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Many Afghans See Their Future with India, Not Pakistan · Global Voices
Rustam Ali Seerat

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Kabul on December 25 to inaugurate the new Afghan parliament building constructed with funds from New Delhi, after the original building was bombed by the Taliban.
The buzz surrounding Modi's visit epitomised the warm relations between the two countries, while the story of the Afghan parliament symbolises the fragile country's ongoing struggle with an insurgency many Afghans blame on neighbour and Indian rival, Pakistan.
Past & Future. On 1 side the Dar ul Aman palace bombed out by Taliban. On the other the shining new Parliament bldng pic.twitter.com/q0dlcZMJ0N
— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) December 25, 2015
The day after Modi visited Kabul he was in Lahore to become the first Indian premier to visit Pakistan in over a decade, fuelling hope of better relations between the two countries.
But for many Afghans that have witnessed their own President Ashraf Ghani's failed attempt at outreach to Pakistan, Modi and India remain the main attraction in terms of the country's strategic orientation. A poll from last year showed three out of four Afghans see India as their preferred leader in Asia.
#India won #AFG people hearts by over $2b investment in rebuilding of #AFG, #India is among 5 biggest donors! pic.twitter.com/Q0j6Mk7I5w
— Parwiz Shamal (@PShamal) December 25, 2015
We've strong ties: King of #AFG Zahir Shah visits #India in 1958 – pic.twitter.com/27GoNaXoiB pic.twitter.com/t98JlIDQaz via @IndiaHistorypic
— Farzad Lami (@FarzadLameh) December 25, 2015
Relations with India, both in the areas of security and civilian aid have been vital for Afghanistan in the post-Taliban era when Pakistan has proved a less constant source of friendship.
Only last month during his trip to Delhi, Hanif Atmar, Afghanistan's national security adviser (NSA) received a pledge from India to provide Afghanistan with four MI-25 attack helicopters.
Also in November, Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar and Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai discussed ways to increase bilateral cooperation that has seen India offer over $2.5 billion in aid to Kabul and has been expanded since the signing of a 2012 strategic cooperation agreement.
For both Pakistan and India, Afghanistan is an object of strategic struggle, serving as a land bridge between South Asia and Central Asia while also connecting South Asia to West Asia.
Some of the projects ongoing between Kabul and New Delhi have obvious geopolitical implications.
One such project is the Zaranj-Dilaram road which connects western Afghanistan's Nimroz province to the Chabahar port in Iran. The road will help facilitate trade exchanges between India and Afghanistan while reducing Afghanistan's dependency on the Pakistani port of Karachi.
As Modi visited, Afghan social media circles poured out their love for India, at the obvious expense of the country's other significant neighbour.
Screenshot of a post from a public Facebook profile of an Afghan social media user. The post ironically compares India's contribution to Afghanistan's development to that of Pakistan, viewed through the prism of the Taliban.
The growth in India-Afghanistan relations in the post-Taliban era was most notable under President Hamid Karzai who famously offered Indian investors “the red carpet while others will get a grey carpet.”
Karzai himself was a beneficiary of an exchange program that allowed Afghan students to study in India in the 1970s.
Ghani, who came to power after a disputed election last year, initially took a different tack, prioritising relations with Pakistan, whose ex-leader belatedly admitted nurturing the Taliban as part of their bid for ‘strategic depth’ in the country in an interview last year.
The bid for better relations was without success, and the Taliban's attacks in the country have only grown more fierce, even as the movement itself has splintered.
Since then Ghani has pivoted back towards India, to the audible relief of those that feared his overtures to Islamabad were doomed from the outset.
Yet while Modi's visit led to a frenzy of appreciation among the chattering classes in Kabul, there is a sense his country could do still more for its conflict-torn neighbour.
For one thing, New Delhi can use the leverage it has built up through aid and investment in strategic infrastructure to push for social reform in Afghanistan, especially in areas where India has experience.
These include but are not limited to: empowerment of women, handling of ethnic and religious minorities and broadening civic participation.
India's supporters argue that its hand in Afghanistan is strong enough to bargain for values as well as security.

author: Rustam Ali Seerat


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2015 End-of-Year Quiz: Test Your Russian Internet News Knowledge · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
2015 Was a Year of the Absurd in Ex-Soviet Tajikistan · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Rakhmon is second in from the right, between then-presidents of Afghanistan and Russia Hamid Karzai and Dmitri Medvedev. Wiki image from 2011.
Last week Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed into law a bill that makes him the country's ‘Leader of the Nation’, a move that provides him and his family lifelong immunity from prosecution and creates the basis for a personality cult comparable to that enjoyed by other strongmen in former communist Central Asia.
What exactly he is leading the nation towards, however, is far from clear.
Few would have betted on Rakhmon's ability to consolidate ultimate power back in 1992 when he was thrust into the role of Tajikistan's head of state amid a bloody civil war that would rage for a further five years claiming over 100,000 lives.
It is arguably the threat of a return to those dark times that has sustained his family's corrupt and occasionally vicious rule over the landlocked country of 8 million people.
But as Rakhmon has grown more confident in his power, the news coming out of the long-suffering Central Asian republic has only got weirder and weirder, flirting with full-blown dystopia on occasion.
This year, Tajikistan was Global Voices’ most covered country in the Central Asia and Caucasus region. Below are just five reasons as to why:
The first part of Tajikistan's year was dominated by news relating to parliamentary and council elections taking place in the country.
The March elections would see the country's largest opposition party the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) elbowed out of the parliament along with the semi-opposition Communist Party of Tajikistan (CPT), while the ruling People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan (PDPT) cemented its dominant position in domestic politics.
Currently all the parties in Tajikistan's lower house are loyal to the regime while the IRPT, whose leadership has since been mostly imprisoned, was declared a terrorist group in September.
In the build up to the vote, several colourful stories emerged that suggested this year was going to be an even whackier year in Tajik political terms than most.
Among the most compelling of these was the failure of Rakhmon's 83-year-old former maths teacher to register as an opposition candidate for council elections in the president's home district. Apparently, following a pre-registration examination, his handwriting was deemed too bad to compete.
As one Facebook user joked:
Доштани хусни хуби хат барои вакилони оянда вочиб аст, чун бинобар масрафи бехудаи барк компютеру принтерхо аз корбари гирифта мешаванд ва вакилон бояд барои чавоб ба мактубхои мардум аз калам истифода кунанд.
It is mandatory for MPs to have good handwriting, as when the computers and printers are taken out of government offices to save energy [due to a shortage of electricity in the country] parliamentarians will have to reply to their voters with a pen.
This year was not the first year reports have emerged of forced beard shavings in Tajikistan, nor was it the first year the government has called for an end to ‘non-Tajik names’.
But the frontal assault on all signs of Islam in the secular country is noticeably gathering strength, taking in de facto bans on Islamic dress including the hijab.
One famous blogger caused a sensation when he wrote an account of his own forced shaving at the hands of police.
Вот и до меня добрались …Сегодня не с того, ни с сего, отвезли трое “оперативников” в худжандский отдел милиции и принудительно побрили бороду. У этой страны нет будущего!
They got to me too… Today, three policemen took me to Khujand police station and shaved my beard forcedly. This country does not have a future!
Meanwhile, the local names only plan appears like it will finally become law as draft legislation is discussed in the Tajik parliament and the government prepares a list of 3,000 names parents will be forced to choose from when registering a birth with the state.
Catherine Putz of the Diplomat wondered whether Emomali — a name with Arabic roots — would be among them.
Khushdil Kurbonov, a 10th grade high-school student of the prestigious Dushanbe International School, made waves online when he came under investigation for securing a bribe from a local businessman after impersonating President Rakhmon's youngest son, Somoni Emomali.
The bribe was paid in exchange for the promise of a piece of land outside the capital, and in a country where the Rakhmons’ word is law, it is perhaps understandable — if still incredible — that the businessman fronted up the cash.
For Tajikistan's internet users, the story was perhaps the biggest indicator yet that corruption has become fully accepted in the country, and that few doubt the ruling family is rotten to its core.
The main irony of the story is that the anti-corruption agency investigating Kurbonov's scam is controlled by Rakhmon's real son: Rustam Emomali.
Nothing has been heard of Kurbonov since.
The prison director's car of course!
Read it and weep, but don't forget that there are plenty of heroes in Tajikistan railing against the madness, including the police officer that re-arrested the fugitive in spite of the fact state officials were clearly complicit in the escape.
As a local news website's reader noted:
О таких снимают фильмы!!!))))
They make movies about stuff like this.
Government officials claim around 800 Tajik nationals are fighting with ISIS, an Al Qaeda offshoot which has come to control large parts of Iraq and Syria using openly brutal, oppressive and violent tactics.
The group's main theatre of operations is thousands of miles from Tajikistan, but some Tajik citizens have been ensnared by ISIS propaganda and recruiters based in Russia, where more than a million Tajiks live and work.
Gulmurod Halimov, who ran the interior ministry's special forces department represents possibly the most high profile defection from any national government to ISIS since the group came into existence.
In a 12-minute video released in May, Halimov, 40, said he had defected in protest against the policies of the Tajik Interior Ministry, which “does not permit people to pray and wear Islamic hijabs.” He then threatened the “dogs” in the government that him and other Tajik ISIS fighters were “coming for you with slaughter.”
Izzat Amon, a Tajik migrants’ rights activist wrote on his Facebook page at the time:
Я не оправдываю поступок полковника ОМОНа, но я его понимаю. Когда в стране процветает коррупция, местничество, непотизм и врет каждый кому не лень, то иного выбора не остается. Это и есть результат 25 летней политики правящей группы. Если так продолжится то скоро и министры выступят с видеообращением находясь на территории ИГ. Боритесь и дальше господа военные чиновники с хиджабом, бородой, азаном и другими исламскими атрибутами. Но это непременно обернется вам бумерангом.
I will not try to justify the actions of the [Special Forces] commander, but I understand him. When corruption, regionalism, nepotism are rampant in the country and everybody lies, then there are few other ways out. This is the result of the politics of the ruling group for the last 25 years. If it continues this way, then even ministers will deliver video-messages from ISIS territory. Dear officials, continue your fight against the hijab, the beard, the Azan [call to prayers] and other Islamic items. But it will most certainly come back to you like a boomerang.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


text:
For Artists, the World Was a Canvas for Change in 2015 · Global Voices
L. Finch

Photo by Tobias Abel. CC BY-ND 2.0
Art is a powerful language that can resonate across countries and cultures, and as such, artists picked up their paintbrushes and pointed their cameras in acts of solidarity, protest and reflection throughout 2015.
Global Voices authors took you around the world this year covering these inspiring stories of creativity. As the New Year approaches, let's take a look back at 16 of them.
A Peruvian teenager won the Internet's heart with her performances of well-known songs translated into the indigenous Quechua language.
Egyptians gleefully remixed the “national anthem” of ISIS as dance tracks to mock the brutal militant group.
In Croatia, activists “renamed” about 150 street signs after significant women throughout history using A4 or A5 paper as a reminder that even though the country elected its first female president, much remains to be done in terms of women's rights.
A street sign renamed after Vesna Parun, a Croatian poet.
Credits: Marinella Matejcic
Traditional Lunar New Year envelopes in Hong Kong became a canvas for social and political protest. One set of envelopes featured a rainbow twist in support of LGBT acceptance, while another incorporated yellow umbrellas as an homage to the so-called “Umbrella Revolution” in which protesters for months demanded that the Beijing and Hong Kong governments allow citizens to nominate the candidates for the city's top leaders.
A set of yellow umbrella red envelopes distributed by Um dot dot dot.
Embroidery became a tool for women in Brazil to express their frustration with the violence perpetuated by energy companies looking to exploit local communities for their resources.
Art made by Brazilian cartoonist Vitor for the arpilleras project. Image: Arpilleras: Bordando a resistência/Facebook.
War in Yemen has left a humanitarian catastrophe in its wake and a growing animosity among fellow countrymen and women. Yemeni artists used their talents to create works promoting the important message of unity in such trying times.
A mural in Sana'a of Yemen's flag using shattered glass of homes from a Saudi-led airstrike.
Gazans were still picking up the pieces of their lives following the Israeli offensive in the summer of 2014 that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians. UK artist Kerry Beall decided to paint portraits of those who had lost their lives.
Portraits of Gaza's victims by Kerry Beall
A gigantic mural painted onto a canvas of 200 homes in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico, created jobs, reduced youth violence and instilled a sense of community spirit in the struggling city.
Las Palmitas and the “macro mural” in its final stage. Photo taken with permission from the Germen Crew collective's Facebook page.
Although an ocean separates Latin America from Europe, to which streams of refugees are fleeing, an exhibition in Italy featuring the work of Latin American artists promoted compassion for refugees and immigrants.
Exposition of migrant art on immigration. Photo used with permission. Photo courtesy Progetto 7LUNE.
The film “Ady Gasy” (The Malagasy Way) documented the ingenuity of Madagascar's people against poverty, famine and flooding in repurposing old tires into sandals and empty cans into toys.
Photographer Edwin Koo captured the everyday drama of riding the overcrowded public transportation system in Singapore:
…the photos of Transit are not acts of self-gratification, not weapons of malice, and definitely not tools of instantaneous incrimination. They are a collective portrait of the society that we live in today.
Photo by Edwin Koo. Used with permission
In Bangladesh, religious extremists fueled deadly hatred against those they label atheists. Four secular bloggers and publishing house executive were assassinated in 2015 alone. While the right to free expression is enshrined the country's constitution and Bangladesh is a secular state, the government has done little to discourage these attacks or bring killers to justice.
In the face of such troubling developments, Bengalis in Bangladesh dedicated their colorful New Year's celebrations to combating communalism and religious fanaticism with the theme “Onek Alo Jaalte Hobe Moner Ondhokare” (Burn many lights in the darkness of hearts).
People celebrating Pahela Baishakh at Mangal Shobhajatra (Rally), a procession organised by Dhaka University’s Faculty of Fine Arts to welcome the Bengali new year. Image by Sourav Lasker. Copyright Demotix (14/4/2015)
A photographer in Uruguay focused his work on what some in the country would rather forget — those who disappeared during the dictatorship. “Memory is something that can be quite necessary for some, but also something that needs to be denied by others,” he said.
One of the Miradas Ausentes photos in Montevideo. Photo: Juan Urruzola. Used with permission
Filipino artist Federico Boyd Sulapas Dominguez painted the struggle of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines against destructive mining, development aggression, and militarization.
Aside from exposing the negative impact of militarization, the painting also shows how government laws unfairly discriminate against the Philippines’ ethnic communities. Painting by Federico Boyd Sulapas Dominguez, reposted with permission
Political cartoonist Zulkiflee Sm Anwar Ulhaque, more popularly known as Zunar in Malaysia, faced  several sedition charges. Despite the looming threat of prosecution, he promised to continue using his pen to criticize government corruption, human rights violations, and abuses of power:
Talent is not a gift, but a responsibility. So I will use it as a tool to convey people’s voice through art and to push for total reform for a better Malaysia. I will not keep quiet. How can I be neutral, even my pen has a stand!
From the Facebook page of Zunar Kartunis
Hungarians created hilarious parodies of the government's xenophobic anti-immigration billboards using paint and Photoshop.
“If you come to bat country you have to abide by our laws!” – homage to Hunter S. Thompson and his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

author: L. Finch


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Sri Lanka’s President Says Enrique Iglesias Concert Organisers Should Be ‘Whipped With Toxic Stingray Tails’ · Global Voices
Rezwan

Poster for Enrique Iglesias's concert
What do toxic stingray tails have to do with Spanish-American pop star Enrique Iglesias? Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena thinks organisers of the singer-songwriter's concert in the country on December 20, 2015, should be whipped with them — an ancient, cruel practice — as punishment over the behaviour of local fans during Iglesias’ performance.
Sirisena was commenting on the fact that some women in the audience hugged and allegedly kissed Iglesias and that someone threw a bra at the musician while he was on stage.
Video of the bra being tossed Enrique Iglesias’ way soon went viral, with more than 100,000 views.
Public displays of affection are not welcome in conservative Sri Lankan society, and the president argued that all citizens are responsible to safeguard the dignified Sri Lankan culture and ethics. He vowed his government will not allow “indecent” events such as Iglesias’ Love and Sex world tour to be held in the future.
But online, many spoke out against what they viewed as the president's moral policing. On Twitter, the hashtag #BrasForSL started trending:
It's stupid to throw a bra at an world renown artist, but it's bullshit to ban concerts due to this. #BrasForSL
— Zaman Alferoz (@ZamanX90) December 27, 2015
What @MaithripalaS should have done was ban wearing bras to shows like Enrique and so on. Not ban the shows. #SimplePlan #BrasForSL
— #SayNoToSpoilers (@nHiRanZ) December 27, 2015
Bras are expensive. So very expensive. They aren't supposed to be thrown even at sakra devendra. #BrasForSL #EnriqueInSL
— Thisaranie (තිසරණී) (@Thizuu) December 27, 2015
Sticks and stones may break my bones but sting ray tails excite me.#50ShadesOfMaithree #BrasForSL
— Miss Puvi (@MissPuvi) December 27, 2015
Future live in concerts in #SriLanka. No liquor, No food, No pets & finally No bras. #BrasForSL #lka #EnriqueInSL pic.twitter.com/pSHzRUFd3w
— Political CartoonLKA (@cartoonlka) December 28, 2015
#BrasForSL trolling @MaithripalaS in style for his inane comments. Pithy, sardonic, insightful. #lka #srilanka pic.twitter.com/n0SFjdzc9Y
— Groundviews (@groundviews) December 27, 2015
Mr. Sirisena succeeds in putting #srilanka in int'l press 1. https://t.co/duOCbPPwUt 2. https://t.co/fUXKc7X3Iq 3. https://t.co/TYN9S4EMTd
— Anush Wijesinha (@anushwij) December 28, 2015
There are also people supporting the president:
Throwing a bra is completely wrong. There is neither freedom or rights in it. Imagine the opposite happens!! #BrasForSL
— Zaman Alferoz (@ZamanX90) December 27, 2015
Iglesias’ performance was surrounded by controversy in other areas, too. The concert at the Ceylonese Rugby & Football Club Grounds in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was organised by Live Events, which is managed by radio personality Riyaz Shah Shaq along with cricket stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Spectators complained about long queues and poor crowd control, and the show's start was delayed by three and a half hours. The cost of the tickets was high, ranging from 5,000 rupees ($35) to 35,000 rupees ($244) and those who paid a higher value did not receive any preferential treatment.
Ashanee Kottage wrote an open letter to Iglesias on publishing platform Medium describing the good and the bad of the concert, including a handful of racist boos when the musician brought up a fan from India on stage:
Thank you for deciding to perform in a country you probably hadn’t, but should have heard of, because you made dreams come true last night.
Thank you for taking the time, and I’m sure this is the real reason behind your 3 and a half hour delay, to learn how to say Ayubowan and Obata Stutiyi, the pronunciation was spot on and we immensely appreciate it, Hola y gracias to you too Mr Iglesias.
[…]
So I’d like to apologise, for the people that called themselves adults but acted like little children high on sugar last night, for the security forces who could be easily swayed by a bribe, for the organisers who are seemingly unqualified to even arrange a 3 year old’s birthday party, and last but not least, the racist, narrow-minded, arrogant people that booed the gentleman from Bangalore that you called on stage.
The event's Facebook page has been flooded with many of the fans venting their anger at the mismanagement on and off stage and some also demanded refunds. The event organisers apologised for the chaos and the inconveniences via social media.
Still, it seemed plenty of people were happy with Iglesias’ performance:
Sri Lanka going to go Wild & Crazy as Enrique Iglesias's Live in Concert Tonight in Colombo ! #LKA #EnriqueInSL pic.twitter.com/3KXpCtD4vj
— Sri Lanka Tweet (@SriLankaTweet) December 20, 2015
Good things come if you wait for it. This is one of those moments. #EnriqueInSL 😍😘😘😘 Tks @enrique305 @LiveEventsLK pic.twitter.com/FQT0OnPeME
— Shalika Galawala (@shalikaa) December 21, 2015
And then @enrique305 hugged her on the stage. She was the luckiest. #EnriqueInSL #SriLanka https://t.co/MaaTLHKcPx pic.twitter.com/d1fww8kKR3
— Budu™ (@BuduMalli) December 21, 2015
Wanna live tonight for ever bailamos!!! #EnriqueInSL @enrique305 Please do come again. We miss you already :'( pic.twitter.com/sXL1Jyqbwp
— DobbyTheElf (@EnriqueInSL2015) December 20, 2015

