text:
Mexico: Writing from Jail · Global Voices
Andrea Arzaba

Enrique Aranda Ochoa is not your average Mexican writer: Enrique was arrested in 1997 and convicted of kidnapping with a sentence of 50 years in prison. However, this has not stopped this renowned psychologist from pursuing his passion for literature.
Enrique has been awarded several national literature prizes and has already written six novels. Today he focuses on the mysteries of the Mayans in his book “El fin de los dias” (The end of our time) [es], which is available for purchase online [es] in an electronic format.
Blogger Gabriela Gutierrez M. from Animal Político [es] describes the writer's activities in jail:
Ávido por conversar, se le agolpan los temas entre las palabras. Puede comenzar hablando del Sol, por ejemplo, y termina hablando sobre Yoga, disciplina que además enseña en el penal. Una charla con él es equivalente a visitar alguna biblioteca, tras la cual uno termina con una lista de bibliografía pendiente por leer. Su última recomendación fue el cubano Joaquín María Machado de Assis.
Eager to talk, topics rush between his words. He can start talking about the sun, for example, and he might end up talking about yoga, a discipline that he teaches in prison. A conversation with him is equivalent to visiting a library, after which you end up with a list of outstanding literature for reading. His final recommendation was the Cuban Joaquin Maria Machado de Assis.
Image via Shutterstock, copyright Steve Snowden
Gabriela continues her blog post [es] mentioning the awards Enrique has won through his texts written directly from jail:
Desde la cárcel, Enrique Aranda ha sido tres veces Premio Nacional de Poesía “Salvador Díaz Mirón” (1998, 2001 y 2008), otorgado por Conaculta-INBA. También obtuvo dos veces (2003 y 2008) el Premio Nacional de Cuento José Revueltas, otorgado por las mismas instituciones. El reconocimiento más reciente le fue concedido por el INBA en el concurso “México lee 2011”, que se otorga por fomento a la lectura, por el club de lectura que impulso dentro de la cárcel. Fue el Instituto de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, hoy Secretaría de Cultura, quien le proporcionó los cerca de 800 libros: “Cuando les llamé, primero creyeron que era un funcionario. Cuando les dije que era un preso se emocionaron”, dice. La misión con este proyecto era darles a los internos “el boleto para un tour por el anhelado mundo exterior”.
Right from prison, Enrique Aranda has been awarded the National Poetry Prize “Salvador Diaz Miron” (1998, 2001 and 2008) by Conaculta-INBA three times. He also won the National Short Story Prize José Revueltas, awarded by those institutions, twice (2003 and 2008). The most recent recognition was granted by the INBA in the “Mexico lee 2011″ contest, which awards the promotion of reading, for the book club he created inside the jail. It was the Cultural Institute of Mexico City, now Ministry of Culture, who provided nearly 800 books [for the club]: “When I called them, at first thought it was an official. When I told them I was a prisoner they were excited”, he says. The mission of this project was to give inmates “a ticket for a tour of the outside world they longed for.”
The website of Mexican magazine Proceso [es] published an article on his case where they mention the irregularities of his indictment for kidnapping:
Enrique sospechó siempre que su detención se debió a sus actividades políticas en distintos foros públicos, por solidarizarse con causas sociales, como la zapatista, y por participar como activista contra el Tratado de Libre Comercio. El caso también fue denunciado por Amnistía Internacional en su informe de 2003: Juicios injustos: tortura en la administración de justicia (Índice AI: AMR 41/007/2003/); el presidente del PEN Club, Eugene Schoulgin, los visitó en 2006; también Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights los defiende, y la Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Distrito Federal emitió la recomendación 12/02 por tortura y violación a sus garantías jurídicas.
Enrique always suspected that his arrest was due to his political activities in public forums, for his solidarity with social causes, such as the zapatista cause, and for participating as an activist against NAFTA. The case was also reported by Amnesty International in its 2003 report: Unfair trials: torture in the administration of justice (AI Index: AMR 41/007/2003/), the president of the PEN Club, Eugene Schoulgin, visited him in 2006; also the Lawyer's Committee for Human Rights defends them, and the Human Rights Commission of the Federal District (Mexico City) issued a Recommendation 12/02 due to torture and violation of his legal guarantees.
Enrique Aranda Ochoa plans to take his case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

author: Andrea Arzaba


text:
Peru: Activists Begin “Civic Crusade” in Defense of the Nanay River · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

This is the second part of a three-part series about water-related problems in the city of Iquitos, Peru. Click here to read the first part.
In our first post we briefly introduced some water-related issues in Iquitos, and later presented the controversy generated by the transnational Conoco Phillips and their exploration and search for hydrocarbons in the Nanay River basin. Speaking on the issue, researcher Gonzalo Tello recently reflected on the actions of Conoco Phillips in his article “El Agua Sagrada” [es] (The Sacred Water):
El problema matriz es que la C P [Conoco Phillips] es una aplanadora ambiental con patente de corso otorgado por el TLC [tratado de libre comercio] con EEUU en el sentido que, como ya les ha sido entregadas las concesiones, con los términos de referencia de un plan de operaciones aprobado por el gobierno peruano (a pesar que tiene varios agujeros serios bajo la línea de flotación ambiental, por los cuales la Historia debería castigar cuando menos moralmente a los responsables), este consorcio petrolero está “blindado” por dicho TLC para ejecutar, sí o sí, sus planes, a cualquier costo, sin que nadie del gobierno se les oponga, bajo penalidad legal vigente del instrumento binacional.
The key issue is that C P [Conoco Phillips] is an environmental steamroller given carte blanche by the FTA [Free Trade Agreement] with the United States in the sense that, as they have already been awarded concessions, with the reference terms of an operations plan approved by the Peruvian government (despite the many serious holes under the environmental waterline that History should punish or at least hold morally accountable), this oil consortium is “protected” by the FTA to execute, no matter what, its plans, at whatever cost, without anyone from the government opposing them, under the current legal penalty of the binational instrument.
“The Nanay River, Loreto, Perú.” Photo by MicroMacroMicro, published on Flickr and used under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Regarding the actions of the Regional Government of Loreto surrounding this problem, Darrin Mortenson states [es] the following in this article in Alianza Arkana [es] (Arkana Alliance):
El tema ha sido un tabú político desde que el extractor de EE.UU. ConocoPhillips, sigilosamente se trasladó a la región dos años atrás, a pesar de las leyes del Gobierno Regional de Loreto que prohíben la producción industrial en la naciente del río Nanay.
A pesar de las leyes, el gobierno ha sido complaciente con ConocoPhillips en todo momento desde el 2010. Informantes señalan que una orden de silencio del gobierno y medios de comunicación locales venidos a menos han mantenido el trato fuera del radar público hasta principios de este año.
The issue has been a political taboo since the United States extractor ConocoPhillips stealthily moved into the region two years ago, despite laws of the Loreto's Regional Government that prohibit industrial activity at the mouth of the Nanay River.
Despite these laws, the government has been entirely complacent with ConocoPhillips since 2010. Informants point out that a gag order from the government and the run-down local media have kept this agreement outside of the public radar until the beginning of this year.
With respect to legal efforts by the Comité del Agua (Water Committee) of Iquitos intended to force the publication of impact studies, he adds:
Los resultados se mostrarán siempre y cuando los funcionarios de ConocoPhillips crean que han encontrado petróleo y finalmente presentarán el alcance del proyecto a expertos, activistas y al público en general – algo que el Gobierno regional ha estado desesperadamente, pero al parecer ilegalmente, tratando de evitar.
The results will only be shown if ConocoPhillips’ employees believe they have found oil and will finally present the reach of their project to experts, activists and to the general public – something that the regional Government has been desperately, however seemingly through illegal means, trying to avoid.
It is not only the Regional Government that has an arguable role in these events; according [es] to the weekly publication La Verdad (The Truth) from Iquitos, it is laughable that the Management Committee of the affected area is presided over by “Perúpetro (who gave the concession) and has a Conoco Phillips representative as vice president.”
Moreover, the Congress’ Commission of Andean, Amazonian, Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology announced [es] plans for a decentralized meeting in Iquitos to analyze the general issue of ConocoPhillips’ operations in the Nanay River basin.
However, the Water Committee wanted to go further and planned [es] a trip to Lima for some of its members as part of a “civic crusade for the defense of the Nanay” with the goal of gaining the public's support and exhausting all obstacles in reaching a dialogue.
Given the limited resources managed by the Committee, they organized a cebichada (fundraiser selling ceviche) to cover some of the costs of the commission to Lima. During this event held [es] on September 15, 2012 in a school in San Agustin, Elizabeth Lozano, spokeswoman for the Colectivo Amazonía (Amazonian Collective) stated: “We ask for the support of citizens that feel committed to the environment and its importance in the future of the Amazon, with the purchase of a ticket worth 10 soles equal to a plate of zúngaro ceviche from the Nanay, the ‘last’ fish of the area that would remain living if we allow high impact activities in its spawning habitat.”
That same day in September, the spokespeople for the Water Committee met [es] with one of Conoco Phillips’ shareholders who was visiting Iquitos. The committee reiterated their position of defense of the Nanay River basin and their demand for cessation of all oil activities in this area. Seamus Finn, the Conoco Phillips shareholder, took note of this and said that he would present the issue in the next shareholder's meeting in New York City on October 5.
Those concerned over the Nanay River now await the results from the actions by representatives of the Water Committee in Lima, on September 24 through 27.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Juan Arellano


text:
Puerto Rico: Plagiarism Revealed Through the Net · Global Voices
César Santiago

[All links lead to texts in Spanish unless otherwise noted.]
Janet Marilyn Hernández, a Venezuelan blogger and public relations and communications professional, had a very unpleasant surprise when she found that her thesis paper titled “Publicidad 3.0″ had been plagiarized verbatim in an article in the Puerto Rican newspaper El Vocero.
The article was published by Iván Ríos Hernández, professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Carolina campus, public relations officer of the provost of that campus, and former press spokesperson of the ex president of the University of Puerto Rico, José De la Torre.
Janet denounced and documented the plagiarism on her personal blog on September 8, 2012, which resulted in a chain of events that ended on September 26 when Professor Ríos resigned to his position [es]. In the process it was discovered that Ríos had plagiarized texts from authors from Spain, Cuba, Mexico and Argentina. The case has become an example of how easy it can be to plagiarize materials from online sources, but at the same time, how quickly and swiftly plagiarism can be discovered and exposed.
On September 8, Janet denounced and documented the plagiarism on her blog and the next day she documented her attempts to reach the University's authorities by email and also her postings on the different Facebook pages of student organizations denouncing the plagiarism.
This screen capture from Janet's blog shows the post where professor Rios announces the publication of “Publicidad 3.0″, on El Vocero. Professor Rios’ blog was taken offline shortly after Hernández denounced that the article plagiarized her thesis work.
Janet expressed her dismay that her work was plagiarized by a university professor:
¿Cómo se sentirán los alumnos con un personaje como ése de “catedrático”? ¡Es que ni a plagiar los puede enseñar, porque miren qué fácil se le descubre! En fin, qué triste. Yo que pensaba que algunos de mis profes habían sido los peores del mundo mundial, me trago esas palabras: ninguno de mis profes fue nunca tan patético.
The online news outlet Noticel was the first to report on Janet's charges and interviewed both Hernández and Ríos on September 14. He was initially blunt in his declarations:
Esto está ahora mismo en revisión legal y no puedo hacer unos comentarios en particular
By this time professor Ríos had already taken his blog, Twitter account and LinkedIn profile offline.
In the meantime, Janet's blog post was picked up by the Puerto Rican mainstream media, blogosphere and it started making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook.
On September 17, Janet Hernández published on her blog an official response letter from Ríos and his lawyer where he denies the charges and apologizes for unintentionally omitting the name of the original author:
Si, en mi afán por promover estas ideas e información se omitió la atribución de la propiedad intelectual de otra persona dicha omision no ha sido con la intención de violar los derechos de otros por lo cual expreso mis excusas.
However, Jante Hernández was not impressed by the professor's apology. After pointing out that other sections of the same disputed article plagiarized yet another piece, this time from internetesmercadeo.com:
¿Cómo es posible que alguien con un PhD olvide una cita, en un artículo en el que sólo hubo dos autores: Yo y el blog internetesmercadeo.com? ¿No se supone que habiendo hecho tantos trabajos de investigación y habiendo incluido en su blog un apartado sobre normas APA, debería ser más que diestro a la hora de hacer citas?
On the same day, journalist and blogger Sandra Rodríguez Cotto on her blog En Blanco y Negro Con Sandra commented on the apology:
Y aunque pedir perdón es lo menos que se podría esperar de un profesor universitario y relacionista que roba las ideas de otro, lo cierto es que poco vale excusarse sólo porque la noticia trascendió públicamente. La verdad es una y la reitero: el plagio es robar.
Things started to come to a close on September 25, when Janet reported getting a private letter from Professor Ríos retracting himself and asking for an apology. Janet declared that she was satisfied with the apology and declared the matter settled:
Por mi parte, la deuda está saldada. Ahora su principal acreedor es la comunidad universitaria de Puerto Rico.
On September 26, Ríos resigned his position as professor. Janet decided to blog one more time about the matter and asked her supporters to declare the issue concluded:
Tanto para mí, que quería hacer justicia respecto a la autoría de mi tesis, como para las personas que dentro de la comunidad universitaria querían fuera a Iván Ríos Hernández, las últimas horas han sido victoriosas. Esos procesos culminaron y engancharnos o ir a por más sería un ensañamiento que a la larga nos maltrataría a nosotros mismos.

author: César Santiago


text:
Russia: Ominous Predictions of Conflict in Dagestan · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
A street in Makhachkala, Dagestan's capital (March 2011) by Bolshakov on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
On September 15, 2012 Dagestan, a Russian republic located next to Chechnya in the North Caucasus, was celebrating its Day of National Unity [ru]. While the holiday always seems to be forced upon Dagestan the need for unity is undoubtedly important for the region.
The North Caucasus is one of the most ethnically diverse regions of Russia, and Dagestan is no exception. Its largest ethnic group, the Avar, make up only 30% of the population – the rest is split between a dozen small nationalities.
Ethnic division combined with high levels of unemployment is a recipe for volatility. Opposition leader Eduard Limonov blogged on August 15 [ru]:
такое впечатление, что Дагестан вот-вот перестанет быть территорией Российской Федерации, потому что ежедневно мы узнаем о диверсионных актах,убийствах и нападениях […] Это уже классическое начало гражданской войны.
[The] impression is that Dagestan is about to stop being a territory of the Russian Federation, because every day we learn of subversive acts, murders and attacks …This is a classic beginning of a civil war.
Sheikh Said Afandi, killed in August by suicide bomber. Photo by Tsovas (Public Domain)
Two weeks later talk of civil war [ru] was on everyone’s mind. On August 28, Said Afandi, a Sufi Sheikh and one of Dagestan’s most prominent religious scholars, was killed by a female suicide bomber [ru]. The bomber was a Salafi Muslim, and the killing was a manifestation of the tension between the republic’s traditional Sunni Sufis and a growing fundamentalist movement, according to Dagestani blogger [ru] Saif Nuri.
The blogger el_murid argues that the radicalization of Dagestanis is due to the social pressures of the region. He says a corrupt government led by a few powerful clans is to blame [ru]:
Пока власть будет строить своё собственное персональное счастье за высоким забором и бронированными стеклами – до тех пор будут убивать шейхов и прятаться по лесам, лелея мечту о мести.
While the government builds its own personal happiness behind high fences and armored glass – they will be killing sheikhs and hiding in forests, nursing dreams of revenge.
Dagestani blogger, zakir05 [ru], thinks that the killing of Afandi means the end for peaceful dialogue between the Sufis and Salafis:
Ancient Mosque in Dzhuli, Dagestan. Photo by Ilyas Hajji on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Попытки провокаций для стравливания суфиев и салафитов уже предприняты. В Буйнакске 2 сентября лица «с зелеными тюбетейками» (такие тюбетейки носят суфии) похитили жителя города Сиражуддина Хасаева, салафита
Attempts to provoke infighting between the Sufis and Salafis have already been made. In Buynaksk, on the 2nd of September, persons “with green skullcaps” (such skullcaps are worn by Sufis) kidnapped Sirazhuddin Khasaev, a salafi.
zakir05 is also pessimistic about the future [ru]:
Почти все лето только и разговоры о том, что в сентябре-октябре в Дагестане начнется война. Плюс к этому еще разговоры, что активные военные кампании придерживают до сочинской Олимпиады.
Almost all summer there was talk of war starting in Dagestan in September-October. Plus there is talk that active military campaigns are being held back until the Sochi Winter Olympics.
These are ominous predictions, especially in light of troop movements. Just recently it was announced that a paratrooper division with experience of suppressing insurgencies is relocating to southern Dagestan [ru].
However, not all bloggers are as pessimistic, with one even trying to lighten the mood [ru] by joking that if a dirty bomb explodes tomorrow in Makhachkala (Dagestan’s capital) Dagestanis will take it in stride:
вечером в центре Махачкалы в кафе «LONDON» махачкалинцы будут рассказывать друг другу про этот взрыв, […] обсуждая у кого из родственников живших в зоне радиоктивного загрязнения прописаться задним числом, чтобы получить от государства компенсации.
… that night, in the center of Makhachkala at the cafe “LONDON” Makhachkalians will tell each other about the explosion…discussing which of their relatives in the radioactive zone they should say they lived with, in order to get government compensation.
This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

author: Andrey Tselikov


text:
Russia: Yekaterinburg Police Raid Regional Internet Publication · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

On September 27th Yekaterinburg-based internet news portal URA.ru was raided by city police, reports [ru] Evgeny Roizman, local anti-drug campaigner. Roizman is dating the editor-in-chief of the portal, Aksana Panova, who has apparently managed to leave the country before masked operatives arrived at her apartment and scared her mother and young son [ru]. URA.ru has in the past done original reporting critical of the recently appointed local heads of police and prosecutor's office, a story which Global Voices has previously covered.


text:
Spain: Two Journalists on Trial for Revealing Corruption in Catalonia · Global Voices
Violeta Camarasa

On September 27, 2012 Albano Dante and Marta Sibina, editors of the magazine Cafè amb Llet [ca] of the district Alt Maresme in the Girona province, will face trial in Catalonia, Spain. Josep Maria Via Rodons, president of the Barcelona MAR Health Park Consortium and an advisor to Catalan president, Artur Mas, has sued them for libel following the release of a YouTube video [es] in February 2011 that pointed to alleged corruption in Catalonia's healthcare system which the Catalan government's anti-fraud office is now investigating [ca].
In 2010, when government cutbacks in response to the financial crisis began to affect healthcare, the magazine's editors began investigating the hospital system in their comarca (district), Maresme, which led them to conclusions about the healthcare in Catalonia at large. Eventually, Dante and Sibina produced a map of alleged irregularities in the entire system and links to the some of the region's major political parties, including the Catalan Socialists (PSC) and the governing bloc Convergence and Union (CiU).
As a healthcare advisor to President Mas, Mr. Via Rodons is implicated in the scandal. He is suing the Cafè amb Llet editors for €20,000 euros in damages. Their trial is scheduled to happen before any of the individuals implicated in corruption have been charged.
In support of Albano and Maera, editors of Cafe amb Llet
Mèdia.cat, a critical observer of media in Catalonia, has described the case as follows:
… an another example of the bizarre phenomenon surrounding cases of corruption [in Spain], including the Gürtel and Brugal [es] affairs, in which the accusers go to trial before the accused.
After two years of investigating, Dante and Sibina published a series of YouTube videos describing their findings, in both Catalan and Spanish, called El Major robatori de la història de Catalunya or “The Greatest Theft in the History of Catalonia.” The videos explained the web of connections between the public and private sectors of the Catalan healthcare system and accused several senior officials of benefiting from multimillion-euro contracts for their private companies.
The video detailed cases like that of Josep Prat, director of the Institut Català de la Salut (Catalan Healthcare Institute or ICS) and director of the conglomerate corporation Innova, or that of Ramón Bagó, president and principal shareholder of the utility group Serhs, who over the last few years has occupied various senior positions at Conscorci de la Salut i Social de Catalunya (CSC), another branch of the healthcare system.
A week of litigation could ruin not just the magazine but also its editors, and this led Dante and Sibina to publish a message on their website titled, “We've done everything we can. Now we need your help” [ca].
Herein are some excerpts:
In the wake of silence among Catalonia's political establishment and mainstream media, we decided years ago to get to the bottom of this. We have found much more insanity than we had ever hoped to find (http://ow.ly/dRqs1%29) [es, ca].
But as we expected, those who have spent the past thirty years getting rich by cheating the people have reacted and are on the attack.
Despite these attacks, we're staying strong. We won't apologize. Nothing is better than the marvelous sensation of having remained loyal to our conscience. In a few years we'll be able to look anyone in the eyes and say: “We did what we could” (http://ow.ly/dRrEJ) [es, ca].
Having gotten to this point (http://ow.ly/dRrLS), however, we need help. We can't face these forces alone. This is why we're writing to you. On September 27th, at 9:30 AM we will appear in court (http://ow.ly/dRrQT) before any of the individuals implicated (http://ow.ly/dRrYH) in the story we broke (http://ow.ly/dRsba). We need your help to condemn the brutal censorship that stifles us. Therefore, if you can dedicate a few minutes and send this letter to your friends, contacts, local representatives, or whomever you consider, you will be doing us a big favor.
An online campaign to support is well underway. All the information surrounding the trial can be found at the website Lademandadevia.org [ca, es], where users can also sign a petition titled “We want answers, not demands,” bolstered by 2,300 signatures and counting. The document demands that Catalan president Artur Mas respond to the questions that have resulted from Dante and Sibina's research, presented in the aforementioned video as well as the video “Carta Oberta al President Artur Mas” (Open Letter to Present Artur Mas). Among many things, the petition's manifesto makes these claims:
Marta [Sibina] and Albano [Dante] employ reason and rhetoric, grasp important details about a seemingly covered-up and out-of-control issue and they have asked the politicians responsible very appropriate questions. Time has passed and they're still waiting for answers. However, in lieu of those answers, open debate and transparency, all they have received is the grotesque attack by Josep Maria Via, one of President Mas’ senior advisors.
We interpret this as a blatant attempt to frighten and silence the voices of dissidents who question the healthcare politics of the Catalan government.
On Twitter, hashtags like #ViaVol20mil (#ViaWants20thousand) and #27S (#Sept27) have been used to mark tweets in support of Dante and Sibina and organize a protest at the doors to the courthouse at the start of the trial. The case, which coincides with a historic moment in Catalonia as the leadership debates independence from Spain, is intertwined with conversations about the government's political agenda in the coming weeks, which currently includes early elections and an official referendum for independence. Here is a sample of messages:
@Estacadebares Recordem que #ViaVol20mil per callar denuncia de @cafeambllet saqueig sanitari govern @ciu i socialistes. Independència sense Convergencia

author: Violeta Camarasa


text:
Spain: Proposed Changes for Abortion Law · Global Voices
Elena Arrontes

The 28th of September is the celebration of the Campaign for the Legalization of Abortion, which has taken place for years in Latin America and the Caribbean and this year will be celebrated all around the world for the first time. The group known as“Feminismos 15M”[es] has chosen this date to convene a demonstration, tomorrow, the 28th at 7pm at the Puerta de Toldeo in Madrid. The protest mainly denounces the new Spanish abortion law, proposed by the minister of justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, as a regression of women's rights. If the law is passed, abortion will no longer be legal and would also be prohibited in abnormal cases and cases of deformed fetuses. This reform is strongly discussed by the feminist movement. The foundation Derecho a Vivir [es] (The Right to Live) supports this law change.

author: Elena Arrontes


text:
The Slap that Changed China’s History · Global Voices
Gloria Wong

On September 24, 2012, the former police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun, who is at the center of China's biggest political scandal in recent memory, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on four charges: bending the law for personal interest, defection, abuse of power and corruption.
Wang Lijun, 52, has been the former police chief of Chongqing, a western metropolis governed by Bo Xilai, a Communist Party high flier hoping to rise higher. After a falling out with Bo during which he was removed from his job, Wang drove to the United States Consulate in Chengdu and blew the whistle on the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood, by Bo's wife, Gu Kailai.
With his cooperation in bringing down Gu Kailai, Wang received a reduced sentence on the charge of “bending the law for personal interest” instead of the death penalty he could have faced for the charges that were laid against him.
A cartoonist Kuang Biao from Sina Weibo highlighted the slap on Wang Lijun's face with Photoshop.
The slap that changed history
In the official account of Wang's trial, there was still no mention of how the conflict between Wang and Bo's family started and when it aggregated.
Yet, a slap in the face that Bo give Wang when confronted with the allegation about the murder of Heywood by Gu Kailai was brought to the spotlight and ridiculed by many netizens as “a slap that changed history” [zh]:
@炎黄胄裔  一个耳光改变了中国历史的进程，使中国免于重新走向文革，从这个意义上来说，护士长这个耳光真是太伟大了。
@炎黄胄裔: The slap changed China’s history and prevented China from heading to another Culture Revolution. To some extent, the slap in Wang’s face was significant.
雁山云江 compared [zh] the effects of the slap with the “Butterfly Effect“:
从“蝴蝶效应”到“耳光效应”，这巴掌真是法力无边啊，从太平洋西岸刮到东岸。
@雁山云江: Forget about Butterfly Effects, we now have Slap Effects – a slap shacked the whole world.
Hu Shuli, editor in chief of the business magazine Caixin, commented on the drama with words from Chinese philosopher Mencius in her Weibo [zh]:
君视臣如草芥，则臣视君如寇仇。
If the monarch considers his subject worthless,  the subject takes the monarch as his enemy.
A new saying regarding the significant of the slap has been circulated around social media by netizens such as @P民报2012, @免费长沙, @柴米有言在先 and many others:
一个巴掌就算改变不了历史，也会改变一个方向
Even if a slap cannot change the history, it can at least change the direction of the history.
Wang Lijun's fear
Several netizens have taken a step further by asking what's wrong with the political and legal system in China. On a famous online forum, KDnet, user zxb_yiran tries [zh] to explain the origin of Wang Lijun's fear:
一个直辖市的公安局长，手上掌握了国家所赋予的执法大权，却敢于在得知有人杀人后，安排部下为其掩饰并在毁尸灭迹后，还主动打电话向杀人犯报告说“化作青烟，驾鹤西去“。法律在一个颇有地位的执法者心中完全成为了私人关系中被可以随意践踏的玩物。这样的人是如何成为执法者的？如果他曾经是一个法律的捍卫者，那么，他又是如何变成了一个践踏法律的人的？……因为百思不得其解，所以就产生恐惧。原来，行使了多年的社会管理机制和机构竟然管不了高级别的官员犯罪。
The police chief of a metropolis should be endowed with the power of law enforcement by the country. However, he plotted with Gu Kailai and dared to cover up for Gu's murder brazenly. As a high-status law enforcement personnel, he himself is trampling on the law. How can he be an officer of law enforcement. What transformed him from a law protector to a lawbreaker? …… The fear comes from the doubts. It drives the social management system home to me and I come to realize that the high-status officials’ crime is simply not bound by the system.
Blogger Wang Jian's post [zh] “Wang Lijun's Fear is the Same as Our Fear”, which has been spread around the social media, delivered a similar message:
王立军的恐惧，正是我们的恐惧，政改不走，民主宪政不推行，重庆事件无法断根。大家醒醒吧！
Wang Lijun's fear is exactly our fear. If the party still refuse to carry out the political reform and the democracy constitution, it is hard to say whether the Chongqing scandal will repeat. Wake up!
The fate of Bo Xilai
Wang Lijun's verdict moved the party closer to a formal decision on dealing with Bo Xilai. As China's ruling party is expecting the once-a-decade leadership handover at the party congress as early as next month, it must now decide whether Bo will face charges and what his future political career may be.
Given the fact that Bo's name was rarely brought up in his wife's and Wang Lijun's verdicts, speculators suggest that Bo may be treated leniently, possibly avoiding a criminal trial altogether and only undergoing a Communist Party disciplinary procedure.

author: Gloria Wong


text:
Uruguay: Legislators Move Forward Bill to Depenalize Abortion  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

After 14 hours of intense debate on September 25, 2012, Uruguay’s Chamber of Deputies voted 50 to 49 in favor of depenalizing abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The bill is a modified version of a more liberal measure that had already been approved by the Senate. The bill now moves back to the Senate, which must approve the changes before President José Mujica can sign it into law.
Twitter was abuzz during the whole day as Uruguayans shared their opinions on abortion and the bill under debate.
Anthropology student Romina Da Rosa (@gothicmina) [es] wrote:
@gothicmina: #aborto wtf? no tengo decision sobre mi cuerpo. es aqui cuanto te das cuenta que el poder político tienen mas derecho sobre tu cuerpo que tu
@gothicmina: #aborto [abortion] wtf? I have no decision over my body. This is when you realize that politicians have more rights over your body than you do.
Sele Elola (@SeleElola) [es] admitted to having mixed feelings about the issue:
Anti-abortion banners in Montevideo, Uruguay: “Abortion=Death” and “No to murder!”. Image by Pablo Flores on Flickr (January 26, 2012), under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
@SeleElola: Sentimientos encontrados: derecho a la vida vs. sociedad hipocrita, las ricas abortan y las pobres mueren #Aborto
@SeleElola: Mixed feelings: right to life vs. a hypocritical society, rich women have abortions and poor women die #Aborto
While Elisa Montero (@elisamontero15) [es] asked:
@elisamontero15: Nadie puede olbigar al hombre a ser padre, a lo sumo a que le tire unos pesos. Por Qué la mujer no debe tener opción? Pensemos bien#Aborto
@elisamontero15: No one can force a man to be a father, at most he has to give the child some money. Why shouldn't women have an option? Let’s think this through #Aborto
Meanwhile, Lu Peña (@lupena27) [es] tweeted:
@lupena27: Despenalización dl Aborto! A dnd vamos a parar? Xq no apostamos a la educación sexual ants de solucionar los problemas cn la vida de seres?
@lupena27: Depenalization of abortion! Where are we headed? Why don’t we focus on sexual education before solving problems with someone’s life?
Amid the heated online debate, Dra.T (@Aaguss23) [es] pleaded:
@Aaguss23: Gente PAZ no se está obligando a abortar, se está legalizando lo que existe y no va a dejar de asistir x más ilegal q sea #aborto
@Aaguss23: People PEACE, no one is forcing anyone to have an abortion, they are legalizing what already exists and what won’t stop existing whether illegal or not #aborto
In Feminicidio [es], a news site on gender issues, Noemí Garcia Cabezas explains that the bill “decriminalizes abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy when the woman meets the following requirements”:
consulta con un médico, entrevista con un equipo multidisciplinario (ya existente por la ley 18.426 de Salud Sexual y Reproductiva), cinco días para reflexión y finalmente ratificación de su voluntad. En los casos de menores de edad, debe haber un consentimiento informado con la presencia de un adulto referente o bien con intervención de un juez que autorice la interrupción.
consultation with a physician, interview with a multidisciplinary team (already existing due to law 18.426 [es] of Sexual and Reproductive Health), five days for reflection and finally a ratification of her will. In the case of minors, there must be informed consent with the presence of an adult or with the intervention of a judge authorizing the interruption.
Abortion advocates are not completely satisfied with the bill. Noemi lays out their concerns:
[…] el nuevo proyecto si bien garantiza la no penalización de las mujeres que aborten voluntariamente siguiendo los pasos mencionados anteriormente, sigue considerando delito el aborto, por lo que sí tendrán el riesgo de penalización quienes no sigan los pasos establecidos por la norma y aborten (o practiquen el aborto de otras) de forma clandestina
[…] although the new bill ensures the non-criminalization of women who abort voluntarily following the above steps, it still considers abortion a crime, so women would face the risk of penalty if they don’t follow the steps required by the law and abort (or practice abortion on others) in a clandestine manner
She continues quoting Lilián Abracinskas, director of pro-abortion organization Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (Woman and Health in Uruguay, MYSU for its initials in Spanish):
Legal Abortion Uruguay campaign logo, via Twitter user @hacelosvaler
La Coordinadora por el Aborto Legal de Uruguay considera que se debería modificar el Código Penal para que el aborto no sea delito hasta las 12 semanas de gestación si se realiza por decisión de la mujer o fuera de ese plazo cuando el embarazo sea producto de una violación, sea riesgoso para la mujer o el feto presente malformaciones incompatibles con la vida
The Coordinator for Legal Abortion in Uruguay [es] thinks that the Criminal Code must be modified to ensure that abortion is not a crime until 12 weeks of pregnancy if done under the woman’s decision or outside this term when the pregnancy is the result of rape, a risk for the woman or if the fetus presents malformations incompatible with life
Noemí also points out that according to abortion advocates, the ultimate goal of the new bill is to discourage abortion by establishing requirements that actually become barriers and which question women’s ability to make responsible decisions.
While legislators debated the bill, activists from MYSU protested with a “bodypainting performance” outside the Legislative Palace to manifest their dissatisfaction with the bill, as newspaper El Observador [es] reports.
Twitter users followed the debate via live stream [es] and shared opinions as legislators presented their arguments in favor or against the bill.
Cecilia Lucas (@cecilucas) [es], who describes herself as a feminist on her Twitter bio, wrote:
@cecilucas: #Aborto me encantaría los conservas defiendan a los niños, niñas y adolescentes con igual fervor que al “concebido no nacido”
@cecilucas: #Aborto I would love to see conservatives defending boys, girls and adolescents with the same fervor that they defend the “unborn conceived”
Emilia Yordi (@EmiliaYordi) [es], who is against abortion, tweeted:
@EmiliaYordi: Q pena q se vota más por convicción partidaria q por sus propias convicciones. Legisladores no se laven las manos. #aborto
@EmiliaYordi: How sad that they are voting more on party conviction than on their own convictions. Legislators don’t wash your hands on this. #aborto
Veronica Cortabarría (@Vecort1577) tweeted about the debate extensively. In one of her tweets she said:
@Vecort1577: La disciplina partidaria en temas de estado NO político como el #Aborto se reduce a CIEGA OBEDIENCIA
@Vecort1577: Party discipline on NON political State issues like #Aborto [abortion] becomes BLIND OBEDIENCE
After a long day of debate, late on September 25 newspaper El Observador (@ObservadorUY) [es] reported through its Twitter account:
@ObservadorUY: La despenalización del aborto fue votada en general con 50 votos a favor. 49 del Frente Amplio y el diputado del PI, Iván Posada
@ObservadorUY: The depenalization of abortion was voted at large with 50 votes in favor. 49 from the FA [Broad Front] and one from PI [Independent Party] deputy, Iván Posada

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Wal-mart In China  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

I have a feeling all it takes is one pissed-off customer to make a phone call to the local officials to get that Wal-mart investigation up and running.
It’s tough being a foreign investor in China, as Wal-mart by this point knows all too well. Then again, things could be worse. At least it’s not a Japanese company.
Stan Abrams from China Hearsay commented on a Wal-mart discount hoax case in Hubei province and entered into the national Xinhua news feed.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
Will China Fall Prey to the ‘Skyscraper Curse’? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China is set to pass the United States in numbers of skyscrapers. According to MotianCity, a research organization in China, currently there are 470 skyscrapers in China, 332 under construction and 516 in planning. By 2022, the number of skyscrapers in China will reach 1,318 compared to 563 in the US.
In addition, the tallest building (828 meters) in Dubai will then be replaced by a 838 meter high tower in Changsha. The total investment on the construction of skyscrapers will reach more than RMB 1,700 billion. However, whilst some Chinese citizens are in celebratory mood over these construction achievements, many are worried about the ‘skyscraper curse’.
According to the Skyscraper Index put forward in January 1999 by Andrew Lawrence, the world's tallest buildings often rise on the eve of economic downturns. Investment in skyscrapers peaks at the time when an economy is about to recess.
Shanghai Putong's skyline in 2009. Photo by Remko Tanis (CC: BY-NC-SA)
Below is a selection of discussions about the Southern Metropolis’ report [zh] on the skyscraper story from Sina Weibo comment thread [zh]:
热狗方包：这个是不可能实现的，因为10年后中国的经济已深陷泥潭而不拔。
热狗方包: I don't think [the vision to become top of the world] cannot be realized. In ten years time, the Chinese economy will be in the mud.
美容瘦身研究会：这个不仅是浮夸风。如果不进行政治改革，将玩完。出口倒了，消费起不来，因为贫富严重不均，政府投资越多，腐败越多，效率越低。当年苏联垮掉，因为投资已占鸡的屁70%以上。
美容瘦身研究会：This is not just a culture of extravagance. If we don't have political reform, the country will be doomed to failure. When export collapses, consumption shrinks, the disparity between rich and poor further deteriorates, the more government invests will result in more corruption and deficiency. When the USSR collapsed, the government investment was 70% of the GDP.
你的六等星：1.7万亿投入到教育医疗基础设施社会保障给中国带来的利益是那些华而不实的大楼所不能比的，政府这都想不到吗？
你的六等星：The benefit of the 1,700 billion investment, if spent in education and public health would be more substantial than the skyscrapers. How come the government won't do that?
矿工菅井利羽：神经病，造更多高楼去让恐怖分子开飞机撞吗？中国又不是缺土地，欧美欧洲日本这种早已知道摩天大楼没什么用了、现在也就迪拜中国这种暴发户热衷于这种东西了，呵呵
矿工菅井利羽：Crazy. Are we setting up targets for terrorists to attack us with all these skyscrapers. All the developed countries in Europe, America and Japan do not find skyscrapers desirable. Only the nouveau riche countries, like Dubai and China are so eager to build such towers.
D9只耗子：摩天大楼的疯狂建立是经济大萧条的征兆
D9只耗子：The craze for skyscrapers is the symptom of upcoming economic depression.
在田人：城市就像人的肌体，最重要的就是健康。一个城市健康与否，要看功能配套是否完善，看抵御天灾人祸的能力怎么样，看市民的综合素质和文明程度高不高？光是城市表面的奢华亮丽，一场暴雨、或大火、或瘟疫，就足以把她撕裂。比赛建高楼，谁最高兴？市民吗？
在田人：The city is like human's organ. Health is most important. Whether a city is healthy depends on its functionality, its ability to withstand disaster, its citizens’ attribution and civic manner. The extravagance outlook of the city is just a fragile mask which can be torn off easily by a rainstorm or a big fire or a epidemic. Who is happy about the skyscraper race? Will ordinary citizens be happy about it?
裸奔—蜗牛：给几点建议：1，入口处放体重秤一把 2，请气象局严格监控刮风下雨，飞禽动向，以防某只鸟飞行中打瞌睡不小心撞上，造成严重后果。3，看门人，电梯工给双倍工资，因其是高危职业，随时有顶锅、进号子的危险。
裸奔—蜗牛：A few suggestions: 1. place a scale in front of the entrance; 2. the weather observatory body should monitor the wind and rain, also the birds’ move, in case some sleepy birds crash onto the wall of the buildings and bring disaster. 3. should give double salaries to the door keeper and lift maintenance workers, all these are highly risky jobs and they probably have to take all the blame when disasters happen.
飞上蓝天390：建的越高，人民越穷，倒的越快！
飞上蓝天390：the higher the skyscrapers are, the poorer people are, the quicker they will fall.


text:
Zimbabwe: My Zimbabwean Sheroe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Amy Tsanga is Rumbidzai Dube's Zimbabwean sheroe:
Here was a woman who lived through an era when the education of girls was not a priority yet she had done it and done it well too. She was my lecturer and I idolised her or was it, uh, hero-worshipping. Gentle, yet firm, she spoke so eloquently and confidently and we all hung onto her every word. She reinforced my conviction that women’s rights are human rights; as inalienable, indivisible an interdependent as any other right in relation to other rights.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Africa: Arranged Corporate Marriages · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Bankelele points out corporate marriages of note in Africa:
Barclays of UK and South Africa’s Absa Group are in talks to merge their African operations – but this is not really new as the plan was set in motion six years ago.


text:
Australia: Social Media’s Search for Missing Woman · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

On Saturday 29 September 2012, 30,000 people took part in a Peace March along Melbourne's Sydney Road, Brunswick where Jill Meagher was last seen alive. After news of her death, numerous Facebook pages titled R.I.P. Jill Meagher had sprung up.
One page had over 300,000 likes and this one captured the moving scene:
“Today's Peace March, Jill would be proud” R.I.P. JIll Meagher (Her tribute) Facebook page
Two legal issues have arisen. Police were in protracted negotiations with Facebook over distasteful FB pages before they were finally taken down. There were also concerns that they might prejudice a fair trial.
On a broader front, States Attorneys General are to discuss the legal implications of social media and the law, with calls for restrictions. Madeleine Ross at B&T, an advertising, marketing, media and PR website, explored some of the issues:
Media lawyers have today come out to defend social media in the midst of a heated national debate about the swelling power of Facebook and Twitter.
…The death of ABC staffer Jill Meagher in Melbourne last week also sparked debate when Facebook refused to pull down pages which featured hateful and violent commentary directed at Meagher's alleged murderer.
…The confusion around what is and what should be illegal on social media seems to stem fundamentally from a disconnect in the way people perceive the medium; that is, should it be considered a forum for open public discussion, reflective of everyday face-to-face chatter, or should Facebook and Twitter pages be considered as publishing channels?
This week Melbourne has seen what is perhaps its biggest and its saddest social media campaign following the disappearance and alleged rape and murder of Jill Meagher. From Meagher family, friends pay tribute to Jill:
Friends, colleagues and the public have taken to social media to leave tributes to ABC employee Jill Meagher.
… Ms Meagher's husband Tom has thanked members of the public for their “humbling” support.
Jill was a staff member at the ABC Radio 774, part of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She and her husband Tom came to Australia from Ireland three years ago. After she went missing in the early hours of Saturday 22 September, a Facebook campaign Help us find Jill Meagher attracted extraordinary attention with 122,253 likes and 133,998 talking about this by Friday 28.
Many tweets at #jillmeagher, such as this one by Mel Campbell, linked to ‘missing’ posters:
@incrediblemelk: Please share this poster: Jill Meagher, missing from Brunswick since Fri night. pic.twitter.com/dqO8c1Ig 23 Sep 12
Jill Meagher Missing Poster. Source: Missing Jill Meagher Facebook page
Other Facebook pages such as Missing Jill Meagher also sprang up. Some sought help with identifying CCTV video released by police. Most of the visitors to these pages were trying to be helpful but there were the inevitable trolls on Facebook sites and twitter. They do not bear repeating here but ‘Can we please stop the victim blaming?‘ documents some of the ways in which “self-fancying armchair detectives had already taken to social media to share their uninformed, moronic theories on what might have happened”.
BBC foreign correspondent Nick Bryant, who has worked in Australia for several years, tweeted sentiments shared by most Melburnians following news of her death:

@NickBryantOz: Have seldom heard such dignified and moving broadcasting - @774melbourne remembers and celebrates one of its own. http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/programs/listenlive.htm 28 Sep 12
The charging of the alleged killer has brought warnings about possible unintended negative consequences of social media comment. Matthew Knott of crikey.com reported:
The family and former colleagues of Jill Meagher have urged social media users not to publish prejudicial statements about the man charged with the rape and murder of the ABC employee because of fears they could impact on a future trial.
Professor Sarah Joseph of Monash University’s Castan Centre for Human Rights Law help spread advice that was retweeted numerous times within hours of posting:
@profsarahj: On #ABC774 @hamishfitz: it is very important not to form “a digital lynch mob”. Pull your heads in folks, you're prejudicing the trial! 28 Sep 2012
Helen Dale who blogs as Skepticlawyer posted to her Facebook:
Please (wearing my lawyer's hat now) remember the following:
1. The presumption of innocence, regardless of how strong the Crown case appears to be.
2. The matter is now sub judice. Do not speculate on it.
3. If you see a Facebook page or online forum wishing death or dismemberment or prison rape on the accused, report it to Facebook or to the site owners.
4. Go back to number (1).
These warning were backed up by the Victoria Police on Twitter:
@VictoriaPolice: Please remember posting comments which endanger the presumption of innocence can also jeopardise a trial #JillMeagher #RIPJillMeagher 28 Sep 2012
Let’s hope that people take this advice.

author: Kevin Rennie


text:
Cape Verde: Blogging for Soul Healing, Facebook as a Catwalk · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Capeverdean blogger Jorge from Diário de um Thug notes [pt] that the country's blogs are dying everyday. Should Facebook be blamed?
for the ones who enjoy writing, that problem is not an issue. Writing is an act of mourning and of memory healing; a soul cure has many more advantages than a vanity parade on Facebook. I see this media as a big catwalk…

author: Sara Moreira


text:
China: A New Breed of Sino-foreign Film Co-productions · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Hearsay republished an article from Agenda Magazine about various “tricks” to get into the China film market by making use of the system of Sino-foreign film co-productions. The issue at stake is, if there is two versions of the same film catering the China and western market, can we still call it co-production?


text:
China’s Digital Publishing Market · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Laurence Harris from DANWEI looks into the market potentials and copyrights challenges of the Chinese digital publishing market.


text:
Czech Republic: Roma Resist Evictions in Ostrava · Global Voices
Daniela Kantorova

Přednádraží, a small neighborhood in Ostrava, has been the site of an intense struggle against unlawful evictions of the predominantly Roma residents this summer. For the Czech Republic, this case is unique and historically significant.
The Roma community has been a subject of constant push towards social exclusion and dispossession, and the case of evictions at Přednádraží is, sadly, another spectacular example of this trend. The Roma are collectively blamed for their “nomadic lifestyle,” “lack of roots,” and “refusal to adopt to the mainstream culture.” The residents of Přednádraží decided to stand up both against the unlawful evictions and against these stereotypes.
Přednádraží children holding posters that read: “The media are censoring our reality! Tell the truth!” Photo by Daniela Kantorova.
Whilst the situation attracted the attention of the mass media during the summer, which was relatively uneventful politically, the context of historical oppression, within which the struggle has unfolded, went largely ignored. An independent news portal Romea.cz, which focuses on the life of the Roma community and their struggle for civil rights, has consistently reported on the events [cs] in detail – and from a more socially-just perspective.
History
Built in 1902, Přednádraží is a group of eleven brick apartment buildings, located in a formerly Jewish neighborhood. There are unconfirmed claims that residents of these houses were the first to be transferred to the concentration camp in Nisko, Poland, in 1939.
The Czech media call Přednádraží a ghetto, without pausing to reflect what this word means and how it might relate to history. Přednádraží, which in literal translation means “in front of the train station,” is in fact located behind the Main Train Station of Ostrava, the same train station in front of which stands the modest memorial to Ostrava’s Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Thousands of the Czech Roma perished in the Holocaust, but this memorial does not include them.
The buildings of Přednádraží are located on a triangular island, with a highway on one side, a railway depot on the other, and a plot of industrial, fenced-off land on the third, giving a sense of isolation, of being pushed into a corner. Přednádraží is difficult to access: a single bus goes there, at rare intervals, and taxi drivers tend to refuse to drive all the way into its single paved street.
The area also lacks social infrastructure. In the city that opened a brand new 14-acre mall six months ago just 4 miles away, the neighborhood adjacent to Přednádraží has only two small corner shops carrying basic (and not always fresh) food items, and a pub that, according to its manager, doubles as a community room because people have nowhere else to go. Although many children live in this neighborhood, there is no playground or any other facilities available to them.
Residents of Přednádraží and activists get ready for an anticipated raid. Photo by Daniela Kantorova.
Home for how long?
Despite the isolated nature of the neighborhood, its residents consider it their home, but the danger is that it may not be their home for much longer.
In early August, the Building Works Authority of Ostrava’s City Hall declared the houses at Přednádraží uninhabitable, citing broken sewage lines as a reason, and ordered the owner of the houses, Oldřich Roztočil, to evict all of the tenants within 24 hours. Ostrava is notorious for its lack of low cost housing, and the city hall did not offer any alternatives, other than recommending that the residents move to overpriced and overcrowded hostels.
Mr. Roztočil has decided to support his tenants, and so far has resisted the eviction order handed by the City Hall. Approximately 140 people refused to leave the houses, in which many have been living for 30-40 years. They joined forces with non-Roma activists, which is also a major step in the history of the struggle for Roma rights, as the majority of ethnic Czechs want to have nothing to do with the Roma.
The pressure from the authorities has been steadily increasing since the beginning of August, which is somewhat ironic, as the underlying reason for the evictions are the broken sewage lines. However, the sewage lines were first damaged during the floods of 1997, and their condition has declined significantly over the past two years.
As is characteristic for the mainstream narrative that tends to blame the Roma for problems that have been caused by discriminatory practices of the negligent authorities, the residents of Přednádraží have been blamed for the broken sewage lines; all this while there are at least three lawsuits taking place among the various City Hall departments in order to establish the ownership – and thus responsibility for maintenance.
A question needs to be asked: why this sudden rush to evict the residents – instead of fixing the sewage? One possible explanation is that a private college was about to be opened in the neighboring street in September, and it is likely that the area has become a target for developers. It would not be the first time that Roma people were pushed out from their homes due to forces of gentrification. In the past ten years, the Roma were forced out of a downtown area that was later developed as a sort of a party destination – on a few blocks, it features over a hundred pubs and bars.
The idea of “moving the Roma out” is often proposed by regular Czech citizens as their desired solution of the “Roma problem.” In 2006, two years after the Czech Republic’s entry into the European Union, after Canada abolished the visa requirement for the Czech citizens, representatives of Ostrava’s district Marianské Hory came up with an unbelievable scheme: they were going to encourage the Roma residents of their district to move to Canada and offer a financial contribution for their flight tickets.
In the case of Přednádraží, the authorities did not offer any assistance whatsoever. In one of the first moves, Ostrava Water Company (OVAK) switched off the water supply for all the houses, allegedly due to outstanding water bills. For three weeks, the location received its water from an expensive cistern delivered by the very same water company that switched off the water supply. It took three weeks of negotiations to restore the water supply from a single water tap to be shared by all the residents.
Next, families started experiencing difficulties receiving their social benefits. Social security workers explained to them that since they have no water supply, they are not likely to cook or wash clothes, and that without permanent housing they cannot receive housing benefits. A couple weeks after the water supply was restored into one shared tap, the authorities ordered electricity to be shut off.
The children of Přednádraží. Photo by Daniela Kantorova.
Since the end of August, the city social workers have been visiting Přednádraží and threatening families with taking away their children if they do not move to the hostels immediately. All this adds up to immense psychological pressure without any concern for the well-being of the families. With no housing prospects except of unaffordable and inadequate hostels, people are naturally afraid of homelessness and having their children taken away from them.
Alliances form
In the face of all of this pressure, alliances have started forming.
The struggle has been continuously supported by the Czech-Indian Roma rights activist Kumar Vishwanathan, whose organization, Vzájemné soužití (“Living Together”; @vzajemnesouziti [cs, en] on Twitter), works on advocacy and runs social programs for the Roma community. An interview with Kumar Vishwanathan [cs] about the situation was recently published by Nový prostor, a non-profit publication benefiting the homeless.
A small number of activists from Ostrava’s chapter of a recently formed civil liberties organization ProAlt (on Facebook – here), as well as a few anti-racism activists from Prague, showed solidarity and offered help. ProAlt’s spokesperson Martin Škabraha has written extensively about the situation, and in his most recent analysis [cs] called the situation a manufactured disaster, citing the negligence of authorities, as well as the apathy of the majority population, as factors that created this crisis.
A statement of support has been issued by Milan Šimáček, the director of the governmental agency for Social Inclusion. Additionally, the European Commission has sent a letter to the Ostrava mayor, Petr Kajnar, requesting resolution of the situation.
The Czech branch of Amnesty International has also issued a statement [cs] about the situation.
All of these voices, however, have not been sufficient to get Ostrava’s district and city council to do something that would actually help Přednádraží. At this point, the situation is tense, as the families face an ultimatum from Ostrava’s social security office: either they move to the hostels, or their children will be taken away.
It is important to show solidarity with Přednádraží. If these efforts succeed, it will serve as a precedent, as an example that it is indeed possible to have roots, that it is possible to peacefully stand up against oppression enforced by institutions that have it in their job description to serve the citizens – a job in which the institutions have been failing.

author: Daniela Kantorova


text:
Mexicans Mourn the Death of Senator Alonso Lujambio · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

In the early morning of September 25, 2012, Senator Alonso Lujambio Irazábal passed away in Mexico. The political scientist and distinguished academic held many offices, including: Consultant for the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE); Advisor to the United Nations (UN) regarding the electoral system for the Iraq Constituent Assembly; Commissioner-President of the Federal Institute on Information Access and Data Protection [es] (IFAI); and Director of the Secretariat of Public Education [es] (SEP).
In the field of academics, Lujambio served as professor at his alma mater, the Mexican Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), at the Ibero-American University, and at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The death of Lujambio due to cancer has caused some Mexicans to express their grief and mourning on Twitter.
The outgoing President Felipe Calderón (@FelipeCalderon) [es] mentioned:
@FelipeCalderon: Descansa en paz querido Alonso, te extrañaremos mucho. Seguiremos tu ejemplo de sensatez,alegría, honestidad,patriotismo y amor por la vida.
A few hours later, the chief executive then shared with his followers a photo of the late senator, along with the following message:
Senator Alonso Lujambio and President Felipe Calderón. Image shared on Twitter by @FelipeCalderon
@FelipeCalderon: México pierde a un verdadero Hombre de Estado, un gran académico, un político honesto, un buen padre, un hombre leal… pic.twitter.com/VZQEljXu
The President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto (@EPN) [es] also lamented the death and expressed it as follows:
@EPN: Lamento el triste fallecimiento del Senador Alonso Lujambio, hombre dedicado al servicio de México. Mis condolencias a sus seres queridos.
Reporting very early, the user Ayeye (@ayeshabo) [es] shared the news with his followers:
@ayeshabo: Pues dicen que falleció Alonso Lujambio. RIP
Osvaldo Suarez (@paul_suco) [es] referred to Lujambio's work in the following way:
@paul_suco: Descanse en paz Alonso Lujambio, quien dedicó parte de su vida a fortalecer las instituciones pilares de la democracia mexicana.
Jenaro Villamil (@jenarovillamil) [es] took advantage of the occasion to remember that Alonso Lujambio was a candidate for the presidential bid with the Partido Acción Nacional, which Josefina Vázquez Mota eventually won:
@jenarovillamil: Fallece Alonso Lujambio. Sus últimas batallas: el cáncer, el poder desmedido de Elba Esther, y una frustrada candidatura presidencial
The journalist Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) [es] noted that less than a week ago, Lujambio was honored by President Calderón:
@lopezdoriga: Apenas el miércoles pasado el IFAI le rindió un homenaje a Alonso Lujambio encabezado por el presidente Calderón.
The tribute in question, as reported by the blogger Sopitas [es], happened within the framework of the IX National Transparency Week, an event followed by Mexicans with the hashtag #SNT2012 and reviewed by the aforementioned blogger in a thorough blog entry [es].
Another journalist, León Krauze (@Leon_Krauze) [es], mentioned other traits of the late Senator:
@Leon_Krauze: Historiador, biógrafo y hasta estudioso de la arquitectura, Lujambio era algo poco común: un hombre auténticamente culto en la política.
Patricia Jinich (@PatriciaJinich) [es] expressed her despair at finding out about the death of the Senator:
@PatriciaJinich Sad, sad, oh, such sad news. RIP, Alonso Lujambio, best ever professor & thesis advisor in the world. You will be missed…
The funeral services took place on September 25 (in the Mexican tradition these do not occur several days after death, but rather immediately) and at the time of writing this post it had been unofficially reported that the remains of Alonso Lujambio would be cremated on September 26, 2012.

author: J. Tadeo


text:
Mexico: Missing Activist Aleph Jiménez Found Alive · Global Voices
Andrés Monroy-Hernández

The #YoSoy132 activist Aleph Jiménez, who had gone missing last week, was found safe and alive in the Mexican city of La Paz, more than 800 miles from Ensenada where he lived.
After coming out from hiding, Jiménez was flown to Mexico City to give a statement to the National Human Rights Commission. Today, in his first interview [es] to the press, Jiménez stated that he went hiding voluntarily because of safety concerns, including the apparent murder of two of his colleagues, being followed by an unidentified car, and supposed wiretapping of him and other activists.
Jiménez left town without telling anyone and claims to have been disconnected from his friends and family for fears of being tracked. He was eventually found by someone whom he knew and decided to go public after realizing of all the attention his case had gotten. Jiménez vows he will not return to his home state of Baja California for the time being.
Mexican netizens on Twitter had mixed reactions [es] to the news, some grew increasingly skeptical about Jiménez's statements and motives while others showed support for Jiménez. For example, @armandonune [es] writes:
Aleph Jiménez, photo via Twitter user @FamiliaAlephJ
@armandonune: La desaparicion de aleph jimenez no me cuadra, la version de aleph es infantil o lo obligaron a decir eso o quiere protagonismo
@armandonune: Aleph Jimenez's disappearance does not add up, Aleph's version is childish or he was forced to say that or he wants prominence.
Similarly, Gustavo Andrade (@SrDonGustavo) [es] writes:
@SrDonGustavo: Aleph Jiménez temía por su seguridad e integridad física, pero se para en una carretera a pedir un aventón? ¿Cómo? Que alguien me explique..
@SrDonGustavo: Aleph Jimenez feared for their safety and physical integrity, but he stands on a road to hitchhike? What? Someone explain this to me…
On the other hand, Jessica (@jessica_am) [es] mentions:
@jessica_am: Me aterra que “periodistas” insistan en la irresponsabilidad de Aleph Jiménez y omitan que el chico estaba verdaderamente aterrado.
@jessica_am: It terrifies me that “journalists” insist on Aleph Jiménez's recklessness and neglect to mention the guy was truly terrified.
Likewise, Cecilia Cisneros C. (@CCCCecilia) [es] says:
@CCCCecilia: Cuando tengas miedo, te sientas acosado, vigilado, amenzado… solo así creo, puedes juzgar el actuar de Aleph Jimenez. No me ha pasado aun
@CCCCecilia: When you are afraid, you feel harassed, followed, threatened… I think only then you can judge the actions of Aleph Jimenez. It has not happened to me yet

author: Andrés Monroy-Hernández


text:
New Caledonia:  Political Tension Grows Over Rights to Nickel Mines  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Nickel Mines of Nakéty by Fab Virge on Flickr CC-License-2.0
Claudine WERY writes [fr] that political tension grows between independentist and non-indenpendentist political parties in New Caledonia over the exploitation of Nickel mines. Non-independentists accuse the other party to strike deals with China and South Korea that they are not authorized to pursue. A referendum on gaining independence from France is scheduled between year 2014 and 2018.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


text:
Pakistan: Taking Off Hijab · Global Voices
Rezwan

The blogger of Kiss My Roti takes off her hijab and provides the reason for it.

author: Rezwan


text:
Panama: Controversial 510 Copyright Bill Approved  · Global Voices
Ariel Moreno

Si creían que SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, ACTA y la Ley SINDE eran negativas, pues esas son un detalle comparadas con el Proyecto de Ley #510 del 23 de Agosto de 2012 de la República de Panamá: “Sobre Derecho de Autor y Derechos Conexos“.
If you thought that SOPA, PIPA, CISPA, ACTA and the SINDE Law were bad, they were nothing compared to the Republic of Panama's August 2012 #510 Bill [es]: “On Copyrights and Related Rights”
This is how blogger Chris Fawcett opened his post on Panama's new copyright bill on his blog, El blog de Chris Faw [es]. Outrage regarding this bill is coming to a boiling point on social networks and in Panama's mainstream media since, as Pepe Flores describes on technology blog Alt1040 [es], the 510 Bill “incentivizes the hunt for infringers in an implausible fashion.” Article 153 of the bill [pdf, es] establishes:
Las sumas que perciba la Dirección General de Derecho de Autor por las tasas derivadas de los servicios que preste y por las multas que aplique en ejercicio de sus facultades, serán destinadas a mejorar su infraestructura operativa y estimular el rendimiento de sus funcionarios, complementariamente a las partidas que el Presupuesto General del Estado se destinan para el funcionamiento de dicha entidad, de acuerdo con los procedimientos y principios que, para tal efecto, establezca el Órgano Ejecutivo por conducto del Ministerio del ramo, para su correcta administración y distribución.
Las sumas que correspondan a cada funcionario, no excederán del cincuenta por ciento (50%) del total de su remuneración salarial básica mensual.
The funds accrued by the General Copyright Directorate from the fees for the services it provides and the fines imposed in the exercise of its powers, will be aimed at improving its operational infrastructure and to boost the performance of its officers, complementary to the funds that the State Budget reserves for the operation of the entity, in accordance with the procedures and principles which, for said effect, establishes the Executive Body through the Ministry in question, for its proper administration and distribution.
The amounts corresponding to each official, shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the total basic salary monthly remuneration.
Chris Fawcett shares five points that have him “profoundly worried” about the 510 Bill:
Image against the 510 Bill shared on social networks.
1) La multa por violación a la propiedad intelectual la pone una “Dirección General de Derecho de Autor” (en adelante, DGDA), bajo la jurisdicción del Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias.
2) No se exige un proceso civil, sino que se impone unilateralmente según la opinión del personal de la DGDA.
3) El acusado se presume culpable, y tiene sólo 15 días para probar su inocencia (ehem… acaso no que acá en los países “democráticos” se presume siempre la inocencia?)
4) El dinero recaudado por la multa -que puede ser de hasta 100,000 dólares- NO VA AL DUEÑO DE LOS DERECHOS DE PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL
5) El personal de la DGDA obtiene UN BONO POR IMPONER LAS MULTAS. Ese bono tiene un máximo de hasta un 50% de su salario!
1) The fine for intellectual property violations is enforced by a “General Copyright Directorate” (abbreviated DGDA), under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
2) It does not require civil proceedings, but rather is imposed unilaterally per the opinion of DGDA personnel.
3) The accused is presumed to be guilty and only has 15 days to prove his or her innocence (ahem… maybe not since here in “democratic” countries, are we not innocent until proven guilty?)
4) The money collected from the fine — which can be up to $100,000 USD — DOES NOT GO TO THE COPYRIGHT OWNER
5) The DGDA personnel get A BONUS FOR LEVYING THE FINES. This bonus can be a maximum of 50% of their salaries!
For blog Soy Panameño [es], its obvious what could happen with this law:
que la DGDA (Dirección general de derechos de autor) tendrá la libertad de monitorear torrents (legales o ilegales), los IPS de las personas solo para levantar sospechas para poder proceder con multas y generar ingresos. Aún más acosando a personas ya multadas, porque los reincidentes “pagan” el doble.
the DGDA (General Copyright Directorate) will have the freedom to monitor torrents (legal or not) and peoples’ IP addresses just to raise suspicions in order to proceed with fines and generate entries. Even more so relentlessly pursuing those already fined because repeat offenders “pay” double.
AnonymousPTYOficial published a video about “#OpLey510″ (#Op510Bill), which gathered reports from @DJArropin [es] and @Djjcnavarro [es] explaining the bill:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdlOyD9nUyc&feature=youtu.be
The bill was approved during the third debate on September 26, 2012, but still remains to be approved by President Ricardo Martinelli to come into effect. The approval occurred amidst protests by a group of national artists, as Panamá newspaper la Estrella [es] reports:
Antes de la aprobación del proyecto, un grupo de artistas nacionales protestó frente al importante órgano legislativo del Estado panameño, en oposición a que las multas puestas por faltas a le ley pasen expedítamente a la Dirección General de Derecho de Autor del Ministerio de Comercio e Industrias (MICI).
Before the bill's approval, a group of national artists protested in front of the important Panamanian State legislative body, in opposition to the fact that the fines imposed for breaking the law are expedited to the General Copyright Directorate of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MICI) .
The same newspaper also adds:
Ayer, durante la discusión del segundo debate, el ministro de Comercio e Industrias, Ricardo Quijano, manifestó que “con la implementación de esta normativa nuestro país se está modernizando dentro del contexto internacional y mundial.”
Yesterday, in the discussion during the second debate, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ricardo Quijano, declared that “with the implementation of this regulation, our country is modernizing within the international and global context.”
Panamanian netizens that oppose the bill have mobilized themselves with the hashtag #Ley510 (#510Bill) on Twitter, and have a petition online at Change.org [es] to veto the law.
Ahikar Dominguez agrees with the fight on piracy but not via the methods proposed by the bill, as he states on Cocoas.net [es]:
Ciertamente la piratería es cosa seria y hay que combatirla, al igual que las obras que nosotros creamos y con las que pretendemos lucrar (o no), pero de allí a montarle una persecución “tipo inquisición” a quienes descargan material de la web, para uso personal (aclaro) acaba con cualquier libertad los usuarios de internet en Panamá.
Piracy is a truly serious issue and we must fight against it, both with the works that we create and those from which we aim to profit (or not), but to go from there to starting an “inquisition-esque” persecution against those who download material from the Internet for personal use (to clarify) brings an end to whatever liberty Panamanian Internet users have.
The law is part of the modifications made by the Panamanian state for the free trade agreement with the United States. Pepe Flores writes about the issue on Alt1040 [es]:
Este proyecto se presentó en agosto pasado, con la finalidad de que la legislación panameña sobre propiedad intelectual fuera compatible con el tratado de libre comercio que sostienen con Estados Unidos (¿por qué no me sorprende?). Entre las propuestas que incluye, se encuentran alargar la duración del copyright a 70 años después de la muerte del autor (el mismo plazo que en Argentina o España; aún menor que los 100 años que prevé México); o la consideración de las copias temporales como infracciones.
This bill was presented last August with the hope that Panamanian legislation on intellectual property be compatible with the free trade agreement they have with the United States (why am I not surprised?). Among the proposals included is the extension of the duration of copyrights to 70 years after the author's death (the same period that Argentina or Spain has, but still less than the 100 years that Mexico expects), or the consideration of temporary copies as infractions.
The bill is about to be approved and many await demonstrations against it if and when this occurs. If President Ricardo Martinelli does not veto the bill, Panamá will have one of the most strict and controversial copyright laws on a global level.

author: Ariel Moreno


text:
Russia: The Kostin Report & the Trojan Horse of American ICT · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Earlier this week, Russian media outlets got a sneak peek [ru] at an upcoming report on the foreign penetration of the Russian Internet and the potential manipulation of the country's future elections. The research belongs to the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, an organization that has yet to release publicly the actual report or even create its own website.
The Foundation isn't exactly wanting for attention, however, as its creator is none other than Konstantin Kostin [ru], the former deputy head of internal politics under President Dmitri Medvedev.
In a June 2012 article [ru], Kommersant reporters Elizaveta Surnacheva and Aleksandr Gabuev speculated that Kostin's new outfit was one of several contenders to fill the void left by the Foundation for Effective Politics, a think tank managed by Gleb Pavlovsky, who was booted out of the Kremlin's inner circle in April 2011 (apparently for betraying the spirit of Putin-Medvedev tandem unity).
In a July 2012 interview [ru] with Expert magazine, Kostin foreshadowed the results of the report now making headlines:
Наконец, мы будем вести медийные исследования, потому что развитие медиа сильнее всего влияет на демократические институты.
Finally, we're going to conduct media research because the development of the media influences democratic institutions most of all.
Russian politician Konstantin Kostin, 25 August 2010, photo by Nickpo, public domain.
Judging by such early descriptions of the research, Kostin's group seems to have delivered just what he wanted. The report, titled “The RuNet Today,” is divided into three sections: “The New Face of the RuNet,” “Most Recent Trends,” and “Conclusions.”
The research begins by noting demographic changes in Russian Internet usage, observing that the country now has over 53 million users — more than 43 million of whom access the Web on a daily basis. In another significant shift, polls indicate that popular faith in the Internet as a source of news is on the rise, and indeed on track to rival the influence of television itself within the decade.
The report sprouts controversy when it addresses ownership patterns in the Russian Internet industry. Fifteen of the nation's top twenty websites, the document points out, are connected to foreign capital in some fundamental way.
For instance, the ownership of Mail.ru Group (which controls not only the popular service Mail.ru, but also Odnoklassniki and a large share in Vkontakte), is scattered across the globe: a third belongs to a South African media company, another third floats as depository receipts being traded on the London Stock Exchange, and another 7.8% is owned from China. Yandex, Russia's homegrown Google and leading search engine, is officially registered in The Hague, and Vkontakte.ru, the country's dominant social network, recently fled the national domain for a new international home at vk.com.
Russian Internet companies are in turn suffocated by America's ever growing digital hegemony, today manifested in those ubiquitous social networks: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google, and Wikipedia.
This grim picture of Russian ICT vulnerabilities is exacerbated by demographic trends in RuNet usage. In other words, the Internet's growing popularity is transforming it into a political weapon capable of influencing the course of Russian democracy. That weapon is increasingly guarded by American, albeit private, media firms. These are the same online services, the research dutifully points out, that played a pivotal role in mobilizing the protests of the “Arab Spring” and Russia's “Winter of Discontent” beginning last year.
Reactions to the report, which presents no formal policy recommendations, have been unsurprisingly negative across much of the RuNet blogosphere and electronic media. Writing in Kommersant, oppositionist blogger and journalist Oleg Kashin tried to downplay the significance of the research, joking [ru] that Kremlin-sponsored political science projects are nothing but a way to funnel trinkets and rewards to sycophantic Putin loyalists.
Stanislav Apetian, one of the report's chief authors [ru] and an infamous anti-opposition blogger, took issue with Kashin's response, calling attention to that fact that Kashin himself is a former columnist for “Reaktsiia,” a journal also founded by Kostin.
Russian journalist Oleg Kashin in Novosibirsk, 1 May 2010, photo by Maya Shelkovnikova, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Ekaterina Vinokurova of Gazeta.ru, another opposition-leaning newspaper, published comments [ru] from Vasily Gatov, vice president of the Guild of Periodical Press Publishers. He acknowledged the dramatic demographic shifts in Russian Internet usage, but rejected the report's forecast that Facebook or Twitter could soon dominate information in Russian political contests:
[О]днако задают ли они повестку дня – вопрос, на который нет ответа. Что касается связи происхождения владельца платформы с направленностью дискурса в социальной сети – это точно то же самое, как винить Галилео Галилея в том, что у Сатурна есть кольца лишь потому, что он первым их увидел в телескоп
[B]ut to ask if [social networks] set the agenda of the day on a political level is to pose a question without an answer. Regarding the connection between the base of these platforms’ owners and the resulting discourse in the social networks, it's precisely the same as blaming Galileo for the fact that Saturn has rings simply because he was the first one to view it through a telescope.
Political scientist Maksim Zharov thought it ironic [ru] that the anyone would suddenly consider Russia's envelopment in foreign Internet technologies to be a national security threat. Russians, after all, “didn't invent the Internet,” and its most spectacular social network, Vkontakte, is little more than a Facebook clone. (Though Zharov doesn't mention it, your author is compelled to add that Vkontakte is distinguished by its massive repositories of pirated music, films, and pornography.)
What might be the consequences of this new research? Panicked opponents fear that the report's conclusions imply an imminent need to censor the RuNet. But the Kremlin's modern efforts to thwart popular unrest have so far tolerated a fairly free and open Internet. Indeed, the “counter-movement” is more than a decade old, dating back at least to the “color revolutions” that swept Soviet apparatchik governments from Georgia and Ukraine (replacing them with newer, better polished crooks, many would say).
In the aftermath of last winter's street demonstrations, many sympathetic to the protesters (not to mention Internet entrepreneurs concerned about the openness of their industry) came to believe that online technologies are at last evening the playing field for social movements in semi-authoritarian Russia.
The disintegration of last winter's popular spontaneity, however, has washed away the sands of revolutionary potential. As the nation's remaining dissidents lie on their backs, looking up from that beach, the thought occurs: will the deathblow come now, or would it even be worth it? In other words, will the authorities seek to close off the RuNet, in the anticipation that it threatens to empower their enemies in the future? Or is the Kremlin sufficiently self-confident that it might mothball the Kostin Report, perhaps dusting it off occasionally for a bit of routine saber-rattling?
Only time, of course, will tell.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Spain: Creative Alternatives to an Economy in Crisis · Global Voices
Elena Arrontes

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.
[All links lead to Spanish-language websites unless otherwise noted]
Since the start of the economic crisis, the Spanish government has not taken the necessary measures to foment growth or create jobs. On the contrary, they have made multiple cuts to the budget that put at risk entire social groups and endanger the rights of the citizenry. This has aggravated the situation of countries that are already on the brink of bankruptcy.
Faced with these conditions, people feel that it is up to them to take control of their future, and in Spain, where encouraging trends continue to arise, Spaniards have done just that. Many have opted to create viable alternatives to their economy in crisis, such as networks for sharing goods and services or new systems and currencies that promote responsible consumption.
Sharing to save
One of the consequences of the crisis has been the spread of poverty into the middle class and the worsening of conditions for the most vulnerable members of society, so much so that a recent United Nations report on Spain denounced the trend. As a result, the sharing and exchanging of goods has become the most supportive and economic option for a number of Spaniards. Before the start of the crisis, some of these systems already existed, but only now have they taken on more importance.
So that traveling doesn't become a luxury, a usual practice is to ride share in order to save money during trips. In this way, people who don't know each other but who are going in the same direction all travel in one vehicle and share the cost of gasoline. Similarly, there is a collective taxi service in which the cost of a trip is divided among the greatest number of people possible. Also, when traveling abroad some use couch-surfing in order to enjoy more economical accommodation.
The rise in value-added tax from 18 to 21 percent in Spain, which was not included in President Mariano Rajoy's campaign platform, has made life even more expensive and dealt a hard blow to people's wallets. The hike went into effect in September, the month in which students go back to school and families go shopping for school materials.
Various groups have mobilized in force to coordinate donations of school supplies, among them neighborhood assemblies and the 15M movement. When it comes to books, web pages such as Libroscompartidos.com (Shared Books) allow users from different corners of the country to exchange books not for profit and even manages delivery service and collection of the material.
Textbook exchange in Móstoles (Madrid) on September 16, 2012. Photo by Fotogracción.
Promoting responsible consumption
New technologies, especially the Internet, allow for the creation of constructive ideas as well as online alternative communities. Etruekko, in the midst of the discontent and protest in Spain, has done just that by attempting to broadcast a positive message and construct a different model of society.
It is a social network of virtual communities, still under development, which promotes social responsibility and offers a social currency called truekko which is earned through the exchange of goods and services. In this way, a person can become empowered, consume responsibly, and help disseminate ethical values on the web, even if they aren't very skilled at using new technologies.
The blog Konsumo responsable (Responsible Consumption) published the following definition of a “social market”:
El Mercado Social implementa un circuito de moneda complementaria que basa una parte de su funcionamiento en  bonificaciones aplicadas a los consumidores con cada compra, y que para el proveedor supone un descuento en la venta. Es algo parecido a los programas de puntos que tienen algunas empresas grandes para fidelizar clientes y aumentar ventas, pero con el objetivo de ampliar la incidencia de la economía solidaria y desarrollar redes amplias que puedan funcionar con una “moneda” basada en criterios económicos no capitalistas.
Occupied and self-managed community centers have a role in this dynamic. In Madrid, the Tabacalera, the Patio Maravillas and the Casablanca centers stand out. The centers, which began with the peaceful occupation of an unused building, are organized spaces open to the public which offer a variety of cultural and leisure activities.
They require constant organization from the groups and associations that frequent the centers, and they have successfully carved out a place for themselves in the community. The centers also usually offer activities and talks about various topics: dance and music workshops, concerts, expositions, free clothing, and meeting areas.
In a city, those who participate in urban gardens and gardening collectives [en], growing various foods on unused pieces of land and lots, greatly promote critical discussion among people about the economic model to which they belong and possible ethical solutions to the current market. Consumer groups and collectives advocate for the purchase of sustainable food products while at the same time refusing to participate in the abuse committed against small farmers by large supply chains.
Urban garden planted in the Puerta del Sol by members of the Spanish indignado movement in May 2011. Photo by Lecamaleon (cc).
Eviction of the occupied community center, Casablanca, September 19, 2012, in Madrid. Neighbors went out and protested after the police intervention. Published on 15Mpedia
Despite the obstacles in creating another system capable of competing with the current market, there are more and more people who are adhering to economic philosophies that are ethical, promote social responsibility, and are self-managed, while questioning the existing capitalistic model through reflection and gestures of solidarity. This sends a clear message to society and those in power: another world is possible.
This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.


text:
The Gloomy Years of Colombian Television · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

Since last May [es], ‘pink sauce’ from popular gossip website La Fiscalía has been posting a series on “the gloomy years of Colombian television” [es], where he reviews, tongue-in-cheek and year by year between 1992 and 2012, the most popular mainstream medium in the country. Readers share their memories of their favourite or hated shows in the comments section, as well as fun facts and impressions of what most of them consider the increasingly decreasing quality of Colombian television.

author: Julián Ortega Martínez


text:
Turkey: Prime Minister Signals Negotiations with Kurdish Rebels · Global Voices
Ruwayda Mustafah

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has signaled that he will negotiate with Kurdish rebels after months of deadly violence from Kurdish rebels in response to Turkish policies.
It is the fear of further escalation of this violence that has led Erdoğan to consider talks. In the past Turkey has been unwilling to negotiate with rebels, despite calls from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party.
Hugh Pope, director of International Crisis Group’s project in Turkey and Cyprus has spoken to Euronews highlighting how the changes since 2009 affect the lives of Kurdish people:
Last year there was very severe degrading of the situation to a point where more than 700 people were killed in the fighting, including more than 200 soldiers, more than 400 PKK members and nearly 80 civilians. These are the worst casualty figures since the capture of PKK Leader Abdullah Ocalan and I think it is a watershed moment for Turkey, I think, because many things are changing in the region and Turkey needs a new policy direction. I think currently the way that fighting escalation needs a reconsideration a real of policy.
Kurds protest in Istanbul against clashes in Diyarbakir. Image by Fulya Atalay, copyright Demotix (15/07/12).
Talks with Kurdish rebels will come as a surprise to many sociologists who have argued that successive Turkish governments have always believed that through time Kurds would assimilate and become Turks.
Ismail Beşikçi in an interview with Rudaw is quoted to have said the following:
The Turkish state does not have any particular view on solving the issue of the Kurds. Therefore, it delays dealing with the problem, hoping that it will be solved over time. That is because the Turkish state believes that as time passes, the Kurds will assimilate. A large number of Kurds live in the west of Turkey. The state believes that after two to three generations, they will assimilate and become Turks. I believe this is the plan of the state.
Recently, a report showed that the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) guerrilla movement was forthcoming to enter negotations.
The Turkish government is responsible for restricting the negotiation process in the Oslo talks, a senior member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Zübeyir Aydar, who was in attendance for the negotiations between Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and PKK, has said, adding that the PKK would like to see negotiations to begin again.
On Twitter the responses were different; some have questioned Erdogan's previous statements on the successfulness of military operations against Kurdish rebels.
Twitter attracts a diverse range of opinions on the subject of Kurdish rebels and many Kurds have tweeted about the possible negotiations. Some are sceptical, others have pointed out that the talks are simply a means of watering down the current escalation of violence which depicts Turkey in a very bad light.
For instance a Kurd living in Turkey, Necirvan, tweeted that negotiations with Kurdish people are a waste of time, and will lead to disappointment. This view was echoed by Yezdan who said Kurds should not be naive about this negotiation attempt.
Idrees Mohammd pointed out that domestic pressure has increased, which has led to Erdogan signalling the way to more talks. But according to Baxtiyar, who is a politics and international relations student, the initiation towards negotiations is due to the “weakness of Turkish forces in confronting PKK fighters”.
There is no doubt that Kurdish rebels are open to negotiations, because they have lost a significant number of people due to Turkish forces shelling the mountains where most of them are situated. Hevallo, a pro-Kurdish activist tweeted that the Kurdish rebels are calling for “Oslo talks to restart”.

author: Ruwayda Mustafah


text:
When Twitter Saves the Day · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Carjacking victim in South Africa rescued with a tweet. One of many inspiring stories from #Twitterstories
Twitter is collecting life-changing and inspirational stories of Twitter use on a Twitter Stories page launched in November 2011. One recent story describes how Twitter was used to help rescue the victim of a carjacking in South Africa, another how a tweet helped a man find a kidney donor.
You can use the hashtag #Twitterstories highlight other examples.
The photo above is  by Twitter.

author: Solana Larsen


text:
Zambia’s “Imaginary” Terror Plot · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
Zambia recently woke up to a story in state-owned media that a group calling itself Tongas Under Oath had killed two people belonging to President Michael Sata’s ethnic group, and was now in the process of removing settlers from the ethnically Tonga Southern Province.
However, the story did not wash with the citizens who simply viewed it as an attempt by the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) government to clamp down on the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND). Zambia’s third largest opposition party is led by Hakainde Hichilema, a Tonga who has been very critical of the Sata government. And as is often the case in Zambian politics, Hichilema is the latest in a line of fearless opposition leaders whose increasing popular support is likely to result in electoral success.
Prior to the release of the letter allegedly written by the Tongas Under Oath group, Hichilema was arrested and charged after he claimed that the PF government was planning to send youths to Sudan to train as militias. A few days later, the opposition’s headquarters in the capital, Lusaka, were searched by the police looking for seditious materials.
They did not find any but a few days later a far more sinister letter was sent to President Sata with a date stamp from Mazabuka, a town in Southern Province. Shortly after its arrival, President Sata publicly exhibited Hichilema’s bank statements which showed that he is worth 360 billion ZMK ($64 million USD), making him one of the richest people in Zambia.
Defence Minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba (in dark glasses) with President Sata (left) and other government officials. Picture courtesy of Zambian Watchdog
However, a few days later, the defense minister, Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, a fierce critic of Hichilema, disclosed that two retired generals had been paid by an unnamed person to assassinate President Sata. Mwamba was quoted by the Lusaka Times as saying:
I have just received an update from our investigative wings and I am talking from facts with an informed point of view that two retired army generals have received K100 million from an opposition party to carry out the assassination plot.
This is a serious development and I have also directed these investigative wings to go deeper and give more information so that we bring to book these people and the opposition party behind this.
One of the many responses to the story is by Mungoma and reads:
It is extremely disappointing that a minister can be talking about such a serious issue in this way! We are talking about the life of the President, for goodness’ sake! If it’s true, why not do a thorough investigation before making announcements?
Mwamba’s disclosure was not the first time he publicly announced an assassination plot against the head of state. After the PF came into power in September 2011, President Sata disclosed a number of allegedly corrupt deals brokered by the former president Rupiah Banda. The president also revealed that Banda had engaged retired senior military officers, among them generals, on extravagant contracts which he terminated with immediate effect.
In November 2011, Mwamba announced to the nation that a group of retired generals were planning to assassinate President Sata and other leaders in response to the government’s tough stance on corruption. Strangely, no one was arrested the first time after the defense minister disclosed an assassination plot, neither has anyone been arrested in the latest disclosure nearly a year later.
Above all, no one has been arrested in the Tongas Under Oath terror plot especially since President Sata himself said that the supposedly incriminating letter was not authored in the Southern Province, but in Lusaka.
This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide. This post was first published on the ISN blog, see similar stories here.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu