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Want to Arouse a Peruvian’s Passions? Just Talk about Terrorism—or Food · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

El ojo que llora, a memorial for victims of the violence in Peru 1980-2000. Each rock represents a murdered or disappeared person. Most of the victims were quechua-speaking peasants from the highlands. PHOTO: Christiane Wilke (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
I am absolutely certain that if you were to ask most Peruvians today about the things they believe make Peru most famous, most of them would cite Peruvian food, Machu Picchu and a few other things along those lines. But if you’d asked the question 30 years ago, the answers would have been very different. I’m certain most people would have said terrorism and drug trafficking.
Over the last 30 years, Peru has somehow managed to create points of agreement and national identity around certain cohesive elements that unify Peruvians of diverse backgrounds who otherwise have only nationality in common. The tattered, barely viable failed state of almost three decades ago has today been able to convert even its failures into successes. Alongside these elements, however, the country’s outright rejection of terrorism and terrorists remains, and is virtually unanimous.
“…Peru has somehow managed to create points of agreement and national identity around certain cohesive elements that unify Peruvians of diverse backgrounds who otherwise have only nationality in common.”
A recent example of this sentiment is the Peruvian response, last December, to the release from prison and subsequent deportation from Peru of US citizen Lori Berenson. A Peru-based English-language web site, Living in Peru, published a story about Berenson, referring to her in the headline as an “activist”. The online outrage was immediate, so much so that the website was forced to remove the word “activist” from the headline, explaining that it was used because multiple foreign sources in English had referred to Berenson that way.
But the issue did not end there. Mijael Garrido Lecca, director of the Peruvian online daily Diario Altavoz, published an open letter to the Associated Press news agency, the source of the Living in Peru story. Here’s an excerpt from that letter:
“[Frank] Bajak [author of the story] says Berenson was convicted for “collaborating with terrorism”. . . . The deaths caused by the murderous ideology that Berenson proclaimed are not an euphemism; nor are the widows and orphans [they created]. How is it that Berenson fits into the category of activist if she was part of an organization that murdered in cold blood and kidnapped at its own discretion?”
“Osama Bin Laden,” Garrido continues, “was not an ‘activist’, he was a terrorist. The infamous attacks on the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 were not an act of activism of any kind. They were a vile terrorist act that implicated innocent citizens in decisions that weren’t there own. . . . What just happened in Paris was not an act of activism. It was terror. But these semantic ‘errors’ offer terrorists future shelter, allowing them to revise history and present a biased and cowardly narrative.”
I understand that the term “terrorism” has been abused in recent years, and devalued by the opportunistic application of the term to certain groups of people and not to others. Here in Peru, however, in spite of some disagreement when the term is used by the media and others in contexts such as “environmentalist terrorism” and “anti-mining terrorism”, there's almost unanimous agreement that the activities of Shining Path and the MRTA constituted terrorism. So when someone uses a euphemism, as Bajak did, to describe a person widely considered a terrorist by Peruvians, social media—indeed all media—explode with rage and anger.
“…in Peru…there's almost unanimous agreement that the activities of Shining Path and the MRTA constituted terrorism.”
Maybe at this point a bit of history will help readers better understand the context. Shining Path was formed in the Andean city of Ayacucho during the 1970s. The group’s first notable act was the burning of ballots and ballot boxes in the village of Chuschi on May 17, 1980. 12 years, countless terrorist attacks, and nearly 60,000 dead later, the capture of Abimael Guzman, leader of the group, on September 12, 1992 marked Shining Path’s end.
When Shining Path committed that first act in Chuschi, it did so not in response to any public demand or protest, but with a blind violence that disrupted an electoral process that citizens had demanded and awaited with great anticipation. Then they announced that they were at war with the bourgeois state, proclaiming themselves to be of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist orientation and subscribers to Mao’s thesis that violence was a necessary part of revolution. Shining Path’s general program of 1988 stated that the group sought “demolition of the Peruvian state, the dictatorship of the exploiters led by the haute bourgeoisie, the repressive armed forces that support it, and all of its bureaucratic apparatus.”
One of Shining Path’s main features was its refusal to engage in dialogue: according to its ideology, any non-violent contact with the enemy was an unacceptable concession. So there was never any possibility of dialogue, far less of negotiation, and if any Shining Path member showed an inclination towards those things, he/she was forced to undergo “self-criticism” sessions.
This, plus the use of obscure, deeply ideological language incomprehensible to ordinary citizens did little to facilitate public understanding of the Shining Path’s objectives. That included the Lima intelligentsia, who for years failed in their analysis and diagnosis of the Shining Path phenomenon, and even showed an initial sympathy for the groups’s leftist features.
But the mass of the Peruvian people rejected Shining Path’s ideology and methods, and did not hesitate to label their members “terrucos”, a Quechua modification of the Spanish word for “terrorists” that was often abbreivated to “tucos”. The association between the group and the concept of terrorism emerged first in the poorest sectors of the urban and rural population, in the areas most affected by their attacks. Then the use of these words spread to all sectors of Peruvian society.
As a result, any attempt to describe Shining Path's activities as anything but terrorism results in a barrage of accusations from all sectors of Peruvian society. Thus, some political actors demanded that the government take action to demand that the US label Berenson a terrorist and not an activist. When asked his opinion, Peru’s justice minister said that the activity of MRTA, the organization to which Berenson belonged, was clearly terrorist in nature. Even the US Ambassador told reporters that “the US government has always said that the MRTA is a terrorist group.”
Berenson, however, who while at airport awaiting departure from the country was heckled with shouts of “terruca” by some of those present, maintained her position that the MRTA was not a terrorist organization. Some positions will never be reconciled.
The only other matter that reliably inflames the passions of Peruvians across the board is gastronomical: namely, the attempts by our southern neighbors (Chile) to claim the Pisco Sour or the Suspiro Limeño as their own. Oddly, or maybe not so oddly, it's the media who blow these issues out of proportion, with little regard for how small or unimportant they might be. To them, it seems very important to expose, for the Peruvian public, the dangerous moves being made by the Chileans, or the imminent threat posed by those who fail to call terrorists by their correct designation.
“Gastronomical disagreements don't stop us from doing business with Chileans or from share a meal among friends who have different viewpoints on Papa a la Huancaína. But the terrorism issue involves social and political factors whose memory takes us  back to a time of when Peruvians were divided, and which are therefore ripe for political manipulation.”
With the departure of Lori Berenson things in Peru returned to normal. But maybe this calm is the same as prevails between battles over national dishes: it's only a matter of time before the media begin to feel restless and hungry for the stirring up of a new episode of false patriotism.
Nevertheless there is a great difference between becoming outraged when a Chilean web site says that Picarones are a Chilean creation, or arguing whether Papa a la Huancaína can be made with anything but yellow potatoes (it can, but there are purists who would see any departure from this norm as an aberration) and the kind of disagreement that the terrorist issue creates. Gastronomical disagreements don't stop us from doing business with Chileans or from share a meal among friends who have different viewpoints on Papa a la Huancaína. But the terrorism issue involves social and political factors whose memory takes us  back to a time of when Peruvians were divided, and which are therefore ripe for political manipulation.
So I’ll stop here and focus on other more constructive issues, such as establishing which is the best ceviche in Peru, or if lomo saltado is more Chinese than Creole—discussions that never end, but which also bring people together and are decidedly more pleasant.
Bon appetit.

author: Juan Arellano


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Why It’s Essential To Grow Indian-Language Wikipedias · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Indian Wikipedia 10th anniversary graphic by Praveenp (CC BY-SA 3.0)
On January 15, 2016, Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia, celebrated its 15th birthday, meeting this milestone with 36 million articles in more than 290 languages (the English-language Wikipedia alone has crossed the 5-million-article mark). But here I want to address some major questions that Indians need to ask of themselves. First, what is the state of Indian-language Wikipedia projects? And what does India have to take from and give to Wikipedia?
With the growth of free and open source software in India, people are equipped with more freedom than ever. Especially with the recent federal policy-level changes, the nation is enjoying better collaboration with people of different cultures speaking different languages.
However, there is a huge gap in the access to knowledge on the internet. Of a population of about 1.26 billion, only about 15-18% people are online, largely through mobile devices. The technical community comprises a tiny fraction of this population. It would be useful to have a metric on the percentage of this community's contribution to growing the languages of this country and its cultural heritage.
Wikipedia's family
Wikipedia is not just an encyclopaedia. It is also part of a “family” comprising several other Open Knowledge members. Wikipedia itself is available in over 290 languages, but it also has other multilingual sister projects such as Wikisource (an online library of many public domain and other important texts), Wikimedia Commons (the world's largest repository of media files and documents), Wikibooks (a free library of educational textbooks), Wikivoyage (a free and open travel guide) and Wiktionary (a database of various languages). These projects don't just house millions of images, videos, documents and texts—they allow anyone to contribute their knowledge to this ever deepening pool of information. Four Indian languages made an early entry to the Wiki-world back in 2002 — Assamese, Malayalam, Odia and Punjabi. Some people might not have noticed that the “en” in the URL of Wikipedia that denotes the language code of English, could be altered with “or” for Odia Wikipedia or “pa” for Punjabi Wikipedia.
A map of dying Indian languages.Source: UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Language neutrality
According to UNESCO, 197 of the 1,652 Indian languages are dying, despite having a long literary and linguistic heritage. That's quite a shocking statistic. In a blog post on content localisation, social entrepreneur Rajesh Ranjan asks if free and open source software can help save these dying languages. In the context of Wikipedia, there are already 23 South Asian-language projects. Out of these 20 are languages listed in the 8th schedule of the Constitution of India, signalling the government's obligation to developing these languages.
Most Wikipedia projects in Indian language projects are relatively small compared to their counterparts. But the Wikimedia communities are thriving. While only parts of government websites are available in Hindi, Hindi Wikipedia has already crossed 0.1 million articles. The Tamil and Malayalam Wikipedia communities have played a central part in implementing Wikipedia basics learning as part of the state-run school syllabus. These communities have also played a significant role in popularizing free and open source software by pushing for policy-level change. Many Indian languages are in the pipeline to become active Wikipedia projects under the scope of the Wikimedia Incubator.
Maithili Wikipedia and Goan Konkani Wikipedia are two Indian-language Wikipedias that have gone live in recent years. The world has seen how digital activism has brought a new life to languages such as Hebrew, and there are a large number of native speakers waiting out there to access knowledge in their own languages. Wikipedia could be a great tool for supporting digital activism with openness and sharing.
The percentage of female Wikipedia editors lies in the range of about 9%, says a survey by Wikimedia Foundation in 2011. PHOTO by User Goran tek-en (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Addressing gender bias in Wikipedia: Implications for India
India tops South Asia in the gender inequality index. The literacy rate for women, however, is alarmingly low at 65.46%, compared to 82.14% for men. This disparity is evident in many other sectors of society, as well as in politics.
But gender bias is not a problem only in India. The global free and open source software (FOSS) community has long been concerned about the low participation by women—they make up 2-5% of contributors. Wikimedia Foundation's former executive director admitted that Wikipedia, like many other collaborative and open projects, does not have a conducive environment for women. But the Wikimedia community and Wikimedia Foundation are both working on improving this state of affairs. Indian-language Wikipedia projects are part of this global drive, with initiatives such as the Women's History Month edit-a-thons, or the Lilavati's Daughters project, where biographies of Indian women scientists were created and enriched in Wikipedia projects.
Complementing Digital India
India, with its population of 354 million netizens, still has a long way to go towards increasing Indian language content on the web. The government's Digital India campaign aims at digital literacy and making digital resources/services available in Indian languages. This is closely aligned with the Wikimedia movement's goal of providing free access to the sum of all human knowledge.
In addition to Wikipedia, many other open educational resources and free knowledge projects that are not already a part of the Digital India campaign signal the need for the federal-run campaign to be more collaborative and open. Community-government collaborations like the NROER project to make National Council of Educational Research and Training books available under Creative Commons licenses, and the IT@School project in the state of Kerala to provide education using free and open tools, have gained massive traction, and helped build the volume of Indian language content online.
A version of this article previously appeared on The Huffington Post.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


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Anti-Extremism Police in Yakutia, Russia, Say They Have Ways of Finding You on WhatsApp · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

A woman dressed in Yakutia's traditional indigenous robes, pictured in a typical local landscape. Images edited by Tetyana Lokot.
WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messenger app that recently grew its global user base to over a billion users, is very popular in Russia's far eastern Yakutia region—but how private are the Yakut users’ conversations, really?
Local journalists in the Siberian region (also known as the Sakha Republic) have already dubbed the craze “WhatsAppmania.” Yakuts use the app for just about anything, with the average WhatsApp user in the region subscribed to more than 13 group chats. Banks, restaurants, and shopping malls use the chat feature to announce their latest deals. Non-profit organizations engage their communities through message exchanges. Local lawmakers are even opening WhatsApp-based reception offices to talk to their constituencies. The regional emergency services use the app to spread news about fires or accidents, and to solicit information and help during search and rescue operations. The local media often turn to WhatsApp as a source of news.
One local news website commenter summed up the popularity of WhatsApp nicely: “[In Yakutia], if a person doesn't have WhatsApp, they don't have a phone.” Even small villages tend to have their own WhatsApp groups where they share daily happenings.
Because the app is so popular, and yet allows for more personal conversations and privacy than social networks like VKontakte or Odnoklassniki, there is the inevitable issue of policing communication and speech. But, as it turns out, the law enforcement in Yakutia isn't worried about WhatsApp—and its encryption—at all.
At a recent public discussion on the interethnic issues in Yakut media, Sergey Ponomaryov, head of the regional anti-extremism center (part of the Interior Ministry, also known as Center “E”), said that those who seek to incite violence or extremism online can forget about any sort of anonymity on WhatsApp.
“Extremism”  is defined quite broadly in Russian legislation: anything from inciting ethnic hatred to insulting the feelings of believers or calls to overthrow authorities can be designated “extremist speech,” including online. With the problematic political situation in Russia, and the worsening international relations because of its actions in Ukraine and Syria, the Kremlin has tightened anti-extremist laws but also made the definitions quite vague, allowing for arbitrary application. A recent report from SOVA Center for information analysis notes that “the new crimes and offenses are defined in such a way that their literal application is either impossible or would lead to mass repressions, but in practice these rules are applied very selectively.”
“It's pointless to ban the use of this messenger—people will immediately start using substitutes. On the other hand, we can control the situation and find anonymous senders when needed,” Ponomaryov said. “In fact, we found one quite recently and sent the case to the investigative committee, which decided to give him a chance based on his positive history and not initiate criminal proceedings.”
Although the Center “E” head didn't explain exactly how they were able to find the anonymous users or uncover their personal information, he hinted that the anti-extremism police had significantly broader powers when engaging in investigative work, allowing its agents to be more intrusive and less respecting of things like user privacy.
Since WhatsApp claims to provide end-to-end encryption for their users’ messages, the local Center “E” must have at least some technological capacity or local ISP cooperation in order to break through the encryption—or find alternative ways to access content stored on users’ phones, such as hacking individual WhatsApp accounts (akin to cases reported in Pakistan). Another option could involve a network of informants among WhatsApp users, but it's unclear from Ponomaryov's comments whether this is a likely explanation.
The Siberian region's anti-extremist activity seems to be focused almost entirely on the Internet and digital communications: according to their statistics, all extremist materials discovered during the past two years were found online. There were six such cases in 2014, three in 2015, and several new cases are currently under investigation. Ponomaryov reported that none of the users prosecuted under extremism charges have gone to prison, and have received administrative sanctions instead.
Yakutia isn't the only part of Russia where WhatsApp is hugely popular. In Chechnya the messenger serves simultaneously as a market square, a kitchen table, and a bench near an apartment building—a space where people are comfortable discussing gossip, critiquing the authorities, and sharing the latest sports news and fun videos.
However, several recent cases of Chechen Internet users being exposed and publicly shamed for their online criticism of the region's leader Ramzan Kadyrov have also raised fears that the messenger's privacy may be compromised and resulted in a mass migration of Chechen users from WhatsApp to Telegram, which is thought to be more secure.
One of the more resonant cases was that of Ayshat Inayeva, a Chechen social worker, who shared an audio recording of herself on WhatsApp criticizing local social security and utility policies, and saying that Kadyrov didn't care about “the ordinary people.” The two-minute audio was shared through a WhatsApp group chat and then reposted widely among Chechen users. Three days later, Kadyrov himself publicly shamed Inayeva and her husband on state TV, bringing them into the studio and berating the woman for airing her grievances on WhatsApp.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Can Mountains of Animal Bones Boost Food Security in Ethiopia? · Global Voices
Ensia

The Addis Ababa abattoir with hills of bones covered with vultures. Photo by Flickr user Magnus Franklin. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Virginia Gewin was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
As unemployed young men pick through trash heaps near Jimma University in southwestern Ethiopia to find treasures to sell, they search for one of the hottest resources in demand at the moment: discarded animal bones.
Animal bone is one of Ethiopia’s only sources of phosphorus and calcium, nutrients the country’s acidic, depleted soils have in shortest supply. Most of the country’s 80 million farmers, who comprise 80 percent of the population, cultivate small parcels of the ruddy soils. Despite the fact that Ethiopia is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, fertilizer often remains an out-of-reach expense. And if farmers are able to buy phosphorus fertilizer, they typically apply only a fraction of what is needed, which diminishes, if not eliminates, the intended effects of the fertilizer. As a result, hectares of stunted maize plants — made worse by the current devastating drought — are a common sight, and 10.1 million households in the sub-Saharan country will rely on food aid this year. In search of nondegraded land, farmers expand operations onto steep mountain sites, which are not ideal for agriculture, either.
In 2011, the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia spent US$15,000 to foster an agricultural research partnership between Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Jimma University, located 350 kilometers (217 miles) from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, as a way to both educate students and improve food production in the face of climate change. The partnership quickly seized on the phosphorus dilemma and the potential of the abundant, untapped source of the nutrient going to waste outside slaughterhouses or in garbage heaps across the cattle-rich country.
“There were piles of bones that nobody was using at the time,” says Cornell University soil scientist Dawit Solomon, a native of Ethiopia. Solomon and colleagues decided to turn the mountains of slaughtered cattle, sheep and goat carcasses into a local fertilizer source. In 2013 the researcher calculated that, if recycled, the 192,000 to 330,000 metric tons (212,000 to 364,000 tons) of bone waste each year from livestock could yield 28 to 58 percent of annual phosphorus supplies to the country — saving US$50 million to US$104 million annually were the same amount of fertilizer imported. They proposed setting up a system to collect bones and burn them at high temperatures, a process known as pyrolysis. Pyrolysis eliminates potentially harmful microbes and makes the phosphorus in the resulting bone powder more available to plants when added to the soil. (The team is working separately on trials to address nitrogen and potassium shortages in the soil, but the focus of the bone char research is to provide phosphorus.)
It wasn’t clear how, using Ethiopia’s existing technology, to fashion bone into the familiar, easy to spread, slow-release fertilizer pellets farmers would want. Cornell agricultural economist Garrick Blalock and students from Cornell and Jimma found themselves in uncharted territory — spraying sugar water onto powdered bone, cornstarch and molasses as a motorized spinning disk churned the mixture into sturdy peanut-sized pellets. They finally hit on a winning strategy and are now supporting development of low-cost machinery to produce the fertilizer anywhere in the country.
Having raised US$200,000 in funding, the team produced the first bags of Abyssinia Phosphorus last fall. Preliminary trials demonstrated that fertilizers incorporating bone char to supply phosphorus needs more than doubled yields compared to unfertilized soils. And the bone-char option was up to 30 percent cheaper than commercial fertilizer. The research also indicates that the handful of farmers who have so far applied samples of the product are interested in using a bio-fertilizer. Furthermore, there appears to be no cultural aversion to it — something that wasn’t a foregone conclusion at the start of the project.
Phosphorus is the most crucial nutrient in shortest supply worldwide. Prices soared 800 percent in 2008, prompting fears of an imminent global phosphorus shortage. Only six countries control 90 percent of the global phosphate rock supply — with Morocco dwarfing all others with 50 million tons (45 million metric tons) of the world’s 69-million-ton total, and China coming in a distant second with 3.7 million tons (3.4 million metric tons). Conventional fertilizer costs in Africa are typically twice the international price, and transport costs are roughly seven times higher than in the U.S. Some scholars have predicted that instability in northern Africa and the Middle East could lead to disruption in global distribution of phosphorus and threaten food security around the world.
The team of researchers faces one last hurdle: ensuring a steady supply of bones to be converted into fertilizer. “We know, in principle, there are enough animals slaughtered that if we are able to collect all, it would be a significant contribution to fertilizer availability,” says Johannes Lehmann, a soil fertility specialist at Cornell. “But where all these bones are located, if they can be collected efficiently and at what price are all equally up in the air.” For example, once the bone collectors scavenge the existing supply in city dumps, waterways, streets, butcher shops and restaurants, it will be important to find a cost-effective way to maintain fresh bone supply.
But early bone collection efforts, which started in January 2016, have proven so robust — 400 kilograms (900 pounds) per day — the team recently had to suspend collection until they can build additional storage. University researchers initially paid 2 Ethiopian birr per kilo (roughly 4.5 cents per pound) for the bone. They’ve since lowered the price to 1.25 birr per kilo (2.8 cents per pound). Still, the daily incomes of the bone-collecting men and women more than doubled.
“It’s beyond our expectation,” says Solomon. “We’re working to speed up the conversion of bones into fertilizer so we can quickly take care of stocks and make space for more.” The ultimate goal is to create a public-private partnership able to get bags of fertilizer on the market.
For the second most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa, bone char fertilizer is just one piece of a larger effort underway to help avert starvation as the population could triple to 300 million by 2050. Blalock calls it a win-win-win project. “It creates jobs for the landless poor, recycles a resource otherwise being wasted and improves the availability of fertilizer,” he says.
Learned Dees, the cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, calls the product “a potential breakthrough” for the country, and, potentially, for the continent, especially for other countries facing similar challenges.
“We need to think more creatively about how to put the waste streams we [humans] generate to good use,” says Lehmann. “Nothing should be off limits.”

author: Ensia


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Desperate for Safer Roads, Russians Are Literally Filling Potholes with Money · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Russians bury their kopecks in potholes in a public protest against bad roads. Image: Alexander Rebrishchev / YouTube
Across the world, potholes and generally rotten roads are fertile grounds for weeds, puddles, and unexpected protests. Last year, someone calling himself “Wanksy” went around spray painting gigantic penises around potholes in Greater Manchester. In March 2013, a Serbian newspaper invited its readers to “adopt a pothole and watch it grow.” Two years before that, some disgruntled citizens in Zimbabwe planted trees in potholes. These were all efforts (some more successful than others) to compel local authorities to patch the roads.
Russians, who are fond of saying “fools and bad roads” are their two greatest misfortunes, have their share of pothole politics, too.
In May 2015, an activist in the Russian city of Ryazan made world headlines by spray painting the mayor’s face around potholes. That stunt got even more publicity, when the city painted over the graffiti, before it ever repaired the potholes. (The repairs, moreover, were shoddy, and many of the potholes were back within a month.)
Priceless. The graffiti using potholes to lampoon the mayor of Ryazan has been painted over. Potholes: intact. pic.twitter.com/9l2WaLeFJr
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) May 25, 2015
In the past five weeks, Russia has witnessed a new slew of pothole-related scandals. Depending on your attitude about lousy public services and unsafe motorways, these stories will either entertain or disconcert.
In the city of Lipetsk (about 300 miles south of Moscow), locals have recorded two instances of particularly incompetent road work. The first incident occurred on January 20, when a man named Denis Popov filmed a crew pouring asphalt into potholes on a city street still covered in snow. The repairs were being made, despite the fact that the road—to say nothing of any pothole—was scarcely visible. Popov offers colorful commentary from behind the camera, joking that the strange repairs must be using some new form of “nanotechnology.” On YouTube, the video has attracted more than 50,000 views.
Round two—also in Lipetsk—came just 11 days later, when another local man filmed road repairs that were even more brainless. In the video, a worker shovels dirty snow and loose gravel into an open pothole, patting it down with his shovel. “Oh! The latest technology, part two!” the man behind the camera jokes, apparently referring to Popov’s “nanotech” footage from earlier in the month.
In late February, about 90 miles farther south, the residents of a small town outside Voronezh decided to draw attention to their pothole problem, transforming some of their roads’ worst traffic hazards into flowerbeds. In one pothole, they also poured a bag of coins, before burying them under globs of cement. “This is our money. This is how we’re going to bury our money,” the large group of men say in a video addressed to President Putin, asking for help. In that video, when the men are done planting flowers and burying their kopecks, they go to work on the road with cans of spray paint, sketching cartoon flowers all around the potholes.
Wanksy and his supporters will be disappointed to learn that not a single phallus was drawn.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Disenfranchised Hongkongers Flood Their Chief Executive’s Facebook Page with New ‘Angry’ Emoji · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Image from HKFP's Twitter.
This post was written by Hermina Wong and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on February 26, 2016. The version below is published on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
Ever since the social network platform launched its new “Reactions” features on February 26, the head of Hong Kong's government, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, has amassed 54,000 “Angry 😡” emojis on Facebook within hours of publishing a post.
In addition to “Like”, Facebook's new reaction panel allows users to respond with “Love”, “Haha”, “Wow”, “Sad” and “Angry” emoji. Hongkongers immediately took full advantage of the tool to express their discontent.
Launched in October 2015, CY Leung's Facebook page's comment function was restricted to his friends and only positive comments would appear on the page — but now, his online “popularity” has been unveiled by the new emoji function.
At around 2:30pm on Friday, a set of photos of Leung attending a Lunar New Year banquet organized by Employers’ Federation of Hong Kong was uploaded to the Chief Executive's Facebook page.
By 11:10pm, Hong Kong’s embattled leader had collected 1,300 ″Likes” and 54,000 ″Angry 😡” faces. Within one day, the number of ″Angry 😡” faces reached 94K, while the “Likes” remained at 2.1K only. The percentage of “Angry” faces among the six emoji was more than 95 percent.
As New York Times reporter Alan Wong noted on Twitter, when compared with the current Election Committee system, which only gives voting rights to 1,200 members, the emoji function is certainly more democratic:
Democracy at work on CY Leung's Facebook page? In just 2 hours his post has prompted 17 hearts and 8k “Angry” faces. pic.twitter.com/i04iaSeNF4
— Alan Wong (@alanwongw) February 26, 2016
CY Leung is breaking the internet with all the 😡 he's getting. pic.twitter.com/ePvcXYwa7C
— Alan Wong (@alanwongw) February 26, 2016
Leung’s rumored rival in the next Chief Executive election in 2017, Finance Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah, had received no angry emojis at the time of writing.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Efforts Continue to Free Indigenous Activist and Ex-Director of Community Police in Mexico · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

