then the fate played a cruel joke with the characters, but like any other blessed love stories, the story of Maksat and Aku is going to have a real happy end.

author: Chris Rickleton


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“Not All Opinions Deserve to be Respected, Some Must be Fought” · Global Voices
Luis Flores

The author criticizes anti Semitic opinions by Jean-Marie Le Pen. Image by Hégésippe Cormier on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Teacher Luis María Llena León publishes regularly on his personal blog No hay mejor maestra que la vida (There is no better teacher than life; es), and wrote recently his opinion about the sensitive issue of tolerance, noting that “to respect every opinion is a fallacy”, as it has been in favor of world tolerance. Instead, the author thinks that, although every individual deserves to be respected, there are opinions that can't be respected and they must be fought, refering to the xenophobic ideas by Jean Marie Le Pen.
La dignidad de todo ser humano (que posee por el hecho de ser humano) merece nuestro respeto; pero hay acciones e ideas que no lo merecen.
The dignity every human being has (due to the fact of being human) deserves our respect; but there are actions and ideas that don't deserve.
You can follow Luis María on his and on Twitter, where he posts in Spanish and in Catalan.


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Could Snowden Be Russia’s Alfred Kinsey? · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Snowden as the modern day's Alfred Kinsey? Images mixed by author.
Edward Snowden is the Alfred Kinsey of the Internet Age. That is what Russian journalist Dmitri Gubin argued in a blog post last week, imagining what impact governments’ total surveillance might have on future social norms.
Kinsey is best known for his research at the dawn of the 1950s on human sexual behavior, which contributed to a revolution in the West against traditional notions of sexuality. Kinsey achieved his breakthrough by applying rigorous scientific methods to the study of sex, made possible through the collection of a vast amount of data.
In his blog post, Gubin wonders if the Big Data accumulated by governments spying on the Internet, like the NSA’s PRISM program or the FSB’s SORM project, might transform conventional wisdom about new areas of human behavior.
Как часто мы ругаем власть? Материмся? Плачем? Изменяем слову, делу и телу? Напиваемся в хлам? Повышаем голос? Завидуем? Как часто меняем свои взгляды в течение жизни — и нормально ли их менять?
How often do we criticize the authorities? How about swearing? Crying? How often do we go back on our word? On our actions? How often do we drink ourselves into oblivion? What about raising our voices? Envying others? How often do we change our views in a lifetime? Is it normal to change them?
Когда мы получим ответы на эти вопросы, возможно, пересмотрим свои представления о том, что мы есть. А также изменим рамки одобряемого и осуждаемого с точки зрения интересов общества, то есть общественной морали. И ФСБ с его СОРМом, и ФБР, и ЦРУ, и АНБ нам в этом окажутся невольными, но помощниками. Как и все социальные сети, с которых вылетит твит – не поймаешь, паблик черненький не смоешь и платочком не сотрешь, а сотрешь — так есть кэш Гугла и Яндекса, а введут запрет выдавать кэш после требования пользователя — есть еще перепосты и скриншоты.
Ну хорошо, скажете вы, с Фейсбуком и ВКонтакте все ясно. Но как получить интересующую информацию из ФСБ, ФСО и прочих закрытых организаций? Да очень просто! На каждое АНБ и ФСБ найдется свой Сноуден. При таких масштабах работ – не может не найтись.
When we get answers to these questions, it’s possible to reconsider our ideas about who we are. Also, we can change the scope of what is accepted and condemned, from the point of view of society’s interests, that is, from the perspective of public morality. And the FSB with its SORM, along with the FBI, CIA, and NSA, are all unwitting helpers in this process. The same goes for all the social networks. You can’t catch every tweet, you can’t wash the public space clean, and even if you succeed in erasing something, there is always the cache on Google and Yandex. Impose a ban on caches and there will still be reposts and screenshots.
That’s all well and good with Facebook and Vkontakte, you say. But how will we get interesting information from the FSB, FSO, and other closed organizations? Oh, but it’s simple! In every NSA or FSB, you’ll find a Snowden. In such large-scale projects, it’s impossible not to find one.
Using the Internet, government surveillance now peers into corners of our lives that were previously inaccessible to outsiders. By recording our online behavior, the authorities are able to discern patterns in our actions, coming to understand us in ways that we don’t know ourselves. If Kinsey’s study could show that the reality of human behavior is very different from what traditions prescribe, what can PRISM and SORM tell us about “extremism” and “terrorism”? What about the prevalence mocking Vladimir Putin? Indeed, what does the total disintegration of privacy reveal about all kinds of political behavior?


