text:
Macedonian Activists Suspect Ruling Party Used Emails to Impersonate Environmental Activists · Global Voices
Elena Nikolovska

Lake Ohrid in Macedonia. Photo by Alexandar Vujadinovic via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The citizen-led initiative Ohrid SOS, which fights harmful urbanization projects in and around Macedonia's ecologically rich Lake Ohrid was recently the target of an impersonation attempt. Ohrid SOS activists suspect local authorities were involved in the incident.
Early on the morning of July 26, a local journalist alerted Ohrid SOS of an email sent to his media organization from an email address similar — but not the same as — the official Ohrid SOS email. The email contained a press release asserting that Ohrid SOS  “fully supports the efforts of Nikola Gruevski to protect the lake, who as a leader of the largest party in the country made this promise and so it will be done.” This couldn't be further from the truth.
In fact, Ohrid SOS is fighting to stop a government project to build three tourist development zones and a luxury housing complex on the shores of Lake Ohrid, along with a marina inside Studenchishte Marsh, which serves as the lake's natural filter. Both domestic and foreign scientists agree that these developments would put serious pressure on the ecosystems of Europe's the oldest lake and could lead to long-term ecological degradation of the area, which is home to an estimated 200 unique species. Ohrid SOS is a group comprised of environmental activists, scientists and concerned locals.
The original text of the email follows:
False email sent from sosohrid@gmail.com. Used with permission from OhridSOS
Translation:
The Citizen Initiative Ohrid SOS fully supports the efforts of Nikola Gruevski, the president of the VMRO DPMNE political party, to build a collection system for the village of Radožda.
We believe that this commitment should be strongly supported and seen through to the completion to protect the lake in this part of the coast and the Citizen Initiative Ohrid SOS fully stands behind these efforts of Nikola Gruevski, who made this promise as a leader of the largest party in the state.
The Citizen Initiative Ohrid SOS also appeals to the public for more attention on the issue that Struga Municipality allows individuals to cut down the reed belt on that side of the lake in broad daylight, and all this is tolerated in silence by the mayor of Struga, Zijadin Selah.
Ohrid SOS citizen initiative informs the public that in a previously sent reaction we made a mistake when mentioning the local government as a sponsor of the off-road “adventure” event.
We apologize to the public for this unwanted mistake and for the consequences it caused, stemming from the fact that certain people in the administration of this institution have led us to the wrong conclusion.”
The sender/s of the email, who is unknown at this point, also used Ohrid SOS official logo and signature.
The Citizen Initiative Ohrid SOS published a statement the next day rejecting the false statements made in the press release:
We would like to inform the public that certain individuals and groups have falsely represented themselves as OhridSOS. Namely, yesterday on 25 July 2016 at 11:52 pm late evening, several media received an email from sosohrid@gmail.com containing a press release signed by OhridSOS.
We hereby declare that email was not sent from the Citizen Initiative OhridSOS, nor members or supporters of the initiative. OhridSOS has only one official communication email which is ohridsos@gmail.com.
The citizen initiative OhridSOS publicly disassociates from all statements, press releases and emails sent from any email different from ohridsos@gmail.com. We demand an urgent recantation from all media that have published the false press release so far.
We warmly recommend to Ohrid Municipality officials and the ruling party that instead of dealing with false representation — which is a crime in this state — that they instead focus on the more serious issues in the municipality, like the spill out of fecal water inside Lake Ohrid in the middle of tourist season (video here) that is endangering the health of visitors to Ohrid region.
OhridSOS official statement
In this statement Ohrid SOS activists also wrote that due to the content of the false letter and the various mentions of the VMRO DPMNE political party, they suspect that this was done by a member of the ruling party. Ohrid SOS further suspects that the letter was sent by a current employee in the municipality of Ohrid, which has targeted them in the past.
The incident did not end there. Another false press release sent out from that same email — sosohrid@gmail.com — that afternoon, saying that they are the only Ohrid SOS, that they have already registered the name and the NGO and will sue the real Ohrid SOS for using the name. English translation appears below screen shots.
Press Release
Dear media and citizens of Ohrid
Please note that the official email through which the NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS will communicate with the public is sosohrid@gmail.com.
We inform the public that there is already a procedure in official institutions for the registration of the NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS and that anyone who abuses the name and logo of the NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS falsely presenting themselves to the public as NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS will be adequately treated in institutions.
People with a dubious past or practice of misrepresentation and falsification of signatures that have already been prosecuted for such crimes cannot be exponents of ecology in Ohrid and will therefore be completely excluded from the NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS, ie they cannot be included due to reputational concerns and crimes they are suspected of having committed. Such a political affiliation will only compromise the honest intentions of environmentalists.
We inform the public that people who are currently usurpers of our Facebook page and blog (since we cannot yet determine who is falsely representing the social networks of NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS) will be reported to law enforcement authorities and will have to return in our possession or deactivate these Facebook accounts and the blog.
In days to follow OhridSOS will alert about more environmental problems for which you will receive regular, official press releases signed with the signature and stamp of the NGO Citizen Initiative OhridSOS.
With respect,
Activists of the citizen initiative OhridSOS
But a search for OhridSOS and variations on the name in the Central Registry of the Republic of Macedonia (seen below) yields no such information. The name is unclaimed and available for registration. The actual OhridSOS group is a volunteer citizen organization and therefore does not require registration.
This is not the first time the Macedonian ruling party VMRO-DPMNE has done this. In the last two years they have organized a contra-camp to a protest camp, a contra-protest to a citizen protest and a couple of new media that popped up out of the blue using the same combination of names only in reverse: NovaTV and the very recent TVNova, RadioSlobodnaEvropa and brand new RadioSlobodnaMakedonija.
In late June 2016, there was an off-road tour organized inside protected red zones of Galichica National Park, which abuts the lake. The mayor of Ohrid municipality, Nikola Bakracheski, gave his public support at the opening of this event. OhridSOS responded with a harsh press release, criticizing the event and the support from Ohrid municipality and the officials at National Park Galichica, who are supposed to protect the park. OhridSOS suspects this press release may have triggered the impersonation incident, in an effort to discredit the group and other activists.

