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Japanese Media Struggles to Translate Trump’s “Shithole” · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Donald Trump, Turd.” Graphic by Liftarn. Public domain.
On Thursday, January 11, United States President Donald Trump generated instant controversy when he reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador and countries in Africa as “shithole countries.” While many newsrooms in the English-language world debated whether or not to reprint the US president's expletive, journalists working in other languages struggled to properly translate the word “shithole”. Japanese media was no exception.
While many English speakers will immediately grasp the meaning of the term used by the President, for non-English speakers the nuances of the word “shithole” can be hard to grasp. The Oxford Dictionary defines the word as “an extremely dirty, shabby, or otherwise unpleasant place.”
However, some major Japanese media outlets chose to use a direct translation of the word. For example, both the Asahi Shimbun, a major Japanese daily newspaper, and Jiji, one of the country's main wire services, translated “shithole” as “benjo” (便所), a crude word for “lavatory” that could be translated as “shitter.”
But there seemed to be no consensus in the Japanese media about how to translate the President's vulgarity.
William Mallard, Reuters's Japan bureau chief documented the various translations for “shithole” that appeared in the Japanese media, as well as the Japanese-language editions of overseas media, and his tweet, in turn, sparked a Twitter discussion among other journalists and observers:
Japanese media .@realDonaldTrump‘s latest:
Reuters「不潔な諸国」
Huffington Post「汚い便所」
Sankei「便所のように汚い国」
Nikkei「肥だめのような国」
AFP「肥だめ国」
BBC「肥溜めみたいな国」と発言したという（訳注：「肥溜め」の原文は「shithole」で、直訳すれば「くその穴」。
— William Mallard (@BillyMallard) January 12, 2018
Reuters「不潔な諸国」: “Dirty and unclean countries”
Huffington Post「汚い便所」: “Filthy lavatory”
Sankei「便所のように汚い国」: “Countries as filthy as a toilet”
Nikkei「肥だめのような国」: “Night-soil pits”
AFP「肥だめ国」: “Night-soil pits”
BBC「肥溜めみたいな国」と発言したという : “Night-soil pits”
Mallard noted that the most common translation he encountered was “night-soil pit”, or “koudame” (肥溜め), a hole long used by Japanese farmers to collect human excrement as fertilizer. Mallard, writing in Japanese, hypothesized this word was used because the word “shit hole”, directly translated into Japanese, would seem to mean a “hole for storing shit”, as farmers once did.
Other commenters questioned translating Trump's description of some Caribbean, Central American and African countries as “night-soil pits” (肥溜め), while other commentators continued to document variations on the word “shithole” in Japanese.
Shocked you left us out: WSJ「便所のような国」
Initially thought it was 「肥溜め」too, but it sounded too “technical”, a word farmers would use. Never thought I'd debate about how to translate this word as part of work…
— George Nishiyama (@g_nishiyama) January 12, 2018
FYI
Mainichi「便所のような国」
Kyodo「くそったれ国家」
Newsweek.jp「不潔極まる国々」
— YuKI＠くんろく親方 (@yumekutteikt) January 12, 2018
FYI:
Mainichi: “Toilet-like countries”
Kyodo: “Crappy countries”
Newsweek.jp: “Extremely filthy countries”
A more precise definition was offered:
どうしても言葉に引っ張られるようですが、「どうしようもない国」くらいの意味と意図しかなくないですか？
— とっしー (@manabujinsei) January 12, 2018
Since the words are already being stretched [in order to somehow translate the President's words], wasn't the intent to say “hopeless countries”?
Damian Flanagan, a prominent translator of Japanese books also suggested that Botchan, one of the classics of Japanese literature, provides a useful translation for the US President's vulgar language:
Japanese should eschew direct translation of “shithole” and turn to classics…At end of “Botchan” (1906) hero says “I left this shithole” (不浄な地を離れた) Love graceful phrase “不浄な地” (“impure place”) to make comeback. @martfack @annafifield @sharp_writing @Jonny_Strategy https://t.co/lUphSUiJCw
— Damian Flanagan (@DamianFlanagan) January 12, 2018
However, others paid more attention to the intent of Trump's words, rather than how to translate them.
Prominent Japanese documentary filmmaker Soda Kazuhiro, in a tweet that was shared hundreds of times, said that the “shithole” in question is inside Trump's brain.
トランプが議員との懇談で、ハイチやアフリカの国を「Shithole（肥溜め）みたいな国」と発言。そして肥溜めみたいな国よりも、ノルウェーみたいな国から移民を受け入れろと言ったらしい。肥溜めみたいなのはトランプの頭の中だと思う。クソみたいな考えや発言しか出てこない。
— 想田和弘 (@KazuhiroSoda) January 12, 2018
During discussions with legislators, Trump referred to Haiti and some African “shithole” countries, or night-soil pits, and that the U.S. should be encouraging immigration from countries like Norway, instead of these “shithole” countries. However, the only shithole here is inside Trump's head. Nothing but shitty thinking and shit from his mouth.
Reaction to Trump's language was strong around the world and in the United States.
Former Canadian governor general and current secretary general of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, Michaelle Jean, who was born in Haiti, called Trump remarks an “insult before humanity.”
Jamie Stelter, a popular media personality in New York City and spouse of prominent American media commentator Brian Stelter tweeted:
“I’m not going to use Donald Trump’s word today — not because I never use bad language, but because the people of Haiti and elsewhere deserve respect.” —@patkiernan on @NY1 #MorningsOn1
— Jamie Stelter (@JamieStelter) January 12, 2018
Author Jonathan M. Katz, who has written a book documenting the United Nations response to the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, explained that Haiti's standard of living is lower than that of the U.S. as a direct result of historical American policies towards the Caribbean country:
In order to do a victory lap around the GDP difference between, say, Norway and Haiti, you have to know nothing about the history of the world.
That includes, especially, knowing nothing real about the history of the United States.
— Jonathan M. Katz (@KatzOnEarth) January 12, 2018
In a post shared thousands of times, one Twitter user summed up the discussion of the word “shithole” by pointing what has largely been ignored — the overt racism of Trump's remark:
Fascinating that media outlets find it easier to print “shithole” than “racist” or “racism”.
— ??? (@natalieisonline) January 12, 2018


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Pakistanis Demand #JusticeForZainab, 7-Year-Old Raped and Murdered in Kasur · Global Voices
Sana Jamal

Screenshot of some of the photos found under the #JusticeForZainab hashtag on Instagram.
The abduction, rape, and murder of a seven-year-old girl has people in Pakistan demanding swift justice and exemplary punishment for the perpetrator.
Zainab Ansari was discovered in a dumpster on January 9 in Kasur district of Punjab province, four days after she was kidnapped. The post-mortem report suggests that the minor was strangled to death after being raped.
The news triggered clashes in Kasur that left at least two people dead and several injured as police opened fire to disperse angry protesters demanding the immediate arrest of the rapist and murderer, who remains at large.
The protests soon spread across the country, and on January 11 students, lawyers and other Pakistanis took to streets to continue putting pressure on authorities.
Footage of violent protests in Kasur, police firing on protesters, an emotional interview of Zainab's parents, and CCTV footage released to the public showing Zainab being led by the hand by an unknown man have all stirred emotions of Pakistanis.
The picture of Zainab’s rapist & killer is clearly captured. Why he is still roaming freely? Can our agencies and authorities capture him? Can we please catch this animal and punish him publicly? Can we do something to protect our children? #JusticeForZainab#Justice4Zainab pic.twitter.com/Z7GghqvaTd
— Ihtisham ul Haq (@iihtishamm) January 10, 2018
But what moved people to mobilize initially? Columnist and blogger Moeed Pirzada, writing on Global Village Space, a news site that promotes dialogue and understanding, characterized the reason as:
12 young girls, have been raped and murdered in the last one year. Most cases have remained unresolved, and public points out that even when culprits are arrested police and judiciary are unable to convincingly punish them. Failure of Pakistan’s “Criminal Justice System” lies at the root of this public anger.
Zainab was the 12th such case of sexual assault and murder to occur within the last year in Kasur. The district was also where an organized child pornography ring came to light in 2015; Zainab’s case was a sad reminder of the misery of those nearly 300 children, aged between 10 and 15 years, who were subjected to sexual abuse and videotaped.
Zainab’s last homework. #JusticeforZainab pic.twitter.com/XSk26Qbjv7
— Sayda Zainab (@Saydazainab1) January 11, 2018
An average of 11 cases of child sexual abuse is reported from across Pakistan every day, according to data compiled by child protection charity Sahil. More than 60 percent of the reported cases were from Punjab, the organization said.
In 2016, the Pakistani Senate passed a law that criminalized for the first time sexual assault against minors, child pornography, and trafficking. But implementation of the law remains a challenge as it involves resource allocation, training of law enforcement agencies and awareness campaigns.
The lack of political will to protect children, the society’s lack of willingness to teach sexuality and life skills-based education to children, and the inherent misogyny in Pakistan are aggravating the situation.
The attention on the cases are important, but what's equally important is sustaining that attention so that the situation finally changes, as an actor and activist Hamza Ali Abbasi argued on Facebook:
There have been 11 Zainabs in Kasur last year, we forgot about them after a brief outrage! Now, will we force Police, Govts & Courts to act on the 12th Zainab or forget about this too after a few days & wait for a 13th Zainab to make us angry again?
While the story has triggered angry demonstrations in the streets, more than half a million social media users have used #JusticeForZainab.
The hashtag was first used by activists for the opposition party Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), but soon was picked up by ordinary people and began trending around the world after two protesters were killed by police.
Activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir talked about breaking taboos on sexual abuse in Pakistan:
“Talk about sexual abuse – Break the taboo” Students, teachers, media persons and activists all gathered today at Karachi Press Club demanding protection for children through awareness and strict implementation of laws. #JusticeForZainab #JusticeForFaizan#JusticeForAllChildren pic.twitter.com/DCRBhn7HDB
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) January 11, 2018
Some people highlighted the need to educate children so that they help report offenders:
#JusticeforZainab should be a nationwide crack down on sexual predators. We need to protect all our children from abuse.We need education programs,awareness campaigns,police programs, harsher penalties, help lines-THE WORKS! Her death should mark a turning point for our nation!
— Shaniera Akram (@iamShaniera) January 11, 2018
It isn’t enough just to catch Zainab’s killer and rapist, or the killers and rapists of other children, but to PROTECT our children. And that is the responsibility first of the parents, and then the state #JusticeForZainab
— Amber Rahim Shamsi (@AmberRShamsi) January 10, 2018
Others have posted photographs of themselves demanding justice for Zainab:
@shazma.amjad #justiceforzainab? #justiceforzainab? #justiceforzainab?? #justice4zainab #weareallinthistogether #justiceforzainab
A post shared by  JUSTICE FOR ZAINAB (@justiceforzainab2018) on
Nobel Peace prize winner and activist for girls right to education, Malala Yousafzai, has joined the conversation, demanding that the government take action:
Heartbroken to hear about Zainab – a 7 year old child abused and brutally killed in Kasur, Pakistan. This has to stop. Gov and the concerned authorities must take action. #JusticeForZainab
— Malala (@Malala) January 10, 2018
While the public's attention was intensely focused on Zainab's case, in Dijkot, a town of Punjab's Faisalabad, the body of 15-year-old boy Faizan was found in a field. He was also sexually assaulted and then killed.
It was a stark reminder of how important protections for children are.
Neighboring India erupted against sexual abuse after the 2012 Delhi gang-rape case. Will Zainab's rape and murder prove to be the tipping point when Pakistan finally moves to protect its children? We'll have to wait and see.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sana Jamal


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Peruvian Human Rights Activist Sees Similarities Between Maduro’s Venezuela and Fujimori’s Peru · Global Voices
Rafael Uzcátegui

Javier Torres, anthropologist and human rights activist. Photograph by Rafael Uzcátegui. Used with permission.
From 1990 until 2000, Peru was under the authoritarian right-wing rule of President Alberto Fujimori. About 2,000 kilometers away in Venezuela, leftist President Nicolas Maduro has held an ever-tightening grip on power in his country since 2013.
Javier Torres sees many similarities between the two, even if they occupy different ends of the political spectrum. Torres is director of a non-governmental organization called Servicios Educativos Rurales (Rural Educative Services) and a political analyst for Poder magazine and the Lamula.pe website.
In 2012, when the trial against Fujimori began for human rights violations, he was executive secretary of the National Commission of Human Rights, where he promoted a legal strategy and citizen mobilization to bring Fujimori to justice.
The following is a re-edited version of an interview with Torres conducted by Rafael Uzcategui with support from Daniel Klie during the Summit of Human Rights Defenders in Caracas that took place in late 2017. It is published on Global Voices with his permission.
Rafael Uzcategui (RU): What are the main similarities between the Nicolas Maduro and Alberto Fujimori governments?
Javier Torres (JT): There are several. In order for a country to be democratic there must be separation of powers, a free press, and free elections. There are other elements, but these are fundamental. Both in Fujimori's Peru and in Maduro's Venezuela, no separation of powers exists. The emergency laws that are executed, as much as the changes or violations that these rulers make, form the scene of a dictatorship, there is a distinct similarity.
The second has to do with the subject of freedom of expression, which is a factor one has to consider under certain conditions. Elections do not guarantee that a democracy exists if the electoral system does not comply with the minimum laws it must have to function – electoral calendars, for example. An electoral system must be standardized and not be subject to vagaries of the executive role, which is happening in Peru a little and is also what one sees taking place in Venezuela. It seems to me that what they have is a dictatorship like the one we suffered under.
JT: Dictatorships not only learn but are sophisticated in their methodology. In the Peruvian case, due to having characteristics of a privatization goal, there was no resistance at the beginning. Fujimori had the Congress closed and then held an election where fraud allegations were raised. Then the Constitutional Court intervened the following year. Even as early as 1990 or 1991, what we have in Peru is the building of an action that will reaffirm that blow: The Fujimorist aim was a totally anti-political appeal, absolutely against the search for compromise. It was an approach based upon denouncing politics as useless, that democracy doesn't work so we must be pragmatic. That started to justify the act of privatization.
There wasn't a big debate in Peruvian civil society about the dictatorship as it formed, which could be Venezuela's case too, but I think a lot has to do with how [Venezuela's] regime is viewed from outside. Other countries see it as a leftist government that has generated social platforms. That's where the problem arises, the ideological activity is generating a kind of resistance to call it a dictatorship.
RU: There has been a debate in Venezuela about how conflict resolution should unfold: transition by collapse or transition by resolution. In Peru's case, how did the incumbent coalition break down?
JT: In Peru's case, a transition came near the end of the regime because there was a collapse. [It is true that] as early as 2000 a dialogue table had already been in place [but it was because of allegations] of election fraud in the past. However, around the beginning of Fujimori's third term, most popular mobilizations were neutralized, mostly because of exhaustion.
RU: According to what you've said before, another key moment in Fujimori's fall was the loss of the popular support he had had in his first years in power.
JT: There was a moment in his electoral campaign, for the first time in that whole decade, where Fujimori began to be rejected by a few localities. No one would have dared to hold an opposition demonstration before. The important thing is that it wasn't pre-planned, everything was unfolding spontaneously. “Fujimorism” was wearing out. These kind of regimes refuse to leave though an electoral way. They are so steeped in corruption that they have to stay in power.
RU: If you are convinced these authoritarians cannot be removed by elections, is there any reason to participate in processes organized under unfair conditions?
JT: That is a matter of debate, because these processes can legitimize third parties that could be fraudulent, but they understandably attract people's attention. People may not go to vote, but they are attentive to what is happening. Elections can be a kind of sounding board, so some participate to voice their part. But when you understand the logic of abstention, you realize it is always very difficult to achieve a total abstention from a whole political force. That way, the non-participation of some gives opportunity to others.
The other thing is that every empty seat is occupied. If an empty seat is left open to the regime, then the regime will sweep everything. People don't always necessarily see any of it beforehand, they only see the fraud afterwards, when they see the evidence. It is a subject that is seen after its happens.
RU: Because of the nature of conflict, mechanisms of dialogue should be promoted. How can this be done in adverse situations?
JT: There comes a time when those political parties perceive their own lack of legitimacy and accept that a civil society organization or others that take the initiative to build bridges be seated at the negotiating table, and they are shown that there is a common goal: the return of democracy.
RU: What would you consider to be the liabilities of a democratic transition process in Peru?
JT: Any transition process, especially in Peru's case, involved key issues like justice system reform. It did not progress as quickly as it should have, which was not the case of the electoral system. We rebuilt [the electoral system] in record time. In four months it went from being an institution under the Intelligence Service's control to being under the citizens’ control.
In the judicial case, there was no full commitment to reform and there were too many powers installed in the justice system. Another point was the issue of the fight against corruption. Progress was made in sanctioning a group of actors, but unfortunately the locks were not kept in place to prevent it from happening again.
RU: Have these liabilities kept the door open for an eventual return of Fujimorism?
JT: That's where political system reform comes in. The parties have been rebuilt, but many of them are not transparent and do not reveal their funding sources. A party law was made but the issue of financing was omitted. Evidently, that always carries the danger of turning to silver bullet solutions.
The figure of the caudillo (a leader, a warlord, a strong man) is very present in the DNA of Latin American political history. This makes people feel disaffected and believe that somehow democracy fails to solve their problems.
Watch here Javier Torres’ full session at the Summit.

author: Rafael Uzcátegui


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This Week in the Caribbean: From ‘Shithole’ Comments to ‘Wining’ Laws · Global Voices
Atiba Rogers

US President Donald Trump speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C. Photo by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0.
There's never a dull moment in the Caribbean blogosphere, so to help you keep up, we've done a handy little roundup of some of the issues being discussed in different regional territories, for the week ending January 13, 2018:
United States president Donald Trump has a tendency to denigrate whatever and whomever, no holds barred. On January 11, at a meeting with lawmakers, Trump insulted Haiti, El Salvador, and several African nations by describing them as “shithole countries” that he did not want residing in the United States.
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump asked at the briefing, in response to a proposal to restore protections for immigrants from those countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, which Trump opposes. He suggested that the US accept immigrants from countries like Norway instead.
Trump later posted a tweet denying the use of such offensive language:
The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
DACA refers to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an immigration policy implemented during the Obama administration, which allowed some individuals who illegally entered and stayed in the US as minors to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and to be eligible for a work permit.
Despite Trump's denial, it did not stop Caribbean netizens — at home and in the diaspora — from immediately weighing in on his comments.
Facebook user Stacey Marcial, who is Caribbean-born but lives in the United States, posted this colourful update:
Trinidadian Patricia Worrell explained why she stood firmly in solidarity with the “shithole countries”:
I don’t grant Mr. Trump, or any American leader, or any other leader of the countries that were once our colonizers, or of the countries that grew rich off our resources and our sweat and blood while we remained dependent, to do the same. I don’t grant people who continue to profit because we often don’t come to the negotiating table with the same resources that right. I don’t grant people who, historically, have helped develop and perpetuate our mindset of dependency, and who are now only too eager to profit from that dependency, that right. And I don’t grant people who are living in countries that, financial status apart, are as much swamps and shitholes as we (sometimes) can be, that right.
Bottom line – all the people who can appropriately claim the right to criticize my country, join me on this side of the line. Let’s cuss ourselves, when necessary, and then continue the struggle.
But – No! Not you, Trump, and not anybody who wasn’t either born here or put their bucket down to struggle and suffer with us on our turf! […]
On Twitter, Facts About Africa summed up the regional reaction (with documentation to back it up):
As President Trump brands Haiti and African countries "shithole countries", note that it was USA & France that destroyed and pillaged Haiti, the first Black Republic.
A dozen twitter threads cannot contain the atrocities and exploitation of Haiti by USA & France.
READ CAREFULLY pic.twitter.com/F6dODaFB34
— Facts About Africa (@OnlyAfricaFacts) January 12, 2018
Ironically, Trump's comments coincided with the eighth anniversary of Haiti's devastating earthquake, in which more than 200,000 people were killed.
Like some other regional territories, Jamaica continues to grapple with its growing murder rate. Earlier this week, an elderly Jamaican-Canadian couple was found murdered at their vacation home. Located on Jamaica's south-eastern coast, the house was built to withstand forced entry, so family members suggested that they may have been attacked by someone close to them.
Several Jamaican netizens expressed their concern. Sophia Sewell-Njie was dismayed over the “disgusting contempt for our Elders”, saying that a “double elderly murder […] utterly goes against the grain”.
Nikki Burke commented:
Why are people so heartless? What about Jamaica Land we love? We should be an island of love and beauty yet these people visit to enjoy themselves but they were murdered. No remorse at all. My condolences to their families and friends.
Nadine Scayle-McKenzie, meanwhile, had little faith that the local investigation would be fruitful, and said that she was “happy that the Canadian government [is] getting involved.”
The Jamaica Constabulary Force is investigating, but thus far there have been no arrests.
On a lighter note, Trinidad and Tobago netizens are up in arms over a new law which prohibits Carnival enthusiasts participating in the country's world-famous annual street festival from “thiefing a wine”. (“Thiefing” is local parlance for “stealing”, and a “wine” refers to the hip-rotating dance that is customary during Carnival time.)
Two masqueraders “taking a wine” during Trinidad and Tobago Carnival. Photo by IZATRINI.com, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) warned party-goers that they could be arrested for unsolicited gyrating: its public information officer, Michael Jackman, made it clear that touching someone without their permission is considered assault.
While the women's rights advocacy group Womantra saw the move as a step in the right direction towards changing the country's sexist attitudes, saying, “This is an assault, even within the context of Carnival! Let's change the culture!”, others poked fun at the new law:
Everything is a joke to y’all lol pic.twitter.com/8lixK65Jbr
— Urban ? Island® ✨ (@Urban_Island_) January 11, 2018
Twitter user Rhoda Bharath effectively bridged the gap between the two perspectives:
The No-Wining Law is a clear example of how we have failed to communicate as a society. We scream at each other with gender and body discussions. We have yet to actually talk.
— rhoda bharath (@rhodabharath) January 11, 2018

author: Atiba Rogers


text:
Instagram in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan: A Path to Celebrity and Scandal · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

Screenshot from Anjelika Bekbolieva's Instagram account posted in an article by Kyrgyzstan media outlet Kaktus Media. The caption on the post reads: “Soon you will have an answer to your questions.”
In Central Asian neighbours Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Instagram offers a fast track to fame. At times, the popular social media service can offer an even faster track to infamy.
Presently, news websites in both former Communist countries are bogged down with scandals involving local celebrities and Instagram.
In Kazakhstan, 2017 ended with news surrounding the arrest and subsequent release of Aizhan Baizakova, 22, a model-cum-dancer billed by local media as a provocative “Star of Instagram”.
She was jailed on December 26 after she and others undressed at a raunchy party captured on video in Zakova bar, a nightclub in Kazakhstan's former capital Almaty that has since been closed by its owners.
On the day of a trial that led to her spending three days in prison, her Instagram account with hundreds of thousands of followers became inaccessible. Kazakh authorities, well-known for blocking pornographic and erotic content, denied requesting a block on the account.
In Kyrgyzstan meanwhile, popular singer Anjelika Bekboliyeva (741,000 followers) took to the platform earlier this month to defend herself amid allegations of husband-stealing in a post she later deleted.
According to Kyrgyz media outlet Kaktus.media,the post read:
Скоро вы получите ответ на все вопросы. И очень много переписок одной сумасшедшей мамочки, которая вымогает на данный момент деньги у своего мужа. Да что ты за мать, Айжана? Перед тем как распространять смешную клевету, надо было замазать лицо своих детей. Не строй из себя замужнюю, приличную! Кашу наварила не вкусно и с комочками!
Soon (readers) will receive an answer to all questions. And a lot of correspondence (belonging) to a crazy mama who is trying to shake her husband down for money. What kind of mother are you Aijana? Before spreading ridiculous slander, you had to use your children as a prop. Do not make yourself out to be married and decent! You've made a porridge (lit. a mess) that is untasty and full of lumps!
Unlike Bekboliyeva, who has used Instagram to substantially boost a pre-existing public profile, Baizakova was an unknown before she set up her account on the service this year.
The model and dancer made up for lost time, posting revealing pictures and videos as well as provocative posts that attracted ire and admiration in equal measure.
The charges on which Baizakova was arrested and imprisoned — “carrying out of an event in a public place in violation of norms and ethical rules” — are vague.
Kazakhstan has plenty of strip bars, after all, while Baizakova said police told her she was arrested for swearing while emceeing the event at the Zakova club.
Zakova itself was shuttered as owners came under pressure from conservative, male protesters shortly after footage from the so-called “nudity contest” ended up online.
Baizakova, however, is unbowed, attracting even more interest after starring in a music video released by the popular boy band Alem.
Posted onto YouTube on January 10, the video already has close to 700,000 views.
Central Asian Instagram scandals aren't just compulsive viewing for local audiences — a certain British tabloid likes them too.
Up until recently, the Daily Mail's Central Asia coverage was largely dominated by Gulnara Karimova, the glamorous 45-year-old daughter of Uzbekistan's late President Islam Karimov. But with Karimova believed to now be in jail in Uzbekistan — or at minimum firmly cut off from the world of social media — the Mail has begun to cast its net elsewhere.
One article published last year “Student nicknamed ‘Kazakhstan Barbie’ hits back at her Muslim critics online as she shares VERY racy snaps showcasing her tiny 22-inch waist” covered the story of a young woman “flaunting her perfect body in sexy lingerie” on Instagram.
The article lacked nuance, failing to mention the fact that while Kazakhstan is a majority-Muslim country, women in the country's major cities are generally able to dress as they wish.
The Daily Mail's take on the Aliya Shagiyeva Instagram breastfeeding scandal irritated many in Kyrgyzstan. Screenshot from the Daily Mail website.
Months later another Daily Mail article “Kyrgyzstan's president's daughter is accused of ‘shaming’ her family by sharing breastfeeding photos in the 75% Muslim country” caused anger in Kyrgyzstan for its implicit suggestion that there is a taboo there surrounding breastfeeding in public — there isn't.
Thankfully, Instagram in the two countries is not all sex, lies and videotape. Two Instagram accounts worth following for their sheer creativity and entertainment value are @eldana_foureyes (Eldana Satybaldieva) in Kyrgyzstan with 570,000 followers and @territima in Kazakhstan with close to a million.
In addition to regaling social media users, both accounts have translated online fame into commercial revenue through advertising.
«Дикая Сакура. Операция Trade-In» Серия – 2.  Главные партнеры сериала: @toyotaastana.kz @astana_motors ?? #territima #ДикаяСакура
A post shared by  TerriTima | ТанцВайнеРэпер? (@territima) on
Territima, a Kazakh comedy troupe based in the capital Astana, has been particularly successful going commercial.
Toyota is one big sponsor they have claimed in recent times, alongside several local internet companies. The Territima brand is also fronting a new flower shop and hip cafe in Astana.
One of Eldana's first forrays into advertising proved controversial, however.
In a commercial released in March 2017, Eldana is snatched from the street by a group of men and driven off in an unknown direction.
Initially, she resistes the “bride-kidnapping” attempt and threatens to have her assailants jailed.
But when she reaches the kidnappers’ family apartment, an “elitka”, or elite block of flats built by the Cap Stroy KG firm, she changes her mind, and decides she has married fairly well after all.
The shock advert proved a hit with many in a country where thousands of Kyrgyz girls are kidnapped for marriage every year. But it disappointed Eldana's liberal fanbase, which delights in her geeky, light-hearted, one-to-two minute sketches focused on everyday life as a young person living in Kyrgyzstan.
Теперь Эльдана #келинка ?? и живёт в #элитке  @eldana_foureyes  Подписывайтесь на  @capstroy.kg  @capstroy.kg
A post shared by  ❝ ТВОЙ БИШКЕК ❞ (@all_in_kg) on

author: Chris Rickleton


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Nigerian Police Arrest a Journalist and His Brother Over a News Article They Didn’t Write · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Nigerian police officers complete their training in 2015. Photo by AMISOM, released to public domain.
Daniel Elombah is the publisher of elombah.com. According to Premium Times, the Elombahs were arrested at their home in Nnewi, in south eastern Nigeria:
Daniel Elombah was arrested around 4:30 a.m. at his home in Nnewi on New Year’s Day, according to his brother, Paul. He said they gathered from the officers that his brother was detained over a recent article that was deemed critical of the Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris. Mr. Elombah was initially taken to a SARS detention facility in Anambra but was later moved to Abuja around 7:00 a.m., his brother said.
Daniel Elombah told the Committee to Protect Journalists that police cited an article published in Opinion Nigeria as the reason for the arrest. The article, which was published on December 22, 2017 in Opinion Nigeria and was not written by either of the brothers, purported that Nigeria's Inspector General of Police was involved in an “unending baggage of controversy.”
In an interview with the Daily Post, Inspector General Ibrahim Idris deflected direct questions about the reasons for the Elombahs’ arrests, simply saying that “whenever you commit an offence it is our duty to ensure that we respond.”
Daniel Elombah, who resides in the UK but was visiting his family in Nigeria at the time of the arrests, is know for his critical reporting on Boko Haram and President Buhari.
Nigerian journalist Daniel Elombah and his brother, Timothy Elombah, were arrested by the Nigerian police on New Year's Day.
Daniel Elombah in hospital. [Image released on Facebook by Elombah's solicitor, Obunike Ohaegbu]
The journalist was released later that day and soon after was hospitalized in Abuja. Though no official explanation was given by Elombah about his hospitalization, it seems the journalist had to receive medical attention after being “handcuffed like a criminal and transported in a bus over a very bad road for 700 miles to Abuja.” During the trip, the Elombah brothers were “assaulted, slapped, punched and beaten” by the Nigerian Police, according to a news report from Vanguard newspaper.
Police have yet to release his brother Timothy. On January 2, 2018, a Magistrate Court sitting in Abuja granted a warrant to extend Timothy's detention. “This would enable us carry out our preliminary investigations before filing criminal charges against him,” said a police spokesperson.
“Nigerian authorities should immediately release Timothy Elombah, drop legal proceedings, and allow his brother Daniel to return home,” said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney, in New York.
Police have no business raiding a journalist's home and locking him up just because an officer does not like something written in the press. It's not even clear that the man they have detained had anything to do with the article they deem defamatory.
Daniel Elombah has sued Nigeria's Inspector General of Police for violating his fundamental rights in a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He is requesting 2 billion Naira (about USD $5.5 million) in damages for his unlawful detention.
Similarly, three solicitors based in the United Kingdom have petitioned the British MP, Lyn Brown, the Prime Minister, Theresa May and Foreign Affairs Minister Boris Johnson over the unlawful arrest of Daniel Elombah.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Palau Visitors Are Now Required to Sign a Pledge to Respect the Environment · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Palau visitors are also shown an inflight video which narrates the story of a giant who was taught by children to respect the environment. Photo from ‘Palau Pledge’ website
In order to promote environment awareness, the government of Palau now requires visitors to sign an eco-pledge on their passports before being granted a visa upon arrival. The program, known as “Palau Pledge”, is reportedly the first immigration-related reform in the world that is intended to protect the environment.
Palau is a small archipelago located in the western side of the Pacific. It has a population of about 20,000, but more than 160,000 tourists visit the island nation each year.
On December 6, 2017, Palau President Tommy Remengesau issued a decree directing immigration officials to use the “Palau Pledge” on visa stamps. The decree cited the negative impact of “unplanned tourism, climate change, and other modern threats” on the environment of the country which compelled the government to design the pledge in the promotion of “conscious tourism”.
Below is the text of the pledge stamped on passports:
Children of Palau, I take this pledge, as your guest, to preserve and protect your beautiful and unique island home. I vow to tread lightly, act kindly and explore mindfully. I shall not take what is not given. I shall not harm what does not harm me. The only footprints I shall leave are those that will wash away.
Passport stamp of the ‘Palau Pledge’. Photo from official website of the program
One of those who expressed support to Palau’s program to save the environment was Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Proud to support the #PalauPledge, a new conservation initiative for visitors. Written with the help of Palau’s children, every visitor must pledge to heal & secure the natural environment for future generations. Learn more at https://t.co/UE96LkATZ6. pic.twitter.com/Gxjonhlkx8
— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) December 9, 2017
Aside from signing the pledge, visitors are also shown an inflight video which tells the story of a “clumsy, careless giant – representative of mass tourism at its worst – who comes to Palau, wreaking environmental damage.” The giant is soon persuaded by Palau children to be mindful about the environment. He is reminded about being careful with his behavior in order not to damage coral reefs, pollute the waters, and insult the local culture.
The “Palau Pledge” was hailed in various news reports as an innovative program. President Remengesau hopes other countries will also adopt a similar initiative. He added that the response of tourists was positive:
We have been monitoring the airport, surveying the feedback from them, and everyone is saying we didn't know that this information or facts were there before.
A Twitter user wanted the program to be sustained by other activities that would create greater impact on the ground:
This is amazing! Yes to the #PalauPledge. I wonder how it will be implemented on the ground though – a pledge is great but is there education alongside it?https://t.co/ZmGLKX0Hs7
— Cecily Spelling (@cecilyspelling) December 15, 2017
The concern is valid as Palau is considering the launch of a new curriculum for students that will “help build eco-awareness in tomorrow’s leaders and conscious business principles within the tourist sector.”
Also, Palau has identified a 500,000-square-kilometre marine sanctuary in which commercial fishing and oil drilling activities are banned.
The “Palau Pledge” is not only for tourists arriving in the country. Internet users can sign the pledge on the program’s website. As of this writing, 18,598 people have virtually signed the pledge, including this author.
Palau Pledge, signed by Mong.

author: Mong Palatino


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Gold Mining Threatens Communities in Macedonia’s Agricultural Heartland · Global Voices
Elena Nikolovska

Protest in Valandovo, Macedonia, December 2017. Banner reads “Stop the Kazandol Mine.” Photo by initiative “Spas za Valandovo” (meaning “Salvation for Valandovo”), used with permission.
Copper Investments JSC (COPIN), a Ukrainian-owned mining company, has partnered with Sardich MC in Macedonia with plans to mine for gold and copper in Macedonia's most fertile agricultural heartland. Just one kilometer from the nearest inhabited village and four kilometers from the nearest town, citizens worry that the mining will wipe out entire livelihoods and poses severe environmental risks to the health and well-being of communities in south-eastern Macedonia.
Map of new mines in the south-east of the Republic of Macedonia including locations mentioned in this post. Based on Wikipedia map of Macedonia's Planning Regions by NordNordWest (CC BY-SA 3.0) and data by Spas za Gevgelija initiative. Click to enlarge.
In a single day in 2012, COPIN (through Sardich MC) secured three mining concession signatures out of a total of 86 signed by the former Macedonian government, under the right-wing political party VMRO-DPMNE. This party ruled from August 2006 to May 2017 and credible allegations of massive corruption played a major part in its downfall from power.
All 86 mining concessions are located in south-eastern Macedonia, a bastion of fertile lands with inhabited cities and villages where the local population lives off agriculture and serves as the majority provider of fruits and vegetables in the country.
The location of the proposed mining complex and related settlements in the area, Environmental Impact Assessment for mine complex Kazandol prepared for Sardich MC Skopje, by the Consultant’s Firm EMPIRIA EMS, Skopje. This is a public document under the Aarhus convention.
Out of the three mining concessions, the Kazandol copper and gold mine is currently in the last phases of construction and is prepping to begin exploitation. So far, locals have voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the mines in six referendums, organized in regions affected by the mining operations.
An overwhelming majority voted against the mines while other areas had low voter turn out or could not reach the necessary consensus vote. The small town of Gevgelija saw the first successful referendum with over 13,000 people who voted against the mine while only 154 showed support for it. In the small town of Valandovo where many protested the mines, its referendum ultimately did not reach the necessary census to make it legitimate, with 300 missing votes.
Overview of the main activities, Environmental Impact Assessment for mine complex Kazandol prepared for Sardich MC Skopje, by the Consultant’s Firm EMPIRIA EMS, Skopje. This is a public document under the Aarhus convention.
The Kazandol mining complex will span across 287 hectares of land now covered with forests and shrubs. Ore mining will be carried out by open-pit method. Digging of the mine will be done by blasts and explosions and the copper and gold will be separated from the rock using on-site pools with sulfuric acid. The Study on Environmental Impact Assessment: Mine Complex Kazandol, Valandovo, Macedonia clearly states:
The heap leaching of the raw mineral shall be carried out in a dump of the excavated copper ore. The technology that shall be used for obtaining the final product – electrolytic (cathode) copper, is based on the use of low concentration (0.5%) solution of sulfuric acid-heap leaching solution, which shall be sprinkled (sprayed) on the surface of the dump. Crossing through the deposited raw mineral on the dump, the solution dilutes a part of the copper from the ore and runs from its lower part.
Three sulfuric acid tanks each with 270 cubic meters will exist on the site along with an organic diluents reservoir. The study presents harmful results such as air pollution from acid fumes, dust emissions from mining activities and emissions of gas from trucks and cars associated with the complex. This was illustrated on 13 December 2017 when Sardich MC ran test blasts on the Kazandol mining complex.
Вака изгледаше првото минирање на само неколку метри од првите куќи во с. Казандол и с.Брајковци#СтопЗаКазандол pic.twitter.com/4wjiosyWsI
— Мајсторот (@majstor_baki) December 13, 2017
Tweet: This is how the first blasting looked like, only few meters from the first houses of the villages of Kazandol and Brajkovci. #StopForKazandol
Video captions: First blasting at Kazandol Mine. 4-5 such explosions are planned on daily basis during the next 15 years. Stop the construction urgently! Stop for the mines of death!
Angel Nakov from the Citizen Initiative “Spas za Gevgelija” (“Salvation for Gevgelija”) says:
We have given out mining concessions on top of water springs to dig out an insignificantly small amount of gold. Someone has decided to poison us with arsenic, sulfuric acid and cyanide. Ten to twenty tons of cyanide will be used in these mines. Hitler used only seven tons of cyanide for killing people with fumigation in Aushwitz.
The Kazandolska River and Anska River cross at the Kazandol mine complex and the area is famous for growing Mediterranean and organic fruits such as pomegranate, apples, peaches, cherries, figs and the rare Japanese apple. Just 45 kilometers from the Kazandal site, the Ilovitsa project, another mining prospect, sits on top the mountainous region of Strumichko Pole, the main source of fruits and vegetables in Macedonia.
Produce from Valandovo. Photo by “Spas za Valandovo” (“Salvation for Valandovo”), used with permission.
The Study on Environmental Impact Assessment: Mine Complex Kazandol, Valandovo, Macedonia states:
Insulated type of risk in this context represents any accidental spills of chemicals or contaminated waste water related to the construction. A disconnection of the hydraulic connection of the surface water flows with the groundwater is expected in the alluvial aquifer of the River Anska in the area of the construction of the dump for the heap leaching of the raw mineral…
The Citizen Initiative Spas za Valandovo (“Salvation for Valandovo”) founded by activists from Valandovo, a city located just four kilometers from the Kazandol mining complex, spoke loudly against the mine operation. They organized two road blockades and several events to show authorities they refuse to allow mining to destroy their homes and lives:
#СпасЗаВаландово is back on the streets 2 demand IMMEDIATELY EFFECTIVE MORATORIUM on #KazandolMine! In the last month, the investor has been wreaking havoc in my community. @VladaMK & PM @Zoran_Zaev – we need you to step up your game.https://t.co/mpk1iCpBL3 pic.twitter.com/V1SFDV6d09
— Simona Getova (@SimonaGetova) December 5, 2017
Photo 1: “Stop for Mines”
Photo 2: “Protest march for urgent stopping of Kazandol Mine! 12 pm / 8 December / Friday / Prvomajska Boulevard to Valandovo Bus Station.
SOS Salvation for Valandovo Municipality, The South-East Against Mines
At the end of 2017, the former ruling party VMRO-DPMNE that signed the mining concessions held a congress in Valandovo. Locals offered them fresh drinks made with sulfuric acid to show their revolt:
Се кажало – убијците секогаш се враќаат на местото на злосторството. Тоа се случи во Валандово кога оние кои ни донесоа #РуднициНаСмртта , денес дојдоа во посета. Ја искористивме приликата да им понудиме еколошки напиток од сулфурна киселина:#СтопЗаКазандол pic.twitter.com/ZHdCqBxsaT
— Simona Getova (@SimonaGetova) December 23, 2017
They say the murderers always return to the scene of the crime. This happened in Valandovo when those who brought us #MinesOfDeath came to visit today. We used this opportunity to offer them environmentally friendly drinks with sulfuric acid. #StopForKazandol
In 2017, the Center for Environmental Research and Information Eko-svest, a leading environmental NGO, met with Macedonia's new Prime Minister Zoran Zaev to demand a cumulative strategic environmental assessment for all 86 mining concessions.
During local elections last year, Mr. Zaev promised that his government will stop the construction of the mines. Zaev himself lives in Strumica, a region most affected by the mines. However, he also stated that this can't be done immediately because the government first needs to ensure that the cancellation of concessions will not cause huge financial damage to the state on account of contract penalties.
Construction of Kazandol Mine. Photo by Spas za Valandovo, used with permission.
Despite protests, the construction of Kazandol Mine complex continues and is now in the last phases of preparation to begin the exploitation.

author: Elena Nikolovska


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How Will Macau’s New Cybersecurity Legislation Impact Freedom of Speech? · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Consultation on the legislation of cyber security law in Macau. Image via All About Macau with permission.
Macau, an autonomous urban region on the south coast of China, is currently developing a Cybersecurity Law based on a public consultation that took place in December 2017.
Political critics have noted that the current proposal does not sufficiently protect citizens’ privacy, but does provide a legal framework for mass surveillance.
As a former Portuguese colony, Macau unified with China in 1999 but maintained a high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region (similar to Hong Kong) with its own constitution known as the “Basic Law” written under the principle of “One Country Two Systems.”
Macau's 2009 National Security Law criminalized seditious acts, including certain types of speech. The city is now en route to reviewing the proposed Cybersecurity Law. A long political “watch list” of individuals who have spoken out for democracy in Hong Kong have been labelled as “threat” to the city's stability and banned from entering Macau during sensitive periods, such as during mainland Chinese state leaders’ visits or election campaign month.
On December 11, 2017 the Macanese government initiated a 45-day public consultation on the proposed Cybersecurity Law. Commercial sector leaders and ordinary citizens are invited to submit their opinions in written form.
Under the proposed law, telecommunication operators and internet service providers (ISPs) would be responsible for implementing a “real name” registration system, including prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards. It also mandates that ISPs retain their users’ online activity logs for at least one year.
Under the current proposal, the law would authorize the establishment of a cybersecurity standing committee and a cybersecurity incident alert system, as well as an emergency center intended to deal with any cybersecurity threats. The committee will be authorized to monitor online data traffic in binary code, as well as keep track of and investigate future cyber attacks.
The document also proposes that companies operating in 11 crucial sectors would enforce protection measures, including internet operators and mass media, water and energy supply, financial systems, gaming, and health, among others, according to Consultation Document (CD) 4.2. These sectors would be under the supervision of related government departments and authorities. For example, the Macau Monetary Authority upon receiving instruction from the cybersecurity emergency center would be responsible for overseeing the implementation of measures in the banking and financial systems.
Officers from the cybersecurity emergency center would be guaranteed the right to enter the offices and facilities of internet service operators (in both the private and public sector) for inspection. Operators would be required to fulfill all reasonable requests of the officers and to follow any instructions they issue on the maintenance of their communication networks (CD 5.2).
When hiring for key positions, operators within these sectors would be required to consult with law enforcement authorities on candidates’ backgrounds (CD 5.1), giving unrestrained power to the police.
Penalties for operators that do not comply with the law could be as high as 500 million MOP (Macanese Patacas) or approximately USD $62 million.
Wong Sio Chak, Secretary for Security, stressed that the authorities would not monitor individual online activities or restrict freedom of speech enjoyed by Macau's residents. But citizens are worried.
The Macau Civil Servants Association (MCSA) issued an open letter raising the concern that monitoring and tracking online data through the binary code is “arbitrary, disproportionate and illegal.”
According to Article 32 of Macau's constitution, “no public authority or individual may violate the freedom and confidentiality of the residents’ communications, for whatever reason” except in cases of necessary public security or criminal investigations conducted and authorized by local authorities.
The MCSA pointed out that binary code “can easily be converted to comprehensive data” and hence should not be monitored by the authorities unless there is a real threat:
In accordance with international standards, monitoring of such data [by the authorities] should only be allowed after cyber attacks, in order to avoid spreading over critical city infrastructures, or in the following up of investigations.
It further argues that the responsibility to monitor data should only be relegated to individual cybersecurity operators of critical infrastructures rather than through a centralized system.
New Macau Society also criticized that the proposal for being draconian as it only stressed the responsibility of citizens and business sectors while it had not defined any mechanisms for the public to monitor and counterbalance the power of cybersecurity police to prevent abusive act.
Political activist Jason Chao believes that once enacted, the Cybersecurity Law would authorize a “legal framework for mass surveillance.”
Chao points out that by authorizing cybersecurity police to monitor internet binary codes, data flow and data package formats, police will have excessive power to intercept communication data.
Chao believes that further extending police power may undermine reporters’ privileges regarding the protection of information sources, pointing out that media outlets are defined as one of the 11 critical infrastructures.
As a tourist city, Macau has issued 1.38 million prepaid SIM cards sold in vending machines and convenience stores. With the implementation of real-name registration legislation, tourists would have to register their identity when purchasing a SIM card. Chao stresses that the new law would not only affect Macau local residents but tourists as well.
After the consultation process is complete, the government will draft a bill for further deliberation in the legislature.

author: Guest Contributor


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Two Leading Figures of the Arts in Iran. Two Very Different Reactions to the Protests. · Global Voices
Arash Azizi

Asghar Farhadi and Mahmoud Dowlatabadi take a picture together at a celebration of the Director's Guild of the House of Theatre from 2011. Photo from Asrarnameh with intention to republish.
Iranians like to boast that they come from a land of poetry and art. It isn't surprising, then, that socio-political movements in Iranian history are often accompanied by efflorescence in arts.
The recent protests that first broke out on 28 December and spread throughout the country are no exception. Participants in the demonstrations made demands for better economic opportunities, spurred on by the release of the national budget for the upcoming year. A total of 25 people died and nearly 4,000 were arrested in the unrest, according to the Iranian judiciary, though hundreds have been released, including 500 in Tehran.
The wave of largely spontaneous protests received a measure of artistic accompaniment (although perhaps to a lesser degree when compared with more coordinated movements of the past). A few well-known Iranian artists abroad recorded a cover of a Persian rock favorite, “Shayad,” to show their solidarity. Numerous actors, writers and musicians, in Iran and abroad, have also declared solidarity by signing petitions or tweeting their support.
But here I want to write about the reactions of two towering figures of Iranian literature and cinema: Mahmood Dowlatabadi and Asghar Farhadi. One simply criticized the burning of the flag, even as his poetry was shared online as commentary on what was at stake in the protests. The other offered support for those fighting for a better Iran.
Mahmood Dowlatabadi is arguably the greatest living novelist writing in the Persian language. Dowlatbadi is often derided by his colleagues for his conservative attitudes and for having left the Association of Iranian Writers (AIW), which is more steadfast in its opposition to the undemocratic practices of the Islamic Republic.
This is sometimes unfair as Dowlatabadi is a victim of censorship himself and does occasionally raise a voice in protest. Last month, in the final ceremony of a literary award named after novelist Ahmad Mahmood, Dowlatabadi reminded the audience that some of Mahmood’s novels are not allowed publication while the authorities don’t stop the circulation of their pirated versions.
“You are hostile to some writers. This hostility is totally individual and on your part,” Dowlatabadi said. “You have become cultural authorities and you ban the works of Ahmad Mahmood. Go and see in what conditions the writer of ‘My Uncle Napoleon’ lives. Have you ever asked yourself who publishes his books?” referring to Paris-based Iraj Pezeshkzad, who would be a millionaire if he received royalties for the tens of thousands of pirated copies of his novel that remains banned in Iran.
Dowlatabadi caused controversy when, on the sidelines of a conference on his works in Tehran, he limited his remarks on the protests to condemning the burning of the Iranian flag, which was done by fringe elements in the protests. Some argued it felt as if he was siding with the authorities.
واكنش محمود دولت‌آبادی به آتش زدن پرچم ایران:
«شنیده‌ام کسانی پرچم ما را پایین کشیده‌اند؛ خیلی احساس اهانت کردم. این کار زشت را نکوهش می‌کنم. اصلا قابل فهم نیست.» pic.twitter.com/Cb9x4XJahQ
— امید توشه (@tousheh) January 4, 2018
The reaction of Mahmood Dowlatabadi to the setting on fire of the flag:
I have heard people have pulled our flag down. I have really felt this insult. I condemn this ugly act. It is not understandable at all.
The writer did not clarify if he intended his words to represent his stance in general on the protests or speak only against the act of burning the nation's flag. But the old novelist might not have known that many Iranians, on social media and in their private conversations, were taking an old poem of his and repurposing it to express their hopes and anxieties in the wake of protests:
ای سرزمین! کدام فرزندها، در کدام نسل تو را آزاد آباد و سربلند، با چشمان باور خود خواهند دید؟ ای مادر ای ایران! جان زخمی تو در کدام روز هفته التیام خواهد پذیرفت؟ چشمان ما به راه عافیت تو سفید شد. ای ما نثار عافیت تو.
Oh homeland!
What children, what generation will see you free and proud,
with their own eyes of belief?
Oh my mother, oh Iran!
On what day of the week will your wounded life find a cure?
The poem is from years ago but many found it an apt expression for the continued struggles of Iranians for freedom and dignity. His poem was shared many times by Iranians on social media, including Iranian actor Saber Abar on Instagram, who captioned a piece of artwork with Dowlatabadi's poem:
«ای سرزمین! کدام فرزندها، در کدام نسل تو را آزاد، آباد و سربلند، با چشمان باور خود خواهند دید؟ ای مادر، ای ایران! جان زخمی تو در کدام روز هفته التیام خواهد پذیرفت؟ چشمان ما به راه عافیت تو سپید شد. ای ما نثار عافیت تو» نون نوشتن -محمود دولت آبادی …… artwork:@dashti.gohar
A post shared by  ᴚɐqɐ ᴚǝqɐs (@saberabar) on
Filmmaker Asghar Farhadi is one of the best-known Iranians around the world. He has won two Oscars, and the best film festivals in the world fight over showing his films. He is currently in Spain shooting a large-scale Spanish-language production, “Everybody Knows” (“Todos lo saben”) staring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Inma Cuesta.
Farhadi wrote a note in support of the Iranian protests and said that people were right to question the status quo. His note was shared in many Iranian media outlets, included Iran Newspaper, which is affiliated with the government of Hassan Rouhani (seen below) and in another news outlet, the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA).
واکنش #اصغر_فرهادی به اعتراضات اخیر: در کنار همه مطالبات، پرسش‌های بی‌پاسخی‌ست که در طی این چند دهه در همه زمینه‌ها از سر پنهان‌کاری و مصلحت‌جویی یا نادیده گرفته شده و بی‌پاسخ مانده و یا به آن‌ها پاسخ‌های غیرواقعی و توهم‌آلود داده شده. pic.twitter.com/3cVJYm9Q5H
— روزنامه ایران (@IranNewspaper) January 9, 2018
#Asghar_farhadi's reaction to the recent protests: Alongside all these demands, the unanswered questions that have been overlooked and ignored in all areas over the course of these decades, left unanswered and given unrealistic and delusional responses.
“In these years, what has driven part of our people to protest are the unanswered questions which have been ignored for decades or have been given unreal and illusionary answers,” Farhadi wrote.
Farhadi warned “those whose highest duty is to be accountable” that not answering questions doesn’t make them go away but it results in “social humiliation and the swollen wound of humiliation gives way to anger; no anger is as lasting and as deep as the rage of humiliation.”
The filmmaker also expressed solidarity with those who had lost their loves ones in the protests and especially the relatives of Armin Sadeghi, the 15-year-old boy who came from Farhadi’s own city of Khomeinishahr in Isfahan province. Armin’s “eyes, filled with longing for life,” were in Farhadi’s thoughts every day, he said. He had been killed in armed clashes in Khomeinishahr, the city in which Farhadi was born in 1972.
In their own ways, Dowlatabadi and Farhadi relate to the protests, and their works are vehicles through which Iranians continue to understand their lives and times.

author: Arash Azizi


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Why Wait? Wikipedia and Google Accidentally Declare Putin the Winner of March 2018 Presidential Elections · Global Voices
Christopher Moldes

Putin accidentally declared winner of the 2018 presidential elections by Google // Screenshot by Christopher Moldes
Russia's presidential elections are two months away, and while there are multiple contenders, the expectation is that Vladimir Putin will secure a fourth term handily.
On January 15, in what looked like an effort to save time or skip the nail-biting drama of counting votes on election night, Google declared Putin the winner of the March 2018 election.
A Russian-language Google search of “elections 2018″ resulted in the usual snapshot of the analogous Wikipedia article. Under “winner” there appeared a portrait of Vladimir Putin, as seen above.
This curious error came about thanks to Google's search result technology, which sometimes features information that is intended to help answer the user's query. With searches like this, such information typically comes from either Wikipedia or official state government websites that Google deems to be reliable.
But in this case, the Russian Wikipedia article on the 2018 elections was anything but.
Stanislav Kozlovsky, the director for the Russian department of Wikimedia, Wikipedia’s parent company, explained the error in a comment to RBC, a Russian business news website:
Неизвестный дописал фамилию Путина в преамбулу статьи о выборах, после чего поисковик индексировал ее и отобразил в выдаче новый вариант.
Someone added Putin’s name to the preamble of the article on the elections, after which the search engine indexed it and reflected the new variant in its results.
Wikipedia is known for its crowd-sourcing model, through which volunteer users can make substantive contributions after completing a vetting process. While they can vary from language to language, all Wikipedia sites have standard procedures in place to prevent inaccuracies like this one. But it appears that these procedures were not followed for the Russian version of the page. Whether the error was intended as a joke, or as a political move, is unknown.
The error was corrected within 20 minutes, but this was more than enough time to spawn some humorous reactions, such as this tongue-in-cheek reference:
Зовите сенатора Пушкова. Американцы через Google вмешались в наши выборы, продвигая выгодного для себя кандидата. pic.twitter.com/IFDbL149g0
— La Russie parle (@Russia_calls) 14 января 2018 г.
Someone call Senator Pushkov. Using Google, the Americans have interfered in our elections, putting forth a candidate that will be favorable for them.
Alexey Pushkov, a Russian senator who sits on the Council of the Federation's committee for defense and security, is known for his frequent and hawkish tweets both dismissing allegations of Russia's interference in other countries’ affairs and decrying foreign (especially US) interference in Russia's.
Although it is unlikely that many users took this seriously, the incident is symptomatic of some much larger problems.
It raises the question of how Google decides what sources are reliable enough to be featured such that they purport to “answer” questions posed in a search query. While Wikipedia may be a stronger and less controversial choice than any major news outlet, it is still subject to errors like these. Official government websites can also offer a significantly skewed version of facts. This error might prompt Google to reconsider whether this type of featuring might create more problems than it solves.
Assuming that Google and other search engines continue to show results in this way, the incident also raises questions about trust in web platforms when it comes to news and information. A significant percentage of young Russians use the Internet for news, though they are in the minority when compared to the population as a whole, who by-and-large still rely on television.
As internet penetration rises in Russia, one can expect these numbers to climb. From Brazil, to Indonesia to the US, more and more people of all age groups are starting to shift or have shifted to using web platforms as their main source of news and information. This means that people will increasingly expect search results, social media feeds and other automated information tools to give us accurate information about the world around us. If something so simple as a Wikipedia error can spawn a cascade of misinformation about something so important as a presidential election, there may be more trouble ahead.
In response to arguments about the need to combat disinformation and “fake news”, media analyst Nina Jankowicz suggests we take a long-term approach and push to develop the critical thinking skills of users.
This may or may not succeed, depending on where one lives and how one is taught to use the internet. But luckily for anyone who ran into this search result, it didn't take much critical thinking to see that this was nothing more than a great big error.

author: Christopher Moldes


text:
Is Taiwan a Country? What About Tibet? China Says They Aren’t—and Wants Foreign Companies to Fall in Line · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Taiwan has been trying to establish bilateral relations with other countries under President Tsai Iingwen, pictured here shaking hands on January 9, 2017 with Director Michael Szony of Harvard University's Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Photo from the Office of the President of the Republic of China.
Despite what people may say, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Tibet are not countries. At least not in the eyes of mainland China.
This week, a smattering of multinational corporations publicly apologized for listing Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Tibet as countries on their websites, at the behest of Chinese authorities.
The wave of apologies from JW Marriott Hotels, Zara, Delta Airlines and Medtronic, among others, was sparked by a January 9 email questionnaire sent by Marriott to its Chinese members, in which the four territories were listed separately from China in one of the questions about residence.
So what's what?
Objectively, whether or not these places are considered countries may depend on one's definition of the term. The western Himalayan region of Tibet came under China's rule in the early 1950s. A vocal movement advocating independence for the region, which is home to one of China's largest ethnic and linguistic minorities, has led to notoriously high levels of police surveillance and population control measures there.
Taiwan has been a self-ruling political entity since 1950, but China claims the territory and has used its influence around the world to isolate the Taiwanese government. Hong Kong and Macau fall under a legal designation of “special administrative regions” of China. They maintain a high degree of autonomy from the mainland — a condition that has come increasingly under threat in recent years. All three places — Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan — have their own executive governments.
Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan also have their own travel documents that are unique from China's and recognized internationally. In mainland Chinese airports, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are placed in the international departure hall to facilitate immigration check out.
The news went viral after a screen capture of the Marriott questionnaire was posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo and several social media news outlets covered the story. The hotel quickly withdrew the questionnaire, but it was too late. A mainland Chinese reporter from The Paper reported that that the hotel chain's mobile app had also separately listed the four as countries in its user registration.
Two days later, officials from the Shanghai Cybersecurity Administration told the management of Marriott Asia Pacific that its questionnaire and user registration had violated Chinese law and hurt Chinese people’s feelings, and ordered its website and app to be shut down for at least a week as punishment.
In response, Marriott issued three public apologies on Weibo between January 9 and 11. Below is the English version of its apology posted on Twitter on January 11:
Marriott International respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. We don’t support separatist groups that subvert the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. We sincerely apologize for any actions that may have suggested otherwise.
— Marriott Rewards (@MarriottRewards) January 11, 2018
But on the Chinese web, its apologies were widely considered insincere after a Chinese media outlet spotted that the Marriott’s Twitter account @MarriottRewards had “liked” a tweet about the story that was posted by a Tibet separatist group.
As online “patriots” continued to attack Marriott, a number of domestic companies were forced to cancel their banquet reservations in Marriott hotels in China. Online hotel reservation sites also removed Marriott hotels from their search. Arne Sorenson, the chief executive of Marriott International, apologized again in a public statement.
With public attention rising, the Shanghai Cybersecurity Administration further demanded on January 12 that Spanish fast fashion retailer Zara and American medical device maker Medtronic make public apologies for listing Taiwan as a country on their websites. Both companies quickly amended their sites and apologized.
On the same day, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) demanded that Delta Airlines apologize for listing Taiwan and Tibet as countries on its website and mobile app. The next day, Delta did just that.
Party-loyal Chinese netizens have since gone on the hunt for other multinational corporations listing any of the four entities as separate countries. Thus far, 23 other international airlines have been reported for listing Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as countries.
Foreign brands like Christian Dior, Cartier, Hermes, Burberry and Armani have been flagged for the same issue. Even the popular Huajiao video streaming mobile app, a domestic Chinese company, was singled out for making the same “mistake.”
On Weibo, most comments have expressed nationalistic sentiments against multinational corporations, such as the following found on a news thread on state-owned CCTV's account:
早就该对这些吃中国饭还砸中国饭碗的无良外商下手了！
Should crack down on these immoral foreign corporations which crush Chinese rice bowls after eating our rice.
看来，国外确存在分裂中国的势力，而且渗透到了许多地方，从酒店到航空公司都有。
It seems that foreign separatist forces have penetrated China, including the hotel and airline sectors.
希望各个部门都查一下相关行业，领土主权问题没有讨价还价的余地
Officials from different industries should have a full check-up. Sovereignty cannot be compromised.
Some have called for more punitive action. A user by the name of “West Crusade” said:
维护国家主权尊严，不可指望一些不良外国公司的自查自改和所谓“道歉”，因为在中国国家主权和核心利益问题上，他们从来不是历史的法盲，也不是现实的瞎子，而是政治的流氓，我们必须以法律和外交的手段与其交涉，主动出击。
State sovereignty and dignity should go beyond asking the immoral foreign corporations to self-censor, correct mistakes and apologize. The corporation are not ignorant of the law as they are well aware of China’s principles regarding its sovereignty. They are not blind but playing political tricks. We have to be more proactive and address the problem through diplomatic and legal means.
Outside the “Great Firewall of China” (a colloquialism referring to domestic censorship measures), the incident triggered spats between mainland Chinese, Hong Kongers and Taiwanese on Facebook, with the latter two pointing out the many ways in which Hong Kong and Taiwan operate separately from China.
Below is a selection of comments from various news threads. First, from Taiwan:
台灣有自己憲法 政府 軍隊 議會 本來就跟中國不是同一個國家，幾根五星旗叫言論自由 數千餅終們就是你中國的一部分 笑死人了 領居民證的算人民嗎? 領居民證的居民而已
Taiwan has its own constitution, government, army and legislature. It is a de facto separate state from China. It is a joke to force people to be part of China with five-star-national-flag-waving and a few thousand people pledging loyalty. People in China only have a resident identity card, they are just residents [not citizens].
以國家的高度去要求強迫外國企業行不義之事，你的高度就只能這麼低
Forcing foreign corporations to perform unjust acts in the name of state, this defines how low you are.
From mainland China:
要讓一個中國原則稱為國際商界共識，馬虎不得。
We have to be serious in building a consensus among the international business sector on the “one China principle.”
以前是一家人，给个面子，大家无所谓。现在弯弯要做统独议题，那就有得玩了。还是那句话：你们爱独立就滚去美国，日本独立，中国人的土地没你们的位置。
In the past [China and Taiwan] were in one family and had tolerance. Now, Taiwan independence has become the agenda and that’s the beginning of a new game. If you want independence, go to the US and Japan. There is no space for you in Chinese people’s territory.
From Hong Kong:
從今以後，大家記住叫中國的地方名，記住要加中國兩個字呀！例如，中國深圳，中國上海，中國北京，中國廣州，中國東莞等等！如果唔係，中國會嬲嬲豬㗎
From now on, let’s attach China to all Chinese regions. For example Shenzhen China, Shanghai China, Beijing China, Guangzhou China, Dongguang China. Or else, China will get angry.
提提大家， International Country Calling Codes 如下：
中國–86,香港–852,澳門–853,台灣–886
分裂祖國，鐵証如山
Just to remind everyone, the following are international country calling codes:
China–86, Hong Kong–852, Macau–853, Taiwan–886
Such hard evidence, split up the motherland.
抵制淘宝，全國包郵不包括香港，即係香港已經獨立！！！
Should boycott Taobao, its domestic mailing service does not include Hong Kong. It means Hong Kong is independent!!!
And on Twitter, former US ambassador Curtis S. Chin summed up China's reaction to the whole incident with a meme of a destructive panda:
China reacts to finding Taiwan Tibet listed as countries on websites; demands public apology from Delta, Marriott, Medtronic, Zara, etc. https://t.co/YNlyUAcYkg #pandarunamok pic.twitter.com/Luzq7axIYU
— ??Curtis S. Chin (@CurtisSChin) 12 de enero de 2018

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Philippine Authorities Order Shutdown of Rappler News Site, Bringing a Blow to Press Freedom · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Soldiers taking selfies photos with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in an army camp in Mindanao. Photo from the Facebook page of Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines).
The government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has moved to close down news website Rappler after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked the company’s license to operate as a business.
The January 11 SEC decision asserts that Rappler is “violating the constitutional and statutory Foreign Equity Restriction in Mass Media” for receiving donations from the Omidyar Network, a foundation created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
The Philippine Constitution limits mass media ownership and control to Filipino-owned corporations and Filipino citizens, but does not prohibit monetary donations from foreign foundations.
Rappler is a 100 percent Filipino-owned and managed company operating in the Philippines. In order to sustain its work, it utilizes Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs), investment tools that allow foreign partners to have commercial interests in the company.
The independent news and social media curation website has been a frequent target of attacks by the president’s online supporters for its critical coverage of his administration.
.@jnery_newsstand: “If this revocation stands, Rappler will effectively be shut down — the first time a news organization will be closed by government action since the dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972.” #Newsstand https://t.co/539n3hUZEu
— Inquirer Opinion (@Inq_Opinion) January 15, 2018
The President himself insinuated in his July 2017 State of the Nation Address that Rappler is “fully owned by Americans,” despite the fact that Rappler is owned and operated by Filipino citizens and corporations.
The largest of the company, totaling 91 percent, are owned by company president Maria Ressa, private investor Benjamin So (both Filipino nationals) and media groups Dolphin Fire Group and Hatchd Group, Inc. (both Philippines-based companies).
The move against Rappler was instigated by Solicitor General Jose Calida. Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, insisted that the SEC decision is not an attack on press freedom because it merely enforced a constitutional mandate that prohibits foreign ownership of the media. Duterte himself accused Rappler of being a “fake news outlet” just one day after the SEC cancelled the company's registration.
Rappler has contested the SEC’s allegations, saying it is “pure and simple harassment” against a company that has been transparent about its business practices and compliant with SEC requirements and regulations.
Rappler vowed to exhaust all means in fighting the order and called on its readers to defend press freedom:
We intend to not only contest this through all legal processes available to us, but also to fight for our freedom to do journalism and for your right to be heard through an independent platform like Rappler.
We will hold the line.
Let’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity (LODI), an organization of artists and media practitioners, sees the move as an escalation from the online bullying initiated by Duterte loyalists against Rappler and its reporters:
Who is next, Mr. President? ABS-CBN? The community journalists tagged as communists? The artists who expose your bloody drug war?
ABS-CBN is a major TV network in the Philippines. Its petition for franchise renewal is pending in Congress.
Screenshot of Rappler website
The Movement Against Tyranny (MAT), an umbrella group opposed to Duterte's war on drugs and his authoritarian tendencies, warned that the administration is targeting media outlets it cannot control or shakedown:
For a government that violates the multiple constitutional provisions on territory, checks and balances, separation of powers and the Bill of Rights, the Duterte regime is fooling no one in its “constitutionality” case against Rappler. Duterte has no credibility on constitutionality.
The Duterte government’s move against Rappler has earned widespread condemnation on social media. Here are some reactions on Twitter:
The very same Constitution Duterte craves to mutilate in order to build a dictatorship is now misused for a politically-motivated attack on @rapplerdotcom and press freedom. #FightTyranny #LabanRappler
— Tonyo Cruz (@tonyocruz) January 15, 2018
Duterte cannot control Inquirer. Inquirer was sold. Duterte cannot control Rappler. Rappler was shut down. See the pattern? Who's next?#StandWithRappler
— Isla Malasakit (@LivesMatterPH) January 15, 2018
Para sa Rappler, para sa mga pahayagang pangkampus na nired-tag ng AFP, para sa lahat ng mga mamamahayag na pinatay at ipinakulong sa ilalim ng pasistang administrasyong ito. #DefendPressFreedom pic.twitter.com/jnGUm2KKyU
— ipê #DefendPressFreedom (@pmjamilla) January 15, 2018
For Rappler, for all campus publications red-tagged by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, for all the journalists killed and imprisoned under this fascist administration #DefendPressFreedom
You don't have to like Rappler to be wary of it being shut down. The fact that a publication critical of the government is being attacked should be enough reason to question where ur govt's loyalties lie: to the people or to itself?
— CarboNATata (@natdabuet) January 15, 2018
Rappler’s topnotch journalism, particularly its coverage of the “drug war,” angered a lot of people in the Duterte regime. This is a predictable response. Outrageous and heavy-handed but predictable. https://t.co/MLXc0InqSu
— Caloy Conde (@carloshconde) January 15, 2018
It's not about the money. You just spin it that way. You want to punish and intimidate whoever's critical and doesn't bend on your will. You can call it and spin it however you want. You tried to destroy free press. You will pay. #StandWithRappler
— Owen Tan (@Ropositive) January 16, 2018
For now, Rappler is continuing to operate as it seeks to appeal the SEC ruling in court.
Editor's note: Global Voices is a grantee of the Omidyar Network.

author: Karlo Mongaya


text:
Netizen Report: Five Months After Houthis Arrested Him, Human Rights Blogger Hisham Al-Omeisy Walks Free · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Hisham Al-Omeisy with his two sons. Photo shared by Iona Craig on Twitter.
Yemeni blogger and journalist Hisham Al-Omeisy was freed and reunited with his family in Yemen on January 15, after being detained for more than five months by Houthi forces. Security officers from the Houthi-controlled National Security Bureau arrested Al-Omeisy in August 2017 in the capital Sana’a.
With more than 35,000 Twitter followers, Al-Omeisy had been actively tweeting and blogging about the humanitarian crisis and violations committed by both warring parties. Prior to his arrest, he had analyzed and spoken about the conflict to international media including the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, NPR and TRT World.
While in custody, he was unable to communicate with a lawyer or his wife and two young sons.
Though family and friends rejoice at his return, they worry for the many other Yemenis who have been subjected to enforced disappearance, either at the hands of either Houthis or the Saudi-led coalition fighting against them.
Reacting to Al-Omeisy’s release, fellow blogger and journalist Afrah Nasser tweeted:
As much as I’m overjoyed Hisham @omeisy was released, my heart aches for all the other forcibly disappeared young men by Houthis, who have no media profile, whose names we never know, whose mothers & sisters @ @abducteesmother plead everyday to release them.. #yemen
— Afrah Nasser (@Afrahnasser) January 15, 2018
Renowned Pakistani journalist and vocal social media user Taha Siddiqui was attacked in Islamabad by several armed men who attempted to abduct him. Although Siddiqui escaped with no serious injuries, the assailants took his laptop, mobile phone and passport. Siddiqui had been very critical of the military establishment on social media. In May 2017, he was summoned by the counter-terrorism wing of the civilian Federal Investigation Agency and asked to submit his laptop for forensic tests. Siddiqui filed a complaint against the agency, which was upheld by Islamabad High Court.
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the license to operate from Rappler, a news and social media site. The January 11 SEC decision asserts that Rappler is “violating the constitutional and statutory Foreign Equity Restriction in Mass Media” for receiving donations from the Omidyar Network, a foundation created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
While the Philippine Constitution limits mass media ownership and control to Filipino-owned corporation, it does not prohibit monetary donations from foreign foundations. Rappler is a 100 percent Filipino-owned and managed company.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte went after Rappler in his July 2017 State of the Nation address, charging that the site is “fully owned by Americans.”
After blocking multiple web services that offer free voice and video calling — including Skype, WhatsApp and Viber — UAE authorities are now stifling residents’ attempts to protest the ban. In late December 2017, Mostafa Amr mounted a petition asking the country’s telecommunications regulator, along with lead telecommunications providers Etisalat and Du, to reinstate VoIP service in the UAE. This week, authorities blocked the web-based platform Change.org, where the petition was hosted.
Written in the first person, the petition urges authorities to reconsider the block in order to help families stay connected through affordable communication services. Amr writes:
VoIP is crucial and needed for many families who are living in the United Arab Emirates and need to contact their loved ones who are living outside of the UAE. There are so many residents in the UAE who have family members and loved ones who live off-seas and an easy, and free way to contact them and keep in touch is via VoIP.
The head of Egypt’s National Media Council said in a public statement that journalists should be liable for messages they post on Facebook. Makram Mohammed Ahmed said, “If Facebook is a publication platform for everyone, then anything published on it, whether insult or defamation, will be scrutinized. And if a complaints reached the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, we will look into it and issue a decision immediately.”
The southwestern city of Chongqing, China recently launched a pilot program for facial recognition technology called “Xue Liang”, meaning “Sharp Eyes”. The program combines video surveillance data collected from security cameras on the streets and residential compounds with China’s “Police Cloud”, which contains a vast store of personal data for all Chinese citizens including their identity numbers and machine-readable photographs.
In an obligatory report to the Pakistani parliament — which was delayed by nearly a year — the Federal Investigation Agency asked the government to criminalize the use of Bitcoin and make this a punishable, offense under Pakistan’s 2016b Electronic Crimes Act.
For about 20 minutes on January 15, a Russian-language Google search of “elections 2018″ resulted in a snapshot of the analogous Wikipedia article, which declared Vladimir Putin the winner of the yet-to-be-held election. This curious error came about thanks to Google's search result technology, which sometimes features information from Wikipedia or other websites that are likely to answer the user’s query. In this case, Wikipedia’s Russian site had briefly listed Putin as the winner, an error that was resolved shortly after the news went viral on social media.
The censorship circumvention tool Psiphon has reported a 20-fold increase in users since protests erupted across Iran at the end of 2017. Hugely popular web platforms and apps including Telegram and Instagram have been periodically blocked since, leaving Iranians suddenly unable to communicate on these platforms without using special tools — like Psiphon — to get around the block. The app now serves eight to ten million daily users from Iran.
Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Mohamed ElGohary, Rohith Jyothish, Weiping Li, Karlo Mikhail Mongaya, Karolle Rabarison, and Juke Carolina Rumuat contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


text:
Reuters Journalists Covering Rohingya Conflict in Myanmar Detained for ‘Illegally Acquiring Information’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Journalists protesting in front of Myanmar Peace Center. Photo by Kyaw Zaw Win, Kyaw Lwin Oo. From the Facebook page of RFA Burmese, licensed for reuse.
Two Reuters journalists, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, are being accused of violating Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act for allegedly possessing military files about the Rohingya conflict.
The two disappeared on 12 December 2017. Two weeks later, Myanmar authorities revealed that they had arrested and detained the journalists, alleging that they had “illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media.”
The police claimed the journalists obtained military documents containing information about “security force numbers and the amount of ammunition used in a wave of attacks in late August” in Rakhine State.
The conflict in Rakhine has led to the displacement of more 600,000 Rohingya Muslims. Many fled to nearby Bangladesh, seeking protection in Rohingya refugee camps. The Myanmar government does not recognize Myanmar-born Rohingya people as citizens, as it does with the country’s other ethnic minorities.
Alongside the refugees, numerous foreign governments and intergovernmental organizations (including the UN High Commission on Refugees) have demanded and pressured the Myanmar government to stop radical Buddhist nationalists from attacking Rohingya villages and to ensure safe return for Rohingyas who have fled the country.
Image from the Facebook page of ‘Protection for Journalists Committee’ – Myanmar
For its part, the Myanmar government blames the pro-Rohingya armed group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army for instigating the conflict in Rakhine.
Following the escalation of clashes in August 2017, the government imposed strict controls over the flow of information about what’s happening on the ground in Rakhine. Some journalists were only given a restricted tour of the affected villages. Local authorities even prevented Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, from fulfilling her mandate by barring her from entering the country.
In an official report, Lee said:
By not giving me access to Myanmar and by refusing to cooperate with the mandate, my task is made that much more difficult, but I will continue to obtain first-hand accounts from victims and witnesses of human rights violations by all means possible, including by visiting neighbouring countries where some have fled.
It was in this politically fraught and high-risk context that the two Reuters journalists found themselves investigating a mass grave that was discovered in southern Maungdaw Township.
Their search for information about the mass killing, which took place in Inn Din village, was seen by authorities as a violation of the British colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The two will face up to 14 years imprisonment if found guilty by the court.
Here's my Reuters colleague Kyaw Soe Oo, in handcuffs, saying goodbye to his 3-year-old daughter outside a Yangon court yesterday. He and Wa Lone (right) are brave and decent men who face 14 years in jail simply for doing their jobs. Please read and share: https://t.co/YC7I2YXxyz pic.twitter.com/aiGyi4oxIn
— Andrew RC Marshall (@Journotopia) January 11, 2018
News about their arrest was quickly denounced by various groups as another sign of heavy restrictions on press freedom in Myanmar.
The International Federation of Journalists criticized the use of a colonial-era law to attack journalists:
…placing press freedom back to colonial times and charging journalists with laws dating back to 1923 are actions of an undemocratic state.
The International Press Institute bemoaned the reversal of democratic reforms in a country where military rule was supposedly defeated in 2015:
If Myanmar is serious about democratic reforms, it must accept the right of journalists to work freely and report on topics that make those in power uncomfortable.
The free expression advocacy group Article 19 denounced the failure of the ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to uphold the right to speech despite the fact that it used to be the leading force of the democracy movement during the military dictatorship:
NLD government has demonstrated an alarming disregard for the freedom of expression and fostered a chilling environment for independent media throughout the country.
And the Southeast Asian Press Alliance urged the NLD-led government to be more transparent:
Instead of guaranteeing the people’s right to know and the journalists’ safety, the authorities have not been transparent in their decision-making and have further restricted journalists’ access since the conflict escalated in late August.
Reuters reported that some Myanmar netizens have accused the detained journalists of “selling the country” to foreigners, and thus acting as traitors. But the report also mentioned that friends and supporters of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are using social media to deny these claims, while praising the charity and volunteer work of the two.
Beyond the Official Secrets Act, this case highlights the need to amend other laws being used to stifle free speech, including the Unlawful Associations Act and Article 66(d), otherwise known as the defamation law. Both were passed during the previous military regime.