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Despite Claims of Tortured Baha’i Inmates, Iran Takes No Action · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

24 Baha'is arrested in Iran's Golestan Province. Image source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
A version of this article was originally published on the site of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
On March 27, 2016, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran learned of a letter that describes torture inflicted on twelve Baha’is. The letter documents acts of torture that were committed by interrogators three years ago at Amir Abad prison and detention centers located in Iran’s Golestan Province. The human rights group also learned that the Iranian Judiciary has stood by idly, despite evidence of the torture and a formal letter of complaint sent in 2012 by torture victims to the head of the Judiciary of Golestan Province.
The organization says it's also obtained a copy of the six-page, typed complaint. It was written and signed by twelve Baha’is who were arrested on October 17, 2012. The letter was sent directly to the Prosecutor General of Golestan Province after the twelve were released on bail. (In total, the twelve spent between 11 and 45 days in jail.)
On November 29, 2012, the letter was filed and officially stamped, indicating formally that the Judiciary received it. The letter itself describes in detail how they were tortured by their interrogators. These acts were committed at Amir Abad Prison, in the city of Gorgan, as well as at other unnamed detention centers in Golestan province, northeast of Tehran.
The letter stated:
On the first day of his interrogation, Mr. Behnam Hassani’s wrist was tied very tightly with a rope and attached to a metal ring. The ring was raised to a nail above his head such that only his toes could touch the ground. He was in so much pain that he started to scream and shout.
Then they brought him down and dragged him into a room and beat him. They pressed a pen between his fingers and hit him behind the head and on his mouth… Then they kept him under the rain for several hours on a cold night.
Is this what you call justice in the name of freedom and religion?
These twelve Baha’is were among the 24 Baha’is who received long prison sentences in January 2016. The other twelve were arrested in February and March 2013, also in Golestan Province.
The Baha’i community is one of the most severely persecuted religious minorities in Iran. Their faith is not recognized by the Islamic Republic’s constitution, and the community's members face severe discrimination. They can even be prosecuted for displaying their faith in public.
The letter states:
They forced Ms. Hana Aghighian to go under a table and then kicked her body while asking questions. Are confessions legitimate when obtained in such an atmosphere of terror?
The practice of forced “confessions” in Iran is well-documented by international human rights organizations. These are often elicited under torture or the threat of torture.
According to the letter:
Ms. Aghighian was told that if she does not answer questions the way her interrogators want her to, then she would be handed over to others who would employ other methods.
When she again did not respond to the interrogator’s liking, the interrogator tore up the interrogation sheet and stuffed it in her mouth! … Even if all the accusations against us were true… the honorable intelligence agents had no right to treat us this way.
A source told International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the other twelve Baha’is arrested in February and March 2013 also endured harsh treatment (though this description was not as severe as what was described by the first twelve in the letter).
“They were mistreated in the sense that they were sent to solitary confinement if an interrogator didn’t like the answers he was hearing,” said the source in an interview. “That by itself is considered torture.”
“They would turn off the heat in the cells and—when prisoners complained—they were told that they would have to suffer because they had not cooperated,” the source claims. “They would leave the lights on for 24 hours or turn the radio on and off or ignore them [inmates] for several days, except to give them food.”
“They were all accused of having illegitimate sexual relations,” added the source. “Their interrogators would say that the [Baha’i] women and girls were used to attract [non-Baha’i] men. Another interrogator told a Baha’i prisoner: ‘I want to tear you to pieces. Too bad my hands are tied.’ Another interrogator pressed one of the female prisoners against the wall with his foot and would hurl threats at her from a close distance.”
“The interrogators would say that Mohammad is the last prophet but if the accused said that there had been another messenger after Mohammad, they would be accused of being against Islam and trying to overthrow the Islamic Republic,” the source continued.
“They say Islam is the country's official religion and believing in the Baha’i faith means being against Velayat-e Faghih [Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, which holds that the ultimate leadership of the state must be held by a leading Islamic jurist],” said the source.
