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Hong Kong Activists Urge Restaurants to Remove Shark Fin Soup From Menus · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Shark Fin Protest outside one of Maxim's restaurant. Photo taken by PH Yang. Non-commercial use with permission.
Dozens of activists protested on 10 June outside the flagship restaurant of Maxim's Group in Hong Kong against the selling of shark fin soap in its restaurants’ menus.
The protesters, a number of whom were children, wore finless shark costumes splattered with red paint and chanted, “When the buying stops, the killing can too”. Photos of their demonstration were shared on Twitter.
Great to see people from all ages at #sharkfin protest #conservation @WildAidHK #standup #speakup pic.twitter.com/PFGgvLrgTh
— Hannah Tilley (@htilley1_hannah) June 10, 2017
Protesters tell #maxims management to STOP SELLING #SHARKFIN. It's cruel and UNSUSTAINABLE! @WildAidHK #MaximsStopSharkFin pic.twitter.com/OMTR1NHsAH
— Alex Astrid (@AA_Andersson) June 10, 2017
Peaceful #sharkfin protest @WildAidHK #endangered #lovesharks ? pic.twitter.com/zBcO5Ox2WX
— Hannah Tilley (@htilley1_hannah) June 10, 2017
Hong Kong is the world’s center in shark fin trade, accounting for about half of the global shark fin trade every year. The demand for shark fin soup at Chinese banquets is behind the finning of 73 million of sharks every year. Currently around a quarter of the world's shark and ray species are threatened with extinction.
While a survey in 2015 indicated that 94 percent of the respondents did not want to consume the threatened species, local restaurants have refused to take the luxurious dish off their menus. In most cases, consumers are compelled to choose the restaurants’ set menus for their wedding or festival banquets, which usually include shark fin soup. As indicated in the Hong Kong Shark Foundation’s survey, which covered 375 Chinese restaurants in the city, 98 percent had shark fin soup on their 2016 Lunar New Year menus.
Maxim is one of the largest restaurant groups in Hong Kong and operates more than 980 restaurant outlets in Hong Kong, China, Vietnam and Cambodia. The majority of its high-end Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong are serving shark fin soup.
A petition demanding the restaurant group to stop selling shark fin soup explained the rationale behind the protest:
The company has been resisting calls to drop shark fin soup from their set menus, ignoring the will of many good Hong Kong people who are against this cruel and unsustainable tradition.
Maxim's claim they only serve shark fin soup made from blue sharks, but according to recent scientific evidence, blue shark populations around the world are being wiped out by greedy overfishing.
Is Maxim's going to wait until blue sharks go extinct before it admits that there is a problem?
Maxim's has a firm responsibility to end this practice to save sharks and the marine environment by immediately removing shark fin from all its menus, especially its set menus. Just as Hong Kong consumers have a responsibility to stop eating shark fin, restaurant groups like Maxim's also have an equal responsibility to stop selling it.
WildAid Hong Kong, the animal right organization behind the anti-shark fin protests, also alleged that it is easy to order endangered shark species, like whale shark, basking shark and silky shark — which are listed on Appendix II of the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) — in Hong Kong restaurants “upon request”.
Hong Kong is a signatory to the CITES and according to the treaty, endangered species listed on Appendix II “must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival”.
The group pointed out in their Facebook page:
Despite claims by Maxim's management that it serves only blue sharks in its restaurants, the undercover footage demonstrates that the chain privately offers other more ‘exotic’ species. These are usually made available by restaurant staff acting autonomously of management to please their more demanding clientèle. Laxity and poor transparency is endemic across Hong Kong's Chinese restaurant industry, and supply chain secrecy is a problem in Hong Kong's notoriously crime-riddled shark fin trade.


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Japan’s Controversial Anticonspiracy Bill Becomes Law · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Opposition politician Yamamoto Taro signals his displeasure with the government's anti conspiracy bill before submitting his vote. Caption: “Conspiracy law approved and enacted in Japan's Upper House.” Screencap from ANN News official YouTube channel.
On June 15, Japan's parliament ratified a controversial “anti-conspiracy” bill into law. Despite concerns by opposition politicians, ordinary people and even United Nations commentators about how the vague nature of bill will affect ordinary Japanese citizens with no connections to organized crime, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's ruling coalition used every parliamentary trick in the book to cut off debate and ram the bill through Japan's bicameral Diet before a parliamentary recess starting on June 18.
There are fears the vague nature of the new law, which covers nearly 300 crimes, will erode personal liberties in Japan by providing authorities with broad surveillance powers, leaving the question of who can be monitored open to interpretation.
Japan's ruling coalition, headed by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has argued the new law is needed in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, at a time when threats to national security are perceived to be increasing.
However this argument belies the fact that his Liberal Democratic Party has tried for years to revise Japan's existing Act on Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds. The goal, according to the Japanese government, is to join the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.
The Japanese government has also suggested conforming with UN conventions is the main motivation for creating the new law. But Colin Jones, a law professor who teaches at the University of Kyoto, noted in an article for the Japan Times that two UN representatives have explicitly criticized the new law:
Ever since the Meiji Period (1868-1912), treaties and other countries have been used to justify laws the Japanese people neither want nor need, so there’s nothing new here. However, in this case there hasn’t been any serious effort to articulate concrete deficiencies in existing laws — such as bad guys who got away because of them — that will be remedied by the new ones. In fact, I read the convention in vain for mention of a requirement to criminalize conspiracy, other than in connection with money laundering.
The fact that a U.N. treaty is central to the justification for the new law might explain why the government seems particularly annoyed at concerns expressed by not one but two U.N. experts regarding the law’s potential for arbitrary use and infringement of civil liberties.
The two UN experts are Joseph Cannataci, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, and David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. In a report released in May 2017, Kaye criticized Japan's State Secrecy Act, implemented in late 2014 as having a chilling effect on journalism and free expression.
In a separate letter sent to the Japanese government (which can be read in its entirety here), also sent in May, Cannataci  criticized the new anti-conspiracy bill, which was at the time being debated in committee before being passed into law. In his letter, Cannataci worries that the broad scope of the law may “lead to undue restrictions to the rights to privacy and freedom of expression” in Japan.
Specifically, Cannataci says in his letter, the law, which is ostensibly aimed at organized crime in Japan, does not precisely define what an “organized criminal group” might be, while including 277 types of crimes that might be covered under the law. One example of a possible implementation of the law, Cannataci says in his letter, is that it may legitimize and facilitate government surveillance of NGOs perceived to be acting against the government interest.
Cannataci also noted the anti-conspiracy law covers crimes “which appear to be totally unrelated with the scope of organized crime and terrorism” such as the theft of forestry products and the destruction of cultural properties.
The Japanese government responded to Cannataci's letter by saying his characterization of the anti-conspiracy legislation was “extremely unbalanced” and adding that his behavior was “hardly that of an objective expert.”
However, there were Japanese voices who also made the same points as Cannataci. Following the passage of the bill into law Thursday, Osaka Seiji, an opposition politician who sits on the parliamentary judicial affairs committee that reviewed initial drafts of the bill, said:
共謀罪に関する政府答弁が参院に来てから真反対となった。一般の人も、組織的犯罪集団以外も対象になる可能性あり。犯罪の時間や場所など計画の具体性も求めない。こんな方向に答弁が１８０度転換している。衆院の答弁はなんだったのか。こんな法案を絶対に認める訳には行かない。
— 衆議院議員 逢坂誠二 (@seiji_ohsaka) June 14, 2017
I have been completely opposed to the government's rationale for the anti-conspiracy law ever since the legislation was proposed in the Diet. It's possible that the law, which is intended to deal with organized crime groups, will expand to affect ordinary citizens. The law does not concretely define what, when and where it means to “plan” a crime. The rationale for the law is the polar opposite (of who the law will affect). Why did we even bother debating the bill in the Diet? This law should never have been passed.
Yamamoto Taro, a popular populist politician said the new law will affect ordinary people:
山本太郎『この国に生きる人々を潜在的犯罪者として扱うのか』#共謀罪 #山本太郎 pic.twitter.com/RMasvKW3OO
— 市民メディア放送局 (@info_9) June 16, 2017
Yamamoto Taro: “Does the new law treat everyone who lives in this country as potential criminals?” #conspiracy bill #yamamoto taro
Ordinary citizens themselves turned out to protest against the new law.
共謀罪法案が成立した15日夜、国会前で行われた抗議の写真をアップしました。
BIAS｜2017.6.15 未来のための公共 共謀罪に反対する国会前抗議行動 / 新しい、始まり。https://t.co/iH2ZG8Sijc pic.twitter.com/5A43FWswCK
— Shinta Yabe (@257syabe) June 15, 2017
I have uploaded a photo of protesters demonstrating in front of the National Diet as the anti-conspiracy law was ratified in the evening of June 15th. […]

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nevin Thompson


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Protests Break Out Across Idlib Against Syria’s Al Qaeda Branch · Global Voices
Mustapha Itani

Girl holding a sign during one of the protests. It reads: “O Jabhat Al-Nusra. From Maarat Al-Nooman your end has come. You cannot humiliate what Bashar Al-Assad couldn't.” Source: Twitter.
Under the slogan “The People Are Stronger Than You”, thousands took to the streets in Ma'arat al-Nu'man, a city in the northwestern Syrian governorate of Idlib, on June 11, 2017, waving Free Syrian flags to protest Hayat Tahrir a-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch) and its latest crackdown.
Ma'arat al-Nu'man, 30km south of Idlib city, has been under rebel control for years now, with clashes between moderate forces and Jihadists breaking out periodically.
Men & women in Ma'arat al-Nu'man protest against raid/detentions/killing by Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (formerly AQ). #FreeSyria pic.twitter.com/MAJwvQu6aZ
— Kenan Rahmani كنان (@KenanRahmani) June 11, 2017
These latest protests came as heavy clashes erupted when HTS raided the base of FSA Division 13, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) group, killing and detaining several members on June 8.
From June 6-8, clashes erupted between HTS and Sham Legion in Ma'arat al-Nu'man, Divison 13 and the Free Police joined the fighting on June 8. By the evening of June 8, HTS captured both the Division 13 and Sham Legion's headquarters in Ma'arat al-Nu'man. They killed Colonel Tayser al-Samahi, brother of FSA Colonel Ali al-Samahi, and the head of the Free Police in the town.
The next day, HTS announced the end of their operations against FSA's Division 13 and took full control of the town.
Later on, a ceasefire deal was agreed upon and signed between the Free Idlib Army (FSA's Idlib branch) and HTS in the town and the latter ordered the 13th Division to be disbanded.
During the clashes, several civilians were also killed and injured.
The next day, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to protest HTS’ latest offensive against the FSA, and demanded the Jihadi group leave the city.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, demonstrations kicked off in the village of Marshourin in Idlib's countryside following the raiding of FSA Division 13's headquarters, and then proceeded down to Ma'arat al-Nu'man. Shots were fired by HTS forces into the air in attempt to break up the demonstrations.
Activists said some people were surrounded in the Srouji Mosque after prayer time by HTS forces.
Fuck HTS pic.twitter.com/NIqFzsGJjs
— انتهاكات جبهة النصرة (@JAN_Violations) June 11, 2017
Protests in Ma'arat al-Nu'man kept on going throughout the weekend against HTS and its actions, and in support of the Free Syrian Army, with the protests on Sunday June 11 being the largest.
Thousands protested in the streets, demanding that the persecutors be punished, and for HTS forces to leave the city.
Civilians/activists organized for protests against HTS in Maraat Numan today. Banner says:”People will prevail.”(P.C: Ahmed Awad). #Syria pic.twitter.com/CIltvatFEr
— Enas (@EnasN_) June 11, 2017
The great power r the ppl.Will not accept any injustice whatsoever
The Syrian revolution ongoing to topple every tyrant✌?Maarat Nomaan today pic.twitter.com/1f24Q1W4z7
— Lina shamy (@Linashamy) June 11, 2017
Reports from activists stated that a meeting was held on Sunday between HTS, local council members, and dignitaries, and a statement was issued regarding the incidents.
Following the clashes it was reported that FSA Division 13 would be dissolved. The Free Idlib Army, of which FSA Division 13 is a part, agreed to the dissolution in a joint statement with HTS, as well as the handing over of the division's headquarters.
HTS claimed that the latest offensive was not ‘against the people of Ma'arat Al Nu'man’, but ‘against a few corrupt forces in the city’ and that talks were being held to deescalate the situation.
FSA Division 13 is a moderate rebel group, supported by the Syrian National Council and funded by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The Free Syrian Army is a faction in the ongoing Syrian civil war founded on July 29, 2011 by officers who defected from the Syrian Armed Forces with the goal of bringing down Bashar al-Assad's regime.
With the start of the Syrian conflict, FSA was considered the main Syrian military defectors group, and Assad's main rival. But from 2012 and onward, FSA was very weakened for various reasons, making way for the formation of emergent Jihadi groups like the HTS.
These latest clashes were not the first of their kind, nor were the outrage and demonstrations unprecedented.
Over the past year, fighting in Idlib, which is the only province completely controlled by rebel forces, has sparked many protests by residents calling for different rebel groups to put forth a united front against Assad's forces.
The people of Ma'arat al-Nu'man, an FSA stronghold, are not only demonstrating against rebel infighting, but also completely rejecting HTS’ rule in their city.
On March 13, 2016, forces from al-Nusra Front and Jund al-Aqsa, another jihadist group that later pledged allegiance to ISIS, launched an overnight attack against the FSA Division 13's base in Ma'arat al-Nu'man, in what would later be known as the Second Battle of Ma'arat al-Nu'man.
The latest tensions between the moderate rebels and Jihadists started on March 11 as jihadi militants tried to break up an anti-Assad rally supported by moderate rebels. At least 11 militants from both sides were killed in the clashes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
HTS has been struggling for months to rebrand itself and get rid of its extremist image.
On July 28, 2016, Al-Nusra's leader Abu Mohammad al'Joulani announced al-Nusra's split from al-Qaeda.
Al-Jolani appeared on camera for the first time to announce that the group's name has also changed to Jabhat Fath al-Sham.
“We declare the complete cancellation of all operations under the name of Jabhat al-Nusra, and the formation of a new group operating under the name ‘Jabhat Fath al-Sham’, noting that this new organisation has no affiliation to any external entity,” Joulani said.
But Joulani's announcement didn't actually meet his group's expectations. Many analysts and activists quickly denounced the announcement as nothing more than a theatrical ploy. For example, graffiti of HTS members reading ‘Soldiers of Jabhat Nusra passed here’ was seen as having just appeared on walls across Ma'arat al-Nu'man at around the same time the announcement was made.
Months later, Jabhat Fath al-Sham, tried to rebrand itself once again.
A statement was issued by the group on January 28 announcing it had merged with four other smaller Jihadist groups to form a new alliance, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS.
Activists have long argued that these attempts are nothing more than cosmetic changes, and that HTS’ goals remain identical to that of Nusra.

author: Mustapha Itani


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Years After Marriage, Indian Women Dare to Say Their Husbands’ Names for the First Time · Global Voices
VideoVolunteers

Women in the small Indian village of Gumla Jam Gayi in Jharkhand. Image from Flickr by Chris Freeman. CC BY-NC 2.0
This post was written by Kayonaaz Kalyanwala and originally appeared on Video Volunteers, an award-winning international community media organization based in India. An edited version is published below as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In many parts of India, a woman will go to great lengths to avoid saying her husband’s name and even that of elder men in the family. Instead, she will use a pronoun or ‘father of my child’. From Chhattisgarh to Maharashtra to Uttar Pradesh, women affirm that social pressure to respect one’s husband, and a fear of the consequences of not following the norm, keep this practice alive. Last year, a kangaroo court sentenced Malati Mahatoto from the Indian State of Odisha to be ostracized from her family and the entire village after she addressed an in-law by his name.
While many men also reciprocate the tradition by not calling their wives by their names, they face far lesser censure, if any, when they don’t follow the practice.
In a small village called Walhe, in Pune district, Maharashtra, nine women, including health workers and housewives, have become members of a unique club that are fast becoming the talk of the town. A space that is their very own to discuss and debate the nuances of patriarchy. The club is one of 56 being run across 13 states in India and is part of #KhelBadal, a campaign to dismantle patriarchy being run by Video Volunteers. Rohini Pawar, who for the past seven years has used her video camera to expose practices ranging from child marriages to ostracisation of people living with HIV/AIDS face, runs these clubs. She shares how these clubs have created a safe space for these women and turned them into agents of change as well.
The first video Rohini decided to screen in her discussion club was on the practice of women not addressing their husbands by their first name. She chose this because she wanted to throw open the conversation on patriarchy with an issue that the women could easily engage with. Not being able to call their husbands’ names out is a practice they have all dutifully upheld, and not once questioned. According to Rohini:
This custom indicates that a woman respects her husband and wants him to live a long life. A woman who doesn’t follow it will be seen as cunning, a woman with no morals. The tradition is so deeply rooted that we hadn’t given it thought until this discussion club.
To begin with, Rohini wanted to test out the waters at her own home where she had never called her husband by his name. She showed the discussion club video to her husband and mother-in-law. Rohini recounts:
My mother-in-law and husband were quiet for a long time after the video ended. Prakash, my husband, turned around and told me to call him by his name from then on.
Armed with this confidence, Rohini started her first discussion club. Many women hadn’t heard the word ‘patriarchy’ ever before; some believed that it was a good thing because it meant that the younger members of a family, especially girls and women, would remain protected. The session started with Rohini screening a video on the issue from Uttar Pradesh. After watching the video the women tried an exercise to get the discussion going. Rohini asked each participant to say her husband’s name in a variety of emotions – happy, angry, sad, loving and so on. She asked them all, “If we can’t say our husbands’ names, and they can call us whatever they like, does that mean they don’t respect us? Shouldn’t it be equal?”
“Some of these women have been married for 30 years and that was the first day they uttered their husbands’ names,” says Rohini Pawar, from Walhe Village, Maharashtra about breaking an age-old custom where married women are never supposed to say their husband’s names. Rohini says:
During the activity, one woman was so shy she just giggled for the duration of the exercise; another decided to vent all her cumulative frustration against him and his family by cursing him. The look on their faces was ecstatic. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.
Still high on an adrenaline rush of having smashed an age-old custom, the women decided that they would actually try to say their husband’s names when they got home. And they kept their word. Over the next few days, Rohini got a variety of updates.
One woman’s husband called Rohini to ask what ideas she was putting in the women’s heads: His wife wouldn’t stop calling out his name. Another club member decided to do it at dinnertime in front of her entire family. When her mother-in-law glared at her, she got scared and said that it was a mistake. Another woman said, “Rohini told me to do it.” One participant’s husband was less understanding and the situation ended in violence.
Rohini shares how women have tried to stop other practices like wearing vermilion on their forehead:
Why do only women have to show that we’re married? I told my husband that if he’d wear vermillion, I’d do it too. He just laughed, and I’ve stopped wearing it.
The other women haven’t stopped completely, but they feel that they’re in a better position to choose to not wear it on some days.
For many of the women, this discussion club is a safe space where they can share their opinions and aspirations. “We make an excursion out of each discussion club. We usually pack lunch and water and go to the field. I don’t want the women to worry about who might hear what,” she says. In the past few months, they have celebrated birthdays with cakes for the first time in their lives; they have danced and sung and talked about things they have never given a second thought to.
Rohini says:
I have worked on these issues for so many years and even I haven’t talked about some of these things, like how our identities are tied to our husbands’, this honestly. It feels great to be able to say some things out loud, no matter how small they seem.
At one discussion club, we were talking about the concept of honour and how it is related to clothes. Many women in the group haven’t worn anything but saris since they got married. Most are fine with it but some wanted to wear a salwar-kurta; they didn’t dare.
After much debating and discussion on the merits of choosing your own clothes, the morality related to saris and so on, Rohini smuggled her own set of kurtas (upper garments) to a discussion club so that the women could wear them. The women have now decided to plan a trip to Goa so that they can wear jeans, and Rohini is certain that she can pull it off.
Asked whether things have changed in the five months since the first discussion club, Rohini explains how a wheel is beginning to turn:
Our steps have been small. Many women tried it a few times but then they stopped saying their husband’s name. Some, including myself, do it but only when they are alone and no other family member is around. Only one or two continue to say their husbands’ names; now only one or two women wear vermilion on their forehead all the time.
The women in the discussion club know that the changes they want to create in their own lives, the bargain for more agency over their mobility or choice of clothes are a complex river to navigate. Buoying each other’s confidence, they acknowledge that they’re in this together. As Rohini explains:
Each one of us is a victim of patriarchy. I am too. But this club gives each one of us the confidence that change will come. And I know that it won’t be limited to just 30 families, there will be a chain reaction when every woman at the club goes home and shares what we talk about and do. We’re all in it together.

author: VideoVolunteers


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Palestinian Authority Once Again Censors Websites of Rivals and Critics · Global Voices
Dalia Othman

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the World Economic Forum in 2007. The blocked websites are critical of his administration. Photo by the World Economic Forum (CC BY-SA 2.0 )
The Palestinian Authority's (PA) Attorney General issued a Directive for the dozen Palestinian ISPs operating in the West Bank to block 11 websites affiliated with political rivals and critics of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Most of the websites are affiliated with the opposition Islamist party and militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip. One website is linked to Abbas rival and former Fatah member Mohammad Al-Dahlan, who was expelled from Fatah in 2011.
The sites reportedly are being blocked only in the West Bank, due to “rules of publication”, which ban the publication of fake news and/or defamation. It remains unclear, which “rules” the PA has used to ban the websites, but the 1995 Press and Publication Law includes several vague and broad restrictions on freedom of expression. For example, publications are not allowed to “contradict the principles of …national responsibility” or publish material that is “inconsistent with morals” or which may “shake belief in the national currency.”
The order was issued on 12 June. Palestinians living in the West Bank say they have been unable to access the websites since the same date.
The websites include Amad.ps, Shehab News Agency associated with Hamas, and “Voice of Fatah” known to be close to Al-Dahlan. Hassan Asfour the chief editor of Amad expressed his opposition to the censorship in an opinion piece entitled “From Amad News to the Attorney General of the PA in Ramallah… Censorship will not conceal your scandals”:
والأخير له موقفه من الحريات والديمقراطية وممارسة الحقوق كافة في إطار الحياة وما تقتضيه، عبّر عنها مراراً وتكراراً للإعلام والوفود، حتى اعتقد السامعون أنه الحارس الأمين لوعاء الحريات وممارستها بأمن وأمان، ولكن بحجب (أمد للإعلام) تسقط التصريحات ويصدق الواقع.
Abbas has his position on freedoms, democracy and the exercise of all rights within life's framework and its requirements, which he repeatedly expressed to media and delegations, until listeners believed he was the guardian of freedoms and their safe exercise. But with the blocking of Amad for Media, statements have fallen and reality has spoken.
A number of organizations have denounced the directive. The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) published a statement calling for the PA to withdraw the directive, calling it a violation of freedom of expression and the Palestinian Basic Law. The Arab Center for Social Media Advancement (7amleh) also denounced the blocking order in a statement published on 16 June:
نجد في هذه الخطوة تعارضا كاملا مع المواثيق والمعاهدات الدوليّة ، ومسّا عظيما في الحقوق الرقمية لشرائح من المجتمع الفلسطيني، حيث يحق لكل فلسطيني تمثيله هو وآرائه ضمن العالم الرقمي، كما يحق له أيضا إتاحة المجال أمامه للوصول إلى أيٍّ من المواقع الإلكترونية والمصادر المعلوماتية التي تخص اهتمامته وتضمن حقوقه في التعبير عن أفكاره وطموحاته.
[We] find that this move fully contradicts all international treaties and conventions, and marks a significant violation of the digital rights of segments of Palestinian society. Palestinians have the right to have their opinions represented in the digital world, and to access any electronic websites and information sources that are of interest to them and that guarantee their rights to express their ideas and ambitions.
This is not the first time the PA censors websites. In 2008, there were reports that the PA censored one website in the West Bank called Dounia Al Watan, a Gaza based site that reports on corruption in the PA, while in 2012 they asked ISPs to block eight websites including Amad.ps, which is also one of the websites blocked this past week.

author: Dalia Othman


text:
Chinese Cities Are Shaming Jaywalkers With Facial Recognition Software · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

In some cities, jaywalkers’ faces would be shown on big screen along with their personal information – names, IDs and household registration address (all partially hidden). Screen shot from CCTV.
This post was written by Catherine Lai and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on June 19, 2017. The version below is published on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
Efforts by some Chinese cities to use facial recognition software to shame jaywalkers have been met with concerns that the practice may violate pedestrians’ privacy.
Cities including Jiangbei, Jinan, and Suqian have recently implemented facial recognition software at busy intersections, after the system was first launched in Shenzhen in April.
The initiative is the latest attempt to discourage the common practice of jaywalking, in which pedestrians, drivers, cyclists, and other road users disregard traffic rules and cross the street when the lights tell them to wait. Pedestrians are known to cross intersections in packs, disrupting the flow of traffic.
The system in Jinan automatically takes four photos and a 15-second video if there are pedestrians or non-motorised vehicles crossing the street. It automatically extracts photos of offenders’ faces, and shows the images on big screens placed at the intersection. The system works even in the dark, according to China National Radio.
It also uploads users’ information to the police system. After verification by officers, information – including the violator’s headshot, name, age, place of household registration and ID number – will be partially displayed on intersection screens, newspapers, and on the internet, according to Li Yong, a deputy research director with the Jinan traffic police.
According to Central Television, since Jinan implemented the facial recognition system in May, police have caught more than 6,200 jaywalkers. In addition to a fine, the jaywalkers have to take a traffic safety course and perform public duty as a crossing guard.
Li Yong claimed that the system has reduced incidents of jaywalking by 90 percent. But legal experts have raised concerns that such measures could potentially violate pedestrians’ privacy.
The city public security department is aware that the system violates individual's privacy, but Li argues that public interest supercedes the issue:
公共利益大于个人利益，通过曝光一部分人警醒众人，达到保障出行人员权益的目的。
Public interest is greater than individual interest. By exposing the misbehavior of a few individuals, the system sends a signal to the majority and protects the rights of travelers [drivers and pedestrians].
Li Xiandong, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told Legal Daily that one should ask whether there is a legal basis for exposing the personal information of offenders:
犯罪行为需要向单位通报，但一般的违法行为是否需要通报？民法对于隐私权的保护为原则性保护，公开必须谨慎，否则就可能侵犯隐私。
Criminal activity should be reported to [police] units, but should common violations [like jaywalking] be reported? Civil law protects the principle of the right to privacy, so publicizing data should be done cautiously, or it could infringe upon privacy.
Zhang Zhuting, a professor at the government’s school for training transport officials, said solving problems using innovative technology should be encouraged, but officials should also take citizens’ privacy into consideration when exposing personal data, and do so in a measured way.
He suggested that the public be informed when they enter the zone that their personal information is being taken, and that any illegal behavior would be exposed. He also encouraged authorities to take steps to mask sensitive information or withhold it.
But few social media users on microblogging site Weibo have expressed concern about privacy issues. An online survey conducted by Sina showed 80 per cent of the over 2,000 respondents were in favour of the measure.
Many reactions on Weibo suggested support for the initiative. On a news thread for People's Daily, one user said:
支持，自己都不要脸了还怕什么曝光，不过我有点怕机器操作过于频繁出问题了
Support, if they are shameless, they would not mind exposing their faces. But I am a bit worried that the system will be overloaded.
But a number of Weibo users also posed questions about the current traffic signal system. On CCTV's news thread:
不支持，很多红绿灯不科学，没车过的时候人行道也是红灯，等到人行道绿灯了，走两步得让右转得车，让了右转得车再走几步又得让左转得车，左转得车让完了，灯已经变红了，卡在路中间特尴尬。尴尬几次之后，就跟着闯没车过得红灯了。
I don't support it. The signal system is not scientific. The signal is red when there is no car on the road. When the green light is on, the cars are allowed to turn right and pedestrians have to stop and give way. Then after they walk past the midway point, they have to stop again to let the cars from the other direction make their right turn. Then the light turns red again and pedestrians are caught in the middle of the road. To avoid such an awkward situation, people have developed the habit of crossing the intersections when there is no vehicle.
Another echoed:
这是一个对行人不友好的国家，尽快买车吧
This is a country not friendly to the pedestrians, better buy a car.
A more skeptical user quipped:
现在出门记得化妆 不然一不小心就上银幕了
Better wear makeup when going out, or your face will appear on the big screen.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


text:
Chronicles of a Concerned Venezuelan: Scenes to Help You (Try to) Understand Venezuela · Global Voices
Aglaia Berlutti

“Water and Gas”. Photo by Flickr User Sin.Fronteras. Used under CC 2.0 license.
This post is the third of a series originally published by the author on Medium. Click on the links to read the first and second installment.
I wake up startled, staring into the darkness with eyes wide open. I do not know what awoke me, and the resulting sensation is a paralyzing confusion. The second blast goes off and I leap out of bed, still confused about what is happening. It takes a few minutes before the realization sinks in: the cacophony of clattering pots and pans, screaming neighbors, rising clamor and noise in the street. By then, tear gas has started seeping into my apartment, filling the place, enveloping me in a dense and suffocating cloud. My heart thumps and fear hammers my chest. I am not going to cry, I repeat to myself, exhausted but defiant. I am not going to cry.
I stumble around the dark apartment. Another blast goes off. It’s almost 11pm, the end of an especially strained and difficult day. I'd gone to bed less than an hour earlier, overwhelmed at the news of brutal repression and horrific beatings of civilians by police. Fatigued by the helpless frustration of being held hostage in this country. I make my way carefully now, with outstretched hands, listening to the metallic sound of pots banging, the rhythmic clack of tear gas guns discharging. In Venezuela the days don’t ever seem to come to a complete end. Violence remains, continues, spreads. Normal means a collection of pains and terrors. Of closed doors and a general state of suspicion. We have survived this way for over a decade now.
When I peer out of the window, I see the toxic smoke spiraling up from the street. It can’t reach far enough to seriously harm me because I live ten floors up, but I the odor clearly reaches me, a rancid sting that causes me to sneeze and gasp. A group of National Guardsmen move around surreptitiously in the dark, guns held aloft, firing upwards. I am almost unable to distinguish their figures from street lamps. They form a line in the center of the plaza. They wear helmets and breastplates. And they shoot. They shoot at buildings, down the deserted street. One, two, three times. Frozen, I watch them with a disorienting sense of surreality and incredulity. One of the blasts hits with a resounding echo and I throw myself down, hands over my head, shaking from head to foot. I am not going to cry, I repeat to myself, infuriated now. I am not going to cry.
Several of my neighbors lean out of windows, gesticulating and screaming at the top of their lungs. One hauls out a large casserole pan which flashes under the milky glow of the flashlight he's wielding. He strikes it with a clenched fist, euphoric with anger and anguish. I see him lean out into the void of night, shouting with all his might. The cacophony of metal and voice blend together in a single sound.
“Damn soldiers! Damn them all!” he screams. His voice is hoarse and tired. “Damn them! There are families here!”
Someone else joins in. He also screams, unleashing slogans, insults, vulgarities. Voices rise from everywhere in a discordant uproar. The only answers from below are blasts. Once more, and again. Tear gas thickens and smothers. A bright white wall running the length of the street obscures the full view. The image is tinged with something ghostly, brutal. An unthinkable images of the streets, the everyday landscape of a place I have seen every day for over twenty years.
It hurts to breathe. I rub my eyes and cough. My neighbor beckons to me from her window. “Come over to the door,” she shouts. I can barely make her words out over the clattering pans and screaming around us. There's a new blast. “Murderers!” The scream multiplies, elevates, rocks, trembles and flows outward. In the street, the national guardsmen advance and spread. I see their figures appear and disappear in the pearly darkness. A quick spark of light. And the sound of another blast embraces the world, throttles it. My throat thickens and closes in fear.
When I open the door, my neighbor slides her arm around my shoulders and places a damp cloth in my hands. “Wash your face off with this,” she whispers, “to get the gas off you, so you don't get intoxicated.” She inclines her head toward mine. “This is going to get worse,” she adds. She is shaking with fear, like me. I press her hand between mine, as firmly as I'm able. I do not know if it seemed that way.
“They're throwing bombs at buildings,” she tells me in a nervous whisper. “They say that by the street corner, they're trying to get some of them inside.”
She pushes me firmly into the hall. A group of neighbors are huddled there, half hidden in the gloom. A woman I remember from a nearby apartment sobs in a corner. Her cries sound small, fragile, painful. My neighbor shrugs and looks around. I feel her impotence. Like mine. Like everyone’s, I suppose.
“We don’t know what to do. The people downstairs just came up,” she explains to me quietly. “Let's just wait here until everything passes. Put this on your face so you can breathe.”
I obey. The rag is soaked in some liquid with a curious citrus smell infused with something I do not immediately recognize. I let myself slide down to the floor by the door. My heart is thumping so hard I can hardly breathe, my tightening throat grips me in a slow, blinding panic that I struggle to contain. I hear a new blast. An enraged shout. The sound of breaking glass. The woman's sobs in the hallway grow louder and take on a tone of childlike fright. Fear is everywhere, like an unbearable stench that steals my breath from me.
I cover my ears with my hands and try to stay calm. I am not going to cry, I tell myself. I am not going to cry, I repeat. We hear another blast.
The street is desolate now, with scorched garbage and pieces of broken glass scattered everywhere. An insignificant scene from some random pitched battle. I tread carefully, trying not to stumble. A woman advancing from a few feet away shakes her head and kicks what appears to be the twisted remains of a plastic container.
“You know what hurts the most?” She says when I catch up to her. Her face is sorrowful. Like mine, I suppose—I do not know what will happen next with all these protests. You feel the rage, the fury, but don’t know what will happen next.
Together, we walk a few feet further. The scorched remnants of one of the countless political campaign posters plastered all over the city float in a dirty puddle. I look at it and am overtaken by a feeling of deep disgust. I think back on all the years of political battles, of polemical debates. Of pained hatred spewing forth in all directions, emanating from a twisted core of intolerance and fanaticism. Nearly two decades of a blind fight that advances and retreats at the whims of the powerful, a confrontation fueled by resentment and fratricidal malevolence. How close are we to the abyss, I ask, and force myself to keep moving. How close are we to the final confrontation? Will that moment ever arrive?
A ramshackle fence is still standing two blocks from where I live, smeared and darkened with soot from where fire licked the wood. Someone told me several of the tear gas bombs launched that night landed near this rickety fortification. Amidst the clash of uniformed officials and protesters, this cheap bulwark of wood and plastic was battered by stones and broken bottles. I gaze at the ashen prints left by the fire and try to picture the scene in my mind: the group of invaders hiding in the dark in an embankment piled with garbage, listening to the same blasts as me, breathing the same tear gas, unable to escape or protect themselves. I quicken my pace, sickened and reeling. Terrified by the haunting effects of fears both tangible and imaginary.
A survivor among a group of locals who have taken cover in a vacant lot watches me, shielded by one of the last pieces of zinc sheeting in his possession. His face is taut and hollow with tension. Like mine, I remind myself. I hear a broken wooden door shut somewhere behind me. It makes a hollow sound, small, futile. It brings my thoughts back to the violence, the death, and the toxic cloud that enveloped the street the night before. We who were due to inherit the fulfilment of society’s vindications, the faithful believers in Hugo Chavez’s revolution, have instead fallen prey to a colossal, historical hoax. Who are the victims and enemies at the frontlines of this raging antagonism? Who will be the survivors?
The stench of tear gas lingers everywhere. An invisible trace that recalls the existence of something abject and difficult to adequately express. I stand in the middle of the street, contemplating the brittle normalcy around me. There is something unreal in this vision of the commonplace, of inertia, of violence on the other side of an imaginary border. This is how we've learned to live after 20 years, each and every day, with the aggression, abuse and fear that is now a regular part of our daily life. When will we realize we are prisoners of a failed and violent system? How much more do we need to understand the real scope of this ongoing tragedy? What unimaginable calamity will be next?
I know very little about civil war, even if at times I think I do. I know nothing about genocide and mass murder, in spite of how much I’ve read about those subjects in books, articles, and personal accounts. The only thing I know is helplessness, this sense of nameless terror that infuses everything I look at, everything I think about. I watch passersby trudge slowly down the street, women clutching children in their arms, men rushing to cross the avenue. How many of us understand what the tragedy of violence really means? How many of us truly realize the traumatic cost of a confrontation that warps us into irreconcilable enemies? I stand and gaze at the street where I grew up, its little details, the places I know by heart. Traces of violence everywhere. When did violence become part of my life? Of the everyday landscape?
I myself don't know, or even worse: I do not remember. And the possibility of forgetting, of losing that uniform gaze at both past and future, is more painful than anything else, more difficult to understand than any other thought. A hostage of my own memory.
At the bakery, a man comments aloud about the street protests happening in Caracas. His voice is ragged, angry, confrontational, pained. He does not make a partisan proclamation nor express a political opinion, but rather a sincere, concerned complaint. Our daily burden to bear.
“Something has to happen, for better or worse. Something has to happen from all this,” he repeats, shrugging his shoulders, shaking his head. “Something has to happen to make people understand how screwed we all are. All of us—no one is safe.”
Silence. Customers lined up at the counter avert their eyes, shake their heads, nervously clear their throats. The man clenches his fists, his face flushed with fury.
“Am I lying? All of us are fucked, aren't we?”
“The problem is we're all so used to ignoring what goes on, we look the other way and try to carry on like we did before. No one remembers they should stand up and face this,” says a woman next to the cash register. “In this country everyone goes on and acts like nothing ever happens.”
I'm irritated by the resigned, almost bored tone with which she speaks. But I also can't stop thinking about the truth of her words. Over the last decade-and-a-half under the Chávez administration, most Venezuelans have faced fear, hope, terror and exhaustion on a daily basis; a blank space without name or definition, whose emptiness seems to define better than anything else this point in history at which we live. Or perhaps there just isn't a name for this broken, soft indifference, this cracked exhaustion crushing our civic consciousness, this simple perception of reality we endure day by day. It's a kind of deaf battle against nothingness, against despair and distress.
There is a general murmur of approval. The man sighs, hunches his shoulders. Emotion colors his cheeks, makes him clench his fists. I relate to his frustration, his weariness. That fall into silence. The scene repeats itself a thousand times over, mirrors the twisted face of a country deeply wounded by fear.
“Venezuela is falling to pieces,” the man says. “We’re falling apart and I wonder if any of us are even aware of it.”
I think back to his words as I plod along the street amid the rubble of an unequal battle, fissured with a tenuous wound that never heals, the perennial sense of not recognizing the country I live in. With our national identity broken and crumbling into a mixture of grief and a slow, endless, deep suffering. This feeling of belonging nowhere and without a history.
Sitting in the living room of my house, I try not to cry. But I give in, of course, because of the deep anguish I carry everywhere; because of the daily crushing horror, because of this Venezuela which is not mine but that I must endure. I wonder how long I can resist, to avoid this reality from crushing me. What will happen next? And, of course, I have no answers. I've never had any and I suppose I never will. And that gaze into the void—into the abyss—is hard to bear. An deep sense of fear has become a way of life.

author: Aglaia Berlutti


text:
Fake News Twists Hong Kong Airline Hostesses’ Refusal to Wear Chinese Name Tags · Global Voices
Chinese Border-crossing Question and Answer

Cathay Pacific Cabin Crew. Photo from Flickr user: Dane Alegana (CC: AT)
The following article is based on a translation of a post that appeared first in Chinese on Hong Kong's Inmedia outlet.
News concerning changes to the outfits worn by airline cabin crews has stirred real debate among Chinese-speaking online communities in recent times.
In May, Emirates faced a furious backlash after demanding its Taiwan crew wear mainland China's national flag pin rather than the Taiwan island pin on their uniforms, following apparent pressure from Beijing. Emirates walked back the order after a number of people vowed to boycott the airline.
This month, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific airline suspended its new policy of adding Chinese names onto Hong Kong and Taiwan cabin crews’ name tags after the airline's union spoke out against the decision on privacy grounds.
While the political underpinnings of Emirates’ outfit policy were plain for all to see, the controversy over Cathay Pacific's name tag policy has mostly been stoked by ‘fake news’ originating in the mainland Chinese press.
The name tag furore was reported in Hong Kong as early as June 1. The union's arguments that it pushed back against the move in order to protect staff privacy would seem legitimate, since Chinese names are very specific and thus easy to track.
Nor is this a just a hypothetical danger. In fact, a number of air hostesses from Cathay Dragon, Cathay Pacific's sister airline, which adopted the Chinese name tag outfit last year, have filed complaints to the company after stalkers managed to find their names via social media platforms and send them disturbing messages.
However, the news of the union's protest was twisted in mainland China on June 11 under an antagonistic headline: “Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Air Hostesses Refuse to Wear Chinese Name Tags Because They Don't Want to Please Mainland Chinese Passengers”.
The headline deliberately inverted one air hostess’ comment that the company originally adopted the new tags in order to “please mainland Chinese Passengers”. The report went on to suggest that the air hostesses now instead wanted to “please foreigners” with their English name tags.
The report published in various news portals including Sina and Sohu is symptomatic of Chinese government depictions of Hong Kong. Since the 2014 massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, mainland outlets have argued Hong Kong is a society with pro-Western values that fundamentally rejects Chinese identity.
Unfortunately, the same headline was copied and published in a Taiwan news outlet the next day.
Furthermore, another Taiwanese media outlet picked up the point about pleasing foreigners and added a further twist “Too Unfashionable! Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Air Hostesses Refuse to Wear ‘Chinese Name Tag’, Complain it Would Obstruct Their Chances of Making Friends with Foreigners”. The article was published June 12 and went viral on various online forums.
To clarify the picture, the Chinese Q & A news team interviewed Dora Lai, the deputy head of Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union which has a 43-year history and more than 6,000 members. Lai said her union's opposition to the policy was “nothing to do with language”.
Her interview (abridged) is below.
問： 國泰航空公司是否曾提出要求空中服務員使用「中文名牌」？理由是甚麼？是為了討好大陸乘客嗎？
答：國泰航空公司要求空中服務員在名牌加上身份証明文件的「中文名字」，但名牌上的英文名字則不用按照文件規定。工會反對使用身份文件的名字作名牌的建議，但不肯定公司使用「中文名牌」政策是否為討好大陸的乘客。
工會估計有關措施，是為了跟國泰的全資附屬公司港龍航空看齊。港龍空中服務員早已使用「中文名牌」，但工會不認同港龍的措施。港龍航班較多的航班是來往大陸與本港，空中服務員的外站逗留(layover)時間較短，主要在外地停留一晚，不能與經常負責長途航班的國泰空中服務員相比。
Q: Did Cathay Pacific demand cabin crews wear “Chinese name tags”? What is the rationality behind the policy? Does the company want to please mainland Chinese passengers?
A: Cathay Pacific demanded that the “Chinese name” that appears on the name tags should be the same as the name on their identity cards, but the same requirement does not apply to the English name. The Union opposes the use of names registered to identity cards (real names) and is uncertain if the company's Chinese name tag policy is designed to please mainland Chinese passengers.
The union believes that the policy is to follow the practice of Cathay Dragon as that airline's air hostesses already wear Chinese name tags. But the union does not agree with Cathay Dragon's policy. Most of Cathay Dragon's flights are flying between mainland China and Hong Kong, the layover time for the crew is much shorter, usually within one night, while Cathay Pacific's flights are usually long distance [meaning hostesses stop in hotels for longer where they can fall prey to stalkers].
問：怎樣的名牌政策較為適合呢？
答：工會認為國泰應保持目前的名牌政策，由員工決定名牌的名字較好，因為名牌主要作用給予乘客方便稱呼，不必涉及服務員的個人私隱。
Q: What is the most appropriate name tag policy?
A: The Union believe the current name tag policy should be retained. The air hostesses can decide the name on the tag. The name tag is to make it more convenient for the passengers to address the air hostesses; that can be done without infringing on the air hostesses’ privacy.
問：是因為覺得使用中文太土氣嗎？
答：工會沒有收到任何如報導的反對原因︰｢不夠高端洋氣，甚至還有點土氣，會影響結交洋人的機會｣。不清楚文中原因的消息來源，我已讀過所有會員的意見書，亦未在社交網絡上看見此講法。其實，就算改用中文名牌，亦都會保留英文名字，｢會影響結交洋人的機會」的講法並不正確。
Q: Do the air hostesses feel that Chinese names are ‘unfashionable'?
A: The Union has never heard of any reasons such as those that appeared in that report…I have no idea who exactly their source is. From all the opinions I have read from our members and my social media network, I have never come across such reasoning. Even if we use Chinese names, the English names remain on the name tag, so there is no grounds to say that a Chinese name tag would “obstruct the chance of making friends with foreigners”.


text:
Five Years on, Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi’s Family Repeats Call for His Release · Global Voices
Mohammed Al Nemer

One of Amnesty International's campaign posters for Raif Badawi. Source: Twitter.
Activists are calling for the release of Saudi activist Raif Badawi, who has completed five years of his 10-year sentence in prison.
In 2013, a criminal court in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia sentenced Badawi to seven years in prison and 600 lashes on a charge of “insulting Islam through electronic channels”.
Badawi was prosecuted for creating the blog “Saudi Arabian Liberals”, an online forum he launched in 2008 debating the role of religion in the conservative kingdom.
In 2014, his sentence was increased to 10 years and 1,000 lashes.
The most recent campaign was launched by Amnesty International. The human rights group worked with Ensaf Haidar, Raif Badawi's wife, and their three children who live in Sherbrooke, Canada, to help free Raif.
They published a video of his three children demanding the release of their father.
10 years. 1000 lashes for writing a blog. Today marks 5 years since Raif Badawi's arrest. His kids have 1 message for @KingSalman #FreeRaif pic.twitter.com/v2pStWjfM7
— AmnestyInternational (@amnesty) June 17, 2017
- Ten years in prison, 100 lashes, for writing words for peace.
– It’s not fair that our father is in prison. He’s not killed anybody.
– We’ve had enough.
– He just created a blog.
– That’s not illegal.
– We’ve waited too long.
– We need to see our daddy.
– The thing I miss most about my dad…
– is his infectious smile.
On Twitter, Amnesty International's Gulf account invited its followers to tweet directly at Saudi Arabia's King Salman, asking him to free Raif.
.@Raif_Badawi has already spent 5 years in prison. Just for blogging. Tell @KingSalman that’s 5 years too many – he must #FreeRaif now! pic.twitter.com/mSfbBjtv8P
— Amnesty Gulf (@amnestygulf) June 17, 2017
Raif's children also shared additional messages for Raif through Amnesty's website.
“When we left to Canada, I thought you’d surprise us at the airport. But you weren’t there. I remained angry,” 14 years old Najwa writes.
“For the longest time, I thought you had left us. I thought you didn’t love us anymore or didn’t care. For the longest time, I was worried sick about Mom. What was going to happen to us without you?”
Miriam, 10 was a four-year-old the last time she saw her father. She wrote: “I try to remember you. Your voice, your hugs, but I can’t. I was tiny, clinging on to Mom when we left you and ran away.”
The then 32-year-old was also ordered to pay a one million riyals fine (approximately US$266,600). In January 2015, he was flogged 50 out of the scheduled 1,000 lashes. His second flogging has been postponed due to Badawi's poor health.

author: Mohammed Al Nemer


text:
One Last Bolt: Jamaicans Party at National Stadium After Usain’s Last Run on Native Soil · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

It was a Saturday night that many Jamaicans will remember for a long time. Jamaica's superstar athlete, Usain Bolt, ran his last race in Jamaica on June 10, 2017, provoking screams of excitement, vuvuzela blasts and a party atmosphere among 30,000 supporters at Kingston's national stadium.
The occasion was the JN Racers Grand Prix, which featured a host of other Olympic athletes — including Bolt's former training partner Yohan Blake — who was in good form and declared he was there to fill the vacuum left by Bolt – who is retiring, and will run his final international race at the upcoming IAAF World Championships in London in August.
The sprint legend received red carpet treatment and a guard of honour. Government officials, diplomats and celebrities flocked to the stadium, and social media was awash with tributes, selfies and videos of the race, in which Bolt got off to a slightly nervous start but soon caught up. It was a treat for athletics fans:
Look who I got a selfie with yesterday ? The great Mo Farah! #OneLastBolt pic.twitter.com/llCmEc5eNa
— Rosheika Grant (@rosheikagrant) June 11, 2017
Video camera in hand, British track athlete and Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah, himself a Bolt fan, was keen to record the athlete's sprint, much to Jamaicans’ amusement:
Lol @ #MoFarah running behind & taping #UsainBolt
— Dionne JacksonMiller (@djmillerJA) June 11, 2017
The main event, which Bolt won quite easily, was the 100 meter sprint. Fans enthused:
10.03 seconds! I was ere! I saw it. It is finished! Every emotion ?☹??☹?????#RacersGradPrix #OneLastbolt pic.twitter.com/mXhlLEWKih
— Cleo Walker (@KleoBell) June 11, 2017
Some were overcome with nostalgia:
I cried tonight at the National Stadium. Can't believe this is the last time I get to see @usainbolt run.We thank you! #OneLastBolt
— unknown (@Lacey_World) June 11, 2017
Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Sports Minister Olivia Grange made the most of the wave of euphoria surrounding the event, having hosted International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe for the occasion:
This morning PM @AndrewHolnessJM and I met with @sebcoe at Jamaica House pic.twitter.com/qsNtHtnE8R
— Hon.Olivia Grange (@Babsy_grange) June 10, 2017
Coe heaped praises on Bolt — whom he referred to as the GOAT (the Greatest Of All Time) — local journalist Abka Fitz-Henley reported:
@iaaforg boss @sebcoe tells @Reuters‘ @kayraynor that @usainbolt is surely the greatest track athlete of all time –  https://t.co/owsFqigGsf
— Abka Fitz-Henley (@AbkaFitzHenley) June 11, 2017
Sports writer Andre Lowe noted Bolt's contribution to the “business” of sport:
His ascension has brought and will continue to push more talented Jamaican youth to the sport. In Jamaica, where not enough is taken seriously enough, athletics is now seen as big business – Bolt's brilliance has led a boom where the local industry is concerned. We are still far behind as it relates to sports tourism , but again, Bolt has been a major contributor to the thrust – or trickle – of the Jamaican sports tourism product.
Commentator Brian-Paul Walsh reflected that Usain Bolt's career was a ray of light in an otherwise gloomy local landscape:
While sentimentally observing the culmination of a spectacular career, it would be remiss to not contextualise those spectacular performances with the other national records we would rather not highlight, such as the galloping crime rate and the plummeting dollar.
As social and economic conditions deteriorated, Bolt's development accelerated, thrusting him and this nation into global news for sprinting at a time when we were also gaining notoriety for scamming. On a night when hearts were aflutter in anticipation of one final 100-metre race inside the National Stadium, there were many households in mourning over tragic losses to their families from that week's murder madness. While dignitaries gathered inside the royal box to snap shots with the greatest of all time, their minions made mischief in communities just beyond the bright lights.
In the midst of excruciating circumstances and with very little around us to provide hope, we are fortunate to have lived in this time and to have one of us brilliantly defy the odds and rise into the fullness of himself.
Bolt's old school in rural Trelawny proudly paid tribute:
Amidst all the Bolt euphoria at the event, one world record was broken in the 200 meters by South African Wayde van Niekerk. The stellar lineup of athletes reflected the growing stature of Jamaican track, which Bolt has been largely responsible for, and the event was widely covered by international media:
“A sacred moment”.
Usain Bolt won his final 100m race in Jamaica on Sunday.
Watch: https://t.co/NSMb86ZgJL pic.twitter.com/1O44wtdKp8
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 12, 2017
A local professional photographer took this stunning shot:
For Crimson. pic.twitter.com/x2j4jDPoG9
— Cevan ? (@cevancoore) June 11, 2017
And the Gleaner's Ricardo Makyn captured this gem:
.@usainbolt flips his cap ahead of his stellar 100m run at the Racers Grand Prix. #OneLastBolt @rmakyn pic pic.twitter.com/Qq5Lmv8We2
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) June 11, 2017
Not everyone was impressed by local media coverage of the event, however. University lecturer Damien King thought some were “cashing in”:
Gleaner devotes its entire front page and page 2 to an ADVERTISEMENT presented as news. And for a product it itself is selling. Shameless. pic.twitter.com/TGVblKMFSm
— Damien King (@DamienWKing) June 10, 2017
Bolt confided that his close friend, fellow Jamaican athlete Germaine Mason, who died in a motorcycle accident in Kingston in April 2017, was weighing on his mind — but as the races ended, it was time to relax and celebrate, with Bolt displaying his well-known love of dancing:
@usainbolt‘s dancing skills are on point! ?? He wins with the ‘Fling yuh shoulder’ @dingdongravers #RacersGrandPrix #TVJRGP pic.twitter.com/OTGC5sxvl1
— Television Jamaica (@televisionjam) June 11, 2017
Although most of the lights had been turned off, Bolt continued to party:
Bolt says don't turn off the sound….him will pay fi di light. He's having time of his life. #OneLastBolt
— Arhazivory (@Arhazivory) June 11, 2017
Fireworks closed the show:
#onelastbolt pic.twitter.com/Nt6AltNBjW
— ?? (@torpedo876) June 11, 2017
One media personality commented:
No one has left the stadium!!! Jamaicans reciprocating the same love and respect #MakeItLegendary #onelastbolt
— Terri-Karelle Reid (@TerriKarelle) June 11, 2017
So what's next for the legendary Usain? He has not said much about his plans, although he will appear as a footballer in a video game:
Bolt's final professional race will take place at the IAAF World Championships in London this August, but his example will continue to inspire Jamaicans from all walks of life. Broadcast journalist Cliff Hughes shared:
The boy from Trelawny now the legend@usainbolt is a living example that we can be a great nation and people. Let's aim for greatness.
— Cliff Hughes (@cliffnationwide) June 11, 2017
Later that evening, the man himself tweeted, simply:
Thank you Jamaica????
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) June 11, 2017

author: Emma Lewis


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Thailand’s Junta Leader Wants Citizens to Answer Four Leading Questions About Elections · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

General Prayut Chan-o-cha. Photo from Prachatai website.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging citizens to visit government centers and answer four election questions that could determine the country’s future.
Prayut was the army chief who led the coup in 2014. He vowed that the military would restore civilian rule once political and electoral reforms were implemented. A constitution was approved in 2016 which laid the groundwork for the holding of elections but it was strongly criticized because it contained provisions that gave the military broad powers in the bureaucracy.
Below are the four questions listed by Prayut:
1. Will elections bring good governance?
2. What then, if elections do not bring good governance?
3. Is it right to only focus on elections, at the expense of the country’s future and other issues?
4. Should bad politicians be given a chance to run for office, and if conflicts return, who will solve them and by what means?
About 1,000 centers across the country were opened to receive responses from the people. The government is also thinking of doing the survey in malls in order to reach out to more people.
Leaders of political parties expressed concern about the real motives of Prayut in launching the unusual survey of public opinion. They are worried that Prayut could be softening the public towards the idea of extended military rule in the country. But Prayut supporters insisted that the junta leader is simply interested to learn the views of ordinary citizens, rather than paying attention to the loud voices of opposition politicians.
Thai PM Gen. Prayut drew flak for floating 4 leading questions on his weekly TV address that some see as finding a pretext to stay in power
— Saksith Saiyasombut (@SaksithCNA) May 29, 2017
Sunai Phasuk, Asia’s senior researcher of Human Rights Watch, is doubtful about the reliability of the survey:
Few will be brave enough to say they oppose prolonged military rule, repudiation of election results, strong-man rule, or even another military coup. Why? Because they understand expression of dissenting opinion is punishable under the orders of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO).
NCPO is the name of the government established by the junta.
In the past three years, the junta has strictly regulated the media. It also used the Lese Majeste (anti-Royal Insult) law to arrest and prosecute individuals for criticizing the military dictatorship.
Independent news website Prachatai asked some activist groups to list their own leading questions for Prayut to answer. The New E-saan Movement reminded Prayut that coups undermine democracy:
Are you aware that coup d’etats violate democratic and human rights principles?
If in the future, Thailand experiences another coup d’etat, will it be charged as a crime against the state?
Unionist Sriprai Nonsee urged Prayut and the military to return power to the people:
Coup d’etats to seize power from the people are unlawful. How, then, can a junta meet standards of good governance? When will you return power to the people, by restoring the right to vote and by revising the constitution—which should come from the people genuinely?
Journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk tweeted four questions for Prayut:
I also have 4 questions for Prayuth. #Juntaland #Thailand #Prayuth #NCPO #coup #pressfreedom pic.twitter.com/TycuU3ppxO
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) May 29, 2017

author: Mong Palatino


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What Next for US-Australian Relations After Malcolm Turnbull Mocks ‘The Donald’? · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Malcolm Turnbull mocks Donald Trump at Midwinter Ball – Image: Author's mockup from 9News video.
As has been widely reported, Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently lampooned Donald Trump in a stand-up performance at Canberra's Midwinter Ball. The ball is the Aussie equivalent of the White House correspondents dinner that Trump boycotted this year, except that proceedings are supposed to be confidential.
The pair had a bumpy start to their relationship. A phone call in late January between the two was far from harmonious with Trump extremely critical of a refugee resettlement deal negotiated with the Obama administration. He allegedly told the PM that it was “the worst call by far” to a world leader and tweeted:
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
His administration eventually agreed to implement the agreement. Asylum seekers are currently being assessed with extreme vetting.
Audio of the send-up was leaked by veteran Australian political journalist Laurie Oakes. He argued that he did not feel obliged to follow the “off-the-record tradition” as he did not attend the event and thinks the ban is inappropriate. The Guardian's Katharine Murphy agrees:
If the press gallery continues to agree that midwinter ball speeches off the record, we have jumped the bloody shark https://t.co/KFCbpbFf09
— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) June 15, 2017
This video was posted to the 9News Facebook page:
9News is Oakes’ employer. There have been hundreds of comments. They include support for or criticism of both Turnbull and Laurie Oakes.
Turnbull's routine involved some impersonations of the president complete with gestures. Politicususa summarised the script:
“The Donald and I … we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much We are winning like we have never done before. We are winning in the polls. We are. Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we are not winning in. We are winning in the real polls. You know the online polls. They are so easy to win. I know that, do you know that? I kind of know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy..”
Social media reaction was mixed. @tom_clift had a round up of Twitter responses for Oz pop culture website Junkee:
Australians can't resist trolling Trump supporters who are mad about Malcolm Turnbull's roast. https://t.co/6FfdV7BMh6
— Junkee (@junkeedotcom) June 17, 2017
John Wren, an anonymous tweep, was one of many Australians on Twitter who mocked Americans’ supposed ignorance of the world:
#Trump Learns Of Turnbull Impersonation, Cuts All Ties With Austria #auspol https://t.co/FG82qxqybE
— John Wren (@JohnWren1950) June 15, 2017
There were a number of positive comments about Turnbull such as Alex's:
Malcolm Turnbull seems so much more human after hanging shit on Donald Trump
— Alex (@alexnotalexandr) June 16, 2017
Perhaps it was a storm in a champagne glass as the Donald seems not to have taken the bait according to the US embassy in Canberra:
US Embassy not offended by Malcolm Turnbull mocking Trump https://t.co/M1bfH8sReH pic.twitter.com/rKJxsQXHP8
— Zesty Trump News (@zesty_trump) June 16, 2017

author: Kevin Rennie


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‘Who Has the Most Selfies?’ Council of Bloggers Meets for First Time in Russian Parliament · Global Voices
Isaac Webb

Vladimir Zhirinovsky speaks at the first meeting of the Council of Bloggers in Russia's lower house of parliament. Source: YouTube.
Within days of announcing the creation of a “Council of Bloggers” in Russia's lower house of parliament, State Duma MP Vasily Vlasov had put together an impressive guest list for the first meeting: Vlasov extended invitations to 25 influential writers and videobloggers, including opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Wylsacom (Valentin Petuhov), Sasha Spilburg (Aleksandra Balkovskaya), kamikadze_d (Dmitry Ivanov), and Ilya Varlamov—it was a veritable who's who of the Russian blogosphere.
The only problem was that all of them RSVP'd “no” to the June 19 meeting. Indeed, none of the influential or controversial bloggers invited actually showed up to the meeting, which was instead attended by pro-regime or apolitical bloggers. (Watch the full meeting here.) The bloggers who did attend included Elena Lisovskaya, the author of the “Lisa Drives” car testing videoblog; firebrand Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky; and Elizaveta Peskova (the daughter of Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov), whose online presence quite limited outside of her Instagram feed, which features glam shots of her taken across Western Europe.
Unsurprisingly, Peskova made sure to ‘gram from the Duma:
Накануне, в прямом эфире РБК шла дискуссия о том, что власть не слышит молодежь, а несколько недель ранее я писала о том, что не понимаю, что наша Московская мэрия делает с тротуарами и с организацией движения в центре Москвы. Пускай, не со всем можно согласиться, но сам факт, что мне ответили меня поразил. Я хочу сказать СПАСИБО за ответ. Все действительно зависит от нас и нашей способности вести диалог.
A post shared by nomade. Elizaveta. me cool (@stpellegrino) on
Without opposition voices, the meeting's conversation frequently veered into the absurd: Instead of discussing popular blogosphere topics like corruption or nepotism, Zhirinovsky, for example, asked Egor Yakovlev, the co-founder of the magazine “Selfie,” who in the room had posted the most selfies online. Yakovlev replied, “probably Elizaveta,” which Peskova objected to. “I generally take selfies only rarely. Two or three weeks ago I posed my first selfie in half a year.” Not to be outdone, Zhirinovsky joked: “I have more than ten thousand. Who has more than me? No one!”
Varlamov, a popular blogger who declined to attend the event, speculated that the Kremlin had arranged the Council of Bloggers in response to the anti-corruption protests that have swept across Russia over the last three months, in part powered by influential bloggers posting on social media. Varlamov saw the formation of the Council as way for bureaucrats to connect with disgruntled youth, whose presence at the nationwide protests has surprised many commentators—and worried many state officials.
The invitation sent to the popular blogger Ilya Varlamov to attend the first session of the Council of Bloggers. Source: http://varlamov.ru/2415417.html.
The formation of the Council comes amidst a broader effort by the Russian government to connect with younger generations: at the end of April, the Duma created official Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, VKontakte, and Odnoklassniki pages to promote its activity among millennials.
Still, members of the State Duma were quick to distance themselves from the Council of Bloggers, saying it was entirely led by Vlasov, the youngest member of parliament. Some of Vlasov's colleagues went as far as to accuse him of using the initiative to increase his name recognition and popularity online.

author: Isaac Webb


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With Economy Unravelling, What Awaits the Turkmen Regime? · Global Voices
Salam Aleik

Photo taken in Ashgabat in 2007 by Michael Karavanov. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
On June 7, Turkmenistan's all-powerful president ordered a stripping away of the generous subsidy system that gives local people a reason — asides form fear — to tolerate their grandstanding, totalitarian resource-rich government.
Citizens have enjoyed effectively free water, electricity and gas from the early days of independence from the Soviet Union. Now there will be no more freebies for citizens of the country with the world's fourth biggest gas reserves, behind only Qatar in reserves per capita.
The reason? An energy price-linked financial crisis, which has also seen the local manat currency sharply depreciate, the cost of imported foods and other goods spike and shortages pop up all over the economy.
As Dmitri Shishkin a PR-Director at neighbouring Kazakhstan's Kazakhfilm company, wrote:
Кажется, Туркменистан почти всё. Добрались костлявые руки углеводородного кризиса до родины башизма. Ждём появления центральноазиатской Венесуэлы.
This is the end for Turkmenistan. The crisis has reached the country. Now we’ll see the appearance of the Central Asian Venezuela.
Some of the parallels thrown up by Shishkin's comment are interesting to ponder.
Like Venezuela, Turkmenistan's economy is very undiversified, with hydrocarbons accounting for over 90% of both countries’ exports. Like Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov came to power following the death of a more charismatic predecessor. Finally, both Maduro and Berdymukhamedov have found their governments increasingly unable to meet the basic needs of their populations and pay wages on time as energy profits have shrunk.
Yet in other ways, the two countries are very different. While Venezuela has slid deeper and deeper into authoritarianism amid a profound economic, social and political crisis, Turkmenistan has long been a totalitarian state with rubber stamp political institutions and courts unworthy of the name. In Reporters Without Borders press freedom rankings Venezuela places 137th out of 180 countries, while Turkmenistan places 178th. The Central Asian country's internet is among the most restricted in the world.
With political opposition, independent sources of information and the civic space almost completely invisible in Turkmenistan, it seems unlikely that the Berdymukhamedov regime can be troubled by the sort of protests that have dogged the Maduro regime and seen it resort to brutal violence against protesters. The democratic institutions that Maduro has aggressively sought to erode in Venezuela, by dissolving and then weakening the national assembly dominated by opposition, and by stuffing the judiciary with loyalists, have simply never existed in Turkmenistan.
But that does not mean that the Turkmen regime does not have dark days ahead of it, as a nadir mostly of its own making continues to deepen.
Sharing responsibility for the country's economic malaise along with low oil and gas prices and systemic corruption is the Turkmen government's propensity to spend wastefully on vanity projects. A new falcon-shaped airport in Ashgabat set the government back more than $2 billion and is reportedly sinking into the ground. The Central Asian state is also spending billions of dollars on hosting a B-list sporting tournament, the 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, that it committed to before the oil price crisis began, with whole communities reportedly being forcibly displaced for the purpose of building infrastructure ahead of the games.
These projects — rather than state subsidies — are apparently the new priorities for a government that claims citizens are living in the era of “supreme happiness and the stable state.”
Writing on Facebook, Azerbaijani Rustam Musayev suggested that the extent of the economic downturn in the country means they will soon be living somewhere else entirely, joining millions of citizens from other Central Asian states earning a living abroad in order to feed their families.
Никогда в Москве не видел гастарбайтеров из Туркмении и Казахстана. Теперь вероятно появятся и туркмены.
I have never seen Turkmen migrant workers in Moscow. Now probably they also will appear here.

author: Salam Aleik


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Filmed Beating of Somali Woman Highlights the Dangers That Europe-Bound Refugees Face · Global Voices
Faaris Adam

A group of Somali migrants in Libya. Photo by Salman Jamal used with permission.
In Somalia, a lack of job opportunities and civil war lead youth to risk their lives to travel from their homeland to Europe. They face abuse and exploitation by armed groups as well as smuggling networks operating in Libya, where many of the precarious boat journeys depart from.
Sumaya Jama, 15, is one such Somali. She decided to head to Europe, but recently fell into the hands of a group that demanded US $8,500 for her release. They filmed her with her hands and feet bound on the ground being whipped.
The video (link leads to disturbing content) soon went viral, and resulted in a fundraising campaign among the Somali community that collected nearly US $15,000 to free her.
Sumaya had been living with her mother in Dadaab, Kenya, the second largest refugee center in the world, before she tried to travel to Europe. Her mother, Nim’o Sultan, 48, said she was shocked to watch her daughter tortured on video. She told the author of this post, “I was in complete shock to see her video that I can’t even explain. Not one human being deserves to be treated that way regardless of what they did.”
At the moment Sumaya is in Libya; it is not yet clear if she will reunite with her mother in Dadaab or attempt once again to make it to Europe.
Following Sumaya’s release, the smugglers released more videos that show the abuse of three other Somalis. One of the disturbing videos is below:
Human traffickers in #Libya filmed themselves beating a fasting Somali migrant & sent video to family in #Somalia demanding ransom. #Ramadan pic.twitter.com/q9W9Nj3M7t
— Live From Mogadishu (@Daudoo) 7 de junio de 2017
Smugglers make ransom money by releasing torture videos of the refugees and migrants they hold. Salman Jamal, who reported Sumaya’s story and is a Universal Somali TV reporter based in Turkey, said the Somalis who appear in videos like this can’t afford their own ransom and need help to pay for their freedom. However, “most of the time the smugglers would do it just to show what they are capable of.”
Somali refugees don't always head to Europe, but there's danger in their journeys in other directions too. In March 2017, at least 42 Somalis were killed when an unknown helicopter fired on a boat carrying refugees off the coast of Yemen. They were travelling to Sudan.

author: Faaris Adam


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Offshore Asylum Seeker Detainees Win Historic Compensation in Australia · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Manus Island asylum seeker detention centre. Image courtesy Behrouz Boochani. Used with permission.
An out-of-court settlement has highlighted the treatment by Australia of people seeking asylum who have been detained in Papua New Guinea's Manus Island detention centre since 2012.
About 1,905 men are to share 70 million Australian dollars (about 52 million US dollars) in compensation from the federal government and security companies Transfield and G4S. The class action argued that they suffered “physical and psychological harm” in the detention centres.
Their lawyers, Slater and Gordon, spelt it out:
Lead plaintiff Majid Kamasaee in a statement said, “I came to Australia seeking peace, but I was sent to Manus, which was hell.”
— Slater and Gordon (@SlaterGordon) June 14, 2017
“Most were fleeing religious persecution and violence and came to Australia seeking protection, only to be denied their basic human rights.” pic.twitter.com/4ervDxDxsk
— Slater and Gordon (@SlaterGordon) June 14, 2017
The defendants will also pay 20 million (about 15 million US dollars) in legal costs. After the announcement, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton denied any admission of liability by the government.
John Lord and Martin Appleby, writing at the Australian Independent Media Network blog, called out the minister:
Shame, my country, shame on you that you would allow such evil to take place.
[…] Rather than defend their actions, which for the duration of the court proceedings would have caused considerable embarrassment for the government they chose, for 100 million dollars, to hide their atrocities from public view.
Refugee law professor Jane McAdam also questioned the minister's motives:
Avoiding #refugee litigation lets govt prevent evidence by over 70 witnesses & 200,000 documents being made public https://t.co/wdRxbyc3OO
— Jane McAdam (@profjmcadam) June 14, 2017
Iranian journalist and detainee Behrouz Boochani has documented life on Manus capturing video with a mobile phone. The result is “Chauka Please Tell Us The Time”, a collaboration with Iranian-Dutch filmmaker Arash Kamali Sarvestani.
It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival on 11 June to an enthusiastic reception:
A sea of fists in the air for filmmaker @BehrouzBoochani – locked on #manusIs #CloseTheCamps #auspol #Chauka #SydFilmFest pic.twitter.com/RlfkF0qj4Y
— DosvidanyaTrump (@MiraWroblewski) June 11, 2017
Behrouz posted his thoughts about the compensation deal on his Facebook page:
The compensation that Australia wants to pay to the refugees in Manus is not enough. They want to pay an average of about $35000 to each person and this amount can never cover four years of the suffering we have experienced. The majority of the refugees have been seriously damaged physically and mentally and this money is not even enough to cover the medical expenses they will have to pay as a result.
Most comments on his post were positive, but there was some opposition. Helen Yammine argued, “Why did they sneak in to Australia, they should have no right to compensation”.
Wendy Williams, a journalist with the non-profit Pro Bono Australia, is hopeful of a change to the current policy regarding people seeking asylum who come by boat:
The announcement should be the “final nail in the coffin” for offshore detention, according to social sector leaders.
Not everyone on Twitter was pleased with the payout:
The law is a shame.. Australian mugs are handing over $70M in compensation to 1900 illegal immigrants on Manus Island.
WHY?#auspol #Rudd
— Tibster AU (@TibsterAU) June 15, 2017
There are many similar comments (with some dissenters) on conservative journalist Andrew Bolt's blog post “WE PAY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS A FORTUNE FOR REFUSING TO GO HOME“.
In contrast, some on Twitter drew attention to the large sums of money already spent on the offshore program. These have apparently run into the tens of billions:
$35,000 each in compensation when each Manus prisoner cost $500,000 pa to keep in unlawful custody . The immoralists got off cheap.
— Dally Messenger III (@dallymessenger) June 14, 2017
Others compared the compensation with the “failed” program to resettle detainees in Cambodia:
Curious the $70m compensation paid to #Manus victims has produced louder howls than the $50m it cost to send 3 ppl to Cambodia #auspol
— Reclaim Humanity (@anusha_srini) June 14, 2017
Tim Byrnes captured the feelings of many online who are sympathetic to the plight of the detainees:
I get the feeling #ManusIsland asylum seekers would rather live in Aus than the payout #auspol #Bringthemhere
— Tim Byrnes (@timbyrnes89) June 14, 2017
Earlier Global Voices posts about Manus Island include:


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Photos Capture the Delicate Beauty of Nepal’s Butterflies · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Red Lacewing. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
The Himalayan country of Nepal has always fascinated trekkers, climbers, wildlife lovers and adrenaline junkies. However, if you’re a lepidopterist, it’s the perfect place to follow your passion. Nepal boasts of having more than 650 species of butterflies, accounting for 3.72 per cent of world’s butterfly species.
Butterflies are found everywhere in Nepal – from the jungles in the southern plains to the mountains in the northern part. The hills around the Kathmandu Valley are good areas for spotting the winged creatures. The March-June and August-October periods are the peak butterfly watching seasons.
Susheel Shrestha, a freelance photographer, has captured more than 150 species of butterflies found in Nepal from the lowlands to a height of 3810 meters in Upper Mustang.
Winner of many national photo competitions, Shrestha told Global Voices: “The butterfly habitat is decreasing day by day due to increasing human population.”
Bitten by the bug of nature and wildlife photography, Shrestha continues to capture the butterflies and plans to produce a coffee table book to showcase Nepal’s beauty and promote tourism in the country.
Here are some of the butterflies he has shot with his camera in different parts of Nepal.
Lime Swallowtail. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Oriental Common Evening Brown. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Indian Cabbage White. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Indian Cabbage White on mustard flowers. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Group of Three-Spot Grass Yellow. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Three-Spot Grass Yellow mating. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Oriental Lemon Emigrant. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Yamfly. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Tailed Jay. Photo by Susheel Shrestha. Used with permission.
Shrestha isn't the only one documenting Nepal's butterflies. A British national, Colin Smith, spent more than 50 years studying butterflies in Nepal. He traveled to 40 districts collecting 25,000 butterflies and wrote the book Illustrated Checklist of Nepal’s Butterflies.
The butterflies collected by Smith — aka ‘Putali Baje’ meaning ‘Butterfly Granddad’ in Nepali — have been displayed at Natural History Museum, Kathmandu; Annapurna Butterfly Museum, Pokhara; and at Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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The ‘Invisible’ Children Who Died in the Care of the Chilean State · Global Voices
Connectas

Lissette's mother who, together with her attorney, sued the State of Chile. Photo by Univisión/ Sebastián Lafaurie, used with permission.
This report written by Daniela Mohor for Univisión was published by CONNECTAS. The following version has been published in Global Voices thanks to a content-sharing agreement.
The death of Lissette Villa, an 11-year-old girl in a children's home run by the Chilean state, uncovered a crisis in children's centers throughout country. According to official data, between 2005 and 2016 an estimated 865 children died  while in the care of state-run children's service centers.
She only had two weeks left before she turned 12. But for Lissette, her upcoming birthday was only a source of distress. She knew at this age she would have to leave the home for minors where she had lived since 2014 and transfer to another home in the commune of Pudahuel in Santiago. The place was well known by children like her — victims of abuse and mistreatment, abandoned by family, or juvenile delinquents — as one of worst in the network of protection centers of the Chilean National Children's Service (SENAME).
Lissette never made it to the center in Pudahuel. On April 11, 2016, she died of cardiac arrest. The circumstances of her death are still under investigation. Although a report by the Investigative Police lists “suffocation due to imprudent and careless actions of her caregivers” the autopsy indicates that at the time of death she had “facial injuries.”
More than a year has passed since, but Lissette Villa's death is still in the news in Chile. Once it became public, her story of poverty, insecurity and violence forced Chileans to pay attention to what happens to almost 100,000 of the most vulnerable children who seek protection and psychiatric help from SENAME each year.
The information that has come to light since then is devastating: in October 2016, Solange Huerta, who assumed leadership of SENAME in the middle of the crisis, revealed that between 2005 and 2016, an estimated 865 children and adolescents died while in the care of children's services. Of that number, 249 were adolescents over the age of 14 with a criminal background; 406 were children in the custody of their parents or relatives in outpatient protection programs. But the group that has caused the most impact is the 210 children who, like Lissette, lived in protective housing because their parents and close relatives were unable to care for them. Of these children, more than half were disabled and about one-third were under 6 years old. For 47 of them, according to the SENAME report, the cause of death is inconclusive.
“Lissette's case opened pandora's box,” said Sebastián Lafaurie, Lissette's mother's attorney, who has filed a complaint against SENAME. “After her death, the Public Ministry conducted an investigation into all of the centers across the country (around 260) which exposed negligence and failures in the system”:
Hoy sabemos que hay cientos de niños que murieron, pero no se denunciaban sus muertes. Quedaban ahí en el olvido, porque son niños que no le importan a nadie.
Now we know that hundreds of children died, but no one reported their deaths. They remained there forgotten, because they are children that no one cares about.
Anuar Quesille, protection officer from UNICEF Chile, commented:
Se ha tomado una serie de medidas importantes para la infancia, pero pese a todo eso, el Estado, independiente del gobierno de turno, se olvidó de los niños que son los más desfavorecidos en Chile: los que han sido víctima de alguna vulneración en sus derechos y que están al cuidado del Estado. Pareciera que esa es la gran raigambre olvidada de la infancia en Chile.
A number of important measures have been put in place for children, but despite all that the state, independent of the current government, has forgotten the most disadvantaged children in Chile: those who are victims, who have had their rights violated and are in the care of the state. It seems that this is the great forgotten branch of childhood in Chile.
The consequences are very real. In the last several months since the revelation of SENAME's institutional crisis, the media has published shocking stories: Jean Alejandro, for example, who was taken away from his mother 39 days after he was born and died at 1 year of age from acute pneumonia, a result of the neglect of his caregivers. Another story was published about a group of adolescents who fled from children's homes and preferred to live in an unsanitary wasteland in the middle of Santiago rather than return to SENAME's centers. There are allegations of beatings, sexual abuse, rape and prostitution within the centers. Among the deaths, several children took their own lives.
María José Ortúzar, psychologist and family mediator who has a degree in domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse, said:
Es terrible. Aquí hay una muerte real, que es la de estos cientos de niños, pero también hay una muerte simbólica en la invisibilización de ellos. No tienen un espacio adecuado. El mundo sigue girando y ellos siguen en el Sename atravesando situaciones complejas, que los llevan muchas veces a escapar sin tener a dónde ir.
It's horrible. There is a real death here, the death of hundreds of children, but there is also a symbolic death in their invisibility. There's no room for them. The world continues turning while they in SENAME are dealing with complex situations, that many times drive them to escape without having anywhere to go.
María José Ortúzar has not lost hope that changes are beginning to happen. “There has always been a problem with children in Chile. It's something that's been underground for many years,” she said. “Now for the first time the issue has come to light and has been discussed in the public square for months. The subject has been opened.”

author: Connectas


text:
Tropical Storm Bret Hits Trinidad & Tobago — and Twitter · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bad weather in Trinidad and Tobago in 2007. Photo by Georgia Popplewell, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Tropical Storm Bret has its sights set on Trinidad and Tobago — a rare occurrence, considering that the twin island republic lies just below the hurricane belt and is usually spared the wrath of foul weather come the annual Atlantic hurricane season.
Quite apart from Isidore in 2002, which didn't have much of an effect on the two islands, the last time a tropical storm came close to this neck of the woods was 1993. It was also named Bret, but passed stealthily between Trinidad and Tobago causing slight flooding and power outages; Venezuela, however, suffered great damage and loss of life.
Given the sense of deja vu, you'd think Trinbagonians would be keen to take the storm seriously — the meteorological service and Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management have issued several advisories to this effect — and perhaps most people are. But they wouldn't be “Trinis” if they didn't put their brand of humour on the whole experience, which is where Twitter comes in.
On the eve of the storm, three hilarious new Twitter accounts appeared: @StormBret, @GalvanizeRoof and @God868 — the last of which, using the islands’ area code, is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the nationwide notion that “God is a Trini”, ergo no harm can befall the country.
@StormBret took issue with this cavalier attitude early on, tweeting:
Everything iza kix ting with alyuh, meen no jokey man eno
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 19, 2017
Everything is a joke for you all, I'm no comedian you know
Full of pluck and bravado, @StormBret promised to hit Trinidad and Tobago hard:
Trinis: Dah storm go pass we straight@StormBret – pic.twitter.com/Sl3j5RhhbF
— Raisa? (@Whipped_Cream__) June 19, 2017
This, some netizens felt, would be a necessary wake-up call:
Bring ting na man. This country need washing. https://t.co/VxPgtsrYKs
— Boosta ???? (@Boosta14) June 19, 2017
When one Twitter user challenged him, @StormBret replied:
Ago hear bout u ? https://t.co/TkVcXjmPf1
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 19, 2017
I will hear about you
Others decided it was best to sweet talk the storm into sparing things that were important to them:
Yo @StormBret, can you leave some zabocca on my tree please?
— Odie (@insanely_gift3d) June 19, 2017
To which he replied:
Sen some fuh meh and wego organize https://t.co/EfkZ7ehjsj
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 19, 2017
Another Twitter user quipped:
You know it serious when @StormBret close KFC early
— supa selectuh (@sups2504) June 19, 2017
While some were thanking the storm for an additional day off work after a long weekend, others were suggesting that “If anybody gives birth to a son 9 months from now then by rights u have to name him Bret!!”. @StormBret replied:
It go be ah honour https://t.co/tBvMGGbNRw
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 19, 2017
Naturally, politics had to come into play. When one Twitter user quoted the prime minister:
Eh @StormBret Rowley say you not properly organized…
— Brenthousian (@brenthousian) June 19, 2017
@StormBret shot back:
He of all people shouldn't be talkin. https://t.co/I0LQ8TjCDX
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 19, 2017
Meanwhile, @StormBret and @GalvanizeRoof got into a bit of an altercation, as storms and roofs are wont to do:
@StormBret …yawn…
— Galvanize Roof (@GalvanizeRoof) June 19, 2017
Cute. https://t.co/vLDzNDRRY3
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 19, 2017
Uze d storm equivalent to a man in a romper…go so
— Galvanize Roof (@GalvanizeRoof) June 19, 2017
The more devotional Twitter users advised:
The prayer chain messages coming in@StormBret cool it now nah
— Raisa? (@Whipped_Cream__) June 19, 2017
@StormBret dismissed the plea, saying:
Who they praying to now? Ik god ain no trini https://t.co/tBakFOuQKA
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 20, 2017
Trini or not, @God868 was not impressed. Referring to a recent incident that caused widespread outrage, in which Roman Catholic priest Fr. Clyde Harvey was tied up and robbed at gunpoint in a church, the almighty tweeted:
And allya wanna rob priest?
Take storm in allya Mc! ⛈
— GOD (@GOD868) June 19, 2017
Or, put another way:
@StormBret @GOD868 ??? yuh see pic.twitter.com/pDexFBn65q
— Loading…? (@21stFandoms) June 20, 2017
Finally, @StormBret answered the question that was on every Trinbagonian's mind:
Why Trinidad tho and why you taking so long man ? @StormBret
— Ari … (@ari_sookdeo) June 20, 2017
Alyuh overdue https://t.co/gCPgxWTJPa
— Tropical Storm Bret (@StormBret) June 20, 2017

author: Janine Mendes-Franco