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Girl Draws Map of Palestine Using Israeli Bullets Collected from Around her Home · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

UPDATE: A reader has kindly pointed out that what is referred to in this post as “bullets” appear to be shell casings, not actual bullets. Thank you Will!
A Palestinian girls draws the map of Palestine using Israeli bullets. Photograph shared by @Palestinianism on Twitter
This photograph is making the rounds on social media today. According to Palestinianism, who has 21.8K followers on Twitter:
This young Palestinian girl collected Israeli bullets from around her house and drew out the map of #Palestine. pic.twitter.com/l1Wg2lDlZC
— F. (@Palestinianism) February 8, 2015
Palestinianism continues:
I sometimes wonder what children her age will grow to be when they surrounded by Israeli tanks, bullets, grenades, rockets, bombs.
— F. (@Palestinianism) February 8, 2015
And adds:
Who is to blame if these children grow up with nothing but anger and hatred.
— F. (@Palestinianism) February 8, 2015
There is no more information available about the identity of the girl, or where in Palestine she is from.


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GV Face: Protests are Banned in Houthi-run Yemen · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Yemen is in political limbo, without a president and government, since the Houthi militias took over government institutions and the presidential palace in capital city Sanaa. On February 8, they released a document with a Ministry of Interior logo banning all protests in Yemen.
New decisions at Houthi-land: Protests are no longer allowed #Yemen welcome to the new democracy pic.twitter.com/mNi7HfWKSU
— Baraa Shiban (@BShtwtr) February 9, 2015
With the announcement of the “Constitutional Declaration” by the Houthis, a new power shift is taking place. What do Yemenis think? How do they perceive the transitional period under Houthis rule and what are their main concerns?
We speak to activists from Yemen Baraa Shiban (@BShtwtr), Osama Abdullah (@PoliticsYemen), and @NoonArabia in this episode of GVFace.
Amira Alhussaini, our MENA editor, moderated the discussion along with me. Many apologies for some of the technical and audio trouble we had in this Hangout. Houthi activist Hussaini Bukhaiti (@HussainBukhaiti) was supposed to join us as well. We have invited Bukhaiti, Osama and Baraa to write pieces on Global Voices to help us dig deeper into the issues that Yemen faces and their hope for the future.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Netflix is Coming to Cuba — But Will They Have Any Customers? · Global Voices
Elaine Diaz

Yara Cinema in downtown Havana. Photo by Sandino235 via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Netflix announced today that “people in Cuba with Internet connections and access to international payment methods will be able to subscribe to Netflix and instantly watch a curated selection of popular movies and TV shows.” The company seems unaware that even those Cubans who have Internet access do not have a strong enough connection to watch videos online. Nor do they have credit or debit cards to pay for service.
The required broadband connection speed for playing movies and TV shows through Netflix is 0.5 megabits per second and the recommended connection speed is 1.5 megabits per second. The University of Havana, for example, distributes 18 megabits per second among more than 6,000 student users each day. Yudivián Almeida, professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, told Global Voices that “it would be possible to watch Netflix after 6pm, when most of the students are not in the campus.”
Most colleges in Cuba manage access to Internet for students and professors by establishing limits to the amount of time they spend online, or the amount of information they download. For example, a professor can only download 80 MB of data in a month. With all that the Internet offers for university-level scholars, it is difficult to imagine that anyone in this position would use their Internet connection to watch half of an episode of a TV series once a month.
The most recent statistics provided by Cuba’s National Office of Statistics and Information, for the year 2013, reflect that only 26 percent of the Cuban population had access to an Internet service or a home network, which provides e-mail and permits the use of websites based in the country. This is one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in Latin America and the Caribbean. The survey also identified the existence of only 90 computers for every 1,000 inhabitants.
Internet access policy in Cuba privileges free usage in universities and research centers, but limits individual use to public access points with very high prices in comparison to the average income of citizens. One hour of Internet browsing costs $4.50 and only 60 cents if it is reduced to domestic-only navigation. Less than one percent of local residents have Internet connections in their homes, almost none of which are strong enough to support streaming or downloads of video files.
In order to use Netflix services, Cuban subscribers would also need access to what the company describes as “international payment methods”. But most Cubans do not have credit or debit cards and cannot use PayPal either. Barack Obama promised last December that US citizens would soon be able to use US-based credit cards on the island, as part of renewed relations between the two countries. But there has been no indication that the same will be true for Cubans any time soon.
Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings said “we are delighted to finally be able to offer Netflix to the people of Cuba, connecting them with stories they will love from all over the world.” But if they reach anyone at all, it will most likely be foreign tourists staying at high-end hotels on the island, which do have broadband Internet connections.
Hastings also expects to be able to bring the work of Cuban filmmakers to Netflix’ global audience of over 57 million members. Although this component of Netflix’ announcement has received considerably less media attention, it may be the company's most realistic (and laudable) goal with respect to Cuba, at least for now.

author: Elaine Diaz


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Twitter’s New Transparency Report Shows Massive Spike in Demands from Russia · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Twitter has released its latest transparency report, showing that government requests for user account information have increased 40 percent since the company's last report in July 2014. Twitter says it's now receiving more requests from countries all around the world, but three nations “stand out”: Turkey, the United States, and Russia. “In Russia, we went from having never received a request to receiving more than 100 requests for account information during this reporting period. We did not provide information in response to any of those requests,” Twitter's report says.
Russia has also contributed the the 84 percent rise in “global government and government-sanctioned demands to remove content from Twitter,” submitting 91 such requests to Twitter since July 2014. “Requests ranged from promotion of illegal drugs to attempts to suppress non-violent demonstrations,” Twitter says. “While we had a compliance rate of 13 percent, we denied several requests to silence popular critics of the Russian government and other demands to limit speech about non-violent demonstrations in Ukraine.”
Twitter started publishing transparency reports in 2012. Since then, more than 30 other prominent tech companies have followed suit. “Providing this insight is simply the right thing to do,” Twitter said in a statement earlier today, “especially in an age of increasing concerns about government surveillance.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Ukraine Arrests Journalist on Treason Charges for Calls to Boycott Mobilization · Global Voices
Aric Toler

Screencap from a video by Ruslan Kotsaba on Youtube.
Ukrainian journalist Ruslan Kotsaba called for boycotting the latest wave of military mobilization in Ukraine—and now faces treason charges. Is he really a traitor or was he simply exercising his right to free expression?
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) arrested Kotsaba, a reporter for Channel 112, for treason following an investigation into a YouTube video from the journalist in which he called for a boycott of the latest wave of Ukrainian military mobilization.
Ruslan Kotsaba has had a complicated relationship with the ongoing conflict and the Ukrainian government: he has often been sharply critical of the government’s response while reporting from the frontlines, but supported the Euromaidan movement and voted for Petro Poroshenko in the presidential election. Kotsaba's arrest has predictably elicited universally negative reactions from anti-Maidan Russians, but a more varied and complicated response from pro-Maidan Ukrainians.
Kotsaba’s January 17 YouTube video caused a stir among Ukrainian and Russian Internet users, drawing over 300,000 views and thousands of comments on Twitter, VK, and other social media platforms. In the video, Kotsaba calls for “all reasonable adequate people to refuse this mobilization,” in reference to the fourth wave of Ukrainian men mobilized to join the fight in Eastern Ukraine.
In a separate interview with GlobalPost about his YouTube video, Kotsaba further elaborated upon his opposition to mobilization by saying that he refuses to fight in a “civil war,” refuting the Ukrainian position that the conflict in Eastern Ukraine has been primarily instigated by Russian, not local, forces. Furthermore, Kotsaba pointed out that Ukrainian President Poroshenko has not declared a state of war—civil or otherwise—in Ukraine, thus calling into question the legitimacy of the mobilization.
Ruslan Kotsaba’s wife, Uliana, initially reported the news of her husband’s arrest via Facebook just after midnight local time on February 8.
Щойно передзвонив слідчий. Руслана затримано на 36 годин, до засідання суду, який прийме рішення щодо міри запобіжного заходу. Обшук і затримання проводилися за ухвалою суду в рамках “розслідування у кримінальному провадженні … за ознаками кримінального правопорушення, передбаченого ч.1 ст.111 КК України”.
The investigator just called back. Ruslan has been detained for 36 hours, until the court hearing that will decide upon a preventive measure. Both the search and the arrest were carried out based on a court order as part of “an investigation in a criminal case… bearing the signs of a criminal violation of the law, according to Part 1, Article 111 of the Ukrainian criminal code.”
Part 1, Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine refers to high treason, a charge levied a number of times in 2014, including against two residents plotting to conduct explosions in Mykolaiv, a citizen who was “following an order from a foreign special service,” and a man who was attempting the hijacking of a Ukrainian warplane.
Uliana Kotsaba later reported on Facebook that her husband’s pre-trial detention would last “up to 60 days.”
As one would expect, the pro-separatist spheres of the RuNet were outraged by Kotsaba's arrest, which immediately drew the attention of many social media users and news sites. A fake pro-Russian Twitter account claiming to be Chechnya’s head of state Ramzan Kadyrov called Kotsaba a pacifist and denounced the journalist’s arrest:
СБУ задержали и обвинили в госизмене украинского журналиста Руслана Коцабу. Он призывал к миру и был против братоубийственной войны.
— Рамзан Кадыров. (@KadirovRussia) February 8, 2015
The SBU detained and charged Ukrainian journalist Ruslan Kotsaba with treason. He called for peace and was against the fratricidal war.
The Ukrainian reaction was more mixed and included both accusations that Kotsaba was overly sympathetic to Russia and the separatists, and condemnations of the Ukrainian government for suppression of free speech. Popular Ukrainian blogger Sergey Naumovich was pithy in his response to Kotsaba’s arrest, implying his (Kotsaba's) sympathies to Russia:
Коцаба теперь будет ждать российские танки для своего освобождения
Kotsaba will now be waiting for Russian tanks to get his freedom back
Nastya Stanko, a journalist of Ukrainian Hromadske TV, thought the authorities’ response was disproportionate.
Щось це з Коцабою СБУ явно погарячкувала
— Nastya Stanko (@StankoNastya) February 8, 2015
Looks like the SBU obviously overdid it with Kotsaba.
A pro-Maidan Ukrainian user sorted out the controversy of Kotsaba’s position and his rights to free speech:
поддержит ли журналистский цех Коцабу?не за его позицию, которая спорна, а за его ПРАВО на свободу слова
— Майдан Не Окончен (@Bayan_The_One) February 8, 2015
Will the journalism community support Kotsaba? Not for his position, which is disputed, but for his RIGHT to freedom of speech.
While there were many pro-Maidan Ukrainians upset with violations of free speech, the loudest voices were from those less conflicted over the decision, such as popular Ukrainian blogger Dmytro Riznichenko, whose Facebook comment got 73 likes:
Західно-український журналіст і активіст, який стверджував, що “в Україні йде громадянська війна”, “російських військ на Донбасі нема” і закликав зривати мобілізацію. Коротше, працював на російську пропаганду.
A Western Ukrainian journalist and activist who claimed there was a “civil war happening in Ukraine,” “there were no Russian troops in the Donbas,” and called for sabotaging the mobilization. In short, he worked in favor of the Russian propaganda.
Ukraine's Independent Media Trade Union acknowledged in a statement that Kotsaba's calls to boycott looked like part of “an organized information campaign,” but said law enforcement needed more solid evidence that the reporter's actions actually constituted treason.
Kotsaba's arrest is not the only instance of the Ukrainian government suppressing dissent over mobilization, as yesterday Ukrainian  MP Anton Gerashchenko  posted on Facebook that the SBU would detain anyone attending an anti-mobilization rally in Mariupol.
If the court does indeed formally charge Ruslan Kotsaba with treason, the debate about his sentence is likely to escalate in the following weeks, as proponents of freedom of expression battle those who believe thwarting the state mobilization efforts is unpatriotic.

