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Are Countries Legally Required to Protect Their Citizens From Climate Change? · Global Voices
Ensia

Urgenda lawyer Roger Cox (at left in black robe) after winning the historic Dutch climate case. Photo by Urgenda / Chantal Bekker and republished with permission.
This post by Sophia V. Schweitzer was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
On June 24, 2015, a court in The Hague ordered the Dutch government to act faster in its duty to protect its citizens against the effects of climate change. This marks the first time the issue has been legally declared a state obligation, regardless of arguments that the solution to the global climate problem does not depend on one country’s efforts alone. The decision was based on various branches of law, including, most importantly, human rights. In effect, it makes the Dutch government accountable for greenhouse gas emissions on its own territory, an outcome other countries may also need to heed.
The government, the court said, must ensure that Dutch emissions in 2020 will be at least 25 percent lower than those in 1990 — the amount the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report says is needed from industrialized countries if the world is to not exceed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warming and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Dutch political leaders had been planning to cut emissions by up to 17 percent within the next five years.
“Our case lets politicians know that they can’t let climate change happen. They have a duty to act, be it legally or morally,” says Dennis van Berkel, legal counsel to the Urgenda Foundation, which, supported by about 900 co-plaintiffs, initiated the suit.
The Dutch, whose country lies largely below sea level, have reason to worry about climate change. But they live in a country that has resources to adapt. People in poorer countries, who have contributed least to climate change and are also often least well prepared to respond, are likely to suffer the most. It’s for them that the Dutch victory is critical, says van Berkel. “The rights of our co-plaintiffs are central, but people outside of the Netherlands will be even harder hit by climate change,” he says. “The ruling will encourage others to appeal to human rights when it comes to climate change threats.” Which brings up the big question: Is the Dutch court ruling a landmark for the entire globe?
In 2008, the International Council on Human Rights Policy in Geneva, Switzerland, wrote in a report about climate change and human rights: “As a matter of law, the human rights of individuals must be viewed in terms of state obligations.” But the world has long been grappling with international agreements for such obligations; from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to repeated Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — COP — meetings, the best efforts have struggled to gain traction, in large part because political actions have not kept pace with promises made.
Aware of that gap, citizens have tried to litigate political leaders into action, but prior to the Urgenda (a portmanteau of “urgent agenda”) case there were no victories. In 2005, for example, the Inuit Circumpolar Council filed a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, based in Washington, D.C., claiming that global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from the United States violated the Inuit people’s right to sustain their traditional ways of life due to destruction of the Arctic environment. But the commission dismissed the complaint due to lack of sufficient evidence.
“The obligations are clear,” says Wim Voermans, a professor of constitutional law at Leiden University in the Netherlands. “But when they aren’t kept, can citizens then make a claim that it’s a country’s non-acting that’s endangering them? That’s the challenge. … It’s hard to prove direct causalities in civil litigation.”
Facing coastal erosion, the village of Kivalina, Alaska, sued several large energy companies, claiming that global warming had resulted in its forced relocation. Flickr: Photo by ShoreZone (Flickr/Creative Commons)
In 2008, the village of Kivalina, Alaska, sued several large energy companies claiming that global warming had diminished sea ice formation, forcing the village to relocate. The case was dismissed based on judicial determination that decisions about permissible levels of greenhouse gas emissions should be made by the executive and legislative branches, not by the courts.
“The real problem is, who has what power?” says Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University Law School. “Whose job is it to set climate policy? Basically, all judges have said, not me. Before the Urgenda case, no court had really taken on this role.”
Courts haven’t been entirely averse to taking responsibility, though. In 2006-2007, Massachusetts sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had refused to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the federal Clean Air Act of 1970. The agency claimed that any attempt to regulate greenhouse gases might impede potential White House strategies. The Supreme Court disagreed. While it was an important outcome, “the court did not set policy,” Gerrard explains. “It was just saying, it is EPA’s job.”
Meanwhile, in different countries courts have varying views about how broadly they can act. In environmental policy, courts have at times chosen to intervene on behalf of the public. In 2001, for example, the Supreme Court of India decreed that all Delhi buses had to convert from diesel to natural gas, which has had a profound effect on air quality. It was an important ruling, but it didn’t get into climate change.
Amid this impasse between governments avoiding responsibility and courts preferring not to interfere, academics and attorneys worldwide as well as some members of the judiciary have felt a growing unease. A group of them eventually came together to determine whether climate change is an actual issue under existing law, specifically international law, human rights law, national environmental law and, to a lesser extent, tort law. They concluded the answer is yes. “There are longstanding principles of human rights and protection of environment that are threatened by climate change,” Gerrard says. “Our view is that the law should have the ability to address this great threat.”
The group’s discussions, which took several years, led to the launch of the Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations on March 1, 2015. Drawing on existing law and the IPCC’s 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) threshold finding and prepared by expert members from national and international courts, universities and organizations in every region of the world, the principles seek to define the scope of legal obligations relevant to climate change. “We are currently educating judges around the world of the existence of the principles,” says Gerrard, a co-author of the principles. “Our hope is that judges in various countries will use the framework of the principles and that they are cited by the courts.”
Roger Cox, the author of the book Revolution Justified and one of the lawyers representing Urgenda, was overwhelmed after the Dutch court ruling. Photo by Urgenda / Chantal Bekker
The Urgenda case began before the principles were established, and was inspired by a book titled Revolution Justified, written by Roger Cox, one of the lawyers representing Urgenda, which looks at how courts can play a role in solving energy issues. But as the suit progressed it relied in part on the Oslo Principles, bringing together various branches of law and IPCC science. According to Gerrard, the Urgenda ruling was “the first decision by any court in the world ordering states to limit greenhouse gas emissions for reasons other than statutory mandates.”
Meanwhile, new scientific findings keep pouring forth. The journal Nature reported in February that carbon emissions from thawing permafrost will accelerate climate change, information not accounted for in current IPCC reports. With each such finding, the goal to not exceed an increase of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) becomes more difficult. “Our findings add one more pressure for action,” says Kevin Schaefer, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, who contributed to the Nature paper. “There is a sense of urgency. The carbon feedback is an irreversible process, a true tipping point.”
But a lack of scientific evidence hasn’t been the stumbling block for climate action in the decades since scientists have identified the issue. The Urgenda ruling could offer a different way forward because it sets a legal precedent, saying that concrete reductions cannot wait. While the ruling is not binding for any other country, it sets an example and, as such, is a landmark for the world.
“We hope that there is enough momentum built that many countries feel an obligation,” Gerrard says.
This offers a new piece to the puzzle as countries move toward convening in Paris for COP 21 this coming November — a piece they will likely have to deal with before then as lawyers are emboldened to bring similar cases around the globe. “No one expects that commitments made in COP 21 will be sufficient to avoid dangerous climate change,” van Berkel says. “But after COP 21 it is going to be critical that countries remain committed to what is needed. Juridical procedures similar to our case are going to be instrumental in this.” No events have been scheduled yet in Paris to discuss the Oslo Principles, but Urgenda has been organizing a march from Utrecht to Paris starting November 1 to draw further attention to action needed to fight climate change.
A citizen suit similar to Urgenda’s is currently underway in Belgium and another is expected soon in Norway. Urgenda’s decision may yet be appealed, and future cases may be successful or not. Either way, they each will play a role in changing the zeitgeist toward a feeling that climate change and human rights are inextricable, says Bill McKibben, founder of the climate campaign 350.org, which, among other actions, has led the campaign for universities and other entities to divest from fossil fuels. “They’ll drive home, constantly, the message from Desmond Tutu: Climate change is the human rights crisis of our time.”
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author: Ensia


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Cuba Si, Google No: Cuban Officials Rumored to Reject Google’s Free WiFi Offer · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

A WiFi symbol in Old Havana, Cuba. Photo by Nano Anderson, taken from Flickr under a CC License BY 2.0.
Top Cuban officials allegedly have rejected an offer from Google to supply the island with free public WiFi throughout the country.
Although neither the company nor the Cuban government has explicitly commented on the matter, multiple news sources seem to have drawn this conclusion from an interview in Juventud Rebelde (“Rebellious Youth”), the island's long-standing youth newspaper. The interview featured Jose Ramon Machado, a contemporary of the Castro brothers, who after forty years at the helm of Cuba's Union of Communist Youth appears as determined as ever to instill in young Cubans the values and morals of Cuba's unique brand of Marxism.
When the reporter asked Machado what he thought about the value of the Internet for Cuban youth, Machado's response was clear:
Esto supone una gran oportunidad, a la vez que un gran reto, porque las nuevas tecnologías resultan novedosas y vitales, no solo para la comunicación entre las personas, sino además para el desarrollo. Todo el mundo sabe por qué en Cuba no hay más Internet, porque ello tiene un alto costo.
Existen algunos que nos la quieren dar gratis, pero no lo hacen con el fin de que el pueblo cubano se comunique, sino con el propósito de penetrarnos y hacer trabajo ideológico para lograr una nueva conquista. Tenemos que poseer Internet, pero a nuestra forma, sabiendo que es una intención del imperialismo manejarla como una vía más de destruir a la Revolución.
Internet access is a great opportunity and at the same time a great challenge, because new technologies are novel and vital, not only for person-to-person communication, but also for development. Everyone knows why there isn't more Internet [in Cuba]. It's because of the high cost.
There are those who would like to give us Internet for free, but they aren't doing this so that Cubans can communicate with one another, rather they're doing it with the goal of penetrating us on ideological grounds, in an effort to make a new conquest. We need to get Internet, but in our own way, recognizing that the imperialist intention is to use it as one more way to destroy the Revolution.
The dystopian imperialist takeover Machado imagines may sound far-fetched, but the essence of his point should not be written off as absurd or dotty. Replace “conquest” with “profit” and the response sounds more reasonable. In the words of Uruguayan journalist Fernando Ravsberg, who has resided in Havana since the early 1990s, “They say that when the donation is too large, even the poor become suspicious.”
Indeed, Google is a bright and shiny representation of the core free market capitalistic values that entities like the Union of Communist Youth, and the Cuban Communist Party on the whole, have sought to deconstruct and disavow since the 1960s.
What Machado didn't mention in the interview is the all-but-confirmed fact that the Cuban government did go so far as to meet with Google executives, including CEO Eric Schmidt, on at least one occasion since the countries decided to renew diplomatic relations last December. US tech media have gone crazy for the story (see headlines from Newsweek, Havana Times) despite the fact that no formal agreement ever appears to have been reached. But it is important that Cuban officials were willing to entertain the possibility at all.
One can surmise that there is an intense debate afoot within the party and government concerning these questions and that not everyone has come down on the same side as Machado. In recent years, it has become far easier for Cubans to own and use tech products and services, and to exchange digital media files using pendrives and bluetooth technology without fear of punishment. WiFi networks are no longer unheard of, though still practically non-existent outside Havana.
Machado's interview may not represent the final word on this story, or on the broader question of US technology companies setting up shop in Cuba. But it does suggest that the debate over access to technology and its political meaning both in and outside the country continues to rage within the heart of Cuba's leadership.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