author: Elena Nikolovska


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Photo Contest Winners Offer a Stunning Slice of Life in Nepal · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Photo of the year category winner image by Deepak Ratna Bajracharya. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
During the last week of July, the Photojournalist Club Nepal announced the winners of this year's IME-Global IME Bank Nepal Photo Contest, which gives out the most award money of any photo contest in Nepal. The categories included culture and tourism, daily life, nature and wildlife, Nepal smiles, sports, news, photo story and the photo of the year.
The contest, organised by the Photojournalist Club, attracts a huge number of entries from photographers, both amateur and professional. A total of 6,670 photos under seven different genres were submitted by 811 photographers this year.
Breaking with the norm, a priest and amateur photographer named Deepak Ratna Bajracharya won the photo of the year category with a shot of the immediate aftermath of a devastating earthquake that rattled Nepal in April 2015, leaving thousands dead.
Bikas Rauniar, a former photo editor with Kantipur Publications, echoed the news of Bajracharya's win on Facebook:
Congratulations to the main winner of PJ club photo contest Deepak Ratna Bajracharya, pujari of sankata temple, for being at the right place at the right time and capturing really powerful picture of earthquake !
While many of the awarded pictures showcase the different hues of everyday life in Nepal, in the news category, a gruesome image of a man’s torso trapped in in the rubble of a collapsed building took the first spot. Likewise, dust billowing from the Khokana village stood second in the news category.
Warning: graphic image below.
A body of a victim lies trapped under rubble in Kathmandu, Nepal, on April 25, 2015 after an earthquake hit. The shallow earthquake measuring 7.9 magnitude struck west of the ancient Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Saturday, killing around 9,000 people. Image by Navesh Chitrakar. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
However, not everyone thinks such images are appropriate. One person tweeted:
दुर्घटनाका रगत लत्पतिएको विभत्स शवका तस्बीर अनलाईन र फेसबुकमा पोष्ट गर्ने ‘पत्रकार'हरूलाई कसैले पत्रकारिता सिकाईदिनु पर्ने भो! @pjclubnepal
— Dambar Krs. Shrestha (@Dambarks) July 28, 2016
Somebody needs to teach journalism to journalists who post images of dead bodies in pools of blood online and on Facebook.
Now, let’s delve into the happy moments captured by the photographers.
Smoke and dust billow over the sky in Khokana village of Lalitpur district a couple of minutes after Nepal was hit by a devastating earthquake on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Image by Rajesh Gurung. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Hindu women light oil lamps performing traditional rituals during the Bala Chaturdashi festival at the Bajrabarahi temple in Lalitpur, Nepal, on Wednesday, September 15, 2014. First-place winner in the culture and tourism category. Image by Dinesh Shrestha. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Nepali festivals are a part of the country's rich heritage. Among many festivals, this one is the annual Kartik Naach (Dance of the deity Kartik) being staged at Patan Durbar Square. Kartik Naach is a month-long traditional dance and drama festival that takes place in the Hindu lunar calendar month of Kartik, which falls in October/November. Third-place winner in the culture and tourism category. Image by Avash Karmacharya. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
A girl jumps on top of sewage pipes. First-place winner in the daily life category. Image by Naresh Shrestha. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
A woman walks with two children as they make their way from Samzong to Lomanthang. Upper Mustang is a remote and isolated region of the Nepalese Himalayas. The Upper Mustang was a restricted demilitarized area until 1992, which makes it one of the most preserved regions in the world, with a majority of the population still speaking traditional Tibetan languages. Tibetan culture has been preserved by the relative isolation of the region from the outside world. Second-place winner in the daily life category. Image by Gopen Rai. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Women carrying the wooden frame to make indigenous handmade Nepali paper at Sankhu, Kathmandu on January 9, 2015. Handmade paper is made from Lokta, a raw material found at an altitude of 6,500 feet to 9,500 feet above sea level. Generally, the paper is used for official and ceremonial purposes, and it has been identified among the 19 major exportable goods of the country. Third-place winner in the daily life category. Image by Pratap Thapa. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Peacocks in the Chitwan National Park. First-place winner in the nature and wildlife category. Image by Ramesh Kumar Poudel. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Summer Love. Second-place winner in the nature and wildlife category. Image by Bishop Tamrakar. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Owls are spotted sitting in hollow nest. Third-place winner in the nature and wildlife category. Image by Bikash Khadge. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
An elderly man has a jovial moment and relishes at a paddy plantation at Jitpur Fedi, Kathmandu. Third-place winner in the Nepal smiles category. Image by Sulav Bhakta Shrestha. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Local children playing football on the roof of a traditional house in Rukum's Taksera Village Development Committee. Since the hilly area with steep land lacks playgrounds, the children use the rooftops as an alternative. First-place winner in the sports category. Image by Surbindra Kumar Pun. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
Bird's eye view of two mountain bikers in Muktinath, Mustang. Third-place winner in the sports category. Image by Umesh Shrestha. Courtesy: Photojournalist Club, Nepal.
The top 150 photos of the competition will be put in an exhibition, which will tour five different Nepali cities.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Anonymous Eritrea: Communicating in a Paranoid State · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Eritrean diaspora on social media. Photo by Yonatan Tewelde, used with permission.
Written by Abraham T. Zere
A few months ago an Eritrean acquaintance called me to discuss an article he wanted to write for PEN Eritrea’s website. He had worked as a journalist in Eritrea, where we’re both from, before fleeing the country nearly ten years ago.
He had recently spoken out (under a pen name) about his former colleagues who were languishing incommunicado in detention centers in Eritrea, a story that was then covered by various media including The Guardian, in partnership with our organization.
Before I could congratulate him on this, he began discussing safe ways to send the article. He said he wanted to write the article anonymously. He lives in the United States under a grant of political asylum.
I gave him both my email address and an official email address for article submission. “But email is not safe,” he replied. “Eritrean security can crack it.” He explained that he wanted to avoid imperiling family members back home.
I countered that it was unlikely that Eritrean security would bother to hack the email accounts of two relatively unimportant Eritreans living in the US. This is an unfounded fear that exaggerates the reach of Eritrean security, I said. I explained that PEN Eritrea is trying to fight such inherent fear and discourages authors from writing anonymously or under pen names unless the person is at great risk, say from inside the country. It is our policy to request that all contributors to take full responsibility for what they write. We also require contributors’ email addresses to be included for publication.
My colleague is not alone. His is a pervasive fear that has been inculcated among many Eritreans. They have experienced one of the world’s most repressive dictatorships, a place where the populace is subject to mass surveillance. Once they flee the country, it can take years for expatriate Eritreans to fully comprehend what was happening to them. Many live under extreme paranoia, suspecting conspiracies around every corner.
I frequently encounter Eritreans living safely in the West, with political asylum, who feel they can’t even “like” social-media posts that are critical of the regime back home. Instead they prefer privately writing or calling the individual whose post they wanted to react to. They fear the regime is tapping everyone’s social media account.
And their fears aren’t entirely unfounded. It is public knowledge that the prime job of Eritrean consular offices and their surrogates throughout the diaspora has been reduced to watching who’s associating with whom, in order to report when somebody with “incorrect” associations returns to Eritrea. This practice has imperiled many Eritreans when they went home to visit family members. As Tricia Redeker Hepner discusses in her book “Soldiers, Martyrs, Traitors, and Exiles: Political Conflict in Eritrea and the Diaspora” (2009) the trend also extends to audio recording by their compatriots via hidden devices to report to the state security back home.
This innate fear has been cultivated by the ruling elites’ longstanding tradition of ignoring the rule of law and behaving irrationally and unpredictably. At any point, a torturer might turn into the victim. The steady flow of arbitrary arrests and intimidation of journalists, in particular, and the populace in general, has resulted in a total disregard for rule of law. Such incidents, as common as they are, erode the confidence of the people to the point where they can’t trust any government institution. This tradition has also fostered an inherent culture of fear and mistrust among citizens.
This culture of paranoia has created the impression, among many, that the Asmara regime has the power to spy on every Eritrean in any corner of the world. The regime has successfully portrayed itself as omnipresent—which is fundamental to its survival.
Asmara, Eritrea's capital city. Photo by Yonatan Tewelde, used with permission.
These dynamics are compounded by a lack of credible information coming out of the country, which has also played a major role in cultivating mistrust and fear. Alongside the regime’s long tradition of severely punishing state and independent journalists—the last accredited international correspondent was expelled in 2007— there is no independent source to confirm the veracity of any information.
When seven of the country’s private newspapers were banned in 2001 amid a political crackdown, 12 journalists were taken into custody. This swift action was followed by the raid and ban of the educational Radio Bana in February 2009, and the jailing of about 50 journalists and staff members. These assaults on both state and independent media have crippled free flow and exchange of information. News sources today are limited to the state media’s monotonous propaganda organs, which make nationals wary of any information coming through the official line.
The Eritrean state media, which was mostly institutionalized under the longest-serving propaganda minister, Ali Abdu (who later fled the country), is characterized by a lack of accountability and a habit of character assassination. The Ministry has absolute power to put down anyone they perceive as having even slight differences of opinion, or for really any reason at all.
Many Eritrean citizens became victims of character assassination in the national media under Abdu and his “hit team.” Public figures such as artists, political leaders and athletes were typical prime targets. Naturally, these attacks were published under pen names, although it was not difficult to know who was the mastermind behind the curtain.
This tradition of character assassination and using pen names to attack anyone who expresses a contrary or different opinion has been adopted by Eritrean social and mass media in the diaspora, both pro- and anti-regime. Fake accounts and pen names are common, making it nearly impossible to tell who is who. Not surprisingly, pro-regime attacks have the effect of silencing many critics who fear the consequences of speaking against their country’s government.
On one side, there are there regime loyalists who vigilantly troll on social media with fake Facebook accounts and Twitter handles. Characteristically, these regime cheerleaders will use Eritrean flag or an emblem of that sort as their profile images, and will use account names such as “Eritrea Never Kneel Down,” “Hands Off Eritrea,” or “Eritrea Not for Resale.”
Dissident voices are mercilessly countered by anonymous users. This normally involves intimidation and in some cases extends even to death threats.
The opposition camp is not immune from such practices either. Many regime opponents employ similarly abusive language and fabricate information to destroy people on the other side.
The tradition of anonymity and character assassination is manifested in independent websites as well. It’s common among Eritrean independent media to use pen names to destroy someone in the opposite camp. Or else—in the name of freedom of expression—individuals will combine abusive language with an absence of facts and often get away with it.
In this extremely polarized political environment, most topics are reduced to simplistic, back-and-forth arguments between “opposition” and “pro-regime.” And predictably, many websites on both sides continue to publish anonymous articles to avoid accountability. These practices erode credibility and cultivate a tradition where it is nearly becoming impossible to discern reality from made-up facts. In the end, these interdependent practices only serve to damage collective intellects, leaving institutions in tatters and prolonging the life of the dictatorship.
Abraham T. Zere is the executive director of PEN Eritrea in exile.

author: Guest Contributor


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Bangladesh Shuts Down the Internet, Then Orders Blocking of 35 News Websites · Global Voices
Zara Rahman

