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El Salvador Second Round Election Too Close to Call · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Salvadorans went to the polls on Sunday, March 9 to vote in a run-off presidential election, but results are so close that both candidates have declared themselves winners and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal has announced that they will do a complete recount in the coming days. In a report about election day, Tim's El Salvador Blog explains:
In El Salvador's presidential election on Sunday, the preliminary victor is Salvador Sánchez Cerén of the left-wing FMLN [Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front], but by the slightest of margins, and with a final count of the votes yet to come.  Preliminary results are released on the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (“TSE”) website very quickly after the votes are counted at polling places. Five hours after the polls were closed, 99.8% of the votes had been counted and Salvador Sánchez Cerén of the FMLN had a very slight  6264 vote lead out of almost 3 million votes cast.
The TSE website [es] still shows Salvador Sanchez Ceren with a small lead over conservative candidate Norman Quijano from the ARENA (Nationalist Republican Alliance) party.
Tim adds:
There was no doubt that ARENA had pulled off a major turnaround in just 5 weeks from its poor showing in the February 2 first round where Norman Quijano trailed Sánchez Cerén by 10 points, and in opinion polls in the past few weeks trailed by 13 to 18 percentage points.  Quijano managed to poll 437,000 more votes than he received on February 2, an increase of more than 40%. In contrast, Sánchez Cerén only increased his vote total by 175,000 votes.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Eritrean Literary Giant Talks About Tigrinya Oral Poetry · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Blogger Issayas interviews Solomon Tsehaye, eritre's leading poet. after the release of his latest work on massé and melqes, oral poetry genres in Eritrea. Solomon Tsehaye is the man who wrote Eritrea's national anthem:
Issayas: What is massé? Melqes?
Solomon: Massé (awlo) and melqes are related art forms which constitute one of the genres of Tigrinya oral poetry. Massé is performed on happy and festive occasions where, most of the time, specially prepared food and drink are served. Weddings and a number of other celebratory events are appropriate occasions for massé. On the other hand, melqes is performed during funerals and similar moments of sadness. Though different in the way they are presented, massé  and melqes have the same poetic structure. They are also composed and recited by the same people. With the exception of a few who either make massé  or melqes, the overwhelming majority of oral poets who perform massé  also perform melqes.
Issayas: What is the significance of massé  and melqes in Tigrinya society?
Solomon: As is briefly explained (in English) in my book, Massén Melqesn Qeddamot Volume I, on pages 540-541, massé  and melqes are highly valued oral poetic forms in Tigrinya society. They are highly valued because the ideas and concepts they transmit have depth and relevance. Massé  and melqes are source of guidance to society from which people draw all sorts of lessons. They are useful in resolving conflicts. They present social critique which helps solve social problems and correct mistakes. They enhance society’s knowledge on history, culture, language, politics, religion, etc. by discussing various aspects of life. Last but not least, massé  and melqes are also very entertaining. Because of the happy occasions on which it is performed masse’ is particularly amusing with a lot of humor connected to it. The events in which massé  and melqes are presented were the mass media of traditional Tigrinya society. They were platforms where the real opinions of the people were heard from the voice of its great minds – the oral poets. Whenever such events took place attending audiences were very eager to know what the oral poets had to say. There were even times when people travelled long distances merely to hear massé  or melqes, particularly when it was known that renowned oral poets would be present for the occasions.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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European Union Publishes Comprehensive Survey of Violence Against Women · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

FRA unveils its report on violence against women in the EU. Photo from the Facebook page of Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), used with permission.
On March 5, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published the results of a survey on violence against women [pdf], the most comprehensive of its kind ever conducted. Undertaken simultaneously throughout the region, it is the first time comparative data has been available by country on the kinds of violence women suffer in their families, at work, in public and on the Internet as well as the effect it has on their lives and the way in which victims respond to aggression.
The report is based on direct interviews with 42,000 female residents of the EU aged 18 to 74, and it reveals some staggering numbers. According to one of the videos presented along with the report, “the results show the scale of violence against women in the EU is vast, and simply cannot be ignored.”  In the words of the FRA Director Morten Kjaerum:
La enormidad del problema prueba que la violencia contra las mujeres no afecta solo a unas pocas: tiene impacto en la sociedad todos los días. Por tanto, políticos, sociedad civil y trabajadores de primera línea tienen que evaluar medidas que traten cualquier forma de violencia contra la mujer, donde sea que se produzca.
The enormity of the problem is proof that violence against women does not just impact a few women only – it impacts on society every day. Therefore, policy makers, civil society and frontline workers need to review measures to tackle all forms of violence against women no matter where it takes place. [sic]
Morten Kjaerum, Director of the FRA, speaking to the audience that attended the presentation of the report. Poto from the FRA website used with permission.
Some of the conclusions of the survey include:
Surprisingly the countries with the highest percentage of victims of violence against women are in northern Europe: Denmark (52%), Finland (47%) and Sweden (46%), while Hungary (21%), Austria (20%) and Poland (19%) have much lower rates. Spain, at 22%, is well below average:
Percentage of women, by EU member country, who say they have suffered “physical or sexual violence at the hands of their partner or non-partner since the age of 15.” Image courtesy of the Fundamental Rights Agency, used with permission.
It seems counter intuitive that Scandinavian countries, which have higher rates of gender equality should also have higher rates of violence against women. Blanca Tapia, spokesperson for the FRA, explains in El diario [es] newspaper this apparent contradiction:
En países como Finlandia, Dinamarca, Suecia o Francia es más aceptable culturalmente hablar de violencia de género y, por lo tanto, las mujeres la declaran más. Las mujeres de los países nórdicos tienen mucha conciencia de género, saben que son iguales en derechos a los hombres y tienen claro que no tienen que aguantar ciertas cosas. No pasan ni una.
In countries like Finland, Denmark, Sweden or France, it is culturally more acceptable to talk about violence against women, so women are more likely to denounce it. Women in northern countries have greater gender awareness; they know they have the same rights as men and it is clear to them that there are certain things they do not have to put up with. They don't let things get by them.
The report has generated controversy among Europeans. Many doubt the veracity of the numbers and question what is really considered aggression. The user DENUNCIAR left the following comment on the website of diario 20 minutos [es]:
ya sabemos como hacen las encuestas estas feministas, si se pelean por el mando de la tele se considera violencia machista
nada nuevo bajo el sol
otra noticia para manipular nuestras mentes en el siglo dorado del feminazismo
We already know how these feminist surveys work, if you argue over the TV remote it's considered macho violence
nothing new under the sun
another headline designed to manipulate our minds during this golden age of feminazis
In the Público newspaper, chochialimmoomuelte commented:
¿¿Una de cada cinco mujeres no sabe que si la violan tiene que ir a la policía??
¿¿Decir “no te quiero” a alguien es violencia machista??
¿¿Los abrazos son acoso??
¿¿ La “violencia contra las mujeres” se da “todos los días en todas partes”??
Desde luego, cada vez os cuesta más justificar las subvenciones al chiringuito feminazi.
Las mujeres inteligentes deberían indignarse ante esta basura que se publica en las que se las trata como si fueran imbéciles
One out of every five women doesn't know they have to report a rape to the police??
Saying “I don't love you” is macho violence??
Hugs are harassment??
“Violence against women” occurs “everywhere every day”??
Of course, it gets harder and harder to justify subsidizing your feminazi soap box.
Intelligent women should be offended by this crap that is published and that treats them like they were idiots.
Madame X responded this way to the skeptics on the same webpage:
Por supuesto que un piropo grosero es una agresión. Es humillante que te digan una grosería y la humillación es una forma de maltrato. Cualquier tío se ofendería si otro le dice una grosería a su novia, a su madre o a su hermana, ¿o me lo vais a negar? Entonces si eso os ofende o molesta cuando va dirigido a una mujer de vuestro entorno afectivo, ¿cómo algunos tenéis la cara dura de cuestionar que eso sea una agresión a la afectada?
Of course a crude comment is a form of aggression. It is humiliating to have something crude said to you, and humiliation is a form of mistreatment. Any guy would be offended if another said something disgusting to their girlfriend, mother or sister—are you going to deny that? So if it offends or bothers you went it is directed at a woman you care about, how can some of you actually have the nerve to question whether the woman feels harassed?
On Twitter, Lau published an image that explains in graphic detail the different kinds of violence committed against women:
Y no sólo me refiero a que nos revienten la cara con un guantazo o nos violen. La violencia machista tiene pilares pic.twitter.com/SKNIcY0L9r
— Lau (@mcmihail) March 5, 2014
And I am not just referring to those of us who are slapped in the face or raped. Macho violence has a framework.
[The pyramid describes a progression from subtle forms such as sexist advertising and simply ignoring women to more explicit forms such as insults, abuse and even murder.]
Don Mitxel Erregea questions the role of religions:
me pregunto si la violencia machista tendrá algo que ver con el fomento de religiones que asocian la mujer al Mal.
— Don Mitxel Erregea (@DonMitxel666) March 6, 2014
I wonder if macho violence has something to do with encouraging religions that associate women with Evil.
In Spain, cuts made by the current government affect public programs that protect women [es]:
[La Ley de Tasas] elimina la falta por “vejaciones injustas” que suele ser el primer paso en los casos de maltrato, se sugiere la mediación en los casos de violencia de género. Esto pondría en riesgo a la víctima y se solicita que la condena del agresor sea una multa
[The law regarding court fees] eliminates the “unfair treatment” offense that is usually the first step in cases of abuse; mediation is suggested in cases of violence against women. This would put victims at risk and seeks to impose only a fine on the aggressor.
In Spain, 48 victims of violence against women died in 2013.  So far in 2014, 14 women have been killed by their partners.

