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The ongoing water crisis in Iran’s Ahwaz region looming towards disaster · Global Voices
Rahim Hamid

This image shows three water buffalos whose skin are melted down due to high temperatures, high salinity of water and water scarcity in the marshlands of Ahwaz region in the background. A female Ahwazi farmer puts her hands up in exasperation on a barren farm. Photo by Mehr News Agency, published with the intention to redistribute.
Despite the Iranian establishment’s long-standing efforts to block media information, awareness is steadily increasing about the horrendous and rapidly worsening water crisis in the traditionally Arab region of Ahwaz in the south and south-west of the country. To observers without knowledge of the situation, it may seem that this escalating catastrophe is a natural disaster resulting from climate change.
However, those familiar with these policies know that successive governments have instituted a massive program of dam-building and river diversion in the region to redirect the water from its once-bounteous rivers to other, non-Arab areas of Iran. These policies have had inevitable results – desertification and mass migration of the Ahwazis to other areas of Iran or to other nations simply to survive.
The Ahwazi people see this dam and river program, not as the result of incompetence but as part of a deliberate, long-term calculated policy of ethnic cleansing intended to change the demographic balance in the region, which is home to over 95 percent of the oil and gas resources claimed by Iran. The aim, in this view, is to force out most of the Arabs and end their claim to sovereignty or ownership of their resources. In the process, natural habitats, wildlife, crops, and farm animals are suffering horrendously, with environmentalists warning of ecological catastrophe if these problems are not addressed.
The devastation of the Karoon River is typical of the massive damage caused by this program; once a major waterway feeding into the renowned marshlands and estuary on the Gulf, which was busy with oceangoing vessels and fishing boats and supplied water for agriculture and farming, it’s now reduced to a trickle in some parts, with the once-bounteous marine life almost completely extinguished.  The regime’s construction of the Gotvand Dam whose bed is built on a salt flat is widely viewed as the principal factor in this devastation.  The dam, widely and variously condemned as a “salinity factory”, an “exhibition of environmental lessons”, an “environmental disaster”, and “the great national mistake”, has increased the river’s salinity level by 25 percent, making the water toxic to marine life and undrinkable for other species, as well as being useless for irrigating crops.
Hamza Kaabi, an Arab farmer from the rural area of Howeyzeh told Global Voices despairingly through a WhatsApp conversation:
We’ve been abandoned here. We had six million palm trees in this region – now five million have died due to the high salinity levels of the water. Our environment’s polluted, our animals such as water buffalos are dying. Is this the justice that the Islamic Republic promised for us? So many locals here have been poisoned by drinking the contaminated water, with many, including children and elderly people, having severe dysentery. We don’t even have an emergency health clinic to go to for treatment – we have to travel hundreds of kilometers to get to the hospitals in Ahwaz.
Kaabi continued:
Our ‘unforgivable sin’ is that we were born Arab, which is why we’re subjected to all this misery and suffering. When we look around at our conditions, our burnt lands and our devastated environment we can imagine Hell. We see and breath only dust here. The regime massacred and buried all of us, human and animals alike. Where are those humanitarians and environmental activists who fight for the environment to help stop our slow death?
According to Iranian news agencies, the deterioration of the quality of the brackish, foul-smelling drinking water provided to Ahwazis has resulted in poisoning dozens of Arab residents in the cities of Rofaye and Howeyzeh and Ramez.  Meanwhile, the shortage of water for agricultural use has resulted in farmers being driven to the brink of destitution, with crops withering due to the salinity and toxicity of the remaining polluted water supply, which is heavily polluted not only by the dumping of untreated sewage directly into the waterways but by the oil and gas refineries releasing toxic chemicals into them. This is further magnified by the government turning much of the region over to a ruinously expensive sugarcane growing program, which costs far more money than it makes, with refineries built on the riverbanks using the rivers’ remaining waters in the water-intensive refining process before dumping the residue polluted with chemicals used in the refinery process back into the water. The region’s once-renowned marine life is largely wiped out, with the fish and birds that thronged the rivers and wetlands at the Gulf estuary either wholly disappeared or rapidly vanishing.
Farmers in Ahwaz fear that the date-palm plantations whose sweet produce was famed across the region are facing extinction after the government dammed and diverted the once-bounteous rivers used for generations to irrigate their lands, with the waters that sustained the trees now sent to other, ethnically Persian areas of Iran —  the palm trees wilt and die.
The farmers’ pleas to provide alternative water sources have fallen on deaf ears, with desertification accelerating as the rivers are reduced to a salty trickle, leaving the farmers without water for their farmlands or even for their own survival and that of their livestock.
Although palm trees are capable of surviving in harsh desert heat, they need water and the lack of any fresh water and the salinity of the remaining water supply means those in Ahwaz are dying off. In a document about the current crisis, the Deputy Rural Cooperative Organization of Ahwaz explained that ‘the inflow volume of Karoon River water has been severely reduced. As a result of the low water level in the river, we’ve witnessed a surge of salty water from the Gulf into the Karoon River, which increased the salinity level of the water in this river.’
Farmer Khalaf Ghezi, from Ahwazi rural areas, veered between despair and anger at the bleak situation and the regime’s refusal to intervene or help the people:
Why don’t the authorities listen to our voices? Our Buffaloes are dying because of the river drying up. We don’t have jobs. Our only source of income is our livestock. If these animals are starved, we will starve too. While the massive profits from the oil and gas resources from the Ahwaz region goes straight to the Iranian regime’s coffers, with the Ahwazi people attaining no benefit from their natural resources; it’s common to hear Ahwazis lament the discovery of oil and gas since both are widely seen as having brought nothing but oppression, poverty and suffering, along with the pollution from their extraction.

author: Rahim Hamid


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Introducing Ursal — Union of Socialist Republics of Latin America, Brazil’s latest meme craze · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

The Ursal logo (in Portuguese, the word “urso” means bear). Image widely circulated online, author presently unknown.
As Brazil's presidential elections draw near, two important issues are top and centre: first, the hope of placating the chaos of that has engulfed the country's politics for the past four years. Second, the country's favorite sport, second only to football: memes.
The first presidential debate broadcasted on live television, on August 9, provided a true field day for its enthusiasts when Cabo Daciolo, an evangelical firefighter running for the small far-right party Patriota (Patriot), asked another candidate to share his thoughts on “the Ursal project”.
Daciolo (left): “Ursal is the New World Order that seeks to unify all America into a single communist homeland! And Ciro is part of it! We will stop it with the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen!”. Ciro Gomes (right): “Democracy is great, a beautiful thing … but it has certain costs” Cartoon by Carlos Ruas , used with permission.
As Daciolo explained, Ursal is the Portuguese acronym for Union of Socialist Republics of Latin America, a purpoted plan of communist triumph in the fashion of the defunct Soviet Union.
Upon his interlocutor's denial of any knowledge about the project, Daciolo continued:
Sabe sim, estamos falando aqui de um plano que se chama nova ordem mundial, união de toda a América do Sul, conexão de toda América do Sul, tirando todas as fronteiras e fazendo apenas uma nação, pátria grande. Poucos ouviram falar disso e vai ser pouco divulgado isso. Eles sabem do que estamos falando. Quero deixar bem claro que, no nosso governo, o comunismo não vai ter vez.
Yes, you know, we are talking about a plan that is called New World Order, the union of all of South America, connection of all of South America, taking away all the borders, making one single nation, the great motherland. Few people have heard about this, this isn't going to be very much publicized. They know what we are talking about. I want to make it very clear that, in our government, communism will not have any space.
It turns out that the “project Ursal” is a rather obscure, crazy conspiracy theory that has run wild on Brazil's far-right forums and blogs for a good number of years. A website created in 2015 called Ursal Dossier compiles all the “evidence” proving the existence of such a plan.
However, now that it was out in the open, progressive sectors of the Brazil internet really liked the idea. In a matter of days, Ursal had a map, logo, slogans, passport, football team, and a national anthem.
From popular Twitter user Thiago Mota:
mas agora mesmo que vou lutar diariamente pela implantação da URSAL pic.twitter.com/RkaGwmzhGq
— Thiago Mota (@tlmota) August 10, 2018
Starting now, I will fight every day for the implementation of URSAL
In Portuguese, the word “urso” means bear, prompting memes with… bears.
Como socialistas na América Latina era nosso dever investir na propaganda de nossa querida União das Repúblicas Socialistas da América Latina. Vida longa à Ursal (faremos camiseta, comente aqui quem quiser) pic.twitter.com/CLorxXp1HX
— Além das Sombras (@AlemD4sSombras) 10 de agosto de 2018
As socialists in Latin America it was our duty to invest in the propaganda of our beloved Union of Socialist Republics of Latin America. Long live the Ursal (we'll make a t-shirt, comment here whoever want's it)
By integrating some of the best national football teams in the world, Ursal would have the greatest number of FIFA World Cup championships:
A Ursal já nasce eneacampeã da Copa do Mundo
1930, 1950, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994 e 2002. Qualidade.
— Cassio Zirpoli (@Cassito_Z) August 10, 2018
Ursal is born as nine times champion of the World Cup: 1930, 1950, 1958, 1962, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1994 and 2002
And a dream line up:
Um ataque desses bicho. #URSAL pic.twitter.com/73MOrHJ9Ri
— Marco Pena #URSAL (@MARCOPENA13) August 10, 2018
Think about this squad, man.
It is possible to buy a Ursal t-shirt:
ALÔ VOCÊ QUE ACREDITA NA URSAL! LÁ ELE! AGORA VOCÊ JÁ PODE SE VESTIR COM ORGULHO! https://t.co/kwtosILU5H pic.twitter.com/ZwW9vl6c7J
— Canarinho de Wakanda (@OdaCarlota) August 10, 2018
HELLO YOU WHO BELIEVES IN URSAL! NOW YOU CAN WEAR IT WITH PRIDE!
Or request a passport:
Saiba aqui os postos de retirada do Vermelhinho, o passaporte que te permite viajar por todas os países socialistas.
ACESSE: https://t.co/79rBano0vo pic.twitter.com/7zTQ5GDd2j
— URSAL (@Ursal_oficial) August 11, 2018
Here you can find where to get your “little red”, the passport that allows you to travel through all socialist countries.
And Ursal's national anthem was fully crowdsourced on Twitter:
URSAL, URSAL
toda criança nasce cantando A Internacional
URSAL, URSAL
o aborto é seguro, gratuito e legal
URSAL, URSAL
uma foto do mujica em cada quartel-general
— melissa fan account (@janine_txt) August 10, 2018
First tweet:
Folks, I've started the national anthem, you carry on:
URSAL, URSAL, in this land carnival begins in November
URSAL, URSAL, you enter the museum, an orgy is taking place
URSAL, URSAL, your car, your fridge, your soul is state-owned
URSAL, URSAL, George Soros pays for our parties
Second tweet:
URSAL, URSAL, every child is born singing The Internationale
URSAL, URSAL, abortion is safe, free and legal
URSAL, URSAL, a photo of [Pepe] Mujica [former Uruguay leftist president] in every army headquarters
The term Ursal was created, as a joke, by conservative Brazilian professor Maria Lúcia Victor Barbosa, in 2001. In an article published by right-wing blogs at that time, she used the term to poke fun at that year's edition of the São Paulo Forum summit, a gathering of Latin American and Caribbean left-wing political parties and organizations.
At the 2001 summit, Worker's Party founder and former Brazil's president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made a vehement speech against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, a proposal made by the Bill Clinton administration in the United States to reduce trade barriers between all American countries.
In her article, professor Barbosa said:
Do alto do seu triunfo ele soltou o verbo para gáudio de esquerdas e, para ser imparcial, direitas latino-americanas: “É um projeto de anexação que os Estados Unidos querem impor. Será o fim da integração latino-americana”. Mas qual seria, me pergunto, essa tal integração no modelo Castro-Chávez-Lula? Quem sabe, a criação da União das Republiquetas Socialistas da América Latina (URSAL)?
From its moral high ground, [Lula] declared, to the joy of the leftists and rightists of Latin America: ‘It's a project of annexation by the United States. It will be the end of the Latin American integration”. But what would be, I ask, this integration in the model Castro-Chávez-Lula? Perhaps, the creation of the Union of the Socialist Republics of Latin America?
Within a couple of years, Ursal was spoken of in right-wing blogs and forums as a fact, the supposed ultimate goal of the São Paulo Forum.
In an interview with Brazil newspaper Folha de S.Paulo on August 13, 2018, professor Barbosa confirmed that she had come up with the term as an irony.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


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Latin America is the deadliest region on Earth — and this YouTube series wants to know why · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Screenshot of the first episode of the series, available on YouTube.
With only 8 percent of the world’s population, Latin America accounts for 33 percent of its homicides, making it the planet's deadliest continent. Around 2,5 million people have been murdered in the region since the start of this century, more deaths than in all of the world's wars in the same period.
Over the past few decades, there has been more research about the phenomenon than attempts to disseminate their findings to the wider public. Colombian YouTube channel La Pulla (in Spanish, “the taunt”) is having a go at it with the seven-episode series “Murder: Latin America's Tragedy” (In Spanish, “Matar, la desgracia de América Latina”).
Run by young reporters of the 130-year-old Colombian newspaper El Espectador, La Pulla delves into complex topics by combining hard analyzes with a raw sense of humor. While designed primarily with young Colombians in mind, the channel resonated with followers of all ages, inside and outside the South American country.
The “Murder” series, released in June 2017, turned out to be one of the channel's most popular. Some of the episodes come with English subtitles.
In the first episode, special guests tackle Mexico's case. Political commentator Jorge Roberto Avilés Vázquez, known online as Callodehacha, explains how the problem isn't restricted to the drug cartels:
Un dato para el presidente Trump: casi la mitad de los vendedores de armas [estadounidenses] dependen de nosotros como clientes. En México, hay armas suficientes para repartir a uno de cada tres hombres […]. Y en la frontera, cada kilómetro hay dos tiendas de armas […] Si tú mezclas una cultura violenta, desigualdad económica y el narcotráfico, esto es lo que nos queda: una montaña de muertos.
An important fact for president Trump: almost half of the American weapon traders depend on us as customers. In Mexico there are enough weapons to distribute to one in every three adult men. In the border, there are two weapon shops at every kilometer. If you mix a culture of violence, economic inequality and drug trafficking, this is the result: a mountain of dead people.
Some episodes tackle specific aspects of the phenomenon, such as high murder rates of trans people — this population's life expectancy in the region is below 40 years old — or the detrimental depictions of drug trafficking and consumption by the media and the entertainment industry.
In another episode, the series takes a closer look at Medellín, the Colombian city notorious for its drug cartel, but also for its subsequent recovery, translated into a dramatic fall of its homicide rate since the early 2000s.
The causes are complex and they're not all linked to either government's or people's initiatives. As the video explains, a constellation of factors contributed to the city's transformation, including public investment, community engagement, and pacts among the drug cartels.
In this episode, artists and community leaders describe, with first-hand experience, the long-term effects of artistic and educational initiatives in their neighborhoods.
Daniela Arbeláez, from the community center Casa de las estrategias (in Spanish strategy house), sees it this way:
We've become hardened when it came to violence. [We've made ourselves feel] as if nothing was going on. [We tell ourselves] “that's on that block, not this one. Let's not ask questions, I'm not going to that block”. “They're just killing each other, and I am not one of them”. And there's the curfews, which is a way to trap people in their houses. The gangs are the ones who impose them, but often times, the State does it too. I think that's such a lack of creativity, it's the State lowering itself using criminal gang methods, and not community-based processes [that] respond to people's passions, to [the need to have] places to fall in love, or to get in and out of the area, or go around the city…
Other videos explore the case of Venezuela, currently entangled in a political and economic crisis, Central America with its complex gang problem, or the role of the prison system in urban violence and crime.

author: Laura Vidal


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Netizen Report: Elections in Mali marred by militant violence — and internet shutdowns · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Discarded ballot boxes. Photo by Sheila Rouge, labeled for reuse.
The night before Mali’s sitting president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was re-elected in a runoff vote, internet access was hard to come by. Some internet users in the major cities of Bamako and Gao reported that they could not access the internet at all, while technical testing indicated that major social networks were blocked.
Later in the week, journalists for Agence-France Presse reported that mobile internet networks became inaccessible, just prior to the official announcement of Keita’s victory.
Internet outages like these put a strain on citizens’ abilities to communicate and access public information — activities that are especially important during an election. On top of this, an estimated 500 polling stations were closed for the August 12 runoff vote, due to militant violence and threats against voters and poll workers in the northern region of the West African country. In turn, only 34% of Mali’s eligible voters cast ballots.
While international election observers reported no evidence of election fraud, the effects of violence in the north undoubtedly contributed to the low turnout. It is also worth noting that internet access (especially via mobile networks) is not only important during elections, but also in conflict situations where safety is of the utmost concern. Network shutdowns can hinder users’ access to communication services at a time when they are most in need of information that can help ensure their safety.
It has been one year since the Egyptian government ordered internet service providers to begin blocking a spate of foreign and local independent news sites, including Al Jazeera, Huffington Post Arabic, Medium and Mada Masr, alongside various media and human rights NGOs, among them, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). On August 10, 2018, RSF announced the creation and launch of a “mirror” site that will allow users in Egypt to access the site once more, without needing to use censorship circumvention tools.
In the fallout from a rapidly organized student protest movement in Bangladesh demanding stronger enforcement of traffic laws, Dhaka’s Metropolitan Police are scouring social media networks to identify accounts who a police official said were “provoking the students by spreading propaganda” on social media.
Thus far, they say they have arrested 12 people and analyzed more than 1500 accounts. Local experts say that some of those arrested appear to have spread rumors about police abuse, while others were simply promoting and helping to organize demonstrations. Many students involved in the protests meanwhile have been deleting their posts related to protests, fearing punishment by police.
After dragging through legislative procedures for more than six years, Brazil finally approved a data protection law, following in the footsteps of the European Union's GDPR and similar laws in neighboring Argentina and Uruguay. The new regulations, which will take effect in 18 months, require companies to inform users when and how their information is collected, to delete it upon the user's request or after the relationship between the parties has ended, and to pay fines if they fail to comply. However, a number of items from the original text were vetoed by president Michel Temer, among them the creation of a government regulator and the obligation of public bodies to disclose whenever they share user information among themselves.
Messages of hate and threats of violence on Facebook were a focal point in CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before the US Ccongress last April, where members of Congresscongress pointed to examples from Myanmar, where hate speech and threats of violence against Rohingya Muslims reached a boiling point in autumn of 2017. The company soon thereafter pledged to hire more Burmese language speakers to review abusive content on the site.
A recent investigation by Reuters showed that Facebook recently outsourced some of this work to the US-based strategy and consulting firm Accenture, which has hired a team of Burmese-speaking moderators (in a project team dubbed “Honey Badger”) who work out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “Honey Badger employees typically sign one-year renewable contracts and agree not to divulge that the client is Facebook,” Reuters’ Steve Stecklow writes.
Meanwhile, VICE News reported that Facebook has hired Business for Social Responsibility, a US-based NGO, to conduct an assessment of whether and/or how Facebook’s platform enabled ethnic violence and hate speech against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Time will tell if the company does the same in other countries (such as India and Bangladesh) where its tools are used to plan and propagate violence.
Afef Abrougui, Eduardo Avila, Ellery Roberts Biddle Mohamed ElGohary, Rohith Jyothish, Georgia Popplewell, Taisa Sganzerla, and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


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Fearing reprimand, student protesters in Bangladesh go silent · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Students protesting in a Dhaka street. Screenshot via YouTube user TheLifeOfJord
On July 29, Bangladeshi students spontaneously launched a protest movement demanding safer roads and traffic enforcement in the country, after two students were hit and killed by a municipal bus.
Over the course of a week, tens of thousands of students from 6th grade to university level filled the streets, chanting for road security and even directing traffic to prove their point. The protests were widely followed by international media, with Bangladeshi students using hashtags like #CNN #ALJAZEERA #REUTERS and other global media tags to draw attention their cause.
Demonstrations began peacefully but turned violent on August 3 when rumors of ruling party student wing and the police abusing and kidnapping students triggered confrontations between police and protesters, with police resorting to tear gas and rubber bullets.
In a few days’ time, nearly 1,000 people were wounded, among them 45 police personnel.
Use of social media to spread rumors and disinformation generally has been on the rise in Bangladesh, particularly via Facebook, which is the most popular social media platform in the country — in fact, Bangladesh's capital Dhaka has the second highest number of Facebook users per capita among major cities across the world.
Rumors of police abuse also led to clashes between protesters and the student wing of the ruling party. Soon thereafter, a group representing the student protest visited the headquarters of the ruling party and found no evidence of students being held.
The government has blamed social media users and activists for trying to create unrest by sharing provocative posts and content on Facebook. On August 5, in the heat of the protests, police arrested 22 students on vandalism charges.
The government also arrested Shahidul Alam, an acclaimed photographer and civic activist, who had been documenting the assaults on students and journalists. His arrest has been condemned by local and international organizations.
This data visualisation shows how clusters of #freeshahidulalam have emerged, spanning prominent rights activists, human rights groups, international wire news agencies, leading photo agencies & journalists, spanning many countries. Similar pattern with #FreeShahidul on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/vBeDqyapIa
— Sanjana Hattotuwa (@sanjanah) August 13, 2018
In one of his posts, Dinesh Khanna shared on Facebook:
Shahidul Alam matters because he is our Voice. His life as a photographer, educationist, and thinker has been informed by his activism, his belief in what is just. It is this commitment that has made him one of the most admired international figures in the world of photography and media. Delhi Photo Festival was inspired by Chobi Mela and Pathshala, both founded by him, and we were privileged to have him as the keynote speaker at our first edition in 2011. Shahidul cannot and should not be silenced.
In the days following the protests, Bangladesh police arrested at least 12 social media activists accused of spreading rumors on Facebook during student protests. Among them are prominent media figures like actress Kazi Noushaba Ahmed. Media reports quoting police officials confirmed that the authorities have investigated more than a thousand Facebook profiles which allegedly incited violence during the unrest. DMP’s Deputy Commissioner of Cyber Security and Crime Division Md Alimuzzaman said: “Scrutinizing over 1,500 profiles on different social media, we have found over 150 accounts as vibrant and some 80 to 90 have appeared as highly vibrant.”
In total around 100 people have been arrested so far and 51 police cases were filed. Human Rights Watch said in a statement:
The recent wave of arrests, targeting student protesters and journalists, has created an atmosphere of fear, putting a serious chill on free speech.
Fear of arrests and investigations of online activities has led many students to go quiet on social media — some have even deleted their posts. Meanwhile, Dhaka's roads are back to their chaotic form. The complexity of the problem is often underestimated as a Facebook user writes (link omitted for the safety of the user):
I found one benefit of this recent road safety movement and that's also from my own perspective. Now common people realized that traffic police is not the sole agency to streamline the traffic issue of this city. It is a huge relief. Even the highly educated citizens used to believe that the inefficiency of traffic police was the only cause of traffic jam or if police wanted, they could solve this issue just like this! Now they know there are many issues and agencies [Road transport authorities, Bangladesh bus truck owners association, Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, Bangladesh Rickshaw Owners Association] are involved, Police is just one of them.
On Friday, August 10, a city bus bumped into the Home Minister's car amidst the Traffic Week which followed the demonstrations. The driver’s assistant was behind the wheel at the time of the accident.

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


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Global Voices is seeking a Managing Editor · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Screen grab from a video taken on January 25, 2015 at the Global Voices 2015 Summit in Cebu, Philippines. Video by Global Voices and PR Works.
[NOTE: We are no longer accepting applications for this position]
Global Voices seeks to hire a Managing Editor to lead and oversee the work of the Global Voices newsroom.
We are seeking candidates with experience working in a multicultural newsroom environment, conceptualizing editorial products, managing a globally distributed team, and fundraising.
Global Voices is a global, virtual organization supported by the paid and volunteer efforts of people on every continent. The engine of the Global Voices newsroom is a team of part-time editors who work with volunteer authors around the world to highlight stories and perspectives that are underrepresented in international mainstream media. The Managing Editor will work with this group, alongside special project and copy editors, to develop and lead Global Voices’ editorial vision and outputs. The Managing Editor will also be part of the Global Voices’ core leadership team.
Global Voices is in the process of reimagining the direction of our organization through a community consultation. Our ideal candidate will be able to help lead the newsroom during a time of transition, managing changes in process, supporting different editorial roles and helping to design, fund, and manage new editorial products.
To work effectively with our community and in our newsroom, the ideal candidate will have fluency in English and at least one other language, and 5-7 years of experience in the following areas:
The ideal candidate should have proven skills in the following areas:
All applicants should be able to demonstrate a strong committment to Global Voices's mission and values.
Candidates must have consistent, reliable access to broadband internet connectivity, be comfortable working in a wholly virtual environment, and be prepared to make around five international work trips per year. The Managing Editor will report to the Global Voices Executive Director and Managing Director.
We strongly welcome candidates from outside North America and Western Europe and encourage people currently contributing to the Global Voices project to apply.
The position is near full-time or full-time, but should be treated as a freelance contract.
To apply, please send a CV and letter of interest explaining why you'd be a good fit for the job to: jobs AT globalvoices DOT org no later than .

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Kerala floods: Tech-savvy Indian citizens mobilize to minimize the damage · Global Voices
Lakshmi Sarah

Flood waters started to rise in Kerala during the third week of July 2018. It has now reached disastrous proportions. Image via Wikimedia Commons by Mini Anto CC: BY-SA 3.0
The South Indian state of Kerala on the Malabar Coast, known for its lush landscape, coconut trees, and inspiring backwaters, has been hit with unusually high amounts of rainfall during this year's monsoon season, causing severe floods and humanitarian crises in the region.
As of August 17, the death toll has risen to 324, with over 200,000 people displaced and 14 districts placed on high alerts. At least 350 relief camps have been opened at various locations to accommodate the flood victims. Many educational and other institutes across the state have opened to accommodate the flood victims.
While Kerala officials continue with rescue and relief efforts, Indian citizens have activated social media and IT strategies to reach those in dire need of support.
Kerala flood update:
82,442 people were rescued today
Death toll from May 29- Aug 17: 324
Death toll from Aug 8- Aug 17: 164
People in relief camps: 3,14,391
2094 relief camps opened across Kerala
40,000 state police officials + 3200 fire force officials working on ground
— Shilpa Nair (@NairShilpa1308) August 17, 2018
That's the situation in Kaladi after the rain stopped. Shortage of drinking water in relief camps. Please help. #KeralaFlood #KeralaFloodRelief pic.twitter.com/4hS7zxrGWE
— Reshma Vidyadharan (@ReshmaVidya) August 17, 2018
On August 15, India's seventh largest airport, Cochin International, has suspended all operations until August 26 due to completely submerged runways. The southern railway has suspended train services on Thiruvananthapuram-Kottayam-Ernakulam and Ernakulam-Shoranur-Palakkad sections as water levels subsume railway lines. The Kochi metro service has also been suspended.
Map depicting some dams in Kerala state. Image via Wikimedia/Openstreetmap.
Monsoons in India have worsened over the last 15 years according to one study done by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Recent data reveals patterns of “shorter bursts of rain in higher amounts.” Rising land and sea temperatures may also explain increased rainfall.
During this year's monsoon season, powerful rains arrived with more force, filling dams to capacity. Nearly all 42 gates in the state of Kerala have opened, flooding local low-lying areas that have led to casualties.
On Tuesday, August 14, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan declared, “This is the worst monsoon disaster since 1924.”
Indian netizens have called for more coverage in local and international media, complaining that the state of Kerala lacks sufficient disaster management resources:
Please share: Kerala, India has suffered a major flood but the story isn’t receiving international coverage. Over 54,000 people are homeless and the situation is dire. Let’s try to build awareness of this tragedy. #KeralaFloodRelief pic.twitter.com/2hMg6Wsk0J
— nerdy (@nerdyasians) August 17, 2018
While Kerala reels under the worst flood in history, the priorities of the Modi govt are clear: 1484Cr on PM's travel, 4300Cr on Ads, 3600 Cr on Shivaji statue, 2989 Cr on Patel statue, 4200 Cr on Kumbh Mela & only 100 Cr for Kerala flood relief! pic.twitter.com/fu6QlyLx57
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) August 17, 2018
More than 95 people have lost their life in #KeralaFlood Lakhs have been displaced. Modi and his TV channels do not care. You will know why if you too belong to a non-hindi-speaking state. These states don’t exist. They don’t matter. Discrimination. Sad reality of India. pic.twitter.com/sBaLdm0pCc
— Voice Of Ram (@VORdotcom) August 17, 2018
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Kerala to assess the situation on August 17, 2018.
നാളെ  വൈകിട്ട് ഓടുകൂടി പ്രധാനമന്ത്രി ശ്രീ നരേന്ദ്ര മോദിജി കേരളം സന്ദർശിക്കും. https://t.co/WfKZae78gB Shri @narendramodi ji will be visiting #Kerala tomorrow. #KeralaFloods
— Alphons KJ (@alphonstourism) August 16, 2018
Educator T T Sreekumar wrote on Facebook:
Kerala is fighting it almost all alone, the severest and worst flood ever for last 100 years. If national and international agencies continue to show indifference, it will be a pity. But it is left to them to decide. The spirit of unity, willpower, compassion, and dedication of thousands of volunteers belonging to state and non-state agencies in Kerala are indescribable. Wherever possible they have sought and used whatever assistance that was forthcoming from the Naval and army units. Hundreds of people I personally know, people who are my friends, and several thousand others, have dedicated themselves to the rescue and relief operations, online and offline. Some of them have not slept for days together. The physical and material loss is enormous, the state's infrastructure is reduced to rubble. Crops and livestock are almost destroyed. But the loss of human life is kept to the minimum because Kerala is now an ocean of mutual love, care, and mindfulness. We have ourselves and we shall overcome.
Screenshot from the Keralarescue Website.
Kerala residents at home and abroad are working to connect rescue operations with those in dire circumstances. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Kerala and the Kerala government’s IT department has partnered with thousands of volunteer developers to design and run keralarescue.in, a website working to connect all stakeholders.
To ensure transparency, their codebase is hosted on GitHub, an open source platform. Others are inputting Whatsapp emergency messages into Google Docs like this one from Chennai Cares:
Example of a call for help using Google Docs geo-coordinates.
Netizens have turned to Whatsapp to relay calls for help. The Kerala State disaster fund released a list of WhatsApp and landline numbers to contact for assistance.
Videos on Facebook describing how to mark one’s location in Google have been shared widely. Yet residents face uncertainty now that all five of the Idukki Dam Gates have opened for the first time in history. One man makes a desperate video plea as he stands neck-deep in the water on the second floor of his Kerala home.
It's deluge in #Kerala. Cheruthoni town near Idukki dam is seen in the video #keralafloods @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/n2JmevqbKD
— Arun Janardhanan (@arunjei) August 16, 2018
5 ways you can help Kerala Flood Victims: https://t.co/vs5VXU2NnX#KeralaFloods #KeralaFloodRelief pic.twitter.com/tCjm8Rr8RS
— Chaaipani (@chaaipani) August 17, 2018
The Times of India is providing Live Updates to follow this developing story.

author: Lakshmi Sarah


text:
Fans around the world celebrate as Akira turns 30 · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

A scene from Akira. Image: screen grab from YouTube, via channel Goldeneye32X.
On July 16, 2018, netizens around the world marked the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Akira, a groundbreaking film that revolutionized and influenced how animation forever. To mark the occasion, fans from Japan and beyond shared their favorite scenes from the movie — and why, thirty years on, Akira remains so fascinating to so many people.
Akira was written and directed by Otomo Katsuhiro, in 1988 already a legendary manga artist in Japan, and based on his popular manga series of the same name, which had been initially been published as a monthly serial starting in 1982.
The story takes place in the year 2019 in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, an authoritarian police state where protests are repressed, corruption runs rampant and the rule of law is nothing but a façade. Childhood friends Kaneda and Tetsuo lead a local biker gang when a motorcycle accident wakes in the latter powerful psionic abilities, testing their relationship and threatening the military complex that rules over them.
As with so much of post-war Japanese pop culture, Akira's themes of destruction, hopelessness, and resilience echo the real-life events of 1945, when the United States dropped atomics on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the two attacks immediately killing at least 200,000 people.
Both the manga series and the 1988 movie are cyberpunk tour-de-force that includes amphetamine-popping motorcycle punks, sophisticated military hardware, and transhumanism.
In the movie, the explosive cataclysm that gave rise to Neo-Tokyo took place on July 16, 1988. In the real world, the movie was also first released on this date, and this anniversary was celebrated around the world, including in Japan.
Happy Birthday AKIRA for the 30th anniversary ?? ?#AKIRA #アキラ #AKIRA_Animation_30th_Anniversary pic.twitter.com/mLopBI1RY7
— じょお (@llJooHll) July 17, 2018
translate
On this day, July 16th of 1988, Akira destroyed the original Tokyo. Highly recommended movie, a timeless classic and an absolute work of art. pic.twitter.com/89wqjGyght
— Niche Gamer (@nichegamer) July 16, 2018
As part of a global online celebration under the hashtag #AkiraWeek, the Japan Times produced a series of articles devoted to Akira spearheaded by pop culture writer Matt Schley. In one of his articles in the series, Schley explains to Japan Times readers how to speak Japanese like a biker punk, while providing some useful background vocabulary to help understand the movie:
That film, and the manga that inspired it, are set in the far-flung year of 2019, when Tokyo has been destroyed by a 新型爆弾 (shingata bakudan, new type of bomb) that started 第三次世界大戦 (Daisanji Sekai Taisen, World War III). Rebuilt as the dystopian ネオ東京 (Neo-Tokyo), the megalopolis is populated by corrupt politicians, revolutionaries, 超能力者 (chōnōryokusha, those with psychic powers) and teenage 暴走族 (bōsōzoku, motorcycle gangs).
In another article for the series, Schley explains some of the technical aspects that made the production of Akira so groundbreaking:
“Akira” was painted digitally — a revolutionary step at the time — on a PC with a 12 megahertz processor and a handmade heat diffuser that, Oliff wrote, “chugged like an old farm truck.” Initially, the colorist sent drafts to Otomo for approval, but eventually, the “Akira” creator told Oliff he trusted him with it completely. In an interesting cross-cultural moment, Epic’s colorized version was converted back into Japanese and released in Japan soon thereafter.
For many fans, the film's virtuoso visual style is what makes Akira so memorable:
AKIRA (1988) is an animated masterpiece. It is completely mindblowing how much work must have gone into some of the animated sequences and backgrounds. pic.twitter.com/yOdyJywA9B
— Rocket Adrift (@RocketAdrift) August 13, 2018
In a thread that went viral on Twitter, one Akira fan took a close look at what made the movie's animation so compelling:
Alright, let's take a closer look at some of these pencil tests from Akira! Look at this amazing tracking shot! That tunnel! I bet a lot of folks assume this was 3D CGI but NOPE. It was hand drawn!#Akira #Akira30 #アキラ #PencilTest #2DAnimation #Sakuga pic.twitter.com/Vf92OKkvZn
— Art-Eater ➡⬇↘?? (@Richmond_Lee) July 20, 2018
There's dozens of individually interesting animations happening in here, but they flow together so cohesively. All the motions are actually very gentle, but their combined effect is incredibly unsettling.#Akira #Akira30 #アキラ #PencilTest #2DAnimation pic.twitter.com/L5XgYvmmqc
— Art-Eater ➡⬇↘?? (@Richmond_Lee) July 20, 2018
The public installations of illustrations from the manga and the animated film also appeared, as observed by another Twitter user:
渋谷にて
デカイ鉄雄
スクリーントーンの削りや
モアレがまた良いですな。#アキラ pic.twitter.com/TZ7AWLo87T
— shigehico (@msomohico) August 14, 2018
A screentone of a giant Testuo (the main antagonist in the manga series and in the animated film) in Shibuya (in Tokyo). I think I prefer Moiré pattern-technique myself.
For many people around the world, the story and themes of Akira continue to be thought-provoking.
“In 1988, Akira looked and sounded like nothing I’d ever seen. It was long, yet insanely fast. And by the end of it, I had no more of a clue what it was about than I had done at the start.”@DavidBennun on 30 years of anime’s blockbuster masterpiece.https://t.co/hni0NJCEyv pic.twitter.com/MWA5bbB505
— The Quietus (@theQuietus) July 8, 2018
In an essay to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Akira, essayist David Bennun writes:
What I now grasp is that it was, and is, different in Japan. For the simple and very good reason that Japan was, and is – and we can only hope remains – the only nation to have actually experienced nuclear warfare.
You can explore further commentary on Akira through the hashtags #アキラ, #Akira, #Akira30, and #AKIRA_Animation_30th_Anniversary.
For a good overview of Akira's plot and characters, here's a fan-made English-language trailer of the movie:

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Facebook admits it has been slow in addressing hate speech in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

“Monk using his phone at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Myanmar.” Image and caption by Remko Tanis. Flickr photo, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Facebook reported on August 15, 2018, that its efforts to deal with misinformation, fake news, and hate speech in Myanmar have been slow and inadequate:
The ethnic violence in Myanmar is horrific and we have been too slow to prevent misinformation and hate on Facebook.
It cited some technical issues and other reasons why it failed to decisively address misinformation in Myanmar:
The rate at which bad content is reported in Burmese, whether it’s hate speech or misinformation, is low. This is due to challenges with our reporting tools, technical issues with font display and a lack of familiarity with our policies.
During his appearance before the United States Senate in April 2018, Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg boasted about his company's progress in resolving the spread of hate speech in countries like Myanmar.
But six civil society groups signed a letter disproving Zuckerberg's claim while highlighting the “inherent flaws” in Facebook's ability to respond to emergencies. Zuckerberg was quick to apologize and vowed to do more to stop groups from using Facebook to promote religious violence and discrimination in Myanmar.
Facebook usage has surged in Myanmar over the past several years but this has also led to the widespread dissemination of fake news, hate speech, and other forms of misinformation targeting the country’s Muslim minority, especially the stateless Rohingya population.
Hardline Buddhist groups were accused of fomenting hatred and bigotry against the Rohingya which led to violent clashes, displacement of Muslim residents in the Rakhine State, and the intensification of online persecution against minorities.
The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s ethnic groups and considers them illegal immigrants.
Even before Zuckerberg's testimony in the United States Senate, United Nations officials blamed Facebook for its failure to prevent hate speech in Myanmar.
Marzuki Darusman, chairperson of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar reported on March 12:
[H]ate speech and incitement to violence on social media is rampant, particularly on Facebook. To a large extent, it goes unchecked.
Yanghee Lee, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told members of the 37th session of the Human Rights Council:
[T]he level of hate speech, particularly on social media, has a stifling impact on asserting sensitive and unpopular views.
A recent update from Facebook allows for reviews of mechanisms implemented in the past five months to address hate speech and misinformation including the following programs carried out by Facebook:
In the second quarter of 2018, we proactively identified about 52% of the content we removed for hate speech in Myanmar.
As of this June, we had over 60 Myanmar language experts reviewing content and we will have at least 100 by the end of this year.
We proactively identified posts that indicated a threat of credible violence in Myanmar. We removed the posts and flagged them to civil society groups to ensure that they were aware of potential violence.
The Facebook update was issued a day after Reuters published a special feature about the ‘meager’ resources allotted by the tech company to resolve complaints relating to hate speech in Myanmar. Reuters also identified around 1,000 posts with hate speech content which could still be accessed on Facebook during the first week of August.
Now that Facebook recognizes the link between online hate speech and the violence inflicted on Myanmar’s minority groups, it remains to be seen to what extent the company's actions will halt the dissemination of hateful content. This, however, should embolden civil society groups and other human rights advocates to place greater pressure on Facebook and other digital platforms to prevent the publication and broadcasting of misinformation in Myanmar and around the world.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
#FreeBobiWine: Protests mount over torture and arrest of a young political force in Uganda · Global Voices
Rosebell Kagumire

MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as”Bobi Wine”, (R) while campaigning for Arua MP-elect Kassiano Wadri (L). Photo posted on the MP's official Facebook page.
Protests have erupted throughout Uganda after parliamentarian Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu was charged at a military court following his brutal arrest and torture in the town of Arua in northwest Uganda.
The singer-turned-politician known as “Bobi Wine” who represents the Kyadondo East district has been a fierce critic of President Yoweri Museveni and was in the Arua district campaigning for independent candidate Kassiano Wadri.
Fondly known as “the Ghetto President,” Wine has galvanized young voters to engage in critical by-elections since 2016, when Museveni won yet another term to extend his 32-year-old rule.
In Arua, on August 13, Bobi Wine's personal driver Yasin Kawuma was shot and killed in his car. Images of Kawuma's blood-soaked, lifeless body still strapped in his parked car have shaken the country. Chaos subsequently ensued in the final campaign rallies during which the Ugandan government claims Wadri's supporters stoned a presidential convoy.
All indications had pointed to a win for Wadri over the ruling party's candidate, making the Arua district vote particularly tense.
Although Bobi Wine was not at the scene of the alleged attack on the presidential convoy, the military tracked him down at his hotel and reportedly tortured him.
Hours later, Bobi Wine was taken to Gulu, a town located in northern Uganda. On August 16, 2018, he was charged at a military court on two counts of possession of firearms and one count of possession of ammunition. Lawyers permitted to see him described his state as dire without the ability to walk or talk.
President Museveni later claimed accounts of Bobi Wine's torture were “fake news”. However, the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) team that visited Bobi Wine confirmed the accounts.
MP candidate Wadri was also arrested along with several other MP's including MP Francis Zaake, who was later dumped at a Kampala hospital where he remains on life support.
Wadri along with MP Paul Mwiru (Jinja East) and Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality) and 31 other people were charged with treason and remanded to Gulu Central Prison.
Bobi Wine was later flown to a military detention center in the capital Kampala where he will be held until August 23, pending a court appearance.
Meanwhile, lawyer Male Mabirizi has challenged the Constitutional Court for charging civilians before military courts.
Close family members and colleagues say Bobi Wine requires urgent medical attention. The military has denied him a private a doctor:
1. An order for the transfer of @HEBobiwine to a medical facility of his choice for him to receive medical care from his personal doctor & @TheUMAofficial physicians. A doctor who has been treating Bobi for the last 17 years has been denied access. #FreeBobiWine
— Chapter Four Uganda (@chapter4uganda) August 20, 2018
Bobi Wine's slogan ‘People Power, Our Power’ has become a game changer in Ugandan politics. Sure enough, despite Wine and Wadri being under arrest, Wadri went on to win the Arua by-election.
On the streets and online, Ugandans and supporters from around the world are using #FreeBobiWine to pressure the government to release the 36-year-old politician.
On August 17, in the Kampala suburb of Kamwokya where Wine grew up, protesters clashed with police who fired tear gas and bullets:
Signs of a pending strike. #FreeBobiWine supporters in Kamwokya are writing this on walls and roads #NTVNews pic.twitter.com/oogNkutIYz
— T'Challa (@Tumwesigye_Jose) August 19, 2018
On Sunday, August 19, police shot and killed one person and five others were injured in Mityana Municipality, about 60 kilometers outside Kampala.
Civilians clashed with police and military in downtown Kampala, Uganda on August 20, 2018. Photo by Halima Athumani, used with permission.
Downtown Kampala was on lockdown Monday, August 20 after breakouts of sporadic protests:
BREAKING:
Current situation in Kampala, Uganda. The People want @HEBobiwine released. Businesses shut down. Kampala is on lockdown!!
Museveni…Your time is over!!
#FreeBobiWine #FreeBobiWine #FreeBobiWine pic.twitter.com/t2KR3EkYax
— #FreeBobiWine (@xtiandela) August 20, 2018
Today's riots in Kampala, no one was safe. The beating that this young man got was for world cup. He was picked from one of the shops beaten and taken away. #FreeBobiWine 04 pic.twitter.com/PddpIbpHQR
— Atulinda Allan?? (@Atulinda_Allan) August 20, 2018
All we want is freedom
All we need is change
My county needs deliverance. #FreeBobiWine pic.twitter.com/lBLvjfSWHg
— Hibbah (@Hibbah_daniels) August 20, 2018
Human rights advocates have called on the police and military to respect the rights of protestors:
We call on the @PoliceUg & other security forces to respect the right to peaceful protests. Efforts to manage public order should involve use of reasonable and lawful force. Live ammunition & excessive force should not be used to quell protests.
? @DailyMonitor #FreeBobiWine pic.twitter.com/nfRaW67s5U
— Chapter Four Uganda (@chapter4uganda) August 20, 2018
The outcry to free Bobi Wine has been heard throughout the East African region and around the world. The European Union has issued a statement strongly condemning the by-election violence. In Uganda, the United States Embassy called for the rights of all those detained to be honored. Oxfam Uganda stressed:
Human rights are not given to Ugandans as a favour by the state, they are inalienable and accrue naturally to everybody…The Ugandan government, a beacon of peace that has opened its doors to refugees across the region, should quickly start conversations about the political future of the country to avoid future conflict and the dire consequences that come with it.
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi announced a protest at the Uganda High Commission in Kenya on Wednesday, August 22. East African netizens are calling for a new, youth-led vision of Africa:
The revolution is
A young Ugandan black man
A fearless artist turned liberator
A liberated mind and conscious leader
A father who loves his family and fights for their future. Kenyans rise with Ugandans Aluta??✊?#FreeBobiWine#FreeArua33 pic.twitter.com/KY4QiHEmAz
— Scheaffer Okore (@scheafferoo) August 19, 2018
In our new Africa,
There is no room for brutality, we cherish each other.
Let us debate disagreements, not crush opponents.
In our new Africa,
Our young people control our future; they are Africa.
Ignore or abuse them at your peril.#FreeBobiWine#FreePeterBiar#NoToViolence
?
— Julie Gichuru (@JulieGichuru) August 19, 2018
I think we as East Africans have to decide what we want this region to look like – what kind of future we want to have. This has to be a line in the sand. Enough is enough. #FreeBobiWine
— Nanjala Nyabola (@Nanjala1) August 20, 2018

author: Rosebell Kagumire


text:
Netizens flood the internet with support for monsoon victims in Kerala, India · Global Voices
Devika Sakhadeo

Torrential rains causing deluge and floods in Kerala, India in August 2018. Screenshot via Youtube, video by MK Madhuvana.
India's southwestern state of Kerala is facing its worst flooding in 100 years. The death toll has risen to nearly 400 while many still wait for rescue.
More than 800,000 people have been placed in approximately 4,000 relief camps across 14 districts. As flooding continues to wreak havoc for two consecutive weeks, call for prayers have transformed into calls for help, action, and support.
This Youtube compilation video by TLOI Academy depicts the severity of the disaster:
Many victims trapped by the heavy rains have already received support from people from all around the world thanks to organizations who have rallied volunteers and donors to activate donation pick-up points in cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru.
Using social media to promote and spread awareness, they are calling for collections of food supplies, toiletries, baby products, menstrual kits, and dry clothing. This campaign received a boost from social media celebrities, film actors, and comedians who sent appeals for generous support.
Keralite actor Nivin Pauly posted an appeal for people in Bengaluru (Bangalore):
Calling all my friends in #Bangalore for support! Our friends are collecting these items on Tuesday and Wednesday to distribute it to various relief camps in #Chengannur! Please spread this! @twtnishad #KeralaFloods#StandWithKerala#KeralaFloodRelief pic.twitter.com/A02JMGjmlE
— Nivin Pauly (@NivinOfficial) August 20, 2018
Netizens have been using Facebook's Fundraiser tool to raise money for the Kerala Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, while platforms such as PayTM and Amazon.in have initiated facilities to enable users to donate too:
We are happy to share that we have crossed INR 30 Crore in contributions in under 4 days, from over 12 lakh Paytm users for #KeralaFloodRelief ?
Let’s keep going.#IndiaForKerala ??
— Paytm (@Paytm) August 20, 2018
As reported in Global Voices, Google tracking software allows rescuers to locate victims by highlighting locations where rescues are needed:
Our thoughts are with those in Kerala. Help track missing people with #personfinder: https://t.co/8EECLFpCqv #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/mo9VM3Uph4
— Google India (@GoogleIndia) August 16, 2018
Some organizations released online forms asking victims to identify which essentials supplies they needed along with details on where those supplies could be delivered.
Buzzfeed’s Dialogue produced a video explaining ways to help those trapped and affected by the floods in Kerala.
Kerala's flood heroes: Meet the team that managed an 8000 strong relief camp in Aluva. No power, not much food, no water. How did they manage? https://t.co/mpVvdrwvQf
— Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 20, 2018
As the death toll continues to rise, organizations and individuals have made efforts to save pets as well. The Humane Society International, an animal welfare group, has put up posts asking people to inform them of locations where animals are trapped in Kerala so that rescue teams can find them:
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. – Aesop #KeralaFlood pic.twitter.com/rFv2MgkX6G
— Psychedelic Pictures (@PsychdelicPics) August 20, 2018
Kerala fishermen have been providing boats during rescue operations. In a tweet, the Office of Chief Minister of Kerala declared that these fishermen would be remunerated including the cost of damages:
CM Pinarayi Vijayan announced that the Government will honor fishing workers who were part of the rescue mission. All boats will be granted ₹3000 for each day of their work. The government will also bear the repairing costs of boats damaged during the mission. #KeralaFloods
— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 19, 2018
The Indian government declared the floods a “calamity of severe nature.” As the Kerala state government continues to rescue the thousands yet stranded, they have also begun rehabilitation efforts for those rescued and now displaced.
Tuesday, August 14 saw the first commercial flight landing on the Cochin International Airport airstrip after two weeks of slow-down and shut down of air traffic. Certain airline companies have arranged relief flights from the naval base in Cochin.
The subsiding of water from surrounding areas has left an onslaught of debris and waste accumulated acrosses bridges and roads.
Just as Kerala's rains have begun to dissipate, fake news and fake donation websites have cropped up, adding to the confusion of properly delivering aid to those who need it most.
In a widely circulated video, a man dressed in army fatigues claims to provide information about military rescue operations carried out in Kerala. The Indian army's Directorate General of Public Information released a tweet explaining that the man is not an official army officer and that the video has been spreading false information:
Imposter wearing Army combat uniform in video spreading disinformation about rescue & relief efforts. Every effort by all & #IndianArmy aimed to overcome this terrifying human tragedy.Forward disinformation about #IndianArmy on WhatsApp +917290028579. We are at it #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/ncUR7tCkZW
— ADG PI – INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) August 19, 2018
Kerala is striving together as a fraternity to overcome the catastrophic flood. However, we have noticed that some are trying to malign this great effort with misinformation in the form of fake messages on social media. #KeralaFloods pic.twitter.com/1dVXF0gyot
— CMO Kerala (@CMOKerala) August 20, 2018
Concern over the unregulated sharing of personal account details posing as a fund collection points for the Kerela Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund has also confused the donation process. In one such case, the Kerala police have initiated legal action against a man spreading his personal account details for people to transfer money.
While rescue operations are underway, the Indian Meteorological Department has lifted red alerts from most of Kerala state. Rain has receded in certain areas but weather forecasters predict downpours will continue in four districts throughout the week.
That smile ! :) With a confidence and poise!
He has lost everything,
But still believes
He can stich together,
A new life ! ? #KeralaFlood pic.twitter.com/3gzMWqgGiG
— $ushilkhairnar (@sushilkhairnar) August 20, 2018

author: Devika Sakhadeo


text:
Venezuelan education and the specter of ideology · Global Voices
Aglaia Berlutti

School of Administration, Modern Languages and Education of the Central University of Venezuela. Photo from Warairarepano&Guaicaipuro. Shared under Creative Commons license. Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.
Some weeks ago, I awoke to the news that President Nicolás Maduro had announced that he was going to  “press forward with the elimination” of university programs related to the humanities. “All universities have to be connected with the “Homeland Plan” (or Plan de la Patria) 2025,” which is the same as saying that they would have to abide by a specific ideology.
“We can't have thousands of professionals graduating from university programs that have nothing to do with the country's development,” said Maduro. Which is essentially to say that subjects such as the arts, modern languages and international studies (also known as diplomacy studies) don't contribute anything to the country's development.
I shuddered when I read the news. Not only as a graduate of one such program, but also because of the direct implications of a such a blow—in the short- and medium-term—against critical thought and the holistic intellectual education of the next generation of Venezuelans.
Yet this news does not surprise me. Much less so since the swift radicalization of the “revolution” that has taken place over the last three years, as well as last year's demonstrations. Yet I am surprised at the clarity, the eloquence and the sheer unstoppability of the government's intention to impose an educational system tailored to its ideological ambitions.
“It was inevitable that something such as this would happen”, commented P., a sociologist. For three years, P. has been a critical observer of the changes to the school curriculum implemented by the government. “For the government, universities are a bastion of resistance that they haven't been able to control, despite their efforts.”
It is not the first time that something like this has happened: a few years ago, the “Colección Bicentenaria“, a series of school textbooks, was discussed on social media because of its obvious and biased manipulation of history. The government had not only developed a newly reinterpreted and conveniently revised vision of history, but it constructed a new historical setting where ideology unified future opinion.
I meet P. in her office at the private university where she still teaches. She looks at me with sadness and then retrieves one of the neatly arranged books from her disorderly library. It is a copy of the infamous Colección Bicentenaria. She opens it to a random page and hands it to me: Chávez, wearing the recognizable presidential sash, holding a girl in his arms who is reading attentively under a tree.
“The government is carefully cultivating the breeding ground for its ideology,” said P., showing me a photo of a public school in Caracas in which a group of children pose in front of a photograph of Chávez. The children look at the camera with their toothless smiles, none older than six years old, all making a military salute.
I think about the concept of homeland that the government frequently uses. That idea of the nation that seems to include not only its history and its inhabitants, but also its ideology. The homeland that defines a new kind of country, one that accords with the ideological emphasis, with cheap jingoism and why not, with an abundance of militarism as well.
Little by little, the new Venezuelan will accept that “Chavismo” is not only a political party, but an essential part of Venezuelan identity.
Two years ago there was another low-key scandal in the media about the changes that the Ministry of the People's Power for Education implemented in the country's school curriculum. According to the government document that circulated in schools, the teaching methods used by educational establishments were “simplistic, reductionist, mechanistic”.
The proposal for the new school curriculum does not include subjects, but rather learning themes. It also specifies that these themes should be “mainstreamed with the five historical objectives of the Homeland Plan in a interdependent structure”.
P. explained to me that those reforms don't have anything to do with modernizing the educational system, but with something much more intentional, which carries an ominous political charge. The proposal for educational reform intends to connect with the “historical objectives” of the “Homeland Plan” written by Hugo Chávez. This process began in 2007 with the presentation of the “Bolivarian National Curriculum” that formed part of the constitutional referendum.
The plan was defeated in the elections but it has been slowly imposed through decrees, without any kind of consensus.
With all this in mind, I imagine the generation that will grow up in Venezuela during the next decade. A generation of young people convinced that they should be thankful for handouts from the government. They will have the ideology as their main motive and motor driving their lives. A generation for whom dissent goes against the idea of the nation. A country of indoctrination, without arguments or debate. A silent country.
I imagine that country and I feel afraid. When I walk along the dirty and chaotic streets of Caracas, I look around and am shocked once again by the face of Chávez watching me from everywhere. An omnipresent ghost from yellowing billboards and ripped posters. And politics always there, everywhere, as a form of fear, as the image of confusion.

author: Aglaia Berlutti


text:
A new law threatens artistic expression in Cuba · Global Voices
Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez

Photo: Daniella Fernández. Taken from Cuban Women Photographers and used with permission.
Cuban artists and activists face growing concern over limits to freedom of expression with the implementation of Decree 349, a law that aims to regulate cultural and artistic activities, including book sales. The decree was approved in January 2018 and will go into effect by December.
The controversial decree requires artists to secure affiliations with official state institutions as their sole funders. It also outlines which authorities have the power to enforce the decree, including potential sanctions applied when violations occur.
Likewise, Decree 349 allows for fines and seizure of instruments, equipment and other property used in the infringing activity. Artistic events may face immediate shutdowns if deemed in violation.
The decree criminalizes actions that violate “human dignity.” Any content seen as discriminatory based on race or sexual orientation will become punishable by law. Violent images will also be scrutinized.
Since its publication in July, several Cuban artists have strongly opposed it, especially those associated with independent workshops and community projects as well as those in opposition to the current government. Many independent artistic projects that currently thrive thanks to crowdfunding online worry that the new law will complicate their livelihoods.
One of the most frequently used arguments is that this decree will limit the creativity of independent artists and open the door to governmental censorship and directives against content considered contrary to the government.
Various campaigns against Decree 349 have taken place concurrently with discussions about the proposed new constitution for Cuba. For many, however, these discussions have diverted attention away from the protests against the decree.
One specific campaign called Artistas Cubanxs en Contra del Decreto 349 (Cuban Artists Against Decree 349) was spearheaded by a group of intellectuals, artists, and activists including art historian Yanelys Nuñez, visual artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, poet Amaury Pacheco and rapper David D'Omni. (Amaury Pacheco and David are also members of the Omni-Zonafranca project.)
The campaign seeks to collect the minimum 10,000 signatures required by the current constitution for a law to be reconsidered.
Meanwhile, the activist platform Avaaz has joined the debate with a petition and open letter about the decree's legitimacy. The letter expresses concern for the future of art and culture in Cuba if only state-run organizations are authorized to grant permission for artistic events as well as decide who finances them:
Hoy día, el sistema de crowdfunding ofrece nuevas fuentes de apoyo a proyectos artísticos por parte de amigos. […] El hecho de que un artista cubano logre financiar sus creaciones por medios propios no lo convierte en un opositor — millones de individuos en el mundo se benefician de las nuevas tecnologías para difundir sus obras al margen de las instituciones culturales establecidas.
Today, crowdfunding provides new sources to support the artistic projects of our friends. […] The fact that a Cuban artist can self-finance their creations doesn't make them a dissident — millions of people throughout the world have benefited from new technologies to disseminate their work beyond the established cultural institutions.
The open letter calls attention to some of the decree's vague legal parameters such as: “content injurious to ethical and cultural values will be punished.” Addressed to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, and the new Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso, the letter has been signed by artists and intellectuals such as Tania Bruguera, Laritza Diversent, Coco Fusco, Yanelys Nuñez and Enrique del Risco.
Concerns stated in the letter were also shared by Cubalex, a human rights organization:
Los artistas independientes o que no tienen vinculación con las instituciones del estado o grupo de la sociedad civil, se verán doblemente discriminados debido a que sus formas y medios de expresión son percibidos por el Estado como contestatarios, por tanto una forma de expresión de la opinión política.
Independent artists or those who do not have associations with state institutions or groups from civil society will see themselves doubly discriminated against because their forms and means of expression are perceived by the state as a challenge, or an expression of political opinion.
Questions have emerged regarding the decree in religious spaces where artistic activities take place. Such is the case with Rule of Osha, a series of dance and music rituals found in Santeria, a widely-practiced religion in Cuba.
Meanwhile, a hip-hop collective comprised of artists David D'Omni (Omni-Zonafranca), Raudel Collazo of “Escuadrón Patriota” and rocker Gorki Aguila, of the band “Porno para Ricardo” have produced protest songs against the decree:
Tu censura está en clausura de conciertos que tumbaste.
Siempre estuvo ahí, solo la legalizaste.
Nos acusas entonces de politizar el arte, dime
¿Qué hiciste tú cuándo lo colocaste
En la Constitución con sanciones al artista?
Basta ya de represión sigue creciendo la lista.
Your censorship is in the closure of concerts that you shut down.
It was always there, you only legalized it.
Then you accuse us of politicizing art,
But tell me,
What did you do when you put in the constitution sanctions for the artists?
Stop already with the repression whose list keeps on growing.
In favor of the decree, Jorge Angel Hernández explains his point of view in La Jiribilla, a pro-government magazine:
Las reacciones opuestas al Decreto 349 coinciden, casualmente, en centrarse en la presentación de un caos futuro de censura y represión; anuncian el Apocalipsis y protegen, sin mucha sutileza, las fuentes de financiamiento injerencista que les van permitiendo los diferentes niveles de protagonismo en el espectro público internacional.
The opposed reactions to Decree 349 coincide, as it happens, to focus on presenting a future chaos of censorship and repression. They announce the apocalypse and protect, without much subtlety, the sources of interfering financing that will allow them to achieve several levels of prominence in the international public spectrum.
Controversy over the decree has led to confrontations between artists and the government. Artistas Cubanxs en Contra del Decreto 349 (Cuban Artists against Decree 349) scheduled two concerts for August 11 and 15 to publicize their movement against the decree, but the National Revolutionary Police shut down the event and arrested a few artists. Diario de Cuba recorded the arrests and shared the footage on its YouTube channel:

author: Sandra Abd'Allah-Alvarez Ramírez


text:
Anatomy of a Trinidad earthquake · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screenshot from the USGS's interactive map of the August 21 earthquake.
I remember Haiti's 2010 earthquake clearly. I wasn't there physically, but the rest of me certainly was, in mind and heart. The Global Voices Caribbean team published close to 50 posts about the rescue, relief, and recovery efforts in the two months that followed January 12, and we had a contingent on the ground for a short period in the early stages of recovery, to support Haitian netizens, who had limited access to electricity and internet, in sharing their own perspectives on the disaster.
Haiti's earthquake, a startling 7.0 in magnitude, produced calamitous results: in the 30-40 seconds it lasted, it was as if a child had had a tantrum and trashed his Lego city. Both the death toll and the economic toll—burdens the struggling island nation was ill-equipped to bear—were staggering. Even from a distance, that earthquake changed me: it solidified the power of citizen media platforms to speak for people in disaster (and war) zones when traditional media could not even find safe passage. It was a phenomenon that would repeat itself, from the start of the Arab Spring later that year to the ongoing crisis in Syria. But the event also solidified in my mind that we are our brother's keeper. A global community. There, but for the grace of God, go I.
On August 21, 2018, along with the rest of Trinidad and Tobago, there I went. The quake, 7.3 in magnitude at its epicentre in northern Venezuela, was 6.9 by the time its ripple effects reached us in Trinidad. At 5:31 pm local time, I was working at my computer, expecting my husband to arrive home from work at any moment. He was supposed to pick up our son, who was at a friend's house. When the rumbling started, I wasn't overly concerned. Our island lies along a fault line, so we're used to tremors from time to time, and they're usually moderate and short-lived. So I did what I usually do: nothing. “Oh,” I thought to myself, “it's an earthquake. Let's see what happens.”
Within seconds, the rumbling got louder: I was suddenly face to face with an angry lion roaring over turf, walls trembling with its echo. I got up from my chair, looked out the window: my entire neighbourhood was off-kilter, so violent was the rocking. This was no run of the mill earthquake. I did what I never do: I got out of the house. By the time I reached the living room, I felt as if I were in the middle of a band on Carnival Tuesday, the music so loud it was bursting through the speakers and rattling everything around it: boom, boom, boom! The floor was moving to beat, dancing to a wicked, malicious rhythm—as one friend put it, a “dutty wine” that just would not stop.
The quake lasted a terrifying total of 90 seconds, and came in waves, each one more forceful than the next, so that by the time I had made it into my backyard and looked down the slope to the most heavily wooded area, dense with fruit trees and tall, swaying bamboo, the ground might as well have been a bedspread that I was shaking out: up and down it went in a painfully slow motion. I was silenced, diminished and at the same time in total awe. This was nature and I understood myself to be at the very heart of it.
The reason I ran outside was a strategic one: if anything started to crumble, I didn't want to be trapped. In the open air, I could at least see what might be in threat of toppling, and…well…avoid it. But in my backyard, surrounded by cocoa and poui trees and a majestic immortelle, I felt strangely calm in the midst of the turmoil, and more present than I have been in ages. This is not to say that I did not call on God to make it stop. (In fact, those might have been my exact words.) But if anything was true in that moment, it was that we are all connected. Dualities faded away: from the birds in the trees to the bandits on the streets, we were all levelled. The things we allow to separate us seemed insignificant compared to the separation of tectonic plates.
My husband called at 5:33 pm, just as the shaking was settling down. I had left my phone inside. It had never occurred to me to take it with me, far less film the event like so many social media users had, but the minute he told me he was still at the office I was out the door and in my car to go to collect my son. Electricity had gone; cell service was sporadic and I couldn't reach my son's friend's home to find out how they'd fared. The streets were emptier than usual, and quiet. People seemed stunned, save for one customer at a doubles stand who was in full performance mode, demonstrating to the vendor how the quake had him shaking. I managed a smile. Trinbagonians routinely find humour in heartache. It's what gets us through.
Like everyone else, my son and my friends were shaken, but they were unhurt and I am tremendously grateful that if he couldn't be with me, at least he was with his oldest pal. It's something I imagine them talking about years from now: “Remember when we were all huddled together under the beam during the earthquake?” And that's the thing: we were all in it together.
Driving back along my street, I stopped at least three times to chat with neighbours. My phone, which barely had any battery power left, was pinging non-stop with messages from friends and family, both near and far, checking in to find out how we were, and I was doing the same. As I sat in the dying afternoon light, realising how lucky we were that despite falling debris and shattering glass, there was no loss of human life, I realised that what Trinidadian poet Shivanee Ramlochan said is true: “We hold each other here.”
I'm hoping we can remember that past the aftershocks.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Water shortages weigh heavy on Afghanistan · Global Voices
Ezzatullah Mehrdad

A village elder sips purified water after Zabul Provincial Reconstruction Team medics introduced a new water-sanitation process. U.S. military. Creative Commons.
Landlocked Afghanistan wasn't always short of water. Historically the valleys in this part of Asia were agricultural heartlands that hosted rushing rivers fed by abundant glaciers. Now, things are changing.
A hot, dry summer has exacerbated a severe drought that has affected northern and western Afghanistan in particular. Some say it is the worst drought that these regions have faced in several decades. In regions such as Balkh, Ghor, Faryab, Badghis, Herat and Jowzjan, farmers have been put out of work due to a lack of water to irrigate crops.
Groundwater levels have declined sharply in the capital Kabul in recent years. The U.S. Geological Survey said that the groundwater level in Kabul declined by an average of 1.5 meters per year between 2004 and 2012. Weak regulation of privately owned water pumping stations means that there are few possibilities to control consumption. All groundwater in the capital will go dry in the next 10 years, Afghan officials predict.
The rainfall that would replenish such supplies is growing less frequent, while potential solutions to the problem — dams and water treatment plants — are typically very expensive.
Today talked to farmers-owning onion farms- in east of #Kabul. Dropping underground water to its lowest level in the past years shapes chief of the challenges they are facing with. #Afghanistan, #Drought. pic.twitter.com/z6QAH0c44z
— Abdullah Abed (@abedabdullah7) July 29, 2018
#WaterMatters ~ “Ten metropolitan cities of the Global South are on the very edge of water crisis. These are Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sanaa, Karachi, Kabul, Beijing, Bengaluru, Istanbul, and on our own continent, Nairobi. In addition to… https://t.co/HuxWCtW4dg
— Darren Smith (@DazMSmith) July 27, 2018
The nearly half century of war in Afghanistan has wrecked infrastructure, including water-carrying infrastructure. In Kabul, private citizens took over the government's responsibility to provide safe drinking water.
Still, it is estimated that 80% of the 6 million population of the city lack access to potable water, while according to a study by German Federal institute for Geoscience and Natural Resource, 59% of the water in the urban areas of Kabul is contaminated with bacteria.
A longtime overdue project Kabul city needed. Kabul Municipality should also introduce rain water harvesting technics to the residents. it will help in recharging subsurface water sources of Kabul city. “Kabul Water Supply Project Underway” | TOLOnews https://t.co/RuYOXnmvJq
— Sher Jan Ahmadzai (@sherahmadzai) August 3, 2018
Not only has Afghanistan's war destroyed existing infrastructure, it has also held back plans to build new infrastructure.
Because of a lack of reservoirs, canals and dams, only 30-35% of the water coming out of the mountains of the country stays in Afghanistan, while the rest goes to neighbours.
Solving Afghanistan's water crisis nationwide could cost as much as $11 billion. Donor fatigue meanwhile has meant a reduction in aid to the country rather than an increase. Security challenges are also a disincentive to building infrastructure. In 2017, the India-sponsored Salma Dam in the western Herat Province was attacked by the Taliban with 10 Afghan army soldiers killed in the clashes.
Despite making a negligible contributions to the massive energy and industrial consumption that has driven global warming, Afghanistan is already living face-to-face with the consequences of climate change.
The view near the village of Khwahan, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, June 3, 2012. (37th IBCT photo by Sgt. Kimberly Lamb) (Released). CC 2.0.
Lack of rain and snowfall in the winter have been compounded by high temperatures in the summer. Scientists have warned that higher average temperatures will quicken the retreat of strategic glaciers that are already shrinking. With the possible exception of the Panjshir Valley and a few other areas of the country where water remains plentiful, Afghanistan is racing towards desert status.
A fast-growing population only compounds the problem. Today Kabul is a dust-coated city of over five million people that only has the infrastructure to support a population a fifth that size.
By 2050, Kabul’s population is expected to reach 9 million, making it the fifth fastest-growing city in the world. Refugees are returning. People are fleeing the threat of insecurity in the countryside. In total, more than 80% of the population lives in unplanned settlements. Many of these residents buy water from well-diggers or attempt to dig wells themselves.
Afghanistan's Central Statistics Organisation has predicted that the country’s population as a whole will reach 43 million in the next 20 years from 37 million at present, adding to the existing to the stress on precious water sources. For the moment, there are plenty of warning signals and no positive developments in sight.
High risers going up everywhere in #Kabul — despite insecurity– like much of the rest of rising #Asia. But my key concern is a lack of #urban sewage system & fast depletion of surface #water, aside from our national vulnerability to the adverse effects of #climatechange. @UN pic.twitter.com/hHB4Vq0F6G
— M. Ashraf Haidari (@MAshrafHaidari) August 3, 2018

author: Ezzatullah Mehrdad


text:
Blooms of fire: How Japan celebrates summer with ‘hanabi’ · Global Voices
Hitomi Yoshida

August fireworks at Matsubara beach in Tsuruga, Fukui, Japan. Photo by Nevin Thompson, used with permission.
The summer months of July and August in Japan are famed for their fireworks, known as ‘hanabi’ (花火) in Japanese. The term comes from the Japanese words for ‘flower’ and ‘fire’ combined and fireworks displayed in Japan are famed for their artistic mastery.
Fireworks are thought to have been first introduced to Japan by Dutch traders nearly 500 years ago. Today, hundreds of fireworks festivals are held in communities large and small across Japan, typically on riverbanks or beaches. As August wraps up and fall arrives, here is a look back at some of Japan's most memorable ‘hanabi’ festivals from the past two months:
A post shared by 梁井和樹 (@yanakazu0119) on
Modeled after a traditional Dutch town, Huis Ten Bosch is a popular theme park and resort in Nagasaki, on the island of Kyushu. Larger than Tokyo Disney Resort, Huis Ten Bosch is the biggest theme park in Japan, where visitors can enjoy summer fireworks while taking a dip in a giant swimming pool.
In the summer, the ‘hanabi’ at Huis Ten Bosch include an exhibition by the winners of famed fireworks competitions held each year at the theme park Hanabi World Cup.
A post shared by 路 るう（19） (@lll_photo_) on
Located near the port city of Kobe in western Japan, the Ashiya Summer Carnival celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year with a unique ‘hanabi’ show.
Computers orchestrate all the music and fireworks in this show. For this year's anniversary, famed jazz pianist Takashi Matsunaga performed alongside the fireworks.
A post shared by UR Osaka (@urambassador) on
The thousand-year-old Tenjin Festival, dedicated to Sugawara Michizane (the god of scholarship and learning), occurs between June and July every year and features a variety of events. As one of the most famous festivals in Japan, many people travel to the Okawa River in Osaka to see the Hommiya fireworks display on July 25, as seen above.
The Tenjin Festival takes place in Kansai, the large urban area in western Japan that feature a cluster of large cities including Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
Large fireworks displays in the night skies are usually referred to as ‘uchiage hanabi’ (打ち上げ花火, literally “fireworks”) and they play a big role in Japanese culture, appearing frequently in songs. The 2017 animated movie ‘Fireworks‘ (打ち上げ花火、下から見るか? 横から見るか? Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka?) demonstrates the centrality of fireworks to Japanese culture:
Beyond ‘uchiage hanabi’, another type of fireworks common in Japan is ‘senko hanabi’ ( 線香花火) or sparklers  (“Senko” means “incense sticks” in Japanese). On summer evenings, children typically play with senko sticks outside, purchasing bag-loads sold at summer festivals.
The pop song “Senko Hanabi” depicts what a hot summer evening in Japan looks like:

author: Hitomi Yoshida


text:
Tajikistan releases whistleblower but leaves conviction in place · Global Voices
Eurasianet

Khayrullo Mirsaidov. Image by Antuan Veselov. Widely shared.
A court in Tajikistan has caved to mounting international pressure and released a whistle-blowing journalist who had previously been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
In the surprise ruling, Sughd regional court ordered that Khairullo Mirsaidov walk free from court on August 22, although the conviction on charges of embezzlement, forging documents and providing false testimony remains in force.
Mirsaidov’s lawyer, Bakhtiyor Nasrulloyev, told Asia-Plus news agency that his client must still pay 80,000 somoni ($8,500) in fines, perform community service and pay one-fifth of his salary to the state for a period of two years.
This gesture of clemency — an almost unheard-of climbdown for a justice system rarely given to backtracking in intensely politicized cases — appears to have been in part a recognition of the international attention garnered by Mirsaidov’s plight. The #FreeKhayrullo hashtag had got some considerable traction on social media and was even adopted by the British ambassador in Tajikistan.
The saga has its roots in a standoff between Mirsaidov and well-placed officials in his local Sughd region. In November, the journalist, who also captains a popular competitive comedy troupe, published an open letter to President Emomali Rahmon detailing the confrontation and allegations of corruption.
But on December 5, it was Mirsaidov himself who was arrested. Despite presenting no immediate threat to the public, he was placed in custody and had remained there until now.
His supporters have said all the charges were fabricated and without foundation.
The response from rights advocates to Mirsaidov being freed has been mixed. While there is satisfaction he will no longer remain behind bars, the fact the conviction has been upheld has been greeted with disappointment.
It is noteworthy that it is public attention that appears to have earned Mirsaidov his freedom. Before his sentencing in July, the international diplomatic community maintained a largely silent front. Western diplomats in Central Asia typically argue that behind-the-scenes negotiations are more effective than arm-twisting in the open, but the 12-year prison term seems to have shocked many of them out of complacency.
Immediately after the ruling, the embassies of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the United States, and the EU Delegation in Tajikistan issued a joint statement to condemn what they termed an “extremely harsh” punishment that was out of proportion with the charges. More ominously for Dushanbe, the embassies intimated there could be some real-world consequences.
“We are concerned that this sentence will compromise our joint struggle for good governance and thus cast a shadow on our cooperation,” their statement said.
Tajik authorities had evidently not expected such an outpouring of indignation and reacted in the first place with wounded defensiveness. They also doubled down on the media repression by threatening journalists thinking about covering the case.
“Discussion and criticism of the verdict by mass media can be regarded as obstruction of justice and is in violation of journalistic ethics,” the General Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
Other recent social media campaigns have had similarly unexpected impacts.
When the severely ill four-year-old grandson of Muhiddin Kabiri, the exiled leader of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, or IRPT, was denied permission to leave the country for urgent treatment for cancer, it sparked considerable outcry. The travel restriction appeared to be a government reprisal against Kabiri. Online petitions circulated widely before Hamza Tillozoda was granted a passport and allowed to fly out of Dushanbe.
In a similar episode, the 10-year-old daughter of an exiled opposition activist, Shabnam Khudoydodova, was on August 7 pulled off a plane as she was departing to visit her mother in Poland. The travel prohibition was quickly dubbed a cruel and politically motivated act of reprisal against Khudoydodova. In a signal of a change of stance, however, the young girl was allowed to leave the country some days later.
It is difficult to fathom whether any of these developments indicate the government intends to moderate its increasingly hardline and indiscriminate behavior toward all and any dissidents. The true test will come with the cases of the jailed IRPT leadership, who were thrown behind bars after they were accused of involvement in a likely inexistent coup plot in September 2015. Even more grievous is the fate of Buzurgmehr Yorov, a lawyer who was sentenced to lengthy terms in prison, on charges that most agree were trumped-up, as a reprisal for his willingness to represent the IRPT in court.
Unconfirmed rumors have indicated that the government is considering granting clemency to the more than a dozen imprisoned members of the IRPT leadership council in exchange for them committing to publicly denounce their self-exiled leader, Kabiri. The same scuttlebutt suggests that the prisoners have declined that bargain.

author: Eurasianet


text:
The artist ‘Headache Stencil’ uses graffiti to criticize military rule in Thailand · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Headache Stencil posing in front of a portrait of Thailand's prime minister shaped in a maneki-neko cat. Source: Headache Stencil, used with permission.
Through street graffiti and murals, the masked artist Headache Stencil has been depicting Thailand's ongoing clamor for democracy and reforms.
When the military grabbed power in May 2014 and subsequently drafted a new constitution reinforcing a military-backed government, they vowed to restore elections and civilian rule, but this has yet to be realized.
Headache Stencil started making graffiti after the 2014 coup. In an interview with Art Whore, a website documenting underground pop art, he explains how he got started:
[I] really do ‘art’ on the day military made coup in Thailand. Really angry of soldier on that day. Then go out to make graffiti.
In another interview with Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, he explained why he chose the name ‘Headache Stencil’:
I’ve called myself Headache for a reason, bro…I want to give some [powerful] people a headache.
If people see my work and start noticing that things aren’t fair, I’ve achieved my aim.
He believes Thai artists have a duty to reflect the deterioration of life under Junta [military] rule. In an interview with The Nation, Thailand’s major English-language daily, Headache Stencil said:
My art reflects dictatorship, corruption and the loss of freedom in our society. It’s the artist’s most important role to mirror society’s illnesses and tell the world what Thailand is now facing under military junta rulers.
Early this year, he said he was hunted by the police for his graffiti mocking the country’s deputy prime minister who was exposed of possessing more than a dozen Rolex watches:
Headache Stencil used the familiar icon of the alarm clock to contrast it with the luxury watches of the deputy prime minister. It also symbolizes the extended time of the army as head of the government and the necessity to be ‘alarmed’ with the situation by ending the dictatorship. Source: Headache Stencil, used with permission.
His ‘Black Panther’ graffiti trended in the news after authorities whitewashed it. The graffiti refers to a report about a prominent tycoon who was caught poaching wild animals, including a black panther. Headache Stencil drew a panther on a wall and a mute button symbolizing the concern of many that the case will be eventually disregarded by the government:
‘Black Panther’ by Headache Stencil, used with permission.
Below are some of Headache Stencil’s street artworks highlighting the prolonged military rule and the repeated cancellation of open elections:
“Fourth year of Thai Military rule. Where is democracy? We miss you.” Image and caption by Headache Stencil, used with permission.
“How long u will be government huh? Wanna postpone the election again???? Please… this is too long.” Image and caption by Headache Stencil, used with permission.
Headache Stencil created this poster below after the government banned the distribution of a Time magazine edition which featured the story of former army leader and the incumbent Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha:
Image by Headache Stencil, used with permission.
In this recent video interview with Singapore-based news website The Online Citizen, Headache Stencil digs deeper into the challenges and motives of working as a political artist and activist: