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Aussie Rock Icon Jimmy Barnes Reclaims Songs From Anti-Islam Protestors · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Jimmy Barnes. Flickr photo by jeaneeem. CC BY 2.0
Aussie rock star Jimmy Barnes has used his official Facebook page to ask anti-Islam activists to stop using his voice and songs in their protests as anthems:
It has come to my attention that certain groups of people have been using my voice, my songs as their anthems at rallies.
I only want to say the Australia I belong to and love is a tolerant Australia. A place that is open and giving. It is a place that embraces all sorts of different people, in fact it is made stronger by the diversity of its people. If you look at my family you can see we are a multicultural family. Australia needs to stand up for Love and Tolerance in these modern times.
None of these people represent me and I do not support them.
A group called Reclaim Australia held rallies on the weekend of 18-19 July ‘to protect the Australian way of life’. Melbourne's event was particularly violent, as the online Pedestrian Daily reported:
Hundreds of protesters from opposing groups—the anti-Islam, anti-immigration Reclaim Australia and United Patriots Front, and the anti-racism groups Coalition Against Racism and No Room For Racism—have clashed at a demonstration in Melbourne today, as police used pepper spray on protesters to disperse crowds.
The ‘Reclaim Australia’ rally in Sydney was part of a nationwide weekend of action against Islamic extremism and ‘the gradual Islamification of Australia’. Photo by Richard Milnes, Copyright @Demotix (7/19/2015)
Daniel Motta posted this video on YouTube from Melbourne. Its origin is unclear:
There was both support and criticism of Barnes on social media. The original Facebook update has hundreds of comments, which can be viewed at the link above. ‘Jimmy Barnes’ also trended on Twitter:
@banas51 @LennaLeprena @TonyAbbottMHR we need more great Australians like Jimmy Barnes to speak out!!!
— No Body (@BBBubby77) July 21, 2015
Some users made references to Prime Minister Tony Abbott concerning his inaction over the attendance of one of his parliamentarians, George Christensen, at one of the rallies. Former Democrats Senator and Greens candidate Andrew Bartlett tweeted:
Once upon a time, the Liberals would expel a member speaking at a racist rally. Will Mr Abbott even criticise it? http://t.co/4bFRgv8kTl
— Andrew Bartlett (@AndrewBartlett) July 16, 2015
In keeping with many issues that touch on racism, the debate in response to Jimmy's disclaimer grew nasty at times, as sports journalist Richard Hinds suggested:
Some of the responses to @JimmyBarnes polite request that racists don't use his songs are frightening. #straya https://t.co/VKqXjheP8s
— Richard Hinds (@rdhinds) July 21, 2015
The Twitterverse seemed relatively mild compared with the Facebook ‘conversation’.
Rather than giving it more air, this one should suffice:
Piss off back to Scotland wee jimmy
— ReclaimAustralia.txt (@ReclaimAusTXT) July 22, 2015
It joins a long history in Australia of ‘go back where you came from’. Even swimming legend Dawn Fraser was the centre of a recent controversy over similar remarks aimed at tennis player Nick Kyrgios.

author: Kevin Rennie


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Israel’s Business Style: Drop the Niceties, Speak Your Mind · Global Voices
Maya Norton

Gvahim FinTech Event at and with Citi. Taken on November 3, 2014, by Flickr user Gvahim. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
“Israelis are generally fond of debate and will typically discuss any topic passionately.” “Expect to be cut off regularly during a presentation… Israelis prefer to ask questions and discuss issues immediately rather than wait until the end of a presentation.”
Advice such as the lines above from a guidebook on “Working with Israelis” by computer software giant Intel yielded laughs from Israeli entrepreneurs at a recent presentation at the Herzliya Accelerator Center on negotiating regional differences in the business world.
Intel USA's guide to “Working with Israelis.” Photo credit: Edy Candel and Meir Dudai, courtesy of Israel21C.
In a culture where brazen is an attitude rather than an insult, chutzpah is used with admiration, and an entire page of the dictionary could be used to define the cultural implications of the word “sucker” (something you never want to be), one thing is for sure: Israelis play verbal hardball in the business sphere.
Meir Dudai, cofounder of Jifiti.com and a participant at the event, shared a snapshot from the guide on Facebook. The post went viral and Israel21C, itself founded by two Israeli entrepreneurs living in the US, picked up the story.
They report:
People sharing the post added remarks about Israelis liking good snack foods on hand, the likelihood of businesspeople looking at their smartphones throughout a meeting instead of making eye contact, and the casual dress codes of the high-tech culture (jeans, T-shirt, sandals).
… out-of-towners must feel a sense of relief knowing that it is almost impossible to make a business-etiquette faux pas in Israel.
Israel won its epithet, the “Start-Up Nation,” from a 2011 bestselling book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer who set out to answer the question:
How is it that Israel– a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources– produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?
Mapped In Israel, a crowdsourced map of Israeli hi-techs, lists 1,435 start-ups in Israel with 65 research and development centers, and 56 business accelerators.
Uriel Peled, co-founder of the start-up Visualead, explores the reasons for Israel's economic success in a Tech In Asia article entitled “Why Israel is a Start-Up Nation.” As building blocks for the tech ecosystem, he cites Israel's world class universities, early stage government funding, mentoring from first generation entrepreneurs, lack of natural resources, and pioneering spirit.
An infographic accompanying the article reveals the Israeli entrepreneur's take on interpreting the rules of the business world:
Some rules are meant to be bent, while others are meant to be broken.
For those unfamiliar with the national norms of the workplace, Israel Employ's Aylon Slater offers advice to new immigrants on interpreting language and behavior:
Direct communication:
Israelis typically say what is on their minds, and expect people to communicate this way too. They might therefore be perceived as assertive and frank, or alternatively, as aggressive, arrogant, or rude.
Initiative:
In their actions and decision-making, Israelis typically value taking initiative over awaiting direction. They might therefore be perceived as results-oriented, or alternatively, as reckless and hasty.
Improvisation:
Israelis typically value quick action to resolve problems, and tend to choose improvisation over careful planning and process orientation. They might therefore be perceived as quick to act and very flexible, or alternatively, as disorganized and chaotic.
Katrina Jacobs, a British immigrant to Israel, illustrates how the direct nature of communication, even with strangers, permeates every sphere.
Conversations with Israeli taxi-drivers tend to follow a distinctly more personal track with questions typically including: reasons for being in Israel, work (and salary), family in Israel, marital status (if you are not married – why, and if you are married but not pregnant – why not!). These questions are not considered particularly intrusive or offensive… In many respects Israelis treat everyone as if they are family and personal questions are viewed as being friendly, showing interest or just making conversation – nothing more, nothing less.
On Quora, a crowdsourced question and answer site, a discussion titled “Why are Israeli people so hard to deal with?” provides the most nuanced insights. Threaded with humor and heavy with anecdotes, the forum is dominated by Israelis familiar with US culture, which is comparatively less direct in its business speak.
Ariel Barkan gets straight to the point (would you expect anything less?):
As an Israeli I'd like to add something about how I see it from my point of view. Many times after a call with American firms I'm thinking to myself:  “Why it took them so long to say the ‘NO'?” or “If this is a ‘NO’ then why they have to wrap it with so many positive words?”.
Sagiv Ofek contends:
A real Israeli will answer: That's not the question. The question should be – why are Americans so easily offended?
Ohad Samet, who lived in Israel for 30 years and is the CEO of the start-up TrueAccord, has the most popular response on the thread, having been viewed 30,000 times. He shares a clip of psychologist Gal Szekely analyzing “Be'Tipul,” an Israeli television show that was picked up as “In Treatment” for the US market. The show's script was kept intact but for subtle differences in body language and verbal cues appropriate for each cultural context.
Another contributor to the discussion, Nate Anderson, notes that he lived in Israel for two years as an ambulance driver during the Second Intifada, a period of several years beginning in 2000 that saw a spike in Palestinian-Israeli violence. He explains that working with Israelis requires “a bit of a tougher skin :- ),” adding, “In Israel it's more important to be honest and straightforward than to protect someone's feelings.”
When you're in that kind of society, fake politeness is actually offensive… Israelis feel more comfortable if you treat them with the same familial honesty you would treat your brother or sister. Rapport in Israel is not measured by niceties. It's about being comfortable enough to tell someone they're [a jerk] if they're being [a jerk], while knowing they'll have your back if there's a real situation to deal with.
Leah Zakh Aharoni, a business coach with transnational experience in Russia, Israel, and the US, describes how the business culture develops out of the values of child rearing, and later, the interdependence of a country where military service is both mandatory and highly valued.
People rely on each other to give critique. If a child does something wrong, someone (either a parent's friend or a total stranger) will correct him, because they feel responsible for him. Everyone is totally fine with that. In the army everything is debriefed right away. The same is true in the business world – people know that if they are doing something wrong someone will call them on it.
Lastly, if you're wondering how Intel — authors of the guidebook that began this discussion — is faring in Israel, there is no need for concern. With four development centers and two production plants, Intel employs 10,000 workers, announcing in March 2014 a $6 billion expansion plan.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Maya Norton


