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Japan’s Appetite Is Pushing Bluefin Tuna to the Brink · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Photo by Flickr user Stewart Butterfield. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Japanese foodies are being confronted with the idea that the Pacific bluefin tuna is now threatened with extinction, according to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Pacific bluefin tuna was previously listed in the category of Least Concern about extinction.
The Switzerland-based IUCN recently added Pacific bluefin tuna to its Red List of endangered species. The announcement, as well as the plight of other fish stocks, has been met with shock by some Japanese netizens.
太平洋クロマグロ、絶滅危惧種に…国際自然保護連合のレッドリ… http://t.co/tGOuk22VxJ #まとめ pic.twitter.com/gknkkzaUXU
— 相沢 彩華 (@gbx9bwyv01gy1p) November 18, 2014
The Pacific bluefin tuna is now an endangered species and is now on the IUCN's Red List.
Another Twitter user reported:
絶滅危惧種:太平洋クロマグロを指定　ＩＵＣＮ http://t.co/ZuirAwncag “カラスフグは乱獲により過去40年で99.99%減った” ウナギ・マグロ・ニシンあたりは聞いてたけどふぐもかよ！ほんと資源管理って概念がないんだな
— Kelly@戦うヒロインゲー紅蜘蛛頒布中 (@kera_ma_go) November 18, 2014
Pacific bluefin tuna is now an endangered species, according to IUCN (http://t.co/ZuirAwncag), as is the Eyespot puffer (Takifugu chinensis) which has declined 99.99 percent over the past 40 years. I had heard about the eel, bluefin tuna, and herring, but now the puffer fish? It's like there is no concept of (sustainable) resource management.
The cause of the Pacific bluefin tuna's plight, according to the IUCN? Overfishing. The Pacific bluefin tuna accounts for about 70 percent of the world's bluefin catch. Immature fish (younger than three years old that have not had a chance to reproduce) account for 97 percent of the Pacific bluefin tuna catch.
Fisheries researcher Sumio Horikawa commented on the news:
IUCNのマグログループの議長のBruce Collette氏は「（主に日本が漁獲している）中西部太平洋で、稚魚の漁獲削減を含む漁業管理をしないと、短期的な資源状態の回復は望めない」とコメントをしているが、同感です。 http://t.co/sVSBHZopGp
— 勝川 俊雄 (@katukawa) November 17, 2014
Bruce Collete, head of the IUCN's Bluefin group, said that if [the Japanese] catch in the Western Pacific, notably of juvenile fish, is not reduced, in the short term Pacific bluefin stocks will not recover. I agree with his assessment.
While Japan consumes about a quarter of the world's tuna catch, bluefin tuna has been specifically targeted by the fishing industry for the sushi and sashimi markets all over east Asia.
Since the overwhelming majority of the bluefin tuna caught in the Pacific are juveniles that have not had a chance to reproduce, the population is estimated to have declined by 19 to 33 percent over the past 22 years.
Bluefin tuna is one of the most sought-after fish all over Japan. Despite pressures on worldwide stocks, there is, for the moment, plenty of fish to be found, and not just in high-class eateries:
800円でこの迫力！FIREBIRDの激安グルメ「マグロ盛り過ぎ丼」がヤバい▶http://t.co/SSqZlOMuOC pic.twitter.com/MmE9WwObNY
— Spotlight公式（スポットライト） (@misterspotlight) November 16, 2014
Look at the bargain you get for 800 JPY (US$8). FIREBIRD's super-cheap gourmet Bluefin tuna super donburi tuna rice bowl is the best.
- Spotlight LLC (@misterspotlight)
Bluefin tuna became a popular staple following the Second World War, when great efforts were made to find food to feed a hungry population. The fish is now firmly entrenched in Japanese cuisine:
今日は静岡の潮見坂道の駅に来ています。 やっぱり海は良い！ マグロの串焼きが売っていたので食べました。 マグロのお頭焼きヤバイ！笑 In Shiomisaka/Shizuoka I ate a tuna grilled pic.twitter.com/wZzBPI44XA
— ToMo (@dear3ToMo) November 16, 2014
We drove to the beach at Shiomisaka, Shizuoka. And of course, the sea is the place to be! We ate barbeque bluefin tuna skewers, and grilled a tuna head whole. LOL.
Much of Japan's longline tuna fleet is based in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture. Kesennuma is a small, isolated town on the Pacific Coast that was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. In an effort to revitalize the stricken city, the central government has pumped money into the Kesennuma's fishing industry, and the city is once again working at selling fish to consumers eager for a taste of fresh fish, and not just bluefin tuna:
気仙沼生メカジキが美味しい季節！通販で！気仙沼は三陸のブランド！東北ではこのメカジキ刺身はマグロ以上のご馳走！癖も無く脂のって旨い！画像通りの物を気仙沼Aランクを直送します。是非ご覧下さいhttp://t.co/92CEvHsk91 pic.twitter.com/w9xLzEnJTm
— 東北うまいもの市場 (@tohoku_u_ichiba) November 16, 2014
Once again it's the season for delicious swordfish from Kesennuma and Sanriku coast, available for mail order. In Tohoku swordfish sashimi is prized even more than bluefin tuna. The fatty flesh is delicious. Just like in the picture, grade A Kesennuma swordfish will be delivered straight to you!
Tuna and swordfish are large predators that are slow to reproduce, and typically range the world's oceans in search of food and in order to reproduce. Their migratory paths across the high seas make this popular species of fish difficult to manage.
The southern bluefin tuna, a distinct species of bluefin tuna that breeds in the Indian Ocean, is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, and catches these days are about 80 percent of historical totals.
On a more positive note, the Atlantic bluefin tuna population is recovering after a disastrous decade that resulted in drastically lowered quotas. In 2013, the bluefin tuna spawning stock in the East Atlantic and Mediterranean reached nearly double the levels of the 1950s, according to an ICCAT estimate. As a result, in November 2014 some nations increased their quotas of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that is controversial.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Kathmandu’s Big Facelift Ahead of the 2014 SAARC Summit · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

The preparations for the 18th SAARC Summit are in the final stage. Image by Sumit Shrestha. Copyright Demotix (5/11/2014).
Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, is getting a major facelift ahead of the 18th annual summit for the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which is set to take place on November 26 and 27. Established in 1985, SAARC joins eight South Asian countries to promote welfare economics and collective self-reliance, and to accelerate the region's socio-cultural development. This is the first time Kathmandu will host the summit in 12 years.
What's getting spruced up for the big meeting? Repair crews have been busy working on several roads and roadside houses, painting old walls and planting new trees.
Using a group-maintained Twitter account, Nepali journalists have cataloged some of the improvements to the city:
#Nepal: RT @KoshRKoirala: A few sections of #Kathmandu street get a facelift for #SAARC Summit pic.twitter.com/rhm9BmkXsb
— Nepali Journalists (@jhyal) November 6, 2014
The main roads and streets look clean and beautiful, thanks to the city's efforts. For Nepalis, accustomed to the old appearance, the new look is quite unbelievable.
Anuj Ghimire, a zoologist and photographer, tweeted:
Fyaattta herda ta kun desh raicha vai ra :P #Nepal #SAARC pic.twitter.com/ctA3bAV6ts
— Mr Zoologist (@Mrophiophagus) November 4, 2014
Glancing quickly, it was like, what country is this again?
The authorities are even painting some of the private buildings and walls along the main roads.
Hinting at the sudden generosity of the authorities, Suvek Shakya, a software developer tweeted a cartoon.
Sahi ho (y) #Nepal #Kathmandu #SAARC pic.twitter.com/KA1pu9gjiN
— Suvek shakya (@suvek_shakya) November 6, 2014
It's right [I should go to the airport wearing old clothes. Who knows! The government might cut a suit for me!]
Neglected for years, the nine-story-tall Dharahara tower (a monument erected to national pride by Nepal's first prime minister, Bhimsen Thapa) and the Ghanta Ghar clocktower now have fresh coats of paint.
The Kathmandu Post tweeted:
Workers paint Ghantaghar at Ratnapark in Kathmandu as part of the preparations for the upcoming Saarc Summit. pic.twitter.com/DCi55h4uta
— The Kathmandu Post (@kathmandupost) November 10, 2014
Besides the beautification of their city, Kathmanduites have another reason to be happy during the SAARC Summit: the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will ensure an uninterrupted supply of electricity during the summit. (Typically, Kathmandu Valley experiences around 9-10 hours of power cuts every day.)
With a dash of sarcasm, many of the city's residents are looking forward to the electric luxury:
Thanx to SAARC Summit that is going to be held in Nepal At least no power cuts for a month n 4 days holiday. LOL
— CALM SRK fan (@kcrazy_4me) November 8, 2014
Renovations to the 110-year-old main gate of the Singha Durbar (the country's administrative headquarters) have employed cement, against the instructions of the Department of Archaeology, which called for using the same traditional materials that went into constructing the first gate.
The Singha Durbar (Lion Palace) getting its main entrance gate restored. It is the official seat of government of Nepal. Image by Sumit Shrestha. Copyright Demotix (5/11/2014)
Rabindra Mishra, a senior journalist with the BBC, wrote about some of the restoration work being done in haste. The authorities, for their part, say it's been too difficult to find better restoration experts in time for the summit.
Amit Agrawal, an entrepreneur living in Kathmandu, tweets:
A lot of people asked me ,What should be done to develop Nepal?” Finally got an answer. Hold #SAARC Summit every quarter in Nepal. #GovFolks
— Amit Agrawal (@AmitAgrhere) November 13, 2014
Kriti Bhuju, a writer, shares a similar thought:
I wish SAARC summit is organized annually in Nepal. Wondering how will Kathmandu be if it is done so! #SAARCsummit
— kriti bhuju (@kritibhuju) November 11, 2014
The preparations for the SAARC summit seem to be a hit with Kathmanduites, but some already wonder what awaits the city, after the conference, when the repaired roads, buildings, and walls fall into disrepair again.
Achyut Luitel, a development professional, writes:
झुत्रो लुगा बाहिर खाशाली ओभरकोट लगाये जस्तै भएको छ अहिलेको #काठमाडौ। #SAARC सकिदा सकिदै उध्रने, च्यातिने निश्चितै छ। @twiteswor
— Achyut Luitel (@achyutluitel) November 13, 2014
Kathmandu right now has been like [someone] wearing an overcoat from Khasa [China] over old clothes. It is certain to wear and tear as the SAARC concludes.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Lugansk News Today: One Man’s SEO Battle with Russia Today · Global Voices
Daniel Alan Kennedy

