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A Wikipedia Made for—and by—the Atikamekw First Nation in Canada · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Workshop at Otapi High School, Manawan (Atikamekw First Nation, Canada). Photo by Pierre Coulombe, CC BY-SA 4.0.
This post was written by Benoit Rochon, president of Wikimedia Canada; Jean-Philippe Béland, vice president of Wikimedia Canada; and Nathalie Casemajor, a professor at the Urbanization, Culture and Society center at the National Institute of Scientific Research. It originally appeared on the Wikimedia Blog and is republished with the authors’ permission and under a CC BY-SA license.
A First Nation in Canada may soon have a Wikipedia to call their own.
The Atikamekw Nehirowisiw Nation, located in central Quebec, is one of the few Aboriginal peoples in Canada where virtually the entire population still speaks the language, making it among the most vibrant among the First Nations.
An ongoing project, funded by the Wikimedia Foundation, is working with that community to develop content for the Wikipetia Atikamekw Nehiromowin, as it is called in the Atikamekw Nehiromowin language. The Atikamekw Wikipedia is currently in the Wikimedia incubator, and the goal of the initiative, which is the first of its kind in Canada, is to have it one day join the hundreds of extant Wikipedias.
“It is a way to pass on ancestral knowledge using computers and it allows to preserve traditional practices,” project member Anthony Dubé (username: Nehirowisiw) says. “It is an educational tool for all.”
Screenshot of the front page of Atikamekw Wikipedia.
The initiative, titled “Atikamekw knowledge, culture, and language in Wikimedia projects,” has several other goals. It is expanding information about the nation on the French Wikipedia; uploading photos, archival documents, and maps to Wikimedia Commons; and is raising awareness among the Wikimedia community about the unique features of indigenous knowledge and languages. The final report will propose recommendations about how to better include indigenous content in Wikimedia projects.
This one-year pilot project (fall 2016 to summer 2017) follows a different 2013–14 initiative conducted in in Manawan (in Québec, Canada) by a linguist from Leipzig University, a high school computer teacher, and an Atikamekw language keeper. Working together, they created “Wikipetia Project“, which involved students from Otapi secondary school in Manawan to create articles on Wikipedia written in Atikamekw. By the end, the students had created more than 160 articles.
Partners of the current “Atikamekw knowledge, culture and language in Wikimedia projects” initiative include Manawan Otapi secondary school, Conseil Atikamekw de Manawan, Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw (CNA), Wikimedia Canada, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS, Urbanisation, Culture, Société research center) with the collaboration of several members of the Atikamekw community.
A guardian of the Atikamekw language and his successor. Photo by Seeris, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The project is divided into three parts: training, a pedagogical project, and a research project.
The first includes training sessions with the Atikamekw community given by volunteers from Wikimedia Canada with the goal to make the community autonomous in their work on Wikimedia projects. An initial training took place at the Otapi secondary school in Manawan on October 24, 2016, and another was held with the CNA in La Tuque on November 28, 2016. And in May 2017, there will be a session of photographic documentation within the Atikamekw community.
The pedagogic part is taking place at the Otapi school from November 2016 to May 2017. There, students in computer class are writing articles in the Wikipetia Atikamekw Nehiromowin.
The research component is intended to document the pilot project with the aim to create a toolkit and a set of recommendations that could be used in other similar initiatives. It builds on discussions about the best ways to share traditional knowledge on Wikimedia platforms, such as a research seminar in which representatives from the First Nations Information Governance Center and the Quebec National Archives and Library talked about the issue of compatibility between the free licenses in which all Wikipedia content is available.
They also discussed OCAPTM (ownership, control, access and possession), or the principles of ethical research as set out by Canadian First Nations. This conversation will help both First Nations communities and the Wikimedia community to better understand how the creation of digital content about indigenous knowledge can best be respected, honored, protected, and shared on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
The project will conclude with a panel at the Wikimania Montréal conference in August 2017.
A longer-term goal is to replicate similar projects with other Canadian Aboriginal communities, or elsewhere in the world, and broadly share this experience with the international Wikimedia movement.
On the technical side, members of the community are working with the Institut linguistique Atikamekw (ILA) and techno-linguists of the Nation are working to create new words and to standardize the language to create an Atikamekw version of the MediaWiki interface.
For example, they need to invent new terms to translate “homepage”, “free license,” or “upload”. Instead of translating literally, they prefer to mobilize traditional references, often linked to the ancestral territory, because this allows the culture to appropriate technical modernity while transmitting its specific cultural imagination. It is also up to the community to define its own rules for the use of the encyclopedia: acceptance of oral sources, which articles that reflect indigenous realities meet the notability criteria to merit their own articles, protection of sensitive information. It is a process of reflecting on the best ways to take advantage of this tool while adapting it to the Atikamekw epistemology.
Among the questions raised by translation is that of the classes of names: the Atikamekw language does not distinguish between the masculine and the feminine, but it distinguishes between animate and inanimate things. Is Wikipedia animated? The participants decided that it is.
Wikimedia Canada’s mission is to educate Canadian communities about the development of free and open knowledge in all languages, including Aboriginal languages. The objective of this strategy is to collaborate with Aboriginal communities in Canada and to introduce Aboriginal language speakers to Wikipedia with the goal that they become autonomous contributors in the development of content in their languages. It is in line with Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which establishes the right to preserve, revitalize and develop indigenous languages—all integral parts of Canadian culture.
Manawan Sipi river. Photo by Kinew1975, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The next phase of the project is to organize a photographic “hunt”, where participants set off to snap photographs of the Nitaskinan, the Atikamekw’s ancestral homeland. This will take place in the Atikamekw communities of Manawan, Opitciwan and Wemotaci, as well as the towns of La Tuque and Joliette.
Before the beginning of this project, there were only a dozen free photos representing the Atikamekw community in Wikimedia Commons, an online collection of freely usable media files. All dated back to the 1970s. The goal of this photographic expedition is to better reflect the current vitality of the community by photographing not only buildings but also people, traditional activities, lakes and rivers, animals, and the territory in general.
The photographic hunt is currently taking place and will run through May 31, 2017. A workshop will be organized on the last day to help the participants upload and populate the Atikamekw category in Wikimedia Commons.

author: Guest Contributor


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Corruption Fighters Slapped with Corruption Charges in Graft-Prone Central Asia · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Creative commons image.
Central Asia, one of the world's most corrupt regions, is experiencing a surge in anti-corruption cases, with anti-corruption officials bearing the brunt of the investigations.
In an unprecedented operation at the end of last month, around 20 mid-ranking and upper-level staff at the powerful Agency on Combatting Corruption and Financial Control were detained in Tajikistan. In Turkmenistan, a few weeks later, the state prosecutor and dozens of surbordinates were arrested, apparently for falling into the kind of crimes that they should be investigating.
In Tajikistan, a search of the assets of one of the detainees, a mid-level investigator, saw $1.3 million, six kilograms of gold, 31 apartments in Dushanbe, two houses with yards, a dacha in Varzob (a riviera-type territory close to the capital city), another house in Austria, debit cards of both local and foreign banks and at least 50 expensive suits, according to the Prague-based outlet with sources inside the country, Akhbor.com.
Such eye-popping corruption — if there is substance to reports that Tajik state media has not confirmed — would not be exceptional. Rather it would be symptomatic for a country where the average salary in the capital city does not exceed USD 250 per month, and which ranks 151st in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index.
Turkmenistan, a fellow ex-Soviet state ranks 154th in the same index. There has been speculation regarding both countries that as the economic ‘pie’ shrinks, due to the economic slump in Russia and depressed prices for hydrocarbons, inter-elite fighting has heated up. Thus, the argument runs, none of this is really about fighting corruption.
Underneath a YouTube video report on the Turkmen arrests and convictions (below) released by a dissident-run outlet and featuring footage from Turkmenistan's highly-controlled state television, a YouTube user Roza Ekacheva picked up this theme in an appropriately dramatic cry of desperation:
Давно уже все прогнило ! Тут ничего уже не исправить ! Всю систему надо менять !
Everything turned rotten a long time ago. There is nothing left to save!
In the case of Tajikistan, the most curious of several rumours linked to the recent arrests has to do with reigning leader Emomali Rakhmon's son, Rustam.
According to this rumour, anti-corruption officials were targeted to reduce Rustam's power base in the agency that he headed until January 2017 when he was appointed Mayor of Dushanbe.
According to the editor of one Tajikistan-focussed-news agency, Ozodagon, cited by another regionally focussed outlet centre1.com, the wide-ranging powers of the anti-corruption body could have prompted jealousy among other elements of the security apparatus — notably the powerful successor to the KGB — to make moves against it.
Возможно, кто-то желает подорвать позиции Рустама Эмомали, который ранее руководил этим органом, – продолжает Мамадшоев. – Кстати, до него Антикоррупционное агентство возглавлял Абдуфаттох Гоиб (выходец из Дангары, земляк президента Рахмона. – Ред.). Его сын, владелец клуба «Истиклол», дружен с Рустамом Эмомали
It is possible that someone wants to undermine the position of Rustam Emomali, who used to lead this agency. By the way, before him the agency was headed by Abdufattoh Goib. His son, an owner of the Istiklol sports club is a personal friend of Rustam's.
Eurasianet's In the Cocoon blog took the ‘clan wars’ line of enquiry further, while cautioning against drawing firm conclusions:
The anti-corruption sweep, it is important to note, is the handiwork of the State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, making this all look like a classic case of clan infighting.
The ruling elite is to a large extent drawn from the region around the southern city of Kulob, but that is only part of a bigger picture and there are yet more wheels within wheels to consider.
In order for [Rustam] to slide into the mayor’s seat at the start of the year, it was necessary to displace former incumbent and long-time insider Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloev, a key exponent of the Farkhor clan. Not content with taking Ubaidulloev’s job, Emomali upped the ante by making ominous moves toward investigating the former mayor for evidence of corruption during his time in office.
While the Farkhor crew and the Rahmon family’s Dangara clan may generally speaking be thought to be on the same side, it does not follow that they always pull in the same direction.
As it happens, GKNB chief Saymumin Yatimov is, like Ubaidulloev, a native of the Farkhor district, so his sudden eagerness to hound Emomali’s old colleagues may well be a logical expression of regional loyalty.
At this nebulous stage, drawing inferences from presumed clan affiliations is intensely speculative and should be done with caution. If there is any validity to this line of thinking, it will be determined by Ubaidulloev’s ultimate fate.
Understandably, long-suffering, ordinary citizens of Tajikistan have been disgusted by the busts, that reveal once more how far removed their interests are from those of highly-placed government officials.
Facebook user Tikhufa Akhmedova complained:
Инаш домоди фалони, ваяш писари фалони , инаш додари фалони, ваяш чияни фалони ин сабилмондахои пулчамькун савод доштанд е аз хисоби фалонихо вазифа гирифта бошанд? Чи кадархо босаводони бе тагахо аз дасти чунин фалонидорхо дар кишвар кор наефта дар хорич кор карда истодаанд. Ин лаинхо ба халку ватан хиенат карда саоват чамь оварданд. Бигзор тамоми пулу сарвати онхо мусодира гащта ба бунеди рогун сарф каода шавад.
That person’s son-in-law, this person’s son, that person’s brother, this person’s nephew… Do these corrupted people only get their positions because of their relationships with powerful people? […] How many well-educated people can’t find a job here and have to leave the country because they don’t have a powerful uncle?
The Agency on Financial Control and Combatting Corruption of the Republic of Tajikistan was founded in 2005 in order to fight corruption in the country, but was referred to as “the Agency of Corruption” by cynical Tajiks almost immediately.
In 2015, when marking the ten-year anniversary of the agency, President Rakhmon criticized its work and threatened it with closure, stating: “I founded this agency, I will destroy it”. Shortly afterwards he appointed his son, and potential heir, Rustam, to control it.
Tajik journalist-in-exile Temur Varqi made a tongue-in-cheek suggestion on how to finally overcome corruption in the impoverished country.
Предлагаю таджикскому руководству для искоренения коррупции в Агентстве по борьбе с коррупцией создать Агентство по борьбе с коррупцией в Агентстве по борьбе с коррупцией, подчиненное напрямую основателю Агентства по борьбе с коррупцией
I suggest the Tajik leadership create an Agency of Combatting Corruption under the Agency of Combatting Corruption in order to combat corruption in the Agency of Combatting Corruption.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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Flooding Washes Up Jamaica’s Poor Planning and Environmental Practices · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Flooding in Jamaica, August 2007. Photo by Christina Xu, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Three days of heavy rains associated with a trough caused chaos and disaster in many parts of Jamaica between May 14 and 17, 2017, raising burning questions over poor planning and development, badly designed and inadequate drainage systems, and Jamaicans’ continued careless solid waste disposal practices.
As Jamaicans start to pick up the pieces, the government has much work to do in counting the cost of the damage — including a review of the island's arrangements with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, which is the first multi-country risk pool in the world, designed “as a regional catastrophe fund for Caribbean governments to limit the financial impact of devastating hurricanes and earthquakes by quickly providing financial liquidity when a policy is triggered.” Jamaica has not benefitted from the facility over the last ten years, because the natural disasters it has experienced have not qualified for payouts.
However, the damage to infrastructure from the rain was considerable. In rural areas, many roads were blocked by floods and landslides, communities marooned and several bridges swept away. There was a landslide (the second to date) on a section of the Chinese-built North-South Highway linking the capital, Kingston, to Montego Bay.
The extreme weather was not connected with any storm system, but the local Meteorological Office noted:
.@MetserviceJA head Evan Thompson says rainfall over past day has exceeded the usual amount for the entire month of May #JaWeather
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) May 16, 2017
Antigua's Met Office tweeted:
An interesting satellite annimation of the extreme (#flooding) rainfall across the western #Caribbean this past week. pic.twitter.com/GrKzC9QP7V
— Antigua Met Service (@anumetservice) May 20, 2017
Local media did a great job of reporting from rural areas:
PHOTO: This mother in St Catherine NE ensured her fifth-form daughter got to school today to sit her CSEC exams – @Ian1foto #JaWeather pic.twitter.com/1Xux0mrfzg
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) May 17, 2017
Meanwhile, in town, Kingston's mayor Delroy Williams went on an eye-opening tour of a community where a large gully, choked with debris, opens into the sea:
Stop #6 The source of the flooding at the school. We cannot continue to dump in drains and gullies. In the end we are affected. pic.twitter.com/5cNUhE0skp
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) May 16, 2017
Prime Minister Andrew Holness cut short an official visit to the Dominican Republic and hit the road on his return to the island:
Met with Nordia Lewin of Sunnyside who gave me an account of her ordeal during the heavy rains where she was trapped with her twins. pic.twitter.com/lMifYmktI9
— Andrew Holness (@AndrewHolnessJM) May 17, 2017
Other politicians rushed to their constituencies to survey the damage, complaining or making excuses about blocked drains, and making sure that their presence was noted via social media:
MP and Spokesperson on Local Government Noel Arscott assessing the situation in Osborne Clarendon #staysafe #JaWeather pic.twitter.com/foMyaN13bb
— PNP Jamaica (@JamaicaPNP) May 16, 2017
Assessed the situation in WC St. Catherine after today's heavy rains. Working w/ Food For The Poor to help those whose homes were flooded. pic.twitter.com/dB5CTFpiHt
— Dr. Chris Tufton (@christufton) May 16, 2017
The rains affected most parishes. Reports flooded in from people on the ground on social media. In the east, Ann-Marie Vaz shared photos:
Horrible damage to roads in #Portland Lawks I cannot!??? pic.twitter.com/GOzWo2gcao
— Ann-Marie Vaz?? (@annmarievazja) May 16, 2017
The parish of Clarendon (which has suffered long droughts in recent years) was especially hard hit:
Another bridge in Green River, Clarendon under threat. It's main link betwn Frankfield & southern parts such as May Pen #Jamaica #Flooding pic.twitter.com/15m1sFsEGz
— Jovan Johnson (@jovanthony) May 16, 2017
Many rivers spilled their banks:
Right now in the Flat bridge area, the water is as high as the stop light
Be extremely careful pic.twitter.com/JlPYfLefsU
— Jamaica Weather (@jamaicaweather) May 16, 2017
While some technical experts suggested an inadequate drainage system was partly responsible, observers on Twitter noted:
@CeeteeM @Petchary We allowed “development” to mean replacing “bush” with concrete; abused the environmentalists & ignored their warnings
— PetaAnneBaker (@PA13Baker) May 17, 2017
The mayor of Kingston also tweeted his concerns that things might not get any better if extreme weather events become more common:
@IReggaeDay @MetserviceJA We however need to assess our drainage capacity and town planning & see if this unprecedented rain will become the norm due to G.Warming
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) May 17, 2017
Most schools closed for at least one day, while students struggled to reach examination centers to take external exams. The minister of education tweeted:
Schools except those in Westmoreland,Hanover and St James should close today . Will try to accommodate exam students only.
— Senator Ruel Reid (@HMEReid) May 16, 2017
While emergency services worked hard to bring things back to normal, one government agency — the National Water Commission — celebrated with cheerful music:
What a #waterview!
The Hermitage Dam is now 100% of capacity! pic.twitter.com/RQu9dEhAQD
— NWCJamaica (@NWCjam) May 15, 2017
Poorly planned housing developments and highways were cited as major contributors to the devastating floods, with one geologist observing that while many useful surveys have been done and the problems identified, the data is not being used to inform decisions to correct those problems.
A lack of proper maintenance was also cited.
Opposition Leader Peter Phillips admitted to bad planning and regulation, including “informal settlements,” over the years.
Another contributing factor has been poor waste disposal practices — including the unhealthy habit of dumping garbage in gullies that run down to the sea, becoming choked and polluted along the way. On Twitter, many agreed with activist Carol Narcisse's comment:
We will never have enough money to clean drains&gullies at the rate that garbage is dumped in them. Needs massive natinl behavr change progr
— Carol Narcisse (@CarolNarcisse) May 17, 2017
University professor Damien King added:
We think of flooding as an “act of God” ignoring the preceding acts of man that cause it by willfully bypassing good environmental practices
— Damien King (@DamienWKing) May 17, 2017
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) took the opportunity to reinforce its ongoing campaign “Nuh Dutty Up Jamaica” (Don't Dirty Up Jamaica) with its catchy song and clever video.
JET's Deputy CEO summed up the concerns in a letter to the Gleaner:
Global climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events like this one. Unless we change our daily habits and development practices, we can expect high financial and social costs to life, livelihoods and property to continue. Accepting individual responsibility for the garbage we produce is one way for every Jamaican citizen to do this.
The lack of bins or infrequent garbage collection is no excuse for dumping our waste in the streets or in gullies.
At the same time, the state must also take a lead role in improving the way our towns and cities are managed, with better solid waste infrastructure, preservation of green spaces and enforcement of planning laws and regulations. We must also take the protection of our forests much more seriously at the individual and state level if we are to have any hope of mitigating the threat of Climate Change.
As citizens clean up, they're casting blame in various directions, while officials tally the damage, including the worrying impact on the national budget. Both the government and Jamaica's people are in for some tough changes, as climate change continues to impact the region's fragile island nations, forcing difficult choices.

author: Emma Lewis


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A Russian University Wanted to Award Duterte an Honorary Doctorate, but He Flew Home Too Soon · Global Voices
William Cohen