author: Rezwan


text:
Syrian Filmmaker Naji Jerf Killed in Turkey After Exposing ISIS Crimes in Aleppo · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Filmmaker Naji Jerf is the fourth Syrian netizen associated with the news collective Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently to be killed.
Syrian filmmaker Naji Jerf was shot and killed in broad daylight in Gaziantep, Turkey, close to the Syrian border on December 27, 2015. It is widely believed that Jerf, 38, was killed in retaliation for uploading a documentary he made documenting ISIS crimes in Aleppo, Syria.
Jerf's murder was announced yesterday by award-winning Syrian citizen journalism collective Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), which has been exposing crimes committed by the ISIS from its self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa, in Syria, challenging the narrative the blood-thirsty group wants to project about itself.
According to the RBSS, Jerf was killed by  a so-called suppressor gun:
Our movie director Naji Jerf “father of 2 kids” was assassinated by suppressor gun today in Gaziantep “#Turkey” pic.twitter.com/F3TFZyAwk9
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) December 27, 2015
Syrian online publication Zaman Alwasl says Jerf was shot in the head by an attacker with a silenced pistol, in front of a building which houses Syrian NGOs. According to Syrian activist Shakeeb Al-Jabri, this video is what made Jerf a target:
This work on IS in Aleppo is one of reasons Naji Jerf was killed today in Gaziantep. Least you can do is watch it. https://t.co/7E1TbFzx3e — Shakeeb Al-Jabri (@LeShaque) December 27, 2015
The 24-minute video, shared on YouTube, documents ISIS’ crimes in Aleppo, which include the kidnapping and murder of paramedics, in 2013 and 2014, which Jerf filmed while there. The video, uploaded one week ago, has so far been viewed 15.8K times on Jerf's channel.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that the video also has been screened on pan-Arab Al Arabiya satellite television. It has attracted more than 12 million views and tens of thousands of comments on the station's Facebook page, Al-Arabiya reported.
In addition to his work training members of the RBSS, which last month won CPJ's 2015 International Press Freedom Award for its courage in covering news in Syria, Jerf is the editor-in-chief of Hentah, an independent online monthly magazine which reports on the lives of Syrians. He had also made a documentary on RBSS activities and work.
At least three other journalists associated with RBSS have been killed. On December 16, 2015, Ahmad Mohamed Almossa was assassinated by masked men in Idlib, in north western Syria. In October 2015, another RBSS member Ibrahim Abd al-Qader was killed by ISIS militants, along with fellow journalist Fares Hamadi, in Urfa, southeastern Turkey and in May 2014, Al-Moutaz Bellah Ibrahim was kidnapped and then killed by ISIS.
In a series of tweets, RBSS blamed ISIS for Jerf's murder:
#ISIS say they will Invaded Rome and control the world But they afraid from a group of non violent activists oh What a Fragile state #Raqqa
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) December 28, 2015
if a state afraid from a group of non violent activists Definitely this state will fall soon today or tomorrow #Raqqa #Syria #ISIS — الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) December 28, 2015
They are fighting with us with Bullets but we fight with Words but we think every word from us Equal to 1 Bullet from them #Raqqa #Syria
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) December 28, 2015
The CPJ has called upon Turkish authorities to protect Syrian journalists who have fled to Turkey, and to bring Jerf's killers to justice.
RBSS is regularly quoted in media and offers a close perspective on atrocities committed by the ISIS, Syrian government forces and the coalition airstrikes targeting civilians. The group, founded in April 2014, has been threatened by ISIS for exposing their crimes and brutality to the rest of the world, and for showcasing the resistance of the people of Raqqa to its rule.
To follow RBSS, check out their work on Facebook, Twitter and blog, which have thousands of followers.
Reporters without Borders ranks Syria among the worst free speech offenders, at 176 out of 179 countries in its worldwide index on the freedom of press. Since March 2011, 50 journalists have been killed in Syria, eight journalists imprisoned, 17 netizens jailed and 141 netizens and citizen journalists killed.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
The 7 Most-Read Stories of 2015 on Global Voices · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Memes widely shared in solidarity with the victims of the Paris attacks.
This year our borderless, largely volunteer community published more than 2,560 stories in English, translating them about 10,000 times into 40 different languages.
Our top seven stories in English were collectively viewed more than 300,000 times with an average reading time of five minutes. Not only did they receive the most attention from audiences, and they also received hundreds of shares, likes and comments on social media and our site.
Some bodies are global, but most bodies remain local, regional, “ethnic”. My thoughts are with all the victims of today’s and yesterday's horrific attacks, and my thoughts are with all those who will suffer serious discrimination as a result of the actions of a few mass murderers and the general failure of humanity’s imagination to see itself as a unified entity.
This photoshopped photograph of Egyptian President Abdelfattah El Sisi in Mickey Mouse ears has landed Facebook user Amr Nohan to three years in prison, according to reports
An Egyptian Facebook user has reportedly been sentenced to three years in prison by a military court for drawing Mickey Mouse ears on president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and posting it on the popular networking site. Amr Nohan allegedly was charged with the all too common “attempt to overthrow the regime.” Online comments indicate that Nohan is a conscript, and that is why he was tried at a military court. Many Egyptians have reposted the Sisi/Mickey Mouse photograph, expressing their outrage over the sentence.
Profile pictures from a large network of pro-Kremlin Twitter accounts. Image by Lawrence Alexander.
With the aid of open-source tools, Internet researcher Lawrence Alexander gathered and visualised data on nearly 20,500 pro-Kremlin Twitter accounts, revealing the massive scale of information manipulation attempts on the RuNet
The image was accompanied by a tweet quoting a Syrian refugee in Belgrade: “#Syrians are full of praise for #Serbian police. ‘They're fair. They're the first who didn't treat us like animals’.” Photo by Manveen Rana, used with permission.
The image was posted to Twitter by BBC Radio 4 senior broadcast journalist Manveen Rana, who seems to have traveled to Serbia with a group of refugees from Greece. Rana's Twitter feed is filled with tales of the journey, from claims of refugees having been beaten by police in Greece to all-night bus rides and images of the makeshift camp in downtown Belgrade.
This man threatened to attack random homosexuals. Image via Lena Klimova.
On April 20, Klimova unveiled a photo album, titled “Beautiful People and What They Say to Me,” where she posted publicly available pictures of individuals in their everyday lives, overlaid with the threatening messages they’ve sent her on VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network.
A landfill fire in Fada-Ngourma, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso. Photo by Flickr user lepetitNicolas. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
It’s important to note that pollution rarely kills people directly or quickly. Instead, it causes heart disease, chest infections, cancers, respiratory diseases or diarrhea. Pollution acts as a catalyst, increasing the rates of these diseases above normal. For this reason, the WHO considers pollution a risk factor — a threat to human health similar to obesity, smoking, malnutrition or poor exercise. But pollution is the king of all risk factors. Worldwide, its fatality numbers dwarf those caused by any other risk factor in any other context.
A screenshot from independent newspaper Daily Nation (@DailyNation) featuring photos of Garissa shooting victims, shared on Twitter.
I want to see three million Nairobians flood the streets to cry, and sing, and hug because our children have been killed. I want to stop feeling that we live inside mostly the private. I want never to hear the word self-empowerment again.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


text:
Activists Seek to Dispel Abortion Stigma Fueled by the Macedonian Government’s Policies · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