Nestora Salgado delivers a speech during the inauguration of community police in Buenavista, Alpoyeca (in the Mexican state of Guerrero). Taken from the video, “Nestora's Words in Buenavista”, shared on Youtube by user Armahedonmaya.
Les escribo desde la cárcel, donde estoy detenida desde hace 30 meses, por un supuesto secuestro que nunca ocurrió. Yo, como muchos prisioneros políticos del país, estoy encerrada por luchar por la paz y por la justicia. Este sí es un verdadero secuestro.”
I'm writing to you from prison, where I've been held for 30 months on charges of a supposed kidnapping that never happened. I, like many political prisoners in this country, am in jail for fighting for peace and justice. That's the real kidnapping here.
With these words, Nestora Salgado, the indigenous activist and ex-director of the community police of Olinalá, Mexico, began an online petition requesting that the respective authorities begin the process of her release. The said petition is one of several actions that have been taken to demand the human rights defender's release, as well as to call attention to the abuses and arbitrary actions committed against her since the day of her arrest on August 21, 2013.
From 2012 until the moment of her detention, Nestora had worked as the director of the Regional Co-ordination of Community Police Authorities (CRAC-PC) for the Mexican state of Guerrero, which was a community system of security and justice created in 1995 to confront crime in the region.
The CRAC-PC, like the large majority of community police organizations, is a type of self-organized alternative security model to institutional police bodies, and is guided by the customs and practices of the people and communities in which it operates. However, in contrast to other community police organizations which operate in Mexican territory, Nestora's organization was recognized by Guerrero state government in 2011 through Law 701, which concerned the “Recognition, Rights, and Cultures of the Indigenous Peoples and Communities of Guerrero.”
According to a coalition of human rights organizations composed by the Initiative of Mesoamerican Female Human Rights Defenders, the Mexican National Network of Human Rights Defenders, and the National Network for “Full Rights for Him and Her”:
La detención de la defensora se realizó tras un aparatoso operativo integrado por miembros del Ejército Mexicano, la Marina, la Policía Estatal y Policía Municipal de Olinalá, sin que se le mostrara orden judicial de detención emitida por alguna autoridad competente, ni se le informara de las razones de su detención.Desde un inicio, dicha detención estuvo plagada de irregularidades que evidenciaron flagrantes violaciones al derecho a la libertad personal, en el marco de falta absoluta de respeto y garantía al debido proceso legal y otras violaciones a sus derechos humanos.
The human rights defender's arrest was carried out after an ostentatious operation that included members of the Mexican army, navy, state police, and Olinalá Municipal Police, without proof of any court-ordered arrest warrant issued by a competent authority— nor was Nestora told the reasons for her arrest. From the beginning, the arrest was fraught with irregularities that demonstrated flagrant violations of the right to personal freedom, and it was carried out with a complete lack of respect for guaranteed due process, and other violations of her human rights.
Nestora was arrested together with 30 other members of the CRAC-PC on charges of kidnapping and organized crime. However, said charges were based on actions that were part of the powers and duties of the community police. As the website Animal Político (Political Animal) emphasized:
La defensa de la líder rechaza que haya cometido secuestro, toda vez que las supuestas víctimas eran personas que habían cometido alguna falta en la comunidad, detenidas por la policía comunitaria y recluidas en la casa de justicia de Olinalá.”
The leader's defense rejects that any kidnapping was committed, given that the supposed victims were people who had committed some offense to the community, and were arrested by the community police and imprisoned in Olinalá's house of justice.
Likewise, given that the activities of the community police were part of a legally set-up indigenous justice system, the criterion of “organized crime” is not applicable.
By the same token, the authorities have been accused of having arrested Nestora and the other members of the Olinalá community police because of political motivations. In fact, investigator Aída Hernández Castillo reported in the documentary “Mexico: Indigenous Peoples Brought to Justice“, which deals with the criminalization of indigenous justice in Mexico:
Nestora descubrió una red de prostitución infantil y de tráfico de mujeres que estaba funcionando en su municipio con total impunidad por las autoridades del estado […]
Nestora discovered a network of child prostitution and female trafficking which was operating in her municipality with complete impunity from the state's authorities […]
It should be noted that in March of 2014, a judge exonerated Salgado of the charges brought against her and ordered her immediate release, recognizing that the defender had been acting legally as a community leader, and that the arrests carried out by the CRAC-PC were, in fact, legally supported by Law 701. However, this didn't lead to her freedom.
In view of the above, groups like Free Nestora Salgado! have intensified their actions and demands, resorting to the use of social networks like Twitter and Facebook to organize solidarity activities in support of the activist.
“Respect our rights will be justice, Nestora free now” #FreeNestoraNow campaign banner distributed on social media.
Over the years, several demonstrations and protests have been organized as part of the efforts to bring visibility to the case and demand Nestora's liberation. The protest known as #FreeNestora, which took place in 2015 and was documented by We are the Media, is just one example of these mobilizations:
International organizations have also intervened in favor of the indigenous leader. Such is the case of the Inter-American Commision for Human Rights (CIDH) which, in January 2015, issued a precautionary measure directed towards the Mexican government, asking it to protect Nestora's life and personal privacy in light of the reports it received on the prison conditions she was living in and the activist's deteriorating health.
Likewise, in March of 2015, experts within the United Nations condemned Nestora's treatment. According to information from the University of Seattle's Human Rights Clinic, which leads the international efforts for Nestora (who also has US citizenship):
Siete expertos de Naciones Unidas se han comunicado con el Estado de Mexico para proteger a Nestora Salgado-García de Renton, Washington, EEUU. El Presidente del Grupo de Trabajo sobre la Detención Arbitraria, y los Relatores sobre la violencia contra la mujer, la Tortura, los Defensores de Derechos Humanos, la Independencia de los Jueces y Abogados, los Pueblos Indígenas, y la Salud han firmado la acción urgente dirigida al Gobierno Mexicano […]
Han analizado la información que presentamos y están de acuerdo de que sus derechos fundamentales están en grave riesgo: la vida, la salud, la cultura indígena, y el debido proceso, entre otros.”
Seven United Nations experts have contacted Mexico with their desire to protect Nestora Salgado-García, who is a resident of Renton, Washington state. The President of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women, Torture, Human Rights Defenders, Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Indigenous Peoples, and Health have all signed an urgent action request addressed to the Government of Mexico […]
They've analyzed the information presented and agree that her fundamental rights are at serious risk: among them life, health, indigenous culture, and due process.
The most recent display of support came from the United Nations’ Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, with their Resolution 56/2015 published in February of 2015. In this resolution, United Nations experts determined that Nestora's arrest was “illegal and arbitrary” and even asserted that it looks like she “was prosecuted because of her fight for indigenous rights” and expressed concerns “over what seems to be a pattern against human rights defenders” in the country, thus pointing out that the Mexican government must release her immediately.
Nestora, her relatives, and her community continue the fight and demand that their rights to self-organize as an indigenous people be respected. In Nestora's words, through the independent media site, Misinform Us:
Si me quieren destrozar, quiero que sepan que no lo van a lograr porque tengo la convicción de ser inocente. El ser inocente me llena de fortaleza y de coraje para reclamarles que lo que están haciendo conmigo es una arbitrariedad, una crueldad. […] Yo no soy una delincuente”
If they want to destroy me, I want them to know that they're not going to succeed, because I know that I am innocent. Being innocent fills me with the strength and courage to claim that what you're doing to me is arbitrary, a cruelty. […] I'm not a criminal.

author: Giovanna Salazar


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Hokkaido’s Popular Poplar Cut Down Because of Misbehaving Tourists · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

(Captions, from top right) The Philosopher's Tree tourist spot is no more. (Tourists) would not obey the rules.(Biei, Hokkaido). Screenshot from HTB News official YouTube channel.
The decision by a farmer in Hokkaido to chop down an Italian poplar is being lamented outside of Japan. A tourist attraction in a remote, rural setting, the popular poplar even had its own infrequently updated Twitter account.
On February 25, national news in Japan reported that the iconic “Philosopher's Tree” (哲学の木) in Biei, Hokkaido had been cut down by its owner.
The tree had increasingly become a tourist attraction in recent years, with people traveling to visit the tree to snap its picture.
According to news reports, the farmer decided to cut down the fifty-year-old tree because its falling branches posed a danger to visitors. As well, many sightseers also did not “mind their manners” (マーナ違反), according to news reports, and were trampling on his fields, despite being requested not to do so.
Someone had even sprayed graffiti on the trunk of the tree.
悲しいね。
一番悲しかったのは、切る決断をせざるを得なかった所有者だろうね。
→　「哲学の木」切り倒される　マナー悪化、所有者が決断 https://t.co/Mn4dNaNsoK pic.twitter.com/s2O3JQtgvb
— 伊丹和弘＠朝日新聞長岡支局 (@itami_k) February 25, 2016
This is really sad. The saddest thing is that the owner of the land had no other choice but to cut down the tree.
“Following bad behavior (of tourists), landowner decides to topple tree.”
While most media would not specifically blame non-Japanese tourists for the bad behavior, Tokyo's TBS News 23 did. One Twitter user posted screencaps of the News 23 broadcast:
哲学の木の件、外国人観光客ねぇ・・・ #news23 #tbs pic.twitter.com/oW2Qyg2u0M
— さたけ (@satake_take) February 25, 2016
[News 23 caption] “Starting from 3 or 4 years ago, foreign tourists started tramping around the field in search of a good photograph.”
[Twitter user's comment] Here's the report on the Philosopher's Tree… It's those foreign tourists…
Japan is currently experiencing a tourist boom. In 2015, nearly 20 million foreign tourists visited Japan, a 50% increase over 2014, and nearly double the number of foreign visitors to Japan in 2010. There have been several other news reports about “bad mannered” foreign visitors, and a recent survey revealed that two in five Tokyo homeowners think foreigners shouldn’t use Airbnb.
When interviewed by HTB, the local Hokkaido broadcaster, the farmer who owned the land did not say it was the visitors’ bad behavior per se that motivated him to cut down the tree; instead, he claims he was worried that people walking on his fields would introduce disease onto his farm.
Hokkaido is famed for its dairy farms, and in recent years Japanese livestock farmers in other parts of the country have had to deal with disastrous outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, which can be introduced to farms by human visitors.
In the interview on HTB, the farmer made it clear that he did not cut down the tree out of spite:
(Captions, left to right) Farmer who owns the land: “I have gazed at that tree for fifty years. I cried (when it was cut down).” Screenshot from HTB News official YouTube channel.
Some tourists were also sad when they learned the Philosopher's Tree was cut down.
Commenters on a Taiwanese backpackers forum noted:
對當地農家來說 把樹扯倒或許並不是壞事 […] 但是看到這句還是覺得かわいそう そして、今日、重機によって倒されました。
It might not be a bad thing for that farmer to cut down the tree (because he could not tolerate anymore). […] However, I still feel sorry for what happened when I read the words, ‘So today a machine cut down the tree.’
Another commenter remarked that not disturbing the farm was just common sense:
我是在站馬路的路旁,沒有跨界去拍這一棵樹,利用長焦段鏡頭來拍攝就不會干擾地主了!
I took a photo of this tree from the side of the road. I did not set foot on the farm. If you just used a zoom lens, you would never make the owner of that farm feel too uncomfortable.
Another suggested that tourists should have immersed themselves in the atmosphere or rural Hokkaido instead of just focusing on trying to see the famous Philosopher's Tree:
美瑛之美並不是在於有什麼XX之木，而在於它的四季自然風光。如果是為了看XX之木而去美瑛，豈不是在回憶的行囊中少裝填了很多東西？
The Philospher's Tree was not the only beautiful thing about Biei — there's also observing the natural landscape of Biei across the four seasons. If the tourists go to Biei only to see the tree, they would miss a lot of things that would make great memories of the trip.
One Japanese Twitter user posted a poignant message for the now-departed poplar:
またきっと、新しい命がそこから始まることを願って。
「さよなら、哲学の木、そしてありがとう。」 pic.twitter.com/nyVM8IrmIf
— ken@Photo (@kenaquajp) February 25, 2016
Without any doubt we pray that new life will sprout up from that spot. “Farewell, Philosopher's Tree. And thank you.”

author: Nevin Thompson


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Young Women in Kosovo Are Writing Code to Fight Harassment · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Rita Parashumti walks around Pristina similar to the “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman” video for Prishtina’s Take Back the Night. Credit: Kosova WomensNetwork/YouTube
This article by Nate Tabak for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on February 24, 2016, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Medical student Rita Parashumti has many horror stories about walking the streets of Kosovo as a woman. One that stands out happened while she was with her mother in Prishtina, Kosovo’s capital.
“An older guy said something really brutal to me — like, “I wish I’m going to eat your something,” recalls Parashumti, 23. “I felt really embarrassed in front of my own mother.”
Women and girls in Kosovo almost never report these incidents, which are exceedingly common. But a new mobile app called Ec Shlirë — Walk Freely in Albanian — hopes to change that.
Ec Shlirë, which launched on Thursday, is inspired by Hollaback, an American movement to report street harassment. The Kosovar app gives users the ability to discreetly report instances of sexual harassment of all types. The reports will be visualized on an interactive map and will be sent to the authorities.
While individual perpetrators won’t be identified, the data gathered by the app will allow Kosovars to actually see the full extent of sexual harassment and will also put pressure on the authorities to respond.
“In Kosovo a lot of women who experience harassment don’t go report it directly to the police, because the police may not take one incident of harassment on the street so seriously,” says programmer Albana Dulaj. “If we have more reports, I believe they’ll take it more seriously.”
The forthcoming app Ec Shlire, or Walk Freely, will allow users to discreetly report instances of sexual harassment in Kosovo. Credit: Nate Tabak
Dulaj is among 30 young women who built the app as part of a group called Girls Coding Kosova.
The development of Ec Shlirë also is helping address another problem in Kosovo: the lack of women in the tech industry. It’s a problem across the world, but in Kosovo it’s compounded by the absence of women in the workforce altogether. Only one in 10 women have a job and another one in 10 are looking for one, according a study by Democracy for Development.
Blerta Thaci, the programmer who leads Girls Coding Kosova, is trying to change this by giving young women more hands-on experience in coding.
“They thought that this is not something that they can do because it’s only for boys or something like that, but it’s the opposite,” Thaci says.
And for the women making Ec Shlirë, the project has been very personal.
“[Harassment is] happening. It happens every day,” says Kaltrina Murseli, a 23-year-old programmer. “It’s happening to your sister, to your mother, to your daughter, to everybody.”
According to a new report published by the Kosovo Women’s Network, only 4.1 percent of Kosovars have reported sexual harassment or have heard of other people doing so. Those who do report harassment face vague laws and spotty enforcement by police and prosecutors.
While the app includes an emergency button to call police, the app’s creators don’t envision it as the main function. They see the larger impact coming from changing attitudes.
Ultimately, programmer Vjosa Preniqi says that the app will make guys think twice before harassing anyone, “And also, women can learn from this. Because they should not support guys and say, ‘Oh, harassment, it’s nothing, it’s a casual thing.'”
Parashumti, the medical student, welcomed the arrival of Ec Shlirë. It’s a continuation of a conversation she helped start about street harassment in Kosovo.
She starred in a video during Kosovo’s Take Back the Night campaign, in 2014. Parashumti spent eight hours walking around Prishtina while being secretly filmed. It was inspired by the viral video “10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman.”
“It was the first time I was happy when someone said something,” Parashumti says. “I thought, wow. We got this filmed.”
In the Kosovo video, men whistle and shout lewd comments at her. The worst episode, she says, is when two young men follow her for eight minutes straight. Parashumti experienced more than 50 instances of harassment over the course of the eight hours.
It got a lot of attention and brought the issue of harassment to light in a way that it never had in Kosovo. Parashumti says Kosovo still has a long way to go but it's moving in the right direction when it comes to street harassment.
“I had thought that it will take years and years for this to change. But I think it can get better in much less time now that I know that so many people want to change this,” Parashumti says.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Climate Change Is All Too Real in Kenya, Where Drought and Famine Affect Millions · Global Voices
350.org

Teresina (45) farms her land during drought in Tharaka Nithi, Kenya, October 2015. Photo by Flickr user Trocaire. CC BY 2.0
In this two-part series, young voices from Kenya share their struggle and hopes, as the devastating drought pervading the Horn of Africa was followed by unusually heavy rains, in a world that is warmer now than any time in recorded history.
The testimonies in this series were collected by the Climate Impacts Program at 350.org, an organisation building a global climate movement, and are published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Part two is written by Unelker Maoga, an environmental conservation student. Read part one here.
For the past few decades Kenyans have been longing for change, change in government practices, change in development strategies, change in national issues. Now, our country is experiencing a different kind of change in the near horizon. Drastic, unexpected change; change we were not looking for: climate change.
Today, I and many in Kenya have become familiar with newspaper headlines that read: ‘Starvation Claims 14 Lives’; the Governor of Samburu declared a state of emergency as 60% of the locals face food insecurity. His exact words were: ‘We will not survive this drought’.
Unelker Maoga shares a personal account of the painful impact of the drought in Kenya. Photo: Unelker Maoga
For the first time in history the southern Voi River, located in Voi County, has dried up. Locals have been unable to water their gardens to the point that even the hope of a meal is now non-existent. Appeals to the national government to help address the situation have been made. In the meantime, farmers are reaping losses while pastoralists watch their cattle die.
I grew up in Kisii County, in the western part of Kenya. This region contributes largely to Kenya’s fruit basket, but we too have noticed the absence of rainfall. In the 1970s my family built a dam within the land my grandfather owned. The dam has been there since I can remember, but in the last two years weather patterns across the country have taught our family not to take this reservoir for granted. As we experience the second round of drying up, the future remains uncertain.
Kenya has been forced to redefine water as a scarce commodity rather than a basic need. What scares the most out of and me other fellow citizens is our inability to solve the situation. To a large extent, the power to mitigate climate change does not lie in our hands.
The entire population of Ajawa, in northern Kenya, spends most of their day worrying about water supplies rather than focusing on development issues. Nothing else seems to matter except that very “basic need” we call water. For hours and kilometres on end, members of the community walk to the nearest borehole, then descend 30 meters into a cave-like well to fetch water for their cattle before the break of dawn. That well appears to be the only source of survival. Others prefer to keep away from the well, having been attacked by wild animals when trying to reach it. There have also been cases of women having miscarriages because of the long distances they are forced to walk in order to fetch water.
Our county governments, especially in Wajir, have heard the cry of pastoralists and funded veterinary offices to help them manage hundreds of thousands of livestock in order to minimise the drought-related deaths. Though helpful, these measures seem to be too little and too late, as the sun continues to scorch a large percent of Kenya.
The Kenyan economy loses 14 billion Kenyan Shillings to drought every year; the country has lost 3% of its GDP in 2015 alone. More than 10 million people are suffering from the effects of famine and the situation is set to worsen, thousands of lives have been lost and still no solutions have been found. Millions from the Horn of Africa have been migrating south, headed to our country in order to flee severe famine, yet we too are experiencing the same conditions they seek to avoid.
As the reality of climate change dawns on us, we watched the 21st Conference of Parties in Paris hoping that the negotiations would be fruitful. We have heard world leaders commend the collective decision made by 195 countries to reduce global emissions in order to not only avoid the 2 ºC warming but pledging to a 1.5 degrees limit. Even as we begin, we dare to hope that this path will one day lead to the end of the combustion of fossil fuels.
And while we in the Horn of Africa continue our journey in search of a stream of water and look to the skies for long awaited rains, our plea is that the words of the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon will never be forgotten:
… the time has come to acknowledge that national interests are best resolved by acting in the global interest and solidarity. Nature is sending urgent signals, peoples and countries are threatened as never before… We need to protect the planet that sustains us, for that we need all our hands on deck.


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Is Japan Having Sex? · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Photo by Jeremy Clarke / Flickr. CC 2.0.
In late February 2016, Japan's census bureau announced that the country's population has experienced a net decline, with more people dying than being born, for the first time since the state started keeping these records in 1920.
The news of comes amidst regular news reports in Western media that Japanese people are having less sex than ever before. Some Western writers are even asking why young people in Japan stopped having sex.
How much sex are Japanese people having, anyway, and could having more sex help Japan improve its declining birth rate?
First, let's consider Japan's population decline. Over the past five years (Japan conducts full census surveys once a decade, with a partial count after five years), Japan's population shrank by nearly 950,000 people (by 0.7 percent) to 127.1 million people. Nearly a third of all Japanese were over 65 years old in 2015. By 2050, almost 40 percent will be older than 65.
To make matters worse for the future of Japan's population, the country's fertility rate has been about 1.41 births per woman, putting it well below the “population replacement rate” of about 2.1 (the average number of children born per woman to replace the population for nearly forty years since the 1970s).
The census bureau's announcement this month of a net decline in Japan's population, then, has been foreseen for quite a while.
Japan is not the only country in the world experiencing this phenomenon. In Germany, fertility has remained below 1.5 children per woman since 1975, while the World Bank notes that the East Asia and Pacific region is aging faster than any other region. In other words, the nation's “graying” is a global challenge that's not unique to Japan.
The Abe government aims to “stabilize” Japan's population at 100 million by encouraging women (somehow) to have more children and improve Japan's population rate.
The main problem (says conventional wisdom, at any rate) is that Japanese people are no longer interested in having sex.
Rather than comparing it with its peers like Germany, Japan's population is often connected to the perception that Japanese people just aren't having sex. There apparently seems to be a name for this phenomenon in Japan: the “celibacy syndrome” (セックスしない症候群). Interestingly, the Wikipedia entry for this phrase quotes a 2013 Guardian article as the primary source for the term.
A Japanese-language article about “celibacy syndrome” begins by referencing a 2013 BBC documentary called “No Sex, Please, We're Japanese.” Most of the search results for “セックスしない症候群” seem to have appeared around 2013, and articles by foreign-owned media properties such as Huffington Post and China's People's Daily Online are at the top of the Japanese-language results.
The idea may have originated with the gold-standard for sex research, the Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey. Conducted by condom-maker Durex in 2006 and 2007, this poll from nearly a decade ago interviewed 26,000 people, aged 16 and older, across 26 countries about their sexual habits.
Despite being almost 10 years old, the results of the Durex survey continue to be recycled year after year by both Western and Japanese media.
For example, in a 2014 article in the online edition of magazine Toyo Kezai, Sechiyama Kaku, a professor at University of Tokyo, cites the 2006/07 Durex study to argue that “Japan has the lowest sexual frequency in the world.” (In the Durex study, Japanese respondents reported having sexual intercourse 45 times a year, the lowest number among all the 41 countries surveyed.)
That said, a little-known, more recent Japanese report seems to confirm Durex's conclusions about Japan's national libido. As a matter of fact, Sagami, a leading condom company in Japan, conducted its own survey on sex in Japan in 2013. Blogger Yuta Aoki summarized the results of the Sagami survey here in English. Aoki notes that the more recent Sagami survey seems to confirm Durex's conclusion: Japanese people report not having a lot of sex.
Aoki notes that Sagami's survey indicates that people in relationships in Japan (Durex surveyed anyone sexually active) may be having sex far less than 45 times per year. A 2006 survey by Bayer found that Japanese married couples had sex just 17 a year, on average.
On top of that, the Sagami study found that 55.2 percent of married couples consider themselves to be sexless. “Sexless marriage” has become a hot topic in Japan in recent years.
In a survey of its own, the Japan Family Planning Association found that most married men were too busy or tired from work to have sex. Japanese women reported that sex was “too bothersome.”
However, the interesting thing about Sagami's study, Aoki reports, is that, generally speaking, people in Japan have no aversion to sex: 83 percent of single men and 58 percent of single women in their 20s and 30s say they want to have sex.
While there may be a variety of reasons why some people in Japan are going without sex, an aversion to intercourse doesn't appear to be one of them.
It's important to note that, in the context of the Sagami survey, people in couples who reported being part of a “sexless marriage” were simply reporting on whether or not they were having sex with their partners.
What goes almost universally unreported is extramarital sex, and sex for money.
According to various surveys, between 10 and 20 percent of Japanese men admit to extramarital sex (不倫, furin) with women at about half that number. So, even if many Japanese people are in sexless marriages, it's not always accurate to say they're having no sex.
On top of that, many married men in Japan also avail themselves of the country's US$5 billion (5兆6,884億 円) sex trade. Indeed, a significant minority of married heterosexual men in Japan are choosing to pay for sex.
According to Japan's National Police Agency (NPA), as of 2011 there were more than 29,000 businesses connected to the sex industry (性風俗関連特殊営業, seifuzokukanrentokushueigyo)—10,000 more businesses than four years earlier in 2007.
Japan's sex trade consists of a variety of establishments and enterprises, including brothels (“soaplands”), massage parlors, escort agencies, and “paid” dating services.
In one poll conducted by MiW (a community devoted to providing support and advice to those whose spouses had engaged in extramarital sex), 23 percent of married men surveyed in Tokyo said they had paid for sex.
Another survey by the National Women's Education Center of Japan found that 40 percent of Japanese men pay for sex.
So, while Japan's “celibacy syndrome” may exist, it may only be between heterosexual couples in long-term relationships.
Thanks to a new policy by the Abe government, women in Japan are being put in a double—or even triple—bind: Japanese women are being encouraged to have more children in order to increase the country's fertility rate and slow population decline. At the same time, Japanese women are being encouraged to “lean in” and participate more in the workforce. However, women will still be expected to be responsible for childcare, while looking after ageing relatives.
So, even if more sex means a higher birth rate, for Japanese women it could mean just more work, and even less free time than they have now.
With research by Masae Okabayashi.


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‘Little Teresa’ Helps São Paulo Women Fight Drought and Male Domination—With Rain Barrels · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Two of about 50 rain barrels in the Vergueirinho favela in São Paolo, Brazil. Terezinha da Silva taught residents how to build the barrels to conserve water. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with PRI's permission
This article by Carolyn Beeler for the #HerPlanet series originally appeared on PRI.org on February 24, 2016, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Many of the alleys in São Paulo’s favelas have trash or weeds in them, the things you’d expect in alleys. But one in Sao Mateus, on the outskirts of the city, also has something you might not expect — two brightly painted plastic rain barrels, decorated with kids’ hand and footprints.
Water gets funneled down from the roof above, passes through a filter to catch mosquitoes or leaves, and then settles into the barrel for use in watering plants, cleaning, flushing toilets and other household necessities.
The barrels are the result of a community organizing project begun in response to the São Paulo region’s crippling two-year drought, when water supplies were frequently cut off in many parts of the city and people at the end of the water pipelines — people in places like this neighborhood — often suffered the worst.
Terezinha da Silva with one of the her signature rain barrels. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with PRI's permission
But the barrels are also one of the positive legacies of the drought. São Paulo residents were angry about the water crisis. They felt their government wasn’t doing enough to solve it, so many started taking matters into their own hands.
One of them was Terezinha da Silva. Her first name means “little Teresa,” and she's just four-and-a-half feet tall. But she's a force to be reckoned with in her neighborhood.
Da Silva installed rain barrels in the courtyard of her home even before the drought officially began, to save money and have water on hand during shutoffs. But as the drought built, she went on to teach other women in her community how to build these rain barrels too, out of inexpensive and easy-to-find materials. Now there are about 50 in the area.
About fifty rain barrels are scattered throughout the Vergueirinho favela in the São Mateus district of São Paolo. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with PRI's permission
She’s been doing community-building work through a women’s collective she helped found, called “Bread and Art,” which was formed, she says, to help local women “work together in economic solidarity, sustainability, women’s rights and participation by women.”
The “for and by women” idea is vital, da Silva says, because Brazil is a male-dominated society. And, she says, “we know this from statistics and because we’ve lived it — there is a lot of violence against women.”
But she also had personal reasons for wanting to help other women tackle the water crisis and more.
“I do this work with great affection,” da Silva says. “Because I was also rescued. There was a salvation in my life. “
Da Silva started working as a maid when she was 14, and continued for 30 years. Her life felt like it was consumed by work, she says. Then in her mid-40s, she started volunteering and then working with a non-profit that focuses on the welfare of favela residents, Movimento de Defesa do Favelado.
She learned that even though she was poor and a woman, she could change her future.
“When you start to discover your rights, you want to fight! You go in search of your dignity,” she says.  “And that’s especially true for women.”
Da Silva now works full-time with the non-profit she once volunteered for, and she has sprouted a new project rooted in the water crisis and local empowerment: vertical community gardens.
As with the rain barrels, she has some of the very simple technology installed at her own home — rows of plastic water pipes cut in half lengthwise, filled with soil and hung on a wall, where she grows vegetables like chives, basil and peppers.
Da Silva keeps three rain barrels in her garden and one in her laundry room to gather water for cleaning, watering plants and laundry. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with PRI's permission
The goal is to get neighbors working together, while at the same time putting fresh vegetables on their plates.
And again, her efforts are resonating throughout the neighborhood.
“Terezinha is a really important person,” says local resident Maria Auxiliadora, who’s working with da Silva to build a vertical garden on her roof. “She’s a very tough person. Even if she’s sick, or has other problems, she doesn’t worry about her own problems, she just comes and does her work for the community.”
Da Silva says that work saved her. And she thinks the drought in São Paulo may actually have done something to help save the environment.
“A good thing came out of this crisis,” da Silva says. “Awareness. The water crisis came at a time when we needed awareness” — that even in a country with an eighth of the world’s fresh water supply, water can’t be taken for granted.
She’s not the only one who thinks that.
“The population learned that water supply is a very important thing,” says Monica Porto, the state of São Paulo’s deputy secretary of water resources. “You cannot expect simply to open your tap and there is water. Each one of us has a responsibility of saving water.”
Of course, the picture is a bit more complicated than that. Millions of the region’s poorer residents, people in neighborhoods like da Silva’s, never simply expected to open their taps and have water, and they suffered even more during the drought. So there are many here who didn’t need to learn the value of water.
Da Silva's garden rain barrels Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with PRI's permission
But it’s a lesson the region’s government itself seems to have learned. It’s raining again now in São Paulo, but scientists believe that climate change is disrupting weather patterns here. Porto says the drought helped leaders in the region realize that São Paulo needs a water system that’s better prepared for whatever the future brings.
“We don’t know what to expect of climate change, if the São Paulo region will be a region where there will be more floods or more droughts,” Porto says. “But it doesn’t matter. … After this drought, we know one thing for sure. We have to increase preparedness.”
That means changes big and small — from new reservoirs and a modern distribution system to rain barrels, rooftop gardens and an engaged community.


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Saudi Arabia Sentences Twitter User to 10 Years in Prison and 2,000 Lashes for Apostasy · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Blogging is bad for your back .. in Saudi Arabia. Image used as part of an Amnesty International campaign to draw attention to the plight of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia in 2014 for setting up a “liberal” website
Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Twitter user to 10 years in prison in addition to 2,000 lashes for publishing 600 tweets “which spread atheism” on the micro-blogging site.
According to Saudi daily Al Watan the Twitter user, whose name was not disclosed, was sentenced by a court in Medina which found him guilty of denying the existence of God and holy scriptures, accusing prophets of lying and also ridiculing the Holy Quran. He was also fined 20,000 Riyals (5,300 US dollars). The man was arrested after the Information Crimes Prevention Unit at the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice or Saudi Arabia's religious police started monitoring his Twitter account.
The newspaper adds that the man, aged 28, confessed his atheist beliefs in court and refused all attempts to make him repent, citing his right to freedom of speech. He added that he was previously a Muslim, and has now renounced all religions after communicating with websites which spread atheism on the Internet.
The court, added the newspaper, proved the accusations against the man based on his confessions and the testimony of four men who said they found the Twitter account on the man's mobile phone, and it was proved that the service operating the phone was under his name.
The sentence was met by a muted response online, with many just exchanging links to news stories without much commentary on it.
Abdulrahman, from Egypt, warns Saudi Twitter users:
علي مستخدمي مواقع التواصل في السعودية توخي الحذر..
أنت مراقب ومطارد ومهدد
مجرد تويتة قد تودي بحياتك
مجتمعات الجهل والتخلف والانحطاط#المهلكة
— عـبـرحـمـن™ (@3abrhman) February 28, 2016
This is Saudi Arabia. A 28-year-old Saudi man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, 2,000 lashes and a 20,000 Riyal fine for atheism on Twitter.
Users of social media in Saudi Arabia should be careful. You are being watched, persecuted and threatened. A simple tweet could threaten your life. What a society of ignorance and backwardness!
According to a 2001 Saudi law, “anything contravening a fundamental principle or legislation, or infringing the sanctity of Islam and its benevolent Shari’ah, or breaching public decency” is punishable by law. In 2014, the conservative kingdom, issued drastic laws which, according to Human Rights Watch, criminalises “virtually all dissident thought or expression as terrorism.” Article 1 of the law describes as terrorism those:
“Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.”
In May 2014, a criminal court in Jeddah sentenced blogger Raif Badawi to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam”. Badawi was prosecuted for developing “Saudi Arabian Liberals”, an online forum he launched in 2008 debating the role of religion in the country.
The then 32-year-old was also ordered to pay a one million riyals fine (approximately US$266,600). Despite an international campaign calling for his release, Badawi is still in prison today. In January 2015, he was flogged 50 out of the scheduled 1,000 lashes. His second flogging has been postponed due to Badawi's poor health.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Sexual Violence a Crime Against Humanity, Guatemalan Court Rules in Historic Verdict · Global Voices
Renata Avila

“Q’eqchíes have covered their faces during the whole process. The eyes can be barely seen. When the experts opened the boxes that contained 48 carcasses with signs of torture, their gaze was fixed on the remains of the people that haven't been able to be identified, and that could be any of their husbands, or other witnesses’ family members. Photography taken by Sandra Sebastián, and published in Plaza Pública under Creative Commons license.
On February 26th 2016, a Guatemalan court declared former members of the military guilty of crimes against humanity. The crimes consisted of rape, sexual slavery and murder of indigenous girls and women during the country's armed conflict, with a sentence that amounted, in total, to 210 years. This is the first time that a domestic court has declared rape as a weapon of war and a crime against humanity, a move seen as historic by both international institutions and citizen media:
Sepur Zarco case the first time wartime sexual slavery tried in national courts: https://t.co/IXXVanQJUk #Guatemala pic.twitter.com/7FhopxIZ9M
— ICTJ (@theICTJ) February 1, 2016
#Guatemala shows us that sexual abuse in contexts of war is not “boys being boys”; it is a weapon of war and it must be punished #SepurZarco
— Jo-Marie Burt (@jomaburt) February 26, 2016
Guatemalan independent news media Plaza Publica explained the context of a legal process that took over 13 days:
En la Sala de Vistas de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, las mujeres q’eqchíes han revivido el recuerdo de los meses que pasaron en el destacamento de Sepur Zarco. […] Los testimonios de las víctimas […] han sido reproducidos y han vuelto a narrar la forma en que los soldados –guiados por comisionados militares–desaparecieron a sus esposos en agosto de 1982. “Viudas” y “solas” las obligaron a trasladarse al destacamento militar de Sepur Zarco, donde, según sus relatos, fueron violadas en repetidas ocasiones durante seis meses y forzadas a cocinar y lavar uniformes militares.
In the facilities of the Supreme Court of Justice, Q'eqchíe women have brought back to life the memories of the months they spent in the detachment of Sepur Zarco [a military outpost]. […] The testimonies of the victims […] have been reproduced and retold how the soldiers -guided by military commanders- forcefully made their husbands disappear in August 1982. ‘Widowed’ and ‘alone’, they were forced to move to the detachment in Sepur Zarco, where, according to their accounts, they were raped repeatedly and forced to cook and wash military uniforms for six months.
The verdict was delivered in public, while the identity of the victims was protected. Anyone interested in the case had the opportunity to watch it live online, something that prompted all kinds of reactions from the general public.
Packed courtroom @RigobertMenchu & #Guatemala activists await verdict #Sexualviolence case #SepurZarco #justice pic.twitter.com/sMfLzqyKVi
— Liz Bernstein (@lizbernstein) February 26, 2016
Prominent women like Human Rights activist Rosalina Tuyuc were in the audience, as well as Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, who was live tweeting her impressions:
Con mis hermanas de lucha, Rosalina Tuyuc y Maria Canil, fundadoras de CONAVIGUA #SepurZarcopic.twitter.com/HX5a48MZFu
With my sisters instruggle, Rigoberta Mechu and Maria Canil, founders of CONAVIGUA (widow association) #SepurZarco
— Rigoberta Menchú Tum (@RigobertMenchu) February 26, 2016
Fighting with my sisters, Maria Rosalina Tuyuc and Canil, founders of CONAVIGUA #SepurZarco
In her verdict, the judge described the brutal treatment that vulnerable, indigenous women suffered from soldiers during times of war:
“In #SepurZarco, the treatment women received was worse than that of animals”, Judge Barrios #JuicioSepurZarco #Guatemala
— PlazaPública English (@PzPenglish) February 26, 2016
Other Twitter users underlined the importance of this verdict:
#Guatemala today is proof that justice can be served in cases of grave human rights violations by domestic courts. #SepurZarco
— Jo-Marie Burt (@jomaburt) February 26, 2016
While international observers praised the efforts of the national courts, a deep reflection came from the national organisation comprising all universities — the CEUG (in Spanish, Coordinadora Estudiantil Universitaria de Guatemala), which has played a crucial role recently in the battle against corruption, summarised in one line why the ruling is vital for the future of the nation:
Mientras exista justicia para el más débil, para el desfavorecido, hay esperanza en un futuro digno para todos. #SepurZarco
— CEUG (@CEUGgt) February 26, 2016
As long as there is justice for the underdog, for the vulnerable, there is hope for a dignifying future for all of us #SepurZarco
While the sentence can be appealed in the Guatemalan courts and even declared void by the Cour de Cassation, the majority of public opinion agrees with the fact that the verdict delivered by Judge Jazmin Barrios today sets a precedent of dignity, courage and non-violent resistance for indigenous women who refused to give up the struggle for justice, and who overcame the stigma of rape, poverty, exclusion, racism, and classism to achieve justice. Even after 34 years, this judgement has opened a way to justice for women in Guatemala — and around the world — who are and have been victims of war crimes.

author: Renata Avila


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The Malaysian Insider News Website Blocked by Authorities for Posting ‘Unverified’ Report on Government Corruption · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) news website celebrated its eight-year anniversary on February 25, 2016 by creating mirror sites and updating its social media pages because it was blocked by the Malaysian government.
Screenshot of the blocked website of The Malaysian Insider
The order was issued by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which accused TMI of violating Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998. The section deals with “Improper Use of Network Facilities or Network Service”, as well as media content that is “obscene, indecent, false, menacing or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass another person.”
At first, the MCMC didn’t provide details of the violations allegedly made by TMI, but it later confirmed that they are related to the posting of an article about a corruption scandal involving Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Last year, Najib was implicated in a controversy surrounding the discovery of more than $600 million dollars in his personal bank accounts, which he claimed was a political donation from a royal family in Saudi Arabia. The Attorney General has already cleared Najib of any wrongdoing, but some sectors and opposition parties are still pushing for the prime minister's resignation.
Against this backdrop, the blocking of TMI could be related to a story the website published, alleging that a corruption commission is agitating for Najib's prosecution. In fact, the MCMC recently issued the following statement:
MCMC reminds news portals not to spread or publish articles whose veracity has yet to be confirmed.
This could invite confusion and cause unwanted situations.
The editors of TMI have been questioned by the police regarding this issue.
Coincidentally, a day after TMI was blocked, Najib wrote on his blog about using the Internet for the greater good:
Keyboard warriors, cyber troopers and even news portals have made the online world their ‘playground’, constructing their own version of ‘reality’ with click bait headlines that serve their own agendas. This is an unhealthy practice of journalism.
But Aliran, a human rights group, was convinced that the blocking of TMI was connected to a government plan aimed at stopping the publishing of reports about the anomalous financial transactions of the ruling party:
In a social context where major financial scandals have grabbed the attention of curious and concerned Malaysians, the mantra of ‘national security’ or public confusion certainly rings hollow. If anything, the suspicion among the public that the Najib administration has a lot to hide is being reinforced.
The blocking of TMI was widely condemned by media groups, human rights activists, and opposition politicians in Malaysia. The petition to amend the Communications and Multimedia Act of 1998 was also revived, in an effort to clip the draconian powers of the MCMC.
Earlier this year, several websites and blogs, such as Medium and Asia Sentinel, were also blocked by the government for posting stories related to the corruption scandal involving the prime minister.
The human rights group Empower urged the government to stop censoring online media:
Empower calls on the Multimedia Communications and Multimedia Commission to cease arbitrarily blocking Internet content, including news portals, and introduce participatory, transparent processes into which the media, civil society, and the public could have input. Blocking online content should be an action of last resort, not the first. The blocking of The Malaysian Insider, the Sarawak Report, the Medium, and other online content must be lifted immediately.
The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) described the blocking of TMI as arbitrary and lacking in transparency:
We are troubled the government has not issued any explanation on its recent actions. There seems to be no transparency in the government’s processes, providing no specific information on laws contravened or even the possibility of appeal.
The Institute of Journalists Malaysia (IOJ) voiced its concern that the government is trying to intimidate the media — especially those that are exposing the scandals of high-ranking officials:
This again appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to news articles that may or may not be critical of the ruling administration.
Such unilateral action could also be construed as an attempt to intimidate the media against running critical news reports.
Geramm, a network of journalists, reminded the government that there are adequate measures to make TMI accountable, if it violated the law, without blocking its website:
Clamping news publications is directly opposite of a healthy democracy.
If a report is lodged, there are enough existing provisions in the law without resorting to blocking access to the website.
Furthermore, it just created more dissatisfaction and contempt among the public.
The Centre for A Better Tomorrow also urged the government to lodge a complaint in the courts instead of shutting down TMI:
If the authorities feel that The Malaysian Insider had broken the law, it should then charge the portal under existing legislation. But MCMC had so far only offered vague reasons couched in general blanket terms for restricting access to the website from Malaysia.
Human rights lawyer Syahredzan Johan ridiculed the blocking of TMI as futile:
It is still shocking to me as to how far they are willing to go to silence opposing and contrary voices.
Do they not know that no amount of censorship can make a hugely unpopular government, popular again?
In fact, its not even that effective because you can actually use a Google DNS and still gain access.
Finally, parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang appealed to the prime minister to uphold the government's vow to keep the Internet free from censorship:
I call on the Prime Minister to uphold and abide by the 20-year Bill of Guarantee to the world of ‘No Internet Censorship’, immediately revoke the ban and ensure that good sense prevails.

author: Mong Palatino


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Belgrade Mayor Stands By Police Chief Who Interfered in Journalists’ Work · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Belgrade Mayor Siniša Mali. Image: Istinomer / YouTube.
Belgrade's mayor, Siniša Mali, has refused to comply with a request by Serbia's Ombudsman to fire the chief of the Communal Police for obstructing journalists trying to investigate corruption.
Belgrade's Communal Police obstructed journalists working for the fact-checking website Istinomer (Truth-O-Meter) in September 2015 and reporters from the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) in October 2015. Ninety days later, the Ombudsman intervened, requesting the replacement of the chief of the controversial law enforcement unit. Two months after that, the city government accepted the content of the recommendation, admitting guilt for breaking the regulations through the illegal use of force, but the police chief suffered no consequences.
On February 24, the Ombudsman announced that he'd received a report claiming that the Communal Police had implemented his 32 recommendations in the case of Istinomer. The Ombudsman emphasized, however, that he still expects police to comply with his recommendations regarding the KRIK case (specifically calling for the dismissal of the chief of the Communal Police).
The city's law enforcement has issued a statement saying, “In the future, [we] will act according to the law only.” Belgrade's mayor said publicly on February 26 that he and the Communal Police both apologize for the incidents last year with journalists, arguing that reforming certain police procedures would be a sufficient response.
In response, the team at Istinomer stated that reject the mayor's position, which they say makes abusing state authority inconsequential:
Ovom izjavom Gradonačelnik Mali praktično ukida ODGOVORNOST državnih rukovodilaca, za loše obavljanje posla, u konkretnom slučaju – kako za činjenje, tako i za nečinjenje.
Rukovodilac Komunalne policije, koji toliko uporno brani postupke svojih ljudi, koji su se evo sada redom pokazali pogrešnim – naprosto MORA da zna pravila te službe i mora da ih primeni. Ponašanje Nikole Ristića tokom i posle incidenata koji su se dogodili, pokazuje da on, ili ne zna pravila službe kojoj je rukovodilac, ili ih zna, što je još gore, a u dužem vremenskom periodu ih namerno prikriva. A onda, šta će građanima, službi i gradskoj upravi takav rukovodilac?
I to je pravi razlog za ostavku Nikole Ristića – nije on radio pa pogrešio, pa da mu se progleda kroz prste. Nije tako, baš kao što nam pokazuje događaj sa novinarima KRIK-a, kojima je protivzakonito oduzeta oprema tokom vršenja radnog zadatka i brisani podaci sa memorijskih kartica, čemu je Nikola Ristić i lično prisustvovao, bez reči protivljenja, bez opomene, bez pokušaja da spreči svoje ljude u nepravnom postupanju.
To ukazuje da se radi o jednom te istom – načelnika Komunalne policije ne zanima da li njegovi ljudi postupaju u skladu sa propisima, da li se ponašaju nasilno ili ne, da li narušavaju dostojanstvo novinara, kao građana i kao profesije. On brine o tome da ih zaštiti.
I to je pravi razlog zbog koga on mora da bude smenjen.
On se drži principa koji je nespojiv sa bilo kojom državnom funkcijom – on brani svoje ljude, po svaku cenu, a ne pravdu, pravo ili građane.
With this statement, Mayor Mali practically abolishes the RESPONSIBILITY of state officials who do their job badly—in this particular case, both through action and inaction.
The Communal Police chief, who persistently defended the proven misconduct of his subordinates, simply MUST know the regulations of the office and must apply them. The behavior of Nikole Ristić during and after the incidents shows that he either doesn't know the regulations affecting the unit he manages, or if he is aware of the regulations, and provides cover to those who break them, which is even worse. What use do the citizens and the city government have for such an official?
And this is the real reason for Ristić's resignation. He did not commit an unintentional mishap, which could lead to clemency. His personal involvement in the incident with the journalists of KRIK, involving illegal confiscation of equipment and erasing of footage, indicates intent. During the incident chief Ristić did admonish or prevent his men who were breaking the law.
This proves that the Communal Police chief does not care if his officers follow the rules, of they use violence, or if they violate the dignity of journalists, both as citizens and professionals. He only cares about protecting his men.
And this is the real reason why should he be replaced—for applying a principle that is in direct conflict with any state post: defending his men at any cost, against justice, the law, or the citizens.
Mali: Načelnik KomPol neće biti smenjen https://t.co/jvswZtb0Ui
Na snimcima je načelnik kao neposred.akter događaja pic.twitter.com/UKtnYFv0ET
— KRIK (@KRIKrs) February 26, 2016
Mali: Chief of Communal Police will not be fired.
Videos show the chief's direct involvement in the events [involving physical assault on journalists].
As KRIK points out, Police Chief Nikola Ristić and his deputy Darko Vujsić personally obstructed the work of KRIK journalists who were attempting to question the mayor about the “24 apartments” scandal. The Belgrade city government has a deadline by the beginning of April to implement the Ombudsman's recommendation and report to this institution.
The Communal Police is a special kind of municipal police in Serbia, answering directly to the local government, outside the chain of command of the Interior Ministry. According to the law, its powers are more limited than those of the regular police. During 2015, Belgrade's Communal Police used force against the citizens 48 times, almost once per week.
Twitter users have expressed fears that expanding the powers of the Communal Police has turned it into a kind of parapolice force. As in the case of Mayor Mali, incidents where the Communal Police oversteps its bounds, some Internet users say, often trigger support from officials close to Serbia's prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić.
Јел комунална полиција полаже заклетву лично Вучићу?
— Crveni Baron (@CrveniBaron1) February 10, 2016
Does the Communal Police swear allegiance personally to Vučić?

author: Filip Stojanovski