text:
Russians thrilled by World Cup’s kick off, despite looming pension and tax reforms · Global Voices
Christopher Moldes

Russian and foreign fans celebrate together after the host's victory over Saudi Arabia on the tournament's opening, on June 14. Photo: Screenshot/Youtube DW
The World Cup officially began on June 14th, with organizers expecting one million visitors to come to Russia despite several countries issuing travel warnings for this year's host.
Some of those visitors have reported being rather impressed with the infrastructure in Moscow, where the tournament’s opening match took place. With the capital's public authorities pouring millions of robles on urban renovations over the past several years, this hardly comes as a surprise.
With the effect of soft power on display for the rest of the world to see, how have Russians been reacting to the influx of large, wild crowds of foreigners?
If social media is a good indicator, not bad at all: Russians are gladly joining the party in the streets and online.
Just like the rest of the world, they seem to be fond of the Peruvian fanbase in particular — the South American team hasn't played in a World Cup since the 1982 tournament in Spain.
Перуанцы тоооооп! pic.twitter.com/yoXjG6LDdB
— Alina Matinian (@aamatinyan) 13 июня 2018 г.
Peruvians are the beeeeest!
До Чемпионата мира по футболу остались сутки, но болельщики уже празднуют в Москве. Аргентинцы и арабы танцуют на Никольской улице, перуанцы и иранцы поют на Тверской — москвичи снимают и присоединяются https://t.co/5qKAuKVDAn pic.twitter.com/WoZSNln4Pu
— TJ (@tjournal) 13 июня 2018 г.
The World Cup is still a few days away, but fans are already celebrating in Moscow. Argentinians and Arabs are dancing on Nikolskaya street, Peruvians and Iranians are singing on Tverskaya. Muscovites are filming and joining in.
But not everyone has been looking forward to the massive crowds of football fans. Since late 2017, students from Moscow State University have been opposing FIFA's plan to set one of their Fan Fest venues on their campus.
The FIFA Fan Fest venues — or the “fan zone”, as it's called in Russian — are spaces with large screens where crowds can watch the matches free of charge, and they have popped up all over Russia. The Moscow State students claimed that boisterous crowds on campus would pose an audio nuisance and a security risk, given the propensity of sports fans to become inebriated.
Students reported being subjected to harassment from state security officers and the school's administration over the course of the campaign, which turned out to be only slightly successful: the organizers agreed to move the fan zone a hundred feet away from where it was originally planned, although it's still technically inside the university.
One of the campaign organizers stated:
Когда мое имя впервые «засветилось» в списках Инициативной группы, у меня состоялся неприятный разговор с инспектором курса в учебной части и с председателем профкома на тему фан-зоны. Мне прямо сказали, что отчисление — это не пустые угрозы.
When my name first showed up on the action group’s lists, I had an unpleasant conversation about the fan zone with the administrative proctor and a representative of the local trade union committee. They told me outright that expulsion was not just an empty threat.
On a lighter note, one tourist became trapped in a shoddily-constructed bathroom stall in what looks almost like a nod to Sochi 2014's infamous double bathrooms:
trapped in a stadium toilet in moscow beating on door but nobody comes to rescue me send help pic.twitter.com/AQjBoEhQcb
— Ken Early (@kenearlys) 13 июня 2018 г.
Some observers have noticed a double standard on the treatment of visiting fans and Russian citizens by the authorities:
Uruguay fans unfold a banner in central Moscow. Worth noting that opposition figures have been arrested in this very spot for holding up, as a civil liberties experiment, blank pieces of paper. pic.twitter.com/oCDLw4NRV3
— marc bennetts (@marcbennetts1) 13 июня 2018 г.
Only days before the start of the games, one lone picketer was arrested for holding a poster that said: “On Russia Day, we demand freedom. The Revolution is Coming. Boycott the World Cup.”
The opening of the World Cup coincided with the announcement of a pension reform in Russia.
Long rumored to have been in the works, the Russian government officially declared its intention to raise the minimum retirement age in stages up to 65 for men and 63 for women. The present retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev also unveiled plans to raise the national goods and services tax from 18% to 20%.
Twitter users responded humorously:
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━━━━━┓ ＼＼
┓┓┓┓┓┃. твоя
┓┓┓┓┓┃ ヽпенсияノ
┓┓┓┓┓┃ 　 /
┓┓┓┓┓┃ ノ)
┓┓┓┓┓┃
— gipsy king (@bryansk_trans) 14 июня 2018 г.
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━━━━━┓ ＼＼
┓┓┓┓┓┃. your
┓┓┓┓┓┃ ヽpensionノ
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┓┓┓┓┓┃ ノ)
┓┓┓┓┓┃
Мне когда 22 исполнилось, у меня вечеринка называлась «33 года до пенсии», я так понимаю в следующем году на 30летие будет такая же вечеринка
— Даша Т. (@dasha_tmhn) 15 июня 2018 г.
When I turned 22, I had a “33 years until retirement” party, and, as I understand, my 30th birthday party next year will have the same theme.
Others noted the coincidental timing of these announcements.
“Законопроект о повышении пенсионного возраста внесут в день открытия ЧМ-2018″
Классика жанра: пока народ со свителками и дуделками разинув рты будет смотреть открытие ЧМ, “народные избранники” увеличат для этого самого народа возраст выхода на пенсию. Суть происходящего? pic.twitter.com/Gf3UaTacyZ
— Василий Андреев (@ramon_merkader) 13 июня 2018 г.
“The bill on raising the retirement age will be introduced on the opening day of the World Cup”.
A classic of the genre: while the people will be watching the World Cup with mouths agape with whistles and party lowers, “the people’s representatives” will raise the pension age for these very same people. Basically what’s happening ?
The World Cup ends on July 15th, with its 64 matches taking place across 11 Russian cities — here's a guide to the history and cultures of each of them.

author: Christopher Moldes


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Balkan right-wing populists continue attempts to rehabilitate the legacies of World War II Nazi collaborators · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

A group of Chetniks pose with German soldiers in an unidentified village in Serbia during World War II. Public domain photo by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, via Wikipedia.
Across Europe, extremist right-wing groups have employed historical revisionism to deny the Holocaust or make heroes out of World War II-era “quislings,” or people who collaborated with Nazi forces, considered widely to be traitors to their countries.
Instead of provoking the condemnation and ostracization of ruling elites who, to the outside world, present a more benign, pro-democratic face, this practice has sometimes benefited from their complacency, as two recent examples in Croatia and Serbia show.
In Serbia, the latest scandal started with a Twitter post from a profile called Nacionalist.rs, an “informative portal of Serbian nationalists” with a bio stating “For Serbian State! For brotherly Russia! Against NATO, EU, IMF”.
On May 7, 2018, it published a photo of some people identified as Serbian Army soldiers standing and saluting in front of the monument of Draža Mihajlović (1893-1946) on Ravna Gora mountain.
Делегација Војске Србије јуче је одала почаст
генералу Михаиловићу на Равној Гори! pic.twitter.com/peI0FM5byT
— Националист.рс (@NacionalistSrb) May 7, 2018
Delegation of the Army of Serbia yesterday paid their respects to general Mihajlović on Ravna Gora!
Mihajlović was leader of the Chetniks, a group of Serbian nationalist guerrillas who espoused an ideology of Greater Serbia, and during World War II cooperated with the German Nazis, Italian Fascists and Croatian Ustaša in their ultimately unsuccessful efforts to eradicate the Communist-led Yugoslav anti-fascist resistance. His cooperation with enemy occupying forces earned him the reputation of being a quisling. Once the war ended, Mihajlović was convicted and executed as a traitor and a war criminal.
During the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Slobodan Milošević's Serbian nationalist regime sponsored the revival of the Chetniks as a political factor. Some politicians, notably the convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj, identified with this ideology, and Chetnik apologia — including changing official history to present them as victims of “Communist terror” — became mainstream in Serbia. As a paramilitary force, these modern Chetniks were involved in a new wave of war crimes during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. Some of them had also participated in other wars, like in Ukraine, on the Russian side.
According to Vreme Weekly, the Nacionalist.rs tweet and a Facebook post by user Nemanja Todorović, which featured the same photo in higher resolution, were relayed first by sensationalist web portals, and then reported on by mainstream media. This generated tons of comments and reactions by the Serbian public. Todorović's caption stated:
Zvanicna delegacija Vojske Srbije odala pocast generalu Mihailovicu na Ravnoj Gori. Ovim je konacno priznat antifasizam i antinacizam Ravnogorske vojske tokom Drugog svetskog rata.
Official delegation of Serbian Army paid respects to general Mihajlović on Ravna Gora. This is final recognition of the anti-fascism and anti-nazism of the Ravna Gora army during Second World War.
The incident further polarized the Serbian public, inciting fierce debate between two opposing sides: outraged liberals who considered it a betrayal of the values of anti-fascism, and nationalists who applauded the rehabilitation of the controversial historical figure.
Meanwhile, the Serbian authorities offered feeble responses to journalistic inquiries about the event, which supposedly involved four buses worth of organized transport for about 200 soldiers. The Serbian Army's official website doesn't contain any information about this celebration, which allegedly took place on May 6, St. Mark's Day, an occasion the Chetniks recognize as the start of their uprising in 1941.
According to Blic Daily, the Serbian Ministry of Defense at first kept mum, then denied official participation of Serbian soldiers in the commemoration, implying they had been there as private citizens. Blic initially received unofficial confirmation that the photograph which appeared on social media is authentic, but that the soldiers took part in the ceremony “on their own initiative”.
However, anonymous army sources told Blic that the Ravna Gora event, which included the participation of all branches of the armed forces, was organized with the approval of Chief of Staff Ljubisha Diković, and with the knowledge of Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin. Blic also interviewed historian Miloslav Samardžić, who said that he was honored to take part in the event as keynote speaker at the invitation of the army, and that he had received a certificate of appreciation from the general staff.
In the month following, the public received no further information about the investigation, which the Ministry of Defense claimed it had put into motion after the incident. Although Chief of Staff Diković subsequently made an unprecedented television announcement about his impending retirement, he didn't link this to the incident.
The Serbian president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Aleksandar Vučić, who is otherwise omnipresent in the media and espouses opinions on various topics, failed to comment about the behavior of the soldiers under his command.
Vučić was formerly a high official in Šešelj's Serbian Radical Party, and the Minister of Information in the Milošević government. In 2008, he co-founded the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which branded itself as pro-European Union, and later became a member of the center-right European People's Party (EPP). Since 2012, SNS had been the central element of governing coalitions.
Historical revisionism based on apologia of domestic World War II Nazi collaborators has become part of mainstream politics in Croatia as well. The US State Department's 2017 Human Rights Report on Croatia noted:
Jewish community leaders reported evidence of Holocaust denial and publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s response to a veterans group’s placement of a plaque bearing the World War II-era Ustasha salute ‘Za Dom Spremni’ (For the Homeland, Ready) near the World War II-era Jasenovac death camp in 2016. President Grabar-Kitarovic and Prime Minister Plenkovic both condemned the placement of the plaque in Jasenovac. In September, the government relocated the plaque from Jasenovac to a veterans’ cemetery in the nearby town of Novska but did not make a legal determination on the use of the controversial Ustasha-era salute.
While refraining from openly endorsing the WWII-era fascist movement Ustasha, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had been involved in giving history a positive spin and rehabilitating the legacy of some of its members. HDZ nominally declares itself as center-right party and is also an EPP member.
One major instance of this trend is the commemoration of quislings who had been summarily executed by the anti-fascist resistance in Bleiburg, Austria, in May 1945. They were captured while trying to flee Yugoslavia after the capitulation of Nazi Germany. For years, HDZ members had been organizing “pilgrimages” to Bleiburg, mimicking the iconography of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
Under HDZ rule, the Croatian parliament had been organizing official commemorations at Bleiburg on May 12, with rhetoric presenting the events as a “symbol of suffering of the Croatian people”. The events even included a Catholic mass. Whitewashing a very complex history, HDZ official announcements condemned “the crimes of Communist villains”, but ignored the connection of the executed quislings with the mentioned “fascist crimes during World War II”.
Komemoracija na Bleiburgu – obilježena 73. godišnjica stradanja hrvatskog naroda https://t.co/ejAytUWBie pic.twitter.com/N8y32QNEOc
— HDZ (@HDZ001) May 12, 2018
Commemoration at Bleiburg – marked the 73rd anniversary of the suffering of the Croatian people.
Nazi or fascist salutes with a raised right hand, often tolerated in Croatia (as noted by the US State Department's human rights report quoted above), is a criminal act in Austria. This year in Bleiburg, Austrian police arrested six HDZ members who used the salute or other forms of fascist symbolism.
One of those arrested was Anđelko Bosančić, a prominent HDZ member from Dugo Polje, who had traveled to Bleiburg at the expense of Croatian taxpayers “as [a] representative of his municipality,” according to the Croatian press, which also labeled him as Ushtasha.
@HDZ001 i antifasizam. Koliko opcina placa putovanja u najveci nazisticki dernek u Evropi? Neke novine koje bi to istrazile? #bleiburg
— tonci percan (@pogledizstklma) May 21, 2018
HDZ and anti-fascism. How many municipalities pay for traveling to the biggest Nazi party in Europe? Is there any newspaper who would research this issue?
After his arrest, Bosančić first denied using “Hitler's salute”, but when Austrian authorities confronted him with evidence, he admitted to doing so. According to his Austrian lawyer Dr. Thomas Romauch:
Nakon toga Bosančić je priznao dizanje desne ruke, ali se branio da ništa loše nije mislio. Također je naveo da je član Hrvatske demokratske zajednice, da je demokrat, lokalni dužnosnik i da je u Bleiburg stigao kao predstavnik svoje općine, koja mu je i platila put. Po njegovu mišljenju, pjesma koju često koriste na svojim stranačkim skupovima bila je povod za sve. Na koncu je kazao kako mu je vrlo, vrlo žao zbog svega…
After that Bosančić admitted he raised his right hand, but claimed he didn't mean anything bad by that. He also claimed he is a member of the Croatian Democratic Union, that he's a democrat, a local official and that he came to Bleiburg as representative of his municipality, which paid for his trip. According to him, he got overly exited by a song which is often sung at HDZ party gatherings. At the end he said he is very very sorry for everything…
The song in question is “Od stoljeća sedmog” (“Since the seventh century”), which promotes Croatian endurance in spite of their enemies’ bloody attempts to destroy them.
All six Croatian citizens arrested at Bleiburg are still in Austrian detention, though some of their trials are scheduled to take place between June 19 and 29, 2018. Bosančić is facing up to 10 years in prison, as Austrian authorities claim zero tolerance for neo-Nazi and extremist incidents.
His lawyer said he will try to prevent his case from reaching federal court, which would treat his crime at the same level as murder or armed robbery. This stern treatment is “a consequence of the negative experiences Austria had with the time of Hitler and his heritage”, the lawyer explained in a statement to the Croatian daily, Slobodna Dalmacija.
The rehabilitation of the legacy of Nazi collaborators in Serbia and Croatia is part of a regional trend related to the rise of the extreme right in Europe. It is tied to the surge of right-wing populist parties and antisemitism across the continent (in particular in Central and Eastern Europe), ranging from state policies in Hungary, to tolerance of neo-Nazi manifestations in Bulgaria, and incidents in Macedonia.
State capture — the situation of subversion of the state institution to ruling political parties — by such forces enables impunity for hate speech and hate crimes. The historical revisionism based on the ideological preferences of ruling parties represents a direct challenge to the culture of remembrance of past human rights abuses as a precondition for the prevention of future crimes against humanity.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Marko Angelov


text:
Greek and Macedonian nationalists oppose agreement that would end a quarter-century name dispute · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias sign historic agreement, with Prime Ministers Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras in the background on 17 June 2018 in the village of Psarades/Nivici in the Greek part of Prespa Lake District. Photo by the Government of Republic of Macedonia, Public Domain.
After the prime ministers of Macedonia and Greece delighted the international public by agreeing to end the 27-year-old Macedonia name dispute, their domestic rivals are attempting to sabotage the deal that would pave the way for Macedonia's entrance into the European Union (EU) and NATO.
The agreement involves concessions on both sides, including consideration of the main Greek demand that the future name of current Republic of Macedonia contains a geographic qualifier that would designate it as only a part of the geographical region of Macedonia, whose territory extends to Northern Greece, as well as parts of Eastern Bulgaria and Western Albania.
So what's the name both governments agree on? The Republic of North Macedonia.
The deal also addresses concerns by ethnic Macedonians, who comprise the majority of the Republic of Macedonia’s population. Their distinct identity has been denied by nationalists of the neighboring Balkan states, who claim that they are really an “estranged” sub-category of neighboring Slavic peoples — Bulgarians or Serbs — despite the fact that the markers of ethnic Macedonians’ identity, like their unique language and culture, had been recognized by the international community for decades.
With the deal, Greece agrees to respect them and designate their nationality as “Macedonian” or “citizens of the Republic of North Macedonia”.
For the Republic of North Macedonia, ending the dispute is a life-saving development. It means that Greece will lift the veto that has been blocking Macedonia’s entry into two key international organizations: NATO and the European Union. The majority of Macedonian citizens, who are otherwise divided across ethnic, religious and ideological lines, agree that achieving this consensual long-term strategic goal would help their multi-ethnic society move from being in a transitional state of limbo to becoming a normal European country.
NATO membership is particularly important, as it guarantees security and sustainability for the state — the very existence of which is disputed by various nationalist forces, and which has been brought to the edge of civil war twice in the last three years thanks to its former Russia-supported populist regime, which ruled the country from 2006 to 2017.
EU membership would provide more opportunities for good governance and economic development. Accession negotiations include a thorough review of all aspects of governance, which could result in a more efficient fight against corruption. Membership also provides additional mechanisms for the protection of citizens’ rights, subsidies for building infrastructure and other industries, and free movement and employment opportunities across the union. In recent years, over 120,000 Macedonian citizens (out of about two million) have requested citizenship in neighboring Bulgaria, primarily for economic reasons.
Contrary to the approach of former governments of the two Balkan nations, which mainly deepened the divisions between Macedonia and Greece, prime ministers Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras have led a process of trust-building that the international community was happy to support.
When they announced that they had reached a deal to end the dispute which, for over a quarter of a century, had consistently generated tensions that teetered dangerously close to the possibility of a new Balkan war, their accomplishment was lauded as one worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize.
We have been locked in the EU waiting room over the name issue for far too long. Now the people need to see that door fully opened to support the compromise. Grateful to Minister @HeikoMaas for supporting the Macedonian strive to start EU accession talks and accede to NATO. pic.twitter.com/ORrFx3Od46
— Nikola Dimitrov (@Dimitrov_Nikola) June 14, 2018
One Macedonian Twitter user took former Macedonian prime ministers and presidents who had failed to solve the Macedonia naming dispute to task, accusing them of keeping the country isolated and poor:
ПРОКЛЕТИ ДА СТЕ… вие, се знаете кои сте, Бранко, Љубчо, Грујо, Бучко, Киро, Ѓорѓе…
27 ГОДИНИ им земавте на луѓето во Македонија.
27 ГОДИНИ РОБИЈА им пропишавте.
27 ГОДИНИ за нешто што @Zoran_Zaev го реши за 9 месеци.
— Чорбаџи Ја (@CorbadziJa) June 12, 2018
Damn you, you know who you are, [Branko Crvenkovski], [Ljubcho Georgievski], [Vlado Buchkovski], [Kiro Gligorov], [Gjorge Ivanov]…
27 YEARS you took from the people of Macedonia.
27 YEARS of IMPRISONMENT prescribed by you.
27 YEARS for something that Zoran Zaev solved in 9 months.
Even though most Macedonians don’t consider the agreement perfect, they acknowledge that their country has been in a disadvantaged position and therefore had to compromise:
Можете да дробите колку сакате ама Заев изигра машки и ова беше единствено решение.
— Аритмија (@snowgirly2) June 12, 2018
You may say what you like, but Zaev played this like a man and this was the only solution.
International reactions to the agreement have been overwhelmingly positive, with NATO and the EU jointly stating that they would welcome Macedonia's membership as soon as the deal is formally implemented:
Today's agreement betw. Athens and Skopje is a historic and very courageous achievement that will benefit both sides and the entire region. Looking forward to all political actors in both countries showing constructive leadership in the next steps. https://t.co/bC4CzbDOkZ
— Johannes Hahn (@JHahnEU) June 12, 2018
In both countries, traditional nationalists have been organizing protests and political actions deeming the agreement treasonous and contrary to national interests. This includes VMRO-DPMNE in Macedonia and New Democracy in Greece, both former ruling parties which are members of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP). Like other international organizations, the EPP had called for constructive support for the deal by “all political parties”, using diplomatic language without openly reprimanding its members:
Isn't it ironic that VMRO-DPMNE objects to Republic of North Macedonia, while it is listed on the @EPP website under the former Yugoslav Republic of Yugoslavia and has New Democracy as a partner, whose president criticizes the current agreement as selling out? pic.twitter.com/dfgRCG3bZm
— Florian Bieber (@fbieber) June 14, 2018
While in power, the two EPP “sister parties” exploited the fear and hate fueled by the Macedonia naming dispute to present themselves as defenders of their respective national interests and increase support from domestic right-wing voters:
Инаку ВМРО се самите виновни што граѓаниве со индолентност прифаќаат промена на име… ги доведоа до питачки стап да и најпонижувачко име е поприфатливо од понижувањето да не можеш на сопствено дете да му дадеш пари за сендвич во школо, облека, скромно патување или одмор…
— Бапчо (@TheFitzzz) June 12, 2018
BTW VMRO can only blame themselves for the citizens’ indolent acceptance of the name change… They turned them into paupers and now the most humiliating name is more acceptable than the humiliation of not being able to provide your own child with money to buy a sandwich for school lunch, clothes, afford a modest trip or a vacation….
In Greece, the parliamentary opposition led by New Democracy initiated a no confidence vote against Tsipras’ government ahead of the foreign ministers’ signing of the agreement on June 17, 2018. The government majority persevered, with lawmakers voting 153-127 against the motion, in the 300-member parliament.
In Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE deemed the agreement “capitulation” to Greek blackmail, and vowed “to oppose it with all democratic means”. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, who got into office with VMRO-DPMNE support in the 2014 elections — which were marred by allegations of fraud — echoed these claims.
In the period before the government published the full text of the agreement, VMRO-DPMNE made many attempts to persuade citizens that the agreement would be detrimental. On social networks, for instance, VMRO-DPMNE apparatchiks took part in seemingly coordinated efforts to convince non-English speakers that the new name implies that the word “Macedonia” would be “surrendered” and would designate only the Greek territory. Making an intentional typo, they claimed that the new name would be the “Republic North of Macedonia”, meaning an unnamed land to the North of Greek Macedonia, instead of the correct name, the “Republic of North Macedonia”:
Бившиот градоначалник на Крива Паланка учи англиски на google translate. pic.twitter.com/FI25yVdqBz
— Девојка са севера (@tattoo_N_girl) June 13, 2018
Tweet: The former [VMRO-DPMNE] mayor of Kriva Palanka is using Google Translate to learn English.
Image: Screenshot of the Facebook post by Arsenco Aleksovski typing ‘Republic North of Macedonia’ in English and corresponding Macedonian translation, with his comment ‘Well this is even scarier? You can see for yourself on Google Translate.’
In a manner similar to the events that led to the attack on the Macedonian parliament on April 27, 2017, VMRO-DPMNE proxy groups, presenting themselves as “patriotic” civil society organizations and football fan groups, organized protests ahead of the signing that saw hate speech and the throwing of Molotov cocktails at the Macedonian parliament.
As in the past, such protests — with the call for a “Clean Macedonia” and chants calling for the killing of Albanians with gas chambers — provided a platform for those advocating ethnic cleansing against groups of people living in the country:
Пеат клети шиптари, а проблемот со името е со грците. Јака дрога
— Шерлоче (@Sherloche) June 13, 2018
They sing against the accursed [ethnic slur] Albanians, while the problem with the name is with the Greeks. The drugs they take are hard.
In Greece and Macedonia, violent protests continued after the agreement was signed, with police in both countries using tear gas to disperse participants. In Skopje, police intervened after the demonstrators threw incendiary devices at them, and tried to storm the parliament again, while waving the old Macedonian “Vergina flag” (which was changed after a 1995 deal with Greece) as well as the flag of Russia.
The deal's signing is just a first step in a long process: it must be ratified in the parliaments of both countries and there could be a possible referendum over its approval in Macedonia. Its opponents will have more opportunities for obstruction.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Guyana’s LGBT community hosts its first ever gay pride parade · Global Voices
Atiba Rogers