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Enough With the ‘Us Versus Them Mentality’—We Are All Trinidadian · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Chinese-Trinidadian Lily Kwok's photo, which she posted publicly on Facebook, in an effort to counteract racial stereotyping.
The online retaliation by Trinidad and Tobago citizens of Chinese descent over the latest surge of racial stereotyping against them is attracting a lot of attention. The anti-Chinese sentiments were ignited by a video of a couple — allegedly at a local Chinese restaurant — skinning a dog. It went viral on social media and was exacerbated by inflammatory comments by the country's health minister.
One “Chinee girl” (as they are sometimes referred to in Trinidad), Lily Kwok, couldn't take it anymore and posted a photo of herself on Facebook holding a placard that said, “I will not ‘Go back to China’. I am Trinidadian.” She was immediately supported by a slew of like-minded citizens, some of Chinese descent, some not.
Her spunk and outspokenness so affected blogger Rhoda Bharath that she interviewed Kwok about the experience of living in her Chinese skin in Trinidad and Tobago. Bharath introduced the post by summarising that Kwok “has Chinese parents, a lovely mind and a bruised spirit. She feels under represented, unempowered and overwhelmed”. As it turned out, the dog-skinning incident was not the first one that precipitated online anti-Chinese sentiment. Kwok recalled:
This first began with the incident of the 4 Chinese nationals who were involved in the stealing of the turtle eggs in June, 2015. I was absolutely flabbergasted […] As someone who loves animals and enjoys turtle-watching, I was very upset at the situation. But you know what else also upset me? The racialized comments that followed after on social media. There is no doubt in my mind that what those men did was criminal and they should be dealt with by the law accordingly. However, instead of purely focusing on the criminality of the action […] many comments diverged into racial stereotyping; assumptions that ‘Chinee people does eat anything’. Moreover, some comments went so far as to request that ‘all dem Chinee need to be sent back.’ I found this amusing considering that when pictures of people standing on leatherback turtles surface on social media, people rarely (if ever) involve ‘race’ in admonishing the acts.
Of the dog-skinning incident, she said:
No one denies that a dog is being skinned in the video. That is indeed a fact. And yes, Chinese nationals were once again involved in such an act. That is indeed a fact. But you know what are not facts? That the preparation of the dog to be eaten is any way connected to a Chinese restaurant, that dog meat is being used as a substitute for other meat in Chinese restaurants, and that ALL Chinese people and people of Chinese ancestry eat dog. Yet, even though these are not hard, substantiated facts, many people have made extremely racist and xenophobic comments surrounding them […]
Instead of focusing on the real issue at hand, which is having a meaningful discussion on animal rights and protection in Trinidad and Tobago, we have devolved into using the situation as a platform to unearth deep-seated racism towards Chinese people and people of Chinese ancestry.
Noting that complacency about these kinds of issues is dangerous, Kwok said that she deals with this kind of ethnic stereotyping “through education”:
Sometimes you have to remind someone of your own humanity and individuality. […] To cultivate unity, harmony and love within our society we must first begin to show love ourselves.
Three years ago, in time for Trinidad and Tobago's 50th anniversary of independence from Great Britain, Joshua Lue Chee Kong posted a photography project online that demonstrated just how deep-seated Trinidad and Tobago's racial perceptions were. He streamed the project into four “series” — Brown, White, Yellow and Black — and posed, as a Chinese person, in various stereotypical scenarios that made it evident, without saying a word, just how ridiculous these impressions are. The Brown Series was a play on the history of Indian indentured labourers who arrived in Trinidad and Tobago to work in the sugar cane fields post-Emancipation:
Photo by Keevan Chang On. Used with permission
The White Series took on the idea of light-skinned Trinidadians being entitled and carefree:
Photo by Keevan Chang On. Used with permission
The Yellow Series was almost prophetic, as it featured several images of Lue Chee Kong in a kitchen with packs of “dog meat”:
Photo by Keevan Chang On. Used with permission
Finally, the Black Series featured Lue Chee Kong at an intersection, poised to clean car windshields:
Photo by Keevan Chang On. Used with permission
It is astounding that these two posts are years apart; Lily Kwok could have been commenting on Joshua Lue Chee Kong's images when she said:
You, as a person in a ‘callaloo country […] have no right to humiliate or dehumanize another human being on the basis of their ‘status’ within the country. This ‘us’ versus ‘them’ mentality, perpetuated since the dawn of colonialism, is a little too old for 2015.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Explaining the Appeal of the Song ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika’ Across Africa and Beyond · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Enoch Sontonga, composer of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (God Bless Africa) on a post stamp – Public Domain
You may not know the exact title of the song, but chances are you have heard its melody.
“Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (“Lord Bless Africa” in Xhosa) is the national anthem of Tanzania and, since 1994, it is also a portion of the national anthem of South Africa. Yet its universal appeal across the African continent goes beyond its familiar tune at international events.
In the age of the Internet, the worldwide allure of the song is undeniable. The translated version with French subtitles on YouTube has been watched more than 40,000 times, the Spanish version at least 60,000 times and the Portuguese version 18,000 times. Additionally, thousands of covers of the anthem are currently shared on various social media platforms.
The appeal is even more pronounced within Africa. One of the most viewed non-South African renditions is a cover by the Kenyan Boys Choir. A choir in Cotonou, Benin, and a Congolese church choir have made it part of their repertoires as well.
As an epitome of the diverse African crowd that are seemingly irresistibly drawn to it, the following video is a tribute to Nelson Mandela with the original Xhosa and Zulu lyrics and their English subtitles. The maker of the video ? Heri Rakotomalala,  a web developer from Madagascar based in Canada. (The video has been seen 27,000 times since December 2013):
So what makes this anthem so appealing across the African continent? The harmonious chorus certainly plays a role, as does the uniting message. Both notions are expressed with force when large crowds sing in unison, like at the Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert in the mid-1980s, featuring Miriam Makeba and Paul Simon:
Screen capture of Lady Smith Black Mambazo concert where the anthem was sung by the crowd.
But those are not the reasons that attract more than 1.2 million viewers to the song. As often is the case, it all comes back to the its historical context. The song has long been linked to African anti-colonial movements. It has been a staple of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa and was often sung at meetings during the global anti-apartheid movement of the 1970s and 1980s. Bennetta Jules-Rosette and David B. Coplan, scholars at Wits University in Johannesburg, argues that it is Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika's appeal to our emotional core as humans that makes it universal:
Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (“God Bless Africa”), known as the African anthem, is a powerful signifier for mourning, redemption, and celebration. In the religious versions, the text emphasizes mourning for Africa’s past and a prayer for redemption through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The secular versions eliminate the reference to Jesus and focus on the spiritual inspiration and uplift needed by Africa’s leaders. Africa metonymically occupies the space of a departed ancestor, living in a timeless eternity while waiting for redemption. The political song transforms this timeless eternity into an active present and an opportunity for future progress.
The origin of the anthem is as fascinating as the social meaning it took on later. The song was composed as a hymn in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa clergyman at a Methodist mission school near Johannesburg, South Africa. Siemon Allen, a blogger at the Flat International South African Audio Archive Blog, narrates the history of the record:
Sontonga was a gifted song writer who composed tunes for his students to use at public events. The African National Congress eventually adopted Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika as their official anthem in 1925. With the adoption of the hymn by the ANC as its official anthem, the song was sung at many official events. But it could also be heard at most gatherings of protest and subsequently became a rallying cry and symbol of resistance. The role of the hymn in this way shifted from a religious to a political context.
The song is popular not only on the the African continent. This Slovenian version (arrangement by Tomaž Kozlevčar) has attracted 120,000 viewers.
Tomaž Kozlevčar explains why he felt compelled to produce the video in a message to South Africans everywhere:
Dear South African friends, honouring the big and immeasurably important steps you and your compatriots have taken in the last decades towards finding the great strength of ethnic and cultural diversity of your beautiful country, we – Perpetuum Jazzile vocal group, where tolerance and multiculturalism stand at the forefront of everything we do – would like to say a big thank you for all your humanity, wisdom, and courage, which blended into one of the brightest contributions to the history of mankind, let alone its future. Moreover, we would kindly ask you to accept a brand new rendition of your beloved Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica as our gift of gratitude to you! Finding rhythmic pulse and rich harmonies using our vocals only, we hope the song, created in our homeland of Slovenia, finds a special and harmonious place in your hearts for many years to come.
A French choir in Lyon also took a stab at the anthem:
The producer of the video, Christian Jusselme, is a professor of music at the college Marie Laurencin and Rene Cassin High School Tarare (Rhone). He created a gospel choir in the high school at the demand of his students that specializes in negro spirituals, gospel, soul music and world music.
In the United States, The Princeton University Glee Club also paid homage to Nelson Mandela following his death with a stirring rendition of the anthem:
A now lesser-known song, Special AKA, probably achieved more for social progress against apartheid than Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. But the fact remains that Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika echoes at the strings of the heart of Africans and non-Africans like no other songs can. Enoch Sontonga died in 1905 in relative anonymity but his masterpiece lives on in the heart of a whole continent centuries later.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Humanizing Politics and Building Bridges: Katie Brown’s Literature-Based View of Venezuela · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Katie Brown presenting her work on “Manifiesto: País,” where she explores responses to the “prescriptive nationalism of Bolivarian cultural politics.” Screenshot taken from the presentation uploaded on YouTube by the Venezuelan Research Network.
Inside the growing number of online spaces exploring literature from Latin America, Katie Brown's blog Venezuelan Literature has a presence all of its own. Her project is a careful collection of interviews, works of fiction from Venezuela, and more—all seen through the lens of a British academic.
On her blog, Brown promotes the study of Venezuelan literature, working to expand the public's understanding of the country's complex society and political history by learning about the local fiction. Venezuelan Literature collects and examines this important side of the country. Though she's never even visited Venezuela, Brown has used its literature to form an intimate connection with the country and its culture. Global Voices recently spoke to Brown about this relationship and more.
Global Voices (GV): You say that Venezuela, along with other Latin American countries are absent from the English-speaking publishing scene. What made you choose Venezuela and not any of the others?
Katie Brown (KB): Partly because Venezuela is such a large and rich country, compared to the other countries absent from the English-speaking literary market, like Ecuador, Paraguay, or Central American countries. Since [former President Hugo] Chávez came to power, Venezuela has also increasingly been the focus of political and anthropological research, so I found it strange that this wasn’t matched in cultural studies.
At the same time, I’ve always been a bit obsessed with the link between nationalism and culture, so I was drawn to Venezuela, given the hyper-nationalism that has characterized the Bolivarian government. [The “Bolivarian Revolution” refers to a leftist social movement and political process in Venezuela launched by Hugo Chávez.]
GV: You've also said you were hooked when you read your first Venezuelan works of literature. What about it so attracted you?
KB: Victor Bravo talks of Venezuelan literary tradition as defined by the absurd, the grotesque, the fantastical, and a fascination with evil. I’ve always been attracted to the weird and the dark.
I love different Venezuelan novels and short-story collections for different reasons, but there seems to be something dark about all of them. The black comedy of Chulapos Mambo (Juan Carlos Méndez Guédez). The beautiful melancholy of Blue Label/Etiqueta Azul (Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles) and La Enfermedad (Alberto Barrera Tyszka)—two books which really moved me with their reflections on love and loss.
GV: What stories are most commonly told in the Venezuelan literature of today?
KB: I’m currently working on an anthology of contemporary Venezuelan writing to be published by Ragpicker Press. We received over 100 stories, crónicas [a nonfiction story recounting particular events in social life] and extracts from novels, which present a huge variety in terms of both subject matter and style. We have noticed certain themes recur, though: mainly, lots of death and lots of sex!
We have several harrowing stories from the coups of 1992 and the protests of 2014, which really brought home the similarities between the two and the continued insecurity Venezuelans face. Economic insecurity, scarcity, polarized politics, and crime are common themes, but so are memories and nostalgia, and familiar relations. It’s bleak, but among these stories there is still humor, warmth, and resilience.
GV: What idea of the country have you been able to construct through these stories? What is moving Venezuelan writers to write these days?
KB: Above all, I think there’s a desire to tell a good story, in an innovative way, to move readers in some way. Beyond that, each writer has his or her own reasons for writing.
For too many years, there has been a perception of Venezuelan literature as a failure, largely because of the absence of Venezuelan authors in the [Latin American literary] Boom, and the invisibility of Venezuelan literature abroad. As people now begin to leave the country and share their literature with their new neighbors, as small private publishing houses within Venezuela like Lugar Común, Bid&Co and PuntoCero are building up a reputation, Venezuelans are realizing that their literature does have worth. I think that is encouraging more writers to try to get their work out there.
GV: What stories do you think there are left to tell in Venezuelan literature?
KB: What stories are left to tell anywhere?! In Rating, by Alberto Barrera Tyszka, the protagonist Manuel Izquierdo argues that everyone should just stop writing now as mankind has told all of its stories. I completely disagree. I’m constantly finding new, surprising stories—or ways of telling them—in all literature, not just in Venezuela.
GV: What other blogs about Latin American literature do you follow?
KB: I follow a lot of sources reporting on Venezuelan literature, obviously, especially Ficción Breve, which is doing great things to support authors, especially their annual Premio de la Crítica. Also Prodavinci, Qué Leer [What to Read], Letralia, and the one that I feel slightly awkward about putting in my PhD bibliography: Nalgas y Libros [Butts and Books]. I always recommend Guillermo Parra’s Venepoetics blog, where he posts translations of Venezuelan poetry.
GV: What other countries are absent in the English-speaking world?
KB: Except for Eduardo Halfón’s The Polish Boxer, what little literature from Central America that has been translated hasn’t been particularly visible. Similarly, Paraguay and Uruguay are totally absent from The Three Percent’s databases of translations into English in recent years. Not to mention Spanish-language literature from outside of Latin America, from countries like the Philippines or Morocco.
More of Katie Brown's work can be found online at the Venezuelan Research Network. In 2014, Brown delivered a lecture about an axhibition that took place at the Central University of Venezuela, in which over 60 Venezuelan writers and intellectuals worked to develop “an idea of the country.”

author: Laura Vidal


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One Puerto Rican Island’s 135-Year History of Struggle and Victory · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

The US Navy used the island of Culebra, a municipality of Puerto Rico, as a military training camp for many years, polluting their land and water still to this day. In the photo, people of Culebra confront the Navy. Screenshot of “Culebra 135-40.”
The Puerto Rican island municipality of Culebra is famous for its beaches, widely considered some of the most beautiful in the world. However, there's more to Culebra than sun, sea and sand. The people of Culebra were witness to and protagonists in a history full of resistance and struggle over their land and water, a large part of which was occupied by the US Navy for military training bases.
Playa Flamenco is an example of one of Culebra's pristine beaches. Photo by Christopher Zapf.  Used under license CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
For many years the people of Culebra had to live their lives amidst explosions, bombs, bullets and pollution caused by the Navy, who secretly suggested to the Puerto Rican government that they get rid of the island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra and send their inhabitants to the main island of Puerto Rico; they would even send the dead from their graves.
The Navy's intention was to gain the exclusive use of both islands and ban the people of Vieques and Culebra from setting foot on their land again, even if it was to bring flowers to the gravestones of their loved ones. Due to the macabre nature of the Navy's proposal, it became known as “Plan Dracula.”
Nevertheless, the people of Culebra triumphed, succeeding in sending the Navy them from their island in 1975. Vieques expelled the Navy in 2003 after years of civil disobedience campaigns and the efforts of social movements and individuals across the political spectrum.
Remnants of the US Navy such as this tank still remain, contaminating the beaches of Culebra.  Photo taken by Christopher Zapf.  Used under license CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Some memoirs of these battles have been compiled in the documentary called “Culebra 135-40“, produced by the Puerto Rican monthly Diálogo UPR. The film is part of the publication's special series in celebration of the 135 years since the founding of Culebra, and 40 years since the Navy left.
Watch the documentary (in Spanish) below:

author: Ángel Carrión


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Psychologist Leaves St. Petersburg University After Pressure from Anti-LGBT Group · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University's school logo. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
The St. Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University has dissolved a medical board legally charged with granting permission for sex-change operations to patients over 21 years old, and apparently fired Dmitry Isaev, the doctor who headed the commission. Isaev, a noted scholar who headed the school’s department of clinical psychology, came under attack by an anti-gay group known as Moscow Is Not Sodom and St. Petersburg Is Not Gommorah! after granting an interview to the LGBT youth community Children-404.
On May 14, Isaev participated in an ask-me-anything style interview with Lena Klimova’s LGBT youth group Children-404, where he answered different questions about issues ranging from Russian laws cracking down on the LGBT community to best parenting practices when a child is gay.
Two weeks later, Moscow Is Not Sodom organized a letter-writing campaign against Isaev, accusing him of being a mentally ill former criminal, claiming that he “almost never” rejects requests by supposed transgender individuals for sex changes, unlike “traditional psychiatrists in this position.” The group encouraged followers to send complaints to the St. Petersburg district attorney’s office, asking police to review his work as a teacher and as head of the medical board granting permission for sex changes.
On July 10, rumors started spreading online that the university had buckled under the pressure of the anti-gay campaign, firing Isaev and disbanding the commission. On July 16, Isaev confirmed to the media that his tenure at the university has ended, though he declined to elaborate on the reasons, citing the school’s wishes. In the past, Isaev indicated that the university’s management struggled to respond to the influx of complaints and phone calls.
This was not the first time Isaev granted an interview to Children-404. More than two years ago, he spoke at length to the group, criticizing Russia’s rising culture of “intolerance” and generally retrograde understanding of the LGBT community. Isaev also stressed that homosexuality and other sexual orientations are naturally occurring and not to be dismissed as lifestyle choices.
Writing on VKontakte, Russia’s most popular online social network, Children-404 founder Lena Klimova lamented Isaev’s dismissal, saying, “I thought this would be impossible. It turns out that no one is safe.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


