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After a Wild Campaign, Macedonia Holds Important Elections This Sunday · Global Voices
Marko Angelov

Graffiti in Skopje painted during the election campaign. It reads, “Death to Albanians” and “Zaev is the favorite Greek and Albanian choice for Prime Minister.” The messages appeared outside a public institution monitored by several security cameras. The perpetrators have not been punished or even pursued. Photo by Global Voices.
Very often, upcoming elections in polarized societies are said to be “historic” events. Hugely important to the future of the country's political system, Macedonia's parliamentary elections this Sunday, Dec. 11, certainly feel historic. The outcome, activists say, could help resolve a severe national crisis, or cripple Macedonia's democratic institutions.
Both the government and the opposition have described these elections  as a kind of referendum. The populist ruling party VMRO-DPMNE (part of the right-wing, transnational European People's Party) says winning the vote would “exculpate” its leadership from allegations that it's allowed organized crime to capture much of the government, supposedly ceding control over major state institutions to criminal groups (as noted in a recent report by the European Union which explicitly notes ‘state capture’).
Macedonia's opposition, especially center-left Social Democrats SDSM, the largest opposition party, frame this Sunday's elections as a “do-or-die” moment, warning that the fate of the country's very democracy hangs in the balance.
Peter Vanhoute, the former EU mediator who helped forge the political agreement leading to the elections, published a blog post on Medium with a message to Macedonians:
Elections however are not the final point, but only the beginning of much needed changes. These elections can’t be a referendum for certain politicians or political parties to continue with undermining your democracy.
During my stay, I met members of your government, politicians and party representatives who blindly support serious crimes and as politicians are involved in corruption, steal your money and put it on their personal banks accounts abroad, have connections with organized crime, and don’t want to accept any responsibility for their deeds. This is the reason why they successfully control the judiciary to escape from prosecution and prison. Elections can never be a blank cheque for them to continue with such activities.
Nenad Markovikj, a political analyst from the Institute for Democracy, has called this election “nastier than ever.” Campaign rhetoric has included inflammatory remarks and hate speech, not to mention a thinly veiled death threat addressed to opposition leader Zoran Zaev by the head of Macedonia's ruling party, former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
VMRO-DPMNE has made xenophobia a major facet of its campaign, calling opponents “traitors” and “foreign mercenaries.” Party functionaries have depicted Zaev as someone trying to dismember the country, and Gruevski's hints about assassination were only the pinnacle of a larger effort to mobilize the party's base, ethnic Macedonians and Roma who largely work for the state bureaucracy or rely on the government for social security. Gruevski's campaign rhetoric also encouraged conspiracy theories that Macedonia's more multi-ethnic political opposition has irredentist plans to cede western parts of the country to Albania.
Hate speech aimed at ethnic or religious groups is illegal in Macedonia, but observers say politicians have circumvented the ban by speaking in “coded” messages, telling voters things like “we must stop bilingualism” — a clear allusion to the official use of the Albanian language, spoken by second-largest ethnic community. Supporters then amplify and exaggerate those messages in graffiti and posts on social media, spraypainting felony-class statements like “Death to Albanians!” and warnings that “the government will force all Christian men to be circumcised, like they do in the United States, if the opposition wins, in order to create a more docile population that's susceptible to Islamization.”
Unknown vandals attacked the Museum of the Albanian Alphabet in Bitola four times in the weeks prior to Albanian Alphabet Day on November 22, leading the Platform Against Hate Speech to come to the museum's defense.
Part of the performance of the action “We Decide! We Can Do Better!” in Strumica. Photo by Vančo Džambaski, CC BY-NC-SA.
Some civil society organizations are trying to push back against Macedonia's rising tensions. For example, groups have coordinated election-monitoring and voter-outreach campaigns. Ballot secrecy remains a major issue, as well, given the pressure on voters and the government's penchant for conducting illegal surveillance.
According to a survey in April 2016 ordered by the International Republican Institute, 61 percent of the country's eligible voters said they believe their vote is a secret, 28 percent say it isn't, and 11 percent say they don't know.
Non-governmental organizations have combined election efforts to wage campaigns like the “We Decide!” movement, but this activity has provoked some unwanted attention from government tax officials, who conducted surprise inspections of a dozen different groups in the last week, demanding various kinds of financial information.
#Macedonia election: tax revenue office chooses today to audit 11 NGOs engaged in election observation. #wtf #shameless
— HristijanGjorgievski (@TalleyrandMK) December 9, 2016
Some individuals have even left their nonprofit organizations to engage directly in politics, running for office and campaigning in the streets. Many of the most visible participants in the so-called “Colorful Revolution” match this description, running on the party lists of the SDSM and the newly formed Levica (The Left) party. Some of these people, like Pavle Bogoevski and Mareglen Demiri, are trying to enter Macedonia's government after long histories of judicial harassment and endlessly postponed criminal hearings.
Bogoevski, a human rights activist, says he joined the SDSM coalition's list to promote the values of the “Colorful Revolution.” In a series of videos published online, he explained his decision to leave the civil sector for a career in politics — a relatively uncommon switch in Macedonia.
Зошто јас го правам сето ова: pic.twitter.com/TEk0ezpIFZ
— Pavle Bogoevski (@PavleBogoevski) November 26, 2016
Мојот живот застана на 9. февруари минатата година кога беше објавена првата бомба. Како криминалист, точно знаев што значи тоа за секоја држава која има барем некаков правен систем. „Готово е“, си реков, „фатени се со раката во теглата, нема каде да бегаат“. Леле, колку ги потценивме!
Од тогаш немам постирано ниту една песна на Фејсбук, немам постирано ниту еден статус кој не е на некој начин поврзан со криминалот и со политичката криза во која што се наоѓаме. Имав прилика од прва рака да го сфатам значењето на што значи тоа дека сè додека нема правда нема да има ни мир. Јас сум првиот дипломиран криминалист на Полициската академија на Факултетот за безбедност во Скопје. Јас тоа го учев со сето свое срце бидејќи сакав да и служам на нашата држава. Но тоа што го сфатив наскоро по дипломирањето, е дека нашата држава и нашата полиција не служи на ништо друго освен на партиските, финансиските и криминалните интереси на малата банда која што е во раководствата на партиите на власт. А кога на 12. април, Ѓорге Иванов со еден потпис на пенкалото, како со магично стапче, ослободи од одговорност 56 лица за 216 кривични дела и со тоа ни ја укина секоја можност која што ја имавме за институционална правда, јас сфатив дека ако сакаме да видиме правда мораме да ја земеме во свои раце. И тогаш сфатив дека нема да престанам, без оглед на цената, сè додека не ги видам како одговараат за своите постапки пред независен и непристрасен суд.
Зошто го правам ова што го правам? Бидејќи јас одбрав да и служам на нашата држава. Бидејќи јас одбрав да понесам одговорност за случувањата во нашето општество. И бидејќи јас одбрав, кога утре, моето дете ќе ме праша „тато што направи ти за Македонија?“, да му одговорам гордо, а не само да ги кренам рамениците и да му речам „Сине, тоа е…“.
My life stopped on February 9, 2015, when the first “bomb” [leaked wiretap] was published. As a criminologist, I knew exactly what this means to a state with even a semblance of a legal system. “It's over,” I thought. “They are caught red-handed, and there's nowhere to hide.” Oh, how we underestimated them [the ruling party].
Since then, I haven't posted a song on Facebook, or written a status update that isn't connected to the crime or the political crisis that engulfs us. I had opportunities to experience firsthand the meaning of the notion that there will be no peace, if there's no justice. I am the first criminologist who graduated at the Police Academy at the Faculty for Security in Skopje. I studied with all my heart because I wanted to serve our state. But soon after graduation I realized that our state and its police serve only the narrow political party, financial, and criminal interests of the small gang that runs the ruling parties. And when, on April 12, Gjorge Ivanov used his signature to release from responsibility 56 persons suspected for 216 crimes, denying us any opportunity for institutional justice, I realized that we have to take matters into our own hands. I also realized that I shall not stop, regardless the cost, until I see those responsible in front of an independent and impartial court.
Why I do what I do? Because I choose to serve our state. Because I choose to take responsibility for what happens in our society. And because I chose, when tomorrow, my child asks me, “Dad, what have you done for Macedonia?” to respond with pride, instead of shrugging my shoulders and saying, “Son, there was nothing I could do…”
Throughout Macedonia's campaign season, the country's largest political parties have organized mass rallies to signal that they enjoy the support of most voters. Critics say these crowds were bused in from various towns, however, and the opposition claims to have held the single largest demonstration of the race in Skopje, where people embraced slogans associated with the “Colorful Revolution,” like “No Justice, No Peace!”
Macedonia's election this Sunday remains too close to call, and the high stakes make this contest all the more captivating. The political situation is tense, and anything seems to be possible.
The latest opinion polls by institutes founded by the ruling party gave VPRO-DPMNE a lead of up to 12 percentage points over its main rival, the center-left Social Democrats. These figures were quoted without attribution by Reuters report, written by a correspondent who is also an editor of a pro-government TV station. A news item by his station named as sources two elusive think tanks which only appear in press releases, and don't even have websites. Journalists who visited their official addreses found a closed apartment and  a modest private house whose inhabitants refused to talk to them.
Another telephone poll, by the credible Macedonian Center for International Cooperation also shows advantage for the incumbent, but only of 4 percentage points. Moreover, 16% of its respondents refused to answer who they would vote for.
Readers interested in following live election coverage on Sunday, in English, can tune in to Citizen Association MOST, CIVIL, and OSCE ODIHR.

author: Marko Angelov


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Paraguay, Where Opening a University Is Easy, but Finishing a Degree Is Hard · Global Voices
Kurtural

