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Al Qaeda Calls for Jihad in Bangladesh  · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

Screenshot of a video by Ayman al-Zawahiri
Global militant organization Al Qaeda has called for jihad in Bangladesh via a video released online. The audio message was circulated in a video featuring the leader of the organization, Ayman al-Zawahiri, calling for followers to resist what he called anti-Islamic conspiracies and launch an “intifada” (uprising) in Bangladesh.
He invited Muslims in Bangladesh:
To confront this crusader onslaught against Islam, which is being orchestrated by the leading criminals in the subcontinent and the West against Islam, the Prophet of Islam and the Islamic creed, so that they may turn you into slaves of a despotic and disbelieving system.
Here is a transcription of the video message (PDF).
The entire clip lasting 28 minutes and 58 seconds, titled “Bangladesh: Massacre Behind a Wall of Silence”, features the message from al-Zawahiri along with his image as well as others, such as the Hifazat's rally in May last year. Aaron Y. Zelin, who runs the site Jihadology, reported in an interview to EuroBDNewsOnline.com that he is certain that this voice is of Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Bangladesh’s elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) tracked the source of the message and arrested Rasel Bin Sattar Khan for circulating the controversial message from Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri. He is an admin of controversial Facebook page Basherkella and some other militant blogs [bn] believed to be run by extremist operatives. He confessed [bn] that he started spreading this video in Bangladesh, which was first uploaded in a Pakistani website.
Recently in Bangladesh, religious extremist organizations like Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam have engaged in a lot of violence. Some netizens have speculated that the call for jihad in Bangladesh is somehow related.
Diaspora legal practitioner Rayhan Rashid (@rayhanrashid) tweeted:
#AlQaida Chief #Zawahiri issues “intifada” call against Bangladesh, in support of #Jamaat , #BNP. Nexus official now. http://t.co/jy26VjUHhw
— Rayhan Rashid (@rayhanrashid) February 15, 2014
Jamaat, who once worked fought against the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan, had always denied their involvement with militants. However, Mofaqkharul Taufique wrote that Jamaat can no longer deny the truth given this video:
এ বার ভিডিও-বার্তায় প্রকাশ্যেই জামাত-নেতাদের পাশে দাঁড়ালেন আল কায়েদার শীর্ষ নেতা আয়মান আল জাওয়াহিরি। এর পরেও কি কেউ বলবেন যে জমাত জঙ্গী সংগঠন নয় ?
In this video message, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has openly supported Jamaat. Can anyone deny that Jamaat is not a militant organization?
Jamaat and Hefazot both have officially denied any involvement with Al Qaeda.
Activists of Hefajat-e Islam march as part of its Dhaka siege programme to press home its 13-point demand that includes the arrest of atheist bloggers. Image by Firoz Ahmed. Copyright Demotix (5/5/2013)
Dr. Imran H. Sarker, a blogger and the spokesperson for the Shahbag movement activists, a movement that supports the death penalty for liberation war criminals, wanted to hear reactions from other political parties:
এক ভিডিও বার্তায় জামাত- হেফাজতের আন্দোলনকে সমর্থন করে ধর্মের নামে মানুষ হত্যার কথিত জিহাদের ডাক দিয়েছে আল-কায়েদা প্রধান আয়মান আল জাওয়াহিরি।
জোটবদ্ধ রাজনৈতিক দলগুলোর প্রতিক্রিয়া কি? যুদ্ধাপরাধী, সন্ত্রাসী সংগঠন জামাত-শিবির, হেফাজত কে নিষিদ্ধ করতে আর কতো অপেক্ষা?
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has called for jihad (waging war in the name of religion) and supporting the cause of Hefazot/Jamaat.
What are the reactions of different political parties and alliances? How long will it take to ban anti-liberation and militant organizations like Jamaat, Hefazot?
Abdullah Al Mamun, a reader on Bangla daily Prothom Alo, commented:
এটি বাংলাদেশ নামক রাষ্টের প্রতি সরাসরি হুমকি বা হস্তক্ষেপ। এসব হুমকি আমাদের সবাইকে ভাবিয়ে তুলছে।
This is a direct threat against Bangladesh as a country. This has worried all of us.
Journalist Anjan Roy, however, called for verifying this video:
বাংলাদেশে প্রতিরোধ গড়ে তোলার আহ্বান জাওয়াহিরি- এই ভিডিওটি এখন আলোচনায়, প্রথমত দরকার ভিডিওটির তথ্য সত্যতা যাচাই। সত্য হলেও বিন্দুমাত্র শংকার নাই- আমরা শত্রু এলে অস্ত্র হাতে লড়তে জানি। এটা আফগানিস্তান না, পাকিস্তান না। এটা বাংলাদেশ- আল কায়দাকে কায়দা করতে দেয়ার জন্য আমাদের পিতা আর ভাইয়েরা যুদ্ধ করেন নি। আমাদের মা আর বোনরাও জানেন কিভাবে অনুপ্রেরণা দিতে হয় প্রিয়জনকে যুদ্ধে যাবার।
Al-Zawahiri called for resistance in Bangladesh – this video is a source of a hot debate. First we need to determine whether the video is credible or genuine. We need not worry even if this is true. This is not Afghanistan or Pakistan. We Bengalis know how to fight. Our fathers and brothers did not fight the independence war to let Al Qaeda reign. Our loved ones know how to prepare ourselves for fight.
A K M Wahiduzzaman wrote that this video has another purpose – to spark debate in the political arena:
দেশে-বিদেশে যখন এই বিচার বহির্ভূত হত্যাকাণ্ডের তীব্র সমালোচনা হচ্ছে, এমন কী সভ্যদেশগুলো যখন এই হত্যাকারী বাহিনীর সদস্যদের প্রশিক্ষণ কর্মসূচি বাতিল করছে। তখন ‘বিডি নিউজ ২৪’ গত ১৪ জানুয়ারি আল শাহাব মিডিয়ার তৈরি এবং জিহাদোলজি ডট নেট সাইটে প্রকাশিত একটি ভিডিও বার্তা নিয়ে মাঠ গরম করে বিচার বহির্ভূত হত্যাকাণ্ডের বৈধতা দেবার পাশাপাশি জঙ্গী ইস্যু দিয়ে পশ্চিমাদের মন গলানোর চেষ্টা করছে।
আরে গর্ধবের দল, ওটা সত্যি হলে আরো একমাস আগেই পশ্চিমা মিডিয়া এবং আল জাজিরা লিড নিউজ করতো।
When there are talks in the country about extrajudicial killings of security forces, even some countries have cancelled training for these security forces amidst the controversy. At this very moment, a video released by the Jihadology.net site and made by Al Shahab media is being highlighted by BDNews24.net to harp on militancy issues.
If this was real, international media and Al Jazeera would have made it top news a month ago.
The government is investigating the threat by Al Qaeda, but State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal does not see it as a big threat. Security Analyst Major (Retired) Abdur Rashid said in an interview with BBC Bangla that Bangladesh should not take it lightly:
আল কায়েদার শক্তি কমে গেলেও ভাবাদর্শগতভাবে বাংলাদেশে তাদের অনুসারী আছে। তারা উজ্জীবিত হয়ে আল-কায়েদার সহায়তায় কোন নাশকতা করতে পারে। এ আশংকাকে আমি উড়িয়ে দিচ্ছি না।
Although Al Qaeda has been weakened, a number of dedicated followers of them exists in Bangladesh. We cannot rule out any violent activity by them after the support of Al Qaeda.
Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury, a retired air force official and a security analyst, commented in an op-ed in the Daily Star:
Those of us who dream of a democratic state, a multi-religious, multi-cultural society, an educated, healthy and prosperous nation, the Zawahiri message, even if it is a hoax, is a stark reminder that we have an enemy at the gate, and only together we can defeat it. We as a nation need to close ranks on the minimum agenda, and on the question of fighting religious extremism there is no other option but a national consensus.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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Big, Bad Bullies of the Russian Media · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

The bullies of the Russian media. Dmitri Kiselyov, left, and Vladimir Solovyov, right. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
The media environment in Russia is not good right now. Readers of RuNet Echo are already familiar with the high-profile attacks on TV Rain, Russia’s only independent television channel, as well as legal threats against Echo of Moscow, the country’s most popular radio station, and Alexey Navalny, Russia’s most famous political blogger. All of these cases involved some utterance published online that politicians and conservative media figures deemed offensively unpatriotic. TV Rain ran a poll asking viewers to assess abandoning Leningrad to the Nazis in World War II; Echo of Moscow published an article by Victor Shenderovich, comparing aspects of the Sochi Olympics with the 1936 Berlin Games; and Navalny made a cryptic joke about an assassinated judge in Ukraine, quipping that the same might await Russian judges.
While Russians can debate how offensive they find TV Rain, Shenderovich, or Navalny, beyond dispute is the prominence of the TV station and these two men in Russian politics. In that regard, for all the senselessness of modern Russia’s witch-hunt against supposed “traitors,” a certain logic guided the process of targeting persons and institutions.
Last week, the logic seemed to break down, when popular Russian TV and radio journalist Vladimir Solovyov dedicated an entire radio show [ru] to dissecting and denouncing the Maidan-supportive tweets of a handful of students from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. (See Sultan Suleimanov’s detailed report on this scandal, in Russian.) Yulia Arkhipova suffered the brunt of Solovyov’s attacks, villified (in absentia) for being a homosexual-loving Ukrainian citizen.
Solovyov appears to have learned of Arkhipova thanks to Vitalii Milonov, the St. Petersburg city councilman infamous for launching Russia’s original legal crackdown on “gay propaganda” in 2011. Milonov engaged Arkhipova a day before Solovyov’s radio show, mocking her concerns about wounded protesters in Kiev [ru] and holding up her ‘misplaced’ worry as an example of Russian higher education’s failings. When Arkhipova later taunted Solovyov, writing [ru] on Twitter that “specially for him” she had donned traditional Ukrainian clothes and cradled her Russian passport in her pocket, Solovyov responded by saying [ru] that her “soul remains rotten,” despite the wardrobe change.
Why did Solovyov hound a group of unknown university students over a few Ukraine-related tweets? Arkhipova herself theorized that Dmitri Kiselyov—a recently promoted, pro-Kremlin journalist who regularly shocks liberal society with assaults on the Russian opposition—has raised the bar for loyalty in the Russian mediasphere. Solovyov has long been a Putin-supportive polemicist, but his regular antics pale in comparison to Kiselyov’s, who made Milonov look like Harvey Milk, when (in 2012 on national TV) Kiselyov angrily championed burning the hearts of gay car accident victims. Popular journalism and public debate in the era of Kiselyov have become wildly sensitive to the two main tropes of Russian liberalism: criticism of the Kremlin and praise for the West.
While Solovyov may have been upping the ante by taking the good fight to twenty-somethings on Twitter, the larger objective was of course the Higher School of Economics, which Milonov has condemned [ru] as a “nest of liberalism.” In other words, the logic guiding Russian reactionaries may not have disappeared after all.
In the meantime, “Vyshka” (as the university is known colloquially) has done its best to remain above the fray in this controversy. On February 21, 2014, the school’s Facebook page published a note [ru] calling Solovyov’s behavior a “provocation.” The post also included a photograph of Mark Twain, with the quotation: “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.”
Image posted to Vyshka's Facebook page.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Brief Summary of the Situation in Venezuela for the Curious or Poorly Informed · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The protests are being carried out in many parts of the country and are lacking in center and direction, having being called through social media networks. Among the protesters themselves, there are many diverse opinions about the opposition political parties, so it’s possible to find many expressions of support and also rejection at the same time.
In the case of Caracas the middle class and college students are the primary actors in the demonstrations. On the other hand, in other states, many popular sectors have joined the protests. In Caracas the majority of the demands are political, including calls for the freedom of the detainees and the resignation of the president [Maduro], while in other cities social demands are incorporated, with protests against inflation, scarcity and lack of proper public services.
Human rights defender, sociologist and journalist Rafael Uzcátegui (@fanzinero) [es] writes a “brief summary of Venezuela’s situation for curious people and/or the poorly informed,” originally published in Spanish [es] but now translated into English.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Celebrating Puerto Rican Poet Julia de Burgos on the 100th Anniversary of Her Birth · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

