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There Were Many Bright Spots to Be Found Amid the Doom and Gloom of 2016 · Global Voices
L. Finch

A collage of photos from Global Voices coverage in 2016. Created by L. Finch.
The idea that 2016 was a particularly terrible year is widespread, so much so that there are several popular Internet memes on the topic. Perhaps it's true. The year was indeed marred by war, violence, death, persecution, xenophobia, and censorship, and in our minds just as in the media, if it bleeds, it leads.
But dig a little deeper, and you'll see that 2016 also offered us plenty of moments of friendship, creativity, humor and strength.
Global Voices’ virtual, community-driven newsroom worked hard this year to build understanding across borders and language barriers through stories that challenge narratives of power and privilege. Our reporting often highlighted kindness in the face of cruelty, love in the face of hate, and resilience in the face of adversity.
So before we bid farewell to 2016, take heart in the following list of 41 stories. The year was pretty bad, but not all bad.
An Instagram photo of a young boy named Jake drawing intently at school in a Ghanaian village inspired dozens of memes. The man behind the snapshot, Solomon Adufah, then turned the attention into a crowdfunding campaign to support Jake and other children's education, raising more than $13,000.
Kyrgyz artist Gulzada Ryskulova recorded a powerful take on the Manas epic, or manaschi, which are guardians of an oral folklore. They are also almost always men. Ryskulova's version carries a new twist, urging the preservation of the country's nature and nomadic heritage.
“Walls of kindness” (Deewar-e-Meherbani) began as an outdoor charity drive for Iran's homeless. The walls featured clothing on hooks beside the phrase, “Take one if you need it. Give one if you don't.” The idea then spread to China and Pakistan. Meanwhile, in the US, collaborative walls of empathy in San Francisco's subway stations offered messages of love and unity after a particularly divisive election.
Photo by Somali Faces. Used with permission.
A new online project shares stories of ordinary Somalis to counter international perceptions of Somalis and encourage Somalis to rise above petty clannism. Readers can learn about people like “The Activist,” who describes how she overcame the loss of her legs as a child to become an advocate for disabled people. “If you have an ambition, there are many ways to achieve it,” she says.
A group of priests and imams challenged each other on the soccer field in June to defy media narratives that divide Danes along cultural and religious lines. Co-founder of the initiative Nora Omari explained, “We need something that shows that we as human beings are able to live together.”
Croatia became a “Free Reading Zone” in December for all residents willing to install a mobile app that provided access to an e-book library 100,000 titles strong. The month was sponsored by portal No Shelf Required, and the initiative was the brainchild of Mirela Rončević, a Croatian immigrant to the US who believes access to knowledge is a basic human right.
At Taiwan Presbyterian Church, Japanese volunteers outnumbered Taiwanese volunteers following the Tainan earthquake, which killed more than 100 people and leveled buildings around southern Taiwan. Japanese volunteers said they felt compelled to help, since Taiwan had donated the most money out of all countries following the March 11, 2011 quake that devastated Japan.
Fidencio Sanchez. Photo: Joel Cervantes Macias / GoFundMe
A crowdfunding campaign raised more than $380,000 for an 89-year-old Mexican man named Fidencio Sanchez, who works as a street seller of popsicles and ice cream in Chicago. Sanchez had recently lost his daughter, leaving her two children in his care. The money was meant to give the hard-working man a well-deserved retirement.
Fatoumata Diaby challenges gender roles in Mali and helps the conflict-raddled country rebuild its economy at the same time. The 35-year-old–who is also a nurse, a restaurant owner, a wife and a mother of three–drives a motorbike taxi, an activity traditionally reserved for men:
[…] the time to consider oneself superior or inferior regarding a job is over. It is okay just to love what you do and fight for it because success comes as a result of effort.
A massive power failure in September caused the almost complete collapse of basic services throughout the archipelago for three days. However, no looting or violence related to the blackout was reported. People who had access to power shared with friends, neighbors and even complete strangers.
Every Monday, drawing aficionados across the former Yugoslavia visit Twitter profile @crtkamo, which means “We doodle” in the closely related languages of Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian. On that day, the account posts a doodle prompt, with topics ranging from dream house to Professor Snape from the Harry Potter series. “This is not a contest” is the main rule of the game.
The coffee catering enterprise Deaf Can! Coffee, based in the capital city Kingston, is staffed by students of the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf. “We are always told, ‘You can't,’” one of the students, Fabian Jackson, told Global Voices. “But we don't want others to see us negatively. We want to challenge the world and tell them: ‘We can do anything!’”
Honoré Kahi, a professor at Alassane Ouattara University in Bouaké. Source: Site De Rencontre Des Etudiants De L'afrique
Honoré Kahi found social media fame in Cote d'Ivoire after a photo of him with a student's baby strapped to his back surfaced on Facebook. The baby wouldn't stop crying, so he offered the young woman help because “it was a very important class for her future…and she needed to give her full attention.”
Residents of a Melbourne suburb decorated their town with homemade butterflies to welcome a group of 120 Syrian refugees who were to be housed in a disused part of an aged care facility. The action was meant to counter anti-immigration hate and serve as “a reminder that even the smallest action can have a far-reaching effect.”
Omar Farooq, a Bahraini filmmaker and activist, exposed common stereotypes with his creative twist on the Mannequin Challenge. In his version, the cast of characters make judgments of each other based on appearance, religion, age and more.
Salsa fever has gripped Cairo for several years now. Those learning to sway to a Latin beat have had to overcome certain challenges. Dancing is considered taboo in strict religious circles. Women who choose to wear the veil and dance salsa say observers expect them to be conservative–and therefore label them as indecent. And men must overcome the perception that dancing is sissy.
Renuka Shrestha never stops dreaming. Photo by Arjun Shah. Used with permission.
Arjun Shah, an advertising and fashion photographer, put together a calendar featuring portraits of several women, all burn survivors. “For me all of them are inspiring. They are not victims. They are survivors. Fighters. Literally, they are happy. You can’t image the fun they have,” he said.
Smartphones are a lifeline for refugees during their long journey for the relative safety of Europe, but battery life and the availability of network coverage and wifi hotspots can throw up roadblocks to their use. Individuals and organizations like Ireland-based Disaster Tech Lab have tried to offer solutions, such as deploying wifi networks in refugee camps.
Architect-turned-designer Azin Valy incorporates the landscape of cities around the world into her fashion and accessory designs for the label Cityzen by Azin. “It's about global citizenship and not just nationalism or regionalism,” she says.
A grassroots effort called Mais Amor Entre Nós (More Love Between Us) began in the city of Salvador, as a community of Afro-Brazilian women helping each other through one-hour donations of their time. It has since expanded to other parts of Brazil and several other countries.
Some of the photos found on Twitter under the hashtag #thisisthoughtful.
This is Thoughtful, a community of creatives whose work seeks to have positive social impact, launched the initiative as a way to reclaim public spaces from any unwelcoming conversations. What began in the UK eventually spread to the US, Canada, Germany, Greece and Spain.
For over a decade, Balaknama, meaning ‘Voice of Children’ in Hindi, has provided street children with a platform to share their experiences and fight for their rights. Many of the children cannot read or write themselves, so friends and colleagues transcribe their stories on their behalf. Around 100,000 street children live in Delhi.
Hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured when a strong earthquake rattled Ecuador in April. In the small city of Loja, on the opposite side of the country from the affected area, a group of 10 theatre companies put on a show not only to fundraise for the victims, but also make the public laugh and forget about reality for a couple of hours.
A social media movement called “Girls at Dhabas” tries to reclaim public spaces by curating photos of women visiting roadside food and tea stalls called dhabas, a traditionally male domain. Lawyer and activist Zainab Chughtai combats body shaming by holding sessions with students and sharing stories of young women who are fighting back. And students at a private university plastered campus walls with sanitary pads to counter the shame women are made to feel for having periods.
An unusual football field in Bangkok. Source: YouTube
A Thai property developer created a non-rectangular football field as a solution to the lack of sports facilities in a densely populated community in Thailand's capital Bangkok. And in the Philippines, Richard Daniels has been documenting the ingenious ways Filipinos in rural areas have built basketball hoops in such spaces as abandoned properties and streets.
Mexican authorities for the first time granted two licenses to operate a telecommunications network for social indigenous use. That means members of the Mixe, Mixteco, and Zapoteco people will be able to access affordable mobile phone services and the Internet through their own network. Some communities previously had to rely on high-cost landline phone booths because the country's large telecoms repeatedly refused to provide them with service.
In Ukrainian Facebook, the stories were under the hashtag #ЯНеБоюсьСказати (#IAmNotAfraidToSayIt). Across Latin America, it was #MiPrimerAcoso (#MyFirstAssault). And in the Caribbean, #lifeinleggings. Each viral hashtag kickstarted a much-needed public conversation about sexual harassment, sexual violence, and domestic violence.
Belarusian Internet users stripped in their workplaces to respond to the President's call to put more effort into their work. Image from Instagram.
Long-time President Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared in a speech to citizens seeking a better life, “We must get undressed and get to work.” Social media-savvy Belarusians followed the strongman's orders, uploading tongue-in-cheek photos of themselves stark naked in their places of work, but covering themselves with strategically placed objects.
The Syrian Civil Defence Units, also known as the White Helmets, risk their lives to pull victims from the rubble of bombardment. The volunteer force is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives. Their incredible efforts were honored with a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, although they lost out in the end to Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos.
Of Japan's eight languages that are critically endangered, the Ainu language is in the worst shape. It's estimated that just 25,000 Ainu people remain in Japan, with fewer than 10 native speakers of the Ainu language. Ainu Talking Dictionary has been attempting to preserve and pass on the language since 2009.
Radio MENQ in action. Photo provided by Igor Mkrtumyan, used with permission.
Radio MENQ (“we” in Armenian) is a new Internet radio station in Armenia made by blind and visually impaired people that broadcasts mainly for listeners in their own and other disabled communities. Their content includes discussions of Paralympic sport, the lives of Stevie Wonder and Louis Braille, and strategies for using public transport or dealing with stress and depression as a disabled person.
The charity nude calendar featured volunteer models–eight women and two men–who posed for the two photographers, Zvonko Plavevski and Dimitar Petrovski. Its publication marked the calendar's return after a one-year hiatus. Earlier editions promoted breast cancer awareness and sex education.
An image of Murtaza Ahmadi playing soccer and wearing a plastic bag bearing Lionel Messi's name and number went viral in early 2016. Murtaza's family was unable to buy him with a genuine Messi shirt, so he and his older brother made the makeshift jersey. Ahmadi and his family were eventually forced to flee Afghanistan after receiving threats of kidnap. In December, Murtaza finally met the football star.
Michelle Nkamankeng became a literary phenomenon after she published her first novel, about overcoming her fear of ocean waves, at only 7 years old. She hopes she can “inspire young children to follow their dreams.”
An organization named Bidyanondo distributes food to the underprivileged children of Dhaka and other areas for just one Bangladeshi taka (0.013 US dollars). Behind the effort is Kishor Kumar Das. “There was a time when I used to wait in the long lines in front of the temple for a little food,” he recalled.
Agro-Art. Photo by Louise Møller, previously published at Rapolitics.org and AgroArte. Used with permission.
Seeds of the Future brings together 60 young people from Medellín's Comuna 13 who learn to cultivate gardens as a way to take ownership of physical spaces marked by violence. At the same time, they write and sing their own musical hip-hop creations, documenting events and feelings in their own lives.
The “No-Hate Speech Project” identifies social media posts that contain hate speech elements and then discredits the hateful statements with facts and alternative viewpoints. Myanmar has seen a disturbing rise in hate speech, particularly directed at the country's Muslim minority.
In August, Chinese social media was flooded with memes about toads to celebrate the 90th birthday of former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, who many think resembles the amphibian. The country's web censors deleted these “toad worship” memes, but users still took the risk, whether to have a bit of fun or to reminisce about an an era when political control was not as tight.
Political scandals usually dominate news headlines about the Caucasus, meaning the region's natural and cultural wealth is often ignored. One of Russia's top photographers, Anton Lange, is trying to change that with his “The Range. The Caucasus from Sea to Sea” project, which includes photography exhibitions, film and web content.
Photo: Chavela Frías Facebook group.
Chavela Frías is a popular social media character fashioned out of an action figure of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías. The anonymous artist behind her accounts posts photos of Chavela in different outfits and situations, challenging the idolization of Chávez as well as negative attitudes toward the LGBT community.
A 25-year-old Dhaka man named Kamruzzaman needed a blood transfusion for an urgent surgery following an accident. After a frantic search in Bangladesh, the Think Foundation managed to collect blood from four donors in Mumbai, saving his life. Reacting to the news, one Internet user commented:
It has been proven again that humans are for humans. No matter if you try to divide them with barbed wire at the border or alienate with protocols, humans are above all.

author: L. Finch


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Explore the Lesser Known Part of Madagascar: The Amber Mountain National Park · Global Voices
Anthony En Decouverte

Amber Mountain Natural Park, Madagascar. Photo taken with author's permission.
Amber Mountain, Madagascar’s first natural park, is one of the most intriguing protected areas to explore in the country — mainly due to its reputation of being a great centre of biodiversity. Amber Mountain is a cool haven of serenity, where the atmosphere totally contrasts that of the sweltering heat of the surrounding Northern region.
Amber Mountain National Park lies 14km south of Diego Suarez, in the north of Madagascar. Its humid tropical forest stretches more than 23,000 hectares across volcanic mountain. It is because of this humidity that the forest is a source of 85% of the region’s annual rainfall. Here you will also find six lakes, as well as several waterfalls and rivers.
If you do decide to explore this natural reserve during your stay in Madagascar, you will need to call upon the services of the professional guides of the Madagascar National Park (MNP). There are a variety of walking trails available, with circuits ranging from half-a-day to up to three days. During these walks, you will cross paths between 850 and 1,400 meters above sea level.
Madagascan brookesia micra. Photo taken with author's permission.
On entering the area, you should be aware of a few ‘fady’ (Madagascan cultural taboos) and will need to respect them. Rest assured, your guide will inform you of these in advance. Amber Mountain National Park is home to a huge number of endemic species. So far, there have been reported sightings of 77 different species of birds, seven species of lemurs, and 24 species of amphibians.
The smallest lemur in the world, the brown mouse lemur, is often sighted in the park. Keep an eye out for these and for the crested ibis of Madagascar found lurking in the tree branches. Also, see if you can spot the Brookesia micra, the smallest chameleon in the world. This chameleon, even in adulthood, barely reaches three centimetres long! The Brookesia micra is also difficult to spot because it is often camouflaged so well in the foliage.
As for diversity of the plant kingdom in Amber Mountain, there are more than 1,020 listed species of plants in the park. Your guide will most probably commend the medicinal virtues of a great many of these plants. Rosewood trees are common, as are Famelona and even Ramy. Of course, it wouldn’t be a humid Madagascan rainforest without the ferns, traveller’s trees, choking creepers and orchids that all equally make up the surrounding scenery.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Anthony En Decouverte


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Malaysians Can Have Their Cake and Eat It Too Inside McDonald’s — But Only If It’s Halal · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

McDonald's in Malaysia. Photo from the Flickr page of Martin Lewison, CC License
The decision of the Malaysian office of fast food giant McDonald’s to ban non-halal cakes inside its premises has been criticized for allegedly promoting an intolerant and extreme version of Islam.
Malaysia has a predominantly Malay Muslim population, although the state advocates the unity of diverse races and ethnic groups.
Halal certification in Malaysia means that a food product has been endorsed by an accredited religious authority as meeting Islamic standards.
This notice in a McDonald’s outlet about the ban on non-halal cakes was widely shared on social media:
Malaysia continues to lose its mind pic.twitter.com/BLE5MlmKWT
— HNS (@__earth) December 29, 2016
McDonald’s confirmed that it is banning non-halal birthday cakes in compliance with the directive of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim):
As a company that offers only halal-certified products, we implement a ‘no outside food policy’ to ensure that all products served and consumed at our restaurants are halal.
In the case of ‘birthday parties’ at McDonald’s, we have made an exception to allow customers to bring in their own birthday cakes as part of their celebration, provided that the cakes are certified halal.
Many described McDonald’s policy as unnecessary and impractical. Mariam Mokhtar, a columnist of Free Malaysia Today, explained why so many people were disappointed:
There are mothers who bake their children’s birthday cakes for parties at McDonald’s. And there are those who order them from people like me, who enjoy baking for friends.
So what are parents to do if McDonald’s wants them to provide a halal certificate for one of my cakes?
Has halal political correctness gone overboard? Will we one day see moral police invading houses to ensure that we are eating only halal food? When will common sense prevail?
Roziah Daud, who runs an online cake store, insisted that the ingredients used in baking a cake are generally halal items such as flour, eggs and sugar:
This should not even be a problem. At times, when you go to other ordinary cafes, they don't ask you where your cake comes from and whether it is halal or not. Stop vetting people's privacy! If the cake is for their own consumption, how could you impose a rule like this?
Meanwhile, the NGO Center for a Better Tomorrow (Cenbet) issued a statement urging Jakim to reconsider its strict enforcement of rules regarding halal certification:
While eateries have the right to ban patrons from bringing in outside food, the decision should be based on commercial considerations and not whether the food is halal-certified or not. In this respect, Jakim should not overstep its boundary by accrediting ‘premises’ instead of ‘food’. It should also not subject food operators to white terror. Doing so would be an abuse of power.
There is no question about respecting Muslims’ dietary requirements. But we should not allow radical elements to hijack any religions for political ends.
The group warned that Jakim’s mandate could be abused to justify the state’s intrusion into the private lives of ordinary citizens:
…it will open the floodgates for more areas to be classified along halal-non halal lines such as public transportation, schools, housing areas and healthcare. This will only segregate the people along religious lines, especially at a time when there is a need to enhance unity in the face of rising extremism.
But a group which calls itself Young Professionals defended the right of Jakim to uphold the welfare of Muslims:
Cenbet’s demand that non-halal foodstuff be allowed on halal certified eateries and restaurants, for one, disrespects the sensitivities of Muslims who frequent such places, on the premise that they have been certified halal and thus are free from non-halal elements.
How is a better tomorrow achieved by lack of sensitivity for the differing dietary requirements of a particular given faith, in this instance, Islam?
Blogger KTemoc disagreed with this argument:
If non-halal certified birthday cakes [are] brought into Macca [McDonald's], will that contaminate the food stuff prepared by Macca [McDonald's]? No non-Muslim taking a non-halal certified birthday cake into Macca is threatening Muslims and their right to practice their faith in accordance with its own requirements.
McDonald's has already apologized for issuing the notice which offended many of its customers, but it also said that it will continue to enforce the ban as part of its commitment to offer halal food items.
This is not the first time that the issue of halal certification has grabbed public attention. Last October, a fast food company was questioned by authorities for offering ‘hotdogs’ on its menu.

author: Mong Palatino


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The Best of Latin American Info-Activism in 2016 (Part 1) · Global Voices
Social TIC

“With each #Editatona (or female edit-a-thon), we reverse the gender gap in the world's largest collaborative knowledge site.” Screen shot from a video presentation of the “Editatona on #WomenWriters” which took place on September 24th in Mexico.
The following is the first part of an edited re-post of a piece written by an organization called SocialTIC and published originally on its website, which Global Voices has published with the original authors’ permission.
With a complicated and controversial 2016 coming to a close, SocialTIC reflected on the past year and made a list of Latin American projects that had the most influence on civic and technological levels (as they did in 2013, 2014, and 2015). Many lessons were learned, but the focal point remained the same: the need to empower social change through the strategic use of information and technology.
2016 must be considered a milestone in the history of the fight for equality and security for women in Latin America. Demonstrations with thousands of women made waves in the streets and in the hearts of many, from one end of the region to the other, as they shouted #NotOneLess, #DoNotStaySilent, #WeWantThemAlive, #WeWantUsAlive, or hashtags of the dates for each of the marches.
Every collective, organization, or group of women, regardless of their ideological and activist background, is fighting every day to be visible and stop the violence, inequality, and injustice that is experienced daily in Latin America. #MyFirstHarassment unmasked evidence of harassment of young girls not only in Mexico, but in the entire region. The medium-term challenge of advocacy, both on the individual and collective levels, is to have just, peaceful, and enabling societies for all women and girls, where there is no impunity for aggressors, trolls, or criminals.
It is also worth noting the continuous impact that organizations specializing in digital rights, such as R3D, Fundación Karisma, ONG Derechos Digitales, Hiperderecho, TEDIC, and others have had. Through their constant activity and mini-campaigns, they are building knowledge, making risks known, and generating a culture on human rights in digital spaces. This effort goes beyond a single campaign. The ultimate objective is for all users to have full awareness of and civic empowerment in their digital environment.
This section ends in Central America, where activism is marked by attacks, injustices, and bloodshed. This year, we yelled #JusticeForBerta after the cowardly murder of a great defender of human rights and the environment in Honduras. Resistance, struggle, and constant attentiveness is quite difficult to maintain in the public opinion, making the lives of activists and foreign problems alien to citizens of big cities. Joint efforts in communication and visibility, like those that came about after Berta's murder or the political prisoners in Guatemala are essential to the continual defense of the people, the land, and the culture.
#JusticiaParaBerta 9 meses del asesinato de #BertaCáceres y su lucha x un mundo + justo sigue.Exigimos investigación justa e imparcial pic.twitter.com/BuQzsNsEvY
— HOAC ن (@HOAC_es) December 5, 2016
#JusticeForBerta 9 months after the assassination of #BertaCáceres and her fight for a just world continues. We demand a just and impartial investigation.
The year closed with a creative project by Coding Rights called ChupaDatos, which uses its website and performances to make us reflect on what and how much personal data is sucked up by the devices and applications we use daily. After discovering ChupaDatos, you'll surely ask yourself what data your city, house, body, and purse suck up from you.
We'll mention the expressions of graphic illustrations by a project called El Surtidor in Paraguay and the Nacho Progre comic from Mexico, both of which are using design to inform, sensitize, and creatively and aesthetically build their followers on social networks. Whether it be bringing causes to light, struggles for digital rights, or macho behavior, initiatives like these demonstrate the power of simple, appealing, and strategic communication.
Si sobrevivimos a este año, nos vemos en el 2017 pic.twitter.com/vTPg4S4CuE
— El Surtidor (@elsurti) December 28, 2016
If we survive this year, we'll see you in 2017.
Other projects worked directly with action in the streets, with the goal of contributing to the complex process of citizen building. With #PeacetotheStreets in Colombia, young people brought about vibrant actions of visibility, information, and demands regarding the peace process that sought to end over 50 years of internal strife and whose agreements were rejected in the referendum that sought to ratify them. In Guatemala, the youth of the #JusticeNOW movement organized events and spaces for citizen dialogue, which sought to encourage the adoption of reforms in the country. Many of the discussions focused on fighting corruption and on citizen participation inspired by the movements that led to President Otto Pérez Molina's resignation.
Todavía somos esa fuerza que estuvo presente en la plaza hace un año, usémosla para transformar el sistema #27A
A photo posted by justiciayaGT (@justiciayagt) on
Photo: Remember what we were capable of one year ago? Guatemala needs the strength that united us one year ago in the plaza. Let's use it to change the system.
Caption: We still have the strength that was present in the plaza a year ago. Let's use it to transform the system. #27A
2016 also saw different pedagogical efforts that looked to bring digital issues to physical spaces. Resources like To the Streets Fearlessly and Anti-Vigilance Safe empower educators that hold workshops or street promotions to discuss the risks present in demonstrations and digital spaces. And to continue encouraging those of us in the region, their website is now available here: onlinoffline.org
This category was especially complicated this year. Despite tendencies towards and discourse on openness in many Latin American countries, there are only a few projects that truly link citizens and the government. This category not only seeks to highlight innovation, but also the political will of those who herald governmental openness.
Thus, only one project stood out because of the potential and hope it would have for Mexico if it were to continue and be carried out in a participatory, profound, and constant way. The Official Publication of Chihuahua is a platform driven by Fundar, along with the Government of Chihuahua, which makes public spending transparent in the state's media. If this proactive action of transparency continues, unlike what is happening in the rest of the country's governmental structures, the citizens would gain clarity on the relationship between the government and the press.

author: Social TIC


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How ‘Open Source’ Seed Producers From the US to India Are Changing Global Food Production · Global Voices
Ensia

A collection of colorful carrots in Adelaide, Australia. Photo by Helen K. CC 2.0.
This post by Rachel Cernansky was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Frank Morton has been breeding lettuce in the U.S. since the 1980s. His company offers 114 varieties, among them Outredgeous, which last year became the first plant that NASA astronauts grew and ate in space. For nearly 20 years, Morton’s work was limited only by his imagination and by how many different kinds of lettuce he could get his hands on.
But in the early 2000s, he started noticing more and more lettuces were patented, meaning he would not be able to use them for breeding. The patents weren’t just for different types of lettuce, but specific traits such as resistance to a disease, a particular shade of red or green, or curliness of the leaf. Such patents have increased in the years since, and are encroaching on a growing range of crops, from corn to carrots — a trend that has plant breeders, environmentalists and food security experts concerned about the future of the food production.
A determined fellow dedicated to the millennia-old tradition of plant breeding, Morton still breeds lettuce — it just takes longer, because more restrictions make it harder for him to do his work.
“It’s just a rock in the river and I’m floating around it. That’s basically what we have to do, but it breaks the breeding tradition,” he says. “I think these lettuce patents are overreaching and if they [were to hold up in court], nobody can breed a new lettuce anymore because all the traits have been claimed.” He continues to work with what is available, breeding for traits he desires while being extra careful to avoid any material restricted by intellectual property rights. He has also joined a movement that is growing in the U.S. and around the world: “open source” breeding.
Astronauts on the International Space Station grew and ate Outredgeous red romaine lettuce in the station’s “Veggie” system, a test kitchen for growing plants in space. Photo by NASA
If the term sounds like it belongs in the tech world more than in plant breeding, that’s no accident. The Open Source Seed Initiative, inspired by “the free and open source software movement that has provided alternatives to proprietary software,” was created to ensure that some plant varieties and genes will remain free from intellectual property rights and available for plant breeders in perpetuity. As part of the initiative, commonly known as OSSI, U.S. breeders can take a pledge that commits the seeds they produce to remain available for others to use for breeding in the future.
That doesn’t mean they can’t build a business with or sell them. What the pledge does is allow farmers who buy seeds from an open-source breeder to cross them with other material to breed their own varieties and save them for future seasons — two things many crop patents forbid. Dozens of breeders and seed companies have committed to OSSI since the initiative’s launch in 2014.
For University of Wisconsin–Madison professor emeritus and OSSI board member Jack Kloppenburg, control of seeds and the ability to breed new crops are matters of both food security and environmental protection. Seeds play a role in larger issues like biodiversity, farmers’ rights, control of the food system and use of agricultural chemicals, which many independent breeders try to avoid or reduce by breeding natural resistance into crops themselves.
Kloppenburg emphasizes that the open-source movement is not about genetically modified organisms; patents can affect all crops, vegetable or grain, GMO or conventional, organic or not. “Control over the seed is what’s at the core of all environmental sustainability that we’re working toward,” he says, pointing to the increased consolidation in the global agriculture industry, most recently with the mergers announced between ChemChina and Syngenta in August 2016, and Monsanto and Bayer in September. “If you go to the farmer’s market and you’re interested in buying good, local, sustainably produced vegetables, you also need to understand that most vegetables are coming out of a breeding process that is itself endangered. We will not have food sovereignty until we have seed sovereignty.”
The Open Source Seed Initiative, where U.S. breeders take a pledge committing their seeds to remain available for others to use for breeding in the future, is in contrast to the practice of patenting seeds and crop traits. Photo by Jack Kloppenburg
OSSI supporters argue that as planting material becomes more restricted through intellectual property rights, the future of the food supply is compromised because the gene pool is continually shrinking. OSSI executive director Claire Luby, whose Ph.D. thesis focused on genetic variation and availability within carrots, found that about one-third of all carrot material has been protected by intellectual property rights, rendering it unavailable or difficult for plant breeders to use. Similar estimates do not yet exist for other crops, but experts such as Luby are confidentthat big commodity crops such as corn are even more heavily impacted than crops such as lettuce and carrots.
Growers breed plants to selectively express desirable traits — from those that will improve a crop’s taste or color, to those that help crops thrive in certain environments and resist threats such as pests or disease. Opponents of crop-trait patents say the increase in patents is shrinking the catalog of plant material available to breeders at a time when the need for genetic diversity is greater than ever, thanks to the less-predictable conditions brought on by climate change.
In an email, Monsanto spokesperson Carly Scaduto recognized the importance of genetic diversity, saying it’s crucial for the company’s operations and Monsanto works to preserve diversity through its four gene banks and by collaborating with institutions around the world, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But she disagreed with the notion that intellectual property suppresses other breeding efforts. “Patents and [plant variety protection] inspire innovation,” she wrote.“Basically, the patent creates a map to allow anyone else to do the same once the patent expires. Oftentimes those ‘how to’ instructions enable others to accomplish the same result by finding another method to get there. So rather than hindering innovation, such protection facilitates it by placing more material and know-how in the public domain.”
Morton, however, argues waiting the 20 years for a patent to expire is no way to encourage innovation, and waiting that long to breed crops that can adapt to changing conditions is a losing battle. Even that misses the main point for Morton, though: genetic resources have always belonged to the commons, and should continue to be a public good, he says. “[Independent plant breeders] have neither the time nor money for such formalities, and monetary incentives are not what move us. We want to improve farming for farmers. That’s a different motivator, not promoted by stifling the free use of the best and newest genetic resources.”
Furthermore, Morton takes issue with the very concept of patenting a plant trait. “You didn’t actually create it,” he says. “The plant created it, and the plant breeder has no idea how the plant created that trait. It is just nature at work.”
For Carol Deppe, a plant breeder in the US state of Oregon and OSSI board member, there’s another component to breeding that’s important. “When you breed a variety, you breed your own values right into the variety,” she says. “If you believe in huge agribusiness farms with monocultures that are managed with massive doses of herbicides, then you breed your concept of what agriculture should be like into that variety. I do exactly the opposite.”
While a handful of medium-sized companies (those with international markets but smaller than, say, Monsanto) hold patents, most smaller seed companies are able to survive without patenting — they either are opposed to the practice, have decided the process is too costly to be worthwhile, or both.
Independent plant breeder Frank Morton selects lettuce seed in his breeding nursery. Photo by Karen Morton
Morton argues that avoiding intellectual property protection also encourages more active breeding. “Seems to me that my incentive to crank out new stuff is stronger than [companies that patent]. I need new stuff constantly to feed my catalog with new material, knowing that my competitors will be selling my varieties within a few years,” he says. “A patent creates a 20-year insulation against competitive intrusion, which seems pretty cushy from my perspective.”
While the U.S. seems to be leading the open-source charge, the concept is rapidly spreading around the world.
In India, the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, which describes itself as a professional resource organization, runs an open-source seed program, working with farmers to preserve seeds for traditional food varieties and to involve them in breeding new varieties that meet specific needs. The organization also helps farmers access and market open-source seeds.
German organization Agrecol is in the process of launching an open source “license,” essentially a more formal, legally binding version of the OSSI pledge for breeders in the European Union. (Regulations governing breeding differ from country to country, so the OSSI pledge cannot simply be adopted as-is in Europe or elsewhere.) In early November the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, declared that conventionally bred plants should be nonpatentable, marking a shift from the European Patent Office’s current stance, which permits patents for conventionally bred crops. The statement is not law, however; it will now be up to European governments to push the patent office to implement the commission’s statement.
In October 2016, the Dutch organization Hivos hosted a conference on open-source seed systems in Ethiopia, attracting farmers, community seed bank operators, and representatives of governments, non-governmental organizations and seed companies from around East Africa to learn about the open-source seed movement and the global shift toward patenting seeds. [Editor's note: Hivos is a supporter of Global Voices.]
Willy Douma, who runs Hivos’ open-source seed systems program, says the organization is in the process of building a global alliance on open-source seed systems that it hopes to launch formally next year. A coalition of environmental and development groups (including Hivos, international development nonprofit USC Canada and the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration) has compiled a database of seeds and biodiversity around the world to publish the Seed Map Project. And in a report published in September, the Global Alliance for the Future of Food — a collaboration of philanthropic foundations, including the WK Kellogg Foundation, the McKnight Foundation and more — said that to ensure a resilient food supply, farmers need to be able to access, exchange and improve seeds, and have a voice in shaping seed policies. The report also emphasized the role that diverse, local seed supplies play in sustainable food systems — a connection that Luby of OSSI hopes more people start to make soon.
“The food movement has focused on where is it grown and how is it grown, and the seed systems haven’t been as much a part of those conversations,” she says. “We’re trying to connect with people to say, ‘Hey, there’s an even deeper layer to your food.’”
Rachel Cernansky is a freelance journalist. She writes about the environment, focusing primarily on water, coal ash and sustainable agriculture, as well as immigration and human trafficking for a variety of publications, including the New York Times, National Geographic News, Grist and Smithsonian.com. A New York native, she now lives in Denver.
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author: Ensia


text:
Award-Winning Chinese Human Rights Journalist: ‘This is a Calling, Not a Career Choice’ · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Newsstand in Beijing. Photo by Ernie via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
This story was written by Rammie Chui and Zoe Lai and originally published on Varsity, a magazine run by students at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
When the grand prize for Chinese News and Features was announced at the annual Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards ceremony last May, an elegantly dressed young woman walked onto the stage to receive the prize for her story, “The Fate of Chinese Rights NGOs”.
Zhao Sile, a 26-year-old mainland freelance journalist currently writing for the Hong Kong-based online news outlet, Initium Media, told the audience she felt ambivalent about her award.
“My stories are derived from others’ suffering,” she said.
Zhao, who has received three Human Rights Press Awards, has built her journalistic career on chronicling China’s human rights defenders and their suffering. But for her this is a calling, not a career choice.
She did not always plan to be a journalist. Zhao studied financial engineering at Nanjing University but she had a long-standing interest in journalism due to her daily exposure to Hong Kong television throughout her childhood. She was born and raised in Guangzhou and was greatly influenced by Hong Kong culture.
Zhao Sile. Photo: Rammie Chui via HKFP.
Zhao watched Hong Kong's TVB television network every day throughout her youth and admired the journalists and broadcasters who were able to disseminate news and information to large audiences. When she was around 10 years old, Zhao began to notice the differences between the Hong Kong society she saw on the screen and the mainland society in which she lived.
By the time she entered her third year at university and had been on an exchange programme in Taiwan, the differences between mainland culture and the outside world had become even clearer to her. She had been approached to write for the now defunct iSun Affairs magazine after an editor noticed some articles she had written about the chopping down of Nanjing’s historic plane trees to make way for a new subway line in 2011.
In Taiwan, she began reporting on the 2012 presidential election for iSun Affairs, the Hong Kong-based politics weekly set up by émigré mainland journalists, while she was on a semester exchange. It was a door-opening and eye-opening experience and she even managed to interview the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou and attend an international press conference held by his challenger Tsai Ing-wen.
I thought this society was miraculous. I, as a mainland student who had stumbled into political reporting and social observation, [found] people were welcoming me, opening doors for me.
“I thought this society was miraculous. I, as a mainland student who had stumbled into political reporting and social observation, [found] people were welcoming me, opening doors for me,” says Zhao, who felt a kind of certainty and security she had never experienced before.
Around this time, Zhao was contacted online by agents of the Chinese Ministry of State Security – also well known as the Chinese secret police – for Taiwanese political information. She began to see what she thought were abnormalities within Chinese society and politics. Zhao says she saw her life in Taiwan as that of “a prisoner in a place with freedom.”
After she returned to the mainland, Zhao soon discovered the police were investigating her, inquiring about her daily schedule in Taiwan. She quickly realised she was being monitored by the government.
Subsequently, policemen approached her at her university where they questioned her for five hours to get information about her involvement with Taiwan politics. Zhao just graduated when iSun Affairs closed down. Despite these encounters while she was still a student, Zhao continued to write after graduating because, “if you want to do it, then you can.” She says this is a mentality she acquired while reporting in Taiwan.
Her determination put her in good stead when she went to Wukan, a fishing village in Southern China later that year to work on an investigative report for iSun Affairs in the village that had been rocked by anti-corruption protests just months earlier. She soon discovered reporting in Wukan was very different to reporting in Taiwan.
Fear and uncertainty loomed wherever she went, “You couldn’t tell where it was safe or dangerous, you couldn’t tell what would happen tomorrow,” she says.
In Wukan, Zhao was aware she was working in a very traditional patriarchal society. She saw there were many women involved in the village protests and continuing struggle. These women played many different roles in the struggle but their stories were never told. This made her resolve to tell the story of the women of Wukan and other women in China who were fighting for their rights.
In 2013, iSun Affairs Affairs magazine closed down and after her graduation, Zhao became more actively involved in social issues. She joined Feminist Voices, a media organisation advocating for the protection of women’s rights. There, Zhao and her colleagues called for the abolition of the Custody and Education system which is mainly used to imprison female sex workers for up to two years without trial.
Zhao applied the skills she learned as a journalist to maximize coverage and discussion on the issue. She wrote 320 letters to government officials requesting the disclosure of information related to the Custody and Education system, which were all turned down. This did not stop Zhao, who sued the government, demanding disclosure of the documents. The ensuing legal battle became a hot topic and generated a lot of media coverage.
Zhao says her experience working with Feminist Voices helped to shape her views and she now sees herself as combination of journalist and activist. She wants to report on China’s feminists and their stories, as there is still a lack of support for, and awareness of, female human rights defenders.
Five young women detained in China for their activism. Photo from Free Chinese Feminists Facebook group.
Unfortunately, the tightening grip on civil society in the mainland has seen crackdowns on the feminist movement. The most prominent incident was the arrest and detention of the so-called Feminist Five, who are friends of Zhao. This suppression of feminist voices in the mainland has severely affected the movement.
Around the time of the crackdown on the Feminist Five, Zhao’s then husband, rights lawyer Liu Jianshu, was detained by the government, following accusations of his involvement with the Occupy Movement in Hong Kong.
Liu was employed by a legal aid organisation that was being investigated by the government for inciting and spreading ideas related to Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement due to an incident involving a former employee and his girlfriend.
Following his arrest, Zhao suspended her work with Feminist Voices in order to concentrate all her efforts and use all possible means to free her husband. She gave interviews to the media and hired lawyers to ensure Liu’s safety. This brought her into conflict with Liu’s parents, who were opposed to such a high-profile defence.
Liu was released within a month but the marriage did not survive the ongoing conflict with Liu’s parents. “I had nothing at all. I lost my family, my job, my advocacy work, my income. I had nothing left,” Zhao says reflecting on the events.
She says Occupy Central and the Communist Party destroyed her life. “The most intense feeling is that these things were unavoidable and that I cannot go back.”
Zhao threw herself back into journalism, working as a freelancer for the Hong Kong-based online news site Initium. In her article, The Fate of Chinese Rights NGOs, Zhao relates the experiences of her now ex-husband and her own work in rights advocacy. The story features interviews with people of similar experiences and backgrounds and demonstrate the everyday struggle between conformity and freedom.
She describes herself as being almost cold-blooded when conducting interviews in order to tap into interviewees’ emotions and stories.
It’s not that I don’t have emotions, but I suppress them when I am writing. Then when I am finished, I release them. It’s like I’ve peeled off a layer of skin after I finish an article.
“It’s not that I don’t have emotions, but I suppress them when I am writing. Then when I am finished, I release them,” says Zhao. “It’s like I’ve peeled off a layer of skin after I finish an article.”
Every story is hard to write. She jokes she wants to retire every time she completes one, but Zhao is determined to soldier on. She says that with freedom of speech and expression coming under threat in Hong Kong she feels a sense of responsibility to continue writing. But she is also keenly aware that with the rising trend of localism in Hong Kong, there is a waning demand for stories related to advocacy and human rights in China.
Ironically, it is her activist side that drives her to continue her journalism despite all the challenges she may face. “I think that if you don’t do it [report on the issues] then no one will do it, and then it may disappear altogether,” she says.

author: Guest Contributor


text:
Foreign NGOs in China Face Uncertainty as Broad New Law Comes Into Effect · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Foreign NGOs Management Law enacted in China on January 1. Image from HKFP.
This post was written by Catherine Lai and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) on January 1, 2017. The version below is published on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
Foreign non-governmental organisations are facing uncertainty and confusion now that a new law came into effect on January 1 in China.
The Law on Management of Domestic Activities of Overseas Non-Governmental Organisations, which was passed in April, requires any group operating in China to register with the police and be sponsored by a government entity. Groups with temporary projects must also seek approval and register with police.
Sophie Richardson, China director of Human Rights Watch, a New York-based NGO, told Hong Kong Free Press:
I think it’s accurate to say – and not necessarily because they do work that they think is especially sensitive, but even groups who have worked in the country for decades and have very satisfactory relationships with the authorities – want to comply with the law but can’t.
The lack of details from the government on how the law will be implemented is causing confusion and uncertainty among overseas NGOs. The official list of government agencies and mass organisations that can sponsor international NGOs was only released on December 20, less than two weeks before the law was to be implemented. The government announced in November that there would be no grace period for the law’s implementation.
The China program manager for an international NGO said that her organisation has been actively speaking with stakeholders including international NGOs, diplomatic officials, and local partners since the draft law was released in 2015:
…and it’s been very difficult for us to figure out how exactly we would go about complying with the law.
She asked that her organisation – which works with groups within China to promote democracy and transparent governance – not be named to ensure the security of the groups they work with.
Government officials they spoke to who may be implementing the law are also uncertain about their role and the steps they are supposed to take, she said:
With so much uncertainty on both sides both implementing and acting underneath it, it’s going to be very hard to get it working very effectively.
Shawn Shieh, a Hong Kong-based expert on Chinese civil society, told Hong Kong Free Press:
The law is pretty broad, so it’s not just charities and NGOs – or what we think of as NGOs – it also includes trade and business groups, chambers of commerce… technical institutes, people working on economic issues, technical assistance, artistic and educational groups – there’s a pretty wide range of groups here.
He also noted that there are two main points of uncertainty – whether NGOs can find an official sponsor, and the vague definition of what constitutes a “temporary activity” for groups trying to get approval for projects.
If you just go to China for a meeting, is that an activity? […] If you have to file paperwork on every activity that is part of a project, then that’s a lot of paperwork.
For NGOs hoping to register a representative office, the biggest hurdle is finding an official sponsor, he said:
To get a sponsor, you have to have a good relationship with the government.
When asked what will happen to NGOs who do not have a sponsor after January 1, he said:
No one knows the answer to that question – I don’t think even public security officials know the answer to that question.
In a study carried out by the China Philanthropy Research Institute and China Global Philanthropy Institute, some Hong Kong-based groups said their sponsors had asked them to suspend their work on the mainland. Others reported an increase in paperwork and stricter procedures after the law was passed, and some declined to be interviewed.
The law also states that foreign NGOs must not “endanger China’s national unity, security, or ethnic unity”or “harm China’s national interests, societal public interest and the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations.” It applies to all non-mainland NGOs, including those based in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Government officials said rapid growth in the number of groups made the new law necessary and claim it will facilitate the activities of NGOs, which until now have operated in a legal grey area. But the law has been criticised by rights groups as being part of President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on civil society – they say the broad provisions could be used to target groups doing work that the Communist Party does not like.
The international NGO law will give the government greater control over civil society as part of a series of other laws, including a new charity law which took effect in September, and new rules on social organisations released in August. Richardson, the China director of Human Rights Watch, said:
One of the really negative effects of the law and the discussion around it is that whole sectors of the NGO community… suddenly feel that they are being treated as subversives or enemies or somehow problematic when for decades they have been the real ballasts of China’s relationships with other countries at times when the political relationships were quite rocky.
Why the government has not found a way to mitigate some of these fears is, I think, because the authorities want to have the arbitrary power to say yes to this one and no to that one.
Maya Wang, Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said she sees that NGOs are dealing with the new laws in different ways:
Those with good relationships and which focus on work that the government consider as ‘non-sensitive’ have sought to continue their presence in the country by complying with the stringent new requirements; but others have relocated their operations and staff from China or in some cases, stopped their work in China.
Although she does not consider her organisation’s work to be subversive, the China program manager for an international NGO, who chose to remain anonymous, said the broad discretion that the law gives to public security officials to decide what is harmful to national security and public interest is worrying because it is unclear how it will be employed:
That broad discretion, from the lens of [international NGOs] like ours, is very worrisome when we couple it with everything that’s been happening with civil society over the last 36 months, where we’ve been seeing a political tightening, ad hoc and random detentions of civil society actors, be it human rights, be it labour activists, be it people working in women’s empowerment.
However, she said groups – as well as their funders – should also look for the silver lining. Focusing too much on the negative aspects of the law could lead to missed opportunities, she said:
The laws have actually, since the drafts were initiated, created some space for dialogue between civil society groups and security officials that wasn’t necessarily happening before.
Building on this dialogue could help the authorities understand that civil groups can benefit society as a whole, and the trend of the laws towards promoting greater transparency is encouraging, she said.
The organisation plans to continue running their program:
I’m remaining cautiously optimistic that groups – at least until the dust settles – will be able to continue operating and doing their programs while everything gets sorted out.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


text:
LibreRouter: Why Buy a Router When You Can Build Your Own? · Global Voices
Jacobo Nájera

AlterMundi community network collaborators work with partners from Mexico. Photo via Altermundi blog.
To connect to the Internet, most people around the world rely on private companies to provide us with Internet service — and the necessary hardware to get online — for a fee. We depend on companies like Asus, Cisco, Eriksson and Huawei, that build modems and routers, in order to connect to the Internet.
But this is not the only way to connect. LibreRouter, a new project developed by a group of hackers originating from different countries and backgrounds, will now make it easier to get online without relying on a corporate hardware manufacturer.
In August 2016, the IETF (the Internet Engineering Task Force, where Internet technical standards are developed) acknowledged in a document that “a set of alternative network deployments emerged in the last decade with the aim of bringing internet connectivity to people or providing a local communication infrastructure.” The document highlights that this classification involves “architectures and topologies different from those of mainstream networks and relies on alternative governance and business models.”
Inspired by the declarations of the IETF, and united by their shared idea of building hardware that allows community networks to grow and operate, this group has developed LibreRouter. Included within this group are community networks — i.e. local area networks developed by community coalitions — such as Argentina's AlterMundi, Guifi.net in Catalonia, Ninux in Italy and Village Telco in South Africa.
Community networks can play various roles. AlterMundi, for example, is an Argentinean civil association that promotes the creation of autonomous networks allowing the country's towns to have Internet access where commercial providers do not see a business opportunity to sell their services. The leaders of the Ninux community network say that one of the catalysts that sparked the project was a constant worry about the Internet's centralisation.
Constructing networks requires physical equipment. Routers that play a pivotal role in the way that networks connect with each other.
The original idea of LibreRouter – which was to build a router for community networks – started in 2013, during a meeting in Berlin involving Steve Song, Elektra, Pau Escrich, Nico Echaniz, Jesica Giudice, and Gui Iribarren, all of whom worked on different community network projects.
They began working together in earnest when new regulations established by the US Federal Communications Commission forced manufacturers to restrict domestic routers, preventing the necessary modifications to create a community network.
That same year the project was awarded a grant from the Regional Fund for Digital Innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean – a LACNIC initiative – and another grant from the Fund for Internet Research & Education to aid its development.
Gui Iribarren, vice president of the organisation AlterMundi – one of the organisations managing the project – discussed it in an interview with Global Voices:
GV: What differences are there between this router and others that you can buy in a computer shop? What makes it unique?
GI: La diferencia más fundamental radica en las libertades que ofrece. En primer lugar, evidentemente no implementamos ningún bloqueo sobre el software (como lo hacen el resto de los fabricantes, desde las nuevas regulaciones), de forma que cualquiera puede modificar el firmware de fábrica (LibreMesh, un Software Libre basado en OpenWrt/LEDE), o incluso reemplazarlo completamente por otro (“reflashearlo”) fácilmente.
Por otro lado, es un proyecto de Open-Source Hardware, es decir, publicaremos todos los documentos de diseño de la placa base para que cualquiera pueda entenderla, modificarla y producir su propia versión. No existen muchos routers en el mercado que ofrezcan esta posibilidad, y de hecho la empresa Dragino – que esta a cargo del desarrollo de la placa y tiene años de trayectoria en este rubro – ha liberado los diseños de productos anteriores.
Por último, hay diferencias enormes respecto a las prestaciones del hardware. Los routers que se comercializan (a precios accesibles) hoy en día para realizar enlaces en exterior normalmente incluyen una única radio WiFi. Existen en el mercado routers con 2 radios, pero son de uso hogareño, necesitan modificaciones de software (cada vez más difíciles) y adaptaciones físicas para que soporten la intemperie y tengan mayor alcance.
El LibreRouter está preparado de fábrica para ser instalado en exteriores y trae incluidas 3 radios que son utilizadas inteligentemente por el software LibreMesh para construir “nubes mesh” de alta performance, requieren solamente una correcta orientación de las antenas y pueden establecer dos enlaces simultáneos en la banda de 5ghz, en direcciones independientes.
De alguna manera, condensa en un único dispositivo las funciones que normalmente se obtienen combinando un router hogareño básico de 2.4ghz, y dos routers de exterior de 5ghz; pero a un costo total menor, con una instalación más sencilla, y ampliando posibilidades de desarrollo futuro.
GI: The most fundamental difference is in the freedom that it offers. First and foremost, we clearly do not put any form of block on the software (as do the other manufacturers, since the new regulations), in such a way that anyone can modify the default firmware (LibreMesh, a Free Software based on OpenWrt/LEDE), or even completely replace the firmware for another version (‘reflash it’) with ease.
On the other hand, it is an Open-Source Hardware project which means we will publish all of the design documents for the motherboard so that any user can understand, change and create their own version. There are not many routers on the market that offer this possibility, and actually the company Dragino – which is in charge of the motherboard's development and who has been working on this area for years – has released design documents of its former products.
Lastly, there are enormous differences in relation to the hardware's performance. Routers that are marketed (at accessible prices) today normally include only one WiFi radio. There are routers on the market that have two radios but for domestic use, software modifications are necessary (an increasingly difficult task) and also physical changes are required so that they can survive outdoors and have a better range.
LibreRouter is factory-ready to be installed outdoors and comes equipped with three radios that are used intelligently by the LibreMesh software to build high performance ‘Wireless mesh networks’, only requiring correct antenna orientation, and able to create two 5GHz band simultaneous links in independent directions.
In some ways, it packs into one device functions that are normally obtained through combining a basic 2.4GHz domestic router and two external 5GHz routers, but at a much lower cost, with easier installation and multiple possibilities for future development.
GV: Why does a community network such as AlterMundi need a LibreRouter?
GI: Las redes que fomentamos desde AlterMundi están construidas y mantenidas por gente relativamente no técnica. Con lo cual, desde el principio nos concentramos en que tanto la puesta en marcha como el mantenimiento de los nodos sean lo más simple posible. Sin embargo, con el escalamiento de las redes fuimos encontrando complejidades (como por ejemplo la necesidad de montar dos o más routers en ciertas ubicaciones) que complican el entendimiento por parte de la población en general, y por eso veníamos dándole vueltas a la idea desde 2013. El punto de inflexión ocurrió con las mencionadas restricciones de fábrica, que directamente hacen inviable la posibilidad de que gente no técnica transforme un router hogareño (económicamente accesible) en un nodo comunitario, poniendo en peligro la continuidad de las redes en todo el mundo.
[Nota de Gui Iribarren: AlterMundi no es en si misma una red comunitaria, sino una
asociación civil que fomenta la creación de redes autónomas, como QuintanaLibre, NonoLibre, etc]
GI: The networks that we promote with AlterMundi are built and maintained by people who have limited technological skills. Due to this, from the beginning we focused on ensuring that both setup as well as node maintenance would be as simple as possible. However, with the surge in networks, we encountered some complexities (such as needing to set up two or more routers in certain sites) that made running the network more difficult for the general public, thus the idea of LibreRouter had been going around since 2013. The turning point came with the previously mentioned manufacturing restrictions that directly made it impossible for people with limited technological skills to transform a domestic router (that is economically accessible) into a community node, thus putting in danger the continuity of networks all over the world.
[Note from Gui Iribarren: AlterMundi is not a community network in itself, but it is a civil association that promotes the creation of community networks such as QuitanaLibre, NonoLibre etc.]
On the other hand, Pau Escrich, from the Guifinet network wrote an article in Spanish entitled: “LibreRouter, a Project That Makes Us Dream” in which he concludes that while the project is ambitious, it responds to a real need. In his own words: “This is quite a challenge for hackers of free networks that, in my opinion, are close to making an important step towards freedom and autonomy relating to technology and communication.”
It is estimated that in early 2017, the first version of this router will be delivered to community networks promoted by AlterMundi in Argentina and by Village Telco in South Africa. Recipients will only pay for the price of manufacturing the hardware (around €90) which will be used to finance the second production phase, aiming to make it possible for everyone to acquire a LibreRouter.

author: Jacobo Nájera


text:
The Best and Worst of Russia’s New Year’s Laws · Global Voices
Isaac Webb

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the State Duma in 2012. Source: Mitya Aleshkovsky, Flickr.
Every year, the Russian State Duma schedules laws to come into effect on January 1. In 2017, as ever, some of these laws seem poised to make positive contributions to Russian society and some…don't. This year, RuNet Echo marks the highlights and lowlights—from a law that will bring Russian court records online to the introduction of forced labor in some state correctional facilities.
Beginning on January 1, certain foreign Internet retail companies will have to start paying a value added tax in Russia. Because the law affects companies that sell electronic books, music, movies, and computer programs, the legislation already has a moniker: the Google tax. Accordingly, Google has increased prices for Google Drive services and Google Play purchases by 18 percent.
January 1 also marks the introduction of a federal registry for Russians who have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The Russian Ministry of Health says it is introducing the registry to better understand the characteristics—and extent—of the country’s HIV problem: more than 1.5 million people, or more than 1 percent of the Russian population, have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Earlier this year, Russian authorities announced that the Ural city of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, is facing an HIV epidemic. More than 1.8 percent of the city’s 1.4 million residents are infected with the virus.
For now, inclusion on the registry is voluntary, though the list will provide the basis for the state’s provision of antiretroviral medication.
Starting on the first of the year, the Russian Pension Fund will also introduce a registry of people with disabilities. Officials hope the registry will help people with disabilities find work and raise awareness about the benefits and programs to which people with disabilities are entitled. Russia has one of the largest gaps between the employment rate among people with disabilities and the employment rate among people without disabilities of any country, according to a recent study conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO).
More than 12 million Russians, or almost 9 percent of the country’s population, live with disabilities, including 620,000 children.
The New Year also brings a new set of rules for news aggregators in Russia. Aggregators whose daily traffic exceeds 1 million views will be considered media outlets in the eyes of the Russian government, forcing them to verify the truth of the news stories they republish—a nearly impossible task that seems to give the government license to crack down on the most popular aggregators in the country, including Yandex, Mail.ru, Google, and Bing. RuNet Echo extensively covered the introduction of this legislation and the government’s pressure (and backpedaling) on Google.
As of the first of the year, Russian courts will be allowed to sentence defendants to forced labor in correctional centers around the country. Four large correctional facilities were scheduled to be opened on January 1—in the Siberian region of Tyumen, the Tambov region (southeast of Moscow), Stavropol Krai (in the North Caucasus), and Primorsky Krai (in the Far East)—in addition to seven smaller facilities across the country. The centers will not have the same degree of security as normal correctional facilities, and inmates will be allowed to leave if they get permission from administrators. They will not, however, be able to choose or change their jobs.
After the law was introduced, Valery Maksimenko, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service, said that forced labor would compare favorably with other kinds of punishment because convicts would not be isolated from society: “Forced labor in correctional centers, despite the name, can be compared to shift work for people who live in dormitories away from home.”
Maksimenko’s assurance, however, will do little to assuage those who already see echoes of the Gulag in existing forms of labor in Russian penal colonies.
Forced labor was included as a potential sanction in the Russian Criminal Code in 2011, but its introduction has been delayed multiple times since.
New Year's legislation will also bring Russian courts online—at least some of them. Moscow City and District courts are now accepting statements, appeals, and all other document submissions in electronic form, and court records are now searchable by the name of the individual involved, statute, and a variety of other ways. Only courts with the technical capacity to implement such a digitization will do so, however, meaning the vast majority of Russian courts won’t have websites like the Moscow court system, whose website is already up and running. In all, the Moscow digitization project took two years to implement and develop, and cost $172.4 million, $50 million of which came from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Until the first of the year, the retirement age for Russian civil servants and municipal employees stood at 55 for women and 60 for men. Starting on January 1, the government will incrementally increase the retirement age to 63 for women and 65 for men at a rate of half a year per year (the age will increase until 2032 for women and and until 2026 for men). The government says the initiative is designed to keep qualified government employees in their jobs longer, and to reduce the strain of pensions on the federal budget.
Finally, beginning on the first of the year, Russian drinkers will have to pay higher excise taxes on beer, wine, champagne, cider, medovukha (a mead-like drink), and hard liquor. The excise tax on foreign champagne will increase by 10 rubles to 36 rubles per liter, and on domestic sparkling wine by 1 ruble to 14 rubles per liter. The tax rate on Russian wine will remain the same, while the tax on foreign wine will increase by 9 rubles to 18 rubles. Excise taxes on cigarettes and e-cigarettes will also increase over the next three years.

author: Isaac Webb


text:
Crowds Assault Women During New Year’s ‘Night of Shame’ in Bangalore · Global Voices
Vishal Yashoda Manve

Eve Teasing. Image from Flickr by Pee Vee. Gandhi bazaar, Bangalore. CC BY-NC-ND
In a disturbing event that is being compared to the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in the German federal state of Cologne last year, an unruly mob thronged the streets of the Indian city of Bangalore and sexually harassed and assaulted women while the city police struggled to shut down the menace on December 31, 2016.
According to media reports, thousands of men on foot, and riding on bikes and in cars groped and shouted lewd remarks at women during the end-of-year celebrations on Bangalore's popular M.G. and Brigade roads — despite the presence of 1,500 police officers in the area. The sheer scale made patrolling the area a difficult task, police said.
“By midnight, the shouts of happy new year turned to help me,“ said K Anantha Subramanyam, a photographer for the Bangalore Mirror who was witness to the scenes that unraveled there. Tejasvi Mahadev, who was also present, said drunken men in cars targeted women walking on the road. Some tried to touch them and take selfies with them.
Media outlets and social media users are calling it Bangalore's “night of shame.”
Bangalore's Night Of SHAME!!
Mass Molestation Of Women On New Year's Eve
No FIRs Yet,Imagine The Outrage Had It Happened In BJP Ruled State pic.twitter.com/jAg7oar9F8
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) January 2, 2017
#crazy #mgroad #bangalore #NewYearsEve
After seeing this inhumane acts of people. There is definitely a need of #batman to this city #HNY pic.twitter.com/toJ0DLAwQO
— Salahuddin (@Salahudd1n) December 31, 2016
Some have criticized the police and officials for not doing enough to prevent the situation from happening or for not helping the women who were victimized.
Ridhima Shukla wrote on Facebook:
Complaints of crimes against women have largely fallen on deaf ears, with the police even saying, days before the mayhem of the night of 31 December, that it was not possible for them to patrol every inch of the city and that the onus of safety equally lies with women.
Bangalore's new additional director general of police Praveen Sood assumed charge on Sunday, January 1, and made the following statement, seeming to dodge responsibility:
I had not taken charge as commissioner till 1st January. Also, there is not a single complaint so what can I comment.
In an interview with Bangalore Mirror the next day, however, he maintained:
The safety of women, children and senior citizens are my main priorities. I also strongly believe that there is a need to sensitise the police and the citizens on issues that concern these people. Otherwise what is the point of calling ourselves a civilized society if our women and children do not feel safe.
Remarks from Karnataka state's Home Minister G Parmeshwara seemingly brushing aside the reported mass molestation didn't exactly help authorities’ cause, either:
Such incidents do happen on New Year day and on Christmas. We take a lot of precautions.
According to police data, in 2016, there were 756 cases of sexual harassment registered in Bangalore and 559 of them are still under investigation. The numbers show crimes against women have grown every year since 2014. Cases pending investigations are also mounting at an alarming rate, indicating that not much progress has been made to apprehend the culprits.
People condemned the New Year's incident on social media:
Is Bangalore the most unsafe cosmopolitan city for women?
What has happened to cultured Dravidian men?
— AB (@abhi_bol) January 2, 2017
#nightofshame #bangalore #31st
What hs dis world cm to ??
Nw women r being prevnted frm moving out? Unexpectd frm a plc like Bangalore!!
— Samantha Mendonca (@30Mendonca) January 2, 2017
Many wondered what happened to Bangalore's reputation of being a safe city for women:
The Bangalore I know of was always respectful of women, what has gone wrong? https://t.co/vG3cIzFZgP
— Akshay Chaturvedi (@akshaychat) January 2, 2017
The Bangalore NYE event is shocking. Such disrespect and insecurity is being created for women #Bengaluru
— Errol (@errol_nazareth) January 2, 2017
New Year’s eve in #Bengaluru witnesses mass molestation of women in police presence.
Shame! pic.twitter.com/eZV17BMrkm
— Shamanth BS (@shamant18) January 2, 2017
Over the past few months, conversations in Bangalore have focused on migrants in the city. Certain media outlets have blamed them for causing chaos, and after the assaults some people case the blame on migrants without evidence. In response, one Facebook user wrote in a since deleted comment:
Really painful to see Bangalore in a situation where it has compromised the safety of women and respect to law and order in the name of celebration and democracy.
No. Blaming the immigrants for the situation isn't going to help us. Most of our friends are from various parts of the country and that diversity is what makes Bangalore and Karnataka so unique. They have equally contributed to the city like everyone else.

author: Vishal Yashoda Manve


text:
Lenče Zdravkin, a Macedonian Woman Whom Refugees Call Their ‘Second Mother’ · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Lenče Zdravkin on the balcony of her house in Veles, Macedonia. Photo by Viktor Popovski/IKS, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Several days before the New Year, the nonprofit platform “Samo prashaj” (which translates to “just ask”) published a piece by Lenče Zdravkin, a journalist turned humanitarian worker from Veles, Macedonia, whose work helping migrants and refugees has earned her much public admiration.
Zdravkin's house is located next to a set of train tracks that are used by migrants and refugees passing from Greece towards Western Europe. After entering the country illegally from Greece, they avoided normal transport means, and drivers who pick them up as hitchhikers–even ambulances–risked being arrested for human trafficking. So the refugees walked, using the tracks as a guide through this portion of the south-to-north ‘Balkan Route.’
In the summer of 2015, as the number of migrants and refugees arriving to Europe spiked, Macedonian authorities put in place new laws and procedures to deal with the influx. As a result, fewer people are walking the Balkan Route these days, although plenty still do, mainly economic migrants who want to avoid the bureaucracy of applying for asylum.
The town of Veles is located about halfway on the railway from Gevgelija to Tabanovce. Wikipedia photo by Maximilian Dörrbecker – Chumwa, CC BY-SA 2.5.
The trek can be perilous. Over the last several years, several dozen migrants and refugees have perished on and near the railway, the victims of accidents or violence at the hand of local gangs.
In her account, Zdravkin said she couldn't just stand by idly and watch, so she started helping them any way she could, first with her own resources, and then as part of widening network, which grew in spite of rising xenophobia, fueled by ruling politicians and the media in their service.
Lenče Zdravkin turned the ground floor of her house into a storeroom for humanitarian aid handed to passing refugees and migrants. Photo by Viktor Popovski/IKS, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
She wrote:
Беше почетокот на 2013, некаде март-април, уште температурите беа вака ниски. Немаше време да чекам, ниту да прашам кои се, што се. Само што ги видов – млади момчиња, отидов бргу да купам леб, да им се помогне, да им се даде. Тогаш се уште го немавме законот за бегалци и не беше така слободно. Најчесто, тоа се случуваше исклучиво во ноќните часови и јас преседував по цела ноќ за да ги пречекам групите. Нивниот топот е поинаков од локалното население. Нивните нозе се тешки и кога ќе чујам како се движат по камењата, знам дека се тие.
Во долниот кат во куќата ги собирам донациите, се трудам секогаш да ги има сите основни работи за нивните потреби. Долго време бев оставена сама на себе, не знаев веќе што да извадам од дома. Се случува да има бегaлци кои примаат редовна терапија, па ќе ги испратам децата или самата ќе претрчам до аптека да купам апчиња. Хигиенски средства секогаш треба да има, обувки, храна, млеко за дечињата. Се случувало некои денови, во дворот, во ходникот, по скалите да има по 300, 400, 500 луѓе наеднаш, па треба да им дадеш предност на постарите, на бремените, за болните да повикаш Брза помош или Црвениот крст, а тоа што можев и самата го санирав.
It was in the beginning of 2013, around March or April, the temperatures were still low like they are now. There was no time to wait, or to ask who they are, what they are. As soon as I saw them–young boys–I went to buy bread, to help them, to give it to them. At that time the law on refugees wasn't changed and it wasn't as free. Mostly, all of this was happening exclusively during the night, and I used to sit up all night to wait for the groups. The sound of their footsteps is different compared to the locals. Their feet are heavy and when I hear them moving over the rocks, I know it's them.
I gather the donations on the ground floor of the house, and I try to have all the basic necessities for them. I was doing that on my own for a long time. I came to the point of selling much of my stuff. Some refugees need medicine, so I send the kids or I myself hop over to the pharmacy to buy pills. Personal hygiene products are always needed, shoes, food, milk for the children. It used to happen that on some days, there would be 300, 400, 500 people at once in my yard, in my hallway, on the stairs. You need to prioritize then, look after the elderly, the pregnant, to call an ambulance or the Red Cross for the ill. Some of the wounds I dressed myself, if I could.
Lenče Zdravkin in her home in Veles, Macedonia. Photo by Viktor Popovski/IKS, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
И пред бегалците имав големо семејство, сега со нив имам уште поголемо. Ме викаат „Ленце“ или „мама“, дури и повозрасни од мене ме нарекле мајка. Еден ми рече оставив една мајка во Алепо, вие сте втората. Ќе ми се јават и ќе ми кажат: Mајко, стигнав на сигурно.
Сите ме почитуваат, ми праќаат пораки, сакаат еден ден да се видиме повторно, да ги посетам. Успеав да спојам 13 члена на едно семејство да се најдат во дворот тука. По една година ми се јавија да побараат помош повторно, ако може да им помогнам да ја најдат и последната сестра и нејзините деца. Во маса од илјадници бегалци, јас само викав: Јасмин, Јасмин, сè додека не се најдовме. Конечно успеа да се спои целото семејство. Сега се среќни, одат на училиште, учат јазик, многу ми е драго што се заедно.
I had a large family before the refugees came, now I have even larger one. They call me “Lence” [pronounced with a soft c, as opposed to the hard č] or “mom,” even people older than me have called me mother. One of them said, “I left one mother in Aleppo, you are the second one.” They would call me and say, “Mother, I arrived at a safe place.”
They all respect me, send me messages, want to see me again one day, to visit them. I managed to join 13 members of one family and get them to meet in my yard here. After one year they called to ask for help again, to help them find their last sister and her children. In a mass of thousands of refugees, I was calling, Jasmine, Jasmine, until I found her. The whole family managed to get together. They are happy now, going to school, learning the language, they are very glad to be together.
Lenče Zdravkin and the train tracks in Veles, Macedonia. Photo by Viktor Popovski/IKS, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Многу несреќи се случија. Возот зеде многу жртви. Тоа се луѓе што биле кај мене, сум им пружила помош и само на неколку километри подолу од мојата куќа возот ги прегазил. Трчав по институции за да ги закопаат на новите гробишта. Ископаа масовна гробница, викнав луѓе, оџа да ги испочитуваме до крај, според нивните обичаи. Oваа година и споменик им направив, напишано е и на арапски и на англиски, чувствував потреба да го направам тоа, ако еден ден некој ги побара, иако имињата не им се знаат. Кога и да се навратам на тоа, јас сум болна, тие слики не можат да згаснат. Во мене постојат милион бегалци кои заминаа и милион приказни и секоја од нив остави лузна.
Many accidents did happen. The train took a lot of casualties. Those were people who came to me, whom I've helped and only several kilometers down the track from my house the train run them over. I was going from one institution to another to arrange a funeral at the new cemetery. They dug a mass grave, I called an imam, to pay the proper respects, according to their customs. I made a monument at the grave this year, with a sign in Arabic and English. I felt the need to do that, in case someone looks for them, even though we don't know their names. Whenever I think of that I feel sick, those images won't fade away. A million refugees who left and their million stories all exist in me, and every one of them left a scar.
Lenče Zdravkin. Photo by Viktor Popovski/IKS, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Економските мигранти никогаш не престанаа да поминуваат. Сега ме контактираше едно момче, не знам ниту од каде е, дали е од Сирија, Ирак… Ми пишува – Јас ќе тргнам по секоја цена пеш, дали си ти таму? Се разбираме многу лесно, иако тие не го разбираат нашиот јазик, а јас не го знам доволно нивниот, но за да помогнеш некому и очите зборуваат. Мислам дека не случајно сум се погодила на ова место. Не велам дека многу сум им помогнала, но тие се толку истрауматизирани и истоштени, што за нив и една блага насмевка многу значи. Енергијата ја црпам од нив, откако ќе си дојдат на себе и тие знаат да се пошегуваат, имаат желба за живот, желба за понатаму. Сфатив, благодарение на нив дека секогаш треба да бидеме благодарни за она што го имаме. Жално е што не знаеме да го цениме тоа.
Economic migrants never stopped passing. Just now, a boy contacted me, I don't know from where, whether from Syria or Iraq… He wrote, “I start the journey on foot at any price, are you there?” We understand each other very easily, even though they don't understand our language [Macedonian], and I don't speak theirs, but to help someone it's enough to talk with your eyes. I think I am not here by accident. I don't say I have helped a lot, but they are so traumatized and fatigued, that even a kind smile means a lot to them. I get my energy from them, after they regain some strength they can tell a joke, they have the wish to live, to go on. Thanks to them I realized we should always be grateful for what we have. It's sad that we don't know how to appreciate it.
Zdravkin's piece on the Samo prashaj portal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license. Global Voices is translating and republishing this important testimony with permission from the Institute of Communication Studies (IKS) from Skopje, which organized the story.

author: Filip Stojanovski


text:
Mistaken Identity?: Kyrgyzstan’s Name Tarnished in Attack on Istanbul Nightclub that Killed 39 · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Copyright Moyan Brenn. Creative commons.
On December 31, 2016, a lone gunman shot 39 people dead in the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey. On June 28, 2016, gunmen killed 45 people at Istanbul's largest airport Ataturk. On both occasions citizens of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia were implicated by media citing Turkish police or other government sources in the aftermath of the attacks.
In the case of the attack on Reina, claimed by the ISIS group known for its brutal military tactics in parts of Syria and Iraq, a Kyrgyz citizen has already been absolved by both Kyrgyz and Turkish authorities.
But that was not before his name and passport image sped across the internet after Turkish mainstream media identified him as the assailant.
Speaking in an interview with Kyrgyzstan's leading privately owned news agency AKIpress Iakhe Mashrapov said he was “not an extremist and not a terrorist”; rather he was a trader that worked between the largest market in the south of the ex-Soviet country and Istanbul.
According to Mashrapov he was in Kyrgyzstan at the time of the attack, leaving for Istanbul on January 1 and returning — following questioning by Turkish authorities — January 3. Stills from video footage of the alleged Reina gunman distributed by Turkish media do not closely resemble him and it is unclear how an image of his passport came to be in the outlets’ possession.
Owner of Kyrgyzstan passport identified as belonging to Istanbul nightclub attacker says: “Err, that's not me” https://t.co/J3icVF2DaO
— Peter Leonard (@Peter__Leonard) January 3, 2017
In the meantime, Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (GKNB) has said it believes the attacker is from China.
That has not been proven. But the confusion around the attacker's ultimate identity is not dissimilar to that witnessed following an attack on a Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan itself in September.
The regionally-focused website Eurasianet.org reported on the complicated investigation into that attack.
[The suicide bomber was an] “unidentified member of Uighur terrorist groups, an ethnic Uighur, using the passport of a citizen of Tajikistan. Blew himself up on August 30 at the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan. According to the testimony of witnesses and accomplices in the terrorist attack, he spoke in Uighur and Chinese,” the GKNB said in a statement.
The ultimate identity of the [suicide] bomber carrying a Tajik passport with the name Zoir Khalilov thus remains a mystery.
While most [of the other] suspects were advertised by the GKNB using passport-style photos, the man that actually drove the car into the embassy’s gates before self-combusting is shown only in a captured still from airport surveillance.
That man, in turn, was said to be working under the orders of Sirozhiddin Mukhtarov (also known by the nom de guerre Abu Saloh), a Syria-based militant who now seemingly heads a militant group subordinate to the Al-Nusra front.
The GKNB identify Mukhtarov as a Kyrgyz national and an ethnic Uighur (while adding confusingly that he is listed as an ethnic Uzbek in the dedicated field in his passport). According to an RFE/RL report from 2015, his YouTube addresses are in Uzbek (the two languages share strong similarities but are not identical). How the GKNB established the link between Mukhtarov and the bomber is not clear.
In the aftermath of the Istanbul airport attack on June 28, Western media and Turkish media citing government sources had claimed Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Russian citizens were involved. That news also travelled around the world.
The involvement of Kyrgyz nationals in both attacks is a possibility, of course. Kyrgyz citizens enter Turkey visa free, and according to local security services, hundreds are said to have used the country (typically arriving from Russian airports) as a staging post to enter Syria to fight with militant groups that include ISIS.
But as noted in an article written by Uran Botobekov for the Diplomat magazine, Turkish authorities did not publish the final list of the names of the airport attack planners and perpetrators alongside their citizenships.
That left reporters and analysts guessing whether the original investigative leads so widely reported on had been decisively proven or not:
The names of the arrested indicate they are of Chechen or Dargin origin. A source in the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry told The Diplomat that perhaps some of them are Kyrgyz citizens of Chechen nationality. Turkish police did not give any information since a Kyrgyz name was not on the list, but not all Kyrgyz citizens are ethnic Kyrgyz. Wahhabis in Central Asia and the North Caucasus have the same roots and it is not a secret that there are Chechens living in Kyrgyzstan, some of whom are strongly involved in radical groups.
In the same article, a Kyrgyz student living in Turkey was quoted as feeling increasingly under suspicion following the June attack on the airport:
We are concerned after the terrorist attacks in the international airport and our Turkish friends, teachers, neighbors, employers began to look at us with suspicion…I have a feeling as if I was in a strange and unfriendly country. The air is filled with the atmosphere of phobia. We are afraid of this.
Ever since the media reports of a Kyrgyz citizen's potential involvement in the Reina attack broke January 2, social media users have focused on two things.
One is the widely-felt shame, or indignation, that the country is again in the news for the wrong reasons, possibly without concrete justification.
The other, which should not be ignored as Central Asians are increasingly being linked to attacks on Turkish soil, is the perceived ease with which a non-Kyrgyz citizen — presumably by corrupt means — can obtain a Kyrgyz passport under any identity from the country's graft prone State Registration Service.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective