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What Happens When Mom and Dad Face Deportation From the US · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

“I understand how hard it is to take care of little kids,” says 19-year-old Luis Duarte, second from right, who is now caring for his three younger siblings after his parents, originally from Mexico, were detained by US immigration agents in late May. Credit: Deepa Ferndandes
This story by Deepa Fernandes originally appeared on PRI.org on June 11, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
As 19-year-old Francisco Duarte watched his parents handcuffed and driven away by immigration officials in late May outside their San Diego, California, home, all he could do was console his hysterical 12-year-old twin sisters.
Then he took off to find help for his parents. They would need an immigration attorney, and Francisco would need to gather their paperwork.
His younger brother Luis, 17, stepped up to look after the younger sisters — he cooked them eggs and ham when they came home from school that day.
The brothers were busy figuring out all the household chores, making sure they had their little sisters taken care of.
And then it hit the brothers. Rent was due in less than a week. They were now going to have to pay all the family’s bills. Duarte said he and his brother gathered all the money his parents had. It came to $2,500.
They would need to supplement their father's income somehow. He was the breadwinner, running the family ice-cream business. “My mom and my dad met selling ice cream from pushcarts 20 years ago when they came to this country,” Duarte said.
While Francisco and Luis push their own ice cream carts to help out, neither could bring in the money that their farther did, Duarte said.
Francisco Duarte Sr. and his wife, Rosenda Perez, were arrested by immigration agents on May 23. Duarte had left his National City, California, home to buy a newspaper across the street. His wife came out to see what was going on and she was arrested too. Officials say they have been charged with “immigration violations” in the US. There are no criminal charges against them, and neither has a criminal record.
The San Diego couple are among a growing number of non-citizens arrested on civil immigration charges during the first months of the Donald Trump administration. From January 22 to April 29, more than 41,000 people suspected of living in the US without proper authorization have been arrested by federal agents — nearly a 40 percent increase from the same period in 2016, according to US officials.
A quarter of those arrested are charged with being in the US without legal status, but have no prior criminal records. It’s a group that was not targeted as heavily by the Barack Obama administration. The latest numbers show Trump is making good on his campaign promise to change that, as detailed recently by reporter Maria Sacchetti at The Washington Post.
Before his arrest, Duarte was able to pass custody of his three younger children to Luis, his oldest son.
For the kids, it's been a whirlwind. On a recent Tuesday, Francisco sought commmunity members to write letters of support for his parents.
He arrived back home hungry. “I’ve been out all morning,” said Luis. “We've just been hectic, doing as much as we can for our parents, so yeah, [I’m eating] breakfast at 2:37 p.m.”
Mark Lane, a legal assistant at an LA-based immigration law firm, sat with Francisco, and they discussed what else needed to be collected for his parent’s case. Lane was one of the people Francisco called for help the day his parents were arrested.
“Pre-Trump administration, maybe I got two to three calls a week, now I get 10 to 15 calls a day,” Lane said. “People are very scared, families are being split up.”
Lane, whose firm has taken the case of Francisco’s parents, talked to the kids about the expenses they would need to pay. All four children are in school, leaving little time to work and bring in income. So they decided to turn to a terrain they know well: social media.
They created a short video about their situation, posted it to YouTube, and linked it to a GoFundMe fundraising page. They set their fundraising goal at $70,000 and, just days later, they had surpassed it. More than $72,000 in donations have come in so far.
They’re stunned and grateful.
But it wasn’t just money rolling in — people were also reaching out to say we support you.
“It’s just very uplifting that every day I get messages from people and they’re just letting me know that they’re there for me and if there’s anything that I need they’re just a phone call, a text away,” Francisco said.
The older Francisco found it hard to comprehend the social media campaign his kids are pursuing on his behalf, his son said. During a recent phone call, the younger Francisco explained to his father how money and support was coming in.
His dad asked who was donating. “Many people,” his son told him. “Teachers, neighbors, friends, people from around the city,” he told his father during their telephone conversation.
As word spread on social media, friends began coming by the house to help. A group of Luis’s friends from school are helping out. Luz Maria Castañon said they don’t want Luis to suffer at school.
“He’s going to be valedictorian, honestly. [There’s] nothing compared to his GPA.”
In the kitchen, another friend, Maria de Jesus, cooks up some tacos. She said should would cook for the children until their parents come back home.
The twin sisters, Aracely and Yarely, watched their parents get handcuffed and be taken away by immigration officials. It was confusing, Aracely said, and they miss them a lot. Especially when they come home from school.
“Usually my mom would be here and she would sometimes have a little snack prepared,” Yarely said.
The girls are not identical twins, but they both have the same sweet, kind of sad smile. They busy themselves putting things away in their room.
“Sometimes it is a bit overwhelming but, um, …” Yarely trails off.
Luis checks in on his sisters, makes sure they are OK, and then has to leave. “I’m going to go and do laundry right now because our sheets are really nasty,” he said.
Is this his job normally?
“Nah, not really.”
After the laundry, he has to be home for his sisters. His brother will continue gathering letters of support for their parents.
“I understand how hard it is to take care of little kids now,” Luis said.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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The More India’s Ruling Party Pushes the Hindi Language, the More Indians Oppose It · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Major Indo-Aryan languages in India. Image by Filpro via Wikimedia Commons. CC: BY 3.0
According to the Indian Constitution, the official languages of India might be Hindi and English, but the complexity of having multiple states — just like the European Union — means that in practice, people speak many more than just these two languages.
There has been a massive outrage against the ruling nationalistic and conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because of its enforcement of Hindi over other state languages. The recent announcement by Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister for External Affairs, about the use of Hindi in passports, has pushed this outrage even further. While Swaraj has attempted to simplify the otherwise cumbersome passport application process, she has been heavily criticized for imposing Hindi upon 60% non-native speakers that do not understand the language.
All passports will be in English and Hindi languages from now on and not just Hindi: EAM Sushma Swaraj in Delhi pic.twitter.com/xG6ThKMgTT
— ANI (@ANI_news) June 23, 2017
Though the last known census in 2001 lists 41.1% of India's 1.27 billion population as Hindi speakers, 16% of these speakers speak languages that are related to Hindi but are identified as languages in their own right, which brings down the number of Hindi speakers to about 25%.
Promotion of Hindi has been one of the BJP's major agendas, since 70% of its parliamentary members belong to regions where Hindi is spoken. Garga Chatterjee, a blogger at Indian news media Scroll.in, argues that Swaraj does not fully represent Indians, but rather, only those that speak Hindi:
Thus, when Swaraj says ‘why can’t we make it Hindi?’, the ‘we’ does not stand for all Indian citizens. ‘We’ are the Hindi-speaking citizens of the Indian Union. By equating that minority with the rest of us, she obliterates any stake the rest of us, the majority, have in any idea of ‘we’.
Chatterjee also tweeted, complaining that Swaraj blocked her right after she wrote the blog post opposing the decision:
I wrote a piece for @scroll_in on #Sushmaswaraj's decision to impose Hindi on nonHindi citizen's passport. See the result. @dp_satish pic.twitter.com/zsC2km9krf
— Garga Chatterjee (@GargaC) July 6, 2017
A large number of netizens have commented, both in support of and against this decision.
Blogger Priyodorshi, who is also a lawyer at the Supreme Court, tweeted:
If a Hindi passport is shoved down my throat, I demand one in Bengali too! Why nt have all official languages on the PP?
— Priyodorshi (@priyodorshi) July 7, 2017
Popular theater personality Prakash Belawadi, who hails from the Indian state of Karnataka, tweeted:
It's ridiculous. Why should it be in Hindi? Honestly, I don't think we can find common ground.
— Prakash Belawadi (@Belawadi) June 23, 2017
Vis the hashtag #StopHindiImposition, many from the non-Hindi-speaking states have raised their voices against this decision, as well as several other decisions taken by the union government of India for their proactive addition of Hindi in governance and other official work:
We are not saying no to hindi in passport. Question should be why "only"  hindi #ServeInMyLanguage #StopHindiImpostion
— Sajith Gowdru (@SajithGowda) July 6, 2017
Dear Hindi speakers if English is a foreign Language for you. The same is Hindi for South Indians. #StopHindiImposition
— Jagatheesh (@Jagathe50939241) July 3, 2017
Then why not our own Kannada in the passport ?
Why Hindi in a Kannadiga's passport but not Kannada?
— ಕನ್ನಡ/ನಿದ್ದೆಗಣ್ಣು (@niddegannu) July 4, 2017
#StopHindiImposition pic.twitter.com/26iKa2JPNC
— Pragath (@Yaavano_Obba) June 28, 2017
People in Karnataka have already been protesting against the use of Hindi in NammaMetro, the city's metro train service in the state capital, Bengaluru. Twitter user Aditya Mani Jha, who seems to be a Hindi speaker himself, has also questioned the usefulness of Hindi in a document like a passport, which is predominantly used for international travel:
So far, nobody has given me an answer to that, so I am asking again: How does Hindi on passport make international travel easier?
— Aditya Mani Jha (@aditya_mani_jha) July 5, 2017
Sebastian Amudhan, an Indian filmmaker and lyricist from the state of Tamil Nadu, shared a tweet with a fictional video that shows India's prime minister calling a Tamil-language speaker and speaking in Hindi — and the latter disconnecting the call, explaining that he does not understand Hindi.
Looks like twitter has resurrected this. So let me do my bit. #StopHindiImposition https://t.co/zXpTxcLTTg
— C.S.Amudhan (@csamudhan) July 7, 2017
The agitation over Hindi being imposed in non-Hindi states dates back to the formation of India in 1947. Hindi rose as a lingua franca in the early 1950s thanks to a political movement known as the Indian National Movement. It was part of the leadership of the collective Indian National Congress, charged with bringing some of the former British colonies of South Asia together as the Indian State.
However, it was opposed via demonstrations both before and after the formation of the State, most noticeably in the area that is present-day Tamil Nadu. Those protests cost a few hundred lives, and led to the decision of not mandating Hindi as part of the education curriculum for children in Tamil Nadu. It also helped bring the “virtual indefinite policy of bilingualism” into existence, which in turn led to the declaration of both English and Hindi as the official languages of India.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


