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Police in Macedonia Strong-Arm Journalists Into Erasing Riot Arrest Footage  · Global Voices
Temjana Popovska

Macedonian journalists were aggressively forced by police to delete their photos and video of arrests during ethnically charged protests that left trash containers burned and public facilities damaged in the Gorce Petrov suburb of Skopje.
As officers began detaining a total of 27 protesters, reporters from Radio Free Europe, NovaTV, and Focus say they also became a target of police for documenting the action. Police pushed and shoved journalists, with one officer even confiscating a camera to scrub the footage himself.
The riots during the evenings of 19 and 20 May, 2014 were a reaction to the killing of a 19-year-old recent high school graduate after he and his father chased a thief who had stolen a bicycle.
The suspect currently in custody for the murder is of Albanian ethnicity, and while riots created tension between ethnic Albanian and Macedonian populations of Skopje, Macedonian citizens of all ethnicities appealed through social networks to their fellow countrymen to keep calm and deescalate this situation.
Macedonian activist Biljana Ginova wrote on Facebook that all the people in the country should be sickened by the hatred. Her Facebook status was widely circulated on social networks and later spread to mainstream media sites.
Треба да сме револтирани оти полицијата која ја плаќаме не нѐ штити, не е на наша страна, таа е само оружје на истите сеирџии кои од фотелјите нѐ гледаат како гинеме
We should be revolted that we pay the police to not protect us, they are not on our side and it is used only as weapon by the same people who are watching us die from their armchairs.
Macedonia is home to 2.1 million people, of which 63 percent are ethnic Macedonian and 25 percent are ethnic Albanian. The country has a history of ethnic tension and intolerance, the most recent being the armed conflict of 2001 between Macedonian national security forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents. That ended with the Ohrid Framework Agreement that granted greater minority rights for Albanians in the country.
Many minors were among those protesting on the streets throughout the suburban Skopje neighborhood, setting up barricades in the streets, throwing stones at the security forces, burning trash containers, and shouting slurs offensive to the Albanian population. The police threw flash bombs in order to disperse them, while elderly residents in the neighborhood begged police to use less force against the protesters saying, “Don’t drag them!”
Photo by A1on, used with permission.
A journalist from the web portal NovaTV, Sashka Cvetkovska, told Radio Free Europe that they had initially been granted a permit by police authorities to take photos and videos of the riots, but things seemed to change when the police started arresting the protesters:
Со многу висок тон и речиси насилно почнаа од нас да бараат да ги избришеме сами снимките. Една од колешките ја турнаа, мене ме влечеа за рака, не навредуваа. Јас одбив да ги избришам снимките, не ја дадов камерата, при што едниот од полицајците насилно ми ја одзема и почна самиот да брише
The started pursuing us and almost violently required us to delete the recordings ourselves. One of my colleagues was pushed, I was dragged by my hand and we were insulted. I refused to delete the footage and didn't turn over my camera, and after that one of the police officers violently took it and started deleting it by himself.
Journalist Meri Jordanovska for web portal Plusinfo said they witnessed police acting violently while taking a young man into custody:
Го влечеа за земја, го фатија за раце, а кога падна на земја го удрија со клоци. И ние тоа го снимавме и го фотографиравме
They grabbed him by the hands, dragged him on the ground and started kicking him. We photographed and filmed all of that.
The reporters filed a petition with the Ministry of Internal Affairs over the the police aggression, but it was rejected. A ministry press release stated:
Од извршените разговори со сите 34 полициски службеници кои учествувале во активностите на полицијата, не може да се утврди дека некој воопшто бил инволвиран во настан како што е наведен во претставката, односно одземање и бришење на снимен видео-материјал и фотографии.
After speaking with all 34 officers who participated in the police activity, we can’t determinate that anyone was involved in the event as it is specified in the petition, or confiscated and deleted recorded photo and video material.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe representative Dunja Mijatovic expressed deep concern over the behavior of police with the journalists covering the demonstrations in Skopje:
Новинарите мора да бидат во можност да  покријат демонстрации слободно и без страв од малтретирање. Секое прекршување на правата на новинарите е јасно кршење на правото на слобода на медиумите и не може да се толерира.
The journalists must be able to cover demonstrations freely and without any fear of harassment. Any violation of the rights of journalists is a clear violation of the right to freedom of the media and can not be tolerated.
The Association of Journalists of Macedonia also contemned the aggression:
Making a pressure to delete and deleting photo and video materials by the police represents is direct violation of the Article 16 of the Constitution which prohibits censorship and guarantees free access to information and the freedom to receive and to transfer information . With this behavior the  police prevented the journalists from reporting the event and put itself in the role of a censor who decides what should and what shouldn’t be seen by the Macedonian public.

author: Temjana Popovska


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Russian Internet Users, Putin is After Your Digital Wallets · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

A Yandex.Money credit card. YouTube screenshot.
In addition to the steadily increasing censorship of the RuNet and crackdowns on opposition websites, Russia has now imposed strict regulations on online payment methods. The new law, due to come into effect later this summer, limits anonymous online monetary transfers to organisations, and outright bans anonymous online transfers between individuals.
Although it is ostensibly part of a package of laws aimed at fighting terrorism [Global Voices report], one cannot but recall that opposition leader Alexey Navalny's extremely successful 2013 mayoral campaign was funded largely through online donations, some of which were anonymous. Navalny's campaign was criticized [Global Voices report] for this lack of transparency at the time, but until now no action was taken by the authorities.
On Friday, May 23, the offices of Yandex.Money, the popular online payments system associated with Russia's largest search engine, were searched by Russia's Investigative Committee, apparently with regards to campaign fraud accusations against the summer 2013 Moscow mayoral campaign. This is due to the fact that several of Navalny's supporters donated large sums of money to the campaign as individuals, and then asked for their Yandex.Money wallets to be replenished through donations. In this way, ran the thinking, Navalny's campaign wouldn't have to worry about potential foreign donations, and the like, while obeying the letter of the law.
Navalny responded to the Investigative Committee searches on his blog (which is blocked by order of Russian Internet regulator Roskomnadzor), claiming that the donation process was transparent — all funds received by those involved in the scheme in excess of 1 million rubles (the legal donation limit) were transferred over to Navalny's political party, which then used it for the campaign. Navalny also wrote that this new criminal investigation is part of an overall campaign to limit the possibility of crowd-funding political actions and elections. The ability to collect millions of rubles from thousands of supporters, and the lack of control over the political process that is inherent in that, scares the Kremlin.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Andrey Tselikov


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Quintuplet Birth in Guatemala · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Guatemalan media is reporting [es] a quintuplet birth in Guatemala City. The babies’ weight, three girls and two boys, is between one pound with 9 ounces and two pounds with 12 ounces, a weight to be expected as they were delivered on the 29th week of pregnancy. They were immediately admited in the high risk neontal ward. The mother, Maria Magdalena Jiménez, had had previous conceiving difficulties, so she went through a fertility treatment, with the result of this multiple pregnancy. The babies have stable health conditions, but are under medical observation.
On Twitter, the multiple delivery didn't go unnoticed:
Maria Magdalena Jiménez, de 28 años, la madre de los quintillizos. Es el segundo caso en 5 años en un hospital del Seguro Social.
— Rudy-to González (@rgonzalez_eu) Mayo 30, 2014
28 year old Maria Magdalena Jiménez, mother of quintuplets. This is the second case in 5 years at a Social Security hospital.
Ampliación: Maria Magdalena Jiménez 28 años, dio a luz a quintillizos, 3 nenas y 2 varones en IGSS de Pamplona Z.13. pic.twitter.com/ZjN9UQwOpB
— Victor Alvarez (@valvarez969) Mayo 30, 2014
Update: 28 year old Maria Magdalena Jiménez, delivered quintuplets, 3 girls and 2 boys at Pamplona IGSS Z.13.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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Accessibilty for Handicapped in El Salvador · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Jaime Vásquez notes [es] on his blog Desde mi silla [From my wheelchair] about accessibility issues for handicapped people in El Salvador and concludes:
La adecuación de espacios para lograr la accesibilidad, constituye la protección de los derechos humanos de las personas con discapacidad, al eliminarse las barreras físicas y sociales y facilitar el acceso, el libre desplazamiento y un mejor aprovechamiento de los espacios públicos.
The adaptation of spaces for accessibility is the protection of human rights for handicapped people, by eliminating physical and social barriers and making access and free movements easier and improving use and enjoyment of public spaces.

author: Juan Arellano


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Caribbean: Hurricane Season is Here · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Whether you believe in climate change and its possible effects on the weather, you need to be prepared…
Abeng News Magazine reminds us that today is the official start of the Atlantic Caribbean Hurricane Season.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Cuban Journalists & Bloggers · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

One side questioned the silence of the press on issues of interest to the public and the other cast doubt on the convenience of publishings posts with ‘incendiary’ news.
Havana Times looks at the divide between journalists and bloggers, making the point that this “runs counter to the fusion that takes place in cyberspace.”


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Guyana’s Walter Rodney Inquiry · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

David, at Barbados Underground, admits—in the interest of full disclosure—that he represents the Guyana Trades Union Congress in the Commission of Inquiry into Walter Rodney's death, and has some concerns about the matter.


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“Life is a Dream and we can Live With Illusion” · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Carlos Mora reflects [es] on elbikramyoga about yoga, philosphy, elections and life in general:
Ayer había Elecciones Europeas y yo voté con ilusión por primera vez en muchos años. Soy rebelde y utópico por naturaleza, no puedo evitar tener sueños y querer cambiar las cosas que no me gustan. No me gusta acomodarme a la vida fácil ni pensar que hay que aguantarse con lo que hay. Estoy seguro de que podemos cambiar las cosas si nos lo proponemos, tengo el sueño y la ilusión de conseguirlo.
Yesterday we had an election in Europe and I voted with illusion for the first time in years. I am a rebel and an unrealist by nature, I can't help it but I have dreams and will to the change things I don't like. I don't like to adjust myself to an easy life nor think we have to cope with what we've got. I'm sure we can change things if we make a decision, I have the dream and illusion of achieving that.