author: Lourdes Sada


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Fathers in the Caribbean Have to Fight to See the Birth of Their Kids · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidadian father holding baby. Photo used with permission.
Debrah Lewis started noticing the gap between private and public health care in Trinidad and Tobago whenever she had to transfer a labouring mother to the hospital. The first thing that struck her was the look of anguish on the faces of the parents-to-be. “We have a concern about the condition of your baby,” she would gently explain. Barely had the word “hospital” come out of her mouth than the mother would whimper, “But I'll be all alone!” and the father would add, “And I won't be able to be there for the birth!”
Lewis, a midwife for thirty years, and a staunch advocate for parents and families, found the situation heartbreaking. In Trinidad and Tobago – as in many other Caribbean territories – fathers are routinely denied the right to witness the birth of their children. Lewis, largely through the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Midwives, has been lobbying for years to get the situation changed.
While changes have been coming, progress is slow and often random. The San Fernando General Hospital (the main health facility in the southern part of the island), still refuses to allow fathers into the delivery room. At the Sangre Grande hospital, which serves east Trinidad, fathers must sign a form agreeing to abide by certain regulations. In Port of Spain, the country's capital, the hospital has too many conditions to count and even if you satisfy all the requirements, including attending birth classes, there is no guarantee. Being allowed into the delivery room is often up to the whim and fancy of the medical staff, who often come up with excuses not to include the father. “We're too busy.” “We don't have time to deal with that.” “It's a ward situation.” “It's our decision.”
Debrah Lewis, speaking at TEDxPortofSpain, November 30, 2012. Photo by Georgia Popplewell, used with permission.
Lewis is arguing that it's not. One father actually called her crying in the middle of the night, begging her to intervene. He had jumped through all the hoops to ensure that he would be there when his child was born; when the time came, staff denied him access. Despite her contacts, Lewis couldn't change their minds. She finds the stance of the public health system towards this issue hypocritical. “This child is never going to be born again,” she explains. “But then people will turn around and complain that our society is deteriorating; that fathers do not maintain an active presence in the lives of their children. Yet, when that child first comes into this world, the fathers are not allowed to be there.”
As the Executive Director of the Mamatoto Resource & Birth Centre, a community-based childbirth centre founded in 2004 to help address the demand for family-centered pregnancy care, the contradiction must seem especially bizarre to Lewis. “I don't think most people realise that the discrepancy between public and private care is so wide,” she says. “They don't understand the large number of fathers who are not afforded the opportunity to see their child being born.”
At the end of November last year, Lewis gave a talk at TEDxPortofSpain. The theme was “Connecting” and many in the audience expected her to talk about the maternal connection. Instead, Lewis stood up for women by furthering the cause of the men in their lives. “I'm a feminist,” she says, “but feminism has often given men the short end of the stick. They get blamed for things we don't allow them to do. Men may have issues, but we're part of the problem. The middle of the spectrum is where we need to be, but we're at the other end.”
Regionally, policies are not based on current research or empirical evidence – and even when new guidelines exist, they are not implemented. For instance, the Mount Hope medical facility, which wanted to achieve baby-friendly status, has a much more modern policy, but it is not put into practice. Lewis maintains that there is an easy fix for the situation and that it lies in the hands of parents. “People have to demand it,” she says, “and when enough of us do, all the Ministry of Health has to do is make it a national policy. There's something called the Patient's Charter of Rights – once the right of fathers to be present at the birth of their children makes the list, the public hospitals will have to abide by it. They will no longer have an excuse.”
In anticipation of that day, Lewis has been focusing on educating the public. The Association of Midwives and Mamatoto speak anywhere they are invited: churches, schools, community centres. Their mission is simple: to educate people about their choices so that they can make informed decisions. “We just give people the information,” Lewis explains. “We don't try to influence them in any way.” When she goes into schools, it's more about increasing awareness as to what exactly midwives do, and she is always guided by the questions of students. But therein lies the root of the problem. “We've been told to shift the line of questioning if girls ask at what point in their menstrual cycles they can get pregnant. Members of Parent Teacher Associations have asked us to leave if we bring up the topic of safe sex. So why are we baffled, then, when faced with the levels of fear and ignorance when it comes to labour and childbirth? Let's all just talk about it.”
This month, Lewis, with the involvement of fathers’ groups (including the Single Fathers Association of Trinidad & Tobago), hopes to get the public to respond in greater numbers to change the bent of public hospitals on the issue. “More people need to say ‘no’,” she says, and she isn't just referring to the public health service. Many companies operating in Trinidad and Tobago – even multinationals – are not supportive of fathers. Most local firms will grant a new dad one day off work; foreign-owned entities are slightly more gracious, offering two to three days’ leave. Maternity leave conditions are not much better. While developed countries like Canada give new mothers an entire year off work, in Trinidad and Tobago, they still get three months – well, now fourteen weeks instead of twelve, thanks to the lobbying of the organisations Lewis represents – but the timing is still out of whack, considering the Ministry of Health wants to encourage breastfeeding for at least up to six months postpartum.
Sometimes the whole battle feels like a Herculean task to Lewis, but then she hears a first-time father say something like, “I have a son! They let me see him!” and she's inspired to keep on going. “That's so sad,” she says. “Imagine if that man had held his baby at the moment he was born? That moment begins each family's relationship – mother, father and child – regardless of whether the parents are married or not. It imprints a relationship with that child that is difficult to recreate. Men's protective instincts kick in; their role as provider comes to the fore and the development of their relationship with that child – and with the child's mother – begins in that moment.”
Check out PRI's The Ninth Month (#ninthmonth) series on maternal health around the world.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Our Berlin Wall in Syria · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

Syrian Students for a Better Future is a WordPress blog by Syrian students at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The students are studying in the US as part of Jusoor Initiative to help Syrians continue their higher education outside Syria through scholarships. The blog, which has posts in Arabic and English, reflects the students hopes, doubts, worries, optimism, homesickness and wishes for a better future in their home.
Safouh Takrouri wrote his post Our Berlin Wall in Syria saying:
After reuniting the people of German, individuals and communities started to plan for its future. A future free from wars, blood and disputes. A future full of achievements and development.
People now in Syria are divided in two groups – maybe more. Each group has its own opinion, and believes in its own vision for the future of the country. Each group is right in so many points; and wrong in too many ways as well. No doubt, each group loves their country and some are ready to give their souls freely for it. While to many victims of this horrific violence and suffering never asked for their lives and those of their families to be so disrupted. Every citizen and resident of Syria has the right to give his or her opinion for the future of the country in which his or her child will live, but these opinions – different as they may be – should be respected. Honest, fair, transparent and respectful debate should be our strategy for working together; this should be our moral code, our law – and for centuries this has been our Syria. Today, we are experiencing a low point.
Despite the whole dark news that comes from Syria, I cannot be pessimistic.
Syrian Students for a better future. Source WordPress Blog. Used BY CC 3.0
Mariela Shaker who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music at Monmouth College, and previously studied at Aleppo University, was happy to meet her Syrian colleagues. Hoping for better Syria she expressed:
I very much hope that all the Syrian students are doing very well in their new colleges, and are keeping up the hard work so that we can continue to represent our country very well in all fields, and so that Syria will be proud of us always.