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Latin American Indigenous Communities Compete in the ‘Other’ Copa América · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Selection of the groups for the first stage of American Cup of Indigenous Communities . Photo on Flickr by user  Peñalolén City Hall (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
From July 16 to July 25, Chile is hosting the first edition of the Copa América of Indigenous Communities. The tournament began on the heels of the Copa América, the continent's most important football tournament, which host country Chile won.
The teams that are taking part in this cup come from eight Latin American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Peru.
The website Red Deporte Para el Cambio Social (Sports Network for Social Change) reported on the purpose of the Copa América of Indigenous Communities:
Este campeonato es el primer gran evento que involucra a selecciones indígenas del continente. Busca constituir una instancia deportiva, destinada a resaltar la cultura, valores y tradiciones de los pueblos indígenas de América, además de confraternizar y estrechar los lazos de amistad mediante la práctica deportiva, siendo este el mensaje central asociado a su organización y desarrollo.
This tournament is the first big event that involves indigenous teams from the continent. It aims to become a sporting institution, with the purpose of highlighting the culture, values and traditions of American indigenous communities, in addition to strengthen the bonds of friendship through sport, this being the core message linked to its organization and growth.
As early as in last January there were mentions of the football tournament, as seen on the website Taco Mundial:
Más allá de la Copa América 2015 organizada por la Conmebol en Chile, el país sudamericano también será escenario de la Copa Indoamericana o la llamada Copa América de los pueblos originarios, que se disputará en las últimas semanas de abril o en las primeras de mayo y cuyo evento es patrocinado por el Gobierno de Michelle Bachelet […].
Furthermore, the 2015 Copa América, organized by the Conmebol in Chile, the South American country will also host the Copa América of Indigenous Communities, which will be held in late April or early May, an event that is sponsored by Michelle Bachelet's Administration […].
But not everyone thought the Copa América of Indigenous Communities was a good idea. The Katarista Indianist Movement, whose main purpose, according to its Twitter profile, is the liberation and self-affirmation of the Aymara people, dissents:
Esta impostura que indigna ya se vino con la creación de los juegos olímpicos indígenas, ahora pretenden hacer una Copa América para indiecitos que se precia de ser una forma de inclusión, lo único que pretenden es esconder lo excluyentes que son.
Mientras haya diferencias, entre “nosotros” y “ellos” este tipo de eventos son fachadas que solo sirven para la foto y para la publicidad.
This is an outrageous sham that came out of the creation of the Indigenous Olympic Games, and now there is the intention to hold a Copa América for the little “Indians”, which prides itself on being a form of inclusion, but the only thing they mean to do is to conceal how exclusionary they are.
As long as there are differences between “us” and “them”, these kind of events are facades that serve only for photos and publicity.
On Thursday, July 16, the tournament kicked off in Arica, northern Chile, with the cry of afafán, which was used by the Mapuches for war or celebrations:
Tras la entrada llegó el turno del baile inaugural de un grupo de rapanui -originarios de la Isla de Pascuas-, que desafiaron descalzos pese a las bajas temperaturas, con taparrabos y torsos desnudos los varones, y diminutas faldas de plumas blancas y breves atuendos cubriendo sus bustos las mujeres.
Then it was time for the opening dance by a group of Rapanui people, native to Easter Island, who paraded barefoot in spite of the low temperatures, with loincloths and bare torsos for the men and tiny white feathered skirts and short garments covering their busts for the women.
On Twitter, users wrote about the sporting event:
Copa America Indigena, gran iniciativa, pero debería tener el mismo respaldo logístico y mediático de por selecciones
— Winston Ramírez (@derkhazar) julio 19, 2015
Indigenous Copa América, great initiative, but it should have the same logistical and media support as the national teams.
EN VIVO: Diferentes etnias del continente disputan la Copa América indígena en nuestro país http://t.co/v5vfJTxVBq — Ahora Noticias (@ahoranoticiasAN) julio 19, 2015
LIVE: Different ethnic groups from the continent compete for the Indigenous Copa América in our country.
The first ever Copa América Indígena began on Thursday! #futbol #latinam http://t.co/uDvQUH0FgJ — ascoaYPA (@ascoaYPA) julio 18, 2015
Meet the 8 Teams Participating in the Copa América Indígena http://t.co/Z0pRDRSPO5 — Aldo Salomón (@teseo85) julio 18, 2015
The video below includes some scenes from the opening ceremony:
The event will conclude on Saturday, July 25.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Myanmar’s Factories Warn of Economic Shutdown If Minimum Wage Hike Goes Ahead · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Lacquerware Factory Workers in Bagan, Myanmar. Photo from Wikimedia, CC License.
Myanmar’s garment manufacturers say dozens of companies will be forced to close down, if the government approves a proposal that would set the daily minimum wage at 3,600 kyat (US $3.21) and the hourly minimum wage at 450 kyat ($0.45).
The project's sponsor is the parliament-appointed National Committee for National Wage, which spent 18 months holding consultations with various stakeholders across the country. The proposed wage hike is also a response to the poor conditions of factory workers.
The new proposed minimum wage is a compromise between the 4,000 kyat demanded by trade unions and 2,500 kyat offered by the business sector.
Earlier this month, the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Associate warned that many companies cannot afford the 3,600-kyat minimum wage proposal, saying the reform could affect the jobs of 200,000 factory workers. At least 90 factories operated by Chinese and South Korean companies have already signaled that they will close their doors, if Myanmar passes the wage reform.
Myanmar garment workers are among the lowest paid laborers in the Asia-Pacific region. If the wage increase is implemented, Myanmar workers would earn slightly more than their counterparts in Bangladesh, but still less than workers in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, some global clothing networks have come out in support of Myanmar's proposal to raise the minimum wage. Ethical Trading Initiative issued a statement urging the government to improve the living standards of workers:
We urge Myanmar’s government to take a firm stance to help improve conditions – it is vital to ensure that the first ever minimum wage level doesn't lock workers from one sector into poverty.
Fair Labor Association, whose members include companies like as Adidas, Gap Inc, and Tesco, disagreed with the assertion of Myanmar’s garment manufacturers, who say the wage hike would negatively affect the country’s investment prospects:
In our view, the suggestion made by trade associations that a higher minimum wage will discourage international investment is based on a false premise. A minimum wage set through consultation with relevant stakeholders will attract rather than deter international companies buying garments from Myanmar, who have committed to paying living wages through their supply chains.
Clothing company H&M didn’t say if it agrees with 3,600-kyat proposal, but it did advise the government to agree to a uniform minimum wage increase across all sectors:
If the garment industry wage levels are lower than other industries, it will not be able to attract and retain a skilled labor force, which it needs to develop and grow into a thriving economic driver.
Minimum wage plan prompts hundreds of complaints from both workers, employers #Myanmar | http://t.co/1ujs5zUhTY pic.twitter.com/Bpq52NbUKF
— The Myanmar Times (@TheMyanmarTimes) July 16, 2015
Some trade unions have accepted the wage increase proposal, but there are other labor groups, like the All Myanmar Workers Union Network, that continue to campaign for a 4,000-kyat daily minimum wage. According to trade union activists, companies will cut costs by reducing the other benefits workers receive, in order to offset the higher minimum wage, prompting some to advocate a daily minimum wage set at 4,000 kyat:
When the owners accept a minimum wage as the government is proposing they are planning to cut off other extra costs like transportation for the worker. So if the workers are going to be able to afford to survive the minimum wage must be fixed at K4000.
The video below shows the protest of about 200 factory workers who are demanding an increase in the daily minimum wage:

author: Mong Palatino


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Russia’s Internet Censor Threatens New YouTube Block · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Roscomnadzor suggests that the latest block may restrict some Russians’ access to all of YouTube. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Roscomnadzor, the Russian government's media and Internet watchdog, has issued an official warning to video hosting website YouTube about adding the site to Russia's Internet blacklist for copyright violations. This time, the block could make YouTube completely unavailable to some users.
The video hosting is in trouble with Russia's censors because of unauthorized copies of two Russian TV shows, “Chernobyl” and “Fizruk” (“The PE Teacher”) that have popped up on the website. On April 7, the Moscow city court first ruled that the episodes of the shows were uploaded to YouTube in violation of copyright, and had to be removed. YouTube quickly complied, but Roscomnadzor said new copies of the shows’ episodes have been uploaded since then, and counted a total of 137 such offending videos that were still on the website as of July 20.
Roscomnadzor doesn’t usually warn sites when it adds them to the RuNet blacklist, but made an exception for YouTube in this particular case, seeing as the website is one of the world's most visited. On July 22, in a post on their official website, Roscomnadzor said it was unclear why YouTube wasn't complying with the latest content removal requests, and said it would place the URLs in question on the blacklist on July 27. If the videos were still up three days later, the webpages would be blocked for users inside Russia.
It's worth noting that YouTube pages (including individual videos, user profiles, and channels) have been added to the Russian blacklist registry many times, but in this case Roscomnadzor saw fit to draw attention to the possibility of the website being completely unavailable for some Russian users, ostensibly because of the HTTPS encryption protocol used by YouTube, which prevents some ISPs from filtering traffic.
По истечении трех рабочих дней в случае неудаления противозаконной информации доступ к этим ссылкам будет ограничен операторами связи. Это может привести к тому, что для абонентов отдельных интернет-провайдеров будет ограничен доступ ко всему сервису YouTube.
After three business days, if the unlawful information is not removed, access to these URLs will be restricted by ISPs. This can mean that subscribers of some ISPs will have no access to the entirety of the YouTube service.
Roscomnadzor said it expects YouTube to fully comply with the court order on the matter. When reached for comment by Vedomosti, a representative for Google (which owns YouTube) said they were “looking into the situation” and would issue an official reaction later.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Singing Lullabies to Preserve the Butchulla Language · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Fraser Island by EVC2008. Used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
Evidence discovered on Fraser Island located in Queensland, Australia, suggests there may have been Aboriginal inhabitants as far back as 5,000 years ago. The traditional owners of this land, the Butchulla people, called the island with its incredible natural surroundings K'gari meaning “paradise.”
However, the Butchulla people faced hardships after the arrival of colonizers, who eventually displaced them from their land.
The Butchulla language also suffered during this time, almost leading to its extinction in the 20th century due to governmental policies and missionary groups that prohibited it.
Fraser Island, Queensland
Thanks to present-day revitalization efforts by the Butchulla Language Program, the language is now returning. The program has produced new resources such as dictionaries music CDs, and organized activities, such as language courses at local libraries, all of which is helping to encourage younger generations to take an interest in it.
Digital media and the Internet are also playing a role in these revitalization efforts. As part of the ABC Open project “Mother Tongue” in which local communities partner with video producers from the Australia Broadcasting Corporation to create participatory videos focusing on Aboriginal language revitalization.
One such video collaboration took place between Joyce Bonner, a community linguist with the Korrawinga Aboriginal Corporation in Hervey Bay area, and ABC Open producer Brad Marsellos. Together they created this video sharing a traditional Butchulla lullaby sung by Bonner's own mother.
Yunma-n Walabai, Walbai Yunma-n
Bula walalbai mil nhaa Biral
Bula walalbai binang buranga ngunda yaalam
Kalim walalbai dunam yaalam galangoor
Yunma-n walalbai walbai yunman
Yunma-n walalbai walbai yunman
Yunma-n walalbai walbai yunman
Two little eyes to look up to God
Two little ears to hear his word
One little tongue to speak the truth
Sleep little baby sleep
Sleep little baby sleep
Sleep little baby sleep
The team also collaborated to produce another video teaching the Butchulla words for body parts:
These videos are one part of the strategy to revitalize the Butchulla language. Read an interview with Bonner here about the origins and the recipe for success of the Butchulla Language Program.

author: Eduardo Avila


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The Origins of Anti-Haitian Sentiment in the Dominican Republic · Global Voices
NACLA

The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Photo by Alex Proimos, republished under Creative Commons License, and taken from original NACLA post.
This article by Amelia Hintzen was originally published on NACLA's website and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
On Wednesday June 17, the deadline for Haitian immigrants and people of Haitian descent to file paperwork with the Dominican government proving their legal right to reside in the country expired. This impacts recent immigrants without documentation as well as Dominicans who cannot prove they were born in the Dominican Republic and that their parents were legal residents.
Ominously, the Department of Immigration has reportedly been training officers to carry out deportations, and many Dominican-Haitians are fearful of being forced to leave the only country they know. Although the government has stated they will not begin widespread deportations, the estimated tens of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent that still do not have citizenship rights face an uncertain future. Amid international criticism, the Dominican government has repeatedly argued that it has a right to determine who qualifies for citizenship.
While it is easy to simplify these actions into a narrative about the culmination of ancient hatreds—that they are in some way the inevitable result of a blood feud between the two nations that stretches back to the Haitian occupation of the Dominican Republic from 1822-1844—the history is much more complex. Accepting such a line of reasoning only perpetuates a narrative created by Rafael Trujillo, one of the country’s most brutal dictators. Ruling the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, Trujillo used anti-Haitian ideology to rally Dominicans around his dictatorship by claiming his strict rule was needed to protect the nation from the new threat of “passive” invasion by Haitian immigrants. In 1937 he ordered the massacre of an estimated ten to twenty thousand Haitians living on the border.
While this incident is often cited as evidence of the irrepressible conflict between the two countries, Trujillo’s attempt to carry out mass deportations prior to the massacre failed because local communities opposed the illegal targeting of Haitian immigrants. Indeed, Haitians and Dominicans lived together all over the country, and were often openly hostile to attempts by the central government to intervene in their lives. Both countries had limited paved roads and communication infrastructure, and Haitian and Dominican peasants had more in common with each other than with a distant elite. Far from an expression of popular anti-Haitian sentiment, the Trujillo orchestrated massacre was an attempt to breakdown the long-standing connections between Haitians and Dominicans that limited his power over the country.
The despot could not, however, completely remove the Haitian population from the country. Sugar was one of the nation’s most important exports, and Haitians provided the backbone of the industry’s labor force. Facing this contradiction, the Trujillo government began to isolate Haitian immigrants throughout the country by forcing them to relocate onto sugar plantations. The government faced confusion and resistance from community members, who opposed the forced relocation of their neighbors. But Government officials  pressured landlords to evict Haitians, and  threatened to withhold immigration documents until Haitian migrants relocated. By quarantining Haitians on sugar plantations, the Trujillo regime began to erase the long history of Dominican-Haitian communities on the island of Hispaniola.
The government’s attempts to isolate Haitian immigrants and their children only increased when one of the architects of anti-Haitian ideology, Joaquin Balaguer, was elected to the presidency in 1966. Balaguer instituted policies that allowed Haitian immigrants to reside solely on plantations and to only work cutting sugar cane. At the beginning of each sugar cane harvest the army and National Police would search the country for Haitians and relocate them to plantations involuntarily, even if they possessed legal documentation. In addition, immigrants found without documentation were often forced onto a plantation, without the government regularizing their status. In the process, the legality of Haitian immigrants in the eyes of the Dominican state became untethered from documentation and only based on location and occupation. Both Trujillo and Balaguer believed that if Haitians could be contained on plantations they could contribute to the wealth of the Dominican nation without ever being acknowledged as part of it.
While the majority of Dominicans are of African descent, Balaguer argued that after the decimation of the island’s indigenous population the Dominican Republic was repopulated by white Spaniards. According to him, African characteristics in the Dominican population were a result of Haitian infiltration of the Dominican Republic. Because of his fear of racial “contamination,” Balaguer became increasingly concerned about Dominicans born to Haitian parents. In the 1970s he commissioned several investigations into the issue, and numerous government officials informed him that the government could not deport Dominican-Haitians, because, having been born in the Dominican Republic, they were constitutionally Dominican citizens. However, born on plantations far away from medical care, many never received official birth certificates.
Once the sugar industry began to fail in the 1990s, and the Haitian population could not be quarantined as easily, the government sought legal basis to retroactively strip the citizenship rights of Dominican-Haitians. In 2013 the Dominican Constitutional Tribunal ruled that anyone with Haitian parents born after 1929 could potentially lose their citizenship, blatantly violating the principle of non-retroactivity established in the Dominican constitution. In a plan drawn up after the ruling, residents were given until June 17, 2015 to prove legal residency. In addition to the difficulties many Dominicans face producing documentation and traveling long distances to government offices, there have been widespread complaints of long delays and inconsistent requirements.
The actions of the Dominican government are not simply attempts to protect their sovereignty, as they argue. Instead, potential deportations are the result of decades of clandestine government policies that did not base legal residency on documentation, but instead on where migrants resided and the work they did. Claims that Dominicans and Haitians cannot coexist ignore how anti-Haitian ideology was imposed to serve the goals of a dictator. Then, as today, there are Dominicans who speak up against these injustices and communities where Haitian and Dominican identities coexist and commingle.

author: NACLA


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How Boko Haram Is Changing International Politics in Western and Central Africa · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Abuja, Nigeria. April 30, 2014. Protesters took to the streets around the three arms zones of Abuja to demand urgent action from the government in finding the 200 school girls kidnapped in Chibok. By Ayemoba Godswill. Copyright Demotix.
Two suicide attacks on June 22 in Maroua, northern Cameroon, left several people dead and many others wounded. Ten days earlier, 15 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a crowded market in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The attack came exactly three weeks after a similar bombing claimed the lives of 27 people in the same town.
Boko Haram, a Sahel-based jihadist group that recently pledged allegiance to ISIS, claims responsibility for the attacks. The group struck again a few weeks after the June attacks, this time in Jos, Nigeria, killing at least 44 people. Boko Haram has repeatedly staged deadly attacks in the Sahel region for the past several years. In response, a coalition of West African countries came together to launch a military counterstrike in the hope of curbing the group's influence.
Below is a partial timeline of Boko Haram's offensive in 2015, which spread to Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria.
After months of captivity by suspected Boko Haram militants, ex-hostages arrive at Cameroon's Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Since January 1, 2015, Boko Haram has carried out at least 28 major attacks on Cameroonian soil —most of them in the far north region. According to the local authorities in Maroua, the July 22 suicide bombings were carried out by two young girls who were seen begging in the streets in previous days. The explosion killed at least a dozen of people at the central market, but the exact number is still uncertain. A security source confirmed that residents heard a double explosion.
Despite these tragedies, the Cameroonian military has enjoyed some success against Boko Haram, though the country has also had to deal with the massive afflux of migrants fleeing the conflict.
Chad Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 at N'djamena Airport CC-BY-4.0 license. Wikimedia commons.
The man who triggered a bomb on July 11 was disguised as a veiled woman to conceal the explosives. In light of this information, the government of Chad has decided to ban the veil to prevent similar attacks. The consequences of the Boko Haram insurgency have massively strained the region's stability, especially in Chad, whose military power was the foundation of peacekeeping in Sahel. In recent months, Chad has already been rocked by student protests and the June 20 start of the trial of former leader Hissen Habre.
“Landscape Diffa region Niger” by Roland Hunziker. CC 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The Boko Haram insurgency has forced tens of thousands across the border into Niger's arid southeastern region of Diffa, aggravating an already dire humanitarian crisis. The flood of refugees comes as Niger declares a state of emergency to tackle an insurgency that has brought Diffa's economy to a standstill and left much of the population vulnerable.
Prior to the March 2015 elections, the Nigerian Army had considerable gains in repelling Boko Haram. However, a renewed offensive by Boko Haram appears to be underway, ahead of the inauguration of President Buhari's new government. This is despite the fact that one of Buhari's first actions was to move the nation's command headquarters of the military from the capital Abuja to Maiduguri, in Borno State—a hotpot of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Reported explosion in #Gombe, northeast #Nigeria. No further details.
— Fidelis Mbah (@fidelisMbah) July 22, 2015
Nonetheless, the new government has pushed a great deal for international counterterrorist assistance, as evidenced by President Buhari's recent meetings with the presidents of Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. Buhari has sought and received assurances of assistance from the G7 and the United States, where he is currently on a state visit. Buhari promised to negotiate with the insurgents, if that would lead to the release of the 200 abducted Chibok girls, kidnapped more than a year ago:
If we are convinced that we can have the girls, why not, we can negotiate. Our goal is to have the girls. We will ask them what they want and we can free the girls; return them to their school; unite them with their parents and rehabilitate them, so, they can live a normal life.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Internet Spots Luhansk Militants′ ‘Battlefield 3’ Fakes · Global Voices
Aric Toler