“Eight out of every 10 students in Paraguay are faced with universities that increase fees and discontinue degrees without prior notice.” Photograph published by Kurtural and used with permission.
Below is an edited version of an article by Paraguayan economic and cultural news site Kurtural. It is part of the series “Cows that fly, schools that fall” that has been re-edited and republished by Global Voices Latin America. The original version of this article in Spanish includes more extensive testimonies and an explanation of the historical and political background of the Paraguayan education crisis.
“I am selling a first-rate, operational private university due to travelling abroad.” The advertisement appears in Clasipar, a popular Paraguayan classified ads site. When I call the contact number, the guy who answers confirms to me that the offer is real. Seconds after, we agree to meet up.
The representative of the owner of the university being offered is an elderly man, with a bushy white moustache and thick glasses that hang from a string around his neck. He brings a folder filled to the brim with papers to the table. He says that he is retired, but that he opened a consultancy for commercial representations of this kind. Better than sitting alone on a sidewalk, awaiting death, as a lot of the population of his age do. It is not the case for Miguel, of course, who still goes through life selling things. A university, in this case. Through the internet.
Miguel opens a folder full of papers: there are copies of the university charter, the number of students, the courses, the financial balance, etc. “This information is somewhat outdated, from a couple of years ago, but it's to give you an idea”, he says.
The university that Miguel is trying to sell — for almost two million dollars — with out-of-date information, operating today in a single rented venue, and according to the information delivered, with 365 students and 27 authorized degree courses in 2013, is the Universidad Central del Paraguay (Central University of Paraguay), or UCP. The institution rents a beautiful but not very big house on Brasilia Avenue, near the Universidad Americana (American University), another private university.
The UCP is one of the more than 50 private universities operating in the country. An investigation carried out by the newspaper ABC Color indicates that it originated as the business of a group of Paraguayan officials from the hydroelectric power plant Itaipú. The shareholders of the university, previously public officials, had their own businesses, with capital of a few million guaraníes, like a shoe shop or a haberdashery. However, they had the capacity to register a university with a capital of approximately 180,000 dollars.
The UCP was founded by law in Congress in the year 2006. It was registered in public records in March of the following year. Eight days after, before even beginning to operate, it was already awarded its first set of grants from Itaipú hydroelectric. Those were the years of the market explosion of private universities in Paraguay.
In Paraguay, the poorest people generally do not go to public institutions of higher education. They pay to study in private universities. Admission to public university is difficult for multiple reasons. For example, the offer is territorially limited and entry costs are high. Furthermore, the timetables for courses like engineering or medicine prevent working while in school, an obligation for those who need to earn money to support themselves.
But this phenomenon is not exclusive to Paraguay. A study by UNICEF shows that in a number of countries, the allocation of public resources for educating the most well-off 20% of the population is up to 18 times more than what is invested in educating the poorest 20%. The business of private universities is maintained by the necessity of hundreds of thousands of poor families who suffer the absence of the state and the recurrence of separation due to migration. They try to fight against it with education. Meanwhile, the country's resources are used to strengthen inequality and the power of the privileged classes.
In 2007, Congress created a new university on average every 40 days — a total of nine that year. By 2013, there were now 54 universities in existence. The business of private universities continues to expand, although no longer through the founding of new universities by law, but by accentuating a method that fulfils the same function: the sale of franchises. Gerardo Gómez Morales, when he was deputy minister of higher education, said in an interview about the way in which universities were being set up:
Eran personas que tenían un instituto técnico o una pequeña academia de informática las que compraban los derechos para usar el nombre de las universidades. Es igual a abrir un local de McDonald's; como franquicias de empresas, se abrían filiales de universidades e institutos superiores.
Those who bought the rights to use the name of the universities were people who had a technical college or a small computing academy. It's the same as opening a local McDonald's; like business franchises, subsidiaries of universities and colleges were opened.
In 2012, the deputy minister of higher education shared this in a report on the collateral damage of the private university business model: only one out of every 10 young people who begin a university course finish it. In 2006, almost 115,000 young people signed up to do a tertiary degree course. Four years later, just under 13,000 graduated. Parallel to almost no one completing their studies, nine new universities were formed, and more and more young people set out in search of the professional dream.
By 2012, there were more than 300,000 students enrolled. Out of all of them, eight out of 10 were students of private institutions. Today, the government admits that they do not have precise information on the number of university students that exist in the country.
It is true that some students abandon their course halfway through it, and it is normal for desertion to occur in any major. But the remaining students who have the intention of continuing their studies might not be able to do so because the university cancels the course. The institution abandons the student in this case.
Vanessa Lezcano has decided not to migrate, although she has had opportunities and reasons for doing so. She lives in Choré, a small town situated in San Pedro, one of the poorest departments of the country. She completed two years of a business degree at the Universidad Técnica de Comercialización y Desarrollo (The Technical University for Commerce and Development, or UTCD in Spanish), but the courses were then cancelled for not having the required number of students. The institution needed a minimum of 10 students; in her fifth semester, it no longer reached that number. The administration told her that if at any time a later group meets the quota, she will be able to join and study the second half of the degree. This was already a few years ago.
Eventually, she was able to complete the degree at the Universidad Politécnica y Artística del Paraguay (Polytechnic and Artistic University of Paraguay, or UPAP in Spanish) and is now just waiting on a date to present her final essay. The number of students was also dropping there, but to continue, administration offered raised tuition fees for the students; that way, as they argued, they could cover the salaries of their lecturers. She and her other two remaining classmates accepted.
For now, Vanessa works for a temporary government project and teaches as an assistant (for free) at one of the universities. But a lot of her peers and family no longer live in Choré.
At the Universidad Central del Paraguay, the owner and principal of the university — who, as mentioned above, has had positions and close ties with the government and other business organisations — takes on multiple roles. Even that of community manager. This is what Gabriela Lezcano, who studied graphic design there, tells us. When she started the course, there were more than 10 students. Now there are three, and last year they did not even allow her to sit the final exams for fourth semester, despite having paid for it. She never began fifth semester. After demanding a response, the institution offered her and her two remaining classmates to continue the course by modules. The first of those began last April, after having lost practically half a year in uncertainty. However, in two months she barely had a couple of classes. Her lecturers confessed to her that there are also other courses in suspense.
Lezcano, in despair over the months which had passed without an answer, long before the school had offered her the supposed modular solution, rated the Universidad Central del Paraguay on Facebook a 1 out of 5 and wrote this short, but cutting review:
No recomiendo a nadie. Las carreras terminan al pedo y se quieren lavar las manos. Ni a mi peor enemigo le recomiendo.
I don't recommend to anyone. The courses are cancelled for the sake of it and they want to wash their hands of it. I wouldn't even recommend it to my worst enemy.
Surprised, she received a response from the profile of the university in the middle of the night. “You have certainly run out of options now”, they said to her, among other things. After insisting, Lezcano managed to speak with the engineer, owner, president and community manager in his office. She complained to him about the manner in which they wrote to her on the university profile. The president told her that the university is his and because it is his he could do what he wanted. That he could put whatever he wanted on its Facebook page. That he was disgusted by her comments and that he considered the university as his baby. And that was why he exploded and wrote what he wrote at such an hour, as he manages the institutional profile from his mobile phone.
Gabriela resigned herself to the fact that the school wasn’t going to help her. Today she assumes that she has lost years of study, money and effort. Up until that moment, she was planning to graduate the following year. But now, she says, it's time to start from scratch at another university.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Kurtural


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Refugees in the US Keep Musical Traditions Alive With Kids’ Songs · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Marta Sam sings with a classroom of four-year-olds. Credit: Erika Beras
This story by Erika Beras originally appeared on PRI.org on December 5, 2016. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
Marta Sam is surrounded by really energetic 4-year-olds. She’s at St. Martin’s Day Care in Erie, Pennsylvania, guiding the kids as they sing and dance.
Sam sings in Arabic, then English. She takes the students through a Congolese song, followed by “Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed.” The kids follow her cues, dancing and calling out their favorite songs. Sam is used to this.
“When they see me in the classroom they say, ‘Miss Marta can we do this? Miss Marta can we sing this? Miss Marta can we jump?'” she says. “Yeah, I will jump with them and get silly like them — working with the kids you just get down in their level and just … mess with them.”
Sam, 59, is a roving educator at St. Martin's Day Care. She goes from room to room and sings lullabies from all over the world with the kids. Originally from South Sudan, she came to Erie 13 years ago as part of the first wave of thousands of refugees who have resettled in this small Rust Belt city.
She worked at a plastics factory and started learning English. Then she heard she could get job training to work in day cares. In return she’d share the traditional songs she had sung to her children when they were young.
It was just what she needed.
“Oh, it changed my life very much. … I’m somebody now,” she says.
Sam works at St. Martin’s because of Old Songs, New Opportunities, a program dreamed up by Kelly Armor, a folklorist and educator at the Erie Art Museum. Armor is from Erie, but spent time in the 1980s studying traditional song in Kenya and Tanzania. When she noticed refugees settling in Erie in recent years, she had an idea.
“Could it be that … there are refugee women that are, would love to work with small children? And could it be that they know lots of songs and they know how to use songs with kids?” she wondered.
It turned out they did, and in some cases the songs were all they bought to the US. That was the case for Victoria Angelo, who is also from South Sudan.
“I was not able to bring anything. No dishes, nothing, no [clothing],” she says. “What I actually brought with me was the songs.”
But in some ways the songs represented everything that was missing.
“It's just expressing our feelings, our happiness, our sadness, the war going on, expressing the season, when there is heavy rain, when there is drought,” she says.
Victoria Angelo and some of the toddlers she works with. Credit: Erika Beras
Armor, the folklorist, got funding to train women like Angelo and Sam so they could get jobs in child care. Then, just as she had done in Africa, she collected and translated their songs.
Combining job training and musical tradition has been so successful, the museum released a CD. Angelo sings some of the songs, like the one from the Acholi people that is sung when a child begins to toddle.
“It is a way to call the child to toddle to you and then you sing to that child to turn around and then somebody else sings to that child,” explains Armor.
In the United States, some of the most popular children’s songs already come from overseas — think “London Bridge Is Falling Down” or “Ring Around The Rosie.” But every country and culture has these types of songs, and with migration and assimilation, they can be lost — or gained.
Armor has archived nearly a hundred songs from almost as many countries and cultures. They're about everything — animals, emotions, experiences.
One Nepalese song is about climbing mango trees at recess to pick ripe fruit.
“But at the end of the song the bell rings and you don’t get the mango,” she says. “I think of that as kind of, well there you go, there’s an eternal truth. Recess will never be long enough. And sometimes you don’t get time to eat that mango.”
This song is about the green fly, an insect found in South Asia. It lovingly describes the fly and then proclaims the fly is better when its outside:
When Congolese children sing this, they flap their hands on either side of their head:
This song is similar to the classic American children's song “I’m A Little Teapot“:
The English translation of this song uses locations in Erie that the children will recognize:

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Russian Students Create Programming Language to Help Their ‘Streetwise’ Peers Graduate · Global Voices
Yulia Savitskaya