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Detained Venezuela Opposition Leader Transferred to House Arrest, but Hundreds of Political Prisoners Remain in Jail · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Opposition leader Leopoldo López, photographed in 2012 by user “Danieldominguez19″. Image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
In an unexpected turn of events, Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López was moved from the Ramo Verde prison and placed under house arrest. López was serving a 14-year long sentence for ‘inciting violence’ during the 2014 protests, a charge he has always denied.
The series of protests that took place in 2014 was a response to the economic crisis and high rates of urban violence that have dominated the landscape in Venezuela in the last years. The attempted rape of a university student inside the campus in the city of San Cristóbal sparked the first protests that then extended to neighboring cities after being met by government's repression.
The number of victims has been contested, but both international and local media calculate over 40 people being killed during the protests with hundreds more taken to prison.
Public reactions to López's house arrest are mixed. Some viewed it as a victory over the government, some international media outlets reported it as a crucial change in the course of the crisis, and some observers from the international community welcomed it as a step forward towards negotiation.
For many opposition leaders and followers, however, López's return to his family is no victory. López will still have to serve out the rest of the 14-year sentence, which has been widely criticized. His conviction was based mainly on an analysis of his speeches by linguistics expert Rosa Amelia Asuaje who has claimed recently that the judge “manipulated her words”. This way, while many have celebrated the “liberation” of López on Twitter, others advised the public to be more careful:
#LeopoldoLópez no se dejará utilizar como moneda d negociación. Esta en su casa, pero él y Venezuela siguen cautivos del régimen acorralado. pic.twitter.com/FpIpz8mdCU
— Dania Acevedo (@DaniaRoberta) July 8, 2017
Leopoldo López will not be used as a bargain chip. He's home, but both him and Venezuela are still captives of the regime.
#LeopoldoLopez no está libre. Él tiene casa por cárcel. Hay que hablar como es.
— Daniel Mendes (@DanielEnCaracas) July 9, 2017
Leopoldo López is not free. He's under house arrest. We should say things the way they are.
On collective site Prodavinci, analyst Luis Vicente León elaborated on the different reasons he thinks that might behind the government changing López's status. According to León, the government seems affected by the current protests and by international pressure, something that seems to have opened a way to establish a dialogue, even if its results might not be welcomed by everyone:
Hay, sin duda, una oportunidad para la negociación, pero una negociación que no es popular en ninguno de los extremos y que implica concesiones. Me refiero a una negociación donde se reconocen las partes y se abren espacios, sin plantear un conflicto existencial, pero que permita al país retomar a la constitución como brújula necesaria. Una negociación que camine hacia la coexistencia política en un país sin presos políticos y con plenas libertades y con un horizonte claro y aceptado por todas las partes de elecciones libres, transparentes y con voto universal, directo y secreto.
There is, no doubt, an opportunity for negotiation. A negotiation that will ask for concessions, and that will not be popular among any of the extreme groups. I'm talking about a negotiation in which both parties are recognized and spaces can be opened without putting on the table an existential conflict. A negotiation that can make the country able to take back the constitution as a necessary guide. A negotiation that can show the way towards political coexistence, in a country without political prisoners and full liberties, with a clear horizon that can be accepted by everyone, and with free, transparent elections through a universal, direct and secret vote.
According to Luis Almagro, president of the Organization of American States, López's house arrest is just a first step. The list of political prisoners, especially since the beginning of the protests, is still quite high. As journalist Laura Weffer writes:
La lista de los que permanecen tras las rejas es aún larga e injusta. Taxistas, carpinteros, cajeros de banco, estudiantes, militares, hombres y mujeres; en la mayoría de los casos ni siquiera hay una condena y por diversas circunstancias, todos son considerados como presos políticos, de acuerdo con la lista del Foro Penal.
The list of those still behind bars is long and unfair. Taxi drivers, carpenters, bank employees, students, military personnel (men and women). In the majority of the cases there's not even a sentence. For diverse reasons, they're all considered political prisoners, according to the list of [the organization] Foro Penal.
Weffer's article summarizes the long list of people who have been put in jail in the last years and also during the protests of the last three months. According to NGO Foro Penal, there are 431 political prisoners in Venezuela and 346 of them were imprisoned during protests. In many of the cases, the legal background can be messy and confusing, with little hope of release. Other cases, like that of Juan Pablo Giraldo, include first-person accounts of their lives in prison:
Mi vida ha cambiado drásticamente y he pasado dos años por momentos muy duros. No pierdo la fe de pronto obtener justicia y salir en libertad para regresar a mi hogar en San Cristóbal, y que no solo sea mi libertad sino la del resto de presos políticos. […] Aquí comparto con otros presos políticos que aunque no los conocía, se han vuelto como mi familia. A mi llegada al Helicoide, ellos me recibieron y fueron generosos ayudándome. Hoy yo sigo el ejemplo de mis compañeros facilitándoles a los que continúan llegando por persecución política…
My life has changed drastically. I've had very difficult times in this two years. I don't lose faith in obtaining justice and be freed to go back home to [the city of] San Cristobal; and not only for me, but for the rest of the political prisoners. […] I share with other political prisoners, even if I had never met them before. They've become family. When I arrived at El Helicoide [the prison], they welcomed me and they helped me with generosity. Now I follow the same example. I help those who keep arriving because of political persecution…
Human rights organizations have denounced torture inside prisons and the use of military courts and prisons to judge and detain civilians. At the same time, the number of victims killed during the protests that started in April 2017 is not clear. The interior ministry has recognized 70 killed, while independent media like “Efecto Cocuyo” has counted around 94 people, with thousands being wounded and hundreds sent to prison.
Follow our Venezuela special coverage with more articles about the latest developments in the country.

author: Laura Vidal


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How Are Boys and Girls Supposed to Sit, Walk, and Dance? An Experiment in India’s Gujarat · Global Voices
VideoVolunteers

Image via Wikimedia Commons by Will Humprey. Kids getting sweets, Sri Ram Ashram, Shyampur, India. CC BY-SA 3.0
This post was written by Madhura Chakraborty and originally appeared on Video Volunteers, an award-winning international community media organization based in India. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Boys don’t cry. Sit like a lady. Barbie for girls and Lego for boys. These are seemingly innocuous adages that generations of people have grown up with. But is it really that innocent or well-meaning?
It is not just that girls are supposed to wear pink; they should also play with toy vacuum cleaners and learn to relate to fluffy, cuddly animals. Boys, on the other hand, are supposed to wear blue and have rugged adventures.
Most people never learn to question these inflexible binaries and end up replicating them in every aspect of their lives. When a little girl is being given a toy vacuum cleaner and a little boy is being given a NASA tee shirt, people tell them what they expect of them: the girl to become a homemaker and the boy to aspire to become an astronaut.
Apparently we can't even read the same stories any more. Also, boys like aliens, girls like bunnies ?? #genderstereotypes #whyweneedfeminism #startemyoung
A post shared by Vaish (@theweirdkandygirl) on
How strategic of @toysrus to display the toy vacuum cleaners directly beneath the princess costumes. Aspire higher, ladies. #genderstereotypes #sexismisreal #greatpretenders
A post shared by Elizabeth Oughton (@elizabethanneoughton) on
This is not simply a difference in roles – it is a hierarchised difference. There is no doubt in peoples’ mind that an astronaut is a harder thing to become compared to someone who can vacuum a house.
Community Correspondent Daxaben Punjabhai from the Indian state of Gujarat, set out in a rural area to explore how children there relate to gender stereotypes imbibed from their families and surroundings. Although, Gujarat is an economically developed state, it has ranked low on social equality indices. She asked them to perform how girls and boys act in various situations: how do boys cry, laugh, sit, stand, walk and dance? And how do girls do the same? Their responses are not as uniform as one might expect, as seen in the video below.
Sometimes gender difference is only limited to the sartorial: boys don the dupatta (scarf) to indicate they are now acting in a feminine role. Girls wear sunglasses and a hat when they are enacting masculine roles.
However, a clear difference emerges between the two genders when they are asked to show the difference in sitting, standing, walking and dancing, whereas they cry and laugh in a somewhat similar fashion. Both boys and girls think that when girls sit, they do so in postures that are markedly ‘feminine’: a hand on the cheek, primly folded legs. When boys sit, there’s casual masculine insouciance radiating from them: hands crossed over the chest authoritatively, or legs spread comfortably apart.
Asked to imitate how boys sit, both girls and boys struck authoritative postures.
Girls are supposed to sashay like they are on the ramp when they walk. Boys have a definite swagger, upturned collars and often wear goggles (apparently).
Stereotypes dictate that girls are supposed to sashay like they are on the ramp when they walk.
The most marked difference is in how boys and girls are perceived to dance. Girls are demure, mostly using a dupatta, and their dance moves are limited to hand movements and saying hips.
The girls think that boys, on the other hand, only perform the Punjabi bhangra – uninhibited and an exhibition of joyous exuberance. Boys themselves think that their dance moves must show how physically able they are – they turn cartwheels and do complicated breakdance moves.
According to this little girl, this is how boys dance.
Girls shake their booty, according to this boy.
While it is entertaining to watch them perform with so much enthusiasm, the video highlights the hierarchy that is inherent in patriarchal gender roles. The girls dance without inhibition when they are imitating boys. So it’s not like they are incapable of, less skilled than, or enjoy it any less. But something imposes a restriction on them – their patriarchal milieu.
Some might be tempted to argue that things are a lot better for girls in an urban or megacity environment. But is it really so? Radhika, who works at the Video Volunteers Goa office, recalls that she had to establish her femininity as a child:
I had short hair. So all the neighborhood kids would keep referring to me as a boy. I countered them by pointing out my painted nails: how could I be a boy if I was wearing nail polish?!
But not every instance is so innocuous: boys are berated for crying or acting “like a girl” which can lead to serious mental health issues. Within the prescribed patriarchal roles, boys should never express their emotions or vulnerability – surely, a horrible thing to condemn a young child to.
Similarly, girls are rewarded for being “cute” or “pretty”. Girls are not “brave”; they are “princesses”. One study revealed that parents are four times more likely to caution their daughters against childhood mishaps that are not life-threatening but entail a visit to the emergency room than they are their sons.
My Son with his newly demanded Kitchen Set. Thanks to his Father who helps me in #BreakingStereotypes of job roles. #livingfearlesslyauthentic #indianstereotypes #jobroles #genderstereotypes #kitchensettoys
A post shared by upasna (@comebackminimalist) on
When children are not forced to conform to fixed gender stereotypes, they learn to view the world outside the constrictions of the pink and blue lens. A boy who plays with a kitchen set might just learn to help with household tasks rather than requiring a laundry detergent advert that preaches to men to “share the load” by occasionally operating the washing machine.
More and more young women across the world are writing, painting and creating memes to challenge and subvert the expectations of traditional gender roles. They are doing this with humor and empathy, but experience abuse from online trolls who resort to ever more vicious attacks to “defend” their male privilege. The onus is on us to talk and write about challenging gender roles so that someday a little boy wearing a skirt and a little girl who plays with toy soldiers are no longer seen as aberrations.

