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In Latin America, Gender-Based Violence Against Men Is Little Talked About · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

Kalighat painting; “Woman Striking Man With Broom” (1875) Unknown artist. Image of the Public Domain
There are numerous types of gender-based violence, but the term usually refers to physical or psychological violence against any person because of gender or the social interpretations assigned to it, something traditionallyseen in violence against women. However, gender inequalities can also affect men. Gender based violences happen to men in a very much lower number, and when they do, they're little talked about. This has prompt us to ask, what do these gender-based violence look like? What are the structures behind them?
It is important to underline the fact that gender based violence is overwhelmingly done to women. When talking about gender-based violence against men, we look at numers that add up to the consequences of inequalities based to the interpretation of human sexes and shouldn't  minimize the gravety of the numbers that affect women. It is also important to point out that putting a light on the cases in which men are affected by this kind of violence does not mean that the violences that are rutinely done to women are less alarming. Some groups have used the Internet to increase the visibility of the conversation about these problems and to open more spaces, something that's not without controversy. For example, British Mankind, an organization that offers support to male victims of domestic violence, circulated a video in early 2014 to highlight social perceptions of violence toward women perpetrated by men, and violence toward men perpetrated by women. The video remains today a source of frenzied discussion. A lot of the comments against these initiatives fear that these campaigns could play against the efforts to fight violence against women.
In Latin America, where traditions encourage big differences in gender roles, the problem of violence against men perpetrated by women is a very complex topic. The figures are based on complaints, and these acts of violence are not commonly reported to the authorities. In this regard, an essay published on the website of the University of Bio Bio in Chile highlights the problem of domestic abuse toward men and how the inequalities prevent their observation:
Actualmente la violencia hacia el varón apenas se consigna, situación que hasta el momento no permite precisar la real magnitud de varones que vivencian esta violencia […] Dentro del espectro de la violencia intrafamiliar, la que se manifiesta con mayor frecuencia, según investigadores es violencia en la pareja […] Diversos autores en violencia intrafamiliar, coinciden en lo difícil de trabajar el tema, porque entra la campo de las contradicciones, polarizaciones, conforme se explica la problemática, pero ¿qué pasa con la violencia en la pareja cuando se manifiesta contra lo percibido como común?
Currently violence against men is barely recorded, a situation that so far does not pinpoint the actual magnitude of men who experience this violence […] According to researchers, intimate partner violence is the most frequent type of abuse within the spectrum of domestic violence […] Several authors in domestic violence agree that it’s difficult to work on this topic, because it enters the field of contradiction, polarization, as the problem is explained; but, what about intimate partner violence when it manifests as something different than what is perceived as common?
Other terms used to address this topic are domestic or family violence because in many cases the attacks take place within the household, both against men or women. The portal Change the World uses the concept of abused men (hombres maltratados) and exposes some of the complexities of the problem:
Las formas más habituales de maltrato [de mujeres] hacia [hombres] son la humillación, el aislamiento familiar y social, el abuso económico, los celos infundados y la indiferencia afectiva. También el modo de resolución de algunos divorcios puede ser un tipo de violencia psicológica para los hombres, sobre todo, cuando se experimenta una dificultad para mantener los vínculos afectivos con los hijos.
The most common forms of female abuse towards men are humiliation, family and social isolation, economic abuse, unfounded jealousy, and emotional indifference. Also, some types of divorce settlements can be a kind of psychological violence for men, especially when they experience difficulty in maintaining emotional ties with the children.
Esther Pineda explains some violent situations, although, according to her, it is hard to recognize them:
Pese a la renuencia de muchos/as por reconocer el hecho de que algunos hombres son víctimas de violencia física, verbal y psicológica a manos de sus parejas mujeres, en el contexto de relaciones sexo-afectivas como el noviazgo, matrimonio o uniones libres, así como, la violencia ejercida contra los hombres por su preferencia sexo-afectiva no heterosexual, estas también son violencia de género.
Despite the reluctance of many to recognize the fact that some men are victims of physical, verbal and psychological violence at the hands of their female partners, in the context of sexual-affective relationships as dating, marriage or civil unions, as well as the violence against men because of their non-heterosexual sexual-affective orientation, these are also types of gender violence.
Through the website administered by Equidad's, a Mexican organization devoted to promote gender equality through policy proposals, Ben Wadham analyzes evidence of violence against men in Mexico, where a certain growth in statistics shows how women´s violence toward men is increasing, although not dramatically. Wadham shows how violence perpetrated by men against men can collaborate with the structure that silences most cases:
El hecho de que la mayor parte de las investigaciones sobre violencia doméstica reporte predominantemente violencia de los hombres contra las mujeres no constituye un ataque personalizado contra los hombres, sino una representación de cómo la violencia masculina amenaza la seguridad de mujeres y hombres. […] Los hombres que son agredidos por mujeres podrían no reportar estos ataques debido a vergüenza y tensiones con sus ideas sobre la masculinidad, o porque un policía podría reírse de un hombre que reporta violencia pues “un verdadero hombre jamás dejaría que su mujer le pegue”…
The fact that most of the research on domestic violence predominantly reports male violence against women, it is not a personal attack against men, but a representation of how male violence threatens the safety of women and men. […] Men who are abused by women may not report these attacks due to shame and tensions with ideas they have about masculinity, or because a policeman could laugh at a man who reported violence because “a real man would never let her woman hit him.”
And from a personal perspective, he adds:
Es contraintuitivo sugerir que las mujeres perpetran las mismas clases de actos violentos, en las mismas formas y por las mismas razones que lo hacen los hombres. […] Más aún, personalmente, como hombre, son otros hombres quienes amenazan mis sentimientos de seguridad, no las mujeres. Para mí, esto implica que los hombres tenemos la obligación y responsabilidad de analizar la violencia masculina, no sólo por el bien de las mujeres, sino también por nuestra propia salud y nuestro bienestar.
It is counter-intuitive to suggest that women perpetrate the same kind of violent acts in the same ways and for the same reasons that men […] Furthermore, personally, as a man, other men are the ones who threaten my feelings of security, not women. For me, this means that we, men, have the obligation and responsibility to analyze male violence, not only for the sake of women, but also for our own health and well-being.
The Argentine group Padres del Obelisco complains and gathers evidence of instances in which a mother prevents a father from having contact with children following a separation. Groups like this one argue that family laws protect women and leave fathers who lose contact with their children without any legal remedies. However, the group has also been challenged for defending cases in which the legal sentence was due to sexual abuse or violence. Sites like IndyMedia Argentina have been vocal about this.
On his website, Fabio M. Baccaglioni, one of the most famous bloggers in Argentina, takes on this subject and talks about how the law treats people unequally because of the definition of gender and highlights the base element in all inequalities: power.
Y en el poder se centra la cuestión. […] una mujer tranquilamente puede ejercer poder sobre un hombre y si la justicia, legislación y policía actúa de forma tal que las leyes sólo se aplican en un sentido, entonces puede ejercer esa ventaja por sobre su contraparte.
Es exactamente lo mismo que hacían los machistas (y siguen haciendo) cuando a la mujer no la dejaban ni votar, ni tener propiedad ni nada, ¿hay poder disponible? si lo tengo lo ejerzo en contra de otras personas, en ese caso, otro género.
And the issue focuses on power. […] A woman can safely exercise power over a man, and if justice, legislation and police act in such a way that laws apply only in one direction, then she may exercise this advantage over her counterpart.
It's exactly what chauvinists did (and still do) when women were not allowed to vote or own property or anything. Is there power available? If I have it then I practice it against other people; in that case, another gender.

author: Laura Schneider


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Iran Wants to Befriend Google · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Iran has a habit of blocking, unblocking and sometimes re-blocking Google platforms inside the country.
Google does not maintain physical infrastructure inside Iran, nor is there a google.ir domain. But Iran's Ministry of ICT announced today that they are willing to open a new chapter in the country's tumultuous relationship with the Internet giant and allow Google to operate inside Iran, as long as the company respects its “cultural conditions”. This announcement did not clarify what the conditions were, nor what the scope of Google's operations inside Iran might be.
This Sunday Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology Nasrallah Jahangard told Fars News Agency (an “independent news agency” according to their own website, but viewed by many as a “semi-official” news agency of the state):
We don't oppose all those people who are in the international market and want to provide services in Iran, and we are ready to hold negotiations with them for their service providing in the Iranian market after accepting Iran's cultural conditions…Also, we are ready to provide Google or any other company with Iran's possibilities and facilities for service providing to the region.
In addition to lacking an Iranian domain, Google has had its affiliated platforms subjected to censorship over the years.
YouTube, Google's wholly owned video-sharing website was first blocked in 2006 for immoral content after a popular video featuring an Iranian soap opera star surfaced there. The block was later lifted but reinstated after the 2009 presidential elections.
In 2012 the controversy over the YouTube trailer for the Innocence of Muslims also led the government to temporarily block Gmail. Currently Gmail is accessible in Iran, while YouTube remains blocked.
The deputy minister acknowledged the strictures placed on the government when negotiating with foreign companies due to the US-backed international sanctions on the country, but said they were in negotiations with non-US companies over “imminent operations in Iran.” In May of 2013, the US removed communications sanctions on Iran, allowing for the sale of American communications equipment, fee-based software and instant messaging services. It was only in August 2013 that Google allowed its Google Play store to operate inside Iran.
Google is no stranger to tenuous operating conditions. Originally the company complied with China's tight censorship regulations, much to the chagrin of digital rights advocates, but it changed tack after large scale China-originated hacks on the company and its Gmail accounts upset the relationship between the pair in 2010.
Immediately following the hacks, Google redirected its Chinese operations to Hong Kong from the domain google.cn to google.com.hk, which is not subject to Chinese censorship and surveillance.
Announcements from Iran's Telecommunications Infrastructure Company (TCI) also indicated that Iran wanted to initiate formal relations with the company as early as October 2013. The managing director of TCI announced that they were ready to start hosting data centers where Google and Yahoo would store information from their Iranian-based clients, much like they do in countries such as Turkey.
Nothing new in Jahangard's comments about Google in Iran, TCI requested local caches over a year ago. http://t.co/0CcQLxloU1
— Collin Anderson (@CDA) March 1, 2015

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Hearing Out Russia’s Patriotic Bloggers on Nemtsov’s Murder · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
A little more than a day after the killing of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, very little is known about the reasons for his murder. Online and in the news, in Russia and across the world, most liberal voices have one way or another blamed the Kremlin for Nemtsov’s homicide.
The two most popular theories to emerge seem to be that Russia’s authorities either sanctioned the assassination outright, or they cultivated an “atmosphere of hatred” (with demonstrations and news propaganda) that led inevitably to someone killing a high-profile critic of the government. As with the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine, many are holding Vladimir Putin personally responsible for the murder.
Поразжигали ненависть к пятой колонне, мрази. Наплодили хунвейбинов.
— Leonid Volkov (@leonidvolkov) February 27, 2015
These scum fueled all this hatred against the “fifth column.” They mass-produced their own Red Guard.
Не пишите ничего про “ненависть в обществе”. Виноват Путин, а не абстрактная ненависть.
— Повар Войны (@noliquid) February 27, 2015
Don’t write anything about “hatred in society.” Putin is guilty, not some abstract hatred.
With these narratives now dominating much of the commentary about Nemtsov’s tragic death, RuNet Echo reached out to three “patriotic” Russian bloggers known for their criticisms of the liberal opposition, asking them to respond to accusations that the Kremlin is somehow culpable for the murder. These individuals’ views are significant in a country where an overwhelming majority of the people do not identify with the liberal opposition. As it grows increasingly popular outside Russia to dismiss Russians’ political attitudes as “Kremlin brainwashing,” it becomes more important than ever to stop and listen.
@Politrash (Stanislav Apetyan)
На мой взгляд, довольно очевидно, что властям смерть Немцова была нужна меньше всего. Единственные, кто от его смерти вообще выигрывают – это силы, заинтересованные в дестабилизации ситуации в стране. В версию про каких-то сумасшедших активистов, которые бы при этом не представляли реального веса Немцова в российской политике, я не верю вообще. То, как сейчас некоторые оппозиционные группы (в т.ч. под контролем Ходорковского) пытаются использовать убийство Немцова в качестве политического инструмента нахожу запредельный цинизм, смешанный с откровенной пошлостью.
Вопрос о ненависти вряд ли имеет хоть малейшее отношение к вопросу о причинах убийства. Но если говорить о ненависти как таковой, то почти все люди, которые сегодня на нее пеняют, имеют то ли очень короткую память, то ли не имеют ее вовсе. Все последние несколько лет они только и делали, что пытались раскрутить в обществе эту саму ненависть. Есть даже настоящий памятник ненависти в виде кашинской статьи. Я даже не говорю о памятном выступлении Навального с “я перегрызу глотку этим скотам”. Когда они говорят о ненависти – это даже не смешно, а просто совсем какой-то сюрреализм.
In my view, it’s pretty obvious that the authorities needed Nemtsov’s death least of all. The only people who had anything to gain from his death are the forces bent on destabilizing the situation in Russia. I put no stock whatsoever in theories that the killers were some group of crazy [anti-opposition] activists who failed to understand Nemtsov’s true weight in Russian politics. I think it’s extraordinarily cynical and more than a little crass how some opposition groups (like those under Khodorkovsky’s control) are now trying to use Nemtsov’s murder as a political instrument.
Hatred hardly has anything to do with the reasons for this murder, but if you want to talk about hatred, know that almost everyone blaming it now has a very short memory (if it’s possible to say they remember anything at all). All these recent years, all they’ve done is try to build up in society this very hatred. Oleg Kashin even penned a bonafide monument to hatred with an article titled Learning to Hate [in 2013]. I won’t even get into Alexey Navalny’s memorable line, “I'll chew through the throats of those swine!” When [liberals] talk about hatred, it’s not even funny; it’s just surreal.
@XS_71
Прежде всего, как бы кто к Немцову ни относился, убийство – это плохо. И объективно оно скорее вредит власти и обществу в целом. Немцов был предсказуем, понятен всем и безобиден в политическом плане, его сегодняшний потолок – место депутата областной думы. Показательно, что с первых минут трагедии конъюрктурщики вроде Волкова начали делать пиар и всячески эксплуатировать смерть своего коллеги. Вот буквально с первой же минуты. Соратники Немцова по СПС, Надеждин и Хакамада, по сравнению с нынешними оппозиционерами предельно корректны в своих заявляниях и призывают просто почтить память.
Либеральная общественность никогда не признает, что власть не виновна в убийстве, им это не выгодно. Нужна новая икона протеста, Политковскую уже все забыли, Ходорковского помиловали, Пусси Райт вышли и их принимают только на Западе, но не в Россию, задержанных за беспорядки 6 мая половину амнистировали, Удальцов не тянет на икону – он не свой, не либерал, Навального все никак не сажают, вот из Немцова и будут делать “флаг”.
В ненависти прежде всего виновата сама либеральная общственность. Ненависть порождает ненависть. Они открыто последние годы заявляли “Мы перегрызем горло этим скотам”, “когда придем к властии, мы будем вешать”, постоянно в соцсетях желают смерти и болезни оппонентам, пишут колонки, как научиться ненавидеть и как они с удовольствием это делают. А сейчас они жалуются на разжигание ненависти и сваливают это все на пропаганду. Куда лучшая пропаганда это зайти в их аккаунты социальных сетей и просто почитать, как они тебя ненавидят.
Прочитать, как они не отождествляют себя с народом – такой антинарод, ненавидят то, что чтят и ценят подавляющее большинство граждан. Это такая ненависть на показ. Кто бы говорил о разжигании и хейт спичах, действительно.
First of all, whatever one thinks of Nemtsov, murder is wrong, and, objectively speaking, it harms the authorities and society alike. Nemtsov was a predictable, familiar politician, who didn’t threaten anyone politically. He wasn’t rising any higher than his seat in the [Yaroslavl] regional parliament. It’s telling that—just minutes after news of this tragedy—opportunists like [Leonid] Volkov [a close ally of opposition leader Alexey Navalny] started with their PR almost immediately, looking for ways to exploit the death of their late colleague. They were on this literally minutes after the story broke. Compared with today’s oppositionists, Nemtsov’s older associates from SPS [his old political party], [Boris] Nadezhdin and [Irina] Khakamada, conducted themselves quite respectfully, simply calling on people to honor his memory.
Liberal society will never recognize that the authorities aren’t guilty of this murder—it’s not in their interests. The liberals need a new icon for their protests. Everyone’s forgotten [slain journalist Anna] Politkovskaya; Khodorkovsky has been pardoned; Pussy Riot is out of prison and nobody wants them except the West; half of the riot suspects from the May 6, 2012, case have been amnestied; [leftist activist Sergey] Udaltsov doesn’t make a good icon because he’s not one of theirs (he’s not a liberal); they still can’t manage to keep Navalny in prison; and so now they’ll make their “flag” out of Nemtsov.
When it comes to inciting hatred, liberal society is more to blame than anyone. Hate breeds hate. In recent years, they’ve openly declared, “I'll chew through the throats of those swine!” and “When we come to power, we’ll hang the lot of them!” On their social media accounts, liberals are constantly wishing death and disease on their opponents, writing op-eds about the joys of “learning how to hate.” And now they complain about inciting hatred and blame it all on [Kremlin] propaganda. For far better propaganda, have a look at their social media pages and just see how they hate you.
See how they don’t identify with the people at all. They’re an anti-people, hating what most Russians value and hold dear. This is a kind of hatred on public display. Talk about inciting people with hate speech!
@AndreyZalgo
По поводу виновности властей, разумеется отношение только одно – очевидный бред, который даже не все оппозиционеры озвучивают. Пусть покажут хотя бы одного человека во власти, который получил выгоду от этого убийства. Также абсолютно непонятен мотив – человек десять лет уже говорит об одном и том же, и тут внезапно это становится для власти невыносимым настолько, что его необходимо убрать? Это, конечно, отличная теория для впечатлительных либералов с первого и второго курса, но всерьёз может озвучивать только человек, который совсем не дорожит своей репутацией (или уже имеющий репутацию истерика).
Версия про риторику “пятой колонны” и движения “Антимайдан” как-то очень внезапно стало доминирующей версией у наших либералов (и бывшего посла США в России МакФола). Её преимущество в том, что она прямо не обвиняет власти в убийстве – и тем самым не отсекает хотя бы частично вменяемую публику, – но и также исходит из позиции, что убийство именно политическое и именно совершенное патриотами. Для либералов это очень удобная, если не идеальная, версия в данных условиях. Я лично не склонен всерьез рассматривать сценарий, в котором группа людей, насмотревшись Киселева, пошла убивать критиков власти – это что-то уровня чернушных фильмов о России для западных фестивалей. Более того, риторика отдельных либералов и их сторонников куда более агрессивная, чем у Киселёва (см. “перегрызём глотки этим скотам” и прочее) – и ничего, не стреляют.
When it comes to the authorities’ culpability for this murder, of course there’s only one response: it’s obvious nonsense that not even every oppositionist is willing to argue. I’d like to see them show me just one person in power who benefits from this murder. And the motive is also completely incomprehensible: Nemtsov had been saying the same things for the last ten years, and suddenly it became intolerable to the authorities and necessary to get rid of him? This, of course, is a wonderful theory if you’re an impressionable liberal in your freshman or sophomore year at college, but the only people who would argue this seriously are those who don’t value their own reputation (or they already have a reputation for being hysterical).
Blaming rhetoric about “the fifth column” and the Anti-Maidan movement has somehow and very suddenly become the dominant narrative among our liberals (as well as with former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul). Its advantage is that it doesn’t accuse the authorities of direct involvement in the murder (so it doesn’t alienate every last sane person), but it also promotes the idea that the murder was in fact political and likely the work of patriots. For liberals, this version of events is very convenient, if not ideal, in today’s circumstances. Personally, I’m not inclined to take seriously the idea that a group of people overdosed on [conservative TV personality] Dmitry Kiselyov and went out and killed a critic of the government. This kind of thinking is like something out of one of those grisly movies about Russia made for film festivals in the West. Moreover, the rhetoric of certain liberals and their supporters is much more aggressive than anything you’ll hear from Kiselyov (for example, see Navalny’s “I'll chew through the throats of those swine!”), and you don’t see them going on shooting sprees.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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The US Finally Lifts the Curse of the ‘Golden Cage’ Visa · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

People from 12 different countries take the Oath of Allegiance to become US citizens at the Grand Canyon National Park on September 23, 2010. Photo from Flickr user Grand Canyon National Park. CC BY 2.0
This article and radio report by Carol Hills for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on February 25, 2015, and is republished as part of a content-sharing agreement.
H-1B visas are among the most coveted tickets into the United States. Each year, the US government issues about 85,000 of them, mostly to highly skilled tech workers who settle in places like Silicon Valley. But the spouses of H-1B visa holders weren't allowed to work or forge their own lives in the US  — until now.
The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it's tweaking the rules of the H-4 visa, the visa issued to spouses of H-1B holders, allowing some of them to work legally in the United States starting in May. Under the new rules, spouses will be eligible for an Employment Authorization Document and a Social Security card.
“I can be my real self. I will no longer be my husband's wife only,” says Neha Mahajan, who moved to the United States almost seven years ago when her husband was transferred from a job in New Delhi to a tech firm in New Jersey. “I can go out, open up my own bank account. I can open my own business if I want to. I can go and study if I want to. I mean, I'm not restricted anymore to be just a homemaker.”
It's not just a matter of work. Mahajan says she tried going back to school in New Jersey several years ago, but no one would give her a student loan because she lacked a social security number. “I literally do not have an identity here in the US because I am dependent on my spouse,” she says. “When they gave me an H-4 visa, they made sure I was dependent in the real sense.”
Mahajan has been involved in the effort to grant H-4 visa holders the right to work. Spouses of foreign workers are active on social media, with a Facebook page as well as a blog titled “H4 Visa, a Curse.”
Mahajan was a television news reporter back in India. She'd just taken a break to have a baby when her husband's company decided to relocate him to the United States. “I was going to accompany him because, after all, America is the land of dreams,” she says.
Someone mentioned to her that she wouldn't be able to work, but she didn't take it seriously. When she got to the United States and contacted people in media to start looking for a job, they were adamant: Employment, even an internship, was impossible without a work permit.
Her husband's H-1B visa was also out of the question for her. “I'm not a technical person,” she says. “I'm not a software engineer. That's not my background.” So she volunteered for an organization in New Jersey that sponsors an annual film festival “to keep myself alive, to keep my skills and education and my talent alive.”
The government estimates that as many as 179,000 spouses of H-1B holders could apply for work permits in the first year, and 55,000 each year after. That's produced blowback from some critics that the spouses of foreign workers will take jobs away from Americans. Mahajan counters that she came as a legal immigrant and is already in the process of becoming an American citizen.
“I am your neighbor. I live in the same neighborhood,” Mahajan says. “Even though I don't earn, I pay my taxes. I wouldn't be taking any jobs from you. I may just become an entrepreneur and will be opening up my own business if I was allowed, which I am now. So I'm not just here to take away jobs.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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These Photos of Filipino Children Working in Mines and on Sugar Plantations Will Make You Cry · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Child labor exploitation is worsening in the Philippines. In 2011, the Philippine National Statistics Office reported that there were 5.5 million working children in the country, 2.9 million of whom were working in hazardous industries such as mining and plantations. The agency added that 900,000 children have stopped attending school in order to work.
These alarming numbers highlight the poor conditions experienced by many Filipino children, who lack key social services and access to welfare.
The Philippines is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international instruments that aim to promote the welfare of children. There is also a popular initiative to build child-friendly government, especially at local level. But these laws and programs have not succeeded in eliminating the various forms of abuse, poverty and deprivation experienced by many children.
Last month, the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education Research (EILER) published a baseline study which confirmed the prevalence of child labor in mines and plantations in various parts of the country. In plantation communities, about 22.5 percent of households have child workers. In mining towns, child labor incidence was 14 percent.
Child laborers in oil palm fields often serve as fruiters, harvesters, haulers, loaders, and uprooters. Meanwhile, child labourers in sugarcane estates work weeding, harvesting and fetching water.
In mines, child labourers usually fetch water, carry sacks of rocks, load the thick logs used to support the underground tunnels, or become errand boys for regular workers. They are also reserve workers and ‘relievers’, whenever regular miners cannot come to work. Girls in mines work in gold panning or providing services to miners such as doing their laundry or cooking meals.
EILER observed that child workers are exposed to extreme weather conditions, long working hours and a difficult environment while using substandard tools and equipment.
In plantations, trucks pick children up from their homes and bring them to makeshift tents located in nearby provinces to stay and work for periods lasting from two weeks to a month without their parents. Since most plantations use harmful agro-chemicals, the children working on them are directly exposed to these threats.
Their counterparts working in mines, meanwhile, are handling dangerous tools and are made to work without protective equipment for long hours. Social hazards such as the use of illegal drugs to keep children inside the tunnels awake for hours are also a regular feature of the country's mines.
Pitang holding a placard which reads: “I am a child labourer”. Photo from the Facebook page of Jhona Ignilan Stokes
A former child worker from Mindanao, Pitang, shares her experience in the plantations during a recent public forum organized by EILER:
I was ten years old when I stopped going to school. I have lost hope that I might still go back to school, and I thought to myself that I would be a singer instead. I usually sing to endure and forget the feeling of pain and fatigue from working in plantation. It has been four years since I stopped schooling. I only reached the sixth grade level and then had to stop so I could work.
Fortunately, there are groups like EILER which are campaigning for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor in the country. One of their programs is Balik-Eskuwela (Return to School) which seeks to bring child workers back to school. The European Union is one of EILER's partners on this project.
Child workers return to school. Photo from the Facebook page of Balik-eskuwela

author: Mong Palatino


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Did a Brazilian Judge Try to Use Marco Civil to Shut Down WhatsApp Across the Country? · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

Court order wants WhatsApp to shut down
A Brazilian state court annulled a decision by a municipal judge to suspend WhatApp across the country. Appeals court judge Raimundo Nonato da Costa Alencar, from the Justice Court of the state of Piauí, claimed a nationwide suspension of the messaging application is not ‘reasonable’. His sentence, published on February 26, says:
A suspensão de serviços afeta milhões de pessoas em prol de investigação local. A princípio, independentemente do teor da ordem descumprida, em hipótese alguma se justifica a interrupção de acesso a todo o serviço.
The suspension of the service affects millions of people for the sake of a local investigation. In principle, regardless of the degree of WhatsApp's failure to comply with the requests, in no way it justifies the interruption of the whole service.
On February 11, Brazilian municipal judge Luiz de Moura Correia, from the city of Teresina, capital of Piauí state, issued a court order demanding that Internet service providers and mobile network operators throughout the country temporarily suspend the messaging application WhatsApp.
The order gave the companies 24 hours to shut the app down, and stated that WhatsApp has been refusing to collaborate with police investigations related to crimes involving children and teenagers.
Two companies, Claro and Embratel, filed an appeal to which the state judge later complied.
WhatsApp had not been suspended and kept working normally in Brazil, but the judge's initial decision went viral. The hashtag #SemWhatsAppEu (#WithoutWhatsApp) made the worldwide trending topics on Twitter on February 26. According to Topsy, a social analytics service, the hashtag was tweeted about 25K times in 4 days.
A zueira não tem limites #SemWhatsAppEu pic.twitter.com/w0ZcQB7Bkx
— Diego Azevedo (@Diiguinhoh) February 26, 2015
‘Zueira’ (the fun) has no limits. #WithoutWhatsAppI (the photo caption says: After the Piauí judge's demand of suspending WhatsApp, Mark Zuckerberg, owner of Facebook and WhatsApp, said he would buy the state of Piauí. The value is being negotiated with president Dilma.
#SemWhatsAppEu kkk brinks. pic.twitter.com/qfv5cgCoBt
— HTM ✉ (@hernandistm) February 26, 2015
#WithoutWhatsAppI hahaha not.
Kátia Esteves, the chief of the police branch for the protection of children and adolescents in Teresina, said the court order was based on the Marco Civil bill, which Internet experts consider to be the best existing civil-rights based law for the Internet in the world. Esteves told reporters last week:
Com o Marco Civil da Internet, basta que o serviço esteja sendo oferecido no Brasil – e ele está sendo oferecido – e ter representante no país para que possa ser suspenso. No caso, o representante no Brasil do Whatsapp, apesar de ser uma empresa americana, é o Facebook.
With the Marco Civil law, it's only necessary that the service is being offered in Brazil — and it is — and have its representation in Brazil for it to be suspended. In that case, the representation of WhatsApp in Brazil, though it is an American company, is Facebook.
Marco Civil is the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, a law that establishes rules on internet neutrality, privacy, data retention and intermediary liability, amongst other issues. It was sanctioned by President Dilma Rousseff in April 2014.
Experts in Internet law Dennis Antonialli, Francisco Brito Cruz and Mariana Giorgetti Valente published an article on their blog Deu nos Autos, hosted by newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo's website, where they explained the Marco Civil connection:
O Marco Civil da Internet, lei aplicável neste caso, possibilita sanções a empresas estrangeiras de Internet que se recusem a cumprir a legislação brasileira em seu artigo 12. Dentre as sanções possíveis, está a suspensão temporária das atividades – e até mesmo a sua proibição. Mas essa é a penalidade mais drástica que pode ser adotada. Outras alternativas seriam advertência e multa (que pode chegar até 10% do faturamento do grupo econômico no Brasil).
Fica a discussão se a medida adotada pelo juiz foi proporcional. Apesar do descumprimento de uma ordem judicial configurar um fato grave e que deve ser reprimido, deve-se levar em conta o prejuízo que uma ordem deste tipo pode causar a milhões de brasileiros.
Marco Civil, the applicable law in this case, allows sanctions to foreign internet companies who refuse to comply with Brazilian legislation (in its 12th article). Among the possible sanctions, there is a temporary suspension of its activities — even its prohibition. But this is the most drastic penalty that could be imposed. Other alternatives are warnings and fines (that could be up to 10% of the company's revenue in Brazil).
What follows is the discussion of whether the judge's ruling is proportional. The failure to comply with court orders is serious and should be reprimanded, but one should remember the losses an order of this kind could cause to millions of Brazilians.
However, Paulo Rená, director of the Beta Institute for Internet and Democracy and manager of a project of the Marco Civil bill, has a different opinion. He told Global Voices over email:
Na minha leitura, o Art. 12, mesmo quando prevê suspensão e proibição, não chega ao ponto de autorizar que a ordem judicial seja direcionada aos provedores de conexão. Em uma analogia grotesca, seria como uma ordem judicial ordenando às empresas de perdágio que impedissem os ônibus urbano de circular por um bairro xis no qual houve uma série de crimes dentro de alguns veículos coletivos. A empresa de pedágio não se submetem, ao meu ver, às sanções aplicáveis às empresas de ônibus. Já seria bizarro o suficiente determinar a proibição da circulação de ônibus, mas envolver uma terceira categoria de empresas ultrapassa a questão.
In my reading, Article 12, even though it provides for suspension and prohibition, doesn't go to the point of authorizing that the court order to be directed to internet providers. In a perhaps grotesque analogy, it will be like a court order forbidding toll collecting companies to forbid urban buses to circulate through a determined neighborhood where crimes inside buses have happened. The toll companies are not subject to the applicable sanctions to bus companies. It will be bizarre enough to demand the prohibition of bus circulation, but to involve a different category of companies in it surpasses the issue.
Facebook, which owns WhatsApp and has a Brazilian office, said it wouldn't comment because under its contract the social network company is not legally responsible for the messaging service.
In 2007, a São Paulo state court demanded that YouTube take down from its website an intimate video of actress Daniela Cicarelli and her partner. Since YouTube claimed it would be impossible to prevent the republications of the video, the court decided to block the website in Brazil, which affected millions of people. YouTube remained inaccessible for about 24 hours. The legal strategy was the same: the judge demanded internet providers to block traffic to YouTube's servers.
A different strategy was used for blocking the Secret app last year. The app, which is meant to share personal secrets anonymously, was being systematically used to bully, with users sharing names and intimate information of other people. In this case, the blockade was directed to app stores (Apple Store and Google Play) rather than through mobile operators. For the Secret app, the legality of the application itself was put in question, as anonymity is forbidden by the Brazilian Constitution. The app also didn't have terms and conditions available in Portuguese, which also contradicts the Brazilian Code of Consumer Defense.
At that time, the state judge responsible for the ruling wrote in his sentence:
“A liberdade de expressão não constitui um direito absoluto, sendo inúmeras as hipóteses em que o seu exercício entra em conflito com outros direitos fundamentais ou bens jurídicos coletivos constitucionalmente tutelados, que serão equacionados mediante uma ponderação de interesses, de modo a garantir o direito à honra, privacidade, igualdade e dignidade humana e, até mesmo, proteção da infância e adolescência.
Freedom of expression doesn't constitute an absolute right, there are numerous possibilities its exercise can be in conflict with other fundamental rights or other collective legal interests constitutionally provided for, which would be solved by debating interests in order to guarantee the right to honor, privacy, equality, human dignity and, even, protection in childhood and adolescence.

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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Has Azerbaijan’s National Currency Run Away Scared? · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

The chief of Azerbaijan's national bank has become a figure of fun – and hatred. Widely shared.
Since independence Azerbaijan's kleptocratic Aliyev regime has chased away independent media, political opposition and civil society. Throughout all these repressions, only one thing stood firm by the ruling family's side as a symbol of the “stability” that President Ilham Aliyev, son of the country's first president, Heydar, never tires of boasting about on Twitter: the country's national currency, the manat.
Until recently, that is.
Unable to withstand the slumping oil prices that have struck the country's resource-based economy and the economic crisis across the Caspian in Russia, Azerbaijan’s Central Bank devalued Azerbaijan’s the manat by 33.5 percent to the dollar and by 30 percent to the euro last month.
Azerbaijan's manat — not to be confused with Turkmenistan's recently devalued currency of the same name — has been pegged to the dollar since 2011 but as crude prices dropped by more than 50% in the second half of last year changes were necessary.
While pro-government websites continued to write that ‘Azerbaijan is not afraid of $60 per barrel’, the manat was clearly afraid. Very afraid.
From “stability” to “guaranteeing stability in the balance of payments”
The infographic shared by the Financial Times on December 23 shows the Azeri manat largely unchanged at the height of Russia's ruble crisis and with oil enduring its worst slump in years:
Trouble for the neighbours: how the rouble meltdown has affected some former Soviet countries http://t.co/bcoB2soRnp pic.twitter.com/ocuHen4eqT
— Financial Times (@FT) December 23, 2014
Earlier in that same month, Aliyev had told journalists:
Oil prices have sharply decreased. Has anyone felt this in Azerbaijan? No, and no one will feel this because we have a powerful economic basis.
Similarly in January, President Aliyev boasted that foreign businesses would soon be changing their savings into manat and told his cabinet of ministers:
The exchange rate of the manat remains stable. For several years, the rate of the manat has been not only stable, it has also increased in comparison with the major world currencies. We saw this in the past year as well. This is also a very positive indicator because the stability of the manat primarily favors the well-being and leads to an increased purchasing power of the population. The rate of the Azerbaijani manat is stable. This demonstrates the success of our economic policy again.
On February 21, however, the rarely fluctuating exchange rate of 0.78 manat to the dollar suddenly rose to a record high of 1.05, marking the biggest overnight devaluation of any country in the former Soviet Union since the ruble and crude oil took began their synchronised plunge. The public, many of whom have manat savings, was not informed.
Azerbaijan's Central Bank presented the devaluation in eco-speak as a necessary measure aimed at “stimulating the diversification of Azerbaijan’s economy, strengthening the international competitiveness of the economy, and its export potential and guaranteeing stability in the balance of payments.”
The fallout
This language is likely incomprehensible to most Azerbaijanis. What many do understand, however, is how devaluation has affected their lives. People have lost their savings. Pensioners, including this author's mother, have lost approximately 10% of their pension in real terms. Food prices are rising. Food shortages could be next as people look to hoard goods in a new atmosphere of economic uncertainty. People are rushing to buy dollars, if they can find any.
Aliyev, meanwhile has been awfully quiet since the shock devaluation. His legendary Twitter feed was silent on devaluation day.
But amid the quiet, the president was preparing a feel-good message:
Equaling the manat to the dollar will allow us the opportunity to spend even more on social issues, so that (cont) http://t.co/uTHXeYi53j
— Ilham Aliyev (@presidentaz) February 28, 2015
Better to laugh than cry
The manat devaluation sparked a viral hashtag on Twitter #manatadestek (support manat).
As Azerbaijani people have a talent for humour, the bulk of tweets are hilarious takes on the plight of the once treasured national currency.
The tweets reached a climax on Oscar night:
dolların əlli çaları #manatadəstək
— azərbaycan Manatı (@barbateman) February 22, 2015
Fifty Shades of Manat
Bu gece ilin en yaxsi ssenarisine gore mukafati Elman Rustemovun qazanacagini gozleyirem #Oscar #manat #Manatadestek
— Fuad Sherifov (@FuadSherifov) February 22, 2015
Tonight I expect Elman Rustemov [head of Azerbaijan's central bank] to win the award for best screenplay #Manatadestek
Others recalled a non-too distant tweet of President Aliyev’s:
Vaxt var idi… #manat #manatadestek pic.twitter.com/4NfE6hHXPU
— Tipik İqtisadçı (@typical_eco) February 22, 2015
The stability of manat serves people’s welfare, people’s purchasing power grows
And others suggested that they were switching their allegiance to another currency:
Belə. #manatadestek pic.twitter.com/9hjU2QITey
— hagverdiyeff (@hagverdiyeff) February 26, 2015
There. #manatadestek
Perhaps, having survived all those years of needless spending and mind-blowing corruption, the dear Manat has finally been frightened away.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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Macedonian NGO Develops First Ever Android and iOS App to Battle Hate Speech · Global Voices
Adrijana Selmani

Macedonian Metamorphosis Foundation has developed a first among mobile applications – an app against hate speech, aiming to bring information from this area to the fingertips of mobile phone users and help them battle this odious occurrence on the Internet.
The app, available for free download both Android and iOS users, was developed in order to more effectively combat hate speech online, enabling access to the latest news in this area, access to educational and expert resources, such as a library with e-books on the matter, interactive tutorials about the various opportunities for reporting hate speech, as well as participation in events related to the fight against hate speech through an integrated calendar.
The application, dubbed simply “Don't Hate”, is the first mobile app of this kind in the world and is currently only available in Macedonian and Albanian, while its creators do plan on developing it further for other languages and markets in the near future.

author: Adrijana Selmani


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Spanish Football Fans Sing Chants that Justify Violence Against Women · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

In the background, Real Betis ultra-fans, where the chants began. Photo by Gabriel Corbacho Bermejo on Flickr under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
Go Rubén Castro! It wasn't your fault. She was a whore. You did good is a chant that certain hard-core fans of Real Betis, a Seville soccer club that currently plays in the second division, cheered from the sidelines in support of the team's forward, Rubén Castro, currently awaiting trial for allegedly abusing his ex-girlfriend.
Rubén Castro, Real Betis player. Photo from andaluces.es under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license
The story began in May 2013 when a young woman with whom Castro had a romantic relationship, filed a complaint against the soccer player, accusing him of hitting her during an argument. She also accused him of having forcibly taken her to a hotel, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
The latter accusation was dismissed by the judge in charge of the case, who nonetheless charged Castro with four counts of abuse and one count of threatening the woman, for which the prosecution requested a sentence of two-and-a-half years in prison. The judge also issued a restraining order against the player.
Reportedly, this accusation sat particularly poorly with certain members of the Gol Sur Supporters the team's most extreme group of fans.
According to a number of witnesses,  a chant in support of Castro has become a crowd favourite at Betis games. The chant's offensive lyrics are sung to the tune of ‘Under the Sea‘ from Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Last weekend, a video uploaded by YouTube user Antonio Finidi Jarni went viral. In the video the song is clearly heard, but it was later deleted. The chants can also be made out at the start of this video.
From that moment on, comments criticising the chant began to intensify on social networks. On Twitter, netizens used hashtags #RubenCastro and #Betis to show their rejection:
Vergüenza de afición #Betis repugnancia #RubenCastro fuera de los estadios estos descerebrados y tú “hombre” a la cárcel. EL MACHISMO MATA
— anit (@mirasierras) February 22, 2015
Shameful #Betis fans. Disgusting, #RubenCastro. Get out of the stadiums, you mindless fools and may your “man” be sent to prison. MALE CHAUVINISM KILLS.
Asqueroso, vomitivo, repugnante el cántico del Betis no entiendo como puede haber gente en el mundo que apoye la VG #RubenCastro #betis
— Mari de Lera (@mari_lera) February 22, 2015
The Betis chant is revolting, nauseating, and disgusting. I don't understand how there can be people in this world that support gender violence.
Los ultras del Betis apoyando al futbolista #RubenCastro pese a las acusaciones de maltrato de género a su mujer. Indignante y humillante
— Cristian Lucena (@CristianLucenaM) February 22, 2015
Betis ultra-fans supporting soccer player #RubenCastro despite allegations of abusing his wife. Outrageous and humiliating.
After stating that they were “totally against gender violence” the Gol Sur Supporters published the following tweet on their official Twitter account on Sunday, implying that the culprits were not affiliated with the group:
No somos responsables sin un equipo de megáfonia de cánticos que puedan suscitar polémica, ya que esto anteriormente no pasaba (2) — Supporters Gol Sur (@SGS86Oficial) February 22, 2015
Without loudspeakers, we are not responsible for chants that can spark controversy, since this never happened before.
The next day, the group issued this statement, distancing itself from the authors of the chant:
Comunicado sobre los cánticos a Rubén: pic.twitter.com/b40rpsRn7r — Supporters Gol Sur (@SGS86Oficial) February 23, 2015
Statement on the chants for Rubén:
We are not going to allow the Betis image to be tarnished and if we have made a mistake by not identifying the people who shouted a chant in favor of gender violence, we ask for forgiveness and accept any measure taken against us.
For all those who are still unclear:
Gol Sur supporters condemn and stand against gender violence; as such, [the group] will identify and expel any member who defends abuse from the stands, taking it upon ourselves to completely eradicate this chant starting from the next match.
Nevertheless, certain hot-headed fans justified the chants:
En este país de risas se lleva ke la mujer sea una golfa y se ría de ti!!ahora mas ke nunca “ruben castro ale, ruben castro Ale………
— gargamel81 (@gargamel_rbb) February 24, 2015
In this country of laughs, the woman brags about being a tramp and you get laughed at! Now more than ever, “go ruben castro, go ruben castro…….
Todo una exageración lo de Rcastro y lo del betis queria yo ver si fuera otro jugador o institución puta Liga que está peor que el país.
— Banderweireld✌ (@rafaelbanderas2) February 25, 2015
All this about Rcastro and Betis is being exaggerated. What if it were another player or f*cking Liga institution that is worse than the country.
Other Twitter users said that these chants were nothing new:
@elmundoes eso lo llevan cantando año y medio…Ruben Castro alé
— David Zafra (@David14AP) February 21, 2015
@elmundoes they've been chanting this for a year and a half… Go Ruben Castro
Zafra appears to be correct. Global Voices trawled Twitter, and found this tweet with lyrics chanted by the ultras that dates back to July 2013 (the compromising tweets continue to be deleted one-by-one):
“Go Rubén Castro, Go Rubén Castro, it wasn't your fault, she was a whore, you did good (8)”
Seville's Public Prosecutor has opened up proceedings to investigate the incidents, which according to the Law Against Violence in Sports, could lead to individual fines of up to €60,000 and a ban on accessing sports facilities for two years for those responsible of writing the chants.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Violence Commission has asked the Spanish Football Federation for a partial closure of the stands at the Benito Villamarín Stadium, the home of Real Betis. Spanish football authorities, in turn, have also asked Real Betis to provide any information that may help identify the authors in cooperation with the Public Prosecutor.
But controversy over the chant continues.
One user, Salvador, left the following comment on Carme Chaparro's blog entitled ‘My husband hits me a normal amount. When I deserve it. Like Rubén Castro's girlfriend‘:
Lo de los cánticos en el futbol con semejante letra, miserable, machista e inhumana, da muestra del aborregamiento que sufren algunos individuos/as en colectivos semejantes, arropados por el grupo, sin conciencia propia.
Vergüenza debería darnos a todos y debe haber una respuesta tan contundente como si se tratase de violencia física en los estadios.
NO hay que rebajar la importancia de estas barbaridades. Falta educación.
Es repugnante
Soccer chants with such miserable, sexist, and inhumane lyrics show how certain people suffer from a herd mentality in similar collectives, swallowed by the group without their own consciousness.
We should all be ashamed and the response should be as strong as if the issue were about physical violence in the stadiums.
We must NOT diminish the importance of these atrocities. There is a lack of education here.
It is disgusting.
In contrast, Israel628 wrote in 20 minutos:
Que asco como sigan así estos desgobierno acabarán con el fútbol, donde queda la libertad de expresión, son cánticos que no van a ningún sitio, yo no tengo ni idea de si el es un maltratador y ella una impostora, solo se que los cánticos existen en el fútbol desde sus inicios.
It's awful how this misgovernment will end soccer, where is freedom of expression? They are chants that don't go anywhere. I have no idea if he's an abuser or if she's an impostor, but chants have existed in soccer since the sport began.
While the chants were intended to show support for the player, they have had precisely the opposite effect since they have shone a public torchlight on him in a way that may not help him in his pending court case. The supporters singing them have also done nothing to enhance the reputation of the club they claim to defend.

author: Lourdes Sada


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Egyptians Gleefully Remix ISIS ‘National Anthem’ · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

Egyptians are poking fun of the ISIS “national anthem” by uploading videos to YouTube featuring dancers swaying to the song's words
The militant group ISIS (or Daesh as it is called in Arabic) has its own flag, a self-declared head of state and even what seems to be its very own national anthem.
Whenever ISIS releases a highly produced and stylized videos of them beheading, bombing or burning someone, they always have their “Saleel Al-Sawarem” song playing in the background. Saleel Al-Sawarem, in Arabic, literally translates to “the clanging of the sharp swords.” The lyrics of the song are meant to instill fear in listeners. The words are:
صليلُ الصوارم نشيدُ الأباة
ودربَ القتال طريق الحياة
فبين اقتحام يبيد الطغاة
وكاتمُ صوتِ جميلِ صداه
Clanging of the sharp swords is the anthem for the proud ones.
Fighting is the way for the life to be lived.
Between storming and annihilation of tyrants,
And the beautiful voice of a silenced gun.
The song is part of four other releases, none of which are any less violent. However, recently, the song was turned into a joke among social media users in Egypt.
The song is being remixed and made as a background for dancing clips, as a way of mocking the ISIS, the Al-Qaeda affiliate, which has come to control large swathes of Iraq and Syria. In other words, Egyptians are stating that they do not fear them.
Karem Farok made the following remix under the name, Saleel Al-Sawarem — the pop version:
Others belly-danced, or made videos of belly-dancers, with the song playing as a background:
And some used dance scenes from Egyptian movies with the song in the background:
More videos are available on this link and this Twitter hashtag.
Mocking ISIS and those who side with them is not a new thing. One common rhetoric is that oppression and poverty is the main reason for people in the Arab world to join such groups. Sometimes people go further and use oppression as an excuse for them to do what they do, like with this Twitter user, who goes by the alias Abu Anas:
عندما يسعى المستضعفون في الأرض إلى رفع الظلم والقهر، والقتل عن أنفسهم .. هم بذلك إرهابيون خطرون !! #الدولة_الإسلامية دولة العز #داعش.
— أبوأنس (@abuanas572) March 2, 2015
How come it is that when the oppressed try to fight to lift the injustice they live in, they are considered dangerous terrorists. ISIS is the state of pride.
A few weeks ago, another hashtag “I am going to join Daesh” went viral, where people posted tweets like, “My brother took my charger and my phone's battery is dead now. I am going to join Daesh”, in order to ridicule this argument.
The mockery is not limited only to Egypt. In the United States, Saturday Night Live had a sketch about ISIS.
Nevertheless, ridiculing a militant group and mocking them can be seen as a positive thing, but on the other hand, the reported video of children playing ISIS and victims in Egypt, rather than playing their usual Cops and Robbers game is worrying.
Manaliana commented on the matter saying:
#ISIS is not a joke. #prt
— Mrs. Nobody (@manaliana) March 2, 2015

author: Tarek Amr


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The ‘Unexpected Virtue’ of Being Mexican · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Mexicano Alejandro González Iñárritu was awarded with the Oscar for Best Director for the movie Birdman during the 87th Academy Awards on February 22, 2015. Image by Craig Sjodin, taken from ABC's Flickr account under Creative Commons license.
For the second time in a row, a Mexican accepts an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award, better known as an Oscar, for Best Director. This year, Alejandro González Iñárritu took the same gong for Birdman, (also known as The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) while in 2014 it was his fellow countryman and friend Alfonso Cuarón for  Gravity.
González Iñárritu (aka ‘El Negro’, Black) also received an award this time round as part of the team who wrote the script for Birdman, which was also acknowledged as Best Picture of the year.
Sports journalist Alejandro Gómez wrote of the duo:
México amarra el bicampeonato de DIRECTORES en Hollywood. Enorme, Alejandro!!!!
— Alejandro Gómez A. (@AlejandroGomezA) February 23, 2015
Mexico ties up as a two-time champion of DIRECTORS in Hollywood. Huge, Alejandro!!!!
In an industry that has been accused of discrimination against minorities, the fact that a Mexican won did not go unnoticed.
The Sopitas blog shared the closing statements of González Iñárritu that wrapped up the event, and touched on his fellow countrymen:
Quiero dedicarle este premio a mis compatriotas mexicanos, los que viven en México. Rezo porque podamos encontrar y construir el gobierno que merecemos.
Y los (mexicanos) que viven en este país, que son parte de la más reciente generación de inmigrantes, rezo porque puedan ser tratados con la misma dignidad y respeto de los que vinieron antes y (construyeron) esta increíble nación de inmigrantes.
I want to dedicate this award to my fellow Mexican countrymen, those living in Mexico. I pray we might find and build the government we deserve.
And those [Mexicans] who live in this country, that belong to the most recent generation of immigrants, I pray you can be treated with the same dignity and respect as the ones who came before and [built] this amazing nation of immigrants.
Raúl Trejo Delarbre praised González Iñárritu's closing speech:
Preciso discurso político de González Iñárritu.Que los mexicanos encontremos el gobierno que merecemos.En EU reconocimiento a los migrantes.
— Raúl Trejo Delarbre (@ciberfan) February 23, 2015
Precise political speech by González Iñárritu. May Mexicans find the government we deserve. In the United States, acknowledgement for migrants.
And for the second time in a row, another Mexicano Emmanel Lubezki (aka ‘El Chivo’, the Goat) received the statuette for Best Cinematography for Birdman. Last year, he won an award in the same category for Gravity.
El Zappo, on the blog Homozapping, shared the moment ‘El Chivo’ won the award:
Asimismo, Emmanuel Lubezki obtuvo el galardón a la mejor fotografía por su trabajo en dicho filme. Este es el segundo Óscar para Lubezki, quien apenas en 2014 se alzó con la estatuilla por fotografía en la cinta Gravity, dirigida por Alfonso Cuarón.
Al escuchar su nombre el artista mexicano abrazó a Alejandro González Iñárritu, director de Birdman, en el pasillo y luego lo elogió al recibir su estatuilla de manos de Jessica Chastain. “Esto es extraordinario”, dijo Lubezki, apodado Chivo. “Quiero compartir especialmente este premio con mi amigo Alejandro González Iñárritu, por su curiosidad, su pasión y su amistad”.
Likewise, Emmanuel Lubezki was awarded with Best Cinematography for his work on that movie. This is the second Óscar for Lubezki, who in 2014 raised the statuette for the cinematography of the film Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuarón.
When he heard his name, the Mexican artist hugged Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of Birdman, on the aisle and then he praised him as he received his award from Jessica Chastain. “This is extraordinary,” Lubezki said, dubbed Chivo. “I want to share especially this award with my friend Alejandro González Iñárritu, for his curiosity, his passion and his friendship.”
Lubezki had been nominated before for his work in films such as Children of Men (2006) and The Tree of Life (2011). ‘El Negro’ Iñárritu had also been nominated for his feature film Babel (2006). Alongside Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro they are known as the ‘tres amigos‘ and are currently considered the best-known Mexican directors in the world.
Mexican talent is on the rise in Hollywood, where names such as Rodrigo Prieto, director of cinematography for Argos and production designer Eugenio Caballero, an Academy Award winner for The Labyrinth of the Faun (directed by del Toro), are two other well-renowned professionals.
The prominence of Mexican filmmakers at the 87th Academy Awards sparked many reactions on Twitter.
Adina Chelminsky took the moment to note that Mexican talent often has to go abroad to realise itself:
Mexico: país de talentos que en Mexico no tienen el apoyo para sobresalir.
— Adina Chelminsky (@AdinaChel) February 23, 2015
Mexico: a country of talents that in Mexico don't have the support to stand out.
And as always in Mexico, satire is never far away. One user, Mourtinho shared the following image in a swipe at ‘executive power in México':
#Birdman jajajaja pic.twitter.com/YCuvjJVY1a
— Mourtinho (@RodrigoMort) February 23, 2015
Birdman LOL!
Radio anchorman Martín Hernández is another Mexican who was nominated this year for his work on Birdman, but wasn't awarded the statuette in the category Best Sound Editing.
DianaLucía Contreras expressed the acknowledgement received by non-awarded Martín Hernández:
Aunque #MartínHernández no se ganó el #Oscar si se ganó el reconocimiento de los cinéfilos, felicidades @asilascosasw — DianaLucía Contreras (@DianaLucia_C) February 23, 2015
Although Martín Hernández wasn't awarded the Oscar, he was awarded the recognition of those keen on film. Congratulations!
Perhaps this year's Oscars will help awaken international curiosity in Mexico's domestic movie industry, which while far away from the blockbuster budgets of Hollywood, certainly retains ‘unexpected virtues.’

author: J. Tadeo


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With Their Government Silent on Rising Shia Killings, These Pakistanis are Speaking Up · Global Voices
Sana Jamal

Protesters gather outside the Pakistani High Commission in London to demand action against sectarian killings in Pakistan. Image by Rob Pinney. Copyright Demotix (12/1/2013)
In the wake of rising attacks on Shia places of worship in Pakistan, a group of young people and civil society activists formed a human shield outside an imambargah, a Shia mosque, in Karachi. The activists echoed slogans of unity and brotherhood and chanted “Shia-Sunni bhai bhai” (Shias and Sunnis are brothers).
Since the beginning of 2015, more than 80 people have been killed in four attacks on imambargahs in three different cities of Pakistan. Banned anti-Shia militant organizations operating in the country Lashkar-e Jhangvi (LeJ) and Jundullah, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, calling it revenge for the Pakistani military offensive Zarb-e-Azb against the Taliban in North Waziristan.
According to the site South Asia Terrorism Portal, Pakistan’s death toll from sectarian violence has spiked extraordinarily the last few years. In 2014, sectarian violence took 200 lives, and in 2013 and 2014, more than 500 people died each year in sectarian killings. The site says since 2001, 3935 people have died in sectarian killings in Pakistan, 2372 of whom were Shia Muslims.
Pakistani youngsters form a human shield to show solidarity with Shia Muslims after recent attacks (collage by author). Photos  from the Facebook page of PYA and Jibran Nasir
The human chain outside the Shia mosque in Karachi was organized by the Pakistan Youth Alliance (PYA). The network of youth activists came together in 2007 and work in countering extremism, peace-building, conflict resolution and social welfare. In a recent news report, PYA's co-founder Ali Abbas Zaidi said “in my 30 years, this is the first time I would accept that things have gotten completely out of the state’s control.”
What is the reason of existence of a state if it cannot ensure right to live of its citizens? #Pakistan
— Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi (@Ali_Abbas_Zaidi) February 18, 2015
The Twitter hashtag #ShiaSunniBrotherhood was used to share the message of unity.
Shia and Sunni are two arms of Islam. Imam #islam #ShiaSunniBrotherhood pic.twitter.com/NWYjzGWcvB
— Nida Qureshi (@q_nida) February 9, 2015
We all believe in the same Allah and the same Prophet, this should stop. #ShiaGenocide
— Raafay. (@Amazican) February 18, 2015
Politicians also joined in, calling out Takfiris, who are Muslims who accuses other Muslim sects or followers of other Abrahamic faiths of apostasy:
Takfiris are not enemies of #Shia or #Sunni they're the enemies of #Islam and #Muslim . #ShiaSunniBrotherhood . Remain United #PeshawarBlast
— Senator Faisal Abidi (@SenFaisalAbidi) February 14, 2015
There have been four attacks on Shia mosques this year so far.
Rawalpindi, February 19:  A  suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque in Rawalpindi, close to the capital Islamabad, during Maghreb prayers, killing at least three people and injuring several. Jundullah, a splinter group of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a reaction to the Pakistani military offensive Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan. The same group also claimed responsibility for the two other attacks this year.
Peshawar, February 13: On February 13, at least 21 people were killed and 50 others injured during a gun and bomb attack at an imambargah in north-western city Peshawar's Hayatabad area, when suicide attackers and gunmen, dressed in police uniforms, attacked worshippers offering Friday prayers.
Shikarpur, January 30: Militants targeted a Shia mosque in the southern city Shikarpur, killing at least 60 people. The attack was launched during Friday prayers. It was the deadliest sectarian incident to hit the country in nearly two years.
Rawalpindi, January 10: A powerful explosion rattled an imambargah in a densely populated area of Rawalpindi, killing at least eight people and injuring another 16. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistan’s army has been engaged in a full-scale offensive against the Taliban and other militants in North Waziristan and tribal districts bordering Afghanistan since June 2014. The recent spate of terror attacks are seen as blow-back.
Can't we all stand against #ShiaKillings in #Pakistan? #Pakistanbleeds,#TTP, #Media http://t.co/aAtUXwPUxC
— Zaki Shah (@ZakiAbbasShah) February 18, 2015
Following the horrific attack last December at a school in Peshawar that killed 141 people, mostly children, the Pakistani government announced the National Action Plan (NAP) on counter-terrorism.
Shia community leaders and some political parties have criticized the government for failing to address the tide of sectarian violence in the plan.
Criticizing the government, Asghar Askari, a leader from the pro-Shia political party Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) said:
This is the fourth attack [on the Shia community]; this government is a murderous and terrorist government. We have been lifting bodies due to them.
Condemning the attack, the MWM leader asked Pakistan's army chief General Raheel Sharif to expand Zarb-e-Azb into Punjab as well. “We will stage a long march if Shia killings do not stop,” he said while addressing the media. He also demanded the arrest of the people behind the recent attacks.
At 30 million, Pakistan has the second largest Shia population in the world after Iran, according to scholar and researcher Vali Nasr. Shia in Pakistan make up 20% of the country's Muslim population, which is about 97% of the total population. The country's Shia Muslims began to feel marginalized during the Islamist policies under the dictatorship of Zia ul-Haq in the 70s and 80s. Anti-Shia militant groups became visible in the country in the 90s and often targeted the Shia community in Pakistan's largest urban city Karachi. Since 2001, sectarian violence in other cities and in Kurram Agency, along the Afghanistan border, and in Balochistan, along the Iran border, specifically targeting ethnic Shia Hazaras, have been rising.
Shia Muslims make up about 15 percent and Sunni Muslims about 85 percent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims. The two major branches of Islam differ in rituals and interpretation of Islamic law. Historically, Sunni and Shia Muslims have lived peacefully, and still do in states like India. But in recent years, Shias continue to face targeted killings, imprisonment, and systematic persecution in countries like Pakistan, Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Some experts claim the recent Shia-Sunni tensions are more about politics and power than religion.
According to a Middle East Institute (MEI) report, sectarian violence has claimed 2,300 lives in Pakistan’s four main provinces and 1,500 lives in the tribal areas since 2007. Prominent members of Sunni and Shia groups have fallen victim to the violence. Increasingly the victims are Shia Muslims, which is why it is seen as a Shia massacre and #ShiaGenocide is increasingly being used in Pakistan. In the last 30 days, according to Topsy, the hashtag has been used 16K times. #ShiaGenocide was first used 4 years ago by Pakistani blogger Abdul Nishapuri.
The term ‘sectarian violence’ has been used to describe the recent attacks in Pakistani media, but Rehan Naqvi, Norway-based journalist, argues:
What Pakistan is experiencing is not sectarian violence but “gradual genocide” of Pakistani Shia Muslims being carried out by a fraction of ”Muslims” who are quite frequently disowned by majority of Sunni Muslims.
Sibtain Naqvi, a writer and social commentator, attempts to define the term further:
This is a deliberate massacre of a particular community .. The right term is not ‘sectarian violence’ which implies that it is a war between two sects. If this was a war, then there would be Shia suicide bombers or killers attacking other sects. The right term is ‘genocide’ defined as, “The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group.”
Arif Rafi, author of ‘Pakistan’s Resurgent Sectarian War’ report, explains:
It is important that we identify this as not a Sunni-Shiite conflict, but a conflict between Sunni Deobandi and Shiite Muslims – with Shiite civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.
Some people are advocating to steer clear of the Shia-Sunni debate, saying militants want to create differences among Pakistanis. And some activists like Jibran Nasir of the Reclaim Your Mosques movement want scholars across the Sunni Shia divide to unanimously condemn and demand the shutting down of all banned extremist militant organizations operating in the country with impunity.
Pakistan's chief military spokesman Asim Bajwa strongly condemned the recent attacks:
Recent spate of terrorist attks highly condemnable.Our heart goes out to aggrieved brothers/sisters,we stand with them at time of grief-1/3
— AsimBajwaISPR (@AsimBajwaISPR) February 18, 2015
While condemning the blast, a spokesman from Pakistan's leading Shia council Allama Arif Hussain Wahidi said:
Enemies want to see an end of the Shia-Sunni unity, but that will not happen.
Twitters trends #ShiaSunniBrotherhood, #ShiaGenocide and Facebook pages like ‘I am Sunni and I condemn killing of our Shia brethren‘ echo the voices of unity in Pakistan. But the government needs to step up. An editorial in Pakistan's oldest English newspapers Dawn suggests:
It is still not too late. The country, despite grievous blows to the Shia community in recent years, is not on the verge of a full-blown sectarian civil war. But if fighting sectarianism is not made a priority now, the implosion in parts of the Middle East is a haunting reminder of how quickly and irreversibly matters can get out of control.

author: Sana Jamal


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Children Having Children: No School for Young Brides in Nepal · Global Voices
Saprina Panday

Girls from Newar community wearing traditional wedding dresses take part in Bael Bibaha, a practice where a girl is wed to a bael fruit. Its not child marriage, but a traditional ritual which symbolises that once they are married (as adults), they will never become widows because they have been married to a symbol of god (the fruit) as children. Copyright Demotix (3/12/2011)
Child- parents are a harsh reality in South Asia where child marriage remains rampant despite efforts by governments and civil society to combat it. In this environment, it is particularly girls who suffer being trapped in a cycle of poverty through a sudden end to their education, trapping the next generation of children they have, in a similar fate.
#FridayFact: Worldwide, about 1 in 4 women were married before age 18, with the highest rates of #childmarriage in South Asia. @UNICEF
— Girl Summit (@GirlSummit) January 16, 2015
‘Nepal has the ninth highest prevalence of child marriage in the world with one in every three child brides… http://t.co/mKpewTk9ix
— Kim Kamzang (@kamzang) February 26, 2015
Last year, 4,000 brides in Nepal were younger than 15-years-old, despite the fact that the legal age for marriage for both girls and boys is 18 with parental consent and 20 without consent.
Mainly affecting the most historically marginalized class, the dalits, (also known as ‘the untouchables’ for their position in the dying Hindu caste system), child marriage is often conducted in secret; part-ritual and part economic necessity, in the southern lowland belt of the country known as the Terai. In some of eastern Terai's districts data from 2012 shows that more than half of marriages involve girls under the age of 12.
#Nepal abolished child marriage 50 yrs ago. Yet, 4 out of 10 women get married before 18. Rejection=abduction. http://t.co/F3CL1CjIip
— Ayush Karki (@karkiayush) February 5, 2015
A childhood lost
Once married, child brides must immediately grapple with adult responsibilities imposed on them by their communities. Procreation — despite the fact they are not physically or emotionally ready — is a key expectation.
According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), when a young under-age bride gets pregnant, her risks of dying during childbirth are five times higher rate than a girl in her twenties.
After mothering children, it is highly unlikely that she will have the chance to resume her education, leaving her at the mercy of illiteracy, physical and emotional abuse, and poverty.
According to a 2014 report by the Global Partnership for Education, in Nepal the female literacy rate is only 57%, compared to 75% for men, largely due to a high dropout rate at schools in the country. Moreover, research indicates that girls who marry before their 15th birthday have three or more children compared to women aged between 20 and 24.
One of the main reasons girls are married young is related to their dowry, or the price that they are required to pay to the groom’s family.
As a girl gets older and more educated, her dowry price increases. Indeed, with prices ranging from US$200 to $20,000, depending on the age of the bride and her qualifications, poor parents are dis-incentivised from sending their daughters to school. Her in-laws, themselves illiterate, will at any rate force her to focus on household chores. This explains why some experts have argued that the best way to combat the practice would be by prosecuting families, but law might be difficult to enforce in areas where the state's reach is limited.
Escaping is hard. But some, like the kidnapped 13-year old dalit child who was both courageous and lucky, are able to return to school.
Boys also suffer. Shashank Bengali, the Los Angeles Times’ South Asia correspondent, explains that child marriage is a popular way of controlling the sexuality of boys and getting rid of them in large families.
By the age of 13, many cross the border into India to find work as migrant laborers, leaving their wives and children at home to fend for themselves.
Breaking a cycle
With the effects of the practice well-documented, many question an apparent lack of progress in combating this practice:
C is Sonakshi Malik, married, child marriage is rampant in Nepal, why the government is unable to stop it??? pic.twitter.com/f70q8sOLmn
— Randhir Chaudhary (@randhirktm) July 21, 2014
The Nepali government and civic campaigners have attempted to tackle the dowry system:
Please Watch & Make Your Commitment Social Norms Change Video to End Child Marriage & Dowry in Nepal: http://t.co/BLM1rlumvz via @YouTube
— Raj Kumar Mahato (@rkmahato5) October 13, 2014
Total 146,000 NPR contribution received in Child Marriage & Dowry Eradication National Campaign, Nepal to date. pic.twitter.com/G7rya2N2rK
— Raj Kumar Mahato (@rkmahato5) November 17, 2014
These efforts are stymied by other realities such as the fact that schools are overloaded with children, not to mention often very far from villages, making the option of going to school difficult.
But there is hope.
Since 2009, schools through grade ten have been made free for girls. This has given rise to unexpected stories such as girls gaining empowerment through playing football or by actually being the initiators of their own marriages.
Some observe the rise of a ‘dating’ scene made possible by the penetration of hindi Bollywood culture and mobile phones:
A staggering 41% of women in Nepal get married before they turn 18. What do you do when it's by choice? http://t.co/WAdO1rLwip
— Prerana Shrestha (@prerana123) February 28, 2014
Adolescents who work as advocates in Nepal’s western region suggest that in a patriarchal society such as Nepal, empowering girls to create change is more relevant than ever:
Watch what adolescent girls of #Nepal‘s Kapilvastu, Kavre and Sindhupalchowk districts say about #childmarriage: http://t.co/3ehsX6BFfl
— UNFPA Nepal (@UNFPANepal) January 6, 2015
To stop the practice of child marriage however, will require much more effort:
Multi-sectoral interventions are needed at all levels to end #childmarriage in South Asia, says @UNFPANepal Rep. pic.twitter.com/pzVjDRKuWj
— UNFPA Nepal (@UNFPANepal) November 7, 2014
In November of 2014, governments in the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) followed up on an August 2014 adoption of a Regional Action Plan to End Child Marriage with a Kathmandu Call for Action to End Child Marriage in Asia.
These plans support the specific target of ending child marriage through the use of the rule of law and legal strategies that promote accountability for ending child marriage.
It is hoped that these new steps will have a strong impact.
This last tweet leaves us with hope that no matter how old a person, a fresh outlook is always possible:
“My granddaughters will marry after school.” Some elders discussed school and #childmarriage…we listened. #Nepal pic.twitter.com/oo3X9HIMvT
— Aura Freedom (@AuraFreedom) February 4, 2015

author: Saprina Panday


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Fact Checking the Conflict in Eastern Ukraine  · Global Voices
Aric Toler

Image by Bart van de Biezen on Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
This is the first in a series of posts where RuNet Echo talks to the people behind several fact-checking projects in eastern Ukraine.
Amid the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, an information war between Russia and Ukraine has raged online and in the media. Much of the information warfare revolves around framing the conflict itself and arguing about its origins and implications, both historical and geopolitical, but some of the mud-slinging is a little more down to earth.
According to Russian state-controlled media outlets, the Kremlin hasn't sent a single piece of military equipment to the rebels in eastern Ukraine. Moscow's narrative is that all vehicles and weapons controlled by separatists were seized from the Ukrainian military. On the other side of the conflict, Kyiv regularly states that an overwhelming number of the separatists’ vehicles and weapons are provided by Russia, saying the Ukrainian military has lost relatively minimal supplies of equipment throughout the war.
While less glamorous than geopolitical speculation, the job of collecting, and verifying and/or debunking evidence of military presence and losses is nonetheless important. When it comes to public data, citizen enthusiasts are responsible for collecting the lion's share of what's available. RuNet Echo has previously covered some of the cases, but there are a number of organized initiatives focused on particular aspects of fact-finding and data verification in the eastern Ukraine conflict.
Grassroots projects and individual bloggers attempt to cut through government narratives on both sides to provide at least a glimpse of the situation as it is. Their work usually amounts to collecting photographic and video evidence of battles and military equipment in eastern Ukraine, geolocating, and crowdsourcing the verification efforts to provide greater context for the collected data.
Results and conclusions vary, but these citizen initiatives believe their approaches are more honest and revealing than the narratives spun by either the Ukrainian or Russian state-controlled media. Of course, while they pride themselves on being diligent with evidence, this doesn’t always prevent citizen projects from using a particular frame or agenda to cover the conflict.
Accounts of a “civil war”
Lostarmour.info maintains a large database of destroyed and captured military equipment, most of which it says is Ukrainian. According to the site’s administrators, the project was born out of exasperation with both the Ukrainian authorities, who tend to conceal the real losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the self-proclaimed “Donetsk/Luhansk People’s Republics” (DNR/LNR), which “tend to overestimate greatly the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Relying upon volunteers and crowdsourced comments, Lostarmour meticulously records the specific military equipment units and weapons that have been destroyed or captured from both the Ukrainian and separatist sides. The team that works on the photo and video database currently includes 10 people, and a few dozen other volunteers contribute edits in the comments under relevant sections. Every single entry is backed up with photos or videos, but there are no Russian flags to be found in the lists, though there are plenty from the DNR and LNR.
Screenshot of the Lostarmour.info armored vehicle database.
Lostarmour chooses to frame the conflict as a “civil war” instead of a conflict between Ukraine and Russia, so the focus is entirely on Ukrainian hardware, and they categorize the equipment as either “destroyed” or “trophy” (ostensibly meaning Ukrainian items captured by the separatists). While that does not help explain the provenance of some of the equipment that other citizen fact checkers claim is Russian, Lostarmour sees their work as historically significant and aiding in “objective information control.” They also hope to influence Ukrainians’ opinion of the conflict and their assessment of whether it’s worth joining the fight.
Самое главное – это раскрытие реального масштаба потерь военной техники на Донбассе перед населением Украины. Тут стоит отметить, что опираясь на фото и видеофакты, Lostarmour дает максимально консервативную оценку потерь, реальные потери значительно выше тех 700 единиц техники, внесенных в базу проекта. За каждой грудой искареженного металла, как правило стоят жизни экипажей, и судьбы их семей.
The most important [motive] is to disclose of the true scale of losses of military equipment in the Donbass to the people of Ukraine. It’s worth noting that Lostarmour gives the most conservative estimate of the losses based on photographic and video facts. The real losses are significantly higher than the 700 pieces of equipment that are in the project’s database. Each pile of mangled metal usually obscures the lives of the crew members, and the fate of their families.
A live map of the conflict
For over a year, the LiveUAMap project has maintained a map documenting notable events relating to the Ukrainian crisis. The project is a hybrid operation of a centralized editorial group involved in maintaining the site and a large, crowdsourced effort to collect newsworthy items to add to the ever-changing map. The site is available in over 20 languages, including English, Russian, and Ukrainian, and now even has an Android app.
Rodion Rozhkovsky, the co-founder and editor of LiveUAMap, told RuNet Echo most of the core team works on the project in their spare time. A small group of designers and developers work on the site itself, also developing projects like robots that crawl the web for new information and LiveUAMap‘s Android app. The three editors mostly deal with finding, verifying, and geolocating information, as well as translation tasks. The crowdsourcing effort is also spearheaded by a more or less constantly active group of about 10 volunteers who send information, clean up data, and find errors in map updates.
Screenshot of the LiveUAMap main page.
Rozhkovsky says most of the funding for the website comes from Google Ads, and this money funds compensation for the core team and server space. Volunteers work for free, but get honorable mentions for their contributions in the project's social media, if they choose to go public.
LiveUAMap aims to use “big data sources” to understand the current conflict and learn from it. The learning curve for citizen journalists is steep, as well, Rozhkovsky says, admitting that they’re constantly working on improving the quality of the information they publish and fact checking they perform.
Liveuamap.com does not identify with Russian state propaganda. But we also don’t subscribe to the methods of Ukrainian propaganda (e.g., the new Ministry of Info and its iArmy). We believe that Ukrainian strength is in truth, not propaganda. The real numbers of dead, MIAs [missing in action], POWs [prisoners of war] matter—one of our goals is to show the real situation on the map.
Askai's Twitter avatar.
Tracking the Russian trail
A number of Ukrainians and Russians have devoted their free time to investigating single-handedly reports of Russian military equipment crossing the Ukrainian border and falling under control of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. One of the more popular and thorough of these sleuths is the anonymous Twitter user Askai, who also operates a LiveJournal with some of his most significant findings.
Askai specializes in tracking the photographic trail of specific tanks and other military vehicles from Russia into the battlefields in eastern Ukraine.
Как верно подсказывали в комментариях, “Панцирь-С1″ в Луганске https://t.co/BzgT3D4oYh ехал по Оборонной улице. pic.twitter.com/q8wdVkPiCL
— Askai (@askai707) February 8, 2015
As has been rightly pointed out in the comments, the Pantzir-S1 in Luhansk was moving on Oboronnya street.
Askai told RuNet Echo he doesn’t think his work plays a huge role in the information war, though he knows some of his more prominent investigations have been picked up by the mainstream media. Askai’s main motivation for sleuthing the origins of military equipment was to “understand what was really happening in eastern Ukraine and share this with those who are interested in facts.” While he didn’t intend to battle Russian propaganda, he says, it became inevitable, because “propaganda lies, and average people wish to know the truth.”
Askai doesn’t think citizen verification and crowdsourced investigation projects significantly influence the conflict, partly because propaganda and manipulation, he says, work on a much grander scale, with Russian state channels broadcasting to audiences of millions—impossible competition for small websites with modest followings. The aims differ, as well, Askai says.
Пропаганда в России сочиняет истории о распятых мальчиках, играет на чувствах людей, не склонных к размышлению, подстрекает их взять в руки оружие.
У расследований и в сборе статистики же другая цель – информировать, предоставлять новые сведения.
Russian propaganda fabricates stories about crucified children, plays on the feelings of people who are not prone to thinking, and encourages them to take up arms.
Investigations collecting statistics have a completely different goal—to inform, to provide new knowledge.

author: Aric Toler


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Gazan Doctor Aims to Rebuild Strip’s Only School for Disabled Children · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Sign of the ‘Society for Physically Handicapped People’ seen at the remains of the school. Photo by ‘Save Gaza Project‘
A campaign on IndieGogo is trying to raise funds to rebuild Gaza's only school for disabled children, which was destroyed during Israel's so-called “Operation Protective Edge” last summer. The Save Gaza Project was launched by Dr. Basel Abu Warda, a doctor at Al Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, and Mostafa Asi, a human rights activist, with the goal of raising $35,000 by April 10. At the time of this writing, 91 percent of the fundraising goal had been reached, with $31,768 donated by over 500 contributors.
Using the hashtag #GazaWheelChairs, Dr. Abuwarda explained how contributions will benefit the children at the school:
#Gazawheelchairs Please check , donate and retweet https://t.co/PFXWpx3ZUs pic.twitter.com/IBcQGhTi3i
— Dr.Bassel AbuWarda (@DrBaselAbuwarda) February 21, 2015
The campaign is being run in collaboration with the Society of Physically Handicapped People, a Gaza-based NGO established in 1992 by “a group of intuitive physically disabled youths.” As they explain on the IndieGogo page, the Society “was the first NGO in the Gaza Strip to provide opportunities for disabled youth to practice their rights in establishing and leading their organizations.” It continues:
“The Society of Physically Handicapped People aims to encourage, empower and enable those with physical disabilities by educating them to exercise their rights, helping them to succeed in reaching their goals, and assisting them in achieving as much integration into the community as possible.
The Society of Physically Handicapped People provides comprehensive healthcare and medical rehabilitation, education and training, psycho-social programs and services to more than 11,600 beneficiaries with permanent physical disabilities in the Gaza Strip through its specialized medical and education centers in Gaza and Rafah.”
Dr Abu Warda also posted this campaign video explaining how the school benefits hundreds of Gaza's disabled children.
Two Indonesian charities, Akhwat Bergerak, an Islamic Women's Movement, and ACT Indonesia, a humanitarian organization, are supporting the campaign.
Dr. Basel Abuwarda and Mostafa Asi at the school's construction site. Photo by ‘Save Gaza Project‘

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Indigenous People, Afro-Colombians and Peasants Unite Against Illegal Mining in River Ovejas, Colombia · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

March in defense of the River Ovejas, photography by Natalio Pinto, authorized use
Despite threats, indigenous people from the Laguna Siberia, members from five different areas within the ancestral territory of Sat Tama Kiwe de Caldono, Afro-descendents from the La Toma Community Council and resident campesinos in the surrounding areas joined together to protest against illegal mining in the area of Río Ovejas in the north of Cauca. The demonstration began on Friday, 13 February and lasted for three days.
Natalio Pinto, one of the participants, told Global Voices that participation was something of a stress test:
El recorrido se hizo al borde del río, abriendo trocha y cruzando las montañas, fueron 3 días de jornada, casi 30 horas.
The route followed the river, opening trails and crossing the mountains. It lasted three full days, nearly 30 hours.
With regards to the protest's goals, she added:
El tercer día del encuentro se dio una asamblea en la cual participaron los indígenas de La Laguna Siberia, Territorio ancestral Sa’th Tama Kiwe, el Consejo Comunitario Afro La Toma, así como campesinos que viven en zonas cercanas y representantes de otros consejos comunitarios afros y cabildos indígenas. La idea es formar un frente común en defensa del territorio y en contra de la minería ilegal y multinacional que amenaza el río Ovejas. La jornada sirvió también para solidarizarse con las compañeras que participaron en “la marcha de los turbantes” en noviembre/diciembre pasado. La marcha de los turbantes llevó a mujeres del Consejo Comunitario Afro La Toma caminando desde el Cauca hasta Bogotá para pedirle al Estado una respuesta efectiva contra la minería ilegal en el río Ovejas. A raíz de esto amenazaron a varias lideresas de la comunidad, la cuales tuvieron que salir desplazadas.
On the third day of the protest, there was a meeting in which indigenous people from the Laguna Siberia participated, alongside those from the ancestral territory of Sa’th Tama Kiwe, the Afro-Colombian Community Council from La Toma and campesinos that live in nearby areas as well as representatives from other Afro-Colombian community councils and other indigenous councils. The idea is to form a common front in defense of the land and against illegal and multinational mining that threatens the River Ovejas. The event also served to show solidarity with female colleagues that participated in the ‘march of the turbans’ in November/December last year. The march of the turbans involved women from the Afro-Colombian Community Council in La Toma walking from Cauca to Bogota in order to request an effective response from the State regarding illegal mining in River Ovejas. As a result of this, various female leaders were threatened and furthermore had to leave displaced.
Images have circulated on Twitter:
#AEstaHora: Comunidad indígena de Caldono marcha por el río Ovejas, contra la minería ilegal. Vía @freddycalvache. pic.twitter.com/6DvhAl2rYc — Noticiero 90 Minutos (@Noti90Minutos) febrero 13, 2015
Indigenous community from Caldono protest against illegal mining in favor of the River Ovejas.
In other areas support of the fight against mining was also heard:
Acabo de llegar de una minga en el norte del Cauca; aprendí más sobre el río Ovejas. Ahora grito y gritaré más fuerte:¡No a la mega minería! — paola ochoa rivera (@visosvioleta) febrero 16, 2015
I've just left the protest in the north of Cauca; I learned a lot about the River Ovejas. Now I shout and I will shout even louder: No to mega mining!
Twitter users tweeted in solidarity:
“UNIDAD indígenas/campesinos/afros!! “Minga en defensa del territorio, del río Ovejas, porque la minería está destruyendo lo que es nuestro” — Kiwe Nasa (@KiweNasa) febrero 16, 2015
‘UNITY indigenous/campesinos/Afro-Colombians!!’ ‘Protest in defense of the River Ovejas territory because mining is destroying what is ours’

author: Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez