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Taiwanese Professor Arrested in Protest Against Forced Demolitions · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

A professor in Taiwan along with a number of student protesters were arrested [zh] during a demonstration against the forced demolition of homes to expand Jhunan Science Park in Miaoli County, Taiwan.
Hsu Shih-Jung (徐世榮), a professor of the Department of Land Economics at National Chengchi University, was yelling a protest slogan, “Today you demolish Taipu, tomorrow we demolish the government”, when Taipei police officers arrested [zh] him on July 23, 2013. He was transferred to the local police station and indicted [zh] on the charge of endangering the public. Hsu was released on the next day and the charge against him dropped as the jury did not agree with the police's accusation.
Hsu was one of the attendees in a negotiation meeting between protesters against expropriation of rice fields in Jhunan and the Executive Yuan represented by the then Prime Minister of Taiwan Wu Den-yih in August 2010 after a 72-year-old woman committed suicide in protest. In that meeting, an agreement was made that four houses own by four different families located at the margin of the science park would be preserved.
However, endorsed by Wu Den-yih, who is now the current vice president of Taiwan, the Miaoli County government ordered these four families to move before July 5, 2013 for demolition.
Protestors painted a huge mural on the wall of Chang's house. Photo taken by Taiwan Rural Front from.
Outraged by the Miaoli government's violation of the agreement, protesters had gathered together around the four houses to defend them against expropriation for more than two weeks. Chang who is a Pharmacy is one of the four families who resist moving. Their house is located at the junction of Justice Road and Love Road and hence become a symbolic site for the protest.
On July 18, while most protesters went to Taipei to protest in front of the president's Office, Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-Hung, ordered police to expel the rest of protesters who were gathering in front of the homes ordered several excavators to tear the houses down. Even though the houses were destroyed, protesters refused to leave and kept on demonstrating.
Since professor Hsu Shih-Jung had attended the negotiating meeting back in 2010, he explained the land expropriation in Jhunan is against Taiwan's Constitution [zh] in his blog on July 16, before he joined the protest in Taipei on July 18:
土地是人們溫馨及賴以為生的家園，絕不可隨意予以侵害。那麼，何時才能剝奪？[…]必須是符合《憲法》第23條「促進公共利益」才得以為之。何謂公共利益？吳庚前大法官一針見血的指出[…]「在多元社會須持續的透過公開討論形成共識」才是公共利益，但我國現行相關的計劃體制卻嚴重缺乏這樣的思維與設計，致使基本人權遭致嚴重剝奪。
我國相關計劃體制對於公共利益之決定，仍然停留於威權時代的委員會專制模式，也就是由少數人所組成的都市計劃委員會、區域計劃委員會、土地徵收審議委員會等來決定。
在這些委員中屬「主管業務機關首長或單位主管」及「有關業務機關首長或單位主管或代表」，就幾乎佔了一半[…]因此真正的多數其實是政府行政官僚。首長不僅沒有利益迴避，也幾乎完全掌控議案同意權，這表示公共利益少數人即可掌握生殺大權。
Sit-in protest after the house was torn down. Photo taken by Taiwan Rural Front.
In fact, independent reporter AboutFish from citizen media outlet Taiwan Good Life pointed out that the decision to expand the Science Park has led to an increase of local government debt. Members of Miaoli community do not benefit from the project, on the contrary, each resident has to shoulder 73,000 new Taiwan dollars (approximately 2,320 US dollars) government debt. The public debt in Miaoli has reached 41 billion new Taiwan dollars (1.29 billion US dollars) and potential debt to emerge is 10.3 billion new Taiwan dollars (33.5 million US dollars).
Echoing Aboutfish's report, professor Hsu explained [zh] the embedded interest in land expropriation by local governments:
政府財政赤字嚴重，所需財源由何而來？政府不僅不敢對政經權勢優位者下手，而且還給予各式各樣的減免與優惠；但面對社會弱勢時，卻是強勢介入，隨意取走他們的土地。透過區段徵收，地方政府約略可取得三分之一的土地，經由這些土地的標售與讓售來彌補財政。再者，地方派系的主要利基乃是土地投機炒作，透過區段徵收也可遂行鞏固及拉攏樁腳的政治目的。
Protesters continue to demonstrate, asking the government to return the expropriated land, investigate these scandals, and revise the related law.
Professor Hsu was yelling: Today you demolished Taipu, Tomorrow we demolish the government, when the police dragged him away. Photo taken by 陳韋綸 from coolloud.org. Non-commercial use.

author: I-fan Lin


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VIDEO: ‘Hacking Democracy’ in Loja, Ecuador · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

In Loja, a city in south Ecuador, citizens are using social networks to communicate with their leaders and to offer concrete proposals seeking to better their city's situation.
With backing from the Global Voices VideoActivo project, the organization Loja es Más – or #LoxaEsMás [es] (Loja Is More) on Twitter- launched the video “Hackeando la democracia” [es] (Hacking democracy), where they tell us more about their work in Loja.
Loja es Más seeks to build a democratic society where voting [es] is not the only way to participate.
On his blog drw, linux, java y más.. [es], Darwin Betancourt recognizes that it is very easy to criticize, but notes that the city of Loja has made history with its use of social networks and technology.
Estamos haciendo historia, es tiempo de cambiar es tiempo de actuar, es tiempo de funcionar como el GRAN HERMANO para que nuestra ciudad se encamine nuevamente al camino del progreso, no esperando salvadores y que tal o cual personaje de la administración pública fue mejor o peor que otro sino empezando a sumar ideas y llevarlas a cabo nosotros mismos, estamos utilizando los medios necesarios para comunicarnos y no dejarnos manipular de medios informativos 1.0
We are making history, it's time to change it's time to act, its time to act as the BIG BROTHER for our city heading back once more to the path of progress, not waiting for saviors or that this or that member of the public administration was better or worse than another but instead starting to add ideas and implement them ourselves, we are using the necessary means to communicate among ourselves and to not allow ourselves to be manipulated by the media 1.0.
The more than 50 project participants, without counting the almost 2,500 followers of @loxaesmás on Twitter [es], present themselves as optimistic and believe in the democracy of their dreams. Denise Calle, on her blog El alma de Campaniche [es] (The Soul of Campaniche), celebrates the career of #lojaesmás on their first anniversary and states:
Mi sueño por Loxa es inmenso… inmenso… más de una vez la imagino grande, inmensa, como referente de este país… Eso es para mi #LoxaEsMas!!! Por eso lucho todos los días, desde cualquier sitio, hace un año desde Quito, ahora desde Latacunga. El objetivo es ese, volver y crecer… crecer en Loxa… luchar por Loxa…
My dream for Loxa is immense… immense…more than once I've imagined it big, huge, like a model for this country…For me, that is #LoxaEsMas!!! That's why I fight every day, from anywhere, a year ago from Quito, now from Latacunga. The goal is that, return and grow… grow in Loxa… fight for Loxa…
Carlos Correa, one of the organizers of ‘hacks para Loja es Más’ [es] (hacks for Loja is More), explains that Loxa was the name by which the city was originally founded in 1548.
Correa explains [es]: “What we want is to understand the mission of the city when it was founded, to once again give it a place in important historical context and project it into the future”–a grand aspiration for the residents of this Ecuadorian city, and also a great challenge considering many residents still do not have internet.
According to the Ecuadorian Institute of Statistics and Census, Internet use in Loja reduced from 31,6 percent in 2011 to 29,5 percent in 2012, which places the city in ninth [es] place for use of the internet as a means of information among other Ecuadorian citizens.
As a part of the Twit Callejero initiative, participants of #LoxaEsMás posted tweets throughout the city. Photo courtesy of #LoxaEsMás on Flickr, licensed by Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Ecuador, however, advances in the launch of its own satellite [es] and in the creation of its own Ciudad Conocimiento [es] (City of Knowledge). Furthermore, in Ecuador one can find several non-governmental city projects, which are apolitical and seek to offer ideas to their leaders. That is precisely the intention of #loxaesmás.
But the reach and range citizens can have with a project based on social networks is debatable, considering that not all Loja residents have internet and that many may not even have a clear idea of what it means to “hack” a democracy. To bridge this gap, the collective proposes to move from theory and critique to action and practice. According to an article in El Comercio [es],
Entre otras propuestas están la alfabetización digital, con clases gratuitas de tecnología a alumnos de escasos recursos. Otro proyecto es crear una agenda digital para el próximo Alcalde lojano. Allí, hay temas como fomentar la conectividad, desarrollar la economía digital de las empresas e impulsar las tecnologías de la información y comunicaciones
Among other proposals are digital literacy, with free technology classes for underprivileged students. Another project is the creation of a digital agenda for the next mayor of Loja. With these projects, there are issues of promoting connectivity, developing the digital economy of businesses and supporting information and communication technologies.
“Web literacy is one of the tools to achieving mass participation”, says Mario Andrés Correa [es], a ‘geek’ and project participant.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Milton Ramirez


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What Issues do Malian Voters Care about in the Presidential Election?  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Bruce Whitehouse parses out five key issues for the upcoming presidential election in Mali (July 28). As for what Malians expect from the poll, Whitehouse reports:
Voters are overwhelmingly concerned about the high cost of living, unemployment, corruption, law and order, and everyday quality-of-life questions, particularly water and sanitation. Preserving national unity and ending conflict are also concerns, but much further down the list of priorities.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Women’s Struggle for Clean Water in Kyrgyzstan · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

UnitedKyrgyzstan blog tells [ru] a story of the daily struggle for clean water faced by women and children in many parts of rural Kyrgyzstan:
It is the task of women and children to queue up for drinking water and then carry home heavy tanks with water through hundreds of meters of broken rural roads…

author: Alexander Sodiqov


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A Jewish Russian Mayoral Candidate Even the Nazis Can Love · Global Voices
Daniel Alan Kennedy

