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Death and Twitter: Reports from Ukraine · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Images remixed by Andrey Tselikov.
On May 11, 2014, the day that the self-proclaimed Donetsk National Republic held a referendum [Global Voices report] deciding its status vis-à-vis Ukraine (a referendum which most certainly will not be recognized by the Ukrainian government), Russian journalist Ilya Azar reported on Twitter that members of Ukraine's newfangled National Guard had fired on civilian bystanders in Krasnoarmeysk. The tweets included several graphic photos, so click through at your own risk.
Прямо сейчас при мне нацгвардейцы одного убили, одного ранили в красноармейске — iлля¯\_(ツ)_/¯няшмяш (@A3AP) May 11, 2014
Just now in front of me the National Guardsmen killed one and wounded another in Krasnoarmeysk
Это убитый в красноармейске. Просто люди безоружные стояли у захваченного нацгвардией горсовета pic.twitter.com/VJyzYn2bSE — iлля¯\_(ツ)_/¯няшмяш (@A3AP) May 11, 2014
This is a man killed in Krasnoarmeysk. Unarmed people were simply standing next to the city council building which was taken over by the National Guard.
Еще одного ранили в грудь. На четырех машинах уехали гвардейцы, устроив беспорядочную стрельбу против безоружных — iлля¯\_(ツ)_/¯няшмяш (@A3AP) May 11, 2014
Another man was wounded in the chest. The guardsmen left in four cars, after haphazardly shooting at unarmed people.
Украинские власти! Или в Славянск отправляйте автоматчиков стрелять или отберите оружие у гвардии. Зачем расстреливать безоружную толпу?! — iлля¯\_(ツ)_/¯няшмяш (@A3AP) May 11, 2014
Ukrainian government! Either send people to shoot gunners in Slavyansk, or take arms away from the Guard. Why shoot an unarmed crowd?!
Azar's tweets are all the more damning, because they come from a man with a very sympathetic view of the Maidan cause and a journalist whose coverage of Ukraine led to the dissolution [Global Voices report] of Lenta.ru's editorial team. Azar also has no love for Donetsk separatists — his tongue in cheek reporting has recently landed him in hot water [Global Voices report] when local militias distributed his photographs calling him a “provocateur” who must be “dealt with.”
Maybe it was this combination of factors that caused his tweets to go viral and attract so much vitriol from both sides of the conflict, that he later tweeted that he will “stop reading replies” to his tweets. Fellow journalist Oleg Kashin responded by calling [ru] what happened “remarkable journalism.” With just a few tweets [ru] Azar “caused a public opinion explosion in two countries.” This, argues [ru] Kashin, is a problem with modern media: “writing an article after this is an empty and useless formality so that you can get paid.” In this world of attention spans too short for nuance, perhaps Kashin is right.

author: Andrey Tselikov


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Dictatorship is Over But Press Freedom Still Under Threat in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Irrawaddy underscored the continuing difficulties experienced by Myanmar journalists despite the reforms implemented by the government
…despite the ostensible changes in the way the government treats the media, the underlying mindset is much the same as in the past: Journalists have been given greater “space” within which to work, but the limits of that space are still decided by the state.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mong Palatino


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It is a Tough Job Being an Opposition Leader in Zambia · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Gershom Ndhlovu explains why it is a tough job being an opposition leader in Zambia:
It is really a tough job to be an opposition leader in Zambia. You have to daily face the police, risk being teargased or even locked for doing the job that you must do — meeting potential voters even when elections are five years away or performing the most important function, that of providing checks and balances. Opposition Members of Parliament are equally poached at will by the head of state.
If there is a cliché that applies in this situation is that of “history repeats itself.” The process of harassment, for that is what it is, tends to bake the leaders for when they take over government and apply the same methods to those who fall in the unfortunate role of being opposition leaders especially if they are popular.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Local or International School? The Dilemma Facing Expats in Hong Kong · Global Voices
Expat Writer

Parents waiting outside an international kindergarten in the rain to hand in application form for their kids. Photo from Apple Daily. Non-commercial use.
As a global financial center, Hong Kong attracts a large number of expat families. For those with young children, education is a priority, but the city's limited options can prove to be a headache.
In private international schools, tuition is often through the roof and admission highly competitive. Waiting lists are so long that in some cases parents are reportedly submitting applications along with ultrasound results of their soon-to-be-born children in the hopes of securing a spot when their son or daughter reaches school age.
In local schools, lack of Cantonese-language skills can keep expats from enrolling their children.
Malvern College, a leading British public school, recently announced that it is looking to launch its primary section in Tai Po, with over 90 percent of spots reserved for students holding foreign passports. If the school goes ahead with building its campus there, it will be the second famous British boarding school in the area, after Harrow International School in Tuen Mun, which opened in 2012.
But with only 1,104 km2 of land, Hong Kong does not have the space to build many new school facilities, and Malvern appears to be an exception to the rule. Most expats are left with the dilemma – local or international schools?
It takes a bit more than pocket change to pay the annual fees of the top international schools. Harrow International charges 136,500 Hong Kong dollars (17,610 US dollars), while other private schools charge about 79,500 Hong Kong dollars (10,200 US dollars). The Malvern School, which has yet to start, has fixed its yearly fees at 160,000 Hong Kong dollars (20,640 US dollars).
Schools also charge for applying for enrollment, up to a few thousand Hong Kong dollars for some schools. Local parent Fiona Kong commented on the forum Baby Kingdom:
為咗有好啲學習環境，能上好小學、好英中，家長已為之瘋狂，講真，現在去到我細女選中學的時候，才深深體會到，若她入到我們想入的中學，我真係短幾年命都願，我也相信唔會係淨係我一個咁諗。咁你話2800買個希望貴啲，定人命貴啲？
To make sure [that the kids have] a good learning environment and enter a good primary school and develop fluent Chinese and English, parents are crazy. To be frank, now that my young daughter has to choose a secondary school, and I would rather cut short my lifespan for a few years in exchange if she managed to enter the one that we choose. I believe many parents share my feeling. Tell me, a few years of life or 2,800 Hong Kong dollars for buying hope, which one is more expensive?
Fees are bound to rise now that the Hong Kong government has decided to cut subsidies for schools run by English Schools Foundation (ESF) starting in August 2016, increasing the burden on parents. In fact, the ESF increased fees for primary education by a whopping 5.9 percent in 2013 and has also revealed that in 2014 non-Chinese speaking children will not be given top priority for admission.
However, the international schools and the private institutions in Hong Kong have recently lost their appeal to the expat families.
In comparison, local public schools are free. Annual fees at Direct Subsidy Schools, which are private schools that receive support from the government, start from 7,370 Hong Kong dollars (950 US dollars) to nearly 60,000 Hong Kong dollars ($9,000 US dollars).
While a better deal financially, the majority of Hong Kongers speak Cantonese, and so it is the common language of instruction in many local schools, something that at times worries expat parents whose children don't speak it. Kids are expected to be fluent in the language if they want to be enrolled in a local school.
Cara from the Asia Expat forum talked about her experience of sending her kids to local Cantonese-speaking kindergarten:
both of my kids attended a local kindergarten (my hubby is chinese, though). but their best friends, all non-chinese speakers, also attended the local kindie. now, they are all mostly at a local primary school […] so, yes, it is perfectly possible. just don't expect your little one to understand everything immediately. it is a long process and the first few months will be the most difficult.
On the flip side, many international schools require children to be fluent in English. Maureen Anne called for help in the expat forum because her daughter cannot speak English:
My husband just accepted the offer to be expatriated to Hong Kong. Our family will also move there. We just realize how difficult it will be to find a suitable international school to our 5-year-old. All the 2014-2015 formal applications completed last Sept. More important, our daughter does not speak English. According to the agent who is assisting us to schools, all the good international schools will have English interview, they do not accept non-English speaker at all!
In an interview about relocation to Hong Kong, Kam Sun who is SEO in Hong Kong advised other expats:
Getting a school place in Hong Kong is very tricky so any new arrival needs to get applications in as soon as possible, even if the children are not of school age yet.

author: Expat Writer


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Mothering Tech Savvy Children · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Julia Cuéllar gets inspiration from the book Los bárbaros [The Barbarians; es], essays about mutation, by Alessandro Baricco, to reflect on Mujeres Construyendo [Building Women], about maternity in times of smartphones and social networks.
I am a plant, I am the mother of zombie children, barbarians. My challenge is the same of every other mother. As a plant that wonders and that from her hallway is surprised with what thousands of blue birds making tweet, tweet have to say, it's hard for me to answer: am I trained to prepare them for the world they'll have to live in as teenagers, as adults? What self-management code do I have to inject into their brains? What does their “mom, computers and cellphones make me happy” mean? Or “mom, I didn't see you because I didn't run into you at the party, but forward me the video”? What models do they create when they learn to sing in English, Mandarin and Spanish on YouTube while I read the notes Walter Benjamin wrote about Mickey Mouse in 1931?
After sharing stories that she considers contradictions where the maternal whirlpool makes her dive in, she concludes:
The fact is your child is alive and asks: “Mom, why do stars shine?” If Google helps us answering them by gathering every answer humanity has invented and uploaded to the net, of course, what does it matter. Let's be bridges between plants and barbarian-zombies, let's be Beethoven and compose the Ninth [Symphony]. This is my work after four years of being a mother. Thank you, my children.

author: Juan Arellano


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Reflections on Mother’s Day · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Mother's Day is here and Claudia Díaz from Mexico writes [es] on PlayMommy about mothers that will celebrate this occasion from her own experience.
My first Mother's Day was very on my own way, as I really hated all the marketing paraphernalia that considered me a pretext to spend some money in gifts “for mom”, where they kept saying my golden dreams are blenders, a new living room, some chilaquiles* au gratin. Where are mothers’ real needs?
And she also expresses how she thinks these celebrations should be:
I'd love that, in the future, Mother's Day at my children's school were panel discussions for debating about key topics for the Mexican family, conferences about the huge labor mothers have in raising children, awareness about the need of positive leadership for the family, and respect for women and children, the importance of language of live when it comes to couple relationship.
*This link was added by the author of the original post [es].


