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Russia’s Justice Ministry Targets Human Rights Group ‘Memorial’ · Global Voices
Nina Jobe

“Memorial” under pressure in Russia. Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
“Memorial,” one of Russia's oldest, best respected human rights organizations, might soon go the way of the dodo. Earlier this month, on October 9, the Justice Ministry asked Russia's High Court to liquidate part of Memorial, and judges obligingly set a hearing for November 13. So far, the Justice Ministry hasn't said much to elaborate its grievances against the human rights group, but Memorial says the main issue is that officials want it to adopt a more centralized organizational structure.
Memorial was registered in 1992 as an umbrella organization overseeing more than 60 separate NGOs throughout Russia, many of which remain legally unaffiliated with each other. The group as a whole engages in human rights advocacy for victims of the Russian state, both past and present, focusing on victims of the Gulag and the North Caucasus.
The Justice Ministry's lawsuit followed a special program on Russian television defaming Memorial, accusing the organization of aiding and abetting “extremists and terrorists.”
Writing on Facebook, Pavel Andreev, the head of a Memorial office in Komi, dismissed the possibility that the Kremlin will force his group to close shop. The accusations, he says, are just another hurdle in Russia's frequently changing legal landscape. As laws have altered since Memorial was founded, the organization simply needs to draw up new agreements with its subsidiaries to comply fully with federal regulations.
Так что моя оценка на данный момент: значение новости преувеличено. Речь о какой-либо травле не идет, это юридическая ситуация, выход из которой найден и реализуется. «Мемориал» безусловно продолжит свою работу.
In my assessment at this time, the importance of this news is exaggerated. It’s not about any harassment, it is a legal situation, and a solution will be found and implemented. Memorial will definitely continue its work.
A day later, on October 11, Memorial released its own statement, sounding a bit more alarmed:
Претензии Минюста совершенно беспочвенны – не случайно в ответ на наше недоумение мы так и не смогли получить никаких ссылок на нормы закона. Нам представляется недопустимой сама ситуация, когда Минюст противозаконно пытается ограничивать конституционное право граждан на объединение.
The Ministry of Justice’s claims are groundless, and it's not by chance that we haven't been able to get reference to any legal provisions in response to our confusion. It seems to us to be an unacceptable situation, when the Ministry of Justice is trying illegally to restrict the constitutional right of citizens to form associations.
In 2009, Chechnya's strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, took Memorial to court, where he accused the group of libel, after its human rights chairman, Oleg Orlov, suggested that Kadyrov might be complicit in the murder of Memorial activist Natalia Estemirova. In 2011, the organization was forced to halt almost entirely its operations in Nalchik, located in the southern Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, after two of its lawyers working in the area received death threats.
The most recent “liquidation threat” isn't Memorial's first, either. A law passed in 2012 requires the group to register with the Justice Ministry as a “foreign agent” because it accepts funding from abroad. Like other Russian NGOs working in the field of human rights, Memorial refused to register with the government and has instead taken the state to court to overturn the law. Memorial has joined other NGOs in a lawsuit against the Russian government at the European Court of Human Rights, too.
As in the past, Memorial could very well find a way to stave off destruction and survive into the future. Less than two weeks ago, Valery Fedotov, the head of the Kremlin's Human Rights Council, said he supports Memorial's work. He's even offered to mediate talks between the group and the Justice Ministry:
А Минюст должен действовать по закону, если в уставе организации нарушения. Поэтому мы поможем им найти общий язык.
The Ministry of Justice should act according to the law, if there are charter violations. Therefore we will help them to find a common language.
Just this week, on October 21, Russia's Justice Ministry indicated that it might be willing to withdraw its request to dismantle Memorial, if the organization is able to restructure itself to the government's satisfaction at an upcoming conference. If the group is successful in appeasing the authorities, it would be just the latest in Memorial's long history of political adaptations.

author: Nina Jobe


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Talk Show Inspires 1 Million+ Callers to Protest India’s Anti-Gay Law · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot of the Indian talk show “Satyamev Jayate” hosted by Aamir Khan
A recent episode of an Indian talk show aired to more than 100 million viewers has had a massive impact on the country's perception of LGBT people. More than one million calls were made to a toll free hotline set up by the show to protest Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which stigmatises the LGBT community by criminalising homosexual sex.
On 19 October, an episode of Indian television talk show “Satyamev Jayate” (Truth Alone Prevails) titled “Accepting Alternative Sexualities” attempted to break a lot of misconceptions surrounding the ostracised LGBT community by answering a number of questions on the issue.
The guests included transgender woman Gazal Dhaliwal (@gazalstune) and her parents, popular psychologist Deepak Kashyap and other LGBT activists. Dhaliwal, a film writer, described her traumatic childhood as a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and her journey from self-discovery to the decision to undergo a sex change operation.
Ask Gazal her what gave her the strength to accept her true self @SatyamevJayate with #MumkinHai #FreedomForLGBT pic.twitter.com/RG1KM82fWW
— Satyamev Jayate (@satyamevjayate) October 21, 2014
Later Dhaliwal engaged in a live Twitter chat with the audience.
The show talked about how ordinary Indian households are dealing with the LGBT issue. It showed a traditional grandmother who admitted to dancing on her gay grandson’s engagement ceremony.
Soon, the hashtag #FreedomForLGBT became the top trending topic globally on Twitter:
Who would hav thought issue affecting ‘miniscule minority’ would trend at no.1 world wide. #FreedomForLGBT #MumkinHai pic.twitter.com/hmoI794h0J
— Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) October 19, 2014
Fantastic to see #FreedomForLGBT trending across India. Small things like this will go a long way towards the cause
— Jyotsna Raman (@jyotsnaraman) October 21, 2014
Gay sex is illegal under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (adopted into the Indian Constitution by the Imperial British empire in 1861). Four years ago in a landmark judgement, the Delhi High Court overturned the section, but India's top court reversed the Delhi High Court order in December 2013. The court said it was up to parliament to legislate on the issue.
Protests against the reinstitution of Section 377 are ongoing across India, and the issue was a hot-button one during this year's general election. The ruling Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) supported the law during the election. BJP, however, indicated in August that the Supreme Court was currently hearing a curative petition on the matter and that the government had no plans to take up the matter of amending Section 377 until the Supreme Court gave its ruling.
The show, hosted by Bollywood megastar Amir Khan, took a bold step in voicing the plights of the LGBT community and protesting the law. Its website stated:
Today all of us have to be involved in the struggle against the discrimination and torture faced by the LGBT community. The biggest obstacle to equality for the LGBT community comes from the law. To our eternal shame, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code still criminalizes homosexuality even among consenting adults calling it ‘against the order of nature’ and punishes such acts for a term which may extend to 10 years. This law is a blot on modern India and must be amended.
“Satyamev Jayate,” which is hugely popular, has taken on different social issues not often talked about among conservative circles in the country in the past. The third season is being simulcast on eight channels with a special live segment titled “Mumkin Hai” on two more channels, topping an aggregate reach of 126 million.
The website also commented that more important than the law is the need for society's attitudes towards the LGBT community need to change, and the change should start in ordinary homes. So it listed more videos and articles about a few other aspects of LGBT living in India: parental support, forced marriages, and the occlusion of work spaces for the hijra community, among others.
We are all humans first! Acceptance is the first step towards ending discrimination. #FreedomForLGBT #MumkinHai pic.twitter.com/vaGgre3I61
— Satyamev Jayate (@satyamevjayate) October 22, 2014
Who are we to say what is right or wrong, allowed not allowed, accepted not accepted..its just nature's way #FreedomForLGBT #MumkinHai
— Arathi Rajagopalan (@ihtart) October 19, 2014
Lets see how govt reacts to demand of #FreedomForLGBT Somebody pls ask Rajnath Singh who said homosexuality is unnatural. kya #MumkinHai?
— Sanjukta Basu (@sanjukta) October 19, 2014
Closets are for clothes and not one's sexuality. Break free! Break open your closeted mindset. #FreedomForLGBT @satyamevjayate ..
— Kartik (@kkshrm) October 22, 2014
Many appreciated Aamir Khan's contribution and sent videos thanking him:
Kudos to @aamirkhan for taking a mainstream stand on the Indian LGBTQ movement – http://t.co/aOLQC1ncd6 @satyamevjayate #FreedomForLGBT
— Swethaa (@ssballakrishnen) October 21, 2014
Let's thank #AmirKhan for #MumkinHai campaign for #FreedomForLGBT community. Record your video like these fine… http://t.co/2hsJGGmWlI
— Deepak Kashyap (@DeepakKashyap86) October 22, 2014
Of course, not everyone agreed. There were also many responses from people who support Section 377 and reject the LGBT community.
The stories in the episode were heartwarming, but it remains to be seen whether they have inspired enough people to actively push for the rights of LGBT people in India.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Venezuela: Twitter Users Detained After Socialist Party Deputy is Slain · Global Voices
Sonia Doglio

