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This Cat Calendar Is Making the Russian Orthodox Church Go Viral · Global Voices
Darina Gribova

The October page of the quirky calendar features hieromonk Theodorit and his cat Monya. Image from pravmir.ru.
You’ve probably never seen cats and the Russian Orthodox church so up close and cuddly together. A group of Christian enthusiasts has released a photo calendar where the 12 months of the upcoming year are illustrated with images of Orthodox priests posing with their cats. The “Priest + Cat” calendar published by Artos, an association of Christian artists, is aimed at promoting “modern Orthodox culture” in Russia.
While the latest issue of the famous Pirelli Calendar might have signaled a cultural shift (by foregoing its usual provocative nudes), “Priest + Cat” seems to challenge the very idea of traditional Orthodox calendars, usually picturing saints and icons—so it’s no wonder that it has gone viral immediately.
The bearded smiling clerics in long robes were captured in intimate photos with their felines by photographer Anna Galperina in their homes, on cozy sofas with cushions or sunlit benches. 2016 will start off with archpriest Oleg Batov and his cat Apelsin, and Mr. February—archpriest Pyotr Dynnikov who runs an animal shelter—is photographed with his two pets, Angola and Vasik.
A sampling of the monthly pages in the “Priest + Cat” calendar. Image from Xenia Loutchenko on Facebook.
As the project coordinator, journalist Xenia Loutchenko of Pravmir religious news website, says, “Priest + Cat” could be considered the combination Russian Orthodox answer to the annual Italian Calendario Romano, featuring young and handsome Catholic priests, and the I gatti di Roma calendar with Rome’s cats.
Loutchenko says the casting process for the calendar was spontaneous, with the priests bringing their own felines along for the ride: “It was whoever had a cat and was ready to pose for a photo.” The journalist insists that the calendar is not officially supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, and was inspired by a photography book about the everyday lives of Russian clergy.
“I don't see a big sin here,” Russian Orthodox Church spokesman, the Very Reverend Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said, reacting to the calendar recently. “Priests have cats, cats have priests, sometimes cats even live in a church. I wouldn't put such a calendar up on my wall though.”
Some RuNet users seemed to have doubts about the idea of the calendar, questioning the spiritual element of the enterprise.
@lena_malaa @Vasilevskaya_RT Ох, не знаю…Я как-то привыкла, что котики, участие в Голосе и т.п. это мирское, а тут сан, вот это вот всё…
— Василиса (@_Vassena_) December 3, 2015
Oh, I don't know… I somehow got used to the idea that cats, participation in “The Voice,” etc. is secular, and here we see church rank and all that…
While the reaction to the calendar was mostly positive, there were some people who considered the project to be “kitsch.” “I got some comments from those who are far from the Church, like “Nothing can help these priests, their image can't be improved even with cats!” Loutchenko told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.
Users commenting on the news on the religious website Pravmir, where Loutchenko works, also had varying reactions to the “Priest + Cat” project. One anonymous user wrote:
Портреты хорошие, отцы веселые, но идея странная. Отцы же не поп-звезды какие-нибудь, чтобы на календаре размещаться. И не близкие родственники. Иногда можно заказать календарь с фотографиями родственников. А это – странная затея.
The portraits are good, the priests are cheerful, but the idea is strange. The priests are not pop stars to be depicted on a calendar. Neither are they close relatives. It is possible that someone orders a calendar featuring their relatives. But this one is a strange enterprise.
User Elena Gatchinskaya countered the criticism, wondering what was so bad about the idea.
Нет, а что такого? Нормальный календарь, тем более, на грядущий год. Священники напомнят о Христе, ну а котики – антистресс. И тоже напомнят о Христе. “Всякое дыхание да хвалит Господа”. И чего многие так негативно реагируют?
What’s the issue here? This is a normal calendar for an upcoming year. The priests will remind you of Christ, and the cats are anti-stress. And they will also remind you of Christ. “Let every breath praise the Lord.” Why do so many people react so negatively?
Yekaterina Kovrigina said she'd take the priests any day over the symbols of the upcoming year, monkeys—such animal calendars usually sell very well in Russia, and the monkey ones have already taken over the printed press kiosks.
Лучше батюшки с котиками, чем обезьяны всех видов из каждого утюга.
Better priests with kitties than those monkeys of all kinds splashed over every newsstand.
The “Priest + Cat” calendar had an initial print run of 1,000 copies but now looks likely to print more. The calendar is now for sale in several churches in Moscow and can also be acquired online.

author: Darina Gribova


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Climate Change Could Already Be Displacing More People Than War · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Children play in the dirty flood water in Sylhet city, Bangladesh, on September 2, 2015. Low-lying Bangladesh is perhaps the most vulnerable nation to the impacts of climate change. Photo by Md. Akhlas Uddin. Copyright Demotix
This article by Jason Margolis for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on December 9, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Some 26 million people are being displaced by natural disasters worldwide — roughly one person per second — three times the number of people displaced by war and violence. And most natural disasters are related to climatic conditions (although scientists can’t tie a specific climatic event, like a hurricane, directly to the changing climate).
It’s not just people on the Marshall Islands and low-lying island nations who are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. South and southeast Asia have large populations in low-lying areas that are exposed to the impacts from climate change, countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Climate change is expected to induce significant displacement of populations in those nations. It's already doing so in Bangladesh.
Francois Gemenne, who studies populations displaced by environmental conditions and teaches at several European universities, says most climate refugees move internally, very short distances. And typically, the most vulnerable, the poorest, are unable to move because migration is simply too expensive.
“People are stuck in the face of disaster. People, to a certain extent, can sustain some changes and can resist changes. But the changes are now becoming so hard, and so quick, and so repeated, that it comes a point where people can no longer sustain it,” says Gemenne. “We see a narrative of sustained suffering and sustained adaptation until a tipping point is reached and then a decision to migrate is taken.”
Of course, it’s difficult to label somebody as a “climate refugee” when the forces that trigger people to move are often so complex — migrants relocate due to war, famine, economic hardship and natural disasters.
“Clearly this is a difficult issue and it’s not always easy, apart from some obvious cases such as sea-level rise, to identify climate change as a sole trigger (of migration), says Gemenne. “I think, actually, it makes little sense to try to identify and define a specific category of climate refugees or ecological refugees. I think that what we ought to do is to recognize the growing role of the environment as a driving factor of migration.”
Consider Africa, says Gemenne, where a significant portion of the population remains tied to the agricultural economy that's been disrupted by a shifting climate. “Many of the economic migrants in Africa are also environmental migrants because they can no longer make a livelihood.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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How Activists in Southeast Asia Celebrated Human Rights Day · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Filipino environmental activists call for justice and the protection of human rights. Photo from the Facebook page of Loi Manalansan.
Activists across Southeast Asia marked International Human Rights Day last week, on December 10, holding demonstrations demanding more government accountability throughout the region.
In Singapore, the Maruah human rights group urged the government to ratify two United Nations covenants: the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Maruah statement reads:
Singapore still has much to do to build political institutions, judicial systems, and economies that allow ordinary people to live with dignity. The growth of hate speech against religious and racial minorities, the justification of rights violations in the name of combating terrorism, the clawing back of economic and social rights in the name of economic crises or security, and the failure to respect the right to privacy in the digital age, show the relevance of the 2 Covenants and the need to respect them.
In Malaysia, the Suaram human rights group denounced the government for refusing aid to Rohingya boat refugees from Myanmar. The Rohingya, who are mostly Muslims, are not recognized in Myanmar as citizens, forcing many of them to seek refuge in neighboring countries. In a press statement, SUARAM Adviser on Human Rights Day Kua Kia Soong wrote:
The tragedy of Rohingya refugees being stranded in the Andaman Sea in 2015 was bad enough but the refusal of Malaysia and other regional authorities to take them in was a human rights abomination of major proportions. The numbers stranded aboard rickety ships was estimated to be in the thousands. The Malaysian government did not engage in any search and rescue efforts to provide desperately needed aid at sea nor did they allow migrants to land on offshore islands for such aid.
In the Philippines, activists held rallies across the country to highlight the detention of dissidents and the militarization of anti-mining communities. Below are some photos of the protests in Manila, the country’s capital:
A protester holds a poster against the alleged extrajudicial killings that occurred during the term of Philippine President Aquino. Photo by J Gerard Seguia, copyright Demotix (12/10/2015)
Protesters call for the release of the political prisoners allegedly detained by the Aquino administration. Photo by J Gerard Seguia, copyright Demotix (12/10/2015)
In Cambodia, about 10,000 people in 15 different provinces stages demonstrations calling for justice, wage increases, and land rights. The government banned protests in the capital city of Phnom Penh, but it didn’t stop the activists from submitting their petitions to various government agencies. Below are some of the images of the protests across Cambodia:
One of the demands of activist groups in Cambodia is to raise the country's monthly minimum wage. Photo from Licadho, a human rights group.
People from various provinces throughout the country celebrating IHRD in Phnom Penh. #JusticeKh15 pic.twitter.com/XaXBgnJ1P2
— Tola Moeun (@Tolamoeun) December 10, 2015
And finally, in Muslim-dominated south Thailand, students from Patani organized various activities to draw attention to the local people's push for self-determination rights. The students also called for peace in the conflict-torn region, where a separatist movement still exists:
Students in Patani assert the people's right to self-determination. Photo from the Facebook page of Free Voice.
A participant holds a placard in a forum during the human rights day celebration in Patani. Photo from the Facebook page of Free Voice.