author: Aric Toler


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After More Than a Century, Argentinian Museum Returns Indigenous Chief’s Remains to His People · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

La Plata City museum – Argentina from Flickr user Cristian unver license (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The complete remains of Chief Inacayal are finally back with his people in Argentina after 127 years. In December, the Museum of the City of La Plata returned the brain and scalp of the cacique, who died in the museum in 1888, as well as the remains of his wife and niece to representatives of the Tehuelche indigenous community.
In 1881, then President of Argentina Julio A. Roca began a campaign against the indigenous in Patagonia, a region spanning the southern tip of South America. After resisting, Modesto Inacayal was captured along with his family. He was rescued in October 1886 by the museum's director at that time, Perito Francisco Moreno, in gratitude for the cacique's kindness during his stay in Patagonia.
He and his family were then taken to the museum, where he died in 1888 of unknown causes.
Blog Misterios de la Ciudad de la Plata explains some of the theories about the cause of his death:
Murió el 24 de septiembre de 1888, por razones no del todo claras; sin embargo, se elaboraron las siguientes teorías acerca de su deceso:
He died on September 24, 1888, for reasons not entirely clear; however, the following theories about his death were developed:
Regarding the cacique's his remains, the blog continues:
El esqueleto del cacique fue descarnado y se lo preparó para exponerlo en el museo en donde había vivido sus últimos años. Así permaneció a la vista del público durante más de 50 años, hasta la década de 1940.
In 1994, a portion of his remains were returned. In 2006, the official process of restitution began under National Law 25.517 which prescribes that “the remains of indigenous people, whatever their ethnic characteristic, which are part of museums and / or public or private collections, should be made available to indigenous peoples and / or communities to which belongs that claim.”
Watch the moment Inacayal's remains were returned to his people in the following video from Movimiento Estudiantil Liberación:

author: Laura Schneider


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Armed Serbian Anti-Terrorism Police Bust in on Belgrade’s Arts and Performance District · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

Guests of a tango festival with international guests was taking place in Mikser House on the evening in question, just minutes before the raid by special anti-terrorist forces. Photo by Mikser House, used with permission.
Just 24 hours after the Guardian's travel section published a piece lauding Belgrade's Savamala district as the new design and urban tourism hub of the Serbian capital, special anti-terrorist police forces raided clubs and performance spaces in the busy downtown district, reportedly aiming loaded rifles and frightening guests.
Mikser House, an artistic exhibition and performance space situated in an old industrial garage, described by the Guardian piece as “one of Savamala’s most prominent venues”, was one of the establishments raided on the night of Saturday, February 7. It issued a statement on their official Facebook page the next day, calling the police action “incomprehensible”:
Bilo je kao na filmu, upali su sa isukanim pendrecima i puskama na gotovs. U prostor u kome se odigravaju dečije predstave, koncerti klasične muzike, teatar. Blokirali su izlaz pred prestravljenim gostima, medju kojima je bilo i puno stranaca, i krenuli u pretres obezbedejanja. Naravno da nisu ništa našli… Koliko smo obavešteni, ceo kvart je doživeo isto što i mi.[…]
U susret februarskom Sajmu turizma u Beogradu, ne možemo, a da ne zapitamo predstavnike grada Beograda : Zašto šaljete antiterorističke jedinice u kulturnu i turističku zonu grada? Kako mislite da privučete i zadržite strane turiste ako im pretite oružjem? Zašto tako olako kriminalizujte ceo jedan kvart i sektor koji je ozbiljna, razvojna šansa Beograda?
It was like in a movie, they charged in with nightsticks out and rifles aimed. In a space where children's plays, classical music concerts, theater plays take place. They blocked the exit in front of terrified guests, among which there were many foreigners, and began frisking the security guards. Of course they didn't find anything… We been informed that the entire neighborhood lived through the same experience we did. […]
With the upcoming February Tourism Fair in Belgrade, we can't help but ask the representatives of the City of Belgrade: Why do you send anti-terrorist units into the cultural and tourist district of the city? How do you expect to attract and keep foreign tourists if you hold them at gunpoint? Why do you so carelessly criminalize an entire district that is a serious development opportunity for Belgrade?
The post alone garnered thousands of Facebook ‘likes’ and has been shared over 700 times, mostly by other Belgraders on Facebook asking the same questions. Some commenters have reported similar raids in other Serbian cities. On the evening in question, the venue was hosting a tango seminar, attended by both local and international guests.
The City of Belgrade has not responded or issued any statements after the incident or prior to the publishing of this post, although the Ministry of Interior released an official statement on Sunday, February 8, regarding nightclub control in Belgrade, saying:
U zajedničkoj akciji pripadnika Ministarstva unutrašnjih poslova i Ministarstva za rad, zapošljavanje, boračka i socijalna pitanja, sinoć je sprovedena pojačana kontrola beogradskih noćnih klubova i splavova.
Akcija je obuhvatila sedam objekata, sa akcentom na rad pripadnika obezbeđenja i utvrđivanja osnova njihovog angažovanja – da li su zaposleni u tom klubu, odnosno da li su angažovani sa ili bez ugovora.
Tokom akcije privedeno je 13 osoba, svi radnici obezbeđenja, kod kojih je pronađeno više predmeta pogodnih za nanošenje povreda, kao što su pendreci, metalne šipke i slično.
Takođe, protiv sedam osoba biće podnete prekršajne prijave od strane inspekcije rada.
Akcije kontrole noćnih klubova biće nastavljene i redovne, kako bi se postigla potpuna bezbednost i sigurnost građana.
In a joint operation by members of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy, last night bolstered control of Belgrade nightclubs and river boat clubs was implemented.
The operation included seven venues, with a focus on the work of members of security employees and verification of the basis of their employment — whether they are employees of the club, in other words whether they have been hired with or without [employment] contracts.
During the operation 13 individuals were detained, all security employees, who were found with items appropriate for inflicting injuries, such as batons, metal rods, and similar [items].
Also, minor offense charges will be filed against seven individuals by the labor inspection.
Operations to control nightclubs will be continued and regular, in order to achieve complete security and safety of citizens.
On Monday, February 9, after the official police statement, Mikser House added to their previous statement:
Danas, u ponedeljak, hladne glave i nakon mnogo informacija koje smo dobili tokom vikenda, naš zaključak je sledeći: Mikser house kao meta Žandarmerije nije bio usamljen u subotu, upadali su svuda po Savamali, ili skoro svuda, što je posebna tema za neki drugi tekst. Postoje podobni lokali, koji imaju zaštitu od vlasti i nepodobni, znamo. Pogađate kojoj grupi pripadamo. Zarad istine, saznali smo i da je u pitanju šira akcija policije, dakle ne samo u Savamali, ali da su ove specijalne operacije posebno vidljive u Savamali, kao centru noćnog života grada. Naravno, niko ne razume zašto je to moralo da se radi pod punom ratnom opremom, kao da je Savamala u Donjecku, a ne u Beogradu.
Today, on Monday, with a cool head and after much information received over the weekend, our conclusion is as follows: Mikser House was not alone as a target of the Gendarmerie [special tactical unit of the Serbian Police Department] on Saturday, they raided all over Savamala, or almost all over, which is a topic for another text. There are acceptable venues, that have the protection of [state] authorities, and unacceptable, we know this. Guess which group we belong to. For the sake of the truth, we learned that this was part of a wider police activity, therefore not exclusive to Savamala, but that these special operations are particularly visible in Savamala, as the center of nightlife in the city. Of course, no one understands why this had to be conducted in full battle gear, as if Savamala was in Donetsk [Ukraine] and not in Belgrade.
Representatives of Mikser House ended their second statement saying they would be filing complaints and asking to speak to officials regarding the incident:
Šalu na stranu, Mikser će se obratiti čelnicima Turističke organizacije Beograda, Srbije i Sekreterijatu za privredu i turizam grada Beograda sa molbom da utiču na MUP da je zaista pogubno da u prvorazrednom turističkom kvartu Beograda šalju specijalne jedinice da plaše i nas i strance koje smo, zajedno sa navedenim organizacijama, teškom mukom doveli u naš grad.
All joking aside, Mikser will be contacting the heads of the Tourism Board of Belgrade, of Serbia, and the Secretariat for Economy and Tourism of the City of Belgrade, with the request that they influence the Ministry of Interior in [explaining] that it is truly detrimental to send special forces into a first-class tourist district of Belgrade to frighten us and foreigners that we, together with the mentioned organizations, worked hard to bring here.

author: Danica Radisic


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Bombshell Election Rigging Allegations Make #EkitiGate a Trending Topic in Nigeria · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

A screenshot of the main players in the #EkitiGate from a YouTube video posted by Sahara Reporters on Feb 6, 2015.
Sahara Reporters, a Nigerian online news portal based in New York, has released audio recordings purported to show how politicians in connivance with soldiers rigged the 2014 governorship elections in Ekiti State, south-western Nigeria.
Peter Ayodele Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party won against the then incumbent Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress. Fayemi claimed that the election, which was held last summer, was rigged.
Sahara Reporters alleged that they received “unimpeachable documents and audio recordings providing substantial evidence” that showed how highly placed “Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders planned and successfully rigged the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State”. The news portal asserts that:
The audio recordings and affidavit were provided by Sagir Koli, a Captain in the 32nd Artillery Brigade stationed in Ekiti State, who has since fled the country for fear of retaliation. Capt. Koli recorded the conversation on 20th June 2014 when he was asked to accompany his Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, to the meeting. The venue was held at Spotless Hotel in Ado-Ekiti.
The audio recordings depict the meeting as being attended by the eventual “winner” of the election, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti; Senator Iyiola Omisore; a man identified as Honorable Abdulkareem; the Minister for Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade; and Senator Musiliu Obanikoro who was at the time the Minister of State for Defence. Mr. Chris Uba came to Ekiti with huge stash cash and soldiers from the East to carry out the assignment.
The 37-minute recording details the conversation between these men as they bribed Brigadier General Momoh with a promotion for his assistance in carrying out election fraud in Ekiti. In it, Obanikoro is clearly heard informing the group of men, “[I] am not here for a tea party, am on special assignment by the President.”
Sahara Reporters also provided “the full transcript of the audio recording and some context to help listeners understand how the plot was implemented”:
Some of the figures who appear in Sahara Reporters reporting have already denounced it. Senator Musiliu Obanikoro vowed to initiate “legal action against Sahara Reporters in New York and Nigeria for defamation of character” in a statement:
Governor Peter Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State claimed in a press statement  that “his voice was recreated with the help of a software”:
Nigerians should be reminded of how the APC people lied in 2007 that they recorded how the governorship election was rigged even in the palace of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe, but the party could not produce a single photo evidence at the tribunal because their plans to do what is known as Morphing and Syncing was exposed.
Nigerians should also be reminded of the existence of a technology called speech software, which is good at reproducing the sounds, inflections and intonations of a human voice.
Nigerian netizens are reacting to this scandal. #EkitiGate is trending on Twitter.
God punish anybody that deny the #EkitiGate the voices are real, this is not a software work, consider many sounds going at the same time
— #bringbackourgirls (@hanacanal) February 6, 2015
@OkikiolaBillz alleged that only paid Twitter users will dispute the authenticity of the audio:
If you're seeing this #EkitiGate Audio as a lie then you're a paid tweep. Nothing but a paid tweet to tweet lies to stupid tweeps like you. — Assistant Boyfriend (@OkikiolaBillz) February 6, 2015
MaiGida praised Koli, the whistle-blower:
Sagir Koli….. brave man. God protect and bless you wherever you are #EkitiGate #Koli
— DOà or MaiGida. (@DaRealDOA) February 6, 2015
Some said President Goodluck Jonathan should be blamed since he is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces:
President Goodluck Jonathan @JGoodlucktweets preside the nation in a sheep's clothing but inward, he's a wicked voracious wolf! #EkitiGate
— CHANGE 2015 (@akinday_tunde) February 6, 2015
Rotimi Balogun ridiculed supporters of the ruling party who are known as GEJites:
Now all the GEJites have gone into hiding. Let oga Doyin,etc say something regarding its authenticity, they will file out again. #EkitiGate — Rotimi Balogun (@dillikonko) February 6, 2015
This Twitter user thought change is needed in Nigeria:
#EkitiGate:@APCNigeria The more you listen to the audio,the more you are convinced who the actors are. This country needs serious purging. — TMD (@turnmydream) February 6, 2015
Oladimeji Fayomi expressed concern about the upcoming general elections next week:
At this point I honestly fear for the elections next week. #EkitiGate may be child's play compared to what we got coming. — Oladimeji Fayomi (@FayomiTyfe) February 6, 2015
Not everyone tweeting was convinced of the report. Kay Baba did not see any maleficence in the audio:
Nothing points to rigging in that conversation. It's clear someone is charging his boys to work well and leave no loose ends. #EkitiGate — Kay Baba (@datGuyKOFO) February 6, 2015
This user did not trust Sahara Reporters:
If it's from #SaharaReporters, then it's a lie. #EkitiGate
— NIGERIA FIRST (@iam_paulmike) February 6, 2015
Writer and lawyer Ayo Sogunro wrote that the audio proves nothing:
Well, the audio doesn't prove rigging. No factual evidence there. The worst it proves is a conspiracy to get nasty. pic.twitter.com/noLdR0q1jL
— Ayo Sogunro (@ayosogunro) February 6, 2015
There is a complicated history between the Nigerian government and SaharaReporters, with the former accusing the news portal of either being a “discredited purveyor of falsehood” or telling “too many lies“. On the other hand, the publisher of SR, Omoyele Sowore - in an interview with Global Voices – alleged that the government tries “to silence or intimidate critics” and “have placed our names at the top of a [‘security threat’] list.”

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Campaigning for a Free West Papua: Perspectives From an Exiled Activist  · Global Voices
Zashnain Zainal

West Papuan students rallying for their rights. Image from Facebook of Free West Papua.
Despite Indonesia's claims that it has implemented reforms in annexed West Papua and that abuses against Papuans are a thing of the past, there is little evidence of substantial improvement in the situation.
West Papua is a province of Indonesia, but there is a movement that seeks to make it an independent state. Indonesia is accused of occupying the territory since the 1960s. Activists have also decried the repressive rule of Indonesia in West Papua, including its brutal suppression of the independence campaign.
As reported by East Timor and Indonesia Action Network last December, there has been an increase of Indonesian armed personnel in West Papua, which is already the most militarized region in Indonesia.
Violent clashes between some Indonesian armed forces in West Papua and the local population have intensified in recent years. Last December, the police was accused of killing young protesters.
Paul Inggamer, 43, an activist and a consular assistant of the Vanuatu Consulate in Hague, shares with Global Voices his thoughts about the situation in West Papua and his hopes for his ancestral land.
Global Voices (GV): How did you become involved in the independence struggle of West Papua?
Inggamer: It was after my first visit to my homeland in 1998 that things started to get clear for me. Seeing, experiencing the real life in West Papua. After going to West Papua in 1998, something broke inside. That trip changed my whole perspective. Seeing is believing. I saw my family, I saw my people, their struggle, their life.
GV: How long did you stay in West Papua?
Inggamer: I lived in West Papua from April 2004 till July 2008. I was deported (by the Indonesian authorities) and declared persona non grata. Indonesian intelligence observed me at various political gatherings, one of which was at the Kongres National in 2006. By that time I worked as a media consultant for Metro Papua TV.
GV: What challenges did you face when you were living in West Papua?
Inggamer: People saw me as a bule (“foreigner” in Bahasa Indonesia). Saya orang Papua asli. (I am an indigenous Papuan). Not a foreigner. I own a stretch of land on Auki island (Padaido Islands) near Biak. I am a customary land owner, but to Indonesians I am a bule.
GV: Is it true that there are now more Indonesians coming to West Papua. And that Papuans are becoming a minority. What are your thoughts on this?
Inggamer: Yes. That is true. Every week there are PELNI ships arriving in Sorong, Manokwari, Nabire, Biak and Jayapura with thousands of migrants from Java.
GV: From what I read on social media and the news, West Papuans are disappointed with past presidents. What do you think of the new head of state, President Joko Widodo? Do you expect the see the protection of human rights and promotion of justice under the new government?
Inggamer: Joko is Suhartoism without Suharto. [Suharto was Indonesia's leader and dictator who ruled for three decades until he was ousted from power in 1998]. Joko is a puppet. The military still and will always dictate.
GV: What is the next action of the West Papua independence campaign?
Inggamer: The United Liberation Movement West Papua will submit an application for FULL membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG). Indonesia is just an observer in this body. If West Papua gets full membership like FLNKS (Kanak Independence Movement, New Caledonia) then the whole situation, the whole spectrum changes.
The next step after the MSG will be the United Nations.
GV: Do you receive support from other countries or governments in the region?
Inggamer: Regional support is important. Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji are on the side of Indonesia but things are changing in PNG. The people of PNG are more aware about the threat that is Indonesia.
Vanuatu has been the only country in the world which gives West Papua a political platform and support. The Vanuatu Support is a bill that was unanimously adopted by Vanuatu parliament in 2010. It was derived from a peoples petition tabled in parliament. Its purpose was to express Vanuatu's recognition of West Papua's independence from Indonesia. And to commit Vanuatu to actively seek full membership for West Papua in the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Island Forum. The bill was supported by the then Prime Minister Edward Natapei and opposition leader Korman.
Inggamer (L) with West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda – image by Inggamer
GV: What is the prospect of the campaign?
Inggammer: I believe in the power of unity. I know how divided Papuans were but now we are united and we fully use of Vanuatu as a platform for our struggle. Momentum is building. Step by step we will get what is needed. First the MSG. Next the UN. Freedom is at the end of the tunnel. Indonesia has tunnel vision. With Papuans being united there is light at the end of the tunnel.
GV: What about international pressure on Indonesia?
Inggamer: International reaction on West Papua has always been like this: Don't talk about massacres, human rights abuses, simply don't mention anything about West Papua to Jakarta. The world still supports Indonesia's annexation of West Papua. The question is how long. Wait what happens when we as united Papuans submit our application to the MSG. We believe in unity. Unity brings the people of Melanesia together. Together we are strong. Together as one for West Papua.

author: Zashnain Zainal


text:
Explore Bangladesh From Your Computer, Thanks to Google Street View · Global Voices
Nurunnaby Chowdhury

Formal launching of Google Streetview Car in Bangladesh. Image by Rezwan. (9/2/2013)
People from around the world can now explore Bangladesh from their smartphone or PC with the launch of Google Street View service in the South Asian country on February 5, 2015. Roam the streets of Dhaka and Chittagong, Bangladesh's two largest cities, or explore digital panoramic imagery of 40 of the country’s most important historic, heritage, and tourism sites, also available on Google Maps.
Bangladesh's Street View was a year in the making — on February 14, 2013, the Google Street View car started its work from Uttara in Dhaka. The country becomes the 65th to have this Google service, first launched in May 2007.
Street View in Bangladesh is the result of collaboration between Google and the Access to Information (A2I) Programme at the prime minister's office in Bangladesh, which is supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the US Agency for International Development.
Bangladesh Parliament House in Google Streetview
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps that displays panoramas of stitched images of streets in a high-quality 360-degree view. Most photography is done by the Google Street View car, but some is done by trekker, tricycle and underwater apparatus. The Street View car has nine cameras, GPS and laser technologies which record the distances between the camera and landmarks. The recorded images are then processed and personal info (faces, number plates, etc.) is blurred, and then the images are added to Google Maps.
#StreetView car stops play. Welcome to the team, #Bangladesh! http://t.co/sn2wp4Gu9G pic.twitter.com/e2k3AWIylv
— Google (@google) February 5, 2015
Many Bangladeshis shared their reactions to the launch on social media. Pavel Sarwar, CEO of a software startup in Bangladesh, posted a humorous photo on Facebook with the caption:
#GoogleStreetView এ নিজের লুঙ্গি দেখে খুবই মজা পাইলাম।।
Amused to see my lungi [a sarong-like cloth] in #GoogleStreetView
Kajal Abdullah wrote on Facebook:
Photo by Facebook user Pavel Sarwar.
কয় ঘন্টা ধইরা ঢাকার রাস্তার স্ট্রিটভিউ দেখতেছিলাম! বাসার সামনের রাস্তা দিয়া হাইটা আসলাম। মোবাইলে গুগলের স্ট্রিটভিউ দিয়া! মাথা নষ্ট ম্যান!
#ThankYouGoogle #GoogleMap #StreetView #Dhaka #Bangladesh #গুগল #Google #GoogleEarth
I was exploring Dhaka's street view for a while. Using Google Streetview on my mobile I walked across the street at my home. Totally cool man!
Tafsier joked and posted a photo:
Street View দেখার লোভ সামলাতে না পেরে এখন মোবাইলের মাধ্যমেই দেখছি! নিজের এলাকার ছবি দেখতে গিয়ে এ কি দেখলাম! :) #StreetView #GoogleMaps
I am looking at Street View on my mobile. But what did I just see? :) #StreetView #GoogleMaps
Photo by Facebook user Tafsir
Tamzid Farhan Mogno created a Hyperlapse video of Dhaka city using Google Street View images:
In an op-ed in the Daily Star, Anir CHowdhury, policy adviser to the Access To Information Project, described how Google Street View can create new opportunities for Bangladesh in terms of boosting tourism and attracting foreign investment:
Google Maps and StreetView will play a key role as our country's small and medium businesses go online and improve their web presence. [..] Teachers in Bangladesh and around the world could use the imagery in lessons about culture, history, geography, architecture and local businesses. Students can see parts of the country which they may not have the chance to experience in person otherwise. StreetView technology could also play a key role in innovating Bangladesh's crisis response strategy by assessing locations where natural disasters have taken place.

author: Nurunnaby Chowdhury


text:
Indonesians Take a Hard Look at Death Penalty Ahead of Drug Trafficking Executions · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, believed to be the ring leaders of Bali Nine, are among those condemned to death. Photo from the Facebook page of Mercy Campaign
The Indonesian government has announced that it will carry out the execution of 11 convicts including eight drug traffickers from various countries.
Only one of the eight traffickers is Indonesian. Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, believed to be the ring leaders of the so-called Bali Nine, are among those condemned to death. Citizens of Brazil, France, Ghana, Nigeria and the Philippines are also due to be executed.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo denied clemency appeals and stated that the country is dealing with a drug emergency problem. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Indonesia is fast becoming a drug trafficking hub for various transnational organized crime cartels.
Although in general Indonesians agree with the country's war on drugs, opinion is divided on the issue of capital punishment.
Mercy Campaign was started in Australia pleading for Chan and Sukumaran to be spared from execution.
But in response to “I Stand for Mercy” campaign, Facebook user Bagus Paramarta wrote that the drug traffickers do not deserve mercy:
Bagus Paramarta
February 4 at 12:42pm
I STAND FOR NO MERCY.
Terpidana Bali Nine, mereka menyelundupkan 8,3 kilogram heroin. Orang-orang disebrang sana begitu peduli dgn nyawa kedua orang ini lalu muncul kampanye I stand for mercy, tapi maaf…saya tidak!
Andai 1 orang menggunakan 1 gram heroin artinya ada 8300 orang korban yang akan menghabiskan heroin2 ini…DITAMBAH…keluarga pecandu akan juga jadi korbannya, ambil saja 1 orang keluarga yang terkena dampaknya maka 16600 akan jadi korbannya.
Ada yang setuju…ada yang tidak, semua bisa didebat. Tapi bagi Anda yang tidak setuju silahkan berdebat dengan mereka yang keluarganya mati karena narkoba, jangan dengan saya.
BPK.
I STAND FOR NO MERCY.
Bagus Paramarta
February 4 at 12:42pm
The Bali Nine smuggled 8.3 kg of heroin. The [Australian] people there care so much about the lives of these two men, they started the “I Stand for Mercy” campaign, but I'm not sorry.
If only a person used 1 gram of heroin, this means that 8,300 people became victims of heroin drug abuse. Furthermore, the families of drug users also became victims. Some may agree, some don't, everything is debatable. If you disagree, go on and bring the debate to those who lost a family member from drug abuse, don't bring the debate to me.
On Twitter, some supported the president for denying the clemency appeal:
Eksekusi gembong Narkoba tahap 2 : warga Prancis, Ghana, Cordova, Brasil, Filipina, Australia, 1 WNI Biar takut! http://t.co/m6jkoB56mD
— Pray for Indonesia (@KiluanDolphin) January 28, 2015
Execution part two for French, Ghanaian, Cordovan, Brazilian, Philippine, Australians and an Indonesian citizens. Make them [the traffickers] scared.”
Indonesia hrs bebas dr narkoba,lanjutkan hukuman mati!”@tempodotco: Unjuk Rasa Tolak Eksekusi Mati Bali Nine di Bali http://t.co/2StjKTA7EL“
— supri (@supri_ag) January 31, 2015
Indonesia has to be free from drugs, carry on with the death punishment.
But some were opposed to the death penalty:
Hukuman Mati, Merampas Hak Seseorang untuk Bertobat http://t.co/2UQpicHqoJ #InfoBali — Bali News Updates (@InfoBali_ID) January 31, 2015
Death penalty takes away someone's right to repent.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the administration's decision to uphold capital punishment, a practice that has been abolished in many countries. The group noted that Indonesia has worked hard to prevent its citizens abroad from being executed but it has repeatedly ignored pleas from other governments to stop the execution of the drug convicts. HRW added:
International human rights law limits use of the death penalty to only “the most serious crimes,” typically crimes resulting in death or grievous bodily harm. This makes Indonesia’s application of the death penalty for drug-related convictions particularly odious.
Sociology Professor Soe Tjen Marching from Monash University shared her opinion on Facebook as to why capital punishment will not be an effective avenue to tackle drug issues in the country:
Soe Tjen Marching Full
January 28 at 1:13pm
Hukuman mati utk pengedar narkoba biasanya menjerat kroco2nya. Bos-bos besarnya seringkali lolos. Karena kalaupun mereka tertangkap, bisanya bisa pakai duit utk bermacam2 cara utk lolos, termasuk menyewa pengacara kelas kakap yg pasti akan meloloskan mereka dari hukuman mati. Ini tidak hanya terjadi di Indonesia. Bahkan di Inggris & negara2 Eropa pun, sebelum hukuman mati dihapus, hal ini juga terjadi. Ini adalah thesis (lengkap dengan data), bahwa hukuman mati ternyata tidak efektif dalam menanggulangi pengedaran narkoba:
Soe Tjen Marching Full
January 28 at 1:13pm
Execution for drug traffickers usually ends up putting the small ones [behind bars]. The big bosses are oftentimes spared. Even if they're captured, they usually finance their ways to escape, including hiring top attorneys to spare them from getting capital punishment. This doesn't happen only in Indonesia. It happened in England and European countries as well, before they abolished capital punishment, similar problems happened. The following is a thesis (complete with data), on how capital punishment is ineffective in tackling drug trafficking.
The professor also cited a study made by criminologists Yingyos Leechaianan and Dennis Longmire who showed how capital punishment is ineffective in solving drug trafficking problems in several Southeast Asian countries.
Orbit Foundation, an anti-drug advocacy group of former drug users, said that they are against the capital punishment because most of the time those who are convicted are not real drug lords.
Blogger Candra Wiguna  pointed out that Indonesia's capital punishment won't be a crime deterrent:
eksekusi terpidana mati di Indonesia dilakukan secara tertutup, tidak ada masyarakat yang menyaksikan secara langsung, pun tidak disiarkan media. Masyarakat hanya tau bahwa pelakunya sudah mati, itu saja. […] Bagaimana caranya memberi peringatan kepada calon kriminal akan sakitnya penderitaan ditembak ketika eksekusi penembakan itu tidak pernah ditunjukkan pada mereka? Hal ini tentu sulit dan tidak efektif. […] Sebelum beranjak ke hukuman mati, seharusnya kita menuntut agar pelaku divonis maksimal dulu, atau setidaknya kita bisa menuntut vonis maksimalnya ditambah..
In Indonesia, executions are not made public, the public and the media can't witness and broadcast them. How can this trigger deterrence? Before we choose death penalty, we should instead ask that the convict receive the maximum sentence, or that their prison term to be extended.
Wiguna added that the right to live and defend life is protected in the Indonesian constitution, and therefore the death penalty is a violation of the Indonesian constitution.
The National Anti Drug Agency (BNN) said that there are 66 more drug prisoners who are facing the death penalty.

author: Juke Carolina


text:
Japan’s Young People Don’t Care About Politics? Not True! · Global Voices
Sayuri Ishiwata

