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Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal Crisis · Global Voices
Anna Gotowska

Protest in front of the parliament building. December 2, 2015, Photo by Anna Gotowska, CC 2.0.
Recent political developments involving the Polish Constitutional Tribunal have brought about a spectacular national controversy. The tribunal—an institution designed to guarantee the rule of law, as well as statutory laws’ compliance with the Polish Constitution—has been largely immobilized thanks to the newly elected government's legislative actions. This, at least, is the way the story has been portrayed by Poland's mass media, and by some foreign journalists, too.
On the other hand, there is also evidence that the abuse of the laws regulating the tribunal, as well as the practice of questionable political appointments to its bench, is no innovation of the Law and Justice Party (which controls Poland's new government).
Unfortunately, these issues have a longer history, and today's controversy is in many ways its mere culmination.
With the Constitutional Tribunal suddenly a top news story in Poland, its inner workings are the subject of a debate that was previously less public and reserved more for journalists and lawyers.
Journalist and media training expert Beata Biel commented on Twitter:
A to ja wrzucę jak się Trybunał Konstytucyjny szukał przez ostatnie 24 godz. w Google'u. Polacy nie śpią :) pic.twitter.com/ab4xvuINmU
— Beata Biel (@beatabiel) November 25, 2015
This is how Google searches for “the Constitutional Tribunal” looked like in the last 24 hours. Poles are not sleeping :)
During the tribunal's latest hearing on December 3, its official website crashed because of unusually heavy traffic, as people flocked to live-stream the proceedings.
“Due to an unexpected spike in traffic, the website is overloaded. Live transmission can also be seen here….” Photo by Anna Gotowska, December 3, 2015. CC 2.0
Over the last couple of years, politicians, lawyers, and judges have also discussed the possibility of changing regulations on Poland's Constitutional Tribunal. The law setting down these regulations came into force in 1997. Since then, legislators have recognized the need to revise some procedures, in order to improve and expedite the tribunal's various processes.
A draft law, proposed by the Civic Platform Party (which led Poland's previous government), would shorten the time of examination of complaints and create combined investigations for cases involving similar topics.
In 2013, then President Bronisław Komorowski, previously a member of Civic Platform, used his authority to propose the new bill. Lawmakers in the Parliament's lower and upper houses debated amendments to the legislation heatedly, but one amendment stood out in particular—the same one that's become the center of today's conflict.
Just ahead of the 2015 elections, on June 25, after two years of legal consultations, the parliament finally passed the new law regulating the Constitutional Tribunal. One of the changes—a transitional provision—stipulated the obligation to elect new judges “no later than thirty days before the end of term of office of the judge stepping down.” The timeline in this stipulation was nothing random.
The terms of five judges were about to end during the last days of Civic Platform's governance, making way for the Law and Justice Party to take charge of the government on November 16, 2015. Three of those judges were due to step down on November 6, and another two would leave on December 6 and 8. Deviating from standard practices, and inviting accusations of political maneuvering, Civic Platform decided to nominate all five judges, instead of just three.
Komentatorka wrote recently:
środowisko prawnicze rzuciło się do zaskarażania ustawy PIS o TK, a gdzie było w czerwcu gdy pojawiła się ustawa PO? spali?
— Komentatorka (@Komentuje) December 7, 2015
The legal community is now more than eager to contest the current law on the Constitutional Tribunal proposed by Law and Justice, but what were they doing in June, when Civic Platform voted on its law? Sleeping?
Wojciech Grzywacz remarked:
Mądrze dr Zukowski w TVP teraz. Mówi o tym, ze w wolnej Polsce TK zawsze byl pluralistyczny, dopiero PO ustawą czerwcową chciała to zmienić
— Wojciech Grzywacz (@Wojtek_Grzywacz) December 2, 2015
Dr. Zukowski in TVP [Polish Public Television] speaks quite wisely now. He says that in free Poland, the Constitutional Tribunal was always pluralist, and it was only in June that Civic Platform aimed to change that with its new law.
This decision triggered a series of events that's put the tribunal in even greater danger of becoming a political tool for all sides.
First, President Andrzej Duda, previously a member of the Law and Justice Party, refused to swear in three of the judges appointed by Civic Platform (whose terms of office were to begin in November). The oath taken by the president is a formality, however, and it is not within the president's powers to decide the appointment of judges to the tribunal. Nevertheless, approval by the president is de facto a necessary formality that allows appointed judges to take their rightful place on the tribunal.
As a result, three judges who were set to take office on November 6 did not receive the newly elected president's approval, despite being appointed legally by parliament.
On November 19, the Law and Justice Party introduced and passed a new amendment, further reforming the regulations on the tribunal. Without a broad public discussion or extensive consultations with legal authorities, the parliament sent the amendment to the president, who signed it within 48 hours.
Shortening (from three months to seven days) the period provided for proposing new candidates for vacant tribunal positions, the new amendment makes it virtually impossible for the public to discuss or get to know the candidates. It also officially makes taking office dependent on approval from the president, thus binding the offices of judges with the president's decision, thereby violating the tribunal's constitutional independence from the executive branch.
The most controversial change of all forces the tribunal's sitting judges to leave office an entire year earlier than before. (This reform is thought to target the president and vice president of the tribunal, in particular.) The amendment is not only retroactive, but also introduces a precedent that the parliament has the right to meddle in the tribunal's internal affairs.
Critics of these moves see the entire amendment as a scheme to replace the previous parliament's five appointments with five new ones of its own.
Samuel Pereira, a popular blogger and journalist, tweeted:
Czas pokazał jak mocno PO się przejechała na próbie skoku na Trybunał Konstytucyjny. Klasyczny bumerang.
— Samuel Pereira (@SamPereira_) November 19, 2015
Time showed how deeply Civic Platform was mistaken when trying to take over the tribunal. It's a classic boomerang effect.
By this time, Civic Platform, slowly realizing the consequences of its own earlier actions, challenged its own law from June in the Constitutional Tribunal, in hopes of solving the issue by appealing to the judiciary.
In the night between November 25 and 26, during a special session, Law and Justice's representatives passed a new act in parliament, stating that all five judges appointed in October were elected illegally. This, again, parted with standard procedures, as the Constitutional Tribunal itself is charged with reviewing such matters, not the parliament. As a symbolic protest, Civic Platform's deputies walked out of parliament.
This is how Marcin Piotr Kowalczyk summed it up:
Posłowie #PO wyszli, bo pewnie sie wstydzą 😉 że cały ten proceder kombinowania z #Trybunałkonstytucyjny rozpoczęli… #Sejm #dobrazmiana
— MarcinPiotrKowalczyk (@kowalczykmarcin) November 25, 2015
They left probably because they are ashamed of starting all this in the first place
Edwin Bendyk, a famous publicist, tweeted:
Sejm, Trybunał Konstytucyjny. PiS idzie jak burza bez żadnego obciachu. Co się jeszcze wydarzy tej nocy? Strach się budzić rano
— Edwin Bendyk (@edwinbendyk) November 25, 2015
Parliament, Constitutional Tribunal, Law and Justice are as fast as a storm—no shame. What more will happen tonight? It will be scary to wake up in the morning.
After the controversial decision, many Polish legal authorities, along with some judges from the Constitutional Tribunal, pleaded for an end to all the hurried legislation, hoping to postpone further reforms until a tribunal ruling scheduled for December 3.
But the parliament's majority refused to wait and, on December 2, during another special overnight session, lawmakers appointed five new judges to the tribunal, to replace the individuals appointed by the Civic Platform-controlled parliament earlier this year. President Andrzej Duda then immediately swore in four of these new judges.
With the previously appointed judges refusing to leave, the tribunal now had 19 people to fill 15 spots. As parliament deliberated overnight, demonstrators gathered outside in clashing rallies for and against what was happening indoors.
To many supporters of the reforms by the Law and Justice Party, protesters seem to be detached from Poland's reality.
Jerzman1 wrote:
O 7.30 miał się rozpocząć protest pod Sejmem. Stoją już foodtrucki z tajskim żarciem i sojową latte, dla tych 50 demonstrantów?
— jerzman (@jerzman1) December 2, 2015
The protest in front of the parliament was supposed to start at 7.30 p.m. Are the foodtrucks with Thai food and soy latte for those 50 protesters already there?
Some wanted the protest to be apolitical, defending democratic standards. K_Szymielewicz tweeted:
O 17:30 pod Sejmem obywatelski protest – głos nie przeciwko rządowi, ale za standardami demokratycznymi. Więcej na Jestesmyobywatelami.pl
— K_ Szymielewicz (@szymielewicz) December 2, 2015
At 5.30 p.m., a civic protest in front of the parliament building. A voice not against the ruling but in support of democratic standards.
Robert Tomaszewski wrote:
Głośny protest pod Sejmem, liczebna przewaga liberałów pic.twitter.com/tf3tynBh0p
— Robert Tomaszewski (@robtom7185) December 2, 2015
Loud protest in front of the parliament building. Liberals are the majority.
Some protesters were part of Poland's new left-wing party Together. Mateusz Dolatowski wrote:
Hasło z protestów pod sejmem: Państwo prawa a nie prawa i sprawiedliwości! #razem
— mateusz dolatowski (@emdolatowski) December 2, 2015
Slogan from the protests by the parliament: “Rule of law, now of Law and Justice!” #Together
The sign reads, “Belarus is 170 km away, yet every day it seems a little closer.” December 2, 2015, Photo by Anna Gotowska, CC 2.0.
On December 3, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal issued its ruling, finding that the Civic Platform's law was “partly unconstitutional.” According to the tribunal, three of the judges appointed by the previous parliament in October were chosen lawfully, but two others (who were supposed to begin their terms in December) were appointed based on an unconstitutional transitional provision. In other words, the tribunal rejected two appointments by the old parliament, when it was still controlled by the Civic Platform Party.
Although it is stated in the Polish Constitution that the tribunal's rulings are final and indisputable, various groups are avoiding compliance with this decision, like others before it.
Paweł Wroński tweeted:
Ciekawe, czy wyrok Trybunału Konstytucyjnego przyjmie do wiadomości prezes Jarosław Kaczyński.
— Paweł Wroński (@PawelWronskigw) December 3, 2015
I wonder if the CT's [Constitutional Tribunal's] ruling will be acknowledged by Chairmen Jarosław Kaczyński [the leader of Law and Justice and supposed mastermind behind the party's strategy].
Antyleft commented:
Zabawne, że wyrok ws. TK wyda za chwilę gość, któremu w bagażniku zalegają jeszcze ulotki z czasu startu w wyborach z list PO :)
— antyleft_ (@antyleft_) December 3, 2015
It's funny that the ruling in case of CT is being given by the guy who still has got in his trunk leftover leaflets from starting in elections from Civic Platform's lists [an allusion to the notion that tribunal judges support Civic Platform].
Kontrowersje wrote:
Skala degrengolady pajaców z TK. Trybunał orzekł, że prezes i wiceprezes TK napisali dla partii PO niekonstytucyjna ustawę. Rozumiecie?
— Kontrowersje.net (@kontrowersje) December 3, 2015
The extent of the downfall of clowns from the Constitutional Tribunal. CT ruled that its own president and vice president wrote an unconstitutional law for Civic Platform. Do you get it?
Later on December 3, President Andrzej Duda addressed the nation. During his speech, he declared his willingness to discuss the issue further, though he didn't once mention the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling from earlier that day.
President Duda addressing the Polish people. December 3, 2015, Photo by Anna Gotowska, CC 2.0.
Ola Karasińska commented on the speech:
PAD nie odniósł się do wyroku TK. Wynika z tego, że nie przyjmie ślubowania od 3 sędziów czyli kwestionuje wyrok Trybunału.
— Ola Karasińska (@olakarasinska) December 3, 2015
President Andrzej Duda never mentioned the ruling given by the CT. It can be deduced that he won't swear in the three judges and that he questions the ruling of the CT.
Victoria remarked:
Prezydent Duda nadal ignoruje wyrok Trybunału Konstytucyjnego. W końcu, zdaniem PiS to tylko opinia.
— Victoria (@victoriawochnik) December 7, 2015
President Duda still ignoring the ruling of the CT. In the end, according to Law and Justice, it
is only a matter of opinion.
The secretary general of the Council of Europe issued a statement on December 3, saying, “I welcome yesterday’s decision by the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland which clarifies the legal and constitutional situation. This decision now has to be fully implemented in all its aspects.”
On December 9, the tribunal ruled that the Law and Justice Party's legislative efforts to replace Civil Platform's tribunal appointments were, almost without exception, unconstitutional. The tribunal's rulings haven't entered force yet, however, as they need to be published in the official Journal of Laws before the state is required to do so. On December 11,the spokeswoman for the prime minister's office announced that the rulings won't be published, as the tribunal was missing three judges when it reached the rulings—an impossible requirement, given that the president has refused to swear in these individuals.