author: VideoVolunteers


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Nine Responses From the International Community to China’s Treatment of Nobel-Winning Dissident Liu Xiaobo · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

A photo of Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia, believed to have been taken recently.
This story originally appeared on Hong Kong Free Press on July 8, 2017. The version below is published on Global Voices as part of a partnership agreement.
The case of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has attracted the attention of the international community after his lawyer revealed in late June that he had been hospitalized with terminal liver cancer.
Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for “subversion” after drafting Charter 08, a manifesto calling for democratic reforms in China. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in 2010.
China’s Foreign Ministry has called Liu’s case “an internal affair” and a spokesperson said he did not see “any need to discuss it with any other country.” But China continues to face calls from the international community to release the Nobel laureate and his wife, poet Liu Xia, or allow him to receive treatment abroad.
Whilst some countries have criticised Beijing’s treatment of the couple, others have evaded the topic. Hong Kong Free Press has gathered some of the international reactions.
The UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra-ad al-Hussein, met Chinese officials at the end of June to discuss Liu’s case. But a spokesperson declined to comment as to whether the UN was pushing for Liu to be treated abroad.
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Foreign Minister Børge Brende have refused to answer questions over Liu’s release.
China froze diplomatic ties with Norway after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu in 2010, although the Norwegian government said it had nothing to do with the decision. Diplomatic relations were only resumed in December last year, and Norway signed a deal to resume salmon exports to China in June, as exports had remained largely blocked since 2010.
After news broke that Liu was seriously ill, the Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed hope for his unconditional release and invited him to visit Oslo to receive his prize.
He was unable to collect his award as he was imprisoned. At the ceremony, Liu was represented by an empty chair.
On July 6, the European Parliament passed a resolution asking China to immediately release Liu and his wife from house arrest and allow him to seek medical treatment wherever he wishes.
The EU’s top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, also urged China to release Liu in a statement on June 30:
At the same time, we expect China to remove all limitations on the movements of Mr Liu’s wife and family members. They must be able to meet and receive visits from whomever they desire, and be able to freely communicate with the outside world.
US Ambassador Terry Branstad has said that Americans “would like to see him have the opportunity for treatment elsewhere, if that could be any of help.”
A US embassy in China spokeswoman, Mary Beth Polley, told AFP on June 27 that the embassy was calling on the Chinese authorities to not only release Liu but also to release Liu Xia from house arrest.
The embassy’s remark prompted an angry response from China, with its foreign ministry saying that “no country has the right to interfere and make irresponsible remarks on Chinese internal affairs.”
Polley said China should provide the couple with:
protection and freedom such as freedom of movement and access to medical care of his choosing, to which they are entitled under the Chinese constitution and legal system and international commitments.
US Senators Marco Rubio, Jeff Merkley, and Ted Cruz have also introduced a resolution in Congress to urge the Chinese government to unconditionally release Liu and his wife.
I call on China to unconditionally release Nobel Laureate #LiuXiaobo so he may seek proper medical treatment https://t.co/TgQoKb2CKF
— Senator Rubio Press (@SenRubioPress) July 3, 2017
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on July 3 that Berlin hopes Liu will get “all the medical support he needs” and that a “humanitarian solution for Liu Xiaobo should be the highest priority”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping appeared at a G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7 and 8. Diplomatic sources in Beijing previously told Reuters that China has been nervous that concerns over Liu could overshadow the visit.
Canadian Ambassador John McCallum urged China on June 28 to ensure that Liu receives suitable medical care and is reunited with his family. Liu’s lawyer previously told AFP that Liu’s wife Liu Xia is able to visit him every day, but police are always posted inside the hospital room, and Liu is not able to contact anyone in the outside world, including his lawyers. McCallum said in his statement:
Canada calls on China to uphold its international human rights obligations, including freedom of expression, and to release those imprisoned for exercising those rights.
France’s foreign ministry called on China to free Liu for humanitarian reasons in a statement on June 29:
All necessary measures must be taken to ensure that Liu Xiaobo receives all the treatment he needs where he wishes and that his wife and family are able to have access to him.
Though France Info previously reported that the French government would welcome Liu, the foreign ministry said it had no further comment on whether it would host him.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council urged China on June 27 to free Liu and show greater tolerance toward those who use peaceful means to call for political reform and democratic development. Taiwanese lawmaker Yu Mei-nu, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, also urged China to allow the ailing intellectual to go to Taiwan for treatment.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama expressed his concern for Liu in a statement on June 28, saying that many have asked him to pray for Liu’s well-being. He said of Liu:
It is my belief that the initiatives he took, and for which he has been severely punished, would have led to a more harmonious, stable and prosperous China, which in turn would have contributed to a more peaceful world. I was personally moved as well as encouraged when hundreds of Chinese intellectuals and concerned citizens, inspired by Liu Xiaobo, signed Charter 08 calling for democracy, freedom and rule of law in China.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


text:
Saying Goodbye to Anton Nossik, Godfather of the Russian Internet · Global Voices
Isaac Webb

Anton Nossik. Source: Facebook.
Anton Nossik, a founding father of the Russian Internet, successful media entrepreneur, and popular blogger, died of a heart attack on July 9 while staying at a friend's summer house outside Moscow. He was 51 years old.
Often referred to as the “Godfather of the Russian Internet,” Nossik founded or led influential news websites Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru, Vesti.ru, and NTV.ru (now NewsRu.com), and helped popularize blogging in Russia.
Nossik, who described himself as the “planet's first Russian blogger,” helped sound the alarm as the Putin regime began to crack down on the RuNet after allowing the Internet to operate relatively freely during the first 13 years of his tenure.
He was a tireless advocate for free speech in Russia, sometimes getting himself in trouble for his own firebrand politics: Last year, Nossik was fined 500,000 rubles, or $8,000 for calling for Syria to be “wiped from the face of the earth.”
In the hours since his death, Russian bloggers, journalists, and media personalities have shared their memories of Nossik, whom they remember as a dogged worker who built the RuNet from the ground up, helping turn it into, in his own words, “Russia’s only territory of unlimited free speech.”
Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte and Telegram, wrote in a post on VKontakte on Sunday that Nossik had “until his last days, stood in defense of the Internet and common sense in his precise and vivid posts on LiveJournal,” where Nossik blogged. He continued:
Антона будет не хватать. Он был одним из тех редких людей, кто ясно мыслил, ясно излагал, охотно делился своими знаниями и оставался оптимистом. Он всегда поддерживал меня и многих других, а мы часто забывали поддержать его в ответ.
К сожалению, мы уже не сможем вернуть Антону ту теплоту, которой он делился с нами. Но мы можем хранить память о нем и защищать те принципы, которые он защищал, и следовать его примеру – поддерживать друзей, делиться знаниями, сохранять оптимизм и здравомыслие.
Anton will not be forgotten. He was one of those rare people who thought clearly, expressed himself clearly, and willingly shared his knowledge and remained an optimist. He always supported me and many friends, but we regularly forgot to support him in return.
Unfortunately, we can't give back that warmth that Anton gave to us. But we can remember him by defending the principles he defended and by following his example—by supporting friends, sharing knowledge, and maintaining optimism and sanity.
Galina Timchenko, the executive editor of the news website Meduza and a former colleague of Nossik's, remembered her friend's remarkable work ethic:
Working 18-20-hour days, sleeping at your keyboard, eating on the run, and again work, work, work. It was impossible to keep up with you. You made demands, you bombarded the newsroom with messages, you shouted and laid into people, you chewed people out and put your foot down, you reigned over us and remade us. You found the time to do ten times more than we, your staff, ever did. You never stopped.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in a post on his LiveJournal page, remembered being asked by a journalist in 2010 who he considered to be the most important mentors in his life and, after thinking it over, including Nossik on his short list.
Не могу сказать, что уже тогда прямо сильно дружил с ним, но «надо с Носиком это обсудить» постоянно появлялось в моей голове всегда, когда я думал о чем-то связанном с интернетом, IT, медиа, журналистами, блогами, взаимодействию с людьми через интернет и тд.
Потом мы с ним действительно подружились. И я сам и Юля тоже — Носик уже стал др
угом нашей семьи. Он совершенно решающее оказал влияние на мои взгляды и практики, связанные с интернетом и журналистикой. Уверен, что то же самое могут сказать очень многие…Сегодня много кто искренне напишет «для нас это большая утрата». Вот и для нашей семьи тоже.
I can't say that I was friendly with him back then, but I was always thinking, “I need to discuss this with Nossik” whenever I thought about something related to the Internet, IT, media, journalists, blogs, cooperating with people online, etc.
Then we really became friends. For me and Yulia [Navalny's wife]—Nossik became part of our family. He had an absolutely decisive influence on my opinions and practices related to the Internet and journalism. I'm sure that many others can say the same…Today many are writing that “[Anton's death] is a big loss for us.” And it is for our family too.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also shared his condolences, writing on Facebook that Nossik was a “real professional, a pioneer of the Russian Internet, a bright and talented person. His name was associated with the creation of notable Internet resources and projects that are popular with people of different generations and persuasions. He accomplished much. Blessed be his memory.”
Source: Dmitry Medvedev, Facebook.
In a Telegram post, Leonid Volkov, Navalny's Chief of Staff, remembered Nossik's friendly demeanor. “Everyone made friends with him and he made friends with everyone, he connected the most different generations and people of the most different occupations. There aren't many like him, and now there are even fewer. Anton will be terribly missed.”
Source: Telegram
RuNet Echo would like to join the chorus of goodbyes and thank Anton for all his contributions to the RuNet. You will be missed, Anton. Rest easy.