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Russians Hate Eurovision’s Bearded-Lady Champion · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Conchita Wurst, performing “Rise Like a Phoenix,” May 10, 2014, YouTube.
The 2014 Eurovision Song Contest is over and a gay, bearded transvestite from Austria won the final round. Thomas Neuwirth, better known as the drag persona Conchita Wurst, edged out artists from the Netherlands, Sweden, and 34 other participating countries. On the Internet, Russians have reacted to Wurst’s victory with a mix of humor and homophobia.
Objections to Wurst’s involvement in Eurovision are already several months old. In December 2013, men in Russia and Belarus launched petitions to ban television stations from broadcasting the music contest, if Wurst took part. Hosted on the American website Change.org, the Belarusian petition collected over 4 thousand signatures. The Russian petition attracted over 23 thousand supporters.
Following Wurst’s win today, Russians responded with several different memes. Some were intended to mock the artist’s unusual beard, whereas others took aim more broadly at Europe’s supposed cultural permissiveness.
pic.twitter.com/v1xI03Q7DJ
— Michael Anissimov (@MikeAnissimov) May 11, 2014
Австрийцы изменились pic.twitter.com/Qj8r1NyMHH
— Константин Рыков (@rykov) May 11, 2014
The Austrians have changed.
Many bloggers juxtaposed images of Wurst alongside famous historical Austrians, such as Franz Joseph I and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, drawing attention to the passage of time, implying that Austria—and Europe along with it—has ceased to produce quality art and no longer observes traditional, correct values.
Others have contrasted Wurst with Alexander Mozhaev, also known as “Babai” (or “bogeyman”), the famously bearded pro-Russia separatist from Slaviansk, whose impressive facial hair has come to symbolize Ukrainian rebels’ stoic masculinity.
@MikeAnissimov @akarlin88 Зато, Русский Мир – По Прежнему… pic.twitter.com/4nlVTqrYed
— Alexei Alexeev (@ALEXEI_LIVE) May 11, 2014
But life in Russia hasn’t changed. “Two worlds. Two childhoods.”
@rykov Представляю как чувствует себя Бабай pic.twitter.com/BnCN5X3TNf
— Igor Demyanov (@igoryan76) May 11, 2014
Rykov: For the first time in two weeks, I’m compelled to shave.
Demyanov: Just imagine how Babai must feel.
The Russian nationalist website Sputnik & Pogrom tweeted an image warning Ukrainians that further European integration will expose them to the cultural values that celebrate people like Wurst. The message below uses Wurst’s face to try to scare people in Ukraine’s southeast into voting in the separatist referendum, scheduled for May 11.
АААААААААААААА pic.twitter.com/lPN52iS3TS
— Sputnik & Pogrom (@sputnikipogrom) May 10, 2014
Ukraine, you want into Europe? Conchita is waiting for Ukraine! May 11, either you go to the referendum, or the blue beard comes to you!
Some of the most vitriolic posts online have involved men sharing photographs of themselves shaving in protest against Wurst. Rapper Aleksandr Stepanov, known as “ST,” uploaded to Instagram pictures of him shaving, with the message, “I pass the baton,” and the hashtag, “Prove that you’re not Conchita” (#докажичтотынекончита). Anton Korobkov, a popular pro-Kremlin blogger, also posted a “selfie” while shaving.
Посмотрел #Евровидение. Пошёл бриться
Just watched Eurovision. Had to go shave.
Another Russian rapper, Timur Yunusov, better known as “Timati,” responded to Stepanov’s Instagram post with high praise. Yunusov also thanked Vladimir Putin for “banning gay parades in Moscow,” and criticized Europe for “normalizing” bearded women. The rapper explained that he would likely assault any gay couple in Russia that dared to hold hands and kiss in public.
Aleksandr Stepanov's clarion call to Wurst haters. May 10, 2014. Instagram screen capture.
For all the alarm about Europe’s supposed cultural collapse, Wurst is not in fact Eurovision’s first gender-bending victor. The artist Dana International, a transgender Israeli who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1993, won the contest in 1998. That year, Russia was not allowed to participate because of low average scores from previous years. As a result, Russian television decided not to broadcast the competition in 1998.
Eurovision always agitates Russia’s homophobes. The contest’s performances are invariably flamboyant and difficult to square with any traditional concept of masculinity. Thanks to the conflict in Ukraine, East-West tensions are now at a post-Soviet highpoint, and gay-bashing benefits from Russia’s surge in patriotic chauvinism.
Of course, the spectacle of a homosexual bearded drag-queen singing champion also spices up things a bit.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Serbia Mourns British-Serbian Legend Timothy John Byford · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

Author, actor, educator, television and film director Timothy John Byford died in Belgrade on May 5, 2014, after a long illness. Born in Salisbury, England, Byford spent most of his life in Belgrade, where he moved in 1971 and later became a naturalized citizen of Serbia.
As news portal InSerbia reports:
He is best known for his children’s TV series: Neven (‘Marigold’), Babino unuče (‘Granny’s Boy’) and Poletarac (‘Fledgling’) (all for TV Belgrade) as well as Nedeljni zabavnik (‘Sunday Magazine’), ‘Musical Notebook’ and Tragom ptice Dodo (‘On the Trail of the Dodo’) (all for TV Sarajevo). ‘Fledgling’ won a Grand Prix at the Prix Jeunesse International Festival in Munich in 1980.
Byford marked the lives and childhoods of several generations in Serbia and other former Yugoslav states through his television shows and educational programs. His presence was also felt in everyday Belgrade life, where he once rallied to have Banjica Park protected because of its feathered wildlife, and the term “Byfordian accent” has for decades been a popular way of describing someone who speaks Serbian well but with a heavy English accent.
Byford was genuinely beloved by his vast audience and fellow Belgraders, which has been touchingly apparent on social networks since his passing. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and local media have been adorned with praise and gratitude to Byford and his contribution to culture and happy childhoods in Serbia and other former Yugoslav states. Enes Dinić from Serbia was among those who recounted Byford's wise words on Twitter:
"Život je avantura, ako ga živite hrabro." R.I.P. Timothy John Byford
— Enes Dinić (@eniko_neno3) May 5, 2014
"Life is an adventure, if you live it courageously." R.I.P. Timothy John Byford
— Enes Dinić (@eniko_neno3) May 5, 2014

author: Danica Radisic


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Tiananmen Square Protest in Review  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Tiananmen Square protest in China. To commemorate the protest, CHINA DIGITAL TIMES is posting a series of original news articles from 1989 from NY times and Time Magazine.

author: Abby Liu


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Viral Video: Three Types of Girl Friends in Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The video is about Hong Kong male netizens’ stereotype of girls from local Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas born Chinese. Tom Grundy from Hong Wrong has the English translation of the Cantonese script.

author: Oiwan Lam


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‘Worsening’ Human Rights Situation in Vietnam · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Vietnam Human Rights Network released its 2013 report about the ‘worsening’ human rights situation in Vietnam:
…the human rights situation in Vietnam took a turn for the worse in 2013. The number of people detained for political views contrary to those of the ruling party increased, unabated police violence was reflected in the still high number of deaths and injuries caused by such violence, and the number of farmers whose land was expropriated without adequate compensation was on the rise.
The report noted that Vietnam's poor record contradicted its commitment to promote human rights after it became a member of the UN Human Rights Council and after it included human rights concepts on its Constitution.


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8 Strange Stories About Thailand’s Anti-Government Protests  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Since November, protesters in Thailand have been demanding the removal of the government. They have marched in the streets by the thousands, occupied government buildings, and conducted a ‘Bangkok Shutdown’ campaign. They boycotted the elections last February and pushed for the appointment of a People’s Council.
Majority of the protesters are from Bangkok who are allied with opposition forces. But they are criticized for their aggressive methods and their decision to reject the holding of elections.
Last week, the protesters got what they wanted when Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was forced to step down after a Constitutional Court ruled that her decision to replace the head of the National Security Council in 2011 was an unconstitutional act.
But Thailand’s political crisis is far from over. Protesters went back to the streets and reiterated their call for the removal of the whole Cabinet. They are planning to stage a ‘final battle’ to end the dominance of the Shinawatra family in Thai politics.
As the confrontation continues between Thailand’s warring political forces, we take a look back at some of the intriguing and strange stories about the protests in recent months. Some are amusing and interesting, while some are a bit scary. But they all reflected the deep divide in Thai society and the enduring impact of the rallies in the country.
1. Protesters buying bulletproof vests made from hospital X-Ray films. Of course it won’t work but the vendor was able to sell many items to protesters who wanted protection against violent dispersals.
Vendor turns used hospital X-ray films into bulletproof vests for 700B; has sold over 2,000 http://t.co/OX1FY9Nf11 pic.twitter.com/2V1OaCXcsf
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) December 31, 2013
2. 500 policemen staged a rally demanding protection from protesters. The rare political action represented 88 police stations in Bangkok. It was organized right after a policeman died during one of the protests. A black ribbon was attached to the sleeves of the police protesters as a symbolic mourning for the dead police officer. They were complaining against the ‘lenient’ approach to the protesters and they wanted tougher measures against attacks during rallies.
[Bangkok Post] Rare police protest as they demand right to protect themselves from protesters http://t.co/dzF4jmAurd pic.twitter.com/QtyrbdMIK5
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) December 30, 2013
3. Protesters planting vegetables in rally sites. There were many amusing scenes inside the protest camps during the ‘Bangkok Shutdown’ campaign but this one somehow reflected the intention of protesters to remain in the streets for an indefinite period. After all, veggies provide nourishment that can sustain protesters during rallies.
Thai protesters believe they'll stay for such a long time that they're growing their own vegetables. pic.twitter.com/UC9l4dybDO
— Panuwat (@tumbler_p) February 9, 2014
4. Unpaid farmers threatened to hold an airport tractor protest. Fortunately, it was called off after the government promised to fix the rice pledging scheme. The threat reminded many people of the 2008 airport blockade which hurt the country’s tourism.
#Thailand farmers call off airport tractor protest after govt agrees to pay up – See more at: http://t.co/QY8MCIXOFD pic.twitter.com/ikHi5v7GfP
— ST Foreign Desk (@STForeignDesk) February 21, 2014
5. Rice farmers placing straw barricade in a road protest. Rubbers are more effective barriers but the straw barricade was also symbolic since it signified that anti-government protests are not only limited in the urban areas. This was bad news for the government since the rural constituency is supposed to be its support base.
Rice farmer protesters block super highway near Bangkok. Photo by Karnt Thassanaphak, Copyright @Demotix (2/5/2014)
6. Handsome Japanese reporter covering the anti-government protests. His name is Enami Daijiro, a 28-year-old reporter of Fuji Television Network from Japan. And during rallies, protesters and bystanders would get distracted by his ‘gorgeous looks’.
'Handsome' #Japan reporter steals thunder from #Thailand's election, anti-government rallies – http://t.co/PkDyA6FDC5 pic.twitter.com/koS5orvVJC
— Japan Daily Press (@JapanDailyPress) February 4, 2014
Hopefully, many would not forget that a Japanese reporter, Hiro Muramoto, also made headlines after he was fatally shot during the protest crackdown in 2010.
7. ‘Bangkok Shutdown’ merchandise items for sale at protest camps. Protest paraphernalia were sold such as t-shirts, flags, and whistles. The shutdown didn’t paralyze the whole Bangkok but it affected the commercial district.
Protesters’ rally sites include many stalls selling shirts and insignia to support the protest. Photo by terry1, Copyright @Demotix (1/18/2014)
People doing good business selling Bangkok Shutdown merchandise on Silom Rd. pic.twitter.com/bbMkqB8Gey
— Nick Day (@NickDay13) January 12, 2014
8. ‘Do not remove traffic cones’ advice to motorists passing rally sites. Many people made fun of protesters being protective of the traffic cones but it is not funny since several people were attacked allegedly by protesters because they removed the traffic cones.
In #Thailand, things like Buddha images are sacred. Also Traffic Cones. You shouldn’t touch them (Pic @atommy9999) pic.twitter.com/O5JrJw2fkG
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) May 11, 2014
@Phranakornsarnt: Traffic Cone is holy in #Thailand, you will be hurt by these coneheads if you touch them pic.twitter.com/HBsEW3uwvK
— Rajprasong_News (@Rajprasong_News) May 9, 2014