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The Force Isn’t Strong With Trinidad & Tobago’s Newest Political Party · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“T&T Election date announced…” Photo by IZATRIINI.com. Used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Less than two weeks after its launch, Trinidad and Tobago's newest political party, The Third Force Movement, has announced that it will not be contesting the country's general elections in September. Netizens did not seem particularly surprised, as there was a significant public perception of the group as a puppet of the current administration.
The party's chairman made it clear that it was “not the end of The Third Force Movement”, but the online community didn't interpret it that way for the most part — there were several comments on public Facebook threads that hoped the party would “rest in peace”.
Kheron Khan noted that The Third Force was “the shortest lasting party in the history of this country”, adding:
u all are a waste and an embarassment..I am sure most of them woudl (sic) be showing up on a UNC [United National Congress, the main party in the current coalition government] platform very soon
Trevor Joseph agreed with that prediction, posting a photograph of two key members of The Third Force Movement with the sitting prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Some people blamed what they saw as the collapse of the party on one of its members’ racially charged statements.
While a few netizens were disappointed, saying that they held great hope for the party, others said that The Third Force lasted longer than they thought it would. Vernon O'Reilly Ramesar called it a case of “Politicus Interruptus”.
Of course, the humourous “Star Wars” references were irresistible to many. Marisha Darneaud quipped:
I guess the force was not with them. They should have checked with Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi first
Other Facebook users suggested that the decision not to contest the September 7 elections had more to do with internal bickering rather than, as its chairman suggested, there being insufficient time “to establish the institutional framework for a fully fledged political party”. Rhoda Bharath said:
I hearing the Third Force Implosion just EPIC.
#PahteeDun!
Under the hashtag #ThingsThatLastedLongerThanTheThirdForce, she listed “My Breakfast” and “The Red House Fire”, the latter referring to a common Trinbagonian expression that is used when something has no staying power.
Over at the satirical website Wired868, Mr. Live Wire took a stab at the situation by drawing parallels among American actor Bill Cosby, disgraced ex-FIFA Vice President Jack Warner and The Third Force Movement:
All three were hilarious in their own way—certainly, if you enjoy ironic comedy—but, mostly, you would have to be high on something to take any of them seriously.
And, whether they like it or not, the curtain is falling on their careers.
Today, the Third Force Movement (TFM), or COP-lite, waved the white flag, just nine days after announcing their presence and eight and a half days since they lost all credibility.
On their unveiling, TFM chairman Timothy Hamel Smith announced one of their key founding principles lay in party and campaign financing legislation and then promptly refused to say who financed them.
That is, of course, overlooking the racist, uncouth, narcissistic elephant in the room…
The post ended by saying:
The Third Farce never really mattered; Trinidadians, after all, are generally disinterested in recycling.
In a post she wrote for Poliwatch, Rhoda Bharath explained:
The force was with us, and now the farce has left.
It was fairly apparent from its onset that this party had only one direction in which to go. It was comprised of a group of people who had two things in common: they were all part of the COP arm of the People’s Partnership; and most of them had been fired unceremoniously by Kamla Persad-Bissessar for one reason or another. Using the last bit of social currency they had in a country like Trinidad, where class and colourism go hand in hand, they came together and designated themselves the Third Force Movement.
The term third force refers to a way of thinking. In local politics it was first used by Simbhoonath Capildeo to discuss alternative forms of government. People who are against the ideals of the status quo. So, for a party cobbled together by a lawyer and a group of businessmen there is incredible irony in calling themselves or their party the Third Force Movement. How can you be anti-status quo while being the status quo?
Bharath, like the Wired868 post, addressed the racism of one of the party's members and the refusal of the party, which was campaigning on the basis of “campaign finance reform, procurement legislation and electoral reform”, to reveal the source of its funding, saying, “If that isn’t a textbook definition of hypocrisy, then I don’t know what is.”
Finally, she challenged the reasons put forward by The Third Force Movement to opt out of the upcoming general elections:
A group of people, all former servants of the public in some form or fashion, got
together and started a political party without structure? They weren’t consulting with each other? They had no plan? No communication strategies? Were unaware that the election is September 7th? It took them by surprise? And they were in charge of positions and portfolios here? Is this a sign of how they handled public business? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this is a party, that in its first political platform meeting in Boissiere village, Maraval, before a nation hungry for alternatives and ideas after five years of abysmal governance, chose to have a wine and jam session as part of its meeting.


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What You Need to Know About Ethiopia v. Zone9 Bloggers: Verdict Expected July 20 · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

Police lead Natnael Feleke (center right) and fellow blogger Atnaf Berahane (center left) to court. Photo courtesy of Trial Tracker Blog.
Since they were first arrested and jailed on April 25, 2014, Ethiopia's Zone9 bloggers have seen many twists and turns in their case. All told, they have appeared before the court 30 times in 15 months, and been adjourned each time. But with the release of five of the detainees last week, the case now has reached at a critical juncture.
Five Ethiopian writers (four in prison and one in absentia) are still on trial for terror-related crimes that the Ethiopian government claims were committed beginning in May 2012. On July 20, the Ethiopian High Court is expected to issue a verdict on the case.
Endalk Chala, a founding member of the Zone9 blogging collective and Global Voices contributor, answers six key questions on the minds of their supporters around the world.
Prosecutors say that the writers have engaged themselves in undercover enterprise with the intent to overthrow, modify or suspend the Ethiopian Federal State Constitution by violence, threats or conspiracy. Prosecutors have since further accused the writers of encrypting their communications and disseminating seditious writings with the intention of causing public strife or to overthrow, modify or suspend the Ethiopian Federal Constitutional State by violence, threats, or conspiracy. While the first charge asserts that the writers violated the country’s contentious anti-terrorism law, the latter is a violation of criminal code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Both charges are severe in terms penalties, though media coverage of the case has primarily focused on the terrorism charge.
There are ten individuals charged, out of which only five individuals are released suddenly last week. The manner in which the writers were released is so mysterious that even their defense attorney heard the news of the release of his clients via radio. Critics say that the government is trying to save face by releasing a few individuals ahead of President Obama’s imminent visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
In Ethiopia’s legal system there is only a ‘bench’ trial, in which a judge or panel of judges, not a jury, determines if someone is guilty or innocent. Accordingly, the cases of Zone9 Bloggers have been overseen by a middle judge called Shelemew Bekele who chairs the panel of three judges. However, the Zone9 bloggers have repeatedly pointed out that the judge presiding over the case has changed at least four times since proceedings against them first began. After the bloggers protested his partiality to the prosecutors, Judge Shelemew promised to walk out from the case but he still is presiding the case.
Since five of the writers who are accused of similar of crimes were released, there is a hope that the Ethiopian court will exonerate the remaining five bloggers. In brief statements, the released writers said they are perplexed why their colleagues are left in prison but they are optimistic that their friends will soon join them in the free world.
For terrorism and incitement offenses, the mandatory sentence in Ethiopia is a minimum of eight years in prison. However, in the absence of any evidence to support the allegation, I hope the court will recognize that the bloggers are being tried solely for their work in relation with their human rights activism, including their articles critical of Ethiopian government policies, and will exonerate them.
The case of Zone9Bloggers is unfortunately no anomaly in Ethiopia’s highly compromised judiciary system. It is the tip of an iceberg in which political corruption thrives and the judicial system is run by an elite and powerful minority.
Endalk Chala is a founding member of the Zone9 blogging collective who is currently pursuing at PhD at the University of Oregon in the US.

author: Endalkachew Chala


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Why Do Activists and the European Parliament Oppose Cambodia’s NGO Law? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Monks joined the protest caravan against the passage of the NGO law. Photo from Licadho
Cambodia’s government has proposed the passage of the Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations (LANGO) to prevent the rise of what it labels terrorist groups and to stop money laundering. Activists have rejected it for containing provisions that violate the citizens’ constitutional rights.
It was first proposed in 2011 but the ruling party withdrew it after encountering public backlash. LANGO was revived this year and was unanimously passed by the National Assembly on July 13. The Senate will soon tackle the measure.
The parliament debate was boycotted by all members of the opposition who accused the administration coalition of failing to properly inform the public about the details surrounding the law.
At Wat Ounalum in Phnom Penh, 500 monks, farmers, land rights activists, unionists, tuk-tuk drivers, youth, students, and NGO staff gathered to express their rejection of LANGO.
Human rights activists insisted that the name LANGO is inaccurate since the coverage of the law includes all groups, associations, and community formations. That is why they are aghast over LANGO’s provision on mandatory registration because it will criminalize the activities of local groups that fail to register with the bureaucracy.
Maina Kiai, the UN special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, concurs with this analysis:
Any group of people coming together to pursue a common cause, be it a human rights issue or cleaning up their neighbourhood, is an association. And under this draft, every single one of them will be a criminal organization if they do not register.
Workers who joined the protest described LANGO as a law that will curtail the people's right to organize. Photo from Facebook page of Maina Kiai
Aside from the specific provision on mandatory registration, below are some of the aspects of the law that are being opposed by various activist groups:
-Registered local associations must commit to be politically neutral or else they will face penalties and lose government accreditation;
-Article 8 empowers authorities to deny the application of a group that engages in activities that “jeopardize peace, stability and public order or harm the national security, national unity, culture, and traditions of the Cambodian national society.” This is a vague and broad statement that could include all dissenting activities of critical NGOs.
-Article 9 expands the ban on all unregistered domestic NGOs and associations;
-Article 12 requires local NGOs with short term international projects to seek approval first from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. At present, NGOs are only ordered to notify the Ministry about their activities with international partners;
-Article 30 gives discretionary powers to the government minister to remove the registration of domestic NGOs for activities listed under Article 8 mentioned above.
Police set up a barricade that prevented protesters from reaching the National Assembly. Photo from Licadho
Licadho, a local human rights group, asserted that “the real purpose of this law is to exercise control over groups of citizens who want to speak out.”
Civil society is absolutely vital for democracy and legitimizes the democratic institutions we rely on. If LANGO passes, this will be wiped out in an instant, replaced by a bleak environment of unchallenged governance and its myriad consequences.
In recent months, several international organizations have expressed their concern about the introduction of LANGO in the National Assembly. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders described LANGO as “a serious attack on Cambodia’s vibrant and young civil society.” Transparency International echoed this critique as it urged the government to review the draft of the bill:
The proposed law is pernicious. It could be used to effectively stop the ability of NGOs to freely criticize government policies or public officials.
The European Parliament also voiced its apprehension over the contested provisions of LANGO. It warned that Cambodia may lose 600 to 700 million US dollars in development projects annually once the law is passed. It could be alluding to the additional financial regulations that will be imposed by LANGO on international NGOs. The EU is Cambodia’s largest partner in terms of development assistance.
In response, Interior Minister Sar Kheng reiterated that Cambodia is adhering to international standards in passing the LANGO.
I cannot understand why some other foreign countries are also against this law. We have prepared this law based on their laws. Why can they have [such a law] and Cambodia cannot?
Meanwhile, lawmaker Hun Many, son of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is confident that LANGO “will help increase cooperation with the government.”
It appears that the NGO law, which was originally conceived as a reform measure, is part of the ruling party’s strategy to consolidate power after losing a significant number of seats in the 2013 elections. The incumbent prime minister is Southeast Asia’s longest serving head of state who recently initiated dialogue with the opposition bloc.
Whether this will weaken the influence of opposition politicians, the passage of the NGO law is expected to embolden other political forces in Cambodia to step up efforts to block the bill in the Senate. If protests gather momentum in the nation’s capital, will the government ban rallies again like what it did in 2014?
In the meantime, protests are becoming more creative as activists employ various forms of actions to inform the public about the dangers of LANGO. Below is a video protest which was widely shared on social media:

