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Sudan Turns Back on Iran, Joins Saudi Arabia’s War on Yemen · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The aftermath of Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen today. Photograph shared by @HussainBukhaiti on Twitter
Sudan switched sides from being an Iranian ally, to waging war against the Houthis, Iran's allies in Yemen.
Sudan joining the Saudi-led coalition against the Houthi fighters, who took control of Sanaa in January this year, has raised eyebrows.
UAE-based journalist Abbas Al Lawati tweets:
Sudan's involvement in the Yemen operations probably cements its departure from the Iran camp and into the GCC camp
— Abbas Al Lawati (@allawati) March 26, 2015
And Sean Lee adds:
So Bashir is currently in Riyadh. Looks like KSA must have outbid Tehran: http://t.co/h0rykKXfb5 #Sudan
— Sean Lee (@humanprovince) March 26, 2015
Sudan has agreed to send ground troops to support Saudi Arabia in its war on Yemen, dubbed Operation Decisive Storm, which started this morning. It has also sent three fighter jets to take part in the airstrikes, according to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.
Sudanese defense minister says Khartoum will take part in Yemen campaign with air and ground forces.
— Deena Adel (@deena_adel) March 26, 2015
The agreement came following a one-day visit between Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al Bashir, wanted by the International Court of Justice (ICC) for war crimes and genocide, and the Saudi monarch Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, which concluded today, according to the Sudan Tribune.
The paper adds:
The trip represents a thaw in relations between the two countries which has been tense in recent years because of Khartoum’s close ties with Iran.
In the past there were also reports that Sudan has been providing weapons to Houthi rebels on behalf of Iran.
Sudan also announced the closure of all Iranian missions and groups in Sudan. Rohollah Faghihi tweets:
Result of Omar Bashir trip to Saudi Arabia? / #Sudan closes offices of all Iranian missions and groups / via Al-arabiya
— Rohollah Faghihi (@FaghihiRohollah) March 26, 2015
Bashir is wanted by the ICC, charged with committing genocide and war crimes in Darfur. In March 2009, ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir. More than 300,000 people were killed in Darfur since problems started in 2003.
The 10-nation coalition involved in the war on Yemen is made up of Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and all the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, minus Oman.
Other countries that have rallied against the Houthi rebels also came under criticism.
Jane Novak, who tweets about Yemen, notes:
Saudi Arabia w whips bloggers leading corrupt kings & military dictators to rescue corrupt inept #Yemen Pres Hadi from civil war, uprising
— Jane Novak (@JNovak_Yemen) March 26, 2015
Indian Shuvankar Mukherjee comments:
Wow 3 Monarchy (Saudi, Jordan, Morocco ) and 3 anarchy (Pak, Egypt, Sudan) are bombing #Yemen from the sky .. All for Peace & Democracy ..
— Shuvankar Mukherjee (@shuvankr) March 26, 2015
And Lebanese blogger Abir Ghattas sarcastically quips:
Yes by all means, let's believe in the leadership of Saudi Arabia, it has proven to be so fucking honest & effective over the years #Yemen
— Abir Ghattas (@AbirGhattas) March 26, 2015
Stay tuned for more coverage on Yemen.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Pakistan was a part of the Saudi-coalition bombing Yemen. Apologies for the error.


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Bringing the Muisca Language Back from Extinction, One Word at a Time · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Muisca Observatory – Photo by amanderson2 and used under a CC BY 2.0 license.
The Muisca language is officially extinct. The language, part of the Chibcha linguistic family, was previously spoken by the Muisca people, who lived around Colombia's central highlands including the area surrounding present-day Bogotá. Much of the language's history is found in texts and documents from the 16th and 17th centuries, rescued from archives where they sat dormant. The language's path towards extinction was cemented by the ruling of King Charles III of Spain, who banned its use as a way to further control the indigenous population. The law remained until Colombia's 1991 Constitution was passed.
Even though the language is not actively used, it remains alive and well in some of the daily words used by Colombians, which were borrowed from the Muisca language. These words, usually used to describe local animals, plants, and fruits, are called “muisquismos,” and are often used in and around Bogotá by residents unaware of the words’ origins.
Logo of the Muysccubun project.
The historical importance of this extinct language piqued the interest of a group of linguistics and anthropology students from various universities around Colombia, which has been working to slowly bring the language back. By taking advantage of digital tools, apps, and social media, the project called “Muysccubun” has been working to document and share the language on the Internet. Their activities include transcribing primary source materials in Muisca and uploading to a wiki. They have created a Spanish-Muisca online dictionary, also available as a free Android app.
This material is also shared through the group's Facebook Page, where they have been sharing the Muisca word of the day linking to the documentation on the wiki. For example:
Palabra del día:
iaia
Fon. Gonz. */iaia/
Fon. Cons. */iaia/
1. Red *de pesca.
2. Despeinado.
Word of the day:
iaia
Fon. Gonz. */iaia/
Fon. Cons. */iaia/
1. Fishing net.
2. disheveled.
This experience using technology to engage with the Muisca language led to similar initiatives led by the Muysccubun team, including the creation of an online Sáliba language-Spanish dictionary, also available as an Android app in conjunction with the Caro and Cuervo Institute. They are also collaborating with Mozilla Colombia to promote the localization of the Firefox browser into Colombian indigenous languages.
While there are some new initiatives to teach Muisca in some rural schools, as well as various classes in Bogotá, the project hopes that their contribution to document and revitalize the Muisca language can flourish with the help of their work in digital media.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bus Users Fight Over Seat in Peruvian Bus and You Can’t Imagine How This Ends · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Screenshot of the video posted on Facebook.
A video posted on Facebook by user PeruRec show two men almost coming to blows over a seat in a bus of the Metropolitano, Peruvian capital public transportation system. At one point, the stockier guy sits over the other guy, while other bus users laugh out loud. Immersed as they were in their quarrel, none of them realize there is an empty seat just in front of them.
On Facebook, some made fun of that and others got to some conclussions:
Johnny Jecs Si estaban jugando a las sillas , en que momento fue que paro la música ? XD
Johnny Jecs If they were playing musical chairs, when did the music stop? XD
Juan Carlos Ortiz esos son un par de choros, hacen un “quilombo” para robarle la cartera a la señorita de azul
Juan Carlos Ortiz those two are “choros” (petty burglars) that make a fuss to steal the purse from the lady in blue.
Other users took to Twitter to express themselves:
Hahaha q ridículo! Tremendos viejos http://t.co/5nnuJZz0xT
— Marcos Reyna Herrera (@m1r30) marzo 22, 2015
LOL! This is ridiculous! Such old guys…
¿Realmente… se pelean… por un asiento en el metropolitano? Marginales.
— Nahui Ollin. (@llinijoplin) marzo 23, 2015
Are they really fighting over a seat in the Metropolitano? Underclass.
Idiota nivel me peleo por un asiento del metropolitano habiendo otro vacío
— Melissa Vilca Montes (@_melissa19) marzo 23, 2015
So idiotic: I fight over a seat in the Metropolitano while there is another one free.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Ecuadorians Take to the Streets to Protest Government · Global Voices
Gina Yauri

Protest taking place on Avenida Universitaria in Loja, Ecuador.
Photo: Gina Yauri
Despite the rain, on March 19 citizens participated in a protest in Loja, Ecuador, which spread over seven blocks, to express their discontent of the current government. Labor code reforms, extended reelections, free access to education, and the recent exchange rate safeguards on imports were some of the issues that caused hundreds of demonstrators from several Ecuadorian cities to take to the streets.
Opposition demonstrators reject extended reelections.
Photo: Gina Yauri
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. No to extended reelection!”
Several organizations gathered in Plaza de San Sebastián de Loja; from there, they marched through the streets of Bernardo Valdivieso, Azuay, Avenida Universitaria, Colón, and Bolívar, finally arriving at Plaza Central where government sympathizers were found to be assembled.
Regime sympathizers, protected by the National Police, outside government offices in Loja.
Photo: Gina Yauri
There was a gathering of around 600 regime supporters waving green flags, of which represent the ruling party, Alianza País, in addition to police protection outside government buildings. Fortunately, neither group was reported to have caused any incidents.
Publicist Stefany Rivera (@StefyRivera) compares the March 19 (19M) demonstrators to government sympathizers.
Here, there is police protection, but none of that “there's more of us than the Ecuadorian people's march” stuff.  #19M #Loja pic.twitter.com/nDQcRWwHv5
— Stefany Rivera (@StefyRivera) marzo 19, 2015
Protests were also carried out by both opposition and government sympathizers in other cities from around the country such as Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Loja, Ambato, Latacunga, Ibarra, Portoviejo, and Orellana.
However, in Quito, the nation's capital, demonstratos caused unrest, of which included assulting media outlets such as Teleamazonas and Gamatv that were covering the march.
Anchorwoman Diana León (@Diana_LeonRe) uploaded a photo to her Twitter account depicting the aggression.
Demonstrators attack 2 journalists #Quito #19M #DL pic.twitter.com/Zm8DNEHI0n
— Diana León Rennella (@Diana_LeonRe) marzo 20, 2015
In this march, Andre Aguirre (@AndreRakoon) expresses her euphoria.
#Quito #NoSeAhuevaCarajo #marcha #19M “When those on the bottom start to move, those on top fall.” pic.twitter.com/Ltlb5oHNEu
— Andre Aguirre (@AndreRakoon) marzo 20, 2015
Psychologist Lilith לילית (@LilithdBeauvoir) tweeted the following:
#19M #NoPlanFamilia #Quito rises up damn it!! You don't play around with Quito. pic.twitter.com/aEgDsvxlN6
— Lilith לילית (@LilithdBeauvoir) marzo 20, 2015

author: Gina Yauri


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Eerie Similarities Between Germanwings Tragedy and Argentinian-Spanish Film ‘Wild Tales’  · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

More than once, screenwriters have found inspiration in reality for their fiction. This time, it seems reality was inspired by fiction. The news that the co-pilot of German airline Germanwings‘ Flight 9525 is suspected of intentionally crashing the plane, taking the lives of 149 people with him, seems to be one of these cases.
The tragedy shares some similarities with Argentinean-Spanish film “Wild Tales“, directed by Damián Szifrón. The movie compiles six episodes connected by the topic of the relief of anger and the violence contained by different characters. The first of these stories is about a mentally disturbed pilot named Pasternak, who decides to commit suicide by crashing an airplane — which is filled with everyone who has harmed him since childhood — into his parents’ home:
On Twitter, several users from different countries could not help but notice the similarities between the air disaster and the movie:
Es inevitable, para quién haya visto @rsalvajes_ok, recordar ahora la primera escena. La realidad supera siempre la ficción.
— Jose Aceituno (@aceituno_jos) marzo 26, 2015
For those who have watched the movie @rsalvajes_ok it is inevitable that they remember the first scene. Reality always exceeds fiction
All this Germanwings-plane-crash situation reminds me to the 1st history of the Argentinian film #WildTales (#RelatosSalvajes)! #JustSaying
— Daniel Delgado (@warmth) marzo 26, 2015
Die #4U9525 Tragödie erinnert immer mehr an eine Episode aus dem Film “Wild Tales” https://t.co/E5uhJqtdLh #unvorstellbar #Germanwings
— Bernd Schusky (@bschusky) marzo 26, 2015
The tragedy is more and more reminiscent one of the episodes in the movie Wild Tales #unconceivable #Germanwings

author: Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez


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German Company’s Videos Imagine Modern Women as Passive and Dependent · Global Voices
Katrin Zinoun

Screenshot from one of the videos, showing how a women cooks her husband's favorite meal. A scene that seems to belong to the 1950s.
Women in Germany are outraged over one insurance company's videos explaining different types of policies, in which women are described as passive and naive — a role more in line with the expectations of the 1950s than 2015.
Birte Vogel writes on her blog Thea – Frauen in Sprache, Medien und Gesellschaft (Thea – Women in Language, Media and Society):
Die Rolle der Frau in den Augen der Alten Leipziger ist die der passiven Mutter und Tochter, des Mädchens, das selbst nicht Skateboard fährt, sondern den Jungen anhimmelt und ihn fotografiert, der gut situierten Ehefrau, die keinen Job hat und deshalb den lieben langen Tag am Gartenzaun stehen und tratschen kann, die keine Ahnung hat von Versicherungen, die sich gerne vom altväterlichen Gatten aufklären und belehren lässt und aus Sorge vor einer Scheidung gleich zurück an den Herd rennt, um dem Herrn etwas zu kochen. Eine Frau, die vollkommen abhängig ist vom Mann – wenn der sich scheiden lässt, bleibt ihr gar nichts mehr. Ganz klar: 50er Jahre.
According to the insurance company Alte Leipziger, the role of women is that of a passive mother and daughter, of a girl, who doesn't skateboard and adores and takes pictures of boys, of a wife, who doesn't have a job and has nothing else to do than to stand next to the garden fence all day chitchatting with her neighbour, who has no idea about insurance and doesn't mind being educated by her fatherly husband and who returns to the kitchen to cook him his favourite meal because she is worried over a divorce. A women who is completely dependent on her husband — if he wants a divorce, nothing will be left for her. This is definitely the 1950s.
Following the uproar, the company removed the videos.
Sigi Lieb tweeted in response to the controversy, using the hashtag #aufgewacht (#wakeup):
#aufgewacht im Jahr 2015. Selten dummes Werbevideo stellt Frauen als dümmlich dienend und passiv dar: http://t.co/9xAjhi6P8t
— Sigi Lieb (@gespraechswert) March 15, 2015
#wakeup in the year 2015. Amazingly stupid commercial video depicts women as dumbly serving and passive.

author: Katrin Zinoun


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Inaccurate Reports of ‘ISIS Taking Over Star Wars Set’ Anger Tunisians  · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

No trace for ISIS at the second edition of Les Dunes Électroniques music festival held in February this year at the Star Wars filming site in Nefta, Tunisia. Photograph by the festival's Facebook page
Tunisians are mocking inaccurate media reports alleging that the Star Wars set in Southern Tunisia has come under the siege of the violent extremist group ISIS.
On March 24, CNN published a story on the southern town of Tataouine, which gave its name to the fictional planet Tatooine in the movie, serving as a ‘way-station for jihadists’. Major media outlets including the Huffington Post, the Washington Post and the Guardian have since picked up the story.
A few headlines on ISIS taking over Tatooine as they appear on Google News
So what did these international and supposedly professional media outlets get wrong?
CNN used reports on the arrest of three young men from Tataouine who were attempting to cross to Libya to join a militant group, and the discovery of arms caches and ammunition in ‘the region’ (without specifying where exactly) as evidence for their story.
However, the arms caches CNN was referring to were discovered earlier in March in Ben Guerdane, a town on the border with Libya located in the governorate of Mednine, nearly a two-hour drive from Tataouine.
Al Jazeera English's Nazanine Moshiri explains it to Ben Beaumont-Thomas, the assistant commissioning editor at the Guardian:
@ben_bt Tataouine is a real town. Star Wars set is no where near. There is no evidence town of Tataouine is being used as a base for ISIS.
— Nazanine Moshiri (@nazaninemoshiri) March 26, 2015
@ben_bt ISIS doesn't have base in Tunisia. Yes weapons found in Ben Gardane close to border. No-where near Tataouine or Star Wars set.
— Nazanine Moshiri (@nazaninemoshiri) March 26, 2015
@ben_bt also no proven link between weapons found in Ben Gardane and IS.
— Nazanine Moshiri (@nazaninemoshiri) March 26, 2015
In addition, just because there are young men traveling to Libya and Syria to join militant groups doesn't mean that the cities and towns they come from are bases for ISIS or any other militant group. But, because this is taking place in Tatooine (I mean Tataouine), the story (if there is even one) was too sensationalist to be missed by the media and journalists looking for thousands of page views.
Finally, Star Wars filming sites are not located in the town of Tataouine, though the fictional planet Tatooine was named after it. The set is located in the town of Nefta, in the governorate of Tozeur, a five hour-drive from Tataouine.
Google Maps shows the actual distance between Tataouine and the spaceport of Mos Espa on the fictional planet of Tatooine
On Medium.com, AJ+ debunked the CNN story:
For journalists, it’s an enticing story: A desert planet in a galaxy far, far away is now home to fighters who have crossed over to the dark side of the Force. Unfortunately (at least for that narrative), the Star Wars movies weren’t actually filmed in Tataouine, though the fictional planet Tatooine was named after the town. The closest actual filming location for the movies is Ksar Ouled Soltane, which was one of the locations used for the slave quarters row where Anakin Skywalker and his mother lived in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.
On Twitter, users responded with mockery.
Yamina Thabet, president of the Tunisia Association in Support of Minorities, tweeted:
#Tatooine …le niqab déjà obligatoire … pic.twitter.com/BfGP3F90rn
— yamina thabet (@yaminathabet) March 25, 2015
[wearing] the Niqab is already mandatory
Hedi tweeted:
Voici l'émir de Tataouine, un barbu comme vous le voyez pic.twitter.com/JQX11TKrPm
— Hédi (@ayalez_hdi) March 25, 2015
Here is the Emir of Tataouine, a bearded man as you can see
R2D2 to be beheaded by C-3PO #Tatooine #Tunisia #Wilayet_Mos_Espa cc @ishaantharoor @washingtonpost pic.twitter.com/0zY89eIzPC
— Hamilcar (@HamilcarB) March 26, 2015
URGENT : #Tunisia‘s invest zillions in new weapons to fight #ISIS cc @CNN @Le_Figaro @Slatefr @20Minutes pic.twitter.com/NHJef12xk2
— alf (@alfafp) March 26, 2015
Tunis-based journalist Frédéric Geldhof tweeted how reality looks like at the Star Wars set in Nefta:
Ce rassemblement djihadiste annuel en #Tunisie fait froid dans le dos. Brrrr. pic.twitter.com/YoFk6pPbzy
— Frédéric Geldhof (@FredericGeldhof) March 25, 2015
This annual jihadist gathering in Tunisia gives shivers. Brrrr.
In fact, last month the Star Wars set in Nefta was transformed into a dancing floor for tourists and young Tunisians attending the electronic music festival Les Dunes Electroniques (electronic dunes).
Youth partying at the Star Wars set in Southern Tunisia. Photo by the Facebook Pages of the Electronic Dunes Festival
The Star Wars filming locations are a popular tourist attraction. As tourism, a vital sector to Tunisian economy, is going through difficult times, one week after the deadly attack on the Bardo Museum, the Star Wars story outraged Tunisian Wafa Ben Hassine, who tweeted at Ishaan Tharoor from the Washington Post:
.@ishaantharoor This article is gravely inaccurate. Portends that weapons are at film site. Which is false. Article only hurts tourism more.
— Wafa Ben Hassine (@ousfourita) March 25, 2015
.@ishaantharoor Do you understand the impact that your article has on a country's livelihood?
— Wafa Ben Hassine (@ousfourita) March 25, 2015
Following the angry reactions on social media, the Guardian and the Huffington Post have posted corrections. But, it's too late. An English language search of ‘ISIS Star Wars set’ on Google News reveals the extent of damage already inflicted.

author: Afef Abrougui


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Lights Out! In Many Global Cities, Power Outages Are Part of Everyday Life · Global Voices
Global Voices

Birthday party in a village in the Njombe area, southern Tanzania. The village has no stable electricity supply. Photo by Pernille Baerendsten, used with permission.
This story was compiled and edited by Georgia Popplewell, Ellery Roberts Biddle, and the Global Voices community.
Power cuts are such rare occurrences in large, developed cities that when New York’s power supply was cut for 13 hours in 1965 it became the subject of a Hollywood movie. And today, US National Public Radio, alongside stories about the Yemen airstrikes, the Ebola-related lockdown in Sierra Leone and healthcare policy in the US, devoted 30 seconds of its morning newscast to today’s power cut in Amsterdam.
To be fair to both NPR and Amsterdam, the outage, which lasted 90 minutes, was highly disruptive and caused flights to be diverted from Europe’s fourth-largest airport. But in many countries around the world, power outages fall more into the “dog bites man” category: they’re hardly the stuff of news, occurring with such frequency that daily life becomes calibrated to accommodate them. The lights go out, water pumps stop working, and the temperature control systems go caput. And if you're anything like us, whether you're freezing in Ukraine or boiling in Bangladesh, your Internet router probably stops working too.
In response to the Amsterdam story, Global Voices community members shared anecdotes (and some laughs) about the power supply situation in their countries. Over half of those who chimed in had experienced a power outage within 48 hours of our conversation.
One author from Egypt cheekily noted that his city of Minya, Egypt was in the middle of an outage when the message arrived. “We are going through one at the moment!” he wrote. “Since I'm sitting in the dark right now, this is actually fun.” The map above, created by Rising Voices Director Eddie Avila, shows our full roster of responses from across the world. Here are a few more samples:
Pressing clothes in southern Tanzania with a charcoal iron, which is cheaper and more reliable than an electric one. Photo by Pernille Bærendtsen.
Rezwan, South Asia Editor
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Population: 15 million
Last power outage: Today at 3pm Bangladesh time (about 4.5 hours ago)
Average frequency of power outages: Twice or more per week
Effects on daily life:
“It becomes unbearable to live indoors due to hot weather.”
Nihan Guneli, Author
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Population: 18+ million
Last power outage: Yesterday
Frequency: Almost daily
Effects on daily life:
“If you don't have a generator, you basically can't do your work.”
Islam Sayed Abdul Wahab, Author
Location: Minya, Egypt
Population: 4 million
Last power outage: Today — we are going through one at the moment!&nbsp
Average frequency of power outages: 2-3 hours per day
Effects on daily life: “We also lose water, because most of houses and apartments here depend on water pumps to get water into their places. Also mobiles networks sometimes and hospitals lose power.”
A roadside stand offers cold drinks in Jinja, Uganda. This is common throughout East Africa, where people do not have regular access to electricity or refrigeration. Photo by Pernille Bærendtsen.
Annie Zaman, Author
Location: Faisalabad, Pakistan
Population: 3-4 million
Last power outage: 5:15 pm today
Frequency: It plays hide and seek 12 hours in a day.
Effects on daily life:
“It affects everything from water supply to charging camera and phone chargers. The families who can afford use UPS or generators (fuel or mostly natural gas-based), which adds to noise pollution. I already feel that I have started speaking louder [since my return to Pakistan].”
Marie Bohner, Author
Location: Strasbourg, France
Population: 276,750
Last power outage: “It seems that the last “big” one (“big” meaning having a small article in the local media) was in a specific quarter of Strasbourg in September 2014. It lasted 3 minutes and did not have any big impact as most of the buildings have a safety system for power supply in case of power outage. I have to admit that I never had to suffer a power outage in Strasbourg, as far as I can remember.”
Frequency: Almost never
Effects on daily life: “I can't say that I am affected in any way by real power outages in Strasbourg.”
Nearly all those who wrote in lamented the effects on technology and work, the costs of maintaining a backup power supply, and the regular challenges of storing and heating water for everyday use. Author and translator Thalia Rahme, who lives in Beirut, wrote:
As a Lebanese person, I do not remember a day without an electrical shortage. All Lebanese pay for electricity twice. First, you pay the state, and then you have to pay for a generator. We pay per 5 ampere. This bill alone can cost up to 100 USD for the 5 amps. Lucky are the rich ones who can afford 10 amps or more. In summer, 5 amps is barely enough to turn on a few lights and keep your fridge on so food isn't spoiled. Forget about hot water to shower.
Imagine in summer when power goes off in the middle of the night and you can't turn the AC on. After a certain number of hours generator providers don't give you power. Mosquitoes, sweating, insomnia — how romantic!
And yes, it happens every day in Beirut, at a somewhat predictable rate. So we schedule when to iron and when to shower based on that. Now it's 6:15, so it just went off.
That is in a way the story of my life. If you want, add to it water shortage. I can tell you in that regard that what I like most when I travel is showers in hotels. I have no one yelling after me that there are other people in the house who need to shower as well. With my thick and curly hair, I can keep the water flowing as much as I want without yelling because suddenly there is no more hot water.
Global Voices RuNet Echo editor Tanya Lokot, described daily power shutdowns in her home city of Luhansk, Ukraine in the 1990s:
The planned power cuts were called “fan shutdowns”, because they were fanned out across cities over time. So my city would have power cut in different parts of the city for a couple of hours at different times, one after the other, to ease the load on the city systems. So we always knew when power would go out in the evening and prepared as best we could in terms of cooking, washing clothes and doing school work. ACs were not an issue because no one had them:)
Pernille Bærendtsen, an author from Denmark who spent many years working as a journalist in East Africa, recalled power outages in Dar es Salaam:
In Tanzania, I would plan my day in a completely different way. After works days, I remember how I would look for all signs of electricity when I turned down my street in the evening in Dar es Salaam: Would I hear the buzz from generators and would the kerosene lanterns be lit in the small shops, or would the power be on? Power outages in Tanzania are a huge thing — often one of the most debated issues on social media (also linked to corruption scandals etc.)
Nwachukwu Egbunike, a GV contributor and writer from Ibadan, Nigeria, had this closing thought:
Frankly, I could not resist laughing out loudly when I read this. When it comes to power outages in Nigeria, I was born into it and the way things are going, I'll die without seeing an uninterrupted 24 hours supply of electricity.

author: Global Voices


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Omani Blogger Muawiyah Alrawahi Disappeared At UAE Border · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Muawiyah Alrawahi. Photo by Jillian C. York, used with permission.
Omani blogger Muawiyah Alrawahi was allegedly detained on February 24 while attempting to enter the United Arab Emirates by car from Oman, according to statements from multiple human rights organizations. Amnesty International confirmed that UAE border security seized Alrahawi's travel documents, but his whereabouts are currently unknown. It has been over thirty days since his family and friends have heard from him.
The Committee to Protect Journalists‘ Middle East and North Africa Coordinator, Sherif Mansour, called his disappearance “alarming”:
Muawiyah Alrawahi has not been heard from in a month, and this is alarming given the record of official persecution of the critical blogger. We call on authorities in the United Arab Emirates to explain why Alrawahi has been taken into custody or release him immediately.
This is not the first time that Alrawahi has been persecuted by authorities. In 2014, he was detained by Omani authorities at the psychiatric department of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital. As Amnesty International explained in a statement demanding urgent action:
Muawiya al-Ruwahi was arrested in Oman several times in recent years. He was summoned in February 2012 to the Omani State Security headquarters after he criticized Sultan Qaboos in his blog; he was held in a mental health hospital for one week and released without charge. He was arrested on 12 July 2014 after he criticized the Omani authorities in his blog, two days after an Omani teacher had been sentenced to a large fine for “public order offences”, for going on strike in October 2013. He was detained mainly in mental health facilities, first in the al-Massarah mental health hospital and a week later in the psychiatric ward of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital where he was kept shackled. He was released without charge on 11 August.
In 2012, Alrawahi was featured on Global Voices Advocacy after he was detained for criticizing Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the ruler of Oman. Alrawahi ran into trouble after writing a blog post entitled “Covenant of Salvation,” in which he expressed some controversial ideas. Although the post has since been removed from the Internet, our 2012 story described its contents as follows:
[he] talked openly about a number of things, including suffering sexual abuse as a young teenager, his earlier involvement with Oman's Internal Security Service (ISS), his admiration for and connections to ex-ISS Brigadier-General Khamis Al Ghraibi (now imprisoned under charges of spying for the UAE), his lack of religious belief, his disillusionment with Oman, and his loss of faith in the ruler Sultan Qaboos.
In a 2010 interview with Global Voices in which Alrawahi talked about his experience with blogging in Oman. He explained that he took to blogging to write about Oman's issues with the belief that “the issue we don’t discuss is the issue we won’t solve.”
The Gulf Center for Human Rights has issued an official call for his release.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Russian Girls Show Conservative Beauty Contest Just How ‘Modest’ They Can Be · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

A small collection of the submissions to the “Russian Beauty” contest (from both competitors and protesters). VKontakte.
In honor of International Women’s Day earlier this month, a community on VKontakte, Russia’s most popular social network, held a beauty contest to celebrate female “modesty.” Women wishing to enter the competition were asked to submit photos of themselves wearing headscarves. The contest, titled Russian Beauty, attracted dozens of applicants, but it also launched a flashmob against what some called the competition’s chauvinism and sexism.
The host of the competition was a VKontakte group called Parliamentary League, a debate club affiliated loosely with the Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament). “We think women’s best accessory is modesty,” the group explained in an announcement on March 3, “which is why the main condition of this contest is that applicants must wear a scarf in their photos.”
Anna Kazantseva holding a sign reading, “I love modesty and sexism.” VKontakte.
Almost immediately after the contest was announced, VKontakte users began criticizing the Parliamentary League’s decision to make modesty and headscarves the focus of its contest. Women, as well as a few men, started entering the competition with photographs of themselves wearing headscarves and holding signs reading, “Without modesty and without sexism,” and (ironically) “I love modesty and sexism.” Many women, presumably riffing on the “modesty” theme, exposed generous amounts of cleavage, while a least one woman posed entirely naked, except for her headscarf.
Before long, Parliamentary League started deleting the provocative submissions, prompting several of the beauty contest’s critics to write open letters to the group explaining their opposition to a celebration of female modesty for International Women’s Day.
Inna Denisova, “Without modesty and without sexism.” VKontakte.
Inna Denisova, one of the first people on VKontakte to start using the hashtag #этонедебаты (#TheseArentDebates), explained her objections in a blog post on March 3:
Потому что организаторы считают, что «девушка должна быть скромной». Нет, друзья, девушка в лучшем случае должна звонить родителям раз в день и чистить зубы утром и вечером (по желанию). Каждый из нас — вне зависимости от гендера, расы, внешности и возраста — вправе быть в этом мире кем угодно.
The organizers [of the beauty contest] think “a girl should be modest.” No, my friends, a girl at most should call her parents once a day and brush her teeth in the morning and at night (if she wants to). Every one of us—regardless of gender, race, appearance, or age—has the right to be whomever we want in this world.
Responding to a man’s complaint about the beauty competition on its community wall, Parliamentary League administrators defended the contest as a legitimate, if conservative, endeavor.
Конкурсом мы поддерживаем образ скромных девушек, который считаем правильным и хотим распространить его по России. Почему мы не распространяем образ, например, независимой клубной распутницы? Потому что не считаем его правильным.
Мы поддерживаем одну из моделей поведения девушек. Другие мы не запрещаем. Если кто-то, в отличие от нас, желает распространить другой образ (например, вышеупомянутый “клубный”) – это его право. Мы же за скромность и порядочность.
With this contest, we’re supporting an image of modest girls that we think is right and something worth spreading throughout Russia. Why don’t we propagate the image of, say, an independent-minded clubbing floozy? Because we don’t think that’s right for girls.
We support one of the various models for girls’ behavior. We’re not prohibiting other kinds. If somebody else wants to promote some other model (like the “clubbing” type), that’s their right. We, however, are for modesty and decency.
Yekaterina Buller, VKontakte.
RuNet Echo spoke to Yekaterina Buller, one of the contest’s winners, about the scandal surrounding the competition’s alleged sexism. Buller echoed many of the sentiments Parliamentary League expressed, denying that the contest was at all sexist, and accusing critics of being either ignorant or “stupid.”
Что “критики” считают патриархальным? Я бы не судила с этой позиции , а даже если и так , то, что в этом плохого. Во всех мировых культурах положительным является образ скромной и целомудренной женщины , жены, матери и хранительницы традиций. В условиях современной действительности нравственного разложения общества считаю разумным напомнить о этой позиции . Я не осуждаю феминисток и представителей других течений, но себя к ним не отношу. Все дискуссии по этому поводу лишь от отсутствия у нас (современной молодежи) четких понятий добра и зла, а так же от навязанных попкультурой лживых ценностей.
What do these “critics” think was patriarchal? I wouldn’t call it that, but even if that’s the right word, what would be so bad? All the cultures of the world value a modest and chaste vision of women, wives, mothers, and guardians of tradition. In today’s reality, amid society’s moral decay, I think it makes sense to remember this [traditional] position. I don’t blame the feminists or the other groups, but I don’t consider myself one of them. All these discussions about this issue are just a consequence of our (contemporary youth’s) absence of clear concepts of good and evil, and a result of the false values imposed by pop culture.
This isn’t the first scandal involving Parliamentary League, which in late February invited Russian Orthodox activist Dmitry “Enteo” Tsorionov to lecture during a debate about banning abortion in Russia. Enteo is known for radical, often violent demonstrations against gays, Muslims, and other groups. The debate community has also welcomed members of the right-wing LDPR youth wing to an event to discuss amending the Russian Constitution and re-implementing an official state ideology.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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The Arduous Journey of Colombian Migrants Headed for Chile · Global Voices
Robert Valencia

Many Colombians, like the Landázuri family (above), fled Colombia after being threatened. The Hangout focused on the route which thousands of Colombians take towards Antofagasta, in the north of Chile. Photo by Rodrigo Selles for CONNECTAS and Mercurio de Antofagasta.
Global Voices, in collaboration with CONNECTAS, Agenda Propia, Útero.pe, Vice and El Mercurio de Antofagasta, has begun a series of talks using Google Hangouts about the migration of Latin American communities towards other countries in the region entitled “The Challenges of Intra-American Migration”.
The first of these talks, focusing on the exodus of Colombian nationals to the Chilean city of Antofagasta, was held on March 13, 2015. These conversations included the statements of Colombian migrants in Chile, of experts on migration in the region and of journalists who closely follow the stories of those who move within the continent in search of better opportunities.
The discussion was moderated by Global Voices collaborator Robert Valencia. Other participants were Javier El-Hage from the Human Rights Foundation, Catalina Rojas and Jimena Araoz from Ciudadano Global – Jesuit Migrant and Refugee Service, and Cristian Asencio from El Mercurio de Antofagasta newspaper.
The complete Hangout (in Spanish) may be viewed in this YouTube video:
This virtual talk was inspired by the report “El Nuevo Éxodo Latino“ (The New Latin Exodus), which examines migration movements within the Latin American region and seeks to distinguish them from others which have already been investigated. Part of the Hangout accounted for the bases common to all migration movements and for the specific characteristics of different groups’ integration in the region. “We are all immigrants in the world”, said El-Hage. “The possibility of emigrating was not previously regulated nor prohibited.”
As an example of the numerous challenges of the migration experience, participants shared various contexts that showed how many have seen their routes modified by certain laws and their journeys marked by the violence which prevails in parts of the continent. Mexican journalist Priscila Hernández Flores presented part of this context in Mexico and Central America:
A partir del hallazgo de la fosa con 72 migrantes en Tamaulipas [en] modificó la ruta migratoria y los migrantes centroamericanos especialmente eligieron una ruta más larga, pero más segura (dentro de lo que cabe). Otro de los temas que tenemos que tomar en cuenta es el inicio del programa Frontera Sur que ha recrudecido el control de movimiento migratorio en carreteras o en tramos y específicamente han impedido que se suban al tren [también conocido como La Bestia]. Antes mirábamos las imágenes de un tren atiborrado con personas arriba sobre sus vagones […] Ahora es muy difícil que un migrante pueda subir a partir de los operativos de migración. Esto ha hecho que la ruta se haga caminando, y lo que antes se hacía en tres horas en un automóvil o en esos trayectos en el tren ahora se hace caminando, lo que ha generado otros riesgos para los migrantes.
Since the discovery of the graves of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, the migratory route has changed and Central American migrants especially have chosen a longer, but (relatively) safer route. Another issue which must be taken into account is the commencement of the Southern Border programme which has intensified controls on migration movements on motorways or on routes and more specifically has prevented migrants from boarding the train [also known as La Bestia (The Beast)]. In the past we saw images of a packed train with people on top of its wagons […] Now it is very difficult for a migrant to board since these migration operations began. This has meant that the route is undertaken on foot, and what was previously covered in three hours in a car or on those train journeys is now done on foot, which creates other risks for the migrants.
The Hangout also presented the stories of two Colombian immigrants in Antofagasta, who addressed the advantages and difficulties of changing country and starting again. One of them emphasised that beyond his problems finding work in Buenaventura, the city which he had left, the primary obstacle was violence. The stories also exposed the difficulties of entering Chile due to prejudice towards Colombians, who have seen their image harmed as a result of problems involving other migrants from Colombia: “for one, we all pay”.
Central American migrants board the train known as “The Beast”, in Mexico. Photo by Peter Haden, published under Creative Commons licence.
Cristian Asencio, who was responsible for collecting these statements, explained that when he was trying to research his report the migrants seemed somewhat evasive:
Hay cierta desconfianza producto de que algunos programas noticiosos han sido despectivos con la inmigración [Estos programas] se enfocan en la criminalización del migrante y verlo como el sospechoso de siempre.
There is a degree of mistrust owing to the fact that some news programmes have been contemptuous of immigration. [These programmes] focus on the criminalisation of migrants and view them as the typical suspects.
Catalina Rojas, from Ciudadano Global, explained that when they began their work two years ago in Antofagasta, these issues “were little known”. Her colleague Jimena Araos added that there have been attempts to improve institutionality, but that it has been a difficult task:
Es una estructura enorme. Estamos hablando desde la oficina de migración hasta el sistema de salud que tiene que hacer cambios para que los migrantes puedan ser acogidos. Hay voluntad pero [queda] mucho por hacer.
It's an enormous structure. We're talking about changes which need to be made from the migration office to the health system so that migrants may be welcomed. The will to change is there, but [there's still] a lot to be done.
As our countries unite by means of economic blocs such as the Pacific Alliance, new challenges arise as a result of policies which gradually seek to allow the free movement of people across borders. For this reason, the participants agreed that in the case of Chile there is a certain resistance to opening borders:
Probablemente en la población hay renuencia en abrir sus fronteras […] Pasa algo curioso [y es que] el dinero corre sin fronteras pero no las personas. Se supone que esta Alianza del Pacífico permite el desplazamiento de personas pero en la práctica no ocurre así.
Most likely there is reluctance among the population to open the country's borders […] Something strange is happening [in that] money flows across borders but not people. The Pacific Alliance is supposed to allow the movement of people but in practice this is not the case.
Part of the conclusions addressed certain alternatives. Asencio and Araos agreed on the need to work on laws, but also to go further. Raising awareness and education work is necessary in order to establish responsible dialogues with the media:
…a veces no solamente las leyes son fundamentales, deben existir cambios culturales y esto sólo se da con educación […] es importante la forma en la que se presenta el inmigrante ante la prensa, y principalmente es necesario trabajar con los actores involucrados.
…sometimes it is not only the laws which are fundamental, but cultural changes must also take place and this can only happen with education […] the way in which immigrants are represented in the press is important, and primarily it is necessary to work with the people involved.
Rojas considers it necessary “to create meeting spaces where immigrants and natives can get to know one another” to promote integration. Finally, El-Hage affirmed that processes of integration cannot only apply to the exchange of goods. “People must decide where they wish to work according to supply and demand”, he said, adding that in any model, the primary focus must be on human rights, since the reasons leading workers to migrate can go far beyond the economic. Migration may also be impelled by family, cultural or personal security reasons.
For more information or to ask questions, head to the Twitter accounts of Global Voices (@gvamericalatina) and CONNECTAS (@ConnectasOrg). The discussion will also be collated using the hashtag #HangoutCONNECTAS. In this way, people may not only ask questions but also make suggestions for future discussions on Latin American migration within the region.

author: Robert Valencia


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The Media’s Role in Mexico’s ‘Warped’ Democracy · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

Photo from Fernando Vazquez Rigada's blog, used with permission
Blogger Fernando Vázquez Rigada reflects on the role of the media in Mexico, a country where he says democracy is “warped” because it only works on a formal level, and society isn't adequately represented by the political institutions.
He adds that Mexican media bear a huge responsibility in this issue. There are a variety of media in Mexico, however, quantity does not always goes hand in hand with quality, especially considering that the political power is closely linked to the media system:
El estado mexicano gasta una cantidad descomunal de recursos anualmente en pago a medios de comunicación. Sabemos que el poder ejecutivo federal invierte alrededor de 6 mil millones de pesos al año. Esa cifra, sin embargo, excluye a los otros poderes, a los 31 estados, al DF y a los 2,457 municipios y a las 16 delegaciones del DF. Tampoco incluye al gasto de los partidos políticos. La cifra debe multiplicarse al menos por diez.
Así, los medios en México deben recibir de dinero público algo así como 70 mil millones de pesos anuales. 191 millones de pesos cada día. Casi 8 millones de pesos cada hora.
Eso explica la enorme laguna informativa que ahoga a México.
The Mexican state spends an enormous amount of money in payments to media outlets. We know that the federal executive branch invests about six billion Mexican pesos a year. That figure, however, excludes other powers, the 31 Mexican states, Mexico DF, 2,457 municipalities and 16 delegations in Mexico City. Nor does it include the expenditure of political parties. So, that figure should be multiplied at least, tenfold.
Thus, the media in Mexico should receive annually from public money around 70 billion Mexican pesos. 191 million pesos every day. Nearly 8 million pesos per hour.
That explains the huge information gap in Mexico.
Vázquez Rigada concludes that its links with political power and its economic dependence prevent the media from reporting freely and fulfilling its role of monitoring those in power, pointing out flaws and opening political debate.
You can follow Fernando Vázquez Rigada on Twitter.


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Trinidad & Tobago’s Politics Hits New Low With ‘Product of Rape’ Mudslinging · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

In what must now seem quite ironic, Trinidad & Tobago's Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar signs a Joint Statement on Advancing Women’s Political Participation. Photo Credit: UN Women/Catianne Tijerina, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
With Trinidad and Tobago's national elections due to be called later this year, the country has already braced itself for silly season, but no-one quite expected the new low to which politics — not to mention logic and common decency — have sunk.
During a contentious debate in parliament, Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, a female parliamentarian from Tobago, made the distasteful accusation that opposition leader Keith Rowley was the product of rape — and that this inauspicious beginning has made him “aggressive”, “arrogant” and in her opinion, unfit for public office. Alleyne-Toppin actually used the words “dubious” and “dangerous” to describe Rowley's leadership qualities.
It all began with the flailing People's Partnership government's no-confidence motion against Dr. Rowley in Wednesday's sitting of parliament. The remaining parties in the coalition government — which have now been whittled down to the United National Congress (UNC) and the practically defunct Congress of the People (COP) — were focused on trying to oust Dr. Rowley based on the controversy surrounding the appointment of Police Complaints Authority Director David West, an appointment to which the prime minister readily agreed.
Members of the People's National Movement (PNM) responded by walking out of parliament, calling the debate “vacuous” and “absurd”. While the government shuttled its party faithful to the parliament building in droves for a show of support, the opposition did the opposite, as if in an effort to dismiss the entire motion. Unfortunately, their walkout made the opposition bench miss Alleyne-Toppin's outlandish comments during the debate.
As jaw-dropping as her accusations were, most netizens dismissed it as sour grapes from a woman whom Rowley accused of abusing her government-issued credit card for non-work-related purchases — but it did not stop them from being astounded at the banal level of political debate.
As usual, satirical blogger Mr. Live Wire at Wired 868 was on top of the situation, calling the outburst “the most vile perversion in the Parliament’s history”:
The Trinidad and Tobago Parliament was yesterday the scene of the most spectacularly unsuccessful revenge mission since a one-armed bounty hunter cornered ‘Tuco’ in a bathtub in the classic western movie, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.’ […]
Like a suicide bomber who decided to do a test run, Tobago East MP and Minister of the People and Social Development Vernella Alleyne-Toppin blew herself to smithereens while stunned observers watched on, unsure whether to laugh or cry.
He maintained that the ploy backfired, observing that “the People’s Partnership dug a hole for the Opposition Leader and then fell into it themselves.”
Facebook user Shaz Hudson echoed this sentiment:
worse is that this whole scenario was backed up like it was a good thing by the other members present… did no one feel like this was wrong?… these are the ppl making decisions on my behalf and in my best interest?? seriously?
Rhoda Bharath was so offended that she mused on Facebook:
Consider this for a moment…today we made legislative history as the first Caribbean country to have the govt debate a No Confidence Motion against its Opposition Leader….and the records of that debate will show one MP discussing the alleged rape of the Opposition Leaders mother as if it is factual and seemly.
Study that good. We make history today. And that will be our lasting record.
In a subsequent update, she called on civil society groups to speak out against what transpired in the halls of parliament. Rape victims were the first to do so, describing Alleyne-Toppin's comments “irresponsible, disgusting and abhorrent” and calling the fact that her outburst even happened “part of the problem”. One survivor of rape said:
There is no apology that can forgive what she said. Vernella has offended every victim of rape and sexual abuse, every child born out of rape and incest. […] As a woman, she should know better. I am appalled and disgusted.
Facebook user Sherron Walker-Harford was distressed over what took place:
Every day I am more and more ashamed of my Nationality. This is clearly an attempt to hurt Dr Rowley. Not to discredit. If this is true, it means that his mother so loves life that she chose to keep a baby conceived in the worst of circumstances and bring him up to be a husband, a father of daughters, and a highly educated professional man. What a woman. What an example for us all to follow.
I am an officer of The Shelter [a halfway house for victims of domestic violence] and I am disgusted that any female would see it fit to use an alleged rape to supposedly discredit the child conceived in that act. Toppin is more barbaric than any rapist. A disgrace, trivial, evil and vindictive. I am ashamed to have the same passport and gender as that person
The Women's League of the People's National Movement, however, said that the claims were unfounded and condemned the minister's “unfortunate contribution”, saying it was “disturbed this latest assault on the character of Dr Rowley could have taken place with impunity within the walls of the Parliament”.
Criticism continued to flood social media. Even Christlyn Moore, a former Minister of Justice in the People's Partnership government, and herself a Tobagonian, posted a public status update about the issue on her Facebook page:
Whether Vernella’s truth is a truth at all, or a truth that needed to be told the public will judge but I fear that with regard to her the jury has already returned a round and robust cry of absolute condemnation. More that that, she by her own public admissions, a victim of various insults and abuses, both politically and personally, should know how abhorrent it is to shame the victim.
The public outcry finally became so overwhelming that on Thursday, Alleyne-Toppin issued an apology “to everyone who felt uncomfortable or outraged because of parts of the statement I made in Parliament”. But Breaking News T&T reported on its Facebook page that Alleyne-Toppin maintained:
I do, however, hold firmly to the view that incidents such as these, happening in our own country, must never be swept under the carpet. As difficult as it is, these are conversations we must be having as a people, if we are to protect young girls from experiencing this kind of horrific violation.
And while I apologise from the heart to anyone who felt hurt by my statements, I intend to stand my ground and will insist that questions that have been asked of the Leader of the Opposition must be answered.
Facebook user Patricia Worrell, in trying to make sense of the “apology”, mused:
I think what it is is that the $h*t hit the fan; she swallowed some of it, and is now regurgitating….
Alleyne-Toppin also alleged that Rowley himself raped the mother of one of his children; the woman, Roselyn Alleyne (no relation to the minister) has since come out publicly to denounce the claims, saying “it's all lies” and tantamount to slander. One netizen has even started an online petition for Alleyne-Toppin to be fired from her post and expelled from the ruling party.
It's official. Silly season is in full swing. Mr. Live Wire vocalised what many netizens must be thinking: “Just call the bleeding elections already!”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Who to Follow on Yemen on the Second Day of Saudi-Led Air Strikes  · Global Voices
Abir Ghattas

Photograph shared by Yemeni journalist Nasser Arrabyee
@narrabyee on Twitter
On the second day of the Saudi led military intervention in Yemen, Yemeni health officials announced that the civilian death toll reached 39 people. This number will likely continue to increase given the urban density of the targeted areas.
39 dead in Saudi-led Yemen strikes: health officials http://t.co/jeVO7UEIhe
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) March 27, 2015
All major international and regional news agencies are reporting on this war. However, we are looking at Yemeni journalists, bloggers and activists tweeting and writings about the attacks, their state of mind and that of those around them.
Journalist Nasser Arrabyee tweeted about the civilian death and injury toll caused by the air strikes:
Saudi airstrikes killed and injured dozens of civilians in a popular market in Kutaf area Saada north of Yemen, locals. — Nasser Arrabyee (@narrabyee) March 27, 2015
Noon Arabia, co-founder of Support Yemen, expressed over and over again her concern regarding the bloodshed & the destruction that the Saudi lead military intervention will cause:
I'm against Saleh/Houthi & Hadi's incompetence as I'm against military intervention in #Yemen which will only cause bloodshed & destruction
— نون عربية (@NoonArabia) March 26, 2015
As #Yemen crumbles, civilians brace for the worst http://t.co/IFu34Q0eGZ #HumanitarianCrisis pic.twitter.com/wFjKL8XN36 — نون عربية (@NoonArabia) March 26, 2015
#عاصفة_الحزم = #عاصفة_الدمار لكل #اليمن #ResoluteStorm = Damage Storm for all of #Yemen
— نون عربية (@NoonArabia) March 26, 2015
Mohammed Al-Asaadi in his tweets describes the non-stop bombing in and around Sana'a and how the sound of Friday prayers is mixing with the noise of anti-aircraft missiles:
خطب #الجمعة تملأ أرجاء المدينة وأصوات مضادات الطيران من كل مكان الأن اللهم تولى أمر من يريد لـ #اليمن دمارا وخرابا وفرقة. #عاصفة_الحزم — Mohammed Al-Asaadi (@alasaadim) March 27, 2015
The sound of Friday prayer sermons is filling the town
And the sound of anti-aircraft missiles is every where
May Allah avenge those who want to destroy and divide Yemen
He adds:
من عدد وقوة التفجيرات اللي نسمعها تحس أنك مش ح تلاقي حاجة باقية في #صنعاء. حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل على كل ظالم. #اليمن ضحية الجهل والأحقاد
— Mohammed Al-Asaadi (@alasaadim) March 27, 2015
From the number and power of the explosions that we hear, you feel that there will be nothing left of Sanaa.
Yemen is the victim of ignorance and hatred
Hisham Al Omeisy tweeted about the number of civilian casualties from an unexploded shell in Sana'a
One confirmed dead & 12 injured in unexploded shell from yesterday night in Sana'a #Yemen — Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) March 27, 2015
Unexploded AA shell from yesterday night that fell in resid area just went off in crowded market in Sana'a #Yemen ..so airstrikes+landmines!
— Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) March 27, 2015
He also described the general psychological state of his surrounding, fear and exhaustion.
We will very soon grow numb to this as exhaustion takes toll & psychological state messed with insomnia/fear Sana'a #Yemen #Airstrikes — Hisham Al-Omeisy (@omeisy) March 27, 2015
Similar to Hisham Al-Omeisy, journalist Mared AlWard tweets about the state of fear among the citizens due to the non stop and extremely heavy bombing of Sana'a
ما اليوم أصوات الانفجارات لم تتوقف حتى وقت صلاة الفجر في قصف أعنف من حق أول يوم.رعب يهز المنازل والسكان في حالة خوف.
— مأرب الورد (@mareb_alward) March 27, 2015
Today the sounds of explosions did not stop until the dawn prayers in air strikes which were more violent than the first night. Terror is shaking the homes and people are afraid
Finally, Yemen Updates account is a good source of curated tweets covering the development of the air strikes, the military situation on the ground and the aftermath of the attacks.
After looting weaponry, killing 1000s of troops in Saada, Amran, Sanaa and now in the South, Abdulmalek Al-Houthi asks to support the army.
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) March 27, 2015
Huge blasts and anti-craft Fire at Faj Attan mount in #Sanaa now, apparently on Rocket Base. #Yemen #ResoluteStorm #StopWar #NoSleepSanaa
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) March 27, 2015
More resources:
Also check out this Twitter list of Yemeni bloggers and journalists covering Yemen.
Stay tuned for more coverage from Yemen.

author: Abir Ghattas


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Civil War Separates Peuhl Children from their Parents in Yaloke, Central African Republic · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Yaloke Boys Reunited with Their Family via UNICEF_CAR twitter account – Public Domain
Peuhl minorities of Islamic confession have been trying to escape anti-balaka militia since the beginning of the civil war in in the Central African Republic.  One of the camps where displaced Peuhl can find protection is the Yaloke camp by the Cameroonian border in the western region. The health situation in the Yaloke camp is critical where death rates is three times higher than other cities in the region. The refugees are not allowed to move out of the Yaloke Camp which has made it difficult for families to reunite.  The Reseau Des Journalistes pour les droits de l'homme EN RCA (The Journalist Network for Human Rights in CAR) reports on the situation:
Pour Moussa Saidou, deux de ses enfants l’ont quitté et se retrouvent aujourd’hui à Gamba. « Ils sont partis le jour de l’attaque qui a conduit à la perte de nos bétails. Ils ont fui dans la brousse pour se retrouver à Gamba avant de rejoindre Goré au Tchad, où ils séjournent pour le moment»
Moussa Saidou explains that two of her children have escaped and now find themselves in Gamba. “They left the day of the attack that led to the loss of our livestock. They fled into the forest to find themselves in Gamba before joining Gore in Chad, where they stay for now”.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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How One Woman Fought One of the World’s Biggest Oil Companies—and Won · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Margie Richard stands in what used to be her front yard, across the street from Shell's chemical plant in Norco, Louisiana. Richard pushed for the company to buy out the neighborhood and move residents. Credit: Reid Frazier. Published with PRI's permission.
This article and radio report by producer Reid Frazier and writer Jared Goyette for Living on Earth as part of the Across Women's Lives project originally appeared on PRI.org on March 27, 2015, and is republished as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Officials in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, are currently mulling a proposal from Shell Oil to build a new chemical plant in their backyard. But before they make a decision, they might want to listen to some advice from a 71-year-old retired teacher who lives in another small town thousands of miles away.
“You should have input in what is going on,” warns Margie Richard of Norco, Louisiana.
Richard’s words of caution come from experience: She fought her own battle against a Shell chemical plant in her hometown — and won.
Norco is town of around 3,000 residents on the Mississippi River, about 20 miles upriver from New Orleans. It gets its name from the New Orleans Refining Company, which operated an oil refinery there, built by Shell in 1916.
The problems in Norco started in the 1950s, when Shell built a chemical plant in a black neighborhood called Diamond, where Richard is from.
Growing up, she remembers smelling foul, bleach-like odors from the plant. Then, in the summer of 1973, a teenager named LeRoy Jones was mowing the lawn of an elderly woman when he stopped for a moment. A pipeline was leaking not far away. When he restarted the mower, it sparked an explosion.
Helen Washington, the resident of the house, was killed. Jones tried to run away, his clothes on fire. He died a few days later.
Richards saw the aftermath firsthand, and the memory of it stuck with her.
“There on the ground was Miss Helen, who lived in the house, under a sheet,” she remembers. “You could smell her hair. It was just awful.”
That experience was a turning point for Richards, who began to document the health problems of people in the neighborhood. Then tragedy struck closer to home: Her sister died at the age of 43 of a rare inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis. While scientists disagree over what causes the disease, some think that chemical exposure can trigger it. Richards suspects that was the case.
Another explosion rocked the town in 1988, this time at the Shell oil refinery. Seven workers died, and the blast was felt as far away as New Orleans.
Richard went on a mission to force Shell to relocate residents away from both plants. She worked with a local environmentalist group, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, to conduct air quality tests. The device the group uses — a five-gallon bucket — was originally pioneered by Erin Brockovich’s lawyer.
The tests paid off: The group was able to detect chemicals in the air that Shell had failed to report to the state’s environmental agency. The media began to pay attention to the case. As the controversy grew, Richard was even invited to speak before the United Nations in 1999. She came armed with a powerful story — and an air sample from Norco.
Margie Richard with a photo of her sister Naomi, who died at the age of 43 from a rare bacterial infection. Richard suspected emissions from Shell had something to do with making her sister sick. Credit: Reid Frazier. Published with PRI's permission.
“I stood before the United Nations with my bag of polluted air,” she remembers. She confronted a high ranking Shell official and asked him if he wanted to smell the bag. He didn’t. A few weeks later, the company changed its position.
Shell offered to buy out the homes of people who lived near the plant. The minimum offer was $80,000, and more than 300 families took it, including Richard’s. The company said the decision to buy out the homes was part of a long-term strategy to create a greenbelt around the plant, and was not related to health concerns.
Much has changed since the buyouts: Toxic air releases in Louisiana are about half of what they were in the early 1990s. And last year, the Environmental Protection Agency celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Environmental Justice program, which was created to protect minority neighborhoods like the Diamond section in Norco from inordinate amounts of industrial pollution.
According to Tim Johnson, a public affairs consultant to the petrochemical industry in Louisiana, the industry has evolved since the time when Richards was fighting Shell. “The industry recognized that it had to do a better job communicating with and listening to the citizens who lived in communities around them,” he says.
Johnson believes part of the reason for the change was that companies simply wanted to do the right thing. But even though he is an industry backer, he recognizes that the shift wouldn’t have happened to the extent it did without government intervention.
“You have to be honest to say … that a lot of the improvements they’ve made have been as a result of regulations,” he says.
And those regulations would likely never have happened without bottom-up pressure from community activists like Margie Richard. Take note, Beaver County.
This story originally aired on PRI's Living on Earth with Steve Curwood. It was part ofan investigative series on the petrochemical industry from The Allegheny Front, a Pennyslvania public radio program that focuses on local environmental issues.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Mapping Vietnam’s Socio-Economic Indicators · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The World Bank has launched mapVIETNAM, an interactive map that shows various socio-economic indicators in Vietnam such as poverty rates, employment, and electricity connectivity. The photo above shows the number of households living on $2 dollars a day. Using the map, we can see that poverty rates are high in the northern and central parts of the country.

author: Mong Palatino


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Pakistani Journalist and Blogger Remains in Exile, One Year After Violent Attack · Global Voices
Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman

Raza Rumi (far right) at a demonstration in Washington DC, following the slaying of Bangladeshi blogger Avijit Roy. Photo posted on Twitter by Raza Rumi.
March 28 marks the first anniversary of the attack on Pakistani blogger and prominent political commentator Raza Rumi. Once a contributor to Global Voices, Rumi was added to the Taliban's hit list after he opposed government peace talks with the militant group in 2014. His moderate views also have been misinterpreted by some as anti-Islamic. When two gunmen opened fire on Rumi's car at a market in Lahore, his 25-year-old driver and confidant was killed. Rumi departed for the US shortly thereafter, at the urgings of family and friends.
Police in Lahore have since arrested six individuals in connection with the attack. Authorities reported that the six suspects confessed and provided a statement confirming that they are members of the banned sectarian outfit Lashkar e Jhangavi or LeJ, one of the most violent Sunni militant organisations in Pakistan that has been involved in various sectarian killings. Now living in exile in the US, Rumi told Global Voices:
I believe that these men are unlikely to be convicted or to serve significant jail time. But no matter the outcome of the case, I believe that I am likely to be attacked by these terrorist organizations as they are operating with impunity and have thousands of members across the country.
He believes that he is still vulnerable. “Until the government of Pakistan begins to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure, I believe that my vulnerability level will remain dangerously high.”
According to the media reports, LeJ leader Malik Ishaq has not been charged with the case and has been released from police custody. Rumi told Global Voices:
Given Malik Ishaq’s connection to my case, knowing that Ishaq has been able to orchestrate assassinations and terrorist attacks—even from behind bars, and hearing that Ishaq has recently been bailed out/released, I am extremely fearful for my safety in the event I were to return to Pakistan.
Threats from the Taliban Social Media Wing
Although he remains in the US, Rumi has continued to face threats online. After the November 2014 attack on Pakistan's eastern Wagah border with India that took the lives of 50 people and injured over 100 others, Jamat ul Ahrar, a Taliban offshoot, claimed responsibility for the attack. When Rumi learned of this, he tweeted about it. Jamat ul Ahrar spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, a former Taliban spokesman known for his social media savvy, saw Rumi's tweet and responded, saying:
Screenshot by Raza Rumi
“@Razarumi If u r still alive, be informed that u r fresh in our memories.” Rumi told Global Voices, “this confirmed my fears that the militant groups would try to kill me if I ever return to Pakistan.”
Rumi has also received other messages echoing Ehsan’s sentiment. Last September, a Twitter user* warned Rumi: “not to forget why [he] was attacked and that next time they would have no mercy.”
Accused of Being a RAW Agent
Rumi is also frequently accused on social media of being a spy for the Indian government intelligence agency known as the Research and Analysis Wing (typically abbreviated as “RAW”). In Pakistan, calling a person a “RAW” agent amounts to an accusation of treason that can warrant murder.
On August 29, 2014, Rumi received a Twitter message* stating that he should be hanged. The tweet read:
U SON OF A WHORE, I KNOW UR SON OF WHORE STOP SERVING UR $$ MASTERS, BASTARD U SHOULD B HANGED TRAITORS LIKE U WILL B SOON.
Rumi reported that yet another Twitter user* stated that he “hoped that I would be killed in a suicide attack by Al Qaeda” after he suggested that it was not India, but rather three groups associated with the Taliban, that were responsible for an attack.
Rumi longs every day to go back and walk freely on the streets of Lahore, but at the same time he is terrified of what might happen if he returns. And he is regularly reminded of the threats in Pakistan. “Other journalists, my friends, and my family have all warned me that they believe I will be tortured or killed if I return.” Albeit from afar, Rumi continues his fight against extremism and to promote an open, tolerant society.
* Editor's note: Raza Rumi shared with Global Voices screen captures of all of the tweets cited here. In the interest of protecting his safety, we will not republish these images or the names of their senders.

author: Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman


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Community Tributes for Lee Kuan Yew Draw a Million People in Singapore · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Community tribute at Bedok Town Centre
More than a million people in Singapore flocked to 18 community centers in the past week to give tribute to the country’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who died on March 23, 2015.
The ‘community tributes’ were set up since the waiting time for people who wanted to visit the lying in state of Lee Kuan Yew at the Parliament House was more than six hours.
Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore’s founding leader who ruled for more than three decades. After his term ended in 1990, he continued to serve in the Cabinet as Minister Mentor. His son is the incumbent prime minister.
Lee Kuan Yew is remembered as the man who led Singapore’s transformation from a poor island city in the 1960s into a prosperous global city today.
Lee Kuan Yew is also an influential leader in the Asia-Pacific. In the past week, 170 foreign dignitaries from 27 countries paid tribute to Lee Kuan Yew at the Parliament House.
But it was in the ‘community tributes’ where Singaporeans from all walks of life were able to affirm not only the popularity of Lee Kuan Yew but also his enduring legacy as the country’s founding father. The ‘community tributes’ united Singaporeans in mourning the passing of Lee Kuan Yew and honoring him as a great leader of the nation.
Below are some of the scenes at the community centers:
A family pays tribute to Lee Kuan Yew
Community tribute at Woodlands
Community tribute at Senja-Cashew Community Club
An artwork honoring Lee Kuan Yew made by young people from PCF Bukit Timah Branch
Community tribute at Yishun
A student writes a note honoring Lee Kuan Yew. Community tribute at Botanic garden
Community tribute at Toa Payoh
Community tribute at Toa Payoh
Community tribute at Tanjong Pagar
Aside from the ‘community tributes’, Singaporeans can also leave a messages for Lee Kuan Yew through an online tribute page. Rosie Sim is one of those who honored Lee Kuan Yew:
We sometimes wonder what Singapore stands for and if we ever have a Singapore icon. Is it the Merlion? Vanda Miss Joaquim? The Esplanade? The Singapore Flyer? The Parliament House? We never get to agree with a common identity, but Singaporeans and people from all over the world can easily identify with Mr Lee Kuan Yew as Singapore. A living icon and sense of common identity among all of us indeed.
Lee Kuan Yew’s burial is scheduled today.


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Ebola Veterans Warn That Vigilance Is Still Needed as Case Numbers Drop · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

BBC correspondent Tulip Mazumdar conducts an interview in Guinea in December 2014. “They were telling me they didn’t believe Ebola was a real virus,” she says, but things have changed in the ensuing months. Credit: Courtesy of Tulip Mazumdar. Published with PRI's permission.
This article and radio report by David Leveille for The World as part of the Human Needs project originally appeared on PRI.org on March 24, 2015, and is republished as part of a content-sharing agreement.
There may be some good news coming from the Ebola-stricken countries of West Africa — the number of new cases is way down and some schools have even re-opened — but the crisis is far from over.
Dr. Oliver Johnson, who leads the Kings Sierra Leone Partnership in Freetown — a collaboration with the British government — says Ebola is still active and claiming new victims all the time. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” he says. “We still have four or five cases diagnosed a day — sometimes in Freetown — so we are very mindful we have to keep the pressure up.”
Johnson has seen the impact of the international effort at his own hospital in Freetown, a major Ebola treatment center. “We used to have queues outside the hospital and every bed was full,” he remembers. “We used to have seven or eight new patients a day. Now it is two or three patients a week. … But this trend [of improvement] isn’t inevitable. And until we get to zero, things aren’t over.”
The BBC's Tulip Mazumdar traveled across West African nations affected by Ebola to see how local authorities are dealing with the virus. Credit: Courtesy of Tulip Mazumdar. Published with PRI's permission.
Public attitudes about the disease have also changed, according to Tulip Mazumdar, a global health correspondent for the BBC who traveled to West Africa several times over the past year to cover the Ebola crisis. She remembers arriving in a village in Guinea last summer where residents were hostile to health workers — even as the epidemic was in full swing.
“Some health workers had actually been attacked,” Mazumdar says. “I remember going in there and people were, understandably, utterly terrified. They didn't understand this thing. They've had several members of that community die in this very harrowing way. They didn't know what was happening.”
But as time went on, she says, people’s understanding of the epidemic changed. “I went to Freetown a couple of months later. The buckets of chlorine were outside every public building; we had our temperatures checked five to six times a day; there were Ebola posters everywhere telling people to avoid body contact because that’s how it’s spread,” Mazumdar says.
And while the number of cases may be coming down, Mazumdar, like Johnson, cautions that Ebola will require continued vigilance on the part of health workers as well as journalists. “This is far from over,” she says, “and as it continues in Sierra Leone [and] Guinea, the rest of [the] West African countries and, indeed, the world remain at risk.”


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Iranian Television Producer Mostafa Azizi is Jailed in Iran’s Evin Prison · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Iranian Television Producer and Author, Mostafa Azizi is arrested a month after his return to Iran from Canada. Photo by Mahdi Delkhasteh via Wikipedia (Public Domain Attribution).
After years of living in Toronto as a permanent Canadian resident, author and TV producer Mostafa Azizi moved back to Iran in January 2015. On February 1, he was arrested and put in solitary confinement at the country's infamous Evin prison. Next he was moved to the IRGC-controlled Ward 2-A, until finally being transferred to the lower-security Ward 8, Unit 7, in March.
Arash Azizi, Mostafa's son, told Global Voices over the phone that the news of his father's arrest only went public on March 28, 2015:
I've known about his arrest for quite some time, but our family's decision was not to publicise it, and not make it political. Recently they came to the conclusion that they need to publicise it.
According to an anonymous source published in Human Rights Activists News Agency, Azizi has been charged with “insulting the supreme leader”, “affronting the founder of the Islamic revolution”, “propagandizing against the regime”, and “conspiracy against the regime” and “public order”.
Prior to emigrating to Canada, Azizi produced educational and scientific programs for Iranian National Radio, until moving into television as the director of the Computer Animation Unit of the country's national broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. He moved to Canada in 2009, where he was a prominent cultural figure in Toronto's Iranian community. He founded Alternate Dream Productions, and hosted a centre called Farhang Khaneh (House of Culture) which became a centre for cultural events, such as script writing workshops and film screenings.
According to his son, Azizi decided to return to Iran because of the moderate political climate and the current Rouhani Administration's declarations that Iranians living abroad should return to live and work and safely in their native country. A Committee for the Return of Expat Iranians was created inside the Intelligence Ministry, led by the Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary, and Iranian Expatriate Affairs Hassan Qashqavi. In a November 2013 statement, Qashqavi said:
The reason many Iranians do not return to Iran is the [fear] induced by Iranian opposition groups abroad. In my opinion, many of these fears are self-made. This fear has no root.
Arash Azizi said his father took these officials at their word:
Qashqavi said that Iranians abroad should come home, and that there would be no problems for 97 percent of them. My dad hasn't been doing anything political, he's an artist. His “crimes” are based on his Facebook posts, and the nature of his charges are based on the government's social media monitoring of his posts. He went back to live his life as promised by the images of change and moderation. He had moved back, given up his home in Canada, and was there for good, and was very happy to see his sick father. To this day what he wants is to live in Iran. We want him to serve his time -not a long sentence we hope -and continue to live there in his own country.
Iran is known for monitoring politically sensitive content on social media, which is supposedly where police collected their incriminating evidence against Azizi. The IRGC recently announced the implementation of a new surveillance operation known as “Ankaboot” (Spider) that intends to monitor Facebook pages for “corruption” and Western-inspired lifestyles. This program has played a role in several recent arrests, though similar police work was not uncommon before the launch of “Ankaboot”. In July 2014, eight Facebook users were sentenced to a combined 127 years in prison for their activity on Facebook, which the authorities said “acted against national security, spread propaganda against the establishment, insulted the sacred, and insulted the heads of the Islamic Republic”. Azizi has since disabled his social media accounts and websites. His son told us the government had created an archive of his posts from while he was active.
Amir Rashidi, an Iranian security researcher, told Global Voices:
None of these arrests are related to technical computer hacks, but based on the information users give away themselves. Weak passwords or passwords given away by detainees…The main purpose of these detentions and threats are to create fear.
Azizi is well known in Toronto's Iranian community. Anoosh Salahshoor, an Iranian-Canadian law student and a member of a Toronto cultural center where Azizi was active, said of the man:

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Is This What UN Special Adviser on Yemen Has to Say on Current War: “? tmnoppbbnpbkpb” · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Assistant UN Secretary-General, Special Adviser to Secretary-General on Yemen Jamal Benomar's Twitter account has sent out the following message earlier today:
? tmnoppbbnpbkpb
— Jamal Benomar (@Jamal_Benomar) March 29, 2015
Adam Baron, a journalist covering Yemen, remarks 13 hours after the tweet was first published:
Cant believe Jamal Benomar's media team still hasnt deleted this tweet. Could it be because it truly says it all?https://t.co/F2GB5oQ1iX
— Adam Baron (@adammbaron) March 29, 2015
Screen Shot of BenOmar's Tweet still up on his account 13 hours after it was tweeted
This is BenOmar's second reaction on Twitter since Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against Yemen on March 26, which continue today.  His first was linking to this statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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#NigeriaDecides Their Country’s Next President in Hotly Contested Race · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The main opposition presidential candidate General Muhammad Buhari holding a broom in one of his campaign rallies. Photo released under Creative Commons by Flickr user Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
Nigerians came out in big numbers on March 28, 2015, to participate in a tightly contested general election that was pushed back by six weeks because of security concerns in areas held by militant group Boko Haram.
The election commission extended voting into Sunday, March 29, 2015, due to technical problems in some parts of the country.
The main contenders for the presidential seat are incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and opposition candidate retired General Muhammadu Buhari.
Japhet Omujuwa summarized the first voting day on Naij website, noting that there were “all the usual issues that go with elections in Nigeria”:
It is 2015 ,but you’d have thought the [Independent National Election Commission] had just six weeks to prepare for this election and not four years. The logistics was generally a mess. The INEC officials mostly arrived late to their polling units. And where they arrived early, there were too many cases of the INEC officials who didn’t even know that they had to remove the seal of the card reader to have it working. We were made to believe all of these people were specifically trained for this purpose.
In Rivers state, it was a total mess. This state was marked as a possible spot for violence, and it did live up to that expectation; but no one could imagine that some 60% of election report sheets would be missing.
Oluwatobi A. Oluwatola, a Nigerian policy analyst, argued that the main issues for this election were security and the economy, which is experiencing a “strain from the drop in crude oil prices that has led to a devaluation of its currency”:
Violence in the northeast region of Nigeria, occasioned by the extremist religious sect Boko Haram — a name that literally translates to “Western education is forbidden” — has claimed over 13,000 lives since 2009 and displaced millions. Hundreds of others, including children, have been kidnapped. Against this backdrop, the elections initially scheduled to be held Feb. 14 were postponed six weeks to enable the military to gain ground against the insurgents — a move that was highly criticized by the opposition and many independent bodies as a desperate act by the incumbent Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, as he attempts to avoid losing at the polls.
Beyond Boko Haram, Nigeria faces severe economic strain from the drop in crude oil prices that has led to a devaluation of its currency by as much as 20 percent since September. The president's critics, including Charles Soludo, a noted economist and former governor of the Central Bank, have accused the Jonathan administration of extreme mismanagement of the economy. In a recent article, Soludo gave the president an “F” for his efforts on the economy, saying that poverty and unemployment have grown to unprecedented levels despite the oil boom; the poverty rate is 71 percent and the unemployment rate is 24 percent.
The blog Africa is a Country's new free e-book titled “Nigeria: What is to be done?” offered some context for the election:
Since Nigeria returned to civil rule in May 1999, every election has been labeled by scholars and general observers as the most pivotal and most momentous in the country’s history. Yet, irrespective of their outcomes, the country has hobbled along, poised, all too familiarly, between the potentiality of glory and the probability of disaster. Nigeria has not exactly flourished, but it has not disintegrated either, even if Boko Haram, with its sworn determination to impose a semblance of a Paleolithic political order, has bitten off a not insignificant chunk of territory. Whatever it is then that throws the commentariat into regular panic every four years, it is most certainly not just a fear of possible physical collapse, but something definitely deeper. It is, one suspects, a philosophical regret that, perhaps with every electoral cycle that produces the ‘wrong’ victor, the country drifts further away from the possibility of genuine political renaissance.
True to form, the March 28 presidential election is being billed as a make-or-break affair, the last opportunity for Nigerians to liberate their country from the clutches of those who have held it to ransom for fifty odd years and some, and who continue to milk it for the exclusive gratification of a small elite. It is a tantalizing prospect, when you think of it—get this one election right, and all else shall be added unto you. Except that when you are dealing with a country so complex and troubled, and so marinated in its own contradictions like Nigeria, it is going to require more than a single election—or elections in toto for that matter—to have a shot at getting things right.
Naij.com author Ameto Akpe offered some insight into the hopes and fears of Nigerians abroad:
Though I am far from my native country at the moment, I recall 1999 with vivid clarity the sights, sounds, smell and feeling of standing in line to cast a vote as Nigeria transitioned from military to democratic rule. Since then I have monitored and written about elections as a reporter.
Intensely aware of the potential volatility surrounding the elections, I, like many other fellow Nigerians in the diaspora, have spent the build-up to the elections in fear. All conversations seem to narrow down to the possibility of violence and concerns over the safety of loved ones back home.
Yesterday in London, ‘pre-election day’ night-vigils organized by Nigerian-born pastors were held till the break of dawn. Hours of loud supplication to God for peace and ‘no bloodshed’
On Twitter, the hashtag #NigeriaDecides has been trending since yesterday.
One of the main concerns in this election has been violence. Although there have been instances of killings to derail the election in different parts of the country, some Twitter users have taken issue with international media reports of violence:
We had pockets of violence in some parts of the country sha”@uchejombo: Why is @cnni reporting election violence? Stop it #Nigeriadecides cc
— #Kiki (@kiki_mordi) March 29, 2015
Christian Djazz advised international news outlets to “take it easy”:
Dear journalists eager to count dead bodies, We get it. Violence is sexy for international news. Just take it easy. Hugs. #Nigeriadecides
— Christian Djazz (@Iamdjazz) March 29, 2015
Karen Attiah described a “humbling” perspective on the election:
Nothing more humbling to this Ghanaian-American than folks made homeless by Boko Haram lining up to vote. How much we take for granted in US
— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) March 28, 2015
Residents of Adamawa state who were displaced by Boko Haram in 2014 shed tears of joy after they were reunited with family members while lining up to vote at special polling units.
At some point during the day, the website of the election commission was reportedly hacked:
Oh no. #INEC has been hacked #Nigeriadecides pic.twitter.com/4aOgHgW0V1
— James Schneider (@schneiderhome) March 28, 2015
One voter said asked why he should have voted for the current government:
Even on election's day,we still dont have power supply since morning,so why should I vote for this government? #Nigeriadecides @AJEnglish
— Musturpher Kenny (@MustyK007) March 28, 2015
On a positive note, civic engagement and political awareness seem to be on the rise in the country, as pointed out by Oloyede and Asiya Rodrigo:
@RC1023FM #NigeriaDecides Never again will a president sleep for 6yrs n wake up during election period hoping to get re elected.”
— Oloyede (@mathewoyebanji) March 29, 2015
The best thing in the fierceness of this contest is the active involvement & increasing awareness of the ordinary Nigerian. #NigeriaDecides
— Asiya Rodrigo (@AsiyaRodrigo) March 29, 2015

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Open Letter to 60 Minutes Regarding Its Reporting on Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Scholars, writers, journalists and researchers write an open letter to 60 Minutes producer about the misrepresentation of Africa by the Tv program:
Dear Jeff Fager, Executive Producer of CBS 60 Minutes,
We, the undersigned, are writing to express our grave concern about the frequent and recurring misrepresentation of the African continent by 60 Minutes.
In a series of recent segments from the continent, 60 Minutes has managed, quite extraordinarily, to render people of black African ancestry voiceless and all but invisible.
Two of these segments were remarkably similar in their basic subject matter, featuring white people who have made it their mission to rescue African wildlife. In one case these were lions, and in another, apes. People of black African descent make no substantial appearance in either of these reports, and no sense whatsoever is given of the countries visited, South Africa and Gabon.
The third notable recent segment was a visit by your correspondent Lara Logan to Liberia to cover the Ebola epidemic in that country. In that broadcast, Africans were reduced to the role of silent victims. They constituted what might be called a scenery of misery: people whose thoughts, experiences and actions were treated as if totally without interest. Liberians were shown within easy speaking range of Logan, including some Liberians whom she spoke about, and yet not a single Liberian was quoted in any capacity.