“My body, my rights!” Protest against the anti-abortion law in Skopje, Macedonia, May 29, 2013. Photo by Vanco Dzambaski (CC BY-NC-SA).
Young activists from the health education NGO H.E.R.A. used December 10, Human Rights Day, to launch a campaign challenging restrictions on women's right to choose in Macedonia. Called “It's about you!”, it consists of several videos, subtitled in English, offering a wide-ranging view of the recent history of anti-abortion efforts in Macedonia.
Women's right to choose was established during the socialist period and was a non-issue for about half a century, until the current right-wing government came into power in 2006. In 2013 it enacted a new Law on Termination of Pregnancy. According to activist publication “Choice” the previous law from 1972:
…was providing significantly broader protection of women’s reproductive rights. This Law did not include a mandatory written request, a mandatory and biased consultation, a mandatory 3-day waiting period, or any other administrative and procedural barriers that would have violated women’s reproductive rights or would have jeopardized women’s health and life.
Around 2008, a previously unknown NGO started a “No to Abortion” (“Абортус не”) campaign with posters that featured graphic images of dead fetuses. Soon after, the government started official anti-abortion campaigns, which included billboards, posters, and costly TV ads over a period of several years that in essence copied many of the cliches used by anti-abortionists in the United States. For instance, they equated abortion with murder or spread fear about virtually nonexistent medical risks.
One ad featured a young pregnant couple. The would-be, teenage-looking father is reluctant until the would-be mother tells him it's a boy, the sex of the baby seemingly convincing him that they shouldn't abort.
Another centered on German composer Beethoven. According to the ad, his mother wanted to abort him, but because she didn't humanity was able to enjoy his genius.
In the first clip of the anti-stigma campaign launched on December 10, activists comment on the negative effects of the government's anti-abortion campaigns on the public's perception of abortion. As gender expert Marina Trajkova points out: “The symptomatic element is that a portion of the male population had actually created their viewpoint on the basis of the messages in these videos.”
The second clip recounts the 2013 protests against the changes in the law that made legal abortions harder to obtain as well as the media spin that accompanied them. The Parliament adopted those changes during the holiday season. As activist Ana Vasileva points out: “I presume the timing was chosen to pass these amendments at a time when a large portion of activists who would express their discontent is absent… i.e. there would be no one to protest or raise their voice.”
The third clip addresses the effects of the changed law. In short, in the words of volunteer Maja Mrmova: “After adopting the law, many women in Macedonia were denied their right to abortion.”
Few women who suffered the effects of the new anti-abortion law dare to speak about it in public. In one case, a pregnant woman whose life was in danger due to fetus malformations had to beg for nine days through the state health institutions for a permit to abort. H.E.R.A. and another organization, Reactor, documented cases of women forced to bear dead fetuses inside them for several days while suffering the mandatory delays.
Activists are using the hashtag #АбортусСтигма (Abortion Stigma) to ignite public debate via the social networks. One Twitter user recalled her reaction to one of the government TV ads:
Кога сестрата во владината реклама вели “Честитам штотуку убивте здраво дете” доџе ми да врискам #ЗаТебеСеРаботи #Абортус #АбортусСтигма
— Jof (@jof152) diciembre 10, 2015
I feel like screaming when the nurse in the government advertisement says, “Congratulations, you've just murdered a child.”
During the showing of the commercial referenced above, the country's media regulatory body intervened and censored the “you've just murdered”. The text of the commercial therefore read: “Congratulations, the abortion was successful. –BEEP–a healthy baby which could have grown into a beautiful boy or girl…”
Бидејќи за мене се работи, абортусот мора да остане мое и само мое право. #Абортус #АбортусСтигма #ЗаТебеСеРаботи
— Marija Matovska (@MarijaMatovska) December 10, 2015
Because it's about me, the decision whether to abort or not must remain my and only my right.
Ограничувањето на абортусот го зголемува насилството кон жените #АбортусСтигма #ЗаТебеСеРаботи @HERA_mkd
— bojan (@bojanj76) December 10, 2015
Limiting the right to abortion increases the violence against women.
Наместо кампањи против #абортус воведете ССО во училиштата. #АбортусСтигма #ЗаТебеСеРаботи
— танди (@mleko_zitarici) December 10, 2015
Instead of anti-abortion campaigns, introduce comprehensive sexual education in the schools.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Ethiopia Censors Satellite TV Channels as Student Protests Draw Global Media Attention · Global Voices
Endalkachew Chala

Protesters in the Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa demand TPLF stop killing Oromo students. Photo be Gadaa via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The Ethiopian government is reportedly undertaking a massive clampdown on dissenting citizen voices in relation with the ongoing Oromo student protests in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest administrative region.
The regional political party known as the Oromo Federalist Congress reports that upwards of 80 people have been killed over the past four weeks by government forces. The government has yet to release its own updated numbers, but said on December 15 that five people had died.
Alongside increasing tensions around protests, security forces have arrested two opposition politicians, two journalists, and summoned five bloggers — all members of the Zone9 collective, who were acquitted of baseless terrorism charges just two months ago — to appear in court on December 30.
The government has also reinforced censorship campaigns against US-based Ethiopian satellite TV channels as well as protest songs that were produced in solidarity with Oromo protesters.
Torture marks on musician Hawi Tezera after she was arrested for supporting Oromo student protesters with music. Photo shared on Facebook by Jawar Mohammed.
Protesters of the “Master Plan” to expand the capital city, Addis Ababa, into Oromia fear that the proposed development will displace large numbers of farmers mostly belonging to the Oromo ethnic group. Since demonstrations across the region began, the Ethiopian government has tried hard to stifle any kind of information about the outcry.
However, photos, videos and audio materials captured on mobile phones of the protests and of police brutality have made their way out of the country and are widely shared on the US-based satellite TV channels ESAT and Oromia Media Network (OMN).
These two channels reach tens of millions of Ethiopians who don’t have access to the Internet but who do have satellite dishes and depend on the two channels for news, analysis and views about the protest in Amharic and Afan Oromo, two of Ethiopia’s major languages.
Executives from the satellite channels report that Ethiopian authorities attempted to prohibit their broadcasting services. Jawar Mohammed, executive director of OMN, wrote on his Facebook page:
Notice: OMN is NOT back on satellite yet. It was NOT jammed either. Transmission was discontinued by the service provider under duress. The satellite we were on Eutelsat 8WB is still not jammable. Stay tune for details as soon as piece it together.And the promise remains the same; OMN will be back on air very soon one way or another!
Meanwhile, ESAT posted the following on their website:
The management of the Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio (ESAT) said the regime in Ethiopia has jammed one of its two satellites, Eutelsat E8WB @ 8West starting the morning of Saturday December 19, 2015. .This latest move by the regime came at a time when ESAT has been widely covering the growing protest against the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia. Ethiopians rely on ESAT for news and information about their country. The regime, known for muzzling press freedom and one of the top jailers of journalists in the world, is spending millions of dollars on jamming equipment to deny people access to information.
Citizen reports on Facebook indicate that Ethiopian authorities have started to frantically send security forces around to remove satellite dish receivers from the rooftops of residents particularly in Oromia region.
Photo taken from Facebook page of Getachew Shiferaw
Getachew Shiferaw, editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Negere Ethiopia, was arrested. Two days earlier, he had shared a photo showing satellite dish receivers on rooftops (above) with the following note on Facebook:
ይህ ሁሉ ዲሽ እዚሁ አዲስ አበባ ሲያልፍ ሲያገድሙ መንገድ ዘግተው የሚውሉትን ገዥዎች ድስኩር በሳተላይት አልፎ በኢቢሲ ለማየት ወይንም በኢ ቢ ኤስ ሽንኩርት ሲከተፍ ለማየት የተሰቀለ የሚመስላቸው “ልማታዊ” ሞኞች ይኖራሉኮ! ተሳስተዋል!
They [Ethiopian government] are wrong if they think all these satellite dish receivers are set up to watch their tired propaganda.
Again, Jawar Mohammed wrote on his Facebook page:
The War on Satellite Dishes Continue. If the regime thinks it can cut our audience off from receiving OMN news and programs, they are too dumb to understand what we are made off. Just as we beat them time and again during their 10 jamming in the last 18 months, we will beat them again by staying several steps a head of them. Even if they take down every dish in the country, we will still find a way to reach our audience. Time for them to give up and face up to the truth!
Both ESAT and OMN say that in the past, they have moved their signals to other satellites that are harder for the Ethiopian government to jam. They both frequently notify their audiences in Ethiopia and advise them to re-position their dishes accordingly.
The Ethiopian authorities see these channels as mouthpieces of outlawed oppositions groups engaged in destabilizing the country. Although the government usually denies jamming satellites services, media outlets such as France24, Deutsche Welle and BBC have all condemned Ethiopian authorities for interfering with their broadcasting abilities.
Ethiopian authorities’ satellite jamming is similar to Internet censorship, whereby the government blocks access to websites, blogs and online radios, which are mostly set up by journalists and activists living in exile. Ethiopia tops the list of countries forcing journalists to flee into exile for fear of persecution.

author: Endalkachew Chala


text:
How the Soviet Union Sent Its First Man to the Internet in 1982 · Global Voices
Kevin Limonier

Remains of Old Soviet K-340A super computer in Chernobyl. Aliaksandr Palanetski, CC, Flickr.
At first glance, speaking about a “Soviet Internet” seems paradoxical and anachronistic. Yet, such a thing did actually exist. This is why a top level “.su” domain (for Soviet Union) still remains on the domain market today, despite ICANN’s requests to delete it.
Scholars of the Soviet Internet generally agree that its development began with the rise of Gorbatchev’s Perestroika and Glasnost. Thanks to these reforms, the first Soviet Internet provider was founded in 1987-1988. And in 1991, there were already a few hundred users connected to the Unix network in the USSR.
But the very first connection of a Soviet citizen to a worldwide computer network occurred much earlier, in 1982. Understandably, this came as a surprise to the network’s users, as most of them at that point were American or European.
In 1982, the Soviet Union was still far from Perestroika’s economical and political openness. Leonid Brezhnev was still alive and the Soviet Army was still bogged down in Afghanistan. Moreover, the Soviet Union overall remained a closed country: travel abroad was strongly regulated, and some people took big risks to pass forbidden manuscripts to the West (the so-called samizdat). At the same time, internal repressions were also underway: the famous dissident Andrei Sakharov remained under house arrest in the city of Gorky.
In the Western world, on the other hand, computer networks were already gaining popularity as tools for circulating information freely. The TCP/IP protocol, which remains one of the pillars of the contemporary Internet, was implemented in 1982 on United States servers, while an important part of the French population had access to the Minitel, an ancestor of today’s World Wide Web.
One morning in the spring of 1982, Anatoly Klyosov reported to the USSR Research and Science Institute of Applied Automated Systems (VNIIPAS) in Moscow. The 35-year-old biochemist had a very singular mission: he was supposed to participate in what Western scholars called a “meeting.” In this case, “meetings” were a new form of international scientific dialogue based on the exchange of messages via computer. Even though this predecessor of chats and mailing lists had been used for some years in the West, this was the very first time a Soviet citizen had the opportunity to take part in such an experience. Back then, the USSR had only one computer connected to the outside world by a modem. This singular device was located at the offices of the VNIIPAS, right next to the Kremlin.
It all started a few weeks earlier, when Dzheremen Gvishiani, vice president of the Science & Technology Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, summoned Klyosov without giving him any clue about the nature of their meeting. The old academician, obviously unfamiliar with the subject, talked about a “computer conference,” and referred to an order from above stipulating that the Soviet Union had to take part in the exchange as a matter of prestige.
Klyosov was chosen to represent his country because of his specialty, which was consistent with the theme of the next conference, devoted to biology. For all intents and purposes, he was the ideal candidate. But only in appearance: Klyosov was in fact a “nevyezdnoy”—a citizen who was not allowed to leave the Soviet territory for “security reasons.” After Klyosov had spent two years as a visiting scholar at Harvard University in the US, the Soviet authorities suspected him of pro-American sympathies and had thus withdrawn his foreign passport. This incident had seriously restrained Klyosov’s academic career.
At first glance, it seems paradoxical that the Academy of Science would choose this man to represent the Soviet Union at an international conference, albeit an online one. In the case of a traditional conference, the KGB would have never allowed a “nevyezdnoy” scholar to travel abroad. In fact, this “error” shows us that at the time no one, either in the academy or in the Soviet security apparatus, had truly grasped what “online conference” really meant. For them, Klyosov remained physically on Soviet territory, and that was all that mattered. The fact that the conference server was located at the University of Stockholm, and that “wiretapping” the conversation was impossible because of the novelty of the experience, was ignored by the KGB. After all, for them, it was only a lecture in biochemistry, and the subject was absolutely not a sensitive one.
The terminal used by Klyosov to join the conference was a Soviet ES-EVM computer (designed from blueprints stolen from IBM). It was connected to the only modem supposed to officially exist in all of the USSR: an antediluvian 360 baud/s device. In comparison, this device had a capacity 22 times less than the old 56k modems that were widely used in the early 2000s: the text display rate on the 360 baud/s modem was of one letter per second.
This precious modem was protected by a security presence so impressive that Klyosov later wrote he had not seen such since his childhood, when he lived with his parents on the Kapustin Yar missile test polygon under Stalin.
An EVM ES-1033 computer with control panel. These were developed in the USSR in the 1970s-1980s. Image courtesy of computer-museum.ru.
Surrounded by many soldiers, the computer room itself was empty. So when Klyosov logged in for the first time, he was alone when these words appeared on the screen: “You are connected to the University of Stockholm server. Welcome.”
Once logged in, Klyosov was free to talk and exchange any information he wanted, without any state control. Neither the fact that the computer room was surrounded by military guards, nor the fact that Klyosov was forbidden from going abroad had any influence. We can imagine how the situation created by this single connected Soviet computer and its only user might seem paradoxical. Just remember that the Soviet Union in the early 1980s remained a heavily cloistered state, with the authorities attempting at all costs to stop the transfer to the West of any kind of “dissident” cultural products (samizdat publications among them). In such a context, Klyosov’s case was truly exceptional.
The feeling of singularity only increased as Klyosov understood that his use of the computer was not limited in time or in words. Very quickly, while holding discussions in real-time with his Western colleagues, the academic learned to access other “chat rooms” that had nothing to do with the original object of his mission. In addition, the director of the VNIIPAS research facility also became sympathetic to Klyosov’s presence, as he understood that it was important for the Institute to have someone regularly online to engage with the international scholarly community. Klyosov soon gained permanent access to the computer and, for several years, remained the only person using it. Until 1986, he went almost daily to VNIIPAS to legally practice a strictly forbidden activity: discussing all manner of things with Western academics without any control or censorship.
During almost four years, Klyosov learned to use the various Internet protocols that were emerging at the time, and had all kinds of virtual meetings. These were facilitated by the general astonishment provoked by the presence of a Soviet citizen online. For example, he met an American astronaut who wanted to do business in the Soviet Union, or a doctoral student from Stockholm University who invited him to come to the sauna with her. Throughout, his contacts kept him informed of current world events, especially those that went unreported by Soviet newspapers. That was how his Swedish contacts told him about the famous U-137 incident, once known as the “Whisky on the rocks” incident. A Soviet submarine ran aground close to the Swedish military base of Karlskrona, triggering one of the most dangerous crises of the Cold War. While the case made headlines of Western newspapers, not a word filtered into the USSR at the time.
Anatoly Klyosov in 2008. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Klyosov also successfully used the connected computer to bypass state censorship and publish his research papers abroad. Normally, a Soviet researcher willing to do so had to go through the Glavlit, a censorship authority that mercilessly edited or blocked thousands of papers and books for ideological or state security reasons. Back then, an academic had to brave great risks to illegally bring non-authorized manuscripts outside the Soviet territory. Meanwhile, Klyosov, enabled by his Internet connections, just had to send an e-mail.
The adventure of the man who dug a digital tunnel above the Iron Curtain ended in 1987. With the rise to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, the prohibition of travel abroad was lifted for many people, including Klyosov. He then traveled to the US, where he bought an IBM computer that he brought back to the USSR, connecting it to the Internet with the modem he had used for many years at VNIIPAS. The Institute’s director had in fact offered him the device as a sign of friendship. So in 1987, along with a few dozen other Soviet citizens, Klyosov now had access to the outside world from home.
Klyosov's memoir, “The Internet. (Notes of a Scientist),” published in 2010. Image from koob.ru.
Later, Klyosov moved to the US where he still resides today. He recently decided to relate his adventures in an excellent book, unfortunately available only in Russian. The memoir describes the fear he felt every day, and the feeling of having access to a unique source of information through a non-controlled communication device.
Klyosov was extremely lucky: the Soviet Internet pioneer never got any trouble from the KGB. Which, in a political system based on control of the individual, was likely indicative of a severe lack of adaptation of the regime and its security agencies to the pace of technological change. That rigidity was what allowed people like Klyosov to engage with the world at large and to broaden their horizons—just by using a computer connected to the Internet.

author: Kevin Limonier


text:
Millions of Indians Slam Facebook’s ‘Free Basics’ App · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Two-page Free Basics newspaper advertisement urging Indians to advocate against net neutrality protections before the government. Image widely shared on social media.
It has been less than two months since the nationwide launch of the Free Basics app in India. The smart phone application (formerly known as Internet.org) offers free access to Facebook, Facebook-owned products like WhatsApp, and a select suite of other websites for users who do not pay for mobile data plans.
But the app has already been suspended, at least temporarily, as the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority considers new rules governing network neutrality. Depending on how they're written, the rules could render Free Basics a violation of the policy.
Free Basics, which has been deployed in 30 developing countries across the globe, gives users free access to websites that meet Facebook's technical standards for the application. The application does not give users access to the Internet at large. For open Internet advocates, this undercuts consumer choice and violates the principle of network neutrality, under which Internet providers are to treat all Internet traffic equally. Net neutrality allows users equal access to any website they want to visit, and gives website operators equal opportunities to attract visitors.
#Facebook launches email campaign to support Free Basics; more misinformation? https://t.co/QQvRZHfpMK #India #Tech pic.twitter.com/MWfIXAQKta
— Polarist (@polarist) December 17, 2015
Facebook has responded to the pending regulation with an aggressive ad campaign both online and off. Over the last week, Facebook users across India (and some in the US) upon logging into the site have been greeted with notifications urging them to take action. The Free Basics page on Facebook now leads to a pleading form that asks users to contact the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and voice their support for making Free Basics available in India. The company has also purchased a smattering of billboard advertisements across the country and taken out numerous two-page ads in leading national newspapers, as seen above.
Indian netizens and activists have spoken out against the company's actions en masse, protesting heavily on social media, blogs and newspapers.
The grassroots open Internet group, SavetheInternet.in, that has been advocating for net neutrality in India throughout 2015, has launched an email campaign asking users to send letters to TRAI explaining how Free Basics violates net neutrality principles and propagates an inaccurate picture of the Internet for new users by placing it inside the confines of Facebook's application.
Multiple stand-up comedy groups have created videos explaining the regulatory debate and supporting net neutrality, which have gone viral:
Above, the third in a series of videos created by All India Bakchod, in partnership with SavetheInternet.in. Below, a video by East India Comedy.
The issue has also been hotly debated on Twitter, with technology and law experts leading the way.
Internet policy expert and lead staff member of the Center for Internet and Society in Bengaluru Pranesh Prakash tweeted:
Here is Facebook's definition of what's “basics” on #FreeBasics, of what they won't allow on the platform. pic.twitter.com/1UAnOtosJz
— Pranesh Prakash (@pranesh) December 29, 2015
New Delhi-based technology lawyer Mishi Choudhary, who leads the legal team at the Software Freedom Law Center, tweeted:
this so-called philanthropy is nothing but an attempt to buy the de-anonymised packets of the Indian poor at a bulk rate boycott #freebasics
— Mishi Choudhary (@MishiChoudhary) December 25, 2015
The Free Software Movement of India, a non-profit promoting use of free software and its philosophy in India via their local chapters, also has taken the campaign to the streets where the volunteers raised public awareness about Free Basic's adverse side.
Apart from local experts and activists, companies like Reddit, Truecaller and Indian e-commerce platform Paytm have publicly shared their opposition to Facebook's actions.
Facebook is paying close attention to civil society opposition to its activities in India. Across the globe, the company's Free Basics page now opens to a plea for users to contact TRAI, and includes a statement that directly targets open Internet advocates, suggesting that their motives are somehow driven by financial incentives:
…Free Basics is in danger in India. A small, vocal group of critics are lobbying to have Free Basics banned on the basis of net neutrality. Instead of giving people access to some basic internet services for free, they demand that people pay equally to access all internet services – even if that means 1 billion people can't afford to access any services.
SavetheInternet.in explicitly states in their About page that they are entirely volunteer-run and have no affiliation with any political party in India or elsewhere.
Users also have tweeted screenshots alleging that Facebook is restricting access for individuals sending messages opposing Free Basics. This has not been confirmed, but the tweets have only further stoked public frustration with the company.
Facebook restricts access when people send text against #FreeBasics @Kurmanath @fsmi_in @vrsrini @nixxin @ioerror pic.twitter.com/7YnWKg7HQN
— kiranchandra (@kiranychandra) December 26, 2015
On December 28, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg penned a piece in the Times of India arguing that Free Basics will help “achieve digital equality for India,” and claiming that the initiative “isn’t about Facebook’s commercial interests.” India represents the world's largest market of Internet users after the US and China, where Facebook remains blocked.
In response, Nikhil Pawa, founder of online portal MediaNama and a volunteer with Savetheinternet.in, authored a critical opinion piece in the same newspaper:
[…] Why hasn’t Facebook chosen the options that do not violate Net Neutrality? For example, in India, Aircel has begun providing full internet access for free at 64 kbps download speed for the first three months….In Bangladesh, Grameenphone users get free data in exchange for watching an advertisement. In Africa, Orange users get 500 MB of free access on buying a $37 handset…
[…]
Facebook is being disingenuous — as disingenuous as the company’s promotional programmes for Free Basics to its Indian users — when it says that Free Basics is in conformity with Net Neutrality.
Pawa also quoted Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Indian state of Odisha, who wrote to TRAI supporting net neutrality. “If you dictate what the poor should get, you take away their right to choose what they think is best for them,” he wrote.
“If you dictate what the poor should get, you take away their right to choose what they think is best for them.”
Writing for Quartz, technology critic Alice Truong expressed similar sentiment: “Zuckerberg almost portrays net neutrality as a first-world problem that doesn’t apply to India because having some service is better than no service.”
For Mahesh Murthy, an Indian venture capitalist and self-described net neutrality activist, it all comes down to revenue. On the Wire, Murthy offered untempered criticism of Facebook and Zuckerberg's efforts to appease the country's leaders:
[..] Unlike Facebook, who tried to silently slime this thing through last year when it was called Internet.org, and then are spending about Rs. 100 crores on ads – a third of its India revenue? – to try and con us Indians this year again. This is after we’d worked hard to ban these kind of products, technically called “zero rating apps” last year.[..] This Facebook ad [spread] doesn’t include the full-on Mark Zuckerberg love event put up for our Prime Minister when he visited the US, aimed again at greasing the way for this Free Basics thing through our government.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


text:
Tajikistan’s Pamir Region: Forever on the Brink of Disaster? · Global Voices
Ricard Altes

“Transport-dush-khorog” by wikipedia user Alj87. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.
This is a version of an article originally written in Catalan.
Fatal landslides happen so often in Tajikistan, the world media rarely stops to cover them.
On December 7 it was a bit different, after the remote Pamir region in the former Soviet republic was struck by an earthquake of 7.2 on the Richter scale, whose epicentre was just 22 kilometres from a seismically vulnerable mountain lake.
Nevertheless, journalists soon lost interest once the damage had been done and the task of restoring hundreds of houses fell to authorities, organizations working in the area and local residents.
According to the impoverished country's emergency situations committee, the earthquake caused two deaths — both the result of landslides triggered by the quake — and completely destroyed 237 homes.
The most affected area was the hard-to-access valley of Bartang, where 214 of the houses were located and where the population mobilized to reopen communication links with the area's only artery: the world-famous Pamir Highway.
Wikipedia image of Pamir Highway. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The region west of the Tajik Pamirs where most of Tajikistan's population lives is inhabited by people of Iranian origin.
Unlike the rest of the country where people adhere to the Sunni faith, the inhabitants of the Pamirs are mostly followers of Pamir Isma'ilism, a branch of Shiism associated with the famous spiritual leader the Aga Khan.
The Aga Khan Foundation has dedicated much effort to developing and educating Ismaili communities scattered around the world, including in Kenya, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Madagascar.
This foundation has often complemented, or even substituted, the Tajik government in its development work in the Pamirs.
Tajikistan is the poorest post-Soviet republic and money sent by people who emigrated to work mainly in Russia equates to almost half of GDP.
It is estimated that 60% of the population lives below the poverty line.
Some organizations related to the Pamir region have launched campaigns to collect funds to cover emergency food and warm clothes to people who lost everything in the latest disaster.
They include a page on gofundme and Bartang Has a Future.
Many of the contributions are being channeled through the local NGO ‘OUR’, created only a year ago by youth in the city of Khorog to provide a safe passage for aid in a country where the government is often accused of stealing development money.
Other than emergency situations, the NGO is creating a network of volunteer teachers and trainers. Staff work on a completely voluntary basis.
“All our activities are transparent, and you can track up to the last cent of all aid received through our Facebook page (OO “OUR”),” writes one of the group's leaders Daler Nazarshoev.
“A total of 600 people have been resettled…People who have lost their homes are living in summer tents despite temperatures reaching -22 degrees celsius,” writes Nazarshoev.
“Until the summer months it will be impossible for us to dedicate ourselves fully to rebuilding homes. For this reason, we study the possibility of buying Kyrgyz yurts* so that the affected population can survive the winter.”
Community organisations like “OUR” are vital in responding to relatively small scale natural disasters such as the one that occurred earlier this month.
But there is a so-called ‘Sword of Damocles’ hanging over the region that no-one living there can possibly prepare for completely.
In February 1911 an earthquake estimated at between 6.5 and 7.0 on the Richter scale led to the formation of Lake Sarez, roughly 500 meters deep, 76 kilometers long and 3.3 km wide. The lake holds some 17 cubic kilometres of water.
Several studies, including one conducted by the World Bank in 2004, concluded that the lake would be highly vulnerable if a powerful landslide were to send debris into its waters, with overspill into regional rivers potentially affecting up to 5 million people across Central Asia.
On December 7, Sarez held firm, but its threat to the region is ever-present.

author: Ricard Altes


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The Francophone World’s Uplifting Stories in 2015 · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Jacque Cousteau looks on the bright side of 2015. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Let's be honest: many of us driven by our hope in humanity would prefer to forget 2015. From January's Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris to December's attacks in Bamako and the massacres in Burundi, the headlines in the French-language media offered a deluge of armed conflict, epidemics, and hate speech—with some episodes getting more attention than others.
Still, there were also some remarkable stories of generosity and bravery than were less covered in the media. Global Voices collects a few of the happy events you might have missed while distracted by so much of the gloom in the past year.
Screen capture of an Ebola survivor testimony.
The worst outbreak of the Ebola virus in history claimed nearly 5,000 lives in 2015, with at least 10,000 reported cases mostly in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Mali, and Sierra Leone). Besides the terrible impact of human lives lost and the strain on the West African region's healthcare infrastructure, the resulting stigma for the affected population compounds an already dreadful situation. Yet, the epidemic has now been mostly eradicated and the tremendous sacrifice of local healthcare agents is finally recognized. Here is a testimony of their work in Liberia:
Jeejuah, 30, and two other women, all volunteers, are cooking for 12 of the most important, but invisible, people in Liberia right now. The dozen meals are meant for the team of technicians that tests the blood of suspected Ebola patients. They visit sick peoples’ homes and overwhelmed Ebola treatment centers, sticking needles in the veins of physically unpredictable, highly contagious people. They then drive their blood back to Liberia’s only medical lab, more than an hour from the capital of Monrovia.
“Christians and Muslims together in a project” to rebuild a mosque in the Central African Republic (CRA). Screenshot: reconstruction of a mosque in the Central African Republic in June 2015 / Dailymotion
The conflict in CAR has been below the radar in 2015, even though it has continued to claim victims throughout the country. The fighting between (mostly Muslim) Seleka rebels and (mostly Christian youth group) anti-Balakas has severely weakened the nation's social fabric. Yet, despite the potential threats on their lives, many citizen groups have come together to try to rebuild the country while the confrontations are still ongoing. One such effort is the collaboration between Muslims and Christians to rebuild one of the 417 mosques destroyed during the war (out of a total of 436 mosques registered in CAR). The Centrafrique Blog reports:
A Bangui, les chrétiens se sont mobilisés pour aider les musulmans centrafricains à retrouver leurs lieux de prières. Au quartier Lakouanga dans le 2ème arrondissement de la capitale, la principale mosquée a ainsi été réhabilitée sur une initiative de Christian Aimé Ndotah, un chrétien du quartier. «Nous avons entrepris cela afin de faciliter la cohésion sociale, de retrouver le vivre ensemble comme à l'époque où chrétiens et musulmans vivaient loin des conflits et en frères. Nous comptons poursuivre cela dans d'autres zones et quartiers notamment au quartier Yapélé où la mosquée a également été réhabilitée avec nos propres moyens»
In Bangui, Christians have mobilized to help Muslims find their places of worship. In Lakouanga, a borough in the second district of the capital, the main mosque has been restored thanks to the initiative of Christian Aimé Ndotah, a Christian local resident. “We undertook this in order to facilitate social cohesion, to reclaim the way we lived all together as in the days when Christians and Muslims lived without conflicts and as brothers. We intend to continue this in other areas and neighborhoods, including Yapélé neighborhood where the mosque was also renovated by our own means”
Despite forecasts saying it would have one of the world's fastest growing economy in 2016, the DRC is still trying to come to terms with the epidemic of rape as a weapon of war that plagues the eastern part of the country.
World-renown Dr. Mukwege works with victims of sexual violence at Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, the main city in the Kivu region. On average, Panzi Hospital admits 410 patients every month with 200 beds devoted to sexual violence survivors.
Mukwege roots his relentless drive to heal the victims in the motivation he gets from the women in his life:
Like any human being, my dearest wish would be to not have to talk about these heinous crimes, of which my people are victims, anymore. But how can one stay silent when, for over 15 years, I have seen things that even a surgeon cannot get used to seeing? How can one stay silent when we know that these crimes against humanity are driven by a crass economic agenda?  Each woman raped, I identify with my wife; each mother raped I see as my mother, and each child violated as my own kids. How can we stay silent?
One of the staff at Panzi says women can live again and enjoy normal lives at the hospital, where their dignity is restored:
After Dr Mukwege won the Sakharov Prize, many women were celebrating in the hospital courtyard to express their support to the physician: “It proves that we are not forgotten, that the world does not condone what was done to us,” said a survivor.
With each new threat or attack, France seems increasingly at risk of veering toward more intolerance, as well as political measures that pander to the extreme right. Yet, French citizens have showed over and over that their capacity for empathy is multiplied when the stakes are high. Such was the case during the Paris attacks on November 13. The residents of Paris literally opened their doors to those who were stranded outside, while the attacks were still underway. Here are some testimonials of what happened during that dreadful night:
#porteouverte send me a message for a safe place in canal Saint Martin. Please be safe
— Florian Duretz (@duretzflo) November 13, 2015
Still have 2 places if needed near metro #marcadet (L4 & L12) at 43 rue Ordener #PorteOuverte just answer this msg
— Julien Philippe (@JulienPhilippe_) November 14, 2015
Ordinary French people opening their doors to those affected. #PorteOuverte is a sign that the French spirit is stronger than ever.
— The Ranting Rozzer (@RantingRozzer) November 14, 2015
un Hommage aux Parisien avec leur #PorteOuverte merci à Vous pic.twitter.com/pfsexQu93U
— papounay © (@papounay2000) November 14, 2015
Tribute to Parisians’ spirit during #PorteOuverte. Thank you
In times of adversity, the true character of a community shows through. To those offering #PorteOuverte, you make me proud to be a human.
— Jerome Kern (@jerrykern) November 14, 2015

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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The Gambia Turns Talk Into Action, Passes Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Bill · Global Voices
Demba Kandeh

A screenshot of Journeyman Pictures’ “My FGM Story” showing anti-FGM activists in the Gambia.
Barely a month after the country's president declared a ban against the practice, parliamentarians in the tiny West African state of The Gambia have passed a bill that criminalises female genital mutilation (FGM).
In November 2015, President Yahya Jammeh announced an executive ban on the practice of FGM just days before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
FGM involves the ritual of removing of some or all of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is usually carried out using a blade, with or without anaesthesia. The practice has no health benefits and can come with a range of painful complications. Nineteen countries in Africa have outlawed FGM.
The new bill is an amendment to the Women's Act 2010, imposing a punishment of up to three years in jail or a 50,000 dalasi (1,250 US dollars) fine or both. President Jammeh is expected to sign the bill into law. In his November announcement banning the practice, Jammeh said:
For 21 years [the number of years he has being in power], I have been researching from the Qur’an and consulting religious leaders whether female circumcision is mentioned in the Qur’an but I did not find it there.
While some use Islam to justify the “cut”, people of other faiths throughout Africa perform FGM, pointing to a strong cultural element in the practice.
Jammeh, a self-acclaimed devout Muslim, recently declared The Gambia an Islamic state (over 90 percent of the country's population is Muslim). The West Africa strong man, considered one of the worst remaining dictators in the region, is no stranger to controversies. In 2007, he claimed to have discovered a herbal cure for HIV/AIDS and later on, diabetes and infertility, among others. He expelled a United Nation Development Programme official who criticised his HIV/AIDS cure.
Reacting to the news of the bill, Saikou Jammeh, a Gambian journalist, welcomed the new amendment saying:
National Assembly passes law to criminalise FGM. Of course it's a non controversial bill. I hope the president assents soon. Can't wait…
However, Madi Jorbateh noted that serious work on the issue begins now. By some figures, over 70 percent of women in the Gambia experience one form of FGM or another:
I am yet to see the FGM provisions but I am very concerned about the Victims of FGM. Those that have been already cut deserve a compensation. Secondly so far enforcement of the Women Act is weak because the Women's Bureau itself has not been making the necessary investment to enforce the law. Coupled with the lacklustre attitude of the entire state apparatus about women's rights, and the misguided ideas about FGM as well as the maslaha [compromise] syndrome of our people, now is the time for serious work more than ever before.
Satang Mam Mbaye Cham, a Gambia activist, also indicated that this is only the beginning of the fight to protect women:
In the enactment of the Amendment Act, The Gambia joins a growing number of African nations that have adopted legislation as a reform strategy for ending FGM. As an activist, I believe legal prohibition will accelerate abandonment of the practice. Am sure others will argue that such a top-down approach can be perceived as coercive. The time for popularization is now. There is still need for local efforts to stop the practice. A great end to 2015 for the protection of girls and women in The Gambia. This is just the beginning. A luta continua! [Translation: “The fight continues!”]

author: Demba Kandeh


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Who Would Have Thought ‘Everest’ Was in Kazakhstan? · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

The real Everest as depicted in “20110810 North Face of Everest Tibet China Panoramic” by User:Ggia – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.
Not everything about a blockbuster needs to be budget-busting. A recent revelation concerning the film Everest suggests that the promotional poster doesn't even need to be geographically accurate.
The popular Russian news portal Tjournal.ru recently reported that the promotional poster for Everest, a film about the true story of a climbing expedition's doomed ascent to the roof of the world, featured a photograph of Kazakhstan's Peak Chapaev — not Mount Everest.
#EverestMovie soundtrack features Oscar-winner Dario Marianelli from Varese Sarabande Records http://t.co/V2M03G8lHs pic.twitter.com/rzpyObvT5x
— #EverestMovie (@everestmovie) September 20, 2015
According to the report, the photograph was taken by Alexander Zyryanov, a mountaineer and amateur photographer from Kazakhstan who told Tjournal he sold the image to Shutterstock for $62.50.
Zyryanov does not seem bitter:
Когда живёшь в Алма-Ате, это очень удобно — горы рядом. В горах бывает очень красиво, и те, кто ходит в горы, многие фотографируют эту красоту. Я не исключение. Стараюсь это делать хорошо, имею даже старенькую зеркалку (Nikon D70) — довольно тяжёлую, кстати — ею этот снимок и был сделан с высоты примерно 6500 метров над уровнем моря.
When you live in Almaty [Kazakhstan's biggest city], it is very convenient for trips to the mountain. In the mountains it is very beautiful and those who walk in the mountains take pictures of this beauty. I'm no exception. I try to take good pictures. I even have an old reflex camera, a Nikon D70 — quite heavy, by the way. That picture was taken from a height of about 6500 meters above sea level.
And the mountain his Nikon D70 captured? Peak Chapaev in the Tien-Shan range, a break out of the greater Himalayan chain that runs across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and into China and Uzbekistan. Mount Everest is located in the Mahalangur mountain range in Nepal and Tibet.
Chapaev is somewhat less evocative than Everest, but like many mountains in ex-communist Central Asia, it is still rather photogenic.
After the revelation, Kazakhs took to social media with suggestions to use the image as part of a light-hearted national branding campaign with ‘better than Everest’ among the potential slogans.
There is gritty irony mixed in with the humour, however.
Despite scenery fit to light up the Silver screen, Hollywood is in no hurry to make the region a location for a breathtaking blockbuster in the near future.
Unlike Mongolia, whose name conjures a certain glamour to complement the remoteness, the ‘Stans’ convey an obscurity stripped of all romance.
Vast Kazakhstan, while never chosen as a shooting location for a major English language release, has been the fictional setting for a few films, none of which have helped the government's tireless efforts to forge a positive international brand.
These include the 1997 box office success Air Force One, where the country is found under the control of a rogue militant regime backed by stolen nuclear weapons, and a 2002 remake of the 1970s classic Rollerball, panned by one reviewer as “an incoherent mess, a jumble of footage in search of plot, meaning, rhythm and sense.”
For many popcorn-scoffers then, the country will forever be associated with be Sacha Baron-Cohen's 2006 Mockumentary Borat, which while ‘about’ the Central Asian country in the most offbeat and satirical sense, was actually filmed in Romania.
If you ever strike up a conversation with someone from Kazakhstan, forget you ever watched it…


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2015 Was A Breakthrough Year For Sexual Diversity · Global Voices
Jaime Vidal

2015 has been a breakthrough year in the field of LGBTI rights and sexual diversity around the globe, especially as regards equal marriage and same-sex unions.
LGBT parade in front of La Moneda, Santiago de Chile in 2009. In 2015 Chile became the seventh South American country to recognise same-sex unions. PHOTO: By CiudadanoGay (Picasa) [CC BY 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons
The first news came with the arrival of the summer in Ireland—a predominantly Catholic country where homosexuality was not decriminalized until 1993—where on May 22, citizens were called to vote on the question of whether marriage, according to law, may be contracted between two persons without distinction as to their sex. Ireland’s voters gave a majority of 62% in favour of the recognition of equal marriage, becoming the first country in the world to recognize marriage between same-sex couples by popular vote.
A month later, on June 26, social networks around the world lit up with the hashtag #LoveWins, referring to the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States in Obergefell versus Hodges case, which ruled that all States have an obligation to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. As Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote of the historic decision:
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. (…) Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
A few weeks later, on 21 July, the European Court of Human Rights found that the refusal of Italy to provide a legal framework for the recognition and protection of same-sex unions violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which holds that everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life. This is perhaps the most important international judicial victory in the field of LGBTI rights since the case Toonen v. Australia resulted in the repeal of the last Australian laws prohibiting sodomy. This followed the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s 1994 ruling that sex between consenting adults in private were protected by the concept of “private life” contained in Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
SCOTUS Marriage Equality 2015: Supreme Court of the United States ends marriage discrimination. PHOTO: Ted Eytan (CC BY-SA 2.0)
On 22 October this year, Chile also celebrated its first civil unions for same-sex couples, becoming the seventh South American country to legally recognize same-sex unions. Long gone were the sad years of President Ibañez del Campo, whose homophobia was notorious and avowed and where raids and mass arrests of homosexuals resulted in their admission to a concentration camp for “social misfits” and homosexuals in Pisagua in the north of the country. Long in the past too is the homophobia of Clarin, a sensationalistic left-wing newspaper associated with Salvador Allende’s Popular Unity party, whose headlines denigrated homosexuals and trans people.
Colombia’s highest court legalizes adoption by gay couples https://t.co/k1qQZfE1hb #colombia
— Colombia Reports (@colombiareports) November 5, 2015
Recognition of equal rights also extended this year to adoption by same-sex couples. In a historic ruling on November 4, the Colombian constitutional court instructed adoption agencies not to discriminate against same-sex couples. After nine hours of debate, the court gave the go-ahead for same-sex couples to legally adopt children. “A person's sexual orientation or gender is not itself indicative of a lack of moral, physical or mental suitability to adopt,” said the court’s chief justice, Maria Victoria Calle Correa. Five years after legalizing same-sex marriage, Portugal also legalized adoption by same-sex couples. On 23 September, 2015, parties from the leftist majority in Parliament submitted bills to grant same-sex couples full adoption rights as well as access to intro-vitro fertilisation. The bills were approved on 20 November and now await promulgation by the President.
But while 2015 was a year of major victories for many, these developments have had little effect on the “T” and the “I” of the LGBTI community. The transgender and intersex communities still face staggering challenges and equal marriage, in most cases, does not improve their lives by much. At present neither group operates on an equal playing field with other people; they face huge disparities in employment and health care access, and experience undue levels of harassment and violence.
Discrimination on grounds of #SOGI: Poor understanding of rights of intersex people in #EU https://t.co/95UOxFunXl pic.twitter.com/WNeTzMpj2P
— EU FundamentalRights (@EURightsAgency) December 12, 2015
For intersex people, it has sadly become common practice to subject intersex children to unnecessary surgical and other procedures in order to make their appearance conform to binary sex stereotypes. These often irreversible procedures can cause permanent infertility, pain, incontinence, loss of sexual sensation, and lifelong mental suffering, and they are regularly performed without the full, free and informed consent of the person concerned.
In April 2009, the international NGO Transgender Europe, in collaboration with the multilingual online journal Liminalis, started a research project collecting, monitoring, and analyzing reports of murders of trans people worldwide. Since the beginning of 2008, the murder of a trans person is reported every three days, on average. According to Transgender Europe’s Trans Murder Monitoring project, between October 2014 and September 2015 at least 271 killings of trans people were reported—that’s one every 36 hours.
Today is an important day. Today is Transgender Day Of Remembrance. And we remember. #TDOR pic.twitter.com/uwpI2rX1J4
— Theta Nu Xi (@thetanuxi) November 20, 2015
On 20 November the 16th annual Transgender Day of Rememberance took place. The observance began in 1999 in response to the death of Rita Hester, a trans woman of color killed in Massachusetts in 1998. Every year since, growing numbers of trans people and advocates worldwide take a moment to pause and remember the countless lives lost around the globe to transphobic violence. These drastic figures have led some trans activists and allies to propose a reframing of the annual day of mourning as the Transgender Day of Resilience instead. As the trans journalist Claire-Renee Kohner wrote in Bustle:
Transwomen are the most visible on the trans-spectrum and it’s easy to forget that transmen exist and experience a greater level of erasure than us women. Transman Michael Hughes, who brought the recent influx of bathroom bill legislation into perspective by posting selfies of himself in a women’s restroom, told Bustle, “I'm glad there's a ‘day’ that people new to the table, new to these conversations, can get involved. But like you, I feel every day is a day of visibility for us; It's 24/7/365 for trans people.”
Beautiful // Intersex activists and hijras (trans women) gather to protest against discrimination in India. pic.twitter.com/oINPta6B9t
— LGBTQIAP PoC Beauty (@LGBTQIAPoC) December 7, 2015

author: Jaime Vidal


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Russian Blogger Gets Five-Year Prison Term for ‘Inciting Hate’ Online · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Vadim Tyumentsev in court as his verdict is being read. Screencap from YouTube video, courtesy of Radio Liberty.
A Russian blogger in the city of Tomsk has been convicted of publishing hate speech and calls to extremism online and handed a five-year prison sentence, after posting several videos to YouTube and VKontakte.
The Tomsk district court has found Vadim Tyumentsev guilty under two articles of the Russian criminal code—Article 282 (“actions aimed at inciting hate or enmity”) and 280 (“public calls to extremist activity”)—and sentenced him to a five-year term in a penal colony. The court also forbid the blogger to publish any content online during the three years after his sentence ends.
According to a Radio Liberty report, the criminal case against Tyumentsev was launched in February 2015, when the prosecutors found fault with two videos the blogger had posted to YouTube and to his profile on Russian social network VKontakte, some of which included rants about the crisis in Ukraine and increased numbers of refugees coming into the country.
Tyumentsev had posted dozens of videos on both platforms, but court reports do not indicate which videos the judiciary found fault with.
The investigators accused Tyumentsev of “animosity towards citizens residing on the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine” and of “inciting hatred towards persons with refugee status in Russia.” The prosecution also claimed the blogger went online to call for participation in an unsanctioned peaceful rally and used the Internet to criticize the local authorities. Tyumentsev's lawyer noted that the calls to participate in the rally “cannot be deemed extremist” and that the local officials were public figures and therefore were liable to receive public criticism according to Russian legislation.
The Tomsk blogger does not have a large base of followers on either platform, but has engaged in activism both on and offline in the past. In August 2014 he participated in the “March for Federalization of Siberia.”
Tyumentsev's sentence is unusually harsh in comparison to other similar cases, which often end in suspended sentences. But it may fall in line with a recent trend of real prison terms for things like unsanctioned protests and online activity.
Tyumentsev himself refused to plead guilty in court and said he had initially signed a confession under pressure from the Russian FSB (federal security services). The blogger called for a repeat linguistic analysis of his online content and claimed the analysis used to indict him was “a twisted interpretation” of his words. The court refused Tyumentsev's demands. The blogger's lawyer has already filed an appeal with the court.