Julia de Burgos. Screencap from video.
Poem titles given in English correspond with dual-language collection Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos.
February 17th marked 100 years since the birth of Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1914-1953), considered by many be the country's national poet. Although her body of work was relatively small, consisting of some 200 poems, the poetry of Julia de Burgos has succeeded in capturing readers’ imaginations and touching their hearts ever since her first book of poems, Poemas exactos a mí misma, was published in print in 1937.
De Burgos only published three books of poems during her life: the aforementioned Poemas exactos a mí misma [Exact Poems to Myself], Poemas en veinte surcos [Poems in Twenty Furrows, 1938], and Canción de la verdad sencilla [Song of the Simple Truth, 1939]. A fourth book, Mar y tú y otros poemas [The Sea and You and Other Poems], was published in 1954, after her death at age 39. The high quality of de Burgos’ poetry has earned her work a permanent place among the best Latin American poetry of the 20th century.
Julia de Burgos was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and was the only one of 13 siblings to attend university. Although she did not graduate, she succeeded in obtaining a teaching certificate at the University of Puerto Rico. In 1936 she joined the women's branch of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, The Daughters of Liberty, who advocated for Puerto Rican independence under the leadership of Pedro Albizu Campos. She spent time living in Cuba and in New York, where she died of pneumonia in 1953. Because she carried no identification at the time of her death, she was buried in an anonymous grave in New York. Her remains were later transferred to a burial site in Carolina thanks to friends who were able to find the grave and claim her body.
De Burgos has become deeply imbedded in the collective imagination of Puerto Ricans living on the Island, as well as those of the diaspora. In the following video, Puerto Ricans of New York read excerpts from one of de Burgos’ most famous poems, “Yo misma fui mi ruta” (I was my own route).
According to José Gómez Biamón in his article for the online publication El Post Antillano [es], most of the activities commemorating de Burgos’ centennial took place outside of Puerto Rico:
[…] En el ámbito del Caribe Hispano, ha habido actividades, que demuestran un gran interés por el centenario, según se ha visto en la prensa recientemente. Específicamente, en la República Dominicana han develado un busto en honor a Julia de Burgos, en una plaza de la capital dominicana. Además, en Cuba la editorial Casa de las Américas ha expresado comunicados de júbilo, por la celebración del centenario. Igualmente, en los Estados Unidos ha habido varias actividades culturales, específicamente recuerdo ver en la prensa las fotos de un vistoso mosaico en una Calle del “Barrio” en Harlem, New York. Cabe mencionar, que en España, durante los últimos meses, también ha habido actividades y varias publicaciones relacionadas con Julia de Burgos.
[…] Judging by what has appeared recently in the media, there have been activities in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean that demonstrate a great interest in the centennial. Specifically, in the Dominican Republic, a bust in honor of Julia de Burgos was unveiled in a plaza in the Dominican capital. Furthermore, in Cuba, cultural organization Casa de las Américas has shared messages of celebration of the centennial. Likewise, there have been various cultural activities in the United States; in particular, I remember seeing photos of a remarkable mural on a street in “El Barrio,” in Harlem, New York. It should also be mentioned that in recent months, there were various activities and publications related to Julia de Burgos in Spain.
However, it should be noted that a large number of commemorative and celebratory events [es], like lectures and concerts, have taken place in Puerto Rico as well.
In an article on 80 Grados [es], Puerto Rican singer and composer Zoraida Santiago remembers Julia, who has been one of her great inspirations:
Este año hay mucha celebración de centenario. Sinceramente, me alegro. Pero espero que nos sirva para algo.
Que la celebración del centenario de Julia de Burgos nos sirva para rescatar la poesía. La suya y la de todos y todas las poetas.
This year the centennial is being widely celebrated. I'm sincerely happy. But I hope that it will serve a purpose.
I hope the hundredth anniversary of Julia de Burgos’ birth will serve to rescue poetry. Her poetry, and that of all poets.
Juan Camacho, in his blog post about Julia de Burgos, warns about the danger of her memory being reduced to the stereotype of the bohemian poet who lived a tragically short life:
Como cualquier ser humano de su época y de la nuestra, Julia enfrentó problemas e inconvenientes en el transcurso de su vida. Unos los pudo vencer, otros no. No obstante, entendemos que es injusto que se le recuerde, más allá del consenso de su calidad como poetisa, como la mujer fracasada, alcohólica, excesivamente romántica y pasional, enajenada de la realidad.
Julia fue más que un poema romántico; fue más que una relación amorosa; fue más que una mujer que enfrentó problemas.
Es hora de rescatar, sin que tengamos que reescribir la historia, a la otra Julia. A la otra Julia que también reclama la joven escritora Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro cuando escribe:
“Quiero conocer a la Julia revoltosa y desobediente; a la Julia de la rebelión, la que se codeó con Don Pedro Albizu Campos; que escribió cartas a favor de la excarcelación de Juan Antonio Corretjer; aquella que sostenía reuniones con grandes pensadores y libertarios como Juan Bosch…”
Like any human being of her time, or ours, Julia faced problems and obstacles over the course of her life. Some, she could overcome; others, she could not. Regardless, beyond the consensus about her excellence as a poet, it's unfair to remember her as a struggling alcoholic, excessively romantic and passionate, estranged from reality.
Julia was more than a romantic poem; she was more than a love affair; she was more than a woman who faced problems.
Without rewriting history, it's time to rescue the other Julia. The Julia sought by the young writer Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro when she writes:
“I want to know the unruly and disobedient Julia; the Julia of the rebellion, the one who rubbed shoulders with Don Pedro Albizu Campos; the one who wrote letters advocating for the release of Juan Antonio Corretjer from prison; the one who met with great thinkers and libertarians like Juan Bosch…”
Puerto Rican writer Luis Rafael Sánchez [es] has perhaps best articulated the reasons why we remember Julia de Burgos and, furthermore, how we should remember her:
Alargada en el espíritu de cuantos admiramos su hembría insurgente, enroscado su nombre en los labios de a quienes nos deslumbra su universo hecho de verso, a Julia de Burgos la llamaremos Poeta ahora, después y siempre. Y no porque la recordemos. Y sí porque la sentimos. Que como un grito integral, suave y profundo, estalló de sus labios la palabra.
Embedded in the spirit of all those who admire her rebellious femininity, her name entwined on the lips of those stunned by her universe of verse, we call Julia de Burgos a Poet, now, later, and always. Not because we remember her, but because we feel her. Like a primal cry, smooth and profound, her words burst from her lips.
You can find more information on Julia de Burgos here [es].

author: Ángel Carrión


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Help Us Test Our Website: Win a T-Shirt · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

We're redesigning the Global Voices website and would like your help figuring out if we're headed in the right direction. We want to hear from all readers, contributors, friends.
Students from the University of Washington's Human Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE) program are using Global Voices as a case study for an extensive usability testing process in three separate groups. Each group has prepared a different survey.
We will be asking some people to look at the current website and others to be looking at designs for a brand new site. If you would like to participate, please enter your name and email below.
We are offering one lucky person the chance to win a Global Voices T-shirt!
Thanks for your support!

author: Solana Larsen


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Myanmar’s Last Remaining Synagogue · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Built 120 years ago, the Musmeah Yeshua synagogue in Yangon is the last remaining Jewish synagogue in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar. Aside from being a tourist attraction, it is also listed as an archaeological heritage building in the city.

author: Mong Palatino


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A Day to Strengthen Portugal’s Open Data Community · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

A typical rabelo boat from Porto carrying the open data flag for the #OpenDataDay. Banner by Ana Carvalho / Transparência Hackday.
[Disclosure: The author of this post was one of the organizers of the event.]
Pro-transparency and tech for citizenship enthusiasts from different cities in Portugal joined in the global Open Data Day celebration with a gathering in Porto hosted by the Transparência Hackday collective on February 22, 2014.
Designers, programmers, hackers, communicators and public servants dedicated a Saturday afternoon to sharing their experience with transparency issues as well as to opening some data to the public.
Hands-on tasks included the Local Open Data Census by Open Knowledge Foundation, which aimed at putting together data sets at the local level, from transport timetables to annual budgets and air quality:
We know there is huge variability in how much local data is available not just across countries but within countries, with some cities and municipalities making major open data efforts, while in others there’s little or no progress visible. If we can find out what open data is out there, we can encourage more cities to open up key information, helping businesses and citizens understand their cities and making life easier.
By the end of the day, the cities of Coimbra and Porto had quite a full range of information available in a collaborative document that will be used to update the Open Knowledge instance for Portugal once it has been setup by the international organization.
A different group took on the yogurt cataloging challenge launched by Open Food Facts, a free, open and crowdsourced food products database. The idea behind “What's in my yogurt?” project was to gather nutrition facts, ingredients and other dairy data from as many countries of the world as possible in just one day. So did the Portuguese.
@OpenFoodFactsPt @thackdaypt we've added our first yogurt! More will come as the data-yogurt team gets their hands dirty! #odd14
— Ana Isabel Carvalho (@aiscarvalho) 22 February 2014
Data ‘visualinspiration’
The cherry on top for this fourth anniversary of the International Open Data Day was the presentation of the designer and researcher Pedro Cruz from the University of Coimbra of his work on data visualization.
The association for cultural intervention Maus Hábitos (Bad Habits) in Porto opened its door for the venue of the #OpenDataDay in Portugal.
The journey started with Pedro's data visualization of the evolution of the decline of the maritime empires of the 19th and 20th centuries by land extension. In the timeline of events, British, Portuguese, French and Spanish empires dissolute in a fluid way as “some kind of soft bodies”. Other works by him include the traffic of Lisbon condensed in one day – or portrayed as a metaphor of living organisms with circulatory problems – as well as text analysis, public transport exploration, and much more.
“An ecosystem of corporate politicians“ – interactive visualization at pmcruz.com/eco.
But his most recent deed, the interactive visualization “An ecosystem of corporate politicians” – on the relationships between members of Portuguese governments and companies for the period of 1975 to 2013 – was the one sparking more debate.
The powerful visualization shows the companies where ministers and secretaries of state have had positions and allows for the exploration of what appears to be a parasite ecosystem, given the form of the designed organisms:
Data is approached as an ecosystem, where each set of interdependent relations are regulated by physical conditions—each politician has a sequence of companies to visit, chasing them and jumping between them, in order to restart the sequence each time it is completed.
The data was collected from a study on politics and business carried out for the documentary “Donos de Portugal” (Owners of Portugal).
Getting to know the community
Improve Coimbra was another project from the third main city of Portugal that participants had the chance to meet on #OpenDataDay in Porto. Alike the organizer in Porto, Transparência Hackday, Improve Coimbra promotes monthly meetings that anyone can join to help solve the problems of the city. In little more than one year of activities, Improve has already created several websites and mobile apps for the citizens of Coimbra, such as a platform for crowdsourcing home rents, a map of cafes with available wifi, and Burocracia which makes the minutes of Coimbra's city government assembly available and easy to search.
Also the northern municipality of Alfândega da Fé was represented in this #OpenDataDay. Ranked in second place in the Index of Municipal Transparency [pt] launched in October 2013 by the watchdog Transparência e Integrigade, Associação Cívica (TIAC), this small municipality of the region of Trás-os-Montes, with less than 6,000 inhabitants, has been showing positive signs of willingness to open local governmental data.
That was the ultimate aim of the event, after all, to encourage governmental data openness, and thus the #OpenData in Portugal has grown a bit stronger with more grassroots organizations and individuals dialoguing with each other and the world.
Hot & global #ODD14 timeline pt.2: @thackdaypt (Portugal) @villum (Denmark) @maliciarogue (France) @okfde (Germany) @OKFNitaly (Italia)!
— Open Knowledge Fdn (@OKFN) 22 fevereiro 2014
You can check out the agenda of the #OpenDataDay in a pad available in Transparencia Hackday's blog, and read more about the global event in the official website [all links in Portuguese].

author: Sara Moreira


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Praise for Southeast Asia’s Winter Olympians · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

It does not snow in the Philippines and East Timor but the two Southeast Asian countries were represented in the recently concluded 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Yohan Goncalves Goutt, who qualified for the men’s Slalom event, became the first Timorese athlete to compete at the Winter Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Michael Martinez of the Philippines became Southeast Asia's first figure-skater in the Games.
Yohan Goncalves Goutt representing East Timor in the Men's Slalom event.
Yohan founded East Timor's ski federation and raised $75,000 to fulfill his Olympic dream. He competed in the games, completed the race, and finished 43rd out of 117 players. There were 72 other racers who did not finish or were disqualified during the competition.
Yohan shared what he felt after finishing the race:
WOW what an Experience for Me !!!! This race will always stay in my memory and i hope Timor Leste History. It was hard starting last in one of the hardest course of my life but I finish !!! 43 out of 117 !!!
You are Great thanks for all your support !!!!
After this Olympic Games I felt that i have learned a lot and that i come out of this Games as a grown up man !!!
Before the game, he received a letter of commendation from East Timor’s Prime Minister. Naturally, the Timorese are proud of Yohan’s achievements. Below are some of the messages left by Yohan’s fans on his Facebook account:
Popo Lay: So proud of you Yohan!! Congratulations on being the first person to represent our nation in the winter Olympics and making history. You are a true Timorese hero and a role model for the next generation!
José Antonio G. Casimiro: A top 50 finish is a great achievement. I watched so many before you fall and not complete the race. I was praying that you would get a clean run, and you did. Thank you for putting our tiny little nation on the map.
Many were touched that Yohan wore a Timor clothing during the opening ceremonies:
Jacinta Barreto: You just showed us how to wear Timor tais in winter time…cool and fashionable. Best of luck Yohan..
Carla Araujo Machado: Congratulations! What an emotional moment when u were holding Timor-Leste flag! We are all very proud!
The country’s Minister of State Agio Pereira issued this statement of support for Yohan:
We commend Yohan for his commitment and his pride in Timor-Leste. His efforts, along with those of other athletes that represent Timor-Leste on the international stage, raise the profile of our country and increase interest and engagement.
Yohan Goncalves Goutt at the Sochi Games
Meanwhile, Filipino skater Michael Martinez was the Philippines’ sole representative in the Sochi games. He qualified in the finals and finished 19th.
Many Filipinos were inspired by Michael who learned to skate only in a shopping mall and he succeeded in becoming an  Olympian despite being an asthmatic.
But while Filipinos cheered his triumphant participation in the Winter Games, many people criticized the government for the little assistance it gave to the young skater. It was also reported that Michael’s family had to mortgage their house in order to raise funds for Michael's Olympic preparation. Apparently, the president didn't receive the letter sent by Michael's mother asking for financial support because it was tagged as spam.
#MichaelMartinez skates again tonight, 11pm live on @TV5Manila. RT this to show your support!http://t.co/qgyxPz2GOV pic.twitter.com/jp4Y0oOJGb
— Sports5 (@Sports5PH) February 14, 2014
#MichaelMartinez was just a kid with a dream. Now he is an Olympic Hero. I hope dt no politician alive takes advantage of his popularity.
— Migs Cortez (@mc6983) February 23, 2014
#MichaelMartinez is the Ice Prince in the land where it never snows
— HAYZY (@hayzyhayze) February 17, 2014
It doesn't matter if this kid brings home anything. He is a winner just by being there. #Sochi2014 #MichaelMartinez
— Margaux Salcedo (@margauxsalcedo) February 14, 2014
Writer Jessica Zafra praised Michael’s mother for guiding the talented teenager to achieve his dreams:
I know nothing about Michael's mother, but I know that she urged her son to fulfill his dream, no matter how borderline bizarre it seemed. Parenting is tough, and parenting a genuine talent is especially hard. You have to be honest about your child's abilities, you can’t let him harbor false illusions. You have to calculate his chances of success and make the necessary sacrifice. Congratulations, Mrs. Martinez, you are the coolest kind of mom.
Michael is back in the Philippines and was welcomed as a hero by his fellow Filipinos:
Michael Christian Martinez comes back to Manila a hero! Read about his return on @Spotdotph: http://t.co/dED7NMIU9i pic.twitter.com/wh579fXkK4
— Summit Media (@SummitMedia_PH) February 24, 2014


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The Venezuela I’ll Always Remember · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón

Caracas, Venezuela. Image by flickr user danielito311. Used with Creative Commons licence (BY-NC 2.0).
Back then in Peru, terror and fear was part of our daily lives.
I had just graduated from law school in Lima. It was late 1993 and my beloved Peru was recovering from 12 years of internal conflict which had claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Christmas was coming and I decided it was time for my first journey abroad to visit a dear aunt.
My mother's elder sister moved to Venezuela in the late 1950s. She got married in Caracas and settled there with her husband and two sons. After my younger cousin died in a car accident, my mother and her sister strengthened their bond and never let distance deter them from staying in touch.
When I stepped foot outside Simón Bolívar International Airport [es] in Maiquetía, I was instantly struck by how different everything looked, compared with Lima.
Caracas was a shiny modern city, with high-rises, highways, flyovers, and recently repaved roads.
All the cars looked like they had just rolled off the factory assembly line, glossy and splendid. New cars was something we were just starting to get used to in Peru, after out-of-control hyperinflation [es] had made all of us billionaires with little purchasing power.
The road signs looked like they had been painted the day before.
I could feel progress everywhere I looked, and this was just on the way from the airport to my aunt's house. Rain welcomed me on this adventure, something we Limeans are not used to at all.
The next day I started my tour of the city. I didn't feel like a total outsider. My generation grew up watching Venezuelan soap operas on TV, so some popular areas were familiar to me: Chacao, Chacaíto, the Virgen of Chiquingirá. So was the rhythmic speaking that I noticed was following me everywhere.
During a visit to one museum, I saw a guy looking at a list of battles fought by Simón Bolívar, the liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia. There were the names of the battles with no indication of the where they'd been fought, and I stood by next to this tourist and started with a lesson learnt long ago at school: Carabobo, Venezuela; Boyacá, Bogotá, Pichincha, Ecuador; and Junín and Ayacucho, Perú (country of yours truly).
On that trip, during a visit to a beach whose name I have forgotten, my toes first felt the waters of the Atlantic, I owe that to Venezuela too.
But what impressed me above all was the freedom people had, simply living their lives. We could enter any building and there was no military officer waiting to check our bags and belongings. There were no metal detectors or special machines that we had to pass through at the entrance of shopping centers or museums or anywhere for that matter.
I even walked in front of government buildings and ministries, as if that was the most normal thing to do. No one stopped me from being there, no one checked my documents, and no one made me feel like there was something to fear.
That is why I have been overwhelmed with sadness, as the recent stories and images have been trickling out of Venezuela.
Venezuelans are suffering. Venezuelans are crying. Venezuelans are mourning.
Protesters are rallying for liberty and demanding their rights be respected. Young people are dying in the streets, as police and government supporters battle protesters. Brothers are fighting brothers.
I prefer to remember the Venezuela I knew in 1993. Joyous Caribbean music mingling with traditional Christmas songs wherever I went. Smiling faces greeting me, people welcoming me with kind words and open arms, upon learning that I was Peruvian.
Venezuela, you will always be in my heart.

author: Gabriela García Calderón


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Ukrainian Revolution Rattles Russian Nationalists · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Photoshopped image of politician Yulia Timoshenko, recently released from jail by the opposition controlled Ukrainian parliament. Many view her as a strong candidate in the coming presidential elections. Anonymous image found online.
Remarkably, it is now a fait accompli that the Ukrainian opposition has taken control of the country's political process. President Yanukovich's fall from power was in no small part due to the radical nationalists who made up the core of the street activists standing opposite Ukrainian riot police for the last three months. Nationalist parties like Svoboda, and radical organizations like the “Right Sector” (see this early YouTube video [ru] of Right Sector leader Yarosh talking about taking the fight to “Ukrainian” lands in Russia) contributed to the eventual victory of the Maidan movement, and now appear to be in a unique position to influence Ukrainian policy making.
At least this is what Russian nationalists fear — not only that the new Ukraine will look towards the West, rather than Russia, but that the Russian speaking population in Ukraine will come under attack from radicals who will attempt to “derussify” them. The prominence of Ukrainian nationalists in the opposition movement gives fodder to these fears. A Russian radio-host Ilias Mercury, for example, tweeted about statements previously made by leader of the Svoboda party Oleh Tyahnibok:
Тягнибок заявил, что русский язык на Украине будет объявлен вне закона. Ясно?
— Меркури (@imerkouri) February 22, 2014
Tyahnibok declared that the Russian language in Ukraine will be made illegal. Clear?
and
Тягнибок заявил, что для русских на Украине будет введено понятие “не гражданин Украины”. Ясно? — Меркури (@imerkouri) February 22, 2014
Tyahnibok declared that Russians living in Ukraine will be made “non-citizens of Ukraine.” Clear?
It doesn't matter if such policies will ever come to pass. The very thought of them scares nationalists who feel that Russian-speaking Ukrainians are also Russian.
Some Russians blame Yanukovich for this turn of events. Blogger and publicist Egor Holmogorov wrote [ru] recently that:
Судьба Януковича – великолепный урок всем мелким тиранам, предающим русских. Он мог бы сделать русский язык государственным и править опираясь на русскую половину, которая постепенно стала бы русским большинством. Он предпочел прямо противоположный путь.
Yanukovich's fate is a great lesson for petty tyrants who betray Russians. He could have made the Russian language an official state language and rule relying on the Russian half of the country, which over time would become a Russian majority. He chose an exactly opposite approach.
This language map by Kiev National Linguistic University shows the split between Russian speaking east and Ukrainian speaking west.
In general, language appears to be a major point of contention for nationalists on both sides. In the past couple of days the new opposition controlled Rada has passed several laws, one of which was to repeal of an older law that gave Russian the status of a secondary official language in Ukraine. This led nationalist philosopher and founder of the National Democratic party Konstantin Krylov to proclaim [ru] the new regime “anti-Russian.” Krylov claims that such laws diminish political freedoms and Ukraine, and calls for new policy that would allow Ukrainians to easily acquire Russian citizenship, if they so choose.
Nationalist publication Sputnik & Pogrom also commented on the law repeal, saying [ru] that it fits with their predictions of increased nationalism in Ukraine in the case of an opposition win. S&P also criticized Alexey Navalny for supporting the Ukrainian opposition movement, as it seems contrary to his claims of looking out for the interests of Russians. S&P also published an address to “all Ukrainian Russians,” [ru] in which they call on them to self-organize and create “Russian national organizations,” because, “that's the only way to create a European Ukraine.”
Conservative publicist and radio-show host Dmitry Olshansky, on the other hand, made a more emotional appeal [ru]:
Можно себе представить, что было бы, если бы не было 1941 года, и существовали бы те, кого убили, и их потомки, – а Рада отменила бы идиш в качестве регионального языка.
You can imagine what would happen, if there was no 1941, and all of those who had died and their descendants would now be alive – and the Rada took away the regional status of Yiddish.
Truly, Russian nationalists are vehemently against any kind of ethnic discrimination — unless, of course, they get to be in charge.

author: Andrey Tselikov


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UNICEF Calls for “Child-Free” Protests in Thailand · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

After a grenade explosion killed three children in an anti-government protest site in Bangkok, the United Nations Children’s Fund urged government and protest leaders to protect children by keeping them away from protests. Bijaya Rajbhandari, the UNICEF Representative in Thailand, made this appeal:
(The UNICEF) condemns the violence that resulted in these tragic and senseless deaths and injuries to children. These incidents underscore the urgent need to keep children out of harm’s way in order to ensure their safety. UNICEF urges the Government, pro- and anti-government protest leaders and all parents to ensure children do not enter protest sites and are kept well away from all protest areas.


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“We Are Not an Anomaly or Disease”: Gay Bloggers Speak Up in Tajikistan · Global Voices
Iskandar

Tajikistan, a conservative Central Asian nation where over 95 percent of people are Muslims, has been described as “hell for gays”. However, social media is increasingly enabling the members of the country's LGBT community to argue against homophobic attitudes.
There has recently been a string of media stories and blog posts about LGBT issues in Tajikistan. In late January, Radio Ozodi (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tajik service) published a story about gays in the country, in Russian and Tajik. Then, in early February, Russian-language weekly Avicenna published [ru] a material about the first sex-change surgery in the country. These stories have drawn hundreds of comments, mainly homophobic in nature, with many comments suggesting that homosexuality is a “psychiatric” disease or “deadly sin”.
The debate has since shifted to social networks and the blogosphere. Gay rights blogger Drugoi [Different] reposted stories by Radio Ozodi and Avicenna on Blogiston.tj, triggering multiple reactions and counter-posts. Below is a brief overview of the debate that has taken place on the blog.
Responding to Drugoi's post [ru] about the closeted life of homosexuals in Tajikistan, Ant commented [ru]:
Эти люди прокляты Богом
These people have been cursed by God.
Rustam Gulov wrote [ru]:
давайте вещи называть своими именами – “гомосексуализм” – это слово придумано не для “науки”, а для продвижения этой мерзости! как и “сексуальные меньшинства”, “гей”.
на самом деле есть самые нормальные и прямые понятия – пидараст, гомик, педик, содомит, ку…е, в конце концов!
и нечего их защищать! вслед за ними голову поднимут зоофилы, потом некрофилы всякие, а потом глядишь о своих “правах” вовсю будут горланить педофилы!
Let's call a spade a spade. “Homosexuality” is not a “scientific” word; it has been invented for the promotion of this filth! the same goes for words such as “sexual minorities” and “gay”.
In reality, there are more direct and ordinary words – pidarast, gomik, pedik, sodomit, [kunte] [Russian and Tajik pejorative terms equivalent to English “faggot”].
They should not be defended! They pave the way for zoophiles, all sorts of necrophiles, and even pedophiles!
Mir Aziz agreed [ru]:
Вот именно Рустам Ака нечего этим психам помогать !!! Их вообще нужно истреблять , чтоби остальние прежде чем вступить в эту хрень подумали своей башкой которая им не для красоты дано !
Exactly, Rustam. We should not help these psychopaths!!! They should be eradicated so that other people think twice before becoming part of this filth!
Emir responded [ru]:
Мир Азиз, а башка Вам для чего нужна? Для насилия? или для фашистских призывов??? Думайте головой, вы в открытую призывайте к дискриминации, насилию прежде всего Людей!..
Mir Aziz, and why do you need the head? For violence? Or perhaps for fascist slogans??? Think about it, you are calling  openly for discrimination and violence against other human beings!..
Another reader added [ru]:
я понимаю вашу позицию, ребята, и даже почти во всем с вами согласен. но есть такая проблема. геи у нас есть, они живут в нашем обществе и скрывают свою ориентацию. многих заставляют жениться, и они делают еще и своих жен несчастными. что делать с такими людьми? не совсем ведь человечно заставлять их всю жизнь молчать и скрывать правду от окружающих.
I understand where you stand, guys, and I agree with most of what you say. But the problem is there. We have gay [men], they are part of our society and they hide their [sexual] orientation. Many of them are forced to get married, which makes their wives unhappy, too. What should we do with people like that? It is not very humane to force them to remain silent and hide the truth from everyone for the rest of their lives.
Drugoi responded [ru] to criticisms:
Вы все слишком агрессивно настроены. Гомосексуализм уже тысячи лет запрещали и преследовали. За это долгое время было предусмотрено уголовное наказание. Неужели для вас не урок то, что все это ничего не изменило? Некоторые люди рождаются с другой сексуальной ориентацией и этого не изменишь. А “психологи”, называющие гомосексуализм психическим недугом, кретины-недоучки.
You are all too aggressive. Homosexuality has been banned and persecuted for thousands of years. There was even criminal persecution of homosexuals. Isn't the fact that all this persecution has not changed anything a good lesson for you? Some people are born with a different sexual orientation, and this cannot be changed. As for “psychologists” that call homosexuality a psychiatric disease, they are poorly-educated idiots.
Some netizens suggested that homosexuals should not be considered part of Tajik society. Firdavs wrote [tj]:
Мардум илтимос калимахои Точик ва Точикистон набьерен вакте ки дар бораи педико сухбат меравад. Онхо точик нестану аз точикистон не. Магар хар як хайвона точик гуем мо?
People, please, do not use the words “Tajik” and “Tajikistan” when you talk about faggots. They are neither Tajiks nor from Tajikistan. Should we call every animal Tajik?
Benom agreed [tj]:
Man Firdavs kati 100% roziam. In kunteho tojik neand. Ino odam ham neand.
I [fully] support Firdavs. Those faggots are not Tajik. They are not human beings, either.
A group of netizens has condemned the very discussion about gay issues in Tajikistan. Under Radio Ozodi's story, for example, several readers asked the editors to remove the material from the website in order to “save the image” of the country. On Blogiston.tj, Vali ibn Vali said [tj]:
Hamin bahsoya bas kuneton, bacho! Gomiko hamash haroman. Va agar kase tarafoshona megiradu ghamashona mehurad unam harom hisob meshad.
Stop these discussions, guys! Faggots are all haram [sinful, unclean]. When someone supports them or cares for them, this person is also considered haram.
Responding to more criticisms and suggestions that gays should “keep it to themselves” and seek psychiatric treatment, Drugoi wrote [ru]:
Вы поймите, что мы существуем, мы не аномалия или болезнь, мы такие же люди, как и вы все. И мы имеем право на достойную жизнь.
You should understand that we exist; we are not an anomaly or disease; we are human beings just like you. And we have the right to a dignified life.

author: Iskandar


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VIDEO: She’s 7 Months Pregnant – And Still Working the Fields · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

This video report by Sonia Narang for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on February 23, 2014 and is republished as part of a content sharing agreement.
Januka Rasaeli lives in a rural village in Nepal, where women do strenuous chores all day long. Heavily pregnant, she worries her work will put her baby at risk.
In recent years, Nepal has made a big push to improve the health of pregnant women, and the country has seen a drop in the number of women dying during childbirth. Yet expectant mothers often do backbreaking work that can harm their health and that of their unborn children. As she toils all day, Januka Rasaeli, 28, shares her hopes and fears.
This story is part of PRI's The Ninth Month series, a journey through pregnancy and childbirth, across cultures and continents. Join the Ninth Month community on Facebook to share stories about childbirth where you live. Twitter hashtag #ninthmonth

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Bahamas: The Cerasee Cold Cure · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Forget the cold relief, time for the cure.
Blogworld's Nicolette Bethel turns to “bush medicine” for healing.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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New Law Means Gays Face Life in Prison in Uganda · Global Voices
James Propa

Activists John Bosco, (handcuffs) and Bisi Alimi (sign) in prison uniforms protesting in London against anti-gay legislation in Uganda on December 10, 2012. Photo by Reporter#20299. Copyright Demotix.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed a controversial anti-gay bill into law on January 24, 2014 that punishes homosexual acts with life in prison in some cases.
The parliament of Uganda overwhelmingly passed the bill on December 20, 2013. It also provides for prison sentences for anyone who does not report gay people to authorities and punishes the use of Facebook and Twitter accounts to fight for gay rights a crime with a maximum of seven years in jail.
US President Barack Obama and other leaders around the world have warned President Museveni that the law is an abuse of human rights.
Ugandan LGBT activists say that the law makes Uganda one of the worst places to be gay in the world. Many people have taken to social media to discuss it, some in support while others adamantly against.
Sexual Minorities Uganda leader and gay activist Frank Mugisha tweeted:
My twitter & facebook are Illegal,the fine of five thousand currency points or imprisonment of a min. of 5 years & a maxi of 7 years or both
— Dr. Frank Mugisha (@frankmugisha) February 24, 2014
Love1Another wrote:
America, you can now descend down on Uganda and do as you wish, the bill is now law. #AntiGayBill — Love1Another (@Muyama) February 24, 2014
Wadda Mutebi bashed those speaking out against the law:
Gay promoters, go hell. You can talk about your bogus human rights while chilling with satan there. #antigaybill
— Wadd'a Mutebi (@WaddaMutebi) February 24, 2014
Jenny Hedstrom simply wrote:
Depressing. #Uganda President Museveni today signed #AntiGayBill http://t.co/449kDaZfIZ #AHBUganda
— Jenny Hedström (@HedstromJenny) February 24, 2014
John Paul Torach noted that the government and opposition are both on the same page on this issue:
Even louder than Sevos signing of the #antigaybill is the silence of opposition politicians…when they both agree..u know u have lost.
— John Paul Torach (@jptorach) February 24, 2014
Eriche White Walker thought that religious leaders have failed to instill morals into the people:
When the state starts regulating matters of morality using the law the religious institutions have failed #antigaybill
— Eriche White Walker (@jkeriche) February 24, 2014
“I am an African” argued that one's ideas of sexuality should not apply to other people's lives:
Can't understand support for #Uganda‘s #antigaybill! You can't impose your ideas of sexuality on others. No one said you must be gay!
— I am an African! (@Clint_ZA) February 24, 2014
Stuart Grobbelaar jokingly said Uganda should pass laws that ban divorce and prescribe marriage strictly for virgins:
Hey #Uganda, well done on the #antigaybill. Tell me, when can we expect to see the #antiDivorce, #antiMarryANonVirgin and #antiBacon bills?
— Stuart Grobbelaar (@StueyMax) February 24, 2014
Ugandans now wonder what will happen to the relationship between their country and others, mostly Western, that believe the law violates basic human rights.
[Correction: A previous headline, “Being Gay Is Officially a Crime in Uganda”, implied that the law marks the first time that homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. In fact, homosexuality was already illegal before this most recent law.]

author: James Propa


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El ‘Chapo’ Guzmán, World’s Most Wanted Man, Captured in Mexico · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

“El Chapo” Guzman is transfered to a Federal Police helicopter on February 22, 2014. Photo by Omar Franco Pérez Reyes, copyright Demotix.
In the touristic beach of Mazatlán in the state of Sinaloa in northeast Mexico, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who goes by the alias El “Chapo”, was taken into custody on charges of drug trafficking, organized crime and several murders.
After Osama bin Laden's assassination by the United States Navy SEAL team in May 2011, El “Chapo” Guzmán became the world's most wanted man. Guzmán was also considered one of the most powerful men on the planet, according to Forbes magazine, which pointed him out as the CEO of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Guzmán had already been in a maximum security prison in Mexico in the state of Jalisco; nonetheless, he escaped under suspicious circumstances in 2001 during the administration of former President Vicente Fox.
The Associated Press was the first news agency to spread the news of the arrest on its Twitter account on February 22, 2014:
BREAKING: US official: Sinaloa drug chief ‘Chapo’ Guzman arrested by US, Mexican authorities in Mexico.
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 22, 2014
On Twitter, the news has been thoroughly commented on, to the point that many have been making jokes on the matter:
No sabía que trabajaba en la C.I.A con tanto experto en seguridad nacional! Hablando sobre la detención del #Chapo
— Guñi (@pupuchurro28) febrero 24, 2014
I didn't know I was working for the C.I.A. with so many national security experts! Speaking about Chapo's arrest
User Pablo M. Aguilar questioned the timing of the drug lord's detention considering a very controversial cover story published by TIME magazine:
Algo curioso es la detención del #Chapo 2 días antes del lanzamiento de la revista Times donde aparece EPN c/ el slogan “Salvando a México”
— Pablo M. Aguilar (@Marmoteishon) febrero 24, 2014
It is curious that El Chapo's arrest happened two days before TIME magazine launched its cover story of EPN [Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto] with the slogan “Saving Mexico”.
Isaias Villa G pointed out that there should be a more exhaustive investigation:
Más que poner en duda o minimizar captura del #Chapo habría que exigir llegar a fondo de sus vínculos en México y EU @NvaIzq @PRDmexico
— Isaias Villa G (@IVilla_g) febrero 24, 2014
Instead of doubting or minimizing Chapo's capture, we should demand to know the extent of his ties with Mexico and the US
John M. Ackerman, a well-known opponent of Enrique Peña Nieto‘s government, said the following regarding El Chapo's arrest:
#ChapoGuzmán fue el narco consentido de Fox y Calderón. ¿Quién será el relevo para la era Peña? Gran “alternancia” democrática.
— John M. Ackerman (@JohnMAckerman) febrero 22, 2014
Chapo Guzmán was Fox's and Calderon's spoiled drug lord. Who'll be the substitute during Peña's era? Great democratic “alternation”.
Journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva [es] talked about the possible involvement of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Guzmán's detention:
Nosotros, la DEA, atrapamos a El Chapo Guzmán junto con marinos mexicanos. Eso es al menos lo que podía leerse desde anoche en el New York Times, y que se acoplaría con la forma en que se fue conociendo la noticia el sábado.
Antes que cualquier funcionario, AP y el propio New York Times confirmaron, con todo y fotografía, la nota de la captura de El Chapo. ¿Quién les filtró menudo banquete? ¿El gobierno mexicano (por razones que podrían ser entendibles), o fue la DEA? La noticia oficial la dio el presidente Peña Nieto a las 13:43, con un retraso de casi tres horas respecto de los adelantos que salieron de Estados Unidos.
We, the DEA, took El Chapo Guzmán into custody along with Mexican marines. This is at least what the New York Times published last night, and it fits into the way the news broke on Saturday.
Before any officer, the AP and New York Times confirmed, photo included, the news on El Chapo's arrest. Who leaked such a feast? The Mexican government (for reasons that could be understood), or was it the DEA? The official news was given by President Peña Nieto at 13:43, almost three hours after the news got out in the United States.
El “Chapo” Guzmán's arrest came as violence has been getting worse in Michoacán (a state controlled by armed groups that are the enemy of Sinaloa Cartel) and many years after the “war” against organized crime started – which has taken a toll of thousands of Mexican lives.
This is the second high-profile detention during Enrique Peña Nieto's administration. The previous one being Elba Esther Gordillo's, also known as the “Teacher”, which took place in February 2013.

author: J. Tadeo


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From Kiev to Moscow: Russia’s Tired Protest Antics · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Car tires (used for burning on barricades during Ukraine's Maidan protests) in the shape of the Olympic symbol. Anonymous image found online.
With the Sochi Olympics over, it is back to business as usual in Russia — futile protests for the opposition, reactionary repression for the government. On Monday, February 24, 2014 Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky Court sentenced eight political activists to several years in prison for participating in a May 6, 2012 riot near the centrally located Bolotnaya Square. The actual sentences in the “Bolotanaya Case” vary, from two years and seven months for Artem Savelov to four years for Sergey Krivov. Alexandra Duhanina, the only female defendant left after an earlier amnesty that freed Maria Baronova, received a suspended sentence of 3 years and 3 months.
An image showing the Bolotnaya prisoners and their sentences. Anonymous image found online.
The sentencing took place this Monday, rather than last Friday as was originally planned [ru], likely to keep from spoiling the Olympic closing ceremony with untoward headlines. Even though it was a week-day, hundreds of people showed up to the court building, and later to Manezhnaya Square, to protest against the court case, which many view as rigged and political in nature. Some of these protesters seemed to have been inspired by the revolution in neighboring Ukraine, where violent street action helped the opposition reach their political goals. Specifically, several people tweeted about the need to bring car tires to the protest — either a defiant gesture referring to the mounds of tires burned by protesters on Kiev barricades, or a call to build barricades of their own.
Ilya Azar, a reporter at Lenta.ru, was the first one to call for “tires at Manezhka,” tweeting:
не забудьте каждый взять с собой на Манежку хотя бы одну автомобильную покрышку
everyone, don't forget to take at least one car tire with you to Manezhka
He later deleted his tweet, perhaps rightly fearing that it could be construed as a call to violence by the humorless Kremlin, but not before people made screenshots [ru]. Others [ru] picked up on this call to action, one Twitter user also calling [ru] for empty bottles, gasoline and motor oil (Molotov cocktail ingredients), another using Aesopian language to avoid charges of extremism:
Прошу о помощи! В районе Манежки лопнуло колесо. Каждый, кто придет, захватите, пожалуйста, с собой запаску, можно старую и без диска.
— Дядюшка Шу (@Shulz) February 24, 2014
I need help! Around Manezhka I got a flat tire. Everyone who is coming, please bring a spare, it could be old or without the rim.
A few people heeded these calls, one of them Nadezhda Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot fame, who was apparently arrested while carrying one [ru]. Tolokonnikova later tweeted from a police van, describing [ru] her detention as “rough.”
A man getting arrested on Manezhnaya Square, holding a car tire. Grani.ru.
Indeed, the Moscow police reacted swiftly and ruthlessly, dispersing the protest and detaining several hundred people, among them putative opposition leader Alexey Navalny [ru], according [ru] to tweets [ru] by protesters. Some also described [ru] the police action as “unusually” brutal and impatient. Pro-Kremlin writer Eduard Bagirov tweeted [ru] that this was because of the Ukrainian angle; post-Maidan the riot police have a “moral right” to “execute” protesters, he maintains.
A burning Kiev barricade photoshopped to look like a Google “doodle.” The protesters are holding car tires. Anonymous image found online.
Yulia Arkhipova, an economics student who recently got into a Twitter flame war [Global Voices report] with radio talk-show host Vladimir Solovyev for being pro-Maidan, wrote [ru] a scathing criticism of the tire-debacle, arguing that the Russian opposition is adopting the trappings of Ukrainian protests without their spirit:
В России оппозиция насмотрелась на Майдан и теперь играет в ролевые игры. К Замоскворецкому суду приносят российский флаг, поют российский гимн. Протестующие кричат “Банду гэть!” и называют ОМОНовцев Беркутом.
In Russia the opposition has seen the Maidan and is now role-playing. They bring the Russian flag to the Zamoskvoretsky court, they sing the Russian anthem. The protesters yell “Down with the thieves” [in Ukrainian] and call the riot police “Berkut.”
Sure, that might look like the Maidan, she writes, but what these protesters lack is the willingness to quit their jobs and the commitment to stand in the cold for months at a time. Thus, what worked in Kiev, is unlikely to work in Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Bolotnaya Square prisoners will do hard time, although human rights defender Pavel Chikov hopes [ru] that the sentences are low enough that they might soon be released on parole, considering how much time they've already spent in jail. It remains to be seen if these eight men and women will become a mascot for the protest movement or a successful deterrent against it.


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Iran Watches Ukraine With Envy and Dismay · Global Voices
Farid

Ukraine's protests and change of power in Kiev were covered with enthusiasm in Iran's media. While Iranian officials saw a Western plot led by the United States and Europe, Iranians who once staged mass protests against their own regime were reminded of a revolution that eluded them.
Ukraine's protest, as covered by Iran's Farda News
Iran's minister of justice said Ukraine can't be compared to Iran, but many Iranians draw parallels to Green Movement protests after the presidential election in 2009.
Iranian blogger Abgosht writes [fa] that there are several reasons why Ukraine (and Tunisia) where able to accomplish what Iranians failed to do:
The short and useful answer is that the red line for Ukraine's and Tunisia's [opposition] movement leaders was democracy, while the Iranian ones would maintain the regime's [establishment] framework… their people are not traitors, their police and security forces are good people, ours are thugs who believe national interests take priority over individual ones.
On Twitter, Sarah makes fun of the head of the Iranian military forces, Hassan Firoozabadi who said that “Ukraine's revolution was escaping from independence toward dependency.”
She tweeted [fa] quoting Iranian writer, Ebrahim Nabavi:
من نمی دانم چرا مقامات ایران بیشتر از مردم اوکراین و لبنان و فلسطین و عراق دل شان برای استقلال این کشورها می سوزد؟ "ابراهیم نبوی"
— سارا (@SaraSaraDehghan) February 25, 2014
I don't know why Iranian officials, more than the citizens of Ukraine, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon seem to be so preoccupied with these countries’ independence.
Free Democratic Iran tweeted, quoting a headline from the very conservative Iranian newspaper, Keyhan:
woaw, Kayhan is out: "Orange forces took the power again in Ukraine with US & EU help"! [fa] http://t.co/hlWzdRNUTa
— Free Democratic Iran (@democraticiran) February 22, 2014
@_Cafe tweeted with irony:
ما سی سال از اوکراین جلوتریم فقط برای اینکه بگیم سی سال جلوتریم باید نیم ساعت با فیلترشکن ور بریم که اینم نشون دهنده چیز خاصی نیست
— Cafe (@_Cafe) February 22, 2014
We are ahead of Ukraine. That's why I need anti-filtering software to be able to write these few words on the internet.
Nima Akbarpour tweeted [fa]:
اتفاقات #اوکراین من رو یاد فیلم زاپاتا می‌اندازه. انقلابیون دولت تشکیل می‌دن و خودشون راه دولت قبل رو پیش می‌گیرند
— Nima Akbarpour (@nima) February 22, 2014
Ukraine's situation reminds me of Zapata's movie where the revolutionaries conquer power and then follow the same path.

author: Farid


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Jamaicans Make Do with Fake Verdict in Vybz Kartel Trial · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The satirical website FakeJamaica shares fictitious breaking news about the Vybz Kartel murder trial:
The Jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The…defendant’s lawyer Tom Tavares-Finson…based a significant portion of the defense’s case on the idea that Adijah Palmer cannot be held responsible for anything that his musical persona does.


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List of Deceased in Venezuela Protests Available in 5 Languages · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In the blog Panfleto Negro [es], John Manuel Silva and Emiliana Duarte are keeping a list of confirmed deaths from the ongoing protests taking place in Venezuela. The list -originally in Spanish- has been translated into English, German, Italian and French.


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Madagascar Still Awaiting a New Prime Minister, Government  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

A full month since President-elect Hery Rajaonarimampianina took position as the new head of state in Madagascar, there are still no indication who the new prime minister will be and what government he/she will assemble. Ma-Laza argues that the main issue is not really the identity of the prime minister but what he/she will bring to the table [fr]:
Un  technicien hors pair,  rassembleur, capable de mener à bien la politique générale du Président de la République. Ce Premier ministre ne  devrait appartenir à aucune mouvance politique, en principe.Mais il n’est ni contre Rajoelina, ni contre Ravalomanana. Bref, c’est un oiseau rare qui inspire aux bailleurs de fonds la confiance. Cette personne existe-t-elle ?
(The prime minister should be) a person with outstanding technical know-how, a uniter who is able to carry out the policy of the President of the Republic. In theory, the Prime Minister should not belong to any political movement. He will not be against Rajoelina, nor against Ravalomanana (the two last presidents). In short, he will have to be that rare person who will inspire the trust of the investors. The question is:  does this person even exist?

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Pakistan, Stay Out of Syria’s Civil War · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

A day after a tiny news items titled, “Saudi Arabia ‘seeking Pakistani arms for Syrian rebels” appeared in Pakistani newspapers, political blogger Ahsan Butt posts a provocative piece warning Pakistan's foreign policymakers against tiptoeing into Syria's affairs.
In “This is not our war (Syria Edition)” on the Five Rupees Blog, Ahsan writes:
What Pakistan is doing vis-a-vis Syria is one of the dumbest things Pakistan has done in a long time, and that’s really saying something. The Syrian civil war, tragic as it is, has nothing to do with Pakistan. Pakistan has no interests in that conflict. None.
Saudi Arabia is in talks with Pakistan to provide Pakistan-made anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets. Ahsan warns:
Is it wise and advisable to wade into a sectarian civil war two thousand miles away?[…]
Just examine the trajectory of sectarian violence over the last decade.
He explains that any interference in Syria will force the Pakistani state to pay attention to rising sectarian violence in the country:
What are the possible ramifications for such a policy on sectarian violence in Pakistan? Is it likely to exacerbate and make more deadly sectarian cleavages or the opposite?
Ahsan lists four more provocative questions which you can read here.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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PHOTOS: Venezuelan Women March for Peace in Caracas · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Caracas, Venezuela. 22nd February 2014 — Thousands of women rally in Caracas to demand an end to the violence sweeping the country. A woman holds a sign that reads: ‘Hail to peace and love’. Photo by Jesus Gil, Copyright Demotix.
Women who support the government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro took to the streets on Saturday, February 22, to demand an end to the violence that has been sweeping the country as protests continue.
Photographer Jesus Gil shared photos of the demonstration on Demotix:
Caracas, Venezuela. 22nd February 2014 — Thousands of women rally in Caracas to demand an end to the violence sweeping the country. A woman with a Hugo Chavez poster joins the march. Photo by Jesus GIl, copyright Demotix.
Women march for peace in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo by Jesus Gil, Copyright Demotix.
The day before the march, Andreína Tarazón, Minister of Women's Affairs and Gender Equality in Venezuela, invited women to join the demonstration:
#mujeresporlapaz marchamos para pedir el cese al vandalismo, la violencia y por el respeto a la Constitución.
— Andreína Tarazón (@AndreinaTarazon) February 21, 2014
We march to demand an end to vandalism and violence, and [to demand] respect for the Constitution.
You can see more photos, reports and opinions under the hashtags #MujeresPorLaPaz (Women for peace) and #MujeresContraElFacismo (Women against fascism)
Protesters who oppose the government also denounced violence during demonstrations held that same day. You can read more about the opposing marches under the hashtag #22F.


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Police Repression Legalized as Mining Protests Grow in Peru · Global Voices
NACLA

This article, written by Luis Manuel Claps, was originally published on the NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) blog Extractives in Latin America. Luis Manuel Claps studied Communications at the Buenos Aires University. He has followed mining in Latin America since 2004 as editor of the Mines and Communities Website. He is based in Lima, Perú.
Elmer Campos Álvarez, a 32-year-old farmer, is from the Caserío Tupac Amaru in the province of Celendín, Cajamarca Region, Northern Peru. On November 24, 2011, Elmer, along with some friends, set out for the mountains of Cajamarca to protest against a massive open-pit gold mine proposed for the districts of Sorochuco and Huasmín. Elmer and his friends call themselves los defensores de las lagunas (the Defenders of the Lakes). See Elmer's video testimony [es] published by La Mula in January 2012.) Still defending the lakes, anti-mining protesters such as Elmer face a new threat in a new law that allows police to use deadly force without fear of consequences.
Three days later they reached the Maque-Maque crossroads, between the Azul and El Perol lakes, two of the four lakes threatened by the project. Meanwhile, a general regional strike had been declared in opposition to the mine. In the early morning of November 29, a confrontation broke out when some 30 police officers contracted by Minera Yanacocha to guard the concession site ordered the protestors to go away. The police fired tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.
When the police started firing, Elmer went to aid one of his friends and was shot in the back. He lost consciousness and was taken to the city of Chota, and then to the coastal city of Chiclayo, where he was hospitalized for a week. He lost a kidney and his spleen, and suffered a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down. An estimated 24 other protestors were injured in the Maque-Maque crackdown.
(infoconga.wordpress)
People in Cajamarca know all too well of the impacts of large scale gold mining. For the past two decades, Newmont Mining and Buenaventura have operated the Yanacocha mine, the largest open-pit goldmine in South America. A planned expansion known as the Conga project is said to assure another twenty years of production. The total investment tops $4.8 billion, one of the biggest ever in Peru’s mining sector. A plant with the capacity to process 92,000 tons of rock a day would produce 3.1 billion pounds of copper and 11.6 million ounces of gold (an executive summary of the project's Environmental Impactv Study, or EIA, is accessible here [es]).
Compañía de Minas Buenaventura is Peru's largest publicly traded precious metals company and a major holder of mining rights throughout the country. It has two big U.S. partners: Denver-based Newmont Mining at Minera Yanacocha in Cajamarca and Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan at Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde in Arequipa. Peru is the world's sixth-largest gold producer.
Protesters have challenged the Conga mine for the past several years, and police repression is currently the subject of two legal proceedings in Peru. The first is a criminal investigation against the two commanding police officers the day of the attacks, Coronel Amador Bacalla Guadalupe and Captian Wagner Ocampo Huamán. The second is a civil lawsuit against the police authorities [es] and responsible government officials.
Elmer simply wants justice [es]: “I didn’t do any harm and the authorities have been very cruel. I don’t know what will happen to me, the doctor says there is nothing that can be done to my spinal cord.” Mar Pérez, a lawyer at the National Human Rights Coordinator, representing Elmer, adds: “We seek justice, accountability, and greater protection for human rights, and to end a culture of impunity for police repression of legitimate protest activity.”
The struggle has returned to the United States as well. On January 2, 2014, EarthRights International (ERI), representing Elmer Campos, filed a federal court motion in Newmont's hometown, Denver, Colorado, seeking information held by the company including photographic and video evidence, reports of Yanacocha security or employees, records of communications with the police, and internal company communications, that shed light on the events of that day and for the benefit of the Peruvian legal proceedings. The action was filed under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, a law which allows parties in foreign legal proceedings to obtain documents and information from individuals or companies in the United States.
“Police repression of social protest against mining operations is endemic in Peru,” said Benjamin Hoffman, ERI’s Amazon Staff Attorney. “The problem is exacerbated in cases like this where public police officers are deployed in the service of private security.”
Elmer and ERI’s legal action attracted considerable attention in late January in the Peruvian press [es] and social media. This coincided with a coordinated offensive to present the local leaders opposed to Minera Yanacocha in Cajamarca as “backed by foreigners interested in blocking the economic development of our country,” as a researcher associated with the mining sector claimed recently [es] in El Comercio newspaper. The propaganda campaign [es] to delegitimize local leaders also targeted the Piura region, where Buenaventura wants to develop the El Faique gold project.
A Violent Consensus
Starting with a strong precedent under former President Alan García, government response to protest in Peru has been overwhelmingly militarized. Steven Levitsky calls it the “Lima consensus” [es]: Lima elites adhere to orthodox neoliberalism, such that the use of lethal force seems to be a legitimate way to deal with social protests in mining areas. Despite the fact that Ollanta Humala’s administration has sometimes sought more political and negotiated means, this consensus remains in place.
A report released in December 2013 by Peruvian NGOs Grufides, Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras (Human Rights without Borders), the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Coordinator for Human Rights, CNDDHH), and the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) of Switzerland, revealed that foreign mining corporations have signed agreements with the National Police to secure their operations. These agreements allow them to request permanent police presence or ask for rapid deployment of larger units to repress social protests. In some cases, the report reveals, the companies provide the police with full financial and logistical support.
International human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among others, have asked President Humala to prevent the unlawful use of lethal force by security forces during crowd-control operations. But Peru’s government seems to be going in the exact opposite direction, as an article in the penal code was modified last month in a way that critics say allows police and the military to use deadly force without facing consequences. The new Law 30151 says that members of the Armed Forces and the National Police are “exempt from criminal responsibility” if they cause injury or death through the use of their guns while on duty.
In a statement [es] condemning the law, the Public Ombudsman’s office recalled that since mid-2011, 34 civilians have been killed and more than 949 people wounded in social conflicts, including five military and 357 police. A number of national [es] and international human rights organizations, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [es] have also condemned Law 30151.
As Yanacocha comes to exhaustion, mining operations need to expand. The Conga project is one of these expansion plans, perhaps the most ambitious. A long history of mining conflicts in Cajamarca suggests that Elmer’s struggle for justice will be a long one, and in all likelihood, one of many.

author: NACLA


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Show Me an ‘Animal-Driven Constitution’, Demands Zambian President · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

As questions began to emerge over Zambian President Michael Sata's commitment to following through on a campaign promise for a new constitution, the leader stunned with a comment mocking calls for a “people-driven” constitution by asking if any country had ever passed an animal-driven one.
During a swearing in ceremony of constitution office holders, the only time Sata publicly addresses the nation on television, he said:
And for all of you here, ask the most learned woman here, [acting Chief Justice] Madam [Lombe] Chibesakunda. You are always saying people-driven constitution, people-driven constitution. Madam, where do you have an animal-driven constitution? […] Have you ever seen an animal-driven constitution, which country because everybody is talking of people driven constitution, so once you produce the animal driven one, let’s ask Mr Phiri, once you produce the animal driven constitution, we compare the two constitutions, what we have and then we shall look at that.
As an opposition party, Zambia’s now-ruling party the Patriotic Front defeated the then-ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) in 2011 with a promise that when elected into office in elections later that year, it would pass a new constitution within 90 days of taking office.
A few weeks into office, President Sata appointed a technical committee to look into the previous constitutional making processes to come up with a new document. The promised landmark difference with the previous processes was to be that the draft constitution was going to be simultaneously released to both the government and the public and a referendum held.
People holding a banner demanding that President Sata releases the draft constitution. Photo used with permission of The Zambian Voice.
With shifting deadlines and the constitution making process running into two years, the government changed its approach and asked the technical committee to only print ten copies of the draft constitution, which the cabinet was to study first. The draft constitution was later leaked via Zambian Watchdog and is now known as the “eleventh copy”.
Some started to cast doubt on Sata’s commitment to enacting a new constitution when he said that the country did not need a fresh document altogether but only amendments to certain clauses. At another time, Sata said the current constitution was still good because six elections had been held under it.
Nyalubinge Ngwende on his Brutal Journal blog wrote:
[…W]hen it comes to the constitution, President Sata will not fool us. The building of roads, universities, more schools and health facilities come to mean nothing if the citizens are enslaved by political tyranny that refuses to hand them a constitution meant to unleash their full liberties and broaden opportunities for citizens, regardless of their geographical position on the global map.
A people driven constitution is our choice and not that of PF!
Ngwende goes on to explain what is meant by a people-driven constitution in a country where Cabinet with the President as the head has a played a bigger role in the enactment of constitutions by excluding clauses that people had recommended and infusing those favouring the rulers:
When civil society activists are talking of a people driven constitution, they mean a good document that will stand the test of time; with statutes that meet the aspirations of the people and one that the people themselves will agree to.
Joining a chorus of other opposition politicians and civil society organisations, MMD President Nevers Mumba commented:
I think that God has allowed him to lose his way because I can’t imagine a President making such comments. What Zambians are saying is that look, we want a better constitution in which we participate in its formulation […] For him to make such comments shows arrogance of the highest level. I appeal to the President to be presidential about this matter. We are determined to have a new constitution, with or without him anyway.
Sata ordered government officials not to respond to the constitution debate. However, his Justice Minister and PF Secretary General Wynter Kabimba during a visit to Malawi probably gave away the biggest fear his government had in the draft document—50 percent plus one threshold for election to the office of the president and a presidential running mate for the office of vice president. Kabimba said:
There are all these demands about 50 percent plus one constitutional provision, running mate constitutional provision without taking into account that where these provisions obtain they have caused more problems than the solutions they should have brought about to society.
We can learn from others. We don’t have to make the same mistakes that others have made in order to do the right thing.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Tajik Court Fines Journalist for Calling Docile Intellectuals ‘Shit’ · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

A court in Tajikistan has found a local journalist guilty of “insulting” three state-appointed intellectuals and ordered that she pay them 30,000 somoni (over 6,000 US dollars) in “moral damage”. The court has also ruled that Asia-Plus, one of the country's few independent newspapers, must apologize for publishing the “insulting” content.
Olga Tutubalina. Image from her Facebook page, used with permission.
Olga Tutubalina, an editor and columnist of Asia-Plus, wrote a column [ru] in May 2013, criticizing the members of the intelligentsia for their “cozy relationship” with the government of President Emomali Rahmon. In that column, Tutubalina quoted the first Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin who had once referred to intellectuals in the service of the state as “shit”.
A number of state-appointed members of the intelligentsia and creative unions then chose to feel insulted. Shortly after Tutubalina wrote her column, three individuals, the Academy of Science, and unions of writers, artists, composers, and architects filed a joint lawsuit against the journalist. On February 25, after almost a year-long trial, a court in Dushanbe ruled in their favor.
The initial reaction to the verdict among Twitter users was one of shock, disbelief, and anger.
Новость: Суд огласил решение по делу «интеллигенция против «Азия-Плюс» http://t.co/G90gfogdec
— ASIA-Plus NewsAgency (@AsiaPlusTj) February 25, 2014
News: The court has ruled in “Intelligentsia vs. Asia-Plus”
Tajikistan: Journalist Fined for Criticizing State-Sponsored Artists http://t.co/OC8EVEMUO0
— EurasiaNet (@EurasiaNet) February 25, 2014
Tajik journalist loses lawsuit for calling nation's ass-licking intelligentsia “shit.” http://t.co/kUEz9mHVQ7
— David Trilling (@dtrilling) February 25, 2014
The United States Embassy in Dushanbe has issued a brief statement criticizing the verdict. US Envoy tweeted:
The judgment against newspaper «Asia Plus» and its editor Olga Tutubalina will have a chilling effect on freedom of the press in Tajikistan
— Susan Elliott (@AmbElliott) February 25, 2014
Shame! Shit takes the country's bravest journalist to court, shit rules against her. #Tajikistan = Shitistan http://t.co/Qgso63cTre
— Iskandar Yunus (@iskandariyunus) February 25, 2014
I am shocked. How could a judge rule against Asia Plus and Olga Tutubalina in this case? This is insane http://t.co/JEEIQaTx5b — Mahina Shodizoda (@mahinashodizoda) February 25, 2014
Позор Таджикистану! Позор всей его судебной системе! Позор всему тому говну, которое молча наблюдало за процессом против Тутубалиной.
— Бачаи Сако (@BachaiSako) February 25, 2014
Shame on Tajikistan! Shame on its entire judicial system! Shame on all that shit which watched Tutubalina's trial in silence.
Ольгу топят, здесь все понятно. Но есть и плюс: теперь мы точно знаем, кто у нас говно, и суд это подтвердил.
— Джура Охотник (@jurathehunter) February 25, 2014
It is clear that Olga [Tutubalina] is being drowned. But there is one advantage: we now know for sure who shit is [in the country]. The court has confirmed it.
Overall, there is little doubt among social media users in Tajikistan that the journalists's trial was part of a broader campaign to silence critical journalists and independent media. Few netizens believe that the court's verdict was fair or impartial. After all, judges in Tajikistan are frequently compared to prostitutes catering to those in power.

author: Alexander Sodiqov


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Trinidad & Tobago: The Truth of J’ouvert  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

In anticipation of her J'ouvert experience at this year's Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, Tillah Willah explores why the opening of the festival holds so many truths for her.


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Zimbabwean Opposition Leader Tendai Biti’s House Bombed for Second Time · Global Voices
Madalitso Mwando

Zimbabwe's former Finance Minister Tendai Biti. Photo released under Creative Commons by Chatham House.
Zimbabwe's former Finance Minister Tendai Biti's home was reportedly bombed in the early morning February 25, 2014, Twitter users and other media houses announced. He is one of the key members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and a staunch critic of President Robert Mugabe.
Biti is the secretary general for Movement for Democratic Change, led by former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. His home was first bombed in 2011. No suspects have been arrested so far.
Tendai Biti's house has reportedly been bombed … again
— Nqaba Matshazi (@nqabamatshazi) February 25, 2014
Biti’s Harare home petrol bombed http://t.co/NPdAIPzg77 via @nehandaradio
— Lance Guma (@LanceGuma) February 25, 2014
@freedomtrapped @lanceguma Sad bad and mad, all of it. I take no sides. Bob's [president Robert Mugabe] eating popcorn and making jokes about political violence.
— Conor Walsh (@ConorMWalsh) February 25, 2014
@ConorMWalsh @LanceGuma they may find traces of a familiar birthday cake on the bottles [president Mugabe celebrated his birthday on February 21, 2014] & canisters used to make the bombs
— Webster Madanhi (@FreedomTrapped) February 25, 2014
Our opposition parties have their fair share of hooligans, but petrol bombs are the domain of the state security agencies.
— Lance Guma (@LanceGuma) February 25, 2014
Although many people seem to suspect the government, one Twitter user, tinashe chirape, suggested that it was the work of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC):
Is violence taking its course in the MDC [the opposition Movement for Democratic Change]? Tsvangirai [MDC leader] put e hse in order RT @DailyNewsZim: Tendai Biti's house bombed http://t.co/s10aj0ccvg
— tinashe chirape (@tinashechirape) February 25, 2014
Another user said the news of the bombing is fake:
Fake! Its a bottle thrown at gate by passing street kid>”@kwirirayi: Tendai Biti's house bombed http://t.co/uzmbq9VUWY #3mobzw #twimbos“
— Rufaz~wa~Mavhure (@Mavhure) February 25, 2014

author: Madalitso Mwando


text:
8 Dishes From Africa We Dare You To Try  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A live Mopane worm. Photo released to be used freely by Arne Larsen.
As we conclude “Food Month” here at Global Voices Online, let's take a look at eight dishes from Sub-Saharan Africa that might take you out of your culinary comfort zone. We dare you to try them.
1. Madora (mopane worms):
Delicious Mopane worms ready to serve. Photo used with permission from www.zimbokitchen.com
Madora (Gonimbrasia belina) is a species of moth found in much of Southern Africa, whose large edible caterpillar, the mopani or mopane worm, is an important source of protein for millions of indigenous Southern Africans.
If you want to try mopane worms, follow Zimbo Kitchen instructions here:
Before you run-off, madora are high in protein to the extent that it’s just what the doctor ordered. Here is the power of protein according to WebMD – “protein is an important component of every cell in the body. Hair and nails are mostly made of protein. Your body uses protein to build and repair tissues. You also use protein to make enzymes, hormones, and other body chemicals. Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, and blood“. No wonder why the folks in rural Zimbabwe escape many diseases suffered by us urbanites.
In Zimbabwe, this delicacy is often prepared in a simple and straight forward manner – frying. This is how I intend to do them today with a little variation of my own involving black pepper. You are good to go when you choose this combo: sadza, green veggies and mbuya’s tomato and onion soup to accompany this dish even though it’s still possible to have madora on their own as a crisp snack or with other combinations. Enough said, let’s start frying!
2. Nsenene (grasshoppers):
A live male grasshopper. Photo released under Creative Commons license by Wikipedia user Bruce Marlin.
“Nsenene” is the Luganda name for a long-horned grasshopper (more commonly called bush cricket or katydid) that is a central Ugandan delicacy as well as an important source of income. The insect is also eaten in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Follow these seven steps to make your grasshopper dish.
3. Bullfrog:
African bullfrog. Photo released under Creative Commons License by Wikipedia user Stevenj
Science in Africa blog explains how the frog is eaten in Namibia:
In Namibian traditional cuisine the entire frog is eaten, with the exception of the alimentary canal, which may be fed to dogs or poultry.
It continues:
Generally people are advised to wait until the Giant Bullfrogs start croaking or until “after the third rain” before eating them. Despite this caution people in some areas choose to eat frogs prematurely. However when they do so very specific anti-poisoning preventative measures are usually taken.
People from the Oshakati/Ongwediva [northern Namibia] area prevent poisoning by lining their cooking pots with pieces of dry wood from a tree locally known as Omuhongo (not to be confused by Omuoongo, the Marula tree). This wood apparently neutralises the frog poison while also preventing the frog skin from sticking to the pot bottom. “Nobody becomes ill from the disease when this cooking method is followed. In the Okambebe/Oshikango areas, where the Omuhongo tree appears to be unknown, people use the Omuva and Oshipeke trees instead. “Only two small pieces cut from Omuva or Oshipeke, when used to line the bottom of the pot while cooking frogs, will prevent the disease from attacking the culprit.
4. Mazondo (Beef trotters):
Mazondo (beef trotters) ready to be eaten. Photo used with permission from www.zimbokitchen.com.
Mazondo (Beef trotters) are amongst one of the favourite dishes for most Zimbabwean men and some women too. It’s best to slow cook them on your stove if you’re not cooking them pamoto (using firewood). The way to prepare them is pretty straight forward, much like pork trotters, maguru (tripe) or even beef stew which are prepared in more or less the same way here in Zimbabwe.
5. Termites:
Termites (white ants) in Sudan. Public domain photo from the Agricultural Research Service, the research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Termites are also known as “white ants”, although they are unrelated to ants. They are a delicacy in many African cultures.
Here are photo instructions on how to fry flying termites.
6. Blood and milk:
Thomson Safaris blog notes:
[…] but much more fascinating [about the Maasai diet] (and possibly a little off-putting to the western palate) is the tradition of drinking raw blood, cooked blood, and blood-milk mixtures.
This is the traditional method of obtaining cow's blood:
they [Maasai] eat milk and blood which is harvested by puncturing the loose flesh on the cow's neck with an arrow. The wound is closed after a gourdfull of blood is obtained. This operation can be repeated every month or so with no harm to the cow. The Masai typically drink blood mixed with milk.
Brave enough to try it? Make a blood and milk concoction as follows:
Cow blood can be cooked with fresh or sour milk as follows: Pour the fresh blood through a sieve to separate it from the clots. Mix three parts liquid blood to one part milk (or equal parts blood and sour milk). Cook over low heat, stirring often, for twenty to thirty minutes. The mixture should thicken like scrambled eggs. If desired, butter, fried chopped onions, or salt can be added during cooking. Serve with Ugali, Fufu, or boiled Plantains, or Rice.
7. Mbewa (mice):
Mice is a well-known delicacy in northern Malawi, where it is known as “mbewa”, as well as in eastern Zambia.
The YouTube video below from Peter Larson shows roasted mice for sale:
Writing about “mbewa”, Peter Larson says:
Malawians are largely divided as to the culinary merit of Mbewa. Most love the Mbewa and consider it a delicious snack food. Others decry them as unfit for eating. Mbewa are caught and roasted over a fire, but clearly not roasted long enough to burn off the copious amounts of visible fur. Malawians then garnish them with salt and cayenne pepper and gnaw on them like jerky, consuming them completely, bones and all.
If you want to know all the social and cultural dynamics involved in mice-eating and, more importantly, how to hunt your own mice for dinner, read this blog post.
8. Palm tree larvae:
Next time you are hungry, reach for one of these! Photo released under Creative Commons by Luigi Barraco.
Palm tree larvae is a delicious tropical treat and a great source of protein.
Follow cooking instructions [fr] from Cuisine Au Kamer to make your own delicious plate of palm tree larvae:
Nettoyer les larves: les laver à grande eau les ouvrir avec les doigts et enlever le liquide marron qui se trouve à l'intérieur des larves
Disposer directement chaque larve nettoyée dans la marmite qui sera utilisée pour les cuire. L'enlèvement du liquide marron à l'intérieur des larves colore les doigts en couleur marron, mais cette couleur s'enlève au lavage.
Préparer les condiments nécessaires: ail, basilic africain, oignon, pèbè, feuille de gingembre (odzom). Mélanger avec les larves et mettre au feu doux. Ne pas ajouter de l'eau. laisser cuire 25 à 30 mns à feu doux, le temps que les larves produisent leur huile, puis servir.
Wash really well with water, open the larvae with your fingers and remove the brown liquid that is inside the larvae.
Put each larva directly into the pot (don't worry if the brown liquid stains your fingers, this color can be removed with washing).
Prepare the necessary condiments: garlic, African basil, onion, pébé [a local spice in Cameroon], ginger leaves. Mix with the larvae and cook on a low heat. Do not add water. Cook for 25-30 minutes on a low heat until the larvae start melting, and then serve.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Bangladeshis Protest Bollywood Film ‘Gunday’ for Misrepresenting Liberation War · Global Voices
Pantha Rahman Reza

A new Bollywood film, “Gunday“, has people outraged in Bangladesh against the movie's mischaracterizing their country's 1971 war for independence.
The film begins with a scene of the 1971 India-Pakistan war and ignores the events of 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh. It highlights only the 13 day long India-Pakistan war which occurred at the fag end, ignoring the essential element of the nine month long Bangladesh's struggle for liberation from Pakistan, in which an estimated three million people died.
Bangladeshis took to social media networks to express their anger and demand an apology from the production company behind the film, Yash Raj.
There have been offline protests as well. Several youth groups engaged in Street Protests in capital Dhaka. The government also officially protested.
Poster for the film “Gunday”. Image courtesy Wikimedia
Twitter user Abdullah Al Nadim wrote:
it was our liberation war. not Indo-Pak war. Indo-Pak war was just a part of our liberation war. #GundayHumiliatedHistoryOfBangladesh
— Abdullah Al Nadim (@i_am_nadim) February 19, 2014
Worldfriend4u questioned the film director's knowledge of history:
#GundayHumiliatedHistoryOfBangladesh your whole nation should be ashamed of you ignorant tyrant.you know nothing about history
— worldfriend4u (@worldfriend4u) February 20, 2014
Saima Selim tweeted:
#GundayHumiliatedHistoryOfBangladesh what idiots if you can't do basic research, don't bother being so called representatives @yrf
Zarin Tasnim Maliha complained:
This is totally shit !! Bollywood's recreated story about 1971 history -_- #Bullshit #GundayHumiliatedHistoryOfBangladesh
— Zarin Tasnim Malihaツ (@Zarin_Sparkles) February 21, 2014
Facebook user Sedative Hypnotics argued with documents the historic facts of Bangladesh's 1971 war of liberation which the film misrepresented:
৯০ হাজার পাকিস্তানী আর্মি ভারতীয় বাহিনীর কাছে আত্মসমর্পণ করে নি। করেছে বাংলাদেশ-ভারত যৌথবাহিনীর কাছে। এই কপি টা ভারতের প্রতিটা ঘরে ঘরে পৌছায় দেবার দাবি জানাই। প্রথমে ‘গুন্ডে’ মুভির পরিচালকের বাসায়।
90,000 Pakistani army prisoners did not surrender to the Indian army. They surrendered to the Bangladesh-Indian joint force. I demand that this copy of historic facts should reach every Indian house. Firstly, the documents should be sent to the “Gunday” director's home.
Mrityunjay Devrat, who is the director of the film “Children of War” based on the Bangladesh Liberation War has expressed his displeasure for the film in an interview with Bollywood Hungama, questioning the way the war was depicted:
If I am allowed to be honest, then I'd have to say that the makers of Gunday have been factually incorrect. I think it is hugely irresponsible and derogatory to use a sensitive subject such as the Bangladesh war for purely commercial purposes.
Yash Raj films has apologized in a statement on their blog for “any disrespect or hurt” that the film has caused Bangladeshis.

author: Pantha Rahman Reza