author: Anna Gotowska


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The Nepalese Tiger Conservationist Who Lost an Eye and Gained Leonardo DiCaprio’s Sunglasses · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Conservation hero Bhadai Tharu donning the sunglasses presented to him by Hollywood star Leonardo Di Caprio. Image courtesy Facebook page of the Tharu Community
Bardia National Park, Nepal’s largest park in the southern plains, is famous for Bengal tigers. Connecting the park with India’s Katerniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in the south-east is the Khata corridor, which offers a free passage to wild animals from India to Nepal and vice versa.
The Khata Community Forest Coordination Committee plays a crucial role in managing and protecting the corridor. One of the active members of the committee is Bhadai Tharu, a man so committed to conserving tigers that even a tiger attack didn't dissuade him from his personal mission.
Bhadai Tharu, the Tiger Man… Who fought a tiger and now fights for the tiger… #Hero praised by @LeoDiCaprio http://t.co/MeqLjC3FG4
— Richa Bhattarai (@15n3quarters) August 16, 2013
One of his eyes was ripped out by a tiger when he was inside the park during kharkhadai in 2004, a period spanning over three days when the park authorities allow locals to enter the park to cut grass for their annual use. People use the newly cut grass to change their thatched roofs each year, as well as make fences to keep animals out of their fields.
To cover the deep scars from the unfortunate incident, he dons a pair of dark sunglasses all the time. But they aren't just any old sunglasses: the shades were given to him by American actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
“टाइटेनिक” हीरो लिओनार्डो डी कैप्रियोले उपहार दिएको चस्मामा संरक्षण नायक भदै थारु: Conservation hero Bhadai Tharu… http://t.co/k0HsGuOm7g
— Tharu Community (@TharuCommunity) February 4, 2015
Conservation hero Bhadai Tharu donning sunglasses gifted to him by Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio.
When DiCaprio was visiting Nepal in May 2010, he gifted Tharu the sunglasses that he was wearing after seeing the man's commitment towards tiger conservation. The two ended up spending a significant amount of time together.
“Wild animals have full right to the jungle.” Meet Bhadai Tharu, of of the many people helping to #ProtectATiger: http://t.co/JE90ZWEMO9
— Whiskas UK (@whiskas_uk) August 14, 2013
In an interview with the Dreams magazine, Tharu said:
“We talked about my past, and then he told me he had heard a lot about me and seen my pictures. It was one of the proudest moments of my life, as I recognized him as the hero from Titanic, the one with the girl on the boat.”
Tharu, who rose from the ranks of a landless bonded labourer to a conservation hero, was awarded the Abraham Conservation Award in 2004 in recognition to his contribution towards conservation. Here is him singing a conversation song in his local Tharu language:
In a Facebook post, the Tharu Community, a Facebook community of indigenous Tharus, writes (in Nepali):
‘भारतको बाघ नेपालमा आउने,
नेपालको बाघसँग मायाप्रीति लाउने ।
उनीहरूको मायाप्रीति नछुटाऊँ है,
वन्यजन्तु हिँड्ने बाटोमा बाधा नपु¥याऊँ है..!’
कुनै जमानामा ११ वर्षसम्म कमैया बसेका सूर्यपटुवा– ४, बर्दियाका भदइ थारुले अचेल गाउँदै हिँड्ने गीत हो यो । […]
[…] “पहिले त मलाई आक्रमण गर्ने बाघलाई खोजी खोजी मारौं जस्तो लाग्थ्यो तर पछि बाघले आफू आपत्मा परेको बेला जोगिन मलाई आक्रमण गर्यो होला भन्ने लाग्यो,” उनले भने, “त्यसैले अचेल बाघको बासस्थान संरक्षणमा जुटेको छु ।” […]
‘India’s tiger comes to Nepal,
Falls in love with Nepal’s tiger.
Let’s not break their love,
Let’s not obstruct the wildlife corridor.’
Once, a bonded labourer for 11 years, Bhadai Tharu of Suryapatuwa-4, Bardia, sings this song these days. […]
[…] “At first I felt like searching and killing the tiger that attacked me, but then I thought it might have attacked me to save itself from the lurking danger,” said Bhadai. “That’s why I have been engaged in conservation of tiger habitats.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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WhatsApp Is Back on in Brazil. But Why Was It Blocked in the First Place? · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

Image mash-up combining WhatsApp logo and Brazilian flag. Mixed by Hackread.
Millions of Brazilians were left without access to WhatsApp after a local court ordered a 48-hour, country-wide suspension of the mobile messaging application this week. Soon afterward, the São Paulo Court of Appeals accepted an appeal, and users are gradually regaining access to the service today, December 17.
Why was WhatsApp blocked? Much information that could help answer this question is being withheld from the public. But it appears to be linked to a criminal investigation of a man accused of drug trafficking, armed robbery and association with Brazil's largest criminal organization PCC. This investigation is being conducted in camera, or in secret, so no further details have been released.
In July and August 2015, Brazilian judiciary officials ordered WhatsApp to release personal data of users who were being investigated by the Federal Police. But WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, refused to release the data, according to the São Paulo Court of Appeals press release.
…the judge's decision is well-intentioned, but wrong. Wrong because there were other ways to punish Facebook (WhatsApp's owner) without shutting down the service, and thereby harming its users.              – Gustavo Gindre, Intervozes
On December 16, the Brazilian Prosecutor's Office responded by ordering telecommunications providers to block WhatsApp altogether, affecting what the company estimates to be 100 million users in Brazil.
Some websites from the Spanish-speaking part of Latin America reported that users in countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela also faced disruptions in access to the messaging service. The reason was that operators in those countries share with Brazil a network of submarine cables that connect South America and the Caribbean.
Brazil's telecom operator Oi filed an appeal against the order late on December 16, which the court in São Paulo explained that it had accepted because “it is unreasonable that millions of users are being affected because of the inertia of a company.” As of midday on December 17, the service appears to be back in action.
The blocking motion was authorized by judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques, who based her decision on a provision of Marco Civil, Brazil's so-called “Bill of Rights” for the Internet. The law establishes rules on network neutrality, privacy, data retention and intermediary liability, among other issues, and was approved by President Dilma Rousseff in April 2014.
The Marco Civil also allows state authorities to place sanctions on foreign Internet companies that refuse to comply with Brazilian legislation. As noted in Article 12 of the law, authorities can impose warnings, fines and temporary suspension of a company's services or activities. These penalties can be implemented only with a judge's approval.
The law's Article 23 also stipulates that a judge should take all necessary measures to protect the privacy of users who are facing criminal investigation.
On Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed regret about the decision. “I am stunned that our efforts to protect people's data would result in such an extreme decision by a single judge to punish every person in Brazil who uses WhatsApp,” he posted today on his personal page.
Francisco Brito Cruz, director of the São Paulo-based research center Internet Lab, speculated on whether the measure was proportional to the needs of investigators — in other words, he questioned whether WhatsApp had behaved badly enough to merit such an extreme response from the government. It's hard to know, he said, given that the process is being conducted in secrecy. He told Global Voices over email:
Por serem investigações que correm em segredo, é impossível saber qual foi exatamente a postura da empresa ou seus motivos para não cumprir as ordens judiciais. Podem ser justos ou não, podem ter a ver com questões técnicas ou com posturas da empresa.
It's impossible to know what the company's attitude was or its justification not to comply with the judicial orders. They could be fair or not, they could have to do with technical issues or the company's own values.
Even if the company's justification for withholding the user data is up for debate, it is clear that WhatsApp's actions were a violation of the law, Brito Cruz said:
[A necessidade de uma ordem judicial] garante que a autoridade de investigação (polícia, Ministério Público) não rompa com o sigilo sem um crivo de um juiz. Se o WhatsApp recebeu uma ordem que passou por esse crivo e não a cumpriu injustificadamente ele desrespeitou a legislação brasileira, não só o Marco Civil.
[The need for judicial order] guarantees that the authority conducting the investigation (police, the public prosecutor's office) doesn't release data without a judge's approval. If WhatsApp received an order that went through this process and then still did not comply with it, it violated Brazilian legislation, not only Marco Civil.
But other experts argue that a judge ordering Internet service providers (ISP) to block traffic to a specific application violates the Marco Civil's net neutrality principle, which requires equal treatment of platforms and services by telecommunications providers.
Founder of the BETA Institute for Internet and Democracy Paulo Rená, in an interview in February 2015 about a similar attempt by a judge to suspend WhatsApp, said that Article 12, even though it provides for suspension of an application, doesn't authorize a judicial order to be directed to ISPs. Rená was directly involved in the drafting of the Marco Civil.
In a similar view, Gustavo Gindre, from communication rights group Intervozes, compared the block on WhatsApp to blocking Internet banking services in a Facebook post:
Pra mim, a decisão da juíza é plenamente motivada, mas equivocada. Equivocada porque havia outros caminhos a serem seguidos, e que implicassem em prejuízos ao Facebook (dono do WhatsApp), sem que fosse necessário tirar o serviço do ar e prejudicar seus usuários. Como li, seria como tirar o sistema financeiro do ar porque bancos estão se negando a entregar informações de seus clientes envolvidos em delitos. Ora, taca uma multa pesada.
To me, the judge's decision is well-intentioned, but wrong. Wrong because there were other ways to punish Facebook (WhatsApp's owner) without shutting down the service, and thereby harming its users. As I have read somewhere, it would be like shutting down a financial system because banks have been refusing to deliver information on their customers involved in crimes. Just issue a huge fine.
Francisco Brito Cruz, however, has a different take on Article 12:
As operadoras de telefonia não podem bloquear ou filtrar o tráfego de aplicativos de forma discricionária a partir de seus interesses, mas isso não impede que a Justiça determine medidas como essa. É uma sanção inclusive prevista na mesma lei que prevê a neutralidade. O artigo 12 fala em sanções aplicáveis a provedores que agiram em descumprimento da legislação brasileira, ou seja, de qualquer ordem judicial que a esteja aplicando.
Telecom operators are not allowed to block or filter traffic to an application in a discretionary fashion to satisfy their own interests, but this doesn't keep the judiciary from taking measures like this. It's a sanction, in fact, provided for in the same law that regulates net neutrality. Article 12 list sanctions applicable to service providers that violated the Brazilian law, that is, the particular kind of judicial order that is being applied doesn't matter.
The case has also thrown a spotlight on tension between a state's sovereignty and transnational Internet companies. As Gindre posted on his Facebook page:
Como lidar com empresas que atuam na Internet em todo o planeta, mas possuem seus servidores instalados em poucos países e se recusam a colaborar com a justiça brasileira? Qual o limite da soberania nacional aplicada ao mundo transfronteira da Internet?
How [do we] deal with companies that operate on the Internet throughout the entire planet, but have their own servers installed in a few countries and refuse to comply with the Brazilian justice system? What is the limit to national sovereignty applied to the transborder world of the Internet?
At first, many thought the blockade had something to do with the aggressive rhetoric of Brazilian telecommunications companies seeking to regulate Internet sevices like WhatsApp and Netflix. Experts, however, have already clarified that in this specific case they are not related.
In August, Amos Genish, CEO of Vivo, Brazil's largest telecom operator, declared that WhatApp is “pure piracy” and defended its subordination to the country's telecom regulation agency, ANATEL. “They use our phone numbers to send free messages,” he told newspaper Folha de S. Paulo at the time.
Two other Brazilian operators, however, have established partnerships with WhatsApp, offering free use of the application to its clients — a practice known as zero-rating. According to consumer and Internet rights groups, this violates the net neutrality principle of Marco Civil, which is still pending detailed regulations on deals such as these.
Despite some bad blood, in similar court rulings in the past Brazilian ISPs have acted in favor of WhatsApp. In February, a judge in the state of Piauí requested WhatsApp to be suspended after the company refused to collaborate with police investigations related to child pornography. Two telecom operators, Claro and Embratel, filed an appeal to which a state judge at the court of appeals later complied, and the app was never shut down.

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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Worldwide ‘Paddle Outs’ Pay Tribute to Australian Surfers Murdered in Mexico · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Playas de Sayulita paddle out – courtesy Lunazul Surf School and Shop Facebook page
Surfers from around the world have honoured Australians Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas, who were killed in Mexico in what authorities say was a robbery gone wrong, with ‘paddle outs‘ — a tribute in which participants paddle out into the water on their surfboards and join hands in a circle. Thousands took part in several countries including Australia, Mexico and the United States on 13 December 2015.
This followed the discovery of two bodies with bullet wounds in their burnt-out van in Sinaloa state on the northwest coast of Mexico. Later testing confirmed they were the bodies of surfers Coleman and Lucas.
The surfer community in Mexico was shocked by the news. Global Voices partner Sin Embargo tweeted:
Surfistas rinden homenaje en playas mexicanas a turistas australianos asesinados en Sinaloa https://t.co/wDny9nILFZ pic.twitter.com/HqwrlmSMp4
— Sin Embargo (@SinEmbargoMX) December 14, 2015
Surfers in Mexican beaches make a tribute to the Australian tourists murdered in Sinaloa
Local online media Sinaloa en Linea also posted this video, ‘Surfers show human side of Mexico’ showing the commemoration:
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have helped to bring people together at this difficult time.
Josie Cox, Dean Lucas’ girlfriend, posted this request to Facebook on 12 December in an effort to collect all the tributes:
#adamanddean
PLEASE SHARE THE HASHTAG on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, so friends and family can collate the photos of the paddle outs from around the world.
By all means take videos and pics and share and send to us and use the hashtag!
Thank u all! X
Mexico's FEDERACIÓN MEXICANA DE SURFING (National Federation of Surfing) has used the #adamanddean hashtag on their Facebook page to publicise and document the initiative.
#vamosasurfear
La Federación Mexicana de Surfing y la Asociación de Surfing del Estado de Sinaloa, invitan a toda la comunidad Surfer local y a la comunidad de Mazatlán a unirse en el “Memorial Paddle” que se llevara a cabo el próximo Domingo 13 de Diciembre en Playa El Camarón a las 10:30 AM. Demostremos nuestra Solidaridad a las Familias de los surfers Australianos Dean y Adam
#Letsgosurfing
The Mexican Surfing Federation and the association of surfing of the state of Sinaloa invite everyone in the local surfer community and the community of Mazatlán to join the “Memorial Paddle” that will take place on Sunday 13 December at El Camarón beach at 10:30 am. Let us show our solidarity to the families of the Australian surfers Dean and Adam
Janet Blaser, publisher of Mazatlan's M! Magazine, has a memorial photo album on Facebook.
Surf Sessions Clasico Mazatlan uploaded this image to Facebook to pay respect to their families. “This was the Surfer Mazatlan community's response following the terrible events of last month when two travelling Australian surfers were deprived of their lives,” the message accompanying the photo read:
Paddle out at El Camarón Beach. Courtesy SURF Sessions Clasico Mazatlan Facebook page
Others offered their condolences on Twitter:
RIP my Golden Bay brothers #AdamandDean. Sending love to all of their family and friends at this horrific time :-( https://t.co/KENx4oE483
— Kate Ferguson (@_KateFerguson_) December 15, 2015
Crimes in the the state of Sinaloa are unfortunately not uncommon as it is nationally and internationally known for being the birthplace of major drug dealers and the narco-culture in Mexico.
Five suspects have reportedly been arrested. Sin Embargo published on December 13:
Una de las líneas de investigación indica que los australianos hicieron una parada en un falso retén, donde sujetos vestidos como policías los intentaron asaltar, al oponerse, uno de los dos turistas fue herido de bala. Los agresores refieren que los llevaron a un paraje donde los asesinaron y quemaron el vehículo donde se trasladaban.
One of the lines of investigation indicates that the Australians made a stop at a fake police checkpoint, where men disguised as police tried to assault them. When they resisted, one of the two tourists was shot in the head. The attackers said they then took them to another place and murdered them and burned their vehicle.
In a later article, Sin Embargo quoted the local mayor:
El Edil señaló que no se necesita ser investigador para reconocer que en esa parte, en la carretera de cuota, hay un grupo dedicado a los asaltos carreteros, robo de vehículos y hasta de combustible de Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
“Ese espacio es como un Triángulo de las Bermudas donde suceden hechos delincuenciales con bastante frecuencia…
The mayor said you don’t need to be an investigator to recognize that on this part of the toll highway, there’s a gang that assaults travellers, steal cars and even robs gasoline from Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).
“This space is like a Bermuda Triangle where many crimes are committed frequently…”
Political analyst Alejandro Sicairos raised concerns in an interview with Noticiero Noroeste (Northwest News) about authorities lack of action against those with ill will using the highway:
Existe una negligencia criminal. Abandonaron esta zona, sabiendo que es tan peligrosa. Sabiendo que implica riesgos para los sinaloenses y los visitantes.
(…) Nunca se ve un operativo, que haya una advertencia en la caseta de cobro para que quienes transitan por ahí tomen sus precauciones.
There is criminal negligence. They [authorities] abandoned the zone knowing that it is very dangerous. Knowing that it’s risky for the locals and visitors.
You never see an operation or a warning at the toll booth for those who are transiting the road so they can be cautious.
He also mentioned that the gangs operating in the zone are actually hitmen that once were part of the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel.
With sarcasm, ‘passionate’ Mexican Twitter user Isabelle commented on the arrest of the alleged killers:
Atrapan a los que mataron a los surfistas australianos…eran ladrones de carros Ya luego nos explican por qué no les robaron el carro
— Isabelle (@isabellemexico) December 7, 2015
They caught those who murdered the Australian surfers… they were car thieves. Later they’ll explain why their car wasn’t stolen.
Over 40 photos and videos have been posted on Instagram hashtag #adamanddean.
Hazeyhayes left a personal tribute on the English coast:
Connecting on a global level for Adam and Dean. My small contribution at Scarborough North Bay, England, UK. Miss and love you so much. My thoughts are with the Lucas and Coleman families, All that knew Adam and Dean, Andrea and especially @josiecox All my love to you!! #AdamAndDean #rememberadamanddean #love @adziecolezie
A photo posted by hazeyhayes (@hazeyhayes) on
There was even a dry land tribute with skateboarders:
Memorial Downhill Session for #AdamandDean in Interlomas, México. Rest in peace brothers. #skate #downhill #Mexico #sk8topia @surfdf
A photo posted by Sk8topia (@sk8topia) on
A tweet from Leah Andy, ‘Mother of a Future Mermaid’, expressed what the global surfing community was feeling:
Too young, too soon, #AdamandDean xx pic.twitter.com/s9qnuGezg5
— Leah Andy (@LeahAndyAndy) December 15, 2015

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Afghan Catwalk Sparks Bitter Controversy and Hopes for a More Open Society · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

Photo by Ryasat Ali. Used with permission.
Last week, a collection of young Afghan models broke up the monotony of daily life in Kabul, triggering praise, debate and condemnation in the process.
Afghan girls wore traditional clothes at a catwalk show last week in the centre of Afghanistan's capital and largest city. The fashion show was an initiative by a recently established fashion house LAMAN, which translates from Dari as “skirt”. The audience was a mixed one: Afghans and foreigners.
LAMAN fashion house is an initiative of three Western-educated young Afghans, one of whom is a woman.
On December 13, a few days after the first show, a second was held — ‘Haft Barg-e Honar’ — with Hazara amateur models wearing traditional Hazaragi clothes, artfully embroidered.
The aim was to exhibit the handicrafts associated with the Hazara minority that make up roughly 9% of Afghanistan's population and endured significant persecution under the Taliban and other governments throughout the country's history.
Many praised the Afghan models courage to stand up for a more fair and more equal society. Others, however, showed disgust towards them, representing the view of the majority of Afghans, who remain deeply conservative in their views on women and girls.
The latter group expressed their views on Facebook more than Twitter, which remains the social media hub of choice for many liberal Afghan internet users.
Ishaq Anis tweeted:
For the first time people dare to kick off fashion show like this in Kabul https://t.co/GXgQgDfQYY
— Ishaqanis (@eshaqanis1) December 10, 2015
While Sami Baha, a Facebook user, blasted:
I feel pity for you. You are prostitutes. First you adopted Western thoughts, and now you act like them. You have totally forgotten Allah’s sacred sayings in Holy Quran. May god bless your sins…”
Alameer Amiri, another Facebook user commented under the same thread:
Afghans get martyred every single day, but look at these whores. They are not Afghans, they are Westerners.
Since its establishment by Ahmad Shah Durani in 1747 contemporary Afghanistan has experienced short periods of acceptance of women taking up a more visible role in society, and longer periods of repression. For the most part, women have been confined to the home. Attempts at reform have been weak and short-lived.
Amanullah Khan, who became the country's Emir in 1919 saw his own ambitious reform agenda face fierce opposition in the form of Mullah-e Lang’s revolt, strongly backed by clerical networks.
Reforms undertaken during the Democratic Republic (1978-92) also came face-to-face with a wave of jihad, only truly making ground in Kabul. After the the failure of the Soviet invasion, the Mujahidin's internecine struggles paved the way for the emergence of a new-ultra-conservative force in the early 1990s: the Taliban.
The new group that took power and stayed there until overthrown by the US-led ISAF invasion banned any form of female presence in public, bar nurses and midwives who nevertheless faced many restrictions. Stoning was a common practice.
With the Taliban still waging a war against the government, society is divided over their legacy. Following the news about the catwalk, Javad Margir wrote on Facebook:
Long live the Taliban.
While Ramin Tanha retorted:
Once the Taliban get lost, our country will certainly progress.
Since a new government came to power, security has been fleeting and fighting widespread, while women have been given some limited space for a public re-emergence.
Yet the old impediments remain part of the national fabric.
In late March, a mentally ill woman called Farkhunda was beaten to death by an angry mob and had her corpse burned in central Kabul, only a hundred meters away from the presidential palace, after a gang received false information that she had burned the Koran.
More recently, 19-year-old Rokhshana was stoned after a trial in which she was accused of trying to elope with a man in the province of Ghor, where the governor is one of the only three female governors President Ghani has appointed.
In 2013, the organisation Afghan Women for Change initiated one of Afghanistan's first and biggest post-Taliban fashion shows in Kabul. Back then the initiative was inundated with complaints from the country's powerful clerical networks.
One zealous cleric wrote on his blog that the organisers of such shows were Western stooges that had lost their honor. He also urged Muslims not to stay silent in the face of such events.
It went ahead anyway.
These initiatives, however symbolic, can help chip away at an entrenched patriarchy exacerbated by the power of clerics.
While the notion that women are strictly homemakers is predominant in Afghanistan, a growing number of younger people believe there is more to a woman's public life than that alone.

author: Chris Rickleton


text:
As Japan Refuses to Accept More Refugees, a Hateful Meme Goes Viral · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Text: “I want to live a safe and clean life, eat gourmet food, go out, wear pretty things, and live a luxurious life… all at the expense of someone else. I have an idea. I'll become a refugee.” Source: image widely shared on social media.
Though Internet users only recently debunked a false English-language meme about Japan's alleged restrictions on Muslims, it's far from true that Japan necessarily welcomes immigrants and refugees with open arms.
In fact, following widespread global media coverage last fall of the flow of refugees from Turkey to Greece and then into other parts of Europe resulted in Japan's own particularly nasty viral meme about the crisis.
A cartoon shared widely on Facebook in Japan in September and October accuses refugees of “faking” their plight. The poster contains the cartoon image of a young girl, with the caption: “I want to live a safe and clean life, eat gourmet food, go out, wear pretty things, and live a luxurious life… all at the expense of someone else. I have an idea. I'll become a refugee.”
難民の話で、こういうのがFacebookでシェアされてた。あり得ないでしょ。見つけたらFBに報告で。 pic.twitter.com/6dysZdlWCe
— A(O) bot (@aki21st) September 30, 2015
This meme about refugees is being shared on Facebook. I can't believe it. If you see it being shared, make sure you alert Facebook.
The image was created and uploaded by cartoonist Hasumi Toshiko. While the message was shocking enough in terms of its utter lack of empathy towards the plight of refugees, who are fleeing war and insecurity, Hasumi also decided to base his drawing on a real picture—one taken by photographer John Hyams of a young Syrian girl, which was used for a Save The Children campaign.
Shocked+deeply saddened anyone would choose to use an image of an innocent child to express such perverse prejudice http://t.co/JfXeuQAWAE
— Jonathan Hyams (@jonathanhyams) October 3, 2015
Following a request by Hyams and a petition reportedly signed by more than 10,000 people in Japan, Hasumi removed the image.
The case of Hasumi Toshiko demonstrates that while Japan is generally an open and tolerant society, Internet culture in that country can be just as insensitive and downright corrosive as anywhere else, if given the chance.
On the other hand, others argue that, no matter how tolerant Japanese society is towards Muslims and other minorities, when compared to other wealthy countries such as Canada and Germany who have committed to accepting refugees, the Japanese government is equally committed to putting up roadblocks to keep refugees out.
Japan receives far fewer asylum seekers than other wealthy nations. In 2013 Australia received 24,300 people seeking asylum, and Germany received 109,600. In contrast in that same year Japan accepted just 3,300—and very few of these people would be formally accepted as refugees.
In 2014 Japan received 5,000 applications for refugee status, but the country's Immigration Bureau ruled only 11, or just 0.2%, of the 5,000 applicants to be worthy of recognition and asylum as refugees.
In fact, Japan is often called “a country with a closed door for refugees.“
Japan's procedure for processing refugees is often described as slow and uncoordinated, resulting in long delays. NGO Japan Association for Refugees says:
There is no time framework set forth for the administrative procedures of refugee recognition, and there was such a case as taking 9 years (!) to reach a final decision?
There is little formal support for the 12,000 or so people seeking asylum in Japan, who are prohibited from working while waiting for a decision about whether or not they will be accepted by the authorities.
It's often observed Japan would prefer to deal with refugees at a distance, through financial aid. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Japan was also the second largest contributor to the UN refugee agency in 2014, donating more than $181 million.
Speaking before the United Nations in September 2015, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe promised to contribute $1.5 billion in aid to Middle East.
Abe also explicitly stated Japan's opposition to accepting more refugees. In a Japanese-language press conference (Part 1, Part 2), he not only shut the door on accepting more refugees, but also tied refugee settlement with immigration policy, saying, “Before accepting immigrants or refugees, we need to have more activities by women, elderly people – and we must raise our birth rate.”
The reply, at the UN headquarters in New York, struck some as odd, because it seemed to conflate Japan's plummeting population with the refugee crisis.
In any event, since Japan, due to its geographic location, is relatively isolated from conflicts around the world, it may be difficult to persuade a majority of Japanese people that more must be done to accept refugees. And it's difficult to determine how much support there is in Japan for accepting more refugees.
An informal straw poll conducted by opinion aggregator site Ironna asks the question:
移民を原則受け入れないとする現行制度についてどう思いますか？
What do you think about Japanese policy of not accepting immigrants?
Out of about 3,200 respondents, 2,700 answered:
移民の受け入れを縮小すべき
We should restrict immigration.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Does ‘Free Entry’ Always Come at a Cost?: Trinidad & Tobago Talks Gender Discrimination After Nightclub Row · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The female and male symbols. image by Thomas Rousing, used under a CC BY 2.0 license.
A protest was held December 18 outside a club in Trinidad and Tobago's capital Port of Spain to decry body policing and gender discrimination after staff there refused to admit a woman they deemed too masculine-looking under a “Ladies Free” policy last weekend.
But the decision to bar Shannon Gomes from entering the Aria Lounge nightclub for free on December 11 and the subsequent protest staged by feminist group Womantra has raised a host of other questions.
Are free entry for women policies not inherently discriminatory against men? And don't they reinforce negative gender stereotypes? Or was the way in which Gomes was judged at the door of a popular nighttime venue particularly important because it symbolized broader gender discrimination on the island?
Activist group Womantra holding “solidarity action” in front of Aria nightclub pic.twitter.com/zNy3IP2BNM
— CCN TV6 (@tv6tnt) December 19, 2015
Satirical website Wired868's Mr. Live Wire waded straight into the issue:
On December 11, Shannon Gomes turned up at the Aria with her lady friend to “turn up”, only to be told at the door that she would have to pay $120 for the pleasure. Or, to put it another way, she was charged the “men’s price.”
Gomes is, biologically and legally, not a man. But her pleas for a freebie fell on deaf ears. And she was asked to pay to enter Aria, just like the hundreds of men who also went to the club that night.
Sexual discrimination? Damn straight!
Why do the men have to pay when the women don’t?! […]
Womantra has vowed to fight for Ms Gomes’ right to not be treated in the same discriminatory manner as male patrons. A feminist group insisting that a woman not be treated as equal to men? Irony? What irony?
Wired868 later clarified that the nightclub's entry policy represented “a stereotype that cuts both ways: women are cheap or need hand-outs and men are lust-driven idiots with big wallets.”
Womantra's blog attempted to clear the air in a post that detailed what the issue was and was not about. The organisation claimed that it was not about gay rights, men's rights, or paying to get into a club.
Instead, the group saw the refusal to allow her free entry as an instance of gender-based violence:
It is no one's right or business to make suppositions about a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity. […]
To be chastised in any way for not conforming to an ideal of gender is violent behaviour; this includes the imposition of strict dress codes for women and prohibition from public spaces. The effects of punishment here are perhaps less tangible or visible, but harmful stereotypes are perpetuated and real harm inflicted on those who do not conform.
When it comes to gender expectations, we can all empathise. Think of any time you were pressured into being a version of your gender that you did not identify with. How did that make you feel? Inadequate? No one should be made to feel less than how they choose to present themselves to the world.
Still, Facebook user Nigel Thompson couldn't believe that a formal protest was being staged over the incident:
Now hearing a women's group going to protest outside Aria. Not sure if that's true but if it is, Allyuh eh have nothing to do? Yuh know what, I'm going to hire a man and a woman to paint my house, I'll be paying the woman less. Come and picket my house, bring a power washer. Allyuh may as well help me out for Christmas.
In a telephone interview with Global Voices, Thompson went on to ask why there weren't any protests over the regular infringements of women's rights in the public health care system, where mothers and their babies often die because of lack of proper care or due to medical negligence.
“People's priorities are seriously skewed in this country,” he said.
Facebook groups like Trinispace.com were also sharing similar sentiments:
Other Facebook users made the case that by focusing on the discrepancy between letting women in for free and having men pay, people were missing the point.
In one thread on the topic, Georgia Popplewell shared her take on the issue:
An incident occurred that, to me, was plainly discriminatory: a woman was told that she didn't qualify as a woman on account of what she was wearing.
I'm not at all surprised at the the trajectory of the discussion that's followed—the questioning of the woman's motives, etc, the ‘Je Suis Shannon’, etc—because that is how it goes.
But I do find the attempt to hijack the discussion of an important topic that's rarely addressed in this country—gender expression—and turn it into a discussion about the dismantling of a time-honoured club and fête policy about which nobody has been particularly vocal till now, totally disingenuous.
Not all discrimination is created equal, and not all unequal treatment is necessarily discriminatory.
Feminist blog Code Red also made an insightful comment on the sexual politics of ‘free entry':
Nightclubs that advertise ‘ladies free’ are actually using women as part of the experience they are selling to (heterosexual) men whom they perceive as their legitimate customers. This is the reason men are expected to pay and ‘ladies’ are admitted ‘free’. It is neither an act of feminist benevolence nor discrimination against men that club owners have such policies. Such policies aid in heterosexualizing public spaces and reinforcing the notion that ALL women should be sexually available to men. These clubs with their dress codes, including the requirement that women wear heels, seek to reinforce a heterosexualised femininity, regulating gender and sexuality and often discriminating based on class, colour and size. Women can collectively challenge this hetero/sexism and classism by refusing to patronize such clubs and organising our own forms of entertainment and community building.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Giving Hope to the Homeless by Changing Perceptions in Trinidad and Tobago · Global Voices
Jason Nathu

From left: Anessa Chow, Reisa Singh, Darius Emrith and Ashely Roopchansingh. Photo courtesy the HWLS Human Rights Law Clinic.
Four students of Trinidad and Tobago's Hugh Wooding Law School are attempting to break the stigma associated with homelessness in Caribbean societies.
The student attorneys, Anessa Chow (Guayana), Ashely Roopchansingh, Darius Emrith and Reisa Singh (Trinidad and Tobago), recognise that the homeless and other socially displaced persons are often the victims of scorn, fear and even hatred.
According to the students:
In our daily lives we often pass these persons on the streets without a second glance or thought of whether they ate, if they had a shirt on their backs or shoes on their feet, or even shelter if it rained.
The group partnered with 141 Foundations, a not-for-profit organisation which seeks to provide basic necessities for the homeless population in one of Trinidad's southern cities, San Fernando.
The project was undertaken as part of the law school's Human Rights Law Clinic and consisted of various elements, such as visiting the homeless for several weeks during October and November 2015; conducting a clothing and toiletries donation drive at the Hugh Wooding Law School; interviewing homeless people and creating a social media photo essay campaign to help change the stigma surrounding the homeless; creating a photo-book to memorialise their encounters; and interviewing members of 141 Foundations to inspire others to become involved in such ventures.
The group's photo essays were published on the Facebook pages of the Human Rights Law Clinic, 141 Foundations and on the individual Instagram accounts of the four students:
EMMANUEL BHAGWANDEEN
61 years of age
I grew up in San Fernando and am one of 10 siblings; 8 boys and 2 girls. I thought I had “family” and could always count on “family” but people only act like your family and friends to your face. They smile with you, eat with you, but you never know how they truly feel when they turn their backs. When they turn their backs, they only “bad talk” you. This was my “family” and I was fed up and had enough with how my so called family treated me. So I decided to leave home and live on the streets. I was arrested for loitering but when I was released I returned to the streets of San Fernando. Being on the streets was better than being “home”. I feel free on the streets. I AM FREE, free from a family who laughed and talked about me behind my back. I would never go back to that life, that ‘family’. I was tired of feeling unwanted and unappreciated and being on the streets away from my family is better than the betrayal I felt from them. Life on the streets is simple and I like simple. I don’t have to worry about no one and nobody tells me what to do. It is the freedom I enjoy and the street is freedom. I am happy out here. I love playing moral, hopscotch and I love telling jokes as well. What are the three sweetest things in the world? – The day a baby is born; nothing sweeter than a new born baby, sweet sixteen; the sweetest age to be and home sweet home; no place sweeter.
PATSY THOMAS
66 years of age
To escape a life of abuse, I found myself on the streets at age 13. I thought this was a good decision. I thought the streets would give me a better life, a life free from the difficult one I once knew. I was wrong. On the streets at such a young age I had all the responsibilities on my shoulders and all the worries of life. Every day I had to worry about whether anyone would take advantage of me or when I closed my eye at night, whether I would even wake up the next morning. I had to take care of myself from a very young age. It was not easy. Things just kept getting harder and harder with age. I met a friend out here and she tried to get me a house through HDC but that did not work out. I even went to a home for the aged but it was for both men and women and I felt very uncomfortable about this. Even when I had no place to go to and could only live and sleep on the streets, the police still arrested me for loitering. When they let me go, I had to go right back on the streets because I have nowhere else to go. This is the only life I know. I feel as though things were never good and they would never be good. I AM FED UP OF THIS LIFE. I am too old for this life. I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE. I feel helpless at this point in my life and I am begging for some help. PLEASE HELP ME. I don’t know what to do again. Where to go? HELP ME PLEASE. Some people out here are nice but the thing is, I don’t understand how someone can be nice to me but they are NEVER willing to help me in any way. Then there are those who are not nice at all. I would just leave those people there. It doesn’t make sense telling them anything. I would let the All Mighty deal with them. This place itself is not nice at all to be living on the streets. Gunmen are walking the streets of Trinidad freely. I have to worry each night I go to sleep. I am scared out here because I am an old lady. I can’t do anything when those gunmen come for me. I don’t know what else to do. I want to get out of this life.
IDENTITY KEPT ANONYMOUS
23 years of age
I am 23 years old and I’ve been homeless for a couple months now. I was kicked out of my home when my parents discovered I did not believe in God. They found my beliefs were unacceptable and so there was no place for me under their roof so long as I held my belief that God does not exist. Since then, neither my parents nor my brother or sister ever tried to contact me. I won’t contact them either. I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO THEM. I live in the forest in Tacarigua now. I feel safe there but it’s really difficult to live there around this time of the year when it’s rainy. I use my bike to get around. I even ride my bike most Sundays from Tacarigua to here (Harris Promenade in San Fernando). I make do. It’s also hard for me to get a job since I never finished my educational programme because of family problems. I am still trying though. Even though I’m on my own, I have NO family and NO place to call home, I rather be here, on the streets, than with a family who have NEVER accepted me for who I am and who WOULD NEVER accept me. I do not want to have to face constant judgments each and every day. If I go back, they would never let me be; they would constantly be on my case and try to change my beliefs. This is just my belief and this is who I am and I won’t go back to a place where I’m not accepted. My only wish is that one day I would be able to afford a small apartment for myself to call home, somewhere nice you know?
SAMUEL DOBSON
35 years of age
I grew up with my grandparents because my parents died when I was very young. I have one brother and one sister, but it’s been years since I spoke to any of them. My grandparents died a while after and so I started living on the streets at the age of 11. I never had an education but this did not stop me. I was employed as an estate worker and attended to plants there. However, I had to leave this job because I got a garbage truck injury which affected my back. My friend helped me find a shelter to stay in called Ozonium Night Shelter. It’s a night shelter for older persons who don’t have a place to go. I like it there. I may not be physically well but with each new day I am coping. I am pulling through with my problems. Life is not so bad. It’s okay for now and I’m making it work. People out here aren’t nice at all though. They look at me a certain way and whisper as they pass by. Some say hello, some just watch me and laugh. I know they judge me but I always ignore them. They don’t affect me. I don’t let them affect me. Never once did I say anything to them. If I had a chance to tell any of them who whisper behind my back anything, I WOULD NOT SAY ANYTHING. I have nothing to say to them. I would leave them because I just want everything to be good.
BRENDA JOYCE
62 years of age
I have been on the streets for a long time now. I stayed with a friend for a while but we had an argument and so I had to leave. I have nowhere to go now. I don’t really have any family or friends that I would turn to for help. I regret the argument with my friend. I wish I could talk to her but I can’t and there’s nothing I could do now. Life on the streets has its ups and downs. There are good days but then there are bad days and the bad days are really rough and tough. A bad day is when it rains and I get wet and cold because I don’t have a place to shelter from the rain. It’s also a bad day when I have no food and I don’t have any means of getting food for myself. It’s bad sometimes, really really bad and nobody helps. SOME PEOPLE OUT HERE ARE NOT NICE. Sometimes, they are rough with me and whenever people treat me badly, I let them know. I give them a piece of my mind. I do not hesitate to tell them things when they treat me badly. Who do they think they are? I AM A HUMAN BEING! I don’t deserve to be treated badly. I don’t harass anybody. I don’t do anything for people to treat me badly just like that. So when people are not nice to me, I give them a piece of my mind. I will not stay quiet and allow people to treat me however they want. I DESERVE RESPECT TOO because I am a human being just like them. I do not deserve to be treated badly. No man!
The photo essay series concluded on a positive note with ANTHONY DUNCAN
57 years of age
I have been on the streets for over 26 years. I slept at the corner of KFC, used to drink rum and I cried a lot. I got into drugs at an early age and that’s where I made my biggest mistake as I was arrested for it and spent 5 years in jail. The street life was not a good one and I knew I had to do something about it. My sister who lives abroad saw me one day on the streets after I got out of jail and immediately broke down in tears. She sat me down and we had a long talk. After that, I made the decision to change my life. That’s when I started going to church. This was the first step towards my new life, even though still on the streets. I knew despite my circumstance I had to turn things around. Shortly after I met the love of my life and she became my wife. I then began taking goods from vendors on the street and assisted them in selling the goods for a commission.Now, I am proud to say I have a beautiful 3 year old daughter and recently got a government funded house for me and my family to stay in. I have a family now and family is everything. My only wish is for a happy life for my daughter. I lived my life, now it’s time for her to live hers. I’ve learnt, and I want my daughter to learn that you always have a choice in your life. It is up to you to change your life if you don’t like it. My advice to children as obvious as it sounds is ‘DON’T DO DRUGS. It really affects your life more than you can imagine.
Contemporaneous with the photo essays, the group also released interviews with members of the 141 Foundations executive team about working with the homeless in Trinidad and Tobago.
Finally, the students produced a report summarising their findings:
The four friends were overwhelmed by their peers’ response to the project, as well as by the public's reaction to the social media campaign — they hope that similar initiatives will change the mindset as it relates to other marginalised or neglected groups in the country.

author: Jason Nathu


text:
How Did You Remember Refugees and Migrants on International Migrants’ Day? · Global Voices
Lupita Peimbert

Migrants on “la Bestia”. Every year, tens of thousands of people, 90 percent of them Central American, cross the length of Mexico in hopes of reaching the United States. Photo taken from the Flickr account from Peter Haden under Creative Commons License (CC BY 2.0)
December 18 is a day to remember refugees and migrants, whether from Syria, India, China, Latin America, or anywhere else in the world.
This year, as the number of people in the world seeking refuge is expected to hit a record, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) called on the international community:
to come together and remember the refugees and migrants who have lost their lives or have disappeared while trying to reach safe harbour after arduous journeys across seas and deserts.
Many people in the United States understand this, despite the debates and extremist positions highlighted in the Republican party's presidential nominee race. Many people in the San Francisco Bay Area, for instance, are still fighting for justice and a better treatment for refugees and migrants.
But beyond labels and circumstances, people are people.
The #Iamamigrant hashtag expresses this accurately.
En el Día Internacional del Migrante, un recordatorio: pic.twitter.com/bjC775t6GL
— pictoline (@pictoline) December 18, 2015
On Immigrant International Day, just a reminder: We are all children of immigrants.
Comparte tu historia: https://t.co/9OXwzwJsfL #soymigrante #iamamigrant pic.twitter.com/bDNJ4kvv5P
— Soy migrante (@soy_migrante) November 27, 2015
Share your story.
On #MigrantsDay, check out https://t.co/N1WL8IUlc2 for the latest updates from @IOM_news. #iamamigrant pic.twitter.com/9WlnNlVtis
— United Nations (@UN) December 18, 2015

author: Lupita Peimbert


text:
How Maasai Women in Kenya Are Helping to Make Lush Brand Cosmetics · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Priscilla Lekootoot shows how she harvests leaves from the aloe secundiflora plants at Twala Cultural Manyatta. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
This article by Marco Werman for The World as part of the Owning It series originally appeared on PRI.org on December 16, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
It’s a day-long drive from Kenya's capital Nairobi to Twala in Laikipia County. The last 50 miles is along a dusty road, and then you arrive at the farm of the Twala Cultural Manyatta. It’s oasis-like, and the moment you enter the gate, the fresh smell of greenery strikes a contrast with the aridity you leave behind.
Even more striking for me are the two dozen Maasai women lined up in front of the mud wall of their compound, bedecked in brightly colored beaded jewelry. The second my car door opens, they break into song.
One of the 140 Maasai women who tend to 40 acres of aloe secundiflora at the Twala Cultural Manyatta in Laikipia. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
I had inquired how much press they’ve received. “Not much,” was the answer from Joseph Lentunyoi, the agronomist from the Laikipia Permaculture Project. He's crucial in many ways to the success of the women in Twala.
Publicity or not, they are eager to talk about what they have done at the Twala Cultural Manyatta. In four years, the 140 women have turned an overworked scrap of land — 40 acres actually, a not-altogether-inappropriate echo of the false promise of property to freed slaves after the Civil War — into a model of sustainable agriculture.
After all, stats indicate that women own barely one percent of the land in Kenya, even though they haul the firewood, till the fields, fetch the water, raise the children, and more.
Agronimist Joseph Lentunyoi has been working with local women's groups in Laikipia to grow and sell aloe to LUSH cosmetics in England for the past two years. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
But here more than 15 years ago, the women organized themselves into the Twala Cultural Manyatta (“manyatta” means “settlement” or “compound” in Maasai), and they pressured their husbands and men in their village to give them some land. They got that scrappy, arid 40 acres. And they got to work. They say their husbands like what they’re seeing.
That’s because women like Florence Larpei and Priscilla Lekootoot are making money growing aloe, and selling the leaves to the British cosmetics company Lush.
They’re also harvesting honey. And growing food. And raising goats. It’s a sustainable ecosystem.
More specifically it’s permaculture. “It’s a human system, a people system,” explains Letunyoi. “It’s about soils, the environment and fair share. How do we take care of ourselves? How do we get our food? And make sure that our soils are not degraded. We don’t use chemical fertilizers. We have to look at alternative livelihoods for all locals. We have to take care of the culture.”
More than 140 Maasai women harvest aloe secundiflora leaves at the Twala Cultural Manyatta in Laikipia to export to LUSH cosmetics. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
I really got along with Letunyoi. He reminded me of a Senegalese farmer I met in Togo, where I was a Peace Corps volunteer, who believed in this kind of farming system — only at the time, it didn’t have the name “permaculture.”
When Letunyoi helped create his project about two years ago, he says it was not easy to preach the gospel of permaculture to the Maasai. They’re pastoralists — herding cattle and goats and sheep — and not really prone to growing crops.
But among the Maasai, he says, “The women’s groups are easy to work with because they’re already organized,” he points out. “They are ambitious and they are patient.”
Aloe secundiflora leaves were already known to the Maasai as a cure to wounds, for deworming animals and people, and as the source of a local wine. All the womens’ groups needed, says Letunyoi, was a little nudge.
“The aloe was already growing all over and they know about it, so when we brought the idea of soap-making, selling leaves to whatever companies and other places, they clicked very fast and they said, ‘Yeah, this is exactly what we wanted — an alternative to pastoralism.’”
Some of the Maasai women working at Twala Cultural Manyatta Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
When Lekootoot showed me around the Twala aloe field, she did so with the reverence of someone who unlocked the gate to a personal Eden. After all, this field of aloe is bringing the Twala women more than $3000 each year. That’s more than double the per capita GDP in Kenya.
The Twala women are focused, they’ve got a vision that includes bee-keeping, growing food for themselves, selling aloe to Lush and making money. And they have managed to maintain their cultural connections to pastoralism.
It shows what can happen when you’re organized, and then you get a little boost from the outside.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Mexican Christmas Food Combines Basque Flavors with Nahuatl Tradition · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Bacalao a la Vizcaína (Biscayne style cod). Photo taken from the Flickr account of Raul Pacheco-Vega under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
For many cultures around the world, December is a month that brings with it a series of celebrations, of which Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year stand out in particular. These celebrations are traditionally shared with family, and in many cases, around a table. Therefore, as these occasions approach, Global Voices pays attention to two dishes served in Central Mexico that give a specific flavour to the festive season.
A considerable proportion of Mexican families have adopted the custom of eating turkey on these dates due to the influence of cultures such as that of the USA, where the dish is an essential component of Thanksgiving Day and Christmas dinners. Many families in the central region of the country (the capital, Mexico State, Puebla and Queretaro) however, prefer dishes emblematic of national Christmas cuisine: romeritos and bacalao a la Vizcaína (Biscayne style cod).
Romeritos — which shouldn't be confused with the spice called romero (rosemary) — are edible herbs which are accompanied with mole, and sometimes with dried shrimp tortitas (cakes) or croquettes. Nowadays, mole is a complex dish with many variations, so much so that it is worthy of an article all to itself. However, for the purposes of this introductory piece, one need only mention that it is a sauce or gravy prepared with chillies and spices, and that when made according to the original recipe, contains around a hundred ingredients.
This is how the official site México Produce explains the term ‘romeritos':
Los romeritos o Suaeda torreyana son un quelite, esta palabra deriva del náhuatl quilitl, que significa “hierba comestible o verdura”. En México este término es usado para referirse a los tallos tiernos, retoños o brotes de una planta que son comestibles, por ejemplo: los quintoniles, el epazote, el pápalo, la verdolaga, el huauzontle, los berros, los romeritos, entre otros.
Romeritos or Suaeda torreyana are a quelite, a word which derives from the nahuatl quilitl, meaning ‘edible herb or vegetable’. In Mexico this term is used to refer to the soft stems, shoots or sprouts of a plant which are edible. For example: quintoniles, epazote, pápalo, verdolaga (purslane), huauzontle, berros (watercress) and romeritos among others.
With regards to its use as a dish for all occasions, the website adds:
Se pueden comprar en los mercados populares por kilo o en grandes manojos y, a diferencia de los otros quelites, no se come crudo.
Esta hierba se convierte en el centro de atención de la cena navideña cuando, acompañada de mole, nopales, papas y tortitas de camarón, se transforma en el tradicional revoltijo.
They can be bought in popular markets by the kilo or in big bunches and, unlike other quelites, they aren't eaten raw. This herb becomes the centre of attention at Christmas dinner when, accompanied by mole, nopales (prickly pears), potatoes and shrimp cakes, is transformed into the traditional mish-mash.
Paulina, writing for the blog Curiosidades de Cocina agrees with regards to this explanation of the stew:
Image by Flickr user [ebarrera] used under terms of the CC license.
Los romeritos son muy comunes en la cocina de la Ciudad de México y estados circunvecinos. A diferencia de los otros quelites, no se come crudo: siempre se cuece primero en agua, se escurre y luego se añade a salsas o guisos. Cuando le dan este hervor reduce mucho su volumen.
Como les mencioné ya, es muy típico comerlo en las festividades de navidad, año nuevo y cuaresma, uno de los guisos más importantes hechos de este quelite es el revoltijo, que es un platillo con mole, nopalitos y tortitas de camarón.
Romeritos are very common in cooking in Mexico City and surrounding states. Unlike the other quelites, it isn't eaten raw — it is always cooked in water first, drained, and then added to sauces or stews. This boiling reduces a lot of its volume. As I have already mentioned to you, it is very typical to eat it during Christmas festivities, New Year and Lent. One of the most important stews made from this quelite is el revoltijo (mish-mash), which is a dish with mole sauce, nopalitos and shrimp cakes.
From romeritos we move on to bacalao a la Vizcaína (Biscayne style cod), something which has managed to cross the Atlantic Ocean from the Basque Country in Spain to make the journey into Mexican cuisine. As its name indicates, it is essentially made up of  salted cod — fish dried by salt — in a light tomato broth (caldillo de tomate), usually served with olives, chillies and spices. It is customarily eaten not only at the formal dinners during Christmas and New Year, but also on the following day when it is known as recalentado (reheated).
The author of the blog Los Sabores de México (Flavours of Mexico) commented:
Les aseguro y les garantizo que esta es una de las recetas de bacalao estilo México o nuestra versión mexicana del bacalao a la Vizcaína, de las más ricas que probarán en su vida, y lo digo con esa seguridad porque en mi familia se ha hecho desde generaciones y es la receta que mi abuelas, tías y mamá han hecho por años y años.  Les recomiendo que lo hagan unos días antes para que el día que lo sirvan sepa mucho mejor, este es uno de esos platillos que entre más se recalienta es mucho más rico su sabor.
I assure and guarantee you that this is one of the richest recipes of Mexican style cod, or our Mexican version of bacalao a la Vizcaína, that you will try in your life. I say this with such certainty because it has been made in my family for generations, and is the recipe which my grandmothers, aunts, and mother have made for years and years. I recommend that you make it a few days before, so that it tastes better on the day you serve it. This is one of those dishes that has a much richer flavour the more it is reheated.
The website for the culinary institute ASPIC adds:
By Luisfi (own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)].
El bacalao a la vizcaína, es un platillo que como los romeritos, el pavo y la pierna no puede faltar en las cenas de Navidad y Año Nuevo.  Si bien es parte del menú navideño, este platillo fue creado en el siglo XVI, cuando los cristianos practicaban la costumbre de ayunar los días viernes y sábado santo, como preparación para el día de la resurrección, poco a poco su fama y exquisitez lo trajeron a la mesa de los mexicanos.  Se volvió tradición porque antes, en la mayoría de los casos, no había posibilidad de hacer un buen pescado fresco, fue donde la gente empezó a agarrarse para tenerlos en conserva y la mejor manera de hacer esto es a la vizcaína o entomatado.
Biscayne style cod is a dish which like the romeritos, turkey and leg, can't be missing at Christmas and New Year's dinners. Even though it is part of the Christmas menu, this dish was created in the 16th Century, when Christians would practise the custom of fasting on the Friday and Saturday of Holy Week, in preparation for the day of resurrection. Little by little, its reputation and exquisiteness brought it to the Mexicans’ tables. It became tradition because previously, in most cases, it hadn't been possible to make good fresh fish. That's when people began to rely on having them preserved, and the best way of doing this is a la vizcaína or entomatado.
But what does the preparation consist of for ‘a la Vizcaína'?
The same source clarifies:
La salsa vizcaína se prepara con cebolla, ajo, pimiento morrón, jitomate, aceitunas, tomillo y laurel. Lo más importante de esto son los chiles güeros que ya vienen avinagrados, esto es para darle carácter y mejor sabor a la salsa a la vizcaína.  Para prepararlo se debe remojar el pescado en agua desde el día anterior, para después desmenuzarlo en trozos pequeños y separar todas las espinas.
The Biscayne sauce is prepared with onion, garlic, sweet pepper, tomato, olives, thyme and bay leaf. Most important are banana peppers soaked in vinegar, to give character and more flavour to the Biscayne sauce. To prepare it, the fish has to be steeped in water from the previous day, and afterwards, chopped into small pieces with all bones removed.
This was only a look at two examples of Mexican food served at tables throughout the holiday season. In the past we have explored dishes such as ‘chiles en nogada’ (chillies in walnut sauce) which take up table space during another season.
Global Voices invites readers to share in the comments section, the dishes typically eaten in their regions on these days.

author: J. Tadeo


text:
Ethiopia Faces Famine Despite ‘Unprecedented’ Economic Growth · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A drought affected farm in Ethiopia. A Public Domain image by Photographer: Kimberly Flowers/USAID. Released under Creative Commons.
Despite recording double-digit economic growth in recent years, Ethiopia is in serious need of food aid. Observers consider the current food crisis to be the worst in thirty years, similar to the famine of 1984-85, which led to thousands of deaths.
According to a report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs the number of relief food beneficiaries in Ethiopia has increased to 4.5 million people this month.
Government officials estimate that 10.1 million people will face critical food shortages in 2016. The figure includes 5.75 million Ethiopian children.
The food crisis in the country is being played down by the Ethiopian government, which has decided to rename famine and starvation as “food insecurity”:
According to some inside Ethiopia, NGOs are being warned not to use the words “famine, starvation or death” in their food appeals. Neither are they to say that “children are dying on a daily basis,” or refer to “widespread famine” or say that “the policies of the government in Ethiopia are partially to blame.” Neither are they allowed to “compare the current crisis to the famine of the eighties.” Instead, the latest drought in Ethiopia is to be described as “food insecurity caused by a drought related to El Nino.”
While the Ethiopian government says that the cause of “food insecurity” in the country is drought related to El Nino, Dawit Ayele Haylemari, a graduate student of political science at University of Passau, thinks otherwise:
Many experts relate Ethiopia's cyclical famine with the country's dependence on Rainfed smallholder agriculture, drought, rapid population growth or agricultural market dysfunctions. Although these factors do have significant role in the matter, they tend to hide the critical cause of hunger in the country – lack of rights and accountable government […]
A historical investigation of famine also identified 30 major famines during the 20th century. All happened in countries led by autocratic rule or that were under armed conflict, four being in Ethiopia […]
Why does autocracy lead to famine? The most fundamental reason is that autocrats often don't care enough about the population to prevent famine. Autocrats maintain power through force, not popular approval. This argument has been proven true in the case of Ethiopia.
The food crisis, in the fifth largest economy in Sub Saharan Africa, has become one of the hot topics discussed by Ethiopian netizens online.
Adisu Habte took a jab at Ethiopians in the Diaspora talking about the issue on social media while their fellow citizens are dying:
Well the hunger continues in Ethiopian while Ethiopians living in Philadelphia continue to do nothing but post on their social media page and have conversation about politics at Dunkin Donuts and at the Hookah lounge […] Let's not watch as Ethiopians are starving to death.
Endalkachew Chala writes:
Yep! The ‘fast growing’ economy in Ethiopia is busted …
Yes, drought and hunger in the fastest growing African economy #Ethiopia
— P Mimi Poinsett MD (@yayayarndiva) November 28, 2015
While Betelhem Ephrem advises Ethiopians not to politicise the issue:
For once lets make this issues about the people who are desperately in need of survival than our political discourse. lets not make a mockery of the people at this time of crisis.
Answering to a Facebook user, Anania Sorri, who wanted to know the source of the information that 4.5 million are facing hunger, Addis Standard writes:
Dear Anania Sorri – It is widely known that figures in this country are often the results of negotiations between the government and aid agencies (in this case) or the government and financial institutions (in the case of growth). But in the face of eminent crop failure in many parts of the country in the coming harvest season, this one doesn't seem to be overly exaggerated.
Responding to calls from some Ethiopians that citizens need to pray, Biyya Oromiyaa says:
How is praying a solution to hunger in Ethiopia? Hungry people need emergency food, and a good agricultural policy with political will and democracy. Hunger has nothing to do with God in Ethiopia, maybe elsewhere. Hunger is created by the combination of regime policy failure, political oppression and climate change. So good advice would be to remove the regime than instruct us to pray.
Fikrejesus Amahazion, a Horn of Africa scholar focusing on African development, human rights and political economy, points to another irony of the current food crisis:
Ironically, while Ethiopia is facing a hunger crisis and making urgent appeals for aid, tonnes of food are actually leaving the country. This illogical development is due to the fact that the regime in Addis has sold large tracts of arable land to a range of foreign investors and corporations in transactions described as “land grabs.” The process also involves “villagization,” a government-led program which entails the forcible relocation of indigenous communities from locations reserved for large, foreign-owned plantations. Reports by rights groups list a plethora of human rights violations, including murders, beatings, rapes, imprisonment, intimidation, and political coercion by the government and authorities.
Ethiopia’s hunger crisis is an important humanitarian issue meriting immediate attention and concern. In order to fully understand the crisis it is imperative to recognize that while the environment has been an important contributing factor, a range of other structural socio-political and governance dynamics, including corruption, the lack of rule of law or democracy, poor governance, failures in long-term planning, and misplaced national and development priorities have also been highly influential.
Finally, Paul Dorosh, director at International Food Policy Research Institute's Development Strategy and Governance Division, and Shahidur Rashid, senior research fellow at the institute’s Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division, are hopeful that the drought will not lead to famine:
The 2015-16 drought and production shortfall need not cause a famine in Ethiopia. By heeding the lessons of past famines, the government and the international donor community can help ensure that there is sufficient availability of cereals to supply Ethiopia’s food needs and sufficient transfers in cash and in kind to provide needy households with adequate access to food. Other food security issues will still need to be resolved, including ensuring adequate nutrition for all individuals. However, there is ample reason for hope that this drought will be remembered, not for a deadly famine, but wise policies and timely interventions built on Ethiopia’s progress of the past 25 years.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
In Kenya, So Much Depends on the Orange Flesh Sweet Potato · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

New mothers and their babies wait to see a doctor at the Othoro Community hospital in Homa Bay, western Kenya. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
This article by Marco Werman for The World as part of the Owning It series originally appeared on PRI.org on December 15, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
There is a superstition in western Kenya, in the lush area that borders Lake Victoria. If you are a woman and become pregnant, you do not talk about it because if you do, you will lose your child.
The downside of keeping it secret is that the mother very likely will not make any prenatal visits — maybe won’t even give birth in a hospital.
In an area of the country with a high incidence of malaria, not to mention HIV rates of 27 percent, that puts fetuses in jeopardy.
Beatrice Otieno holds some of the orange flesh sweet potatoes she's been growing with the aid of the SUSTAIN (Scaling up Sweetpotato through Agriculture and Nutrition) project. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
But even if no one was superstitious, clinics are often far from home for many women. And they’ve got chores that precede a prenatal visit.
If it hadn’t been for an unfamiliar variety of sweet potato, 27-year-old Beatrice Otieno would likely be giving birth to her third child at home. That home is a mud brick shack. It’s hot inside, and the coolest spot is the dirt floor. It’s not where a child is going to have the best chances of success on his first day in the world.
But the orange flesh sweet potato will very likely change that baby’s fortunes. It’s already turned around Beatrice’s life.
Not long ago, she heard that if she went to the hospital for pre-natal visits, she would receive coupons for orange flesh sweet potato vines to plant in her yard. She bit.
The coupon would entitle her to the plants at a subsidized cost. They would supplement her and her family’s diet, and anything they had left over she could sell.
Unlike her previous two pregnancies, Beatrice Otieno will deliver her third child at a local hospital. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
“Because I know I can get sweet potatoes from prenatal visits,” she told me in Swahili, “it made me understand the importance of giving birth at the hospital.”
Beatrice Otieno lives in Homa Bay, Kenya, not far from Lake Victoria. And two years ago, Homa Bay became one of the places where a project was launched to introduce the orange flesh sweet potato.
That is happening through the American health organization PATH, the Kenyan government, and a project called SUSTAIN: Scaling up Sweetpotato through Agriculture and Nutrition.
There are always doubts when an unfamiliar crop is introduced for the first time. Kenya has local sweet potatoes, but these varieties are white and yellow. People like them.
But Beatrice told me she likes the orange flesh variety more. A lot of the people in Homa Bay said the same.
That’s a good thing. Because the whole idea of SUSTAIN was to make the sweet potato both a nutritional savior and an incentive.
On the nutrition front, it addresses health needs for pregnant women. It’s loaded with Vitamin A, an immunity booster, great for vision and crucial for organ development in the fetus. The orange flesh variety also provides a defense against disease for people who are HIV positive.
When I arrived at the health clinic in Homa Bay, I saw the dividends. The veranda was packed with patients. Some were there for typical outpatient needs: small injuries and illnesses. But a lot of them were expectant and post-natal mothers, and were there for a checkup and the coupons.
PATH has an accountability + transparency score of 100 on Charity Navigator.
If you are interested in contributing, click here.
Batrise Akinyiopyio lives in the community and works as a liaison between the clinic and the mothers. She pulled out a white board and showed me an array of numbers. The crucial point, she said, is that the hospital used to give out Vitamin A supplements. Then the stock ran out.
“But when the orange flesh sweet potato came into the existence and we taught the pregnant mothers on the importance of orange flesh and vitamin A,” explained Akinyiopyio, “we realized that very many children are consuming orange flesh at the household levels.”
Mothers line up for post-natal visits at the Othoro Community Hospital in Homa Bay. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
We know the orange flesh sweet potato in the US. (Heck, at Bartley’s Burger Cottage in Harvard Square, there are as many sweet potato fries orders as standard ones.) Agronomists will tell you that even though it’s a tuber, it is not technically in the potato family. Columbus found it, most likely in the West Indies, and from there it made its way to the US. It was made famous by George Washington and later by George Washington Carver. It’s native to the Western Hemisphere, and even though it’s not in the potato family, it’s introduction in Africa is being done in collaboration with CIP — the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru.
Hellen Nyongesa-Malava works for PATH in Homa Bay. She says that “part of the reason why (Homa Bay) was identified as a site is because of the willingness of households and men to show their women where they can cultivate the vines that they are given.”David Elijah is a skilled local farmer who was tapped to be the local super-source of the orange flesh sweet potato vines. He proudly showed me his starter field and the nursery where the first seeds are grown.
Beatrice Otieno follows others to the field where she grows orange flesh sweet potatoes. Credit: Anne Bailey. Used with permission
In a country where women own just one percent of the land, that’s a tally in the plus column.
As for turning their surplus sweet potato crop into a profitable business, that's a little harder to judge. It's still early days of course, but in Beatrice Otieno's case, sweet potato sales have not noticeably lifted her out of poverty. According to Rikka Trangsrud, PATH Kenya's community program coordinator, there is some clear success. She notes the more nutritious sweet potatoes are now accepted because you can find them in the produce section of supermarkets like Nakumatt.
At the hospital in Homa Bay, the proof of concept is in the number of women who are showing up for prenatal visits. And every day there are more women taking the same interest in sweet potatoes — and the health of their babies.


text:
Kyrgyzstan’s Take on Buzzfeed Generates Complaints (and Views) with Gender Stereotyping Listicles · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Limon.kg is a popular social buzz-driven website in Kyrgyzstan. Image from wikipedia.
Kyrgyzstan's social buzz-hub for listicles and other trivial articles spurred a storm of commentary this week when it published the article 32 Qualities the Ideal Kelin Should Possess. After readers bombed the website with accusations of gender stereotyping and worse, Limon.kg published a follow-up article: 32 Qualities the Ideal Kuyoo-bala Should Possess.
Side by side, the two articles present the impossibly high standards traditional families in the Central Asian country apply to their female and male in-laws — especially females. Illustrating just how impossible these standards are might well have been among the website's reasons for publishing the pieces, along with racking up page views.
As Limon.kg offered no explanation for the two viral articles, we will never know.
The kelin (female in-law) occupies an important if often downtrodden role in the traditional Kyrgyz household. Her arrival there via marriage to one of its eligible males effectively frees the mother of that household of many of her homemaking responsibilities.
Essentially, the kelin does nearly everything, which explains significant maternal support for practices such as bride kidnapping in the country.
As per Eurasianet:
The typical kelin, or live-in daughter-in-law is expected to be the epitome of servitude in most rural Central Asian families. Her mother-in-law on the other hand, is a character of unrelenting wickedness, as evidenced by her portrayal in many Central Asian films.
Take as an example Saida Rametova’s character in the well-known Uzbek comedy flick Super Kelinchak, who makes her Slavic daughter-in-law’s life a living nightmare by constantly criticising shortcomings in her vegetable-chopping skills and in other household chores. Or Turakhan Sadykova’s character in the Kazakh film Kelin, which one reviewer described as “an old hag with mystical connections to nature.”
Traditional Kyrgyz musicians in the eastern city of Karakol. Wikipedia image.
The kuyoo-bala, is the kelin‘s opposite number: the man that invited her into his family's household.
Limon.kg's first article concerned the kelin.
According to Limon.kg she should have the following qualities to mention but a few:
Limon's article was controversial not least because the website's main readership lives in the capital Bishkek where internet is widely available and gender roles both in and outside marriage are somewhat less tightly defined than in the country's villages.
Comments underneath the article and on Limon.kg's facebook page included:
ГЕНДЕРНОМУ РАВНОПРАВИЮ – ДОРОГУ ПОЖАЛУЙСТА
The road to gender equality, thank you!
кроме смеха эта статья не может ничего вызывать. А Лимон за такое женаненавистничество надо банить
This article deserves nothing other than ridicule. And Limon for this gender hatred should be banned.
While one man wrote:
Вот такую жену и на руках носить можно, я бы даже сказал нужно!!! Да обязаны просто))) Всем девушкам счастья в браке, будьте хорошими келинками)))
Such a wife you could — and should — carry in your arms!!! For all girls to have a happy marriage — be good kelins!
And received the following reply:
А разве у нее, бедняги, будет время на Ваших руках покататься? Она же вроде, встает и ложится раньше всех (в том числе желающего поносить ее на руках)… И еще, почему обязана? А ей, надо полагать, никто и ничего не должен… Печально!!
And will the poor thing have time to take a ride in your arms? She already gets up and goes to sleep later than everybody else (including those that would carry her in their arms) and moreover why should she have to do any of this? Misery!!!
да здравствует 19 век и женщины без права голоса, молчащие при муже и его святых родственниках. Жду статью – За что можно бить женщину: За плохой бешбармак, За то, что взглянула в глаза мужу, За то, что попалась на пути, когда муж зол…
Welcome to the 19th century where women have no right to speak and stay quiet in front of the husband and his sacred relatives. Now I am waiting for the article What Can You Beat a Woman For?: for [making] bad beshbarmak, for looking into her husband's eyes, for being in the way when he is angry…
Ждем теперь идеальные качества kuyio bala)))
Now we wait for the ideal qualities for a male in-law…
That wish was granted days later.
According to Limon.kg, a good kuyoo-bala:
By this point, there was a creeping consensus Limon.kg were ‘trolling’ their readership, and comments became somewhat more light-hearted:
Заметьте, нету пункта о том что куйоо бала должен быть хорош в постели
Have you noticed there isn't a point about how he should be good in bed?

author: Akhal-Tech Collective