Dhaka at night. Photo by Ishtiaque Mahmood Rohan via Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0)
The Bangladesh Daily Star reported on August 4, 2016 that Bangladesh's Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had ordered the country's International Internet Gateway operators to block access to 35 news websites.
No further details about the blocking have emerged thus far, but the list of sites is long and includes some that represent critical positions within the country's current political climate. A full list of the domains ordered blocked, as reported by the Daily Star, appears below.
Websites ordered blocked:
rtnews24.com
haquekotha.com
amrabnp.com
real-timenews.com
bnation24.com
nationnewsbd.com
bhoreralap.com
banglapost24.com
dailytimes24.com
mynewsbd.com
livekhobor.com
rikhan.com
sheershanewsbd.com
natunerdak.com
sylhetvoice24.com
somoybangla.com
prothom-news.com
banglalatestnews.com
bdmonitor.net
bdupdatenews24.net
newsdaily24bd.com
amardeshonline.com
doinikamardesh.com
onnojogot24.com
amarbangladesh-online.com
desh-bd.net
crimebdnews24.com
natunsokal.com
sheershakhobor.com
onb24.com
dinkalonline.net
sarabangla.com
parstoday.com
weeklysonarbangla.net
24banglanewsblog.wordpress.com
This comes on the heels of an Internet shutdown that took place early in the morning on August 2, when Internet access in a commercial area of Dhaka was cut off for 3.5 hours as part of a government-enforced “drill” to test the capabilities of telecommunications agencies in the country. The national telecommunications agency indicated that it was part of a series of test shutdowns that will soon take place across the country.
The “Internet shutdown drill” was announced on August 1 and presented as a security measure. This comes following the brutal attack in early July at the Holey Artisan Bakery, where 20 hostages were murdered as part of a terrorist attack that came at a time when violence is increasing in the country.
In addition to the Internet, other services were also cut. Mobile phone operators reportedly tested their ability to shut down voice calls and ISPs were also asked to block certain web pages. It is unclear whether these are the same sites that were ordered blocked on August 4.
The Chairman of the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Shahjahan Mahmood, clarified on August 3 that this exercise was the first in a series of temporary Internet shutdowns, saying “As part of the ongoing exercise, all sorts of Internet connections will be suspended for a short period anytime at any place in the country,”
Ahsan Habib Khan, vice-chairman of BTRC added that these future blackouts are likely to take place during the night, and on holidays.
Citizens are struggling to see how these shutdowns might have a positive impact on public safety, but the pitfalls of this strategy seem self-evident. Bangladeshi citizens expressed dismay and anger on social media, with one Facebook user writing:
And wtf is this?? Without any prior notice or with such a short notice?? Do they have any idea how people work and how it may affect their work?? Imagine the situation – an area suddenly went offline around the most critical time and most of the people don't even know about it and you can't even use your cell phone data to communicate with someone to inform about the situation cause your entire area is f**ed up!
On Twitter, digital rights group Access Now called these actions “misguided”, as part of their global campaign against internet shutdowns, #KeepItOn.
BREAKING: Today Bangladesh announced an internet shutdown “drill”. Here's our take. #KeepitOn pic.twitter.com/0gVp1ndX8I
— Access Now (@accessnow) August 1, 2016
This is not the first time networks have been deliberately shut down in Bangladesh. In November 2015, the Bangladeshi government blocked social media sites including Facebook, Viber and Whatsapp for almost four weeks.
On the first day of that ban, Internet access was cut to the entire country for roughly 75 minutes. Immediately afterwards, Mahmood said it had been a mistake and the shutdown was the result of a “misunderstanding.”
This new push to curtail citizens’ Internet access is extremely worrying, particularly in Bangladesh where freedom of expression is increasingly under threat, both online and in everyday life.
In 2011, the United Nations declared Internet access to be a fundamental human right. Just four weeks ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday passed a nonbinding resolution condemning countries that prevent or disrupt access to the internet.
Despite these repeated violations of digital rights, the government’s claims of moving towards a “Digital Bangladesh” continue.

author: Zara Rahman


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Feminism Is a Difficult Battle for Black Caribbean Women · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screencap from the website for the upcoming AWID Black Feminisms Forum (BFF), scheduled to take place in Brazil in September 2016.
Bloggers from the Caribbean-based feminist blog CODE RED will be a content partner at the Black Feminisms Forum, due to take place in Brazil this September. The forum hopes to bring people together to strategise for human — including women’s — rights, economic and environmental justice, and peace. It is an important aspect of the forum that “traditionally underrepresented or marginalised communities will have a strong presence”, including youth, women of colour, indigenous women, sex workers, transgender and migrant activists, and women with disabilities.
In the lead-up to the event, CODE RED has been hosting a blog carnival, encouraging participation from writers, artists, activists, and other thinkers to consider themes like state violence and healing justice as they relate to black feminism. There's even a #blackfeminisms hashtag on Twitter.
The response has been good thus far, with several netizens retweeting information, raising awareness about the forum and contributing their ideas. Joan Joy Grant Cummings, a Caribbean Canadian activist, wrote about black feminism and international solidarity. She recalled her experience as the first black woman President of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) — which was, at the time, the premier Canadian feminist lobby group. In 1998, after police attacked peaceful, black communities in Colombia, Cummings was asked to be one of nine tribunal members investigating the tragedy. Cummings writes:
The Tribunal’s job was to establish the facts and determine who bore responsibility for one of 198 documented massacres that took place in Colombia during that year.
The prosecuting attorney presented the evidence that on May 16th and 17th 1998, at least 30 heavily-armed men made an incursion to the oil-producing city of Barrancabermeja, killing up to 32 people. Though the head of the death squad had informed the police that he was responsible for conducting the massacre he was never charged. […]
After reading the verdict, I was overwhelmed by the reaction of the people – it was as if multiple floodgates had burst their banks. It was the first anniversary of the massacre. People cried with sadness, grief, joy, vindication – “the rest of the world believed them”. This Tribunal triggered many more across the world much to the embarrassment of both Governments – Canada and Colombia.
She would later return to work with the communities:
Afro-Colombians had gone through intense displacement within Colombia. They had been subjected to all kinds of violations -kidnappings, murders, massacres, and ultimately driven off their land by paramilitary forces. Even though Law 70 which had been passed, was ostensibly to guarantee their protection and that of their land. According to a number of Afro-Colombian activists in the community, it may be the closest to self-determination they would achieve. […]
Throughout the 2 weeks I was there, I participated in community meetings about the struggle, nearly every sentence mentioned Law 70. Here was the law that should protect the rights of Afro-Colombians. Yet the government that passed the law was violating it directly and indirectly by facilitating groups that ignored the law!
Cummings explained how it all turned out:
Over a decade later it was revealed that 22 businessmen and Chiquita Bananas had taken ‘illegal’ possession of their land for business. Chiquita Bananas admitted, that between 1997-2004, it had paid USD 2M to paramilitary forces to remove Afro-Colombians. By accounts (El Tiempo) the 22 were prosecuted by the Colombian Government in 2010.
Yet, here we are in 2016, back to herding the community off its land — again!
As Black feminists we know that there really is only one feminist imperative — the struggle for the equality rights of all which includes the destruction of patriarchy, racism, white supremacy, heterosexism, capitalism etc…
In another post, CODE RED addressed a controversial statement made by the Bahamian legislator Richard Lightbourn, who recently proposed that “the country adopt legislation that mandates unwed mothers with more than two children have their ‘tubes tied’ in an effort to curtail the country’s social ills”, saying:
Anti-black racism thrives in majority black countries.
The legislator is suggesting the erasure of poor black Bahamians via the misogynist practice of forced sterilisation. […]
Violating women’s rights doesn’t prevent crime and poverty. It is a crime!
Legislators are supposed to be doing the tough work of making societies more equitable not arguing that they way to reduce poverty is for poor black people not to exist!
The blog also dealt with the issue of sexual violence against young women in the Caribbean, citing rape charges against the brother of Trinidad-born singer Nikki Minaj, an off-colour episode of a popular Trinidadian series that portrayed young women as sexual predators, and the attempt by a St. Lucian government official to ban a 10-year-old rape victim from attending school:
Do we ever question why we are so quick to condemn and shame girls who have been raped but can’t insist that men NOT rape children? Why is it so difficult to hold men accountable for their actions? Why so difficult to make rape unconscionable? Why would we rather believe that schoolgirls are more predatory and powerful than men than call a rapist a rapist?
In preparation for the black feminisms forum, CODE RED will continue to be a hub for sharing other perspectives about the challenges of gender justice for women of colour. You can keep track of new entries — and submit your own contribution — here, or follow the discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Netizen Report: In China and the Middle East, Pokémon GO is Not All Fun and Games · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Pokemon decal on a train in Japan. Screencapture from YouTube video by 週に一度は撮り鉄を。 (Japanese trains!), labeled for reuse.
Media outlets have discussed some of the risks of playing the chart-topping augmented reality game Pokémon GO, including reports of players getting into car accidents, falling into the ocean or subjecting themselves to unwarranted police attention. But the game also carries substantial and unique risks in parts of the world where it is not officially available for download.
The game uses Google Maps data to superimpose characters from the Pokémon series into your geographic surroundings. As you walk, your smartphone uses GPS to track your position in the world, and it will know if you get close to one of these characters. You can then capture the character on your phone screen, train it, and then deploy it in the “augmented reality” battlefield that is Pokémon GO.
For example, it is not easy task to catch Pokémon in China. As Global Voices’ Oiwan Lam explained last week, the game is technically unavailable in China’s App Store, which is heavily censored, so Chinese players are climbing the Great Firewall in order to access the game. Some have reportedly spoofed their locations, flooding Japanese servers and taking over the gym at the Yasukuni Shrine, which is devoted in part to memorializing Japan's World War II dead. In response, other religious sites in Japan such as the Izumo Shrine have banned the game.
In Iran, Pokémon GO is technically unavailable for download. Gamers nevertheless are using virtual private networks to download the game, but they have also encountered a general scarcity of characters in major cities like Tehran.
And government ministers in Egypt, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates have issued stern warnings about gamers approaching or photographing government buildings, particularly those that are significant to state security. Kuwait interior ministry undersecretary Suleiman al-Fahd said in a statement that the ministry “informed security men to show zero tolerance to anyone approaching such prohibited sites, deliberately or not.”
Learn more about Pokémon GO around the globe on Global Voices’ new podcast
As the fallout continues following an attempted coup in Turkey, WikiLeaks promoted and linked to nearly 300,000 files it called “emails from Turkey’s ruling party.” But these files actually contained private information on female voters in 79 Turkish provinces as well as sensitive information for millions of members of the ruling AKP party, including election monitors. The Turkish government responded by blocking Wikileaks in Turkey, while Turkish netizens quickly realized the leaks contained little of public interest.
In a piece for Huffington Post, Turkish scholar Zeynep Tufekci criticized the leak:
I’ve long been critical of the AKP’s censorship practices in Turkey and will continue to speak out. But there is not a single good reason to put so many men and women in such danger of identity theft, harassment and worse – especially after the country was rocked by a bloody coup targeting this political party.
The United Arab Emirates federal government will soon tighten existing laws on virtual private networks (VPNs) and other censorship-dodging tools by criminalizing anyone who “uses a fraudulent computer network protocol address (IP address) by using a false address or a third party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime or preventing its discovery.” Many VPNs make it technically difficult, if not impossible, to monitor a user’s traffic and behavior. So how would authorities know if people were using VPNs for criminal purposes? Authorities haven’t spoken to this issue. For now, users have little choice but to wait and see how the law is implemented.
For the first time in Mexico’s history, the Federal Institute of Telecommunications has issued a license to operate a telecommunications network for social indigenous use. The new Indigenous Community Telecommunications Network will be managed by and for indigenous communities in 356 municipalities in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Veracruz.
Macedonian activists suspect local authorities used emails in order to impersonate an environmental activism group in an attempt to thwart efforts to stop a government development projects. The Macedonian ruling party VMRO-DPMNE has a history of organizing counter protests and fake accounts in order to discredit activist groups and citizen media.
After Facebook failed to comply with a court order requesting the content of WhatsApp messages in a criminal investigation in Brazil, the Federal Public Ministry of the Amazon froze 38 million reais – US $11.7 million – in funds in Facebook’s local bank account, the sum of the daily fines imposed by a judge for not handing over the data. Should the two entities remain at an impasse, the service may once again be blocked in Brazil.
Ellery Roberts Biddle and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


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US Politics? No, Thanks. Pass the Tomatoes. · Global Voices
L. Finch

Hand and ballot illustration public domain from Pixabay. Clinton and Trump caricatures by DonkeyHotey (CC BY-SA 2.0). Image remixed by Georgia Popplewell.
As a child, I hated tomatoes. I couldn’t understand how anyone could enjoy them. My grandmother grew the red fruit in her garden, and every summer I quietly despaired as raw tomatoes made appearance after appearance on the dinner table. The sweet but tangy flavor made my nose wrinkle, and the drippy pulp reminded me of the innards of a human heart—or at least how I imagined they look.
As an adult, I now live in the land of gazpacho, La Tomatina and pa amb tomàquet, and have grown to love the sweet but tangy flavor and even the drippy pulp.
Funny how tastes can change.
Quite the opposite has happened to me with US politics. As a child, I used to eat up politics. I spent much of my summers at my grandparents’ in the American Midwest, where house rules required that you play outside for the majority of the day. If you wanted to be inside, then you better be reading. My grandparents’ subscriptions to Newsweek and Time meant that a stack of those weekly news magazines were always sitting in the living room, so when I’d tire of rolling around in the grass or thumbing through my latest library loan, I’d pick up a copy, plop down on the “davenport,” and get my fill of 1990s political intrigue. My understanding was, of course, limited by my innocent age—why all the fuss about Monica Lewinsky’s blue dress?—but I nevertheless was captivated by the machinations of the country’s powerful.
I carried that fascination with me into adulthood, and it grew as my grasp on it all increased. When the Internet injected the media industry with a heavy dose of speed, I welcomed the resulting 24-hour mania of political coverage, and working as a correspondent in a storied newsroom made the craving virtually insatiable. For a time, I actually dreamed of becoming a political reporter, chasing lawmakers down the corridors of power for a living.
Funny how tastes can change.
Now, for the first time in my life, I’ve found myself with zero appetite for American politics. What once felt to me like dignified theatre seems more and more like dangerous farce. I’m not sure what’s driving my disillusionment. Have US politics become more divisive? Maybe. Am I losing my optimism as I get older? Perhaps. Has immigrating to Spain changed my perspective? Probably.
Whatever the reason, the current US presidential election only seems to be making my allergy worse. I know many Americans at home and abroad are also feeling this way. I don’t gobble up political news like I used to. I turn away from whatever soundbite du jour is circulating. I couldn’t even bring myself to watch Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention—a historic moment as the country’s first female major-party presidential candidate, no matter how you feel about her. Neither, for that matter, could I bear to watch Trump’s, whose candidacy has made history for very different reasons.
Despite the queasiness, I do believe we have a civic responsibility to stay informed, so I begrudgingly stay abreast of American political affairs. It’s not as if I could easily escape it all anyway. Like a third of the world’s population, I use social media. Even if I quit Facebook and Twitter and Reddit, a portion of my news diet comes from mainstream US sources, however flawed they may be. And even if I renounced US media for its local counterpart, the Spanish press’ front-page fixation with the Great American Experiment makes it impossible to avoid.
Not to mention, I’m Global Voices’ news editor, and therefore should reasonably keep a finger on the pulse of American politics, if only to be better at my job.
So I suppose I’ll just have to do my best to stomach the debates and try to keep a lid on my Weltschmerz—even if the political dramas playing out on the American stage fill me with the urge to throw tomatoes at the actors. At least I like tomatoes now.
Funny how tastes can change.

author: L. Finch


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Who Are Hong Kong’s ‘Monster Parents’? · Global Voices
Ryan Kam

Cartoon appearing in Apple Daily's report on “Monster parents”.
“Monster parents” – a term of a Japanese origin that highlights the irrational side of contemporary parenting – has taken the world, especially parts of Asia, by storm. It usually refers to parents who are overprotective of their children and make a lot of demands of their children's school.
In Hong Kong, the Internet is full of attempts to explain these perceptually deviant parental practices. One netizen on Baby-Kingdom, a well-known local platform on which parents discuss topics related to child-rearing, described the major characteristics of monster parents as follows:
1.控制小朋友(或者到18.22)都一直將小朋友GE事放係自己身上,
完全唔比佢地自由,再者令佢地無自己思考GE能力!
2.覺得人有我有,逼小朋友去做唔鍾意GE事,細個就話學多D搵興趣,呢個算,但大個逼佢去SOCIAL ,去學呢樣學個樣,冇晒童年個D呢
3.成績大過天, 成績好就讚D仔女自己叻,成績差就X爆學校,話學校有問題,教書有問題…,咩都怪外在因素GE家長 ……[…]
5.以為自己個仔女就咩都岩,要人地幫手好似應份咁,基本禮貌同尊重都無教個小朋友
6.最唔LIKE 呢樣: 話其他人”窮、無前途、衰、家底唔夠好” ,唔好同佢玩埋一齊! 以為自己高高在上……
1. [Monster parents] control their children (regardless of their age). They shift the responsibility of their children back to themselves, not giving them autonomy and hence discouraging their thinking abilities.
2. They also force their children to do things that they don’t really like, like taking classes in different subjects or socialising with others, depriving them of their childhood.
3. Academic results come before everything. If the results are good, parents praise them. But if bad, they blame the school, saying the school and teachers are problematic… attributing bad results to external factors. […]
5. They tend to think their children are right in everything they do, even if it's something that's not socially appropriate. Basic courtesy and respect are not cultivated in them.
6. The thing that I don’t like most: they criticise others because of their disadvantaged background. Don’t play with them. They consider themselves and their children to be superior to those people…
From the above description, we can further generalize that monster parents in Hong Kong demonstrate a more authoritarian parenting style characterised by a higher degree of control and restrictiveness. They spoil and coerce their children at the same time. Overindulgence becomes a means to an end – to make children do tasks they desire, like having many extracurricular classes. Such parenting is associated with a sense of superiority.
The phenomenon of monster parenthood does not occur in a vacuum. Japanese sociologists argue that “shoshika” or a severe decline in their birth rate is breeding hordes of monster parents. This social problem is not only plaguing Japan but also other developed places like Hong Kong, a Chinese society which holds firm to family values but has a very low birth rate.
Moreover, in the past two decades, Hong Kong has been thriving on a knowledge-based economic system. It is commonly believed that winners usually win at the starting line, hence parents start prepping their kids right after they are born to compete their way to the best kindergartens and schools. Many of the prestigious schools are private and expensive.
Once enrolled, monster parents want their opinions heard, and the most common way is to lodge complaints. The parents don't stop complaining on their children's behalf, not even when they reach university.
Journalism lecturer Yuen Chan, who is based in Hong Kong, described what she had witnessed during the parents’ day at a local university in 2013:
At the parents’ day, HKUST professors listened patiently as parents fretted that mixed dorms would lead their children astray and complained that noisy dorm-mates kept their kids up all night. They explained that while the school did not prohibit families from asking their domestic helpers to tidy up students’ dorm rooms, they did not encourage it.
Many believe that the overprotective parenting has bred an over-reliant generation characterised by “Prince/Princess sickness”, a term commonly used in Asia to describe a condition of narcissism and egocentricism, or ‘princess’ behaviour.
On the other hand, the pushy parental practices to equip their child with more skills for scholastic success can be counterproductive. Some students even end up developing ‘school-phobia’. A recent survey found that 27 percent of Hong Kong pupils have considered suicide or self-harm, while 63 percent have sleeping disorders. The pressure on students comes from both unrealistic parental expectations and an exam-oriented elitist education system.
Teachers are also under enormous pressure because of the culture of complaints and the system that prioritizes exam scores. A recent survey showed that about 86 percent of primary school teachers said they are facing very high or comparatively high pressure at work and a major source of pressure comes from complaints and expectations from parents (52 percent).
And then there's the parents. While being marred as monsters, they suffer from the piled-up pressure of crafting an elite kid. Their sky-high hopes for their only child mean a small step away from the original plan is enough to cause anxiety.
Another stressor arising from monster parenthood is a financial one. Enthusiastic attempts in enrolling kids into different learning programmes create considerable financial pressure on some families, especially those of lower income.
Yet, a negative label cannot help solve the problem. Civic group Progressive Teachers’ Alliance are calling for a more reflective approach by introducing different parenting models to Hong Kong.
Water Tsui from the group wrote a series of posts about modern parenting on citizen platform inmediahk.net (#1, #2 and #3), concluding:
…as an adult, if you were told that you could choose parents to be born to, what sort of parents would you pick? What characteristics of good parents do you look for? If you have worked out your own definition of ideal parents, are you confident enough to be the ideal parents you have defined? Are you anxious that you are not good enough to be one and simply drop the whole idea of being parents? We all have such an experience of anxiety, and fortunately most of the time anxiety is a good helpful push rather than a dreadful pull…

author: Ryan Kam


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A Recipe for the Perfect Kyrgyz Advert: Horses, Mountain Scenery and a Beautiful Woman · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Screenshot from full-length advert uploaded on Shoro's Youtube channel.
The Maksym Shoro beverage produced by ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan's leading soft drinks producer Shoro is not everybody's cup of tea, but those that love the salty fermented drink truly love it.
After more than two decades of success in the local market — the drink is almost as old as the Central Asian country itself — it can now be bought in neighbouring Kazakhstan and Russia, where over a million Kyrgyz migrants live and work.
But Shoro has retained the nomadic identity associated with its homeland, as the company's latest advert shows. Below is the advert in full as well as a translation of the message the company posted on Facebook to mark its arrival:
Однажды рано утром смелый джигит на своем верном коне поскакал на соседнее джайлоо. Слышал он, что живет здесь прекрасная девушка, которая пленила сердца многих баатыров.
Есть у кыргызов старинная игра – кыз куумай. Если джигит догонит девушку, то сможет поцеловать ее. Если нет – девушка ударит его камчой. А всадник опозорится перед народом.
Но если джигит понравится девушке, она может сама незаметно поддаться ему. Ведь не зря твердили наши предки: не проси быстрого коня, а проси доброго пути.
“Максым Шоро” – напиток кочевников.
One day early in the morning a brave Kyrgyz guy rode out on his trusty steed to the neighbouring meadow. He heard that a beautiful woman who had won the hearts of many champions had lived there.
In Kyrgyzstan, there is an ancient game – Kyz Kuumai. If the guy can catch the girl, then he will kiss her. If not, the girl will strike him with a whip, and the rider will lose face before the people.
But, if the guy pleases the girl, she can quietly give in to him [the girl in the advert slows down and asks the rider: “Guy, is this the first time you have ridden a horse?”]. After all, as our ancestors always said, do not ask for a quick horse, ask for a safe journey.
Maksym Shoro — the drink of nomads.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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Hong Kong Election Officials Disqualify Six Legislative Candidates for Not Being ‘Loyal’ Enough to China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Edward Leung talked to the press after his candidacy was invalidated by the returning officer. Photo from the Stand News. Non-commercial use.
Hong Kong's government has disqualified six potential candidates from running in the 2016 Legislative Council election for their political platforms that are pro-independence or “localist,” referring to politics that promote the values and culture of Hong Kong over those of mainland China.
The decision was made by the city's returning officers (election officials) and marked the first time the civil servants have politically screened a candidate. Many believe that the move is meant to block Hong Kong's pan-democratic alliance from getting enough seats to exercise their veto power in the Legislative Council over election reform.
Moreover, a legislature with marginalized opposition parties will also pave the way for the passage of Basic Law Article 23, which is a local adaptation of China's own strict legislation on national security. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China that enjoys many more freedoms than the mainland, but many fear that autonomy is increasingly under threat.
The 2016 Legislative Council election will be held on September 4, and the nomination process took place between July 15 and 29.
In fact, abrupt measures were introduced to fence off pro-independence and localist groups. Just two days before the nomination began, the Electoral Affairs Commission set a new rule requiring potential candidates to sign a “loyalty” declaration accepting Chinese rule and renouncing independence for the city. Since the new rule has no legal basis, a third of the nominees from pan-democratic groups have refused to sign, and one has applied to the court for judicial review.
As the loyalty declaration is not working, the Electoral Affairs Commission requested that the returning officers “make their own judgement” on the nominees’ loyalty, resulting in six of them not passing the loyal test and being disqualified:
Edward Leung Tin-kei's disqualification is the most controversial because he had participated in the Legislative Council by-election in January 2016 without a problem. Moreover, he had signed the loyalty declaration and replied in email to the returning officer that he would not advocate Hong Kong's independence if he entered the legislature.
However, the returning officer ruled that Leung has not genuinely changed his pro-independence stance and has no intention to uphold the Basic Law. The returning officer wrote in the 12-page-long letter that (via Hong Kong Free Press):
Mr Leung has not provided sufficient reasons or evidence to prove that the media reports on his advocacy for ‘Hong Kong independence’ were not true.
I think [the statements made by] Mr. Leung mean that he will use whatever means to enter the Legislative Council, including claiming not to advocate Hong Kong independence anymore; if he becomes a legislator, he will continue to advocate and support Hong Kong independence.
The returning officer pointed to a post by Leung on Facebook, published on July 23, which read: “Basic Law? I have f**king embraced you and have embraced you for so f**king long.”
Leung has filed an “election petition” to the court questioning if the returning officer has abused her power in making the decision to disqualify him.
The local legal sector has spoken out against the disqualifications. Around 30 barristers and lawyers signed onto a statement accusing the government of violating the Basic Law:
《基本法》第26條訂明，被選舉權是每一位香港公民的基本權利。《立法會條例》第40條僅要求參選人提交一份聲明確認擁護《基本法》，條例並無賦權選舉主任任何權力去查訊某位參選人的聲明是否所謂「真誠」，更遑論賦權選舉主任基於據稱某位參選人不是真誠地擁護《基本法》，但不循任何正當程序就作出一個主觀和政治決定去取消其參選資格。該等查訊和決定非但不合法，更是等同選舉主任在沒有法律基礎下進行政治審查和篩選。
這樣最終會破壞香港人對立法會和選舉過程的信心，亦會對香港長遠的穩定帶來負面影響。
According to the Basic Law Article 26, every Hong Kong citizen enjoys the right to be elected. Article 40 of the Legislative Council Election Ordinance only requires potential candidates to submit a declaration to confirm that s/he would uphold the Basic Law. The ordinance does not empower the returning officer to investigate whether the declaration is “sincere” or not. It never empowers the returning officer to make a subjective political decision to invalidate the candidacy based on hearsay that the potential candidate does not sincerely uphold the Basic Law without due procedure. The investigation and the decision are illegal. The returning officer has exercised political screening without any legal basis.
Apart from censoring candidates, the Electoral Affairs Commission is also censoring the candidates’ pamphlets. According to one of the candidates, Nathan Law, the commission has withheld the approval of their pamphlets, saying that they are seeking opinion from the secretary of justice. The “problematic” terms are:
自主未來 An autonomous future
自決主權治權 Self-determined sovereignty and governance
民主自決 Democratic self-determination
城巿自立 Self-sufficient city
自決運動 Self-determination movement
前途自決 Self-determined future
推動民間公投 Advocate universal suffrage
中國經濟壓力下難以自主 Under China's economic pressure, autonomy is at stake
國防外交外真正自治 Aside from military and diplomacy, a genuine self-governing entity
The political censorship not only affects those who are running in the Legislative Council election, but all Hong Kongers. Tse Kwun Dong, a writer from citizen media platform inmediahk.net, pointed out that under the current circumstances, anyone is in danger of being labeled a separatist and deprived of their political rights:
選委會的「港獨」證據可以來自各個方面，例如提出「自主」、「自決」也可能被指「港獨」。但這些本來都是正面的人生態度，哪有人會想自己的命運「他主」、「他決」呢？只有奴才才會這樣。可惜香港這樣下去，漸漸培養出一種怎樣的文化？
The Electoral Affairs Commission can gather all sorts of evidence to prove someone is pro-independence. For example, terms like “autonomy” and “self-determination” can be interpreted as “pro-Hong Kong independence.” But these terms represent a positive attitude towards one's future. Would anyone on earth want his or her fate to be determined by others? Only a lackey would think so. But if Hong Kong follows this path, what will our culture look like?
六四集會者常反對「一黨專政」，然而沒有黨，又哪有一國兩制？故此亦大可被指違反《基本法》，他日被剝奪各種權利。以文入罪，將無窮無盡，言論自由空間收窄。香港瀰漫的白色恐怖，日益嚴重。當然假如你剛好屬建制派，言論永遠正確，倒是樂得逍遙自在，無須擔心你的嘴巴和思想自由，你甚至並不希罕，可是你那些追求民主的下一代又如何呢？
For those who attend the annual June 4 vigil [for the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing] and shout the slogan “end to one-party dictatorship,” such a gesture could be viewed as violating “One Country, Two Systems” because “single-party dictatorship” is the basis of “One Country.” So this can be interpreted as a violation of the Basic Law and lead to you being deprived of all political rights. Incrimination for speech is an endless hunt, and space for freedom of expression keeps shrinking. “White terror” [meaning efforts to suppress political dissidents] is lingering in Hong Kong and becoming more and more serious. Of course, if you are pro-establishment and always side with the politically correct side, you are still free and happy as you are not worried nor care about freedom of thought. But have you thought about your children who want democracy?

author: Oiwan Lam


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Iran Reportedly Executes Dozens of Sunnis in Crackdown on Prisoners of Conscience · Global Voices
Hamid Yazdan Panah

Kurdish political prisoner Shahram Ahmadi was reportedly executed on August 2, 2016. Photo courtesy of International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran
The Iranian government has reportedly executed dozens of Sunni prisoners at Gohardasht prison, an institution notorious for its mistreatment of political prisoners, including Shahram Ahmadi, a prominent prisoner of conscience. Relatives were reportedly asked to come to the prison to say their final goodbyes, but upon arrival were directed to the morgue to collect the bodies of their loved ones. The executions mark the state's continued policy of systematically and brutally targeting political dissidents and ethnic minorities.
At least 36 Sunni prisoners were transferred to await execution and reports indicate that at least 20 prisoners were executed on Tuesday, August 2, with some reports stating that the total could be as high as 29 people killed. Sunni prisoners in Gohardasht have reportedly gone on a hunger strike to protest the executions.
Ahmadi, a 30-year-old ethnic Kurd and a Sunni activist in Iran, and was arrested in 2009. In an interview with Voice of America, Ahmadi disclosed that he had been in solitary confinement for a period of 33 months.
Throughout his ordeal, Shahram maintained his innocence. In the interview with VoA, he discussed his refusal to confess, stating, “They executed my brother; I have nothing left to lose. The truth is that I am innocent, and I do not want people not to know that I am innocent before I am executed.”
According to Amnesty International, Ahmadi spent nearly three years in pretrial detention without access to counsel or communication with his family. During this period, Ahmadi was routinely tortured and forced to give false confessions for his alleged crimes. His trial reportedly lasted five minutes, after which he was told that he was sentenced to death for “enmity against God” (or moharebeh for his alleged membership with a Sunni Salafi group)—a crime that he denies. Iranian officials have routinely linked Salafi groups to Saudi Arabia, believing them to be anti-Shiite and thus enemies of the state.
In November 2015, a source close to Shahram reportedly stated, “Unfortunately, Judge Moghisseh said that Shahram’s first two crimes are that he’s a Sunni and a Kurd. Therefore, he was presumed guilty from the start.”
One of Iran’s many minorities, Kurds continue to face discrimination in their religious, economic, and cultural rights. According to a 2012 report by Minority Rights Group International, officials confiscate Kurdish properties at a high rate, a problem which seems to disproportionately affect many minorities in Iran. The report also found that the government pervasively neglected Iran's Kurdish regions in the northwest part of the country.
For years, the Iranian state has targeted ethnic and religious minorities, particularly those that have fought for self-determination rights. This applies to ethnic minorities like Kurds, Baloch, and Arabs who also happen to be Sunni Muslims. These groups are often denied the ability to express their cultural and ethnic identities, facing institutional discrimination and repression across all levels of Iranian society.
Human rights activists maintain that those charged with political crimes in Iran are often denied due process, and are subjected to torture in order to induce forced confessions. In 2015, Iran led the world in per capita executions.
Shahram’s younger brother, Bahram, was arrested in 2009. Bahram was part of a larger group of nine other Sunni Kurdish men who were sentenced to death in February 2011 for “enmity against God,” a routine charge against prisoners of conscience in Iran. Bahram Ahmadi was executed in 2012. According to his family, Bahram was arrested when he was only 17 years old. Iran remains one of the few countries in the world that continues to execute juvenile offenders.
In a heart-wrenching letter written earlier this year, Shahram Ahmadi’s mother begged for her son’s life.
What can I do as a palsy mother? Bahram, his brother, was also hanged. How much a mother can tolerate? Every day and night I cry out to God and ask him to give me my death.
As a Sunni Muslim, we are not heard [in Iran]. Isn't this the quote by Imam Hussein of Shiites: “If you don't believe in any religion [and don't fear the Resurrection Day], at least be free in this world”? Do something to save my son. I have lived enough, it's a couple of years that I have become palsy, even can't go to Tehran to visit my son [in prison]. Hang me instead of him and finish everything. Death is better than this life that you have made for me. My son is yet to be 30, for what sin you kill our children this easy? I swear to the only God, one day, you must answer for these innocent bloods [that you have shed].
The names of the 29 prisoners who are facing death sentences, including those who may already have been executed on Tuesday, August 2, are as follows:
Kaveh Veisi, Behrouz Shahnazari, Taleb Maleki, Shahram Ahmadi, Kaveh Sharifi, Arash Sharifi, Varya Ghaderifard, Keyvan Momenifard, Barzan Nasrollahzade, Alem Barmashti, Pourya Mohammadi, Ahmad Nasiri, Edris Nemati, Farzad Honarju, Seyed Shahu Ebrahimi, Mohammad Yavar Rahimi, Bahman Rahimi, Mokhtar Rahimi, Mohammad Gharibi, Farshid Naseri, Mohammad Keyvan Karimi, Amjad Salehi, Omid Peyvand, Ali Mojahedi, Hekmat Sharifi, Omar Abdollahi, Omid Mahmudi, Abdolrahman Sangani, and Seyed Jamal Seyed Musavi.

author: Hamid Yazdan Panah


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Jamaicans Are Excited About Their Athletes and a Little Nervous About Rio · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

The Rio Olympics 2016 logo. Image uploaded by Marcos Castellano, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
Excited anticipation is at its peak in Jamaica on the eve of the Olympic Games in Rio. Patriotic fervor, with support for Jamaican track athletes in particular, expected to grow.
However, inadequate accommodation arrangements and security concerns are putting a slight damper on things. While sports journalists are focusing their reports on the fitness of and prospects for Jamaican athletes, there is an undercurrent of concern.
The Gleaner newspaper has reported on unfinished accommodation in the Athletes’ Village, posting video footage of incomplete floors and showers and insufficient furniture in their rooms.
WATCH: Jamaicans arrive to unfinished rooms inside the athletes’ village two days before the #RioGoldRush Olympics. pic.twitter.com/FlZrHyay42
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) August 4, 2016
Team officials, however, are optimistic that things will improve. By contrast, local press is reporting on luxury accommodation on board a cruise ship for the U.S. basketball team. However, with the huge media focus on Jamaica's athletics superstar Usain Bolt, he, at least, is getting special treatment.
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Image by Nick Webb, used under a CC BY 2.0 license.
Bolt himself has been doing photo-ops all over town, cheerfully agreeing to do his “signature” pose (originally taken from a Jamaican dancehall move) with individuals and groups. He tweeted:
They say these children are from the most dangerous communities (Favelas) here in Rio but they're our Future pic.twitter.com/CWX5bsZN7p
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) August 2, 2016
Jamaican journalist Kayon Raynor, writing for Reuters news agency, reported on Bolt's confidence that he can defeat arch-rival Justin Gatlin:
Usain Bolt is promising to let American sprinter Justin Gatlin ‘feel his full wrath’ as he zones in on an unprecedented treble-treble of gold medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Bolt was given a medical exemption by Jamaican officials to compete at the Rio Games after he pulled a hamstring during the Olympic trials and Gatlin wasted little opportunity in trying to get under the 29-year-old's skin.
Gatlin said the six-time Olympic gold medallist had been given ‘a medical pass’ to compete and Bolt said on Wednesday that had only served to fuel his desire to shut the American up by proving himself on the track.
‘Yes definitely, I think they have not learned over the years that the more you talk, the more I will want to beat you,’ Bolt told Reuters on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Jamaicans arriving in Rio have noted the heavy emphasis on security, with reports of gunfire near the Jamaican team's training camp:
Members of Jamaica’s track and field delegation at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil endured an uncomfortable night on Saturday as gunshots rang out for hours from a favela (a slum in an urban area), which borders their training base accommodations at the Linx Hotel.
While concerned, team manager Ludlow Watts said he had full confidence in the security of the team, noting that the experience was a reminder of the vigilance needed.
He also sought to assure that every step is being taken to ensure the security of the entire delegation.
Another sports reporter reflected on a slightly nervous atmosphere in Rio ahead of the Games:
There is a great sense of tension in the air.
I mean, it's not every day you see regular hotel lobby security guards wearing bulletproof vests and packing extension clips. It's not everywhere on the planet you will constantly be told never to walk on the streets alone, or take a taxi (Uber is highly recommended), or basic stuff like that.
And I mean, it's not like we don't have problems of our own in Jamaica. But things here seem a bit rougher around the edges.
Gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will lead the Jamaican team into the Olympic stadium on opening day. A photograph tweeted by Ricardo Makyn showed her arriving at the training camp with her hair mysteriously covered; the champion sprinter is well known for her colorful and unusual hairstyles:
.@realshellyannfp arrives at the Linx Hotel, Brazil, ready to take on #Rio2016. @rmakyn pic #JAinRio #RioGoldRush pic.twitter.com/nyAzj2q9Wx
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) August 2, 2016
So, while local reporting has not been overly enthusiastic, some Jamaicans are tired of the negative overseas press about Rio:
Why the so-called developed countries don't stop hating on #Brazil and allow the rest of us to enjoy the @Olympics? Goodness gracious!
— David Riley (@davidrileyja) August 3, 2016
As always, Jamaicans have high hopes of a flood of medals in track events. So, let the Games begin!