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Students in Chile Protest for Education Reform · Global Voices
María Angélica Marín

Demonstrations in Santiago de Chile. Image by Flickr user NOtodoesARTE. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
[All links lead to webpages in Spanish.]
The first march for education during the current government of President Michelle Bachelet took place on May 8, 2014, with due prior authorization.
The demonstration counted on the participation of several groups. Among them were Student Confederation of Chile (Confech), National High School Students Assembly (ACES), National High School Students Coordinator (Cones), Movement of Higher Education Students (Mesup), Organization of Private Higher Education Federations (Ofesup) and Association of Ministry of Education Officers (Andime).
The march demanded a free quality education as well as active participation in the reform, which is currently being studied. The newspaper La Tercera reported:
Marcha estudiantil: ¿Qué está en juego? Pdta de la Feuc dice que estudiantes quieren “participación en la reforma” http://t.co/kkESMigWrC
— La Tercera (@latercera) May 8, 2014
Student march, what is at stake here? President of Feuc says students want “participation in the reform”.
The march was simultaneously carried out in the capital city Santiago and several other locations in the country. Participation and presence of an important number of students was noticed:
Qué bueno ver que la marcha estudiantil fue masiva en #Santiago y regiones. Todos por una nueva educación, que construya un mejor #Chile
— René Naranjo S. (@renenaranjo) May 8, 2014
It's good to see that the student march was massive in Santiago and other regions. United for a new education that builds a better Chile.
Miles de jóvenes participan en la primera marcha estudiantil del año en #Concepción http://t.co/Tu0LiT2jIT vía @biobio
— Radio Villa Francia (@rvfradiopopular) April 24, 2014
Thousands of young people participate in the first student march of the year in Concepción.
There were marches in several cities in the countryside too, as in Iquique, Valparaíso, the city that is the seat of the National Congress, and Valdivia.
Unfortunately, in some places the marches were overshadowed by disturbances, mostly caused by people other than students and who had nothing to do with their demands.
Naschla Aburman, president of Feuc, labeled these disturbances as “isolated incidents” and stated that there are things that are outside of the responsibility of the organizers.
Twitter users expressed their opinion regarding these facts, spreading images and information about the consequences:
AHORA: Intendente @orrego dice que “no hubo ningún incidente” durante marcha estudiantil. Sí “violentistas organizados” al final de ella
— Mauricio Bustamante (@tv_mauricio) May 8, 2014
NOW: Governor Orrego says “there haven't been any incidents” during the student march. However, there were “organized violent people” at the end of it.
Universidad Central denunció daños por 20 millones de pesos tras marcha estudiantil http://t.co/FzRaeoNUa8 pic.twitter.com/bFNv4ACkKL
— Cooperativa (@Cooperativa) May 8, 2014
Universidad Central reported damages around 20 million pesos [about 36,000 US dollars] after the student march.
General Ricardo Solar informa que el número de detenidos tras la marcha estudiantil son 101
— La Tercera (@latercera) May 8, 2014
General Ricardo Solar reports that the number of people under arrest after the student march is 101.
@romina_ms @CNNChile Romina, yo soy estudiante, y estoy de acuerdo con la marcha pacifica, pero estos grupos son organizados.
— Rodrigo Gacitúa G (@RGacitua_G) May 8, 2014
Romina, I am a student, and I agree with the peaceful march, but these groups are organized

author: María Angélica Marín


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Commuters Don’t Love Mozambique’s Haphazard ‘My Love’ Trucks · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

People rush for a truck in the city of Maputo.
[All links lead to Portuguese-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
There is a terrible transport crisis in the Mozambican city of Maputo, marked by daily traffic jams and long queues during rush hour. Due to a limited fleet of vehicles and poor road conditions, Maputo Public Transport (TPM), the public company that operates urban transport in the metropolitan area, is not able to meet the needs of many neighborhoods.
With the system in Maputo struggling to transport people where they need to go, private semi-collective vehicles known as the “Chapa 100″ fill in many of the gaps.
But now they aren't the only vehicles on the road. After a years-long absence, the “My Love” trucks, so dubbed because people are forced to travel very close together, have recently reappeared.
Many of these open air trucks are poorly maintained, pack in a large number of people especially during rush hour, don't have schedules and often don't follow a fixed route.
A “My Love” driving around Maputo.
Blogger, sociologist and professor Carlos Serra wrote about the return of “My Love” on citizen media platform Olho do Cidadão (Eye of the Citizen):
Numa fila longa em pleno pico de trânsito, a meio de um Sábado, observo uma viatura de caixa aberta apinhada de pessoas. Pensando, todos estes anos depois, tinha alguma expectativa de que viéssemos a melhorar o nosso sistema de transporte urbano. Na realidade, trata-se de um regresso, afinal chegaram a ser as rainhas da estrada no princípio dos anos noventa, antes que um instrumento legal condicionasse o transporte de passageiros a determinadas características básicas, facto que originou a proliferação das carrinhas minibus (as “chapa 100”). Mas hoje, regressaram à estrada e, devido à fantástica capacidade criativa dos moçambicanos, ganharam a designação de “MY LOVE”, porque lá em cima os passageiros viajam bem apertadinhos e agarrados uns aos outros como forma de evitarem cair borda fora.
In a long line at the height of traffic midday Saturday, I watch an open truck crammed with people. Thinking, all these years later I had some expectation that we would have improved our urban transport system. In reality, it's a step backward – after all, they were once king of the road in the early 1990s before a legal instrument required that the transport of passengers meet certain basic characteristics, a fact that led to the proliferation of minibus vans (the “Chapa 100″). But today, they have returned to the road, and due to the fantastic creative abilities of Mozambicans, they have earned the nickname “MY LOVE” because on top of it, passengers travel squeezed together and clinging to each other to avoid falling overboard.
A long line of people wait for transport in Maputo.
Population growth
One of the factors behind the shortage of transport is the high population growth in Maputo. The Statistical Profile of the Municipality of Maputo (pdf), presented by the city council in 2010, estimated a population of 1,233,424 residents in 2013, compared to 1,094,315 in 2007.
The uptick is the result of migration from other parts of Maputo province to the city, especially to the outskirts where housing is being expanded. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), the population of Maputo province has grown by 50 percent between 1997 and 2007. The vast majority of services and markets are concentrated in the city of Maputo, which increases the flow of people who come in and out of the capital on public transport.
Pointing to a series of recommendations for the “dilemma of public transport and road traffic in the city of Maputo,” an article published on the website Mozmaníacos in March 2013 stated that:
Em Fevereiro de 2008 a frota dos Transportes Públicos de Maputo (TPM) contava com apenas 32 autocarros para uma população de 1.7 milhão de habitantes (Maputo e Matola). Actualmente [in 2013] os TPM contam com 105 autocarros afectos aos transportes colectivos de passageiros na cidade de Maputo para um número cada vez mais crescente de utentes destes serviços.
In February 2008 the fleet of Maputo's Public Transport (TPM) only had 32 buses for a population of 1.7 million inhabitants (Maputo and Matola). Currently [in 2013] TPM has 105 coaches and buses in Maputo for an ever-increasing number of users of these services.
“My Love” go everywhere, even to suburban areas.
To alleviate the situation, the city council of Maputo is planning to implement an “exclusive transportation corridor” for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on National Highway No. 1 – the main access to capital – to begin service in 2016 “in order to solve the traffic management and organization of the urban public transport system.”
Waiting for a place in a “Chapa 100″.
The city has seen strikes in 2008 and 2010 due to the rising price of transport, coupled with the rising prices of basic goods and fuel. And since January 2014, there have been constant interruptions of transport. The drivers demand improvements in the condition of access routes and roads and ask for an increase in fares, saying that the current ones are unsustainable for today's reality.
A publication by Canalmoz newspaper on Facebook highlighted some of the complaints:
Os transportadores dizem que o mau estado da via está a contribuir para a degradação dos carros. Os automobilistas questionam para onde vai o dinheiro que é pago ao município em taxas, se as estradas estão esburacadas. Em adição a isso queixam-se também pelo facto de o Governo ter priorizado a inspecção de viaturas para recolher dinheiro, no lugar de reparar as estradas.
Transporters say that the bad condition of the roads is contributing to the degradation of the cars. Motorists question where the money that is paid to the city in taxes goes, if the roads are full of potholes. In addition to this, they also bemoan the fact that the government has prioritized the inspection of vehicles to collect money, instead of repairing the roads.
The government's Master Plan (pdf) for Mobility and Transportation in the Metropolitan area of Maputo (2013-2035) details the eventual creation of a Metropolitan Authority of Maputo Transport.
In the meantime, Maputo's civil society isn't waiting around for authorities to improve the situation. The nonprofit organization Ruth (Uthende Network), an initiative to influence the political process and public policy with a particular focus on urban centers and transport issues, recently launched a campaign for “better mobility, better quality of life in the region greater Maputo”. Ruth also published a Citizen Manifesto (pdf) which advocates for the creation of such a transport authority.
The organization participated in the marches of International Labor Day, May 1, and summarized what workers and students who use urban passenger transport in the metropolitan area of Maputo have to say as follows: “I do not want you anymore, ‘my Love’!”