An officer of the Venezuela's Bolivarian National Police watches protesters in Maracaibo, 2014. Photo by Maria Alejandra Mora (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Over the last three weeks, several Twitter users have been detained by Venezuelan authorities for making online comments that police allege tie them to the murder of 27-year-old Socialist Party deputy Robert Serra, who was stabbed to death in his home on Oct. 1, 2014.
Serra's assassination shook the country's increasingly embattled political leadership and further stoked the already-high tensions between authorities and opposition party members. Although two men, both reportedly Serra's bodyguards, have been detained as suspects in his killing, numerous other citizens have been detained in connection with the incident.
At least two individuals were detained in connection with the @Hiipolita Twitter account, where an alleged fortune teller foresaw “mourning” in the National Assembly.
La Asamblea Nacional estará de LUTO!
— #LaNegra (@Hiipolita) September 25, 2014
The National Assembly will be in MOURNING!
Although the account has been silent since Oct. 14, its more recent tweets included concerns about economic and social conditions in the country, numerous retweets of opposition political leaders such as Leopoldo López and Henrique Capriles, and general predictions of hard times ahead.
Several other individuals have been detained for tweets that authorities claim link them to Serra's death:
Global Voices Advocacy obtained information about these detentions through local sources in Venezuela. Unfortunately, there is little more information about these individuals that can be confirmed at this time. Given the risk of speculating or publishing unconfirmed information about the fate of the detainees, we have chosen simply to report what we know.
The government has also blocked the news portal Infobae, which published material regarding Serra’s homicide, including pictures of his body. CONATEL president William Castillo wrote:
Siguiendo instrucciones, en razón a graves violaciones a las leyes vzlanas Conatel ha ordenado el bloqueo dl portal http://t.co/RDqpeaR3Se
— William Castillo B (@planwac) octubre 10, 2014
Following instructions, due to serious violations of the Venezuelan laws, Conatel ordered blocking the website  http://t.co/RDqpeaR3Se
Since the adoption of the Law on Social Responsibility in Radio, Television and Electronic Media, CONATEL (an administrative body, dependent on the President) has had the power to block web content without trial. Though the Venezuelan government has been prone to detaining social media users in the past, it seems that their policies have tightened over the last year, with the wave of blockades in relation to the black market dollar, and filtering measures taken this year at the height of the student protests.

author: Sonia Doglio


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Argentinian Motorcylists Fight Against Discriminatory Regulations · Global Voices
Romina Navarro

Alleged criminal arrested for motorcycle theft, Buenos Aires, April 19, 2012, by Claudio Santisteban. Demotix.
Uniting around the slogan “People are not put a licence plate on“, motorcyclists in Argentina are protesting a new law, Resolution 224/14, which demonstrators say discriminates against them in an effort to police the roads.
Under the new law, motorcycle riders in Argentina are obligated to display their vehicle's license plate on their helmet and wear a reflective vest with the same information on their back. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in stiff fines and the loss of one's vehicle and driver's license. The new restrictions also enable cities to limit motorcycle traffic using special zones and road schedules, specific to the number of passengers riding.
Recently, local governments throughout the country have been experimenting with similar measures, probably as a populist appeal to voters, who will vote on the next president in 2015.
Demonstration of motorcycle riders in Buenos Aires.
Photo from Facebook user Javier Fo To, published with permission.
Initially, the public reaction to Resolution 224/14 was mostly positive, as most people are not affected directly by the new regulations.
@danielscioli vamos por mas daniel… espero que salga todo bien, acá en almte. Brown. tamb. Estamos necesitando más policias en recorridas
— Yanina Fonseca (@Yaninafonseca) Mayo 14, 2014
At 11 Avellaneda will join the Comunity Police Task Force. 40 city halls have community centera since I ruled Emergency in Security.
Let's go for more, Daniel… I hope everything turns out well here in Almirante Brown too. We need more police on the roads.
The “Daniel” addressed in the tweet above is Daniel Scioli, governor of the province of Buenos Aires. Almirante Brown is an area of the Buenos Aires Province, located at the south of the Gran Buenos Aires urban area.
In recent years, an increase in the number of violent crimes has undermined faith in the authorities. The apparent freedom with which criminals rule the streets has led to widespread disillusionment in the police. Under these circumstances, many in the public are ready to welcome any measures to reduce crime.
Argentinians of different views about the motorcyclist law have debated the issue hotly on the Internet. On Twitter, mari.peque complains:
@danielscioli #LasPersonasNoSePatentan y a los #motociclistas nos marcan como “presuntos” delincuentes y eso es anticonstitucional
— mari.peque (@maripeque3) July 23, 2014
People are not put a licence plate on and labeling motorcyclists as “alleged” criminals is unconstitutional.
Cristina Pérez comments:
Me cuesta entender q motoqueros protesten contra medidas para más seguridad. Hay gente q muere en asaltos de motochorros. Se impone cooperar
— Cristina Perez (@Cris_telefe) abril 16, 2014
It is difficult for me to understand that motorcyclists are protesting measures for more security. There are people who die in motorchorro attacks. Cooperation is necessary.
On Change.org, an Internet user named Andres Peterson argued that the government should take action against “motochorros” (a criminal that uses a motorcycle to commit a robbery):
Ayer motochorros se metieron con la moto adentro de dos casas, hoy un muerto y dos heridos por entradera. Algo esta muy mal en #Rosario
— Andres Petersen (@Andrespetersen) August 26, 2014
Yesterday, motochorros entered two houses on a motorcycle, today one person was reported dead and two injured from the entry. Something is very wrong in Rosario.
Motorcyclists also demand serious measures against crime, as thieves frequently steal motorcycles to rob others, or to sell the bikes for parts. These motorcycles are abandoned and replaced with other parts, which prevents police from identifying and arresting the offenders.
PeladoMoterociclista tweets:
#noaloschalecos , ahora no sólo nos van a robar las motos, también nos van a partir la cabeza para sacarnos el chaleco y el casco!!!!!
— PeladoMoterociclista (@Moterociclista) agosto 15, 2011
No to jackets, now they're not just going to steal the motorcycles, they're also going to break open our heads to take our vest and helmet!!!!!
So far, repeat offenders continue to be a problem, as police fail to address crime levels’ underlying issues, like criminals being released back into the public, where they return to a life of crime.
Un desastre la inseguridad que se vive en la Pcia de Buenos Aires. Cuando se va a actuar para solucionar este tema enserio. Basta de sanata
— Pablo (@PabloStecco) August 4, 2014
The lack of security that the Province of Buenos Aires is experiencing is a disaster. When will action be taken to solve this issue, seriously? Enough talk.
One of the most sensitive subjects for motorcyclists is the requirement that they wear fluorescent vests with numbers printed on the back. According to the motorcyclists’ protest leaders, “the decree violated the presumption of innocence that the National Constitution establishes.” In other words, motorcyclists worry they are labeled potential criminals, just for their mode of transportation. Similar actions, moreover, have not been taken against passengers in cars, for example, which criminals also use to commit robberies and kidnappings.
The supposed irony of labeling motorcyclists. Source: Motociudadanos. Published with permission.
On August 5, the Buenos Aires Provincial Commission for Memory — led by former prosecutor Hugo Cañón and Nobel Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel — asked the local high court to strike down as unconstitutional Decree 220/14, which granted Governor Scioli emergency powers, including the regulations laid out in Resolution 224/14.
Regarding the new limits on motorcyclists, the Commission argues “the right to equality and non-discrimination is violated, given that the link established in the decree directly between new types of crime, insecurity, and excluded groups – where the use of motor vehicles seems to acquire a status similar to a criminal instrument – is discriminatory and unconstitutional”.
Motorcyclists are coming together on Wednesdays at 6pm in front of the Obelisk of Buenos Aires and in other cities throughout the country. Some weekends, they leave the coast for inland towns, where police tend to enforce the new regulations more strictly, sometimes even becoming abusive toward motorcyclists.
On social networks, motorcyclist groups have posted regular updates about the status of their claims against the government. One group even has a press office that's created several public service announcements:
Demonstrators have made other appeals, as well, like asking legal protection for individuals and civil associations, such as the Argentina Association of Motor Vehicle Users, and registering civil complaints in the Ombudsman's Office, the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism, and the Observatory of Discrimination in Radio and Television. This last agency recently concluded that the media encourages distrust in motorcyclists by using the term “”motochorro”.
Motorcyclists propose several alternatives to the new regulations against bikers, including reforms to documentation controls, procedures for arresting and inspecting suspected motorcycle thieves (currently, police only confiscate the vehicle and release the suspect), and stricter surveillance in commercial areas.

author: Romina Navarro


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Brazilian Bloggers Claim Presidential Candidate is Trying to Censor His Critics on YouTube · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