author: Mong Palatino


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How the Michelin Star Became the Kiss of Death for Hong Kong’s Street Food · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Street food at Mong Kok night market. Photo: Flixkr / Chika Watanabe. CC: 2.0.
It is supposed to be good news when the Michelin Guide's 2016 edition says a new category of good, affordable street food has come to Hong Kong and Macau. But the Michelin Star has turned out to be the kiss of death for several small restaurants in Hong Kong, as landlords move to raise rents, wanting to profit off their tenants’ anticipated earnings boom.
A sudden and sharp hike in the rent is what forced Kai Kai Dessert, one of the street food eateries recommended by Michelin, to relocate. The dessert restaurant's landlord abruptly raised the rent 120 percent, asking for HK $220,000 (US $28,385) a month and a two-year lease agreement. Kai Kai Dessert had been operating in the same district for 40 years.
Kai Kai Dessert. Image from Apple Daily.
Kai Kai Dessert's owner, Mr. Chiu, inherited the family business from his father. He says they have to sell 11,578 desserts every month just to pay the rent.
Chiu says reasonable prices are what have allowed his business to serve people from all walks of life. He doesn't want to raise his prices, as most of his customers are locals from the neighborhood.
Fortunately, after Kai Kai Dessert posted a notice that it was being forced from its location, an old customer offered Mr. Chiu a smaller space at another ground-floor shop at the “friendly” rate of HK $90,000 (US $11,600) a month.
When it comes to the rental market, Kai Kai Dessert is no exception. A number of other Michelin-recommended restaurants in Hong Kong have been forced from their original neighborhoods because of the “profit-squeezing” practice of property investment in Hong Kong, where there are no laws on rent control. This means that many landlords (particularly those who rent to ground-floor shops) seek to squeeze businesses for extra profits.
In a letter to Stand News, an independent media outlet, “Summer Water” called the Michelin Star a curse:
米芝蓮獎與本地高租金產生了最壞的化學反應，租金如像割草機，食肆幼苗好不容易才熬起點名氣與成績，長成嫰綠小草，可機器卻無情輾過把草的頭去掉。算算看，從做點心的「添好運」、賣滷味的「阿鴻小吃」到賣竹升麵的「好旺角」，《米芝蓮》這外國勢力真「好事多磨」。
The Michelin recommendation has generated a worst chemical effect because of the local rental market. The rent here is like a harvest machine. The restaurants work so hard to build its reputation. They are like the sprouts, but the harvest machine cuts the sprouts right away. Thus far, the dim sum shop “Tim Ho Wan”, “Hung's Delicacies” and “Good Hope Noodle” [all were forced out of their original locations], the foreign force of Michelin brought them misfortune.
Not everyone is blaming Michelin, of course. According to Stand News columnist “Yat Ming King Yan”, it's the landlords and their pursuit of easy money that's the root of the problem:
一個人出了名，很容易招來麻煩；一隻豬肥了，就會優先被宰。
同樣地，一間餐廳嬴得了「米芝蓮推介」這個美譽，其業主得悉後定必雙眼發光，繼而理直氣壯地加租，認為這個富麗堂皇的頭銜能夠讓餐廳的老闆豬籠入水，是業主眼中不折不扣的「肥豬」。結果，這間餐廳的下場跟上述肥豬的下場一樣，被宰了。
Reputation brings trouble: a fat pig will be more likely to be slaughtered. When a restaurant makes its way to Michelin, the landlord will be alerted and raise the rent without any hesitation because he anticipates that the star will generate huge profits for the restaurant and hence a “fat pig” in the eyes of the landlord. Hence, like a “fat pig”, the restaurant will be slaughtered.
Others online have noted that profit-squeezing practices are transforming Hong Kong's landscape, as more and more small shops with local clientele are forced out of business or out of their neighborhoods, due to impossibly high rents. Facebook user Wong Sai Kei comments:
這就是令香港愈來愈少特色商店的原因
這種惡性循環
慢慢就只有大商家
香港只能下名牌集中地
卻可惜的是要名牌的
好多地方都可以代替香港
結果香港就外表光鮮卻一文不值
This is the reason why small shops with local character are vanishing. It results in a vicious circle and only big [global] chain stores that sell luxurious items will be left behind. But one can find these luxurious items in all other places. In the end, the city has a good outlook but it is losing its substance.

author: Oiwan Lam


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This City in Siberia Would Rather Elect a Cat Mayor · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
There are around 700,000 people living in Barnaul, a city in West Siberia about 2,200 miles east of Moscow. For the past five years, the people of Barnaul haven’t had a mayor they elected themselves. As the city’s political process slips further from the public, the frustrations of ordinary citizens are beginning to show. For instance, one Internet community is promoting a house cat’s mayoral candidacy.
For most of the past five years, Barnaul’s “city manager” was a man named Igor Savintsev. He resigned earlier this August, when local investigators charged him with abusing his authority. (Savintsev is accused of selling municipal lands on the cheap to businesses affiliated with his own family, losing the government an estimated $155,000.) Savintsev was Barnaul’s first post-Soviet mayor to be appointed, rather than elected by the people.
Savintsev’s son, Maxim, is also quite the model citizen. He was put on an international wanted list last year, when he fled the country, after being charged with fraud and embezzlement. Evading police for six months, Maxim was finally apprehended in Thailand. Today, he spends his days in Russian prison, awaiting trial.
Vying for Igor Savintsev’s office (which is temporarily occupied by an acting city manager) are a handful of local officials and entrepreneurs. On December 22, a special commission—controlled by the city council and Altai Governor Alexander Karlin—will pick Barnaul’s next mayor, who will remain in office until 2017.
Enter the Altai Online community on Vkontakte (Russia’s most popular social network). On December 6, about three weeks after Barnaul officials formally registered all candidates for the mayor’s race, Altai Online announced a race of its own, inviting community members to choose between seven different contestants: the six men who are actually registered as candidates, plus the administrator's cat, Barsik. One week later, Barsik has almost 4,500 votes (91.2 percent of all votes cast).
“Who would you like to see as Barnaul's new city manager?” Screencap: Vkontakte
Altai Online’s virtual election has made headlines in the Russian media, where Barsik’s candidacy is being described as a substitute for voting “against all.” The online news site Gazeta.ru ran a 1,000-word story about Barsik that included elated comments from regional officials in Russia’s “systemic” opposition parties (the groups that regularly win seats in the federal parliament, and, at least superficially, play a role in national lawmaking). For instance, a figure in A Just Russia told Gazeta.ru, “The problem isn’t even with the candidates. This is a protest against our system of staffing official offices. The current city council never even apologized to the citizenry for the last city manager.” Meanwhile, a representative of the Communist Party, which isn’t fielding a candidate in Barnaul, said, “Votes for a cat show that people in this city are looking to show their claws.”
(Photoshopped image.) “Who? A cat!” (In Russian, these words are spelled very similarly.) Screencap: Vkontakte.
Even Altai’s governor, Alexander Karlin, extended a rather absurd welcome to Barnaul’s feline favorite, telling journalists, “Through the cute image of Barsik, our people are conveying their special wishes to the future head of the city. Out here, we associate this good animal with well-being and comfort.”
The administrator of Altai Online goes by the pseudonym “Altaiskii Seyatel” (Altai Farmer). RuNet Echo asked him what he thinks about all the attention his cat is getting from Russia’s establishment, and what he makes of opposition parties celebrating Barsik’s attack on the status quo. “Barsik the Cat owes his success to the fact that people in this city don’t know who these other candidates are,” Altai Farmer said. “People don’t know their platforms, why they are running for office, or what they want to do for the city. So it’s not clear why the opposition is so happy, when they couldn’t even field a candidate whom voters know and understand.”
While it’s certainly embarrassing for the men now competing to be mayor of Barnaul, Barsik’s candidacy doesn’t appear to share roots with the opposition movement most foreigners know from reports about protest movements in Russia. Altai Farmer has avoided directly criticizing politicians, and he told Gazeta.ru that Barsik is far from an oppositionist. Even more telling, he also said Barsik likes the All-Russia People's Front—a political movement launched by Vladimir Putin in 2011, intended to create reservoirs of support for Putin outside United Russia, the country’s ruling political party.
Altai Farmer told RuNet Echo that he hopes Barsik can help establish the city’s brand, becoming something like a “people’s mayor” or even a tourist attraction. “Barsik is already part of the region’s political establishment,” his owner declares, “and he’s not giving up on his political ambitions.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


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2015 Was Boom Times for Corruption in the Caribbean, But Can It Last? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
If the Transparency International 2014 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is any indication, the Caribbean is becoming more corrupt. Last year's highest-ranked regional country (perceived to be the least corrupt) was Barbados, which came in at Number 17 out of a list of 174 countries; Jamaica shared the 85th spot with Trinidad and Tobago; Guyana was ranked 124; and Haiti was perceived to be the most corrupt Caribbean territory with a ranking of 161. Judging from the stories on poor governance and alleged corruption dominating the headlines in 2015, however, this year's CPI may not be much better for the Caribbean.
Trinidad and Tobago had the dubious honour this year of leading region in stories of corruption. This reality did not emerge suddenly. By 2015, at least one netizen had had enough and was taking the path towards civic education and self-empowerment because she understood that “the problem with our politics resides in […] the type of citizens and voters we have produced.”
The realisation came just in time. Stories about impropriety in public office under the country's People's Partnership coalition government began to snowball: the attorney general was accused of witness-tampering and the prime minister somehow managed to blame the whistleblower; the appointment process for the country's Integrity Commission, a constitutional anti-corruption organ, ironically displayed a lack of integrity; and a new political entity that was supposed to give voters a choice outside of the two-party system turned out to be more of a laughing stock than a serious contender.
In the lead-up to the country's general elections, things became even more outlandish. In the wake of country-wide roadblocks on the morning of March 23, many citizens got the distinct feeling that their civil liberties were being held hostage by police trying to strong-arm the government over wage negotiations.
A few months later, there were several high-profile arrests—allegedly in connection with the murder of Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal—which many netizens saw as a mere election ploy. Curiously, this was followed a few days later by a dramatic jailbreak from a Port of Spain prison; video footage would subsequently show that the inmates faced little or no opposition in their quest for freedom (at least from prison guards). One escapee was shot by police a short while after the jailbreak. Two then remained at large, until one turned himself in when the other turned up dead—killed not by the police, apparently. Afterwards, conspiracy theories grew rampant.
Once a new government was elected on September 7, the scope of alleged governmental corruption began to emerge: the new finance minister soon revealed that the spending by the previous administration had left the country facing an US $1.3 billion deficit. Three months later, the governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago announced that the country was in an economic recession.
People in Haiti, the lowest ranked Caribbean territory on last year's CPI, made their displeasure about the lack of transparency surrounding the recent elections process very clear. Citizens participated in massive street protests, which called on the country's Provisional Electoral Council to declare the results null and void, hoping to help steer Haiti towards greater autonomy in its own affairs. In the cases of both Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti, the silver lining is that citizens are beginning to harness their own power, demanding higher standards of transparency and good governance from those elected to hold public office.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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A Tajik Singer Calls on the World Not to Forget Aylan Kurdi · Global Voices
Abdulfattoh Shafiev

