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A Macedonian Comic Strip Encourages Women to Pursue Computer Programming Careers · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

A Neta.mk comic strip, republished with permission. Click to enlarge.
For the last two and a half years, an online comics series featuring a young female software engineer named Neta has been spotlighting the Macedonian tech scene and encouraging women to enter the traditionally male-dominated field.
Neta is produced by Netcetera, an international IT company whose biggest locations are in Zurich and Skopje. The script is written by the company's staff, while the illustration is by renowned Macedonian comics artist Zlatko Girov.
The strips are available in Macedonian and English on the website Neta.mk. In 2015, it received a rave review by leading local magazine It.com.mk, which deemed it “fantastic”:
Нацртан е одлично, и програмерските шеги се навистина кул. Тоа што ни се допаѓа е што Нета, очигледно, е женски лик, а на македонската програмерска сцена и требаат девојки, бидејќи требаат свежи и нови идеи. Можеби Нета ќе ги мотивира девојките да се заинтересираат за професија доминирана од машки гикови?
Its artwork is excellent and the programmers’ jokes are really cool. What we particularly like is that the character of Neta is obviously female, and the Macedonian programming scene needs girls, because it needs fresh and new ideas. Maybe Neta will motivate young women to get interested in a profession dominated by male geeks?
#ILookLikeAnEngineer, a Neta.mk comic strip, republished with permission. Click to enlarge.
A Neta.mk comic strip, republished with permission. Click to enlarge.
Global Voices reached out to Neta's authors inquiring about their motives and the impact of the comics. They replied:
Целта на стрипот е да има локален, македонски стрип кој е креиран тука и го покрива IT светот во кој живееме. Уникатен е, не е копиран од интернет, се обидуваме за шегите да бидат што е можно пооригинални и да ја отсликуваат нашата секојдневна работа и да ги насмееме сите што работат во областа на информациските технологии. Од друга страна пак, би сакале со стрипот да ги охрабриме студентите да избираат инженерски факултети, особено да ги охрабриме и девојките кои навистина треба да се гордеат со своите успеси во избраната инженерска професија.
Our goal is to cover the perspective of the Macedonian tech community through a locally made comics. It's distinctive, not a copy of something already present on the Internet. We try to make the jokes as original as possible and to reflect our daily work so it resonates with the people who work in the area. On the other hand, we'd like to encourage students to choose engineering studies at universities, and in particular to encourage girls who should feel proud of their successes in their chosen engineering profession.
A Neta.mk comic strip, republished with permission. Click to enlarge.
The comics do not contain straightforward advertising for the company, while some episodes directly promote tech initiatives aimed at young people such as the NASA Space Apps Challenge and programming competitions like the Macedonian CodeFu (which is unrelated to American program of the same name; many thanks to Neta admin for alerting us to our error) and the IEEEXtreme hackaton. The character of Neta has made an appearance or two at some of these events in the form of a mascot or cut-out figure.
A Neta.mk comic strip, republished with permission. Click to enlarge.
The authors say that even though “we have no way to measure the comics’ impact […] we enjoy creating it and we hope that the people from the IT sphere enjoy reading it. We are happy to count every share on social media.”


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Documentary: Lost in the Ruins of Georgia’s Soviet-Era Tea Industry · Global Voices
Chaikhana.media

The former director of the Laituri tea factory looks out over the ruins of what was once a thriving plantation. Screenshot from Chai-khana.org documentary.
The following is a version of a partner post originally titled ‘God, Thank You for Tea!’ that first appeared on the website Chai-Khana.org.
In the 1950s Laituri, a village of 2697 residents, buzzed with life. Georgians, Russians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis flocked to the rural centre in western Georgia to work on the tea plantations that used to dot the region during the Soviet Union. The break-up of the USSR sent the production into freefall – families were left without a vital income and Laituri’s kaleidoscope of languages, religions, ethnicities faded and disappeared. Today scores of locals have turned into seasonal migrants who travel to pick tea in neighbouring Turkey’s fields. God, Thank You For Tea tells the story of those whose lives were shaped by these scented tea plantations.

source: news-globalvoices

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


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In Iran, Music Streaming Sites Soundcloud and Spotify Are Back Online · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Streaming music websites Soundcloud and Spotify are now accessible in Iran. Screenshot of a music channel based in Tehran called “Iran Music”.
Iranian social media has been filled with celebratory posts since the sudden un-blocking of Soundcloud and Spotify music streaming services on October 17.
Iranian tech news site Digiato reported the news on 18 October, describing the change as a great opportunity for Iran's music community.
شکی نیست که رفع فیلتر این سرویس محبوب می تواند خبر خوشحال کننده ای برای هنرمندان و فعالان عرصه موسیقی در ایران باشد.
There is no doubt that the unfiltering of this popular service will be welcome news for artists and those active in the music community in Iran.
On that same day however, users reported that the platforms’ mobile applications were still inaccessible on the networks of some telecommunications providers.
The change doesn't bring much value for would-be Spotify users, who are still unable to register with the website, due to Spotify's internal corporate rules, which explicitly prohibit Iranians from using its services. The company has never officially explained the reason behind this rule.
In the screenshot below, a user explains on a Spotify community forum that his access was recently blocked, even though his subscription came from the US.
A screenshot of a Spotify user asking the company why his account was blocked in Iran, despite having registered through the US.
The government has made no comment on why these music platforms are suddenly accessible. Some Iranians have interpreted this silence to mean that this unblocking was a mistake by Iran's censors.
راستش من هنوز فکر می‌کنم تو قضیه #ساوندکلاود و #اسپاتیفای اشتباه شده و به زودی دوباره فیلتر میشه. :-\
— ایریکس (@iiriix_) October 18, 2017
By the way, I still think the issue of #soundcloud and #spotify are mistakes and soon enough they will be filtered again. :-/
Others interpreted the move as a deliberate effort to loosen restrictions on internet content.
Blogger Pooria Asteraky thanked the new Minister of ICT, Azari Jahromi, for the decision to make the platforms accessible once again.
رفع‌فیلتر #ساوندکلاود و #اسپاتیفای فقط یه #رفع‌فیلتر ساده نیست، آزادی صداست ?????
تشکر فراوان@azarijahromi
یادتون نره???#TwitterForIran pic.twitter.com/tgbjiYQGvw
— Pooria Asteraky (@pooriast) October 17, 2017
The unfiltering of #soundcloud and #spotify is not a simple unfiltering, it's freedom for sound?????. Many thanks @azarijahromi #TwitterForIran
Jahromi had previously signaled his intentions to unblock more websites for Iranians. He has also made noise about unblocking Twitter and YouTube, and has suggested that the government was keen to “negotiate” a plan for unblocking Twitter. This has not yet come to pass.

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Iraqis Call on Government to Assist Humanitarian’s Art-Based Orphanage · Global Voices
Sali Mahdy

Screenshot of an interview with Hisham al-Dhahabi, published on YouTube as ‘Hiwar al Taseaa with Ali al-Muhana’ on October 11, 2017 by the Hona Baghdad channel.
A recent social media campaign gaining popularity in Iraq is urging the government to gift a piece of land to the Iraqi Safe House for Creativity, a private orphanage housing some of Iraq's most vulnerable children.
In an interview (starting around minute 32) with Hona Baghdad, an Arabic language news channel, Hisham al-Dhahabi, the director and founder of the Iraqi Safe House for Creativity, revealed an offer made by the Municipality of Baghdad to gift a tract of land to his organization. The deal has been stalled, however, in the office of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi pending his approval.
Al-Dhahabi called on the prime minister to sign off on the deal so that the organization may begin the process of expanding its facilities.
Al-Dhahabi, a trained psychologist, is well known in Iraq for his humanitarian work with orphaned, neglected, and homeless children. He began working with vulnerable children in 2004 for the Baghdad branch of a Kurdish organization called Protecting the Children of Kurdistan.
In 2006, a member of the organization was killed during heightened sectarian violence leading the office branch to close. Instead of handing the children over to a dysfunctional state-run orphanage system, he took on the responsibility of caring for them and founded the Iraqi Safe House for Creativity.
The organization not only houses disadvantaged children, but treats them using arts-based therapy as a way to cope with the trauma they have faced. Children are offered classes in art and music to develop their creative talents, in addition to more practical skills such as barbering, sewing, and cooking. The organization currently houses 45 children ranging in age from 4 to 20 years old.
Al-Dhahabi's efforts to support orphaned children has never been easy. A 2011 documentary titled “In My Mother's Arms” highlighted the difficulties he faced funding this safe haven. He receives little government assistance, mostly relying on private donations.
Earlier in 2017, al-Dhahabi was recognized in Dubai at the Arab Hope Makers Ceremony, an event honoring the Arab world's most inspirational leaders who have dedicated their lives to helping the less fortunate and bettering their communities. He was among five people awarded a prize of 1 million UAE dirhams (about 272,000 US dollars) to continue their philanthropic efforts. Al-Dhahabi plans to use the prize money to finance construction of the organization's new facilities.
You can watch a video created by the Arab Hope Makers initiative highlighting his work below:
Iraqis are using the hashtag انطونا_قطعة_ارض#, which translates to “give us a piece of land” to voice their support for al-Dhahabi and his organization.
بأسمي وبأسم كل عراقي يملك ضمير نطالب بقطعة ارض “للأنسان” #هشام_الذهبي
ارجوا #الدعم بشكل واسع لهذه الحملة#انطونا_قطعة_ارض #اغرد_بمزاجي pic.twitter.com/KQdkp85KWF
— wesam najih abdullha (@wesam_najih) October 10, 2017
In my name and in the name of all Iraqis who have a conscience we ask for a piece of land for Hisham al-Dhahabi.
#هشام_الذهبي الذي آوى 45 مشرد فعل ما عجز الكثيرعن فعله فلم يطالب بشيء مستحيل انه طالب بحق بسيط لاطفال العراق#انطونا_قطعة_ارض #هشام_وابناؤه pic.twitter.com/NjOYpQYOBL
— Zahraa AlRubaiee?? (@ZahraaAlRubaiee) October 11, 2017
Hisham al-Dhahabi isn't asking for the impossible, he is requesting a basic right for Iraqi children.
#انطونا_قطعة_ارض #هشام_الذهبي
ابسط حق هذا المفروض الدولة تساعده تبني مؤسسة كاملة لان هؤلاء الأطفال مستقبل العراق وحقهم ان يعيشوا بأمان pic.twitter.com/JTE9SIF21K
— ?Enas? (@enas__115) October 10, 2017
The government should help him build a complete foundation because these children are the future of Iraq and they deserve to feel safe.

author: Sali Mahdy


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Thai Historian Could Face 15 Years in Prison for ‘Insulting’ a 16th-Century King · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

“The Great Battle of Yuthahatthi:” King Naresuan fights the Burmese crown prince near Suphanburi in Muang Boraan, Samut Prakan Province, Thailand. Photo by Heinrich Damm. Wikipedia. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
Eighty-five-year-old retired Thai historian Sulak Sivaraksa is being prosecuted for insulting a 16th-century king of what is now known as Thailand.
Sulak appeared before a military prosecutor on October 9, on accusations stemming from a lecture the historian gave on King Naresuan, who ruled the Kingdom of Ayutthaya (now known as Thailand) from 1590 to 1605.
Three years ago at Thammasat University, Sulak asked his audience to be more critical about some of the stories involving King Naresuan. He focused on one particular story about how the king defeated a Burmese prince while riding on top of an elephant.
According to Thailand’s popular history, this ‘elephant duel’ was decisive in driving out the Burmese forces from the kingdom. Its significance even inspired modern-day Thailand to declare the date of the duel as National Armed Forces Day.
But Sulak doubted the accuracy of this particular event in history. His lecture was cited by retired generals who filed a lese majeste (royal insult) case against the academic.
Thailand strictly enforces a lese majeste law (Section 112 of the country’s criminal code) which many scholars and activists describe as repressive and outmoded. Lese majeste cases increased after the army grabbed power in 2014 and used the law to arrest activists, opposition politicians, and even ordinary citizens advocating for the return of democracy.
Thai historian Sulak Sivaraksa. Image from Prachatai, a content partner of Global Voices.
Sulak is a renowned social critic and historian and a founder of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists. Despite his criticism of the lese majeste law, he describes himself as a royalist. After three years of investigation, Sulak’s case was submitted to the military prosecutor.
Responding to the news about the sudden revival of the case, Sulak said:
The military regime just wants to persecute me. They can do anything. So I achieve equanimity. I’m detached. In fact I pity them. I pity the NCPO [Thailand’s junta is called the National Council for Peace and Order]. I pity those who have power.
Sulak’s lese majeste case surprised many. Veera Prateepchaikul, the former editor of Bangkok Post newspaper, believes the law’s coverage does not include royal family members who have been dead for hundreds of years:
The police's wild interpretation of Section 112 begs a question about whether the writers of the lese majeste law really wanted it to become retroactively enforceable hundreds of years back to protect the kings of our past from defamation, contempt or insult?
I only hope the military prosecutor will be more sensible and will interpret the lese majeste law in a realistic and sensible context, bearing in mind that it is not only Mr. Sulak who will be put on trial, if the case proceeds to the military court.
Looming large behind the real courtroom battle will be the country itself which will be put on trial before the international community.
Kong Rithdee, the Life editor of the Bangkok Post, asserts that Sulak did not commit a crime by giving a history lecture. He adds that the law is used to create fear in society:
By asking questions, Mr Sulak is doing a service to Thai history, not damaging it.
Otherwise, as in many Section 112 cases, the essence of the supposed violation is mixed in the cauldron of political alchemy, stirred for the effect of fear. It's something whose bottom we can't see or reach.
The military prosecutor is expected to release a verdict on December 7.
During the same week that Sulak was summoned by the police to appear before a military court, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression held a forum in the capital city of Bangkok and called for the repeal of the lese majeste law.
An online petition was launched urging the Thai government to withdraw the case filed against Sulak.

author: Mong Palatino


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Kebab, Yes; Revolution, No: Migrants and the Fight for Catalonia · Global Voices
Afroféminas

“Catalan flag in Figueres”. Photo by Kippelboy via Wikipedia. CC BY 3.0
The following is an edited version of an article written by Irina Illa Pueyo for Afroféminas about the debates for Catalonia's independence.
“Without migrants, there is no revolution,” was one of the slogans chanted at the demonstration on October 3 in Barcelona. We were a considerable crowd, judging from the chants emanating from various megaphones.
Words like “woman”, “grandmothers”, “people”, “workers”, “proletariat”, “anti-capitalism”, “anti-fascism”, “independence” were mostly cheered on, but when it came time for the word “migrants”, we found ourselves alone. Megaphone in hand, we mustered all our breath in order to raise the tone, but of the five senses that every human being possesses, the only ones that responded to that word at that moment were ears and a few big, astonished eyes. It seemed like that term was unknown or, better yet, that those present were not prepared to include, even symbolically, it in this group.
I was greatly surprised that young people sporting dreadlocks, turbans, braids, and other Afrocentric apparel failed to acknowledge the word “migrant” at an event in support of those being persecuted in Catalonia: its residents. Even more surprising was that during the break between the morning and afternoon demonstrations, many people went off to eat kebabs—the most popular fast food in many European cities—which originated in the Middle East. In other words, while it's convenient to eat at a kebab restaurant run by migrants, there's no interest in relating to them or including them in the cause. It also surprised me that the same people who with the dreadlocks, braids, and turbans would buy esteladas, the Catalan flags most commonly seen at demonstrations in favor of independence, manufactured by the hands of exploited migrants in China.
At the school where I work, a girl told me that her mother, who is Bolivian, had been beaten for going to work. A migrant woman is beaten for going to work and not supporting the strike against police brutality, but she is not even allowed to vote. When she comes out to march against police brutality, the white community will barely be present.
It seems as though the issue of migration is always a step behind the white community's concerns, in the shadows like a simple prop, carrying out exhausting manual labor to facilitate white intellectuals, and allow them to think.
There's a general reluctance to listen to migrants in environments that are not exclusively racialized, because theory seems to be a white thing, while experience and victimization are migrant things. We need to start considering the presence of migrants in all types of spaces as something normal, not as a threat to the homogeneity of thought and culture.

author: Afroféminas


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Knife Attack on Russian Journalist Reignites an “Atmosphere of Hate” in the Media · Global Voices
Alexey Kovalev

Tatyana Felgengauer (left) and Viktor Shenderovich (right), a political satirist, at an opposition rally in Moscow, October 2013. Credit: Vladimir Varfolomeev, Flickr // CC BY-NC 2.0
This article was updated on October 24, 2017, to reflect the latest developments in the story.
Midday on Monday, October 23, Tatyana Felgengauer, a radio host and deputy editor in chief at Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow), was stabbed in the throat at Echo of Moscow headquarters in downtown Moscow.
Felgengauer was hospitalized and put in a medically induced coma, her condition declared to be “serious but stable.”  Her lone attacker, identified as Israeli citizen Boris Grits, was apprehended by the building’s security staff and arrested by police who charged him with attempted murder.
Russian news outlets published photographs of the crime scene, with Echo of Moscow’s staff lounge area splattered in Felgengauer’s blood:
«Он знал, к кому идти»: мужчина с ножом напал на ведущую радиостанции «Эхо Москвы» https://t.co/shZckKbZaC pic.twitter.com/1sYLHBgHZ5
— RT на русском (@RT_russian) 23 октября 2017 г.
“He knew who he was looking for:” man with knife attacks Echo of Moscow host.
Echo of Moscow’s editor in chief Alexey Venediktov broke the news:
Ведущую Татьяну Фельгенгауэр ворвавшийся на Эхо мужчина. Ударил ножом в шею. Мужчина задержан.Татьяна госпитализирована.Ей поставлен катетер
— Алексей Венедиктов (@aavst) 23 октября 2017 г.
A man has just broken into Echo’s offices and stabbed the host Tatyana Felgengauer in the neck. The man has been apprehended. Tatyana is in the hospital. She is on an IV drip.
The next day Felgengauer regained consciousness and seemed to be in good spirits, even writing a note for her colleagues and well-wishers, which a co-host from Echo of Moscow then tweeted:
Друзья!! К @t_felg пустили родных и она написала нам письмо! Больше к Тане никого не пускают пока что, она передаёт всем привет и спасибо! pic.twitter.com/hq0rtARx1U
— Воробьева (@Vorobievaya) 24 октября 2017 г.
Friends!! @t_felg was allowed to see her relatives and she wrote a note for us! They won't let anyone else to see Tanya for the time being, she sends her regards and thanks!
The note itself which Felgengauer scribbled on a piece of paper reads:
Все-все-все!
Спасибо за поддержку и любовь, котаны. Все со мной будет хорошо. Дышать через трубочку даже прикольно. Алсо, впервые за 16 лет работы на радио я выспалась :)
Скоро буду с вами — обнимемся!
Таня Ф.
12.40  24.10.2017
To all, all, all of you!
Thank you for support and love, my cats. I'm going to be just fine. Breathing through a tube is surprisingly fun. Also, in the 16 years than I've been working on the radio it's the first time I had a proper night's sleep :)
I'll be with you shortly — and we'll hug each other!
Tanya F.
12.40  24.10.2017
The knife assault on Felgengauer immediately sparked a wave of criticism against the state propaganda apparatus, which has recently intensified attacks on the few remaining independent media houses in Russia, specifically Echo of Moscow.
Two weeks prior to Felgengauer's attack, state news channel Rossiya 24 aired a piece where Echo of Moscow’s hosts, including Felgengauer, were branded “foreign agents” trading in “information weapons.” Felgengauer herself tweeted a link to a YouTube clip of the Rossiya 24 segment on October 12:
Наконец-то журналисты Р-24 нашли способ. рассказать про митинги Навального. Для этого привлекли всех: от Кашина до Крашенинникова. https://t.co/024yQSStmr
— Tania Felgengauer (@t_felg) 12 октября 2017 г.
Finally, R[ossiya]-24 reporters found a way to cover [opposition leader Alexey] Navalny’s rallies. They had to recruit everyone in sight: from [Oleg] Kashin to [Fyodor] Krasheninnikov [prominent Russian journalists]
Additionally, Yulia Latynina, another prominent Echo of Moscow host, was forced to flee Russia after a string of personal attacks. In early September, Latynina’s car was torched and she promptly left the country, fearing for her safety.
Y. Latynina flees #Russia after attacks. No jrnlst should be forced to leave her home due to attacks over her work. https://t.co/Cyx56N5Emk
— Nina Ognianova (@Kremlinologist1) 11 сентября 2017 г.
Felgengauer’s colleagues from Russia’s independent media were quick to blame state propaganda for stoking an “atmosphere of hate,” a phrase coined after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician assassinated on the Kremlin’s doorstep in March 2015.
In another bizarre coincidence, a week earlier Russian state TV broadcast the first few episodes of a new — and already controversial — series The Sleepers where a female reporter had her throat slashed. Many were quick to point out the unfortunate timing:
Позавчера смотрел сериал “Спящие”, в котором оппозиционную журналистку убивают перерезав горло. Сегодня произошло нападение на Татьяну Фельгенгауэр. Надеюсь,что больше таких жутких совпадений не будет…
— Кэп™ (@CapAdecvate) 23 октября 2017 г.
Watched The Sleepers the other day, a TV series where an opposition journalist is murdered by having her throat slit. Today Tatyana Felgengauer was attacked. Let's hope there will be no more nightmarish coincidences like that…
Sergey Yolkin, an editorial cartoonist for Deutsche Welle Russia, offered his own graphic take on the “atmosphere of hate”:
Нападение на ведущую “Эха Москвы” Фельгенгауэр – следствие вражды телеэкранов, уверен @Sergey_Elkin https://t.co/P7z46S7ppO pic.twitter.com/kr0uAG61HL
— DW (на русском) (@dw_russian) 23 октября 2017 г.
The attack on the Echo of Moscow host Felgengauer can be blamed on the hatred promoted on TV screens, says @Sergey_Elkin
Others expressed incredulity over the ease with which the attacker slid through several layers of security at Echo of Moscow’s studios in downtown Moscow. Sergey Smirnov, editor in chief of Mediazona, an independent news outlet covering Russia’s penal system, wrote on his Telegram channel:
Давайте для понимания, тут многие были на Эхе. Но я для тех, кто не был напишу.
Как попасть в редакцию? Она на 14 этаже находится в здании на Новом Арбате. Внизу пост охраны, там как минимум один человек сидит, но чаще двое. Ну ок, можно просто перепрыгнуть препятствие. Или как Мэш пишет охранника залили газом.
Но дальше надо точно пойти к лифтам, если первый раз там был неочевидно. А также лифты очень нагружены обычно, вечно их ждешь минут 5.
Дальше, выход из лифта и дверь в редакцию. Неясно где именно мудак ударил Таню ножом, но там тоже есть дежурный на посту. То есть те, кто говорит, что это прямо было совсем просто – ну это не так. И требовало подготовки и разведки как минимум.
Let’s get something straight here. Many of you have been inside Echo’s newsroom. For those of you who haven’t, let me clarify. How does one get inside? Echo’s newsroom is on the 14th floor of a tower block on Novy Arbat street. There’s a guard post downstairs, it’s manned at all times by at least one security guard, sometimes two. Okay, let’s assume one can jump across the turnstile. Or, as Mash [a Telegram news channel] says, the guard was blinded with tear gas. But then you have to take the elevator, which might be quite a hurdle if you don’t know where the elevators are. Besides, these are almost always busy, so you end up waiting for an elevator for five minutes or more. Then there’s the elevator lobby and the newsroom door. It’s still unclear where exactly that nutjob attacked Tanya, but there’s another guard post with a guard always present. So those who are now saying it was a random attack must be wrong. An attack like this requires at least some experience and reconnaissance.
However, the notion that the alleged assailant Grits was inspired by state propaganda or trained to infiltrate Echo's offices holds little water. Journalist Roman Moguchy unearthed what appears to be Grits’ personal blog which paints a bleak picture of a person battling chronic unemployment and gradually succumbing to a pathological obsession with Felgengauer.
На фейк похоже, но ХЗ. «Последние пару дней она начала искать возможность воздействовать на мое сердце. С дыханием, точнее его прекращением, она уже давно экспериментирует».
Looks fake, but what the hell do I know. “In the last couple of days she has been looking for ways to manipulate my heart. She’s already been long experimenting with my breath — specifically, with ways to halt it.”
In a post dated September 14, Grits announced his intention to travel to Moscow to put an end to Felgengauer’s “telepathic sexual torture.”
Echo of Moscow’s political opponents — including prominent Russian state media hosts who have continuously blasted Echo for its alleged “anti-Russian” editorial policies — unanimously condemned the attack. Perhaps the most famous of Echo of Moscow’s detractors, Vladimir Solovyov, a TV and radio talk show host, tweeted:
Нет и не может быть никаких оправданий такого рода преступлениям. Виновные должны быть наказаны. https://t.co/Q7T3zTVfQL
— Vladimir Soloviev (@VRSoloviev) 23 октября 2017 г.
There are no justifications for these kind of crimes, nor there ever can be. The guilty persons must be swiftly prosecuted.
However, this rare show of journalistic solidarity in Russia was tainted by Viktor Volkov, an editor previously employed by Interfax, one of Russia's three major news agencies. In a Facebook post, he blamed the attack on Felgengauer and her colleagues:
Гляди-ка, у либералов очередная мученица совести вырисовывается. Кто-то слегка подрезал прямо в редакции “Эха Москвы” ведущую Таню Фельгенгауэр.
По-моему, ничего удивительного. Все эти хихоньки, хаханьки, паскудные шуточки. И всё это густо замешено на лжи. Рано или поздно подобное должно было случиться.
Look what we have here, a brand new martyr of conscience for these liberals. Somebody lightly knifed Echo of Moscow’s host Tanya Felgengauer, right inside Echo’s newsroom.
I think there’s nothing surprising about that. Their giggles and snickers, filthy jokes. And the whole thing is based on lies. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Tatyana Felgengauer is just one of the latest victims of attacks on editors and reporters in Russia, which consistently ranks among the worst countries in the world to practice journalism.

author: Alexey Kovalev


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The Battle Over Education in Afghanistan Is Decades Old and Still Only Heating Up · Global Voices
Rustam Ali Seerat

A group of students listen attentively and taking notes in USAID’s community-based education center. USAID/Afghanistan. Creative commons.
In a speech at the reopening of Kabul University in 1993, in the midst of a bitter civil war, Abddul Ali Mazari, founder of the Hezb-e-Wahdat political party spoke out on a conundrum that had been occupying his mind for some time.
He quoted four famous Hadis (sayings) of Mohammad the Islamic prophet, who had emphasised the importance of education for all, including women. Then, he claimed to be puzzled that, despite those words, the majority of Muslim clerics still opposed school and university education, especially for females.
Ali Mazari was speaking not long after the Jihad against the USSR's attempted occupation of Afghanistan, that saw some mujaheddin resistance commanders kill government-paid teachers and close down schools in the areas they controlled.
Today, the battle to open and close schools is as fierce as ever, as the US-backed government under President Ashraf Ghani struggles to fend off an insurgency dominated by the Taliban with other radical groups like ISIS also operating in the country.
Around half of Afghanistan's 36 million population is younger than 18. At present, more than 9.2 million children are enrolled in schools of which 39% are girls, according to the Afghan Ministry of Education. With Afghanistan still mired in insecurity and corruption, the emergence of both public and private schools is one of the few development gains that have followed from the 2001 US-led invasion of the country.
Since 2002, the Pentagon, State Department, and the United States Agency for International Development have spent a total of $759 million on primary and secondary education in Afghanistan, with other donors making smaller contributions.
Although the Taliban for the most part remains categorically opposed to both US assistance and female education, other armed factions loyal to regional power-brokers have shifted their stance in line with changing attitudes to education.
Schools and universities have traditionally been free of charge in Afghanistan. When, in the 1980s the brutal and widely-hated pro-Soviet government made education compulsory for all children, some families took to bribing education officials in exchange for not admitting their children into schools. They argued that a school education could turn their children into nonbelievers.
However, after 2001, some parents began not only sending their children to public schools, but also seeking out fee-paying schools where their children might get a better education.
Symbolizing the extent to which education has become a battleground in domestic politics was Ghani's own victory in the tightly fought 2014 presidential election in 2014.
As the election entered a second round, Ghani's campaign drew criticism from the campaign of opponent Abdullah Abdullah for styling himself as the candidate of education and depicting Abdullah as synonymous with warlordism. Qayoom Suroush posted on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 10:45 am:
….پادزهر طالبان آموزش و تعلیم است: تعلیم به مثابه آزادی ذهن از قفس افراطیت و تعصب….
“Education is the antidote to the Taliban: education is tantamount to freeing the minds from the cages of extremism and bigotry.”
Corruption remains deeply rooted in public education, especially at the top of the food chain. Two years ago the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) watchdog disclosed that Farooq Wardak, education minister during President Hamid Karzai's second term in office (2009-2014) had been embezzling money allocated for state schools that did not actually exist.
Ghani's administration refused to launch any investigation into the allegations and later appointed former minister Wardak as a presidential adviser.
The development of private schools in turn has been hampered by heavy  government taxation as well as restrictions that force the schools to teach only the state curriculum. That curriculum remains strongly influenced by Islam.
The communist-backed government of the 1980s removed religious text books from school curriculum, an unpopular move that the subsequent mujaheddin government quickly reversed.
Under the Taliban, which had consolidated control over the country by 1996, religious texts thoroughly dominated class time.
Presently students receive an average of two hours of religious instruction based on Koranic teachings regardless of their religious beliefs, while religion also pervades other subjects, such as history and literature.
This continues into university, where Saqafat-e-Islami (Islamic Culture) is a compulsory subject in all eight semesters of a four-year bachelor degree.
Last year, Abdul Hafiz Mansor a member of Afghanistan parliament worried that, “Saqafat-e-Islami produces extremism and terrorism in the universities”. His speech won approval from many social media users. Rasouly Jafar posted on Thursday, November 24, 2016
حفیظ منصور وکیل محترم ولسی جرگه مشکل واقعی افغانستان را طرح کرده است. امید است همه بخصوص هموطنان تاجیک از این نظر اصلاح گرانه حمایت قاطع نمایند.
“Hafiz Mansoor, the honorable parliamentarian has brought up a genuine problem in Afghanistan. I hope all of our nationals, particularly our Tajik compatriots decisively defend his reformist view.”
A mixture of poverty and conservatism explains why many people choose to bypass the state curriculum entirely and send their children instead to generously-financed free-of-charge madrasas (Islamic religious schools).
These madrasas, whose funding sources are rarely known but are widely believed to be bankrolled by wealthy businessmen in the Arabic Middle East, attract huge numbers of students.
According to a report by Voice of America there are 1,200 registered and 13,000 unregistered madrasas active in the country. The hapless central government in Kabul is too weak to oversee them.
Some of these institutions are thought to teach fundamentalist curricula, while graduates of most madrasas are typically ill-prepared for jobs beyond the religious establishment, a factor that plays into the hands of the Taliban.
The battle over education, then, is a long-term and strategic one in which two very different visions for the future face off.
For children studying across Afghanistan, the question is not only one about the kind of institution they graduate from, but a broader one about the type of society they will graduate into.

author: Rustam Ali Seerat


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Czech President ‘Jokingly’ Threatens Journalists With an Assault Rifle Replica · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

Screenshot from the Oct 20 press conference video published on the official Facebook page of the Czech President Miloš Zeman.
Last Friday, Czech president Miloš Zeman brandished a wooden replica of an assault rifle with the inscription ‘for journalists’ written on its side, boasting that it was a gift from a recent trip to the country's western region.
This latest attempt at a joke by President Zemen, a man known for his sharp criticism of media workers, was met with loud disapproval by journalists and citizens who didn't appreciate his brand of humor.
While holding a press conference about his tour of the western Plzeň Region, a smiling Zeman pulled out and waved the wooden AK-47 replica which was allegedly given to him during the visit. In the place of an ammunition clip, the mock weapon had a bottle of the local liquor Becherovka (a bitter digestive similar to Jägermeister).
Zeman also joked to that journalists didn't have to be scared to film him because “he doesn't know how to shoot.” He also expressed satisfaction with the absence of opposition supporters in the audience.
This is not the first time that Zeman has joked about harming journalists. In May, during a visit to China, he reportedly joked with Russian President Vladimir Putin that “there are too many journalists, we should liquidate them.”
Investigative journalist Onrej Kundra was not amused. In Kundra's criticism of the Czech president's latest comments, he referenced another incident which occurred the week before, during Zemen's visit to France, when the president told his bodyguards he would kill a Czech television worker if they didn't chase him away:
Novinari by se meli likvidovat, rozpravel Zeman s Putinem. Vyzente kameramana, nebo ho zabiju, pokracoval ve Francii. A dnes tasil samopal.
— Ondrej Kundra (@okundra) October 20, 2017
Journalists should be liquidated, Zeman told Putin. Remove the cameraman or I will kill him, he continued in France. And today he pulled the machine gun.
Andrew Stroehlein, a regional Europe director at Human Rights Watch, tweeted:
Czech president Miloš Zeman holds mock gun with “for journalists” written on it. Not funny. (via @tvthomas & @michalkubal; h/t @se25a) pic.twitter.com/jEczDhWxZ8
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) October 21, 2017
Some commentators implied that the presence of alcohol in Zeman's stunt was no accident.
Zeman nalitý becherovkou dostal samopal nabitý becherovkou. ?
— Siderické kyvadlo (@SideKyva) October 20, 2017
Zeman lubricated with Becherovka got a gun loaded with Becherovka.
Miloš Zeman has been president of the Czech Republic since 2013 and has announced his intent to run for a second term in the upcoming 2018 elections.
His long-term ally, the populist billionaire and media mogul Andrej Babiš, just won the parliamentary elections and is slated to become prime minister. According to Euronews, “Babiš, the country’s second-richest man, has been buying up large chunks of the nation’s media in an effort to silence criticism and, according to his critics, to undermine democracy.”
Czech Republic's rank at the World Press Freedom Index has fallen during recent years.
According World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters without Borders, Czech Republic's rank fell from 14 in 2012 to 23 in 2017.
Several bills were drafted during 2016 with the aim of increasing the penalties for criminal defamation, especially when the President is concerned. The concentration of media ownership has reached critical levels. Since 2008, new oligarchs have been using their fortunes to buy up newspapers to consolidate their influence. One of them, Andrej Babiš, is both Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister as well as owner of the two most influential daily newspapers…
At the European level, Zeman's gun antics have been considered highly inappropriate, as they come several days after the killing of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, another European Union member state.
* Note on translation: Zeman used the term “samopal,” meaning sub-machine gun, to designate his wooden weapon. Technically the AK-47 is an assault rifle, which in Czech would be called “útočná puška” or “automatická puška.” These two types of weapons differ in overall size, barrel length, rate of fire, bullet caliber and in particular the effective range (dozens vs hundreds of meters). The former is often considered ‘pistol-like,’ while the latter is considered in-between a rifle and machine gun, and during the second half of 20th century has replaced both as a standard weapon in most armies around the world.

author: Marko Angelov


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The Latest Threat to Beleaguered Environmental Activists in Honduras Comes from the Law · Global Voices
Melissa Vida

Protest in memory of Berta Cáceres, assassinated in 2016. Photo: Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, used under Creative Commons licence (CC BY 2.0).
In Honduras, a recently approved law dictating that protestors can no longer organize demonstrations without the possibility of being considered criminals, or even “terrorists“, has been added to the risks that environmental activists face in the country.
According to the criminal code law, organizers of demonstrations could face 20 years in prison, and regular protestors 15 years, regardless of the reason for the protest.
The law is a new burden for citizens of the Central American country where demonstrators face regular and sometimes lethal violence simply for defending their rights and their lands. According to the NGO Global Witness, more than 120 activists have been murdered by “state forces, security guards or hired assassins” in the last eight years while countless others have been incarcerated.
Activism has been stigmatized in Honduras since 1963 when the country went under a two-decade-long military rule. The constitutional crisis of 2009 only served to exacerbate oppression.
A new law in #Honduras further threatens activists in what's already the deadliest country on Earth for defenders: https://t.co/ihvUDi74b1 pic.twitter.com/AkDB0JJOma
— AIDA in English (@AIDAorg) October 2, 2017
Honduran activists’ rights and sometimes, lives, are crushed due to the intersection of powerful political and business interests, according to Global Witness. The most flagrant examples of state repression target those defending their land and the valuable natural resources underneath it.
Protesters say the government’s pro-business policies have led to projects that cause environmental damage for communities living in rural areas. For this reason, communities fight back.
Big investments, like hydroelectric dams and luxury tourism resorts, have posed a particular threat to the livelihoods of indigenous peoples, who are generally not consulted prior to the start of these projects.
Some of the activists who have offered vocal opposition to such projects have paid the ultimate price for doing so. One prominent example is Berta Cáceres, who was assassinated after years of campaigning against the construction of a hydroelectric dam being built on her community’s territory.
Cáceres argued the dam posed a threat to a vital and sacred water source.
Unsurprisingly, there has been little progress in uncovering Cáceres’ death. According to an investigation by The Guardian, Cáceres’ name was on a military hit list along with the names of several other leading environmental activists. Below, the tweet from COPINH, the association founded by Cáceres, shows the viral hashtags ‘#19monthswithoutjustice, #justiceforberta and #desagetout’. DESA is an acronym for an energy company, “Desarrollos Energéticos S.A.”.
#19mesessinjusticia #justiciaparaberta #fueradesa pic.twitter.com/Bxr5RZAUUh
— COPINH (@COPINHHONDURAS) October 2, 2017
#19monthswithoutjustice #justiceforberta #desagetout (DESA is an acronym for “Desarrollos Energéticos S.A.”, or, in English, “Energy Development corp.”)
At least seven more activists have been killed since Cáceres’ murder and many others are at risk, including social and student protestors. University protests, which first emerged in opposition to a spike in tuition fees over a year ago, have been dispersed by police using armoured vehicles and tear gas in recent times.
So far this year 30 students have been incarcerated for damaging the property of the Autonomous National University of Honduras (UNAH) while others have committed to hunger strikes.
On June 23, 2017, the father of a student who had been jailed was murdered shortly after criticizing state-led repression. Less than three weeks later, Luis Joel Rivera Perdomo, a leader of the student movement at UNAH, was assassinated. Perdomo's family had to leave their home because of continued threats.
Student detentions in #Honduras: Prosecution of social activists must
end! RT to expose cont. #HumanRights abuses https://t.co/md882S3lrS pic.twitter.com/ubvOGIP9oX
— Friends of the Earth (@FoEint) September 12, 2017
On September 19, 2017, Honduras’ national congress voted for a further curb on demonstrators’ rights, ostensibly in the name of public safety. For many, the new law equating peaceful protesting with a crime is the political class's effort to nip activism in the bud and annul the right to freedom of association.
In an interview with Upside Down World, Eugenio Sosa, author of “Dinámica de la protesta social en Honduras” (The Dynamics of Protest in Honduras), explained that citizens have been particularly active in speaking out on social and environmental issues since the 2009 coup. The new law represents a cynical bid to crush civil society once and for all:
This [law] seeks to anticipate – to suffocate at times and above all anticipate – possible popular overflows … in the face of a general public that is very jaded by impunity, corruption, and very severe social inequality.
Ever since the law passed, Hondurans on social media have been contrasting the relative privileges enjoyed by the graft-ridden elite with the severe risks endured by protesters:
La justicia en #Honduras
Roban el IHSS y otras instituciones 6-8 años de carcel
Protestas por el robo 20 años#NoMasCorrupción#Fuera JOH pic.twitter.com/VNidw1BItp
— Olimpisima (@olimpisima) September 22, 2017
Justice in Honduras: They steal [money from] the IHSS [the Honduran Institute of Social Security] and other institutions: 6 to 8 years in jail. Protests against that theft: 20 years. In the image: “You steal 7 billion from the Social Security, you get 6 to 7 years in jail, but if you demonstrate against the theft, you get 20 years.”
In 2009, Honduras lived through a constitutional crisis which ended in what many governments and human-rights organizations believe was a military coup. The Honduran Army had followed orders from the country’s Supreme Court to oust President Manuel Zelaya as he aspired to convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. Thereafter, the de facto government headed by Roberto Micheletti implemented curfews and, according to Reuters, a “media blackout”, as many media outlets were censored. Today’s government, led by Juan Orlando Hernández, is often at the forefront of scandals involving graft and embezzlement of public funds.

author: Melissa Vida


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Tonga Government Accused of Controlling State Media Ahead of Elections · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tonga Broadcasting Commission studio founded in 1961. Photo uploaded on Wikipedia by Makutu – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by RoyFocker 12 using CommonsHelper. Public Domain.
A shakeup at the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) prompted speculations that the Tongan government has taken more control over the state-funded media. News editor Laumanu Petelo and news manager Viola Ulakai were suddenly transferred to the sales and marketing department. Both clashed with Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva when the latter accused the TBC of being an enemy of the government.
The prime minister insisted that the TBC should be supporting government programs, issuing a warning that he could order its privatization or shut down the network.
Newly-designated TBC board chairman Tu'i Uata ordered the transfer of the network’s two senior editors. But Uata clarified that TBC's financial losses were the reason why he removed the editors. He added that TBC could face bankruptcy in two months if restructuring did not happen.
But Petelo and Ulakai's lawyer insists that the newsroom shakeup was part of the government’s plan to control the TBC a few weeks before the general elections scheduled for November 16.
Independent media group Matangi Tonga Online published an editorial echoing a similar point:
It is quite clear with the beheading of the news service that government is taking full control of the public broadcaster in the lead up to the November 16 general election.
Matangi Tonga Online added that the new leadership of TBC “annihilated its right to function as an honest Public Broadcaster.” It also rejected the argument that TBC should blindly support government policies:
It is a blatant attempt to turn watchdogs into lap dogs.
The rhetoric by government officials, that because the TBC is a Public Enterprise its news coverage “should be pro-government,” is completely off the mark. No genuinely professional journalists will work under such a politically controlled system.
It also reminded the government about TBC's mission as a public broadcaster:
Public broadcasters do not rely on advertising to the same degree as commercial broadcasters. This allows public broadcasters to transmit programs that are not commercially viable to the mass market, such as well-balanced public affairs shows, radio and television documentaries, and educational programmes, that otherwise could not be produced.
Meanwhile, Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF) urged the Tongan government to respect media freedom:
Government needs to stop using so-called losses as an excuse to apply punitive changes aimed at gagging newsroom and management in a leading public broadcaster of the region.
Informing the public about what is happening with their own tax dollars is a key role of state broadcasters, who are not faced by the profit-margin pressures of commercial broadcasters.
PFF Chair Monica Miller described the two women editors of TBC as “Pacific trailblazers in journalism:”
Pacific media colleagues everywhere are dismayed at this treatment of two women in journalism who have done nothing but be journalists.
Laumanu and Viola are leading Pacific trailblazers in journalism that is unafraid to ask the hard questions, and continues to put the public right to know to the fore. They are passionate about what they do and have faced cultural barriers and stereotypes about women in Pacific newsrooms for decades.
The regional media group noted that Tonga's constitution has a clause upholding free speech. It urged the Tonga government to dialogue with the media to address issues involving unfair reporting and censorship instead of using punitive actions.


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A 21-Year-Old American Sings the Praises of President Xi’s Chinese Dream—Literally · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dylan Walker, a 21-year-old American Communist Party member, performed the song “China Dream and My Dream” on China's national holiday, October 1, 2017. Screenshot.
An American named Dylan Austin Walker, who is a Communist Party USA member and is currently studying at Beijing Language and Culture University, has recently become a hot topic on Chinese social media.
First, the 21-year-old turned heads with his TV performance during the National Day of the People's Republic of China on October 1. A special program called “Sing It Out Loud for China,” organized on SMG Shanghai TV, invited singers from different countries to sing songs praising China in Putonghua (Mandarin). After the performance, each singer were asked to say something positive about China.
Below is Walker’s performance of “China Dream and My Dream,” a popular song released in 2013 that echos Chinese President Xi Jinping’s dream of a great revitalization of the nation:
On the TV program's official account on popular social media program Weibo, he won applause. The Weibo post introduced Walker as:
跟着发小一起学中文的伍淡然，登上#唱响中华# 的舞台，带来了一首《中国梦我的梦》。在中国呆了快两年，他感叹中国的生活真是太便利了！不仅交通方便，支付宝、微信的存在，让他出门都不用带钱包啦~
Wu Danran [Dylan Walker’s Chinese name] has studied Chinese since first grade, and is now on the stage of #SingItOutLoudForChina. He is going to perform “China Dream, My Dream.” He has been in China for almost two years and he has found life in China too convenient. Not only for transportation, he doesn’t have to bring his wallet because of the existence of [online payment options] Alipay and WeChat!
Then, Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the Global Times released an interview with Walker on October 20 amid the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress. The video has been viewed 78,000 times on Chinese video platform miaopai, but the comment function has been suspended.
Below is the YouTube copy:
In the interview, he says he first visited China in 2012, where he became inspired by former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong’s thinking:
I think communism is the most advanced and the ideal social and political system. We just want to make sure everyone can get access to basic welfare and rights.[…] When I came to China for the first time, I bought versions of the “Quotations from Chairman Mao” in both English and Chinese. I read it almost everyday after I going back to the U.S. I kept it with me during class and I read it when I have time after classes. If I hadn’t learn from the quotations, I wouldn’t have joined the Communist Party USA. So Chairman Mao and the Communist Party of China have a special place in my heart.
Unlike prevailing opinions in his home country, his view of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is glowing:
The CPC now is admirable for me. Especially since President Xi Jinping took office, the corruption crackdown has swept nationwide.[…] Every time when I browse the website of the People’s Daily and Global Times, I can see such reports almost every day as corrupted officials get arrested. […] What’s terrible is that a communist might have doubts towards communism and socialism, and then loses this belief and faith. Just like what President Xi said before, some communist members lack ‘calcium’ that is lack of belief in communism and Marxism.
Walker has been studying in Beijing for almost two years. He has a Chinese girlfriend and has been interviewed by many official media outlets. This is not the first time he appeared on Chinese TV program.
On mainland Chinese social media, you can’t find any negative comments about Walker’s performance and interview. However, Twitter, which is currently blocked in China, is a different story.
Users who have managed to climb the “Great Firewall” to access the US-based social network have called Walker a “foreign 50 center,” a reference to the “50 cent army” of internet commentators paid by the Chinese government to manipulate public opinion.
Below is a sample of responses found under a tweet by a parody account of the Chinese Communist Youth League Central Committee:
聪明的洋五毛不会去朝鲜，在中国只有好处没有危险。
Smart foreign 50 center won’t go to North Korea. In China, they stand to benefit and are safe.
啧啧啧。洋五毛你好，你妈炸了～ 中国有打工一百年都买不起的房，还有死活上不去的互联网。傻狗一条～
LOL. Hello foreign 50 center, what has gone wrong with your mom? In China, some workers in China can’t afford an apartment even if they kept working for 100 years. And the global internet suffers from a timeout problem [because of the “Great Firewall” censorship measures]. Stupid dog.
还娶中国老婆，打中国小炮呢！再捞个黨代表什么的，以后就是下一个马云啊
Get a Chinese wife, cheerleading for China. If he gets himself a CCP representative title, he will become the next [Chinese business magnate] Jack Ma.
洋五毛更有欺骗性. 中国的这些只看新闻联播的P民, 一定不少人庆幸自己有伟大的裆.
A foreign 50 center is more deceptive. For those who only watch [state broadcaster] CCTV news, they would feel lucky that they are under CCP’s rule.
不奇怪，北朝鲜也住在美国白人，就连ISIS里也有美国人民。
Nothing strange. Some white Americans are living in North Korea. Some even joined ISIS.
Others, however, thought that Walker was genuine in his beliefs and criticized those who called him a 50 center. But they have their own theories about his political performance:
你们别这样，这小伙子估计是个中国迷，这没什么问题。他喜欢的是中国，只是不知道中国目前面对的是什么，不是他被愚民了。所以，他的学费估计也给免了
Please don’t be so mean. This guy is probably a China fan and there is nothing wrong with that. He likes China but he doesn’t know what the problem is that China is facing. He has been fooled. Probably he doesn’t even need to pay his school fees.
不是中國迷，是共產主義中毒者。美國一直有共產黨，是真信共產主義。因為資本主義不完美，所以投入烏托邦。和那些吸毒逃避現實的人本質一樣
I don’t think he is a China fan. He has just been poisoned by communism. In the US, there is a communist party and its members firmly believe in communism. Because capitalism is far from perfect they are looking for utopia. It is like a drug addict finding escape from reality.
Indeed, Walker is very frustrated about US politics. In another interview in March, he criticized mainstream media and the Democratic Party for marginalizing candidate Bernie Sanders during the American presidential election in 2016.
But he doesn't appear to be applying the same critical attitude to China. On his Weibo account, most of what he publishes are reposts of content from official media outlets or Chinese Communist Party and government organizations. As one person on Twitter observed:
不得不承認他說的是對的，只是對他而言，因為他不是中國百姓。
What he said is correct from his viewpoint because he is not a Chinese person.

author: Oiwan Lam


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After 113 Days Behind Bars, #Istanbul10 Human Rights Defenders Are Released Pending Trial · Global Voices
Zara Rahman

Nejat Tastan and Peter Steudtner embrace among a crowd of media and supporters, following their release. Photo shared by Fotis Flippou on Twitter.
It was a long day in court for the Istanbul 10 on October 25, but one that ended with joy.
Ten human rights defenders — including Amnesty International Turkey director Idil Eser — appeared in court on accusations of membership in a terrorist organization, after spending nearly four months in jail. The proceedings began at 10 a.m. local time, and ended around midnight with the release of all 10 defendants, pending trial.
The defenders had been behind bars since July 5, 2017, when they had gathered for an information management and wellbeing workshop on one of Istanbul's islands, Buyukada. Police raided the workshop, detained the participants, and confiscated their electronic equipment.
After hearing testimony from each of the defendants, the prosecutor requested release on bail for all but one of the group. Some hours later, the judge ruled that all 10 should be released. The next hearing is expected on November 22.
Veli Acu, who works with the Human Rights Agenda Association, and Ozlem Dalkiran, who works with the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, were issued mandatory travel bans as part of their conditional release. The remaining eight defendants were released without condition, pending trial. Amnesty International Turkey chair Taner Kilic remains in pre-trial detention due to a separate case against him. His case was heard in Izmir on October 26, the day after the trial of the Istanbul 10, and despite the previous day's decision, the judge ruled to continue his pre-trial detention.
Though recording was not allowed from inside the courtroom, journalists and supporters live-tweeted updates throughout the day. Many of the defenders used their statements to draw attention to inaccuracies in the charges against them:
Ali Gharavi “the indictment accuses me on connections to organisations that I have never heard of and still don’t know what they are”
— Andrew Gardner (@andrewegardner) October 25, 2017
#PeterSteudtner: The indictment mentions 2 translators saying I've worked in Pakistan. I've never been to Pakistan #FreeRightsDefenders
— Hak Savunucuları TR (@humanrights_tr) October 25, 2017
Turkish authorities say case has nothing to do with @Amnesty. But, as Idil now explaining, all evidence against her relates to our work.
— John Dalhuisen (@DalhuisenJJ) October 25, 2017
The defenders also called attention to the way they had been treated inside prison:
#GunalKursun: We were kept with lights on for 13 straight days, without perception of day or night #FreeRightsDefenders
— Hak Savunucuları TR (@humanrights_tr) October 25, 2017
#NalanErkem: I had gastric bleeding. After arrest couldn't access treatment for 2 months. Bleeding went on for 2 months.
— Hak Savunucuları TR (@humanrights_tr) October 25, 2017
Peter “my family can’t come to Turkey so I can only speak to them for 10 minutes every two weeks on the phone.”
— Andrew Gardner (@andrewegardner) October 25, 2017
Ali Gharavi asks for “immed. & uncond. release from this torturing situation” Says he is concerned about his health and sanity. #Istanbul10
— BanuGuven (@banuguven) October 25, 2017
Amnesty International welcomed the release of the rights defenders in a statement by Salil Shetty, their secretary general:
Today, finally, we celebrate that our friends and colleagues can go back with their loved ones and can sleep in their own beds for the first time in almost four months…Tonight we take a brief moment to celebrate, but tomorrow we will continue our struggle.
In an emotional statement outside the courtroom speaking to a group of journalists, German citizen Peter Steudtner thanked everyone for their support. “I am grateful, we are all really grateful,” said the stress management trainer.
Joining him and expressing his gratitude was his colleague Ali Gharavi, a Swedish citizen:
We have a big new family now. Thank you everyone. Wherever you are, however you did it, you got us out – thank you very much.
emotional moment outside Silivri prison with #AliGharavi  #PeterSteudtner #Istanbul10 #FreeRightsDefenders pic.twitter.com/oRWvoOlXEo
— Markus N. Beeko (@mnbeeko) October 26, 2017
In total, the group spent 113 days behind bars. As the news of their release circulated, friends and colleagues joined the celebrations online.
What freedom looks like. #freerightsdefenders #Istanbul10 pic.twitter.com/Yz5icUtmxp
— Gauri van Gulik (@GaurivanGulik) October 26, 2017
Sending love & support from @amnestyusa! We're celebrating & prepared to continue the struggle for their UNCONDITIONAL freedom. #Istanbul10 https://t.co/4iUVVSh5rk
— Emily Walsh (@EmilyWalshAI) October 25, 2017
Good news from #Turkey as all the #Istanbul10 released on bail. Baseless charges must now be dropped unconditionally at 22 Nov hearing. pic.twitter.com/hu2y4Mj5d4
— IFEX (@IFEX) October 26, 2017
The pro-government Turkish media — that has previously been quick to accuse rights defenders of connections to terrorist organizations — were largely quiet on the day of the trial and immediately after.
Convicted by the pro-government “media” but released by the courts. #Büyükada #Istanbul10 pic.twitter.com/D6jXR9ih6z
— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) October 26, 2017
Herkese ajan vs diyerek insanları yaftaladılar. Şimdi hepsi serbest. Ajan diyenler utanacak mı? Hiç sanmam https://t.co/YBcXnYrFEH
— Efkan Bolaç (@efkanbolac) October 26, 2017
They branded all of them as agents and other things. Now all of them are released. Will those calling them agents feel shame? I don't think so
In her testimony to the court, Idil Eser, who has been a central figure in this story, was quoted explaining that she has no regrets:
[Amnesty International Turkey director] İdil concludes her evidence “I don’t have anything to regret. I just did my work as a human rights defender”
— Andrew Gardner (@andrewegardner) October 25, 2017
For now, the Istanbul10 have been released from jail and are reunited with their loved ones. In advance of their next court appearance on November 22, Global Voices calls for all charges to be dropped unconditionally, and for Taner Kilic to be released.

author: Zara Rahman


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Albanian Prime Minister Insults Journalists After Parliament Votes to Protect Lawmaker From Arrest · Global Voices
Alida Karakushi

Screenshot from the video published on the official Facebook page of Albanian prime minister.
After Albanian parliamentarians voted to protect a fellow members of parliament from being arrested on corruption allegations, Prime Minister Edi Rama took the opportunity to berate journalists for their coverage of recent events.
The investigation of member of parliament Saimir Tahiri, who previously served as the country's interior minister, became public after allegations surfaced on October 16, connecting Tahiri to a drug trafficking gang.
Members of parliament enjoy immunity in Albania, and certain legal actions cannot be taken against them without parliament's authorization. Albania's public prosecutor filed a request with parliament to arrest Tahiri, but on October 25, lawmakers voted against it, thereby protecting Tahiri.
Instead, they authorized the prosecutor to investigate Tahiri, a fact that some international media emphasized in their reporting. A syndicated article by the Associated Press, for example, ran with a headline that claimed “parliament lifts ex-minister’s immunity for probe.” Most local media, in comparison, focused on the parliament’s refusal to allow Tahiri’s arrest.
In a press conference following the parliamentary session, Prime Minister Rama began insulting Albanian journalists, calling them “shameful and ignorant.” “It is your misfortune that you don't read and do not even understand what you read, and don't want to listen what it is all about,” he said, according to Balkan Insight.
The prime minister refused to answer the journalists’ questions and instead accused them of spreading fake news and suggested that they learn about their role as journalists, rather than spreading gossip in the media channels. Though Rama has continuously labeled the media as a ‘cauldron’ in the past, he was notably more aggressive than before.
The parliament's vote to protect Tahiri and the prime minister's subsequent railing at journalists flooded the Albanian media space to such a degree that reports about the death of 30-year-old miner in Bulqiza were almost completely neglected.
Journalist Artur Nura commented on Twitter, linking his tweet to an article containing video footage of the Prime Minister Rama's rant:
Edi Rama humb kontrollin, në mënyrë pa precedent sulmon dhe ofendon gazetarët (video) https://t.co/NSF0Ty9bqA
— Artur Nura (@ArturNura1) October 25, 2017
Rama loses control at a new level, attacking and insulting journalists (video).
The Albanian Journalists’ Union (AJU) issued a public statement criticizing Rama's attitude as “arrogant and insulting, not dignified for a high political and governmental representative.”
The logo of the Albanian Journalists’ Union (AJU).
Unioni i Gazetareve Shqiptare denoncon kete gjuhe dhe kete komunikim etiketues te Kryeministrit dhe apelon per nje qendrim refuzues te te gjithe anetareve te organizates sone dhe komunitetit profesional ne pergjithesi.
UGSH me indinjate deklarohet se kjo sjellje dhe ky komunikim fyes i kryeministrit kane nje lidhje dhe mbartin edhe pergjegjesine e madhe per gjendjen kritike ne te cilen gjenden gazetaret e sotem ne vend. Ne vleresojme se eshte pergjegjesia e Tij dhe e institucioneve te tjera ligjore qe gjate kesaj kohe informaliteti dhe shembja e vlerave profesionale po shnderrohen ne plage te medha, çdo dite e me teper ne jeten mediatike te vendit.
The Albanian Journalists’ Union denounces the offensive language and the labeling vocabulary used by the prime minister, and appeals to all members of our organization and the professional community, in general, to join us in the refusal of such an attitude.
The AJU notes, with indignation, that such behavior and insulting communication is directly related to the dire situation faced by journalism in Albania. We believe that the prime mininster and the other legal institutions bear responsibility for the state of media in the country, including the precarious situation in which many journalists are forced to work without contracts, as well as the collapse of professional values affecting increasing number of media outlets on daily basis.
The union ended their statement calling on journalists to boycott the activity of the prime minister's office on Friday, October 27.
Even though the majority of journalists are limited in their ability to choose topics, due to pressure from media owners, lack of contracts and job insecurity, many still reported on the issue. Albanians were shocked by both the parliament's refusal to allow Tahiri's arrest and by the unprecedented attack on the media by the prime minister.

author: Alida Karakushi


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Ex-Refugee Who Slept Rough in Rome Now Runs Several Businesses, Dreams of Rebuilding Afghanistan · Global Voices
Nicole Valentini

Asharaf Barati in Venice with his friend and colleague Yasin Tanin. Photo by Basir Ahang. Used with permission.
On an autumn night in 1994, the Taliban were getting ready to conquer Afghanistan. Only two years before, a terrible civil war had broken out among the different Mujahideen factions that had defeated the short-lived pro-Soviet government, turning the country into a wasteland of terror and despair.
At that time, in a small village in Ghazni province in central-eastern Afghanistan, Asharaf Barati, a 13-year-old boy from the Hazara ethnic group was having his final supper with his family. Even if his mother didn’t express it, she knew she would not see her son again for a long time—possibly ever. The boy’s departure was set for dawn. His uncle was to pick him up and take to the smugglers.
Ghazni, Afghanistan. Photo by ISAF Headquarters Public Affairs Office. Members from Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team visited Old Ghazni City April 18, 2010, located in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan. (Joint Combat Camera Afghanistan; Photo by Tech. Sgt. James May). CC-2.0
Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of the Hazara-dominated Hezb-e-Wahdat political faction had just been assassinated by the Taliban, and many Hazaras felt suddenly vulnerable. The Taliban, renowned for their hatred of the Hazara, was closing in. Hazaras were leaving the country en masse, some for Pakistan, others for Iran.
Days after his escape, Asharaf found himself in Pakistan. For a few years he worked in a coal mine, a job that left him sick and exhausted. After that he took his meagre earnings and went to Iran, where he found himself once more in a foreign land among other refugees, carrying mortar sacks heavier than himself for a living. Then, as now, the plight of Afghan refugees in Iran was one of hardship and exploitation.
“It was a tough situation,” recalled Asharaf in an interview with Global Voices. “We (Afghan refugees) were living in the empty building site we were working on, there were no services and no heat, we put some nylon on the open windows to try not to die from cold during the night.”
After four years, Asharaf left his undocumented life in Iran behind and readied himself to travel to Europe. Following a perilous journey by sea, he found himself castaway on a tiny, uninhabited Greek island. In 2002, after being turned down for asylum by the Greek authorities, Asharaf finally reached Italy.
Asharaf wandered the streets of Rome for a while, homeless, sleeping in parks and having meals in a church that distributed food to the less fortunate twice a day. While it is true that Italy has become something of a second-chance destination for failed asylum seekers due to relatively high approval rates, it is also true that the conditions into which asylum seekers are received are dire. According to the NGO Civil Liberties Union for Europe, “the system suffers from a general lack of transparency. The huge majority of asylum seekers is hosted in the more than 3000 ‘extraordinary reception centers’, which are improvised structures in the hands of unqualified and unprepared staff.”
According to Italian law, asylum seekers can access accommodation centers only after they are formally registered, a process that can drag on for months after an asylum application is initiated. During this period, people who can’t afford to pay for accommodation must seek recourse to friends’ hospitality, or resort to sleeping rough.
This is the fate that befell Asharaf.
But his irrepressible spirit prevented him from being down and out for too long. After years working in various jobs in the construction sector, Asharaf poured his savings into a establishing a hostel in Venice.  It was such a success that after a while he opened a second hostel and a takeaway restaurant.
Asharaf Barati’s story is now the subject of a documentary called “Behind Venice Luxury – a Hazara in Italy”, directed by Amin Wahidi. The film won the 24th Venice City Award in 2017.
Asharaf Barati in front of”Casa Fiori”, one of the hostels he owns in Venice. Photo by Basir Ahang. Used with permission.
In Italy, entrepreneurs, especially those who are not Italian nationals, face an uphill battle. Red tape, high taxes and access to credit are among the major obstacles.
According to an unofficial estimate, there are around 20,000 Afghans in Italy. For many the country is a stopgap option en route to other European destinations. But in recent years a number of Afghan-run businesses have sprung up, including tailoring establishments, travel agencies, hotels and restaurants. Some Afghan restaurants have won acclaim in the Italian press for their excellent cuisine.
In Venice there is the restaurant Orient Experience, the brainchild of Hamed Ahmadi, where the waiters and kitchen staff are mostly refugees from various parts of the world. They tell the story of their journey to Italy through Afghan, Iraqi, Turkish and Greek dishes on the restaurant's menu. Afghan entrepreneur Ali Khan Qalandari has established a new restaurant in Padua called Peace&Spice, and Afghans are also behind the Kabulogna pizzeria in Bologna and a Sushi restaurant in Rome.
But Asharaf's own ambitions stretch far beyond the Italian hospitality and retail sectors, back to the land he left under duress as teenager.
“Where there is risk there is opportunity,” Asharaf says with a smile. “I want to invest in Afghanistan, I have never forgotten my country and I can’t live happily knowing that my people are suffering. I am planning to start a project for the farmers of the poorest provinces of the country, especially women. They comprise half of society and must have the same opportunity as others.”
Asharaf also has plans to open a factory in Kabul where people can to learn packaging and conservation practices. “In this way,” he says, “they will be able to sell their surplus products to the market and improve their financial situation.”
The journey of the successful entrepreneur follows a path from insecurity and doubt to stability and prosperity. Having made that journey himself, Asharaf now wants to help Afghanistan make it too.

author: Nicole Valentini


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The Families of Trafficked Boys From India’s Arwal Say Police Don’t Care · Global Voices
VideoVolunteers

“Manish Kumar, 16 years old. Missing since 19 Feb 2016″. Screenshot from video by Video Volunteers
This post was written by Madhura Chakraborty and originally appeared on Video Volunteers, an award-winning international community media organization based in India. An edited version is published below as part of a partnership with Global Voices.
Between 2015 and 2016, six boys aged between 8 and 16 years old went missing in the Karpi block of Arwal district in the Indian state of Bihar. Two of them returned after managing to escape their captors. They have harrowing tales to recount about how they were employed as child slaves.
The boys aren't alone in their experiences. Each year, thousands of children in India fall into the hands of the child traffickers and many of them end up as forced child laborers.
Video Volunteers community correspondent S. M. Zafar Iqubal reported on the Arwal case in the video below and spoke to one of the abductees, Manoj Kumar (whose name has been changed to protect his identity). He recalled the ordeal:
These men hit me on my face and I fell unconscious. When I woke up I was in a different place. They told me it was Ludhiana
Manoj was made to chop wood from nine in the morning till six every evening:
There were eight of us. The other boys were from Sultanpur, Aurangabad, Agra, Jharkhand. Twenty men guarded us. They would beat us if we didn’t chop wood and not give us food. There was no payment at all. They killed four boys. And threw them in the river nearby.
According to the Global Slavery Index, India is home to 40% of the world’s 45.8 million modern-day slaves. Slavery is a broad term which encompasses all forms of forced labor, including sexual exploitation.
But the only kind of trafficking and exploitative labor, consistently highlighted by the media and international actors, remains the sexual exploitation of girls and women in brothels. Teenage boys like Manoj, kidnapped and brutalized and forced to work in inhuman conditions, are largely ignored.
A 2013 investigative report on the trafficking racket supplying young boys as slave labor to the sugarcane farms of northern India detailed the depth of police apathy, even when faced with hard evidence of systematic exploitation. The attitude that the harried parents waiting for their children in Arwal encounter with authorities is no different.
Mohammad Ansari, whose 15-year-old brother went missing in 2015, said the police initially dismissed their complaint:“They told us he must have run away.”
Bittu Kumar was only 8 when he went missing in August 2016. Fekan Yadav, his father, recalled bitterly:
We had to organize a roadblock and demonstrate in front of the Superintendent of Police, and only then did the police come to investigate. It’s only when we go to the administration that anything works. If we don’t go, they will not do anything.
Video Volunteers community correspondent Zafar Iqubal, who has been helping the families approach authorities, doesn’t hold out much hope for a pro-active stance on the part of the administration. He explained:
When I accompany the family members to the police station, the officers in charge speak to us politely. But whenever the family members go on their own, they are dismissed brusquely. The brother of one the missing boys was berated for coming and bothering the police repeatedly.
Zafar Iqubal went to get updates about the case from the inspector in charge recently:
He kept asserting that the police don't have any information regarding the whereabouts of these boys, and so, can’t rescue them.
This is echoed in the testimony of Marmun Khatun, whose son Arshad is missing:
They come and ask us for information, telling us that they can only do something if we find out more details.
The inaction of police appears to violate existing legal provisions. According to a 2013 judgment by the Supreme Court, all missing minors are presumed to be kidnapped or trafficked, until proven otherwise.
The families of the missing boys in Arwal, however, have repeatedly been told that the boys have probably gone to work somewhere and will come back on their own. This logic has been used by the police to delay registering First Information Reports (FIRs).
In a Standard Operating Procedure for Cases of Missing Children, the Ministry of Women and Child Development further lays down the provision that if the child has not been rescued within four months, the case will be investigated by the district Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU). This has also not happened.
The results are here to see: 180 children go missing every day in India and two out of three have not been located in the three years following their disappearance.
The two teenage boys who have returned home have done so completely on their own, managing to evade and escape their traffickers at great risk to their lives. They were lucky. But what about the four other youngsters still missing? Will the criminal justice system, meant to protect them, finally step into action? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, there is only the interminable, excruciating wait for the families of Manish Kumar (16), Arshad Ansari (14), Bittu Kumar (8) and Sonu Ansari (17).

author: VideoVolunteers


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In Trinidad & Tobago, It’s No ‘Small Thing’ How People Rallied After Flooding · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A screenshot of a drone video taken by TOPSHOT, showing the Mosquito Creek area of south Trinidad. This key access road was flooded due to persistent heavy rains which caused the Godineau River to break its banks, as well as high tides from the bordering Gulf of Paria.
The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has been one of the most active ever — and though Trinidad and Tobago is located outside of the hurricane belt, the twin islands have been experiencing heavy rainfall, which has led to widespread flooding.
On October 18, 2017, the Divali holiday, persistent rain prevented many Hindus from lighting their deyas (lamps) outdoors, but the flooding in many areas of the country was even more worrisome, as was the seeming inability of the relevant authorities to deal with the situation.
The rains continued for days. Central and south Trinidad were some of the hardest hit areas, with some locations reportedly being under five feet of water. There was also damage along the country's north coast, leaving people there marooned as well.
Social media users immediately began chronicling events, posting drone footage to YouTube and Facebook. Others, via several Facebook groups, shared photographs of the damage.
Several government ministers managed to get into their affected constituencies; Dr. Lovell Francis, the member of parliament for Moruga/Tableland, to the far south of the country, was one of the most visible on social media. Some roads in his constituency had collapsed; uploading photos from one area, he captioned his post, “No words.”
Councillor Candice Allain also put the power of social media to use by posting several Facebook Live videos updating people about road access and relief efforts to the north of the country, where there were quite a few landslides. The relevant regional corporations, all arms of local government, were pro-active in helping residents of flooded areas clean up, and the prime minister visited affected citizens.
In fact, most people rallied. However, Colonel (Retired) Dave Williams, the deputy head of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) — the body responsible for coordinating all the necessary relief agencies — missed the mark and incensed citizens when he discounted the gravity of the situation. One journalist live tweeted Williams’ press conference:
Each of the 14 municipalities had flooding. 11 had significant flooding. Let us not act like flooding is a strange phenomenon. It happens
— Kejan Haynes (@KejanHaynes) October 20, 2017
You see this as a big thing. We see this as a small thing
— Kejan Haynes (@KejanHaynes) October 20, 2017
Folks we do flood. All the pushback is on the state. What are we doing as individuals? Do we follow the weather reports?
— Kejan Haynes (@KejanHaynes) October 20, 2017
There was an instant outcry on social media channels. In an attempt to defend the ODPM, Williams attributed the organisation's tardy response to poor communication among emergency agencies and ineffective use of available media channels:
That's what people saw as being absent.
We need to figure out how to get communication out at night. We need to use social media better
— Kejan Haynes (@KejanHaynes) October 20, 2017
Following the uproar, Williams resigned from his post. Or, as Wired868's witty satirist Mr. Live Wire put it, the flooding in central and south Trinidad was “catastrophic if you live there or have even the most basic level of human empathy. Or ‘small thing’ if you happened to be the deputy CEO of the Office of Disaster Preparedness Management and wanted to know what a boot in your posterior felt like.”
A screenshot of a YouTube drone video showing flooding in the in Penal/Debe area of central Trinidad.
This natural disaster had many takeaways, however, including discussion about contributing factors. The mayor of Chaguanas, one of the low-lying towns in central Trinidad, maintained that illegal structures built on the banks of major rivers were exacerbating to the problem. Residents of the area under his purview suffered great damage to their homes and places of business, and farmers lost crops.
Facebook user Rhoda Bharath added:
Apparently we have forgotten about the impact that the Pt Fortin Highway had on the Oropuche Lagoon and the wetlands in South.
Coupled with poor urban planning, clogged waterways from littering and incessant heavy rains. […]
She also posed questions about “all the commercial and industrial waste” that clogs certain rivers in central Trinidad.
Other netizens criticised the lack of assistance from the corporate sector.
The irony of the situation was not lost on those who remember the uncharitable online debate about sending relief to other regional territories after hurricanes Irma and Maria:
It raining again. Caricom citizens might have to open their homes to Trinis hit by floods just now.#FloodGate
— rhoda bharath (@rhodabharath) October 22, 2017

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Indonesian Law Makes It Easier to Disband Extremist Groups, but Could Undermine Civil Liberties · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Indonesian mass organizations are also affected by the new law which empowers the government to ban groups that threaten national unity. Flickr photo by Jordi Bernabeu Farrús (CC BY 2.0)
Indonesia's House of Representatives has passed a presidential decree into law that empowers the government to disband organizations even without a prior court order, amid warnings from legal experts and human rights activists that it puts civil liberties at risk.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had issued the suggested amendment to Law No. 17/2013 on Civil Society Organizations on July 10, 2017. It outlaws groups which violate or threaten to undermine the pluralist state ideology known as Pancasila.
Jokowi said this is necessary to preserve national unity and diversity amid the growing influence of hardline Islamic groups.
Indonesia is home to the biggest Muslim population in the world and boasts of promoting a moderate view of Islam. But in recent years, certain organizations have been aggressive in enforcing their intolerant doctrines, which has raised fears about the spread of religion-based discrimination.
In particular, the government wanted to ban groups like the Hizbut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) which aims to establish a caliphate in the country. HTI was one of the groups that mobilized tens of thousands of its followers and succeeded in its call of deposing the Christian governor of Jakarta, who was accused of disrespecting Islam. Ahok, the former governor of Jakarta, is an ally of Jokowi.
While many secular groups and human rights activists support the action of the government against HTI, they have strongly expressed their concern about the impact of the new regulation on other groups in the country. They pointed out that the new regulation has given the executive broad powers and too much discretion to decide which groups are deemed a threat to national unity. They added that the decree undermines civil liberties and other constitutionally guaranteed rights.
The Jakarta Post published an editorial warning against “resurrecting the ghost of authoritarianism”
The new law gives the government a blank check to outlaw any organization or group it pleases on the grounds that their platforms or activities run counter to the state ideology or the Constitution.
There is no guarantee the current or future governments will not be tempted to exercise the new power to quell critics or opposition using the pretext of national security.
Indonesia was ruled by General Suharto from 1965 to 1998 who was accused of violating the rights of thousands of Indonesians.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation reviewed the law and concluded that it “perpetuates a multi-interpretation article on blasphemy” which could result into the criminalization of activities that are deemed a threat by those in power.
Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia, reminded the Jokowi government that there are better alternatives to combating extremism:
There are many ways for the Indonesian government to combat radicalism and defend social cohesion. Removing almost all meaningful legal protections of freedom of association is not the way to do that. Indonesia’s pluralist politicians and civil society are understandably deeply antagonistic towards the anti-democratic mission of groups like Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia. So are we. But we should recognise that the same laws that protect HTI from arbitrary state action are the ones that protect the forces of democracy and human rights as well.
Scholar Deasy Simandjuntak questioned the appropriateness of the approach adopted by the government in dealing with groups like the HTI:
The Indonesian government is walking on thin ice as it navigates between the need for stability and security on the one hand, and its democratic commitment to ensuring political freedom for all Indonesians on the other.
The rise of intolerance does call for stronger government intervention in curbing the growth of hardline groups. However, the question remains whether an expansion of powers that gives the Indonesian government close to unfettered discretion to define which groups to sanction is the best way forward.
For its part, the government insisted that the law is constitutional. Jokowi welcomed the appeal of some parties to revise some parts of the law. Out of 445 members of the House of Representatives, as many as 314 members voted to pass the law. Six of the 10 political parties approved the measure.


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Kyrgyz People of Central Asia Shocked to Be the Bad Guys in New Japanese ‘Tokusatsu’ Movie · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

The Kyrgyz sometimes even sport glowing eye pods like lifesize, pugilistic mantis shrimp. Image from Brave Storm official trailer on YouTube.
Earlier this week citizens of Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia, discovered they were from outer space. Not only were they in fact aliens, they were alien bad guys. That is at least according to the producers of Brave Storm, an upcoming Japanese science fiction B-movie due to be released in November directed by veteran special effects whiz Okabe Junya, best-known as an alumnus of influential Japanese movie maker Tsuburaya Productions and as producer of cult classic Cat Shit One.
In Brave Storm, humans use psychic powers and giant mechanized suits to battle the Kyrgyz — alien enemies of all life on planet Earth. However, these are no invaders from Central Asia. Instead the film's humanoid Kyrgyz sport grotesque, rubbery snouts, snaggly teeth and, sometimes, even glowing eye pods like lifesize, pugilistic mantis shrimp.
There is little apparent resemblance between the fictional alien enemies of Brave Storm and the people of Kyrgyzstan. So, citizens of the Central Asian republic were understandably dumbfounded to learn they would be featured as bad guys in an upcoming movie in Japan.
Ok, what’s happening in this Japanese movie? Kyrgyz’s giant robot? What? pic.twitter.com/bsoDBSQjTU
— Fartist (@heisadil) October 25, 2017
@n_osmonova айткандай, какие МЫ крутые )) https://t.co/cYj7Ysvlyu
— Sanjar E.A. (@sanjarbeke) October 25, 2017
Just look at how cool we are!!!
I told my son that there was a film shot in Japan, in which the aliens were called “Kyrgyz”.
I say: “It's funny, right?”
He says: “It's not funny, it's stupid.”
And then he adds: “Maybe we'll shoot a Kyrgyz film, where the Japanese will be aliens?”
Seven-year-olds have such a delicate sense of humour.
На самом деле, конечно, это обыкновенный японский расизм. Сегодня именно тот случай, что пригласить японского посла в МИД.
— Edil Baisalov (@baisalov) October 26, 2017
Of course this is standard fare Japanese racism. Today is the kind of instance where we should be calling in the Japanese ambassador (to explain the film).
Страновой пиар получше ваших экспов… https://t.co/JpsLfNKIxn
— Alexander Vorotilov (@AVorotilov) October 26, 2017
This is the kind of PR a country cannot get from hosting an Expo…
In comments under an article on a local media outlet, a number of netizens recalled the prophecies of a two-time presidential candidate who has repeatedly insisted that the Kyrgyz people have a special role to play in shaping the planet's future.
Others referenced the country's outgoing President Almazbek Atambayev, who has a reputation for starting diplomatic fires.
отлично! Давайте наш президент теперь гадостей японцам наговорит! С ними у нас конфликта еще не было
Excellent! Let our President now say nasty things to the Japanese! We haven't had a conflict with them yet yet!
Meanwhile citizens of next-door Kazakhstan, with whom Kyrgyzstan is going through something of a bad spell, enjoyed a laugh at their neighbours expense.
Incredible Japanese! I don't know about the planet, but we are already at war with the Kyrgyz. Maybe they are just preparing for the real thing. Moreover, they will accuse us of financing (the film)!
It turns out that Brave Storm is a remake and a mashup of a couple of failed tokusatsu movie franchises dating back to the early 1970's, Silver Kamen and Super Robot Red Baron. The Kyrgyz have always been the villains in the fictional universe of Silver Kamen since the series premiered in 1971.
日東科学　プラモデル 　「シルバー仮面 キルギス星人」　高価買取致します！https://t.co/ESqQvAFsKt pic.twitter.com/sHPelXoEvW
— スーポジ-フィギュア・おもちゃ全国買取！ (@supoji) August 29, 2017
A Nitto Kagaku-issue plastic model of “Silver Kamen and Kyrgyz Seijin”, that cost me a ton of money!
Since both Silver Kamen and Super Robot Baron were unpopular with audiences and were quickly canceled, it's tough to determine exactly why the Kyrgyz were chosen as alien villains nearly fifty years ago.
The name choice also puzzled Kawasaki Yoichi, a guide for Kaze Travel, a Japanese company that organizes tours of Central Asia and other destinations, including Kyrgyzstan.
In a blog post, Kawasaki remarks that when the original creators of Silver Kamen came up with the name Kyrgyz as villains, the country was still part of the former Soviet Union. Kawasaki also notes:
しかも、第一話出てくるのはチグリス星人。作者はシルクロード通だったのかも知れません。ちなみにＮＨＫ特集のシルクロードは1980年からです。
Moreover, the first alien to ever appear in the Silver Kamen series was called Tigris Seijin [after the river in contemporary Iraq]. I wonder if the creator of the series was a connoisseur of the Silk Road? There was also a documentary series about the Silk Road that appeared on NHK [the national public broadcaster of Japan] in 1980…]
It would be nice, Kawasaki says in his blog post, if the Kyrgyz aliens of Brave Storm resembled the balbal statues near Burana Tower in Balasagun. Ultimately he had no clue as to where the movie villains’ name came from.
An expert on Japanese movie monsters, commenting as an anonymous source for this article, wondered if there was a simple explanation for the origin of the name.
“In Japanese pronunciation, the ‘kyr’ in ‘Kyrgyz’ sounds a lot like the word ‘kill’ is pronounced,” he said. “It's possible whoever came up with the name wanted something that sounded menacing.”
Moreover, he says, Japanese movie characters, musicians, consumer products and so on often adopt vaguely English-sounding names because of how they sound or feel, with no particularly deep meaning.
That's why it's possible to purchase in Japan small, turd-like chocolates called Collon, a suspiciously-named drink called Calpis, and a coffee creamer called Creap.
森永のクリープ……！！
これだよね…？|´-`)ﾁﾗｯ
お湯に注ぐだけで良いなんて！！
これこんど買ってみるよ( ✧Д✧)و ｸﾞｯ! pic.twitter.com/NvrHhZNQgv
— エレインsing垢@相方ゆゆ (@Elainesing111) January 30, 2017
Creap, from Morinaga! […] Tastes great just with hot water!! […]
Thus, there may be no real reason why “the Kyrgyz” have been singled out in Brave Storm, but unless the film itself proves an unlikely hit, the real Kyrgyz should forget about the slight soon enough. After all, the Internet invaded planet Earth long ago, and human attention spans were the first casualties.

author: Nevin Thompson