Aécio Neves has filed suit against Twitter demanding it discloses information on 66 users; now bloggers claim he's using fake accounts to deal with negative YouTube videos. Image by official Flickr Aécio Neves account. CC BY 2.0
Ten days ago, web documentary “Helicoca – The 60 Million Reais Helicopter” was removed from YouTube thanks to a copyright claim by a person named “Jorge Scalvini”. Local netizens have begun to suspect that the video's removal was set in motion by presidential candidate Aécio Neves.
The documentary investigates one of the largest drug seizures by police in Brazil’s history, in which half a ton of cocaine was found in a helicopter belonging to the powerful Perrella family. The Perellas are key political allies of Aécio Neves, the Brazilian Social-Democratic Party (PSDB) presidential candidate and former governor of Minas Gerais, which borders both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The pilot and staff who helped maintain the helicopter were charged with the crime, while police rapidly dismissed the possibility of any involvement by the Perrella family. The strange absence of information about the Perrellas’ role in the incident motivated local journalists to further investigate the story.
Developed and commissioned via crowdfunding by Diário do Centro do Mundo, an independent, left-leaning news site, the documentary was directed by Joaquim de Carvalho, a seasoned journalist who has worked for major Brazilian news outlets such as O Estado de S. Paulo and TV Globo.
Diário do Centro do Mundo representatives say that the Scalvini account, which requested that YouTube remove Helicoca, is a fake:
Nós procuramos saber quem é Scalvini. Seu email é zerobeta000@gmail.com. Enviamos uma mensagem nesse endereço. Não obtivemos resposta. Tudo indica que se trata de um perfil fake. Scalvini possui uma conta no Twitter, aberta em 2012, sem nenhuma postagem. Seu perfil no Facebook é vazio, com curtidas em páginas como as da “TV Revolta”, “Mensaleiros na Cadeia” e “Chega de Corrupção”. Há também uma conta no YouTube com seu nome. A última movimentação foi há três meses.
We tried to find out who Scalvini is. His email is zerobeta000@gmail.com. We sent him a message to this address and received no reply. It seems to be a fake profile after all. Scalvini has a Twitter account, opened in 2012, with no tweets. His profile on Facebook is empty, with a few likes on pages like “TV Revolta”, “Mensaleiros na TV” e “Chega de Corrupção”. He has also an account on YouTube with his name. He last logged in three months ago.
In order to avoid copyright infringement suits, the general practice at Google (owner of YouTube) is to remove such videos. It is incumbent on the video's creator, and not the complainant, to prove that he or she has the right to present the video. Diário do Centro do Mundo has appealed the case with Google and has been told to expect an official reply within 10 days’ time.
By coincidence, journalist Ana Paula Freitas posted on Facebook that she came across another video removed by YouTube, also over a copyright claim made by a user named “George Scalvini”. The video is a famous, humorous meme entitled “What I want to say to my friends who will vote for Aécio Neves” and features a woman at a party shouting to her friend, who seems drunk, “I cannot help you, I am sorry!”
Freitas wrote:
O vídeo, como vocês podem ver, foi tirado do ar. Um tal de GEORGE SCALVINI requisitou direitos autorais. Desnecessário apontar a semelhança entre os nomes. Aparentemente, o jurídico do Aécio tem uma equipe especializada em tirar do ar não só os vídeos que contém acusações que possam prejudicá-lo politicamente, mas também brincadeiras como essa, que dentre o hall enorme de exemplos de humor ativista, é uma das mais bem-humoradas e inofensivas.
The video, as you can see, was taken down. Some George Scalvini guy claimed intellectual ownership of the video. It's needless to comment on the similarity between the two names. Apparently, Aécio's campaign has a team specialized on not only taking down videos with accusations that could harm his candidacy, but also little jokes like this, that among all the examples of activist humor is one the most good-natured and inoffensive.
Although the documentary contains some footage of Neves taken by TV news stations, and thus potentially vulnerable to copyright violation claims, the spoof video includes no content of this sort. What concerns netizens following the story is that both videos had their property rights challenged by the same person — who may not be a real person at all. The only discernible connection between the two videos is the mentioning of Aécio Neves..
Suspicions have also been fueled by Neves’ various past attempts to quiet criticism of his leadership on social media.
In late August, Neves filed a lawsuit against Twitter after the company refused to disclose information and IP addresses for 66 Twitter users. The former governor claimed the accounts were all fake profiles orchestrated by a specific group to disseminate lies and criticism about him and his campaign. Official documentation of the suit can be seen here.
Magazine Revista Fórum interviewed owners of a few of the accounts among the 66 named in the suit. Among them is famous film critic Pablo Villaça, founder of Cinema em Cena, the oldest movie website in Brazil. Villaça has publicly voiced his support for Neves’ rival, current president Dilma Rousseff. He told Revista Fórum about the accusations:
Acho ótimo, cabe a ele provar que isso existe. Eu milito politicamente desde os 18 anos. Minha mãe combateu a ditadura, minha tia foi presa e torturada. E ainda insinua que sou pago para militar.
I think this is great, now he must prove [the paid network of defamers] actually exists. I have been a political activist since I was 18 years old. My mother fought against the dictatorship, my aunt went to jail and was tortured. And he insinuates I am paid to be an activist.
Another notorious case is of the 2008 documentary “Gagged in Brazil,” produced by filmmaker Daniel Florêncio for Current TV. Florêncio, who is from Minas Gerais, explores the relationship of his state's government with the press. A few months after its release on the UK and US, the video was taken down by Current TV. In an article written for Observatório da Imprensa, Florêncio explained what happened:
Na semana anterior, os executivos seniors do canal [Current TV] nos EUA receberam cartas com severas considerações e críticas sérias em relação ao filme. As cartas foram enviadas pelo PSDB de Minas Gerais. O PSDB afirmava que meu filme tinha caráter político-partidário, que não representava a realidade no estado e questionava minha conduta ética na produção do filme.
In the previous week, senior executives [of Current TV] in the US received letters with harsh considerations and serious criticism of the movie. Letters were sent by PSDB of Minas Gerais. PSDB said my film was of a “political-partisan” nature and didn't represent the reality in the state, besides questioning the ethics of my conduct during the production of the film.
According to Florêncio, during an internal investigation at Current TV he had to prove to his journalism director Andrew Fitzgerald every statement he used in the movie and that the accusations made by PSDB were false. A month later, Fitzgerald agreed to put the documentary back on the air.
Meanwhile, PSDB Youth has created a counter-video, also narrated in English, rebuffing the accusations featured in “Gagged in Brazil”.
In sum, these incidents have left bloggers concerned that the recent video removals are more than just coincidence. And Neves’ past behaviors suggest there may be more to come.

author: Taisa Sganzerla


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Hirotan Forest, an Increasingly Rare ‘Satoyama’ School Connecting Rural Japanese Kids to Nature   · Global Voices
Yuko Aoyagi

Children are being taught how to make use of an abundent satoyama resource, bamboo. Bamboo can be used for tools, food, or in this case, a sluice for slurping noodles in the summertime (eating noodles outside in summer is always fun). Photo taken in August 2014. Image credit: SanoRie.
A satoyama school in rural Toyama Prefecture Japan's Hokuriku “north lands” that was closed down earlier this spring has been given new life.
Satoyama is a term rich with meaning in Japan, and broadly refers to an intensively cultivated land that blends in with the surrounding environment. Much of rural Japan was once such satoyama, where wet rice cultivation not only depended on clean water flowing from the surrounding hills, but the rice fields played a keystone role in supporting a rich, vibrant ecosystem.
A satoyama school, then, resided at the heart of a community, serving as a method for transferring important lessons about land stewardship to future generations who would continue to live in and help sustain the satoyama. As Japan's rural population declines, over the past two decades these schools have continued to shut down.
In the case of the Toyama school, a group of local parents, caregivers and other volunteers have resurrected the school and have called it Hirotan No Mori, or Hirotan Forest. The repurposed school, now a community NGO, posts photos and information about classes and events on their Facebook page.
The purpose of Hirotan Forest is to provide local children of all ages the opportunity to experience nature. The school is located about 30 minutes by car from the small rural city of Takaoka in Toyama, quite close to the Japan Sea coast.
Hirotan Forest gives kids a chance to experience the traditional pursuits of rural kids: digging up bamboo shoots, gathering to watch fireflies in June, and making traditional crafts out of bamboo. In November there are plans to give children the opportunity to build a treehouse in the forest.
The idea is to teach children about rural traditions while allowing them to experience a deeper connection with the natural world. The hope is to pass on methods of living within and protect their satoyama and at the same time learn how to enjoy both working and passing time in the surrounding forest.
Ultimately, the satoyama school and Hirotan Forest are also all about preserving a way of life that is vanishing in the rest of Japan as the population ages.

author: Yuko Aoyagi


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Hong Kong Lion Rock Occupied · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A group of rock climbers hang a huge banner, “I want genuine universal suffrage” in Lion Rock, one of the most well-known landscape in Hong Kong.  The group explained their action to local media: “We were shock[ed] by CY Leung’s viewpoint that the poor should not have equality in election[s] and hope this action would be able to call public attention on the importance of universal suffrage.” Image from Hong Wrong.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Hitting Below the Belt? Trinidad & Tobago President Tries to Gag Comedian Over Jokes About First Lady · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago President Anthony Carmona, speaking at the International Criminal Court's Judicial Candidates Forum in New York in 2011. Photo by Coalition for the ICC; used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
Trinidad and Tobago netizens did a virtual facepalm this week when it was revealed via a tweet from a journalist that the country's president, Anthony Carmona, had issued a legal letter intended to bar local entertainer Rachel Price from making fun of the first lady's fashion sense.
As of yesterday, Price said she still had not received the letter, but was prepared to come out guns blazing once she did.
Her Excellency Reema Carmona was roundly criticised by many for her choice of outfit at the Fashion for Development event last month, during the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The selection of a thick tan belt worn over a black dress gave the illusion – at least in photographs – of a bare midriff. Many thought it inappropriate for an event which the first lady attended in her official capacity, and some still maintain that there was no belt at all.
Trinidad and Tobago is a country reputed for its picong — satirical banter that is not only part of every Trinbagonian's arsenal of repartee, but which has historically been the foundation of countless calypsoes that provide critical social commentary. In this context, the president's move came as a surprise and opened the head of state up to even more criticism.
In his inaugural speech, Carmona famously made the point that the Office of the President “is not impotent”:
I do want to emphasise […] that I am not an Executive President. Under the Westminster form of governance, there are parameters within which I must operate. Powers you think I have… I do not. Powers you think I do not have… I do.
The speech made waves; people hoped to see less rubberstamping and more action when it came to matters of public concern. Rachel Price's jabs seemed trivial in comparison to pressing national issues, and netizens said as much via memes and on Twitter. The focus quickly shifted from the first lady's wardrobe…
…to the president's defense of her:
@CNC3TV these are the powers carmona had that we didn't think he had? To send @RACHELPRICETT a pre action ltr to stop talking bout ure wife?
— Corie (@cobojack) October 21, 2014
Hold on! President Carmona speaks out on @RACHELPRICETT discussing his wife's attire but says NOTHING ON THE CONSTITUTION?!? Oh. Ok.
— Nyssa Pierre (@kneezurr) October 21, 2014
@RACHELPRICETT thx eh! This must be the most wuk De man do since he in office!
— Anisha Joseph-Ashton (@anishajoe) October 22, 2014
Other Twitter users couldn't understand why Price was singled out, considering that so many — both on social and in mainstream media — were talking about it:
Rachael @RACHELPRICETT is not the only one who talked about it the whole country talked and still talking wat she had on was disgraceful
— Tiffany John (@johntiffany25) October 22, 2014
@RACHELPRICETT they vex because u say what everybody else was silently saying! All of a sudden he have voice!
— Crystal's Touch (@crysmcphe) October 22, 2014
Some suggested the move was an attack on freedom of speech:
@RACHELPRICETT what a Democratic country this is, when our citizens are not allowed freedom of speech!!!! 1st world status here we come
— jamie thorpe (@jthorpe91) October 22, 2014
@RACHELPRICETT what I'd like to know is if they give you a letter, they might shutdown calypso fiesta next year. #raisetherealissues.
— Bradley (@Imsilentone) October 22, 2014
There were those who stood firmly in defense of the first lady and her right to wear whatever she chooses. Fashion designer Robert Young thought the reaction to Mrs. Carmona's outfit was “sexist and filled with internalized colonialism.” He made the point that fashion is a cultural phenomenon, saying, “Bellies are shown all over the world. The late Indira Gandhi must have shown her's.” (sic)
From the president's perspective, the issue is that his office considers Price's statements — though it isn't clear which ones — defamatory. Price has reportedly been promoting a comedy show at which she promises to target the first lady's attire, but it is not known if the letter refers to this or other comments. Public relations expert Dennise Demming felt that the president's response to Price was a bit like “using a hatchet where a scalpel is needed”, saying that he has only succeeded in “dignify[ing] poor humour and improv[ing] her popularity.”
It is also being debated whether the Office of the President should even be party to the legal action, since defamation cases can only involve individuals. At an address he gave at the 2014 Presentation of Graduates at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, the president likened Price's comments to cyber-bullying, telling graduates that social media websites had degenerated from “performing an envisaged function of creating a positive communication link among friends, family and professionals” to “a veritable battleground, where insults fly from the human quiver, damaging lives, destroying self-esteem and a person’s sense of self-worth.”
In response to this, and the president's insistence that people should “maintain respect” for his office, Facebook user Colin Robinson said:
I real tired of all this shit about office and reputation. Go and do some real work and get a reputation! Dignity of which office? Any office in Trinidad and Tobago have any dignity? We taking way people dignity every day in Magistrates Court, and police shooting them dead, and Kamla [Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister] and all of them could fock all who they want but they keeping laws against bulling on the books, and Wayne Kublalsingh is a reptile […] And you want to preserve the dignity of you office??? And is not even like I feel Rachel Price right to spend so much time ponging a next woman for wearing a dress. Reema and she belly could wear whatever the kissmearse she want. But when you in public office you must take picong and pong and grin and wave. Else do not stand up next to Mrs. Ban on my tax dollar.
At Wired868, a site known for its political satire, Mr. Live Wire was all over the issue like fabric draped over a mannequin:
The late President ANR Robinson often challenged a sitting Prime Minister on matters that he felt ran contrary to the spirit of the constitution and abused the trust of the nation.
The current President is more like the dude who goes to a fete with his lady half-dressed and then wants to fight anyone he catches looking.
Some Facebook users thought the whole affair was a case of — as Trinidadians say — “do so don't like so”, reminding netizens of a similar lawsuit that was filed 11 years ago. On that occasion, Price was the one issuing the legal letter to radio talk show host Ricardo “Gladiator” Welch for libel and slander. Welch counter-sued and Price eventually dropped the lawsuit.
This time, it appears that Price isn't backing down. She commented on her radio show:
This is a democracy and if I can’t talk about the President’s wife belly that was in meh eye, then something very wrong…Yuh damn right, I doh know meh place. But I know meh citizenship. I mightn’t know meh place but yuh know meh home. This is Trinidad and Tobago.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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How Chinese President Xi Jinping and His Yellow Umbrella Became a Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Protest Meme · Global Voices
Ellie Ng

Chinese President Xi Jinping photoshopped into a scene of protesters confronting riot police in Mongkok. Image via Arm Channel in Facebook.
Photoshopped images of Chinese President Xi Jinping holding an umbrella at various pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong are the latest political memes to go viral on social media.
It started with Chinese state media's announcement that a photo of Xi visiting Hubei Province won the country’s top photojournalism prize. He was holding an umbrella and talking to some engineers in the rain. His pants were rolled up to prevent them from getting wet:
Pic: Photo of President Xi Jinping visiting Hubei Province won China’s top photojournalism prize. pic.twitter.com/9ouNrb53aY
— CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) October 23, 2014
The photo, which is rather typical of mainland Chinese political propaganda to push a grassroots image of their leaders, quickly caught the attention of Hong Kong netizens. They remixed the photo, placing Xi and his yellow umbrella against the background of protest sites in Hong Kong, where people have gathered to demand
an open nomination system for chief executive candidates instead of the largely pro-Beijing nominating committed insisted upon by the mainland.
President Xi on the cover of Time magazine. Image created by Andy Sum.
Mainland Chinese media outlets are accusing the recent protests, called Occupy Central by local media or the Umbrella Revolution by foreign media, of being as color revolution that seeks to undermine the central government's authority, a serious charge. The political memes of Xi holding an umbrella — the symbol of the protest — have been a source of comic relief given the tense political atmosphere.
A photoshopped image of American magazine Time's cover showing Xi holding an umbrella in tear gas was reposted by 100most, a popular cultural magazine on Facebook, and attracted more than 10,000 likes and 800 shares. Ivan Wong commented with sarcasm:
習總果然是我們的父母官啊，「一把遮、一個眼神、一邊摺褲」落區聽民意的習總為689作親身示範。
President Xi is such a parent-like leader: He demonstrated to 689 [refers to Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying who won only 689 votes from the 1,200-member election committee in 2012] how to mingle with local communities and listen to people's opinion with “an umbrella, a sincere-looking glimpse and a cuffed pant”.
The meme below shows Xi edited into a scene at Admiralty, the key Occupy Central sit-in site in central Hong Kong:
Chinese President Xi edited into the Admiralty protest site. Image source: Leung Pak Kin via Facebook 100most.
Surprisingly, Patrick Li reported that the meme has survived so far for more than 24 hours on WeChat, China's popular messaging and calling app, without being censored.
The Xi umbrella meme confronting riot police at the Mongkok protest site is perhaps the most dramatic as Mongkok is a heavily crowded, diverse working-class commercial district where violent conflicts have broken out almost every day since the sit-in began on September 28 between police officers and protesters, as well as between pro-Beijing groups and pro-democracy protesters.
Despite several police attempts to clear the area, resilient protesters in Mongkok have non-violently reclaimed the streets. The protest site in Mongkok generally sees a more grassroots participation from lower- to middle-class background, while college students, teachers and professionals frequent Admiralty.
Netizen Stephanie Lai believed if China's top leaders were really willing to stand with the grassroots communities like the image of Xi in Mongkok, people in Hong Kong would embrace reunification with China.
Xi at the top of Lion Rock. Via Tang Earthquake's Facebook
The most up-to-date meme is Xi at the top of Lion Rock in Hong Kong. The Lion Rock Hill has been a symbol of the hardworking spirit of the Hong Kong grassroots because of a popular TV drama in 1970s.
In a recent interview with New York Times, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun Ying argued that the government would not accept that idea of citizen nomination of candidates because the poor and working classes would dominate the elections. In response to his comment, a group of hikers decided to occupy the Lion Rock Hill by hanging a large banner that says “I want true universal suffrage” on October 23.
The political memes not only help the symbol of the Umbrella Revolution to travel further, but they also serve as a reminder of the role China has to play in the future of Hong Kong. President Xi keeps expressing his concern for the common people. Does that concern extend to the democratic wishes of Hong Kong's people?
Follow our in-depth coverage: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution

author: Ellie Ng


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Ideological Divides Run Deep in Brazil Ahead of Presidential Runoff · Global Voices
Taisa Sganzerla