author: Isaac Webb


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A Syrian Artist Reimagines the World’s Powerful Leaders as Vulnerable Refugees · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

‘The Queue’ by Abdalla Al Omari. Photo from Al Omari's Facebook page. Used with permission.
With the image of the “vulnerable” refugee dominating media coverage, Syrian painter Abdalla Al Omari wished to flip the script and show the world how powerful politicians would look like if they weren't so lucky.
Enter “The Vulnerability Series“.
He initially launched the series in Brussels, Belgium, in 2016 where he was granted asylum and re-launched it in Dubai, where it ended on July 6, 2017.
“Angela
Oil and acrylic on canvas
200x150cm
The Vulnerability Series
On display till 08/03/2017 at @CcStrombeek,Belgium
(c)Abdalla Omari pic.twitter.com/kMsiF2MgAC
— Abdalla Al Omari (@_AbdallaOmari_) 11 January 2017
Omari explained his motivations for the series:
Although I knew little about the internal world of those leaders, the countless, intimate hours I spent with them have taught me more than I could imagine. Just as easily as everything worth defending can become defenseless, moments of absolute powerlessness can give you superpowers.
The idea was to break their image of strength. He detailed on his blog how this made him pity even Syria's embattled President Bashar Assad, whose forces are regularly accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity:
Even I felt sorry for (my version of) Assad. In this universe without gravity, all we can hold on to is our vulnerability. This invisible wind makes our chest heavy, yet, mysteriously propels us back on our feet again. I have convinced myself it is the strongest weapon humankind possesses, way more powerful than the trail of power games, bomb craters and bullet holes in our collective memories. Vulnerability is a gift we should all celebrate.
In an interview with Belgium's De Afspraak, Omari said the “strange feeling of empathy” extended to other politicians:
Everyday I was waking up with them and on my walls.. And there was a moment I had this strange feeling of empathy towards them after seeing them for so long. And this vulnerable state, looking at you, having eye contact with you all the time, telling you that ‘we are vulnerable’, we are weak, even them, I had this feeling of ‘wow, I could even empathize with them’.
Besides Assad, the series depicts US Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“It was my personal desire to see them in the shoes of refugees, of vulnerable people to see them in their vulnerable state because they always look so perfect, so divine”, he told De Afspraak.
His widely-shared image of Trump as a refugee was inspired by the story of Palestinian-Syrian refugee Abdul Halim Attar.
Attar, originally from Yarmouk camp in Damascus, and one of over a million Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon, received considerable media coverage after he was seen selling pens in Beirut while carrying his daughter. The girl Trump is carrying is wearing the same clothes as Attar's daughter.
Abdalla Al Omari's ‘The Vulnerability Series’ via Facebook. Used with permission.
He also reproduced the infamous photo of residents of Yarmouk queuing for food in 2014:
Yarmouk.
Acrylic on canvas.
140×180 cm.
2016.
The Vulnerability Series.
by @_AbdallaOmari_ via @SultanAlQassemi pic.twitter.com/LzbDhljk52
— Omar (@omarsyria) 4 September 2016
Omari's work has garnered a lot of online attention. One video by AJ+ got over 12 million views. In it, he says that “those leaders were partly responsible for the displacement of Syrians. Maybe they will feel what it feels like to be vulnerable.”
Mary Scully, once an independent socialist candidate for the US presidency, suggested taking the imaginary portrayal of world leaders a step further:
There is another preferable way to portray them: in prison uniforms after they've been prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

author: Rami Alhames


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Air India Stops Serving Meat on Domestic Flights. Is It a Cost-Saving Measure or a Political Move? · Global Voices
Rezwan

An Air India Boeing 747-400 plane. Image from Flickr by Andrew E. Cohen. CC: BY-NC-ND 2.0
India's national flag carrier and the third largest domestic airline Air India has once again made headlines as it announced last week that it will no longer serve non-vegetarian foods on its domestic flights.
The move is reported to be one of the many cost-cutting measures taken by Air India, which is facing debt of around Rs 550 billion (US$8.5 billion). It extends a December 2015 decision that removed non-vegetarian food from short-haul (under 90 minutes) flights.
While people assume that the approximately 1 billion Hindu population in India must be vegetarians, that's actually not the case. According to the sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey 2014 by the registrar general of India, 71 percent of Indians over the age of 15 are non-vegetarian.
The announcement also comes at a time when Hindu nationalism is on the rise in India, putting pressure on minority groups. No wonder, then, that while some welcomed Air India's decision, others were outraged.
Madhu Menon, a Bangalore-based chef and food writer, reacted on Twitter:
Only veg food on Air India.
Next, flight attendants to speak only Hindi.
After that, stand for national anthem before flight take-off. #BMKJ
— Madhu Menon (@madmanweb) July 10, 2017
And others said:
Will the decision to avoid non veg meal help Air India ??people are fine with bad service & flight delays only if they get pure veg meal ??
— kouser (@kouser2012) July 10, 2017
Some like Krish Ashok, Namrata, and Dr. Sangeeta defended Air India:
Simple business sense suggests that any loss making entity should attempt to optimise and cut costs & more food options = more cost.
— Krish Ashok (@krishashok) July 10, 2017
Lol! People are outraged about Air India scrapping non veg food for domestic economy? Which other domestic airline offers any free food?
— Namrata (@_Namrataa) July 10, 2017
#Air India. It's a good idea to eat only veg food in flight…No argument..why people have objection? pic.twitter.com/LC3mmO30PD
— Dr.Sangeeta.MD,PhD (@SangeetaGawali) July 11, 2017
While poet and journalist Pritish Nandy offered a nuanced perspective:
I suspect veg meals on Air India is not a commercial decision. It smells political. Good news is less animals killed. Saves the world.
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) July 11, 2017
Bhargav Thantry made a comparison on Facebook:
Air India serves a square meal on short domestic flights but in the United States one doesn't even get a decent buy on board option, leave alone a meal which is something unheard of in the states.
Others were not that amused:
Pl don't sell Air India. Who'll give us such gems of idiocy then? Ban chicken to cut waste, mixing non-veg with veg https://t.co/ec3MTLDCAb
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) July 10, 2017
@jayantsinha air India decision to b pure veg shd b changed immediately or else we will stop flying it! It's has 2 match int standards
— Prateek Mathur (@advprateekmathu) July 11, 2017
Air India is an arm of the state, within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution. It cannot discriminate or act arbitrarily.
— Manish (@jimanish) July 10, 2017
Present government has discontinued non veg food in air india economy class….no justification given…another act of moral policing…
— kunal chatterji (@kunal2087) June 23, 2017
According to an Air India official, the carrier now spends Rs 4 billion (US$62 million) on catering on its domestic and international flights every year. This step will save Rs 80 million (US$1.24 million) in annual savings for the debt-ridden airline.
It remains to be seen whether moves like this can make this airline turn their losses around.

author: Rezwan


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CNN Show ‘Parts Unknown’ Holds Up a Mirror to Trinidad & Tobago’s Social Divisions · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

