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Get to Know Global Voices’ Managing Editor Sahar Habib Ghazi · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Sahar Ghazi. Photo by Sam Stewart, used with permission. October 2013.
Holding the editorial reins of Global Voices has become, after 10 years, an increasingly complicated task. Past managing editors understood this well, and so does current managing editor Sahar Habib Ghazi.
But unlike those who came before her, the Global Voices community doesn't know Sahar very well, so the idea emerged to talk with her to learn more about her, her goals and her concerns for the site. Through a small crowdsourcing process, various members of the community submitted questions. Not all questions reached the final stage due to space constraints, but the interview was thorough nonetheless. Read for yourself!
Global Voices (GV) : Can you tell us about yourself and what you did before joining Global Voices?
Sahar Ghazi (SG): I’m the managing editor at Global Voices. I experiment with strategies and think of ways to facilitate and support our unique, borderless community and completely virtual newsroom. I also help craft editorial and social media policies, plan special coverage and manage partnerships. Before joining this amazing community in 2012, I worked as a journalist in Pakistan where I covered war, elections, earthquakes, floods, human smuggling, and kidney tourism, always searching for hope in my storytelling. In 2006, I helped launch the country's first English-language TV station. I did a lot of behind-the-scenes work at DawnNews, breaking news and running live broadcasts. In 2009, I produced a TV series on US-Pakistan relations, called the Disposable Ally. I was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University in 2011; there I explored creating citizen-generated content for mainstream media in Pakistan through Hosh media.
When I’m not sitting in my GV portal overlooking San Francisco, I’m cooking a few feet away in our kitchen, running on a trail close to our place, or playing with my 2-year-old daughter Nava at a park.
GV: Your work at GV until some weeks ago has been mostly behind the scenes. Can you tell us a bit about it?
SG: Whenever someone asks me what Global Voices is like, I say it is the kindest place in the world. I joined this wonderful community as the deputy editor in June 2012, while I was almost 8-months pregnant. How many organizations do you know that would hire someone that is pregnant?
My first formal interaction with the community was during an interview with Georgia, Ivan and Solana on Skype. Before they could launch into any questions, I said I wanted to tell them about something important that I couldn’t fit on my resume – my swollen belly. I told them that if this was an in-person interview, that would be the first thing they would notice about me, but since this is a virtual process, I felt compelled to let them know that I was 6-months pregnant. They started laughing and said Solana’s pregnant too! After I was hired they told me that my immediate honesty, and concern about their time before myself, was one of the reasons they thought I’d be a good fit for the community.
Since joining GV I have tried to facilitate our community of writers and editors by launching discussions about reporting, sourcing and writing practices and have tried to create tools for them to use. Along with our news editor Lauren Finch, I’ve worked on revamping our Style Guide (GV Style Wiki) and tried to streamline our newsroom workflow to focus more on story structure and news writing standards.
Through community participation and endorsement, I also helped put together GV’s first editorial code. Even though we made a name for ourselves as a credible news source many years ago, we never had a formal code until 2013. I thought it was important to have something in writing — for transparency and for our authors and editors to refer to. Some of our community members and authors are at the forefront of freedom of speech, minority rights and Internet freedom movements in their countries. This gives us great access to underreported issues and stories within those communities, but it can also raise some conflict of interest concerns. So we needed to find a way to tailor existing editorial codes for our unique circumstances. It took a few months of back and forth with our community and editors, but I think we reached a sweet spot in the final code that everyone endorsed in August.
When I joined GV, I was soon manning most of our social media accounts on my own. It was exciting to see our social media followers and traffic grow, but it was also overwhelming. (We currently have 74K+ followers on Twitter and 61K+ on Facebook.) So I asked our community for help, we crafted some guidelines and now we have an awesome team led by Asteris, Rami Al Hames, Rayna, Kevin Rennie, Mohamed Adel, Chris Moya amongst others on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, and Google + accounts.
Last year, I helped kickstart a weekly video hangout series called GV Face. We use Google Hangouts on Air to delve deeper into trending topics with our authors and editors around the world. We have covered dozens of stories with our contributors in Brazil, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Pakistan, Serbia South Korea, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Taiwan and Ukraine.
Sahar with the core team in Essex, Massachusetts. April 2014. Photo credit: Jeremy Clarke
GV: What were some of the things that you had in mind when you accepted the managing editor position?
SG: I think more engagement and conversation with the community is essential. We have over 1,200 members on the internal community mailing list now. Having engaging and participatory conversations there can be challenging, but I want community members to feel like I am approachable on the list, and off the list. I want our community to know that their opinions and feelings matter to me, and my role as managing editor is first and foremost to facilitate them, their work and help deepen their ties to GV’s mission.
Our storytelling and editorial process has evolved organically over the years. Ever since I joined the community there have been a series of words I’ve been hearing from editors and community members about what was important to them: building bridges, having impact, being true to our mission.
To that end, I’ve been trying to engage in a dialogue with the community about writing with purpose, clarity and impact the last few months. You might have seen a few threads on our mailing list or heard the discussions in a few hangout sessions.
Global Voices has always been a mission-driven organization. We are still focusing on writing about the most underreported stories in the world. I do think, however, the “online” part of our original name, Global Voices Online, has undergone a massive transformation in the last 10 years, and any editorial experimenting we are doing is to address just that.
In 2014, it is a lot harder to find well-written trusted blogs, there is much more propaganda on the Internet to sift through, and the most trusted netizens are using social media to write, which can be a polarizing echo chamber.
To top it off, mainstream media has evolved. Many mainstream media organizations did not understand the “web” 10 years ago; now they have become much more social media and Internet savvy. Their voice is loud on the Internet — sometimes louder than us. We have an even bigger responsibility to take on the single-focused news agendas that mainstream media pushes in most regions of the world.
So to me, our role in this new online ecosystem is still about bringing the most unheard voices to the forefront, but it also has to be about correcting all the injustices that exist in mainstream media's representation of stories. We have to also speak for the most “misrepresented” voices.
Because of the mainstream media's invasion (!) of the Internet, there is an urgency for us to clean the online information space by writing for deeper impact, and take on the agendas that they push.
We also want more people reading our stories because we want to continue building bridges. When I look at traffic to our site, I am only thinking about the number of people we are building bridges for. If we want the whole world to look like GV, we have to build bridges for them to hop on over to our side, in a way that they can understand, that's why lately we have been focusing on writing with impact, clarity and purpose.
Paula asked: What are your inspirations in terms of media and news websites? What are the coolest things out there in your opinion, and how do they compare to Global Voices?
SG: I am inspired by anything that challenges the existing narrative of a country and people, or provides an alternative to the dominant news angle of a particular story. Today, anyone can be a news producer, but that does not mean the most authentic or disempowered voices will rise up. We live in an era of massive misinformation and disinformation.
Sahar at a TV shoot in a village outside Islamabad, Pakistan. January 2008. Photo credit: Amber Shamsi.
Mainstream news organizations are increasingly shaping the narrative online, and they push news agendas according to their bottom lines or their home country's foreign policy agendas. Governments are increasingly corrupting the online space with their own propaganda and trolls. I am inspired by all initiatives that challenge the status quo or keep the online information space in check; whether that is Vox.com or AJ-plus with their cutting-edge design and agenda-challenging explainers, Radio Ambulante with their simple radio format that focuses on telling Latin America's most important untold stories, Syria Deeply which goes in depth into the lives of the people of war-torn Syria or viral portraits by Brandon from Humans of New York, which offers intimate glimpses of humanity beyond the latest headline. At Global Voices we try not to reinvent the wheel and go for amplifying good work done by like-minded organisations. We often cite Vox, AJ-plus, Radio Ambulante and have republishing partnerships with Syria Deeply.
Estefanía asked: Do you see innovations such as transmedia features and data journalism coming to Global Voices in the short-term future?
SG: I would love to see more multimedia features and data journalism on GV. Visual communication can be effective and quick way of telling complex stories that resonate. Last month GV contributor Gilad Lotan, who is also a data journalist, produced this in-depth data report, “Israel, Gaza, War & Data – The Art of Personalizing Propaganda.” The data was eye-opening and this important angle was under-explored in a story that is often over-reported or misreported. Gilad's piece did extremely well, attracting lots of new visitors to the site with an average reading time of eight minutes.
Sana asked: While there are a thousand things that can make a journalist feel depressed, what really motivates you?
SG: To me, the human condition is inherently multifaceted. I tend to question everything and believe that nothing in the world is black and white. So I am not demotivated by difficult or ugly stories of war or death. If anything they motivate me to look deeper for the grey areas that are missing from the story being told. While bad news tends to dominate headlines, even in times of war, there are always stories that can make you see the wonders of everyday life and celebrate the resilience of people. War reporters on the ground tend to see this and experience it more. In mass media outlets, as stories make their way down the supply chain to copy editors and editors the contradictions and complexity of life in the saddest of times become less tangible, but I think the key is to have more eyes and ears on the ground in these difficult spots to capture the story beyond the sadness and ugliness. Initiatives like Syria Untold and Syria Deeply are crucial. This year we've been trying to lift the veil on life in Aleppo, Syria, beyond the conflict with a moving first-hand account by Marcell Shehwaro. Marcell’s stories are from a war zone but she herself stands out as a character of resilience and hope.
Elizabeth asked: Can you name the challenges and opportunities of running a newsroom with citizen journalists as opposed to professional ones?
SG: The industry is rapidly changing. There is a lot of cross-pollination between citizen media and traditional newsrooms in methods of reporting, packaging news and distribution. Lines are increasingly getting blurred. To me, the opportunities and challenges are essentially the same.
The challenges of every newsroom is to get the facts right, link to trusted sources, make deadlines, and write stories that will inform people.
With GV, we try to take it a step further. We write stories with a mission: We want a more equitable world, we want to build bridges between people, and we want our readers to think and feel for people and places the mainstream media doesn't tell them about.
And within that, I think our biggest opportunity lies: working with a team of dedicated, trusted and caring volunteers who are singularly motivated by making this world a better place by telling stories from their communities with authenticity, from an angle that is often under-explored or unknown.
That said, I think the GV newsroom treats editing as a process of facilitation. Our goal is to support and be of service to our volunteers, who by virtue of our global community have varied perspectives, skills, and availability. We start our editorial support with the understanding that we need to be sensitive to these dynamics, and that we're here to serve the community, rather than command it.
Elizabeth: What can mass media outlets learn from Global Voices?
SG: We spend a lot of time at Global Voices thinking about existing news frames and the impact our reporting has on the narrative of a particular region or people. The truth is mass media is guilty of reducing many different, complex countries to one single tainted angle. There are so many countries that mass media has trained us to only see through the lens of terrorism, war, drugs, or disempowered women. At Global Voices, we focus on the exact opposite, if a country is known for drugs or rape, we try to raise the voices telling a different story. Because a different story always exists.
In the last 10 years, mass media outlets have already learned a lot from Global Voices and community-driven organizations like us. They’ve learned how to curate and use social media and blogs as a source of news stories. We have also played a role in shifting the news industry’s understanding that there does not need to be a concrete wall between the news producer and their audience; when engagement takes place, beautiful things happen, important voices and stories get reported. In fact, if you look at masthead of most mass media outlets now, they have senior editors in their newsroom focusing on engagement and audiences.
Funny GVer asked: What makes GV different from mainstream news websites, as now we are also linking a report's success with the number of clicks and visits it receives?
SG: Our goal is to empower people who value justice, equality and empathy around the world with tools to tell their stories. We want more people reading these stories because building bridges to promote global understand is central to our mission. The community we empower, the motivation behind empowering them, is what makes us different.
Whenever I look up our site’s traffic, I look at time on site. Did 1,000 readers spend three minutes reading an 800-word story? If they did, to me that is success, because that metric is an indicator of the people we have connected with, the people we have shown another perspective, the people we are building bridges for.
That said, this is not something new. We've been paying attention to traffic as a measure of our impact since 2007. We care about it because the goal of Global Voices is to amplify alternative voices and stories. Measuring visits is a way of understanding our success in amplification. The only thing that's changed is an increased effort to demonstrate that our content is interesting and useful — in order to honor both our mission and our contributors — but that change took place as a result of the Nairobi Summit meetings.
Finally, as much as we like to criticize mass media, it is important to remember that most mainstream journalism sites don't produce content just because it's likely to garner traffic. That's true for some digital-first publications, but it's rarely the only value for mainstream media either.
Funny GVer: What is the future of GV? Do you see it turning into a mainstream news organisation?
SG: No, but I do hope the exact opposite happens. I think a non-profit, community-driven news organization with a mission to increase global understanding like Global Voices should be the model that everyone within the media industry should aspire to. I’d like to live in a world where everyone was a GVer.
Many thanks for your time, Sahar!

author: Juan Arellano


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‘Hunger Games’ Salute Gives Hope to Democracy Activists in Thailand · Global Voices
Khun Somchai

In an image resonant of a Hollywood movie, attendees at the cremation of former deputy House speaker Apiwan Wiriyachai held up the three-finger salute to the former Prime Minister of the country Yingluck Shinawatra, in what could be seen as a silent message of hope for Thailand.
โปรดรู้ไว้ว่า ยังมีคนต่อต้านรัฐประหารอีกมากมายที่ไม่ยอมสยบใต้เท้าทหาร pic.twitter.com/l71BPA12hV
— หม่อมสามหยอยมีน้ำตา (@toyubomm) October 19, 2014
Please know : there are still many anti-coup Thais who refuse to be oppressed by the military
The image, which was originally posted on the BBC Thailand Facebook page has been shared on that platform over 650 times and shared on Twitter over 70 times, including re-tweets from Thais with large followings such as @toyubomm. The BBC set up this Facebook page in an effort to avoid the systematic attack on the rule of law and liberties which followed May’s coup, including the banning of political gatherings and arresting and detaining hundreds of politicians and anti-coup activists.
The raised armed salute, inspired by the fantasy blockbuster “The Hunger Games,” has been appropriated as the unofficial symbol of anti-coup activists and supporters of the pro-democracy movement.
This activity on Facebook and Twitter occurs at a time of increasing tension in the country, as the military junta continues its massive crackdown of online speech and personal expression in the country. Having taken measures to censor citizens on social media and block hundreds of offensive websites, including the UK’s Daily Mail website, in the past week one of the major political blogs in Thailand on the Asian Correspondent website, Bangkok Pundit, announced that it is going on hiatus as a result of “the constrained environment of commenting publicly about Thai politics in the immediate aftermath of the coup.”
Whilst the closure of the anonymous blog is another set-back for the freedom of expression of the Thai people, images such as the three-fingered salute being shared on social media provide a small glimmer of hope for the future of this once open and democratic country.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Khun Somchai


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Japan’s Cabinet Members Are ‘Falling Like Dominoes’ to Corruption Scandals · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a press conference given ahead the G7 in Brussels. 5 June 2014. Photo by Aurore Belot. Copyright Demotix.
The cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has received several setbacks so far in the month of October. Two female cabinet ministers have been forced to resign over alleged misuse of political funds.
And now the replacement for one of the recently departed ministers is under fire after only three days on the job for allegedly allowing his political support group to claim expenses for a trip to an S&M bar.
Yoichi Miyazawa, who replaced newly minted Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yuko Obuchi, is also himself under fire for holding shares in Tepco, the giant power utility he's responsible for regulating as trade and economy minister.
Members of Abe's cabinet are “falling like dominoes” according to horseracing tabloid Nikkan Gendai.
Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government has been in power since December 2012, about 18 months after the “triple disaster” of a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident devasted much of Japan's northeast coastline.
Much of Abe's mandate so far has been scandal free, in part because Abe and his supporters have displayed remarkable restraint and focus in achieving their goals, compared to previous governments (Japanese prime ministers typically have a life-span of about a year).
On the economic front, Abe's government has been focused on somehow stimulating the Japanese economy. Some attention has been paid to the phenomenon of relatively low participation by Japanese women in the labor force, and the status of women in general in Japan.
As a result, Abe recently tapped five woman to serve as ministers in his cabinet, but this renewed focus on “womenomics” was quickly derailed by a series of scandals involving four out of five of the female appointees, two of whom have since resigned in the last week.
The resignation of Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi on October 20 is considered to be a blow to Abe's efforts to focus attention on economic revitalization and the status of women in Japan by pledging to fill 30 percent of management positions with women by 2020.
Women on average account for just 6 percent of management positions. About half of Japanese companies don’t even have any female managers
Obuchi, the daughter of the late and fondly remembered former Prime Minister Keizō Obuchi, was appointed to her post just a month before at the beginning of September. She was forced to resign after questions arose about how campaign staff were spending political funds.
The second minister to resign in October, former Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, allegedly distributed custom-made uchiwa handheld fans to people attending a summer festivals in her Tokyo constituency. Giving voters even apparently insubstantial gratuities is against Japan's election laws.
Now, just a few days after assuming his post, Obuchi's successor, new trade and industry Minister Yoichi Miyazawa, has been accused of misspending political funds. Miyazawa's fate will shed a light on how men and women are treated differently in politics in Japan.
Shortly after Miyazawa assumed his post on October 20, it was alleged that members of Miyazawa's local constituency political support group in Hiroshima have claimed expenses for a trip to an S&M bar.
Miyazawa claims he didn't know anything about it and in any event his staff haven't actually broken and rules, but social media has been quick to pounce on this juicy story:
地元秘書が行ったというけど秘書のせいにするのは常套手段。野党にはせめて「その秘書にお仕置きはしたのか」くらいの引っかけ質問してもらわないと。 “ＳＭバー問題” 宮沢経産相「国会でも説明していく」（TBS系（JNN）） – Y!ニュース http://t.co/3c3VgP3UV3
— 中野晃一　Koichi Nakano (@knakano1970) October 24, 2014
It's standard practice to make the local constituency assistant the fall guy. The opposition parties could get some traction by asking if Miyazawa's real intention was to “whip” his constituency assistant for some sort of mistake…
“Trade and Economy Minister Miyazawa summoned to Diet to be questioned over S&M bar expense tab” (TBS, JNN, Yahoo! News) http://t.co/3c3VgP3UV3
It also turns out that Miyazawa, who as trade and industry minister now oversees Japan's power industry, also owns shares in Tepco, the largest utility in Japan:
日刊ゲンダイ|新経産相に東電株主…早くも「あり得ない人選だ」と異論噴出 http://t.co/ABEmweJE9O 宮沢洋一大臣（６４）に、早くも「脱原発派」から疑問の声が上がっている。なぜなら、宮沢大臣は党内屈指の東電株の保有者だからだ。
— 保坂展人 (@hosakanobuto) October 23, 2014
Nikkan Gendai reporting there is an eruption of criticism calling Miyazawa a “ridiculous choice” for trade and industry minister. http://t.co/ABEmweJE9O
Anti-nuke campaigners are also raising questions about the integrity of Miyazawa (64). Why? Because as a cabinet insider it turns out that Miyazawa is one the biggest Tepco shareholder of any [ruling party] LDP lawmaker.
Opposition lawmakers were quick to notice that Miyazawa hold shares in giant power utility Tepco, a clear conflict of interest for any trade and industry minister, who is in charge of regulating the power industry. Kouji Sugihara Green Party of Japan Diet and critic for decommissioning nuclear power in Japan wrote:
【今辞めさせなければ】宮沢経産相に「辞任を」の声を！→宮沢洋一（FAX）０３－６５５１－０８２０（TEL）０３－６５５０－０８２０（地元TEL）０８２－５１１－５５４１（メール）https://t.co/FUMSW4RCVc 「利益相反の東電株主に経産大臣の資格なし。即刻辞任を」
— 杉原こうじ（緑の党・脱原発担当） (@kojiskojis) October 25, 2014
Miyazawa must quit! Speak up and tell Trade and Economy Minister Miyawa to resign! Fax or telephone his Tokyo office, or phone his local constituency office. Say that it's a clear conflict of interest for the trade and industry minister to hold shares in Tepco, and that the minister must resign.
Not everyone thinks the revelations about Miyazawa are such a big deal.
Toshio Tamogami, a retired air force chief who has since transformed himself into a political pundit and darling of Japan's far-right netizens, poo-poohed the allegations against Miyazawa, in a statement that was re-tweeted hundreds of times and set off a lively debate:
江渡防衛相が24日の記者会見で野党から「クレームをつけられている」と言った事とか宮沢経産相のＳＭバーに政治活動費を出していた問題とかを持ち出し、国会を空転させることが野党の役割のようです。これを防止するには与党も野党を攻撃する事です。与党の方が野党の問題を多く掴んでいる筈です。
— 田母神俊雄 (@toshio_tamogami) October 25, 2014
At a press conference on October 24, Defense Minister Akinori Eto said that the opposition parties are trying to gain concessions from the government regarding the issue of whether or not Miyazawa's staff used political funds to pay for a visit to an S&M bar. This is what the role of the opposition is all about in the Diet — to create a lot of sound and fury that means nothing. The government side has got to go on the offensive to nip this sort of behavior in the bud. The government should always be setting the agenda, not the opposition.
The Abe government may not be able to set the agenda for some time. New stories about the spending habits of other cabinet ministers are starting to pop up in the news.
Both Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister and cabinet heavyweight Taro Aso are starting to come under scrutiny in Japan's tabloid press:
安倍晋三 「行事費」という名目で、3年間に3000万。 麻生太郎 「交際費」名目の飲食代に1億円。 愛人に1805万5000円。 はい、もう完全に「カネの亡者」。汚らしいなんてものではないね^_^(嘲笑) pic.twitter.com/odNRETAaam
— 数学Ｍ (@hiro_mmmm) October 25, 2014
Front page headline: “TOP TWO GOVERNMENT PLAYERS USING POLITICAL FUNDS TO PARTY ALL NIGHT.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has spent 30 million yen [about US$280,000] on “events” over the past three years. Finance minister Taro Aso has spent 100 million yen [about US$930,00] on entertainment expenses, and has passed on more than 18 million yen to a mistress.
It's all about spending money like a drunken sailor. Quite squalid, isn't it? FML
In any event, lurid shenanigans are nothing new for (male) Japanese politicians. Some Twitter users are digging up reports of misdeeds by members of the previous government led by the Democratic Party of Japan, now sitting in the opposition:
農水副大臣が政治資金で利用していた違法キャバクラは、ホステスの胸の谷間に客が１万円札を挟み、奪い合わせる過激なサービスを売りにしていた #民主党政権の閣僚 宮沢洋一の秘書は複数人で18,000円支出、岩本司は単独で18,000円支出 pic.twitter.com/q301Bz7Vmc
— すねいく (@daIkusam) October 24, 2014
MAFF deputy minister Iwamoto appears to have illegally spent political funds on a variety of nightclubs and cabarets, places where you can slip a 10,000 yen note into the cleavage of hostesses, or pay money to receive all sorts of wild services. If we're going to say the LDP Miyazawa's spent 18,000 yen at a club, then at least remember that the DPJ's Iwamoto spent at least the same amount.

author: Nevin Thompson


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The October Sky Above Colombia Is Full of Migrating Birds   · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Migratory birds from Wikipedia, CC by 2.0.
During October, Colombian skies witness an impressive sight as migratory birds such as sparrowhawks and falcons pass overhead in search of warmer weather. Cyberspace isn't exempt from all these events.
In 2013, for instance, YouTube user SebasNavarroColumbus posted a video that captured the migration of birds over the sky of Medellín.
In 2014, users such as Juan Felipe Duque (@JuanFelipeDuque) reported seeing a flock of birds land on the campus of his university:
@elcolombiano #AvesMigratorias las vi hoy. no se su nombre,primera vez que las veo en los campos de U adventista. pic.twitter.com/amPci1me2K
— Juan Felipe Duque N. (@JuanFelipeDuque) October 22, 2014
Migratory birds, I saw them today. I don't know their name, first time I've seen them on university campus.
Salomón Romero (@SalomonRomero) regretted having missed the chance to take photos of the falcons:
@elcolombiano En Santa fé de Antioquia, vi un par de halcones descansando en la carretera, lastimosamente no tomé foto. #AvesMigratorias
— Salomón (@SalomonRomero) October 20, 2014
In Santa Fe de Antioquia, I saw a couple of falcons resting on the road. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture.
On the web portal Dodo.com, an image was shared of a species popularly known as fork-tailed flycatcher:
@EFTA_birdday una Tyrannus savana y un resumen del recorrido ayer #AvesMigratorias aquí: http://t.co/sUZ39ZGF0z pic.twitter.com/TKqYE25NC5
— dodo Colombia (@dodo_Colombia) octubre 19, 2014
A Tyrannus savana and a sum-up of yesterday's journey.
Not all birds migrate, but those that do often move along a north-south trajectory between breeding and wintering grounds, according to Wikipedia. Some species migrate every year in October from the United States, escaping winter in favor of tropical climates in countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and even Argentina.
In Colombia, ICESI University has set up Wiki Birds of Colombia, where users can find information on a great variety of species: scientific name, map, distribution and dates where the birds can be seen in Colombia. In the past, Global Voices posted an article about Kuntur, an app for birdwatching, which could be very useful for these natural events.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Off-Field Drama in West Indies Cricket Strike Heats Up Online Discussion  · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

West Indies at bat during a Twenty20 International cricket match. Photo by Rich Bee, used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
The West Indies Cricket team's 2014 tour to India has been cancelled, after the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) announced a pullout, causing reverberations around the globe. The impetus? A decision by the West Indies team, led by one-day international captain Dwayne Bravo, to go on strike.
According to strongly worded letter signed by Bravo, the players’ union representative, former West Indies player Wavell Hinds had failed to represent the players, having signed a new collective bargaining agreement with the West Indies Cricket Board without player consultation. Team members have been threatening to strike since the beginning of the tour, finally deciding to take action before the fourth one-day international match (a previous match had been cancelled due to an impending cyclone.) This means that the remaining matches, a T20 game and three tests, have been cancelled.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Indian cricket board, was threatening to sue the WICB for breach of contract, but has instead decided to break bilateral relations, thus cancelling the upcoming series between the two teams, including an Indian tour of the Caribbean scheduled for 2016.
According to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), there was a change in the remunerative package for the senior West Indies team in order to allow for the payment of salaries to the over 90 players who participate in the Caribbean's first-class domestic league. While the senior players agreed that the first-class players needed to be paid in order to raise the standard of cricket, they had not agreed to the severe cuts they received.
This is a major development in the world of cricket and there has been much discussion about it. Several letters from the different parties involved have gone back and forth, arguing their cases. This has led to great confusion and contradictory stories — initially, it was not even clear whether the WICB had in fact called off the tour. Many of the West Indies players have taken to social media to share their opinions.
All-rounder Kieron Pollard felt that the players were being unfairly vilified for trying to protect their earnings:
Take a cut, take a reduction, take criticism, take licks for trying to be reasonable!! Who feels it knows it,
— Kieron Pollard (@KieronPollard55) October 16, 2014
Went to the grocery told the cashier i have LOVE, PRIDE and PASSION, still didnt get the pampers!!
— Kieron Pollard (@KieronPollard55) October 16, 2014
However, fast-bowler Tino Best, who is not currently a member of the senior team, called on the other cricketers in the region to support Hinds:
Hope All the first class cricketers across the region show @WWHINDS full support .Finally we can pay a mortgage and eat decent @wiplayers
— Tino95 (@tinobest) October 9, 2014
Current test captain Denesh Ramdin responded to the claims that the players were responsible for the pullout, and not the board. He has since taken down his tweet of October 18, but linked to this article, in which the secretary of the BCCI stated that their problem is with the WICB rather than the players. But middle-order batsman Marlon Samuels, who is not a member of WIPA, has denied that the decision to strike was unanimous.
Sports blogger David Oram suspected that the recent changes in the leadership of the West Indies cricket team have something to do with its current problems:
It is no coincidence that the current tragedy has unfolded at a time when West Indies cricket is bereft of strong leadership. In the past 12 months the WICB has dispensed with its ODI Captain, its Test Captain, its Chairman of Selectors and selection panel, and its Coach (Ottis Gibson confirming that he was indeed sacked, not ‘separated’ by mutual agreement). Is it surprising therefore that they seem also to have dispensed with international player contracts, and maybe soon international cricket too?
Would the cowardly withdrawal of the troops from India have been permitted under Ottis’ stewardship? He was just as much identified as Sammy in promoting the ‘one-team’ ethic within the WI side. Without either of them rallying the team, the players have headed in a separate direction, with wholly separate, and separating ideals.
Darren Sammy, who interestingly was elevated to to the captaincy during a strike prior to a series against Bangladesh four years ago, left this message on his Instagram page:
Always played with a smile on my face. Been loyal and faithful to wi. Took some serious criticism for it to but I stand for what's right even when my backs against the wall. All we ask for was to go back to the old structure for this tour while we talk. Did we have to come to this. A simple act of humanity is all it takes. Did u have to call off my #indiaTour #SMDH
A commentator at Barbados Underground noted the irony of the West Indies being in crisis when, due to the fact that the rise of professional leagues like the Indian Premier League, there is a lot more money in cricket:
Of course it seems practical to work diligently to put out a fire if our house is burning; you don’t fan the flames because you are pissed-off and see an opportunity to get the occupants with whom you are in dispute out the door. Let the law and course of time move you to a resolution, difficult though that may be. Cherish the house and retain it in the best condition for eventual take over.
But life’s funny and not always practical is it… because when you have the means to buy another house you are less interested in preserving the one in dispute. You spite your adversary so much that you no longer care if that house turns to ash.
A harsh analogy, you say, but is it. Somebodies for a long time seem hell-bent to diminish the lovely edifice that is WI cricket.
It’s comical that we protected and saved the house against colonial racism practices, the 2 bumper rules, reduced county contracts, distorted revenue sharing terms in the days when our teams generated top dollar etc.
And now joke of all jokes we are burning down the house ourselves.
There is still great uncertainty as, despite the acrimonious relationship between the West Indies management and its players, this is a nearly unprecedented situation, with some calling it the greatest threat to West Indies cricket since the region began playing test cricket over 80 years ago.

author: Matthew Hunte


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Photo Exhibition Highlights Racism Against Lebanese of African and Asian Heritage · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Woman looking at photographs from the Mixed Feelings exhibition at AltCity, September 24, 2014, Beirut. Photo by Marta Bogdanska (used with permission)
This post was originally published on Lebanon-based blog Hummus For Thought. The following is a shortened version.
A new exhibition seeks to tell the story of Lebanese of African and Asian heritage as well as tackle racism in Lebanon.
The “Mixed Feelings” exhibition, the brainchild of Lebanese Nigerian researcher and activist Nisreen Kaj and Polish photographer and artist Marta Bogdanska, has involved several key members of Lebanon’s civil society as well as several NGOs in highlighting the oft-ignored daily realities of Lebanese of African or Asian heritage as well as migrant workers who work in Lebanon.
Kaj and Bogdanksa introduced the project, which will tour Lebanon, as being two-fold. The first, “Mixed Feelings: Racism and ‘Othering’ from a Lebanese Perspective,” includes 33 photos of Lebanese who are of African or Asian heritage. About a third of the participants were interviewed, and quotes in Arabic and English discussing topics such as race and national belonging accompany the photos.
The second part of the project is still in the works.
As for the what motivated them to create “Mixed Feelings,” Kaj and Bogdanska explained:
Renee Abi Saad from Jisr Qade. Photo by Marta Bogdanska
So, the main motivation of the project is to talk about racism, simply. Racism is an important issue that is rarely directly addressed within and by civil society movements in Lebanon and around the world, yet it is an issue that definitely needs to be understood and defined within its time- and geographic- specific context, and then addressed accordingly.
If you look at Lebanon, we have around 250,000 migrant domestic workers (in an overall workforce of 1.45 million, and this figure is estimated to be higher), primarily women from the Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Madagascar and a number of West African nations. This is a significant number of people who provide much needed services, who live here, who develop relationships here, who have families here, who assimilate, integrate, spend, earn, etc. They are very much part and parcel of Lebanon, and are a significant part of the country’s ethno-scape.
Yet, due to a number of factors – such as socio-economic status; doing what is perceived as dirty work; being perceived as foreign / outsiders / ‘others’; and gender-related vulnerabilities – these women and associated social groups frequently find themselves marginalized and excluded, facing racism and racialization, all of this which sometimes leads to tragic consequences (such as suicides, and physical, sexual, mental and psychological abuses).
They went on to explain how deep racism runs in Lebanese society:
Audience member looks at a picture that was presented to the public during the panel discusion at IFI in AUB, October 8, 2014, Beirut. Photo by Marta Bogdanska
Furthermore, classism is usually tied to negative stereotyping and has become the excuse for “race” based discrimination in the country, a “we don’t have a racism problem, we just don’t want to swim with a maid or housekeeper, regardless of her nationality” way of thinking, where you have these class divisions (that are also very unacceptable) based on perceived “racial identifiers”, which is actually then racism, and which also demonstrates how racism is about intersectionality, about intersecting oppressions, and not just about “skin color”.
In addition to this “classism, not racism” discourse, you also have a discourse on racism in Lebanon that is very much an ‘us’ versus ‘the outsiders’ narrative; so we have the existence of two seemingly homogeneous and separate units – us the Lebanese and them the outsiders – that leaves little or no room to explore any other position or experience with racism in the country.
Photography as the project's medium was carefully chosen for maximum impact, they said:
Audience listening to the discussion at AltCity on Sep 24, 2014, Beirut. Photo by Marta Bogdanska
[Photography] is accessible to everyone and it talks to you immediately, without words. We want to confuse people a little bit in the beginning: to make then ponder about who are the people in these photographs at first and then to realize and think. It is an awareness project but because all the participants are recognizable it becomes also intimate and personal.
This year, with the traveling exhibition that goes from one place to another, we are also trying to build a community around the project, which is starting to work out. A lot of people speak about it and we are getting positive feedback.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Russia Step Ups Censorship of ISIS Social Media Content · Global Voices
Karena Avedissian

Russia's new efforts to search for and delete ISIS social media content. Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Its territorial gains over the past year have astounded the world, but some of the most surprising successes for ISIS have come in cyberspace, where the group's social media presence is booming. Using Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as various Internet memes, ISIS releases videos and images, often featuring violent scenes of beheadings and torture against Iraqis and Syrians. Supporters and various twisted Internet users are quick to upload and disseminate this content all around the world.
Al Qaeda spin-off ISIS has come to control one-third of Syria and a quarter of Iraq, unleashing havoc and horror in its path. It has attracted thousands of youth from around the world, who have been indoctrinated in its extreme ideology, which even the notorious Al Qaeda has found “brutal.”
But what is driving the sudden online expansion of ISIS? Governments hope that cracking down on its spread in social media will help limit the group's reach ideologically and logistically.
Recently, Russian Duma deputies asked the Attorney General to label extremist all videos by and about ISIS, which would obligate federal censors to ban the publication and sharing of such content. Last week, officials responded by asking Russia's media oversight agency, Roskomnadzor, to ban access to almost 400 different hyperlinks on Vkontakte and YouTube leading Internet users to the ISIS propaganda film, “Clanging of the Swords.” Earlier today, October 27, the Attorney General appealed to Roskomnadzor again, ordering it to ban seven different pages on Vkontakte for carrying ISIS calls to extremist and terrorist acts.
Roman Khudyakov, the parliament deputy heading the initiative, says free access to sites with ISIS content presents a threat to the Russian state and society, popularizing Islamic fundamentalist ideas. Khudyakov, citing the presence of Russian subtitles on some of ISIS’s videos, says the materials are aimed at recruiting new members from Russia.
The move to forbid ISIS’s media content joins a broad trend of growing Internet surveillance and censorship in Russia, but the feasibility of weakening ISIS's recruitment efforts by targeting social media is questionable. Last June, the the security consultancy Soufan Group published a study about the online recruitment efforts of Syrian combatants, finding that new members are often “interconnected within self-selected bubbles.” In other words, the ISIS videos and memes circulating online might be a mere consequence of preexisting social networks in the offline world, rather than the result of some brilliant social media marketing campaign.
As Global Voices has written in the past, charges of terrorism and extremism are some of the ways police around the world limit free expression and justify the incarceration of social media users. In Russia, there is a long history of persecuting Muslims, including the use of torture to extract confessions from those suspected of having ties to terrorism.
While Russia's crackdown on ISIS online content might succeed in weakening the group's reach, it will also make ordinary citizens—particularly those who share religious materials online—more vulnerable to new criminal prosecutions, which threaten more arbitrary detentions and mistreatment of prisoners taken into custody.

author: Karena Avedissian


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Russian and Ukrainian Musicians Caught Between Conflict, Bitter Rhetoric and Bans  · Global Voices
Masha

Andrei Makarevich wears a ribbon with the colors of the Ukrainian Flag in the March of Peace in Moscow on March 15th. Image from Wikimedia Commons
As Russian singer Andrei Makarevich was performing at the House of Music in Moscow on September 25, members of the unregistered nationalist party “Other Russia” disrupted the show, yelled “Traitor!” threw eggs and leaflets, and released pepper spray into the theater.
Makarevich recently performed in the Donetsk region, which, in light of the increasingly aggressive nationalist tensions building as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, proved to be enough to brand Makarevich a Ukraine sympathizer in the eyes of pro-Russian activists. As the conflict unfolds, political borders turn into cultural borders, and artists on both sides suffer the consequences.
The Russian and Ukrainian music scenes have always been intertwined. Young Ukrainian artists would come to Moscow looking for fame and fortune, while Russian celebrities would go to Ukraine on tour. The two countries have always been connected through culture, languages and history. But as nationalist rhetoric gets more heated, cultural exchange is suffering.
Together with some Ukrainian artists, Makarevich, leader of the well-know Russian rock band Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine), performed for children of refugees in the Donetsk region, near Slovyansk and Svyatogorsk, in the beginning of August.
Donetsk, a city within the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, has been at the center of summer’s Russia-Ukraine conflict, ever since it was taken over by pro-Russian separatists in April. Although an official ceasefire was declared in September, violent clashes continue.
After he returned to Russia, Makarevich wrote a column about his trip for Russia’s Snob magazine, which ignited heated debates in pro-Kremlin Mass Media. Headlines accused Makarevich of performing for Ukrainian occupation troops.  Well-known Russian figures used their platforms to publicly denounce him.
Joseph Kobzon, an iconic Russian singer and politician said :
И говорить о том, что демократия позволяет каждому иметь свое мнение… Свое мнение – да, но демократия не позволяет быть предателями своей страны.
[There is no point in] saying that democracy allows everyone to have their own opinion. Your opinion – yes, but democracy doesn’t allow you [to become] a traitor of your country.
Russian MP Yevgeny Fyodorov suggested revoking all the state awards that Makarevich has previously received. Another MP, Dmitry Livintsev, offered to deport Makarevich from the country.
“Andrei Makarevich has been working with fascists for a long time. He made this choice a while ago, when he came to the side of the enemies of the Russian Federation,” Fyodorov told to Izvestia newspaper.
After Nashe Radio, the organizer of the rock festival Nashestvie, announced that Mashina Vremeni would perform at the closing concert of the festival, its website was flooded with angry comments and calls to boycott the festival. (Nashestviye itself had a strong military presence, including tanks, soldiers in uniform, and a recruiting station.)
After three weeks of bullying, Makarevitch wrote an open letter to Vladimir Putin asking him to “stop this [witches’] Sabbath.” He has since postponed a forthcoming Ukraine tour, claiming health reasons.
Nochnye Snaipery, another well-known Russian rock band, is no longer welcome to perform in several Russian cities after Diana Arbenina, the band’s leader, was accused of expressing sympathy with the Ukrainian people. Diana Arbenina believes that her October concert in Vladimir was cancelled because her band performed in Kyiv in July. At least nine concerts of Arbenina have been cancelled in the past few months.
During her concert in Kyiv Arbenina said:
Я за то, что бы нас не могли разлучить и поссорить наши народы […] Меня никто об этом не просил, но мне кажется, что сейчас очень правильно перед лицом Всевышнего попросить прощения за своих коллег, за тех людей, которые играют рок-н-ролл и, которые почему-то вас до сих не поддержали в страшное для Украины время
I support the idea that nothing can separate us and split our people. […] No one asked me to do this. In the face of the Almighty, I want to ask for forgiveness for my colleagues, for those people who play rock and roll, and for some reason haven’t yet supported you in the worst time for Ukraine.
After her concerts were cancelled all over Russia, Arbenina issued a video message on YouTube.
She said:
Причини по которому это случилось очень разные. потекла крыша. был ремонт в клубе. плошадку внезапно забирали под другие городские нужды. и все ето конечно же вранье. я хочу вам сказат што мы все равно приедем. ждите нас пожалуйста, мы делаем все што би ситуация стала нармални, штобы те политические брены которые вешают мне на голову закончилес.
Reasons why [my concerts were cancelled] were different: a leaking roof, club renovations or the city suddenly decides to occupy the venue for its needs. And of course all of this is a lie. I want to say that we will still come. Please wait for us. We will do everything we can to normalize the situation. So that all this political nonsense […] would end.
Conversely, some Russian MPs have expressed their desire to create a list of Ukrainian artists who are no longer welcome in Russia.
Last spring, Okean Elzi, a Ukrainian band, and Lyapis Trubetskoy, a Belorussian band, had their Russian concerts. Both of the bands were accused of supporting the Euromaidan movement, even though the artists have repeatedly denied such accusations.
Vopli Vidoplyasova is a Ukrainian band that has been popular in both Russia and Ukraine since 1986. This August, their concerts were cancelled in Moscow. Oleg Skripka, the band’s frontman, told Echo Moskvy about the band's troubles, and called the situation a “war of lists” – a severe disease which simply needs to be endured:
Мы в Россию ездить не можем. У нас были запланированы два концерта — на Кубани и в Москве. Их отменили, потому что мы украинцы.
Пока это похоже на бред, но потом все устаканится.
We cannot go to Russia. We had two concerts planned in Kuban and Moscow. They were cancelled because we are Ukrainians.
So far it looks like nonsense; it will calm down later.
Ukrainian politicians have also jumped on the bandwagon of hatred. In his recent interview, Bogdan Chervak, director of the information policy department of Ukraine’s State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, said that Russian performers and their songs may soon be banned on Ukrainian television and radio channels.
“[It’s repulsive that] the content of [radio stations] is mainly based on the performances of so called Russian ‘stars,’ many of whom are disgraced by publicly supporting the aggressive and expansionist policy of Putin. [They don’t] hide their hatred towards our motherland,” Chervak told Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine.
Anton Gerashenko, advisor to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, wrote on his Facebook wall:
Мы сейчас со своей стороны готовим список по запрету въезда в Украину около 500 российских деятелей одобривших аннексию Крыма и раздел Украину.
И я считаю правильным не давать им зарабатывать денег на концертах и выступлениях в Украине – пусть едут выступают в Крым перед чайками на пустых пляжах.
We are now preparing a list to ban entry to Ukraine for over 500 Russian artists who approved the Crimean annexation and the separation of Ukraine.  I believe it is not right to let them earn money on concerts in Ukraine. Let them perform in the Crimea before seagulls, on empty beaches.
Ukrainian nationalists mirrored the attitudes of Russian nationalists by declaring famous Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak a traitor after she received two music awards in Russia last May. Protesters boycotted her concerts and vandalized posters depicting her face. When Lorak recorded a patriotic song by renowned Ukrainian composer Ivasiuk, Euromaidan activists accused her of trying to “profit off of blood.”
In May, Maidan activists disrupted her performance in the Ukrainian city of Odessa and tried to break into the nightclub where she was performing. More than 200 armed police officers were called in to stop the protesters, and the situation escalated into violence.
Gerashenko wrote an in-depth Facebook posts responding to the event, stating that he does not approve of Lorak's behavior in relation to Russia, but ultimately coming to the defense of Lorak and the police:
Я не считаю вину Ани Лорак настолько большой, чтоб не давать ей выступать в Украине. Она несколько мне известно не делала заявлений о поддержки аннексии Крыма или раздела Украины, а только поехала на награждение какой то музыкальной премией в мае этого года. Считаю, что казнить ее за это нельзя.
I don’t think Ani Lorak’s guilt is so big that we need to prevent her from performing in Ukraine. As far as I know she didn’t make any statements supporting the annexation of the Crimea or the division of Ukraine. She just went to some music award ceremony in May. I think she shouldn’t be executed for that.
[clashes at Club Ibiza – video by YouTube user ClikaTV]
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has crossed the borders of just a military operation – right now the war is waged in the media, online, and in the cultural spheres. Because of how close-knit the two countries’ ties have been historically, the conflict is in many ways a civil war. As the back-and-forth vilification of culture-makers continues, it goes to show just how personal the conflict truly is.
Correction: The original version of the article incorrectly stated that Makarevich performed in Donetsk city in August. Donetsk city was already under rebel control by then, he performed in the larger Donetsk region, near the cities Slovyansk and Svyatogors.

author: Masha


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Uruguayans Will Elect Their President in a Runoff · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

According to a preliminary exit poll after the election in Uruguay, leftist Broad Front candidate Tabaré Vásquez received between 44 and 46 percent of the votes, while Luis Lacalle Pou from the National Party has between 31 and 34 percent. Uruguay's local media shared very similar data from three pollsters, Factum, Equipos and Cifra.
Twitter users offered updates on the country's elections, with some mentioning the results in Brazil‘s recent presidential election:
#eleccionesuruguay. Resultados favorables para @Frente_Amplio. Habrá segunda vuelta y Dilma gana #EleccionesBrasil pic.twitter.com/zJuGL2rvcz
— Termitas y Elefantes (@termitaelefante) octubre 27, 2014
Favorable results for Broad Front. There will be runoff and Dilma wins (in Brazil).
: #EleccionesUruguay: primeros resultados ponen a Tabaréz y Lacalle en segunda vuelta http://t.co/bqIILwiz3d pic.twitter.com/zQrzU0rOdT“
— RRsonando (@RRsonando) octubre 26, 2014
Preliminary results show Tabaré and Lacalle in runoff election.
The runoff election will take place on Sunday, November 30, 2014.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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5 Muslim Countries Where Gays Are Not Prosecuted by the Law · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The LGBT Muslims blog identified 5 Muslim nations where the legal system does not outlaw homosexuality. The 5 countries are : Mali, Jordan, Indonesia, Turkey and Albania. While the law in these countries does not criminalize gay lifestyles, the LGBT Muslims blog points out that LGBT communities still suffer from discrimination and non-negligible pressure to remain discreet regarding their lifestyles. Still, the main take away lesson is that gay rights may be more advanced than most would believe in the aforementioned countries.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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50 Years Later, Zambians Are Asking What Independence Day Means · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Zambia's National Freedom Day last year in Lusaka. October 24, 2013, photo by Owen Miyanza. Demotix.
Zambia celebrated its golden jubilee last week, on October 24. This year's anniversary marked the first time in 50 years of independence that Zambia's sitting head of state was absent at the festivities, as President Michael Sata was abroad for what his staff called a “medical check up.”
While Zambians all over the world celebrated the holiday with food, the national colours, and anything else they could lay their hands on, some observations have raised serious questions about the country's past and future.
Zambia's official golden jubilee logo.
The most high-profile criticism came from the opposition: United Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema called on people to wear black to commemorate and not celebrate the occasion:
What did the freedom fighters envisage this country will be 50 years down the road? Is it what it is today? Since the PF came to power on a platform of lies and deceit the country has witnessed repression, the country has witnessed violation of fundamental human rights, freedoms and liberties, bias public media coverage, police brutality, political violence of unprecedented levels I never thought I would live post 1991 to see a country that has so much political violence.
Some Zambian social media users didn't agree with Hichilema, who spent the day comforting the bereaved and distributing bags of corn meal and cooking oil, but it was Canicius Banda, one of UPND's two vice presidents, who attracted the most attention on Zambia's golden jubilee with a question posed on Facebook. Banda challenged the public to think harder about the holiday, asking if independence day celebrates the mere passage of time, or the country's achievements since that hot summer night 50 years ago, when Northern Rhodesia transformed itself into the Republic of Zambia. He wrote:
ON ZAMBIA'S GOLDEN JUBILEE [The Case of Merely Rejoicing Over the Passage of Time and NOT Achievement/The Calendar Parties]: Vernon Mwaanga, one of Zambia's own freedom fighters and political authorities, in his book, The Long Sunset, observes as follows: ‘…the colonialists left more than 40 years ago and in the case of many African countries we can no longer blame them for our woes. Slavery belongs to our painful past. Now we must transform our countries and move towards modernity, correcting our past mistakes, but moving forward all the time…’ The Republican Vice President Dr Guy Scott, fifty years post-independence, only one week ago, commenting on the 2015 National Budget said this: ‘Our priorities as a nation are wrong. Instead of fighting unemployment we are focusing on single-digit inflation; meanwhile citizens in the Lukanga swamps are surviving on [eating] scorpions. This is not right.’ Mr Alexander Chikwanda, Minister of Finance, a few weeks ago stated as follows: ‘We have failed to progress in this country because of leadership failure.’ Mr Chikwanda is spot on with his diagnosis. As we start another 50 years, we need a new breed of youthful, patriotic, nationalistic, knowledgeable, wise and God-fearing leaders. This is our prayer. Lord hear us! And we are sure that He will answer our prayer. These ‘Belinda Times’, times of deception must surely end!
Michael Chishala, in a contribution to the online news website Zambian Watchdog, wrote:
After 50 years of self-rule, it is shameful that our economic statistics are equivalent to war-torn countries, some of which are now doing better than us in many areas. Every Zambian government has blamed something other than themselves for the mess we are in. They are elected to bring change but they fail, while we the citizens are not putting enough pressure on them. It is time we the new generation make a change.
Chishala then posed some ways forward for Zambia:
I believe there has to be a change of ideas and attitudes. Zambians should firstly realize that they should take their vote seriously and not be swept off their feet by smooth talking politicians. They should adopt a skeptical disposition and thoroughly question prospective candidates … Civil Society, the Church, political parties and all of us must press for a drastic reduction in the powers of the Executive, arguably the greatest single problem.
In a joint pastoral letter on Independence Day Eve, Zambia's three “mother” body churches—the Zambia Episcopal Conference, Christian Council of Zambia, and Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia—stressed the need for poverty reduction as a top priority:
The challenge though still remains for Zambia to put in place better redistributive policies so that the majority poor and the most vulnerable in our society are not left to be mere spectators in the current economic activities. In other words, the country’s economic boom would only be meaningful if it significantly reduces poverty among the people of Zambia and allows the active participation of the majority citizenry. Unfortunately, what we see being achieved is the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor and marginalization of rural areas in terms of infrastructure development and economic activities.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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A Sharply Divided Brazil Reelects Dilma Rousseff. Let the Healing Begin? · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

Incumbent Dilma Rousseff is chosen for another 4 years at Brazil's presidency. Image by Flickr user Luiz Fernando Paredinha. CC BY 2.0
Brazilians reelected Dilma Rousseff as president on Sunday in the most competitive vote since the end of the country's military dictatorship and the beginning of direct elections in 1989.
The incumbent from the Workers’ Party finished with 51 percent of the valid votes (excluding blanks and nulls, which added up to 21 percent of the total), against 48 percent for challenger Aécio Neves of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party.
With Rousseff's victory, the Workers’ Party will see their time in power extend to at least 2018, a rule that began after former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva gave the party its first presidential victory in 2002. No other political party in Brazil’s recent history has remained that long in the country’s highest office (16 years come 2018).
In her first speech after the results, she remarked on the importance of uniting the country after what was considered an extremely polarized campaign, with accusations exchanged between both candidates as well as their supporters. She said:
Não acredito, sinceramente, que essas eleições tenham dividido o país ao meio. Entendo, sim, que elas mobilizaram ideias e emoções às vezes contraditórias, mas unidas por sentimentos comuns: a busca por um futuro melhor para o país. […] Algumas vezes na história, os resultados apertados produziram mudanças mais fortes e rápidas do que as vitórias amplas. É essa a minha esperança. Ou melhor, a minha certeza do que vai ocorrer a partir de agora no Brasil.
I honestly do not believe that those elections have divided the country in half. From what I understand they have mobilized sometimes contradictory ideas and emotions, but united by common goals: the pursuit of a better future to our country. […] Sometimes in history close call results have produced faster and stronger changes than easy victories. This is my hope. Rather, this is what I am certain will happen from now on in Brazil.
In her speech, she promised to give full priority to political reform, a long-awaited call from society that, among other things, would forbid political parties from receiving donations from companies for election campaigns. Rousseff proposed the reform after the June 2013 protests in a response to the demands of those in the streets, but has encountered a lot of resistance in partisan and intellectual circles. To do wide-reaching reforms, a Constitutional Assembly must be called, but according to some specialists an assembly has the legal power to define its own agenda, which could leave room for non-desirable changes in the law.
She also spoke about fighting corruption and controlling the growing inflation – for which her government has been heavily criticized in the last two years. Days before the election she was accused of knowing of corruption in Petrobrás that supposedly benefited allied politicians. The scandal was published on the cover of Brazil's most circulated magazine, right-wing Revista Veja. Rousseff denies the accusations and says she will press charges against the publication.
Rousseff's supporters celebrate her victory on Sunday night at Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo. Image by Flickr user Ninja Mídia. CC BY 2.0
Defeated candidate Aécio Neves also gave an official speech in which he thanked his supporters. He stated the importance of “uniting the country around a honorable project that dignifies all Brazilians”.
On social media, some of his voters didn't take the defeat as lightly. Many have posted black images as their profile photos on Facebook in a sign of “grief” and some went as far as to set up a petition on Avaaz to impeach President Rouseff. They want to gather 5 million signatures – so far, they have passed the 1-million mark.
In solidarity with my Brazilian friends and family…#Brasil #LutoBrasil #SadforBrazil pic.twitter.com/lI0Dk0Z1yy
— Chris Thornsberry (@LifeOfThor) October 27, 2014
“Luto” in Portuguese means mourning.
Demonstrations against people from northeastern regions, where Rousseff did well in the ballots, happened as usual, with some proposing splitting the country in half — one image proposes calling the north “South Cuba”.
arrumando as malas e indo pra cuba do sul pic.twitter.com/ZdonB8n0kT
— fernanda emboaba (@princessbale) October 27, 2014
Packing my bags to go to South Cuba.
But many good-natured initiatives also followed the results, like a fake Facebook event (creating fake events for laughs is a recent trend in the Brazilian Internet) called “Barbecue to make amends with friends lost during the elections”, or the Tumblr “Coxinhas <3 Petralhas”, with positive messages one “team” might send to the other now that the elections are over. “Coxinha” is a derogatory slang for rich young people, a word often used by Neves’ opponents to refer to his supporters; whereas “Petralha”, also derogatory, refers to supporters of the Workers’ Party, in a reference to Irmãos Metralha — the Brazilian translation of Disney’s “The Beagle Boys.”
“If they divide Brazil, I want to stay in the same side as you. Friends again?”

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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As Taiwan Considers Marriage Equality, Tens of Thousands Attend Pride Parade · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Walk under the rainbow flag. Photo by Sound of Silence. CC BY-NC 2.0.
About 70,000 people attended Taiwan's LGBT pride parade on October 25 to celebrate the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity and encourage the public to do the same.
The number of participants was one of the largest that the parade has seen since the first was held in 2003. In recent years, it has become the biggest pride parade in Asia and attracted many overseas attendees.
The theme of the 2014 parade was ‘Walk in Queers’ Shoes,’ featuring voices from marginalized LGBT communities such as physically disabled people, HIV-positive people and sex workers.
Most of the participants in the parade voiced their support for the legalization of same-sex marriage. A marriage equality bill was presented to the Legislative Yuan by the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights in 2012. The legislature passed the first reading on October 25, 2013, but the legislative process was suspended in reaction to a massive mobilization of opponents of same-sex marriage.
Gay rights activists began pushing legislators to resume their work in early October this year and a public hearing for the bill was held on October 16. Many couples in the LGBT communities took the opportunity of this year's pride parade to share their stories and hope with others.
Below are some photos from the parade.
A participant with a rainbow teddy bear. Photo by J. Michael Cole. CC BY-NC 2.0.
Participants in the parade. Photo by J. Michael Cole. CC BY-NC 2.0.
Drag queens dancing and singing in the Liberty Square. Photo by coolloud.org. CC BY-NC 2.0.
A couple said on their T-shirts that they have been together for eight years and they are looking forward to getting married. Photo by coolloud.org. CC BY-NC 2.0.
Participants in the parade. Photo by coolloud.org. CC BY-NC 2.0.

author: I-fan Lin


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Gabriela García Calderón, Making Global Voices Part of Her Daily Life for 7 Years · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

Gabriela in Kenya in 2010, with the Great Rift Valley at the background. Courtesy Gabriela García Calderón Orbe
Gabriela García Calderón is a committed and ever-friendly Global Voices member who has tirelessly contributed great content and built up this vibrant, decade-old community since joining in 2007. She is one of the most regular and prolific contributors and was acting editor for Latin America.
Global Voices (GV): When Juan Arellano interviewed you back in July 2009, you had been a translator for GV Spanish for almost two years. Today, you have over 7,160 contributions on GV in Spanish — a top number at GV if I'm not mistaken — and over 415 on GV in English. Above all, you spent some time as acting GV editor for Latin America. Please tell us about the stages of your involvement within Global Voices.
Gabriela García Calderón (GGC): It was all a gradual process. I started in late 2007 as volunteer translator for GV in Spanish and two years later, Eddie Avila, then regional editor, invited me to be an author. I became then a volunteer translator and an author. When our former editor Silvia Viñas had her maternity leave, she asked me to fill in for her during the two months of her leave. And when she decided to change jobs, I was asked to fill in for her provisionally.
In the meantime, I've also written some posts for Rising Voices, and I am currently helping Eddie Avila with his Rising Voices Amazonia Project.
GV: Did your experience of translating, authoring and editing change your vision of the world during this time?
GGC: Yes, it made me think a lot more about the people affected by any news or event we report. The news aren't just about a crash or a rally anymore, it's about some girl that tweets how she felt sick when tear gas was thrown next to her, or an aid woker who shares his thoughts after seeing directly the effects of a typhoon. This makes me consider the human side of news, and realize it's not just statistics and numbers, but individuals.
GV: Does your work with GV impact your practice as a lawyer?
GGC: Being part of GV has made me more sensitive to what happens in the world. Likewise, when I read about a legal case, I tend to focus on how it is affecting someone and try to enforce law. We read about so many place where people don't get justice, that I feel lucky from my place in the world to be able to help someone to feel their rights are respected.
GV: Did the social media scene change a lot in Latin America since, say, 2009?
GGC: Back in 2009, Twitter wasn't as used as it is right now. Now, politicians express their thoughts via Twitter and sometimes they create quite a buzz with just 140 characters. Even common citizens use Twitter to denounce incidents where they feel their rights are being violated. Or to report earthquakes, very common in this country. For instance, some days ago, Lima was shaken, and it took a little while for the media to react. But immediately after that, Twitter started to be flooded with messages about the earthquake.
GV: You are also an active blogger. What place does your blogging hold in your daily life?
GGC: My blog has brought me many happy moments, many good friends in very diverse countries and the idea that sharing every day events and incidents is worth while, no matter how insignificant we feel they are. It's amazing how similar ideas and thoughts we may find when we face any given simple situation, no matter if it happens in Peru, in Spain or in Qatar.
GV: Could you also elaborate somewhat on how you manage your own time for all these tasks, including your work as a lawyer? Any tips?
GGC: Each day brings its own troubles. What I do every day is divide my activities and see which ones have priority. If a post on GV has to be published right away, everything else will have to wait. The same goes with all other activities. That works for the weekdays. On the weekends, I tend to be away from the computer, which is no easy task! I end up checking my e-mail at some point and carrying out some tasks to reduce my week work load.
GV: Anything else you'd like to add?
GGC: I wish GV a happy tenth anniversary, and I wish many more anniversaries to come. I am so glad to belong to this incredible community, where everybody counts as one and where everybody has their own share to say.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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GV Face: Asylum Seekers Are Fleeing Conflict to Face Brutal Politics in Europe and Australia · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Recently in France, a rejected asylum seeker from Chad set himself on fire outside an appeal court.
According to the UNHCR, 612,700 applied for asylum in North America, Europe, East Asia and the Pacific last year – the highest total for any year since 2001. Most of these people were fleeing conflict and violence from  Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Serbia, and Iraq.
While the numbers of applications for asylum seekers to industrialized countries may be increasing, the politics of entering has never been more vicious.
Under banners like “Fortress Europe” and “No Way, You Will Not Make Australia Home“, right-wing parties in Europe and Australia are trying to prevent asylum seekers from entering by tightening their borders, running campaigns that blur the lines between refugees and terrorists, and pushing to send asylum seekers to prison-like detention centers for delayed “processing”. In Australia, they are even pushing for “offshoring” the processing of applications. With bad economic conditions at home, these parties are increasingly getting popular.
Many asylum seekers arrive in these countries through illegal means. Globally, human smugglers and traffickers earn an estimated 7 billion USD. This past year alone, more than 4,000 died in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea in search for a better life. Since the beginning of this year, 134,272 survived the treacherous illegal journey from Libya to Italy seeking asylum.
Acceptance rates for people from Syria, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan, are between 62 percent and 95 percent. Acceptance rates from nationals of the Russian Federation and Serbia are significantly lower at around 28 percent and 5 percent.
And for those who do manage to get asylum, they are often given poor housing and red tape stalemates, generating an endless series of difficulties.
In 2013, Europe received 484,600 claims – an increase of a third from 2012. Germany was the largest single recipient with 109,600 new asylum claims and France received 60,100.
In this new episode of GV Face we try to highlight the individuals behind the numbers, problems and policies. Is hospitality still possible? How can Europeans and Australians be reminded that their continent was, one century ago, itself source of a huge emigration movement?
We talk to GVers Suzanne Lehn from France, Anne Hemeda from Germany, Kevin Rennie from Australia ,  Thalia Rahme from Lebanon,  and Abdoulaye Bah in Italy in this episode.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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People in Burkina Faso Are Taking to the Streets Against a ‘President for Life’ · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Statue of President Compaoré taken down by protesters in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso – via Edem Tchakou (with permission)
Protests have rocked Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, and other cities since mid-October following President Blaise Compaoré‘s proposal to revise the West African country's presidential term limits.
A president can only run for two presidential terms under the current constitution. But that constitution has been amended three times — in 1997, 2000 and 2002 — since it was approved in 1991. These amendments have allowed Compaoré to remain in power for 27 years.
The proposed revision, which is set to be voted on through a referendum this coming week, seeks to reduce the current seven-year term to five years. The proposal would reset the clock to zero (so to speak) and allow him to run three more times and, if he wins, to be president for an additional 15 years.
On October 28, tens of thousands of people marched through the capital, chanting for change mostly in a peaceful manner. Still, a few protesters toppled the president's statue located at the center of Bobo Dioulasso and police threw tear gas at the protesters in Ouagadougou.
The leader of the opposition, Zephirin Diabre, is one of the leading organizers of the protests. On October 26, he tweeted a call for people to march together:
RDV à #Ouagadougou, la protestation prendra la forme d’un rassemblement à la Place de la Nation le 28 Oct. 2014 à partir de 8 heures. #bf226 — Zéphirin Diabré (@Zephirindiabre) October 26, 2014
The protest will start with a get-together at the Place de la Nation on October 28 at 8 AM #Ouagadougou
He then added why he thought it was time for citizens to take action:
NON au tripatouillage de notre Constitution. Rejetons à jamais le pouvoir à vie ! Rejetons à jamais le coup d’Etat constitutionnel ! #bf226 — Zéphirin Diabré (@Zephirindiabre) October 26, 2014
NO to the tweaking of the constitution. We need to reject forever the concept of president for life. We must refuse the hijacking of the constitution !
The protests were widely documented and followed on Twitter via the hashtags #burkina, #bf226 and #iwili. Mossi Dramame, from the capital, posted a few images:
Peuple du Burkina, l'Afrique vous soutien,Compaoré dégage !! #BurkinaFaso pic.twitter.com/gAUwRukE6z
— Mossi Dramane (@MossiDramane) 28 Octobre 2014
People of Burkina, Africa is with you. Compaoré out ! #Burkina
Here is a snapshot of the attendance on Tuesday morning:
Marée humaine à la place de la révolution au #BurkinaFaso #iwili cc @papalioune @paddoff pic.twitter.com/dPGm0fGSHF
— Moussoukoro Diop (@mamouchkadiop) octubre 28, 2014
Human tidel wave at the Place de la Révolution in #Burkina Faso #iwili cc @papalioune @paddoff
Even if they understand the reason for the protests, some Burkinabe are unsure that civilian disobedience is the right way to go about it. Yaya Boudani reports some of those views from Ouagadougou:
Il faut choisir des voies légales pour arriver à trancher le différend entre le pouvoir et l'opposition. Il n'y a pas d'autres voies sinon une voie illégale qui va braquer les uns contre les autres. On va tomber dans une crise que personne ne peut maîtriser.
We must choose means within the rules of the law to settle this issue between the government and the opposition. There is no other way because going the illegal way will polarize the nation. The country may enter a period of crisis that nobody can control.
Observers from the neighboring countries are anxiously observing this new development in Burkina Faso. President Compaoré played a pivotal role in mediating the Ivorian crisis in 2010.  Following the November 2010 presidential election, Côte d'Ivoire experienced a drawn-out governance crisis after the two opposing leaders, Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara, both claimed victory. Protests and all-out violence marked the period from the initial standoff, as neither Gbagbo or Ouattara showed signs of backing down. Compoaré spearheaded a mediation task force to try to out a halt to the violence.
A member of the Ivorian government, Alain Lobognon, weighed in on the protest via his Twitter feed:
Chaque école politique se définit selon ses visées. La Chine est une exception démocratique. Pourquoi le Burkina ne le serait pas?
— ALAIN LOBOGNON (@ALAINLOBOG) October 27, 2014
Any political system is defined by its objectives and its context. China is an exception when it comes to democracy. Why can't Burkina Faso follow the same path?
Observers are afraid that violence might escalate soon. Reports on News Ouaga show that protests the week before were becoming more contentious:
Après des manifestations relativement pacifiques la semaine dernière à Ouagadougou, des groupes de “50 à 300″ individus “agressent” depuis dimanche des députés de la majorité devant leurs domiciles, les accusant d’être “corrompus”, “traîtres à la nation”
After relatively peaceful protests last week in Ouagadougou, groups of “50 to 300″ individuals attacked members of the parliament at their homes on Sunday, accusing them of being “corrupt” and “traitors to the nation”.


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Poignant YouTube Videos Give Voice to Ordinary Iranians  · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Filmmaker Ali Molavi has released a new YouTube video that asks 50 Iranians one question: What is your biggest fear? Molavi goes out into the streets of Tehran and captures the answers of a wide array of Iranians who discuss matters that are universal to the world over, as well as very pertinent to the social, cultural, and political conditions of Iran.
Answers that could be applied universally included “the confusion of this world”, “heartbreak”, “loneliness”, and “God”. Pertinent to Iran were answers such as “war and nuclear matters”, and “fear of the fact that women in Iran have no value.”
Iran is currently under international sanctions for its nuclear program that many believe is for military purposes. Under constitutional law and the Iranian penal code, Iranian women have many unequal rights within Iran, a struggle fueling the country's women's movement since before the beginning of the 1979 Revolution.
Molavi is a freelance filmmaker and animator based in Iran, who started this series in February 26, 2013 with a YouTube video asking Iranians what they wished for. He followed it up in January 4, 2014 with another video asking Iranians what ability they wished for.

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Register Now for the Global Voices Summit 2015: January 24-25 in Cebu, Philippines! · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Cebu Provincial Capitol Building, Cebu City, venue for the Global Voices Summit 2015. From Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Allan Jay Quesada.
Registration for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2015 is now open!
The theme of our 2015 Summit is “The Open Internet: Local Perspectives, Global Rights.” Participants from over 70 countries will gather at the Cebu Provincial Capitol in Cebu City, Philippines on January 24-25, 2015 to explore the connections between the open Internet, freedom of expression and online civic movements around the world.
Since 2006, Global Voices Summits have brought together the most innovative and inspiring digital activist and citizen media communities from around the world. These meetings spark new friendships and are a rich breeding ground for ideas and collaborations across borders. And great food, excursions, culture and celebration always find a place in the schedule.
Learn more about the event, and register here to be part of our exciting 10th anniversary Summit.
Looking forward to seeing you in Cebu City in January!
The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2015 has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Google, Open Society Foundations, Knight Foundation, Yahoo!, the Web We Want campaign, Making All Voices Count, and the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Taiwanese Facebook Users Are Tagging a Death Row Inmate in Their Travels to Demand Justice · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

The cover image for Facebook group ‘Cheng Hsin-Tze plays around the world.’ CC BY-NC 2.0.
Taiwan is one of the world's 40 countries that maintain the death penalty in both law and practice. Twenty-six prisoners were executed between 2010 and 2014 in the East Asian island nation.
Human right groups have advocated for the abolition of capital punishment in the island country by throwing the spotlight on specific death row cases. One of them is the case of Cheng Hsin-Tse, who was found guilty in 2006 of murdering a police officer in 2002 in a karaoke entertainment room. According to Cheng's testimony, the cop was killed by his friend who was also shot dead in the KTV. Cheng's fingerprints were not found on the gun and an eyewitness testified that Cheng was sitting besides him when the shooting took place.
As there is no direct evidence against Cheng, the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty appealed to the Department of Justice to review the case. But authorities are reluctant to re-open the file, so the civic group has decided to advocate for Cheng on Facebook.
People brought the figure of Cheng Hsin-Tze to the 2014 LGBT Pride Parade. Photo by Lin Hsinyi. CC BY-NC 2.0.
The group created a Facebook user account for Cheng Hsin-Tze and created an event, “Cheng Hsin-Tze plays around the world,” inviting other Facebook users to tag Cheng, who has been behind bars for more than 12 years, when they are enjoying their freedom traveling around the world.
Chang Chuan-Fen, a writer who focuses on human rights, helped promote the event on her blog:
這不是社運團體第一次使用臉書當作傳播工具，但是卻創造了許多不曾出現過的效應。每個臉書使用者，只要關心這個主題、願意參加，無論天涯海角都可以來玩。做法是發動態的時候，標註「鄭性澤」就行了。[…]
「鄭性澤一直玩一直玩一直玩」的遊戲規則就是這麼簡單：標註鄭性澤，讓他聞香，也讓他的臉書頁面上充滿這些聲援者的動態。[…]
玩的人是那麼認真的許下心願：「我回家了，阿澤，希望你也可以很快回家。」標註活動最真實的效應，就是讓人「把鄭性澤放在心上」。
This is not the first time that activists have used Facebook as a tool to spread awareness. Nevertheless, this special event creates some effects that we have not seen before. Every Facebook user can join this event no matter where they are as long as they care about this topic and are willing to participate. The way to participate is to tag #ChengHsin-Tze when they update their status on Facebook. […]
The rule of ‘Cheng Hsin-Tze plays around the world’ is very simple: tag Cheng Hsin-Tze so that you can share these life events with him, let him smell the world and let other see the views of Cheng's supporters. […]
People who participate this event are heartily praying for him, ‘I am home, and I hope Hsin-Tze can go home soon.’ The effect of this event is to have him firmly in our thoughts.
Two Tze in Central, Hong Kong. Reneedog's photo on Facebook.
In about two week's time, 6,300 Facebook members have joined the event, and these people have tagged him from 16 countries with Cheng Hsin-Tze.
Reneedog Lamia, a lawyer, joined the event by posting a photo of a cut-out of Cheng Hsin-Tze posed next to his friend, whose Chinese name also carries the word “Tze”. The photo was taken in Central, the financial district of Hong Kong. He asked the question: what if “Tze” was your friend?
這些朋友的努力是要讓阿澤得到一個重啟調查的合理審判
而不是無條件釋放
當然經過嚴謹且正當的調查，阿澤是冤的
即應釋放，國家系統並應負起該有的責任
而這個活動，就是要喚醒司法的責任
如果阿澤是冤的，我們卻挽回不了什麼
最後的那聲槍決，是不是在訴說
你有罪，是因為你窮，還交到壞朋友，還夜唱
你有罪，是因為你雖，所以該死。
[…] 「可是……如果他真的是壞人呢？」
當阿澤是你的家人、朋友、甚或你自己時
你希望社會承擔這個兩面如果的哪一邊？
司法的任務如果在毋枉毋縱
那毋枉比毋縱，更為可貴，更加重要。
The goal of these tags is for Cheng Hsin-Tze's case to be re-evaluated, not for him to be released unconditionally.
If Cheng Hsin-Tze has been treated unjustly, after a right and thorough investigation, we should release him immediately, and the justice system should take responsibility. This [Facebook] event is to demand that our justice system take responsibility.
If Cheng Hsin-Tze is treated unjustly and we cannot save him, the sounds of his execution by firing squad will speak to us: ‘You are guilty because you are poor, you have a bad friend, and you go to karaoke at night. You are guilty because you had bad luck, and you are doomed.’
[…] ‘What if he really is a criminal?’
If your family member, friend or even yourself were in the position that Cheng Hsin-Tze finds himself in, what would you hope people would assume, [that he is guilty]?
If the goal of justice is to avoid unjust treatment and connivance, the former one is more valuable and important than the later.


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The Upsetting Ethnic Taxonomy of Russia’s Richest Businessmen · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
One of Russia’s most popular news websites, the once vaunted Lenta.ru, finds itself at the center of a scandal today, after publishing an ethnic breakdown of Russia’s 200 richest people. According to the study, 44.5 percent of Russia’s wealthiest citizens are ethnically Russian, 21 percent are Jewish, 12 percent are Ukrainian, followed by smaller percentages of Tatars, Armenians, and a dozen or so other nationalities. “Overall,” the report concludes questionably, “it’s clear how different ethnic groups in a multiethnic country have used a collaborative solidarity and response to the beginning of the ‘capitalist era’ to build a new kind of economic and political life.”
Lenta’s study is based on Forbes’ 2014 ratings of Russia’s “200 Richest Businessmen,” though Elmar Murtazaev, Forbes’ chief editor, has already criticized the ethnic breakdown. On Facebook, Murtazaev questioned Lenta’s judgment, implying that Forbes has considered analyzing the nationalities of its “top 200” list, but rejected the idea every year for the last decade. “What was published isn’t an investigation,” he argued online, calling Lenta’s work “nothing more than pure speculation.” (Indeed, Lenta’s authors themselves admit that many individuals on Forbes’ list don’t advertise their nationality, making it difficult to assign labels.)
Murtazaev isn’t the only one upset about Lenta’s study. Nikolai Svanidze, a media personality and a member of Russia’s Civic Chamber (a consultative body within the Kremlin), says Lenta’s article is racist—even fascist. Natalia Gevorkyan, another prominent Russian journalist, also disliked the piece, asking on Facebook if its publication embarrassed Alexander Mamut, who ranks 42nd on Forbes’ list and owns Lenta’s parent group, Rambler & Co.
Maya Stravinskaya, Snob.ru.
Maya Stravinskaya, a data journalist at Rambler & Co., says she tried to pull the image in the study, after it landed on her desk in the final stages of development, but the article went ahead, regardless. “Lenta didn’t see anything xenophobic about it,” she wrote on Facebook. Stravinskaya told RuNet Echo that her team at Rambler & Co. (which recently migrated from RIA Novosti) created the infographic included in Lenta’s story, but she did what she could to stop its publication. “Ultimately, I can’t influence the site’s editorial policy,” she stressed.
As it happens, this isn't the first time a Russian news site published an ethnic breakdown of Forbes’ top-200 richest men in Russia. Two years ago, Pavel Pryanikov’s website Ttolk.ru posted a nearly identical study (with roughly the same findings) that also looked at businessmen’s class history (tracking their socioeconomic trajectories from Soviet times). On Facebook, Pryanikov reminded readers of his website’s “been there, done that” accomplishment, and pointed out that it is hypocritical for Murtazaev to attack Lenta, as Forbes itself has ranked the world’s richest Jews and Armenians.
There are undoubtedly many reasons for apprehensions about Lenta’s study. Methodologically, it’s nearly impossible to establish the ethnicity of many of Russia’s oligarchs (whose mixed heritage defies classification). Ethically, on the other hand, liberals in Russia are averse to racial taxonomies that threaten to stir ethnic tensions. Indeed, the chief finding in both Lenta’s article and Pryanikov’s study is that ethnic Russians are heavily underrepresented in the Russian elite, relative to their numbers in the general population. Presumably, and perhaps justifiably, Russian nationalists’ critics fear statistics like these could catapult their adversaries to political prominence.

author: Kevin Rothrock