author: Dércio Tsandzana


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How Gangs Have Become a Trojan Horse in El Salvador’s Security Forces · Global Voices
Connectas

The original version of this article was written by Jaime López, Mauricio Caceres, Luis Alberto López, Mario Beltran, Ross Mary Zepeda and Tatiana Alemán and was published on the website Connectas in May 2014. Below is the first of a two-part series.
Officers from the Salvadorean military. Photo courtesy the authors.
El Salvador seems to be replicating that mythical ploy of war known as the Trojan Horse. In Homer's poem “The Odyssey”, he tells the story of how the Greek Odysseus fakes the retreat of his army and leaves a wooden horse filled with soldiers at the door of the walls of Troy. The Trojans naively accept the offering, and when they bring in the huge gift, the Greek soldiers come out and destroy the city.
In El Salvador, feared gangs are assuming the role of the Greek soldiers.
Here, there is no underlying love story as there was in the Greek story. In El Salvador, it’s about infiltrating the country's security forces to steal weapons, as the Minister of Defense David Munguía Payés says.
It also demonstrates the evolution of these groups, which want more power in order to influence the investigations against them and obtain key information in the fight against crime, to the extent that their criminal activities are becoming more lucrative, says criminologist Carlos Ponce, former adviser to the National Civil Police (PNC) and the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
In the past five years, according to a source in the Public Information Access Unit of the Ministry of National Defense, 91 people with ties to gangs were identified, including active members and a couple of administrative personnel. Of these, 49 were related to the gang Pandilla 18 and the rest to Salvatrucha. During the same period, 29 people were expelled from the National Public Security Academy (ANSP) after having been proven to have gang ties. In this case, 16 were related to Salvatrucha.
While it’s true that percentage-wise, it wouldn’t seem that the suspended cases would mean much among the more than 10,000 members of security forces who arrived at these institutions at the same time, a hundred infiltrators detected is clearly a sufficient warning for institutions to keep watch to guarantee Salvadorans’ peace of mind.
Identifying the infiltrators is not an easy task. On one hand, there is a difference between those who have some type of link to gangs and those who are actual members. On the other hand, both institutions must have proper safeguards in place and be forceful in exposing these relationships and their impact. Presumably, an insufficient process would come back to haunt the state, resulting in millions in lawsuits.
In the case of the ANSP, according to its Director Jaime Martínez, “In no instance has it been demonstrated that a student of the academy is directly involved in a gang”, and the expelled persons’ links were shown to be untrustworthy.
As far as the army, judging by the report from the Public Information Access Unit, cases have been identified in which those implicated have been found doing traditional graffiti alluding to gangs.
In other cases, suspicions can be aroused by the way members express themselves and the use of gestures typical of these criminal groups, according to what is explained in the institution. According to sources at the State Investigation Agency (OIE), the fact that gang members have stopped tattooing, or tattoo in less visible places compared to previous generations, has allowed them to stay under the radar of the authorities.
Investigator Gema Santamaría of the Transnational Network of Gang Analysis agrees with the OIE and adds that this phenomenon has been evident since the early 2000s, when the Salvadoran authorities began to implement “Mano Dura” (Heavy Hand) and “Super Mano Dura” (Extra Heavy Hand) policies. “Given that these policies made the use of tattoos the main mechanism by which gang members were identified, and given that merely belonging to these groups was criminalized, the gang members adopted strategies to hide their membership in the group and the gangs acquired a more and more clandestine and elusive character,” says Santamaría.
According to military sources, there are cases where gang members have even threatened military members into collaborating with them. Either by corruption or coercion, several have access to obtain high-caliber weapons from their respective institutions, as revealed by the defense minister, according to their research. For every explosive obtained, the criminals pay $400 to $500, and between $800 to $1,200 per rifle, explained Munguía at the time.
One example of the reach of this arms trafficking is the case discovered by authorities in Chalatenango (in northern El Salvador, on the border with Honduras) where they found four AK-47s, a G-3 rifle, an M-79 grenade launcher, an Uzi submachine gun and a shotgun. The arsenal was buried in a barrel on the outskirts of that town, ready to be delivered to the interested party.
In another case, reported by the Attorney General's Office, 213 M90 anti-tank grenades were recovered late last year. According to the public prosecutor, these artifacts were from an army lot that should have been destroyed but the order was not carried out, in order to sell them later. Those responsible have not yet been identified, but it is clear that the weapons will benefit gang crime, and the crime could only be accomplished through infiltrators.

author: Connectas


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Global Voices and Connectas Announce Content-Sharing Partnership · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

CONNECTAS.org website screenshot.
Global Voices and CONNECTAS [es], Colombia-based Latin American journalistic organization, have partnered to share content produced by CONNECTAS on multilingual Global Voices network.
CONNECTAS is a [es] “non-profit journalistic initiative with the aim of promoting production, sharing, training and disseminating information related to topics that are fundamental for development in the Americas”:
CONNECTAS appears in a moment where many opportunities converge in the region, and a need of information of their reality with a transnational prospect. In the Americas, in spite of being a region with similar cultural, historic and linguistic features, of having an active civil society and a growing number of intergovernmental businesses and organizations, there is not enough information with a transnational perspective in the region.
Besides journalistic production, CONNECTAS facilitates journalist training in specialized techniques and topics and organizes meetings, forums and talks with opinion leaders and policymakers. They also promote laws on access to public information in the region and data exchange for investigation, analysis, mapping and visualization.
We believe that the articles and reports produced by CONNECTAS will be a quality complement to our coverage of Latin America.
Read the first article published in English by CONNECTAS on Global Voices, “How Gangs Have Become a Trojan Horse in El Salvador's Security Forces” The second part will be posted shortly.


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Hong Kong: End Foreign Domestic Worker’s Live in Requirement · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Foreign domestic workers are required by law to live with their employers, which is a major causes of worker abuse. Below is a campaign video produced by the Hong Kong Helpers’ campaign calling for the end of the mandatory live-in regulation. It invites people to imagine if they had to live at work.


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Join the #FreeZone9Bloggers Tweetathon on May 14 · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Join Nigerian bloggers Blossom Nnodim (@blcompere) and Nwachukwu Egbunike (@feathersproject), along with Global Voices editor Ndesanjo Macha (@ndesanjo) from Tanzania for an Africa-wide tweetathon in support of the nine bloggers and journalists arrested in late April and currently being detained in Ethiopia.
The Global Voices community and our network of friends and allies are demanding the release of these nine men and women, all of whom have worked hard to expand spaces for social and political commentary in Ethiopia through blogging and traditional journalism. We believe their arrest is a violation of their universal right to free expression, as well as their right not to be arbitrarily detained. Learn more about their story and the campaign for their release here.
This Wednesday, beginning at 2pm West Africa Time, we plan to tweet at community leaders, government and diplomatic actors, and mainstream media (using their handles) to increase awareness and draw public attention to the case. We especially encourage fellow bloggers and social media users in Africa to join us — but anyone is welcome!
#FreeZone9Bloggers: A Tweetathon Demanding the Release of Jailed Ethiopian Bloggers
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Time: 2pm – 5pm West Africa time / 1pm – 4pm GMT (click here to find your time zone)
Hashtag: #FreeZone9Bloggers
Hosts: Blossom Nnodim (@blcompere), Nwachukwu Egbunike (@feathersproject), Ndesanjo Macha (@ndesanjo)
Join us this Wednesday — tweet until your fingers hurt and demand freedom for the Zone 9 bloggers!
Tweets you can use (click here to find more)

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


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Maldives’ Morality Police Target Youth · Global Voices
Rezwan

Maldives has one of the most youthful populations in the world with more than half of the population under the age of 25. But a lot of them are being increasingly harassed by moral policing by the society and the authorities, reports Dhivehi Sitee blog.

author: Rezwan


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Murder Trial of Slain Protester in Turkey Live-Tweeted  · Global Voices
Erkan Saka

Netizens from across Turkey covered the second hearing into the murder of Gezi Park protester Ali İsmail Korkmaz, held today [May 12, 2014] in the Central Anatolian province of Kayseri.
The trial was moved—allegedly for security reasons—from Eskişehir, where the murder was committed, reported Hürriyet daily. Despite the move, many activists from several locations organized buses and attended the trial.
Korkmaz, aged 19 at the time he was killed, was savagely beaten with sticks by plainclothes policemen while participating in a demonstration in Eskişehir on June 2, 2013. The demonstration was part of the nationwide protests that swept Turkey in late May, after the government announced plans to demolish İstanbul's Gezi Park in Taksim Square.
Korkomaz eventually died from his wounds. Several lawyers and other netizens acted as reporters during the trial so that the public could get more information about this tragic case.
On Twitter, lawyer and keen reporter Efkan Bolaç shared this photograph of the court room full of attendees:
A packed courtroom for the trial of Gezi Park protester, Ali İsmail Korkmaz (Source: @efkanbolac)
Amnesty International Turkey office also follows this case and shared this poster:
Amnesty International poster drawing attention to Ali İsmail Korkmaz's Trial. (Source: https://twitter.com/aforgutu/status/465763951242797056)
In addition, AI continues a campaign in this Twitter hashtag (#CezasızlığaSon) [End to Impunity]:
AI supports a Twitter campaign which translates to End to Impunity
Ordinary citizens like Abdurrahman Uyan, who has been following the case from the outset, used Twitter to share minute-by-minute updates from the trial:
Bir tanığın ifadesi, yürek dayanmaz ama bilmeli.. herkes görmeli bu canavarlığı #AliİsmailKorkmaz (via @ApoUyan) pic.twitter.com/BJYBPwavx1
— MuzoChe (@MuzoChe) May 12, 2014
These are statements from an eyewitness.. it is heartbreaking but everyone should know about this monstrosity
The tweets from the eyewitness read:
Other lawyers and netizens who covered the trial include @cerenkali, @AvGurkanKorkmaz, @apouyan and @cigdemmater.
The murder of Korkmaz is a tragic case and captured the attention of a wider public. He was beaten to death in a back street while he was escaping from police forces. The alleged murderers include both policemen and store owners. Months later, video footage of the murder scene, whose existence was initially denied, was discovered:
In another heart-breaking scene, Ali İsmail's parents attend the hearing with their son's photographs in their hands and stare at his alleged murderers:
Tutuksuz sanık 3 polis de salona geldi. Polis arkadaşlarının yanına sığındılar. Annem ve babamla aynı karedeler! pic.twitter.com/33B7yUHyNt
— Gürkan KORKMAZ (@AvGurkanKorkmaz) May 12, 2014
3 police officers who were not arrested come to the courtroom, find refuge beside their colleagues. My mother and father are at the scene here with the accused policemen.
Annemiz Emel Korkmaz duruşma salonunda: Katillerle yüzleşmeye geldim! pic.twitter.com/Ln9IVpr6UL
— FKF (@fikirkulupleri) May 12, 2014
Our mother Emel Korkmaz in the courtroom: I come here to confront murderers.
In today's hearing, witnesses identified policemen, other suspects and a business owner, as Korkmaz's attackers.
More photographs and a news roundup can be found in my follow up post at Erkan's Field Diary.

