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World Refugee Day: Fear of Arrest Drives Journalists Into Exile · Global Voices
Committee to Protect Journalists

Exiled Gambian journalist Sanna Camara with his wife and children. Photo courtesy of Sanna Camara via CPJ.
Written by Nicole Schilit, CPJ Journalist Assistance Senior Associate. This post is published as part of a partnership between Global Voices Advox and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It originally appeared on CPJ's blog.
In August 2014 two journalists living more than 4,000 miles apart slipped across a border to find safety: one with his wife and three children, the other alone. Idrak Abbasov, from Azerbaijan, and Sanna Camara, from Gambia, faced imprisonment because of their reporting. Neither has been able to return home.
Their stories, along with those of Bob Rugurika, a radio director from Burundi, and Sevgi Akarçeşme, an editor from Turkey, reflect the experiences faced by the many journalists forced to flee each year after being persecuted for their reporting. Each of the four journalists with whom CPJ spoke before World Refugee Day had to make the tough decision between exile or imprisonment.
Idrak Abbasov, a veteran reporter from Azerbaijan, said he had been threatened before over his reporting, but when a colleague warned him in August 2014 that he could be arrested he decided it was time to take his wife and three young children to a safer place. He said that to avoid attracting attention, they left their home in the capital, Baku, with little luggage.
The week before Abbasov left the country, the prosecutor general's office had raided the offices of the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety, a Baku-based press freedom group where he worked, confiscating computers and equipment as part of a crackdown on civil society in Azerbaijan.
It was not the first time that Abbasov, who also worked for the independent newspaper Zerkalo, has been targeted for his work. CPJ documented in 2012 how he was hospitalized after being beaten while covering forced evictions in the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest that Baku hosted that year. Despite a concussion, broken ribs and teeth, damage to his kidney, and needing eye surgery, Abbasov continued to work as a journalist.
Idrak Abbasov with his wife and three children. The Azerbaijani journalist is living in exile in Norway. Photo courtesy of Idrak Abbasov via CPJ.
Abbasov said that to avoid alerting authorities to his decision to leave, he told friends and colleagues he was taking his family to Turkey so his son could receive medical care. On August 19, Abbasov drove his wife and children to the edge of Baku, where they left the car. The family traveled across the border to Georgia and used false names to check into a hotel in Rustavi, where they stayed for two days.
“Nobody expected us in Georgia, I did not know what to do, who to turn to,” he said. Abbasov said that to explain the absence of luggage, he and his wife told hotel staff they were on vacation and that friends had their belongings. By this time, the journalist's bank account had been frozen and plain-clothed men had visited his home and the home of his father-in-law, looking for him. Relatives in Azerbaijan told Abbasov police had detained his brother-in-law for two days, questioning him about the journalist's whereabouts.
With help from CPJ and other press freedom groups, Abbasov and his family left Rustavi for Georgia's capital, Tblisi. They were farther from the border, but Abbasov said he feared that Azeri secret services would still be able to reach them. The family changed their residence several times and rarely went outside. Abbasov said it was a hot summer and his children wanted to go outside to play, but he couldn't let them.
In September 2014 the family flew to Chernihiv in Ukraine, where they stayed at the Human Rights House, a shelter run as part of a larger network of human rights defenders and organizations. After two months the journalist moved with his family to a shelter in Vilnius, also run by human rights groups.
In January 2015 Abbasov and his family moved to Norway, after being accepted by the International Cities of Refuge Network and being granted a three-year residency permit. He and his wife have since had a fourth child. Abbasov said that his older children were confused when they left their home, but that they have settled into life in Norway and understand the family will not return to Azerbaijan.
In June 2014, Sanna Camara was arrested for the third time over his reporting. Unable to report freely in his own country, and fearing he would be detained again, Camara said he knew he had no hope of staying in Gambia. Camara told CPJ that his last arrest came on the same day that a story he wrote on human trafficking appeared in The Standard newspaper. Authorities accused him of publishing false news and he was released on bail on the condition that he report to police headquarters in Banjul three times a week.
A week before he fled, Camara said that a contact at the police department tipped him off that there was enough evidence to proceed with his case. Because he needed permission to travel, even within Gambia, the journalist said he told police he planned to visit his parents about 180 miles from the capital.
Instead of visiting his family, Camara went directly to the border. Knowing fewer guards would be patrolling when it was hot, he waited until the sun was at its highest point before crossing into Senegal, where he tried to register as a refugee.
When Camara first arrived in Senegal's capital, Dakar, he found an apartment large enough so that his wife and three children, who are between two and six years old, could join him. But, Camara said, he realized he would not be able to support his family in exile like he had at home. The journalist could live without breakfast, but he could not deprive his family of three meals a day, he said. His wife and children returned to Gambia after a few weeks and Camara moved into a single room, where he still lives today. “I miss my children. Every time I talk to my daughter she asks when I'm coming home,” Camara said.
Sanna Camara has been able to continue working as a reporter while in exile, and says he has been given more freedom to cover sensitive issues. Photo courtesy of Sanna Camara via CPJ.
In March 2015, Senegal rejected Camara's application for refugee status. No reason was given. Camara said that the applications of several Gambian journalists who fled to Dakar before him were also rejected. He is currently appealing the decision.
CPJ has found that most members of the media who are forced to flee are not able to continue their work in journalism, but Camara writes part-time for Gambian news websites and in May started contributing to the independent global news service, Democracy Watch News. He also reports on politics, human rights, and freedom of expression issues for his blog, GambiaBeat. He told CPJ:
In Senegal I have a lot of freedom to investigate human trafficking. I have interviewed over a dozen human trafficking victims. I would not be able to do this work in Gambia. I would not have the security to do this….It's not the best, but it is more secure than in Gambia.
In May 2015, radio journalist Bob Rugurika was forced to flee Burundi for the third time since 2010 because of threats over his reporting. Rugurika said that the first two times he left, both related to his investigations into the murder of human rights defender Ernest Manirumva, he felt safe enough to eventually return home, even though he and his wife received death threats.
His desire to contribute positively to society in Burundi always brought him back. “I felt a sense of outrage, guilt sometimes as if we [journalists] were not able to prevent this situation of war in which Burundi plunged. I was torn by a sense of desperation and desire to want to keep fighting no matter what,” he said.
Rugurika's most recent flight across the border was different.
Radio director Bob Rugurika says he doesn't know when it will be safe for him to return to his home country, Burundi. Photo courtesy of Rugurika via CPJ.
In January 2015 CPJ reported how the director of the privately owned Burundi station, Radio Publique Africaine, had been charged with complicity in murder and breach of public solidarity, after the station broadcast an interview in which a guest claimed to be involved in the murder of three Italian nuns. During the broadcast, the guest implicated several intelligence and police officers in the murders. He did not provide any evidence.
After refusing to say where the guest was located, Rugurika was arrested on January 19, 2015 and held for one month. The journalist told CPJ he was used to receiving threats but after his conditional release in February the threats intensified and his home was attacked, forcing him to go into hiding. Rugurika said that after two months in hiding his life had become unbearable and he realized he had to leave Burundi.
On May 8, 2015, as violent demonstrations took place in the capital, Bumjumbura, in response to President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term, Rugurika prepared to leave. Since the start of unrest in that year, coupled with a government crackdown on the independent press, CPJ has been aware of more than 100 journalists who have fled Burundi.
“I felt a sense of outrage, guilt sometimes as if we [journalists] were not able to prevent this situation of war in which Burundi plunged. I was torn by a sense of desperation and desire to want to keep fighting no matter what.”
In Rugurika's case, prosecutors banned the journalist from traveling, so he kept his plans secret. Rugurika said that under the pretense of working on a story, he arranged for a driver from his radio station to take him close to the Rwandan border. The journalist told the driver he needed to meet his source at a discreet location and then used a motorcycle to travel to a part of the border that was not widely patrolled.
Rugurika was able to cross easily into Rwanda, where someone was waiting to take him to the capital, Kigali. From there Rugurika traveled to Nairobi in Kenya, but he later returned to Kigali to be with other Burundian journalists who fled to Rwanda, saying it is the most secure country in the region.
“The first six months have been difficult,” he said. “I was paralyzed by the idea of exile. This is the first time I had decided to flee the country without knowing exactly when I would return.”
Rugurika continues to work as a journalist and has founded Humura Burundi, an online magazine that provides news on Burundi.
In the past year, CPJ has documented an escalation in Turkey's crackdown on the press, with arrests, forced takeovers at news outlets, and legal action. One of the casualties of the crackdown is Sevgi Akarçeşme, an editor at Today's Zaman, who was forced to flee in March 2016 for fear of arrest.
In December 2015, Akarçeşme was celebrating being appointed the first female editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman. Three months later, on March 4, an Istanbul court ruled that court-appointed trustees should take over the English-language paper, together with its sister paper, Zaman, after the papers were accused of terrorist propaganda. By the time of the takeover, there were at least 18 journalists behind bars in Turkey, CPJ research shows.
Before fleeing, Sevgi Akarçeşme was editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman in Turkey. The news organization's takeover made international headlines.
Akarçeşme said that after the takeover and being handed a 17-month suspended prison sentence in December 2015 for allegedly insulting the prime minister in a tweet, she worried she would be either banned from traveling or imprisoned. Numerous colleagues have been sentenced to jail, including Ekrem Dumanlı, the editor-in-chief of Zaman, in December 2014, and Bülent Keneş the former editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman, in October 2015.Dumanlı left the country, and Keneş has been released pending trial, but is under a travel ban. Akarçeşme said she felt frustrated and helpless seeing her colleagues arrested arbitrarily, “I have almost no faith left in the judicial system in Turkey,” she said.
Fearing she would face the same fate, Akarçeşme said she decided to leave Turkey before a travel ban could be imposed. On March 6 she bought a plane ticket, packed her belongings and, within a few hours, was on a flight to Brussels. Akarçeşme said it felt like she was in a movie and that she didn't feel safe until the plane took off.
Staff of Today's Zaman prior to the takeover. Photo courtesy of Sevgi Akarçeşme via CPJ.
“It has changed me. This whole experience has been changing me. I try to look at it in a positive way. I suffer, but we grow when we suffer,” she said. “Secretly, I am still hoping for a miracle. I hope that a miracle will happen and I will be able to go back. It doesn't seem very likely in the foreseeable future though.”
The journalist added:
I still don't know how long I will have to be away from my home country. It's kind of heartbreaking because, after all, it's my hometown, Istanbul. My whole family lives there. My whole life was in Istanbul. Even though I traveled a lot and I studied in the United States, being forced to leave your country is something else. It feels truly terrible. To leave your country with only two suitcases, not knowing what to do, not having a job, not having anyone next to you.

author: Committee to Protect Journalists


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As President Faces Impeachment, Brazil’s ‘Royal Family’ Wants to Play ‘Game of Thrones’ For Real · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

A rendition of Brazil's independence by French painter François-René Moreau, from the mid 1800s. At the center is Dom Pedro I, Brazil's first monarch, the son of the then Portuguese king John VI. Public Domain.
It's been 127 years since Brazil was a monarchy, but President Dilma Rousseff's possible impeachment has presented the heirs of the country's last royal family with an opportunity to appeal to supporters for a return of the empire, and social media could play a big role in this effort.
Last week, Prince Don Rafael (who would be the fourth in the succession line, were Brazil still a monarchy) shared a video on his official Facebook page that soon gained viral popularity. In the video, Rafael salutes the country's “monarchists” and asserts that “the return of the monarchy is only a matter of time.” With more than 400,000 views, the video helped to triple Rafael's Facebook followers from 6,000 to almost 20,000 in a matter of days.
Brazil was a Portuguese colony between 1500 and 1815, when it was elevated to a kingdom following the transfer of the Portuguese Court to its largest colony during the Napoleonic invasions of Portugal. In 1822, after the royal family returned to Portugal, Brazil finally became independent, but oddly enough its biggest national hero was Dom Pedro, the son of the Portuguese king himself, who was left behind to govern the country as prince regent.
Dom Pedro enjoyed the support of the country's rural, slave-owning aristocracy, who felt threatened by both Portugal's grip and the republican-revolutionary movements sweeping across Spanish America. The aristocracy endorsed a constitutional monarchy as the best way to preserve its own interests, while at the same time riding the wave of nationalism triggered by the French Revolution. It was only in 1889, after the nation witnessed a growing urban entrepreneurial class and strains between the military and the royal aristocracy, that Brazil finally became a republic and deposed the then ruler Dom Pedro II.
In comments on Don Rafael's video, many Facebook users have taken to mocking the would-be prince, inventing several jokes based on the television show “Game of Thrones,” like suggestions that dragons or a Dothraki army should help him retake the Brazilian throne. But many other Internet users seem to be genuinely in favor of a restored monarchy. These Brazilians seem to believe that the monarchic regimes in Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom are the reason these countries enjoy such prosperity and social equality. Even more surprising is the fact that the large majority of new monarchy supporters seem to be young people.
In May, the journalist and talk-show host Mariana Godoy ran a poll on her Twitter account asking readers to vote on the best form of government for Brazil. Though the survey was thoroughly unscientific, a surprising 41 percent of respondents chose monarchy.
Mariana Godoy was about to host Dom Bertrand de Orleans e Bragança on her show, who, along with his brother Dom Luís — both descendants of Dom Pedro II, the second and the first in line for a hypothetical throne — seem to be learning how to capitalize on the country's conservative momentum to sell their cause. On the talk show, D. Bertrand defended the military coup of 1964, that put Brazil in 21 years of dictatorship, the right for private property above all and, under the obedience of “the laws of God,” condemned homossexuality and any “privileges” to LGBT people.
Brazil's last emperor, Dom Pedro II, deposed in 1889. Public Domain.
While the idea of restoring a monarchy in Brazil sounds bizarre to many people, the country's old imperial flag is becoming an increasingly common sight in street protests against the Worker's Party that began in late 2014. Dom Bertrand (who, according to the disputed claims of the Vassouras branch of the family, is first in the line of succession to the defunct Brazilian throne) has claimed proudly that supporters have been assembling spontaneously. “People are tired with the republic,” he insists.
Over the past year, various princes in Brazil's royal family have frequently appeared among the “common people” in the protests against Dilma Rousseff, posing for pictures with the old imperial flag. This approach is different from a past behavior. During the June 2013 mass protests that brought millions of Brazilians into the streets to protest rising bus fares and corruption, the official recommendation from the “Imperial House” to its supporters was to stay at home. According to BBC Brasil, monarchists found it necessary to “abstain” from participation in mass rallies, at the time.
Before Brazil's presidential elections in 2014, a note penned by D. Luís, published on the website monarchy.com, discussed “natural rights,” quoting Cicero, Aristotle, and the Bible, urging monarchists not to vote for “candidates who contradict such teachings [on natural rights]” or for “parties whose platforms insult the Law of God.”
In an interview with the newspaper Folha de São Paulo, Bertrand explained why his family has decided to embrace political protests now:
O Brasil está com saudade de um regime que faça à nação o que uma nação deve ser: uma grande família com destino comum a realizar.
Quando brasileiros bradam ‘Quero meu Brasil de volta’, bradam ‘Eu quero o Brasil do Cristo Redentor e de Nossa Senhora Aparecida’.
Brazil is missing a regime that makes the nation what a nation must be: a great family with a common destiny to fulfill.
When Brazilians shout ‘I want my Brazil back’, they shout ‘I want the Brazil of the Christ Redeemer and Our Virgin Mary from Aparecida [a local image]’.
When D. Pedro II, the great-great-grandfather of the two princes who now advocate restoring Brazil's monarchy, was ousted by republicans in 1889. He did not put up a fight. Instead, the royal family packed its bags and went to live in Europe.
In 1993, riding the backlash of another presidential impeachment process, a plebiscite asked Brazilians about their preferred system of government. With time on TV to defend their idea, the monarchists received only 10.2 percent of the public's support. Today, this scenario doesn’t seem to have changed. A crowdfunding campaign to fund the “monarchy’s publicity on the Internet” managed only 33 percent of its goal of BRL 5,000 ($1,470).
Brazil's monarchists might only be getting started, however. Last May, the country's Senate received a proposal to restore a parliamentary monarchy as a solution to end Brazil's “corrupt and corruptive presidentialism.” The Senate published the proposal on its website, where people have until September 2017 to endorse the text. So far, it has a whopping 18 supporters.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Fernanda Canofre


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Hong Kong Bookseller Says He Was Forced to Confess on TV During Eight-Month Detention in China · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Lam Wing-kee. Photo: Gene Lin/HKFP.
The following was originally published as a series of articles written by Tom Grundy and Kris Cheng on Hong Kong Free Press on June 16, 2016. They have been edited together into article and is published on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Five booksellers who went missing from Thailand, China and Hong Kong in 2015 have suddenly turned up both in person and on TV over the last several months in Hong Kong. In what may be a response to international pressure, these appearances have allowed them to “clarify” for the public that they voluntarily assisted mainland Chinese authorities in a criminal investigation.
Given that all five sold books critical of the Chinese government, very few people are buying story.
And now one of them is speaking out. Lam Wing-kee, the founder of Causeway Bay Bookstore in Hong Kong, went missing on October 24. He held an impromptu press conference at Hong Kong's legislature on June 16, where he told reporters that he was held by a kind of “special unit” in China and that he was forced to make a confession on TV in February.
Lam returned to Hong Kong on June 14, accompanied by two men. He said mainland Chinese authorities offered to release him if he handed over a hard drive containing a list of customers from the Causeway Bay Bookstore by June 16. He was due to return to the mainland with the hard drive, but he turned back after reading news about Hong Kong people protesting his arrest.
The hard drive demanded by the Chinese authorities contained sales records of some 600 people's names and 4,000 book titles from the bookstore. Lam said the special unit had already obtained a copy of the hard drive from another missing bookseller, Lee Bo, during his brief return from mainland China to Hong Kong in March.
Describing the details of his eight-month detention, Lam said that he was intercepted at the mainland border crossing on October 24, 2015. He was handcuffed, his eyes were covered, and he was taken from Shenzhen to Ningbo on China's eastern coast by train the next day.
He said he was held in a 200 to 300 square foot room in a large compound for five months until March 2016. Lam was not allowed to see a lawyer or communicate with his family, and says that six groups of people took turns monitoring him closely. He wasn't allowed to leave, he said. However, after many requests, he was allowed books to read.
During his detention, Lam said he underwent some 20 to 30 interrogations, in which he was accused of “illegal operations” by sending “banned” books to the mainland. Each interrogation lasted from 30 to 45 minutes:
I did not believe it would happen to me – it was an absurd place […] It was not realistic… I hoped I was in another place, or that it was a dream, that it was not reality. I am a Hong Konger, I am a free man, I did not break any law in Hong Kong, but I was arrested without any reason.
He was forced into making a public confession on Hong Kong broadcaster Phoenix TV in February. Of the experience, he explained there was a director and a script for him to practice; he said he did not have the courage to refuse to go though with it, although he did not think he committed any crime. After the confession, he was sent to Shaoguan in southeast China to work at a library, with less restrictions in March.
Accompanied by lawmaker Albert Ho Chun-yan at the press conference, Lam told reporters that he could not understand what law he may have violated, as it was legal in Hong Kong to send books to the mainland.
“If I broke Chinese laws they can sue me, why did the Chinese government grab me silently when I crossed the border?” he said. “This is not just my personal matter or Causeway Bay Books, this is about the human rights of Hong Kong people,” he said, saying that it was blatant violation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and is supposed to have a high degree of autonomy from the mainland. Thanks to this so-called “One Country, Two Systems” principle, Hong Kong enjoys more freedoms than China, but there are fears that despite this set-up, the mainland is attempting to tighten its control over the region.
Lam said on the day he was accosted on the mainland last October, he was originally planning to visit his girlfriend. She was also detained on the mainland as she had helped him with sending “banned” books into China. She was released on bail.
I am sorry for my girlfriend… But I don’t consider this a personal matter anymore, rather a matter for the whole of society… Hong Kong people were forced without any way out […]
He said it was unacceptable that his colleague Lee Bo was “kidnapped” from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has rule of law – I am not afraid for my personal safety, and I do not plan to go to the mainland again. […] This is the red line for Hong Kong people – Hong Kong people will not give in to the powerful regime.
Regarding the booksellers who returned to Hong Kong and went to the mainland again, he said he wishes the Chinese government would “treat them well.”
Lam also said he hoped that Hong Kong people would continue to raise their voices against the “authoritarian” regime of China:
I hope Hong Kong people can say no to the authoritarian regime […] If I can, why can’t you? I was born and raised in Hong Kong – I don’t have to leave.
Human right organization Amnesty International stated that Lam's testimony has “blown apart” Beijing's “lies” on the missing publishers. Mabel Au, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said:
He has exposed what many have suspected all along: that this was a concerted operation by the Chinese authorities to go after the booksellers. It seems clear he, and most likely the others, were arbitrarily detained, ill-treated and forced to confess. The plight of the other booksellers still in mainland China is extremely worrying. They must be granted access to lawyers and where appropriate consular assistance.
Lam's colleague Lee Bo issued a public post on Facebook denying Lam’s claims, saying he voluntarily went to the mainland using his own methods to assist in an investigation. Booksellers Lui Por and Cheung Chi-ping, who also went missing in Shenzhen and Dongguan respectively, had returned to Hong Kong but went back to the mainland soon after.
Gui Minhai, another bookseller at Causeway Bay Books who went missing while in Thailand, has yet to be released from detention on the mainland.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Local Chinese Officials Promise They Won’t Let the Yulin Dog Meat Festival Happen This Year · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from YouTube video: Stop Yulin Dog Meat Festival.
Amid immense public pressure, the Guangxi government has put a halt to the notorious Yulin Dog Meat Festival, which was scheduled this year for June 21 and 22. According to Hong Kong animal rights activists, Guangxi authorities promise to make sure the massive slaughter of dogs won't happen by enforcing laws related to food safety and public hygiene.
Animal activists from around the world have been calling for an end to the festival for years. On June 10, 24 of them handed a petition signed by 11 million people from around the world over to the Beijing office of the Yulin city government. Addressing Chinese President Xi Jinping, the petition urged:
With the dog meat festival in Yulin causing such severe animal suffering, risking human health, damaging China’s global reputation, and involving widespread illegal behaviour, as well as breaching China’s own food safety laws, it is time for the Chinese Government to take firm action to end this event for good. In doing so you will clearly show your leadership in protecting the well-being of both people and animals, and demonstrate that China’s global reputation as a progressive nation will not be besmirched by such activities.
Festival opponents say the majority of the dogs consumed during the festival are stolen. Unlike other livestock, currently there is no inspection of the safety of dog meat in China, making the consumption of dog meat a potential threat to public health. The video below produced by Duo Duo Animal Welfare Project two years ago explains the issue in detail:
In response to the activist's outcry, nationalist tabloid Global Times labelled western media and animal right activists as “cultural extremists”:
一些西方媒体和动物保护组织对玉林“荔枝狗肉节”给予了上纲上线的对待，把它炒作成中国国家形象的一个标志，并且要求中国政府施以影响，宣称叫停了狗肉节就怎么样，不叫停又怎么样，这大概有些文化上的极端主义。
Some western media and animal right organizations have made a mountain out of mole hill and claimed that the “dog meat festival” represents China's national image. They claim if the government steps in to end the festival the consequence would be like this, or else the consequence would be like that. This is somehow a reflection of cultural extremism.
However, the pressure to stop the festival is not only coming from outside China or from Chinese activist circles. The state-affiliated People.com's public opinion analytics team recently conducted an online poll, and among the 30,000 respondents, 64% supports a ban on consuming dog meat. Only 24.4% of respondents said they object to a ban.
That report stressed that the consumption of dog meat is not mainstream Chinese culture and characterized the festival as a step backwards:
善待动物不是崇洋媚外，中国的清末和民国时期就有防止虐待动物的明文规定，因此，结合现代主流的世界道德，出台禁止集中、血腥屠宰和消费狗肉的狗肉节规定，是维护甚至弘扬中华民族的护生文化。对于偷抢狗、无证运输狗和无检疫证销售狗肉的行为，应当予以谴责。[…]自古以来，中国就有狗肉不上宴席的传统，如今一些地方的普通民众集会吃狗肉，一些商贩当街集中屠宰狗，形成所谓的节日，实际上是传统文化质量的倒退。
Being humane to animals is not a western value. China has had laws against animal abuse since the Qing Dynasty. Hence, the introduction of new regulations against the dog meat festival, which involves the massive and cruel slaughter and consumption of dogs, is consistent with Chinese culture. The government should condemn illegal stealing, transportation and sale of dog meat. […] Since ancient times, China has had the tradition of not presenting dog meat to guests. The so-call festival is a public dog meat eating gathering and some shops even slaughter dogs in the open street. Such behavior is a cultural regression.
The dog meat festival started in 1990s as a tourist attraction to celebrate the arrival of summer. People in Yulin believe that eating dog meat in early summer brings good health to a person. The festival had been supported by the city government, but ceased to do so in 2014 as more and more people were speaking out against it. However, the government did not stop the event from taking place the year after by enforcing laws related to food safety and public hygiene.
Michael Tien Puk Sun, the representative of the National People Congress from Hong Kong, told the press that the Yulin government has promised that there will no public slaughtering of dogs. However, they won't stop people from consuming dog meat in private.
Animal rights activists from Guangxi have confirmed that thus far there are no street banners about the festival in Yuli. However, they still have doubts regarding the government's sincerity about enforcing the law, whether the decision to stop the festival is way to wash their hands of a “spontaneous” local cultural event. Some are worried too that the intense scrutiny of the festival could backfire as more people get to know about Yulin and travel there for dog meat.

author: Oiwan Lam


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‘Mother, Don’t Cry If They Couldn’t Find My Body’: Remembering the 4,000 Syrian Refugees Who Died En Route to Europe · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

Image: “The Sea Cemetery” / Youtube
The humanitarian aid agency Support to Life is working to increase global awareness about the more than 4,000 refugees from Syria who have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. As part of this effort, the organization has launched a film project called “The Sea Cemetery,” which features different depictions of the dead.
The 90-second video says the following:
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, 4.6 million Syrian people have left their homeland. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea became the last route to hope. And, the deadliest route of the 21st century.
More than 4,000 Syrian refugees, including many children, lost their lives at sea. Many of them couldn't be identified, and couldn't be found. Now the sea is their final resting place. The sea is their grave. The sea cemetery.
In Memory of thousands of Syrian refugees…
Internet users around the world have shared their reactions to the film, expressing their solidarity with the dead refugees. On Twitter, Emilie Hasrouty drew special attention to the floating tombstones in the film:
٢٠٠ قبر عائم فوق البحر المتوسط تكريماً لضحايا اللجوء السوري الذي ابتلع ٤٠٠٠ روح. عمل فني مؤثر حول مأساة غير مسبوقة.https://t.co/YrnFdXlM4u
— Emilie Hasrouty (@Emiliehasrouty) May 23, 2016
200 floating tombstones over the Mediterranean Sea which swallowed 4,000 souls, in honor of Syrian asylum victims. An influential work of art about unprecedented tragedy.
Despite dying in the attempt to flee, Tammy Kling felt the refugees did everything they could:
The sea cemetery. It's much better to have died trying to escape war, with hope of a better life than to lose hope. pic.twitter.com/aV1WK10C4H
— Tammy Kling (@tammykling) June 6, 2016
Support to Life's film even drew the attention of Joseph Daul, a French politician and the president of the European People's Party.
As we praise the blue sea in #Nice today, we must not forget that it’s the sea that becomes a cemetery for migrants, as HH @Pontifex said
— Joseph Daul (@JosephDaul) June 1, 2016
While “The Sea Cemetery” collects just some of the countless stories of people fleeing Syria, the supply of firsthand accounts unfortunately includes many unconfirmed and inaccurate stories, as Global Voices has reported previously.
The Syrian Civil War has raged for five years and displaced at least 10 million people, sending refugees around the world. In that time, Syrian activists have been busy on Facebook, scripting stories about refugees who died trying to reach safety abroad.
One story that's gained popularity online is framed as a letter from a young Syrian man to his mother, written after the young man's boat sank en route to Europe, killing hundreds of refugees onboard:
رسالة وداعية كتبها لاجئ سوري قبل غرقه في المتوسط : شكراً للبحر الذي استقبلنا بدون فيزا .. وشكراً للأسماك التي ستتقاسم لحمي ولن تسألني عن ديني ولا انتمائي السياسي
الأناضول-تداول ناشطون سوريون على شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي، نص رسالة قالوا إنها وجدت في جيب أحد اللاجئين السوريين الذين انتشلت جثثهم بعد غرق مركبهم الذي كان يحوي المئات من المهاجرين غير الشرعيين في البحر الأبيض المتوسط خلال رحلتهم للوصول إلى الشواطئ الأوروبية مطلع الأسبوع الجاري.
وفيما لم يبيّن الناشطون معلومات عن هوية صاحب الرسالة الوداعية الأخيرة التي كتبها فيما يبدو لدى استشعاره بقرب غرق المركب الذي كان يحمله، فإنهم أرفقوا مع النص الذي نشروه على صفحاتهم الشخصية عبارات مؤثرة من قبيل “هدية إلى العالم المتحضر.. هرب من الموت فاحتضنه البحر.. أنصحكم بالقراءة لكن لا تبكوا لأن الدموع جفت على أبناء سوريا”.
وهذا نص الرسالة الذي تنشره وكالة “الأناضول” بحسب ما تداوله الناشطون:
“أنا آسف يا أمي لأن السفينة غرقت بنا ولم أستطع الوصول إلى هناك (يقصد أوروبا)، كما لن أتمكن من إرسال المبالغ التي استدنتها لكي أدفع أجر الرحلة (يتراوح أجر الرحلة البحرية للوصول إلى أوروبا بطريقة غير شرعية ما بين ألف إلى 5 آلاف يورو بحسب دولة الانطلاق وعوامل أخرى مثل صلاحية المركب وعدد الوسطاء وغيرها).
لاتحزني يا أمي إن لم يجدوا جثتي، فماذا ستفيدك الآن إلا تكاليف نقل وشحن ودفن وعزاء.
أنا آسف يا أمي لأن الحرب حلّت، وكان لا بد لي أن أسافر كغيري من البشر، مع العلم أن أحلامي لم تكن كبيرة كالآخرين، كما تعلمين كل أحلامي كانت بحجم علبة دواء للكولون لك، وثمن تصليح أسنانك.
بالمناسبة لون أسناني الآن أخضر بسبب الطحالب العالقة فيه، ومع ذلك هي أجمل من أسنان الديكتاتور (في إشارة إلى بشار الأسد).
أنا آسف يا حبيبتي لأنني بنيت لك بيتاً من الوهم، كوخاً خشبياً جميلاً كما كنا نشاهده في الأفلام، كوخاً فقيراً بعيداً عن البراميل المتفجرة وبعيداً عن الطائفية والانتماءات العرقية وشائعات الجيران عنا.
أنا آسف يا أخي لأنني لن أستطيع إرسال الخمسين يورو التي وعدتك بإرسالها لك شهرياً لترفه عن نفسك قبل التخرج.
أنا آسف يا أختي لأنني لن أرسل لك الهاتف الحديث الذي يحوي “الواي فاي”(خدمة الانترنت اللاسلكي) أسوة بصديقتك ميسورة الحال.
أنا آسف يا منزلي الجميل لأنني لن أعلق معطفي خلف الباب.
أنا آسف أيها الغواصون والباحثون عن المفقودين، فأنا لا أعرف اسم البحر الذي غرقت فيه..
اطمئني يا دائرة اللجوء فأنا لن أكون حملاً ثقيلاً عليك.
شكراً لك أيها البحر الذي استقبلتنا بدون فيزا ولا جواز سفر، شكراً للأسماك التي ستتقاسم لحمي ولن تسألني عن ديني ولا انتمائي السياسي.
شكراً لقنوات الأخبار التي ستتناقل خبر موتنا لمدة خمس دقائق كل ساعة لمدة يومين..
شكراً لكم لأنكم ستحزنون علينا عندما ستسمعون الخبر.
أنا آسف لأني غرقت..”.
I'm sorry, mother, because the boat sank and I could not get there, and will not be able to send the loan I took out to pay for the trip.
Don't cry if they couldn't find my body. It would just cost [more] money for shipping and burial. I'm sorry, mother, because the war raged, and it was necessary for me to travel like other human beings, though my dreams were not great as the others’. As you know, all my dreams were limited to buying you medicine and artificial teeth. The color of my teeth now is green because of sea algae, but, they're still prettier than the dictator's teeth. I'm sorry, my dear, because I built you a house of illusions—a beautiful wooden home like the ones we used to watch in movies, poor and away from the explosive barrels, and far away from the sectarian and ethnic affiliations and rumors that surrounded us.
I'm sorry, my brother, because I can not send the 50 euros I promised you to have some fun before you graduate. I'm sorry, my sister, because I won't send you a smartphone with “Wi-Fi” like your rich friend. I'm sorry, my sweet home, because I won't I hang my coat behind your door. I'm sorry, dear divers and researchers, for going missing. I do not know where in the sea I drowned… but rest assured that I won't bother the asylum department.
Thank you, sea, which welcomed us without a visa or passport. Thanks you, fish, which will share my flesh without asking me about my religion or political position. Thanks for the news channels which will broadcast the news of our death for five minutes every hour for two days…Thank you to anyone who mourns us, when they hear the news.
I'm sorry I sank…

author: Rami Alhames


text:
The Wild World of Telegram Stickers · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Telegram sticker set based on Leningrad's hit music video, “Exponat.”
Here at RuNet Echo, we regularly try to cover news stories that capture important aspects of life in Russia, as it occurs on the Internet. Our articles focus on gay rights, the freedom of speech, online regulations, and a host of other issues we consider vital to the state of Russia’s modern-day civil society.
This isn’t one of those articles. It’s Friday and today we’re going to write about stickers—not just any stickers, mind you, but the stickers that have been flooding the instant messenger app Telegram for the past year.
On May 19, 2015, Telegram’s developers opened up their stickers feature (which enables custom-designed emoji sets) to any artists interested in creating their own. Each sticker set gets its own permanent link for public sharing. There is no central repository for all Telegram stickers, but there are several websites and social media forums where people collect and share their favorites.
There are lots of Telegram stickers today. Some of them are very familiar, mimicking or outright copying the sticker sets that come bundled with more popular apps like Facebook Messenger. But many artists have clearly answered Telegram’s call, creating sticker sets based on distinctly Russian, often amazingly arcane subjects. Some of the stickers have political resonance (somewhat betraying this text’s earlier claim that this story is a pure distraction from Russian civil society), and others celebrate or satirize Western popular culture.
RuNet Echo shares a few of our favorite Telegram stickers.
No RuNet phenomenon would be complete without a whole mess of Vladimir Putin photos. This set includes a gallery of images showing Russia's commander in chief in some of his most famous poses, including his patriotic re-election speech at Luzhniki stadium in February 2012, his shirtless fishing trip in August 2007, his embrace with a Bulgarian shepherd Karakachan puppy in November 2010, and much more.
The same sticker pack also includes several anti-American cartoons featuring US President Barack Obama, showing him eyeing a nuclear missile, laughing in a straightjacket, and lighting a cigar, looking like a demon. (There's also a racist sticker, which we've blurred to spare you that image.)
The next set of stickers appears to have been made by someone who likes to read the news, as it consists of cartoons depicting various Russian public figures. From left to right, we have anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny (saying, “Hahaha, stop!”), conservative lawmaker Vitaly Milonov (saying, “Sinful! Harmful! Prohibited!”), Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (saying, “'Sup, bandits!”), the head of Russia's Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina (blowing her nose and crying), Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov (repeating his menacing catchphrase, “He who doesn't understand, will understand!”), the fictional character Borat Sagdiyev (reaching through a TV set displaying the network “RT” and saying to its chief editor, “Margarita Simonyan, you're drunk!”), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (dressed in his posh recreation clothes, saying, “You're kidding! Seriously?”), Vladimir Putin (saying, “Not funny!”), Rosneft oil CEO Igor Sechin (adapting a rhyming meme about Patriarch Kirill, roughly saying, “The barrel turns, and the money returns”), a sleeping Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (who's notoriously been caught dozing at public events), Barack Obama, “Echo of Moscow” chief editor Alexey Venediktov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (swearing at a news conference, like he did accidentally in August 2015), the artist Petr Pavlensky (sewing his mouth shut, as he did in July 2012, in support of the jailed musicians Pussy Riot), Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and former oligarch, turned political dissident, Mikhail Khodorkovsky (leaving with a suitcase, alluding to his new post-prison life in foreign exile, saying, “Do svidaniya!”).
Most of the stickers aren't so overtly political, of course. For instance, there's this set of cartoons depicting Karina Sycheva, known online as “Streamer Karina,” who was banned from the Twitch streaming video service in May 2016 for airing excessive “non-gaming content” on her channel. In February 2016, Karina was voted one the “top-five sexiest Russian streamers” by the pro-Kremlin website “RuPosters.” She has inspired hundreds of memes, including an autotuned song on YouTube with 15.7 million views.
There are also Telegram stickers that depict scenes from the two latest music videos by the popular group Leningrad. The first video, “Display Exhibit” (“Exponat”), was released in February this year. The song tells the story of a young woman going on a date with a man named Serge to an art exhibit featuring work by Vincent van Gogh. Throughout the video, she tries and ultimately fails to make herself presentable to her date.
Leningrad's more recent viral hit, “In Peter, You Drink,” tells the story of several people in St. Petersburg suffering bad days at work, ultimately coming together for a fun night of heavy drinking.
If you feel like there isn't enough Hitler or Stalin in your Internet experience, you can also download this sticker set of historical “evil minds.”
There are lots more Telegram stickers. We found the stickers shown above at this website, but there are also repositories on Reddit, Vkontakte, and many other places we likely haven't even thought to look. Have you got a favorite Telegram sticker set? Let us know in the comments.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Tajik Facebookers Make Persian Poetry Political · Global Voices
Salam Aleik

The cover of a Persian anthology. But the modern-day heirs of poets like Rumi and Hafiz are at work on Facebook. Wikipedia image,
Persian poetry throughout the ages has been known for its praise of love, its moral musings and its contemplation of existence. The most well-known representative of Persian poetry in the English-speaking world is Rumi. In the Russian-speaking world, Omar Khayyam.
But now a new generation of poets in Persian-speaking Tajikistan is using the time-honoured medium to address social, economic and political problems — ever-growing in the ex-Soviet Central Asian country — on Facebook and the Russian social network Odnoklassniki.
Global Voices picked out a few samples of poetry widely shared on social media.
The young, talented and critical journalist Sayf Safar notes sarcastically that his countrymen refuse to see all these problems in the poorest country in Central Asia, and instead praise authorities for having “a normal peaceful life and bright future.”
Authorities meanwhile redouble their efforts to eradicate hijabs in a country where more than 90% of population is Muslim.
Ҳама чӣ дар ватанам нурмол аст,
Ҳама гап бар сари як рӯймол аст,
Ҳама мағз аз ватанам ирсол аст,
Ҳама ҳақ дар ватанам помол аст,
Тоҷикистон ватани нурмол аст?
Ақлу динро ту нигар дар ҷанганд,
Фаҳшу андеша бибин ҳамсанганд,
Хӯҷаинон ба по меланганд,
Ту бибин, оинаҳо дар занганд,
Тоҷикистон ватани нурмол аст?
ДОИШ аз роҳ бирасад, метарсам,
Чолиш аз моҳ бирасад, метарсам,
Таркиш аз оҳ бирасад, метарсам,
Хатар аз коҳ бирасад, метарсам,
Тоҷикистон ватани нурмол аст?
Ман агар гап бизанам, хоинам?
Ҷангу шурӯ шарар аст ойинам?
Буғзу кин аст ҳамагӣ ботинам?
Ба шумо ман чӣ касам? Як тинам?
Тоҷикистон ватани нурмол аст?
Everyone says, everything is normal
Everyone talks only about headscarfs
Every brain is leaving the country
Every right is violated here
Is Tajikistan home to abnormality?
Wisdom and religion are in conflict,
Dirt and mind are one,
Bosses do not care and are free of mind,
Mirrors fill up with dirt,
Is Tajikistan home to abnormality?
I’m afraid, that ISIS will come soon,
I’m afraid, that fate will challenge us,
I’m afraid, that frustration will turn into explosion,
I’m afraid, of a threat forming from nothing,
Is Tajikistan home to abnormality?
If I say something, am I a traitor?
Is my mission war and fights and provocation?
Is my inner full of malice and vengeance?
Who am I for you? Nothing?
Is Tajikistan home to abnormality?
The political situation in the country has been deteriorating in recent years with the government shutting down opposition parties and cracking down on media.
In regular Soviet-style propaganda, authorities link any form of political, social or economic dissent to foreign-funded treason.
Media magnate-in-exile Zafar Sufi brings all this into his verses.
Ҳама эътирози худро ба садои паст гӯянд,
Ҳама мекунанд шиква, ҳама аз шикаст гӯянд.
Чи замонаест, ё раб, ки адуи қавм хонанд
Ду нафар агар ба фарде “каси ҳақпараст” гӯянд.
Ҳама кас ба ҳамраҳи худ нигарад зи чашми шубҳа,
Ҳама ҳарфашон зи шояд, чи шавад зи ҳаст гӯянд.
Everyone protests in silence, speaks in silence,
Everyone complains, everyone talks about defeat,
What a time has come, o God, that they say “enemy of the nation”,
If two people name someone “an honest man”,
Everyone looks at his friend in suspicion,
Everyone worries, what will happen.
So, far the international community has paid little heed to ongoing religious and political persecution in Tajikistan, bar a few bland diplomatic statements.
Sayf Safar notes the futility of this reaction:
Бубин САҲА гузориш карда имрӯз, Шикоят кардаву фарёди ҷонсӯз.
Нафарҳои Убомо дар сафорат, Стейтмент кардаву бо он қаноат.
Бруксел ҳам хабар ёфта тане чанд, Зи пушти панҷара рафта ба тарфанд.
Ба ангушт рахна дар роёна карданд, Гузориш аз Вошингтан нома карданд.
Зи Дидбони ҳуқуқ бо шарҳу тафсир, Шикоятҳо расид ҳамчун тафи сир.
-Шумо кори дурусте менакардед!  -Чаро он мардакора баста кардед?
Садое аз даре сар дар наёвард, Якеро ҳам ба дарди сар наёвард.
Пашизеро наярзад ин гузориш, Баробар бо ришам қадри гузориш!
Look, the OSCE prepared a report, complained and screamed,
Obama’s guys from the Embassy, just made a statement and said, that’s enough,
A few people in Brussels also got some info, that some guys have been sent to jail,
Typing a few lines on a keyboard, Washington also sent a letter.
HRW has all the cases and the details, and complains every day
“That was not a good idea, jailing those men, why?”
But no one replies to any of this, no head aches from any of this,
All these statements aren't worth a cent, and are thrown into the trash.
Many Tajiks do not see a future for themselves in Tajikistan, a fact that has led to millions of them leaving to seek work in other countries, mainly Russia.
Poet Isfandiyor Nazar left his homeland for Germany a month ago:
Ёд он замон, ки дар Ватанам ошёна буд,
Мурғи дилам ба шохи ғазал ҳамчағона буд.
Ёд он замон, ки ҳарфи ситамгар нагуфтаме,
Шеърам шаробу нағмаи ман ошиқона буд.
Аммо чи гуфт боядам дигар, ки рӯзгор
Бо ман бикард ончи ба душман фасона буд.
По дар арикаи Ватан вақте гадо ниҳод,
Рафтам, ки дар Ватан дигар бар меҳр ҷо набуд.
Аз он гадо, ки муътабар гашту Ватан хароб,
Гуфтам ба шеъру шеъри ман хашми замона буд.
Ёд он замон, ки хоки Ватан аз гадо тиҳӣ
Буду барои ин Ватан ҳодӣ гадо набуд…
Рафтам, ки боз монданам суде дигар надошт,
Рафтам, ки ҷабр дар Ватан беш аз карона буд…
There were good times when I lived and loved the homeland,
My heart was drunk always from happiness there,
There were good times when I said nothing bad about homeland,
Any poems about it were full of love and joy,
But what shall I say now, when fate,
Has treated me worse than it treats an enemy.
When beggars conquered my homeland,
I left, because now there is no place for love there,
I left, because there was no use staying there anymore,
I left, because oppression and pain crossed all lines.

author: Salam Aleik


text:
The Layered Graves of Syria’s Douma City · Global Voices
Syria Untold

Image of the layered-graves after bombardment. Source: the Civil Assembly of the town of Douma, Facebook.
This article was originally published on Syria Untold and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement. The story was written in Arabic by Omar Youssef Souleimane and translated by Maya Milani.
Bombs fell on the building, destroying its floors. But the building did not vanish, it transformed into floors of underground tombs, for those who once lived within its walls above. Just as population density in the city caused the buildings to grow taller, death density is now causing graves to go floors deeper. This is how the people of Douma are now constructing their final resting places. They will not, of course, fall short of building material; home rubble is aplenty.
The graveyard were soon announced full, a local council member in Douma told SyriaUntold. Even agricultural lands could no longer suffice. In 2015 alone, over 6,000 victims fell in the Damascene suburb town, according to the Violations Documentation Centre (VDC). This number is enough to destroy all the farming lands there, which the population depends on entirely for their food supply. So, the grave-digger resorted to creating sets of three-meters-deep holes, in which graves were designed in a staircase form, to occupy less surface space.
In Douma, folks may bury dozens of victims in a single day, as they did after a massacre on August 22, 2015. Over a hundred people were killed that day after the regime's airforce hit several rockets at a popular market place in a residential part of the town. That’s why people from Douma need to economize on grave spaces. It may be a luxury for some to build their homes on multiple floors, but It’s now a luxury for Dumanians to build their graves on one.
The war that started in 2011 has taught us that life and death on this planet are but a coincidence. Syrians can survive by stepping a yard away, or die for taking a right turn on the wrong day. However, Douma graves have taught us that death has its own art forms in this war. But unlike the immortalizing arts of Pharaonic mummies, in this war nihilism rules the day.
It may seem simple at first, but constructing those graves takes a great deal of precision, as any flaw can cause a cave-in. The levelling of their ascendance unto the surface is measured with a precise meter. They usually have six floors of one grave each. This invention was initiated in Douma and spread rapidly to other towns of the Damascene Ghoutah suburbs.
In this, we are reminded of what the people of Homs have been doing since 2011; turning their playgrounds into graveyards. It may be fitting to remember that several of those parks were graveyards to begin with: Bab Houd Park for instance, or Damascus Road Park, to name a few. These parks were taken back by the war to what they once were decades ago: graveyards. Some graves are nameless, either due to the absence of acquaintances able to identify the bodies before they were buried, or because they were shred to pieces.
However, the ill-fate of Douma victims was not just that some of their layered-graves are nameless, but that even those graves were bombarded. On 14 February 2016, the town graveyard was shelled, it included several layered-graves. That day Kasem Ballah, the graveyard manager in the Douma local council, was killed. He had buried his own two children, Osama and Yumna, only a few days earlier there. They had also been killed by the shelling. We do not know if it was their graves, or those of others, that were destroyed that day.
The regime usually buries those that vanquish under torture in mass graves. But respect for the victims has prevented people in Douma from burying them the same way. As for ISIS, at least they will not destroy those graves as they’ve done in areas under their control. They are not above ground level, and thus will not “undermine the monotheism of God” by ascending too high, according to their Wahhabi theology.
Perhaps one day, researchers will come to Douma, in search of an extinct civilization. They will unearth its grounds, and recall that death has its own echelons in Douma, just as life does.

author: Syria Untold


text:
The Week That Was at Global Voices Podcast: Just Do Your Job, Man. · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

This week we take you to Russia, India, and Madagascar. We also speak with Global Voices contributor Kirsten Han about recent actions of the Singapore police against activists over their Facebook posts. Later we chat with Global Voices contributor Marianne Diaz Hernandez about how electrical shortages are limiting basic communication and hindering free expression in Venezuela.
Many thanks to all our authors, translators and editors who helped make this possible. This episode features stories by Kevin Rothrock ,Rezwan, Lova Rakotomalala, Kirsten Han and Marianne Diaz Hernandez.
In this episode of the Week that Was at Global Voices, we featured Creative Commons licensed music from the Free Music Archive, including Please Listen Carefully by Jahzzar (CC BY-SA 4.0); Cloud Burst by Kai Engel (CC BY-NC 4.0); Indian Spice by Podington Bear (CC BY-NC 3.0); Masculine by David Szesztay (CC BY-NC 3.0); and The Fresh Monday by Dexter Britain (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).
Image used in Soundcloud thumbnail is by Edu Alarcón from Flickr. Published under Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


text:
Who Was Jalaluddin Rumi, and Whose Rumi Is He? · Global Voices
Bismellah Alizada

Rumi as depicted in a short film uploaded onto YouTube by user Ghaus Siwani.
As all the countries that call the work of Jalaluddin Rumi their own rise up against the idea of Leonardo Di Caprio playing the poet and scholar in a Hollywood epic, social media users in Afghanistan are pushing back against Iran and Turkey's reported joint claim to the poet's 800-year-old masterpiece Mathnawi Ma’nawi .
On May 31, Iran’s Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA) released a report quoting the country’s chair of National Documents Organization on Iran and Turkey’s agreement to jointly register Rumi’s Mathnawi Ma’nawi collection of verses as joint cultural heritage with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The report proved a viral controversy on Afghan social media and prompted a frenzy of diplomatic back-and-forth.
On June 9 Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially complained to Patricia McPhillips, UNESCO's representative to Afghanistan who subsequently promised to report the issue to UNESCO’s central office.
Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani asked the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu “for details” of the news on the same day.
Çavuşoğlu in turn expressed his “unawareness of the issue” and promised “Afghanistan’s considerations and recommendations as the birthplace of Maulana Jalaladdin Muhammad Balkhi” would be considered in the submission, a reaction that failed to quell online protest.
Then, on June 12, a journalist for Afghan media outlet Ariana News posted an interview with Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan who said Iran “has no claim to own Maulana; Iran has no intention to register Mathnawi or Maulana. Iran only attempts to register some old versions of the Mathnawi.”
Mathnawi Ma’nawi (literally: The Spiritual Couplets) is one of three known works written by Rumi, consisting of six chapters and some 26,000 couplets in total.
Mathnawi Ma’nawi is revered across the Persian-speaking world, including in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan, as a book of exceptional wisdom.
For many Persian language-speakers it is even heralded as a “second Quran” or “the Persian Quran” — the ultimate tribute to its mystical and spiritually rich content.
Mathnawi also helped Rumi become America’s best-selling poet in 2014, which explains Hollywood's interest in his extraordinary life.
On June 9, a group of civil society activists gathered in Kabul to protest Iran and Turkey's UNESCO submission, insisting Rumi was a “cosmopolitan poet who is a precious asset of all people of culture.”
They argued: “Everyone knows that he was born in [Afghanistan's] Balkh and then moved to Konya.”
Suhrab Sirat, a renowned Afghan poet, wrote a long post, quoting a couplet from Mathnawi:
I come from Balkh, I come from Balkh, I come from Balkh/ A world rejoices my bitterness. . .
Many other Facebook users also cited the same couplet of Mathnawi as proof he belongs to Balkh, Afghanistan.
But in several of his ghazals, Rumi is more nebulous about his origins:
“Not Christian, nor Jew nor Muslim, not Hindu/ Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion/ or cultural system. I am not from the East/ or the West, not out of the ocean or above,” he writes in one.
Mohammad Husain Mohammadi, a modern-day poet, novelist and storywriter, who owns Taak Publications, wrote:
Maulana’s homeland is the realm of Jaan (“spirit”)
As the debate raged a Facebook page called Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi (Maulana Jalaluddin Mohammad of Balkh) became home to a concerted campaign to recognise Rumi's Afghanistan connection.
The page put forward a petition against the Ankara-Teheran UNESCO submission that has since been signed by over 5,000 people, close to its 7,500 target.
Rumi most likely was born in Balkh — either the Afghan city or the broader region that also ventures into modern-day Tajikistan — on September 30, 1207.
But in the wake of the Mongol invasion of Central Asia from 1215 to 1220, Bahauddin Walad, Rumi's Father, set out westwards together with his family.
Rumi’s family proceeded to Baghdad, performing the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, then to Damascus, then to Karaman where they settled for seven years before leaving for Konya, Anatolia in 1228.
At the time the city was under the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, which provides the basis for Maulana's last name.
A student of theology, Arabic literature and religious studies, Maulana became a teacher at 25, and later a renowned jurist, who gave sermons in Konya's mosques.
He also attracted thousands of students, for which he was widely envied.
Rumi's poetic turn came after meeting and subsequently losing in mysterious circumstances his closest friend and mentor, Shams-e Tabrizi.
Rocked by the loss, Maulauna burst into verse.
Among the tens of thousands of verses attributed to Rumi, some 44,000 verses are collected in two epic books named Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi (his ghazals, love and mystic poems) written in honour of his friend, and some 25,000 are collected in Mathnawi Ma’nawi (lines of wisdom).
He died in Konya in 1273.
With the news of the joint UNESCO submission still fresh, on June 6, David Franzoni, an Oscar winner screenwriter, told the Guardian newspaper that he had “agreed to work on a biopic about the 13th-century poet Jalaluddin Rumi.”
He also said that he wants Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio to play the role of Rumi, sparking excitement among some Afghans and revulsion among others.
Within hours the twitter hashtag #RumiWasntWhite was trending.
Racists get so mad when a FICTIONAL character eg hermione is made black but they're fine whitewashing REAL PEOPLE??? Ok #RumiWasntWhite
— Chlo Dameron (@Marmite___) June 7, 2016
I hope the #Rumi film will be an authentic representation of customs of the region unlike the traumatic ‘Rock The Kasbah’. #RumiWasntWhite
— Shuja Rabbani (@ShujaRabbani) June 7, 2016
So they want a white man to play Rumi, a SUFI PERSIAN poet, but when they need a terrorist they find Muslim actors so easily #RumiWasntWhite
— Aayesha (@AayeshaJ) June 7, 2016
Only time will tell whether Rumi's legend will  be honoured or mistreated by the silver screen, but many Afghans admit  — whether freely or reluctantly — that it was created thousands of miles west of the land of his birth.
Yet the theologian of broad learning still has much to teach Afghanistan, where extremist interpretations of religion continue cast a shadow over the joy of spirit that suffused his life's work.
Rumi's true admirers will hope the noise surrounding his origins does not drown out the power and wisdom of his words, at a time when the world is most in need of them.

author: Bismellah Alizada


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Russian State Censor Can Now Un-Delegate Website Domain Names Extrajudicially · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Russia's national domain coordinaton center controls the delegation of .ru and .рф domains. Image from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY.
The Russian government media and Internet watchdog, Roscomnadzor, is now able to un-delegate domain names for websites that are found to host child pornography without a court order. This power has been granted to Roscomnadzor by the Coordinating Center of the Russian national Internet domain.
The media regulator and the domain coordinating body signed an agreement about the delegation of powers to Roscomnadzor at the Saint Petersburg international economic forum on Thursday, June 16.
The ability to un-delegate domain names in the .RU or .РФ domains adds to a growing list of extrajudicial privileges for a handful of  Russian state agencies, such as the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General's Office, and other organizations who have a special agreement with the domain coordinator.
As a rule, a Russian court must recognize online content to be illegal in order for it to be blocked. But the organizations listed above enjoy exceptions to this rule, as they are granted the status of “competent agencies” able to designate content as dangerous and demand that a domain name be blocked and un-delegated. Beyond the government bodies listed above, there are currently four corporate and non-profit organizations in Russia that enjoy the “competent” status: the Kaspersky Lab, Group-IB, Center of Internet Technologies, and the Safe Internet League.
Now, Roscomnadzor joints the list of the chosen. According to a report by RIA Novosti news agency, the state Internet regulator will seek out websites that “violate the law by disseminating child pornography” and file a request with one of the many accredited domain registrars to un-delegate their domain names. Roscomnadzor will also follow up to make sure the website domain name has indeed been un-delegated, and, if the registrar does not comply, will file a complaint with the National domain coordinator.
The new increase in Roscomnadzor's power contributes to the existing system of online content blocking in Russia. Under current rules, websites can be banned by a court order (for instance, for copyright violation). Sites can also be blocked if they are found to violate the law on protection of children “from harmful information.” These are then added to Russia's Internet blacklist.
Several state agencies can contribute to the banned websites list as well: as mentioned above, Roscomnadzor is in charge of finding illegal pornographic content online; the Federal Drug Control Service (recently disbanded and absorbed by the Interior Ministry) could report content about illegal drug distribution and propaganda; the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare can ban information contaning propaganda of suicide or otherwise harmful to children, and the Federal Tax Service is responsible for blocking gambling-related content. Finally, the General Prosecutor's Office can ban what it deems to be “extremist materials” online.
All the state agencies then send the URLs and IPs of the content deemed illegal to Roscomnadzor, which is in charge of the banned websites registry. Before a website is added to the blacklist, censors send a notice asking its owners to remove the offending content. If the website owners don't comply, the website is added to the blacklist and blocked by Russian ISPs.

author: Tanya Lokot


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The Savory Treat of the Dragon Boat Festival and the Aunties Who Make Them · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Eva Chou demonstrates the traditional method of tying Taiwanese bah tsang rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival. She’s a bah tsang “aunty,” an expert in making the much-loved savory treat — which many American-born Taiwanese don’t know how to make. Credit: Grace Hwang Lynch
This article by Grace Hwang Lynch originally appeared on PRI.org on June 9, 2016, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In her home in San Jose, California, 66-year-old Eva Chou folds, stuffs and ties 10 bamboo leaf packets in less than 20 minutes and lowers the bundle of dumplings into a pot of boiling water. She used to own a Chinese restaurant and says that in her heyday, 10 or 15 years ago, she made 2,000 of these savory treats each year.
“I bought a Chinese restaurant when I came to America in the 1990s,” says Chou. “I was 44 years old when my sister taught me how to make bah tsang.”
She’s now retired from the restaurant business and only makes a few dozen dumplings each year, mainly for her family. Her two adult sons, she says, have no interest in learning the tradition.
You can find leaf-wrapped rice dumplings — zhong zi in Mandarin and bah tsang in Taiwanese — at dim sum restaurants or Asian delis most any time, but cooks were especially busy wrapping and steaming this month because of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival, Duan Wu in Mandarin. Legend has it that the after the heartbroken ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan threw himself into a river, friends and family threw leaf wrapped packets of rice into the waters to keep hungry fish from devouring his body while search boats raced to find him. The holiday coincides with the summer solstice and fell on June 9 this year.
Julie Yu of Milpitas demonstrates how to layer bamboo leaves to make bah tsang, Taiwanese rice dumplings, for the Dragon Boat Festival.
While the bamboo-leaf wrapped dumplings are popular throughout China and among the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, the triangular shaped packets are elevated to a national icon in Taiwan, where they are a reminder of simpler times during the island’s agricultural past. Bah tsang are the subject of a folk song sung by street vendors and tiny fabric dumplings can be found in gift shops.
But many Taiwanese Americans who were born in the United States say they have no idea how to make bah tsang. The fillings — sticky rice, braised pork, shitake mushrooms, shallots and sometimes chestnuts, peanuts or boiled eggs — are simple, but the wrapping technique is tricky. The bamboo leaves must be gently overlapped, then twisted to form a cup. The rice and other fillings are carefully packed in and then the leaves are folded and tied shut with string.
Yu fills the bamboo leaves with simple ingredients. They are often made with sticky rice, braised pork, shitake mushrooms, shallots and sometimes chest nuts or boiled eggs.
“With the rapid pace of life, more and more young people choose to buy from the markets,” says Patricia Cheng, spokesperson for the 99 Ranch Market chain, which carries frozen rice dumplings made in factories in China or Taiwan, as well as freshly made dumplings in the hot deli steam tables during the three weeks leading up to the Duan Wu festival.
But many Taiwanese Americans rely on the more homemade taste from “aunties” — vendors who sell bah tsang through informal networks. It’s not a coincidence that bah tsang is sometimes translated as “Taiwanese tamales” — they circulate among Taiwanese and Chinese Americans in much the same way as tamales are sold in Latino communities.
Immigrants, usually women in their 50s or 60s with limited English skills, might ask their friends to solicit orders amongst their colleagues at high tech companies, Chinese language schools or other community groups.
“Sometimes an admin would sell them to make extra money,” says Jonathan Lee of the bah tsang economy at the New Jersey office of a Taiwanese-owned company where he used to work. “Each week, they would send out a registration sheet.” Lee says that even in Taiwan, many urban families don’t make their own bah tsang. It’s something more common in the rural communities in the southern part of the island.
“My daughter doesn’t have time [to make bah tsang],” says Yu, of Milpitas, Calif. “She lives in Wisconsin and her husband is Norwegian so they eat Western style.”
Other home cooks use secret Facebook groups where they post photos of the food with price lists and delivery information. But every known bah tsang vendor I contacted either denied selling them or refused to be interviewed about their business.
“My speculation is that they either are concerned with income tax or health department regulations,” says Pam Tsai, president of East Bay Taiwanese Association, a community group in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Yu ties a string around a bundle of bah tsang. She’s now retired from the restaurant business and only makes a few dozen dumplings each year, mainly for her family.
In the past, organizations such as hers have hosted bah tsang social events, where older immigrants taught younger American-born members of the community the age-old techniques. But Tsai says interest in the events has dwindled, so the program has been discontinued.
“My daughter doesn’t have time,” says Julie Yu of Milpitas, California. “She lives in Wisconsin and her husband is Norwegian so they eat Western style.”
Yu, 75, has been in the US since 1979 and wants to preserve the cultural institution of bah tsang, though. She includes detailed instructions for making the dumplings in Taiwanese Homestyle Cooking, which the North American Taiwanese Women’s Association published in 2013. Like a church cookbook, the spiral bound volume includes family recipes from women like Yu along with photos of the finished dishes.
Ho Chie Tsai, 44, founded the website TaiwaneseAmerican.org, which features articles about cultural events and prominent Taiwanese in the US. Even he doesn’t make bah tsang. But it’s not because he doesn’t care for the tradition. One of the most popular gifts for donors to the site is a T-shirt that features a graphic of the iconic bundles above the words “wrap, steam, serve.”
For Tsai, eating a leaf-wrapped rice dumpling helps him understand his parents and the hardships their generation endured after World War II, when the island was under martial law and common people often didn’t have enough food to eat.
“It’s a handful with a little bit of everything,” says Tsai, making a fist. “And it’s just enough.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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15 Suspected Undocumented Immigrants Die of Suffocation in a Containerized Truck in Zambia · Global Voices
Isabella Mukanda-Shamambo

The Ethiopians were in a containerized truck such as this one. Public Domain photo by Klever.
Netizens in Zambia are reeling from the news that some 19 Ethiopians died in a containerized truck near the country's Luapula province.
Following an incident alleged to be a part of a multi-chained human trafficking heist, Zambians awoke to an array of disturbing online images capturing multiple corpses strewn across what is known as the ‘Pedicle Road’ linking Zambia's Luapula and Copperbelt provinces via the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The victims were all young men.
According to Muvi TV and  ZED Corner, 73 Ethiopians were transported on one truck from Tanzania and later moved to a containerized truck that was carrying bags of beans and fish.
The new truck did not have ventilation.
Passersby who heard banging from the inside of the container and voices yelling for help insisted that the driver open the truck.
Zambia is often used by Ethiopians trying to reach South Africa.
The men were initially suspected to be Somalis. However, a Somali living in Zambia wrote on Muvi TV's Facebook page that they were not:
Muvi tv is full of false news Somalis don't travel in a container, those are Ehiopians kindly change ur statement
Muvi TV (a private television network in Zambia) responded:
The government later confirmed that the men were Ethiopians.
Noting the mixed reporting and lack of information about the incident, one reader of the Lusaka Times, writing under the pen name House Fly, asked the following questions:
Very bad reporting. trafficked from Tanzania, but the vehicle is Zambian. Who is the driver and where is he? What did the police say? Reporting kawti kubuta sure? [the reader accuses the reporters of lack of seriousness in their reporting].
This is as a result of corruption. How did they pass through the border? Who allowed these Alshababs in the truck full of beans?
People heard noise, so where are the survivors? Any interviews with the survivors? Who has been hospitalized among the survivors? Who undressed these dead people and why? Thieves?
A reader using the name Beira explained why the victims were half naked:
The people that undressed them were giving them first aid but it was too late.
Many commenters expressed their sadness:
This is so sad, it pains me to see my African brothers suffer like this! May Their Souls Find Eternal Peace
Some attributed the tragic incident to the poor economies of the continent:
This is horrible. Why is Africa associated with bad things like this. If our economies were good and governance was something to be proud of , we could minimize these human made disasters. MTDSRIP
For some Zambians, meanwhile, it was an opportunity to warn fellow citizens against election related violence that some are anticipating when the country votes on August 11.
Jevson Phiri noted:
That is a lesson to Zambians that we need to be peaceful before, during, and after elections, otherwise we shall also experience this sort of thing when we lose our peace and start turning ourselves into refugees in other countries trying to seek peace. Let us not take our peace for granted!

author: Isabella Mukanda-Shamambo


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Censorship Continues in Myanmar as Government Blocks Screening of Film Critical of the Army · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Film poster of ‘Twilight Over Burma’. Source: Facebook page of the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival
A film critical of the 1962 coup in Myanmar was barred from screening at the annual Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival in Yangon, the country’s capital.
The government’s Motion Picture Classification Board said the film “Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess” could undermine efforts to promote national reconciliation because of its negative portrayal of the army.
Myanmar is formerly known as Burma.
The film is based on the true story of Austrian-born Inge Sargent who married Hsipaw prince Sao Kya Seng.
The prince was among the ethnic leaders arrested by the army during the 1962 coup. His death remains a mystery.
The Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival was launched in 2012 to
promote human rights awareness in Myanmar by using the power of film, the persuasive strength of audiovisual communication and to create a space for encouraging human rights discussions amongst the general public in Myanmar.
More than 40 films were included in the six-day festival this year.
A military junta ruled Myanmar until 2010.
It was subsequently replaced by a military-backed civilian government which implemented some reforms such as releasing political prisoners, abolishing media censorship, and holding free elections.
The military-backed party lost in last year’s election which boosted Myanmar’s transition to modern democracy.
Myanmar has more than 100 ethnic groups, some of which have been waging a war for independence in recent decades.
The government signed a ceasefire agreement with armed ethnic groups last year but intermittent clashes continue to undermine the peace process.
The new government, led by the party of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, plans to convene a national conference wherein all ethnic groups are invited to discuss peace.
The government is worried that the screening of ‘Twilight Over Burma’ could derail the national peace conference since it might inflame hatred against the military.
The organizers of the film festival apologized to the public for the non-screening of ‘Twilight Over Burma’.
Many didn’t expect the last minute ruling of the film review board because the new government is headed by a party which fought military repression and media censorship.
Igor Blaževič, a human rights campaigner and a jury member of the film festival, reminded Myanmar authorities that reconciliation cannot be achieved by suppressing the truth:
If Myanmar genuinely wants to address human rights abuses, culture, art and media should be encouraged to bring truth, painful stories and wrongdoings—both past and present—into the open.
Film director Waing was disappointed to learn censorship is still enforced in the country:
This act is very ugly under a civilian government. The new information minister clearly doesn’t understand the film. The censorship board remains the same as under the previous government. It shows that there is no freedom for filmmakers.

author: Mong Palatino


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Muslim Refugees Stuck in Greece Miss Home More Than Ever During Ramadan · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Renna Ramadan prepared an iftar meal for her family, Syrians from Idlib who hoped to reach Northern Europe but instead are living in the passenger waiting area at Piraeus Port Terminal 1 in Athens, Greece. Several hundred refugees and migrants remain at Piraeus, long after Greek authorities vowed to move the people to other camps. Credit: Jodi Hilton/Pulitzer Center
This article by Jeanne Carstensen originally appeared on PRI.org on June 10, 2016, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
On the first night of Ramadan, residents of the informal tent camp at Piraeus port in Athens line up for special meals to break their fast.
As the sun sets behind the massive ferries that take travelers to the Greek islands, hundreds of hot, tired refugees line up in front of a trailer in a vast parking lot. They haven’t eaten or had a drink of water since about 4 a.m.
It’s clear the Greek government is trying to support the refugees during Ramadan. But even so, conditions at Piraeus are abysmal.
Hedda Grew, a volunteer with the NGO Team Sweden, says the Ramadan fasting is only increasing tensions among people who are already desperate about their circumstances. “They can't drink, they can't eat, they're just sitting in their hot tents all day, and it's a combination between the Ramadan and the waiting,” she says.
And there’s an awful lot of waiting.
I walk to a quieter area of the camp where I meet Amal Herh, a beautiful young mother of four from Aleppo.
Her name means “Hope” in English. “I have a lot of hope,” she says. “But now I must be strong, more strong, for my family.”
Amal is putting on a positive face, but I can see the distress in her eyes.  She tells me that Ramadan makes her long for home.
“I want to go to Aleppo for Ramadan, with cooking and some cold water and a good place, not this,” she says. “Some good fruit, not orange every day. You don't love the same food every day, yes?”
I tell her I understand. That people tell me that Ramadan is a very happy time of year, with family, and special food.
“Yes,” she says. “But I don't say what I can say to you, because I am very sad now, because I remember my house.”
The next night I accept an invitation to a very different Iftar meal with Anna Stamou, a Greek woman who converted to Islam, and her husband, Naim el Ghandour, president of the Muslim Association of Greece. Naim was born in Egypt.
The Ramadan app on his phone signals sundown with a recording of a call to prayer. At the table, there's playful banter about whether the salad is Egyptian or Greek.
Over Iftar dinner Anna translates for Naim as he speaks Greek. He’s sad for the thousands of Muslim refugee having to celebrate Ramadan in the camps. But he tells me he’s glad to see Yannis Mouzalas, the Greek minister of migration, is making an effort to show support during Ramadan. “It's very encouraging for us,” he says.
The refugees are in a terrible situation in Greece. But Naim, who fled his native Egypt in 1967, is grateful that they are at least away from the violence.
“They are way better than if they were there and maybe a bomb would be in their heads right now and they would celebrate no Ramadan, no nothing,” he says.
But the best Ramadan blessing would be to end the fighting. “I wish there would be a solution with Europe to stop the war,” he says. “Because this is the issue — to stop the war. All of them want to go back. We certainly wish that next Ramadan will find us without war.”
Later I keep thinking about Amal in her tent back in Piraeus. It’s not easy to feel your dignity slipping away, especially during the holidays. I wish I could bring her cool water and freshly peeled oranges from Aleppo for Ramadan.


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Tanzanian Musician and Activist Maembe Vitali Arrested and Released · Global Voices
Amanda Lichtenstein

Tanzanian activist and musician Maembe Vitali. Photo from his public Facebook page.
Maembe Vitali, Tanzania’s most passionate musician and activist, was arrested in Bagamoyo, Tanzania on June 7 and released the following evening according to Vitali's personal Facebook page as well as East African TV.
Vitali was charged with trespassing at the Bagamoyo College of the Arts (TaSUBa: Taisisi ya Sanaa na Utamaduni Bagamoyo) and disobeying police orders.
His case has been taken to court as the only ‘remedy’ to this perceived ‘security breach’ on campus.
Vitali suffered injuries due to excessive force by police and went to a private hospital for treatment on Thursday following his release on Wednesday evening.
Vitali explained that the police denied him the right to a “PF3,” a legal form confirming his injuries.
His arrest triggered an avalanche of online support by fans, colleagues, and fellow activists who posted photos and song clips, commiserated with the circumstances of his arrest and demanded his release through the hashtag #FreeMaembe.
The YouTube video below is a song, Vuma, by the musician. The song talks about corruption and the need for greater transparency:
Vitali's arrest occurred when students at the arts college staged a protest against school exams.
Student activists refused to sit for an exam administered privately by the college, instead demanding that the exam aligns with and is recognized by VETA (Vocational Education and Training Authority of Tanzania).
Students intended to hold a peaceful rally, singing and holding signs yet Vitali reports that Acting Head of TaSUBa Mr. Michael Kadinde called the police to intervene.
The police sprayed tear gas on the student protestors, sparking violence. Police immediately arrested Vitali when he arrived on campus, accusing him of instigating the student protest.
Vitali's outspoken disdain for fraudulent administrative practices at the College of the Arts has caused a breach between him and the college, where he once studied music.
Police said that Vitali ‘demanded to be let inside and when he was asked to leave, he refused.’
This is strongly contested by Vitali himself as well as Rose Peter Maigunga, a witness to Vitali's violent arrest.
Vitali is expected to appear at the Bagamoyo District Court on June 22 to defend his case.
Now in Dar es Salaam recovering from his injuries, his supporters are calling for help on his behalf.
Diana Kamara, a student at the University of Dar es Salaam, reported that Vitali is looking for legal assistance in Dar es Salaam or in Bagamoyo.
She wrote:
Sanaa sio jipu la taifa ni mzigo na uteja wa watu kama Vitali Maembe. Hivyo hii ni nafasi yetu kujua hasa kiini cha jibu hili tulije kufuta usaha na kuacha kiini. Tuongee na na kujadili uovu, udhaifu. Na isiishie Bagamoyo, nani anajua hali ya Chuo cha Butimba? Hali ia Idara ya sanaa UDOM ama UDSM?
Historia inaweza isigeuzwe na hili tukio lakini ni nafasi yetu kutafiti bila ushabiki, bila kujipendelea na kujibagua kwamba sisi sio sehemu ya tatizo: Nini nafasi ya sanaa na utamaduni kwa ujumla katika taifa letu: kiserikali na kijamii.
Art is not the boil [that will burst] the nation, rather, it’s a burden…This is our chance to get to the essence of our questions. Let’s have a dialogue about evil and powerlessness. And let’s not stop at the College of Arts in Bagamoyo — let’s also look at the state of Butimba College or the Department of the Arts at the UDSM [University of Dar es Salaam] or UDOM [University of Dodoma]. History can't overturn what happened, but this is our chance to explore — without fanaticism, egotism or exclusiveness  — how artists are not part of the problem. We ask, what is the position of art and culture in our country, both in terms of the government and society at large?
Kamara urged fans to listen, analyze and contextualize the messages inside Vitali's songs.
“It’s our collective responsibility,” Kamara explains, “to share Maembe's vision and message as widely as possible, as this is his ultimate motivation for creating his music in the first place.”
Kamara concludes, “Wherever Vitali is in the world, I am not worried, because [his activism] has opened our eyes. Yes, let’s show him compassion, but so that his arrest is not a waste, let’s all take it upon ourselves to get to work.”
Mohamed Ismail Rwabukoba asked:
Leo VITALIS MAEMBE anapigwa na kushambuliwa kama jambazi. Kosa lake ni kusema ukweli?
Today Vitalis Maembe is beaten and attacked as if he is a robber. Is speaking the truth his crime?
Another Facebook user Rachael Mwikali wrote:
My dear Maembe Vitali you are truely a Fighter.
AFRICA is proud to have you as a Son.
Sending you positive energy,quick recovery and lots of love.
Aluta Continua
Tina Mfanga observed:
You are not a soldier, you are not a rebel, they should understand that you are just a fighter… Yes, a fighter of a noble cause.
Maembe Vitali has made a name for himself as an activist, musician, teacher, life coach and counselor, promoting the arts as a powerful tool for political expression.
Known widely for producing and singing original songs about corruption and inequality, fans refer to Vitali as “Baba ya Ukweli” (“Father of the Truth”) and “Sauti Yetu” (“Our Voice”).
From 2012-2013, Vitali took his politics to the streets on a national tour called “Chanjo ya Rushwa,” (“Vaccination Against Corruption”), which covered all regions of Tanzania offering free community shows with his band, The Spirits, followed by open, public debates to “give people a voice on the problems of corruption, laziness and selfishness.”
The vision: “people will be able to discuss vivid situations and identify causes and solutions.”
The controversial tour ended in 2013 amidst security concerns, though Vitali continues to rail against corruption at all levels of government and has called out the Bagamoyo College of the Arts on various accusations of fraud, corruption, and theft.
Supporters insist this arrest was the unjust outcome of living in a climate of heightened censorship, with Tanzania’s new Cyber Crimes Act actively repressing opposition and dissent, especially online.
Vitali founded and directs Jua Arts Center in Bagamoyo, often collaborating with his students as a teacher and mentor.
Students attend weekly rehearsals and gather to learn about community building and social change.
He teaches music, theory and community organizing as a way to encourage young people to speak ‘truth to power’ and to use music as a tool to critically examine Tanzania’s most pressing social issues.
The CDEA (Culture & Development East Africa) has referred to Vitali as a ‘patriotic musician,” collaborating with him to raise funds for CDEA arts programming through pledges to support his 2014 Kilimanjaro climb.
Through his music, Vitali channels freedom fighters and visionaries like Julius Nyerere, Frantz Fanon, and Biko with playful guitar riffs and signature acoustic sounds that invite listeners to consider new possibilities.
“I’m a musician, but my music is more for the streets, it’s not really for radio, or television or the disco,” Vitali explained in an interview during the Green Peace Music Festival.
In response to Tanzania’s 2015 presidential elections, Vitali composed the 2014 song “Vuma,” (“Blow”), which begins with an address to mothers everywhere: “You, mama, inside your home everyday, come outside, you’ll hear the news blowing [in every direction].”
He goes on to sing about the troubled union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar, the controversial Mtwara gas pipeline, arrogant politicians in parliament, and the pent up frustrations of everyday Tanzanian citizens who want economic justice, transparency and stability.
Maembe Vitali sits on a porch in Dr es Salaam. Photo used with permission.
Vitali's forceful arrest in Bagamoyo occurred in the same week opposition leader Zitto Kabwe, of the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT), was summoned by police commander Wambura in Dar es Salaam for delivering a speech on “Protecting Democracy” on June 5 in Dar es Salaam, in which Kabwe called on supporters to continue to question the government in an effort to protect and stimulate a multi-party political system that values citizen engagement.
In his speech, he warned against totalitarianism and corruption and urged Tanzanians to question, criticize and correct decisions made under the leadership of President Magufuli of CCM (Chama cha Mapinduzi / The Revolutionary Party), who recently won the election of 2015 despite voter rigging accusations and a debacle on the islands of Zanzibar, where the opposition party CUF (Civic United Front) claimed a premature victory and still insists a botched election.
Kabwe was released and no charges were filed, yet the government banned rallies from all political parties just two days later.
While no direct correlation exists between the two arrests, the message is loud and clear: opposition voices will be silenced.
Last week's arrests raise difficult questions about the constitutional right to gather, form opinions, exchange ideas, and protest. It also underscores the power of the police to disrupt, intimidate and intervene at the slightest hint of dissent.

author: Amanda Lichtenstein


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Migrant Women Confront and Resist Sexual Assault on Journey to the United States · Global Voices
Nidia Bautista

Central American migrants find shelter in southern Mexico. Image by Flickr user Peter Haden (CC BY 2.0).
To reach the United States, many Central American women migrants cross Mexico, where feminicide and the disappearance of women have reached alarmingly high levels. Numerous actors and institutions are responsible for the violence against women and migrants: government officials, smugglers, and drug traffickers, as well as historical, political and socioeconomic factors such as inequality, corruption, anti-immigrant policies, poverty, and increased border militarization.
According to some investigations, 80% of Central American women and girls who attempt to cross Mexico are raped.
There is a crisis of missing women in Mexico. Violence against Mexican women has overwhelmed cities like Juarez and Mexico City for years, where disappeared women are found murdered or never heard from again. Just in the Mexican capital alone, 187 reports of missing women were filed in a three-month span earlier this year. Many women are thought to be victims of feminicide—the term for gender violence that describes the murder of women because they are women.
On a national scale, feminicide has increased 55 percent in Mexico between 1990 and 2011. According to a report produced by UN-Women in 2012, feminicide cases in the country have increased steadily since 2007. More recently, the National Citizen Femicide Observatory (OCNF), a coalition that documents the crime, identified that only 24 percent of cases were investigated by authorities and of those 1.6 percent led to sentencing in 2012 and 2013.
Meanwhile, violence against migrant women who cross Mexico’s southern border northbound to the United States remains less visibilized, at a terrible cost. Amnesty International’s ‘Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico” (2010) reported that sexual violence is often perpetrated as a form of payment to be crossed over the two national borders northward:
Many criminal gangs appear to use sexual violence as part of the “price” demanded of migrants. According to some experts, the prevalence of rape is such that people smugglers may require women to have a contraceptive injection prior to the journey as a precaution.
Stories of sexual assault have spread among women in their home countries and communities, and some take measures to prepare for the journey northward. Many take the birth control method Depo-Provera, also known as the “anti-Mexico” injection, to prevent pregnancy. Women migrants also travel in groups with other women to feel safe and protected.
And all along the migrant route, Central American migrant women receive help from migrant shelter volunteers and fellow women.
In the following video for the International Center for the Human Rights of Migrants (Spanish acronym is CIDEHUM), as part of their campaign “Women Migrants Transforming the World,” Lourdes Martínez Gómez, a young woman living in Mexico State, distributes bags of food and undergarments along to the women traveling atop the freight trains that cut through the Huehuetoca municipality.
In the video, Lourdes says:
Las mujeres son un punto a agredir más fácil. Quizá más indefenso que el hombre todavía y más si son mujeres migrantes.
Women are easy targets. They're perhaps more defenseless than men, and even more so if they are migrant women.
While women migrants have found ways to protect themselves and receive support from activists, access to justice is still particularly difficult for victims of sexual assault. Mexico has adopted a strict policy of detention and deportation for migrants, and approaching authorities to report the crimes is a great risk.
The militarization of Mexico's southern border is a result of U.S. demand for supposed regional security, trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the more recent Alliance for Prosperity. The crackdown on Central American migration has mobilized resources, training for security forces and equipment under the Southern Border Plan. Women migrants have been forced to endure terrible violence as a result of this militarization, crossing extremely dangerous areas to evade detention. Mexico's northern border has also gone through a process of increased militarization.
Historically, Central Americans have fled violence in their home countries, and more recently, women have faced an increase in gender violence at home. According to a NACLA piece, Central America’s northern triangle (which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) rank in the top ten countries in the global index of feminicides. The recent assassination of Honduran environmental activist and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Berta Cáceres exemplified the frightening reality of violence of women and women activists in Central America.
Civil society organizations are pushing for policy change to protect women migrants. Experts have called for the issuance of tourist and humanitarian visas to women migrants in Mexico to mitigate the violence inflicted by a highly militarized border policy and local drug cartels.
We are concerned about rising number of women on the run in Central America https://t.co/u4JZ0rze9G pic.twitter.com/gaz1mYCcoK
— UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) April 5, 2016
In a press briefing earlier this year the UN Refugee Agency called for a stepped-up protection response and a regional approach to sharing responsibility for the migrant crisis.
“UNHCR considers the current situation in Central America to be a protection crisis. We are particularly concerned about the rising numbers of unaccompanied children and women on the run who face forced recruitment into criminal gangs, sexual- and gender-based violence and murder,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards.

author: Nidia Bautista