author: Mong Palatino


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On ‘Ex-South Africans’ and White Privilege in Diaspora · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nursing Home Just for ex-South Africans in Herzliya, Israel. Image Credit: Jonathan Paul Katz. Used with permission.
Do White “ex-South Africans” take their white privilege abroad? Do these “ex-South Africans” only identify themselves with Apartheid South Africa? Wikipedia defines White South Africans as people from South Africa who are of European descent and who do not regard themselves, or are not regarded as being part of another racial group (for example, as Coloured).
Jonathan Paul Katz, an American/South African writer and MSc Migration Studies candidate at Oxford University, tackles the issue of White “ex-South Africans” in a blog post on Africa is a Country titled “Taking White Privilege Abroad: On “Ex-South Africans” and the White Diaspora.” He specifically focuses on White South Africans who left the country for Israel:
They didn’t nickname Ra’anana, a posh Israeli suburb north of Tel Aviv, “Ra’ananafontein” [fontein, Afrikaans for spring is a popular name for locations in South Africa and Namibia] for nothing. There, and in the neighboring town of Herzliya, thousands of White South African immigrants — all Jewish, overwhelmingly Ashkenazi — settled in a tight bubble. One can live an entire life in Israel with a social circle wholly composed of White South Africans. Curiously, many of these transplants identify as “Ex-South African.”
At first, I considered this to be a peculiar quirk of the diaspora community in Israel. Yet it turns out many other white expatriate communities also use this term. When white migrants claim to be “ex-South African,” their statement is that South Africa is no longer their country – the political implications of which, only two decades since the end of apartheid and in the era where Rhodes is still falling, are retrograde.
These “ex-South Africans” enjoy special privileges, argues Katz:
In the Western countries where they settle, White South African migrants benefit from systems of power that reward them for being white in skin color and Western in culture. Thus, when some lament the attenuation of such privileges in South Africa, they gain greater access to hegemonic white identities in their host states.
He concludes:
It is an open secret that many white diaspora members are nostalgic for apartheid – and this position is always informed and colored by the local context. Nowadays, we see this in chain emails castigating the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States. These logics extend to military action itself: the communal publications of Israel’s South African community are filled with praise for “security operations” in the West Bank and adopt a congratulatory tone for Israel’s military that is considered right wing even in Israel.
[…] That said, the South Africa these migrants – and the right-wing white strains of South Africa’s diaspora – identify with is the South Africa of apartheid.
Reacting to the article [there are no permanent links for comments], a reader called Justincase maintains the article is unnecessary because it has not said anything that is not commonly known:
Great article, but the information provided is/ought to be such common knowledge to make this article unnecessary. Of course most “ex-white Africans” no longer identify with Africa. Many people within this group have been taught–whether self-taught or by the educational system–that everything but white is uncivilized and a menace. So it is evident that those who have embraced this form of schooling will leave countries that no longer allow them to act upon their beliefs and find countries that are more militant towards a similar cause (e.g. Israel or America).
While another reader, Port, noted:
Lets be honest, the Jews are always the first of any group of people to run from any neighborhood in which a black person moves into.
Countering Port’s argument of Jewish flight, Vynberber gave examples of Jewish solidarity with the predominantly black anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa:
Dennis Goldberg, Arthur Goldreich, Harold Wolpe, Joe Slovo.
Check these guys out. Goldberg was imprisoned by the National Party for 22 years!
In apartheid era South Africa the Jewish population accounted for roughly 10% of the white population and yet nearly 80% of the whites involved in the anti-apartheid movement were Jews…
The “ex-South Africans” were perhaps never truly South Africans, says Fredhatman:
[…]I would only add that perhaps these “ex-South Africans” were never truly South African but simply economic opportunists who have found it easier to live elsewhere. I only wish they would not denigrate my country’s attempts, in the face of many challenges, to evolve into the democratic and non-elitist nation that I believe Mandela visualised. We have a very long way to go but these “expats” have nothing to contribute, apart from their resentment and prejudices.
While Wessel van Rensburg disputes that White South Africans benefit from White privilege in the West:
“In the Western countries where they settle, White South African migrants benefit from systems of power that reward them for being white in skin color and Western in culture.”
Not necessarily. White privilege is not even distributed. I made a documentary about South African immigrants in London, mostly Afrikaans (white) and coloured. At two parties held (mostly) separately by each group I asked the same questions, about why they were in the UK, what they thought of South Africa. The answers were remarkably similar. They feared for jobs and crime, but missed home.
The interesting thing of course is that these two groups congregate in similar areas of London: Stratford, Leyton –- working class areas. Jewish South Africans have long since settled in areas of posher North London like Golders Green, while white English speaking South African in middle class areas like Wimbledon.
Jane Duncan, a professor at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, shared the article on her Facebook page.
Reactions to the publication showed sharp divisions.
Emma Gordon Blass thought the post shows “poor writing and scholarship”:
I assume you posted this piece because of its awfulness! The mere fact that the links refer to nothing like the topics being discussed should indicate this author's poor writing and scholarship.
Most South Africans abroad are proud of their country of origin, and don't refer to themselves as “ex's”. Too much anti-white, and anti-Semitic prejudice here to take these views seriously.
Being a South African living abroad and Jewish, Blass  argued that she has personal insights into the issue:
I am a) South African living abroad, and b) Jewish. So, I have some personal insight into these sweeping allegations of privilege/prejudice. Not the same thing as full possession of the facts, but I know a lot of proud South African-Americans who pursue democratic ideals in their adopted countries, as they did in their home country.
Dennis Levy defends White South African migrants in Israel arguing that Israel at least is a democracy compared to South Africa where everyone knows who is going to win the next election:
Racists like you who blame Jews for everything are the reason why these Jews left South Africa and now live in a place where there is no antisemitism. In case you didn't know, Israel is a democracy where it is possible to change the government. In South Africa we all know which party is going to win the next election, regardless of the crimes they commit.
Responding to those attacking the quality of the article, Jane Duncan says that the critiques are attempts to avoid the evidence presented in the piece:
The article is not at all badly written. That's too often used as a means of slagging an article off so as not to deal with its contents. The links are perfectly relevant to its contents. Now, people migrate all the time in search of better lives; that's why doing so is a basic human right. But to deny that there's such a thing as white flight from South Africa, and that many whites have left because they don't feel comfortable living under a black government, and wish to recreate white enclaves elsewhere, is to deny reality.
Fred Hartman found food for thought in the article:
As a white South African who left SA under apartheid (1984) and returned with a vision of a truly “Rainbow Nation” (1997), I found this article (more a column?) very interesting and well worth thinking about. And worthy of a debate between open minds, rather than from an entrenched position and reactive defensiveness.
Finally, Anna Majavu notes that one settlement designed for White South Africans in Israel was stolen from the Palestinian village of Bili'in:
Good article. Thanks for posting, Jane. It only scratches the surface of white South Africanness in illegal Israeli settlements. The land of Palestinian Bili'in village was stolen in front of my eyes to help build Modi'in Ilit, a new Israeli settlement specifically targeting white South Africans…