author: Rami Alhames


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Peru Considers Eliminating Environmental Impact Studies for Oil Exploration · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Peruvian coast. Photo by user ostill on Shutterstock
Update (10 March, 2014): In response to citizens’ concerns, the Ministry of Environment clarified [es] that the regulation that would eliminate environmental impact studies is still under development and that no final decisions have been made.
The newly appointed Minister of Energy and Mines, Eleodoro Mayorga, announced that he is working in conjunction with the Ministry of the Environment on a regulation that eliminates the need to submit environmental impact studies on the seismic exploration phase of oil lots. The purpose is to accelerate investment in the sector.
The news [es] was announced during an event [es] held by the Peruvian Hydrocarbons Society on March 6, 2014. The event introduced the Hydrocarbon White Paper, a proposal from the private sector to the government with the goal of establishing a new social contract with businesses and communities.
The Minister of Energy and Mines further stated that “the industry is well established and the idea is to move from red tape to practical action.”
By its very nature, seismic exploration has a high impact on an ecosystem, as it is usually done in areas that are still pollution-free. In this regard, an article [es] by Elizabeth Bravo in Grain says:
Para la prospección sísmica, por ejemplo se abren trochas o líneas sísmicas de alrededor de 1 kilómetro de largo por 3-10 metros de ancho, si se aplican las mejores normas, pero con frecuencia superan los 10 metros de ancho. Además se construyen helipuertos para dar servicios a las operaciones sísmicas. En una campaña sísmica típica se talan hasta 1000 kilómetros y se construyen entre 1000 y 1200 helipuertos. Cada helipuerto tiene media hectárea, o más.
In seismic prospecting, for example, seismic trails or lines about 1 kilometer long by 3-10 meters wide are opened, if the best rules apply, but they often exceed 10 meters wide. Also helipads are built to provide services for the seismic operations. In a typical seismic survey up to 1,000 kilometers are cut, and between 1,000 and 1,200 helipads are built.  Each heliport uses half a hectare or more.
But that isn't all. Bravo adds:
Durante la prospección sísmica se producen niveles de ruido de gran magnitud, debido a las detonaciones de dinamita que se hacen cada 6 metros, así como el ruido producido por los helicópteros que suplen de materiales y alimentación a los trabajos sísmicos. Durante la perforación el ruido es menos fuerte, pero más constante. El movimiento constante de vehículos, el funcionamiento de las estaciones de separación y refinación, son también actividades muy ruidosas. Este ruido hace que los animales escapen o cambien su comportamiento alimenticio y reproductivo.
During seismic prospecting, noise of great magnitude occurs due to detonation of dynamite every 6 meters, and the noise produced by helicopters that supply materials and food for the seismic work. During drilling the noise is not as loud, but is more constant. The constant movement of vehicles, and the operation of the separation and refining stations are also activities that are very noisy. This noise causes the animals to run away or change their nutritional and reproductive behavior.
The first reactions of people involved with environmental conservation are of surprise and astonishment. Noticias Ser interviewed the anthropologist Alberto Chirif who stated [es]:
No he leído las declaraciones del ministro, pero si ha dicho eso me parece un gravísimo error. Con eso, simplemente han superado las apariencias porque, ciertamente, los EIA [estudios de impacto ambiental] han sido hasta hoy muy aparentes. Nunca un EIA ha llegado a frenar algún tipo de proyecto. Por otro lado, estos estudios son realizados por las mismas empresas que luego van a realizar intervenciones para extraer minerales o petróleo. En ese sentido, hay una cosa bastante perversa en el mecanismo de difusión de los estudios. Pero de ahí a decir que ya no se van a hacer me parece peor. Por lo menos con los EIA hay un mecanismo de presión a las empresas. Ahora los límites se desbordan.
I haven’t read the Minister’s statement, but if he said that, I think it’s a serious mistake. They’ve simply overcome appearances, because certainly the EIAs (environmental impact assessments) up until now have been very evident. An EIA has never stopped any type of project. On the other hand, these assessments are done by the same companies that will later step in to extract minerals or oil. In that sense, there is something very wrong in the diffusion mechanism for the assessments. But going from that to saying there won’t be any at all I think is worse. At least with the EIAs there is some mechanism for pressuring the companies. Now there are no limits.
The ex-Vice Minister of Environmental Management, José de Echave, writes [es] on the website Cooperacción that the term “red tape” is the argument used by the entrepreneurs of the National Society of Mining and Petroleum to describe any attempt to improve social and environmental policies as just another bureaucratic process:
Es lamentable que un ministro de Estado termine repitiendo los argumentos de los sectores más retrógrados del país, que se oponen y se seguirán oponiendo a cualquier intento de adecuar el país a los mejores estándares internacionales en materia ambiental y social.
It’s a shame that a State minister ends up repeating the arguments used by the most reactionary sectors of the country, which oppose and will continue to oppose any attempt to bring the country up to the highest international standards in environmental and social issues.
It should be remembered that seismic exploration is also carried out in the ocean, and that although in the case of the mass dolphin deaths in 2012 the government indicated that oil exploration did not cause it, there were several accusations [es] about it and not everybody was convinced. The NGO Mundo Azul, for example, states [es] on its Facebook page:
Decir que las empresas tienen suficientes estándares para ellos garantizar que el medio ambiente se protege es decir que BP tuve suficiente ética y sabiduría para evitar el derrame del Golfo de México – y todos sabemos que esto no era así. […] En verdad es la primera vez que escucho que un gobierno regala el poder decisivo sobre el bienestar de la sociedad y del patrimonio natural de un país a empresas extranjeras. Me parece muy grave.
To say that companies have sufficient standards for them to guarantee that the environment is protected is like saying that BP had enough ethics and wisdom to prevent the Gulf of Mexico spill…and we all know this was not the case. […] It is really the first time I’ve heard of a government giving the deciding power over the welfare of society and the natural heritage of a country to foreign companies. It seems very serious.
Twitter reactions were about the same.
Ricardo Marapi, a journalist specializing in environmental issues, expressed:
OJO, ¿realmente el gobierno está pensando exonerar el estudio de impacto ambiental (EIA) para acelerar las inversiones petroleras?
— Ricardo Marapi (@RicardoMarapi) March 6, 2014
Watch out—is the government really going to exempt EIS (environmental impact studies) in order to accelerate oil investments?
Gobierno peruano sobre su rol en regular actividades extractivas: “las empresas saben lo que tienen que hacer” http://t.co/nI7FqP0P6x
— Matteo (@Matteo_S_) March 6, 2014
The Peruvian government on its role in regulating extractive activities: “The companies know what they need to do”
[“Oil lot exploration will be let off the hook from assessments…Minister of Energy and Mines, Eleodoro Mayorga, announced that the regulations to expedite investments in the oil sector will be ready in the next few days.”]
Meanwhile, conservationist Alvaro Durand points out how little the next UN Conference on Climate Change (COP20), to be held in Lima, means to the government.
A meses de celebrar la #COP20 en Lima, ministro de Energía y Minas exonera de estudio de impacto ambiental a exploraciones de hidrocarburos
— Alvaro Durand (@alvarodurand) March 7, 2014
A few months from the COP20 to be held in Lima, the Minister of Energy and Mines plans on exempting EIAs for oil
Congresswoman Verónika Mendoza opined:
Muy preocupante: Ministro de Energía y Minas plantea exonerar de EIA estudios de exploración de hidrocarburos http://t.co/s4D0IMUQfT
— Verónika Mendoza (@Vero_Mendoza_F) March 6, 2014
Very worrisome: the Minister of Energy and Mines proposes to exempt the EIAs for oil exploration
Pregunta a @MinamPeru: ¿Ustedes avalan eliminación de los EIA para exploración petrolera? ojo ustedes son ente rector del SEIA.
— Jorge Chavez Ortiz (@ChavezWar) March 7, 2014
Question for the Ministry of the Environment: Do you endorse elimination of EIAs for oil exploration? Look out—you’re the government body of the EIA system.
Seguro que los kukama de Pacaya Samiria aplauden la exoneración del EIA para hidrocarburos. Agua con desarrollo están tomando sus hijos.
— césar bedón (@cesarbedon) March 7, 2014
I’m sure the Kukama of Pacaya Samiria are all for exemption from EIAs for oil exploration. Water development is now taking their children.
The measure, if approved, will leave the future of the Amazon rain forests of the country in the hands of oil companies, as well as any other area where they think there might be oil reserves.
The question is, if until now, with environmental impact studies, all the pollution and deforestation has been worrisome, what will happen if these crucial issues are left to the complete whim of the extracting companies, with only their statements of good intention?

author: Juan Arellano


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PHOTOS: ‘Theyyam’ Festival of Gods in India’s Kerala · Global Voices
Inji Pennu

Vishnumoorthi at Narikode. Image by Shaji Mullookkaran, used with permission
As India's coastal region of Kerala settles into winter in November, the festival of Theyyam, a folklore ritual in Kerala's north as well as in bordering regions, begins. Performed in more than a thousand temples, its known for its wild drum beats, its indigenous dances and enchanting narratives.
The lower castes of society normally participate in Theyyam and therefore all the stories and songs depict the cruelty of the system and the upper castes. Theyyam ritual is the manifestation of God in an ordinary human being when every other door has been shut, so he or she is empowered with divine status.
In William Dalrymple’s compelling book “Nine Lives“, he writes extensively about when men turn into part-time gods as the season of Theyyam begins:
It’s only during the Theyyam season—from December to February. We give up our jobs and become Theyyam artists. For those months we become gods. Everything changes. We never eat meat or fish and are forbidden to sleep with our wives. We bring blessings to the village and the villagers, and exorcise evil spirits. We are the vehicle through which people can thank the gods for fulfilling their prayers and granting their wishes. Though we are all Dalits (untouchables) even the most bigoted and casteist Namboodiri Brahmins worship us, and queue up to touch our feet.
There have been extensive stories and research about the Theyyam festivals, but the ritual remains a mystery to many who do not belong to the region. Most of the rituals are performed at night and some even have restrictions on women watching them.
Despite this, the festival has a presence on social media. On Facebook, people are adding photographs of Theyyam under the hastag NarikodeTheyyam2014. Animesh Xavier, an artist and google plusser (Google+), wrote a review of the event for a TV station's website and sketched scenes from the Theyyam festivities.
Shaji Mullookkaran, an avid photographer and blogger, posted an invite on his Google Plus inviting everybody to join him at his home town at Narikode, Kannur in Kerala, for a Theyyam Photowalk this year, as he has been doing for the past years.
A Theyyam performs as a goddess. Image by Shaji Mullookkaran, used with permission
Around twenty or more people, who are active on social media took up the invitation and accompanied Shaji to some of the major performances with cameras in hand. The result was some exquisite photographs of this intriguing world, where Gods descend to earth.
Kumar Upasana, who lives in Kuwait and made a short visit to Kerala, documented the Puthiya Bagavathy Theyyam in a short video:
Seena Viovin, a software engineer, took a collection of photographs from a woman's perspective:
A Theyyam blessing a devotee. Image by Seena Viovin, used with permission
Helpers readying the head dress for the Theyyam. Image by Seena Viovin, used with permission
Two Theyyams perform at the temple premises. Image by Seena Viovin, used with permission

author: Inji Pennu


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Syrian Families Host Expensive Fancy Dress Party as War Rages On · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

Group photo of the ceremony Harem Al-Sultan in Damascus. Source: All4syria website.
It came as a shock to many Syrians that people in the capital Damascus would spend an estimated 18 million Syrian pounds (about 165,000 US dollars) to throw a lavish party inspired by the Turkish soap opera “Harem Al Sultan” (Muhteşem Yüzyıl/The Sultan's Harem) as people in the war-torn country are being killed and starved on a daily basis.
But one group of wealthy families did just that in November 2013. Photographs of the participants’ dresses, decorations and drinks were widely shared on social networks at the time. Just a few kilometres away from the party, Syrian children in Yarmuk refugee camp were dying of hunger.
Several websites and news portals in Arabic reported on the fancy dress soiree, such as thawrtalsoryienalahrar, Syria-news, Aksalser, Al-marsd and All4Syria [all ar]. AlSulta AlRabeaa (the Fourth Authority) published photographs of the smiling party-goers on Facebook.
Syrian artist Jalal Altawil explained the details of the party on his Facebook page:
آل الدباس في مدينة دمشق تقيم حفلاً تطلق عليه اسم “حريم السلطان” تدعو إليه العائلات الدمشقية العريقة , وتبدو في الصورة شذا المعلم بنت وزير الخارجية السوري , وعائلة الشيخ غزال وآل الحفار , الحفل أُقيم في منتجع يعفور وتكلفته الاجمالية مع تكلفة الالبسة التي تم تصميمها على ايدي ايلي صعب وزهير مراد وتم نقلها من اوروبا الى دمشق بلغت حوالي 18 مليون ليرة سورية. دمشق. يعفور .
The Dabbas family in the city of Damascus held a ceremony under the theme “Hareem Al Sultan” for famous Damascus families. In this photograph, you can see Shaza Muallem, the daughter of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, and the family of Sheikh Ghazal and Hafar family. The ceremony was held in the resort of Yafour – Damascus suburb, and the total price – including the cost of clothes designed by Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad brought over from Europe to Damascus – amounted to about 18 million Syrian pounds.
A photo from Harem Al-Sultan party in Damascus. Source: AlSulta AlRabeaa (the Fourth Authority) on Facebook.
The Syrian Observer wrote that “the entertainment ceremony was described by activists as the ‘Harem of Power’, saying that it doesn't represent original Damascene families.” It followed with comments from some of the party-goers:
Rouaa Daoudi, who attended the ceremony, replied saying that she did not understand what was wrong with the party and why the others are upset. She expressed in her own impolite manner that she had beared with the revolution for two years and were now bored. [all sic] She said she wants to “celebrate with the other girls” and in doing so, she asked: What is the mistake? She mocked those who objected, saying she believed their objection was because they were not invited.
Rouaa Daoudi took the same position.
“Yes, we are in Damascus and we want to celebrate as if there is no war, you have no right to blame us, may your anger kill you,” she said.
Diana Moukalled, who is a Lebanese TV journalist, documentary producer, columnist and women's advocate, expressed her shock at the situation:
حفل باذخ في دمشق تحت اسم “حريم السلطان” بينهم ابنة وليد المعلم http://t.co/KgwMFaHPsJ سوريا تعيش المجاعة وحريم السلطة يسرفون #سوريا#فضيحة
— diana moukalled (@dianamoukalled) November 10, 2013
Syrians are starving while regime's women are carousing. An expensive ceremony in Damascus under the theme “Hareem Al Sultan”, including the daughter of Walid Muallem.
Nothing further to write, a picture is worth a thousand words. I'll leave you with some of these fantasy photos from the country of war and let you judge for yourself.
Source: AlSulta AlRabeaa (the Fourth Authority) on Facebook.
Photo from All4Syria website. Used under CC BY 3.0
Photo from All4Syria website. Used under CC BY 3.0
Photo from All4Syria website. Used under CC BY 3.0
Photo from All4Syria website. Used under CC BY 3.0
Source: AlSulta AlRabeaa (the Fourth Authority) on Facebook.
Source: AlSulta AlRabeaa (the Fourth Authority) on Facebook.


