text:
Syria: Razan Ghazzawi Charged, Bloggers Continue Campaign · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.
Eight days after her arrest, Razan Ghazzawi has been charged, according to an article from the Lebanese Daily Star, which reports:
According to her lawyers, Razan has been charged with “establishing an organization that aims to change the social and economical entity of the state” and “weakening the national sentiment, and trying to ignite sectarian strife” and “weakening national sentiment” — all of which can lead to a penalty of three to 15 years in prison.
On Twitter, supporters had strong reactions to the charges.  Syrian blogger @anasqtiesh wrote:
The logo of the global Free Razan campaign
@anasqtiesh: The charges against Razan Ghazzawi are a farce. Just like everything else the Syrian regime does. #FreeRazan #Syria
@anasqtiesh: “weakening the national sentiment, and trying to ignite sectarian strife” Should be charges against Assad. #Syria #FreeRazan
Al Jazeera journalist Dima Khatib was similarly dismayed:
I am very sad to read the news about @RedRazan being charged with “crimes”.. Razan is not a criminal. Razan is a freedom fighter #FreeRazan
Karl Sharro was angered by the charges, but especially by one in particular, writing:
But “trying to ignite sectarian strife” is more offensive than anything. Razan is very dedicated to anti-sectarianism. #freeRazan
Global Voices author Laura Vidal, from Venezuela, wrote:
When a government silences a blogger it proves him/her right #FreeRazan
Solidarity campaigns in support of Razan continue.  Palestinian blogger Abir Kopty tweeted:
Palestinian bloggers are working on a statement calling to #Freerazan and all Syrian political prisoners. #Syria
A Facebook page is being used to coordinate campaign efforts, while the #freerazan hashtag is used by supporters on Twitter to share updates.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011.


text:
Tunisia: Moncef Marzouki the New President of the Republic · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Tunisia, the country that was the spark of the so called Arab Spring almost a year ago, now has a new interim President: Moncef Marzouki. Aged 66, the human rights activist was imprisoned, and exiled under the regime of former President Zeine El Abidine Ben Ali. His center-left party, the Congress for the Republic  formed a coalition with the Islamist party Ennahdha, and the social democratic Forum for Labor and Liberties.
On December, 12 the national constituent assembly, democratically elected back on October 23, chose Moncef Marzouki as President. He obtained 153 of the 202 votes cast.
“I represent a country, a people, a revolution. Long live Tunisia. I say to those members who gave me their votes, thank your for your trust, and for those who did not vote for me, your message has been received … I know that you are going to hold me to account,” said Mr Marzouki after the vote.
Mr Marzouki's first tweet as a President was the following [fr]:
Merci beaucoup de m'avoir accorder votre confiance. Je ferai tout pour être à la hauteur. Vive la #tunisie
Marzouki Critics:
"One Candidate for One Ballot" Comments Photographer Hamideddine Bouali
His critics claim that his obsession with power, made Marzouki give up his secular values, when his party entered into coalition with Ennahdha.
extrablog writes: [ar]
Though, Marzouki won a seat in the assembly, his critics believe that he was not democratically elected to become a President.
Firas tweets [fr]:
Ça me fait marrer quand j'entends sur #TTN et partout ailleurs que notre président actuel est “élu”. #tnAC #Marzouki #Tunisie
Kacem Jlidi explains in a blog post called The Arab Spring’s First Elected President – Almost:
What makes the presidential appointment not such a happy news for the Tunisians, even though many claim that he has a clean past, is that the coalition in the constituent assembly’s majorities: Ennahda with 89 seats, CPR with 29 seats and Ettakatol with 20 seats had agreed already to appoint Moncef Marzouki as a president.
And Oussema El-Guesmi tweets: [ar]
Marzouki Supporters:
Marzouki is considered as a human rights activist, an enlightened, and a secular man, who stood up against the dictatorship of Ben Ali, by his supporters.
Wlidha  writes: [fr]
Docteur Moncef Marzouki est désormé le premier président de la république tunisienne démocratique .
Un homme vrai , au passé riche de lutte pour la démocratie et les droits de l'homme. Monsieur le Président.. On vous accorde notre confiance et on est avec vous.. Ne nous décevez pas.
Emna El Hammi tweets: [fr]
Pas moyen de dormir ce soir, je crois que #Marzouki président a bcp plus d'effet sur moi que je pensais :)
And Faten adds: [fr]
#Marzouki:Bon il faut passer cette étape de critique de Marzouki et penser à 100 ans d'avenir de notre pays en étant attentif aux décisions.
Moncef Marzouki will stay in power as President until the new constitution of the country is drafted, and legislative, and presidential elections are held. Despite the controversy, and the criticism, these are historic moments for Tunisia according to Aljazeera correspondent, Nazanine Moshiri who tweeted:
This is a big day for #Tunisia. #Moncef #Marzouki is the first democratically elected President in the Arab world.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Afef Abrougui


text:
Ukraine: Grand Theft Auto · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

LEvko of foreign notes discusses reports that Ukraine's Minister of Justice, Oleksandr Lavrynovych,  owns a Mercedes luxury car which was reported stolen in Germany nearly two years ago.

author: Vilhelm Konnander


text:
Uzbekistan: Forged Facebook story about post-interrogation suicide · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Sarah Kendzior reports about the story of Gulsumoy Abdujalilova, an invented person with fake Facebook profile, who allegedly committed suicide after being interrogated by the Uzbek police.

author: Adil Nurmakov


text:
Uzbekistan: President decides to cut his term · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Mansurhon says that the Uzbek Parliament’s decision to pass a constitutional amendment reducing the length of presidential term from current seven to five years, sparked a lot of controversy in the country.


text:
Uzbekistan: Prime-minister’s page on Facebook is also fake · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Tomyris writes about a fuss around Facebook account of the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan that gave rise to political speculations among the observers. The page has proved to be not authentic though.


text:
Argentina’s Corruption Problem · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Simon Kofoed writes about corruption in Argentina in his blog argen-times: “The culture of corruption in Argentina […] is so strong that everyone knows it’s happening but most will just shrug their shoulders in typical Argentina fashion and say ‘what are you gonna do?’ It’s understood that it’s either get involved or go nowhere.”

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Armenia: More Online Diplomacy · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following the recent Question & Answer session on Twitter with the UK's new Ambassador to Azerbaijan, his outgoing counterpart in neighboring Armenia, Charles Lonsdale, is due to answer questions on Facebook on Friday 16th December.

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
Australia: Comment on the Palestine Boycott, Divestment & Sanction Campaign · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Crikey's NAJ Taylor gathers five of Australia's Middle East diaspora to write about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction of Israel campaign. How effective is it at “balancing the competing harms”? How “useful is [it] for members of the Israeli and Palestinian, as well as Jewish and Muslim, diaspora”?

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Bangladesh: Restriction In The Hills · Global Voices
Rezwan

Unheard Voice blog reports that the Bangladesh  government has recently imposed strict restrictions on travels of foreign nationals to the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Also, foreign nationals will not be allowed to hold discussions with any indigenous groups or religious groups without the presence of a responsible officer.

author: Rezwan


text:
Brazil: On a Bill that Bans Drinking in Public Places · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Brazilian blogger Leonardo Cisneiros comments on [pt] a proposed bill in the city of Recife (Pernambuco state) that prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages in public places. The proposed bill has caused mixed reactions among the population, including  a motion of disgust [pt] and online reactions that have been censored [pt] by the councilwoman Marília Arraes, author of the bill.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


text:
Brazil: A Book on Fraudulent Privatizations · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Brazilian filmmaker Jorge Furtado comments on [pt] a book that he considers to be the best of 2011: “Privataria Tucana”. The title is a play with words that links piracy, privatization and toucans, the symbol of the Social Democrat Party (PSDB). The book exposes policies of privatization carried out during PSDB's government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2003), considered fraudulent.


text:
Brazil: Central Bus Station Reflects Precariousness of Human Rights · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Emmanuel Rodrigues, writing for the Brazilian blog Eleições Hoje (Elections Today), comments on [pt] the precarious situation of homeless people and others who ramble around the central bus station of Brasilia, Brazil's capital. Rodrigues makes a comparison with the overall situation of the country and the denial of rights to different minorities.


text:
China: Leadership jockeying ahead of the 18th Party Congress · Global Voices
Andy Yee

As the 18th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party approaches, Joshua Rosenzweig ponders about who will become the next head of the Central Politico-Legal Commission (CPLC). Dubbed the  “security czar”, the position oversees all legal enforcement authorities and has heavy influence on the rule of law in China.

author: Andy Yee


text:
Cuba: Defining “Vulgarity”  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Without Evasion continues to share her thoughts about the outcry over the “vulgarity” of a popular reggaeton song, saying: “The confusion lies, then, in properly ascertaining the limits of vulgarity and limiting at the same time in what spheres of social life vulgarity will be allowed without it constituting a blemish in the purity of the ‘culture’ of this people.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Cuba: Food History  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Iván García reviews Fidel Castro's history with “experiments”, saying: “The ex-president has put his foot in it many times. In all fields. The most painful has been in regard to food.”