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Maya Angelou: A Phenomenal Woman with a Caribbean Connection · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Dr. Maya Angelou, speaking at The Carolina Theater, Greensboro, North Carolina, September, 2008. Image by Talbot Troy, used under a CC license.
Maya Angelou has been noticeably written and tweeted about since her death on May 28. Her passing resonates quite deeply in the Caribbean – and not only because of the potency of her words – the author also had West Indian roots (her maternal grandfather was Trinidadian). Regional bloggers have been processing their grief over the loss by sharing what her life and writing meant to them.
In honour of Angelou's Caribbean connections, Repeating Islands republished a post which originally appeared in Slate magazine, detailing the author's stint as a singer, when she recorded her first and only album, entitled Miss Calypso.
Some bloggers were not even aware of Angelou's West Indian ancestry until her death. What's the idea? said as much in her post, The dream and hope of the slave:
Maya Angelou lived a long, lovely life, full of daring, accomplishment and acclaim. I did not know that her grandfather was a Trinidadian.
Still I Rise was the first poem in my under-educated literary life that moved me with its direct relevance to my own life as a descendant of enslaved peoples and perhaps more so, because it so expressed the exuberant defiance which black women need (ed) to leap over sexism and marginalisation.
Roberta, the blogger, went on to quote excerpts of the poem, saying:
It is a poem of such triumph ‘Out of history’s shame, I Rise…’
Now, I am thinking of the last line, ‘I am the dream and the hope of the slave’ as the region struggles with inequalities and with discrimination, especially against the LGBT community. That we would wish to perpetuate laws that make criminals of people who love other people of their own sex seems far enough away from the dream of emancipation. Can we not remember that slavery was also justified in the name of religion?
On Facebook, Nicholas Laughlin echoed the same sentiment, referring to a statement the author had made five years ago:
‘To love someone takes a lot of courage,’ she said. ‘So how much more is one challenged when the love is of the same sex and the laws say, “I forbid you from loving this person?”‘
–Maya Angelou, interviewed by the New York Times, May 2009
Since everybody with a pulse is rushing to memorialise Maya Angelou today, and with the Bain affair still weighing heavy on my mind, it seems a good moment to recall her thoughts on a question of justice the Caribbean is struggling with.
What's the idea? also viewed Angelou's advice as incredibly relevant when it comes to the global issue of violence against women and girls:
In her Ode to the UN, Maya Angelou ends with these words:
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.
Some netizens, especially on Twitter and Facebook, reposted quotes by Angelou that resonated with them. Trinidadian blogger Kris Rampersad bade Angelou a simple farewell:
Thank you for sharing your mind and emotions and the spirit and the power with us Maya Angelou. So many women drew energy from you…
Raquel Cepeda, a US-born writer with Dominican roots, recounted the one occasion she literally ran into Maya Angelou:
Once, when I was about 19 or 20, I darted past Bloomingdale’s in New York, running late to something—I forget—and literally ran into a large, imposing figure walking out of the shop as I sprinted by. I felt as if I had ran into a brick wall. As I stood there in a daze, rubbing my nose, I heard this majestic voice say every-so-slowly, ‘Child, slow down. Where on earth could be more important than being with your self right now?’ My knees started to wobble when I realized this person was Maya Angelou. She glided off, in that regal way of hers, before I could fix my lips to apologize. And that’s why there’s a nod to her book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which I had just read around that time in the title of my book Bird of Paradise… I wish I could have told her that in person, but alas, I never ran into her again.
And Still I Rise, a St. Vincent and the Grenadines-based blog that was named after one of Angelou's poems, honoured her this way:
We first met in the pages of ‘I know why the caged bird sings’ and from that moment you became one of my heroines…You taught me so much by your words both written and spoken on my place in history, the beauty of my womanhood and the spirit that rises despite the obstacles. Thank you, Thank you, phenomenal woman you!
The blogger, like many others, also quoted one of Angelou's most stirring poems, ‘When Great Trees Fall’:
And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.
Trinidadian diaspora blogger Afrobella felt like “[her] heart was being squeezed in a fist” when she learned, from her Facebook feed no less, of Angelou's death. She explained that she had been asked to write a piece on the author's legacy for a Trinidad and Tobago daily:
In that piece I compared Maya to Mount Rushmore or the Giant Sequoia trees, like the ancient leatherback turtles that return to Trinidad’s beaches to nest, like Trinidad’s most popular beach, Maracas. I mean that in the sense that Maya Angelou seemed to belong to us, she seemed ancient and eternal. It’s impossible to imagine her not here to dispense wisdom, to recite a poem that rattles our hears and resonates in our spirits. We never thought she’d go away.
To Afrobella, the impact of Angelou's life was so staggering, “it [was] easy to feel dizzy and overwhelmed:
So instead of going broad and speaking about her in grandiose and sweeping terms, I want to get very specific and focus on one particular way that Maya Angelou touched me. Her poem, Phenomenal Woman, helped to change my life.
For someone in my age bracket — there never was a time before Phenomenal Woman. For us, there was never a time when there were these indelible, unforgettable, undeniable words intended to uplift, celebrate and triumphantly proclaim that we are beyond beautiful, we are worthy of desire and admiration from ourselves as well as others. That it isn’t just about how we’re built, it’s about who we are and how we carry ourselves in the world.
In that poem Maya defined herself, but she also helped to define a generation to come. Black women around the world grew up knowing those words, knowing that we too were or at least could be phenomenal women.
We who are 35 or younger, never knew a time when Maya Angelou’s words weren’t there to lift us up. We were blessed to be born into a world where she was a constant.
The blogger, Patrice Grell-Yursik, ended her tribute by quoting the poet herself:
In her own words, ‘when a poet dies something hopeful in the national psyche disappears.’ I know I’m not the only one who’s already feeling the void.
Thank you, Maya Angelou. Thank you for speaking for us. Thank you for sharing with us. Thank you for being with us for as long as you were able. Thank you for everything you gave to us, you gave the world so, so much. Thank you for teaching us, for shaping us and for leaving us a legacy to live up to.


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Real Madrid Football Club and their Tenth UEFA Cup · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Rogelio Vieto writes [es] on his self named blog about the UEFAChampions League that won Real Madrid Football Club:
¿Pero realmente que significa esta dècima copa de europa? – Es el desahogo de cientos de madridistas a nivel mundial muchas veces humillados por equipos de menor presupuesto, pero quien se haya calzado 2 tacos alguna vez sabrà que dentro de la cancha son 11 contra 11 y el presupuesto no cuenta en lo absoluto, solo las ganas, el corazon, el empuje de la afición y el fútbol “testicular” deciden partidos y marcan la Historia.
But does this tenth UEFA Cup really mean? – It's the relief for hundreds of madridistas worldwide, many times humiliated by lower budget teams, but anyone who has worn 2 football shoes knows that in the filed there is 11 against 11 and the budget has no importance at all, only willingness, heart, motivation by the fans and “testicular” football decide matches and make History.


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Reconsidering Educational Tasks · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

School teacher Marcela Gómez writes [es] on her blog Las notas de clase de Marcela Gómez [Classnotes by Marcela Gómez] about the challenge of motivating her students to learn more and reconsidering educational tasks:
Ahora, se ha entendido que la educación depende tanto de la persona que llega a motivar y acompañar el proceso de aprendizaje, como de quien está siendo acompañado y recibe todas estas ideas como novedades. Es decir, la verdadera educación se construye en un equipo, de manera colaborativa y multidireccional, y no sólo emitiendo mensajes y calificaciones parciales.
Now, it's understood that education relies upon those who motivate and are guides through the learning process as well as on those who are guided and get these ideas as new ideas. I mean, the real education is a team task, collaborative and multidirectional, and doesn't just send out messages and partial gradings.


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Reusing Tin Cans · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Would you like to know how to reuse tin cans? Rut de Esturirafi explains [es] how to make out of them very decorative vases for flowers, with photos to make the explanation easier.


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The Rise of Podemos, Spain’s “We Can” Citizen Party  · Global Voices
Elena Arrontes