Who knew pro-Russian militants were that into video games? Image by Ben Andreas Harding on Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
On July 22, the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine released what appeared to be a shocking video: a Stinger, an American-made Man-Portable Air-Defense System (MANPADS), was found in the Luhansk Airport. The video shows LNR militants inspecting what looks like a weapons cache, with close-up shots of the various arms and storage boxes with English-language inscriptions on them.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published an article on the same day declaring that a number of American weapons had been found at the airport (currently under insurgent control), quoting the Luhansk pro-Russian militants on their unexpected findings.
It would be a scandal of monumental proportions if not for the fact that, as revealed by keen-eyed Russian and Ukrainian bloggers and social media users, none of this was real.
Playing up the scandalous “discovery,” the self-declared republic’s chief investigator Leonid Tkachenko was so outraged he said LNR officials had immediately contacted representatives of the conflict watchdog group Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to inform them of the findings.
As the video started to make the rounds online, many users quickly noticed that the “Stinger” launcher had a few very basic errors—including the English words printed onto its arms.
Долбоебы “нашли Стингеры”. Написали на трубе “TRACKING RAINER”, а надо “TRACKING TRAINER” http://t.co/8fNC6sAhLy pic.twitter.com/M0vGo8TkUx
— Все Плохо (@sranysovok) July 22, 2015
The dunces “found some Stingers.” They wrote “TRACKING RAINER” on the tube, it should be “TRACKING TRAINER.”
@sranysovok “DATE LOUDED” vs. “DATE LOADED” pic.twitter.com/x9yBb6Iw8O
— Kaiser Ostarrichi (@jaroshcard) July 22, 2015
Тест по английскому http://t.co/ypfvJ9WFkT Как правильно: RE USABLE или RE-USABLE? DATE LOUDED или LOАDED? TRACKING RAINER или TRAINER?
— Владислав Наганов (@naganoff_ru) July 23, 2015
English test: Which is correct? RE USABLE or RE-USABLE? DATE LOUDED or DATE LOADED? TRACKING RAINER or TRAINER?
Usually, these discoveries would be the final chapter to this story: a ham-fisted attempt to show American “weapons” shipped to help Ukraine, with funny spelling errors. But as gaming blogger Anton Logvinov discovered, there was an extra layer of absurdity to the story, in which life imitated art.
А теперь главное — знаете, откуда взялся Rainer? Из Battlefield 3. Именно изображение из этой игры вылезает первым при запросе Stinger в Google — картинка ведет на IGN.
Видимо, DICE намеренно искажали надписи, как и некоторые детали, потому что у них нет лицензий на вооружение.
And now the most important thing – do you know, where they got the “Rainer” from? From [the video game] Battlefield 3. That exact image from the game comes up first when you search for “Stinger” on Google image search, coming from IGN [a popular gaming website].
Apparently, DICE [the development agency of Battlefield 3] deliberately distorted the inscription, along with some other details, because they do not have the licenses to use these weapons [in the game].
Though it may not be your very first result on Google Image Search, you will see the aforementioned “RAINER” model of the Stinger come up among the top results.
The crux of the story, as Baudrillard would have been thrilled to conclude, was that the fake Stinger in the LNR video turned out to be modeled after an inaccurate virtual model of the gun. As you could imagine, the discovery led to a deluge of mirth and jokes among Russian and Ukrainian users, underscored, of course, by countless screenshots from video games.
Киборги отходят к Пескам от ДАП pic.twitter.com/FByhfpGNwG
— Росжирнадзор (@Cunst_antin) July 23, 2015
The Cyborgs [nickname for the Ukrainian fighters who defended the Donetsk Airport] leave the Donetsk Airport for Peski.
А «Стингер»-то ненастоящий! https://t.co/YMgHzmvfNR pic.twitter.com/hp3Y6QXr6v
— Petr & Mazepa (@PetrMazepa) July 23, 2015
Look, the “Stinger” is a fake! [Image caption: “Motorola [pro-Russian rebel commander] captures a Polish mercenary,” depicting a scene from the Polish-made game The Witcher.]
А вот боец добровольческого батальона сбивает беспилотник ОБСЕ pic.twitter.com/WjAfj0OTUD
— Росжирнадзор (@Cunst_antin) July 23, 2015
And here is a fighter from a volunteer battalion shooting down an OSCE drone.
But perhaps Battlefield 3 was not the only artistic influence on the fake Stinger launcher. According to one eagle-eyed social media user, the serial number on the found “Stinger” is very similar to the model in another video game, Operation Flashpoint: Red River.
.@EliotHiggins fake stingers, take two: serial numbers are from another video game: http://t.co/gT5qj2tRUM pic.twitter.com/EAku7RIu3U
— magic unicorn's shit (@bad_typeid) July 23, 2015
While the incident with the “shocking discovery” of “US weapons” in Luhansk airport is cause for laughter and humorous jibes, it also underscores a more sobering point about the information war: that those fighting for control of the information space are perfectly willing to bend and distort reality to create the appropriate framing for their claims and to sow doubts in the minds of media consumers and Internet users. All that remains for the public, then, is to keep being skeptical, to question what they see, and to think critically when faced with things like virtual guns in “real” videos, themselves a perfect metaphor for information manipulation.

author: Aric Toler


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Nicaragua Mourns Three Family Members Killed by Police in High Speed Pursuit · Global Voices
Norman Garcia

A Nicaraguan National Police car. Photo by Jorge Mejía Peralta under the Creative Commons License.
Nicaraguans are mourning a tragic shooting this month that claimed the lives of one man and two children. On July 11, police opened fire on a car, after the driver ignored orders to pull over. The man apparently didn't recognize that the people trying to pull him over were law enforcement agents.
Police say they were conducting an anti-drug operation on the night of the shooting. Working in the dead of night, officers say they signaled to the car that it needed to stop, but the driver sped up, instead, mistaking police for criminals trying to seize his vehicle.
The police pursued the vehicle and opened fire on what they believed to be a car full of fugitives. The chase ended when the driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a truck, 700 meters (about a half a mile) away from where the chase had begun. The car was carrying a family of seven heading home from church. Three passengers died (including two young brothers).
Both the victims’ families and the nation as a whole have been mourning ever since. Online, Nicaraguans have fiercely criticized the police, specifically National Police Commissioner Aminta Granera.
Simone Montiel, author of the blog Gabriela Kame, wrote:
Las armas son invenciones humanas, y desde que fueron creadas tienen una única función: MATAR. No ayudar, proteger, brindar seguridad. MATAR cuando sea necesario, dicen, y eso está siempre en dependencia y criterio de quién la porta. Cualquier puede ser blanco de un arma en cualquier momento. Sobre todo de aquellas armas que están permitidas, institucionalizadas. Creadas para matar legalmente.
Weapons are human inventions, and ever since they were created they have had one sole purpose: TO KILL.  Not to help, protect, or provide security. KILL only when necessary, they say, yet it is always those holding the weapon who have the power to judge when it is necessary. Anybody can be the target of a weapon at any time—especially when the weapons are authorized and institutionalized. They're created to kill legally.
Three hours after the tragedy, Granera arrived at the scene to offer her condolences and support to the victims’ family and to establish the facts of the incident. Neighbors and relatives are demanding justice for the death of three innocent people caused by this failed police operation.
The hashtag #AmintaRenunciaYa (#AmintaResignAlready) has gained popularity on Twitter:
Estamos cansados de los abusos policiales, de impunidades y atropellos. #AmintaRenunciaYa #PoliciaSinCredibilidad pic.twitter.com/BWzPhDMGG9
— Silvia Nadine (@SilviaNadine) July 12, 2015
We are sick and tired of police abuse, corruption, and barbarities
Blogger Alberto Sánchez writes in the blog Políticamente Incorrecto:
Si algo sabemos acerca del futuro es que en esas ocasiones en que nuestro gobierno considere que el cuerpo muerto, torturado, violado o secuestrado, es digno de recibir algún tipo de disculpa, entonces la primer comisionada pedirá perdón, pedirá perdón, pedirá perdón…una y otra vez.
If there is one thing we know about the future, it is that at times when our government regards the dead, tortured, raped, or kidnapped body worthy of some type of apology, the police commissioner will ask for forgiveness, ask for forgiveness, and ask for forgiveness—over and over again.
Granera has promised the family and the general population that the officers involved will be brought to justice and get the trial they deserve.
¿Por qué no han presentado ante los medios a los policías de la masacre en la Jaguitas? Ya pasaron casi 24 horas y nada. #AmintaRenuncíaYa
— Camilo de Castro  (@CamiloBelli) July 13, 2015
Why have the police officers involved in the massacre in la Jaguitas still not appeared in the media? It's been nearly 24 hours and still nothing.
Con tan grave suceso, en un país  correcto, Aminta sería  destituida. Si ella fuese correcta, renunciaría  por si misma.  #AmintaRenunciaYa
— Kairo Armengol (@KairoArmengol) July 12, 2015
In a respectable country, such a serious incident would have Aminta sacked. If she were a respectable person, she would resign herself.
Corruption, abuse, and excessive force used by police have been a constant problem in Nicaragua for years. In 2008, an officer shot dead a 15-year-old boy—an incident the police force classed as another unfortunate accident.
Blogger Alberto Sánchez published a recap of incidents involving officers’ abuse of authority that were neither investigated nor publicly acknowledged by the National Police.
La primer comisionada nunca pidió perdón por la niña violada por tres policías en las inmediaciones de la casa del presidente de la república…
La primer comisionada nunca pidió perdón por permitir que Francisco Javier Ponce muriera “ahorcado” en las celdas de la Dirección de Auxilio Judicial del Chipote.
La primer comisionada nunca pidió perdón por los campesinos asesinados a tiros por policías en la comunidad del Carrizo…
Ni por las torturas y vejámenes a las mujeres de Nueva Guinea, ni por #OcupaINSS, ni por asediar a los movimientos de mujeres en sus marchas públicas, ni por la reacción desmedida en el último plantón del CSE…
The first commissioner has never apologized for the young girl raped by three police officers in the immediate vicinity of the president's own home…
The first commissioner has never apologized for allowing Francisco Javier Ponce to hang himself in the Judicial Co-operation Department in Chipote…
The first commissioner has never apologized for the farmers killed in police shootings in the community of Carrizo…
Nor for the torture and humiliation of the women of New Guinea, nor for #OcupaINSS, nor for besieging the public rallies of the women's movements, nor for the latest confrontation with the Supreme Electoral Council…
On 2013, the Center for Justice and International Law and the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights presented a complaint that the national police in Nicaragua use excessive force, sexually assault citizens, and enjoy impunity for their actions.

author: Norman Garcia


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Peaceful Dissent Becomes Religious Sin as Iran’s Hardliners Reassert Their Power · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

This post first appeared on iranhumanrights.org and is published here in collaboration with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
The Supreme Leader’s chief of staff Mohammadi Golpayegani (right): “Opposing the Islamic [Republic] is certainly the greatest wrong and if anyone, in any cloth or position, opposes it, he has committed the worst vice because the pure blood of thousands of youth has been shed to establish this state.” Image from ICHRI.
Freedom of expression and the right to peaceful dissent, long under attack in the Islamic Republic, have come under increased pressure over the last two years. Hardliners, anxious to reaffirm their control over the domestic sphere in the face of the centrist Hassan Rouhani’s huge electoral win in 2013, have launched concerted crackdowns, jailing journalists, shuttering publications, blocking social media, and sentencing peaceful activists to long prison terms.
Increasingly, hardliners are using a new weapon in the arsenal of repression: religion. While prosecutions of activists have typically been carried out under broad national security-related charges, political dissent is more and more being portrayed by officials of the Islamic Republic as a religious violation.
The equation of dissent with sin is part of a broader attack in which the right to peaceful dissent, ostensibly guaranteed in the Iranian constitution (as well as in the international covenants to which Iran has freely joined) is effectively denied and those who engage in it are prosecuted by judicial officials under far more serious charges. “Corruption on Earth,” for example, carries a possible death penalty.
“To oppose the state is the greatest sin,” said Mohammadi Golpayegani, chief of staff to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to a group of clerics and seminary students in Gilan Province on June 13, 2015.
Golpayegani described the Islamic Republic as the “greatest good of our time” and, as reported by ISNA (the Iranian Students News Agency) added, “Opposing the Islamic [Republic] is certainly the greatest wrong and if anyone, in any cloth or position, opposes it, he has committed the worst vice because the pure blood of thousands of youth has been shed to establish this state.”
In his eyes, any opposition to the Islamic Republic, in word or deed, or any questioning of its infallibility, constitutes a grave offense.
Under this line of thinking, financial corruption is considered a lesser crime than women who flout ultraconservative rules on public attire because economic crimes are not an overt political challenge to the state. A woman’s lack of adherence to “proper” hijab, however, is seen as a direct challenge to the regime’s legitimacy. In the words of Ayatollah Sobhani, “The hijab is a symbol of the Islamic Republic and those who don’t observe it are sticking their tongue at it. Profiteers, on the other hand, don’t care about the state.”
Such comments are not new. On May 2, Mohammadi Golpayegani quoted the Supreme Leader as saying, “Protecting the Islamic Republic is the greatest good and opposing it is the greatest wrong.” Golpayegani added, “Some think that promoting virtue or preventing vice is only limited to dealing with women in the streets with poor hijab. But we must be aware that the greatest vice is opposing the Islamic regime.”
In his speech on the occasion of the Iranian New Year, Supreme Leader Khamenei stated his view clearly: “The greatest good is to establish and preserve an Islamic state… while by contrast, moral corruption is wrong, helping the enemies of Islam is wrong, weakening the Islamic state is wrong.”
Going beyond verbal exhortations, the Supreme Leader issued a fatwa, or religious decree, forbidding people from publicly exposing injustice by officials of the Islamic Republic. In reply to a question from one of his religious followers on whether it would be appropriate to publicly reveal injustice or treason by government officials, Khamenei wrote: “It is not a problem to report injustice or treason to officials and government institutions so that they can be properly pursued and investigated… but revealing them to the people is forbidden because it creates mischief and corruption, and weakens the Islamic government.”
Equating political opposition with religious sin has had profound consequences for the lives of those who have questioned the dictates of the government: political opponents have been charged and sentenced to punishments of biblical proportions, with many spending long years behind bars and some facing the death penalty.
Officials often accuse government critics of opposing the country’s system of velayat-e faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, the ideology formulated by the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Khomeini, which states that an Islamist jurist, or Supreme Leader, must provide guardianship over the government to ensure its compliance with Islamic law). As a result, such critics are accused of challenging the very foundations of religion.
This view is not shared by the majority within the Shia religious establishment. Most Shia clerics, in fact, do not accept the concept of velayat-e faqih. Indeed, the Islamic Republic is imposing the view of its ruling class and suppressing the plurality of views in Shia religious thought.
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, however, who is the current head of the Islamic Republic’s Council of Guardians, the body charged with ensuring that all political candidates and laws conform to Islam and the Islamic Republic’s constitution, has assured all that the Supreme Leader can do no wrong: “The Supreme Leader never makes mistakes in his decisions,” Yazdi said in a speech in 2011. “That’s because if [the Supreme Leader] is thinking of making a decision that’s 100 percent harmful to the Islamic nation, the Hidden Imam [the ultimate savior of mankind, who, according to the Twelver branch of Shia Islam practiced in Iran, will return to bring peace and justice to the world] has a responsibility to advise him against it.”
These views have resulted in the belief that opposing velayat-e faqih is equal to opposing absolute Truth itself. As stated by Yazdi, “Opposing velayat-e faqih is the same as opposing the Imams and it is on the [same] level as questioning God’s singular authority.”
In such a system where dissenters are not only enemies of the state, they are enemies of God, there is no possibility of acceptable peaceful opposition, the hallmark of democratic governance.

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


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Protesters Rally Against Iranian Nuclear Deal in Times Square · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

This past Wednesday a rally gathered in New York's Time Square to oppose the nuclear deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 countries (the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, and China). The effort was meant to send a message to the U.S. congress to veto the deal. The Associated Press described it as a event consisting mainly “of pro-Israel supporters, though organizers said it represents Americans of all faiths and political convictions.” Congress has 60 days to review the agreement that lifts sanctions on Iran in exchange for measures by the Iranian government to prevent developing a nuclear weapon.
BBC Persian correspondent Bahman Kalbasi was in the crowd to tweet details of the event, and to criticize media outlets such as CBS for describing the event as ‘packed’.
About a 1000 or so Anti-#IranDeal protesters in Times Sq., with a mushroom cloud plastic balloon & flags of #Israel. pic.twitter.com/9i9m1VZATG
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) July 22, 2015
“We are letting the Persian tiger out of the cage“ says Mr. Zuckerman. The first speaker of the anti- #IranDeal protester.
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) July 22, 2015
A Fox News cohost speaking now. She says the protesters in NY are here to save the Western civilization from #Iran. pic.twitter.com/M54iQrYXCT
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) July 22, 2015
Nope, they didn’t pack it. https://t.co/FYlAF5nGNE
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) July 23, 2015

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Russia Says Twitter Doesn’t Need to Comply With Its New Data-Localization Law · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

State officials have announced that Twitter can ignore a new law coming into force on September 1 that will require online services to store all Russian user data on servers located inside Russia. On July 17, Alexander Zharov, the head of Roskomnadzor, the Kremlin’s media watchdog agency, told the press that federal censors don’t consider the kind of user data Twitter collects to qualify as “personal information” under the new data-localization law.
Regulatory Christmas comes early for Twitter in Russia this year. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
According to Zharov, there are roughly 2.6 million companies in the world that store the kind of user data identified by Russia’s new law. Businesses on this list include AliExpress, Booking.com, Uber, PayPal, Samsung, and Lenovo—all of which have agreed to buy or rent servers inside Russia, Roskomnadzor claims.
Before 2016, officials say they will audit 317 companies to check for compliance. According to Slon.ru’s Petr Birger, Roskonadzor’s audits will be limited to documentation proving that a company has concluded a server-hosting agreement with a domestic Russian provider. (Apparently, there are no physical inspections planned of the server facilities.)
In addition to letting Twitter off the hook, Roskomnadzor says it has no plans to carry out inspections of Facebook or Google, with whose representatives Russian officials say they’re eager to meet again.
In April 2015, the Russian media reported that Google reached an agreement with Rostelecom, one of Russia's leading telecommunications providers, to rent server space in Russia. In April 2015, a Google spokesperson told Global Voices that these reports are “inaccurate,” refusing to elaborate.
Very little is known about Facebook's efforts, or lack thereof, to move Russian user data to Russian servers.
Roskomnadzor’s sudden acquiescence to Twitter is curious, especially in light of the Kremlin’s past efforts to gain access to the service’s user analytics. In fact, the agency’s desperation with Twitter led it in December 2014 to solicit bloggers directly, and rather embarrassingly, for “screenshots” of their analytics data, which Twitter has refused to provide to the Russian government. Moscow’s interest in Twitter has seemed only to grow in recent years. In the latter half of 2014, the Russian government’s requests for various users’ information increased 40 percent, according to a February 2015 transparency report.
Petr Birger suggests that Moscow’s sudden willingness to back off the three Internet giants (Google, Facebook, and Twitter) might be an attempt to make up for the conflicting signals sent by Russia’s recent Internet regulations. For instance, the data-localization law demands that Internet companies make serious investments inside Russia, renting servers and ideally establishing legal representation. A host of other laws, however, like the bans on “suicide propaganda” and “drug propaganda,” mean that Internet companies in Russia today can be singled out, penalized, and even blocked—all for one errant comment left by an anonymous user.
Roskomnadzor’s decision to delay any inspections of Facebook and Google, and its determination that Twitter isn’t affected by the data-localization law, demonstrate that the Kremlin is keeping its options open, while steering clear of any Internet cataclysm that might deprive the country of these ultra-popular services. Moscow, it seems, is betting that American Internet companies will invest in Russia, if they’re given a bit more time, and spared the full brunt of the country's many recent and repressive laws.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Shipibo Stories Pass to the Next Generation—With a Little Help From Digital Media · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Chariboan Joi youth. Photo courtesy project.
In the Peruvian Amazon, Shipibo elders paint rich and colorful images through the magic of oral storytelling. Their captivating tales and traditional legends were passed down from their grandparents to their parents, and now they have the responsibility of maintaining these important elements of Shipibo culture.
Most of these stories are shared in the Shipibo language, spoken in parts of the Peruvian Amazon, as well as some parts of Brazil. Unless young people embrace these stories as these elders pass on, many of these stories will cease to live into the next generation. And if young people lose their language, then the culture is at risk of losing these stories forever.
It is in that context that the project Chariboan Joi was launched in the communities of the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. The project, which means “Voices Flying as a Maracana Parrot” in the Shipibo language, began to encourage young people to value these stories and their mother language by using digital media to preserve and promote it. The project, which was supported by the Rising Voices Amazonia initiative, was a collaboration between the Organization of Indigenous Youth of the Ucayali Region (OJIRU for its initials in Spanish) and the organization Arkana Alliance.
In early December 2014, members of OJIRU traveled by boat to the community of Nueva Betania to organize a storytelling festival with the participation of elders, which included food, music, and a small sporting competition.
Elder telling a story at the festival in Nueva Betania. Photo provided by the project.
Prior to the festival, a training session was held with interested youth from the surrounding communities of Betania, Alva Castro, Bethel and Palestina, who wanted to learn how to document the stories told by their elders using mobile phones. Unfortunately, much of the audio was not of sufficient quality due to background noise and the lack of a proper sound system. However, the experience served as a foundation for the next phase of the project.
For many of the young people, it was an opportunity to take a closer look at the message and the words spoken by their elders. However, some found that there was a generational gap, which fueled their determination to preserve these stories even more. Miguel Guimaraes, a member of OJIRU, said:
Although I can speak and write in Shipibo, I am not completely able to understand some words or phrases in the mashas (traditional songs) recorded during the festival. There is a generational difference regarding vocabulary, young people have added some words to the language of the “older society”, but at the same time they are losing other words that only the elders know.
Selected youth who demonstrated the most interest were then invited to the city of Yarinacocha, located outside of Pucallpa, for a more extensive citizen journalism workshop over the course of ten days in February 2015. There, they learned practical interviewing skills and how to use mobile phones and digital audio recorders.
The result was a series of audio recordings of traditional Shipibo stories, jokes, and songs called “mashas” as well as interviews with city residents. Some of the topics selected by the young people focused on cultural identity, the state of education for Shipibo youth, effects of natural disasters, and the importance of preserving traditions.
Chariboan Joi youth with certificates following the citizen journalism training. Photo provided by the project.
A bilingual website was created on WordPress to host these stories. Here are some examples of some of the Shipibo-language audio content created by project participants
This traditional “masha” about the cleansing of one's body as part of a ceremonial ritual was sung by Demer González and Alipio Vásquez Gordón.
Jokes or “osanti jaweki” also play an important role in Shipibo culture. This recording between Gabriel Sinuiri and Emilio Sinuiri share the humorous story about “The Mayor and the Parrot” about a parrot who was taken from its natural surroundings and into the city. There, the parrot criticizes local authorities and institutions. OJIRU's González summarizes the main idea:
In the joke, the parrot represents the Shipibo people, its suffering, as well as its cultural resistance as some kind of catharsis, as the parrot ends up making fun of everybody else.
In this Shipibo-language interview, Carolina Melisa Brito Valeriano speaks with Mario Valles about traditional stories in the Shipibo culture. He shares with her a sad legend called “The Frog and her Two Sons” — a young frog dies after being crushed by a horse carrying a large load. The mother dies after trying to inflate herself to demonstrate the size of the horse.
This audio recording of a “masha” called El Masato about an encounter with an anaconda was conducted by Dina Ochavano.
More stories can be found on the project's blog and SoundCloud account.