Image by Pixabay user Kaz.
Extremely low voter turnout is a major issue in Japan. For example, voter turnout for Japan's recent Lower House election held on December 17, 2014 — in which voters had a say about who the prime minister would be — was just 52.66%, the lowest voter turnout in Japan since the end of the Second World War.
Various factors contributed to low voter turnout in this past election, including poor weather that was so bad in some parts of the country that voters could not make it to polls. However, another trend is contributing to low voter turnout: voter participation among Japanese millennials is extremely scant, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
What is the main cause of the low turnout among the young generation? On the one hand, the cohort of younger voters is relatively smaller than in the past; this is partly because of declining birthrates.
At the same time, it's said that Japanese people don't really consider politics to have any connection with their lives. For example, a recent survey conducted by public broadcaster NHK revealed a sense of distrust young people feel towards elections — they believe that “their votes can change nothing”.
Meanwhile, there are some young people in Japan who have been making numerous efforts to encourage youth participation in politics.
YouthCreate is a non-profit led by 29-year-old Kensuke Harada. Harada became alarmed by what he perceived to be a lack of interest by his fellow youth in the political process in Japan. As a result, Harada decided to establish the student group “ivote” with his friends.
Since then, the ivote team has worked at increasing voting rate among people in their 20s. Harada established YouthCreate to continue his campaign with his comrades after graduation.
Harada talked to Huffington Post Japan about the cause of low voter turnout among the Japan's younger generation:
理由は色々あると思いますが、一番多いのは、選挙で何かが変わろうが、政治がどう動こうが、自分たちの生活や将来は良い方向に変わらないよね、というイメージ。その背景には、政治への不信感があると思います。政治って、自分とは遠い「向こう側」で勝手にやってて、そんなに良いものじゃないし、若い世代が声を上げたとしても数の多い高齢者世代には勝てないでしょ、という人は多いですね。
I think there are various reasons [for low voter turnout in Japan]. That said, one thing that is very obvious is that there is the common perception that their lives will never change for the better no matter how politics change. This attitude itself is caused by a sense of distrust towards politics. Many of the youth think that politics is automatically functioning on “the other side” of them and that their relatively fewer number of voices are drowned out by voices of the more numerous older generations.
Harada also said that the younger generation in Japan “cannot imagine exactly how it is like when politicians say they are willing to get back the booming economy of good old days”, since the young generation have never experienced life during the “bubble” economy.
Having working as an intern in the office of a Japanese member of parliament after graduating from university, Harada started to feel the need to connect the youth and politicians:
政治って大事だなって思いました。政治家、スタッフ、行政、彼らを取材するメディアを含めて、全員とはいわないけれど、地域を良くしたい、日本を良くしたいという思いがあることに気づきました。でも、そういう政治に関わっている人の思いが、若い人には伝わってなかった。[…]
これではいけないと思いました。結果として、政治は投票に行ってくれる上の世代を優先するし、若い世代は政治と自分は関係ないと思っている。[…]
若い世代と政治は敵ではないと思います。ただ、お互いのことを知らない結果、お互い相手が何を考えているのかわからないイメージになっている。若者が「どうせ政治家は何もやってくれない」といい、政治家も「若者は社会のことを何も考えていない」となるのはとてももったいないし、すごく悔しい。少しでも接点を作れば、関係性が変わってきて、日本の将来も変わるのかなと思っています
I found politics very important, realizing many politicians, their staffs, executive officers, and medias interviewing them — not everyone, of course — hoping to improve their regions or the entire country itself. However, the vision of these politicians has not reached the young generation of Japanese voters. […]
I thought this was not good. After all, government prioritizes the voice of older generations who go to vote, while the youth believe they have nothing to do with politics. […]
I believe the young generation and politicians do not have conflicting goals. They just do not know each other — they cannot imagine what the other is thinking. It is a pity and very frustrating to hear the youth say “politicians do nothing for us” while politicians say “the youth think nothing about the society”. If there is even a slight connection between them, their relationship possibly begins to change to make a difference in the future of Japan.
Included in his efforts to change youth towards participating in elections, Harada pays special attention to the annual “coming-of-age ceremony” where young people receive formal societal recognition for turning 20.
In Japan the voting age starts at 20, and the “coming-of-age ceremony” is therefore a good opportunity to change the perception among Japan's youth that “politics are very far” from them.
To give the “new adults” an experience of “changing something by voting”, Harada launched an “imitation election” project to let youth themselves vote for the subjects they want the mayor to address during the coming-of-age ceremony.
Harada and his organization have also launched a “Voters Bar”, a campaign to provide a place for both politicians and the youth to gather and interact. Harada says by providing opportunities for communicating with politicians in person, youth gradually realize that politicians a”re ordinary adults as well”.
特に地方で開いた時は、地元のお店や小学校の話題なんかで盛り上がる。普通なんだけど、でも、地域のことを考えている熱い大人なんだと伝わるようです。議員にも若者が真剣に将来や社会のことを考えているということがわかる。
参加する若者の半分ぐらいは投票には行っていませんが、政治に対して興味はあります。そういう若者たちを可視化して、議員に知ってもらうのも大事なことです
When we held a “Voters Bar” in areas away from the big cities, discussions between youth and politicians became animated, including such common topics as the schools or restaurants they have in common.
Younger Japanese people notice that politicians are ordinary yet very passionate about improving the community. At the same time politicians also become aware that the young people also thinking deeply about their own future and about society.
Almost half of the young people who take part in this gathering usually do not go to vote, but they apparently are interested in politics. It is important to make these young people are to be seen by politicians.
今日実施した若者と地方議員の気軽な交流会Voters Bar in 岡山！全国での通算18回目の開催は代表原田の地元の岡山で開催！4名の議員さんと高校生から社会人まで28人の参加者！大学の地域活性化拠点での実施でした。 pic.twitter.com/gQR3Dta1ev
— YouthCreate (@YouthCreate_PR) 2015, 1月 25
A “Voters Bar” was held in Okayama, where our leader Harada was born. This is the 18th gathering since this campaign was started. Four local politicians and 28 participants from high school students to young adults all came out. We held the gathering in the same place we had once worked on reinvigorating of community in our college days.
YouthCreate also held workshops as one of their activities.
YouthCreate の選挙前、ワークショップ始まります( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ 主体的にマニフェストを読むよ！！楽しみ。 pic.twitter.com/lvAIK1zDzW
— みそら (@muuun9) 2014, 12月 13
YouthCreate’s pre-election workshop is about to begin!( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ I’m excited about reading each party’s manifesto on our own initiative!!
Harada, who has witnessed the positive effects of interactions between the youth and politicians, sends a message to the younger generation: “What we need to show politicians is, more than voter numbers, how much more engaged and influential these young voters can be”.
According to Harada:
投票行っても何も変わらないというのは、間違いです。行ったら変わります。若い世代は人数が少ないから政治は動かないと思っているかもしれませんが、若者の投票率が上がったり、自分の政党に若者の支持が集まったりということになれば、票数は少ないかもしれませんが、動き自体に力がある。[…]今、投票して声を上げておかないと、10年後に何もしなかったと思うことになるのは、悔しくないですか? 僕が投票する理由の一番は、後悔するのが嫌だからです
It is a mistake to believe that voting changes nothing. If you vote, something will change. You may have believed that the relatively smaller population of younger voters cannot influence politics, but if the voting rate among young people increases, or if politicians notice the increasing number of young supporters, then things may change. […] Isn't it regretful to say, “I should have done something at that time” in 10 years? That’s why I go to vote — I do not want to regret what I did not do afterward.

author: Sayuri Ishiwata


text:
Misbehaviour Trumps Murder in Trinidad & Tobago Headlines  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

While Trinidad and Tobago is in the midst of political woes and police try to determine the identity of the country's latest murder victim, at least one blogger thinks that mainstream media is doing its level best to ignore these pressing issues and capitalise on the pre-Carnival frenzy. (Trinidad and Tobago Carnival takes place on February 16 and 17).
aka_lol accused the leading national daily of “us[ing] its precious mind-swaying front-page to highlight a suspected personality flaw in the country’s top, home-grown, international Soca superstar, Machel Montano”:
Maybe it was because his alleged bad attitude took place at a town school fete is the reason it was given grossly exaggerated importance or some other ulterior or political motive – I don’t know.  I doubt the newspaper is being paid off by some Big Men with shares and money to distract the public from the real issues that are, have always been plaguing the nation for some time […]
That Mr. Montano might be throwing temper tantrums all over the place for some very good reasons and a couple bad ones is not new, news or close to headline news. However, the discovery of a decomposing body which might be that of the missing Caribbean Airlines director is depressing and frightful thus should be fitting as a the main headline and a lifesaver given the need to alert unsuspecting visitors merrily flocking our shores for Carnival.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Nepalese Are Finding the Humor in Their Country’s Gas Shortage  · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

A Yak carrying LPG cylinders in Namche Bazar in Eastern Nepal. By Flickr user Simonsimages. CC BY 2.0
The red-coloured liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders used for cooking in Nepal have suddenly become objects of desire in the capital Kathmandu and other major cities thanks to a shortage.
The shortage of LPG started in December 2014 and worsened in January 2015. Despite several steps taken by the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to boost the supply of LPG, consumers are still not able to get the cooking gas easily and the price has skyrocketed on the black market.
Firewood is the predominant energy carrier in Nepali households, counting for more than 70 percent of consumption, followed by LPG, which is gaining popularity. Besides cooking, LPG is also used for heating as it is cheaper than electricity.
The NOC sells the cylinders through dealers, but to tackle black marketeers it has even began selling the cylinders directly at stipulated price from special outlets in Kathmandu Valley. However, the shortage has persisted with no respite for consumers. Gas traders and bottling companies are blaming the lack of bullets (cylindrical pressure containers) used in importing fuel from India as the primary reason for the shortage.
The government is assuring that adequate import of LPG from India has been arranged. But consumers are reeling after two months of limited LPG supply. Nepali cartoonists and Twitter users are protesting the situation by sharing satirical photos and images online.
Kamal Kumar, a producer of Sajha Sawal programme, tweeted:
हेरिबक्स्योस त, जनतालाई ग्यास दिन रिबन काट्ने तयारी । मन्त्री ज्यूको नाम इतिहासमा हीराकै अक्षरले लेखिने भो । pic.twitter.com/oMIJo7djQW
— Kamal Kumar (@qamalqumar) January 25, 2015
Have a look. Getting ready to cut ribbon to distribute gas to the people. The minister’s name will be written in diamond letters in the history.
Hinting at the unending queues to get the cooking gas, Nepali daily Annapurna Post tweeted a cartoon by Basu Kshitiz.
अन्नपूर्ण पोस्ट् दैनिकमा आज प्रकाशित @basukshitiz को कार्टून.. http://t.co/rJ89Z8Bst4 pic.twitter.com/MB8KL9PvWq
— Annapurna Post (@Annapurna_Post) January 27, 2015
The man in the cartoon says, “Send me a razor too, seems [my] turn won’t come in 3-4 days.”
Looking at the situation, people have taken to innovative forms of protest to pressure the government.
Shanti Nepal uploaded a video to YouTube showing the queue for gas and protests demanding normalisation of the supplies.
Lawmakers have accused the government of turning a deaf ear to the black market sale of cooking gas, saying it's to blame for the current shortage, not the the Indian Oil Corporation.
Responding to the black market accusation, cartoonist Rabindra Manandhar tweeted:
कालोबजारीले बजारको सब ग्यास खाए, परिणामः तिनका अपानवायुले उपभोक्तालाई उडाइदियो । pic.twitter.com/5LrBNLr18Q
— Rabindra Manandhar (@Robindarr) February 1, 2015
Black marketers hoarded all the gas in the market. Result: Their flatulence swept away consumers.
Due to the gas shortage, walking along the streets with a cooking gas cylinder has become a sort of moment of pride for people.
Sanam Chitrakar, an entrepreneur, tweeted:
can there be better romantic ride than this? #gas #nepal pic.twitter.com/g6BNV3A3nK
— Sanam Chitrakar (@ChitrakarSanam) January 30, 2015
The LPG pinch has made it a much coveted item in every kitchen. Portraying this sarcastically, cartoonist Rajesh KC tweeted:
समात, समात ! यो मान्छे मेरो भान्छा छिरेर आफ्नो खाना पकायो !! (Archived) #GasShortage pic.twitter.com/RNaka3VZ3n
— PHALANO™ (@phalano) January 28, 2015
Earlier, nobody would touch a gas cylinder left on the street but due to the scarcity everyone is scared to leave a filled cylinder unattended.
Aakar Anil Ghimire, a marketing technologist with The Cloud Factory, tweeted:
Define Bravery? Parking a bike, loaded with cooking gas cylinder, in Kathmandu. ;) #Nepal pic.twitter.com/MWTRwj86AN
— Aakar Anil (@aakarpost) January 27, 2015
Whatever the situation, Nepalese have been facing the shortage bravely and with patience. The good news is that India is mulling over laying a LPG and gas pipeline to Nepal for the continuous supply of the precious cooking gas.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Palestine Remembers ISIS Captive Kayla Mueller Killed in Raqqa  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

CNN announces that the US has confirmed that ISIS captive Kayla Mueller is dead. Photograph shared by @AdhamEtoom on Twitter
American humanitarian aid worker Kayla Mueller, 26, who has been held hostage by terror group ISIS, has been confirmed dead today. She is fondly remembered in Palestine, where she volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in August and September, 2010, “nonviolently resisting the confiscation and demolitions of the homes and lands” of Palestinians.
The confirmation of her death comes days after the militant group said that she was killed during a coalition airstrike near Raqqa, Syria. Mueller, from Arizona, was captured in August 2013 from Aleppo, Syria, where she was volunteering with Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital. The ISIS, which has established Raqqa as the capital of their Islamic-styled Caliphate, announced that she had been killed in a Jordanian airstrike, launched in revenge for the murder of Jordanian pilot Muath Al Kasasbeh, who was put in a cage and set on fire last week.
According to CNN, Mueller had “thrown herself into international causes” since she was a teenager. The report explains:
In 2012, Mueller went to Syria with the Danish Refugee Council and Support to Life humanitarian agency.
She fell into the hands of hostage takers in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria, her family said, after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital.
Her family heard nothing until 10 months later, when ISIS got in touch with its ransom demand.
Mueller at a protest tent in Sheikh Jarrah. Photo courtesy of ISM
According to the ISM, Mueller volunteered with them from August to September 2010, where she “worked with Palestinians nonviolently resisting the confiscation and demolitions of their homes and lands.”
In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Occupied East Jerusalem, she stayed with the Al Kurd family to try and prevent the takeover of their home by Israeli settlers.
While in Palestine:
Kayla accompanied Palestinian children to school in the neighborhood of Tel Ruimeda in Al-Khalil (Hebron) where the children face frequent attacks by the Israeli settlers and military. She stayed with villagers in Izbat Al Tabib in a protest tent to try to prevent the demolition of homes in the village. She joined weekly Friday protests in Palestinian villages against the confiscation of their lands due to Israel’s illegal annexation wall and settlements.
ISM also shares some of Mueller's writings during her work in Palestine:
Kayla published writing online about her work in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement in August and September 2010. “How can I ignore the blessing of freedom of speech when I know that people I deeply care for can be shot dead for it?” she wrote.
You can read the rest of the posts here.
Online, tributes pour in for Mueller, from around the world.
ABC 15 Arizona shares a letter handwritten by Mueller in the Spring of 2014:
NEW: Here is a letter #KaylaMueller wrote in the Spring of 2014. http://t.co/c5S5Sph6br pic.twitter.com/DCsN69bhzo
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) February 10, 2015
In the letter, she writes:
I am not breaking down and I will not give in no matter how long it takes… I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I and by God's will we will be together soon.
Egyptian Mahmood Ali describes the airstrikes as “too stupid,” adding they did not discriminate between jihadists and innocent people:
This proves what we are saying for months.Coalition strikes too stupid it's don't kills jihadist only #KaylaMueller pic.twitter.com/nOlAItQUXR — محمود علي (@maxrx_1987) February 10, 2015
He mourns Mueller with resignation:
#KaylaMueller she was a great person . unfortunately we know who killed her but we can't do anything pic.twitter.com/9syq8ZbrIi
— محمود علي (@maxrx_1987) February 10, 2015
Washington DC-based lawyer Rabia Chaudry adds:
My heart is full of pain for the family/loved ones of #KaylaMueller & for injustice she suffered. May she rest in peace. And ISIS in pieces.
— rabia chaudry (@rabiasquared) February 10, 2015
And Mauritanian-American activist Nasser Weddady concludes:
Kayla, Peter, Steven, Jim #RIP #NeverForget
— weddady (@weddady) February 10, 2015

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Red Chinese New Year Envelopes Get a Yellow Umbrella Makeover in Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A set of yellow umbrella red envelopes distributed by Um dot dot dot.
The Lunar Chinese New Year is approaching, and that means people in Hong Kong will soon be blessing the elderly and children in their families by giving them special red envelopes.
The red envelopes, which contain money, are traditionally printed with seasonal greetings and well wishes, such as “prosperity like the blossoming flowers”, “good fortune in New Year”, “good health”, and “progress in studies”.
This year, a new envelope design features yellow umbrellas, reflecting some Hong Kongers’ New Year's wish for genuine democracy in their city.
The pro-democracy movement demanding that the Beijing and Hong Kong governments allow citizens to nominate the candidates for the city's top leaders did not end in December when police cleared the sit-in sites, where activists had camped out for three months. Supporters of the Umbrella Revolution — so called for protesters who used umbrellas to protect themselves from police tear gas and pepper spray — have carried on using a variety of strategies, such as participating in “shopping protests“, creating street art and hosting community education initiatives.
The umbrella-themed red envelopes are part of a fundraising project from Facebook community “Um dot dot dot“, a volunteer group that aims to keep the movement going by raising the political awareness of grassroots communities.
The top of the red envelopes read, “I want genuine blessed red envelopes and won't pocket the empty ones”, “Love Hong Kong, we are Hong Kongers” and “Hong Kongers, keep going”. The first sentence is a reference to government propaganda that urges Hong Kong people to pocket its political reform package, which allows for a direct vote of the city's chief executive for the first time, but doesn't allow for citizens to choose the candidates.
Take a closer look at the design of the envelopes below:
“I want genuine blessed red envelopes and won't pocket the empty ones.”
“I want a genuine blessed red envelope.”
“Love HK cuz we're Hong Kongers.”
“Hong Kongers, keep going. I want a genuine blessed red envelope.”
“Love Hong Kong cuz we are Hong Kongers.”

author: Oiwan Lam


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RuNet Watchdog ‘Baffled’ by Twitter’s Refusal to Block Kremlin’s Opponents · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Roscomnadzor, the Russian telecommunications watchdog, seems to be unhappy with Twitter's latest transparency report, which demonstrates a significant increase in user data requests and takedown notices from the Russian government.
Alexandr Zharov, head of Roscomnadzor, told journalists that Twitter “has consistently refused to adhere to the demands of Russian legislation, including those aimed at combatting extremism,” and said Twitter's position caused “legitimate” questions for a company operating inside Russia.
Zharov's concern with Twitter's non-compliance stems from the fact that while Russia submitted 108 requests for user account data since June 2014, Twitter declined to provide information in response to any of them. The Russian government also issued 91 takedown or blocking requests in the last 6 months of 2014, including two supported by court orders. Twitter complied with 13% of the demands, blocking three accounts and deleting nine tweets, but reported that it “denied several requests to silence popular critics of the Russian government and other demands to limit speech about non-violent demonstrations in Ukraine.”
Roscomnadzor's Zharov said the watchdog was “baffled” by Twitter's refusal to block “popular opponents of the Russian government” and said the regulatory body would appeal to Twitter to demand an explanation.
Russian Internet regulators and Twitter have had a rocky relationship and have been trading public accusations despite ongoing negotiations, including several working meetings held in Moscow. Twitter representatives met with Roscomnadzor in June 2014, and later in December 2014, but the outcome of the meetings has been less than productive. It seems the relationship between Roscomnadzor and Twitter will continue to be the cat and mouse game it has been until now.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Spain’s Alternative Political Parties Are Fluent in Internet · Global Voices
Elena Arrontes

Podemos poster calling for the #31E March for Change: “Are you going to wait for them to tell you about it?”
As Spain gears up for the 2015 general elections, the Internet has become a key tool for political parties attempting to reach, influence and sway potential voters. From crowdfunding calls for a street demonstration to political debate and interactions with citizens, social networks are playing an increasingly relevant role in Spanish politics.
But even though all of Spain's political parties have some presence online, young citizen and alternative parties in particular are using digital tools to great impact.
Many of these movements were born of the mass demonstrations in 2011 and 2012 that flooded Spain's streets. Instead of disappearing, like some people predicted, they moved to neighborhoods, taking the form of assemblies, working groups, and active platforms in which citizens could discuss what changes they believed were necessary on a local level.
From these initially apolitical movements later came groups aspiring to govern, such as Podemos — akin to the Greek party Syriza, which will now govern Greece — and platform Guanyem (Ganemos) have made major strides on the Spanish political scene.
Polls have projected that Podemos, created just about a year ago, will win in the general elections of 2015. The party surprised many with its victory in the European Parliament elections in 2014, in which it took five seats. It funded that campaign via crowdfunding — earning over 40,000 euros (about 45,000 US dollars) — expressly stating that they did not want to rely on money from the very banks that evict thousands of families from their homes in Spain, like traditional political parties tend to do.
15MPaRato, Party X, and the Network Movement have also taken this route to find financial support.
Podemos has over 920,000 followers on Facebook and close to 500,000 on Twitter, far exceeding the two Spanish traditional parties, the People's Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). These alternative parties and platforms heavily rely on social media to address an audience that is anxious for conclusive reforms: the end of political corruption and austerity measures, a renewed emphasis on citizens in public debate and more policies for the common good.
Podemos no nace de la indignación de la gente, nace de la esperanza en un futuro mejor y la ilusión de un presente. Comenzamos el cambio.31E — PODEMOS (@ahorapodemos) enero 29, 2015
Podemos is not born of peoples’ outrage, it is born of the hope for a better future and the excitement for a present. We start the change. 31E
Este sábado nos vemos en Madrid. Es la hora de que la Historia tome un nuevo rumbo. Hay alternativas: ¡sí se puede! pic.twitter.com/8cp0LN2vRr — PODEMOS (@ahorapodemos) enero 28, 2015
This Saturday, we'll see each other in Madrid. It's time for history to take a new direction. There are alternatives: Yes we can!
These new groups have created viral campaigns with a convincing, direct, and relatable tone. Building on the strong power of Internet mobilization, Podemos launched a viral call to organize a huge march that took place in Madrid on Saturday, January 31, and shared banners, hashtags, and links to follow the event via live-streaming, in addition to organizing bus trips so that people from all over Spain could participate.
Another example of Internet use is the following video by Ada Colau, the leader of Guanyem Barcelona, who expressed her wish for the new year, and took the opportunity to explain the platform's objectives, calling for a democratic revolution:
These strategies are forcing major Spanish parties to redefine their methods of online outreach, debate issues and face their new competitors. The strength of Podemos and the will for change was measured on that Saturday, when thousands took to the streets, although the outcome of their campaign is set to be evaluated for the first time after the municipal elections in May 2015. Podemos and Ganemos Madrid have announced that they will compete under the same trademark to place citizens in the center of the decision-making process. Will they succeed?