text:
Egypt: Long Queues in Second Stage of Egyptian Elections  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011.
The second stage of Egypt's parliamentary elections started today, with Egyptians in nine provinces going to the polls.
Zeinobia, from Egyptian Chronicles, blogs about this stage saying that polling stations will be open in Giza, Bani Sawif, Monufia, Sharkia, Ismailia, Suez, Beheira, Sohag and Aswan.
She adds:
There are 3,387 candidates across the 9 governorates competing for 180 seats in this stage. “2,271 are competing for 60 individual seats while 1,116 are competing over 120 lists seats”
The elections, the first since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak, started on November 28 and are expected to continue until January 10, 2012, and are being held in three stages.
About 19 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in this second stage, which continue until tomorrow. The candidates are vying for 498 seats in the lower house. Today's and tomorrow's elections will be followed by run-off elections where neck to neck candidates will face off after a week. In this round, constituents are expected to cast three ballots, two for individual candidates and a third for a party.
Once a Parliament is in place, it will be responsible for appointing a committee which will draft the country's new constitution, which will pave the way to the presidential elections later on.
Here is a snap shot of reactions from Twitter about is happening in different provinces across Egypt today.
Journalist Rawya Rageh tweets her experience in Giza so far, complaining about the harassment the Press is facing there. She asks:
@RawyaRageh: Are other journos having difficulties reporting from inside voting stations in #Giza? #Egyelections #Egypt
And continues:
@RawyaRageh: Security this time not as cooperative.. Military asked us to move away from station, police asking us about ‘permits’ #Egyelections #Giza
She adds:
@RawyaRageh: Not being allowed to film inside several voting stations in #Giza despite HEC credentials, being told state TV only #Egyelections #Egypt
Rageh observes:
@RawyaRajeh: Turnout quite low in #Giza, nothing at all like the numbers I saw in #Assiut in 1stround. Any word on other provinces? #Egyelections #Egypt
Nadia El Awady disagrees with this observation, noting long badly organised queues at the polling station in Al Haram, in Al Koum Al Akhdhar.
She tweets:
@NadiaE: There was an endless non-line of women infront of school. I'll have to try again tonight or early tomorrow #egyelections
She shares this photograph on Twitpic showing the chaos.
Long queues at polling station in Al Haram. Photo by Nadia ElAwady, shared via Twitpic on Twitter
She then asks:
@NadiaE: Can someone tell me the down times for women in #egyelections? Lunch time? Evening? When do i have best chance of finding fewest women?
Other journalists are also reporting long queues elsewhere.
Steven Cook tweets:
@stevenacook: Long lines waiting to vote in Imbaba. People are in good spirits #EgyElections
Hannah Allam is in Suez and writes:
@HannahAllam: In Suez, long lines of voters, heavy army presence. #Egyelections
And it won't be Egypt, if reactions were not infused with Egyptian humour.
Amira Salah-Ahmed jokes:
@Amiralx: Come to Egypt, home of the pyramids and land of perpetual elections #EgyElections
And the Arabist adds:
@arabist: Just heard of a voter dipping his finger in the judge's coffee rather than the ink pot. #egyelections
Meanwhile, Greek blogger and Global Voices Online author Asteris Masouras collects netizen reactions to the elections in this Storify round up.
Also, for more reactions, check out the hash tag #EgyElections on Twitter.
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
Honduran Journalist Protest Against Violence · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Honduras Daily reports on a protest held by journalists in Tegucigalpa on December 13: “The media personnel demanded a cease to the violence, and respect for the freedom of expression. ‘Justice! Justice! Justice!’ journalists shouted as they marched toward the President’s home.”


text:
How big is China’s social media and digital market? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Ministry of Tofu picks up the infographic from a social media consultancy, We Are Social, to indicate the social media market in China.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Hungary: Public Media Trade Union Leaders on Hunger Strike · Global Voices
Marietta Le

Redjade, a Hungary-based activist, published a video interview [en] with Balázs Nagy-Navarro, the leader of the public media trade union. Nagy-Navarro went on hunger strike with two of his colleagues after the Hungarian public television MTV broadcast a report in which chief judge Zoltán Lomnici was blurred from the background of an interview. The journalist accused the production leadership of the TV channel of being unprofessional. The quality of the news published by public media outlets has recently been questioned by an international mission of free speech NGOs as well.

author: Marietta Le


text:
Indonesia: Cost of Corruption · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Colson writes about the cost of corruption in Indonesia. In the past five years, it's estimated that $3.3 billion of government funds were lost to corruption.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Indonesia’s ‘Soft Power’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Awis Mranani believes Indonesia should enhance and maximize the full potential of its cultural ‘soft power’ in order to gain more influence in the region and the world.


text:
Iran: Fire department rescues baby lion · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

A film in YouTube shows Iranian fire department rescues baby lion walking in Tehran highway.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Iran: Where Is My Classmate? · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several empty chairs in Iran's universities were formerly occupied by students who have now vanished. Some are deprived of education for religious reasons, such as members of the persecuted  Baha'i religious minority, others have been jailed for political activities, killed in the street, or forced to leave Iran. In the best of circumstances, students have merely been expelled.
This year Tahkim Vahdat, a leading student protest group, called for an “Empty Seat Campaign”, all over the world, on December 7, Iran's student day, to remember the victims of lost hope for the wish to be educated. A Facebook page was launched, and several films were shared on YouTube to display solidarity with departed and repressed students in Iran. Here are three of them.
George Washington University, USA
Barcelona, Spain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4535gGdL-qQ
A message from Canada for a jailed student


text:
Jamaica: So What About the Spy Plane? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

After reading a newspaper editorial which was nonchalant over the presence of a spy plane during the country's state of emergency, Active Voice says: “The big deal…is that 73 people were killed under unexplained circumstances during that Tivoli Gardens operation. This spy plane has video footage of what happened…and the really burning question is why the government shows so little interest in acquiring the video footage shot by the P-3 Orion.”


text:
Mexico: Two Students Killed During Protest in Ayotzinapa · Global Voices
Geraldine Juarez

Two students, Jorge Alexis Herrera Pino and Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús, were killed on December 12, 2011, during a protest held by students of the rural school Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa,  Chilpancingo,  the capital of the state of Guerrero, Mexico.
The protest blocked the highway “Autopista del Sol” which leads to the tourist area of Acapulco. Contradicting versions of events have been published online, including the version given by the authorities of Guerrero who said this protest was “unusual”, and that “strange agents” not related to the students participated in the mobilization.
La Jornada de Guerrero [es] published a chronicle of the events:
Everything started with a smoke curtain, provoked by the tear gas bombs that came out of the hands of the federal police. [..] After that came the first gust of bullets form the federal police, who were authorized to proceed via radio. The second gust, which was longer, came from different hands: ministerial police opened fire against the students from the right lane (of the highway from north to south) […] It didn't take long for the federal police to aim at the same target. […] On the other side, Ayotzinapa's side, the rural students with a daily budget for food of 3.50 dollars, responded with sticks and stones. The domestic bombs that they had weren't used because they didn't have time to load them with gas from the 2 gas stations on of each side of the highway. Some, trying to defend themselves, had time to light up the bottles they got from the service station. The police then threw some fragmentation grenades at the students, that by then were seeking refuge in the space between the buses and concrete walls that divide the highway. There were five grenades in total and none detonated, but they provoked panic […]. The only ones not moving were two students, both 22 years old
The normalista school involved in the protest has been historically in resistance and belongs to an old tradition of ‘escuelas normalistas rurales’, which are schools that form teachers from very poor and disadvantage communities. The school in question belongs to the Federación de Estudiantes Campesinos Socialistas de México (Federation of Rural Socialist Students of México). Journalist Diego Osorno, who specializes in social conflicts, wrote a story for the blog Nuesta Aparente Rendición about the normalistas conflict in Guerrero [es], specifically the school of Ayotzinapa.
The school issued a communique [es] in which they denied having any weapons and demand justice for the  killings, which they labeled as “extrajudicial  execution”.   The text also explains the repeated cancellations of  scheduled meetings with the Minister of Education of Guerrero and demand the governor's resignation
Wall of the Normalistas School “Isidro Burgos” in Ayotzinapa. Foto via @kradprro
On December 13, Justice Authority Alberto López Rosas, during a radio interview with Carmen Aristegui [es], declared that one of the detainees –who is 19-years-old– had an AK-47, but they didn't know if the bullets matched the caliber that killed the two students. However he said the weapon is not the kind used by police, and made it clear that the police's actions did not constitute repression, that they only wanted to bring order. In relation to this,La Jornada [es] published a report about the use of torture to “fabricate” a confession related to the AK-47.
Later that day, López Rosas contradicted [es] his earlier version, saying that the shots might have been fired by the “ministerial police”.
But during the events, Roberto Ramirez (@robertoramirezb), head of information of La Jornada Guerrero, tweeted:
#Ayotzinapa Eso no es enfrentamiento, eso es un crimen
He also reported via Twitter that a reporter had been detained because he looked like a student, and had been heavily beaten [es] before his release. Ramírez also tweeted that some grenades made in England [es] were found on the scene.
On Twitter, users have been sharing a few, very graphic images of the fallen students ([1] [2]); one of the photos shows a student with signs of torture. Reforma, one of the major media outlets in Mexico, published a video where a person in plain clothes is seen firing a weapon. They also posted a sequence of photographs [es] of one of the students running moments before getting shot.
Meanwhile, El Universal reported [es] that the shots that killed the students were aimed at their heads, and Revista Proceso [es] added that witnesses said the police shot the students. In a press conference held on December 13, students of Ayotzinapa said the police made a call and were given the “green light” to do  whatever they wanted –then they started shooting, Contralínea reports [es].
According to  La Jornada [es], four people suffered bullet injuries, and student Édgar David    Espíritu is in a coma. Twenty-three people were released on December 13    at noon, but 15 are reported missing and reports say one person is   still  being held by authorities.
Later on December 13, the Secretary and Sub Secretary of Security, together with the Chief Prosecutor of Chilpancingo, were relieved [es] of their duties by the governor of Guerrero.
Twitter users expressed their outrage with the hasthag #Ayotzinapa [es]:
@roblesmaloof: Culpar a quienes son asesinados de sus propias muertes, es tan viejo como las dictaduras y no se los vamos a creer. #Ayotzinapa.
@danischmidt: Yo aquí desayunamdome el asesinato de 2 estudiantes normalistas por el abuso de las fuerzas policiacas #Ayotzinapa
@VinitoPereda: No dudo que la #PF actuó en consecuencia a la psicosis que les ha producido la guerra de Calderón. Eran ESTUDIANTES no Narcos. #Ayotzinapa
@Morf0: Primero les matan el derecho a la educación y luego los matan a ellos. #Ayotzinapa
@blanchepetrich: ¿Qué son muy “radicales” los estudiantes campesinos de #Ayotzinapa? Denles razones, argumentos, respuestas ¡no balazos!
@roblesmaloof: Qué difícil es para los medios convencionales decir que los estudiantes de #Ayotzinapa fueron asesinados.
@Asteris: Is  #Mexico now perceived by int'l media as another Iraq? Too much  quotidian violence to even bother covering it? #Ayotzinapa #Chilpancingo
Hamlet García Almaguer (@hamletgar) blogged in LetraJoven [es]:
Y ahí está el problema, por que quienes han vivido en Guerrero saben que  Guerrero es bronco y que en cualquier momento puede levantarse; y saben  que los homicidios desde el poder son intolerables.
Mexico's Human Rights Commission has opened an investigation on the incident.

author: Geraldine Juarez


text:
Mexico: Applications Open for The School of Authentic Journalism 2012 · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Narco News are accepting applications in English and Spanish until December 28, 2011 from media makers, journalists, bloggers, and activists from any country for The School of Authentic Journalism. This is an annual workshop on journalism, media and civil resistance movements. The 2012 session will be taking place in Mexico from March 21-31, 2012.

author: Solana Larsen


text:
Nepal: Government Expels UN Human Rights Watchdog · Global Voices
Rezwan

Article 19 reports that the Nepali government has decided “not to renew the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the only branch of the United Nations watchdog in South Asia”.


text:
North Korea Warns South Over Lighting of Christmas Tree · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

North Korea has issued a warning to South Korea over lighting up of Christmas trees near the border, defining the act as “initiating psychological warfare”. Liam Kruger wrote a short commentary on it.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


text:
Pakistan: A Holistic View On The SMS Content Filtering Saga · Global Voices
Rezwan

Fouad Bajwa provides a holistic view on the recent SMS content filtering controversy in Pakistan.


text:
Peru: Bloggers Report Police Harassment During Discussion Group about Conga Mining Project  · Global Voices
Isabel Guerra

Members of the group “Casa Cultural Poco Floro” blogged denouncing [es] an alleged case of police harassment during a discussion group about the Conga mining project, one of the most heated social conflicts at the moment. The representative of Poco Floro talks about the incident in an interview (audio) [es]. Other bloggers [es] and Twitter users are using the hashtag #pocofloro to report on the incident.

author: Isabel Guerra


text:
Peru: Protests Against Mining in Videos, Part II  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

As indicated in the first post of this two-part series, recent protests against the environmental damage caused by mining in  Peru have sparked plenty of audiovisual material, with both campaigns to raise awareness, and citizen videos of protests, repression and more. This second part shows what citizens, journalists and organizations in the area have been uploading to the Internet.
The following video from the YouTube account of the Cajamarca Regional Government shows some of the people opposed to mining with Gregorio Santos, Regional President of Cajamarca, at Lake El Perol, one of the lakes that would be affected by the Conga mining project.
It is important to point out that for several days thousands of protesters stayed [es] at that location, camping in defense of the lakes, in a sort of ‘Occupy‘ Cajamarca.
The next video, by RENAMA (Regional Management of Natural Resources and Environmental Management) Cajamarca, shows Yanacocha gold mine workers at their jobs and later gathering at the shore of lake El Perol. It includes a declaration by one of the workers which was apparently recorded in secret.
The ‘Movimiento de Afirmación Social’ (MAS) uploaded this video of one of the many protests that have been taking place in Cajamarca. This one was held on November 9, 2011:
This video from November 28, the fifth day of the indefinite strike in defense of water, was recorded in Cajamarca's main square.
The following video, also by RENAMA Cajamarca, is a compilation of photos of the protests:
But not everything has been as colorful or quiet. This video shows a wounded man, and then police and protesters in the hills near the premises of Yanacocha gold mine:
This one, by Karlos Peralta, seems to be a continuation of the previous video:
This video, by the Yanacocha company, shows a group of protesters in what the mining company describes as, “the cowardly attack on Yanacocha – Conga project officials and property. About 250 villagers are seen riding horses aggressively.”
A video from November 30, shows people, who were wounded in a confrontation during a protest, arriving at a clinic. We then hear the declarations of a protester and a policeman, both wounded:
The following video calls for peace in Cajamarca:
This final video, by Dimas Soria, is a call, apparently made from a public Internet booth in Lima, “to human rights activists, and environmentalists worldwide. Peru and Cajamarca need you urgently. The Yanacocha company wants to continue polluting lakes and rivers; the people said ‘no’ to the Conga project and the Peruvian government sent troops to suppress the people of Cajamarca, [leaving some of them] severely injured –and the world doesn't know. “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tOeVURk1iB0

author: Juan Arellano


text:
Russia: December 10 Opposition Rally in St. Petersburg · Global Voices
Maria Lelyuk

This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011.
Russia hasn’t seen such a mass political rally in almost 20 years. On December 10, 2011, thousands of Russians all over the country took to the streets to participate in peaceful demonstrations. They did not call for overthrow of the government, they did not want a revolution and they were not out for blood. On December 10, their main demand was free and fair elections, as stated in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Later they adopted a resolution, demanding the following [ru]:
"No voice." Photo from Saint-Petersburg manifestation. Photo by Salimasafarova (Ridus.ru)
At the time when some 60,000 Muscovites were protesting at Bolotnaya Square, in St. Petersburg over 5,000 people gathered at Pionerskaya Square. This rally had been permitted by the city authorities only in the evening of December 9, which was a surprise for most participants. There were assumptions that the new location for the rally was a provocation from the authorities (the same happened in Moscow, when Revolution Square was suddenly changed for Bolotnaya).
Twitter user Andrey Seryakov wrote [ru]:
December 10 in [St. Pete] is either a big stupidity or a very big provocation […]
Fortunately, the rally ended up being a peaceful one. Alice Gorbunova tweeted [ru]:
I was sure that there'd be unrest and provocations. how nice it is to be wrong! #10дек
Initially, the protesters planned to gather on the Vosstaniya Square and conduct an unauthorized meeting there. Later it was agreed that people would gather there and then go peacefully to Pionerskaya. The square was filled with police and riot police, but this time no scuffles took place (in Moscow, there were about 50,000 police and riot police deployed to work on the day of the rally).
The protesters delivered an ultimatum to St. Petersburg governor Georgy Poltavchenko, demanding the results of the election to be cancelled [ru] within eight days; if this demand is not met, even more people will gather for a new rally, already approved by the authorities, on December 18 (see this group in Vkontakte [ru] for more info; the next rally in Moscow is scheduled for December 24).
Most protesters at the St. Petersburg rally were young people under 30. Many older people came with children. There was a group of boys aged 11-12 years old, holding posters with “Democracy – YES. Putin – NO!” written on them (for more photos, see here, here and here).
Representatives of various political movements came to express their discontent with flags, posters and other attributes. It was extraordinary to see nationalists and anarchists standing close to each other and not fighting. Lots of people did not belong to any movement – they came just because they felt they needed to do so. Most of them had been apolitical before the elections, but now they felt that the rigging of the vote was not just a political trick, but a crime that should be punished.
LJ user drugoi wrote [ru]:
…And I like these citizens. This is precisely my dream – people who care. Only such a nation can stand up for itself, for its interests.
This post is part of our special coverage Russia Elections 2011.

author: Maria Lelyuk


text:
Singapore: Stories of Migrant Workers · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The number of foreign workers in Singapore continues to rise but little is known about their working and housing conditions. Curious to know the stories of migrant workers in prosperous Singapore, three interns conceptualized the ‘Made by Migrants’ project and documented the daily activities of construction workers for two weeks
Made by Migrants is a collaborative project undertaken by a group of interns from BBH Singapore. The project aims to look past the skin-deep perceptions of migrant workers by revealing their motivations, stories and dreams.
Ian, one of the team’s members from Manchester will live and work with migrant construction workers on site for two weeks. He plans to document his experience and those of the men around him to share with the outside world.
Kirsten Han interviewed the group and reviewed their project
It’s impossible not to cross paths with a migrant worker these days. We see them everywhere: fixing our roads, cutting the grass, clambering over construction sites. Everyone seems to have something to say about these workers, be it good or bad. They’ve been discussed in the context of economics, immigration and human rights. But who are these workers? What are their names? What did they used to do? Why have them come here, and who have they left behind?
Made By Migrants is a project that seeks to, if not answer, at least shed a little light on these questions
Through these stories we’re able to identify and relate to these workers and their motivations, and to realise that they are much more than rubber boots and fluorescent safety vests; they are people just like us, people with families and responsibilities and hopes.
Migrant workers' dormitory room
An ordinary day for a construction worker
Below is a video interview with a 22-year-old Chinese worker
Here is their interview with a Thai worker in Singapore
“Singapore so different from Thailand. Lots and lots of families piled high. Back home, I had my own lane, land and farm.”
I ask him about his parents.
“They were farmers and reasonably successful. But then we lost a lot of money and started to struggle. At the time, I was 16 and fit from working on the farm so I began competing in Muay Thai. For five years, I was a fighter.”
“I lost everything, they want money. I did not have and I have to leave country. I stay in Singapore since and rarely seen my children. I enjoy Singapore, opportunity to work, I am thankful for, but here, it is money first, heart second. I can educate my children thanks to this work and hope the money I save can build a small chapel to help people who need it back home.”


text:
Slovakia: The Most Expensive Apple Computers · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

University of Economics in Bratislava (EUBA) has recently signed a contract to acquire electronics and software for its Faculty of National Economy for a total price of over 1.8 million euro. Many of the items are overpriced (see the contract here [sk, .pdf]).
For example, one MacBook would cost the university over 9,000 euro, despite the fact that it was not the latest model (and, to be accurate, the price of “9,000 euro for a MacBook” also covers a 24-inch Apple LCD display, an external keyboard and a mouse – normally, all together, it would cost 3,000 euro or so – plus an extended service contract).
According to media reports [sk], the university feels no problem with such a contract, explaining that the prices are the result of a public competition, and it was enough to offer the lowest prices to win it. And, anyway, Apple computers make up “just 4.03% of the total expenses.”
The supplier that won the contract, Gratex International, declared [sk] that no profit was being made from some items, so they decided to make it from others.
Here are some comments [sk] from the discussion that follows the SME newspaper article linked to above.
Doctor X:
Parents! Entrust them with your children for 5 years. Application accepted until February.
Servius fortis:
That [school] lost the moral right to teach economics? Just the opposite! It has confirmed again that no better school exists for Slovak politicians!
petrik 12:
The nation's economists are learning how to deal with state [property]
Mima1406:
The best thing is that we students are freezing during lectures.
Hranol červený – najnebezpečnejší živočích:
Our professors do not know how to switch a data projector on … what do they need MacBooks for? The best thing is that we have to wear jackets during classes because it is cold there…
pressburgerzwilsonova1:
they behave like those in this classic joke: two Slovak nouveau riches meet in Paris and one asks: how much did you pay for that jacket? – 250 euro. – You are stupid, they have it for 450 next door!
medofil:
Software for creating PDF documents for 8,748 euros.
Gimli:
I have software for creating PDF documents for 0 euros – Open Office. It is no special wonder but I think for a school it should be enough.
tom_sk:
University of Economics in Bratislava owns the most expensive MacBook in the world. They have to lose their accreditation immediately! It is in direct conflict with what they are teaching.
tlstoch:
It is a hoax. It is simply impossible to believe this. It must be a hoax.
sedmokraska321:
Is this how they understand “higher investment in education”?
Corvus corax:
Isn't [Slovakia's Minister of Finance] Ivan Mikloš their graduate, too?
seth82 (in reply):
If it was only he… But also the present minister of education Eugen Jurzyca
Servius fortis:
Will some politician or NGO file a lawsuit? Or will we just jabber?
lexik:
It seems I was wrong. For many years, I thought that economists were stupid and unable to act. Probably they are not, they are just graduates of our EUBA and have knowledge from their study rooted deeply in their minds.
mozilko:
You probably do not know how such competitions are designed. Already in conditions are such criteria …. that immediately disqualify 99% of the Slovak companies.
Hujanita:
I've always said that MacBooks are too cheap… People are ready to pay much more… This university is a shining example ;-)

author: Tibor Blazko


text:
South Korea: Former Comfort Women Held 1000th Protest · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

South Korean former ‘comfort women’ who were forced into Japan's wartime military brothels held their 1,000th weekly protest and placed a statue of a sex slave outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. South Korea's citizen media, Wiki Tree consolidated twitter photos of the rally.


text:
USA: Has NASA Discovered a Life-Friendly Planet? · Global Voices
Simon Maghakyan

With at least a hundred billion galaxies in the observable Universe and two hundred billion stars in Earth's Milky Way alone, the potential for planets with the conditions to support human-like life is considerate. But there is no solid evidence that such a planet exists.
However, on December 5, 2011, the United States space agency, NASA, announced the Kepler Space Telescope discovery of Kepler-22b, a planet within the right distance of its star for potentially having a habitable temperature. Science bloggers have reacted to the news with analysis and theories of their own.
Diagram comparing Earth's solar system to an artist's rendition of Kepler-22b, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
Hampshire College astronomy professor Salman Hameed is excited about the discovery:
Yes. Astronomers have the first confirmed detection of an earth-like planet located in the star's habitable zone – the distance from the star where water can exist in liquid form…The discovery is amazing, if not really surprising. There are just too many planets out there, and we are bound to find planets in places that match conditions of the Earth. And life is also likely to be quite common. Life that can build telescopes? Don't know.
He gives more details:
So what do we know about this planet? It is called Kepler 22b. This is the sexiest name that astronomers could come up with (actually, it is because it is discovered by Kepler telescope). It is located about 600 light years away – just far enough that we can't start thinking about packing our bags for a trip…
Is there life there?  We don't know. This planet was detected when it passed in front of its star, dimming the light of the parent star a bit. We do not have an image of the planet. When we do – and it may take years – then we can potentially analyze the composition of its atmosphere. The presence of oxygen in the atmosphere will be a good indicator for life, as oxygen in our own atmosphere is a by-product of life itself.
We are getting closer to finding life.
Helen Chappell, a former astronomer who studied physics at University of Colorado Boulder, offers three reasons why she doesn't care about Kepler-22b:
Kepler is finding hundreds of extrasolar planets, and it’s going to keep on finding hundreds more until the project’s funding runs out. Kepler 22b is just the poster child for NASA’s announcement of more than 1,000 new planet candidates.
[..]
Venus [like Kepler 22b] isn’t too far outside the habitable zone…[but] we know that it’s actually hot enough to melt lead on the surface. Venus is not a nice place for life, but extraterrestrial astronomers would have no way to figure that out if they used the same technology as us.  Perhaps folks on Kepler 22b are giddy at the prospect of life on Venus.
[…]
We have no clear way to figure out whether Kepler 22b — or any other extrasolar planet — actually harbors life.
She does see one positive aspect of the excitement over the discovery:
Discoveries like Kepler 22b get everyone excited about astronomy, and open up opportunities to teach folks (especially kids) about science.
[…]
So hooray for science, even if I just burst your Kepler 22b bubble.
Another critic, an anonymous blogger who studies tornadoes for living, discusses misconceptions about Kepler-22b, concluding nevertheless:
It's a first step, and it's a step we've never taken before. That's big news! And the fact that we still have 48 other candidate planets in the habitable zones of their respective stars is a Big Deal. But it's news in a way that a lot of the media seems to be missing out on.
In the comments section, the blogger discusses the actual distance between us and Kepler-22b:
At present top speeds, it'd take us, what, tens of millions of years to get there. That's a bit beyond even the scifi-ish dreams of generation ships and cryostasis. And the corollary to that: any further observations we make will be of the planet as it was 600 years ago.
600 light years may sound a lot, but it is minute in astronomical terms, even if it would take millions of years to travel to Kepler 22b at our current speeds. If we were able to build a machine traveling close to the speed of light, it might be possible to survive travel to Kepler 22b since, according to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, the travelers would experience less, about 24 years.
Some bloggers have expanded on the idea of space travel with some less serious than others.
Eight Days to Amish, a blog by freelance writer Chris Rodell, writes:
I’m sure the Republicans thought, “Hallelujah! Now, there’s a place the lousy Democrats can Occupy for as long as they want!”
The Democrats thought, “You can bet greedy Republicans are already packing their Louis Vuitton suitcases, drilling rigs and barrels of Halliburton fracking liquids to exploit yet another pristine wilderness before Obama declares it off-limits.”
Advocatus Atheist, a blog by Tristan D. Vick, an English teacher in Japan, is more hopeful about communicating with Kepler-22b, if it were to have a civilization capable of space communication. He suggests building a wormhole (a hypothetical shortcut through spacetime), which would make it possible to communicate. He admits, however, that his suggestion is only possible theoretically.
Vick concludes in what seems to be a good summary of the lesson of Kepler-22b:
Regardless of whether or not we could ever make first contact with an alien race, it seems to me that Kepler 22B represents a dream which all people share–the dream of adventure, of interstellar travel, and of being a part of history. It seems to me, we may already be witnessing history in the making and not even truly be aware of it.

author: Simon Maghakyan


text:
Uzbekistan: Playing Politics on Facebook · Global Voices
Ekaterina

Facebook seems to have started playing an important role in Uzbek politics. However, so far it is more a tool for playing games with fake accounts, rather than an instrument of civil protests.
Planted suicide story?
On 6 December, 2011, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on a suicide committed by a young woman in the western Uzbek city of Andijan. After coming home on vacation, Gulsumoi Abdujalilova, a 32-year-old university student in Germany, was allegedly interrogated by police for four days.
According to the Uzbek NGO Human Rights Alliance, Abdujalilova was beaten at the police station and forced to write statements against Muhammad Salih, the self-exiled leader of the opposition People's Movement of Uzbekistan (PMU). The movement was formed in May 2011 from a number of foreign-based Uzbek opposition movements and rights organizations and stated its goal as being the downfall of President Islam Karimov's regime.
Facebook profile picture of Gulsumoy Abdujalilova, which is actually a photo of turkish model Armine Eşarpları
According to her Facebook account, Abdujalilova was a supporter of this movement, and a person with the name Muhammad Salih was among her Facebook friends. That was the reason, some netizens believe, that the young woman came to attention of the Uzbek authorities. However, the PMU website has stated [uz] that Abdujalilova was never a member of the opposition movement.
It’s worth mentioning that Interior Ministry officials in Andijan gave no comment. Abdujalilova’s relatives (according to her Facebook profile she is married, and Human Rights Alliance mentioned Abdujalilova’s sister who allegedly found her suicide note) have also kept silent.
The story became more perplexing when two days later, on 8 December, the opposition site Uzmetronom.com published [ru] an article with the results of a journalistic investigation, carried out by the website. The author of the article, who remained anonymous, concluded that the entire story is provocation prepared by Muhammad Salih to destabilize Uzbek society and gain international attention.
The story has attracted the attention of netizens. One of them comments on the idea that it may have been planted by members of the Uzbek opposition in order to smear the Uzbek government. Other suggest that it was made up by the national security services to show people the dangers of supporting the opposition movement.
It still remains unclear who could benefit from the made-up story and probably this will not be known. Sarah Kendzior from Registan.net sums up:
[…] it reveals a great deal of how rumor operates on the Uzbek political internet. The assumption that all information is unreliable, and all sources biased, has had the perverse effect of ensuring that all rumor is taken seriously.
Prime Minister’s fake Facebook account
Another topic that has sparked controversy among Uzbek bloggers was the Facebook account of Uzbekistan’s Prime-Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev. His Facebook page, created early in May this year, has about 2,000 friends and identifies him as a 100% Muslim with conservative political views, interested in women and married.
Catherine A. Fitzpatrick from Eurasianet.org comments:
[…] you can see that Mirziyoyev is inspired by Nicolas Sarkozy, Lee Myung-bak, Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and […] Islam Karimov.
His gmail address is provided, so write and ask any questions! Don't expect any cat or dog photos, however.
Others wonder why the Prime Minister doesn’t have a personal page on Uzbekistan’s local social network Muloqot.uz and speculate that the main goal of his Facebook page is to attract a Western audience.
However, after a semi-official statement from the Prime Minister's “offline office” about contacting the Facebook administration with a request to delete the page, it became clear that the account is not authentic.
Dangers of being too public
This is not the first time that high-ranking Uzbek public figures’ names have been used for suspicious accounts in social networks. Early this May the blogosphere discussed two Twitter accounts which were affiliated with President Karimov’s daughter Gulnara Karimova. The first one, @GuliKarimova, does not exist anymore. However the second one, @GulnaraKarimova [ru], is active and has over 1,800 followers
As we see, social networks in Uzbekistan are getting used in some games with political background. Therefore Hugh Raiser from Eurasianet.org warns:
[…] arguments about the dangers of being too public with one's affiliations on public social networking sites remain in force.

author: Ekaterina


text:
Zimbabwe: Outrage as Octogenarian Mugabe Eyes 2012 Election · Global Voices
Madalitso Mwando

Zimbabwe's long-time ruler, Robert Mugabe, 87, was endorsed last weekend by his party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), as their candidate for the presidential elections expected next year.
Mugabe has been in power since 1980. He has rejected local and international calls for him to quit. Many Zimbabweans hoped that his ill health and age would force him to leave power. The ZANU-PF congress quashed all those hopes. If elections are held next year, Mugabe will be 88 years old and Africa’s second oldest person to stand in a presidential election after the late Kamuzu Hastings Banda of Malawi who was 98 years old when he stood in Malawi’s 1994 elections.
Twitter and Facebook, the two online alternative public spheres that have become the favored platform for Zimbabweans, became the sites of expression of outrage and disbelief.
Robert Mugabe will be Africa’s second oldest person to stand in a presidential election. Photo released to the public domain by the U.S. federal government.
Facebook user Wise Chokuda wrote:
the President Cde Robert Mugabe will not retire anytime soon as he was anonimasly [sic] endorsed by all provinces as their next year candidate. This was announced at the close of the 12th ZANU PF People’s Congress in Bulawayo yesterday.
Masamha Tulisticated posted on his wall:
no retirement plans for the Zimbabwean president. More white farms to be designated for rural resettlement. #Zanu PF congress.
On Twitter, @BrendahNyakudya tweeted a Mugabe quote:
I am lucky that God has given me longer years than others to be with you (Zimbabweans). I will not let you down,” he (Mugabe) added. #FML
@BrendahNyakudya quipped:
Mugabe says it would be wrong to step down” *Brendah pours ashes on head, dons sack-cloth and spends night wailing at city gates*
@masamhat: Robert Mugabe says no plans to retire. He thanks God for living long because he can now rule longer##Zanu PF congress in Byo [Bulawayo]
@mashanubian: “No surprise! ZANU PF congress endorses #Mugabe as presidential candidate for elections to be held in 2012 or early 2013 #zimbabwe
@clivembayimbayi posted an angry tweet:
Guys tel me, whn is the bastard goind 2 step dwn, I mean Mugabe from Zimbabwe, gyz lets do somthng
@nqabamatshazi added a bit of humour noting something different in a country where citizens have learnt to curse the dark because of the perennial power cuts:
Bulawayo city centre dwellers are having the time of their lives. Since the Zanu PF conference began [December], they have not experienced a power cut.
Later, a day after the Zanu PF conference ended, @nqabamatshazi followed up with:
After an uncharacteristic break, power cuts are back with a vengeance in Bulawayo I bet some people wish the Zanu PF conference was still on.
Meanwhile, @IamClaro made reference to the controversial Nando’s advert that the whole world's laughing at:
Hahahaaha NANDO’S Changed their advert from last DIDACTOR standing to LAST STICKTATOR standing! :’ -To Protect Mugabe assassination”
The controversial advert shows Robert Mugabe dining alone at Christmas in a large mansion while he reminisces about “happier times” with former dictators, such as playing water tag with Muammar Gaddafi, making snow angels in the sand with Saddam Hussein, singing Karaoke with Mao Zedong, pushing P. W. Botha on a swing set, and riding a tank with Idi Amin.

author: Madalitso Mwando


text:
Barbados: Courts Send Message that Women are Nothing  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Men again learned that no matter how badly you beat women, they can always be pressured to drop the charges. Police learned that it is useless to treat an assault on a woman seriously. The judge learned that assault charges are a waste of time when a West Indies cricketer is involved”: Barbados Free Press reports on a recent case of domestic violence.


text:
Brazil: Blogger Found Dead, Hanged: Suicide or Assassination? · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Brazilian blogger Altamiro Borges announces [pt] on his blog, the death of blogger Hamilton Alexander, the “Mosquito”, found dead, hanged, at his home. He adds that friends and family are not convinced of this version, because the blogger was famous for attacking politicians in his state, Santa Catarina, south of Brazil, and alerted he was being threatened.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


text:
Brazil: Monitoring Human Rights During the World Cup and the Olympics · Global Voices
João Miguel Lima

The People's Gateway for the World Cup and the Olympics [pt] has been launched to monitor forced evictions, government misconducts and violations of human rights due to the major urban changes planned for the mega-events of 2014 and 2016. The website was created by a national coalition of committees advocating for the rights of poor communities in the host cities.

author: João Miguel Lima


text:
Brazil: “A new era of political activism?” · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Global Voices author from Brazil, Raphael Tsavkko writes about A new era of political activism for the ESPAS Conference on ‘Global Trends 2030′, organized by the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).

author: Sara Moreira


text:
Cuba: In Defense of Human Rights  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Pedazos de La Isla highlights the testimony of one of the Ladies in White who relates her experience as a victim of the “vigilance operations, brutal beatings, arbitrary arrests, deportations, and other forms of violence against those who publicly demonstrated on the streets of the island in defense of human rights…”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Guyana: Rape Allegations against Police Chief  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Save Guyana reports on rape allegations being brought against the police commissioner, explaining: “The Alliance For Change…has called for [his] dismissal or at least interdiction from duty…and is viewing the matter as the first real test of the Donald Ramotar administration.”


text:
Haiti: Housing Still a Problem  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“While over one million refugees suffered under tents following the January 12, 2010, earthquake, 128 newly constructed homes, finished in May, 2010, sat empty for 15 months,” reports Haiti Grassroots Watch, adding: “Today, the majority of these ‘social housing’ units are occupied, but mostly by illegal squatters…”


text:
Honduras: Journalists and Police Clash During Protest · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

As we reported earlier, Honduran journalists protested against violence in front of the presidential palace this week. Bloggings by boz adds that “protesters ended up clashing with police and military forces guarding the palace and were eventually dispersed with tear gas. President Lobo defended the actions of the security forces, insisting the protesters were not peaceful.”

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Iran: Jailed blogger on hunger strike · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, jailed blogger, is on hunger strike  [fa] over his jail's conditions. Hossein is serving a 15 year prison sentence in the security ward of Evin Prison.


text:
Poland: Change to Drug Law, Change in Policy? · Global Voices
Anna Gotowska

On December 9, 2011, an important change [pl] was introduced to the Polish drug policy: an amendment to the law on illegal drug possession came into force, which would allow prosecutors to abandon initiation of the criminal procedure against those in possesion of drugs. It is to be possible under three conditions: when defendant is in possesion of only a small amount of drugs, when the drug is for personal use only, and when punishing a person in question would be pointless, due to harmless nature of the crime.
The Polish drug law is considered to be one of the most severe in Europe. Possesion of drugs still remains illegal, but from now on it is for a prosecutor in a specific case to decide, whether it is to be treated as an offence or as a misdemeanour. One of the parts of the new amendment, which is surely to be questioned, is the lack of a definition of what “a small amount of drugs” is.
Even though the change in law is small and its influence depends entirely on the prosecutor's interpretation of it, it is a step in the direction recommended by many influential politicians and experts around the world.
In June 2011, a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy called for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users. According to the report, anti-drug policy has failed to achieve its main goal – putting an end to or limiting organised crime. It has costed taxpayers millions of dollars and caused many people to die. In the report, the UN estimates are cited, which state that drug consumption increases every year.
The new law, passed by the parliment in March 2011, caused a heated debate, with 258 deputees in favour of the act and 159 opposing it. The blogosphere was also very fragmented in its evaluation of the parliment's decision.
Blogger mutant12 writes [pl]:
We shouldn't create a myth, claiming that all drugs are similarly dangerous. Decriminalising possesion of marijuana, or even legalising it, won't cause the Polish society to collapse. It won't cause widespread drug addiction. Possibly, more people would dare to use it, but would do so occasionally. I am against legalisation of drugs other than marijuana, though I strongly believe that drug-users should be offered health and treatment services insted of being sent to jail.
Blogger gugulskim doesn't approve of the new act, and being a supporter of the opposition party, blames the ruling one for passing it [pl]:
It all began in the [Sejm], in no time [the Senate ] will join in, and then the President would be given a chance as well [to overrule the act]. Less than a year after [the tragedy in Smolensk], thanks to the elimination of the threat of a veto from the late president [Lech Kaczyński], supporters of the drugs legalisation achieved their first big victory. Which MPs voted for the act, supporting the legalisation of the so-called “light drugs”? […] 100 percent of the opposition voted against it!
On the bangladeszcz blog, where news on the Polish drug policy are published, the editor writes [pl]:
A step towards normalcy! Sejm moderates the drug law!
The most heated debates took place among those who commented on the official online news.
Lech from Boston, USA, writes:
Once again the [Civic Platform-Polish People's Party] coalition shows that it only undertakes legislative actions to harm Poland and the Poles. Don't you see, those back in the country, what these people are doing?!?! These are not innocent children!!! These are people who consequently destroy the Polish sovereignty with unbelievable speed!
Mandark replies [pl]:
This is the best change in the legislation that the ruling party has ever introduced. Unfortunately, we have to admit that those changes are really small. Depenalisation of drug users (as opposed to drug dealers) should be obligatory. A huge mistake was made by turning down the amendment proposed by MP Marek Balicki, which suggested establishing actual limits for the amount of a drug considered as “for personal use.”
LGPhantom adds [pl]:
This amendment doesn't change the situation at all, it doesn't change the Polish drug policy.
Many Twitter users, like @Liroy or @bartoszc, recommended  [pl] a YouTube video, where a Harvard economy professor explains why some of the drugs should be decriminalised:
@MamyWas wrote:
[Law and Justice] says that drugs should be illegal, but what is more addictive – marijuana or Law and Justice membership?
It is more than certain that the debate would last for a long time, for the new law is unclear and leaves a lot of space for personal interpretation. But with a loss of about 80 milion zlotych a year [pl] (approx. $23 million; as calculated by the Institute of Public Affairs) on repressions against drug users, and faced with the global crisis, further changes in policy may be just around the corner.

author: Anna Gotowska


text:
Rwanda: Tweeps Debate as President Kagame Eyes Third Term · Global Voices
Etienne Mashuli

Rwandan President Paul Kagame is comfortable with the debate on whether the country's constitution should be amended to allow him to run for a third term. Speaking at a press conference in Kampala, Uganda, where he had flown as the guest of honor for a local youth event, he argued that the Rwandan citizens are free to say they don't want him, but they are also free to say that they want him.
The Rwandan leader is widely credited for having put an end to the 1994 genocide that killed over 800,000 people. In recent years, human rights organizations have raised concerns over the country's deteriorating human rights record.
Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Photo released under Creative Commons (CC BY 2.0) by David Shankbone.
Rwandans activists campaigning for democracy were “chilled to the bone” by this announcement. The activists believe that President Kagame is pursuing a third term as a strategy to shield himself from future prosecution. In particular, they identify the recently released United Nations Mapping report that accuses him of war crimes against members of the Hutu ethnic group. The same report emphasized that the crimes could amount to genocide if proven in a court of law.
Analysts are also alarmed that this decision to seek another term could destabilize the Great Lakes region by leaving no option open to the Rwandan opposition other than to take up arms.
The presidential term limits debate in Rwanda is championed by internal security minister, Sheikh Musa Fazil Harerimana. Sheikh Fazil is also campaigning for the legal recognition of polygamous marriages, which are currently outlawed. President Kagame seems to agree with the Sheikh Fazil:
This Sheikh has a right to express himself and it's as if people expect me to go to this person and say ‘you shut up. Don't talk about this anymore.’ No. This is not my business.
On Twitter, Ugandan journalist Timothy Kalyegira scoffed at the decision with an accompanying dose of satire:
@TimKalyegira: Thousands of tearful Rwandans will soon start narrating to world media how betrayed they will feel if Kagame does not seek a third term.
British journalist Ian Birell was equally unimpressed:
@ianbirell: People are free to say they want me to be president again, says Kagame. They're not free, of course, to say he should go…
But Ian Birell's comments immediately attracted the wrath of the Rwandan ambassador to the United Kingdom, Erneste Rwamucyo, who accused him of western paternalism:
@ErnestRwamucyo: This paternalism and ‘know it all attitude’ on Africa and African leaders is not good. A pple out to be respected.
To which Mr. Birell responded:
@ianbirell: There is nothing paternalistic about supporting human rights and opposing repressive & despotic regimes
As the debate raged on, a heated exchange involving several Ugandan journalists ensued. It all started when Bob Muheebwa asked whether there were other Ugandan journalists apart from Andrew Mwenda and Alan Kasuja interested in interviewing President Kagame. The journalists wondered why Mwenda and Kasuja are never critical of President Kagame in their writings.
George Bankole's answer was more blunt. In an apparent reference to both journalists, Mwenda and Kasujja, he said:
@Snottyganda: @tijo5 Cos both hve been compromised with Cash incentives @mugumya@TimKalyegira@Gilespies@AndrewMwenda@kasujja
Giles Muhame, managing editor for the Ugandan newspaper Rolling Stone, seemed to agree:
@Gilespies:  @Snottyganda What else can i add? @tijo5@mugumya@TimKalyegira@AndrewMwenda@kasujja
So did journalist Timothy Kalyegira:
@TimKalyegira: @Snottyganda@tijo5@mugumya@AndrewMwenda@kasujja Others compromised by the sheer flattery of being on casual terms with a head of state.
Andrew Mwenda maintained silence on the issue, but Allan Kasujja later denied the allegations:
@kasujja: @TimKalyegira @tijo5 @mugumya @AndrewMwenda I am amazed at how simplistic your arguments have become. Can't my motivation be justice?
Again, Timothy Kalyegira responded:
@TimKalyegira: @kasujja It can be justice. We just find it interesting, this parade of Ugandan journalists singing Kagame's praises.
Rwanda currently has a constitutional two term limits for the presidency. Each term is composed of a total of seven years, which is the longest single term in Africa. President Kagame officially assumed office in 2000 although many believe he has technically been in power since the 1994 genocide.

author: Etienne Mashuli


text:
St. Kitts & Nevis: Making Financial Progress  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Abeng News Magazine has an update on the St. Kitts debt default, here.


text:
Trinidad & Tobago, Belize: Gay Rights  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Globewriter notes that some of the more homophobic nations are getting “their knickers in a twist” over the Obama administration's statement at the UN “that it is standing up for the rights of LGBT people worldwide”, calling the Belizean Prime Minister “about as enlightened to human rights as a lamppost…so sad that LGBT people – the operative word being PEOPLE – have to live surrounded by such  ignorance and hate.”


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Dangerous Ad · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bloggers from Trinidad and Tobago voice their outrage at a newspaper ad that claims to educate people about homosexuality, calling it “a vile advertisement that can only be described as hateful, mean spirited and a pack of lies.”


text:
Uruguayan Cinema · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Alvaro Fagalde blogs [es] about Uruguayan cinema. He says “Whisky” is without a doubt the best Uruguayan film, but criticizes that some believe all films have to follow that style. He argues that Uruguayan films don't need a lot of money, advertising, or a foreign cast; Uruguayan cinema, in his opinion, needs imagination, confidence, and professional screenwriters.


text:
Video: Middle East Responds to Media via Webcam · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

Talk Back TV Middle East provides a way for people from in the Middle East and North Africa can talk back and give their take on state controlled television and mass media using only a webcam and computer.
The concept is explained on the talk back website:
You see something on TV and want to TalkBack – Pick your clip from our rich source media database, record your comments via webcam, use our simple editor to put it together, and then watch your video remix on TalkBackTV’s dual-screen player. When you’re done, hit publish and share you finished ‘Rant’ everywhere you go online. Your webcam is now a weapon of mass communication.
Currently highlighted on their blog is a rant by Khaled Eibid on Essam Atta, a 24 year old Egyptian activist tortured and murdered by guards in the the Egyptian military prison where he was retained. The event has failed to make headlines internationally, and that his death should go unnoticed has spurred Khaled Eibid into action:
Khaleds Eibid rant honoring Essam Atta and other activists killed by the regime is in Arabic. Here is the rough translation. I can't tell what the music is.  But it is perfect.
“We did not get justice for Khaled Said”
” We did not get justice for Said bilal”
” Are going to let justice flee again for Essam Atta?”
” Why the Egyptian blood so cheap ” ?

Other collaborators have added their videos on a diversity of topics. For example, Raafatology brings to the discussion the need Egyptians had to be able to vote from abroad for the recent elections like counterparts in other countries like Sudan and Iraq are able to do. At the end and after a fight, their right to vote was respected.

Khaled Eibid provides another rant on the impunity for crimes of violence the military commits against civilians. The Egyptian army assaulted civilian demonstrators after Jan25 and the judiciary system failed to be effective in getting justice for those cases. The army represses the revolution but fails to take the chance to do something positive for the country, instead taking it out against protesters, sometimes in a ratio of 15 military personnel for each civilian.

And as a short comment on the same video, Akhnaton wonders why the police don't fall back into the headquarters now, just like they did on January 28th.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


text:
Armenia: The British Ambassador’s Facebook Diplomacy · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

While the British Ambassador to Azerbaijan recently made use of Twitter to answer questions in real time, his counterpart in Armenia, Charles Lonsdale, chose Facebook for a two-hour Q&A session to mark the completion of his term in the country. Indeed, today's online event represented an interesting case study in the potential for local political interaction online.
However, despite alarming rates of poverty, corruption and emigration, as well as significant concerns over media freedom and human rights protection, the first question asked by an ethnic Armenian outside of the former Soviet republic showed that priorities can be very different for those living or born abroad.
Because of this, perhaps, Ianyan blogger and Global Voices author Liana Aghajanian, although also based outside of Armenia, asked a question related to the often different priorities that many citizens do have inside the country.
Citing the example of the London-Armenian community, the British Ambassador responded by saying he believed that it would be wrong to consider the Diaspora a ‘homogenous bloc that has only one agenda’ although there are ‘issues such as relations with Turkey, where there are different priorities and approaches.’
That's not to say that the foreign policy agenda isn't also a priority for some in Armenia though, with one person from a think-tank set up by a former Armenian Foreign Minister attempting to link Scottish Independence with a long-running territorial dispute with Azerbaijan.
Nevertheless, as many surveys show that foreign policy is not the main priority for most citizens, Liana Aghajanian again raised some of those issues instead.
Another question, one of three from the same person, and the only ones submitted during the two-hour period as opposed to before it, again brought the subject back to Nagorno Karabakh.
In all, 13 questions were asked by 7 people, illustrating the problem with social media in Armenia. Although the Armenian government claims Internet penetration stands at 47.1 percent, few believe such figures especially when recent household surveys by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC) put it at around half that.
The results of other CRRC surveys also indicate that 67 percent of Armenians have never used the Internet at all, with only 14 percent accessing it on a daily basis. Meanwhile, according to SocialBakers, although use is increasing, Armenia still has only 242,300 Facebook users out of a population officially put at 3,262,200.
Political engagement online also remains low as opposition attempts to stage a MENA-style uprising earlier this year showed. The point was not lost on the Ambassador himself in an answer to another question from Liana Aghajanian regarding the local media landscape:
“Internet access is increasing and will change the picture over time but it's still not an option for majority of people here,” the Ambassador wrote.

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
Bangladesh, Pakistan: Crowd-sourcing Stories Of December 1971 · Global Voices
Rezwan

December 1971 blog is an effort by some Pakistani netizens to crowd-source personal stories of December 1971, when the Pakistan Army surrendered and Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) gained victory in their liberation war against West Pakistan. The goal is to archive the human side of the tragedy from all aspects of the conflict.

author: Rezwan


text:
Blogging carnival on the future of education · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

Internet en el Aula [es] invites everyone to take part of “The future of education” blogging carnival. The main issues revolve around the following questions: “How do you think education will be in 10 or 20 years? Will we still use textbooks? Will the use of digital media online be widespread? Will teachers and students change roles and ways of working? Will there be different learning and assessment methodologies? Will the appearance and layout of classrooms and school areas be different?”

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


text:
Cambodia: How to Cook in a Bamboo Tube · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Dorothy blogs about a unique cooking practice using bamboo tubes in Bunong village of Mondulkiri province in Cambodia. This was also common in Laos

author: Mong Palatino


text:
China: Actor Christian Bale Roughed Up Trying to Visit Chen Guangcheng · Global Voices
John Kennedy

Following an eight-hour drive from Beijing where he was promoting his upcoming film The Flowers of War, British actor Christian Bale was roughed up on Thursday 15 December, 2011, after attempting to visit the home of detained rights activist Chen Guangcheng.
A screen capture of CNN's video of Bale being turned away.
CNN reporters were with Bale as he tried to enter Chen's village and was forced to leave by guards, who then pursued Bale and company by minivan for more than 40 minutes. Batman jokes are cascading across Sina Weibo and other online spaces.
In a New York Times opinion piece last month, respected Chinese journalist Chen Min sparked major controversy among Chinese activists with his stance that only quiet diplomacy will lead to lessened repression in cases like that of Chen Guangcheng, that the Chinese government's loss of ‘face’ on an international level only makes officials more unwilling to back down.
If elaborate censorship and policing measures prevent Chinese citizens from speaking on Chen's behalf, others retort, and foreigners should keep quiet about such cases, are people held completely incommunicado like Chen Guangcheng meant to be left to speak for themselves?
Christian Bale, image from Weibo
See Global Voices coverage on Chen Guangcheng:

author: John Kennedy


text:
Cuba: The Living Dead · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Generation Y sees parallels between the film “Juan of the Dead” and life in Cuba: “More than gazing on a story of beings taken from our worst nightmares, the public wants to decipher the second reading contained in the film…such that, between laughter and shrieks, the metaphor crumbles, it is more direct.”


text:
East Timor: Perceptions of Corruption Index · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

East Timor-based NGO La'o Hamutuk, the Timor-Leste Institute for Development Monitoring and Analysis, writes about Transparency International's latest report on perceptions of corruption in every country in the world. East Timor’s rating slightly slipped this year


text:
Historical Link between Brunei and Nanjing, China · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Daily Brunei Resources traces the historical link between sister cities Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei and Nanjing, China.


text:
Human Rights Online Philippines · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Human Rights Online Philippines is a website dedicated to promote and protect human hights in the Philippines through information resources


text:
Iran: Unpaid Worker Throws Shoe at President Ahmadinejad · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several Iranian bloggers reacted with irony to the news that Mahmoud Ahamadinejad, Iran's president, became a target of an angry shoe thrower, during a speech in the northern city, Sari  on December 12, 2011.
The shoe-throwing former textile worker, identified as Rashid S. reportedly  missed his target, but attendees pounced on him and beat the man until security forces intervened. Iranian media tried to spin the event in a negative light, and claimed the same man had previously thrown objects at a former president. Meanwhile, bloggers tried to sort fact from fiction.
"The future of the presidency" by Nikahang Kowsar, a leading Iranian cartoonist and blogger (Roozonline)
On Google Plus, Bahman Daroshafaei, quotes [fa] a 16-year old witness who was sent by his school to hear Ahmadinejad's speech:
Contrary to the official version, the crowd did not beat the shoe thrower, only two or three beat him and police came and saved him. Iranian media did not report the whole story. In the middle of Ahmadinejad's speech, a group of textile workers walked in whose factory had been shut down without paying their salaries. They raised a banner and urged for their salary to be paid. The meeting was almost disrupted and finally the shoe thrower came onto the scene. People and workers chanted against Ahmadinejad, not for him.
In his blog, Afkar Mazyar writes [fa] that according to reports this worker had not been paid for a year, and security forces escorted him out immediately. The blogger adds:
Iran's media did not publish many details on this event but pro-government ones aim to present the shoe thrower's behavior as suspicious. These pro-government media aimed to degrade the protest action, and claimed that many attendees chanted slogans to support the president. They also wrote he had done the same thing [throwing objects] at a previous president, reformist Mohammad Khatami.
Azarak writes [fa] that when Iranian authorities made the throwing of a shoe at President George W. Bush by an Iraqi reporter in 2008, a top story, they did not imagine the same technique would ever be used against them. The blogger adds that Ahmadinejad's expensive trips to the country's provinces are justified as a means to address the problems of the poor, but that this action displays not only that these people's conditions did not improve, but that they are living in the worst situation ever.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Kyrgyzstan: “There Will Be No Winter” · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

Governments fall, parliamentary speakers come and go, and as one season fades another always begins. That, at least, was what Kyrgyz Internet users thought prior to former presidential candidate Arstanbek Abdylayev’s startling announcement that “there will be no winter”.
Abdylayev, who collected less than 1% of the vote in the recent presidential elections, was offering sniggering journalists a “vision from the cosmos” of a “new era beginning from the Kyrgyz, starting in 2012” when the phrase popped out of his mouth. Within days, online videos of the press conference had gone viral, and Kyrgyz users of Gmail and Facebook had promptly updated their statuses to “Зима не будет “, or “there will be no winter”.
Arstanbek Abdylayev
If the appearance was a bid to gain greater visibility for Abdylaev and his “For the People” party, it was a stunning success, with news of his Nostradamus-like premonitions rippling accross the Russian-speaking swathes of the internet. According to Meerim Nazarova [ru] at the independent news outlet Kloop.kg:
A clip [of a press conference] originating in Kyrgyzstan has accrued further fame via the [satirical] Russian Internet show “This is harasho”. The show’s host Stanislav Davydov commented on the video sent to him in a comic manner. Davydov’s show has already been viewed by over a million users.
Davydov, a kind of Russian Russell Brand, was vicious in his takeoff [ru, en], referring to Abdylaev as a new “Kyrgyz Hitler” due to his aide Mirlan Asakeev’s questionable claim that “life started with the Kyrgyz”. Davydov then twice repeated the clip of the “For the People” chief predicting apocalyptic floods in the West and the end of seasonal change as the world knows it ,  before concluding that Abdylayev is a “liar, because, as we all know, winter is close”.
YouTube user Toxic959 has uploaded a surprisingly catchy hip-hop ‘remix’ of Abdylayev and Asekeev's performance here.
In Bishkek, it is snowing, by the way.
Bad PR
On the Kyrgyz video portal blive.kg, the comments section swelled. In response to Asakeev's estimation that the inhabitants of the Garden of Eden were “63.5%” Kyrgyz, greenrum, a blive user, asked:
“Where did they find Adam’s DNA?”
“Kill these two idiots [Abdylayev and Asakeev]. They are a discrace to the nation,” raged [ru] another user, Scanner.
“Maybe if he had won the election, we wouldn’t have had a winter,” mused [ru] a third, unbliver.
But alongside the wise cracks and the death threats, there was a growing sense of exhaustion at the lengths public figures were prepared to go to gain access to the media spotlight.
“I just want to say how awful living here has become,” said [ru] Blacky. “I would rather drown in Europe than [stay] and get connected to [the Kyrgyz cosmic force] AYAN!!! Good luck to Adam’s children!!!”
And it isn't as if the surreal December 6 press conference is the first time that the erratic behavior of Kyrgyzstan's elite  has caught the world's attention.
In April of this year, Jamestown foundation blogger and analyst Erica Marat wrote:
Tired of continuous showdowns that threaten to disintegrate the ruling coalition, Kyrgyz MPs decided to sacrifice seven sheep in front of the parliament building. According to local traditions, offering the blood of a slaughtered sheep expels devils that a human being is not able to oust just by virtue of his or her own effort.
The act was futile, as borne out by the fact that Kyrgyzstan’s ruling coalition is once again the subject of uncertainty, but it did ensure a slew of comic headlines at the nation’s expense, such as the New York Times’ “Kyrgyzstan: A Sacrifice to Save Democracy”.
“The best traditions in the world”
Another of Abdylayev and Asakeev’s boasts was that “Kyrgyzstan has the best traditions in the world.” While most foreigners in these parts attest to the hospitality of the countryside Kyrgyz, who are always on hand to thrust a bowl of kymyz in the direction of stray travellers, it is an altogether different national tradition that is currently the focus of the world media.
According to a November 14 post by Voice of Russia [ru]:
A month campaign to fight bride kidnapping has been announced in Kyrgyzstan, where, according to the ombudsman of the republic, the number of kidnapped girls is now estimated at 15,000-16,000… the Kyrgyz authorities will organize meetings with locals to explain them that marriage by abduction is illegal, and also discuss the situation with the police. Bride kidnapping is a crime, no matter what reasons people use to justify it.
But a recent article by the young journalists at Kloop shows they face an uphill struggle in making their message heard. In a distressingly ironic report, Azat Ruziev, Diana Rahmonova and Bektour Iskender detail how a student from the provincial town of Karakol, Kymbat Barkan kyzy, was stolen by unknown men while en route to a regional campaign against the practice of bride kidnapping.
For those unfamiliar with what the crime entails, a December 9 video by Vice News offers an accessible if somewhat dumbed-down window into the phenomenon, while the second issue of the Bishkek-based English-language magazine the Spektator covers a disturbing kidnap for marriage with documentary-maker and journalist Anthony Butts.
The women's rights organization Equality Now helped spark the campaign into life.

author: Chris Rickleton


text:
Live Stream of North Korean State TV is Down · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

The North Korea Tech blog reports the live stream of KCTV, North Korea's state television, has halted due to heavy web traffic.The blogger adds that his last week’s report on the live streaming service has brought the issue to the attention of the media.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


text:
Morocco: Singer’s Performance in Tel Aviv Ignites Debate on Israel’s Cultural Boycott · Global Voices
Hisham Almiraat

This post is part of our special coverage Morocco Protests 2011.
Hindi Zahra is a young Moroccan singer. A talented self-taught multi-instrumentalist, the artist embraced success soon after the release of her debut album, Handmade, in 2009. Hailed by the critics as “the worthy successor to Billie Holiday”, she received prestigious prizes, the last of which in February 2011, when she won the Victoires de la Musique award for the best world music album.
Her success has led her on tour across the globe. Her sultry and intimate jazz style, often sung in English, mixing blues songs with Moroccan Berber melodies, has somehow managed to cross cultural barriers, attracting even larger audiences.
At least this was the case until last October, when it was revealed that the singer was scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 12, 2011.
A Moroccan woman in Tel Aviv
The Palestinian Campaign for Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel quickly published an open letter [fr] to the singer calling for the cancellation of her concert in Israel.
“We are surprised that you have agreed to provide entertainment to a society that practices occupation, racial discrimination, and ethnic cleansing […] while our refugees – the majority of our people! – Continue to be deprived from their inalienable right to return to their homes,” the letter reads.
To the dismay of the boycott campaigners, the concert was maintained as scheduled.
In an interview [fr] with the Moroccan press, Omar Barghouti, one of the founders of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (or BDS) campaign, describes his disappointment at the decision of the artist to go on with her representation in Israel:
We were disappointed by [Hindi Zahra's] behavior. In her reply to us, there was a lot of hate. An Amazigh artist also tried to convince her, but she reacted very badly.
Chickens come home to roost
On Wednesday, December 14, the musical tour finally brought Hindi Zahra back home in Morocco for a concert in Casablanca, the country's most affluent and populous city.
On the Internet the controversy broke out when a group of activists, believed to be linked to the Moroccan chapter of the BDS Movement, published a call on Facebook asking people to join a sit-in outside the concert venue.
For some reason, the call was removed from Facebook a few hours later.
Blogger Ghali Bensouda published a screenshot (see bellow) of the call:
Screenshot of the sit-in call as published by Ghali Bensouda
[…] Will organize a protest […] against normalization with Israel and as a reminder that Moroccan people reject any form of normalization with the Zionists […]
Among netizens the reactions were split between those who supported the protesters, and those who, like Ghali Bensouda, saw in the protest the instrumentalisation by radical political factions of the youth-based February 20 movement, who has been leading the pro-democracy protests in the country for the last 10 odd months. He writes [fr]:
Je trouve cette décision [d'organiser un sit-in] STUPIDE ET RIDICULE.
D’abord, la chanteuse est libre de se produire là où elle veut et c’est son choix.
Deuxièmement, se produire en Israël ne veut pas dire cautionner la politique de ce pays à l’égard de la Palestine. […]
Troisièmement, cela montre clairement la main mise de certaines organisations sur le 20 février qui font de la question anti-sioniste un fond de commerce.
Ethel (@_nethels_) attended the concert and she posted pictures of the performance.
Hindi Zahra performing in Casablanca – picture poster on Yfrog by @_nethels_
In the meantime, outside of the concert venue, a number of protesters gathered chanting slogans like “Boycott Israel,” or “I don't recognize Israel,” as shown in the following video posted on YouTube by Kifachinfo:
More reactions followed on social networks. Hamza (@Hamsek) was unequivocal (fr):
[Hindi Zahra] est morte à Tel Aviv aux yeux de pas mal de monde…
Blogger Yassir deplores the involvement of the February 20 movement. He writes [ar]:
عشرين فبراير حركة شعبية نادت و تنادي بإسقاط الفساد و تحقيق مجموعة من المطالب الاجتماعية […] لذا “فهبوطها” إلى هذا المستوى هو، بنظري، ضرب لمصداقية الحركة و انحراف عن أهدافها.
أمام الحركة طريق طويل و الاحتجاج على زهرة هندي لن يغير من واقع الأمر شيئا… هناك ما هو أهم !
Journalist Fahd Yata, a notorious critic of February 20, has this to say [fr] about the protesters:
Les pseudo révolutionnaires du FEB 20, qui n'ont plus rien à faire depuis le 25 novembre [eléctions législatives], appellent au boycott d'Hindi Zahra. Des Fascistes!
Veteran human rights advocate, Samira Kinani, writes the following public note on Facebook in defense of the protesters [fr]:
des citoyenNes ont décidé de répondre présentsà un appel de bds
cette action qui sillonne l univers contre un régime raciste
un régime d apartheid un état voyou un état criminel..
des actions pacifiques visant à faire entendre une autre voix  que celle des médias dominants
et c le tollé et ça utilise tout “femme” “amazigh” tout est bon pour essayer de discréditer une action somme tout symbolique
***
The Palestinian issue has always been a unifying cause in Morocco and, arguably, still ranks high among the main issues Moroccans do care about. In 2009, Moroccans took to the streets in solidarity with the Palestinian people, following the Israeli deadly raid on the Gaza Strip. They marched in their millions, filling the streets of the capital Rabat. But the idea of a boycott, although attractive to certain activists, may seem nebulous to some and is certainly divisive among netizens.
Whether you are for or against the boycott, says twitterati Samia, you should respect the right of artists to perform freely, and protesters to demonstrate non-violently. She tweets:
When Hindi Zahra performed in Israel, it was her right. When #feb20 [February 20 movement] protests against her, it's their right too. Now move on with your lives.
The cultural boycott of Israel has been going on for years. #feb20 is not doing anything controversial.
This post is part of our special coverage Morocco Protests 2011.

author: Hisham Almiraat


text:
Singapore: Latest Job Statistics · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Leong Sze Hian reviews the report published by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower about the latest job, wage, and other economic indicators. The report mentioned that real average monthly earnings fell this year in Singapore


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Online Petition Against Offensive Ad · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Globewriter is heartened that Project Runway winner, Anya Ayoung-Chee, has “[thrown]her weight against hate” by signing a petition “to demand the Trinidad Express apologize for running an offensive advert that, among other things, described LGBT  people as ‘broken’”, and urges you to do the same.


text:
United Kingdom: Video from Hitchens’ 1999 U.S. Book Tour  · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

“Hitch Hike” is a 53-min documentary by Palash Davé about British writer Christopher Hitchens’ 1999 U.S. tour promoting his book about Bill Clinton. The full film is available for viewing on Vimeo (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). Hitchens died on December 15, 2011.

author: Solana Larsen


text:
Vietnam: What’s New at Barcamp Saigon? · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

More than 550 people registered and participated in the fifth Barcamp Saigon last week in RMIT International University, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The attendance surpassed the record number of participants in the last Barcamp Saigon which was held just five months ago.
Barcamp registration. Photo from @Vietnam720
Preetam of Singapore lists the highlights of the event
The highlight this year was 1.seeing more Vietnamese leading sessions, both in English and in Vietnamese language, 2.the participants moving away from presentations to running discussions and 3.meeting such active participants. The Saigon barcamp is a good venue to get the pulse of VN technology and popular culture scene. Thanks to the #barcampsaigon organizing team and volunteers. I am eagerly waiting for the next one.
Barcamp in session. Photo from Preetam
Some of the topics discussed were technopreneurship, designing mobile apps, internet governance, startup fundraising, and future of web programming. The presentation on internet governance was already uploaded on Slideshare
Saigonist writes about the idea of Barcamps
1. BarCampSaigon should be the genesis of the next BarCampSaigon, and also BarCamps in other Vietnamese cities – BarCampCanTho, BarCampDaNang, BarCampDaLat. People should understand what a BarCamp is enough to organize simple ones in their hometowns, and do it without worrying about significant funding or caring how many people will show up. Clothing and caffeination optional.
2. Things should start at BarCamp. Ideas should be formed and relationships forged out of discussions among people who should have been meeting more regularly but hadn't. It shouldn't be a place to launch or announce your finished product, although if you started from a previous BarCamp that would be thrilling news. Sessions should not just lead to greater understanding, but cause new questions and avenues of inquiry to be developed.
One of the sessions in Barcamp Saigon. Photo from Preetam
Photos of the event are available on Flickr. Here are some reactions made through the hashtag #barcampsaigon
@tomosaigon In hindsight, my favorite part of #BarCampSaigon was hundreds of people QUEUEING to register
@jodiehuynh first session will start at 10:30am, due to long lines at registration, more people this time. Yeah!
@tvthinh91 I think Barcamp Saigon should have 2,3 computers in front of the hall to vote for topics from everybody


text:
Africa: Awesome Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Awesoma Africa is a travel series aimed at people who want to travel into Africa but do not know how to take the first step.

author: Ndesanjo Macha