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‘Stereotypes Are Another Unregulated Way to Commit Violence Against Nicaraguan Women’ · Global Voices
Global Voices Latin America

In an opinion piece published in alternative magazine Conexiones, Katya Najlis explores the ideas that lead to women being harassed on the street in Nicaragua. The essay presents multiple examples and reflections linking the majority of theories defending the right of Latin American women to move about freely without concern for safety to the social conventions that perpetuate gender inequality:
Los estereotipos hacia la mujer nicaragüense se convierten en otro método de violencia que nadie regula. El machismo asume el cuerpo de la mujer como un objeto público. El uso de imágenes sexistas contribuye a esta realidad, violentándola de forma implícita y posicionándola como un objeto. […] Lamentablemente, algunas mujeres hemos llegado a pensar que es “normal” o que “por nuestra culpa” somos víctimas de este tipo de abuso, y es que los acosadores aprovechan las unidades de transporte –sobre todo las rutas–, para ofendernos sexualmente.
Stereotypes have become another way to commit violence against Nicaraguan women that nobody regulates. Macho sexism assumes that women's bodies are public objects. The use of sexist images contributes to this reality, violating a woman implicitly and positioning her as an object. […] Sadly, some of us women have been led to think this is “normal” or that “it's our fault” we are victims of this type of abuse, and it's because our aggressors use public transport — and especially the streets — to offend us sexually.

author: Global Voices Latin America


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Talking to Iranian Feminist Author Nina Ansary on the Eve of Change in Iran · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

This is the third in a series of interviews with Iranian journalists and writers who have dedicated their careers to communicating Iran's complexities and contradictions to those outside of the country. Read the first with Golnaz Esfandiari, and the second with Kelly Golnoush Niknejad.
It was Sunday 12 July, 2015, the night before what was supposed to be the last deadline for the Vienna talks. Nina Ansary and I had been trying, in vain, to schedule a phone call over a few different time zones for at least a month. We finally reached each other on the eve of the day Iran's future was supposedly being negotiated by a team of diplomats in Vienna.
Studies that make worthy contributions to the field of gender in Iran are few—notable exceptions are Janet Afary’s Sexual Politics in Modern Iran and Haideh Moghissi's many articles and books that look at feminism's role in revolutionary Iran. But while Ansary's efforts are not a first, Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran is the first book to cover the leading feminist political movements from the end of the 19th century to the present. The book is filled with case studies and descriptions of movements such as the evolution of women's education throughout the Pahlavi and Islamic era, as well as feminist reformist journalism in the late 90's. Janet Afary's sociological readings and Moghissi's populist revolutionary studies have compiled the history of women, but using a different methodology. Ansary's book is a solid introduction for any lay reader looking for a overview of feminism in modern Iran.
What is innovative about the book is the way Ansary magnifies certain historical moments. She dedicates one whole chapter to Shahla Sherkat, the activist-editor who has struggled to keep Zanan, Iran's longest running feminist publication, afloat throughout the forced closures and stealthy political maneuverings of the reformist era into the present moderate administration. By providing a window into the work of these contemporary Iranian women, Ansary shows that feminism comes in all shapes and sizes. That it comes, for instance, in the guise of the only female firefighter in a far-flung Iranian city, or—as in the Sherkat case study—in the form of a journalist defying social taboos in order to share the work of the global feminist movement.
“Every woman has the right to define the feminist mantra according to her own vision,” Ansary told me during our conversation. “She has to define feminism to her own cultural context.”
Indeed, the purpose of Ansary's book is to allow us to understand how women have shaped Iran’s recent history, and continue to do so, while working to establish their rights and equality in a society that has traditionally marginalized them.
Ansary herself comes from a background invested in Iran's political climate. She left Iran with her family during the revolution, when she was 12 years old. Her father had been part of the deposed Shah’s government. This came as a surprise to me, as Jewels of Allah is devoid of the usual ideological traps that tend to ensnare those who study Iran. Ansary doesn’t support or identify with the regime that has held power since the Islamic Revolution: “On a very emotional level I feel a deep connection to my homeland,” she told me, “but for the last four decades. . . . this regime is a dark stain and a dark cloud over the real Iran.” At no point in the book, however, were the Pahlavi era's contributions to feminism valorized. In fact, Ansary's book embraces the Islamic-inspired feminism that arose post-1979.
“What transpired today for women in Iran owes itself to many different pockets of history. These were different pockets of opportunities where women were afforded a voice,” explained Ansary.
Why do I connect Ansary’s book with the recent nuclear negotiations? The topic came up, naturally, as we chatted on the evening before the deadline.
“I look at it from a strictly humanitarian perspective,” says Ansary. “These negotiations are not addressing women’s rights violation, and other human rights concerns. However, sanctions have debilitated the general population at large, and I’m hoping if one door opens, other doors will also open. . . it will make the  regime feel they are accountable to the world, beyond just the nuclear concerns. But taking the current regime out of the equation, I welcome the change for the Iranian people.”
And her thoughts on the future of Iran, and the place of women in it?
“Cautiously optimistic. . . only because I see their resilience. And this is because female activism has yielded partial results: women were not allowed to serve as judges, but can now serve as investigative judges. Women weren’t allowed to enter certain fields of study, and over the years they have been able to penetrate into male dominated areas such as medicine and engineering. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I believe women will be at the forefront of any change in Iran.”


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After Youth Activists’ Arrest, Ugandans Speak Out Against Police Impunity · Global Voices
Prudence Nyamishana

Kampala, Uganda. 27 April 2012 — Riot police walk past the entrance to the Gaddafi National Mosque in Old Kampala. Photo by Will Boase. Copyright Demotix
Earlier this month, 14 Ugandan youth were detained by the police after holding a press conference to demand free and fair elections. Political activist Andrew Karamagi used the occasion to call for electoral reforms at Centenary Park in the capital, Kampala. The police rounded them up accusing them of unlawful assembly under the Public Order Management Act.
The youth arrested are believed to be affiliated to the opposition Democratic Alliance and wanted to discuss the arrest of opposition politicians Kizza Besigye and former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi.
Silver Kayondo's post on Solidarity Uganda blog offers an idea of the conditions that the arrested would find in Ugandan prisons. Kayondo wrote the piece after going to Central Police Station in Kampala in 2014 to visit his friend, who had been detained for having “shown his displeasure with Uganda's Attorney General's speech on how the Ugandan Government was complying with the rule of law.”
Back at the jail room, I was joined by two other friends from law school – Perez Onyait Odeke and Jonathan Mwesigwa Ssekiziyivu who were also there to visit Andrew. They had arrived earlier than me but they had been told that the police had instructions (from a higher authority) not to let anyone see Andrew before 1 p.m because “it was a special case.” Perez had been told to keep away from the Police Station lest he would be charged with being idle and disorderly! I found him standing at the City Square park – a public square that is cordoned off by police. We had walked back to the police station together. Jonathan was sitting on the short perimeter wall at the station. After exchanging a few jokes as we waited for the scheduled time, we set off for the police reception.
At the reception, one cannot fail to see the sorry state of the police station. The chairs are torn and tattered. The investigations rooms reeking with a pungent stench of human sweat and the humans there compete with reptiles (wall geckos and lizards) for space! Very little facelift has been done on the police station which we inherited from the British colonialists in 1962. The cement walls and floor are cracked. The store room where the suspects property (shoes, belts, caps, etc) are kept is not locked and it has no lockable drawers.
Returning to the present case, Raymond Qatahar and Samson Tusiime visited one of the arrested youths, Daniel Arinaitwe Turitwenka, who happens to be their friend. Although the youth were in a good shape when the duo visited, they discovered that there was a police officer who had spent two weeks in detention without any form of trial. This enraged them into launching a hashtag #ImpunityUg.
The Uganda police has been reduced into a small armed group that fights political opposition while part-timing at law keeping #ImpunityUG
— Qatahar Raymond (@qataharraymond) July 12, 2015
Just because we are grateful for the revolution doesn't mean we must spend our lives paying for it. because now, we are fed up #ImpunityUG
— Spartakussug (@spartakussug) July 13, 2015
I cry for all innocent Ugandans who are in prisons for the wrong reasons and we are not noticing them coz they are not tweeps. #ImpunityUG
— Waiswa Batambuze (@IBatambuze) July 13, 2015
While we defeat terrorism from the extremist, we grapple with the terror we lay upon our own. #ImpunityUg #FreeDanny pic.twitter.com/fcQFhcus03
— Jacob Eyeru (@eyjacob) July 12, 2015
A few days ago it had been all about freeing politicians, now it's our own friends? Government, screwed this up #FreeDanny #ImpunityUg
— Josh Agaba (@AObedJ) julio 12, 2015
Daniel Arinaitwe Turitwenka and his friends were later taken to court, charged with disobeying a lawful order and later released on cash bail. Masake Anthony of Chapter Four Uganda shared the charge sheet:
Charge Sheet of @DannyT_UG & 6 others. Lies peddled online about Assault must be rebuked #ImpunityUG @nickopiyo pic.twitter.com/HczAKVeh7O
— Masake Anthony (@masakeonline) July 13, 2015
While JoanNe N☆Nvannungi called on Ugandans to start documenting police impunity:
Next step is for #Ugandans to start capturing this #ImpunityUG on camera, videos&pics.Share & let's get the police behaving how they should.
— JoanNe N☆Nvannungi (@she_infinite) July 13, 2015
Spurred on by the discussion, Samson Tusiime and Raymond Qatahar have launched a project called the THEZEITGIEST that will discuss topical issues that affect Ugandans. The project will mainly be a face-to-face meetings, which will be recorded with the audio shared online:
30 minutes later, responses to what The Zeitgeist should cover. Keep ‘em coming. Vote here http://t.co/iECHt5wwfL pic.twitter.com/y6IzhdHdfl
— (Name goes here) (@Samwyri) July 18, 2015