Rainbow flag photo by Jaime Pérez, CC BY-NC 2.0.
“Spread love, not hate” is the mantra that rang out during Guyana's first gay pride parade, which took place on June 3, 2018. It was an event that allowed the country's LGBT community the opportunity to step out of the cloak of invisibility and claim their right to be proud of who they are and who they choose to love:
‘Spread love, not hate’
Congratulations on your first-ever Pride parade, Guyana! #LoveIsLove ?? pic.twitter.com/lEFxgf5Kja
— Shomeo (@SassBaller) June 4, 2018
The festivities kicked off at the Square of the Revolution in the capital city of Georgetown, with participants wearing rainbow coloured garb and dancing to soca music as they marched in solidarity against hate and bigotry:
#Guyana_Pride
A Proud Moment to celebrate the exsistence of LGBTQ+ Citizens in Guyana pic.twitter.com/S5PdblZn7b
— Guyana Trans United (@trans_guyana) June 3, 2018
Anal sex (commonly known as “buggery” in many Caribbean territories) is still illegal in Guyana, despite the landmark rulings in the Caleb Orozco case in Belize in 2016, and the more recent Jason Jones case in Trinidad and Tobago, both of which deemed the criminalisation of sodomy unconstitutional. Both cases were not without controversy and negative reactions, region-wide — and neither was Guyana’s gay pride parade.
Netizens were quite vocal about their opposing views. In once Facebook thread, Yolanda Adams left a scathing comment that reflected just how much of a role religion plays in the issue:
Mr President stand your ground, if you only promote this act, the country will be curse[d] because God is totally against it. He has destroy[ed] a nation already because of this act and hasn't changed. These are not the days to please mankind, your first duty is to protect the inncocent (sic) children. Because if you don't you will answer to God.
So don't make decisions on Votes, God put you there not man.
So please put God first.
Shanna Leaona Patterson was also against the revocation of the law:
This government stands a better chance if they legalize small quantities of marijuana instead of antimen so they had better choose wisely
The Guyanese term for a male homosexual is an “anti-man”.
Facebook user Brenda Oliver had this to say:
People just trying a thing that will not pass in Guyana. Guyana is not America
Other Facebook users thought the event was a blatant contradiction of the country's laws, and there was a lot of discussion about religious damnation. One commenter suggested that the country had other issues to resolve — race relations, for example — that were more pressing. Those in support of the parade — or at least those reserving judgement — appeared to be in the minority.
For Guyana's LGBT community, however, the event was a first step against the marginalisation they face because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Member of Parliament Priya Manickchand, who supports the community’s efforts, said that “people should be able to make their own choices”, and that the government had no place in people's bedrooms.
Her statements attracted online support. Facebook user Shannon Andre Persaud wrote:
I really can’t tolerate people against the LBGTQ community. What a tremendous step it was to see this embraced in Guyana but not of course without the ignorant trolls. But instead of engaging with discriminative and uneducated people, I unfriended and problem solved! Love is love ❤ And this world could do with less hatred and discrimination and lots more love and humanity. #isupportthelbgtqcommunity
There was also some advocacy on Twitter:
One to go! #Guyana is the only South American country where homosexuality is still illegal. It just held its first LGBT Pride parade. Let's hope decriminalisation is next: https://t.co/KinMuV8YK6 Congratulations to @SASODGuyana @GuyanaTrans & Guyana Rainbow Foundation. SOLIDARITY
— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) June 5, 2018
The parade is just one facet of the community’s fight for equal rights. Joel Simpson, managing director of the Society Against Sexual Orientation and Discrimination (SASOD) who organised the parade, had a message for government officials — the LGBT community expects to see action.
However, there is strong resistance. At a conference the day before the gay pride parade, members of the Georgetown Ministers’ Fellowship expressed their displeasure by threatening to withhold their votes during elections. The Christian community comprises more than 60% of Guyana's population and, as is the case in other regional territories, is lobbying against overturning age-old buggery laws. The Fellowship even threatened to block the parade, but with a strong police presence, there were no incidents.
Simpson, who attended the conference as a representative of the gay community, indicated that LGBT citizens were still waiting on a 2015 campaign promise of legislative change:
We are voting, tax paying law abiding citizens like everyone… We are not asking for anything special. We should enjoy protection from discrimination.

