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What were Global Voices’ readers up to last week? · Global Voices
L. Finch

Photo by Flickr user Canadian Pacific. CC BY-NC 2.0
At Global Voices, our community researches, writes, edits, and translates stories with a mission to support human rights and build bridges of understanding across countries, cultures, and languages.
We don't publish just to grab clicks or follow a news trend. We do, however, like to keep track of the ways in which our hard work has impact around the world.
To that end, one useful metric is how readers respond to our stories and translations. So let's take a look at who our readers were and what caught their attention during the week of April 23-29, 2018.
Last week, our stories and translations attracted readers from 202 countries! The top 20 countries represented across all of Global Voices’ sites were:
1. United States
2. Brazil
3. Japan
4. France
5. Mexico
6. Spain
7. Peru
8. Colombia
9. Taiwan
10. Argentina
11. Italy
12. United Kingdom
13 Bangladesh
14. Germany
15. India
16. Ecuador
17. Russia
18. Canada
19. Tanzania
20. Indonesia
But that's only a small slice of the diversity of our readership. Let's use the True Random Number Generator from Random.org and take a look at a few other countries on the list:
100. Ghana
25. Philippines
174. Chad
114. Benin
201. Swaziland
The English-language site is where the majority of original content is first published at Global Voices. The top five most-read stories of last week were:
1. Why did China take its own propaganda film offline? Netizens point to US tech sanctions
2. How an Indian professor is turning plastic trash into highways
3. China Central Television backs Russian version of the Syrian crisis, saying chemical attacks were staged
4. Puerto Rico’s flag is black and in ‘mourning’ over US-imposed oversight board (originally published in 2016)
5. 8-year-old Asifa’s heinous rape and murder in India fans the flames of nationalism
Lingua is a project that translates Global Voices stories into languages other than English. There are about 30 active Lingua sites. Below is last week's most-read story or translation on each active language site.

author: L. Finch


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Netizen Report: In Afghanistan and Pakistan, journalists honor slain colleagues on World Press Freedom Day · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Image licensed to public domain, without attribution.
In only a few months, 2018 has proven itself a difficult year for journalists around the world. Just days before World Press Freedom Day, ten media workers were killed in Afghanistan, nine of them in a suicide bombing in Kabul.
Reporters and photographers from the BBC, AFP, Radio Free Europe and local outlets Tolo News, 1TV, and Mashal TV died in the blasts. Multiple outlets reported that the bomber had enmeshed himself among the journalists, pretending to be a reporter.
Tweeting to honor his colleagues from the close-knit circle of journalists reporting on conflict in Kabul, Afghan journalist Tahir Qadiry shared a photograph of the bloodied engagement ring of fallen cameraman Yar Mohammad, who was to be married next month.
And the ring that didn’t keep the promise. This is the engagement ring of Yar Mohammad, a @TOLOnews cameraman, who had promised his fiancée to get married next month. He was amongst the dead today. pic.twitter.com/XLMkLUsqnf
— Tahir Qadiry (@tahirqadiry) April 30, 2018
In Pakistan,more than 80 media workers and rights advocates signed a statement on April 19 expressing their deep concern over the deterioration of media freedom in the country. They cite the recent ban on the major news network Geo, increasing censorship of news stories online, and threats faced by journalists, particularly those covering “rights movements.”
“There is growing self censorship and increasingly, discussions on ‘given news’ rather than real news, violating the citizens’ right to information,” the statement read.
Media rights advocates say soft censorship by media outlets has been especially prevalent surrounding issues of political tension. Media outlets have removed stories about the Pashtun rights movement in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, possibly under pressure from government censors.
On May 3 journalists who rallied in Islamabad to honor World Press Freedom Day were confronted by police, who barred them from marching towards the Parliament building. While some clashed with authorities, others sat in silent protest.
In the Philippine city of Dumaguete, a gunman fired multiple shots at radio reporter Edmund Sestoso as he rode home from his morning broadcast on April 30. When a tuk-tuk driver attempted to take him to the hospital, the gunman shot out the tires of the tuk-tuk as well. Sestoso died of the gunshot wounds on May 2. His wife told local media that Sestoso had received threats related to his radio reporting before his killing.
In a recent meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the newly elected leader to solve the March 2018 murder of journalist Jan Kuciak, who was killed in February along with fiancee Martina Kusnirova.
Police and people close to Kuciak suspect his death was related to his work. His most recent investigation, which had yet to be published, looked at connections between Slovak government politicians and Italian mafia interests in eastern Slovakia and whether they aimed to defraud the European Union.
Several days after the murder, Slovak police arrested but then released Italian citizens Antonino Vadala, Bruno Vadala, and Pietro Catroppa, who all are allegedly connected to the large-scale Italian organized crime group ‘Ndrangheta, which Kuciak was investigating prior to his death. No further arrests have been made in the investigation of the killing.
On May 2, the judge presiding over the case against Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Myanmar agreed to hear testimony from a police officer who claims that police orchestrated the journalists’ arrest as part of a “trap.” The two were arrested shortly after they had investigated a mass grave in Rakhine state, home to most of the country’s embattled Rohingya Muslim population. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were charged under Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act and could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Journalists and other staff from the independent Turkish daily newspaper and website Cumhuriyet were convicted by an Istanbul court of “aiding terrorist organizations,” in a case brought by public prosecutors who claimed the newspaper staff had followed or aided exiled Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. The fourteen media workers now face between two and seven years behind bars.
The US-based media freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists maintains an active database of killings, motives and other contextual details of journalists’ deaths. Thus far in 2018, the group has identified 18 cases of murder in which they were able to confirm a motive. They include:
Global Voices expresses its deepest condolences to journalists facing threats, and to the families of journalists who have been killed because of their work. We stand in solidarity with all media workers seeking to protect freedom of expression online and off.
Weaponising 280 characters: What 200,000 tweets and 4,000 bots tell us about state of Twitter in Sri Lanka – Center for Policy Alternatives
2017 Internet Society Global Internet Report: Paths to Our Digital Future – Internet Society
Unshackling Expression: A study on laws criminalizing expression online in Asia – Association for Progressive Communications
Ellery Roberts Biddle, Rohith Jyothish, Rezwan Islam, Chris Rickleton, Ivan Sigal, Filip Stojanovski and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Netizen Report Team


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Hazara women end hunger strike against targeted killings after Pakistan army chief agrees to talks · Global Voices
Anushe Noor

Human right advocate and legal practitioner Jalila Haidar. Image via Facebook account of Jalila Haidar. Used with permission.
A hunger strike of Hazara women led by Jalila Haidar, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist who comes from the Hazara minority of Pakistan, successfully pressured the country's army chief to speak with community leaders about the continued targeted killings of Hazaras.
The strike began on April 28, 2018. Participants camped outside the press club in Quetta, the capital of the Pakistani province Balochistan. In a Facebook video, Haider said:
We demand that the Chief of Army Staff, Qamar Javaid Bajwa, must come to Quetta dressed as a civilian and listen to the cries of the 3,000 widows and 10,000 orphans
Hazaras have long been protesting for the right to live without fear of death. Hundreds of Hazaras have been killed in the last several years in Pakistan, targeted for their religion (Shia Islam) or ethnicity by militant groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Perpetrators are rarely brought to justice, which has led many to believe state forces don't care or are complicit in the violence.
#Hazara women, led by friend Advocate Jalila Haider, are on hunger strike against #HazaraGenocide in front of #Quetta Press Club.
Pakistani media search for news in Palestine, jumping over the dead bodies at their doorsteps.
Politicians are dead silent, as usual. #Pakistanpic.twitter.com/KQ5dws1bTi
— Saleem Javed (@mSaleemJ
In presence of No. 1 agency of the world ISI, #Hazara community people have been facing systematic genocide since 1999 in Quetta & more than 2500 members of d community have been killed till date but not a single terrorist has been brought to Justice which is a big Question ? pic.twitter.com/aQv8BrZ7lh
— Esmat Ali Hazara (@EsmatAliChangez) 28 de abril de 2018
ISI, referenced in the tweet above, stands for Inter-Services Intelligence, which is Pakistan's top intelligence agency.
On May 2, 2018, Haider called off the hunger strike when the chief of army staff agreed to the visit. Haider posted on Facebook:
Hunger strike has been called off from my side on the request of [Interior Minister] Ehsan Iqbal and Army chief after ensuring and promise of making the law and order situation better in Quetta for Hazara Tribe. Thank you all for your support.
Haider's protest was spurred by the deadly drive-by shootings of two Hazara shopkeepers by two unidentified men on a motorbike in Quetta on April 28, 2018. She was accompanied in the hunger strike by women of her community.
The protesters demanded answers as to why their community is a target, why they can't enjoy the “right to life” and why security policies aren't protecting them.
A solidarity hunger strike camp was set up 900 kilometers away in the city of Islamabad, which was joined by Ismat Shahjahan, a prominent democratic activist involved in the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, which is fighting for the rights of the Pashtun minority of Pakistan.
Earlier in April, she joined a week long sit-in with the yellow cab drivers in Quetta and expressed solidarity with the ongoing Pashtun Tahafuz Movement saying that it is a movement demanding the right to live. There, she said, according to progressive news outlet NayaDaur:
About 3,000 Hazaras who were also workers, taxi drivers, vegetable vendors, daily wagers, have been killed. I will not call them martyrs because they were cold-blooded murders. We were killed. We are here to demand an end to these murders and to the politics of war.
The Hazara community has faced violence for years. They are attacked due to their faith & ethnicity. After a spate of targeted killings recently they are staging a sit-in at Alamdar Rd. Jalila Haider, a Hazara activist & lawyer, speaks about the protest.https://t.co/Q5x8mMYxV8 pic.twitter.com/U1dzkuEHmv
— NayaDaur (@nayadaurpk) 5 de abril de 2018