A screenshot from a YouTube video of the Trinidad and Tobago edition of Anthony Bourdain's show, Parts Unknown, which airs on CNN.
American celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain caused a stir when he visited Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year, with many who met him posting selfies and hashtagging the heck out of Facebook. But the effect that the edited episode of his show “Parts Unknown” had on residents of the twin islands was far greater.
At first, the main bone of contention was with Bourdain's assessment of the country's crime situation, which many netizens had to admit was not an exaggeration. One blogger suggested that the show did not do enough to highlight the wonders of the country — a stance which others firmly countered — and Facebook user Niala Maharaj was struck by the silence of women in the episode, saying that modern-day “iron chefs” have “wrenched food preparation from the realm of nurturing and bonding into the arena of winners and losers.”
However, the online ire soon turned towards a segment of the show that featured members of the country's Syrian-Lebanese community (many of whom are well-to-do) in which businessman Mario Sabga-Aboud described the group as “the most powerful”. Peter George, a community elder, also said that there is now “a measure of concern” because the “huge middle class” which acted as “a security in terms of any possible conflict between the haves and the have nots” has been eroded.
The comments sparked outrage. Poverty levels in Trinidad and Tobago have been steadily rising; it is estimated that at least one in five people live below the poverty line.
Muhammad Muwakil, a spoken word artist, musician and social activist who was also featured in the episode, commented on Facebook:
I was really taken aback by his description of the middle class as ‘the security’, a buffer zone which exists solely for the protection of the ultra rich and the life they have carved in this Trinidad that has been ‘good to them’. An ugly truth, a truth for him nonetheless. […]
Things can change though, this we believe. I […] want you to know that it is more than within your scope and ability to change the situations about which you lament. And as you rise so will we all.
My hope is that you and others of your ilk recognize that you have as much a role to play as we, the powerful, in making this a safe country for all of us.
His post attracted 88,000 views, garnered more than 300 comments and was shared nearly 1,800 times.
Social media was immediately in a big hullabaloo over the statements, with some netizens quipping that they “now know the purpose of the middle class”. One citizen, Ian Smart, staged a one-man protest outside a branch of the coffee shop chain that Sabga-Aboud owns. In an interview with Loop TT, he railed against everything from “the thinking of the one percent” which he blamed for “preventing renewable energy from taking root” in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as a host of “economic and social ills”.
Mr Smart says his protest is not against the Syrian ethnic group but rather the 1% who contribute to economic inequality in T&T @cnewslive pic.twitter.com/qwJ2q26uWr
— Peter Christopher (@petedchris) June 27, 2017
A subsequent radio interview he gave was problematic, and most netizens did not take his “cause” seriously.
On Facebook, Tillah Willah asked:
Do you want to boycott business or do you want to change your economic paradigms?
Do you want to boycott business or do you want to figure out how to address all the casual racism you deal with or dole out everyday?
Do you want to boycott business or do you want to decolonise your palate and foster a greater level of food security for when the shit really hits the fan?
Do you want to boycott business or do you want to reconsider why our ideas of development have to do with how many coffee shops we have when most of our children can't recognise a coffee bean far less know how to grow one?
Do you want to boycott business or do you want to understand that you have the luxury of a boycott when a cup of coffee costs more than what some people get paid per hour?
Whether social media users took a cue from Smart's rhetoric or not, the discourse began to take a hateful turn, prompting Twitter user Rhoda Bharath to say:
The statements were tasteless but this is taking the outrage too far.#FeedingThe5000#SmallAndMighty pic.twitter.com/LXZNNHwbtL
— rhoda bharath (@rhodabharath) June 27, 2017
Journalist and filmmaker Kim Johnson addressed the issue of race and prejudice in a few public Facebook posts, recalling that “years ago when the City Council was cleaning up pavement vendors in the Christmas season the only man who stood up for them was textile trader Jimmy Aboud, who pointed out they were making an honest living, much as how he'd started, and they should not be made to suffer for it. Nobody else came out publicly for them, not black, Indian, white, Afro-centrist, nobody except that Syrian man.”
Mario Sabga-Aboud later apologised for his comments; some found the mea culpa “gracious” while others interpreted it as damage control. His cousin, businessman Gary Aboud, issued a statement distancing himself and other members of his community from the views expressed in the “Parts Unknown” episode. Esteemed senior counsel Martin Daly, in a post for Wired868, said:
Mr Sabga-Aboud has commendably expressed regret for his boast but his apology for boasting about having power does not alter the fact that the power is held.
Now we need to ask the political leaders if their leaderships are captives of the power, which Sabga-Aboud has confirmed, and if they are also captives of the power that others have derived from the dangerous intersection of business and politics within the grubby state enterprise system.
Some netizens, however, didn't see what all the fuss was about. Blogger Darryn Boodan contended that the statements of Sabga-Aboud and George were nothing that people weren't aware of, arguing:
The public furor over Mr. Bourdain’s show has ironically helped to showcase the real dish Trinbagonians love to sink their teeth into; racial resentment, with a helping of victimhood and economic conspiracy theories. There has been little rational conversation had about how racial minorities like Mr. Sabga-Aboud view themselves in relation to Trinbagonian society. As history has shown us countless times, it is not unreasonable for racial minorities to be concerned about their safety if they are viewed with suspicion and scorn. But rational conversation is as appealing to Trinbagonians as low fat doubles. So instead, most of us used Mr. Sabga-Aboud’s off the cuff remarks to simply reinforce the stereotypes and prejudices we already hold about the Syrian community.
He suggested that “the inequality that exists in Trinidad and Tobago is not rooted in one group taking away from another. It’s due to decades of bad government policy which has killed private entrepreneurship, breed dependency on the state, and facilitation of criminal gangs via corrupt make-work projects.”
The blog Poor Boys Paper talked about inequity, saying, “Growing up with limited means in a country where wealth is very much present is like working in a five star restaurant in which you never get to eat.” The post continued:
Put it how you may, but our leaders live too well for the rest of us to be living so poor. Our leaders are too safe, for the rest of us to be so unsafe. If we suffer they must suffer, and if they prosper we must prosper. That’s leadership.
Several social media users were thankful that the comments jumpstarted a discussion that is long overdue in Trinidad and Tobago. In a letter to Wired868, Dr. Emir Crowne wrote:
Sometimes it takes an outsider to remind us that we have more in common than we think. For too long we have been divided along racial and even religious lines. And we allowed it to happen. Bourdain […] remind[s] us that food unites us. It is part of a common (albeit recent) cultural heritage, that we can, and should, use to rebuild and unite a fragmented society.

author: Flora Thomas


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Notimia, a News Agency That Gives Voice to the Indigenous and Afro-Descendant People in Mexico · Global Voices
Mercedes Matz

Photograph taken during the Meeting of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant Communicators in Oaxaca, México, 2015. Credit: Mikel Blasco/CCEMx (Spanish Cultural Center). Image used with permission from the Digital Citizenship Laboratory.
The indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Mexico share a constant struggle against discrimination, and an arduous journey to gain visibility and defend their rights. The obstacles and dangers they face are diverse: persecution, imprisonment, inequality, exclusion, and even forced displacement and assassinations for opposing the exploitation of natural resources in their places of origin.
According to data from an intercensal survey taken in 2015 by the National Population Council of Mexico, there are almost 17 million people who, given their culture, history and traditions, are considered indigenous. Of this figure, 6.5 percent speak a native language. Of these, 80 percent face poverty and also have to deal with educational lagging and gender violence, according to an article published by the organization México Social, a multi-media project which promotes human and social rights.
On the other hand, according to a report published by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) together with the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and the National Council for Prevention of Discrimination (CONAPRED), one in every 100 inhabitants in Mexico is of African descent, a number equivalent to 1,381,853 people. The report also notes that 18 percent of the population speaks an indigenous language, while two-thirds identify themselves as indigenous.
Photograph taken during the Meeting of the Indigenous and Afro-descendant Communicators in Oaxaca, Mexico, 2015. Credit: Mikel Blasco/CCEMx. Image used with permission from the Digital Citizenship Laboratory.
In addition to the constant struggle for their rights and their struggle against social adversity, both populations now have something positive in common: Notimia, a news agency created by indigenous and Afro-descendant photographers, videographers, filmmakers and journalists.
This medium of communication, with a gender focus and an international reach, has undertaken the challenge of giving voice to communities that have been made invisible and silenced. It addresses issues that conventional media often ignores, such as the movements, protests and issues that affect indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples every day in all parts of the country. The challenge is to reach and to impact different levels: from their own community, to the national and international spaces.
During her presentation to the media in Mexico City on April 5, 2017, Guadalupe Martinez, editor and founder of Notimia, said that the agency promotes intercultural communication. It seeks to create and disseminate organizational processes of indigenous communities and peoples in their indigenous languages and translate them into other languages. During the event – which was streamed online – Mardonio Carballo, a Náhuatl-language poet and writer, stressed the importance of listening to indigenous women's own voices:
Es necesario que su propia voz sea la que se escuche, que sean ustedes hablando por ustedes mismas.
It is necessary for your own voice to be heard, for you to speak for yourself.
Carballo also pointed out the importance of opening indigenous community-run media outlets to highlight those issues that are usually ignored. In a country where 69 languages are spoken, the absence of news outlets in different languages is evident.
Eso lo tenemos que cambiar estando atentos en muchos sentidos, desde adentro (de las comunidades) y hacia afuera.
We have to change this situation by being attentive in many ways, from the inside (of the communities) to the outside world.
Photograph taken during the press conference of the presentation of Notimia in Mexico City, 2017. Credit: Ane Sanz/CCEMx. Image used with permission from the Digital Citizenship Laboratory.
The initial team of Notimia is headed by the Alliance of Indigenous Women of Central America and Mexico, which gathers more than 300 communicators from America and 200 from different states of Mexico. The agency is also part of the Meeting of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Communicators (ECIA) which is held each year with the objective of strengthening indigenous efforts to create communication processes for peace.
Notimia website publishes various news stories focused on the importance of empowering the less visible population. Ethnic fashion, female journalists and the rights of indigenous peoples are some topics that have been covered.
Within a couple of months since this event, Notimia has also gained followers on its social networks, including its Facebook page called “Notimia: News Agency for Indigenous and Afro-descendant Women“.

author: Mercedes Matz


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Protesting Mistreatment in Prison, Emirati Activist Survives Six Weeks of Hunger Strike · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Campaign image for Imran al Radwan, imprisoned in UAE. Image via ICFUAE.
Emirati human rights activist Imran Radwan is one of 94 activists who were prosecuted en masse in 2013 for calling for political reform in the Emirates, on charges related to “harming state security.”
He is currently serving a seven-year jail sentence in Al-Razeen prison in Abu Dhabi, where political and human rights activists have been proven to encounter poor conditions and treatment.
Six weeks ago, Radwan decided to take matters into his own hands using one of the few tactics of resistance available to political prisoners: he began a hunger strike.
According to the International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE (ICFUAE), al-Radwan was strip-searched, along with other prisoners:
The inspection was completed in a humiliating manner with prisoners stripped naked with only small towels covering their genitals, which – in such a conservative community – is considered a form of sexual abuse that is extremely humiliating.
ICFUAE also cited concerns from the International Centre for Justice and Human Rights which highlighted “the violation of the right to privacy and physical and moral integrity and the violation of the regulations which govern prison inspections.”
Maria Di Lenna, campaigns coordinator at the ICFUAE told Global Voices that her organization last received updates on Radwan's hunger strike last week. Family members, who requested to remain anonymous, expressed concerns about his health. She said:
The only medical examination he's had shows that his kidney is suffering from the prolonged hunger strike. Although weak, he is determined to continue his strike. The last time they visited him, they couldn't even speak to him because the speakers/mics were not working.
Since his arrest in 2012 and sentencing in 2013, Radwan has been subjected to ill treatment. According to a report published in 2015 by the Gulf Center for Human Rights on torture in the UAE, Radwan was subjected to constant surveillance, prevented from seeing his lawyer, denied a bed to sleep on or a chair to sit on, prevented from using his eye glasses, and deprived of sunlight.
Radwan is not the only political prisoner who has staged a hunger strike in such conditions. In April, economist and academic Nasser Bin Ghaith began a hunger strike after a UAE court sentenced him to ten years in jail for publishing online posts that were deemed “offensive to the state” and publishing “false information” on Twitter.
Facing lengthy and unfair trials, solitary confinement, abuse and ill treatment, for prisoners like Radwan and Bin Ghaith, going on hunger strike is one of few remaining mechanisms for drawing attention to their mistreatment. But thus far, it has not deterred the UAE authorities from continuing and intensifying their repressive tactics.
“The UAE authorities have denied hunger strikers appropriate medical care and even threatened to force-feed them,” Di Lenna from the ICFUAE told Global Voices. She added:
This not only shows their negligence towards prisoners’ rights but also their active opposition to political dissidents specifically. Their practices of ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience are not only a form of deterrence but also a tool to repress any critical voices within the UAE

author: Afef Abrougui


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A Hong Kong Businessman Sparks Backlash After Blaming Muslims for His Restaurant’s Failure in Malaysia · Global Voices
Chinese Border-crossing Question and Answer

Chinese Dim Sum. Image from Flickr user Jason Jacobs CC:AT
This post was originally published on July 7, 2017 in Chinese on citizen media outlet inmediahk.net.
A popular Hong Kong-based dim sum Restaurant, Tin Ho Wan, decided to shut down its business in Malaysia on July 4 after entering the Malaysian market three years ago. When explaining the decision to Hong Kong media outlets, the founder of the Michelin-starred restaurant, Mak Gui Pui, said the business failed because of cultural differences — the majority of the population in Malaysia is Muslim and don’t eat pork, while pork is the main ingredient in dim sum dishes like BBQ pork bun and shao mai (steamed pork dumpling).
It was for this reason, he said, that the restaurant did not have enough customers and suffered from heavy losses. He also compared running a Chinese restaurant in Malaysia to “operating a sauna business in a remote desert.”
The news triggered some discussion among Malaysian Chinese. Many have argued that it is irresponsible for Mak Gui Pui to blame Muslim culture for his business failure.
The Chinese Cross-Border Question and Answer project interviewed a Malaysian Chinese citizen journalist, Wan Qing, about the issue.
Q:榮獲米芝蓮一星級的香港點心專門店「添好運」，在馬來西亞的加盟店近日全線結業。創辦人麥桂培認為，與當地不吃豬肉的飲食習慣有關。這是主要原因嗎？
Q: The founder of Michelin-starred restaurant Tin Ho Wan said that the main reason for the business closing in Malaysia is related to the fact that people in Malaysia do not like pork. Is this true? What is the main reason?
A: 根據媒體報導以及麥生事後承認，添好運倒閉結業的根本原因是營業虧損89.6萬，短期內無法轉虧為盈。這裡涉及更多的應是其商業模式出現問題。如果麥生有做市場調查，就應該深知大馬點心舖非常普及，叉燒包處處可得，要吃點心在街邊大排檔就有，添好運所謂「即叫即蒸」的特色，來到食材新鮮多元的大馬，不見得會有多少優勢。米其林（港譯米芝蓮）一星的光環，確實能吸引一些人排隊品嚐，但若要深入平民日常，不會是首選。
更何況，兩家添好運專賣店都開在吉隆坡和雪蘭莪州的商場內，雖然該兩家商場都是人流眾多，剛開始營業時也有大排長龍的盛況；但高昂的租金必定拉高了許多營業成本。而根據網民塞滿各大媒體面子書專頁的留言區反饋，添好運的價格昂貴、不好吃、服務態度欠佳、味道不夠道地，才是更根本的原因。在其中一家分店的同一層，還與另一家本地點心舖打對台，但後者至今生意興隆客似雲來，他們也賣豬肉點心，怎麼不見得就因穆斯林吃不得豬肉、不夠客源而倒閉？
A: According to media reports and further clarification from Mr. Mak, the main reason behind the shutter is the heavy loss of approximately 896,000 Malaysian Ringgit (288,000 US dollars), from which they could not recover in a short period of time. The real issue is related to business strategy — if Mr. Mak has conducted market research, he should have known there are a huge number of dim sum restaurants in Malaysia. You can found BBQ pork bun everywhere at food stands. The selling point of “steam upon order” is not appealing in Malaysia as the food culture is so diverse and dishes are always freshly cooked. The Michelin star attracted some people to line up, but it won’t be people’s primary choice in their everyday lives.
Moreover, the two Tin Ho Wan restaurants were located in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor’s shopping malls. While the influx of customers is huge and there had been very long queues outside the restaurants in the beginning, the expensive rent must have raised operation costs. According to reactions from Malaysian netizens on Facebook, the price of Tin Ho Wan is too high, the quality of food is so and so, service is poor and the flavors of the dishes were not localized. These are more likely the main reasons for its failure. Actually, in the shopping mall home to Tin Ho Wan’s branch, there is another dim sum restaurant competitor. It has a large number of customers and they also sell dim sum with pork. How come it has not been suffered from a lack of customers because of Muslim pork-less food culture?
Q: 馬來西亞的華人人口是否太少，需求不足，所以一般華人飲食業經營都會不容易？
Q: Is the Chinese population too small in Malaysia for Chinese restaurant operators to survive in the market?
A: 首先，根據2016年人口統計，大馬華人人口665萬，佔全國人口23.4%，絕非報導中麥生估計的僅僅一成。當然，並非所有華人都吃豬肉，但也不要忘記，不是所有非華人就是吃不得豬肉的穆斯林。
而且熟知大馬的香港人都了解，大馬一直深受香港影視文化影響，對港式的飲食文化或樣態是相當熟悉且不排斥。反之，香港也極其依賴海外華人市場支撐其娛樂工業，香港藝商界來馬投資餐飲業也不是什麼新鮮事。
665萬的華人人口幾乎是九成香港人口，內需是足以支撐一般的華人餐飲業。只是若要永續經營，就不能只靠名氣。
A: According to the 2016 census, there are about 6.65 million Chinese in Malaysia, which is equal to 23.4 percent of the national population. Mr. Mak’s claim that only 10 percent of the total population is Chinese is wrong. Of course, not all Chinese eat pork, but at the same time, not all non-Chinese are non-pork-eating Muslims.
Those who have a basic understanding of Malaysia would have known that Malaysia has been greatly influenced by Hong Kong movie and TV culture, they embrace the food culture and would not reject it. At the same time, Hong Kong's entertainment industry has depended on the overseas Chinese market, and the entertainment sector has also invested in food businesses in Malaysia. There is nothing new about the sector.
The 6.65 million Chinese population is equal to 90 percent of Hong Kong's population, so it can support the Chinese restaurant business. The core issue is that a sustainable business should not be dependent on reputation only.
Q: 為甚麼事件好像引起不少馬來西亞華人的反感？
Q: Why is the Malaysian Chinese community so upset about this news?
新聞一出，即遭來網友大肆抨擊，添好運這次是踢到了硬石，因為麥生為自己經營不善而開脫的理由太牽強，令人不齒。
添好運會祭出文化差異的理由，並像是以一個弱者形象，來強化在穆斯林為多數的大馬社會裡無法立足，背後有著自詡優越的文化姿態作祟。
大多數的海外投資，都僅僅衝著海外有華人市場這塊肥肉而來，卻對本地多樣複雜的色彩了解不足或拒絕深究，這是一種居高臨下的文化優越感造成的盲點，因此才會發生像這樣生意失敗了，還要轉頭將失實的原因怪罪於當地消費者選擇的事，令人遺憾。
其實，承認自己的叉燒包不夠好吃，真的會比賴大馬人不能吃叉燒包，來的誠實坦蕩。而這次的添好運事件會引起極大迴響，筆者認為是因為在情感上惹怒了熱愛豬肉的大馬華人。你聽過肉骨茶嗎？玻璃叉燒呢？大馬宗教問題雖然頗多，但絕對與添好運無法在當地存活無關。不要再將刻板印象粗暴地亂套入一些「異地」想象中，下一次就在營業地點、價格等實際面向上，多做點功課吧。
A: The news has triggered a huge number of criticisms from netizens because they found Mr. Mak’s explanation to be off the mark.
Tin Ho Wan use of cultural differences as an explanation is an attempt to paint a picture of a cultural minority versus the Malaysian Muslim majority. At the same time, there is a sense of cultural superiority in the presentation.
The majority of overseas investment in Malaysia just wants a share in the Chinese market but has not done enough research into the country’s diverse cultures. They impose their own culture onto the community, which has resulted in a sense of cultural superiority and hence a failure in business. It is regretful that the business blames its failure on local customers’ preferences.
It is more genuine and convincing to say that [Tin Ho Wan's] BBQ pork bun failed to cater to customers’ tastes than to say that Malaysians cannot eat BBQ pork bun [because of Muslim culture].
The reaction is also due to the fact that Malaysian Chinese really love pork. Have you heard of Bak Kut Teh and Glass BBQ pork? Though Malaysia has religious conflicts, it has nothing to do with the closure of Tin Ho Wan. I would say, please do not project your stereotypes onto the imaginary other and do more homework for your business strategy.


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A Syrian Artist From the Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights Explores Identity and Humanity in His Work · Global Voices
Syria Untold

Artist Akram Al-Halabi in his studio apartment in Vienna. May 5, 2017. Photo by AJ Naddaff/SyriaUntold.
This story was originally written for Syria Untold by AJ Naddaf, an Arab studies and political science student, French teacher, and research assistant for the Arab Studies chair at Davidson College. It is republished here as part of a partnership agreement.
Akram al Halabi is an artist from the mountainous plateau of Majdal Shams, the largest of the four remaining Druze-Syrian communities on the Israeli-occupied part of the Syrian Golan Heights. Despite coming from a contentious region, Al-Halabi does not let politics drive his art work. Rather, he utilizes art as a medium to express his search for harmony between nature and humanity.
Born into a family of several artists, Al-Halabi’s art career began as a child when he would paint and draw under the tutelage of an art teacher from his village. From 1997 until 2000, he studied drawing and painting at Bayt Al-Fann. Then he studied at the Faculty of Fine Art at Damascus University (2000-2005). In 2003, he participated in the summer academy of Darat al Funun, supervised by Professor Marwan Kassab Bashi in Amman, Jordan.
While in school, however, his eyes were set on exhibiting and continuing his art elsewhere. The incessant political pressure of his identity in Israel motivated long hours dedicated to mastering the meticulous techniques of perspective, light and shape behind his award-winning art. His goal was simple: to create art in a place where he wouldn't have to move from checkpoint to checkpoint.
Upon completing his studies at the Faculty of Fine Art, he became the first from the Golan Heights to win a scholarship to continue his studies in Berlin. But he was denied travel by the Syrian government simply because of his uncontrollable statelessness. After Israel officially annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, the year Al-Halabi was born, it began regarding Syrians of the Golan as “residents of Israel” but not citizens. Al-Halabi had been allowed to study in Damascus even though he was living in Israeli-occupied Golan because of a program supervised by the UN and made possible through an agreement between Syria and Israel.
Snowflakes Installation, Document, 784 Invoice Papers. Photo courtesy of Akram Al-Halabi; all rights reserved to the author.
Despite the hassle, Al Halabi persevered. In 2007, two years after he graduated, he won another scholarship for his art through the “One World Scholarship of the [Vienna-based] Afro-Asian-Institute,” which supports 10-15 students each year from Africa, Asia and Latin America who have a developmental focus in their studies. He finally came to attend the Academy of Fine Arts of Vienna, and finished his studies with distinction in 2012 with the class of Professor Erwin Bohatsch.
In addition to his academic study of art, Al-Halabi has participated in sundry exhibitions across Europe. His work has also been collected by many private collectors in the European Union and the Middle East, as well as in The British Museum, London, and the Kupferstichkabinett collection in Vienna.
Grappling with his own identity in an Austrian context, while at the Academy of Fine Arts of Vienna, he was inspired to travel from 2009 to 2012 all over Europe, to Palestine and Israel, and back to his village. During this journey, Al-Halabi asked people, whom he met randomly, to define themselves at the moment of their meeting and to write this definition on individual papers used for invoicing. He called the project “Snowflakes,” later adding small geometric forms using pliers to create lines in the shape of fingerprints and snowflakes.
Some of the people out of the 800 or so who have participated in Akram al-Halabi’s ‘Snowflakes’ project from 2009 to 2012. Photo courtesy of Akram al-Halabi; all rights reserved to the author.
With the dye of these carbon papers turning blue upon pressure, each participant received a copy of their work. “There are so many people who actually want and need to say something to you, especially old people in parks,” he told SyriaUntold. “I was motivated because I’m born undefined — and I’m still undefined — but I came to understand myself more through understanding others. If you go to the streets and begin talking to strangers, you will be amazed at how some people become your friends and can understand you.”
He further commented on the danger of being stuck in certain boxes. For example, many Israelis and Palestinians were unwilling to participate in the project simply because Al-Halabi did not align with their religious ideals.
The open-minded, inquisitive and amicable spirit from which the project was conducted is what best describes Al-Halabi’s personality. In 2010, while traveling back to his village every summer to see his family, he created a performance project called “Love Comes First,” in which 200 people from the Golan Heights wrote with their bodies the statement: “Love Comes First” (in Arabic, Al-Mahabbah Awwalan).
Akram al-Halabi’s ‘Love Comes First’ on the football field of Majdal Shams village, occupied Golan Heights, 2010 Photo by Nihad Awaidat and Diala Madah courtesy of Akram al-Halabi; all rights reserved to the authors.
The next year, as the Syrian uprising erupted, Al-Halabi watched with suspense from his television screen. “Because I had lived in Damascus and some of the areas most affected by the revolution, I had to produce art. I do not have the power to do anything though. I can just look and show what is happening through another lens,” he told SyriaUntold.
Taking gruesome images from his computer that were widely blasted in the media, Al-Halabi conceived the project “Cheek,” erasing the images by adding English words and Arabic letters around them, sometimes sketching the image’s most basic outline. “I wanted to make a third level of perception, making connections between word and image to the viewer,” explained Al-Halabi. His reprints list traits that appear in the image by their names, simply to remind the audience that they exist: “Ear, Eye, Brow, Window, Blood, Nose, Child, Neck, Throat, Chin, Shoulder, Heart, Mother, Fingers, Cheek…”
‘Never Forget’ portrays the Houla Massacre in which 34 women and 49 children were slaughtered by Syrian regime forces. It is part of the ‘Cheek’ project. Photo courtesy of Akram Al-Halabi; all rights reserved to the author.
The project represents a story of poetry in space, removing the horror from viral blood-stained pictures. It had been conceived between 2011 and 2013, during the first couple years of Syria’s revolution, before the conflict became an all-out proxy war. For many nights he could not sleep until “Cheek” was completed, and only then was he able to move on with other projects.
Akrab Massacre/Cheek 1, Visual writing, Digital work – 2013. Photo courtesy of Akram Al-Halabi; all rights reserved to the author.
The wide range of mediums and themes in Al-Halabi’s work are akin to his conception of identity, as something malleable and evolving overtime, like a snowflake. Above all, Al-Halabi believes that geographical identities are meaningless markers for defining not only people, but himself. What’s most important for him is to experience life not as boring or straightforward, but to accept its complexities, and to find harmony in his days. Creating art is one way for him to express this.
Yet the power of engaging in deep conversations, reading good literature, swimming, observing nature’s beauty (like his fascination with dragonflies), and acting in theatre performances are all expressions that give his life meaning, and make him feel defined. “Don’t forget to enjoy your day,” Al-Halabi told SyriaUntold. “That’s more important than this article anyway.”
Dragonfly, B4, oil on canvas. 2017 Photo courtesy of Akram Al-Halabi; all rights reserved to the author.
In November, Al-Halabi will attend the opening of a group exhibition featuring his works in Japan: “Diaspora Now” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Gifu (11/11/2017 – 8/1/2018). See more of his polyvalent artwork in his portfolio here.

author: Syria Untold


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As Ethnic Hate Speech Rises, Nigerian Writers Push Back · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Map of Nigeria, showing state boundaries, cities, and waterways
The marauding butchers of militant group Boko Haram are still devouring Nigeria. But Africa's most populous nation is under intense strain of the most virulent type: ethnic hate speech. Things have deteriorated so badly that fears of another ethnic war in Nigeria are rapidly rising.
Recently, 27 Nigerian writers, concerned about the escalating tensions from different ethnic groups in the country, released a public statement condemning this rising trend of ethnocentric hate speech. Some of the writers include myself, Tade Ipadeola (poet and winner of the 2013 Nigeria Prize for Literature), Kola Tubosun (writer and linguist), Ikhide Ikheloa (writer and critic), Chika Unigwe, (multiple award winning novelist), Abubakar Ibrahim (novelist and winner of the 2016  Nigeria Prize for Literature), among others.
The statement reads that:
We, the undersigned Nigerian writers, view with grave concern the dominance of ethnic incendiary speech in our country. We are deeply troubled that the public space – both online and offline – has been hijacked by a vocal minority of individuals who promote ethnocentric ideas inimitable to the peace and well being of a majority of citizens. Nigerian citizens have a right to freely express their opinions on governance as enshrined in the Constitution. However, this fundamental right of freedom of speech is being used to disseminate hate speech, which goes contrary to the right itself and the spirit of the Constitution that enshrines it…
The “us” against “them” rhetoric that ignited bloodshed of a bestial magnitude since independence has re-surfaced again. A new breed of ethnic entrepreneurs seem hell-bent on causing anarchy for political motives. The lessons of our history are being ignored. Strength in diversity is considered weakness… We strongly believe that no amount of social grievance against the government can justify this level of irresponsible ethnocentric hatred currently being peddled by a growing number of disgruntled groups in this country. Similarly, we are mortified by the initial nonchalance and apparent misguided handling by the authorities of the root cause of hate speech in the country.
Hate speech in recent months has come from multiple factions. One troubling example emanates from the south-eastern part of the country, where Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has converted Radio Biafra into a tool that not only facilitates political mobilization around his calls for secession from the Nigerian state, but also as a platform for spewing hate speech directed at his opponents.
Broadcasts on Radio Biafra have been characterized by toxic rhetoric aimed at other ethnic groups in Nigeria. The station has described the country as a “zoo” that the IPOB intends to “destroy.” However, Kanu claimed that his reference to Nigeria as a zoo was “to facilitate societal change“.
Nigerian blogger Kemi Filani quoted a listener, from a radio show in which people began to call in, actively offering to carry out violent tactics against other ethnic groups:
One [caller] actually said, “Hello Director, If Kumuyi steps into Aba, I WILL KILL HIM”. Another caller said he was a technician of sorts and was willing to offer his services to help build a bomb to destroy Nigeria and the Nnamdi character took his number and promised to get in touch with him. The calls kept coming in and it was just caller after caller pledging support for the cause of this deranged man. It didn’t matter that the Nnamdi character sounded rude, arrogant and full of himself and obviously had a thirst for power, it didn’t matter that he was insulting and disrespecting most of the callers who dialed [sic] in, more people kept calling…I couldn’t help but remember that this was exactly how the Boko Haram menace started. First it was just an Islamic preacher who was also doing charity works and feeding his followers, then it grew into a militia that has caused the death of over 15,000 Nigerians and counting…
Kumuyi is a Pentecostal preacher and Aba is a city in south-eastern Nigeria.
The listener continued, pleading with state authorities to assert control over the situation before “innocent lives” are lost.
Nigeria is a federated state with 500 ethnic groups and about 200 languages. But ethnocentric violence has bedeviled the West African nation since independence. The 28 years of military dictatorship in the country suppressed free speech and exacerbated the ethnic divide. Thus everything was viewed from the prism of us versus them.
The Nigerian state has been complicit in creating the environment for messages like Kanu's to fester. President Muhammadu Buhari in an address at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in July 2016 said that he would not run an inclusive government because “the constituents, for example, gave me 97% [of the vote] cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5%.”
This statement was lived out to the fullest extent. Thus it was not surprising when The Punch denounced President Buhari's “parochial appointments” in an August 2016 editorial:
Buhari’s sectionalism is not only unprecedented, it could not have come at a worse time. The reality today is that Nigerians are deeply divided. Seventeen years of dashed hopes of progress under a democratic dispensation have reopened the deep fissures in the polity and polarised the populace into mutually suspicious camps. Sectarianism and ethnicity have been rearing their poisonous heads.
Other factions have added to this divisive ethnic politics and attendant hate speech in the country. Some northern youths in a statement entitled the “Kaduna Declaration” gave the Igbo ethnic group three months notice to quit northern Nigeria:
As a first step, since the Igbo have clearly abused the unreciprocated hospitality that gave them unrestricted access to, and ownership of landed properties all over the North, our first major move shall be to reclaim, assume and assert sole ownership and control of these landed resources currently owned, rented or in any way enjoyed by the ingrate Igbos in any part of Northern Nigeria… Secondly, with the effective date of this declaration, which is today, Tuesday, June 06, 2017, all Igbos currently residing in any part of Northern Nigeria are hereby served notice to relocate within three months and all northerners residing in the East are advised likewise.
This incendiary document from the northern youths to the Igbos drew the ire of those from the oil-rich Niger delta part of Nigeria. They described the statement as “tragic and more treasonable than the offence allegedly committed by Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, for which he was held in detention for about a year.” Kanu who was arrested in 2015 on an 11-count charge of terrorism and treasonable felony, was granted a bail this year.
The confusion has been heightened by the absence of President Buhari who “left for a fresh round of treatment in the British capital on May 7 and has not been heard from or seen since.” His deputy, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who has been acting in his steed, has been consulting with various some representatives of ethnic groups in the country.
Highlights: Acting President @ProfOsinbajo‘s Consultations with Political, Religious and Traditional Leaders: https://t.co/0Lxs26u2Yc
— Presidency Nigeria (@NGRPresident) June 23, 2017
However, the acting president has been urged to expand his consultations from the moderate representatives of ethnic groups to those deifying the ethnic champions.
These and many other inflammatory remarks, and worse, that moved Nigerian writers to sound the alarm on ethnocentric hate speech and to urge the government to act and prevent possible ethnic violence in their country:
We also call on the government of Nigeria to do everything in its power to protect her citizens and avert another spate of useless killings, and to listen to all aggrieved segments in a constructive and productive manner. It is the duty of government to make the country livable just as it is for citizens to work in building a country to which we are all happy to belong. This means an interrogation of our national memory, reinstating the teaching of a thorough curriculum of Nigerian history in primary and secondary schools, a celebration of our individual cultures and languages, and, above all, the application of justice where rights have been violated.
Nwachukwu Egbunike, the author of this article, initiated and worked with other writers to draft the statement.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Human Rights Defenders Are Still Behind Bars in Turkey · Global Voices
Zara Rahman

A police officer fires teargas in Istanbul during the Gezi Park protests, June 2013. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Eight of Turkey's most respected human rights defenders were arrested last week, along with two information technology trainers from Sweden and Germany. All ten of those arrested are still in police custody but have not been charged with any crime.
The group had gathered for digital security and information management workshop on one of Istanbul's islands, Buyukada, on July 5 when police raided the workshop, detained the participants, and confiscated electronic equipment including computers and mobile phones. Among those arrested was the director of Amnesty International Turkey, Idil Eser.
Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet reported that police also raided the homes of some of the human rights defenders who was arrested, and seized books, CDs, phones and digital devices. On July 11, Hurriyet Daily News reported that “house raids on detainees’ addresses were still ongoing.”
Amnesty International announced on July 11 that all ten people will remain in detention for at least seven more days.
Amnesty International chief Salil Shetty described the arrests as a “grotesque abuse of power and highlights the precarious situation facing human rights activists in the country.”
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, described the situation as  “a repressive new low for the Turkish state,” and called for their immediate release.
When he was questioned about the detentions at a July 8 press conference at the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued that the meeting “would constitute almost a continuation of the 15th July events,” referencing the failed coup attempt of 2016.
Turkish authorities have provided no evidence to the media or the public of the President's assertion. All ten of those detained demonstrate a commitment peaceful, constructive protection of the rights of all Turkish people as they are enshrined by local laws and international human rights norms.
In a tweet on behalf of their staff, Amnesty International recalled their efforts to protect Erdogan when he was arrested in 1998 during a stint as Istanbul's mayor.
Governments and intergovernmental agencies from around the world have expressed concern about a lack of due process and abuse of power on the part of the regime. Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt, described the arrests as a “very worrying sign”:
Very worrying sign with Turkish authorities detaining key human rights defenders. Prosecutors running amok. https://t.co/pAx3s78CX5
— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) July 8, 2017
Dutch Member of European Parliament Kati Piri joined in the calls for the release of the group:
Ahead of EP vote on #Turkey, we called for immediate release of human rights defenders, including director of @amnesty
— Kati Piri (@KatiPiri) July 6, 2017
Supporters of the human rights defenders are using Facebook to share updates and news on the group via the Free Rights Defenders – Hak Savunucularına Dokunma group. On Twitter, supporters are using the hashtags #HakSavunucularınaDokunma, #FreeRightsDefenders and #Istanbul10 to share information.
The World Organisation Against Torture also issued a statement which has been signed by 40 human rights organisations from around the world, stating “human rights work should not be criminalized” and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of all ten detained participants.

author: Zara Rahman


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Japan Celebrates Day Devoted to Sticky, Aromatic Cultured Soy Beans · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Natto and Rice” (納豆ごはん) by Flickr user Masafumi Iwai. License: Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Natto, sometimes described as a kind of “vegetable cheese,” is a traditional Japanese dish made with cultured soy beans. And on July 10, Japan celebrated a day devoted to the food, with many Twitter users uploading photos using the hashtag #NattoDay (#納豆の日).
7月10日は納豆の日！
＼(・ ω・)／ﾅｯﾄｩ pic.twitter.com/wcBBhZcbHq
— IBK44 (@IBK44) July 9, 2017
Image caption: July 10 is Natto Day!
Tweet: It's Natto Day!
＼(・ ω・)／  “Natto!”
Natto is a popular yet polarizing part of Japan's culinary culture. Many people love natto for its “umami” flavor and health benefits, while others are put off by the fermented food's strong odor and stickiness.
The food is commonly sold in styrofoam packets, and is mixed with hot mustard and a rice vinegar-based sauce. Many Japanese have their own locally produced brands of natto, such as this packet of natto, sold in the city of Morioka, in the northeastern prefecture of Iwate:
7月10日は『納豆の日』だな。盛岡市は都道府県庁所在地ランキングで、納豆の消費金額・消費量ともに毎年上位さなるぐれぇ納豆好きの人が多いんだなっす。 pic.twitter.com/SYIJWD4Sbe
— わらしちゃん (@warashichan_pnk) July 10, 2017
So, July 10 is Natto Day. Apparently when compared to other cities across Japan, in terms of money spent and sheer sales volume every year the city of Morioka climbs of the rankings. We certainly love natto here.
The fermented beans are quickly mixed with chopsticks before eating. A key feature of natto are sticky strands that are sometimes difficult to deal with:
納豆の日 #パンパカパンツ pic.twitter.com/lQ0wJCwdKX
— べんぴねこ (@benpineko) July 10, 2017
#PanPakaPantsu (a cute anime with an underwear theme)
Natto can be eaten in a variety of ways, with a variety of toppings. A fishing cooperative in Kasumigaura, a seaside town in Ibaraki, just north of Tokyo, has some suggestions about what to eat with natto on Natto Day.
明日7月10日は #納豆の日　霞ヶ浦北浦の湖の幸からつくられる佃煮や煮干しは納豆との相性バツグンです。納豆パワーに小魚カルシウムを加えて暑さに負けない元気を(^_^)/　#シラウオ佃煮 #シラウオ煮干し #アミ佃煮 #アミ煮干し #霞ヶ浦 #北浦 #茨城県 pic.twitter.com/32T3HLl1KU
— 霞ケ浦北浦水産事務所 (@kasumigaura000) July 9, 2017
July 10 is #NattoDay. This dried and stewed baitfish goes extraordinarily well with natto. Combining the power of natto with the calcium of fish and beat the summer heat, and keep going in the months ahead. (^_^)/
As for why July 10 has been declared Natto Day, Hana Kotoba, a website devoted to the symbolism of Japanese words, explains:
きょう7月10日は《納豆の日》
7(なっ)10(とう)の語呂合わせにより制定。
大豆の花言葉は
「必ず来る幸せ」 pic.twitter.com/h9j4op9KuH
— はな言葉 (@hanacotoba_jp) July 9, 2017
Today, July 10, is Natto Day:
It come from the combination of 7 (sometimes pronounced as ‘nanatsu’, or ‘na’), for July, the seventh month, and 10 (sometimes pronounced as “toh”).
The saying associated with ‘daizu’ (大豆, the beans used to make natto) is “luck will always come.”
This article has been updated to reflect that natto is made from cultured soy beans, and is not fermented.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Myanmar’s Challenging Media Landscape, in Cartoons · Global Voices
The Irrawaddy

This article is from The Irrawaddy, an independent news website in Myanmar, and is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Despite having abolished the decades-long practice of literary censorship in 2012, Myanmar has gone the reverse direction of media freedom, particularly since 2014.
Here is a series of cartoons published by The Irrawaddy over the course of four years— from 2014 to 2017—reflecting the media milestones and hardships experienced in the country.
Cartoon by Kyaw Thu Yein, October 30, 2014 / The Irrawaddy
In October 2014, freelance reporter Aung Kyaw Naing, also known as Par Gyi, was killed while in military custody. The Myanmar Army said the journalist was shot dead when he attempted to seize a soldier’s gun and escape detention. Despite his wife’s attempt to get charges filed against the military for the death and alleged torture of her husband, the case was dropped by the police and courts.
Cartoon by Shwe Lu, May 4, 2016 / The Irrawaddy
Myanmar ended literary censorship in 2012. Four years later in 2016, press freedom in the country is depicted as still in its infancy.
Cartoon by Kyaw Thu Yein, May 3, 2014 / The Irrawaddy
This 2014 cartoon demonstrates the control and lack of support for independent media in Myanmar.
Cartoon by Kyaw Thu Yein, May 19, 2017 / The Irrawaddy
There have nearly 70 cases filed under Article 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law—which is used to prosecute online “defamation” during the term of current governing party National League for Democracy.
Cartoon by Harn Lay, May 2, 2014 / The Irrawaddy
The year 2014 saw backsliding in press freedom in Myanmar with authorities placing restrictions on some publications on not to publish “inappropriate news about the government.” Others were threatened that they would be “held responsible for inciting social unrest” with their coverage of violence in Rakhine State. Four journalists and the CEO of Unity Weekly newspaper were detained by the police force’s Special Branch after the newspaper reported the existence of an alleged chemical weapons factory in Pauk, Magwe Division. All are facing prison terms of up to 14 years for “violating state secret laws.”
Cartoon by Zagalay, May 2, 2014 / The Irrawaddy
Despite the booming private media outlets in the country, Myanmar’s Ministry of Information takes a lion’s share of control of everything related to the media industry.
Cartoon by Kyaw Thu Yein, July 15, 2014 / The Irrawaddy
A 2014 cartoon demonstrates the precariousness of press freedom under the quasi-civilian government led by former President U Thein Sein.
Cartoon by Kyaw Thu Yein, July 1, 2017 / The Irrawaddy
Under Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government, the Myanmar Army arrested three journalists from independent media outlets, including one from The Irrawaddy, on June 26, accusing them of holding connections with an outlawed ethnic armed group. At the time of publication, they remain in prison.

author: The Irrawaddy