The avatar of Lugansk News Today depicts a pro-Ukrainian activist.
This article is part of an extensive RuNet Echo study of Russian-language blogosphere in Eastern Ukraine. Explore the complete interview series on the Eastern Ukraine Unfiltered page.
An anonymous blogger has been covering events in Eastern Ukraine on the English-language Lugansk News Today website, offering an alternative to Russia's anglophone media and raising the Internet's awareness of the events in his hometown.
The language of blogging in East Ukraine and Crimea is overwhelmingly Russian. In some ways this mirrors local ‘offline’ preferences: both regions are heavily russophone. In other ways this mirrors a general Ukrainian trend: Russian is the preferred language of print media (60% of newspapers and 83% of magazines) and the Internet.
An article on a pro-Russian website, Ukraina.ru, noted that according to Google Analytics, Russian was the preferred language of choice for Google searches throughout Ukraine. Even in Lviv Region, considered to be the most Ukrainain-speaking region in Ukraine, less than 30% of Google queries were in Ukrainian. In Donetsk Region, only 1.6% were. The conclusion is quite clear: if you want people to find and read your blog, you should probably write in Russian, a language that is, for a number of historical reasons, far more widely understood throughout the world than Ukrainian.
The anonymous blogger behind Lugansk News Today bucks this trend by writing in an even more “international” language. His website is in English. The website's Facebook page has over 1,000 likes. His Twitter, which posts in both Russian and English, has 13,000 followers. He began tweeting on May 3, 2014, shortly after one of his friends was kidnapped and tortured by rebel militia.
On April 6 pro-Russian terrorists captured the building of Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Lugansk. They captured the building full of weapons enough for a small army. Three weeks later they got out of there and took the building of Lugansk Regional Council. That was on April 29. After that, the control on Lugansk was lost and those “rebels” were out in the streets with weapons. Ukrainian reporters had to get out as they were the target… One of my friends Alexey Bida (the leader of Lugansk Maidan) was taken by them and spent a couple of days in the basement of SBU building just because they recognized him in the street, he has been tortured there, [I'm] not sure how he managed to get out, but a couple of days after he could walk, he evacuated from of Lugansk.
Lugansk News Today started an English language blog in late August, both to inform people in the West about events in his hometown, but also to knock RT (The Russian government's English-language news service) off the front page of Google.
Surprisingly, the website has enjoyed a certain amount of success, which is a testament to what one can achieve with a mixture of determination and good SEO.
I don't have any background in journalism. This project is run only by me. Everybody was complaining about Russian propaganda on TV and in the Internet. I saw what they do at “Russia Today” [RT.com]. Russian propaganda is part of the war and it is much more dangerous than people may think. I noticed that my Twitter account got very high [search results] for “Lugansk news”, but I wanted Russia Today to be out of the 1st page of results on Google. So at the end of August, after my Twitter already had few thousand followers I started to write articles at Lugansk News Today and Facebook. All three… get on the 1st page of results. It means I get 3 out of 10, that's about 30%. If all that three are in top 5, it means I almost have monopoly on the information regarding news from Lugansk. This is my battle against Russian propaganda. Maybe it's not much, but this is a good example how one person can beat big industry.
Despite this, the man behind Lugansk News Today is unsure how widely read his blog is in the English-speaking world, and has harsh words for English-language media and the West in general, which he claims only really began paying attention to the conflict in earnest following the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17 in July. As an example, the blogger notes that few in the West realise that separatist forces fired (unsuccessfully) on a civilian aircraft in June, an event he tweeted about in Russian.
Most of the Western media are afraid to show things as they really are. This is not an internal Ukrainian conflict, this is a Russian-Ukrainian War. People with guns and tanks are not rebels, they are terrorists supported and directed by Russia. Ukraine right now is protecting Europe. Remember Georgia in 2008? Russia invaded another country, the world did nothing about that. In 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine, annexed part of Ukraine, Crimea. Russian troops are fighting in Donetsk and Lugansk. When Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, several countries signed the Budapest Memorandum. The USA, Great Britain and Russia were among those countries and they guaranteed to protect the borders of Ukraine.
The man behind Lugansk News Today no longer resides in Lugansk. Like other citizen journalists profiled in this series, he was forced to leave as he no longer felt safe. As he told RuNet Echo, he decided to flee following the killing of a friend.
On June 13 I decided to get out of Lugansk… Maidan activist Aleksandr Reshetnyak was kidnapped and tortured and died in the hospital, another guy who I knew very well, Aleksandr Mangush was also kidnapped. People with Kalashnikovs took him from his apartment at night. I got information about that in the morning and was on the train out of the city in two hours. We really had no time to pack, just one backpack and one travel bag.
For now, the blogger behind Lugansk News Today has set his sights on expansion, having recently launched a new site: Ukraine Right Now. He hopes it will cover events all over the country, not only in Lugansk, though he admits he's unsure if he'll have time to run such a project. “There should be some government program in Ukraine to publish more information in English about what is going on in the country,” he told us.

author: Daniel Alan Kennedy


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Tens of Thousands Demand Justice for Typhoon Haiyan Victims in the Philippines · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

“Global Surge” protest in Tacloban City, the “Ground Zero” of super typhoon Haiyan. Photo Credits: Orion Yoshida.
A series of protests themed “Global Surge” was organized across the Philippines and several cities around the world to commemorate the first year anniversary of super typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), and to condemn the government’s “criminal negligence and corruption” in the aftermath of the disaster.
Haiyan was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in world history. Victims, their families, and supporters labeled Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III “waray pulos” or incompetent for his administration’s alleged poor performance in handling the disaster relief, rehabilitation, and recovery efforts.
Over 20,000 people joined the protest march in Tacloban City while another 20,000 people protested in Roxas City, Estancia, Kalibo, Iloilo City and other parts of Panay Island which are some of the areas hardest hit by Haiyan.
Some disaster survivors and their supporters also marched to the door steps of the Malacanang presidential palace in Mendiola while Filipino communities and solidarity groups organized various gatherings in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, and across Europe.
The protesters criticized the Aquino government for allegedly aggravating the destruction brought about by Haiyan through the absence of a sustained relief and rehabilitation program, the reported misuse of calamity funds by politicians and relief agencies, and the profit-oriented feature of the rebuilding plans.
Groups such as the People Surge, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Tindog Network, International League of People's Struggles, and Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment initiated the formation of Daluyong, a national network of disaster survivors. They also used the hashtag #RememberHaiyan during the protest actions.
Activists also chided President Aquino for not visiting the Haiyan survivors in Tacloban where more than 2,000 died during the typhoon. Renato Reyes, one of the protesters, asked on Facebook:
Why is Aquino skipping Tacloban on the first anniversary of Yolanda/Haiyan? Is it because of the protesters that will be gathering in the city starting tomorrow? Why can't he face the outraged survivors on this important day?
Official government data puts the number of deaths at 6,300 and the number of missing at 1,061, but independent estimates by People Surge and Civil Society groups puts the number of fatalities at over 18,000.
A statistical analysis by independent think tank Ibon Foundation revealed that the accomplishments enumerated by the Aquino government are drastically below the targets it made earlier.
The Aquino government's Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan was signed only on October 29, 2014, almost a year after the calamity.
Below are some photos of the “global surge” protests:
A snapshot of the protest of Haiyan survivors and supporters in Tacloban City. Photo Credts: Kathy Yamzon.
The hacktivist group Anonymous hacked over 20 government websites to protest the government's “criminal neglect” of Haiyan survivors. Photo Credits: AnonymousPH.
A section of the 12,000 protesters in Roxas City. Photo Credits: Kashmer Diestro.
Haiyan survivors from Samar arrive in Tacloban City in boats to join the protest action. Photo Credits: Kathy Yamzon.
Protesters in Manila covered themselves with mud to dramatize the plight of Haiyan victims. Photo Credits: MaiMai Uichanco.
Protesters in Estancia town meanwhile decried the continuing delay of compensation for residents affected by the oil spill caused by the running aground of a power barge at the height of typhoon Haiyan. Many residents filed a class suit against the company that owned the barge and other government agencies. The oil spill caused the evacuation of more than 2,000 residents from their communities, which were contaminated by poisonous fumes.
Protest by residents of Estancia town, Iloilo seek justice for Haiyan victims. Photo Credits: Bayan-Panay.
Political analyst Benjie Oliveros wrote on alternative news website Bulatlat that the rehabilitation efforts are being hampered by massive corruption and wrong government priorities:
How could the people “build back better” when they have no land on which to build their houses? How could the people acquire sustainable livelihood when those engaged in agriculture do not own the land they till and those who eke out a living through other means would be constantly displaced and thrown to remote areas where there are no livelihood opportunities?
Investigative journalist Kenneth Guda visited Tacloban and interviewed some of the survivors. He wrote on Facebook:
They cry every time they retell their stories. And not just because they lost loved ones and what little properties they had during the storm. They cry every time they talk about how their children starved during the first few weeks after the storm. They cry today because they could not move on. […] They cry because they are thankful for whatever help individuals and groups are able to give them, but they cry in anger at a government that promises help but always fails them.
An open letter from typhoon Haiyan survivors to Pope Francis has also been widely circulated online in relation to the pope's upcoming visit in January next year. The letter laments how Haiyan victims continue to suffer from hunger, disease and government neglect.
According to “global surge” organizers, they will inform Francis about the real situation of Haiyan survivors during the his visit to Tacloban in January 2015.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Russian Government Sanctions LGBT Support Group for Suggesting Gay Youths Are Brave · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Roscomnadzor sanctions Children-404 for suggesting that gays can be good people. Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
The founder of “Children-404,” an online support network for LGBT teens in Russia similar to the “It Gets Better” campaign in the United States, now stands formally accused of illegal “gay propaganda.” Lena Klimova first reported the case against her group last week, after investigators visited her home and then summoned her to a federal police building. Klimova was asked to appear in Moscow today, November 18, but she couldn't make the trip, as she lives more than 1,100 miles away, in Nizhny Tagil. Police refused Klimova's request to move the case closer to her home.
Writing on LiveJournal today, Klimova published some excerpts—what she calls the “tastiest bits”—from the government's charges against Children-404. The following language is from the state's case against Klimova's community:
… материалы в целом способны вызвать у детей представление о том, что быть геем – это значит быть человеком мужественным, сильным, уверенным, упорным, с чувством собственного достоинства и самоуважения …
The materials [on Children-404] can cause children to believe that being gay means being a person who is brave, strong, confident, tenacious, and someone with a sense of dignity and self-respect.
… данные комментарии открыто выражают негативное отношение к матери, осуждающей подростка-гомосексуалиста ..
The comments [on Children-404] are openly negative toward mothers who condemn their teenage homosexual kids.
… в данном сообществе практически отсутствует информация о том, что данные отношения являются нетрадиционными в понимании норм, обычаев и устоев РФ …
This community contains almost no information about the fact that this [sexual] orientation is untraditional according to the norms, customs, and practices of the Russian Federation.
These charges build on comments published yesterday on Facebook by Russian federal censors, who accused Children-404 of endangering LGBT minors by providing them with “amateur” psychological support.
The Russian government seems to be telling LGBT teens that they're a threat to each other—that they require the attention of medical professionals, who will explain calmly that being gay precludes bravery, strength, and anything else good under the sun. If you're young and gay, you should stay away from others like you. If you must, go to a doctor and seek proper care, before you fall under delusions of dignity and self-respect.
How's that for an “It Gets Better” public service announcement?

author: Kevin Rothrock


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How Traditional Schooling Is Contrary to Natural Learning · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Homeschooling and unschooling are two educational trends that don't conform with traditional education. Each method is back up by its own scholars and supporters, including systematic school education. These are the issues addressed in Paula Lago's article, who explains the differences between learning in the classroom and what she calls natural learning.
For Lago, “school has always taught in a way that's completely contrary to the natural learning processes.” And she adds a practical case to explain it:
La escuela de hoy explica los mecanismos por los cuales una bicicleta puede salir rodando, la manera gráfica y matemática de cómo darle impulso o colocar los pies sobre los pedales, insta a que el niño aprenda de memoria dichos procesos y mecanismos, pero todo esto con un fin inútil, al no permitir montar la bicicleta. Incluso si lo permite, el aprendizaje no puede darse, puesto que dentro del sistema formal se penaliza el error de caerse de la bicicleta.
The school of today explains the mechanisms that make it possible for a bike to roll, the graphic and mathematical way of giving it a push or placing the feet on the pedals, it encourages the child to learn those processes and mechanisms by heart, but all of that becomes useless if they are not allowed to actually ride a bike. Even if it's allowed, learning isn't possible, given that in the formal system there is a penalty for falling off the bike.
In a natural learning environment, children will be allowed to learn from their mistakes without frustration at all. So, we will have a society of independent beings.
If you are interested in homeschooling, you can follow Paula Lago on her Twitter account.

author: Milton Ramirez


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Ugandans Launch Hashtag Campaign Against Telecom Giant · Global Voices
Prudence Nyamishana

An MTN vehicle in Uganda, November 28, 2005, CC 2.0
Eight million people use MTN Uganda, making it the country's undisputed mobile telecom giant. According to Chimpreports.com, customers have grumbled for years about unreasonable extra charges and unexplained reductions in service. For a long time, these complaints fell on deaf ears.
Earlier this month, however, Ugandans decided to pool their influence and launch a hashtag campaign against MTN.
A screenshot of MTN customer's phone Belinda Kyomuhendo saying the service request was unsuccessful. Image used with permission.
Justus Amanya, a local journalist, told reporters:
This week starting tomorrow 17th Nov 2014, we are going to officially hand in our dissatisfaction note and complaint to the Minister of ICT Hon George William Nyombi Thembo at his office on Parliament Avenue,” announced Justus Amanya who is leading efforts to pressure government to crack down on MTN’s “undemocratic and 24/7 robbery.
A staff blogger at Willappsug, a technology blog, summarised MTN customers’ anger as follows:
It is believed that Uganda is falling victim to multinational corporations who are now controlling politicians, media, government officials and pattern of consumption thus the misconduct of such big brands.
Ugandans who have always complained about the country’s leading Telecom Company, MTN Uganda, of charging their humble customers abnormal rates and unjustifiably deducting their airtime and internet bundles through Justus Amanya who is leading the protests for the government to crack down on MTN’s undemocratic exploitation have come out to say “This week, we are going to officially hand in our dissatisfaction note and complaint to the Minister of ICT Hon George William Nyombi Thembo at his office on Parliament Avenue.”
On Twitter, one Kampala resident asked:
“@danielnuwe: Q: What defines MTN? a)Poor service b)poor customer care c)bundle eating crocodiles d)all the above #OccupyMTN” ✋
— Agaba Emma♚ (@ArcherSeamus) November 17, 2014
Qwenga, a blogger and public relations professional, noted the horrible publicity this campaign makes for MTN:
PR Nightmare >>>>> #OccupyMTN
— Qwenga (@bkyeyune) November 17, 2014
Samson Tumusiime, a social media manager and co-founder of Veritas Interactive, had no kind words for the telecom:
What's the point of splashing billions on CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] and events when you can't spend just a fraction of that on R&D? [Reasearch and Development] #OccupyMTN — (Name Goes Here) (@Samwyri) November 17, 2014
Bob Muheebwa, meanwhile, simply wanted his money back:
Yes they must refund #occupymtn RT “@sbadnose: @MTNUGANDACARE I have not given up on my money, even if u ignore me. I want my money!!!” — Bob Muheebwa (@tijo5) December 10, 2012 Hot Kitakuli to emphasize the point said
MTN looking at the #OccupyMTN tweets like. pic.twitter.com/JWESC4sWkX — hot kitakuli (@thedewjosh) November 17, 2014
Others online turned there minds to larger questions. Mwine Edgar, a political commentator, floated a conspiracy theory, for instance:
MTN must have paid UMEME [Uganda's electricity company] to loadshed my area so that I can run out of battery and stop tweeting about MTN's poor services #OccupyMTN — Mwine (@mwineedgar) November 17, 2014
The ranting from dissatisfied customers goes on:
#OccupyMTN @mtnug customer relations: Rule No.1 Sell a crappy product expensively to our customers. Rule No. 2 Never break rule No. 1 — Klaus Kamanzi (@Nickle_las) November 17, 2014
“Sorry Operation Is Failed” should be MTN's new slogan. #OccupyMTN
— hot kitakuli (@thedewjosh) November 17, 2014
There were some voices of support for MTN, however. Akampa Aaron, one apparently satisfied customer, had some kind, albeit brief, words for the corporation:
This outrage at @mtnug is unfair. Their network quality has greatly improved, mobile money is much better, and they have free calls now.
— Akampa Aaron (@akampaaaron) November 17, 2014

author: Prudence Nyamishana


text:
Why an Open Letter Attacking China’s Professors for ‘Blackening the Motherland’ Is So Worrisome · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