author: Atiba Rogers


text:
#BabaeAko campaign unites women in challenging the sexist behavior of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Women march against Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's sexist and mysogynist statements. #BabaeAko Lumalaban means ‘I am a woman fighting’. Photo from Pinoy Weekly
Women’s rights advocates in the Philippines have launched the #BabaeAko (I am a woman) campaign aimed at calling out the “anti-women” remarks and behavior of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The campaign recently mobilized social media support after Duterte was criticized for kissing a married woman on the lips amidst the cheers of his supporters in a public function in Seoul, South Korea on June 3, 2018.
One aspect of the campaign encouraged women to post a video message addressed to Duterte followed by a pledge of “lalaban ako” (I will fight back).
Government spokesmen have justified the “kissing scene” as a “light moment” that is “accepted in Filipino culture” while Duterte himself boasted that “we enjoyed it” and that critics “are just envious”. To his critics, however, the event exhibited in full view Duterte’s notion of women as mere objects of desire and entertainment.
Screenshot from local news coverage by Rappler of Duterte's kissing scene with a woman supporter during a public function in South Korea.
The #BabaeAko social media campaign was launched on May 20, 2018, shortly after Duterte made a statement that the next ombudsman should not be a woman. He has cursed UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard, put opposition Senator Leila de Lima in jail, and ousted Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno from office, among others.
Callamard, De Lima, and Sereno are all vocal critics of Duterte’s bloody war on drugs that has, according to some estimates, already killed over 20,000 people.
Duterte is notorious for giving rape jokes in his official speeches, having catcalled a female reporter in a press conference, and even having ordered troops to shoot female communist rebels in the genitals.
Below are some #BabaeAko posts on Facebook. This is by the Gabriela Women's Party representative in Congress, Arlene Brosas:
Babae ako, Arlene Brosas, kinatawan ng Gabriela Women's Party sa Konggreso. Tutol ako sa macho, pasista, pyudal, patriarkal na kultura ng administrasyong Duterte. Lalaban ako.
I am a woman, Arlene Brosas, Gabriela Women's Party representative in Congress. I am opposed to the macho, fascist, patriarchal, and feudal culture of the Duterte regime. I will fight back.
This is from a video by Judy Taguiwalo, a university professor and former cabinet member turned staunch critic of the Duterte administration:
Babae ako, Judy Taguiwalo, patriotic teacher. Akala ang taumbayan ang boss ni Duterte, yun pala sila Marcos, Gloria, Trump, at Tsina. Para sa bayang malaya at makatarungan, lalaban ako.
I am a woman, Judy Taguiwalo, a patriotic teacher. I thought Duterte serves the Filipino people. It turns out he is subservient to [late dictator of the Philippines Ferdinand] Marcos, [former president of the Philippines] Gloria [Arroyo], [US President] Trump and China. For this just and free nation, I will fight back.
The next transcript is from a video by theater artist and activist Mae Paner, better known as Juana Change:
Babae ako. Ako si Juana Change, isang makabayang artista. Sa pamamagitan ng aking sining ay patuloy kong ipaglaban ang katotohanan, katwiran, katarangan, at kalayaan sa lubos ng aking makakaya. Magtutuos tayo. Lalaban ako.
I am a woman, I am Juana Change, a patriotic artist. Through my art, I will continue to fight for truth and reason, justice and freedom, to the best of my ability. We will reckon with each other. I will fight back.
This is from a video by veteran journalist and press freedom advocate Inday Varona:
Babae ako, si Inday Espina Varona, isang lola. [I am a woman, Inday Varona, a grandmother.] I will not allow my grandchildren to grow up in a world without due process, where a President thinks of death and murder as the solution to social problems. Kaya lalaban ako. [Thus I will fight back.]
Here are some #BabaeAko posts on Twitter:
That you have none other than the president of the country trivializing rape and making jokes about sexual harassment. #BabaeAko allows anyone, not just women to speak out and be heard.https://t.co/5k4m0v05xx https://t.co/5k4m0v05xx
— Zena Dora (@ZenaD0ra) June 5, 2018
The Philippine President kissing a Filipina on the lips in South Korea made my stomach turn.
Duterte continuously abuses his power over women, the poor, and others whom he thinks he can exercise power over.
Women, resist! Shame on this president! #BabaeAko#LumalabanAko
— Jean Enriquez (@jeanenriquez) June 3, 2018
It's 2018. Anyone who still thinks being a woman makes one less competent, tough, and courageous than a man can go back to the last century—and stay there. #BabaeAko
— Ceej Tantengco (@ceejtheday) May 25, 2018
Women are not scared of Duterte. Duterte is scared of women. That’s the message of #BabaeAko pic.twitter.com/LUxUciQdfq
— Tonyo Cruz (@tonyocruz) 25 de mayo de 2018
I am a mother, a teacher, a Filipino. I condemn Duterte for being a misogynist and making it “acceptable” for women to be hated and attacked. He is a foul-mouthed, lily-livered tyrant. My children, I, and this country deserve better. I will fight back.#BabaeAko pic.twitter.com/x5lu3uyKrh
— Miss Maggie (@MiaMagdalena) May 24, 2018
She was initially reluctant, but he is a very powerful man and the cheering crowd was putting her on the spot. Her eventual “consent” didn't make the act right.
This is toxic machismo. Shed the male gaze. Women are not conquests. Do not embrace your own oppression. #BabaeAko pic.twitter.com/vtPfrWAJtY
— Giancarlo Garcia (@giandrocketman) June 3, 2018
In response, officials at Malacañan Palace (the official residence of the president) threw shade at the #BabaeAko campaign, saying this was merely “politically-motivated” against the president. Duterte then vowed to resign if “enough women” protest his controversial kiss. A #BabaeAko protest was held on Philippine Independence Day, June 12, in major cities in the country.

author: Karlo Mongaya


text:
Can the United States connect Cubans to the internet? A historical review from the Cuban perspective · Global Voices
Periodismo de Barrio

Illustration: MONK (Periodismo de Barrio). Used with permission.
The inaugural meeting of the Cuba Internet Task Force (CITF) was held on February 7, 2018 and led by the State Department’s Assistant Deputy Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, John Creamer.
What was said is already well-known: Low internet access in Cuba is mainly the result of a political decision by the government. The hourly cost is prohibitively expensive. Access to the internet is vital for the development of civil society, independent journalism, and the protection of human rights. Increasing access to the internet could contribute to improvements in health, agriculture, tourism, and provide new opportunities for business.
No direct fiber optic cable connection exists between Cuba and the United States, a piece of infrastructure that would allow the country to quickly restore connectivity if it were lost after a hurricane.
To understand why this was under discussion, we must go back to the beginnings of the CITF.
On January 23, 2018, the State Department announced the official creation of CITF in accordance with the Presidential National Security Memorandum, as a further step of intentionally strengthening United States policy toward Cuba since June 2017.
The stated objective was to “examine the technological challenges and opportunities for expanding internet access and freedom of expression in Cuba.” That paragraph hit mainstream national news the next day and spread like wildfire across international media, blogs and social media.
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) delivered a note to the US chargé d'affaires in Havana eight days later, saying that the actions described in the paragraph were an attempt “to flagrantly violate Cuban sovereignty.”
All funding needed for the organization and operation of CITF would be provided by the Western Hemisphere Affairs Office and participating agencies.
CITF was to be composed of departmental and agency representatives from the United States government and by non-governmental organizations or private entities related to the Internet.
Two subcommittees were created after the first meeting: “one to analyze the role of media and the flow of free and unregulated information in Cuba and another to explore access to the Internet within the country.” So it is likely that the Cuban reader of this article is being accompanied by a member of the subcommittee dedicated to the role of independent media from his office.
In summary, what CITF must deliver to the Secretary of State and the White House when its work is completed in 2019 is a report with recommendations.
Requesting recommendation reports to increase Internet access in Cuba is not just another one of Donald Trump’s quirks. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have done so before him. Before Bill Clinton, the Internet did not exist in Cuba (recall that it was during his administration the island's first Internet connection was finally authorized in 1996).
It was during his administration the island's first Internet connection was established in 1996, in relative sync with other countries in Latin America.
Illustration: MONK (Periodismo de Barrio)
Ask Alan Gross. For those unfamiliar with him, he is a US citizen who traveled to Cuba and passed through customs five times with portable satellite communication equipment intended to provide Internet access to several Jewish communities in the country (at least in principle). Gross was not a philanthropist, but a contractor of the private company Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI). In 2008, DAI was subcontracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with the aim of increasing Internet access in Cuba.
Gross was sentenced to prison in Cuba for 15 years in 2011 and released after five, as part of negotiations by the administration of Barack Obama, when the two countries re-established diplomatic relations.
The series of unfortunate events that led Gross to imprisonment began with the administration of Bill Clinton and the signing of the Helms-Burton Act in 1996. This federal law was created and passed in order to strengthen the embargo against Cuba, seek sanctions against Castro's government and support government change. Interventions like the one that landed Gross in prison years later were fostered by the Helms-Burton Act.
Working under the fiscal agency of his small company, JBDC LLC, Gross signed a subcontract in February 2009 with DAI for a payment of $258,274.00. This included the purchase of the technology needed to establish Internet access networks via satellite in Cuba. The proposal, called “ICT4Cuba” or by its trade name “ICTs For the Island,” had “to train a primary group on the use and maintenance of information technologies and terrestrial and non-terrestrial communications currently available in the market.” Over longer term prospects, the pilot project would help establish a practical base to improve the management of transition initiatives toward democracy through the construction of technological networks, but JBDC would first work with the Jewish and then the Freemasons communities.
Gross made his first trip to Havana just a month later, in March 2009. According to the transcript of the trial held in the Provincial Court of Havana on March 11, 2011, “he was able to carry in the technology without being detected by customs at José Martí International Airport and then pass along equipment to the BGAN unit that allows satellite communication in the synagogue of the Jewish community in Havana.”
On the night of December 3, 2009, before his fifth return to the United States, Gross was arrested by Cuban authorities and charged with crimes against state security.
After his arrest, he was transferred to Havana’s Villa Marista prison and then to Carlos J. Finlay military hospital, where he was kept in maximum security. After 14 months of detention, he was accused of having committed “acts against the independence or territorial integrity of the State,” of being involved in “a subversive project aimed at overthrowing the revolution,” and of  violating Article 91 of the Penal Code due to the work he was doing for DAI and USAID. Results of the trial as decreed by the Supreme Court: 15 years’ deprivation of liberty.
Alan and his wife Judy Gross sued the US government for negligence by repeatedly sending Gross to do work for which “the government knew he was ill-prepared, without providing the most basic education, training, or warnings required in the directives by the government itself.” But they lost the suit. The most they achieved was an agreement with DAI for an unpublicized settlement.
On March 22, 2016, at the Havana Grand Theatre, Obama delivered a speech to the Cuban people:
The Internet should be available across the island, so that Cubans can connect to the wider world — and to one of the greatest engines of growth in human history. […] And I can tell you as a friend that sustainable prosperity in the 21st century depends upon education, health care, and environmental protection. But it also depends on the free and open exchange of ideas. If you can’t access information online, if you cannot be exposed to different points of view, you will not reach your full potential. And over time, the youth will lose hope.
In the context of detente and with the objective of “increasing access to communications for Cubans and their ability to communicate freely,” US telecommunications companies were authorized to “establish the necessary mechanisms and infrastructures to provide Internet and telecommunications services on the island.” In addition, the commercial sale of “certain communications devices, software, applications, hardware, and other services for the establishment and updating of systems related to communications” was permitted.
Since 2014, representatives from Google periodically visited Havana. In 2016, Google opened a technology space at the studio of Kcho, an artist who until recently had close ties to the Cuban government and Communist Party. Located in the outlying city section of Playa, the Google + Kcho.Mor studio offered free internet access to the public, on 20 Chromebooks, which people could use for one hour at a time, if they provided state ID first. At the time of its opening, Google's Brett Perlmutter said that the company was confident that the project would be part of a broader cooperative effort to bring Internet access to the Cuban people.
In May of that same year, T-Mobile announced an interconnection and roaming agreement with the Telecommunications Company of Cuba, S.A. (ETECSA), which enabled the expansion of communications between the United States and Cuba, offering cheaper (but still relatively expensive) voice calls for US customers who wanted to keep in touch with friends and family in Cuba, as well as data plans for customers traveling to the island. As a result of the agreement, T-Mobile Simple Choice plan customers  could “call landlines and cordless phones in Cuba from the US for $.60 a minute.”
ETECSA also had roaming agreements with Verizon Wireless, based in New York; Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas; and AT&T, based in Texas. At AT&T, data cost $2.05 per megabyte.
Trump’s Task Force isn’t the first – and neither does it appear to be the last – of a US administration. We will have to wait until October 2019 to know what they’re going to recommend to the White House and State Department.
Over time, US authorities have tried two different models for expanding Internet access in Cuba: the Alan Gross formula, under which initiatives were carried out in secret or semi-secret terms; and the Obama model, where in the US government openly and publicly sought to push for change, while still carrying out some semi-secret intervention programs.
The former method bysteps Cuban authorities (and specifically the ETECSA monopoly) entirely, defying customs laws, installing technologies in communities of interest (such as religious groups, political opponents, youth, etc.), and in the case of Alan Gross, ending with a 15-year prison sentence, reduced to 5 after intense negotiations. Nevermind maintenance costs of operations unmaintainable even for USAID, or, in the most laughable of cases, a possible ultimate outcome of Cuban civil society more interested in downloading pornography than political news.
The latter, in which talks with the Cuban government and ETECSA kicked off with Obama's announcements in December 2014, has not managed to significantly increase access, lower costs, or promote free flow of information within the island.
Ultimately, the biggest achievements of these efforts have only thus far culminated in faster downloads on Havana's Google servers (under the eye of ETECSA) of singer Marc Anthony and music group Gente de Zona YouTube videos.