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Thai Coup Leads to Exodus of More Than 180,000 Cambodian Migrant Workers  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

A Cambodian migrant family onboard a truck that will take them to the border where they will leave Thailand. Photo by Lee Craker. Copyright @Demotix (6/17/2014)
Hundreds of thousands of Cambodian migrant workers and their families have fled Thailand in the past two weeks after Thai coup leaders issued a warning that they will launch a crackdown against illegal foreign workers.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 180,000 workers have already crossed the Poipet border between Thailand and Cambodia; although many reports pegged the number at 220,000. There is an estimated half a million Cambodians of both legal and undocumented status in Thailand.
The mass exodus is also fueled by rumors that Thai soldiers have been attacking Cambodian workers. Sithi, a human rights group in Cambodia, is probing the issue:
This vicious campaign has seen thousands of Cambodians packed into trucks like animals and forcibly returned to Cambodia. Returnees have reported violent raids on houses where illegal immigrants are suspected of residing and incidences of the tearing up of documentation entitling Cambodians to work legally in the country.
According to the IOM, family members have been separated during the ordeal. Shelters and latrines are needed to accommodate returnees.
Cambodians are transported to the border from Aranyaprathet, Thailand, the last town before the border near Cambodia. Photo by Lee Craker. Copyright @Demotix (6/17/2014)
“No heartache, just movement,” Joe Lowry of the IOM wrote after he witnessed the arrival of migrant workers at the border:
There was no heartache on the border last week as tens of thousands of people poured off buses and thronged a muddy roundabout in a flyblown town you’ll never hear of again, going to places that are just dots on the map, down roads that peter out into tracks, where they will be hugged and kissed and feted, before the solemn reality of more mouths to feed, day after day, kicks in. No heartache, just movement. Lots of movement. People, trucks, buses, bikes, taxis, tuk-tuks [popular three-wheeled public transport in Cambodia], stray dogs, chickens, soldiers, cats, cascading silver rain from mercury clouds, drying in the white sun and pushing waves of hot, wet air, drawing beads and rivulets of sweat which became a paste on the skin when the mud dried rapidly to dust.
Humanitarian organization Caritas Cambodia is appealing for help for the returning migrants, some of whom are pregnant workers and are “struggling to look for food, water and transportation.”
Cambodia-based expat blogger Lina also documented the return of the workers at the border:
It’s unclear whether or not they have been forcibly removed by the Thai junta or are voluntarily leaving out of fear–there are rumors circulating within the Cambodian community that those who do not leave voluntarily will be shot–but seeing the road to Aranyaprathet in Thailand full of caged trucks packed with frightened Cambodians was distressing to say the least.
Cambodian migrant workers who fled Thailand. Photo by Lee Craker. Copyright @Demotix (6/17/2014)
Photojournalist John Vink wrote that the unexpected return of workers from Thailand will put a pressure on Cambodia’s economy:
For many it is back to square one: having left because migrating to Thailand is the only solution to provide some revenue to the family, the returnees now find themselves facing the same issue of unemployment in a country which should seriously question its ability to provide jobs for its citizens.
Thousands of Cambodians prefer to work in Thailand where there is a minimum wage of $10 per day. In contrast, Cambodia has no fixed wages. In fact, it has one of the lowest wages in the Southeast Asia region. Garment workers receive a monthly salary of $100.
Opposition leader Mu Sochua argued on her blog that the current crisis exposed the failure of the government’s economic policies:
The inhumane deportation of close to 200,000′Cambodian workers from Thailand, in the past few days shows the true picture of the so called economic growth in Cambodia and the failure of poverty reduction strategy.
To facilitate the speedy return of the workers to Thailand, Cambodia has slashed the price of passports for migrant workers from $124 to $4. It also established a one-stop office at the border to process the papers and other concerns of workers.
Writing for the Southeast Asia analysis website New Mandala, Charlie Thame observed that the Thai coup regime is serious in sustaining the campaign against illegal foreign workers:
Such purges are regular occurrences in Thailand, where a relatively laissez-faire approach is taken towards undocumented workers when the economy is booming, followed by crackdowns during downturns. But there are reasons to believe that this time may be different; especially as regards migrants from Myanmar. This is due to NCPO [official name of the Thai coup regime] attempts to securitise the issue and fast tracking plans for the establishment of special border economic zones.
The exodus of workers has posed a problem for both Thailand and Cambodia; the former is already experiencing a shortage of workers in some industries, while the latter could not provide employment to all returning workers.
It is a concrete example of how Thailand’s coup is affecting its neighbors, but the humanitarian crisis at the Poipet border isn't simply a regional issue — it requires global attention and assistance.

