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A Do-It-Yourself Code for Ethical Journalism  · Global Voices
Laura Morris

The Online News Association logo.
The ethics of journalism is an ever-present question, and one which journalists and editors have varying opinions about. Different situations can require different rules and regulations — there is no one-size-fits-all ethical code.
The Online News Association (ONA) has been crowdsourcing with news writers, researchers, and editors to create an ethics code of journalism that can apply to many situations. The project is oriented towards news organisations, startups, individual journalists and bloggers.
The project lead, Tom Kent, said in an email interview:
We felt there needed to be an option for those who didn’t want to take a ready-made ethics code of the type many organizations offer, but wanted to work through the creation of their own code reflecting their own journalistic values.
At the heart of the debate on ethical journalism, impartiality in reporting is an ongoing concern for journalists. This project is trying to steer a middle course, offering a set of fundamental principles and including flexible “building blocks” that journalists or organisations can customize depending on their individual view of journalism. The proposed code will also offer arguments from various perspectives on each subject.
The first part of the process was to agree on basic, fundamental concerns for journalists, including “telling the truth”, “conflicts of interest”, “community”, “professional conduct”. They suggest that each news outlet or journalism addresses these concerns first and foremost.
Step two in the process is for the journalist or news outlet to address the question of impartiality. Once this has occurred, they can go on to customize the ethical code as they see fit. This includes choices from a long list of concerns, everything from obscenities and advertising to confidential sources. They try to make sure they have an international reach, a wide range of necessary subjects, and an up-to-date attitude.
Development
The project has gained contributions online, and has been publicized at journalism meetups in Europe, such as WAN-IFRA (Turin, Italy), the Organization of News Ombudsmen (Hamburg, Germany), and the Global Editors Network (Barcelona, Spain).
Built up through a crowdsourced process, a core team of volunteers contribute to the code, and accept comments contributed from interested parties around the world. However, the core team is made up of journalists, news professionals, and journalism educators hailing from a wide range of solely Western organisations. Kent addressed this via email:
We were conscious from the start that the program needed to be truly international. We have worked hard to balance our initial content with comment from around the world, especially through the international gatherings mentioned above (all of them have a good variety of north-south participation). Crowdsourcing (via the online site or in personal contacts) has come from places as varied as India, Ethiopia, Nepal, Kenya and Senegal. We have tried to look at issues as broadly as possible.
He notes that on some issues — he noted that of journalists receiving gifts — they have had discussion with “southern” journalists.
Kent is currently the standards editor of the Associated Press. The project is created to help those working outside of the typical news system (bloggers, startups, individuals), begging the question of whether or not they are merely reinventing the globalized wheel of mainstream journalism standards.
Nonetheless, the process has been full of discussion. Kent noted:
I guess I was most surprised by how much attention our crowdsourcers devoted to our fundamental principles, particularly the question of telling the truth. We thought “truth” was a pretty clear concept, but we wound up dealing with some issues that go back to the earliest philosophers: is there only one truth, and who owns it? In response, we talk as much now about honesty, accuracy and fairness as we do about “truth.”
The project grew out of a workshop at the ONA's annual conference in 2013. Currently working in Google Docs, they will continue their work until the ONA conference in Chicago in September, when they will provide a report on their progress and will move towards a more interactive web interface.

author: Laura Morris


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Deadly Diseases, Violent Conflicts and White Saviors: Hollywood’s Skewed Portrayal of Africa · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Screenshot of the 1995 film “Outbreak.”
The latest outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa has killed at least 712 people so far, and hundreds of others are suspected to have died because of the illness. As fear of the virus spreads around the world, this very real international public health crisis has reminded some of a fictional crisis made into a movie nearly 20 years ago featuring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman, to name a few.
“Outbreak” tells the story of a made-up Ebola-like virus called Motaba first detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo and how US health agencies and the army contain its spread. At the onset of the film, two US soldiers destroy an African village where the virus was found in order to keep the deadly bug a secret. The bombing introduces the movie, but the plot moves away from the continent from that point on and the casualties at the village become an afterthought.
African casualties as an afterthought is a recurrent theme in many Hollywood films. Internet Movie Database suggests that they are roughly 1,367 films that mention the African continent. In four of the more popular ones, an African country strained by violence is the setting for a westerner to seek redemption: “Blood Diamond,” “Tears of the Sun,” “Lord of War” and “The Last King of Scotland.” In three other top-drawing films, Africans are unsuspecting subjects of medical experiments or various health hazards: “The Constant Gardener,” “Outbreak” and “Sahara.” And let’s not forget to mention the factual inaccuracies found in films like “I Dream of Africa,” “Dark of the Sun” or the “Madagascar” trilogy.
While Hollywood has certainly matured regarding its view of the African continent since 1988's “Coming to America” starring Eddie Murphy, it is still a rare sight to find a realistic portrayal of the continent from Hollywood moviemakers. As actor Ben Affleck contends, it seems that not many Hollywood producers are interested in movies about the African continent. Lest we forget that Hollywood is still responsible for molding most of the west‘s perspective on the rest of the world.
‘Heart of Darkness’ no more?
The days of calling the continent the “Heart of Darkness” are over, but the overarching feeling that the continent is not a safe place still looms large in more recent movies. The impact that this perception has on the economy and international relations still remains to be seen. But it's worthwhile to ask, would airlines companies have canceled their flights because of the Ebola scare as swiftly if the outbreak took place on a different continent? And is USA Basketball's decision to cancel their trip to Senegal because of the Ebola scare — although Senegal has not been affected by the virus — solely based on the outbreak or more general concerns regarding health safety throughout the continent?
This by no means is to suggest that the Ebola outbreak is not to be taken seriously. The situation on the ground is certainly and increasingly worrisome, with Liberia’s head of state Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf declaring Ebola a national emergency and neighbors such as Côte d’Ivoire ramping up prevention awareness. Yet the narrative about Africa is still favoring reactions like this tweet from The Economist:
The spread of Ebola in west Africa is deeply troubling for the region and the world http://t.co/UHKMdoyzt1 pic.twitter.com/8XYrJFPlUp
— The Economist (@TheEconomist) August 17, 2014
Over tweets such as this one by Jina Moore:
The more time I spend in #Liberia, the more I see #Ebola‘s secret weapon: Our innate instinct to show our love w/ touch, compassion & care.
— @itsjina (@itsjina) August 17, 2014
Saverio Bellizzi, an epidemiologist with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea, agrees with Jina Moore’s tweet:
In Telimele, Guinea we achieved a significant reduction in mortality, down to 25 per cent, thanks to our relations of trust and dialogue with the local community. People would come to us within 48 hours from the first appearance of symptoms and we could provide them with the best assistance.
Perception matters because in the end, as opposed dropping bombs to stop the virus like shown in “Outbreak” the film, the most efficient real-world solution to stopping the spread might just “be more gloves and sterile syringes.”
Looking for partners, not saviors
Another pervasive narrative in Hollywood is that Africa is a “conflict-ravaged” continent. While violence has increased in recent years on the continent, a random traveler is as likely to stumble upon a conflict elsewhere as seen on this map of sites of ongoing armed conflicts worldwide  :
Map of sites of ongoing armed conflicts worldwide by Lencer – CC BY-SA 3.0
The film “Tears of the Sun” portrays the usual framing of an African country ridden with violence in which westerners are trying to save lives. In one of the scene, Lt. A.K Waters, played by Bruce Willis, says:
It's been strongly suggested that we turn over Arthur and abandon these refugees out here in the bush. I'll tell you right now: I'm not gonna do that. Can't do that. Broke my own rule – started to give a fuck.
While picking on a scene in which one human being has decided to save his fellow human beings seems harsh, the prevailing sentiment here is that of despair for African refugees in much need of a white savior. Trouble is, western military interventions do not have a good success record in Africa. Just recently, Libya is in shambles, Mali is still very unstable and hundreds have died in the Central African Republic despite France’s military support.
A new Hollywood narrative about Africa is needed here. It is indeed quite telling that one of the most revered recent Hollywood films about Africa, “Invictus,” does not involve any foreign involvement. Invictus is the story of how South Africa developed towards a more united nation following the dismantling of apartheid. After all, the poem from which the movie title is drawn states emphatically:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Follow our in-depth coverage: The Struggle to #StopEbola in West Africa

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Journalist and Democracy Advocate Ahmed Rizwan Abdulla Missing in the Maldives · Global Voices
Rezwan

Poster for the missing journalist. Image courtesy Facebook page of Minivan News. Click Image to enlarge.
Prominent Maldivian journalist, blogger and human rights advocate Ahmed Rizwan Abdulla went missing Aug. 8, 2014. He was last seen waiting for an early morning ferry to travel to Hulhumale Island from the capital Male. It is not known whether he boarded the ferry.
The 28-year-old, who works for online news site Minivan News, is an advocate of democracy and free speech and a prolific social media user. He is one of the first Maldivian bloggers and writes on many subjects, including religion, politics, and the environment. Rizwan's last tweet from his account @moyameehaa went out at 1:02 a.m. in which he reported seeing local movie star Yoosuf Shafeeu at the ferry station.
His employer Minivan News reported that Rizwan had been the target of some online intimidation and had been followed from work in recent months.
Dhivehi Sitee blog described Rizwan:
His online persona has the name of ‘Moyameeha’. He has vast empathy, and a good sense of humour; his #ferrytales entertain many. He is knowledgeable about how centuries old Maldives’ national and religious identity has been hijacked by fundamentalists within a short span of just over a decade.
Rizwan is also vocal against hatred in the name of religion and has not been shy about criticizing the Maldives Islamist Adhaalath Party and other political parties, often pointing out the hypocrisy of their scholars and politicians. When Maldivian supporters of militant group Islamic State (IS) flew their flag at the surf point in Malé last month, Rizwan tweeted a photo:
ISIS/IS flag raised at raalhugandu. pic.twitter.com/sO2hqSUnY4
— مجنون (@moyameehaa) July 27, 2014
Political unrest has plagued Maldives since its first democratic presidential election in 2008. The young democracy climbed on Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index immediately following the vote to a peak of 51 in the ranking. After the alleged ouster of President Mohamed Nasheed, however, and journalists considered to be his supporters were threatened and attacked, the country plummeted to its latest ranking of 103.
The instability has lead to a rise in gang violence. On Aug. 3, 2014, 15 Maldivian journalists received an anonymous SMS threatening them for their coverage of the gangs in the wake of street violence which has seen at least one death and a number of injuries. Rizwan was not threatened by SMS, but covered the news and tweeted about it:
gangs threatening journalists for covering gang violence incidents. #Maldives pic.twitter.com/BL8OKc37B5 via @MaahilMohamed
— مجنون (@moyameehaa) August 3, 2014
Threats continue to be a reality for many journalists in Maldives. An analysis from the Maldives Broadcasting Commission in last May revealed that 84 percent of journalists surveyed reported being threatened at least once, while 5 percent reported being threatened on a daily basis. As many as 30 percent of journalists said they weren't keen to report these threats out of fear.
Sunni Islam is the official religion of the entire Maldives population, as adherence to it is required for citizenship. Many in Maldives are polarised with extreme religious views, evident in the hateful comments on this article about Rizwan's disappearance from Minivan News, Maldives reputed online news site and Rizwan's employer.
Amira, another blogger from Maldives, feared the worst:
I can’t help feel pessimistic about his going missing given the death threats that has been going around on journalists critical of the gang operations in the Maldives. He is highly critical of the religious extreme groups that has been getting a strong hold of the Maldivian culture and society. I can’t help but think that something has really gone wrong and his life has been endangered. I hope I am wrong. But it is difficult to explain a missing person of his calibre on social media. It is difficult to explain a missing person in the tiny island nation. It is difficult to be positive given the recent stabbings that has been reported in the Maldives media back home. I am sitting far away from home and yet I feel a dread and fear travelling up my spine.
The blogger requested that other outspoken journalists take extra care for safety and always share the whereabouts with family members and close friends.
Many on Twitter expressed their concerns:
Family of missing journalist #Maldives warned to stop looking for him. Fear it is an abduction. #FindMoyameehaa pic.twitter.com/zkE7NeggE7
— Aishath Velezinee (@Velezinee) August 15, 2014
After long drawn out sham election in #Maldives looks like the “winners” are taking retribution on opposition journalists. #FindMoyameehaa
— Random Pinko (@anon_pinko) August 17, 2014
The more concerned people asking questions, joining the dots, seeking the truth…higher the chances of finding him. #FindMoyameehaa
— Naif Naeem (@nAAYf) August 16, 2014
More reactions can be found under the hashtag #findmoyameehaa.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the Maldives government to speed up the efforts to find Rizwan.

author: Rezwan


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Mother-Daughter Duo Walk the Sarajevo Red Carpet in Palestinian Flag Dresses · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

Sabina Šabić and her daughter, Sara, in the “flag gowns” at the Sarajevo Film Festival red carpet, August 2014. Photo by Davorin Sekulić/klix.ba, courtesy of Media Centar Sarajevo, used with permission.
A theater company executive producer and her young daughter turned their red carpet fashion into a political statement at the the Sarajevo Film Festival this month with matching gowns made from Palestinian flags.
Sabina Šabić of Sarajevo War Theater and her daughter arrived at the opening ceremony of the film festival, the largest in southeastern Europe and one of the continent's most prominent, in the outfits. Sarajevo's Media Center, a non-government organization that fosters independent media and professional journalism in Bosnia-Herzegovina, reported on this and other examples of “fashion activism” at the festival, including a gown inspired by the recent tragic floods in the region, seen by some as a tasteless attempt to raise awareness about the natural disaster.
Šabić's Palestinian “flag gowns” were reportedly met with support from other guests at the festival's opening ceremony, but have raised some discussion on social networks in the region regarding the use of venue and Šabić's child in sending this statement to the world.
The Sarajevo Film Festival has always been host to political messages. International entertainers like Bono, Angelina Jolie and others have attended and supported the festival, each expressing their own opinions on regional and global political matters.
The 2014 edition was the festival's 20th since its unusual inception in late October 1995 during the Siege of Sarajevo.

author: Danica Radisic


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Should Women Starve Their Babies for Fear of Public Breastfeeding? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Olivia Kidula explains why breastfeeding in public should not stop:
A friend of mine recently gave birth to her first baby girl and is still getting the hang of motherhood. I began to notice she breastfeeds only when no men (besides her husband or father are around) and when she can “comfortably” hide away in a small space. When I mentioned to her that there should be no shame in feeding and nourishing her child in front of anyone, she responded,
“society would rather she starves than look at my  breasts.”
The more I thought about the implications of her words the more upset I became. Who would want a child to starve? Who would truly want to deny a child nourishment and comfort at the chest of his mother?

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Pope Francis’ New Wheels Cause a Stir in South Korea · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Pope Francis’ Visit to Seoul, South Korea. Image by Korea.net (uploaded and shared by Korea.net's Flickr channel) (CC BY SA 2.0).
Pope Francis has concluded his inaugural visit to South Korea, where the Catholic leader's public appearance caused a media frenzy, thanks in part to scenes of the pontiff riding around in a compact car, instead of a bulletproof sedan.
Footage of the pope squeezed into a “Soul,” manufactured in Korea by Kia, aired live across the country, leading to wide speculation about how Francis chose that particular car. The local Catholic committee responsible for organizing the visit later explained that the pope specifically requested a locally made car—the smallest model available, if possible.
The guessing game about the pontiff's new wheels picked up speed online, where Koreans on Twitter wondered if Francis settled on the “Soul” because of its name, or perhaps because this particular model is commonly used to transport disabled persons. Some expressed concern that the pope wasn't adequately protecting himself in such an ordinary vehicle, but most Koreans writing in social media seemed to enjoy the automotive decision.
교황이 소울을 타는 이유는 이탈리아에선 소울을 장애인용 차량으로 개조해서 많이들 타고다니기 때문이라함…ㅡ_ㅡb
— S2ong Jin (@Seongjinworld) August 14, 2014
The reason the Pope is riding on Soul is because, in Italy, many people renovate that car for disabled people.
교황님 차 소울이네 진짜로;;;; 어떤 마음으로 경차 타신다고 한건지는 충분히 이해하지만 나는 저런 장면을 보면 심장떨릴 경호팀이 먼저 떠오르는 것이다……
— Julie (@jiyooong) August 14, 2014
It really IS the Soul the pope is riding in. Although I can fully understand more why he choose that a compact car, at the sight my mind immediately turns to the security guards around him, who must be on the verge of a stroke at any minute.
교황이 소울에 탄 사진이 어색하다고 느끼며 윳었다. 높은 자리, 명예를 가진 사람, 부자, 권력가, 이른바 높으신 분들은 검은색 세단을 항상 연상시키는데 교황이 그걸 타지 않으니 어색하게 느껴졌다
— hoon chang (@medok83) August 14, 2014
The photo of pope inside the Soul made me laugh because it felt so out of place. A black sedan always reminds me of people in higher positions—the privileged, the people with money or power—and seeing pope not in one of those sedans looked so quaint.
기아차가 교황님이 타시는 차가 쏘울이라며 보도자료를 엄청 보내는 모양인데, 교황님이 낮은자를 굽이 살피어서 가장 싼 자동차를 타신거지 말입니다…..
— 물도마뱀 (@rumblepad) August 15, 2014
Kia would probably like to send out a press releases boasting that the Kia Soul is chosen car of the pope. But they should realize the reason behind it: the pope only chose it because it's one of the most inexpensive cars, and he cares very much about the under-privileged.
교황님은 쏘울 타고 가시고, 그 뒤에 커다란 세단을 타고 가는 경호원들…이제까지 본 적 없어 묘하고, 한편으로는 조금 감동적인 광경이다.
— 연연 (@sadlyamoral) August 14, 2014
What a scene—the Pope is riding in a Soul and his security people are following him in big sedans. This is something new for me. It looks so foreign and, at the same time, quite touching.
교황과 동급이 되기 위하여 지금 차 팔고 소울을 사야겠다.
— 여울탄 (@kasarkim) August 15, 2014
To stand at the same level as the pope, I am considering selling my current car and buying Soul.
While some people online did allege a lack of balanced news coverage about the papal visit, many others say the pope's rock-star popularity reflects the public's genuine thirst for leaders like Francis.
한국사람들이 교황에 열광하는 이유….한 명의 제대로된 지도자가 얼마나 많은 일을 하고, 영향을 줄 수 있는지는 제대로 보여주고 있다.
— Teresia.W (@dpondd) August 17, 2014
The reason why so many Koreans are so crazy about the pope is that he demonstrates how a true leader can achieve so many things and really influence people.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Zed Blog Social Media Awards · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Zed Blog Social Media Awards identify and celebrate the best in blogging and social media in Zambia:
Meet our Judges| Bwalya Chileya or @MissBwalya as she is known by most is founder of the twitter based chats ‘Insaka’ which can be described as targeted at discussing cultural and societal issues in Zambia. Bwalya is also a freelance writer who has penned articles for Voices of Africa. She is also a blogger.
Meet our Judges| Merushka Govender is a travel blogger, social media strategist and freelance writer. In 2013, she was named one of the top 10 Travel bloggers in South Africa. She has been handpicked by brands like Samsung to test their products, as well as selected for numerous blogger campaigns, including a recent #GoToReunion trip.


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Clashes After an Attempted Theft of 450 Cattle Leaves 15 Dead in Madagascar · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

#LeMonde #Afropages Madagascar : des affrontements entre voleurs de zébus et gendar… http://t.co/S0hKDuSvKJ pic.twitter.com/GbzjNjCTzz
— Afropages (@Afropages) August 18, 2014
Armed forces and dahalos (highwaymen in Malagasy) clashed in Amboasary Sud in the southern region of Madagascar on Aug. 15 over a theft of humped cattle (Zebus), a type of domestic cattle with a fleshy hump on their shoulders. Thirteen Dahalos and two members of the armed forces died during the clashes. Official reports states that 450 Zebus were stolen by about 90 armed thieves when authorities intervened.


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Abuse of Syrian Child on Video Sparks Outcry and Arrests · Global Voices
WITNESS

By Charlotte Gilliland and Madeleine Bair
“Come on Abbas, don’t be afraid. Beat him!”
“Lift up the stick and beat his face and head,” says a voice off camera. “No,” pleads the defenseless boy, later identified as a nine-year-old Syrian refugee. ”Don’t beat me.” At 1:46, just before the footage is cut-off, older voices off camera begin to laugh.
Over the course of one weekend in July, this clip received a firestorm of media coverage in Lebanon, motivated in an online campaign, and resulted in arrests and a heated discussion about discrimination against Syrian refugees and the treatment of the children depicted in the video.
According to an article about the video in the Lebanese newspaper, The Daily Star, the clip was originally shared on the Yasour news website, which received it through the mobile messaging platform, WhatsApp. “The person who sent us the video has nothing to do with it, and he has asked that we keep his identity private,” the owner of Yasour.org reportedly told the Daily Star. “We don’t have much information on who the perpetrators are.”
The video uploaded by Yasour has since been removed for violating YouTube’s terms of service, but ANA, a media organization focusing on Syrian citizen journalism, uploaded a subtitled version to its YouTube channel which quickly received thousands of views.Note: Out of concern for the safety of the children in the video, The Human Rights Channel uploaded the same video and subtitles, using a blurring tool keep their identities anonymous. That video is embedded above.
What sparked outrage about the video was not only that it appears to show adults encouraging young children to engage in violence, but that the accents indicate that the off-camera voices and the child aggressor are Lebanese, while the child receiving the beating is Syrian. (Reports later verified their nationalities.)
As the video made the rounds in Lebanese news and on social media on Saturday, July 19, an online petition was created on Avaaz, the online campaign platform, demanding that Lebanese authorities “find the father of Abbas and take appropriate legal action.” The campaign was created by Yazan Atassi, a Syrian living in Dubai, who felt compelled to not only call for government action, but also to raise awareness of this shocking example of child abuse. Atassi reported to the Human Rights Channel in an email correspondence feeling extremely sympathetic towards the young Lebanese boy, who was seemingly manipulated by those around him. Atassi wrote that this video was about more than a sectarian issue—it was about a children’s rights issue as well.
As Atassi had hoped, Lebanese authorities were indeed paying attention. On the official Twitter account of the Internal Security Forces, the agency stated that it was beginning investigations on the matter. Here is the original tweet in Arabic:
اعتداء صارخ على الطفولة، #قوى_الأمن تتحرك متابعون تحقيقاتنا في الموضوع
— قوى الامن الداخلي (@LebISF) July 19, 2014
By Saturday night, a television crew tracked down the parents of the two boys. They denied being present during the incident, and explaining that it was a group of teenagers who egged the boys on and filmed the abuse. In an interview, the father of Abbas, the Lebanese boy, tells the reporter that his son is two, and that the other child is a 9-year-old Syrian refugee, Khaled, who spends a lot of time with his family. The dispute, he argues, has to do more with juvenile misbehavior than with xenophobia. “We should not escalate this issue; it was just two kids playing together. There is no sectarian conflict going on.”
Khaled’s mother told the TV crew that her son stopped going to school because he was harassed and threatened for being Syrian. She learned about the incident caught on video when her neighbor told her that her son was on TV. But, she said, she doesn’t hold a grudge against Abbas’ family for what happened.
Despite the parents’ explanations, the next day Lebanese authorities announced the arrest of Abbas’s father and a teenage cousin identified as the filmer.
While the online campaign received over 2,000 signatures the day that it was launched, both Atassi and Avaaz reported that they could not say for sure what effect the campaign had in prompting such quick legal action. The online campaign acted, at the very least, as a platform for outraged citizens to share their sentiments, which quickly branched out to a Facebook page that gained over 1,000 followers on the day of its creation.
Many activists see a victory in the prompt response by law enforcement to what appears to be violence targeted at a Syrian refugee child, but one month later, questions remain about the incident caught on video, the authorities’ digital investigation, and the impact the video’s exposure has made.
To begin with, there is the story behind the video itself. ANA has uploaded two clips that add up to less than 3 minutes of footage, which are alarming but are not enough to draw conclusions about what is taking place and who is responsible for the child encouraged to beat the other. We have seen many cases of videos that, without proper context, can lead viewers to an incomplete or incorrect interpretation of what they are watching. Does any other footage exist, and would it provide a more complete understanding of the incident? Would more footage help clarify whether the case is one of juvenile misbehavior or of xenophobic abuse? (Following the arrests, local residents mused that the incident was misunderstood and blown out of proportion. One man said that Khaled was actually the step-brother of Abbas, while another resident reported that the video was filmed as a “joke.”)
Secondly, what is the mandate of Lebanon’s Cyber Crime unit that made the arrests, and how does it monitor crimes caught on video? The agency’s director told news media that metadata helped investigators trace the video uploaded on Yasour.org to the family’s whereabouts in the southern suburbs of Beirut. But what metadata led investigators there, and how did the Cyber Crime unit—known for monitoring online communication of Lebanese reporters and citizens, in violation of Lebanon’s own laws—acquire it? (While WhatsApp has taken hold in newsrooms around the globe, the platform’s security flaws have come under scrutiny for putting user data, including location, at risk.), Is the ease and willingness of Lebanese authorities to track down individuals behind online videos a cause of concern for potential whistleblowers, citizen journalists, and online activists?
Finally, are the children in question any safer thanks to this video’s exposure? The whereabouts of the attacked boy and his family are unclear. One official said they were referred to the UNHCR, while another reported they were relocated to a “safe place” thanks to a generous donor. Attendees at a press conference on July 23 told the Daily Star that the family was still in the neighborhood, and the target of threats by the other boy’s family and the neighborhood at large. Atassi, the Avaaz campaigner who is following the case, also said the families remain in the same neighborhood. Speaking at the same press conference, Social Affairs Minister, Rashid Derbas, said that both boys have received attention from social service specialists, and proceeded to condemned the media for revealing their faces and names in news reports.
Whether the government’s prompt response to this video demonstrates a sincere concern by the current administration about violence against Syrian refugees in Lebanon will take longer to assess. More than one million Syrian refugees have relocated to the country, giving Lebanon the highest per-capita concentration of refugees in the world. While struggling for basic necessities like employment, housing, and education, refugees have faced resentment from Lebanese who blame them for rising prices, declining wages, and overcrowded classrooms. Several social media campaigns have been launched to fight racism in the country in the past year, including this video featuring activists speaking out against racist discourse.

author: WITNESS


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Armed Egyptian Group Hilwan Brigades Blasts State Violence and Muslim Brotherhood’s ‘Pacifism’ in YouTube Debut · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

Screenshot of the “The Hilwan Brigades” video.
One year after a bloody crackdown against protesters opposed to the ousting of Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi killed hundreds, a group called the Hilwan Brigades uploaded a YouTube video announcing their resort to arms in response to the violence.
In the video, approximately 12 ski-masked men wielding machine guns renounced what they called the “pacifism of the [Muslim] Brotherhood.” Morsi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, was kicked out of power on July 3, 2013 by a military coup led by the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who later became president.
His ouster was met by protests from members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters. The current system has labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and has accused it of carrying out attacks against police and civilians. The organization as well as the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy — the political movement that has called for Morsi's return — have denied the accusations and say they only advocate peaceful methods of protests.
On August 14, 2013, Egyptian security forces opened fire at a sit-in protest in Rabaa Al Adawiya Square in Cairo against the coup, killing more than 800 people. Other protests were met with deadly force in Nahda Square, Ramsis Square, outside the Republican Guard Club and various other locations in the country.
The city of Hilwan south of Cairo witnessed clashes between Morsi supporters and security forces outside a police station in the area immediately after the Rabaa massacre. The area also witnessed clashes during the first anniversary of the massacre. At least 10 protesters were killed in clashes that broke out throughout the country during the anniversaries of the Rabaa and Ramsis Square massacres.
One of the masked men in the video refers to the killings:
“There were massacres at Rabaa and Nahda, the Republican Guard [club], and the Memorial [of Former President Anwar Sadat], and we were peaceful with the Interior [Ministry] and the army, and we said it would be peaceful. And we paid from our blood what we paid [. . .] until we became fed up with the pacifism of the Brotherhood. We are not the Brotherhood and we became fed up with their pacifism in the protests and such [. . .] So this is a warning to the Interior [Ministry] in the Southern Cairo area. This is the area we control, Southern Cairo. All of its districts and police stations: You are targeted for what you have done to us.”
The first official response to the video came from the Interior Ministry, according to state-run newspaper Al-Ahram. The ministry formed a committee to determine the location of the group.
The video and its timing, coinciding with the anniversary of the crackdowns, raised skepticism among Egyptian activists and social media users. Many have speculated that the group does not exist and the the Interior Ministry recorded the video to use as an excuse for more violent crackdowns on the opposition and anti-government activists.
In a Facebook post, Mostafa Alnagar, a political activist and former member of parliament, called the video “laughable” and described the wording in the video as “neither belonging to extremists, nor terrorists, nor even pacifists who have turned to arms.” He goes on to say:
عموما الفترة المقبلة ستكشف لنا حقائق الأمور إذا فكرنا بالمنطق والموضوعية والبحث عن المستفيد !
The coming days will reveal the truth of these matters if we think logically and objectively and search for the beneficiary!
Blogger and activist Ibrahim Elgarhi, who has over 290,000 followers on Twitter, used sarcasm to describe his skepticism of the video in a post on his blog. He wrote:
متفائل بالتجربة الجديدة بتاعة كتائب حلوان المسلحة اللي اعلنت بيانها الأول على يوتيوب امبارح .. واذا كان ليا تعليق عليها فهو بس يعني لو يسمحولي ان الاسم مش حلو اوي.. يعني انا حسيت انه اسم جزئي كدة ومش شامل لعموم مصر ولا لعموم الأمة الإسلامية.. بس انا متفهم انها مجرد بداية وان شاء الله هتوسع وتكبر بس كنت افضل ان البداية تبقى تحت اسم “داحب” اللي هي الدولة الإسلامية بحلوان وبس
I am optimistic about the new experience of the Armed Hilwan Brigades that it announced in its first statement on YouTube yesterday. But I only have one comment on it if they permit. The name is not very nice. I mean, I felt that the name is segmental and not inclusive of all of Egypt or the Muslim world. But I understand that it is merely a beginning and that, God willing, it will expand and grow, but I wished that in the beginning it would go by the name of ISHO, which is the Islamic State of Hilwan Only.
Others suggested that it was merely a tool of the Interior Ministry to use as a scapegoat. Writer and thinker Wael Kandil, who has over 400,000 followers on Twitter, wrote:
من يصنع”البلاك بلوك”يصنع “كتائب حلوان”.. السيناريست المفلس.
— wael kandil (@waiel65) agosto 15, 2014
He who made the Black Bloc makes the Hilwan Brigades; the broke scriptwriter.
The Black Bloc was a group that was active during Morsi’s presidency. It would halt traffic and public transportation and attack Muslim Brotherhood headquarters and government buildings. It has remained quiet since the ouster of Morsi last year. Some have speculated that it was a tool of the Interior Ministry to cause disturbances during Morsi’s term.
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy and Reject the Coup issued a statement on its Facebook page renewing “its strong refusal of any calls for or displays of arming the revolution, as well as any justifications for such calls or displays.” It held the current leaders “whose treacherous indiscriminate bullets have reached some of the people in their homes and stores, sparking anger among a free people” responsible for “any derailments from the principles of the movement.”
Over a year after the Rabaa massacre and protests have continued, despite forceful dispersion and mass arrests of activists. Some believe that violent retaliation against the system is inevitable. As the Guardian's Egypt correspondent Patrick Kingsley tweeted recently, “Violence begets violence.”

author: Global Voices MENA


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Demanding Gender Equality in the Bahamas · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Lynn Sweeting, blogging at Womanish Words, wants equality for women in the Bahamas and pens a poem in that regard.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Donetsk’s Guerrilla Separatists Kidnap the Ukrainian Guerrilla Artist Who Dared to Mock Them · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

This is Sergey Zakharov's latest artwork critical of DNR and its former commander Strelkov. Image from Facebook.
A Ukrainian guerrilla artist who has been stealthily putting up artwork mocking the separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic all around the occupied city of Donetsk has run out of luck—just over a week ago he was captured by the rebels and has been missing ever since.
Sergey Zakharov started creating artworks mocking the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in July, and soon the first plywood figures of separatists sporting clown make-up and camouflage appeared on the city streets. Affixed to fences and buildings, the grotesque silhouettes immediately attracted attention and photos of them started popping up in social networks.
Оккупированный #Донецк наводнили граффити террористов в образе смерти, клоунов и шариковых http://t.co/ScXHr2zTWx pic.twitter.com/0FgwwVsCvn
— СЛАВЯНСК (@Sloviansk) July 31, 2014
Occupied Donetsk has been flooded with graffiti of terrorists looking like death, clowns and Sharikovs.
Writer and fellow artist Sergii Mazurkevych, whom Zakharov invited to join his budding art collective dubbed Murzilka (after a fictional children's magazine character), said his friend's art was often a reaction to the events of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.
Сергей реагировал на сбитый “Боинг”, а потом появился портрет Стрелкова-Гиркина, который приставляет пистолет к виску. Он был прикреплен к стене кинотеатра “Комсомолец” в центре Донецка. Эта инсталляция провисела, наверное, часа два и сразу попала в интернет. Я даже у некоторых людей видел такие аватарки. Последняя работа – 30 июля.
Sergey reacted to the Boeing which was shot down, and then he did this portrait of Strelkov-Girkin pointing a gun at his own head. He put that one up on the wall of the “Komsomolets” cinema in downtown Donetsk. This installation hung there for maybe two hours and it immediately started spreading online. I even saw some people make avatars with the image. This was his last work [before capture]—from July 30.
Zakharov himself, attaching a new artwork to a fence in Donetsk. Image from Facebook.
Zakharov's other rebel-themed installations include clown-faced anonymous insurgents with rifles, grinning skulls in military fatigues with the DNR flag and other colorful characters. One of his more famous pieces is a family portrait of one of the rebel commanders nicknamed Motorola (notoriously short, portrayed by Zakharov as a Faun) and his new, much taller bride—this one was affixed to a fence right outside the city's wedding registrar office, and also went viral online.
#Моторола #ДНР #Донецк Донецкие художники продолжают бороться с терроризмом используя искусство pic.twitter.com/oNJdbaSFiR
— Новости Донбасса (@novostidnua) July 31, 2014
Donetsk artists continue to fight terrorism using art.
The rebels, of course, also noticed the guerrilla art, and were not happy about it. Mazurkevych says their art collective's webpage was hacked and deleted twice in early August, and is still unavailable, although their Facebook page is active. Then, late at night on August 6, Zakharov was in his workshop when he was visited by four armed men and a civilian. They took him to the Donetsk Security Services building (one of DNR's strongholds), along with his computer and art sketches, says his neighbor. He has been missing for over a week. His friends say it's unclear why he's being investigated with such scrutiny by the rebels, since his only crime was to “display his work in the streets of Donetsk's city center, which can be considered an administrative offense at best. There is no basis for holding him in a de facto prison.”
Zakharov's colleagues have rallied for his freedom: a group of Russian artists installed a figure similar to Zakharov's own work in a park in Saint Petersburg in protest at his kidnapping. The group said they felt they had the right to speak out as it was their government which was waging “an aggressive, interventionist politics which no peaceful person could condone.”
An installation in Zakharov's honour put up by Russian artists in Saint Petersburg. Sign reads: “Freedom to Murzilkas!” Image from Facebook.
Facebook users commenting on the photos of the installation, like Sergey Storchuk, said Zakharov and his colleagues were very brave to take their art public:
Мурзилки герои! Это надо иметь стальные яйца и большой талант чтобы в оккупированном городе так творчески тролить рашистских-оккупантов! Ждем освобождения, держу кулаки, пусть вернуться живыми и здоровыми.
Murzilkas are heroes! You've got to have balls of steel and a huge talent to troll the Rashist occupants so creatively in a city under siege! We await your release, fingers crossed, come back alive and well.
Another of Sergey Zakharov's creations on a wall in Donetsk. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of his art soon. Image from Facebook.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Freedom of Information and Data Protection Dealt A Blow in Mexico: IFAI Won’t Challenge Telecom Law · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

IFAI Plenary session. Photo by author, used with permission.
The battle over Mexico's new telecom law continues, with many citizens fearful that the law could bring censorship and increased levels of surveillance to digital communications in the country. Advocates are looking to Mexico's autonomous Federal Institute for Access to Public Information and Data Protection (IFAI) for help. But the Institute says it will not challenge the proposed law in court. (This paragraph was added to the English version of this post by its editor. Read the original Spanish version here.)
Last week, the IFAI voted not to challenge the constitutionality of several crucial articles in the country's new Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law, #LeyTelecom. The IFAI is the country's principal agency tasked with ensuring freedom of information and protecting the privacy of its citizens. But in a plenary session held on August 13, its members decided not to take their fight to the Supreme Court.
The telecom law and its subordinate legislation open the door to potential privacy violations by allowing the monitoring of calls and text messages without a court order. Many key features of the new law and the general discontent it has provoked across the country have been addressed in previous articles by Global Voices contributors, in particular Greg Epstein and Elizabeth.
In an important case of missed opportunity, the IFAI resolved not to use the powers conferred on it by President Peña Nieto's recent Constitutional Transparency Reform, which would allow the Institute to challenge the constitutionality of the new law. Of particular concern are those provisions in the legislation that grant the Mexican Attorney General —the office in charge of investigating and prosecuting federal crimes— authority to solicit real-time data on cellphone location, calls, and messaging from telecom service providers. Regarding this particular issue, Joel Salas Suárez, one of the seven members of the Institute commented:
El punto más sensible es que #LeyTelecom no establece mecanismos de control respecto de la actuación del ministerio público.
— Joel Salas Suárez (@joelsas) August 13, 2014
The most delicate point is that the #LeyTelecom does not establish oversight mechanisms to monitor the Attorney General's Office.
Nevertheless, in a split vote, the commissioners decided that in this instance they would not file an action before the Supreme Court to challenge the constitutionality of the law's most controversial articles. The decision generated indignation across the twittersphere.
Rodolfo Herrera Moro bluntly expressed his annoyance with the commissioners recently appointed to IFAI:
Chafísima @ifaimexico! Timoratos, no llenaron sus sillas. Igual que demás pusilánimes, hacen todo por no oponerse al poder. Que pena. #IFAIL
— Rodolfo Herrera-Moro (@herreramoro)
August 13, 2014
Incompetent and spineless @ifaimexico! You couldn't even fill the seats. Just the same as all the other cowards, doing everything to avoid speaking truth to power. What a shame. #IFAIL
Image from the author, used with permission.
Professor José Roldán Xopa also lamented the agency's decision:
Muy lamentable que el nuevo @ifaimexico tenga tan pronto una muestra de declive y deslegitimación social. Lamentable. #leytelecom
— José Roldán Xopa (@jrxopa) August 13, 2014
It is truly regrettable that right out of the gate the new @ifaimexico should display such a lack of civic will and legitimacy. Pathetic.
Twitter user Renata Terrazas had the following comment:
Es una lástima que el @ifaimexico esté por perderse la oportunidad de cumplir con su rol de órgano regulador del poder.
— Renata Terrazas (@Renaterra_zas) August 13, 2014
It is a shame that @ifaimexico is losing an opportunity to fulfill its role as a regulatory check on power.
Meanwhile, Madame Déficit rebuked Ximena Puente, a sitting commissioner and current president of the IFAI, wondering who would now defend citizens’ rights, since the Institute clearly refused to do so:
Si el #NuevoIFAI no puede defendernos de la arbitrariedad y abusos que fomenta la #LeyTelecom ¿quién podrá hacerlo? @XimenaPuente
— Madame Déficit (@Alessia_mx) August 13, 2014
If #NuevoIFAI can't protect us against the injustice and exploitation made possible by #LeyTelecom, who can? @XimenaPuente
Jorge Romero León brought up the fact that commissioner Puente had argued the IFAI lacked the legitimacy needed to call into question the legislation's constitutionality:
Y olviden todo lo que algún día dije admiraba a Ximena Puente… hay que ser muy cínicos para argumentar que no están legitimados.
— Jorge Romero León (@filosofaux) August 13, 2014
And forget I once said I admired Ximena Puente… they have to be pretty cynical to claim they aren't legitimate.
Twitter user Juan Manuel coined an ingenious anagram to clarify his own opinion of the agency by adding a letter to IFAI's initials:
El #NuevoIFAI cambia de nombre a #IFAIL al no apoyar acción de inconstitucionalidad de #LeyTelecom
— Juan Manuel (@jm_casanueva) August 13, 2014
#NuevoIFAI is changing its name to #IFAIL after refusing to support the action for a declaration of unconstitutionality against #LeyTelecom
Ironically, in a candid comment, legislator Laura Rojas, who recently participated in the Mexican Senate vote on #LeyTelecom, recognized the public's unease about the new law and its potential threat to individual privacy:
Hay serias preocupaciones sobre una posible violación a la privacidad por #ReformaTelecom. Debió decidir la Corte @ifaimexico
— Laura Rojas (@Laura_Rojas_) August 13, 2014
There are serious concerns about possible privacy violation by  #ReformaTelecom. The Supreme Court should decide @ifaimexico.
Finally, renowned jurist Miguel Carbonell added his voice to the growing disaffection with the IFAI's decision:
El IFAI debería haber impugnado la #LeyTelecom para que la Suprema Corte resolviera su constitucionalidad. Lamento que no lo haya hecho.
— Miguel Carbonell (@MiguelCarbonell) August 13, 2014
The IFAI should have contested #LeyTelecom so that the Supreme Court could determine its constitutionality. I regret that they did not do so.
In the end, despite the controversy and mistrust it has generated among Mexicans, the so-called #LeyTelecom continues to gain traction.
UPDATE: Shortly after this post was published in Spanish, Mexican Senator Laura Rojas tweeted a direct response to the author:
@tadeo_rc yo la voté en contra. Saludos.
— Laura Rojas (@Laura_Rojas_) agosto 14, 2014
@tadeo_rc I voted against it. Regards.

author: J. Tadeo


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How the Merger of  Two of its Largest Providers May Transform the French Telco Market  · Global Voices
Mathieu Carrere

The recent merger between French telcos SFR and Numericable is but another example of the broader trend that dominates  today’s telecommunications market: operators are seeking to integrate their products in order to respond to their business clients’ growing desire for streamlined communications solutions. This merger also threatens the dominance of Orange, which – until now- has enjoyed a privileged position among corporate and business clients.
The merger is a major operation which is poised to radically transform the corporate telecommunications market. Each of the 2 companies already has a significant individual market presence and there have been no comparable upheavals since 2005, when Cegetel and Neuf Telecom merged to form Neuf Cegetel (which then became a subsidiary of SFR). Since 2010, many players have been ‘merged out’ of the telco market (the Club Internet, AOL, Telecom Italia and Cegetel brands, for example, have all been retired). This has been the market's way of responding to operators’ growing desire to at once be present in both the fixed-line and the mobile markets. The merger between SFR and Numericable falls neatly in line with this trend – it would appear that the companies are trying to merge in order to meet consumer expectations concerning price and simplicity.
This market pattern has also been driven by the fact that operators need to invest heavily in new infrastructure to maintain their quality of service. The SFR-Numericable merger, for example, will help both of the merging companies to meet their needs in this field.  Lionnel Piar, Telecommunications vice-president at CGI Consulting stated :
Industriellement, ce qui est intéressant dans le rapprochement, c’est qu’on a d’un côté un SFR qui a plutôt des offres mobiles, et de l’autre un Numericable plus sur la partie câble. Avec ce rapprochement, on est plus dans la notion d’opérateur global qui va être capable de proposer l’ensemble des services à une entreprise.
From an industry perspective, the interesting thing about this merger is that, on the one hand, you have SFR which offers mainly mobile products; and, on the other hand, you have Numericable which is more about cable. With this merger, we are moving towards the notion of a unified operator which can single-handedly offer corporate clients a full suite of services.
And it is precisely this new notion that threatens the hegemonic dominance that Orange currently enjoys on the B-to-B market . Orange currently holds a 70% market share and, while SFR and Numericable currently hold 20% between them, the newly merged entity is hoping to attain 30%.

author: Mathieu Carrere


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Humans of New York Series Inspires Intimate Portraits of Life in Iraq and Around the World  · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

An umbrella makes all the difference. Hamra Street, Beirut. Photo by Fadi BouKaram, from the Humans of Lebanon Facebook page.
I look at Humans of Lebanon and am immediately reminded of how much I love it there. A picture of a young man fleeing the rain while a young couple chats cozily underneath a bubble umbrella reminds me of a similar rainy night on Hamra Street, when the gutters threatened to flood the sidewalks, rainwater gushing toward us at full tilt. We moved into the street, dancing in the downpour.
Our tiny moment wasn’t captured on film (as far as I know), but Humans of Lebanon, like its inspiration, Humans of New York, is full of such tableaux. Coupled with sometimes-wry, sometimes-heartbreaking commentary from the photograph’s subjects, these pages are a window into different worlds, a visual take on travel writing.
Humans of New York (HONY)—where it all started—has become a phenomenon. After its creator, Brandon Stanton, took a trip to Iran last year (photographing its people in the same way he had been humanizing New Yorkers for well over a year), Stanton’s web site blew up, scoring its founder a book deal and widespread coverage in the mainstream press.  Most recently, Stanton was invited on a global tour by the United Nations; thus far, his travel photos from Iraq and Jordan have gone viral, with many commentators focusing on the “humanizing” effect of his images.
“I’m living a good life. I’m a business owner. A lot of hotels say, ‘Come shine shoes for us. We will pay you better.’ I tell them: ‘Why would I do that? I am free.’” (Shaqlawa, Iraq). From the Humans of New York Facebook page, uploaded on August 11, 2014.
“…I try not to form these overarching philosophies about what HONY’s about, what is it contributing to the world, what’s the meaning behind the work, you know, why am I doing it? I’m doing it because I love it, other people seem to enjoy it and I want to get better at it. If there’s meaning behind the work, let that come out organically,” Stanton said in a 2013 interview.
And yet it’s obvious that HONY and its copycats have created a new lens into other worlds. A quick Facebook search brings up dozens upon dozens of pages, from Humans of India to Humans of Stony Brook. The pages are a photographic census of cities both large and small. They offer us a glimpse, without ever setting foot on a plane, into the cafés and the slums of distant destinations. But more than that, they offer us a glimpse into the minds of their inhabitants.
“I started feeding him, he started protecting me from the bullies. Now we're brothers.” From the Humans of India Facebook page. Uploaded on June 26, 2014.
“In Syria, I used to have a small library and a club for young people who love to read, and would sell books for cheap prices so as many people as possible could benefit. I'm the one in charge of the publishing house you can see inside, which is where I sell books as well.”How did reading change your life? “Human! Reading made me human. When did you start reading? “I started at the age of 15, I used to spend my pocket money on books to read without my parents knowing. They would always ask me where I spent all the money, until they saw all the books I was hiding under my bed.” From the Humans of Amman Facebook page. Uploaded on August 15, 2014.
Two years ago, the Swedish government found a use for @sweden, a Twitter account they had undoubtedly registered years prior. Each week, they would hand off control of the account to a different Swedish citizen, offering the Twittersphere a diverse picture of what it means to be Swedish. Though not without controversy, the project has been an utter success, with copycats from @twkUSA (where Americans show off their lives) to @WeAreNaija (where Nigerians give us a taste of their country). It’s fascinating each week to see a new individual depict their country differently from the last.
In the worlds of both Humans of… and Twitter, accounts often interact with one another. @Sweden and @twkUSA debate about who’s the bigger coffee drinker. Humans of China leaves a comment on HONY. Tiny moments, shared across cultures. Tiny moments, savored amongst distant friends.
Frequently, on a Humans of… page, a photograph is posted and shortly after, someone identifies the subject in the comments. “Hey, that’s my friend!”, one might say, tagging the person in the photo (or not—lest we forget the entire world isn’t on the popular social networking site). In the same way that I used to frantically search for some personal artifact of a distant celebrity online, an individual who—for just a moment—I have begun to admire turns out to be just a click away. I can visit her virtual home, peek into her life the way one might a window on a busy residential street.
Humans of Tehran, which notes on its page that “Tehran is not as faraway [sic] as you think it is,” has nearly 160,000 fans, many of them Americans. While US citizens can technically travel to Iran, most don’t: the standoff between their government and the government of Iran has given many the impression that it’s a dangerous place, while the restrictions placed by Iran on US travelers are off-putting to those who might try. Yet, the comments on Humans of Tehran show us that the interest is there. Grateful comments like this are the norm, not the exception: “Finally it is possible to see and hear other stories from Tehran than what the media is telling us.”
Pakistan is similarly avoided by most Americans, a fact of which the creator of Humans of Lahore is clearly aware, stating the purpose of the page as “Trying to chip in from this part of the world which is oft misunderstood and gravely misrepresented.” And represent they do, showing photographs of artisans, poor children, Hindu celebrations, spice sellers, and women on motorbikes, a veritable mosaic of a diverse and fascinating country.
Many of us have come to believe that our online interactions exist solely in a bubble, that our conversations occur only with those whose views are similar to ours, leaving any real possibility for political and social change out of reach. And yet, projects like Global Voices, Humans of…, and the country-focused Twitter accounts demonstrate that people are in fact reaching across geographical lines, if not political ones.
This, to me, rings true. The past eight years of my life have been dedicated to reaching across those lines, and while it’s true that many of those hands reaching back out to mine belong to people with similar ideologies, our upbringings, our families, our education often couldn’t be more different. There is value in crossing political lines, yes, but we must also not forget the value in crossing geographical ones. In traveling—both “real” and virtual—I have found some of my closest friends, partners in crime, matches of the mind. And through these portals, perhaps you will too.
Humans of Syracuse (New York)
Humans of Zagreb
Humans of Paris
Humans of Buenos Aires
Humans of Singapore
Humans of India
Humans of Amman
Humans of Toronto
Humans of Detroit
Humans of Lublin (Poland)
Humans of Rome
Jillian C York is a writer and free speech activist, currently serving as the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. Her work is centered on the intersection of technology and policy.

author: Jillian C. York


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ISIS Beheads Kidnapped Photojournalist James Wright Foley in Horrific Video Message to the US · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

James Foley, reportedly beheaded by the ISIS today as a message to the US to stop its intervention in Iraq. Photo credit: Nicole Tung
A video allegedly showing the beheading of American photojournalist James Wright Foley, who has been missing in Syria for 636 days, by the terror organisation the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was released today. In their video, which has not been verified yet, the group claims that the beheading is “a message to the US to end its intervention in Iraq.”
According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the freelance journalist was abducted by an “organised gang” in northern Syria on November 22, 2012:
On November 22, 2012, James Wright Foley, a freelance photo journalist, was taken by an organized gang after departing from an internet café in Binesh, Syria. Foley had employed a translator to help him travel across the Syrian-Turkish border. The translator was also taken, but later released.
Condolences are pouring on the Free James Foely page, set up by family after his kidnapping and which had appealed for his release unharmed.
Zaid Benjamin, a Washington DC-based journalist, reported the news for his 43.3K followers on Twitter and posted still photographs taken from the video:
#ISIS beheads photojournalist James Wright Foley in a massage to US to end its intervention in #Iraq. pic.twitter.com/8O6NOBWGbO
— Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 19, 2014
Benjamin's Twitter account was reportedly suspended for about half an hour for sharing footage from the video at the centre of this story. The account has now been restored.
The video, which has also been removed from YouTube, has sparked a discussion online on whether such material should be permissible on the world wide web on the grounds that it allows the ISIS to share its “propaganda.” Brown Moses provides a transcript of the video here.
Ruwayda Mustafah, a UK-based Kurdish blogger with around 40K followers on Twitter, noted:
I can't imagine what James Foley's family must be going through. I truly hope they don't see that video. Cruelty at its finest.
— Ruwayda Mustafah (@RuwaydaMustafah) August 19, 2014
Like many, Mustafah calls for an ISIS blackout on social media:
I think we need to cut off #ISIS media outreach. We outnumber them and we must not allow them to dominate media reporting for their purpose.
— Ruwayda Mustafah (@RuwaydaMustafah) August 19, 2014
Mustafah drives home her point by adding:
I do not believe in censorship but I believe those who promote #ISIS filth must be stopped, and that gives sufficient grounds for censorship
— Ruwayda Mustafah (@RuwaydaMustafah) August 19, 2014
And Jousha Foust tells his 17K followers:
Guys. Please do not tweet out that picture of James Foley. You are not helping. You are only doing ISIS’ job by spreading it around.
— joshuafoust (@joshuafoust) August 19, 2014
Online, the ISIS has been active showing off its horrific exploits in Syria and Iraq for the world to see. The ISIS came to prominence last year after jihadists from around the world joined its fighters in Syria, first to fight against the Assad regime, and later to fight other armed factions in the war-torn country. In June, the Al-Qaeda splinter group, which controls parts of Syria, annexed Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, as the world watched in horror.
Zeynep Tufekci, an assistant prof at UNC iSchool, a Princeton CITP fellow, and a Harvard Berkman faculty associate in sociology, explained to her 36.4K followers on Twitter:
This is how they recruit and instill fear, horror. RT @BSyria: Just this week, ISIS posted a video of it beheading 10s of Syrians in ONE GO
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) August 19, 2014
And real-time news DJ Andy Carvin reminded his 103K followers of the difficulties journalists face in the field on a daily basis:
It’s moments like this that I remember that what I do is nothing – nothing – comparable to what my colleagues risk in the field each day.
— Andy Carvin (@acarvin) August 19, 2014
In 2011, Foley was also captured in Libya. BBC journalist Faisal Irshaid shared this video of Foley speaking about it:
RIP James #Foley. In this video, James talks about being captured in Libya in 2011 – he was such a brave journalist: http://t.co/qVdFLb2xx3.
— Faisal Irshaid فيصل (@faisalirshaid) August 19, 2014

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Pro-Government Protesters in Hong Kong Were Reportedly Rewarded With Cash and Free Food for Showing Up · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Photos comparing the number of protesters at the July 1, 2014 pro-democracy rally and the Aug. 17, 2014 pro-government rally. Photo from inmediahk.net's Facebook.
The pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong has gained momentum at a steady pace throughout the summer. An unofficial referendum on the right to nominate the city's next leader received nearly 800,000 votes, and an estimated half a million people marched for universal suffrage, democracy and autonomy from China on July 1 (though police put attendance at 98,000).
Pro-Beijing groups and others opposed to pro-democracy protesters’ tactics have been keen to match their level of mobilization. A special coalition formed to do just that says tens of thousands rallied on Aug. 17 against plans to occupy the former British colony's financial district to call for an election free of China's influence.
But despite the coalition's claims that their rally outnumbered July 1's, photos taken by various online news outlets seemed to show the opposite. Mainstream media and citizen media also reported that some protesters were given 300 to 400 Hong Kong dollars (about 38 to 50 U.S. dollars) in cash and treated to a restaurant meal for attending.
At the heart of the issue is the city's chief executive election in 2017. Beijing has promised Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, a direct vote for the first time, but insists that a nominating committee filter out any unsavory candidates. Hong Kong's own government consultation report on electoral reform suggested that the number of candidates be restricted to two or three, implying that the committee would screen candidates before the public has a chance to cast their ballots.
Occupy Central With Love and Peace intends to stage a massive sit-in to demand that citizens be allowed to nominate candidates. Those opposed fear the action will result in chaos and destroy business. The pro-government coalition says they have collected 1.2 million signatures against their plans.
Hong Kong police put the number of people gathered on Aug. 17 at the assembly spot at 110,000, while the coalition says more than 1,500 organizations and 250,000 protesters participated. Before the rally, many netizens said that they received text messages from various organizations that they would receive a cash reward for attending the pro-government protest.
Organizers denounced the messages as “rumors” spread by the opposition. Blogger Erynnyes from “Those Were the Days” collected reports from mainstream media about the alleged payments:
Photos showing the Fujianese Tong Xiang Hui (fellow townsman association) hosting a lunch for their members before the rally. Photo from inmediahk.net
這些，不是所謂的泛民傳媒，何以，不約而同有派錢、以飲食拉人遊行的報道？
童工不反對反佔中遊行，但，若要搞群眾運動表態，請不要以派錢、飲食去谷人數，以劣質遊行當作群眾表態，那，不只侮辱港人、還侮辱真正支持反佔中的市民！
[The reports that I quoted] are not coming from the so-called pro-democracy media. And yet they all have stories about paying protesters and serving protesters restaurant meals in order to increase the head count?
I do not oppose the anti-Occupy Central rally. However, if you want to mobilize people to support a political cause, please don't use money and meals as incentive. Such a rally not only insults Hong Kong people, but those who genuinely support the political cause of the rally.
Shopping “protesters” and tricked models
Screen capture from Hong Kong Cable TV's interview. The protester said she came to Hong Kong for shopping. (via Facebook user: Jeff)
Cash rewards and free food weren't the only ways organizers allegedly enticed people to join the rally. Various media outlets found mainland Chinese tourists gathered at the protest site. Hong Kong Cable TV interviewed one mainland Chinese protester who said that they had come to Hong Kong for shopping. In fact, a large number of “protesters” left after taking the group photos at the gathering spot at Victoria Park without joining the rally.
Coco Cherry, a young artist, said she and her colleagues were tricked by their modeling agency into attending. She explained the situation on Facebook:
其實今日早上進行到一半我已經很生氣地從金鐘地鐵站離開了 由於不想和公司鬧翻 我不等經紀人到就自己走了[…]當剛才看到報導和留言 真的超崩潰 ……不管後果是甚麼 我想讓你們知道真相 ……我回港後和朋友收到的資訊是 : 出席支持我的音樂老師音樂會的奇怪遊行 我承認我過度沉迷在自己的生活 根本全然不知今日是甚麼遊行日 甚至去到現場都還不知甚麼是反佔中 我們幾個女生問了好幾次 都没人答得出 經理人說他也不知道 反正是支持普選瓜[…]我承認我連這種政治都全然不知 真的好錯 …………可是當你在忙這忙哪獨自努力時 公司不只是甚麼忙都没幫還挖這麼大一個坑推我下去……………………我現在好亂 文字根本無法表達: ( 我們根本比同行大陆人 古惑仔 老人家更不堪 我們是一文錢没收像白痴一樣走了半天……………
Angry, I left the rally at Admiralty subway station halfway to the destination. I didn't want to destroy my relationship with the agency, so I left without telling my agent […] after I read the report and the comments, I broke down totally… now I won't stop myself from telling the true anymore. After I returned to Hong Kong [from a show], the message my friends and I received was: We have to attend a rally to support our music teacher. I admit that I am too obsessed with my personal life and pay no attention to the news. I had no idea about this rally or what “anti-Occupy Central” is. We asked our agent many times what the rally was really about. The agent said he had no idea and maybe it was to support universal suffrage […] I admit that I am so wrong to be so ignorant about politics… yet, when you are so busy building up your career, the company is not helping and digging such a big trap for me… I have such complex feelings and cannot express myself clearly in words :( We are worse that our mainland Chinese colleagues, gangsters or old people. We did not receive any money and walked like idiots for half a day…
The above stories not only undermined the credibility of the pro-government rally, as Erynnyes concluded in his blog post. Those who recruited protesters with cash and food have embarrassed other protesters who genuinely support the cause of the rally.
Follow our in-depth coverage: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution

author: Oiwan Lam


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Russia’s Mockery of Jen Psaki Has Failed · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki would seem to have inspired Russian trolls into a gaffe of their own. Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
Browse the Russian Internet and it won’t take you long to find photoshopped images lampooning Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department. Most Americans have never heard of Psaki, but she’s a household name in Russia, where the Kremlin and its loyalists in the media have made her into a national punching bag.
One of the latest attacks, however, reveals how even Russia’s noblest patriots seem to rely on American resources when deriding the State Department. Indeed, a new anti-Psaki meme uses a photograph taken from an American website that Russian government censors recently banned. The website, deviantArt, might still be blocked, were it not for a petition organized on another American website, Change.org.
The campaign against Psaki has produced several Internet memes, usually mocking her supposedly weak grasp of reality. Russian Internet users scour every press briefing, searching desperately for any mistakes. When close inspection turns up nothing, people have been happy to invent gaffes. One of Psaki’s most infamous blunders—saying that Belarus has “shores”—is a complete fiction. She never said it.
In early June, perhaps as a countermeasure against Russia’s Psaki propaganda, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf began delivering more of the U.S. State Department’s daily briefings. (In fact, many in Russia seemed genuinely alarmed when Harf first started performing this role.) The castling move, however, hasn’t stopped Russians online from distorting what the spokesperson says at the briefings. Indeed, much of the RuNet—or whatever diabolical PR firm coordinates this effort—has continued pretending that Psaki is the State Department’s only representative.
Last week, on August 14, Marie Harf delivered the State Department’s daily briefing. When asked to comment on Vladimir Putin’s visit to Crimea, Harf poked fun at the struggles of Russia’s post-annexation tourism industry, joking, “Well, from what I hear, he’s the only tourist that’s actually gone there this summer.” Russian news outlets immediately reported Harf’s comment, portraying it as a serious claim. Deputy Prime Minster Dmitry Rogozin declared, “the U.S. State Department is degenerating before our very eyes,” implying that Harf’s joke has no basis in reality. (As it happens, just a few hours before Harf’s press conference, Russia’s tourism industry union reported that foreign tourism to Russia is down 50 percent this year.)
Even though Harf is the one who said it, most of Russia’s backlash to the “tourism joke” addresses Psaki. The RuNet, it seems, has invested too much into ridiculing Psaki to shift gears comfortably. As expected, bloggers promptly updated a popular meme, attributing the tourism joke to Psaki. The meme features Psaki cornered in a padded room, wearing nothing but a straightjacket and underwear. To the right is a photograph of crowded beach in Sevastopol. On Psaki’s shoulder is the “Stoned Fox,” who is shown trying to calm Psaki by saying, “Don’t worry—these people are just figments of your imagination. Only Putin is there.”
“Don’t worry—these people are just figments of your imagination. Only Putin is there.”
The original photo of the woman in the padded room belongs to a San-Francisco-based model named Rayna, who published the image in October 2007 on deviantart.com. Psaki’s detractors, it turns out, could have found more patriotic source material, as Russian censors recently blocked deviantArt for hosting ecchi pornography. Russian Internet providers only began restoring access to deviantArt’s domain after fans organized a petition on another American website, change.org, where over 12,000 Russians signed a public letter demanding the site’s return.
This is where the campaign against Jen Psaki has led us: Russians are using American lobbying resources to persuade their own authorities to unblock American photo-sharing websites, where Russia’s “patriots” steal erotic pictures of Californian women, in order to misattribute and misrepresent one offhand joke from a press briefing.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Safety Measures Against Ebola in Cuba · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Thus far, no-one in Cuba has contracted the deadly Ebola virus and the government wants to keep it that way. Havana Times reports on “increased control measures to prevent the possible introduction of Ebola into Cuba”, adding that The Ministry of Public Health and other supporting agencies are being extra vigilant with monitoring any visitors arriving from high-risk countries.


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Sex, Censorship, and the Internet: Take the EROTICS Survey · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

The Association for Progressive Communications is asking LGBT activists, women's rights activists, queer bloggers and anyone with an active voice on issues of gender and sexuality on the Internet to participate in their 2014 EROTICS survey. APC explains that the survey seeks to help advocates “understand how sexual rights activists (from a variety of focuses and countries) use the internet to advance their work, what sort of risks, harassment, content regulation, or censorship they deal with, and how they respond to them.” The organization plans to use this information to help increase access to digital security for sexual rights activists and advocate for gender and sexuality issues among Internet rights activists. At a deeper level, they hope to:
…expose the connection between the regulation of sexual speech and content on the Internet and provide evidence that will help sexual rights activists explain the impact of such regulation on their lives and their work.
The EROTICS survey is available in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese, English, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Take the EROTICS survey here and visit the project website to learn more about the study.

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


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Thailand’s Military Junta Cements Its Power With ‘Undemocratic’ Interim Constitution · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Infographic from Prachatai
Thailand’s military government, known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has enacted an interim constitution that it claims will lead to democratic reforms in the country, but critics have pointed out that the new charter is designed to perpetuate a military dictatorship.
As summarized by the infographic above from independent online newspaper Prachatai, the constitution mandates the creation of several bodies that would govern the country, namely, the National Legislative Assembly (220 members), the National Reform Council (250 members), the Constitutional Drafting Committee (36 members), and the NCPO. It is the NCPO, or military leaders, who will choose the members of these bodies. Meanwhile, the prime minister and the cabinet (35 ministers) will be chosen by the legislative assembly.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej has already endorsed the constitution, boosting the legitimacy of the military government since the king is the most revered public figure in Thailand.
Thai junta leader Gen. Prayuth receiving a royally-endorsed interim constitution from HM King this evening. #ThaiCoup pic.twitter.com/Z5NBBHwvkQ
— Khaosod English (@KhaosodEnglish) July 22, 2014
The Royal Thai Army launched a coup on May 22, 2014 in a bid to end the violent conflict between Thailand’s major political forces. The army vowed to implement political and electoral reforms before handing back power to the civilian government.
The drafting of a new constitution was supposed to signal the country’s transition to civilian rule. But based on the 48 articles of the document, it seems the military will retain considerable power in the new government.
The Thai Citizens Against Dictatorship described the constitution as Thailand's “most anti-democratic constitution in half a century.” It questioned why the constitution will not be approved by a referendum:
The population will be force-fed with a permanent constitution that continues the junta's authoritarianism, only in a permanent form. This is all the more abominable because it is done in the name of “reform” for a better democracy.
Law scholar Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang criticized the “undemocratic features” of the constitution:
The drafter mandated that the new constitution must be “democratic, yet compatible with the Thai context”. What does Thai context mean? Are we to build a hypocritical, moral surrealist, ultra nationalist, strictly hierarchical version of democracy? The innovative vocabulary allows the new constitution to contain undemocratic features under the claim of Thainess.
The constitution has put several restrictions in selecting members of the legislative assembly. For example, a person who was a member of a political party in the last three years cannot join the body. Khaosod English, a Thailand newspaper, warned that this would allow military officials and their allies to dominate the interim government:
With all recently active political figures barred from the get-go, it’s almost certain that the interim government will be dominated by military personnel and their loyal allies.
Democrat Party chairman and former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva questioned Article 44 of the constitution, which empowers the NCPO to intervene in almost all aspects of governance:
Article 44 clearly states that the power has binding effect in legislative and judiciary aspects, without a process to challenge or scrutinize them. That means it’s the ability to issue a law or reverse a court verdict.
Human Rights Watch called the constitution a “charter for dictatorship” as it gives sweeping powers to the NCPO.
Reacting to these criticisms, Thai junta leader and army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha justified the role of the military in strengthening the country’s democracy: “As long as power is used for good, there is no need to worry.”
After the enactment of the constitution, the NCPO appointed members of the legislative assembly. Discussions have also started about the reforms that Thailand needed to undertake in the next few months. But even with these initiatives, there are still bigger challenges and obstacles to overcome before Thailand can successfully reclaim its democracy.

author: Mong Palatino


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Another Ceasefire Collapses in Gaza, Death Toll Rises Above 2,000 · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Child arrives at a Gaza hospital for treatment. Uploaded by Twitter user @ThisisGaza on August 19.
Dozens of Gazans have been killed in another round of Israeli airstrikes in the war-battered strip after peace negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a group that has ruled Gaza since 2007 under a seven-year blockade from Israel, broke down.
Yet again, both Hamas and Israel are exchanging blame for the failure of their ‘peace’ talks. Rockets launched from Gaza exploded near Be'er Sheva in southern Israel, causing neither injury nor damage.
Among the neighborhoods in Gaza that were bombed were Khan Younis, Beit Hanoun — which was visited by American journalist Max Blumenthal a few days ago — and Shujaiya, site of the July 20 massacre, which killed at least 65 Palestinians.
Since Israel began its assault on Gaza on July 8, more than 2,000 people have been killed, and Israel and Hamas have committed to six ceasefires. The first three ceasefires collapsed within hours. The latest ceasefire held for five days, offering Gazans the biggest break since the military offensive started.
This time, Israeli and Palestinian factions met in Cairo for another round of talks. Hamas wants Israel to lift the seven-year blockade. They also want the release of about 125 key political prisoners held in Israeli military prisons. Israel demands include an end to rocket attacks, the demilitarization of Gaza and disarmament of Hamas.
While Israel accused Hamas of breaching this ceasefire, Hamas told Ma'an News Agency, an independent news site in Palestine, that Israel “ended the truce and claimed that three rockets hit Israel, which Hamas had no information about”, hinting that the three rockets might have been launched by one of the other Palestinian militant factions involved in this conflict.
Within an hour of the end of negotiations, an Israeli airstrike hit the Al-Dalou home in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzuk told Reuteurs that the strike on the Al-Dalou home was an assassination attempt against Muhammad Deif, head of Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigade, in Gaza. While western media, notably Fox News, immediately claimed that Deif had been killed, that claim was immediately dismissed by Hamas’ Al-Aqsa Radio. The strike on Deif's house killed Deif's wife and child. The same home was targeted in 2012 during Israel's last offensive in Gaza, killing 12.
At the time of writing, the death toll stood at 2,039, including 540 children and 75 families. Seventy-two percent of Palestinians killed in this offensive are civilians, according to the UN. Israel has bombed residential neighborhoods, schools, a playground, hospitals, shelters and refugee camps. Some estimates say 40 percent of Gaza's urban area has been reduced to rubble. Israel attacked the only power plant in Gaza on July 28, plunging the congested strip of 1.8 million people into darkness while putting its limited water and sanitation infrastructure under crippling stress.
As to the reason for the failure of the Cairo talks, Israel accuses Hamas of terrorism while Hamas accused Israel of failing to uphold its own promised commitments. As Ma'an agency reported, “the Palestinian negotiations delegation has repeatedly demanded that a lasting ceasefire will only come through the lifting of Israel's eight-year siege of the Gaza Strip,” a siege considered illegal under international law, labeled by the International Committee of the Red Cross as “a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law”.
Most of the world and the United Nations considers Gaza and the West Bank occupied by Israel. This is Israel's third military operation in Gaza in six years.
Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Do You Have to Be Christian to Be Jamaican?  · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

Crucifix at Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Photo by Nick|Allen, used under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
Damion Crawford, a member of parliament in Jamaica who is also the minister of state in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, has drawn criticism for statements he made at an independence gala hosted by the Jamaican Canadian Association lamenting the island nation's lack of religiousness.
According to reports from Pride, an Afro-Canadian/Caribbean magazine, Crawford stated that his “greatest concern is that Jamaica is losing its fear of God.” Crawford went on to say that “the country has moved too far from God, and has ceased pleasing God.”
His remarks didn't go over well with some on Twitter, which prompted Crawford to defiantly reaffirm his position via a series of tweets:
why them ppl yah nuh leave me and me jesus though jesus… I answer to no man. if u not afraid say thank god but let me be
— Wakka FLakka (@DamionCrawford) August 14, 2014
unuh stay right there me busy a pray
— Wakka FLakka (@DamionCrawford) August 14, 2014
All of a sudden everybody a atheist and agnostic and undecided and non believer unuh need fi rahtid stop it… that a nuh Jamaica.
— Wakka FLakka (@DamionCrawford) August 14, 2014
Joshua 24:15 …as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. #done_talk #God_alone
— Wakka FLakka (@DamionCrawford) August 14, 2014
Ah sinful nation, a ppl laden with iniquity….they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger….
— Wakka FLakka (@DamionCrawford) August 15, 2014
Author Kei Miller found it odd that Crawford would make such strong claims about Jamaica being Christian given the way it was forced upon the island's inhabitants in colonial times. Miller also criticized Crawford for having a narrow view of what it means to be Jamaican:
What’s problematic is not your ideas of what Jamaica is, but your insistence on what Jamaica is NOT. I have no problem with you telling the world that Jamaica is a Christian country, because it certainly is. More specifically, Jamaica is a Pentecostal country. And in some parts it is an Anglican country. In other parts still, it is a Baptist country, and an SDA country, and in other parts a Revival country. Jamaica is also a Rastafari country and a Muslim country and an Obeah country. Jamaica is a black country, but also a white country and a Chinese country and a mixed race country. It is a straight country, and in some corners and gullies it is a gay country. Jamaica is spiritual and it is also secular; it is a believing country and in some parts, it is an unbelieving country. And Jamaica manages to be all these things simultaneously. Some parts don’t agree with other parts, but that is alright. That’s how culture happens. No part should ever monopolize the whole.
Crawford responded to Miller on his Facebook page, drawing a comparison between the United States and Jamaica. He adapted the Webster's Dictionary definition for “un-American” for the term “un-Jamaican” — “not agreeing with the Jamaican values, principles nor traditions”, to which Kei Miller responded in this blog post, which he published yesterday. Crawford also argued that the essential qualities of a country are to be found in its majority culture:
I find it ludicrous to argue that a country is everything that exist[s] in that country. Jamaica is a Christian country full stop. We have Rastafarians, Jews, Muslims etc, but the accepted norm is Christianity.
Crawford's position drew great criticism on Twitter:
Damion Crawford have a degree? Because is bere foolishness I see him sprouting. Move with you antiquated, back a bush beliefs.
— Audi Manning (@AudiNatlee) August 14, 2014
I wonder if I become a Christian and pray for sensible leaders, would god listen?
— Barrington Grant Jr (@barringtonjr) August 14, 2014
when Damion Crawford entered politics I had high hopes, sigh, absolute failure no better than the dinosaurs in Gordon House
— Stewart C. (@vaewest) August 18, 2014
Blogger Emma Lewis believed that it was inappropriate for a government minister to determine who is authentically Jamaican on the basis of their religion or lack thereof:
Some people believe in God. Others don’t. Some believe in lots of gods; others in no god at all. Many others do not know what they believe in; some are still trying to figure it out; and others simply do not care. And all of that is fine.
I do believe in freedom of religion, and I respect others’ beliefs, always. What I object to is for an entire nation (Jamaica) to be told (on Twitter) by a Government Minister that if they do not ‘fear’ God (is he that frightening?) they are actually not legitimate citizens of that nation. And in the most arrogant, careless and even offensive tone, too.
As Kei Miller summarised in his initial post:
In geographic terms, we are a small island, but our culture is a wide, wide space that can accommodate much more than you seem to think. It is my job as a writer to think through and write through that complexity. All of it! It is your job as an MP to represent your nation. All of us!

author: Matthew Hunte


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Not Human by Default: Humans of New York Takes on the Middle East · Global Voices
Hiba Dlewati

Mother and daughters in Amman, Jordan. From the Humans of New York web site.
Humans of New York (HONY) is easily my favorite page on Facebook. It is a storyteller’s dream, offering personal insights into the seemingly detached residents of one of the largest cities in the world. Every day I trek to the page and go through all of the new photos, taking in the colorful images and vibrant words, wondering what I would say if Brandon Stanton, the man behind HONY, ever took my photo.
The page and the original blog have been around since 2010, and have been rapidly growing an audience, with more than 9 million likes on Facebook and 139,000 followers on Twitter. My Syrian friends and I would think, imagine if Stanton runs into a Syrian in NYC! Considering the hundreds of thousands of “likes” each of his posts receives, a Syrian story with a personal face might do the impersonal news narrative of our country some real good.
Last week the fantastical came true. Stanton did not just take a photo of a Syrian: he embarked on a 50-day trip with the United Nations spanning ten countries, to raise awareness of eight international development goals through portraits and stories.
Pictures of Iraqi refugees who have fled the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), of Syrian refugees who had fled the violence of Assad regime, and Jordanian families and tourists took over the Humans of New York page. A shepherd in Petra. A single mother in Amman. A shoe shiner in Shaqlawa. Children playing in Dohuk. A struggling student in Erbil. A shopkeeper in Zaatari Refugee Camp. All offer glimpses into the starkly diverse lives of Middle Easterners who are being pushed closer together as escalating turmoil whirlwinds people into new directions and locations.
As always, Stanton’s portraits are insightful, personal and thought-provoking. Even more thought-provoking than the photos, however, were the comments left by Facebook users. It’s hardly news that the narrative of the Syrian conflict is complicated, violent, impersonal and misunderstood. What surprised me were the daily comments thanking HONY for “humanizing the Middle East”.
It’s not that the comments were malicious—if anything most were genuinely kind and well-meaning. And I understand that the mainstream media in the West is often racist and Islamophobic, and simplifies the complex societal fabric of the Middle East into misleading clichés and canned rhetoric. What I do not understand, however, is how, in this age of digital media, in countries where freedom of speech is the norm, some people still need a population that is almost the same size as America’s to be “humanized” for them.
I don’t understand how, in countries as diverse and pluralistic as the United States, some need a social media trend to help them view other citizens of the world as “human”. And while I admire the openness of the HONY community, I don’t understand why it is so accepted to casually admit that previous to Stanton’s photos, Middle Easterners were not seen as human.
The unfortunate truth, perhaps, is that all “others” need to be humanized, practically by default. As a member of a community who has been trying to bring the struggles of Syrians to light in America for the past three years, we are constantly told our stories will only become relevant when they are made more relatable to Americans. Stanton’s signature style has given Syrians—and all those struggling in the Middle East—the much needed “relevance” they need in America’s ever narrowing attention span.
HONY is not just a page where Stanton shares portraits, but a space where a community shares support. Vignettes of love, pain, struggles, success and humor in New York—and now in the Middle East—are engaging people from around the world. My hope is that dialogue can move forward and reach a point where no one, no matter their nationality, location, race, gender or ability needs a portrait to prove they are “human”.

author: Hiba Dlewati


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“I Don’t Love You Death, But I’m Not Afraid of You”: Palestinian Resistance Poet Samih Al-Qasim Loses Battle to Cancer · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

RIP Samih Al-Qasim .. the Palestinian Resistance Poet. Photo by Anarbati, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Iconic Palestinian poet, political activist and journalist Samih al-Qasim died on August 19 after a long battle with cancer. He was 75.
Al-Qasim died where he was born – in Rameh – an Arab town in the north of Israel. When he was born Rameh was a part of Palestine, and was captured by Israeli forces in 1948. Even though Al-Qasim was a citizen of Israel, he considered himself a Palestinian. Israel's Arab citizens still call themselves Palestinians. The ‘Palestinians of 48′ or just 48 in Arabic are other alternatives. His poetry was nationalist, often talking about Palestinian identity in the former Palestinian territories that are now part of Israel.
The author of over 30 books of poetry, novels, essays and collections of plays, Al-Qasim leaves behind a rich legacy. His works in Arabic have been translated to many languages. He was a passionate defender of the Palestinian identity. His refusal to enlist in the Israeli army (a requirement for Druze citizens of Israel) as well as his political beliefs got him arrested several times, including being put under house arrest. Despite everything, he refused to leave Israel and Palestine stating that “I have chosen to remain in my own country not because I love myself less, but because I love my country more”.
He was a member of the Israeli Communist Party in 1967 and editor-in-chief of the Arab Israeli weekly Kul Al-Arab [All the Arabs].
Given his importance, it seems only fitting that upon hearing news of his death, Palestinians immediately took to social media to mourn their “resistance poet.”
Fellow Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti dedicated a famous song by Lebanese singer Marcel Khalifeh to Al-Qasim, changing the original “I walk” to “He walks”.
منتصب القامة يمشي، مرفوع الهامة يمشي … بعيداً . وداعاً سميح القاسم
— مريد البرغوثي (@MouridBarghouti) August 19, 2014
Upright, he walks. With his head held high, he walks… far away. Goodbye, Samih Al-Qasim.
Majeed Al-Barghouti, also a Palestinian poet, added:
Samih Al-Qasim, the poet who passed away minutes ago will continue to recite his resistance poems till justice&peace prevail in Palestine..
— Majeed Al-Barghouthi (@majeedb) August 19, 2014
Berlin-based blogger Abir Kopty called him ‘Father of the Nation':
الشاعر الفلسطيني #سميح_القاسم في ذمة الله.. وداعا أبو وطن!
— Abir Kopty (@AbirKopty) August 19, 2014
The Palestinian poet is now in the custody of God. Goodbye, father of the nation!.
Singer, winner of the Arab Idol contest and UNRWA regional ambassador Mohammad Assaf calls him “The Poet of the earth and of olives”:
و حملنا.. جرحنا الدامي حملنا و إلى أفق وراء الغيب يدعونا..رحلنا شاعر الأرض و الزيتون #سميح_القاسم في ذمة الله.. لروحك الرحمة #غزة_تقاوم
— محمد عساف (@MohammedAssaf89) August 19, 2014
And we carried.. our bloody wounds we carried towards what's behind the unknown horizon that is calling us. He left us, the poet of the earth and the olives.
Palestine's most famous university, Birzeit, called him “the poet of the revolution.”
تنعى أسرة #جامعة_بيرزيت شاعر الثورة الفلسطيني #سميح_القاسم، لروحه السلام.الصورة من أرشيف الجامعة خلال زيارة له في2007 pic.twitter.com/pmMXfV6Afh
— Birzeit University (@BirzeitUniv) August 20, 2014
The Birzeit family mourns the poet of the Palestinian revolution, may his soul rest in peace. The picture is from the university's archive during his visit in 2007.
Many artists, activists and bloggers from Palestine tweeted samples of his poetry in commemoration.
Self-titled “Israel's demographic threat, a Palestinian citizen” who goes under the name of Palestinianism, this blogger shared another one of his poems:
يا شعبي حيٌّ حيٌّ أنت .. يَدُك المرفوعة في وجه الظالم راية جيل يمضي و هو يهز الجيل القادم: ” قاومتُ .. فقاوم ! ” #سميح_القاسم #فلسطين
— F. (@Palestinianism) August 19, 2014
My people,
Alive, alive you are.
Your hand held high in the face of the unjust.
A symbol for a leaving generation,
shaking the coming generation and saying:
I resisted. It's your turn to resist now!
We will remember him with this poem that he wrote last week:
I don’t like you, death
But I’m not afraid of you
And I know that my body is your bed
And my spirit is your bed cover
I know that your banks are narrow for me
I don’t love you, death
But I’m not afraid of you.