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Marine Le Pen’s Comments on the Vel d’Hiv Roundup During WWII Reawaken France’s Painful Past · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

A French police officer guards a group of Jews at an internment camp in Drancy. Photo courtesy of Bundesarchiv CC-BY-SA 3.0
Electoral campaigns are in full swing for the French presidential election, the first and second rounds of which will be taking be place on 23 April and the 7 May respectively. Four candidates are currently vying for the top two positions in the race, which will prompt a run-off. They are Emmanuel Macron, founder of the En Marche! political movement; Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right-wing Front National; Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the left-wing La France insoumise (Unsubmissive France) party; and François Fillon, of the center-right Republican party.
The majority of surveys on the public's voting intentions have suggested for months that Le Pen is at the front of the pack for the first round, but Macron now ties her for the lead. You can find a rundown on the main four running candidates in this article.
In what has become a messy electoral battle, Le Pen has launched a number of personal attacks on her young opponent — including several comments on the Vel d'Hiv Roundup (a dark chapter of Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War).
The tragedy occurred over two days in July 1942 when more than 13,000 people, almost a third of which were children, were arrested in Paris, and then deported to the many German concentration camps. The official website for the Shoah Memorial in Paris, Memorial de la Shoah, recounts the horrific event:
Les 16 et 17 juillet 1942, les forces de l'ordre françaises arrêtaient plusieurs milliers de juifs pour les déporter vers les camps d'extermination allemands. l'occupant nazi décide de rafler, en zone nord comme en zone sud, les hommes jusqu'à 60 ans, les femmes jusqu'à 55 ans et les enfants de 2 à 16 ans. Ces opérations, programmées par les nazis, sont menées avec la complicité du gouvernement de Vichy et constituent la plus grande rafle de Juifs organisée sur le territoire français durant la guerre.
On 16 and 17 July 1942, French law enforcement arrested several thousands of Jews with the aim to deport them to German extermination camps. The Nazi occupiers had decided to clear out both the North and South zones of all men of up to 60 years of age, women of up to 55 years of age, and children aged between 2 and 16 years old. The plan, also known as Operation: Spring Breeze, was carried about by the Nazis with complicity from the Vichy government. It was the largest scale roundup of Jews on French soil during the Second World War. This chapter, commonly referred to as the Vel d'Hiv Roundup, is commemorated on numerous occasions in various areas of France.
However, according to Le Pen in a campaign speech on 9 April:
La France n’est pas responsable du Vél’ d’Hiv’. S’il y a des responsables, c’est ceux qui étaient au pouvoir à l’époque, ce n’est pas la France. La France a été malmenée dans les esprits depuis des années. On a appris à nos enfants qu’ils avaient toutes les raisons de la critiquer, de n’en voir les aspects historiques que les plus sombres. Je veux qu’ils soient à nouveau fiers d’être Français.
France should not claim responsibility for Vel d'Hiv. If anyone should claim responsibility, it should be those who were in power at the time, which was not France. France has been mistreated in memory for many years. We teach our children that it is okay to criticise [the country], to not look at any aspects of history apart from the darkest. I long for them to once again be proud of France.
In response to Le Pen, André Sénik, a professor in philosophy with an interest in the history of the Jewish Diaspora, wrote for French news site causeur.fr on how the Vel d'Hiv tragedy has lived on for the last 50 years through French politics:
Il n’a pas fallu moins de 50 ans pour que la demande soit explicitement formulée. C’est seulement en 1992, soit cinquante ans après la rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv’, qu’une pétition lancée par  le comité Vel d’Hiv’ 42 et soutenue par 200 personnalités parut dans Le Monde, pour demander au président de la République de reconnaître au nom de la France, que « l’État français de Vichy a été responsable de persécutions et de crimes commis contre les Juifs de France ».
Cette demande émanait de citoyens français juifs et non juifs. Elle ne demandait que la reconnaissance d’une vérité historique dûment établie par les historiens, en particulier depuis les travaux de Robert Paxton en 1972.
Mitterand refusa de répondre à cet appel, en s’appuyant sur le mythe entretenu conjointement par les communistes et les gaullistes selon lequel la France ayant été résistante, et la République ayant été supprimée par le régime de Vichy, ni la France ni la République n’avaient le devoir d’assumer et de condamner les crimes commis par l’État français de Vichy, son chef, son gouvernement et son administration, au nom de la France légale.
It did not even take 50 years for the question to arise: it was in 1992, 50 years after the Vél d'Hiv roundup, that a petition was published by the Vél d'Hiv committee 42 — accompanied by 200 signatures — in Le Monde, asking for the president of the French Republic to recognise, in the name of France, that “the Vichy French state was guilty of persecution and crimes against the Jews of France”. The request came from French Jews and non-Jews alike, and it was only a request for the recognition of historical truth duly put forward by historians — most notably in Robert Paxton's works in 1972. [President] Mitterand refused to respond to the request, by supporting the myth maintained by both the communists and gaullists, which states that France was the resistance, and that the Republic was removed by the Vichy regime, neither France nor the Republic had the obligation to condemn, or even take responsibility for, the crimes committed by the Vichy French state, its leader, its government and its administration, in the name of France.
On the topic of this recognition, Kamal Aref, an essayist and writer for French newspaper Liberation, argued on his blog Courrier du Caire that it wasn't a matter of this or that:
Les pages sombres de l’histoire, comme on dit, cessent de l’être quand on a le courage de reconnaître ses fautes, ses peurs, ses faiblesses. La France ce sont ceux qui ont résisté. La France ce sont [ceux] qui ont collaboré. La France ce sont ceux qui sont morts dans les camps. La France ce sont ceux qui, 53 ans plus tard, ont reconnu leur faute irréparable.
The dark pages of history, as we call them, cease to exist when we have the courage to recognise the mistakes we made, our fears and our weaknesses. France resisted, but France also collaborated. France is also those who died in the camps. Ultimately, France has, 53 years later, recognised its biggest mistake.
He also asked:
La consternation est-elle de mise? Quand les représentants d’un parti à l’histoire si nauséabonde se posent subitement comme ceux qui auraient été les remparts contre le nazisme et l’antisémitisme, ne faut-il pas tout simplement se rouler par terre de rire?
On l’aura bien compris: Marine Le Pen essaye de nous faire croire qu’elle est juste Marine Le Pen, et non LE Pen, c’est-à-dire Jean-Marie, ce boulet qui lui casse sa baraque à chaque fois qu’on évoque son nom ou d’autres détails.
Mais on ne rit pas, et on aurait 13000 fois tort de rire quand, de façon cavalière, Marine Le Pen évoque «Le Vel d’Hiv”, sans avoir la décence de prononcer le mot “rafle”, en mémoire des 13000 Juifs, hommes, femmes et enfants qui ont été envoyés à la mort.
But should we be dismayed? Should we not laugh, when representatives of a party with such a putrid history suddenly act as if they were the staunch defence against the Nazis and anti-Semitism?
It's worth remembering that Marine Le Pen is trying to make us believe that she is just Marine Le Pen, and not THE Pen, that is to say her father, Jean-Marie, the very utterance of whom utterly derails her plans.
But there are 13,000 reasons not to laugh: Marine Le Pen, in her cavalier way, evokes the name Vél d'Hiv without having the decency to include the word roundup in memory of the 13,000 Jewish men, women and children who were sent off to their deaths.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, often referred to as “The Devil of the Republic” for his controversial policies and statements, is a man who invokes polarised opinions from the French public. Having expelled him from the Front National in 2015, Marine Le Pen is therefore keen to avoid any connection her political career might have with her father's – despite her own policies also being controversial. Nevertheless, Le Pen's words have provoked a number of reactions on social media. Here is a selection of people's reactions on Twitter:
Pour rappel : nazis avaient demandé l'arrestation des adultes juifs. La police française a arrêté également les enfants. #veldhiv #LePen
— RiBoulard Joris (@RiBoulard) April 9, 2017
Just a reminder: The Nazis called for the arrest of adult Jews. The French police also arrested the children. #veldhiv #LePen.
#veldhiv L'hologramme de #Lepen Père jamais très loin de sa fille via @chappatte pic.twitter.com/ZVhwXRmkdm
— Gilles Hérail (@GHCine) April 11, 2017
#veldhiv The ghost of Daddy #Lepen is never too far away from his daughter.
Les victimes du #veldhiv arrachées à leur repos éternel pour servir d'instrument électoral à d'infâmes politiciens sans morale ni cervelle.
— Capu Patriote ن (@CapuPatriote) April 10, 2017
The victims of #veldhiv have been pulled from eternal rest to serve as a tool in the electoral plot of infamous politicians without brains or morals.
Egged on by the liberated antisemitic discourse of Le Pen's statements, an individual has been captured via CCTV footage vandalising several Jewish graves in a cemetery in Cimiez, Nice, a town known to already avidly support far right policies.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Students Protest in Kashmir Amidst School Closures and Mobile Internet Blocking · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot from YouTube video by RisingKashmir
Kashmir is once again the scene of violence after security forces opened fire on protestors, leaving nine people dead and hundreds injured, including security forces.
The bloody events took place following a by-poll for the Srinagar Lok Sabha election on April 9 amidst a low-turnout and a boycott of the election by pro-independence protesters. The vote was for a vacant seat in the lower house of the Indian Parliament Lok Sabha, but many Kashmiris reject Indian rule over Kashmir and have been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan since 1989.
Indian forces have been accused of committing serious human rights violations in their efforts to quash the movement, and in the latest spike of violence, a video went viral that showed a Kashmiri protester tied to an Indian military jeep as a “human shield” (see Global Voices report).
The latest violence began on April 14, when day students of the Government Degree College in southern Kashmir's Pulwama town prevented an army armored vehicle from entering the college, which was chasing protesting students who object to the installation of a security checkpost near the college. The Twitter account Pulwama Updates tweeted footage of the students resisting, while referring to a recent encounter by security forces in Budgam, which killed three civilians and a militant.
#BudgamKillings Aftermath#Pulwama
When an army casper tried to enter the degree college Pulwama! #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/hkdiPtrKlF
— Pulwama Updates (@LivePulwama) April 14, 2017
The next day, security forces forcibly entered the college allegedly to detain some students. When the students protested by pelting stones at the security guards, they retaliated with pellets and tear gas, also indiscriminately beating the students, injuring more than 50 students.
#Indian army men beating ruthlessly a #Kashmir civilian. Today at Degree College Pulwama @amnesty pic.twitter.com/p2myaaCjN2
— Rumaisa Qureshi (@rumi_qureshi) April 15, 2017
A 17-year-old boy, Sajad Hussain Sheikh, was shot dead by the security forces the next day, which according to witnesses was an “unprovoked firing”, after a few stones were hurled at an armored car in Batamaloo, Srinagar.
The action on students triggered widespread protests in colleges and universities of different districts of the valley. The government responded by shutting all education institutes down to prevent the further spread. Many schools opened only last March after eight month of closure due to the unrest since last year.
This angered the students, and the Kashmir University Students Union, a banned student body, called for protests in all colleges and universities in Kashmir on April 17 condemning the police actions. When those protests came to fruition, at least 100 Kashmiri students were wounded during renewed clashes with security forces.
A day of protests by students has sent down shivers through the govt. Internet suspended, schools, colleges, universities closed #Kashmir
— I'mکشمیر (@w_kashmir) April 17, 2017
Many students chanted pro-freedom slogans (“Azadi” means freedom):
Th classrooms are singing 2day
& th song is so familiar
Zara Zor Se Bolo- Azadi
Hands Embroiderd wth “Mehndi”Arose Up for th #AZADI #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/9P0W4bLdU9
— Irshad Nabi (@kashmir_rise) April 17, 2017
Pro freedom sloganeering outside Womans College Barmulla. #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/9V92eiOBaH
— Muhammad Kamran (@_MK_Anwar) April 17, 2017
Students of Bandipora College Chants for Freedom #Kashmir @UN @hrw @defencepk pic.twitter.com/hxFYWlQ90o
— Syed Ali (@Ali_answers) April 17, 2017
A Kashmir University student holding placard reads ” We win or we die, we won't surrender”.
Students drop pens, protest. pic.twitter.com/tCpGt7lIyj
— Kaiser Majeed (@iKaicer) April 17, 2017
Where in the World are Student Protests crushed with Such Force & brutality , Pellets & tear gas shells rain today Many got injured #Kashmir pic.twitter.com/hO1mcGgRKG
— Musa Kashmiri (@Musa_Kashmiri) April 17, 2017
#Kashmir See the Bravery & courage of the these Sister standing tall infront of the Trigger Happy forces ready to kill anytime. pic.twitter.com/vlY33lAvLe
— Musa Kashmiri (@Musa_Kashmiri) April 17, 2017
The agitation by students lingers in Kashmir.
Students continued their protests for 6th consecutive day against use of brute force by #Indian troops on students in occupied #Kashmir.
— Kashmir Lobby Group (@KashmirLobby) April 20, 2017
#Day3 : Student protests continue to rock #Kashmir. Indian forces teargassed a girl students’ protest rally in Palhallan, North Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/3K7jWlmXMG
— Muhammad Uzair (@MirUzair1) April 19, 2017
The Indian government has enforced a 4G and 3G services ban in the Kashmir Valley since April 17. Video upload speeds via 2G Internet connections are typically very slow, thus preventing people from uploading videos on social media. The government is also considering to block social networking sites in Kashmir to stop the live streaming and spread of videos.
Restrictions on use of Facebook & Whatsapp in Kashmir. #ITVideo
For more videos click at-https://t.co/59Uo9CL3ia pic.twitter.com/Fh23uYPC0I
— IndiaTodayFLASH (@IndiaTodayFLASH) April 20, 2017
India wants to shut #Kashmir off from Facebook+ WhatsApp to prevent viral circulation of human rights abuses https://t.co/xVeJJuzjtj
— Dr Rita Pal (@dr_rita39) April 18, 2017
Banning Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube in Kashmir. Taking away the Kashmiri's ability to show the world what's happening. Democracy indeed.
— Angiography (@angshukanta) April 20, 2017
These are only the latest in a series of short and medium-term cuts to web sites and communication services in recent months. In 2016, the Software Freedom Law Centre counted 31 regional-level Internet shutdowns in India, 10 of which took place in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mohammad Ashraf at Kashmir First blog explained why he thought this unprecedented violence has taken place during an election boycott:
There has been extensive physical intervention from the youth not only to prevent people from voting but even preventing the polling staff from discharging their duties. The violence and virtual mayhem during the polling for the Srinagar Parliamentary constituency in the three districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal and Budgam has been the worst ever seen in Kashmir during any elections held so far. [..]
(The) new generation of Kashmiri Youth, born and brought up in the conflict of the nineties of the last century are in no mood to compromise. Not only have they been brought up with the worst violence all around but have been subjected to continuous harassment right from the very start.
The perceived animosity toward Kashmiris by Indian nationalists also seems to be growing:
This is How #Kashmiri Students Are treated and Bullied by these Nationalist Goons. Are Kashmiri students Safe Outside Kashmir In india pic.twitter.com/aRZRlfeXpP
— Musa Kashmiri (@Musa_Kashmiri) April 20, 2017
To curb casualties, the Indian government has asked paramilitary forces to use plastic bullets instead of pellet guns in the Kashmir region. But plastic bullets can still cause injury, and the pro-independence movement isn't giving up, so unfortunately there might be more violence on the horizon for Kashmir.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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The Day Russia Outlawed Jehovah’s Witnesses · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image: Flickr / Edited by Kevin Rothrock
It’s strange to see this in writing, let alone know that it’s true, but here it is: Russia has formally banned Jehovah's Witnesses. After a decade of legal battles, the Supreme Court definitively ruled on Thursday that Russia’s 175,000 Jehovah's Witnesses belong to an extremist organization, putting the group in the same category as ISIS.
The government is already seizing the church’s property.
On Twitter, the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses prompted a wave of wisecracks, Hitler comparisons, and hateful celebrations about the crackdown on “this destructive sect.” In other words, it was a fairly normal day online, though the Supreme Court’s decision will clearly have lasting consequences.
One satirical Twitter account found an amusing way to collapse all Russia’s contemporary political scandals into a single joke, nodding to reports about mass persecution against gays in Chechnya and nationwide strikes by truck drivers:
А идеальный оппозиционер на сегодня выглядит так: чеченский гей-дальнобойщик, входящий в секту свидетелей Иеговы
— Во///дь™ (@zybb_zer0) April 20, 2017
So today’s ideal oppositionist looks like this: a gay Chechen trucker who’s a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect.
Another parody account named “Jesus Christ” jokingly tried to distance himself from these now illegal Christians:
Свидетелей Иеговы переквалифицировали в Подозреваемых Иеговы.
А вообще мутные ребята. Если что, для протокола, я с ними никаких дел не веду.
— Иисус Христос (@Jesusques) April 20, 2017
Jehovah's Witnesses have been reclassified as Jehovah's Suspects. Anyway these are some dodgy folks. For the record, by the way, I’m not with these guys.
Pavel Chikov, the chairman of the Agora human rights group, warned that Russia’s Supreme Court just created 175,000 felony criminals:
В мире число Свидетелей Иеговы более 8 миллионов. Минюст РФ и Верховный суд РФ поставили вне закона
— Pavel Chikov (@pchikov) April 20, 2017
There are 175,000 active Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia today (Wikipedia). Russia’s Justice Ministry just guaranteed them all criminal prosecution. There are more than 8 million Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the world. Russia’s Justice Ministry has made them all outlaws.
Musician Vasily Oblomov, known for his oppositionist political views, asked why the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses isn’t itself illegal, noting Russia’s criminalization of speech deemed to offend religious people:
А разве запрет “Свидетелей Иеговы” в РФ не попадает под закон об “осквернении чувств верующих” членов этой организации?
— Vasily Oblomov (@VS_Oblomov) April 20, 2017
How does the ban on Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia not fall under the law against “offending the religious feelings” of the members of this organization?
Many Twitter users, including Ekho Moskvy chief editor Alexey Venediktov, compared the Supreme Court’s decision to Fascist Germany’s ban on Jehovah's Witnesses:
Свидетели Иеговы отказывались признавать Гитлера фюрером, произносить нацистское приветствие, служить в нацистской армии и были запрещены.
— Алексей Венедиктов (@aavst) April 20, 2017
Jehovah's Witnesses refused to recognize Hitler as Führer, refused to perform the Nazi salute, refused to serve in the Nazi army, and were banned.
Vladimir Varfolomeev, Venediktov’s deputy editor, took this comparison a step further, listing several recent political scandals (anti-Semitic remarks by federal lawmakers, the persecution of gays in Chechnya, the annexation of Crimea) that seem to repeat Germany’s slide into fascism. Varfolomeev punctuated the criticism with a joke that pro-Kremlin activists like to compare Alexey Navalny, the political opposition’s most prominent leader, to Hitler:
Антисемитизм. Преследование гомосексуалов. Запрет “Свидетелей Иеговы”. Аннексия чужих территорий.
А Гитлер – всё равно Навальный.
— Владимир Варфоломеев (@Varfolomeev) April 20, 2017
Anti-Semitism. The persecution of gays. A ban on Jehovah's Witnesses. The annexation of foreign territory. And they say Navalny is another Hitler.
Last month, a spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses International told The Moscow Times that his organization worried an outright ban on their group would provoke “real extremist activity” against believers in Russia, including physical attacks.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday forces all 396 registered Jehovah's Witnesses organizations across Russia to cease activities immediately. It’s now illegal for this group to hold any congregations or distribute religious literature.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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This Is What ‘Racist Glasses’ Look Like in Russia · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

In January 2016, American Internet comedian Rudy Mancuso released a short film titled “Racist Glasses,” where a man finds a pair of eyeglasses that transform anyone seen through the lens into racist stereotypes. An Asian man becomes a ninja, white people become rich snobs, and Mancuso’s own character (a Latino man) changes into an ululating sombrero-wearing dancer.
Image: Animaction Decks / YouTUbe
This week, Russian animator Alexey Yurevich produced his own version of Mancuso’s video — a cartoon with the same premise but a uniquely Russian spin.
Yurevich’s video, titled “National Hatred Glasses,” shows a Russian man stumbling onto the same magical eyewear that transforms different ethnic groups into stereotypes.
When he puts on the glasses and looks around, a group of North Caucasian men standing around innocently are suddenly dancing the Lezginka, and preparing to abuse a sheep. A Central Asian man sitting quietly on a park bench is now in overalls, slapping down cement to repair the sidewalk. A moment later, with the glasses back on, he’s picking at his toes and littering. The protagonist then turns to an Arab man, who’s now firing off guns and exploding a suicide vest. Next he looks at what turns out to be a Ukrainian man, who’s revealed to be jumping around with a tire for a belt and a colander for a helmet. Chanting is then audible, and he tosses a Molotov cocktail — a nod to the Maidan revolutionaries.
At this point, the man who found the glasses races home to look in his bathroom mirror, where he comes face to face with a bearded Russian drunkard wearing an ushanka and holding a bottle of vodka.
The cartoon is almost a scene-for-scene remake of Mancuso’s “Racist Glasses,” but the stereotypes portrayed are local to Russia.
In an interview with the website TJournal, Yurevich said he even changed the film’s title, to adapt it to what he sees as the specific nature of ethnic conflict in Russia. “In [my video], it would be more accurate to say it’s about how nationalists see everything,” he said, explaining why he dropped the word “racist.”
“The issue of racism is more appropriate for the U.S. than Russia,” Yurevich told TJournal, raising a distinction that many Americans might struggle to understand.
Yurevich’s film studio, “Animaction Decks,” is best known for a hyper-violent Flash-animated series called “Ninja Action,” where the titular ninja battles his way through 10-15 minutes of murderous killing in the style of a side-scrolling video game.
Animaction Decks has also produced several politically infused videos showing public figures fighting each other in Mortal Kombat bouts. The videos feature deathmatches between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, Donbass separatist “Motorola” and Ukrainian nationalist Dmitry Yarosh, and so on. Yurevich uses real audio sound bites for an extra dose of satire.
For example, when Putin takes on opposition leader Alexey Navalny, the latter simply kneels in defeat, as soon as the fight begins. When Putin raises his arm in victory, the announcer says, “Putin is a thief,” instead of the traditional “[Putin] wins!” Putin’s eyes bulge in surprise, and he then places a call to his goons, who beat up the announcer off screen, until he corrects himself and finally adds, “flawless victory.” (These phrases are all cherished tropes of the original arcade game by Midway first released in 1992.)
Warning: the video below contains violent images.
In March 2016, weeks after an Uzbek nanny carried the decapitated head of a four-year-old girl through downtown Moscow, Yurevich created another short cartoon, this time clearly enraged that his fellow countrymen weren’t more shocked by the horrific murder.
He titled his video “Reactions to Terrorists in Different Countries,” depicting the U.S. as a place where “terrorists” are shot on sight, Europe as a place already populated by jihadists, and Russia as a place that is indifferent to what he depicts as terrorist violence.
Warning: the video below contains violent images.
Editors’ note: Gyulchehra Bobokulova, the nanny who beheaded four-year-old Anastasia Meshcheryakova, was later found to be mentally unbalanced, and today her crime is not generally viewed as an act of terrorism.
Speaking to TJournal, Yurevich said he views “Reactions to Terrorists in Different Countries” as the worst cartoon he’s made with Animaction Decks. “Despite the fact that the theme was inspired by real events, I didn’t try to depict them in the cartoon. The image of the ‘terrorist’ was a collective, not concrete picture,” he said.
Yurevich also told TJournal that he’s taking a break from political content, unless something really captures his imagination. “I’m just going to work on my main cartoon series, Ninja Action,” he said, adding that producing one episode can take him anywhere from a few months to several years.


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A Colombian Philosopher Explores the Alternatives to Overusing Mother Nature · Global Voices
Periodismo de Barrio

Polochic Valley in Guatemala. Photo: Alejandro Ramírez Anderson, courtesy of Periodismo de Barrio.
Danilo Urrea, a Colombian philosopher and popular communicator, is the regional facilitator for Friends of Latin American Land and The Caribbean. Currently, Friends of the Earth International integrates 73 environmental organizations across different parts of the world.
Danilo Urrea (DU) agreed to talk to Periodismo de Barrio (PB) during his visit to Cuba for the XII International Workshop on Emancipatory Paradigms “Live Berta Cáceres” — an event dedicated to the Honduran environmental leader assassinated last year.
PB: Can you describe the environmental situation in Latin America and the Caribbean?
DU: Nos encontramos en un contexto bastante complejo. Esas complejidades tienen que ver con los avances del modelo de desarrollo basado en el extractivismo.
Cuando hablamos de extractivismo, encontramos cuatro grandes pilares: la explotación minera, la explotación petrolera, la construcción de grandes represas para la producción energética, y los agrocombustibles.
Es en ese modelo donde encontramos la mayor dificultad, en tanto los patrimonios naturales se entienden como fuentes de acumulación de riquezas.
Cuando hablamos de lo ambiental, hablamos de la interrelación entre los seres humanos y la naturaleza. Los seres humanos somos parte de la naturaleza, aun cuando la división moderna capitalista dice que estamos por fuera y que la función de la naturaleza es entregarnos beneficios a través de la explotación. En esa interrelación vemos otras dificultades: el patriarcalismo, la utilización de los cuerpos, la explotación del cuerpo de la mujer para acumular capital…
DU: We're in a somewhat complex situation. Those complexities have to do with the advances of the development models based on extractivism.
When we talk about extractivism, we're looking at four main pillars: mineral exploitation, petroleum exploitation, large dam constructions for energy production, and biofuels.
We find the greatest difficulty in this model, where natural resources are believed to be the source for accumulating riches.
When we talk about the environment, we're talking about the interaction between human beings and nature. Human beings are a part of nature, even if modern capitalist society says we aren't, and that nature functions to provide us benefits through exploitation. We see other difficulties in that interaction: patriarchalism, the use of bodies, the exploitation of women's bodies for profit…
PB: At what point can we stop massively extracting natural resources?
DU: Hay que pensar en cómo hacer la transición de un modelo de alta explotación a uno de extracción necesaria y discutir con los estados qué necesita una población para vivir.
La historia reciente de varios países progresistas ha mostrado que, si bien la redistribución de la renta ha mejorado la calidad de vida de un sector de la población, con eso no es suficiente.
Me preocupa un discurso en el que pareciera que estamos condenados a seguir explotando la naturaleza como única posibilidad de mejoramiento.
Esas formas responden más a acuerdos comerciales para la acumulación de capital que a necesidades reales de los pueblos. Hoy explotamos para exportar a Europa. Y pensar la posibilidad de desarrollo de los pueblos a través de la exportación de materias primas no está de acuerdo con la posibilidad de reproducción material de la vida.
Estamos seguros de que en los cambios pequeños de poblaciones y organizaciones hay alternativas concretas.
DU: We need to think about how to make the transition from a model of mass exploitation to one of necessary exploitation and discussing how much a population needs in order to live.
Recent accounts from various progressive countries have shown that, although the redistribution of income has improved the quality of life for particular sectors within a population, it's not enough.
I'm worried by arguments that we are condemned to continue exploiting the land as if it's the only way forward.
Those ways better serve commercial agreements for the accumulation of capital than the real needs of the people. Today, we exploit in order to export to Europe. And thinking of the possibility of developing towns through the exportation of raw materials doesn't go well with the possibility of the natural reproduction of life.
We are certain that concrete alternatives can arise from small changes by communities and organizations.
Nickel mines in Guatemala. Photo: Alejandro Ramírez Anderson. Courtesy of Periodismo de Barrio.
DU: La agricultura campesina, con un viraje hacia la agroecología; el manejo público y comunitario del agua que se ha hecho en Colombia, donde comunidades organizadas han podido distribuir el agua sin necesidad de una estructura de privatización; el manejo comunitario de bosques en Costa Rica y Colombia; los proyectos energéticos populares, en México y Brasil, donde se producen biodigestores para generar energía en comunidades que no tienen acceso a la electricidad, y se construyen hornillas agroecológicas para eliminar problemas de salud asociados a la cocción de alimentos con leña.
Y hay que mirar a las prácticas históricas de los pueblos, aunque muchas hayan sido desaparecidas.
DU: Agricultural farming, a turn to Agroecology; public and community-based transportation of water similar to Colombia, where organized communities have been able to distribute water without the need for privatized structures; community-based management of the wilderness in Costa Rica and Colombia; popular energy projects like in Mexico and Brazil, where biodigesters are produced to generate energy in places that don't have access to electricity; and agroecological stoves are built to eliminate health problems associated with cooking foods with wood.
Also, it's necessary to take into account the historical practices of peoples, even if many have been disappeared.
PB: What results has Friends of the Earth had on the region? What impact has it had?
DU: Un logro esencial es haber contribuido a comprender la importancia de la variable ambiental en las luchas y resistencias territoriales de los movimientos sociales. Otro tiene que ver con los defensores de territorios, que han sido criminalizados en las últimas dos décadas; hemos ayudado a salvar las vidas de esas personas en algunos momentos. Otro, la contribución a procesos agroecológicos, sobre todo la protección del intercambio de semillas en América Latina. Y está el trabajo de visibilización de luchas territoriales y de construcción de una nueva mirada de lo ambiental.
DU: An important contribution lies in understanding the importance of the changing environment in the struggles and territorial resistances of social movements. Another has to do with its land activists that have been criminalized over the past two decades. At time, we have assisted in saving their lives. Another contribution lies the development of agroecological processes — mainly the protection of the seed exchange in Latin America. And there's the work on land struggles and the cultivation of a new environmental outlook.
PB: How has the relationship with Cuba been until now?
DU: Nosotros tenemos una relación de varios años con el Centro Memorial Martin Luther King Jr., con el Centro para la Promoción de la Educación y el Desarrollo Sostenible y con la Red de Educadores Populares y Ambientales, que han sido una guía para la definición pedagógica.
Para Amigos de la Tierra, Cuba sigue siendo un modelo de referencia de proceso socialista; de un socialismo que tiene todas las dificultades de un modelo histórico que se renueva permanentemente.
Nosotros entendemos que en Cuba hay dificultades en términos de lo ambiental, pero la afectación por el modelo de vida que se lleva acá puede ser menor. En el capitalismo tenemos que luchar día a día para que ese modelo no arrase con los pocos patrimonios que siguen garantizando la vida de las poblaciones.
No sé en el caso cubano cómo es, pero sí entendemos que las escalas de destrucción de la naturaleza son diferentes. La escala en que nosotros estamos no es comparable con la escala de Cuba.
DU: We have a relationship with the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center that extends over various years, with the Center for Promoting Education and Sustainable Growth and the Popular Environmental Educators Online Site, which has guided our pedagogical work.
For Friends of the Earth, Cuba continues to be a reference model for socialist processes; a socialism that contains all the hardships of a historic model that is permanently renovating itself.
We understand that Cuba has difficulties in terms of the environment, but the disruption that occurs because of people's lifestyles can be lower. In capitalism, we have to fight day after day so that the few patrimonies that continue securing life for all aren't wiped out.
I don't know about the Cuban case, but we do understand that their scales of destroying nature is different. Our ways don't compare to that of Cuba's.
PB: What environmental challenges do you think Latin America and the Caribbean currently face?
DU: Puede sonar a lugar común: “necesitamos organizarnos para poder enfrentar los problemas del mundo”.
Pero esa organización es necesaria, porque los pueblos desorganizados no vamos a obtener victorias.
Cuando las compañías llegan, ellas se organizan y articulan bien con los gobiernos. Tienen formas de acceder a las comunidades a través de engaños y manipulaciones. Si no tenemos un proceso que logre enfrentar esa forma de organización del capital, simplemente no vamos a poder resistir esos proyectos. Cada vez más comunidades irán a las grandes ciudades a agrandar los círculos de la pobreza.
DU: It might sound like a cliché: “We must unite to face global problems”, but that unity is necessary. Divided peoples don't win.
When companies arrive, they effectively organize and communicate with the government. They have ways of accessing the communities through deception and manipulation. If we don't have a process to combat those capitalist organizational methods, we won't be able to withstand their tactics. More and more communities will become part of big cities, increasing poverty.
PB: Faced with the current situation, do you think of yourself as an optimist?
DU: Hay días en que pienso que las dificultades son muchas y los frentes de trabajo no alcanzan a enfrentar esas dificultades. Pero cuando estoy en territorios indígenas, campesinos, afrodescendientes, y veo la fuerza y la tenacidad de gente que a pesar de las adversidades y de no tener muchas cosas necesarias para la vida todos los días se levanta a enfrentar el corporativismo, los paramilitares, la seguridad privada que la quiere sacar de sus territorios, creo que mis frustraciones son estupideces con respecto a esa realidad.
DU: There are days when I think that there are many difficulties, and just not enough ways to tackle them all. But when I'm in indigenous territories, with peasants or afro-descended people, and I see their drive and their tenacity despite the adversities; and how in spite of not having many of life's basic necessities, [they still] get up everyday to face corporatism, paramilitaries and private security groups that want to take their lands away from them, I think my frustrations are stupid compared to their reality.

author: Periodismo de Barrio


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A House Divided: Ethiopian Runners Separated by Politics Face Off at London Marathon · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

Ethiopians may suffer from conflicting allegiances Sunday as two Ethiopian elite runners Feyisa Lelisa and Kenenisa Bekele take to the streets of London for the 36 edition of the London Marathon.
Both Feyisa and Kenenisa hail from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, Oromo. But what sets them apart is politics; Feyisa is a dissident athlete who lives in exile in Arizona, while Kenenisa has refused to criticize the Ethiopian regime, despite its ongoing persecution of citizens of Oromo heritage.
At the Rio Olympics last summer, Feyisa Lelisa made himself a political exile when he showed solidarity with protesters in Ethiopia by displaying their protest sign after he crossed the finish line to claim a silver medal.
Three weeks after Feyisa’s protest, Kenenisa Bekele criticized Feyisa’s gesture and called for a separation of sport from politics.
Kenenisa, 34, is the most decorated Ethiopian athlete of all time, holding numerous world records and four Olympic medals. At the end of an illustrious career on the track he began running marathons. Last September, Bekele won the 2016 Berlin Marathon with a time of 2:03:03 — the second fastest marathon of all time.
Feyisa, 27, burst onto the long-distance running scene in 2008. Since then he has enjoyed momentous success in marathons, picking up wins in Dublin, Xiamen and Tokyo. Feyisa hero-worshipped Kenenisa as a youngster, but has refused to back down from his political stance.
In an interview with BBC Africa, Feyisa said he will continue his protest against the government in the London Marathon and said that “the blood is flowing” in Ethiopia.
A spokesman for Ethiopia's embassy in London called Feyisa's comments “fairy tales”.
The crossed-arm protest gesture Feyisa famously used in Rio dates back to a series of uprisings that began in Oromia — the state from which both Feyisa and Kenenisa hail — in April 2014.
The movement that emerged following a contentious government plan to expand the territorial limits of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, into neighboring Oromia villages and towns, subsequently expanded into other parts of Ethiopia, as participants rallied behind broader grievances against the government.
While the government has since tamped down the protests by declaring a state of emergency, Feyisa's signal of solidarity with the historically marginalized Oromo people at the Olympics offered the movement a major boost as international media moved to highlight political repression in Ethiopia.
Since then, he has appeared in European parliament along with Ethiopian opposition leaders to testify about Ethiopia’s human right situation. He has asked the US government, a strong ally of the Ethiopian government, to consider its relationship with Addis Ababa. And he has repeated his protest signs in several of the competitions he has entered since Rio.
Thus, when Feyisa and Kenenisa face each other on Sunday, there is more at stake than just athletic honor.
On social media, Ethiopians are divided as to whom to support. But many diaspora based activists have made it clear they view megastar Kenenisa as a regime apologist.
Birhanu Lenjiso concluded:
#Ethiopia will continue to create the #Feyisas until it does not stop to create the #Keninsas as legitimizing tool for its opperession.
— Birhanu M Lenjiso (@BirhanuLenjiso) April 20, 2017

author: Endalkachew Chala


text:
How a 1970s Polish TV Cartoon Can Help Promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education Today · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Dobromir before one of his “Eureka!” moments. Screenshot from the cartoon.
How can Science, Technology, Engineering and Math or STEM subjects become more appealing to children?
A Polish TV cartoon series from the 1970s proved that STEM subjects can be both entertaining and popular at the same time.
Pomysłowy Dobromir is a popular series of animated cartoons produced in Poland from 1973 to 1975 by Roman Huszczo and Adam Słodowy. The title is a loose translation for “Inventive Dobromir”. The word pomysłowy can also mean clever or ingenious, while the name Dobromir comes from the root “dobro” which means “good” in all Slavic languages.
The main character is Dobromir, a bright kid who thinks of solutions to various everyday problems on his grandfather's farm. After analyzing a problem, he makes models and prototypes of mechanical devices. The process is presented in an entertaining animation with catchy sound effects. But more importantly, it explains the basic principles and functions of the mechanical devices made by Dobromir.
The series has 20 episodes promoting the scientific approach among children. Each episode combines concepts and practical applications related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, which reflects the interdisciplinary approach of the current STEM curriculum.
The screenwriter of the series was Adam Słodowy, an inventor and TV personality who for decades hosted the “Do-it-Yourself” show on Polish national TV.
Some of the devices featured on the series included water pumps, harvesters, and timepieces. Check out how Dobromir was able to build these devices using simple tools by watching the cartoons below:
Poland did not have much opportunity for cultural export as a country situated deep behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War era. However, its cartoon industry managed to transcend both the national and the Soviet bloc borders, and became popular all over Central and Eastern Europe, including the non-aligned Yugoslavia.
Many Polish cartoons, including Dobromir, have little or no talking among the main characters, which adds to their universal appeal even decades after their original broadcast. Most of them are available online on both official Youtube channels and also through the versions posted by enthusiastic fans.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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How ‘Adventurer of the Year’ Mira Rai Went From Child Soldier to Ultrarunner · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Mira Rai, Trail Runner from Nepak. Image by Flickr user rpb1001. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
This story by Anne Bailey originally appeared on PRI.org on April 17, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
Three years ago, Mira Rai didn’t know mountain trail running was a sport.
Now, this former child soldier from rural Nepal is one of the top long-distance, high-elevation mountain runners in the world.
And she’s just getting started.
Rai pulls trophies from a glass case at her house in Kathmandu. I ask her to show me the one from her first trail-running race in Nepal, the one that launched her career three years ago, but she says there wasn’t an award for that one.
“No trophy,” she laughs.
The day Rai showed up for that 50-kilometer (about 31 miles) mountain trail race outside Kathmandu, she had no idea what she was getting into.
“I went there thinking it was a training run,” explains Rai. “I didn’t know it was a race. I just had a T-shirt and pants on. Other runners had backpacks and food and I went with nothing, but I just ran and ran.”
Hours later, Rai became the first and only woman to cross the finish line. “I just continued to run and then, I didn’t know, but I won!”
A month later she entered the 180-kilometer Mustang Trail Race in Nepal — that's nearly 112 miles — and won again. Then she took first place in races in Hong Kong, Italy and France. A year later, she had an endorsement deal with Salomon and became the subject of an award-winning documentary simply titled “Mira.”
In January, she was voted National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year. And she’s just 29.
It’s not a life she imagined for herself.
Like many rural Nepalis, Rai grew up poor. She quit school when she was just 12 years old to help support her family. She would carry heavy bags of rice across miles of rugged trails to the local market.
“The work was difficult there,” says Rai. “The slopes were steep so there wasn’t much cultivation. For six months we had food to eat, and for six months we had nothing.”
In the mountains all around her, a Maoist rebellion had been raging for years. Armed rebels were fighting to overthrow the Nepali monarchy and establish a people’s republic.
So when the Maoists came to her village in 2002 looking for recruits, Rai joined up. She was 14.
When Maoist rebels came to Rai’s village looking for recruits in 2002, Rai was only 14. But she joined up in hopes of finding a better life for her and her siblings. Credit: Anne Bailey
“I went there not because I understood their intentions or policies but because I wanted to do something,” she says.
Rai saw it as a way to help her siblings — and as a way out for herself.
“In my village, girls weren’t a priority. But the Maoists always talked about equality, which was something I wanted in my own life. So I left my education and joined them because I thought I could become something through the training. And I did end up learning many new skills.”
Like how to shoot assault weapons. She also became a black belt in karate and excelled at running.
Rai told her mother when she left that she’d be gone for a week. It was more like two years. Her father and uncles searched for her. Her mother even tried to commit suicide.
“When I remember that moment, I feel like crying,” she says. “It’s very difficult. I never wanted my mother to go through that because of me.”
When the armed conflict ended in 2006 under a UN-brokered peace agreement, Rai was 17. She thought she’d continue as a soldier in the Nepali army, but she was considered too young. So she returned to her village, devastated. She stayed in touch with her karate instructor from the Maoist camp, however, and focused on keeping herself physically fit.
He eventually invited her to live with his family in Kathmandu. And now, every morning at 6 a.m., she stretches and practices at his dojo.
A young black belt leads Rai through a kata at the karate dojo where she trains daily in Kathmandu. Credit: Anne Bailey
She calls her karate instructor her “guru” and says he pushes and inspires her. A few miles away, a group of Nepali girls say the same thing about Mira Rai.
At a local running club, girls here take turns telling me why they like running, and what Rai told them the day she visited their club.
“She said ‘never give up,'” one girl reports. “And she told us that running is also good for our health.”
Girls in the Himalayan Children’s Foundation running club in Kathmandu, Nepal, say they’re inspired by Mira Rai’s success in sports. Credit: Anne Bailey
I ask the running club if it’s easy to do sports as a girl in Nepal. They all shake their heads: No.
Rai knows that sports alone won’t change things in Nepal’s conservative society — especially in the rural areas.
“We are considered backward just because we are women,” Rai explains. “But we’re not backward. We should be involved in sports, and we should make our country known for that.”
Unfortunately, Nepal’s government has barely acknowledged Rai’s success and doesn’t view mountain racing as a sport.
“It's sad that everybody says mountain racing is a sport, but in my own country, the government doesn’t recognize it,” she says.
But as usual, Rai isn’t giving up.
“I want to transfer the chance I got to my little sisters in Nepal. I want to help them learn what I learned and reach where I am today,” she says. “I want them to have as big a name as mine someday.”
Mira Rai stands alongside nine other powerful women athletes for the May 2017 cover of Outside Magazine. Credit: Outside Magazine
For more on Mira Rai's story, read From Village Girl to World Ultramarathon Champion: The Inspiring Story of Nepal's Mira Rai by Global Voices author Sanjib Chaudhary.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Georgia’s Five-Year-Old Prince Prepares to Reign · Global Voices
Eurasianet

Heir to the Royal Throne of Georgia, HRH Crown Prince Giorgi Bagration Bagrationi Mukhranbatonishvili (left) and his father, Head of the Royal House of Georgia, HRH Prince Davit Bagration-Mukhranbatoni, wearing traditional Georgian chokhas. (Photo: The Royal House of Georgia)
The following is a partner post from EurasiaNet.org written by Tamar Kikacheishvili. Republished with permission.
Like many doting parents, five-year-old Giorgi’s post cute pictures of him on Facebook: blowing out candles on a birthday cake, or wearing red plastic sunglasses behind the wheel of a car, pretending to drive.
But the comments below the pictures belie that humble appearance. “Long live the king!” many write. “Even his eyebrows look like Queen Tamar’s,” wrote one fan, referring to the queen who reigned in the 12 and 13centuries and is, in fact, Giorgi’s distant ancestor.
Georgia aspires to be part of Europe, and for its government that means European Union-style democracy. But a minority of Georgians want their country to follow an older European tradition by restoring their country’s millennium-old monarchy. And their hopes are riding on the little shoulders of Giorgi – or, as his Facebook page identifies him, Heir to the Royal Throne of Georgia, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Giorgi Bagration Bagrationi Mukhranbatonishvili.
Prince Giorgi largely owes his standing to the leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, who in 2007 called for Georgia to adopt a constitutional monarchy. At that time, though, there was a stumbling block: there was no clear heir. “A candidate to the crown should be selected among representatives of the royal dynasty, and he should be suitably raised to be king from childhood,” Ilia said at the time.
The Bagrationi dynasty had ruled Georgia from the 10th century until the early 19 century, when Russia colonized Georgia and abolished the monarchy. The Bagrationis were duly absorbed into the Russian aristocracy. Most dispersed to Europe after the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Union, but some began to trickle back after Georgia regained independence in 1991, and the restoration of the monarchy became imaginable, if not yet plausible.
Prince Nugzar Bagrationi Gruzinski is the son of one of the few Bagrationis to have remained in Georgia, a dissident poet, and is the direct descendent of the last king of Georgia. But Prince Nugzar’s daughter, Anna, was already married – to someone outside the Bagrationi line – and had two daughters. As it happened, though, she divorced in 2007, and Ilia set her up with a Spanish-born distant cousin, Davit Bagrationi-Mukhraneli.
The two did not know one another before the patriarch arranged the marriage, said Mamuka Bagrationi, a distant relative of Giorgi and the host of a television show about issues related to the royal family. “This is something very common with the royal dynasty, to sacrifice their private lives for the sake of the country,” Bagrationi said in an interview with EurasiaNet.org.
The couple married in 2009 at a ceremony in Tbilisi’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, attended by 3,000 guests, but the marriage was short-lived; the couple divorced in 2013.
By that time, however, they had given birth to Giorgi. He was born in 2011 and baptized by the patriarch himself at the Cathedral of Svetitskhoveli in Mtskheta, the traditional site for Georgian kings to be crowned. One of his godfathers is prominent businessman and anti-gay, anti-liberal activist Levan Vasadze.
“It was a huge event that after two hundred years there was a baby baptized as Prince of Georgia,” Ilia said.
Giorgi’s life is little documented outside of the Facebook page of the royal family. After the divorce, Giorgi lives with his mother in an apartment in Tbilisi. But his father remains active in his upbringing; one favorite father-and-son activity is watching auto races at the track in Rustavi, a city just east of Tbilisi, Bagrationi said.
Some of Giorgi’s Facebook photos do evoke his unique upbringing. He is frequently wearing a traditional Georgian chokha, and is often photographed with the patriarch.
The prince already speaks Georgian, Russian, and Spanish, and while details about his future education are still being discussed by family members, it will focus on subjects befitting a king like politics and military studies, Bagrationi said.
He will soon start studying khridoli, a traditional Georgian martial art that has been experiencing a revival in the country. “It develops various skills like concentration, balance, and patience,” Bagrationi said.
While the prospects for the restoration of the monarchy are dim, it remains publicly popular, at least in theory. In July 2015, the Tbilisi research center Doctrina conducted a poll: of the 560 Georgians surveyed, about 30 percent favored the restoration of the monarchy.
In practice, though, the concept of a restoration has failed to get much traction. The political party that advocates for the return of the monarchy, Royal Crown, failed to make the ballot in last year’s parliamentary elections. The party is older than the prince, but its leader, Vazha Abashidze, said he supports Giorgi’s claim to the throne.
“He is a child, but I can see that he is an amazing child who is fearless and open-minded, and people will love him,” Abashidze told EurasiaNet. “Our guardian now is the patriarch of Georgia, but naturally he takes care more about Orthodox Christians. The king will love everyone regardless of their religion.”
Abashidze noted that no one predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, so another dramatic twist in the country’s fate could happen faster than Georgians expect. “This is the will of the God and we don’t know when will it happen, but it will definitely happen,” he said. “We need to be ready for the right moment, and that’s why we need to have a well-prepared heir to the throne.”

author: Eurasianet


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How the Symbols of Indonesia’s Hardline Muslim Groups Reached the Pages of Marvel Comics · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Screenshot from YouTube video of X-Men Gold #1 Digital Comic
After Indonesian artist Ardian Syaf uploaded a sketch he made for X-Men Gold #1 on Facebook, his fans quickly spotted symbols used by the Movement in Defense of Islam, in their controversial campaign against the Christian governor of Jakarta, the country’s capital.
Indonesia is the largest Muslim-dominated nation in the world. In recent years, hardline Muslim groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) have been aggressively criticizing the government for not defending Islam enough.
The symbols used are 212 and QS 5:51, which FPI popularized during the massive rallies it organized last December 2016 to call for the removal of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. Ahok is accused of insulting the Quran. QS 5:51 refers to the Quranic chapter 5 and verse 51, which Ahok allegedly quoted in a public speech to insult Islam; 212 refers to the anti-Ahok rallies last December.
More than 200,000 attended the rally under the banner of Movement in Defense of Islam, but the event was criticized for promoting religious intolerance. Using violent rhetoric, many leaders of the rally urged the public to reject Christian and Jewish leaders.
Syaf, who is one of the country’s prominent artists who worked with both DC and Marvel Comics, admitted that he inserted the 212 and QS 5:51 symbols because he believes in the principles of the Movement in Defense of Islam.
Some of his fans were infuriated and called the attention of Marvel Comics. The company acknowledged the complaints of its readers and released a statement announcing the removal of the inserted symbols in subsequent editions of X-Men Gold #1. It added that the artist will face disciplinary action.
The mentioned artwork in X-Men Gold #1 was inserted without knowledge behind its reported meanings. These implied references do not reflect the views of the writer, editors or anyone else at Marvel and are in direct opposition of the inclusiveness of Marvel Comics and what the X-Men have stood for since their creation. This artwork will be removed from subsequent printings, digital versions, and trade paperbacks and disciplinary action is being taken.
Ms. Marvel creator G. Willow Wilson, who is also a Muslim like Syaf, wrote on her blog about the error of interpreting the Quran to spread hate:
The Quran never suggests you can’t be friends with non-Muslims. Which makes sense, because, you know, the Prophet had non-Muslim friends.
She also criticized the Indonesian artist for undermining the career of other Muslim illustrators:
He has committed career suicide; he will rapidly become irrelevant. But his nonsense will continue to affect the scant handful of Muslims who have managed to carve out careers in comics.
But artist Dicky Aryo Aditomo assured the public that his friend Syaf is not against Christians and Jews:
Personally I do not agree with what he did to the X-men comic because I do not think that was professional to include his personal views which were sensitive matters, especially on a property which is not his.
I respect his political and religious views but I don't think he is expressing them in a socially accepted manner.
I'm sure he did not mean any harm, spreading hatred, or to create a disturbance and to upset people, no, but he was too proud of himself supporting his beliefs and supporting the peace protest that is “212”.
He added that Syaf is simply passionate about his beliefs noting that the controversial artist once inserted the image of Jokowi, the country’s president, also on one of the pages of Marvel Comics.
Immediately after BleedingCool.com broke the news about the insertion of the symbols in the comics, Syaf encouraged his fans to buy the “soon to be collector's item.” He argued too that the subliminal messages should not be interpreted seriously.
According to a report by Jawa Pos newspaper, Syaf said his contract was terminated by Marvel Comics despite his pleading that he was neither anti-Christian nor anti-Muslim. Nevertheless, he never apologized for offending non-Muslims.
While Syaf was widely condemned outside Indonesia for inserting the symbols that promote hate against other religions, he was praised by Muslim youths sympathetic to puritan Islamic interpretations. These groups considered Syaf's action as a service in defense of Islam. Ironically, one of the organizers of the 212 rally was about to charge Syaf with blasphemy but they withdrew it after learning that the artist is a supporter of their movement.

author: Juke Carolina


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Instagram snaps of Japanese foods you may not have heard of · Global Voices
Sarah Lee Stones

While to some outside of Japan it might seem like food poisoning waiting to happen, raw chicken is a popular treat in Japan. Image from Flickr user mio-spr.
While most people are familiar with sushi and Japanese sweet potato,  there are a lot of more adventurous Japanese foods out there. If you're looking to try something new and exciting, Japan has plenty to offer…
Restaurants specializing in yakitori (barbecued chicken) are common in every drinking area around Japan, and provide examples of Japanese foods not commonly eaten outside the country. While breast and thigh meat are standard fare, there are also plenty of other parts of the chicken on the menu. Chicken hearts and gizzards are popular, as is chewy cartilage.
そして焼いた鶏ハツはこちら。カリカリに焼くので脂も抜け落ちてさっぱり(*ˊૢᵕˋૢ*) pic.twitter.com/0MUBvdKqZb
— クロゥフス 4/22 コルテナ (@qrou) 2017年3月24日
Grilled chicken hearts. Cooked until crisp, the fat is drained out, making these refreshingly light!
地鶏、軟骨唐揚げ pic.twitter.com/YyrpSx6W7k
— たかにい (@baramosking) 2017年3月30日
Cartilage karaage (crispy fried chicken)
A little harder to find is tamahimo (玉ひも), the partially developed eggs from inside the chicken, served along with the chicken equivalent of the Fallopian tube that houses them.
たまひも みたらし団子レベルの照り #やきとり #鳥喜久 #たまひも
A post shared by  やまりあ (@yamaria0720) on
Tamahimo, as shiny as mitarashi dango (soy sauce glazed dumplings) #yakitori #yakitori restaurant #tamahimo
Chicken sashimi at Korombia izakaya in Sapporo, Japan. Yes, that's RAW chicken. https://t.co/v4iHmvVqN5 #sashimi #japan #japanesefood pic.twitter.com/PPAZmK7m5p
— Will Fly for Food (@flyforfoodnow) 2017年4月1日
Known locally as torisashi (鶏刺し), a combination of the words tori meaning chicken and sashimi meaning raw sliced meat, raw chicken is widely available at yakitori restaurants and bars throughout Japan. It is particularly common in Kagoshima, Miyazaki, and Oita prefectures, where it is a local specialty.
Chicken sashimi can include chicken breast, liver and gizzard. It is often boiled or seared until the outside turns white, rather than served completely raw.
Freshness and proper handling lower the risk of food poisoning from campylobacter bacteria contained in raw chicken, but despite this, about several hundred cases of food poisoning from torisashi are reported annually, and it is believed that still more cases go unreported. For this reason, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has recommended that chicken not be served raw or undercooked.
Unlike raw beef or pork, raw chicken poses little life-threatening risk, but it can lead to a nasty stomachache and diarrhea, so caution is advised. That said, plenty of Japanese people eat torisashi regularly without getting sick.
仕事終わりの夜深く?飲み会? マラソン自己ベスト更新のお祝いと 良質なタンパク質補給という名目w 新鮮でお味の濃厚な馬刺し? 熊本産でお店独自のルートとか? 噂で聞いていて行きたかったお店? 渋谷区内ですが立地はディープ感が? 超美味しく頂きました?また行きたい！ ありがとうございました！ #仕事終わり #深夜 #飲み会? #マラソン #自己ベスト更新 #お祝い #タンパク質 #新鮮 #馬刺し #濃厚 #行きたい #渋谷 #また行きたい
A post shared by  Katsunori (@k.nagai.man.0206) on
Late night drinks after work . In celebration of my new personal best marathon record, and for a little extra protein. Fresh, rich basashi. After hearing the restaurant had its own supplier in Kumamoto, I had to check it out. Located deep in Shibuya, the food was so good, I'll have to go again! Thank you!
Known as basashi (馬刺し) or sakura niku (桜肉, literally “cherry blossom meat”) for its pinkish color, horse meat is fairly common throughout Japan. The lean meat, which is a specialty of Kumamoto, is generally served raw, dipped in soy sauce.
Horseradish is (appropriately enough) a popular accompaniment to the dish.
こんな暑い日は生ビールとホルモンが最高ですね♡ #金沢 #片町 #ホルモン #焼肉
A post shared by 金沢 焼肉NOBU(ノブ) 片町味食街 (@yakiniku.nobu) on
On hot days like these, there's nothing like beer and horumon!
The internal organs of pigs and cows are often eaten grilled or cooked up in a hot pot. In Japanese, they are referred to as horumon (ホルモン).
A couple of theories on the etymology of this term exist. One popular theory holds that it originated from the Kansai dialect horumon (放る物), meaning “discarded goods”, as these less desirable parts of the animal were often thrown away. Following the end of the Second World War, Korean residents of Osaka, Hiroshima and other cities in western Japan, looking for a cheap business to make ends meet, figured out a way to prepare and sell this discarded food.
According to another theory, the name came from the word “hormone”, which was a well known buzzword in postwar Japan. People held the belief that internal animal organs, supposedly rich in hormones, would raise their energy level. Even today, horumon has a reputation as a stamina building food.
昨夜の生レバー旨かった? #大詔閣 #木屋町 #生レバー #炙りレバー #焼肉
A post shared by  tory Rockers Train (@tory_rockers_train) on
Last night I had raw liver! #Daishoukaku Restaurant #Kiyamachi […]
This particular Japanese delicacy is actually off the menu, at least officially, following the introduction of new regulations banning restaurants from serving it. Beef liver was banned in 2012, following the deaths of five people who contracted E. coli food poisoning from eating improperly prepared raw beef, which led to a rise in the popularity of pork liver before it, too, was banned in 2015.
Companies have developed a meat-free alternative made from konnyaku, which is remarkably similar to the real thing in appearance and texture. But according to some diners, it's just not the same.
レバ刺しもらった?レバ刺し…レバ刺し…と思いながら食べても…こんにゃくレバ刺し…こんにゃく味だ?レディース気に入って食べてる?#こんにゃくレバ刺し
A post shared by  鈴木愛 (@a_a.i_i.3) on
I had some liver sashimi. “Liver sashimi… Liver sashimi…” is what I made myself think as I ate it, but it's actually made from konnyaku… And it tastes like konnyaku. It's popular among ladies!
この前食べた鯨のお刺身?！
鯨さんごめんなさいですが、
珍味で今や珍しいお味のお刺身です✨??
穴場の居酒屋?中目黒で
いただきました〜??
ごちそうさまです?✨✨#写真で伝えたい私の世界 #鯨肉 #刺身 pic.twitter.com/lahneZiLM4
— ?ゆきこ? (@yukioccc2716) 2017年4月18日
The whale sashimi I had the other day.
Sorry whales, but this sashimi has such a distinctive delicate flavor; it's hard to get hold of it these days.
I enjoyed this at a little known izakaya bar called Nakameguro.
It was delicious!
Once a common dish, including on school lunch menus, whale meat has all but disappeared from the dinner table due to waning domestic consumption.
Whale meat sold in a gift shop in Nagasaki. Photo by Nevin Thompson.
Those who still eat whale meat are mostly members of older generations who have fond memories of eating it during their childhoods.
Despite the low demand, both canned and fresh whale meat can still be found in supermarkets, and it is also available at some restaurants. Diners should be advised, however, that whale meat dishes may come with a side of mercury.
大好き❤ #白子ポン酢#白子#うまい#おいしい#大好き
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My favorite! #shirako with ponzu #delicious #yummy #my favorite
While fish roe is a common part of Japanese cuisine, and indeed in many other cuisines around the world, in Japan, the male fish genitalia are also commonly consumed. Known as shirako (白子, literally “white children”), this delicacy is served encased in its membrane, and may be eaten raw or cooked. Often seasoned with ponzu sauce, it is also a common sushi topping.
Shirako is usually harvested from cod, but it can also come from other fish, such as salmon or pufferfish. Known for its distinctive creamy texture, it is widely available in winter, when it is in season.
続?カメヤ食堂。キラキラな塩辛と。愉快な仲間たちと。ステキ時間❤ #横浜#反町#カメヤ食堂#塩辛#酒盗#イカ#?#肴#梅水晶#にんにく#ニンニク#ガーリック#garlic#楽しい#美味しい#幸せ#❤#アヤッペグラム#onelove #love#peace#happy#smile#?#summer #summervacation いつもありがとう???
A post shared by あ☺やっぺ (@ayappe0607) on
Made from the salted, fermented guts of various marine animals (usually squid), even most Japanese people consider shiokara (塩辛) to be somewhat of an acquired taste. This pungent dish is usually enjoyed as an accompaniment to sake.
Some of these dishes may not be my cup of tea, but it certainly is interesting to see what constitutes a tasty meal to a different culture.

author: Sarah Lee Stones


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Maldives Blogger and Activist Yameen Rasheed  Stabbed to Death · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot from a YouTube interview of Yameen Rasheed by Nepali journalist and blogger Ujjwal Acharya.
Maldivian blogger and activist Yameen Rasheed, 29, was stabbed to death in the country's capital Male in the early morning hours of April 23, 2017.
Through his blog The Daily Panic and Twitter account @Yaamyn, Rasheed had become known as an outspoken critic of the government and radical Islamism. Shocked by this death, Maldivians expressed their grief and concerns on social media, while some demanded an international probe.
Rasheed was found in the stairwell of his apartment at 3 a.m. with multiple stab wounds and died soon after he was taken to the hospital. He suffered 16 stab wounds to his body, including 14 on the chest, one on the neck and one on the head. He had received several death threats via text messages and social media for his views against the government and religious extremists, which he had reported to the police.
Besides his online writings, Rasheed was an activist. On May 1, 2015, he was arrested with dozens of other activists for being part of anti-government protests and was held in custody for 21 days.
Rasheed was working for the Maldives Stock Exchange as an IT professional. In honor of Rasheed, the Stock Exchange office was closed on April 23.
The spokesperson of President Abdulla Yameen tweeted that the government “will deliver justice”. The public are also urged to provide information in order to help solve the case.
#PresYameen sends message of condolence to Yameen Rasheed’s family.https://t.co/TpcDSponAs pic.twitter.com/hCKZSp6X6D
— Ibrahim H. Shihab (@IntSpkMV) April 23, 2017
Former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom tweeted the sentiment of many netizens:
Deeply shocked by the killing of social media activist Yameen Rasheed. May Allah bless his soul! His murderers must be bought to justice.
— Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (@maumoonagayoom) April 23, 2017
Another former president, Mohamed Nasheed, called for an open investigation:
A brave voice, brutally silenced. Only an impartial & open investigation with international participation can provide justice for @yaamyn.
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) April 23, 2017
Rasheed's friends in civil society also mourned his death:
Yameen Rasheed was a brave HRD and eloquent blogger. The human rights community will not let his brutal murder be ignored. Rest in peace.
— Mv Democracy Network (@MDN_mv) April 23, 2017
Its a sad day! we have lost a dear friend & a brother @yaamyn
We will never forget you..
May Allah grant you Janatul Firdous.. ameen pic.twitter.com/p7XSv8qukA
— #NationFirst ?? (@Simwarr) April 23, 2017
His friend, expat Maldivian Muju Nasim, wrote about the online video series featuring the work of Rasheed:
Anyone who would like to know more about Yameen Rasheed and the kind of human being that he was, you can watch the web video series (This week in Maldives) we were doing together.
We were only able to record a few episodes when we were forced to stop the series fearing for his safety as I have been based overseas for the last 5 years.
Maldives has a troubling history of extrajudicial killings targeting journalists, activists, and bloggers.
Blogger, LGBT activist and journalist Ismail Khilath Rasheed, also known as Hilath, was stabbed in June 2012 by radical Islamists.
Quite similar to Rasheed's murder, Dr Afrasheem Ali, a member of parliament of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), was brutally stabbed to death outside his home in October 2012.
Rasheed was a close friend of Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, another well-known Maldivian journalist, blogger and human rights advocate, who was abducted and disappeared in 2014 (see Global Voices report). Since 2014, Rasheed had been pushing hard to get justice for Rilwan, and was recently working with Rilwan’s family to file a case against the Maldives police related to the investigation into Rilwan's death.
Blogger Amira thought that Rasheed's murder was not an isolated incident:
This cannot be an isolated incident of a lunatic running around killing people. I feel very strongly that this had been planned and executed.
Writing on Facebook, Mickail Naseem criticized the police for failing to act on the death threats made against Rasheed:
Cannot trust people at Maldives Police Service who turned a blind eye to death threats against Yameen Rasheed to conduct an impartial investigation into his death.
Also writing on Facebook, Naafiz Abdulla was worried about the killings targeting ordinary citizens:
“So called” Paradise on Earth has no public safety for it's citizens. Tomorrow, it could be me, you, or any of us.
Below are some Twitter reactions to his death:
Those who slaughtered Afrasheem, abducted Rilwan, murdered Yameen; know that your attempts to silence, intimidate us will create more of us.
— I. Thayyib (Thadu) (@ithadu) April 23, 2017
you killed Rilwan he came back as Yameen now that u killed him someone else will come to reveal . No one can kill the truth
— SeaxanAli (@seaxanali) April 23, 2017
How many Rilwans and Yameen's has to die for you before you start fight for dignified life?
— Ahmed Shujau (@a_sujah) April 23, 2017


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Mexico’s ‘Mama Africa’ Welcomes Migrants on a Long Journey · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Concepción González Ramírez, also known as “Mama Africa,” runs a small hotel in Tapachula, a small city in Mexico, in the southern state of Chiapas, just across the border from Guatemala. Credit: Amy Bracken
This story by Amy Bracken originally appeared on PRI.org on April 19, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
For migrants, whether moving through Europe or Latin America, certain spots become known along the way for welcoming people.
I visit one such place in the Mexican city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala. It’s a bare-bones hotel near downtown. The manager is a petite, 59-year-old Mexican woman with coral pink glasses and gold-colored teddy bear earrings. Her name is Concepción González Ramírez, and she was born and raised here in Tapachula, but many now know her as Mama Africa. She’s called that because the hotel — actually she herself — has become a destination for Africans, as well as Haitians, passing through.
The hotel isn’t that charming. For $2.50 a night, guests stay in basic rooms with peeling, bare walls and metal-frame beds. In the lobby, there’s a parrot in a cage. There’s no sign for the hotel, but African and Haitian migrants by the hundreds have found their way here.
Sometimes, Ramírez says, people arrive in packed minibuses at the top of the road, “and start yelling out, ‘Mama Africa! Where’s Mama Africa?!’”
There’s a lull now, but earlier this year Ramirez had 200 guests at a time. There are only 24 rooms, so some people slept on cardboard outside. She doesn’t want to turn anyone away.
She also helps out by taking sick guests to the hospital, buying medicine they can’t afford, and rubbing balm on travel-weary feet.
Tychique Sebastiao, from Angola, arrived recently. I ask him if Mama Africa is a fitting nickname for Ramírez.
The Sebastiao family (with their girl, Merrui, sporting a with the yogurt mustache) stand with Concepción González Ramírez, also known as Mama Africa. The Sebastiaos came from Angola via Brazil, and they hope to reach Boston. Credit: Amy Bracken
“Yes, yes,” he says, with a laugh. “I feel she is really like that, because African women are very nice women. Very loving. She has a mother’s gregariousness. … We’re really comfortable here.”
Sebastiao is traveling with his sister and her three children, hoping to get to Boston to reunite with her husband.
They’d been living in Brazil already, but for some Africans a popular route to the US is to first fly to South America and then head north.
They heard about Mama Africa from fellow travelers. “Mama Africa is a name that’s known all along the route,” says Felix Michelet, a guest here from Haiti.
He says Haitians and Africans often travel together, and Africans farther ahead on the route had sent back word about Ramírez via Whatsapp.
Like many Haitians, Michelet lived in Brazil, working construction ahead of the Olympics and the World Cup. After Brazil’s economy weakened, he began making his way to the US. He’s been at Mama Africa’s for months, selling SIM cards to make enough money for the bus to Tijuana.
I ask if he’ll stay in touch with Ramirez.
“Mama Africa is our mom, we’re never going to let her go,” he says with a laugh. “We’ll always be in touch.”
Ramírez says former guests often text her, saying hello or reporting progress on their trip. She says her work is motivated by her Christian faith. She doesn’t know much about Africa, but she has learned from guests how to make Ghanaian-style chicken.
Ramírez might be famous around here, but she’s not the only beacon for migrants in Tapachula. Across town, a dirt road dead-ends at Jesús Valenzuela’s house. This winter, Valenzuela and his family made space in their small home for guests. He’s a local cop, and he saw African migrants were being overcharged for bus tickets. He started helping them get a fair deal, and offered up his home for a buck a night.
Now, up to 25 people, mostly Haitian, are staying here. Some sleep on quilts on the floor, but there’s electricity, laundry, and an outdoor cooking area.
Valenzuela says he knows what his guests go through.
“I was in the United States,” he says. “I’ve experienced what they’re experiencing. I went through the desert, and we suffered. There are places where people help, and places where they don’t, so that’s why I want to support and help them.”
After three years in the US, Valenzuela was deported following a workplace raid.
Most migrants coming through Tapachula are Central American, and some locals open their doors to them too.
José Antonio Cordova Meléndez tells me he fled extortionists in Honduras with his wife and three children — and no plan. In Tapachula, he asked around about housing, and a stranger — a single mom — took them in. Months have gone by and the family is still in her house, trying to figure out their next move.
Back at Mama Africa’s, the rooms are full again. In the halls, travelers quietly study their cell phones. A minibus came by today and unloaded 20 new guests, mostly from Somalia.
Ramírez seems happy with the fuller house, but she’s also nostalgic for those who’ve gone. Like a proud grandmother, she scrolls through her digital photo album.. There’s a picture of her daughter with her hair cornrowed by a guest, some shots of grandchildren, and many more of travelers, young and old. She laughs sadly through her brief introductions.
“Ya se fueron,” she says, repeatedly. “They’ve left.”


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How Alexey Navalny Abandoned Russian Nationalism · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Photo: Alexey Navalny / Instagram
In February 2011, about nine months before Alexey Navalny became internationally famous as one of the leaders of the anti-Putin Russian opposition, The Guardian published a story about him titled “Russia’s Chief Whistleblower Wants to Jail the Corrupt.” The article featured a picture of Navalny in a decidedly uncool sweater vest.
The next day, Navalny joked on his LiveJournal blog, “I don’t know why all these silly foreigners like to use these photos. A possible explanation is that, in every foreign media story about me, it’s required to mention very carefully that ‘this man’s views are, generally speaking, a bit similar to the views of nationalists.’ In the minds of Europeans and Americans, the sweater vest is the symbol of a four-eyed nerd. Maybe a ‘nationalist-nerd’ is less frightening somehow.”
More than six years later, Navalny has come a long way. Before the end of 2011, he was leading huge crowds of protesters against parliamentary election results. In 2013, he challenged Moscow’s incumbent mayor and nearly forced a runoff vote. On multiple occasions now, Russian courts have convicted Navalny of serious crimes, resulting in suspended sentences and a felony record that technically bars him from running for president next March. Even so, Navalny is running for president, though it’s unlikely he’ll be allowed onto the ballot.
The man who started out as a “nationalist-nerd” with a LiveJournal account is now an international political figure, regularly described as “the leader of the Russian opposition,” with a growing array of online media and civic projects at his command. In mid-April, Navalny’s team reported that more than 77,000 people had signed up to volunteer in his presidential campaign, almost 320,000 people had endorsed his right to appear on the ballot next year, and more than $690,000 had been donated.
Alexei Navalny's presidential campaign has enjoyed some explosive success since he decided to take on Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. pic.twitter.com/MfPGN3KH1f
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) April 14, 2017
Earlier this month, the independent TV station Dozhd reported that domestic policy officials in the Putin administration were planning a mudslinging campaign against Navalny, apparently designed to depict him as a fascist. The very next day, a sleek viral video appeared on YouTube — made in the same style and with the same high production value as past pro-Kremlin viral videos — comparing Navalny to Adolf Hitler.
After less than a week, YouTube removed the video due to copyright violations, but duplicates still circulate, and the original clip attracted more than 2 million views before it was taken down.
The people behind the video are apparently hoping to discourage support for Navalny by exaggerating his nationalist views and reminding the public about a younger man who leveraged nationalism to make a name for himself.
But digging up Alexey Navalny’s nationalism also does something else: it reminds Russian nationalists that he’s abandoned many of the views and much of the rhetoric that used to unite them.
And what does it matter if these people are upset?
Russian nationalists are notorious for embellishing their own political weight. In 2008, Navalny himself claimed that 40 percent of all Russians are “naturally inclined towards nationalism.” Three years later, Alexander Belov (a prominent nationalist now doing 7.5 years in prison for multiple felonies) said that 70 percent of Russians are nationalists “but they lack political representation.”
Looking at electoral politics in Russia, it’s difficult to justify these numbers, and yet it’s undeniable that the vast majority of Russians, including many Russian nationalists, embraced the annexation of Crimea. In fact, many political analysts today argue that a so-called “Crimean Consensus” sustains Vladimir Putin’s enormous popularity.
A decade ago, Navalny was too nationalist to win over the liberal intelligentsia, but now he risks losing support among old comrades and the general population because he’s not nationalist enough.
This, at any rate, was Alexandr Khramov’s warning in a text published last Friday on the new nationalist website “Russian European.” A former coordinator for the nationalist movement “Russian Civic Union,” Khramov separates Navalny’s political history into two stages: “the healthy man’s Navalny” and “the smoker’s Navalny.”
An avowed Russian nationalist, Khramov says the good old days of Alexey Navalny lasted until March 2014. Navalny participated in the annual “Russian March,” where skinheads and masked young men screamed slogans like “Russia for Russians!” “Enough feeding the [North] Caucasus!” and “Russia without Putin!”
Navalny speaks at the 2011 “Russian March.” / YouTube
In 2007, he helped launch the “NAROD” nationalist movement, which merged liberal politics with nationalist aims, including a call for free elections, an end to state monopolies in the news media, and Russia’s recognition of the sovereignty of Transnistria, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. A year later, when war broke out with Georgia, Navalny again endorsed Russian recognition for South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence, joking that President Saakashvili demonstrated a Hitler-like desire for territorial expansion into foreign lands.
Navalny stars in September 2007 “NAROD” video advocating gun ownership against swarthy-looking “homosapiens bezpredelius.”  / YouTube
Khramov marvels at how Navalny remained loyal to his nationalist allies in the early days of the “Bolotnaya Movement” in December 2011, when Navalny insisted that they get access to the microphone at major protests.
According to Khramov, after Navalny skipped the Russian March two years in a row, “the smoker’s Navalny” took over in March 2014, when he tried to stake out a position on Crimea. On March 12, 2014, Navalny published a blog post that was supposed to clarify his views on the annexation. In that text, Navalny argued that Moscow’s endorsement of the Crimean referendum to leave Ukraine for Russia risked a similar secessionist vote in Chechnya — a strange concern, given Navalny’s past support for jettisoning Chechnya altogether.
“I wanted to grab Navalny by the sleeve and ask, ‘Alexey, what are you talking about?’ What does Chechnya have to do with anything? There are 1.2 million Russians in Crimea (63 percent of the population), and 24,000 [Russians] in Chechnya (2 percent of the population),” Khramov wrote.
Navalny’s position on Crimea makes no sense to Russians like Khramov, who view it as a cheap political trick to deny Putin credit on “the one thing he got right.”
“The story with Crimea, where Putin acted like a Russian nationalist for the first and only time in his 15-year rule, plunged Navalny into deep confusion. He didn’t know how to act. Support the reabsorption of Crimea? But then they’d consider you a Putin supporter. Oppose it? Well then say goodbye to your patriot image,” Khramov wrote, complaining that Navalny ultimately ditched his nationalist, populist roots to win favor with liberals and foreigners.
Navalny’s efforts to appease, Khramov says, mean he’s now speaking in the same “meaningless,” “toothless assertions” favored by “Putin’s bureaucrats.”
In a recent interview, Navalny even said, “The Caucasian question isn’t any different for me than the Russian question — everything is just much worse there. The salaries are even lower there, and there’s even more corruption.”
For Russian nationalists, this comment is absolutely ludicrous. “In Russia’s back country, there are also low wages, but have you ever heard about tractor drivers or milkmaids from some Russian boondocks planting landmines or running off to take part in Middle Eastern jihad tourism?” Khramov asks.
A decade ago this December, Navalny delivered a speech to the liberal political party Yabloko, where he downplayed the dangers of “DPNI,” a nationalist movement later banned for extremism, and argued that the manifesto of his NAROD movement was perfectly compatible with Yabloko’s party platform. Knowing he was about to be kicked out, Navalny ended his remarks by shouting “Glory to Russia!” — a rather militant slogan at the time.
Navalny blamed the ouster on the party’s older politicians, who didn’t appreciate his criticism during the 2007 parliamentary elections, when Yabloko lost all its seats in the State Duma.
Ten years later, Russia’s liberal opposition still doesn’t have any representation in the parliament, and the old gatekeepers — the people who tossed out Navalny — can’t even open the door for themselves.
A one-man powerhouse who showed us last month that he can almost single-handedly mobilize thousands of protesters nationwide, Alexey Navalny is now bigger than his erstwhile allies at Yabloko. He’s bigger than all his old rivals.
But in a post-Crimea Russia, Navalny may have given up his populist edge over Putin, on the way to becoming the darling of Russia’s opposition.


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‘Lalades,’ the Local Tulips That Signal Spring on Greece’s Chios Island · Global Voices
Artemis Touli

Tulip at Chios Island, Northern Aegean. Photo by author
When you hear the word tulip, you might think of the Netherlands, maybe even the 17th-century tulip mania. But did you know that the golden era of the Ottoman Empire is called the “Tulip Period” (Lale Devri)? That's just one small testament of how the flowers are found elsewhere in the world.
On the small Greek island of Chios in the Northern Aegean sea, tulips are called “lalades,” and at the beginning of March they flood the fields and olive groves with blossoms that only last for 7-10 days. Famous for its equally renowned mastic trees and, more recently, known for accepting a big influx of migrants and refugees from the Middle East via Turkey, Chios has long marked spring by the blooming of tulips. The flowers are a traditional cultivation that provides a livelihood to villagers.
Tulips originated in Central Asia and spread through the Mediterranean territories to central and eastern Europe. The local Chios term for tulip, lalades, speaks to the flower's history: lale is the Persian name for tulip, which through Turkish eventually entered the Chian dialect.
Fourteen tulip species are cultivated in Greece, four of them especially in the central and southeastern parts of Chios Island (Tulipa praecox, Tulipa agenensis, Tulipa clusiana, Tulipa undulatifolia).
Lalades at Kallimassia village, Chios Island. You can see also olive trees and mastic trees in the background. Photo by author Artemis Touli
Tulipa praecox is locally called Turkish lale. It has a vivid red color and can reach up to 70 centimeters in height, and is usually found around cultivated fields and olive groves.
Tulipa agenensis, locally called Frankish lale, can reach up to 50 centimeters and has red flowers with black dots and yellow stripes inside.
Tulipa undulatifolia is also a rare and endangered species, up to 30 centimeters in height, with orange red blossoms and wavy leaves. It can be found in cultivated areas as well, usually near pistacia fields.
Finally, Tulipa clusiana, locally known as Constantinople or Babylonian lale, grows up to 60 centimeters and has white blossoms marked with intense exterior scarlet stripes. This species is rare and originates from Persia.
Lalades are a precious natural treasure for Chios Island, but the flowers do face some pressures. If care is not taken, the traditional massive collection and the digging up of their bulbs every year could wear out the soil. Furthermore, the abandonment of traditional cultivation practices and the adoption of modern methods of plowing can destroy bulbs.
For a soothing glimpse of Chios Island's flowers, take a look at the video below, filmed by Panos Mavrakis and uploaded to his YouTube channel, showing an endless red carpet of tulips in Chios:

author: Artemis Touli


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One Small Town’s Referendum on Gold Mining Is a Big Victory for Citizen Participation in Macedonia · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

A citizen voting at Gevgelija referendum, April 23, 2017. Photo by Marija Tegovska, CIVIL, published with permission.
Gevgelija, a small town in the south of Macedonia, made history on April 23 when residents overwhelmingly approved a referendum to block the opening of gold mines in the area that they fear will damage the environment.
Local news portal Gevgelija.net quoted the initial results issued by the municipal election committee, which showed that 98% of the referendum participants cast their ballot in favor of stopping the mines. Out of total of 19,458 Gevgelija citizens in the Voting Registry, 13,097 voted against the mines and 154 voted for them. A total of 68% of eligible voters participated, surpassing the required 50% to validate the result.
The referendum was significant for several reasons. In the 26 years since Macedonia became independent, this was the first successful one, both in the sense of meeting the 50% turnout minimum and in the sense that the majority of voters being cast in support of the demand.
It also represented an important assertion of the will of the people, especially at a time when the outgoing ruling party has been implicated in election fraud.
Election monitoring NGO Civil, declared that the referendum was conducted successfully in a peaceful atmosphere without significant problems, and with only minor irregularities. These included lack of information from the authorities made available to the citizens, as well as cases of group voting and absence of existing voters from the Voting Registry, but they didn't affect the overall outcome.
Construction has yet to start on the gold mines on nearby Kožuf Mountain, but the companies involved have received the necessary license from authorities allowing them to mine. The prospect of mining in the area stirred this seemingly sleepy border town, which gets most of its income through trade and other services catering to tourists from neighboring Greece. Residents were alarmed that the mines could possibly do irreparable damage to the environment, including poisoning the water table with cyanide, which would be used to treat the gold ore.
An initiative called “Salvation for Gevgelija” used social media to mobilize citizens to vote against the “gold mines of death.” Another of their slogans was, “The only gold we need is our children.”
#СпасЗаГевгелија #РеферендумЗаСпас #ПротивРуднициНаСмртта pic.twitter.com/ChkOOzyvKT
— Red Cloud (@GoranVitez) April 19, 2017
Tweet: #SalvationForGevgelija #ReferendumForSalvation #AgainstMinesOfDeath
Images: “Referendum for Salvation of Gevgelija: Vote Against! 23.04.2017″; “Stop the Mines of Death!”; “The Only Gold We Need Is Our Children”; “Stop Dirty Gold, Stop the Gold of Death, Gold Mine Konjsko, Salvation for Gevgelija [from] Cyanide.”
Responding to the concerns of environmental activists from Gevgelija, a leading independent TV show called 360 Degrees investigated the Canadian and US companies that received the licenses to mine on Kožuf Mountain. They found out that one of them, Reservoir Minerals, is actually an off-shore company from the Virgin Islands, and quoted the company manager saying it is a subsidiary of a Canadian firm. The journalists could not determine the actual owner of this company, which also has permit to survey about 20% of Macedonian territory for mineral deposits.
Allegedly, it is quite easy to “upgrade” such permits issued for geological surveys to mining licenses, requiring a simple approval from an official at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. 360 Degrees discovered that another, seemingly unconnected, company that received similar licenses in other parts of Macedonia has addresses in the same Vancouver building.
All this raised further concerns for the opponents of the mines on Kožuf Mountain, considering that in the past, foreign direct investments in Macedonia have come from off-shore companies allegedly connected with ruling party officials and their supporters.
Lawyer Aleksandar Tortevski provided additional information via Twitter. He noted that the gold vein runs through the Greek region of Halkidiki, but due to resistance by the local population, the Greek government withdrew the exploitation concessions given to a different Canadian company. He also argued mining companies register in Canada for a reason:
Фирмите се регистрирани во Канада затоа што таму не се досудува надомест за загадување и последици од ваква употреба на цијанид.
— Aleksandar Tortevski (@atortevski) April 19, 2017
The companies are registered in Canada because its judiciary doesn't provide compensation for pollution and health consequences from such use of cyanide.
Another aspect of the controversy referred to abandonment of the Kožuf Mountain Ski Resort project. It was supposed to be a major tourist attraction. According to the 360 Degrees report, the government neglected to repair the road leading to the resort area, which lead to failure of the project. According to the current plans approved by the government, the nearby area will be used for strip mining.
Activists in Gevgelija have a history of dealing with health hazards. For years, a group called Arsena fought to force authorities to solve the problem of the high levels of poisonous arsenic in the public water supply. Analyses of tap water made by public health institutions in Macedonia and abroad had proved their case.
While the authorities denied that the water was toxic, they announced the opening of new water treatment plants, as well as the digging of new wells during the same period, even performing ribbon-cutting ceremonies in 2014. Actual construction of the new water supply system started in February 2017, thanks to a new European Union-funded project.
A polling station in village of Miravci, Gevgelija, not accessible for people with disabilities. Photo by Xhabir Deralla, CIVIL, published with permission.
The success of the referendum came as a relief to many observers who feared that the outgoing ruling party VMRO-DPMNE would “sabotage” the referendum like they did the one to preserve the integrity of the iconic open Shopping Center (GTC) in the Macedonian capital Skopje in 2015. That referendum failed, as the number of participating voters was below the legal threshold.
The opposition at the time accused the government of issuing an order to its supporters not to participate. A ruling party official formally denied these claims then. However, political parties in Macedonia have access to voting records and can see who participated in voting, so it is easy for them to verify whether someone obeyed such an order to boycott. Under such circumstances, Macedonians fearing repercussions for disobedience just don’t show up to vote.
Another factor that doomed it was the threshold for the referendum to be considered valid was inflated due to so-called phantom voters being added to the Voting Registry — the more voters in the registry, the more voters that need to participate to reach more than 50%. Leaked phone conversations of government ministers indicated that Skopje’s Centar municipality was particular target for adding fake voters in the registry.
Meanwhile, as part of the reforms related to the country's general elections, parts of the Voting Registry had been checked and “cleaned.”  Therefore, the huge turnout in Gevgelija had been presented as legitimate expression of the will of the local people.
However, the Gevgelija referendum outcome is not legally binding.  Now it is up to the government, and in particular to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, to revoke the mining license.