author: Prudence Nyamishana


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As Ukraine Bans Russian TV Shows for ‘Propaganda,’ Local Channels Put Up a Fight · Global Voices
Anna Poludenko-Young

No Russian TV series for Ukrainians… At least not until TV channels find loopholes in the new law. Images mixed by Anna Poludenko-Young
Ukraine has banned a number of Russian TV shows that it claims glorify the Russian government, military, and law enforcement. However, the new law outlining the rules for banning content has run into resistance from national Ukrainian television channels that are already looking for loopholes in the new legislation.
What has been banned
It has been almost two months since the law banning Russian “propagandist” TV shows in Ukraine came into force. A total of 368 TV series and films that allegedly glorify Russian police and military forces have been banned. This might not seem like a big deal, but in reality, the majority of this “made-in-Russia” programming had occupied prime-time slots on major Ukrainian TV channels.
According to Pylyp Illienko, head of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, a cohort of experts reviewed the movies and TV series previously pre-approved for broadcasting in Ukraine. The content that the experts found to contain “propaganda or humiliation on ethnic grounds” was banned.
The new law prohibits movies, television series, documentaries, and even cartoons that “glorify Russian government,” military, law enforcement and other “punitive agencies of the aggressor state” that in some way “justify or legitimize the occupation of any part of Ukrainian territory.”
However, the sanctions for breaking the new law are hardly unbearable for any of the Ukrainian national channels. If a broadcaster is caught cheating, the fine might vary from $600 to $3150 (13,000 to 68,000 UAH), depending on whether it was a first offence or a repeated violation.
Creativity is everything
The new legislation leaves many loopholes for those willing to get a little creative. For example, according to the new law, movies and TV series made in co-production (by two or more countries) and released before January 1, 2014 do not fall under the ban. So, if a movie has a Ukrainian or any other non-Russian production studio mentioned in the credits, such a product is not subject to the new law. Putting an extra line in the credits is easy, while checking if co-production actually occurred is much more difficult.
Some Ukrainian TV channels have already tried using this loophole for their benefit. “Ukraina,” the national channel with the highest ratings (according to data from June 2015), managed to receive a distribution license from the State Film Agency for the Russian TV series “Traces” (След, a CSI look-alike). The trick was that “Ukraina” presented the content as a series with a new title, “Factual Expert Service: International Criminal Investigation Department,” allegedly produced by the channel's own production company in 2015.
“In reality, this is an old TV series, and the channel just added a few scenes here and there in 2015. The actors playing Russian security services officers were sheep-dipped and changed their uniforms so that no insignia or badges were visible,” said Oleksandr Tkachenko, the CEO of rival “1+1 Media” group at a press conference in Kyiv. “Even the name of the agency was changed. Instead of calling it ‘federal,’ as in the original Russian version, they called it ‘factual.’ They want it to look like some sort of a quasi-security agency, but in essence it is very much a Russian TV series.”
A matter of taste
Such “adaptation” is certainly convenient for many major TV channels in Ukraine, since Ukrainian audiences are quite used to consuming Russian media products. According to the research conducted by the civic group Vidsich, 33% of all the television content on Ukrainian channels is made in Ukraine, 29% in Russia, 33% in other countries, and 5% are older products made during the time of the USSR.
Now that Ukrainian TV channels are faced with having to find a replacement for “made-in-Russia” content, some of them are starting to look at Western markets, while others are looking to Asian products, such as shows from South Korea. Television critics, however, warn that Ukrainian audiences are so accustomed to the Eastern European production values of their favorite shows that new cultural tropes and unfamiliar story lines most likely “won’t work.”

author: Anna Poludenko-Young


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Brazilian Music Legends Caetano and Gil Will Perform in Israel Despite Calls to Cancel · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

“You still have time!” Illustration by Carlos Latuff. Used with permission
Calls from supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS) against Israel have not swayed Brazilian music stars Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, who plan to go ahead with a concert scheduled for next week in Tel Aviv.
For months, artists and activists around the world, including former apartheid campaigner and Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu, asked the duo — who in 1960s defied the military regime as part of the artistic movement Tropicália — to take part in BDS and cancel the July 28 performance.
Ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, a long-time activist of the Palestinian cause, wrote two public letters in which he implored Veloso to cancel the show. In the first, addressed in late May, he said:
As you know, international artists concerned about human rights in apartheid South Africa refused to cross the picket line to play Sun City. In those days, Little Steven, Bruce Springsteen and 50 or so other musicians protested against the vicious, racist oppression of the indigenous peoples of South Africa. Those artists helped win that battle, and we, in the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality, will win this one against the similarly racist and colonialist policies of the Israeli government of occupation. We will continue to press forward in favor of equal rights for all the peoples of the Holy Land. Just as musicians weren’t going to play Sun City, increasingly we’re not going to play Tel Aviv. There is no place today in this world for another racist, apartheid regime.
In his own letter, Tutu emphasized the conditions in which Palestinians are forced to live:
I have myself witnessed the apartheid reality that Israel has created within its borders and in the occupied Palestinian territory. … If we cannot, at the very least, heed the appeals of Palestinian society, to refrain from undermining their peaceful resistance and aspirations for a life without oppression, we will be abandoning our moral obligations.
While Gilberto Gil refused to speak on the case, Caetano replied Roger Waters in a letter published in O Globo newspaper in July 21. He said:
Quando a África do Sul estava sob o regime de apartheid, e eu soube que artistas estavam se recusando a tocar lá, concordei como que automaticamente com tal decisão.
A complicada situação no Oriente Médio não me mostra o mesmo tipo de imagem preto-no-branco que o racismo oficial, aberto, da África do Sul me mostrava então.
Eu cantei nos Estados Unidos durante o governo Bush e isso não significava que eu aprovasse a invasão do Iraque. Escrevi e gravei uma música que se opunha à política que levou à prisão de Guantánamo — e a cantei em Nova York e Los Angeles. Eu quero aprender mais sobre o que está acontecendo em Israel agora. Eu nunca cancelaria um show para dizer que sou basicamente contra um país, a não ser que eu estivesse realmente e de todo o meu coração contra ele. O que não é o caso. Eu me lembro que Israel foi um lugar de esperança. Sartre e Simone de Beauvoir morreram pró-Israel.
When South Africa was under the apartheid regime, and I was told musicians were refusing to play there, I immediately agreed with that decision.
The complex situation in the Middle East doesn’t seem to me the same black-and-white image that South Africa's official, open racism policies showed me then.
I played in the United States during the [George W.] Bush administration but this didn’t mean I approved of the Iraq invasion. I wrote and recorded a song which opposed the politics that led to the Guantánamo prison being created – and I sang this in New York and Los Angeles. I want to learn more about what’s happening in Israel right now. I would never cancel a concert to say that I am basically against a whole country, unless I was, with all my heart, against it. But this is not the case case. I remember Israel was a place of hope. Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir died pro-Israel.
Protesters in London in front of the Eventim Apolo, where Caetano and Gil played on July 1. Screenshot from YouTube.
Supporters of the BDS movement from Brazil and around the world accused the duo of being ‘money grabbing’, and have called for a boycott of the artists themselves — with protests in the tour's concerts in London and Paris — but Caetano’s views reflect how the BDS campaign is largely perceived in Brazil.
Its opponents argue that BDS is ‘selective indignation’ since other countries have also perpetuated wars of aggression against a specific population. Also, they argue that it is wrong to target a whole society for actions perpetrated by a government that doesn't necessarily represent it.
In a piece published in a prominent Brazilian pro-Israel blog, author João K. Miragaya replied to Roger Waters, saying that BDS supporters by their own standards should boycott countries like the United States and Russia because those countries also undertake illegal occupations and infringe international law. He said:
Se legalmente não há apartheid no Brasil (assim como não há em Israel), os números são alarmantes: segundo a Anistia Internacional, em 2012, 77% das vítimas de homicídios no país foram negras ou pardas. Segundo a UFRJ, 71% dos negros e pardos no país são analfabetos e os negros e pardos nas universidades públicas do estado de São Paulo não chegam a 10%. Não sei se o arcebispo Desmond Tutu, citado pelo senhor como uma referência ao comparar o apartheid na África do Sul com a ocupação israelense, teve acesso a estas informações, ou se visitou algum dia uma favela no Rio de Janeiro. O que sei é que a opressão contra negros e pobres no Brasil é tão ou mais violenta do que a ocupação israelense. Inclusive, o número de homicídios per capita no Brasil é dez vezes maior que o de Israel e cinco vezes maior que em Gaza e na Cisjordânia.
[Você] propõe o boicote só a Israel. Responsabiliza não só o governo, mas também toda a população judaica israelense por oprimir os palestinos , como não faz com nenhuma outra população civil em todo o mundo em casos semelhantes. Por quê?
If legally there is no apartheid in Brazil (as there isn't in Israel), the numbers are alarming: according to Amnesty International, in 2012, 77% of homicide victims in Brazil were black or mixed race. According to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 71% of the black and mixed race population are illiterate and black and mixed race people are less than 10% of the university students in São Paulo state. I don't know if archbishop Desmond Tutu, who you mentioned compared the apartheid of South Africa to the Israeli occupation, has had access to this information, or if he ever visited a favela in Rio de Janeiro. What I know is that the oppression of poor and black people in Brazil is equal or even more violent than the Israeli occupation. Actually, the number of homicides per capita in Brazil is 10 times bigger than Israel and five times bigger than in Gaza and the West Bank.
[You] advocate the boycott of only Israel. You attribute responsibility not just to the government, but to the whole Jewish-Israeli population, exclusively, in a way that you do not do with any other civil population in the world in similar cases. Why?
Professor Pablo Ortellado, a Brazilian supporter of BDS, rebuffed those arguments in a social media post in which he explained:
A campanha para que Gil e Caetano cancelem o show em Tel Aviv e adiram ao boicote internacional a Israel andou recebendo muitas críticas que acho que não são procedentes. A crítica diz que não faz sentido boicotar Israel e não boicotar, por exemplo, um poder estatal muito mais nefasto como os Estados Unidos. Acho que essa crítica não entende o significado estratégico do boicote. O boicote não é um instrumento moral, é um instrumento político. O objetivo não é conquistar a pureza nas relações de consumo ou de trabalho (em todo caso impossível, numa sociedade capitalista), mas pressionar um ator político ou econômico a fazer aquilo pelo que se luta. Foi assim que, no final dos anos 1950, os negros do sul dos Estados Unidos boicotaram as empresas de ônibus para, por meio do prejuízo econômico causado, pressionar as empresas a suspender a política de segregação racial dos assentos; foi assim também que consumidores e artistas do mundo inteiro boicotaram a África do Sul nos anos 1980 para, por meio da pressão econômica e da pressão moral, levar o país a por fim ao apartheid. Boicote é uma campanha política coordenada a que se adere e não uma tentativa de atingir a pureza no consumo ou no trabalho. Não existe, atualmente, que eu saiba, uma campanha bem estruturada para boicotar os EUA para se atingir algum fim e, por isso, a comparação não faz sentido. No entanto, pela primeira vez, há uma campanha internacional bem estruturada para que consumidores e artistas boicotem Israel para que o país suspenda a criminosa e hedionda ocupação dos territórios palestinos. Ao não aderir à campanha, Gil e Caetano não estão fazendo uma coisa moralmente errada — estão fazendo uma coisa politicamente errada: estão furando uma ação coordenada que tem sido, pela primeira vez, capaz de incomodar economica e moralmente o Estado de Israel.
The campaign for Gil and Caetano to cancel their show in Tel Aviv has been receiving a lot of criticism and I don't think it's consistent. The criticism says that it doesn't make sense to boycott Israel and not boycott a much more atrocious state power such as the United States. I think this criticism doesn't take into account the strategic significance of the boycott. The boycott isn't a moral instrument, it's a political instrument. Its objective is not to reach ‘purity’ in consumer or work relationships (in any case impossible in a capitalist society), but to pressure a political or economical actor to make a specific choice. In this way at the end of the 1950s, black people in the South of the United States boycotted bus companies to, through economic losses, stop the racial segregation policy in the seating arrangement; in this way consumers and artists throughout the whole world boycotted South Africa in the 1980s to compel the country through economic and moral pressure to end apartheid. Boycott is a coordinated political campaign that one takes part in, and not an attempt to reach purity in consumerism or work. Today, there doesn't exist, not that I know of, a well-structured campaign to boycott the United States to reach a specific goal, that's why the comparison doesn't make sense. However, for the first time, there is an international well-structured campaign for artists and consumers to boycott Israel so that this country ends its criminal and noxious occupation of the Palestinian territories. By not taking part in the campaign, Gil and Caetano are not doing something morally wrong — they are doing something politically wrong. They are trespassing against a coordinated action that is for the first time capable of disturbing the state of Israel economically and morally.

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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Japanese Media Group’s Purchase of the Financial Times Shocks China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Photo from Flickr user Gareth (CC: NC-AT)
Publishing group Pearson announced the sale of the Financial Times Group to Japanese media firm Nikkei for $1.32 billion on Thursday night (July 23), a move that caused concern among many Chinese.
The expensive deal shocked many in the media industry, as previous reports indicated that German group Alex Springer was close to reaching an agreement on buying the Financial Times. The news also dismayed Beijing, as George Chen, a reporter from the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post, revealed on Twitter.
I just spoke w/ a Chinese official about Nikkei-FT deal. “Serious? No way! How can this happen! Let me report to my boss” said the official.
— George Chen (@george_chen) July 23, 2015
The Financial Times has been one of the most influential Western media outlets in its coverage of Chinese business. Moreover, compared to other Western outlets, the newspaper has a friendly relationship with the the Chinese government.
Established in 1888, the paper has three bureaus in China — Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong that report on China extensively. Its Chinese version, FTChinese, was launched 10 years ago and enjoys rather good circulation. In March this year, FT became the first foreign media outlet to interview Li Keqiang, a remarkable opportunity considering Beijing's antagonistic attitude towards foreign news organizations.
Given the lingering bad blood between China and Japan over Japanese war crimes during World War II as well as geo-political tensions in Asia, many wondered how, if at all, the change of ownership would affect the Financial Times’ expansion in China and its coverage of the country.
George Chen was pessimistic about the paper's future:
FT-Nikkei deal may make financial sense but political wise there'll be HUGE challenges in Asia. A LOT of corporate cultural shock ahead too!
— George Chen (@george_chen) July 23, 2015
To let Japanese buy FT will be the last thing that China wants to see. Beijing will get more excuse to complain about FT's coverage of China
— George Chen (@george_chen) July 23, 2015
But Zhang Xin, the CEO of real estate developer SOHO, looked at the deal from an investor's perspective and believed that Nikkei would not ruin the paper's credibility:
FT卖给Nikkei后还能保持英国新闻的优良传统“新闻独立”吗？当然被操控的媒体是没有读者的，谁会花这么多钱买一个没人读的报纸呢？还是相信买家的智慧吧。但也不能低估文化传承的固执。日本文化的“礼貌和尊重”也是追求真理道路上的障碍。
Can FT follow the UK press tradition and remain independent after selling to Nikkei? Of course, any media outlet would lose their audience if it was manipulated. Who would buy a paper that no one reads? Better to trust the buyer's wisdom. But the stress on “manner and respect” of the Japanese culture may hinder the paper's path in seeking the truth.
Regardless of Nikkei's reassurance that it's determined to uphold the paper's “quality, impartiality and reliability in its journalism and global viewpoint”, nationalistic responses flooded Chinese social media soon after the deal was made public, with some even calling for a boycott of the newspaper.
As China is eager to expand its influence in regional and global politics, many Chinese netizens wondered why state-owned media groups did not buy the paper. George Chen commented on the breaking story on popular Chinese social media platform Weibo:
BREAKING：日本經濟新聞社（Nikkei）剛剛正式對外宣布全面收購英國金融時報（Financial Times），交易作價近13億美金。125年歷史的FT易手，結果被日本人拿下，全世界震驚。此交易意義深刻，對日本提升世界軟實力和全球話語權有深遠影響！（人民日報沒有參與投標嗎？才13億美金啊！）
Breaking: Nikkei has just announced its acquisition of British Financial Times. The deal is about US $1.3 billion. FT, a paper with 125 years in history, is now owned by Japanese. The news shocks the whole world. The implication of the deal is pervasive as the paper will help Japan increase its soft power in global politics. (Did the People's Daily make a bid? It only cost US $1.3 billion)
Others remarked in the comment thread:
13亿美金？还不够中铁一个副总工贪污的呢。
US $1.3 billion? That sum is less than the corruption money of the deputy engineer of China Railways Co.
人民日报没有买，这是我国大外宣工作的严重失误！
The fact that People's Daily did not manage to buy the paper is a serious mistake of our country's diplomatic propaganda.
But some laughed at the nationalism:
人民日报忙着日人民呢
People's Daily is too busy f**king its own people over.
如果人日买了，就不用看了。
If People's Daily had bought it, we would not read [FT] anymore.
希望人民日报买了，把全球变成一家堂 ，省着总出各种谣言。让世界山河一片红。呵呵
I wish People's Daily bought up all the newspapers and turned the whole world into a mouthpiece. Then we would not have so many “rumors”. Let's turn all the mountains and rivers in the world all red. Haha.

author: Oiwan Lam


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New Video Shows How Japan’s Urato Islands Are Bouncing Back Post-Tsunami · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Matsushima in northeast Japan. Image courtesy Wikimedia user Kumamushi.
The Urato Islands in northeastern Japan have been known for their beauty for more than a thousand years. The islands lie in Matsushima Bay, designated one of Japan's “three most scenic spots”, and the largely rural area has depended on the sea for its existence since Neolithic times.
Everything changed on March 11, 2011, when a devastating tsunami, triggered by a giant earthquake, inundated the small fishing communities there. In just over an hour everything from houses to oyster beds were swept away, destroying the delicate satoyama that had allowed humans to coexist with the ecosystem of Matsushima Bay for a least 2,000 years.
A new video produced in part by the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) documents how the various island communities of Urato have been recovering in the years since the disaster and are working to revitalize traditional industries such as oyster farming.
As part of the Satoyama Initiative, Japan's Tohoku University is working with the UNU-IAS to help revive the Matsushima ecosystem, including that of the island communities of Urato.
The Satoyama Initiative, led by Japan's Ministry of Environment and the UNU-IAS, aims to restore landscapes that balance human activities such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, and natural habitats. Such landscapes are known as satoyama in Japanese.

author: Nevin Thompson