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Russia’s Soviet Assault on Navalny’s Online Fundraising · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, one of Russia’s zaniest and most profane politicians, declared on the radio yesterday that Alexey Navalny should rot behind bars rather than run for Moscow Mayor. “Let him die there, and be buried in the prison cemetery,” Zhirinovsky fumed [ru] on Ekho Moskvy, Monday, August 12, 2013. Earlier that day, the Attorney General announced [ru] that it had partly corroborated a complaint by Zhirinovsky, who warned earlier in the month that Navalny’s online fundraising methods violate Russian campaign finance laws. According to the government’s official statement, prosecutors have sent their evidence to the Ministry of the Interior for a decision about possible criminal charges.
Alexey Navalny addresses Moscow voters, 7 August 2013, screenshot from YouTube.
The Attorney General says it has identified 347 Yandex.Money transfers with foreign IP addresses deposited in electronic wallets belonging to Navalny and three of his confidants. According to prosecutors, there have been payments from both individuals and legal entities. The government claims that the non-Russian origin of those 347 transfers means the money came from foreigners, who cannot legally contribute funds to Russian political candidates.
Defending Navalny’s Campaign
Navalny’s supporters have responded to this latest move by the authorities with a mix of confidence, disbelief, and condemnation. In a blog post [ru] on Ekho Moskvy, academic Igor Chubais interpreted the threat of fundraising violation charges as proof that Vladimir Churov and the Election Commission are no longer able to guarantee managed results for Moscow’s upcoming mayoral contest.
Photographer Mitya Aleshkovsky, who says he is now traveling in Italy, joked [ru] that he had inadvertently become a foreign agent when he refilled his e-wallet while abroad. Like others, he highlighted an announcement [ru] by Yandex.Money’s press representative, who explained that IP addresses do not denote users’ citizenship, and revealed that the Attorney General never requested any information from Yandex. (It is also the case that legal entities cannot use Yandex.Money, contrary to the state’s accusations against Navalny.) Aleshkovsky called this libel and asked rhetorically, “Does the law operate at all in this country?”
Putin inspects the troops on Victory Day, 9 May 2012, Moscow. Kremlin press service, public domain.
Andrei Malgin argued [ru] that the government is insuring itself against a possible second round of voting in the Moscow mayor’s race, which Navalny could force, if he can remain a candidate after reducing Sergey Sobyanin’s support to under 50% in the first round. Journalist Arkady Babchenko accused [ru] the Attorney General of Soviet-style tactics, joking that the government has lost touch with the “speed of life.” Oppositionist Boris Nemtsov likened [ru] the “foreign donations” scandal to how the authorities tarred his 2009 mayoral run in Sochi.
In his own response, published on LiveJournal and titled, “You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks,” Navalny says his rising poll numbers made inevitable a new Kremlin-orchestrated attack on his campaign. Brushing aside accusations that he’s accepted foreigners’ money, Navalny explains that over 1.2 million Russian citizens live outside the country, half a million citizens are now traveling abroad during the summer, and another few hundred thousand citizens living in Russia access the Internet via IP addresses based outside Russia. “Our campaign is the most financially transparent,” he declares triumphantly.
Not as Transparent as You’d Think
In addition to traditional offline bank transfers, Navalny has innovated two different ways to contribute money to his mayoral campaign using the Internet. The first method is relatively straightforward: his campaign has a Yandex.Money account, to which individuals can donate small sums directly, transferring funds to his official campaign bank account. Because of Yandex.Money’s own regulations, these transfers cannot exceed 15 thousand rubles ($450), which is also the maximum payment anonymous Yandex.Money users can make. In other words, Yandex.Money contributors to Navalny’s campaign do not need to identify [ru] themselves as Russian citizens to Yandex, before sending Navalny their money.
Navalny’s campaign corrects for this anonymity by requiring [ru] donators to provide identifying information in the memo section of every Yandex.Money transfer. If a particular contribution lacks all the legally required contributor data (as apparently did [ru] celebrity Putin-supporter Tina Kandelaki’s), the campaign refuses the donation.
Vladimir Ashurkov, Executive Director of Navalny’s “Fund for Fighting Corruption, 25 April 2012.
Navalny and members of his campaign staff have also promoted another rather dubious way to help his mayoral run. It’s called “Credit Trust,” and it works indirectly. Vladimir Ashurkov, Executive Director of Navalny’s “Fund for Fighting Corruption,” unveiled the fundraising scheme in a Facebook post [ru] on July 19, 2013, and Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s campaign manager, further elaborated in a LiveJournal post [ru] that same day. The “Credit Trust” formula calls on Yandex.Money users to reimburse designated members of Navalny’s entourage, who pledge 1 million rubles ($30 thousand) to the campaign. Ashurkov contributed the first million, and another three campaign figures (Alexey Beskorovainy, Konstantin Yankauskas, and Nikolai Liaskin) have followed [ru] with million-ruble donations of their own.
From a formal legal perspective [ru], such fundraising amounts simply to four individuals contributing four million rubles to Navalny’s campaign. For many, however, this tactic is a blatant exploitation of a loophole in Russia’s campaign finance regulations.
What Are the Pitfalls of Such Fundraising?
Whereas Navalny’s campaign screens Yandex.Money contributions for identifying data, Ashurkov and his posse of million-ruble contributors perform no such verifications. Anyone with a Yandex.Money account—regardless of citizenship—is free to send them cash. As it turns out, Yandex.Money serves individuals with bank accounts in eight different countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Israel, and Turkey. Ashurkov defends this donation scheme as a means to attract money from supporters deterred by, what he euphemistically calls, the “inconvenience” of identifying themselves.
Despite promoting “Credit Trust” themselves, Ashurkov and Volkov insist that Navalny’s campaign in no way endorses the project (which would be illegal). Given the roles these men play and how the plan works, however, it’s difficult to view this denial as anything but an attempt to skirt the law. In fact, Navalny himself advertised [ru] “Credit Trust” in a July 24 LiveJournal post [ru], encouraging people to send money to Nikolai Liaskin in connection with the program. If this doesn't count as an endorsement, what would?
Soviet Ways a Mixed Blessing
More curious than such risky fundraising methods is the Attorney General’s decision to implicate Navalny’s campaign in Western funding. (Though prosecutors claim 46 different foreign IP addresses, they saw fit to single out Britain and the United States—despite Yandex.Money’s limitation to the eight countries listed above.) Why resort to such a Cold-War-era, technologically illiterate attack, when “Credit Trust” is suspicious enough on its own to merit an investigation of Navalny’s campaign finances? If we take seriously the questions about “Credit Trust,” the state’s reaction is clumsy indeed.
Perhaps Navalny’s supporters are right when they accuse the Russian government of being stuck in the Soviet ways. Today, maybe, they should be counting their lucky stars for such incompetence.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Eid Terror in Yemen Amidst US Drone Strikes · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

Yemen received the first day of Eid (the Muslim holiday celebrating the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan) on August 8 2013, the same way it had received it on Christmas day, with US drone strikes, yet this time it was not with two strikes but three.
The US closed 19 of it's embassies across countries in the Middle East and North Africa over a “terror threat”, which was intercepted by the CIA, between Al- Qaeda’s head Ayman Al-Zawahri and Nasir Al-Wuhayshi, the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) head in Yemen. The US also issued a warning to it's citizens to leave the country and flew its embassy staff to Germany. The UK, France and Germany followed suit, closing their embassies in Yemen and issuing terror warnings to their nationals to leave the country.
A few days before Eid, on August 5, Sanaa residents were awoken to the buzzing sound of what they suspected to be a US drone which was  later identified as a surveillance plane hovering over the skies of the capital, terrifying its residents.
Photo of the US surveillance plane mistaken for a US Drone circling over the capital Sana'a. (by Yemeni photographer: Hafez Aljbahi
Activist and Sanaa resident Osamah Alfakih also tweeted:
1st time to feel real feelings of people in targeted areas by #drones. I'm still watching and hearing a #drone hovering in #Sanaa #Yemen #US
— Osamah Alfakih (@osamahfakih) August 6, 2013
Conflicting news of what's hovering over #Sanaa is a #drone or Navy P-3 surveillance aircraft #Yemen #US Anyway,it's scary enough for ppl!
— Osamah Alfakih (@osamahfakih) August 6, 2013
A video of the US plane which was circling the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, for days was uploaded to YouTube via YouthStandYEMEN:
A few days later, on August 8th, the first day of Eid three drone strikes were reported, two in Hadhramout and one in Mareb, killing 12, often referred to by media headlines as “suspected militants” without knowing their identities.
Other Yemenis such as Ahmed Khaled complained of the terror caused by the US drones:
Looks that eid in #yemen well be with #Drones instead of fireworks !!!
— ahmed khaled (@a7khaled) August 7, 2013
Yemeni/American Journalist Hakim Almasmari, editor-in-chief of the Yemen Post, tweeted:
Raining drones in Yemen!!!! Thank you for his Eid gift President @BarackObama. At least 11 killed in three drone strikes today. #Yemen
— Hakim Almasmari (@HakimAlmasmari) August 8, 2013
Independent journalist Rania Khalik tweeted:
I'm beginning to think the U.S. told its citizens to leave Yemen in order to bomb the crap out of it w/out worrying about killing Americans.
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) August 8, 2013
She questioned the “terror threat” adding a link to her blog:
There were 3 U.S. drone strikes in Yemen today. If that's not terrorism, I dunno what is. http://t.co/U8KYQyBv1e
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) August 9, 2013
Yemeni/American activist Rooj Alwazir tweeted in dismay:
#AQAP terror plot hype = psychological warfare. Wasn't there always “imminent threat” isnt that y how we justified our #drone program?
— Rooj (@Rooj129) August 7, 2013
She added:
Another #drone strike in #Yemen. 3rd strike in 3 days, 6th in 10 days. “bodies were seen lying charred alongside their vehicle” #HappyEid?
— Rooj (@Rooj129) August 8, 2013
Yemeni journalist Khaled Al-Hammadi tweeted:
#Yemen celeberated #Eid_Alfitr under #US drones in #Sanaa #Mareb #Shabwa & #Hadhramout, it is Eid mixed with US flavor of drone panic
— Khaled al-Hammadi (@KhaledHammadi) August 8, 2013
#Yemen death toll : At least 36 killed in 10 days by US drone strikes. One bloody Eid.
— Haykal Bafana (@BaFana3) August 10, 2013
Yemeni Blogger @Afrahnasser posted [graphic] video and stills images of recent US drone strikes in Yemen in her blog post
Palestinian/American Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin also tweeted:
In #Yemen, as people celebrated #Eid this year, American surveillance and armed #Drones flew above the country, striking & killing dozens.
— Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (@ASE) August 11, 2013
Imagine the US were to be bombed during Christmas… that is what is happening in Yemen during #Eid. http://t.co/pWbmWQtiLd #Yemen #Drones
— Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (@ASE) August 11, 2013
He added:
The US droned the shit out of Yemen. No one talks about it here. But everyone is talking about it in #Yemen http://t.co/Rqn7d0TV0G
— Ahmed Shihab-Eldin (@ASE) August 11, 2013
Yemeni activist and journalist Farea Al-Muslimi summed up the fear experienced by Yemenis over Eid in the title of his article in the IndependentThe innocents caught under the drones: For fearful Yemenis the US and al-Qa'ida look very similar:
He wrote:
The US is running to drones every time its counter-terrorism efforts fail. On each occasion the public rage against al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula grows and its image is tarnished, and the US – via drone strikes – restores it again. In its recent actions, the US has become al-Qa'ida's public relations officer.
Almuslimi also tweeted a word of advice to journalists:
to journalists, forget abt mentioning the # of #US #drones on #Yemen this week. the number wl increase before u finish even ur first draft
— Farea Al-muslimi (@almuslimi) August 10, 2013
Haykel Bafana3 also urged reporters to do some investigative journalism before relaying any information regarding those kiiled by strikes:
Reporters, do Yemen a huge favour : when “Yemeni officials” claim a US drone strike killed “AQ militants”, ask them : “How do you know?”
— Haykal Bafana (@BaFana3) August 8, 2013
Gregory D.Johnson author of the book “The Last Refuge: Yemen al-Qaeda and America's War in Arabia” tweeted an important fact:
In 3.5 years US has killed somewhere between 630 – 1230 people in Yemen – close to what it estimated was total number of people in AQAP.
— GregorydJohnsen (@gregorydjohnsen) August 13, 2013
The debate regarding U.S. drone strikes in Yemen has been wether they are effective or if they were creating more enemies was a topic discussed in this SupportYemen video:
A missing voice is in the discussion about drones has been that of families of drone victims which was addressed in this BBC report by correspondent Yalda Hakim: Why drone attacks in Yemen are like ‘trying to hit a ghost’
Researcher Atiaf Alwazir also advised:
Dont focus only on “#drones“. it's about extrajudicial killings & reforming counter-terrorism policies to effectively address issue #Yemen
— Atiaf Alwazir (@WomanfromYemen) August 11, 2013
Video-journalist Benjamin Wiacek tweeted:
Many kids and parents in the streets today explained how they were afraid to go out and play for 2 days b/c of #drones over #Sanaa ! #Yemen
— Benjamin Wiacek (@Nefermaat) August 11, 2013
CNN correspondent Mohammed Jamjoum tweeted:
Eid in #Yemen overshadowed by U.S. drones-activists say drone strikes during Eid only fuels anti American sentiment http://t.co/h6p4e6MxXX
— Mohammed Jamjoom (@JamjoomCNN) August 13, 2013
On Sunday August 11th, 18 of the 19 US embassies re-opened except the one in  Yemen.
Since July 27th, till today August 13 the day of writing this post, Yemen has been hit by 10 US drone strikes in different parts of the country (Abyan, Mareb, Hadgramout, Lahj, Shabwa) killing 40 unidentified alleged “militants”.
Yemenis condemn Al-Qaeda's activities and want Yemen to be safe but are enraged by the surge of US drone strikes in Yemen, as they are with President Hadi for approving them and by the government's silence towards the extra-judicial killing of Yemenis based on a US “Kill List“. Most of the so-called “suspected militants” killed are not identified nor are the numbers of civilians killed acknowledged. Both governments are not accountable for their deaths nor for compensating their families for their loss. In summary what was hyped as an Al-Qaeda “terror threat” on the US turned to be a “terror reality” in Yemen by the US, experienced by many Yemenis over Eid.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Noon Arabia


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Brazil’s Urban Mobility Crisis · Global Voices
Luciane Salles

[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages, except where otherwise stated]
The recent protests relating to the quality of public services and the hike in public transport fares, which brought thousands of people onto the streets of Brazil, placed the theme of urban mobility at the top of the political agenda and revealed a likely crisis in the sector.
Professor of Public Transport at the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), Dr. Jaime Waisman, reflects:
Essa crise existe e há bastante tempo. Cidades de menor porte estão aumentando progressivamente esses deslocamentos e isso reflete numa queda da mobilidade urbana. De acordo com Waisman, um transporte público caro e de má qualidade gera um processo de exclusão social, cujo reflexo recai sobre a lentidão das cidades deixando-as menos interessantes para investimentos por causa da redução progressiva da mobilidade.
“This crisis has existed for a long time. Smaller cities are progressively adding to these problems and this is reflected in the deterioration of urban mobility.” According to Waisman, public transport, which is expensive and of poor quality, leads to a process of social exclusion, which has knock-on effects on the development of the cities, leaving them less attractive for investments due to the progressive reduction of mobility.
The disregard for the law may be observed in the fact that only 15 of the more than 5,000 Brazilian municipalities have completed the projects set out in the National Policy on Urban Mobility (12.587/12), implemented in January 2012, which stipulates that by 2015, cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants must draw up a mobility plan. The organisation Greenpeace is leading an online campaign to monitor the cities which are preparing their mobility plans.
Traffic in the Anhangabaú tunnel, São Paulo, photo by Ze Carlos Barretta, from Flickr under Creative Commons license, taken 5 July 2012.
The investment policy of the government on automobile ownership has caused socio-environmental and economic damage to the population. In April 2013, the Department for Transport (Denatran) registered 77.8 million new vehicles in Brazil, including cars, lorries, buses, trailers and motorcycles. In 2011, it was 70.5 million. The increase in the national fleet is reflected in the quality of life of the population. Research by the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that about 30 percent of the residents of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, the largest in Brazil, suffer from mental disorders resulting from the accelerated pace of life in the city and the stress caused by traffic.
A report by researcher and professor of urban studies Juciano Martins Rodrigues, published in September 2012, says that “in addition to the increase in the number of vehicles, and consequently the increase of traffic jams and travel time in the cities, another side of the mobility crisis concerns the efficiency, safety and management of public transportation:
E nesse sentido o Brasil também vai mal. (…) O principal problema é a ineficiência da gestão pública na área da mobilidade urbana, devido sobretudo à falta de transparência, clareza em termos de aplicação de recursos e respeito à população que paga tributos, porém não recebe serviços seguros e eficientes de transporte.
And in this sense too, Brazil is going wrong. (…) The primary problem is the inefficiency of public administration in the area of urban mobility, mainly due to a lack of transparency, of clarity in terms of the allocation of resources, and of respect for the population, who pay taxes yet do not receive safe and efficient transport services.
Professor of the Institute of Economics of Unicamp, a public university in São Paulo state, Dr. Eduardo Fagnani claims:
O problema é que nunca tivemos uma política nacional com gestão de transporte público compartilhada, entre os três níveis de governo nos últimos 60 anos. Essa questão precisa ser enfrentada.
The problem is that we have not had a national policy of public transport management in the last 60 years at three levels of government. This issue needs to be addressed.
SP metro: “Overcrowding, constant faults, especially at peak times. A state (mis)government which neither invests, nor seeks solutions to the problems of the people.” Photo by Kazzttor, from Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.
Information from the federal government shows the release [en] of 50 billion reais [22 billion US dollars/14 billion British pounds] of investment in the sector as a response to appeals from the public. Half of the funds have already been requested by three of the 26 Brazilian states. The applications for urban mobility infrastructure from the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia alone totaled 25 billion reais [11 billion US dollars/7 billion British pounds].
In an article entitled “Urban mobility moves trillions of US dollars around and provides fertile ground for corruption around the world”, environmentalist and consultant at Mobilidade Sustentável (Sustainable Mobility) Lincoln Paiva calls attention to the fact that “evidence of corruption involving the establishment of transport systems in Brazil” occasionally emerges:
(…) muitos deles acabam se confirmando, alguns são arquivados  por falta de provas, outros  resultam  na paralisação da construção da obra, com prejuízo direto para a população. No entanto, o que se observa é que não há punição para os envolvidos, empresas continuam fazendo negócios com os governos ou em PPP’s (parceria-público-privada) e pessoas  seguem por aí trabalhando em governos, nas empresas ou em consultorias privadas.
(…) many of the cases do end up being proven, some are shelved due to lack of evidence, others result in the shutdown of construction work, with direct losses for the population. However, what one observes is that there is no retribution for those involved; the companies continue to do business with the [federal] governments or in PPPs (public-private partnerships) and the people end up working in governments, businesses or in private consultancies.
While Brazil deals with the lack of urban mobility planning and plods along with a law which was not incorporated by the majority of the cities, the mobility solutions adopted by the big European and American urban centres include investing in metro lines, increased congestion charges [en] in the city centres to raise funds for the improvement of public transport, and expansion of cycle paths and bus lanes.
In the blog Planeta Sustentável (Sustainable Planet), Mariana Viktor identifies a set of measures which can help to improve urban mobility. Among them are the safe sharing of lanes between buses and cyclists and the integration of bicycle transport with other forms; participation in the design of city mobility plans; carpooling and walking for health benefits; and, finally, seeking to work more at home.
Hoping for investments, some activists are beginning to ‘humanise’ the big metropoles by encouraging the use of bicycles.
A documentary produced by the movement Vá de Bike (Go by Bike) demonstrates the relationship between cyclists and São Paulo. The documentary Pé no Pedal (Foot on the Pedal) features a few groups dedicated to cycling in the city and interviews cicloactivists, the Mayor and others. One of the interviewees, Aline Cavalcante, who shares, in the documentary, a “passionate statement on how it all started and why the bicycle makes/made her feel an important part of the city”, concludes:
Sem dúvida ouvir boas histórias de revoluções pessoais muda bastante a maneira como passamos a enxergar a bicicleta e o ciclista.
Watch Pé no Pedal:

author: Luciane Salles


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Celebrating The Indigenous Past Of Northeast India · Global Voices
Rezwan

In Search of Greener Pastures blog revisits the indigenous past of Northeast India by sharing some rare photographs.