On one side, fear of communism. On the other, fear of fascism. Will the two groups ever make peace? Image by Flickr users Ninja Mídia and Aécio Neves. CC BY 2.0
Within only a few days until the presidential election runoff, emotions are running high among Brazilian voters. Countless rallies supporting both candidates — Aécio Neves, from the center-right Brazilian Social-Democratic Party (PSDB), and incumbent Dilma Roussef, from the center-left Workers’ Party — have taken over Brazil’s major cities in the past weeks.
But some believe the tone of political discourse has taken a hateful turn in the streets and especially on social media, with campaigns bullying rather than debating ideas.
On one side, Neves supporters at rallies hold signs against corruption and express their fear that Brazil is headed toward a Bolivarian dictatorship, “like Venezuela”, they say. On the other, Rousseff's supporters talk of losing Brazil's hard-earned social policies and regressing to the hardship of the 1990s, when PSDB was in charge. The more one side salutes the national flag, the more the other raises the red one. As Brazil approaches its seventh direct elections since it became a democracy, will these two ideological groups ever reconcile?
Just yesterday, in downtown São Paulo some Neves and Rousseff supporters clashed after both groups ran onto each other by chance. And on Tuesday, at São Paulo's PUC University opponents threw coins, cigarettes, plastic cups and other objects at protesters supporting Roussef’s reelection. In a YouTube video, a student is shown saying “the university is not a place for political campaigns” – despite wearing a sticker in support of Aécio Neves’ candidacy.
A first-time presidential candidate and former governor of Brazil’s second most populous state, Minas Gerais, Aécio Neves has tapped a sector of Brazilian society unsatisfied with the Workers’ Party government, who's been in power since 2003. Historically, the Social-Democractic Party has represented conservative sectors of Brazilian's middle and upper classes, as opposed to the Workers’ Party, which had its genesis in the working class.
Poverty, race and privilege
The kind of voter that each party attracts has not only been a cause for much debate, but also ammunition for the campaigns to influence people’s choice.
After the first round, when incumbent Dilma Rousseff finished with 42 percent of the votes, ex-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002), who governed with the Social-Democratic Party and now is a vocal Neves’ supporter, gave an interview to news website UOL saying Rousseff did well in far-flung cities and poor regions because its populations were “less informed”. Some believe this encouraged the xenophobic rants against Brazil’s northerners that followed the first round.
Another ex-president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who supports Rousseff, echoed a local community leader's controversial declaration about a potential Neves’ win on Twitter:
“O governo do PSDB significa o genocídio da juventude negra”, Elaine, representante do movimento cultural da periferia #PeriferiaComDilma
— Lula pelo Brasil (@LulapeloBrasil) October 20, 2014
“A PSDB government means the genocide of the black youth population”, Elaine, representative of the outskirts cultural movement. #OutskirtsWithDilma
A young black man responded:
@LulapeloBrasil Eu sou negro e voto #Aécio, chega de querer dividir os brasileiros por cor e renda somos todos #45
— Passard Chryst (@PChryst) October 20, 2014
I'm black and I vote for Aécio, stop trying to divide Brazilians by color or income, we are all # 45 [PSDB's voting number]
The idea that the poor vote for Rousseff and the powerful and rich vote for Neves has been largely exploited by the Workers’ Party campaign. Earlier this week, they dug up an old interview that Neves gave to a local New Jersey newspaper in 1977, when he was a 17-year-old exchange student in the United States. Under the title “A teen’s life in Rio not much different”, he talked about his life in his home country, saying things like “In Brazil, everyone has two maids, one for cleaning and one for cooking”, or “I have never made my own bed”, statements that the Workers’ Party have used to portray him as an elitist “daddy’s boy”, distant to the reality of most Brazilians.
Candidate Aécio Neves was featured in a US newspaper when he was 17 years old; his rather classist testimony has been used by the Worker's Party to portray him as a “daddy's boy”. Image: Brasil247
Is that portrayal so far off? Though he is a vehement supporter of meritocracy, his first job at 19 years old was as an adviser to his own father, who was a federal deputy in the 1970s, and he owes much of his political career to his family. His supporters certainly don't help that negative image: on Thursday, pro-Neves activists joined a rally in São Paulo that The Economist called the “cashmere revolution”. The march took place at Avenida Faria Lima, a major financial hub in the city, and most of its attendees were wearing suits and pashminas, and carrying pricey iPhones. According to the magazine, “the only thing missing was the champagne flutes.”
‘How unpleasant is all this generalization that people are doing?’
In a much shared TV Folha video, featuring activists from both sides, his supporters openly displayed their aversion towards the Workers’ Party. One woman says, “If it were up to me, there would be a military intervention”, while others worship the police. Another girl says she believes the Workers’ Party is the one who creates this hateful environment and that “they’re trying to segregate us, to pit us against each other.”
Rousseff supporters, however, believe the hate is actually directed at them, and mainstream media is to blame. For TV presenters and vloggers PC Siqueira and Diego Quinteiro, media has a crucial role in making people misunderstand left-wing positions. They created a video called #DesçaDoMuro, or “Get out of the middle”, calling on people to openly profess their political opinions even if they seem radical. “And please, don’t start telling us to go to Cuba or North Korea. Listen to what we have to say”, they insist.
Others still call for a more moderate tone, believing that “choosing a team” is harmful. Journalist Gustavo Foster posted on his Facebook:
Como é desagradável essa generalização que muita gente faz. De um lado, “quem estuda não vota na Dilma”; do outro, vídeo engraçadinho tirando eleitor do Aécio para clone da Rachel Sheherazade com deficiência mental. A gente sabe que não é assim. Isso é uma das coisas mais despolitizantes que se pode fazer. Um desserviço à ainda recente e capenga democracia brasileira.
How unpleasant is all this generalization that people are doing? On one side, “people who study don't vote for Dilma”; on the other, funny videos characterizing Aécio's voters as clones of [conservative TV presenter] Rachel Sheherazade. We know it's not like that. This is one of the most depoliticizing things that a person can do. A real disservice to our still recent and broken democracy.
Humorist website Cocadaboa's founder Wagner Martins also proposed a more good-natured debate:
Desafio eleitores do Aécio fazerem um elogio ao governo Dilma.  Desafio eleitores da Dilma a falarem uma coisa que seria boa em um governo do Aécio. Vamos ver qual dos dois lados é mais gentil, civilizado e ponderável. E quem são os extremistas. E quem vai se abster. Comentem aí.
I challenge Aécio's voters to make a compliment about Dilma's government. And I challenge Dilma's to say something positive about Aécio's possible government. Let's see which side is more polite, civilized and flexible. And who are the extremists. And who won't say anything. Start commenting.
But his challenge was to absolutely no avail, with most commenters responding with sarcasm, such as “I like when PT steals, I’m pro-corruption”, or “A Neves government will make the shareholders of the company I work for happier”. Perhaps the widely shared @thaisss self-deprecating tweet sums up how many Brazilians feel at the moment:
gente quem perdeu familia ou amigos por causa dessa eleiçao vamo combinar de passar o natal junto
— Thaís (@thaisss) October 17, 2014
Everyone who's lost family and friends because of the elections, let's spend Christmas together


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Kyrgyzstan Ready to Adopt Gay Propaganda Law · Global Voices
Colleen Wood

LGBT groups are under attack in Kyrgyzstan. Creative commons image.
A law with negative implications for Kyrgyzstan's repressed Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities is cruising through the national parliament, raising fears that the overall human rights situation in the country is about to deteriorate rapidly.
On October 15, lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan voted to adopt a law to punish those who create “a positive attitude toward non-traditional sexual relations.” On the bill's first reading, 79 parliamentarians voted for the bill, and only seven voted against it.
The proposed legislation would constitute one of the harshest anti-LGBT laws in the region, even stricter than Russia’s so-called “gay propaganda” law that critics accuse MPs of emulating. The bill, entitled “On Introducing Additions to Some Legislative Acts of the Kyrgyz Republic,” mandates high fines and jail time for anyone who “shares information on non-traditional sexual relationships.”
If passed into law following second and third readings in the coming months, the bill will limit freedom of speech and assembly for activists, journalists, and members of the LGBT community. In addition to subsequent readings the law must be signed by Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev to be passed into law. If Atambayev refuses to sign, the bill would then need a two-thirds majority in the parliament to overrule the executive. The bill was first brought to parliament in March 2014.
The law constitutes a major threat for Kyrgyzstan and its LGBT communities. Kyrgyzstan legalized homosexuality in 1998, after repealing an article from the Soviet Criminal Code.  While Kyrgyzstan may never have been a truly safe haven for LGBT people, the country has been relatively more tolerant than its Central Asian neighbors. In recent years, however, it has grown increasingly dangerous to be openly gay in there. A January 2014 Human Rights Watch report cited increased instances of violence and police abuse against gay men in the republic.
Inspirations for the law: Putinism and Islam
Kurmanbek Dyikanbaev, the bill’s sponsor, told Radio Azattyk October 7: “We should protect the traditional family. The West is imposing their norm of same-sex families.” Dyikanbaev has also accused the West of encouraging homosexuality and corrupting Kyrgyzstan’s moral fabric.
A recent Vocativ film about the proposed law identified the increasing popularity of religion, specifically Islam, as a major source of anti-LGBT sentiment and a motive for the law. Over 75 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s population identifies as Muslim, and radicalism among young people is on the rise. This February, the Kyrgyz Spiritual Directorate issued a fatwa against homosexuals in Kyrgyzstan.
Although government officials called the fatwa unconstitutional, some activists see an increasing influence of Islamic norms within government. The Bakiyev administration, ousted in 2010, clamped down on Islamic religious expression. Though Kyrgyzstan remained secular in the most recent revision of its constitution, introduced shortly after Bakiyev's downfall, God and Islam have increasingly made their way into politicians’ speeches, according to a September 2014 PEN International report.
Russia’s increasing economic and political influence in Kyrgyzstan has also had an impact on the social environment in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan is “a perfect lab rat,” according to Masha Gessen, writing for the New York Times. “It is small and poor and extremely susceptible to Russian pressure.” Muzaffar Tursunov, a Kyrgyz journalist, echoed the view that Kyrgyzstan has been susceptible to ideology and legislation exported from Russia. Tursunov told Cathal Sheerin for a report for PEN International, that Kyrgyz politicians just “take their laws off the internet, replacing the word ‘Russian’ with ‘Kyrgyz.’”
Local and international reactions to the law
Several governments and human rights organizations condemned the October 15 vote. The U.S. Embassy expressed “deep concern” about the bill. The Embassy said in a statement, “No one should be silenced or imprisoned because of who they are or whom they love. Laws that discriminate against one group of people threaten the fundamental rights of all people.” The embassy also called on Kyrgyz lawmakers to “oppose legislation that would criminalize expressions of identity or limit civil society.”
Labrys asked supporters to create international pressure on Kyrgyzstan by organizing protests, petitioning for statements of disapproval from local governments (especially “non-western” states), and demanding international corporations to express concern. Activists also demanded that international donor organizations review their funding in a way that ensures recipient partners support human rights. The group also asked for sanctions against public homophobes who have expressed and encouraged hatred against LGBT. Finally, Labrys called for improved asylum rules for LGBT people who have been forced to flee their homes.
A small number of lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan continue to fight against the bill. Assiya Sasykbaeva, the Vice Speaker of the legislature, and Natalia Nikitenko, the chair of the human rights committee, were two of seven MPs who voted against the law. They referenced police violence against gays and the potential for the law to negatively affect human rights as reasons to object to the law.
Not all MPs voting against the bill took issue with Kyrgyzstan’s human rights record. Galina Skripkina, an MP who has called homosexuality a “disease,” may have voted against the law, but she reaffirmed her support of its overall goal. Skripkina’s conditional opposition to the bill bodes poorly for stopping the bill at future readings. “If the bill is properly designed from a regulatory perspective, then I’m all for it,” she said.

author: Colleen Wood


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Mexico in the Labyrinth of Its Solitude · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Protest in Mexico City for the 43 missing students from Ayotzinapa. Image by Enrique Perez Huerta. October 8, 2014. Copyright Demotix.
Since the beginning of his term in late 2012, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has been committed to creating and broadcasting an image of a country moving forward. The government has enacted structural reforms with support from the opposition.
The government's strategy to deal with the country's security crisis, however, and the international community's human rights stance have been called into question following the disappearance of 43 students from the state of Guerrero.
Miguel Guevara, Global Voices contributor, has written a piece for the blog of Harvard Kennedy School Review titled Mexico’s Loneliness: Our drug wars are not over:
Today, high-ranking US officials have not voiced concerns over the deteriorating events in Mexico since September 26th. The US response to human rights violations around the globe – including the recent events in Iguala – should be unambiguous and consistent. Silence is tantamount to complicity.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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There’s an Island Made of Toxic Trash Rising Out of the Sea in the Maldives · Global Voices
Rezwan

