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An Artist Burns His Paintings in Solidarity With Innocent Madhesis Killed in Nepal · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Image courtesy Govinda Shah's Facebook page
While Nepal has been pushed back to the days of yore, with Nepalese being compelled to cook food over firewood and pedal bicycles due to a lack of fuel stemming from India's so-called unofficial blockade, a Nepalese artist residing in London has burnt his valuable paintings in solidarity with innocent Madhesis killed amid the current conflict in Nepal.
Watch how one of the #Nepal‘s artists who is internationall renowned burnt his burden; Govinda Azad! – #peace! https://t.co/bsSRZEYLNK
— Shishi (@Shishi_Samir) November 8, 2015
Security forces have been brutal in their suppression of a popular movement in Madhes, the southern plains of Nepal; the unrest has to date claimed nearly 50 lives – most of them innocent civilians. The conflict erupted after the promulgation of a new constitution and escalated after the demands of protesters in the mid-western hills were met but the government turned a deaf ear to the demands of ethnic Tharus and Madhesis. The protests brought the nation to standstill once participants took to blocking points along Nepal's border. While India denies imposing any blockade of trade checkpoints, blaming the protesters instead for the hold-up, the halting of supplies has Nepal spinning into serious humanitarian crisis.
Govinda Sah ‘Azad’ is a man of moods and known for painting clouds, terming them nature’s emotions, to demonstrate invisible concepts like morality, the environment, the sublime and spirituality.
His emotions and intention to spread awareness of peace through art led him to embark on a cycle tour, “The 21st Century Is the Century of Art and Peace”, from east to west Nepal during the Maoist insurgency. From March until June 2000, Govinda pedalled across the country holding art shows, workshops and delivering lectures in schools and to community groups.
After 15 years, he returned to his country and burned his paintings from the cycle tour, dedicating them to the people who lost their lives for equality, respect and justice. The event, “Let’s Burn the Burden, Burn the Paintings: An Arts Protest for Peace and Humanity”, saw 28 of his oil paintings go up in flames in Kathmandu in October.
Here is a video of Govinda Sah uploaded by Katha Haru:
Sah hails from Rajbiraj, a small town in the southern plains. Coming from a middle class family, Govinda left for Delhi, India, just after his school and worked there as a signboard painter to nurture his childhood interest in drawing and sculpture. After few years he returned to Nepal, joined the Fine Arts College and later went to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and London, UK, to continue his further studies.
Image courtesy Govida Sah's Facebook page
However, not everyone agreed with his form of protest. Krishna Adhikari wrote on Facebook:
Well things might change as hoped, and emotional state of hopelessness might change to hope as well. Like those who have already lost lives, the treasure of your work once burnt won’t be brought back. So find another way of expressing discontent than burning them. Artists have power to change pessimism to optimism, not the opposite.
Though people might criticise, he termed it a symbolic act to call upon not only fellow artists in Nepal and across the world, but also all Nepalese to support that the nation return to peace, where all citizens are able to live free of fear, violence, discrimination, injustice and division.
Sah isn't the first artist to destroy work to send a message. With his fiery stunt, he joins the likes of Italian painter Michelangelo, who had his own drawing burnt, American artist Robert Rauschenberg, who erased fellow countryman Willem de Kooning’s work, and Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, who dropped an ancient Han dynasty vase.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Authorities Don’t Like This Infographic Showing Why Thailand’s Royal Insult Law Needs Reform · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Summary of Lese Majeste cases in Thailand. Infographic from the Flickr page of Prachatai, a content partner of Global Voices
An infographic published by alternative news website Prachatai that summarizes the Lese Majeste (anti-royal insult law) cases in recent years in Thailand caught the attention of the country's junta, which immediately dispatched 10 officers to interrogate the English news editor of the website.
Thaweeporn Kummetha, editor of Prachatai English, confirmed that the army is unhappy over the infographic, which was “deemed overly broad in describing the kingdom’s strict law against defaming the monarchy.” The authorities added that the “graphic was too vague and might cause misunderstanding.”
Aside from highlighting the long prison sentences that accompany Lese Majeste convictions, the infographic also shows how an ordinary and seemingly harmless action can send someone to jail.
Thailand’s Lese Majeste law, or Article 112 of the Criminal Code, is considered by many human rights groups to be one of the harshest and obsolete in the world. Scholars and activists have been petitioning the government to reform the law for many years already.
Thailand’s king is a well-loved icon and a uniting force in the country. The government insists that the strict implementation of the Lese Majeste law is necessary to protect the monarchy and Thailand’s stability.
When the army grabbed power in 2014, the number of Lese Majeste-related cases spiked, which some attributed to the government’s tactic of using the law to silence critics and opposition leaders. The trend continued even though a military-appointed civilian government has been established already.
The infographic is posted in an article which links to specific Lese Majeste cases. For example, number one in the infographic refers to a musician who was arrested for writing an anti-monarchy graffiti in a mall bathroom. Number two is about a university play that ‘insulted’ the king.
But the most famous Lese Majeste case is number eight in the infographic, which refers to a senior citizen who was arrested for sending an SMS deemed offensive to the monarchy. His 20-year prison sentence and death while in detention sparked debate and intense criticism, not just in Thailand but in other countries as well.
Despite appeals from various human rights institutions, media organizations, and governments to reconsider its implementation of the Lese Majeste law, Thailand says the law is crucial to preserving national security. But free expression advocates continue to campaign for the review and even repeal of the law, which they think is being used by the junta as a tool of repression.
Thaweeporn Kummetha is the latest journalist to be summoned by the army for publishing articles that allegedly undermine public safety or insult the monarchy. No case was filed against Thaweeporn Kummetha, but the army instructed Prachatai to be more careful in publishing articles that can cause confusion.
This is quite a relief because if Thaweeporn Kummetha were slapped with a Lese Majeste case, Prachatai would need to edit their infographic — to add that posting infographics can lead to a Lese Majeste detention in Thailand.
Image from the Flickr page of Prachatai

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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Global Voices Community Stands With Moroccan Free Expression Advocates · Global Voices
Advox

The Global Voices community demands justice for seven free expression advocates who are facing trial in Morocco due to their advocacy.
The seven advocates have sought to defend human rights, hold authorities accountable to the public, and uphold rule of law in their country. Five have been charged with “threatening the internal security of the State” and two face charges of “receiving foreign funding without notifying the General Secretariat of the government.” We call on the Moroccan government to stand by its commitments to international human rights agreements and drop all charges against these seven individuals.
Hisham Almiraat at the Global Voices Summit in Nairobi, 2012.
Among those charged is Hisham Almiraat, a medical doctor and long-time member of our community. We cannot remain silent in the face of this threat to our friend. Hisham has had a leading voice in Morocco’s blogosphere for nearly a decade. He co-founded citizen media projects Talk Morocco and Mamfakinch, and served as Global Voices’ advocacy director. Balancing profession and passion, Hisham has spent many years working to improve the lives and well-being of Moroccans, both as a civil society advocate and as a medical doctor.
Like other media and human rights groups around the world, we fear that this case represents an attempt by the Moroccan government to silence those who are critical of its policies and practices.
We see this not only as a threat to our friend and colleague, but also to our broader mission. As a community of bloggers and activists from over 160 countries, we invoke the universal human right to free expression each day, as we tell stories from underrepresented communities around the world.
We call on allies to support our message, and on foreign governments to hold the Moroccan government to account on its actions and principles. #Justice4Morocco

author: Advox


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Mexico’s Cybercrime Bill is Dead. But What Will Lawmakers Think of Next? · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Screenshot from a YouTube video from the cyberactivists group Anonymous México. (Image reads: “#Opt Down Fayad Law.”)
Senator Omar Fayad Meneses has withdrawn a bill of law that would outlaw various kinds of Internet use and social media activity. On October 27, the Mexican lawmaker from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presented the draft law, which argued that online “new technologies” foster crime. Fayad is a representative for the state of Hidalgo, and has been shortlisted as a candidate for governor.The bill's preamble reads:
Las nuevas tecnologías y la creciente demanda del internet, resultan un campo fértil para la delincuencia, que ha encontrado nuevas formas para consumar delitos a través de medios electrónicos y tecnológicos, los cuales son aprovechados para afectar a la ciudadanía, las empresas y el gobierno.
New technologies and the growing demand for Internet have become fertile grounds for criminality, having uncovered new ways to commit criminal acts through electronic and technological means, which are leveraged to impact citizens, businesses, and the government.
The initiative that Fayad presented, the Federal Law to Prevent and Punish Cybercrimes, defined concepts such as “cyber weapons” and “cyberterrorism” and established special criminal categories such as “sexual predation”, “identity theft” and “cyber attacks” among others. The bill defined “cyber weapons” as any software, computer system, device or material created or designed for the purpose of committing one of the cybercrimes identified in the draft.
In the case of “cyberterrorism,” one category according to Fayad's proposal treated any training or recruiting activities as terrorist activity. Another category included anything affecting Mexico's cyber infrastructure.
The legislation also sought to delineate different criminal offenses in terms of privacy and the protection of personal information, though the existing Federal Law on Protection of Personal Data Held by Private Individuals already safeguards these protections.
On November 3, Omar Fayad informed the Chairman of the Board of the Mexican Senate of his decision to withdraw the initiative, as reported by SinEmbargo and other sources.
Pepe Flores from the Network in Defense of Digital Rights, noted:
La iniciativa de Ley Federal para Prevenir y Sancionar Delitos Informáticos presentada por el senador Omar Fayad el martes 27 de octubre, supone graves riesgos para las libertades en internet de los ciudadanos mexicanos. La iniciativa, redactada de la mano de la Policía Federal, atenta contra los derechos a la libertad de expresión, privacidad y acceso a la información. Además, propone sancionar con cárcel actividades legítimas en internet e incrementa las capacidades de vigilancia de los cuerpos policiales.
En cuanto al derecho a la privacidad, los artículos 11 y 12 obligan a cualquier empresa de telecomunicaciones (Telmex, Movistar, AT&T) y a cualquier proveedor de servicios en Internet (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Uber) a entregar a la policía la información y geolocalización de sus usuarios. No se requiere autorización judicial y no hay salvaguardas para el abuso.
The proposal of the Federal Law to Prevent and Punish Cybercrimes presented by Senator Omar Fayad on Tuesday, October 27, poses serious risks to Mexican citizens’ Internet freedoms. The bill, drafted with the hand of the Federal Police, violates the rights to freedom of expression, privacy, and access to information. Besides that, it proposes incarceration as punishment for legitimate Internet activities and it increases the surveillance capabilities of police forces.
With respect to the right to privacy, Articles 11 and 12 require any telecommunications company (Telmex, Movistar, AT&T) and any online services provider (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Uber) to submit to police the data and geotracking of their users. No judicial authorization is required and there are no safeguards against abuse.
Flores added:
El proyecto contempla delitos que ya existen en otras leyes, como el terrorismo informático y el ciberespionaje, pero en la iniciativa se definen en términos demasiado ambiguos, abriendo la puerta a áreas grises y abusos.
The draft considers criminal acts that are already covered in other laws, such as cyberterrorism and cyber espionage, but the bill defines them in overly ambiguous terms, opening the door for grey areas and abuses.
Regarding the reactions of activist groups to the draft law from Fayad's political party, PRI, Sopitas reported:
Hace unos días, el senador priista Omar Fayad lanzó una propuesta de ley que, aparentemente, busca combatir y sancionar los delitos informáticos.  Esta ley, sin embargo, está plagada de errores de redacción y ambigüedades que hacen que uno pueda ser sancionado prácticamente por hacer uso de una computadora, prohibir hablar mal de cualquier político, entre otras cosas.
Por supuesto, solo era cuestión de tiempo para que Anonymous respondiera a esta ley y lo hicieron, muy a su estilo, con un video de denuncia.
A few days ago, PRI party Senator Omar Fayad launched a legislative bill that apparently seeks to combat and punish cybercrimes. This law, however, is plagued with redaction errors and ambiguities that make it so that anyone can be punished for basically using a computer, and prohibits badmouthing any politician, among other things.
Of course, it was only a matter of time for Anonymous to respond to this law, and they did it very much in their style, with a video denouncing the bill.
Furthermore, the journalist Salvador García Soto said of the draft law:
Su despropósito es que en su redacción deficiente confunde libertades -como la crítica o la difusión de información de interés público, cuando se trata de personajes de la vida pública o servidores públicos- con “ataques” y “acosos” o “divulgación de información de carácter personal”, que aparecen como conductas delictivas penadas.
The nonsense is in how this deficient draft confuses freedoms—such as criticism or dissemination of information in the public interest, when it concerns public figures or public servants—with “attacks” and “harassment” or “disclosure of personal information,” that become punishable as criminal conduct.
It is noteworthy that the agency tasked with enforcing for privacy rights in Mexico did not make any declaration about Omar Fayad's proposal, which could just as well be raised again by him or by one of his colleagues. It is worth noting that Fayad is not the first Mexican public servant to bring an issue like this to the public agenda. In the past, the legislator Federico Döring promoted regulations in Mexico similar to the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) in the United States.  The governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte (rising from the ranks of the PRI, just like Fayad) promoted reforms to local penal code that would have criminalized the disclosure of information on social networks. The so-called “Duarte Law” was later declared unconstitutional by the judicial branch of the Mexican government.
On Twitter, Jenaro Villamil made the following comment about what has been called the #LeyFayad (Fayad Law):
#LeyFayad penaliza con 6 a 12 años de carcel a quien difunda un Meme incomodo y con solo 2 a 6 años de presión a quienes pirateen tarjetas
— Jenaro Villamil (@jenarovillamil) October 31, 2015
#LeyFayad [Fayad Law] punishes with 6-12 years in prison those who spread an uncomfortable meme and only 2-6 years in prison for those who hack into credit cards
— Jenaro Villamil (@jenarovillamil) October 31, 2015
These ranges for prison sentences are particularly strange, considering that public servants convicted of significantly more serious offenses (like illegally concealing information) face imprisonment for just 2-7 years. Other crimes committed “off-network” (for example, operating a business with a forged license) risks just 1-6 years in prison.
Web user Gustavo Vela shared the following image of Fayad dozing off in the legislature chambers:
Según la #LeyFayad poner esta foto sin ‘su permiso’ nos convierte en delincuentes. Es su #LeyFachad Vergüenza pic.twitter.com/3WPiuf8dHq — Gustavo Vela (@GustavoVela71) October 31, 2015
According to the #FayadLaw posting this photo without “his permission” turns us into criminals. It's the #FascistLaw Shame — Gustavo Vela (@GustavoVela71) October 30, 2015
Internet user Madame Déficit responded with the following comment:
Así como exigimos que el PRD responda por postular narcocandidatos, el PRI debe rendir cuentas por legisladores ineptos como Fayad #LeyFayad
— Madame Déficit (@Alessia_mx) November 2, 2015
Just as we demand that the PRD [Democratic Revolutionary Party] answer its nominations of “narco-candidates,”  the PRI must be held accountable for inept legislators like Fayad #LeyFayad
— Madame Déficit (@Alessia_mx) November 2, 2015
Déficit's mention of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) refers to the mayor-and-wife team in Iguala, Guerrero (known as the “Imperial Couple“), and the mayor of Cocula, Guerrero. These individuals have been linked to organized crime and are alleged to have born some responsibility for the Iguala Ayotzinapa massacre of 43 students in 2014. Several other individuals from the PRD are also believed to be associated with organized crime.
Given the unanimity of voices opposed to the legislative bill, which the Senator ultimately withdrew, Internet user Compa Tumbo criticized Fayad for not having recognized sooner the flaws in his draft law:
Dice @omarfayad que la #leyfayad no tiene ninguna falla pero que la va a retirar. Con ese nivel de autocrítica es difícil mejorar.
— Compa Tumbo (@tumbolian) November 3, 2015
@omarfayad says that the #leyfayad has no flaws but he's going to withdraw it. With a level of self-criticism like his, it's hard to improve.
— Compa Tumbo (@tumbolian) November 3, 2015
With these open threats to citizens’ freedoms of speech, privacy, and digital rights, Mexico’s political elites are showing signs of reasserting — or maybe even seeking to reaffirm — the distinct brand of authoritarianism that long characterized their leadership.

author: J. Tadeo


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China and Hong Kong’s 0-0 Draw in World Cup Qualifier Is Steeped in Symbolism · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hong Kong team fans displayed “boos” in paper signs. Photo from Apple Daily's Facebook page. Non-commercial use.
Tensions between China and Hong Kong are constantly spilling over into what's supposed to be non-political, such as city planning and subway baggage rules. The latest to be affected is the football field.
Many Hong Kongers who were not interested in football before have turned into supporters of their city's team overnight following the 0-0 draw between China and Hong Kong during the second World Cup qualifier match on November 17.
Defying past fines and warnings from FIFA, Hong Kong football fans insisted on “booing” the Chinese national anthem with paper signs during the match. Despite the tie, Hong Kong fans took it as a victory, given that the Chinese national team ranks much higher than the city's team in past records. Back in 2002's World Cup qualifier match, Hong Kong lost the game 0-7.
The goalless draw put a dent in China's 2018 World Cup qualifying hopes. Beyond sports, some in Hong Kong saw a parallel between their team's parry against China on the football field and the Hong Kong people's efforts to safeguard their city against Beijing intervention.
The relationship between China and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of the mainland with a high degree of autonomy, has only gotten rockier in recent years. Beijing's has increasingly had a hand in many aspects of city governance, including the mechanism for the election of lawmakers and the city's top leader, local district and legislative council elections by coordinating pro-Beijing forces, the allocation of free-to-air TV licenses, and the appointment of Hong Kong University's vice president.
In addition to political disputes, Hong Kong residents blame mainland Chinese buyers for pushing up local property prices. They also resent mainland Chinese “parallel traders” for coming into residential districts, buying up daily necessities like baby formula, medicine, and groceries, forcing those prices up too.
Hong Kong fans had previously booed the Chinese anthem, which has been shared by Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese football teams since 1997, when Hong Kong was returned to Chinese rule from the British, during a match with Qatar in early September. Those cries of disapproval were a direct and spontaneous response to a poster designed and publicized by the mainland Chinese Football Association that read:
Don't underestimate any opponent. This team has people with black skin, yellow skin and white skin. For such a diverse team, be on guard!
Though the act could not be interpreted as disrespectful to Qatar since it was a verbal thumbs down to the Hong Kong team's own anthem, FIFA fined the Hong Kong Football Association for the behavior and warned that further infringements would lead to more severe sanctions.
To avoid sanctions, Hong Kong football fans “booed” the national anthem with paper signs in the second qualifier match with China. Many also displayed slogans such as “We are Hong Kong” and “Hong Kong is not China” to emphasize the autonomous status of the city.
Outside the football stadium, thousands of Hong Kong team supporters gathered in more than a dozen spots around the city to watch the match and cheer for the Hong Kong team together.
A few hundred people gathered outdoor in Mongkok to watch the match together and cheer for Hong Kong team. Photo from inmediahk.net's Facebook. CC: AT-NC.
While pro-Beijing politicians in Hong Kong bid people to stop bringing politics to the football field, mainland Chinese authorities threw fuel on the flames by adopting a real-name registration system for the first qualifier match between Hong Kong and China that took place in Shenzhen, China, on September 3. Some Hong Kong fans who joined the Occupy Movement last year, which camped in downtown Hong Kong for months demanding citizens’ right to nominate their own leaders, claimed that they were forced to return their tickets following the identity verification process.
Before the second qualifier match, top Hong Kong government officials refrained from commenting on which team they supported. When posed with the question, Chief Executive C.Y Leung dodged and said that he would not be able to watch the game as he would be out of town.
“Farewell bridge”, a columnist for citizen news platform inmediahk.net, is one of the newly converted football fans. She saw the match and the 0-0 result as karma coming to Hong Kong:
有人說，「香港精神︰攬炒。」
是的，港隊不會因為自己出線無望，而去「放水」給對手，港人也不會因為難與北京政權抗衡而放棄抗爭，放棄公義和法治等現有的核心價值，也不會將香港的民主前途拱手奉上。民間的不合作運動以致大型抗爭，議會裡的拉布，高上學府的反赤化，港人與親共勢力誰也不讓誰，縱是爭取到的希望渺茫，我們卻仍然堅持，絕不會乖乖的舉手投降。[…] 港人實際上是最現實的一群，若非「燒到埋身」，高呼「我討厭政治」的大有人在，多年以來根本政治冷感。而這樣原先冷感的一群，如今竟在球場觀眾席上揮舞「DIE FOR HONG KONG」的旗幟！
說到底，是如今的政權不及殖民政府有智慧，不懂也不願尊重地方特性，著人高壓統治這小城。他們遇上的，卻偏偏是港人那承傳了不降不屈的「刁哪媽頂硬上」個性，無怪乎此城戀殖，其實只不過是北京政權管治智慧不如人。
這場零比零的賽事，在現實中依然繼續。無法嬴也不能輸，誰也不讓誰，似乎是中港兩地的命運。
Some say that Hong Kong's spirit is a lose-lose situation.
Yes, Hong Kong's team won't give way to others, even though it's unlikely that the team will not qualify. Likewise, the Hong Kong people won't give up their belief in justice and the rule of law, even though they can't win against Beijing in a political match. With non-cooperative movements in civil society, filibusters in the Legislative Council, and universities’ resistance against Beijing intervention, Hong Kongers keep struggling against pro-Beijing forces. Though we are unlikely to gain victory, we keep insisting and never give in. […] Hong Kong people are very practical — unless they are cornered, the majority of people are apolitical. But the apolitical crowd is now waving a “die for Hong Kong” flag on the football field.
The ultimate reason is that Beijing does not have the wisdom of the former colonial government. It doesn't know how to show respect for the locals and uses repressive measures instead. But the Hong Kong people have also inherited the Cantonese rebel character in fighting against the Empire. Do not label Hong Kong people as colonial slaves; the problem lies with Beijing's governing tactics.
The 0-0 draw carries on in real life. Either side can't win and can't lose, either side won't give in. This is the karma coming to Hong Kong regarding China.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Global Voices Community: We Stand With Hisham · Global Voices
Global Voices

Hisham Almiraat (center) at the Global Voices 2012 Summit in Nairobi with Mohamed ElGohary (L) and Sami Ben Gharbia (R). PHOTO: Ivan Sigal
Seven free expression advocates face trial in Morocco this week. Among them is our dear friend and long-time Global Voices community member, Hisham Almiraat.
Lova Rakotomalala speaks for many of us when he writes below that “the news that Hisham will face trial this week felt like a punch to the gut….” As the following tributes from the Global Voices community show, Hisham's integrity, humanity and commitment to social justice are without question. We stand in absolute solidarity with him and his colleagues as they face trial this week.
It has been a trying week for many folks worldwide. The news that Hisham will face trial this week felt like a punch to the gut after a series of other painful blows. But I know Hisham would find the right words to put it all in a context, and that he would always emphasize justice and progress for all before himself. So it is only right that we try to give back as much, considering all he has done for this community.
I first met Hisham over coffee at La Cantine in 2010 in Paris,  a few minutes from the site of the attacks on November 13. Back then, blogs were still at the forefront of participatory media and freedom of expression. It’s a cliche, but it felt like we knew each other for a long while. Hisham was juggling being a medical doctor and leading the Blogoma in the fight for true freedom of expression in Morocco; I was doing research on Hepatitis B while working to get Malagasy students recognized for the critical role they played in covering the coup d'état in Madagascar.
But we didn’t talk about any of that. Instead we talked about the upcoming World Cup, the magic of translation at GV and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. I hope (and I know) Hisham will soon be set free from this ordeal. His kindness and thirst for social justice alone should be enough evidence that he is innocent of what he is accused of. It is time people like Hisham and many other activists get a break from oppression. Lord knows justice has been severely wanting these days.
Lova Rakotomalala, Madagascar/France
Hisham is one of the very first GVers I met, back in 2012. In my first few months, he constantly reached out to make sure I felt included as a part of the community, and I've always really appreciated him for bringing me in. Hisham’s kindness and passion really encapsulate for me what the Global Voices community is all about, which is why I was so dismayed to hear about these charges.
Hisham, we're all behind you and will fight for your freedom.
- Sarah Myers West, USA
Luis Henrique and Hisham in Porto, Portugal.
July 2011. We were at Porto, Portugal, attending Gary Chapman's International School on Digital Transformation (ISDT). Between panels and unconferences, students were invited to experience life in Porto and to enjoy a week immersed in digital themes alongside academics and activists. All week long, one could forge bonds with peers. And share.
Relatively new to this world of events abroad, I was feeling very confident because, since day one, I knew I would be around GVers. I just didn't know they would be so many! Hisham was one of them.
In his signature tone of voice—I can hear him saying the words right now—he said he remembered me from Chile (the GV Summit 2010). We shared a bit each day, but the dearest memory is of a walk by the beach. We spent what felt like hours talking about life and work.
I can't imagine Hisham facing these charges. Instead I keep in my head another image and sound from that lovely afternoon in Porto: that smile of his tone of voice melting all things strident in this world. And then there were seagulls. And the sea.
Stay safe, bro.
- Luis Henrique, Brazil
I first met Hisham at the Global Voices Summit in Santiago, Chile, in 2010. I was immediately impressed by his smile, friendliness, and humility—the latter such a rare quality to find these days. I hope justice prevails for Hisham, a medical doctor, advocate for human rights, and a fighter.
- Firuzeh Shokooh Valle, Puerto Rico
- Pernille Baerendtsen, Denmark
Hisham and Ellery Biddle in Bali, Indonesia.
I met Hisham while Global Voices was in its infancy, in an extremely pioneering and creative time. As Hisham worked as an ER doctor at a state hospital in nearby Normandy, I was fortunate to meet him and chat quite often when he came for day trips to Paris. We collaborated often and with great pleasure as  bloggers on independent news for North Africa and Francophonia.
I was right from the start impressed by his passion and dedication to freedom of speech, and by his many talents. He’s a great and fast writer, a master with Photoshop, and he’s able to whip up the most sophisticated graphics for social media campaigns in minutes. I've saved some on my hard drive, forever.
I also like and admire Hisham for non-GV activities I learnt about along the way: his concern for the local residents in the village near Agadir, where he was sent as an intern, his caring for the elderly (I recall that the subject of his thesis was geriatrics), the poor, the uneducated and for women. Whatever he undertakes, he undertakes in good faith, for the benefit of his country, his country men and women, and humanity.
- Claire Ulrich, France
I met Hisham for the first time in Nairobi, Kenya during the 2012 GV Summit. What struck me was how a medical doctor could be so tech savvy! Apart from that, Hisham is very humane. I worked more closely with him as an Advox contributor.
I recall one post I did, after which I started receiving phony emails which naturally made me nervous. Hisham calmed me down in a way I won't forget. He's an impressive leader and motivator who deserves many things, but certainly not injustice.
- Nwachukwu Egbunike, Nigeria
Too many people I know personally are being persecuted by the repressive regimes, authoritarian governments and ruthless leaders. Not a day goes by when more bad news hits my inbox. Yesterday, was one of those days, with the news about Hisham's trial in Morocco leaving me in shock.
I didn't know Hisham very well, but hearing people talk about his kindness and everything he did for his country was enough to show that he doesn't deserve to go in prison. Hisham is a member of our global community of outspoken voices, and that is enough for me to know that here is one more honest person is caught in net of a repressive government afraid of its own good people
- Arzu Geybulla, Turkey/Azerbaijan
Hisham. PHOTO: Suzanne Lehn
It seems to me that I have known Hisham for as long as I have been a member of the Global Voices community, a fact that illuminated my life— and still does. I met him “IRL” at the GV Summits in Santiago and Nairobi, as well as at several occasions in France. Hisham embodies the GV spirit at its best, always adding to his commitment tireless support and wonderful kindness. From the shock I am lacking words, so for me, this 2013 picture [above] says everything about Hisham's soul.
- Suzanne Lehn, France
When our Bahraini friend Ali Abdulemam was arrested in 2010, I worked with Hisham and a few other GV friends on a campaign to raise Ali's profile and ask for his release. Hisham helped not only with technical parts of the campaign, but with his calm, warm and soothing manner, which is something that stands out in the stressful, overwhelming situations we have lived ever since. In this context of chaos, repression, and terror, we need Hisham and all our free thinkers from the region, more than ever.
- Leila Nachawati, Spain/Syria
“Same causes produce the same effects”. This is not only a theory that applies to the Physics we studied in secondary school—it also applies to human relations.
Hisham can sincerely brag of having well-wishers, for at one point in his life he wished others well himself. Participating in Global Voices is enough proof of all this, for this overwhelmingly generous person.
- Antony Namanga, Cameroon
Hisham and Paula Goes in Essex, Massachusetts. PHOTO: Ellery Biddle
First time I met Hisham was at the Arab Bloggers 2011 meeting in Tunis. He and Claire and I would—whenever the three of us were together—start speaking in French, au grand damn des anglophones. :) He told me he got the chance to obtain the French nationality but refused. I was surprised—back then he had already started his plan to return to Morocco for good. Since then I consider him as someone I really cherish though we rarely talk. He’s a very pure soul.
- Thalia Rahme, Lebanon
Hisham was always a great support for our all new volunteers—during Summits and online. He is a great friend and mentor to those who just joined Global Voices and might feel overwhelmed. He has this brilliant talent of a soft leader, grounded and professional but light-hearted, kind and always there to help, sharing a kind word even if it's not necessarily expected. Sending my warm regards and hoping he is going to stay safe and continue his great work!
- Sylwia, Poland/UK
I do not know Hisham personally but his good work, honesty, beautiful personality reached here before his person. I register my solidarity with him and I hope justice will be served.
- Erkan Saka, Turkey
Hisham, incorrigible shutterbug. PHOTO: Ellery Biddle.
I met Hisham in Santiago and Nairobi when attending the 2010 and 2012 Global Voices Summits. We spent a few days walking around Santiago and Valparaiso, times of great laughs and in-depth conversations. He’s a sweet guy, with lots of humour and it’s an understatement to say that exchanging points of views with Hisham is always really interesting. I’m impressed by how he finds time to manage a career as a doctor as well as defending social justice in his many other activities. In the name of justice, there is no way Hisham won’t be cleared of the unfair charges he’s facing, but I’ll still be worried for him until hearing the good news.
- Pauline Ratzé, Switzerland
I met Hisham in person during the GV summit in Chile where our connection was strengthened from online to offline. Fundamental freedoms are core values as human beings, and no one should be charged or persecuted simply because of exercising these freedoms and speaking truth to power. I therefore call for the charge to be dropped and as GV friends, we are standing in solidarity with our friend Hisham.
- Sopheap Chak, Cambodia
I got to know Hisham in Santiago, where we were shared a hotel room. I am so sorry to hear the news. He is really wonderful man and one of the most active GV members. My thoughts are with you, dear friend.
- Siniša Boljanović, Serbia
I met Hisham in Santiago and again in Nairobi, and what an amazing guy. It's a pleasure and a honour to know him. I remember in Nairobi that I had a mild asthma crisis and Hisham was quick to calm me down, look after my medicine and afterwards we spent some time talking about him, about his medical work, his human rights work,etc. He’s an outstanding human being doing amazing work and it's so absurd what he's facing back in Morocco.
- Raphael Tsavkko Garcia, Brazil
I had the honor of meeting and working with Hisham for several years, and seeing him IRL several times around the world. He shows keen and genuine interest and support in everything he does. He deserves the most prestigious recognition, not prosecution. Best wishes to Hisham and hope all ends well
- Mohamed ElGohary, Egypt
Hisham is an admirable spirit. I met him in Casablanca in 2010, as I lived in Morocco for more than four years. Hisham was already practicing medicine at the time and living a comfortable life in France, however, he shared with me his plan to move back Morocco to improve his native country. He didn't choose comfort—he chose the truth and fought for what's right. Censorship and witch hunting of activists in Morocco are nothing new. I can't stress enough how depressing it is to hear of another colleague being called subversive for protecting one of the most basic rights that every person should have: freedom of speech. From the bottom of my heart I'm calling for a fair trial for Hisham and his immediate release. May God protect his loved ones during this terrible ordeal.
- Juke Carolina, Indonesia
To sign the open statement from the Global Voices community in support of Hisham and his colleagues, please visit this page.
PHOTO: Georgia Popplewell

author: Global Voices


text:
Rastafari Rootzfest Celebrates Jamaica’s Emancipation of Marijuana · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Rastafari at the inaugural Rootzfest, Negril, Jamaica. Photo by Fern Nesson, used with permission.
The Rastafari Rootzfest, launched on October 27, 2015 at the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica, brought together reggae music and ganja in a groundbreaking event on the Caribbean island that has led the way in decriminalising marijuana. It was described as “the first international wellness festival which celebrates Jamaica's indigenous peoples and their cultural heritage.”
Rootzfest, which took place from November 12-15 in Negril, was the first money-making event exempted under a new law that went into effect earlier this year recognising Rastafari sacramental and religious rights in the country. Rastafarian religious traditions incorporate the spiritual use of marijuana.  Mark Golding, Jamaica's minister of justice, pioneered the legislation.
Barbara Blake-Hannah; photo by Fern Nesson, used with permission.
The idea behind Rootzfest was to produce an annual educational ganja festival that “celebrates Rastafari ideology, liberty and culture and tells the story of the Rastafari struggle for the legalisation of ganja and celebrates the decriminalisation of ganja in Jamaica,” said Barbara Blake-Hannah, a specialist on Jamaican culture, entertainment, films, literature and society with a deep interest in the Rastafari. One highlight included the High Times Cannabis Cup, a competition to select the best strains of marijuana.
The fact that an event of this nature could be hosted in Jamaica is quite something, considering that just months ago possession of even small amounts of weed could lead to arrests and jail time. It has taken a vibrant grassroots movement to raise awareness and allow festivals like this to be exempt from Jamaica's dangerous drug law.
One of the leaders of this movement has been Ras Iyah V, founder of the Westmoreland Hemp and Ganja Farmers Association (WHGFA). His organisation has been putting forward marijuana cultivation as an economic alternative that could help Jamaica out of its current international debt position. Ras Iyah V believes that if Jamaica should become a major player in the industry as laws against marijuana production are struck down around the world, the interests of the grassroots farmers who pioneered the path to legalisation should be protected:
Charles Nesson and Ras Iyah V at the Rastafari Rootsfest. Photo by Fern Nesson, used with permission.
Charles Nesson, the William F. Weld professor of law at Harvard Law School and founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, called it nothing short of amazing that the small farmers of Westmoreland can “finally reach out to connect with and feel support from small farmers everywhere”:
We have an extraordinary cooperative plan unfolding in Jamaica in the transition of an illegal ganja-growing culture to legal economic development.
We have an extraordinary leader of the people in Ras Iyah V.
We have an extraordinary minister of government in charge.
All the conditions seem right for Jamaica to take a leap forward in this exciting new legal industry. The Rastafari Rootzfest festival, trade show and competition was expected to attract at least 1,500 tourists, with a similar number of patrons from Jamaica itself.
Perhaps most importantly, there is official buy-in—a signal of Jamaica’s intent to be a serious player in the emerging international cannabis market while, in the words of Barbara Blake-Hannah, “maintaining the cultural integrity and grassroots legitimacy that Rastafari and Jamaica have to offer the world”. The event showcased booths from both homegrown and United States-based ganja brand companies, as well as state agencies such as the ministries of industry, science and tourism.
Reggae entertainment at the Rootzfest. Photo by Fern Nesson, used with permission.
There were good vibes at the historic festival thanks to reggae concerts featuring homegrown Jamaican artistes and entries of all strains of ganja in the Cannabis Cup. The programme roster also offered a variety of topics relevant to the marijuana industry—decriminalisation and the law, attracting finance and investment in cannabis, research and licensing, and even intellectual property considerations for new lines of cannabis. Many of the sessions offered insight into the Rastafarian culture and the history of marijuana; each day's programme included beach yoga sessions and film screenings, with drumming and reggae entertainment going on into the night.
On Sunday, November 15, the final day of the Rootzfest, the winners of the High Times Cannabis Cup awards were announced.
On Facebook, Barbara Blake-Hannah described the “happy” atmosphere of the event. To her, the most important element was the fact that “branches and buds of ganja […] can be purchased by anyone”. Adding her own experience to the post, she said:
Patrons were were arriving as I left the Park, thinking of all the GanJAH warriors fought the battle to get RASTA to this day when the herb is FREE to use! remembering such warriors now ancestors whose spirits were surely with us today in Negril. Giving Thanks to JAH for the BLESSING. Let us use it wisely and not squander it.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Revitalizing the Yekuana Language With an Academic Perspective · Global Voices
Fernando Carias

Saúl López, author of a senior thesis about the relation between orality, information, and communication technologies. Photo used with permission.
Saúl López, or Kuyujani (his indigenous name), is a young Yekuana man who has dedicated most of his life to studying the realities of his ethnic group. In conversations with the community's elder and leaders, he became aware that one of the group's main problems is that the Yekuana language is endangered. Faced with this situation, he decided to apply his particular interest in media and technology to a thesis project about the Yekuana language.
The Yekuanas are an indignenous people from the Cariban family, also known as Maquiritares or Makiritares, who mostly reside in the Upper Caura, Erebato, and Nichare rivers, and the Upper Ventuari, Parú, and Cuminá rivers in Venezuela. Their current population is estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000 people.
For the last five years, Saúl has been a student at the National Experimental Indigenous University of Tauca (UNEIT) in Venezuela, which was established by an indigenous rights organization in cooperation with Jesuit priests. Since he entered this institution, he's had a special interest in social media outlets and information and communications technology. He's seen frequently around the university's campus—a camera in hand—documenting lectures, student meetings, and cultural events, conducting interviews, and even carrying out simulated transmissions of indigenous students’ Sunday football games.
Doing this, he's collected a wealth of footage (producing short documentaries, short films, community activities, UNEIT news bulletins, and video clips) that he's used in work that's now inspired him to pursue a degree in bilingual education with a specialization in Indigenous Communication.
Map of Venezuelan Bolívar State, place of investigation work.
His thesis, titled “Influence of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Ye´kwana Orality. Case Jüwütünña del Alto Erebato community—Bolivar State,” studies the relationship between new technologies and the phenomenon of communication in Yekuana culture (especially from the perspective of the community's youth). The thesis is now in its final stage of revisions, and isn't yet published.
The research is an important contribution to the revitalization of Yekuana orality, as it offers an important collection of reflections and opinions about the value language has for this indigenous community, which stretches from along Caura river to the Ventuari river basin. The work contains conversations and interviews with elders and senior representatives of the Yekuana universe, as well as dialogues with specialists about communication, education, and technologies, giving the research an important intercultural and multidisciplinary perspective.
Saúl shared with Global Voices what his research means to him:
Ha sido un trabajo particularmente interesante. He podido sentarme a conversar por largas horas con los ancianos de mi comunidad y conocer parte de la historia de mi pueblo, cosas que no sabía y que ahora quedan registradas en mi tesis.
It has been a particularly interesting work. I've been able to chat for long hours with the elders from my community and to know part of my community history—things I wasn't aware of that are now registered in my thesis.
About the importance of the Yekuana language, he says:
Nuestra cultura es principalmente oral, todo lo que somos es gracias a nuestra lengua, es en esencia nuestra cultura. Es importante entender que las tecnologías y los medios de comunicación social pueden estar al servicio de nuestros pueblos y cosmovisiones, revitalizando y resguardando nuestra oralidad mediante el registro y documentación de nuestras historias, mitos, tradiciones etc. y claro, desde la educación a los más jóvenes.
Our culture is mainly oral. All we are now, we owe to our language, which is in essence our culture. It's important to understand that technologies and mass media can be made to serve our communities and cosmovision, revitalizing and protecting our orality by recording and documenting our stories, myths, and traditions—of course as education for younger generations.
Saúl presented his research on October 13 to elders and wise men from different ethnic groups, as part of the celebrations of the 2015 indígenous Resitance Week, held every year at the campus of the National Experimental Indigenous University of Tauca. The thesis was unanimously approved.
Saúl will now be part of the faculty at UNEIT and is already organizing training workshops in some indigenous communities in Southern Venezuela. He says:
La idea es multiplicar e informar entre las demás etnias, la importancia de nuestras lenguas aborígenes y buscar los mecanismos que nos permitan defenderlas y mantenerlas vivas.
The aim is to multiply [this study] and inform other ethnic groups about the importance of our aboriginal languages and to look for mechanisms that will allow us to defend them and keep them alive.

author: Fernando Carias


text:
Social Media Movements Encourage Indian Women to Wear Their Saree Proudly · Global Voices
Rezwan

Indian women clad in saree on the banks of the River Ganges. Image by Oleksandr Rupeta. Copyright Demotix (8/8/2012)
As more and more Indian women are opting for Western clothes instead of traditional Indian garments, a number of initiatives are promoting online and offline campaigns to rekindle the love for sarees.
A saree (also spelled sari) is one of the world's oldest female attire, consisting of a graceful, unstitched drape varying from 4.5 metres to 8 metres in length and 1 to 1.5 metres in breadth. The history of the saree is traced back to the Indus Valley civilisation (2800–1800 BC) and currently is widely regarded as a symbol of Indian, Nepalese, Bangladesh, and Sri Lankan cultures.
Nowadays, fashion trends in India often see a mix of ethnic and Western fashions, with saris being reinvented as “sari-gowns” or styled with shirts and blazers. The majority of Indian women continue to wear the saree daily as well as on special occasions, but even so, women's Western-style clothing is gaining popularity.
Wearing or not wearing a saree can also carry deeper meaning beyond a simple fashion statement. The blogger at The Lives And Times of An Indian Homemaker laments that:
Since wearing of sari is often a compulsion, not wearing a sari is seen as an indication of a woman being allowed to make personal choices. [..]
I knew one woman who wore jeans when her in laws were away and switched to sari when they were around, she said she did this to show them respect. [..]
Those who prefer to see women in saris often criticize women in western wear as ‘liberated, modern, westernized’ women.
In recent times, campaigns, seminars and festivals in various cities have expressed love for sarees and encouraged Indian women to them more often. An organisation called Deviditi organised a flashmob at Select Citywalk in Delhi on October 27, 2015, as part of a campaign to promote the garment. Around 50 women grooved to popular Bollywood dance numbers clad in colourful sarees:
Ally Matthan and Anju Maudgal Kadam, two entrepreneurs from the south Indian city of Bengaluru, noticed that urban Indian women, especially those who go out for work or study, rarely wear sarees anymore, instead favouring more practical clothing like jeans and dresses. So they pledged to wear sarees twice a week, or 100 times in a year.
Thats how the #100SareePact was born. They asked people to tag a story, a photograph, a memory, or a feeling about the saree with the hashtag. Soon, more Indian women joined in via Facebook or Twitter.
#Diwali was truly happy happy!! #100sareepact Saree no 13 #sari pic.twitter.com/CqQZlYqVdk
— anjilee istwal (@istee) November 12, 2015
#100SareePact 79&80 on Karvachauth. An embroidered onion pink for a morn conference, jazzy Chinese sequin for puja! pic.twitter.com/Waj90Le9zQ
— Shivani Mohan (@Chevane) October 30, 2015
The 100 Saree Pact site also allows submission of saree stories.
Bhakti Bhargava submitted this story:
Faith faith faith…what is it today morning went head and asked my self this question….To have faith doesn’t mean you get any less frustrated when you don’t do your best, but you know that it’s not life and death. Take what you’re given, and when you continue to work hard, you will see results. That will give you the confidence you need to keep going. Hahahah ysss I think I m going to keep on going. Wearing a Kantha saree. It’s my love for kolkatta which surfaces now n then . Love the craftsmenship . This saree in deed has travelled lots of distance. From the heart of shantiniketan right into my heart
#UNSTITCHED / The Sari Project is an international, collaborative performance art project initiated by Toronto-based visual artist Meera Sethi who wants to create a community among 108 (the number signifying a complete set of beads in a Hindu rosary) South Asians with a single unstitched piece of cloth – a 5.5 metre saree.
Larehria, Bandhej sarees. Image from Flickr by Bharat Singh. CC BY-NC-ND
The participants receives a box consisting of a sari, a petticoat, a camera and notebook with instructions. If they want to keep the package, they must wear the sari and document the process through photography, social media and notes. The project has began its journey and is documented here.
Tanya Rawal, an adjunct professor at the University of California at Riverside, started a campaign called #SareeNotSorry in September. After spending a recent vacation in India, Racal started posting images of herself wearing sarees on Instagram. Soon it turned to a movement to use the traditional Indian garment as a symbol to fight off stigma and help Indian-American women express what it means to be Indian in today's world.
Rawal explained in a recent article for Medium, “Saree, Not Sorry: My Dreams Are In Hinglish“: “It's time we stop apologizing for our skin color, language and culture.” She opined that embracing one's own cultural history is the starting point in making such statement.
Many are embracing her call using social media:
#sareenotsorry pic.twitter.com/oGHcVjC1Cg
— KESSY/\\\ (@divine0zero) September 1, 2015
#diwali eve #SareeNotSorry me n my world! pic.twitter.com/OUIh9dLS7H
— Himani Kapoor (@kapoorhimani) November 14, 2015
Sreet Bhatt, an expat Indian in Australia, writes about the impetus for all these campaigns in support of the saree:
We, along with the younger generation of India should make it a point to wear Saree more often, not wait for reasons to drape it rather make it a reason to celebrate our ethnicity and femininity.

author: Rezwan


text:
Who’s Afraid of Simone de Beauvoir? How a National Exam Had Millions of Brazilians Talking About Gender · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

Simone De Beauvoir, painted portrait. Photo by Flickr user thierry ehrmann. CC BY 2.0
At the end of October, seven million young people had to sit and think about the persistence of violence against women in Brazil. This was the essay theme of the National High School Exam (ENEM) — a Brazilian standardized test that is mandatory to compete for a place in the country's public universities.
A question in the humanities test also included an excerpt from the French philosopher Simone De Beauvoir’s book, “The Second Sex,” and another one cited the queer and chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldúa.
As feministas que foram fazer o Enem quando viram o tema da redação pic.twitter.com/WOYoXJoSRI
— Não Me Kahlo (@NaoKahlo) October 25, 2015
The feminists who went on to do ENEM when they saw the essay's theme
The Brazilian Internet exploded on that Sunday. Feminists took to Twitter and Facebook and celebrated the “most libertarian and feminist” ENEM so far. It seemed that knowledge of feminist theories were extremely relevant for achieving a good mark on the essay, an important component of the overall grade. But what about the trolls who spent the year harassing feminists on the Internet?
reclamou de textão feminista o ano inteiro vai ter que fazer um textão feminista na redação do enem PARECE QUE O JOGO VIROU NÃO É QUERIDINHA
— sapatona opressora (@_ibrasil) October 25, 2015
Spend the year complaining about feminists texts on the Internet, now will have to write a feminist text in ENEM's essay. IT LOOKS LIKE THE GAME HAS CHANGED
Sobre esse tema da redação do ENEM: machistas não passarão (literalmente)
— yayá (@yasmonga) October 25, 2015
About ENEM's essay question: misogynists shall not pass (literally)
O tema da redação não é “existe ou não”. É a PERSISTÊNCIA da violência contra a mulher. Sem saída para quem não queria dar o braço a torcer.
— Think Olga (@ThinkOlga) October 25, 2015
The essay question is not “does it exist or not”. It's about the PERSISTENCE of the violence against women. No exit for those who didn't want to agree.
A photo of one of the test questions featuring the excerpt from Beauvoir circulated on social media. It read:
“Ninguém nasce mulher: torna-se mulher. Nenhum destino biológico, psíquico, econômico define a forma que a fêmea humana assume no seio da sociedade; é o conjunto da civilização que elabora esse produto intermediário entre o macho e o castrado que qualificam o feminino” -Beauvoir, S. O segundo sexo.
Na década de 1960, a proposição de Simone de Beauvoir contribuiu para estruturar um movimento social que teve como marca o(a):
A: ação do Poder Judiciário para criminalizar a violência sexual.
B: pressão do Poder Legislativo para impedir a dupla jornada de trabalho.
C: organização de protestos públicos para garantir a igualdade de gênero.
D: oposição de grupos religiosos para impedir os casamentos homoafetivos.
E: establecimento de políticas governamentais para promover ações afirmativas.
“No biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature, intermediate between the male and eunuch, which is described as feminine.” – Beauvoir, S. The Second Sex.
In the 1960s, Simone de Beauvoir's proposition contributed to the rise of a social movement whose ethos was:
A: action from the Judiciary to criminalize sexual violence.
B: pressure the Congress to prohibit double work shifts
C: the organization of public protests to guarantee gender equality.
D: opposition from religious groups to prevent homosexual marriages.
E: the establishment of government policies to promote affirmative action.
Of course, a feminist celebration online wouldn't see the end of the day without receiving major backlash. Many users criticized the so-called “government indoctrination” towards gender and sexuality.
Among them were two of the most controversial congressmen in the country: Jair Bolsonaro, known for his unrestricted defense of Brazil's past military dictatorship, and Marco Feliciano, an evangelical pastor who once tried to legislate the “gay cure”.
Bolsonaro went so far as to say the alleged “indoctrination” was worse than corruption. He cited the governing Workers’ Party and republished the photo of the Beauvoir question:
ENEM2015, ISSO É PT: “O JOÃO NÃO NASCEU HOMEM e a MARIA NÃO NASCEU MULHER.” pic.twitter.com/3sriuc0ZXz
— Jair Bolsonaro (@DepBolsonaro) October 25, 2015
Tweet: ENEM 2015, THIS IS THE WORKERS’ PARTY: “JOHN WASN’T BORN A MAN and MARY WASN’T BORN A WOMAN”.
Statement in image: Equal or even more serious than corruption is the indoctrination imposed by the Workers’ Party on our youth. Their dream of transforming us into idiots is evident in many of ENEM's questions (National Exam of the MARXIST teaching). Those bastards should be eradicated from power in 2018 with the PRINT VOTE, or before, just as the Congress revoked the mandate of the communist João Goulart on April 2, 1964.
While Feliciano similarly decried the “indoctrination” in all caps:
DOUTRINAÇÃO EXPLÍCITA SOBRE IDEOLOGIA DE GÊNERO PARA 7 MILHÕES DE ESTUDANTES -> https://t.co/tvJcbXlBLM – VERGONHA! pic.twitter.com/fmEInuZKSt
— Marco Feliciano (@marcofeliciano) October 25, 2015
EXPLICIT INDOCTRINATION OF GENDER IDEOLOGY TO 7 MILLION STUDENTS -> https://www.facebook.com/PastorMarcoFeliciano/posts/739248372881851 … – SHAME!
A meme with Simone de Beauvoir's photo was used by several conservative pages. This one reads: “Forget about the fact that I was a Nazi. Keep on defending me on the Internet, Brazilian friends”. (Image: Bolsonaro Zuero /Facebook)
BBC reported Beauvoir’s entry on Wikipedia went from 250 visits per day to 35,000. The entry also suffered several alterations in the days following the exam. Users added information claiming the philosopher had penned a “rape book”; fought for laws “prohibiting women to work outside their home”; cooperated with the Nazi occupation of France and campaigned to “legalize pedophilia”. The entry had its editing locked due to “excessive vandalism”, according to the Wikipedia page.
An anti-Beauvoir wave flooded the offline world as well. City counselors from Campinas, a city in the state of São Paulo, decide to submit to a vote a motion of repudiation against Beauvoir. For 22 minutes they went on a rant against “gender ideology”, same-sex marriage and menaces to the “traditional” family. One of them went as far as to state: “They want to force us to swallow this devious initiative (…) but the large majority favor nature’s law: a man is a man, a woman is a woman.” The motion was approved by the Chamber.
#Brazil: Just now rally ‘Women Against #Cunha‘ #MulheresContraCunha in #SãoPaulo. h/t @linobocchini #ForaCunha pic.twitter.com/sEGeo3HhS4
— #FreeTenharim (@PersonalEscrito) October 30, 2015
Violence against women in Brazil is not a matter of left or right (or at least it shouldn’t be). All one needs to do is look at the alarming numbers of homicides and gender-based violence in the country. In 2014, Brazil had 47,646 rape cases registered, according to the Yearbook of Public Safety. That means — counting only reported cases — that every 11 minutes, a woman was attacked in the country.
Brazil also ranks 7th among 84 countries with the highest rates of femicides. The 2012 Violence Map revealed that between 1990 and 2010, 91,000 women were murdered in Brazil. Last March, President Dilma Rousseff signed a law including “femicide” as a heinous crime into the Brazilian Penal Code.
But is there hope? The last week of October saw some important developments in advancing the gender debate in Brazil.
After some tweeted sexual comments about a 12-year-old girl participating in a Brazilian reality TV show, the hashtag #primeiroassedio (#firstharassment) engaged more than 82,000 women to share the first time they remembered being harassed.
The following week, #MulheresContraCunha (#WomenAgainstCunha) gathered thousands of women online and in the streets to protest a bill that requires rape victims to go through forensic examinations prior to accessing healthcare and could also criminalize the morning-after pill. Eduardo Cunha is the president of the Brazilain Chamber of Deputies and the main supporter of the bill.
Nearly 4,000 people were in the streets of Rio de Janeiro to say no to PL5069 and to President of the Chamber Eduardo Cunha. October 28, 2015. Photo by Ninja Midia. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
In November, the campaign #AgoraEQueSaoElas (#NowIt'sGirls'Time) had several male columnists, writers and journalists opening space to female colleagues to write about gender issues.
This awakening is already being called #WomenSpring or #PrimaveraDasMulheres, with a new wave of protests scheduled for November. Times may be hard for those fighting for equality, but they also seem to be changing.

author: Fernanda Canofre


text:
Five Top Tweets: Iranians Ridicule Censorship on the ‘Filternet’ · Global Voices
Small Media

Iran's Minister of ICT, Mahmoud Vaezi on the right at the WSIS 2015 forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Image remixed by Mahsa Alimardani.
This post was written by Small Media researcher Kyle Bowen, and first appeared on Medium.
Recent disruptions to the messaging app Telegram have caused a stir on social media. The country’s Twitter users took this as opportunity to voice more general complaints about Iran’s slow, expensive, and heavily filtered Internet, known among some Iranians as the ‘filternet’. Here are five of the best reactions from the past month:
متشکریم از تمام دوستانی که کشور رو اداره می‌کنن، بابت این جهنمی که با سرعت اینترنت و فیلترینگ واسه ما تدارک دیدن. ادامه بدین کار خوبتون رو.
— تاتــولوژی و هرزگوین (@blackvvine) October 6, 2015
We thank those running the country for providing these hellish internet speeds and filtering stuff. Carry on, you’re doing great work!
طرفدارای نظام اگه واقعا به این حکومت اعتقاد دارن گه میخورن فیلترشکن میگیرن سیستم فیلترینگ اینا رو دور میزنن میان اینجا— habib (@habib62) October 9, 2015
Regime supporters who’ve bypassed the filtering system to get onto Twitter are shit-eating hypocrites.
Iranian conservatives have always bent the rules to get onto ‘forbidden’ social networks. See our report ‘Unmasking the Arzeshi’ for more info.
وضعیت طوری شده که آدم توی شورتش رو نگاه می‌کنه، تعجب می‌کنه که صفحه فیلترینگ نمیاد
— مرتضا (@morteza__m) October 5, 2015
We’ve reached the point where I’m surprised I don’t see the filtering page when I look in my underwear.
اینا چرا اینجوری می کنن؟ یهو اینترنت و قطع کنن بگن هرکس از اینترنت استفاده کنه مجرمه خلاص! #فیلترینگ_تلگرام
— لَمیک (@Dr_lamik) October 28, 2015
Why they do this? They cut the internet completely and say that anyone using the internet is a criminal—end of discussion! #telegramfiltering.
Over the last couple of months, Iranian authorities have been criticising Telegram loudly. Since late October, it’s been intermittently unavailable in Iran.
اینستاگرام با هر بار آپدیت، آفتابه میگیره به کل سیستم فیلترینگ هوشمند 😂😂
— Armin (@arminophen) October 1, 2015
With a single Instagram update, the whole smart filtering system will be destroyed.
Iran’s “Intelligent Filtering” project is aimed at censoring ‘immoral’ content on platforms like Instagram. But as this user points out, technical changes on Instagram’s side could render Iran’s intelligent filtering efforts outdated and ineffective. Oops. That’s $66 million down the drain!

author: Small Media


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More Than 100 Ex-Political Prisoners Win Parliament Seats in Historic Myanmar Election · Global Voices
The Irrawaddy

The opposition National League for Democracy secured a landslide victory in the recent election in Myanmar. It is headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner. Photo from the Facebook page of the NLD
This edited article by Nyein Nyein is from The Irrawaddy, an independent news site in Myanmar, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Despite having been locked away for 21 years, Aung Kyaw Soe, 47, chose to run as a candidate of the opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) in sparsely populated Karenni State, where he was born.
Securing a seat in the Upper House representing the Shadaw Township, among the rivals he defeated was Aung Min, head of the Myanmar Peace Center and a confidante of Myanmar's incumbent President Thein Sein, who was running as a well-funded independent.
Myanmar’s November 8 election saw a landslide victory by the NLD, but the result is historic for many reasons. Although technically Myanmar's second general election, many considered the vote to be the country's first free and fair election following decades of authoritarian rule and political turmoil. And of the 1,139 candidates declared winners so far, 110—or around 10 percent—have spent years behind bars as political prisoners.
Aung Kyaw Soe, also known as Phoe Khwar, who will take his seat at the end of January alongside former political prisoners in the NLD and ethnic Mon, Zomi and Arakan parties, says his victory was far from certain. The new Upper House lawmaker said:
There are bigger duties ahead, but I decided to run in my state because it is in need of development. I was at a disadvantage from the start because my rivals were in better condition than I was in terms of power and money.
There should be no political prisoners in a democratic society but many political prisoners remain behind bars.
Many of those who spent time behind bars for their political activities plan to use their new platform in Naypyidaw, the nation's political capital, to call for an end to the incarceration of prisoners of conscience.
Arrested for being a member of the once-outlawed All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), Aung Kyaw Soe was sentenced to life in prison in 1990 but was released in 2012. Before entering politics, he worked with a local youth group in Karenni State.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), there are still 112 political prisoners in Myanmar, with 486 more people awaiting court hearings for protesting against farmland confiscation and advocating for peace, education reform, and justice.
Even with the changing political tide in Myanmar, it is unlikely that all political prisoners will be released until the new government takes office in 2016.
Tate Naing, secretary of the AAPP, said that he is hopeful that the current government will release more of the remaining political prisoners before it must hand over power. He said:
But not all would be freed, especially those who are currently on trial and those who are former military men.
Bo Bo Oo, 51, another incoming Lower House lawmaker for Yangon’s Sanchaung, said that legislative changes have to be introduced gradually after members of parliament are sworn in.
“There are many amendments to be made, as well as some legislation to be removed,” he said, highlighting that many of the current political prisoners are being sentenced under section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Law, which was enacted under the current government, along with other antiquated sections of the colonial-era Burma Penal Code and Unlawful Associations Act.
Bo Bo Oo was also a student activist at Rangoon University in 1988, and he was sentenced to 20 years in jail after communicating with the ABSDF in 1989, though he was never a member. He was sent to Insein Prison in September 1989 and released from Myin Chan prison in September 2009.
And like Aung Kyaw Soe, he beat out prominent politicians—such as Thu Wai of Myanmar's Democratic Party, Soe Win of the National Democratic Front, and Win Myint Than of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party—in the election. The former two parties did not win any seats in either house of Union Parliament.
Some of Myanmar’s most prominent faces are among the growing army of lawmakers who were once political dissidents, including NLD chairwoman and current lawmaker Aung San Suu Kyi; founder of the Rangoon School of Political Science Zin Mar Aung; 88 Generation Peace and Open Society leader Pyone Cho, rights activist Ma Thandar; poet Yi Mon (aka Tin Thit); current lawmakers Phyo Zeya Thaw and Sandar Min; and writer Nay Phone Latt, among many others.
The NLD’s elected members of parliament who spoke with The Irrawaddy highlighted the party’s policies on national reconciliation and said that they would work toward peace and justice for their constituents.

author: The Irrawaddy


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Netizen Report: Bangladesh Bans Facebook and Chat Apps on ‘Security Grounds’ · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Demonstrators call for capital punishment for war criminals in Bangladesh, 2013. Photo by Mehdi Hasan Khan via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
The government of Bangladesh this week banned Facebook along with mobile chat apps Viber and WhatsApp in an apparent effort to maintain public order. When implementing the ban, the country's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission mistakenly shut down the Internet altogether for roughly 75 minutes.
The ban may have been related to the November 18 shooting of an Italian priest visiting the country, an act for which ISIS claimed responsibility.
Observers also believe the ban was intended soften public reactions to recent war crimes trials. This week, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court upheld death sentences for two political leaders who were found guilty of genocide and rape that took place during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Former minister Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, a leader of the powerful Jamaat-e-Islami religious party, face imminent execution. Their political supporters have spoken out against the ruling and vowed to stand in the way of the justice system.
Tensions surrounding war crimes trials peaked in 2013 when secular pro-democracy groups demonstrated mass support for the execution of convicted war criminals. Protesters argued that impunity was so endemic in Bangladesh that this punishment was the only way to guarantee that leaders like Mujahid did not return to power. Among leaders of the protests were a group of progressive bloggers who have suffered severe consequences of persecution and vigilante violence, some of it fatal, ever since the protests. During this time, the Internet and social media have been key territories where these groups have both rallied support and weathered abuse from their adversaries.
Commenting on the ban on social media platforms, Dhaka Police Commissioner Md Monirul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune: “The government ordered blocking the services on security grounds as criminals often use these services to plan and carry out subversive acts.” The Commission issued letters to local ISPs and telecommunication service providers ordering them to carry out the block on November 17.
User reports suggest that ISPs’ strategies for implementing the ban seem to be varied. Some have reported that Facebook is intermittently available on certain ISPs. Others say they are able to use Facebook's chat function while other services appear to be suspended. In many cases, users are simply circumventing the ban by using privacy-enhancing technologies such as VPNs and the Tor browser.
Rumors surfaced last week that Syrian web developer Bassel Khartabil aka Bassel Safadi may have been secretly sentenced to death by Syrian military authorities. Bassel’s whereabouts have been unknown since he was taken from the Adra civilian prison to an unknown location in October 2015. Supporters are urging foreign governments and the UN to take action, among other things by signing an online petition calling for his immediate release.
Global Voices writer and former Advox director Hisham Almiraat is facing criminal charges of “threatening the internal security of the State” in his native Morocco. Almiraat will face trial along with six other civil society advocates for what many media rights groups agree is an attempt by the Moroccan government to silence its critics. Although originally scheduled to begin on November 19, the trial has been postponed until January 27. The Global Voices community stands in solidarity with Hisham and has called on authorities to drop all charges against the seven defendants. Supporters are tweeting under the hashtag #Justice4Morocco and are invited to join our statement of support by clicking here.
Kazakh activist Bolatbek Blyalov was detained for “inciting social discord” on November 9 over comments he made on YouTube regarding a range of issues including Kazakh nationalism and the use of Kazakh and Russian languages in Kazakhstan. He is now the third activist to be arrested in the past month on similar charges.
China’s Ministry of Culture is tightening its control over online music, encouraging online streaming sites to screen songs for inappropriate content before allowing music to go online. The ministry banned a list of 120 songs, many of them by hip-hop artists, in August from online distribution because they were “morally harmful”, according to Reuters. Online music platforms were told to begin submitting information about their music to officials from April 1 onwards.
Turkey blocked access to Reddit on November 13, and then lifted the block a few days later without any explanation. The block, which appears to have been instituted at the DNS level, was enforced under the controversial Internet Law No. 5651 under which sites can be blocked without court authorization. It is unclear what might have triggered the block. Countries will sometimes block websites if those sites refuse to remove specific content from their networks. Reddit customarily publishes reports on content removal requests that it receives from governments on the ChillingEffects subreddit, but this page does not show any reports from the Turkish government.
The Canadian government may soon embark on its own foray into censorship. The Quebec government announced plans to order ISPs to block a list of unlicensed gambling websites, censuring the ISPs with fines up to $100,000 for a first-time offense for failure to comply. Local  free expression advocates are arguing that the government lacks the authority to regulate the Internet in this manner.
Facebook received another harsh blow in Europe last week when a court in Belgium ruled that the social networking company cannot collect and store information about people in Belgian territory who do not have Facebook accounts. The company, whose international headquarters are located in Ireland, uses cookies to track people’s online activities. If Facebook doesn’t comply with the court ruling, the company could be fined with up to US$ 270K per day. Facebook said that they will take steps in order to stop collecting online information about people in Belgium, but that they will also appeal the Brussels court ruling.
A recent transparency report from Facebook shows that the Hong Kong government asked the company for many more users’ data than in previous periods. The numbers spiked sharply in the first half of 2015, following the Occupy Central protests from September to December 2014. Facebook recorded an 82 percent increase in the requests in 2015 compared to the second half of 2014 and over double the number of overall requests compared to the same period last year. The US contrinues to be the country that makes the most requests for user data each year according to the report.
Russian authorities are now seeking to require that Twitter to store Russian users’ data on servers located in Russia. This comes with the reversal of Russian media watchdog Roscomnadzor’s data localization law passed in September. Previously, Roscomnadzor indicated that the law wouldn’t affect Twitter, as it didn’t consider the kind of data Twitter stores to be “personal information.”
A new online data project launched by Global Voices author and free expression advocate Jillian C. York seeks to encourage social media companies to operate with greater transparency and accountability toward their users as they make decisions that regulate speech. Onlinecensorship.org collects reports from users in an effort to shine a light on what content is taken down, why companies make certain decisions about content, and how content takedowns are affecting communities of users around the world.
Ellery Roberts Biddle Sarah Myers West

author: Netizen Report Team


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The Indian Sub-Continent’s Domestic Workers Deserve Much More Than This · Global Voices
Rezwan

Child domestic workers are common in India, with the children often being sent by their parents to earn extra money, although it is banned by the government. Image by Biswarup Gangly via Wikimedia Commons. BY-SA 3.0
The Indian sub-continent has a long tradition of households employing house boys or maids. In India alone, there are nearly 5 million unskilled people working in the homes of others — most of them women and some underage.
They are usually not entitled to paid holidays, overtime, pensions or other perks like other industrial workers. They have no recognition as a labor force, are paid miserably and are sometimes subjected to domestic abuse. A typical housemaid in India may earn around 6,000 rupees ($90) per month for 10- to 14-hour daily shifts.
Skand Shukla writes in Indian newspaper The Hindu that in most cases the terms and conditions of employment are settled by word of mouth:
The wages, of course, depend on the number of persons in the family, the guests visiting them, the kids in the family, the number of rooms… The remuneration includes, besides the cash, the ‘tyohaari’ [Bakhsish or tips] during [holidays such as] Holi, Deepavali and other occasions.
In some houses, the caste of the employee matters, and those of a lower caste are not treated equally — for example, they are not allowed to sit on the same chairs that family-members use.
Jannatul Mawa, a Bangladeshi social activist and documentary photographer, showed this inequality through photography. In her project “Close Distance” she photographed housemaids sitting together with their employer, the disparity between them vivid.
Close Distance. The inequality between the housemaid and the employer. Photography by Jannatul Mawa. Used with permission.
Close Distance. The inequality between the housemaid and the employer. Photography by Jannatul Mawa. Used with permission.
Mawa writes:
In the society, it is perceived that only women will perform the domestic work which also includes the middle class working women. This household activity is analogous for them although the ‘class’ creates a distance. Every day, maidservants take care of the bed and sofa with their hand but they are neither allowed to sit nor to sleep on them once. With their domestic roles, they are ‘close’ to the middle class women and ‘distant’ at the same time.
See the photo essay here.
In India, rights groups and the government are working hard to establish the rights of domestic workers and are pushing agendas to include their service in labour laws. In recent times, it's been up to non-profits like Maid in India and for-profit online job sites or mobile apps to act as intermediaries that ensure the workers receive proper compensation. Concerns abound that a portion of the small salaries that maids receive are deducted by these agencies or intermediaries as service fees which are unregulated.
However, what also needs to change are the attitudes of the households that employ these domestic workers, who due to their poverty, are compelled to accept unequal terms of employment, whether its the job, time or compensation.
No wonder spiritual teacher, writer and educator Nithya Shanti‘s Facebook post during this Diwali went viral.
Image courtesy Facebook page of Nithya Shanti
Shanti shared a moment he titled “Why my mother decided to call our maid's family for dinner”. He explained:
Inspired by her friends, my mother started a new tradition in our home last night. She invited the family of our maid Madina to come home for dinner. She had earlier sent dad and me off to buy all the groceries and special food was prepared for them. We all ate together and had a lovely conversation as well.
This is the first time we have ever done anything like this in our family. It felt surreal to see Madina's whole family sitting on our couch and eating with us on our dining table. This was especially significant for me as I remember having bitter arguments with my mother as a kid about why our staff couldn't use the same utensils and furniture as us! It would always end in her crying and then I had to back down. So you can imagine how amazing it was for me to see my mom organise this Diwali dinner on her own initiative. […]
It looks like this is the beginning of a beautiful new tradition in our family, which I hope we will only enhance as time goes on. It touched and opened my heart in many ways. I've asked their son to send me specs of the computer he needs and I'm going to see how we can arrange that for him. It doesn't take much to make a big difference in someone's life!
Read the whole post here.
The post was shared by many online media as well, such as Huffington Post and The Logical Indian and has generated much debate online.
Some appreciated the gesture:
Just when you start thinking you live in a stony world & start loosing hope, a story like this pops in to melt… https://t.co/sRIAA6IIkF
— Rajwant Singh (@punjab_express) November 11, 2015
Now this is how you should celebrate your festivals ! #Respect https://t.co/Me0gvQs73j
— SevenStar Activist (@ChaittanyaKumar) November 10, 2015
Lakshminarayanan Kolipaka from Madras Christian College commented in The Logical Indian: “happy to see a new trend coming into focus. Hope this will spread.”
There was still much room for change in popular attitudes, however:
This is such crap. Seriously, inviting your house help's family for lunch is news?! https://t.co/PGshGoEyuj
— Radhika Santhanam (@radhikasan) November 11, 2015
On LinkedIn, Sonjai Kumar, a business executive, highlighted another important aspect in the issue of treating maids with respect — household domestic workers in India's metropolitan cities often perform the duty of childcare as well, and in that capacity they influence the current generation of kids:
Maids have become a driving force of today’s generation life style and difficult to imagine life without them. It can be said that in today’s generation, maids are driving the current corporate in India where female workforce participation are quite substantial.


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Ukrainian Men’s Travel Ban News Debunked as Fake by Military · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Ukrainian military warns: if you've been naughty and have been spreading rumors, Santa isn't coming by! Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
On November 19, Ukrainian men woke up to discover that if they were under 45, they would now apparently have to cancel their travel plans for the start of 2016, as Ukraine was banning them from leaving the country. But was that really the case?
The Izvestia v Ukraine website ran a story titled “Starting January 1, Ukrainian Men Under 45 Banned from Leaving the Country.” The piece reported on an alleged new law that was set to come into force at the start of 2016 in Ukraine. The legislation, as described in the story, mandated Ukrainian men could not cross the border if they were younger than 45 years old, and even then, they had to have special dispensation from the military command. The news outlet sourced their report to an earlier story on Golos Pravdy website (also purporting to be a Ukrainian news outlet), which in turn claimed this information came from an unnamed source in the Ukrainian State Security Service.
Screenshot of the article from Golos Pravdy.
Although no official confirmation from Ukrainian authorities was available and no such law, draft or otherwise, could be found on the Ukrainian parliament's website, the “story” quickly spread to other online media, although it was mostly republished by smaller, marginal websites, such as NA Kharkov (exposed earlier as a fake Ukrainian news site run by pro-Kremlin forces), Ukraina.ru, and Zavtra.ua.
Social media users reacted with disbelief to the news, and quickly suspected it was fake.
В РФ объявили конкурс на самую нелепую новость об Украине и "Известия" (в Украине) решили обойти Life News? pic.twitter.com/5yIqCjTvFZ
— Olena Vashchenko (@O_Vashchenko) November 19, 2015
Did Russia announce a competition for the stupidest news about Ukraine and Izvestia v Ukraine decided to beat Life News?
A few hours later on Thursday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially debunked the fake on their Facebook page, and added a bit of light-hearted humor while doing so.
Спростування:
1. Інформація щодо введення з 1 січня 2016 року заборони усім чоловікам до 45 років на виїзд з України не відповідає дійсності.
2. Щодо чоловіків старше 45 років так само не буде вводитись обмежень на виїзд із країни.
3. Обмеження на виїзд жінок також не буде вводитись. Незалежно від віку.
4. І дітям теж.
5. 2 січня 2016 року також не буде вводитись додаткових обмежень.
6. Домашніх тварин можна буде вивозити – в рамках існуючих правил ветеринарного контролю.
7. А матеріальні цінності – в рамках існуючих митних правил.
8. 1 січня 2016 року настане Новий рік. Про це повідомляють наші джерела всюди.
9. Дід Мороз не завітає до тих, хто поширює чутки та неперевірену інформацію.
10. І Святий Миколай також.
Refutation:
1. Information about introducing a ban on travel from Ukraine for all men under 45 has no basis in reality.
2. Neither will there be any restrictions for men over 45 on leaving the country.
3. There also won't be any travel restrictions for women. Regardless of their age.
4. The same goes for children.
5. No additional restrictions will be introduced on January 2, 2016, either.
6. Oh, and you will be able to take your pets out of the country too, within the existing veterinary control norms.
7. And carrying any material possessions across the border will be allowed within existing customs rules.
8. On January 1, 2016, we will see in the New Year. According to our sources from everywhere.
9. Santa Claus will not be paying a visit to those who spread rumors and unverified information.
10. And neither will Saint Nicholas.
A day before, on November 18, the US Embassy in Russia went on Twitter to expose a fake letter used as a basis for a report by Russian newspaper Izvestia. The report cited a “leaked” document allegedly written by the US State Department to Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev, and claimed that the United States offered to fund the publication of discrediting information about several top Russian state officials, outing them as gay.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Women at Work: The Collective Now Transforming Hip-Hop in Mexico · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

Performance during International Women's Day and the sixth anniversary of the collective held on March 8, 2015. Photo courtesy of Giulia Iacolutti and taken from the Mujeres Trabajando website with permission.
The hip-hop scene in Mexico has been rattled up by the collective Mujeres Trabajando (Women at Work), who, since 2009, have used their music, poetry, visual art, and dance to gain a foothold in an environment where misogyny and male machismo prevail.
Poster produced for a “Mujeres Trabajando” event. Taken with permission from Instagram.
The multidisciplinary collective arose as the brainchild of Jezzy P and Ximbo. Nowadays, the group is comprised of twelve artists, coming from all across Mexico, who specialize in any one of the basic elements of hip-hop.
According to the information available on the group's Facebook page, one of their targets is to:
[…] difundir y promover la cultura al exponer los trabajos individuales de las integrantes a través de espacios compartidos y comunitarios. Asimismo, impulsa la creación artística realizada por mujeres e incentiva el desarrollo de las mismas, el desarrollo integral de la mujer y su participación activa e igualitaria en los ámbitos laborales y artísticos en la sociedad mexicana.”
[…] spread and promote culture by showcasing members’ individual projects through shared community spaces. This then springboards women's artistic creation and spurs on the development of their talents, a holistic development of women along with their active and equal participation in the spheres of work, and art in Mexican society.”
Some of their main activities include organizing concerts, breakdance demonstrations, exhibitions of graffiti, and other visual arts, such as photography and spoken-word poetry readings, as well as delivering workshops in DIY fashion tailoring through which they seek to boost a culture of recycling and supporting individual feminine expression.
The following video shows a recap of their first event:
In a country where violence against women is widespread (from 2012 to 2013, at least 3,892 women were killed, according to Mexico's National Citizens Observatory on Femicides), the Mujeres Trabajando collective has established itself as a relevant space to publicize women's artistic expression, challenging stereotypes and confronting gender discrimination.
Undoubtedly, their work is a benchmark for the empowerment of women in hip-hop culture and, by extension, in Mexican society.
La unión hace la fuerza en todos los sentidos,
mujeres trabajando compartiendo el sonido
la rosa de los vientos aquí como testigo
juntas sin dañar sin afán de competir
Venimos a mostrar que podemos construir
Rima de Dayra en “Ladies Night”
Unity creates strength in every sense,
women at work sharing the sound
the rose of the compass here as witness
together with no harm with no quest to compete
We come to show that we can build
Rima de Dayra in “Ladies Night”
You can find more information about their work on their official blog and on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

author: Giovanna Salazar


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Death Could Not Stop His Drive to Help Syria’s Refugees · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Whether to say “needle” or “sleepy juice”: Dr. Sarah Aref and Farris Barakat help a Syrian boy at the temporary Syrian American Medical Society dental clinic on the Turkish-Syrian border. Credit: Jorge Valencia. Used with permission.
This article and radio report by Jorge Valencia for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on November 18, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Deah Barakat was a tall guy with a big smile and big ideas. He was a dental student at the University of North Carolina in the United States, and he wanted to help people from his parents’ native country, Syria, so he made a plan.
He set out to collect $20,000 to buy supplies and take a group of volunteers to Turkey’s border with Syria for a week. He began to carry his laundry basket in his car, brimming with toothbrush and tooth paste kits that he sold outside of mosques in North Carolina — $5 each — and he made a video that he uploaded to the Internet, asking for donations for the trip and for dentists permanently helping refugees.
Deah’s father, Namee Barakat, realized the size of what his son called Project Refugee Smiles. “It was funny to me,” Namee Barakat remembers. “I said, ‘You have a long way to go, my friend.’ He said, ‘Dad, I’m going to try. I’m going to give it my best.’”
But Deah Barakat didn’t get the chance to see his project through. On February 10, a neighbor burst into the Chapel Hill apartment that Deah shared with his wife, Yusor Abu-Salha. The man shot to death Deah, 23, Yusor, 21, and Yusor’s sister, Razan Abu-Salha, 19. All three were students; American and Muslim. The accused gunman, Craig Stephen Hicks, has been indicted on first-degree murder charges. Federal prosecutors are considering whether to charge him with a hate crime.
By the time that Deah, Yusor and Razan were murdered, Deah had already had raised $16,000 for his Project Refugee Smiles. Over the following month, donations poured in — more than half a million dollars. With the money in hand, the friends and family of the three young North Carolina students decided they would carry out Deah’s plan.
“I remember moving out [Deah’s] stuff from the apartment and there was like a sheet of paper there about the trip — like all the things he wanted to do. There was something there about educating the patients about dental hygiene,” says Deah’s older brother, Farris Barakat. “He had such a calculated and invested approach to this.”
In late July, Farris, Deah’s father, and more than 40 American Muslim volunteers set out for Turkey. They included friends whom Deah had encouraged to study dentistry, as well as people from across the US who had never met him but said they were inspired by him, Yusor and Razan.
From Istanbul, the group flew to Hatay province, and then drove 45 minutes to Reyhanli, a busy crossing point with Syria.
With funding from the Project Refugee Smiles fundraiser, the Syrian American Medical Society bought eight dental chairs for the temporary clinic set up at the Al-Salaam School in Reyhanli, Turkey. Credit: Jorge Valencia. Used with permission.
Reyhanli has a small dental clinic there in a building just past the entrance of a school, the Al Salaam School. (It’s now been renamed for Razan, Deah and Yusor.)
Across a playground from the small clinic, the American volunteers set up a larger, temporary clinic with eight brand new dental chairs, bought with contributions from Deah’s fundraiser. The volunteers also put up a poster with black-and-white silhouette drawings of Razan, Yusor and Deah, and the words “The Three Winners.”
The first day of the clinic was chaotic. Farris, who was helping a Cleveland-based dentist named Sarah Aref, took on the unofficial job of “child whisperer.” Many of the kids were too scared at first to climb in the dentist chair, so Farris tried to calm them by explaining in Arabic what was going to happen — though Aref didn’t entirely agree with Farris’s approach.
In between patients, they ‘debated’ their differing philosophies.
Aref: “Farris decided to use the word ‘needle’ on a kid, and it freaked him out.”
Farris: “I told him how it is. He was afraid of the needle. I told him, bear with me on the needle.”
Aref: “I told him to call it sleepy juice.”
Farris: “I don't know how to translate ‘sleepy juice’ into Arabic.”
Aref: “I'm pretty sure if you said ‘sleepy juice’ things would've gone a lot better than they did.”
Farris: “Well, anyways, it worked out, and I think we took his phobia for needles and fixed it.”
Most of the patients at the clinic were children, many of whom have witnessed violence. Some had experienced it themselves. One boy getting treatment had been struck with shrapnel on a cheekbone and could no longer close his right eye.
Mohammad, a boy Farris Barakat (seated) helped in the Project Refugee Smiles clinic, says he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. Standing next to him are Dr. Sara Aref of Cleveland (center) and Alena Advic of Seattle. Credit: Jorge Valencia. Used with permission.
On the fourth day of the clinic, a few dozen high school students serenaded the volunteers with songs about Homs and Hama, Syrian cities that largely have been destroyed by the war. “Heaven. Heaven. Heaven,” they sang. “Our home is really heaven.”  Several volunteers wiped tears off their cheeks. Farris covered his eyes.
Since his brother’s death, Farris Barakat has quit his job managing a courier company in North Carolina, and is helping to build a Muslim community center in Raleigh named after Deah, which in Arabic means light.
“I think what I’m doing through the Light House project is what I’m meant to do in a sense, and what I want to do. And this is helping me explore everything I’ve ever wanted to explore, at the end of the day, to the work that earns me personal salvation,” Farris said one afternoon at the clinic. “That’s where I’ll see my brother and the prophets, all of them.”
So far, Deah’s Project Refugee Smiles has helped more than 700 Syrian refugees, and his family says the donations will continue to fund dental care and other refugee relief.
Still, Farris Barakat says he’s caught himself wishing he could give back the great things that have happened since the shooting if it meant he could have Deah, Yusor and Razan back.
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author: PRI/PRX's The World