author: Erkan Saka


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Paraguay: Heavy Rains Complicate Assistance Efforts in Affected Areas · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

The heavy rains affecting the Southwestern Paraguayan department of Ñeembucú raise concerns as 100% of the agricultural production for self-consumption has been destroyed, according the local media [es] reports. On Monday, May 12, the delivery of goods had to be suspended due to weather harshness. Aldo Saldívar, director of logistic support at the National Emergency Service [es] informed that 87% of the affected population has received some kind of assistance, there had been rescues and aid for those people who refused to abandon their houses.
On Twitter, some users are sharing videos and joining the aid efforts:
Mañana en #AAM Ňeembucu en emergencia. ¿Te sumas? Mira el avance https://t.co/IRNa47q3gF
— Santiago González (@SanTula) Mayo 12, 2014
Tomorrow in Ňeembucu in emergency. Are you joining us? Take a look to this video.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Paraguay: Reflections on Uses of Twitter · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

The Blog de Edimedios – Inteligencia Colectiva [es] reflects on Twitter users who retweet without any previous selection.
[…] sometimes we got sick of “RETWEETitis” and for half an hour, we start retweeting everything that bumps into us. Each tweet we consider important, related to our tasks, etc etc.
About hashtags, the website notes:
Some people, for every word they write, put ahead the “hash” or “number asterik” which unconsciously -or on purpose- complicates reading the text itself. Another kind of Twitter users are those who don't use hashtags at all […]. Very interesting content gets lost among the thousands and thousands of chips in the net… due to both kind of abuses -and unabuses?- of the hashTag.
[…] We should keep a healthy balance between using hashtags and retweeting, which aren't bad, but their continuous use may result in “silencing a Twitter user” or, worst case scenario, a “wild unfollow”.
It's possible to find the reasonable manner. We only have to look for it.


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Should Anti-Nuclear Parents in Taiwan Bring Their Kids to Protests? · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

A baby sleeping at the anti-nuclear protest on April 27, 2014. The yellow banner says, “Stop the fourth nuclear power plant and give the right back to the people.” Photo by Instagram user vincentkensei. CC BY-NC 2.0
When Taiwanese police used powerful water cannons to evict anti-nuclear protesters on April 28 at 3 a.m., children were among the crowd.
Some protesters, who were rallying against the island's fourth nuclear power plant, had brought their young sons and daughters to the demonstration. The plant is now under security check and whether or not it would be put to operation would be decided by the result of an upcoming referendum.
Several newspaper columnists criticized those parents bringing their children to a protest scene as irrational for putting their children's lives in danger.
But protesting parents defended themselves, saying that the police should be the ones blamed and that their children also wanted to be heard:
清晨三點，警方開始從重慶南路那頭推進，現場民眾圍成很厚的人牆，試圖阻擋警察，不斷大喊帳棚有小孩，帳棚裡本來是有小孩，他們已經睡了，當時現場指揮官並未派出員警或是女性員警前來做柔性勸離，卻堅持以噴水車驅離，手持盾牌與警棍的警察也步步逼近，這些舉動讓擋在前頭奮力阻擋的反核民眾很驚恐，水車最後非常靠近，我們在民眾隔開的人牆護送下離開忠孝西路到一旁的人行道上，看到帳棚被警察一把舉起，直接用力甩開丟到隔壁車道，事先並沒有確認帳棚裡還有沒有人？
The police officers started the eviction at 3 a.m., and many protesters stood in front of us like walls and tried to stop them. They kept yelling that there were children in the tents and they were sleeping inside. The police commander insisted on using water cannons to evict protesters without sending police officers to arrange for the children to leave the scene. When the police officers with shields and rods approached and the water tank moved forward, the protesters in the front line were very anxious. They formed a human shield and helped us to move to the sidewalk on ZhongXiao West Road. We saw that police officers razed our tents and threw them into another lane before checking whether there were people inside.
我們在忠孝西路上靜坐的時候，有位六歲的小孩說，「我好希望政府跟在那些警察的後面噢，這樣他們就可以聽到我們的聲音，知道我們想要什麼、不要什麼。」孩子的願望多麼微薄，他只希望政府能在現場，但我要說的是，政府不應該站在警察的後面，應該站在警察的前面來傾聽兒童的心聲。
When we sat on ZhongXiao West Road, a six year-old told me, “I hope the government is with these police officers, so they can hear our voices and know what we want and what we do not want.” This is such a humble wish. He hopes the government could be there. What I want to say is that the government should not stand behind the police. Instead, the government should stand in front of the police so they can hear the words from these children.
Many of the parents who brought their children to the protest were members of the Association of Parent Participating Education in Taiwan. Shih-Che Lo, a member of this association, explained [zh] why the association provides support to parents who want to join the protests with their children:
A protesting mother brought her child away from the police and water cannons. Photo by Twitter user siegfy and retwitted by gjtaiwan. CC BY-NC 2.0
批評者說親子共學沒有站在小孩的立場想，出於他們對小孩的某些想像。這種想像看起來有兩個重點：（1）小孩很衰弱（需要被保護）；（2）小孩沒有，或只有很低的理解力。
The critics said that our association does not put ourselves in the children’s shoes, based on their imagining of how children should be. They have two assumptions: (1) children are weak (so they need to be protected), and (2) children do not have or have only limited intelligence to understand the world.
把小孩的未來納入視野，一種不同的想像就出現了：（1）小孩雖然很衰弱，但他得慢慢學會堅強起來，有力量去抵抗；（2）小孩雖然理解力還不是很強，但他可以從現在開使學習思考，並且把思考當成一種習慣。
If we believe children are our future, a different understanding emerges: (1) these children are weak, but they will learn to be strong and have the strength to resist, and (2) although their intelligence is not very sufficient, they can start to learn how to think and turn thinking into a habit.
Ninjiatext, a blogger who focuses on ethical issues, also discussed [zh] the matter:
多數的父母應該會這樣認為：基於保護難度的問題，我可能不會帶小孩接近衝突現場。
但這種直覺的倫理判斷也會排除一些人：老人、身心障礙者。他們也難以保護自身的安全，難道他們就不能去現場抗爭嗎？坐輪椅吊點滴的就不能在第一線嗎？這似乎會排除他們的一些基本權力。
Most parents might think that it is difficult to protect their children in a clash, so they would not bring their children to a protest.
Nevertheless, this kind of intuitive ethic judgment will exclude some people [from being allowed to join the protest], e.g., the elderly and the handicapped. Shouldn't those who cannot protect themselves join the protest? Can’t those in a wheelchair and with an IV be present at the front line? This kind of reasoning might expropriate them from their basic human rights.
E Ting Ying was with some children on that early morning, and she described how the children faced the eviction:
The protesters occupied ZhongXiao West Road. Photo by Instagram user deception. CC BY-NC 2.0
我相信每個孩子在現場，都曾感覺到不安和害怕，正如每一個在現場的大人一樣。畢竟這就是政府與警察想要傳遞給我們的。
但孩子一點都不脆弱，也並非大人所想的，他們什麼都不懂。
這是一群在愛與尊重當中長大的孩子，他們是帶著對於這些事的了解，來到這裡。
知道自己為什麼在這裡，就有力量面對害怕。
I believe all the children there felt uneasy and scared just like the adults. After all, this is what this government and the police want us to feel.
Nevertheless, children are not as vulnerable and ignorant as the adults think.
These children grow up in an environment full of love and respect. They came to the protest because they know what happens. If they know why they are there, they would have the strength to face their fear.
Wei-Han Huang, a reporter at the protest, also described what went through his mind when he saw parents with their children:
我知道，我懂，我也不贊成讓孩子有一點點，身陷危險的機會。但大家有沒有想過？【核能】也可能讓台灣的孩子們，身陷危險之中。
I know, I understand, and I agree that we should not let children be exposed to potential danger. Nevertheless, have you considered that the nuclear power plants would also expose the children in Taiwan to danger?

author: I-fan Lin


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From Liberated Aleppo · Global Voices
مرسيل شحوارو

This post is part of a special series of articles by blogger and activist, Marcell Shehwaro, describing the realities of life in Syria during the ongoing armed conflict between forces loyal to the current regime, and those seeking to oust it.
Taking flight in Aleppo. Photo by Zaid Muhamed. Used with position.
I am writing this article while repeatedly hitting the F5 key on my computer to reload the Facebook page with news about Aleppo, to see what the fighting on the front lines brings.
It seems my city is living a new situation, moving towards the liberation of some of its parts. We still don't know the size or extent of the new areas, nor can we verify what we're hearing. But all of us—those eagerly awaiting the liberation as well as those against it—are anxiously following the news.
The revolutionaries are hoping to reunite parts of the city, which has been divided for about two years. With some areas under government control, and others in the hands of the rebels, we residents of Aleppo have ourselves become a divided people, separated within ourselves. Parts of us live on in the memories we have left behind in areas of the city which we cannot visit for security reasons, while other parts try to integrate themselves into new areas of the city, and force ourselves to love these places.
The liberation of Aleppo started in July 2012. On that day we had dreams of peace which we are reassessing today, realising how naïve we were to assume that a peaceful movement of any magnitude would be able to overthrow a regime backed by international powers, on the one hand, and whose crimes—among them the use of chemical weapons—have been met with international silence. Between our dreams of instigating change in a peaceful manner in the exhausted countryside subjected to months of bombardment from the heart of the city, the liberation of huge swaths of the city took place. The armed revolutionary resistance forces took control of 70 per cent of Aleppo.
Liberation is usually accompanied by the destruction that takes place wherever firearms are used. The chaos and vandalism are compounded by the creativity of the regime and its airforce, which leaves behind the horrible stench of death wherever they fly. Suddenly, all the inhabitants of the liberated areas disappeared, moving either to the regime-controlled or occupied areas, which are safer from the bombardment and fighting, or towards the refugee camps on the Turkish border.
The four million inhabitants of Aleppo have no doubt been affected by the arrival of war at their doorstep. Those who believed in the importance of change as well as those who resisted it, have felt the impact of the liberation, which has changed the flow of time and life: the opening and closing hours of shops, the use of fuel, the constant cuts in the supply of electricity, water and communications services.
On the side of the war would rise warlords, profiteers who would not want the battle to end, who wanted to steal all that was good in us to sell to others.
The schools in the government-controlled areas were turned into refugee centres, to accommodate those who left the liberated areas and provide them with humanitarian aid: a wonderful gesture of comradeship. We believed this situation to be temporary, so some of us took the life-changing decision to move to the liberated areas and fill the places of the journalists, doctors and aid workers who'd fled. We were under the illusion that the complete liberation of the city would not be long in coming, and that we would soon be reunited with our families and return to our normal lives. Many left with nothing more than a small suitcase, not realising that they would be prevented from returning to their homes for almost two years.
At the time, I lived in the occupied part of Aleppo. On an almost weekly basis I was called in for a different type of interrogation—an experience I will write about one day. The interrogation was enough to paralyse all my activities related to the revolution, but it wasn't sufficiently threatening to force me to move to liberated Aleppo or outside Syria.
The areas which we heard were being liberated were as strange to us as the jungles of Africa, and didn't seem part of the city I have lived in my entire life. They were poor areas which we had no opportunity to learn about because of the lack of on-the-ground social work in Syria. They were areas which our social class, and perhaps our sectarian tendencies, prevented us from visiting before.
It's said that the Syrian revolution ignited the fire of sectarianism; some claim that before the revolution we lived together in harmony. But the bitter truth is that we lived side by side, in boxes which completely separated us from each other. It was in fact the revolution that brought all Syrians together, regardless of class, culture and sect. It wasn't until after the revolution that I heard the names of some of the district in liberated Aleppo, even though they're a mere a 10-minute car ride from my own neighbourhood. I had never had friends from those areas, and it would only after the revolution that I ever entertained the possibility that I would.
Salahuddin? The first revolutionary neighbourhood in Aleppo, and where I spent an entire year protesting almost daily? I never knew it exisited on the map of my city until 2012.
Aleppo was being liberated. It was being destroyed. And those of us sequestered in our cardboard boxes became subject to choices and uncertainties which mirrored those being experienced by the city itself. We had to chose between remaining captive in a self-imposed refugee centre, in an atmosphere of fear and the resistance of change; and liberating ourselves from that places in which we walled ourselves and our possessions, moving towards the others, joining them in the revolution with all its pain and sharing with them the anxiety and fear of barrels falling from the sky.
We complained constantly about all the friends we left on the other side whom we can no longer see. With every battle, a new extremist or a spiteful man wanted to rule us with his gun. We had to bear the feelings of neediness, sadness, and accumulated memories. Aleppo was changing, and we were changing with it.
Aleppo was liberated. Its new borders remained stable for almost two years, separated by a bloody passage manned by regime snipers ready to reap ten lives a day from among those who resisted the separation and crossed from one part of the city to the next. The alternative route between Aleppo's two sections, by car, took 10 hours, instead of the one hour it did previously. One day I will write about the impact of this division, and how the regime succeeded in making us spite each other.
The Aleppo which wasn't yet liberated was subject to the whims of the dictator. When he signalled his planes to rest, its residents would lead an almost normal life; and when he decided that no life should exist there, they'd have no life at all. This Aleppo is also on the threshold of a question: Are the liberated areas really liberated, given the existence of those who are forcing the city to look only like them? We were forced to lose parts of ourselves constantly, with every friend we have left on the other side.
Aleppo is redrawing its boundaries once again with blood: blood being spilled so we can move towards liberation, blood being spilled to maintain the status quo, blood being spilled to make us pay the price for opposing the oppressor.
Today we are all looking forward to a miracle that would make us all live in one city. So we can summon up the courage to dream of going back to having one state where we are all united in freedom.
We have the right to dream of unity.
And I have the right to dream of living as an individual, whole.
Marcell Shehwaro blogs at marcellita.com and tweets at @Marcellita, both primarily in Arabic. Read the other posts in the series here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

author: مرسيل شحوارو


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Two Activists Arrested During Electoral Crackdown in Algeria  · Global Voices
Abdou Semmar

Mohand Kadi and Moez Benncir are two young activists from Algeria and Tunisia who believe in democracy and in change and who have been jailed in Algiers prison since April 16. Their crime: Having the misfortune of sipping a coffee on a terrace at the center of the Algerian capital when opposition movement Barakat! (Enough!) was staging one of its peaceful demonstrations, just one day before presidential elections.
“Let's free them!” An online campaign for the release of Mohand Kadi and Moez Benncir. Public domain
Kadi and Benncir appeared in front of Sidi M’hamed tribunal judges in Algiers on May 11. The prosecutor called for at least one year of unsuspended prison term against them. They are accused of “unarmed gathering likely to disturb public peace.” Moez is also accused of staying illegally in Algeria.
A decision on their case is scheduled to be issued on May 18. Meanwhile, they will spend several more days in one of the cells of Serkadji Prison, a facility known for housing people convicted of terrorism.
On April 30, dozens of protesters marched to Azazga, a town in the northern Algerian zone of Kabylie, in solidarity with the two young men:
Moreover, a lawyer's collective was established to defend Kadi and Benncir. “These two youngsters didn't even take part any demonstration or gathering. They were arrested while sitting on an Algerian cafe terrace. They were taken in for questioning for the simple reason that they are members of the organization Rassemblement Action Jeunesse.” The Youth Action Assembly, also known as RAJ, is a network of young people working to defend civil liberties and promote youth rights in Algeria.
Abdelghani Badi, a lawyer, staunch defender of human rights, and member of the collective explains, “their trial is a political one.” Badi is working to help the two activists, who have been incarcerated for more than 25 days.
For Badi, this case is a first in of its kind in recent Algerian history. “They were jailed before even being sentenced. No article in the law stipulates preventive detention for persons who took part in a gathering. No legal proceeding has been respected in this case,” Badi says, disparagingly. He adds that the Algerian regime is using Kadi and Benncir as scapegoats to frighten  the other activists. “Algerian authorities are trying to instill fear so as to prevent young Algerians from demanding their rights and protesting peacefully in the country. During the trial, the judge interrogated Mohand and Moez at length on their ties with the “Barakat!” movement and with RAJ, as if adhering to a civil society organization or to a citizen collective represented a violation of the law.”
Pending the verdict on May 18, a large online and offline campaign was launched in support of Mohand Kadi and Moez Benncir in demand of their immediate release. A collective Facebook account under the nickname “collectif Libération Mohand Moez”- “Freedom for Mohand Moez”  was created in order to heighten the Algerian public opinion on the fate of these youngsters. Mustapha Benfodil, Algerian journalist and author spoke of a Kafkaesque trial: “We are the only country in the world to call the ‘act of two young people sitting in a cafe’ an  ‘illegal demonstration,'” he argued.
The case of Mohand Kadi and Moez Benncir has gained attention beyond Algeria. Several international NGOs such as Amnesty International, EuromedRights, Avaaz, Human Right Watch [fr] and many others expressed publicly their indignation and called for the activitists’ release and for the end of their judicial harassment. It remains to be seen if the Algerian regime will yield to this internal and external pressure on May 18. In the meantime, Mohand Kadi and Moez Benncir will continue spending their nights behind bars.

author: Abdou Semmar


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Venezuela: Pro-government Website Goes Briefly Offline · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

After website Aporrea [es] went briefly offline on May 10, 2014, a number of comments appeared on Twitter. Apparently the portal domain was withdrawn for a while, thus revealing that the page is hosted somewhere in the United States. To many people, that the most important portal for Venezuelan pro-government opinions depends on services based in the US opens up criticism and discussion about the problem foreign currency blockade and its inevitable consequences.
Aquí la muestra http://t.co/4EudBwSG3F RT @victoramaya: la escasez de dólares llegó a Aporrea… se les venció el dominio y no lo han pagado
— Lisseth Boon (@boonbar) May 10, 2014
This is the evidence. RT @victoramaya: dollar shortage finally affected Aporrea… their domain expired and they haven't paid for it.
Anthonny Arias outilnes the irony in the situation:
En serio, cómo me he podido reír porque aporrea no tiene dolaritos para pagar el dominio… ¡Jajaja!
— Anthonny Arias (@AnthonnyAG) May 10, 2014
Really, I've been laughing as Aporrea doesn't have the big bucks to pay for the domain. LOL!
Lastly, Publio Escipión expresses doubts from the critical texts published on the portal in the last months:
Aporrearon a http://t.co/HiEyeLhdSa. El dominio caducó ayer.¿No hay dólares o lo dejaron cerrar por las críticas? http://t.co/QU07I4ZEK2
— Publio C. Escipión (@PublioCEscipion) May 10, 2014
Aporrea got pounded. The domain expired yesterday. There are no dollars or they were closed due to the criticism?