author: Mong Palatino


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The Debate on Internet Access in Cuba Intensifies  · Global Voices
Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez

Photograph by Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez
The communications issue in Cuba is without a doubt one of the most followed and present topics in everyday Cuban life. The improbability of having fast and affordable access to new global telecommunication services has become a popular theme amongst not only those on the island, but anywhere Cubans reside, because of the impact it has on relationships with family members and friends.
Various articles on Cuba's internet problems are circulating on Cuban networks recently. Here are three of them:
ETECSA provides an explanation
Last Thursday, June 16th, officials from the Cuban Telecommunications Company (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, ETECSA), the only one in the country, participated in an online forum which was hosted by Cubasi.cu magazine.
In the presentation, ETECSA acknowledges:
El posicionamiento de nuestros servicios es frecuentemente comparado con la asequibilidad y facilidades que ofertan los operadores de telecomunicaciones de otros países, incluidos los de la región de Latinoamérica. En la medida que se desplieguen las inversiones necesarias, nuestra empresa podrá lograr índices cada vez más comparables en cuanto a calidad y desarrollo,  y ampliará la infraestructura de telecomunicaciones, posibilitando la disminución de los precios y asimilando un mayor ritmo de crecimiento y diversificación de los servicios.
The state of our services is frequently compared with the affordability and convenience with communication carriers from other countries, including those from Latin American regions. As the necessary investments unfold, our company will reach more comparable measures in regards to quality and development, and the telecommunication's infrastructure will expand, making it possible to reduce costs and assimilate a stronger rate of growth and diversification of services.
In the forum, netizens’ questions focused on national mobile telephonic services, cost and access to the internet, highlighting the impossibility of connecting to the Internet from Cuban homes. In this respect, Yosiel, questioned:
¿Por qué no es posible aún poner Internet en los domicilios a cubanos residentes en Cuba a precios asequibles?, y no me refiero a la infraestructura del típico desastre del Módem a 56 Kb con la inversión que esto necesita que además sabemos no es de buena calidad, me refiero a por qué no poner en cada central telefónica un buen o 4 buenos equipos de red inalámbrica y así cualquiera accedería desde su casa con su Smartphone, PC, Laptop, etc. A la red de redes a velocidades parecidas en salas de navegación de ETECSA misma.
Why is it not yet possible to make the internet accessible in the homes of Cuban residents at affordable prices?, and I am not referring to the typical infrastructure of the disastrous Modem into 56 Kb with the investments that it needs, in addition to what we already know is not good quality. What I am referring to is why not put one or four good wireless network adapters so anyone can have access from home with a Smartphone, PC, Laptop, etc. to the web with similar speed to those in ETECSA centers.
ETECSA responded:
La estrategia de ETECSA prevé el acceso a estos servicios desde los hogares; pero la prioridad inicial de la empresa ha sido ampliar las salas de navegación colectivas, para garantizar el acceso a un mayor número de personas.
En estos momentos, no resulta posible la generalización inmediata del acceso a Internet, dadas las limitaciones técnicas. No obstante, ETECSA se encuentra ejecutando inversiones que posibiliten la implementación de estos servicios con las condiciones técnicas requeridas y a precios inferiores a los actuales.
ETECSA's strategy foresees access to these services from homes; however the company's initial priority has been to broaden the collective centers in order to guarantee access to a greater number of people.
During these times, given the technical limitations, the immediate mainstream access to the internet is not possible. Nonetheless, ETECSA is working on investments that will facilitate the implementation of these services with the required technical conditions and at lower cost than the current ones.
Restricted sites: Access today, perhaps not tomorrow
On June 19th, several individuals and the media confirmed that restricted sites were now accessible from the island, amongst them the popular Skype.
Other digital spaces like 14ymedio.com magazine by blogger Yoani Sánchez, which upon its inauguration was redirected to yoanilandia.com, and therefore impossible to visit from the island (raising considerable criticism) was now accessible from Cuban servers. Revolico.com, a Cuban e-commerce portal similar to craigslist, was also accessible from the island. Nevertheless, on June 20th, several individuals alerted on Facebook that these sites had been shut down again. In Cuba, a popular phrase explains that  “joy in the home of the poor doesn't last long.”
Free access to the internet
Reasonably priced Internet access for the Cuban people is what Telecommunications engineer Norges Rodriguez, manager of the blog  Salir a la manigua, is petitioning for on Change.org, addressing Cuban authorities, especially the Minister of Communications, Maimir Mesa Ramos.
Amongst the reasons for the request is:
Por  la trascendencia de las nuevas prácticas sociales que ofrece Internet que puede ser comparada solo con las que ofrecieron en su momento la aparición de la escritura, la imprenta, la radio, la telefonía, la televisión, y negarla sería negar el desarrollo.
New social practices brought by the internet are key and can only be compared with those that were offered, at their time, by the emergence of writing, the press, radio, telephonic services, and denying this would equate to the denial of development.
In this particular case, the novelty resides in the fact a blogger from the island has initiated an online campaign. Previously, a petition with a similar purpose had been promoted In Cuba, we ask for reasonable prices for internet access from our mobile phones, but from Florida, United States, on the website Cubanet.