author: Anushe Noor


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‘Peppa Pig’ has gotten too naughty for China’s censors · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Friendship between Peppa and Suzy has been interpreted as plastic or fake by some Chinese netizens. Screen capture from a Peppa Pig derivative video.
The latest addition to China's extensive list of censored cultural products and programs is the objectively adorable cartoon pig Peppa.
The popular video platform Douyin recently put Peppa Pig, a children's cartoon megastar, on its censorship list. The company removed more than 30,000 videos of the cheerful pink character and made the term “Peppa Pig” unsearchable on its website.
What could the precocious pink pig possible have done to land herself on the censorship list? Has she disrupted China's Harmonious Society?
In April 2018, commentary on state and party media outlets Xinhua and People’s Daily hinted that the ban might be imminent. One commentator from party-affiliated news outlets criticized a certain subculture that makes an association between Peppa Pig and “Shehuiren”, a term that is literally translated as “man in the society” and refers to hooligans with a triad background. In China, a triad is commonly known as a branch of any one of a number of trans-national organized crime syndicates.
The commentary from People's Daily said:
在‘社会人’的路上越走越远，不少人也担忧：‘小猪佩奇会被玩坏了’。时下，不少中小学生以此标新立异，一些人以穿戴小猪佩奇的服饰、手表等互相攀比，更有甚者，少数不法商家假冒仿制相关产品，攫取利益，这些不利于文化产业健康发展的因素，需要警惕。毕竟，小猪佩奇再社会，也不能毁掉了孩子的童年，不能逾越规则和底线。
The more Peppa Pig is associated with Shehuiren, the more people worried that Peppa Pig would be destroyed. Quite a number of primary and junior high school students are showing off with their Peppa Pig accessories. Some are even taking advantage of the subculture by selling counterfeit products to make a profit. We should be wary of these kinds of subcultures. We should not let Peppa Pig ruin kids’ childhoods, flout the rules and disregard the bottom line.
The state-run China Central Television officially imported the Peppa Pig series into mainland China in August 2015. It was subsequently shown on the online video platforms Youku and Aiqiyi. Within a year, the cartoon was screened more than 10 billion times. On Youku alone, Peppa Pig has garnered more than six million daily views.
Without a doubt, Peppa Pig is a popular cartoon among kids. But in China, teenagers and young adults are her biggest fans. This is because they are not watching the original version of the show, but rather an ongoing series of “derivative works” featuring the animation from the Peppa Pig program, but with dubbing in different Chinese dialects, with different language.
The YouTube video below is one of the most popular Cantonese-dubbed Peppa Pig episodes:
Drawn from an episode in which Peppa and Suzy Sheep get into an argument, the video is dubbed with adult language. The storyline instead has Peppa and Suzy competing for the attention of prospective boyfriends.
Naturally, these derivatives can easily fall into the category of vulgar content, as defined by related state regulations for online content.
But however naughty these videos might be, they have existed for years without facing a problem, making Douyin’s ban seem more of a reaction to state mouthpieces’ ideological critique of the Peppa Pig/Shehuiren crossover subculture, and the affiliated emergence of Peppa Pig products like stickers, watches, and mobile phone covers.
Peppa pig tattoo. Screen capture from viral video.
The culture emerged towards the end of 2017, when a viral video that showed a drawing of Peppa Pig on a man’s back triggered a chain reaction of the video memes on various platforms, giving birth to a popular expression:
小猪佩奇身上纹，掌声送给社会人
Wear a Peppa pig tattoo, Shehuiren receives applause.
An earlier version of the expression linking Shehuiren to hooligan culture also went viral on various video platforms:
关公踏马身上纹，掌声送给社会人
Wear a Guan Yu tattoo, Shehuiren receives applause.
Guan Yu is a historical figure worshiped by Chinese underground criminal society. Since the meme was attached to videos which reflected Shehuiren characteristics, the term has since evolved into the mockery of video platform users who don’t follow mainstream work ethics.
One comment from Sina Tech, however, pointed out that a majority of people who embrace the Peppa Pig/Shehuiren crossover are young adults who follow rules and regulations:
在大城市中奋斗的人们，焦虑和压迫感是时刻存在的，你可能有意识想反抗一些自己看不惯的东西，但最后还是悲哀地选择了顺从，叛逆感日积月累，又得不到发泄也无法挣脱，于是只能通过小猪佩奇手表这种社会人身份的认可来营造一种假象——成为一个随性不羁且无所顾忌的“社会人”。
Those who work in big cities often feel repressed and anxious. They may want to resist, but eventually they have to obey. The tension keeps mounting and they end up using Peppa Pig to express their aspiration of being a Shehuiren — a person who follows their heart regardless of social norms.
One user offered a similar sentiment in a Weibo comment about a Peppa Pig watch :
自从买了社会人小猪佩奇手表，终于感觉我是一个社会人了，拥有这个表，我感觉走路都带风了。不仅仅是一块表，不仅仅是社会人的身份地位的象…
Since I have bought a Peppa Pig Shehuiren watch, I feel that I am a Shehuiren. With this watch, wind follows me while I walk. This is not only a watch, but a symbol of Shehuiren status…
On Zhihu, China’s most popular question and answer platform, many netizens have expressed their belief that Peppa Pig’s crossover with Shehuiren is a mockery of social norms — economic power, hypocrisy, and family background — in mainland China. Some of their interpretations of Peppa’s social status include:
1. Peppa’s family is rich — they live in a villa.
2. Peppa is plastic — she is cheerful, confident, carefree and never has to worry about money.
3. Peppa’s mother is second generation rich — her parents live in a villa with a big garden and a yacht. Peppa’s mother knows how to play the violin and speaks French.
Both the hooligan culture and the critique of social norms can be seen as subversive to China's vision of a Harmonious Society. This subculture also has a huge impact on the cultural economy.
The Global Times reported that on Taobao, China's largest e-commerce website, one online shop sold 30,000 Peppa Pig/Shehuiren tattoo stickers and 110,000 Peppa Pig-themed watches in just one month. The China-based distributor of Peppa Pig has seen its copyright revenue escalate, while the UK-based Entertainment One announced that the sales revenue from product authorization in China achieved a growth of more than 700% in the first half of 2017 — and the Chinese market has kept right on expanding.
However, Douyin's ban signals that the Chinese censorship authorities have the power to crush the cultural market if Peppa Pig or any other foreign-owned cartoon characters become too naughty.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Homeless, jobless, and penniless, residents resist closure of the Philippines’ Boracay island · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Boracay's white sand beach. Photo credit: Alexey Komarov. CC BY 3.0
Residents and workers of the Philippines’ Boracay island are speaking out against the government’s order to shut down the world-famous resort destination for six months in order to carry out renovation work that includes the upgrade of the island's obsolete sewerage system.
With the signing of Presidential Proclamation 475 on April 26, 2018, the country's president, Rodrigo Duterte, placed Boracay under a state of calamity — a move which formalized the tourist island’s temporary closure, and which several groups are petitioning the court to invalidate.
Appellants at the Supreme Court questioned the constitutionality of what they deemed to be an arbitrary decision by the president. They also sought a temporary restraining order on the closure and eviction of businesses on the island.
Authorities have justified the shutdown as part of its efforts to purportedly “rehabilitate” the island amidst environmental woes. But after it was reported that the government had initially approved the construction of two mega casinos on Boracay, many people questioned this rationale.
Still, the closure has been pushed without any prior master plan for rehabilitation, or any strategy to minimize its effects on the livelihood of those who live and work on Boracay, many of whom will be forced to relocate. The massive lay-offs have already affected thousands of workers.
The Friends of Boracay Facebook page highlighted the negative effects of the shutdown on people's lives — and livelihoods. These online testimonies have been included in the statements gathered by civil society organizations during a fact-finding and solidarity mission they conducted in and around Boracay and Aklan province between April 16-19, 2018.
Some of these organizations include Bayan-Aklan, Friends of Boracay, Tabang Aklan Action Center, Gabriela Panay-Guimaras, The Center for Environmental Concerns, the Iloilo Pride Team, and the National Union of People’s Lawyers.
One tour guide shared how the closure of Boracay will affect his family:
Photo credits: Friends of Boracay. Used with permission.
Boracay Tour Guide ako. 11 years na ako sa Boracay. Masakit ang nangyayari sa amin; 2000 kaming mga tour guides. Wala kaming regular na sahod dahil commission basis lang kami. Pumunta ako sa DOLE dahil may closure. May SSS ako at 6 years na akong may contribution. Nagtanong ako kung pwedeng mag apply ng calamity loan, para lang may pangkain, budget. Sa Wetland ako nakikitira sa barong- barong. Ang tanong namin, may ipapalit bang trabaho? Nakatenga kami, araw araw kaming kumakain may tatlo akong anak at pinapadalhan ko sila sa Bacolod. Kailangan namin ng financial assistance.
I am a Boracay tour guide. I have been in Boracay for 11 years. What’s happening to us is very painful; there are 2,000 of us tour guides. We have no regular wages because we work only on a commission basis. I went to the Labor Department because of the closure. I have social security, which I have been contributing to for six years. I asked if I can apply for a calamity loan, just so I have a budget for food. I live in a cardboard house in the Wetland. Our question is, will there be alternative employment? We are idle, yet we need to eat every day. I have three children and I send them money in Bacolod. We need financial assistance.
A resident recounted the aggressive behavior of authorities who were sent to issue eviction notices to small businesses and resort owners on the island:
Photo credits: Friends of Boracay. Used with permission.
Sir, gusto ko ikwento ang ginagawa sa amin dito. Sinerbihan kami bg DENR ng Show Cause Order at Notice to Vacate. At sa pagpunta nila may kasama silang masobra sa 5 na pulis na naka fatigue at kargadang mahahabang baril. NAGPAPANIC NA KAMI DAHIL MAY MGA BATA. At pabalik balik sila sa mga kabahayan. Binigyan lang kami nang 15 days para umalis sa mga bahay namin.
Sir, we would like to tell the story of what they did to us here. We were served [by the government’s environment ministry] a Show Cause Order and Notice to Vacate. When they came, they were accompanied by five policemen in fatigue uniforms carrying long firearms. We were panicking because there were children. They went back and forth among the houses. They gave us 15 days to vacate our homes.
A single motor operator had a similar experience with the police:
Photo credits: Friends of Boracay. Used with permission.
Napapatanong kami, Kasama ba kami sa demolition? Wala nang pasahero, ikot ng ikot wala namang kita. May pasahero ako dalawang pulis, narinig kong sabi nila pag may lumaban gagawin nilang susunod na Marawi. Natatakot na kami, wala na nga kaming makain. Bubuldosin kami na parang aso at patutulugin sa lupa? Hindi naman kami lalaban kung i de demolish kami, armado sila. Wala kaming malilipatan. May damdamin kami at takot na takot dahil armado sila.
People already don’t have work, yet they still do things through intimidation. Which leads us to ask, are we included in the demolition? There are no more passengers; we go round and round but get no income. Will we be bulldozed like dogs and left to sleep on the ground? Of course, we will not resist if we are demolished, they are heavily armed. We have nowhere to go. We have feelings and we are very afraid because they are armed.
Sand artists insisted that it is the government's own actions that created the problem in the first place:
Apat na taon na kaming magpipinsan na gumagawa ng sand art. Taga Boracay kami. Hindi kami ang sumisira sa Isla. Ang mga nagpatayo ng mga malalaking building na pinayagan naman ng DENR ang sumira sa Boracay.
We cousins have been making sand art for four years. We are from Boracay. We are not destroying the island. Those building the big buildings who were given permits by the [government’s environment ministry] are the ones destroying Boracay.
One Facebook post echoed the views of many who are concerned about the plight of the displaced:
As an advocate for the environment I want it rehabilitated too… BUT I BLEED MORE for the people who are affected by the closure because of lack of planning and foresight on the part of the government in ensuring that safety nets are in place prior to closedown.
According to the initial fact-finding and solidarity mission report, 40% of the island’s population have received notices to self-demolish and vacate their residences. These notices came from state employees who were accompanied by heavily-armed policemen, over 600 of which have been deployed to the island days ahead of its scheduled closure.
In response to the outcry, President Duterte has threatened the permanent closure of Boracay — but workers, residents and their supporters are not backing down. They continue to defend their livelihoods, and oppose the entry of big casinos into the island.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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‘Get involved in your communities’: An American woman who fought for justice urges stronger activism · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

