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You Can Conquer Digital Worlds in Scottish Gaelic, Thanks to Hard-Working Localizers · Global Voices
Derek Lackaff

Widelands, Scottish Gaelic localization. © 2017 The Widelands Development Team, licensed under the GPLv2+.
A version of this post was originally published at r12n.
In the strategy game Widelands, the player begins as the chieftain of a small settlement. The player guides the development of the settlement from a single outpost building into a sprawling commercial empire. In many ways, Widelands resembles the game series The Settlers, which first appeared in 1993. While the latest version of The Settlers can only be played in English, Widelands can also be played in dozens of other languages: global languages such as French and Spanish, national languages such as Bulgarian and Finnish, and even several languages of fewer speakers such as Catalan, Galician, and Esperanto. The game’s free and open source software model welcomes volunteer collaborators, including translators, to expand its language offerings.
Proportion of respondents in the 2011 census aged 3 and above who stated that they can speak Scottish Gaelic. Image by SkateTier CC BY-SA 3.0.
Managing the Widelands Development Team since 2016 is GunChleoc, who joined the project as a Scottish Gaelic translator in 2013. GunChleoc (a pseudonym) has long been a respected member of the free software development community, having contributed translations to dozens of projects and managed broader translation initiatives.
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig, not to be confused with Irish, Gaeilge) is a Celtic language indigenous to Scotland. Gaelic is spoken by around 58,000 people in Scotland, and over 7,000 people in Canada. Under pressure from English, Gaelic has been in decline as a community language for centuries, but a vigorous revitalization effort has been underway. A 2016 census found that only 522 public school students had Gaelic as the primary language at home; however, there has been a recent increase in Gaelic medium education.
While there are few examples of commercial software available in Gaelic, an impressive collection of free software — games, office software, mobile apps, etc. — is now available. Even more impressive is that this wealth of Gaelic software is primarily the result of the volunteer efforts of just two people: GunChleoc and Michael Bauer, a Glasgow-based language consultant and publisher. I recently spoke with GunChleoc about her experience helping to enable and promote Gaelic-language computing.
A version of the game Widelands was first posted online in 2001, and the game has been in continuous development ever since. Perhaps the primary factor in its longevity (aside from the fact that it is a lot of fun) is that it is a free and open source software project, entirely supported by a volunteer community of developers, artists, and writers. In contrast to proprietary software which is typically developed as commercial projects, free software is open to user modifications and contributions.
For a video game, these modifications might include new game mechanics or levels, new or refined artwork, and versions of the game that work on different platforms (Windows, OSX, Android, etc.). In the case of Widelands, this includes a global community that has completely or partially translated the game into 60 languages, including Scottish Gaelic (watch the game trailer in Scottish Gaelic below).
There is a solid case — moral, social, and cultural, if not initially commercial — for empowering language communities with fewer speakers to use their languages in digital contexts. GunChleoc has long believed that Gaelic deserves a digital presence, and has devoted an extraordinary amount of mostly-volunteer effort — literally years of work — into localizing software into Gaelic. Impressively, she is a not a native speaker, but a learner, which provides her with an additional context for understanding the language.
“My first contact with the language was through the rock band Runrig. I liked the sound of the language, so I first started learning the pronunciation,” she explains. “Then a bit of grammar and vocabulary, then I went to visit Scotland… let’s say it became somewhat addictive.”
A linguist and computer scientist by education, and a translator by profession, she also maintains the Fòram na Gàidhlig website and forum for Gaelic language learners.
“When I stated running the Fòram na Gàidhlig site, I decided that having a Gaelic-language user interface for the message board software would be a good learning tool for myself,” she explains. “Since there was nobody else to do it, with help from the community, I went ahead and translated it to (probably pretty awful) Gaelic.”
0 A.D. is a historical real-time strategy game, available in Scottish Gaelic. © 2014 Wildfire Games, licensed under the GPLv2+.
Shortly thereafter, she began collaborating on localization projects with Bauer. “Akerbeltz [Bauer] had just finished translating Mozilla Firefox. So, we teamed up and got on like a house on fire. We have been cooperating on Gaelic localization ever since my language skills became good enough.”
GunChleoc has focused her localization efforts on games, so I assumed she was a big gamer. Surprisingly, this is not the case. “I don’t play the games I consider [for localization], I just test play them to see if they are good.”
Scrabble3D in Scottish Gaelic. Image courtesy Fòram na Gàidhlig.
There are now word games like Scrabble (translated by Bauer), real-time strategy games like 0 A.D. and Megaglest, a Lemmings-like game called Pingus, and even a Mario Kart clone called SuperTuxKart. GunChleoc has intentionally translated games from multiple genres. “What I’m trying to do is ensure Gaelic will have everything, at least one example of everything, that an English speaker would have. That’s my long term goal.”
Translating a software interface — the parts of the program that a user interacts with — relies on two interrelated technical processes. The first process, internationalization (often abbreviated i18n), ensures that software is designed to be efficiently and effectively adapted for use in different languages and regions. The second process, localization (l10n), is the actual translation of the interface — the bits of the software that the user interacts with — into a new language. A software interface is typically developed initially in a global language such as English, and then localized into additional languages.
As with any translation process, software localization is typically a highly-skilled endeavor, with the localizer having fluency in both the source and target languages, as well as a level of familiarity with code and software project management. Localization in proprietary projects is typically paid at skilled labor rates. Free software projects might rely on crowdsourcing and volunteer managers.
A language like Gaelic does not represent an interesting market for most commercial products — a software publisher can safely assume that most potential customers who speak Gaelic are bilingual in English. Resources invested to Gaelic localization, therefore, are viewed as unlikely to provide a financial return. While a localized version of Microsoft Office is available, such commercial Gaelic-language software products are rare.
The majority of software, free and otherwise, is developed in English, the lingua franca of the tech world. The more different a given language is from English, the more types of issues may arise when attempting to translate software into that language. One challenge arises from the fact that many developers have a limited understanding of internationalization and languages, and a coding strategy that works for some major languages many not work for others.
Choosing a tutorial in Widelands in Scottish Gaelic. © 2017 The Widelands Development Team, licensed under the GPLv2+.
The bits of text that a user sees — menu items, buttons, error text, and so on — are represented in source code as “strings,” a variable datatype that holds alphanumeric characters. String variables are often used to store things like one’s username on a social media platform like Facebook, and can be used to create on-screen text to personalize interactions.
For example, a person’s name (Jane) could be stored as a string ($username) and paired with another string (“likes your post”, stored as $message) to create a complete message within a template. The pseudocode may look something like this: display $username + $message .
Counting soldiers in Widelands, in Gaelic: 1 soldier = 1 saighdear, 2 soldiers = 2 shaighdear, 5 soldiers = 5 saighdearan. © 2017 The Widelands Development Team, licensed under the GPLv2+.
This would render as “Jane likes your post.” This string could then be localized — translated — to provide alternative messages to users in additional languages. In Portuguese, the user might see “Jane gosta de sua postagem” while a German user might see “Jane mag deinen Beitrag.”
The problem is that this “hard coded” structure is not compatible with many other languages. GunChleoc explains that for this example in Gaelic, “the correct translation is ’S toigh le Jane am post agad.— there is no way that this sentence could start with ‘Jane,’ ever.”
Given the prevalence of English-speaking software developers, interface translation is often a secondary consideration due, in part, to a handful of challenges. First, many developers have a limited understanding of internationalization and languages, and a coding strategy that works for some major languages many not work for others.
Second, and perhaps more challenging, internationalization requires consideration of “plural rules” and interface design. In English, most nouns only change once with number, by adding an “s”: 1 post, and 2, 23, or 4,000 posts. The rules in Gaelic, and in many other languages, are more complicated. “Let’s count cats,” GunChleoc begins: “1 chat, 2 chat, 3 cait, … 10 cait, 11 chat, 12 chat, 13 cait, … 20 cat, 21 cat…” And so on. “Our Slavic colleagues are also regularly pulling their hair over this particular issue.” If a user interface needs to provide a count of “friends,” or “points” or “unread emails,” the plural rules of different languages can prove daunting.
Likewise, while the English term “OK” fits well on the ubiquitous buttons on pop-up screens, the longer Gaelic equivalent “Ceart ma-thà” may not. The screenshots below demonstrate some of the challenges GunChleoc faces in localizing Widelands. On the left is the previous version of an in-game screen, while the right represents a newer version of the interface with most of the problems fixed.
Widelands in-game interface from version b18 (left) and version b19 (right). © 2017 The Widelands Development Team, licensed under the GPLv2+.
The localization challenges in this example included truncation of the button texts (along the top), some text not marked for translation (the items in the main window), and an incorrect plural form: “‘22 puingean’ on the bottom should be ‘22 puing’.” A remaining glitch, soon to be fixed, is the presence of a � in a word where the font renderer is misbehaving— likely a familiar experience to anyone who has worked in a language with accented characters.
Such problems are largely “solved” if software developers are familiar with (and use) a standard internationalization framework like gettext. Such frameworks provide a technical structure to more easily account for this linguistic variation. However, GunChleoc suggests that internationalization, or language technology more broadly, is seldom addressed in computer science education programs.
“When you see somebody who has programmed their own translation system, you just want to scream, but they just don’t know any better. Fortunately, many of the more long-standing FLOSS [free, libre and open source] projects have already switched to using gettext or QT, so all that remains for me to do is to file the occasional bug for strings that need adapting.”
“While the majority of projects are very welcoming, you will get the very, very occasional odd reaction from people like ‘Why are you wasting your time translating into a dead language, and why should we be bothered to support it? You will never finish that translation anyway and maintain it through future updates.’” The proper response to this, GunChleoc advises, is patience and perseverance. “More often than not, they are simply uninformed and don’t mean anything by it.” Once a level of trust and understanding is developed, such contributions will be welcomed.
“And then you can go on and impress them with your localization fu.”
At the other end of the localization process lies another challenge: how to encourage user adoption of this software that has been localized. While many localization efforts focus on overcoming digital divides and allowing new populations to engage with technology, the audience for Gaelic software is entirely fluent in English. These users will only start using a Gaelic technology if they are made aware of it, and if the perceived benefits outweigh the perceived costs. “Many people find installing things on their computers scary, so you will have to be prepared for that,” GunChleoc notes. “Some will snap up your translations with joy, others will refuse to have anything to do with it.”
“What we really need is to get a native speaker going around the country,” she suggests. “This person has one computer of every operating system in his or her pocket, and [provides demonstrations] to people who do not know about Gaelic software.”