With his half Jewish heritage, Evgeny Roizman would be an unlikely political star in Russia, were he anyone but Evgeny Roizman. But Roizman's unique personal past in citizen activism and the exceptionality of his home make his mayoral run anything but politics as usual. While Moscow's upcoming mayoral election [GV] may be getting the lion's share of attention from the Russian public and the world, September 8, 2013, actually sees mayoral and gubernatorial elections in a variety of Russian regions and cities. One of the more interesting campaigns may turn out to be in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth largest city. Yekaterinburg's political climate differs from the rest of Russia. The ruling United Russia party performs poorly here (finishing second in the 2012 Duma elections, behind the nominally social-democratic party “A Just Russia”), and oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov did relatively well in the 2012 presidential elections, taking 18.75% of the vote, compared to his 7.98% share of the electorate nationally.
Yekaterinburg is also Roizman's hometown. A Duma Deputy from 2002-2008, an anti-corruption blogger, and the head of the highly controversial anti-drugs charity [GV], “City without Drugs,” Roizman officially announced his candidacy for mayor on Friday, July 19, 2013. Roizman is currently involved (but not implicated) in a number of legal proceedings, including the trial of his partner, Aksana Panova, the former head of the regional news network Ura.ru, and an investigation headed by the FSB into the illegal wiretaps on his phones.
Evgeny Roizman in an interview in November 2012, screenshot from YouTube.
Announcing his mayoral run on the web portal Znak.ru [ru] (Panova's new outfit), Roizman first claimed that he had received 12 million roubles from Prokhorov, whose “Civic Platform” party Roizman would represent, promising that the oligarch would “give as much as necessary.” Roizman then backtracked, declaring [ru] at a press conference that “we won't take and we won't spend a single kopeck of his money,” now claiming that Prokhorov had not asked [ru] him to run. “I'm not a little girl who needs to be persuaded. I've been thinking about this for several months… I made the decision,” he explained.
Unsurprisingly, Znak.ru readers greeted Roizman's announcement with great enthusiasm. One commenter was moved to compose a short poem lauding Roizman, whom he addressed affectionately by his diminutive “Zhenya.”
Женя, Женечка, Евгений,
Ты в работе просто гений!
Раз решил – не отступай!
Пять лет городу отдай!
Zhenya, Zhenechka, Yevgeny,
There's no work you find too heavy!
Once you've decided, don't waver!
Give the city five years of your labor!
Roizman's candidacy excited many members of the opposition, as well. Indeed, he is a nationally-known opposition figure with political experience and a large, concentrated power base, which is highly unusual in Russia. Vladimir Milov, a Moscow oppositionist, wrote a blog post on Ekho Moskvy, titled, “These Elections could be Revolutionary“:
Навальный в Москве, Ройзман в Екатеринбурге – слушайте, а чего вам еще надо-то? Вот они, выборы вашей мечты.
Navalny in Moscow, Roizman in Yekaterinburg, listen, what more could you need? Here they are: the elections of your dreams.
Not everyone shared Milov's enthusiasm. Roizman is viewed with suspicion in many quarters for his views on migrants, his criminal record (he served two years for armed theft in the mid-1980s), and his strict detox clinics, where patients are reportedly handcuffed to beds. One Yekaterinburger astutely pointed out [ru] the problems that could arise from Roizman's election:
В случае избрания Ройзмана, отношение к нему Кувайшева неизбежно будет вызывать конфликты между городом и областью, что явно не на пользу Екатеринбургу.
If Roizman is elected, his relations with [governor of the Sverdlovsk Region, Yevgeny] Kuivashev's will inevitably cause conflicts between the city and wider region, which is clearly not to Yekaterinburg's advantage.
Others’ took issue with Roizman's character, like the Yekaterinburg-based research center “Analitik,” which wrote on its LiveJournal blog:
Это неловкое чувство, когда неглупые вменяемые люди на полном серьезе считают Ройзмана достойным кандидатом в мэры Екатеринбурга. Иконы, поэзия, борьба с наркотиками, романтика с псевдо-оппозиционными журналистками – это на здоровье, каждый дрочит как он хочет. Но лично мне будет как-то неуютно, если главой моего города станет человек с мутным прошлым (и не менее мутным настоящим), тюремной ходкой в анамнезе и очень запущенными отношениями с областными властями.
It's an awkward feeling when intelligent and responsible people in all seriousness consider Roizman an appropriate candidate for Yekaterinburg's mayor. The [religious] icons, the poetry, the fight against drugs, the dalliance with pseudo-oppositionist journalists—that's all fine. To each to his own, if it pleases him. But personally I'd be really annoyed if someone with a murky past (and a no less murky present), а criminal record, and shabby relations with the regional authorities became mayor of my city.
Others are happy to look past Roizman's colorful past. As one commenter pointed out [ru] to Analitik:
В нашей стране получить судимость-легко,как насморк.
ИМХО,Ройзман-намного честнее,чем все эти ставленники ПЖиВ.
In our country, getting a conviction is as easy as catching a cold. IMHO, Roizman is a lot more honest then all the other candidates from the party of cardsharps and thieves [a common disparaging term for United Russia].
Roizman's grassroots popularity and reputation for getting things done has won him fans not only among liberals but among nationalists as well, who like his tough stance on drugs and willingness to face down the “ethnic gangs” associated with drug smuggling. Roizman's efforts have, somewhat amazingly, even won him the endorsement of the neo-nazi “People's Socialist Initiative,” whose stated anti-semitism did not preclude [ru] them from listing the achievements of Roizman, who is half-Jewish:
Чем он занимался последние годы? Решительной и бескомпромиссной, а зачастую и опасной борьбой с распространением наркотиков. Войной с этническими кланами, живущими наркоторговлей, и с крышующей их властью. В активе Ройзмана – спасенные наркоманы, посаженные наркобарыги, снос цыганских особняков… Поэтому Ройзман – это правильный еврей. Еврей, своими действиями показавший, на чьей он стороне.
What has [Roizman] been doing these last few years? Waging a decisive and uncompromising, not to mention dangerous, fight against drug distributers. Fighting with ethnic clans who survive by dealing drugs and with the authorities who shelter them. He has saved drug addicts, helped imprison drug-pushers, and demolished the Gypsies’ garish homes… For this reason, Roizman is the right kind of Jew. A Jew who has shown through his actions whose side he's on.
Roizman is a highly divisive figure. But his popularity is genuine and crosses through multiple demographics, his anti-drug charity enjoys real support in a city that has been plagued by heroin addiction, and his tenure as a Duma deputy for the Sverdlovsk region gives him a proven political record. While polling suggests that Navalny's Moscow candidacy is highly unlikely to result in his victory, Roizman has a good chance of actually winning. Like him or loath him, his candidacy means the Yekaterinburg elections may prove the most interesting to watch in the coming months.

author: Daniel Alan Kennedy


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Anti-Gay Protesters Violently Disrupt Montenegro’s First Pride Parade  · Global Voices
Tamara Gocmanac

Montenegro's first Gay Pride Parade ended in violence instead of tolerance with clashes between police forces and anti-LGBT protesters in Budva resulting in arrests, injuries and, finally, the evacuation of parade participants by boat because police forces could not guarantee safe passage for the participants through the city center.
Only about 40 people were part of the parade itself on July 24, 2013, but of about 2,000 people gathered along the parade route, some 500 actively and physically attempted to stop the event, according to Montenegro's Police Department [sr].
Some, like Mihail Efremov, commented on what was happening at the parade at the time on social media:
Protesters chant “kill the gays” as #Montenegro ’s first Gay Pride turns violent
— Mihail Efremov (@EfreiMihail) July 25, 2013
While Montenegro has had fairly liberal laws regarding LGBT matters since 1977, then as a part of the former Yugoslavia, LGBT and other non-conventional lifestyles are often frowned upon in everyday life and society. In November of 2012, Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Duško Marković announced that the government, however, would consider some form of legal recognition of gay marriages.
Netizens from the region and the world, as well as many mainstream media channels, reacted the day after to the  incident that took place yesterday in Budva, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Adriatic coast. Twitter user Jaz commented and posted a video of the event on Twitter:
@MilicaCDT Ovo je totalna sramota>> http://t.co/ewoURfsu2d #SeaSidePride #EqualityForAll #Montenegro
— Jaz (@Jazifer) July 25, 2013
This is a total disgrace http://t.co/ewoURfsu2d #SeaSidePride #EqualityForAll #Montenegro
Owners of cafes in the old city of Budva even called in a priest to purify the plateau where the Gay Pride Parade had passed. The clergyman who performed the ritual, Father Boris Radović, stated for media that “This was not a pride parade, but a parade of shame”, causing mostly ridicule and contempt from many social media users, like this tweet from user @talambasakobasa:
hahaha http://t.co/F2nMWC94yZ šta mu dođe onaj poznatiji radović, vidim da je vokabular isti #Budva #Montenegro #paradacg #seasidepride
— talambasamikobasa (@talambasakobasa) July 25, 2013
hahaha http://t.co/F2nMWC94yZ what's his relation to the more famous Radović [former politician known for extremist statements]; I see their wording is the same #Budva #Montenegro #paradacg #seasidepride
— talambasamikobasa (@talambasakobasa) July 25, 2013
Nenad Memić, a journalist and linguist from Sarajevo now living in Vienna, added on Twitter:
After the #LGBT parade in #Budva, a local priest consecrated the site: “I pray for the protection of #Montenegro from illness and devil”.
— Nedad Memić (@NedadMemic) July 25, 2013
On Facebook, under hashtag#Montenegro, many reactions can be seen, the vast majority of which condemn yesterday's attacks on the parade and call for more tolerance for the LGBT community in Montenegro.
Perhaps this tweet from freelance journalist Alex Hoegberg sums it up best:
The good news is #Montenegro had its 1st #GayPride parade. The bad: the anti-gay crowd was 5x bigger than the parade. http://t.co/pjogFhXEbR
— Alex Hoegberg (@AlexHoegberg) July 25, 2013

author: Tamara Gocmanac


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Brazil’s Indigenous Demand ‘No More Dams’ · Global Voices
Luciane Salles