University teachers are asked to speak positive about the motherland. Photo from Flickr user Neal Lantela CC: BY-SA-NC.
China's authorities have waged an aggressive ideological battle against mainstream and new media over the past two years, upping the pressure on them to fall in line with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or face the consequences. Now, some fear that officials are setting their sights on academia as the next front in the war on free thinking.
Provincial Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the Liaoning Daily published an unusual open letter to university professors on November 13, blasting them for reportedly speaking ill about China in front of their students.
The China Media Project of Hong Kong University has translated the letter, titled “Teacher, Please Don’t Talk Like That About China: An Open Letter to Teachers of Philosophy and Social Science.” The paper claimed its opinion was based on 300 anecdotes collected from university students, an online survey and investigative reports collected from more than 20 schools in five cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shenyang.
The paper said 80 percent of university students had encountered professors who were “fond of airing complaints,” and this “blackening” of the motherland left them upset. It summed up the problem in three points: a lack of theoretical recognition, a lack of political recognition and a lack of identification on an emotional level (of the party's history and ideology).
For local party propaganda authorities, it's a strange move to publicly criticize tertiary education teachers who are under the jurisdiction of the state education institution. Normally, directives like this would come from China's education ministry. Last year, it instructed university professors not to teach seven subjects, including freedom of the press, past mistakes of the Communist Party, and citizens’ rights.
Some commenters see the letter not only as further encroaching on academic freedoms, already under serious threat in China, but also possibly setting the stage for a future purge of professors who challenge the party's line.
Liaoning Daily said the prescription for such “negativity” is “positive energy”, a term which gained prominent after Chinese President Xi Jinping used it at the CCP's forum on arts and culture in October. The idea of positive energy was introduced by Lu Wei, the director of the State Internet Information Office, in January 2013 to tame celebrities who spoke their mind on Twitter-like Sina Weibo.
Sun Liping, a prominent social scientist teaching at Beijing Tsinghua university, responded to the open letter with one of his own:
辽宁日报公开信的事情真的不可小看。我看到的是网络版，不知是否有误。该信的署名是本报编辑部。我们知道，辽宁日报是辽宁省委机关报。以罕有的本报编辑部名义发出的东西，可以理解为辽宁省委对全国高校教师的要求。一个地方党委对全国高校教师发号司令，不觉得奇怪吗？ 印象中，文革时都没有一级党委或机关报发出面对全国的公开信。只有造反队会发这种东西。 其实辽宁日报编辑部稍微有点脑子就不会写这种东西，一个不黑的东西是别人可以抹黑的吗？不信翻翻辽宁日报的老报纸，过去几十年国内外你们抹黑过多少东西。哪个最后你真的给抹黑了？ 现在说纯粹的批评有没有意义。有人说，批评的同时提出解决的办法才是积极的，一味的批评就是抹黑。我首先要说，我认为批评的同时提出解决问题的办法是更有意义的。因此我经常和学生说，我只讲我能找到解决办法的问题，如果我自己找不出解决问题的办法，我干脆就不讲。但这只是我对我自己的要求，研究社会现象的，要尽可能找出解决问题的办法。但我并不认为，纯粹的批评，就是消极的。找出我们社会中的问题，分析这些问题的原因，即使没提出解决办法，也是有意义的。甚至只是把丑恶的现象揭露出来也是有意义的。前述美国扒粪运动，哪个都提出解决的办法了？关键是看你如何对待这种批评。1962 年，哈林顿出版《另一个美国： 合众国的贫困》，将美国的阴暗面集于一书。据说当时的总统约翰逊看了这本书，受到很大震动，他没有把哈林顿作为负能量。而是提出要建设伟大社会。建设伟大社会的目标，是向贫困宣战，向不平等宣战，向一切违反人权的现象宣战。抹黑祖国？祖国多大了？你哭天抹泪地口口声声声讨万恶的旧社会，旧社会那一段的中国算祖国吗？接连就辽宁日报公开信写了几条微博。因为公开信也是信，作为一个教师不回信不礼貌。最后以一个老师身份告诫那个编辑部（估计作者也都是学生辈的）几句：1、要讲道理的话把理论弄圆点，别顾头不顾那个。2、理论弄不出来起码在有限范围内讲点逻辑。3、上面两点如果都做不到，谦虚点。
Liaoning Daily's open letter cannot be ignored. I read the online version and am not a hundred percent sure of its accuracy. The open letter is signed by the newspaper's editorial board. We all know that Liaoning Daily is the official newspaper of the Liaoning province party branch. It is unusual to see the editorial board issue such an opinion, which can be considered a demand made by the Liaoning Chinese Communist Party committee of the country's university teachers. A local party committee giving instructions like this to the country's university teachers, isn't that strange? From what I remember, even during the Cultural Revolution no provincial level CCP committee issued such an open letter addressing the whole country. Only the revolutionary team [the Red Guards who challenged the authorities] would do that. If the Liaoning editorial board had basic intelligence, they would not do that. How can one blacken anything if the thing is not black to begin with? Just check the Liaoning Daily's archive and you will get a sense of how many things this paper tried to blacken in the past. Yet none of its “blackening” attempts eventually succeeded. Now, it said it is meaningless to criticize. Some say it is more positive to offer solutions alongside criticism. Pure criticism is “blackening.” I want to make it clear that, of course, it is meaningful to find a solution and I tell my students that I would only talk about issues that I can address and give suggestions for. However, this is a personal commitment and practice. I don't think social critique is negative. To identify the problem of a society and analyze the cause of the problem without an answer is meaningful. To reveal the ugly phenomena is meaningful. In the US, they had the muckraker movement and many did not offer any solutions. How you react to criticism is key. In 1962, Micheal Harrington wrote “The Other America.” The book is a record of the dark side of the US. According to hearsay, Lyndon Johnson, the then-president of the US, was shocked by the book. Yet he did not take it negatively, and instead put forward a plan to build a strong society by declaring war against poverty, inequality and inhumanity. Blackening our motherland? How old is our motherland? You screamed and yelled and attacked the old society [before the liberation of China by the CCP], but isn't the old society our motherland as well? I have written a few micro-blogs commenting on Liaoning Daily's open letter. As the open letter is a letter, we have to pay our courtesy as a professor and reply to it. Finally, as a professor I would like to give some advice to the editorial board (I assume the writers are of my students’ generation): 1. When putting forward an argument, please ground it in sound theory. Don't open a topic without any grounding. 2. If you fail to come up with a theory, at least be logical. 3. If you can't fulfill the above basic requirements, be humble.
Zhang Ming, a political scientist who teaches at Remin University, criticized the Liaoning Daily for spying on the professors:
辽宁日报派出记者暗访，整黑材料。这不是正常的采访报道，而是文化特务和间谍之行。这样做，把教师当敌人也就罢了，置当地的信息员和大学的党委于何地？
Liaoning Daily sent reporters to investigate [the professors] and collect information to smear them. This is not normal reporting, but spying behavior. It not only turned professors into enemies but also linked the authority of the university party committee and local party informants.
He said he believes that another anti-rightist movement is approaching:
一直有人警告说要有新的反右斗争，开始还不信，看到辽宁日报给高校教师的公开信，信了。这回，要抓多少右派呢？
For some time I’ve heard people talking about how a new anti-rightist movement is drawing near. I didn’t buy this at first, but the Liaoning Daily open letter to professors made me believe. How many rightists will be arrested in this round?
Xiong Feijun, an independent writer, believed the prescription for the country's corruption is criticism rather than “positive” comments:
祖国明明在贪官敲诈专制毒害下得了重病，不及时治疗只有死路一条。可贪官们一个劲忽悠祖国很强壮很健康，使祖国丧失治疗康复最佳时机。那些勇于说真话的良心志士深爱自己的国家，呼吁赶快把祖国送医院动手术切去专制毒瘤让祖国恢复健康浴火重生。可贪官们却说这是“抹黑中国”？天下有这等放屁的逻辑吗
The motherland is sick because of corruption. If we don't cure the illness, she will die. But the corrupt keep saying that the motherland is very healthy. Eventually the window of time to cure the illness will close on the motherland. Those who dare to tell the truth love their country and they urge the motherland to go to the hospital, cut out the tumor and be healthy again. The corrupt call that “blackening China”? What kind of logic is that?
The ideological battle against online opinion leaders has destroyed meaningful public conversations on Weibo as netizens now refrain from saying what they think. If the battlefield is indeed extended to the university, a place where knowledgeable experts address society's problems in a rational manner, it won't just affect the classroom. The persecution of tertiary education would not only likely stunt the country's social and political progress, but also give rise to a power struggle within the ruling class and social chaos — an unfortunately familiar outcome for China. Such man-made disasters have recurred throughout the country's contemporary history.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Recycling Workers Are Leading the Zero Waste Charge in Brazil · Global Voices
350.org

Recycling bins. Photo by Flickr user Márcio Cabral de Moura. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
This article by Antonia Bruno was produced by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Other Worlds and posted by 350.org, an organization building a global climate movement. It is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The streets of Belo Horizonte were filled with singing, dancing, chanting, and marching. It was not for a holiday, an election day or a soccer game. The chant was: “We don’t want incineration! Recycle! Recycle!”
It was September 19, 2014, the day of the launch of a national Zero Waste Alliance, Brazil style. Exuberant, celebratory and led by recycling workers.
The recycling workers of Brazil have long been a powerful force in protecting their communities and the climate. Now, they are on the forefront of a nationwide movement for zero waste.
To those hearing about it for the first time, “zero waste” may sound unrealistic. But in fact, zero waste alliances are forming all over the world and making great strides toward building a new kind of economy that is good for people and the planet. Zero waste encompasses the full life cycle of our stuff, starting with reduced extraction and responsible product design, and ending with all materials being reused, recycled or composted.
The current practice of burning or dumping waste is a major contributor to climate change. Pound for pound, burning waste is even worse for the climate than the dirty practice of burning coal. It also releases cancer-causing toxins and other air pollutants. The potential benefits of zero waste for the climate and clean air are enormous.
But at its best, zero waste is about much more than reducing pollution and greenhouse gases.
Whereas incineration and waste dumping frequently violate the principles of environmental justice, zero waste has great potential to improve the lives of people that feel the greatest impacts of our “dig, burn, dump” economy.
This is particularly true when zero waste systems are designed with worker rights at the center, as in the case of Brazil, where recycling workers are at the forefront of the zero waste alliance. And in Brazil, where the workers collaborate closely with local non-governmental organizations like Instituto Polis, the labor-environmentalist alliance is fundamental.
So how did the workers of Brazil get involved in a zero waste alliance? They started by getting organized.
Recyclers do the work of collecting and separating out recyclable materials from the waste stream. It’s often a dangerous and low-paying job. But in Brazil—and other Latin American countries, including Chile and Colombia—recycling workers have made great strides toward good pay and safe working conditions.
Since its formation in 1999, the Brazil-based National Movement of Recycling Workers (MNCR) has achieved major victories for the sector. Earlier this year, one of the leading members of the MNCR, Maria Monica da Silva, was honored by the Women's International Center with a Living Legacy award for her work “creating significant improvements in the situation and recognition” of São Paulo's recyclers. “The vast majority of these recyclers are women, and together they make an enormous environmental contribution, but the value of their work is too often unrecognized,” according to the center.
What’s particularly inspiring about the recycling workers’ union in Brazil is that their ambitions for justice go far beyond their own working conditions. The recyclers understand their work as being on forefront of solving the climate, waste and air pollution crises that impact their families, communities and the entire world. The first line of the mission statement of the MNCR is to “contribute to building just and sustainable societies through the social and productive organization of recycling workers and their families.” Their mission also includes “improving the quality of life of all people and future generations.”
MNCR started building its power in the way that so many other groups have done: by stopping incineration.
When the incineration company Usina Verde rolled into Sao Paolo in 2002, it was widely expected that their incinerator proposal would move forward quickly and easily. Instead, the company was pushed out by a coalition of recycling workers, NGOs, activists and community members.
Magdalena Donoso, Latin America Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), explained, “The recycling workers of Brazil are a force to be reckoned with. Anytime there is a vote, public hearing, meeting, etc., the recycling workers turn up more people than the incinerator company.”
But as with anti-incinerator movements all over the world, the question was always asked in Brazil: If not incinerators, then what? For the recycling workers of that nation, the answer was built into their job description.
The transition from fighting incinerators to working toward zero waste in Brazil came naturally. Beth Grimberg from Instituto Pólis explained, “Zero waste alliances were being formed all over the world. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to work on this. We had strong international solidarity and decades of organizing experience. On September 19, with hundreds of people participating in person or online, we launched the Brazil Zero Waste Alliance.”
Alex Cardoso, a third generation recycler and member of the MNCR, said, “It is important that recycling workers are the primary organizers for zero waste in Brazil. We are the ones on the streets every day making it happen. Our knowledge is critical. We are the principal agents in these conversations and the defenders of the earth.”
There you have it: zero waste is clean air, good jobs and justice. No wonder the brass band was playing and the crowd was singing in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.


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Fake ‘Ukrainian’ News Websites Run by Russian ‘Troll Army’ Offshoots · Global Voices
Aric Toler

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Russia has engaged in a blitzkrieg of information warfare since the start of the Euromaidan protests, increasing the budget of RT (formerly Russia Today) by 41%, and creating a new international news operation called Sputnik to “provide an alternative viewpoint on world events.” More and more, though, the Kremlin is manipulating the information sphere in more insidious ways.
Last week, the Russian daily “Delovoi Petersburg” (DP) broke a story that revealed a number of news sites supposedly operating out of Ukraine, such as the “Kharkov News Agency,” are actually housed, operated, and staffed in Russia without any local correspondents. This new kind of information warfare is being waged from a nondescript building on 55 Savushkina Street in St. Petersburg, just down the hall from the Kremlin’s infamous St. Petersburg Troll Den. Photos of the building quickly spread through the RuNet.
Савушкина 55 Новый домик для ботов. Пропускная система. Ни одной вывески. Чье фото – не скажу. pic.twitter.com/oCVUAvSTW4
— Ходорковский Михаил (@mich261213) November 7, 2014
Savushkina 55. New home for the bots. Security pass system. Not a single sign. I won't share who took the photo.
In June, BuzzFeed published a detailed feature on this operation, through which the Kremlin supposedly funds a small army of young web-savvy Internet users who flood website comment sections around the world with pro-Russian and anti-Western rhetoric.
The slant of the stories that the ghost-writing army running ‘Ukrainian’ news sites publishes is exclusively pro-Russian. For instance, recent headlines on the Kharkov News Agency site include “Kharkov, unemployment: How to survive after Maidan” and “The ‘protectors’ of Ukraine arrested for robbery in Kiev.” According to LiveInternet statistics, over 200 thousand users have visited the website in the last month.
Even though these ‘Ukrainian’ sites claim to be local, the DP correspondents had no luck finding anyone working for the sites outside of the walls of the St. Petersburg office. The listed address for the supposed Kharkov office is a dead-end: the neighboring businesses in the office space swear that this publication does not operate nearby.
After some impressive detective work, the sleuths at DP found that an outlet called Neva News, run from the 55 Savushkina office, bought the Kharkov News Agency’s domain name on August 25, 2013. The CEO and co-owner of Neva News, Evgenii Zubarev, confirmed DP’s findings, but insisted that the location of the outlet’s hosting or newsroom does not affect its editorial policy.
Zubarev is far from an isolated figure, as he heads up the Federal Agency News (FAN) project, which is also based out of—tell us if you’ve noticed a pattern yet—55 Savushkina.
Additionally, a series of news portals supporting pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine, such as novorus.info, newsdon.info, and newslava.info, are also operating out of Moscow while providing ‘local’ news on the Donbass region. Newslava.info reports being based in Sevastopol on 2 Lenin Street, but, as a quick Google search will reveal, this address is for the city government offices.
As it turns out, these websites are supported and run by Moscow businessman and hotelier Andrei Surkov, who says he only funds about 70% of the sites’ work, and the rest comes from public donations. Surkov himself is publishing a book entitled “Guard of the Steel Emperor: The Secret Origin of the Russian People,” detailing how the Russian people are actually descendants of the Aryan race and the guards of Genghis Khan.
While there is no direct link between the Kremlin and any of these projects—both Surkov and Zubarev say their projects are privately funded—the timing, scale, and coordination of these efforts are suspicious. BuzzFeed was not able to find evidence of direct government funding to the “Internet Research Agency,” the pro-Kremlin troll outlet operating out of 55 Savushkina, but they did reference a number of sources that revealed some level of involvement.
Over the last months, the epicenter of the grand Russian disinformation campaign against Ukraine has come into clear focus, with all paths converging on a four-story office building just off the Bolshaya Nevka River. While it’s true the Internet is still the freest media platform, it is also one that allows for ambiguity and manipulation. As the lines between private enterprise and public funding in Russian media blur, Kremlin-supported trolls and astroturfers seem bent on making the work of independent journalists and civic activists increasingly difficult.

author: Aric Toler


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The Tragedy in Mexico’s Iguala Is a ‘Game Changer’ · Global Voices
Iñaki García

Photo from the blog by Fernando Vasquez Rigada and used with permission.
Fernando Vázquez Rigada blogged on October 27 about the dreadful events occured in the community of Iguala, Mexico. By his understanding, this has unveiled just how rotten the government is, starting from the involvement of the former mayor and continuing with the corruption within institutions.
El 26 había una crisis local, el 27 una nacional, el 28 una internacional. Hoy, un callejón sin salida.
On the 26th it was a local crisis, on the 27th it was national, the 28th it became international. Today, a dead end.
Vázquez called the situation a ”game changer”, saying, “Those shocks that don't change the rules of a game: they change the game.” He pointed out several things the government should consider in those moments:
Primero: deberá redefinir sus objetivos.
Segundo: deberá escuchar. La calle hierve. Hay un reclamo general.
Tercero: sus cálculos políticos deberán modificarse.
First: The government should redefine its goals.
Second: It will have to listen. The streets are boiling. There is general uproar.
Third: Their political calculations will have to be modified.
The author ends by noting:
El país cambió el 26 de septiembre. El gobierno aún no se ha dado cuenta. Veremos si no es muy tarde.
The country changed on September 26. The government still hasn't realized. Let's see if it's not too late.
Today, more than three weeks later, we know it's late too for the government, but we hope it might not be for the 43 students who are still missing. Just as the protesters chant: “They were taken alive, we want them alive!“
You can add your signature to a petition to demand the Mexican government investigate who was behind the tragedy and why.
Follow Fernando Vázquez Rigada on Twitter: @fvazquezrig

author: Iñaki García


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Rural Tourism at Itapeby Country House in Argentina · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

Wenceslao Bottaro, blogging on Blucansendel, presents us with a business venture in sustainable rural tourism: Itapeby Country House, located in the Argentinian province of Entre Ríos, close to Gualeguaychú.
Itapeby is home to Poppy and Rodolfo, who grow crops and raise cows, pigs, poultry and sheep, offering visitors the fruits of their labor. If visitors want to, they can participate in the daily activities of rural life, such as milling corn, milking or shearing. They can also take a ride on a horse-drawn carriage, go horseback riding, do some trekking or go birdwatching.
Photo from the blog Blucansendel, used with permission.
Visitors can also enjoy country home-made specialties, such as fritters, scones, breads, candy, all made by Poppy. Everything Itapeby produces is consumed: animals, dairy, vegetables, hams, sausages, salamis, etc. Itapeby combines rural lifestyle with comfort for the guests:
La Posada es el área destinada a los visitantes. Es una construcción cubierta por un espeso techo de paja y chapas debajo del cual hay cinco habitaciones, enormes, confortables y de lujosa rusticidad. La Posada está rodeada por un deck/galería donde cuelgan hamacas paraguayas dispuestas de manera estratégica para disfrutar de las salidas y las puestas del sol. Todo el conjunto está envuelto por el aroma de las flores que rodean la casa.
The Inn is the area for visitors. It's a building covered by a thick straw roof. Inside, there are five bedrooms, huge, comfortable and with luxury rusticity. The Inn is surrounded by a deck where Paraguayan hammocks hang, strategically arranged to enjoy sunrises and sunsets. The whole area is blanketed in the aroma of flowers that surround the house.
You can follow Wenceslao Bottaro on Twitter.

author: Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez


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The New York Times Joins Clamor to Change US Policy Toward Cuba · Global Voices
Elaine Díaz

“Peace Without Borders” concert, held in Havana in 2009. Photo by Juventud Rebelde, used with permission.
The New York Times has intensified its criticism against U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba with a series of editorials published since October 11.
The powerful newspaper has described the state of relations between the United States and Cuba as “dismal,” and called on President Barack Obama to “take a hard look at Cuba, where a major policy shift could yield a significant foreign policy success” for his administration.
The editorial entitled “A Cuban Brain Drain, Courtesy of the U.S.”, for example, harshly criticizes the double standards of the United States, which on the one hand praises the Caribbean country for sending Cuban doctors to treat Ebola patients in West Africa, but on the other has a public policy that “easily [enables] medical personnel posted abroad to defect.”
More than 1,278 Cuban health professionals who work on official overseas assignments obtained authorization to immigrate to the United States in 2014 as part of this program, which provides “an opportunity to strike at the core of the island’s primary diplomatic tool, while embarrassing the Castro regime,” according to The New York Times.
Editorial in The New York Times.
According to the newspaper:
For the first time in more than 50 years, shifting politics in the United States and changing policies in Cuba make it politically feasible to re-establish formal diplomatic relations and dismantle the senseless embargo.
A survey of 2,000 U.S. citizens published in February 2014 by the Atlantic Council, an international affairs think tank, indicates that a majority of Americans are ready for a change of policy on Cuba, including those residing in the state of Florida, which is located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the island country and home to the largest population of Cubans outside of Cuba. “This is a key change from the past,” the report said. “Cuba used to be intractable because Florida was intractable. This poll argues that is no longer true.”
Fifty-six percent of Americans and more than 60 percent of Floridians favor a change in policy toward Cuba, according to the survey. While support for a policy shift is more common among Democrats and Independents, the majority of Republicans also advocate the normalization of relations.
Given public opinion, The New York Times suggests that “the Obama administration should remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorist organizations.” The inclusion of Cuba on this list dates back to 1982, due to the country's support for rebel movements in Latin America, a tie that no longer exists. “American officials recognize that Havana is playing a constructive role in the conflict in Colombia by hosting peace talks between the government and guerrilla leaders,” says the newspaper.
Additionally, the newspaper calls for: ending the embargo, resuming diplomatic relations, supporting U.S. companies interested in the telecommunications sector in Cuba, trading U.S. contractor Alan Gross for three Cuban spies that have been imprisoned in the United States for over 16 years, the end of undercover projects financed by USAID to overthrow the government, and searching for “ways to empower ordinary Cubans by expanding study-abroad programs, professional exchanges and investment in the new small businesses cropping up around the island.”
One possible approach could occur during the seventh Summit of the Americas, a high-level meeting of leaders across North America, Central America, the Caribbean and South America. After being expelled in 1962, Cuba has been invited to participate in this meeting, scheduled for April 2015 in Panama, a move that Panamanian Vice President and Chancellor Isabel de Saint Malo considers consistent with “Panama's position that its foreign policy promote dialogue and consensus.”
“The Obama administration is leery of Cuba’s presence at the meeting and Mr. Obama has not committed to attending,” The New York Times wrote. “He must — and he should see it as an opportunity to make history.”

author: Elaine Díaz


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Western Commentators Still Getting Turkey’s Gezi Park Protests Wrong · Global Voices
Efe Levent

‘FEZ: Diorama of a Turkish Street Protest’ shared by @slinkachu.
The Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair, which took place November 13-16, is among the most popular art events hosted in Turkey. One of the pieces that attracted significant attention this year was titled ‘FEZ: Diorama of a Turkish Street Protest’ by the English artist Slinkachu. The work, portraying the Gezi protests of 2013, features miniature riot police assaulting protestors carrying Turkish flags with a whisp of white cotton posing as a cloud of tear gas. The torrid scene is staged on top of a fez, a felt hat widely worn during Turkey's Ottoman past.
Thankfully there was an explanatory panel adjacent to the piece to reassure the observer that the choice of stage is not pandering to a fanciful Orientalist aesthetic that connects any mention of Istanbul with camels, flying carpets, belly dancers, and of course, the fez. Instead, the panel informs, the fez exists as a “reminder of the past, not of the future.” Following a brief description of the ‘hat law’ — one of the more absurd episodes in modern Turkish history —  the blurb suggests that the presence of the fez in the work serves to “highlight the schools of thought of both ‘sides’”.
The contrast between flag-waving protestors representing the forces of progress and the villainous reactionaries interested in reinstating the fez and political Islam is problematic for a variety of reasons, however. Firstly, the banning of the fez in 1925 was a whimsical authoritarian move enacted by the single party regime of the period, whose ‘modernity’ the piece implicitly celebrates. Its use in this context brushes over the same regime’s more serious crimes, including the systematic use of violence against ethnic and religious minorities under its protection.
That prefaces the piece's use of the Turkish flag to symbolise a force for good in a dumbed down Rebel Alliance vs Empire narrative. Ultra-nationalist discourses in Turkey have long had the habit of sweeping discontent and diversity under a rug by claiming all ethnic and religious groups in Turkey are ‘united under the same flag.’ The issue with this statement is that great atrocities like the forced ‘repatriation’ of Greeks, the confiscation of Armenian families’ properties and the suppression of Dersim’s Kurdish Alawite uprising by aerial bombardment and invasion have all been committed under that flag, too.
Slinkachu obviously is not the only commentator to place the 2013 protests in these binary terms. The construction of the secular vs Islamic dichotomy as an epic struggle between good and evil is an old cliché and one that was rolled out repeatedly in ‘explainers’ of the events during their peak. Luke Harding's article for the Guardian, for instance, was billed on social media as a ‘must read’ piece for the political background to Gezi:
My piece from Istanbul on how #Ataturk has become symbol of #Turkey protests. Gd debate below the line http://t.co/VkYJN7cV7K #news
— Luke Harding (@lukeharding1968) June 9, 2013
But the suggestion that Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the single party state responsible for banning the fez, was the ‘symbol’ of the protests creates the same false impression as the claim that the protestors were ‘united under the same flag’. In reality different people from different factions, including ethnic minority political parties very distant from the jingoism associated with Atatürk, participated in Gezi. As one Istanbul-based Twitter user implored Harding: “Please see the diversity.”
Also that summer, in a twist almost as perverse as a nationwide ban on a certain type of headwear, the name of the founder of the Turkish republic crossed the lips of English comedian Russell Brand in a TV interview for CNN. Having previously come out on Twitter to support the protests, Brand clarified his reason for doing so during the interview: “a powerful symbol of the Turkish people — Atatürk — has, in their minds, to a certain degree, been desecrated.”
Again and again, when it comes to discussions of Gezi and Turkish politics, we see ill-informed foreign commentators falling back on the cut and paste of a dialectical confrontation between an authoritarian, secular, single party state from history and the current, elected, authoritarian government which plays to a religious base.
What is worst about this dichotomy is that it reveals a troubling lack of faith in the idea that Turkey specifically and the Middle East in general can develop a viable alternative to either secular or religious authoritarianism. As a number of participants will testify, this is a great shame, since the Gezi protests were the first time anything close to a genuine popular dialogue about such an alternative was discussed across the country.
For many of these participants, awakened to the injustices hidden under chauvinistic slogans for the first time, the spirit of solidarity and unity came not from the national flag, shared opposition to a hat, or the need to support a bygone autocrat against a modern one, but from a desire to explore a third alternative and launch an experiment in direct democracy.

author: Efe Levent


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Western Media Is Obsessed With Kurdish Female Fighters Battling ISIS · Global Voices
Ruwayda Mustafah

Two armed female members of the YPJ, a group affiliated with the People's Protection Units (YPG), walks around the base near Ras al-Ayn, a Kurdish town located in northern Syria. 11 October 2013. Photo by Younes Mohammad. Copyright Demotix
Women fighting in the ranks of the armed Kurdish forces have come into the spotlight as ISIS has made large territorial gains in Mosul, one of the largest cities in Iraq, and battled to take control of the autonomous Kurdish canton of Kobane on the border of Turkey.
International media agencies and activists alike have pushed images of female Peshmerga in their coverage and on social networking sites. The idea of women in uniform, heavily armed, fearless and fighting alongside men seems to be enticing, perhaps even captivating because it is perceived to be one of the strongest messages of defiance in the face of ISIS — a notoriously brutal Al Qaeda offshoot responsible for mass killing of Iraqi soldiers, Syrian soldiers, aid workers, journalists and the kidnapping, rape and forced marriage of women. In the group's Mosul manifesto, ISIS requires the confinement of women to their homes, unless absolutely necessary.
It seems not a day passes without these images of female fighters being shared. The truth is, contrary to the sudden surge of attention, Kurdish women are not new to the battlefield. Arguably all the battles Kurds have fought historically have been either side by side with women, and/or with the complicity of women as caretakers at home, raising a new generation, taking care of domestic affairs, earning a livelihood and so on.
Nahida Ahmed: We wanted to join #Peshmerga to send the message that there is no difference between men and women. pic.twitter.com/iAR1SssQM7
— Para Keta (@ParaKeta) November 13, 2014
PKK Women Fighters show Peshmerga soldiers how to handle the AK-47 in Kirkuk pic.twitter.com/jhxVHr1ExH
— Qêrîna Bêdeng (@Qerina_Bedeng) November 11, 2014
Gotta love the commitment shown by these Kurdish women as they volunteer to aid #Peshmerga against #ISIS. #NO2ISIS pic.twitter.com/XitnFcXIe6
— Mustafa Al-Khaqani (@Iraqism) August 20, 2014
IS getting smashed by the women it wants confined to their homes is immensely satisfying. http://t.co/OtOxvGZvC7 pic.twitter.com/Br6KnBntmG
— Mahmoud (@MahmoudRamsey) August 13, 2014
The obsession with female fighters against ISIS seems to be premised on the idea of defiance. The Peshmerga women have battled with ISIS fighters, and standing on an equal footing with men in their ranks is evidently perceived to be an alien concept in the Middle East.
Margaret George Shello. Public domain.
However, there are dozens of examples which illustrate that women fighters are not new, but have existed within Kurdish communities historically. Take the following picture of Margaret George Shello for instance, who was among one of the first photographed women to go to the mountains with the Peshmerga and became a symbol of women’s participation in the Kurdish struggle.
The Kurdish people's struggle in Turkey, which led to the emergence of armed groups such as the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in the 1970s, consists of both men and women to the highest chain of command. In other words, female fighters in Kurdistan is not new, but mainstream media outlets have been very gender-selective in portraying the Kurdish struggle for autonomy (and independence).

author: Ruwayda Mustafah


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How Many Animals Will Die in This Year’s Gadhimai Festival in Nepal? · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Butchers ready to sacrifice water buffaloes at the Gadhimai festival in Nepal (C) Diwakar Bhandari, used with permission.
Nepal is set to host one of the world's largest religious slaughter of animals after the Eid-ul-Azha festival for the Muslims. Gadhimai festival, celebrated once every five years, will welcome hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to the Bara district. The festival, which commenced this week, is observed for a month. The animal sacrifices are scheduled for next week, on November 28 and November 29.
Despite a rising chorus of voices against the festival's treatment of animals, the organising committee has decided to go ahead as planned.
Killing of turkeys in US has no link with killing of animals in #Gadhimai. All killing is bad, some r worse eg Gadhimai. Its cruel. stop it
— Suman Khadka (@SumanKhadka14) November 15, 2014
500,000 Animals in Nepal need your voice .@kirstiealley PLS help Stop Cruel #Gadhimai Ritual Slaughter pic.twitter.com/tFUdchF6C5
— Lionheart (@I_am_a_Leo) November 12, 2014
Behind the facade of religious belief an insidious evil drives, exploits and distorts ancient beliefs. #Gadhimai pic.twitter.com/TwzIgLSrHz
— jose (@jjose1202) November 12, 2014
At the festival, participates sacrifice nearly 500,000 animals over the course of two days. With approximately 70 percent of the animals coming from India, India’s Supreme Court has issued a notice to stop the illegal transport of animals into Nepal.
Animal rights activists of Animal Equality protested at Brandenburg Gate against the world's biggest animal sacrifice in Gadhimai in Nepal, with blood on the hands and signs with sacrificed animals. Image by Florian Boillot. Copyright Demotix (28/10/2014)
Joanna Lumley, who advocates for Gurkhas‘ civil rights, urged officials to ban the animal sacrifices at the Gadhimai festival. Lumley is the ambassador of the British organisation Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), which promotes animal welfare. Animal Welfare Network Nepal, another similar organisation, and CIWF are currently sponsoring a joint online petition against the festival.
Other online petitions have also emerged in opposition to the treatment of animals at the Gadhimai festival. Many campaigning to stop the sacrifices at the event have been active on social media, pressuring the authorities to crack down on the violence against animals.
Activists against the festival's animal practices aren't the only voices online, however. Supporters point to how the festival brings families together, often reuniting relatives who live on opposite sides of Nepal's borders. The celebrations, these people argue, help strengthen the country's communal bonds. The priest of the Gadhimai temple, for instance, is a Tharu, whereas most devotees from the bottom of Nepal's hierarchical caste-segregated Madhesi society.
Mass slaughter of animals dedicating the Hindu goddess of power. Gadhimai, Nepal. Image by Koji. November 23, 2009. Copyright Demotix.
Others point out that the festival's slaughter of animals pales in comparison to the cattle industry in a country like the United States, where 9.1 billion animals were killed for food last year, averaging almost 25 million animals every day.
Wht troubles me is vocabulary of the anti-Gadhimai festival:‘barbaric’,‘cruel’, ‘inhuman’:@DeepakAdk http://t.co/pHJ9UOsbB2 #Gadhimai #nepal
— Nepali Journalists (@jhyal) November 14, 2014
Demonizing Hinduism n ridicule of our culture by westerners n west-influenced progressive will radicalize even the moderate Hindus #Gadhimai
— Prem Dhakal (@premdhakal) November 17, 2014
With people still divided about the festival, activists and participants alike can only hope to raise awareness, recruiting more people to their causes.
Rather than seek international pressure, some of the festival's opponents believe local awareness could be a more reliable means of curbing the animal abuses at Gadhimai.
For instance, S.S. Pokharel, a medical student, writes:
To abolish #Gadhimai it will take more time and effort. Instead of foreign plea, local awareness and compassion much neccessary. #Disgrace
— S.S.Pokharel (@pokhu) November 17, 2014
Gadhimai temple in Nepal. Image by Diwakar Bhandari, used with permission.


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Kurds Blame Arab Refugees for Deadly Suicide Bombing in Capital Erbil · Global Voices
Ruwayda Mustafah

“#BREAKING — Suicide car-bomb explodes outside of the governor's office in #Erbil — Tahir Abdullah, official confirms,” tweets @RudawEnglish
At least five people were killed and 29 injured in a suicide car-bomb attack on Wednesday in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of South Kurdistan in northern Iraq, the Ministry of Health confirmed in a press conference. The attack took place outside of the Governorate building, where vehicles are searched prior to entry.
South Kurdistan is relatively calm, particularly when compared to neighbouring Baghdad, a city subject to daily suicide bombings, mostly in Shiite-dominated areas. The attack generated heated online conversations among Kurdish social media users about the influx of refugees into the region.
It is estimated that 1.4 million refugees and internally displaced people currently reside in the Kurdistan region. The region has been forthcoming in accepting refugees and providing religious minorities such as Arab Christians with a safe haven.
after #Erbil‘s suicide attack,more local people question #KRG‘s policy on opening the door for #Arab IDPs–tension & distrust high @BBCOS
— Osamah Golpy (@OsamaGolpy) November 19, 2014
Despite Kurdistan’s hospitable attitude towards refugees in the region, many people have questioned the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) policy towards refugees. Local Kurds have called for tighter security to control the flow of refugees into the region, arguing that militants belonging to the recently declared ISIS — a notoriously brutal Al Qaeda offshoot responsible for mass killing of Iraqi soldiers, Syrian soldiers, aid workers, journalists and the kidnapping, rape and forced marriage of women — could pose as refugees.
Following the bombing, Kurdish politicians, leaders and activists were keen to shift focus from refugees and internally displaced people to the threat of ISIS regionally and the sacrifices of Kurdish security forces.
The President of Kurdistan’s recently established Middle East Research Institute Dlawer Ala'Aldeen joined the ongoing online discussion about the necessity of Kurdish leadership alongside Arab leadership to take responsibility for the country’s ongoing failure to tighten its security and curb the spread of ISIS militants.
Terrorists kill innocents without mercy &die without hesitation.No one is immune.To defeat them leaders must win public support &stay united
— Dlawer Ala'Aldeen (@Dlawer) November 19, 2014
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s High Representative to the UK, Bayam Sami Rahman, whose father was killed in a suicide bomb attack in 2004, reacted to the Erbil bomb blast by highlighting the region’s growing hospitality and multi-faith community.
Erbil, capital of Kurdistan, city of peaceful coexistence among Christians and Muslims, will continue to live in peace, stand against terror
— Bayan Sami Rahman (@BayanRahman) November 19, 2014
Commenting on the leading local news agency's coverage of the aftermath of the attack, many called for the deportation of Arabs in the region, while others responded to these ultra-nationalist voices with criticism, accusing them of bigotry, racism and discrimination.
Niroj Dosky commented on Rudaw News Agency's Facebook saying, “No Arabs in Kurdistan.” “This is what happens when you let Arabs in to our country,” wrote Kaso Shottas.
The most fair-minded response came from Wazi Aziz, who said, “Ignorance is never the answer. I am Kurdish, and like thousands of others I too had to flee my home because of Saddam regime, but the one thing I learnt […] never judge a person based on what colour or country they come from […] For people to say kick all the Arabs out, do you not realise that by saying that we are just as bad as them?”
The problem with the reactionary response to the suicide-bomb attack puts foreigners, internally displaced people and refugees at the centre of attention. This is particularly the case with anti-Arab sentiment in the region, who are perceived to be idle alongside their leaders in the face of ISIS militants.
On the other hand, ISIS poses a genuine threat to the Kurdistan region, and must be dealt with through appropriate measures. Nothing justifies racism and closing borders for refugees, but putting in place a mechanism to ensure ISIS militants don’t enter the region by posing as refugees is important.
Unfortunate bomb in Erbil today which will impact how locals view non Kurds in Kurdistan.
— Yerevan Saeed (@YerevanSaeed) November 19, 2014
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Regional Government's Council of Ministers has issued a statement urging the people to remain “steadfast in their high level of shared vigilance and responsibility for security”.


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Let’s Keep Fighting Gender-Based Violence! · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

Mujeres construyendo (Women building) reports about the Campaign Beijing+20 de UN, a small contribution in the fight against gender-based violence. Violence against women isn't just about physical violence, but sexual and psychological violence as well.
Image from the blog of Mujeres Construyendo. Used with permission.
According to data provided by UH Women, 120 million girls have been victims of sexual abuse, 700 million women were married while they were still young girls, and 4.5 million of the victims of sexual exploitation are women and girls. In the 21st century, violence against women is still a daily reality:
Esto no es vida, es el infierno. Mientras tú y yo estamos aquí leyendo este post, una niña o una mujer está siendo víctima de violencia en alguna de sus muchas formas, algunas sutiles, otras brutales, pero la realidad sigue siendo esa: la violencia prevalece.
This isn't life, this is hell. While you and me are here reading this post, a girl or a women is becoming victim of violence in one of its many forms, some are subtle, some others are brutal, but the reality remains: violence prevails.
What can we do to fight back?
First, be informed. Second, look for support and report the violence. Third, put pressure on our governments so they comply with laws that protect women. We should also educate younger generations within a culture of peace, put pressure on the media and politicians to raise awareness about this issue, and (why not?) produce our own content, using the digital tools we have at hand.
You can follow Mujeres Construyendo on Twitter.


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Mexico ‘Adrift’! · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Photo by Montecruz Foto on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
The tragedy of the students from Ayotzinapa in Guerrero, Mexico, has started a wave of solidarity among Mexicans and people throughout the world, so much so that students from at least 43 counties are demanding justice for their missing peers.
But to explain the sentiments of families and locals engaged with security and good living, let's listen to what a Mexican has to say. Fernando Vázquez Rigada, in a sensitive article, is harsh in his criticisms of passive society and of his government as well:
El estado llegó tarde y llegó mal. La desaparición de más de 50 seres humanos hubiera accionado los resortes de seguridad nacional de cualquier estado decente. Pero éste no lo es. Y llegó mal: porque, titubeante, no ha atinado a tomar el control de una crisis que hace que las instituciones se desmoronen y que la irritación social sea contenida. La esposa de Abarca está arraigada, porque no se pudo acreditarle ningún delito que ameritara orden de aprehensión del juez. La mujer que los escondió salió bajo caución: porque no se le considera cómplice, encubridora, de un crimen que ha conmovido al mundo entero.
The state arrived late and in bad shape. The disappearance of more than 50 human beings would have unleashed the national security mechanisms in any decent society. But this one is not. And it arrived in bad shape: because being hesitant, it has been unable to take control of a crisis that makes institutions crumble and that social irritation gets restrained. No crime could be proved to Abarca's wife, so there is no judicial order for her arrest. The woman who hid them was bailed out: as she is not considered accomplice, accessory to a crime that has shocked the whole world.
Vasquez Rigada concludes: “The sea is rough. The vessel creaks. The crew can't control the vessel. The passengers have fear and hate. And the helm is loose.”
You can follow Fernando on Twitter: @fvazquezrig


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Musicians Seen As “Pro-Russian” Are Not Welcome in the UK and Latvia · Global Voices
Masha

Valeriya and Kobzon. Composite image mixed by Nina Mashurova with images from valeriya.net and iosifkobzon.ru.
When Russian singer Valeriya came to London to perform on October 21, no one expected a scandal. But as she arrived at the Royal Albert Hall for her concert, which she was supposed to perform with fellow crooner Iosef Kobzon, she was met with over one hundred anti-Putin protesters. They wore Ukrainian flags and had anti-Russian posters that said ‘Ukrainian blood on Putin’s hands,” “Valeriya and Kobzon – Putin’s voices of war and death” and “Putin’s puppets and terrorist-bakers – out of London.”
Russia and Ukraine have been going back and forth banning musicians from each other’s countries, as part of an upswing of acrimonious patriotism in the wake of this summer’s military conflict. But recent events demonstrate that the soft power struggle is making waves that extend beyond the two countries – pro-Russian artists are facing international protests and bans for their support of Putin.
[Video of the BBC interviewing some people who attended the concert. At the end of the video, you can see Yevgeny Chichvarkin, a prominent Russian businessman in exile, who holds a poster that says ‘No Putin – no war’]
Valeriya (born Alla Yurievna Perfilova) and Kobzon (Iosef Kobzon), were among 500 Russian artists who signed an open letter in support of Putin’s annexation of Crimea last March. Although Valeriya has no record of political activism beyond signing the letter, Kobzon is an MP in the Duma as well as a singer.
A month prior to the concert, some activists from the London-based Speak Up movement sent a petition to the UK Government asking politicians to ban Valeriya, Iosef Kobzon and other Russian singers from performing in the country. “Stop Iosif KOBZON and other members of Kremlin's cheerleading team from entering the UK or any other democratic country,” – the petition said. Over four thousand people signed the petition, endorsing denying entry to the singers.
Activists from the London Euromaidan sent a letter to Chris Cotton, the CEO of the Royal Albert Hall, asking him to cancel the concert. Cotton refused, saying, “The Royal Albert Hall is hosting these events on purely artistic grounds based on the international artistic reputation of Valeriya and her special guests. We are not and would never be doing so on the basis of her or any other artist’s personal or political views or nationality.”
Oleg Skripka, a leader of the Ukrainian rock band Vopli Vidopliassova, refused to perform during Valreiya’s concert. “When I gave my consent to perform, there were no such tensions between Russia and Ukraine. I will not participate in a pro-Russian show” – he told GordonUA.com.
In the end, Iosif Kobzon didn’t participate in the concert due to his recent surgery. According to Iosif Prigozhin, Valeriya’s husband, the singer’s family were delayed for eight hours in the Heathrow airport due to document checks.
“Artists are public figures and every artist has a right to express her opinion,” Iosif Prigozhin said during a TV debate with Andrey Sidelnikov, a leader of the Speak Up movement.
Latvia turning into a moral watchdog
The incident in London is not the first instance of international pushback that pro-Russian artists have faced. This summer, Valeriya, Kobzon, Oleg Gazmanov, and some other Russian artists went to attend the annual music festival in Yurmala when they were denied entry into the country. They were blacklisted for expressing public support to Vladimir Putin.
According to the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
Указанные лица своими действиями способствовали подрыву территориальной целостности и суверенитета Украины
“These people contribute to undermining the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine via their actions.”
Valeriya and her husband tried to appeal the decision and sue Latvia in return:
Мы с Валерией хотим обратиться к президенту Латвии, чтобы он дал правовую оценку действиям МИД, далее мы планируем обратиться в судебные инстанции Латвии, в Европейский суд по правам человека
«Valeriya and I want to appeal to the President of Latvia asking him to give a legal assessment to the actions of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will then apply to courts in Latvia and European Court of Human Rights,” Prigozhin said in an interview.
As a result, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied entry to Alvis Hermanis, a prominent Latvian theater director who is famous for production of Russian classics. “My position is the following: while Russia will continue threatening neighboring countries and will not learn how to respect the borders of neighboring countries, like the entire civilized world does, I will not go there. And I will not work there, and will not bring there my performances. […] Sanctions against me are useless. I had no plans to go there,” Hermanis told Deutsche Welle.

author: Masha


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Bahrain Will Stamp Out Popular Protests, but Not Support for ISIS  · Global Voices
Noor Mattar

A protester in Bahrain holds a sign that reads: “No to the state-sponsored terrorism, Bahrain is a gulf state that is witnessing the third year of an uprising led by the majority Shia population. Photograph by Hussain Altareef. Copyright: Demotix
Bahrain is officially a part of a regional military coalition fighting the brutal, oppressive offshoot of Al Qaeda known as ISIS that has violently taken over large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. But the monarchy-backed government still seems to be turning a blind eye towards ISIS sympathizers, financiers and sectarian preachers within the country. Government critics say this move helps them create sectarian tension, which is used to silence pro-democracy activists in Bahrain, who have been leading a movement for reform since 2011.
A recent social media campaign presents a clear example of the growing support for ISIS in the tiny island kingdom. In one YouTube video, four Bahraini ISIS members call on other Bahrainis to take up arms and join the fight against their ruling “tyrants”, the Sunni Al Khalifa royal family, and the country's majority Shia population. Despite this, there has been no public investigation of the video.
ISIS propaganda flourishes in Bahrain under government watch
Other videos have called for support for ISIS and incited sectarian violence:
The poster of the videos, AbuAldergham, as he calls himself, has challenged the authorities by publishing his real name, phone number, and personal history online:
I am Abu Dergham Al Hijri.
My real name is Mohammed Al Mahmood
I graduated from the Religious Institute
This is my phone number 33784938
The country's cyber-crime unit, which routinely targets bloggers and human rights activists with detention and imprisonment, has not arrested the creators of these videos.
To give another example, Abdulla Mubarak Albinali, brother of Turki Albinali, the mufti or person in charge of interpreting Islamic law for ISIS, has been publishing pro-ISIS content online for some time. He was briefly questioned by Bahraini authorities, but has not been arrested. His other brother, Mohammed Mubarak Albinali, is the ISIS fighter “Abu Alfida Alsalami” from the YouTube call for arms referenced above. Both brothers received praise from their father Mubarak Abdulla Albinali, who many claim is a lieutenant colonel.
ISIS helps frame a sectarian narrative
Do these people believe they will not face repercussions for their actions? Bahraini human rights defenders observing the situation have raised this very question. Many believe the regime wants to encourage a sectarian narrative to crush the independent movement for greater human rights protections in Bahrain.
It could prove difficult for Bahraini authorities to counter the threat of extremist groups — after all, they have worked with them actively in the past. Extremist groups were summoned as a part of the crackdown on the 2011 uprising, which saw thousands upon thousands take to the streets to demand several different reforms and freedoms from the government.
The crackdown encouraged sectarianism, a witch hunt of “traitors,” the demolition of Shia mosques and bigotry and insults from police forces. It required entities who would support the rhetoric of a sectarian divide, and for that extremely sectarian groups were needed.
In fact, Turki Albinali, the mufti for ISIS mentioned above, rose to prominence as a member of counter-revolutionary forces that were used to resist those who were seeking change in Bahrain. In the video below from 2011, he makes a speech to a group in Busaiteen calling on them to “defend” their nation against the “traitors” — a reference to the pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain. Among those in the audience are people carrying axes, sticks and swords. Albinali even received the blessing of some high-level officials who visited the gathering in Busaiteen. Yet they experienced no repercussions from authorities because they were in line with the sectarian narrative that was being employed.
Turki Albinali exploited the platform provided to extremists. He gave Friday sermons, inciting hatred against the protesters. He also held protests in front of the United States Embassy in Bahrain, waving ISIS flags.
This rise of sectarianism was no surprise — it rapidly became an unspoken state-sponsored policy. As New York Times journalist Nicholas Kristof put it:
My New York Times colleague Michael Slackman was caught by Bahrain security forces a few weeks ago. He said that they pointed shotguns at him and that he was afraid they were about to shoot when he pulled out his passport and shouted that he was an American journalist. Then, he says, the mood changed abruptly and the leader of the group came over and took Mr. Slackman’s hand, saying warmly: “Don’t worry! We love Americans!”
“We’re not after you. We’re after Shia,” the policeman added. Mr. Slackman recalls: “It sounded like they were hunting rats.”
The government of Bahrain did not intervene to stop the rise of the likes of Turki Albinali for the same reason it did not join the Gulf-wide crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. They are valuable allies who endorse the sectarian narrative of the regime against social uprising. These groups may be the regime's last ally inside Bahrain.
Bahrain's powerful ISIS Sympathizers
This will not be the first time Bahrain has contributed to the growth and empowerment of militant groups. In his book “The Professionals – Politic and Crime – International Moneylaundering,” Heinz Duthel writes:
After September 11, 2001, money laundering become a major concern of the US Bush administration's war on terror, although critics argue that it has become less and less an important matter for the White House. Based in Luxembourg, Clearstream, “a bank of banks” which practice “financial clearing”, centralizing debit and credit operations for hundreds of banks, has been accused of being a major operator of the underground economy via a system of un-published accounts; Bahrain International Bank, owned by Osama bin Laden, would have profited from these transfer facilities.
The use of Bahrain as a financial haven for militant groups isn't new, but what's alarming is their ability to grow recently, to the extent where a member of Bahrain's royal family was tweeting in support of ISIS from his Twitter account featuring a backdrop photo of the group's flag (his account is currently suspended).
“ISIS soldiers take control of the villages of the northern Reef (countryside) after killing scores of members of Sahawat (awakening).” The account of a Bahraini member of the royal family who showed support to ISIS, currently suspended.
Another member of the royal family promoted Jabhat Al Nusra (a branch of Al Qaeda) “stocks:”
“@244358: #تجهيز_مجاهدي_الأنصار_بالسلاح pic.twitter.com/U1TboHws60” @AhmedHAlkhalifa
— سلمان آل خليفه (@bo5alifaalk) August 30, 2013
Supporting Al Nusra men with weapons
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The issue could soon become a concern for Saudi Arabia, which is battling Al Qaeda within its kingdom. Bahrain sits just off the coast of Saudi Arabia, separated by a narrow stretch of water only a few dozen kilometers wide. The two neighboring kingdoms share chummy relations — Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain in 2011 to help suppress a popular uprising there.
In the recent Dalwa massacre in Al Ahsa in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, three men who fought in Syria for Al Qaeda allegedly opened fire on a group of Shia Muslims, killing five. This attack could easily have been planned in Bahrain. Not long after the violence, Al Qaeda decided to once again join arms with ISIS, and many times before Bahrainis were arrested in Saudi for attempting attacks related to Al Qaeda.
Something similar could even happen in Bahrain. In fact, Bahrain's Foreign Affairs Minister Khalid Al Khalifa tweeted in response to the killing:
لولا عناية رب العالمين و يقظة رجال الأمن لما استبعدنا وقوع مثل جريمة الأحساء في البحرين . شكرا وزارة الداخلية
— خالد بن احمد (@khalidalkhalifa) November 4, 2014
Had it not been for the care of Allah and the alertness of the security apparatus, we wouldn't have been surprised if a crime such as the one in Al Ahsa occurred in Bahrain. Thank you Interior Ministry

author: Noor Mattar