Source: Yopta.script
On December 5, a group of students at Saint Petersburg's College of Information Technologies launched a parody programming language designed for “streetwise” computer science students struggling with traditional languages like JavaScript and C++. As reported by the news website TJournal, Semyon Gozman, Mikhail Belozerskiy, and Georgiy Mkhitaryan came up with“YoptaScript,” which appropriates Russian slang to make it easier for street-educated students to understand, after noticing that many of their peers had not learned a single programming language by the time they graduated. Gozman told TJournal that the majority of his classmates could be described as “chotkiye patsany,” an idiomatic phrase that can be roughly translated as “streetwise kids,” and that some are even “gopniki,” or urban “thugs” whose vernacular is famously crass.
YoptaScript is translated into JavaScript using a special dictionary: JavaScript keywords, methods, and operators are replaced by words that “gopniki” might use—and it goes without saying that many of these words are profane. For example, in YoptaScript “if… else” is replaced by “вилкойвглаз… иливжопураз,” an idiom describing a tough choice that directly translates as “a fork in the eye… or one in the ass.” While JavaScript uses a semicolon to divide statements, in YoptaScript they are divided by “нах,” a shortened version of “f**k it,” which gopniki are stereotyped as using in and between every sentence.
The creators of YoptaScript emphasize that the language works well with different street dialects: “==“ (equals), for example, can be replaced with “ровно” (“exactly”) or “однахуйня” (“same s**t”). More details about YoptaScript are available on the project's GitHub page.
Though Gozman, Belozerskiy, and Mkhitaryan created YoptaScript, now that the project has attracted media attention across the country, the project now includes seven people.“Yopta,” a crass exclamation commonly used by gopniki has been surprisingly successful thus far: as of December 9, the language's website, Yopta.Space had 120,000 unique visitors.
Gozman told journalists:
Основные сложности, которые возникли — это раздуть словарный запас наших «эллочек-людоедочек» до 600+ выражений. На этом мы недели две ломали головы, так как всю эту похабщину нужно было сделать чуть более логичной. Это правда было ужасно, потому что никто из нашей команды не переваривал столь крепкие выражения в повсеместном употреблении.
The main difficulty that we’ve encountered has been expanding the vocabularies of our “Ellochka-lyudoyedkas” [Ellochka-lyudoyedka is a famous character from Ilf and Petrov’s satirical novel 12 Chairs who only used 30 words to express her thoughts – GlobalVoices] to 600+ expressions. It took us some two weeks to figure out how to make this filthy language more structured.  It was awful, because no one on our team can tolerate this kind of language on a daily basis.
Though Gozman insists that his team isn't trying to make fun of anyone and that the project is strictly educational, it's clearly parodic. And Gozman seems to have a good sense of humor: in addition to claiming to be a pastafarian, he is seen wearing a Peppa Pig knitted cap in almost every picture on his Vkontakte page.

author: Yulia Savitskaya


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Accessible Japan: Information About Traveling in Japan With a Disability · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Chion Temple grounds at Amanohashidate, Kyoto, Japan. There is little to no information online in English about accessibility, and hotels in Japan reportedly do not easily facilitate accessible rooms to be booked online, requiring long phone calls instead. Photo by Nevin Thompson.
With inbound tourism to Japan rising by 30 percent annually from 2011 to 2015, the Japanese government has set an ambitious target of attracting 40 million overseas visitors by 2020 when the Olympic Games will be held in Tokyo, and 60 million by 2030.
Part of the surge in tourism in recent years is thanks to the easing of visa restrictions on visitors from the People's Republic of China, which represents the single largest source of tourist visitors to Japan. Visitors from other parts of the world have also been attracted to Japan thanks to savvy marketing campaigns aimed at demystifying travel in a country that, thanks to limited information in English and other languages, can be hard to decode.
One community is still somewhat in the dark when it comes to planning a trip to Japan, however. For potential tourists to Japan who live with and experience disabilities, there is little to no information online in English about accessibility at most tourist sites, while hotels in Japan reportedly rarely make special-access rooms available to online bookers.
Accessibility Japan aims tofill the information vacuum. The website provides English-language reviews of hotels and attractions all over Japan, as well as detailed updates about accessibility. The website offers information about everything from how accessible Japanese trains are and guide-dog regulations in Japan, to common questions every tourist has, such as questions about Internet access in Japan, and simple Japanese phrases for visitors.
The site features gorgeous photos, as well as accessibility reviews of many of Japan's most famous landmarks, such as this one of the iconic Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, Japan's old Imperial capital:
Kiyomizu-dera in #Kyoto, wheelchair accessibility review – Accessible Japan https://t.co/UR3VNEic15 pic.twitter.com/PEXP4hAFJ4
— Accessible Japan (@AccessibleJapan) December 1, 2016
The Accessible Japan website was created by Tokyo resident Josh Grisdale, who describes himself as “a guy with cerebral palsy in a power wheelchair that lives in Japan.”
Of the website, Grisdale says:
If you are looking at this website, then we likely have something in common – disability. Accessible Japan came into being from a combination of both good and bad experiences of traveling in a wheelchair. The creator has extensive travel experience with an electric wheelchair. An adventurer at heart, he hates to hear “impossible” and relentlessly ventures forth… but he is a worrywart at heart and likes to gather as much information as humanly possible beforehand.
Grisdale appears in a Life in Japan vlog that examines accessibility on Japan's public transportation networks.
Accessible Japan also acts as a community hub and a place to learn about and discuss the role of people living with disabilities in Japan.
Disabled artists from Osaka aim to bring wheelchair dancing to international stage | The Japan Times https://t.co/A791HDftN7
— Accessible Japan (@AccessibleJapan) December 7, 2016
There is also discussion about issues such as the June 2016 targeted knife attack on residents of a care home on the outskirts of Tokyo that left 19 disabled people dead and 26 injured, and the extreme inaccessibility of Japan's national Diet building (legislature) is:
@AccessibleJapan Sagamihara care facility failed to share info before massacre: panel https://t.co/lghMX965nG
— Michey Peckitt マイケル (@Peckitt) November 25, 2016
The Japanese Diet's Disability Access Woes https://t.co/49hUH65BPE
— Accessible Japan (@AccessibleJapan) November 22, 2016
The blog also provides insights into the lives of Japanese people living with disabilities, such as this English-language interview with Yuriko Oda, president of Japan's PADM (Patients Association for Distal Myopathies), an organisation that has its own YouTube channel, Wheelchair Walker.
Accessible Japan is always looking for more information to share with its readers, and is actively seeking out people who have a disability and who have traveled in Japan to submit blog posts about their experiences. If you have any questions about traveling in Japan, feel free to contact Accessible Japan as well.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Bulgarians React Quickly in Solidarity Response to Hitrino Train Tragedy · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

Hitrino, Bulgaria, 10th of Dec 2016. Photo by Krasimir Krumov used with permission.
Seven persons were killed in a blast following a rail accident in the village of Hitrino, Shumen Province, in northeastern Bulgaria. More than 29 people were hospitalized in the province's administrative center, Shumen.
What is known is that at 05.40 local time on December 10, cisterns loaded with propylene liquefied petroleum gas and mounted on a cargo train exploded as the train left the tracks near Hitrino, not far from Shumen, while moving along the Ruse-Varna railroad.
The wagons were headed to the Bulgarian city of Ruse, and the train was operated by Bulmarket, a private company. A maneuver was required at the Hitrino railway station to give way to a passenger train, police and local officials say, in quotes relayed by the website Novinite.
Police data cited by the Bulgarian National Radio suggests the last two wagons of the cargo train made contact with the electricity grid. At least 20 buildings have been destroyed by the blast. The immediate area surrounding the blast site is being evacuated according to local authorities.
Bulgaria's PM Boyko Borisov, who will soon formally resign following his party's heavy defeat in the November elections, urged citizens to donate blood to address the shortage at the Shumen hospital serving the Hitrino victims.
Update: at least 5 killed, 25 injured in propane butane explosion after train derails in #Hitrino, near #Shumen in northeast #Bulgaria.
— Konstantin Kirilov (@houseofhegira) December 10, 2016
Twitter users spread alerts and the latest data relating to the accident. It is possible that still more victims could be discovered as the wreckage is sifted.
President-elect Rumen Radev also arrived in Hitrino on Saturday afternoon.
В района на гара Хитрино работят над 150 пожарникари и спасители https://t.co/IIkg42mbDp pic.twitter.com/nJJ8LDvJaQ
— МВР (@MIBulgaria) December 10, 2016
Over 150 firemen and rescuers at work in the region of Hitrino train station.
Local people used Facebook to organize support groups to clean the area affected by the blast, after criticism of a slow reaction by firefighters arriving on the scene an hour after the incident.
Hitrino, Bulgaria, 10th of Dec 2016. Photo by Krasimir Krumov used with permission.
Journalist Krasimir Krumov was one of the first to publish a video on Facebook, as well as some photos from the Hitrino blast site.
Bulgarian intellectual Ivaylo Ditchev used a Facebook post to express his solidarity:
Удивително бърза реакция на взрива в Хитрино, солидарност, не само на място, единна реакция на медиите. Дали проблемът с българската лошотия не е в това, че не ни се случват истински нещастия – че ни насъскват по измислени врагове?
Amazingly quick response to the explosion in Hitrino, solidarity, not only on the spot, but also a united reaction in the media.
Victor Lilov, part of the Bulgarian political party DEOS, asked why there have been no resignations in NKZHI (Ministry of Transportation) or the National Railway Infrastructure Company responsible for supervision of the local train lines.
He published a graph from Eurostat on the number of train passengers killed per billion passenger-kilometres in 2014-2015, which shows that Bulgaria has the highest number of fatalities, comparatively speaking, in the EU.
Train passengers killed per billion passenger-kilometres, 2014-2015. Source: Eurostat.
For the residents of this remote region over 300 kilometers from the capital Sofia, the disaster is a tragedy of massive proportions. Hitrino is located in one of the very poorest regions of Bulgaria, and the people who lost their homes most likely will face the winter in vans.
Hitrino, Bulgaria, 10th of Dec, 2016. Photo by Krasimir Krumov, used with permission.
Bulgarian news website Novini explained that in most similar incidents, the people directly affected receive 325 BGN (around 160 euros) in government aid — a paltry amount that will not come close to covering their needs.