author: Derek Lackaff


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Netizen Report: Censorship Spikes After Venezuela’s ‘Self-Inflicted Coup’ · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

A student demonstrator speaks to National Guard members in Venezuela, during protests in 2014. Photo by Jamez42 via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Protesters in Venezuela have been mobilizing almost daily and in large numbers since the Supreme Court of Justice temporarily nullified the National Assembly on March 30, a move that many described as a “self-inflicted” coup. The change sparked international outrage.
Although the court reversed course days later and reinstated the National Assembly, public unrest has continued, forcing public officials to confront the economic and political crisis that has been ongoing since 2014. Alongside political turmoil and rising rates of violent crime, the global drop in the price of oil, the country’s main export, has left Venezuela with staggering inflation rates for more than three years. Inflation has not fallen below 50% since 2014. It exceeded 100% in 2015, and reached 800% at the end of 2016. President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly blamed the United States for the downturn in the oil market.
Citizen media have become increasingly important for Venezuelans throughout this period, as the Maduro administration has sought to maintain tight control over official and corporate media outlets. A mainstay of critical reporting on the country, CNN, was kicked off of cable television in February 2017.
This has left citizen media outlets among the few sources of information regarding protests and crackdowns that readers can turn to. Perhaps as a result, numerous independent journalists have experienced harassment and physical threats while on assignment in recent weeks. Elvis Flores, a cameraman for the online channel VPITV was arrested mid-broadcast while filming protesters in Caracas. For nine hours, he was held in custody where he was reportedly beaten. VPITV and other popular web TV channels including Vivoplay and El Capitolio TV were blocked from April 7 onward, according to Venezuelan netizens. In response to the censorship, protesters have united around the hashtag #VzlaTrancaContraElGolpe (“Venezuela blocks the coup”).
Kuwaiti human rights defender Hadeel Buqrais received a rash of online threats after she took part in a march in Kuwait City calling for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. The march was part of the Namshi Laha, or “Walking for Her” campaign, which launched online last week. There have been attempts to block the campaign, and other participants involved in the campaign have also been targeted with insults on social media, according to Frontline Defenders.
Multiple governments in Southeast Asia are leveraging the issue of fake news as a justification for stricter laws and to harass journalists. In Singapore, Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said the country will soon amend its Broadcasting Act in order to ensure that overseas content providers “[are] in line with our community values, including the need to uphold racial and religious harmony.”
In the Philippines, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed a bill mandating that social media companies verify the identity of users before registering them on their networks, in what he describes as an effort to more easily prevent users from creating fake accounts and spreading fake news.
Russia's media regulator announced plans to block Zello, a mobile push-to-talk app that Russian long-haul truckers have used to organize protests in recent months. Roskomnadzor, the authority responsible for monitoring Russian media, has publicly stated that Zello failed to submit company information necessary to be included on the federal “Registry of Information-Dissemination Organizers,” a list of online platforms that Roskomnadzor oversees.
As presidential elections approach in Iran, the contrast between the relatively moderate current president Hassan Rouhani (who is expected to seek re-election) and political hardliners is increasingly visible. In the first-ever Iranian government press conference to be broadcast over Instagram Live, Rouhani boasted about many of the achievements of his administration, including the effort to improve Internet speeds in Iran, which indeed have seen a ten-fold increase. He also claimed that if it wasn’t for the efforts of his administration, “all social media platforms would have been sacrificed.” Although Facebook is still blocked inside Iran, Instagram has remained uncensored throughout the Rouhani administration, along with other popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
Nevertheless, some people have paid high prices for their participation on said platforms. On March 14, a dozen administrators of news channels on the messaging app Telegram were arrested by Iran’s hardline Revolutionary Guards, who said the channels — which are chiefly reformist and moderate in their political leanings — represented a threat to national security. To the chagrin of the judiciary, President Hassan Rouhani has since called for an investigation of the arrests, underscoring the political cleavage between the two entities.
In the first week of April, the Apple TV app store blocked the satirical news show China Uncensored from users based in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The creators of the show said that while they understand why the show is censored in China, they do not think the block in Hong Kong and Taiwan is justified. They sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook demanding the company unblock the show in Hong Kong and Taiwan within 30 days.
Afef Abrougui, Mahsa Alimardani, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Oiwan Lam,  Weiping Li, Leila Nachawati and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Netizen Report Team


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The Convenient Uses of Mexico’s “Foreign Enemy” Doctrine · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

The border between the United States and Mexico. PHOTO: Public domain via Pixabay.
There is a line of the Mexican national anthem that’s embedded in the memory of millions of Mexicans, and that, it seems to me, would make an appropriate name for the Mexican government's manipulation of information. Here’s how it goes:
Mas si osare un extraño enemigo, profanar con su planta tu suelo/Piensa ¡oh patria, querida! que el cielo, un soldado en cada hijo te dio.
But if some foreign enemy should dare to desecrate your soil with the soles of his feet/Think, oh beloved Motherland, that heaven has given you a soldier in every son!
For many Mexicans the words of our National Anthem are difficult to understand. Millions conflate “mas si osare”, the first three words of the line, to “Masiosare”, believing it to be the name of the “foreign enemy,” the invader who must be repelled. I believe that these are the people at whom this impeccably executed government propaganda ploy is aimed.
I'm referring, of course, to a set of actions intended to indict the opinions of individuals. These actions revolve around convincing the masses that there is nothing more they can demand from the Mexican government—or more precisely, from the Peña administration—for the rest of the current six-year term, which ends in November of 2018.
The “foreign enemy” hasn’t been difficult to find. Today the favorite villain of the western world is a senile old man with a permanent tan and golden hair that barely hides the defiant strands of gray. A man who is none other than the tenant of the White House and leader of the government of the United States of America.
The doctrine, before being imparted to its recipients, came with a dose of shock therapy, plus several months of amplifying the panic-ridden discourse in the United States prior to the November 8, 2016 elections. By the eve of the election the therapy had already delivered results: the recipients of the treatment (in other words, the majority of Mexicans) had resigned themselves to paying more when converting pesos to dollars, to saying goodbye to their chance at the “American dream”, and to confronting another of the economic crises that the Institutional Revolutionary Party—Enrique Peña's party—has prescribed time and time again during the last century.
And the culprit responsible for all these Mexican ills? The despot, the tyrant, the evil ruler on the other side of the border! And on the Mexican side? Will nobody demand that President Peña, on Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Videgaray, on two-time Secretary of Finance and Public Credit José Meade, and their teams be held accountable for having failed to “pave the way” and for leaving Mexico the mercy of the villain?
And what about their predecessors? What did they do to prevent Mexicans migrating to the United States because they didn't have—and still don't have—hope of living a decent life at home? Will they be held accountable for that, for their inability to build a state that guarantees fundamental rights for those who feel obligated to cross the border into the North?
Some leaders, such as governor Graco Ramírez or former Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jorge Castañeda, have had the gall to go to the United States and tell Mexicans who found it necessary to emigrate that their country was going to support them. How exactly, if it was their country who turned its back on them and caused them to leave? Besides, what if the migrants aren't interested in returning to Mexico, but wish instead to stay in the place they now claim as their home. Can you blame them for that?
With the rise of the “foreign enemy” the “non-foreigners”—ordinary Mexicans—have been forgotten, and well-known crooks like ex-governor Duarte and those who allowed him to escape, as well as everyone interested in shoring up a corrupt and rotting justice system, have failed at forcing criminals to pay for their crimes.
Yet today the masses don't identify those people as the architects of the squalor in which they live: they think of other people, others who are virtually untouchable by national mechanisms of control. Convenient, isn't it?
And so, in writing this piece, I dare to invite Mexican readers to continue informing themselves, preferably through independent media. To reach out and help the unfortunate recipients of the propaganda and—through any legal means available— focus their efforts on calling for a better government on our own side of the border.
A version of this essay was originally published in Spanish in Mexican Times.

author: J. Tadeo


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The French May Be Casual about Extramarital Sex, But They Aren’t about Relationships · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Edouard Manet's “Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe” (1863). Public domain via Wikipedia
Global Voices recently asked our editors: What is the most misunderstood aspect of the place you live, or where you're from?
Their responses will be published as part of an ongoing series debunking myths and offering a more nuanced take on certain parts of the world. The first installment is by Lova Rakotomalala, Global Voices Francophone editor based in Paris, France.
It's an enduring stereotype that just won't die: French people are quite libertine when it comes to their sex lives. And literature and popular culture don't help, rife as they are with French characters with a laissez-faire attitude towards sex. Cases in point: the Vicomte de Valmont, the Marquis de Sade, Brigitte Bardot, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. and even Pepe le Pew, for crying out loud.
This cliché is not completely without merit. French citizens, for instance, have tended to take a fairly relaxed attitude toward their political leaders’ extra-marital affairs. Felix Faure, president of France from 1895-99, died of apoplexy at the Elysée Palace during a sexual interlude with his mistress between work appointments. Both the wife and mistress of president François Mitterrand were famously present at his funeral, along with their children. More recently, there's sitting President François Hollande's notorious affair with actress Julie Gayet.
A survey by the Pew Research Center has suggested that French voters may be more lenient towards infidelity than elsewhere: just 47% of those polled said it is morally unacceptable for married people to have an affair. This attitude is even acknowledged—at least informally—by the country's public institutions. A French expatriate friend of mine who was considering moving to Madagascar on a one-year engineering contract, was sent a memo by the French Consulate in Madagascar, warning him that the country was deemed a high risk for expatriates. Having heard the country was rather peaceful, he asked for an explanation. The answer he received from the Consulate went as follows: “You are a young married couple. Your wife might not join you right away for a period of time. Moving to Madagascar alone might be detrimental to your family life.” I am still not sure whether that statement was more of an indictment of the mores of the French, or those of Madagascar!
Yet there's also evidence that contradicts the idea that French people let their libidos run wild. While French cultural norms about marital infidelity might be less stringent than in other parts of the world, in 2015, a nationwide advertising campaign for an extramarital dating site called Gleeden received a massive pushback from the public and had to withdraw campaign material that had been posted in several cities.
French actress Brigitte Bardot was one of the best-known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s. PHOTO: Michel Bernanau (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons.
On her blog French Yummy Mummy, Muriel Demarcus, a French expatriate living in London, unpacks the problems with the stereotype. She explains:
In London, they make it sound like the French have invented extramarital affairs. All the articles usually paint an idyllic picture of open marriages and glorify women who swallow their pride while their husbands have a roving eye. Apparently, being unfaithful is not that big a deal in France.
What a load of rubbish! Come on, the aristocracy in this country has had affairs for ages (just look at the Royal Family!), and it doesn’t have much to do with the French, does it? They did it all by themselves. Affairs are not the privilege of the French.
Admiring the French for their perceived promiscuity is an easy way to forget their own frustrations.
Data from the aforementioned dating website Gleeden also contradicted the notion that the French are exceptionally adulterous:
Gleeden’s own figures suggest that the French are no more likely to stray than other nationalities. Its own research found that 17 percent of the French admitted to having an affair, the same as in Spain and Italy.
In fact, if we were to dig deeper into the French outlook on love, we would observe that they try to build and maintain relationships that transcend simplistic, black-and-white notions of monogamy. For the French, the emphasis is often on the relationship as a whole, and not solely on its physical manifestations.
Understanding—or forgiveness—is key, it seems. In Modern Romance, his new book on romance in the digital age, the American comic Aziz Ansari cites a study by the French Institute of Public Opinion and concludes that:
It wasn't that French people didn't care if their spouses cheat, but that they weren't as shattered by the betrayal. Because of their cultural attitude, the French are also the most likely to forgive a cheater.
The same study found that 68% of French believe it is possible to remain faithful to one person for life, and that 63% believe they could continue to love someone even if that person has cheated on them.
French psychologist Maryse Vaillant has an explanation for these figures:
My research showed that giving in to temptation can help a man understand the extent to which he is attached to his wife. With his wife he has projects of bringing up children, buying a house, creating a life. With an attraction to another young woman it's not the same thing. Sometimes we need a little emotional crisis to show the difference between a moment's satisfaction and building an existence together.
“Even if the French are more willing to accept that infidelity is part of the human experience, you do it secretly,” writes Debra Ollivier, author of What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind.
“It’s a private thing you do. Marriage and the sanctity of the family are still really important. If you’re going to have a lover, it’s probably because you want to keep your family intact. You’ll have a lover and be satisfied and keep the family unit together. It’s ironic, because we talk about family values in the United States, but we don’t do anything to underwrite it. We have no social infrastructure, whereas there they do. The family structure is important. It doesn’t easily fall apart, and when it does, it’s really traumatic.”

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Two Mozambican Universities Want to Ban Short Skirts and Dreadlocks · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Women watch a video presentation at the Eduardo Mondlane University's School of Communication and Arts in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2012. Photo by Flickr user cassimano. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Two public Mozambican universities in the city of Beira sparked heated debate on social media when they announced a new dress code for their students and teachers.
The list of banned attire and hairstyles for men includes long hair, braids, dreadlocks, and shorts. For the women, it is now prohibited to wear short skirts, tight trousers, see-through material, and “blouses which show the bra”. Flip-flops are banned for both sexes.
The communique of UniZambeze, dated 28 March, was photographed and shared on Twitter by Human Rights Watch researcher for Mozambique, Zenaida Machado.
University in northern Mozambique bans students with dreadlocks, sandals, shorts and tight dresses.
Oh lord… now I've seen it all.???? pic.twitter.com/IqayKjY0bP
— Zenaida Machado (@zenaidamz) March 29, 2017
The University for Teaching (Universidade Pedagógica in Portuguese) reportedly shared a similar dress code, which was similarly photographed and shared on Twitter, but theirs added prohibitions on cigarettes and beer:
A Universidade Pedagógica na #Beira acaba de publicar uma lista de itens proibidos no Campus universitário pic.twitter.com/UQrJVOYSt6
— Tomás Queface (@tomqueface) March 28, 2017
The University of Teaching in Beira has published a list of items prohibited on university campus
It is not the first time that this type of debate has happened in Mozambique. In March last year, the Ministry for Education and Human Development approved a resolution which prohibits short skirts in public secondary schools. The decision caused protests in the capital Maputo and provoked diplomatic tensions with Spain when a Spanish activist was arrested at a demonstration and subsequently deported by the authorities.
Like last time, many took to social media to express their discontent with the decision.
Mauro Steinmay, an artist who wears long hair, argued that in the case of universities the students are not children, and that they must not accept this type of imposition:
Acho que não temos de nos bater cabeça com essas universidades que querem banir dreads e sei lá o quê mais. Se os estudantes seguirem essas regras, é porque não tem tomates para fazerem valer seus direitos humanos, e merecem a universidade onde estudam. É problema deles. Não estudam crianças nas universidades.
I think that we don't have to worry about these universities that want to ban dreads and I don’t know what else. If the students follow these rules, it is because they don’t have the balls to assert their human rights, and they deserve the university where they study. It is their problem. There are no children studying at the universities.
In a widely shared post, researcher Benedito Memidji argued that the dress codes go back to the socialist government of the Cold War period. His post, shared by journalist Rafael Ricardo Machaela, discussed similar episodes in 1979, which he became aware of while searching the national archives. This included a speech by then-President Samora Machel condemning short skirts and “exhort[ing] the people to combat these fashions”:
A decisão da UP de impor regras de indumentária no campus – bem como as chamadas maxi-saias das escolas primárias e secundárias – tem origem no moralismo puritano que caracterizou a experiência socialista em Moçambique. Nessa altura atingiu proporções aberrantes. As normas da UP podem não reproduzir os efeitos que tal puritanismo produziu há 30 anos, mas é preciso estarmos alerta. Foi muito alto o preço que muita gente pagou devido a estas tentativas do estado domesticar a forma como as pessoas se vestem ou deixam de se vestir. Não sou a favor da indecência, mas sou amante da liberdade acima de tudo.
University for Teaching's decision to impose clothing rules on campus – as well as the so-called maxi-skirts in primary and secondary schools – has its origin in the moral puritanism that characterized the socialist experience in Mozambique. At that time it reached aberrant proportions. University for Teaching’s rules cannot reproduce the effects that such puritanism had 30 years ago, but we need to be alert. Many paid a high price due to these attempts by the state to control the way people do or do not dress. I am not in favour of indecency, but I love freedom above all.
Titos Cau gave a contrasting vision, emphasizing that the University of Teaching’s decision is based in cultural traditions and should be supported:
Daquilo que sei, a necessidade de regras de indumentaria baseia-se nas tradições culturais, espirituais e cosmológicas africanas e não experiência socialista pós-independência. Na nossa tradição o joelho da mulher e sagrado e não deve estar exposto publicamente. O rigor na indumentaria e importante porque ela ‘diz’ quem somos. A indumentaria e a extensão do carne que veste nosso espírito. O reitor da UP está certo e deve ser apoiado…
From what I know, the necessity of clothing rules is based in African cultural, spiritual, and cosmological traditions, not the post-independence socialist experience. In our tradition the woman’s knee is sacred and should not be publicly exposed. Rigour in clothing is important because it “says” who we are. Clothing is the extension of the flesh that our spirit wears. The University of Teaching’s chancellor is correct and should be supported…
Fatima Mimbire is a researcher for the Centre of Public Integrity, a local anti-corruption advocacy group, and opposes the rules:
É lá onde dizem que a universidade é lugar de democracia. É o lugar de discussão de ideias por excelência… quando começamos a preocupar-nos com a forma como as pessoas vestem, sinceramente, acho que perdemos o foco ou não temos mais nada importante com que nos preocuparmos. O nosso pais esta a afundar porque os “iluminados” esforçam-se para tirar a pouca luz que temos. Honestamente, precisamos de uma nova ordem.
This is where they say that university is the place for democracy. It is the place for discussion of ideas par excellence… when we start to worry about the way people dress, sincerely, I think that we are losing focus or we have nothing more important to worry about. Our country is sinking because of the “enlightened” strive to take away the little light we have. Honestly, we need a new system.
Bitone Viage, a lecturer currently studying political science in Brazil, raised some questions about these measures:
[…] Obviamente que a Universidade pedagógica (UP) enquanto que instituição de formação de professores deve fazer com que os tanto os formandos bem como os formados nesta instituição pautem por uma conduta moral e esteticamente aceite dentro da nossa sociedade.
Mas a questão que não se cala Magnifico, do que valerá a decência sem a produção e inclusão? Do que valerá termos um professor bem vestido, mas mesmo assim a taxa da má qualidade do ensino no pais tende aumentar?
[…] Obviously the University of Teaching (UP), as an institution that trains teachers, must ensure that the trainees as well as the trained in this institution guide themselves by a morally and aesthetically accepted conduct in our society.
But the question that will not be silenced is, what will decency be worth without production and inclusion? What will it be worth having a well-dressed teacher, while the prevalence of bad quality teaching tends to rise anyway?
Reacting to the topic, Edson Agostinho Sangue Sangue saw university as a place where many cultural realities converge, and where there should be no such imposition of norms:
Quando a pessoa entra para o ensino superior ela e vista como uma pessoa que já tem certeza que suas atitudes irão em breve trazer consequências seja estas negativas ou positivas. Uma universidade de facto um mar de culturas misturadas cada um que para la vai tem sua educação seus princípios sua cultura suas tradições. Uma universidade e um campo que forma mentes pensantes, inteligentes, e uma das características de pessoas inteligentes e a forma como trata o próximo independentemente da sua aparência ou forma de estar. Pessoas inteligentes não discriminam….
When a person enters higher education they are seen as a person who is already sure that their attitudes are quickly going to bring consequences, be they negative or positive. A university is in fact a sea of mixed cultures, and each one will have its education, its principles, its culture, its traditions. A university is a field that shapes thinking, intelligent minds, and one of the characteristics of intelligent people is the way that you treat others irrespective of their appearance or way of being. Intelligent people do not discriminate…

author: Dércio Tsandzana


text:
Amidst Political Scandal and a Hate Crime Probe, Japan’s Old Rescript on Education Is Back · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Students at Tsukamoto kindergarten, run by Moritomo Gakuen, paying respects to the Japanese Emperor and Empress. Screencap from a video widely shared on social media.
A decision by the Japanese government to allow the pre-World War II guiding principles of education in Imperial Japan to once again be taught in schools has surprised observers. The government's announcement also comes at a time when Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and his popular spouse Abe Akie have, since January, been at the center of a scandal for their connections to a shady land deal that benefited an ultra-conservative and ultra-nationalist organization that teaches emperor worship.
On March 31 the Japanese cabinet issued a statement that the Japan's Imperial Rescript on Education, first proclaimed in 1890, may once again be used as teaching material in Japanese schools. Abolished by occupation authorities in 1948 following Japan's defeat in World War II, the Imperial Rescript on Education essentially places filial piety and loyalty as the moral foundation of Japanese society. Just as the Japanese emperor venerates his ancestors, the people of the nation, or “Japanese polity” (国体, kokutai), should venerate the emperor.
The cabinet statement on March 31 in support of the Imperial Rescript on Education was curious in the context of a slow-moving, complicated and persistent political scandal involving Abe Akie, prime minister Abe Shinzo's wife, and Moritomo Gakuen, a private school in Osaka that is affiliated with political group Nippon Kaigi. Roughly the Japanese equivalent of Opus Dei, the Moral Majority and the John Birch Society all rolled up into one, Nippon Kaigi counts Prime Minister Abe as a special advisor to its parliamentary caucus, and is thought to hold strong influence over the Japanese government..
Moritomo Gakuen has sparked controversy after controversy over the past four months. In January, a hate crime investigation was launched against Moritomo Gakuen after administrators at a kindergarten run by the school handed parents leaflets that described Korean residents of Osaka and Chinese people as “those with wicked ideas.” This wasn't the first time administrators and employees at the school made racist remarks, for which the principal was forced to apologize in February.
With intense media attention focused on the school since January, it was revealed that Moritomo Gakuen received government land for a new school at far below its market value. The scandal deepened when it was discovered that Abe Akie was officially affiliated with the school as a sponsor, with her photograph appearing on its website. In subsequent parliamentary hearings about the land deal, school principal Kagoike Yasunori claimed Abe Akie had donated a large amount of money to Moritomo Gakuen, as a gesture of support. Although Kagoike had testified under oath, Abe Akie and the prime minister denied his claims.
What adds an extra layer of oddness to the story is the curriculum of the school itself, which billed itself as Japan's “first and only Shinto school.” Shinto is a state-sponsored religion that, to a certain extent, incorporates old Japanese folks beliefs. There is the belief it can provide Japanese youth with a moral compass that has been lacking since occupation authorities divested the Japanese emperor of his power following World War II.
While the school claims it is using Shinto to teach right from wrong, in January 2017, Moritomo Gakuen raised eyebrows with videos of its blatantly nationalistic agenda. Posting on Facebook, Eric Johnston, an Osaka-based journalist, noted that videos surfaced that clearly show young students chanting slogans such as “Don’t lose to other countries; protect the Senkakus and Takeshima” (two groups of islands whose possession Japan disputes with China and Korea, respectively), and “Don’t teach lies in textbooks that Japan was evil towards China and Korea.”
On top of that, each morning students at the school recited the Imperial Rescript on Education, which had been banned from use in schools since 1948 — that is, until recently.
Prime Minister Abe and his spouse Akie are not the only politicians to have been embarrassed by the Moritomo Gakuen scandal. Defense minister Inada Tomomi faced calls to resign and was forced to apologize in front a parliamentary committee in March after she appeared to be lying about providing legal counsel to the school more than a decade ago.
Prior to being forced to backtrack in March, Inada in parliamentary committee meetings supported Moritomo Gakuen's daily recital of the Imperial Rescript on Education. Inada is also on the record in the past as asking “what (is) exactly wrong with the rescript”.
Japan’s defense minister Tomomi Inada says Imperial Rescript on Education, scrapped after WWII, must be revivedhttps://t.co/oHMdQFfmEX
— Thoton and the News (@Thoton) March 8, 2017
Rather than backing down in the face of the scandal surrounding Moritomo Gakuen, Prime Minister Abe's cabinet stated on March 31 that it was acceptable for the pre-war Imperial Rescript on Education to once again be taught in school if it is used “in line with the Constitution and the education law,” while schools should still primarily follow the government-approved curriculum.
According to the Japanese Communist Party in an FAQ on the party's website from 2000, there is plenty wrong with the Imperial Rescript on Education:
勅語には、命の大切さも、人権や平等の大切さものべられていません。
The Imperial Rescript on Education makes no mention of the value of human life, nor of human rights or equality.
Responding to Inada Tomomi's remarks supporting the 1890 rescript, Renho, leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, said:
教育勅語には『夫婦は仲むつまじく、友人は信じ合い』というものが含まれているが、衆院は教育勅語が主権在君の立場から、家族のあり方、友人のあり方などを国家が指導していることそのものを否定している。
While the Imperial Rescript on Education says ” as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends be true”, the National Diet, sustained by the very sovereignty of the people, should not, as the state, be instructing families and friends on how to be through the rescript on education.
Despite the controversy and the protests, the Abe government will not disavow use of a Meiji-era education document that contains language legitimizing militarism, so long as the presentation does not conflict with Japan's Constitution.
Even the typically right-leaning Keizai Shimbun newspaper has reservations about reintroducing the Imperial Rescript on Education in schools. In response to the education minister's comment of “who am I to prevent parts of the Imperial Rescript from being taught in schools for the purposes of moral education?” (「道徳を教えるために教育勅語のこの部分を使ってはいけないと私が申し上げるべきではない」), the Keizai Shimbun argued:
勅語は部分ではなく全体の効力を失ったと解すべきだ。道徳の教典として復活させてはいけない。
Not just parts but the whole of the Imperial Rescript on Education should be discarded. [The rescript] should not be revived as a teaching guide for moral education.
Other media commentators in Japan thought the 1890 rescript was irrelevant to the needs of contemporary education. Tsujita Masanori maintained that it's “nonsense” to contemplate reintroducing the rescript to schools to be memorized and recited every morning in school. Writing for magazine Shukan Gendai in an article with the title ”People Who Advocate Restoring the Imperial Rescript on Education Are Simply Ignorant of History” (教育勅語」復活論者は、単に歴史の無知をさらしているだけ), he said:
「教育勅語」の歴史に学ぶことがあるとすれば、それは、ある時代の教育方針を金科玉条のように墨守することではなく、むしろそれを柔軟に見直し、現実に対応していくことであろう。
If you study the history of the rescript, you'll understand that it cannot serve as the “golden rule” connecting education policy with morality. Instead, the [1890 rescript] should be interpreted with some flexibility, in response to modern conditions.
The historical context of the 1890 rescript, Tsujita said, was that it was written in response to Japan's period of rapid modernization in the 19th century. The rescript was later amended and reinterpreted by authorities as Japan embraced imperialism in the first half of the 20th century. The Imperial Rescript on Education was abolished in 1948, Tsujita says, when Japan embarked on a new era.
For the time being, despite the controversy and the protests, the Imperial Rescript on Education will be allowed to be taught in Japanese schools as long as, according to the Japanese cabinet, that it is used “in line with the Constitution” and laws covering education in Japan.
While Moritomo Gakuen has shelved plans to open the school implicated in the land-swap scandal and the principal of the school has resigned as operators of the school continue to be dogged with bribery allegations, Prime Minister Abe has remained relatively unscathed by the scandal.
As attention in Japan has shifted in April towards the showdown and the threat of nuclear war between the United States and North Korea on the Korean Peninsula, Abe's poll numbers are up, and the opposition Democratic party languishes at 10 per cent support in the polls, with the next general election scheduled for December 2018.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Can Russia Protect Its Journalists From the ‘Homegrown ISIS’ in Chechnya? · Global Voices
Nikolay Syrov

Alexey Venediktov “in Grozny.” Illustration by Valery Osipov. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Earlier this month, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a startling discovery: security forces in Russia’s predominantly Muslim Chechen Republic have been rounding up gay men, brutally detaining and sometimes executing them. The report gain international attention, as the story has since become known as Chechnya’s “gay concentration camps.”
On April 3, three days after Novaya Gazeta’s bombshell, two dozen Islamic leaders gathered in Grozny’s central mosque to discuss the issue in front of 15,000 worshippers. During the congregation, an advisor to Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s autocratic leader, publicly called Novaya Gazeta’s journalists “enemies of our faith.”
When the discussion was finished, the religious leaders adopted a formal resolution that included the following language:
Ввиду того, что нанесено оскорбление вековым устоям чеченского общества и достоинству мужчин-чеченцев, а также нашей вере, мы обещаем, что возмездие настигнет истинных подстрекателей, где бы и кем бы они ни были, без срока давности.
In view of the insult to the centuries-old foundations of Chechen society and the dignity of Chechen men, and also to our faith, we vow that retribution will catch up to the true instigators, wherever they are and whoever they are, no matter how long it takes.
Novaya Gazeta’s editors say this resolution has provoked a wave of threats online, and this Thursday the newspaper appealed to Russian law enforcement, asking for protection.
Almost immediately after publishing its appeal to police, Novaya Gazeta’s website apparently suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack. The newspaper then copied the text of its appeal into a Facebook post, which sympathetic readers shared more than 1,300 times.
The next day, writing on his blog, Alexey Venediktov, the chief editor of the independent radio station Ekho Moskvy, published a message of solidarity with Novaya Gazeta’s journalists, addressed to several branches of the Russian federal government.
Вы ждете чего? Пока ваши центры «Э» гоняются за подростками с кедами, у вас под боком выросла наглая, бесконтрольная, вражеская государству сила, которая смеет угрожать гражданам России.
Или она уже настолько выросла, что вы опасаетесь даже приступить к расследованию? Или доморощенный ИГИЛ настолько сильнее вас, а вам остается лишь продолжать беспомощно наблюдать, как они грозят и убивают?
What are you waiting for? While your “anti-extremism” units are chasing down teens in Keds, a bold, unchecked, hostile state force that dares to threaten Russian citizens has emerged right under your nose.
Or has this force grown so powerful that you’re even scared to launch an investigation? Is this homegrown ISIS so much stronger than you, that all you can do is look on helplessly, as it menaces and kills?
Sticking to his ISIS comparison, Venediktov argued that Chechen officials’ threats against Novaya Gazeta’s reporters resemble the Islamic State’s ultimatums against journalists. “It’s easy to mix up the two,” he wrote darkly.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the government won’t tolerate any violence against reporters, explaining that anyone who objects to Novaya Gazeta’s reporting must respond “using legal methods.”
In the meantime, Andrei Sabinin, a lawyer with the Agora human rights group, filed a lawsuit against Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee for failing to respond to Novaya Gazeta’s initial report about Chechnya’s mass crackdown on gays.
Asked about the allegations of “gay concentration camps,” Peskov told journalists, “We don’t have any reliable information about any problems in [Chechnya]. We monitor reports in the mass media, but — much  as one would like us to do — we can’t take these reports as verified information.”

author: Nikolay Syrov


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Censorship Undressed: Iranian State TV Cuts Broadcast Mid-Sentence · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Screen glitches occurred on IRIB's Shabakeh Khabar broadcast when the reporter mentioned the candidate registration of Hamid Baghaei, the former Vice President and close confidant of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Screen capture from a Fars News tweet of the broadcast.
In an unusual broadcasting flub this week, Iran's official state media network cut off the live video feed of a reporter in mid-sentence when she mentioned the name of presidential hopeful Hamid Baghaei, one of the more controversial politicians who has filed to run for president next month.
Baghaei served as vice president to former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both represent a frequently contested hardline political position, and both men now have registered to run for president in Iran's May 2017 elections.
The broadcast, which aired on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster's Shabakeh Khabar channel, featuring a reporter identified as Ms. Nouri, was shot on location from the Ministry of Interior on Wednesday as prospective candidates filed their registration forms.
A video clip of the incident has gone viral on social media. The video plainly shows that within less than a second of the the reporter mentioning Hamid Baghaei, the broadcast feed abruptly cuts and goes back to the anchor in studio. As the anchor waits to resume the report, Nouri's voice can be heard asking her producers, “I shouldn't mention Baghaei?”
شبكه خبر اجازه اعلام خبر ثبت نام حميد بقايى را به خبرنگارش نداد. pic.twitter.com/Aot1rTJPY8
— Mehdi Parpanchi (@Parpanchi) April 12, 2017
Shabakeh Khabar did not give their reporter the permission to announce the registration of Hamid Baghaei as a candidate.
The hashtag #نگم_بقایی_رو, translating into the Nouri's question, “I shouldn't mention Baghaei?” started trending amongst Iranians remarking on the broadcasters censorship.
صداوسیمای میلی هر روز بی آبروتر از دیروز
بنگاه خبرپراکنی دروغ و تزویر و سانسور ج.ا گاف سنگینی داد.#نگم_بقایی_رو pic.twitter.com/bU0hib8RtF
— کاتالاکسی (@AugustvonHayek) April 12, 2017
IRIB gets more shameless everyday. A broadcaster with lies, broken screenings, and censorship. There is a lot missing #I_shouldn't_mention_Baghaei
Candidate registration for the 12th Presidential elections of the Islamic Republic of Iran began on April 11 and will last for five days, followed by a period when the registrants will be screened for their political and Islamic qualifications by the hardline and religious body tasked with vetting, the Guardian Council. The Council typically disqualifies the majority of registrants.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster (IRIB) is known as a mouthpiece for Iran's hardline conservatives, echoing the concerns and opinions of this establishment. The IRIB's director is a position directly appointed by the country's highest power, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
When it comes to reporting on elections, the IRIB's decisions about who to mention — and who to omit — are often seen as a reflection of internal sentiment about the prospective candidates. The interruption of Nouri's report is a sign that Baghaei may be disqualified from the running.
It is unknown whether Nouri already knew not to report on Ahmadinejad's registration as well, or if she was deterred post-facto.
Former controversial populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces his intention to run for President today in the May Iranian Presidential elections. He is flanked by Hamid Baghaei to the left, and Mashaei to the right Photo shared on Twitter, by Mohammad Ali Marizad.
Wednesday's registrations made headlines as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, flanked by his close confidants former Vice President Baghaei and former Chief of Staff Esfandiar Mashaei, stopped by the Ministry to announce that he and Baghaei had registered.
This is a change in course for Ahmadinejad, who in September 2016 announced he would not join the race, after being warned by the Supreme Leader that his candidacy would cause polarization and harmful divisions in Iranian society. While also banned in 2013 from running for reelection, Ahmadinejad campaigned for the candidacy of Mashaei, who ultimately failed to win the Guardian Council‘s approval.
The IRIB is known for inserting bias an censorship into election reporting. During the 2013 presidential campaigns, several of the candidates remarked on the IRIB's unfair coverage and use of censorship. Rouhani accused the state broadcaster of defaming prominent figures during an interview on 27 May 2013, while the reformist candidate Mohamad Reza Aref's campaign accused the IRIB of cutting his campaign appearances in an “inappropriate manner.”
While the broadcaster is watched by millions of Iranians, it is notorious for not giving airtime to those who do not fall in line with Khamenei and the clerical establishment, and for serving the interests of Iran's intelligence agencies, sometimes going so far as to air forced confessions of political prisoners under duress.

author: Mahsa Alimardani


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Meet the Activist Trying to Bring Ukraine’s Villages Online · Global Voices
Ethan Daish

Orest and Oksana Oliinyk in their shop in Khrystanivka. Source: Ethan Daish and Elisabeth Lima
“I don’t really like Europe. In Europe, 99 percent of things are finished; here, there is work to be done,” says Oksana Oliinyk, standing in the small Soviet-era shop she and her husband Orest have just opened in the village of Khrystanivka in east-central Ukraine. Behind her are five rows of shelves she’s populating with books—the building blocks of the village’s first library.
“A man came to the shop today and saw them, and I told him they are free to take away,” she says. “He told me he doesn’t have time to read because he works. I asked him: ‘Don’t you sit and watch TV in the evenings?’ He said: ‘Yes, of course’.”
Below raised eyebrows, a closed smile emerges. She knows she has her work cut out for her.
The Oliinyk family outside their shop in Khrystanivka. Source: Ethan Daish and Elisabeth Lima
Oksana calls herself a social activist, but to Khrystanivka, she’s more than that. Originally from Kiev, she and Orest moved to the village four years ago, resolving to revitalize the community while they raise their two young boys.
In Kiev, Oksana worked with NGOs and charged herself with resolving issues on a global scale, making Khrystanivka an unlikely destination for her and her family: roughly 100 people live in Khrystanivka, which is situated on a hill above the Sula River 140 miles east of Kiev. Like many other Ukrainian villages, Khrystanivka is physically and culturally isolated, removed from the country’s modern cities: It takes more than three hours on heavily potholed roads to reach Khrystanivka by minibus.
Oksana decided to move to Khrystanivka out of a belief that long-term change must begin at the local level. She wants to spark this change in Ukraine’s villages, modernizing and integrating the country’s vast rural areas.
Ulas, one of the Oliinyk's  two sons, in Khrystanivka's old school, which closed its doors in 2001. Source: Ethan Daish and Elissa Lima
One thing that might bring increased opportunity to those living in Ukraine’s rural areas is greater access to the Internet. Access is already improving: between 2012 and 2015 the number of Internet users across the country doubled from 21 percent to 45 percent, and last year Internet penetration reached 60 percent nationally.
To accelerate this process in Khrystanivka, Oksana wants her shop and library to become a community center, complete with computers and Internet access for the village’s residents.
Orest And Oksana. Source: Ethan Daish and Elisabeth Lima
“Most of them don’t have access to the Internet and don’t speak much to their families that live in cities or abroad,” she told RuNet Echo. “We really need a few computers and a free Wi-Fi zone to start with…a place to get information about what’s going on in the region. People here don’t have any common ideas or projects. They could have more business ideas or get freelance jobs through the Internet and grow more effectively.”
In Lokhvytsya, a town of 12,000 people a few miles north of Khrystanivka, a community library recently opened a computer room where people can use the Internet for free. In a room just down the corridor, Oksana holds English small classes on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
A road in Khrystanivka. Source: Ethan Daish and Elisabeth Lima
Like access to the Internet, Oksana believes schooling is critical to opening doors for youth in Ukraine, where the state educational system is lagging. Ukraine ranked 94 of 138 nations in the 2016-17 Global Competitiveness Report in teacher training level—31 out of the European nations in the study. These problems are particularly acute in rural areas, where, Oksana says, “In some schools, the English teachers cannot actually speak English.” As Ukraine’s population urbanizes and villages disappear, rural schools are drying up.
Still, Oksana thinks Ukraine could have a bright future: “Good education can save this country,” she says.
Books in the Oliinyk's shop. Source: Ethan Daish and Elisabeth Lima
Back at the shop, a short walk up the village’s main road, more books are appearing on the shelves, as well as an increasing variety of products. Ever hopeful, Oksana is only interested in moving Khrystanivka forward.
“The more people are involved in change, looking for better education and experience, the more people will understand that they can influence the process,” she says. “It’s not the good king or the president that you should wait for to come and save you. We are the kings of our environment.”

author: Ethan Daish


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Protests in Italy Save Hundreds of Ancient Trees on the Chopping Block for Gas Pipeline Construction · Global Voices
350.org

Century-old olive groves. Photo: Alessandra Tommasi
This article is based on a piece written by Rachel Hubbard for 350.org, an organisation building a global climate movement, and is republished here as part of a partnership with Global Voices.
Communities in Salento, in the southern ‘heel’ of Italy, recently won a small, but important victory in their campaign against the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which would carry gas from Azerbaijan to Italy.
Planned construction would have seen the removal of ancient olive trees to make way for the pipeline, but following fierce protests, the work was suspended in early April.
TAP and the Southern Gas Corridor are the largest fossil fuel projects that the European Union is pursuing. They are meant to bring billions of cubic metres of gas to Europe — making them incompatible with Europe’s climate commitments. According to a report by Oil Change International, existing fossil fuel operations already hold more carbon than can be released to keep global temperature rise to the limits that Europe and governments around the world agreed to under the Paris Climate Accord. That means that there is no space for any new fossil fuel projects, and certainly not for infrastructure of this scale, which aims to massively expand the gas market in Europe.
The pipeline would come onshore in the beautiful seaside town of San Foca. Some fear the construction of the pipeline and a gas-receiving terminal would cause significant damage to the local landscape and coastline.
Despite the predicted climate impacts of the project and the objections of the local people and local politicians, the Italian government wants to push it through.
Public meeting next to the construction site in San Foca. Photo: Alessandra Tommasi
On 20 March, the stakes were raised when the pipeline company – without having permits for the work, as local mayors and the president of the Apulia region criticised – moved in to remove hundreds of ancient olive trees near the rural town of Melendugno. These trees are essential to many people's livelihoods. Not only that, but they are beloved by the local people and are centuries (some apparently more than a millennium) old.
Local organising stepped up a gear and each day since then, hundreds of people have gathered at the site to peacefully resist the construction. The local mayor managed to get the region's prefect to ask the company to stop the works for three days, whilst the permits were investigated.
People in Melendugno protecting olive trees from the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. Photo: Alessandra Tommasi
After the three-day break, the question of permits remained unresolved, and works continued. The national government sent in police to defend the interests of the pipeline company, pushing the crowds back with shields and batons to allow the company to continue to explant trees. A number of injuries to local people were reported.
Over the course of these few days, many trees were uprooted and removed from the area, a heartbreaking sight for many locals.
The trees in this picture have in the meantime all been removed. Photo: Alessandra Tommasi
But they didn’t give in. Public meetings were held regularly, drawing crowds of 500-1,000 people. The campaign has made the headlines in the Italian press, and solidarity actions and messages have been sent by groups in Milan, Bologna and Rome.
The protests started to hit national and international news, daily gatherings at the site got bigger and bigger, and one night, people built stone barricades to stop vehicles from accessing the site.
Local residents built barricades to block the pipeline works. Photo: Alessandra Tommasi
In early April, the removal of the trees was suspended because of the barricades and sheer size of the protests. There is just a small window now for the remaining trees to be removed. In a few weeks the growing season starts and the trees must remain for the summer.
Daily gatherings and public meetings continue. No one knows what will happen next, but the local No TAP Committee is determined to stop the pipeline altogether. They maintain it is an unnecessary project, especially since demand for gas is dropping in Europe, and that it is undemocratic and being imposed by the government against the will of local people. They also argue that it will cause vast economic and irreparable environmental damage to the area.
Their message is “né qui né altrove” – “No TAP, not here or anywhere”.
You can follow their campaign on Twitter under the hashtag #NoTAP. The local organising committee is on Twitter @no_tap and on Facebook @MovimentoNoTAP. To learn more about the TAP, which is also called the Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline, take a look at the webdocumentary Walking the Line by campaigning groups Counter Balance, Platform London and Re:Common.


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Some of Ghana’s Media Houses Are Social Media Stars, While Others Take a Pass · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A screenshot of a figure showing 10 most followed radio stations on Facebook.
Penplusbytes has released its 1st Quarter Social Media Index report for 2017, which reviews the outlook and performance of newspapers, radio and TV stations in Ghana based on their presence, followers and likes on Facebook and Twitter.
To compile the index, the organisation says it conducts a survey of 60 newspapers, 350 registered radio stations and 34 TV stations. The report shows that Facebook is the most popular social media platform among media houses in Ghana than Twitter.
Penplusbytes is a non-profit organisation promoting effective governance using technology in Africa. The organisation released its first Social Media Index report on Ghana’s print, radio and television media houses in 2016.
The report reveals that only 68 (19.4%) of the 350 radio stations own and run Facebook accounts. Joy FM, one of Ghana's most influential media houses, is the most followed Ghanaian radio station on Facebook with over 1,008,733 likes, followed by Citi FM with 999,388 likes.
Twenty-three (67%) TV stations out of 34 have Facebook accounts, with U TV Ghana leading with 706,095 likes.
The report shows that 19 (31%) out of 60 newspapers in Ghana are on Facebook. However, some of these pages show no updates or interaction in as long as three years. The Daily Graphic, the most read newspaper in Ghana, leads with 846,449 followers, followed by 90 Minutes Sports in second with 131,778 page likes.
The study found about 55 (16%) Ghanaian radio stations with Twitter handles. Joy FM leads on Twitter with 640,984 followers, followed by Citi FM with 541,150 followers.
There are 20 (57%) TV stations on Twitter. GH One TV station leads on Twitter with 289,567 followers, then Viasat 1 (Kwese) TV with 140,353 followers.
Only 13 (21.7%) out of 60 newspapers are on Twitter. The Daily Guide newspaper has 13,596 followers while The Daily Graphic comes second with 11,497 followers.
The Social Media Index states that:
This report reveals notably impressive performances by media entities such as Joy FM, Citi FM, Starr FM and ATL FM who, without any surprise, have some of their accounts verified. They represent a small percentage of best managed pages that are easily identified as official on social media with up-to-the-minute post updates and interaction with audience.
You can download the full report here.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Some South Africans Argue It’s Not Just Their Country’s Credit Rating That’s Junk Status · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A shanty town in Cape Town. Some South Africans argue that investment benefits selected blacks and privileged whites. Creative Photo via Wikipedia by Chell Hill. Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0
South Africa's sovereign credit rating has been downgraded to junk status by two rating agencies, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch. The agencies have cited the sacking of respected Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan by President Jacob Zuma as one of the reasons for the downgrade.
The rating is likely to impact the country's ability to borrow as well as discourage investors. According to Chris Malikane, an associate professor of economics at Wits University, the rating will not affect the average South African in the short-term. However, it will lead to higher interest rates in the longer-term.
Malikane pointed out that the main thing the downgrade would bring is:
[…] an increase in the risk premium‚ meaning lenders increase interest rates because of a perceived greater risk in default. The result is households with capital in investments and assets are going to be mostly affected.
South Africans have responded to the news, blaming President Zuma for the downgrade, questioning the credibility of the rating agencies and pointing out the inequality that exists in the country.
Twitter user Dabesa summarised the potential effects of the downgrade:
Consequences of #junkstatus
1.Inflation will increase
2.Assets will lose value.
3.The rand will weaken more.
4.SA. will lose investors ??
— Dabesa??? (@Ps_Mthimkulu) April 3, 2017
Another user, chloé, mocked President Zuma for the rating:
President Zuma finally accomplished something #junkstatus
— chloé (@heyitsmechloe) April 3, 2017
Former editor at South Africa's Financial Mail, Barney Mthombothi, remarked:
#junkstatus Nothing short of Zuma's immediate recall can save SA
— Barney Mthombothi (@mthombothi) April 3, 2017
Nandi joked:
We're renaming South Africa to Southern Zimbabwe #junkstatus
— Nandi?Cakes (@nandicakes) April 3, 2017
Zimbabwe is currently experiencing severe financial crisis.
“African Snake Doctor” shared a graph showing credit ratings under different post-Apartheid South Africa's presidents:
zuma as you can see our credit was built by your predecessors. It is not a white thing. It's pride u destroy. #ZumaMustFall #junkstatus pic.twitter.com/BZy2R1WImG
— africansnakedoctor (@africansnakedoc) April 8, 2017
Moses Mothebe directed his tweet to Zuma supporters:
Watch Zuma supporters blame whites for #junkstatus
— Moses Mothebe (@moses_mothebe) April 3, 2017
Zuma and the ruling African National Congress supporters are mostly black South Africans. Zuma has on several occasions blamed white South Africans for poverty and inequality in the country.
However, Duncan Wa Muvenda noted:
Blacks had lived a #junkstatus life since 1652! Investment is benefited the selected blacks and privileged whites! Stop this nonsense!
— Duncan Wa Muvenda (@TheeVintage) April 3, 2017
1652 is the year the first European settlement was established by the Dutch in South Africa.
Another user shared a photo of a shanty town with the following observation:
The people living under these conditions can't tell the difference between a AAA economy and #junkstatus – Facts Only ???? pic.twitter.com/z3rDMLYFjM
— African (@ali_naka) April 3, 2017
AAA is the highest possible rating to be assigned to a country by credit rating agencies.
While Phelelani Mpanza doubted the rating agencies:
We must question the credibility of these rating agencies #Junkstatus
— Phelelani Mpanza (@PhelelaniMpanza) April 3, 2017
Another user wondered:
How did Apartheid regime survive for more than 40yrs without these criminal “ratings agencies”
— M||o (@MxolisiBob) April 3, 2017
Mpumelelo Mbatha speculated that the downgrade is an attack on emerging BRICS economies:
The downgrade of RSA to junk status may be a attack on BRICS. Last February Brazil was downgraded to junk status… #junkstatus #downgrade
— Mpumelelo Mbatha (@SkhuluM) April 4, 2017
BRICS is an association of five major emerging national economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
Vuyo Ro echoed Mbatha's sentiments:
Brazil was downgraded so that people can impeach their president with force. South Africans are not stupid. #junkstatus
— Vuyo Ro (@sleam19) April 4, 2017
Last year, BRICS announced that it would set up credit rating agency to rival Fitch and others.


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War Between Spain and the UK Over Gibraltar? Social Media Says No Way, José! · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

View of the Rock of Gibraltar from Spanish town, La Línea de la Concepción. Photo by Mihael Grmek for Wikimedia Commons, with CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.
“Thirty-five years ago this week, another woman [prime minister] sent a task force half way across the word to defend the freedom of another small group of British people against another Spanish-speaking country. And I'm absolutely certain that our current PM would show the same resolve in standing by the people of Gibraltar.”
With these words, former Conservative leader Michael Howard sparked one of the most bitter controversies between Spain and the UK in recent years over Gibraltar.
What is Gibraltar? It's a small area strategically situated on the cusp of the Mediterranean, that was occupied by the British during the Spanish War of Succession and subsequently joined Great Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
Gibraltar has a little more than 33,000 residents, with a population of many origins, but dominantly Spanish and British, and have traditionally been very hostile towards any negotiation attempt from Spanish authorities to regain some or total control over the territory.
As a British overseas territory, Gibraltar has, until now, enjoyed a privileged position within the European Union, exempt from certain taxes, responsibilities and legislation. However, despite Gibraltarians having voted significantly in favour of remaining in the union in 2016's “Brexit” vote, Gibraltar has few options: given that residents have outright rejecting joining Spain or even co-sovereignty between both countries, the only remaining option is to leave the EU with the United Kingdom.
In early April, the European Council distributed guidelines amongst member states to be followed throughout Brexit negotiations. They explicitly state that future agreements between the EU and the United Kingdom will not apply to Gibraltar without Spain's consent, giving the right of veto to the latter.
This concession has enraged certain British Conservative politicians. Others have joined the aforementioned Howard, such as Boris Johnson, British foreign minister, who accused Spain of exerting “unacceptable pressure on Gibraltar's future involvement in Brexit negotiations”, and Defence Minister, Michael Fallon, who expressed his intention to protect Gibraltar “at all costs”. The chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabián Picardo, also declared, “Paying [for Brexit] with us is allowing Spain to act like a thug […] This is clearly harassment from Spain”. Rear-Admiral Chris Parry, a former director of operational capability at the Ministry of Defense even said:
Spain should learn from history that it is never worth taking us on and that we could still singe the King of Spain’s beard.
Tabloids have gone even further. The Sun published a memorable front page that provoked mockery from some internet users:
Up yours senors! screams the true Brit Gibraltar campaigning Sun.
*PS – £15 holidays to Spain in today's ‘paper’. pic.twitter.com/pT1mGNQ6wg
— Rachael (@Rachael_Swindon) 4 de abril de 2017
Sun columnist Kelvin Mackenzie published an article in which he branded Spaniards as “drunkards” and “donkey rogerers” and issued various outrageous threats, which included boycotting Spain as a tourist destination, closing off air space to Spanish flights (ignoring the fact that Iberia and British Airways belong to the same company) or extraditing the 125,000 Spaniards who work in the United Kingdom (also ignoring the almost 240,000 Brits who live in Spain). Mackenzie finished referencing late US President Ronald Reagan:
Reagan used to have a sign on his desk saying: “If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”
For balls, read cojones.
Spanish authorities, which often utilise Gibraltar as a smokescreen to divert attention from more important issues, have not taken a stance on this almost warlike escalation, and British Prime Minister Theresa May has treated the subject with a certain levity.
Internet users from both countries have viewed the situation with even more humour, sowing the rift that exists between certain politicians and the public. For example, a survey by the Spanish edition of the Huffington Post that asks “Would you enlist in the Army to fight for Gibraltar?” currently holds a 74% negative response (so far, there's a total of 31.1K votes).
Despite a few exceptions, Twitter users from both countries have also viewed the subject somewhat humorously:
Para qué vamos a querer Gibraltar, si no sabemos salir de una rotonda conduciendo al derecho imaginaros al revés!!!
— Dmg (@nenasub2) 3 de abril de 2017
Why would we want Gibraltar, if we can't already exit a roundabout driving on the right imagine us on the opposite side!!!
Hay que reunir a los mejores para la batalla naval de Gibraltar. pic.twitter.com/Mrn7UMzrea
— Javier Albisu (@javieralbisu) 3 de abril de 2017
We have to bring together the best for the naval battle of Gibraltar.
-¿Y ahora cómo coño llegamos a Gibraltar?
-Ya os dije que pasaría esto si conducía la cabra.
-Tampoco hay cobertura. pic.twitter.com/0Crd6oJOP6
— La Matu (@matussera) 3 de abril de 2017
-How the hell do we get to Gibraltar now?
-I told you this would happen if the goat drove.
-And there's no signal either.
Spain and England can go to war over Gibraltar on the condition that all fighting must be done with 17th century sailing ships
— Antoine Bugle Boy (@burndontfreeze) 5 de abril de 2017
If I lived in Gibraltar and was given the option of joining Spain or staying part of UK, I'd choose Spain for the weather #brexit #gibraltar
— SC (@RealSociableDad) 5 de abril de 2017
Been in Spain 24 hours and nobody has tried to nick Gibraltar from me yet. Point. Winner.
— Paul Grimley (@LPP2014) 5 de abril de 2017
But it is perhaps Francois Smit's tweet that puts this whole thing in the perspective it truly deserves:
Syria: UK rules out military action after chemical attack: but we'll bomb Spain over Gibraltar https://t.co/ZBmLretkuB
— Francois Smit (@FrancoisSmit2) 5 de abril de 2017

author: Lourdes Sada


text:
A Healthy Food Movement Is Gaining Momentum in Paraguay · Global Voices
Laura Vidal, Kurtural

Ecological markets, communities, families and organizations take initiative on the issue of adequate food and the conscious use of natural resources. Photograph from the Kurtural website and used with permission.
The #jakaruporahagua series (meaning “to eat well” in the Guaraní language), published by the Paraguayan independent news site Kurtural, follows the movement with the same name and its fight for ethical land use and food consumption. What follows is an edited version of the series that will highlight some of the stories and the experiences they share. It will be published on Global Voices in three parts.
As in many other countries and their urban centers, people are starting to think critically about land, food and health in Paraguay. The economic model and the ideal of development that Paraguay has pursued has translated into Paraguayans living a fast-paced life and relying on food sources that take a toll on their health.
Paraguayans are heavily dependent on supermarket products and ready-to-eat food high in sugar and carbohydrates, as well as vegetables to which many pesticides have been added. Their diet is also rich in meats and fat, since healthier and lighter products tend to be a lot more expensive. People look for the cheapest and tastiest way to fill their bellies. For many experts like Miguel Lovera — who was part of the National Service for Vegetable and Seed Safety and Quality — this is the root of Paraguayans’ malnutrition and represents a failure in ensuring people's right to food security.
Given this reality, a growing number of initiatives devoted to defending food and land rights have sprung up in Paraguay. Some of these projects study how to use the land in a responsible manner, and teach others how to do so. Others connect city residents, whose resources and access to whole foods may be limited, to farmer's markets, or develop food fairs in less populated areas and encourage local production for local consumption.
One of them is Huerta Orgánica (Organic Garden) project, which provides healthy products to over 60 families weekly. Carlos Díaz Meyer is a promoter of the project who worked for many years as an architect in the United States. With the help of his Paraguayan contacts in New York, Díaz Meyer managed to carve out a path for himself in this domain:
Ganaba mucha plata pero no tenía vida, todo era trabajo y mucho estrés […] Yo vine de otro ámbito con poca experiencia. Me fui haciendo al andar. Me animé a tener mi huertita, me fui formando. Siempre estuvo en mí la cuestión de la salud, me fui desprendiendo de la visión occidental de la medicina y entendí que el alimento es pura medicina
I earned a lot of money but I had no life, it was only work and a lot of stress […] I came from another background and I had little experience. I was cutting my own path. I encouraged myself to have my little vegetable garden, I educated myself. The issue of health always interested me, my view on medicine differed from the Western vision and I understood that food is pure medicine.
Another initiative, lead by a “tribe of producers,” is called “Tu Kokue” (Your Farm), and their goal is to connect farmers and people in the city who want to eat better. The project started in 2013 just as its main founders, Leticia Correa y Raúl Soverina, had their first child:
We had the idea of eating healthy with our daughter. That's how the project started, as a family initiative to provide to other families, and then it started spreading.
They share the products they have available through Facebook and their website. They also have a mailing list. In 2016, Tu Kokue became a collective project and includes groups of urban farmers. So far, they have over 50 families buying their products weekly.
Photo: Amadeo Velazquez. Used with permission.
Some of the projects not only are concerned with creating healthy food communities and setting up farmer's markets, but also bring together groups whose interests also include the protection of the land, the peasantry and women in rural areas. Their efforts have contributed to a jump in touristic interest and therefore some economic growth in some areas, thanks to their food markets.
One example is that of San Pedro del Paraná, in the south of the country (350 kilometers away from the capital, Asunción). Since 2007, over 50 families of agricultural producers from neighboring areas have flocked there to sell to around 2,500 people, who now wait for market day to buy their fresh products.
The successful experience has led other communities to replicate the food fairs, making San Pedro the local reference in farmer's markets. Blanca Méndez, a member of the Pastoral Social de San Pedro del Paraná — a Christian institution that works with people in need in the city — says that thanks to their participation in this growing food market initiatives, the organization has gained economic independence and has been able to encourage the development of small family farms.
In our next post, we'll be exploring tips and recipes shared in the series, and finally, we'll explore the challenges and the realities behind healthier eating in Paraguay and the organizations that are trying to make it possible.

author: Laura Vidal, Kurtural


text:
Chinese-French Millennials Protest Police Shooting—and the ‘Model Minority’ Myth · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

A street wall in Paris. Photo by Flickr user martathegoodone. CC BY-ND 2.0
This story by Sophie Chou originally appeared on PRI.org on April 11, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
The French are no stranger to protests. One journalist even calls it “the French way.”
But after an older man was killed during a police encounter, the Chinese-French community erupted in protests in early April against police brutality and racial discrimination, a shock to those used to seeing this group as a non-confrontational “model minority.”
“The media, and I would say France, is very surprised with this demonstration because there is this cliche … about the Asian community, which is supposed to be a ‘model minority,’ very quiet and never opposing the authorities,” said Doan Bui, a journalist at L’Obs, a weekly news magazine in France.
In response to the death of Liu Shaoyo, a 56-year-old father of five who was shot and killed by the French police in his home on March 26, the Chinese diaspora in France is finding a new voice. In Paris, hundreds of demonstrators from the Chinese immigrant community gathered in Chinatown and at City Hall, the Place de la République, and the Place de la Bastille.
Rassemblement pacifique pour #LiuShaoyo. La foule arrive petit à petit. Environ 500 personnes actuellement. #mortdeLiuShaoyo pic.twitter.com/nhnivIBaQQ
— Stéphanie Roy (@StroyPress) 2 de abril de 2017
Peaceful rally for #LiuShaoyo. The crowd is arriving little by little. About 500 people currently.
Since Liu was killed, there has been disagreement about the circumstances of his death.
His daughters told the media that he answered the door holding a pair of scissors he was using to prepare fish for the family dinner. The police said that Liu was armed, and that they fired in self-defense.
Leo Takeuchi, spokesperson and community organizer for the anti-racism organization Asia2.0, said he believes that the shooting was racially motivated.
“If it was a white man, in his own house, they would have waited and tried to talk before shooting,” said Takeuchi, 25.
Takeuchi said he hopes that the Asian community in France can unite over the death of Shaoyo and fight against not just police violence, but the systematic mistreatment of Asians in France.
“The shooting is a tragedy, but the institutional racism, this is the more serious part,” Takeuchi said.
The protests are a departure from other recent demonstrations by the Chinese community, which asked for more protection from French police.
Chinese and Chinese-French Parisians say they are often the target of racially motivated muggings, based on stereotypes of Asians being easy targets for crime.
In August 2016, 49-year-old tailor Zhang Chaolin died after being robbed and beaten by three teenagers in the suburb of Aubervilliers.
But the protests in early April included signs demanding justice and accused police of violence. One decried “police colonialiste,” which means “colonial police.”
France has more Chinese immigrants than any other country in Europe, but there is no official data on the size of the population or crimes against them. That’s because under French law, it is illegal to collect data on race and ethnicity.
Experts estimate the size of the Chinese immigrant community to be between 500,000 and 600,000 in France, mostly residing in Paris. It is the largest Asian group in France, followed by diaspora of the former French colonies, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
The Chinese-French community may be getting more vocal, but it's still struggling to be heard. Both Bui and Takeuchi said Liu’s death and the subsequent protests were largely ignored by local officials, despite the upcoming presidential elections, where immigration is a central issue.
“There was no politician, except for one maybe, who talked about what happened [to Liu],” Bui said.
After Liu’s death, Dominique Sopo, the president of French anti-racism organization SOS Racisme, commented on police bias — but her statement included a reference that some felt only perpetuated racial stereotypes.
“It would be good if the police do not confuse a Chinese father who is cooking with a Japanese yakuza armed and trying to attack them,” Sopo said in an official statement on March 28.
In a follow-up email to PRI, Sopo clarified that the phrase was meant to “illustrate our criticism of prejudice.”
“We suspect that members of the police are working with heavy prejudices, hence our voluntary association of a Chinese father with an armed Japanese yakuza, in order to show the crudeness of stereotypes that can strike the populace,” Sopo said.
Takeuchi said he found the statement from SOS Racisme to be disappointing, and said there was little solidarity from other organizations.
“We feel a little bit lost, that even a very prestigious association adds jokes to the situation,” Takeuchi said.
Rassemblement en cours à République pour #LiuShaoyo. Environ 300 personnes reunies dans le calme. #mortdeLiuShaoyo pic.twitter.com/sfL61U3eHA
— Stéphanie Roy (@StroyPress) 2 de abril de 2017
Rally in progress at [Place de la] République for #LiuShaoyo. About 300 people gathered in peace. #DeathOfLiuShaoyo
One of the most difficult parts about fighting racism against Asians in France, Takeuchi said, is that the prejudices are two-sided. There are positive stereotypes about Asians, based off the “model minority” concept, and negative ones.
“We are facing the most difficult situation possible. We have to fight against the positive ones … and it is not a comfortable position for our association within France,” said Takeuchi.
Bui said that over time, Chinese protesters have gotten bolder and more vocal with their demands, led by the younger, French-born generation, who want to throw off the model minority label.
“In the first demonstration [after Chaolin’s death], everyone had French flags,” she said. “And all the comments were they are very good demonstrators, they are very good immigrants. Even when they demonstrate, they demonstrate bien.”
But the younger generation, Bui said, no longer cares for this reputation.
“Right now, the younger generation that was born in France, they are really fed up with this invisibility,” Bui said. “They don’t want to be the model minority or whatever, they just want to be French.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
The Other Face of the Mountain: Afghanistan’s ‘Ski Challenge’ · Global Voices
Bismellah Alizada

Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
Afghanistan's jagged, sky-scraping mountain ranges have over centuries been its best defence against foreign invasions, but there are other ways they can be put to use for the country.
Since 2011, the annual Afghan Ski Challenge has run from February through March in the Koh-i-Baba mountains, not far from where the Taliban infamously bombed giant Buddha rock carvings in the country's central Bamyan province.
Here there are races for both professionals and amateurs, in which mostly Afghan skiers compete against each other and a handful of international rivals.
The event is organized by the Bamyan Ski Club, a Zurich-based not-for-profit organization founded six years ago with the aim of promoting skiing and tourism in Bamyan.
Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
Covered by snow for six months of the year, the Baba range would seem a far-flung option for foreign adventurers seeking their next backcountry skiing fix. Moreover, Afghanistan is regularly portrayed as devastated and overrun by militants in international media.
But Bamyan province, while poor and ignored by the central government, is safe from the dangers of the Taliban and ISIS, and open to both local and international tourism.
Since 2011 an average of more than 30 skiers from countries like Australia, New Zealand, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Slovenia, and the United States have visited Bamyan annually, a trickle organisers of the Afghan Ski Challenge hope will grow over time.
Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
Many come simply for the adventure. Backcountry skiing —  as opposed to alpine skiing — grew up as a North American cottage industry but has turned into a movement expanding into some of the least-traveled-to countries on the planet. It thrives on virgin snow and a general absence of the infrastructure found in ski resorts, such as chair and button lifts.
In February 2012, the first ski school was launched in Bamyan by Rah-e Abrishom Travel and Tours, providing ski trainings for as many as 60 young Bamyanis in its first one-month course, led by two foreign trainers.
There are presently five local ski clubs in Bamyan with over 200 members in total. Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Ski Federation which was founded in 2015, gained membership of the International Ski Federation in 2016.
Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
Most local ski enthusiasts do not have the necessary equipment (skis, snowshoes, boots and helmets) which combined can run to over $1,000. The equipment used by the skiers for the Afghan Ski Challenge is provided by Switzerland, the Aga Khan Foundation, the Bamyan Ski Club and the Bamyan Tourism Association.
Some, however, rely on innovation and whatever they have at their disposal.
As one foreigner put it in an interview with the Guardian, “They decided to copy us – making their own skis from planks of wood and tying them to their shoes with fabric and rope. Skiing with them is all part of the fun of being here.”
Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
Girls have been a part of the Afghan Ski Challenge from its beginning, growing in number every year. Now, the Bamyan Ski Club has over 30 female members, some of whom have been winners in Challenge events.
Home mostly to ethnic Hazaras, Bamyan boasts one of the highest rates of female education in Afghanistan. It was also the first province to be governed by a woman after the fall of the Taliban.
Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
Women's reintegration into public life in post-Taliban Afghanistan has been an uphill struggle for the most part. In Bamyan, while challenges persist, the social environment is more forgiving.
Used with permission from Afghan Ski Challenge.
In Afghanistan sport is political. Since the majority of Afghan cricket players are ethnic Pashtuns, for instance, some other ethnic groups resent the game. However, the government has invested significant funds and political capital into cricket.
Recently, President Ashraf Ghani received cricketers at his residence upon their arrival from India, and the government’s Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah joined spectators in India cheering the team on at the T20 World Cup.
Both President Ghani and CEO Abdullah also serenaded the cricket team on their Twitter accounts:
What a fab win & what an amazing batting by G. Naib! Thoroughly enjoyed it. Would also like to congratulate the fans. Keep it up our heroes!
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) January 6, 2016
Congratulations to #Afghanistan for the historic win against #Ireland in Intercontinental Cup and over #India in Emerging Teams Asia Cup. pic.twitter.com/Qde9bFFHC2
— Dr. Abdullah (@afgexecutive) March 30, 2017
Taekwondo is more often associated with Hazaras. Two-time Olympic medal winner Rohullah Nikpah is an ethnic Hazara, who resigned in protest against alleged corruption in the Afghan National Olympic Committee. Corruption in the National Olympic Committee and the Afghan Sports Federation have received regular attention in local media.
Skiing meanwhile, has not spread far outside of Bamyan, and has been largely ignored by the government, despite the Afghan ski federation's ambitions to enter two trained Afghan skiers into the Winter Olympics in 2018.
Agha Mohammad Kargar, who heads the federation, complained in a telephone interview with Global Voices that “the government has been totally neglectful of this sport.”
“The budget of the federation is zero, and we rely on donations to cover our expenses,” he told Global Voices.

author: Bismellah Alizada