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Tech Talent and Expat Bubbles in Kenya · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

White African discusses tech talent and expat bubbles in Kenya:
Say you are a Kenyan web designer living in Seattle, do you think anyone cares that you came from Kenya? No, they only care that you are a great web designer.
If you’re an American programmer working in Nairobi, does anyone care that you come from the US? Yes, for some reason that matters. You’re judged on where you come from as well as your skill set.
It’s not apples-to-apples, though it should be.


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The Role of Portuguese-Language Community Radio in Australia and East Timor · Global Voices
Marisa Gonçalves

On 2014 World Radio Day, established by UNESCO as being 13 February, we chatted with Portuguese journalist Manuel Ribeiro (@manuelribeiro), one of the voices of an Australian radio programme called “Voz Portuguesa” (Portuguese Voice), which has been broadcast since 1990 to the Portuguese-speaking community living in Wollongong in state of New South Wales. It's the largest and oldest community of Portuguese immigrants in Australia. The Australian census indicates that there are 15,328 Portuguese living in Australia nowadays and 46,519 who say they are of Portuguese descent.
Ribeiro explained the role of community radio Vox Fm in this region of Australia and also about his professional experience in radio journalism in East Timor.
Global Voices (GV): Can you tell us a little about the program “Voz Portuguesa”?
Manuel Ribeiro (MR): O programa começou em 1990 por iniciativa de um grupo de portugueses da comunidade local que pretendiam divulgar informação sobre os eventos organizados pelo Kemblawarra Portuguese Sports & Social Club e pela Associação Portuguesa da Costa Sul. Os primeiros imigrantes terão chegado a esta parte da Austrália nos anos 50 para trabalhar na indústria metalúrgica. Actualmente, julgo que a comunidade de Portugueses e luso-descentes nesta área ronde as 5000 pessoas.
Broadcasters of “Voz Portuguesa” in action.
O programa insere-se na rádio Vox FM, uma rádio comunitária de Wollongong cuja programação se divide pelos vários grupos representativos da comunidade, que é cultural e linguísticamente bastante diversa. É uma comunidade multi-cultural vibrante que inclui imigrantes, de vagas posteriores à colonização anglo-saxónica, provenientes, para além de Portugal, de outros países da Europa e, mais recentemente, de países do Médio-Oriente, América Latina e da Ásia.
Manuel Ribeiro (MR): The programme started in 1990 thanks to a group of Portuguese folks from the local community who wanted to disseminate information about the events organized by Kemblawarra Portuguese Sports & Social Club and the Associação Portuguesa da Costa Sul [Portuguese Association from the South Coast]. The first immigrants are known to have arrived to this part of Australia in the 1950s to work in the metal industry. Nowadays, I reckon that between people born in Portugal and people of Portuguese descent, there are about 5,000 individuals in this region.
The program is broadcast on radio Vox FM, a community radio station in Wollongong whose programming is divided into several groups representing this culturally and linguistically diverse community. This is a vibrant multicultural community which includes immigrants who arrived in the country in a subsequent wave of migration after the Anglo-Saxon colonization, and who have come from beyond, not only Portugal but also from other European countries and, more recently, from countries in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.
GV: What role does your program play in the Portuguese-speaking community? Which audience does it aim for?
Banner of the Vox FM programme “Voz Portuguesa” in Wollongong, NSW, Australia
MR: A “Voz Portuguesa” é um programa semanal de 2 horas que apresenta música em língua portuguesa, notícias locais e de Portugal, um talkshow sobre assuntos de interesse da comunidade, que por vezes inclui entrevistas em estúdio, e informação de agenda sobre eventos locais.
Temos conhecimento que a maior parte dos nossos ouvintes é composta por idosos que querem manter o contacto com a língua portuguesa e ouvir as notícias de Portugal e da comunidade. Alguns não dominam a língua inglesa e, por isso, este é um dos poucos media que falam a sua língua materna. Muitos deles telefonam a pedir músicas que recordam os seus tempos de juventude: música popular, folclore, fados.
Em 2013, a Vox FM iniciou a transmissão via Internet, o que vem expandir a nossa audiência potencial. O nosso objectivo é alargar a audiência a um público mais jovem, da segunda e terceira geração de luso-descendentes. A maioria não fala Português e, por isso, gostaríamos de dar-lhes a conhecer o que se faz em Portugal actualmente, a música e cultura mais contemporâneas. Por outro lado, a presença na Internet permite alcançar um público mais global, que comunica em língua portuguesa, em particular as comunidades timorense e brasileira que vivem noutros pontos da Austrália.
MR: “Voz Portuguesa” is a weekly two-hour program that broadcasts songs in Portuguese, local news and news from Portugal, a talk show on subjects of interest for the community, which sometimes includes interviews taken place in the studio, and information on the local agenda of events.
We know that the majority of our listeners are the elderly who want to keep in touch with the Portuguese language and listen to the news about Portugal and about the community. Some of them do not master the English language, and so they find this to be one of the few media outlets where their native language can be heard. A lot of them ring in to ask for songs that bring memories of their youth: popular songs, folklore, fados.
In 2013, Vox FM started broadcasting via the Internet, a sure expansion of our potential audience. Our goal is to broaden the audience towards the younger demographic of second- and third-generation Portuguese. The majority do not speak Portuguese and that's why we would like to give them the chance to know what goes on in Portugal at the moment, the more contemporary music and culture. On the other hand, the Internet enables us to reach out to a more global public who makes use of the Portuguese language for communication, particularly the East Timorese and the Brazilian communities who live in other regions of Australia.
GV: How would you describe the community radio scene in Australia? Are there any other radio programmes broadcast in Portuguese?
MR: Aqui as rádios comunitárias são bastante populares entre o público australiano porque são consideradas um meio de comunicação alternativo às rádios comerciais. Isso atrai as pessoas, que procuram música e informação de acordo com os seus interesses e backgrounds culturais. Por outro lado, o Estado australiano apoia financeiramente essas iniciativas. Os grupos de filantropia são também muito activos na dinamização de rádios comunitárias.
Para além do nosso programa de rádio, existem na Austrália três outras emissões de rádio ao serviço da comunidade de origem portuguesa no país. A “Rádio Lusitânia” em Adelaide é, tal como a “Voz Portuguesa”, um programa de rádio comunitária ao serviço das comunidades multi-culturais da Austrália, onde a comunidade portuguesa se inclui. A “Portuguese Radio” em Sidney e o programa nacional “SBS Radio Portuguese” são outras estações de rádio direccionadas para as comunidades de língua portuguesa. Por outro lado, a comunidade timorense em Liverpool (Sidney), com bastantes falantes em língua portuguesa, tem um programa de rádio que emite em língua tétum e língua portuguesa.
MR: The community radio stations here are quite popular with the Australian audience because they are seen as an alternative channel of communication to commercial radio. This attracts people searching for music and information to fit their interests and cultural backgrounds. On the other hand, the Australian government supports these initiatives financially. Philanthropy groups are also very active in supporting community radio.
Besides our radio programme, there are three other radio broadcasts in Australia that serve the Portuguese community in the country. “Rádio Lusitânia” in Adelaide is like “Voz Portuguesa” in that it is a community radio programme that is serves the multicultural communities of Australia, where the Portuguese community is included. “Portuguese Radio” in Sydney as well as national programme “SBS Radio Portuguese” are other radio programmes directed to the Portuguese-speaking communities. Moreover, the Timorese community in Liverpool (Sydney), with its large number of Portuguese-speaking people, runs a radio programme that broadcasts in Tetum and in Portuguese.
GV: Have you had any experience with radio in East-Timor as a radio journalist? What is radio's role in that context?
MR: Em 2012, tive a oportunidade de ser correspondente da Deutsche Welle (DW) – Português para África, em Timor-Leste. Foi durante um período crucial para o país, já que nesse ano se realizaram eleições presidenciais e legislativas. Durante a minha estadia pude perceber que existem diversas rádios comunitárias e algumas comerciais, e que existe uma boa cobertura de rádio no país. As pessoas ouvem muita rádio, mais do que vêem televisão ou lêem jornais que ainda não estão acessíveis em todos os distritos. Por esse motivo, a rádio é o meio de comunicação mais importante no país, muitas vezes utilizado pelo estado e instituições não-governamentais para fazer chegar informação de interesse a todos cidadãos.
Manuel Ribeiro, correspondent of DW in East Timor, interviews a local mediator for the repatriation of refugees from West Timor
A minha percepção foi de que estão em curso muitos projectos de desenvolvimento de rádios comunitárias, mas que ainda existe muito trabalho a fazer na área de formação em rádio e melhores condições de funcionamento. Um caso específico que observei de perto foi a rádio local de Oecussi [um enclave na zona ocidental da ilha de Timor], apoiada por uma organização de jornalistas australianos, em termos de equipamento e formação. As falhas prolongadas de electricidade impediam, no entanto, o seu funcionamento regular. Valiam-lhes os vizinhos, as Irmãs da congregação Dominicana, que, esporadicamente, lhes forneciam energia através de um cabo improvisado.
MR: In 2012, I had the chance to work as a correspondent for Deutsche Welle (DW) – Portuguese for Africa in East-Timor. It was during a crucial period for the country, as there were presidential and legislative elections that year. During my stay there, I noticed that there are several community radio stations and some commercial radio stations and that there is good radio coverage in the country. People listen to the radio a lot, more than they watch television or read newspapers, which are still not available in every district. That's why the radio is the most important channel of communication within the country, often used by the government and by NGOs to broadcast information of interest to all citizens.
My perception has been that there are many projects for the development of community radios on the way, but that there is a lot of work still to be done in the area of radio training and improving the funtionality of radio. A specific situation that I could observe closely was local radio in Oecussi [an enclave situated in the western region of the island of Timor], supported by an organization of Australian journalists in terms of equipment and training. However, prolonged electricity failures hindered its regular functioning. Its neighbors, the Dominican Congregation Sisters, came to the rescue. From time to time they provided them with energy by means of a makeshift cable.
GV: From your own perspective, what are the advantages of radio?
MR: O que dá mais prazer em fazer rádio é estar em modo de conversa! Na rádio trata-se cada ouvinte na primeira pessoa e estou consciente que existem pessoas que acompanham o programa de forma fiel. No caso específico da “Voz Portuguesa”, que é emitido a uma hora marcada, isso é comum e é muito gratificante! A rádio consegue manter o que sempre a distinguiu dos outros media. A sua mais-valia é o facto das pessoas sentirem uma maior proximidade com a língua falada e poderem ouvir rádio ao mesmo tempo que fazem outras actividades do dia-a-dia.
MR: What is most pleasurable about radio is to always be in conversation mode! In radio, you treat each listener in the first person, and I am aware there are people who follow the programme faithfully. In the specific case of “Voz Portuguesa”, which is broadcast at a scheduled time, this is something common and quite rewarding! Radio is successful in keeping that which has always been the differential when compared to other media. Its asset is the fact that people feel a greater closeness to the spoken language and can listen to the radio while doing their day-to-day activities.