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Source: Kremlin.ru
One of Russia’s most prestigious universities planned to award controversial Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte an honorary doctorate, but he left the country before the ceremony could take place, Russian media reported on Wednesday.
The Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), which is run by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is considered the top university for aspiring diplomats, announced that Duterte would be awarded an honorary doctorate and deliver a speech today before students and faculty. However, before the event could place, Duterte cut his visit short and flew home after declaring martial law following an outbreak of violence in the south of the Philippines.
According to an announcement that the university has since deleted from its website and social media pages but that remains available in cached versions, “The title of Honorary Doctorate of MGIMO is awarded to outstanding state, political and public figures, to diplomats and also scholars working in the field of international relations and foreign policy.” Past recipients include former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Duterte is a controversial figure who has been accused of presiding over thousands of extrajudicial killings while serving as mayor of Davao City. Since being elected president last year, his government has launched a war on drugs that has left thousands more dead.
Duterte arrived in Moscow this week for a four-day trip that was seen as part of a broader effort to cultivate closer ties with Russia. According to a transcript of a meeting with Vladimir Putin held on the eve of his departure, Duterte requested that Russia provide the Philippines modern weaponry to help fight the Islamic State.
MGIMO’s plan to award the doctorate is being derided on social media.
МГИМО присвоил звание почетного доктора президенту Филиппин Дутерте. Тому, который устроил у себя в стране кровавую баню с отстрелом людей.
— Рустем Адагамов (@adagamov) May 24, 2017
MGIMO awarded an honorary doctorate to the president of the Philippines Duterte. The one who organized a bloodbath and the shooting of people in his country.
Надеюсь, Менгисту Хайле Мариам и Бэби Док Дювалье тоже ждут своей очереди. pic.twitter.com/qbpzJsEbyV
— Alexey Kovalev (@Alexey__Kovalev) May 24, 2017
“I hope Mengistu Haile Mariam and Baby Doc Duvalier are also waiting for their turn.”
МГИМО, давно стал клоакой невежества, мракобесия и ничтожества, где “учатся” дети воров, негодяев и коррупционеров.
— Михаил Тевосян. (@tevosyan_m) May 24, 2017
MGIMO long ago turned into a cesspool of ignorance, obscurantism and worthlessness where the children of thieves, miscreants and corruptionists “study”
It remains unclear whether Duterte was officially awarded the doctorate despite missing the ceremony.

author: William Cohen


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Following Uproar, Shia Leader Tries to Make Amends With Iraq’s Christian Community · Global Voices
Sali Mahdy

Screenshot of Alaa al-Moussawi during an interview with al-Hurra. Source: YouTube
A video recently emerged of Alaa al-Moussawi, head of Iraq's Shia Endowment Fund (a government funded organization to maintain religious sites), seeming to call for Iraq's Christians and Jews to convert to Islam, be killed, or pay “jizya,” a religious tax on non-Muslims.
The three-year-old footage alarmed the country's Christian community (Iraq's Jewish population is near nonexistent) due to the parallels between his remarks and rhetoric from the brutal militant group ISIS. In 2014, after ISIS swept much of northern Iraq, Christians were faced with a similar ultimatum. Many families opted to flee their homes after they were forced to choose between converting and death.
In an interview with al-Hurra, an Arabic language news channel, al-Moussawi responded to criticism by claiming he was taken out of context and this was an attempt by ISIS supporters to fracture the relationship between Iraq's Shia and Christian communities. He also claimed that the particular footage came from a religious lesson given at a mosque in the sacred city of Najaf on the subject of non-Muslims during early Islam. He stressed that the purpose of the lecture was simply informative and added that he did not call for harming Iraq's Christians.
In an attempt to resolve the tension between the two communities, al-Moussawi sent a delegation to the Babylonian Brigades, a Christian movement formed to reclaim land lost in 2014, with a letter apologizing and explaining the context of the video.
The anger sparked by his remarks initially led to a number of lawsuits against al-Moussawi, including one filed collectively by 180 families for “instigating incitement against Christians and disturbing the plurality of Iraq.” However, an understanding was reached to drop all complaints after a formal meeting with a Christian delegation led by Rayan al-Kildani, head of the Babylonian Brigades.
You can watch a clip of the three-year-old interview in question below:
Since the overthrow of the Ba'ath regime in 2003, Iraq's Christian community has dwindled from 1.5 million to around 500,000 due to increased sectarianism. Reporting for the United States government-funded new outlet Voice of America, Rikar Hussein described the reality of Christian emmigration:
According to Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a non-profit organization that advocates for Christian minorities in the country, sectarian violence following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and systematic targeting of religious minorities by IS and other militant groups have forced approximately 80 percent of the Christian population to leave the country.
While the past three years have been especially troubling for the Iraqi Christian community, many have voiced their commitment to return to their ancestral homes in Nineveh province. According to Louis Sako, head of Iraq's Chaldean Church, some 1,300 families want to quickly return to their liberated towns, including Tal Usquf, Baqofa, and Batnaya.
In an article for the New Arab Ninos Abdul Ahad, a displaced Iraqi, defiantly pledged the return of the Christian community:
The Christians will return to their land, despite the destruction we will rebuild churches, schools, and homes, and remove the remnants of ISIS. We will not abandon the land of our fathers and grandfathers.”

author: Sali Mahdy


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New Database Aims to Track Rights Violations of Caribbean’s Most Vulnerable Communities · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Screenshot from a YouTube video about the vulnerable communities that will be represented by the Human Rights Incident Database.
The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) and the Dominican Republic-based Centro de Orientacion e Investigacion Integral (COIN) recently launched the Caribbean's first online database documenting human rights violations.
The Shared Incident Database, or SID for short, aims to provide supporting data for and facilitate the work of those advocating safer and healthier conditions for the region's most vulnerable. The SID will track incidents affecting people living with HIV, sex workers, drug users, men who have sex with men, transgender people, marginalised youth, migrants and inmates — all communities that are stigmatised and frequently suffer from discriminatory practices.
The goal is to empower non-governmental organisations in making decisions and designing programmes based on reliable and accessible data, as well as strengthening their advocacy capability. Beyond benefiting civil society organisations, the SID could also reassure those who wish to report abuse that there is a reliable, secure and trustworthy means of doing so — that a network of organisations exists that is equipped and willing to assist with follow-up.
In an online interview, Global Voices asked CVC's Executive Director Dr. Carolyn Gomes, based in Kingston, Jamaica, how the SID will benefit the non-governmental organisation (NGO) community and the clients it serves.
Dr. Carolyn Gomes, executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition. Image taken from a screenshot of a CVC YouTube video.
Global Voices (GV): When will this database be up and running? What is the timeline?
Carolyn Gomes (CG): The database is already up and running, and being used by civil society organisations in Jamaica, Guyana and Belize. We recently completed training in Suriname and are hoping that organisations there will want to join it. The SID was built over a two-year period in Jamaica by CVC in partnership with three other civil society organisations. It was developed to specifications by TOUCAN, a Jamaican information technology (IT) company.
GV: Will it be retroactive? Will past incidents over the last few years be added to the database?
CG: It does allow data to be input from incident information previously captured by civil society organisations. CVC has supported a couple of organisations to help them with logging their past incidents.
GV: Who will have access to the database? Specific organisations, including those that have participated in trainings? Anyone else?
CG: The non-identifying data will be accessed and shared with all organisations that join the database. There is a specific process for joining, after organisations have been trained. The Steering Committee for the database regulates this process. The University of the West Indies, Faculty of Law, Rights Advocacy Project (URAP) is providing legal technical advice on the use of the data for purposes of reporting and redress. The Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) — which has responsibility for regional discrimination indicators for the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) — will also have access to the Global Data Reports.
The Shared Incident Database (SID) training session in Jamaica. Photo courtesy Dr. Carolyn Gomes, used with permission.
GV: Currently, if people want to report an act of discrimination in their community, do they have to report through one of these organisations? Or will they be able to access a reporting system that feeds directly into the database?
CG: The SID is intended for use by civil society organisations, so individuals would have to go to one of the organisations using the database in order to have their incident recorded. The responsibility for assisting with the redress sought by the client will lie with the organisation to which the report is made. We want to publicise this database, so that people and civil society organisations are aware that there are organizations prepared to record the abuses that they allege; and so they know those organisations will work with them to get redress for the abuse.
GV: How will CVC and partners report the statistics and information gathered in the database, and how often?
CG: The Global Data Reports generated by SID will be provided to the Steering Committee at each meeting (these are currently monthly, but aiming for quarterly when the database is fully rolled out). The reports will be used for spotting trends, as the basis for reports to national, regional and international bodies, and for sharing with User Members. Each organisation (User Member) can generate reports that are germane to their work and needs — but are pertaining only to the cases that they have collected.
We also asked Gomes about the privacy and safety aspects of the database, given that any centralized collection of data can become a target, both for state entities but also for malicious hackers. A breach like this could have a particularly harmful effect for the CVC database, given the nature of its contents.
Gomes emphasized the system's explicit protections of identifying data about individuals in the set, but also acknowledged that in order to be effective, the system would need to allow for some sharing of information between vetted partners.
GV: Does the database have the necessary confidentiality/privacy safeguards?
CG: There are multiple layers of confidentiality built into the database. Identifying data is not shared with anyone outside of the particular organisation that took the report….It is not public in ANY WAY…. Data is stored externally with a secure cloud-based server. The data is not randomly accessible from anywhere. Other categories of persons (field officers responsible for collecting reports in the field) can only see the reports that they input in the database. Organisations are required to have signed confidentiality agreements with clients. Only non-identifying data is shared across the database. Organisations can request data sharing (again, non-identifying data) of other organisations for research or advocacy purposes. But that would have to be approved by the organisation to whom the request is made.
GV: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about?
CG: CARPHA [the Caribbean Public Health Agency] is exploring the possibility of writing up SID as a Regional Best Practice for addressing Stigma and Discrimination. Organisations using the database will be supported to seek redress by the Social Justice and Community Lawyering Network, a group of over 40 lawyers from 13 Caribbean countries that have answered a call to provide pro bono legal services to inadequately served populations especially vulnerable to human rights abuses, including those living with and at risk of HIV. The network was developed by URAP [the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Law, Rights Advocacy Project] in conjunction with CVC (with support from the Robert Carr Civil Society Network Fund (RCNF) and the CVC-COIN Regional Civil Society Grant from the Global Fund). This cadre of young and more experienced lawyers across the region will provide support to civil society organisations seeking redress for their clients.
You can find out more about the database here.


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Trinidad & Tobago Ministers Rack Up Big Bills—and Social Media Outrage · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

A meme by Christian Hume about tourism minister Shamfa Cudjoe's exorbitant roaming bill, widely shared on Facebook.
With oil prices down, Trinidad and Tobago's energy-based economy has had to adjust. These are lean times; foreign exchange is less available and the government is trying to make up the country's revenue shortfall any way it can.
Imagine the public's consternation, then, when news broke that two government ministers in particular — Shamfa Cudjoe, the minister of tourism, and Darryl Smith, the minister of sport and youth affairs — have not been adhering to the same belt-tightening rules.
Cudjoe stunned netizens when it was revealed that she ran up a TT $59,000 phone bill (approximately US $8,740) over the course of four days. She later explained that only $1,100 of the billed amount represented phone calls — the balance consisted of roaming fees and value-added tax (VAT) at a time when she was in the Bahamas for a tourism-related event.
In a press release, Cudjoe said, “At the time of the trip, the Ministry was dealing with several issues which required my attention and therefore necessitated that I remain accessible. During this period, as is common while travelling on official government business, my mobile telephone was placed on roaming. However, at every reasonable opportunity, I also made use of the Wi-Fi facility where it was available.”
She claims she too was surprised by the high bill and asked the ministry to “launch an immediate investigation” into the charges. The cell service provider, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), has said that it had no control over the roaming charges imposed by regional and international carriers.
Netizens were not too quick to buy Cudjoe's declarations of fiscal responsibility, however. The hashtag #callmeanytimeyouwant soon started to make an appearance and she soon started being referred to on social media as the “Minister of Roaming”.
On Twitter, Rhoda Bharath was truly incredulous as to how this could have happened:
I breaking this down into byte size pieces. $50k in data. Not calls. Over 4 days. On a phone. In a hotel with wifi.#callmeanytimeyouwant
— rhoda bharath (@rhodabharath) May 16, 2017
On Facebook, she further dissected Cudjoe's defense:
Where things get interesting is the cost of data charges in the Bahamas and what they actually mean in downloaded/used data.
When the math is done, the exorbitant rate indicates that the Minister used roughly 800 mb of data. That is average data use over a 4-day period for many persons. And what it actually reveals is that $59,000.00 in data charges wasn't racked up from intense use of the phone to remain “accessible”, but from casual data consumption at extremely high rates.
Which then begs the question, how often is the state shouldering $60,000 bills for casual consumption of roaming data overseas by Ministers and Ministry officials? […]
Abuse of the public purse is nothing to defend or scoff at!
Many social media users were of the opinion that Cudjoe should pay back the roaming charges. Kathryn Stollmeyer Wight lamented:
She has to pay us back because nobody is ever taken to task or made to account & there will be absolutely no justice with this scandal. […]
Its time to get a voice people & stop the nonsense in this place. Call them all out! Demand our hard earned tax dollars are spent wisely!
Pay up HONORABLE Minister Cudjoe, & frankly, while you paying up, resign too. Now that would really set an example.
Over at biting news site Wired868, Rudy Chato Paul Sr had a few questions, including how many bills of this size have taxpayers unwittingly paid, and whether there is a mechanism by which the public can access this information — perhaps through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Naturally, some folks took a humourous approach to the situation. Errol Jaikaransingh quipped:
Roam wasn't billed in a day
Justin Phelps, referring to the popular pre-paid cellular phone plans in which customers can “top up” their credit at any time, enjoyed a play on words:
I need a top-up, but ah shamfa ask fa it.
The memes soon followed, and were widely shared on Facebook:
“When you make a long distance call to the afterlife so you can complain to Patrick Manning about Rowley.. and now you're under investigation.” Meme, widely shared on Facebook.
The late Patrick Manning is a former prime minister and previous head of the People's National Movement (PNM) which is now in government. Dr. Keith Rowley is the current prime minister and leader of the same party.
“Allyuh studying shamfar 59,000 phone bill. I will tax allyuh to get da money.” Meme showing Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Finance, Colm Imbert, threatening to further tax citizens to recoup the money Cudjoe spent on roaming charges.
TSTT's competitor, Digicel, used the controversy as an opportunity to promote its services:
Don’t let roaming rates get you down! Avoid surprises when you sign up for Digicel’s One Rate Roaming Plan.
The situation was even less funny when it came to the country's minister of sport, Darryl Smith, who ran up a bill for over TT $90,000 (about US $13,333) on a visit to Tobago. On her blog, journalist Sharmain Baboolal broke the story, referring to the trip as a “Tobago joyride”:
Inserted at the last minute, three women who ‘did not receive invitations’ for the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Awards turned out to be the guests of honor of the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs (MYSYA) at an all inclusive weekend for a party of 12 at the Magdelena Grand, costing taxpayers TT$91,910.43.
One of the women named is Kate Balthazar, who showed up on social media radar at the beginning of 2017, with several netizens calling into question the nature of her relationship with the minister.
Baboolal's post contained images of the hotel bill, along with other details:
An additional TT$10,400 was used to rent four vehicles from Rollock’s Car Rentals even though the hand written quotations, approved by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Natasha Barrow, stated categorically that the trip was to attend the THA [Tobago House of Assembly] Awards which was [sic] held in the same hotel. […]
The event was stretched into a three nights all expenses paid trip for eight of the 12 member party […]
On the night of the Awards, according to information released by the THA's Information Department, it was only Minister Smith who presented Awards at the ceremony.
Wired868 reported that Natasha Barrow, permanent secretary in the ministry, defended the guest list and expenditures by saying there were important meetings during the trip, but anonymous staffers that the site had spoken to “contradicted her account”:
Smith did offer some consolation to the Trinidad and Tobago public on his Ministry’s use of taxpayers’ money at the Magdalena Grand Beach and Golf Resort.
‘Ent is [Isn't it] the government’s hotel?’ Smith asked rhetorically. ‘So the money staying in the system.’
It betrayed a level of economic ignorance that was so brazenly repulsive and insulting and yet, at the same time, full of such absolute childish ignorance that one had to stop and stare, open-mouthed—like looking at a stool the size of a papaw in a public restroom.
Wired868 summed up the whole affair by saying:
Someone needs to bell the cat and there is no time like the present. In these days when our tightened belts are already like nooses around our necks, taxpayers cannot afford to be saddled with the likes of Minister Roma or Minister Romeo.

author: Flora Thomas


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When a Picture Is Worth a Thousand Wrong Words · Global Voices
Connie Moon Sehat

“Sharing is Caring” by Flickr user Niklas Wikström (CC-BY-NC 2.0)
WARNING: This article and the pages it links to contain graphic images depicting violence.
Fact-checking in the moment to quash a rumor or fabrication is important, but what about years after something first appeared? Social media content, whether true or false, has a way of hanging around.
Take this photo from a horrific accident in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) seven years ago. Since it was first published, it has been misleadingly used all over the world to illustrate tragedies that actually took place in Nigeria and Myanmar.
These incorrect pairings of image and event — “false descriptions” or “false contexts” (in Global Voices or First Draft News terminology) — don't negate the fact that there has been plenty of accurate reporting of the events in DRC, Myanmar and Nigeria. However, it does raise questions about our appetite for images with news.
In 2010, a fuel tanker traveling through Sange, a town in Eastern DRC, overturned and exploded, killing over 230 people. Years of neglect following civil war had ravaged Africa's second largest country and turned roads in the area into dangerous paths filled with difficult-to-navigate potholes. Tragically, the tanker fell victim to them.
Officials described a fireball that engulfed dozens of homes and a cinema nearby that was packed with people watching World Cup football. Houses were scorched to a crisp and charred bodies littered the streets, with many people were burnt beyond recognition.
Several photos of the incident depicted the horrifying scenes from the day. Above is one example. It shows rows of charred bodies lined up on the ground as people look on.
This picture was taken in Sange, DRC, showing victims of a tanker explosion on July 3, 2010. This particular version was originally captioned as: “This is Nigeria.” [sic] by Imgur user Mystical Monkey, January 12, 2015.
But the story doesn't end there. Over the years, this same photo has been trotted out multiple times on social media, blogs, and other platforms and wrongly attributed to real but unrelated tragedies, most notably incidents in Nigeria and Myanmar.
On 3 January 2015, Boko Haram militants attacked the remote Nigerian towns of Baga and Doro Gowon. Eyewitnesses graphically described atrocities that they were forced to flee from. Houses and shops were burnt and corpses lay in the streets and in bushes.
There were reports that anywhere from 150 to 2,000 people were massacred, but the numbers couldn’t be confirmed. “No one stayed back to count bodies,” one resident told Human Rights Watch. Many were hacked, shot, and burnt to death. Only satellite images were available to illustrate the aftermath. The reason for the attack was also unclear, but Baga's army base has been a continual point of conflict between Nigeria's military and Boko Haram's effort to gain territory (examples from 2013 and in 2015).
And this is where the DRC image appeared again, when it was falsely presented as evidence of the fact and possible scale of the assault:
This is Nigeria. A massacre of 2000 happened 2 days after Paris.
They are not Charlie. They are dead. pic.twitter.com/xm5AesVXOe
— No Justice No Peace (@drumbeats4peace) January 12, 2015
In fact, this misuse of the DRC image was only one in a series of misattributions; Africa Check has documented associations with Nigeria since 2014. In all these cases, the image was presented as proof of mass killings. Going further, personal commentary like this example incorrectly linked the DRC image to mainstream news sources to make the case.
The Sange image also made an appearance in association to the deadly persecution of Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar. According to one flash report published by the United Nations (UN), those fleeing described beatings, rape, and a number of deaths, some by burning. As others reported violence against the Rohingya people, posts that paired descriptions with photos from DRC like the following appeared:
This image comes from a Saudi Arabian news site that falsely alleged in 2012 that Myanmar President Thein Sein said monks and politicians were involved in the killing of Rohingya Muslims, and in addition used the DRC image to illustrate the information. The original post accessed 26 April 2017 is available here. Other news organizations, citing AFP as their source, also incorrectly attributed to Thein Sein the claim, but without falsely associating the DRC image.
Traces of these mistaken pairings go as far back as 2011 and 2012 and, indeed, are from all around the world. Using a “reverse image search,” you begin to see how extensively information can cross borders. A reverse image search engine on TinEye across 18.8 billion images (as of May 3, 2017) found 344 very similar photos to the DRC photo in question on a mix of personal pages, social media platforms, and community and national publications. They are in many languages: English, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, German, Greek, Portuguese. Some forwarded the false reports, while others occasionally attempted to debunk the fabrications.
We isolated examples of misuse and associated them to specific countries based upon what site they were published on in order to show the reach more clearly than that of language alone.
More than one example of misuse may exist from the countries listed below (which are also sometimes linked to one another). Here are some of the cases that are still possible to fully track down (orange on the map):
Map: NewsFrames. Country examples of false pairings of the DRC image with Nigeria or Myanmar. The orange countries indicate sites and servers where examples of fabricated or false news are still available. The countries in grey are examples that, according to the metadata and information available in TinEye, are likely to also exemplify false examples. As a reminder, the source of this image is the Democratic Republic of Congo (in blue).
There are other confirmed examples of falsely using the image in Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Argentina.
Other accounts, aggregators, and sites from the following country locations (in grey on the map) are also suggested by TinEye, though no longer fully traceable: Czech Republic, Australia, India, Peru, Netherlands, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaijan, Japan, and possibly China. (Records exist on the crawler engine with URLs and time-date stamps and occasionally possess image filenames related to Nigeria or Rohingya Muslims.) In all these cases, which occur much later than the original 2010 disaster, the image may ultimately bear a correct description, but the original post is not available or accessible.
There are two strong themes or frames that run through these posts, and the first focuses on religion. The photo has been used in terms of larger discussions about silence related to the killing of Christians by Muslims or, in defense of Muslims, the killing of Rohingyas by Buddhists. A second framing uses the image to discuss the undervaluing of African lives compared to European or French lives.
Making sense of religion and the value of human life is important, which is why the use of images in association with these efforts is worth examining. But a deeper question is what happens when readers can no longer trust these images. With social media, there are scores of people who may be inadvertently partaking in muddying the waters around a tragedy. Does the atmosphere of misinformation and disinformation suggest true atrocities are false and take away from the actual horror of what has, in fact, happened in DRC, in Nigeria, and in Myanmar?
The dissemination of violent images has long been debated (as in this example). One argument is that withholding images is a refusal to acknowledge the tragedy, and these images are at times requested by victims themselves. Yet there has also long been a concern that violent images desensitize readers and viewers, making them lose their ability to empathize (such as this study which examined the effects of violent media on helping others).
While there's much to be debated about violent images in the news media, the fact is they're critical to news coverage today. As technologists experiment with algorithms to aid the fight against “fake news,” they will need to think carefully about situations where a picture suggests one thing, when in fact it may be used out of context or altogether in a false way. Any analysis of false descriptions should also consider how truly international it can be.
Many thanks to Afef Abrougui, Anna Schetnikova, Belen Febres-Cordero, Esther Dodo, Gustavo Xavier, Iria Puyosa, L. Finch, Lena Nitsche, Marisa Petricca, Mohamed ElGohary, Mong Palatino, Oiwan Lam, Ortaç Oruç, Veroniki Krikoni, Rami AlHames, Suzanne Lehn, Thant Sin, and Tori Egherman for their help in confirming details and context.

author: Connie Moon Sehat


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Why Trump’s Hostile Handshake Routine Was No Big Deal for Tajikistan’s President · Global Voices
Peter Paul Rankin

Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon grips Russian leader Vladimir Putin's hand during a recent trip to Moscow. Russian government image in the public domain. Cropped for the purposes of the article.
Smaller-than-average hands, but a bigger than average handshake. Since Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States of America, screeds and screeds of Internet have been devoted to analysing his hostile-seeming handshakes with world leaders.
According to the raft of online analysis covering these moments of first contact, most of them have been drawn — quite literally — into the Trump trap. The roughhouse technique seems to involve Trump using his considerable girth to pull his opponent into his body. If that fails, he simply ensures that his fingers get further up the wrist of the unsuspecting foreign leader than might reasonably be expected in any non-competitive hand-offering.
In an article for the Independent UK newspaper, Geoff Beattie speculated that the move is an extension of Trump's ‘America First’ foreign policy, and ultimately, a play for the cameras.
Whatever the motivations behind the Trumpshake, it cut no ice with Emomali Rakhmon, Tajikistan's de facto president-for-life, who he met in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia as part of the Arab Islamic American Summit on May 21.
Найден человек, который переиграл Трампа в рукопожатии pic.twitter.com/snhfDgJr2r
— тем временем… (@a_imanaliev) May 23, 2017
We have found the person who can defeat Trump in the handshake stakes.
@a_imanaliev ? It scared him… He had to step in! #impeachtrump
— Lizz (@Lizzette007) May 23, 2017
@a_imanaliev Yeah Buddy. he was ready for his jerking ass. Good.
— Mrs BJ Holloway (@Peachie100) May 23, 2017
@a_imanaliev You can tell who has the most power in this room.
— Chris Green (@GreenFlag41) May 23, 2017
As can be observed in the gif above, Rakhmon, whose authoritarian Central Asian country is the poorest in the former Soviet Union, clearly came out of the shake as the stronger strongman, joining Canada's Justin Trudeau on the elite list of non-losers in Trump's favourite sport that isn't golf.
But while Trudeau's memorable counter to Trump during their meeting in February was all about planning, Rakhmon's victory seemed to have been secured with instinctive brute force, neatly summing up the theme of his rule of more than two-decades over Tajikistan.
With corruption entrenched and around half of working-age males seeking work abroad in Russia, Rakhmon, 64, has honed a talent for projecting an image of success in a failing state. His recently-accorded official title is “The founder of peace and national unity – Leader of the Nation”, which pays tribute to his leading the country out of a bitter five-year civil war that befell it shortly after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
In an article for Litro magazine, American researcher Emily Neil quotes a Tajik woman explaining her reverence for a figure, who to most observers beyond the country's borders is the epitome of a self-serving, old-school dictator.
“That is why I love Rakhmon,” Parvina said, bread still in hand, shocking me with her directness.
All Americans, laughed at Rakhmon and his regime, ex-KGB types, running the country with the most ridiculous gestures of authoritarianism: the billboards, the government-sanctioned “news” declaring the prosperity of Tajikistan, showing image after image of full crop fields accompanied by floating, inspirational music – even his recent declaration earlier the year before of his title not just as president, as he had been since peace was achieved in 1997, but also as “Leader of the Nation,” reminiscent in its bleak grandiosity of something straight out of the Hunger Games.
[…]
She explained to me as well as she could, as well as I could understand: “He is why there is bread now. He is why you, a foreigner, can be here right now.”
Rakhmon was not a billboard: He was a fact that meant that in her hand was the smooth, round bread, a fact that was the reason why I was sitting there, why I had boarded a plane and landed in Dushanbe, where I could play in the alley with her daughters without fear of being shot. Why my government’s heavily-weighted, paper-thin green dollars changed hands, became somoni and now could rest safely in the wooden trunk under the bed in her room.
Yes, it was funny, but nothing about Parvina’s face – her mouth which so quickly smiled when playing with her children, her eyes which would light up as we talked about our mutual love of Enrique Iglesias – showed any sign of amusement now.
That is not the whole story of course, and individual freedoms have nosedived to such an extent in recent years that any Tajik offering a critical opinion of Rakhmon in print would have to seriously consider the prospect of jail time, but the point remains clear: Rakhmon is Tajikistan's Mr. Everything. (If it needs to be clearer, check out this image of Rakhmon manning a bulldozer to begin work on a hydroelectric dam his country might never be able to pay for).
And yet in one sense, he came to power, like Trump, as an outsider.
A former collective farm boss from the country's rural hinterland — the traditional elite during the Soviet period was sourced from the more industrialized north — his promotion to the leadership was supported by powerful security figures that believed they could control him. Many ended up dead after he consolidated his position.
Like Trump, Rakhmon has a sense for a photo opportunity, and like Trump his life story stands as a dubious tribute to the male ego and its dangerous capacity to dominate and control by any means necessary.
But unlike Trump, Rakhmon isn't some lily-fingered son of privilege — he knows how to come out on top in a handshake war.

author: Peter Paul Rankin


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Cries of Impunity as Macedonia’s ‘Bloody Thursday’ Parliament Attackers Get Suspended Sentences · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Trial of nine participants in the violence in Macedonian parliament. Photo by Meta.mk News Agency, used with permission.
In one of the speediest trials in Macedonian history, nine members of a lynch mob that stormed the Parliament on April 27 (an incident now known as “Bloody Thursday”) received suspended sentences, enabling them to walk out the court as free men.
Judge Milka Angelovska Vasovska's verdict has shocked the Macedonian public. A representative of the parliamentary majority targeted in the lynching attempt has called the verdict “orchestrated, criminal, and shameful.”
On Twitter, Internet users are expressing their outrage. For example, journalist Bobi Hristov wrote:
На лудилото му нема крај – првите деветмина осомничени за насилствата во Собрание со условни казни #далдаплачамилидасесмеам
— Bobi Hristov (@bobihrist) May 23, 2017
No end to the madness – the first nine suspects for the violence in the Assembly receive suspended sentences #ShouldICryOrShouldILaugh
Денешната одлука на судот потврдува дека државата е заробеник на партијата и дека партијата е организатор на насилниот упад во Собранието.
— Алчинов (@DAlcinov) May 23, 2017
Today's court decision confirms that the state is a captive of the party and that the party is the organizer of the violent raid on the Assembly.
The vulnerability of the Macedonian judicial system to political interference is well documented. Just last year, for instance, the U.S. State Department released a country report on human rights and practices that highlighted just a few problems:
“…most significant human rights problems stemmed from pervasive corruption and from the government’s failure to respect fully the rule of law, including continuing efforts to restrict media freedom, interference in the judiciary and impeding the work of the Special Prosecutor’s Office charged with investigating and prosecuting crimes relating to and arising from illegally intercepted communications, as well as the selective administration of justice. Political interference, inefficiency, favoritism toward well-placed persons, prolonged processes, violations of the right to public trial, and corruption characterized the judicial system.”
Ако ве изненадува фактот дека им дале условно наместо затвор, можам да заклучам дека последниве 10 години имаме живеено во различни земји.
— 42 (@forty_tw0) May 23, 2017
If you are surprised by the fact that they received suspended sentences instead of prison, I can conclude that for the last 10 years we've been living in different countries.
In the evening on April 27, a mob besieged and then stormed the Macedonian parliament, wounding dozens of members of parliament and journalists. The crowd included protesters from the group “For United Macedonia” — widely reported to be a proxy for the outgoing ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, which the group denies — still holds power in the interregnum period as part of the technical government. Journalists investigating the incident reported that the attack was spearheaded by disguised members of the secret police, police, and the army.
Inside the parliament building, at least seven deputies from VMRO-DPMNE were caught on security cameras opening the building's doors to rioters. They even incited and helped guide the crowd to the former opposition.
The main targets were Zoran Zaev, the leader of Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) and prime minister designate, and Zijadin Sela, the leader of Albanian Alliance, as well as members of the Colorful Revolution movement who recently became independent deputies aligned with SDSM.
The attack on parliament was the peak of a political crisis years in the making. The Macedonian independent media responded with fear that the president would use the incident as an excuse to declare a state of emergency and deploy security forces to finish the coup.
Notably, the deputies under assault insisted on non-violence, repeatedly sending messages to the public to remain calm. This is credited as preventing large groups of their supporters gathering around the city to rescue them from clashing with the mob.
While all this was happening, responding police officers did not intervene at first, as they'd received no orders from the VMRO-DPMNE-appointed chief of the Bureau for Public Safety, Mitko Chavkov. When the order finally came, police had little trouble dispersing the mob, albeit with zero on-site arrests. The authorities identified some of the perpetrators only days later, despite the straightforward surveillance footage from CCTV and eyewitnesses’ cell phones showing their faces.
After the attack, two secret police agents allegedly entered the parliament and seized several hard disks from a security room, but they failed to remove all surveillance evidence, leaving behind CCTV footage recorded to other devices.
Over the next several days, VMRO-DPMNE officials played down the incident. When he was asked if the mob violence qualifies as an assassination attempt, VMRO-DPMNE President Nikola Gruevski said the attackers would have killed their targets if that's what they'd really wanted.
Епизода 7 – #грујоЛАЖЕ
„Да сакаа можеа да го убијат“ pic.twitter.com/43GTlJVZv1
— Странски (@Sluzbi) May 1, 2017
Video: Contrasting video footage with Gruevski's statement.
Tweet: Episode 7 – #GruevskiLYING “If they wanted they could kill him.”
In fact, the attackers who managed to get hold of Member of Parliament Zijadin Sela beat him so hard, including stomping his head, that they were reportedly convinced he was dead. Some of the videos later released show that some of the assailants indeed carried guns.
According to members of the security forces who spoke anonymously to journalists, the attackers planned to begin executing people when the chaos reached a certain level. The killing apparently never began because there were too many eyewitnesses filming the event on their mobile phones.
The mob prevented ambulances to approach the parliament, so over 20 seriously injured deputies and journalists received medical care after several hours. The material damage was significant — the mob ransacked the building, stealing office equipment and food from the cafeteria.
A special report by the NGO Macedonian Helsinki Committee — based on “photos, audio-visual recordings, and testimonies” — indicates that more than two dozen separate criminal acts were committed during the attack on parliament:
“The crimes are established as such in 8 chapters of the Criminal Code, and were directed against: 1) the life and body, 2) the freedoms and rights of citizens, 3) property, 4) security, 5) State, 6) office, 7) judiciary and 8) public order.”
Nevertheless, state prosecutors embraced the narrative supported by the former ruling party. Instead of facing more serious charges, the nine suspects went on trial for “participation in a crowd planning to conduct a criminal act.” Some of the defendants had prior felony convictions, included one convicted murderer.
The men confessed and apologized, and eight of the nine received six-month suspended sentences. The ninth suspect was given a 18-month suspended sentence.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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‘We Can Finally Get Married!’: Taiwan to Become First Asian Country to Recognise Gay Marriage · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Pro-LGBT marriage groups celebrated the court's ruling on May 24, 2017. Photo from Facebook support LGBT marriage coalition.
This post was written by Elson Tong and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on May 24, 2017. The edited version below is republished on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
Taiwan’s top court ruled on May 24, 2017 that current regulations prohibiting marriage between partners of the same sex are unconstitutional.
The constitutional court’s ruling means that the island is set to become the first Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage.
Announcing the result of a two-month-long constitutional review on Wednesday afternoon, the panel of 14 judges ordered the legislature to either amend the Civil Code or introduce new provisions to recognise same-sex marriage within two years.
The court said that the current regulations are in violation of constitutional rights to the freedom of marriage and equality among citizens.
#Taiwan rules that the freedom of marriage for two persons include “whether to marry” and “whom to marry” – full text below #loveislove pic.twitter.com/i6f0Ob9IQA
— Ministry of Culture (@CulturalTaiwan) May 24, 2017
Two of the 14 judges dissented, while one refrained from filing an opinion.
Hundreds of same-sex marriage supporters celebrated in Taipei outside the legislature, in a demonstration held by gay rights group Marriage Equality Coalition.
“We can finally get married!” shouted demonstrators outside the Legislative Yuan.
Opponents, however, remain camped outside the judiciary building following their protest on Tuesday. Anti-gay rights activist Abdulluh Musad has staged an ongoing hunger strike for four days at Taipei’s Liberty Square.
Wednesday’s review was brought to court by two parties, one of which is Chi Chia-wei, a 59-year-old gay rights activist who first attempted to register a marriage with his male partner in 1986.
With Taiwan under martial law at the time, he was imprisoned for five months. The legislature responded to his petition calling homosexuality “a perversion of a minority.”
Chi was joined in his current petition by the Department of Civil Affairs of the Taipei government, which earlier said it would respect the court’s ruling no matter what.
Chi Chia-wei. Photo from Facebook user Tsai Yi.
Facebook user Tsai Yi spotted the old man outside the Legislative Yuan and recorded the historical moment (English version translated by Tony Lin Zhiyang):
畫面中的這個人叫祁家威，1986年28歲的他在台北一家麥當勞前召開國際記者會公開出櫃，成為台灣第一位公開出櫃的同性戀，此後的三十年間，祁家威的人生幾乎全部投注在同志運動當中，爭取同志平權，為了結婚而戰。
今天，台灣司法院公佈了祁家威提出的釋憲申請，判定民法不保障同性伴侶結婚違憲。
爭取台灣婚姻平權這條路祁家威從一個人走到百萬人走了三十年，而他也從少年走到了白頭。
今天在釋憲現場看到他，匆匆擦肩而過，卻有滄海桑田之感。有生之年可以見證，人生足已。
When he came out as the first openly gay man in Taiwan 30 years ago, he was still a young man.
The man in the picture is Chi Chia-wei. In 1986, the 28-year-old Chi hosted a press conference in front of a McDonald's in Taipei, becoming the first openly gay man in Taiwan. In the following 30 years, Chi spends most of his adult life in LGBT rights and fights for marriage equality.
Today, Taiwan's Judicial Yuan made a judicial interpretation regarding Chi's petition: it is unconstitutional for Taiwan's Civil Code to prohibit same sex marriage.
He started this fight 30 years ago as a young man and he was all by himself, but today he has millions of people behind him.
I walked past him earlier today at a gathering outside of Legislative Yuan. It was just a matter of seconds, but I witnessed a history in the making.
Existing regulations stipulating marriage as a union between a man and a woman have also been challenged in a bill proposed by legislator Yu Mei-nu of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. The Legislative Yuan passed the first of three readings of the bill in December 2016, but a final review is not expected until later this year.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


text:
Iraqi Parliament Slammed for Bill Restricting Free Speech, Right to Protest · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

A reporter in Mosul, Iraq in November 2016. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
When armed men in civilian clothes kidnapped journalist Afrah Shawqi from her home on 26 December 2016, journalists and activists quickly took to the street to demand that the government take action to ensure her safety and her immediate release.
Iraq's parliament is currently reviewing a draft law that, if enacted, could make this kind of response impossible. Local civil society groups and activists are criticizing the parliament for attempting to pass a bill that would restrict freedom of expression and rights to protest and assembly.
The law on “freedom of expression, opinion, assembly and peaceful demonstration” aims at “guaranteeing and regulating freedom of expression and opinion through any means, freedom of assembly and peaceful demonstration, and the right to knowledge, without prejudice to public order and public morals, and determining the parties responsible for regulating them,” states Article 2 of the bill.
The bill would require Iraqis to seek the prior authorization from local authorities before protesting or assembling. Requiring protesters to ask for an authorization five days before a protest is a “cause for concern, due to the nature of the Iraqi street and its ongoing crises” says Mustafa Naser, the president of the Association for Defending Press Freedom in Iraq. Iraqis “have recently realized the street's impact on parliamentary decisions and legislation,” he told Global Voices in an e-mail interview.
Iraqi protestors outside the Parliament in April 2016, where they staged a sit-in before storming the building. Photo credit: @AlFayth (Twitter)
Before assembling, Iraqis would also need to submit a request for prior authorization at least five days before a meeting takes place. The request should include the subject matter, purpose, time and place of the meeting, and names of the organizers.
In addition to restricting the right to protest and assembly, the bill also limits freedom of expression by mainly preventing criticism of religion and religious symbols. Article 13 prescribes a jail sentence of up to ten years for those convicted of “intentionally broadcasting propaganda for war, terrorist acts, and hatred based on national origin, race, religion and sect.” A second paragraph of the same article prescribes a one year prison sentence and a fine for attacks and the degradation of the beliefs of any religious sect. This includes any public insults to “a rite, symbol or a person subject of reverence, glorification or respect for a religious sect.”
On 13 May, the Iraqi parliament once again decided to postpone a vote on the controversial draft law, amid opposition from civil society groups and activists. MP Sarwa AbdelWahed told local media that the vote was delayed until a “national consensus” around the bill is reached.
The bill was first introduced in 2011. After confronting objections from civil society, its authors amended and submitted it to the parliament again in August 2015, only to encounter another wave of protests. The Iraqi parliament attempted to vote on the bill again in July 2016, without success.
Attempts by the parliament to pass the law again this month have been met with criticism by Iraqi civil society groups. Protesters gathered outside the parliament on 14 May to express their rejection of the bill.
Mustafa Saadoon, director of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights tweeted on 15 May:
البرلمان العراقي يُرِيد ان يُقيد حريتنا بقانون عنوانه رائع وبنوده بائسة لا تنتجها الا الأنظمة الديكتاتورية.
— mustafa saadoon (@SaadoonMustafa) May 15, 2017
The Iraqi parliament wants to restrict our freedoms with a law that has a wonderful headline and miserable clauses produced only by dictatorial regimes
On the same day, the Observatory issued a statement accusing the different political alliances in the parliament of “restricting freedoms and paving the way for new dictatorships”:
يطالب المرصد العراقي لحقوق الإنسان البرلمان العراقي بضرورة إجراء تعديل على مسودة مشروع  القانون وفق إلتزامات العراق الدولية وعدم التعامل بإنتقائة مع مبادئ حقوق الإنسان ومحاولة تقييد الحريات في قوانين عناوينها تنظيمية وبنودها تقييدية
The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights calls on the Iraqi parliament to amend the bill in accordance with Iraq's international obligations and not to be selective when it comes to human rights principles, and not to attempt to restrict freedoms with laws that have regulatory titles and restrictive clauses
Freedom of expression is already under threat in Iraq, with journalists and media at risk of violations by armed militias that do not tolerate criticism, and abuses by security officers. This is in addition to the targeting of journalists by ISIS, which since taking over parts of Iraq in 2014, has been responsible for murdering several reporters. But instead of working to ensure stronger protections for these freedoms, the Iraqi parliament is seeking to pass a repressive law.
للحد من حرية التعبير في العراق، أما أن تختطفك مليشيات وعصابات السلطة أو يشرع #قانون_حرية_التعبير من قبل ممثليهم في برلمان الفساد والإرهاب.
— حكيم الشرع (@Hakeemalshara2) May 11, 2017
To restrict freedom of expression in Iraq, either you get abducted by militias and the authority's gangs, or their representatives in the parliament of corruption and terrorism enacts a freedom of expression law
“There is a political will from the big alliances in the parliament which have been dominating the Iraqi state for more that a decade, to push for the enactment of a law that withholds the right to demonstrate, and criminalizes any unlicensed protest,” Naser stated. He added:
المفارقة انهم يدعون مقارعة النظام الدكتاتوري السابق، لنيل حرياتهم وحريات الشعب العراقي، لكنهم في ذات الوقت يستخدمون قوانين صدام حسين المشرعة في ستينيات القرن الماضي ضد خصومهم…بل انهم يسعون لتمرير المزيد من القوانين المقيدة للحريات، والتي لا تنسجم مع ادعاءاتهم النضالية
The paradox is, they claim that they are fighting the former dictatorial regime to win their freedoms and those of the Iraqi people, but at the same time they use the laws of Saddam Hussein enacted in the sixties against their opponents…while also seeking to pass more laws restrictive of freedoms, which are not in harmony with their claims of struggle.
It remains unclear when the Iraqi parliament will attempt to revive this six-year old bill again. In the meantime, civil society groups and activists will continue to exercise pressure so that another repressive law does not add up to the list of restrictive laws that already exist in Iraq, including the 1968 Publications Law which bans criticism of the government and the 1969 Penal Code which criminalizes defamation and insult.

author: Afef Abrougui


text:
Is the Belt and Road Project the Answer to China’s Economic Woes? Some Aren’t So Sure. · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Map showing Belt and Road initiative. Image from Chinese state-owned Xinhua News.
China caught the world’s eyes with its high-profile global forum on the so-called Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing on 14-15 May 2017. The developmental blueprint, involving about 65 countries, seeks to push through a series of infrastructure and trade projects that boost global economic growth and connect the Asian, African and European continents.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged US $124 billion during the forum to establish China’s leading role in this new globalization effort.
Despite being touted by Chinese news outlets, following the forum censors began to block Chinese from commenting about the initiative on social media. A number of users had been expressing their skepticism about the gigantic international project at a time when China’s economy is struggling with overcapacity, soaring home prices, and inflated credit.
Screen capture from Weibo on 22 May 2017. When posting comment on news about Belt and Road on Weibo, a warning stating that the comment is violating regulations and policies pops up.
Skepticism aside, many Chinese bloggers did discuss the initiative in a positive manner. For example, “Lucky Star No. 1”, writing on the online forum Tianya, explained in simple language how China could reset the global economic order and become a boss with the Belt and Road project (also called “One Belt, One Road”):
“一带一路”的核心，无非就是投资周边国家的基础设施，使周边国家成为自己的资源供应地和产品市场，而自己本身由于在这一进程中占据主导地位和合理的“剪刀差”，从而获得巨额的经济利益。
看的出来，这是一种投资非常大，风险也非常大，收益也超级大的“项目”，显然只有同时具有超级强大的经济（必要条件）以及政治和军事实力，才有资格去实施。如果你经济实力不够，光是前期的投资就能把你压垮…同样，如果你的政治军事实力不强，拳头不够硬，那就根本别想去干这事，历史证明，你强大，你周边甚至万里之外，都是“友好国家”，你弱小，那你就得小心你的卧榻之侧了。
实施这样的战略，就相当于在地球村，自己开店当老板了，而不是帮别人打工。
The core of “One Belt, One Road” is to invest in the infrastructure of surrounding countries and turn them into suppliers of raw material and markets of our products. There's huge economic gain generated from this leading role in the project and a reasonable return from the investment.
We can see that the investment is huge, the risk is huge, and the return is super huge. Only a super strong economic entity (a necessary condition) equipped with political and military power can take up the initiative. If you don’t have the economic power, the initial investment would drag you down…Likewise, if you don’t have political and military strength, and your fist is not hard enough, you can’t take up the project. History has proven that only the strong country has “friends”. If you are weak, someone can take over.
The strategy is to turn oneself into the boss of the global village rather than the worker.
While many Tianya forum users echoed the above dream of surpassing the US and Europe in the global economic order through the Belt and Road Initiative, some in the comment thread pointed to the unresolved economic at home. In the course of writing this post, the comment thread was made inaccessible to unregistered members, in perhaps a sign of how sensitive the topic is.
One person wrote:
中国制造业还没解绑，钱都困在房地产，产业升级八字没一撇，面临海外产业发展带来的国内失业，先别吹牛逼好么。美国为什么减税回笼实体，当人家傻子？美国佬早就先行一步了，这个世界怕的就是比你有实力还比你努力。
一会从股市圈钱，一会从房市圈钱，老百姓的钱都圈完了拿什么一带一路。人民币走出去之前自由兑换解决了吗，狂印钱造出来的水份敢放开么？
We haven’t solved the problems in China’s manufacturing sector. All the money is trapped in the property market, and the upgrading of industry is going slow. Overseas developmental projects cannot solve the problem of domestic unemployment, please don’t keep boasting. Why does the US have to reduce taxes and develop a manufacturing sector? Are they fools? They are a step ahead. What we should be fearful of is that your competitor is stronger and works harder than you are.
Money has been frozen in the stock market, in the property market, ordinary people’s money is frozen and where else is the money for One Bell One Road coming from? Has the promise for free yuan exchange been fulfilled? If it keeps printing out money, how can free flow of yuan be possible?
Another user commented:
一，中国现在是L型经济，L的原因很多，关键是产业还没有升级…
二，想要发展实现中国梦，唯一的道路就是产业升级，说白了，就是走高端产品高技术路线，只有这样才能摆脱高耗能高污染低利润的怪圈
三，很遗憾，我们现在的方向却还是搞基建投资，国内基建饱和，债务上天，于是在国外画了一个圈，继续输出水泥，呵呵，先不说投资安全，单单靠搞基建就能成为发达国家？…
四，大规模对外投资基建，给人家修桥修路修电站，造成的后果很可能，人家凭着你的基建过来和你强低端制造的市场，毕竟人家穷，有人力成本优势，比如越南，比如印尼，届时，你培养的朋友会成为你的有利竞争对手，大家一起争夺低端市场
China’s economy is now “L-shaped”, the major reason is that its hasn’t upgraded its industries…
The only road leading to the fulfillment of the China's dream is industrial upgrading, focusing on advanced technological products so that we can step out of the vicious circle of high energy consumption, serious pollution, and low return rate.
Unfortunately, we are still taking the path of infrastructure investment. Infrastructure development is saturated, resulting in rocket high debt domestically, then we draw a circle outside the country to export concrete [for construction]. Let’s not talking about the risk in investment, can we evolve into an advanced country with construction projects? … The most likely result of overseas construction investment in infrastructure is that — the project has empowered them to compete in the low-end manufacturing market. Those countries are poor and they have abundant labor. For example, Vietnam and Indonesia. When the time comes, your friends will become your enemies in the low-end market.
Chinese government has said it is making advances in restructuring its outdated economic model and reducing overcapacity and leverage for years, but it seems apparent that China’s growth has still been driven by the property market boom.
The Belt and Road Initiative could also complicate Beijing’s effort to stem capital outflow that have been weighing on the economy. Many netizens pointed to an official media outlet’s report written in 2015 that 90 percent of Chinese corporations investing overseas were losing money instead of making profit. Quoting the report, Twitter user @szeyan1220 believed foreign investment has been exploited by corrupt government officials to transfer huge amounts of their wealth offshore:
中国经济贸易促进会副会长王文利就曾这样说过：“中国企业在海外投资总体来讲是不成功的。中国有2万多家企业在海外投资，90%以上是亏损的。” 既然大多数海外投资都是亏损的，那为何还要投呢？难道为了洗钱？向海外转移资产？“一带一路”钱一带就是一路，反正钱都是从老百姓身上搜刮去的。
Wang Wenli, the deputy head of the China Economic and Trade Promotion Association, said, “Speaking overall, Chinese corporations’ overseas investment has been unsuccessful. China has around 20,000 corporations investing overseas and 90 percent of them have lost money.” If the majority of the overseas investment is losing money, why continue doing so? For money laundering purposes? To transfer assets overseas? One Belt One Road. Those who take the money find their road, and the money is taken away from ordinary people.
The huge investment and the continuous capital outflow will result in inflation, Chinese scholar Zhang Lifan told US government-funded news outlet Voice of America:
【章立凡：一带一路可能的弊端就是洗钱】国富民穷已经持续很多年了。社会分配严重不公导致两极分化严重。互联网上很多怨言，认为政府撒币撒出的都是纳税人的钱。这些钱应该用来解决全民医保。有许多学者发文质疑一带一路的可行性，评估它将可能产生的各种风险。我认为，可能会产生一些弊端，比方洗钱。 pic.twitter.com/MHeshN65Lo
— 美国之音中文网 (@VOAChinese) May 16, 2017
Zhang Lifan: The adverse effect of Belt and Road is spending money. For many years, the country is rich and people are poor. The unequal distribution of wealth has led to a very serious disparity problem. On the internet, people keep complaining that the money spent is from taxpayers and that the money should be used for health care. Many scholars question the viability of the Belt and Road and predict the various potential risks. My opinion is that it may result in spending money.
Zhang further clarified on Twitter what he meant by “spending money”:
我就是个看戏的，谈不上反对派。戏唱得太像春晚，俺就喝个倒彩。我指的洗钱不是中国持有美国国债，而是超发货币。权贵集团稀释了人民币，造成国内物价飞涨，社会两极分化。将巧取豪夺的财富换汇投资国外，或是注入加勒比离岸账户、巴拿马离岸公司、瑞士银行。这次一带一路，他们的洗钱机会又来了。 https://t.co/ezXDjleGfC
— 章立凡 (@zhanglifan) May 16, 2017
I am just an observer rather than an opponent [of the project]. The performance is too much like the annual spring festival gala [meaning too ideological] and I give a thumbs down. When I mentioned “spending money” I am not referring to the US debt held by China but excessive printing of yuan. The ruling elite bloc devalues yuan, resulting in inflation and disparity of the rich and poor. The wealth seized from people will be cashed out in foreign currency, invested overseas or deposited in some offshore bank accounts in Caribbean, Panama and Switzerland. The Belt and Road Initiative has provided another opportunity for spending money.
In fact, the initiative is expected to spend US $5 trillion in the next five years alone, and in Asia, the investment will be up to US $2.5 trillion over the next decade. Yet, by some estimates, over half the countries that have accepted Belt and Road projects have credit ratings below investment grade and the risk for bad debt is huge. While other countries can easily back down from the initiative, as the leader of the initiative, China will be the last to quit.

author: Jack Hu


text:
Kaqchikel and Other Guatemalan Languages Gain Momentum Online Thanks to Digital Activism · Global Voices
Heber Pérez

Digital activism meeting for the Kaqchikel language. Photo by Pueblo Click and used with permission.
Guatemala or Quauhtlemallan, which means “land of many trees” in the Nahuatl language, is a country of great ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity. According to official data from the 2002 National Census XI of population and VI of habitation, 41 percent of the population is identified as indigenous, making Guatemala a country composed of Mayan, Garifuna, Xinkas, and Ladino or mestizo peoples.
Twenty-five languages are spoken in Guatemala, 22 of which are Mayan languages with their own structure and evolution. The differences between these languages are seen in their different grammatical tendencies, phonological uses, and growing vocabulary, but they have a common core: the Mayan mother language known as Protomaya.
Mayan languages are also valuable because they sustain the culture of the peoples who speak them. It’s thanks to them that they acquire and transmit knowledge and community values. In the same way, through oral tradition, younger generations inherit the moral principles of Mayan thought and a philosophy with a legacy of scientific and cosmic knowledge is reaffirmed.
Within the framework of the project “Digital Activism in Indigenous Languages” promoted by Rising Voices and in partnership with Pueblo CLICK, a Digital Activism Meeting for Indigenous Languages, specifically the Kaqchikel language, was held on April 11 and 12 at the Pavarotti Educational Center in San Lucas Tolimán, Sololá, which managed to summon more than 30 activists from different Guatemalan regions.
Image publicizing the event. Used with permission.
In Guatemala, the Kaqchikel language is one of the four languages with the most speakers. It is spoken in 54 municipalities of seven departments: in one municipality of Baja Verapaz, in 16 municipalities of Chimaltenango, in one municipality of Escuintla, in 7 municipalities of the department of Guatemala City, in 14 municipalities of Sacatepéquez, in 11 municipalities of Sololá, and in 4 municipalities of Suchitepéquez.
The meeting was established taking into account the Gregorian and Mayan calendars. Meaning, it was held on April 11 and 12, the days corresponding to Oxi'E and Kaji'Aj, which symbolize the path leading to an objective and precise point: that these languages prevail in favor of a multilingual and multicultural society. Thus, the event was seen, symbolically, as a grain of corn planted in fertile soil waiting for the cornfield to sprout. It is expected to grow, to produce corncobs, to become corn and to feed generations.
The main purpose of the meeting was to bring together people with cultural relevance and influence in the world of education, politics, technology, communications and art. The exchanges took place through conversations that revealed the importance of unifying efforts for the preservation and diffusion of mother tongues through information and communication technologies (ICTs). The goal is to empower the new generations and make knowledge accessible. Some participants mentioned the importance of “fostering pride, respect and using indigenous languages” as the “key to eliminating all forms of discrimination.” According to the participants, indigenous languages must take over the Internet and become visible: “No one can love and value what he does not know.”
During the meeting, Walter Cuc's efforts to propel the Guatemalan Federation of Radio Schools as an alternative, multilingual, sustainable radio network with national coverage and prominence were showcased. All in alliance with associated local and international entities that would effectively contribute to holistic human development, citizen participation, and the democratization of society.
Walter Cuc, Director of the Guatemalan Federation of Radio. Photo by Pueblo Click and used with permission.
Israel Quic from Mundo Posible presented the RACHEL project, a hub for education and learning in rural areas, with software designed for communities that lack a stable internet signal or do not have high-speed internet.
Another project discussed in the meeting was Mozilla Firefox in Kaqchikel, presented by Juan Esteban Ajsivinac Sián and available for PC and Android. The project focuses on the great challenge of translating the 5,000 strings that make up the localization in the browser into Kaqchikel.
Jorge López-Bachiller Fernández, a Spanish sociologist who has been in Patzún, Chimaltenango, for more than 10 years, has taken actions to reduce the existing digital divide. His objective is to seek the development of Guatemala’s indigenous communities through knowledge and strategies that make their cultural greatness more visible.
Participants at the digital activism meeting for the Kaqchickel language. Photo by Pueblo Click and used with permission.
One of these strategies is the Kaqchikel Wikipetya Project, which was initiated by a group of people from different countries with educational and professional experiences that strive for a common good: the conservation and dissemination of Kaqchikel as a Mayan language using technology.
To reach the goal, it was decided to incorporate the Kaqchikel language into Wikipedia, the free and multilingual encyclopedia of the Wikimedia Foundation, with more than 17 million articles in 278 languages and languages that have been drafted jointly by volunteers from around the world.
In order to personalize the project, all of the different options for naming it were discussed to be sure that it was recognizable and distinctive, while also taking into account Kaqchikel's identity and the name of the Wikimedia Foundation. After weighing all of the options, it was decided that the project would be called “Kaqchikel Wikipetya.” According to Jorge, some progress in this project includes elaborate tutorials, business cards, and editing policies.
The challenges are many, including motivating people to volunteer, but Jorge is optimistic and says the project will be a great contribution to humanity.
A potential alliance with Maya Kaqchikel University offers many opportunities, especially with Wikimedia, thanks to its Kaqchikel-speaking student body, who are interested in technology.
In short, the meeting in San Lucas Tolimán constituted a first strong step toward opening possibilities on the Internet to revitalize the Kaqchikel language and to learn from the experiences of other communities around the country. During those days, we witnessed new emerging networks that will continue to strengthen and collaborate on the Internet, and that hope to meet again thanks to the support of the Qatzij project.

author: Heber Pérez