Image taken from the “Podemos” party's Facebook account. The text in the upper right corner reads “When was the last time you voted with hope?” and the slogan reads “Of course WE CAN!”
For Spain, the big news in the European elections is the triumphant emergence onto the political scene of “Podemos” [es] (We Can) (@ahorapodemos), a political entity created four months ago, led by the charismatic Pablo Iglesias, professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. With an electoral programme that brings together the main demands made by the different social movements that arose during the wave of opposition to austerity policies, Pablo Iglesias has managed to position himself as the fourth largest political power in the country.
Meeting with Pablo Iglesias, leader of Podemos, in Madrid – Image from Diagonal. Used with permission.
The results of the European elections, held on the 25th of May 2014, have drawn a political map marked by abstentionism and the rise of right-wing nationalist parties on the old continent. In countries like France with the Front National (FN) as winner, the Netherlands where the anti-Muslim party is gaining relevance, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Hungary, the rise of extremists paints a desolate landscape.
In Spain, although the Partido Popular (People's Party) returned to the lead in the European election results, and the PSOE, the social democrat group, is still the country's second largest party, an unprecedented crisis of the two-party system is emerging. For the first time in Spain's democratic history, the two main parties only managed to win half of the votes between them. This is especially important in the face of the general elections that will be held next year on the Iberian Peninsula.
From the indignados’ cry of “yes it is possible” to “We can”, there is a step. The party represents the coming of age of the protests and new ideas that have occupied the streets of Spain in recent years. Although its leader may reject the indignado movement's legacy, it is almost impossible to ignore the close link between the anti-crisis movement and the new party. The most well-known of the young but powerful Podemos’ proposals are: the creation of a maximum salary as well as a universal basic income, an earlier retirement age, the reduction of the working week to 35 hours, and more protection for workers against dismissal, among others.
Image taken from Imagen tomada de la cuenta de Facebook de “Podemos”.
The objective is to dismantle the austerity measures put in place by the different governments that have been in power. To strengthen and increase citizens’ rights to political participation, education, housing, health and the fight against corruption are the core elements of the party's programme. Citizens have expressed their support for these measures at the ballet box, on the streets and on the internet.
Among the keys to the success [es] of this party, which won 11.29% of the vote last Sunday, is its ability to connect with citizens. Funded through various crowdfunding campaigns [es], “Podemos” is the party with the most followers on social networks, compared with the two main parties, and keeping in mind its recent creation: more than 189,000 followers, compared to 141,000 for the Partido Popular and 140,000 for the PSOE.
With the hashtag #Podemos25M twitter users discussed the surprising Spanish result in the European polls. Some even predicted reactions:
A #Podemos25M se le subestimó. Como se infravaloró al 15M. Vereis como ahora todos correrán al paternalismo y a darles consejos.
— Fernando Berlín (@radiocable) Mayo 25, 2014
#Podemos25M was underestimated. Just like 15M was undervalued. Now you'll see how everyone starts being patronising towards them and offering them advice.
Others expressed their excitement on Sunday:
Yo ya me siento realizada como ciudadana. Hoy más que nunca, las cosas pueden cambiar, hoy mas que nunca #Podemos25M
— Marta LA VANIDOSA =) (@marta_1175) Mayo 25, 2014
I now feel fulfilled as a citizen. Today more than ever, things can change, today more than ever #Podemos25M
Hace una mañana preciosa para ir a votar a #Podemos25M con la mayor ilusión en muchos años pic.twitter.com/Aywmw8mzc2“
— Domingo Carabajal (@doming745) Mayo 25, 2014
It's a beautiful morning to go and vote for #Podemos25M with the most hope I've felt in many years
While others recounted their voting experiences:
Un hombre de mas de 70 años se me ha quedado mirando a la acreditación y me ha dicho: claro que podemos…#Podemos25m
— DAVID BALLESTEROS (@maragatozombie) Mayo 25, 2014
A man of over 70 years of age looked at my accreditation and said : of course we can… #Podemos25m
Hoy vamos a llevar la indignación a las urnas, espero que este día se recuerde como el principio del fin del bipartidismo #Podemos25M :)
— Jorge Newman (@IBIHB) Mayo 25, 2014
Today we are going to take our indignation to the ballot box, I hope that this day will be remembered as the beginning of the end of the two-party system.
The electoral and online support shown for “Podemos” has allowed them to gain five seats in the European Parliament, a surprising result given their lack of resources and experience. Now citizens and rival parties are watching Podemos’ first steps at both the European and national level very closely.

author: Elena Arrontes


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Untranslatable Words Graphically Explained · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

The web site Pijamasurf [es] shares the curious “30 untraslatable word list” the artist Anjana Iyer [en] tried to capture on humorous illustrations. Like for instance:
Bakku- shan (Japanese)
A beautiful girl… as long as she's being viewed from behind.
You can find the list here.


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Campaigning for Safe Sidewalks in Jakarta · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Olga Amato and Divya Pridhnani explain the goals of Safe Steps, a campaign for a ‘walkable Jakarta’ in Indonesia:
One of the main goals of Safe Steps is to make people understand that beside the health benefits people can derive from walking, better sidewalks can also result in a reduction of traffic on the roads. If more people are able to walk comfortably and safely, it would motivate them to stop using vehicles when not absolutely necessary, leading to less congested roads.
@Genderuwota48 Hai! See you tomorrow ya. #SunnySidewalks #CarFreeDay pic.twitter.com/ItPvfbOerF
— Safe Steps (@SafeStepsID) May 24, 2014

author: Mong Palatino


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El Salvador: The New Águila Football Club · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

José Díaz blogs [es] on Te hablo de Fútbol [I talk with you about football] about his impressions on the new team coach and the recently hired players for Águila Football Club:
Creo que en Águila deben estar aquellos que de verdad sientan la identidad del equipo, la camiseta emplumada pesa demasiado y pone a cada uno en su sitio, esto es así, han venido extranjeros y también nacionales que no han dado la talla y han deambulado como fantasmas en pena sin demostrar la calidad que se le exige y han tenido que marcharse a las primeras de cambio.
I think that with [the] Águila should be those who really feel a team identity, the adorned with feathers T-shirt is too heavy and puts everybody in their place. This is like that, some foreign [players] have arrived and so have locals that haven't been good enough and have wandered as lost souls without showing the required quality and had to leave in no time.


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Free Speech Remains Under Threat in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Deji Olukotun observes how Myanmar's so-called transition to democracy has not yet made a lasting impact on the state of free expression in the country:
…in many ways Myanmar’s relatively open society could close at a moment’s notice. Writers are able to write and to criticize the government not because the laws have been changed, but because they are frequently not enforced. Many civil society organizations in the country are unable to register because the old registration laws are too complex, the bureaucratic red tape too thick, and pending legislation intended to streamline the process remains tied up in parliament.


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It Never Rains in Central Asia, But When it Does, it Pours · Global Voices
Dasha Kondrateva

Almaty floods. Photo uploaded onto Twitter by Dina Sabyrova (@4144777)Central Asia is known for its hot dry summers and long, cold winters, with snow a more common form of precipitation than rain. But when the heavens do open, it is not for the sake of a spot of drizzle, as residents of three of the region's biggest cities found out last weekend.
On May 30-31 torrential rainstorms visited chaos on Kazakhstan's Almaty, Uzbekistan's Tashkent and Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek. While damage was mostly limited to floating cars and flooded houses, for Kyrgyzstan there was a more tragic outcome, as a man died shortly after an uprooted tree collapsed [ru] on top of him.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Kazakh mass media reported[ru] May 31 that the country's largest city, Almaty, home to roughly 1.4 million people, was literally awash. The city sewage system, which has seen few updates since Soviet times, could not cope with the deluge as traffic jams formed in the main streets of Almaty and residential areas, construction sites and the downtown business district all experienced flooding. Apart from fate, citizens blamed [ru] poor irrigation networks and fast-paced urbanization for the floods.
В сравнении с советской эпохой в разы увеличилась площадь поверхностей, не поглощающих дождевые воды – это крыши домов и строений, асфальтированные площадки и дороги. Арычная система, заложенная десятилетия назад просто не справляется теперь с этими объемами воды. Да и мусором она конечно местами забита, но основная причина это в разы возросшие объемы поступаемой ливневой воды.
Гость_гость 31 мая 2014 11:15
In comparison with the Soviet era the area that does not absorb rain water – rooftops and buildings, paved areas and roads – has increased. The irrigation system, constructed decades ago, now simply cannot cope with the volumes of water. [Another problem] is that the irrigation canals are blocked with rubbish, but the main issue is that the flooding itself is much heavier.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
The capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, which has a population of over 2 million people, was flooded May 30. Everything from parking lots to playgrounds was plunged underwater as huge traffic jams formed along the main intersections of the city. Commenting on a report published by Gazeta.uz, a Tashkent local, Vyacheslav wrote [ru]:
Наши дорожные службы просто облажались.Это не показухой заниматься. Где ливневая канализация? Где автомобили с насосами, которые бы откачивали воду из туннелей и подземных переходов?
Кого-нибудь накажут за это?”
Славик К. 30 Мая 2014 17:18
Our road services just screwed up. This was not a PR show for local authorities, but a serious issue wherein they should have demonstrated what they could do to help the city cope with the rain. Where were the storm drains? Where were the cars, equipped with water pumps that could pump the water out of the tunnels and subways? Will someone be punished for this?
Heavy rain in Tashkent. Photo taken from the public Facebook group Drivers of Tashkent.
Shukhrat Alymbaev, another citizen of Tashkent, disagreed [ru] that the municipality could have combated the floods any better:
Никто к такому не готов. Это природная стихия, так скажем «форс-мажор».Наверняка найдутся очень много критиков в пользу коммунальных служб. В самый разгар происходящего всего я по делам ездил по городу и лично сам видел, как все службы.
Шухрат Алимбаев 30 Мая 2014 18:23
No one could have been ready for this kind of rain. It was an element of nature, force-majeure. There are a lot of people who criticize the work of the city public services, but, actually, I saw them doing their best to solve the problem at the time of the flooding.
Once the storm had calmed Uzbek mass media  took stock [ru] of the carnage: several felled trees, multiple car crashes and flooded houses, but no people injured or dead. Further south in Tajikistan, damage was limited to congestion on the city's roads. In Kyrgyzstan, however, the wild weather had tragic consequences, claiming the life of one man, injuring another and tearing the national flag that flies in Bishkek's main square.
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
On May 31, Bishkek's city council announced [ru]:
В столице 30-31 мая в результате шквального ветра и дождливой погодой по городу Бишкек упало 16 деревьев, в основном — зеленые деревья, не имевшие признаков аварийности. В результате падения деревьев погиб 1 человек, пострадало 2 автомашины…поврежден флаг на центральной площади Ала — Тоо, также на отдельных участках города повреждены инженерные сети и ряд других объектов.
16 trees fell due to the gusty winds and rainy weather in Bishkek on May 30-31. As a result of the falling trees one person was killed, two cars destroyed… the flag in Ala-Too square was ripped, and in several other parts of Bishkek engineering works and other objects were damaged.
A man lies dead in central Bishkek on May 31 after a tree falls on his head. Photo from vb.kg/azzatyk.
Bishkek officials were quick to respond to criticism that the unnamed man's death was avoidable and a consequence of municipal neglect:
Для уборки упавших деревьев и высвобождения проезжей части улиц столицы организованы оперативные мобильные группы, которые убрали большинство упавших деревьев. Также организован объезд городских улиц для выявления аварийных деревьев. В настоящее время работы продолжаются.
Mobile teams have been organized in order to clean the city after the storm. A special tour to define the trees which are in critical condition was organized. Currently, work is underway.
The banality of the man's death has resonated with Bishkek residents. Reportedly he was waiting for the arrival of one of the city's ubiquitous minibuses when a gust of wind uprooted a nearby tree that suddenly collapsed on him. Another man struck by the same tree was taken in an ambulance to a city hospital and is recovering. Against a background of social media panic that Bishkek, an honored “green city” during Soviet times, is full of old trees waiting to fall down at any moment, one commenter on Vecherni Bishkek's website mused [ru]:
я ехала с работы в тот день в маршрутке, и она стояла почти 2 часа в пробке около 1000 мелочей, я ужасно злилась на весь  этот мир, а оказывается были жертвы этой непогоды, боже мой, теперь понимаю что это была такая мелочь, кто то потерял близкого человека(((
1, 2014-06-01 18:20:14
I was going home from work and we were standing for almost two hours in traffic near [the shop] 1000 Small Things. I was so angry at the whole world but it emerges that there were victims of that vile weather. My god, now I understand that [what I experienced] was so trivial, and someone else lost their loved one (((
Although few expect the freaky meteorological events of May 30-31 to repeat themselves in the near future, for many citizens of Central Asia's key cities, the storms have simply reaffirmed a belief they are living in a self-help world while public services recede in the face of disaster. As Aleksandr Tikhonov surmised [ru] in a comment on gazeta.uz:
Службы у нас не работают на опережение таких событий… Конечно легче сказать, что «спасение утопающих — это проблема самих утопающих», но напрашивается вопрос, зачем нам государство, закон, различного рода органы управления???
Our public services don't work in these circumstances. Of course it is easier to say that “saving the drowning is the problem of the drowning”, but this raises the question: Why do we need a state, laws, and various organs of administration???
Police in raincoats take shelter in Almaty. Photo uploaded onto Twitter by @4144777

author: Dasha Kondrateva


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The King of Spain Abdicates, Claims to Install the Third Republic Emerge · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, publicly announced on June 2, 2014, his decision to abdicate in favor of his son Felipe, current Prince of Asturias.
Although most of the reactions [es] from the Spanish political class acknowledges and praises Juan Carlos’ actions during his period as king, there is a leftist sector demanding a referendum [es] to proclaim the Republic.
In the past few years, the Spanish monarchy has lost part of its prestige due to acts of corruption that involved people related to the Crown, or to indiscretions by the King himself, but mostly due to the economic crisis that affects most of the Spanish people, especially the youth.
On Twitter there are calls [es] to rallies in several Spanish cities asking for a return of the Republic.
Se están convocando concentraciones pro #ReferendumYA por todo el estado a las 20H. Iremos informando de las convocatorias #aporlatercera
— Democracia real YA! (@democraciareal) June 2, 2014
Rallies have been called for #ReferendumNOW all around the state at 20H. We'll keep you posted.
#ReferendumYA para que la juventud pueda decidir sobre su futuro pic.twitter.com/emiZnYX9HF
— Juventud SIN futuro (@juventudsin) June 2, 2014
#ReferendumNOW so the youth can decide their future.
Mapa convocatorias 20h +100 ciudades https://t.co/DgcYzr6Z9Q #abdicaelrey #ReferendumYA #APorLaTerceraRepublica pic.twitter.com/oL3n1Gp0y6
— JuanLi (@_JuanLi) June 2, 2014
Map of callings at 20h +100 cities.
We'll keep you all posted.


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Landslides After Heavy Rains Cause Death in Guatemala · Global Voices
María Angélica Marín

Heavy rains on the early hours of Saturday, May 31, 2014 in the Guatemalan municipality of San Pedro Necta, in the department of Huehuetenango, 312 kilometers North from the country capital, resulted in landslides that destroyed homes and caused at least six fatalities and three disappeared individuals, as reported by Conred [es] (National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction):
Elementos de la quinta brigada de Conred, policías, gobernador departamental, bomberos y pobladores permanecen en el lugar para colaborar en la búsqueda de las personas que posiblemente quedaron soterradas.
Members of the Fifth Brigade of Conred, police officers, the department governor, firefighters and locals are still there to collaborate in the search for people who probaby remain buried.
According to an officer with Conred [es], 2014 rain season started in April and may end in November:
Hasta el momento, la época de lluvias en Guatemala, que se inició en abril y se estima concluya en noviembre, ha afectado a unas 2 mil personas y estas son las primeras víctimas mortales de la temporada.
Up to now, the rain season in Guatemala, that started in April and it's estimate to end in November, has affected about 2,000 people and these are the first fatalities of the [present] season.

author: María Angélica Marín


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Learning with Your Child · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Zahir Aileen writes [es] on Las netas de Mamá [Mom's babies] how are children currently learning:
el problema no es lo que ven, escuchan, o viven tal cual, sino que no estén acompañados o que no haya una persona que seleccione correctamente lo que es prudente conocer a cada edad y que les explique cada duda que ellos tengan. ¿Han notado también que los niños están dejando de vivir plenamente su niñez como es deseable? ¿Cuantos pequeños actúan ya como adultos y dejan de lado la inocencia y alegría con la que se supone deben de crecer?
The problem is not whtat they see, listen or live, but that they are by themselves or without someone who can correctly select what is appropriate for them to learn at every age and who can explain them every doubt they have. Have you also noticed that children are not anymore living their childhood to the fullest as ideal? How many children act as adults and leave aside the innocence and happiness they are supposed to grow up with?
Among the solutions she suggests, we have:
¿Qué tal si en vez de estar pendiente del celular le prestas más atención a lo que está haciendo tu hijo? ¿O si eres un fanático de la tecnología, ¿Por qué no le enseñas cosas útiles con ellas?, es decir enseñale cosas útiles usando los videos o programas diseñados para el desarrollo intelectual del niño pero no los dejes abandonados con el aparato sino comparte el momento.
What if instead of being aware of your cell phone you pay more attention to what your child is doing? Or if you are a technology  enthusiast, why don't you teach them useful things with it? I mean, teach them useful things with videos or programs designed for the child's intellectual maturity, but don't leave them on their own with the device, share the moment with them.


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Peacekeepers Involved in the Disappearance of 11 Rebels  in the Central African Republic  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, reports that African Union peacekeepers were involved in arresting at least 11 anti-balaka rebels on March 24. The detained rebels have not been accounted for since their arrest :
Since March 24, there has been no news about the people who were detained. Their relatives have gone to the main MISCA base in Bangui, Camp M’poko, and to all police stations in Bangui, but have not found their loved ones, whom they fear the MISCA soldiers have executed, unless the soldiers are holding them in an undisclosed location. Three separate witnesses said that MISCA soldiers detained at least seven more people along the main road, probably because they were wearing traditional gris-gris amulets associated with the anti-balaka militia. Their names are not known, as they were not from Boali.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Puerto Rican Diaspora Calls for Oscar López Rivera’s Release · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

The digital magazine La Respuesta has put together a series of photo galleries that chronicle efforts in Chicago, New York City, and Cleveland to release Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera from prison. Oscar has already served 33 years in prison, an exaggerated amount of time for the charge of “seditious conspiracy.” Global Voices’ coverage in English of Oscar and the ongoing campaign to release him can be found here, here, and here.

author: Ángel Carrión


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Remembering Isadora Duncan · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Laura Chertkoff remembers [es] dancer a Isadora Duncan on Un blog sobre pasos y saltos [A blog about steps and jumps] on a new birthday and remebers her troubled visit to Buenos Aires.
En los 50 años que anduvo pisando el planeta tierra, sus pies la trajeron a Buenos Aires en 1916. Nosotros llevábamos apenas 100 años como país independiente. No todos entendieron tanta independencia en un cuerpo de mujer.
On the 50 years she was part of planet Earth, her feet brought her to Buenos Aires in 1916. We had been an independent country for barely a hundred years then. Not everybody understood that much independence in a woman's body.


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Responsibility or Creativity? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Ryu reflects [es] on Intereses de un Caballero Dragón [Interests of a Dragon Gentleman] whether priorizing responsibility or creativity in children's education:
Los padres podrán cargar de algunas o muchas responsabilidades a sus hijos para que permanezcan con los pies sobre la tierra pero eso no garantiza que éstos últimos las cumplan, mucho menos que sigan apegados a la realidad. También es necesario que consideren hasta dónde desean que sus hijos tengan éxito en la vida, porque quizás sea mejor y más útil formar en sus hijos un espíritu creativo y una ética férrea para que si llegan a cambiar al mundo, éste cambio sea para el desarrollo y bien de la humanidad.
Parents may give their children some or many responsibilities so they have their feet on the ground, but that doesn't mean they will comply, let alone for them to be stuck with reality. It's also necessary for parents to consider where do they want their children to be successful in life, as it might be better and more useful to form your children with a creative mind and a rigid ethics so if they happen to change the world, this change will be for human development and well being.


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San Rafael del Norte and Sandino · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Jorge Mejía blogs [es] on Mejíaperalta about how Nicarguan government shows no interest for revolutionary leader Augusto César Sandino's historic assets in the town of San Rafael del Norte:
Pero mientras las usurpadores de los bienes históricos de los distintos museos de Sandino y del FSLN en general conmemoraban otro año más en el vacío museo de Sandino en Niquinohomo, uno siente una tristeza increíble al ver el museo Blanca Aráuz tapiado con láminas de zinc, con el techo desplomado hace más de un año, y con los objetos que ahí se exhibían en poder, claro está, de Rosario Murillo, que desde principios de los 90 ha venido saqueando todos los objetos y documentos relativos al Gral. Sandino.
But as usurpers of historical assets in different museums of Sandino and FSLN (acronym for Sandinista National Liberation Front) in general were marking another year in the empty Sandino Museum in Niquinohomo, it's incredibly sad to see Blanca Aráuz Museum boarded up with zinc sheets, with the collapsed roof for mre than a year, and with the pieces that were exhibited there in hands of Rosario Murillo, of course, who since the early 90s has been looting all the objects and documents related to General Sandino.
Ruinous condition of Blanca Aráuz Museum. May 2014. San Rafael del Norte. Photo by Jorge Mejía used with permission.
He notes that as of lately, Sandino is no more the biggest attraction in San Rafael del Norte:
Pero San Rafael del Norte no solo es Sandino. Más bien, ya casi no es Sandino. Si no hay museo, entonces ¿Cómo puede ser el punto de partida de la Ruta Sandino? Sandino ha sido desbancado por el padre Odorico D’Andrea, y está convirtiendo al poblado jinotegano en objetivo de peregrinación para los católicos, más desde que inició el proceso de beatificación del histórico párroco de San Rafael.
But San Rafael del Norte is not just Sandino. Or rather, it's almost not Sandino anymore. If there is no museum, how can it be the starting point of the Sandino Route? Sandino has been ousted by father Odorico D’Andrea, and he is making the town a pilgrimage goal for Roman Catholics, even more since the process for beatify the historic parish priest of San Rafael started.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Did Narine Choose Kolkata Over West Indies Cricket? · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

Kolkata Knight Riders logo. Image via Global Panorama, courtesy: AkashSiinha, www.kkr.in, Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported | Wikimedia Commons
There is more controversy in West Indies cricket: the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has decided that leg-spinner Sunil Narine will not be selected to play in the upcoming test matches against New Zealand, ostensibly because he opted to stay in India to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the finals of the Indian Premier League instead of reporting to West Indies camp for the June 1st deadline.  (Kolkata won the championship on Sunday, defeating the King's XI Punjab.)
According to reports, the owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders offered to charter a private jet for Narine to leave as soon as the final was over, but the WICB still refused to include him on the team. As with most matters involving cricket, this has been a great topic of discussion throughout the Caribbean.
On Facebook, Ravi Denish Rampersad said that the controversy prevented Narine from performing at his best:
KKR won even though arine get some licks but I blame the West Indies Cricket board for that, causing all [those] problem[s] before a big final.
Sean Scott begged the WICB to grant Narine an exemption:
Ok Narine, collect your prize and catch the jet…straight flight to test match…we need our 4 best bowlers bowling for the test matches…WICB make the exception!
Tamara Manhomansingh noted that Narine was not as enthusiastic as his teammates:
Sunil is the only man there, not looking excited or celebrating at all. Poor fella. Too much baggage to enjoy this victory or be happy to come home. Head high big fella, you did yourself well, and you gave West Indians things to brag about & be proud of this IPL 7.
She also felt that there was a double standard at play:
Interesting [thing] is, the conditions laid out were ‘Come home Saturday, or you miss Jamaica’. Now he made his choice and it's ‘You're completely out of the entire Test Series and we may “consider” you for T20.’ WICB…properly shows who they don't care about. The double standard, the favouritism, the lies, the disrespect, the maliciousness, the deceit; this is why I find it terribly difficult to support and respect this board.
Foxx Blaize did not like that Narine would have to be left out but understood the rationale:
I don't think it's a particularly malicious decision…as the Board is taking a new direction, old things are [put] away…'West Indies first’ is a good policy…Narine knew it all along, he could have been given some leeway, yes, but what message would that be sending for future possible occurrences? It's one of those unpopular decisions that must be taken for progress.
Julia Whitehall agreed:
I agree the matter should have been handled differently, but if the deadline was known beforehand then it comes down to a choice. Narine wasn't forced to stay…it was his choice. Narine is…contracted to the West Indies, which put him in a very sticky situation, but he made his choice and unfortunately his choice came with consequences.
This cricket fan felt that the WICB were right to take their stand:
the wicb needed to take a stand and force narine to come back in time
— Kevon Persad (@penguin0017) June 1, 2014
He added:
Any other nation and he would have had to come back..australia,engalnd,sri lanka…narine cudda play he staying?
— Kevon Persad (@penguin0017) June 2, 2014
Other fans felt the WICB was being unreasonable:
re Narine: It's ridiculous to suggest he should walk out on his club just as they reach their final. The WICB should show some flexibility
— Rick Eyre on cricket (@rickeyrecricket) June 1, 2014
A player should NEVER be put in the position that Narine was. Stubborn management creates bad blood, this is spiteful & childish from WICB.
— Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) June 1, 2014
Sunil Narine had played 3 ODIs when he got an IPL deal. He has as much to thank KKR for his success as he does WICB.
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) June 1, 2014

author: Matthew Hunte


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This Brazilian is Using Twitter to Take on Aggressive and Racist Housemaid Employers  · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

A slave carrying a white child on her back in 1870 in Bahia, Brazil. Photo courtesy Instituto Moreira Salles/Geledés
[Most links lead to pages in Portuguese.]
Last week, the Twitter account @aminhaempregada (my maid) starting retweeting shocking, aggressive and racist tweets that Brazilian employers of domestic workers publish.
The Portuguese language account offers a glimpse into the social prejudice, racism and lack of empathy that exists in Brazilian society, especially with regards to attitudes towards domestic workers. The account has close to 10k followers so far.
According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 92 percent of the country's 7.2 million domestic workers are women, and of these women, 60 percent are black.
The Minha Empregada account has been created by a 33-year-old publicist from Sao Paulo who doesn’t want to be identified. Many retweets from employers mention race when complaining about their domestic worker:
@hardcorejuno empregadops melhores tipos de negros
— Vivi (@vivimetralha) 6 janeiro 2014
Housemaids are the best type of black people.
minha empregada trabalha aqui a 2 anos,e ela é negra,meu cachorro ainda late oda vez que ve ela…e eu tambem — Jeba Dourada (@Ofredelicia) 18 fevereiro 2013
my maid has been working here for two years, and she is black, my dog still barks everytime he sees her…and so do I.
Or they take a condescending view about the workers’ assumed origins in Brazil’s northeast, one of the poorest regions:
@SejaRazoavel xenofobia e não aceitaçao do estrangeiro… Eu aceito muito minha empregada em sao paulo, e ela é nordestina.. Hahahah
— Ale (@iAleMonteiro) 28 outubro 2011
xenophobia is the non-acceptance of a foreigner…I do accept my maid in Sao Paulo, and she is a northeastern…Hahahah
Some tweets use a derogatory tone to complain about the maids or shame them:
eu to aqui no ar condicionado e to de porta fechada e dai a ANTA DA MINHA EMPREGADA ao invès de bater na porta ela abre com tudo +
— bella (@familybieberbr) 13 dezembro 2010
I'm here with the air conditioner on, behind closed doors, and here comes MY MORON MAID, instead of knocking on the door, she just opens it
Others even threaten violence:
Sorte da minha empregada q eu to chegando tarde em casa… deixa eu esbarrar com essa caralhuda p ela se ligar na voadora no pescoço — Gerson Roque (@roquegerson) 21 maio 2014
It’s my maid’s luck that I’m coming home late…wait till I bump into that dick(head) and send her flying with a kick on her neck
A portrait of prejudice
As the author of the profile shows in some of his tweets, many people caught on his timeline shaming domestic workers try to explain themselves and deny any racism on their part.  Other Twitter profiles – such as @NãoSouHomofóbico (I'm not homophobic) and @NãoSouRacista (I'm not racist) – attest to this difficulty that Brazilians have owning up to their racism, sexism and other prejudices.
An article published by the leftist magazine Carta Capital and republished by the Institute of Black Women Geledés, highlights the social gap issue behind the matter:
A contratação de trabalhadores domésticos em larga escala é consequência do atraso social de um país. O fato de que existem pessoas que ganham o suficiente para que outra pessoa faça o serviço que ela própria poderia fazer demonstra o abismo da desigualdade social de uma nação. A proporção da existência deste tipo de trabalho se dá na medida que houver, de um lado, um excedente de mão-de-obra desempregada e sem qualificação para outros tipos de serviço, e de outro, uma classe que ganha o suficiente para comprar a força de trabalho de outra pessoa.
The hiring of house workers on a large scale is a consequence of a country’s social delay. The fact that there are people earning enough [money] so that another person does the job they themselves could do shows a nation’s gap of social inequality. The proportions of this kind of work's existence is that one one side, there is a surplus of workers with no qualifications for any other kind of work, and on the other side, a class that makes enough to buy someone else’s labor.
Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, becoming the last country in the Western world to do so. However, without education or vocational training, many newly freed black women began to earn their living as domestic workers, a legacy that continues to this day.
Over the years, the condition of domestic workers in Brazil has improved. Today, fewer and fewer maids are living in their employers’ homes (where they have to be available for work round the clock), and are therefore relatively more independent and can also charge a higher payment for their services. Nevertheless, the attitude of incivility and under-appreciation of domestic workers continue.
Last year, after a painful debate, Brazil for the first time approved a constitutional amendment to protect domestic workers rights. However, though the law has been passed at the Senate, it is waiting to be voted by the Chamber of Deputies only after which it can be brought into force.

author: Fernanda Canofre


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What Democracy? Questioning Oscar López Rivera’s Imprisonment in the United States  · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

Puerto Rico's most widely circulated newspaper, El Nuevo Día, published an editorial [es] in its Sunday edition on June 1, 2014 in which it questions the moral standard of the United States’ government to intercede in favor of political prisoners around the world while insisting on unjustly maintaining Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera [es] incarcerated:
Habría que preguntarse cuál es el empecinamiento de un gobierno, el de Estados Unidos, que presume de sus acciones en favor de los presos politicos del mundo entero -en Ucrania, con Yulia Timoshenko; en China, con el artista Ai Weiwei; en Venezuela, con el opositor Leopoldo López; en Cuba, con el exprisionero Guillermo Fariñas, y hasta en Rusia con el grupo feminista punk “Pussy Riot”, – pero que en su propia casa mantiene sepultado a un puertorriqueño que, de 1986 a 1998, sufrió uno de los regímenes carcelarios más crueles que existen, el de confinamiento en solitaria en la prisión de Marion, Illinois.
[…]
El gobierno de Estados Unidos está moralmente impedido de interceder por ningún preso político, en ningún lugar del mundo, mientras continúe el presidente burlándose de la memoria de [Nelson] Mandela y violando los derechos civiles, políticos y el derecho a la libertad de Oscar.
We should ask ourselves about the stubbornness of a government, that of the United States, which boasts of its actions in favor of political prisoners around the entire world – in Ukraine with Yulia Timoshenko, in China with artist Ai Weiwei, in Venezuela with political candidate Leopoldo López, in Cuba with former prisoner Guillermo Fariñas, and even in Russia with feminist punk group “Pussy Riot” – but keeps a Puerto Rican who suffered one of the cruelest prison regimes that ever existed, from 1986 to 1998 in solitary confinement in a prison in Marion, Illinois.
[…]
The government of the United States is morally unable to advocate for any political prisoner anywhere in the world while the President continues to mock the memory of [Nelson] Mandela and violates Oscar's right to freedom as well as his civil and political rights.


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Why Human Rights Advocates are Opposed to East Timor’s Draft Media Law · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Various human rights groups, journalists, and scholars have signed a letter opposing East Timor's proposed media law which was recently approved by the Parliament. One of the issues they cited is the broad powers given to the Press Council:
…we are concerned that the Press Council with legal authority, funding and members chosen by political officials and commercial media, should not have the power (under Articles 43 and 44) to prevent anyone from exercising his or her freedom of expression.
They added that the ‘defective law’ is not the solution to the problems besetting the media sector:
We believe that there is no urgency for Timor-Leste to create a press law, especially a defective one like this, which will reverse our society’s advances toward using social and other media to exchange ideas without limitation. We recognize that journalists’ capacity, misinformation and lack of experience sometimes make people unhappy with published articles, but state regulation is not the solution.


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3 Ways the Russian Government Plans to Police the Web · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Are Russian officials hoping to gain full access to social networking websites and online services? Images mixed by author.
A new Russian law will go into effect on August 1, 2014, that requires a wide array of websites and online services to register formally with the government. Sites and applications that allow Internet users to communicate will be obligated to store the past six months of user-data on servers located inside Russia, making the information available to Russian law enforcement. Several state agencies are now involved in drafting bylaws that will determine how officials actually enforce the new Internet laws.
Four draft bylaws are making headlines in Russian newspapers today. Additionally, the Web portal Habrahabr.ru has posted the documents’ full text.
The proposed bylaws contain three main points:
1. In a world without Tron, nobody fights for the users in Russia.
Websites and applications will be required to archive virtually every kind of information about their users (logins, email addresses, contacts lists, all changes to a user’s account, a list of all accessed DNS servers, and so on). The actual content of the messages exchanged online, however, does not need to be archived. (If you write “Down with Putin!” to your Facebook friend, Russian police would only see that you messaged your Facebook friend—not that you cursed the Kremlin.)
2. The Kremlin is careful to let sleeping dogs lie.
Sites and services that exist for “personal, family, or household needs” are exempt from the law, though this exception does not apply to the exchange of information of a “public-political nature” or to conversations where the number of participants is indefinite. Online commerce, scientific and educational activity, and things like job searches are also exempt. TJournal’s Sultan Suleimanov has joked that these exceptions are “for everyone except Navalny” (the country’s most prominent anti-corruption blogger), observing that Russian authorities are being cautious not to disturb apolitical Internet users.
3. An opt-out loophole could grant the Russian government total access to websites’ data.
Finally, the Russian Federal Security Service (the equivalent of the American FBI) will offer websites and applications the opportunity to opt out of the data-archiving requirement, if they grant the government full, real-time access to their data. In this case, Russian police would obtain unrestricted access to Internet users’ data, which officials would themselves archive. According to a source inside the Interior Ministry, the state now lacks the resources necessary to archive much data itself. (In other words, additional funding would be required.)
It is this third point that could prove the most curious in the enforcement of Russia’s new Internet regulations. How many websites and applications will decide to open entirely to the government, to spare themselves the trouble and expense of selecting and storing user-data according to the new laws? Is the Kremlin betting that it can gain full access to the RuNet by offering this loophole? Or is this a ploy by federal police to bleed the state budget of more funding, creating the need for subsidies to be plundered?
Of course, corruption and censorship are not mutually exclusive. That much we know from Alexey Navalny, who, having spent the past three months under house arrest and a ban on Internet use, learned it the hard way.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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An App to Help with Natural Disasters in the Caribbean  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Hill 60 Bump blogs about a free new smartphone application for Android and iPhone, CaribWatch, which offers emergency alerts and supports relief efforts after natural disasters in the region.


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Caribbean: Corruption & the World Cup?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The sooner the international investigation is able to bring closure to the matter…the sooner the Caribbean maybe able to purge this sore from the…landscape.
As the 2014 World Cup draws closer, Barbados Underground tackles the issue of alleged corruption within the world governing football body and its ties to the region.


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China: Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Another documentary about Chinese dissent artist Ai Weiwei has been released, following Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012). Beijing Cream has Hilary Chassé's review on the upcoming – Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Community Resistance in Ecuador · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

The website BallenitaSi.org lists [es] nine resisting communities in Ecuador that, “is going through one of the worse community-level crisis about mining and oil extraction all along the country”.
One of such communities is Sarayaku, in Pastaza Province:
Sarayaku es la comunidad que con mayor éxito ha podido defender su territorio.
El caso de Sarayaku por otorgar a inicios de los años 90 una concesión petrolera en su territorio sin considerar una consulta previa, se llevó adelante luego de que en diciembre de 2009, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos emitió un informe de fondo concluyendo que Ecuador ha violado, entre otros, los derechos de Sarayaku a la vida, la integridad, la propiedad, y las garantías judiciales.
Sarayaku is the most successful community when it comes to defend its territory.
The Sarayaku case for giving in the early 90s an oil concession in its territory without considering any previous consultation was carried out after a December 2009 report by Inter-American Court of Human Rights where the conclusion was that Ecuador has violated, among others, Sarayaku rights to life, integrity, property and court guarantees.
To see the complete list, click here to read the full article [es].


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Farewell Hindustan Ambassador · Global Voices
Rezwan

A yellow Hindustan  ambassador taxi at Kolkata Road. Image by D Chakraborty. Copyright Demotix (27/5/2014)
Hindustan Motors has recently suspended production of India's iconic Hindustan Ambassador car which was first rolled out in 1958. Soumyadip Choudhury at Cutting The Chai posts a tribute to the classic car creating an unofficial (and animated) Google doodle. The car still remains popular with taxi drivers, some politicians and tourists.

author: Rezwan


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Global Voices Wins Honorary Mention in Prix Ars Electronica · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Prix Ars Electronica, the leading award honoring creativity and innovation in digital media, has chosen Global Voices for Honorary Mention in their Digital Communities category this year. This is the second time Global Voices earns a special mention, after winning a Distinction in the same category in 2008.
The winner is Project Fumbaro in Eastern Japan, a grassroots platform originally set up to cope with human emergencies after Japan's great earthquake in 2011. A number of Global Voices partners and friends are among the distinctions and honorary mentions, including Freemuse, Arseh Sevom, Desarrollando América Latina, and Syria Untold.

author: Solana Larsen


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Hackers Are on the Money Trail  · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

[Links are to Spanish-language pages except where noted otherwise.]
This is not about hackers making millions of dollars, although that would not be a bad thing. No, it is about a recent initiative by Hacks/Hackers [en], a Latin American network that brings together coders and journalists to explore how technology can be exploited to filter information and, at the same time, how that information can be used to tell stories.
[The Money Trail: 13 thriving cities in Latin America + Miami. Hundreds of Latin American citizens making history together, an opportunity to accelerate open data projects and attend “Media Party 2014”. Saturday, June 7, 2014.]
According to the Buenos Aires chapter:
[…] convocamos al primer hackatón regional, un hackday en distintas ciudades de América Latina el mismo día, con una temática común: “La ruta del dinero” para explorar cuáles son los destinos de los fondos públicos en nuestros países, cuáles son las relaciones entre ellos , cuál es el volumen de la ayuda internacional y a dónde se dirige, etc.
El propósito de esta actividad es doble: por un lado, fomentar la transparencia, la eficiencia en las cuentas públicas y la participación ciudadana en este ámbito; por el otro generar impacto dentro de las redacciones periodísticas y estimular la creación de equipos de noticias interactivos.
We are putting together the first regional hackathon, a simultaneous hack day in different cities across Latin America under the banner “The Money Trail”. We will be looking at where public funds are spent in our countries, what the relationship is between them, what volume of foreign aid is involved and where it all goes, etc.
The goal is twofold: on the one hand to encourage transparency, efficient management of public coffers, and citizen engagement and, on the other, to have an impact on what journalists write about and foster the creation of interactive news teams.
The event, which takes place Saturday, June 7, 2014, will bring together multidisciplinary teams from a host of local chapters of  Hacks/Hackers in cities such as Asunción, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Guatemala, La Paz, Lima, Mendoza, Mexico City, Miami, Montevideo, Rosario, San José, San Pablo and Santiago.
If helping fellow citizens by working towards greater transparency in the use of public funds were not enough of a reason to participate, there is the added incentive of prize money: five winning projects could be the recipients of US $2,000, and a grand prize worth US $10,000 will be awarded by HacksLabs.org, Latin America's first data journalism accelerator.
Writing [en] in ijnet, Mariano Blejman of HacksLabs says:
The hackathon will build on and be inspired by some of the great money-tracking projects taking shape in the region and around the world, such as VozData, a project of the newspaper La Nación (Argentina) that analyzes Argentine senate spending. The African project Where My Money Dey? examines whether mining companies in Ghana actually return 3 percent of their profits to residents, as required by law. And in the European Union, the site Farmsubsidy.org intends to shine a light on the 55 billion euros spent on farm subsidies.
What's more, at Hacks/Hacker, if anyone feels the urge to organize a hackathon themselves but is not sure where to start, a handy guide is available in Spanish. Among the tips provided are the following:
El corazón de Hacks/Hackers es la comunidad de periodistas, pero el motor de funcionamiento es la comunidad hacker (programadores). Busca entre los periodistas conocidos, los más geeks, con ganas de cambiar la forma en la que trabajan los diarios por dentro. También los bloggers que quieren escribir sobre temas nuevos. Convence a estos periodistas para que publiquen información sobre el encuentro y le den valor al evento. Tener una red de periodistas interna es crucial para las actividades del grupo.
The heart of Hacks/Hackers is the community of journalists, but the motor that drives it is the community of coders. Search out well-known journalists, real geeks, those willing to change the way they work from the inside out. Bloggers too, who are willing to write about up-and-coming issues. Convince those journalists to publish stories about the event to help enhance its profile. Having a network of internal journalists is crucial for the activities of the group.
Participants can already start uploading their ideas to HackDash del evento. Poke around the site, and you just might stumble onto an inspiring idea for your own project!
Last but not least, the Follow the Money regional hackathon takes place under the auspices of Hacks/Hackers and is part of a comprehensive media innovation program supported by the International Center For Journalists, the Knight Foundation, Knight Mozilla Open News, PinLatam, and the World Bank Institute in Latin America.


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Indonesians Assert #15yearsNOTenough for Child Predators · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

The message #15yearsNOTenough on the street #Tapeart #RHARHARHA #seniaksi #Jakarta 2014 pic.twitter.com/u4YPiglI7p
— RELAX MAN (@RHARHARHA) May 19, 2014
News about a rape case in a kindergarten school last February has shocked many Indonesian parents. But not long after the case was revealed, Jakarta International School (JIS) found itself in hot water again following the news of a suicide of one James Vahey, a former JIS teacher and a wanted pedophile by the FBI and Interpol.
According to the FBI file, Vahey has raped at least 90 teenage boys throughout his teaching career.
Last March, Tjandra Adi Gunawan, a dentist and business consultant from East Java was apprehended for collecting and distributing online child porn material. The National Police confiscated [id] more than 10,000 child porn pictures from Gunawan's possession. Gunawan posed as a female OB/GYN and lured his victims to interact with his bogus Facebook profile.
Reacting to the surge in child molestation cases, the Indonesian Police Chief stated [id] that pedophiles should receive harsher penalties or even capital punishment.
Citing data gathered by Interpol and the FBI, the Indonesian Police said [id] that Indonesia is experiencing an alarming number of molestation against minors. The number has allegedly surpassed that of Thailand and is one of the highest in the Southeast Asian region.
2007 Thailand&Cambodia menetapkan UU dgn hukuman seumur hidup/mati kpd pelaku pedofil.Mrk lihat di Indonesia hukumnya lemah.Mrk pun ke sini
— Erwin Arnada (@erwinarnada) April 23, 2014
Thailand&Cambodia uphold a law with life/capital punishment to pedophiles. They saw how weak the same law in Indonesia, and here they went.
In Indonesia, the maximum punishment for a child sex offender is 15 years [id]. However, nobody has received the maximum punishment in pedophilia-related cases.
@pasukanjarik (Jarik Army), a group of concerned parents, made an online petition on Change.org, calling the government to revise the law on child molestation and hand out harsher punishment to child sex offenders. In Javanese culture, Jarik is a Batik cloth used by parents to carry their newborns and toddlers.
On Twitter, the group is campaigning using the Twitter hashtag #15yearsNOTenough.
Glad we could be there with @pasukanjarik and participated! Yes! Remember! #15yearsNOTenough pic.twitter.com/oizFsB0hGP
— Caroline Hero (@Caroline_Hero) May 20, 2014
I'm 14y.o and this is my pleasure to be a part of #pasukanjarik. #15YEARSNOTENOUGH @pasukanjarik pic.twitter.com/ZjOCfJZBKN
— citski (@juanitacitra) May 19, 2014
Through the Twitter hashtag #hukumanpedofil (punishment for pedophiles), users discussed about the right punishment for sex predators:
Pelecehan seksual adalah mimpi buruk bagi korban nya.Maka jadikan suntik kebiri mimpi buruk juga bagi pelakunya. @SindoRCTI #hukumanpedofil
— Muhammad Tovik S (@TovikArsenal) May 7, 2014
(As) sexual harassment is the nightmare for victims, let neutering injection become the nightmare for the culprit.
Kalo di Amrik sih UU dipakenya perkorban, jd kalo korbannya 100 anak lebih, hukuman maks 15thn x 100, jadi penjara 1500 thn. #HukumanPedofil
— Rd. Pranama Mawada P (@pranamawada) May 6, 2014
In the US, the law is applied to the number of victims, if 100 children became preys, then the maximum punishment will be 15 years x 100, equals to 1500 years of prison.
Stencil artists at @komunalstensil appealed to both the government and the public:
Darurat Kekerasan Seksual. #KomunalStensil pic.twitter.com/VeeYpTtB1e
— komunal stensil (@komunalstensil) April 20, 2014
Their poster says: Sex Abuse Emergency! Ask the state if we should start arming our kids.
Blogger Swastika Nohara concluded in her blog how communication is an important part of parenting:
Pada akhirnya, komunikasi antara anak dengan orang tua memang jadi penting banget. Biasakan ngobrol santai dengan anak soal apa saja, bahkan hal-hal yang kelihatannya remeh bagi kita, bisa jadi penting bagi anak.
In the end, communication between children and parents becomes crucial. Getting used to have a laid back conversation with our kids on any topic, things that seem to be ordinary for us, might be very important to our kids.
*Featured image is from @NanAndriana.

author: Juke Carolina


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Thailand’s Coup Protesters Are Looking to The Hunger Games for Inspiration  · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Anti-coup protesters in Bangkok show a three-finger salute representing liberty, equality, and fraternity. Photo by Yostorn Triyos, Copyright @Demotix (6/1/2014)
Protesters have found creative ways to express their opposition to Thailand's martial law regime. Many have adopted the three-finger salute from the Hollywood film ‘Hunger Games’ to signify the people’s yearning for ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity.’
One of the early directives of Thailand’s coup regime was the ban on the public gathering of five or more people. Although this didn’t stop anti-coup protesters from converging to various places, the army has become more intolerant of these protests and is arresting those who defy this law.
A video which later became viral shows police in civilian clothes forcing a woman protester inside a taxi. The authorities admitted that the woman was sent to the police headquarters for questioning.
Below are some of the photos of protesters in Bangkok with their ‘Hunger Games’ salute:
Hunger Games style. MT @c4sparks: Three finger anti-thai coup salute offered fleetingly by these woman at a BKK mall pic.twitter.com/ZLaw5bnWds
— Alessio Fratticcioli (@fratticcioli) June 1, 2014
Anti Coup protesters raise their hands in a three finger salute as a symbol of struggle. Photo by Gonzalo Abad, Copyright @Demotix (6/1/2014)
But aside from the three-finger salute, protesters are also doing read-in protests in public places to dramatize their opposition to the coup. They do not carry placards, they do not march in the streets, but they seat in crowded places and read political books. Aside from Thai books on politics, protesters prefer to read George Orwell’s 1984 book. It seems apt considering that the army is intent on further tightening its control of Thai society.
Silent anti-#ThaiCoup protesters. Reading Orwell's book “1984” at Chong Nonsi station in Bangkok. @CoconutsBangkok pic.twitter.com/2qUOS59748
— Kevin Van Campenhout (@Beursparels) May 29, 2014
Thai anti coup protesters continued to defy the military ban on gatherings by silently reading books in public places. Photo by Lillian Suwanrumpha, Copyright @Demotix (5/31/2014)
The Royal Thai Army declared martial law on May 20 and launched a coup two days after. The army vowed to conduct elections but only after it has stabilized the nation and political reforms have been implemented.
After imposing a nationwide night curfew for almost two weeks already, the army decided to lift the curfew in the popular tourism destinations of Pattaya, Samui and Phuket.
During the early days of the coup, the army seized control of TV and radio stations. Around 600 satellite channels were shut down by the army. This week, 40 channels were allowed to broadcast their regular programming including the CNN, BBC and popular cartoon shows.
Media is still under tight regulation and the army has been more aggressive in warning netizens not to criticize authorities. Interestingly, a government advisory warned the public that they can suffer from “mental stress resulting from over-consumption of news.” The same advisory urged the public to remain healthy by reading only from state-run sources.
In the past days, hundreds of academics and journalists were summoned by the army. Many of them were dissenters and critical to the Junta. Fortunately, some were released already and they were able to recount their experience.
Thanapol Eawsakul shares his visit to the army office:
The process of going to report oneself is a political method. This is a request for cooperation. If one provides it, then one can return. But if one does not cooperate with the soldiers, they say that they will use “harsh medicine” to take care of things.
Pravit Rojanaphruk, a popular journalist, felt like being a participant in a Big Brother reality show:
We were told that we would not be able to use phones. There were two phones available – we could use them as we wished – but we would need to give out the number and someone would be standing next to us while we took calls, to eavesdrop.
It was surreal. Everything was surreal. It struck me that we were kind of in this ‘Big Brother’ reality show the entire time.
I think that it tested everyone’s mettle, being there. Some people crack. Some people cry, some people beg.
Although some Thais have supported the coup, many are still urging the army to allow elections and bring back power to the people. The army may have succeeded in restoring peace in the streets of Bangkok, the country’s capital, but it was done by eroding the civil liberties of citizens.