author: Rezwan


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Conflicting Casualty Reports as Muslim Brotherhood Sit-ins Dispersed in Egypt · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian forces are now dispersing two sit-ins in Cairo, with conflicting reports on casualties. The action is unfolding live on television. Netizens weigh in.
Both sit-ins are for the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, whose one-year reign was cut short on July 3, following massive protests calling for him to resign and for early elections.
For weeks, Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been camping in Rabaa Al Adawiya, in Nasr City, and in Al Nahda Square, near Cairo University, calling for the return to “legitimacy” or reinstating Morsi as the legally elected president of Egypt.
This morning's break up of the protests, following weeks of threats, left Egyptians calling for a cap on blood shed.
Blogger Eman Hashim tweets:
Police and army are still crashing #Rabaa sit in, #Egypt is being cursed by two evil powers fighting each other.
— Eman Hashim (@EmanHashim) August 14, 2013
According to Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad, more than 250 people have been killed so far and over 5,000 have been wounded. He tweets:
250+ confirmed deaths. Drs saying most critical patients will die from their bullet wounds. over 5000 wounded. biggest massacre since #coup
— Gehad El-Haddad (@gelhaddad) August 14, 2013
A screenshot from Al Jazeera Mubasher showing the action in Egypt unfolding live
Others provide different figures:
According to Ahmed El Ansary, deputy head of Emergency Authority: 50 injured and 4 dead in #Rabaa and #Nahda #Egypt
— Ranya Khalifa رانيا (@RanyaKhalifa) August 14, 2013
Mahmoud Faisal sarcastically notes:
الجزيرة : 150 مليون قتيل و 2 مليار مصاب في رابعة وحدها وان قوات الامن المركزي استعانت بباور رينجرز وسلاحف النينجا في عملية الفض #رابعة
— Mahmoud Faisal  (@Mhmod_Faisal) August 14, 2013
Al Jazeera: 150 million killed and 2 billion injured in Rabaa alone and the Central Security Forces are getting help from the Power Rangers and the Ninja Turtles in dispersing the Rabaa protesters
Egyptian blogger Mahmoud Salem sums up a common sentiment regarding the conflicting reports:
Nahda sit in is cleared, Rabaa is ongoing, conflicting reports of the dead on both sides. Battle of narrative. I believe no one.
— السيد مانكي (@Sandmonkey) August 14, 2013
And commentator Arabist adds:
Confrontation w/ MB at this point will exacerbate Egypt's pre-existing problems: lawlessness in Sinai, sectarianism (esp. in Upper Egypt)
— arabist (@arabist) August 14, 2013
Elsewhere, there seems to be repurcussions. Mariam Kirollos reports that Copts, Egypt's Christians, are being attacked:
It seems like the Copts in Delga, Minya are being attacked now. #Egypt
— MK مريم (@MariamKirollos) August 14, 2013
Stay tuned for more coverage from Egypt.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Coptic Churches Burnt in Egypt  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Coptic churches and businesses were attacked across Egypt today [August 14] by what was described as Muslim Brotherhood members and their supporters. The sectarian attacks followed the violent evacuation of Pro-Morsi sit-ins in the capital Cairo, in which many Egyptians were killed and injured.
On social media, many suggested that the Muslim Brotherhood has been fanning the flames of sectarianism, pitting Muslim against Christian, resulting in today's unprecedented wide-scale attacks.
The two sit-ins were for the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, whose one-year reign was cut short on July 3, following massive protests calling for him to resign and for early elections.
For weeks, Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been camping in Rabaa Al Adawiya, in Nasr City, and in Al Nahda Square, near Cairo University, calling for the return to “legitimacy” or reinstating Morsi as the legally elected president of Egypt.
Researcher in the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights Ishak Ibrahim tweets [ar]:
#حرق #الكنائس حصيلة الاعتداءات ف9 محافظات: حرق 20 كنيسة ودير واحد و2مبنى خدمات و3 مدارس و3 جمعيات دينية وملجأ أطفال وتكسير ونهب7 كنائس. 10
— ishak ibrahim (@ishakassaad) August 14, 2013
The toll for today's attacks in nine governorates is as follows: 20 churches, one monastery, two service buildings, three schools, three religious societies and one orphanage were burnt and seven churches were attacked and looted
In another tweet, he explains:
استهداف الإخوان وأنصارهم للمحاكم والكنائس ومجالس المدن وأقسام الشرطة يعود بالأساس لعدم إيمانهم بالدولة والوطن
— ishak ibrahim (@ishakassaad) August 14, 2013
The targeting by the Muslim Brotherhood and their supporters of courts, churches, town councils and police stations is due basically to their disbelief in the state
The Big Pharaoh tweets:
Till now 16 churches were burned, some of them of historical significance. That's unprecedented. Last time happened hundreds of years ago.
— The Big Pharaoh (@TheBigPharaoh) August 14, 2013
He adds:
Majority of churches that were set ablaze are in Upper Egypt, where most Christians are and where MB still has considerable support.
— The Big Pharaoh (@TheBigPharaoh) August 14, 2013
And continues:
I think the magnitude and geographical spread of the attacks on Christians didn't happen before since the mid ages.
— The Big Pharaoh (@TheBigPharaoh) August 14, 2013
Fouad MD shares a photograph of a church in Sohag which was burnt today:
A photo of the beautiful historic church burned in #Sohag #Egypt today by pro-Morsy supporters pic.twitter.com/HVdRPGhRb3
— Fouad, MD (@FouadMD) August 14, 2013
Activist Dalia Ziada links the attacks on the churches to the evacuation of Pro-Morsi supporters. She writes:
Reports from Upper Egypt: Islamists launching massive attacks on churches in reaction to evacuating strikes of #MuslimBrotherhood #Egypt
— daliaziada (@daliaziada) August 14, 2013
Firas Al Atraqchi explains:
The attacks on Coptic institutions in #Egypt betrays the understanding that an Islamist government can never be inclusive. Or tolerant.
— Firas Al-Atraqchi (@Firas_Atraqchi) August 14, 2013
And Leil_Zahra Mortada notes:
You can be against #MB, and still denounce the massacre of the army and #MOI, and be against the sectarian crimes against the #Copts. #Egypt
— Leil-Zahra Mortada (@LeilZahra) August 14, 2013
In addition to churches, Coptic business interests were also attacked today. Schehtazade says:
In #Luxor, it sounds like Morsi supporters are targeting Coptic shops, hotels & people. Copt owned Horus hotel next door to ours got burnt.
— الإِسْكَنْدَرَانَيّة (@_Schehrazade_) August 14, 2013
And homes too were destroyed as Marian Kirollos explains:
My source in Delga says that 10s of Coptic houses were torched while the police remain absent.
— MK مريم (@MariamKirollos) August 14, 2013
With all the death and destruction, today remains a black day in Egypt's history. Yossra Farghaly sums up this sentiment with remorse:
I'm sorry for ever being a part of jan25….that deteriorated to reach the point we're living in right now. I'm sorry for being an Egyptian.
— Yossra Farghaly (@YossraFarghaly) August 14, 2013
On Facebook, Watani Weekly Newspaper shares a list of churches attacked in Egypt so far.


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Egypt: “I Literally Felt a Bullet Pass Over my Shoulder”  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egyptian photojournalist Mosa'ab Elshamy was shot at, had a bullet fly over his shoulder, and had his equipment stolen as he ventured into Rabaa Al Adawiya, where a pro-Morsi sit-in was violently dispersed in Cairo, Egypt, today.
He tweets his experience in a series of tweets, which give us a sneak preview of what it was like at the evacuation of the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in Nasr City this morning.
Getting to the Rabaa sit-in was the easy part:
More black smoke rising from Rabaa. Can be practically seen from almost anywhere in Nasr City pic.twitter.com/jz35WHLQ9o
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
There, he first dealt with teargas:
Finally made it into Rabaa. Tear gas unbearable.
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
The horror he saw, he captured in a gallery of photographs, he shares on flickr. [Warning: Some pictures, particularly of the corpses in the morgue, are graphic]
The scene at Rabaa's frontline resembles a warzone. Clashes ongoing for six hours now. pic.twitter.com/zVeaKs76GG
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
ElShamy has a close brush with snipers:
Worst part is not knowing where the shooting is coming from. You crouch next to the nearest thing and hope for the best..
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
But he remains put, clicking away, as the clashes intensify:
Rabaa clashes intensifying.. pic.twitter.com/atzf0rm40r
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
A bullet flies over his shoulder. He tweets:
Literally felt a bullet pass over my shoulder. Heard a buzz similar to that of a gigantic mosquito traveling at the speed of light. Eerie.
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
With that, and the pellets of shotgun in his back, Elshamy decides to call it a day:
That, along with the three pellets I sustained in the back, was my cue to leave.
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
But that was not the end of it.
On my way out of Rabaa I was confronted by a resident vigilant mob which stole my equipment. Luckily I had kept the SD card in my socks.
— Mosa'ab Elshamy (@mosaaberizing) August 14, 2013
Don't miss out ElShamy's photographs from today's clashes on his flickr account here.


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Journalists Covering Egypt Shot At, Arrested and Threatened  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Journalists in Egypt are in the line of fire as government forces disperse Muslim Brotherhood protesters in Cairo today.
Two sit-ins for the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, whose one-year reign was cut short on July 3, following massive protests calling for him to resign and for early elections, are being dispersed by force, with conflicting reports on casualties and deaths.
For weeks, Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been camping in Rabaa Al Adawiya, in Nasr City, and in Al Nahda Square, near Cairo University, calling for the return to “legitimacy” or reinstating Morsi as the legally elected president of Egypt.
Reuters Cairo reporter Tom Finn attempts to enter Rabaa Al Adawiya to check out the situation. Soon, he tweets:
Getting arrested
— tom finn (@tomfinn2) August 14, 2013
And he adds:
With two photographers, soldiers have taken their cameras and deleting all their photos.
— tom finn (@tomfinn2) August 14, 2013
Soldiers are speaking calmly, saying we our doing job, fighting terrorists and serving our country.
— tom finn (@tomfinn2) August 14, 2013
They let us go.
— tom finn (@tomfinn2) August 14, 2013
Bel Trew, who is also in the Rabaa vicinity, tweets:
Helicopters are circling, there is gunfire coming from all side streets. Heard press are trapped and being shot at.
— Bel Trew – بل ترو (@Beltrew) August 14, 2013
Soon, she too is part of the action:
We just got shot at by birdshot trying to get into the Rabaa sit-in, crouching behind car #Egypt
— Bel Trew – بل ترو (@Beltrew) August 14, 2013
She adds:
We got shot at by birdshot, @leloveluck and @alastair_beach got hit lightly (and are fine), I escaped the perils of the pellets. Jammy.
— Bel Trew – بل ترو (@Beltrew) August 14, 2013
The Washington Post's reporter Abigail Hauslohner doesn't fare better. She explains:
Police fire tear gas into spectators and press they r firing live ammo at us. We r tapped
— Abigail Hauslohner (@ahauslohner) August 14, 2013
She was also threatened by a police officer:
Police officer who told me earlier I was "provoking" him by writing in my notebook now says: "if I see u again I will shoot you in the leg"
— Abigail Hauslohner (@ahauslohner) August 14, 2013
In a more alarming tweet, she adds:
My iPhone about to die. Mohamed Soltan frm anti coup alliance just told AJE he saw cameraman shot as he set up live feed. #rabaa
— Abigail Hauslohner (@ahauslohner) August 14, 2013
Cairo Wire journalist Samer Al Atrush had a close encounter:
Em Im moving. Guy was just shot 10 metres away from me
— Samer Al-Atrush  (@SameralAtrush) August 14, 2013
Stay tuned for more coverage from Egypt.


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South Korean Textbooks Started to Include Multicultural Families · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Although South Korea is rapidly turning into a multi-ethnic society, changes in the public notion or institutional preparations still lag behind. The Grand Narrative blog posted on how one Korean elementary textbook addresses multicultural families, along with links displaying how Koreans, who have been taught in school that they are “ethnically homogeneous”, respond to this new reality.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Tempers Flare at Kyrgyzstan’s Favorite Lake · Global Voices
Aliaskar Adylov

Tensions on the shores of Kyrgyzstan's flagship holiday destination, Lake Issyk-Kul, are eating away at one of the republic's main income streams – tourism.
While Lake Issyk-Kul is undoubtedly a national treasure, it holds a special significance for residents of Issyk-Kul region, the administrative division that surrounds the lake, representing both a source of heritage and income during tourist season. This season, on August 7, about one hundred locals invaded [ru] a stretch of beach controlled by the “Raduga” holiday complex, breaking through barriers erected by resort owners to prevent them trading beer, dried fish and other goods with the hotel clients. While the conflict was rapidly solved, the incident resonated strongly with local internet uesers, mostly residents of the capital Bishkek, who blame local squabbles for the worst tourist season since the country experienced a coup and ethnic violence in 2010.
The barrier-breakers pointed to an official law, which says [ru] that Issyk-Kul's entire coast line is the property of the state, meaning that all should have equal access to it. Elite resorts such as Raduga and Karven, who attract many of their clientele from Russia and Kazakhstan, barricade their sections of the beach and demand 200 soms ($4.20) from non-guests for entry. For local traders, this presents a problem. As a result, a crowd of villagers took matters into their own hands [ru], crashing through the barrier and demanding free access to the beach.
The picture taken by user @Weltkind_7 and posted on twitter with the words “The “myrks” (the word used with humiliation to describe uneducated rural citizens) ran from ‘Raduga’ to ‘Karven’.”
The next day at a round table to resolve tensions local government officials supported [ru] local rights to access, contrarily adding that the resort owners had the right to pursue investigations against the people that broke through the barrier.
The fact that many of the Raduga hotels’ guests – mostly from Kyrgyzstan's richer and more stable neighbour, Kazakhstan – cut their stay short straight after the incident has left a sour taste in the mouth. Two days before the incident, on August 5, regional news outlet Eurasianet reported a sharp decline [ru] in tourist revenues for the first half of the season, and interviewed the owner of a smaller hotel who said other holidaymakers had refused to come to the country in the wake of separate protests taking place not far from the lake. On August 3, a local official from the resort town of Bosteri was shot [ru] in circumstances that remain unclear, while riots near a major gold mine near the lake back in June put [GV] foreign tourists on red alert.
Kyrgyzstan, more pluralistic than its immediate neighbors, is famous for its “protest culture” most recently described by a BBC report. The republic saw over 1,000 protests in 2012 alone.
Issyk-Kul on a calm summer day. Photo by Kirstin Styers
But the country's noisy participatory democracy, which has witnessed the rise of a paid protest industry since first President Askar Akayev was ousted in 2005, concerns local businesses. Because of this, netizens don't always take the protesters’ side in their scuffles with investors and the police.
Данияр (Daniyar) registered [ru] an opinion shared by many when joining a heated discussion on the Vecherni Bishkek news website:
Одни из нормальных мест на ИК, потому как там нет местных, а местные – в основном гадят там вот и все, для них там есть другие пляжи пускай ходят туда.
[Raduga and Karven resorts] are the best places in Issyk-Kul, precisely because there are no locals there. Local residents, in general, spoil everything; there are other places to go – they should go there.
Назгуль (Nazgul) countered [ru]:
Закон есть Закон, надо исполнять. По Закону КР береговые зоны озера ИК должны быть в открытом доступе. У нас Законы только на бумаге, или меняйте этот Закон или убирайте ограждения.
But the law is the law, and must be followed. According to the Law of the [republic], Issyk Kul's coastline must remain open. Our laws are only written on paper [but not implemented in reality]. Either [you] change the law or take down the barriers.
Gulya criticized [ru] the government:
Идиоты. В первую очередь наше идиотское государство. Не обеспечивая ничего из того, зачем оно создано , умеет только иметь своих сограждан. Вот низы и отражают как зеркало , происходящее в высших слоях.
The main idiots – our idiotic government. It doesn't do anything it ought to do, and only steals from its people. This is why the lowest [socio-economic] group [behaves like this] reflecting the things that are happening in the political elite.
Anel lamented [ru]:
Да вообще ужас, я работаю в туристической фирме, и так из-за нашей постоянной политической нестабильности поток туристов сокращается с каждым годом. Вообщем сами себе делаем плохо, лучше бы работать шли чем нахаляву что-то урвать. Один сезон только в году, когда заработать можно, то и не дают.
This is awful! I am working for a tourist firm [and know] that because of our eternal political instability there are fewer tourists every year. We harm ourselves. We should work instead of waiting for a chance to get something for free. There is only one [short season of two months] a year to make money [at the lake], and [conflicts] don't allow anyone to do it.
While Mnenie appealed for calm[ru]:
Во первых наши соседи казахи и не такое видали (и никуда не валили и не свалят), во вторых, Алаколь, не может составить конкуренцию Иссык-Кулю, в третьих, это все спланированная акция против ПКР… мол турсезон провален. Осталось тока Правительство обвинить за плохую погоду за те 2 месяца лета. Предлагаю всем нам успокоиться и не вводить в истерику население и туристов!
First of all, our neighbors from Kazakhstan will not go away (they have seen worse than this); secondly [nothing Kazakhstan has] can compete with Issyk-Kul; thirdly, this is clearly a planned campaign against the government of Kyrgyzstan [by the opposition] … to show that the tourist season is destroyed. Now all that needs to happen is for the government to be accused of making bad weather. I suggest calming down and not scaring the tourists and the population as a whole.
And Вика Моссква (Vika Moscow) suggested there was a hidden hand in the Raduga invasion:
рядом Кулушкан и энергетик никто там ведь заборы не ломал-в гадюшнике никто ничего захватывать не хотел-это происки конкурентов или провокации
There are [smaller, poorer] resorts [near Raduga] but no one broke the fences there – no one wants to invade these “dirty barns” – [the incident at “Raduga”] is a provocation carried out by [Raduga's] competitors.
Tourists jump off a rickety pier. Photo by Kate Sampsell-Willmann.
N.B On a more positive note, local artists Nurlan Bangor and Saltanat Ashirova have recently released a pop tune with a decent video dedicated [ru] to Lake Issyk-Kul. Watch and enjoy.

author: Aliaskar Adylov


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UK Press Coverage of Zanzibar Acid Attack Risks Inflaming Religious Tensions  · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The UK press coverage of the acid attack on two British teens, Kirstie Trup and Katie Gee, both aged 18, is misleading and risks inflaming religious tensions in Tanzania, says Ben Taylor, who blogs about development, politics, the media and Tanzania.
Currently, there are simmering political and religious tensions in Zanzibar. Early this year, a Catholic priest was shot dead and a church set on fire during the Sounds of Wisdom festival, which promotes religious tolerance. Political tensions on the Island mainly revolve around the issues of the Union between Tanganyika (Mainland Tanzania) and Zanzibar. Some people want the Union to be dissolved.
The two teens were attacked in Zanzibar on August 7, 2013, while they were on a volunteering holiday. It is not yet clear if the attack is connected to political and religious tensions on the island.
Ben Taylor's criticism of the UK press centres on reports of the shooting and arrest of radical cleric Sheikh Issa Ponda. Sheikh Ponda, the Secretary of the Council of Islamic Organisation, was injured by a tear gas canister while running away from the police. He is currently at the main hospital in Tanzania, Muhimbili, in Dar Es Salaam.
Almost all leading UK media houses, including The Sun, the Mirror, The Times, Sky News, and The Telegraph, have connected his arrest to the attack on the two teens.
However, a press statement [sw] from the Tanzanian police says that Sheikh Ponda was arrested for inciting violence in his fiery speeches.
A screen shot of Mail Online on Ben Taylor's post.
Taylor begins his post by criticising the UK press and giving credit to the Tanzanian press:
The UK media is unsurprisingly following up closely on the story of the two teenage British girls who suffered a horrific attack in Stone Town, Zanzibar. But in their haste to get a good story, and in a situation where the known facts are few, they are making some serious errors.
Yesterday, according to some reports in the Tanzanian media, Sheikh Ponda, a radical Zanzibari cleric, was shot and injured in the town of Morogoro. Some are saying it was the police who shot him, some that unsuccessful attempts were made by the police to arrest him. Other media outlets dispute these “facts”, claiming that he is now in hospital. Overall, and to their credit, the Tanzanian press appears to be responding to uncertainty with caution: being noticeably transparent about facts that are unclear.
What’s more, none (that I have seen) has linked Sheikh Ponda or this reported shooting / attempted arrest to the Zanzibar acid attack.
But look at how the UK media has covered the same story.
He goes on to identify significant errors in the UK press coverage and concludes that:
If I am right, this is pretty disgraceful on the part of the UK press. First, it misleads the families of these two girls by suggesting that progress is being made in tracking down their attackers. Second, and more worryingly, it risks inflaming religious tensions in Tanzania further, on the flimsiest of evidence.
I have seen no evidence that this attack was religiously or politically motivated, and none that it was connected to Sheikh Ponda [an extremist cleric]. It may be that it was, but equally, it may be that it was motivated by something else entirely. Much of the UK press seems to have decided the matter for itself already. They’re not letting the (absence of) facts get in the way of a good story, irrespective of the damage it might do.
He notes that the Director of Public Prosecutions in Tanzania called for Sheikh Ponda's arrest for reasons apparently unrelated to the acid attacks. The DPP said that Ponda disobeyed a lawful court order.
A market stall in Stone Town, Zanzibar, which is one of the most popular sites for tourists. Photo released under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) by Wikipedia user Esculapio.
Taylor posted an update in the same post the following day August 12, 2013:
The Mirror and Mail have substantially and significantly revised their stories, both posted at the same URL web address as the stories I linked to yesterday. In other words, the previous stories are no longer available.
In the update, he notes that the Mirror withdrew all suggestion that Sheikh Ponda is wanted in connection with the acid attack while the Mail did the same but went as far as to suggest a second possible motive for the attack.
He writes:
Times and Telegraph (twice) have posted new articles that repeat the claim that Ponda is wanted in connection with the attack.
And finally, the Guardian has come in on the story. Their star media commentator, Roy Greenslade, cites this blogpost in questioning whether other UK media may have got it wrong.
A Kenya-based correspondent covering East, West and Central Africa for The Daily Telegraph and East Africa for the Christian Science Monitor, Mike Pflanz (@MikePflanz) spoke to Sheikh Ponda in hospital. He refuted the allegations of inspiring the attack:
Sheikh Issa Ponda, wanted for questioning re #Zanzibar #acidattack tells me from his hospital bed he did not inspire attack. Story soon
— Mike Pflanz (@MikePflanz) August 12, 2013
One of the two teenagers injured in the attack, Kirstie Trup, has been discharged from hospital. Both will require skin grafts to repair the damage.
Jaf Shah, the executive director of Acid Survivors Trust International is quoted by the New York Times saying that the acid attack appears to be the first such assault on a Western tourist or aid worker in Zanzibar.
According to the Acid Survivors Trust International, there 1,500 cases recorded around the world every year, although the actual figures might be higher. Women and girls are victims in 75-80% of cases. Of the female victims, about 30% are under 18.
This post was proofread in English by Georgi McCarthy.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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VIDEO: Brazil’s Vinegar Revolt Captured in Independent Film ‘Vandalism’  · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

This post is part of our special coverage on Brazil’s Vinegar Revolt
[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages, except when otherwise noted.]
Among the people marching on the streets of Fortaleza, Brazil to protest the government recently, there was a small group of four journalists, from Coletivo Nigéria (Nigeria Collective), with cameras in hand ready to document everything. The result of this work became an independent film called “Vandalism”.
The crisis of credibility faced by traditional Brazilian press with the protesters has provoked a narrative change, forcing the mass media to open up some space to the “mass of medias” emerging from the streets. Together with the live broadcasting by Midia Ninja, a group of independent journalists [en], videos recorded during the protests turned out to be the official language of the protests, from north to south of the country. Though few of them were capable of summarizing the essence of the national revolt as “Vandalism” has done.
Through low-edited images and long sequences, the film criticizes the traditional media's framing of the protesters as pacifists versus vandals and shows the other side of the protests, discussing the causes before the consequences. The challenge posed by the filmmakers since the first scene is: “What is the motivation for civil disobedience?”
“Vandalism” movie poster, on Coletivo Nigeria's Facebook page.
In spite of showing only facts that took place in Fortaleza, Ceara between the months of June and July, 2013, the film serves as a wider panorama on what happened throughout the entire country. The documentary follows the demonstrations’ evolution in the northeastern city, from the beginning when students took the streets to protest the delay on the delivery of their student cards, and continues on as it soon evolved into bigger claims such as public health, education and politics. As it has happened in other states, the more people gathered on the streets, more divided and confused the protests and their motivations became.
While the press and the police cry vandals, the filmmakers show the opposite side against the backdrop of the protesters’ cry: “The vandal is the state”. In the movie, this counterpoint helps to create awareness for subjects such as the land expropriations in favor of the World Cup construction and the violence practiced by the military police, among others.
Agencia Publica, an independent investigative journalism agency [en] who has worked with Nigeria, rated the film as:
Um relato/reflexão realizado no calor da hora, em que a cronologia dos fatos, a variedade de ângulos e de entrevistados, e a sobriedade dos jornalistas, contribuem para criar um panorama completo das manifestações em Fortaleza, revelador para os que buscam compreender quem é e o que deseja essa juventude que está nas ruas das capitais brasileiras.
Watch “Vandalism” with English subtitles here:

author: Fernanda Canofre


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VIDEO: Shop at the ‘Barrio’ in Asunción, Paraguay · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Video ad for small neighborhood market in Asunción, Paraguay. Click on image to visit site with video.
The campaign ‘Volvé al barrio’ (Return to the neighborhood) promotes small businesses in the Loma San Jerónimo neighborhood in Asunción, Paraguay's capital, with video ads where the neighborhood's residents tell viewers about their shops and small businesses.
In the blog Hallucina [es], Global Voices contributor Gabriela Galilea shares three of these videos featuring a barbershop, a small neighborhood market, and a shoe shop.

author: Silvia Viñas


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#YoViajoPara: Why do Latin Americans Travel? · Global Voices
Andrea Arzaba

Latin Americans love to travel. They might travel for fun, for work, or even for love -the reasons are endless.
There are many intrepid travelers in the region, many of them brave enough to explore any terrain or climate.
With the hashtag #YoViajoPara (“I travel to”, or “I travel for”), travelers started an online discussion, sharing the most common reasons why they are passionate about traveling.
Travelers in Oaxaca. Picture by Andrea Arzaba.
Maria Boa (@_mariaboa) [es] from Mexico expressed her passion about learning when going abroad:
#YoViajoPara vivir, soñar, sentir y descubrir mundos, cada viaje es una aventura y con ella una nueva responsabilidad, conocimientos #feliz
— Maria Boa (@_mariaboa) August 5, 2013
I travel to live, dream, feel and discover different worlds, every trip is an adventure and with it a new responsibility, knowledge #happy
Honduran user Queenmarielos (@queenmarielos) [es] wrote that her favourite thing about travelling is discovering different food and drink:
#YoViajoPara comer distintos platillos y beber bebidas locales de distintas ciudades y países — queenmarielos (@queenmarielos) August 5, 2013
I travel to eat different dishes and to drink local beverages from every city and country
Global Voices contributor Julián Ortega Martínez (@julian_ortegam_) [es] from Colombia confessed that he travels to see his loved one:
#Yoviajopara cumplir el sueño de verte a ti — J. O. M. (@julian_ortegam_) August 5, 2013
I travel to fulfill the dream of seeing you
Elizabeth Rivera (@elimaguire) [es], also a Global Voices contributor, wrote about her interest in moving around to discover new places:
#YoViajoPara conectarme con el mundo. Este planeta es demasiado interesante para estar siempre en el mismo lugar.
— Dudette (@elimaguire) August 5, 2013
I travel to connect with the world. This planet is too interesting to stay always in the same place.
Francisco Diaz (@Frank_FDP) [es] from Mexico described his passion for traveling as a unique way to find out how people from other cultures understand the world:
#ViajoPara tratar de entender cómo piensa el mundo.
— Francisco Díaz (@Frank_FDP) August 5, 2013
I travel to try to understand how the world thinks
Brazilian Twitter user Transeunte (@transeunte_bsb) [pt] tweeted about his desire to get out of his comfort zone:
#YoViajoPara cambiar el contexto!
— Transeunte (@transeunte_bsb) August 8, 2013
I travel to change the context!
Mariana (@MEspinozaE) [es] from Mexico said that traveling is the best way to spend her time:
@Lolawm me ha ayudado a expandir mis horizontes, y tirar la caja de pensamiento.. la mejor inversión de tiempo en mi vida #Yoviajopara
— Mariana Espinosa (@M_EspinosaE) August 8, 2013
@Lolawm it has helped me to expand my horizons, and think outside the box.. the best way to spend my time
Chef and Global Voices contributor Melissa DeLeon (@cookingdiva) [es] from Panama wrote that she travels for work, but also to enjoy local food:
desde muy pequeña viajo, ahora #YoViajoPara trabajo y siempre encuentro oportunidad para el placer de conocer la cultura y gastronomía local
— Chef Melissa DeLeon (@cookingdiva) August 5, 2013
I've been traveling since I was very young, today I travel for work but I always find a chance to enjoy leaning about the culture and the local gastronomy
Why do you travel? Share your stories, reasons or thoughts with the hashtag #YoViajoPara.

author: Andrea Arzaba


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Bolivia’s President Morales vs CNN: A Controversial Interview · Global Voices
Pablo Andres Rivero

Bolivia’s president Evo Morales likes to keep his distance from the international television network CNN. President Morales, a left-wing peasant leader who has ruled the country since 2006, has accused CNN of being the “the spokesman of imperialism” in the region.
However, Ismael Cala, a popular TV presenter from the network's Spanish-language channel CNN en Español, somehow managed to arrange an interview with President Morales.
Public opinion was divided after the interview was aired on August 13, 2013.
Initially scheduled for August 8, 2013, the interview was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute. Cala had already arrived at the Presidential Palace in La Paz, Bolivia's capital:
Hace 3 meses mi equipo pautó esa exclusiva con el pres. Morales para 8 de Agosto. Nos confirmaron. Viajamos y dentro en Palacio se canceló.
— Ismael Cala (@CALACNN) August 9, 2013
Three months ago my team arranged an exclusive interview with president Morales for August 8. They confirmed. We travelled there and inside the Palace [the interview] was cancelled.
Later the same day, Cala stated in local media [es] that “in [his] career, [he would] never arrange a meeting with President Evo Morales again”.
His statement provoked a public reaction [es] from President Morales:
“A veces usan nuestro nombre para figurar en los medios de comunicación como ese señor Cala, habría que averiguar de dónde viene y porque se escapó de Cuba […] que actitud tan cobarde la de ese periodista”.
Sometimes they use our name to appear in the media, like Mr Cala has done. We will have to check where he comes from and why he escaped from Cuba. […] That journalist has such a cowardly attitude!
President Morales also explained why the interview was initially cancelled:
“Porque yo he suspendido una entrevista quejándose publicamente, a mi no me pueden obligar a hablar en cualquier medio de comunicación, quiero que sepan compañeros porque suspendí la entrevista, cuando nos entrevistan ese periodista quería editar, entonces cuando editan, direccionan a su antojo”
Complaining publicly because I have cancelled an interview… I cannot be forced to speak in any media outlet. I want you to know why I cancelled the interview: after the interview that journalist wanted to edit us. When they edit, they change the meaning at will.
In spite of the many twists and turns, the interview eventually took place on August 10 and was broadcast on August 13 during the prime time evening show Cala on CNN en Español (the show can be watched in full via this link [es]).
Photo of President Evo Morales and CNN presenter Ismael Cala, shared on Twitter by @CNNEPrensa
National media followed the interview closely and shared fragments during night shows. CNN is only available for cable TV subscribers, which reaches 25% of Bolivian households according to a recent poll. Nevertheless, Bolivian netizens were very active and commented via social media during and after the TV show.
The first part of the interview was very tense, with President Morales visibly irritated and Mr Cala trying to defend himself. As the show went on, the tension decreased and the questions flowed more smoothly towards topics of national interest and non-controversial issues.
Netizens from Latin America were divided in their opinions after the show.
For some, like blogger Esteban Morales, the interview was a wasted opportunity by President Morales to display a different image in the region. He states on his blog [es]:
Más allá del libreto repetitivo del discurso oficial, por el que no nos hemos enterado de absolutamente nada nuevo, hubo algo que me ha llamado poderosamente la atención. Evo estuvo, desde el principio hasta el final de la entrevista, a la defensiva. Pasivo agresivo a ratos, quiso quince minutos después de iniciada la entrevista ganar la posición dominante – demasiado tarde, una entrevista no es como el fútbol, o se gana la mano superior desde el arranque o se está condenado – y, aunque Cala fue muy respetuoso incluso cuando fue insultado por su entrevistado, el Presidente dio la sensación permanente de comportarse como un niño caprichoso, fatigado, impaciente y dispuesto a patear el tablero en cualquier momento. Su lenguaje corporal fue especialmente elocuente: incómodo, cambiando de postura en una silla que parecía muy dura, con señales claras de agotamiento.
Beyond the repetitive script of the official speech, from which we have not learned anything new, there was something that caught my attention. From the beginning to the end of the interview, Evo took a defensive stance. Passive-aggressive at times, he wanted to gain the dominant position fifteen minutes after the interview started- too late, an interview is not like a football match […]- and, although Cala was very respectful even when he was insulted, the President gave the constant feeling of behaving like a petulant child: tired, impatient and ready to step out of the box at any time. His body language was particularly eloquent: uncomfortable, shifting positions in a hard-looking chair, with clear signs of exhaustion.
On the other hand, many blogs such as La Voz de San Joaquin see the interview from a different angle [es]:
La televisora norteamericana CNN en español, bautizada como Cadena Más Mentirosa (CMM), quedó en ridículo en entrevista que le realizó al presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, quien obligó a su interlocutor Ismael Cala a no poder manipularlo, como acostumbra a hacer ese medio de prensa. […]
[Evo Morales] expresó además claramente que la citada televisora siempre ha representado los intereses imperialistas de Washington, no solo en Latinoamérica, sino internacionalmente.
The American broadcaster CNN en Español, baptised as “Most Untruthful Channel”, was ridiculed in the interview with the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, who did not allow his interlocutor Ismael Cala to manipulate the show, as that media outlet tends to do. […]
[Evo Morales] also stated clearly that the TV channel has always represented Washington's imperial interests, not only in Latin America but internationally.
In a rather less militant position, Twitter user Andrei Millán (@AndreiMillan) [es] backs up President Morales:
Interesante entrevista de Cala a Evo Morales, quien actua con mucho recelo contra los medios de comunicacion americanos y con mucha razon
— Andrei V. Millán R. (@AndreiMillan) August 14, 2013
Interesting interview by Cala with Evo Morales, who acts with great suspicion against American media, and rightly so.
Some praise Cala's patience and moderation, while others celebrate Morales’ determination and authority against “imperialist” media.
However, Bolivian journalist Mery Vaca (@meryvaca) [es] argues what could reflect the general perception after the show:
Evo y Cala: Dos egos de ese tamaño no caben en una pantalla tan chica como la de la tv.
— Mery Vaca (@meryvaca) August 9, 2013
Evo and Cala: Two egos of that size will not fit on a screen as small as a TV.
This post was proofread in English by Georgi McCarthy.

author: Pablo Andres Rivero


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Chile Movilizado: Mapping the Student Movement · Global Voices
Periodismo Ciudadano

[All posts lead to pages in Spanish, except where otherwise noted.]
This post, contributed by Elisa Moreno Gili, is the second part in a series on student revolts in Chile. The original post, “Las revueltas de los estudiantes chilenos: Chile Movilizado (2ª parte)” was published in Periodismo Ciudadano.
As mentioned in our first segment on “Chile Movilizado” and student movements in Chile [en], the creation of digital media in this region is now a well-established practice. In September of 2005, citizen journalists from Chile, Peru, and Mexico, among other countries, began to spark a desire among the Chilean populace for communication beyond the traditional means. Inspired by the South Korean medium OhMyNews [en] and driven by former senator Fernando Flores, the Atina Chile movement created El Morrocotudo. This daily news site, still in operation, has had an impact on the creation of other local citizen media sites less influenced by the initial figure of the senator, as seen in the case of Maulee.
In large part, the philosophy of information sources in Chile regarding information management reflects the assimilation of citizen journalism into the population. In PC's recent interview with Pablo Loyola, a co-founder of Chile Movilizado, he underscored the importance of viewing information horizontally, that is, available to everyone to be read and shared. When traditional media sources reprint information originally published by Chile Movilizado, this must be seen as a positive outcome, a reinforcement of the work being carried out by the contributors.
Cuando nosotros vemos que en un diario se publica información que nosotros tenemos en nuestra página como reportes de ellos, sabemos que estamos generando impacto positivo y lo seguimos haciendo
When we see that a newspaper has used information from our page and published it as its own, we know that we're having a positive impact, so we continue doing what we're doing.
Chile Movilizado as a medium came about as the result of protests by Chilean students for reforms in the Ley General de Educación, or General Education Act. A geotracking platform allows for the mapping of higher-education campuses that are currently being occupied by students.
From left to right:  Juan Jose Peters, Pablo Loyola, and Aníbal Vivaceta, co-creators of Chile Movilizado
The protests, which Minister of Education Carolina Schmidt regards as “illegitimate”, have resulted in several student injuries by police forces. Pablo Loyola states that “the police or security forces in Chile have access to a great deal of information; the people who are not so well-informed are the citizens themselves.”  Therein lies the importance of creating citizen media like Chile Movilizado, which give the population access to updated information on a local level.
It's no secret that web-based social movements are playing a key role in the Chilean elections. Members of the political elite, such as current presidential candidate Marcel Claude, take advantage of social networks (in Claude's case, with support from Twitter-based student organizations) to spread their messages. A recent lecture presented by Claude at the Universidad del Mar was promoted on Chile Movilizado as a movement-sponsored event.
Chile Movilizado is working to attain complete coverage of student protests in the future. Its goal is to include information updated on a daily basis as well as coverage of both past and future events in order to create a “handbook” for demonstrators.
Queremos de este año hacer visible todo lo que sucedió en el movimiento estudiantil y para eso tenemos que revisar todo lo que sucedió durante el año y todo lo que va a suceder.
We want to make everything visible that has happened with the student movement during the last year, and to do that we have to review all of the year's events up until now and into the future.

author: Periodismo Ciudadano


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Hong Kong’s Land Expansion ‘Killing’ Local Fishing Industry · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

“Once upon a time, Hong Kong was a fishing village,” goes the standard answer for anyone asking about Hong Kong's history. But the city is still home to a few fishermen who have witnessed the sea around Hong Kong shrink in the past few decades as officials push to expand through land reclamation, or the creation of new land from bodies of water.
Urban Diary, an online magazine in Hong Kong, recently ran an oral history feature called Fishermen's Discourse which reflects on the development of Hong Kong from the perspective of two local fishermen. The Urban Diary oral history project also comes with a short video, directed by Fredie Chan, a local independent documentary filmmaker:
Coordinator of the oral history project, Chloe Lai introduced two fishermen in the feature's foreword:
Big Lai and Yiu Gor have been fishermen for more than half a century and their families have been catching fish in Hong Kong for at least the past three generations. The two men have witnessed and are shouldering the fallout [that] land-hungry development brings to the fishing community.
I learnt from them that the top culprit behind the fast-declining fish stock is reclamation.
Sixty-year-old Big Lai still catches fish everyday. Urban Diary. Used with permission.
Sixty-year-old Big Lai was born in a fisherman's family and has been fishing ever since he learned how to walk. He never went to school but has a lot to tell from his life experience. In the interview with Urban Diary, he lamented:
Hong Kong used to be a fishing village. It seems that our government has forgotten our roots. None of their policies helps the fishing industry; in fact, they are killing us. The obsession with reclamation is especially damaging for marine ecology. Life is tough for fishermen but the rewards are low. The youngest fishermen are in their 40s; we have no new blood. There will be no more fishermen left when those from my generation retire.
Hong Kong home price is the most expensive in the world as a result of strong money flow into the property market from mainland China. As the government considers the city's property bubble as a land supply problem rather than market failure and unequal distribution of resources, the Lands Department identified 25 potential sites in Hong Kong for reclamation in 2012. If the proposal gets through,  the sea will be dead. Big Lai explained the ecological impact of reclamation:
[…] reclamation creates vertical sea walls, which means the elimination of bays. Young fish and other marine creatures need the calm and safe environment of bays to grow up. Bays are essential for the sustainability of marine habitats.
In fact, more than enough environmental destruction has been done since the 1990s, as Chloe Lai pointed out in the interview:
The project to reclaim land for the airport at Chek Lap Kok alone cost over 18 km of natural coastline in the 1990s. Not long after, the Hong Kong Disneyland project reclaimed another 2.8 sq km of land off the coast of Lantau. N Big Lai doesn't go to Lantau to fish anymore.
Land Reclamation in Hong Kong. Photo from Urban Diary. Used with permission.
Unlike Big Lai who still fishes everyday, Yiu Gor had given up the career of fisherman at age 18 and became a sailor and then captain until he retired ten years ago. However, he has never given up catching fish for his own consumption. He bares witness to the decline of the fishing community in Hong Kong:
Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter used to be a self-contained community. “You could buy fried noodles, congee, vegetables, and snakes at the typhoon shelter. Not everyone made their living from fishing. My wife's family sold water in big plastic tubs to other fishermen. There were floating restaurants where boat people held their wedding banquets. The only thing missing was clothes, so we had to go on to the land for new clothes. Some people made their living by selling groceries to big ships that were transiting in Hong Kong. They sailed out to the sea and sold food and electrical appliances to the sailors.”
Yiu Gor still spends most of his time at Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. Urban Diary. Used with permission.
The Hong Kong government has been encouraging fishermen to live on land rather than in the boats since the 1970s and the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter has slowly turned into a parking space for yachts. But some fishermen, like Yiu Gor, still want to stay close to the sea:
Although the government allocated a public rental unit to Yiu Gor and his family at Shau Kei Wan's Yiu Tung Estate in the early 1990s, he still spends most of his time in his five-metre long resting boat (one of 11 boats that he owns with his wife) at Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. He explains: “I like living in the sea. I have friends at the typhoon shelter, the air is fresher and cooler there; I can't breathe on land.”

author: Oiwan Lam


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Iran: New Foreign Minister Has a Facebook Page · Global Voices
Farid

Iran's new foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has a Facebook page where he answers questions. He says “my children and I update this page.” The page has more than 10,000 likes. Facebook is filtered in Iran but used by all presidential candidates.

author: Farid


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Peru: An Encounter with Mario Vargas Llosa · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Peruvian blog Los mil rostros de la ciudad [es] tells about an encounter [es] its blogger had with writer Mario Vargas Llosa on a street in Miraflores, where many of Vargas Llosa's novels take place:
I met Mario Vargas Llosa when Populibros published his book The time of the hero, during a military government.
[…]
So, that morning when he passed along the entrance of my building, greeting everybody with his usual courtesy, I felt the urge to ask him: “was it here?”, as we always believed that where my building stands now was the precise location of the house where he lived in his youth. But I didn't dare to.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Rabaa, Egypt: I Have Seen Patients With Their Heads Blown Out · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Islam Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian doctor who was protesting at Rabaa in Cairo found himself trying to save his fellow protesters as their camp came under brutal siege by Egyptian security forces on August 14, 2013.
He narrated his first-hand horrific account in a public Facebook note:
I have seen patients with their heads blown out and their brain tissue on the floor. I have seen many victims with precise wounds in their head or neck, being shot by snippers.
[…]
Floors became covered with blood and new patients were passing above the ones already on the floors. I worked like a machine and was not believing that I lived to see this happening in my country. I volunteered at Tahrir square field hospital at 2011 but it can not be comparable to the massacre of Rabaa. I could not take any pics or documents for the patients being very busy trying save some lives. Smell of death was everywhere and mu clothes were covered completely with blood.
Security forces initiated a bloody crackdown on August 14 to clear supporters of Egypt's ousted president Mohamed Morsi from sit-in camps in the capital Cairo, where they have been camped for weeks, demanding the Muslim Brotherhood politician's reinstatement. The Egyptian government says 638 people died across the country on August 14, but the final toll could be higher. A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman has said 2,000 people were killed in the “massacre.”
Read more in our Special Coverage Bloodbath in Egypt.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Russian Police: Now Raiding Opposition Activists Without Warrants · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Attacks on Alexey Navalny's mayoral campaign are on the rise. Last week it was questions about the legality of his campaign finance methods [GV]. This week Moscow police forced entry [ru] into a flat used by pro-Navalny activists, cutting down their reinforced door after they refused to let anyone in without a search warrant. The police were apparently called in by Nikolai Levichev, the Just Russia party mayoral candidate, who alleges that the apartment was being used for storage of illegal pro-Navalny campaign materials.
The activists — Oleg Kozyrev [ru], Vasily Drovetskiy [ru], Kirill Andreev and Roman Pereverzev [ru] — were detained and charged [ru] with “failure to comply” with police demands. Two got off with a small fine, while Kozyrev and Drovetskiy were sentenced to 10 days in jail [ru]. Before that, however, they tweeted throughout their ordeal (cutting down the steel door took five hours). Pereverzev, who does not reside at the apartment, wrote:
Зашел в гости @Valerich90, а к нам ломятся сотрудники полиции О_о
— Роман Переверзев (@RomanPomych) August 13, 2013
I came to visit @Valerich90 [Drovetskiy], and now there are police trying to get in O_o
Полиция говорит, что поступил звонок о том, что здесь живут нелегальные мигранты О.о — Роман Переверзев (@RomanPomych) August 13, 2013
The police says that there was a call that there are illegal migrants living here O.o
Drovetskiy, who rents the apartment, was more terse:
Ко мне в гости пришли полицейские. Чтслпрудный бульвар 10. — Дровецкий Василий (@Valerich90) August 13, 2013
We have guests — the police. Chistoprudny boulevard 10.
Some time after the police began to break down the door, the activists decided to finally let them in, but soon found that they couldn't:
По совету адвокатов @Valerich90 решил открыть дверь, а там уже замок поломан. Мы пока остаемся с вами.
— Олег Козловский (@kozlovsky) August 13, 2013
At the advice of lawyers @Valerich90 decided to open the door, but the lock is already broken. We will remain with you for a while.
Выкинули им ключи, так они даже ключами дань открыть не могут. СКОЛЬКО МОЖНО ЭТО ТЕРПЕТЬ?
— Олег Козловский (@kozlovsky) August 13, 2013
We've tossed them the keys [out the window], but they can't even open the door using keys. HOW LONG MUST THIS GO ON?
Meanwhile, Pereverzev, a citizen journalist, began to broadcast a live feed [ru] of the incident on his Ustream.tv [GV] channel:
7000 человек смотрит в прямом эфире, как полиция не может сломать дверь
— Роман Переверзев (@RomanPomych) August 13, 2013
7000 people are watching live how the police can't break down the door
All is quiet on the door front. Activists wait for the police to saw through their reinforced door. YouTube screenshot.
Other citizen journalists, as well as traditional media, were outside, taking photos and blogging the incident [ru]. One of them reported [ru] that, indeed, something seemed amiss with the campaign materials found at the flat:
На зеленых и красный наклейках за Навального, которыми, например, 18-го Госдуму заклеили, все эти надписи есть, мелким шрифтом по кругу: “Изготовлено ООО “Полиграфический комплекс”, 143300, г. Наро-Фоминск ..” и т.д. На наклейках, которые вынес депутат, этого не было.
On the green and red pro-Navalny stickers, which, for example, were pasted on the Parliament on the 18th, there is all this writing, in small type around the sticker: “Made by OOO “Poligraphic complex”, 143300, city of Naro-Fominsk..” and so on. The stickers that the deputy brought out didn't have this.
Another blogger (a man associated with the Just Russia party [ru]), made the same observation [ru].
A Just Russia deputy demonstrates a pro-Navalny sticker found at the activist flat. YouTube screenshot.
Both bloggers were referring to Article 54, Paragraph 3 [ru] of the Moscow Electoral Codex, which states that all print campaign materials must contain information on the publisher, the party that commissioned the printing, the print run, and a statement that the printing was funded through a campaign fund. Article 55, Paragraph 9 [ru] of the same, states that law enforcement is tasked with stopping such instances of illegal campaigning. In this, Moscow's regulations agree with Article 5.12 of the Russian Federal Codex of Administrative Offences [ru], which allows for fines of up to 1,500 rubles for private citizens and up to 100,000 rubles for organizations for mislabeling campaign materials.
Some people, however, disagreed that this law should apply to activists like Drovetskiy and company, who appear to have been acting on their own, and not as a part of the Navalny campaign team. Some of the disagreements were quite vehement [ru]:
Хуй тебе в рыло, хата – не штаб навального, а квартира гражданских активистов, фактически обычных граждан соторнников определенного кандидата, которые имеют право печатать и иным образом делать агит-материалы и не обязаны ничего указывать. Как ты, пизда политологическая, одновременно требуешь не уличать тебя в ангажированности и тут же пиздишь в наглую?)) Вот же ты мразь, недочеловек, как твой левичев
F*ck your stupid face, this crib wasn't Navalny's HQ, it was the apartment of civic activists, basically private citizens who support a specific candidate, who have the right to print or otherwise make campaign materials and don't have to show anything for it. How can you, you political c*nt, simultaneously demand that people not call you prejudiced and then write boldfaced f*cking lies?)) You are scum, a subhuman, like your Levichev
Another blogger also referred [ru] to:
простых граждан, которые посмели по собственной инициативе агитировать за понравившегося им кандидата в мэры Москвы.
simple citizens, who had the audacity to campaign for a Moscow mayoral candidate of their choice, on their own initiative.
The Moscow Electoral Codex isn't particularly clear on whether such “private” campaigning escapes the various regulations faced by official campaigns, but one would think that the issue depends on the sheer scale of such groups, and whether they coordinate with the campaign (a matter that should be familiar to students of US campaign finance and the proliferation of SuperPACs).
N for Navalny. Two Navalny's Brothers activists in “Anonymous” masks leave after pasting campaign materials on the door of a Moscow police department. YouTube screenshot.
Navalny's campaign was quick to disavow [ru] any relations with the group, which calls itself “Navalny's Brothers,” engages in street protest stunts while wearing Guy Fawkes masks, and then posts reports on its activities on a VKontakte page [ru]:
Группа “Братья Навального”, активисты которой были задержаны сегодня, действует полностью независимо от штаба Навального.
The “Navalny's Brothers” group, whose activists were detained today, acts completely independently from Navalny election HQ.
Navalny's press release refers to Federal Law N.67, article 48, paragraph 4, in order to establish the legality of such independent actions. Federal Law N.67 is the law that establishes the rights of Russian voters and the rules of campaigning. The same article and paragraph, with the same language regarding the right of people to privately campaign exists in the Moscow Electoral Codex [ru], and does not negate other articles of the same, i.e. requirements for campaign materials.
The campaign's assertion that the activists in question are completely independent of them is actually a bit thin: one of them, Oleg Kozlovsky, was until recently displayed as a member [img] of the staff [ru] on the campaign website. His photograph appears to have been taken out of rotation (rather then listing all staff members the site shows a random selection of 10, which changes with every page refresh), but is still readily accessible on the website servers [img] if one knows to look. Taking down Kozlovsky's photo seems to be a transparent attempt to disassociate the campaign from Navalny's Brothers, now that they are in trouble.
In addition to Kozlovsky's involvement, the Moscow electoral committee reports [ru] that the mutiple boxes seized by the police contained campaign materials registered with them by Navalny's campaign in accordance to regulations, but with a much larger print-run than declared. On a related note, Navalny's campaign website makes high quality PDF versions of their fliers and stickers available for download (ready for printing) without any of the required information. For example:
One of the stickers downloadable in PDF on navalny.ru. Stickers like this one were found at the activist flat. Screenshot.
These stickers come with a disclaimer [ru], however, which appears to “address” the precise eventuality wherein someone could print campaign materials independently of the campaign.:
Представленные в данном разделе макеты и материалы, публикуются только для ознакомления. Вы можете скачать их на свое переносное устройство (планшет, смартфон и т.п.), чтобы всегда иметь их под рукой. Листовки, наклейки, газету и прочее вы можете взять в нашем штабе.
The plans and materials in this section are published for familiarization purposes only. You can download them to your mobile device (table, smartphone, etc.) to always have them with you. The fliers, stickers, newspapers and the rest you can come get at our HQ.
Regardless of potential culpability of the activists in skirting electoral regulations, nothing that they could have done required such a response — a warrant-less search and forced entry into their apartment (although the police say [ru] they got permission from the landlord). This point was made vehemently by DemVybor's Vladimir Milov in his blog [ru], where he called what happened a “gross violation of private property rights.”
But who to blame for this violation? Both Navalny himself [ru], and his campaign manager Leonid Volkov [ru], are inclined to believe that Levichev's attack was launched from above — either at the behest of acting mayor and Navalny's opponent Sergey Sobyanin, or by the Kremlin itself. Old dissident and journalist Alexander Morozov disagreed [ru], putting what happened into a more general context:
Вообще все, кто этими делами занимаются, знают, что на региональных избирательных кампаниях налеты на офисы, противоправные задержания агитматериалов, заявления на конкурентов в избирком и т.д. – все это обычная, рутинная практика. Это мы в Москве просто изнежились, давно выборов не было.
In reality, everyone who deals with this [electoral] business knows that at regional election campaigns raids on offices, illegal seizures of campaign materials, complaints about opponents to the election committee, and so on — that's all basic, routine practice. It's just that in Moscow we've grown soft, [we] haven't had elections in a long while.

author: Andrey Tselikov


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‘Selfies’ Protest Against Philippine Train Fare Hikes · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

“Selfies” or those self-portraits we take of ourselves to post in social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have been associated with self-indulgent vanity that draw people away from engagement with pressing social issues and realities.
But Filipino activists have taken the challenge of re-channeling an otherwise purely narcissistic activity for a growing number of wired Filipino middle classes towards a more constructive purpose by turning it into a form of protest against the proposed train fare hikes by the government.
Wishing to broaden opposition to the President Noynoy Aquino's pushing of fare increases for the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) in the national capital, various activist groups are encouraging train commuters to post selfies that signify dissent.
Their efforts to complement offline protests with online actions is gradually picking up as more and more netizens share selfies with slogans expressing their opposition to the LRT/MRT fare increases through the #StrikeTheHike Facebook page, Twitter hashtag, or Instagram account.
As of this writing 122 selfies against the LRT/MRT fare hike have been posted in the #StrikeTheHike Facebook page. Here are a few examples:
Warning that the train fare hikes is a prelude to full privatization, the left-wing alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), one of the groups leading the opposition to the train fare hikes in the country, is hoping that the offline and selfie protests would snowball into even bigger street demonstrations.
Bayan-National Capital Region Secretary General Mark Louie Aquino said that the government should just re-channel the controversial “pork barrel” funds of legislators for the social services and utilities like the LRT and MRT instead of raising train fares.
According to the Department of Transportation and Communication, LRT and MRT fare hikes will be increased by five pesos in 2013 and another five pesos in 2014 in order to recover operating costs that they say are heavily subsidized by the government.
A public consultation on the train fare increases has been set by the government on August 22. Activist groups, however, believe that this is merely a publicity stunt aimed at dampening the people’s growing anger. Online and offline protests, they say, must continue.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Serbians Fight for Government Funds to Treat Sick Children · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

A proposal put forward by a citizens’ initiative that would provide government funds for medical care for Serbian children and minors with rare or potentially terminal diseases and disorders was knocked down by Serbian officials yesterday.
At a special round-table session of the Republic Fund for Health Insurance, Serbian officials turned down the idea, to the deep disappointment of the Serbian public and netizens.
Dr. Dušan Milisavljević, one of the organizers of the initiative and president of the Board of Health of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, was present at the session on August 14, 2013 to present the case for children with rare and possibly terminal diseases and their parents. The citizens’ initiative proposes that the government provide funding for Serbian citizens under age 18 for medical treatment outside of Serbia if the treatment these patients require is not available in Serbia, in particular for heart and other vital organ transplantation, something that Serbia is lacking.
Dr. Milisavljević, who is also a tenured professor at the Medical School of the University of Niš, has made this cause transparent and public on social networks and is rallying other citizens both online and offline. Immediately after the round table session, he wrote on Twitter:
Zavrsen okrugli sto RFZO bez zakljucka o slanju dece na transplataciju srca u inostranstvo. Nema naznake o promeni pravilnika JEZIVO STRASNO
— Dusan Milisavljevic (@DusanORLDusan) August 14, 2013
The round table of the RFZO [Republic Fund for Health Insurance] has ended with no resolution as to sending children abroad for heart transplantation. There is no sign that regulations will be changed. TERRIBLE AWFUL
Drzava nece da menja pravilnik i preuzme brigu o lecenju dece u inostranstvu http://t.co/bYEKmHnF68 prilog RTS @zozast @natasajutro @NataMij
— Dusan Milisavljevic (@DusanORLDusan) August 14, 2013
The state refuses to change legislature and take on the responsibility of medical treatment for children abroad http://t.co/bYEKmHnF68 [Radio Television Serbia] report @zozast @natasajutro @NataMij
As national public broadcasting network Radio Television Serbia reports in the video below, government officials cited discrepancies in the proposal that are in contrast to the Serbian Constitution as their reason for refusing to change standing regulations in the medical treatment of children. Namely, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia states that no patient will receive preferential treatment based on discrimination, including discrimination based on age. Citizens of Serbia, however, seem to be of the opinion that providing funds to save the youngest generations of Serbian citizens, a population that is slowly but surely dwindling with one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, would not be discriminating against other citizens of Serbia, but rather making a decision based on what is right for the nation and its future in general.
A similar and related initiative, dubbed “Zoja's Law” [sr] by the parents of a recently deceased six-year-old girl named Zoja who suffered a three-year-long battle with Batten's Disease, is asking officials to also provide such funds for children with rare diseases, which often go undiagnosed for long periods of time in Serbia. “Zoja's Law”, which is a hot topic on Twitter, asks that a time limit of six months be placed on diagnosing rare diseases and disorders in children, after which the government would cover costs of either sending these young patients abroad for proper diagnosis or the cost of bringing in foreign experts for diagnosis and treatment.
Both initiatives have great support but mostly online for the time being. Dušan Milisavljević continues to talk about the issue at hand online and support seems to be on the rise:
Kada je rec o lecenju dece u inostranstvu kazu ne moze i pozivaju se na Ustav a kada pregovaraju o Kosovu ? Sta je vaznije – za mene DECA !
— Dusan Milisavljevic (@DusanORLDusan) August 14, 2013
When we talk about medical treatment abroad for children, they [the government] say it isn't possible and cite the Constitution, but when they negotiate for Kosovo? What is more important – for me CHILDREN !
— Dusan Milisavljevic (@DusanORLDusan) August 14, 2013
Snežana Jović, a nutritionist from Serbia, wrote on Twitter:
@Bobana47 steta sto @DusanORLDusan nema vecu podrsku,ne moze covek sam kada banda juce sedi preko puta njega..a i medije cute…kako pomoci.
— Snezana Jovic (@snneki) August 15, 2013
@Bobana47 It's a shame that @DusanORLDusan doesn't have wider support, the man can't do it alone when he has a gang sitting across from him.. and the media are silent… how to help.
— Snezana Jovic (@snneki) August 15, 2013
Global Voices in Serbian asked Milisavljević for a statement on Twitter as to what the next steps in pushing forward the legislative changes necessary to send children with rare and perhaps fatal diseases, often in need of organ transplantation that Serbia is unable to acquire, abroad for needed medical procedures. He responded in a telephone conversation, listing four very concrete steps to be taken that were much too long for a tweet. Here is his response to Global Voices:
Step 1 – What I have repeated daily for the past six or seven months and what is the pillar of this initiative is a change to the current Regulation (Pravilnik) of the Republic Serbia for medical treatment of patients. This procedure requires just one session during which only one sentence needs to be added to the Regulation – that the state will finance costs of medical treatment, in other words transplantation, for the citizens of Serbia [if the state does not wish to discriminate and limit this to children]. At this session, the Board of the Republic Fund for Health Insurance would bring the resolution to add this one sentence. The current Minister of Health would then have to sign the resolution and send it to the Government for adoption. This is a procedure that would take a maximum of some seven days to accomplish.
Step 2 – Signing contracts with several surgical clinics across continental Europe which would provide transplantation and treatment for our little ones. This model exists and has functioned well over the past ten years with surgical clinics in Padua and Trieste, where many of our children have been successfully treated over the past decade or so.
Step 3 – The education and training of our [Serbian] cardiovascular surgeons in the field of transplantation, a seven- to ten-year process that is necessary, as well as creating conditions in terms of equipment in our cardiovascular clinics, perhaps beginning with a clinic in Belgrade.
Step 4 – Raising awareness and educating citizens on the importance of organ donation.
Milisavljević says that he will continue with his battle with government representatives to make the above quoted four steps a reality in Serbia and also noted on Twitter that Nevena Petrušić, Serbia's Commissioner for Equality, stated the day after the proposal was turned down that:
Н. П. указала да је потпуно нетачно да прописи о забрани дискриминације на основу старосног доба представљају препреку измене Правилника
— Dusan Milisavljevic (@DusanORLDusan) August 15, 2013
N. P. pointed out that it is completely incorrect that laws banning discrimination based on age represent a problem in making these changes to the Regulation
— Dusan Milisavljevic (@DusanORLDusan) August 15, 2013

author: Danica Radisic


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VIDEO: Protests Against South Korea’s Spy Agency Held Across North America · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

As protests against South Korea's spy agency's involvement in election gets bigger, overseas Koreans and Americans of Korean descent have joined the movement. This photo montage on the Youtube shows small rallies held in major U.S, cities, such as Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Arizona and in Canada.