author: Periodismo de Barrio


text:
‘We are victims who assist victims’: Documenting human rights violations in Nicaragua · Global Voices
Elisa Marvena

Screenshot of #SOSNicaragua video shared by The Nicaragua Press newspaper on its YouTube channel.
In the two months since April 18, Nicaraguans have gone from holding protests against several unpopular governmental decisions to organizing what now appears to be an actual popular uprising based on peaceful resistance. Universities have been occupied, highways blocked, general strikes launched and entire neighborhoods surrounded by makeshift barricades mounted by residents to prevent pro-government “parapolice” groups from entering.
According to protesters, the rapid evolution of this grassroots movement was spurred by profound indignation over the government's severe repression of the demonstrations. At the time this post was edited, there had been 178 people killed and another 1,400 wounded.
The majority of the confirmed deaths (the real number could be higher) were from gunshot wounds to the head, neck and body. Human rights defense groups such as the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights and Amnesty International have called these deaths “extrajudicial executions“.
Events have quickly escalated and many allegations are circulating online. From different parts of the country, videos and reports have been shared on Facebook and Twitter showing armed groups intimidating and attacking protesters or people who refuse to collaborate with them.
Over the weekend, a family with two children burned to death in a house set on fire by armed groups. Accusations are flying, but relatives and witnesses say parapolice groups linked to the government of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo are responsible.
#ÚLTIMAHORA Nicaragua invitará a organismos de derechos humanos a investigar violencia (acuerdo) #AFP pic.twitter.com/RzKNZ2jRqI
— Agence France-Presse (@AFPespanol) June 16, 2018
Nicaragua will invite human rights organizations to investigate violence (agreement)
While the news focuses on what is happening in the streets and on the attempts to create a national dialogue that seems to envision a change of government, Global Voices reached out to a group of activists who amid the chaos are working together to document accusations of human rights violations occurring in the country.
To better understand their labor and this dimension of the conflict, we interviewed “Marina” (her name has been changed for safety reasons), who is a cyber-activist feminist, lawyer and expert in gender and development.
She is currently collaborating with the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH in Spanish) in the city of León. CENIDH is an organization that promotes and protects human rights. It was formed by Nicaraguan civil society in 1990, a post-war era during which the country was transitioning to a democratic government.
In the wake of the political crisis that began on April 18, 2018, and the widespread repression throughout the country, CENIDH joined feminists like Marina in León to begin to record accusations from citizens coming from the western half of the country.
Global Voices (GV): In what context did you all begin to document accusations of human rights violations in León?
Marina: At this time, there is a profound dismantling of institutions of order and justice, and of basic rule of law. A climate of threat and terror exists in society. Everything is upside down. The National Police have abandoned their duty to protect the people, and are instead repressing and assassinating citizens. The Institute of Forensic Medicine has foregone forensic exams and falsified reports. The Public Ministry is dedicated to making up charges against innocent citizens to cover up crimes committed by the National Police.
Victims and their families continue to be under siege. Several of them have been forced to withdraw their accusations. And for us, it is even more complex, because human rights defenders are also subjected to persecution and intimidation.
GV: When you receive an accusation, what process do you follow and how is the workload managed?
Marina: We don't have an office. We work from our homes and in other communities in the western half of the country, in places such as churches, hospitals, locations that similar organizations let us use, cafes, etc. In several cases, and out of fear of reprisal, the victims send us recordings of their accusations. [In those cases] we don't get to see them in person. We transcribe the recordings and send their case file back to them via email for verification or to add more details.
The citizens only trust in human rights institutions. For us, this is a tremendous responsibility and commitment. We believe that at the present time, after the Catholic Church, institutions that defend and promote human rights have the most credibility.
GV:  What kinds of testimonies are you gathering? What are the most common accusations made by the people who contact you?
Marina: The most serious testimonies have been a report of a heinous murder and sexual violence, and accusations of murder. The most frequent are physical aggression, serious aggression by the police, cases of young people bring shot, repression of the right to protest, death threats, intimidation, coercion of public employees who have come to us to make accusations, torture… We cannot speak a lot about the particular cases, only of general characterizations, to maintain confidentiality.
The work of those who defend human rights is very tied up in condemning violations and supporting the people who suffered the trauma. At the same time, it is necessary to collect testimonies, document the accusations and create case files — an effort that is difficult to understand from afar and in the short term, but will be fundamental in future processes of reconciliation, of creating memory and of revitalizing institutions.
Gobierno de Nicaragua aceptó invitar a organismos de derechos humanos https://t.co/me9baRBjbb pic.twitter.com/9g8PvqLaYK
— La Nación (@nacion) June 16, 2018
The Nicaraguan government agreed to invite human rights organizations [to investigate]
GV: At this time, what are the legal possibilities for victims?
Marina: The legal possibilities are next to none. The act of making an accusation is a gesture of symbolic justice. It is the first step in facing the trauma. And we know that legal language does not address trauma.
We believe that the importance of our work is based on the creation of a case file. Right now, there is very little that can be done. My colleague tells me that her dream is for us to create a ‘National Registry of Victims of State Terrorism’, such as one recently created in Guatemala with the historical sentence in the Molina Thiessen case. Guatemala, in these areas, and among these winds of change, has been an important example in Central America.
We want to help tell this story together so that it never happens again. It is incredible that only 39 years ago on these same dates, we were on the eve of defeating one of the longest and cruelest dynastic dictatorships seen on the American continent.
GV: What does this work mean to you? How do you handle it emotionally and what motivates you?
Marina: The testimonies are difficult. We process them, listen to them, and digest them. It is the most Christian thing I have done in my life: “love your neighbor as yourself”. It is a dangerous and risky job. We don't have the necessary resources and funds. The defenders of human rights are the last ones to listen to our own bodies and grievances. There are victims of this system on all levels. We are victims who assist victims.

author: Elisa Marvena


text:
A fridge, a kettle and a farm. Metaphors abound in Turkey’s troubling presidential election · Global Voices
Ilgin Yorulmaz

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Image taken from the Russian presidential press-service. Licensed for re-use.
On Sunday June 24 Turkish voters will go to the polls to elect a new president, with five other candidates challenging incumbent and race favourite Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a five-year term.
As the sparks fly in a campaign taking place as the country enters its third year under emergency rule, undercurrents of political humor are floating atop a giant tide of political fear.
Ordinarily electoral campaigns should represent the promises and visions of a given candidate or party. But these are testing times for Turkish democracy, and this election is far from ordinary.
The country has now been under emergency rule for nearly 24 months following the failed coup attempt in July 2016, that the government attributed to the secret organization — dubbed the state within the state — led by President Erdogan's arch-rival Fethullah Gulen.
President Erdogan, who is the candidate for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been in power since 2002, having served as premier for more than a decade before he was first elected president in 2014.
The two years following the botched coup d'etat attempt in July 2016 have been defined by a crackdown on political opposition, the free press and even social media posts.
The civil service has been purged of perceived opponents, as has the military, the judiciary and academia. Wikipedia, the world's largest crowdsourced online encyclopedia, is currently blocked inside the country.
Against this background, it is perhaps unsurprising Erdogan’s rivals for the presidency are finding it difficult to make themselves heard by a near 60 million-strong electorate including some 1.5 million new voters who have just turned 18.
Erdogan, in turn, has denied that the generous coverage his campaign has received from the national broadcaster and other pro-government mass media under the current state of emergency constitutes an advantage.
“Give me one example. Where and which campaign did the state of emergency block?” he asked this week, speaking in his hometown of Güneysu in Rize along Black Sea region of northern Turkey. He also hinted during the same appearance that the state of emergency may be lifted after the elections.
It is widely accepted that as the main newsmaker, President Erdogan is determining the discourse surrounding the election.
However, his opponents have been quick to turn his words back on him. In addition to providing comic relief from a heavy political atmosphere, these exchanges offer important insights into what really matters in this election for Erdogan, his three most significant opponents and the Turkish voters.
The candidate Erdogan would likely have to go head to head with in the event elections enter a second round is a physics teacher-turned-MP from Yalova, a city 94 kilometres from Istanbul in western Turkey.
Witty and charismatic, Muharrem Ince stresses his modest beginnings as a shepherd in his speeches, seemingly a deliberate attempt to distance himself from the secular and elitist base of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) that nominated him.
Muharrem Ince on the campaign trail. Taken from Ince's official Instagram.
Ince is seen as a potentially unifying leader, but his performance among Kurdish voters, where CHP has historically been weak, remains to be seen.
Although lacking Erdogan's national profile, Ince's electoral tactics have been impressive, notably exposing the incumbent's penchant for gaffes and other unforced errors.
In one prominent example, Erdogan used the growth in annual fridge purchases in Turkey since AKP came to power as an indicator of economic progress under his party. Ince wasted no time in snapping back, causing the Turkish word for fridge, buzdolabı, to trend on Turkish language Twitter:
#CANLI Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan Sakarya'da konuşuyor https://t.co/iTvGTXqTkH
— CNN Türk (@cnnturk) June 5, 2018
Erdogan speaking at a rally in Sakarya, an industrial town 154 kilometres from Istanbul: “What was the number of fridges sold (back in 2002)? 1,088,000! How much has it risen to since then? 3,107,000! This means that (people aren't) poor. If there’s a fridge in every household today — hallelujah — welfare must be everywhere.
İnce'den Erdoğan'a: “Buzdolabı vardı, içini sen boşalttın”https://t.co/tHy9nhWS9V pic.twitter.com/w7Ame2vU1F
— Cumhuriyet (@cumhuriyetgzt) June 6, 2018
Ince to Erdogan: The fridge has been around for 40 years. It’s you who emptied it!
Ince's retort was significant in that much of Erdogan's hope for a first-round victory rests on how the electorate assesses his  stewardship over the faltering economy. In the past, AKP could rely on significant backing from the business community in addition to the socially-conservative electoral base that forms the core of the party's support.
But while Turkey’s GDP per capita has tripled to $10,883 in the 16 years AKP has been in power according to the latest official statistics, the economy has been vulnerable on many fronts. Moreover, the Turkish Lira's steady depreciation against the US dollar has seen real incomes sag since the beginning of this year, while the party is regularly criticised for ploughing public money into expensive construction projects, where critics have complained corruption is rife.
Perhaps the most unusual candidate in Turkey's election is Selahattin Demirtas, the co-leader and presidential candidate of the Kurdish-backed left-leaning People’s Democratic Party (HDP), who has been running his campaign from a prison cell.
Imprisoned without trial since May 2016, he was recently able to speak on the national broadcaster only once for the 10-minute time allotted to every candidate as a matter of course.
Image taken from Selahattin Demirtas’ official Instagram.
Dermitas’ Twitter activity is something prison officials can't seem to wrap their heads around. In September 2017, guards searched his cell, hoping to find the computer that they assumed he was tweeting from.
4- Odada twit bulunamadı doğal olarak. Çay için kettle vardı sadece, ondan da twit atılamayacağına kanaat getirildi.
— Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas) September 30, 2017
Obviously, they couldn’t find a tweet in the cell. There was only a kettle for (making) tea, and they concluded that it couldn’t be used to tweet from.
Demirtas’ prison kettle has since become a symbol of free speech and is keeping fridges company on social media timelines ahead of the vote. In the same post-search tweet barrage Demirtas mocked Erdogan for being “afraid of the Twitter bird” and advised him “not to sow corn.”
Demirtas’ famed kettle – an artist's impression. Taken from Dermitas’ official Instagram.
At 45, Demirtas is the youngest of all the six candidates running for presidency and by far the most adept in connecting with the youth. When Erdogan questioned his “qualifications” for running in the vote given his incarceration, Dermitas shot back:
Bak bu defa sana katılıyorum Erdoğan. Örneğin senin Cumhurbaşkanı adayı olabilmen için mutlaka üniversite diploman olması lazım, ama bugüne kadar diplomanı gören olmadı. Benim kriterlerim tamam da, asıl seninkiler şüpheli. pic.twitter.com/jlmLvIv6Sf
— Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas) June 14, 2018
Look, this time I agree with you, Erdogan. For example, you need to have a college diploma in order to be a candidate for the presidency. Yet, no one has seen yours so far. We understand my qualifications, it is your (qualifications) which are dubious.
More ambiguous in terms of her relationship with AKP and Erdogan is Meral Akşener, a seasoned nationalist politician and former Interior Minister from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who broke ranks sensationally to form the Good Party in October last year.
Image taken from Meral Aksener's official campaign website.
Nicknamed Asena (she-wolf), Aksener accuses Erdogan and AKP of having turned state agencies into a “farm” for his supporters. She has promised to release the said bodies into their natural habitat, should she be elected.
Aksener’s team of young activists have also been very effective online.
Recently, they bought ads on Google to promote free room at Erdogan’s presidential palace — another publicly-funded project widely viewed as an extravagance — for every search involving the terms “AKP” and others.
Some are suspicious that Aksener is all howl and no bite, and that she may yet take a plum political position if Erdogan — who needs nationalist backup in the parliament — wins as expected. Nevertheless, for the moment, the race's only woman candidate is singing a different tune.
In her campaign song “Turn Your Face to the Sun”, young men and women decry the current situation in the country, complaining: “Everyone has turned mute / I miss speaking out.”

author: Ilgin Yorulmaz


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Gangs and trade wars: What kind of Mexico awaits the new president? · Global Voices
Global Voices Latin America

Detail from the graphic made by Pictoline. The numbers reflect the number of politicians assassinated since the beginning of the electoral process. “Mexico is living through the most violent electoral process of recent years and the statistics are alarming”. Image used with permission.
This is the third installment in our series on Mexico’s upcoming elections on 1 July 2018. In the first post we looked at the background of Mexican democracy after 70 years of a hegemonic party in power. In the second piece we looked briefly at each of the four aspiring presidential candidates. In this latest post, we turn our attention to the opinion polls and the general state of the country.
Following the three debates officially organized by the electoral authorities, there are approximately two weeks left until Mexicans go to the ballot box. The pollsters (Consulta Mitofsky, B&L, GCE to mention a few) and analyses of polling averages (Oraculus) all identify a clear leader. All consistently report Andrés M. López in the lead, approaching 50% of voting count, followed – although not closely – by Ricardo Anaya.
As we discussed in the last part of this series, Andrés M. López was put forward by the political party he founded (Movimiento Regeneración Nacional – MORENA) after having made two previous unsuccessful bids.
As noted in the first piece, Mexico has been suffering the consequences of an armed conflict since 2006 when then-president Felipe Calderón declared ‘war’ on organized crime. Since then the violence has only intensified. There is no truce nor cease-fire in sight — not even during the electoral period.
In this context, 112 political candidates have been killed in the run-up to these elections, as this graphic by Pictoline illustrates:
México está viviendo el proceso electoral más violento de sus últimos años. Y los números son alarmantes: pic.twitter.com/ZbIcsheXgL
— pictoline (@pictoline) June 11, 2018
Tweet image: 112 politicians have been murdered in Mexico since the electoral period began; 42 were candidates or pre-candidates for a popularly elected post; the largest number of murders took place in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, and the State of Mexico
Tweet text: Mexico is living through the most violent electoral process of recent years. And the numbers are alarming.
According to activist Orlando Camacho:
La violencia es lamentable, es un reflejo de la debilidad institucional; estas elecciones están siendo la radiografía exacta de la realidad del país en materia de violencia.
The violence is terrible, it is a reflection of institutional weakness; these elections are an accurate snapshot of the country’s reality in terms of violence.
Professor Jesús Silva-Herzog wrote:
Hace unas semanas Eduardo Guerrero anunciaba en su artículo de El financiero al seguro ganador de las elecciones del 2018. No hacía proyecciones con los datos que arrojan las encuestas. No se refería a la elección presidencial. Hablaba de las organizaciones criminales que, sin aparecer formalmente en la boleta, están decidiendo la elección. Podemos estar seguros de que ganarán los criminales, adelantaba el experto en seguridad. Ganarán porque están eliminando a sus enemigos y porque han sometido a quienes ocuparán puestos en las alcaldías que son vitales para sus intereses.
A few weeks ago Eduardo Guerrero announced the sure winner of the 2018 elections in his article for El Financiero. He did not make projections with the data taken by the polls. He did not refer to the presidential election. He was speaking of the criminal organizations that, without formally appearing on the ballots, are deciding the election. We can be sure that the criminals will win, the security expert said. They will win because they are eliminating their enemies and because they have dominated those who will occupy positions in the town halls which are vital for their interests.
He concluded:
Hoy en México no se accede al poder mediante las armas pero se define el acceso al poder mediante las armas.
Today in Mexico one does not attain power with weapons, but controls access to power with weapons
This climate of generalized violence has not been unnoticed by several international media outlets, such as El País which reported that two candidates in Oaxaca and Puebla (in southern Mexico) were killed in a 24 hour period.
While this is happening, Mexico is in the middle of renegotiating the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA; TLCAN in Spanish) with its main trade partners and regional neighbours: the US and Canada.
The renegotiation is taking place following the presidential campaign promises of Donald Trump who assured his supporters that he would make new changes to further benefit his country.
President Trump claimed that Mexico benefits disproportionately from NAFTA and has made a series of insulting remarks about migrants. The most recent example was calling some of the people arriving in USA from the Mexican border “animals”.
However, returning to the matter of economics, Mexico’s trade situation has become difficult due to USA’s imposition of tariffs on imported products, ordered by Trump, which provoked retaliatory measures by Mexico.
Some media outlets in Mexico, among them SinEmbargo, have described the situation as a “trade war”.
Stay tuned for the next episode in the series, when we look at the Mexican presidential elections from the perspective of press freedom and discuss the heated exchanges which have taken place on social media.

author: Global Voices Latin America


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That time when the Japanese Ultraman franchise held a funeral for its monsters · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Monsters from the Bandai ‘Ultra Heroes’ toy line. All are based on Tsuburaya's ‘Ultraman’ storylines. Photo by Nevin Thompson.
Prolific Twitter user Mulboyne has unearthed a series of 45-year-old images of an official funeral for ‘kaiju‘ movie monsters that battle Ultraman, Japan's most famous superhero.
Preparing a kaiju funeral pyre in Jingu Gaien in 1973. pic.twitter.com/kYu1gXxU5H
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) June 5, 2018
Mulboyne makes frequent posts about Japan on Twitter, covering everything from what is likely the least popular rolled sushi to be sold in Japanese supermarkets to the top image search result for “gaijin” (“foreigner”, in Japanese) and trends in corporate rebranding.
In this case, Mulboyne is microblogging about Ultraman, a cultural phenomenon similar in many ways to the British television series Dr. Who. Like Dr. Who, the Ultraman series has been around for about 50 years, with numerous series occurring in multiple timelines and universes.
Over the years, the various Ultraman television series and movies have created an unstoppable merchandize juggernaut, selling dozens upon dozens of different models of Ultraman figurines and the space monsters they must defeat.
The series was created by Tsuburaya Productions, a Japanese special effects studio founded in 1963 by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and was run by his family, until October 2007.
However, in the early 1970s, the Ultraman franchise was experiencing a bit of a slump, and some changes needed to be made. Mulboyne explains:
The background to this event is a run of misfortune at Tsuburaya Productions. Founder Eiji Tsuburaya died in 1970, and was succeeded by his son, Hajime. Hajime then died suddenly in 1973. Filming had also been plagued with accidents.
The company decided to hold a memorial service for the kaiju characters killed in its TV shows. It would also serve as a 厄払い (yakubarai – ceremonial cleansing) to put an end to the run of bad luck.
Similar to some Western practices, yakubarai is a very common folk practice in Japan for preventing or getting rid of bad luck, and otherwise exorcising evil spirits. In this case, Tsuburaya Productions wanted to start fresh, and so burned the life-size costumes of a number of the monsters that make up the Ultraman pantheon.
Burn! pic.twitter.com/Yi86rmrwU5
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) June 5, 2018
service was attended by the heroes who had vanquished the monsters. pic.twitter.com/SMwaea4cog
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) June 5, 2018
The service itself took place at the Futako-Tamagawaen Amusement Park, Actors brought in photographs of the kaiju characters who had been defeated and killed on the shows. pic.twitter.com/6Dz58rhaXx
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) June 5, 2018
The event apparently drew around 2,000 spectators. pic.twitter.com/3CihkxVAGd
— Mulboyne (@Mulboyne) June 5, 2018
This website has some more photos and details about the ceremony (in Japanese). The next installment of the long-running Ultraman series is set to debut on Japanese television in July 2018.

author: Nevin Thompson


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What were Global Voices’ readers up to last week? · Global Voices
L. Finch

“Are you you. You are you. Who are you.” Photo by Flickr user Eden, Janine and Jim. CC BY 2.0
At Global Voices, our community researches, writes, edits, and translates stories with a mission to support human rights and build bridges of understanding across countries, cultures, and languages.
We don't publish just to grab clicks or follow a news trend. We do, however, like to keep track of the ways in which our hard work has impact around the world.
To that end, one useful metric is how readers respond to our stories and translations. So let's take a look at who our readers were and what caught their attention during the week of June 11-17, 2018.
Last week, our stories and translations attracted readers from 205 countries! The top 20 countries represented across all of Global Voices’ sites were:
1. United States
2. Brazil
3. Japan
4. Argentina
5. France
6. Mexico
7. Peru
8. Spain
9. Taiwan
10. Colombia
11. Italy
12. United Kingdom
13. Germany
14. Canada
15. Russia
16. Ecuador
17. Philippines
18. Tanzania
19. Bangladesh
20. India
But that's only a small slice of the diversity of our readership. Let's use the True Random Number Generator from Random.org and take a look at a few other countries on the list:
53. Kenya
42. Guatemala
157. Montenegro
78. Senegal
186. Botswana
The English-language site is where the majority of original content is first published at Global Voices. The top five most-read stories of last week were:
1. ‘You cannot be a liberator and a thief at the same time’: Video shows Russian forces disciplining Syrian soldiers for looting
2. Singapore: Is it a city or country? (originally published in 2009)
3. Mexico: Indigenous long-distance runner wins international race (originally published in 2013)
4. Trinidad and Tobago’s religious leaders ‘unite to divide’ people around the issue of gay rights
5. Leading independent websites go dark as Tanzania’s ‘blogger tax’ deadline approaches
Lingua is a project that translates Global Voices stories into languages other than English. There are about 30 active Lingua sites. Below is last week's most-read story or translation on each active language site.

author: L. Finch


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In Ecuador, a young girl wins the right to have the surnames of both her mothers · Global Voices
Cristina Villagomez

Nicola Rothon and Helen Bicknell, Satya's mothers. Screenshot from the short documentary “Satya: The Case of Helen and Nicola”. Shared by “bo2 studio” on Youtube.
With five votes for and three against, the judges of Ecuador's Constitutional Court have recognized the right to identity of children with same-sex parents in what is known in the country as the Satya Case.
Satya is the child of Nicola Rothon and Helen Bicknell, two British women living in Ecuador who are in a civil union and conceived their child through artificial insemination.
However, Satya's birth in 2012 brought with it a legal battle. In Ecuador, as in other Hispanic countries, it is customary for people to have two surnames: in the case of heterosexual couples, one last name from the paternal side and one from the maternal side.
But when Rothon and Bicknell tried to register their child with both of their surnames, the Civil Registry of Ecuador refused.
Six years later, after legal complaints, debates, and numerous discussions across citizen and traditional media, the court decided in early June 2018 that the Civil Registry must register Satya with the last names of both her mothers.
The decision prompted many different reactions online. Across websites like Medium, for example, observers theorized that Satya's story will echo throughout civil rights history in Ecuador.
Human rights expert Patricio Benalcázar Alarcón highlighted that the reactions of the Civil Registry workers were a reflection of how the case challenged the heteronormative standards that had been accepted as “natural” throughout the country's history:
La Corte Constitucional al resolver la acción extraordinaria de protección, da un paso trascendente y transformador frente a las estructuras culturales, jurídicas, ideológicas y políticas que sostuvieron un régimen de discriminación […] por su parte, Satya, Helen y Nicola a través de su sueño de vivir la simple y tierna felicidad de una familia, rompen materialmente siglos de exclusión y plantean a la sociedad la legítima presencia de la diversa condición humana.
The Constitutional Court performing this extraordinary act of protection is an important and transformative step taken in light of cultural, judicial, ideological, and political structures that that support a system of discrimination […] for their part, Satya, Helen, and Nicola, through their dream of having the simple and tender happiness of a family, broke barriers of exclusion and established the legitimate presence of the diverse human condition.
Same-sex parent families do exist in Ecuador, but their invisibility in the law causes constant problems. If, for example, one of the parents dies and the child does not share the surviving parent's last name, that parent loses all parental rights to the child as they are not legally registered as parent and child. This reality can even result in the child being put up for adoption by the state.
The consequences of parents splitting up can mean the loss of parental rights, and access to alimony, visitation, and more can be limited due to the legal rights of inheritance and identity.
Overall, these uncertainties are a result of the fact that same-sex families do not have equal rights before the law. Thus, from the editors of the website Andes, the decision of the court is significant:
Es, además, una forma de reconocer una situación social que se da de hecho y cuyo desconocimiento oficial no hace sino llevar a niños, niñas y adolescentes que se crían en familias no convencionales a no gozar de la protección que deben proveer el Estado, la sociedad y la familia para lograr su desarrollo integral.
It is, furthermore, a way of recognizing a social situation that does, in fact, occur, in which ignorant officials do nothing but take away boys, girls, and teenagers who are raised in non-conventional households where they do not experience the protection they should from the sate, society, or family to achieve their full development.
Other analysts who study the Satya case argue that its relevance has yet to be seen:
El #casoSatya tiene una importancia que aún no logramos dimensionar. Acá lo ponemos en #Contexto. https://t.co/rb0DTaIjaH
— GK (@GKcityec) June 12, 2018
The Satya case has an importance we still can't measure. Here we put it in context.
It appears that the court's ruling would be solely for this case, and the National Assembly will have one year to create new legislation surrounding this loophole. For now, public apologies from the Civil Registry as expected, as well as sanctions to the workers who refused to register Satya. Those following the case expect that the legislative body would use the ruling of the Satya case as a guide to set a new standard to be recognized for the country's constitution, the right to identity, equality in front of the law, and the main points of interest of the case: the rights of children who are part of same-sex parent families.
Beginning with a constitutional referendum in 2008, the legal framework for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in Ecuador has expanded over the last several years. That reform recognized diverse families in a broad sense, the difference between identity and sexual orientation, and universal civil unions, amongst other things.
Still, after a decade with the new Ecuadorian constitution in place, societal norms still exist that discriminate against members of the LGBTI community and keep them from exercising their rights, making them less visible.
A short documentary titled “Satya: The Case of Helen and Nicola” sheds light on the complexity of the debate. LGBTI rights activists, human rights defenders, and representatives of groups that are against recognizing Satya as a girl with two mothers participated in the making of the film.
In the case of the latter, they say the reason for their opposition is not because of religious reasons, but “anthropological reasons”: they seek to defend the “respect of the laws of nature” and the “balance” that comes from the education given by families made by a man and a woman.
Human rights defenders, on the other hand, argue the importance of looking to other cases in the past, like women's vote — which for many was unthinkable less than a century ago — and collective social advances. They aspire for Ecuador to join the global trend in which equality is becoming the norm through the formal recognition of the rights of all people, especially those not acknowledged in patriarchal or heteronormative societies, and whose rights could be threatened by the law.
Danilo Marzano, a member of the LGBTI community who was interviewed for the documentary during one of the rallies to support Satya, Nicola, and Helen, said:
“En realidad hoy más que un deseo personal es un deseo colectivo. […] Necesitamos estar incluidos dentro de los beneficios constitucionales como ciudadanos de primera categoría. No es solamente el caso de Satya […Es] importante reconocer constitucionalmente el derecho de las familias homoparentales; que tanto hombres como mujeres de las poblaciones del LGBTI podamos tener derecho a conformar nuestras propias familias […] derecho al desarrollo de la libre personalidad de amar [más aún al estar bajo la protección de una constitución] supuestamente tan de avanzada […] tan progresista [Algo que, sin embargo] no ha sido cierto.
In reality, [the recognition of diverse families] is more a collective desire than an individual one. […] We need to be included in the same constitutional benefits [as everyone else, and] as first-class citizens. It is not only the Satya case [… It's] important to legally recognize the rights of families with same-sex parents; that both men and women in the LGBTI population could have the right to shape our own families […] right to develop our own individual freedom to love [even more so when under the protection of a constitution that [is] supposedly so advanced […] so progressive. [Something that, despite this,] has not been true.
The defense of these rights takes on more importance in the face of the findings of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (NISC), which reveal alarming levels of discrimination and violence: “Of all of the members of the LGTBI community interviewed, 70.9% reported that they had experienced discrimination in their home environment.”
And of that percentage, “72.1% have experienced being controlled, 74.1% have experienced some kind of imposition, 65.9% have suffered from rejection, and 61.4% from violence.”
This article was written with the help of fellow Global Voices author Daniela Gallardo, who has been following the Satya case for Global Voices from its start in 2012 through its development in 2014.

author: Cristina Villagomez


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Peace marchers from Helmand look to change Afghanistan’s narrative · Global Voices
Farkhonda Tahery

Photo of the peace march taken from the Etilaatroz news website and used with permission.
A total of 10,453 civilian casualties — 3,438 people killed and 7,015 injured — were documented in 2017 in Afghanistan. After Kabul, the capital city, it was residents of the southern province of Helmand that had it worst.
The #HelmandPeaceMarch movement led by youth from the province tells a story of fatigue from war and spotlights the next generation's search for a better life in a country riven by violence.
The march has now reached Kabul, after 700 kilometres on foot through four of Afghanistan's most insecure provinces –Helmand, Zabul, Ghazni and Maidan Wardak. On their way, marchers held meetings with villagers and explained the purpose of their march. They began as 7 people but acquired 59 others over the course of their journey.
The Peace marchers’ caravan arrived Kandahar. They moved from Helmand toward Kabul to seek peace and security for their homeland. These dears should be praised and welcomed. Their determination, honesty, and hard-work are admirable. I hope their voice will be heard and they will get the desired result.
Helmand is a strategic prize for both the government and the Taliban. It is often assumed that the local population of Helmand has reached an accommodation with the insurgents, who control more territory there than the government.
The march sought to to defy that stereotype.
This rural-born peace movement grew out of a Taliban bombing in Helmand in March left 15 dead and scores wounded.
First, several sit-in tents popped up in Helmand and other provinces:  Herat, Nimruz, Farah, Zabul, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Ghazni, Paktia, Kunduz, Kunar, Nangrahar, Balkh, Parwan, Daykundi, Maidan Wardak, Bamyan and Jawzjan. Hunger strikes followed.
The march from Helmand to Kabul has four main demands:
The marchers have been mostly welcomed warmly by people on their way to Kabul. Some even responded to their protest with flowers and songs for peace.
#Peace Caravan from #Helmand province has just arrived in Shajoi district & they will continue to walk capital #kabul. The have staged a “walk protest” & demanding immediate ceasefire between #Afghan Govt and Taliban.#LongMarch2Kabul pic.twitter.com/9qTiWEdfkm
— Obaid khan Rahemi (@engr_raheemi) May 30, 2018
#Helmand2Kabul and #HelmandPeaceMarch hashtags have widely shared on social media by men, women, boys and girls of all ethnic backgrounds.
#Hazara #girls in #Ghazni province standing in queue to welcome #Pashtun boys of #Helmand province, who stage nearly 600-km walk calling for peace. The Strong message is “#War & violence do not recognize ethnicity” & Everyone is victim of #violence in #Afghanistan @IntizarKhadim pic.twitter.com/W2YgqkRVA2
— Syed Anwar (@Sayed_Anwer) June 8, 2018
#Kabul is waiting to host #HelmandPeaceMarch – @ArtLordsWorld is painting a series of murals on the highways leading to Kabul to welcome our #PeaceHeroes #HelmandPeaceMarch2Kabul pic.twitter.com/KrJoz4byz5
— Omaid Sharifi (@OmaidSharifi) June 4, 2018
The Helmand Peace March is in Kabul now. Mom and I went to greet them. They are in front of the Mosque and Madrassa complex facing Habibia School. Seeing them was a moment of joy and healing for mom and me. Let’s welcome them to Kabul with warmth and support.
— Shaharzad Akbar (@ShaharzadAkbar) June 18, 2018
On June 19, the marchers met with President Ashraf Ghani, not in the lavish presidential palace in Kabul as officials initially offered, but on the street, where their movement began. The Taliban have so far refused to meet with them in any official capacity, the marchers said, although they have met and talked with fighters from the group along their way.

author: Farkhonda Tahery


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A new generation picks up the struggle against coal in the Czech Republic · Global Voices
350.org

Limit jsme my action shutting down the Bílina lignite mine in 2017. Photo: Ondřej Bratoň / Limity jsme my
This article is based on a piece originally published on 350.org as part of a partnership with Global Voices. It was written by Radek Kubala, Josef Patočka and Antonie Bernardová of the Czech climate justice coalition Limity jsme my.
Libkovice could have been a very pleasant place to live. Lying along a stream on the foothills of the majestic ore mountains that separate Czech Bohemia from German Saxony, the village used to be home to several hundreds of people. It had its own bakery, a typical countryside inn, and reportedly quite a strong communal spirit.
Regrettably, Libkovice is no more. It has followed the fate of dozens of other towns and villages in the North-Bohemian basin, destroyed to give way to giant open-cast lignite pits.
The people of Libkovice were the last to go. The town was razed to the ground in 1992 and 1993 despite fierce resistance by the local community and the nascent environmental movement. It was a wake-up call to the reality that the new democratic conditions were not going to make everything perfect. They and their town remain a symbol of the toll that the coal industry takes on the environment and its people.
Destruction of open pit mining in the Czech Republic. Photo: Majda Slámová/ Limity jsme my
Today, just a few minutes’ walk from where Libkovice once stood, a new generation of climate justice activists is organizing the anti-coal “Klimakemp,” now in its second year. We are taking on the fact that despite this painful history, the Czech Republic (together with Germany and Poland) remains one of the coal power-houses of Europe.
The Czech government plans to continue mining and burning this climate-wrecking fuel into the second half of this century. More than half of the country’s electricity comes from coal. Because of this, the Czech Republic remains one of the largest CO2 emitters in the European Union in terms of per capita emissions, sharing its fourth-place ranking with the Netherlands. Despite also being one of the largest net-exporters of electricity on the continent, it continues to run a dozen old, obsolete power plants from the 1970s and 1980s. Their annual production corresponds almost precisely to the amount of electricity exported each year.
In 2015, as the world was gearing up for the UN climate conference in Paris, the then-ruling government even suggested to take this fossil-fuel frenzy a step further and lift the “limits” off mining. These limits had been set by the first democratic government in the 1990s in order to protect the homes of local communities in mining areas. This measure would not only have led to more carbon being released into the atmosphere, but also to the destruction of Horní Jiřetín, a town of more than 2,000 people.
Protests erupted around the country, led by a coalition of locals, environmental NGOs, and the new initiative “Limity jsme my” (We are the limits), which we were a part of. Just a few weeks before signing onto the Paris climate deal, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and his government ruled to save Horní Jiřetín from demolition but decided to expand the nearby Bílina mine by another 150 million tons of coal. The celebrations turned rather bitter.
Limity jsme my – We are the limits. Photo: Majda Slámová / Limity jsme my
Simultaneously energized and enraged by this partial victory, we decided to transform our initiative into a permanent platform and build a movement for the long haul. In the spring of 2016, we supported the struggle to prevent the sale of lignite mines in the Lausitz region of East-Germany to the Czech company EPH.
We organized an expedition to the climate camp set up by local initiatives there and drew inspiration from the successful Ende Gelände actions, which were part of the Break Free wave of climate civil disobedience. On the last day of the rail blockades, a power plant was nearly entirely shut down, while simultaneously the news broke that Germany had – for a few hours – for the first time in history produced electricity from almost only renewable sources of energy – a hugely symbolic moment.
Limit jsme my action in 2017. Photo: Majda Slámová / Limit jsme my
Back home, we started a year-long preparation process to set up the first Klimakemp in the history of the Czech Republic, which we announced at the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the mining “limits”. Our statement read: “The limits are not enough, we want an end to the age of coal.” We pointed to the dangers of climate change, demanded that the decision on Bílina be overturned and that the oldest power plants be shut down, and called for acts of peaceful civil disobedience to challenge the government’s policy.
We wanted to complement the work of larger allies and NGOs and bring fresh approaches to movement politics. That’s why we organized the first Klimakemp in a strongly horizontal manner, which opened the process up for everybody who wanted to get involved.
The self-organized camp finally took place mid-2017 in the symbolically important setting of the victorious community of Horní Jiřetín. It brought together 300 people from the region, from all over the country and all across Europe, connecting groups from established environmental organizations to anti-racism and “right to the city” initiatives. Over five days the camp provided a space to live together, celebrate together and take action together.
One hundred and fifty people occupied the expanding Bílina mine together. This empowering action of non-violent civil disobedience stopped the extraction of coal and pressed the issue of climate change and our demand for a fossil-free future to the forefront of the debate.
Limity jsme my shut down the Bílina mine in 2017. Photo: Petr Zewlák Vrabec / Limity jsme my
We promised that we'd come back – and here we are. As the climate crisis deepens, connecting the dots between extreme weather, local struggles against the fossil fuel industry, state policy, and international finance is crucial. People in Pardubice are opposing the life extension of the Chvaletice power plant. People in the Liberec region are fighting for their water, which the mines are taking away from them. And locals in the north are struggling against further coal extraction.
An important struggle is ahead of us. The energy companies will try to avoid the new European emission regulations (BREFs) and the Czech government has allowed them to apply for exemptions. In the next few years, these utilities will either have to be retrofitted – or shut down in line with the national energy strategy.
Significant pressure from private coal-mining companies such as Severní Energetická or EPH to rather have them privatized and retrofitted has to be countered by public opposition. The next years will be decisive, and international connections and solidarity can prove crucial to keeping international banks from lending money to companies – should privatizations go ahead.
The second Klimakemp from 27 June to 1 July will bring people together from all over the world to challenge the fossil fuel industry once again. With decision makers still jammed in the vicious cycle of coal and nuclear, building a strong climate movement that crosses borders seems more important than ever.