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Reports on Africa Tech Trends · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Erik shares 5 reports on technology trends in Africa:
I keep meaning to write blog posts on each of these reports on tech, most of them on Africa, but can’t seem to get it done. Instead, I’ll just post a link to each, a visual, and why I think it’s worth reading.
1. The Akamai “State of the Internet” Q3 2013 report
[Akamai Report – PDF Download]
Has good information on overall usage globally, and trends. In Africa, even though they have a node in Kenya, all we’re seeing is stats on South Africa, Egypt and Morocco. However, there is a really fascinating chart by Ericsson in it on wireless usage.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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This Santomean Scholar Wants You to Help End Racial Stereotyping in Media · Global Voices
Rádio AfroLis

Grada Kilomba (photo used with permission).
This article was written by journalist Carla Fernandes, mentor of Afrolis Radio (“The Africanized Experience of Lisbon“).
In our everyday lives we are often exposed to stereotypical images of all kinds and, a lot of times, we do not even realize it.  We have grown used to seeing women as a “sexual object”, the black person as the “criminal” and the immigrant, as “the hassle.”
Grada Kilomba, specialist in the study of racism and post-colonialism at the University of Humboldt, in Berlin, Germany, believes that the media plays an important role in reinforcing racial stereotypes but, on the other hand, there is no open debate on racism in the media.
According to this scholar from São Tomé and Príncipe, mainstream communication constantly shows “images and advertising in which black people appear in the position of the unprotected, dependent, criminal, exotic”. Grada Kilomba also says:
basically we are taught, everyday, who the white people are and the place of the white guy in this society. And who the black is and what place this fellow has in this society.
These statements have been made in a video interview about how to deal with racism in Europe, given to Chris Mckee and Tychicus Vasquez from Ragcha Media.
Representations in the media and
Grada Kilomba pointed out that the consumer market and the movie industry frequently resorted to racial and ethnic stereotypes in order to convey messages that cater to the interests of their producers, without much concern about how they represent minorities in general.
Within the European context, where the black people are a minority, “this is the great trauma for black individuals because they have to constantly identify themselves with white heroes and reject the black characters because they personify evil and criminals. The collective unconscious of blacks is pre-programmed to be in a state of alienation from depersonalization,” argues the expert in the field of racial studies.
Racial stereotypes in advertisements
In the field of advertising, examples of offensive stereotypes can be found across the world. In Brazil, towards the end of 2013, the Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit against the enterprise Brasil Kirin (former Schincariol) because of its advertisement of the beer called Devassa Negra [Licentious Black, in Portuguese] which displayed the drawing of a black woman with the following sentences: “It is through the body that one recognizes the true black woman. Full bodied Devassa Negra. Style of dark ale of high fermentation. Creamy and with the aroma of toasted malt”.
Advertisement of the beer Devassa Negra.
Complaints and protests from consumers started appearing from early 2010, when the campaign was first launched. Some of the black feminist organizations denounced the advertisement in the Brazilian press, complaining that the advertisement reinforced the image of a hypersexualized black woman.
In Portugal, Zon – an enterprise that offers telecommunication and multimedia services, prepared an outdoor campaign in which a man of oriental features, would say “aplovado” (apploved) instead of “aprovado” (approved) or “o melhol pleço de semple” (the best plice ever) instead of “o melhor preço de sempre” (the best price ever). The campaign, launched in 2013, was considered racist, as it played with the idea of the Japanese businessman, specialized in technology, who is taken in awe for the technological advances of the brand, but who, at the same time, has a hard time speaking Portuguese. The advertisement was seen to be offensive to the members of Asian cultures.
The media can inform, educate, inspire and connect people to unknown realities. They are a mirror of the world that surrounds us and they simulate experiences one has, or could have, as one lives in it. The messages which are conveyed by the media are codified in a fashion that the majority of people can decodify them so as to understand them. One of the most effective ways of codifying information is by the use of stereotypes. It is tantamount to fixing meaning and identity so that they become recognizable and familiar. Nevertheless, stereotypes are no more than over-simplification of the real, and this may lead them to become dangerous allies of racial prejudices as the examples cited above well illustrate. However, in the same time that media helps reinforce racial stereotypes, they can also aid in the fight against racism. Grada Kilomba advocates the idea that black people in Europe could start “taking up the word, remaking books, registering our history, speaking, making films, etc.,” so as to rebuild a positive auto-image, with the help of the same media which denied them this image.
This article was written by journalist Carla Fernandes, mentor of Afrolis Radio (read also: “The Africanized Experience of Lisbon“).

author: Rádio AfroLis


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Typical Venezuelan Expressions, Illustrated and Translated Into English · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

On the blog Venezuelan Sayings, illustrator Daisy Patton creates images of typical Venezuelan expressions and translates them into English. In her illustrations, readers can see personal interpretations of traditional sayings full of color and humor, which reflect a candid vision of a culture that seeks to understand another through the use of colloquial language.
In the description of the blog, Daisy explains:
My Venezuelan husband often uses colloquialisms from his culture to describe situations we find ourselves in. These are my illustrations of them. Consider them “más criollo que una arepa” [“more local than an arepa“]
We also chatted with Daisy via email. There she told us a few things about the creation of the blog and also about the difficulties and joys of translating not only the language but also the context:
I've been with my husband for almost 8 años [years], and he would frequently translate dichos [sayings] into English, leaving me very confused. Because the Venezuelan sayings are so distinctive, I started writing them down to share with our friends, since they seem so different but wonderfully imaginative. The project has grown from just being the refranes he's said to suggestions from Venezuelans all over the world now. I see it now as a collaborative project that is collecting this cultural ephemera, with the understanding that I'm of course an outsider looking in.
Image used with permission from Daisy Patton.
Regarding the translation work, Daisy says:
It's hard to explain puns, slang, or things that reference something historically or locally known, like games, locations, or historical figures, regardless of language. Much of the time, when my husband Enrique has said a dicho [phrase], I have no idea what he means at all without some explanation (such as me dieron gato por liebre/I was given cat instead of hare), while others make sense once you hear them (like la última coca-cola del desierto/last Coke in the desert).
On the variety and differences of the phrases, Daisy comments the following:
I've learned a great deal about how variable and interesting Venezuelan culture is just from [the variety of sayings]. Anything from exact meaning, to wording, can be slightly or completely different, depending on generation and location. I've had many people contact me to either tell me that I was wrong, or that they've never heard of one, or that they're common in other Latin American countries (which makes sense). In some posts, I've literally had someone state that the saying was incorrect or didn't exist and another five people sharing it and stating how they use it all the time and thought it was hilarious!
Image used with permission from Daisy Patton.
The illustrator regularly receives suggestions to continue illustrating and translating more phrases. That way, the blog is updated frequently and gradually builds a record of typical images that are used and expanded in the speech of different regions throughout the country.

author: Laura Vidal


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While He Was Burying His Grandmother in Bosnia, Floods Submerged His Home in Serbia  · Global Voices
350.org

Rescue operations in the Balkans. Photographer: Marija Trbojevic. From 350.org. Used with permission.
This article written by Rastko Šejić for 350.org is a moving diary of events relating to the first few days of the floods in the Balkans. It has been published on Global Voices as part of a content sharing agreement.
16 May – Floods submerge my home in Serbia
At 6:00, an SMS from my younger sister Rastislava wakes me to a gloomy morning. It had been raining heavily for three days. My sister’s message read, “Our neighbourhood is under water.” I call her immediately.
From our third-floor apartment in Obrenovac, Serbia, my sister sees nothing but brown water, more than 1 meter high. She cannot get out on foot, there is no electricity and no running water. She woke up to the emergency sirens.
I’m in Bosnia. What can I do? I try to calm my sister down, tell her to pack a few basic things and wait for the rescue teams…then the mobile network goes down. I try again and again to reach family and friends in Obrenovac without success. Hours of silence.
Soon I see the first image of our house on the Internet. The water has reached the ground floor.
At 18:30 I finally get an SMS from my sister. Rescue teams have evacuated mothers and children from our building. There aren’t enough boats. I want to tell my sister to be patient but my message doesn’t get through.
At 2:30 on May 17, I finally get a call from my sister. She is on a bus. All wet but rescued. My sister is safe! I fall asleep on my notebook.
The next day, some of my friends get in touch. They are alive, either rescued or still in their homes in Obrenovac. Friends from all over the region call me to ask about my family, offer their homes and help. There are tears, smiles, love and rage at what happened. The Balkan wars and NATO bombings have not killed empathy.
May 18 – Emergency in my grandmother's hometown Brcko, Bosnia
A flooding emergency is declared in Brcko, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where I currently am. I came here for my grandmother’s funeral. She died the weekend before the floods. Heavy military choppers are flying over the flooded areas, saving those trapped in their homes.
From the balcony of the apartment on the fifth floor where my dear late grandmother lived, I see the empty streets of a frightened town that is now split in two by the Brka river. The floods have completely isolated it from the rest of the world.
From the other side of the balcony, I see the flooded Sava river that now threatens the lives of millions of people in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia. On the other side of the river, I can see the water glistening in the flooded village of Gunja, Croatia.
Toxic water in my Obrenovac
Experts say that this has been the worst rainfall since records began. My home town Obrenovac is said to have taken the hardest blow.
The course of the Kolubara river, which destroyed Obrenovac, was changed back in the 1970s, so that more coal could be excavated from the Kolubara open pit coal mines. All but one of these mines are now flooded. More than 1,000 hectares of dumped coal ashes and landfills have made the river water in Obrenovac toxic.
We have engineered nature for ages, exploiting it as if it belonged to us. Maybe this is the time for former Yugoslavian states that are dependent on coal to start thinking differently.
The beginning of the floods in Obrenovac, Serbia. Photographer: Marko Ristic. From 350.org. Used with permission.
United by pain and suffering, love and understanding
The images on the Internet and television are terrible. Lost lives, ruined homes, whole towns under water, landslides even took entire settlements, hundreds of thousands people displaced, children crying, no electricity, no drinking water for millions of people.
The body count is on the rise. A friend of my late father had a stroke and died within 30 minutes after he had been brought to the sports hall, the rescue centre in Belgrade. I know some of the 750 people reported missing personally.
A large-scale disaster unites people across the region in pain and suffering, love and understanding. They show their best traits. There are true heroes, real friends.
Disaster strips away everything that’s fake, all the make-up of daily politics, the rat race we are all a part of. A feeling that we are all human beings and an understanding for each other prevails. Rescue teams from Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia came to help in Serbia and Bosnia. But the nation states don’t matter. This is about everyday people.
Disaster relief came immediately from all over the world. Our closest neighbours were the first to help with machines, rescue teams, vehicles, food and water. But the struggle to get back to normal life in the flooded areas is only just starting. We have lost a lot. Some have lost everything.