Thilafushi Kuni Gondu – This is where they burn the garbage in paradise. Image from Flickr by Hani Amir. CC BY-NC-ND
Each year, approximately one million tourists visit the island nation Maldives for its sunny warm weather and stunning natural beauty.
But there's an ugly consequence of all those visitors, along with the Maldives’ own 395,000 residents: the combined trash accumulated is a headache for the small country.
To deal with the problem, the government decided in December 1991 to use a separate island as the final destination for the huge amount of waste produced by the tourism industry. Thilafushi, nicknamed ‘Rubbish Island’, originally was a lagoon called ‘Thilafalhu’ with a length of 7 kilometres and a width of 200 metres at the shallowest regions. Huge pits were dug, and waste was deposited into the middle of the pit, which was topped off with a layer of construction debris and then uniformly levelled with white sand.
welcome to the maldives! #thilafushi #rubbishisland #müllinsel pic.twitter.com/W7khANOFV5
— nika (@kollerannika) July 11, 2014
An average of 330 tonnes of rubbish are brought to Thilafushi every day, most of which are from Malé. At one point, more than 31,000 truckloads of garbage were being transported to Thilafushi annually. Open-air burning of garbage is also practiced here.
Anyone concerned of what the Locals and Foriegners working in #Thilafushi inhales? Unknown stuff burned pic.twitter.com/r7ksUq2rwp
— Ari[p]h ™ (@Aariphh) August 17, 2013
Today, Thilafushi has a landmass of more than 0.43 km2, which is leased to industrial activities such as boat manufacturing, cement packing, methane gas bottling and various large-scale warehousing.
The blog of environmental organisation Bluepeace wrote that used batteries, asbestos, lead and other potentially hazardous waste mixed with the municipal solid wastes in Thilafushi island are seeping into the water and creating serious ecological and health problems in the Maldives. However, the concerns have never materialized into a campaign by local activists.
Do you think Thilafushi is a mistake? Imagine the state of the rubbish in 20 yrs time? Can our sea be saved? pic.twitter.com/Mw7YXS17OS
— Leela (@leelamad) April 13, 2014
Mordy at collaborative travel project Atlas Obscura described the problem:
Commercial activity along with indiscriminate dumping has brought an abundance of toxic materials to the lagoon – broken oil drums, asbestos, lead, and other noxious metals mix in with daily household garbage items creating a noxious sludge. There is little around the island that goes unpolluted as harmful substances seep into the water and smoke from burning waste floods the air.
Thilafushi island – where garbage seeps into the ocean. Image from Flickr by Hani Amir. CC BY-NC-ND
Filmmaker Alison Teal has made a documentary about her time in the Maldives as a part of her online film series Alison's Adventures. Some remarkable photos of Alison’s trip to the garbage island can be found here.
The government temporarily banned rubbish dumping on the island in December 2011 after a surge in waste floating in the island's lagoon and drifting out to sea. But still now all the garbage from Malé ends up there.
Alibeyya, a commenter on an article on local news site Minivan, pointed to the crux of the problem:
The delicate environment of Maldives is in need of a responsible waste management system. It is a big challenge given the geographical situation where each island including resorts must manage its own waste. [..] The resorts should be able to contain to get rid of their waste without having to dump to Thialfushi lagoon.
In early 2013 there were reports that Maldives’ waste management is being hampered by local politics and lack of funding. Amidst local reports of illegal dumping of wastes in Thilafushi, there was huge confusion over the responsibility for the management of garbage dumping. The Thilafushi management was transferred to the Malé City Council (MCC) in 2010 and a contract was signed in 2011 with the Indian-based company Tatva Global Renewable Energy to rehabilitate the island and manage the garbage problem.
But the deal never was implemented due to bureaucracy and political interference and recently it was cancelled, making the future of Thilafushi uncertain.
Abdullah Faraz writes in an opinion piece in Minivan News:
The first point to note is that underneath all the political rhetoric and maneuvering lies a real issue that affects many lives – the public health hazard, teachers and students being hospitalised, closing of schools, the smoke, the stench etc.
The public has a right to feel disaffected by this crisis, and is indignant and up in arms with good cause.
The second point to note is though this is a manufactured crisis; there is no inherent direction to which this raw emotional energy of the public may flow.
What is for certain: a new jail soon is set to be opened on Thilafushi island next month.
“@vaavu: Thilafushi jail which can accommodate 100 prisoners to open next month http://t.co/SPTCPwDWNU via @vaavu“
— Shumba Gong (@ShumbaGong) octubre 20, 2014


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West Africans Keep Calm Despite Ebola and Remind the World Who They Are · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Screen capture from “Ebola: A Poem For The Living,” YouTube.
As the confirmed Ebola death toll nears 5,000, with at least 10,000 reported cases, many in West Africa are utilizing the power of new media in the fight against the disease.
One such initiative is Ebola Alert in Nigeria:
EbolaAlert is an evidence-driven group of volunteer professionals working on Ebola Virus Disease Interventions.
It was created by Doctors but also involves active participation of other professionals from different walks of life.
The initiative uses Twitter to post daily Ebola-related news and to organise Ebola chat sessions between experts and the general public:
You can keep abreast of all the necessary information by following our activities on twitter.
From the daily #EbolaNews that is posted between 7AM and 8AM WAT to special activities like #EbolaScience where confusing Ebola issues are cracked and clarified.
The #EbolaChat Sessions are Twitter Events where Experts from around the world are available to discuss chosen topics with the general public. There have been #EbolaChat Sessions on as many issues as you can imagine
In Sierra Leone, Hannah Foullah is using Facebook to fight Ebola-related stigma. She is leading the campaign “Beauty for Country: I am 100% Sierra Leonean, Not a Virus” with fellow citizens Elvinah Ade Johnson and Haja Mariatu Thomas.
In a video posted to BBC Africa's YouTube channel, Foullah says the campaign aims to reaffirm Sierra Leonean identity.
Below are some of the photos posted to the Facebook page for “Beauty for Country”:
Beauty for Country photo posted on Hannah Foullah Facebook page.
In the United States, the Nashville-based organization United Methodist Communications has collaborated with Chocolate Moose Media and iHeed to create an animated video, “Ebola: A Poem For The Living,” for use in West Africa to help dispel myths about how Ebola is spread. The video also promotes ways to prevent the spread of the disease. The group is planning to translate the cartoon into several West African languages.
Follow our in-depth coverage: The Struggle to #StopEbola in West Africa

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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3 Online Initiatives to Boost Voters’ Involvement in Tunisia’s 2014 Elections  · Global Voices
Ahmed Medien

Tunis, Tunisia. 22 October 2014 — Images of those killed and wounded in the Tunisian revolution are held up at a protest over the light sentences handed out to suspects accused of killing protesters outside the interior ministry in Tunis. — Ahead of the Tunisian election, relatives of those who died or were injured in the revolution rallied outside the interior ministry in Tunis to protest the light sentences handed out to suspects accused of killing protesters. Copyright: Demotix
Tunisians are encouraged to vote in the country's parliamentary elections this Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014.
While voting turnout in 2011 was less than 45 per cent, civil society organisations have joined forces to launch new initiatives aimed at encouraging citizens to take part in the elections.
Tunisians now have access to material online to choose from the myriad of political parties and candidates taking part in the elections. They are also able to verify the candidates’ messages and even report on corruption and abuse.
Ikhtiar Tounes (Arabic/French)
Ikhtiar Tounes, which translates to Tunisia's Choice from Arabic, is a platform that compares voters’ opinions and answers on certain political and economic issues in Tunisia with several parties’ proposed solutions and programs. The end result is a comparability rate between the user's views and those of different parties registered on the platform.
Birrasmi.tn (French)
“Birrasmi” is a casual expression in Tunisia. It means “really?”
This platform verifies proposed solutions or recent statements made by political parties with sourced facts. The platform then assigns a credibility badge ranging from “totally true” i.e. feasible to “totally false” i.e. impossible to achieve.
Billkamcha.tn (Arabic)
Billkamcha is an anti-corruption platform where citizens can report administrative corruption in the country through several means of communication with the platform.
Several other organizations such as I-Watch or Mourakiboun have been working closely on monitoring the organizations of the elections, and transgressions have been noted. Some include signature buy-outs from citizens and/or data theft. Some candidates for the presidential elections have been involved in this scandal without further investigations or procession to trial.
List of organizations monitoring Tunisia 2014 Elections
Some voters today reported that their names are missing where they thought they were registered to vote. Others were registered in two bureaus.
To follow a live citizen coverage of the elections, you can follow the hashtag #TnElec2014. The National Public Television has also set an interactive digital map (Arabic) where results will be gradually reported in the upcoming days after the votes have been counted.
Tunisia will be holding its presidential elections next month on November 23.

author: Ahmed Medien


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GV Face: To Vote or Not to Vote? Voices from Tunisia as the 2014 Election Begins · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

These general elections are the first under Tunisia's new constitution and the second since the 2011 uprisings that overthrew Ben Ali.
Tunisia served as the spark for the Arab Spring that rippled across the MENA region in 2011. Uprisings in other countries have led to political stalemates, military takeovers or continued violence, but things have been different in Tunisia.
More than 9000 candidates from over a 100 parties are contesting in this election, and for the first time in the country's modern history, Tunisians cannot predict which parties will win.
Some Tunisians have made the deliberate choice of not voting, while others have decided to concentrate their votes on a few political forces and alliances that are deemed capable of amassing a majority of ballots.
In this episode of GV Face, our video hangout series, GV's MENA editor Amira talks to GV author Ahmed Medien and election observer Emir Sfaxi.
We talk to them about their hopes and expectations, the process of the elections and the changes that these elections might bring in the 5 next years.
Follow the elections on Twitter: #TnElec2014 | #tnelec
#TnElec2014 Tweets

