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Two Argentineans Travel Throughout Latin America Looking for ‘The Other Education’ · Global Voices
Romina Navarro

“Education in Motion,” a trip to explore, connect, and disseminate popular education projects inspired by Latin American social movements. Photo from the campaign's Facebook page.
When we talk about education and educational quality, few of us stop to analyze how traditional education, despite evident improvements and constant evolution, continues perpetuating the stereotypes of a predominant culture that maintains little relation to the reality of Latin American communities. In recent decades, social movements sought alternatives to promote the integration of education into the life of the communities, which gave rise to a pedagogical discipline known as popular education, “a concept grounded in notions of class, political struggle, and social transformation.”
Along these lines of thinking, it’s been almost one year since two young Argentineans interested in studying and strengthening these movements set out on “a trip for education that fights for and creates that other world possible” throughout Latin America, in an ambitious project called La educación en movimiento (“Education in Motion”).
The project is based on a journey, in the literal sense of the term. With help from family members, friends, and other collaborators, they prepared their truck and left Buenos Aires on August 11, 2015, heading out on an extensive journey throughout Latin America, in order to get an up-close look at the educational projects of these social movements inside the diverse communities of the region. Their goal is to study them, learn from them, and ultimately reveal them in a documentary that they will edit after returning. The film will be available for free distribution.
The leading characters of this real-life story are Malena and Martin, two young people dedicated to inspiring popular education in the neighborhoods of their city, and “Guagua Transhumante,” a Renault Kangoo 1.9 diesel truck transformed into a motor home, equipped with the basic facilities, in order to serve as simple, but comfortable lodging. As they explain on their website's homepage:
En algunos países de Nuestramérica, “guagua” quiere decir  “ómnibus”, pero en otros significa “niñ@”. “Transhumante”, por nómade.
In some countries of Our America, “guagua” means “bus,” but in others it means “kid.” “Transhumante,” for nomad.
On their website, converted into a wonderful and extensive audiovisual blog, the travelers upload all the information, interviews, and clips that they have been compiling and producing along the way, in order to capture their experiences, which will be a part of their future documentary. They also have a Facebook page where they share stories, photos, and the day-to-day of their adventure with more than 2,000 followers.
The search for an educational change came about as a response to a common problem involving traditional schools’ relationship with the communities. In one of the interviews conducted during the trip, Mario Rodriguez, a Bolivian popular educator and co-founder of Red de la Diversidad Wayna Tambo (The Network of Wayna Tambo Diversity), talked about his experience in a completed investigation and how the schools “didn’t look.” On that subject he said:
Martín, Malena and the Guagua Transhumante on the Pacific Coast heading to Quito, Ecuador. Photo shared publicly on Facebook.
Una de las cosas que más me impresionaba en el caso de las niñas […] es que la escuela, en determinado momento, era un perjuicio para sus vidas porque, si las niñas llegaban al bachillerato, entraban más tarde en los circuitos de intercambio mercantil a través de los mercados de ferias locales, y que gran parte de su posibilidad de vivir y de ampliar su experiencia, de generar riqueza, pasaba por su incorporación temprana a estos mercados y sistemas que la escuela era incapaz de mirar, ¿no? Y, entonces, al no mirar, no era capaz de formar a las niñas, a las jóvenes, para ese escenario, que era parte de su vida cotidiana.
One of the things that left a big impression on me regarding the girls specifically […] was that the school, at a particular point, became detrimental to their lives because if the girls went to high school, they would be included in the commercial exchange circles at the markets of the local fairs much later and a large part of their possibility to live, expand their experience, and generate wealth, occurred because of their early incorporation in these markets and systems that the school wasn’t capable of looking at, right? And so, by not looking, it wasn’t capable of educating the girls, the youth, for this scenario that was a part of their daily lives.
Numerous social movements in each corner of “Our America,” as Malena and Martin call it, have worked and continue to work with communities, non-profit organizations, trade unions, government entities, and other groups interested in the creation and dissemination of educational projects that (1) are free of Western educational, social, and gender stereotypes; (2) coincide with the local reality; (3) are financially, economically, and geographically practical according to local means of living; (4) empower the communities helping them to grow; (5) protect the environment; and (6) preserve their culture. These are the projects that La educación en movimiento (Education in Motion) looks for, studies, and proliferates through their documentary journey, some of which are described in detail in the first assignment.
In Santiago del Estero, a northern province of Argentina, members of the indigenous movements and of the poorest neighborhoods of the region communally construct the first rural university in the country. The construction itself is already a rich learning experience for all the participants because they take turns performing group tasks, from the construction of the rooms, classrooms, and bathrooms, to the preparation of food for the workers and broadcasting the radio show.
The province has provoked an enormous amount of clips and interviews due to the quantity of projects currently underway, and is also where the Mocase VC, The Rural Movement of Santiago de Estero Vía Campesina, an organization that fights for the right to the land, health, and education of the Santiagueño citizens, actively works.
Is a mutual effort among education, the state, and the social movements possible? The proclamation of the new “Avelino Siñani – Elizaldo Pérez” Law of Education Number 070 in 2010, kick-started the decolonization of the educational system while respecting and reaffirming the social and cultural expressions of the nations and original indigenous populations and including the original languages as a first language of education, in addition to Spanish and a foreign language.
Continuing on the journey, Malena and Martin arrived to Lima where, among other things, they had an interview with Nelida Cespedes, Executive Secretary of the CEAAL, Consejo de Educación Popular del Caribe y América Latina (Popular Education Council of the Caribbean and Latin America). CEAAL is “a popular education movement that, acts as a network aiding in educational, social, political, cultural, and economical transformation processes in Latin America and the Caribbean, on local, national, and regional levels, in dialogue with the world. It is in favor of the sovereignty and integration of nations, social justice, and democracy, from the perspectives of human rights, gender equality, intercultural awareness, and an ethical, pedagogical, and politically emancipatory option.” The following video shows part of the interview where Nelida talks about the validity of popular education and the alternative perspectives they propose.
We have only shared three experiences that Malena and Martin have compiled during their first months of travel. The journey continues and they’ve passed through Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico and—at the time of this writing—they’re headed to Venezuela. The main purpose of their documentary trip is to interconnect the movements, strengthen them, and facilitate the collaboration and exchange of ideas in hopes that their clips will add to the debate and trigger new ideas and movements throughout the educational integration of each town in the region.
In our next update, we will present more details about the trip, the interviews, and the clips that define the rich experience of this project and show what diverse communities in Latin America have created in matters of education.

author: Romina Navarro


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Viral Photos of Fukushima Win Media Attention Abroad, Criticism From Some in Japan · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Laundry left behind since march 2011 in fukushima exclusion zone.” Screenshot of a tweet by Keow Wee Loong.
After an aspiring professional photographer from Malaysia claimed to have snuck into the Fukushima exclusion zone, his images went viral. Then the social media backlash began.
The story is an example of the general fascination that surrounds the name “Fukushima” following the March 2011 nuclear disaster, the sense of entitlement some non-Japanese visitors feel when spending time in the country, and the burning resentment felt by Japan's foreign-born population when they feel their adopted home is being disrespected or misrepresented in the media.
In early June 2016, Keow Wee Loong, 27, a photographer from Malaysia, posted photos to his Twitter account about a trip he said he took to an abandoned town in Fukushima. Five years earlier, following a large earthquake and tsunami, a series of explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate from the Futaba region of Fukushima Prefecture.
While many residents of the region have been able to return to their homes, some parts of the town of Namie in Okuma have remained sealed off due to relatively high levels of radiation. Residents have never been able to return to clean up their homes and shops following the earthquake, and some neighborhoods remain as they were in March 2011.
Loong chose to enter this “exclusion zone” to do a bit of urban exploration and snap some photos:
Shopping in fukushima ghost town, abandon since 2011#fukushima #urbex pic.twitter.com/fxPiRfc0ze
— Keow Wee Loong (@KeowWeeLoong) June 29, 2016
By the middle of July, Loong's photos of the deserted homes, shops and streets of Namie in Fukushima had gone viral, and were picked up by Western media outlets such as the Daily Express, the Guardian and Lonely Planet.
CNN reported that Loong essentially defied authorities (and Japanese laws) by “sneaking in,” and Time Magazine even ran an interview with Loong:
See chilling photos from the ghost towns of Fukushima https://t.co/3q4IioaJAi
— TIME.com (@TIME) July 17, 2016
For Loong, getting published in TIME seemed to indicate the realization of his dream to be recognized as a photographer. He wrote on Facebook:
Back in 2013, ever since i watch the movie about LIFE ,i always wanted to be publish on TIME MAGAZINE , i try so hard shooting alot of things but yet my photo was never publish and being appreciated by anyone.. when i stop trying so hard and do what i wanted to do , my dream came true…….
Screenshot from Keow Wee Loong's Facebook page.
Loong previously received some fame and attention for climbing skyscrapers in Dubai and Malaysia, and also for snowboarding down a volcano:
Keow Wee Loong snowboards down Mount Bromo in Indonesia while wearing a gas mask – Daily Mail https://t.co/iPaHxhwHAI
— Volcano News (@volcanobrk) February 19, 2016
Some netizens with connections to Japan, however, were outraged by Loong's behavior in the off-limits areas of Fukushima. There were questions about why Loong's successful attempt to break the law was tolerated or even encouraged, and also worries about what his photos would do to Fukushima's reputation.
In a Facebook group run by and for foreign assistant English-conversation teachers living and working in Fukushima, one post about Loong's adventures resulted in plenty of discussion and condemnation:
PSA: there's a photoset circulating of a man who broke into the Fukushima exclusion zone and entered people's businesses and homes to take photos.
If you see it, please don't repost it or spread it. Not only is what he did illegal, but beyond disrespectful to victims of the disaster who had no choice but to leave their homes. Additionally, his post is full of misinformation about the disaster, radiation, and much more.
Please help promote this beautiful prefecture, not damage its image further for posterity and internet fame.
In a post titled An Open Letter to the “Fukushima Exclusion Zone” Photographer, Keow Wee Loong, an anonymous blogger writing in English said:
Are you sure this wasn’t just some publicity stunt, a last-ditch effort to get your 10 seconds of Internet fame? Because from where I’m standing, that’s exactly what it was: A cheap, disrespectful publicity stunt that oozes desperation in both its vision and execution.
The open letter itself went viral among English-speaking Twitter users with an interest in or connection to Japan.
In a thread about the Malaysian photographer in the English-language r/Japan subreddit, the consensus was that, besides being an attention seeker, Loong was guilty of trespassing. One Redditor noted:
The area surrounding the buildings are open to all, but the buildings in these areas are owned by people and CANNOT BE LEGALLY ENTERED WITHOUT OWNER PERMISSION […] Kaow took photos of himself inside businesses that are privately owned and thus cannot be entered without permission, which he has admitted he did not get. In other words, he DID admit to trespassing.
Another photographer, Arkadiusz Podniesiński, who had actually covered the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 and recently published photos from the area affected by the accident, pointed out that Loong may never have actually entered most highly-contaminated areas of Namie that are still off-limits to the general public.
Alfie Goodrich, himself a Japan-based photographer well-known for his editorial and advertising photography, tweeted a link to Podniesiński's blog post:
Here's a map showing roughly where @KeowWeeLoong actually took his ‘Fukushima red zone’ photos. i.e. he is a liar. pic.twitter.com/eRfvcKVLb6
— Alfie Goodrich (@AlfieJapanorama) July 19, 2016
In the blog post, Podniesiński carefully plots out the location of Loong's photographs and concludes:
I have visited Fukushima many times to document the destruction caused by the disaster at the nuclear power plant, and so I did not have any major problems identifying the sites where Keow Wee Loong took his photographs. It quickly turned out that all of the photos he took were not taken in the red no-go zones as he claimed, but only in the open green zone (sometimes orange) as well as on Road No. 6, which runs through the Fukushima prefecture. All of these places are open and accessible to all.
For most of July, the story of Loong's surprising trip into the disaster-affected areas, and then the subsequent Internet outrage has been confined to English-language social media. After Huffington Post Japan reported on the controversy on July 19 and included Podniesiński's map that supposedly debunked the location of Loong's photos, the Malaysian photographer was forced to respond.
Posting publicly on Facebook, Loong said:
i still remember it was 4am here in asia and i received message from arkadiusz asking me on the location as he cant identify all of them so i exchange info with him, well i saw some of his work before from fukushima and i like it alot to be honest, but i really didnt expect that a fellow photographer will write such a thing to another fellow photographer and only highlight the town of namie but not others town that i've been…
Loong notes that there are some discrepancies between Arkadiusz, Huffington Post, and Greenpeace as to what is a red “off-limits” zone, but that his own GPS coordinates prove his location:
“The overall map location by Arkadiusz Podniesinski , huffington.jp(front page today), my gps mark and info provided by greenpeace.” Photo by Keow Wee Loong, widely shared on social media
In his Facebook rebuttal, Loong also addressed many other questions raised by the Huffington Post Japan article, such as why he's wearing shorts, sandals and a gas mask in the selfies he took in Fukushima.
Laundry left behind since march 2011 in fukushima exclusion zone#fukushima #urbex #japan #urbanexploring pic.twitter.com/cl0cTRXLtQ
— Keow Wee Loong (@KeowWeeLoong) July 7, 2016
He explained that he had lost most of his money when he arrived in Japan, and could not afford to buy extra clothes or any sort of protective before entering what he reported to be highly contaminated areas in Namie.
He also stated that he only entered homes and businesses where the doors were obviously open; he didn't break down doors or otherwise force himself into a building. In terms of his motivations for publishing the photos, Loong said:
as a phographer it is, without publicity on our photo, we will not survive, and there will be no photo on the news paper or online portal you are reading now , without people publishing our photo, we will never survive as a photographer…….thats the harsh reality of being a photographer when everyone want free photo in exchange with publicity . Ask any photographer if they feel proud of their photo being publish… if you are a photographer working fulltime, you ask yourself this question.
The Huffington Post Japan article also notes that, to date, Loong has received the most criticism from foreign or non-Japanese residents of Japan, rather from Japanese people themselves. The story is only just starting to get traction in Japanese social media, and the main narrative seems to be centered around whether or not Loong's photos are fakes.
Huffington Post quoted Fukushima University administrator William McMichael, a Canadian from Vancouver, as saying that Loong's portrayal of the areas he photographed is just not correct:
「“レッドゾーン”、”ゴーストタウン”、“立ち入り禁止”、”5年間放置されたまま”…など、ロン氏の投稿にはセンセーショナルな言葉が多く使われています。まるで、福島は人が住めない場所になってしまったと言わんばかりですが、実際には写真が撮られた場所も復興が進められており、人が働いています。
“Red zone,” “ghost town,” “restricted entry,” “left untouched for 5 years,” etc…. Loong used a lot of sensational language about Fukushima in his story. Although the whole story made it look as though Fukushima is totally unlivable, in fact reconstruction is ongoing in the areas where Loong took his photos. There are people working there.
While Loong may be the target of a social media backlash, photographer Alfie Goodrich argues that the Malaysian urban explorer may not be entirely to blame:
Very worth remembering that @KeowWeeLoong is not 100% responsible for the fact his story got so widely disseminated. @CNN @TIME @guardian
— Alfie Goodrich (@AlfieJapanorama) July 19, 2016

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nevin Thompson


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Will Trinidad & Tobago Students Be Last Out of the Gate if the Government Stops Funding Tertiary Education? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“UWI at sunset.” Photo by Aneil Lutchman / CestLaVibe.com. CC BY-SA 2.0.
In 1962, on the eve of Trinidad and Tobago's independence from Great Britain, the twin island republic's first prime minister, Eric Williams, reminded the nation's youth that they “carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in [their] school bags.” In the 1970s, when the country's economy was booming thanks to the oil revenues it enjoyed in the midst of the global energy crisis, Williams’ party, the People's National Movement (PNM) (which is now in power), introduced free tertiary education. The programme was discontinued by the following decade, but it's since had several reincarnations.
There was the “Dollar for Dollar” education plan, launched under the United National Congress (UNC) administration (which is now out of power), through which the government promised to pay half the fees for new enrollment at tertiary institutions. Then the PNM replaced it with the Government Assistance for Tertiary Education (GATE) programme. The 50-percent funding was still there, and the breadth of the programme was expanded to include privately funded, tertiary-level approved institutions. By 2006, the government agreed to pay 100 percent of university tuition fees for citizens.
Now, as Trinidad and Tobago finds its economy contracting, a public debate rages about the merits of “free” tertiary education as another PNM administration considers whether or not to do away with the GATE programme. Meanwhile, a Cabinet Task Force charged with finding ways to reduce the cost of GATE presented its finding this month, and the minister of education has admitted that insufficient data about the programme is raising questions as to whether or not it has been aiding economic development.
There are compelling cases for and against the programme. For several years now, Dr. Roger Hosein, an economist at the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies, has recommended doing away with GATE — or at least restructuring the funding model — calling it a “manifestation of the resource-curse problem at work.” In his view, the state is educating citizens who can afford to pay and poorer students are suffering as a result.
Anthony Wilson, a business journalist, has challenged this view, writing in 2012:
By that logic, there should be discriminatory pricing of all of the goods and services provided by the State such as water, electricity, healthcare, primary education and secondary education. […] The universal funding of tertiary-level education by the State must be seen, not as a subsidy, but as an investment of taxpayers’ dollars in the development of the country’s human resource capital.
Meanwhile, the country's opposition leader has said that she is “deeply concerned” about some of the Task Force's recommendations, which include a proposal that university students should pay one third of their fees (which students have said they can't afford) and that the state should stop all postgraduate assistance. Other experts are suggesting that cutbacks will help to prevent a “brain drain” on the country.
Social media users have been very outspoken about the issue. On Facebook, Rhoda Bharath wrote:
I'm watching the GATE argument unfold.
I have one thing to add….economy in recession.
In short, how will we pay for it? What we cutting to fund GATE? Where are we finding 650m?
Once all yuh could answer that, I willing to listen.
In a follow-up status update, she asked:
Am I the only person remembering Dollar 4 Dollar? When the State paid 50% of a student's tuition fee?
How is offering to pay 66% during a recession a bad thing?
*waits on arguments equating the cost of a state funeral with GATE*
A lecturer at the University of the West Indies, one of the tertiary institutions that GATE covers, Bharath has an intimate understanding of the process, which she shared in this post:
The UWI works under the credit system.
Caricom students pay subsidised fees as a result of an arrangement between the countries who all contribute to the upkeep of the UWI.
The non-subsidized fees represent the full economic cost of a degree (100%) and go as follows:
Food and Agriculture US$ 290.00 per credit.
Science and Technology US$ 290.00 per credit.
Humanities & Education US$335 per credit.
Social Sciences US$335 per credit.
Engineering US$ 410 per credit.
Law US$ 310 per credit.
A full degree is 90 credits.
The full economic cost of tuition for an undergraduate degree in any of these listed faculties ranges from US$26,100.00 to US$36,900.
Or if I converted it to TT at an exchange rate of TT$ 6.25 to US$1.00 (hahahahahah):
TT$163,125.00 – TT$230,625.00.
That's what it actually costs the government to educate each UWI student. Depending on their degree option of course.
Know what the actual tuition fees charged are for the various faculties per annum?
Food and Agriculture TT$12,600.00
Science and Technology TT$12,600.00
Humanities&Education TT$12,000.00
Social Sciences TT$12,000.00
Engineering TT$18,000.00
Law TT$13,500.00
Now consider that in the midst of a recession the state is asking you to shoulder 1/3rd of the last set of fees I posted here.
#Spreadsheets
#UseDataNotEmotion
#GateGate
Patricia Worrell, who also worked at the university, noted:
I have a number of things to say on this topic, and some may seem contradictory, but they're not.
a) I agree that GATE has been abused, and it needs to be kept in some form, but seriously streamlined. Our young people MUST have opportunities for furthering their education, but if taxpayers must pay in a time of economic challenges, those opportunities must 1) be aligned to our developmental priorities 2) be provided first to those most in need 3) be treated as opportunities which, if abused, will be given to others. I saw too many instances at UWI of students who used GATE as an opportunity to sample programmes, work in a half-assed way, and leave as soon as things got too demanding, or insufficiently entertaining.
b) I think the scholarship programme needs to be scrutinized in the same way, and the demands there may need to be made more stringent as well.
c) I think the timing for doing this could have been better. You don't tell students in July that you will be making changes that may start affecting them in September. If I have to pay for my education I have to make arrangements. If my parents can't afford it, I may need to start saving – this is not enough time to do it, and it puts unnecessary stress on young people and their parents, who don't yet know where they stand.
The feeling that many students take advantage of GATE is widespread, even on Twitter:
honestly, there are students wasting the #GATE opportunity, wasting #Trinidad taxpayers money. Gov’ really need to filter & control this
— Slackaz Remix (@SlackazRemix) July 18, 2016
There's now a hashtag making the rounds on Facebook — #dayswithoutgate — in which people who have been through the local tertiary education system without the financial assistance of GATE shared their memories. The underlying message is that although things were not easy, students of that era were made better by the challenges. Facebook user Keith Francis remembered quite a few high points:
When you had to book time to get to use a computer for an hour and you had to make that hour count
#DaysWithoutGATE
When the Logos touch down and the cheap books they had sell off because they were better than the prescribed texts
#DaysWithoutGATE
Sitting down in the bank every August with your parents to get that next loan
#DaysWithoutGATE
Cabinet has not yet taken a decision about GATE funding, but Prime Minister Keith Rowley has said the government is “committed to maintaining the programme,” though it wants to “cut out the abuse.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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A Russian ‘Lady Cop’: Part One · Global Voices
Olga Borisova

Photo: Instagram, edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Three years ago, Olga Borisova decided to join the St. Petersburg police force. Eighteen years old and, by her own description, a petite, fashionable young woman, she wasn’t your average cadet. After a little more than a year, she quit, and has since become an active member of the Russian democratic opposition. Earlier this month, Borisova wrote for the website Batenka.ru about her experiences as a police officer. RuNet Echo is publishing her text, translated into English, in three parts. This is the first installment. Read the second here and the third here. You can find her full story here in Russian.
“It only gets worse from here.” I heard this phrase often from my colleague, Lieutenant Antonov, and at that moment I had no reason not to believe him. I came to work for the police’s patrol-guard service when I was 18 years old. Before that, I worked in retail, and I’d become bored with it. In the summer of 2013, my mom suggested that I go to a friend who worked for a security firm that responded to alarms. The work would have been pretty boring. The firm was basically a private security company, but the officers had official status. I told her that I didn’t want to sit in an office. “But if not an office, then where?” flashed through my head. So I went down to the local police department and I said, “Hi, I want to work for you.”
They brought me to the personnel department, to an office where a woman was sitting. She was a police major, and the deputy head of the station. I sat down in the chair opposite her. The police major said they were only hiring for their police squad. “What’s a squad?” I asked her. So she explained, clearly expecting me to refuse. The patrol-guard service. Patrol work. “Sounds good,” I said.
I’ve heard all kinds of things about cops. Friends used to tell me, “Cops are faggots,” but remarks like that didn’t interest me. What interested me was having my own opinion.
After Captain Tatiana Alexandrovna accepted my job application, I started to gather my documents. In order to become a police officer, it’s not required to have a higher education; they’ll take you at the sergeant level, too, with a high-school diploma. I spent two months gathering all the papers I needed. In addition to a copy of my passport and records from past schools and employers, I needed a certificate from the superintendant of my apartment building, showing that I was a responsible tenant who didn’t throw loud parties. And I needed certificates showing that I didn’t have tuberculosis, that I didn’t take drugs, and that I wasn’t nuts. And there were certificates required to show that I wasn’t pregnant, and that I didn’t have AIDS, syphilis, or hepatitis. There were just five clinics I could go to for these documents.
The next step was to see a psychologist. My psychologist turned out to be a blonde in a dress and high heels. She asked, “But you’re such a small, fragile thing. And you’re going into the patrol-guard service?”
“It’s fine,” I told her.
“It’s a dirty job. Bums, alcoholics, and drug addicts. You’re not afraid?”
“No.”
She gave me a long written exam. I only remember that I had to invent my own animal. I had to draw a picture of it and name it. I came up with a guy who had the body of a fish and the head of a tiger. I named him “Tigerfish.” This would actually make for a cool art exhibit: animals imagined by beginner Russian cops.
“Wait for a call,” she told me, and I waited a month. Then I called her myself. “Listen, Olya…” the voice on the other line started telling me. “There’s been a bit of a force majeure with the woman who received your documents.” It turned out that all my personal files had been lost. A little later, I found out that the psychologist had actually “taken sick leave” (read: she’d gone on a bender). They basically had to hunt her down, when the lie came out. And I had to gather my documents all over again.
The last step before I was sent for training was the military-medical commission. This meeting took place in a separate building on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. I don’t know why, but when you give your passport to the registry staff, they draw a little cross on the last page. A little tag.
There were dozens of doctors. The lines were crazy. While I was standing in one of them, I found out that a cop is supposed to be at least 165 centimeters [5 feet, 5 inches]  tall. But I am only 162 centimeters [5 feet, 4 inches]. What was I supposed to do? In these situations, the local police department can submit a written request to accept a particular officer, saying they need them. The department wrote one for me.
#gm
A photo posted by Борисова. (@borisssova) on
A psychiatrist is the one who sends you to training, which can last three months, or it can last six months. I was sent for three months; they decided that I was alright in the head.
While you’re in training, you wear your “civvies,” meaning that you wear your own clothes, because you haven’t yet formally joined the police force. Working at your precinct alongside official police staff, you earn about 13,000 rubles [$200] [per month].
How did the veteran cops see me? The ones who’d been on the force for as long as I’d been alive? “Here comes some chick with fake eyelashes and a firm ass.” How did I see myself? I was inspired by the TV show “Dexter.” I imagined that I was Debra Morgan, a slender but brutal girl. “That’s what it means to be a detective.”
When the cops asked me why I’d decided to “ruin my life in order to fight drug addicts and alcoholics, instead of taking part in the fun myself,” I told them about justice and the protection of the citizenry. I talked about security, and helping people. The veteran cops thought, “Well, what can this chick do?” and they’d give me a fatherly pat on the shoulder. “Naive kid,” they’d say.
Naturally, when I showed up to train with the team, which was 80 percent men, I immediately became the testing grounds for all their pickup lines. Back then, during the mornings, police sergeant Valera picked me up (right outside my home!) in a police van—during his work hours. He’d have hot coffee with him, straight from McDonald’s. In the evenings, I’d often get a ride from staff sergeant Anton in his personal car. About six months later, Anton went on a bender, and he was dismissed dishonorably.
Three months passed quickly.

author: Olga Borisova


text:
After Turkey’s Coup Attempt, the Real Battles Begin · Global Voices
Ankara Resistance Post

Text message attributed to Turkey's president calling citizens onto the streets in defense of their democracy. Widely shared.
The aftershocks of the failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AKP (Justice and Development) government, which left over 200 killed, mostly civilians, and some 1500 wounded, continue to grow.
Within hours after Erdogan described the attempt as “a gift from Allah” which will help his government cleanse the army, almost 3,000 soldiers were arrested, and some 2,700 judges dismissed.
This was followed by a witch hunt as more than 8,777 personnel, including policemen, governors and generals were deposed.
Most recently, the country's Higher Education Board has asked for the resignation of all the deans of the state and private universities in the country, while the teaching licenses of 21,000 teachers and the broadcasting licenses of 24 TV and radio stations have been revoked.
Travel restrictions are being broadly implemented across different professions, while public exhortations to reinstate the death penalty have been met receptively by the leadership.
The dangerous path Turkish society has been dragged onto, both building up to the coup attempt and in its immediate aftermath, is one of ever deepening social polarisation.
Critics of Erdogan's rule say it hasn't arrived there accidentally.
Government officials and pro-government organizations asked supporters to take to the streets on July 15 to avert the military coup, and once it was clear the coup had failed to remain there and “celebrate the victory of democracy”.
The directorate of Religious Affairs ordered imams all over the country to call people to these democracy celebrations using the loudspeakers of mosques.
One video clearly records an over-excited Imam in Istanbul incanting:
Şimdi gerçek Müslümanlığı gösterme zamanı. Bu bir cihattır! Allah için sokaklara inelim, evde durmayalım. Rabbim hainlere fırsat vermesin.
Now is the time to show real Islam. This is a jihad! For Allah's sake, let's not stay at home and go out. May God give no opportunity to traitors.
All citizens across the country received the “democracy” call via SMS, undersigned by Erdogan himself (top image).
This call was responded to by thousands of AKP supporters, who were able to use free public transport to gather at strategic points in the city.
Extensive media coverage — back operating at the state's behest after blackouts enforced by the soldiers — praised the determination of people to block the anti-democratic coup attempt.
Images of crowds filling the main squares of cities including İstanbul's Taksim square and Ankara's Kizilay square, both of which have witnessed opposition gatherings crushed by police in the past, were widely circulated.
Image from Yeni Safak. Used with permission.
Given the relentless nature of government attacks on media, protesters and opposition figures in the last year or more, the democracy narrative promoted by the government appeared deeply ironic to some that disputed the characterisation of those that repulsed the coup as heroic civilians confronting traitors.
Based on his personal observations in the streets of Istanbul on the night of the failed coup attempt, journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan from sendika.org described the scenes on the street following the government's call:
Darbeyi durduran şey sokağa çıkan sivil halkın direnişi değildi ve sokağa çıkan sivillerin direnişi de demokrasi için değildi.[…] Başarısızlığa mahkum darbe girişimine karşı sokağa çıkan siviller, bir tarafında kendilerinin diğer tarafında darbecilerin hizalandığı bir direnişte değil, asıl olarak iktidar aygıtları arasındaki çatışmada polise yedeklenmiş bir topluluk olarak çatıştı, kalkan ya da denek olarak öne sürüldü ve yer yer de kurşunlara hedef oldu. […] Bu toplulukların “militanlığını” askerin teslim olduğu, silahları kullanmadığı, tankları sürmediği yerde gördük. O “militanlık” da teslim olmuş erleri linç etmek, gırtlağını kesmek, teslim alınmış tankların üstünde poz vermek şeklinde kayda geçti.
It wasn’t the resistance of the civilians which stopped the coup, nor was their resistance for democracy. […] The civilians who took to the streets fought as a crowd joined to the police in a conflict that was essentially between power structures […] They were used as shields or put forward as human subjects, and occasionally became the target of bullets […] The only moments we witnessed the ‘militancy’ of the people were when soldiers surrendered with their guns and tanks. This so-called militancy was recorded in the form of lynching surrendered, unranked soldiers, cutting their throats, and posing on top of seized tanks.
Allegations about a soldier’s throat being cut by civilians are yet to be confirmed. Although extremely graphic footage of a crowd celebrating the soldier's lynching was widely shared and even praised by some, there is still no concrete evidence of the soldier being executed, and no official cause of his death.
In their testimonies, arrested soldiers said they had no information about the coup attempt as they were allegedly briefed by their commanders that they were being deployed in a military exercise.
Turkey enforces compulsory military duty on every male citizen after the age of 20.
Demirhan's parting shot warns of the government’s future attempts to mobilize its mostly conservative religious base to legitimise a fundamentally anti-democratic agenda:
15 Temmuz’da sokağa çıkan Erdoğan-AKP taraftarları, abartılı sunumlarla demokrasi direnişçileri diye bütün AKP tabanına rol model olarak sunuluyor. […] Tabanını “sorun çözülene kadar” sokağa çıkmaya çağıran AKP, fırsattan istifade kendi diktatörlük projesini “halkın aşağıdan hareketine dayanan bir demokratik hamle” olarak topluma dayatma çabasındadır.
Erdogan-AKP supporters, who took to the streets in 15 July, are turgidly presented as a role model for being insurgents of democracy to the whole AKP grassroots. […] AKP, which asks its supporters to take to the streets ‘until the problem is solved’, is opportunistically imprinting its own dictatorship project on society under the guise of ‘a bottom-to-top’ popular movement.
His account is symptomatic of the fears that many secular Turks harbour as Erdogan begins the inevitable process of strengthening control following the coup.
Typically they sense in the massive counter-reaction to the coup a collective rage on the part of AKP supporters that can be misdirected towards any target that is perceived as anti-Erdogan.
On the same night Turkish democracy was supposedly saved, for instance, there were reports of groups attempting to invade and attack Gazi in Istanbul and Armutlu in Antakya, two neighbourhoods with secular and left-wing identities.
Pasakosku neighborhood in Malatya, predominantly inhabited by Alevi minorities, was another venue of social tension, while a protestant church in Malatya and a Catholic church in Trabzon were reportedly damaged.
There were also unconfirmed anecdotes that spread from the rallies of women facing harassment from AKP supporters on account of their “inappropriate outfits”.
Durumumuz budur… pic.twitter.com/ALv78dBryr
— αчнαп καчα (@ayhankaya1907) July 16, 2016
But the greatest risk inherent in the massive top-down mobilization of supporters of a divisive government is that it triggers a counter-mobilization, and potentially a sustained cycle of antagonism and violence.
On the night of the coup attempt in Diyarbakir, the administrative capital of the embattled Kurdish-populated region in Turkey's east, an unidentified person reportedly attacked the pro-AKP crowd with home-made explosives thrown from a car.
Luckily, no causalities resulted but pro-Kurdish law maker Ertugrul Kurkcu from the opposition HDP People's Democratic Party warned that tensions were high: “People are now setting up self-defence units to protect against AKP mobs,” he told Al Jazeera.
And in Hopa, nine youth were arrested on the grounds of “interfering with coup-opponents and supporting the coup”, after getting into a physical standoff with the AKP supporters.
Arrestation de jeunes ayant empêché les djihadistes d'assaillir leur quartier à #Hopa. Erdogan les accuse de putsch! pic.twitter.com/hb44NZpgHY
— Bahar Kimyongur (@Kimyongur) July 18, 2016
Youth arrested for preventing jihadists from attacking their neighborhood #Hopa. Erdogan accuses them of a coup !
In his analysis on the aftermath of the coup attempt, Cihan Tugal, professor of sociology at University of California, depicted the escalation of tensions as part of a conscious government effort implemented in recent years:
This new ‘anti-militarist’ mass mobilization in Turkey has been building up (as a counter-revolt) ever since the anti-government Gezi protests in 2013 and is targeting minorities, alcohol consumers, and all kinds of opposition, as well as military personnel. In October 2015, close to 100 pro-Kurdish activists in Ankara were massacred in an ISIS-linked bombing. Witnesses saw police deploying tear-gas against survivors, and blocking ambulances trying to reach the injured. That tragedy is now coupled with mass action against the dead: during the recent anti-coup celebrations, ‘pro-democracy’ masses destroyed a monument to the Ankara victims. There is no question about where the sympathy of these masses lie.
Not long after government  supporters in the streets were cheerfully celebrating “democracy”, Erdogan announced a three-month state of emergency giving the government broad extra-constitutional powers to the latest challenge to its authority and vision for the country, and also suspended Turkey's commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights.

author: Ankara Resistance Post


text:
Azerbaijan and Turkey: Caught in a Bad Bromance · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hugs counterpart Ilham Aliyev at a meeting this year. Wikipedia image.
When it comes to the spat between Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his one-time ally-turned mortal rival Fethullah Gulen, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev long ago decided it was best to observe the rule that my best friend's enemy is my enemy, too.
And following a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15 that Erdogan argues Gulen organised, this means the days of Gulen-linked institutions in Azerbaijan are effectively finished.
The gradual phasing out of organisations inspired by the controversial Islamic theoretician and educator in the South Caucasus country began at least two years ago, after once-friendly relations between Gulen and Erdogan suddenly soured dramatically.
Erdogan has accused the Pennsylvania-based Gulen — not without some evidence — of amassing and directing loyalists in the country's government, and even attempting to bring down his rule.
In 2014 when Erdogan went to Azerbaijan to visit President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan promptly shut down a network of schools linked to Gulen that were regarded as some of the best in the country.
The management of 11 high schools, 13 university exam preparation centers and one private university was transferred to SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company.
Fast forward to July 18, 2016 and the pattern continues.
After reportedly conferring with ally Erdogan, Aliyev decided to announce the closure of one of the country's few remaining bribe-free education establishments, the Caucasus University, which was founded by adherents of Gulen.
Azerbaijan closed Caucasus University with reported links to Gulen movement. The university was one of the best in the country.
— Khadija Ismayilova (@Khadija_Ismayil) July 20, 2016
As a result, Azerbaijan, where quality of education is declining almost as steeply as academic freedoms, no longer has any Gulen-affiliated education establishments at all.
One Azerbaijani scholar posted his take on the situation:
Altay Göyüşov: Ərdoğan zəng edir Əliyevə ki, Qafqaz Universitetini bağla
Əliyev qayıdır ki, bəs bu camaat nə deyər, ölkədə universitet adına olan bir-iki müəssisədəndir.
Ərdoğan deyir, mənə dəxli yoxdur.
Əliyev çar-naçar Abel Məhərrəmovu ora rektor təyin edib, Ərdoğana zəng edir ki, universitetin kitabını bağladım:)
Altay Göyüşov: Erdogan calls Aliyev and tells him to shut down Caucasus University. To which Aliyev responds by saying, this university is one of the few remaining good universities, what would the people say? But Erdogan says, I don't care…
Aliyev did Erdogan another favour when the government took off air for a period of a month a TV station Azerbaijan News Service (ANS) that aired an interview with Gulen.
#Azerbaijan shuts down ANS TV channel after announcing an interview with Fethullah Gulen, alleged organizer of #TurkeyCoupAttempt
— Digital Report EN (@DigitalReportEN) July 20, 2016
Finally, an online newspaper Zaman Azerbaijan which was (like a large part of Turkey's blacklisted media) heavily linked to Gulen announced its decision to shutter itself on July 20.
According to the statement, the newspaper decided dissolve itself following the recent developments in the region and “possible impact on the friendship and brotherhood between Azerbaijan and Turkey.”
In Istanbul in 2014 a banner with Fethullah Gulen (left) and Erdogan's pictures reads “one is no better than the other”. Protesters rally to protest against corruption and planned construction projects. Demotix photo taken by Fulya Atalay. ID 3553279.
Many have raised eyebrows at the idea of a newspaper that existed for years voluntarily closing itself down.
Azerbaijan bows to Turkey's pressure, asks Gulen-linked 24 years old newspaper to shut down. Paper is closed today.
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) July 20, 2016
Azerbaijan closes its largest private university Kavkaz University for links to Gulen. Another Erdogan request fulfilled by @azpresident.
— Serge (@Zinvor) July 20, 2016
With its already imperilled domestic media and education scene now further weakened by the fallout coup attempt — which, incidentally Gulen's representatives have denied involvement in– did Azerbaijan get anything in return?
Only time will tell.
But if Gulenists in Azerbaijan are having a difficult life, it is nothing compared to what people suspected of being members of their movement are going through in Turkey.
In the week following the failed military coup attempt:
At least 59,644: # of people detained, removed from their jobs or stripped of professional licenses so far #TurkeyCoup #TurkeyPurge
— Benjamin Harvey (@BenjaminHarvey) July 19, 2016
People who lost jobs after #TurkeyCoup: 30 governors, 50 mayors, 2,700 judges, 8,000 police officers.
100 generals, 2,800 soldiers detained
— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) July 18, 2016
Scale of post failed #TurkeyCoup purge extraordinary. And then there's the journalists. #PressFreedom pic.twitter.com/itLEZDKkYI
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) July 20, 2016
Through his philosophical writings and the work of his Hizmet movement the reclusive Fethullah Gulen has presented himself as a bridge between Islam and secular democracy.
Schools influenced by his work — up to a 1,000 worldwide teaching a secular curriculum including many in America — have suffered collateral damage from his fallout with Erdogan, believed to be in 2013.
Prior to their disagreement, which is well-explained in this Al-Monitor blog written by Mustafa Akyol, Gulen and Erdogan's AKP government worked together to reform the Turkish state in their own image.
But with Turkey requesting Gulen's extradition from the United States to face trial for a number of serious offences, those days are long gone, and other countries will face diplomatic pressure from Ankara to close institutions loyal to his ideas.
Few are likely to cave as quickly and willingly as Azerbaijan did, however.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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Cliffhanger Election Ends in a Close Shave for Australia’s Ruling Government · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Malcolm Turnbull caricature. Image by Flickr user DonkeyHotey (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
It took over a week for the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to claim victory in the general elections held on 2 July 2016. His Liberal National Coalition government won at least 76 of the 150 seats, giving it a one seat majority in the House of Representatives.
Even after their slim win, however, there was still one last seat up for grabs. The counting of votes for Herbert, the last House of Representatives electorate to be decided, was not completed until 18 July. In the end, the opposition candidate triumphed despite the prime minister's characteristic optimism:
.@TurnbullMalcolm ‘confident, optimistic’ @EwenJonesMP will win Herbert and take Coalition to 77 seats #ausvotes @abcnews
— Dan Conifer (@DanConifer) July 13, 2016
News reports quoted Turnbull:
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he was confident the Coalition would secure the Queensland seat giving it a slim majority — two seats clear of a hung parliament.
Incredibly, the winning margin was eight votes (0.0091%) in a seat with a voter enrolment of 104,841.
Herbert electorate result 2016 – Screenshot from aec.gov.au
Australia has compulsory voting yet 9.57% did not vote in Herbert. A mini-bus load of those who thought their vote wouldn't matter might have changed the Herbert result.
In addition, there were 6,444 informal votes where electors did not fill in the ballot paper correctly.
However, it is not over yet, as the Australian Electoral Commission is conducting a recount that may take several more days or possibly weeks.
The Conversation's Adrian Beaumont explained as part of its Making Sense of the Polls series :
If Labor holds on in Herbert, the Coalition will have a bare majority of 76 of 150 House seats, with Labor on 69 and 5 crossbenchers. After appointing the Speaker, the Coalition would have 75 of 149 votes on the floor, and Turnbull could be exposed to possible defections from the hard right.
Australia has a very complex electoral electoral system with voters required to number a preference for each candidate on the House of Representatives ballot paper. Budding students of electoral processes (psephologists) can grapple with its complexity here and here.
Some statistics on gender balance in the new parliament may also have to be revised when the Herbert result is finalised:
Last Parl:
20% of Lib MPs were women.
36% of Labor MPs were women
This Parl
16% of Lib MPs are women
42% of Labor MPs are women#ausvotes
— Bridget O'Flynn (@BridgetOFlynn) July 12, 2016
Meanwhile Oz still waits for its Senate results. The Victorian ballot paper gives a clue to its complexity. It was impossible to lay the paper flat in the voting booth. There were 116 candidates. New South Wales topped the list of states with 151 candidates.
Senate ballot paper for Victoria. Image by Flickr user David Jackmanson (CC BY 2.0)
Final Senate results may not be known until August.
One thing is certain. Malcolm Turnbull's gamble of calling an election for all Senators looks to have failed badly. He had hoped that it would make it easier to pass legislation:
Adrian Beaumont's prediction foreshadows a difficult task for the government:
On current Senate results, the Coalition can expect to win 32 of 76 seats at most, which would be a one seat loss from the pre-election Senate. Although 32 Coalition seats are possible, the most likely outcome is 30 Coalition, 27 Labor, 9 Greens and 10 Others. The Coalition would then need 9 of the 10 Others to pass legislation opposed by Labor and the Greens (a tied vote in the Senate is lost).
One Twitter user was amused by the prospect of legislative chaos:
I wish to thank the Hon The #PrimeMinister for providing the Nation with at least 3 years of high farce in the #Senate #ComicRelief #auspol
— HARPERHP (@WhistonChris) July 18, 2016
For more detail about the 2016 Australian elections please visit Australia Waits on Close Count as Election Backfires on ‘Fizza’ Prime Minister

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Colombian Truckers Have Stopped Moving, But Their Nationwide Strike Rolls On · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Trucker strike in Colombia. Photo from Pixabay / Public domain
The truck-driver and cargo-transporter unions in Colombia have been on strike since the first week of June 2016, delivering a significant blow to the national economy. Conservative estimates say the work stoppage has cost Colombia roughly 1.3 billion Colombian pesos (approximately 444 million US dollars*). All this follows a similar strike by truckers just five years ago, in 2011.
The strike is the result of several unresolved issues. Unions are demanding that the government take the following steps:
Although there have already been negotiations between industry executives and government representatives, they've yet to reach a mutually agreeable solution. Meanwhile, cities like Medellin are experiencing shortages of basic products. Negotiations have broken down repeatedly. On July 13, officials and union representatives began their latest effort to resume talks.
Colombia's army has been ordered to guard the transport companies that aren’t on strike:
.@COL_EJERCITO acompañó hoy caravana por vía La Unión-El Carmen. #ParoCamionero pic.twitter.com/SxncDIvdv8
— MiOriente (@MiOriente) July 2, 2016
.@COL_EJERCITO [The Colombian Army] escorted a caravan through La Union-El Carmen [a Colombian city]. Trucker Strike pic.twitter.com/SxncDIvdv8
The protesting truckers, meanwhile, complain about police harassment:
#ParoCamionero ESMAD en varias regiones los agrede Si no cesa persecución no se sientan al diálogo @MinTransporteCo pic.twitter.com/vR1H0rKgfa
— Alirio Uribe Muñoz (@AlirioUribeMuoz) July 2, 2016
#ParoCamionero ESMAD [the Colombian National Police] is attacking them in various regions. If the persecution doesn’t stop, they won’t be open to a discussion @MinTransporteCo pic.twitter.com/vR1H0rKgfa
Roadblocks throughout the country has been a source of friction, leading to a convergence of traffic and protests.
En Bogota a las 4:40 pm. #ParoCamionero, EL PARO CRECE. @atccomunicacion @JorgeERojasG @ACCnoti pic.twitter.com/vlp8rpgAJG
— CCT Colombia (@CCTPresidente) July 11, 2016
In Bogota at 4:40 pm #ParoCamionero [TruckerStrike], THE STRIKE IS GROWING. @atccomunicacion @JorgeERojasG @ACCnoti pic.twitter.com/vlp8rpgAJG
There have also been reports that some protesters have lashed out at others not involved in the strike.
#LoMásVistoDeLaSemana Los actos de vandalismo durante el #ParoCamionero pic.twitter.com/mJMjOg7NGQ
— TWlTTEROS CALI (@TwiterosCali) July 3, 2016
#LoMásVistoDeLaSemana [TheMostViewedThisWeek] Acts of vandalism during the Trucker Strike pic.twitter.com/mJMjOg7NGQ
As the situation's complexity grows, drivers have also been forced to discard much of their perishable cargo, facing the impossibility of completing their deliveries.
En La Ceja botan los alimentos que no pueden transportar por el paro. Imágenes que duelen #TANoticias @Teleantioquia pic.twitter.com/w62Iqx2KPR
— CarmenHerrera (@herrerak11) July 11, 2016
In La Ceja, they are throwing out food that they can’t ship due to the strike. Images that hurt pic.twitter.com/w62Iqx2KPR
In the midst of the predicament, Twitter user Juan David Escobar reflected on the little responsibility that seems to fall on government officials:
En un país serio, y sin Unidad Nacional, un #ParoCamionero de 35 días, tumba ministros. Pero aquí todos enmermelados se quedan callados.
— Juan David Escobar (@ElReticente) July 12, 2016
In an opposing country without national unity, a 35-day #ParoCamionero [TruckerStrike] is demolishing politicians. But here all of the corrupt government officials remain silent.
To generate publicity for the campaign, Twitter users have been using the hashtag #ParoCamioneroSiExiste (TruckerStrikeDoesExist):
Hoy 8:30PM HT #ParoCamioneroSiExiste @cruzadcamionera @atccomunicacion @ajpcc1 @asociacionant @CCTPresidente pic.twitter.com/BsLFpLvkqz
— Ing. César Pachón A. (@CesarPachonAgro) July 7, 2016
Today at 8:30 p.m., HT Trucker Strike Does Exist pic.twitter.com/BsLFpLvkqz
Netizens also took the opportunity to express their opinions on the matter:
#paroCamionerosiexiste los camioneros se suman a un año de paro y confrontación al modelo y sus políticas represivas.viva el paro camionero
— Jimmy Moreno (@Jminguero) July 7, 2016
Trucker Strike Does Exist. The truckers join in on a year of striking and confrontation with the system and its repressive politics. Long live the trucker strike.
No vendieron empresas nacionales para inversión en infraestructura vial? Porqué aumentar peajes e impuestos entonces? #ParoCamioneroSiExiste
— Just Breathe :) (@Angiesmile92) July 7, 2016
Didn’t they sell national businesses to invest in road infrastructure? Why raise the tolls and taxes then? Trucker Strike Does Exist
Many are beginning to fear, however, that the protest movement is at risk of being hijacked by outsiders.
El #ParoCamioneroSiExiste este paro no es de Uribe ni del Centro Democrático, estos han intentado hacerlo de ellos, robar protagonismo.
— Juan Camilo Caicedo (@JUANCAELBROKY) July 7, 2016
The Trucker Strike Does Exist isn’t from [Senator Alvaro] Uribe nor the Democratic Center, they’ve tried to make it theirs and steal the show.
#ParoCamioneroSiExistepic.twitter.com/XfZ9jIpYWU
— Lika (@Lika51223103) July 7, 2016
Trucker Strike Does Exist pic.twitter.com/XfZ9jIpYWU
@JuanManSantos Ya que su PRIORIDAD es la #NarcoFarcSaPaz
AHÍ LE HABLAN… #ParoCamioneroSiExiste#LosBuenosSomosMaspic.twitter.com/U3Y2VYwHla
— Jose Fdo Sanin M (@JoseFdoSanin) July 9, 2016
@JuanManSantos Since your priority is the Revolutionary Armed Forces Of Colombia Narco-Terrorism South American Peace. HERE'S A MESSAGE TO YOU… Trucker Strike Does Exist. Us, The Good Ones Are More. pic.twitter.com/U3Y2VYwHla
Ese lenguaje en el #ParoCamionero quiere decir que un expresidente, hoy senador, ya le metió la mano… Negra. pic.twitter.com/q0ecEvNYef
— Jose Iglesias B. (@joseiglesiasb) July 12, 2016
[In the image: “I'd swap a Ford Mod 60 for a gun so that Mr. FARC Santos [Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos] will give me better guarantees.”]
That language at the Trucker Strike implies that an ex-president, today a senator, already has his hands dirty in the corruption. pic.twitter.com/q0ecEvNYef
Due to the lack of an agreement and the likelihood that the protest will radicalize, the government has ordered the militarization of all roadways. Today, the situation remains tense, with a companion strike in the mining industry brewing that will only aggravate the current tensions.

author: Cati Restrepo


text:
It’s Personal for a Singapore Property Entrepreneur Who’s Taking a Stand Against Racial Discrimination · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Take the pledge. ‘Regardless of Race’ campaign. Photo from 99.co
An Internet entrepreneur has launched a campaign to fight “rental racial discrimination” in Singapore after being rejected by some property owners just because his wife is Indian.
Darius Cheung, founder of property listing website 99.co, wrote about how his search for an apartment made him realize the prevalence of racism in Singapore. He narrated how some property agents and landlords lost interest in dealing with him after learning that his pregnant wife is originally from India.
He is married to Indian-Singaporean Roshni Mahtani, an entrepreneur who founded the parenting website theAsianparent.
At first, Darius was surprised that some agents were not responding to his inquiries. One agent gave a vague reply: “Profile doesn’t match”. After asking the agent to elaborate, he got this answer:
Sorry your wife is Indian, landlord won’t rent to you. Next time please indicate earlier, so we both don’t waste time.
Darius said the experience confirmed the existence of racism in Singapore:
I understand the idea of discrimination intellectually and recognise that it exists, but it was not until this moment that I caught a glimpse of what it actually means to be discriminated against.
Singapore has an ethnically diverse population and boasts of having a government that promotes racial harmony. However, racial tension has intensified in recent years, which some ultranationalist groups are blaming on the arrival of foreign workers.
Worried about the future of his child, Darius has vowed to fight racial discrimination. His company unveiled a new feature on its website called “All-races-welcome” which provides agents or landlords with incentives if they indicate that their rental listings are open to all “regardless of race”:
Agents and landlords can now positively indicate that their rental listings can be listed to be open for all, regardless of their ethnicity, background or nationality. These listings will then be prominently featured on the 99.co homepage to prospective renters. The idea is to give renters peace of mind during their home search journey – reducing instances of rude comments and unpleasant experiences while enquiring about listings.
Darius is hoping his campaign will inspire more people to take a pledge against racism.
He also reminded property owners that practicing racial discrimination is “economically unviable”:
Our hope is that as more and more agents put up ‘All-races-welcome’ listings, it will build momentum to create a more inclusive rental market and landlords will start to realise that it is not just socially unacceptable to discriminate, but also economically unviable.
Writer, activist and Global Voices contributor Kirsten Han welcomed the initiative of Darius’ company. She also reminded policymakers about the need to enact a general anti-discrimination legislation:
What we *really* need is comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, but recognition from a rental site is a start.
— Kirsten Han (@kixes) July 18, 2016

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Maldives Opposition Holds Rally Despite Resistance From Government · Global Voices
Rezwan

Maldives Police blocked May Day 2016 march organised by the Maldivian civil society. Image from Flickr by Dying Regime. CC BY 2.0
A newly launched opposition platform in Maldives held its first rally on July 21, 2016, in the capital Male, despite the government's refusal to give permission.
Thousands turned out for the meeting of the Maldives United Opposition (MUO), where opposition leaders spoke and some exiled leaders joined via teleconference.
A ban on street protests in the capital Male has been in force since a police crackdown on a three-day protest staged by the opposition party Maldivian Democratic Party last November. The police have since blocked several opposition protests and gone after journalists and newspapers covering the protests.
#Maldives @PoliceMv taking down banners announcing opposition rally. Must be to increase space. On the wall. pic.twitter.com/xWYLld7iAR
— Sabra #FreePNasheed (@SabraNoordeen) July 21, 2016
On June 1, 2016, a number of Maldivian opposition parties and prominent political figures launched the MUO platform, calling for the restoration of functional democracy in the Indian Ocean island nation. Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, former vice president of the Maldives who is now living in exile in the United Kingdom, is heading the platform; his deputy is Ali Waheed, the chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party.
Its advisers include heavyweights like Mohamed Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the Maldives who was was also given political asylum in the UK; Sheikh Imran Abdulla, leader of the Adhaalath Party; and Colonel Mohamed Nazim, former defence minister in the present Maldivian government.
The MOU had originally planned to hold its first rally on July 14, but was forced to reschedule July 21 due to bad weather. They had vowed to hold the event despite the housing ministry cancelling their permit at last minute.
Alternative date will be announced soon as tonight's MUO Rally was cancelled due to bad weather. pic.twitter.com/AVRZHAZh1a
— United Opposition (@mvopposition) July 14, 2016
The agenda of the MOU is to remove President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom through legal means and try him for money laundering. The platform also seeks to “protect the rights of 1700 individuals currently under prosecution, investigation and arbitrary arrest”.
President Yameen, the half-brother of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, became the president in 2013 after defeating Maldivian Democratic Party leader Nasheed in the 2013 presidential elections. Opposition politicians disputed the results.
Nasheed had resigned as president a year earlier on February 7, 2012 amid protests against his government. Participants included a majority of military and police forces. Nasheed later described the events as a coup and said he was forced to step down at gunpoint, although his characterization has been questioned.
In March 2015, Nasheed was convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Maldives and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Amnesty International called the trial a “travesty of justice“.
The opposition accuses President Yameen's government of gagging media and criminalizing political disagreement. Last year, parliament sacked Yameen's vice president, Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, on accusations of treason after months of disagreements between the two; Jameel Ahmed is now part of MOU.
Yameen has proposed governance reforms that would codify some of this behavior. Maldivian expat blogger Azra Naseem at Dhivehi Sitee called the reforms concerning:
Under the plan for reform, Yameen is making criticism a crime, is removing all opposition through legal and other means, wants to establish a one party system, and will engineer the electoral system or the voting system in such a way that he will remain in power for a long time to come.
Though the MOU rally was eventually held, Member of Parliament Ahmed Mahloof, the spokesperson of MOU, and three others were briefly detained on July 16 while promoting the June 21 rally. Journalist Mohamed Junayd reported:
#Maldives Criminal Court holds the verdict hearing for MP @AhmedMahloof behind closed doors in secrecy for national security reasons.
— Mohamed Junayd (@mjunayd) July 18, 2016
Mahloof didn't seem to let the arrest damper his spirits:
We are free and it's time for Masburi Riha #21July #MavesDhaanan :) pic.twitter.com/TucctxjnRP
— Ahmed Mahloof (@AhmedMahloof) July 16, 2016
Editor's Note: #MavesDhaanan means “I will also go”.
The rally was ignored by many government media outlets, but the political parties involved, private news organizations and citizens all posted to social media:
After May Day last year, huge turnout at an anti-govt demonstration in #Maldives as @mvopposition holds first rally. pic.twitter.com/44cestD72w
— Ali Naafiz (@naafix) July 21, 2016
#HappeningNow#MUO‘s mass rally against govt's tyranny & injustice. 1000's gathered.#Maldives @BBCWorld @CNN @ndtv pic.twitter.com/AymD8X0I01
— Insaaf (@AhmedXamyr) July 21, 2016
Massive opposition gathering in Male’, #Maldives calling to establish a transitional government. pic.twitter.com/MXaxwpvBpt
— RaajjeTV (@Raajje_tv) July 21, 2016
#InthiqaaleeMagahRaajje Jalsa #LivePics near MDP Haruge Sarahahdhu #MUO pic.twitter.com/V4t4HgUXxG
— United Opposition (@mvopposition) July 21, 2016
The Maldives United Opposition's first rally ends with a prayer pic.twitter.com/7TRs3rZbp0
— Maldives Independent (@IndependentMV) July 21, 2016
LIVE on #Periscope: Happening Now: MALDIVES Opposition rally #InthiqaaleeMagahRaajje #MUO Saabahey 💪🏾👏 https://t.co/rToGF66gm9
— Badruddeen (@Badruddeen) July 21, 2016
There are images of the rally uploaded to Facebook too. It remains to be seen how this new platform will affect politics in Maldives in the near future.

author: Rezwan


text:
Mauritanian Authorities Once Again Go After Anti-Slavery Activists · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Screenshot of an interview with Biram Dah Abeid, president of IRA-Mauritanie, on “Dakar Actualités.”
Following June 29 clashes between angry residents and security forces during an operation to expel the inhabitants of a Ksar district slum, west of Mauritania's capital Nouakchott, several anti-slavery activists were arrested and their homes searched homes reportedly without a warrant.
The activists, who belong to the organization IRA-Mauritanie (the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolition Movement in Mauritania) had been at the evictions protesting against slavery and in support of reform allowing everyone to own land.
Mauritania was one of the last countries to officially abolish slavery, doing so in 1981, but the law isn't enforced. An estimated 10% to 20% of the country's 3.4 million people are enslaved. Mauritania is an Islamic republic, and distorted local interpretations of the religion are used to justify the continued existence of the practice — although the Mauritanian government denies that slavery exists and often blames the Western world or enemies of Islam when faced with allegations.
The country is located in Western Northern Africa and is right at the border between the Maghreb region and Sub-Saharan Africa. There is a long and complicated history between Mauritania's ethnic groups; slaves mostly come from the black community.
The evictions took place ahead of the 27th Arab League Summit, which the northwest African country is hosting. A post on the “Mauritanie de Facebook” page provided the details:
Selon la version officielle, un terrain appartement à un homme d’affaires a été squatté par des centaines de familles de la communauté harratine, il y a de cela plusieurs décennies. Ce terrain était destiné à un complexe hôtelier. Le projet n’a jamais eu lieu, et le propriétaire a finalement morcelé ce vaste espace situé en face de l’hôpital Bouamatou qu’il aurait vendu en lopins de terres.
Soucieux de présenter une image moins reluisante de la Mauritanie à quelques encablures d’un Sommet arabe extraordinaire, les autorités auraient décidé de faire déguerpir les familles installées. Un deal aurait ainsi été conclu aux termes duquel les habitants seront déplacés vers une zone périphérique de Nouakchott en contrepartie de lopins de terre qui leur seront attribués plus une compensation financière symbolique.
Un montant de six millions d’ouguiiyas aurait été remis à des représentants des familles. Seulement, il semble qu’une partie d’entre elles n’étaient pas au courant au deal et n’a reçu ni compensation ni lopin de terre. Une autre version soutient que toutes les familles recensées dans le squat ont bénéficié des mêmes égards.
According to the official version, decades ago, a plot of land belonging to a businessman was occupied by hundreds families from the Harratin community. This land was intended for a hotel resort. The project never took off, and in the end the owner broke up the vast holding across from the Bouamatou hospital into smaller plots which he sold off.
Not willing to present such a dreadful picture of Mauritania before a major Arab summit, authorities decided to clear out the resident families. An agreement would have been reached whereby the residents were to be moved to a neighboring area of Nouakchott in return for plots of land and a symbolic financial compensation.
Six million ouguiyas (about 16,700 US dollars) would have been handed over to representatives of the families. Only it seems that some of them were not aware of the deal and received no financial compensation or land. Another version states that all registered families received the same treatment.
When authorities moved in to evict the families, they encountered resistance. Posting on news site kassataya.com, K.Salif described what unfolded:
Considérée comme une provocation injuste, les occupants n’ont pas voulu se laisser faire, et l’affrontement avec les flics a été très rude. À l’image de plusieurs manifestants « résistants » très affectés, on se demandait comment et pourquoi dans un pays dit musulman, en plein mois de ramadan censé être « Paix ,Piété et Solidarité« , des pareils accrochages se passent entre l’ordre étatique et certains milieux sociaux modestes.
Au lendemain de ces événements qui n’honorent personne finalement, la figure incarnant l’État en premier Ould Abdel Aziz, hier on apprenait l’arrestation illégale de monsieur Diop Amadou Tijane l’un des vice-présidents d’IRA-Mauritanie et d’autres militants .
Considered to be an unjust provocation, residents refused to comply. The following confrontation with the cops was very tense. With respect to the sight of several severely bruised protesters, one wonders how and why in a so-called Muslim country, during the month of Ramadan focused on “Peace, Mercy and Solidarity,” such clashes happen between the state and certain poorer communities.  These events in the end benefited no one, in the least the primary person of the state, [President] Ould Abdel Aziz. Yesterday, we learned of the illegal arrest of Mr. Diop Amadou Tijane, one of IRA-Mauritanie's vice presidents, and other activists.
Police claimed that the activists were arrested at the scene of the clashes, but IRA-Mauritanie issued a press release stating their workers were picked up at home after the fact:
Tôt le matin du 30 juin 2016, des éléments de la police ont procédé à l’arrestation de 5 militants d’IRA-Mauritanie chez eux, dans leurs domiciles, contrairement à la thèse du gouvernement qui prétend les avoir arrêté sur les lieux de la manifestation, le vice-président Amadou Tidjane Diop, Abdellahi Matalla Saleck responsable de la section IRA de Sebkha (quartier périphérique de Nouakchott) ainsi que les militants Moussa Biram, Jemal Beylil, Khattri Rahel qui a été arrêté ce matin et Samba Fall. Tous ont été conduits á des destinations inconnues.
En plus des militants de IRA, d’autres personnes connues pour le soutien qu’elles apportent aux victimes de ce genre d’affaires ont été arrêtés, dont activiste Mohamed Razgua, sympathisant d'IRA-Mauritanie. Mais il est important de souligner que les différents commissariats de police de Nouakchott, ont été transformés en centre de détention de dizaines de personnes ….internées depuis plusieurs jours et sans aucun contact avec leurs familles ou des avocats.
Le Premier Juillet, tôt le matin, la police procède à l’arrestation de Balla Touré, secrétaire aux relations extérieures d'IRA-Mauritanie, la police l'a arrêté chez lui aussi. Son domicile, comme celui de Amadou Tidjane Diop, a été perquisitionné, ainsi que le bureau de l’association POP-DEV, ses ordinateurs ont été emportés ; et tous ces actes de la police ont été exécutés sans aucun mandant déclinés aux personnes arrêtées.
Early in the morning of June 30, 2016, police agents arrested five IRA-Mauritanie activists at the home in their residences, contrary to the government's theory which has them arrested at the scene of the event: Vice President Amadou Tidjane Diop; Abdellahi Matalla Saleck, head of IRA-Mauritanie in Sebkha (a suburb of Nouakchott); other activists Moussa Biram, Jemal Beylil, Khattri Rahel, who were arrested this morning, and Samba Fall, who was arrested later.  All six activists were taken to unknown destinations.
In addition to the IRA-Mauritanie activists, others known for their support of the victims of this kind of event were arrested, including the activist Mohamed Razgua, a IRA-Mauritanie supporter. But it is important to note that the different police stations in Nouakchott have been transformed into a detention centers for dozens of people… detained for several days without any contact with their families or lawyers.
Early in the morning of July 1, police arrested Balla Touré, IRA-Mauritanie secretary for external relations; the police arrested him at home also. His home, like Amadou Tidjane Diop's, was raided, as well as the office of the NGO POP-DEV (Partners in Population and Development), and computers were taken away; and all these police actions were executed without any warrants delivered to the people arrested.
The “Page Mauritanie,” a Mauritanian community Facebook page dedicated to culture and politics and moderated by a group of activists,confirmed the organization's account, denouncing the administration's abuse of power:
Hamady a également relevé la contradiction flagrante contenue dans la déclaration télévisée du Wali de Nouakchott-Ouest qui a attesté que les personnes arrêtées l’ont été sur les lieux, alors que tout le monde sait qu’ils ont été cueillis un par un dans leur domicile. «Pourquoi la police n’a pas arrêté les gens qui étaient à l’origine des violences sur les lieux où elles se sont produites ? »
Beaucoup au sein du mouvement trouvent que le jeu des autorités est si grotesque qu’elles ont dévoilé leur intention en accusant directement IRA avant même que la moindre enquête ait été diligentée pour situer les responsabilités.
Hamady, a Mauritanian blogger, also noted the flagrant contradiction in the Nouakchott-Ouest Wali's [governor of the Western region of Nouakchott] televised statement which attested that the persons arrested were at the scene, as everyone knows they were gathered one by one from their homes. “Why didn't the police arrest the people who were behind the violence in the place where it occurred?” Many in the movement find that the authorities’ gambit is so grotesque that they unveiled their intention by directly accusing IRA even before any investigation was being conducted to determine responsibility.
On the Mauritanian website rapideinfo.net, a writer called “Diko diko” published a post titled “Alert: IRA-Mauritania is again targeted by authorities” (Alerte : IRA-Mauritanie est encore ciblée par les autorités):
Nous attirons l'attention de tous les amis et partenaires sur l”état de santé de Diop Amadou Tidjane qui souffre de troubles cardiaques…
We're calling all friends and partners to heed Diop Amadou Tidjane's health status as he suffers from heart problems…
As “Diko diko” noted, it's not the first time authorities have targeted IRA-Mauritania. Biram Dah Abeid, president of the organization and winner of several international awards, was released in May after 18 months of detention. For details read this Global Voices post, Activists Persecuted for Opposing Land-Grab-Driven Slavery in Mauritania.
In a recent interview with seneweb.com, Biram Dah Abeid revealed the sad reality of living in Mauritania with slavery still in practice:
Au moins 50% des mauritaniens subissent, toute leur vie durant, les effets psychologiques et symboliques de l’infériorité raciale, car il s’agit aussi de cela, de cette propriété exercée sur un être humain par son vis-à-vis, il résulte que la majorité relative des mauritaniens naissent esclaves, ils sont attachés à la famille de leurs maîtres qui ont sur eux, le droit de vie et de mort. Nombreux travaillent sans repos, sans salaires au profit de leur maître. Ils n’ont pas le droit à l'éducation, de se déplacer, de voyager ou de se marier, sauf avec l’assentiment de leur propriétaire.
Le maître aussi a le droit de cuissage sur toutes les filles ou femmes esclaves. Par exemple, un maître qui a 100 femmes esclaves filles, peut en abuser sexuellement, sans restriction de nombre ni d’échéance. Il en a le droit, entre guillemets, c’est-à-dire le Droit Mauritanien, le Droit édicté par le code d’esclavage de la communauté dominante mauritanienne, les arabo berbère. Ils l’appellent le livre islamique, mais nous, nous l’appelons le livre esclavagiste, le livre anti islamique. C’est cette littérature de la honte que moi, personnellement, j’ai incendié, en public, dès le mois d’avril 2012.
At least 50% of Mauritanians suffer throughout their lives from psychological and symbolic effects of racial inferiority, which is what is at play here, as this relationship of ownership of one human over another results in a relative majority of Mauritanians being born slaves, they are attached to their masters’ family who have powers of life and death over them. Many work without rest, without wages for their master's benefit. They do not have the right to education, to freedom of movement, to travel or marry, without their owner's consent.
The master also has the droit du seigneur over all girl or women slaves. For example, a master who has 100 female slave girls can abuse them sexually, without restriction in number or age. He has the right, quote-unquote, that is to say, the Mauritanian law, the law enacted by the slavery code of the dominant Mauritanian community, the Arab-Berber. They call it the Islamic book, but we call it the slavery book, the anti-Islamic book. This is the literature of shame that I, personally, burned in public, in April 2012.
He continued:
Qu’ils soient gagés, cédés ou loués, il a été créé, au service de cette infamie, un prétendu «droit musulman», que nos écoles et université islamiques enseignent encore. Les auteurs autorisent aussi la castration des esclaves. Quand un Hratin se distingue par sa beauté ou tout autre attrait physique, le maître arabo berbère pouvait le castrer pour éviter un mélange de sang, afin que les femmes ou les filles du maître ne soient tentées par des aventures sexuelles constitutives de mésalliance, voire source de dégradation de la généalogie.
Whether they be pledged, transferred or leased, an alleged “Islamic law” was conceived in service to this infamy, law which is still taught in our Islamic schools and universities till this day. The authors also authorize the castration of slaves. When a Hratin [person of an ethnicity historically enslaved in Mauritania] stood out with his beauty or other physical attractiveness, the Arab-Berber master could castrate him to avoid a mixture of blood, so as the master's wives or daughters would not be tempted by sexual adventures that would lead to misalliance, or worse still source genealogical degradation.
In a publication dated July 4, 2016, Amnesty International called on Mauritanian authorities to disclose the place of detention as well as lawfully file charges against the activists or release them. At the time a total of nine activists had been arrested. Agence France Press later reported the number of people arrested and charged with assault against the police rose to 23.
While at home anti-slavery activists continue to be harassed, in the United States it's a different story. The US recognized IRA-Mauritanie President Biram Dah Abeid and Vice President Brahim Bilal Ramdhane as “2016 Trafficking in Persons Report” heroes on June 30, 2016. The award was recently established to encourage people fighting against slavery and human trafficking in their countries.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


text:
Meet the Two Latin American Women Vying for the United Nations’ Top Job · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Christiana Figueres during the Climate Change Conference, Bonn, Germany in 2013. Image taken from Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
There are now two Latin American women in the running for the position of secretary general of the United Nations.
Christiana Figueres was nominated by the government of her home country, Costa Rica, in early July. The nomination of Argentinian Susana Malcorra was formalized in May.
As of now, there are 11 candidates to succeed Korean Ban Ki-moon, the current UN secretary general, whose tenure concludes January 1, 2017.
The UN has never had a female secretary general in its 70-year history, and some argue it's time for a woman to be at the helm. Figueres and Malcorra aren't the only women nominated. Croatian politician Vesna Pusic, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, former Moldovan Chancellor Natalia Gherman, and former New Zealand Prime Minister and current Administrator of the UN Development Programme Helen Clark are all being considered.
Costa Rican economist and analyst Christiana Figueres is the daughter of José Figueres Ferrer, who served three times as President of Costa Rica.
Currently, Figueres is the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and participated in the talks for that convention and the Kyoto Protocol. About climate change, Figueres warned in 2015:
[…] que la lucha contra el cambio climático es un proceso y que la necesaria transformación de la economía mundial no se decidirá en una conferencia o en un acuerdo, [sino que es] “probablemente la tarea más difícil a la nos hemos encomendado, que es transformar intencionalmente el modelo de desarrollo económico por primera vez en la historia humana”.
[…] the fight against climate change is a process and the necessary transformation of world economy won't be decided by a conference or an agreement, [but it's] probably the hardest task we've engaged in, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.
When asked if she thinks Latin America supports her nomination, she answered:
[…] las candidaturas a la secretaría general de la ONU “no deben ser entendidas como candidaturas subregionales o regionales. Deben entenderse como candidaturas globales”.
[…] nominations to UN Secretary General “should not be understood as sub regional or regional nominations. They should be understood as global nominations.”
On the day of her nomination, Figueres said in her keynote address that she has the tremendous task “of giving hope back to the world.” She noted that her priority is to achieve peaceful resolutions and strengthen the responsiveness of the organization during crises — all with a responsible and patient optimism:
Sin optimismo, sin la firme convicción de que nosotros los humanos sí somos capaces de solventar los problemas, no podemos ni empezar a avanzar.
Without optimism, without the strong conviction that we human beings are capable of resolving problems, we won't be able to start moving forward.
On Twitter, some users endorsed her nomination:
Ojalá @CFigueres logre la Secretaría de la @UN. La precede un gran trabajo hecho en la @UNFCCC.
— David Garcia (@DavidG79) 8 de julio de 2016
I really hope Christiana Figueres becomes UN secretary. She has previously done a great job at the UNFCCC.
Excited that @CFigueres is running for #nextSG. Paris Agreement was an incredible achievement.
— Diane Regas (@DianeRegas) 8 de julio de 2016
Susana Malcorra. Image taken by Elza Fiuza –  Agencia Brasil (CC BY 3.0).
The other Latin American candidate, Susana Malcorra, is an electrical engineer, and has served as executive director of the World Food Program. Between 2008 and 2012, she served as under-secretary-general of the United Nations for Field Support.
Her nomination, however, isn't free of controversy.
When she was serving as under-secretary-general, she was involved in the concealment of reports of sexual abuses against minors by UN Blue Berets and peacekeeping forces during missions in Africa. It was during her tenure that Ban Ki-moon himself dubbed her “Doctor No” because of her constant negative answers.
More recently, as Argentina's minister of foreign affairs, Malcorra has reaffirmed that the government will take in a group of Syrian refugees, and she said that another group of displaced people from Central America could also be accepted:
Desde la Argentina estamos dispuestos a recibir refugiados con la idea de que en cada uno de los países está encontrar la solución.
— Susana Malcorra (@SusanaMalcorra) 28 de junio de 2016
In Argentina, we are willing to receive refugees with the idea that each country has to find the solution.
Ban Ki-moon's successor may be announced by late November.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
The Violent Union Protests Happening in Mexico Don’t Represent All Teachers · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Gabriel Páramo and Laura Martín: Teachers who are working in Mexico. Image from the author.
Teaching others, especially young people, to harness the tools that make knowledge accessible is praiseworthy. In a country like Mexico, where advancements in education are “unstable and mediocre” according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the effort and passion that teachers bring to their classrooms every day can often go unacknowledged.
It doesn't help that teachers in Mexico are finding themselves lumped together with the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) union, which has mounted violent protests against constitutional education reform that, among other things, asks for teacher performance evaluations.
With this in mind, we decided to talk to teachers without connections to the CNTE about their opinions and perceptions of the conflict to provide a point of view that normally doesn't make headlines in Mexico's big news outlets.
We began with Gabriel Páramo, a professor who has been teaching classes to undergraduate students for 21 years, 16 of those in the Carlos Septién García School of Journalism in Mexico City. We asked him specifically about the issues surrounding the CNTE and the demands they are making of the government.
Global Voices (GV):  As an educator, do you feel bothered by the fact that your colleagues are blocking roads and intersections to make their demands heard?
Gabriel Páramo (GP): Como docente no me siento agraviado. Creo que cuando las opciones legales se cierran, cuando hay manipulación de la información, cuando el poder se escuda en términos como eficiencia y productividad para castigar al trabajador y reducir sus derechos, es necesario tomar medidas extremas.
No todas las exigencias son legítimas, como la herencia de plazas, aunque, ¿alguien ha escuchado que se herede plazas pobres en la montaña o en comunidades indígenas?
Gabriel Páramo (GP): As an educator, I don't feel offended by it. I think that when legal options are closed, when there is manipulation of information, when those in power hide behind terms like efficiency and productivity in order to punish workers and take away people's rights, extreme measures are necessary.
Not all of the demands are legitimate — like inheriting job posts — although, has anyone ever heard of inheriting a poor post in the mountains or in indigenous communities?
Páramo's answer refers to the “inheritance” of job posts, or the transfer of a teaching post to the teacher's chosen successor after his or her death, a privilege members of the CNTE want to preserve.
GV:  How would you explain what has been happening with the CNTE over the past few months to an international audience?
GP: Tanto la CNTE como el Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación son uniones laborales que durante años han funcionado como parte del modelo corporativista del Estado mexicano.
La caída del Partido Revolucionario Institucional [en el año 2000] con Vicente Fox y Felipe Calderón [presidentes del país entre 2000 y 2012] debilitó los lazos de dichos sindicatos con el gobierno; a su regreso al poder el Partido Revolucionario Institucional descubrió que ya no los controla totalmente y ahí sobrevino el conflicto.
Además, las bases magisteriales [quienes integran éstos sindicatos] se politizaron y emprendieron reivindicaciones que sobrepasaron a los líderes cupulares.
GP: Both the CNTE and the National Education Workers’ Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación) are unions which have worked as part of the corporatist model of the Mexican state for years.
The fall of the Institutional Revolution Party [in 2000] with Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón [presidents of Mexico from 2000-2006, 2006-2012] debilitated the ties between the aforementioned unions and the government. When the Institutional Revolutionary Party returned to power they realized that they no longer completely controlled the unions — this is where the conflict arose.
In addition, the rank and file teachers [who make up these unions] became politicized and began making demands that surpassed the top leaders.
It should be mentioned that in the beginning of 2013 one of the aforementioned union groups were hit hard, with the arrest of Elba Esther “La Maestra” (The Teacher) Gordillo, who presided over the National Education Workers’ Union and who today faces charges of money laundering and organized crime.
To get more views on the issue we spoke with Laura Martín (@laumartinm on Twitter). She teaches classes in a variety of degree subjects at a private university.
GV: How long have you been teaching?
Laura Martín (LM): Desde el año 2003. Lo que me motivó fue la admiración que tenía hacia algunos profesores. Me entusiasmaba la dedicación y el respeto con el que impartían las clases. El ser catedrática me ha llevado también a seguirme preparando continuamente, estudiando una maestría y tomando numerosísimos cursos de formación y actualización docente así como de desarrollo humano.
Laura Martín (LM): Since 2003. I was inspired by the admiration I had for a number of my professors. I felt energized by the dedication and respect they employed as they taught classes. Being a professor has also allowed me to continue studying, to do my master's and to take a large number of continuing education and teaching courses as well as human development.
GV: Do you think that the teaching profession is well respected in Mexico? Does society have a good image of teachers?
LM: Lamentablemente en la actualidad el magisterio nos deja en vergüenza, la profesión no es respetada, la imagen que tenemos los maestros es pésima ante la sociedad. La gente considera que toda persona que es profesor es burócrata, flojo, conformista, corrupto e inculto, cuando en realidad existimos personas comprometidas con la labor y aclaro que mi formación académica no es la docencia, pero tengo la responsabilidad en formar futuros profesionistas y contribuir a su crecimiento profesional y personal.
LM: Unfortunately, the current educational situation is an embarrassment, the profession isn't respected, society has a terrible image of teachers. People think that all teachers are bureaucratic, lazy, conformist, corrupt and uneducated, when in reality there are so many of us who are dedicated to this profession. I want to clarify that although my academic background is not in education, it is my responsibility to teach future professionals and to contribute to their professional and personal growth.
GV: Your mother was a primary school teacher in public schools. What has she told you about the animosity that the CNTE protests have created in Mexico?
LM: Está muy triste y preocupada por estos movimientos. Durante casi 40 años ella fue una profesora dedicada a sus alumnos, comenzó a dar clases en escuelas con niños en condiciones de extrema pobreza, en los tiraderos de basura de la hoy gentrificada zona de Santa Fe; jamás faltó a dar clases por ir a marchas y siempre estuvo dispuesta a la evaluación realizando exámenes que la hicieran subir peldaños en la carrera magisterial.
Durante todos los años de su servicio, le tocó ver muchas cosas indignantes del comportamiento de sus compañeros, desde la maestra que tejía en clases y utilizaba la frase “hacen como que me pagan, entonces hago como que trabajo”, el que bebía alcohol detrás del estante, la sobrina de una inspectora que estaba en nómina pero sólo hacia acto de presencia cada quincena a recoger su cheque y la que con faltas de ortografía ponía a los alumnos a escribir 100 veces alguna frase.
Este es el perfil de algunos de los maestros que están protestando en las manifestaciones.
LM: She is very sad and worried by these movements. For 40 years she was a dedicated teacher who started out teaching classes to children living in extreme poverty in the garbage dump that is now the gentrified Santa Fe area. She never missed classes to go to protests and she was always willing to take exams which allowed her to climb up the professional education ladder.
During her years as a teacher she witnessed a lot of outrageous behavior from her colleagues: the teacher who knit during class and said, “They act like they pay me so I act like I'm teaching”; the teacher who drank alcohol behind the shelves; the education inspector's niece who was on the payroll but only showed up every two weeks to get her paycheck and who forced students to write — with spelling mistakes — some phrase 100 times.
These types of people represent some of the teachers who are protesting.
Martin also took the opportunity to ponder the constant protests:
LM: ¿Qué hay detrás de los intereses de los líderes sindicales, que van más allá de las inconformidades a la reforma educativa? ¿por qué a este movimiento se están uniendo grupos que no pertenecen al magisterio?
Los más afectados son sin duda los alumnos que llevan meses sin tomar clases, lo que ocasiona una recesión en la educación, ¿qué pasará con estos niños que supuestamente son el futuro de México?
LM: What is behind the interests of the union leaders? Is there something more to their disagreements with education reform? Why are non-education related groups joining the movement?
Without a doubt, the most affected are the students who have gone months without classes. This is causing an educational recession. What is going to happen to these children who are supposedly the future of Mexico?
There are also campaigns popping up on social media showing support for those teachers who are still working and accept evaluation. On Twitter the hashtag #CreoEnLosMaestros (#IBelieveInTeachers) particularly stands out :
“A los buenos maestros: ¡éxito en su examen!”#creoenlosmaestrospic.twitter.com/ySihWrVhzI
— Alejandro Ordóñez G. (@alex_ordnz) December 5, 2015
“To all the good teachers: Good Luck on your exam!” #IBelieveInTeachers
Copiosa asistencia de #Maestros a #EvaluacionDelDesempeño en Centro expositor de #Tlaxcala#CreoEnLosMaestrospic.twitter.com/OXXyIIelDt
— Raul Roberto Reyes R (@RaulRobertoRR) November 28, 2015
Excellent #Teacher attendance at the #PerformanceEvaluation in the #Tlaxcala Expo Center #IBelieveInTeachers
Beyond the current circumstances is the dedication that many Mexican teachers bring to the work they do for their students. It is a dedication that will hopefully bear fruit in the near future.

author: J. Tadeo