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Australia Asked to Stop Stealing Timor-Leste’s Oil and Future · Global Voices
Manuel Ribeiro

Graffiti Stencil by Alfe Tutuala. Public domain image shared by Wikimedia.
This is an edited article based on a story written by Manuel Ribeiro and published on Global Voices Portuguese.
Since 1963, Australia has been accused of stealing oil from its neighbor, Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste was a colony of Portugal for 400 years. In 1975, it was occupied by Indonesia which lasted until 1999. After gaining its independence in 2002, Timor-Leste challenged the maritime boundaries declared by Australia which deprives the small nation the right to earn revenues from its oil and gas resources.
The Timor-Leste government is urging the Australian government to recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and that it establishes its border on the midline between the two countries, as is referred in international law.
At stake are the offshore oil and gas reserves that exist in the “Greater Sunrise” region, located next to East Timor. So far, the Australian government has not shown any willingness to let go of these resources, valued at $40 billion, or to return to the negotiating table, despite the appeals by the Timorese authorities.
But Australia’s Labor Party seems to be open to the idea of reversing Australia's UNCLOS stance. Party spokesperson Tanya Plibersek has this to say about the issue:
In the case of Timor-Leste, [the Labor Party] is prepared to submit to binding arbitration in the Hague if the ‘good faith’ talks between the two states fails to find agreement. Australia regularly calls on other countries to abide by international norms and to settle disputes in line with the rules-based system. If we want to insist that other nations play by the rules, we also need to adhere to them.
Various civil society groups have also campaigned for a renegotiation in defining the maritime boundaries between Australia and Timor-Leste. One of these groups is the Movimentu Kontra Okupasaun Tasi Timor (Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea or MKOTT), which was established in 2004 to find legal and diplomatic means to establish maritime borders between the two countries in a way that would be more fair for both parties in oil and gas revenues.
All of the contested oil & gas fields are on EastTimor's side of the median line ie closer to #Timor than Australia pic.twitter.com/Acgys830P8
— Timor Sea Justice (@TimorSeaJustice) March 2, 2016
During the visit of retired Australian military officer Peter Cosgrove in Timor-Leste last March 2 and 3, the MKOTT appealed for his help in persuading his government to stop the ‘illegal exploration’ and ‘exploitation’ of oil resources in the Timor Sea. Cosgrove is the current Governor General, a representative of the British crown in Australia. He is also considered a “friend” of Timor-Leste because he commanded the international peacekeeping force when Indonesia ended its occupation of Timor-Leste in 1999.
Below is an excerpt of MKOTT’s letter to Cosgrove:
MKOTT hakarak husu ita boot nu’udar belun istoriku ba povu Timor-Leste hodi uza ita boot nia influensia balun ne’ebé iha hodi husu ba Governu Australia atu: 1) Respeita no trata soberania no dignidade nasaun Timor-Leste nian hanesan sira halo ba nasaun sira seluk iha mundu. 2) Fila ba mekanizmu disputa fronteira maritima nian tuir juridisaun Tribunal Internasional ba Justisa (International Court of Justice) no Tribunal Internasional ba Lei Tasi nian (TILOS). 3) Foka liu ba negosiasaun ne’ebé “koalia loloos no nakloke” kona-bá fronteira maritima no labele hases an husi asuntu ne’e hodi halai deit asuntu relasaun bilateral nian. 4)  Labele kontinua argument kona-bá “plataforma continental” ne’ebé la validu ona. 5) Atu labele uza nia poder ekonomia no politika iha rejiaun ne’e atu kontinua na’ok futuru Timor-Leste nia oan sira.
(…) MKOTT would like to use the occasion of your visit to Timor-Leste to beseech you, as a historical friend of the people of Timor-Leste, to use your influence and ask the Australian government to: 1) Respect the sovereignty and dignity of the people and nation of Timor-Leste as they do and have done with other nations. 2) Revert to the maritime boundary dispute resolution mechanisms under the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. 3) Focus negotiation “Honestly and Open” on maritime boundary and do not turn the subject into broader bilateral relationship. 4) Discontinue their use of now discredited “Continental Shelf” argument. 5) Stop using their considerable political and economic power to continue to rob Timor-Leste's people of their current and future wealth.
When Cosgrove visited Timor-Leste, to receive Timor-Leste's Grand Collar of the Order, the Timorese deputy of the CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance party) issued a statement about the maritime border issue which was published by the Australian press:
Australia took advantage of Timor-Leste's weakness and is now dodging its international obligations over the disputed marine border.
The “greed” for the exploitation of Timor-Leste's resources dates back to 1963 when the Australian government issued a license for petroleum extraction to Woodside Petroleum, a company that had explored the mineral resources in the Timor Sea. In 1972, Australia agreed on a “very favorable” deal with President Suharto's regime in Indonesia that garnered a “broader maritime boundary closer to Indonesia,” thus obtaining access to more mineral resources — an agreement that Portugal rejected:
Portugal – then the administering colonial power in Timor-Leste – refused to join the negotiations, preferring to wait for the international process which, in 1982, resulted in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS. Portugal’s decision created the “Timor Gap” in the Australian–Indonesian sea boundary.
From 1989 to 1999 Australia exploited Timor-Leste's offshore mineral resources “illegally by unilaterally recognizing the ‘de facto’ integration of [Timorese] territory into Indonesia and turning a blind eye to the atrocities and crimes committed against human rights,” as stated in an article published in Global Voices, by the researcher on Timor-Leste, Marisa Gonçalves.
Australia and Indonesia, in 1989, entered into an “agreement of cooperation on a 50/50 basis” to exploit the mineral resources of the Timor Gap, an agreement that Portugal rejected and “challenged…in the International Court of Justice, but the action lapsed in the face of Indonesia's refusal to recognize the court's jurisdiction,” explains Michael Leach, professor and researcher of politics at Swinburne University in Melbourne.
In 2013, the Australian government was accused by the Timorese government of illicitly obtaining confidential information about offshore oil and gas in the Timor Sea, having “undermined the Timorese during the negotiations for the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea in 2004.” According to reports, Australian spies had placed eavesdropping devices inside the government palace and used what they heard to their advantage in negotiations with the Timorese government.
The “Timor Sea Justice Campaign” is organizing a series of protests that will take place in several Australian cities during the week of March 21. The Australian embassies in Jakarta, Indonesia, and in Dili, Timor-Leste, will also be targets of protests. The aim is to seek public support in Australia in pressuring the government to reconsider its maritime claims that overlaps in the territory of Timor-Leste.

author: Manuel Ribeiro


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China Shuts Down Communist Party News Site, Arrests 20 Over Call for Xi Jinping’s Resignation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Wen Yunchao. Photo via Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights.
New York-based Chinese activist Wen Yunchao tweeted this morning that his family was kidnapped by mainland Chinese authorities on March 22. He fears that authorities are holding his family in connection with an open letter urging Chinese President Xi Jinping to resign.
My family, parents and young brother live in Mainland were kidnapped by Chinese authorities since this Tuesday, disappeared.
— 北风（温云超, Yunchao Wen） (@wenyunchao) March 25, 2016
Wen reported that authorities pressured him to confess involvement in posting the open letter on March 4, 2016. The letter, which was published on the Communist party-affiliated new site Watching, was allegedly signed by “loyal Communist Party members”.
Watching was jointly launched last March by Xinjiang government and the SEEC Media Group (which runs the magazine Caijing), a branch of e-commerce giant Alibaba, to promote the Chinese government's “One Belt, One Road” global trade network.
Screen capture from Watching.cn.
Wen, who is also known as Bei Feng, explained the details of the situation:
我在国内的父母及弟弟22日起均被有司绑架带走，失去联络，情况不明。有关方面一直为难我家人，给我施加压力要我承认与公开信有关。他们此前的说法是，已经知道我不是信的作者，但认为是别人写好给我发布的，要我告诉他们是谁写的怎么给我如何发布就不追究我的责任。可我无法承认跟我无关的事情。
— 北风（温云超, Yunchao Wen） (@wenyunchao) March 25, 2016
My parents and my brother were kidnapped and disappeared on March 22. The [Chinese] authorities had been harassing my family asking them to pressure me into confessing my involvement with the open letter. They said they knew that I was not the writer, but they believed I helped distribute it. They wanted me to tell them who was the writer and how the person gave me the letter. [With a confession] they would not hold me liable. But I could not admit to something that I was not involved in.
Wen Yunchao's parents. Via Twitter.
The open letter has led to the arrests of twenty people, six of whom are staff members from Watching. Ten others work for a technology company associated with the site.
On March 15, Jia Jia, an experienced journalist, was taken away by the authorities at the Beijing airport shortly before he was scheduled to board a plane to Hong Kong, where he had been invited speak at a university conference. His disappearance is believed to be connected to the open letter.
The open letter criticizes Xi's political, diplomatic, economic and cultural policies, charging Xi with the “abandonment of the democratic system of collective leadership” and arguing that his policies have led to an “excessive” concentration of power and instability in the stock market and property market. In turn, this has led “the wealth of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people to vanish”. The letter also takes aim at the “One Road, One Belt” initiative, arguing that it invests “a huge amount of foreign exchange reserves into chaotic countries and regions with no return.” Finally, it accuses the current government of restoring the cult of personality that dominated China during the Cultural Revolution.
Though the open letter only appeared on Watching for a couple of hours, it is viewed as a direct challenge to Xi Jinping's leadership from party insiders. The news site has not published any original news since March 15 and will be closed down soon. Staff members of the site were asked to hand in their resignations.
Wen, who remains in New York, urged President Obama to help secure the release of his family when he meets with Xi Jinping next week:
President Obama @POTUS , Please ask him release my parents and my brother, he kidnapped them on Mar 22. https://t.co/ORVFg117mk
— 北风（温云超, Yunchao Wen） (@wenyunchao) March 25, 2016

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Oiwan Lam


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Hot Cross Buns, A Caribbean Easter Tradition · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Hot Cross Buns. Photo by Sarah Horrigan, used under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
Every Easter, the Caribbean — like many other Commonwealth and largely Catholic territories — enjoys a revered tradition of eating hot cross buns. The popular treat is a sticky sweet bun made with raisins and topped with a cross made of icing. Munching into them on Good Friday, when Christians commemorate Christ's crucifixion and death, typically heralds the end of the Lenten observances of fasting and denial.
Several regional food bloggers have posted recipes for hot cross buns over the years, but for Simply Trini Cooking, the treat stirred up warm memories of the neighbourhood “bread van”:
The common sound of the horn alerted us to its coming, and every child would be eager to see what the ‘bread man’ had at the back of his Suzuki Carry van. As soon as the side door opened the aroma of fresh baked goodies hit our nostrils. There was always on sale currants roll, coconut turnovers, coconut sweet bread, jam tarts, butter bread, biscuit cake (sometimes), hops bread and on Holy Week there was Hot Cross Buns.
Ah! hot cross buns I can taste it now. The hard outer crust gave way to a moist, soft, interior that would have your taste buds craving for more, but by then it would be too late because the ‘bread van’ was long gone. So, you would either have to do without or remember to buy two or three when the van came next time.
Before sharing the recipe, the blogger talked about the history of the hot cross buns tradition:
The origins of hot cross buns dates back centuries ago. Many Christians today see hot cross buns as an imitation of the unleavened bread eaten during passover. However, others can date the origin to the era of the Egyptians and Greeks who also had small loaves for their religious devotions and worship to their gods.
The Egyptians and Greeks considered the shape of the loaf to represent the moon. However, the Romans believed the cross symbol represented the four quarters or phases of the moon. Later, the Christian church reinterpreted the icing cross as a symbol of the crucifixion.
The popularity of the hot cross buns grew when a monk named Father Thomas Rockcliffe began the tradition of giving hot cross buns to the poor of St. Albans, England, in 1361. The Protestants considered this a Catholic tradition and attempted to stop the practice.
However, the tradition was further solidified when Elizabeth I passed a law permitting bakeries to sell them only on festivals such as Easter and Christmas. So by 1733, the popular hot cross buns had its own song that could be heard by street vendors selling hot cross buns: ‘Hot cross buns! hot cross buns! one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns.’
The Caribbean puts its own spin on this treat. The Jamaican Blogs notes that “hot cross buns are a big part of Jamaican culture, just like several other representative foods such as saltfish or ackee”:
The concept dates back to ancient Babylon, when cross buns were offered to Ishtar, the pagan queen of heaven.
Ancient Greeks made similar cakes to honour the moon.
The tradition found its way to England, where cross buns were eaten on Good Friday, with the cross symbolizing the crucifixion of Jesus.
When the British plundered Jamaica, of course they brought the custom to the island.
Over time though the English version of the cross bun transitioned to the Jamaican version, with some key differences.
Jamaica’s version is made with molasses, while the buns from England were made with honey.
In Jamaica, you eat the bun with cheese, a combination that has become ingrained in island culture.
British custom has waned when it comes to eating hot cross buns as fasting food on Good Friday, but in Jamaica the practice is as prevalent as ever.
Today the custom is seen as more Jamaican than British. And eating cheese is now a year-round practice, while the bun and cheese dish is prevalent primarily during the Easter holiday.
The baking (and eating!) of hot cross on Good Friday is alive and well throughout the Caribbean and in the diaspora — check out this step-by-step YouTube video of how to make your own Caribbean-style hot cross buns:
Are you singing the song yet? Eat and enjoy!

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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#Justice4Morocco: Human Rights Defenders’ Trial Postponed Again · Global Voices
Advox

Hicham Mansouri and Maâti Monjib at press conference about their trial in Rabat. January 2016. Photo by Samia Errazouki.
The trial of seven Moroccan journalists and human rights defenders that was scheduled to begin this week has been postponed to 29 June 2016. The decision was made during a hearing on 23 March 2016 at the Tribunal of First Instance of Rabat.
Among those charged is Hicham Khribchi aka Hisham Almiraat, a medical doctor and long-time member of the Global Voices community. Hisham has been a leading voice in Morocco’s blogosphere for nearly a decade. He co-founded citizen media projects Talk Morocco and Mamfakinch, and served as Global Voices’ advocacy director.
The seven advocates defend human rights, hold authorities accountable to the public, and uphold rule of law in their country. Five have been charged with “threatening the internal security of the State” and two face charges of “receiving foreign funding without notifying the General Secretariat of the government.”
The trial was postponed despite the defense committee's pleas to the judge for the need to begin the process without delay. The defense committee is composed of ten lawyers and chaired by barrister Abderrahmane Benameur. The presiding judge justified this week's postponement to the fact that two of the seven accused, Hicham Mansouri and Hicham Khribchi, were absent.
Present during the short hearing were five foreign observers: Richard Winfield from Columbia School of Law, co-founder of the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP, New York); Kristina Mendoza, member of the ISLP; Yasmine Kacha, head of Reporters Without Borders’ Maghreb office (Tunis); Peter Ganz, Vice President of Observatoire de la déontologie de l’information, a media watchdog, and representative of the international support committee for the accused (Paris); and Veronica Janssen, political adviser to the European Union delegation in Rabat. At the request of the judge, the defense committee handed a list of foreign observers’ names to the court.
Shortly before the hearing, the support committee organized a press conference at the headquarters of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) in Rabat. Two of the seven co-defendants, Mr. Monjib and Mr. Tarik Rachid spoke at the conference, along with Mr. Ganz, Ms. Kacha and Mr. Abderrahim Jamai.
Also present at the conference were representatives in Rabat of international news agencies (Agence France Press, Reuters, Associated Press and the EFE news agency) in addition to the Al-Jazeera network. The local press was conspicuously absent from the conference.
AMDH President Ahmed Al Haye read a statement to be addressed to Mr. David Kaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression.
In response to a question from the press about rumors that some defendants may have sought political asylum abroad, Maati Monjib said he could “understand why young people are losing confidence in the justice [system] of their
own country.”
During the hearing, the support committee organised a small demonstration in front of the court under pouring rain.

author: Advox


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Russian Censors Target Public Wi-Fi Spots in Crusade Against Blocked Websites · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Russian censors are inspecting public Wi-Fi zones too see if ISPs are blocking websites banned by the state. Images edited by Tetyana Lokot.
Russian censors have begun policing public wireless Internet in cafes, shopping malls and public libraries, in what they say is an effort to ensure ISPs are blocking websites that are officially banned in Russia.
Roscomnadzor, the Russian state communications regulator, intends to find out how stringently the Internet providers in places with free Wi-Fi comply with the state's demands to block certain websites and web pages, the agency's spokesman, Vadim Ampelonsky told Russian news outlet Izvestiya.”This is part of a planned effort to control how well communications providers adhere to the demands to block websites and webpages,” he said.
Under Russian law, all Internet service providers must comply with the state's banned websites registry, which is updated on a daily basis, and block access to all websites on the blacklist. Those who fail to do so in a timely manner face a fine of up to 40,000 rubles ($585).
The catch here is that the venues providing public Wi-Fi bear no responsibility in this regulatory scheme—it lies wholly with the Internet service providers. Cafes and other entities offering public Wi-Fi are simply customers of the ISP.
Some communications industry experts were baffled by the method Roscomnadzor had chosen to check for ISP compliance. Yuri Dombrovsky, President of the Association of regional communications operators, said in a comment to Izvestiya:
Зачем инспекторы Роскомнадзора ходят по кафе? Можно было попросить провайдеров сделать на их сайте форму, через которую можно было проверить, фильтрует ли оператор запрещенные сайты или нет.
Why are Roscomnadzor inspectors going from cafe to cafe? They could just ask the providers to put up a form on their website that you could use to check whether the ISP filters banned websites or not.
Although Roscomnadzor's policing efforts may seem like an unnecessarily circuitous approach to regulating Internet access in Russia, the Ministry of Communications is hard at work to get public urban venues to share at least some the burden.
One of the Ministry's new draft bills obligates venues with public Wi-Fi to require customers to provide their identification information before using their networks and is pushing to institute fines for venues that don't comply. User ID systems for public Wi-Fi use are in place in many countries around the world, so Russia's attempt at minimizing space for user anonymity is certainly not unprecedented in this respect. But the state's increasing efforts to police online content and anonymous access to the Web are contributing to a growing feeling of unease among Russian Internet users.
The Ministry of Communications also recently advocated increasing the fines for ISPs who fail to block banned sites: a new draft bill suggests that each banned link or IP-address that isn't blocked at the behest of the censors could cost the providers up to 100,000 rubles ($1,460).
Ampelonsky said the public spaces were intentionally selected so that an array of ISPs would be available for inspection. At the moment, over 400 public Wi-Fi zones have been inspected in the Central Federal District, encompassing Moscow and 17 other Russian regions. Roscomnadzor has reported 15 cases of violations after this round of inspections.
There are several ways online content can end up on the banned websites registry in Russia. Websites or web pages can be banned by a court order (for instance, for copyright violation). Sites can also be blocked if they are found to violate the law on protection of children “from harmful information.”
Several state agencies can contribute to the banned websites list as well: Roscomnadzor is in charge of finding illegal pornographic content online, the Federal Drug Control Service reports content about illegal drug distribution and propaganda, the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare can ban information contaning propaganda of suicide or otherwise harmful to children, and the Federal Tax Service is responsible for blocking gambling-related content. Finally, the General Prosecutor's Office can ban what it deems to be “extremist materials” online.
All the state agencies then send the URLs and IPs of the content deemed illegal to Roscomnadzor, which is in charge of the banned websites registry. Before a website is added to the blacklist, censors send a notice asking its owners to remove the offending content. If the website owners don't comply, the website is added to the blacklist and blocked by Russian ISPs.
However, not all ISPs block banned websites immediately, and some don't do it at all. In mid-February 2016, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was attending a meeting of the state cinematic council at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. During the meeting, Medvedev attempted to access the torrent website RuTracker.org (recently banned in perpetuity in Russia), using a public Wi-Fi at the film school, and was able to do so on first try.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Center for Monitoring Propaganda and Disinformation Online Set to Open in Russia · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The new center in Innopolis will monitor information threats on the Russian Internet. Images edited by Tetyana Lokot.
In December 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the Internet Economy Forum, where he suggested Russian federal security service and other state agencies should make “information threats” their top priority and seek out tools for monitoring such threats online.
Now, a new center for monitoring information attacks is set to be launched in Innopolis, a new Russian “smart city,” created as a satellite to Kazan, the capital of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan. The city’s economy is rooted in high-tech industry, so it's a no-brainer that Natalia Kasperskaya, CEO of InfoWatch and co-founder of the antivirus giant “Kaspersky Lab,” would launch her project there.
Kasperskaya told Vedomosti news outlet that the center is part of the response to Putin's suggestion to boost information security. Russia already has agencies that work to oppose and respond to cyberattacks, she says, but insists that her organization will be the first of its kind, monitoring and preventing information attacks online.
Kasperskays says she's currently looking for investors for the project, but acknowledges that at the outset it will function mostly with grant money and government funding, and will serve “state and public needs.”
The new monitoring center is the joint brainchild of Kasperskaya and Igor Ashmanov, CEO of “Ashmanov and partners,” a big player in the Russian media and communications market. Ashmanov defines information attacks as “propaganda campaigns, disinformation, fakes, and viral content” and believes this kind of activity to be political. The market for mitigating such attacks is virtually unclaimed in Russia, according to Ashmanov.
The partners envision that the center will monitor the web using technology developed by Kribrum—another joint project of Kasperskaya and Ashmanov. Kribrum‘s social media analytics and reputation management software can scrape online content and analyze it for sentiment and emotion. Ashmanov says its capabilities are sophisticated enough to be able to predict an information attack online as soon as it starts, as well as to spot its organizers. Most of the monitoring efforts will likely target the Russian social networks and blogosphere, where political debates and metaphorical “mud flinging” are the most active.
Russia has several legal provisions regulating information activity on the Internet, most of them pertaining to cybercrime: article 272 of the Criminal code defines illegal access to computer information; article 273 describes sanctions for “creating, using and distributing malicious computer software”; and article 274  outlines “violating the rules of using computers, computer systems or their networks.” Those who violate these regulations are subjected to an array of sanctions, depending on the severity of the crime: from fines and community labor to arrest and up to seven years of imprisonment.
At the start of March 2016, a Russian court in the city of Kurgan gave a a two-year prison sentence to an Internet user who was charged with orchestrating a DDoS-attack on the Kremlin's official website. The user allegedly admitted his crime, so his sentence was suspended.
Russian human rights NGO Agora reports that although content filtering and blocking remain the main tools of Russian Internet policy, they are largely regarded as ineffective due to the sheer volume of individual acts of censorship.
In an effort to more effectively suppress dissemination of information and free speech, the Russian authorities are attempting to increase the pressure on users—and this is where evidence from monitoring initiatives such as the one proposed by Kasperskaya and Ashmanov could be seen as useful, especially when charging Internet users with legal violations such as posting extremist materials. Agora notes that the increasingly real prison sentences handed down for liking and sharing information published on social media aim to intimidate users and deter them from discussing sensitive social and political issues online.


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Donald Trump’s Anti-Refugee Style of Politics Comes to Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Refugee groups in Hong Kong protest the newly implemented unified screening mechanism (USM) for being unfair. Photo: Refugee Union Hong Kong / Facebook
Ahead of Hong Kong's legislative election this September, the local government and pro-Beijing political parties are fanning prejudice against asylum seekers in a campaign strategy that mimics, some say, Donald Trump's presidential run in the United States.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying made anti-refugee sentiment a leading election issue this January, when he suggested in a speech that Hong Kong has the right to withdraw from the UN Convention Against Torture “if necessary.” Leung later praised the newspaper Oriental Daily, thanking it for covering the problem of “fake” refugees being smuggled into Hong Kong for economic purposes.
As of February 2016, there were more than 11,000 asylum applications submitted in Hong Kong. The logjam is largely the result of an appellate court ruling in 2013, which set a new “high standard of fairness” in the immigration review process. As a result, most preexisting applications had to be reprocessed under the newly introduced Unified Screening Mechanism (USM).
Local human rights groups and refugee groups slammed Leung's remarks, criticizing him strongly for warning against “fake” refugees, which activists say reinforces prejudices against asylum seekers. The Hong-Kong-based Human Rights Monitor suggested that Leung's comments about withdrawing from the Torture Convention are his “revenge” against the UN Committee Against Torture, which criticized Hong Kong's police actions against peaceful demonstrators during the two-month-long Occupy Central movement in 2014.
Despite the criticisms, former Security Secretary Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong (who today serves as a representative in China National People's Congress) has supported Leung, and is pushing to denounce the Torture Convention. Lee even submitted a proposal during the annual parliamentary meeting asking Beijing to exempt Hong Kong from the convention in March.
While Hong Kong is not a sovereign state and hence is in no position to withdraw from the convention, pro-government legislator Priscilla Leung suggested that the city could ask the central government to exempt Hong Kong from enacting the convention under the “One Country Two System” policy.
Meanwhile, two pro-establishment political parties (the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, as well as the Liberal Party) have begun advocating for the construction of closed refugee camp.
Dominic Lee, a young rising star of the Liberal Party planning to run for office this September, wrote on Facebook this week that he's got 108 banners against “fake refugees” ready to be hanged in the streets.
Dominic Lee's street banners. Photo: 李梓敬 / Facebook
The top banner above reads, “Among 8,000 applicants, only 40 cases have been established, which means 99 percent of the applicants were fake refugees. Build closed refugee camps ASAP and put a stop to fake refugees.”
The bottom banner above reads, “Did you know that, since 2009, there have been more than 3,800 cases of rape, drug dealing, and robbery involving [asylum] applicants? Build closed refugee camps ASAP and put a stop to fake refugees.”
Dominic Lee also leads the Alliance Demanding Repatriation of Refugees, which tracks serious and minor crimes allegedly committed by refugees in Hong Kong and around the world.
Michael Leung, a Master's student at Harvard Law School, writing in the independent online news outlet Hong Kong Free Press, criticized the “fake” refugee problem, calling the concerns “bigotry in disguise”:
Hong Kong’s low substantiation rate is not reflective of unworthy or “fake” refugees, but instead a product of the Immigration Department’s unreasonably high standards.  For example, Justice Centre Hong Kong, a refugee rights advocacy group, noted several rejected claims grounded in the government’s conclusion that that there is no risks in the country of origins, even though the rejected claimants are from countries flagged by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as countries of concern due to widespread conflicts and persecutions.
Journalist and TV talk show host Michael Chugani also shamed the pro-Beijing politicians for treating dark-skinned refugees like criminals who should be locked up. Chugani called it “the Trump Card,” referring to Donald Trump's controversial remarks in the US presidential race and immigration and asylum.
Victoria Wisniewski Otero, the advocacy and campaigns manager at Justice Centre Hong Kong, told Hong Kong Free Press that biased reporting by the mainstream media keeps society ignorant about asylum seekers.
The public tends to believe what they read in the media […] and the coverage has been mostly negative. Local people are not exposed to refugees in a micro-environment, and as a result these negative stereotypes are not dispelled. One common allegation is that the refugees are “fake”.
Local human rights activists, on the other hand, argue that Hong Kong's issues with the UN Torture Convention are a “fake issue.” Even outside this convention, activists say, the authorities still have international legal obligations to accept refugee claims under “fairness” principles. Perhaps even more importantly, China has weathered far more severe criticism about its human rights practices—including harsher criticism regarding torture—and yet it's never attempted to withdraw from the UN convention.


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#JusticeForTonu Goes Viral After Bangladeshi College Student’s Rape and Murder · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Banner asking for Justice for Tonu. Courtesy Justice for Tonu Facebook page.
Recent years have seen a worrying increase in the number of rape cases in Bangladesh. This year the trend continues and Bangladeshis are showing their outrage at the recent rape and brutal murder of a 19-year-old female college student in Bangladesh.
The body of Sohagi Jahan Tonu, a second-year student of Victoria College, was recovered with her head smashed from the area surrounding a military barracks in the eastern city of Comilla. Protests demanding a swift investigation and timely justice for Tonu are spreading fast within Comilla and elsewhere in Bangladesh.
#JusticeForTonu pic.twitter.com/QBacQkF4if
— KAMRUL HASAN (@KamrulTushar) March 24, 2016
Most people that live in the area where Sohagi was found dead are military personnel and army administrative staff.
Such areas, called ‘cantonments’ are considered secure areas as there are check posts that restrict public movement within them.
Sohagi was a second-year student of the History department at Comilla Victoria College and an active member of the college theatre.
She worked part-time as a private tutor to finance living costs and her studies. She went to one of her student’s houses on the afternoon of March 20 and did not return home.
Her relatives went out looking for her and recovered her body from a bush inside the cantonment the next day.
On March 24, a post-mortem examination report confirmed she had been killed post-rape. Police do not have any suspects.
Despite the fact Tonu's death had already become a national talking point by March 22, media kept strangely silent on the issue until March 24 when mass protests began rippling across the country.
According to activists the army has requested that no protest be initiated within the confines of the cantonment.
On Facebook and Twitter, people have questioned how such an incident could occur in the area:
#JusticeForTonu
if these types of incident happened in #comilla_cant_area thn it means girls r not safe anywhere 😞😞😞 pic.twitter.com/hYYVVVH7ma
— Nifat (@Nifat) March 24, 2016
Shimana Rahman Anchal, the daughter of an army officer who has spent her whole life in different cantonments, had this to say:
ক্যন্টনমেন্ট এ বাইরের মানুষের ঢুকতে পরিচয় ও সাথে যোক্তিক কারন দেওয়া লাগে। এতে মানুষ বিরক্তও হয় কিন্তু এগুলা নিরাপত্তার জন্যই করা হয়। সেখানে বাইরের থেকে কেউ এসে ক্যন্টনমেন্টের ভিতরে কোন মেয়েকে রেপ করে হত্যা করার মত অসাধ্য সাধন করা কারো পক্ষ্যেই সম্ভব না। মানুষ তো এত বোকা না। সবাই বুঝতেসে এটা ভিতরের কারোরই কাজ। ফুল প্ল্যানিং এর মাধ্যমে করা এই হত্যা একটা পরিবারকে ধংস করে দিল। আর যদি এটা কোন সিভিলিয়ান করে তাইলে কোথায় ক্যান্টনমেন্টের নিরাপত্তা। #justiceforTonu
When someone who lives outside the cantonment wants to enter the premises they need to provide their ID and the reason for entry. Visitors feel uncomfortable but this but it is done for the sake of security inside the cantonment. In this context it is very hard for someone from outside the cantonment to enter and rape someone. People are assuming this was done by someone who lives inside the cantonment. This planned murder has destroyed a family. If it was done by someone from outside then what can be said about security at the cantonment?
Social media posts featuring pictures of Tonu and of the protest went viral, with many of the users posting under the hashtag #Justicefortonu raising concerns that mainstream media was not covering the incident.
Facebook user Only Turag writes:
Sohagi Jahan Tonu is raped & killed yesterday ! She is not the first! There were more before her! There will be more after her!
May be that will be you.. Or your sister.. Or your daughter.. Your mother.. Your wife!
If not for her, stand for yourself!
Stand for #JusticeforTonu
Netizens have also pointed out that a woman's choice of dress is often cited as a cause of rape in the strongly conservative country.
But Tonu wore a hijab (locally ‘hizab’), often considered as a safeguard against violence in Bangladesh.
pic.twitter.com/HmgfxCGLpx When your hizab can't ever protect you….!!!!!#shameonoursociety #JusticeForTonu
— শান্তা (@rnshanta) March 24, 2016
The maximum punishment for rape in Bangladesh is life imprisonment while murder is punished with death by hanging.
Throughout the week, students and cultural activists in Comilla held rallies and stood in human chains, participated in protest marches and even demonstrated by blocking the interstate highway.
On Wednesday, protesters threatened to bring the city to standstill if authorities did not meet a 48-hour deadline to arrest the culprits, while thousands of residents of Comilla staged demonstrations in the city center.
Young girl raped & brutally murdered inside #Bangladesh Army barracks. Mass protests take place throughout #Bangladesh. #JusticeForTonu
— Bangladesh Blogger (@bangladeshblog) March 24, 2016
Meanwhile, many people agree with the sentiments of Facebook user Dibyo Tantrik, who accused the government of “buying time” in their delayed response to the incident.
The slow reaction to the rape and murder makes staging protests all the more important, demonstrators say.
Ganajagaran Mancha, a platform that came out of the Shahbagh protests, held a rally at Dhaka’s Shahbagh intersection demanding justice.
Additionally, several organisations including Nari Sanghati, Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation also held protest events.
This issue runs deeper than one isolated incident. It's time we address it #JusticeForTonu https://t.co/aMu44JMb7S pic.twitter.com/lsuCA85a6f
— Sohana Alim (@sohanaalim) March 24, 2016
According to Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA) statistics, at least 241 rape incidents were reported between January and May in 2015.
The organisation said the incidence of rape has been rising since 2010.
BNWLA statistics showed 789 rapes reported in 2014, 719 in 2013, 836 in 2012, 603 in 2011 and 411 in 2010.
Last year 85 indigenous women and children were sexually abused, according to Bangladesh indigenous human rights report.
#JusticeForTonu and all women in #Bangladesh who are victims of violence. pic.twitter.com/vW6KRKKEzf
— Chaumtoli Huq (@lawatmargins) March 24, 2016

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


text:
This Easter, the Pardonometer Is Taking on an Old Tradition in Spain · Global Voices
Francisco J. Jariego

Civio Citizens Foundation: ‘BYE OBSCURITY, HELLO DEMOCRACY’ – Data for a more transparent democracy. Image used under Creative Commons License.
Following discussions with the Spanish Cabinet, the King of Spain approved 13 official pardons nominated by religious brotherhoods and associations. Every year, the Easter Pardon happens and every year they are cloaked in secrecy. But not this time.
Civio Citizens Foundation, an organisation that works in favour of transparency and open data, decided to remedy this situation with the Pardonometer.
This year, for the first time, the government supplied the details of the pardons granted: 11 convictions for public health offences, one for robbery and another for ongoing fraud. Every one of the decrees includes data about the case history, the approval of the victims of the crime, and prison reports, although the government has yet to clarify whether sentencing courts are in favour of the measure or not.
Many Spanish judges think that the pardon is unjustified in a modern legal system, and should be fundamentally reformed, if not abolished altogether.
The law that regulates the pardon in Spain dates to June 1870. The tradition of the Easter Pardon goes back to the reign of King Carlos III and has remained firmly rooted to this day, regardless of the political system in power. The government of José María Aznar granted nearly 6,000 pardons. Zapatero's government granted over 3,000. The current acting government of Mariano Rajoy has granted over 400 pardons in the first 11 months, and is on track to grant a total of around 1000.
En #ElBOEnuestro: el Gobierno indulta por Semana Santa a un hombre que estafó durante años a su socio→ https://t.co/w8fjtn9Giy
— Fundación Civio (@civio) March 19, 2016
In #OurDailyStateGazette: the government grants Easter Pardon to a man who swindled his business for two years.
— Civio Citizens Foundation (@civio)
The pardon implies acquittal of the sentence, not forgiveness of the crime. The law maintains that a pardon must not affect the rights of others, and that it will be granted only for purposes of justice, equality or public interest, at the judgement of the sentencing court. In theory, the pardon serves a legitimate purpose when awarded for liberal reasons or good conscience.
The problem is that many of the cases that have come to light in Spain have provoked a notable public unrest, for controversial “VIP treatment.”
In 1998, the brother of the then Minister of Transport Gabriel Arias-Salgado was pardoned. That same year, two socialist politicians, José Barrionuevo and Rafael Vera, were pardoned for their involvement with the Antiterrorist Liberation Group, a paramilitary group that was accused of state terrorism. In 2000, more than 1,300 prisoners were released from prison thanks to a mass pardon awarded on the occasion of the millennium and the Great Jubilee (a year-long Catholic celebration of the mercy of God and forgiveness of sins). In 2011, the pardon allowed Alfredo Sáenz, convicted of indictment and false information, to maintain his honour and moral standing, which would enable him to continue in his role in the Spanish financial sector.
The Pardonometer is a Civio Foundation project, launched in 2013. It has become the primary source of information about use of the Easter Pardon in Spain. The project has made it possible to consult all pardons awarded in Spain since 1996, via a web application that obtains the information directly from Boletín Oficial del Estado (Official State Gazette). Searches can be filtered by type of offence or autonomous community- the geographical ‘states’ of Spain which have a certain amount of autonomous power form the central government- and data can be compared year by year to assess how differently governments have made use of the pardon.
Moreover, social and media pressures are taking effect, and the number of pardons granted has begun to fall significantly in Spain. The peak of 1,744 pardons awarded in 2000 has dropped to just 75 pardons in 2015 – the lowest number since 1996, representing an fall in the average “from one and a half pardons a day to one and a half pardons a week.”
The Pardonometer: Over 10000 pardons since 1996  [above – The Pardonometer was introduced in 2013].
The Pardonometer is just one of the initiatives of the Civio Foundation. The aim of Civio is to achieve real and effective transparency, with free access to public data/information for any citizen or organisation. Its work has been recognised as one of the best practical applications of two trends that are often heard about: the use of open data and data journalism.
Projects from the Civio Foundation such as El BOE nuestro de cada día [Our Daily BOE], ¿Dónde van mis impuestos? [Where do my taxes go?], Tu derecho a saber [Your right to know], Quien manda [Who's in charge] or the Pardonometer look set to make the greater transparency that citizens demand from our elected officials a reality. With today's technology, this seems all the more possible. For even greater transparency, the applications for all these Civio projects are available as “open-source model” projects on the Github platform.
In Easter Week we remember the famous story of Pontius Pilate forgiving Barrabas. With data from the Civio Citizens Foundation's Pardonometer, it is no longer so easy to simply wash ones hands of responsibility.

author: Francisco J. Jariego


text:
Your Guide to Understanding Brazil’s Political Crisis · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

Half a million anti-government protesters are said to turn out in São Paulo. March 13, 2015. Photo: Radio Interativa / CC 2.0.
Brazil has gone into a freefall in the past three weeks, with events unfolding so quickly that spending so much as a moment offline risks missing out the latest explosive news.
The turbulence started earlier this month when federal police brought in Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president between 2003 and 2010, for questioning. Next, sitting president Dilma Rouseff appointed Lula her chief of staff, in what appears to be a move to shield him against prosecution.
“Operation Lava Jato”—a wide-ranging investigation into a graft scheme involving the state-run oil company Petrobras and several large construction companies—has led to the arrests of more than a dozen politicians since 2014. Now prosecutors are investigating whether Lula received favors from the companies implicated in the scheme. After his arrest on March 4, Lula was released without formal charges.
Following Lula’s appointment, Sergio Moro, the judge in charge of Operation Lava Jato (“Lava Jato” means “Car Wash”), released to the public nearly 50 tapes of phone conversations between Lula and his allies. The most explosive of these records is a phone call with Dilma that took place only hours before the tapes were released. In the call, the president offered to send Lula a copy of his appointment “in case of necessity,” which some have interpreted to mean “in case he needed it to avoid arrest.” Another tape shows Lula attempting to influence Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber.
Judge Moro has become a central public figure in Brazil and many speak of him as a folk hero. Others, however, accuse him of partisanship, questioning whether he crossed a line by releasing the tapes.
Making Judge Moro into an idol contradicts a virtue he's supposed to represent: the impersonality of institutions. pic.twitter.com/UdZaslh68M
— Alex Cuadros (@alexcuadros) March 4, 2016
Internet users found the social media accounts of one of the judges who filed a motion against Lula's appointment. He deleted the accounts, but screenshots of his posts supporting anti-government protests spread quickly online. Image: Facebook (widely circulated)
Lula's appointment has also prompted a judicial war, with the Supreme Court receiving 13 motions to revoke his nomination. One of the judges who filed a motion gained fame online after Internet users found social media accounts where he had posted photos of himself attending an anti-government rally and speaking openly against the Workers’ Party (the party of Dilma and Lula). A preliminary ruling by Brazil's Supreme Court has frozen Lula's nomination. A final decision on his appointment is expected next week.
Dilma Rouseff hasn’t been officially implicated in Operation Lava Jato, but the Brazilian National Congress has opened impeachment proceedings against her, on the grounds that she manipulated government accounts to hide a growing deficit. There's no consensus that this constitutes a legal basis on which to impeach a president, and many accuse Congress of using the country's current political turmoil to pursue partisan aims.
Simultaneously, Brazil’s electoral court will soon issue a ruling about possible irregularities in Dilma's 2010 and 2014 election campaigns. A ruling against Dilma would unseat her and her vice president, forcing new snap elections.
One of the most comprehensive corruption investigations in Brazilian history, Operation Lava Jato started in 2009 as a probe into a money-laundering scheme involving a local politician from Paraná, a state in the south of Brazil. By 2014, the investigation had uncovered a massive corruption scandal within Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, involving politicians from numerous parties and the country’s biggest construction companies.
Under the scheme, top Petrobras officials and a cartel of companies conspired to overcharge the oil company for construction and service work. The extra cash benefited companies and Petrobras executives, who often shared the money with lobbyists and political figures (to whom many Petrobras executives owe their jobs). The company has had 10 billion dollars in financial losses because of the scheme, according to estimates by the Federal Police. So far, 93 people have been condemned in the investigation, including high-profile politicians and owners of construction companies.
Lula speaks to a crowd of 100,000 people in São Paulo on March 18. Photo: Agência Brasil, CC 3.0.
Construction companies implicated in the Petrobras corruption scheme have renovated two properties allegedly owned by Lula: a beachfront apartment and a country retreat. Both pieces of real estate are registered under the names of personal friends, but investigators found evidence suggesting that Lula and his family are effectively the properties’ occupants. The companies also gave donations to Lula's foundation and also sponsored lectures. Lula vehemently denies any wrongdoing. Prosecutors have yet to prove a definite quid pro quo between favors he received and contracts with Petrobras.
Judge Sergio Moro, in charge of Operation Lava Jato (“Car Wash”). Image: vejapontocom / YouTube
Moro argues that his decision not to keep the tapes secret was motivated by the public interest, saying, “Democracy in a free society calls for those who are ruled to be aware of what rulers do, even when they seek to act protected by the veil of shadows.” Several legal experts, however, say wiretaps should only serve a judicial process, and that they don't constitute an end in itself. Justice Teori Zavascki has supported Moro's critics, arguing that the investigation against Lula should fall under the Supreme Court's jurisdiction.
Activists planted a banner outside Justice Teori Zavazcki house's, calling him a “traitor,” following his decision to bring all investigations on Lula to the Supreme Court. Photo: Vem Pra Rua / Facebook
It's also unclear if Moro had the right to release a call that included Brazil's president, given that only the Supreme Court has the authority to try the head of state and their cabinet ministers, in what is call a “privileged forum.”
To make matters even more complicated, the call between Lula and Dilma was intercepted a few hours after the wiretap was formally suspended. Some IT experts have said that, since all interceptions and recordings are made by telecom operators, there is always a delay between a court ruling and the actual suspension. But many are now wondering if, in the event of a Supreme Court trial, the recordings will stand as legal evidence.
More than 30 motions for impeachment have been filed to the Lower House of Congress over the past year, but it was only last week—amid the chaos surrounding Lula's nomination as chief of staff—that a plenary session finally approved one.
The motion accuses Dilma of fiscal dishonesty to hide a growing deficit in the public budget. She denies any wrongdoing and lawyers say the charge isn't sufficient grounds to impeach a sitting president. Dilma herself has referred to the move as a coup attempt.
Members of Congress advocate impeachment at a special House session. Photo: Antonio Cruz / Agência Brasil / CC 3.0.
The impeachment will possibly go to a vote in mid-April. If two thirds of the House vote in favor, the motion is forwarded to the Senate. It's unclear whether Dilma will survive impeachment. An important development is whether the PMDB, the largest party in both houses, will break with President Rousseff's party. (PMDB is the party of Michel Temer, Brazil's vice president, who will take office if Dilma is ousted).
A smaller group of lawmakers has been pushing an alternative proposal: a recall vote on Dilma's mandate. Such a vote would first require an amendment to Brazil's Constitution (a lengthy process), as there is no current legal framework for recalling the president by popular vote. Proponents of this “middle way” argue that impeachment lacks a legal basis and Congress cannot oust a president just because she's unpopular—but the public could take that prerogative, they say.
A photo of a white couple accompanied by a black nanny at the March 13 protest made the rounds online as a “symbol” of the upper middle-class Brazilians who dislike Dilma's political party. But the nanny told a local paper afterwards that she, too, voted against Dilma's party in the past two elections. Photo: widely circulated on social media
The current government's supporters tend to say that critics of Dilma's political party, the Workers’ Party, belong to the white, wealthier, upper-middle class. Some studies partly support this notion, but there's also strong evidence that the anti-government and pro-government groups are only slightly different.
According to a survey carried out by the Datafolha Research Institute at two recent protests in São Paulo (one pro-government and the other against), anti-government demonstrators were 13 percent more likely to earn above US$27,600 annually. Anti-government demonstrators were also less likely to be civil servants, and more likely to own their own businesses.
But at both rallies, nearly 80 percent of demonstrators were university graduates (in a city were only 28 per cent of the population finished college) and more than half earned above $15,600 a year (while only 23 per cent of São Paulo makes that much).
All in all, it shows most people going to streets belong to the middle-class. But as the national crisis drags on, the two groups appear to be increasingly polarized. This is perhaps the most worrying trend of all.

author: Taisa Sganzerla


text:
Blood Donors Crowd Lahore Hospitals Following Devastating Park Bombing on Easter Sunday · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

Widely circulated on social media.
Thousands lined up to donate blood at hospitals in Pakistan's second largest city Lahore after a bombing at a popular children's park in the Iqbal Town neighborhood.
At least 70 people were killed and over 250 injured at Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park. Most of the victims of the bombing are women and children.
The devastating attack took place a few meters away from a children's playground, at a time when the park was crowded with women and children celebrating Easter Sunday.
Lahore-based Journalist Rabia Mehmood, who has compiled one of the most comprehensive reports on religious persecution and violence against minorities in Pakistan, tweeted:
#Christians were targeted in two #suicidebombings at #Youhanabad #churches in March 2015, & now on #Easter. #Lahore #Pakistan
— Rabia Mehmood (@Rabail26) March 27, 2016
Following the attack, scores of citizens began coordinating efforts to donate blood and provide support to the families of the victims.
I love you Lahore. pic.twitter.com/6j4AAyjgeM
— Nadia Jamil (@NJLahori) March 27, 2016
Dubai-based Pakistani Anthony Permal, who used to blog under the name Digital Christ, posted on Facebook:
It is easy to hate. They want us to hate. But the terrorist have lost. You know how I know?
Because right now thousands of Lahori men and women are queueing up outside hospitals to donate blood. Tonight, Muslim blood will flow through Christian bodies. And vice versa. You see, in hurting us, you united us. Thank you. #LahoreStrong
Careem, a local on-demand taxi service, are offering free transport to the hospital for anyone willing to donate blood.
Free Transport to Donors #Lahore. Careem offering free car rides to all those going to donate blood. 042-35909393 pic.twitter.com/gI8dmS1vfQ
— Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) March 27, 2016
Dawn, one of Pakistan's most popular news sites, also tweeted urging people to donate blood.
#LAHORE REQUEST FOR BLOOD DONATION
Jinnah Hospital is running short of blood. Blood donations are required urgently.
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) March 27, 2016
And activists stepped up to coordinate efforts online:
If you want to coordinate efforts to help the victims of #LahoreBlast, plz fill out this Google form & share widely https://t.co/1cwHODyer2
— Nuzhat S. Siddiqi (@guldaar) March 27, 2016
The activists behind the form will focus “on providing food, medicine, wheelchairs/crutches or funeral services for those who cannot afford them for their loved ones.”
Meanwhile, seven hours after the bombing, Pakistani activist Jibran Nasir, who has over 70,000 Facebook followers and ran as an independent candidate in Pakistan's 2013 elections, tweeted:
3:00am Lahore Hospitals still crowded with blood donors. This is what makes us Pakistan. This is what gives us hope, keeps us going #YouLost
— Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) March 27, 2016
On his Facebook page he added a note to this tweet:
Note: This status in no way intends to belittle the loss of precious lives today. I am also not implying that the sudden and tragic loss of lives today was meant to be a sacrifice in the War against terror. Those people didn't want to die and they deserved a peaceful and secure life. I am only acknowledging the response and unity shown today by the people of Lahore who are helping out regardless of religion/sects beings humans first.
Pakistan Taliban splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack. A spokesperson from the group told Pakistan's English language newspaper Express Tribune, “We claim responsibility for the attack on Christians as they were celebrating Easter.”
Pakistan has been fighting Taliban-related violence and criminal gang activity for nine years.
While Lahore was dealing with the aftermath of the bombing, in the capital, Islamabad, police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters who marched in support of Islamist gunman Mumtaz Qadri. Qadri was hanged last month for murdering Punjab governor Salman Taseer five years ago. Taseer had defended a Christian woman jailed on blasphemy charges. Pakistani human rights advocates say that Pakistan's blasphemy law is overwhelmingly abused to target Christians.
Fanatics marauding #Islamabad, jihadists raining death on #Lahore; #Pakistan remains under siege from within pic.twitter.com/ucPAbmhZkY
— Mohammad Taqi (@mazdaki) March 27, 2016
Lawyer and digital rights activist, Nighat Dad, who lives near the children's park, described scenes of loss, anger and mourning in Lahore, Pakistan's second biggest city known as the City of Gardens.
“Stay strong” “We are resilient” “We will go through this” All sound shallow..seems there is no end to madness #lahoreblast
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) March 27, 2016
US-based American-Pakistani columnist Rafia Zakaria tweeted:
In Lahore children playing in a park targeted, they have run out of ambulances, over 50 are dead, many dying at the scene #jesuislahore
— Rafia Zakaria (@rafiazakaria) March 27, 2016
And Pakistani actress and popular talk show host Nadia Jamil shared an image with one of the victims:
I keep remembering his smile.
It keeps coming back to me.
Oh My wonderful loving gallant friend.
RIP Nomi❤#Lahore💔 pic.twitter.com/zr6cTZBPbo
— Nadia Jamil (@NJLahori) March 27, 2016
Human rights lawyer Mahnoor Rathore wrote:
I hear the death toll rise and the number of injured increase on the television and as I type this post, I am not sure of what to do, where to start, where to head out? Is there even a place where I can start? There are going to be talk shows on this for the next ten days, media will exploit the loss and pain of the shattered families, the government will give out blood money- compensating the loss and saving its face.

author: Sana Saleem


text:
Online Campaign Tells Australia “Hands Off Timor’s Oil” as Thousands March in Dili · Global Voices
Dalia

Demonstrators protest in front of the Australian Embassy in Dili, Timor-Leste. Photo: Acácio Pinto, authorized publication
This is an edited article based on a story written by Dalia Kiakilir and published on Global Voices Portuguese.
More than 6,000 Timor-Leste citizens poured into the streets of the capital Dili on March 22 in protest against Australia's rejection of the demand of the Timorese government to return to the negotiating table in order to reset the median line delimiting the maritime boundaries between the two countries. An online protest was also launched to gather global support for Timor-Leste.
Timor-Leste was a colony of Portugal for 400 years. In 1975, it was invaded by Indonesia. The occupation ended in 1999 although it became an independent nation only in 2002. Australia is accused of expanding its maritime territories while Timor-Leste was still struggling for its independence.
While the maritime border issue persists, Australia continues to earn revenues from the natural resources of the Timor Sea.
Timor-Leste Prime Minister Rui Araújo urges Australia to follow international law:
Para o povo de Timor-Leste garantir as fronteiras marítimas permanentes é a continuação da nossa longa luta pela Independência e plena soberania. Aliás, pedimos nada mais do que aquilo a que temos direito, de acordo com o direito internacional.
For the people of Timor-Leste ensuring permanent maritime boundaries is a continuation of our long struggle for independence and full sovereignty. In fact, we ask nothing more than that to which we are entitled, in accordance with international law.
This video below shows the rally organized by the Movimentu Kontra Okupasaun Tasi Timor (Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea or MKOTT):
The rally was also documented by the Audiovisual Archive Centre Max Stahl (CPA). It reported that many participants of the rally were veterans of the independence movement:
Representatives of all Timor major political parties and representatives of international solidarity with Timor cause, Students and Veterans, declared the struggle for internationally recognized maritime frontiers is now a continuation of the 24 year long war for full independence of Timor terrestrial and maritime territory.
Meanwhile, the ETAN (East Timor Action Network)  organized an online protest asking Internet users to share photos expressing support to Timor-Leste by using the following hashtags: #medianlinenow or #HandsOffTimorsOil. The protest quickly spread to many countries. Below are some examples of the solidarity protests across the globe:
Justice for Timor- Australia #medianlinenow #HandsOffTimorsOil @TurnbullMalcolmhttps://t.co/vFhctMlgQp pic.twitter.com/yyz6p6ieqW
— ETAN (@etan009) March 22, 2016
Now's the time! Australia #medianlinenow #HandsOffTimorsOil @TurnbullMalcolm https://t.co/brjMzIR5eJ pic.twitter.com/NkzIvSRsYQ
— ETAN (@etan009) March 25, 2016
#medianlinenow #HandsOffTimorsOil @TurnbullMalcolm https://t.co/NkaYZIu1Lu pic.twitter.com/sFQYLIHpsR
— ETAN (@etan009) March 25, 2016
Australia #medianlinenow #HandsOffTimorsOil @TurnbullMalcolm https://t.co/C20tStuA0q #TimorLeste pic.twitter.com/dTXLJ11C0Y
— ETAN (@etan009) March 25, 2016
Justice: Australia #medianlinenow #HandsOffTimorsOil @TurnbullMalcolmhttps://t.co/j4jeZvim0d pic.twitter.com/umqv77b5FU
— ETAN (@etan009) March 23, 2016

author: Dalia


text:
In Spring Welcome, Giant Penises Parade Streets of Japan · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Transporting a sleeping deity to meet his female consort. Every year on March 15, coinciding with the vernal equinox, the Hōnen Festival is held at Tagata Shrine in Komaki. Image from  YouTube user 谷古宇正信.
In the Christian tradition, Easter marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Some scholars say the holiday, which falls around the spring equinox, has some pagan or pre-Christian influences. For example, in some Western countries the Easter holiday is represented by colored eggs and rabbits—both symbols of fertility and the promise of rebirth in spring— that were used by ancient Saxons in Northern Europe, while they worshiped the Goddess Oestre (or Eostre).
Some regions of Japan also mark the start of spring with a fertility festival.
A photo posted by @yoshimi1204 on
At Tagata Shrine (田縣神社, Tagata Jinja), in Komaki, just north of Nagoya in central Japan, the symbolism is stark; there is no beating around the bush, as prayers for fertility and bountiful harvests in the coming year are represented by a large wooden phallus.
A video posted by AZ (@az___s) on
Every year on March 15, coinciding with the vernal equinox, the Hōnen Festival is held at Tagata Shrine in Komaki. A sleeping male god, Takeinadane, is brought to visit a sleeping female deity, Tamahime-no-mikoto (both dieties reside at their own shrines in the neighborhood).
The festival includes a variety of wooden phalluses, some borne by members of the procession, others sold as trinkets or snacks.
A photo posted by JAPAN 🇯🇵 大渡 ジョニー (@japan_gram) on
The annual fertility festival attracts crowds of locals and tourists.
A photo posted by @mie0818 on
The deities meet at Tagata Shrine in Komaki, and are delivered by mikoshi portable shrines.
Originally Takeinade, the male deity, was represented by a straw effigy with a small wooden phallus. Over time, as the festival evolved Takeneinade and his wooden phallus were obscured inside the mikoshi portable shrine.
Because of this, the wooden phallus has grown over time, as it is replaced each year, so that it is now about 2.5 meters (13 feet) long and weighs 280 kilograms (620 pounds).
A video posted by suzuki (@suzkoz) on
Once at Tagata Shrine, the two gods are awakened and Takeinadane is enshrined at Tagata Shrine for another year.
A photo posted by @momma_michiquita on
Tamahime-no-mikoto is returned to her home at Ogata Shrine just up the road.
A photo posted by Cleiton Fujimura (@cleitoninjapan) on
You can explore the Honen Festival on Instagram and Twitter using the hashtags #tagatashrine, #田県神社 and #豊年祭.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
March 2016 Marks a Time of Change and Rage for Japanese Television Broadcasting · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Kishii, Tahara, Torigoe, Otani & Aoki: “Japan's Journalists Speak Out.” Screencap from FCCJ YouTube Channel.
A group of Japanese broadcasters is speaking out about what they say is efforts by the government to restrict press freedoms in Japan.
On Thursday, March 24th, five prominent Japanese television broadcasters, Kishii Shigetada (News 23, TBS), Tahara Sochiro Tahara (TV Asahi's Sunday Project), Torigoe Shuntaro (a veteran broadcaster and cancer survivor), Kanehira Shigenori (TBS), Otani Akihiro (a freelance televison journalist) and Aoki Osamu (a journalist and television commentator) participated in a press conference and panel discussion at the Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan (FCCJ) in Tokyo.
The press conference, with English-language captions, can be viewed here.
Their concern was triggered by an announcement in February in Japan's parliament by Japan's minister Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Takaichi Sanae that the government can order broadcasters to suspend operations if they air TV programming that is deemed politically biased.
Japanese journalists allege government pressure on media @AP https://t.co/5GRmLQQw7X
— Mari Yamaguchi｜山口真理 (@mariyamaguchi) March 24, 2016
According to David McNeill, a journalist who covers Japan on behalf of the Irish Times, Independent and The Economist, Takaichi's comments triggered fears about “what appears to be a sustained government attack on the country's remaining critical media”.
The foreign press in Japan, including the FCCJ, has long provided a public forum to facilitate discussion of Japan's media landscape.
For example, one Japanese Twitter user re-Tweeted a cartoon by David Simonds that appeared in the Economist and that has been widely shared on social media:
今の安倍政治を物語ってるね！
良い風刺画だ！#アベ政治を許さない#電波停止発言#反自民#戦争法廃止 pic.twitter.com/A1DiGRQJhe
— 国民連合政府支持@アベ政治を許さない (@yokohamarengouk) February 15, 2016
This really tells the story of the Abe government, doesn't it?
In the cartoon, Japanese Prime Minister Abe appears to be sitting enthroned on the backs of the media.
The March 24th FCCJ press conference addressed Minister Takaichi's remarks amidst perceptions of declining press freedom in Japan.
The group of five journalists had already been speaking out against the communications minister's remarks.
燃料投下にしか見えませんがな…　#電波停止発言 pic.twitter.com/1B6mv2ZG5S
— 魚の目 (@do9ringo90) February 29, 2016
[Banner reads] “I AM ANGRY! Minister Takaichi's remarks about shutting down broadcasters is against the spirit of the Japanese Constitution and Japan's broadcasting laws.”
Just adding fuel to the fire, I think…
For the last several years there have been rumors that the Abe government is pressuring Japan's national broadcasters to mute criticism and remove outspoken television personalities.
After veteran Mainichi News journalist and TBS commentator Kishii Shigetada criticized the Abe government's controversial security legislation last year, conservatives took out newspaper ads accusing Kishii of violating Japan's broadcast laws. Kishii announced he would step down from his work as a commentator on TBS's News 23 program, but would still continue to comment on government policy.
TV Asahi news anchor and popular Japanese television personality Furutachi Ichiro will also step down in April following rumors of political interference. Furutachi has anchored late-night newscast Hodo Station on Asahi Television for 12 years.
Furutachi, a loquacious and opinionated television commentator who is well-known for his florid, colourful and erudite delivery, is not leaving without a fight.
In a recent segment on his program News Station (報道ステーション, Hodo Station), Furutachi fired a parting cannonball at Minister Takaichi:
報道ステーション、明日も「電波停止」発言の追及お願いします（^人^）#tvasahi #電波停止発言#木村草太#報道ステーション pic.twitter.com/QWRkAcy9fL
— 国民連合政府支持@アベ政治を許さない (@yokohamarengouk) February 15, 2016
I hope News Station lays into Takachi Sanae again tomorrow night!
In fact, in his final month on air Furutachi has compared Abe to Hitler and Japan to the Weimar Republic.
Prime Minister Abe has publicly contemplated unilaterally revising Japan's post-War “peace” Constitution should his government achieve a parliamentary supermajority in elections scheduled for summer 2016.
ワイマール憲法から学ぶ自民党憲法草案緊急事態条項の危うさ! 　報道ステーション　古舘伊知郎　消される前にどうぞ。　https://t.co/2rbhw4PDo4　#フォーラム4 #クロス　#リテラシー　#戦争法案 #SEALDs pic.twitter.com/VAeowxeo27
— seiji82原発は人類最大の環境破壊! (@seiji82nonukes) March 21, 2016
Learn the lessons from the Weimar Republic and understand the danger of revising Japan's Constitution! Here's one last broadside from Furutachi Ichiro before he vanishes from the airwaves.
古舘伊知郎がテレビニュースの歴史に名を刻んだ傑作。→［報道ステーション］ワイマール憲法から学ぶ自民党憲法草案緊急事態条項の危うさ （文字起こし）【全編】 https://t.co/leMmbK34nw @raymiyatake pic.twitter.com/5jpo574SpZ
— 宮武嶺 (@raymiyatake) March 27, 2016
[Video caption, top right] How are dictatorships born? [Bottom] There is no other way forward.
This will go down in history as Furutachi Ichiro's masterpiece!
March 2016 marks a time of change for Japanese television broadcasting. Kuniya Hiroko, a highly regarded broadcaster was also forced out of her long-running show Close-up Gendai this past month.
Sad: Last show of Close-up Gendai, one of too few quality Japanese TV programs, with excellent anchor Hiroko Kuniya pic.twitter.com/pHjhm6rBe2
— SoBlaschke (@SoBlaschke) March 17, 2016
Appearing every evening on national broadcaster NHK, Close-up Gendai was long regarded as one of Japan's best news programs.
With Kuniya gone, NHK has decided to take the show in a different direction.
After pushing aside hard-hitting anchor Hiroko Kuniya @nhk softens “Closeup Gendai.” https://t.co/JPoooSBj9Z #Japan pic.twitter.com/uUYYDIpEBG
— Steven L Herman (@W7VOA) March 25, 2016


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The Week That Was at Global Voices Podcast: The Elephant in the Room · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

In this edition we take you to Somalia, Japan, China, Pakistan and Cuba.
First up, we tell you a story about a lone elephant Morgan who trekked 137 miles from Kenya and how that might be a sign of hope for war-torn Somalia.
Next we bring you a story brought to us by our Japan editor Nevin Thompson about a project mapping the last movements of victims of the 2011 Tsunami. After that we move on to Pakistan, where we talk about a happy ending to a five-year-long story of kidnapping, separation and uncertainty.
In China, we tell you about Internet users having nothing but sarcasm for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, after he uploaded a photo — to his Facebook account– jogging past Beijing's Forbidden City. Our Northeast Asia editor Oiwan Lam brought our attention to this story.
We end the episode with an interview with Ellery Roberts Biddle, director of our Advocacy project, about US President Obama's visit to Cuba last week. It was the first visit by a sitting US president since 1928.
In this episode of the Week that Was at Global Voices, we featured Creative Commons licensed music from the Free Music Archive, including Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0); Mexico by Jimmy Pe (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0); Elephant Walk by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0); Skeptic by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0); Falcon Hood (Tight) by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0); and De Cuba by SONGO 21 (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
The Week That Was podcast is hosted by Global Voices News Editor Lauren Finch and me — Managing Editor at Global Voices. Expect to hear our voices again in two weeks.
Image used in Soundcloud thumbnail: Elephant by Flick user Pauline Guilmot. Taken on June 15, 2014. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


text:
Can Low-Income Housing in the US Be Energy Efficient and Affordable? · Global Voices
Ensia

Virginia Supportive Housing's South Bay Apartments provide sixty supportive studio apartments for formerly homeless single adults in Portsmouth, Virginia. VSH installed the 28.29kW solar array to reduce their long term operating costs and display their commitment to responsible building practices. Photo by Flickr user Urban Grid. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Sophia V. Schweitzer was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In the city of Ann Arbor in the northern US state of Michigan, the local housing commission is completing floor-by-floor renovations in the five-story Baker Commons public housing facility with the goal of reducing energy use at least 20 percent. In Pittsburgh, about 280 miles (about 450 kilometers) away, Uptown Lofts — affordable housing opened in February 2015 by the nonprofit ACTION-Housing Inc. to provide homes for young adults phasing out of foster care and low-income workers — is designed to be capable of generating enough renewable energy to meet or exceed its annual energy demand.
Both projects provide healthful living for residents, thanks to good ventilation and stable inside temperatures, while minimizing utility bills.
“The improvements have made things better,” says Baker Commons resident Carolyn Miller, a former bookkeeper who now runs a lunch program and food pantry in the building. “The apartment stays warmer due to energy-efficient windows. I have also noticed when the system is running, it isn’t as loud as it used to be.”
Improved energy efficiency has long been an option — and a money-saver — for those who can afford the up-front costs. But, the close to 5 million American households that call some form of low-income housing home, usually renters in multifamily buildings, are less likely than others to be able to afford or be empowered to make changes that in the long run would save both energy and money. So, ironically, they often pay the highest energy bills. A 2015 study by the nonprofit partnership Energy Efficiency For All suggests that implementing energy-efficiency programs across a spectrum of affordable housing types could result in cost-effective energy savings of 15 to 30 percent, which even at the low end would represent large reductions in usage and savings.
But who gets the ball rolling? Low-income households can’t afford improvements. Equally important, they are bound to rental agreements and, depending on their building’s metering and heating system, they may not have direct control over energy bills. In addition, the improvements needed to reach cost-effective energy savings vary widely depending on the age and condition of the buildings, so building or retrofitting for energy efficiency involves case-by-case consultation with building energy specialists.
Emerging trends in retrofitting existing low-income housing for energy efficiency, novel designs for new low-income energy efficient housing, and innovations in financing, collaboration and policy are starting to turn that picture around.
Building owners and residents could save US$3.4 billion per year by making energy-efficiency upgrades in existing multifamily housing in the US, according to a 2012 study by CNT Energy and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. But while that may make energy upgrades seem like a logical choice, it’s not so simple. As Coreina Chan and Jacob Corvidae of the energy think tank Rocky Mountain Institute put it, improving energy efficiency in low-income housing is “a wicked problem in a complicated field.” Many stakeholders — tenants, landlords, utility companies, creditors and more — are involved, each with its own set of goals. The scale and size of properties varies greatly as well, so upgrades that make sense in one building may not in another. And when it comes to issues such as regulatory policy and technological choices, “the world is rapidly changing,” says Chan.
At the same time, though, that rapid change offers advantages. New business models and strategies for encouraging adoption of energy-efficiency-boosting retrofits are beginning to surface, thanks in part to the work of new forums such as the Network for Energy, Water, and Health in Affordable Buildings.
Besides creative thinking, science and facts also are needed for new approaches to retrofitting for energy efficiency to gain traction.
In the forums, parties that otherwise might never talk to each other share information and together shape tangible solutions specific to their local context. Mortgage collectors or lenders, for instance, learn to see the benefits of upgrades by talking directly with building owners. Or utility companies learn to better forecast long-term profits that might accrue by investing in new technologies or switching to different metering systems. Through these conversations, the low-income housing sector becomes less a case of charity and more a viable market with great economic potential.
“The forums create fertile ground for stronger, unified answers for the energy and affordable housing problem,” Corvidae says.
Besides creative thinking, science and facts also are needed for new approaches to retrofitting for energy efficiency to gain traction. Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, a nonprofit in Lexington, Massachusetts, provides local data that help stakeholders such as building owners, utility companies and policy-makers to take a long view. Some housing agencies invest in properties for 20-plus years at once, and can thus consider capital improvements with a relatively long payback period. This is what happened in Michigan, where the Ann Arbor Housing Commission has committed to make over 400 units of their affordable multifamily housing, including Baker Commons, more energy efficient. Darren Port, building energy codes manager at NEEP, says clear data is helping convince utility companies to accept long-horizon paybacks as well.
“It is in their direct interest to invest in efficiencies,” Port says. “As the demand for power grows they have to generate more, but it is far more expensive to build new stations than to save energy in existing services.” And since multifamily housing units tend to be concentrated, utilities maximize their savings by addressing these before investing in detached, single-family homes.
Covering both public and multifamily private housing under several programs, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development offers funds to housing agencies and building owners to update low-income housing. However, the money is limited and follows strict priorities: “A lot of old buildings have environmental health hazards like asbestos, mold or lead that need to be addressed first,” says Jason Bing of the Ecology Center, a nonprofit organization working with AAHC in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on two new affordable housing projects intended to be model examples of green and healthy residential construction.
In response, many state governments are creating their own funds to finance affordable housing energy upgrades. After Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California launched a residential energy efficiency retrofit program in 2010, Sacramento’s housing agency received utility financing of over US$1 million by committing to complete multifamily building rehabs resulting in reduced energy consumption by 25 to 30 percent.
One-stop non-profit shops such as Elevate Energy are also helping encourage energy efficiency upgrades of existing low-income units by educating owners, utility companies, financial institutions and potential other investors on non-energy benefits, which are any positive consequences accompanying energy upgrades outside of saving energy. For example, the increased comfort low-income households gain through the retrofits reduces stress and makes them more productive at work. When utility bills are low, residents are more comfortable to buy food. A 2000 Children’s Health Watch study shows that decreasing the burden of energy costs has been shown to have positive effects on young children. Residents are also more likely to stay in their homes instead of looking for cheaper alternatives, which benefits building owners. Stability, in turn, may benefit the local economy — creating a win for everyone.
“Reduced energy bills don’t just lift an enormous burden for low-income folks,” says Bing. “A cascade of layered benefits accompany energy efficiency.”
New construction of affordable housing has also entered an exciting new phase thanks to novel programs, policies and technologies.
These days, for-profit as well as non-profit affordable-housing developers produce approximately 90 percent of new low-income housing projects in the United States, capitalizing on the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Some state-controlled housing finance agencies, which distribute the credits through a point scoring system, are using the competitive nature of the tax credits —just one-quarter to one-third of projects are funded on average — to encourage developers to advance energy efficiency. One way to do this is by giving preference to builders who commit to meeting third-party certified green-building standards. Uptown Lofts, for example, received tax credits from Pennsylvania in part by opting to meet Passive House Institute US energy-efficiency criteria.
Other green building certification programs have been appearing in other state plans that allocate the LIHTCs to developers, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development, EarthCraft and Enterprise Green Communities. All emphasize energy efficiency; some also include toxin-free, durable materials and water conservation, or, say, community infrastructure for biking and walking. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a mixed-income property, The Rose, opened last year designed to be 75 percent more energy efficient than code requirements and built using Living Building Challenge standards as a guide. And the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s strong incentives for energy efficiency in allocating LIHTCs has resulted in more than 13,500 apartments in Virginia certified under EarthCraft energy standards, where households are welcoming energy savings of $54 per month on average compared with similar homes built without the green standard.
But are energy-efficient new buildings more expensive to build, even with tax credits in hand? Not necessarily. Up-front costs decrease when numerous projects commit.
“You can never say, a building should only cost this much. It always depends on the location and circumstances,” says Tim McDonald, a licensed architect and associate professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, who has been involved in efforts to expand Passive House standard programming. “But you can speak to scale. Demand drives pricing.”
McDonald points to the cost of triple-glazed windows: They used to come from Europe, which made them expensive, but they are now being made in the US, which reduces overall building costs. The sharing of ideas and tools among developers all learning about energy-efficient building practices also generates cost efficiency, McDonald says. It’s with this awareness that states such as Pennsylvania have initiated larger concentrations of net-zero capable affordable housing or that California launched an action plan in 2015 requiring that by 2020 all new homes — affordable and otherwise — produce as much energy as they consume.
In Ann Arbor, where the housing commission has a waiting list of more than 500, a new affordable housing project is breaking ground this spring in which 20 old single-family detached units will make room for 42 townhouse-style units. West Arbor, as the project is called, will comply with the standards of Enterprise Green Communities as included in Michigan’s LIHTC allocation plan.
Here as well, sharing matters: The vision for West Arbor reaches beyond just being a green building for low-income residents and actively includes the wider community. High-school students are creating videos that serve as manuals for West Arbor residents to learn how to use energy-efficient technologies, such as heating and ventilation, inside their units for maximum comfort and cost savings. Middle-schoolers learn about green design working with an architect on plans for West Arbor’s climate-resilient community center. The activities help youth to understand what sustainability, low income and energy mean.
“We really believe, if we are going to make changes locally, we need to do everything we can to get as many stakeholders involved as possible,” Bing says.
We may have no choice. Across the board, residential and commercial buildings account for 41 percent of the country’s total energy consumption, and 45 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are related to the building industry. To avoid dangerous climate change, no building is exempt.  Code Embed v2.2
.postContent