author: Ruslan Trad


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Ghana Proves That Peaceful, Free and Fair Elections Are Not a Dream in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Ghana's President Elect Nana Akufo-Addo paying homage to Nii Okwei Kinka Dowuona VI, King of the Ga people. Creative Commons image by Kabil75.
Opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won Ghana's presidency on December 7 standing as a candidate for the third time. Akufo-Addo got 53.85% of the votes in the election, while outgoing President John Mahama got 44.4%.
In a continent where elections are often marred by violence, rigging, election-day internet shutdowns and other irregularities, the peaceful nature of Ghana's election cemented its position as a beacon of democracy in Africa. The international community has praised the country for the way the elections were managed.
Just recently, Gambia's president Yahya Jammeh, who has been in power for 22 years, rejected the election result, after he was defeated by opposition leader Adam Barrow.
Only days before he spoke out against supposed irregularities, he had accepted his defeat and phoned Barrow to congratulate him on his victory, informing him that he bore “no ill will”. Apparently, he had a change of heart.
Echoing similar sentiments, Kenyan lawyer Chris Mwangi tweeted:
Ghana is consistently one of those African countries that gives the western media nothing negative to report about Africa.#GhanaDecides
— Chris Mwangi (@Mwangixtopher) December 8, 2016
He was not completely right, though, as Gary Al-Smith pointed out:
Uhm @CNN, I didn't know Ghanaians “stand in long lines to obtain products” or “struggle to obtain food”. And I live there. #CNNGetItRight pic.twitter.com/tpyosBIrJJ
— Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) December 11, 2016
Akwasi Sarpong, Ghanaian BBC presenter, reacted to the victory of the opposition NPP by sharing one curious fact:
And so the myth continues: whenever the US Republican Party wins elections, Ghana's NPP wins & Vice Versa. #GhanaDecides ?
— Akwasi Sarpong (@akwasisarpong) December 9, 2016
Since 1992 when Ghana introduced multiparty democracy, voters in Ghana and USA have indeed been following a similar pattern.
Ghanaian blogger and writer Jemila Abdulai underscored the maturing nature of Ghana's democracy:
The fact that some NDC strongholds chose to elect MPs from NPP says A LOT. Ghana's democracy maturing beyond “party politics” #GhanaDecides
— Jemila #GhanaDecides (@jabdulai) December 9, 2016
Another Twitter user shared the following interesting fact:
Gh is d only country wer you'd see D president-elect n his supporters ??????dancing to the oppositions campaign song #GhanaDecides Onaapo ??
— #Frisky4Peace (@FriskyDeGeneral) December 10, 2016
Supporters of the President-Elect Nana Akufo-Addo celebrated his victory with the campaign song of the losing candidate John Mahama, ‘Onaapo’. The song has become so popular that Ghanaian musician Barima Sidney has already released a remix of the song.
Mahama conceded defeat and called Akufo-Addo to congratulate him even before the official results were released.
Silver Kayondo noted:
Reading Mahama's concession speech. Very reflective man. He's not a loser. He's a winner on the side of #history & #values! #GhanaDecides
— Silver Kayondo (@SilverKayondo) December 10, 2016
Kuukuwa Manful wrote:
46 years after his father Edward Akufo-Addo became president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo becomes president-elect of Ghana. #GhanaDecides pic.twitter.com/9gnTiKQrr0
— Kuukuwa Manful (@Kuukuwa_) December 9, 2016
Akufo-Addo's father Edward Akufo-Addo, was non-executive President of Ghana from 1970 till 1972.
Masesebe Wa Ramahuma, a South African reporter, expressed the following wish:
Congratulations black stars. I wish African countries could go to elections with less or no drama then #Africa will be saved. #GhanaDecides
— Masesebe Wa Ramahuma (@masesebe) December 10, 2016
Greenbook Ghana, a platform that showcases the achievements of outgoing President Mahama, looks forward to two of the main election promises that were made by Akufo-Addo.
@GabbyDarko @adano82 we look forward to the delivery of 1factory in each district #ghanaelections #GhanaDecides
— Greenbook Ghana (@greenbook_ghana) December 10, 2016
@bonti_benjamin @amiddleGh we look forward to the 1 dam, 1 village #ghanaelections #GhanaDecides
— Greenbook Ghana (@greenbook_ghana) December 10, 2016
Akufo-Addo has promised one irrigation dam for every village in the northern part of the country and one factory in every 216 districts in the country, campaign pledges that many believe are unfeasible to fulfil.
Twitter user Ikon Massive took a dig at Ghana's neighbour, Nigeria:
Slightly used President for sale. Better still you can take him for free. Nigerians are you interested?#GhanaDecides pic.twitter.com/VV47oSEsNf
— MASSIVE (@IKON_MASSIVE) December 10, 2016
Finally, Kinna, the project lead for @GhanaDecides, reminded Ghanaians:
In all this #GhanaDecides euphoria, let's remember that elections, though crucial, are a small part of democracy.
— Kinna #GhanaDecides (@kinnareads) December 10, 2016

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Interested in Cultural Feminism? Serve Yourselves! · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Image: 1914 print by Charles Dana Gibson. Public Domain.
The OyeJuanjo blog, which is run by the young Peruvian journalist Juanjo Dioses and is known for sharing educational texts and resources, combined in a single post 70 free and downloadable pdf format works in Spanish that study and discuss different phenomenons through two lenses: feminism and culture.
Among the texts are essays, academic works and discussions concerning images of the body in culture and in politics, cyber-feminism or an analysis of the portrayal of women in comic books. The Mexican artist and an icon of women's struggle in the region and globally, Frida Kahlo, is at the centre of the analysis in many of these texts. Displays of power and of countervailing power through the body and communities on and off the internet are also explored. In short, this is a journey through the interests of the intellectual world in the context of cultural and gender struggles.

author: Laura Vidal


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Opposition-Minded Venezuelans Have Their Say on the Legacy of Cuba’s Fidel Castro · Global Voices
Marianne Díaz Hernández

Cartoon drawn by Venezuelan artist Edo Sanabria. Taken from his Facebook page and used with permission.
In the era of Castro-inspired homages, debates, farewells and even celebrations that is still going strong in the Americas, Venezuelans have also had their say on the Cuban communist icon's legacy.
For Venezuelans, Fidel Castro and his Cuba loom large. To some, Castro is the inspiration for the Venezuelan revolution and its socialist course in the 21st century, and a personal hero of late President Hugo Chavez. For opponents of the political processes put into action by Chavez, both the ideology and its representatives are toxic, bearing responsibility for the economic and political storm that has been shaking Venezuela in recent years.
President Nicolas Maduro was quick to call for three days of national mourning after Castro's death on November 25, a move criticized by the opposition. Following the passing of Chavez in 2013 and now Castro, Chavismo suddenly seems like an ideology rooted in the past and shorn of leadership, amid one of the worst economic crises in the republic's history.
For authors like Rafael Rojas, Fidel is a symbol of precisely this failed economic model:
Hasta ahora, en Cuba, la política económica y las relaciones internacionales se han subordinado a la reproducción de un régimen totalitario. En los últimos años, la propia dirigencia de la isla tuvo que reconocer que el saldo fue desfavorable para la economía, ya que hereda un país improductivo y dependiente, tecnológicamente atrasado, donde crecen la desigualdad y la pobreza.
So far, in Cuba, economic policy and international relations have been subordinated to the reproduction of a totalitarian regime. In the last years, the government of the island itself had to recognize the toll [of socialism] on the economy, since they inherited a country that is unproductive and dependent, technologically retarded, where inequalities and poverty are in the rise.
For online authors like Aglaia Berlutti, Castro's legacy is seen in terms of human rights violations. She takes the case of former Venezuelan political prisoner Araminta Gonzalez, who was recently released, but suffered from different kinds of torture during his time in incarceration. Berlutti likens Gonzalez's case to Castro's own strategies to keep dissidents under control:
Cuando Fidel Castro conoció a Hugo Chávez, le prometió que le «enseñaría» cómo llegar «a la utopía». […] Según Luis Miquilena, Chávez aprendió bien pronto que había que imponer «mano dura» a la oposición. Lo hizo bien aconsejado por Fidel, que ya entonces aprovechaba la generosidad vulgar y vanidosa de un líder que escuchó todos sus halagos y los transformó en adoración y una peligrosa idolatría. Chávez era una pieza de barro de forma, a punto de entrar a la historia como parte de un proyecto desdibujado y confuso. Fidel supo aprovechar el momento.
When Fidel Castro met Hugo Chavez, he promised to “teach him” how to get to “Utopia”. According to Luis Miquilena [a political adviser to the late president], Chavez learnt quite early to treat the opposition with a “heavy hand”. He did it while being well advised by Fidel, who had already started taking advantage of the vulgar generosity of a leader that listened to all his compliments and [returned them] with adoration, and a dangerous idolatry. Chavez was a piece of soft clay, ready to enter history as a part of a blurred and confusing project. Fidel knew how to seize the moment.
She concluded:
¿Qué aprendió Chávez de Fidel? El odio. La violencia contra la disidencia. Y sobre todo, la noción que el control necesita balas, terror y sangre. Esa es la «gran herencia histórica» de un monstruo ideológico que impuso a fuego y balas un sistema político fallido en Cuba y después, manipuló a un líder carismático y vanidoso como Hugo Chávez para obtener beneficio de un país rico e ignorante como el nuestro.
What did Chavez learn from Fidel? Hate. Violence against dissidents. And most of all, that notion that to be able to control you need bullets, fear and blood. This is is the “great historical heritage” of an ideologic monster that imposed a failed political system with fire and bullets and afterwards, manipulated a charismatic and vain leader like Hugo Chavez in order to obtain benefits from a rich and ignorant country like ours.
Marcos de Rojas analyzes the costs of the relationship between the two countries and the ways in which they have had to pay a high price to follow a common political goal:
Aunque a lo largo de la segunda mitad del XX más de un grupo se apoyó en el mito fidelista para lograr sus propios objetivos políticos, el caso de Venezuela es el más importante. Las consecuencias de copiar un fenómeno sui géneris como la Cuba post 1959 las podemos percibir hoy más que nunca en una país rico, que está en ruinas, dividido y aislado. No obstante, el costo de esa relación para los cubanos también fue alto; médicos, educadores y recursos que bien se hubieran podido utilizar en Cuba, se cambiaron por petróleo, y ese costo ahora es mayor ya que la capacidad política y organizativa de Maduro es dependiente de La Habana. Venezuela le dio aire a un régimen que no tenía mucho más capital que su historia y así ganó preciosos años para poder organizar el tránsito hacia el capitalismo de Estado que hoy se va consolidando.
Even if along the second half of the 20th century, more than one group used Fidel's myth to support their own political goals, the case of Venezuela is the most important. The consequences of copying a sui generis phenomenon like that of Cuba after 1959 can be seen today more than ever in a rich country in ruins, divided and isolated. Nevertheless, the cost of that relationship was also high for Cuba: doctors, educators and resources that could have been used in Cuba were exchanged for oil and now that cost is bigger now that [current President Nicolás] Maduro's political and organizational capacity is dependent on Havana. Venezuela gave air to a regime that had not much more capital than its history and thus helped it gain precious years to be able to organize a transition a to state capitalism system that is being consolidated today.
Luis Figuera, on the other hand, underlines the ways in which, beyond the critiques, Castro's legacy is still the base of political thought and discourses that can be applied beyond socialist countries:
No es exagerado afirmar que el pensamiento revolucionario de las dos últimas generaciones en América, lo tiene como una referencia obligada, no sólo por la verticalidad y la dignidad de sus actos, sino por su flexibilidad para moverse en el escenario de las grandes decisiones mundiales. ¿Cuántos dirigentes derechistas admiran en secreto al comandante Fidel?, ¿Cuántos revolucionarios lo citan a diario en sus discursos?
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to argue that revolutionary thought in the last two generations in the Americas have him as an inevitable reference, not only for the rectitude and the dignity of his acts, but also due to his flexibility to move on the stage where great world decisions are being made. How many right-wing leaders admire comandante Fidel in secret? How many revolutionaries quote him daily in their speeches?
These ideas can probably be well summed up in Venezuelan cartoonist Weill's work on the day of Castro's death:
NOV 28, 216 #cuba#cubalibre#amargodeangostura .@NDtitulareshttps://t.co/wgr3TXfZwnpic.twitter.com/7LkznZJctL
— roberto weil (@WEIL_caricatura) November 28, 2016
[In the image: Coke and rum say “Fidel's death!”; Angostura bitters: “But he had his way”]

author: Marianne Díaz Hernández


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There Are Many Organizations in Caracas Trying to Change Things for the Better · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

According to Adriana Herrera: “There are many people full of optimism, creating projects and making them possible in this capital full of contrasts. Each group, every effort, is a respite for the residents of Caracas, and these are just some of the initiatives which leave their positive mark on the city.” Photo of Caracas by Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain.
On the travel and lifestyle site Matador Network, journalist Adriana Herrera has gathered examples of the work that organizations in Caracas are doing to offer up some optimism in the midst of the economic and political crisis that is clouding the outlook of many Venezuelans.
Some organizations encourage residents to go out and participate in events around the city — a rather significant act in itself, given the high levels of crime in Caracas — while others find ways to awaken their artistic creativity. This is a clear illustration of how everyday actions, done collectively and with common goals, can provide a counterbalance to adversity.
The complete list of organizations is available in the original Spanish-language article. Their efforts are well documented on Facebook and Instagram, such as those of “Mi Convive” (“My Buddy”), a group with clear and ambitious goals:
Los convives trabajamos por una meta muy concreta: “A la vuelta de 10 años queremos que Caracas salga de la lista de las 10 ciudades más peligrosas y entre en la lista de las 10 ciudades más visitadas de Latinoamérica” […]Trabajamos junto a la comunidad y diferentes organizaciones sociales en el desarrollo de actividades y proyectos que permitan disminuir los índices de violencia en los sectores populares de Caracas.
We, the buddies, work for a very specific goal: “After almost 10 years of Caracas being on the list of the 10 most dangerous cities, we want it to leave that list and be one of the 10 most visited cities in Latin America” […] We work together with the community and different social organizations in developing activities and projects that help reduce the rates of violence in the low-income areas of Caracas.
Sonorámica is another one of the projects featured in the list. Their aim is to spread poetry through music in different collective spaces. Some of their events can be found on their Facebook page, which also explains their motivation:
Sonorámica es una panorámica sonora que registra algo más completo que el paisaje: un país, su poesía, sus sonidos y su tiempo puestos en evidencia para confirmar que, siendo diversos, tenemos una memoria compartida hecha de imágenes que saben sonar.
Sonorámica is a sound panorama that records something more complete than the landscape: a country, its poetry, its sounds and its time, highlighted to confirm that, being diverse, we have a shared memory made of images that have sound.
Other organizations explore the city’s points of historical significance, give tours of the city by bicycle or share the city's most unusual tales. In total, the list comprises 16 groups, suggesting there is a number of citizens who refuse to be part of monochromatic narratives or surrender to the difficult situation.


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Three Somali Journalists on Lesbos Hope for the Best—Asylum in Europe · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Somali journalists Kamal Hassan and Yassin Abuukar sit at a canteen outside Moria refugee camp in Lesbos, Greece.
Credit: Jeanne Carstensen
This story by Jeanne Carstensen originally appeared on PRI.org on December 6, 2016. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
Journalists aren’t allowed inside Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. So, I probably never would have met Kamal Hassan if it hadn’t been for the fire.
In September, refugees protesting the deplorable conditions in the camp set much of it ablaze. The 4,000 people living inside were forced to evacuate to the road outside the gates.
I was in the midst of the chaotic crowd with some other reporters when someone tapped me on the shoulder. A young man with friendly dark eyes introduced himself as Kamal Hassan. He told me he was a journalist from Somalia.  He and two other Somali journalists had come to Greece to seek asylum, he said, because they have each been targeted by the extremist group, al-Shabab, in Mogadishu.
But now they were stuck in Moria. And he urgently wanted to tell me their story.
Several days later, I returned to the camp, where Hassan introduced me to Yassin Abuukar and Kowthar Adraman.
The three journalists eagerly showed me their press IDs from Somali media outlets — Kalsan TV, Horn Cable TV and Radio, TV Mantaa and others. They were all under 30 and had been working as journalists in the Somali capital since their late teens. They had all been attacked by al-Shabab multiple times, they said. Their lives were in danger, so they had fled Somalia and come to Greece in hopes of getting asylum in Europe.
Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis make up the majority of the refugee population of 16,000 currently stuck on Lesbos and other Greek islands; African refugees are often overlooked. But in addition to the Somalis, Moria contains migrants from Sudan, Eritrea, Ghana, Congo, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Mali, The Gambia and Uganda. Their desire is to gain permanent status as refugees or economic migrants in some European country — but their chances are slim.
Adraman is only 21. She says she's also the only female Somali journalist to have built and run her own news website — Kowtharmedia.com, complete with her own theme song.
Working as a journalist in Somalia since she was 16 has made Adraman tough. Al-Shabab is known for targeting journalists in their homes, so to protect herself and her family, she lived in a safe house with other female journalists for the last five years. She would only see her mother once or twice a year.
“Now [I'm fleeing] Somalia but before I left I had already had to flee from my family to keep them safe,” she said.
But these precautions haven’t shielded her from frequent death threats from al-Shabab by phone and text. She narrowly escaped injury in two bombing incidents, one at a cafe and one at a hotel in Mogadishu.
She left Somalia because she feared her time was running out.
Kamal Hassan, Yassin Abuukar and Kowthar Adraman are pictured here at Moria refugee camp. Credit: Jeanne Carstensen
Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. A failed state where extremists and criminal gangs operate with impunity, the country is ranked near the very bottom of the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index.
The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the country No. 1 on its Global Impunity Index, because so many journalists there are threatened and killed.
“Somalia is extremely dangerous for anyone who conveys an opinion or a message that does not conform to the people with the guns,” said journalist Murithi Mutiga, the Guardian’s correspondent in Nairobi and the East Africa representative for CPJ.
Hassan was also threatened by al-Shabab. Like Adraman, he couldn’t live at home. But one day, on a rare occasion when he was trying to visit his mother, he noticed suspicious men following him. They fired at him as he ran. He wasn’t injured, but it was the last straw. He fled Somalia for Turkey, where he paid a smuggler to cross by dinghy to Greece.
In the boat, Hassan met Yassin Abuukar.
Abuukar’s troubles started in 2008 when al-Shabab kidnapped him after he refused to work for their media outlet, Radio Koran. He was freed eventually, after his family paid a ransom. Later, he was captured again. He managed to escape the night before he was told he would be executed.
In 2012, he narrowly escaped death again, targeted by militants in Mogadishu while he was working alongside prominent journalist Hassan Absuge. Abuukar got away; Absuge was murdered. Then last year, al-Shabab bombed the house where Abuukar’s wife and child were living. Abuukar wasn’t there, but his wife was injured, and his baby boy was killed.
That’s when he decided to flee Somalia for good.
Abuukar, Hassan and Adraman hope to return to their country one day and continue working as journalists. Until then, their dream is to make it to London, which has a thriving Somali media scene. It’s unlikely, though, that anyone here other than Syrians will be granted asylum.
For now, the journalists are stranded in Moria awaiting their asylum hearings. Under the European Union-Turkey deal on migrants, they can’t leave the island until their cases are decided. They may face eventual deportation back to Turkey, deemed a safe third country for migrants, but a place they can’t work legally. In Somalia, they would face certain danger.
In spite of all the unknowns, Adraman’s ambitions haven’t flagged a bit. When she can get a good internet connection at the camp, she still manages to update her website with video reports from other Somali journalists. “I need to tell my people everything that’s going on in the world,” she said. “I want my website to be famous.”
Jeanne Carstensen's reporting in Greece was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.


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A Guerrilla Campaign Is Spreading Warmth Around the UK—One Place Card at the Time · Global Voices
Annalisa Merelli

A sample of some of the photos found on Twitter under the hashtag #thisisthoughtful.
At the end of a year when across the world xenophobia and intolerance seem to have prevailed, a ray of light is being cast over London by a sweet, heartwarming project by This is Thoughtful, a community of creatives whose work seeks to have positive social impact.
Their latest, A Welcome Thought, does just that. They are spreading simple welcome notes around town (London initially, though the initiative has quickly gone international) as a way to reclaim public spaces from any unwelcoming conversations, affirming instead a desire for inclusiveness and warmth.
Look what you started in #Swindon, @positivenewsuk! Spreading #kindness guerilla style with @k.a.monk @hannah_jane_parry @claireadsley & Mand #thisisthoughtful #thisisthoughtfulswindon #everyonewelcome #everyonewelcomeswindon
A photo posted by Kathryn Hay (@kathrynhay) on
This is how it works: Anyone interested can print out the template for the notes (found here). The outside of the card has the words “A Place For” printed on it and a blank box for anyone to add who or what they would like to welcome. Inside is space to write a message to the person who finds the card. Students, friendly rivals, one-of-a-kind moments, the homeless… So far, the place cards have been addressed to a wide range of ideas and people.
Images of the place cards are popping up on social media too, with the #thisisthoughtful hashtag.
A WELCOME THOUGHT: This place is home to us all @thisisthoughtful campaign for tolerance, kindness + understanding #thisisthoughtful pic.twitter.com/BTRNuLYDab
— LIFE + ME (@lifeandmeuk) November 25, 2016
#thisisthoughtful pic.twitter.com/qZ1KLpXPTa
— Paul Rowson (@PRowson) November 23, 2016
Love this guerrilla kindness project #thisisthoughtful. I left this one in the ice cream freezer at the Japan Centre pic.twitter.com/q1sUveTxfn
— Cassie Werber (@cassiewerber) November 23, 2016
It, indeed, is thoughtful. So far, hundreds cards have been disseminated around the UK, the US, Canada, Germany, Greece and Spain, and the team hopes that people will print out their own and join in their guerrilla welcome, and that they will pass along the cards they find so as to reach as many people and spaces as possible.
“We need to send a timely reminder that this planet is home to all of us, and that to build a better future together every one of us has to feel we belong,” explained Daianna Karaian, the founder of This is Thoughtful, in an email to Global Voices.

author: Annalisa Merelli


text:
Hong Kong’s Pro-Beijing Chief Executive Is Leaving. But There Are Plenty More Where He Came From · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Many Hongkongers believe that Carrie Lam and Regina Ip, potential candidates for upcoming Chief Executive election, are de facto carbon copies of current city leader CY Leung. Viral image on Facebook and Twitter via Kris Cheng.
Hong Kong's Pro-Beijing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced December 9 that he would not seek re-election to take care of his family. The news came two days ahead of elections to the 1,200-member Chief Executive Election Committee, which will determine the city’s next top leader on March 26, 2017.
At a surprise press conference, Leung stressed that his decision not to stand again was purely personal:
It was my own decision. As a husband, as a father, I have a responsibility to take care of my family…My daughter only has one father, my wife only has one husband.
However most news commentators believed that this decision came from Beijing, not from Leung, who had clearly hinted at his ambition to seek re-election as recently as last month in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.
Many also believed that his iron-handed bid to remove two virulently pro-independent lawmakers from the legislature was an attempt to win Beijing’s backing to stand.
While it is inevitable that the next Chief Executive, whoever it is, will be from the pro-establishment, people still hope that the city's top leader can stick to the “Once Country Two Systems” motto under the city's constitution that governs the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland. But people are losing their faith under CY Leung's administration in the past few years.
Not only ordinary Hong Kong people are frustrated, Beijing has a headache too because of Leung's inability to negotiate with different interest groups, including those from within the pro-establishment clan.
In the past few months, “ABC – Anyone but CY” has become a political slogan among dissenters within the pro-establishment clan. As political news commentator Lau Sai Leung pointed out on the online investigative journalism platform the Initium:
ABC 陣營除了地產商外，也加入了建制派政黨，陣營決定提早終結梁振英的政治生命：曾俊華明示自己有意參選，大法官胡國興以反梁姿態宣布去馬，而中央摸底亦發現，在 ABC 因素干擾下，挺梁的危機是梁根本不夠票當選，中央必須出手終止建制分裂影響特首選舉的局面，而唯一方法就是換馬。
Members of the ABC clan include property developers and some pro-establishment political parties. The clan wants to end CY Leung’s political career earlier [than Beijing planned]: John Tsang [Hong Kong’s financial secretary] has expressed his intention to run for the election, retired judge Woo Kwok HIng has even endorsed ABC as his CE election campaign agenda. The central government, upon consulting with various parties found out that under the impact of ABC, Leung might lack the votes to get reelected. Beijing has to end the splintering of the pro-establishment clan and the only way is to change its candidate.
Lau further explained that CY Leung’s failure is not personal, but something inherent in Hong Kong's undemocratic political system:
梁的失敗，其實與前特首曾蔭權最後兩年的失敗有着驚人地相同的背景，就是當特首民望低迷，失去政治能量時，「西環治港」（指中聯辦介入香港政治）乘虛而入，而結果是令特首出現結構性低民望局面。[…] 香港人對特首的期望，是希望他能以本地利益為先，代表香港這一制，而非中央的委派代理人。
Leung’s failure is similar to the last two years of previous Chief Executive Donald Tsang’s failure – when the chief executive’s popularity goes down and he loses his political momentum, the China Liaison Office steps in [and the popularity goes even lower]. Their lack of popularity is structural.[…] Hong Kong people expect a Chief Executive who can prioritize local interests and uphold Hong Kong’s system rather than a Beijing-appointed agent.
Thus, although CY Leung will step down, the next Chief Executive will still be caught in the power structure in lack of people's mandate. Endorsed by the China Liaison office and backed by Hong Kong’s first Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa, lawmaker and former security secretary Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee is one figure who is likely to join the race. Carrie Lam, the Chief Secretary, who once claimed that she would retire from government, also said she would reconsider entering the contest.
Carrie Lam has been a key ally of CY Leung, and has assisted him in his implementation of many unpopular policies on the island over the past four years. Regina Ip meanwhile, is a controversial figure thanks to her role in pushing for tough national security legislation back in 2003. Both are therefore considered as CY Leung’s surrogates. The image at the top of this article, featuring Yeungs face photoshopped onto the two women, neatly sums up this sentiment.
Some also started calling Regina Ip by the initials R.IP, leading to the political slogan ‘Hong Kong People Don’t Want to RIP’.
That was quick. #HK people don't want R.Ip (Regina Ip) pic.twitter.com/oT3HYp9Pac
— Yuen Chan (@xinwenxiaojie) December 9, 2016
Current affairs commentator Leung Man Tao also reminded Hong Kong people that although CY Leung would not be the Chief Executive, the next Chief Executive is likely to continue to rule in his style, which is characterized by swapping around the elite and fostering political struggles:
這整套人事變化的要點就是換血，它不是設法吸納民間潛在反對力量，更不是要加速原有建制力量的新陳代謝，卻是要以一脈除了忠於自己之外就樣樣都缺的新血去徹底代替本來的建制同盟。
Major change in appointment of officials and political position is “blood transfer” [elite substitution]. The strategy neither attempts to absorb elites from the civil society to prevent them from turning oppositional, nor speeds up elite circulation from inside the pro-establishment. Rather it changes old blood for loyal blood to build an alliance that can be completely controlled.
「梁振英路線」的第二大特點就不必多說了，路人皆知，那便是沿襲了大陸新近維穩政治特色的鬥爭為綱，無中生有，小事化大，直至社會撕裂，達到危害國家安全的地步。利用種種外緣條件的變化，內外人鬼，一樁又一樁的案件，一個又一個的危機，然後就可以替自己樹立英勇忠義的形象，藉大義之名博取政治地位，甚至乎維穩成本，這原是內地部份地方官員的伎倆，不料近年卻也隱隱出現在香港了。[…]「DQ」議員數目從辱華反中的梁游二人增加到根本和港獨無關的四個本土派上，只是最新的例子而已。既然這一招能夠挾全國民意和政治上的根本底線來逐步壓毀非建制勢力，同時鎮懾所有建制派中蠢蠢欲動的對手，誰能擔保梁振英之後不會有人再用？而這招屢見奇效的手法又要香港和整個中國的民間為它付出多少彼此誤會、懷疑和仇視的代價呢？
The second character of Leung’s ruling style is obvious. It follows the recent stability control principle of mainland China, magnifying small conflicts into national security threats and tearing society apart. By taking reference of political transformation from other regions and political incidents, it self-directs a series of political crises to justify a crackdown so as to make heroes and accumulate political capital. These kinds of political tactics are frequently used by mainland Chinese officials but it has landed in Hong Kong in recent years. […] The disqualification of law makers Leung Chung Hang and Yau Wai Ching over their anti-China oath and the extension of such political prosecutions to four other localist lawmakers are the most recent examples. Such tactics make use of public opinion from mainland China to crackdown on oppositional parties and threatens the dissents from within the pro-establishment. Who can guarantee such tactics will not be used again in the future? Such power tactic have already torn society apart, resulting in antagonistic relations between the people from Hong Kong and mainland China.
The 1,200-member chief executive election committee was elected on December 11. It's an open secret that Beijing controls the majority votes. In addition to the 300 candidates nominated by a number of pro-Beijing functional constituents who had won without any competition, about 250 pro-Beijing members automatically become ex-officio members of the committee because of their position in the Legislative council, China National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and etc..
Against all odds, the pan-democrats still managed to win over 340 seats and became a critical minority in the election committee. As each candidate running for the Chief Executive has to gain 150 nomination from the committee, the pan-democrats can nominate two candidates. Their votes would also determine if the next Chief Executive would have a high popularity.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Military Trials of Journalists Cast Light on the Taboo of Criticizing the Army in Tunisia · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