author: Marisa Gonçalves


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Two-Year Anniversary of Kony 2012 Campaign · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

March 5, 2014 marked two-year anniversary of KONY 2012 campaign:
Two years ago today we started a campaign called KONY 2012. It was an experiment to see if the world was ready to unite and speak out against the horrific and unseen crimes of Joseph Kony and the LRA. The world was.
Together, we made Kony famous and put the issue of LRA violence on the table of popular and political interest. One element of the campaign was calling on culture and policy makers to work in their sphere of influence to stand up for Kony’s child soldiers. You led our leaders to take action that resulted in tangible results. As part of our celebrations, we’ve decided to thank the politicians that gave a gift to justice through their support of KONY 2012.


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TZHhiphop – Necessary Noise in Tanzanian Music Scene · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

TZhiphop is a project that promotes Tanzanian hip hop online:
We are the necessary noise in Bongo’s music scene advocating for Tanzanian Hip Hop. This project is focusing on reconnecting Hip Hop fans and the conscious poetry in the lyrics that reflects the apparent hustles of our society.


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VIDEO: T20 Cricket World Cup Theme Song Flash Mobs  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Bangladesh is hosting the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup and the fever is catching on among cricket-loving Bangladeshis. The official song of the 2014 tournament, “Char Chokka Hoi Hoi”, has become popular, and many universities across the country have started arranging their own flash mobs set to the theme song and uploading them to YouTube. View some of them here.
The video with the most views will be played in the stadium during the tournament. The World Cup schedule runs from March 16 to April 6.

author: Rezwan


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5 Traditional Recipes From Across the Francophone World · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

The season of Carnival and Mardi Gras means delicious foods are on the menu around the world. To whet your appetite, we present here some recipes for characteristic dishes from different French-speaking areas, all proud representatives of French culinary heritage. Bon appétit!
Ivory Coast: Alloco
Alloco is a traditional dish in West and Central Africa. It's made of plantains fried in peanut or palm oil, and is served as a snack or to accompany a main dish. Alloco originated in open-air restaurants, also called “allocodrome” by Ivorians, which sell classic Ivorian dishes like attiéké and poulet braisé (braised chicken) at low prices.
Alloco: sliced and fried plantains (accompanied here by fried fish). Via Wikimedia Commons
The blog Recettes africains (African Recipes) shared a recipe for a a spicy personal topping for alloco:
Pilez les piments avec l’oignon et l’ail. Vous pouvez utiliser un robot cuilinaire ou un mortier.
Mélangez avec la tomate concentré ,l’eau, la moitié du bouillon cube et l’eau.
Chauffez l’huile juste un peu et ajoutez le mélange de piment. Faites cuire pendant 15 minutes à feu doux. Pour finir salez et poivrez, ajoutez un peu de citron si vous voulez (Moi j’aime bien).
Maintenant servez vos bananes frits avec le piment. Vous pouvez aussi servir avec de l’Attieké.
Crush the chiles with the onion and the garlic. You can use a blender or a mortar.
Mix with the tomato paste, half a cube of stock and water.
Heat the oil a little bit and add the chile mixture. Let it cook for 15 minutes on low heat. Add salt and pepper to taste, and add a little lemon juice if you want. (I love it that way!)
Now serve your alloco with your spicy, delicious topping. You can also serve it with attieké.
Louisiana (USA):  Jambalaya/Crawfish gumbo
The term “jambalaya” encompasses many different versions of this classic dish, which can vary depending on the choice of meat and the preparation of the rice base. But authentic jambalaya is always very spicy. Creole jambalaya is the signature dish of the state of Louisiana, and is particularly associated with the city of New Orleans. One typical version is crawfish gumbo.
Crawfish gumbo via Wikimedia Commons
Here's a recipe for shrimp gumbo from the food site Marmiton:
Nettoyez les crevettes en enlevant l'intestin, mais laissez les têtes (cela donne du goût).
Coupez les gombos en rondelles de 1 cm, et faites-les cuire dans de l'eau salée (20 min).
Faites revenir l'ail, l'oignon, et les crevettes dans un peu d'huile d'olive. Salez et poivrez (10 min).
Égouttez vos gombos cuits, et versez-les sur les crevettes (5 min).
Servir seul, ou avec du riz et un piment.
Clean the shrimp and take out the intestines, but leave the heads (which add to the taste).
Cut the okra into slices one centimeter thick, and cook in salted water. (20 min).
Brown the shrimp with the garlic and onion in a little olive oil. Add salt and pepper (10 min).
Strain the cooked okra, and pour onto the shrimp (5 min).
Serve alone or with rice and hot peppers.
Madagascar: Ravitoto
Ravitoto is a traditional Malagasy dish. The principal ingredient is the leaves of the sweet cassava plant, which are ground in a mortar and mixed with onions and pork.
Jenny M. in Antananarivo paid homage to this “canonical” Malagasy dish with her personal recipe:
#1. Faire cuire le porc avec un peu d’eau.
#2. Dans une grosse marmite, une fois l’huile chauffée, ajouter les oignons, l’ail et la viande. Une fois la viande bien dorée, ajouter les feuilles pilées, le gingembre et le Kub’Or ainsi qu’une tasse d’eau.
#3. Laisser mijoter 30 minutes puis finir la cuisson sans le couvercle pour laisser le ragoût réduire un peu (5 à 10 minutes).
#1: Cook the pork with a little water.
#2: In a big pot, heat the oil with the onions, garlic and meat. Once the meat is brown, add the crushed leaves, the ginger and the Kub'Or with a cup of water.
#3. Let stew for 30 minutes, then for the last step, take off the cover and let the stew reduce a little (5 to 10 minutes).
Ravitoto via Dodovanille
Morocco: Tajine
Tajine is a traditional stew with a composition that varies depending on the chef's mood or what's available at the market. Every Moroccan cook has his or her own personal version, but tajine always is a meat or fish stew with vegetables or dried fruit. The blog La Cuisine Marocaine presents a recipe for a lamb tajine with white truffles:
Si vous utilisez des truffes fraiches, rincez les soigneusement a l'eau froide pour les débarrasser de leur sable.
Epluchez-les et mettez-les au fur et a mesure dans un saladier d'eau. Selon leur grosseur, coupez-les ou laissez-les entières. Ensuite, faites-les cuire à l'eau bouillante salée pendant environ 15 min jusqu'à ce qu'elles soient tendres. Egouttez les Bien.
Coupez l'épaule d'agneau en morceaux. Epluchez l?ail et coupez-le en lamelles. Dans une marmite, versez l?huile d'olive, ajoutez les morceaux de viande et faites-les dorer à feu moyen. Au bout de 5 min, versez 40 cl d'eau, ajoutez l?ail et le curcuma. Salez et poivrez.
Couvrez et laissez mijoter a feu doux pendant environ 1 h. Ajoutez les truffes dans la marmite 10 min environ avant la fin de la cuisson.
If you're using fresh truffles, rinse them thoroughly in cold water to clean off any dirt. Skin them and put them down slowly and carefully in a large bowl of water. Depending on their size, cut them or leave them whole. Then, cook them in boiling water with a little salt for about 15 minutes or until they become tender. Dry them well in a strainer.
Cut the lamb shoulder into small pieces. Peel the garlic and cut it into slivers. Cook the lamb in a pot with olive oil on medium heat until brown. After five minutes, add 40 centiliters of water, garlic, turmeric, salt, and pepper.
Cover and let simmer on low heat for about an hour. Add the truffles to the pot about 10 minutes before finishing.
Tajine via Wikimedia Commons
France: Coq au vin
Coq au vin, or rooster in wine, is a French culinary classic. Oenologie perwez narrates the legendary history of the dish:
Une tribu Arverne était assiégée par les romains; le chef, pour narguer le Romain, lui fit parvenir un coq maigre, combatif et agressif, pour témoigner de la détermination des Gaulois. Lors d'une trêve, le général (Jules César) invita le chef Arverne à un repas où lui fut servi une délicieuse volaille baignée d'une onctueuse sauce rouge. S'étant régalé, le Gaulois demanda à César: “Quel est donc ce mets?”. Il lui répondit qu'il s'agissait de son coq, mariné dans du vin et cuit lentement…
An Arvernian tribe was besieged by the Romans. The chef, in order to mock the Romans, sent them a skinny but aggressive rooster as an emblem of the Gauls’ determination despite the odds. During a truce, the Roman general—Julius Caesar—invited the Arvernian chef to a meal, at which the main course was a delicious poultry dish in a thick red sauce. Enjoying the dish greatly, the Gaul asked Caesar what it was. Caesar responded that it was the rooster, marinated in wine and cooked slowly…
Coq au vin via Wikimedia Commons

author: Rakotomalala


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A New Digital Voice of Hong Kong’s Working Class · Global Voices
inmediahk.net