author: Laura Vidal


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An Artistic Glimpse Into Exiled Iranians’ Nostalgia for the Homeland · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Saman Aghvami's “I'm Not There” is a featured photographic exhibition during Toronto's Contact Photography Festival.
Many Iranians living in the diaspora are faced with nostalgia for a home country that they cannot return to because of the threat of persecution. Recent comments by moderate President Hassan Rouhani suggest that he believes Iranians abroad should be allowed back without fear of punishment, but returning still remains a risk for many. So they are left with reminiscing about their homeland from afar.
Iranian-Canadian photographer Saman Aghvami attempted to capture that feeling in a photo exhibit called “I'm Not There” for Toronto's Contact Photography Festival.
“I asked, ‘Where would you go if you had two hours to spend in Iran?’ These pictures were their answers,” Aghvami said in an interview with Global Voices.
Aghvami, who worked as a photojournalist for the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) prior to moving to Canada, photographed Iranians in their current homes and projected images of different places that evoke feelings of nostalgia for the subjects, who included activists, artists, minorities, journalists and dissidents. Aghvami was drawn to the subject of exile and nostalgia for a home out of reach because of his own experience as an Iranian living in Canada.
Handwritten notes by each of the subjects were included to explain the places in Iran they were nostalgic for. Photo by Semco Salehi. Used with permission.
One photo, entitled “Rouzbeh: Filmmaker,” captures its subject reminiscing about the Tehran Bazaar. “He said to him the bazaar has always been a metaphor for this world, and life,” explained Aghvami, who included handwritten notes by each of his subjects to explain their choices.
The right of Iranians living in exile to return has become a salient discussion ever since President Rouhani asked Iran's Intelligence and Foreign Ministries to allow the return of Iranians living abroad. In response, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular, Parliamentary, and Iranian Expatriate Affairs Hassan Qashqavi urged those living outside Iran to email the Foreign Ministry and inquire about their travel status at iranianaffairs@mfa.gov.ir.
Iran's Prosecutor General Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejehi, however, has made statements that evoke little confidence in Iranians living abroad. In a press conference in July of 2013, he stated that everyone is allowed to return to Iran, but not everyone is allowed to leave the country. In a May 12 report by Shargh newspaper, it was revealed that many of the inquiries sent to the Foreign Ministry have yet to be answered:
@SharghDaily:40/100 Iranians inquiries 2 return country was sent to Minister of Intelligence, but nothing heard back http://t.co/lPItWCOo0S
— Nasim Sarabandi (@NasimRaha) May 12, 2014
Furthermore, cases such as former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati's continued incarceration have instilled very little hope amongst some looking to go back safely.
Stories like this are w many Iranians are afraid to return to or visit Iran: you could become an accidental pawn. http://t.co/pMCX8IvlEl
— Jasmin Ramsey (@JasminRamsey) April 11, 2014
On May 11, Iranian-American journalist Negar Mortazavi posted a tweet regarding the right to return of Iranians, addressed to the Twitter account associated with President Rouhani's office. The post caused a stir when Rouhani's account retweeted it. This led many to comment that the concept of the right to return for Iranians who fear persecution is a policy Rouhani agrees with, but has yet to implement within the country.
The right to return to our homeland without the fear of arrest. CC: @HassanRouhani — Negar Mortazavi نگار (@NegarMortazavi) May 11, 2014
President @HassanRouhani retweets @NegarMortazavi‘s post: “The right to return to our homeland without the fear of arrest.”
@HassanRouhani retweeted ex VOA reporter, @NegarMortazavi‘s tweet: right to return to iran w/o the fear of arrest. pic.twitter.com/qOsWPwY9lu
— Fardad Farahzad (@FardadFarahzad) May 11, 2014
— Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) May 11, 2014
“I'm Not There” runs from May 1-24 in Toronto at the I.M.A. Gallery.

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Does This Sexist, Violent Video Make You Want to Vote? · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQaZxFi6_Io
Denmark's government has officially retracted a violent and pornographic animated video [warning: graphic] that was created to encourage young people to vote in the European Parliament elections this month. The viral video featuring the fictional character “Voteman” was defended by the Speaker of the Danish Parliament, Mogens Lykketoft, this week as being “fairly innocent” and humorous. Now he concedes they should have considered the idea more carefully [da]. The video is still widely shared and discussed online, but critics insist there are more appropriate ways to interest young people in European politics than with images of decapitations and group sex.

author: Solana Larsen


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Ethics and Transparency in Private Companies · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

More and more people are demanding transparency from their governments and leaderships. By demanding transparency, what people want is to confirm the presence of ethics in government acts. But, what about private companies? Ingrid Kost thinks [es] ethics is indipensable if we want corporate sustainability:
The demand for more transparency and accountability increases the companies responsibility for improving the dissemination of information regarding their activities. Sustainability reports appear as a tool that favors the convergence of the company with a society that increasingly supports its environment ethic behavior.

author: Juan Arellano


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EU Survey Indicates Correlation Between Anti-Minorities Views and  Ideological Right     · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The French blog Rue89 analyzes the results [fr] of the Pew Center Survey on attitudes toward immigrants and minority groups in the European Union. Rue89 highlights that Roma population are the most ostracized minority group, especially in Italy and France :
It also highlights that negative opinions about Roma, Muslims and Jews are “consistently more common among people on the ideological right.” It is to be noted that it is forbidden for a french public institution to collect population data based on ethnicity [fr] or race.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Madagascar to Start Distributing Crude Oil Locally and Hope to Boost Job Market · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

L'Express reports that the Madagascar Oil Group will start testing distribution of 55,000 to  73,000 barrels [fr] of crude oil from Tsimiroro, Madagascar onto the local market. It is part of the new government strategy to ingnite economic recovery and strive for energy independence [fr]. The oil exploitation is also expected to create new jobs for local staff [fr] with expertise in oil extraction.


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One Macedonian Man’s 65-Year Battle to Get His Property Back · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

A Macedonian blogger and activist has brought attention to the plight of Mr. Dushko Brankovikj [mk]. Brankovikj has had his property nationalized twice by the state over the last 65 years, and although he won all the court cases regarding this matter to date, Macedonian state institutions have failed to implement the verdicts and return his property.
The elderly man is still protesting in front of a primary court in Skopje and plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Macedonian activist Nikola Pisarev posted a photo of a man holding handwritten signs reading, “How can municipal decision be stronger than the Supreme Court decision? It can with this Supreme Court. With such judgments we'll end up on Mars instead of in the EU! The Supreme Court should be a Corrector, not a Caricature”:
the elderly Brankovikj protesting in front of Supreme Court in Skopje, Macedonia. Photo by Aleksandar Pisarev, published with permission.
Pisarev also included further explanation of the image on his blog:
Индивидуалниот активизам често има за цел решавање на лични проблеми што е легитимно, особено кога повеќе луѓе се засегнати од еден ист проблем (како во случајов нефункционланоста и „неправедната“ правда на судството во Македонија). Затоа овој човек заслужува респект и поддршка од сите нас кои веруваме во моќта на активистичкото граѓанско делување.
Во отсаство на медиуми и во отсаство на институционална правда само протестот ни преостанува!
Човеков не го познавам, го запознав некни, индивидуално протестира пред суд скоро секој ден, ја бара правдата уште од 1973. Како што ми објаснуваше и тоа што ми покажа од материјали човеков е во право. За жал нефункционалната локална самоуправа му го загорчува животот и најгрубо му го крши правото на приватна сопственост.
Респект за чинот чичко.
Individual activism often starts with a goal of solving personal problems, which is legitimate, as many others might be concerned by the same issue (in this case the non-functioning of the Macedonian judiciary resulting in “unjust” justice). Therefore, this man deserves respect and support by all of us who believe in the power of civic action.
In the absence of media and absence of institutional justice, the only thing one can do is protest!
I do not know this man from before. I met him few days ago, he is holding individual protests before the court almost every day, seeking justice since 1973. According to his explanation and the materials he showed me, he is right. Sadly, the non-functional local government makes his life bitter and brutally infringes on his right to private property.
Respect for your act, Uncle.
The most recent US State Department Human Rights Report on Macedonia, published on Feb. 28, 2014, notes the following among the key issues plaguing the country:
“Political interference, inefficiency, favoritism toward well placed persons, prolonged judicial processes, and corruption characterized the judicial system.”
As a result of Pisarev's profile on his blog and social media, several independent media outlets have published stories about Brankovikj's case and people have now taken up commenting not only this particular matter but about Macedonian courts and government systems in general on social media and elsewhere.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Peru and NetMundial: Same Old, Same Old… or Worse · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Chillinfart writes [es] on V de Vergüenza about NetMundial, which he considers as a farce. To him this was:
a meeting just for the sake of the picture, with core topics revolving around the share-out for Internet domains and concerns about cybersecurity (ring a bell?), leaving aside topics as neutrality on the net. In fact [telecommunication provider] Telefónica used the context [es] and asked messaging service to provide “colaboraction”.
After noting that, in his opinion, there is lack of understanding about some associations of Internet in Peru about assistants to NetMundial, and says about official Peruvian intervention on the conference:
Fortunately, Peru went off only on holidays [es] to this event. Really, if Peru was part or not, in any case we'd lose, either because of the doublespeak (whuile we suffer from the same problem as in Brazil) or because of the known fear from authoridaties and private sector have to Internet and exprssed in more than a way, up to the point that VICE magazine pointed out that mediocrity in telecommunications benefits piracy by inhibiting the access to the offer there is online.


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Ugandan Bloggers Demand the Release of Ethiopian Bloggers · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ugandan bloggers Prudence Nyamishana, Javie Ssozi, Florence Naluyimba, Muwonge David and Chris Igune delivered a letter to the Ethiopian ambassador in Uganda demanding the release the jailed Ethiopian bloggers and journalists:
#Ugandan #bloggers demand for the release of #Zone9Bloggers in #Ethiopia. We went to meet the ambassador but he's out pic.twitter.com/Hux0u5ft2q
— Florence Naluyimba (@Floramujaasi) May 9, 2014

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Playing with Marbles · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

From Colombia, Carlos Múnera, author of Todos somos iguales blog, recalls past times, when he used to play with marbles [es], when “the stage was like a duel that confronted more than one boy”:
The positions start, the bending downs, the visual calculations and the impressive aim by the game savants, more than gifted savants, as this is a gift, a present from above. They watch, calculate, place the marble between the fingers that get wrinkle and firmly anchor and taz!, a well-aimed shot to the victim and the stronger one has his stock increased. The victims? Weak participants that reduce their moms’ wallets, who can't have a pack of marbles last more than three days.
Marbles. Photo by usuer jacilluch on Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0.


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Problems with Computer Virus? Click Here · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

[All links direct to pages in Spanish.]
Who hasn't had virus problems with their computers? Thinking about that, Andrea Collazo posts [en] on Profesora de Informática an educational piece about free tools to protect computers from virus and malware. After listing various antivirus that are available and advising about its use, she shares a final suggestion:
Every malware that can infect your computer usually aims to steal your personal data, your passwords, e-mails, etc..
Therefore, if your computer has been infected, after stabilizing it, the best thing to do would be change the passwords for the services you use on a daily basis.
Remember to use safe passwords!!


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Remixing Videos on Communication Tapping · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

[All links direct to pages in Spanish.]
Henry El Sucio reflects about telecommunications tapping, or chuzadas as they are known in Colombia, as a result of the tappings from months ago to negotiadors in the so called Peace Process between the government and the Colombian guerrilla.
Furthermore, Henry comments about the making of the video:
This small exercise of remixing video –diverse source of news, movies and TV shows– is a part of the transmedia narrations workshop that's going on in Parque Biblioteca España in Medellin.