A screenshot grabbed from Jonibek Murodov's video clip “Aylan” used from drawings widely shared online
In a country that knows enough about the pain associated with migration, forced displacement and civil conflict, a local pop singer is cutting through the suspicions aimed at refugees following deadly attacks in Paris and turning attentions back towards the human catastrophe of war.
On the eve of the International Migrants Day celebrated annually on 18 December, Tajik star Jonibek Murodov has penned a song for Aylan Kurdi, the little Syrian boy, found and photographed washed up on a Turkish beach in September.
While Kurdi's image generated an outpouring of sympathy across the world at the time, it has been quickly cast aside as migrants are subsumed once more into the terror narrative.
Jonibek sings:
Номам ба ҳама забони олам Айлон
Рӯҳам ба ҳама макони олам нолон
Дар синаву дар нигоҳи ман ханҷари кист?
Хоки сари бепаноҳи ман кишвари кист?
My name is Aylan in all languages of the world,
My soul is sobbing in all places of the world,
Whose knife is in my heart and my sight?
What country is my lonely body buried in?
The song has won admiration throughout Tajik-speaking communities in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia, where over a million Tajiks live and work.
Wrote Leila Abdullaeva:
Чонибек, поклон тебе. Лежу в слезах. Пока по новостям все это видела, как-то не было тех эмоций, что после просмотра твоего клипа. О Господи, что произошло с этим миром???
Crying. While watching this on the news, I didn’t have the  same emotions I feel watching your video clip. Oh God, what’s happened with this world?
However, not everyone thought the tribute was appropriate, given that Tajikistan has its own tragedies to highlight.
Some asked if the singer might take time to commemorate the five-months-old Tajik child Umarali Nazarov, whose death a few hours after being separated from his mother by Russian authorities in St. Petersburg sparked condemnation in both Tajikistan and Russia.
Nozimjon Boboev:
Это хорошо даже супер. А образ Умарали Назарав 5-месячный ребенок, отняты у мамы и умер в доли от мать, не говорит а чем-то и не заставляет вас творит что нибудь.
This song is very good. But are you aware of Umarali Nazarov, the five-months-old child taken from his mum that died far from her? Doesn’t his case make you want to create something?
Murodov duly told his fans he is considering singing about Umarali, whose tragic death was actively compared to that of Aylan Kurdi by Tajik internet users.
Amid a sea of countless ballads about love a growing number of Tajik pop and rap stars are now moving towards covering more socially-oriented themes including poverty, labour migration and forced military recruitment.

author: Abdulfattoh Shafiev


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Activists Take to the Top of Lviv City Hall to Highlight Human Rights in Ukraine · Global Voices
Bohdana Neborak

Volodymyr Beglov, a Ukrainian journalist and civic activist, reading the Declaration of Human Rights in Lviv. Image by Yurko Dyachyshyn.
On December 10—International Human Rights Day—Ukrainian civic activists, journalists, and lawyers came together at the very top of Lviv City Hall to read aloud an important document—the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Beaten by the wind and the rain, the activists took turns reading the entire text of the Declaration in Ukrainian, Norwegian, English, French, Polish, and Crimean Tatar languages to demonstrate the universality and independence of human rights and to emphasize that governments bear responsibility for abiding by and enforcing basic human rights principles.
Andres Glette, a Norwegian civic activist, reading the Declaration. Image by Yurko Dyachyshyn.
An hour before the reading took place, volunteers from the Ukrainian National Scouts organization handed out leaflets to citizens and tourists in Lviv, inviting everyone to join the event at the top of the City Hall despite the rain.
A Ukrainian scout-girl invites passers-by to join the reading. Image by Yurko Dyachyshyn.
As part of the effort to raise awareness of Human Rights Day, organizers also created a poster with the text of the Declaration. The poster was placed in the Lviv City administrative center, where dozens of people come every day for various municipal permissions or registration needs. In such a high-traffic area, Lviv citizens could study the landmark legal document while waiting in a queue.
Ukrainian activists said they wanted to raise public awareness of a basic instrument like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights because such rights are considered to be quite an abstract category in Ukraine. In reality, human rights are a fundamental topic at every level of society.
Journalist Volodymyr Beglov, who joined the reading, said politicians in Ukraine were mostly concerned with their private interests rather than legal norms, and that civil society should strive for the situation to be turned around. Olesya Yaremchuk, another journalist, said that even symbolic declarations of human rights norms were important in order to keep the ideas of Euromaidan protest, especially that of human dignity, going.
Alim Aliyev, a civic activist from Crimea, stressed that for the Crimean Tatar community, the issue was exemplified by a daily struggle for justice. “For us human rights are not an abstract notion, but a harsh reality. In Crimea today, rights are violated en masse, there are dozens of political prisoners,” he said.
Organizers wanted to pay special attention to the plight of political prisoners and to demonsrate solidarity with them. Nadia Savchenko is the most controversial Ukrainian prisoner of war, who is currently on trial in Russia for the alleged murder of two Russian journalists. Human rights groups and Western governments have called for her release, denouncing what they describe as fabricated charges.
A Russian court has also sentenced the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in prison after a trial described by Amnesty International as “redolent of Stalinist-era show trials.” Sentsov and his co-defendant Alexander Kolchenko, who received a 10-year sentence at the trial, were accused of planning terrorist acts in Crimea after the peninsula was annexed by Russia last year.
Other prisoners of conscience mentioned at the event included lawyer Intiham Aliyev, a widely respected human rights defender in Azerbaijan. Along with other human rights activists, he was jailed in mid-2014 as part of a country-wide crackdown. Aliyev's arrest is widely considered to be politically motivated. Aliyev had previously brought a number of cases against Azerbaijani authorities to the European Court of Human Rights.
Watch a brief video of the reading of the Declaration in Lviv on International Human Rights Day.
The event was organized by Ukrainian media non-profit Institute of Mass Information with support from Freedom House.

author: Bohdana Neborak


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Bangladesh Unblocks All Social Media Services (For Now) · Global Voices
Rezwan

Image courtesy Surid Salty's Facebook Page
After an almost four-week ban on social messaging apps, Bangladesh government officials announced today that all the social media and communication apps are being unblocked. This announcement came after days of confusion and signs of a lack of coordination between different government agencies dealing with the ban.
On 18 November, 2015 Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission ordered Internet service providers to block services including WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Line, Tango and Google Hangouts (see Global Voices report). On the first day of the ban, what state Telecommunications Minister Tarana Halim described as a “misunderstanding” led to the entire Internet being blocked in Bangladesh for around 90 minutes, marking the first time the Internet was blocked in the country since its inception. According to the government, the ban stemmed from fears of public unrest following a Supreme Court ruling that upheld death sentences for two political figures convicted of genocide and rape during Bangladesh's 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.
Many Bangladeshis thus began using the Tor browser and encrypted messaging apps like Signal to circumvent the ban, particularly in an effort to visit Facebook, which is very popular in Bangladesh. The government then questioned the use of the circumvention tools and issued an empty threat to monitor these activities.
The ban was particularly harmful for small, Web-based entrepreneurs who depend on Facebook as a platform for marketing and outreach. Here, one e-commerce entrepreneur describes the crippling effects of the ban on his business:
“We are getting no order and are waiting for customers. If this continues we will not be able to pay the salaries to the staff. We will have to close down. Please lift the ban and save us. We are in plight.”
On 10 December Bangladesh unblocked Facebook after meeting some Facebook representatives, while restrictions on WhatsApp, Viber and other communication apps stayed in place. According to reports, the government is seeking measures from Facebook to monitor or filter content that could viewed as provoking religious sentiment and conspiracies against the government. The company has given no official public response to their proposal, but has vowed to help, according to government representatives.
But after only three days, on 13 December, there were reports of a new ban on micro-blogging site Twitter, Microsoft's voice-over-IP service Skype, and communication app Imo. The report indicated that Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had sent a letter to the country’s mobile phone operators and telecom service providers asking them to suspend the services immediately.
Legal practitioner and activist Rayhan Rashid writes on Facebook:
Sounds like yet another regressive step by the government! Yes, security is important, but the government's versions of ‘security risk’ and ‘security measures’ must be well founded. So far, the concerned department, its officials, or its ministers have been able supply zero evidence to justify any of their words or actions involving the social networks, the last remaining free space. In an environment of systemic zero accountability and transparency, their words are no longer enough. In fact, they never were. It is important that the ‘rulers’ of Bangladesh acknowledge the fact that – none (I repeat ‘none’) of them inspire any credibility or trust, whether individually or collectively, in today's Bangladesh.
On Monday morning, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told reporters that the Ministry did not issue any directive to block Twitter, Skype or Imo. However, the BTRC Chairman said that “it was nothing new” and “(the ban) is the continuation of the previous instruction.”
Users were visibly baffled by this new ban. Contradictory statements from authorities left many wondering what might be the reason behind it.
Is anything left in Bangladesh that's not banned? Twitter, Chakma film, satirical website, Skype…. What's next?
— Salil Tripathi (@saliltripathi) December 13, 2015
I demand we ban Candy Crush!
— NazimFarhanChoudhury (@nazimfarhan) December 14, 2015
God alone knows why the Bangladesh Govt blocked Twitter for nearly 24 hours..anyway good to be back folks!
— Mac Haque (@maqsood_O_dhaka) December 14, 2015
Do you think #Bangladesh ban on #Twitter means the government fears free-speech?
— BD News 24 (@bdnews24) December 13, 2015
IT entrepreneur Fahim Mashroor wrote on Facebook:
Now BTRC [Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission] needs to explain why it has given instructions for blocking Skype if Govt. did not decide to do that. Is there any parallel govt? Or more dangerously, is there any ‘hacking’ in the communication channel between Govt. and BTRC?
On the afternoon of Monday 14 December 2015, Telecommunications Minister Tarana Halim revealed that “All the social communication media are being unblocked following a government order.” BTRC Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood confirmed that all will be open shortly. Only time will tell whether these services will remain accessible for Bangladeshis.

author: Rezwan


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Chhaupadi, the Dwindling Nepalese Tradition That Turns Women Into Outcasts During Their Periods · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Nyaya Health: Mass community health teaching. Street theater on menstrual hygiene and the practice of Chhaupadi. Image from Flickr by Possible. CC By 2.0
While Nepal has made “fair” progress in promoting gender equality and empowering women, according to the United Nations Development Programme, news of ‘chhaupadi’ appearing in the mainstream media stand in stark contrast to the country's achievements.
Recently, Setopati, a popular online portal, proudly published a report announcing a village in Jumla district chhaupadi-free.
ढिम्कोटमा अब छाउपडी हुने छैन https://t.co/sN1to6Zsra via @setopati pic.twitter.com/Wq12Vu0h3s
— Setopati (@setopati) December 10, 2015
There won’t be chhaupadi in Dhimkot now.
So, what is ‘chhaupadi’ really?
In far and mid-western regions of Nepal, following centuries-old tradition, menstruating girls and women are shunned, forced to stay outside in cow sheds or small huts so as to spare their family members from being ‘polluted’.
Razen Manandhar, a former journalist with The Himalayan Times daily, writes about chhaupadi in his blog:
[…] They strongly believe that women become impure during those 4/5 days every month and their gods – “Mate”, as they call him – don't like to see women coming to them at this period of time. So, the men force women in their periods to confine themselves in small, narrow huts/sheds without any window or door. […]
[…] Men believe that if women in periods remain in their houses, tigers would come attack them or their cattle. Or the god will be angry at them and they will fall sick. They care more of the invisible god than their own family members. […]
Cecile Shrestha, associate director of programme development for water access non-profit WaterAid America, explains the tradition through her series of tweets:
This is a typical “goth,” or shed, in Western #Nepal where girls sleep during menstruation. Open and exposed. #MHM pic.twitter.com/GFETYKrckk
— Cecile Shrestha (@CecileShr) July 27, 2015
Six girls were planning to share the shed behind on the night we met them. “I am fearful of snakes and weather.” #MHM pic.twitter.com/TU3bsgHh9r
— Cecile Shrestha (@CecileShr) July 28, 2015
Kamala, 14. Behind her, her shed where she's been sleeping while menstruating, since she was 11. Rain or shine. #MHM pic.twitter.com/Gyp0M5tKrC
— Cecile Shrestha (@CecileShr) July 27, 2015
“I tell them it's an outdated practice, but they get angry.” Anjana, 16, on sleeping outside during her period. #MHM pic.twitter.com/Mxj7wr78Oy
— Cecile Shrestha (@CecileShr) July 27, 2015
Three generations of women. “It will anger the gods.” Why women are forbidden to enter the home during menstruation. pic.twitter.com/WTdwKQRhwP
— Cecile Shrestha (@CecileShr) July 25, 2015
The tradition also means the girls are not allowed to touch books or go to school and are barred from carrying warm clothes and blankets to the sheds. There is always the fear of wild animals and snakes, not to mention wanton male perpetrators.
They are not even allowed to take nutritious food and milk, fearing that the animal will either fall sick or stop milking.
The tradition is followed mainly in the western hilly districts Doti, Dadeldhura, Achham, Bajhang, Bajura, Darchula, Baitadi, Jumla, Huma, Mugu, Dolpa, Kalikot, Dailekh and Jajarkot, as reported by Rajdhani daily.
Although the Nepalese Supreme Court banned chhaupadi in 2005, it is still rooted firmly in many remote hill villages.
Even women leaders and activists are compelled to follow the tradition. The Himalayan Times quoted Binita BK, the Bajura district treasurer of United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist:
It is obvious that it is a widespread social evil. It is an outcome of conservative mindset. But what to do, we don’t have any other option but to stay separately, away from our house during our periods, when we are in the village.
Though many chhau (sheds) were destroyed following awareness campaigns led by non-governmental organisations in coordination with government agencies, in some places they have been rebuilt to keep the tradition alive.
However, young girls and women are pushing back against the tradition that turns them into outcasts for a few days a month. Thanks to the awareness raised by the NGOs and concerned government bodies, the sheds are being destroyed and more and more villages are becoming chaupadi-free.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Ethiopian Netizens Defend Themselves in Court After 525 Days of Detention · Global Voices
T Tekle

Photo-based graphic of Zelalem Workagegnehu by Melody Sundberg.
When they began their trial before Ethiopia's Lideta High Court, Ethiopian blogger Zelalem Workagegenhu and his friends Yonatan Wolde and Bahiru Degu had already spent over 1.5 years in detention.
Zelalem Workagenehu, a human rights advocate and academic who contributed to the diaspora-based DeBirhan blog was initially charged in October 2014 with multiple offenses such as being the local leader of Ginbot 7 (an opposition political party founded by Professor Berhanu Nega and colleagues), conspiring violent revolution, and publishing news reports on diaspora websites. These have since been reduced to two charges: the first, recruiting members for Ginbot 7 and the second, co-facilitating an online Communication, Social Media and Leadership training, which was later cancelled.
Yonatan and Bahiru have been charged with applying to participate in the same training, which the government describes as a “training to terrorize the country”, and of being members of Ginbot 7, which they all deny.
The Ethiopian government has labeled Ginbot 7 as a terrorist organisation under the country's Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, which was adopted in July 2009. Ethiopian officials tend to defend the law by arguing that its controversial provisions were copied from the existing laws of countries such as the United Kingdom.
The trio elected to defend themselves in court after judiciary officials revoked the license of their attorney, Temam Ababulgu, in June 2015, for what were described as “ethical issues.” Ababulgu had previously defended journalists, politicians and religious representatives facing charges under the country's anti-terror law.
Zelalem and Bahiru leaving Lideta court two weeks ago. Photo courtesy of a friend of Zelalem's, used with permission.
During the two weeks of intermittent hearings at the Lideta High Court in Addis Ababa, the defendants and their defense witnesses gave professional and personal testimonies arguing that the training was legal and educational.
They also alleged that the prosecutor's witnesses were former prisoners expressly released for agreeing to testify against the trio.
Zelalem told the court that he has never been a member of any political party and that he believes in non-violent change. This would make him ineligible to recruit members for Ginbot 7, a group that advocates various forms of struggle. Zelalem’s mother and his friends, as well as opposition politician Habtamu Ayalew, appeared before the court as defense witnesses and testified that he had received no money from Ginbot 7. Zelalem also argued that his Facebook conversations with Yonatan and other people, which are part of the state's evidence, were translated out of context in order to frame them.
The remaining defense witnesses for Zelalem, among them detained journalist Eskinder Nega and opposition politicians Yeshiwas Assefa and Andargachew Tsige, initially were called by the judges. But over the past five sessions of the trial, they have not been brought before court by the relevant authorities.
Witnesses for Bahiru Degu and Yonatan Wolde included Zelalem himself and some members of Zone9 bloggers and journalists, who were recently released after being arrested for over one year in similar charges.
Zelalem and Bahiru described the conditions and treatment they experienced in prison. Zelalem said he was detained for 41 days in an extremely cold room also known as “Siberia” in the central Maekelawi Prison in Addis Ababa and was tortured by interrogators. He said the investigators always took his confessions after 10 pm under duress and torture, and that they should therefore not be accepted as his own.
Bahiru Degu detailed the ordeals he went through during investigation. Bahiru said “I was  forced to get naked and was regularly beaten. Due to the severity of the beating, I was unable to control my bowls [sic]. I was forced to drink my own urine.”
Bahiru testified that interrogators asked if he was a blood relative of Dr. Berhanu Nega, Chairman of Ginbot 7, was since they hail from the same ethnic group. He was also asked if he had any connection to Andargachew Tsgie, the Secretary General of Ginbot 7, who is currently in detention. Bahiru is not related to either of these individuals.
Elaborating on the severity of brutality and torture, Bahiru revealed that he even attempted to take his own life. He said “it is a miracle that I am alive to be here in front of you in the court today.” Bahiru told the court that he was racially abused by the investigators, who insulted his ethnic group.
Bahiru also stated that the investigators threatened him, saying “we will cut your blood vessels and kill you. We are the police, the prosecutors, the judges, the intelligence and all are ours; you will be jailed for 20 years.” Bahiru testified that he was tortured and forced to admit he was a member of Ginbot 7 Movement. Bahiru told the Court that his confession statements recorded during the investigation were given under duress and were not his own.
The men's defense hearing is set to continue on December 16, 2015 at the Federal High Court in Lideta, Addis Ababa.
Editor's disclosure:  Sources for this article include previously published coverage of the case, and first-hand accounts of trial proceedings from Tedla's Addis Ababa-based colleagues.

author: T Tekle


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Latinos Care About the Environment. So Why Aren’t Green Groups Engaging Them More? · Global Voices
Ensia

Six activists with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), Rising Tide North America, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and the Backbone Campaign climbed the fence to Midwest Generation’s controversial Crawford coal plant in Little Village. Photo by Flickr user Rainforest Action Network. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Idalmis Vaquero 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.
Kimberly Wasserman was born and raised in Little Village, a Chicago neighborhood with an 83 percent Latino population and two coal-fired power plants — one less than a mile from her home. When she had to rush her 3-month-old baby to the hospital with an asthma attack in 1998, Wasserman decided enough was enough. She successfully campaigned for the closure of the two plants in 2013 — then went on to transform industrial areas around Chicago into open and green spaces such as parks, sports fields and picnic areas and eventually win the Goldman Prize for her efforts.
Wasserman’s position as a Latina interested in improving the environment is not unique. In a nationwide survey of Latino voters last summer by the opinion research firm Latino Decisions, 85 percent of respondents agreed that addressing smog and air pollution should be a priority for the president and Congress. Three-quarters supported establishment of national standards to prevent climate change. Nearly 80 percent supported development of clean energy, and 90 percent were in favor of enforcing and strengthening the Clean Water Act.
Despite this, efforts by politicians and groups concerned about the environment to engage Latino communities seem to be lagging: The Latino Decisions poll also revealed that more than three-quarters of respondents have never been contacted or encouraged by an environmental organization to take action on behalf of the environment. With nearly 40 million Latinos eligible to vote in the next U.S. presidential election (17% of total voters), the numbers of potentially engaged individuals — and possible political clout — are enormous.
How might environmental groups better connect with Latinos?
“The best way for mainstream organizations to engage Latinos is to partner with local Latino-based organizations, identify issues that resonate locally, and work together to find solutions,” says Mark Magaña, founder of the nonprofit GreenLatinos, one of the organizations that commissioned the Latino Decisions survey.
“Latinos do not simply mobilize for a movement or a cause. They do [it] to improve their livelihoods and the future of their children,” said Mark Magaña, explaining that the specific issues groups focus on for collaboration are important. “Latinos do not simply mobilize for a movement or a cause,” he says, “They do [it] to improve their livelihoods and the future of their children.” Other reasons Latinos and other minority groups engage with environmental activities include economics, religious beliefs, and interest in improving food access and security.
The desire to improve livelihoods, for example, is what motivates groups such as Tamales y Bicicletas, a Minneapolis-based organization that uses bicycles to inspire cultural empowerment among Latino youth and advocate for environmental and food justice in their communities. Similarly, UPROSE, Brooklyn’s oldest Latino community–based organization, works to increase local knowledge of environmental and public health issues by connecting youth with projects to test for contaminants in local waterways and air pollutants in their community.
Working for a brighter future for children in many cases means concern for clean air. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 22 percent of poor Latinos have asthma, compared with 12 percent of poor whites. And Latinos are 60 percent more likely to visit the hospital for asthma-related complications than are non-Latinos, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.
It also means addressing the threat climate change poses for generations to come. This past October, more than 5,000 community members, advocates, leaders and policy-makers from organizations representing Latino constituencies met in Denver, Colorado, as part of the Americas Latino EcoFestival, an annual multicultural environmental event. Among other things, the festival launched a climate-training program and called for actions on climate stewardship and a transition to renewable energy sources by boosting Latino and youth engagement.
Some mainstream environmental organizations have begun to build relationships with Latino environmental advocates and groups. The Natural Resources Defense Council, for example, has expanded its environmental justice work by partnering with local Latino community–based organizations to achieve mutual goals such as improving air quality and protecting children from pesticides. The Sierra Club, for its part, is engaging Latino communities in its Borderlands campaign to protect the environment and public safety at the US–Mexico border.
Thomas Macias, a professor of sociology at the University of Vermont who has studied environmental perceptions among racial and ethnic groups in the US, says such efforts by environmental groups to engage Latinos are a good start. To further increase engagement, he suggests mainstream organizations seek to learn from and collaborate with existing initiatives within Latino communities. “Reaching out to preexisting organizations and not coming into the community as an outsider is important,” he says.
In recent election cycles, Latinos have been viewed as a key voting bloc. Most of that attention to date has focused on Latinos’ views on immigration. As the Latino Decisions poll and growing evidence of environmental interest and activism among Latinos show, the future of the mainstream environmental movement could be dramatically affected by the extent to which it recognizes Latino interest, enhances Latino voter participation, and works alongside Latino communities to address issues of mutual concern.
Editor’s note: Idalmis Vaquero produced this article as a participant in the Ensia Mentor Program. Her mentor for the project was science journalist Aleszu Bajak, founder of LatinAmericanScience.org.

author: Ensia


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Low Bandwidth, High Hopes: Digital Participation in Venezuelan Elections · Global Voices
Marianne Díaz Hernández

Internet outage map for Venezuela parliamentary elections, Dec 6, 2015. Crowdsourced by NGO Acceso Libre via Open Street Maps.
Venezuela chose a new Parliament on December 6, setting in motion what is expected to be a huge turn of the political wheel. With voters turning out overwhelmingly in favor of the opposition — a coalition formed by center, center-right and center-left parties, won the supermajority of Parliament seats (112 out of 167) — this new leadership will likely face a tough year of attempting to recover the long lost independence of the legislative system.
Despite low bandwidth and a series of localized Internet outages, the Web proved critical to public discourse and circulation of information about candidates, especially those running as part of the opposition.
Approaching elections, many feared a return of the country-wide Internet blackout that briefly took place during 2013 presidential elections following Hugo Chávez’s death. History did not repeat itself at this scale, but there were numerous local-level Internet outages in at least 12 of the country’s 24 states. These data were crowdsourced by NGO Acceso Libre, which documented issues with Internet access all through election weekend, with a particular focus on states where the political tendencies are traditionally against the ruling party, such as the western states of Zulia and Táchira.
With the media ecosystem in the firm grip of the ruling political party, whether by means of strategic acquisition, newsprint paper shortages or plain old censorship, the Internet increasingly has served as a space for understanding and interpreting the country’s ever-changing socio-political dynamics. In recent years, the Venezuelan web has burst with informative websites, which for many have come to replace traditional newspapers that have closed their doors for lack of paper. Social media has played a similarly vital role. As journalist Luis Carlos Díaz once put it, Twitter is Venezuela's “information nervous system.”
Screen capture from the YouTube newscast by Unidad Venezolana, the unified opposition coalition, explaining to citizens the importance of arriving to the polls early, in order to avoid identity theft.
Politicians outside the ruling party, who have been systematically denied access to public media, also turned to digital resources in order to spread their message: the opposition coalition (MUD, by its Spanish acronym) covered elections through a YouTube channel, which at any given point during Sunday had thousands of simultaneous viewers, despite having been created only a few days before elections and was being promoted by word-of-mouth and social media.
Opposition political leaders also used Periscope, the livestream video app, to transmit short messages during the day and the long night as electors awaited the results. Henrique Capriles, governor and former presidential candidate, used the platform to transmit short press conferences as well as direct messages of hope and success to his audience. The paid, digital-only TV channel VivoPlay was widely sought after because of its 24-hour coverage of the elections, despite the fact that streaming services are useless for much of the population, given the generally very low quality of Internet service: an average of 2mbps.
With 61.62% of the population online and one of the continent’s slowest Internet speeds, it seems that digital connectivity is now more essential than ever for Venezuelans to organize, communicate and defend their rights and freedoms.

author: Marianne Díaz Hernández


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Nigerian Lawmakers May Criminalize ‘Abusive’ and Anti-Government Messages Online · Global Voices
Kofi Yeboah

#NotoSocialMediaBill protest in Abuja, Nigeria, December 8, 2015. Photo shared on Twitter by @MrAyeDee.
Nigeria's social media landscape may face dramatic changes, if lawmakers get their way with a new bill that would make it a crime to express “abusive statements” on the Internet and mobile apps. It would also criminalize distribution of “false information” online as well as “inciting the general public against the government through electronic message.”
The bill is being sponsored by Senator Ibn Na’Allah, the representative from Nigeria's Kebbi South Senatorial District. The bill has reportedly passed its second reading.
The bill appears to be aimed at silencing trends of violent extremist activity in the country, as well as more common online bullying, but critics have been quick to note that it easily could be used to silence political speech or protest movements. Regarding social media, the legislation states:
Where any person through text message, tweets, WhatsApp or through any social media post any abusive statement knowing same to be false with intent to set the public against any person and group of persons, an institution of government or such other bodies established by law shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction, shall be liable to an imprisonment for two years or a fine of N2,000,000.00 [about USD $10,000] or both fine and imprisonment.
The law also would punish “anyone who intentionally propagates false information” as well as incitement of anti-government speech with up to seven years in prison.
On December 7, activists and social media users wearing black clothes stormed the National Assembly and demanded that legislators abandon the bill. The legislation's critics online have begun using the hashtag #NoToSocialMediaBill.
The next day, Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki denied that the Senate was voting on new social-media legislation, saying:
We have only debated the Principle of the bill, we have not gone into the details of the bill, so if there is any part of the bill that does not conform to human right, be rest assured that the senate will do the proper thing. So there was no bill that was brought forward called social media bill.
The bill does have opponents in the government. Abdulrazak Namdas, the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Publicity, expressed his disapproval at a State House Speakers correspondents dinner on December 8, 2015.
Senator Godswill Akpabio, Senate Minority Leader, and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State have urged Nigerians not worry:
Dear Nigerians, go to sleep & stop worrying; nobody is going to send social media users to jail through the senate. It will not happen. #GA
— Sen Godswill Akpabio (@SenAkpabio) December 2, 2015
JJ. Omojuwa, one of Nigeria's top social media influencers and a columnist, wrote:
Everyone who values his or her right must express a resounding #NoToSocialMediaBill — JJ. Omojuwa (@Omojuwa) December 2, 2015
Twiter user Damilare Joseph noted:
A government looking for ways to cripple freedom of speech and expression is slowly becoming tyrannic. #NoToSocialMediaBill
— Damilare Joseph (@dre4success) December 2, 2015
“Mr. Chairman” did some number-crunching:
Two-year jail term for tweeting 140 characters. That's nearly a week per character. #NoToSocialMediaBill
— mr. chairman (@ebuka_akara) December 3, 2015
BudgIT NIgeria, a civic-technology organisation, had harsh words for the public officials behind the draft law, who seem to be unable to bear a little public criticism:
PUBLIC OFFICE is NOT mandatory. If you don't want criticism, please still to your private business. #Askquestions #NoToSocialMediaBill
— BudgIT Nigeria (@BudgITng) December 5, 2015
Chijioke Kaduru, a medical doctor, suggests that the judiciary needs to be strengthened, instead of crippling freedom of speech:
If someone has made a libelous comment, sue the person. If you think the courts don't work, strengthen the judiciary #NoToSocialMediaBill
— Chijioke Kaduru, MD (@dr_kaduru) December 5, 2015
The online and offline protests drew the attention of Nnenna Nwakanma, the World Wide Web Foundation's African regional coordinator, who wrote:
A cynical view is that this is a bill meant to protect persons in high positions and institutions. If a citizen cannot call out the negativities happening at high positions and public institutions, are we not going back to the stone ages?
A spokesperson for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has affirmed the president's commitment to free speech:
The president said free speech is central to democratic societies anywhere in the world. The president explained that without free speech, elected representatives won’t be able to gauge public feelings and moods about governance issues. As a key component of democratic principles, the president acknowledged that people in democratic societies “are so emotionally attached to free speech that they would defend it with all their might
Commenting on the bill, Hilary Matfess, a researcher at the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University, noted that the proposed bill follows an undemocratic trend in Sub-Saharan Africa of legislation cracking down on Internet freedom.

author: Kofi Yeboah


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Thai Worker Arrested for Mocking the King’s Dog on Facebook · Global Voices
Prachatai

File photo of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his beloved pet dog, Khun Thong Daeng. Photo from the Facebook page of K9Aid, a dog rescue charity group.
This edited article is from Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
A 27-year-old factory worker was detained and charged with sedition on December 8 for sharing an infographic about a corruption scandal and mocking the king’s dog.
On 14 December 2015, the Military Court of Bangkok granted police permission to detain Thanakorn S., a factory worker. Thanakorn is being charged under Article 112 of the Criminal Code for clicking ‘like’ on Facebook contents deemed defamatory of the Thai monarchy. He has also been charged with sedition, under Article 116, for posting an infographic concerning last year's Rajabhakti park corruption scandal, in which the army ordered the construction seven giant statues of prominent Thai kings in Rajabhakti park. It was later revealed that the project was overpriced and that large kickbacks were demanded from contractors. The army has promised to investigate the allegation.
Thai Lawyers for Human Rights reported that in accordance with the arrest report, Thanakorn was accused of lèse-majesté [Thailand's law against royal insult or “violation of majesty”] for clicking ‘like’ and posting a message mocking one of the king’s pets — Khun Thong Daeng, a female copper-colored dog.
Thai man accused of lese majeste for mocking the King’s dog on Facebook https://t.co/L6nylkuEtw #Thailand pic.twitter.com/c3LXka195W
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) December 14, 2015
Factory worker faces lese majeste charge in #Thailand military court reportedly for #FB comments about king's dog. pic.twitter.com/K0jyyqU99P
— Sunai (@sunaibkk) December 14, 2015
He was also accused of pressing ‘like’ on a doctored image of the king and sharing it with hundreds of others online.
Thanakorn was arrested at his house in Samut Prakan Province on 8 December 2015 by military and police officers, who invoked Section 44 of the Interim Charter, which gives officers absolute authorities to maintain national security.
He was then held incommunicado in unknown location.
According to Pradtanah S., the man’s mother, a stranger believed to be a security officer contacted her and informed her that her son was taken to the 11th Circle Military Base on Nakhonchaisri Rd., Bangkok.
In addition to the lèse-majesté and sedition charges, he was also accused of offenses under the 2007 Computer Crime Act. Thanakorn could be imprisoned for up to 27 years if found guilty.
According to Matichon Online, police investigators are now gathering information and evidence to press charges against 20 administrators of an anti-establishment red-shirt Facebook group called the “National Red Shirts Association,” of which Thanakorn was a member.
The Red Shirt group is one of the political groups demanding the restoration of civilian rule in Thailand, with many member who support ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In 2010, the Red Shirts barricaded the major roads of Bangkok which led to a violent confrontation with the police. When the army seized power in 2014, it vowed to end the street clashes between competing political forces such as the Yellow Shirts and Red Shirts.
Hundreds of members of the red-shirt Facebook group will also be charged with the lèse-majesté law for clicking ‘like’ on pictures and content allegedly defaming the Thai monarchy, Matichon reported. The authorities added earlier that the red-shirt Facebook group is an ‘anti-government’ and ‘anti-monarchy’ group, with about 60,000 members.
The notorious lèse-majesté law or Article 112 of the Criminal Code states, “Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, Heir-apparent or Regent shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years.”
Since the coup in 2014, offences under the lèse-majesté law have been judged by military courts, which allow no appeal. In August 2015, a Thai military court sentenced a man accused of defaming the Thai monarchy on a social network to 30 years in jail in a trial held in camera (not open to the public or press). The ruling is the heaviest jail term ever recorded for a lèse-majesté case.

author: Prachatai


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The Wonderful World of Japan’s ‘Okonomiyaki’ · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. Image from Wikipedia, CC 3.0.
Over the past decade, as Japanese izakaya pub-style fare has become popular all over the world, many people outside of Japan have been introduced to okonomiyaki.
One Japanese Twitter account, @honoo_teppann (炎の鉄板, or “The Red-Hot Grill”) is on a mission to promote this quintessential Japanese comfort food through retweets and lively conversation.
But first, a little explanation about okonomiyaki: A savory creation, okonomiyaki is difficult to describe to anyone who has never eaten it. As Japanese language and culture blog Tofugu says in an excellent and encyclopedic entry on okonomiyaki:
Okonomiyaki is described many ways. “Crepe” and “omelette” are two common comparisons. But you’re bound to hear “Japanese pizza” or “Japanese pancake” most often. These descriptions are all true to an extent but basically wrong.
Generally speaking, okonomiyaki is a mixture of batter made from taro-root flower, lots of cabbage, meat, a teriyaki-like sauce, and a variety of condiments including mayonnaise and pickled ginger.
The tweet below helps convey how okonomiyaki is good over a flat stovetop, typically right in front of the customer:
焼くんじゃ・うちはなんと言ってもがんす入りお好み焼きです。がんすとは魚の練り製品で新次元のおいしさです。 pic.twitter.com/8PH7L1mZ
— 炎の鉄板 (@honoo_teppann) February 7, 2012
Let's grill! If we were to say one thing about our okonomiyaki it's that it incorporates a local Hiroshima delicacy called gansu. Gansu is a kind of processed fish popular in Hiroshima.
There are two generally recognized styles of okonomiyaki in Japan: Hiroshima-style and Osaka-style.
Osaka-style okonomiyaki tends to scramble all of the ingredients together when cooking. In Hiroshima, the different ingredients are added to the grill layer-by-layer.
Osaka, Japan's colorful and charming “second city, is generally regarded as the home of okonomiyaki. Twitter user @honoo_teppann aims to change that:
世界に誇る食文化「広島風お好み焼き(お好み焼)」を極める場所です。 作る人も食べる人も大歓迎。熱くokonomiを語りましょう […] Location: 広島市中区土橋
This Twitter account is dedicated to promoting Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki (the only true okonomiyaki) to the world. We welcome anyone who creates or consumes okonomiyaki. Let's all spread the word about okonomiyaki […] Location: Dobashi, Naka Ward, Hiroshima
Indeed, honoo_teppann frequently writes tweets about okonomiyaki from the cuisine's “ground zero”, Dobashi in Hiroshima.
While honoo_teppann has a blog, their photos on Twitter are the best place to view the different approaches to the dish at various Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki eateries all over Japan:
【新規ご紹介店舗】http://t.co/4Enji3SvFx　おっ好み焼　ようよう(安芸郡海田町)　外側は香ばしく中身はふんわり。開店10年、初心を忘れず作り続けています｡　#okonomiyaki #hiroshima pic.twitter.com/L8LohMD9zL
— 炎の鉄板 (@honoo_teppann) April 17, 2015
Introducing Okonomiyaki Yo Yo (Kaita, Hiroshima); Their okonomiyaki has a fragrant exterior with a fluffy texture. Yo Yo was opened ten years ago and has never lost its enthusiasm for making okonomiyaki. #okonomiyaki #hiroshima
【新規ご紹介店舗】http://t.co/4Enji3AUNZ　お好み焼　若貴（広島市中区紙屋町）辛口ソースに辛い麺、唐辛子のフライ、辛子風味のごまを使った「カープ焼」が一押し。#okonomiyaki #hiroshima pic.twitter.com/hz7fzydhpc — 炎の鉄板 (@honoo_teppann) April 3, 2015
Introducing Okonomiyaki Wakataka (Hiroshima CIty); Their okonomiyaki features a savory [as opposed to sweeter-tasting] sauce, topped with deep-fried cayenne peppers, spicy sesames… and called “Carp-Yaki” [after the baseball team].
【新規ご紹介店舗】http://t.co/4Enji3AUNZ　はるみ（広島市東区曙）　黒田投手のカープ復帰を記念して作った「クロだ焼」。見た目は真っ黒、味は抜群です。#okonomiyaki #hiroshima pic.twitter.com/Fu8Om7Ujxe
— 炎の鉄板 (@honoo_teppann) April 3, 2015
Introducing Harumi (Hiroshima); Made especially in commemoration of beloved Hiroshima Carp pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, their signature dish is the “Kuro-yaki”. It's black in color [kuro means ‘black’ in Japanese] with a distinctive taste all its own.
For a definitive look at how to cook okonomiyaki from scratch, be sure to check out Tofugu's excellent article on the topic.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Viral Outrage Over the Appropriation of Traditional Mexican Embroidery Is Full of Inaccuracies · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

A member of Oaxaca's Mixe community uses a loom.  Photo taken from the Flickr account Photon under license agreement Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Mexican social media exploded in November at the news of the apparent appropriation of a traditional textile design from Oaxaca, México, by a French designer and fashion company. The uproar appeared to stem from an article published on November 16 by a local news site, reporting that:
Autoridades municipales de Santa María Tlahuitoltepec informaron que además del supuesto plagio a uno de sus diseños hace unos meses, por la modista francesa Isabel Marant; la empresa Antiquité Vatic [sic], de la misma nacionalidad, comenzó un juicio para reclamar los derechos de autor del diseño textil, originario de esta comunidad Mixe de Oaxaca.
Municipal authorities from Santa María Tlahuitoltepec said that in addition to the alleged plagiarism of one of their designs by French designer Isabel Marant a few months ago, a French company called Antiquité Vatic filed a lawsuit to claim copyright of the textile's design, which is originally from the Mixe de Oaxaca community.
Other online news sites picked up the news, emphatically asserting that residents of the indigenous Mixe community in Oaxaca could no longer be allowed to produce their traditional textile embroidery unless they paid the corresponding royalties. Even the Mexican municipal authorities of Tlahuitoltepec would be subject to paying a required royalty to the French government, according to the coverage:
El ayuntamiento de Tlahuitoltepec reveló que se enteraron del asunto gracias a un requerimiento que llegó al palacio municipal y que proviene del gobierno de Francia el cual prohíbe la producción y venta de este tipo de prendas hasta que la comunidad pague las regalías correspondientes a esta empresa francesa.
Tlahuitoltepec's local government revealed that they found out about the matter from an order that arrived at the town hall from the French government. It prohibited the production and sale of the clothing until the community paid the royalties due to the French company.
But as it turns out, the story as told isn't entirely true. The Tlahuitoltepec government hasn't received any formal notification of lawsuit, according to a November 20 press release from municipal authorities, who sought to correct the record.
And the dispute between designer Isabel Marant and the indigenous community isn't new, either. The blouse in question is from her spring-summer 2015 collection, and in June of this year, the residents of Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, home to the Mixe community, held a press conference to denounce what they saw as an act of plagiarism. The story received coverage at the time in the UK newspaper the Guardian, among other mainstream media outlets.
That didn't stop the inaccurate version from going viral. The information echoed widely online, with some stories drawing more than 300,000 shares. Many Twitter users began using the hashtag #MiblusadeTlahui (#MyShirtFromTlahuitoltepec):
Herencia oaxaqueña no francesa, no se confundan #miblusadetlahui https://t.co/57Yogyo3uq
— Odette RiMu (@Odette_RiMu) noviembre 19, 2015
Oaxaqueña herency, not french. Don't get it confused
Memes soon cropped up denouncing Marant:
#ArteEnMéxico #Oaxaca #Descolonizate pic.twitter.com/whNn9ehYjA
— Arte en México (@ArteenMexico) noviembre 20, 2015
Image reads: “I'm Isabel Marant, pseudo-designer of French fashion. I steal and patent Oaxaqueña embroidery, which has existed for more than 300 years.”
#ArtInMexico #Oaxaca #Decolonization
On Change.org, two petitions quickly gained momentum: the first, titled “Oaxaqueños Mixes’ designs stay in Oaxaca!” was created on November 19 and now has more than 145,000 signatures. It's addressed to Mexico's state authorities, stating:
Declaren públicamente que los bordados de las comunidades mixes oaxaqueñas están protegidos por la ley y no son susceptibles de apropiación o patente por parte de particulares ni mexicanos ni extranjeros.
They should publicly declare that embroidery made by the Mixe communities of Oaxaca are protected by law and are not subject to appropriation or patents by Mexican or foreign individuals.
The second petition, titled “Tlahuitoltepec is a vibrant community…Oaxaqueños’ embroderies are Mexican,” addresses the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples.
The volume and intensity of reactions were such that Marant wrote on Facebook stating that she “denies owning any patent to the Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec embroidered blouses” as well as having asked the French authorities to collect royalty payments.
She said that she had, in fact, “officially informed the court that she does not claim to be the author of this tunic and these designs,” referring to the copyright claim lodged by the French fashion label Antik Batik de Gabriella Cortese (misspelled in many of the Spanish-language reports in November as “Antiquité Vatic”). For her part, Marant said she told had “presented submissions which expressly point out that these designs come from the village of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec.”
The design and clothing of indigenous populations are a symbol of their rich culture and historical heritage, but the case in Oaxaca is a frustrating reminder that Mexico lacks a legal framework to protect the artistic works of indigenous populations.
Perhaps this clash with France's fashion world will bring Mexicans and others around the world to recognize and defend the rights, identities and creativity of indigenous groups. Hopefully this latest controversy too serves as an important lesson: just because content goes viral doesn't make it true.

author: Giovanna Salazar


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A Crash Course in Trinidad and Tobago’s 2015 General Elections · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Balisier House prepares”; photo by C*POP, Flickr user Georgia Popplewell. CC 2.0.
Trinidad and Tobago's general elections, which took place earlier this year on September 7, ushered in a new government, replacing leaders who had been besieged by accusations of financial impropriety and misbehaviour in public office. A few months before that, Guyana held elections, which might have served as a cautionary tale, but Trinidad and Tobago is famous for being “harden” (local parlance meaning “stubborn” or “slow to learn”), which perhaps is why the twin-island republic's elections have a unique recipe:
Carnival is the perfect occasion for this, as there are literally thousands of attractive, scantily clad women gyrating in the streets to pulsating music. Even a monk would be distracted when one of these women happens to “wine up” (that hip-swiveling dance for which the country is famous) with the leader of the country's opposition and photographers take lots of pictures, which then feeds the social media firestorm about what Keith Rowley's dance moves say about his ability to lead a country. (The deeper side of this discussion, of course, was about race relations and patriarchy.)
Wait a few months, then add sexual harassment allegations to the mix. (These allegations against Dr. Rowley by newspaper reporter Anika Gumbs backfired, after concerns about a possible conflict of interest emerged, given that Gumbs was simultaneously a permanent staff member at the newspaper Express and the recipient of two government contracts.)
Even better, do it within the walls of parliament during an attempt to bring a “No Confidence” vote against the leader of the opposition, where parliamentary privilege protects you from having to be held responsible for your statements or the damage they may inflict. Allege that Rowley is unfit for public office because he is a “product of rape” and in so doing, also insult rape victims throughout the country. To muddy the political waters further, pay online trolls to make race-based political mischief and then deny doing it, despite testimony to the contrary.
In fact, use them to draw attention to your political opponent. (The People's National Movement used the hashtag #GetOutKamla, while the People's Partnership government favoured #NoRowley.)
Upset at not being chosen to contest a seat in the upcoming elections? Express your frustration through song — specifically, one in which you call your prime minister a “neemakharam” (a term that has come to be synonymous with a political ingrate).
Contrary to the spirit of the law, which prohibits any kind of canvassing on election day, attempt to use the Internet to your advantage by soliciting votes virtually.
In Trinidad and Tobago, polling stations traditionally open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. — but on September 7, 2015, inclement weather caused heaving flooding in certain parts of the country, prompting the Elections and Boundaries Commission to extend the voting hours in certain areas, not foreseeing the hullabaloo that would ensue.
After the results are in and the country's new prime minister, attorney general, and minister of national security are sworn in — and sworn in again thanks to an error in protocol — file a petition to declare the general elections null and void, due to the extension of the voting period.
Sounds complicated? It's a walk in the park compared with the backbiting and legal wrangling involved in internal party elections in Trinidad and Tobago!


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China’s 2nd World Internet Conference Will Focus on ‘Rule of Law’, But Not Free Expression · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Graphic used coverage of the first World Internet Conference in 2014, by Badiucao for China Digital Times. Used with permission.
The second World Internet Conference (WIC) hosted by China will begin on December 16 in the ancient water city of Wuzhen. The CEOs of local giants Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are expected to attend, along with executives Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Huawei.
The conference bears the theme: “An Interconnected World Shared and Governed by All: Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace.”
In the aftermath of the Paris attacks and amid rising global fears of violent extremism, it is anticipated that China will use the conference to promote cybersecurity and Internet sovereignty — the idea that governments have the right to control their country's Internet space.
Xinhua, a mouthpiece for the Chinese government, published an opinion piece ahead of the conference setting the stage for discussion, identifying cybersecurity as an “Achilles heel” of the Internet, and indirectly accusing the United States of using China a scapegoat for its own technological shortcomings.
First, the almighty warrior Achilles was killed for his unblessed heel. Our Internet, though seemingly as mighty as Achilles for its broadness and powerfulness, has more than one heel that is unprotected, among which, the cybersecurity is the weakest. If they want to do something, they better do it now.
Second, cybersecurity must never become another farce of the China threat. Cybercrime is a common threat for countries all over the world. If a certain power from West decides to seek cyber hegemony by portraying others as a scapegoat for its own technological arrogance and zero-sum mindset, it is squandering hard-won mutual trust among different cyber communities around the globe and putting the common destiny of cyberspace in danger.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver a keynote speech to 2,000 influential figures including eight state leaders (from Pakistan, Russia and Kazakhstan, among others), 50 ministerial-ranked officials, 20 leaders from international organizations and more than 600 experts from Internet companies around the world.
Xi's view on the Internet was presented ahead of the conference in a Xinhua column translated by China Media Project:
Even as Internet technology continues to develop, the information autonomy of no country can be violated. In the information sphere, there are no double standards, and every country [has the right] to defend its own information security. It must not be the case that one country is secure while others are not, or that some countries are secure while some others are not. Nor can [a country] seek its own so-called absolute security while sacrificing the security of other nations.
[…]
…this ‘new frontier’ (新疆域) is not ‘a realm outside the law,’ and it too must respect rule of law, it too must preserve national autonomy, security and development interests.
However, the implementation of the “rule of law” in China as related to the Internet is different from other countries.
The recent trial of human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who is charged with “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking a disturbance” based on a few tweets he wrote on social media platform Weibo, is one example of this “rule of law,” in action. @majunlive tweeted:
#浦志强 案应该放在乌镇开庭，浦律师因7条网络言论“获罪”，跟世界互联网大会是同一个系列的东西。一帮乌贼讨论怎么统治海洋
— 马了个 (@majunlive) December 14, 2015
#PuZhiqiang should be put on trial at Wuzhen. The indictment of lawyer Pu was based on seven tweets that he wrote. [The principle of the charges against him] is similar to what is advocated at the World Internet Conference. How can a group of squid know how to rule the sea?
But as Bill Bishop, editor behind the free newsletter Sinocism, pointed out:
which US internet execs will be bootlicking at the Internet conference in Wuzhen? How many of them even know who pu zhiqiang is?
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) December 14, 2015
Benjamin Ismail, the head of Reporter Without Borders’ Asia-Pacific desk, argued that the event was intended to “preempt any discussion of media freedom”:
China does more than ‘manage the Internet.’ It closely monitors all information accessible to Internet users and systematically blocks any criticism or revelations that are embarrassing for the Communist Party.[…] Coming ahead of the World Internet Conference, the sole aim of this manipulation attempt is to preempt any discussion of media freedom and freedom of information.
The media rights advocacy group has called for a boycott of the conference. As Ismail put it: “These conferences have had no credibility ever since the first one, whose real aim was to ensure that Internet companies wanting to operate in China fall into line.”
Attendees will probably experience Chinese-style security measures being taken for the conference:
乌镇局域网大会 一级维稳状态。网友：「整个乌镇居民才一万，维稳人员四万多」 pic.twitter.com/3JniwjpB2o
— 贝带劲 (@beidaijin) December 14, 2015
The Wuzhen Internet conference is now under the first rank stability control. A report from a netizen: “There are only about 10,000 residents in Wuzhen, but security control personnel are now up to 40,000.
And if the event is anything like last year's conference, participants will not likely be exposed to any type of dissent:
2014年首届世界互联网大会举牌7勇士，为全球网路自由而战，目前除杨秀琼外，王晶、张继新、杨冬英、顾国平、肖建芳、危文元6人均已入狱。2015年第二届浙江乌镇世界互联网大会开幕在即，共同祝福入狱6勇士。 pic.twitter.com/YWd8sq3wX1
— 中国天网人权事务中心 (@64tianwang) December 10, 2015
During the first World Internet Conference, seven warriors held protest banners and called for a free Internet. Today, apart from Yang Xiuqiong, the six others — including Wang Jing, Zhang Jixin, Yang Dongying, Gu Guoping, Xiao Jianfang, Wei Wenyuan — are in jail [for participating in other peaceful petition actions]. Let's give our blessings to the six warriors ahead of the 2nd World Internet Conference.
Last year, the organizers of the first WIC attempted but failed to ratify a conference declaration calling on international communities to “respect Internet sovereignty of all countries” and devote themselves to “spreading positive energy” online. Though China's Minister of Cyberspace Affairs Administration Lu Wei has asserted that the organizers won't propose any official declaration this year, many still worry that Internet companies will accept the “China model” of Internet governance in order to gain access to the huge market that the country represents.


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Is the World Forum for Democracy a Space of Genuine Dialogue? · Global Voices
Marie Bohner

World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg. PHOTO: Marie Bonher.
From 18 to 20 November, the World Forum for Democracy was held at the Council for Europe in Strasbourg, the ultimate institute of consensus. After the pressing issue of the Beirut and Paris attacks, the main talking point of the forum was “Freedom vs Control: towards a democratic answer”. We attended the Forum along with Suzanne Lehn and Elise Lecamp from Global Voices. Here is a brief overview of the Forum through the prism of “universality vs intercultural dialogue”.
After spending three days participating in round table debates and listening to testimonies in the European capital, it struck me that it is not only our similarities that are important, but also our differences—and the opportunity to talk about them. The overriding mood at the Forum was one of condamnation of the attacks, and this was also a reminder  that Paris is far from being the only target.
Faiza Patel est la première à intervenir #CoE_WFD : “les terroristes attendent de notre part un langage guerrier” pic.twitter.com/n008ODK1kQ
— ARTE Journal (@ARTEjournal) November 18, 2015
Faiza Patel is the first to speak up #CoE_WFD : “the terrorists are expecting a warlike language from us”
À la barbarie terroriste, nous devons opposer fermeté, solidarité et la force de nos valeurs démocratiques. #CoE_WFD pic.twitter.com/6lnSLhE9yp
— Harlem Désir (@harlemdesir) 18 November 2015
To counter the barbarity that is terrorism, we must demonstrate firmness, solidarity and the strength of our democratic values. #CoE_WFD
During the three days of debates at the Forum, 2,000 participants of dozens of different nationalities came together with the aim of finding similarities in their “values.” While some among them celebrated “European values”, adding no further details, the majority united in under the common banner of “universality of human rights”, which was in fact the mantra of these meetings.
“I want our children to live in a world of European values.” #CoE_WFD @EnricoLetta pic.twitter.com/MKGTu64xwK — Rosalie SCHWANNER (@RosalieSchwannR) 20 November 2015
“I want our children to live in a world of European values.”
The event's theme, “Freedom vs Control”, looked at things in a Manichean manner, as though these two notions are irreconcilable opposites. It was, therefore, a matter of choosing which one you supported, and it was because of this that the honorary judge Philippe Bilger was booed by a whole section of the assembly. Judge Bilger dared to express the rather unpopular view that he “wouldn't be against giving up some of his personal freedoms to allow for more collective security.” Whether or I not share the same opinion as Judge Bilger is beside the point. However, the fact that his speech was booed on the grounds that he went marginally against the current of opinion worries me, as this highlights an unwillingness to accept that people have different opinions and therefore stifles the opportunity for debate.
It's for those reasons I would leave a little disappointed—or perhaps you could even say completely concerned—about the World Forum for Democracy. Democracy is the art of agreement, but it is also the art of debate. Thorbjørn Jagland, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, highlighted the weakness in the art of democracy from the beginning of the Forum, by stating that we are its main guardians, but also the ones in charge of maintaining this balance.
Fortunately, just as with Global Voices Summits, what matters most at this kind of event are the encounters and exchanges of opinion, the occasional amicable clash, that take place outside the official programme. Exchanges that reveal differences, those that show that we are complex and diverse beings, are the ones that can help us change our attitudes one small step at a time. It is by creating the space for open discussion and debate that we can look beyond our own beliefs and discover intercultural empathy, which in turn helps us see things more clearly. It is then and only then that the World Forum for Democracy can make complete sense, and that the words of Michaëlle Jean can be truly heard:
#CoE_WFD The World Forum for Democracy is one of these places where the future can be thought about and can be shaped.
— Michaëlle Jean (@MichaelleJeanF) 18 November 2015
The World Forum for Democracy is one of these places where the future can be thought about and can be shaped

author: Marie Bohner


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Kyrgyzstan’s Madding Online Crowd Targets Dolphinarium · Global Voices
Eurasianet

Kyrgyzstan's dolphinarium. Photo from Kloop.kg, used with permission.
The following is a partner post from EurasiaNet.org. Republished with permission.
After momentarily humbling the country’s parliament, the slacktivist community in Kyrgyzstan has now set its sights on dolphin wranglers.
Online indignation began brewing and spilling onto all major news outlets after a mobile dolphinarium cropped up in the snowy outskirts of the capital, Bishkek.
Animal lovers say the whole business is a cruel travesty — organizers are dismissive, insisting that the marine animals will actually enjoy their sojourn in the chilly landlocked nation.
Backers of the dolphinarium in the Mayor’s office have said it will run from later this month into May and that visitors will be able to swim with the creatures.
Traveling dolphinariums are banned in many places in the world, with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Indonesia and Russia proving active exceptions, according to one advocacy group. Other countries like Kyrgyzstan lack legislation either regulating or outlawing them.
Given the ex-Soviet region’s sad zoos and old-fashioned approach to circus animals, opponents of the new facility in Bishkek say they have no reason to believe the quartet of dolphins and one whale will be well looked after.
“All dolphinariums are exploitation, non-dependent on size and comfort. Dolphins should live in the ocean!” boomed one Facebook commentator.
But in an interview with Kloop news website, Taras Zhimarev, an organizer of the Dolphinarium, slammed critics for having “nothing to occupy themselves with.” The animals would be well cared for, he promised, and would at any rate “die in two days if released into the wild.”
At the mention of animal rights activists, Zhimarev scoffed derisively.
“Dolphins love doing these tricks,” he said. “If you see how they jump when they are in the sea, they’re just doing the same thing here.”
Zhimarev is not the only one to be irritated by the sudden emergence of an animal welfare lobby in the country, just when the exotic mammals are on their way to town.
“My god, these eternal Greenpeacers, eternal defenders of animals, just give us a chance to look at the dolphins. After all, they are always on the telly. If you don’t like it, then please, sit at home and protest some more,” one anonymous commenter under a Knews poll on the topic complained.
The anti-dolphinarium campaign has played rough, spreading pictures of dolphin-suffering from Russia without noting their origin in Facebook and Twitter posts. But the Mayor’s office is unlikely to back down.
After all, a petition against a similar attraction in Kazakhstan was unsuccessful, despite thousands of signatories demanding President Nursultan Nazarbayev recall the fate of a Beluga whale called Dale, who died from heat problems on a Moscow-centered dolphinarium’s tour of the Central Asian country in 2010.
So a repeat of the online shaming campaign that culminated in the national parliament withdrawing a tender to replace over 100 seats in the legislature in October may not be in the offing.
The parliament-focussed #120seats campaign in Kyrgyzstan was celebrated as a triumph of rage over the state machine, raising faith in the power of spontaneous civic initiatives to spur genuine political change in the republic.
But that campaign was effective precisely because the only beneficiaries of fancy new seats in the parliament were the country’s widely-derided, people-fearing lawmakers.
When it comes to the politics of marine life, Kyrgyzstan's dolphin-loving public faces a more amorphous and equally enthusiastic opponent: Kyrgyzstan's dolphin-loving public.

author: Eurasianet