author: Elena Arrontes


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Trinidad & Tobago: Am Gay; Will Travel  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

What is it like to be gay in the Caribbean? The Travelling Trini occasionally gets emails from young gay Trinidadians who “have the burning desire to go abroad, travel, and see the world”. She deduces that this wanderlust stems from the fact that “the Caribbean is a incredibly homophobic place with a raging macho-man culture, and coming out is an incredibly difficult, and often dangerous, thing to do.”
The post goes on to list several songs that promoted homophobia and gay violence back in the nineties: Buju Banton's Boom Bye Bye was unsurprisingly at the top of the heap, but the blogger describes them all as “dark, violent and downright disgusting.” She asks:
Why is it not considered hate speech? Why are radio stations allowed to play it? […] The question is, why is it okay to still be so violently anti-gay in 2015?
She connects this constricted reality with the desire many gay Caribbean people have to migrate and testifies that the Far East, where she currently resides, “is a very gay friendly place, indeed”:
There are thriving gay scenes in every country, from the liberal far east to the conservative Middle East and everywhere in between.
The whole world is not straight. It never has been, and it never will be. […]
Unfortunately these liberal lifestyles are not tolerated in the Caribbean, and are in fact still criminalised under law. There is no legal protection for LGBT citizens […] just as people fought for equal rights based on race, and equal rights based on gender, the next step in our human evolution is equal rights for all people regardless of their sexual orientation.


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Turkey Cites National Security as it Cranks Up Internet Controls · Global Voices
Ahmet A. Sabancı

Demotix image ID: 3883719. Protest Against Internet Censorship. Taken 8 February 2014 by Görkem Keser in Istanbul, Turkey. The sign says: ‘If what we're living through in this country is normal, we are all crazy.’
The Turkish government may soon pass new legislation that will leave citizens broadly vulnerable to human rights abuses and extensive police controls. Many suspect the laws are intended to prevent a repeat of the Gezi protests that rocked the country in late 2013.
One bill currently before Parliament would allow authorities to censor websites without court approval, granting enormous powers over the Internet to the office of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and the Telecommunication Authorities (TİB). Under the law, TİB could order website owners to remove content that deemed threatening to national security by relevant government agencies (but not the courts). TİB also could order content removal to protect someone's safety and/or privacy, prevent crime or protect publich health. If website owners refuse to comply with an order, TİB could simply block sites that refused to comply with takedown orders and then pursue a judge's opinion retroactively.
This is poor practice by international human rights standards — but it is also uniquely troublesome in the Turkish context, where the courts remain the one branch of the political apparatus over which AKP has failed to gain full control. By allowing the government to circumvent the judiciary in the censorship process, the law increases the government's capacity to respond to protests or political scandals in real time.
In a recent interview with Bianet, an Istanbul-based independent communication network, Kerem Altıparmak of Ankara University summarized the censorship bill as follows:
From now on, TIB will be able to block anything with its unlimited judgment powers. There are hundreds of crimes defined in the book. The law doesn’t stop here — it also added the protection of public order. And there is no authority to inspect this.
For instance, think about the most trivial crime. If TIB wants, it can block content because of that. Since it includes public order, all organizations and gatherings will be considered within this.
TİB would thus have the power to order any website to remove any content they think jeopardises national security. If content owners resist, they can block the whole website and ask them to pay a fine of between 3,000 and 10,000 Turkish Lira (1,200-4,000 USD). If content owners cannot pay, they face jail.
Rules about content removal affect social media giants Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as local media outlets and blogs. If these networks disagree with a TİB’ request, they may risk total censorship in Turkey.
Twitter’s transparency reports show a massive increase in removal requests made by the Turkish government and courts last year in comparison to 2013. Turkish international relations scholar Efe Kerem Sözeri believes that the government is holding Twitter’s policy team over a barrel, with Ankara having already briefly banned the service for non-mobile users in March 2014. On that occasion, it was a constitutional court order that saved Twitter in Turkey.
The security bill proposed by AKP leaders looks scarier still, offering unprecedented powers to police and governors. The bill would authorize law enforcement to conduct telephone wiretapping for up to 48 hours without a warrant, authorizes police to arrest and detain anyone without a warrant up to 48 hours and stop and searches legal wherever police can find “reasonable doubt” of innocence.
An e-flyer made by Democrat Lawyers for Freedom to inform the public about the surveillance bill. “When the proposal becomes law, joining a meeting or a protest will become a catalogue crime and anyone can be arrested and send to prison for that reason.” Taken from the group's Facebook page.
The bill also gives power to governors to intervene in police investigations. According to Human Rights Watch’s summary of the bill:
The draft law proposes giving the highest administrative officer of a province, the governor, authority to assume powers that rightly belong to the prosecutorial authorities. The draft bill states that: “Where necessary and where there is a need for urgent measures, a governor can give direct orders to the police chief or public officials to shed light on a crime and to find the perpetrators of the crime.” The provision makes it obligatory for all public officials to comply with such orders.
This is significant given that Erdoğan, as president, has substantial influence over governor appointments put forward by the government. This enables both the government and president to interfere with police investigations by issuing dictates from the top.
“When the proposal becomes law, police can stop and frisk anyone, search their possessions and car without a warrant from a court.” Taken from the Democrat Lawyers for Freedom Facebook page.
So far, civil society and opposition parties in parliament — where AKP has a majority — have rejected the bill, but the party of power has shown no signs of weakening its resolve. In the most recent example of how broadly defined the concept of national security is in Turkey, the government suspended a strike planned by metal workers for a period of 60 days on January 30, citing risks for “national security” without offering any further explanation.
Lawmakers will likely vote on the security bill next week.

author: Ahmet A. Sabancı


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Who Killed the Zamalek Football Fans in Egypt if it Wasn’t the Police?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Distraught fans outside the Zeinhoum Morgue in Cairo after the tragedy. “This photograph is too painful,” tweets @Hibajad_ who shares this photograph on Twitter
Up to 40 people may have been killed when Egyptian police tried to disperse spectators trying to enter a football match at the Air Force Stadium, in Cairo.
Photographs shared by netizens on social media show the police shooting at the spectators, who were crowded behind metal barricades. Reports on the ground say police shot birdshot and teargas into the caged crowds, triggering a stampede on Sunday — charges the Egyptian government denies. And the number of deaths is still disputed. This Al Jazeera report says at least 40 people were killed, while this Daily News Egypt puts the figure at 22 and 28.
On social media, the tragedy was described as a “massacre,” with Egyptians lamenting how “cheap” Egyptian blood has become and how Egyptian police are never ever held accountable for their “crimes.”
Much to the disdain of Egyptians, the game between Zamalek and Enppi teams was held as the fans were being killed outside the stadium.
According to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, the clashes between the police and the Zamalek Club supporters, known as the Ultras White Knights, happened when the fans tried to enter the stadium without purchasing tickets.
Ehab shares a photograph of a fan, who was killed, and who had a ticket to the match.
إسلام عماد ربنا يرحمه و يجعل مثواه الجنه و الغريبه يا أخي معاه تذكره pic.twitter.com/gpD0rgLeNH
— ♛ الريــس إيهــاب ♛ (@drhouba) February 9, 2015
Islam Imad, may his soul rest in peace. It is strange that he has a ticket.
Officials also denied that the fans were killed by Interior Ministry personnel. Many shared this photograph that has since gone viral, doubting the ministry's claims.
#محلب: نرفض اتهام #الداخلية بقتل مشجعي #الزمالك ؟! فعلا شايفين حتى الصورة بتقول ايه ؟ #مجزرة_الدفاع_الجوي pic.twitter.com/QMvsN976xA
— ناشط مش سياسى (@AhmedKhatab89) February 9, 2015
Egyptian Prime Minister Mahleb: “We refuse the accusation that the Interior Ministry killed the fans”
True, you can even see what this photograph says.
Amr shares the same photograph, to refute the government's claim that the fans died of “overcrowding.”
Min of Interior says they died because of overcrowding. Let this picture speak for the dead #Egypt #Zamalek pic.twitter.com/uS7zAmrwJR
— Amr No 2 CC (@Cairo67Unedited) February 8, 2015
Ahmed El Sayed asks his followers to image themselves in the situation the fans were in:
تخيل انك بتجري في المكان المقفول الضيق ده بالعدد ده وبيترمي عليك قنابل غاز وخرطوش،قتلونا بالتدافع #مجزرة_الدفاع_الجوي pic.twitter.com/Cevlj2fCTe
— ahmed el sayed (@ahmedcoman5) February 8, 2015
Imagine yourself running in this narrow crowded closed place, while being shot with teargas and shotgun. They killed us by [generating] a stampede
And journalist Borzou Daragahi shares those “chilling accounts of police misconduct” at the game with his 28.6K followers:
Chilling accounts of police misconduct at #Egypt football game: “One died right beneath me” http://t.co/27orajvfFP pic.twitter.com/Y7A2FvCvsg
— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) February 9, 2015
Salma Elwardany tells her 78.9K followers:
مفيش بلد في الدنيا بيتقتل فيها ٣٠ بني آدم في مباراة الشرطة هي اللي مامناها كمان وتطلع الشرطة تقول نرفض تحمل المسئولية
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) February 9, 2015
There isn't a country in the world where 30 people are killed in a match guarded by the police who then refuse to take responsibility
Galal Amr wonders:
So a police officer thought “I'll just fire some teargas. What's the worst that could possibly happen?” #Egypt pic.twitter.com/jhwnkOqO2C
— Galal (@GalalAmrG) February 8, 2015
And Rasha Abdulla asks a question — and answers it:
At least 22 now killed by security outside the gates of a football game in Egypt. Why? Because the police can.
— Rasha Abdulla (@RashaAbdulla) February 8, 2015
And this video, shared by vid egy on YouTube, shows the police shooting into the crowds:
Meanwhile, Lobna Darwish objects to the use of words like “riots” and “clashes” to describe the tragedy. She tweets to her 64K followers:
using terms like “riots” and ‘clashes” to refer to yesterday's events is bs.People didn't get the space or time to resist. it's was one way. — Lobna Darwish (@lobna) February 9, 2015
Many shared the heartbreak of relatives as they reacted to the news that their loved ones are dead.
Cairo correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and Christian Science Monitor Louisa Loveluck shares this photograph of the families who waited outside the Zeinhom morgue for news about their loved ones the following morning with her 14.8K followers on Twitter:
Outside Cairo's morgue, families await news of those missing since last night's match. Some too distraught to speak: pic.twitter.com/guRgKBxbik
— Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) February 9, 2015
In a series of tweets, she explains:
Today at Zeinhom morgue, atmosphere unlike anything I've felt in at least 12 visits. Silent, angry grief from fans gathered there. #zamalek — Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) February 9, 2015
#pt Several fans who had been at last night's match sat slumped against the wall. Some with heads buried in laps, others staring into space.
— Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) February 9, 2015
#pt “I ask the police – where is my son? Where is he?” shouted one father, before entreating crowd to remember description of 20yr old son. — Louisa Loveluck (@leloveluck) February 9, 2015
Tamara Alrifai shares this photograph of a father who had just identified his son at the morgue:
His only son didn't come home from a match RT @ianjameslee:”He goes to see a game & I take him from a morgue” #Egypt pic.twitter.com/MY3zDpN272”
— Tamara Alrifai (@TamaraAlrifai) February 9, 2015
Mohannad is livid that life continues as if nothing happened after such tragedies. He implores his 28K followers:
كان لازم في وقت الحدث يتلغي الماتش، يتلغي الدوري، يطير إتحاد الكورة، يطير وزير الرياضة، يطير وزير الداخلية، بعدين نتفاهم.
— Mohannad (@mand0z) February 9, 2015
The match should have been cancelled when this was happening, and the league cancelled, and the Ministers of Sports and Interior sacked .. and then we can talk
And he adds:
حوادث زي دي بتستقيل فيها حكومات كاملة، مش وزير داخلية عامل فيها صاحب العزبة ومش عايز يتزحزح. — Mohannad (@mand0z) February 9, 2015
In incidents such as this, entire cabinets resign, not a Minister of Interior, who thinks he owns this manor and refuses to budge
But Mohammed Alsaafin says all the murderers are the same.
الي قتلو الناس في رابعة و محمد محمود و ماسبيرو و الدفاع الجوي و المنصة والتحرير هم نفس القتلة على فكرة.
— Mohammad Alsaafin (@malsaafin) February 9, 2015
By the way, those who killed the people at Rabaa, and Mohammed Mahmoud, and Maspero and the Air Force Stadium, and Tahrir are the same murderers
This is the first time fans are allowed back into the stadium after a similar tragedy in Port Said in February 2012. A total of 74 fans of Al Ahly Club were killed during clashes with Al Masry supporters, who attacked them with knives, bottles, stones and fireworks, as the police bolted shut the stadium's gates as the killing frenzy continued inside. As a result, the government then banned domestic league matches for two years. A similar move was taken after Sunday's tragedy, with Egypt once again suspending its football league.
Meanwhile, the Port Said massacre court case continues at the Port Said Criminal Court, with hearings scheduled from March 7 to 10.