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Technological Activism on Campaign Against #LeyTelecom · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Image from the post #LeyTelecom: from outrage to citizen technological action, used with permission.
In the context of the campaign against Ley Telecom in Mexico, Juan Manuel Casanueva from SocialTic briefly analyzes [es] different citizen technological initiatives that the population is using in the movilization to express insatisfaction with this bill of law. He mentions the platform for petitions on AccessNow [es] to submit a letter [es] to Mexican authorities, the telephone platform [es] on La Quadrature du Net [es] for placing calls to senators for citizens to express their position regarding #LeyTelecom, the website Explica.la/ley [es], developed by Codeando México [es] where users can find interpretations or “translations into citizen language” of the bill of law original text.
Juan Manuel concludes:
It will depend on the inherent freedom on internet, as well as on the labor of analysts and activists for the people to identiy which aspects of a law are or are not favorable and to strongly demand them.


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Where Did the Blogs from El Salvador Go? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Hunnapuh remembers [es] his first steps on the world of blogs along woth other pioneer bloggers in El Salvador, and reflects that “from all those bloggers, there are very few who are still relatively constant […] today, everything is accelerated and has to be said with 140 characters, this is not bad but it doesn't leave time to see in depth,” and adds:
Blogs helped to strongly raise the question of so called “citizen journalism” and real “citizen opinion”, as most of them were never related to official, particular media, nor groups with specific power, and it was from the blogs that some important claims were made or were published news that otherwise would have never get to the public.
He ends up with “greetings to all Salvadoran Bloggers, still active or not”.


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4G and other Indonesian Inventions · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

4G, the fastest data transmission technology of our time, was developed by an Indonesian. Another interesting Indonesian invention is the electric shoes which give women the tool to defend themselves by stunning an attacker with an electric shock.

author: Mong Palatino


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A 5-Minute Video Could Be Your Ticket to New York · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) invites young people under the age of 25 to submit original 5-minute videos on migration, diversity and social inclusion to the Plural+2014 film festival. Three winning videos will receive $1000 and the makers will be invited to New York City to attend an award ceremony.
The deadline is June 27, 2014.


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Argentina and Open Access · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Fernando Ariel López writes [es] for Infotecarios about Law 26899: Creating Digital Institutional Repositories of Open, Owned, or Shared Access [es], also known as the Open Access Law, approved in Argentina in November 2013, after a long process initiated in 2009.
The scientific-technological production resulting from the work, training, and/or projects funded wholly or partially by the public funds from its researchers, technologists, faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and masters and doctoral students should be shared in free and open access.
Open Access logo, obtained from Logo Wikimedia under the CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication license.
Later, Fernando quotes Jorge Atrio from the REDES Center:
Some big publishers might perceive the initiative as a threat to their interests, but progress on free access to scientific information should generate a consensus and different types of institutional re-engineering.
Finally he includes an analysis of how true to “open access” the law is:
According to the analysis [es] and variables that the Board and policy estimators are considering in favor of open access to the MELIBEA scientific production, the Open Access law in Argentina is 84.47% OA.
Other articles by Fernando Ariel López in Infotecarios that make a “brief” introduction to the open access to knowledge movement:
Una guerra de ciencia ¿ficción?: monopolios editoriales vs. acceso abierto [es]
Un Bien Público sin precedente = vieja tradición y nueva tecnología [es]
Verde, que te quiero verde… acceso abierto [es]


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Blogger Reflections: What Does a Woman Want? · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Bernardette Tristan Amiel blogging [es] for Mujeres Construyendo brings up a story about King Arthur to reflect on the expectations women have regarding men:
Camelot would have a new king, unless Arthur could answer a simple question. Arthur agreed upon giving the answer. The question was: what does a woman want the most? The black knight gave him three days to find the answer, and if it was correct, Arthur would keep his kingdom. Otherwise, Camelot would have a new king.
At the end, she concludes with the same idea she ends up the story she shares:
The greatest wish a woman has is to be her own sovereign.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Costa Rica: Ongoing Teacher Strike · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On Tuesday, May 13, the teacher strike in Costa Rica had been going on for 13 days, and President Luis Guillermo Solís called educators’ [es] attention asking them to get back to their classrooms and calling on their patriotism: “With all due respect and humility, I am asking the teachers to let us get back to normal in all schools. This is not about bargaining any of the teachers’ rights, but about getting back to school to prevent more students to be affected”:
#CostaRica: Presidente @luisguillermosr pide a educadores deponer la huelga. Detalles en #CB24Noticias pic.twitter.com/wQXPzX5ScL
— CB24.TV (@cb24tv) Mayo 13, 2014
President Luis Guillermo Solis asks educators to end up the strike. Details on #CB24Noticias.


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Civil Society Resumes Watchdog for Guinea-Bissau’s Presidential Run-Off · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Getting set for Guinea-Bissau's presidential run-off on May 18, 2014, the Group of Civil Society Organizations for the Elections (GOSCE) resumed its monitoring activities of the electoral process on May 14.
Live updates from the ground can be followed in the website bissauvote.com, which provides a map of reports that are being collected by a network of about 400 citizen observers spread around the country. A press release [pdf] for the second round informs:
Os monitores irão enviar dados via SMS sobre o desenrolar da campanha eleitoral, a cobertura dos meios de comunicação, em particular da rádio, meio de comunicação privilegiado na Guiné-Bissau, as actividades de educação cívica eleitoral e sobre o processo de votação nas oito regiões e no Sector Autónomo de Bissau.
Monitors will send data via SMS about the ongoing electoral campaign, media coverage (radio in particular, the most privileged media in Guinea-Bissau), civic electoral education activities, and the voting process in the eight regions of the Autonomous Sector of Bissau.
The first round of the elections, on April 13, which saw a turn-out of more than 80 percent, was also monitored by GOSCE (a coalition of 15 national organizations), in partnership with non-governmental organization One World and with the support of the European Union, Global Voices reported.
The run-off is being held between José Mário Vaz, from the historical PAIGC party, and Nuno Nabiam, running as an independent. The final vote takes place more than two years after the military coup d'etat that interrupted Guinea-Bissau's 2012 elections, a few days before the presidential run-off.

author: Sara Moreira


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Guyana: Laugh & Learn  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana Gyal blogs about the power of laughter: Through the use of humour, she was able to help a young woman be confident enough to learn.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Is Breastfeeding in Public indecent? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Is breastfeeding in public “indecent”? That's the question raised [es] by Alejandra on Verde Alegría, after she was forced to breastafeed in private and realized she was not the only one:
To me, breastfeeding was -and still is- something absolutely normal and I thought everybody shared that idea. Nevertheless, I've recently seen on news portals many mothers telling that they have been discriminated for breastfeeding their children in public, and they even have left some of those places for being called almost as obscene for simply feeding their babies.
She explains this position as one double standard from society, due to some false moral and ignorance. And she claims:
No mother wants to show her breasts just because. I've never met a mother who intentionally wants to exhibit herself to other people “for her to be seen”. Of course, we are all prudish. But the thing is breastfeeding isn't an act that goes against the sense of shame. If there is someone who considers this has some kind of stimulating feature, or that it is somehow “dirty” or shameless. it's not the mother's problem, it's theirs, the person who has a completely distorted vision of sexuality.


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Jamaica: Where the Hashtag Stops  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Active Voice shares an eye-opening collection of tweets that offers different perspectives about #bringbackourgirls.


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Japan’s Yu Terasawa Named ‘Information Hero’ by Reporters Without Borders · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

Reporters Without Borders, a France-based non-governmental organization that defends freedom of information and freedom of the press, has for the first time created a list of 100 Information Heroes. From Japan, Yu Terasawa was among them. He is an investigative journalist and has written books exposing police corruption.
Reporters Without Borders writes:
Yu Terasawa has few friends in the Japanese police. He was still a student when he began his career in journalism by exposing police corruption. More than 20 years later, about 100 agents and officers have been fired, prosecuted or subjected to disciplinary action as a result of the countless articles and books he has written on the subject.
[…]
Even among his own colleagues, not everyone is a friend… On 28 March this year, he launched legal proceedings against the government after a law on state secrets was introduced, a major attack on investigative journalism.

author: Keiko Tanaka


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Libraries and Free Culture · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

The blog from Parque Biblioteca Tomás Carrasquilla – La Quintana, in Medellin, Colombia, expresses [es] its support for free culture. After explaining the liberties [es] free culture brings, the blog describes how can this fit together with a librarian's work:
Public libraries can learn from these liberties to share the creative processes carried out within the communities they serve, and this can empower local information service, co-created, shared, noticed and available to everybody so other libraries, organizations, study groups and individuals may be able to replicate them, improve them and adapt them to their own needs and necessities, so in tiime they can give back those experiences to the original node and diversify what they have learned.


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Meet Joshua Beckford Who Attended Oxford University at the Age of 6 · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Omg Ghana reports about Joshua Beckford's outstanding academic achievement:
At age 8, you were probably practicing a sport or was preparing for the third grade. Well, meet an 8 year old with a twist, Joshua Beckford. This particular young boy is by far not your average 8 year old. He studied at Oxford University at the age of 6, and he is the face of the National Autistic Society’s Black and Minority (BME) campaign. It’s put in to place to highlight the obstacles that people with black minority background often encounter when trying to obtain the access to support and services they need. Beckford is one of a kind, he is too advanced for his required school grade so that lead him into being homeschooled. He excels in Math, Foreign Languages, History, Philosophy, IT and Science.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Mother’s Day According to Mexican Government · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Osiris Jasso reflects [on] recent Mother's Day and how it was “celebrated” by the Mexican government on social networks.
Mother's Day is an excellent occasion to highlight the importance of providing every woman with education and opportunities for them to become mothers just by choice, to demand better working conditions and salaries for working mothers, to raise awareness about a fair division of domestic labor and to reopen the discussion about fatherhood for those fathers who want to get actively involved in birth and raising of our children. For the Presidency of the Republic, however, it's all about some mom's phrases.
Don't you answer me, I'm your mother.
After noting that this repeats the old stereotype that reduces a woman's role to simply being a life reproducer, he concludes:
Spreading a campaign based on sexist stereotypes about motherhood is against the spirit of a long-held struggle for acknowledging women's rights, and has an alarming dimension when it's a authority as the Presidence of the Republic that carries it on with a so broad communicative mood. It'd be great if I had such a big audience to be able to disseminate one or another campaign [es], a much smarter one.