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Brazilian Graffiti Artists and Young Syrians Are Painting Refugee Camp Walls Together · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

A painted school at a Syrian refugee camp in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. Photo from the Rimon Guimarães Facebook page.
The Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, home to almost 1 million refugees, now has a splash of color thanks to a project which saw Syrian children aided by a Brazilian graffiti artist duo called Cosmic Boys decorate a school with technicolor art.
The effort called “Painting On Camps Walls” was part of a larger initiative called Cosmic Future that wants to use art as a thereputical tool with Syrian young people. Involved are Conexus Project, a nomadic art collective; Al Caravan, which puts on educational, entertainment and cultural workshops for displaced Syrian children and adults; Costmic Boys, formed by Rimon Guimarães and Zéh Palito; curator Sheila Zago; and French documentarist Agathe Champsaur.
They launched a campaign fundraising their work and are sharing updates on Facebook and Youtube, on their work's progress.
Their motivations are addressed below:
In a moment of strong flux of immigration due international conflicts, people look for chances to survive, places to live – to wait or to start a brand new life. Many end living in non ideal conditions between refugee camps and settlements, where education is not easily accessed and children and teenagers often quit studying.
[…]
We believe that art can bring them some relief, perspective and skills to make their waiting less painful – as well as to give them a voice to express what they are experiencing, along with international visibility. Therefore, we aim to engage with children and teenager refugees living in these spaces, trying to turn their low life expectations into hope for a bright Cosmic Future!
Zeh Palito (front), Rimon Guimarães (center) and Khaldoun Al Batal (back). From the Conexus Project Facebook Page
Al Caravan has been bringing art as well as other educational endeavors to displaced Syrians since 2013. The idea for the organization came to light a year earlier when the Syrian regime's air force dropped bombs over Idlib province, in northwestern Syria, during the daytime, forcing residents to escape, leaving their homes temporarily behind.
Khaldoun Al Batal, Al Caravan's co-founder, told Global Voices the complete story:
We were two friends, myself and Kasem Hammad, who sensed the potential of a mobile location to restore the people goods while they are away from homes, ideally caravans which were quite distributed in that area for agriculture mini-projects. They ask one manufacturer to fabricate a special “Magic Caravan” for the kids activities. Our joint was broken when my friend killed in a Syrian forces raid, but I insisted to continue the project.
In January 2013, Al Caravan dedicated itself to roam the remote areas for displaced families’ children basic learning, education, and entertainment activities. It's not a replacement for the school, but a kind of reinforcement of the civil society. The team grown to 15 activists serving around 1,500 boys and girls in three Syrian provinces countrysides, Idlib, Aleppo and Latakia. Nowadays, Al Caravan is acting in several areas in Syria and some refugees camps in Turkey, Lebanon and even Germany.
Despite having limited funding, Al Caravan gathered a team of around 100 volunteers in and out of Syria combined with activists from the educational field to offer their experience and work to Syrian children and use social media to communicate with the outside world.
The project's goals are to create a generation that enjoy the arts as an essential part of children's personality building away from violence as well as psychological support.
The work of around 3,000 children participating in these paintings were exhibited in Paris and Montreal, with plans to train 25 boys and girls to present a show about UN children rights with sol vocal and folkloric songs.
In a recent post on Facebook, Zeh declared their visit to Damascus, Syria to paint more walls of hope:
Síria Dia 4 | Em meio à guerra começamos a pintar nosso mural no centro da capital do país. Um dia muito importante na minha vida pela importância que este mural carrega e por toda a situação que este país enfrenta. Sem querer ser pretensioso mas talvez também seja um dia muito importante para este momento em que vive o país. O estopim que deu início à guerra no país em 2011 foi um graffiti feito por adolescentes. Hoje 2017 estamos aqui pintando um mural com o objetivo de espalhar amor e esperança através da arte.
Se conseguirmos cumprir nossa missão de pintar esse mural sem nenhum problema esse mural será o maior mural de pintura do país. Algo que nos incentiva muito e nos dá energia para continuar pintando em meio a todos os riscos que corremos e toda a dificuldade que enfrentamos para estar aqui. Detalhe chegamos no país de carro blindado e pintamos com segurança armada.
Os sírios no geral são pessoas bem receptivas, muito amigáveis, sempre nos tratando da melhor maneira possível. Nas ruas muitos militares armados, revistas de carros e pessoas em todas avenidas e vários pontos estratégicos da cidade. Barulhos de bomba, aviões, tiros durante o dia que se intensificam à noite. Acho que agora conseguimos “abstrair” os barulhos da guerra que acontece a 6 km da onde estamos. A tensão está em todos lugares mas a alegria também. Algo difícil de explicar.
A cidade velha é magnífica cheia de histórias, o mercado, a arquitetura, a comida tudo muito único. O povo lindo e amoroso apesar de todos os pesares.
Hoje o secretário da cultura do país fez um discurso público lindo dizendo que nós carregamos “armas”…nossos pincéis trazendo esperança.
#cosmicboys #conexusproject #peace
❤❤❤❤❤❤
Fourth day in Syria: In the middle of the war we began to paint our mural in the center of the capital of the country. A very important day in my life for the importance that this mural carries and for all the situation that this country faces. The spark that started the war in the country in 2011 was a graffiti made by teenagers. Nowadays, 2017, we are here painting a mural with goal of spreading love and hope through art.
If we can fulfill our mission to paint this mural without any problem, this mural will be the largest painting mural in the country. Something that encourages us a lot and gives us the energy to continue painting in the midst of all the risks we run and all the difficulty we face to be here. Small detail: we arrived the country by armored car and we are painting with armed men around.
Syrians in general are very receptive, very friendly people, always treating us in the best way possible. In the streets many armed soldiers, magazines of cars and people in all avenues and several strategic points of the city. Sound of bombs, planes, shots during the day that intensify at night. I think we can now “abstract” the noises of the war that takes place six kilometers from where we are. Tension is everywhere but the joy too. Something difficult to explain.
The old town is magnificent and full of stories, the market, the architecture, the food all very unique. The people are beautiful and loving despite all the regrets.
Today the Secretary of Culture of the country made a beautiful public speech saying that we carry “guns” … our brushes bringing hope.
A painted school in the Beqaa Valley. From the Conexus Project Facebook Page

author: Rami Alhames


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Despite Some Ambivalence, the Expanded Jamaica Carnival of 2017 Was a Hit · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

A masquerader at Jamaica's 2017 Carnival. Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission.
Jamaica has a love/hate relationship with its Carnival. A cultural import founded in 1989 by Jamaican musician Byron Lee, it provokes mixed feelings among many Jamaicans. This year, after more than a day of torrential rains and flooding in many parts of the island, the weather miraculously held up on the day. Participation was greater than in recent years, since Lee's family, who this year were back to carry on the tradition after his death in 2008, offered more affordable costumes to supplement the upscale Bacchanal Jamaica, via two new bands, Xaymaca and Xodus.
Columnist Patria-Kaye Aarons revived the now decades-old “soca vs dancehall” music debate:
Even with Kingston's designation as a creative city of music by UNESCO, dancehall still doesn't hold pride of place here. How is dancehall being accommodated, let alone promoted, in City Kingston? Dancehall continually is made to feel like an inconvenience in its own home. Sure, it isn't everybody's cup of tea, but the oppressive shroud under which it must always happen in back alleys, hiding from police after hours, shouldn't still be. There still exists the struggle with the Noise Abatement Act forcing early closure, which is completely against dancehall culture.
Fellow columnist Gordon Robinson is vehemently opposed to Carnival:
It's time to put a stop to this loud, rude, crass annual home invasion of a foreign culture. There is NO upside at all
— Gordon Robinson (@TheTerribleTout) April 23, 2017
Not everyone agreed:
Dancehall is 365 every year.
Soca can't have its little 40 days?
Jeeezum!
All when a soca time dancehall still a play.
Why the rift!?
— FLEEKYONCÉ (@yehperry) April 24, 2017
Businessman Zachary Harding was among those pointing out the economic benefits of Carnival, including highlighting Kingston as a tourist destination:
Unstoppable. 25,000+ visitors through Kingston airport in April = 34% increase = UPSIDE! We also export our culture. It's a global world. https://t.co/IL2LfldQO7
— Zachary Harding (@zacharding) April 24, 2017
And well-known broadcasters Archibald Gordon and Simon Crosskill made a point: Do Jamaicans actively support their “indigenous” music?
@ArchibaldKeane @Petchary @djmillerJA @KemeshaKelly_ @BigBlackBarry How many people lamenting the growing popularity of carnival have been to a reggae week event
— simon crosskill (@simoncrosskill) April 24, 2017
Nevertheless, the general consensus on social media was that 2017 was an excellent year. One tweet noted:
Carnival is growing!
60% of Bacchanal Jamaica revellers were from overseas.
On a separate note, Xodus had 1,800 revellers on the road. pic.twitter.com/su85dFSnRQ
— We Revellin! (@WeRevellin) April 25, 2017
Human rights activist Jaevion Nelson added:
Carnival was spectacular. All that needs to happen is that they all end at the same time at the same place with a big dance in HWT square.
— Jaevion Nelson (@jaevionn) April 24, 2017
HWT refers to Half-Way Tree square, a popular gathering place in Jamaica.
Many Jamaicans embraced Carnival wholeheartedly, and simply had fun. Several photos of the celebrations went viral. The Jamaica Gleaner tweeted:
#MasMania: Pillar point! This reveller takes it to another level on the Xaymaca carnival road march – @rmakyn photo pic.twitter.com/Tsx5DvG2HK
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) April 23, 2017
#MasMania: The Xaymaca crew takes off along Waterloo Road, St Andrew – @rmakyn photo pic.twitter.com/8nTnFBr6A2
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) April 23, 2017
#MasMania: She can do it too! A senior citizens walks alongside two younger revellers on the Jamaica Carnival road march – Jermaine Barnaby pic.twitter.com/KuLYTHhqE5
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) April 23, 2017
Of course, politicians also took the opportunity to gain some visibility. Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia “Babsy” Grange and Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams were on the scene, tweeting:
When we touch down ! ?? #CarnivalInJa #Kingston145 #CityOfMusic pic.twitter.com/oOe0fvDn4x
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) April 23, 2017

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Emma Lewis


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How Two Students in the US Turned Their Online Popularity Into Big Money for Famine Aid in Somalia · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

During a rally for the newly elected president of Somalia at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Liban Adam delivers a speech about the ongoing drought in Somalia. He and others in the diaspora and mobilizing online to help. Credit: Arthur Nazaryan/PRI
This story by Arthur Nazaryan originally appeared on PRI.org on April 21, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
It was just two years ago that Liban Adam found himself in the shrublands in northern Somalia, crouched over a giant bowl of camel’s milk. The camel herder who gave it to him watched from behind, amused, as the 24-year-old timidly tasted the sour drink for the first time.
More than 20,000 other people also observed that moment after Adam posted a 40-second video of his experience on Facebook. It was one of many this social activist would share during his six-week trip to Somalia, entertaining thousands of followers among the Somali diaspora and cementing his status as a social media personality.
Today, Adam is harnessing that following to galvanize support for Somalia, which is on the brink of a famine that threatens the lives of an estimated 6 million people, according to the United Nations.
From his hometown of Minneapolis, in the midwestern US state of Minnesota, Adam is still sharing videos of that vast shrubland, where low rainfall has devastated the animals that pastoralists depend on for their livelihood and sustenance.
“My Facebook feed is just horrifying,” he says, referring to the images of distraught mothers holding emaciated children.
So Adam teamed up with high school friend Kali Mohamed to launch an online GoFundMe fundraising campaign for the drought victims. He’s using Facebook Live and Snapchat Cash — and the help of “social media warriors” Nadira Mohamed, 23, and Hafsa Jibril, 23. The team has managed to raise over $80,000 in one month.
Their effort is just one example of how social media has grown to play a uniquely important role within the Somali diaspora, connecting people who have been scattered across the globe by more than two decades of civil war in their home country.
Liban Adam and Kali Mohamed wait to deliver a speech alongside Nadira Mohamed and Hafsa Jibril (not pictured) about the ongoing drought in Somalia. The team has managed to raise over $80,000, mostly via social media. In April, the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe itself pitched in an additional $10,000. Credit: Arthur Nazaryan/PRI
But it’s more than a “social” phenomenon. The pervasiveness of social media among millennials in the diaspora is fertile ground for raising support for humanitarian causes in a way that was not possible before — by facilitating a real-time link to relief efforts.
Adam and Mohamed have done numerous fundraisers in the past, including for famine, burn victims and rape survivors. With each successive effort, social media played a more prominent role. So now, the team is using it “aggressively,” says Adam, “because the people are engaged, the comments are real-time comments, and there's the algorithm on Facebook. As soon as you go live, everyone, the first thing they see — 20,000, 30,000 people that follow you — first thing they see is you. … Bam!”
On March 4, Adam and Mohamed broadcast a call for donations via Facebook Live from Mohamed’s attic in Minneapolis, with just a Somali flag draped behind them. It was a modest setup, but what was meant to be a 20-minute livecast wound up going almost an hour, as more and more people logged on to watch, comment and donate. Adam estimates that within 24 hours, donations to their campaign more than doubled, from $3,000 to $8,000. Over the following week and a half, he says the campaign took in an average of $4,000 a day — a tremendous amount that Adam and Mohamed say would have been impossible without these social media tools.
Singers and musical performances were eschewed during a celebration of the newly elected president of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Instead, people were encouraged to focus their energy on supporting drought victims through fundraising efforts like Adam and Mohamed’s. Credit: Arthur Nazaryan/PRI
And they should know: In 2011, Adam tried raising money for famine relief by going door-to-door and calling and texting potential donors. Back then, neither Snapchat nor Facebook Live existed, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe were in their infancy. He raised just $2,000 for the Somali humanitarian organization Adeso.
Apart from limited reach, another challenge to fundraising was disillusionment with foreign aid. Somalis cannot help but notice that billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance, administered by an entire industry of aid organizations, seems to have had an imperceptible effect on the impoverished nation. During the 2011 famine, Foreign Policy magazine took note as well: “For all the treasure expended there, Somalia is no closer to stability.”
Somalis in the diaspora have had little faith that their donations would ever benefit the people they were meant for. Instead of donating to nongovernmental organizations, Adam says, diasporans often prefer to send money directly back to their families using the traditional money transfer method called hawala.
That's why Adam and his team have chosen to give the money from their current campaign to three well-established, Somali-led organizations. They sent $20,000 to Amoud Foundation, a Somali-run humanitarian aid organization, in March. Amoud matched that donation with $35,000 of its own money, and spent the total on distributing food, water and plastic tent covers in the region of Baidabo. Photos show workers unloading trucks packed to the brim with rice, powdered milk and cooking oil, as crowds of people gather to collect it. Mohamoud Egal, president of the Amoud Foundation, says this money was enough to provide food for 1,150 families and water for 10,378 households.
Egal says the Amoud Foundation has developed confidence with both donors and beneficiaries because people do not see them as a foreign organization giving out handouts.
“We are part and parcel of the landscape. … We are part of the community,” he says. “That’s why we are effective.”
Kali Mohamed, Hafsa Jibril, Nadira Mohamed and Liban Adam (left to right) hold up a giant check for Read Horn of Africa USA, one of three organizations for which they raised money. The other two organizations are Amoud Foundation and CaaliWalaal, which means “Help Your Brother” in Somali. Credit: Arthur Nazaryan/PRI
It’s important to be efficient, and this is where Amoud also has an insider advantage; they do not require a security escort, which can cost foreign aid workers hundreds of dollars a day and severely restrict operations in areas where the extremist group al-Shabab is active.
Even so, Adam and Mohamed say critics accuse them of trying to help regions of the country according to their tribal affiliations. It’s a charge that the duo bristle at, but are not surprised by. They point out that they are still full-time students, not billionaire philanthropists. Adam says he and Mohamed are doing whatever is in their capacity to ensure the most high-risk regions are prioritized.
They are also trying be transparent, and showing how they spend the money on a dedicated Facebook page called Somalia Forward.
“These days no one can hide the truth, because the internet is very transparent, everyone has a … cell phone, can record what's going on, if something is happening, is not happening,” says Adam.
That Somalia has managed to develop a modern telecommunications sector allows the team to give donors a direct window into how their money is being spent.
“You have to be more specific on how the money will be spent, give them as much details as they request or want, in order for you to gain their trust,” says Mohamed.
Less than three days after the team transferred money, the Amoud Foundation had purchased and begun distributing food and water, and sent images to show the donors. In this way, social media has restored some faith in relief efforts and given the foundation a second wind, this time from the Somali people themselves.
Linda Polman, author of “The Crisis Caravan” and an outspoken critic of the aid industry, says such grassroots efforts are unlikely to affect change compared to United Nations-supported efforts, which she points out are themselves chronically underfunded.
“It's not like those projects can actually solve famine, for example … but it will make people feel better,” says Polman. But she admits that “it’s very important to feel that you are actually in charge of your own future, or at least in charge of part of your future.”
And like many in the Somali diaspora, Adam and Egal want that kind of empowerment.
“We want to take care of our own people,” says Egal. “We can help our own people, really, if we come together.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
“I’m Glad I’m From Tohoku” Trends on Twitter Following Japanese Politician’s Cruel Words · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

A super express (shinkansen) train line serving part of the Tohoku region. Photo by Flickr user squeuel. License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
Insensitive remarks, characterized in the media as a “gaffe” (失言, shitsugen) by a Japanese cabinet minister have not only resulted in the minister's resignation but also in a popular Twitter hashtag supporting Japan's northeastern Tohoku region.
On Tuesday, April 25, Minister for Tohoku Reconstruction Imamura Masahiro reportedly stated that “it was for the best that” the 2011 quake and tsunami hit the Tohoku region (「東北だったから良かった」) rather than a more populous region such as Tokyo. Imamura's comments, made all the more galling because he was supposed to be in charge of helping rebuild Tohoku following a massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in 2011, fuelled a firestorm of criticism.
Earlier in April Imamura had also caused a minor controversy after criticizing the remaining evacuees from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, saying in effect that they should now return home. He then scolded a reporter who asked him about those remarks in a press conference. After his latest remarks about Tohoku, the minister was forced to resign.
Re: Yahoo Finance:
Japanese Minister to Resign After Remark on 2011 Quake, Report Sayshttps://t.co/I1pwSRWiTc#MasahiroImamura #今村雅弘 pic.twitter.com/9PP4D71kIB
— 河内丸（裁判員制度を即時廃止せよ） (@Kawachi_Maru) April 25, 2017
Imamura's remarks that “it was better that it was Tohoku” (東北だったから良かった, Tohoku dattara yokatta) spawned a sympathetic hashtag on Twitter that roughly translates as “#I'm glad I'm from Tohoku” (#東北でよかった, Tohoku de yokatta).
Feeling that their largely rural corner of Japan has been neglected and looked down-upon by the ruling elites in Tokyo, especially after the devastating “triple disaster” of March, 2011, Tohoku residents displayed local pride by posting photos and comments about the region.
今村前復興相の失言逆手…自慢ハッシュタグ「 #東北でよかった 」に共感広がる https://t.co/81kmwJS3M8　#今村復興相辞任 pic.twitter.com/YSTk00nyNS
— 産経ニュース (@Sankei_news) April 26, 2017
Reconstruction Minister Imamura Masahiro's words have been used against him, and have been turned into a hashtag of price and support, #I'm glad I'm from Tohoku.
— Sankei News
東北よいとこ一度はおいで#東北でよかった pic.twitter.com/6UmziXBxP6
— Shogo (@hasnoa3) April 25, 2017
Tohoku is great, you ought to come up and visit some time. #I'm glad I'm from Tohoku.
何もかもが暖かい素晴らしいところだよ！#東北でよかった pic.twitter.com/HyXCfj0gow
— Miki (@camera_miki) April 25, 2017
If anything Tohoku is a friendly, splendid place!
On the other hand, not everyone is impressed with the #I'm glad I'm from Tohoku campaign. Some Twitter users are more cynical about how the media in particular has embraced the hashtag:
東北の素敵なものを紹介する「東北でよかった」タグに各メディアがすごく好意的なこと自体は大いに結構なんだけど、「その好意、東北の人たちへの好意ではなく、現政権批判と地続きのネタへの好意でしょう？」って考えるくらいには彼らのこと信用してません。
— PKA (@PKAnzug) April 26, 2017
Although there has been great response in the media about the hashtag “I'm glad I'm from Tohoku”, I don't trust that the media really cares about the people in Tohoku. They just want (to use Imamura's comment) to criticize the government.
Of course, it's debatable about how much effect the tweets will have on government policy.
東北でよかった、を逆手にとるのも、もちろんいいのだけれど、安倍内閣の連中にとっては、どこ吹く風。今、この段階において必要なのは、地べたを揺るがす程の圧倒的な怒りだと思う。
— 大下賢一郎 (@kemuchiman) April 27, 2017
While it's great that the hashtag “I'm glad I'm from Tohoku” has been able use Imamura's words against him, (the social media campaign) will fall on deaf ears with the prime minister and his cabinet. This hashtag won't affect the government at all.
One tweet seems to acknowledge the challenges the Tohoku region faced, even before the Triple Disaster of 2011:
Unbeaten by rain
Unbeaten by wind #AMENIMOMAKEZU#I_am_proud_to_be_born_in_northeast_Japan#東北でよかった pic.twitter.com/EULLYUcnOb
— アスリートの英語学習＠TOEIC勉強垢 (@athlete201701) April 26, 2017
#strong in the rain (#AMENIMOMAKEZU)
The tweet above alludes to one of Japan's most famous poems, “Strong in the Rain” by Kenji Miyazawa, a poet and social activist from the Tohoku prefecture of Iwate. Miyazawa, who lived, farmed, taught and wrote more than one hundred years ago when much of the Tohoku region was still isolated and impoverished, concludes his famous poem with words that speak to the challenges and resilience of the people of Tohoku:
He weeps at the time of drought
He plods about at a loss during the cold summer
Everybody calls him ‘blockhead’
No one sings his praises
Or takes him to heart
That is the sort of person
I want to be

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
The Lonely Death of One of Ethiopia’s Most Public Men · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

ESAT Special on Assefa Chabo April 25 2017. Screenshot from programme shared by ESAT TV's official YouTube channel.
Assefa Chabo, a writer who symbolized the glow of the Ethiopian political movement of the 1970s and the crackdown that followed it, died on April 23 in exile. He was 73.
Assefa lived a public life but a lonely one. One of his friends said he had last talked to him over the phone about two weeks ago. On April 20, Birtukan Mideksa, an exiled Ethiopian politician and his acquaintance, told friends that he had not called her in a while. When she rang his phone, he hadn't answered either.
On his Facebook page where he normally wrote his commentaries, his last post was dated April 3.
Concerned by the break in his routines, Birtukan ceaselessly called Mr. Assefa. His phone rang and rang without answer. She continued her anxious calls, until a disheartening answer came from a nurse attending to him, who told her he was in the intensive care unit of a Parkland hospital in Dallas, Texas. It was reported that he had checked himself into the hospital for an unspecified condition.
His death was announced by his friend Yared Tibebu on Facebook.
Assefa graduated from Addis Ababa University. Amongst his contemporaries, he was revered both as a writer and as a member of the 1960s generation of Ethiopian revolutionaries who began the fight to break free from political repression.
In the 1980s during the military dictatorship of Mengistu Hailemariam his writings caused him to spend 12 harrowing years in the dungeons of Addis Ababa as a political prisoner.
In 1991, he was freed from prison when the present political regime triumphed in the civil war. After that, he briefly served in the provisional Ethiopian government, but his relationship with the new power-holders soured quickly. In 1993, he left Ethiopia for good, living for more than two decades in the United States.
Assefa, who is survived by his four children, was also an acclaimed lawyer whose political instinct and writings inspired younger generations. However, at the end of his life, he suffered alone in the pale light of exile.
The circumstances of his death inspired sympathy and reverent RIP notes within the Ethiopian diaspora community, but he is by no means the first Ethiopian writer to meet his death in exile.
Assefa's Book cover
Since the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, a long list of high-profile Ethiopians who have dedicated their life to public service have died in exile. The great poet, translator and playwright Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin died in 2006 after he moved to New York from Ethiopia in 1998. Gebre Kristos Desta who is described as a father of Ethiopian modern art died in Lawton, Oklahoma.
He was forced to leave the country in 1978, first to Kenya, then to Germany, then finally to the USA where he was granted asylum but died later in 1981.
Mulgeta Lule, who is the most important figure in Ethiopian journalism, died while living in exile, in Washington DC in 2015. Tesfaye Lemma, arguably the most important music personality of Ethiopia, suffered a similar fate; he was forced into exile to the United States, where he established the Ethiopian cultural center in DC prior to his death.
These are just a few examples — numerous other Ethiopians who were on the losing side of the country's political struggles have been forced to live and die in exile.
Assefa played a prominent role during and after the Ethiopian student movement of the 1970s; not only through his writing but also by organizing various political groups. He led an isolated life after he was forced to leave Ethiopia, but corresponded regularly with newspapers inside the country. He wrote about what he called “Ethiopia -Our Common Home” with the obsessiveness of a writer cut off from his homeland.
Taken from YouTube Channel of Addis Vision
In 2016, he published an anthology of his articles. He wrote open letters to the Ethiopian government and rallied supporters on Facebook during recent protests in Ethiopia.
Assefa’s friends say that he always wished to return to his childhood home Chencha, a village in southern Ethiopia. Members of the Ethiopian diaspora community in Dallas area and his friends who heard of his passing set up a gofund me page to fulfil his wishes. Support poured in to send his body to his final resting place.
In Assefa’s death, one may find the sadness of exile, something which is both deeply personal and political.

author: Endalkachew Chala


text:
A Cultural Immersion Program Lets Students ‘Study Abroad’ With Immigrant Families in the US · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Armand Melk-Johnson, 15, hugs his host sister, Mariel, goodbye. Credit: Max Nesterak
This story by Max Nesterak originally appeared on PRI.org on April 24, 2017. It is republished here as part of a partnership between PRI and Global Voices.
Armand Melk-Johnson gives me a tour of his host family’s home, a one-and-a-half story bungalow in Minneapolis.
He’s staying with his host mom Alicia and her two young kids, Mariel and Thomas.
Melk-Johnson is 15 and a ninth-grader at Minnehaha Academy, a private school in Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, that's doing something different. It’s running a program called City Stay, which offers students the chance to immerse in a new culture for one week. Currently, the program places students with Latino, Somali and Hmong host families.
Melk-Johnson chose to stay with this family, with roots in Peru. “My mom was really supportive of me,” he said. “It’s just showing how other Americans live and it’s no big deal.”
Alicia is undocumented and requested we not use her last name. She came to Minnesota from Peru 11 years ago, and both of her children, Mariel and Thomas, were born in the United States. She says she likes hosting students so her children can make friends with older kids.
Alicia only speaks a little English, and Melk-Johnson is still learning Spanish, but she said they can communicate well — even just in the way they look at each other. Mariel and Thomas started seeing Melk-Johnson as an older brother almost at once.
“I love having him here,” Mariel said. “He has a lot of fun with my brother, and he's a very good older brother to me.”
City Stay was founded several years ago by Julie Knopp, a kindergarten teacher at a bilingual school. Knopp got the idea for the program when she was living in El Paso, Texas, and was surprised by how wide cultural divides could be within communities.
“I was really excited about the potential of doing these cultural exchange at home, because not only could we learn from one another culturally, and still learn new languages, but we could do it in a way that broke down barriers in our community and helped us better understand the people we see in our everyday lives,” Knopp said.
It's still an unpaid passion project for her and a handful of board members. So far, they've had about 60 students go through the program and have about 20 host families. Knopp also said some of the students’ choices have surprised her. She’s had Mexican American students want to stay with other Latino families. And students from Thailand and China wanting to stay with a Hmong family.
“The student from China said, ‘I lived in China, I saw Hmong people there. I came to Minnesota, I see Hmong people here. And I wanted to know, who are Hmong people? I want to know more about them,'” Knopp said.
Knopp says she was also motivated to start the program to make cross-cultural experiences accessible to more students. City Stay is much less expensive than a traditional study abroad program. It also attracts a higher percentage of students of color, including students who are themselves “new Minnesotans.”
And, Knopp wants people to stay in touch.
“I love the idea of being able to have lasting relationships with our neighbors and continuing to learn from one another,” Knopp said.
Before he left, Alicia made Melk-Johnson promise to call and come back to see them. He said he would.


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A Royal Misdemeanour Makes for a Heated Discussion in Nigeria · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Recently, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) hosted the 22nd edition of the World Conference of Banking Institutes in Lagos, Nigeria.  However, the news about the event by CIBN got obfuscated due to a royal snub that occurred at the conference's opening ceremony. The Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Oba Rilwan Aremu Akiolu ‘snubbed’ another monarch, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ife.
Screen shot. L-R: Oba Ogunwusi (Ooni of Ife), Igwe Achebe (Obi of Onitsha) and Oba Akiolu (Oba of Lagos) [Video by www.tv360nigeria.com and shared by @BlindspotNG]
Nigeria runs a federal democracy constituting of 36 states and many local government areas. However, the country also hosts strong traditional states that had held sway before the advent of colonial governance. These traditional monarchs no longer exercise any political power, but are nonetheless,very influential in their respective domains. Their impact varies from keeping peace within their respective realms to settling disputes through the traditional system of governance. The first class traditional monarchs, also exercise some considerable clout in contemporary Nigerian politics. They are also usually sought after by politicians and/or governments in order to reach out to the citizens at the grassroots level.
Oba of Lagos publicly insults the Ooni of Ife at an event In lagos . Video Credt: TV360Nigeria pic.twitter.com/cFzwq4qGVq
— Blindspotng (@BlindspotNG) April 25, 2017
In the video above, the Ooni of Ife, after exchanging pleasantries with His Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, went over to greet the Oba of Lagos who rudely cut short the Ooni.
This set Nigerian netizen talking because “deep respect for leaders is a pillar of the culture of the Yoruba people, one of Nigeria's biggest ethnic groups…”
Nigerian writer, Molora Wood was full of praises for the Ooni of Ife:
I even love the Ooni of Ife more after the snub meted out to him by the uppity head of a tiny chiefdom. Oba Akiolu of Lagos played himself.
— Molara Wood (@molarawood) April 28, 2017
Olamide Abe commended the Ooni for being calm in the face of provocation:
I have to commend Ooni Of Ife for being calm in the face of Provocation. Age does not define maturity.
If it's… https://t.co/j18A0Xgl1b
— Olamide Abe (@MrJoyoung) April 28, 2017
Wale suggested the Oba of Lagos to learn from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who though older than the Ooni, respected the seat of the young Oba by prostrating himself while greeting:
Obasanjo prostrating for the Ooni of Ife. As it should be. pic.twitter.com/gbQZp9RCjQ
— Wale Gates ???? (@walegates) April 26, 2017
The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu is 74 years old while the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi is 42. Ile-Ife is considered the “cradle of Yoruba civilization“.  Thus the Ooni of Ife, though younger, takes precedence over the older Oba of Lagos.
But some netizens added humour to the controversy:
When an Igbo man like me want to put mouth in Oba of Lagos vs Ooni of Ife matter but remembers i live in Lagos and Lagoon still dey pic.twitter.com/pUnuhdVpZJ
— Emmanuel (@emma_dele) April 25, 2017
The Oba of Lagos, is no newcomer to controversies. In April 2015, his threat that people who did not vote his way shall “perish inside water” generated a considerable ruckus in the country.
Nonetheless, the Ooni has reiterated his respect for his brother monarch. He said that he “still holds Oba Akiolu in high esteem and what happened yesterday will not stop the Ooni from holding him in high esteem.”
However, the Oba of Lagos has refuted the allegation that he snubbed the Ooni. Rather, Oba Akiolu clarified that he was prevented by the custom of Lagos to embrace the Ooni. According to Oba Akiolu: “anybody can imagine anything. There was nothing. The custom or tradition is like that in Lagos. We don’t hold each other; we don’t hug.”
Nonetheless, Insider Source alleges that Oba Akiolu's reaction may be connected to a rift with the Ooni of Ife:
…the whole issue started when the Ooni placed a call to Oba Akiolu, informing him about his invitation to the Commonwealth. But the Oba of Lagos got angry that he wasn’t invited for the event, and he requested that the Ooni boycotted the trip, a request that the Ooni did not honour. The Ooni duly attended the Commonwealth Day celebrations in London, presented a speech, laid a wreath and graced many other events during the trip. Since the Ooni returned from London, the Bankers’ event of Tuesday, April 25 was the first time both were meeting.

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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CNN Reignites the Great West African Jollof Rice War During Visit to Nigeria · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Screen shot of Nigerian Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Richard Quest (carrying a plate of Nigerian Jollof Rice)
Nigerians are irked with their Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, for daring to attribute superiority to Senegal's jollof rice over Nigeria's own version of the widely consumed dish. Mr Mohammed triggered national outrage when responding to questions from CNN's Richard Quest, who is currently visiting Nigeria.
Busy filming around Lagos today. I'll be tweeting my early thoughts on being back in Nigeria after 10 years away… #RichardQuestinNigeria pic.twitter.com/os18gVa112
— Richard Quest (@richardquest) April 25, 2017
Jollof is a rice dish popular in West Africa – specifically in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and the Gambia. World jollof rice day is commemorated on August 22. Recipes for Jollof rice differ. Here is how to make Nigeria's jollof rice.
There has been a running battle between Nigerians and their Ghanaian neighbours over who makes the best jollof.
Quest first tested the waters on the Jollof debate with a provocative tweet:
Jollof Rice. Delicious. Ghana or Nigeria? Which is best? I ain't getting involved in the #jollofwar #richardquestinnigeria
— Richard Quest (@richardquest) April 26, 2017
As though that were not enough, he then asked for the Nigerian Information and Culture minister's view:
Nigeria's ThisDay newspapers captured the shock of Nigerians over their minister's response:
Minister of information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stunned CNN audience yesterday when he said the best Jollof rice is prepared in Senegal. A claim that seriously weakened the ‘Nigeria First’ mantra meant to encourage patronage Nigerian goods and drive the nation’s economic recovery on a special edition of Quest Means Business anchored in Lagos. Although Mr Richard Quest was later to clarify that the Minister misunderstood his question to mean which country jollof rice originated from. “That was why he answered Senegal.” However, the damage was already done, as social media would not let Lai Mohammed off the hook over his faux pas.
Quest clarified the response from the minister thus:
To be clear. The Minister misheard he thought I asked, who first created jollof rice – hence his (correct) answer Senegal.
— Richard Quest (@richardquest) April 28, 2017
Despite the clarification, Nigerians were not willing to lose sight of what they considered a betrayal of their national pride.
Ola described the ministers response as ‘pure treason':
This is pure treason. Lai Mohammed just dropped our jollof rice Ego pic.twitter.com/oNBDvb2fWc
— OlaSunKanMi (@SmilesParker) April 29, 2017
This netizen described Nigeria's jollof as ‘kabiyesi’ (king):
A Nigerian that doesn't know that Nigerian jollof rice is the “kabiyesi” of jollof worldwide, is that one a Nigerian? #ministeryoumissroad
— ElLillyAnn (@ElLillyAnn) April 29, 2017
Does it mean Lie Mohammed cannot say the truth for once?
Even on jollof rice, he had to lie
Why is he like this? pic.twitter.com/zC4xfjaQD2
— Ebube D Statesman (@akaebube) April 28, 2017
When world war 3 was predicted, who knew it would be Jollof wars?
— Legendary Trblemaker (@Bio_teddy) April 29, 2017
So this man had the effuntry to denounce Nigeria as jollof rice founders… Issokay! #WehdoneSir
— Bobby (@JustFor4tune) April 29, 2017
Some concluded that Mr Mohammad's comments amounted to conceding defeat in the jollof rice war:
And that's how we lost the Jollof war, Lai Mohammed !!! Why?
— i'm not undastanding (@lordsanti18) April 29, 2017
And others went as far as saying that the minister should be sacked:
This is Lai Mohammed's worst. We can't take this anylonger. He should be fired and exiled. Oh… My beloved jollof rice
— BabaNla (@JideOmotosho) April 29, 2017
According to John, the presidency should debunk the ministers statement as “malicious and totally unpatriotic”
The presidency need to put out a statement debunking Lai Mohammed's comments as unfounded, malicious, nefarious and totally unpatriotic.
— John Kerry (@ArroYomi) April 29, 2017
Lai Mohammed: Senegal's jollof is the best.
Nigerians: Say what?! pic.twitter.com/TpnfvgUe5r
— Àṣàkẹ́ (@Omodayo2) April 28, 2017
But at least one Twitter user claimed that Nigeria had already claimed victory in an earlier Jollof battle.
Dear Lai Mohammed, this is Jennifer Fong of Facebook speaking about Jollof as it should be. pic.twitter.com/vRkIRhlHS0
— Victor Asemota (@asemota) April 29, 2017


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Five Foods From Vietnam That Might Be a Little Hard to Swallow for Non-Vietnamese · Global Voices
Loa

Central Market, My Tho, Vietnam. Photo by Milei.vencel. Wikipedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported).
This article by Tiến Nguyễn is from Loa, a news website and online radio project of Viet Tan that broadcasts stories about Vietnam. It is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Each country has its own unique, some might say weird, foods: There are tuna eyeballs in Japan, monkey brains in China and cheese maggots in France. Here's my list of the top five weirdest food in Vietnamese cuisine you should know.
Source: Flickr / shankar s. (CC BY 2.0)
Balut is a developed fertilized duck egg, boiled and eaten in the shell. At about 19 to 21 days old, the duck embryos will be mature enough for you to feel the crunchy bones. The correct way to eat this delicacy is to add a bit of salt, slurp out the water, and chew on a couple of rau răm or Vietnamese coriander leaves.
Source: Flickr / Petr & Bara Ruzicka (CC BY 2.0)
If you are a fan of pizza, you should try this type of “Vietnamese pizza” tiết canh. Its ingredients include peanuts, coriander leaves, fish sauce, lime — and the main ingredient, duck’s blood. Here’s an important foodie tip: the blood has to be fresh! The dish is considered ready to eat when the blood is congealed, the color is still red and when you lift it with a spoon the duck blood stays solid.
Screenshot of Coconut Larvae/bug – Con Đuông Dừa. Source: YouTube
These chubby milky looking bugs can be from three to five centimeters long. They live up in coconut trees where they spend their lives drilling holes and breeding. When the trees are no longer able to live due to these naughty residents, the infested part of the tree is often cut off, so it can regrow, and the whole hive is brought down.
There are various ways to cook these cute little monsters, but the most popular dish is called “Larvae Swimming in Fish Sauce”. Just throw them into a deep plate full of fish sauce, and while they are swimming, eat them alive. Supposedly they are chewy, very nutritious and very tasty. This was a favorite delicacy of the last Vietnamese queen.
Source: Flickr / Jean-Pierre Dalbéra (CC BY 2.0)
These rats aren’t your normal ones that you pick in your backyard or down in the sewage, but country rats that live in the rice fields. They stink less than house rats and are especially popular during harvest season. Farmers often organize in groups and catch up to 100 rats per hole. The best way to cook them is to grill them inside a clay pot, then dip them in a dish of fish sauce along with green mangoes. Apparently, they taste like venison!
Deep fried cicada. Image by Hhaithait. Wikipedia Commons. (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0)
A local favorite in Vĩnh Long, these insects resemble flies but are a bit larger. They are said to have amazing healing abilities that cure sick children, at least according to my grandma. They are at their best when they have just shed their skin, so the meat is still soft. In order to eat them, you can fry, boil and add them to congee.
Have you tried any of these? Let us know what the weirdest food you have eaten is! Bon appétit!
Learn more about these Vietnamese foods by listening to this podcast:

author: Loa


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Police Raid on Kingston Dub Club Puts Noise Pollution Issue on Replay · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Screengrab from a promotional video for the Dub Club, taken from its Facebook page.
Jamaica's capital has what some consider to be an unfair reputation as a dangerous and crime-ridden city — but as a UNESCO-endorsed Creative City of Music, Kingston is starting to raise its profile as a cultural hub. The city's new mayor, Delroy Williams, is particularly engaged with this concept, as part of his vision positioning Kingston as a major tourist destination.
A recent law enforcement incident, however, highlighted the challenges Kingston may face as a music mecca due to the Noise Abatement Act of 1997, which has been the topic of ongoing political consultations for at least the past two years.
Just as Kingston's successful Carnival event was winding down on the evening of April 23, a small drama was taking place on the other side of town. The Kingston Dub Club, a Sunday night fixture that has grown in popularity with locals and visitors, was raided by the police at around 11 pm as the gathering celebrated the 51st anniversary of Emperor Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica. The police were reportedly responding to a noise complaint from neighbours in what is largely an upscale residential area. They shut down the venue, but not before allegedly pepper-spraying and arresting the owner after asking for his police permit, which he was unable to produce.
Perched on a steep hillside with stunning views of the city, the Dub Club offers a unique mix of “100% Undiluted ROOTS/ROCKERS/REGGAE & DUB every Sunday Night” and attracts a wide-ranging clientele, including more well-heeled Kingstonians and music-loving tourists, as well as international guest artists and DJs. A local member of Kingston's arts scene shared this video:
Another fan raved on Facebook about his Dub Club experience:
Shared this amazing raw vegan spread last night at Kingston Dub Club with four amazing people last night after practicing yoga with Jamaicans travellers of all races and mixes and backgrounds while listening to the uplifting and positive sounds of Jamaican reggae and all this with the most amazing view of Kingston and beyond over and over I heard give thanks .. give thanks … just the reminder my culture is not the box some make it to be its bigger than that and even though there many factors at work one day it will break away from the hate people spread #givethanks #myjamaica #clean #food #ackee #callaloo #plantain #organicsalad #body #heart #spirit
Music fans on social media were distressed by the news of the police intervention:
Dub Club is the best run, most culturally relevant, holistic musical tourist enterprise In Jamaica. There's no excuse for what happened.
— BigBlackBarry (@BigBlackBarry) April 24, 2017
Radio DJ ZJ Sparks tweeted:
Owner of the popular event ‘Dub Club’ alleged to have been pepper sprayed and tazed despite having a permit for th… https://t.co/V85SIUlAPO pic.twitter.com/wbFHiv8arG
— Zj Sparks Twelve 9 (@Sparkiebaby) April 24, 2017
Another music fan noted on Facebook:
If he has a permit… he still has it even if it is not in hand.
He just has to produce it at some point. BASIC LAW.
It is a shame … and a double standard.
Hope they win de case.
To actually arrest someone on Carnival sunday for a noise complaint is kinda hypocritical.
Warning = fine… whatever.
Arrest = NO SAH…. NOT COOL!
#DubClub
#jamaika
Travel writer Paul Clammer underlined the club's tourism potential:
@BigBlackBarry I'm author of @lonelyplanet #Jamaica guidebook. Literally signed off book edits this wk praising Dub Club as one of JA's music/tourism gems.
— Paul Clammer (@paulclammer) April 24, 2017
The following day, Mayor Delroy Williams visited the club's Gabre Selassie (Carlyle Lee) to discuss the matter:
Meeting with Carlisle Lee (Gabre Selassie) re the way forward. When dated systems fail, solutions must prevail. #StillBelieve pic.twitter.com/r8N0kg8Gyh
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) April 24, 2017
He subsequently sent a tweet suggesting that the permit application process was inadequate:
There are flaws within the system but in the interest of development we must work together to make it better. #AllStakeHolders #StillBelieve pic.twitter.com/udArEaKv7G
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) April 24, 2017
Dub Club thereafter presented the mayor with a T shirt:
#KingstonDubClub No single instance will destroy the relationship between the city, the law and Mr Lee. He is with the vision. #Kingston145 pic.twitter.com/aFax9SwDyO
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) April 24, 2017
Mayor Williams, who has an energetic presence and a growing following on Twitter, even complimented the club owner for his use of solar power, while expressing concern over the security aspects of the raid:
Commendable that Mr Lee (Gabre Selassie) also takes some pressure off the city grid. Headed back there on Sunday for the experience #DubClub pic.twitter.com/LAUFJa6cgG
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) April 25, 2017
The KSAMC has a duty to ensure the safety of patrons at events. The council will meet and decide how best to ensure this never occurs again.
— Delroy Williams (@MayorWilliamsJA) April 24, 2017
Culture Minister Olivia Grange also responded swiftly, describing the Dub Club's owner as an icon who has unfailingly promoted roots reggae music, and saying he “deserves recognition for his consistent support of our indigenous Jamaican culture”:
I want to quickly express my concern and regret that an incident like this should have happened on a day when carnival, a quite different cultural event, was taking place. It is really unfortunate that something like this happened at the same time as carnival, as it sends the wrong message that there are two Jamaicas.
However, the issue of noise remains on the table. Jamaican music events and dances — whatever the genre of music — customarily begin and end late, creating problems for neighbours who would much prefer a quiet night. Coincidentally, April 26 — just three days after the raid — was International Noise Awareness Day. Journalist Fae Ellington reported on one government minister's observations on the issue:
Mins Daryl Vaz addressing International Noise Awareness Day forum now at the Altamont Court hotel.
“Gov't must intervene in a fair manner.” pic.twitter.com/uXsWke79Hu
— Fae A. Ellington (@FaeEllington) April 26, 2017
The Dub Club issue was peacefully resolved, with no hard feelings on either side and assurances of cooperation and goodwill in the future. But are the neighbours happy? By all accounts, they are certainly not. While government officials weigh up the pros and cons, they are finding that the issue of noise in the city is a delicate balancing act.


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The Return of the Butcher of Kabul: What Does It Mean for Peace in Afghanistan? · Global Voices
Nicole Valentini

Hekmatyar in Laghman. Image shared on Facebook by Hakmatyar's son Habiburrahman Hekmatyar.
After almost 20 years in exile, the once internationally-wanted militant Gulbuddin Hekmatyar made on April 29 a public re-emergence in Afghanistan as part of a peace deal his faction Hezb-e Islami  signed with the Afghan government last year.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his return to the country, Hekmatyar called on the recalcitrant Taliban to join a “caravan of peace” by laying down their arms and joining the peace process. He was speaking in front of family members, followers and politicians in Laghman province, east of the capital, Kabul.
The controversial deal that has allowed Hekmatyar to return has also seen his name withdrawn from the UN sanction list. The European Union has backed the deal, offeeing millions of dollars in order to implement the agreement with the former warlord and his party.
Hekmatyar says he will forget the past but the families of the 66 thousands Kabul victims will not. #Hekmatyar #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/osmIRylTSg
— Basir Ahang (@basirahang) April 29, 2017
The peace deal was a long time in coming, with talks beginning under the administration of ex-President Hamid Karzai, whose friendship with the rebellious Hekmatyar stretched back to the 1990s, when Karzai served as deputy foreign minister in Afghanistan's transitional government.
But to many, Hekmatyar epitomizes the worst of Afghanistan's warlordism. He gained his moniker “the butcher of Kabul” for his bombardment of civilians in the capital during the civil war that eventually brought the Taliban to power in 1996.
#Kabul will never forget and forgive what this bloodthirsty criminal and terrorist did to it! #Hekmatyar #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/eoW32omtRc
— Ali Maisam Nazary (@alinazary) April 26, 2017
Hekmatyar was also nothing if not a turncoat. He fled Kabul when his opponents Taliban took over, but after the 2001 US-led invasion of the country, he collaborated with the group and with Al Qaeda, even claiming to have helped Osama bin Laden escape from Tora Bora.
While the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) and both the US and EU agree that the deal struck with the influential Hekmatyar is a “step forward toward peace”, others fear his return will mark the beginning of an uncertain and dangerous period, not least for women and ethnic minorities.
In 2013, for example, Hekmatyar openly threatened the minority Hazara community in a bigoted Eid-ul-Fitr address:
The time will come when the oppressed people of Afghanistan will stand for taking their usurped rights and then the Hazaras will have no safe havens in any corner of the country.
Global Voices spoke with Dr. Akram Gizabi, a former journalist of Voice of America, well-regarded writer and Afghan political activist about the possible implications of the peace agreement and Hekmatyar's return to the political fold.
Global Voices (GV): According to the Afghan government this peace deal is “the first qualified success in peace efforts between the government and insurgents”. In what way could this deal bring peace in the country?
Akram Gizabi (AG): In my opinion this is not a success at all, we have to consider that Hezb-e Islami was not fighting the government actively so making a peace deal with that party will not reduce the fighting or the level of violence. This is not a success but a failure. Hezb-e Islami was one of the main parties involved in the bombing of Kabul (during the civil war) in which more than 60,000 people died. The whole city was levelled to the ground. Hezb-e Islami and its leader should be tried in front of an International court of law for the crimes that they committed against the people of Afghanistan.
GV: Many members of Hezb-e Islami are already present in the highest institutions of the country while other members are fighting against these same institutions. Hezb-e Islami will gain much more power through this deal. Could the group endanger the achievements made by Afghanistan in recent years?
AG: Yes, there is danger because Hezb-e Islami does not believe in elections. I have heard its leaders saying a lot of times that elections will bring the wrong people to power or people who are not really Muslims to power and all the successes that have been achieved in terms of children's rights, women's rights and human rights in general will be suppressed or undermined. Besides, Hezb-e Islami doesn’t believe in the civil society or in civil activities because the party itself believes in a dictatorial style of rule.
GV: According to some observers this deal will weaken the Taliban, or at least will push them to the negotiating table. What do you think about that idea?
AG: The Taliban doesn’t believe in any peace deal with this government because at this moment a lot of areas in Afghanistan are under their control anyway, and even if they would like to talk they want a better deal than Hezb-e Islami got. So that’s why they are not taking part in this agreement. Besides, the Taliban are not working on their own. They are mostly under the influence of Pakistan. If Pakistan feels that the Taliban should take part in negotiations they will take part. If Pakistan does not allow them, the Taliban cannot do that. If you remember most of the talks in the past that were arranged, Pakistan was involved in them. And if they don’t have the green light from Pakistan they will not do it. It is strange also that Hezb-e Islami is one of the parties that is most influenced by Pakistan and the fact that it’s taking part in this agreement with government also raises questions. On one hand Pakistan doesn’t allow the Taliban to take part and on the other hand it allows Hezb-e Islami to take part, so it is a very complex game that they play.
GV: In a recent interview by Al Jazeera, Hezb-e Islami chief negotiator Mohammad Amin Karim claimed that, “when Hezb-e Islami comes, a huge number of Afghan people will ask us to put pressure on TV channels not to show programmes with women in them. This is [what] 99% of Afghan people [want]. The microcosm of Kabul is only 1%.” Could Hekmatyar's return significantly reverse progress made in women's rights in Afghanistan?
AG: Absolutely, Hezb-e Islami would suppress all the rights of women in the country, it will suppress the freedom of press, the media, the civil society […] freedom of movement even would be curtailed so it’s a setback. We [could] go back probably to the times of Taliban because they are more or less two sides of the same coin. They have some differences but in their archaic thinking in terms of running a society they are more or less the same.
GV: Since 2001 in Afghanistan there have been attempts to pursue a process of transitional justice, focused on addressing past crimes committed by armed groups. In 2006 the Action Plan for Peace, Reconciliation and Justice in Afghanistan was launched by former President Hamid Karzai. Three years later the Action Plan expired and was not extended. Why, in your opinion, has transitional justice failed in Afghanistan?
AG: Partly because most of those people who are involved in war crimes are in power. That is internally. Externally, foreign forces, foreign powers, coalitions, NATO all came to Afghanistan but didn’t work for justice. They just wanted to have a peace according to them, and stability, but peace and stability at the price of justice is not a real peace. Most of these people who are [currently] in power with the support of foreign governments are downright criminals. And [foreign powers] let them be. They passed a law in the Parliament [guaranteeing] that they will not prosecute any of these people for any crimes.
Hekmatyar is one example. He has come to Kabul with a green light from the big powers. If they didn’t want him to come, the government could not have signed that deal because they would have blocked it. At the moment I don’t see any hope for any kind of reconciliation or justice. I’ll give you some examples: one of the [other] butchers, called Asadullah Sarwari, who personally tortured people to death at times, was released from prison just a few months ago. The other one was Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, one of the commanders of Hezb-e Islami, who was imprisoned in Britain and then released. He came to Afghanistan and received the hero’s welcome from supporters of Hezb-e Islami.
But this person did some horrible things. He had a man called “dog” — he was a man but whenever he wanted to torture somebody he would release this guy. He'd say, “bring the dog” and the “dog” would bite people. He has taken hostages, killed, raped, all kind of things, and he comes here and walks free in Afghan society. He was put in prison in England for various crimes, but in Afghanistan he is still a wanted man, he is a criminal and yet he walks free. The third [example] is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar himself. He fired day and night rockets into Kabul; some estimates say more than 70,000 rockets were fired at Kabul indiscriminately. They didn’t hit any military targets, they just destroyed the whole city. But all these crimes have been washed away — they took his name and the name of his fighters off the UN sanctions list. Besides, according to that deal, Hezb-e Islami fighters are pardoned. Some 2,000 people have been released from prison, but only 500 of them were HI members, the other 1,500 were Taliban that claimed to be HI fighters in order to be released!
Akram Gizabi is a writer, political activist and former journalist of Voice of America (VOA) based in the United States. In 2005 he founded a political party in Afghanistan called NOMA (Civil Movement of Afghanistan) advocating civil rights, democratic values, secularism and empowerment of women and minorities. He also established a non-profit drug rehabilitation center called Camp-e-Madar, Mother Camp. He tweets @AGizab.

author: Nicole Valentini


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The ‘Royal Duck’ Scarf Trends in Brunei, But Some Are Disappointed With Its Hefty Price Tag · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Screenshot from a YouTube tutorial video on how to wear a dUCk scarf.
The limited edition Royal Duck scarf was quickly sold-out after it was introduced by no less than Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah of Brunei. The scarf’s design was praised by many netizens, but some questioned the appropriateness of buying a hijab that costs 190 Brunei dollars (136 US dollars).
The Royal Duck scarf is a product of dUCk, a Malaysian startup founded two years ago which instantly became popular in both Malaysia and Brunei because of its stylish scarves and bags. Malaysia and Brunei have Muslim-majority populations.
The most anticipated photo of all ever appearing on my Instagram feed. I have goosebumps seeing this photo of Her Royal Highness Sarah wearing one of our own. It is truly an honour to have collaborated with her through The Royal dUCk and I think there are no words to express the special feeling in my heart. I have never met her in person, so tomorrow will be the first time I admire her from afar. Your Royal Highness, if you're reading this, thank you for continuously inspiring all of us and thank you for making this a huge milestone for us at dUCk and all dUCkies. We all feel so honoured to see a glimpse of your positive values that are rarely shown, and our admiration grows. And here she is, donning the Peach Royal dUCk. ❤ – D. #duckscarves #scarves #hijab #theroyalduck @srdesign.brunei
A post shared by The dUCk Group (@theduckgroup) on
Earlier this month, dUCk announced that it has partnered with Princess Sarah in launching a new scarf called the Royal Duck. During the launch, Princess Sarah said the Royal Duck scarf is a tribute to women:
It is special because it celebrates and stands for the defining characteristics of what makes every woman truly special.
Whether soft, gentle and warm, or fiercely independent and opinionated, whether a dreamer or an adventurer, a mother or a daughter – whatever we choose, however many roads we travel, our diversity is our strength.
Through its Instagram page, dUCk also highlighted a similar point:
The Royal dUCk is about women. How we should celebrate each other, how we should be kind to each other, and each of the 5 elements that Her Royal Highness Sarah advocates are symbolized in this one dUCk.
The five symbols in the design of the scarf are the wheel, diamonds, bees, flowers, and the grid.
The Royal Duck scarf was widely anticipated in Brunei and its launch was featured by mainstream media and fashion magazines.
Many Brunei netizens were happy about the collaboration between dUCk and their princess.
Some of the new owners of the Royal Duck scarf from Brunei and Malaysia shared their joy on social media. But others noted the high cost of acquiring the stylish hijab.
Rm600 for #theroyalduck? My my my!! i can actually pay fees for my study for 1 semester hahaha
— 봉봉 (@arisya_d) April 12, 2017
#theroyalduck price. pic.twitter.com/Ejtl98orVb
— AJ ✨ (@AujiJiji) April 6, 2017
Will I ever proceed to checkout? My brain cant justify! . . #duckscarves #duckcollection #theroyalduck
A post shared by Just Another Duckies (@amalinaxduck) on
RM is Malaysian Ringgit. RM600 is the equivalent of 190 Brunei dollars.
Writing for the group blog Songket Alliance, Zairina Zairin advised fellow Bruneians to be more “conscious consumers”:
I believe you should be allowed to buy whatever you want with the money you earn, but we also need to be conscious consumers. Indulging yourself with something expensive once in a while isn’t a crime. We shouldn’t be spending unnecessarily on things that we do not need or just for the sake of owning something just because everyone does.
She also urged netizens to remember the religious teachings connected to wearing the hijab:
The amount of selfies I have seen of people just to show their dUCK scarves is part and partial of what Islam does not encourage: vanity.
While being chic is an aim, many of us have forgotten the concept of humbleness that our Malay and Islamic culture has taught us. So the next time you buy something that is outside your necessity, ask yourself: do I need it? Will my happiness and bank account sustain at this current frame of mind I am in well into a month of me owning this thing?
But a commenter cautioned her against making judgements based on what people post on social media:
Who are we as mere humans to judge a person’s intentions? because from what I understand, a person’s intentions is between them and Allah. I advise you to not judge or assume a person’s intentions exactly from what they show on their social media.
In an interview published by a Malaysian newspaper last January, a representative of dUCk clarified that although its products are quite expensive, it does not cater to the luxury market.

author: Mong Palatino


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A Software Engineer’s Blog Takes Readers on Bike Rides Through Japan’s Backroads · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Heading Up — Manseki and Jamie in front of a pretty house.” Map & image data — nearby photos. From “Social Ride to the Quaint Mountain Village of Miyama, With a Twist.”
If you're interested in cycling and catching a glimpse of rural Japan that most Japanese people never even get to see, author and technologist Jeffrey Friedl has the blog for you.
Based in Kyoto, Japan, Friedl regular heads out on “century rides” of 100 miles or more and documents the journey. Kyoto is bordered on three sides by forested mountain ranges and boasts plenty of farmland, so this means his rides pass through some truly spectacular scenery.
For example, in a blog post from the end of April, Friedl headed southeast from the Kyoto city center toward the tea-growing areas in the hills between Kyoto and Nara:
I had a nice ride through the mountains of Uji and Wazuka (Japan, near Kyoto/Nara) the other day. Both Uji (宇治) and Wazuka (和 束) have been famous for their tea for centuries, and have tea fields tucked away in the most seemingly-unlikely nooks and crannies of their mountains.
Working The Tea Fields high up in Wazuka, Japan (和束). Photo by Jeffrey Friedl. Used with permission. Map & image data — nearby photos. From blog post “Century of Wazuka Climbs, Part 1.”
In addition to cycling, Friedl's blog offers an in-depth look at computer science, photography, effective DIY web developing and includes a long write-up on digital image color spaces, the auto-focus test chart that he developed, and a detailed Analysis of Lightroom JPEG Export Quality Settings.
Perhaps as a result of his technical background, Friedl's cycling blog posts are meticulously categorized and cross-referenced, making it easy to see where photos were taken, with links to other photos of the same location, or taken nearby. Friedl also maps out his routes, including on Strava, a social network network for athletes where he documents his rides.
“Wakazuka route map.” Screenshot used with permission. From the blog post From blog post “Century of Wazuka Climbs, Part 1.”
In his quest to climb as many hills as possible, and to get away from more crowded highways, Friedl's century rides frequently follow quieter roads to wherever his destination is. In this post from October 2016, Friedl rides to the rural village of Miyama, northeast of Kyoto, deep in the mountains.
“Three Ladies front to back: Kumiko, Stephanie, Alicia taken while moving at 24 kph (15 mph).” Photo by Jeffrey Friedl. Used with permission. “Social Ride to the Quaint Mountain Village of Miyama, With a Twist.”
“Flat Valley.” Photo by Jeffrey Friedl. Used with permission. From “Social Ride to the Quaint Mountain Village of Miyama, With a Twist.”
Friedl's trips typically include photos of snacks, meals and other refueling stops along the way. Here is a snack at a countryside coffee shop:
“Snack – hotcake, ice cream, and coffee at the new and wonderful Joey's Bar (a small cafe catering to motorcyclists, but at which all are welcome).” Photo by Jeffrey Friedl. Used with permission. From “Social Ride to the Quaint Mountain Village of Miyama, With a Twist.”
An interactive map of Friedl's bicycle trips around Japan can be found here:
Map of Jeffrey Friedl’s blog photos
Friedl's map allows you to search by location in Japan. For example, besides the map of photos taken near Kyoto (above), here are some photos Friedl has taken near Obama, on the Japan Sea Coast about 100 kilometers north, as the crow flies, of Kyoto.
You can follow Jeffrey Friedl on his blog. It hosts a massive archive of posts, so its table of contents (TOC) is a good place to start exploring.


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Life as a Vod, Russia’s Disappearing Ethnic Group · Global Voices
Victoria Vziatysheva

Photo: Yury Goldenshtein, used with permission
Made up of just a few dozen people, the world’s largest community of Vods lives in villages two hours outside St. Petersburg. Within this disappearing group, there are only a handful of Vods who can still speak their native language fluently. Reporting for the Russian website “Bumaga,” journalist Victoria Vziatysheva and photographer Yury Goldenshtein recently visited one of these villages near the Finnish Gulf and spoke to some of the Vods’ last living descendants.
The village of Luzhitsy is located about 100 miles west of St. Petersburg. When we arrived, there were several cars parked outside the one store in town. About 20 small wooden houses line the main street, including one that stands out for its wide terrace and stone wall. This is the Museum of Votic Culture — the only one in Russia.
A blonde woman steps out of a car, walks up to the museum's wooden door, and opens it. Wearing a winter coat, she leads us into a chilly room, and removes from a basket several pies and a pot of porridge.
This is Marina Ilyina, the museum curator and a Vod herself. She got her education in St. Petersburg, but later returned to Luzhitsy, where she says she’s made it her mission to save the Vods from extinction.
“There are just eight Votic native speakers left. Each of them is worth their weight in gold,” she explains, giving us a tour of the museum, which was actually built just a couple of years ago (designed according to Votic construction traditions).
Photo: Yury Goldenshtein, used with permission
According to the most recent census data, there are 64 Vods left in Russia, with a handful more living in Estonia. The problem with these numbers is that they only show how many people self-identified as Vods, when asked about their nationality. It’s unknown how many Vods (including pure-blooded Vods) listed themselves as “Russians,” or missed the census altogether.
Luzhitsy’s population peaked in the early 1940s, when its numbers grew to about 550 people. Today, the village has just 35-40 permanent residents, with some additional visitors staying during the summer.
Nina Vittong was born in Luzhitsy after the Second World War, in 1947. She spent her childhood here. “This was a big village back then. Everyone had a house with a garden and cattle. There were a lot of young people, too. We had dances, and there was a film screening twice a month,” Nina tells us.
Like other local ethnic groups (such as Vespians, Izhorians, and Finnish Ingrians), Vods struggled under Communism. In the 1930s, the Soviet state outlawed these groups’ Finnic languages. Though older generations continued speaking Votic to one another, most parents started raising their children exclusively in Russian, to avoid repression by the police.
Nevertheless, children grew up hearing Votic, and many gained a passive understanding. Today, the Vods who remember the language from their childhoods can easily understand it, but they hesitate to speak Votic aloud. “I hear words, but it is sometimes hard to reproduce them. When I pronounce them, it sounds different,” Nina tells us.
Votic has always been a primarily spoken language, and it was only in the last 100 years that it got a writing system, when Votic linguist Dmitri Tsvetkov used a modified Cyrillic alphabet. The current Votic alphabet, which uses Latin characters, is just 13 years old.
Today, elderly women from the surrounding Votic villages come to Luzhitsy to study the language. These lessons are usually held at the museum.
The Museum of Votic Culture. Photo: Yury Goldenshtein, used with permission
Nikita Dyachkov, the man who teaches the class, is much younger than his students. He has Izhorian roots, and it was purely out of personal interest that he learned Votic. Now he’s both fluent and educated in the language’s grammar — something most Vods in the area never studied.
“You forget certain words, and you don’t even have anyone you can ask,” says Taisia Mikhaylova, another woman who’s lived in Luzhitsy for most of her life.
Unfortunately, speaking a banned language wasn’t the Vods’ greatest adversity in the USSR. In 1943, the residents of all Votic and Izhorian villages were deported to Finland and subjected to forced labor. A year later, they were allowed to return to the Soviet Union, but not to their home villages. Instead, they settled in other regions of Russia.
Zina Savelieva was about four when her family was deported. She and her relatives only returned home in 1954. Even after all this, her family and several others were later forced to leave the village again, after being branded “unreliable citizens” for speaking Votic. As a result, Zina’s family relocated to Estonia for the next eight years.
“They welcomed us as friends [in Estonia] — maybe because our languages are similar, or maybe for some other reason,” Zina says softly. She’s now an old woman, but her eyes are still vivid. When she talks about the past, she likes to stay positive: “I’m grateful, anyway. At least I learned Estonian,” she adds with a smile.
Photo: Yury Goldenshtein, used with permission
Marina Ilyina tells us that Vods have always been a fairly closed-off group, living near Russia’s border and in relatively small communities. The Vods living in these areas have also been committed to maintaining their local customs.
“We had our own traditions that are so old. For example, when I was a child, we’d go to these old women who would cure illnesses with spells. They’d charm away bruises, skin diseases, eye diseases, and I thought it was all normal — that everyone did it,” Marina tells us.
Today, the Vods’ culture is no longer illegal, and they are free to revive and rescue what traditions they can. Every summer, Luzhitsy now celebrates itself, and people from the surrounding area come to hear old Votic women sing folk songs in their native language.

author: Victoria Vziatysheva


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Navalny’s Army Unmasks the State-Supported Radicals Out to Get Him · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Igor Beketov, aka Gosha Tarasevich, the leader of SERB. Photo: LiveJournal
This Monday, opposition leader Alexey Navalny proved how useful it is to have millions of supporters among Russia’s young, energetic Internet users. Days after Navalny was attacked outside his office in Moscow, his supporters rallied online to identify the likely culprits: activists from a movement called “South East Russian Bloc,” better known as SERB.
On April 27, outside the Moscow office of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, a man sprayed Navalny in the face with green antiseptic. The assailant immediately fled the scene, and Navalny was briefly hospitalized with what turned out to be a chemical burn to his right eye. Doctors now worry the solution may have been mixed with something other than green dye, given the severity of Navalny’s injury, which could mean permanent damage to his vision.
Within hours of the attack, using his new live YouTube channel, Navalny shared security camera footage from inside his office building, showing the attack through the front rotating door.
This week, Navalny’s supporters got to work.
The security camera footage was grainy and low-res, but it was enough to jog one person’s memory. On Monday, a Twitter user named “Mr. Radmir” wrote in his blog that he recognized the attacker in the video: Alexander Petrunko, a notorious SERB activist.
And this isn’t the only footage of the attack against Navalny. On Sunday, the pro-Kremlin television network Ren-TV aired a different video (apparently recorded by someone who knew the attack was coming), for some reason blurring the faces of two men — the attacker and a bystander.
Не стесняются. РенТв (отдел Лайфньюз) публикует видео с зелёнкой. Лучшее доказательство, что фсб и АП тоже было в деле. Фирменный стиль pic.twitter.com/dCnvZbXV5t
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) April 30, 2017
Within hours, however, the second man’s face was all over the Web, after a Navalny supporter named Eugene Bryzgalin discovered that Ren-TV’s website actually contained another three versions of the attack footage, including one video where the bystander’s face was visible.
This second man was Alexey Kulakov, another member of SERB, who later confessed (reluctantly) to the newspaper Novaya Gazeta that he was present for the attack on Navalny, though he insists that he didn’t know what would happen. “I only went there to film on my camera. A person called me and said that something was being planned at that place,” Kulakov said, refusing to reveal who called him.
@yurilaz @RuslanLeviev @alexlitreev Есть фото получше, доказывающее знакомство pic.twitter.com/LOECKUbdIS
— Александр Кукин (@twicehti) May 1, 2017
Here's a better photo showing that they know each other.
Meanwhile, Internet users have unearthed several photographs suggesting that Kulakov and Petrunko are indeed acquainted, which makes sense, given their membership in the same small radical political faction.
Alexander Petrunko and Pyotr Tolstoy. Photo: Alexey Navalny / Twitter
Until now, Petrunko was best known for splashing a foul-smelling liquid (some say it was urine, others say it was a chemical, and Petrunko himself once claimed it was mud from Crimea) at photographs of naked children by Jock Sturges at a controversial exhibition in Moscow. He spent a week in jail for that stunt, earning himself a reputation as a moral crusader out to snuff out pedophilia.
After his release, in an interview with the website Znak.com, Petrunko said he had experienced various terrors growing up in an orphanage, and even assisted Rostov police as a young man in their 10-year hunt for Andrey Chikatilo, the Soviet serial killer who murdered at least 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990.
Prone to moral crusades, Petrunko later joined the “Russian Spring” movement and even traveled to Ukraine, and participated in the ill-fated takeover of the Kharkiv’s regional administration in April 2014. For his acts, Petrunko was taken prisoner by Ukrainian security forces, who he says “kidnapped and tortured” him.
This Monday, Navalny shared a photograph (see above) showing Petrunko standing with Pyotr Tolstoy, the deputy speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament. It's unclear what the two were doing together.
SERB’s leader is a man named Igor Beketov, who often goes by the name Gosha Tarasevich. A professional actor and, in his own words, a Soviet basketball champion, Beketov created SERB in Ukraine, where he lived most of this life. Originally called the South East Radical Bloc, Serb was formed in Dnepropetrovsk as a movement to promote the “Russian Spring” as Ukraine’s Yanukovych regime collapsed.
In March 2015, Beketov spoke to the website Medialeaks.ru, saying he relocated to Russia when Ukrainian police “fabricated a criminal case against [him] for treason.” A couple of SERB activists followed him to Russia, but Beketov says most of the group’s new cadres joined after the move.
Today, SERB’s main targets are members of the Russian opposition, and Beketov talks openly about “mounting attacks” against anyone who “insults Russia, the president, or Crimea.” Beketov even said the group would defend any Russian president — not just Putin — and stressed that SERB refrained from attacks on Alexey Navalny because he has stated he would not return Crimea to Ukraine, if he became president.
In the past, SERB activists have worked with Igor Brumel, a local lawmaker in the Moscow region and a member of the political party A Just Russia. Last October, Brumel and Petrunko broke the nose of an activist guarding the makeshift memorial to Boris Nemtsov on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow. Police later charged the victim (not Brumel or Petrunko) with hooliganism.
And this wasn’t the first time SERB raided “Nemtsov Bridge.” In March 2015, Beketov and several men crashed the memorial, spray-painting over Nemtsov’s portraits and adding stickers reading, “Traitor to Russia’s interests!”
Только что на пикет Солидарности пришли провокаторы из движения НОД и СЕРБ из избили всех участников мероприятия. pic.twitter.com/EkTh6iWeLr
— Алла Наумчева (@AllaNaumcheva) August 13, 2016
Last August, Beketov also led a group of SERB activists in an attack against a crowd of anti-war protesters in Moscow. When the fighting broke out, a police officer intervened, and Beketov even punched the officer in the face.
SERB’s moratorium on attacks against Navalny expired in February 2016 (about a year after the Medialeaks interview), when Petrunko smashed a pie into Navalny’s face outside the Moscow office of the Anti-Corruption Foundation. SERB repeated the stunt two months later, also spraying Navalny with a foul-smelling chemical.
Despite his history of violence, Beketov was recently a guest at Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of the federal parliament. On April 26, a day before the attack on Navalny last week, Beketov bragged on LiveJournal about visiting the Duma at the “formal request” of unnamed Duma deputies.
“The deputies listened very, very attentively to SERB’s experience with confronting attempts to organize Maidan-style unrest in Russia,” Beketov wrote, sharing photos of himself beside enormous portraits of Vladimir Putin and Russian nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Students and Staff Condemn Talk by Israel’s UK Ambassador at SOAS, University of London · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

SOAS students and staff gathering in front of the main building. Photo used with permission.
When the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, decided to give a speech at SOAS, University of London on April 27, 2017, he may have not anticipated that he'd attract a greater audience outside the building than inside of it.
But that's what happened. Hundreds of SOAS students and staff gathered outside the building hours before the talk was scheduled in opposition to Regev.
There was also a counter protest by a smaller group of about 60 demonstrators supporting Regev.
The protest against Regev was organized by “Apartheid Off Campus”, a coalition of SOAS staff and students including over 40 student societies and over 100 SOAS staff members. The coalition produced a number of petitions and open letters, notably including both the SOAS Israel Society and the SOAS Palestine Society as signatories, symbolizing the college-wide outrage over the university giving Regev a platform in his capacity as an official representative of the state of Israel.
Regev is a well-known personality in the UK as he often appears on British media outlets to defend his government's policies toward Palestinians.
The Apartheid Off Campus coalition criticized on its Facebook page these positions:
He is being given the cover of an academic setting to put forward official state positions on the on-going expansion of illegal settlements, the siege of Gaza, land thefts, and discriminatory laws imposed on Palestinian citizens of Israel. This is not an academic debate, informed by fact and reason, it is an official exercise in state propaganda.
Regev's visit happened as the UK government has been cracking down on anti-Israel activism by using a vague definition of anti-semitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; critics have argued that it confuses criticism of the state of Israel, its policies and support for Palestinians with antisemitism.
An example: In an open letter to The Guardian published on February 27, 2017, over 200 academics from the University of Central Lancashire denounced the university's decision to ban a meeting by journalist Ben White as well as academics entitled “Debunking misconceptions on Palestine”. The university cited the government's new definition of anti-semitism as the reason for banning the talk.
UK officials encouraged universities to adopt this new definition and specifically mentioned the Israeli Apartheid Week, an international event which aims to build support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the global campaign attempting to increase pressure on Israel to end the systematic oppression of Palestinians. BDS counts support among the UK's academic community; in October 2015, over 300 UK scholars announced a boycott of Israel and its educational institutions “until Israel complies with international law.”
Poster used to advertise the 2016 Israeli Apartheid Week at SOAS. Source: Facebook.
It is in the context of growing concern on university campuses over the suppression of criticism of Israel that Mark Regev's visit should be understood.
This was the case at SOAS, where the student society that invited Regev, the SOAS Jewish Society, had to find a non-SOAS academic to chair the event.
Enjoyed an engaging discussion about Israel & Middle East with @SOAS students. Thanks to SOAS JSoc, Chair Prof @Eric_Heinze_ & all who came. pic.twitter.com/6Z0LSC83FT
— Mark Regev (@AmbMarkRegev) April 27, 2017
Dr Yair Wallach, a lecturer in Israeli Studies at SOAS, was asked to chair the event but declined. In a Facebook post which was shared on the SOAS Blog, Wallach argued that while the talk should go ahead, he was not in favor of it:
Ambassador Regev is not a scholar or a public intellectual. He is a PR speaker representing the viewpoint of his government, a familiar face from UK TV channels, known for his polarising style. The spectacle of an official Israeli emissary visiting SOAS, with all the heightened security measures, attracts attention and controversy, but the intellectual value of an address by an official state spokesperson is questionable.
Another society, the Model United Nations Society (MUN Society), was rumored to be supporting the event but released a statement to the contrary and added its name to the petition.
Palestinian flags seen next to Israeli flags in front of the SOAS main building. Photo used with permission.
Furthermore, 18 Palestinian students at SOAS released an open letter directed at SOAS Director Valerie Amos. The statement read:
The environment that Mr. Regev would create on our campus for the event is unsafe for us as Palestinian students, many of whom have suffered directly at the hands of the Israeli security services.
Gilbert Achcar, professor of development studies and international relations at SOAS, argued that the protest was an even greater example of freedom of speech than anything Regev represents:
Does the state he represents grant the SOAS community “freedom of speech”? Anyone wondering about this should ask our colleague Adam Hanieh: he has been banned from entering the state of Israel and therefore the occupied West Bank (which was his actual destination) for nothing but his political opinions. Likewise ask the many students who were denied entry under similar conditions. Didn’t the Israeli state officially decide to ban any supporter of BDS (a non-violent form of protest par excellence) from entering its territory? This new law has recently been used to ban Kamel Hawwash, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Birmingham, from entering Israel.
The anti-BDS law referred to here, put forward by the pro-settlement Jewish Home party, was approved in March 2017 and bans anyone found to support BDS from entering Israel. In a 2015 SOAS student referendum, the majority of students and staff voted in favor of BDS, but SOAS administration has so far refused to implement it.
Achcar gave the example of Palestinian academic Dr. Adam Hanieh, senior lecturer in development studies at SOAS, who was detained at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport in September 2016, questioned for 10 hours and then banned from entering for 10 years. As Israel controls all access to the occupied West Bank, this in effect means that Hanieh cannot visit Palestinian universities before 2026.
Hanieh had been invited by Birzeit University, north of Ramallah in the central West Bank, which condemned the move as a violation of freedom of speech, describing it as “part of a systematic policy of denial of entry to international academics, professionals and activists intending to visit Palestine”.
Despite repeated requests, the Israeli government did not give SOAS a reason for its decision, leading SOAS to officially conclude that “this is an arbitrary breach of academic freedom,” adding that “this is not the first time that members of the SOAS community have been denied entry to Israel.”
This, Achcar said, reveals a double standard:
Israel’s Ambassador Mark Regev certainly enjoys much more “freedom of speech” in the UK than most of us: it is much easier for him to get his opinion through the mass media in this country than for any of our academics, not to mention our students. Does this give him a “right” to speak at an academic institution? We need first a clear criterion that prevents any “double standard”. Here is a minimal criterion: for an official state representative to have a right to “freedom of speech” at SOAS, s/he must represent a state that offers us likewise “freedom of speech” on its territory.
Joey Ayoub was a master's student at SOAS and a member of the SOAS Palestine Society between 2015 and 2016.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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The Kremlin Is Worried Attacks on Opposition Leaders Are Making Them More Popular · Global Voices
Isaac Webb

Source: Alexei Navalny, Twitter
Days after opposition leader and presidential candidate Alexei Navalny was again doused with green antiseptic on his way to an event in Moscow, the news website Gazeta.ru reported that the Kremlin had instructed regional authorities to crack down such attacks in the future.
Gazeta.ru quoted a source in the Kremlin as saying that attacks on Navalny and other oppositioners with “brilliant green” antiseptic—known as “zelyonka” in Russian—are giving the opposition free press and helping to raise its profile across the country. “In fact, attacks are only increasing their popularity.” Law enforcement authorities will be encouraged to crack down on the attacks and punish perpetrators, the source said.
A campaign ad for Alexei Navalny
Navalny was hospitalized on Thursday after an attacker poured zelyonka on him outside his office in Moscow. On Sunday, he wrote on his website that he is still treating his right eye, which was sprayed during the attack, and that he is worried that he may lose some vision.
Zelyonka attacks have become so frequent in recent months that bright green has become the unofficial color of Navalny's 2018 presidential campaign and the broader anti-Putin opposition. Navalny's supporters have painted their faces green in solidarity and tried to use the attacks as a way to mobilize volunteers.
According to one of Gazeta.ru's sources, a recent attack on the popular blogger Ilya Varlamov in the southern city of Stavropol on April 26 was the “last straw.” In the days since the attack, law enforcement authorities have rounded up five attackers—though Varlamov says that ten people were involved.
Всем привет pic.twitter.com/tyUNBzatQV
— Илья Варламов (@varlamov) April 26, 2017
Hey, everyone!
Still, the attacks don't appear to be slowing down. Yesterday, the popular blogger Tema Izgagin was attacked by men in the city of Samara.
Yesterday in Yekaterinburg, some thugs followed @itema_Tv after he left an anti-Putin protest, cornered him, & sprayed him with antiseptic. pic.twitter.com/Cnyg5jbKpb
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) April 30, 2017
Navalny wrote on his blog on Sunday that the Kremlin was behind the attacks on him, an accusation one of Gazeta.ru's sources flatly denied. Gazeta.ru's report calls into question the notion that the attackers are acting on instructions from local or regional authorities, however. In particular, one source called attention to the fact that many of the perpetrators who have been identified come from regions neighboring where they carry out the attacks, suggesting that they are centrally coordinated.
Another source, meanwhile, said he believed the attackers were acting independently and out of a sincere belief that Navalny and other members of the opposition are harmful to the state.
В Администрации президента не знают кто плеснул зеленкой Навальному в глаза pic.twitter.com/r4J5Capz24
— Roman Dobrokhotov (@Dobrokhotov) April 30, 2017
The Presidential Administration has no idea who sprayed green antiseptic in Navalny's eyes.
The Kremlin's concern that the attacks are raising the opposition's profile comes amidst a surge in Navalny's popularity: nearly 100,000 volunteers have signed up to work on Navalny's presidential campaign, suggesting that his political movement may be more popular than many initially thought.
Party Membership:
United #Russia: ~2 mln
Communists ~150K
LDPR ~180K
Just Russia ~410K
Yabloko: ~50K
Registered @navalny volunteers: ~95K
— Fabian Burkhardt (@fa_burkhardt) April 30, 2017
And indeed, Navalny's anti-corruption message seems to have increasing purchase with Russians. On March 26, tens of thousands people joined nationwide anti-corruption protests organized by Navalny, the largest anti-government demonstrations in Russia since 2011-12.

author: Isaac Webb