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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President Putin Signs Russian ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ Into Law · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The law, signed by Putin, allows users to request that search engines remove links to information about them. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
President Vladimir Putin has signed into law the “right to be forgotten” legislation that makes it possible for individuals to force Internet search engines to delete links to certain kinds of information about them.
According to the law, content links to which should be removed upon a user's request includes false information about the individual’s life, or information that has “become outdated due to later events or actions of the individual.”
The law remains quite vague about the criteria for this kind of information, but The RuNet reports that those filing complaints will have to prove the information has become “outdated”: for instance, a civil servant can ask to remove links about their work only if they no longer hold the post in question and can provide documents proving they left the state service.
The law does not apply to information about criminal activity, in cases where the statute of limitations has not expired.
The law stipulates that search engines must review removal requests over the course of 10 days. Failing to respond to a user's takedown request can lead to court proceedings and, if the court finds that a search engine refused a legitimate request, to fines.
The “right to be forgotten” law, which comes into force on January 1, 2016, has attracted a fair amount of criticism from Russia’s Internet industry, with Yandex, Russia’s biggest search engine, claiming that the law violates Russians’ constitutional right to access to information.
Curiously, on July 14, the same day he signed the “right to be forgotten” law, Vladimir Putin came out in favor of “minimal restrictions” of the Internet. Speaking at a youth IT-forum in the “Territory of Meanings” summer camp in Russia, he said any laws regulating the Internet should be introduced “only to protect public interests as a whole,” and stressed that the Kremlin was not planning to introduce “any other restrictions” apart from the ones already in place. At the same time, Putin said he sees “anarchy and complete anonymity” as the biggest threats posed by the Internet.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Tajikistan’s State News Agency Strengthens its Monopoly Over ‘News’ · Global Voices
Abdulfattoh Shafiev

A screenshot of Khovar's homepage on July 17, 2015. On the right in a white hard hat and blue jacket is Tajikistan's longtime President Emomali Rahmon.
Accessing official information from Tajikistan's state structures was never an easy task for independent Tajik journalists. Now a new government dictate has made it next to impossible.
On July 16 the exile-run news agency Ozodagon published a scan of a hitherto under wraps state decree dated June 30. The decree had been rumoured as existing since private Tajik news agency Tojnews complained at the end of last month that local officials were citing a “new governmental decree on giving all information only through the state news agency Khovar” as a reason not to talk to the website's reporters.
Khovar, a holdover from the government wires set up in each of the fifteen republics of the erstwhile Soviet Union, already enjoyed preferential access to the state in the Central Asian country's constricted information space. The decree appears to signal the government's intent to force all other media outlets to scrap for the crumbs from its plate.
A section of the decree reads as follows:
…минбаъд ҳамаи хабарҳои расмӣ, маҷлисҳои Ҳукумати Ҷумҳури Тоҷикистон, сафарҳои кории Президенти Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон дар дохили кишвар ва хориҷ аз он, маҷлисҳо, вохӯриҳо ва ҷамъомадҳои сатҳи байналмилалӣ, ҷумҳуриявӣ ва соҳавии дахлдор ба воситаи Агентии миллии иттилоотии Тоҷикистон “Ховар” ба роҳ монда шуда, пас аз он барои паъни барнома ва ё иттилоот ба дигар васоити ахбори омма аз ҷониби агентӣ фиристода шавад”.
…furthermore, all official information, meetings of the Government of Tajikistan, the President of Tajikistan's working visits within the country and abroad, international, republican and sectoral meetings should be provided first to Khovar state information agency, and only after that should be sent by the agency to other media.
Independent political analyst Dr. Irshod Sulaymoni called the move:
Қадами бисёр ҷиддӣ барои расидан ба худкомагии беназир!
An important step to reach complete authoritarianism!
‘The ISIS press centre’
Khovar publishes news on its recently revamped website in Tajik, Russian, and English. The platform is known for Soviet-style propaganda news, attacks on the opposition and foreign news, mostly translated from Russian sources.
On Facebook Tajik journalist and founder of the Ormon media group Yoqub Said posted a screenshot from Khovar's latest news cycle, most of which was focused on atrocities carried out by the radical group ISIS thousands of miles away in Iraq and Syria, where government officials claim several hundred citizens are fighting. Critics say secular Tajikistan is using the presence of Tajiks in the two countries as a pretext to crack down on observant Muslims at home.
Screenshot of Khovar news items on July 6. Translation opposite.
Yoqub mocked the state agency’s motto “Are you with Khovar? You are informed!” by converting it to “Are you with Khovar? Informed about what?”
Khovar news items on July 6
Rajab Mirzo, a well-known Tajik journalist and founder of a once-popular independent newspaper shut down by the government over a decade ago, also derided the government's ISIS obsession:
Маркази матбуотии ДИИШ))
[Khovar is the] ISIS press-centre
No bad news please, we are Tajik
State media in post-Soviet Central Asian countries like Tajikistan focuses mostly on good news internally — however local — and bad news from abroad that serves to remind Tajiks how lucky they are to live in a stable autocracy.
A meme from over two years ago widely shared by Tajiks on social media sums up this approach:
Day: April 5, 2013. State media says: A kindergarten was opened in Dushanbe. Independent and social media says: A protest was held in Dushanbe. Widely shared image.
Where next for the country's media?
Despite a system rigged in its favour, independent Tajik news websites such as Ozodagon and Asia Plus as well as a broad array of Russian-language news websites have weakened Khovar's audience over time.
One Tajik Facebook user sarcastically remarked:
Минбаъд шояд аз ҳамин роҳ шумори хонандагони “Ховар”-ро аз 53 нафар ба 54 нафар бирасонанд.
[Through this decree] they might be able to increase the number of Khovar readers from 53 to 54.
Another Facebooker criticised independent journalists in the country:
вакте ки бизнесро саркуб мекарданд вао хомуш буд. акнун навбати шумо хам расид
When businesses [in the country] were under attack, the media kept silent. Now it is your turn.
While in the same group discussion a user of the network made a provocative suggestion:
Чавобан ба ин расонахои гайридавлати метавонанд минбаъд хеч хабари расмии марбут ба президент (аз чумла дидорхояш, сафархояш, рохнамоихою хидоятхояш, кайчибурихояш, санги асос гузоштанхояш ва г.) хукумат ва мачлисро мунташир накунанд……
In response, non-governmental media should not publish news related to the President, including his trips, meetings, speeches, opening new buildings, etc., as well as news related to the government and parliament.
Such a reaction seems unlikely in a country where the government holds all the aces and has proven itself capable of shutting down opposition figures, independent media and civil society without inviting revolt.
However, it is unclear whether the latest move against independent media is in either the national interest or the government's interest. After all, if independent media is unable to fulfill its current role in distinguishing real news from state propaganda and street gossip, the space for potentially dangerous misinformation will only grow.

author: Abdulfattoh Shafiev


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You Can’t Read These Books, But Your Great-Great-Grandchildren Can · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Margaret Atwood, right, hands over her transcript for Future Library, a 100-year project by Scottish artist Katie Paterson, left. Credit: Katie Paterson
This article and radio report by Susannah Roberson for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on July 16, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
We've all heard of time capsules, but this one is a little bit different. It's called Future Library, and it's in the form of a forest in Norway.
Here's how it works: 1,000 trees have been planted in Nordmarka, a forest just outside Oslo, and these trees will provide paper for a special anthology of books to be printed a century from now. This project is the brainchild of Scottish artist Katie Paterson, and she says she got the idea while doodling.
“I was making a very simple sketch in a notebook of tree rings, and I quite quickly made a connection between tree rings and chapters in a book,” Paterson says.
Paterson plans to invite one author each year to contribute to the collection, for 100 years. Award-winning Canadian writer Margaret Atwood was the first to submit a manuscript in May.
“To have held in my hands a piece of her writing that I can't read and know that nobody else can read until this moment in the future is very tempting indeed,” Paterson says. “But of course I'm going to be so strict, so I will never open any of the pages.”
Paterson hopes her project will be a treat for future generations. She thinks it will be just like reading an undiscovered antique text.
“I imagine the writings will contain crystallized moments from each year, whether that's 2015 or 2055,” Paterson says. “So I like to imagine what that first reader might open the first page to.”
But that won't be until the year 2114. Meanwhile, Paterson has announced the second author for the project, British writer David Mitchell. And the forest in Norway keeps growing.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Australia’s Archibald Art Prize: ‘Who Says Crime Doesn’t Pay?’ · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Charles Waterstreet. Photo by @lilymayers, reposted with permission
The Archibald Prize, Australia's most prestigious art competition, has continued its long tradition of controversy. It is awarded for a portrait ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia’.
Both artist, Nigel Milsom, and subject, Charles Waterstreet, have a colourful history in the law. They met and became friends when Milsom was convicted and gaoled for a 2012 armed robbery. Waterstreet was his lawyer. He is best known as co-creator of the television series Rake, whose main character Cleaver Greene is loosely based on his life and career. His proud re-tweet made the connection:
His Rake'ness as painted by Nigel Milsom is not only magnificent it deservedly won the Archibald! @CCWaterstreet https://t.co/i4tcpt4tMX
— missdlight keri (@missdlight) July 17, 2015
In fact, at times it seemed like Charles had won the award:
I interviewed the charming Charles Waterstreet today #archibald2015 pic.twitter.com/xDAiBOBiFZ
— lily mayers (@lilymayers) July 17, 2015
Not all art lovers appreciated the many media headlines that focused on Milsom's criminal record:
So sad the media is focussing on this years #archibald2015 winner in a negative light. He did his time, now let's celebrate his prize.
— Lila A (@lila_afiouni) July 17, 2015
No room for redemption on the news wires “Former armed robber wins Archibald Prize” (ABC News 24) #archibald2015 #ArchibaldPrize #art
— Alasdair Macintyre (@aecap) July 17, 2015
But others on Twitter had no qualms about raising his criminal past:
Who says crime doesn't pay? Nigel Milsom wins #archibald2015 #archibaldprize
— James Powditch (@james_powditch) July 17, 2015
There were the inevitable online art critics. It is a recurring theme of the Archibald that the winner is a poor choice:
Seriously? $100,000 prize for this? Seriously? #archibald2015 #imustbeatotalphilistine http://t.co/bBVjdJ4Yhq
— Tim Meade (@PompeyPom) July 17, 2015
This tweet referenced the famous winning entry by William Dobell in 1943, which faced an unsuccessful legal challenge that argued it was a caricature not a portrait.
Archibald winner is just a Francis Bacon , Bill Dobell rip off … Once again , art loses …
— george Barnes (@georgebarnes311) July 17, 2015
Raichel laid out the similarities for all to see:
@ArtGalleryofNSW #Dobell, Milsom, Dobell, Milson, Dobsom?…#archibald #Waterstreet #portraitprize pic.twitter.com/ZO3ebMg8HP
— Raichel (@DanteInExile) July 17, 2015
Joanna Mendelssohn was very positive at The Conversation arguing that it is “our ‘most fun’ festival of faces”. She explained:
First, the Archibald is – in essence – not an art prize but a celebration of the personalities who define Australia, and especially Sydney. Waterstreet, the flamboyant inspiration for the ABC television series Rake, has to be a front runner on those grounds alone.
In addition, Milsom was the winner of the 2013 Moran Prize – and a convicted criminal – all of which makes good copy. The Archibald is, above all things, about media coverage.
A thread running through much of the discussion of Australian literary and art prizes is the lack of gender balance. This has been a contentious point with the Archibald, regarding both artists and their subjects. There were many tweets linking to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper article Archibald Prize 2015: It takes balls to be a winner:
Archibald Prize 2015: It takes balls to be a winner# http://t.co/YDfegJE8m1 pic.twitter.com/KECIedAU6F
— Gi Ma (@gima2327) July 17, 2015
Finally, Peter Pidgeon shared a popular video post by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which contains a famous relation of his:
Wep's 3 wins: 1958, 1961 & 1968; images #37, #40 & #46 – The changing face of the Archibald: 1921-2015… http://t.co/r2D7T3IvLq
— Peter Pidgeon (@Pidgeoncoop) July 18, 2015
It gives a chance to judge the worthiness of the winners for yourself.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
In Nepal, One Problem Is the Earthquake Didn’t Knock Down Enough Houses · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Rubble stones organized for building in Nepal. Credit: Laura Spero. Used with PRI's permission
This article and radio report by Laura Spero for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on July 16, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The air in the village of Archalbot is thick under the glare of the 2 p.m. sun. Twelve-year-old Kushal Adhikari is showing me around his house.
“All over there is cracks, cracks and more cracks,” he says exuberantly. “This house was nice before the earthquake, but it’s completely damaged now.”
Actually, at first glance you wouldn’t necessarily know that Kushal’s house is a teardown. The two-story home has thick wooden beams and, from the yard, its stone-plastered walls still look almost grand.
“It isn’t damaged outside the house,” Kushal says, “but it’s damaged everywhere inside the house.” He takes me up to a creaky room on the second floor, where a centimeter-wide scar runs from an upper corner down to the floor. I wonder if we should be up there and Kushal tells me excitedly that we really shouldn’t be.
When a massive earthquake tore through Nepal on April 25, it fully damaged over 600,000 houses. The media has since been flooded with photos of shattered homes, buildings and monuments. But, photos of rubble and dust notwithstanding, a huge number of these damaged homes are still upright, even though, like Kushal’s, they are too dangerous to inhabit.
And this is one of the biggest ironies in the monumental reconstruction that Nepal now faces: hundreds of thousands of homeless people have houses that still need to be leveled.
“We’re not sleeping in the house,” Kushal says. There is a tarp set up in the yard with some beds under it. “We’ll make a temporary house tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, and then we’ll go there.”
Kushal in his house. Credit: Laura Spero. Used wtih PRI's permission
This “temporary house of tomorrow” is a pressing topic of discussion here. What should Kushal’s temporary house look like? In this post-earthquake moment, when Nepal finds itself with the chance to rebuild half a million homes in any variety of ways that range from strong to fast, various groups have been hard at work trying to envision and design a suitable shelter that accounts for many factors, including cost, durability, speed and feasibility.
For now, government and major relief agencies have employed a unified housing strategy, which is to distribute corrugated tin roofing sheets and let people build using local materials and methods. Aid workers say it’s the most efficient way to rebuild quickly in Nepal’s varied landscape and culture.
“We have learned in the humanitarian community that we have to rely on the local capacity, the local building technique,” says Jan Erik Kroyer of the Danish Red Cross, who is in charge of shelter relief for 2,000 homes in Lamjung district. “And that is very diverse.”
Delivering tin and letting people build walls accounts for the varied resources and styles in different areas of Nepal. “The idea is that every single household has something left, maybe a pile of bricks, maybe a pile of stone, maybe some bamboo, maybe some wood, and then these things will go together with a new roof that we are delivering.”
But agencies and residents alike face a multitude of conflicting structural and seasonal demands in executing this plan. To begin with, just providing those new roofs is a huge undertaking. Tons of tin sheets have to be transported across treacherous terrain to over half a million families.
(I know first hand how dicey that gets; I operate a small NGO in Nepal, and my organization has been pitching in, making tin deliveries in Lamjung and Parbat, but only after overcoming road closures, rain storms, and broken bridges … two tractors and a jeep later.)
Then there’s the issue of space. Some families don’t have room to make a shelter because their old houses are still in the way.
Another problem is the weather. The monsoon rains have already begun, which means torrential downpours almost every afternoon, making speed an urgent priority.
Dipak Lal Bisgar at the side of his house. Credit: Laura Spero. Used with PRI's permission
Out in the district of Parbat, two days’ ride from the earthquake’s epicenter in Gorkha, the frenzy of aid visible elsewhere is nowhere to be seen. Dipak Lal Bisgar used to live in a three-house complex with his brothers in the village of Gijyang, and now his lot contains one damaged house, one set of walls with no roof and one empty foundation where rubble stones have been neatly piled up.
He’d like to rebuild his home as an earthquake-resistant house using better materials. But that takes time, and there’s no time.
“We need to get a roof over our heads as fast as possible using bamboo, wood, whatever we have,” Dipak says, “Besides, there’s no guarantee against another big earthquake, so nobody wants to invest in anything fancy.”
And another thing — it’s planting season, Dipak reminds me, so everybody’s too busy in their fields to do any lengthy construction projects now.
In the fall, Dipak plans to consult with an engineer about how to build an earthquake-resistant house. He’ll call someone up, have them take a look, and get advice on earthquake-safe building. But for now, he needs a tin roof to build a temporary shelter, and his old house is neither all the way up nor all the way down.
Dipak takes me into the room with a tarp stretched across the open roof. Another piece of tin is going to go here.
I’m no engineer, I tell him, but this room doesn’t look too sturdy to me.
Dipak picks up a hammer and smashes it in to a wall. See? He says. It’s safe.
He’s determined that this part of the house is livable. An adjoining room didn’t pass, Dipak tells me, and he demolished it himself.
Meantime, Kushal has already learned something about what falls down and what doesn’t. And maybe dreaming up a house is easier if you’re 12, and it’s an exercise in possibility.
“I can imagine I’m looking at the house,” Kushal says, closing his eyes and lifting his chin toward the afternoon sun. “It has a bamboo here, and here and here too. Here is a door, there is a window … anything is magic,” he says.
“I am feeling happy in my imagination.”


text:
Pope Francis in Latin America: ‘Ideologies End Badly, They Serve No Purpose’ · Global Voices
Global Voices Latin America

Pope Francis Lashes out against Ideologies: http://t.co/EiiH1kqntX pic.twitter.com/NzaCiraLbS
— El Universo (@eluniversocom) July 11, 2015
Pope Francis concluded his eight day tour of South America, where he held mass in the three countries he visited: Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. The pontiff's message centered on peace and the most needy.
He also advocated “playing cleanly and staying clear of corruption.”
But it was during the close of the tour in Asuncion on Saturday, July 11 where he gave one of the most political speeches of his trip stating:
Ideologies end badly; they serve no purpose. Ideologies have a relationship to the people that is absent, unhealthy or evil. Ideologies don't take into account the people. In the last century ideologies have ended in dictatorships. [Ideologies] think of the people, but don't let the people think.

author: Global Voices Latin America


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The Internet Pokes Fun at Alleged Threats from ‘El Chapo’ against Donald Trump · Global Voices
Sin Embargo

‘El Chapo Guzmán's escape’ – El Chapo: “Now, what were you saying about Mexicans?” – Trump: “Chapo..I was just kidding!”  One of the memes created by social media users referencing ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán's escape from prison as well as the controversy surrounding Donald Trump's racist comments regarding Mexicans.
A Twitter account with alleged ties to drug trafficker, Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera, posted a threatening message directed at real estate magnate Donald Trump, in the wake of negative comments which the businessman made towards Mexican immigrants.
Trump, who is in the race to represent the Republican Party in the U.S. presidential elections in November 2016, used his own account on Twitter to ridicule Mexico after Guzmán Loera's recent prison break:
Mexico's biggest drug lord escapes from jail. Unbelievable corruption and USA is paying the price. I told you so!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2015
The tycoon also seized the opportunity to point out that ‘El Chapo’  and Mexican drug cartels use the border unimpeded, adding that they make billions of dollars doing so. “We get the killers, drugs and crime; they get the money,” he stated.
Lastly, in response to calls from the general public and the media for Trump to apologize for his statement claiming that Mexico only sent dubious types over the border, he remarked that “it turned out to be true”, tagging ‘El Chapo’ in his tweet.
The Twitter accounts supposedly belonging to ‘El Chapo’ and his family anticipated the cartel boss’ escape and bragged about it on Saturday night. The account @elchap0guzman, which has over 200,000 followers and is presumably managed by the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, claimed that he had already been reunited with his children, Archivaldo and Alfredo Guzmán.
The person who runs the account additionally hurled various insults and threats at Donald Trump following the comments the billionaire made on Twitter.
Sigue chingando y voy hacer que te tragues todas tus putas palabras pinche guero cagaleche @realDonaldTrump
— Joaquín Guzmán Loera (@ElChap0Guzman) July 12, 2015
Keep being a nuisance and I'll make you eat your [expletive] words, you immature prick.
Social media users capitalized on El Chapo's alleged threats against the American businessman and found humour in the situation.
‘El Chapo’ Guzmán escaped on Saturday at around 9 p.m local time from the Altiplano federal prison. The escape was confirmed this Sunday by Mexico's security commission, Comisión Nacional de Seguridad (CNS).
The head of CNS, Monte Alejandro Rubido García, revealed that after Guzmán Loera's escape, they found a 20 by 20 inch opening near the shower in his cell, where a 33 foot vertical conduit was found that lead to a tunnel nearly a mile long. The tunnel, outfitted with lampposts and piping, was well lit and ventilated.

author: Sin Embargo


text:
A Musician Convicted of Rape Released After He Sings the Praises of Zambia’s President · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Clifford Dimba: One man, many faces. Screenshot from General Kanene's music video Tembusha, taken from YouTube.
When artist Chama Fumba, better known by his stage name Pilato, musically lampooned Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu in May, another artist saw a vital opportunity, replying with a song passionately defending the need to respect the head of state.
General Kanene, whose real name is Clifford Dimba, had a strong motive for releasing ‘Ulemu’ or ‘respect’ in response to Pilato's anti-Lungu hit ‘ALungu Anabwera’: he was serving an 18-year sentence for rape, handed down to him by a Zambian court in 2013. And while Pilato's song earned him an overnight stay in jail and a court case — later dismissed — Dimba's flattering ditty earned him a presidential pardon, with the musician walking free on July 16.
Clifford Dimba aka General Kanene in an orange prison jump-suit. Picture used with permission of Zambia Reports.
Dimba appeared to have been working his way into Lungu's favour for some time. In March he performed at an International Women’s Day function officiated by the president just a few weeks into his office, an event that caused just as much controversy as his pardon four months later. Not long before the pardon, President Lungu visited the Mukobeko Maximum Prison about 170 km north of the capital, Lusaka, where Dimba was serving time. Dimba has irritated some and won acceptance from others by positioning himself as a reformed man and champion for the campaign against gender-based violence (GBV) in Zambia.
Facebook user and governance consultant, Mbinji Mufalo, did not mince his words at news of the musician’s pardon earlier this week:
It is obtuse to say justice has been served just because Kanene has been pardoned. He did not exhaust due judicial recourse available to him. This tendency by Presidents to pardon individuals before exhausting legal channels is a travesty that simply serves to undermine the judiciary. Stop being the unthinking!
A president's pardon is not a “not guilty” verdict. That is the domain of the judiciary. He or she is not a judge. He or she is merely exercising constitutional powers vested in him or her in Article 44(2)c and/or Article 59 (Prerogative of mercy) of the Constitution.
Another Facebook user, Muchemwa Sichone was also indignant:
A cartoon doing rounds on social media about prisoners asking to compose songs in the hope of being freed like General Kanene.
General Kanene just f…ing defiled the legal system…now excuse my f…ing French but it's really hard to remain imprisoned in the pretense of political correctness when the f…ing politicians continue to sodomize the political system and just fail to get their politics correct or right or whatever it is they are entrusted with leadership positions to do. I mean have copper thieves or defilers as your friends if you want to but do not use your office to exalt them. It's annoying especially because if there is any truth to birds of a feather flocking together then our collective intelligence just got defiled too! There…I said it…sue me…
The Non-Government Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC), a key body in Zambian civil society, was unequivocal in condemning President Lungu’s move to pardon Kanene:
Clearly, President Lungu is increasingly becoming a danger not only to the nation but more specifically to the welfare of the girl child in Zambia. While well meaning Zambians are busy fighting gender based violence (GBV), and more specifically child defilement, President Lungu seems to be comfortable with the increased cases of child abuse as demonstrated in his release of General Kanene. President Lungu must be reminded that he was elected to secure and safeguard the interests of all Zambians, including girl children.
But some, who believed in Kanene's innocence from the start, were supportive of the pardon.
Facebook user and human rights activist, Isaac M Mwanza, thanked President Lungu for releasing Dimba noting:
The Kanene case was one that was so slippery when you look at facts in this case. Kanene was convicted without conclusive evidence that this girl who is alleged to be defiled was below 16 years although mere word of mouth from one parent that she was below 16 is accepted as conclusive evidence in cases of defilement. Considering that criminal cases require proof beyond reasonable doubt, we need to change thus standard being used in defilement cases especially at this time when we expect parents to obtain Birth Certificates for their children.
Mwanza’s argument is based on claims that the girl Kanene was convicted of molesting was above the age of 16, had a child herself and was a ‘pub-trawler’ when she came into contact with the musician.
A write up on Zambia Reports, an influential media outlet was also supportive of Dimba’s release. Author Peter Adamu wrote in an article titled “Let He Without Sin Point A Finger At General Kanene”:
Were there any compelling reasons to give Kanene whose real name is Clifford Dimba to be handed a fast track ticket out of jail after being handed an 18 year jail sentence for defilement? Why is there a provision for the prerogative of mercy in the Zambian constitution? Naturally I began to sober up and realised that the President acted within the law. He enjoys the right to pardon anybody and this power is unquestionable.
There is also the usual recommendation by the Prison Service Commission for the pardoning of any prisoner who in their judgment may have shown remorse and the Head of State did admit receiving a powerful recommendation in the case of Kanene consequently naming him ambassador against Gender Based Violence.
Zambia National Women’s Lobby (ZNWL) chairperson Beauty Katebe Phiri surprised some by reportedly expressing her organisation's approval for President Lungu's pardon of Dimba, while registering dismay at the general situation surrounding violence against women in the country.
While Dimba has assured President Lungu that he has reformed and will not let him down, Zambian society remains generally skeptical about the pardon and will be watching the musician hawk-eyed.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


text:
An Open Letter to Russia’s Silent National TV Networks · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Two of these men died hours after this photo was taken in a Russian barracks that partially collapsed. Photo from Sergei Filatov's social media page, via Elena Rykovtseva. Facebook.
Almost two dozen Russian soldiers died on July 13, when part of a military barracks in Omsk suddenly collapsed. The men who perished in the tragedy were as young as 18, and not a soul among them was born before 1991. Speaking through his press secretary, President Putin conveyed his condolences to the families of those who died and promised medical aid to the 19 survivors.
On Russian television, however, the incident passed relatively unnoticed. In the days after the accident, the men who died were laid to rest throughout the country in funerals held in their hometowns. The burials did not make the evening news.
On July 15, in a Facebook post that has been shared more than 12,400 times and “liked” more than 16,000 times, RFE/RL’s Elena Rykovtseva wrote a scathing attack against the Russian television news media, faulting the national networks for ignoring the human side of the tragedy. Given the text’s great popularity and how profoundly it seems to resonate with Russian Internet users, RuNet Echo offers the following English-language translation of Rykovtseva’s post.
THEIR NAMES HAVEN’T BEEN MENTIONED ONCE ON ANY OF THE NATIONAL TV NETWORKS
Five of them were buried today in Omsk. Another two went into the ground in Novosibirsk. They’ve declared a day of mourning in Orenburg, too. The dead are also arriving in Irkutsk, Bashkiria, and St. Petersburg. People are crying across the whole country, but it’s no longer an issue for the national TV networks. “[Ukrainian nationalist group] Pravyi Sektor is marching on Europe. The Ukrainian authorities can’t manage the radicals.” This is how their goddamn news broadcasts begin. And there’s not a word about our dead boys.
At this moment, there are funerals happening in Omsk—already for the second day in a row. But there’s no news coming out of there. Not a single live broadcast. And I remember well how Rossiya-24 aired around-the-clock coverage of Lugansk separatist [Alexey] Mozgovoi’s funeral. I remember how it went on endlessly, as the mic was handed off to family, then friends, and then locals, and how everyone cried in their speeches about what a great and wonderful patron and protector he was. When it comes to our own boys in the Russian army, who incidentally wanted fanatically to serve as paratroopers, there’s not a thing on television. Nobody broadcasts the reactions, or the condolences of a single living mourner—apart from Putin’s sympathy, as retold by [his press secretary Dmitry] Peskov. And this was only on the first day.
Yesterday, on the second day, now speaking before a group of students in Klyazma, [Putin] no longer remembered these other young men. He smiled and he beamed and he congratulated the crowd on the day’s fine weather. It was as if the Omsk barracks never happened. The victims’ names were never read on a single national TV network. The men are nameless—all 23 of them.
It’s nothing personal, guys.
But each of these boys has his own social media page, and there are photographs. And it would have been possible at least to say something—anything—about these men, and about their families. Something about Oleg Kortusov, for instance, who was a promising fighter and whose fiancée is expecting a child. Or something about Egor German, another local from Omsk, who leaves behind a baby born less than a year ago.
And this is to say nothing about helping the victims’ loved ones—those close to the men who died and who survived. They transferred another Omsk soldier, Volodya Petrov, to Moscow, and the Defense Ministry is paying for his treatment, but they didn’t allocate any money to his family for their train transportation or accommodations in the city. And his mother has nothing. That’s why the city of Omsk banded together and raised money to help her.
For some reason, they don’t want to talk about this on their national TV networks, with their audience of millions. For some reason, they don’t want to say even one human thing about these guys, or ask the country if maybe it, too, would like to offer some help, in addition to the one-time assistance their families received from the state (which they don’t get right away, incidentally)?
But I don’t want to talk about these people and their TV stations anymore. Let them live with their shame. I just want to tell those boys goodbye. And also in their memory, I want to publish this photograph [see above], which I found on the social media page of one of them, Sergei Filatov. He’s the one second in from the right in the last row in the back. In the front is Valery Lomaev from St. Petersburg. He died, too. The photo is from July 12, a few hours before the tragedy, inside the very same barracks.