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Why Are So Many Environmental Activists Being Murdered? · Global Voices
Ensia

Monks in Cambodia rest during a 25-kilometer night march through the jungle to voice their anger over environmental destruction in their country. Photo by photojournalist and Flickr user Luc Forsyth. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Mike Shanahan was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here according to a content-sharing agreement.
Jeannette Kawas was an accountant whose concept of value was broader than any balance sheet. No number could capture for her the natural wealth she saw in the forests, rivers, beaches and mangrove swamps of Punta Sal, near her hometown of Tela in northern Honduras.
In the 1980s, cattle ranchers, resort developers and loggers all wanted a slice of this landscape. As their hunger grew, Kawas formed an environmental organization, PROLANSATE, to protect the land, and in 1994, it convinced the government to allow it to create and manage a new national park there.
Within three months PROLANSATE renamed Punta Sal National Park to honor its founder, who was shot dead in her home on February 6, 1995. Years later a ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights said Kawas’s work in defense of the environment had motivated the murder.
Kawas was a victim of a largely unreported war that still rages around the world two decades later. Its casualties are women and men who through peaceful acts work to defend their local environment from polluters and miners, land grabbers and loggers. In the past decade, close to 1,000 such activists in 35 countries were murdered, according to a report published in April 2014 by Global Witness.
“This report is a good one to alert people to the sad reality at hand,” says Alfredo Quarto, executive director of Mangrove Action Project, which has documented murders of activists and community leaders who stood in the way of shrimp farmers. “In a five-year period in the 1990s, over 100 local community members and activists were killed protesting shrimp farm encroachment and mangrove loss in Bangladesh. Similar reports of murdered community leaders who stood in the way of shrimp farmers come from Thailand, India, Honduras, Ecuador and Brazil.”
The globally reported murder rate has risen in recent years: In 2012, the last year for which there are reliable figures, it approached three per week.
To tally the body count, Global Witness researchers scoured hundreds of credible, published and publicly available sources. They included only cases that stated the name of the victim, the nature of the death and the date, and for which the murder had a clear connection to the environment or land rights. Alice Harrison, a consultant with Global Witness, says the numbers underestimate the problem because levels of reporting are low, especially in Africa.
The globally reported murder rate has risen in recent years: In 2012, the last year for which there are reliable figures, it approached three per week. Harrison says it is unlikely that monitoring has increased enough to account for this increase in reported deaths, and that the real explanation is an ever faster race to profit from ever scarcer land and resources.
The report says that what’s behind that race to profit is consumer demand for electronic goods, tropical timber, beef, oil and — thanks to the ubiquity of palm oil in modern products — even mundane things such as toothpaste and peanut butter. Contributing to the problem are cash, corruption and a culture of impunity.
“Violence often results from powerful elites cashing in on resources for short-term export earnings from large scale production,” says Oliver Courtney, a senior campaigner at Global Witness. “This issue has its roots on our shop floors and living rooms. The growing pressure on resources that leads to conflict and killing is a product of overconsumption, largely in the rich world, driving demand for cheap commodities. ”
“Many of those murdered were ‘accidental’ human rights defenders,” says John Knox, a professor of international law at Wake Forest University and independent expert on human rights and the environment of the United Nations Human Rights Council. “They got involved because it was their own land, their own forests, their own water they were defending.”
When such people try to protest they may be met with threats, violence, unlawful detention and even death.
“What’s really unfortunate is that the contest is so one-sided,” says Knox. “On one hand are extremely powerful economic interests. On the other are people who are often marginalized in society, people who have not got allies and who are not very sophisticated in knowing what’s going. Often they first find out they are subject to a government decision when the bulldozers arrive, or the trees start falling or they get evicted from their land.”
When such people try to protest they may be met with threats, violence, unlawful detention and even death. In only about 1 percent of the murders Global Witness documented has the killer been tried, convicted and punished.
“There’s a screaming lack of political will,” says Harrison. “Some killings are at the behest of political actors or private sector companies linked to politicians. Some are not reported and followed up. There’s a fear of reprisals.” In the case of Jeannette Kawas, several reports from government agencies, including one from the attorney general’s office, include allegations that named members of the state security forces were involved in her murder. But nobody has been tried or convicted.
In 2013, a study estimated that Jeannette Kawas National Park provides ecological goods and services worth $46 million per year. That’s close to a billion dollars of uncounted benefit since the park’s creation in 1994. If Kawas had been armed with these numbers 20 years ago, perhaps she would be alive today.
With the death toll rising, organisations like Global Witness want to stimulate action both in countries where the killings take place and in countries in which consumers, journalists and governments can exert some influence.
“It’s a combination of working with organisations at the grassroots that encounter these crimes, raising awareness and funnelling it upwards,” says Harrison. “We want governments to monitor this and bring perpetrators to justice. We are working at the international level to do this and hold governments to account.”
Experience shows that people are generally safer if they are known internationally, so Global Witness plans to work with partner organizations around the world to develop an early warning system that can raise the profile of environmental defenders and their struggles. “We don’t want to look only at deaths, when it is too late,” says Harrison.
“Norway now obliges companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and its food companies now publish their use of palm oil. As a result, Norway’s food sector reduced palm-oil consumption by two-thirds in a single year.” –Oliver Courtney
In a similar vein, an international network of researchers from universities and nongovernmental organizations has developed the Environmental Justice Atlas, an online map and database of stories of more than 1,000 ongoing environmental conflicts that users can search by commodity, country or company.
Global Witness wants to see a fall in consumer demand for products linked to violence — such as timber, soya and palm oil. “Governments need to legislate for this and enable consumers to make informed decisions,” says Courtney. “Norway now obliges companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and its food companies now publish their use of palm oil. As a result, Norway’s food sector reduced palm-oil consumption by two-thirds in a single year.”
According to the Treaty Alliance, a global coalition of more than 500 civil society groups, what’s needed is a legally binding international treaty to address human rights violations by corporations. The alliance is urging the U.N. Human Rights Council to set this in motion. Governments, meanwhile, already have obligations under human rights law to protect citizens who speak out about development choices or environmental protection, as the case of Jeannette Kawas shows.
In a landmark ruling in 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared that Honduras violated several rights to the detriment of Kawas and her family. It ordered Honduras to make amends in several ways.
In a public ceremony in June 2010, the Minister for Interior and Justice of Honduras apologized and took responsibility for Kawas’s death. Yet Honduras failed to meet the court’s deadline for erecting a monument to Kawas, starting criminal proceedings against her killer or carrying out a national campaign to raise awareness of the work of environmentalists in defense of human rights.
Between 2011 and 2013, the Global Witness report shows, another 74 environment defenders were murdered in Honduras alone. With vast profits at stake and powerful interests pitted against poor and marginalized communities across the world, the body count is likely to rise.
“I don’t think it is a losing battle these people are fighting,” says Knox. “It has real victories, but they need help.” It is in the power of governments, companies and consumers to provide that help and give tomorrow’s grassroots environmental defenders hope that they can be heroes without being martyrs, too.
Mike Shanahan is a UK-based freelance writer and former rainforest biologist. He writes about forests, climate change, biodiversity and the links between environment and development. He tweets from @shanahanmike.

author: Ensia