American human rights activist Katrina Johnson wears a t-shirt emblazoned with the hashtag #SayHerName. It is part of a wider campaign by Amnesty International (using another hashtag, #SheStands4Justice), which draws attention to the issue of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in the Americas. Photo by Mario Allen, courtesy Amnesty International, used with permission.
This is the final instalment in a three-part series that features three women — from Jamaica, Brazil and the United States — brought together to highlight the issue of police brutality and extrajudicial killings in the Americas, with the hashtag #SheStands4Justice. They visited Kingston, Jamaica recently to share their thoughts in the aftermath of the death of a family member. Read the first part here and the second part here.
In March 2018, Seattle, Washington resident Katrina Johnson — along with Brazilian activist Ana Paula Oliveira and Kingston-born Shackelia Jackson — visited Jamaica as part of an Amnesty International campaign that was supported by local human rights lobby group Jamaicans for Justice.
Dubbed “A Journey for Justice in the Americas”, the campaign focused on the persistent legal, social and psychological challenges that many families face after a relative is killed by the police. While the shock of the death itself is bad enough, grief-stricken relatives often find the struggle to get answers from their respective judicial systems difficult and distressing.
Johnson noted that some time after her cousin's death, the police officers responsible were taken off duty. An investigation followed, but before it was complete, the prosecuting attorney told her the officers would not be charged. In the state of Washington, a declaration by law enforcement that they were in fear of their lives was sufficient to grant them immunity from prosecution. The investigators said her cousin — a small-framed woman who had called 911 to report a possible burglary — might have been holding a steak knife.
In the midst of the tragedy, Johnson began helping other families in similar situations through a local organisation, explaining, “I have to grieve and fight at the same time.” She helped form a coalition of citizen and minority groups, trade unions and attorneys, which lobbied for the law in Washington state to be changed. The De-Escalate Washington campaign drafted a submission in May, 2017 (Initiative I-940); by March 6, 2018, there was success.
After gathering over 250,000 signatures to get the Initiative on the ballot, a law was passed that “held police officers accountable for using deadly force unjustly,” said Johnson. The new law also mandates a range of training programmes for police officers, including de-escalation of violence, implicit bias, mental health and first aid.
During her Kingston visit, Johnson called for police reform in both Jamaica and Brazil. She expressed solidarity with her peers, who told of their own struggles at a March 13 forum at the University of the West Indies’ Mona campus.
American activist Katrina Johnson, wearing a t-shirt with an image of her cousin Charleena Lyles. Lyles was killed by Seattle police in front of her children. Photo by Mario Allen, courtesy Amnesty International, used with permission.
Johnson (KJ) spoke with Global Voices (GV) about the short- and long-term impact of the experience on her family, and about the need for greater accountability from agents of the state:
KJ: My cousin, Charleena Lyles, was a 30-year-old pregnant mother killed by Seattle police in her apartment, in front of her children. She was shot seven times, including twice in the back. She was killed after she called 911 to report a burglary. The bullets cut through her uterus and hit her foetus, estimated to be 14 to 15 weeks old. The immediate response of my family was shock and disbelief.
No one should have to die like that. She was somebody to us, and her life mattered. Her family deserves answers, her kids deserve answers. I feel like it’s my duty to share her story so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else’s family, and I get my strength from my support system and just the fact that I know that I’m doing the right thing.
GV: In your view, how should the problem of extrajudicial killings be tackled — in your country and across the Americas? What, for you, is at the heart of this issue?
KJ: I think the police need to be held accountable. Without accountability, there is no justice. That’s the biggest problem, no one is ever accountable.
Pleading for greater empathy for families who are suffering, Johnson urges an activist approach:
If it hasn’t happened to you, it’s only a matter of time before it will happen to you, so get involved in your communities and support the people that are out there fighting for your future. If you don’t, and nothing changes, it will end up on your doorstep.
Like her fellow campaigners from Brazil and Jamaica, Katrina Johnson remains hopeful that things will get better:
Yes, I am optimistic. I think with enough [community] support and getting the word out, other people will start to rise up and we will all be able to come together and get some change, which is drastically needed.

author: Emma Lewis


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‘I wanted my grandchildren to grow up in that house’: Testimony of a 61-year-old Syrian woman from Zamalka · Global Voices
Act For Ghouta

A photo of her destructed house. Taken by Lens of a Damascene Young Man.
This is the testimony of Um Mohammed; a kind, 61-year-old woman from Zamalka. Um Mohammed's kindness reflects of her face with its childish features. Her cheeks still turn red when she is agitated.
Um Mohammed loves old songs and memorizes quite a few. As a loving grandmother, she adores little children and could play with them for hours.
Um Mohammed used to live in Zamalka, a town of Eastern Ghouta. Its population was estimated at 150,000 in the last census.
Zamalka fell out of the regime's control in 2012. Since then it has been subjected to a stifling siege, along with all the towns of Eastern Ghouta. Zamlaka endured continuous heavy shelling daily.
In this testimony, the forcibly displaced Um Mohammed talks about her home and family in Zamalka and about her connection to that house and its furniture:
I have three daughters and a son. My three daughters remained with me in Ghouta, while my son fled seven years ago. The siege deprived me the opportunity to attend his wedding, or to be with him when his son was born.
I lived in the family house. A very old house that my husband inherited from his father who inherited it from his father and so on. Generation after generation grew up in that house. Those of them who are still alive hold so many fond memories of it. Over time, as the house needed renovation, we carried the work while being very diligent so as to maintain its original features. We wanted to preserve its soul.
During the siege all means of fuel became very scarce, or unbelievably expensive. So we had to rely on wood for heating, cooking, bathing and sometimes even for lighting.
As shelling intensified during the last stretch since February, it became impossible to leave the basements and go out to buy wood. The lack of proper ventilation in the basements and the dampness exacerbated the feeling of cold.
One day in that basement, as the shelling was burning the city, we had to use the furniture for heating. I will never forget that mad shelling that burned our memories and the memories of all those around us. It wiped any trace of us in Zamalka, our homeland, before we were completely uprooted.
The first pieces of furniture we burnt were the couches, and this was due to hunger. My grandchildren were hungry, and the extensive shelling prevented us from going outside to get wood. Even if someone would risk their life outside, there was no one selling anything in that hell. My son in law asked for my permission to break the couch to use its wood for cooking fire. I approved, but something inside me was shattered.
That couch carried a beautiful story. My husband bought it ten years after our marriage. He was so happy that we could afford it. We picked it together. It was one of the very few times we were able to go out together without the kids. Yes, I might be able to restore material belongings, but the memories attached to them, how could they ever be recuperated?
The pain was greater when we had to set my bedroom furniture on fire. That bedroom accompanied me for 35 years, ever since I got married. It witnessed the best, and the worst days of my life. The scent of my beloved late husband lingered there. I used to sense his spirit floating around it, that's why I felt he was beside me whenever I fell asleep.
I burnt most of my clothes. For instance that gown I wore for my eldest daughter's wedding. I remember going with her to the tailor and having it tailor made for the occasion, along with her own wedding dress. My own mantles, which became my attire ever since I grew older and became a grandmother. I managed to salvage only one of them to take with me when we are eventually forcibly displaced.
Out of my kitchen utensils that survived the shelling, I burnt all the plastics because they were highly flammable and provided extra warmth. What was important was for my children and grandchildren to eat and feel some warmth.
In our traditions, the bride's family would send with her to her husband's house a glass cabinet where lavish plates and cutlery would be displayed. Usually this cabinet is passed on through the generations. But after all the glassware in my cabinet was shattered due to the shelling, we broke it to pieces and used its wood to warm water for bathing.
Yet the hardest situation I had to overcome was taking the decision to burn my son's wardrobe. My son, whom I haven't seen for seven years.
That wardrobe held all the beautiful memorabilia of his childhood. His toys, his baby clothes, even his favorite cup. I can't carry all that with me on that bus of forcible displacement. But I also can't destroy those memories with my own hands; nor can I leave them behind for strangers to fiddle around with after we were gone, or see them in videos being sold on the streets. Eventually I had to make the decision to break and burn them. I only kept very small items that I could carry with me.
That was the hardest situation of all. For I always dreamed of giving my son his memorabilia back, and of seeing his son wearing his own clothes when he was his age, and of telling that grandson stories about the photos of his father.
I wanted my grandchildren to grow up in that house where I would tell them stories about their parents’ mischievousness. A home that i would pass on to them so they would in turn pass it on to their grandchildren; so that they would add to it a new life every time, just like every generation of our ancestors did.
Towards the end we even had to burn the doors of the house. My house, the family house, my children's house, was left widely open, exposed and violated.
Following the horrible shelling offensive during which the Syrian regime and Russian forces showed us hell, we were forcibly removed from Zamalka as broken refugees. It was impossible for us to live under the regime again. That regime that can detain my sons in law or drag them to military service. It was impossible especially knowing that my son would never go back to Zamlaka.
I left behind the family house and all the memories it nurtured. I left to Idlib with my daughters and their families, broken hearted. The one thing that offered me some consolation was that I was finally reunited with my son whom I didn't see for seven years and I held his son in my arms. The one thing that gives me hope is that I know I will tell my grandson all about his grandfather, his father and the family house with all the memories it nurtured.
Upon our reunion I gave me son the small memorabilia that I managed to salvage from his wardrobe. At the beginning he couldn't believe his eyes. He couldn't believe that I managed to bring with me a piece of his memory. At that moment I prayed for my son to go back to the family house, to rebuild it and raise his children in it.
Today I live with my son and his family, hopping from one house to the other until we manage to find a temporary settlement post, which I am confident will never, ever, replace my home.

author: Act For Ghouta


text:
Moscow activists say telcos disrupted mobile coverage during protests, at order of police · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

Several activists complained about widespread network disruptions during the May 5 protests in Russia // Ervins Strauhmanis, Flickr CC BY 2.0, collage by Runet Echo
Two days before Vladimir Putin's official inauguration into his fourth term as the president of Russia, protests broke out across the country.
In multiple cities on May 5, crowds of protesters chanted the slogan “he is not a tsar to us.”
Top five Russian cities by the number of detainees in May 5 protest (bottom three are ones you’d least expect to be on the list at all):
Moscow 572
St Petersburg 180
Chelyabinsk 164
Yakutsk 75
Togliatti 63 https://t.co/xOjjRn6wdU
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) 6 мая 2018 г.
Many protesters were violently dispersed by riot police, with hundreds arrested, many of them teenagers.
это вообще не повод для шуток. менты задерживают детей с применением силы, что прямо запрещено законом о полиции pic.twitter.com/NSIlPHmxwE
— Oksana Baulina (@oksana_baulina) May 5, 2018
It’s not a joke at all, cops are violently apprehending kids, which is a clear violation of the law.
At the height of the protests, several activists reported that their mobile phone signals became weak or non-existent. Some said Russian telecom operators were intentionally degrading the quality of service or even delisting their numbers at the orders of the authorities.
Mediazona, an independent online outlet which covers political trials and Russia’s prison systems, said their own reporter felt the consequences:
Вчера Tele2 отключил своим абонентам на Пушкинской площади всю связь и интернет (наш корреспондент прочувствовал это на себе). Оператор объяснил сбои «работами по улучшению качества связи», которые решили провести именно 5 маяhttps://t.co/LQIszu4LqU pic.twitter.com/OJFN64Xbwo
— Медиазона (@mediazzzona) 6 мая 2018 г.
Yesterday Tele2 [one of Russia’s telecom operators] switched off both the cell phone coverage and the mobile internet access around Pushkinskaya square (our reporter felt it himself.) The operator blamed the disruptions on “quality of service improvement works” which happened to be held on May 5.
Mediazona attached to their tweet a screenshot of a chat between a Tele2 customer and the operator’s customer service department:
Tele2: Приносим извинения за неудобства, в компании проводились работы по улучшению качества связи, из-за чего могли возникать временные ограничения. На данный момент ограничений не зафиксировано. Возможно, что-то еще можем подсказать?
Абонент: улучшения вот прямо в определенном месте и в определенный момент? Я правильно понял?
Tele2: Да, в определенное время. Работы затрагивали указанный вами адрес. Подсказать что-то еще?
Tele2: Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience, our company was working on improving the quality of service which may have led to disruptions. There are no service disruptions at the moment. Is there anything else I could help you with?
Customer: You were improving the quality of your service in this particular place at this particular time? Did I get this right?
Tele2: Yes, it was this specific time period. The maintenance works affected the area you mentioned. Is there anything else I could help you with?
Activists also saw evidence of Beeline, Russia’s second largest telecom operator customer, de-listing phone numbers. Denis Styazhkin said the company de-listed his number on police orders:
Билайн уже разблокировал мой номер и вот какой ответ прислал: номер был заблокирован по запросу правоохранительных органов!!!! pic.twitter.com/s06AobZv9f
— Денис Стяжкин (@styazshkin) 5 мая 2018 г.
Beeline finally unblocked my number and here’s their response: the number was blocked at the law enforcement’s request!!!!
Screenshot: Phone number [redacted], Denis Styazhkin. Why is it blocked?????
Response: Hello! Your number has been suspended at the law enforcement authorities’ request. It has already been unblocked.
In a statement to the press, a Beeline representative denied de-listing phone numbers on police orders, and claimed not to have de-listed Styazhkin's number. The company blamed the disruptions on network overload, and added that Styazhkin could have been blocked for violating the terms of service, not specifying a particular violation.
The Russian telecom @Beeline_RUS denies blocking clients in Moscow during yesterday’s rally. Activist @styazshkin says the company’s help line told him that his account had been disabled on police orders. pic.twitter.com/NNNJcd77yi
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) 6 мая 2018 г.
Other activists have also reported widespread network disruptions on multiple major telecom operators during the protests.

author: RuNet Echo


text:
Tweeting out Japan’s idiosyncratic folk customs · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Hand-painted Jizo statues in Obama, Fukui Prefecture. Photo by Nevin Thompson.
If you're interested in learning more about some of the more offbeat folk traditions of Japan, the Twitter account Unusual Festivals of Japan Club, (or ‘KFC’ for short; the ‘K’ in the acronym stands for 奇祭, kisai, or ‘unusual’) is a must-read. Tweeting multiple times a day, KFC documents the myriad local traditions of Japan, some of which date back more than a thousand years.
In this festival occurring on the remote Noto Peninsula, inebriated men haul around gigantic portable shrines to mark the end of the harvest.
奇祭過去レポ・石川県七尾市の久麻加夫都阿良加志比古神社の毎年9月20日に開催される、「お熊甲祭り」を訪問。『枠旗』という高さ20m重さ1tにもなるのぼりをサルタヒコが導き、男たちが威勢をあげながら社殿に一気に駆け上がる姿が圧巻でした！pic.twitter.com/dPW9yknEK2
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) May 4, 2018
Each year on September 20, Kumakabuto Arakashihiko Shrine in Nanao, Ishikawa holds the ‘Okuma Kabuto’ festival. Portable shrines weighing 1 tonne with 20-meter flagpoles called ‘wakuhato’ bear Sarutahiko Okami (one of the ‘six great kami’ of Shinto). The highlight of the day is watching the shrine-bears dash up the hill to deliver the god to the main Shrine hall.
Images of the festival, like many others that KFC documents, can be found on YouTube:
Another festival commemorates Sugawara no Michizane, a deity enshrined in Tenman-gu, a common shrine found in many parts of Japan. At this location in northern Japan, festival participants remember Sugawara no Michizane by drinking with their faces covered:
【山形・化けものまつり】＜5月25日＞鶴岡天満宮の天神祭。菅原道真が配流される時に道真を慕う人々が時の権力にはばかって顔を隠し、姿を変えて酒を酌み交わして惜しんだという言い伝えから、変装した人々が無言で酒やジュースを振る舞う。 pic.twitter.com/rBTKSR3yu1
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) May 3, 2018
Yamagata ‘Beastly Festival’ (Bakemono no Matsuri, May 25 each year): Sugawara no Michizane festival, Tenman Shrine in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture. Following Sugawara no Michizane's banishment (following court intrigue about 1,000 years ago), it's said his followers, fearing being associated with him, disguised their faces when drinking together. In this festival, participants silently drink sake or juice as they dance.
Portable shrines, called mikoshi, play an important role in Japanese festivals. This festival in Uji, in Kyoto prefecture, features a mikoshi that transports Brahma-Deva, an important protective deity in Japanese Buddhism.
【京都・あがた祭り】＜6月5日～6日未明＞別名「暗闇の奇祭」。梵天とよばれる竹棒の先へ奉書を球状に束ねた祭具を乗せた神輿を男衆が担ぎ、激しい「ぶん回し」や左右前後に揺さぶる「差し上げ」をしながら町の深夜の暗闇の中を練り歩く。 pic.twitter.com/45dNhysKrl
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) May 4, 2018
Kyoto Agata matsuri: Each year from June 5 to the end of the month (also known as the kurayami kisai, or ‘the dark rite’). Festival attendants transport a ‘Brahma-Deva’ (bonten, 梵天), bamboo pole with paper sphere that serves as a portable shrine. The attendants shake the pole from left to right as they walk all throughout the night.
The website Green Shinto, always a good source of information about Japanese folk traditions, explains what happens during the festival procession:
There were two floats, both borne on the shoulders of men in happi. One had a fierce looking shishsi (Chinese lion) and the men yelled ‘yoiya, yoiya’. The other represented Bonten, a kami protector of Buddhism represented by a pole with white paper streamers. (According to the shrine office at Agata Shrine, when the deity there is transferred to the float, it mutates into Bonten.) Here the men were shouting, ‘Washoi, washoi.’ As the float was carried around, one of the men stood on top and grasped the pole with one hand, his head buried in the paper streamers, with the other hand stretched out in protective manner […]
A short video of the festival can be found on YouTube:
Foxes play an important role in Japanese folklore. Inari, the fox god, is one of the most popular deities in Japan, representing good luck, good fortune and fecundity:
【山口・稲穂祭】＜11月3日＞花岡福徳稲荷社に祀られる狐が五穀豊穣・商売繁盛をもたらすとして「狐の嫁入り」が執り行われる。市民から夫婦役が選ばれ新婦役の女性は良縁に恵まれ縁結びの利益もあると言われるが、夫婦役が誰かは明かされない。 pic.twitter.com/NuTNfCxCjZ
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) May 3, 2018
Yamaguchi Inari festival: Each year on November 3, a “fox's wedding” (kitsune no yomeiri) is held for the fox (god) enshrined at Hanafukutoku Inari shrine, in hopes of a bumper crop and prosperity. Roles for the bride and groom are chosen from local residents, and those who play the bride are said to be a suitable candidate for marriage because of the auspiciousness of the event. However, the identity of the bride and the groom remains secret.
Some of the festivals KFC highlights are quite old. This festival in southern Nara prefecture dates back over one thousand years and has ties to the mountain worship of the region.
【奈良・蛙飛び】＜7月7日＞金峰山寺の蓮華会の一環の行事。修験道を軽んじて鷲にさらわれ、改心後悔しているところを高僧に蛙の姿に変えて救い出された男が法要が一段落した後に外陣に現れ、受戒導師の法力によって人間に立ち返る。 pic.twitter.com/BE2OKqqy8x
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) April 30, 2018
Nara Jumping frog (kaeru tobi) festival, July 7: One of several annual events to commemorate the annual rengekai rite at Kimpusen temple in Nara. A man slandered a local deity and as a result, a great eagle hung him from a mountain crag. Finding the man and taking pity on him, a Kinpusen temple priest turned him into a frog so he could get down off of the crag, and then back into a human again.
This video provides a more detailed look at this festival devoted to jumping frogs.
The KFC Twitter account also highlights common folk traditions in rural Japan, such as “bull sumo” or bull wrestling.
【愛媛・宇和島闘牛大会】年に数回行われている。牛同士が相撲形式で角と角をつきあわせるタイマン勝負。番付表も作られている。時間無制限で行われ、戦意喪失して逃げた牛が負けとなる。負けた牛のほうへ慰めの意味を込めて多く給金が支払われる。 pic.twitter.com/9C7tm3UUoI
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) April 20, 2018
Uwajima, Ehime bull sumo (ushi-zumo): Occurring several times a year, bulls face off in a sumo ring in a one-to-one competition. Bulls are ranked, and there is no time limit for matches. Bulls that lose spirit and attempt to run away are named the loser. In consolation, bulls who lose claim the prize money.
Another interesting folk tradition described by the KFC account is the old Okinawan practice of hajichi, or traditional tattoos.
【沖縄・ハジチ（針突）】かつて行われていた沖縄女性の風習。12、3歳ごろから大人の女性になった証、既婚の証として手の甲に刺青をほどこしていた。ハジチはオシャレであると同時に家族にとっては誇らしいことで、初めて入れた日はお祝いをした。 pic.twitter.com/Zw0VmZ4N5c
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) April 21, 2018
Okinawa ‘Hachiji': As part of a tradition maintained by women in Okinawa, in southwest Japan between the ages of 12 and thirteen, hands are tattooed to confirm passage into adulthood, as well (in later years) as proof of marriage. The tattoos were considered fashionable and chic, and the occasion of the first tattoo was commemorated with a family celebration.
The practice has vanished since the end of the Second World War, but Lex McClellan, writing on Medium, provides some interesting background on hachiji.
Another regional custom profiled by the KFC account is the practice of Yomeburi, which happens along the Japan Sea coast wherever buri, a fish commonly consumed in the winter months in Japan, is caught. The image in the tweet comes from the manga and anime series My Bride is a Mermaid (瀬戸の花嫁).
【富山・嫁ぶり】娘を嫁に出した年は年末にお歳暮として嫁いだ先の家へ婿の出世を願って出世魚のブリを送る。なるべく大きく、立派なものを届けるのが良いとされている。氷見漁港で水揚げされる氷見ぶりは醤油をはじくほど脂のノリが良い最高級品。 pic.twitter.com/Xmi4h6yFPh
— 奇祭ファン倶楽部(KFC) (@clubkisai) April 29, 2018
(Cartoon image shows a young woman with a fish for a face)
Toyama Yomeburi Festival: In this festival, when a daughter leaves home to become a wife, as a year-end gift the bride's family sends a buri (a kind of jack fish) to the groom's family, in hopes of success in life. The buri should be as large and grand as possible. At the fishing port in Himi, Toyama, it's said the buri are so fatty that the fat repels soy sauce.
The KFC Twitter account posts about Japanese folk practices several times a day. While the tweets are almost always in Japanese, the images alone provide an intriguing glimpse into Japanese life.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
‘You and this loss will never be forgotten’: The deadly realities of media work in Afghanistan · Global Voices
Ezzatullah Mehrdad

Photo courtesy Social Media. Ghazi Rasuli, left, and Yar Mohammad Tokhi, right, were two of  ten Afghan journalists that lost their lives on April 30.
When video journalist Yar Mohammad Tokhi took his morning ride to the privately-owned TV station in Kabul where he worked, he may have been thinking about his upcoming wedding. He may have been looking forward to a day of photography, followed by an evening with his soon-to-be bride.
But it was not to be. Not long after the Tokhi arrived at the scene of an attack in central Kabul, ready to film, a suicide bomber joined a crowd of journalists and blew himself up.
Tokhi returned home dead in an ambulance. His colleagues from TOLO T.V. were with him throughout his final journey.
Tokhi was one of nine media staff killed in the April 30 blast which marked the worst single day for Afghan journalists since the U.S. and its allies toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
The suicide bomber had arrived at the scene much as many of them had, with a camera in his hand. In today's Kabul it is nearly impossible to tell who might be a friend and who might be an enemy.
Those covering the news have became the news,Rip mates #kabul pic.twitter.com/MmE0sZ2Cee
— Awais Abbasi (@AbbasiAwa) April 30, 2018
All told, 26 people lost their lives in the two bombings that occurred at the site, in relatively quick succession. ISIS claimed responsibility for the blasts.
A tenth journalist, BBC reporter Ahmad Shah was shot dead by unknown gunmen later in the day in the eastern province of Khost, according to the BBC.
Yar Mohammad Tokhi, 54, had been a loyal employee of TOLO TV, the country's largest independent broadcaster, since it first went on air in 2004. His job was to document Afghans in their joy, and, as was all too common, in their grief.
What a painful day. What a hard job. What a dark time in Kabul. @TariqMajidi is covering the funeral of his colleague: Yar Mohammad Tokhi.
RIP Tokhi Sahib. RIP the great man. You and this loss will never be forgotten.#Kabul pic.twitter.com/3FU3IqELwa
— Jalil Pazhwak (@Jalilpa) April 30, 2018
Tokhi's modest salary was the sole source of financial support for his mother and sister, both of whom are seriously ill.
According to his colleagues at TOLO, he was also engaged to be married. The day before his death, he and his fiancé were looking to book a venue in Kabul for their wedding in the coming weeks.
And the ring that didn’t keep the promise. This is the engagement ring of Yar Mohammad, a @TOLOnews cameraman, who had promised his fiancée to get married next month. He was amongst the dead today. pic.twitter.com/XLMkLUsqnf
— Tahir Qadiry (@tahirqadiry) April 30, 2018
Tolo TV has suffered deadly attacks on staff in the past. In January 2016, the Taliban group carried out an attack on staff of the station in Kabul, claiming seven employee’s lives.
Another victim of the attack was 26-year-old Ghazi Rasuli, a reporter at the private 1TV station, who was associated with a new generation of aspiring politicians in Afghanistan.
خدایا نمی توانم باور کنم..!#غازی_رسولی_خبرنگار تلویزیون یک، همسنگر خوب مان نیز در حمله انتحاری امروز در شش درک جان باخته است. pic.twitter.com/rNBq6RsU7s
— KarimAmini (@KarimAmini1) April 30, 2018
Oh god, I can't believe. We lost our good colleague, Ghazi Rasuli, in today's bombing.
Our friend, Ghazi, is not with us anymore. I knew him since a long time ago. We were classmates in the first year of journalism faculty at Kabul University. He was dreaming to manage a big media.
I no longer hear you!
Rasuli worked at 1TV for four years, but his ultimate aim was to become the country's foreign minister, according to a friend.
غازی رسولی سخت تلاش می کرد، تا وزیر خارجه شود!
او در تلویزیون یک گزارش های را که سایر گزارشگران از تهیه آنها عاجز می شدند، پیش قدم می شد و تهیه می کرد.
با تاسف غازی رسول دیگر در میان ما نیست. https://t.co/57vzeV9GTk
— Ahmad Nazari (@AhmadNazarii) April 30, 2018
He was pushing to become foreign minister. He used to work on stories that others were unable to do. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us.
While Western journalists posted to Afghanistan tend to receive extra compensation for the dangers of working in the country, Afghan journalists typically work for lower pay, and often without insurance. 1TV cameraman Nowroz Ali Rajabi was also killed in the blast.
A colleague of Mr. Rasuli claimed on social media that he had not received his salary in the past few months:
…Afghan journalists are treated like slave by managers of media. All of the dead journalists had only 20,000 Afghani ($350) salary per months. Worse, they got paid after 4-5 months. For example, Mr. Rasuli used to complain about low payment…
Reporters and photographers from the AFP and Radio Free Europe also died in the blasts. Among them were AFP photographer Shah Marai, Mashal TV journalists Saleem Talash and Ali Saleemi; and journalists Maharram Durrani, Sabawoon Kakar, Abadullah Hananzai from Azadi Radio, which is part of US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Global Voices expresses its deepest condolences to journalists facing threats, and to the families of journalists who have been killed because of their work. We stand in solidarity with all media workers seeking to protect freedom of expression online and off.
Please consider donation to support the family of Yar Mohammad Tokhi.

author: Ezzatullah Mehrdad


text:
Uzbekistan releases its “last detained journalists” · Global Voices
Salam Aleik

Bobomurod Abdulloev, Uzbek journalist. Photo by Radio Ozodlik
Once known as one of the world’s most despotic regimes, Uzbekistan continues to move closer to a free society since new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power in September 2016.
On May 7, 2018, the former Soviet Central Asian republic freed two journalists, Bobomurod Abdulloev and Hayot Nasriddinov, who were detained in September and October 2017 for “anti-constitutional activities”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed this move by the Uzbek authorities and declared that for the first time in last two decades there are no journalists left behind bars in Uzbekistan. Other international organizations also expressed their approval of the move. The international community had been keeping a special eye on this case, as it was the first time since the arrival of Uzbekistan's new president that journalists had been detained in the country.
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed their release and urged that “all remaining charges should be dropped.”
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan had been ruled by the iron-handed Islam Karimov, until he died in September 2016. Karimov’s long-serving Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev replaced his late boss, launched some economic and political reforms at home, and catalyzed changes in regional integration. Among the political changes was the release of several political prisoners who had served decades in prison. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, five journalists, not including the two released this week, were also freed in the past one and a half years.
It was during this period of political reform that journalists Bobomurod Abdulloev and Hayot Nasriddinov were detained on the same charges Islam Karimov’s regime had used to imprison political opponents and journalists for years. The outcome of this case would show whether President Mirziyoyev was committed to continuing his reforms and an open-door policy or just temporarily playing the role of “good cop” to win people’s support for his internal political battles.
The detained journalists were charged with writing articles calling for the violent overthrow of the regime in Uzbekistan under a pseudonym. The journalists recognized that their articles had raised problems, but denied that this included calls to violence.
When security forces officers in charge with investigating the case became themselves embroiled in a power struggle between the powerful former head of Uzbekistan’s security forces, Rustam Inoyatov, and the new president Shavkat Mirziyoyev, many hoped that the journalists Abdulloev and Nasriddinov would be freed.
On May 7, the court acquitted Hayot Nasriddinov of all charges, but found Abdullaev guilty of “extremism”, sentencing the journalist to three years of community service. The judge released both directly from the courtroom.
Minutes after breathing in the air of freedom and hugging his family members, Abdullaev gave an interview to his local colleagues, saying:
The fact that I am free now, and the fact that the court hearing was open, are fruits of the liberal politics of the President Mirziyoyev.
Uzbekistan, like many other former Soviet republics, is a country where even small political moves are subject to the ruler’s approval.
As CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova commented:
Now that the country has freed its press from physical custody, authorities must build on this progress to ensure that the media are able to do their job independently and without fear of reprisal.

author: Salam Aleik


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An uneven playing field for female candidates in Sri Lanka · Global Voices
GroundViews

Image via Groundviews.
This post by Amalini De Sayrah and Raisa Wickrematunge originally appeared on Groundviews, an award-winning citizen journalism website in Sri Lanka. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement with Global Voices.
February 2018 saw the implementation of a 25% quota for women's representation in local councils in Sri Lanka's Government Election. This was seen as a welcome move, especially by women's rights groups who had been advocating for the change for many years. However, in the lead up to polling, election observers such as the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence recorded several instances of intimidation, harassment and slander leveled against female candidates. These ranged from attempting to deter possible candidates from seeking nominations to violence that directly threatened their safety once they had been included on party lists.
There were several documented instances of outright violence. A candidate in Embilipitiya saw her house attacked with stones. In Welikanda, a candidate was admitted to the hospital after being sexually assaulted by a supporter. A candidate running for the Kotte Municipal Council seat filed a false complaint with the police against a female candidate. Groups supported by a regional MP gagged a candidate in a house in Mullaitivu, threatening the safety of her and her daughter if she did not withdraw her nomination.
A number of attacks were organised by male candidates, election observers noted. Religious clerics also carried out sustained campaigns against the participation of women in politics. These incidents of violence were strongly condemned by rights groups as undermining the importance of female representation in politics.
While physical harm and threats to property have been widely recorded, a form of violence experienced by candidates that is not often spoken about is what the Association for Progressive Communication has termed ‘technology-related violence against women’. APC’s definition includes social media platforms, but also extends to threatening phone calls and messages. In addition, violence occurring online or via technology can extend offline as well, at times resulting in physical violence in addition to psychological and emotional harm.
These are the stories of female politicians who have experienced harassment through a range of technology and social media. This constitutes only a portion of the violence and intimidation, which often extended offline, that targeted their work and campaigns.
Jegatheeswaram Jeyachandrika
Jegatheeswaram Jeyachandrika. Image via GroundViews
Contesting under the UNP for the Arayampathy ward in Batticaloa, Jegatheeswaram Jeyachandrika, or Meena as she is known, counts the threats she has received on her fingers. There was the time people threw stones.
She complained to the Kattankudy police — but no investigations followed.
Then, there are the Facebook posts. She shows us one using a photograph of her in a group of men. Meena has been circled in red.
We opened some new shops that day, part of a collective project. This post implies that I was the mistress of one of the other ministers in that picture.
All of the women volunteering for her campaign left after this surfaced, presumably due to the fear that they would be the targets of similar content if they continued to work with her.
“There is no safety for us”, she notes, referring to herself and the many female candidates who have been subjects of targeted attacks like this in the lead up to the Local Government Elections.
The series of attacks against her began when nominations were taken. She sent a
letter to the Election Commission detailing all of it, but has not received a response.
Meena notices the double standards in society’s reactions to female and male politicians:
I expected nearly a 1000 votes. Because of the slander and harassment in real life, that number fell by more than half. Now, I’m left with my 333 votes, and a file full of printouts of the harassment that I have received online.
Rosy Senanayake
According to Rosy Senanayake, who was officially appointed the first female mayor of Colombo:
Rosy Senanayake. Image via Groundviews
In the 21st century, the digital sphere nearly outweighs that of physical human interaction.
She notes that the troubling phenomenon of women facing harassment online occurs across all strata of society, and across age groups, from young teenagers to grown women.
Commentary on the internet, beginning on Facebook groups that post memes, eventually find their way to WhatsApp groups that circulate inaccurate messages very far and fast.
Derogatory statements meant to demoralise me are usually fabricated to paint me as a person not worthy of being a politician.
Senanayake added that the content often criticised her for not being held accountable for things that are beyond her mandate and control. Individuals who have received these messages through their networks often approach her to tell her she does not have their vote. There were also memes attacking Senanayake on the basis of her age and gender.
There is conversely a lot of support for Senanayake on social media too, she acknowledges. On her Facebook page, many commenters also express gratitude to her for her work. She notes also that social media has proved both inexpensive and effective as a campaign tool, allowing her to reach a wide range of people, including a younger demographic that traditional advertising would otherwise miss.
We used social media to push out my manifesto and policies, but a lot of the comments and criticisms on social media are not for any constructive purpose. It is a double-edged sword.
Jeevanee Kariyawasam
Jeevanee Kariyawasam. Image via Groundviews
When you’re having a conversation, your message might reach four or five people. With technology acting as a mouthpiece, you can reach thousands at a time. And when you don’t see the person you’re speaking to in front of you, people feel they can say whatever they want.
Chilaw UC member and attorney-at-law Jeevanee Kariyawasam notes that the cloak of anonymity often enjoyed by people on the Internet leads to offline threats and harassment as well. Her decision to enter the political fraternity has also led to her family being targeted as well.
My mother would get phone calls from people threatening to kill her and warning her not to step out of the house, and further threatening her if she lodged official complaints about them.
She received strong backlash when she published a Facebook post that criticised the General Secretary of Buddhist hardliner group Bodu Bala Sena, Gnanasara Thero and Ampitiya Sumana Thero from Batticaloa, both of them known for rhetoric encouraging hate and indeed violence against religious minorities, and Muslims in particular.
‘These attacks are being carried out against us by people who know us and know things about us. Gnanasara’s goons don’t have time to be sifting through my posts online.’
Bisliya Bhutto
Bisliya Bhutto. Image via Groundviews
Initially, Bisliya, a women’s rights activist and a researcher of female participation in politics based in Puttalam, didn’t want to enter the arena herself. Her interests lay in working to get more women elected in the first place. Yet one of her mentors submitted her name for nomination. She decided to pursue it, knowing full well the problems she would face as a result.
Bisliya says that the harassment she has faced includes the police, who barge into the homes of female candidates in the middle of the night. They accuse the women of printing counterfeit money, solely because they own a computer. They also make claims that the women possess weapons.
A new dimension to this harassment is rapidly emerging with the emergence of religious clerics condemning female participation in politics. Several women’s rights groups have dispatched letters to the Inspector General of Police in this regard.
Bisliya’s phone is full of videos of these speeches.
Niyas Moulavi makes speeches at various forums, stating that women who stand for elections are not true Muslim women. He accuses them of not having any respect for traditions and addresses the public in saying that they can’t even be called candidates, they are ‘loose women’
The speeches are distributed on Facebook and WhatsApp. One of the Moulavi’s supporters or employees, a man named Hizney, does not fail to send her all these sermons directly to her on Facebook Messenger.
‘Support for me dropped after these videos started being shared. I’m lucky that my husband is supportive’
The general expectation is that more women would come into politics. But the ground reality is different. When the female candidates are harassed they receive no support or justice. Meena says:
We are left wondering if we are wasting our time.

author: GroundViews


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UPDATED: Armed detainees engage in hostile takeover of Indonesian high security prison · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Police in Indonesia. Image from 2016, by Flickr user Seika. License: CC BY 2.0.
UPDATE (May 10, 2018): After a 36-hours standoff, Indonesian authorities reported on the morning of Thursday, May 10, local time, that the situation is under control. 145 terrorism detainees surrendered unconditionally and were removed from the scene. The detainees were transferred to Nusa Kambangan, a maximum security prison in Central Java dubbed the “Indonesian Alcatraz”, where they will face further charges. Pasir Putih prison, part of Nusa Kambangan prison complex, is reserved for terrorism convicts. One of its notorious detainees is Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian splinter group of Al Qa'eda. A few years ago, photos were circulated online of the septuagenarian extremist cleric and dozens of Pasir Putih detainees pledging alliance to ISIS.
—
A prison riot involving forty convicted terrorists is currently unfolding in Depok, a West Javan city adjacent to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The riot began on Tuesday evening local time at Mobile Brigade Command Headquarters (Mako Brimob), a high-security prison whose inmates include those convicted of terrorism.
According to official reports, a standoff occurred as a result of a simple misunderstanding over food between one inmate and a member of Densus 88, Indonesia's counter-terrorism squad. The situation escalated quickly as the inmate incited others to action, took officers hostage, and managed to access the prison's arms reserves.
Five Densus 88 officers were reported dead, while one was released after being taken hostage for more than 24 hours.
Detainees’ questionable motives
Through its propaganda outlet, the group ISIS claimed involvement in the incident. The Indonesian police have denied the group's claim.
Most of the detainees belonged to JAD, a group designated terrorist by the US government.
Analyst Sydney Jones from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflicts (IPAC) was quoted as saying that pro-ISIS detainees have constantly caused trouble at the high security prison.
According to Indonesian terrorism analyst Al Chaidar, the riot wasn't premeditated, but the motive could be vengeance against the authorities, who raided cells to confiscate smuggled mobile phones and copies of the Koran.
Hashtag solidarity on Twitter
On Twitter, Indonesians are using the hashtag #KamiBersamaPolri (We're supporting the National Police) to send condolences to the relatives of the fallen officers and encourage the nation to stand firm against terrorism.
Twips, istri alm Iptu Yudi, salah satu polisi yang gugur, sedang hamil 9 bulan. Mari kita doakan mereka sekeluarga. #KamiBersamaPolri
— Alissa Wahid (@AlissaWahid) May 9, 2018
Tweeps, the wife of First Lieutenant Yudi, who died in line of duty, is nine months pregnant. Let's pray for their family.
To whom it may concern.#KamiBersamaPOLRI #KamiBersamaPolisi pic.twitter.com/gXFWBcXC8G
—  (@AhlulQohwah) May 9, 2018
Our condolences to the five police martyrs. Thank you for dedicating your lives for this nation.
#KamiBersamaPolri memberantas terorisme. Negara tidak boleh kalah. Terorisme musuh kemanusiaan! pic.twitter.com/Ybu0a0XGbK
— IG: ulinyusron (@ulinyusron) May 9, 2018
We support the police in fighting terrorism. The state shouldn't be defeated. Terrorism is a crime against humanity.
Media access is limited as negotiations and tactical actions are still underway.

author: Juke Carolina


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As Russia’s government effort to ban Telegram falters, digital activists are pranking the censorship agency · Global Voices
Christopher Moldes

On May 1, unknown activists hacked the website of Russia's environmental monitoring agency and replaced the front page with an image mocking another government agency's efforts to ban Telegram
Russia's so-called “Digital Resistance” has struck out against the country's internet blacklist, an ever-growing list of websites censored by the Russian government.
Since April 16, Russia's media regulatory agency Roskomnadzor has been trying — with mixed results — to block Telegram, a popular mobile messaging service. Since then, the blacklist, or registry of blocked websites, has grown and shrunk many times.
The collateral damage of their approach has been enormous. Millions of unrelated IP addresses and internet services were blocked when the agency went after internet cloud services that are used by Telegram and plenty of other products, a move that some say could cost Russian businesses up to one billion dollars. Roskomnadzor began removing addresses from the blacklist on May 8, in what appeared to be a tacit acknowledgement of defeat.
Over the past several days, independent developers have created a live-tracker that is showing how many IP addresses are currently being blocked in Russia.
Early on May 5, the tracker registered a curious phenomenon: the total number of blocked IP addresses continuously fluctuated between exactly 47,000 and 55,000. Intrepid observers noticed that this repeating pattern was actually Morse code. The reading spelled out: “Digital Resistance.”
DIGITAL RESISTANCE, spelled in Morse code // Screencapped by roem.ru
When Roskomnadzor began trying to block Telegram in April, Telegram founder Pavel Durov described the response — wherein many activists swiftly found ways around the censorship — as a “Digital Resistance”.
This resistance quickly spread offline, with thousands taking to the streets in response to this bungled approach to censorship.
This latest manifestation isn’t a full-on hack or change of the Roskomnadzor register, but rather a simpler manipulation. Tech experts say that someone is piggy-backing off of domains that are already on the register and simply adding and removing other IP addresses to these domains. While this does not actually block or unblock additional websites, it does alter the readings of the real-time tracker. The result, when viewed through the real-time tracker, is the “Digital Resistance” Morse code message.
Although some initially suspected it was an inside job at Roskomnadzor itself, the prankster came forward on May 6 and identified himself as Leonid Evdokimov. He told wikinews.ru that it wasn't intended to be a call to arms, but rather as a harmless joke.
The full message on the on the tracker reads “DIGITALRESISTANCE543210VOISTINUPOPOV,” where POPOV stands for Alexander Popov, an engineer who is credited in Russia, ex-Soviet Union and some Eastern European countries as the inventor of radio. The message was intended to play out in full by May 7, which is celebrated in Russia as “Radio Day”.
This isn’t the first time that such tricks have been used to hit back at Russian government agencies. As Roem.ru reports, in 2012, when a website was blocked by a mobile provider, the website’s owner changed the DNS settings to include the Russian Ministry of Justice’s website, thereby blocking it as well.
More recently, the websites of Rosprirodnadzor, Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage, were hacked to display pro-Telegram messages. Other government websites have vulnerabilities that could soon be exploited to repeat these antics.
With Roskomnadzor seemingly improvising its blocking protocols and opponents deftly exploiting the oversights this creates, it’s clear that the “Digital Resistance” will continue to be a thorn in the Russian government’s side.

author: Christopher Moldes


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Cambodia’s last independent news site sold to PR firm that worked for the ruling party · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Phnom Penh Post Facebook cover photo
Several editors and staff reporters of Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post resigned after expressing concern that the sale of the 26-year old newspaper to a Malaysian public relations executive would undermine its editorial independence.
Phnom Penh Post was recently bought by Sivakumar S Ganapathy, who is the managing director of Malaysia-based ASIA PR company.
Staff at the Phnom Penh Post published a news article about the sale, which described the business profile and interests of ASIA PR and mentioned that the company completed a project entitled “Cambodia and Hun Sen’s entry into the Government seat.”
The project appears to have been conducted on behalf of Cambodian incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power for three decades. ASIA PR's website does not offer further details about the project.
Representatives of the newspaper’s new owners asked the editor-in-chief, Kay Kimsong, to remove the article, alleging that it contained “factual errors”.
Kay Kimsong refused and was fired as a result. Other editors and foreign reporters of the paper have resigned in protest.
The article was soon removed from the website but it has been saved and reposted online.
The newly resigned Phnom Penh Post editors took to social media to expose how the editorial policy of the new management could undermine freedom of the press in Cambodia.
Parting words Monday from former EIC Kay Kimsong: “I am happy for running the front page today. I think that is what the profession of journalism is all about – their job is telling the truth. The owner does not accept the truth” https://t.co/KJ4zmhQ3NP
— The Phnom Penh Post (@phnompenhpost) May 8, 2018
Our editor-in-chief was fired because he stood up for independent journalism and refused to take down an article shedding light on our new publisher. Four others have resigned.
Dire day for freedom of press in Cambodia. pic.twitter.com/7XMgbJYWe9
— Leonie Kijewski (@LeonieKij) May 7, 2018
After hour-long discussions with the @phnompenhpost ‘s new owners, seven more foreign staff members, including me, have resigned. Under these circumstances we feel that our editorial independence has been undermined to an unacceptable extent.
— Leonie Kijewski (@LeonieKij) May 8, 2018
After being ordered to remove my story regarding the sale of the Phnom Penh Post from the website by new management, I refused and offered my resignation, which was accepted. I wish the fantastic journalists at The Post all the best.
— Brendan O'Byrne (@BrendanOByrne) May 7, 2018
The new owner of the @phnompenhpost ordered us to take down the article detailing the sale of the newspaper. I will not be returning to work at the Post. I am devastated at the prospect of not being able to work everyday with the some of best journalists I know. I wish them well.
— Ananth Baliga (@antbaliga) May 7, 2018
Today we have had seven more resignations from @phnompenhpost, including, I’m sad to say, my own.
— Erin Handley (@erinahandley) May 8, 2018
We are really feeling for our Khmer colleagues, some of whom have worked for the Post or other independent media outlets for decades. It is a sad day for all of us, but especially for them. There are looming question marks over the transparency of reporting going ahead.
— Erin Handley (@erinahandley) May 7, 2018
Our new overlords would like us to know that journalism is about only what literally happened. No analysis, no context, no wider implications. #freepress
— E. Quinn Libson (@quinnlibson) May 7, 2018
Phnom Penh Post has been widely regarded as Cambodia’s only independent professional news site since the government shut down dozens of radio stations over tax and licensing issues in 2017. Cambodia Daily, a major English language daily, was forced to close operations after it was slapped with a hefty tax.
The selling of Phnom Penh Post to a company with alleged links to the ruling party has worried many groups, including the political opposition. Many fear that it will completely stifle criticism and press freedom in the country.
This is happening at a time when people with dissenting views are being detained, the opposition party is facing legal persecution, and Hun Sen is being accused of suppressing free speech ahead of upcoming general elections.
Chak Sopheap of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights paid tribute to Phnom Penh Post while highlighting the implications of changing the paper’s editorial independence and integrity:
It is difficult to overestimate the crucial role that the Post has played in Cambodia over the years. It has consistently spoken truth to power, fearlessly exposed corruption, and unflinchingly held a mirror to Cambodian society – often revealing uncomfortable truths.
Cambodian democracy and its pillars – press freedom and civil society – lie in ruins.

author: Mong Palatino


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Hijabs and mini-skirts: What not to wear in Tajikistan · Global Voices
The Echo of Central Asia

Ismoil Somoni, the founder of the first Persian-speaking empire after Arabs conquered the Persian world. King Somoni is now in the centre of the new Tajik identity. His monument is located in downtown Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan. Photo by Kalpak Travel, cc-by-2.0
There are companies that require staff to wear a certain style of dress. There are schools where a certain form of dress is mandatory. There are events which include a note on the invitation suggesting the style of clothing guests should wear. And there is a country which is trying to implement a dress code for its women, dictating everything from what they should wear at home to the garments they should wear at public events, concerts, in public buildings, or simply on the street. The country which made the dress an ideological question is Tajikistan, a small piece of the former Soviet Union located next to Afghanistan and China.
What is currently Tajikistan has long been part of the Bukhara Emirate, which was one of the least developed kingdoms in the Middle Ages. It was a vassal of the Russian Empire until the Bolsheviks decided to include it in the Soviet Union and attempted to eradicate religion and national identity in the name of building a new Soviet citizenry. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the newborn country slipped into the civil war, where two ideologies, Communism and Islamism, battled each other mercilessly to claim the throne.
Those fighting against the Islamists won, and have since been trying to build a new national identity. Struggling to find one that fits, the republic has tried on several forms of identity in just two decades. These range from claiming the legacy of the Aryans to attempting to be leaders in the rising popularity of Islam. None fit with state policies, and now this nation of eight million people follows in the footsteps of its former Soviet Central Asian neighbours in building an identity of a modernized and nationalized Tajik that excludes any outer appearance of Islam—including hijab and beards—in a country where more than nine in ten persons identify as Muslim.
Dress like a Tajik
The dress code for Tajik women dress has long been a top ideological issue for the government. Starting with banning students from wearing the hijab in schools, it developed into strong “recommendations” against wearing the hijab at all anywhere, including at home. Black “Arabic” niqabs, which cover every inch of a woman's body except the eyes, and the modernized “Turkish” style of hijab now popular throughout the Muslim world, have been linked by the Tajik government to radicalization and terrorism, and are considered a threat to the state and to society. As Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon said, addressing the matter of what women in his country should wear:
Не преклоняйтесь перед чуждыми ценностями, не следуйте чуждой культуре! Носите наряды традиционных расцветок и покроя, а не черную одежду, так как даже траурная одежда таджикской женщины была белого, а не черного цвета
Do not bow down to alien values, do not follow an alien culture! Wear dresses of traditional colors and cuts, not black clothes, since even the mourning clothes of a Tajik woman were white, not black
The increasing number of hijabi women and bearded men—something urban Tajiks and those from the elite classes had not seen for decades of life under Soviet rule—in conjunction with rising Muslim radicalization around the world, compelled the state to act. Hijab and beard bans were extended to more public spaces, and while these were met with critiques of “government attacks to Islamic values”, the state extended the ban to include “European dress” as well adding mini-skirts and decollete to the list. Tajik women raised their eyebrows—so, what to wear then?
Fashion show of Tajik “national clothes” samples broadcasted by the state national TV station
Right on the eve of spring 2018, the Tajik Ministry of Culture, jointly with the Committee for Women and Family Affairs, published a dress-code guide teaching Tajik women the “ethics of wearing clothes” at weddings, national holidays, at work, on weekdays and on weekends, at home, and etc. The guide, “Recommendations on wearing clothes for women in Tajikistan”, can be bought for around $10. Samples of casual everyday clothes for women include modern cuts of traditional clothes made mostly of ikat. See some samples below:
Modern Tajik national dress officially recommended for children aged 7-14. (Picture from the official web-site of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs of Tajikistan)
Modern Tajik national dress officially recommended for girls aged 14-17. (Picture from the official website of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs of Tajikistan.)
Modern Tajik national dress officially recommended for women aged 18-30. (Picture from the official website of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs of Tajikistan)
Official and secular dress officially recommended for women aged 18-30. (Picture from the official website of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs of Tajikistan
Tajik national dress officially recommended for women aged 30-40. (Picture from the official website of the Committee on Women and Family Affairs of Tajikistan)
Tajiks, not for the first time experiencing state-enforced “recommendations” in the private sphere, are concerned about the word “recommendation”:
Теперь слово “запрещается” произносят как “не рекомендуется”?
Does the word “forbidden” is pronounced as “not recommended” now?
The guide, in addition to recommending what women should wear, includes a list of what they should not wear, which includes “hijab, black dress, black scarf, half-naked European dresses, mini-skirt, decollete, tight dresses making the body's parts visible, synthetic clothes” and etc. Though the authorities say their aim is the promotion of the historical culture of dress, some local conservative men have found the book to contain what they call “immoral samples”:
A обтягивающие джинсы это разве норма? где мораль? мы все мусульмане и мы гордые по этому и сильные. нас делает сильными наш менталитет и нас уважают за это. рекомендуют женщинам в юбках на работу ходить. мы не европейцы и не надо оголять наших женщин.
Is tight jeans really the norm? Where is morality? We are all Muslims and we are proud of this strongly. Our mentality makes us strong and we are respected for it. They recommend women to wear skirts to work. We are not Europeans and we should not strip our women.
Men are in line
Additionally, the book outraged women in the society who have questioned the absence of, and are demanding, equal recommendations for men. A user on the news.tj reacted to the post:
Налицо гендерное неравенство! Теперь надо издать рекомендации, как одеть мужское население! Вот смеху-то будет! Унизительно для Минкультуры заниматься одеванием женского населения! Прямыми своими обязанностями занялись – было бы лучше.
There is definitely gender inequality! Now we need to issue recommendations on how to dress the male population! That would be laughter! It is humiliating for the Ministry of Culture to engage in dressing the female population! It would be better if they performed own direct duties.
After the public response, the Ministry of Culture announced that they will publish a separate book recommending clothes for men.
Although Tajikistan is constitutionally a democratic country and recognizes the standard modern world freedoms regarding private life, government decisions and policies stand in contrast with the constitutional rights, and attempts to protect own constitutional rights through the courts have been met with failure.

author: The Echo of Central Asia


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Montenegrins protest the latest armed attack on journalist, demand end to impunity · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

“Stop the violence” protest in Podgorica, 9 May 2018. Photo by Damira Kalac, used with permission.
Montenegrin journalist Olivera Lakić was shot in the leg on May 8, in what appeared to be a targeted attack.
On May 9, several hundred people protested in the capital city of Podgorica, demanding end to impunity for violent crimes and life without fear.
Unknown perpetrators shot Lakic, a journalist with the daily news outlet Vijesti in front of her apartment building in the center of Montenegrin capital. After she fell wounded on the pavement, she saw two men running away. Vijesti reported that while she has to remain in hospital, the wound to her right leg is not considered life-threatening.
With about 643,000 inhabitants, Montenegro is one of the smallest countries in Europe. Since 1991, the Balkan country had been ruled by the same political elite, headed by current president-elect Milo Đukanović. Journalists who report on crime, corruption, business and politics say that intimidation and direct threats are not uncommon.
Balkan Insight reported that Lakic has been attacked in the past. In 2012, she was physically attacked by a man in front of her apartment building, shortly after she had reported on the activities of the Montenegrin Tobacco Company.
Similar to other journalists covering corruption issues in the region, she had been receiving death treats for years.
Local police announced they've “blocked the city,” but no suspects have been apprehended yet.
Yesterday evening Montenegro journalist Olivera Lakic was shot in front of her apartment in Podgorica.
Important to remind that since 2014 three attempted murders, 103 physical attacks against journalists & 257 threats have been registered in the WB.https://t.co/J8N9i65h5S
— Marija Ristić (@Marien__R) May 9, 2018
Journalist Sloba Georgiev compared the situation with that of Slovakia, where massive protests after the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak triggered the resignation of Prime Minister Róbert Fico.
Višenedeljna intenzivna kampanja vlasti u Crnoj Gori protiv svih koji govore drugačije od vlasti proizvela je pogodno tle da neki ubica izađe iz mraka i puca na našu koleginicu @Vijestime
Građani Crne Gore bi takođe trebalo da reaguju
Možda kao u Slovačkoj
— EROS S ONOG SVIJETA (@SlobaGeorgiev) May 9, 2018
The intensive smear campaign by the Montenegrin authorities against all who express different opinions created fertile ground for a murderer to step out from the dark and shoot our female colleague from Vijesti.
Citizens of Montenegro should react too, maybe like the citizens of Slovakia did.
Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro (DPNCG) called for protest in front of the government on May 9, noting that:
Bezbroj nerazjašnjenih napada, od kojih neki I ubrzo zastarjevaju, kao posljedicu imaju atmosferu gdje sačekuša novinaki ispred zgrade nije ništa neobično iako je već viđeno. Zabrinutost je tim veća jer se ovaj put koristi oružje, što je do sada bio slučaj samo prilikom ubistva Duška Jovanovića…
Countless unsolved instances of attacks, including some which soon become obsolete [i.e. the authorities are no longer required by law to resolve them], create an atmosphere where ambushing a female journalist in front of her home becomes nothing unusual, but a regular event. We are even more concerned in this case because a firearm was used. The only other time this has happened was in the murder of Duško Jovanović…
Social media users from Montenegro are using the hashtag #BezStraha, meaning “Without Fear” when posting about the attack and the protest.
Several hundred people, including journalists, opposition party members and civil society activists joined the May 9 protest in front of the government. Vijesti Director Željko Ivanović said that such crimes are not surprising in a society where all critics of the government of Milo Đukanović are defamed as traitors.
#FotoPriča sa građanskog protesta zbog napada na novinarku #Vijesti” Oliveru Lakić #BezStraha pic.twitter.com/BRv6qM8JUs
— PR Centar (@PRcentar) May 9, 2018
Tweet: Photo story from the civic protest due to the attack on Vijesti journalist Olivera Lakić. #WithoutFear
Signs: “The situation is extraordinary/emergency” [pun]; “Stop the violence”; “For life without fear”; “It's not a standard to get a bomb per capita”;
At the protest, Ivanović said that this attack would not have had happened if the authorities had conducted a proper investigation of the 2012 attack on Lakic. According to him, the institutions gave the impression that they had solved the previous attack on Olivera Lakić by arresting some “lowlife from the suburbs”, but had never identified who ordered the attack on the journalist.
“Olivera Lakić shot: Someone will have to answer for this in the future” – screenshot of a page from Vijesti website.
Nikola Marković, head of the Commission for Investigating Attacks on Journalists, said that they have been warning that a backlog of unsolved cases enables impunity. “None of the cases of attacks against ‘Vijesti’ had been solved properly,” he said at the protest.
#SafeJournalists #SMCG condemns the brutal attack on our colleague Olivera Lakić, journalist of @Vijestime and asks the relevant institutions: how long journalists in ?? will have to fear only because they want to do their job the best they can? https://t.co/DFSUA60hjA
— Sindikat medija CG (@sindikatmedija) May 9, 2018
Par stotina građana okupilo se ispred @VladaCG kako bi iskazali nezadovoljstvo najnovijim napadom na koleginicu Oliveru Lakić, novinarku Vijesti! #NasiljeNadNovinarima #SlobodaMedija #Mediji #CrnaGora pic.twitter.com/Ik0SIgSzDu
— Sindikat medija CG (@sindikatmedija) May 9, 2018
Several hundred citizens gathered in front of the Government of Montenegro to express their dissatisfaction with the latest attack on our colleague Olivera Lakić, journalist of Vijesti daily! #VilenceAgainstJournalists #FreedomOfMedia #Media #Montenegro
NGOs and citizens also contributed with their reactions:
#BezStraha Napad na novinarku #Vijesti, Oliveru Lakić, predstavlja brutalan napad na slobodnu riječ i na istraživačko novinarstvo u Crnoj Gori saopštila je izvršna direktorica nevladine organizacije (NVO) Prima, Aida Perović Ivanović. https://t.co/oZchEs7jG9 pic.twitter.com/Dm1SoGaaNT
— NVO Prima (@nvo_prima) May 9, 2018
The attack on the Vijesti journalist Olivera Lakić is an attack on the freedom of speech and investigative journalism in Montenegro, said executive director of the NGO Prima Aida Perović Ivanović.
Some citizens also criticized the insensitive statements of public officials, who focused on the gender and not the essence of the attack.
Užasava konstatacija: „napad na Ženu!“ – min. Nuhodžića i ekipe.
Čovjek, ministre, napad je na čovjeka. Na biće. Na profesiju. Na istinu.
Ne na pol niti rod.
— Čudo neviđeno (@Jovana_Lukina) May 8, 2018
These assertions about this being an “attack on a Woman!” by Government Minister Nuhodžić and his team are horrifying.
Human being, Mr. Minister, a human being was attacked. An attack against a being. An attack against a profession. An attack against the truth. Not an attack on a sex or gender.
Others also criticized the turnout at the protest, which they considered too low.
Na protestu, očekivano – #CrnaGora nema gradjane. pic.twitter.com/92D5wFbJL9
— Damira Kalac (@damirakalac) May 9, 2018
At the protest, as expected – #Montenegro has no citizens.

author: Marko Angelov