author: Emma Lewis


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Japanese Police Are Spying on Muslims, Despite The Constitution · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Kobe Mosque. Image by Flickr User Pete Ford. CC BY 2.0.
Police in Tokyo have monitored the activities of Muslims in Japan, based on their religion alone, since at least 2008. A court case challenging the constitutionality of this surveillance program was recently denied.
On May 31, 2016, Japan's Supreme Court dismissed the case questioning the legality of conducting surveillance on and profiling Muslims in Japan, even though surveillance based on religion or ethnicity is generally illegal under Japan's constitution, which enshrines the right to privacy, equal protection under the law, and freedom of religion. This marked the culmination of several years of lawsuits by the same group of plaintiffs in different courts, resulting in a variety of judgements.
The fact that Tokyo police were conducting surveillance of Muslims first became public in 2010, when over 100 internal Metropolitan Police Department documents were leaked online. The documents included the names, addresses and other personal information of Muslims residing in Japan. The surveillance dated back several years prior to 2010, and was apparently motivated by security arrangements for the 2008 G-8 summit held in Japan.
According to English-language newspaper Japan Times:
The leak revealed that the police had compiled detailed profiles on 72,000 Muslims, including personal information such as bank account statements, passport details and records of their movements. The leak also showed that police had at times planted cameras inside mosques and used undercover agents to infiltrate Islamic nonprofit organizations and halal grocers and restaurants.
Following the leak, 17 of the Muslims named in the documents sued the government and police in order to have the spying declared illegal. In 2014, Tokyo District Court agreed that the leak had violated the plaintiffs’ right to privacy and awarded them ¥90 million (about US $900,000) in compensation. However, the court also ruled that the intelligence-gathering was “necessary and inevitable” in order to protect Japan against the threat of international terrorism, despite constitutional protections for freedom of religion and equal protection under the law.
In the 2014 court case related to the leak, the plaintiffs alleged:
The Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency had, as of 31 May, 2008, assessed and digitalized the personal information of ‘roughly 12,677 individuals’ equaling ‘roughly 89 percent of the 14,254 foreign nationals from Muslim countries registered in Tokyo,’ and later, by the time the Hokkaido Toya Lake summit convened in July of that year, had ‘profiled roughly 72,000 individuals from OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) countries (assessment rate of 98 percent).’
Earlier in 2016 the group asked the Supreme Court of Japan to rule on the legality of the surveillance. On May 31, the Supreme Court dismissed the case, while upholding the decision to award compensation to Muslims affected by the leak.
On the Center for Constitutional Rights blog, Igeta Daisuke, one of the plaintiff attorneys involved in the case, described the extent of the surveillance program in more detail:
Police agents were stationed undercover in mosques all over the country, and the surveillance program extended to almost every other center of Muslim life, from halal shops to what the police bizarrely deemed “Islam-related” organizations that included Doctors Without Borders, UNESCO, and other prominent NGOs.
Further documentation of the surveillance program indicates that police regularly approached Muslim residents of Japan, asking them to provide information about and effectively spy on other members of their community. This reportedly affected their relationships with their friends, neighbors and family, leaving psychological wounds.
With no census data available, it's estimated that there are about 100,000 people who identify as Muslim residing in Japan. Some of these people are Japanese citizens, while others are non-Japanese students and permanent residents with deep ties to the country.
去る7月9日、マスジド大塚はNPOてのはしさんの池袋東公園炊き出し運動に参加、約150名のホームレスの方々に320食分のカレーを配りました。今回は順天堂大学の学生さんたちの参加もありました。ご協力頂いた皆様方ありがとうございました！ pic.twitter.com/8iJhC5aCkY
— Otsuka Masjid/大塚マスジド (@otsukamasjid) July 26, 2016
On July 9, the Otsuka Mosque (Majid) joined a volunteer event in a park in Ikebukuro (in Tokyo). We helped provide 320 servings of curry to about 150 homeless people. A number of university students joined us to help out as well. Thanks to everyone who played a part today!
Thanks to the Silk Road trading route, Japan been connected with predominantly Muslim regions of the world for more than a thousand years. However, it was not until the end of Japan's long period of isolation in the 19th century and the opening of the country when a larger local Muslim community started to develop.
Ertugrul was first Islamic ship carrying Muslims to Japan in 1890, and the first known official contact between… https://t.co/omQLbmHPWV
— Islam In Japan Media (@IslamJapanMedia) August 3, 2016
By 1935 a mosque had been established in the major western trading port of Kobe. The Tokyo Camii mosque was established in 1938. The postwar years have seen migrants arriving from Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia and other Muslim countries. Some come to study in Japanese schools, while others arrive as temporary workers. Today there are mosques in every region of the country.
It's hard to say whether or not the actions of the Metropolitan Police and the National Police Association are indicative of Japan's attitudes towards Muslims. For example, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recently launched this guide book aimed at Muslim travelers:
Check out TOKYO #MUSLIM Travelers’ Guide! Welcoming visitors of all backgrounds & cultures. https://t.co/0ohE2rH5Uy pic.twitter.com/Sa1u7KgO7s
— Tokyo Gov (@Tokyo_gov) July 31, 2016
In November 2015, following the Paris attacks, a meme circulated on the English-language Internet about a list of supposed restrictions by Japan that effectively bans Muslim immigration. The meme was later debunked. Muslims are allowed to visit, reside in and even become citizens in Japan. Leading politicians including Prime Minister Abe Shinzo have also stressed the importance of tolerance. Nevertheless, the police monitoring program continues.
For now Japan's tolerant attitude towards Islam may have more to do with the fact that there are relatively few Muslims living in Japan. It's difficult to say if the attitudes held by police towards Muslims are an exception to Japanese public opinion, or a symptom of a deeper social stigma.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Justice as Usual, or Attack on Free Speech? Debunking Singapore’s Contempt-of-Court Bill · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Amos Yee and Roy Ngerng, Singapore bloggers who have faced legal cases for expressing their political views online. Photo from Facebook page of Roy Ngerng.
Have you ever tweeted about a court case while it was still in progress? Or written a story arguing for a person's innocence while they were still on trial?
Under a new bill in Singapore, these activities could get you in trouble with the law.
The Singapore Parliament is now deliberating the proposed Administration of Justice (Protection) bill which aims to clarify the meaning of “contempt of court”. The bill defines this as an umbrella term, covering prejudicing court matters, disobeying court orders, and scandalizing the courts. It also provides penalties appropriate for these actions.
The government claims the bill will strengthen the justice system but human rights groups fear it will codify a more arbitrary regulation of free speech. The bill was filed at a time when a growing number of Singaporean Internet users have been actively commenting on state policies and criticizing the actions of authorities. Cases like the prosecution of teen video blogger Amos Yee and death row inmate Kho Jabing  attracted plenty of comment prior to court rulings.
While Singapore's mainstream media is strictly regulated, the state is enforcing a so-called ‘light touch’ approach to Internet regulation. But bloggers decry it as a euphemism for censorship. Activists have cited previous cases when bloggers and critics were sued by the government for disrespecting the courts, defaming authorities, or criticizing government policies.
The second reading of the bill will be held on August 15. When the bill was tabled last month, Law Minister K. Shanmugam emphasized the timeliness of adopting this measure. He said the bill will promote the independence of the courts:
[…] contempt laws do not affect discussions on policies, and people are free to criticize judgements after a trial has concluded. However, what is “not right” is the public expressing views on an accused’s guilt or innocence, which may influence court proceedings.
But activists are worried that the bill will further stifle free speech in Singapore because it provides a vague definition of contempt of court. They say the bill contains several provisions that would criminalize the action of a person commenting on a case pending in the court.
For example, any action that “poses a risk that public confidence in the administration of justice would be undermined” is deemed contempt of court.
In a later statement, Singapore's Minister of Law gave an example of the policy in action:
Let’s say your son has been killed by someone, or you believe your son has been killed by someone. That person is facing charges. You say in anguish that ‘This person is a murderer, and that he has killed my son and he ought to hang.’ Now strictly speaking, that’s contempt, but I think it will be unlikely that any attorney-general will prosecute such a person. People will give some latitude.
The Community Action Network believes this definition can restrict the work of advocacy groups:
The Bill says you are in contempt of court if what you say or do has a “real risk of prejudice” to the outcome of the case. You are also in contempt if your “motives” are found to be “improper” But what does all this really mean in practice?
The Bill also allows the police to arrest and detain you. This is disproportionate, considering that the offender has not caused any harm to society, in the way that a robber, shoplifter, murderer or cheat has.
This new law will end up stifling civil society advocates, many of whom base their campaigns on injustices suffered by vulnerable individuals. How can we as social change makers even launch our campaigns, start the process of reform when such a blunt instrument hangs over our heads?
Speaking at a forum on the bill, activist Jolovan Wham pointed out that advocacy on issues like the death penalty could be outlawed under the bill, as the issue deals with death row inmates who more often than not have cases pending in court. In the recent case of Kho Jabing, the window between the conclusion of his final appeal and his execution was about three hours.
Wham says he thinks anti-death penalty activists would be most affected since it’s about capital court cases.
— Kirsten Han (@kixes) July 30, 2016
The definition of “publication” which refers to the “dissemination, distribution, exhibition, provision or communication by oral, visual, written, electronic or other means to the public at large or a member of the public” is also seen by some groups as overboard.
Talking to another person about a pending case or commenting about the issue on social media can be used as evidence in the filing of a contempt case. The Community Action Network explains how this provision will affect Internet users in Singapore:
This means that even if you don’t publish the offending the article, but it was published by someone else in another country, you could be in contempt of court simply by sharing an article on Facebook and Twitter.
Proponents of the bill might argue that the bill does not criminalize the publication of statements if they are “fair and accurate” and in “good faith”. But critics assert that this provision is still vague and can be interpreted in various ways. For example, if a news website publishes a story without airing the side of authorities, will the government consider the story ‘fair and accurate'?
Activist writer and Global Voices contributor Kirsten Han said the bill will have a “chilling effect” that can “further entrench a culture of self-censorship.”
While tensions between the offense of contempt and the principle of free speech will always exist, the broad and wide-ranging language used in the Administration of Justice (Protection) Bill gets the balance wrong. Leaving people confused over what can or can’t be said will have a chilling effect, whatever the intention of the law, further entrenching a culture of self-censorship and passive citizenship that’s detrimental to Singaporean society in the long run.
Some activists have launched an online campaign named ‘Don't Kena Contempt’ to educate the public about the dangers of the proposed bill:
We recognize the importance of fair trials, judicial independence and compliance with court orders, but the bill goes far beyond these goals. There is still a lack of clarity regarding what is or isn’t contempt of court, and the legal tests used in determining whether something is or isn’t contempt are troublingly low.
The campaign is urging authorities to delay the passage of the bill and to hold extensive public consultations about the measure.

author: Mong Palatino


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South Asia’s Largest Wikimedia Conference Kicks Off in India · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

The venue of Wiki conference India 2016. Image by Ravishankar Ayyakkannu. Used under a CC license
Wiki Conference India 2016, the largest gathering of the contributors of Wikipedia (the multilingual online encyclopaedia) and its sister projects called Wikimedia projects, begins August 5 in Landran, in the Indian state of Punjab.
The conference returns five years after its first iteration in 2011. This year's event is focused on bringing the contributor communities of South Asian and English-language Wikimedia projects from the Indian subcontinent under one roof.
A few hundred participants including 100 scholarship holders from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will meet at the Chandigarh Group of College campus, where the conference is being held. Organizers have planned a series of presentations, talks and workshops—related to major topics like gender bias in Wikipedia, technology, global reach, education, volunteer leadership building and engagement and program design—to occupy participants for all three days.
For the separate technical sessions, a pre-event needs assessment survey was conducted widely to collect input about the technical challenges that volunteer contributors are facing. A hackathon is in the works to address some of the major technical challenges of different language communities.
Inuagural ceremony of @WikiConIndia! #WCI2016 pic.twitter.com/ZktiwIFGP6
— Nurunnaby Chowdhury (@nhasive) August 5, 2016
The Wikimedia community in South Asia as a whole and the Wikipedia community, both of which rely on volunteers, are creating a massive repository of freely licensed content in the Indian languages on the Internet. Currently Wikipedia itself is available in about 293 languages. Other Wikimedia projects—Wikisource, a free library; Wiktionary, a multilingual online dictionary; and Wikimedia Commons, the world's largest media repository housing hundreds and thousands of images, audio, video and other media files—will add a few hundred more projects to this list.
Wikimedia Foundation guys on stage enjoying the culture if #Punjab and tagging their foot. #WCI2016 @wikimediaindia pic.twitter.com/5b0T0EbD81
— кαятнιкツ ηα∂αrツ (@karthikndr) August 5, 2016
Some of the noted guests who are addressing the gathering include Wikimedia Foundation's board member Nataliia Tymkiv, the organization's newly promoted Executive Director Katherine Maher, Punjabi-language poet Surjit Patar, and Internet freedom advocate and Centre for Internet and Society's Executive Director Sunil Abraham.
Punjabi poet Dr Surjeet Patar steals everyone's heart at #WCI2016 with his poetry recitation. pic.twitter.com/Kkj9gShYmu
— Subhashish Panigrahi (@subhapa) August 5, 2016
A Wikipedia edit-a-thon has been running for about a month prior to the conference in 12 Indian language Wikipedias and one European language Wikipedia (Ukrainian Wikipedia). The main languages in this edit-a-thon are Bengali, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu. The focus of this sprint is to expand the content reach of Wikipedia on Punjab, Punjabi people, and their language and culture as a symbolic gesture to show gratitude to Punjab where the event is happening. Articles about Punjab or Punjab people in other local languages will help many local readers of Wikipedia learn about Punjab in their own language. So far, more than 1,900 article have been created by about 100 Wikipedians. The edit-a-thon will be also running during the conference so that the participants can also contribute to this activity.
Konkani language is the official language of the Indian state of Goa and is spoken along the western coast of India. In an interview, The Discoverer, an active contributor to the Konkani-language Wikipedia, explained how Wikipedia can unite native speakers who speak different variations of the same language and write in different scripts:
For Konkani Wikipedia to succeed, it is not just a ‘good idea’ for Konkani speakers writing in various scripts to work together on one Wikipedia, but it’s also a necessity and a challenge at the same time. It’s a necessity, because as things stand, no one script has a strong enough community to run a Wikipedia by themselves. It’s a challenge because not everyone can read every script, and it’s important for all the users of a Wikipedia to be able to understand all the content on that site.
The full interview is here.
A team of dedicated organizers who are primarily volunteers and represent several Wikimedia communities from India and three Wikimedia-affiliates—Wikimedia India, Punjabi Wikimedians and Centre for Internet and Society's Access to Knowledge program—are working together to make this event a success.
More details about the event could be found in the event page, and on Facebook and Twitter.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


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Trinidad & Tobago’s Culture Was ‘Made Richer’ Thanks to Earl Crosby · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Lifelong cultural supporter, Earl Crosby. Photo courtesy the Crosby family, used with permission.
As if the loss of “genius” guitarist Fitzroy Coleman at the end of July were not enough of a blow to Trinidad and Tobago's cultural landscape, the local artistic and musical fraternity is now also mourning the death of cultural champion Earl Crosby.
Best known for his internationally popular record store, Crosby's Music Centre, he would relentlessly promote local music and culture. The store was the indisputable centre of activity for calypso and soca music and events, particularly during the country's annual Carnival season. Crosby lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on August 3, 2016, passing away just over a week before his 66th birthday.
Passionate about local music and culture, Crosby co-founded the annual WeBeat festival in St. James, where his store was located. The area is known as “the city that never sleeps” and is a popular “liming” spot in Trinidad's capital city, packed with bars, festive events and entertainment, and countless “street food” vendors. Not only did “We Beat” involve the community in highlighting local talent and culture, it also gave a boost to the area's businesses.
The St. James Arch denoting the entrance to “the city that never sleeps”, Port of Spain, Trinidad. Photo by Debangsu, used under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
While there was no doubt that Crosby was an astute businessman, he also nurtured a creative side as a successful songwriter, particularly in the parang and soca music genres. He was known for lobbying on behalf of musicians for a clamp down on piracy and was an advocate of instituting quotas for local content when it came to television broadcast and radio airplay.
Netizens expressed their sadness over Crosby's passing via social media. Journalist Laura Dowrich-Phillips wrote:
RIP Earl. […] He was such a gentle soul and a true lover of our culture.
Facebook user Alyson Myers-Capstick, who knew Crosby, called him “a true son of the soil”. In a telephone interview, she remembered him with admiration and fondness:
He was a great yet humble man, a real gentleman and a kind soul. He was always willing to do what he could to further the cause of local culture — and that included giving back to the community. For young people especially — I met him when I was 23 — he was a great mentor, always accessible and willing to talk. He really added value to my life.
We used to have to such fun with Earl at the Carnival launches that he would host. He was one of those people that you think would always be there — and then he's suddenly gone and this hole is created that can't be easily filled. He left some big shoes, but I think we should look to him as an example of how we should consider our country and our culture — and, of course, give something back in whatever way we can.
Cultural enthusiast Franka Philip summed it up this way:
RIP Earl Crosby. Our culture is richer thanks to your passion.
One Twitter user agreed:
RIP #EarlCrosby .A more generous soul you canno find in all of T&T.He has given T&T more than he received and he did it with a smile. Thanks
— Bae Z (@del_fred) August 3, 2016


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Trinidadian Guitarist Fitzroy Coleman, ‘the Greatest Chord Player of All Time’, Has Died · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The great Fitzroy Coleman” — photograph of an existing image of the chord master, taken by Robin Foster and used with permission. Original photographer unknown.
On July 26, 2016, Trinidad and Tobago lost one of its greatest musicians — the brilliant guitarist Fitzroy Coleman — at the age of 93.
Coleman had an inimitable style of playing; it was perhaps one of the qualities that made the popular website DigitalDreamDoor.com rank him Number 93 on its list of the world's greatest jazz guitarists, alongside more internationally acclaimed greats like Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt.
Trinidadian sound engineer Robin Foster, who knew Coleman well, posted several photos of the guitarist, as well as videos of past performances, one of which showed him backing Mahalia Jackson, recorded by the BBC in the early 1960s. On Facebook, he said:
R.I.P Fitzroy Coleman HBM. Worlds Greatest chord player.
In a telephone interview, Foster described Coleman as a “genius” — and, as many geniuses are, he was a “very emotional” man, Foster said, adding that injustices affected Coleman deeply. Foster confirmed that two of the most renowned classical guitarists in the world, John Williams and Julian Bream, once told Coleman that they considered him “the greatest chord player of all time”.
As a young man, Coleman was in high demand to perform at social events for the who's who of Trinidad society, as well as the American soldiers who were stationed on the island during World War II. A musical autodidact, he left Trinidad in 1945 and went to London to be part of a Caribbean band. While there, he was a regular fixture on the BBC, accompanying great talents such as Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, and Eartha Kitt, as well as established calypsonians such as Lord Kitchener and Roaring Lion.
A scan of an expired passport belonging to Fitzroy Coleman. Image courtesy Robin Foster, used with permission.
Upon his return to Trinidad in 1960, however, Coleman was “badly treated”, according to Foster, who says that his peers felt intimidated by his superior musicianship. “Trinidad had this world-class musician”, Foster lamented, “and people here don't even know his name.” He also recalled what it was like to watch him play:
Amazing! He would hear these impossible chords in his head and then actually find a way to play them. He was so inventive when it came to chord progressions. He told me it once took him two years to perfect one chord — and in addition to playing these remarkable chords, he would play the notes as a running bass line along with the chords — and put in a melody on top of that. He knew more than 900 songs by heart and could play them flawlessly.
Although Coleman was recognised by the Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago in 2013, he was very much an unsung hero in the land of his birth.
A legend in his own right, calypsonian David Rudder — who paid tribute to Coleman in his classic song Calypso Music — posted this Facebook status update on hearing of Coleman's passing:
Fitzie's gone boy. We wasted his brilliance. We only entered his library now and then. What a people eh!
For people like him, let's hope that there really is an afterlife so that his fingers can dance across the fretboard again. RIP boss.
Funeral arrangements are still to be finalised.