A Tunisian soldier closes his eyes in prayer during a May 31, 2010, Memorial Day ceremony at the North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial near Carthage, Tunis. Photo by US Army Africa, released to public domain.
Two Tunisian journalists are being prosecuted by the military, in separate trials, for their criticism of the country's armed forces and military institution. Rached Khiari, editor-in-chief of the online news site Essada, could face the death penalty if he is found guilty of “damaging the morale of the army to harm national defense.”
The trials mark the latest in a series of military prosecutions of bloggers and journalists that have taken place since the fall of the 23-year rule of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
On 16 November, a military prosecutor charged Rached Khiari with defamation, impugning the reputation of the army and undermining its morale under the code of the military justice and the Penal Code for a television appearance in which he spoke of the existence of an American military base on Tunisian soil. To support his allegations, Khiari cited a Washington Post article published on 26 October and his own “proofs”, though it is unclear what this referred to. Defense minister Farhat Horchani later denied these reports. On 22 November President Beji Caid Essebsi said that unarmed US drones were using the country's military bases to conduct surveillance operations over the Libyan border.
In another case, journalist Jamel Arfaoui is facing accusations of insulting the military over an article he published in the online newspaper Tunisie Telegraph. In the article published on 30 July, Arfaoui blamed a 14 July crash of a military helicopter, in which two soldiers lost their lives, on the ministry of national defense's mechanical maintenance decisions.
Both Khiari and Arfaoui are currently free, pending trial. If found guilty, they will most likely face harsh sentences — between three months to three years in jail for insulting the army under article 91 of the military justice code — despite the fact that they were peacefully exercising their right to free expression and doing their jobs. Khiari faces an additional two years in jail and a fine for defamation, and the death penalty for “damaging the morale of the army to harm national defense” under article 60 bis of the Penal Code.
Though they are both journalists, neither Khiari nor Arafoui are being prosecuted under the 2011 Press Code (decree 115 of 2 November 2011), which was adopted after the revolution to replace the repressive old code of 1975. In addition to guaranteeing “freedom of exchanging, publishing and receiving news and views of all kinds”, decree 115 abolished prison sentences against journalists in cases of defamation and slander. Yet a number of judges and prosecutors continue to bypass this law by charging and convicting journalists using repressive legislation that criminalizes the defamation of public officials and institutions.
On 29 September, Reporters Without Borders’ North Africa office tweeted about the case of Jamel Arfaoui:
#تونس @Jamel_Arfaoui يواجه عقوبة 3 سنوات سجن لان الادعاء اعتمد الفصل 91 من مجلة المرافعات و العقوبات العسكرية عوض المرسوم 115 2/2
— RSF_NordAfrique (@RSF_NordAfrique) September 29, 2016
Jamel Arfaoui faces three years in jail because the prosecution used article 91 of the military justice code instead of decree 115
No Free Speech in Front of Military Courts
Since the revolution that toppled dictator Ben Ali in January 2011, several journalists and bloggers stood trial before military courts for addressing matters related to the military institution or criticizing the leadership of the armed forces.
In 2012, a former advisor to then-president Moncef Marzouki was prosecuted before a military court for criticizing the role of the army and its chief of staff in the extradition of Baghdadi Mahmoudi, a Prime Minister under the rule of Gaddafi, to Libya.
In 2013, blogger Hakim Ghanmi was charged with insulting the army over a blogpost in which he criticized the administration of a military hospital.
In late 2014, blogger Yassine Ayari was imprisoned for “defaming the army” and “insulting military high command” through Facebook posts.
Since 2011, Tunisia has moved to introduce several democratic reforms, including an end to its internet censorship policies, the adoption of a constitution that guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms, and the establishment of an independent regulator for the broadcast media sector. However, laws allowing military courts to handle cases involving civilians continue to hold these reforms back.
On 26 October, 20 MPs submitted a bill (draft law No. 72 of 2016) to abolish the military trial of citizens in line with the 2014 constitution which guarantees the right to a fair a trial, and maintains that military tribunals are “exceptional courts that specializes in examining military crimes”. The bill proposes an amendment to article 91 of the military code to ban trials of civilians for committing “outrages against the flag or the army, offenses against the dignity, reputation or morale of the army, or acts to undermine military discipline, obedience and due respect to superiors or criticizes the action of military hierarchy or the military officers, offending their dignity.” Members of the military institution will, however, continue to be prosecuted under article 91. The free speech group ARTICLE 19 has previously recommended the “immediate repeal” of article 91 of the military justice code, as it is a “disproportionate restriction upon freedom of expression”.
It is not clear how much time it will take the parliament to debate and approve the amendment, but as Tunisia continues to fight terror threats, some journalists, bloggers and commentators may be reluctant to cross certain lines related to the military and security institutions. The targeting of journalists and bloggers by military courts will only increase self-censorship on these and other critical issues of public interest.

author: Afef Abrougui


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Netizen Report: Sudanese Activists Sustain Calls for Civil Disobedience, Despite Arrests · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Fist with pencil, open clipart vectors via Pixabay. Licensed to public domain.
Sudanese authorities have shut down media offices, confiscated newspapers and arrested activists and social media users in response to protests of massive price hikes on critical resources.
Thousands of citizens participated in a civil disobedience action from November 27-29 after the government cut subsidies on electricity, fuel and medicine. Over the past few weeks, students and workers have led demonstrations and even doctors and pharmacists have gone on strike, demanding free healthcare in emergencies and improvements in medical facilities.
The country's economy has struggled since 2011, when its southern region (now South Sudan), rich in oil, declared independence in July 2011.
In retaliation for what one official dismissed as mere “Whatsapp calls” to join the strike, Sudanese authorities affiliated with the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) confiscated all printed copies of four independent newspapers (al-Tayar, al-Jadida, al-Ayyam and al-Youm al-Tali) before they were distributed.
They also went after social media, which has been central in driving support for the disobedience and documenting its consequences.
On November 26, security officers arrested sports commentator Ahmad Al-dhay Bichara from his home after he livestreamed a video on Facebook calling for people to join the strike and describing Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir as a “cut-throat whose history is full of blood.” Sudanese activists also reported that a woman named Om Kabas al-Ameen was arrested after she recorded an audio message shared on Whatsapp, complaining of the economic crisis and price increases while “al-Bashir is sleeping at his home.” Activist Mahmood Sadek was arrested by a security officer in civilian clothes, while live streaming on Facebook the streets of the capital Khartoum during the first day of protest.
Activists and opposition political parties are calling for another round of actions to take place on December 19.
Tunisian authorities filed criminal charges against two journalists for criticizing the military. Jamel Arfaoui, an independent journalist, was charged with “impugning the reputation of the military” in an article on Tunisie-telegraph.com, while chief editor of the newspaper and website Al Sadaa (The Echo) Rached Khiari received similar charges. While both civilians are free pending trial, they face up to three years in prison under article 91 of the code of military justice.
Amid their ongoing  investigation of the BBC for allegedly violating Thailand's royal insult law, Thai authorities arrested Facebook user Jatuphat Boonpattaraksa, who shared a BBC profile of King Vajiralongkorn, Rama X who took the throne last year after his father's passing. Boonpattaraksa was also charged under the royal insult law, and was  released after posting a bail.
On November 29, Azerbaijan's parliament voted to make online defamation of the president a criminal offence punishable by a prison term of up to three years. The law stands to benefit President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has ruled Azerbaijan since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. In a joint statement issued December 6, a group of rights organisations called on the government of Azerbaijan to cease politically motivated prosecution and torture, and to repeal laws criminalising dissent and free speech.
Iranian ICT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi announced plans to clamp down on “unofficial news channels” on mobile messaging apps, emphasizing the threats they pose in Iran's rural and less developed regions, where fake news and misinformation have gained sizeable audiences. Soon, public news channels with more than 5,000 subscribers will be required to win approval from a special committee in order to continue operating legally.
Vaezi did not mention Telegram by name, but the chat and social-media platform, with its 30 million users in Iran and a public-channel feature, is likely the government's top target. Telegram has been accused recently of facilitating the spread of viral and fake news stories, including one alleging that a hostage crisis had taken place at a shopping mall in Tehran, resulting in the deaths of 27 people. No such crisis took place.
The Tunisian government is considering a new bill that would require citizens to carry a national ID card embedded with biometric data including a photograph, digitized fingerprint, social security number and home address. The proposed law would also introduce a 15-day prison sentence for those who fail to show their ID card to the police upon request. Civil society advocates and government experts, including Tunisia’s data protection authority and Pirate Party, have raised concerns about the proposed law, because of its implications for surveillance and the likelihood that it could lead to targeting of youths from poor neighborhoods.
Hours after Russian news outlets began reporting that state media regulatory agency Roskomnadzor had issued instructions forcing Google to re-register in Russia or face sanctions, an agency representative backpedaled, telling roem.ru that Izvestia, the newspaper that broke the news, had misreported the story. Ampelonsky told roem.ru that Roskomnadzor had not yet tabulated any news aggregators’ daily traffic or discussed the issue with Google.
Russia's new regulations concerning data hosting requirements are being developed in close cooperation with Chinese officials, following a series of cybersecurity talks between China and Russia focused on protecting national security and sovereignty. The forums may also lead to technology sharing, as indicated by talks between Russian telecommunications manufacturer Bulat and Chinese manufacturer Huawei about the purchase of technologies for data storage that would help Russia implement the law.
A new Citizen Lab report shows that Chinese social media platform and chat app WeChat practices systematic censorship of certain keywords. The researchers found 174 censored keywords and 41 URLs (mostly for gambling and news websites) that triggered censorship for users registered in China with Chinese phone numbers. The system seems to have censored these terms dynamically, censoring posts more often in group chats than in one-on-one conversations, and some only for limited periods of time.
New changes will grant the US government broader hacking powers, allowing US judges to issue search warrants that give the FBI the authority to remotely access computers in any jurisdiction and possibly overseas in cases when a suspect uses anonymizing technology to conceal the location of a computer or may be a part of a botnet. Senator Ron Wyden called the changes “unprecedented”, calling them “one of the biggest mistakes in surveillance policy in years”.
Afef Abrougui, Mahsa Alimardani, Renata Avila, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Mohamed ElGohary, Oiwan Lam, Elizabeth Rivera, Laura Vidal, and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


text:
Possible Agreement on the Cyprus Issue Postponed Until 2017 · Global Voices
Stephanos Chaillou

UN buffer zone, Cyprus. Creative commons.
On November 20, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci met for a second time at Mont-Pelerin, Switzerland, to resume talks on the Cyprus issue. The talks, which lasted for two days, ended without an agreement and resulted in both sides blaming each other.
The country of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, following an invasion by Turkey prompted by the growing inter-ethnic tensions and a coup d’état in the island, which was supported by the military junta that ruled Greece at the time. After the invasion, Turkish troops remained in the island and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), an entity recognized only by Turkey, was established to administer the northern part of the island. Since then, little progress has been achieved with regards to the reunification of the Mediterranean island. The current negotiations have been described as the “last chance” for the successful resolution of the issue.
Prior to the meeting at Mont-Pelerin, both sides seemed cautiously optimistic about the result of the talks. Before departing for the initial talks, Akinci was hopeful on Twitter:
In Switzerland on 7-11 Nov our goal will be to solve #CyProb in 2016. Will discuss territory & all other outstanding issues interdependently
— Mustafa Akinci (@MustafaAkinci_1) 26 Οκτωβρίου 2016
Ahead of the most recent talks, the United Nations Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, also shared this optimism:
After a week's recess, a sunny #MontPelerin welcomes #Cyprus leaders & negotiating teams back for continued negotiations. #UnitedByHope pic.twitter.com/vopqCkq3RF
— Espen Barth Eide (@EspenBarthEide) 19 Νοεμβρίου 2016
Despite all hopes, however, the talks, which were meant to focus on the territory issue and create a new map of internal boundaries for a future federation of Cyprus, ended with no agreement.
Cyprus from space, NASA. Wikimedia, free domain.
Following their departure from Mont-Pelerin, a spokesperson for Akinci accused the Greek-Cypriot side of insisting on extreme demands on territory and other issues. Indeed, this view was echoed even before the talks by some members of the public and seen through comments on social media and responses to online articles.
Take this response to an article featured on the Cyprus Mail, a Cyprus daily newspaper. The user “Hasan Cypriot” referred to Morfou, the Karpass peninsula and Mesaoria — areas which are currently part of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus — and asserted that Greek-Cypriot demands with regards to territory were “endless”:
No thanks. The endless demands of the Greek side is, did I say, “endless?”
Parts of Morfou, Parts of Karpaz. Parts of Mesaoria Plain. Parts of this parts of that!
Yes, yes, of course!
On the other hand, Greek-Cypriots are particularly concerned about Turkey being granted a right to militarily intervene as well as keep troops on the island, which the Turkish-Cypriot side demands under any type of deal. Greek-Cypriots say this would undermine the island’s sovereignty.
For some Greek-Cypriot critics of the talks, recent events justified their long held assumptions about the nature of the negotiations. For instance, user EntimosKritiss commented that:
Οι συνομιλίες ήταν πάντοτε μια λανθασμένη και προδοτική επιλογή που μοναδικό σκοπό είχε να διαιωνίσει την παραμονή του εχθρού στην κατεχόμενη πατρίδα χωρίς προβλήματα και χωρίς διαμαρτυρίες
The talks were always a wrong and traitorous choice whose only goal was to perpetuate the enemy’s occupation of the country [Cyprus] without problems or protests.
In addition, others claimed that the new proposed system of government will entail the creation of “various chambers, parliaments and senates, with a system of continuous vetos” which will make the new “state” dysfunctional from the outset. They said this would be particularly unfavorable for Greek-Cypriots and would lead to a large-scale exodus from the island. These concerns were voiced in an article by Aris Petasis featured on the website of Michalis Ignatiou, a Greek journalist:
οι 5,000+ νέων που πάνε για σπουδές, στην πλειονότητα τους δεν θα επιστρέφουν.
The majority of the 5,000+ students who leave to study abroad will not return [to Cyprus].
The article further stated that the people who would leave the country would be doctors, engineers and rich businessmen. These groups would supposedly prefer to live in places with relative stability rather than living in a perennial condition of uncertainty and political paralysis that would exist in Cyprus under the proposed system.
Another key concern for both sides is whether two communities who have lived apart for over 40 years will be able to peacefully co-exist in the island. In November 2015, two Turkish-Cypriots were attacked by a group of students during a protest against the anniversary of the unilateral declaration of the Turkish-Cypriot breakaway state, an incident that was condemned by Cyprus President Anastasiades. Moreover, in May 2016, three Turkish-Cypriots were reportedly attacked by a group of Greek-Cypriot motorcyclists. Most recently, there was an assault on a Turkish-Cypriot taxi driver on November 21 in Nicosia. While it is unclear whether this last attack was politically motivated, such violence has some people worried over potential tensions between the two groups once integrated.
Following the second round of talks in Mont-Pelerin, both sides agreed to attend a multilateral summit, which will be held in Geneva from January 9-12, 2017. The summit will also include the UK while “other relevant parties shall be invited as needed,” according to a Greek Reporter news report citing the UN's Special Envoy for Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide. The summit will be a crucial point in the negotiations in which all outstanding issues will be discussed.
Whether or not this will be a watershed year for the Cyprus issue remains unclear. The ongoing negotiations and set of circumstances all seem favourable to a solution. Perhaps one will be presented to both Greek and Turkish-Cypriots early next year. However, for a solution to be agreed on, two separate referendums will have to be held on both sides of the island. As referenda in Colombia, Italy and the United Kingdom have shown in recent times, an unexpected result can make things much more complicated than they were to begin with.

author: Stephanos Chaillou


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The Rape of a Teenager Raises Concerns About How Jamaican Police Respond to Gender-Based Violence · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

T-shirts and banners emblazoned with anti-gender-based violence messages at the #Beyond16Days Awareness Walk in Hope Gardens, Kingston on December 11, 2016. The event was a partnership between WE-Change, FiWiJamaica and Mary Seacole Hall's Clothesline Project at the University of the West Indies’ Mona Campus. Photo by PRIDEja Magazine, used with permission.
As the United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism campaign drew to a close on International Human Rights Day, there remained much to be concerned about in Jamaica in relation to the issue of gender-based violence.
This was highlighted by the case in early December of a 14-year-old girl, who was abducted in Kingston and raped. When she reported her ordeal to the police, they drove her to the house where the crime was committed, and transported her back with the alleged rapist in the same police vehicle. On arrival at the police station, the man mysteriously escaped, allegedly because of a pair of defective handcuffs.
The incident not only pointed to the ongoing problem of the sexual abuse of under-age girls — which, according to Joy Crawford of the non-govermental organization Eve for Life, has not diminished — but also raised serious issues about how the police treat rape victims.
Blogger Dennis Jones spoke bluntly on the issue, seeing it as an example of police inefficiency and incompetence. In a letter to the editor, he wrote:
A 14-year-old is raped, and a suspect is caught, and the two people are transported TOGETHER to the police station. What could go wrong? Everything! And it did. The culprit escaped from a set of defective handcuffs. Result: a traumatised family and a police force with a severe case of egg on face.
He amplified the issue in his blog, concluding:
People have in their sights an escalating murder rate, but my concern is that the many little things that the police are supposed to do daily and in dealing with a wide range of matters of public order keep showing them up to be less than competent. For an economist, it would be an easy thing to argue the the function of policing ought to be taken away from the body that is now in charge of it.
Governments, rightly, are wary of tampering with police powers, but at some stage, with any organization, one has to ask if the present set-up can take you where you want to go.
Human rights activist and blogger Susan Goffe reflected that this reported case may well be the tip of the iceberg, as many instances of rape are not reported:
@Petchary @RossSheil We now know of this case; how many similar cases are there that we don't know about. Frightening.
— Susan Goffe (@suezeecue) December 8, 2016
In a blog post on the UNICEF Jamaica website, young lawyer Adley Duncan shared a long series of his own tweets that describe the exhausting, traumatizing procedure that begins when a person reports a rape. He prefaced the list by saying:
Many girls (and boys) find themselves in cycles of sexual abuse. It is a horrendous rite of passage for many young persons in Jamaica. Some of the people we know, even our friends, might be fighting personal battles they feel unable to speak about.
Child victims of abuse grow into adults, bearing the abominable consequences of harm. They are, throughout their lives, reminded by triggers of the abuse they experienced, often at the hands of adults responsible for protecting them.
Statistics from the Office of the Children’s Registry suggest that only one adult in ten reports child abuse brought to his or her attention. The 9 in 10 who make no report reflect the pernicious Jamaican culture of silence.
My involvement in the justice system as a criminal law practitioner gives me some familiarity with some harsh Jamaican realities for children.
This year, the UN's 16 Days of Activism campaign was particularly active in Jamaica, with many events reflecting different aspects of violence against women. Yet, although the specified period is over, the undercurrent of gender-based violence persists, regularly surfacing in the media. One Jamaican woman tweeted:
Man flees after allegedly beating ex-girlfriend to death https://t.co/HuPrNpwzUG. Domestic violence now an epidemic. Women aren't properties
— Andria D Whyte JP (@AdvocateAndria) December 10, 2016
Contrasting the response in Jamaica to the increase in violence against women and the soaring crime rate in general with the reaction in neighboring Trinidad and Tobago, blogger Annie Paul shared on Facebook:
What's remarkable to me is how Trinis are mobilizing against high murder rate in their country, motivated by yet another killing of a young woman whose body was discovered a couple of days ago while we do…NOTHING but make excuses about men being abused [too]. Where are the battered, murdered male bodies pray?!
Tamika Pommells-Williams, a survivor of gender-based violence, speaks at the WE-Change “Orange Lights” event at Devon House in Kingston, on December 4, 2016. Photo by PRIDEja Magazine, used with permission.
While Gender Affairs Minister Olivia Grange expressed outrage at the size and persistence of the problem, non-governmental organizations such as WE-Change organized a series of special events, tweet chats and more to raise awareness on social media and beyond.
Among these, at the second edition of “Orange Lights” (a storytelling event co-sponsored by UN Women's Caribbean office), survivors of gender-based violence shared their stories through poetry, prose and song. Tamika Pommels-Williams, a Jamaican gender-based violence survivor and author of the recent book “Unearthing the Diamond” in which she recounts her childhood trauma, shared on Facebook and thanked the media for its support:
I am really happy to see the media highlighting Unearthing The Diamond and by extension the elimination of violence towards women and girls […] there is a change in the air. Finally this taboo topic is being highlighted. Spoken about in public and giv[ing] women in hiding a voice. […] No need to stay in hiding. I am free at last. It is great to be in the open.
Members of the audience listening sadly to the many accounts of violence against women and girls in Jamaica. The “Orange Lights” event was held by WE-Change at Devon House in Kingston. Photo by PRIDEja Magazine, used with permission.
Nevertheless, there is much work to be done. In acknowledgement of this, a #Beyond16Days hashtag seemed appropriate for Jamaica and elsewhere. WE-Change held a Violence Against Women Awareness Walk in Hope Gardens on Sunday, December 11, 2016. PrideJA Magazine tweeted:
Trends #PRiDEJARadio is loving: #Beyond16Days – A call to raise awareness about violence against women beyond the 16 days of advocacy
— PRiDEJA Magazine (@PRiDEJAMagazine) December 9, 2016
Meanwhile, the Office of the Children's Advocate says it is investigating the rape of the girl and the police handling of the matter.

author: Emma Lewis