author: Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez


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The Problem of Bullying in Cuba · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abuse at school is an issue that is rarely discussed in the national media, but it affects hundreds, even thousands, of students across the country.
Generacion Y blogs about bullying in Cuba.


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The Story of Famine Refugees from Niger in Eastern Algeria   · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

In the past few weeks, hundreds of Sub-Saharan immigrants from Mali or Niger have migrated to Algerian cities by the Eastern border. Liberté Algérie narrates the stories of those who made the choice to immigrate and why [fr] :
Les conditions de vie au hangar de la cité Bourroh sont inhumaines. A l’intérieur du hangar, les Subsahariens ont dressé des tentes, une soixantaine environ. A l’intérieur de chaque tente, trop exiguë, vivent, serrés les uns contre les autres, tous les membres d’une même famille. [..] Meriem et Aïcha sont deux sœurs âgées respectivement de 10 et 12 ans. Avec leur mère, elles ont fui leur pays d’origine, le Niger, à cause de la pauvreté. “Nous avons quitté notre pays, parce que nous n’avions plus quoi manger. Meriem et Aïcha sont deux sœurs âgées respectivement de 10 et 12 ans. Egalement originaires du Niger, Sakina, sa fille Asma et ses deux petits-enfants s’étaient réfugiés à Aïn Guezzam, dans la wilaya de Tamanrasset, à l’extrême sud du Sahara. Dans un arabe approximatif, notre interlocutrice nous apprendra qu’ils font partie d’un groupe qui a fui la faim au Niger.
The living conditions in the shed of the city of Bourroh are inhumane. Inside the shed, Sub-Saharan immigrants have pitched about sixty tents. Inside each (very small) tent, they all live together, tight against each other, all members of the same family. [..] Meriem and Aisha are two sisters aged respectively 10 and 12. With their mother, they fled their country of origin, Niger, because of poverty. “We left our country because we did not have enough to eat’ Meriem says. Also from Niger, Sakina, her daughter Asma and her two grandchildren are refugees in Ain Guezzam in the wilaya of Tamanrasset, at the extreme south of the Sahara desert. In a hesitant arabic language, Sakira tell us that they are part of a group who fled the rampant famine in Niger.


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The Female Perspective on the 2014 World Cup · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Dalia Gutmann reviews the football players she's had a crush on from 1990 FIFA World Cup Italy to the current one in Brazil on the website OhLaLá!. After mentioning her favorite one in each of these sporting events, she confesses:
Como notarán, la única razón por la que puedo registrar a un jugador es si está fuerte o si sale con alguna “famosa”. Es que de fútbol no sé NADA. Lo único que sé es que durante este mes las prioridades de los hombres cambian y la mayoría deja de registrarnos. Ninguno nos da pelota, así que no nos queda otra que babosearnos con estos muchachitos que corren detrás de una ídem (aunque a la mayoría -aceptémoslo- ¡¡¡ya le llevemos como una década!!!)
As you may notice, the only reason I can take note of a player is if he's hot or if he's dating some “famous” woman. It's just that I know nothing AT ALL about football. The only thing I know is that during this month, men's priorities will change and most of them will leave us behind. None of them will care for us, so there is no other option for us than drool over these boys that run after a ball (even though -let's face it- we're older than them by like a decade!!!).

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe