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One Trinidadian Gymnast’s Olympic Dream Is Killed, While Another’s Is Born · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Screen shot of a YouTube video featuring Trinidad and Tobago gymnast, Thema Williams, competing at the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) 2015 Artistic Worlds event, in the Qualifications for Balance Beam.
The sport of gymnastics, so beautiful to watch, is, sadly, no stranger to ugly goings-on off the floor. That has certainly been the case with Trinidad and Tobago's gymnastics fraternity in the cut-throat lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics Test Event, which began in Brazil on April 13, 2016, and ends today. Local sports fans expected to see the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation‘s (TTGF) pick for Rio, Thema Williams, shine at the event — but the story had an unexpected ending.
The furore began when topless photos of the twin-island republic's two main contenders for the Olympic spot — Thema Williams and Marisa Dick — turned up online. An anonymous source reported them to the TTGF, the sport's governing body at national level, and the two gymnasts were placed before a disciplinary committee. All of a sudden the Olympic dreams of both athletes — Trinidad-born Williams, who has the higher ranking, and Canada-born Dick — hung in the balance. Although there were many sub-plots in the drama (Dick, for instance, was being criticised for not being “fully Trinidadian”, though her mother is a national), the local blogosphere came out in full support of both young women, admonishing the TTGF for body policing.
The controversy worsened thanks to the TTGF's tardiness in making a decision as to which of the two gymnasts would represent the country at the Test Event. On March 15, 2016, the TTGF finally announced that Williams was its pick for Rio, though the athlete's attorney cautioned that the standoff between his client and the federation over the disciplinary matter had still not been settled.
Even so, Williams had been confirmed as the country's Olympic representative. She went to Rio, but got pulled at the last minute. Dick was called in to represent Trinidad and Tobago instead. Wired868 announced the shocking news:
Trinidad and Tobago gymnast Thema Williams’ dream of representing her country are now in the hands of her attorneys, after the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) removed her as the country’s athlete for the 2016 Rio Olympics Test event with just hours to go.
The TTGF decision, which was revealed via a press statement, was allegedly taken as a result of the 20-year-old Williams’ supposedly substandard performances in training.
Marisa Dick, the TTGF’s alternative, will fly in to Rio to take her place.
Legal wrangling to try and overturn the TTGF's decision was in vain:
Statement of Appeal filed by @ThemaY_Williams Attorney Keith Scotland on behalf of the athlete pic.twitter.com/UqS47y68Qm
— C Sports (@CSportsLive) April 17, 2016
Williams’ lawyers did, however, call the TTGF's decision “irrational”, “illegal” and “null and void”.
Williams displayed strength and resilience on Twitter, buoyed by the support of her fans:
What's bad for my heart is good for my art. I'll be alright. ☺ pic.twitter.com/cZyqoKxdUJ
— tameher ♡ (@ThemaY_Williams) April 17, 2016
@ThemaY_Williams T&T supports you 500% girl. Believe that! ❤🇹🇹
— Nyssa Pierre (@kneezurr) April 16, 2016
@ThemaY_Williams Sorry you got so close, yet so far away again. All this means is He has even greater in store for you! Much love. ❤
— Renee B. (@rb218) April 17, 2016
Meanwhile, the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC), Brian Lewis, made it clear that his organisation had no power to influence a change of heart: “the matter appears to be between the TTGF and its global governing body, the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG)”. After Dick competed in Rio, however, he posted this tweet:
As long as people understand its @TTOlympic that has the final say in respect of #TeamTTO selection for the Olympic Games. Plain talk.
— Brian A .C. Lewis (@briaclew) April 17, 2016
The TTGF seems secure in its stance, maintaining that there was a clause in the contract that made it possible to remove Williams if her fitness was called into question:
In accordance with the athlete agreement, both gymnasts must submit a medical report/clearance to compete, in the weeks leading up to the Test Event—to ensure their continued fitness […] In his 2016 January to March monthly reports, Williams’ coach John Geddert advised the Federation that the young gymnast has not yet been able to train landings because of a knee injury.
Her coach subsequently stated that “portions of [his] report were blown out of context and exaggerated”, but the TTGF defended its decision, saying that it needed to “do what is best for the country, which is to give us the best chance to qualify for the Olympic Games.”
Screen shot of a YouTube video featuring Canadian-born T&T gymnast, Marisa Dick, competing at the FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) 2015 Artistic Worlds event, in the Qualifications for Balance Beam.
That chance, in the form of Marisa Dick, succeeded in making history for Trinidad and Tobago by securing “the country’s first ever artistic gymnastics spot at an Olympic Games”:
Dick’s scores, according to a local gymnastics source, were not outstanding. But neither was anyone else’s at the Rio venue that has been heavily criticised by the competitors so far.
‘The scores are much lower (from everyone) than they would normally be in this type of tournament,’ said the gymnastics insider […] ‘Otherwise, it was fair. She came and did her best. It was better than having nobody there.’
That justification has not stopped the outrage in the Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere. When local radio personality Sophie Wight called the TTGF treasurer to voice her disgust over the decision, the treasurer's response was allegedly “‘I don’t care, I didn’t kill nobody”. Several Facebook users’ response to that statement was that she might have killed a young gymnast's Olympic dreams.
Satirical website The Late O'Clock News pulled no punches in its assessment of the situation:
The Trinidad & Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) has made a public statement affirming its love for Dick.
In a press release issued early Monday morning, the federation reiterated its disdain for exposed breasts but made it clear that Dick excites them quite a bit.
Wired868 revealed a slew of inconsistencies surrounding the TTGF's decision, including the damning report of Williams’ coach, John Geddert, which no doubt contributed to the TTGF making the call to replace her. Geddert was also allegedly unavailable when the TTGF attempted to reach him for clarification about his request to be flown out of Rio three days ahead of his scheduled departure date for personal reasons, without ever having acknowledged the TTGF's query about Williams’ fitness. When Geddert eventually did respond, the legal deadline for challenging the decision had already passed.
Geddert says he never received the TTGF's calls and has since accused the TTGF of “breaching its contract with Williams, twisting information to justify malicious intent against the athlete and risking the health of her alternate Marisa Dick.”
In the words of Wired868:
Somewhere within either the TTGF or Williams’ camp lies culpability for adversely affecting Trinidad and Tobago’s chance for gymnastic history.
Time will tell.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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The Awkward Story of How Russia’s Top Pranksters Weren’t Really Pranked · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Pranksters Vova and Lexus. Image: RT.com / YouTube.
Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov, better known as “Vovan and Lexus,” are the Jerky Boys of Russia—a pair of pranksters who have achieved national fame for crank-calling celebrities and politicians, often in ways that embarrass the Kremlin’s adversaries. They’ve fooled Ukrainian officials, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, The New York Times, and even Elton John. Last week, they announced that they’re getting their own show on network television. Vovan and Lexus have always denied any formal connection to the Putin regime, but this hasn’t discouraged speculation (particularly among the Kremlin’s critics) that the two are secretly employed by the Russian state.
In an article published on April 11, Elena Milchanovska, a reporter at the newspaper Sobesednik, says she’s proved that Vovan and Lexus haven’t worked for the Kremlin or the police in the past, though she says they’d be willing to, if the authorities reached out. Milchanovska says she knows this because she posed as a Kremlin staffer and successfully hired them to prank Recep Erdoğan.
Milchanovska is perhaps best known for a three-minute-long question she asked Vladimir Putin in 2013 at the president’s annual press conference. (Holding a teddy bear and rambling into a microphone, Milchanovska told Putin that she loved him platonically, and credited him with helping her find a husband.) She made headlines again in 2014, when she managed to take a terrifically awkward selfie with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who was suffering from a cold at the time.
Elena Milchanovska speaks to President Putin about platonic love, meeting her partner, and sustaining the Russian print media. December 19, 2013.
Like Milchanovska’s reputation as a journalist, her report about Vovan and Lexus is strange and slightly embarrassing. She says she managed to “prank the pranksters” by posing as an employee in the Presidential Administration. Milchanovska says she first called Lexus (Alexey Stolyarov) from a mobile phone, but he insisted on receiving a call from her work phone, which he presumably expected to show the appropriate telephone prefix. “My head worked more quickly than ever before,” Milchanovska writes, claiming that she found a security guard at the Moscow Conservatory, who apparently allowed her to use his phone to speak to Lexus. She says this went on for several days, until Lexus asked for a meeting at the Presidential Administration building. Milchanovska says she then invited Lexus to a public tour, where she posed as a staffer and staged an excursion for him, somehow managing to avoid the suspicions of the real tour guides.
Finally, the two left for a cafe, where Milchanovska says she checked Lexus’ identification documents and told him that the government wanted to hire him and his partner for some “internal work,” saying it wouldn’t be meant for public dissemination. She says she conveyed the Kremlin’s offer on a napkin. (“I’d always wanted to do it like that, just like in a movie!” she writes.) She suggested 50,000 rubles ($750) for a single prank, but Lexus said he couldn’t do it for any less than 200,000 rubles ($3,000), according to Milchanovska.
In the end, Milchanovska says Lexus refused to prank call Edward Snowden, refusing to believe that the Kremlin was having problems controlling him. Instead, Lexus said unexpectedly that he was interested in running for a seat in the State Duma. She says he did agree to prank call Erdoğan, however, with the aim of determining his true willingness to seek an end to the current hostilities between Moscow and Ankara.
Milchanovska ends the story by arguing that her experiment amounts to proof that Vovan and Lexus have never worked for the Kremlin or the police. “They’ve never even been inside the building at Staraya Square,” she says, referring to the Presidential Administration’s headquarters in Moscow. “But maybe after my prank, the Kremlin will hire them for real,” she jokes.
Though Milchanovska’s story was published on April 11, few noticed it until April 18, when the text started making waves on Facebook, according to the website TJournal.ru. On April 18, Milchanovska gave a radio interview, where she claimed that Vovan and Lexus perhaps still believe she works for the president, despite the article in Sobesednik. “Even if they’ve read this text, maybe they think it was some kind of information leak, and they’ll go on believing only me, and they’ll continue working for me,” Milchanovska told Govorit Moskva radio.
Milchanovska appears to have miscalculated, however. TJournal managed to contact Vovan (Vladimir Kuznetsov), who denied that any meeting ever took place. He also shared an audiotape with TJournal, recorded during a phone conversation with Milchanovska, where the journalist begged him not to reveal that the whole story is fake.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Australian Leaders Keep Unspoken Vow of Silence on China’s Human Rights Record · Global Voices
Fiona So

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April. Photo: Malcolm Turnbull, public Facebook page.
Following Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's whirlwind visit to China from 14 to 15 April, some are questioning his decision to remain tight-lipped on the country's human rights record.
With a 1,000-strong entourage of business leaders in tow, the 36-hour trip saw Turnbull reach an agreement to expand Australian and Chinese tourism, announce a $100 million joint research and science program, and sign a deal aimed at raising the profile of Australian football. While the prime minister assured reporters that human rights issues had also been raised, he made clear such discussions would be kept strictly behind closed doors.
Aus PM Turnbull raised human rights w/ Premier Li, says “these issues are always discussed”, didn't give details of specific issues #China
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) April 15, 2016
Twitter user Bernie Zarsoff noted the marked difference in tone compared to when Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif visited Australia in March:
@MGliksmanMDPhD @HuffPostAU Leaders don't seem to have an issue with criticising countries like Iran, so why dance around China ????
— Bernie Zarsoff (@BernieZarsoff1) April 15, 2016
Turnbull's reluctance to disclose specifics is consistent with the tendency for senior Australian officials to avoid publicly confronting China over human rights issues. Earlier this February, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was similarly unwilling to dish on whether she had expressed concern to her Chinese counterparts about China's intimidation and detention of at least 170 lawyers:
I have raised these issues in the appropriate place which was in the ministerial and other meetings that I’ve held today. And I won’t go into the details, I don’t think that would be useful.
It seems even a social media ‘like’ violates this self-imposed, unspoken vow of silence.
Days before Turnbull's trip, Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison claimed his account was hacked after appearing to ‘like’ an op-ed — written by Australia Director at Human Rights Watch Elaine Pearson — urging the prime minister to include human rights on the China agenda:
Malcolm Turnbull is to make his inaugural visit to China as Australia’s prime minister against the backdrop of a new bilateral free-trade agreement and growing unease over tensions in the South China Sea. It would be a mistake, however, if Turnbull’s talks in Beijing focus only on trade and security.
The Chinese government is imposing the most intense crackdown on civil society in at least two decades. Turnbull should not ignore the backdrop of repression that has intensified under the three years of President Xi Jinping’s rule.
BuzzFeed Australia's Political Editor Mark Di Stefano was among the first to pick up on Morrison's unusual Twitter move.
Well then. The Treasurer's most recent Twitter like is pretty interesting with the PM visiting China. pic.twitter.com/nXb9xVZd1j
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) April 13, 2016
Within an hour, the post was no longer tagged as ‘liked’. A subsequent tweet from Morrison appeared to blame the slip-up on unauthorized activity.
It appears my twitter account may have been accessed by someone unauthorised to do so. This has been rectified.
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 13, 2016
Australians were quick to jump on the treasurer's reaction:
Just epic. @ScottMorrisonMP try & reserve ‘hacking’ excuse 4 things more embarrassing than ‘liking’ human rights. https://t.co/tahaeqoP0Z
— Peter Bouckaert (@bouckap) April 13, 2016
Don't worry @ScottMorrisonMP we know it didn't come from you as you don't believe in human rights in Australia, let alone China #auspol
— Brian Anthony (@killmebilly) April 13, 2016
@ScottMorrisonMP Did you accidentally tweet something compassionate, honest or with integrity for your position in government?
— Bort Flancrest (@bortflancrest) April 13, 2016
So I guess the Treasurer didn't really like my article on China after all? Still I hope he reads it https://t.co/5HvyQ0nsPO
— Elaine Pearson (@PearsonElaine) April 13, 2016
When human rights concerns in China are raised publicly, it is usually done on a less personal, more institutional basis. For instance, Australia was one of 12 countries who signed a joint statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning China's intensified crackdown on human rights activists. A “frank and constructive exchange of views” also takes place at the infrequent Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue, the last of which was held in February 2014. It was not attended by the prime minister or any senior cabinet minister.
Several theories have been put forward to explain the conspicuous silence of senior Australian political figures on human rights in China — incidentally, Australia's largest trade partner.
Perhaps the most obvious is the government's need to ensure sensitivities over human rights do not derail the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA), which recently came into force last December. The deal, which includes across-the-board tariff reductions for a range of Australian exports, is being enthusiastically spruiked by officials as “[supporting] future economic growth, job creation and higher living standards through increased goods and services trade, and investment.”
Others suggest the government is shying away from imminent charges of hypocrisy, in light of Australia's much lambasted treatment of asylum seekers and its indigenous population.
@MGliksmanMDPhD @ralphd2 Or doesn't want to be called out by China for hyprocrisy over treatment of Aboriginals & Refugees?
— Adora Krem (@Adorakrem) April 15, 2016
There is another possible explanation: Australia's leaders are simply too well-mannered to call China out.
@HuffPostAU
Malcolm Turnbull is a polite man & will not be lecturing a host country about human rights real or imaginary #auspol #Turnbull
— peterr (@shockresistant2) April 15, 2016

author: Fiona So


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How Pakistan’s Taher Shah Is Taking Viral Culture to the Next Level · Global Voices
Sheema Khan

Screen shot from Tahir Shah's video Angel.
In 2013, Taher Shah released his quirky and outlandish debut song ‘Eye to Eye’. The low budget video went viral in Pakistan, generating endless memes. It took the Pakistani singing sensation three years to grow wings and make a comeback with his “Angel” song.
The video opens in a picturesque meadow with a rainbow. Taher frequently changes outfits and wears tiaras over his signature long black hair, adorns flowing velvet gowns, studded brooches, hair wigs, coloured contact lenses, and masquerade masks. He walks around with what seems to be his angel family. There are some incomprehensible English lyrics and some off-tune singing.
But that isn't what Taher is about. He is creating viral art. Art that is reappropriated and takes a life of its own on the internet. His video was viewed 2 million times in two days, topped Twitter trends in Pakistan and across the border in India, and has inspired endless viral memes and videos.
In this video, one of Pakistan's top singers Ali Zafar takes on Taher Shah's Angel. The video has over 100K views on YouTube, and more than 90K on Facebook.
And then there's a heavy metal version, which has been widely shared on Facebook.
Taher is not the only Pakistani to be operating in this space. In 2011, Pakistan found its very first YouTube star in AwaisLovely, a young man from one of Pakistan's smaller cities Sialkot. Within a short time, Awais’ amateur dancing videos and conversations about his city and romance mixed with epic music became a viral hit among the country’s internet population.
AwaisLovely generated lots of memes and probably would've taken his fandom to some heights, if YouTube wasn't banned in the country in 2012.
And then there is Qandeel Baloch, a Pakistani entertainer who has taken social media by storm for uploading videos on Facebook about her daily routine and her take on politics at home and in India, usually while sprawled on a bed in clothes that are considered risqué by Pakistani standards. Sometimes she just uploads videos of herself in a hot tub or hilarious edited videos of herself created using third-party apps.  She also reposts mixes or memes of her videos and has embraced viral culture completely. Agence France-Presse has called her Pakistan's Kim Kardashian. Her Facebook page has close to half a million fans.
Screenshot of Qandeel Baloch from her official Facebook page
Shah, Qandeel and AwaisLovely are part of a larger global phenomenon.
Meet Ahmed Angel, the self-proclaimed “World's Most Beautiful Man Alive”.
From Ahmed Angel's Public Facebook page.
Originally from Iraq, Ahmed is studying medicine in Belarus. He uploads highly stylized photo shoots of himself on Facebook and has thousands of fans. BuzzFeed even did a profile on him in 2014.
Like Awais, Taher, Qandeel, Ahmed’s fans often make tribute memes of him, like the one below created by Ali Gee.
Unlike Shah, however, Angel has no upcoming videos or songs planned:
It will make me even more famous (extra fame), it will ruin my life and I do not live a normal life like everyone else because of the fame.
He's an Internet sensation nevertheless. But in terms of numbers, speed and spread of virality, Taher Shah seems to have really cracked the viral formula.
In the first sneak peek of his soon-to-be-viral hit video, Shah, without revealing his face, posed as an angel holding a rainbow, with both his arms spread out.
“NEW SONG” FIRST LOOK@TaherShahhpic.twitter.com/0BmKE0fi4V
— Taher Shah Official (@TaherShahh) March 20, 2016
Shortly afterwards, the official countdown to the video's release date began, with this ethereal image:
Official Countdown Begins@TaherShahhpic.twitter.com/zmPRq9nrMc
— Taher Shah Official (@TaherShahh) March 26, 2016
Shah thrives on suspense. To build the curiosity of his fans, he posted various images of himself on Twitter that revealed only his profile — and followed these up with a promise that the “biggest surprise” was on its way, referring to his song as an invention:
In Upcoming Four Days My Biggest Surprise Will Reveal on April 8th And I Am Sure Insha ALLAH Worldwide Fans Will Love The New Invented Song.
— Taher Shah Official (@TaherShahh) April 4, 2016
A day prior to the video's launch, the angel finally revealed his look:
1 Days to Go
With Love,@TaherShahhpic.twitter.com/oBys8FAA18
— Taher Shah Official (@TaherShahh) April 7, 2016
With the release scheduled for April 8, the singer posted the video on Facebook close to midnight — which immediately kicked off social media excitement not only in Pakistan, but across India and beyond — #TaherShah trended on Twitter at the top spot in both countries, with over 15,000 tweets. Worldwide statistics, report that the hashtag trended at number three. He posted  Angel's lyrics on his official website and offered an explanation about the song's “ideology” on his blog. Even his Twitter bio now confirms — in all caps — that he's an angel.
In Shah's own words, his latest song has received at least 2 million “official views”; he informed his “angelic fans” of the good news via a tweet:
Dear Angelic Fans,
The *ANGEL* Song Received Till Yet Over 2 Million Official Views Within
Just 48 Hours.
— Taher Shah Official (@TaherShahh) April 10, 2016
According to Shah's website, he is the recipient of an “Achievement Award” and a “Prestige Song Winner Award”, and is also a “Gold Medalist with 3 world [record] title[s]”. His next endeavour? To launch a TV channel. In his latest television interview, the singer mentioned that he is working on a Hollywood movie and has been receiving offers from Bollywood.
While not everyone is a fan, people cannot seem to stop talking about Shah's latest release — and even in the face of criticism, the singer, like other viral sensations, appears to take the feedback in stride:
Gratitude To All Worldwide Fans True Love & Affection as their appreciation makes the *ANGEL* song a phenomenal Blockbuster
hit of 2016.
— Taher Shah Official (@TaherShahh) April 10, 2016
Just like Shah's previous offering — this video has many in fits of laughter:
Pakistan doesn't need nuclear weapons they can just drop this purple bomb on us #TaherShahpic.twitter.com/uSo2LfDF7s
— Twinkle Khanna (@mrsfunnybones) April 9, 2016
Relationship goals pic.twitter.com/l4CSqH4MBg
— Rameez (@Sychlops) April 8, 2016
marked self safe on fb after watching taher shah's angel.
— #Kohlitard Vajpayee (@Oinkoo) April 8, 2016
YouTube comment: “Taher Shah is the reason why listening to music was made haram in Islam.”
— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) April 8, 2016
Dear Mankind, try something real! #tahershah #angel #wings pic.twitter.com/AY6RHp1KbM
— Nando's Pakistan (@NandosPakistan) April 11, 2016
While many people are definitely listening to the song, not all of them are “Liking” it. On YouTube, the number of “thumbs down” votes considerably outnumbered the “thumbs up” for “Angel”; and on Facebook, the barbs and disparaging comments also appeared to be more prevalent than the compliments.
But as some Internet users have said, perhaps the likes of Shah, Qandeel, Awais Lovely and Ahmed Angel are ahead of their times.
Taher Shah is so positive and confident. Unbelievable, he's a true angel. Stupid mankind. Hes not for this time.
— فیشی (@Fakeionist) April 8, 2016

author: Sheema Khan


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Protests in Macedonia Gain Momentum as New Round of Political Negotiations Is Announced · Global Voices
Goran Rizaov

More than 10,000 people reached the main square in Skopje, Macedonia, on Monday to protest president's pardon for top politicians. Photo by Vancho Dzambaski (CC BY-SA) from a photo album documenting the seventh day of protests.
As political crisis deepens, citizens of Macedonia are flooding the streets in Skopje, Bitola, Veles and several other cities across the country to express their discontent.
Tens of thousands of Macedonians have gathered together in various cities each day at 6 p.m. since the president announced his decision to pardon government officials accused of corruption and abuses of power from prosecution. As the second week of protests unfolds, the grassroots movement #protestiram (“I protest!”) seems to be gaining momentum.
On April 12, President Gjorge Ivanov announced he was extending legal immunity to more than 50 top politicians and their associates who are under investigation from the Special Prosecutor's Office for suspected corruption, illegal wiretapping, election fraud, misuse of power and even the cover-up of murder. The alleged crimes emerged from leaked wiretaps made public by the leader of the political opposition, Zoran Zaev, last year. Zaev revealed that the conversations of more than 20,000 people in Macedonia were being illegally recorded on the order of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.
The same day the pardon was announced, Macedonians took the streets and have continued to do so every day since. Protesters gather in front of the office of the Special Prosecutor to show support for their work, and then move through the city center to the so-called People's Office of the Macedonian president (ransacked by protesters on the second day of demonstrations), then the Parliament and towards the government building.
Anti-riot police guarding the Government building in Skopje, Macedonia. Photo by Vancho Dzambaski (CC BY-SA) from a photo album documenting the fourth day of protests.
Alongside the protests in Skopje, several thousand protesters gather each day in other Macedonian cities, such as Bitola, Kumanovo, Strumica, Shtip and Veles. The diaspora has also started protests in New York and Washington.
On the fourth day of protests, April 15, as the protesters in Skopje reached the area near the government building, the police at first blocked their way. After a large crowd gathered, citizens were allowed to occupy the entire area in front of the new Baroque-style building.
On Saturday, April 16, organizers estimated that more than 10,000 people took to the streets on the peaceful, non-violent protest. Unofficial citizen-stewards tried to keep any provocateurs away. Despite that, one person deemed by protesters to be a provocateur (people either working on behalf of authorities or who have sympathies for the authorities who try to provoke a violent reaction from police) physically attacked a young woman as she was trying to throw paint at the recently built Triumphal Arch, part of the government's project to revamp the capital called ‘Skopje 2014.’ The swift reaction from the citizen-stewards prevented the incident from escalating.
On the fifth day, the police removed their blockade near the government building after 10,000 people gathered. Photo by Vancho Dzambaski (CC BY-SA) from a photo album documenting the fifth day of protests.
On Sunday morning, the organizers of the Skopje protests, an informal group of activists including members of civil society organizations, announced that the day would be used for assessment and reflection. This did not stop a smaller group of citizens of Skopje who again marched the city streets and put pro-protest signs on some of the statues from the Skopje 2014 project. Citizens in other cities did not rest either. Demonstrations in Bitola continued, where protesters pushed against the police cordon (but no violence broke out as a result), and entirely new cities “erupted,” most importantly Veles.
On Monday, April 18, the movement continued with even higher attendance. This time, except for the Parliament, the main square and the government building, the protesters went in front of the Ministry of Culture and threw paint at it. The Ministry of Culture was of the main institutions involved in the Skopje 2014 development project.
Counter-protests, formally organized by a group called GDOM (Citizen Movement for Defense of Macedonia) whose leaders don't hide their affection towards the right-wing ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, have been cancelled since the weekend. As the group explained, they already reached their goal — to have elections on June 5. The president of the Parliament signed off on the formal decision on Saturday to hold parliamentary elections as part of the Przino agreement, overseen by the European Union and the United States in 2015 to end political crisis in the country (although all the conditions outlined in that deal for fair elections have not been met). The opposition has said they will boycott elections.
Protesters crossing under the Triumphal Arch, part of the much criticized ‘Skopje 2014′ project for revamping the capital. Photo by Vancho Dzambaski (CC BY-SA) from a photo album documenting the sixth day of protests.
But, now GDOM announced they will hold the “mother of all rallies” on Thursday in support of the government and the ruling party. Rhetoric online is getting heated. For instance, the director of the state archive wrote menacingly about the “I protest!” movement on Facebook using the discriminatory term “Sorosoids” and hateful speech against the “traitors” and LGBTI people in his further comments:
Го предизвикавте бесот на народот. ИЗЛЕГУВАМЕ НА УЛИЦА!
Во четврток СОРОСОИДИ подобро останете дома.
You've incited the anger of the people. We are going out into the street!
On Thursday, Sorosoids better stay at home.
The EU invited the leaders of the four biggest political parties in Macedonia, which is a candidate for EU membership, for another round of negotiations in Vienna on April 22. Although she wouldn't officially confirm, EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said that the EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn hopes to meet the leaders of four parties very soon to discuss the recent escalation of the crisis.
In addition to the the four leaders, Kocijancic said that Commissioner Hahn is in contact with other key partners like the US to discuss ways to solve the crisis and to ensure that leaders continue with the implementation of the Przino agreement. Opposition leader Zaev has stated that before going to these new negotiations in Vienna, his party SDSM will consult civil society, including groups involved in the protests.

author: Goran Rizaov


text:
University Students in Pakistan Bring Conversation About Menstruation Out in the Open · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

Photo by: Beacon House University Students
In an attempt to break the taboos around menstruation, students from a private university in Lahore, Pakistan, plastered sanitary pads on campus walls along with anecdotes revealing how women are shamed for having periods.
In Pakistan, much like other parts of South Asia, conversations around menstruation are considered a taboo. Something as basic as getting a sanitary napkin from a grocery shop is an unpleasant experience. Stand up comedian Shahzad Ghias Sheikh shared his experience being a teenage boy assigned an unusual task:
As a teenager I lost a bet with a friend. I was at her mercy. She could make me do anything that she wanted to embarrass me. She chose to make me buy a sanitary pad at the LUMS Superstore in front of other students. I walked in brazenly, asked for one and duly paid for it. I was too young to understand the stares I received from other students or ponder why it was given to me in a concealed brown bag. I even had no idea why she would think this would embarrass me. She did. Unlike me, she had lived through this experience ever so often: made to feel guilty about her own anatomy. A shopkeeper, usually a man, wrapping it in a brown paper bag to hide her ‘shame’. God forbid another man might see a woman publicly holding a pad and it might hurt his conception of public sensitivity. This is what male privilege is; making a woman jump through hurdles to get a basic health product and making her feel immense shame for it just so that the masculinity of some men is not challenged.
It's this very stigma that the young students set out to counter. Some of the comments scribbled on the sanitary napkins read, “It's something so natural”, “Why should I be embarrassed?” and “I am not flawed or poorly made”.
The action aimed at breaking at taboos has garnered a wide range of reactions, including those who stuck to the idea that menstruation is shameful:
https://t.co/447kUnkV7U lahore @BSSWorldwide shame on beconhouse lahore RT for this shameful act government t notice pic.twitter.com/k5FIuGxQol
— Shaziaafeef (@Mrsafeef74) April 17, 2016
Piece of advice to BNU students, start defecating in the open. There's no shame in it. It's a daily, rather than monthly bodily function.
— Taimoor Ashraf (@taimoorashraf) April 15, 2016
really shame, it is Pakistan??https://t.co/IpxKClWu8U#BNU
— طلحہٰ (@talhaiiui) April 13, 2016
What the f***k these girls are doing in Beacon house university :/ is it ethical ??? #TSK
— M.jahanzaib (@Mjahanzaib11) April 14, 2016
While others criticized that perception:
There's nothing gross abt #Periods.
If women wouldn't have periods, you wouldn't have been born!#ItsNormal ! #BNUhttps://t.co/FmBUsElvY2
— Fasiha Farrukh (@FasihaFarrukh) April 12, 2016
In the comment section on the Facebook page “Girls at Dhabas” (dhabas are roadside restaurants, traditionally considered to be male spaces) Aisha Gulzar opined that while periods are natural, this kind of protest isn't productive:
I was teaching science syllabus to girls in low income community of bin qasim hyderi. They thought periods were punishment cause Eve made humankind fall. They thought these were unpure. I explained them that it was natural. Next day 5 parents complained from local.community and local govt teachers with whom I was working as a fellow teacher from an NGO, whispered this , ‘ Aisha is teaching girls about sex .’
Putting pads on wall in BNU where populace should be responsible for their own education is not a fruitful step. These are bold protest which can cause reactionary backleash rather than awareness .
Everything needs a proper stance and induction so its respectful to cultural norms of that particular country.
While another comment by Amina Faiz took the criticism head on:
hello friends if your initial thought after seeing this is “this is way overboard” or “im a feminist but there is a limit” then realise that you are part of the problem and the fact that you immediately associate this with shame is exactly what these girls are trying to combat. realise that you have internalized concepts of misogyny and how girls are shamed for things they can't help. and instead of policing how they should resist, or debating whether or not this is effective, support them. let them know how brave they were in doing this. there is no one way of resisting oppression and if you have better ideas, great! organize and execute them yourself, they'll be there to support you too, i'm sure. and it's true that oppression, in this case shaming girls, varies depending on your privilege, but its still there? it stills needs to be tackled? you don't take a risk like this for fun or because you're a “crazy feminazi”
Shaan Taseer, son of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, criticized the campaign for being ‘elitist’. Journalist Madiha Tahir chimed in, and what ensued was a spectacular discussion on class, privilege and feminism.
Taseer, who belongs to a fairly privileged family, responded to Tahir's critiques by calling her a “lower class guttersnipe”.
Writer Nadia Naviwala wrote about the ‘altercation’:
When’s the last time a member of Pakistan’s English-speaking, Medium-reading upper crust was dismissed for belonging to a low order of society? Less unusual, when is the last time a man called feminism a bunch of croc and then called a woman a stupid bitch? We’re so used to being in a position to abuse our privilege that we don’t even realize when we’re doing it.
Reading Madiha’s conversation with Shaan, we were faced with the the ugly reality in Pakistan. Class and gender are mediated through abuse when someone on the losing end of the equation challenges it.
Regardless, author and academic Raza Rumi summed up how the campaign can be seen as success because it got people talking about periods, stigma and the needs to confront the taboos
Students of #BNU-a private university in #Lahore #Pakistan smashed a taboo by covering a wall with #sanitary pads. pic.twitter.com/senAZJ04mU
— Raza Ahmad Rumi (@Razarumi) April 15, 2016

author: Sana Saleem


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In Australia, Learning the Gumbaynggir Language Three Minutes at a Time · Global Voices
First Languages Australia

This story was originally published by First Languages Australia in Warra: Building teams, building resources.
The Gumbaynggirr language is traditionally spoken in the northern coastal region of the state of Australia now known as New South Wales (NSW).
People across the region can hear the language, simply by tuning into ABC's Coffs Coast morning radio show. Each Wednesday, Gary Williams, a Gumbaynggirr language teacher at the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative, a regional language centre working to support the languages of seven Aboriginal communities in NSW, teaches words and phrases to listeners and to the show's presenter Fiona Poole. The 3-minute segment airs at 7:30 am after the news broadcast.
Map of the Many Rivers language region of NSW, Australia. Photo: Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Cooperative.
The Gumbaynggirr radio segment began when Poole approached the Muurrbay co-operative, hoping to start local language lessons on the radio. Muurrbay referred her to Williams who had previous community radio experience.
Williams was interested but aware that a long language class on the radio would not engage the general public. Together he and Poole decided on the 3-minute format. Each week Williams chooses a few useful words or a phrase to share with the radio listeners. The program is spent in casual conversation teaching Poole the words and explaining their use, context, and detail. He says that the program has a diverse range of listeners, both Gumbaynggirr and other local people.
It is great to turn up at local events and have people I have never met before recognise me and then greet me in Gumbaynggirr. There is increasing interest in our language across the region and the program allows people to begin a conversation with Gumbaynggirr and other Aboriginal people in the region. This is how reconciliation starts.Though in some areas of Australia communities do not wish to teach their traditional languages to people outside their communities. Gumbaynggirr community members have never raised concerns about having their local public learning the language in this way. Gary says the community has a lot of trust in the language centre and generally supports the projects it promotes.
The Gumbaynggir radio segment has been running since 2011. It continues because of the dedication and interest of the two-person team; however, the simple format allows other people to step in as necessary if they are not available.
For those unable to tune in each week, the new words and phrases are also made available online on the ABC local blog. The blog links to audio of Williams saying the phrase and its translation. For those wanting the full three-minute version, one has to tune in to the radio show, as the blog shares just a short clip from the show.
For example, in the audio below Williams teaches how to say “It's good to meet you” in Gumbaynggir:
Yaam darruy ngiina gaduyaygu
The language isn't just being taught on the radio. Though there are pockets of people who have grown up with the language, Gumbaynggirr lessons are also given in schools and community programs by dedicated teachers such as Michael Jarret, whose hope for his language are documented in the ABC OPEN film posted above.
The radio collaboration has proven to be an excellent way to promote Gumbaynggir and the work of the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative across the region both to radio listeners and internet users.

author: First Languages Australia


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Maybe You Shouldn’t Be Laughing at the Viral Video of a Chinese Toddler Defending His Grandma · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from the viral video.
A video showing a toddler picking up a steel pipe to defend his grandma from a group of Chengguan, or Chinese urban management officers, went viral last week.
In the video, the toddler yells “Don't touch my grandma” and waves the pipe threateningly at a group of Chengguans who are laughing and videotaping the toddler. Onlookers also laugh at the scene.
Chengguan, who are responsible for maintaining public order by clamping down on illegal street vendors and enforcing rules on city sanitation, have been a target of public scorn due to their thug-like behavior. A few years back, videos showing instances of violent behavior by Chengguan often went viral online and attracted a huge amount of criticism. However, due to the increase of social media censorship in China, similar citizen witness accounts are now less visible. Instead, party affiliated media outlets have started picking up news about street vendors attacking Chengguans.
This time, the video also passed the ideological review as it shows a toddler's “violence” towards Chengguan. The video clip went viral on various Chinese social media platforms on April 14 and was quickly picked up by the English-language side of People's Daily, which shared the news report on Twitter.
On Weibo, China's most popular social media platform, the majority of the people, like the onlookers, found the scene funny. But some felt sad for the toddler:
我真的很喜欢这个小孩，有种莫名的心痛，很干净的思想和世界
I really like this kid. But my heart is aching. His thinking and world is simple.
好笑吗？小孩的愤怒只是在保护他的奶奶不被欺负！很好笑吗？当你的家人受欺负受委屈的时候，你会像他一样勇敢的站出来帮助自己的亲人吗！不明白你们在笑什么！
Is this funny? The toddler's anger comes from his will to protect his grandma from bullying. Is this funny? If your family is humiliated and bullied, wouldn't you stand up to help them? I don't understanding what you are laughing at.
本该和同龄人一样阳光的小孩，却会懂得用暴力去对抗城管，可见他周围的环境是怎样的，孩子的内心已笼罩上阴霾，这不仅是这个家庭的悲哀，更是社会的悲哀。
The toddler should enjoy sunshine like all other kids. Instead he learned how to use violence in resistance to the Chengguan. His action reflects the environment he grew up. His heart was covered with a shadow. It is not just a family tragedy but also a social tragedy.
As the online discussions started to turn critical towards Chengguan, the propaganda authorities issued instructions demanding the video, pictures, and news reports be removed from the main news section of major news outlets on April 15 because they “unfavorably portray the law enforcement community”. More balanced, pro-law enforcement views are now dominating social media:
应该给小孩正确的引导吧 这些城管又没有暴力执法 她奶奶占了人行道 当然得管啦！
Should educate the kid. The Chengguan [in the video] did not use any violence. His grandma has occupied the pavement, of course the law has to be enforced.
小孩子的家庭教育绝逼有问题的，首先，有个占公共资源的奶奶，这种熏陶很不好，其次，家长居然让这么小的孩子拿这么个大家伙，也是醉了，不危险吗？视频没见到城管暴力，所以不好评论，感觉一竿子打死城管的那些人其实网络键盘侠居多
The family education of this kid must be problematic. First of all, his grandma has occupied public space. This is bad behavior. Secondly, how can the parents allow the kid to pick up such big weapon. Isn't that dangerous? The video did not show Chengguan use violence and we should not comment too much on it. However, there are so many keyboard warriors who assume Chengguan as the bad guy.
There's an argument to be made that the video does in fact show the Chengguan's violence towards the toddler — it's just not physical, it's psychological. The mobile phones, the cameras and the laughter can embarrass and demean him.
Whether they agree that it's violence or not, many netizens nevertheless didn't see the video as amusing.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Meet the Pakistani Security Expert Saving Lives in 140 Characters · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

Norbert Almeida, an expert in incident and crisis management as well as safety and security, dedicates his time to providing free safety tips to the public.
Imagine getting routine updates that keep you informed about possible traffic jams, security concerns or even best routes to navigate cities around Pakistan. Look no further than Norbert Almeida, more popularly known as Norbalm, a security expert who is hell-bent on making it easier for citizens to stay safe and secure — and for free.
Almeida works in Pakistan, as well as in countries across the Middle East and Africa, and for the past several years has committed to providing updates and security guides to the public through social media.
Here's a taste of what Norbalm's updates look like. Planning to travel across cities this week? Here's an update on protests being held in the coming week:
24th April Political Gatherings#Islamabad PTI F9 Park#Karachi PSP Mazar QUAID#Lahore PAT #isbalerts #khialerts #lhralerts
— norbalm (@norbalm) April 18, 2016
Have questions about visa issues?
Things as #Pakistani applying for visa you maybe asked for Medical Check for TB Yellow Fever Cert Polio Cert Bank Stmt FRC all passports
— norbalm (@norbalm) April 6, 2016
But the real strength lies in providing informed updates during tense situations and even media black-outs:
#Islamabad qadri supporters continue protest outside parliament area sealed off mobile network suspended #isbalerts
— norbalm (@norbalm) March 28, 2016
#Islamabad authorities have issued a 2 hr deadline for the protesters to leave or be forcibly removed #isbalerts
— norbalm (@norbalm) March 29, 2016
So this is going to last all night and they'll be cleared tomorrow #Islamabad seeya tomorrow
— norbalm (@norbalm) March 29, 2016
#karachi Maikolachi major fire in bushes near nlc container yard traffic disrupted #khialerts pic via @Baahirezaman pic.twitter.com/ozWr7M16vi
— norbalm (@norbalm) February 17, 2016
Netizens direct their security concerns and doubts to Almeida on Twitter and crowdsource information to support his updates:
Hey @norbalm what's the deal with traffic chaos in Clifton? #khialerts
— Mansoor Murad (@muradmansoor) September 3, 2014
@norbalm any update of that blast sound? #khialerts
— Umair Raza (@RazaCute) January 29, 2016
@norbalm good morning. Is it school holiday today? Students & parents are suffering due to bad management of sindh govt. #khialerts
— Ahmad™ (@iPakistaniAhmad) October 7, 2015
@norbalm Is there any sort of petrol shortage in Karachi as well ? #khialerts
— Muhammad Ather (@MuhammadAther88) January 15, 2015
On his blog, Almeida shares extensive yet simple security guides for nearly every situation possible, from travel scams, earthquake safety and a phenomena called “express kidnapping“, which became known specially since ATMs became commonplace. Although express kidnapping is not widespread– it's not very frequent but not uncommon either– Almeida tackles all kinds of safety and security issues and believes that it's important to keep informed and put safety first:
An express kidnapping is when the victim is abducted and forced to withdraw their own ransom from an ATM or bank. One method is when the kidnapper accompanies the victim to the bank and has them withdraw cash at the counter by presenting a cheque.
What follows is a step-by-step instruction and possible precautions:
Victims of such incidents are mostly those who are commuting. Therefore, it is advisable to always take precautions while on the move:
— Lock your car doors and keep the windows rolled up.
— If on a motorcycle then place a bag on the rear part of the seat to prevent someone from jumping on board (pillion rider).
— Remain alert to people loitering around your vehicle if it is parked.
Another piece takes on the scary yet often ignored instance of being trapped in an elevator and tackles various scenarios from basic to worse:
Scenario: What should you do if the elevator is in free fall?
Advice: Modern elevators rarely fall as they are produced with multiple safety measures to prevent such a situation. However older technology using and/ or ill maintained elevators have been reported to crash though this is still extremely rare. (…)
Some things to always remember:
— Lay on the floor on your back with your arms tucked in by your side and legs together.
— Position the chubbiest part of your body on the floor if you are unable to lie down.
— Do not jump just before the moment of impact as it could cause far more injuries.
In Pakistan, where even some of paramedics sometimes lack proper training and equipment to respond to bombings or shoot outs — tactics sometimes employed by militant groups in the country — Almeida's security updates and guides are creating space for a discussion around the importance of security training and self-awareness. Some of these situation are awfully frightening, and that's more of a reason for the public to be informed of the ways in which they could possibly tackle the situation. In one post, Almeida talks about what to do if you are caught up in an area where an attack has taken place:
— Listen to the local news and pay heed to instructions issued by authorities.
— Avoid the area of the incident until it’s declared safe by the authorities.
— Follow the advice of the emergency services at all times. In events that directly impact you
— Foremost, remain calm and check that those with you and around you are not physically harmed.
— Be prepared to prove your identity if stopped by the authorities; failure to do so may result in detention by law enforcement personnel particularly if you’ve no plausible justification for being in the vicinity of the incident
His blog contains a contact list of all ambulance services, police stations, fire brigades and emergency service numbers across Pakistan. A one-stop shop for all things safety and security.
Even the most basic alerts sent out by Almeida hold the power to save lives, as an anecdote shared on Almeida's Facebook page explains. He wrote that 12 years ago, he received a late-night phone call from a woman, sobbing as she told him, “thank you”. What for? She had received a message from him warning of a protest in Karachi and was able to take an alternate route. Time was of the essence — she was travelling in an ambulance on the way to the hospital with her husband, who had suffered a massive heart attack:
The reason she was thanking me; the doctors told her had they been 10 minutes late he would not have survived.I don’t know where she is today or who she was?The one thing she did do was ensure that 12 years later I continue to send out alerts and now many more have copied the model and are doing it on much larger scale.It was about the period of that call that I actually had considered stopping these alert messages, not really sure why though. However her effort to reach out and say Thank You made me rethink that decision.So today if you’ve benefited by these alerts you know who to Thank. No, not me but that lady who reached out that night to say thank you.


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New App Helps Citizens Find Out What Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Know About Them · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Screen capture from accessmyinfo.hk
This post was written by Kris Cheng and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on April 19, 2016. The version below is published on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
A new web application, created by advocacy groups and a Hong Kong researcher, aims to give the public a better understanding of what exactly internet providers and mobile phone companies know about them, how they use that data and who they share it with.
The site, Access My Info, was launched on April 19 to enable citizens to protect their privacy and personal information. The site generates a letter to internet service providers and mobile phone companies within a few clicks, for users to send to relevant privacy officers of the companies to request data about themselves.
The letter which the app produces can usually be sent by email. But a few high-tech companies, including CSL/1010, China Mobile and SmarTone, insist on paper through the post.
The mission of the project was to further simplify the process of accessing the data and raise public awareness of personal data protection and its importance. It was based on an original version developed in Canada by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and advocacy group Open Effect.
Advocacy officer Yu Yee-ting at In-media – a Hong Kong organisation involved in the project – told HKFP that there had been a rising number of complaints to the government Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, of which “a large number is about personal data requests”.
In 2015, the Office received a total of 18,456 inquiries, representing an increase of 7 percent compared with 2014. Fourteen percent of the inquiries were concerned with data access requests, 12 percent with employment, 11.9 percent with use of personal data in direct marketing, and 6.5 percent with collection or use of Hong Kong identity card numbers or copies.
The site provides a legal way for the public to access their personal data under the Personal Data Privacy Ordinance, which requires companies that collect and use personal data to provide individuals with access to their personal information on request within 40 days, for little to no cost.
The tool, from Citizen Lab's privacy-protective design, ensures all information submitted by the users run entirely within the user’s web browser and will not be shared with the project.
The project hopes to gain insight into how personal data is collected, processed and shared in Hong Kong.
Users are invited to volunteer for a survey about the response they received from the company in question. The answers will be aggregated with others to help the groups better understand what happens when people file the requests.
The collectives behind the localized project are In-media and Keyboard Frontline and Dr. Lokman Tsui, an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication of Chinese University of Hong Kong and a faculty associate with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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Pakistan Confronts Qadri Protestors, But It’s Anybody’s Guess How, Thanks to Media Blackout · Global Voices
Sana Jamal

Protests Spread In Pakistan After Qadri Execution. Image: RFE/RL / YouTube.
Last month, more than 2,000 demonstrators staged a sit-in at Constitution Avenue inside the Pakistani capital's so-called Red Zone to protest the execution of Mumtaz Qadri, who was a former Punjab police commando hanged in February for assassinating Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.
The protest continued for days, despite barricades put up to prevent demonstrators from entering the area, which is also home to several landmark government buildings. Protesters finally dispersed after the authorities promised not to revise Pakistan's notorious law on blasphemy. (This was just one of the demonstrators’ demands.)
The country's journalists mostly ignored the protest, thanks largely to the state's growing reliance on media blackouts, which officials order, they say, to curb street violence. The blackouts are rarely challenged in public, and security officials generally enjoy the benefit of the doubt among groups who might insist on greater media independence.
Hundreds continue protest outside Parliament. On loudspeakers there: ‘U martyred one Qadri, we now have 1000s more’ pic.twitter.com/g9lXSRNtrv
— Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) March 28, 2016
Control of the airwaves has not, however, established an undisputed calm. Sudden road blockades, the absence of information on television, and the suspension of cellular telephone services have all contributed to a state of public frenzy.
#IslamabadUnderSeige Day 2: Mobile networks remain suspended as a mob of fanatics continue to hold the Parliament hostage.
— Khushal Khan (@Khushal_Khattak) March 28, 2016
For most people inside Pakistan, social media was the only source of news about last month's vandalism and unrest. In light of the protests’ violent turn, one of the most hotly debated national issues has become the police's ability to handle public disorder. Since Qadri was executed, there's been an unspoken fear of retaliation in the form of terror attacks from banned religious outfits that support him.
Anticipating possible violence, the government increased security on the day of Qadri's execution, but this measure failed to prevent demonstrations from becoming violent. According to reports, many of the protesters had even traveled to Islamabad from other cities throughout Pakistan, raising concerns about the state's failure to plan ahead.
#IslamabadUnderSeige: Lack of police preparation evident as protesters force their way into capital, march on parliament http://www.dawn.com/news/1248357/liaquat-bagh-to-d-chowk-a-trail-of-destruction
Posted by Islamabad Scene on Monday, March 28, 2016
Many Twitter users criticized the unlawful and destructive protests using the hashtag #IslamabadUnderSeige:
Meanwhile Metro buss station in #Islamabad due to senseless protest by Qadri supporters! #Hypocrite pic.twitter.com/L7MSK0qpwa
— Laila Faisal (@LailaBhutto1) March 27, 2016
Not a single fanatic in #IslamabadUnderSeige should be spared! Arrest them all and charge under Anti terrorism act! #Eradicate #Eliminate
— Sombre Chevalier (@imfilmmaker) March 27, 2016
Why to invest so much when Islamabad is so fragile that it could easily be conquered with sticks and stones!
— Zafarullah Khan (@ZafarullahKhan2) March 28, 2016
In Islamabad no state and no government is existing. Chaos every where. #IslamabadUnderSiege #PrayForPakistan
— Zaki Shah (@ZakiAbbasShah) March 28, 2016
In a press release issued by Pakistan's Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), state officials instructed news channels to report “responsibly,” citing the example of media coverage that followed the attack in Brussels.  This tweet from Television anchor and journalist Maria Memon summed up the Interior Ministry's expectation from journalists, the ministry believed that complete media black-out of the protest helped in ‘curbing the situation’ and termed it  ‘positive role by the media’.
Interior Minister praising the positive role of media, that curbed the chances of situation getting out of hand at D chowk.
— Maria Memon (@Maria_Memon) March 29, 2016
[D-chowk refers to constitution avenue where the sit-in took place]
The government maintains that limiting or even eliminating media coverage of civil unrest helps curb violence. But not everyone agrees with this approach. On PEMRA's official Facebook page, commenting on the agency's press release, Islamabad local Adnan Khan writes:
would take commercialisation – crass or otherwise – of the media if that is what it takes for media to do it must, i.e. report and inform people. Under PEMRA, that has been consistently thwarted. I wonder why no one has challenged the existence of this Orwellian body on constitutional grounds.
Others, meanwhile, say a complete media blackout is necessary, while state officials prepare to clear out protesters:
Before clearing D-Chowk close all CCTV, kick out media from #Islamabad D-Chowk linked areas and Bismillah #Mashwara
— Qazi Jalal™ (@JalalQazi) March 29, 2016
Hopefully media will not give any coverage to Qadri's chaleeswan tomorrow. Let these fan boys get even more pissed off.
— Natasha (@OhTripe) March 27, 2016
What's the flip side of a media blackout?
What message does the govt's silence over pro-Qadri demonstrations, posters, media coverage convey? Appeasement or cowardice?
— Atika Rehman (@AtikaRehman) March 27, 2016
Understood:media's choice not to cover Qadri hanging protests/.Not understood:little coverage of anti-state hell let loose in ISB today #Pak
— Ammara Durrani (@ammaradurrani) March 27, 2016
Gov's decision to black out Mumtaz Qadri's funeral was good decision but at least allow the media to show what his followers are doing.
— Abdullah (@lawyerwrites) March 27, 2016
Media blackouts to Qadri supporters March won't help. State should denounce and ban all processions at once. Bht hogya tamasha!!!
— Alishba Naeem (@alishbanaeem2) March 27, 2016
Government-ordered blackouts make life difficult for journalists, who often fear backlash from violent protesters. TV news anchor Hamid Mir expressed his dismay on Twitter:
Media under attack.Supporters of Mumtaz Qadri attacked Karachi Press Club police and Rangers failed to provide protection to journalists
— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirGEO) March 27, 2016
#MumtazQadri supporters attacking and abusing journalists and media personnel https://t.co/btQApuZCU1
— Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) March 1, 2016
Qadri's supporters reaching parliament, Karachi Press Club attacked. Clearly, govt's strategy of media blackout not working.
— Umer Ali (@IamUmer1) March 27, 2016
The ten demands issued by protesters include the unconditional release of all Sunni clerics and leaders charged with various crimes, including terrorism and murder, the recognition of Mumtaz Qadri as a martyr and the conversion of his Jail cell into a national heritage site, assurances that the blasphemy laws will not be amended, and the removal of Ahmadis and other non-Muslims who occupy key posts in the national government and other offices.
The Pakistani state and public should deal firmly with the agitators by dismissing all demands, writes Shamila Ghyas, a blogger:
We need to reject their demands, dismiss them, ridicule them, show them a mirror and make them see that we are not scared of them.
As part of the crackdown, police detained more than 500 protesters and the country's Interior minister issued the following warning:
We will clear D-Chowk tomorrow infront of Media – Ch Nisar: https://t.co/k3jA2xJddz
http… https://t.co/88kvZZcsaf
— Khan Warriors (@khanwarriors) March 29, 2016
After the protests ended, reports emerged that the authorities accepted at least one of demonstrators’ demands (agreeing not to reform the blasphemy law), though the Interior Ministry has denied any written agreement. Without independent media coverage, however, the government has managed to ignore pressures to be more transparent about its dealings with the protesters. Journalist Taha Siddiqui raises an important point about media outlets self-censoring that he believes paved way for more government controls:
When Qadri funeral's coverage blackout happened on voluntary basis, Pak media itself paved way for such arm twisting https://t.co/eIQjDKmj7g
— Taha Siddiqui (@TahaSSiddiqui) April 13, 2016

author: Sana Jamal


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Pakistan Deploys Tanks Against Military Farm Tenants Protesting Peasant Leaders’ Arrests · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

Photo Courtesy: Tooba Syed
Hundreds of farm tenants are protesting against the arrest of peasant leader Mehr Abdul Sattar in Okara, a town in the Punjab province of Pakistan. Sattar is the secretary general of Anjumane Mazareen Punjab (AMP), or the Tenants Association of Punjab, which represents over 100,000 peasants in the region who live and work on government- and military-owned land.
The government has responded with a heavy hand by deploying tanks to the town, sparking some on social media to use the hashtag #PeasantsNotTerrorists.
Stop using anti-terror policies to quash the voices of peaceful and unarmed peasant protesters #PeasantsNotTerrorists #FreeOkara5
— Aimen Bucha (@AymanBucha) 17 de abril de 2016
There's a long history of conflict between the government and the tenant farmers. The crop-share agreement that began under the British rule was changed to a cash-rent and yearly lease system by the Pakistan government and military in June 2000. This is when the farmers began to campaign for legal titles to the farms.
However, between 2008 and 2009, a contract changed the farmers from sharecroppers to renters. The agreement turned tenant farmers into contractual workers, and a yearly lease means should they be given an eviction notice the farmers would have six months notice to vacate the land. The tenants who have been tilling the land for centuries see this as a way to deprive them of their rights and make it easier for authorities to evict them.
The arrest came ahead of a peasant's convention that was supposed to take place on Sunday, April 17. But on Friday, authorities arrested Sattar. Four other peasant leaders have also been arrested, sparking the #FreeOkara5 hashtag.
Political workers and activists have taken to Twitter to highlight the arrests and ongoing operation against the tenant farmers. Activist and writer Tooba Syed detailed the history of the resistance movement.
The farmers were promised they'll be allotted land for tiling the soil, promises never materialised. #PeasantsNotTerrorists #FreeOkara5
— Tooba Syed (@Tooba_Sd) April 17, 2016
The new contract limited the uses of natural resources by farmers like firewood & mud for building houses #PeasantsNotTerrorists #Freeokara5
— Tooba Syed (@Tooba_Sd) April 17, 2016
Women peasants of #Okara fighting for their right to the land. #PeasantsNotTerrorists #FreeOkara5 pic.twitter.com/3UXbdqLwkY
— Tooba Syed (@Tooba_Sd) April 18, 2016
Dancer Amna Mawaz Khan criticized the arrests:
You know that #Pakistan state narrative of citizenship is a farce when peasants asking for their rights arrested #FreeOkara5
— Amna Mawaz Khan (@Anarchistani) April 17, 2016
And Awami Workers Party member Ammar Rashid reported:
The farmers are currently out in protest & facing teargas + a media & cellular blackout. Support using #PeasantsNotTerrorists & #FreeOkara5
— Ammar Rashid (@AmmarRashidT) April 16, 2016
Farooq Tariq, the general secretary of Pakistan's far-left Awami Workers Party, has been sharing details from the protest on Facebook:
When I wrote that army tanks are deployed in Okara against tenants, many made fun of us and ridiculed the information. Here are pictures for your attention.
Photo Courtesy: Farooq Tariq
The state is using the National Action Plan, geared towards fighting terrorism, to crack down on protestors
NAP is for everyone who is against the state narrative even if they're innocent. While the elites are allowed to rob #PeasantsNotTerrorists
— Syed Talha Tariq (@STalhaTariq) April 17, 2016
@Asma_Jahangir questions the criteria being used to determine threats to national security #PeasantsNotTerrorists pic.twitter.com/KXthgq2WkC
— AWP Punjab (@AWPPunjab) April 18, 2016
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has issued a statement terming the state's reaction as ‘strong arm tactic’.
Renowned author Mohammed Hanif mocked the authorities for registering a case against 4000 peasants for ‘injuring police’ at a protest:
Across board accountability: 4000 Okara peasants bookedhttp://www.dawn.com/news/1253058/over-4000-okara-tenants-booked-for-injuring-police
— mohammedhanif (@mohammedhanif) April 19, 2016
Journalist Ali Salman Alvi pointed out the hypocrisy in authorities’ actions against Sattar by comparing the numerous cases they've filed against him to the lack of cases filed against Mullah Abdul Aziz, a religious cleric who runs Lal Masjid (red mosque) in Islamabad who has been known to incite violence and support banned organizations like ISIS.
150 cases registered against Mehr Abdul Sattar, a local peasants leader in #Okara, NONE against Mullah Abdul Aziz of the Lal Masjid. #NAP
— Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) April 17, 2016
While economist Asad Sayeed criticized the lack of media coverage:
Shameful. ‘Free press’ silent? #PeasantsNotTerrorists https://t.co/7uDwA78X12
— Asad Sayeed (@asad_sayeed) April 17, 2016
This is just one of the many incidents where the National Action Plan, passed as a strategy to fight violence perpetrated by various militant groups operating in the country, has been used disproportionately to clamp down on protesters. Nevertheless, activist and political workers are determined to get traction to the resistance movement through all mediums possible. How the government and military responds to the requests to release #Okara5 remains to be seen.


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Right-Wing Politics Win Big in Peru’s First Round of Presidential Elections · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Peru Elections. Flickr photo by Globovisión. Used under CC 2.0 license.
This is an adapted version of the original post published on Juan Arellano’s blog Globalizado.
Peru’s presidential elections took place on April 10, 2016. With 10 candidates running, it was expected that no-one would win in the first round, and that controversial candidate Keiko Fujimori would take the highest number of votes.
It turned out that prediction was right on the money. The National Office of Electoral Procedures announced that the official count, with 99% of the ballots processed, gave Fujimori of the Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) party 39.81%, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski or “PPK” of the Peruanos por el Kambio (Peruvians for Change) party 21%, and Verónika Mendoza of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) 18.83%.
As such, the second round, which will take place on Sunday, June 5, 2016, will be between Fujimori and Kuczynski. Both are in favour of maintaining the neoliberal economic model that has been in place in Peru since the government of former president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a prison sentence for corruption and crimes against human rights.
Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, said in her first post-election statements that “this new political map tells us that Peru wants reconciliation, not more fighting”. She later thanked her supporters on her Facebook page.
¡Muy agradecida con el gran apoyo que nos han demostrado en las ánforas!
Reafirmo mi compromiso por un Perú unido, reconciliado y más justo.
#ElFuturoEstáEnMarcha
I’m very grateful for the great support that you have shown us in the ballot boxes!
I reaffirm my commitment to a Peru that is united, reconciled and fairer.
#TheFutureIsInMotion
Reactions from those on the right of the political spectrum have been elated. Erick Yonatan Flores Serrano expressed his joy at the defeat of the left on the blog Catarsis y Harakiri:
El rechazo al oscurantismo ideológico siempre es positivo. Solo esto me brinda el confort y la seguridad de que en el Perú, al menos por cinco años más, evitaremos el naufragio venezolano. Si bien es cierto, mejoras en materia de libertad individual y propiedad privada no habrán, tengo muy claro los resultados del socialismo. Es por eso que sigo celebrando. Y para terminar, no puedo dejar de decir que, el mismo hecho de ser libertario, siempre me deja en la condición de oposición, no importa si gobierna una derecha más tecnócrata o una derecha más política, a mí me da igual, el estatismo siempre es el problema, el Estado, el enemigo. Sin embargo, hoy sólo hay espacio para la tranquilidad, tendremos papel higiénico y comida, eso es importante. Un patada en el hocico del socialismo.
The rejection of ideological obscurantism is always positive. This only gives me comfort and security that in Peru, at least for five more years, we will avoid the Venezuelan shipwreck. Although it is true, there will be no improvements in individual liberties and private property, I am very clear on the results of socialism. It is because of that I am celebrating. And to finish, I cannot stop saying that it is the very fact of being libertarian which always leaves me in opposition, it does not matter if the government in power is more technocratic right-wing or more political right-wing, to me it is the same – statism is always the problem, the state, the enemy. Nevertheless, today there is only space for peace; we will have toilet paper and food, that is important. A punch in the nose to socialism.
While leftist candidate Verónika Mendoza, who proposed a change in economic model, did not reach the second round, her party scored victories in several departments of the country’s Andean south, where some of the poorest zones are. This vote, according to some analysts, shows this region’s discontent with the government in recent decades.
Now it's time to see which electoral strategies the candidates who passed to the second round will use. Although when it comes to economics, the differences are more of style than substance, there are various other matters that they can use to distinguish themselves.
Another aspect to consider is alliances that they could achieve to attract votes. A few weeks ago it was speculated that PPK was the only candidate who could beat Fujimori in the second round. He has two months to see if he can pull that off.
PPK is not a person who can count on the vote of progressives. He is accused of having favoured several foreign companies throughout his career as a civil servant, including as prime minister. What's more, Mercedez Araoz is on his ticket as candidate for vice president, which will also not help to gain points among indigenous people since she is seen as one of the politicians responsible for the Baguazo (a conflict in the zone of Bagua that left more than 40 dead).
La Mula blog platform wondered what PPK’s approach would be:
A PPK le toca un camino arduo, sobre todo en el sur, donde su rival electoral del Frente Amplio, Verónika Mendoza, tercera en los resultados generales, ganó en seis regiones […] En ese sentido, a Kuczynski le toca diseñar una nueva estrategia para vencer todas las resistencias que genera su candidatura en varias regiones claves del Perú. ¿Con quiénes estará dispuesto a hacer alianzas PPK? Así como Keiko Fujimori pretendió ‘caviarizarse’ en la Universidad de Harvard, ¿él hará lo mismo?
PPK faces a difficult path, especially in the south, where his electoral rival from the Frente Amplio, Verónika Mendoza, who came third in the general results, won in six regions […] In that sense, Kuczynski has to make a new strategy to overcome all the resistance generated by his candidacy in several key regions of Peru. Who will PPK be prepared to make alliances with? Just as Keiko Fujimori pretended to ‘refine’ herself at Harvard University, will he do the same?
As for the reasons for the large percentage of votes in favour of fujimorismo, one must take into account the high tolerance in Peru for corruption, perfectly exemplified in the popular phrase “roba pero hace obra“ (steal but get things done). Similarly, human rights are not a core issue for the average voter, who's more interested in the economy and not returning to the era of hyperinflation.
It is in this context that Keiko Fujimori’s campaign has resonated with sections of the population who on one hand remember her father’s government sympathetically, and on the other hand fear economic disaster, the return of terrorism (from 1980 to 2000 Shining Path and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement launched violent attacks against the Peruvian state and people). Although the anti-Keiko movement managed to rally many people around the ongoing memory of the crimes of ex-President Fujimori and the possibility that history will repeat itself under a government of his daughter, this evidently has not been enough to diminish her popularity.
The Latin American Strategic Centre of Geopolitics (CELAG) analysed the electoral results in an article. In the section on fujimorismo, which they described as a “dividing factor” and “efficient right-wing populism”, they commented:
Quien lidera [Keiko Fujimori], parece tener una lectura muy clara, a pesar de las 6 denuncias por entrega de dádivas sustentadas con material audiovisual. Y ha logrado con éxito proyectar la cuestión de la inseguridad como el nuevo “otro” con quien establecer una remake de la cruzada que su padre establecería con Sendero Luminoso, llegando incluso a exterminar pueblos enteros. La inseguridad, el nuevo terrorismo. En su discurso, la candidata a la presidencia de Perú, Keiko Fujimori, pidió a los ciudadanos que se termine con las diferencias políticas y apuesta por la “reconciliación”, pero justamente su éxito radica en haber sabido canalizar el reclamo de la población que identifica a la inseguridad como su principal problema, y estaría dispuesto a consentir excesos siempre y cuando se aleje de sus antiguos fantasmas otrora guerrilleros, hoy delincuentes.
The leader [Keiko Fujimori] seems to have a very clear result, despite the six accusations against her, supported by audiovisual evidence, of handing out gifts. And she has successfully been able to frame the question of insecurity as the new “other” with which to establish a remake of her father’s crusade against Shining Path, which even included the extermination of entire villages. Insecurity, the new terrorism. In her discourse, Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori asked citizens to put an end to political differences and look to “reconciliation”, but her success is precisely based on knowing how to channel the grievances of a population that identifies insecurity as their main problem, and would be prepared to accept excesses provided that they move away from the old ghosts of former guerrillas, now criminals.
Peru is seeing a comeback of fujimorismo, since it will apparently also have a majority in Congress. Kenji Fujimori, the younger brother of Keiko, is the congressman with most votes, which could convert him into the president of the Congress. Some politicians have expressed their concern for the little space which would remain for opposition, not to mention the total control that the fujimoristas would be able to exercise.
Satirical site El Panfleto called this a great shame and stated that there is nothing to celebrate:
Si algunas políticas de Estado se vieron detenidas por la presencia del conservadurismo, ahora va a ser peor. Sin contar al resto de parlamentarios anclados en la hipocresía de las otras chinganas que quieren pasar como partidos, sólo el fujimorismo va a alcanzar a más de 60 curules. Así, de la mano de ellos es posible olvidarse de la legislación en materia de unión civil, de aborto en casos de violación, de la reforma al régimen laboral, de la reforma misma del Estado, de los cambios que requiere la normatividad electoral, tanto como la de partidos políticos, entre otras. Se vienen cinco años de oscuridad […] las calles serán más que necesarias para defender lo que nos corresponde. Tocará marchar, una y otra vez.
If some state politicians felt restricted by the influence of conservatism before, now it is going to be worse. Without counting the rest of the parliamentarians caught in the hypocrisy of the other outfits that want to pass as political parties, only fujimorismo is going to achieve more than 60 seats. As such, by their hand we may have to forget about legislation on civil unions, abortions in rape cases, reform of labour regulations, reform of the state itself, reforms needed in electoral regulations and those of parties, among others. Five years of darkness are coming […] and street action will be more than necessary to defend what belongs to us. We will need to march, time and time again.
For journalist, writer and regular Facebook user Gustavo Faverón, the future could be even worse:
La gente tiene una confusión con esto de votar por Kuczynski para que no salga Keiko Fujimori. El fujimorismo va a gobernar el Perú los próximos cinco años de todas maneras. Tendrá mayoría absoluta en el Congreso y, en caso de no tenerla, la conseguirá con solo comprarse uno o dos tránsfugas del partido de Acuña o cualquier otro hueco semejante. Si Keiko Fujimori gana la segunda vuelta, será el regreso de los 90. Si gana Kuczynski, necesitará los votos del fujimorismo en el Congreso. Aliarse con todos los demás no le dará mayoría; solo el fujimorismo le dará mayoría. Así que no solo Alberto Fujimori estará libre dentro de muy poco. Alberto Fujimori va a estar decidiendo el futuro del país en cualquier momento, ya sea a través de su hija o a través de su títere gigante.
People are confused over this idea of voting for Kuczynski so that Keiko Fujimori does not win. Fujimorismo is going to govern Peru over the next five years no matter what. It will have an absolute majority in Congress and, in case it does not, it will get it by simply buying one or two defectors from Acuña’s party [the Alliance for Progress] or some other. If Keiko Fujimori wins the second round, it will be a return to the 1990s. If Kuczynski wins, he will need the votes of fujimorismo in the Congress. Allying with all the rest would not give him a majority; only fujimorismo will give him a majority. In this way, not only will Alberto Fujimori be free very soon. Alberto Fujimori is going to be deciding the country’s future all the time, either through his daughter or his big puppet.
The previous comment seemed portentous, since after a few days Congresswoman Cecilia Chacón, member of Keiko Fujimori’s party and one of the most voted for in these elections, made statements in favour of freeing Alberto Fujimori, which has already generated reactions.
Como se veía venir en el Perú… el Grupo Colina estará libre de nuevo hay Perú lo que nos espera!!! https://t.co/8YIsgY6pX9
— Adrian Bardales Gonz (@BardalesGonz) April 13, 2016
As we saw it coming in Peru… Grupo Colina [military death squad believed to be mandated by Alberto Fujimori] will be free again, that’s the Peru waiting for us!

author: Juan Arellano


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Traditional Typists Persevere in 21st Century Myanmar · Global Voices
The Irrawaddy

A female typist works on a document from her kiosk on lower Maha Bandoola Park Road. Like an increasing number of typists in Yangon, she relies on a typewriter professionally, but for personal purposes, she uses a smartphone. (Photo and caption: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy)
This article by Tin Htet Paing and Sally Kantar is from The Irrawaddy, an independent news website in Myanmar, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
On most afternoons, Tin Zaw Htet sits in front of a Cold War-era typewriter surrounded by satin-and-gauze portfolios and legal certificates hanging in the unrelenting Yangon sun.
On the lower block of Maha Bandoola Park Road, several typists are dutifully stationed in individual makeshift stalls alongside him. They earn their living within a bureaucracy that demands typed forms over handwritten ones, but in a locale where computers and printers remain luxuries and electricity is still unreliable.
Tin Zaw Htet shares a laminated certificate verifying his completion of a one-month typing course at a vocational training center five years earlier. Upon graduation, he left a job selling pet fish and joined his aunt, also a typist, in opening their own kiosk.
“I only want to work in my own business, even if I have to run it on roadsides,” he said.
The 28-year-old earns 1,000 kyats (US$0.83) per page filling out marriage certificates, power of attorney forms and other legal contracts with Burmese or English typescript; on an average day, he gets between 10 and 15 pages of work.
The typewriters in use on the streets of Rangoon were imported from Western Germany in the early 1960s. They have since been repaired and restored, often multiple times. (Photo and caption: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy)
Small plaques engraved with the phrase “Made in Western Germany” betray the age of the typewriters that propel this small sector. Fifty-year-old Win Htay, who restores the machines, is nearly as old as the typewriters he has been repairing since he was 13 years old. He claims that they were first imported for Burmese civil servants under either U Nu or Ne Win’s government in the early 1960s.
Auctioned, refurbished and resold through the decades, the sturdy metal structures have yet to render themselves obsolete in Burma, even as the government offices that originally bought them now largely rely on computers, and lie 200 miles north in purpose-built Naypyidaw, no less. From a modest workshop in downtown Rangoon’s 35th Street, Win Htay still sells them, fully restored, for around 100,000 kyats (US$83). He said:
I have a close attachment to these typewriters. This is all I know how to do. I don’t even know how to touch a computer.
Tin Zaw Htet (front) fills out a document on his typewriter while other typists watch, waiting for customers or for work that can be shared. The biggest pressure that they face, he said, is “to not make any mistakes,” because, as he points out, “on a typewriter there is no ‘backspace.’” (Photo and caption: Sally Kantar / The Irrawaddy)
Female typists at work. While it is perceived as a field dominated by older men, The Irrawaddy found both men and women of varying ages typing up documents in streetside booths. (Photo and caption: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy)
On downtown Yangon’s Pansodan Street, a typist fills out legal documents from his sidewalk station. (Photo and caption: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy)
When government offices began to move from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005, Win Htay lamented how many ambitious typists and repairmen also relocated their businesses—and their typewriters—to the remote new capital. He is defensive when asked about the machine’s place among an increasing selection of more modern gadgets, foreseeing a continued reliance on typewriters in courts, schools and government offices particularly in rural parts of the country. About 70 percent of Myanmar’s population still has no access to the electricity needed to run more updated apparatuses.
“All they need is ink,” he pointed out, a testament to the typewriter’s sustainability.
Tin Zaw Htet acknowledges that one day he may have to adapt his work to accommodate changing technology, but says that he is lucky: He also knows how to use a computer. However, it is not a shift he will wholly welcome. He adds:
[Typewriters] challenge us to be more efficient, to see our errors on paper, so we are more careful not to make mistakes.
He also describes a satisfaction in working with the older machines.
The feeling of using typewriters and using computers is different. We can feel a lot of feedback from a typewriter’s keys. It makes noise. I kind of like it.
Typewriters brought to Burma during an earlier era will likely continue to maintain a value beyond nostalgia and, for now, a function on the country’s technological spectrum.
A man works on a document using an electric typewriter inside a downtown Yangon shop. While typists traditionally station themselves outdoors near courts and government offices, small indoor shops are opening in the vicinity, featuring more modern typewriters, as well as copiers and computers. (Photo and caption: Tin Htet Paing / The Irrawaddy)
In a small shop on 35th Street, Mya Win, 62, repairs a broken typewriter purchased from a government auction. He has been working on the machines for 40 years. (Photo and caption: Sally Kantar / The Irrawaddy)

author: The Irrawaddy


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What Do the IPL Cricket Games Have to Do With India’s Drought-Hit Farmers? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Drought. Image from Flickr by Aasif Iqbal. CC By-NC-ND
The game of cricket is like a religion in India. And the Indian Premier League (IPL), the annual domestic tournament, has millions of followers.The IPL is the most-attended cricket league in the world and ranks sixth among all sports leagues. It's a 3.2 billion dollar industry with player auctions and glamorous publicity and media-related events, promotions and shows.
The IPL games are organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and are held at stadiums across India. According to international rules, 300,000 litres of water are required for maintaining one cricket ground.
The problem is that the Indian state of Maharashtra is in the middle of a severe drought.
Rainfall has been rare the last few years and most dams have dried up. This year more than half of the 43,000 villages in the state have been declared drought-hit. In 2015 drought was declared in 14,708 villages.
That's why two non-profit organisations, the Loksatta Movement and the Foundation for Democratic Reforms, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Bombay High Court arguing that if the IPL followed international guidelines, a huge amount of water would be wasted in preparing fields for the matches scheduled in Maharashtra this April and May. Their petition argued that around 6 million litres of water would be needed to maintain fields in stadiums at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, in Maharashtra.
On April 13, the Bombay High Court ordered that all IPL matches should be shifted outside Maharashtra after April 30 because of the drought.
These recurring droughts have forced villagers to migrate to urban areas for work. The existing farmers are incurring huge debts, many of which are alarmingly leading to farmer suicides. As many as 3,228 farmers died by suicide in Maharashtra in 2015; that is almost nine farmers every day.
However, the claims of the two petitioning organisations are being contested. Academic entrepreneur V Vinay tweeted:
6. The number of 6million L is so small that is is seriously unfunny that there is a petitioner, and some high court judges debating this!
— V Vinay (@ainvvy) April 8, 2016
According to Vinay, the annual consumption of 175 persons in Maharashtra is 6 million litres, whereas the state has a population of about 110 million.
Akshaya Mishra at the Firstpost writes:
The concern for the suffering people in drought-hit regions is genuine, but the solution to it appears a knee-jerk one. In IPL we seem to have discovered the villain we all need to target our anger against. It appears silly, at best an escapist approach to a massive humanitarian problem. It’s sillier that people would come up with ‘conscience’ and ‘morality’ tests over it.
Renowned journalist and columnist Rajdeep Sardesai writes on his own blog:
To target the IPL or the BCCI for a serious water crisis is typical of how we trivialise grave issues. Moving cricket matches out of Maharashtra will have zero impact on the state’s drought prone belt: It is misplaced tokenism designed to grab headlines but makes no difference to the lives of water starved millions.
Cricketers are saying that shifting IPL will not solve the drought problem:
If not having #IPL will solve drought problem, then we should stop playing cricket: Dravid https://t.co/Y5dfDCXIna pic.twitter.com/uMUdFYfXpa
— FirstpostSports (@FirstpostSports) April 14, 2016
Shifting IPL 9 matches not solution to drought: Dhoni: Amid the furore over holding IPL matches in drought-hit… https://t.co/MMAjShS0oc
— dilbag (@Dilbag540) April 10, 2016
Some Twitter users are suggesting ways the IPL could help drought victims:
Can the #BCCI and the government think of donating ‘x’ percent of the total IPL revenue to the drought victims?#justathought
— Vaibhav Kelji (@VK1788) April 10, 2016
A hashtag titled #IPL4DroughtVictims started trending where people suggested that the profits from IPL games should be donated to the drought victims.
I am not with the Game where the people literally hungry for a drop of water 💦 #BanIPL in #Mumbai #IPL4DroughtVictims
— Jhoota hi Sahi (@Chai_charsi) April 11, 2016
The plight of our poor farmers amid drought. And we're spending millions on #IPL & water 4 the same. How sorrowful! https://t.co/CARUKB3qHL
— Rounaq Neroy (@RounaqNeroy) April 10, 2016
The drought-hit farmers need reforms, crop failure insurance, income guarantee and a favourable credit structure. Basically, schemes that will enable them to live a secured life.
Ayushman Jamwal claims on the New18 blog that the IPL is a scapegoat for the drought crisis:
Maharashtra has faced drought and farmer suicides, highlighting the systemic failure of the state administrations to tackle a recurring problem. [..]
The court drama and media coverage has emerged as nothing more than moralistic outrage dragging a usual suspect to the middle of the stage.
This case has proven that even the ‘wisdom’ of the courts can fall prey to loud and ridiculous narratives, which repeatedly dominate the public sphere. Political parties, advocacy groups and media organisations push a narrative and someone wins, but the poor farmer in Maharashtra still loses.

author: Rezwan


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Extraordinary Bubble-Like Clouds Blanket the Skies Over Kathmandu · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Mammatus clouds over Kathmandu Skies. Screenshot from YouTube video uploaded by FunNi
Kathmanduites took to social media to express their fascination with the unusual dark clouds covering the skies of Nepal's capital city on 18 April 2016.
Incredible Cloudscape almost inspired me as an abstract-impressionist-artist.
Never saw in my life, pic.twitter.com/iODNthHFco
— Karna Sakya (@KarnaSakya) April 19, 2016
They were mammatus clouds, whose name come from the Latin mamma, meaning “udder” or “breast”. The clouds can often signal a coming storm.
It wasn't the first sighting of the strange patterned clouds. Since the April earthquake wreaked havoc in Nepal last year, it was the second incidence.
@KarnaSakya yes they are mammatus clouds, has been spotted twice since #earthquake from #Kathmandu following the dust storms, coincidence?
— Prabhakar Shrestha (@prabshr) April 19, 2016
Social media users were soon busy sharing beautiful pictures of the clouds:
Mammatus clouds seen in Kathmandu sky :) :) #Mammatus #Clouds pic.twitter.com/mnTIhWtgKU
— Prabin Aidi (@prabinaidi17) April 18, 2016
Mammatus clouds over #Kathmandu as seen from Kirtipur today. (Bijay Gajmer) pic.twitter.com/VSrbbFuNhX
— myRepública (@RepublicaNepal) April 18, 2016
Mammatus #Clouds #ktm #nepal pic.twitter.com/NHtpRjGe8J
— Eggsy (@SankMoktan) April 18, 2016
A number of YouTube users like Endless PDT shared the video of the rare phenomenon.
However, some people were afraid of the clouds. Kishor Pradhan wrote on Facebook comparing the mammatus clouds to so-called earthquake clouds that can predict temblors — a supposed phenomenon that doesn't have much backing in the scientific community:
Let's hope these mammatus clouds don't surprise us as EQ clouds…as the storm that was experienced was not that big…thanku for the important pics Paldup! Check out the EQ cloud theory at
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_cloud
Some well-wishers from abroad were worried about any bad omen the clouds might carry. Wesser D Bhutia wrote:
Pls take care agya. My prayers are with u all. However, weather here in sikkim is as tormenting as there. I get psyched out thinking what is gonna happen next. I know that we have to accept things the way they come as we can do nothing about it…yet…like every normal human I fear nature's wrath and just pray day in and day out to keep every living soul world over. ..safe and sound.
The bizarre sight brought many out of their homes. While people enjoyed the meteorological show, snapped photos and shared them online, many failed to realise that it was a rare occurrence. When people recognised the significance of what they were seeing, it was already too late for them to capture the beautiful clouds. They had already vanished!
Mammatus cloud in a sky today. #Clouds #Pattern #Abstract #silhouette
A photo posted by Muskan Pudasainee (@mpudasainee) on
Instagram user Muskan Pudasainee says:
Thyakka timing milyo. Maile khichne bela samma clouds ghatdai gaisakya bhayera khasai majjale khichnai paiyena.
It was perfect timing. When I took the pictures, the clouds were already disappearing and I could not capture them perfectly.

author: Sanjib Chaudhary