The fight continues between the Brazilian government pushing to bring another hydroelectric dam to the Tapajós river basin in the Brazilian Amazon and the indigenous Munduruku people who live there.
In the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Pará, where many indigenous people live, there are 11 hydroelectric plants in different stages of construction and licensing, including the controversial Belo Monte dam. Other areas in the region are undergoing environmental surveys to plan future development. The dams are being built to feed much-needed power to the country as it undergoes tremendous economic growth.
But indigenous people in the area complain they have not been consulted on these projects and construction is snatching away and destroying their sacred homelands.
Angry and disenfranchised, the Munduruku and other indigenous people have undertaken a campaign of resistance against the government's initiatives. From the time construction on the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam started in June 2011, there have been 92 interruptions [pt] due to indigenous protests.
The latest demonstrations have escalated the already tense atmosphere surrounding the situation, beginning in May 2013 when indigenous people occupied the working site of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam for three days.
Then in the beginning of June 2013, 144 Munduruku individuals occupied [pt] the building of the Fundação Nacional do Índio in the federal capital of Brazil and seat of the government, Brasília, to demand the halting of construction on the Belo Monte and other hydroelectric initiatives in the Tapajós River Basin in the States of Pará and Mato Grosso.
The indigenous people were received by the Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Gilberto Carvalho [pt], who reaffirmed that the dam development will continue but promised the Munduruku more agility in the demarcation of indigenous lands as well as compensation in the form of health and education assistance.
At the same time, the Munduruku signed a letter [pt] in protest against the construction of the Teles Pires hydroelectric dam, responsible for blowing up waterfalls which are considered by the Munduruku people as sacred symbols.
On June 21, 2013, the group kidnapped three biologists [pt] while they were carrying out environmental studies in the area for dam construction. Two days later, the government met with the Munduruku, who released the biologists in exchange for a promise that further environmental surveys for future development in the area of the Tapajós River, where 12,000 Munduruku people [pt] live, would be halted.
In a public announcement, the indigenous people stated that they will not tolerate the government's attitude as far as building further dams within indigenous land. The researchers were released peacefully, but National Force agents have been sent to the region. In response to the outcome of the action, the indigenous people stated [pt] in the document:
Esperamos que esses militares não tenham vindo para nos atacar, mas sim npara defender o nosso direito pela nossa terra, a lei e a Constituição.
Banner from the Munduruku Campaign on Facebook that reads, “Consulting us beforehand is our right. We damn to be consulted. In favor of the suspension of studies and hydroelectric construction projects in the Xingu, Tapajós and Teles Pires rivers – no dam until we are heard”.
“Behaves like our enemy”
In a statement [pt] issued by the public prosecutors of the two affected states on June 4, 2013, the agencies stressed that the traditional and indigenous communities should be consulted about the hydroelectric projects, as required by the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 169 from the International Labour Organization (ILO), of which Brazil is a signatory.
The public prosecutor, Ubiratan Cazetta, explained [pt]:
Esses momentos tem que ser precedidos de consulta aos povos afetados, ou então o Brasil estará violando o compromisso assumido na Convenção 169.
Emerson Kalif Siqueira, the public prosecutor [pt] for the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, has stated:
Falta vontade política para resolver o conflito
The Brazilian government is facing three lawsuits filed in defense of the rights of the Arara, Juruna, and Munduruku indigenous peoples as well as the traditional riverside populations affected by the development. According to the court, there are about 17 ongoing lawsuits that concern the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant, a legal battle that has been going on for a full seven years.
The government has sought support from the country's judiciary to make legal its operation sending the National Force to the region to protect the environmental impact studies carried out, according to the public prosecutors for the states of Pará and Mato Grosso. This fact in part feeds the Munduruku people's rebellion.
The indigenous leader Valdeni Munduruku raised the following question [pt] in the aftermath of the meeting with Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, Gilberto Carvalho, in early June:
Aqui (Palácio do Planalto) não é a nossa casa.Nossa casa é a aldeia, que nós queremos proteger das usinas do governo, que se porta sim como nosso inimigo. Se fosse nossa casa, daqui não sairia esse tipo de projeto.
This place here (Palácio do Planalto) [federal government headquarters] is not our house.Our house is the indigenous village, that we want to protect from the government plants, which behaves like our enemy. If it were our house, there would not be this type of project coming out of here.
The co-founder of Portal Imazon, Beto Verissimo (@betoverissimo), laid out [pt] different scenarios that could play out:
Vamos ver se vai mudar a postura do governo federal em relação as questões como Hidrelétricas na Amazônia. Vai ter debate com sociedade…
— Beto Verissimo (@betoverissimo) June 23, 2013
We shall see whether there will be a change in the approach of the government when it comes to issues such as the hydroelectrics in the Amazon. Will there be debate with society at large (…)
Ou vai manter o goela abaixo ? Vai ouvir os povos indígenas, a ciência e aqueles que criticam o modelo de grandes projetos hidrelétricos…
— Beto Verissimo (@betoverissimo) June 23, 2013
Or the government will maintain its attitude of shoving their decisions down our throats? Will they, finally, listen to the indigenous peoples, to science and to those who criticize the mega hydroelectric projects…
Indigenist Helena Palm (@helenapalm) also gave her opinion on Twitter:
Jacareacanga: Munduruku querem compromisso público do governo federal que estudos de usinas param enquanto não houver consulta.
— helenapalm (@helenapalm) June 23, 2013
Jacareacanga [municipality in the state of Pará]: the Munduruku people want a public commitment on the part of the government that studies for plants will be halted while there is no consultation.
The interactions between the government and the country's indigenous have turned more violent. Recently, on May 30, an indigenous man, Oziel Terena, was killed [pt] in a conflict with the police during the eviction of the Buriti farm, in the district of Sidrolândia, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The indigenous occupied the farm on May 15, though they have been struggling for the land for 13 years. The Ministry of Justice declared the 17,200 hectares area where the Buriti farm seats as traditional territory of the Terena People back in 2010. Soon after May's occupation in protest, the court issued an order of repossession of the farm, owned by the former state MP Ricardo Bacha.
The authorities have shown inability in dealing with the conflict and the indigenous people have suffered racist [pt] attacks from the media and on the part of the Federal Police. The Justice Minister recognised the mistake [pt] in the way the police agents handled the case that lead to the deaths and reaffirmed that the indigenous people had not been the target of the Security Force, which had been present in the area in order to safeguard the interests of all those involved.
Xingu River, Brazil, 15 June, 2012. Three hundred indigenous people, small farmers, fishermen and residents take over the site where the Belo Monte hydroelectic plant is under construction and line up to form the phrase: “Stop Belo Monte” so as to warn the international community about the impacts of the project. Photo: Atossa Soltani/ Amazon Watch / Spectral Q shared on Flickr by International Rivers (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The Conselho Indigenista Missionário (Cimi) [pt], an organization that stands in favor of the indigenous questions, states that over the last decade, 560 indigenous individuals were murdered in Brazil [pt] and reflects that there is the common belief, shared in the popular imaginary, that the indigenous people are responsible for detaining the progress and development of the country in the way of agrobusiness supported by the public authorities.
The Federal Public Prosecutor believes that the lack of land demarcation and the mistaken land titling carried out by government administration have extended the judicial problem and have increased violence and that the solution, therefore, rests on an increased agility in the demarcation of the indigenous lands.

author: Luciane Salles


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Denouncing Abuses via Social Networks in Mexico and Brazil · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Cellular phone cameras have become a powerful tool for journalists and citizens in reporting requests for bribes and other excessive uses of power. In Mexico, cellular phones and social networks have also become a popular form to broadcast abuses of power, attempts at electoral fraud, and demonstrations of citizens against the police. In Brazil images of police abuse against reporters and protestors have been shared throughout numerous cities in the country.
Tania Lara in The Knight Center's Journalism in the Americas Blog writes about how journalists and citizens are using cellular phone cameras and social networks to denounce various abuses by authorities.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Finding Everything and Anything at Bolivia’s 16 de Julio Fair · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

What are you looking to buy? If you need a new bed, vintage books, or a used car, then chances are you will find that and much more at the 16 de Julio (July 16th) Fair in the city of El Alto, Bolivia.
Every Thursday and Sunday, thousands flock to this bustling open-air market to find a much-needed object or to stumble upon an unexpected item to purchase at a reasonable price.
Starting at the early hour of 5 a.m., tens of thousands of vendors set up their stands waiting for customers to file by their goods. The saying goes that a buyer can find anything at the Fair, everything from a “pin to a tractor” [es].
Vendor setting up his stand at the July 16 Fair. Photo by Carlos Sanchez, copyright Demotix.
Some have stated that there are currently 500,000 vendors that are registered and eligible to set up shop [es], but at any one time, there may be 10,000 stands. Electronic goods, furniture, agricultural and construction tools are just some of the items on display at the Fair.
The Fair is an important part of the commercial side of El Alto, which attracts many residents from nearby La Paz for this informal marketplace.
Stretching for 100 city blocks, one of the Fair's primary attractions is the vehicle market. Used motorcycles, cars, and transport trucks are parked near and around Pacajes Plaza. The sale of these motorized vehicles led to the sale of related products such as replacement parts. There has even been the establishment of mobile legal offices, where lawyers can process and legally register your new purchase in no time.
The Fair has been the subject of a series of sociological studies, and Simón Yampara shares some of his findings on the Pukara online newspaper. He connects some of the phenomena seen within the Fair with Andean culture [es]:
El orden y desorden de la exposición de los productos, que en función de algún producto principal complementan los otros productos, por ejemplo la venta de automóviles, automáticamente ha abierto espacios para la venta de variedad de accesorios de auto-partes así como los bufetes-abogados de transacciones legales, pero también la serie de servicios complementarios como comidas, heladeros, refresqueros y hasta cervezas para la ch’alla de las transacciones de compra y venta. Eso tiene implicancias de lógicas: donde una cosa es el orden occidental y otra el orden andino que se guía más por complementaciones interactivas.
The variety of items available for purchase also includes some that are not to everyone's liking. The ongoing controversy surrounding the availability of used clothing that arrives from abroad vs. new clothing made locally continues with supporters on both side of the issue. While the used clothing is generally cheaper and more accessible to families with limited incomes, the sale of new clothing creates jobs in El Alto and other parts of the country.
Other critics of the Fair cite the low control of products, such as natural medicines, that are sold without oversight and without expiration dates.
Animals are also a major seller including illegally obtained wildlife and domestic animals that may come from mills or bred under poor conditions. Facebook groups [es] have been created to bring together people against this practice.
The colorful sights and diversity of sounds is an attraction not only to potential buyers, but also foreign tourists who read about this attraction in their guide books [es]. Local blogger Ronald Vallejos Durán wrote about his experience arriving from nearby La Paz [es].
En el ambiente de fondo los sonidos son variadísimos. Cumbias nacionales, peruanas, todo al son de la moda actual; voces nasales que anuncian curas contra la diabetes, el cáncer, en base a antídotos milenarios y naturales.
En el sector autos pude constatarme que el precio de los vehículos están elevados; y otro dato curioso es que la industria china en automóviles se ha incrementado considerablemente.
Un poco más adentro me esperaban cuadras y cuadras de ropa americana a medio uso. Ropa que por cierto más de una vez fue prohibida su venta, bastará recordar que un par de años atrás hubo muchas movilizaciones y polémica en torno a éste tema.
The background ambiance was quite varied – Bolivian and Peruvian cumbias [type of music], all the latest hits; nasal voices that announce the cure for diabetes and cancer, made from ancient and natural remedies.
In the automobile sector, I found that the price of vehicles was high; and that the availability of Chinese cars were on the rise.
Advancing a little more inside the Fair, blocks and blocks of used American clothing were waiting for me. Clothing that was once prohibited from being sold reminded me that a couple of years ago there were a lot of protests and controversy around this product.
While the items for sale at the Fair are the draw, there are interesting characters whose work makes the day run smoothly. Blogger Mario Durán of the blog Palabras Libres arrived to the fair with “an open mind” following the saying “seek and you shall find.” He recounts two of the interactions with key characters of the fair [es], including Pedro the taxi driver and Juan the porter:
Juan es parte de la asociación de carritos de transporte, que llevan cosas hasta los puntos de parada de taxis, tiene uniforme único con bordado de la asociacion, sombrero de ala ancha y … tarifa única, por trasladar cosas te cobran 10 Bs. Mientras carga los muebles adquiridos y los transporta, empezamos a recorrer la feria, va pidiendo permiso, atropella a una persona, blasfema quedito con la trancadera que se arma cuando vehículos empiezan a ir en contraruta. En cierta esquina me dice: ¿a cual lado, joven?, donde los taxistas cobren mas barato – le respondo. Me ayuda a cargar las cosas en el taxi. Pago la tarifa.
Whether you are looking for a pin or a tractor, surely someone has it for sale at the 16 de Julio Fair; you just need a little patience to find exactly what you are looking for.
You can see more photographs of the Fair on Cesar Angel Zaragoza's Flickr set.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Immigrants: Much More Than an Abstract Number · Global Voices
Robert Valencia

This post is part of our series on Latin America: Migrant Journeys in collaboration with The North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA). Stay tuned for more articles and podcasts.
This is the first part of an interview with Mexican journalist Eileen Truax.
Mexican journalist and author of Huffington Post Voces Eileen Truax [es] recently released her book ‘Dreamers: The Fight of a Generation for its American Dream’. Migrant Journeys talked to Truax, who offered her insights on the immigration bill that the U.S. Senate recently passed, and explained why “the DREAMers” –more than 65,000 youth brought to the U.S. as children by their migrant parents, and who remain classified as “undocumented”–offer a perfect example of some of the contributions of immigrants to the United States.
Robert Valencia: Tells us more about your book Dreamers. What made you write this book?
Photo courtesy of Editorial Océano
Eileen Truax: Because I’m an immigrant myself, I was born in Mexico City and have lived nine years in Los Angeles, where I worked for La Opinión, America’s most influential newspaper in Spanish. During my time at this newspaper I covered immigration issues, and I found compelling and moving stories, some of them related to successes, or very dramatic. In this process I learned of this pattern, especially the presence of children of immigrants, or the so-called DREAMers. In reality it wasn’t the focus of attention for those covering the news, but the DREAMers were always there. I considered that it was necessary to take a second glimpse of particular stories from these youth who have features that set them apart from the rest of the immigrants. I believe this is how we’ll pave the way for a more humane immigration system. They’re Americans, save for a document.
RV: Many times we hear the anti-immigrant rhetoric on the media. Why do you think this is?
ET: For too long, I thought it was a lack of sensitivity, but in recent years I have found that it’s the lack of an approach to this problem. We tend to talk about immigration as a whole, like a generic thing that suddenly becomes abstract: 11 million people. But what’s the singularity about this? What’s the human aspect of this? We can’t give a soul to an abstract entity. For this reason, we must tell the stories of at least one immigrant. Let’s forget about the 11 million figure, let’s talk about the person who arrived in the U.S. with no documents and no knowledge of English. How does he or she manage to survive the first day if that person doesn’t know anybody, doesn’t have a place to sleep nor has a work permit? If it’s a family, how do their kids who don’t speak English manage to go to school? This way we can see a chain of stories and the challenges these people face, as well as the efforts to conquer the “little Everests” they face every day. When a person can understand the immigrant drama, sensitivity flourishes. Lest we forget we are talking about human beings who, in the end, are the beneficiaries of an immigration reform.
RV: Janet Napolitano stepped down as Secretary of Homeland Security. During her tenure we saw important measures for the DREAMers such as deferred action, a two-year program that allows them to be eligible for work authorization. How does her resignation affect the pro-immigrant movement?
ET: We must consider two things. The first is that the level of impact will depend on who replaces Napolitano, and what continuity will be given to the Administration’s policies or whether we’ll see a change of direction.  It will also depend on the vision the team will have. My second observation is that, though Napolitano was very vocal in several themes, we witnessed the largest number of deportations in America’s recent history, that is, 400,000 deportations per year is no small number. We’re talking about hits or misses in this administration. President Barack Obama has sided with the DREAMer movement and with the immigrant movement in general, but he’s the chief of this administration that has conducted these massive deportations. We have to wait and see who will take over and whether we’ll see a change of direction in current policies.
RV: Ann Coulter, a prominent figure of the U.S. conservative movement, said that by legalizing 11 million people the future of the Republican Party will be jeopardized, implying that the beneficiaries will vote in favor of Democrats as a sign of gratitude for passing the bill. Do you think it’s prudent to pigeonhole a Latino community who clearly is not monolithic in their political preferences? What do you think about this?
Eileen Truax, photo courtesy of René Miranda
ET: It’s perverse to talk about an immigration reform while fixing attention to the political parties. What we need to understand is the need of a fair immigration reform seen from the human rights and criminal justice perspective, not just as partisan booty or capital gain for a particular party. If we don’t change our perspective we can’t do justice. The theme of immigration must be based on respect toward human rights. If we use these 11 million people as political prize we’re not doing the right thing as a country or as society, and lawmakers are not being compliant with their duties. Immigration reform must seek to give political certainty to 11 million people who are already here and who contribute to our society, and we as a society must protect those who live in it. Comments like this steer away the reform’s objective. Besides, this concern is premature and opportunistic because it will take 13 years for a person, once the bill is approved, to become a citizen.
RV: We have seen opposition of this bill in the House of Representatives at the helm of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH). Can we talk about optimism given the possibility that the reform will die down on the House floor?
ET: At this very moment we can’t have any certitude, not even the very same congressmen know exactly what the perspectives are with respect to the advancement of the bill in the next couple of months. I believe it will be after the August recess that some positions toward this bill will be defined when legislators go back to their respective localities. I hope these communities remind legislators the reason they’ve been put in Capitol Hill and that we have the right to tell them the position they must adopt regarding this matter. I would not talk about optimism because the perspective is vague. What I do believe, however, is that we’re at a juncture where everybody has to do something. Despite the things we don’t like about this reform and its peculiarities, the fact that we have an immigration reform bill is an opportunity nobody should miss. It’s the duty of activists and organizations to close ranks and become one front, while it’s the duty of journalists to seek different angles of the story, reminding congressmen and society that this goes beyond the militarization at the border. Let’s not forget who in reality will benefit and the characteristics of each group: There are sections of the bill that talk about farmers, another one talks about the DREAMers, etc., and we perhaps may forget to tell these stories. There are many particular things in the 1000-page-long bill, so we can’t focus the immigration debate just on border security.

author: Robert Valencia


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Lesbian Couple Arrested After Marrying in Secret in Bangladesh · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

A Muslim woman and a Hindu woman in Bangladesh were arrested for marrying each other in what is described as the country's first same-sex marriage despite laws criminalizing the union.
The 21-year-old and 16-year-old, who met when the older woman tutored the younger, recently eloped from southwestern Pirojpur and came to the capital city of Dhaka to marry and start living together. But one of the women's fathers filed a missing person's report after his daughter fled, and police found them living together in a rented house in the Dhaka shortly after.
Homosexual relationships including same-sex marriage are illegal and punishable with life in prison in Bangladesh or up to ten years of hard labor. Public displays of affection between friends of the same sex are common and do not raise any controversy, however, there is a strong objection to homosexuality arising from the religious traditions of the majority Muslim country. Homosexual communities exist in Bangladesh, but they are the hidden minorities (see Global Voices report).
World homosexuality Laws. Red indicates Imprisonment (up to life sentence) & dark brown indicates punishment up to death penalty. Click on image to see legend. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0
The news made waves throughout Bangladesh's social media and caused an uproar among some.
But many welcomed the first same-sex marriage of Bangladesh. Golam Rabbani [bn] wrote on his Facebook page:
যে দুটি মেয়ে বিয়ে করেছে তাদের জন্য শুভকামনা রইলো… জীবন সুন্দর… তাদের এ সাহসের জন্য অভিনন্দন তাদেরকে… জয় হোক জীবনের…
My best wishes for these two women on their marriage… life is beautiful… congratulations for their courage… let life reign…
Diaspora blogger Avijit Roy writes on his blog many scientific articles on homosexuality. He praised the courage of these two women in a Facebook note in which he mentioned that one of them was bold enough to ask the police officer interrogating them:
একটা ছেলে যদি একটি মেয়েকে ভালো বাসতে পারে, তবে একটা মেয়ে কেন আরেকটা মেয়েকে ভালোবাসতে পারবে না?
If a man can love a woman, why can't a woman love a woman?
However, many could not accept the marriage. A lot of negative comments could be seen in the comments section of online news articles.
Blogger and Twitter user Mehedi Akram (@mehdiakram) saw this as an invasion of Western culture:
দুই তরুণীর মালাবদল! http://t.co/aX2o5V2D5R কালে কালে আর কত দেখবো, এটাই পশ্চিমা সমাজের আধিপত্য :D
— Mehdi Akram (@mehdiakram) July 23, 2013
Marriage of two women! http://t.co/aX2o5V2D5R what more we will have to see. This is the domination of western culture :D
Some went further. Last year, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, an economist and Nobel laureate from Bangladesh, and three other Nobel Peace Prize laureates released a statement in which they called for the legalization of same-sex sexual relationships. After the news of the same-sex marriage of these two women had broken out, “Ulama Masayekh Sanghati Parishad”, an association of Muslim clerics accused Dr. Yunus of promoting same-sex marriage in Bangladesh and called for his arrest and punishment [bn]. They have called for socially boycotting him and announced a program of occupying Yunus Center.
Others showed tolerance. A commenter named Notun commented on a blogpost of Kanij on the Bangla blogging platform Somewhereinblog.net covering the news:
সমকামিতাকে আমি ভালো মনে করি না… কিন্তু এটা তাদের ব্যক্তিগত ব্যাপার… তাই তাতে আমি নাক গলাবো না…
I don't support homosexuality.. but this is their private affair… so I will not poke into their issues.
Photoblogger Pranabesh Das wrote on Facebook about the arrest of these two women and the bad publicity they are getting:
They are just unlucky to born in the wrong country in the wrong time.
This is Love. Image by MOKOtheCRazy. CC BY-NC-ND
Blogger and a student of law Rayhan Rashid opined that this unique example from Bangladesh is significant for four reasons:
(১) যে সমাজে নারীর নিজের কোনো পছন্দ অপছন্দ থাকতে নেই, সেখানে তারা নিজেদের পছন্দকেই প্রাধান্য দিয়েছেন;
(২) তারা দু'জন ভিন্ন ধর্মের, একজন তো আবার সংখ্যালঘু ধর্মের। কিন্ত তাদের সম্পর্কের কাছে সে দেয়াল দাঁড়াতে পারেনি;
(৩) ধর্মীয় গোঁড়ামীর দেশে সম-লিঙ্গের সম্পর্কের সাহস দেখিয়ে নিজের মতো করে ঘর বেঁধেছেন;
(৪) দেশের আইনে ফৌজদারী অপরাধ জেনেও নিজেদের বিবেক, পছন্দ এবং সম্পর্কের সাথে কোনো ধরনের আপোষ করেননি দু'জন।
Blogger Vaskor Abedin found that the debate on this issue had a male-dominant tone:
[…] গতকাল দুই নারীর সমকামী সম্পর্কের খবর নিয়া নিউজ পোর্টাল আর সোশ্যাল নেটওয়ার্কিং সাইটগুলিতে যেমন প্রতিক্রিয়া হইলো তাতে পুরুষালি জাজমেন্টের সেক্সিস্ট উত্তাপটা বেশ টের পাইলাম […]
[…] Yesterday in all the debates within traditional and social media on same-sex marriage I have felt a male-dominant sexist tone. […]
Some days earlier an Islamist leader compared women to tetul, or tamarind, in a sermon as if men salivate watching them and told women to stay at home. Renowned film maker Mostofa Sarwar Faruki mentioned this on Facebook:
If the news is true, we have the first official lesbian couple exposed here in Bangladesh. In a country where mr. Tetul Hujur [cleric] preaches girls not to mix with boys, now how this girl-mixing-girl would be seen? Eager to study the next episodes!
Many called the media irresponsible for disclosing the women's identity and pictures, fearing this could endanger their lives and they will become subject to ostracizing. Shaugat Ali Sagor wrote:
যারা নাগরিকের ‘প্রাইভেসি’ ‘প্রাইভেসি’ বলে গলা ফাটান, তারা কি … [সমকামী তরুণী] আর … [সমকামী তরুণী] এর ‘প্রাইভেসি'কেও সম্মান দিতে প্রস্তুত। নাগরিক হিসেবে তাদেরও তো ‘প্রাইভেসি’ আছে। নাকি?
Those who cry about ‘privacy’ all the time.. are they willing to respect the privacy of [the couple]? They also have privacy as citizens of the country. Right?
Journalist and writer Anisul Haque expressed his outrage at the publishing of their identities and addresses of both the women in a comment on the post of Mostofa Sarwar Faruki:
[…] I am afraid we are crossing the limit, we are violating their right to privacy by publishing their photo, name, address. will they be able to live in this society after this news? Does any journalist have the right to kill any citizen?
Boys of Bangladesh, an LGBT group, provides an update on the women on their Facebook page:
UPDATE on [the two women] : As you have already known, [the 21-year-old] is now under custody and [the 16-year-old] has been returned to her family. [The 21-year-old] was shown arrested in a case filed abduction and trafficking. [..] Of immediate concern is the protection of the two young women involved. Second, file a complaint with the Press Council against making public the identity of at least the minor. We are also trying to convene an urgent meeting to formulate a strategic response to address the immediate concerns as well as the longer term potential to gain official recognition of same sex desire and same sex relationships.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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PHOTOS: Every Mozambican Can Be an Independent Electoral Observer · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

[Editor's note: The author of this post is working with @Verdade on this project]
Wider access to mobile technology throughout Mozambique is enabling a national network of citizen reporters to monitor the electoral process leading to the African country's municipal elections in November 2013.
Collaborations between advocacy and media organizations are providing online platforms for people to report problems as well as successes in the run-up to the fall vote. During the country's two-month-long voter registration coming to a close at the end of July 2013, Mozambicans grabbed their mobile phones to send stories and reports from throughout the vast territory.
Mozambicans who are planning to vote in the elections on November 20 had from May 25 to July 23 to get a new voter ID card. A reported 85 percent [pt] of the 3,598,003 eligible voters received theirs during that period, and turnout considerably increased in the last days throughout the more than 2,000 voter registration posts spread around the 53 municipalities that are going to the polls this year.
As expected, the first phase of the electoral process met quite a few technical, structural and human challenges. Hundreds if not thousands of reports were gathered in a liveblog Recenseamento ao Minuto (Registration up to the minute) [pt] on the website of newspaper @Verdade, the most read newspaper in the country.
“In the last day of the electoral registration process (July 23), at the primary school of Albazine in Maputo, the process is running smoothly”. Photo by Miguel Mangueze shared by @Verdade on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Reports, such as that of Nazarete Reginaldo, an observer in Beira, were included. Reginaldo took stock [pt] of the previous 60 days when the registration process finished:
primeiro os aspectos negativos constatados avaria constante das maquinas desde o momento inicial ate ao fim, isso em quase todos os postos observados.
O segundo aspecto, que também aconteceu em todos postos, foi a rejeição de outros documentos como Cédula Pessoal, antigos cartões de eleitor e presença das duas testemunhas.
A fraca afluência aos postos até a penúltima semana também é outra situação a lamentar.
Outra constatação é de vários postos onde muitos cidadãos não puderam recensear-se no ultimo dia, embora estivessem presentes até a hora prevista do fecho.
Aspectos positivos destaco o não registo de actos de vandalismo com excepção do ultimo dia, na EICB. (…)
Na EPC 12 de outubro os brigadistas sensibilizavam as pessoas de como se portarem no acto do processo. Registaram-se vários cortes constantes de energia que atrasaram o reecnseamento.
first, the negative aspects observed: constant failure of the machines [computers and printers] from the initial moment till the end, that in almost all stations observed.
The second aspect, which also happened in all stations, was the rejection [by the officials] of other [eligible registration] documents such as the Personal Certificate, old voter cards, and the presence of two witnesses.
The low turnout until the penultimate week is also another situation to regret.
Another finding is that there were several posts where many citizens could not register on the last day, although they were present until the expected time of closing.
I highlight the positive aspects of non-registration of acts of vandalism with the exception of the last day, the EICB. (…)
In the Primary School on October 12, officials sensitized people on how to behave in the act of the [registration] process. There were several and constant power cuts which delayed the registration.
Last day of the electoral registration in Nampula, APAE station, July 23. Photo shared by @Verdade on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The newspaper is using liveblogging platform Citizendesk, which was awarded by the African News Innovation Challenge in November 2012 and is being developed by Sourcefabric, a non-profit organization that develops open source tools for journalism. Citizendesk gathers different sources such as SMS's, posts from Facebook, tweets, photos, videos, and online content in general, allowing for “newsrooms to incorporate citizen reports into their news stream, to act as eyes and ears for the upcoming elections”, as Rebecca Chao from Personal Democracy's WeGov puts it on her article “Journalists in Mozambique Have a New Way to Get Help Reporting on Elections”.
Bridging the digital gap: @Verdade posts a selection of citizen reports about the registration process in its weekly print and also in the outer wall of the building housing the newspaper. Passersby can leave their comments which will later be transcribed online.
@Verdade launched a joint newsroom in the beginning of the registration process, partnering with the Public Integrity Center and the Observatório Eleitoral (Electoral Observer) for broader access, outreach, and coverage of citizen stories from across the country. CIP has correspondents in the municipalities and has long experience covering Mozambican elections mainly through its Political Process Bulletin. Observatório Eleitoral is a watchdog from the civil society that counts on 265 observers spread around the country.
After three days trying to get her voter card, Celina Simão from Nampula was happy when she finally managed to get it at the primary school of Barragem on June 5. Celestino Armando from Pemba got his at the secondary school of Cabo Delgado's capital. Click the image to see @Verdade´s photo albums on Flickr.
The challenge is to create and strengthen a national network of citizen reporters who make use of their mobile phones to share spontaneous reports of what they observe. Jessica Weiss from IJNet explains how @Verdade and partners are building community:
(…) visiting municipalities and polling stations and trying to engage community correspondents. They are also reaching out to local civic networks, community radio stations, international election monitors, taxi drivers and more to help form a web of reliable information about how the registration process is working.
Citizens are helping to answer questions such as: Are polling places open? Are officials present and voters free of intimidation? Is the equipment functioning correctly?
Last day in Maputo. Photo shared by @Verdade on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
Citizen reporters can submit photos and videos via Twitter — the hashtag #autarquicas2013 has been widely used and the handle @DemocraciaMZ is tracking democracy related tweets — or send them by email directly to @Verdade's Flickr and YouTube channel.
So did André Salmone from the northern city of Nampula, who denounced in a video on July 22 that officials from the registration post in the city's Sports Pavilion were allegedly taking bribes from people who didn't want to wait in queue for their turn to be registered:
Citizens also reported on the civic awareness campaign which was carried out throughout the country by more than 2,000 agents trained by the government's Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE). Some criticized the campaign for not being visible, effective, or with enough quality, such as a citizen who reported a photo of STAE's poster in the municipality of Marrupa, which wasn't more than a lousy and torn handwritten paper on the wall.
Civic education agents for the electoral registration in the municipality of Catandica on June 6. Photo shared by @Verdade on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
@Verdade's side website euVoto (I Vote) [pt] gives support to those who want to participate in the “We Are All Observers” campaign by sharing tips, manuals for observers, and laws related to the elections. It also serves as a portal for those who just want to be better informed about the elections. CIP's Political Process Bulletin is there available in the shape of a blog instead of the usual .pdfs.
Primary school of Mavalane “A”, Maputo, June 1. Photo shared by @Verdade on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The next phase [pt] of 2013's electoral process in Mozambique, consists of the registration of political parties, coalitions of parties or groups of citizens who want to run for elections (ongoing until August 6). At the same time, the lists of voters who registered in the 53 municipalities will be available for verification and complaints should there be any irregularity, also until August 6. More and more, Mozambican citizens are showing how to keep the process accountable.

author: Sara Moreira


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Water Shortage Crisis Looms Large In Bangalore, India · Global Voices
Nickhil Sharma

Bangalore, India’s third largest city and one of the fastest growing economic hubs in South Asia, stares at an almost certain water crisis in the near future as both the civic administration and the citizens struggle to cope with the already dwindling fresh water resources.
Home to more than 9.5 million people and rapidly adding migrants to this number who come every day to this city to find their dream job, Bangalore is fighting to cope with the increasing demands of its population. The most important demand remains for fresh water.
In a recently concluded discussion on Bangalore’s water crisis, local administrative board Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Treatment Board, Chairman Gaurav Gupta claimed:
If you are taking a property in Bengaluru, especially in the peripheral areas, take at your own risk! We really don’t have water for those areas.
Melinda Gates speaks with women serving on the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Image from Flickr by Gates Foundation. BY-NC-ND (Bangalore, India, 2005)
Bangalore’s primary sources of fresh water are the Cauvery river, its 600-odd lakes and the ever reliable underground water resources. However, the local authorities claim that Bangalore only has 189 live lakes. The rest of the lakes are either carelessly encroached upon or have severe contamination by sewage water.
Bangalore has doubled its population since 2001 and mindless planning of infrastructure has led to depletion and contamination of ground water. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which was so far drawing 1.15 billion litres of water per day through all the four stages of the Cauvery, is now drawing only 800 million litres per day taking the shortage to 350 litres per day.
This contaminated water was found to have at least four strains of bacteria which can cause severe intestinal infections. Where does this water end up? It seeps through the lake bed into the city’s underground water, which is pumped into the city’s households by bore wells. A shocking study by Eureka Forbes Limited, Mumbai claims that the people of Bangalore are immune to some strains of these bacteria as they have been drinking this water for more than ten years now.
It’s not just contamination, Bangalore is the fastest growing real estate market in the country, and this translates to large apartments, villas, and bungalows in all parts of the city. Since the landscape is dotted by concrete structures, the rain water runs off into drains without seeping through the soil, thereby severely depleting the underground water resources. What’s worse is that the construction of elevated expressways and the Bangalore Metro Rail has rapidly depleted Bangalore’s green cover, effecting rainfall adversely.
The causes for this acute shortage are highlighted in Goutham Sampath's blog “Bangalore Realty”:
Bangalore was free of air-conditioned malls and multiplexes, but shopping and entertainment options were still plentiful. Bangalore was free of its Information Technology tag, but was still a reasonably significant industrial manufacturing hub. With its tree-lined roads, large open spaces and now abundant Cauvery water, Bangalore was really the Pensioner's Paradise, where retired folks could live without any worries.
Ritwik Kaikini, an engineering student from south Bangalore, told Global Voices how even the trucks used to transport fresh water are faulty: “There is leakage in almost all the water trucks, always. Half the water leaks away till they reach the destination and this is just criminal wastage of water”.
Purushotham Daldur, a student and a resident of the same area, said, “I feel even the pipes used to transport fresh water are faulty.”
Ananth Narayan S wrote in his blog how even the most perennial sources of water in Bangalore are running dry:
With an extremely poor monsoon in the previous year, most lakes had dried up. What was surprising however was that the only perennial water body in Bangalore – the sewer lines – had also dried up. The citizens and the Bangalore municipal corporation (BBMP) are at a loss on how to handle the situation. The BBMP said “We have water treatment plants in the city. Those used to satisfy a small portion of the city's water needs. Now even that is lost. We are not sure how to handle the situation; for now an ad hoc committee has been constituted”.
This problem is being faced by Pune, Hyderabad, and other growing cities too, as Sainath P in newspaper the Hindu reported:
Every apartment is a dream come true — the coronet that tops the king-sized lifestyle of true blue blood. So run the ads. Yup, the blue bloods do it big. Each apartment has its own private swimming pool. These are, after all, super-luxurious, supersized designer apartments. The kind that match the royal lifestyles.
It seems the thousands of skyscrapers in India’s big cities are luxuriously using fresh water to fill-up the pools of the super-rich but on the other hand, the middle class and the poor reel under what is one of Bangalore’s worst civic problems in centuries.
At a time when the city of Bangalore is reeling under an acute water crisis, more than 150 volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation in Bangalore along with founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar led a walkathon with posters on how to save water in July 2013.
The spiritual guru told NDTV, a national news channel:
Water is such a scarce thing now and we must do all we can to judiciously use it. Our volunteers are trying to prevent one of the small rivers, the Kumudvathi in Bangalore from drying up. They are planting trees in the area which can help prevent soil erosion, building boulder checks. Anything which can help rejuvenate and revive our natural resources must be done, today and now.
Among all the negative information come a few rays of hope when citizens take it upon themselves to save water and check water wastage by doing common things around the house and offices.
Another story that offers a glimmer of hope is that of A.R. Shivakumar, a senior fellow of Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Shivkumar, who is nicknamed as Bangalore's rain catcher, says that to meet the Bangalore's high water consumption (1.4 billion litres per day or 18 billion cubic feet) rain water harvesting is the answer.
While the authorities have made it mandatory for all houses in Bangalore larger than 2,400 square feet to harvest rain water, many have avoided the trouble of installing a rain water harvest system. The local authorities must swing into action in order to ensure this ingenious solution is implanted at a time of a crisis like this one.
How Bangalore tackles this issue is going to be critical, as the same model can be used to solve the water crisis in other cities which are on the verge of urbanization. What is needed now is swift action by the civic authorities and a united front by the citizens to help preserve what little water is available.

author: Nickhil Sharma


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Women Candidates in Cambodian Election · Global Voices
Sopheap Chak

To promote women representation in politics, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) has released a map with data analysis of women candidates participating in the National Assembly elections.
The CCHR is a local organization that fights for civil and political rights in Cambodia and actively uses new media tools in carrying out its advocacies. Elections in Cambodia will take place on July 28.
The data used to create the map, which is hosted on sithi.org, is based on the official record released by the National Election Committee (NEC).
As shown on the map, only 18.96 percent  (168 out of 886) of titular candidates-the number of candidates who are listed on election lists; 25.69 percent (260 out of 1012) of alternate candidates-the number of candidates who are not listed on elections lists but are kept in reserve in case a titular candidate drops out; and 22.55 percent (428 out of 1898) of both titular and alternate candidates are women, across all eight political parties contesting the elections. Through the map, viewers can also determine the number of women candidates by parties and province.
According to CCHR, the low level of female representation among the titular and alternate candidates suggests that women are still considered as second choice within their political parties.
During the public launching of the map, Chor Chanthyda, coordinator of the Project to Promote Women’s Political Representation, underscores the aim of the initiative:
By incorporating data analysis of women candidates for the 2013 National Assembly Elections into an interactive map, we are able to present a full picture of women candidates standing for election to the National Assembly across Cambodia. We hope that the map will inform the public about which political parties have the highest and lowest level of women candidates in their election lists; we also hope that, after the elections, the map can be used as a monitoring tool to compare numbers of women candidates and women elected to the National Assembly.
During the 2012 Commune/Sangkat election, the CCHR also released a map which also featured data on women’s political representation in Commune Councils in the country. By using data from the NEC, the results show that women were elected to 2,038 Commune Council seats around the country, which represented 17.79 percent of the total number of seats. There were fewer women candidates (4.6 percent) who were successfully elected as Commune Chief.

author: Sopheap Chak


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South Korea’s Military Culture Under Scrutiny After Teen Boot Camp Deaths · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Five high school students drowned to death at a private seaside boot camp in South Korea, igniting discussions over the prevalence of military-style booth camps as well as nostalgia for the military culture in Korean education.
In South Chungcheong Province, five students died during the three-day military-style boot camp in which instructors forced students to take off their life jackets and jump into the sea in late afternoon. Among 23 students caught by a strong current, five went missing and their bodies were discovered the next day.
Before the official funeral was held [ko] on July 24, 2013, the victims’ classmates posted a short video expressing their condolences on YouTube (English subtitles not available):
Police later found out that some instructors were unqualified part-time hires just for the busy summer season. Furthermore, the boot camp has misleading used the marine corps's name, despite they have no link with the armed forces.
Although immediate reactions to the tragedy were focused on criticizing the lax safety and flawed operations of unauthorized boot camps, bloggers and Twitter users later expressed concerns about the prevalence of military culture in Korean education that stomps on students creativity and individuality and hinders the democratic decision-making process.
Military-style boot camps is one of the most popular options for seasonal activities in many Korean schools and ‘Gyoryeon‘ [ko], or practical military training for kids, had been one of the mandatory subjects for high school students for about three decades. The subject was downgraded to an optional subject in 1997 and officially disappeared [ko] from the school only last year.
Image of Boot Camp in South Korea. Unrelated to the camp responsible for the accident. Image by Flickr user @fast8000 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
@blu_pn: 해병대캠프 사고로, 극기라는 이름의 병영훈련에 경악하는 분들이 많다. ● 허나 기억할랑가 모르겠다. 나 어릴적 학교에서는 교련이라는 군사훈련을 정규수업으로 받았고, 조회시간엔 군대식 사열과 교장선생님께 거수경례를 했었다[…]
@blu_pn: After the Marine boot camp accident happened, so many people expressed utter shock toward boot camps and their self-discipline by extreme training. But do you remember? When I was a kid, I had a military training named ‘Gyo-ryeon’ as a part of my formal education. And in the morning announcement hours, we [school kids] lined up into a military formation and made military salutes to our principal.
Prominent blogger Impeter traced backed the long history [ko] of military culture in Korean modern education:
[…] 1969년 안보의식과 전시상황에서의 대처능력을 높인다는 목적으로 고등학교 필수과목으로 ‘교련'을 지정했습니다. 당시 교련을 받은 대부분의 학생들은 그저 학교에서 하는 과목이라고 생각했지만, 지금 돌이켜보면 전쟁이 나면 고등학생까지 총을 들고 전장에 내보내겠다는 끔찍한 일이었습니다. 고등학생을 군인으로 만들려고 하니 군대와 똑같은 체벌과 군인정신을 학교에서 요구하기 시작했습니다. […] 우리 교육의 가장 큰 문제는 잘못된 명령이라도 무조건 따라야 한다는 일제강점기 조선총독부가 조선의 아이들을 소년병으로 만들려는 군국주의 교육 습성이 군사독재 정권으로 이어지면서 아직도 학교에 남아 있기 때문입니다.
Image of Boot Camp in South Korea, Unrelated to the camp responsible for the accident. Image by Flickr user @fast8000 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
In 1969 [Editor's note: that year, the military tension between North and South Korea was one of the highest, reaching almost to a pre-war situation] the government made ‘Gyoryeon’ into a mandatory subject in order to raise public awareness of national security and to be better prepared for wartime. Most students, without further thinking, just accepted it as one of those subjects learnt in schools, but if you really think about it, it is quite horrible situation. It reflects that the government had thought of dispatching even high school kids to a war zone when war broke out. Since they wanted to make soldiers out of high school kids, schools started enforcing those kids to have military spirit and adopted almost the same corporal punishment used in the army […] The biggest problems in our education is [the belief that] ‘students need to obey even the wrong orders’ which was born during the Japanese colonial era– Japanese colonial government had turned Chosun dynasty's kids into boy soldiers [during the World War II era] by injecting militarism in education. And this tradition survived as Korean military authoritarian regimes took power [from 1960s – 80s], leaving traces of militarism in our schools.
Kim Yong-Taek, who spent his entire lifetime as an educator, wrote this analysis [ko] in his education blog:
‘군대 갔다 오면 사람 된다’는 말이 있다. ‘말썽 부리고 반발하고 부모 알기를 우습게 알던 아들이 군대 가더니 딴 사람이 되어 돌아왔다’고 좋아하는 부모들이 있다. 과연 그럴까? ‘군대’갔다 오면 사람‘된다’는 말은 고생을 모르고 자란 자녀가 부모와 헤어져 살아보니 철이 든 것이지 군에 갔기 때문에 달라진 게 아니다. 달라졌다면 순진한 젊은이가 ‘폭력에 순종하는 인간성으로 바뀌었다면 그게 달라졌을 뿐이다[…] 개성이니 창의성이니 소통과 비판과 같은 민주주의란 군사문화와는 거리가 멀다. 명령과 복종이 필요할 뿐이다. 그럴 수밖에 없는 것이 적과의 대치 속에서 살아남기 위해서는 강인한 체력과 인내심이 기본이요, ‘시키면 시키는 대로 해야 하는 복종만이 살 길이다[…] 민주시민으로 자라도록 가르치는 학교에서 배우는 학생들에게 군사문화를 주입시킨다는 것은 반민주주의요, 반교육이다.
Image of Boot Camp in South Korea. Unrelated to the camp responsible for the accident. Image by Flickr user @fast8000 (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
There is a saying that the army makes someone into a real man. Some parents even happily say ‘my son, an unruly brat who used be so disrespectful to his own parents, has became another human being once he served in the army’ [All able-bodied Korean men are obligated to two years of military service] HOWEVER, is that true? It is natural for a spoiled kid turning into a more mature human after they were separated from their parents. If there is any real change made by the army is that ‘a naive young man has turned into a obedient person who succumbs to violence’ […] Democracy [promotes] creativity and individuality and [is open to] communication and criticism, and it is very different from the military culture. Under military culture, which takes place under extreme situations of confronting the enemies, strong physical strength and patience are a must and obedience to higher authorities is their only way for survival. How a school, an entity that should guide students to become democratic citizens, injects the military culture into these kids? This is an anti-democratic decision that disagrees with the spirit of real education.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Bangladeshi Blogger Writes About Prison Experience · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

Bangladeshi Blogger and activist Asif Mohiuddin, the winner of the best social activism blog from the Deutsche Welle Best Of Blogs Awards 2012, was arrested last April on charges of “hurting religious sentiment of Muslims through writing”. He has been released under bail and is now writing about his experiences in confinement in Guruchandali blogging platform [bn] from West Bengal, India:
আমাদের ১৪ সেলে নিয়ে গেল। ১৪ সেলের দরজা দিয়ে ঢোকার সাথে সাথেই চারদিক থেকে চিত্কার, চেঁচামিচি শুরু হয়ে গেল। তাদের টিনের বাসন দিয়ে শব্দ করে কান ঝালাপালা অবস্থা। তারা সবাই একসাথে স্লোগান দিতে লাগলো, বলতে লাগলো, “নাস্তিকমুক্ত জেলখানা চাই”, “নাস্তিকদের আজই ফাঁসি চাই”, “জেলখানায় নাস্তিক, মানি না, মানবো না”।
জেলখানায় খুনী ধর্ষক মাদকব্যবসায়ী সকলেই আছেন, এমন কোনো অপরাধ নেই যা এক একজন করেন নি […] সবাই আছে থাকবে ছিল, কিন্তু পুরো জেলখানায় চারজন ধর্মে অবিশ্বাসী নাস্তিকের জায়গা নেই!
They took me to cell no. 14. As soon as I entered, shouts and screams were heard from everywhere. Inmates started making noise with their tin plates. They started shouting slogans “we want atheist free prison”, “we want death penulty for atheists”, “we wont tolerate atheists in the prison” etc.
From rapists, murderers to drug dealers, there are many convicted persons in the prison. They committed many crimes and the convicted were here before, they are here now and will also be in the future. But in the whole prison there is no place for four accused atheists.
It may be mentioned here that Asif Mohiuddin was actively involved in Bangladesh's #Shahbag Protests demanding capital punishment for war crimes committed during Bangladesh's liberation from Pakistan in 1971 and banning of religious political parties.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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Bhutan’s First Female Minister · Global Voices
Rezwan

According to Bhutan's Buddhist traditions and values men and women are seen as equals. However, women are rarely seen in high positions. Blogger Nawang P. Phuntsho celebrates election of the country's first female minister. Aum Dorji Choden, an MP elect from Trashigang, has recently been appointed as the Minister for Ministry of Works and Human Settlement (MoWHS).

author: Rezwan


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Follow the Presidential Election in Mali in Real Time · Global Voices
Claire Ulrich

Today (July 28) is the first round of the presidential election in Mali.  To keep track of the proceedings in real time, updates are available on twitter via the hashtag #Mali2013, on the twitter accounts @Malivote (and its website)  and @angaelections (site) and  on the news group “Info élections 2013″ on Facebook [fr].

author: Claire Ulrich


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Hazreen Shaik Daud: Malaysia’s First Transgender in Politics · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Former NGO worker Hazreen Shaik Daud is Malaysia’s first transgender in politics after being appointed as political secretary to Tanjung Bungah state assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu of the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
A transgender committee was initially approved in the Penang State to address transgender issues:
The transgender committee will be formed in two months, and aims to collect data and alleviate the status and social stigma associated with the transgender community. Some of their activities will include public forums to spread awareness on the issue.
Hazreen will initially work in the committee but she will also be responsible for other issues as well such as politics, economy, culture, education, health, and human rights.
KiniTV, a Malaysian Internet portal, recognized Hazreen as Malaysia’s first transgender in politics:
Hazreen’s appointment generated mixed reactions in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation. On YouTube, W Chinner hailed the courageous decision to hire Hazreen:
I am glad to know that there are Malaysians who support Hazreen. All the very best to you Hazreen. To DAP's Tanjung Bungah state assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu, I applaud your courage by showing your leadership by example.
And to these bigots who spewed hateful comments, you need to find and create your own little world in the closet.
Update and clarification: a person's sexuality is strictly speaking not defined by their gender though these two things are commonly conflated in everyday conversation.
Kelvin Mah thumbs down discrimination :
this should change, she deserve a chance to show her ability, no one shall be discriminated or hate because of their sexuality.
crossmirage echoed a similar point:
Can transphobes shut up about society falling apart and the world ending already? Humanity survived the black plague, someone presenting as their preferred gender won't hurt you. What a bunch of babies.
But baem mahmud is worried with ‘gender confusion’:
God..help us for we have sinned. Save Malaysia from gender confusions. Save all of us and forgive our past sins.
Sofie Hafiz Ngoo believes Hazreen’s appointment will create problems in the future:
Placing something where is doesn't belong is not how this world works. By you, support in breaking the chain and we all will face a lot of problems in the future.
Abdul Aziz Maaruf thinks Hazreen is confused:
This guy is confused so are the people who supported him.
Americk Sidhu praised DAP:
We are all members of one race….the human race and our differences must not only be tolerated but celebrated. Well done DAP. You are an inspiration. May all those narrow minded bigots bow their heads in eternal shame.
On Malaysiakini, an alternative news website, My4HOPE also recognized the courageous initiative of the Penang State government:
This is by far the most surprisingly courageous, righteous and respectable initiative of Penang State Government after GE13 [General Elections]. Keep this kind of just cause up, to reset the Malaysian Path of Humanity and Dignity.
But Adsertor reminded Malaysian leaders to respect the values of their constituents:
Green YB, are you the MP for the transgender or your constituency? You should represent the values of your constituency and not advocate your personal agenda.
Lynn has mixed feelings over the issue:
While from a religious and personal perspective, I can't support a person's decision to make transgender a lifestyle, its ultimately his or her choice and she or he has to face the consequences. but in this context, if that person is capable and can do the job well, why not.
Carolyn Khor enumerated some issues affecting the transgender community:
Gender is actually not the issue – it is the segregation of gender that makes gender the issue. Gender in our society have, till recently, been plainly categorized as male and female, and though the transgender community have been seeking legal redress in terms of recognition and status, the struggle against age-old conformities are nothing short of an arduous task.
Among the top agendas of the transgender welfare committee are to seek better accessibility for transgender persons in terms of basic needs like accessibilities to healthcare, employment and to provide equal treatment to persons with gender disagreements at public places such as schools, hospitals and detention centres.
Although Malaysia may still be considerably homophobic and reluctant to address the transgender and LGBT issues, the fact remain that such people exist and should be accorded proper and equal rights
There are about ten to fifty thousand transgender persons in Malaysia.

author: Mong Palatino


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INFOGRAPHIC: Singapore Waste Statistics · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

According to Singapore's National Environment Agency, every person in Singapore generated 1,370 kg of waste in 2012. About 60 percent of the waste were recycled and 40 percent were disposed in incinerators and landfills
Image from Zero Waste Singapore


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South Korea: Over 25 Thousands Protested Against the Secret Agency Scandal   · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Mass protests against the state secret agency's electioneering scandal thundered across South Korea over the weekend. More than 25 thousand Koreans (Police estimated little below 8000 people) allegedly have attended a candlelight vigil in Seoul and dramatic photos and a video clip of the protest have been shared in major online venues.


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State Funeral for Tunisian Opposition MP as Protests Continue · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Protests continue in Tunisia, following the state funeral for opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi, a socialist and an Arab nationalist, shot dead outside his home on Republic day [July 25].
Two gunmen shot Brahmi, a leader in the Popular Front, a coalition of leftist opposition parties, and then fled on a motorbike. This is the second assassination, in the span of five months, after the fatal shooting of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid on February 6.
Ennhdha blamed:
The assassination sparked street protests calling for the fall of three-party coalition government [referred to as Troika] led by the Islamist Ennahdha Movement and the dissolution of the National Constituent Assembly, elected in October 2011 to draft a new constitution. Protesters pointed fingers at Ennahdha, which denied any involvement in the assassination.
Brahmi's widow leading her husband's funeral procession
Under the Troika rule, Tunisia witnessed an increase in violence targeting opposition politicians, activists and outspoken critics of Islamists. “So far, little has been done by the authorities to ensure that reported attacks against members of the opposition are adequately investigated and those responsible are brought to justice, fuelling a climate of impunity and increasing political polarization. While there is an ongoing judicial investigation into the killing of Chokri Belaid, and some suspects have been arrested, nobody has been tried yet for this crime”, said Amnesty International on July 25, urging Tunisian authorities to “deliver justice”.
Brahmi's family has accused Ennahdha.
La veuve de M.#Brahmi: "je vous féllicite Ennahda et la Troika! Vous avez encore fait taire une voix libre et juste" pic.twitter.com/9j8kO49LE2
— David Thomson (@_DavidThomson) July 25, 2013
Brahmi's widow: ”I congratulate you, Ennahdha and Troika. You have once again silenced a free and just voice
Security forces criticized:
During a press conference, the Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jedou said that the same radical Islamist group involved in the murder of Chokri Belaid on February 6, is also involved in this week's killing of Brahmi. The minister also claimed that the same gun was used to kill both opposition figures and that the authorities had identified 14 suspects, some of whom belong to Ansar Al-Sharia Tunisia. The group has released a statement [ar] denying any involvement in the assassination.
Security forces are facing fierce criticism over their “incompetence” to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Belaid and their failure to prevent a second assassination.
Sarah Ben Hamadi writes for the Maghreb edition of the Huffington Post [fr]:
Le ministre de l’intérieur n’a pas divulgué ces détails sur les antécédents du meurtrier présumé de Mohamed Brahmi, mais a déclaré que Boubaker Al Hakim était “activement recherché dans des affaires d’introduction et trafic d’armes sur le territoire tunisien”, et “est lié à Kamel Gadhgadhi” l’assassin présumé de Chokri Belaid, toujours en fuite.
The Interior Ministry did not reveal details regarding the history of Brahmi's alleged killer, but only declared that Boubaker Alhakim was “actively sought-after in cases related to arms smuggling  on Tunisian land” and he “is linked to Kamel Gadhgadhi” the alleged killer of Chokri Belaid, who is still on the run.
A few days before the assassination, security forces stormed a house in the same neighborhood, where Brahmi lived, and confiscated arms but made no arrests. Ben Hamadi writes [fr]:
Comment Boubaker Al Hakim, activement recherché, a-t-il alors pu revenir dans ce quartier, qui devait être théoriquement, surveillé jour et nuit, tirer 14 balles et s’enfuir?
How could Boubaker Alhakim, actively sought [by the police], come back to this neighborhood, which theoretically should have been under surveillance all day long, shoot 14 bullets and run away?
Ben Hamadi has also raised questions over the involvement of Jihadists in the assassination of Brahmi:
Mais pourquoi les salafistes djihadistes élimineraient Mohamed Brahmi? Un musulman pratiquant, loin de correspondre au profil des “ennemis de l’Islam” que combattent d’habitude les djihadistes. Un militant originaire de Sidi Bouzid, pas très médiatisé et n’ayant pas un grand poids électoral. Le connaissaient-ils vraiment? C’est possible. En véritable militant baâthiste et nassérien, Mohamed Brahmi soutenait le gouvernement du président syrien Bachar Al Assad, dont le régime est combattu depuis maintenant deux ans… par des djihadistes, y compris Tunisiens.
But, why would Salafi Jihadists eliminate Mohamed Brahmi? A practicing Muslim whose profile does not fit with “enemies of Islam” whom the Jihadists usually fight. An activist from Sidi Bouzid, not very much publicized and does not have a large electoral weight. Do they really know him? It is possible [that they do]. A Baathist and Nassirist  activist, Mohamed Brahmi supported the Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad, whose regime has been in battle with Jihadists, including Tunisians, for two years
First death in Gafsa:
During an overnight protest on Friday, one protester died [warning: graphic video] in the southern city of Gafsa. He was reportedly hit by a tear gas canister in the head, when police fired tear gas at protesters gathering in front of the local governor's office.
صورة gمحمد المفتي : أب لطفلين، مهندس مواصلات و مناضل في الجبهة الشعبية سقط هذه الليلة شهيدا في #قفصة #brahmi #gafsa pic.twitter.com/PsHUrW6xpF
— Nawaat ~ Tunisia (@nawaat) July 27, 2013
Photo: Mohamed Belmufti, father of two, telecommunications engineer and an activist from the Popular front. He fell a martyr tonight in #Gafsa.

author: Afef Abrougui


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Taiwan: Flash Protests Against Land Expropriation · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

The dispute over land expropriation in Miaoli County has lit a fire for a series of flash protests targeting the President and the Premier for their indifference to citizens’ suffering. Several policemen from a “special district branch” were reported to check protesters’ I.D. and take away those who refused to show their I.D. to the police stations. More from The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato.

author: I-fan Lin


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Three Days to Go: Telkom-Highway Africa New Media Awards 2013 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Three days are remaining for submmiting entries for the 13th edition of the Highway Africa New Media Awards. Sponsored by Telkom, these are unique and prestigious awards on the continent that reward innovative use of Information Communication technologies (ICTs) in journalism that serves Africa and its citizens.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Trinidad & Tobago: Will Warner Win?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Austin “Jack” Warner has held many important posts in his lifetime, including FIFA Vice President (beleaguered though his tenure was) and Minister of National Security of Trinidad and Tobago.  Tomorrow, he will be fighting to reclaim the title of Minister of Parliament for Chaguanas West, the post from which he voluntarily resigned on the heels of his resignations from Cabinet and as Chairman of the United National Congress, one of the political parties that forms the governing People's Partnership government.  He will be contesting the by-election under the banner of his newly-formed political entity, the Independent Liberal Party.
The “Green Party”, as it is called, has been holding elaborate political rallies almost every night in the lead-up to the polls, many of which have been broadcast by mainstream media.  The large crowds, questionable campaign tactics and race-centric rhetoric have prompted heated discussions on Facebook, but bloggers have also been sharing their perspectives.
aka_lol expained, tongue firmly in cheek, that the key issue in this election is box drains:
Despite all the learned talk, the Chaguanas West by-elections is not about good governance since the average citizen of this country has no idea what that means or care to Google it. The successful candidate in this election, aka voters’ choice, will be the person who the majority wants to be in charge of their most primal need, the need for proper box drains.
He continued:
In choosing a box drain leader, the people of Chaguanas West will have to go with their guts. We all know that Jack, the owner and CEO of the Independent Liberal Party’s (ILP), has listened to more box drain woes from citizens of this blessed land than any person on the planet.  Because of his compassion for the box-drain-challenged, Jack is considered by many to be the foremost box drain authority in the country and probably the entire universe. I am not sure how much Kadija, the United National Congress (UNC) candidate, actually knows about box drains but she has been campaigning in the area with the Prime Minister, giving out gift boxes which might be symbolic of both future box drains and empty promises inside. Avinash, the Peoples National Movement (PNM)’s candidate, is a farmer and because of his party’s track record may prefer to build an aluminum smelter or church with state funds.
The Rag, a blog by Robin Montano, understandably had a lot to say on the election.  Montano, a former senator for both the People's National Movement (currently in opposition) and the United National Congress, has joined Warner's new party as interim Chairman.  The upcoming Chaguanas by-election got him talking about race in politics:
For the very first time in our modern political history the country has an opportunity to turn away from the traditional racial voting and trying something ‘new’ (and I put that word deliberately in inverted commas). The PNM has always been openly, if not blatantly, racial.
As for the UNC, well under Basdeo Panday it made a serious effort to move to the centre and be ‘all inclusive’. It's predecessor, the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was a right wing Hindu party where only Hindus needed to apply. Panday, to his great credit, was much more secular and pragmatic in his thinking…which brings us down to today. The present leaders of the UNC certainly held themselves out to be ‘all inclusive’ in the Panday mode…but since the by-election was announced, the gloves have come off and all pretence (sic) about being a national and a nationalist political organisation has been dropped. Just about every single person in the top brass of the UNC from Prime Minister Persad Bissessar on down has come out and preached a line that sounds dangerously close to saying to the people ‘vote race’.
And here is where the opportunity for the country is rearing it's head. If Jack Warner was to win in next Monday's by-election it will send a very loud signal … an almost earth shattering one … that the old way of thinking is well and truly dead. No longer can politicians come to us and say ‘vote for me because I am African/Indian’. Now they are going to have to come and say ‘vote for me because I can and will perform!’
Unsurprisingly, the post predicts that Warner will win the Chaguanas West seat, saying:
It is clear that only Mr. Warner has approached the electorate with a modern 21st century mindset.  Mr. Warner has basically said ‘look, I am a performer. When I was your MP I performed and delivered those services that you required. Further, when serious allegations were made against me (all of which I deny) I resigned my seat to give you the opportunity to decide whether or not you still wanted me to represent you in the Parliament of our country’.
A Trini Speaks, a blog written in the slang of Trinidad and Tobago, was also leaning towards a Warner win:
When people wake up on de mornin’ ah July 30th, it go be tuh de realization dat Jack Warner representin’ Chaguanas West again. I tinkin’ it go only be one set ah people who go be surprised doh – Kamla an’ she peeps.
Dis is ah increasingly dutty fight Kamla havin’ wid Jack. It just happen tuh be in Chaguanas West. Yuh eh go be able tuh dodge de unparalleled bacchanal dat comin’ wid Jack’s victory doh.
The blogger took issue with the level of “electioneerin” by the United National Congress, the party of the current Prime Minister:
Who is Khadijah Ameen?
Yes, she is de UNC candidate fuh Chaguanas West.
Maybe ah should ah ask who is de UNC candidate fuh de seat. Den yuh would ah start tuh say, ‘Kaam’, den cyatch yuhself. De way Kamla been campaginin’ it look like she, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is de real candidate.
Why Kamla refusin’ tuh remember de larse election? She fuhget how she waltz over tuh de sister isle an’ try tuh take over? Actin’ like she presence alone would sway voters? She figured eef she convince dem dat cat in bag is ah good buy, dey would ah buy all de candidates she had in dem bags. Well people in Tobago eh dotish an’ Kamla end up holdin’ de bag an’ covered in whitewash.
It eh de same strategy in Chaguanas West only more personal an’ stinker? Kamla’s goal is tuh destroy Jack at all costs…She was perfectly fine tuh have him in she inner circle when he was dis hardest wukkin’ minister, buh now, she more den willin’ tuh criticize all de tings she didn’t have ah problem wid before.
He continued:
Although ah say plenty times me eh no fan ah Jack Warner’s politics, dat eh have nuttin tuh do wid he intelligence. Eef he was dotish he wouldn’t have dis bottomless pit ah money dat Kamla only now questionin’.
Jack eh just catch ah vaps an’ resign he seat den say he goin’ an’ ask he ex-constituents tuh re-elect him. He have ah plan.
The post also made the point that Warner has strong ties with his constituents.  The blogger should know; he lives in Chaguanas West:
Certified or not, ah know it have someting between Jack an’ he constituents. It eh tribal politics an’ Kamla tactics eh breakin’ dat bond. Jack is dey don.
He ended by revealing who he will vote for tomorrow:
I so reach mih limit wid dis campaign. While ah not ah vengeful person ah cyar see mihself votin’ fuh de UNC/PP.
Me eh care eef he was de hardest wukkin’ minister. Not even eef he eh spend plenty time applyin’ fuh houses fuh people outside he district. Ah parsin’ on Jack. Plus he might ups an’ disappear an’ gorn. Next ting ah hear, he in ah land far away on ah multi year restricted forced vacation. From all dat hard wuk maybe?
I eh even have tuh tink about mih no vote fuh de PNM. I cyar support ah belief in tribal politics like is someting multi ethnic Trinbago cook up.
Dat leave Dr. Kirk Meighoo. Me eh know nuttin…
Buh wait.
Dat eh it?
Dat is it right dey!!
Jack go win buh ah know who I votin’ for.
If Warner does win, The Rag says it will “[change] the politics of this country for what can only be the better”.  aka_lol sees it an entirely different way:
Regardless of the victor in these elections there will be fireworks on the night the results are known with the country being the biggest loser.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco