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Indigenous Activists Threatened and Attacked in El Cauca, Colombia · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

Several indigenous communities in Colombia continue to be victims of human rights violations and threats by paramilitary groups. Moreover, activists also report being attacked by public security forces and ESMAD, Colombia's mobile anti-riot squad, as exposed by Ama Pachamama in a Facebook post from March 11, 2015:
[…] A la fecha, se reportan 57 indígenas heridos, producto de agresiones directas de la Fuerza Pública; nueve heridos por artefactos no convencionales utilizados por el ESMAD; varios por arma de fuego disparada de manera directa.
La situación en la zona es denunciada como crítica, donde se informa la desaparición y posterior asesinato de dos comuneros a mediados de febrero, y que se relaciona con el actual y “continuo patrullaje de hombres armados, presuntos paramilitares en las Haciendas La Emperatriz y el Municipio de Caloto”. Y se agrava por los actos de estigmatización del alcalde de Corinto, Oscar Quintero, quien califica de manera permanente de “terroristas” a las comunidades, y por las amenazas a la vida que se dan a través de “la circulación de panfletos emitidos por grupos paramilitares – Rastrojos y Águilas Negras – anunciando limpieza social y amenazando de manera directa a organizaciones y dirigentes. Quienes tildan a la comunidad y sus dirigentes de ‘Roba tierras’.”
To date, 57 indigenous protesters have been reported injured as a result of direct attacks by security forces; nine wounded by riot police using unconventional devices; several others deliberately shot at. The situation in the area is said to be critical. In mid-February, two villagers disappeared and were later murdered—all connected to the current “continuous patrols by armed men, presumed paramilitary agents in Haciendas La Imperatriz and the town of Caloto.” And this is aggravated by acts of intimidation against the mayor of Corinto, Oscar Quintero, who has called the actions a form of permanent ‘terrorism’  as well as by the threats to the lives of residents through the “circulation of flyers put out by paramilitary groups—the Rastrojos and Aguilas Negras—warning of social cleansing and directly threatening organizations and their leaders. Who branded the community and its leaders ‘land-grabbers.'”
The Internet gave voice to the fear engendered by the Colombian paramilitary groups knowns as Águilas Negras and Rastrojos, who disseminate threatening leaflets designed to intimidate the social activists of the Cauca region. As a result, many users are condemning their actions and denouncing the situation on Twitter:
Nuevas amenazas masivas d Águilas Negras y Rastrojos en Bta y Cauca pic.twitter.com/dxAg4oEMMk
— SomosDefensores (@SomosDef) marzo 10, 2015
New massive threats by Aguilas Negras and Rastrojos in Bta and Cauca
Colombia:Paramilitares Rastrojos y Águilas Negras intimidad con” limpieza social” a indígenas que luchan por la tierra en Norte del Cauca.
— JUAN GONZALEZ (@mundoennoticias) marzo 10, 2015
Colombian paramilitary groups Rastrojos and Aguilas Negras are threatening the indigenous people fighting for land in northern Cauca with “social cleansing.”
A la fecha han circulado panfletos emitidos por grupos paramilitares (Rastrojos, y Águilas Negras),amenazando de manera directa a INDIGENAS
— Kiwe Nasa (@KiweNasa) marzo 6, 2015
Paramilitary groups (Rastrojos and Aguilas Negras) are circulating flyers that directly threaten INDIGENOUS protesters.
Águilas Negras y Rastrojos, entre los grupos ilegales que más amenazan a activistas en Colombia http://t.co/5zergEjcy5
— InSight Crime (@InSightCrime_es) febrero 25, 2015
Águilas Negras and Rastrojos, among the illegal organizations that most threaten activists in Colombia
X primera vez Águilas Negras y Rastrojos firman amenaza conjunta Líderes indígenas d Cauca son amenazados d muerte RT  pic.twitter.com/kjt8wZCKng
— SomosDefensores (@SomosDef) febrero 23, 2015
For first time Aguilas Negras and Rastrojos sign joint death threat against indigenous leaders in Cauca


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Lebanese-Armenian Protesters Trap Turkish Ambassador in Beirut Theater · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Lebanese-Armenian Protesters outside the movie theater. As the Daily Star reported, they were shouting slogans such as “Truth will triumph” and “We remember”. Image from AztagDaily
Around 60 members of Lebanon's Armenian Tashnag Party trapped the Turkish ambassador to Lebanon inside a movie theater on Wednesday, protesting the Turkish Government's official stance on the 1915 Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire. Ambassador Suleiman Inan Oz Yildiz was attending the premiere of “Son Mektup,” a Turkish movie set during the Battle of Gallipoli (1915-1916). The incident was also reported on the Official Centennial's Commemoration's Website.
The time chosen to promote a movie set during the same year as the Armenian Genocide isn't being interpreted as a coincidence. Indeed, in a statement released online on Lebanese Armenian Daily “Aztag”, the Turkish government was accused of trying to distract the world's attention from the Armenian Genocide Centennial, which will be commemorated worldwide on April 24th of this year.
The statement, published in Armenian and Arabic, was summarized for Global Voices by Lebanese-Armenian activist Yeghia Tashjian:
“The main goal of the film was to shift the attention from the Armenian Genocide to the Battle of Gallipoli, despite the fact that the Turkish government has not commemorated the Battle in public events in the past. The Turkish government has recently decided to finance and promote events pertaining to the battle to distract the world's attention from the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Therefore the Tashnag Youth and Student Association (Tashnag) took the initiative to once again remind the world of the history and the sufferings of Armenians and Arabs under Turkish rule. As a result the Turkish Embassy's security guards clashed with peaceful protesters in front of the cinema. The guards started to shout “Erdogan, Erdogan” while the protesters responded “Genocidal, Genocidal”.
The Centennial Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide holds particular importance in Lebanon with Lebanese Armenians comprising around 4 per cent of the country's population. Numerous events are planned for the days leading to April the 24th anniversary, such as a talk by The Independent's Robert Fisk entitled “One Hundred Years and a Day” hosted by the American University of Beirut's “Lebanese Armenian Heritage Club” as well as a National March organized on the day itself.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Nintendo Finally Goes Mobile After Years of Resisting · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Nintendo controller. Image found on Pixabay, CC0 Public Domain.
Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer Nintendo has finally agreed to make its popular games available on smartphones and other mobile devices.
Earlier this week, Nintendo announced a partnership with Japanese mobile game developer DeNA. Under the agreement, DeNA will use popular Nintendo game titles and characters to create entirely new games.
As the developer of more than 1,000 games aimed at Android and iOS devices, DeNA is expected to provide valuable know-how that will allow Nintendo to successfully launch its games in the mobile space.
While Nintendo has long developed games for its Game Boy and later DS series of devices, so far the Kyoto-based gamemaker has refused to develop games for the massive mobile market.
IT Media News, which covers gaming and consumer electronics in Japan, notes:
任天堂は、これまで「マリオ」など既存タイトルのスマートフォン向け移植などは否定していた (link)
Until now Nintendo has rejected making Mario and other titles available on smartphones and mobile devices.
Popular Japanese tech reporter Yuka Okada, also writing for IT Media News, observes:
任天堂はスマホゲームに本格的に踏み出す(link)
Nintendo really looks like it's making the leap to smartphones.
However, despite the success of the Wii home console launched in 2006, Nintendo has struggled since the 2012 launch of the next-generation Wii U console. The company lost money for the first time in 2013 ever, although 2014 saw a return to profitability.
Nintendo's slump in sales has coincided with the rapid adoption of smartphones around the world and mobile free-to-play games.
Nippon.com, which regularly publishes analysis about a variety of Japanese topics and then translates into English and other languages, points out:
一方、据え置き型ゲーム機「Wii U」の販売が落ち込んだことも響いて赤字が拡大した (link)
The slumping sales of the Wii U standalone console continued to [affect Nintendo's bottom line], leading to ever growing losses.
At the same time that mobile games have challenges Nintendo's primacy, 2012's Wii U console has also been a disappointment in terms of its high price, and what users actually get for that price.
ユーザーはおもしろいソフトを楽しむために、しかたなくハードを買うのだから、ゲームの命綱はソフトにこそある (link)
The only reason users bought Nintendo's consoles and other hardware was because they loved playing Nintendo's games. [Nintendo's intellectual property] is the company's only lifeline.
By finally accepting the inevitable and moving to mobile, there is a sense that it's the end of an era for Nintendo.
任天堂がスマホゲームに参入するの、時代的にも業績的にも仕方ないけど、ちょっとした寂しさもあるのはなんだろね？
— おふとん時々おこた (@mezikarabeam) March 17, 2015
Although Nintendo's decision to enter the mobile market is a sign of the times and is a business decision, it's a bit of sad situation.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata still says he feels confident about the future of console gaming, and has been quoted as saying, “No matter how popular smartphones and tablets become, as long as we can move with the times, there is no chance that dedicated games machines will disappear entirely.
Judging by the emoticons, not everyone may be convinced by Iwata's sense of confidence:
岩田社長「任天堂はちょっと天邪鬼な会社ですので、『世の中でこうすれば上手くいく』という事をそのままやるのは面白くない。工夫したりもっと違う方法で成功させたい」 (*ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｲｲ!
— ユニ (@univoice) March 17, 2015
Nintendo President Iwata: “Nintendo has always been a bit of a contrarian in Japan. Saying ‘Here's what everybody else is doing, so let's do that’ is not interesting at all. We want to work hard and find a different path to success.”   (*ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｲｲ!
At the very least, the partnership between Kyoto's Nintendo and Yokohama's DeNA has produced some interesting memes.
Nintendo is famous for Mario, while DeNA has gained fame for owning the Yokohama Baystars professional baseball franchise. The connection has resulted in a wry Internet meme in Japan:
任天堂の所有するキャラクターをDeNAが使えるようになったみたいだけど、ずっと前にもしてるよね。 pic.twitter.com/vUmbwNOC59
— ι ゅぅ (@Syu_13th_month) March 17, 2015
While Nintendo is giving DeNA the rights to [Mario], it seems that he may already have been with DeNA for quite some time.
It's said that Carlos Ponce, who played for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales (a precursor to the Bay Stars in the 1980's), bears a striking resemblence to Nintendo's Mario character.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Outing the Russian Military in Eastern Ukraine · Global Voices
Tetyana Bohdanova

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
This is the second in a series of posts where RuNet Echo talks to the people behind several fact-checking projects in eastern Ukraine. Read the first post here.
From its onset almost a year ago, the conflict in eastern Ukraine has been surrounded by controversy and a full-scale information war waged both in the mainstream media and online. The most heated debates have centered on the nature and origins of the conflict, as well as the sources of weaponry and manpower supplied to the pro-Russian separatist forces of self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.
While Putin has recently admitted the presence of Russian troops and special forces in Crimea before the referendum, Russian state-controlled media have continuously denied the presence of regular army units in eastern Ukraine, insisting that any Russian nationals who may have joined the separatists had done so of their own free will. At the same time, Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of aiding the rebel forces with both equipment and regular military personnel, as well as coordinating their maneuvers from the Kremlin.
As the information warfare rages on, journalists and activists are left with the job of fact-checking official accounts from both sides by painstakingly collecting and corroborating publicly available data. RuNet Echo has previously reported about some of the projects that focus on collecting and verifying information about the origins and whereabouts of military equipment in the conflict area. There are a number of initiatives, however, that focus on tracking down information about specific individuals fighting in Donbas.
Most of these projects are run by volunteers and rely largely on crowdsourced efforts to collect and verify video and photographic content. They are rarely set up by professional journalists and do not receive any support from the state, believing that this allows them to be more independent in their search for facts. At the same time, their founders are often driven by their own political views and perceptions of the conflict.
Lost Ivan
A screenshot from the Lost Ivan website. March 14, 2015.
The project's name, Lost Ivan, seems to have been inspired by an August 2014 incident, when Moscow claimed its paratroopers captured on Ukraine’s territory simply “got lost.” The initiative collects photo and video evidence, as well as other materials on the whereabouts of “Russian soldiers, mercenaries, and terrorists spotted in Ukraine,” as well as Ukrainian supporters of the separatists.
The majority of the data is derived from social network accounts, but some photos and documents are passed to the site’s administrators directly from the frontlines. According to the project's creator, Vladimir, they have made friends among the military after deciding to convert the profit derived from advertising on the site into UAVs and other equipment for the Ukrainian army. At the same time, due to its attempts to reflect “the real situation,” the site's administrators admit facing occasional criticism from those Ukrainians who “blindly believe the President and the [Military] Command Headquarters.”
Since its foundation, Lost Ivan has collected over 3,040 records, and can boast content in nine languages, as well as coverage in independent Russian and Western media.
Идея создать ресурс появилась когда перед днем независимости Украины массово вошла российская армия в районе Иловайска, тогда же взяли в плен первых российских десантников вместе с техникой, и информация появилась в сети. Но как она появилась, так и начала сразу пропадать, на всех форумах сразу удаляли любое упоминание об этой теме.
Потому я, как программист с более чем 5-летним стажем разработки сайтов, решил набросать за пару минут простенький сайт, в результате через 3 дня существования сайта посещаемось достигла порядка 250 000 в сутки.
The idea to create this site came right before Ukraine’s Independence Day (August 24, 2014—GV), when the regular Russian army had entered Ukraine en masse near Ilovaisk, and the first Russian paratroopers were captured, along with their equipment. That is when the first information appeared online. But it also began to disappear right away—on all forums the comments dedicated to this topic were deleted immediately.
As a programmer with over 5 years of website design experience, I decided to set up a simple website, but as a result within three days it reached about 250,000 daily views.
At present Lost Ivan is run by three people, two of whom deal exclusively with collecting and verifying the content. LostIvan’s creator Vladimir told RuNet Echo that the site was “in no way” created to delight in Russia’s losses, but rather to “collect evidence for Putin’s trial in the Hague, debunk Russian propaganda, and normalise relations between the two countries.” However, Vladimir admits that he has not been very successful in achieving this last goal, as many Russian users respond to website’s content with aggression. “All but the relatives of the soldiers gone missing [in Ukraine]—with them we have a good rapport.”
Gruz 200
Gruz200 (“Cargo 200″—a Russian military code name for casualties to be transported from the battlefield—GV) is an online database of “Russian soldiers and mercenaries that have been killed, were taken into captivity, have gone missing, or have been otherwise spotted in Ukraine.” Most of the data for Gruz 200 comes from social networks, news portals, blogs, and through exchange of information with similar projects. Some reports are also crowdsourced from the website's users.
A screenshot from the Gruz 200 website. March 13, 2015.
The website was created and is maintained by one anonymous volunteer. He told RuNet Echo he was an active participant of Euromaidan and provided information support for the protest on social media, so he saw a natural need to do the same during the conflict.
Когда началась уже прямая агрессия России в Украину, было принято решение запустить gruz200.net с целью внесения лепты в противодействие российской пропаганде, которая всячески отрицала на тот момент участие российской армии и граждан России в разжигании конфликта в Украине. Проект ставит перед собой несколько целей:
– показать количество подтвержденных фактов гибели российских незаконных комбатантов;
– собрать базу и максимально распространить имена военных преступников для их преследования сейчас и в будущем;
– по возможности приостановить пополнение рядов российских наемников в Украине людьми, ставшими жертвами пропаганды.
When the direct aggression of Russia against Ukraine began, I decided to launch Gruz200.net to contribute to debunking Russian propaganda, which actively denied the involvement of Russian citizens and Russian military in fueling the conflict in Ukraine. The project has several objectives:
– to demonstrate the number of verified instances of death of Russian illegal combatants;
– to compile a database and disseminate the names of war criminals as widely as possible to enable their prosecution now and in the future;
– if possible, to stop the influx of Russians that fell victims to the propaganda into Ukraine [and came here] as mercenaries.
The administrator of Gruz200 notes that he supports neither the current “clannish-oligarchical” Ukrainian government, nor the “Soviet-style KGB-based” Russian state, but sides with Ukraine and its people. He admits that his project is “a drop in the ocean” when it comes to countering massive Russian television and print propaganda, yet he hopes that the more such projects work to expose the lies of the Kremlin the sooner “Putin’s regime will fall.”
Cargo 200 from Ukraine to Russia
Ukrainian activists and social media users are not the only ones collecting information about the militants fighting in eastern Ukraine. Russian human rights activist Elena Vasiljeva was one of the first to speak out about the Russia's involvement in Ukraine and communicate with the relatives of Russian soldiers killed in Donbas.
A cover page of a Facebook group “Cargo 200 from Ukraine to Russia.” The caption reads: “We are 30,000 volunteers.” March 13, 2015.
Neither a programmer nor an IT-specialist, Vasiljeva created a public Facebook group called “Cargo 200 from Ukraine to Russia” in August 2014. The page accumulated eight thousand participants in the first week after its registration. At the moment of writing it has 29,335 members, many of whom are concerned relatives of Russian militarymen. They volunteer their time to collect information about Russian soldiers that have been killed in Ukraine derived from open sources, such as media reports or social media.
As a long-term member of a veterans’ organization, Vasiljeva says her chief concern is with the fate of the soldiers that have been sent to the “undeclared war” in Ukraine and their families. On her blog, she writes:
Мало того, что российских военных, контрактников послали воевать, но и подготовили все условия для того, чтобы потом презреть их в собственном государстве, сделать нищими калеками, обрекают десятки тысяч семей на горе и страдания.
As if it is not enough for the Russian military—contract soldiers—to be sent to war, [the authorities] have prepared all conditions for those who return to be later denounced in their own country and turned into disabled beggars, thus condemning tens of thousands of families to grief and suffering.

author: Tetyana Bohdanova


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Sentenced to Death in Kafkastan · Global Voices
Mohamed Hassan

“Kafka statue Prague” by Photo: Myrabella / Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
If you have read Franz Kafka’s “The Trial“, you would understand the meaning of the term “Kafkaesque”.
The protagonist of “The Trial”, a bank clerk called Josef K., is suddenly arrested and must defend himself against charges about which are—and remain—unknown to hm. Along the way, K. discovers the difficulties of challenging a bureaucracy that is wedded to totalitarianism.
A century after “The Trial” was written, humans have obviously eradicated all kinds of totalitarianism and bureaucracy. Innocent people are no longer put on trial. An efficient system of justice prevails throughout the world. The following dream, which I had after reading the novel, is a figment of my imagination. Any resemblance it might bear to reality is the fault of reality alone.
We arrive in a courtroom. The Judge enters the room and the bailiff announces that court is in session. The judge sits and starts reading from a paper: “After examining the evidence provided by the prosecution and the defendants, we have found the defendants guilty as charged. We sentence defendants 1, 2 and 3 to death for premeditated murder of a police officer. We sentence defendants 4 to 11 to life in prison for aiding in the murder of the police officer. We also recommend the Ministry of Interior revoke the citizenship of defendants 1to 8 for terrorism crimes. Court dismissed.”
Guards escort the defendants out of the courtroom. They are handcuffed and taken to a bus with darkened, barred windows. A., (defendant 3), sits on the edge of a two-person seat. Near a window on the opposite side of the bus sits a man. The guard walks through the bus, counting the prisoners. As the guard passes by A., he gives a little smile . The guy on the opposite side notices. He says to A.: “I don’t know what you’re charged with, but this is the first time I see one of them smiling. What’s your story?”
A. answers in a monotone: “I did nothing.”
The other guy replies: “Well, I believe you.” A. replies: “Why would you trust a guy in handcuffs? And may I ask what’s your name?”. The other guy smiles and says: “We are both in handcuffs, and I wouldn’t trust anyone who isn’t handcuffed in this bus. My name is H. and I know you’re innocent.”
“What makes you so sure?” asks A. “Because your body language shows no signs of regret,” replies H. A. releases a deep sigh and says: “Doesn’t my lack of regret make me more likely to have actually committed what I’m charged with?” H. replies in a sarcastic tone: “Those guilty don’t show regret for the crime, they show regret that they were caught. You, on the other hand show no regret for either: you’re a Muselmann.” “What’s a Muselmann?” asks A.
H. didn’t answer the question: “That’s a long story. We might have time for it if we end up in the same prison block. Is it your first time in prison?” “This is my third time,” says A.
“Well, it’s my first time,” says H. “I was found guilty of inciting hatred toward the regime.” A. asks: “And how did they say you did that?” H. answers: “I sell words. I’m a novelist.” A. is surprised. “And what kind of novels did you write? Political novels?” “No, I wrote a love story,” says H., with a smile on his face. “Love stories incite hate? How is that possible,” asks A. “It’s a love story which takes place between a two people from different ethnic groups,” says H., “and it takes place prior to the arrival of the monarchs. They discovered that if I say that people were capable of something as complicated as love in the absence of the monarchy, then everything else is possible.”
H. pauses.”That’s my story,” he says. “Now can I ask you to tell me what you’re not guilty of?”  “Killing a police officer,” says A. “I’m sorry to hear that,” says H. “I did hear that this trial is today as well.” “It’s OK. I have made peace with my destiny,” says A. “What?! You decided to quit?” says H. in an anxious whisper. A. replies calmly: “I’m not quitting. I have acknowledged the fact that I did what I could and now I’m left with no choices.”
“You will accept that you must die for someone else’s crime?! Please tell me, how were you found guilty?” says H. “I presented a signed testimony that I was at work at the time of the incident. The judge decided not to take it into consideration,” A. says.
“Of course he won’t,” says H. “It’s easier to find someone guilty. This puts an end to the investigations. And it doesn’t matter who is found guilty. After all, tribal justice doesn’t care about the individual: one of “us” was killed, so three of “them” must pay for it. People from the other side will rejoice. Even the media will forget to mention anything about you. You will be stripped of everything that defines you. You will be labeled a member of a certain group or ethnicity. The judge will be rewarded; his brother and father will get a new deal worth millions.”
A asks: “Why didn’t you write about that before then?” H. replies: “It’s illegal. I’d be charged with denigrating an official body.”
“This doesn’t matter now,” says A. “I hope change will come before my sentence is carried out.” H is furious: “And you think those who actually committed the murder will bring change? Don’t you see how they use words like courage, dignity, resistance, principles and others to legitimize their acts, while they would allow an innocent man to be killed for their crime?” A. replies with equal fury: “How do you know that they actually did anything wrong?” “Because they issued a statement saying so,” H. says. “The other day a blogger was with me in my cell. He told me how he was arrested for something others called for, the same people who would usually advocate his release. But they won’t come forward and name who’s responsible. An even more extreme group definitely won’t clear your name.”
As the bus stops and the guards stand to escort the prisoners out, H. makes a final plea to A.: “Promise me something: Don’t quit. Don’t let them make you just another statistic. Show everyone that you’re just like them, that you see what they see, that you feel they way they feel, that when you die you will leave a mother in grief, that your life is not something to be traded for political gain.”
This story, as I said, is fictional. There is no country on earth that sentences innocent people to death. And there isn’t a man sentenced to death waiting to be saved.

author: Mohamed Hassan


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8-Year-Old Ukrainian Girl Is War’s Latest Victim · Global Voices
Will Wright

Family and mourners carried the slain child, Polina, through the streets of Konstantinovka in a funeral procession before laying her to rest. March 18, 2015. YouTube screen capture. RuptlyTV.
In a terrible tragedy on Monday, March 16, an armored vehicle ran onto a sidewalk in the eastern Ukrainian town of Konstantinovka, hitting three pedestrians. An eight-year old girl named Polina was killed immediately, while her aunt and infant cousin were rushed to a hospital.
Ukrainian soldiers, rumored to have been drunk, were behind the wheel of the armored vehicle involved in the accident. Konstantinovka, one of the initial centers of the rebellion in the Donbass, was controlled for several months by the Donetsk People's Republic before being retaken by Kyiv in July 2014.
Константиновка ДТП Сегодня Ребенок 8 лет погиб, мать жива в реанимации. pic.twitter.com/UZeOErr3Kh
— Спутник АТО (@SputnikATO) March 16, 2015
An accident in Konstantinovka today. An 8-year-old died. The mother [sic] is in intensive care.
Responding to news of the tragedy, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko stated:
Это дело находится на личном контроле Главного военного прокурора и президента Украины. Командование Вооруженных сил Украины выражает глубокие соболезнования пострадавшим гражданам и уверяет, что виновные в этой трагедии будут наказаны — как сами военнослужащие, так и их командиры.
This case has been taken under the personal control of the Chief Military Prosecutor and the President of Ukraine. The leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine expresses its deepest condolences to the victims and guarantees that those responsible for this tragedy will be punished—both the soldiers themselves and their commanders.
Upset and angry locals in Konstantinovka decided to dispense their own form of justice, however.
A crowd gathered at the site of the accident and then outside the school building being used as an army barracks, shouting and cursing, throwing stones, flipping and torching cars, and setting the building's entrance on fire.
#Константиновка pic.twitter.com/COkbWyWtkC
— Ukrainian Mistress (@JuMistress) March 16, 2015
Seemingly spooked by the unrest, Ukrainian lawmaker and law enforcement advisor Anton Gerashchenko issued a severe warning to the rioters:
Если кто-то в Константиновке с оружием в руках выступит против законов украинской власти, используя данное ДТП для массовых столкновений, то сначала будет сделан один предупредительный выстрел, а потом будет стрельба на поражение. Если не будет времени предупредить — будет стрельба на поражение сразу же. Никому не позволено подрывать украинскую власть с оружием в руках на территории Украины. Все необходимые действия, подкрепления, приказы в Константиновку направлены, там ситуация будет нормализована и в дальнейшем будет оставаться такой же.
If anyone in Konstantinovka takes up arms to challenge law and order and the Ukrainian authorities, using this accident to incite popular unrest, then one warning shot will first be fired, and then the authorities will shoot to kill. If there is no time for a warning shot then authorities will shoot to kill immediately. No one will be allowed to take up arms against the Ukrainian government. All necessary actions, reinforcements, and orders have been sent to Konstantinovka, where the situation will be normalized and will remain normalized.
Predictably, interpretations of the events quickly broke down along political lines.
A Ukrainian law enforcement representative asked locals “not to succumb to the provocations of the separatists, who are using every opportunity to destabilize the situation in cities near the front lines,” while an RT headline screamed “Ukraine cops get ‘shoot-to-kill orders’ amid unrest over army hit & run killing of 8yo.”
Reports indicated that quiet had returned to the streets of Konstantinovka on Tuesday, and Donetsk Interior Ministry head Vyacheslav Abroskin wrote on Facebook that the two soldiers responsible for the accident had been detained and handed over to the military prosecutor.
Meanwhile, a funeral procession was held on Wednesday for Polina, as the conflict in eastern Ukraine claimed yet another victim.
(Update: A video originally included in this post (with audible gunfire, supposedly from security forces firing into the air to dispel the crowd in Konstantinovka on Monday night) has been removed. This video, already with over 122,000 views on YouTube and picked up by outlets such as RT, appears to actually be a misleading re-upload of a May 2014 video from Konstantinovka. Thanks to commenter Ivan Petrov for catching the mistake.)

author: Will Wright


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Afghan Woman Beaten to Death and Burned for Allegedly Setting a Quran on Fire · Global Voices
Samea Shanori

The Shah-e Do Shamshira mosque in Kabul: a beautiful building that witnessed a despicable crime. Photo by John Zada, licensed to use under Creative Commons.
Warning: The following post contains images and footage of a graphic and distressing nature.
A woman was beaten to death and her body was set on fire by an angry crowd after she was seen burning a copy of the Koran near Shah-e Do Shamshira mosque in Kabul on Thursday. The police is investigating the incident and have arrested four of the alleged perpetrators so far. According to witnesses the crowd present at the incident reached into the thousands. The country's official religious authority has refused to condemn the attack.
Farkhunda, 27, was attacked by locals with sticks. Her parents have said that Farkhunda's action was unintentional and that she has been mentally ill for the last 16 years. According to one of the witnesses of the incident:
They beat her to death and then threw her on the river bank and burned her. Firefighters later came and put out the fire and took the body.
One of the shopkeepers by the mosque raged:
Before you take action you have to know what happened. Did she have psychological issues? Only when you know that can you take action. You have to abide by both sets of laws. She should have been subject to the laws of the state and of God. We have no shortage of enemies. How do we know there were not outside forces influencing her?
Pictures and videos of the mob beating Farkhunda went viral on social media.
https://youtu.be/bwIE99mAOeM
They attracted mixed reactions from Afghans across the country and outrage across the world. Below is one of the pictures tweeted by Salim Zubair that shows Farkhunda with her face covered in blood.
Feeling bad, People in Kabul burn this woman, who was accused of burning Quran pic.twitter.com/XtEL2HZ47H
— Salim Zubair (@salim8403) March 19, 2015
Shocking video from todays mob that killed a woman who allegedly burned copies of Quran inside a shrine #Kabul https://t.co/kGpzlyglqc #AFG
— Ahmad Mukhtar (@AhMukhtar) March 19, 2015
In another tweet, Mukhtar wrote:
What happened in #Kabul today was absolutely against the law, Sharia law and does NOT represent Muslims in in Afghanistan. #AFG
— Ahmad Mukhtar (@AhMukhtar) March 19, 2015
Zheela Nasari, an Afghan-American journalist based in Washington DC, posted:
I am furious how cruelly a mentally sick #Afghan #woman burned alive in #Kabul,what's diff b/w her burning Quran with men burning her alive?
— Zheela Nasari (@ZheelaJ) March 19, 2015
Saleem Javed posted a cartoon which highlighted the barbaric act:
Afghan cartoonist reacts to burning of a mentally ill woman to death in Kabul by an angry mob over Quran burning. pic.twitter.com/mrA8xQJH5D
— Saleem Javed (@mSaleemJaved) March 19, 2015
Farzad Lami, outraged by the incident, tweeted a picture which shows the police and the mob watching while Farkhunda's body burns.
SHAME: Kabul police watch after people in downtown Kabul burned a mentally ill woman allegedly over burning Quran. pic.twitter.com/OaWoj10uFV
— Farzad Lami (@FarzadLameh) March 19, 2015
Fariba Nawa, an Afghan journalist and author of Opium Nation: Child Brides, Drug Lords and One Woman's Journey through Afghanistan, also shaken by the incident, wrote on her Twitter:
Local Afghans shocked by barbarism that killed and burned woman in Kabul. Let's see if the shock will translate to action. #Afghanistan
— Fariba Nawa (@faribanawa) March 20, 2015
Hello Muslims. Today at 4:00 pm, an infidel woman burnt the Quran in Shah-e Do Shamshira. People including myself killed her first and then set her body on fire. May her place be in hell.
The images below show his original post and the pictures taken at the scene of the crime. Baghlany has not been arrested.
Sharaf Baghlany's post after the incident. Image taken from Republic of Silence Facebook page.
In an interview, one of the representatives of the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs of Afghanistan said that if the woman had acted against Islamic regulations and was not a Muslim, he would not condemn the mob's response at all.
The incident has left Afghans in shock as they prepare for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Saturday.

author: Samea Shanori


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Iranian Social Media’s Short Attention Span for #AcidAttacks Against Women · Global Voices
Simin Kargar

The October 2014 protest against acid attacks in Isfahan. Photo was taken by Aria Jafari for ISNA before he was arrested for photographing the local protests. His week-long uncharged detention ended on bail on November 1. ISNA publishes these photos with permission to reuse.
As the world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani insisted on his Twitter page that women should have “equal opportunity, equal protection and equal social rights.” Nonetheless, the struggle continues for a group of young Iranian women suffering from catastrophic physical injuries and psychological damage. These are the victims of Isfahan's acid attacks.
In October 2014, a series of acid attacks on women in the historic city of Isfahan created a fearful atmosphere and prompted rumours that the victims were targeted for not being properly veiled. Unofficial figures about the number of victims have varied. Local authorities initially confirmed two victims, according to Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), while Fars News Agency collected the unverified figure of up to 13. No news agency could report an exact number. As such, no figure has been officially verified since.
Enraged over the news, citizens of Isfahan took to the streets to protest. Isfahan’s Prosecutor General attempted to appease the crowd by promising prompt prosecution of potential suspects. However, the protesters were dispersed by tear gas shortly after. Civil unrest followed in other major cities. In Tehran, a group of human rights advocates joined the protesters outside Parliament, which led to a number of arrests, including that of Mahdieh Golroo, a prominent women’s rights activist.
The gravity of these attacks and the unprecedented civil mobilization that ensued resulted in quite a bit of attention on social media at the time. In particular, focus turned to the Plan to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice, a bill currently under the consideration of Iran’s conservative-dominated Parliament that would protect vigilantes who enforce Islamic dress and appearance for women, and the police's role in not arresting the attackers.
This first tweet depicts a graffiti image that says “Permanent Makeup Remover: Acid.”
طرحی از ماجرای #اسیدپاشی روی یکی از دیوارهای شهر مشهد pic.twitter.com/mh2xjOigrq — سپیده (@Sepi12_22) October 28, 2014
The story of #acidattacks on the walls of the city of Mashhad.
The second tweet is in reference to the prompt arrest of the makers of a “Happy” video by Iran's morality police, who boasted identifying and arresting the participants within hours. The image reads as: “We identify any suspect within 2 hours”.
فقط 2 ساعت #اسیدپاشی #اصفهان #بچه_های_ویدیوهپی #رئیس_بیمارستان_ضیائیان pic.twitter.com/AxgaxDmMLN
— نیاز (@khengekhoda) December 1, 2014
Only 2 hours #acidattacks #Isfahan #theKids_from_theHappyVideo #head_ofHospital_Ziaeian
Iranian conservatives typically propagated against such news going viral on Facebook, Twitter, and similar platforms. The Iranian online community remained focused on the topic for some time before it faded. Golroo spent 45 days in solitary confinement and was released on bail early January after a three-month detention in Evin prison. The opposition media outlets and human rights advocacy initiatives briefly noted the news of her release.
However, the volume of public engagement was hardly comparable to that of the date of her arrest. Nor did this update bring acid attacks back to any social media trend. The Iranian state’s failure to promptly prosecute suspects, furthermore, fuelled the overall neglect of this issue. As such, we should ask, have acid attacks been effectively archived?
The following graphs delve into the engagement with the topic over a four-month period on three social media platforms: Twitter, Google Plus, and Persian-language platform Balatarin. The selected websites are known for their appeal to different segments of the Iranian online community who represent distinct, and yet overlapping, socio-political interests. The graphs indicate the number of Persian content tagged with “اسیدپاشی“ (Persian for acid attack) on each of these platforms prior to the outbreak of acid attacks news (October 20, 2014) until shortly after Mahdieh Golroo was released (January 27, 2015).
اسیدپاشی# (Persian for acid attacks) on Twitter between October 1, 2014, and January 31, 2015. Data used with ASL19's permission.
According to data exported from social media data analytics tool Crimson Hexagon, provided by the team at ASL19, an organization helping Iranians circumvent online censorship, 1,268 tweets were posted and tagged with #اسیدپاشی on October 23, 2014, one day after social unrest followed the outbreak of news. The hashtag pulse is fairly inactive toward the end of November, and rather invisible on January 27, 2015, when Golroo was released.
اسیدپاشی (acid attacks) on Balatarin between October 1, 2014, and January 31, 2015. Data used with Balatarin's permission.
Engagement on Balatarin peaked in October with 1,493 links that were tagged with ”اسیدپاشی” out of the aggregate of 25,853 (5.7% of total links), according to data exported from the Balatarin website backend, provided by the Balatarin team. The number dropped to 91 out of 24,656 in January (0.3% of total links). Balatarin currently hosts 84,792 users, according to the team.
اسیدپاشی (acid attack) content on Google+ between October 1, 2014, and January 31, 2015. Query results used with NetFreedom Pioneers’ permission.
Between October 20 and October 27, when public opprobrium soared over the news, an average of 24 posts per day was published on Google+, according to data generated by a query that explored the application program interface (API) of Google Plus. Query results were provided by NetFreedom Pioneers, an organization that promotes the development of alternative technologies that enable the free flow of information. Less than five posts per day were detected in the last week of January. In a survey of 2,300 people in 2012, 37% of Iran-based Internet users had reported using Google+ regularly.
Iranian Internet users have historically demonstrated fortuitous interest in social and political issues. Social media campaigns are inherently ephemeral, let alone in Iran where the social scene fluctuates at an incredibly fast pace. More so, few Persian-language campaigns have proved sustainable.
Disturbing news typically cause public anxiety, generating reactions on social media that challenge accountable parties. Nonetheless, the same users may lose interest as soon as it seems they are failing to make a difference. The limited volume of user-generated content on acid attacks signifies the need for vigilant advocacy work to sustain awareness and demand accountability over matters of gender-based violence.
Punishments imposed on gender-based assaults in Iran are neither effectively compensatory nor deterrent. The insufficiency couples at times with vague legislation such as the Plan to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice. The Basij para-militia group is explicitly designated for the enforcement of the plan. To provide equal protection for women, as Rouhani recently called for, public discourse against vigilante violence needs further dissemination. Accountability for such violence will then become an inherent part of public demands.
Rouhani’s statement on International Women’s Day was a timely reminder that state sovereignty comes with a responsibility to protect the population. The case of acid attacks, however, demonstrated the state’s failure to meet this responsibility with due diligence. Such inadequacy coupled with the short attention span of social media will marginalize the victims even further.
A sustainable social system that steadily urges accountability and augmented support for the survivors is key. Learning about the social impact of one’s online behaviour may keep users engaged with these important conversations. Intense stories such as acid attacks may then live longer and become more relatable through innovative and interactive approaches. It is time that advocacy work for Iran mapped alternatives for involving the public, not only at times of social emergency, but also in their aftermath.

author: Simin Kargar


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Japanese Power Utility Finally Admits Fukushima Meltdown · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in March 2011. Unit 1 reactor is on far right. Image from Wikipedia/Wikicommons.
Large Japanese electricity utility Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) confirmed on Thursday, March 19 that nearly all fuel in one of four damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant has melted and fallen into the containment building.
With the design of the Fukushima Daiichi plants, the containment building was a very simple shell protecting the reactor from the elements, but provided no real protection in the event of a nuclear accident. Instead, the nuclear reactor was enclosed in primary and secondary containment vessels, which sat atop a thick concrete pad at the base of the containment building.
In the event of a meltdown, the thick concrete pad is the only barrier between highly radioactive molten fuel and groundwater.
While there has been suspicions that nuclear fuel did melt its way through the containment vessel and to the base of the containment building, until Thursday there was no definitive proof meltdown had occurred.
The implication of the findings is that it will be very difficult to remove the highly radioactive molten fuel from Unit 1. As well, the molten fuel must continue to be cooled with water until it is removed.
Holes and fractures in the concrete base of the reactor building also means that groundwater continues to seep in and become irradiated before draining into the Pacific Ocean, causing an ongoing nuclear disaster.
Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility was severely damaged following the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred on March 11, 2011.
Location of six reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex. Image courtesy Wikipedia.
Following the earthquake and tsunami, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex lost power and the ability to cool fuel in the reactors. The lack of cooling caused a series of hydrogen explosions that severely damaged four of the six reactors at the Daiichi complex.
The resulting release of radioactivity and fears of even an even bigger disaster prompted the evacuation of towns located within a 30-km radius of the plant.
Meanwhile, the lack of power meant water could not be pumped in to cool the nuclear fuel in the reactors. The fuel rods in the reactor vessel started to melt, eventually pooling on the bottom of the reactor vessel.
Eventually the molten fuel melted through the primary and secondary containment vessels, and pooled on the concrete pad at the base of the reactor.
Ever since March 11, 2011, there have been questions about the state of the nuclear fuel in the containment vessels of the four damaged reactor buildings. The interiors of the reactor buildings remain highly radioactive and lethal for human beings to enter.
The amount of debris and destruction within the reactor buildings plus flooding has made entry by robots and remotely-operated vehicles challenging.
専門家が指摘する〝メルトアウト〟の可能性 pic.twitter.com/0Izh7vn1H9
— ひろみ (@hiromi19610226) March 19, 2015
How meltdown occurred according to experts. [Image shows presumed current location of molten fuel in the basement of Unit 1 containment building, separated from water table by the concrete bad supporting the reactor building.]
The location of the molten fuel was achieved using a technique called muon scattering tomography. Muons are elementary particles associated with cosmic radiation reaching the Earth from outer space.
While muons penetrate most matter, the particles change direction when encountering certain elements, in this case the uranium in nuclear fuel. Researchers used this characteristic to check for the presence of fuel in the Unit 1 reactor.
However, the behavior of the muon particles indicated that no fuel remains in the reactor itself.
ＮＨＫの映像② 福島第一原発にて先月から行われていた溶け落ちた核燃料を探す調査で 1号機の原子炉の中に 核燃料が見当たらない ことがわかりました 映像 http://t.co/XTyDgeMGUg pic.twitter.com/SEk8VCUjiR — ＊ peace ＊ (@cyoki) March 19, 2015
NHK image: A study was conducted in February 2012 searching for the melted remains of nuclear fuel in Unit 1.
>>The study showed that no fuel remains could be found in the reactor (indicating the fuel had melted through the bottom of the reactor into the basement of the reactor).<<
[Captions, from top left: Muon scattering tomography used to analyze interior of Unit 1 reactor; No fuel can be detected within interior of the reactor; (Simulation) Very little nuclear fuel remains in reactor or containment vessel; Nuclear reactor and containment vessel; white areas indicate absence of any fuel.]
As has been predicted, most of the molten fuel has settled on the concrete pad that supporting the containment vessels in the base of the containment building.
福島第一原発１号機、炉内燃料ほぼ全量が溶融 http://t.co/e5KioYvfRx pic.twitter.com/fSLimpr8ho — Koji (@kwave526) March 19, 2015
Almost none of the molten fuel in the Unit 1 remains in the reactor. [Image caption: Molten fuel melts through the pressure vessel onto the floor of the containment building.]


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Pakistani Musicians Captivate Audiences at SXSW in Austin, Texas With Booming Hypnotic Beats · Global Voices
Henna Tayyeb

Khumariyaan performing at the Pakistan Showcase at SXSW, March 19, 2015. Photo by author Henna Tayyeb. Used with permission.
More than a hundred people packed the historic Driskill Hotel in downtown Austin, full of anticipation for Pakistani traditional, exotic and indie beats on the night of March 19.
The performers had flown thousands of miles for the first ever Pakistani Showcase at SXSW, one of the largest and most eclectic music conferences in the world. The night was organized in conjunction with the Foundation for Arts, Culture and Education (FACE), a non-profit based out of Islamabad, Pakistan.
The showcase kicked off with the energetic, booming sounds of the Sain Tanveer Brothers. The duo, originally from a small town near Sialkot, are the best known dhol players in Pakistan.
Their performance started in the middle of busy 6th street as bystanders gathered. And the pulsing sounds of their drums lead the crowd to the Victorian Room in a dancing procession.
The audience was awestruck as Sain Tanveer hung four dhols around his neck and continued to play, while spinning as fast as possible. The performance ended to thunderous applause.
Mai Dhai performing. Photo by author Henna Tayyeb. Used with permission.
Next, the audience was treated to the melodic and soulful folk sounds of Mai Dhai. Hailing from the Thar desert, Mai Dhai is a traditional Manganiyar singer with influences of song reaching as far back as Sufi mystics and the Mughals of Rajasthan. No one in the room could have ever guessed that the small, fragile woman sitting center stage with her dhol would have a larger than life voice with the power to transform space and time. Accompanied by the tabla, dholak and harmonium, Mai Dhai truly made the audience feel the emotion behind every word as they swayed to her rhythmic beats.
But the rockstars of the night, the ones who stole the audience’s hearts, were Pakhtun musical quartet Khumariyaan.
Khumariyaan, as lead guitarist Sparlay Rawail explained, means “intoxicators.” And the fast and furious sounds of the group were nothing less than intoxicating. Perhaps the secret of Khumariyaan, other than an exuding stage presence, is their use of traditional instruments such as the rubab and the zerbaghali. The rubab almost sounds like a sharper toned banjo, with strings that are plucked to deliver various melodies. The zerbaghali is a goblet-shaped hand drum which provides percussion at various sounds and speeds.
From the moment they started with Bela to the end of their hour-long set, Khumariyaan had the audience on their feet. At one point, lead rubab player Farhan Borga, even led the audience through a demonstration of a traditional Pakhtun dance to much laughter and excitement.
After the show, Rawail shared that he was not sure if anyone back home in Pakistan could truly understand the magnitude and size of SXSW. But for him, there is no difference between the United States and Pakistan because what really matters is the music. Rawail felt proud to know that Khumariyaan’s music had the ability to create influence, regardless of country.
An audience member Sandhya Vadrevu said she decided to attend the event due to her keen interest in South Asian music. She had limited opportunities to experience Pakistani music firsthand in America, and did not want to pass up the chance to see these musicians in her hometown. As an aspiring musician herself Sandhya felt encouraged to know that South Asian music is not only limited to Bollywood films.
“Exposure to artists such as the ones performing tonight sends the message that our music is diverse, multi-faceted and unique,” she shared. “I feel inspired just being here tonight.”
Other highlights of the showcase included the socially conscious indie-rock sounds of Poor Rich Boy (and the toothless winos) and all newly-released songs by former pop idol and reinvented cultural instigator responsible for the “Burka Avenger,” Haroon. Mekaal Hasan Band, with influences of rock, jazz and soul music, paired with Sufi inspired lyrics was the perfect ending to the night.
Mehnaz Parveen, Project Coordinator for FACE, was extremely proud of all the Pakistani artists who made the journey to Austin, Texas for the showcase. She has been traveling with the group since their departure from Islambad on March 12. Parveen was a part of FACE when initial talks to collaborate started with SXSW senior music producer Todd Puckhaber. The senior music producer spoke at Pakistan’s first “Music Mela,” a three-day festival organized by FACE and funded by the US Embassy in Islamabad.
Puckhaber specifically handpicked the six acts that performed as a part of this year’s showcase, according to Parveen. “Music is a connecting bridge between Pakistan and the US and these artists are our cultural ambassadors,” Parveen shared. “We hope by collaborating with SXSW we can share our viewpoints and ideology to break some of the negative stereotypes of Pakistan.”
Both FACE and SXSW organizers hope this showcase becomes an annual part of the music conference.
Besides the Pakistani Showcase, FACE also hosted a Rooftop Pakistani Day Party on March 18 at popular Austin venue The Speakeasy. Mai Dhai performed at the International Day Stage in the Austin Convention Center on Thursday afternoon. Poor Rich Boy, Mekaal Hasan Band and Khumariyaan performed at the Russian House; and the Sain Tanveer Brothers will take part in globalFEST on Friday, March 20. More information on these performances at www.sxsw.com.
Henna Tayyeb lives in Austin, Texas.

author: Henna Tayyeb


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Turkmenistan’s Islam: Between Religion and State · Global Voices
Anna Fergana

Semi-nomadic Turkmen women camp out in the Karakum desert. Photo: wildfrontierstravel.com. Creative commons.
When news of the Charlie Hebdo shootings filtered through Turkmenistan's incredibly tightly controlled Internet, the main responses of citizens in the post-Soviet Central Asian state were surprise and befuddlement. Cut off from the world by their government, they were never likely to join the global conversation about the shootings.
In Turkmenistan, the government prohibits independent religious activities and does not tolerate any divergence from state-endorsed Hanafi Islam. There have been several reports about the destruction of independent mosques in the country, while Islamic groups that do not fit in with the state's national vision for the religion, are hounded just as Christian groups in the country are.
Turkmen women in traditional dress.
Shared on Vkontkte.
Islam is Turkmenistan's main religion and Islamic traditions are embedded into local culture and practices. According the the American Foreign Policy Council's World Almanac on Islamism:
In the twenty-first century, Turkmenis continue to be governed less by Islamic law than by tribal customary law, or adat, which has been passed down for many centuries.
Both of Turkmenistan's first two presidents visited Mecca and Medina, and the state invests budget money into the construction of officially approved — and typically enormous — mosques. By 2013, Turkmenistan had an estimated 395 registered mosques.
However, for ordinary citizens, waiting lists to complete the Hajj pilgrimage can be over ten years long and Islamic practices as a whole in Turkmenistan baffle many Muslims living outside the country.
When the government banned the Hajj completely one year in the midst of a swine flu epidemic, it set up a series of national pilgrimages to local shrines, some of which had only limited connection to Islam. First President Saparmurat Niyazov “in direct violation of sharia…ordered that passages from his Ruhnama book be inscribed alongside passages from the Koran. On the walls of the mosque in Gypjak; an inscription above the main arch reads: ‘Ruhnama is a holy book, the Koran is Allah’s book.'”
The Ruhnama, covered several times by Global Voices, is a ‘book of the soul‘ based on folk wisdom rather than religion. President Niyazov, who authored the book, used it to position himself as the ‘Father of the Turkmen’ and built statues to the book in the capital, Ashgabat. While his successor eliminated the book from school curricula and national driving tests, some netizens believe that decision may have created an ideological vacuum, which Islamic radicalism can now fill.
Worshipping via Turkey?
Following its exit from enforced Soviet atheism, the traditional Muslim community of Turkmenistan has been more oriented towards Turkey than the conservative states of the Middle East, to which travel is strictly controlled.
In 2013, RFE/RL's Turkmen service Azatlyk reported on governmental harassment of people studying Islam in Saudi Arabia:
Once I left Turkmenistan, [the authorities] came to my father, telling him ‘bring your son back’ [from Saudi Arabia] and putting my relatives under pressure, such as calling them in for questioning. That's what we went through.
The popular Russian social network Vkontakte serves as a platform for discussion of the questions related to religion among Turkmen. There are a number of groups where Turkmen freely express their affection for Islam, such as Turkmen Islam. The issues raised in the group are simple and unsophisticated, tending to re-inforce existing Turkmen values, such as respect for parents.
In the group, there appears to be an Imam followed by many Turks, Mahmud Efendi en-Nakşibendi,el-Müjjeddidi,el-Halidi Hazretleri, who is also popular among Turkmen living in Turkey:
Says Mgk Mgk:
men rewshen agan aydyan zatlary gaty gyzyklanma doredya
I think [the Imam] tells stories in a very interesting way
Wahabbis are also a big topic of discussion in the group. Yakup Halmamedow starts multiple posts and reveals some commonly-held beliefs among Turkmen about wahabbis, such as the belief they are agents of the West.
Wahhabilerin Alamaty eziz doganlar dinlan aldanman.Bu yoldan cykan wahabilere asla aldanman.(Rasul Davut-Ogly) (Rowsen) su ady agzalan oglanyn wagyzyna ya-da nesihatyna unus berman cunki ol wahhabilik yollaryny size gizlin sekil bn dusundurya.
Don't listen to these wahabbis who have lost the true ways and gone astray. Do not listen to the preaching of a person named Rasul Davut-Ogly Rowsen or others. Do not listen to the preaching of this wahabbi man because he uses unknown methods.
Nurmyrat Ahun explains that Wahabbis deny other Muslims the right to visit places where Prophet Muhammed traveled or where sacred people are buried (other than Mecca and Medina):
Owulyalar hakynda.Owulyalar hakdyr.Yone wahabiler inkar edya.Sebabi olar Angliyan bokun iyya.
About these sacred pilgrimage places. They are true and legitimate. But Wahabbis deny these things. Because they are obeying England and do what the English want them to do
There are no comments on Turkmenistan's religious policy in the group and videos of Muslims praying in tightly controlled mosques in the country are met only with joy and praise.
Turkmen pray in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on Juma namaz
Shared on Vkontakte.
What do Turkmen say about Charlie Hebdo?
With Internet speeds too slow for social media in the country for the most part, and many foreign websites inaccessible, local forums play a key role in sharing information. They also reveal that many Turkmen are completely disconnected from world news and debates over religion.
This can be briefly illustrated in the context of the Charlie Hebdo incident, when a user called Gowşut rages in a post that translates I am guilty for drawing the caricature of the Prophet Muhammed:
BIR ZADA DOGRY DÜŞÜNIŇOW: terroristler Yslamyň adyny garalanoklar. ony MEN we men ýaly özüne musulman diýip, parhsyz, nalaç edeýin, pes durmuş ýaşap ýörenler garalaýar. biz “erkin sözüň” tarapdary diýdiler. hormatly Şarli diňe pikrini beýan etdi. ol siziň Pygamberiňizi şeýle hasaplaýar we şeýle-de çyzýar. muňa siziň garşy çykmaga hakyňyz ýok diýdiler we diýýärler. ähli özüni öňde hasaplaýan ýurt baştutanlaram, hormatly BMG'yň başlyklaram bulary goldap çykyş etdiler. beýleki dünýä gazetleri bolsa biz öz kärdeşlerimizi sylaýas diýip “alyň, bagryňyz köýsün, janyňyz ýansyn. ölüň. çüýräň, trýapka boluň” diýip, ýene we ýene karikaturany çap etmegi dowam edýärler.
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND ONE THING: Terrorists are not the disgrace of Islam, but indifferent so-called “muslims” like ME and those who are like me. They say that the respected Charlie expressed his opinion about our Prophet, and they call it freedom of speech and act as if we cannot protest against the freedom of speech… they tell you not to tell your truth. All leaders of the developed states and the UN made statements in support of that. And all the newspapers of the world continue to publish this offensive caricature in support of their colleagues with the message “here you are, go and die and let your souls burn”.
Whether due to the omni-presence of the Turkmen state or cultural Stoicism, Turkmen forum users tend to shy away from controversy.
Çagry beg quickly enforced posting etiquette in response to the unusual rant:
Gaty agyr tema bolupdyr. Sonyny gaty bulasdypsyn. Beydibem zat dusinjegem gaharlanyp okaman cykar temadan. Yada sögusden dolar. Narmanly tewsirem yazmazlar..
This is a very hard topic for discussion. You made the ending of your post very hard. If you continue this way, everyone will get angry and leave the discussion, or there will be many quarrels. You should make normal entries.
While Amina responded dumbstruck:
Awtor gyn gorman shu karikatura temasyny ginden dusundirayseniz,dogrysy men habarym yok nam bolp gecenlerinden,aslynda nahili waka boldy???gyn gormeseniz takyklygna dusundirayin???
Author could you please explain what does this caricature mean? I am not very well aware of the recent development??? If you don't find it hard, please explain what is going on???

author: Anna Fergana


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When 1.3 Billion Become Environmental Refugees · Global Voices
inmediahk.net

Smog in Beijing. Image from Wikimedia.org (CC: AT)
Editor's note: This article was written by Chu Hon Kueng, an experienced environmental activist from Hong Kong. The Chinese version was published at inmediahk.net on January 24, 2015. This English version, translated by Serena Tsang, is published here at Global Voices under a content partnership agreement.
I put forward the idea that China should move its capital when Beijing was covered by toxic smog early last year. A year has passed, and apart from the “shock therapy” of “APEC blue”, the air quality in Beijing is still sickening. While some people are worried that Beijing residents could turn into environmental refugees and run away, let's face the reality—the majority of mainland China's 1.3 billion people are, in fact, already environmental refugees.
This may sound like an exaggeration. The idea, however, that the whole of China's population are “environmental refugees” was posited some time ago by Feng Yongfeng, a pioneer environmentalist in who recently received the 2014 China Top Ten Social Change Maker award. Feng stated, “Nowadays in China, there are hardly any measures to save, appraise and aid the environmental refugees. They have to bear [the consequence of environmental pollution] entirely by themselves.”
The word “bear” is loaded one in China, where people have had to bear so many other costs of the country's economic progress. Today, China's urban population outnumbers its rural population. The basic needs of urban dwellers are simple: clean air, clean water, safe food and good transportation. Yet, in which city in China can you breathe clean air, drink clean water and find food without additives? Not to mention that most of the cities are surrounded by miles of jammed highways and garbage-dumping sites.
The term “refugee” usually refers to the victims of disasters, wars, religious and racial persecution, etc. In a nutshell, people who are forced away from their homes into exile. “Environmental refugees” are those forced out of their homelands by the degradation of environment. Here are two examples: The first is the Chernobyl disaster in 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of people within a 30km radium of the nuclear power station were evacuated. The second is the sinking of the South Pacific island nation Tuvalu due to the rise of sea levels resulting from global warming. The small country has had to appeal to its neighbors Australia and New Zealand for help.
In China, the threats resulting from environmental pollution will not kill people instantly. But they will spread like cancer cells in cities, towns and counties, through rivers and over mountains, slowly ruining ordinary people's health and quality of life. But you cannot excise or medicate away the effects of pollution from rivers and mountains the way you can some forms of cancer. The wealthy may seek foreign citizenship as a form of political insurance, but the majority of people who remain in China might either be insufficiently aware of the problem to run away from it, or simply don't have the capital to do so. Although it is unlikely that Chinese refugees will seek refuge worldwide, as in the political fable Yellow Peril, the prescription for the illness of environmental degradation will be a huge challenge to the country.
Even if there won't be a flood of environmental refugees in the near future, there's still reason to be anxious. Every year, in autumn and winter, Hong Kong's Air Pollution Index flies off the charts, an indication that the impact of pollution cannot be fenced off by borderlines. The “world's factory” of Zhujiang Delta, China's economic hub, might as well be called “the world's kitchen”. People earn handsome sums of money, while leaving toxic substances in the air, soil and water.
In South China, vast swaths of farmland are polluted by heavy metals, and who knows how many of the area's produce ends up in Hong Kong? The pigs, cattle and goats that imported into Hong Kong, what kind of feed and growth hormones are they fed with? For water the risk is lower, as we are selfishly pumping water directly from the less polluted Dongjiang River to Hong Kong through sealed water pipes. But who knows what will happen in the future?
Over the past few weeks, residents in Guangzhou have protesting the pollution of of their drinking water resources. A villager watering plants with reddish wastewater told a Mainland media reporter: “This is poisonous water and shouldn't be used for irrigation”. My friend in Mainland who runs a civil society organization sighed: “I am 35 years old. I cannot drink clean water in my hometown. In Guangzhou we can only drink water from Zhaoqing. I don’t know where my daughter will be able to find clean water when she is my age.”
Recently, in Northern Zhongshan City, residents surrounded and blocked a garbage incinerator that was polluting the environment. Instead, however, of pressing the own to improve the operation, local government officials arrested the residents. Supporters started a phone calling campaign and gathered outside the police station, but no one answered their demands and there was no response from the police station. The police even demanded that people to delete their social media posts about the incident before they would consider releasing those arrested.
Mainland China's only strategy to solve the problem of cities being surrounded by garbage-dumping sites is the building of incinerators all across the country. It's a business that is sure to make huge profits. Whether the facilities include proper pollution prevention measures is another story, which explains the repeated protests concerning the construction of garbage incinerators. According to Feng Yongen, the ones affected are refugees who failed to escape, and hence are forced “to bear [the consequences of environmental pollution] all by themselves.” Yet it also means that there will be no end to the protests.
The citizens of Hong Kong cannotsolve the pollution problem in China: the country is too vast, and some of the problems are structural. Yet, if this massive country cannot control its pollution, the whole world will be affected. We cannot simple sit still and watch each other die. We should seek to understand the problem and show our support for people's environmental protection actions. We could also make use of the official channel between Hong Kong and Guangdong that addresses regional environmental issues. To them we should express our concerns and request better monitoring of pollution, in order to prevent this cancer from spreading further.


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Why I Love Norooz · Global Voices
Arseh Sevom

Tori Egherman explains Norooz traditions, and why she loves it. Photo by Ehsan Khakbaz H. via Flickr (CC BY-ND-SA 2.0)
Written by Tori Egherman, Program Coordinator at Arseh Sevom. A version of this first appeared on the Arseh Sevom website.
Norooz (or Nowruz) is a wonderful time of the year to be in Iran. The celebrations begin on the last Tuesday evening before the Spring Equinox with fireworks and fire-jumping. People leap over the fires shouting “Zardiye man az to, Sorkhieh to az man,” which means “Throwing the darkness & ill the in fire, receiving health and joy back from the fire”. They end two weeks later with picnicking.
Norooz marks the beginning of the new year for people in Iran and other countries in the region.
There are many traditions attending the changing of the year including spring cleaning, making amends, buying new clothes, giving gifts, visiting friends and relatives. Most families decorate their homes with the haft sin (Seven “s's”). A table is covered with all sorts of things beginning with “s.” These items represent common new year themes, including renewal, wisdom, health, and prosperity. You usually see sprouts, pudding, coins, eggs, and other items.
If you want to know more about the traditions of Norooz, a simple internet search will return hundreds of responses. Harvard University has a pdf guide for educators. This link provides an overview of Sizdeh Bedar, the picnic that is the official end of the two-week Norooz holidays.
So, to all who celebrate Norooz: happy new year. To to those who don't: it's not too late to start!

author: Arseh Sevom


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5 Animated Videos That Promote Human Rights and Equality in Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Screencap from an animation video that highlights human rights abuses in Myanmar
A group in Myanmar uses animated videos to promote human rights, equality, and justice across the country.
Equality Myanmar has developed these multimedia resources for their human rights education and advocacy programs to empower people and inspire social transformation. In the past 15 years, the group has trained women, university students, monks and pastors, activists, school teachers, community leaders, farmers, and workers who are now part of their network of human rights trainers and advocates.
Through these workshops, the group is able to address some of the social problems which Myanmar is facing today. Aside from becoming aware about these issues, the participants also learn to understand the relevance of human rights in building a more democratic and inclusive society.
The videos are simple yet educational. They can be used too in other countries because the topics are universal and easy to understand.
The most recent video uploaded by the group tackles the upcoming election. The video features several voters who were exposed to some of the problems linked to elections such as coercion, cheating, censorship, and various human rights violations:
This video promotes women participation in politics. It tells the story of a young Myanmar girl who dreams of becoming a public servant after she saw the need for better social policies to fight poverty and injustice. Initially, her family discouraged her but she persevered and went on to become a member of the parliament:
This video, developed by Maung Maung Aye, exposes child labor exploitation. In the video, a woman rejects her boyfriend after seeing that he is wearing a shirt made by a company that employs child workers:
Another relevant video reminds the public about the dangers of hate speech. The video shows a village living in harmony, but chaos ensued when a vulture (representing hate speech) arrived spreading hostility and animosity. Fortunately, a dove flies above the town spreading love and peace.
This should be widely promoted since online hate speech has intensified in Myanmar, inflaming tension and communal conflicts in various parts of the country.
Maung Maung Aye has developed a video promoting diversity and encouraging the people not to discriminate against others based on gender, race, religion or skin color. Again, this video is useful to counter the rising racism and ethnic discrimination in the country. Myanmar has more than 100 ethnic groups and majority of the population are Buddhists.
These creative videos offer a better understanding of Myanmar society as well as demonstrate the value of promoting human rights education in advocacy work.

author: Mong Palatino


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Are These Wild Ideas Our Last Hope for Saving Africa’s Rhinos? · Global Voices
Ensia

While more numerous than the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros, the southern white rhino is under withering assault from poachers. Photo by Flickr user Elizabeth Haslam. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Adam Welz was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here according to a content-sharing agreement.
In 1909, after completing his second term as U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt led an ambitious expedition across east Africa to shoot specimens for America’s most famous museums. Along with his son Kermit and a handful of naturalists, he collected thousands of animals — everything from elephants to shrews, large raptors to tiny songbirds. The expedition’s bounty was preserved in 4 tons of salt and carried across vast savannas by large crews of African porters, some of whom died along the way.
The ultimate prize of Roosevelt’s epic scientific safari was the Nile rhinoceros, a mysterious type of square-lipped rhino found along the Upper Nile in the regions today called southern South Sudan and northern Uganda. Zoologists noted that it was remarkably similar to the so-called white rhinoceros of southern Africa but smaller, and that it was separated from the southern white by thousands of miles. Were Nile and white rhinos the same species? Experts couldn’t agree.
Teddy and Kermit shot only nine Nile rhinos between them, though they saw tens more. “Too little is known about these northern square-mouthed rhino for us to be sure that they are not lingering slowly towards extinction,” wrote Roosevelt. “We were not willing to kill any merely for trophies.”
We’re charging headlong into an era in which new technology may allow us to save species once considered doomed, but also in which threats come in previously unimaginable forms. Roosevelt’s caution was warranted: The Nile rhino, having suffered decades of trophy hunting and poaching, is on the very edge of extinction. Now often called the northern white rhino, it has only five individuals left, all in captivity, and none able to breed. The southern white rhino is under withering assault by poachers — although it’s the most numerous of the world’s rhino species, with perhaps 20,000 remaining, conservationists conservatively estimate that if killing continues to increase at current rates, all wild southern whites could be gone within 12 years.
The high-profile plight of these closely related species has brought forth a bewildering array of proposed solutions, many of which trigger serious ethical dilemmas, risk unintended and troubling consequences, or rely on unproven technology. We’re charging headlong into an era in which new technology may allow us to save species once considered doomed, but also in which threats come in previously unimaginable forms that mainstream wildlife protectors cannot handle.
In Teddy Roosevelt’s time, saving a species involved little more than declaring it illegal to hunt and protecting a place where it could live. This either worked, as with the American bison, or didn’t, as with the heath hen, a ground-dwelling North American bird whose 1932 extinction resulted from a cascade of factors (including genetic problems from inbreeding) that conservationists didn’t have the knowledge or tools to deal with at the time.
Among the cryopreserved cells stored in the the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research’s “Frozen Zoo” are samples from 12 Nile (northern white) rhinos. Photo courtesy of San Diego Zoo.
Had the Nile rhino been in its current predicament a century ago, it certainly would have gone extinct. But today’s conservationists think they can save it by stretching the bounds of reproductive science.
Three of the remaining five Nile rhinos, two females and a male, live at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. These animals have thus far failed to breed due to various reproductive problems. German and South African researchers will now pioneer artificial insemination techniques on a group of southern whites in South Africa that will be applied as soon as possible to the Nile rhinos in Kenya in a last-ditch attempt to breed from them.
The San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research houses a “Frozen Zoo” where cells of many threatened animals, including 12 individual Nile rhinos, are deep-frozen in liquid nitrogen. Working in parallel with the German/South African effort, Frozen Zoo staff plan to use a technique developed at the Scripps Research Institute to transform the cryopreserved Nile rhino cells into stem cells, which can then theoretically be used to make embryos that can be incubated in the zoo’s southern white rhinos. Many pieces of the puzzle remain to be figured out, but the San Diego team has just received a grant to map the genetic differences between Nile and southern white rhinos, a vital part of the process.
Some conservationists fear that if scientists figure out how to make new animals from preserved cells cheaply stored in a bottle, so to speak, tax money will be directed away from conservation and into things that are more immediately popular. There are also fears that young Nile rhinos raised by captive southern whites may not learn behaviors vital for their survival in the wild. Can we really say we’ve saved the Nile rhino if it acts like a zoo-dwelling southern white? How important is learned “culture” to the makeup of a species, and how do we revive that?
The steps being taken to save southern white rhinos from the relentless onslaught of ever more organized poachers and traffickers — who sell their horns for extraordinary sums in Asia to consumers who believe that rhino horn cures cancer and other ailments and businesspeople seeking status symbols — are no less fraught with uncertainty.
Large-scale translocation projects are now moving hundreds of rhino from Kruger and other at-risk preserves to other parks.The largest population of southern white rhinos, perhaps 7,000 animals, resides in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. It’s the epicenter of world rhino poaching: 827 carcasses were found there in 2014, and the actual number poached may have been over 1,000. Despite reinforcing park rangers with military units and gathering extensive intelligence on poaching gangs, park authorities have been unable to stem the slaughter.
Large-scale translocation projects are now moving hundreds of rhino from Kruger and other at-risk preserves to other parks across South Africa and even to neighboring countries like Botswana — their exact destinations shrouded in secrecy because poaching gangs have even been known to hijack relocation trucks to kill the rhinos in them. One plan even calls for establishing populations of African rhinos in Australia.
But many South African conservationists are wary of large-scale rhino translocations because they’re expensive and poachers are extremely mobile, now using low-flying helicopters and night vision equipment to find rhinos in remote areas. Large translocated populations might become new “poaching magnets,” attracting poachers to previously untroubled places. National pride also comes into play; by sending rhinos to other countries, some South Africans feel like they’re admitting defeat.
Carefully designed translocations are a proven part of conservation practice, and have been used to boost rhino populations and save many other species in the past. Clearly, the expense of rhino translocation must be weighed in context and the possibility of creating new poaching magnets should be considered (both these problems can be solved by only moving small, carefully chosen groups of animals). Misplaced national pride was the downfall of the last wild population of Nile rhinos, which lived in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the early 2000s conservationists planned to transfer some of the remaining 30 or so animals to Kenya to create an insurance population. Nationalist Congolese politicians stalled the transfer, poaching intensified, and a 2008 survey found none remaining there.
Others aim to save rhinos by making their horns less appealing and valuable.
One group of South African rhino lovers has started injecting brightly colored poison into the horns of live rhinos. Their goal: to make the horns useless to poachers and at least a little dangerous to consumers. The approach is legally controversial, as horn-poisoners might be found liable for harm to consumers, even if the latter are acting illegally. And some scientists say the toxic mixture doesn’t actually saturate the horn, and so is a waste of time.
An influential group of South African wildlife ranchers are taking the opposite tack. If Asian consumers won’t stop paying absurd prices for poached, illegally traded rhino horn, perhaps Africans should change international wildlife trade laws and create a legal trade in horn from farmed rhinos, they say. (Rhino horns can be carefully cut off every few years without harm to the animal; they eventually regrow.) Their idea is to flood the market with legal horn, drive criminals out of business and generate revenue for rhino conservation.
International opposition to a legal horn trade is intense, making it exceedingly unlikely that international treaties could be altered within a timescale that’s meaningful to rhinos.The reasoning is superficially appealing. What’s not to like about generating dollars for rhinos’ welfare without killing them? But critics who understand Asian markets say that legal trade in high-value wildlife products boosts demand by legitimizing them in the eyes of consumers, and creates channels through which to launder poached products. This is evident from the currently legal trade in elephant ivory and farmed tiger products in China. Far from reducing pressure on wild elephants and tigers, legal ivory and tiger parts have made these commodities more visible and desirable in Chinese society, driving poaching to new heights. There’s usually no way of telling poached and legally farmed wildlife products apart, making it easy for illegal material to be sold in legal marketplaces; poached and legally harvested rhino horns look identical, making law enforcement very difficult.
It would also be very difficult, perhaps impossible, for rhino farmers to meet the twin goals of generating large profits to fund conservation and flooding the market to drive horn traffickers out of business. Making money for conservation means maximizing the price of horn. Undercutting the wildlife crime industry means selling horn cheaply. How does one do both at the same time?
In any case, international opposition to a legal horn trade is intense, making it exceedingly unlikely that international treaties could be altered within a timescale that’s meaningful to rhinos.
Rhino poaching often takes place in massive, rugged, hard-to-police areas: the Kruger Park, for example, is roughly the size of Israel, and other African parks are even larger. But a few new companies are re-purposing military surveillance technology to boost conservationists’ ability to monitor such expanses. A dizzying array of drones, long-range cameras, hypersensitive microphones, cell phone monitoring stations and cutting-edge software are being packaged with the specific purpose of finding poachers before they strike.
Understaffed anti-poaching squads, desperate for help, are in favor of the military-tech approach. However, some critics balk at the expense of this hardware, pointing out that billions spent on similar gear has failed to stop people and illegal drugs flowing across America’s borders. Others wonder if tourists will visit parks that increasingly resemble military camps.
If all that consumers care about is the horn part of the rhino, why not leave the animals in peace by growing horn in a lab? A Seattle-based company, Pembient, aims to grow nature-identical rhino horn (and ultimately other wildlife products) using cutting-edge biotechnology and a hefty dose of Silicon Valley techno-optimism.
Critics are worried that, just as with selling legally farmed horn, this approach may backfire horribly. It may disassociate horn from the gruesome business of poaching in the mind of some consumers, making its use more socially acceptable. And it could counter-productively increase demand for poached horn in other consumers, as “real” horn may be seen as more genuine or potent.
This already has happened with American ginseng, a plant that grows wild on forest floors across much of the northeastern U.S. and is highly desired in China for medicinal use. The creation of a large cultivated ginseng industry has made wild ginseng root appear better and more desirable, driving prices up and increasing pressure on wild populations. Ginseng collecting has gone from a small seasonal occupation to a big money spinner in places like Appalachia. Illegal harvesting is rife and violent conflicts now occur over natural ginseng patches in formerly peaceful rural communities.
The ultimate solution to poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife products is, of course, to persuade people not to buy them — an approach known as “demand reduction.” Most conservation groups paid little attention to this in the past, but organizations like the one I represent, WildAid, have made measurable progress in shifting public attitudes against wildlife products and driving down consumption using techniques pioneered by Hollywood and the advertising industry.
There’s always a risk of a campaign having unintended consequences. For example, WildAid partnered with Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming and other celebrities to campaign against the cruel and wasteful killing of sharks for shark fin soup, a status item whose consumption was skyrocketing in China with that country’s growing wealth. The campaign’s TV ads and billboards have been seen by hundreds of millions in China, and last year 85 percent of respondents to a public survey said they’d stopped consuming shark fin in the previous three years, the most common reason cited being anti-shark fin public awareness campaigns. Chinese wholesalers report massive declines in sales, and fishermen across Asia are getting out of the shark fin business because prices are too low.
A range of wildlife groups are now rolling out word-of-mouth, broadcast media and cell phone campaigns against ivory and rhino horn in Asia, and surveys reveal that public attitudes have begun to shift against these products as well. Much needs to be learned, however, in today’s ever-evolving media landscape, and there’s always a risk of a campaign having unintended consequences. Many conservation groups refuse to put a number on the sky-high street prices of rhino horn, for example, for fear of encouraging more trafficking.
In the recent past, conservation was mainly about understanding the biology of endangered species, protecting and managing their habitats, and lobbying for new laws. Today, saving high-value species like rhinos and elephants means outmaneuvering nimble poaching and trafficking networks, which are surprisingly well-funded, able to exploit cutting-edge technology and unencumbered by tedious legal processes and governing committees.
Wildlife protectors, for their part, have to become expert gene manipulators, criminologists, military technologists and marketers. They must deal with practical and ethical problems that previous generations could not have imagined.
There is clearly no silver-bullet solution. Conservationists have no choice but to grasp the future and grapple with its risky technologies if rhinos — and thousands of other species — are to continue to exist in any condition resembling their wild, ancient way.
Adam Welz is a writer/filmmaker, longtime naturalist, addicted birder and inveterate debater. He's the South African representative of WildAid, a nonprofit that focuses on ending the demand for illegal wildlife products. He tweets from @AdamWelz and @WildAid_SA.

author: Ensia


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Cambodia’s Women Bloggers (Cloghers) Document Challenges of Rural Life · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

School in Kanal Province courtesy of Uncle Thon.
Rural voices in Cambodia are often left unheard in cyberspace. Thanks to the work of the Cambodian Center of Human Rights (CCHR), a new project has been training and supporting new female bloggers hailing from rural communities across the country, where they can learn to tell their story online. These young people's university studies brought them to the capital city of Phnom Penh, enabling them to access this opportunity and connect with others with similar backgrounds and experiences.
The project called “Empowering Cloghers” recently wrapped up its first phase after receiving a Rising Voices microgrant in 2014. The term “clogher” refers to female bloggers in Cambodia. In addition to the workshops on how to create and maintain their own personal space on the web using the WordPress platform, trainers also encouraged the new cloghers to explore issues and challenges facing rural Cambodia, as well as to provide a snapshot of daily life in this part of the country.
To bring out the best in these new cloghers, the project organized a contest to find the most interesting blog posts, where three winners were chosen. At a ceremony called “Cloghers Corner” held in November 2014, the three winners and all participants of the project were recognized. The following are excerpts from the winning blog posts:
Working Conditions of Women in the Textile Sector
Many rural Cambodians find themselves with the need to migrate to other parts of the country in order to find steady employment. However, the tough work environments that they face are often not noticeable from the outside, in particular in the textile industry, where the Ministry of Commerce estimates that 90% of workers in this sector are female, which totals approximately 300,000. In addition to relatively low wages that are not enough to raise a family, workers face other types of hardships. Sum Dany spoke with some of these textile workers, who recounted some of their stories of their working conditions.
ក្នុងនោះ ផង ដែរ មាន នារី ម្នាក់ ទៀត ដែល ធ្វើការ ក្នុង រោង ចក្រ ក្បែ គ្នា នោះ និយាយ ថា “សហជីព របស់ ខ្ញុំ មិន តឹង តែង ពេក ទេ តែ ពិបាក រឿង បន្ទប់ ទឹកឲ្យ តែ ចេញ ចូល លើស ពីរ បី ដង តែង តែ សួរ ឬ ស្តីឲ្យ ហើយ។ ហើយ អ្វី ដែល ពិបាក បំផុត គឺ គ្រូ ពេទ្យ សម្តី អាក្រក់ ណាស់ និង មិន មាន ថ្នាំ ប្រើប្រាស់ គ្រប់ គ្រាន់ នោះទេ ពេល មាន មនុស្ស ឈឺ ម្តងៗ ហើយ គ្រាន់ តែ យក អ្នក សន្លាប់ ទៅ ដាក់ លើ គ្រែ ពេទ្យ និង យក ព្រេង ក្រឡា មក កោស ខ្យល់ ឲ្យ គាត់ មិន ឲ្យ ដាក់ លើ គ្រែ ពេទ្យ នោះ ទេ ខ្លាច ស្អុយ ពិបាក ណាស់ ធ្វើ អី ក៏ ហាមៗ ក្រែងគ្រែពេទ្យនៅទីនេះទុកសំរាប់ដាក់មើលកម្មកររោងចក្រដែលឈឺហែ៎ ”។ ជា ការពិត រោងចក្រ មួយ ចំនួន មើល ពី សំបក ក្រៅ ហាក់ ដូច ជា គោរព ច្បាប់ ការងារ បាន ល្អណាស់ តែ នៅ ខាង ក្នុង វិញ មាន ការ រំលោភ បំពាន សិទ្ធិ ពលក ម្មយ៉ាង ធ្ងន់ ធ្ងរ លើ កម្មករ កម្ម ការណី ក្នុងពេលកំពុងធ្វើការ។
Within that context, there is a woman who works in a nearby factory who said: “My union was not so strict but what is difficult for me is the restroom break, we could not go there for more than three times otherwise we will be asked or blamed. What’s more difficult is the doctor, his/her words are very harsh and there was never enough medicine when people got sick. They only brought those who fainted to be placed on the bed and then started coin massage. They don’t allow to put the patients on the hospital beds because of the smell, it was very hard. The doctors/nurses always blame us. I wonder what the beds are for, if not for the workers who getting sick?” Indeed, some factories, were seen by the outsider as a good factory that obey the law but inside there are a lot of worker’s rights violation.
Rural Families Struggle Hard to Keep Students in Schools
While there are more and more students from rural areas coming to the larger cities to continue their post-secondary education, most of these young people complete their primary and secondary education in rural schools. These communities present challenges such as young people required to help with household or field-related chores. Poverty also comes into play as many parents are unable to pay costs related to keeping their children in school, especially when it's time to pay additional related costs.
Chroeng Sopheakvirya wrote about the schooling system in Kandal Province, located in southeast Cambodia, and how sometimes to get additional benefits the rural teacher is paid extra for extra classes by the parents. However, some parents are unable to pay the extra sum, but schooling goes on as usual:
Parents sometimes owe the payment, but their children still come to class, and teachers still teach them as usual. This kind of situation occurs as a result of understanding. Teachers said they cannot send students back home while those children try very hard to come to class. Teachers further told that they have no choices beside waiting until students’ parents have money to pay or teachers often insist them to pay if there is no payment for 2 or 3 months. Some students comes from poor family, but they are outstanding, so teachers cannot leave them out.
River Clean Up in Phnom Penh
River clean up in Phnom Penh. Photo by Cheng Sreymom.
In an effort to adapt and become more involved with their new surroundings, many students are taking part in local activities. Cheng Sreymom recently took part in a river clean-up along the Tonlé Sap and Mekong Rivers, which are important parts of the city's landscape. Unfortunately, the rivers have alarming levels of pollution due to wastes that flow into the river. Trash can also be seen along the riverbanks, and she joined an effort to pick up trash making this part of her new community a little bit better for more to enjoy, and wrote about her reasons for taking part.
ជាការ ពិត តាម ដងទន្លេជា តំបន់ ទេស ចរណ៍ យ៉ាង ទាក់ ទាញ នៅ ក្នុងទី ក្រុង ភ្នំពេញ យើង ទាំងភ្ញៀ វជាតិ និងភ្ញៀវ អន្តរ ជាតិ ដែល តែងតែ មកកំ សាន្តដើម្បីស្រូម យក ខ្យល់អា កាស បរិសុទ្ធ និង សំរាកលំ ហែជា លក្ខណះ គ្រូសារ ជា ដើម។ ប៉ុន្តែ វាគួរ អោយសោក ស្តាយ ដោយសារ ប្រជា ពល រដ្ឋ មួយ ចំនួនខ្វះ ការ យល់ដឹងពីបញ្ហា បរិស្ថាន ដែល ពួក គាត់បា នបោះ សំរាម ចោលពុំ បាន ត្រឹមត្រូវដែល ធ្វើអោយ កន្លែង ទេស ចរណ៍ពោ ពេញទៅ ដោយបរិ ស្ថាន កខ្វក់ សំរាម ស្អុយ រលួយ ធំខ្លិនមិ ន ល្អ ធ្វើអោយ ភ្ញៀ វទេ សច រណ៍វា យតំលៃ ដល់ សង្គម ជាតិ យើង ទាំ ងមូល។ នាងខ្ញុំ Apochcheng ជាពល រដ្ឋ ខ្មែរ មួយ រូប ដែល បាន ចូលរួម ជួយ ក្នុង យុទ្ធនា ការណ៍ សំអាត បរិ ស្ថាន នេះ។ ខ្ញុំ មាន អារ ម្មណ៍ ថា យើង ទាំង អស់ គ្នា ត្រូវ នាំ គ្នា ផ្លាស់ ប្តូរ ទំលាប់ មិន ល្អ ចេញ ដើម្បី អភិវឌ្ឍ ខ្លួន យើង អោយ ខ្លាយ ទៅ ជា ពល រដ្ឋល្អ ដែល មាន សិល ធម៌ ល្អ សំរាប់ យើង និង សង្គម ជាតិ ទាំង មូល មានតែ ខ្មែរ យើង ទាំង អស់ គ្នា ទេ ដែល ជួយប្រ ទេស យើង អោយ រីក ចំរើន បាន។
The riverside is one of the attractive touristic sites in Phnom Penh, both national and international tourists and their families have always visited here in order to catch fresh air and to relax. However, it is very unfortunate because some of our citizens lack knowledge about the environment, always throwing away trash improperly causing the touristic site to be dirty and smelly making the tourists wrongly perceive of our society. I, Apochhceng am one of the citizens who participated in this campaign to clean the city. I feel that we all have to change our bad habits in order to improve ourselves in order to become a good citizen with good morals for both ourselves and the entire society.
While the first phase of the project has come to an end, the experience working with new cloghers across Cambodia has motivated the CCHR to look for additional ways to support new voices. The CCHR's Executive Director Sopheap Chak is seeking to crowdfund future activities.

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
Can Ugandan President Rule Guinea on a Loan for 10 Years? · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Guinean born and Italian citizen Abdoulaye Bah asks Ugandan blogger Prudence Nyamishana if Uganda can give Guinea their president, Yoweri Museveni, for only 10 years:
“You can have him for as long as you want.” I replied.
This was a conversation I had with Abdoulaye Bah my 72-year-old friend from Guinea during his visit to Uganda.
He was dead serious when he requested for President Museveni of Uganda for only 10 years. He is convinced that if Museveni became president of Guinea for 10 years, he would create a fundamental change. Who am I to argue against Adbdoulaye’s case?
This Guinean born and Italian citizen, former UN staff, retired journalist and current Global Voices contributor,  first visited Uganda in 1975 and he says that a lot has changed. When he came with his wife, they stayed at  the Sheraton hotel a place that was then reserved for only civil servants. Load shedding in the city was the order of the day.

author: Ndesanjo Macha