The article was originally published in Chinese on 3 March 2014 by Jenny. This English version was also translated by Jenny and republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Image from WK news.
In the past few months, a new digital media, WK News, has emerged on Facebook. Unlike other news sites, the focus of WK News is mostly labour news that is usually underreported by mainstream media.
“What we try to do is not just to care and sympathize with workers, but to empower them to have their own voices via new media, and introduce labour issues into the society,” according to Chris, one of the founders of the site. WK News’ target readers are the three million wage earners as well as university and college students in Hong Kong. “As long as you have to make a living by earning your bread, you are part of us.”
Although grassroots new media has started to prosper in Hong Kong since 2003, so far there is not one single news site that targets the city’s working class. During the dock workers’ strikes against long hours and low pay work last year, WK News creators found that workers were using Facebook to post strike updates and gather support. They started to realize the potential of the Internet to empower the labour movement.
Founders of WKNews include Chris, a former mainstream media journalist, and Gilbert, a long-time researcher on China’s labour issues.
Gilbert used to do field research by working as a blue-collar worker, and thus has first-hand experience of the toil and hardship of the working class. “Many of Hong Kong’s jobs are atomized, such as night-shift workers, mysterious shoppers and security guards. They rarely see their colleagues at work and lack opportunity to communicate with colleague. The rise of social media can overcome that shortfall.”
However, the majority of netizens in Hong Kong usually adopt an indifferent attitude towards labour issues. WK News used to post on Facebook the number of work injuries and work deaths within a month. The post did not attract much attention and the click rate was very low.
“Today’s news has to be novel, weird, tragic or miserable in order to cater to the curiosity mentality of the public,” said Chris. The purpose of WK News is to “introduce labour issues into the community and make a difference to the society.”
New media vs. old
Most of the WK News audience is young blue-collar and white-collar workers who know how to use social media to publish and share information. In the digital age, unions in Hong Kong still heavily rely on traditional methods of organizing workers. They also lack personnel to design, update timely, and maintain their websites.
Since its launch last August, WK News’ Facebook page has already won 5,000 “likes”, more than the fan page of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), one of the most well established worker organization in Hong Kong.
On February 4 of this year, a story on the excessive working hours in the accounting sector that WK News shared on Facebook has received a remarkable organic reach of 300,000.
In addition to sharing and interacting on social media, WK News is also studying how to present the news in a more direct, attractive and convincing way, such as by designing infographics.
In February, WK News website was officially established. Website sections include international perspective, historical perspective, local perspective, commentaries and lifestyle tips. Founders hope the international perspectives section can lend experience to local labour movement.
WK News encourages workers to contribute stories to the website and hope to cultivate regular contributors. In addition, they have started approaching local labour organizations for content collaboration. But as WK News is still a new voice in Hong Kong, they haven’t heard much reply. At present, the WK News website has reposted several of stories from HKCTU.
“In the near future, the union will embrace a younger workforce. The way that young workers think, do things and communicate is quite different from old workers. What WK News is doing now is to blaze the trail for traditional unions, and explore how to use new media to organise and mobilise workers,” said Gilbert.
One of WK News’ main campaigns this year is to advocate for legislation on standard working hours in Hong Kong.
Overtime work has been rampant in Hong Kong. In the absence of legislative protection, employees often face the consequence of working overtime without overtime pay. In certain industries, the contractual working hours can be up to 12 hours a day, which would have a negative impact on workers’ health and their family lives.
The 2012 labour party’s survey report noted that 59 percent of full-time employees work 48 hours per week on average, and 20 percent work no less than 60 hours. About 70 percent of respondents did not receive any overtime pay, and over 80 percent of respondents believed that the government should enact legislation to regulate working hours.
The government promised to study standard working hours in its 2010-2011 annual policy address, and set up a standard working hours committee last April. This January, the committee started the first round of public consultation, but received lukewarm public response.
WK News hopes to raise awareness of standard working hours through discussions, conduct interviews and field researches to highlight the most worrisome industries, and make the public realize the importance of legislating standard working hours.
Aside from standard working hours, WK News also hopes to initiate action and policy campaigns during major labour incidents to exert influence. For instance, WK News created a debate during last year’s Indonesian maid abuse case. Meanwhile, Chris is also concerned that once WK News gets influential, they might get sued by big bosses under the accusation of “defamation”.
WK News, as an independent new media, invariably faces many challenges in maintaining its operation. Using Gilbert’s word, it is “lack of money, manpower and reputation.”
WK News now has six volunteers, all of whom wear many hats. Each of them does writing, editing, art and design. Students are asking about volunteering, but due to the lack of trainers and workspace, founders find it difficult to get more hands to help.
At the end of the interview, WK News founder said, “WK News invites everyone to get involved. We welcome your emails. We really need you.”


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Barbie Dolls in Thai Traditional Clothes · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Barbie dolls dressed in traditional Thai clothes pic.twitter.com/8izclnezSS
— Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) March 8, 2014
Richard Barrow posted a Twitter photo of Barbie dolls dressed in Thailand's traditional clothes

author: Mong Palatino


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Bermuda: Discussing International Women’s Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

International Women’s Day is important for helping us re-focus our attention to [the] feminist struggle, and it should serve to remind us of that and re-commit to it.
catch a fire says it's important to “do more than simply pay lip-service to the idea of International Women’s Day.”


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Captive Saudi Princesses Speak Out on Twitter · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

A childhood photo of the King with Princesses Sahar, Maha, Hala and Jawaher. Shared on Channel 4 News.
It's the stuff of fairytales for princesses to be locked in a tower, but in today's Saudi Arabia, four princesses, Sahar, Maha, Hala and Jawaher say they have been held against their will in a royal compound in Jeddah for nearly 13 years.
Their mother, Princess Alanoud Al Fayez, is a former wife of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and has broken silence from the safety of London. The princesses themselves have communicated with a Channel 4 News television crew by email, saying they were taken captive for speaking up for women's rights.
“People don't realise how hard our situation is. They still see us as ‘pampered’ Saudi Princesses. We never were. We suffer on a daily basis,” said Princess Sahar by email to Channel 4.
Princess Sahar sent this photo of herself to Channel 4 News.
Mother (@AlanoudDAlfayez) and two daughters (@Jawaher1776 and @Art_Moqawama) have also taken to Twitter, where they are speaking out full throttle against their captors, and about human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries in general.
To those racist sectarian enslaved minds who think bullying us into silence about human rights abuses,THINK AGAIN>
— Jawaher جواهر (@Jawaher1776) March 11, 2014
Princess Sahar tweeted this photo on March 9, 2014 of deteriorating conditions where they are held.
A glimpse of our so-called 'gilded cage', a stereotypical word, portraying fantasy world. We live amidst ruins. pic.twitter.com/0UCagKZThv
— Sahar سحر (@Art_Moqawama) March 9, 2014
Twitter is abuzz with questions and comments from people who are shocked to hear the news. The princesses themselves have been replying and retweeting messages from supporters who learned of their plight from Channel 4.
@majeda76 I cannot tell you how emotionally drained Jawaher & I are..we miss Mum so much..no solace in tears..God bless u Majeda. Insh'Allah
— Sahar سحر (@Art_Moqawama) March 10, 2014
The concerned mother has attempted to get her daughters released with the help of UN's special rapporteur on human rights. She says she is especially worried for the health of Princess Hala, who allegedly suffers from anorexia.
The house of Saud has not commented on the matter.
The billionaire king (thought to be 89) is frequently visited by world leaders and dignitaries. Using their own experience as an example, the princesses jab at leaders in the West who they say do too little for the human rights of women and children in Saudi Arabia.
Channel 4 uploaded a video of their report to the Web on March 10, 2014.

author: Solana Larsen


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Facebook Status Criticizing Crimea Occupation Gets Journalist Fired · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

An “unidentified” soldier is defending this Russian-speaking cat. “Thanks for the fact that I'm no longer a “kit”” (Ukrainian for “cat” (kit) is a homonym of Russian for whale (kit)). Anonymous image found online.
While people talk about government censorship of Russian media and the Internet all the time, it is actually more common for censorship to be self-imposed by news agencies on a lower, corporate level. Case in point — a journalist in Perm was fired recently for re-posting a relatively innocent, albeit somewhat snarky, blog post on his Facebook page.
The original post was written by Roman Romanenko of Vologodsk, on March 4, 2014. In it Romanenko, who also works in the media, wrote an ironic address calling on Putin to “occupy” Vologodsk Region, in order to protect the rights of “Russian-speaking” people living there. Romanenko was, of course, referring to Russia's alleged occupation of the Crimean Peninsula (Russian officials still deny Russian troops are present there). Specifically he wrote [ru]:
Мы тут все сплошь русскоязычные и наши права очень ущемляются. Наши больные не могут получить нужных им лекарств и лечения, уровень нашего образования падает с каждым годом […] А еще мы узнали, что вы собираетесь потратить много денег, чтобы нормализовать жизнь в Крыму. Стесняемся спросить: можно ли потратить эти деньги на нормализацию жизни в Вологодской области. А то наша область в такой долговой яме, что ни на что денег не хватает. А нам очень нужны мосты, дороги, спортивные сооружения, промышленные объекты, новые рабочие места…
We are all Russian-speaking here, and our rights are being infringed upon. Our sick can't get the medicine and medical attention they need, our education gets worse every year […] Also, we've heard that you are planing to spend a lot of money to improve the lives of Crimeans. We hesitate to ask: can this money we spent to improve life in Vologodsk Region. Because our region is in major debt, we've got no money for anything. And we need bridges, roads, sports, industrial development, new work places…
Alexander Erenko, a journalist from Perm, re-posted [ru] this message on his wall, changing the Vologodsk Region to his own home town. Although it was shared only 44 times, in contrast to the 3,323 times Romanenko's original was shared, the post apparently ran afoul of one of Erenko's managers. Erenko was fired within the hour, reports Echo of Perm [ru] (a local office of Echo Moskvy).
In the meantime, Romanenko wasn't the only one to bring up an incongruity in how Moscow seems to treat potential citizens in Crimea, and how it treats its own citizens at home. This tweet from blogger Irina Petrova was retweeted almost one thousand times, opposition leader Alexey Navalny among them (even though he is currently under house arrest and technically incommunicado):
Губернатор МО выделяет 40млн руб. из областного бюджета для реконструкции больницы в Крыму. Офигеть!! Он был в подмосковных больницах???
— Ирина Петрова (@iPetrowa) March 7, 2014
The governor of Moscow Region will set aside 40 million rubles from the regional budget to repair a hospital in Crimea. Madness!! Has he been to Moscow Region hospitals???

author: Andrey Tselikov


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Grenadian Social Action Collective Challenges Caribbean to #BunDiscrimination · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

The online social collective Groundation Grenada recently launched an anti-LGBT discrimination campaign, #BunDiscrimination, collaborating with graphic designer Joshua Lu to create several posters featuring altered lyrics from popular songs to highlight the double standards at work. According to the organizers:
Our campaign -‘Discrimination is Discrimination’ – addresses the fact that most people in the Caribbean reject other forms of arbitrary discrimination; they understand why it is problematic and toxic for our societies. Sadly, the same understanding isn’t extended to discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI). This is not to say that all forms of discrimination are the same or operate the same. There are, however, crucial parallels between various forms of discrimination that are often ignored. Our campaign visually juxtaposes discriminatory remarks in popular media in a way which makes the parallels apparent.
Global Voices spoke to Groundation Grenada co-founder and attorney Richie Maitland to discuss the campaign, the current state of LGBT issues in the Caribbean and their plans for the future.
Global Voices (GV): What has been the response to your campaign been thus far?
Groundation Grenada (GG): We’ve received both positive and negative feedback. The negative feedback consists primarily of what I perceive as closet homophobes emphasising the differences between discrimination based on sexual orientation/gender identity and race. Some are attempting to belittle the negative discriminatory experiences of Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people or suggesting that it falls below issues of race in some ‘discrimination hierarchy’. Some of our allies thought we should have included more text, making it explicit that we are against all forms of discrimination and explaining our campaign more because they felt that people may have misconstrued our intentions and thought we were advocating other forms of discrimination, thereby offending some viewers. We understand this, but we think that people will get the message without us having to be explicit. The title of the campaign, ’Discrimination is Discrimination’, helps to contextualize what we are trying to say. The ultimate message is that sexual orientation/gender identity discrimination is as bad as other forms of discrimination and while there is a shock value to the posters, we think by and large people conceptually understand our message. Otherwise, the feedback has been quite positive and individuals and organizations have been sharing the campaign across their social media platforms.
GV: Your campaign involves the use of lyrics from popular songs in the region. While Caribbean artists have faced protests abroad for the content of their songs, this does not seem to be true at home. Were you consciously referencing these campaigns from overseas? And, to what extent is homophobia in the Caribbean still fueled by popular culture?
We were not consciously referencing the campaigns from overseas. The campaigns you refer to are campaigns to sanction artistes with homophobic lyrics. The lyrics [are] not our focus. We are not trying to bring awareness to the fact that some music in the Caribbean – as in other parts of the world – advocates violence against LGBTQ people, for the purpose of reprimanding artistes as a deterrent to them.
We wanted to use Caribbean relevant lyrics that many people, and particularly, a youth demographic, would identify with so that people would see how easily we normalise expressions of violence and expressions of discrimination against LGBTQ people and how much we are culpable in that normalisation. We wanted people also to interrogate why they were able to morally excuse lyrics which promote violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people and by extension, why they thought of sexual orientation/gender identity as different from other forms of discrimination, the expressions of which they would never endorse. The popularity of the lyrics was crucial to the campaign. The Indo-Caribbean woman who was jumping in a carnival band and singing Wanskie’s song must now be forced to think about her prejudices; same with the black man in the club singing Buju’s tune. They both may have experienced being discriminated against, depending on their other contexts, they would now be forced to think about the ways they endorse other forms of discrimination.
I think homophobia in the Caribbean is fueled by many things and that people are socialised into being homophobic. Children and people generally living in a space are constantly exposed to expressions of the values and attitudes of that space, which in many cases are internalised. Homophobia as a package is part of the value and attitude system of the Caribbean, expressed in many fora, including in popular media and internalised by people who don’t think about it critically. So popular media plays its part in fueling homophobia in so far as it parades value systems that are internalised. But we have to remember that the music reflects society. Families fuel homophobia a lot more than popular media does in my view.
GV: Trinidadian artist LeRoy Clarke has recently made controversial comments about gays and the arts. What would be your response to Clarke’s comments, particularly given the way he framed them?
I currently do LGBT related human rights work in Trinidad and Tobago and I actually responded on a morning talk show to some of Clarke’s comments. I think Clarke falsely contemporaries the issue; he presents homosexuality as this recent phenomena responsible for the progressive ‘feminisation of man’. This is ridiculous. Homosexuals have been part of every society across time and space and in many instances have contributed significantly to their respective cultural communities. Clarke points to the disappearance of ‘masculine’ mas characters as evidence. I think the commercialization of carnival is a major factor in a decline in more traditional mas elements, whether one sees them as masculine or feminine.
Clarke mentions gang members being initiated through anal sex and says people told him it happens, then goes on to draw a theoretical link between that and violence. I don’t think anyone takes that shit seriously, and thankfully so. Even gang leaders responded to Clarke’s statements in the press explaining that they were not homosexual and that Clarke was disrespecting them. I nearly died laughing when I read a quote from the gang leader in the paper where he says that God told him homosexuality is wrong. I wonder what God told that gang leader about his gang activities?
GV: Recently, several states in the US have made gay marriage legal, even while in Africa, particularly Uganda, there have been stringent laws passed outlawing homosexuality. Where does the Caribbean fit in this context?
Same sex unions and marriages have a very long history, existing throughout time and across continents. In modern history Denmark became the first country to legally recognize same sex unions. Now, same sex marriages marriages are allowed in Denmark and 16 other countries with Mexico and the US recognising these marriages only in some jurisdictions. Many countries in the Caribbean still outlaw consentual intercourse between same sex adults and so as a region generally, LGBTQ people don’t enjoy as much protection and freedoms as other countries. On the other hand, nowhere in the region is as bad as Uganda, which makes even advocacy illegal.
It’s also difficult to generalise the Caribbean [as a region]. Bahamas, for instance, has decriminalised buggery since the early nineties. Other places, like Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, are much more tolerant of same sex expressions of intimacy than Jamaica, for instance. It’s also difficult to generalise countries. The same Jamaica has thriving LGBTQ communities, people who do not have homophobic views and various safe spaces, depending on where one is.
I don’t think marriage is currently part of the LGBTQ equality narrative. Though it would be nice for LGBTQ people to reap the benefits of legal unions, there are issues that are a lot more pressing and urgent to the community; issues of violence, homelessness and discrimination that need addressing. While marriage equality advocacy has got a big audience within the US conversation, LGBTQ people (especially those that are people of color, immigrants or low income) are still grappling with these other issues.
GV: What further initiatives do you have planned?
One of our main upcoming initiatives is a collaboration with ARC Magazine called ‘Forgetting is Not An Option’. This multimedia cultural memory project focuses on the events and experiences surrounding the Grenada Revolution 1979-83. There are politics behind what gets remembered/forgotten and we found that the Grenada Revolution was slowly being forgotten, with many post-revolution born people remembering the demise of the revolution only. We want to keep its memory and the memory of other powerful Caribbean movements alive. It’s important to present an alternative historical narrative to the colonial and inept governance we largely experience. People need to understand their power, as well as their mistakes. We relaunch our open call to artists, writers, musicians etc. this month and the selected works will culminate in an interactive virtual archive, which will launch in March 2015 alongside a series of exhibitions and live events.
We are also organising ‘Groundation Radio’, a blog radio program to expand our platform and improve our outreach.  We continue to publish creative and critical pieces from Caribbean and diasporic thinkers and writers on our website.

author: Matthew Hunte


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Learning Photography Can Help Human Traficking Victims Tell Their Stories And Build A Career · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sarah Ann Loreth published a report in Flickr Blog on how US photographer, writer and educator Brooke Shaden joined forces with an organization called Blossomy to travel to Kolkata, India, last year to help teach photography to survivors of human trafficking, giving them a chance to learn to create and tell their stories. The next step is to:
bring a school of photography to Kolkata, India in which the individuals going through those shelter homes have access to free education in exchange for a certificate in photography as well as the opportunity for a future in a career that can provide confidence and hope.


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Macedonian Students Campaign Against Unlivable Conditions in Dormitories · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Macedonian students demanding better life conditions in public university dormitories published a blog entitled “Operacija studentski” [mk] (“Operation Dorm”) displaying photos of everyday life in the facilities and urging students to contribute. Many of the photos show highly inadequate living conditions in the student dormitories.
The blog and photos have gained much visibility on social networks, as many social media users react to the inactivity of the official student organizations sanctioned by the state. Prompted by “Operation Dorm”, many other students have also taken to social networks to post photos of the horrible living conditions in some of the state university dormitories. Since these dormitories are the only ones in the country, the competition to gain beds in them is fierce and mired with suspicions of corruption.
Dormitory reception with signs “There's no hot water, we are fixing the problem” and “Go to your boyfriends’ places to take a bath.” Photo by Operacija studentski.
The following video from A1on article [mk] about the dorms also displays the situation.
Sharing on social networks increased after posting of an imgur English-language photo gallery. This also spawned parodies, such as “an image of Alexander the Great appeared in the mold” [mk] (referring to recent development promoted by politicians), “Hollywood will rent the site to film horror movies” [mk], a comparison with Norwegian prison, and articles in foreign media [hr].

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Mexican Government Censors Website That Documents Human Rights Abuses · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Article published on Reforma newspaper: “Members of 1DMX denounce censorship”
[All links lead to Spanish-language web pages unless otherwise noted.]
Activists from the organization #1DMX have published a press release denouncing the Mexican government for its role in ordering the deactivation [en] of the website 1Dmx.org [en] last year.
1Dmx.org was a site created to document human rights violations and police abuse that took place during the inauguration of current President Enrique Peña Nieto. After it was taken down, the site was uploaded in a mirror address, original.op1d.mx.
The press release stated that web domain company GoDaddy “confirmed that the Mexican agency that asked the American government to censor 1Dmx.org was the Specialized Center for Technological Response (CERT)”, a department of the National Security Commission of the Federal Police that has reported to the Ministry of Interior since 2013. Meanwhile, Mexican and US authorities have not released any official statements regarding this case.
It went on to raise various questions:
¿Cuántas páginas más ha tirado el gobierno mexicano? ¿Por qué el gobierno estadounidense colabora para censurar la libre manifestación de las ideas en otros países? ¿Quiénes deberían estar bajo investigación, las autoridades que reprimen o la ciudadanía que documenta y denuncia esos abusos?
How many pages has the Mexican government taken down? Why is the American government cooperating to censor free speech in other countries? Who should be under investigation: the authorities who repress or the citizens who document and denounce these abuses?
And it concluded:
Llamamos a los usuarios, a los medios de comunicación y a la ciudadanía en general a defender Internet como un espacio libre, desde dónde se puedan expresar, consultar y discutir ideas, tanto afines como críticas de los gobiernos. Si la censura no respeta fronteras, que la libertad, la información y la solidaridad tampoco lo hagan.
We invite netizens, the media, and the general public to defend the Internet as a free space where anyone can express, consult or discuss ideas for or against governments. If censorship doesn't respect borders, then liberty, information and solidarity shouldn't either.
A YouTube video uploaded by Operación1Dmx explains the story behind this censorship:
Danny O'Brien from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) further explains:
Luis Fernando García, 1dmx.org lawyer for the protestors, suspected that the call to bring down the site came from further afield than the U.S. embassy, and is suing several authorities in the Mexican courts to discover exactly which government agency passed on the order to the U.S. Embassy. Their court case, announced today, will continue to pursue the Mexican authorities to find the source of the demand, which the case contends violates Mexico's legal protections for freedom of expression.
On the morning of March 4, users of the Mexican web commented on the news. Twitter user Sandra Patargo, for example, pointed to the apparent double standard of the National Digital Strategy Coordinator of the Mexican Presidency:
La estrategia digital d @alelagunes dice velar por los derechos digitales, y mandan tirar página q denuncia violaciones d DDHH #CensuraMEXta
— Sandra Patargo (@spatargo) March 4, 2014
Alejandra Lagunes’ digital strategy says it looks after digital rights, and then they order the take down of a page that denounces human rights violations
#CensuraMEXta Pruebas de censura en internet a través de la embajada EUA en México. Hoy 11AM en ███ con ███ #1Dmx @reformanacional
— Artistas Aliados 132 (@ArtistasAliados) March 4, 2014
Proof of Internet censorship by the US embassy in Mexico. Today 11am at ███ with ███
@capital21 gathered some tweets published during the press conference on Storify.
@roblesmaloof You've been quoted in my #Storify story “Conferencia de prensa:#CensuraMEXta” (Press Conference: #CensuraMEXta) http://t.co/jb4trEt1Dq
— CAPITAL 21 (@Capital_21) March 4, 2014
The website Animal Político published some details about the press conference given by Luis Fernando García (@tumbolian), the website's lawyer, who reported that the hearing for the trial was scheduled for February 17; however, due to the resistance given by the Ministry of Interior and the Commission to hand in the information, it was moved to April 5:
“There's a control mindset in the government and they feel threatened by freedom of speech and organization that the Internet poses. Internet censorship is not hypothetical in Mexico; it is a reality. Besides the judgement, we demand an answer about why they are censoring the internet”, the lawyer stated.
Half jokingly and half seriously, activist Robles Maloof tweeted:
¿Ahora cómo va @BarackObama a decirle a China que atenta vs. internet bloqueando páginas si ayuda a @EPN a hacer lo mismo? #CensuraMEXta
— Jesús Robles Maloof (@roblesmaloof) March 4, 2014
Now how is Barack Obama going to tell China that it attacks the Internet by blocking webpages if he helps Enrique Peña Nieto do the same?
You can follow the Twitter account @censuramx and the hashtag #CensuraMEXta for updates on the matter.


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Philippines’ Makati City is Selfie Capital of the World · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Makati City, the financial district of the Philippines, was tagged by TIME Magazine as the ‘selfie capital’ of the world. Curiously, it was listed alongside Pasig, an eastern suburb of Manila.
A map by TIME magazine showing Makati in the Philippines as ‘selfie capital’ of the world


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Prep the Tinfoil: Four Hoaxes Shaping Ukraine-Russia Conflict · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Dead Cyborg-Yanukovich attacks American aircraft carrier in the Black Sea. Images remixed by author.
Reliable news are a rare commodity these days, when even journalists look to social networks for their scoops. A simple joke, or a conscious hoax can be propelled to viral status — in Russian this is called an information “injection,” or “vbros” (“информационный вброс”). Here are some more and less successful attempts to influence public discourse on the RuNet in a time of confusion and fog-of-war.
1. The hoaxes started before the “Crimean self-defense forces” (most likely Russian troops or contractors) began silently taking over the peninsula, but after it became clear that Crimea would be a major rallying point for the anti-opposition. The first of these was a supposedly leaked decree from President Yanukovich, addressing Ukrainian armed forces and loyalists in the government. The decree was published [ru] on an Abkhazian news agency ANNA-News, which has maintained extensive pro-Asaad coverage of the civil war in Syria. Oddly, the decree was published as a Russian translation, with no Ukrainian original, and, as some bloggers later pointed out [ru], mistakenly referred to the “Supreme” Rada (Ukrainian parliament) as the “Central” Rada.
In the decree Yanukovich supposedly declared Crimea as his new base of operations, and ordered all loyal members of government and military forces to report there for further instructions, on pain of death and charges of treason. He also declared the opposition government illegitimate, disbanded the Parliament, invited foreign military attaches to attend him in Crimea, and took a number of virtual steps, that, if real, would have probably thrown the country into utter anarchy. The news was picked up by pro-Russian bloggers, most notably el-murid [ru], a self-styled expert on the Middle East and conflict situations. It did not spread far, however, likely because of its complete outlandishness. Nevertheless, Yandex Blogs finds around 3,000 results quoting the text of the decree. More importantly, a blogger reported that the fake decree was being read out [ru] at pro-Russian rallies in Crimea, thereby contributing to an overall sense of instability and chaos.
2. At around the same time, another leaked conversation appeared, this one supposedly between two radical members of the new political coalition governing Ukraine. Oleg Tyahnibok, leader of nationalist political party “Svoboda,” and Dmitry Yarosh, leaders of the nationalist group “Right Sector” were allegedly recorded talking about what to do about the “Russian question” in Eastern Ukraine. Yarosh proposes a bold plan of action — including a planned insurgence in Russian regions bordering Ukraine, and arming radical Crimean Tartars to go fight the jihad in the Caucasus. He also speaks out against integrating with the “queers” in Europe. Although Yarosh has indeed been caught on camera spewing the worst kind of xenophobic, nationalist rhetoric, this conversation seems a bit rich even for him. One blogger commented [ru]:
По русски, от одного лица с лексикой какого-то студентика. Без симатий к персонажам, на какой уровень интеллекта рассчитана эта залепуха?
It's in Russian, from the first person, using the vocab of some college student. I'm not sympathetic to these characters, but what level of intellect is this drivel geared to?
The level of intellect might not matter in this type of propaganda — people don't believe all that they read, but there is always a nagging “what if” feeling left. The “recording” showed up on several hundred blogs (according to Yandex Blogs), but was much more popular proliferating through the larger Internet, with over 80,000 hits on Google.
3. One hoax from the Ukrainian side of the conflict was much more successful, when Maidan activist Mikhail Lebed posted [ru] on his Facebook that Victor Yanukovich had died of cardiac arrest in a Rostov hospital. The news was an utter fabrication. Nothing about Lebed indicates that he would have access to inside information on the beleaguered Ukrainian president. Yet, all he had to do was cite a “friend” who supposedly works in a Rostov ER, and the media and bloggers were sold. After all, if they don't report it and it's true, then they are saps. And if everyone reports this false information without corroborating it, well, they are all in it together.
Victor Yanukovich is in the hospital, Putin is checking his (naughty) x-ray, while Medvedev is Instagramming. A triple whammy. Anonymous image found online.
Lebed's post was shared over 1,500 times, but at least the first commenters on his status update were a bit less trusting, asking him if he got “hacked” or if he was being “tortured.” One man wrote [ru] that if the news turns out to be a lie, he would unfriend Lebed. (It turned out to be a lie, and he didn't.) Right now, searching for “Yanukovich died” in Russian on Google gives over 200,000 hits. Even though he has scheduled [ru] another press conference for March 11, rumors of his death persist. They work to undermine Russia's fledgling claims to legitimacy in the Crimean crisis — if Yanukovich is dead, how can he be on board with the invasion?
“-Victor, I told them you haven't died…
-Thanks!
-…haven't died yet”
Anonymous image found online.
4. Another extremely successful fake also tapped into wishful thinking, much like #3 did into hopes that Yanukovich has finally perished. This was the idea that the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush, along with its strike group 17 ships strong, has entered, or is about to enter the Black Sea in order to exert military pressure on Vladimir Putin. G.H.W. Bush is of course doing no such thing, but the persistence of this hoax is mind-boggling, given all the suppositions one has to make to believe it. Not only does the United States need to decide to forgo a diplomatic solution to the crisis, in effect escalating the conflict, it needs to decide to escalate it in the worst way possible. Rather than scrambling NATO jets from Eastern Europe, a carrier group would be put in danger in the enclosed kill zone which is the Black Sea.
Beyond that, there is the Montreux Convention, which limits naval presence in the Black Sea to regional countries. In order to pass the Bosporus Straits, a country like the US has to request permission from Turkey, and only vessels lighter than a total tonnage of 45,000 are allowed in. An aircraft carrier doesn't make the cut. Then, of course, there is the bridge over Bosporus — which puts a physical limit on the height of a ship passing through. At over 200 feet tall, carriers might barely squeeze on by, or might not, depending on which [ru] side [ru] in the flame wars one takes.
The news was started on Ukrainian blogs and social network groups, like the VKontake “This is Kiev, Baby!”, which posted [ru] random YouTube videos of aircraft carriers claiming that they were taking in the Black Sea. Within three days, there were three [ru] such [ru] posts [ru] in the group, the most popular of them with over 2,500 comments and over 5,000 likes. The original inspiration seems to be the fact that USS Bush recently laid anchor in Greece. One eager Ukrainian even wrote on the carrier Facebook page: “dear friends! welcome to Ukraine! we are waiting to you.”
Not to be outdone in the fear-mongering department, some pro-Russian bloggers also decided to push the news. LiveJournal blogger Sergei Nikitskiy wrote [ru] a long post about the carrier debacle, attempting to prove that a carrier group could, and would, enter the Black Sea, even if it meant breaking international conventions (the US has a bad track record in that respect argues Nikitsky). He also asked his readers if they thought World War III could start over Crimea. Most of them said no.
As the Crimean referendum approaches, its legitimacy already in question, we can be sure to expect even more erroneous, and outright fake information. “Question everything” has never seemed like a better motto.