author: Ensia


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Chinese Police Tear Families Apart Over Letter That Demanded President’s Resignation · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Germany-based Chinese writer Chang Ping's siblings were detained by police on March 27. Image from Twitter.
An open letter urging China President Xi Jinping to resign has triggered a rash of political persecution against the family members of Chinese dissidents living abroad.
Germany-based writer and Deutsche Welle reporter Chang Ping reported on March 27 that police in China burst into his father's birthday celebration and detained three of his younger siblings, alleging a connection between Chang's work and the letter. Police also demanded that Chang delete a Tweet he posted about their abduction and stop publishing articles about the activities of the Chinese government.
The detentions and threats follow the arrests of the parents and brother of US-based Chinese activist Wen Yunchao on March 22.
Mysteriously published on the Communist party-affiliated news site new site Watching, and allegedly signed by “loyal Communist Party members,” the letter criticizes Xi's political, diplomatic, economic and cultural policies, charging Xi with the “abandonment of the democratic system of collective leadership” and arguing that his policies have led to an “excessive” concentration of power.
Chang Ping is a renowned Chinese writer based in Germany. He was sacked as deputy chief editor in Southern Metropolis Weekly magazine after commenting on the 2008 riots in Lhasa, Tibet and asking the government to give more freedom to the press on news related to Tibet.
In 2012, after Chang Ping failed to renew his working visa in Hong Kong, he relocated to Germany and started writing for German daily Deutsche Welle.
But leaving China has not freed Chang from Chinese authorities’ political harassment.
After his former colleague Jia Jia disappeared after attempting to fly from Beijing to Hong Kong on March 15, Chang wrote in his column on Deutsche Welle, “Jia Jia Was Disappeared for the Crime of Seeing“. The article criticized the Chinese government for persecution people who are not blind and therefore “see” the existence of the secret open letter.
What he did not anticipate is that the Chinese police would actually go after the “blind”– in this case, the relatives of those who saw the letter.
On March 27, Chang Ping wrote on Twitter that his sister and two brothers were kidnapped by the Chinese police at his father's birthday banquet. The police threatened that they would be punished if Chang Ping did not stop making comments about the Chinese government. They also demanded that the Deutsche Welle article on Jia Jia be removed.
In response to the political persecution by association, Chang made a public statement denying his involvement in the open letter and urging international communities to condemn the barbaric acts of the Chinese police (translated by China Change):
1) All of my family and relatives in China have no understanding of my political beliefs, columns, and the media work I engage in, nor are they in any way related to it. Currently they have no communication with me, therefore they will be unable to meet the unreasonable demand of the police. I’d be in support of them, should they wish to cut off all ties with me at any point.
2) Apart from the above column [Deutsche Welle] and interview [Radio France Internationale/RFI], I personally have no other connection to the open letter. I didn’t help draft it, I didn’t publicize it, and I only read it after it had already been widely promulgated. It’s just like I said in my column: I don’t get involved in internal Party power struggles, and I’ve no interest in doing so.
3) Every citizen has the freedom of speech to engage in comment or criticism of the political activities of state leaders. The Communist Party should immediately stop investigating the people they believe are behind the letter demanding that Xi Jinping resign, and cease the abductions, harassment, and investigations of media personnel, commentators, and netizens, and their family members.
4) I’ve been involved in news reporting and commentary for over 20 years, and I’ve always taken to it in a spirit of professionalism, and with independence and autonomy and the conscience of an intellectual. I’ve always done what I think is right, and have always been willing to accept whatever fate brings as a result of that. The harassment and threats of the authorities allow me to see even more the value of my writings, and encourage me to work harder in future.
5) I strongly condemn the Communist Party’s attempts to interfere with the freedom to publish of Western media like Deutsche Welle and RFI. I call for the international community to speak out against these barbaric kidnappings by Chinese police.
As the Chinese police continued to press Chang Ping's brother, Zhang Wei, to urge him to stop writing, Chang had no choice but to block his brother's email and cut off all communication with his family. In a second statement, Chang compared the situation of his family with Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo, who was also forced to publicly cut ties with his family (translated by China Change):
As I see it, from Party Central media to local police stations, all of them have learned to manipulate their hostages and put on puppet shows. My younger brother has become another Lee Bo of Hong Kong. Look at one of his recent emails. Don’t the police think this sort of performance is extremely clumsy? […]
I am blocking the email address of Zhang Wei, and I won’t see any more emails from him; my family members and relatives have no other way of contacting me, and I won’t have any more contact with them for a long time, or perhaps forever;  […]
My family members and relatives will continue being brainwashed by the Chinese police, and they’ll think that the misery that’s befallen them is because I don’t care about my family. Some of them have already started cursing me. This will have no bearing on me. Nor do I have any way of making them understand just how despicable and base the CCP is.
In pre-modern China, authorities practiced punishment by association, which exploited the Confucian value of filial piety, under which the individual is expected to sacrifice for the well-being of family. In the interview with RFI, Chang Ping condemned the barbaric act:
这是一个非常流氓的做法。在现代社会，众所周知，包括中共自己制定的法律也废除了连坐制，株连九族非常野蛮，在中国的法律上文本上也不能成立。但是，事实上他们还在采取这样的行为。[…]这就是一种绑架和要挟，他们希望这样来达到自己的政治目的。这是一个非常野蛮的行为，这是对人类社会发展到迄今为止的政治文明，法制文明的一个极大的背叛和羞辱。
This is hooligan behavior. Punishment by association has been abolished by the CCP as it is an extremely barbaric act which does not have any place in any legal text. But, they [the Chinese authorities] are exploiting such methods. […] This is like holding an innocent person hostage to achieve political means. This act is extremely barbaric and a betrayal and insult to human society and its political and legal civilization.