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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10 Years Ago Today, Global Voices’ First Post Appeared… · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

10 years ago today, the first post appeared on the Global Voices web site. Photo by Georgia Popplewell (CC BY-SA 3.0)
At 10:03pm on the night of Tuesday October 26, 2004, somewhere in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN journalist-turned-fellow at Harvard's Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, crossed the last few t’s, dotted the final i’s, and hit the “publish” button on the back end of the WordPress blog her Berkman colleague Ethan Zuckerman had set up a few days before. And so the first Global Voices blog post was born.
Like many first messages, it was hardly momentous in terms of content. It announced the agenda for a meeting Rebecca and Ethan had managed to shoehorn into the schedule of a conference taking place at Harvard Law School on December 11 of that year. The meeting, which Rebecca would describe in a second post published later that night, was called “Global Voices Online: Blogging for Independent Journalists, Concerned Citizens and Activists”, and would comprise a series of “freewheeling workshops and discussion tracks” focusing on:
“…the use of weblogs and other new technologies to enhance online global dialogue and political advocacy. Participants will include international webloggers, journalists and activists with an interest in online communication techniques. A major focus of the meeting will be to develop strategies for spreading the use of online participatory media by civil society, activists, and journalists in places generally ignored by the mainstream international media.”
10 years later, here we are. Since Rebecca’s first post we’ve published over 88,000 more articles. We've become a human translation powerhouse. We've developed special sections for our freedom of expression and development work. We've won a bunch of awards. We've become interpreters, not only of languages, but of culture, politics and social dynamics, sought out and referenced by media professionals, policymakers, academics and others seeking to connect with the diverse voices and stories coming out of citizen and social media around the world. And we've held several more meetings and Summits, (with another coming up in January!).
Members of the community at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2010 in Santiago, Chile. Photo by Georgia Popplewell (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
But the achievement we're perhaps proudest of has been building and sustaining a large and vibrant volunteer community dedicated to fulfilling the Internet’s potential as a global connector. Today we kick off our 10th anniversary celebrations, building up to our official birthday on December 11, with a selection of reminiscences by some of these folks about their first encounters with Global Voices.
Eddie Avila (Bolivia): “One day back in 2005, I noticed a trackback [on my blog] that informed me that this blog called Global Voices had linked to a post about Bolivian politics. Next thing I knew, an email appeared in my inbox from David Sasaki inquiring whether I would be interested in writing weekly posts about what was happening in Bolivian blogs. Naturally I felt honored, but I also felt a responsibility to properly represent my country for a global audience that seemed to generalize and reduce my country to only a few limiting characterizations.” (Read full post here)
Rezwan (Bangladesh): “I was already doing small roundups about South Asia in my blog and guest-blogging in a couple of regional ones. Then in July 2005 I received a mail from Global Voices co-founder Rebecca MacKinnon: “We find that we've been linking to you quite frequently over at Global Voices and would love to know a little more about you…” She requested me to post on Global Voices. I was thrilled to write for Global Voices, and the rest is history.” (Read full post here)
Portnoy (Taiwan): “I started to write blog(s) and learned that there was a brand new world out there. I accidentally found Global Voices, read some posts, and was surprised by its novelty and network. Without any hesitation, I began to translate interesting posts I read from GV. My first translation was this one, and I added my personal comment to share it with my blogging friends in Taiwan. I didn't know who might read them, but with each translation I did, I felt connected with someone on the globe…. I kept on translating posts until one day I received a message from Rebecca MacKinnon, our dearest co-founder, who read Chinese and invited me to join GV…. I am now managing several new media projects in Taiwan, trying to challenge the walking dead media world in Taiwan.” (Read full post here)
Marianna Breytman (USA): “My crazy adventure with Global Voices began back in 2011 when I was looking for volunteer opportunities and came across an article about GV in The New York Times. Soon after, I joined the Lingua team and began translating posts from Spanish into English. My first translation was about the controversy generated over Mario Vargas Llosa attending Argentina's International Book Fair in 2011….That first translation has opened so many doors for me, including everything from expanding my professional network to making new friends all over the world.” (Read full post here)
I-Fan Lin (Taiwan): “I wrote my first post in Global Voices in 2007…. When I wrote these articles, I kept asking myself why people from other countries would be interested in what happens on this island…. I attended my first GV summit in Budapest in 2008. During that meeting, someone came to me and said, ‘Oh, I like your post about Matsu and other culture events in Taiwan.’ That is the magic moment: I was convinced that it is worth sharing our stories with other people.” (Read full post here)
Abdoulaye Bah (Guinea/Italy): “One evening in December 2008—by then I had retired—to avoid arguing with my wife about what to watch on TV, I started to search on the Internet for a voluntary activity I could undertake. Among the sites I came across was Global Voices. I read a few posts and liked them. Immediately, I contacted Claire Ulrich, the person in charge of the French group and I started to partake…. I didn't have any blogging experience beforehand. I didn't even know what Facebook, Twitter, netizen, citizen media, blogs or posts were. My only previous activity had been the creation of a forum for the victims of the dictatorship in my country. I became a blogger thanks to the patience of Claire Ulrich, who helped me create Konakry Express, a blog designed to broadcast information on the grave violations of human rights that occurred in Guinea on the 28th September 2009.” (Read full post here)
Kevin Rennie (Australia): “Immediately after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Global Voices managing editor Solana Larsen asked me to write a post. I was surprised as I thought that our disaster would not be of interest to the rest of the world which experiences floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis that kill thousands or tens of thousands. Much to my surprise ‘Australia: Bushfires devastate Victoria’ was one of the more popular posts of the year.” (Read full post here)
Community members at the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo by Global Voices (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Nwachukwu Egbunike (Nigeria): It was in 2011, the year of Nigeria’s general elections, and we were witnessing the usual theater of the absurd and normal that has for ages characterized Nigerian…politics. I wrote this blog post on the Endless Chatter in Naija’s Political Space. Somehow, I chanced upon the Global Voices site that very day. I was impressed, although I knew nothing about what GV stood for. I did an email to Ndesanjo Macha, the GV Regional Editor for Sub-Saharan Africa in which I shared the link of my post and asked if it could be republished on GV. Ndesanjo responded in the affirmative and…. after a series of email exchanges and I told him that I would love to become a contributor. I must note that I was quite impressed with the frankness of our discussion…. It might seem trivial, but living in a milieu that is characterized by the arrogance of ‘big men’ syndrome, I was surprised that he even responded to my mail at the first instance.” (Read full post here)
Suzanne Lehn (France): “Back in 2008, there was this moment of grace and hope, the campaign and election of Barack Obama, when many in the world held their breath and felt that change was at hand. And with this moment came this beautiful GV project, Voices without Voices, led by Amira Al-Hussaini and which is now sleeping in the depths of the internet's archives. The impulse to be part of this exciting venture was compelling, and Amira guided my first shaky steps as a fledgling author with her firm and gentle hand. Thus I came to do a survey of some first reactions to Barack Obama's election in the francophone world.” (Read full post here)
Dercio Tsandzana (Mozambique):
“Conheci o Global Voices graças a visita da Sara Moreira (ex editora do Global voices Lusofonia) ao meu país, onde visitou a minha Universidade e falou do Global Voices e convidou-nos a juntar-me a família GV.
Naquele dia fiquei impressionado com o GV, e disse para mim mesmo que o meu sonho passaria por publicar um Artigo e assim foi no dia 18 de Dezembro de 2013.
No Global Voices conto actualmente com 25 artigos escritos e traduções que foram publicados em menos de um ano que estou nesta grande família. Não existe ainda um grande activismo social pelas redes socais em Moçambique como em outros países, mas actulamente a consciência tende a mudar e as pessoas a despertar.
O Global Voices projectou-me para o mundo e me está a abrir muitas portas, dei entrevistas a DW para Moçambique, tenho artigos saídos do Global Voices em Jornais Nacionais e até artigos publicados no Canal France 24.”
“I learned about Global Voices thanks to a visit by Sara Moreira (ex-editor of Global Voices Lusofonia) to my country. She visited my university and talked about Global Voices and invited us to join the GV family. That day I was impressed with GV, and it became my dream to write for Global Voices. I've written 25 articles and translations in the year I've been a part of this big family. Mozambique doesn't yet have extensive activism through social networks like in other countries, but nowadays we're seeing an awakening in people's consciousness. Global Voices projected me into the world and has opened many doors. I've given interviews to the DW Mozambique, have Global Voices articles appearing in national newspapers, and been published in France Canal 24.” (Read full post here [pt])
Prudence Nyamishana (Uganda): “My first post was about David Tinyefuza, a Ugandan Army general who had fallen out with the president and was now whistleblowing against the government…. At the time…I didn't have a job and all my friends were wondering why in the world I was taking on work and not expecting any payment…. I told them I was going to do what I loved… and that it was an opportunity to tell Uganda's stories. More worries came from my father, who had experienced the rough times of Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin‘s repressive regime. He said: “I hope what you are doing is not political. I do not want you landing in trouble. You know when a government wants to stay in power they become repressive, they are scared of their own shadows.” I took his words to heart but I was not planning to retreat.” (Read full post here)
Laura Vidal (Venezuela): “I wrote to Eddie Avila to ask him if I could try to participate as an author, and he… welcomed me to the authors’ group. My first post as an author was about a crazy character I read about in a professor’s blog…. I had a blast writing about it, and it felt great to do something about this frustration for the lack of stories of a Venezuela that is rarely seen.” (Read full post here)
Sami Boutayeb:
“Ma première traduction, en 2011 a été suscitée par un appel lancé par le responsable d'un forum fréquenté par des traducteurs participant à la localisation du projet OLPC. Il était question d'un blogueur égyptien, Alaa Abdel Fattah, qui avait été actif dans la communauté des traducteurs de logiciels libres, et qui avait été emprisonné arbitrairement. C'est ainsi que j'ai traduit pour GV Advocacy et que j'ai rejoint la formidable équipe GV francophone. J'ai eu la joie d'apprendre par la suite que Alaa Abdel Fattah avait été libéré (provisoirement car il a été ensuite à nouveau arrêté).” (Lire le billet complet ici)
“My first translation, in 2011, was prompted by an appeal from the leader of a forum for translators involved in the localisation of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. It had to do with an Egyptian blogger, Alaa Abdel Fattah, who had been active in the free software translators’ community, and who had been unjustly imprisoned. That was how I started translating for GV Advocacy and joined the formidable GV Francophone team. I was delighted to learn afterwards that Alaa Abdel Fattah was freed (provisionally, as he was then arrested again).” (Read full post here [fr])
Mohamed EGohary (Egypt): “I joined Global Voices as an Arabic translator in February 2009. Back then I was a bilingual blogger, writing about Egyptian affairs as well as web2.0…. The editor who welcomed me to Global Voices was Yazan Badran, probably first real interaction with a Syrian…. My first translation was about Gaza. Palestine to me before Global Voices was something I only read about in mainstream media, and you will never to get to know details about conflicts from mainstream media…. Through Global Voices I learned that every conflict has a sea of people, everyone has their own life, memories, happiness and pain….” (Read full post here)
Read the complete series of “first post” and “first translation” reminiscences at the Global Voices Community Blog. And stay tuned as the Global Voices 10th Anniversary celebrations continue!

author: Georgia Popplewell


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‘Storytelling and Media for a Better World’: the 2014 Transformational Media Summit in DC · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

A scene from the first TMSummit in London in 2013. Image used with permission.
All this week in Washington, DC, the Transformational Media Institute will convene a summit that brings together “changemakers, storytellers, and media professionals” from all over the world “to collaborate for good.” This year’s TMSummit is the Institute’s second annual conference, running from October 26 until November 2, 2014. During the week, associated events are taking place throughout the city, leading up to flagship events, including a workshop at the UN Foundation, on October 31, and the main summit day at George Washington University on November 1.
Participants at the TMSummit will discuss storytelling, collaborative creativity, new technology, sustainable business and living, wellbeing and health, photography, film and music, and journalism, among other issues. According to its organizers:
The TMSummit will focus on how stories and media can create positive change by changing attitudes, bringing new technology solutions, awareness raising, inspiring action, or simply spreading happiness. It brings together leading experts in their fields drawing people from a diverse range of organizations such as: the UN Foundation, Discovery Channel, MTV, and the Jane Goodall Institute.
Global Voices spoke to Jeremy Wickremer, who heads the TMSummit, to learn a bit more about the conference. “It’s about creating a better world,” he says. “It’s all interrelated: equality, property, the environment, health and wellbeing—they’re all connected. You can’t tackle something in a silo,” he warns.
The Transformational Media Institute hopes to attract as broad an audience as possible for this year’s summit in Washington. Wickremer expects a diverse group to attend, from high school students to artists to senior managers. “It’s about seeing the big picture, so we should see a diverse group.”
The TMSummit's theme for 2014.
One of the summit’s main goals is to bring together people who otherwise might never cross paths, to promote new perspectives and build connections that lead to collaborations “for scaling up the social impact of what these people do.”
Readers wishing to know more about the TMSummit and the Transformational Media Institute can visit the summit’s website and the Institute’s website, Facebook page, and Twitter account.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Thai Students to Hong Kong Protesters: ‘Do Not Give Up’ · Global Voices
Khun Somchai

Screenshot of the Hangout.
In a wide-ranging Google+ “Hangout” discussion about conditions in Thailand and the rule of law, five Thai students and pro-democracy activists sent a message to activists in Hong Kong: “Don't give up.”
The number of participants — five — is significant because Thai law currently prohibits gatherings of five or more people to discuss political matters. Further, anyone calling for protests on social media can be prosecuted for sedition. The students have been actively protesting the current military junta there, which assumed power earlier this year in a coup.
I organized the Hangout with the group. Rick Rhian, an activist who studies civil engineering at Prommanusorn School, has this message to Hong Kong student protesters:
The message that I want to give the Hong Kong students is, do not give up and do not let the system of Thailand be advanced upon you guys.
Others also shared their support for the Hong Kong protesters and democracy throughout the region. A video excerpt of the discussion is below.
The demonstrations in Hong Kong occurred in response to the Chinese government's decision in September to limit candidates for Hong Kong elections to those selected by a nominating committee in Beijing.
The Thai activists discussed many subjects including current conditions in the country, their recent activities at Thammasat University and elsewhere, and the military junta's efforts to remove references to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from Thai history textbooks.
In May, a Thai military junta ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in a coup. The junta repealed the country's constitution, declared marital law, and imposed stricter limits on freedom of expression and assembly. General Prayuth Chan-ocha, leader of the Thai army, was named new prime minister. Chan-ocha has said they will hold elections in the future but has not specified a date other than to say they will not take place in the next two years.

author: Khun Somchai


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Tunisians Head to Polls to Elect a New Parliament  · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Voters stand in lines to cast their votes at a polling station in Tunis. Photo by Tunisia Live shared on Twitter
Tunisians are voting today to elect a parliament under the country's new constitution. This year's elections are one of the final stages in the country's democratic transition after the ousting of former dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.
This year more than 13,000 candidates are competing for 217 seats at the Assembly of the People's Deputies which will serve for the next five years. Competing electoral lists include political parties, coalitions and independent candidates.
Tunisia's electoral law does not allow opinion polls but two of the strongest contenders in this year’s legislative elections are the Islamist Ennahda Movement, which emerged as the winner of the 2011 election; and Nidaa Tounes, founded in 2012 and led by 86-year-old Beji Caid Essebsi, who served under the previous autocratic regimes of Habib Bourguiba and Zine el-Abidin Ben Ali.
Tunisia's proportional representation system means that it is very unlikely for one party to win an overall majority. As a result, post-electoral coalitions will be fundamental in determining the outlook of the future government.
Polling stations opened at 7am and will close at 6pm. More than 5 million registered voters are eligible to cast their votes.
Mark Green, the director of the International Republican Institute which deployed a team of election observers throughout Tunisia, shared this photograph at a polling station in the capital Tunis:
Early voting strong in #TunisiaVotes pic.twitter.com/EXXFftnvhV
— Mark Green  (@AmbassadorGreen) October 26, 2014
Turn out differed from one polling station to another. Chafik Sarsar, head of the independent commission overseeing the elections described the turnout as ‘encouraging’.
Tunis-based independent journalist Elodie Auffray shared turnout rates at a number of polling stations she visited:
Centre de vote à Borj Louzir: aucune queue mais à midi, 310 des 520 inscrits avaient voté, dans un des bureaux
— elodie auffray (@elodieauffray) October 26, 2014
Polling center in Borj Louzir, not a single line, but as of midday 310 from the 520 registered voters in one bureau did cast their votes
Dans ce centre de vote, près de Grombalia, 206 votants sur 818 inscrits, à 9h45
— elodie auffray (@elodieauffray) October 26, 2014
In this voting center near Grmbalia, 206 of the 818 registered voters did vote as of 9:45am
Blogger Karim Benabdallah tweeted a photograph of his inked finger:
Et voila c'est fait après moins d'une heure de file d'attente contre 6h en 2012 pic.twitter.com/Xpqz1hRPti
— Karim Benabdallah (@karim2k) October 26, 2014
Done, after less than an hour of queuing compared to six hours in 2011
Voter turnout is expected to be lower this year compared to 2011 due to the popular dissatisfaction with the performance of the political class during the past three years. In 2011, Tunisians elected a National Constituent Assembly for a one year term to draft a constitution. But the assembly's activities lasted three years and a political crisis rocked the country in 2013 after the assassination of two political opponents to the previous Ennahdha-led government. In addition, the interim authorities’ lack of response to urgent socioeconomic demands disillusioned a number of Tunisians.
Vanessa Szakal from Nawaat which spoke to protesters, who on October 23 staged a protest calling for a boycott of the elections, wrote:
Many evoke a disinterest in elections given the economic crisis and security issues that have only exacerbated over the course of the past several years. Promises made during the 2011 elections initially inspired very high hopes but have since been the source of extreme disappointment. The bipolarization of the electoral process, essentially based upon the notion of strategic voting, and the struggle against terrorism do not help the silent majority to decide whether or not to vote. In the almost complete absence of economic and political programs, it is difficult to differentiate between the hundreds of electoral candidates.
Yet some, could not hide their excitement.
Tunis-based journalist Asma Ghribi tweeted:
It's nice to be back to my primary school Abu Kacem Chebbi to vote ..#Tunisia #tunelec pic.twitter.com/yEwhM0zQYF
— أسمى غريبي (@AsmaGhribi) October 26, 2014
It's always good to vote, even if you don't belong to any political party #TnElec2014
— Walid Saad (@walidsa3d) October 26, 2014
Some hinted that the world should forget a little bit about the self-proclaimed Islamic State and pay more attention to the ongoing democratic process in Tunisia:
Forget about the barbarians of #ISIS for one day. #TunisiaVotes #ArabSpring
— Youssef Cherif (@Faiyla) October 26, 2014
#Tunisia votes today in.its first parlamentary elections after new constitution while the world is focused (obsessed ) by #isis
— dona (@donatelladr) October 26, 2014
Others hailed Tunisia's relatively peaceful and smooth political transition in comparison to other countries in the region:
#Tunisia and #Egypt began at the same time 3.5 years ago, but they are light-years away from each other today.
— Ahmed Kadry (@AhmedKadry) October 26, 2014
Arab Spring scorecard: Tunisia: moving forward. Egypt: shit. Yemen: deep shit. Libya: deep deep shit. Syria: deep deep deep shit.
— The Big Pharaoh (@TheBigPharaoh) October 26, 2014
Today #Tunisia votes for historic 1st parliament since new constit. Only Arab Spring country where revolution hasn't been derailed #CBC
— Saša Petricic (@sasapetricic) October 26, 2014

author: Afef Abrougui