“They [interrogators] also would accuse them [prisoners] of trying to overthrow the regime because enemy states such as Israel, the US, and the UK, opposed the Islamic Republic and supported Baha’is,” the source says. “The interrogators would say that support for Baha’is in the US media proves that the US government is backing Baha’is. They wanted the prisoners to reveal their leaders and network structure.”
“One of the imprisoned Baha’is asked an interrogator on what basis they were being held. The response was that they had taken part in [proselytizing] projects known as Roohi, which is commonly practiced by Baha’is around the world. The Islamic Republic is well aware of it [this practice],” the source says. “When Baha’is believe in something, they share it with others. This is every person’s right.”
“These 24 Baha’is were all tried together and had the same charges filed against them. They were tried in eight sessions and given different verdicts. We believe their verdicts were predetermined before the trial, and the court only played a functionary role,” the source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
In his annual reports, Dr. Ahmad Shaheed, the UN special rzapporteur for human rights in Iran, has repeatedly detailed widespread abuse and discrimination against Baha’is in Iran. In the reports, Shaheed has called on the Iranian government to end its policy of religious intolerance.
According to Simin Fahandej, spokesperson for the Baha'i faith in New York, more than 80 Baha’is are currently held in Iranian prisons. In February 2016, she said:
Unfortunately, since [President Hassan] Rouhani came to power some two years ago, many Baha’is have been arrested, many Baha’i cemeteries have been destroyed, and Baha’i youths with top grades have been denied entry into the universities only because of their faith.
This begs the question, who are the criminals here? The Baha’is or the officials who send Baha’is to prison?

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


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EgyptAir Hijacking Drama Ends; All Passengers Released · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“#EgyptAir hijacker has explosives…. How did he get them on board? Don’t forget though…” tweets @Andy_Wirral, who shares the photograph above
A seven-hour stand-off with a hijacker who forced an Egypt Air pilot to divert a flight en route from Alexandria to Cairo to make an emergency landing in Larnaca, Cyprus, after claiming he was wearing an explosive belt, has ended, with all the passengers released.
No one was injured in the incident on flight MS181, which had 81 passengers on board, including crew. According to Egypt Air:
Official sources at EGYPTAIR declared the release of all the hostages and the arrest of the hijacker. #EgyptAir
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
It turns out the lone hijacker, identified as Egyptian Seif Eldin Mustafa, was not even wearing a real explosive belt but may have wanted to contact his former wife, a Cypriot national,  or call for the release of Egyptian female prisoners. While the details of his motives remain sketchy, netizens are relieved the incident is not related to terrorism, especially that committed by Muslims.
In the early hours of the drama, authorities claimed that another man had hijacked the plane, raising speculations about his nationality and motives.
Syrian blogger S. Rifai tweets about the confusion:
“Please don't be Syrian”
“please don't be Lebanese”
“Pls Pls don't be Palestinian”
My FB right now #EgyptAir
— S. Rifai (@THE_47th) March 29, 2016
While many may be relieved the hijacker wasn't from their country, more are happy the incident has nothing to do with terrorism or Islam. Officials said that the hijacker appeared to be unstable and ruled out terrorism.
Omar Imran describes the announcement as “historic”:
Wow Something Historic just happened. The Egyptian Hijacker has been declared as “mentally unstable” rather than a “Muslim terrorist” #First
— عُمر (@OmarImranTweets) March 29, 2016
And photojournalist Patrick Baz jovially tweets:
We can finally celebrate the first Arab Muslim hijacker who is not declared a terrorist but a psychologically unstable person. :) #EgyptAir
— patrickbaz (@Patrick_Baz) March 29, 2016
But Islam got some bashing nevertheless. Mohamed Alaraimi wonders:
How come every time an ignorant person do something so radical the first thing you blame is islam? #egyptair https://t.co/Avq0BYnAWT
— Mohamed (@ALaraimi92) March 29, 2016
And journalist Mohamed El Dahshan still wants to see justice met. He tweets:
Now, seriously though: “not terrorism”?? I hope he gets the maximum possible penalty. He hijacked a goddamn plane. #Egyptair
— Mohamed El Dahshan (@eldahshan) March 29, 2016

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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EgyptAir Plane on Route to Cairo Hijacked and Diverted to Cyprus · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A screenshot from Flight Radar showing the hijacked flight MS181 at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus
Update 29/03/2016 14:10 UTC: Authorities identified and arrested the suspected hijacker as Seif Eldin Mustafa, an Egyptian living in Cyprus. Some media reports earlier in the day cited a different man, Ibrahim Samaha, as the suspect, but he was merely a passenger on the plane.
A lone hijacker has reportedly hijacked an Egypt Air flight en route from Alexandria to Cairo, forcing the flight to be diverted to Larnaca Airport in Cyprus after claiming he was wearing an explosive belt. On Twitter, netizens and pundits are closely following the news as it develops.
According to a tweet by EgyptAir, Flight MS181, which had 81 passengers on board, including foreigners, was “officially hijacked.”
Our flight MS181 is officially hijacked. we'll publish an official statement now. #Egyptair
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
This tweet has been tweeted about 12K times at the time of writing this post.
In follow up tweets, in Arabic, the airline explains:
تعرضت طائرة مصر للطيران طراز ايرباص 320 رحلة رقم 181 وعلى متنها 81 راكب و المتجهة من مطار برج العرب الى مطار القاهرة الى حالة اختطاف
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
EgyptAir Airbus plane 181, which has 81 passengers on board, and en route from Burj Al Arab airport in Alexandria to Cairo Airport has been hijacked
It continues:
حيث ابلغ قائدها الطيار عمر الجمل عن وجود تهديد من احد الركاب بوجود حزام ناسف فى حوزته واجبر قائدها على النزول فى مطار لارناكة بقبرص
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
It's Captain Omar Al Jammal was informed of a threat from a passenger with an explosive belt in his possession and he forced the captain to land the plane in Larnaca Airport in Cyprus
It's latest update says:
Negotiations with the Hijacker result in the release of all the passengers, except the crew and four foreigners.
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) March 29, 2016
According to press reports, the passengers included Egyptians, “eight Americans, four Dutch, two Belgians, four Britons, one Syrian, one French and one Italian.”
The identity and nationality of the remaining passengers, who have not been released, is not known.
And no post on Egypt is complete without a dose of Egyptian humour – even when it is not warranted. Many joked that the passengers were lucky to find themselves out of Egypt.
Shahi tweets:
ركاب الطائرة المصريه المخطوفه يبدون سعادتهم البالغه باختطافهم فور وصولهم مطار #قبرص ويوجهون الشكر الجزيل للخاطفين على اخراجهم من مصر ;D
— Shahi** (@Me_Shosho007) March 29, 2016
The EgyptAir passengers express their extreme happiness for hijacking them and thank the hijackers upon their arrival in Cyprus for getting them out of Egypt
And Mohamed Sleem adds:
طيب حد يراهن إنهم لو أعلنوا عن طيارة هتتخطف في #قبرص و اللي هيكونوا فيها هيقدروا يعيشوا هناك الحجز عليها هيبقى تاريخي ؟
— Mohamed Maged Sleem (@m10maged) March 29, 2016
Bet you if they had announced that this plane would have been hijacked and that the passengers would be diverted to Cyprus and that they could live there that the bookings on this flight would have been historic?
But Ahmed Hamato is naturally not happy with all those jokes:
اية الرخص الي على تويتر دة الي حصل دة مصيبة والناس نازلة تريقة وتصفيه حسابات الي اتخطفت دي طيارة مصرية احنا بنرخص نفسنا اوي كدة ليه #قبرص
— ahmed hamato (@hamatofreedom) March 29, 2016
How cheap of people on Twitter to joke and make fun of this catastrophe. The plane which was hijacked is an Egyptian plane and we are cheapening ourselves by doing this
Ahmed Nimer, from Ramallah, Palestine, quips:
Sigh, hijacking is so 1980s!! #EgyptAir
— أحمد (@ANimer) March 29, 2016
And blogger Josh Shahryar adds:
Suddenly everyone is an expert on Egypt, Cyprus, Egypt Air and Hijacaker negotiations… What's up, Twitter?
— Abu Sumood (@JShahryar) March 29, 2016
Stay tuned for more updates.


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How a Nazi Ghost Came to Haunt the Philippine Presidential Debate · Global Voices
Karlo Mongaya

Philippine presidential candidates appearing in a televised debate. Vice President Jejomar Binay (extreme left) accused administration candidate Mar Roxas (extreme right) of behaving like ‘Goebbels.’ Source: YouTube
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels became a trending topic in the Philippines during the second official presidential debates, soon after candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay compared a fellow candidate to Goebbels.
The ruling party’s candidate, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, brought up the vice president’s corruption charges during the debate, prompting Binay to call Roxas a “Goebbels” for calling him corrupt. “Only the court can decide whether I am guilty or not, not your accusations, Roxas, I mean, Goebbels, sorry,” said Binay.
The quote — “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” — is often wrongly attributed to Goebbels.
Binay also called Senator Grace Poe, presidential race frontrunner and independent candidate, a chum of Goebbels for alluding to money laundering operations alleged to be connected to the vice president's law firm.
Joseph Goebbels. Photo from German Federal Archive. Source: Wikipedia
When Goebbels was mentioned in the televised debate, Filipino Internet users actively searched his name and biography. Journalists and news websites also published brief stories about the Nazi propaganda minister. Some were amused by Binay's knowledge of history but others also accused the vice president of acting like Goebbels.
Here are some reactions on Twitter on the bringing up of the name of Goebbels during the presidential debates:
Binay must be studying Goebbels :))
— Lloyd Tan (@strongyLLOYDes) March 20, 2016
Not defending Mar here, but if Mar is a Goebbels, sino si Binay? #PiliPinasDebates2016 #BilangPilipino
— Paolo Barcelon (@PNBarcelowne) March 20, 2016
Not defending Mar here, but if Mar is a Goebbels, who is Binay?
What the hell Binay, i had to google Goebbels and your usage and comparison is abhorrent.
— May Chelle Baay (@mayshie) March 20, 2016
If Mar Roxas is Joseph Goebbels, does that make Noynoy Aquino Adolf Hitler? #PiliPinasDebates2016
— Brian, Son of Larry (@brilums) March 20, 2016
The tweet above mentions Noynoy Aquino, the incumbent and outgoing president of the Philippines.
And the 1st runner up in this debate is… Joseph Goebbels! #PiliPinasDebates2016
— Teddy Casiño (@teddycasino) March 20, 2016
Many netizens, however, lament the lack of any meaningful discourse during the debates, with the presidential candidates preferring to mouth motherhood statements and engage in mudslinging instead of substantially addressing issues.
Omg is this a comedy show or a debate #PiliPinasDebates2016 😭😂
— ida anduyan (@idaandu) March 20, 2016
Hard to believe that these people have received degrees from prestigious universities yet they argue like children. #PiliPinasDebates2016
— Niambee Ruth Palacio (@niambeepalacio) March 20, 2016
All of us UP students inside that Debate Hall were disappointed hearing no questions that would tackle education #PiliPinasDebates2016
— France Kevin Degamo (@THISisDGameO) March 20, 2016
The tweet above mentions UP which refers to the state-funded University of the Philippines.
If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it. —Mark Twain #PiliPinasDebates2016
— Einstein Recedes (@Enteng_Itneg) March 20, 2016
Voting in the national elections is scheduled on May 9, 2016.

author: Karlo Mongaya


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Meet the Jamaican Entrepreneur Who Found a Way to Make ‘Going Green’ Fulfilling, Socially Responsible, and Even Profitable · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Jamaican “green” entrepreneur Jovan Evans demonstrates his invention on World Water Day. Photo courtesy Mr. Evans, used with permission.
On World Water Day (March 22) the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with the Jamaican Government, launched the Jamaica Green Economy Scoping Study in a garden setting at Kingston's Devon House. The study, covering five sectors (Agriculture, Construction, Energy, Tourism, and Water) was funded by the European Commission under its regional program on “Advancing Caribbean States’ Sustainable Development Through Green Economy”.
Jamaica is one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world, with 90 percent of its current energy needs dependent on imported petroleum. The country seems ripe for transition to a low carbon economy, but it's yet to be seen if the Jamaican private sector is ready to make that leap. Meanwhile, there is hope: innovators like Jovan Evans are paving the way and turning innovative eco-friendly ideas into products. Global Voices had the opportunity to speak with Evans to discuss his ideas, entrepreneurial spirit, and “going green” transition.
Global Voices (GV): Tell us a little about your background. How did your upbringing and education prepare you for entrepreneurship?
Jovan Evans (JE): In my younger years I would spend hours watching my grandfather, a retired engineer and farmer, build things — from bicycles to water pumping systems. He was one of those “Why buy when you can build” kind of men. Having people like that in your life reinforces the idea that man manipulates the environment and not the other way around. As a child, my favorite toys were Lego. Later, I abandoned it for a PC. Lego stimulates your imagination and confidence in your creative abilities. It is up there with reading books and playing musical instruments, in my view.
I went to Campion College, the best school in the Caribbean, where I met some really smart kids and excellent teachers. At the time, I think Campion was the only school where you had the option of building remote-controlled aeroplanes as an extracurricular activity through the Science Club. I guess that makes me a nerd! But apart from that, the standards of the school made mediocrity synonymous with failure. Having this in mind when developing products is an asset.
I graduated from the University of the West Indies with a B.Sc. in Computer Science and for ten years I worked in the IT sector. This was until January 2015, when I left the “nine-to-five” world to start my company, AquaFlow Products & Services Ltd. As an IT professional you are always solving problems, whether it's infrastructure acquisition and deployment or software implementation and development.
There are many things that contributed to my development as an entrepreneur, but the most notable to me are the skills I gained throughout the years working for and with others. Academia played a small role in my journey and I found training from entrepreneur-targeted workshops was more impactful. For example, expertise in procurement, graphics design, web-development and photography went a very long way. Believe it or not, I built software to manage the accounting and sales aspect of my business.
The “Pump-N-Spray”. Photo courtesy Jovan Evans, used with permission.
GV: What gave you the idea — and why did you see the need — for your Pump-N-Spray?
JE: Pump-N-Spray was born from frustration: the annoyance of bucket bathing every night because of water restrictions, a back-breaking chore I was introduced to on my grandfather’s farm decades prior. One day I forgot to catch my water, and that was the straw that “broke my back”. I originally sought to buy a solution but couldn’t find one, so this “camel” decided to build one. After six weeks I developed my first prototype. At that time, the pump-n-spray was just for myself. When the water situation was regularized I actually shelved it; but months later water restrictions were back and I was forced to use my Pump-N-Spray. It was then it dawned upon me that other persons were having the same challenge and that more than likely they would also be interested in my creation. Climate change indicates that water accessibility is not going to improve, so Pump-N-Spray was set to be a winner.
GV: Did you simply go it alone or did you have supporters and backers to get you started?
JE: I was alone in the product development process and financing for most of my journey; but I was fortunate to get into the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship and that helped a lot with the business development. I recall the last day of my job of nine years was also the day I was accepted as an official Branson Centre Entrepreneur. For those who are unfamiliar with it, the Branson Centre ignites businesses to operate in a sustainable and socially responsible way to improve livelihoods and transform the world.
GV: Tell us about your partnership with Flint, Michigan. How did this come about?
JE: Essita Duncan, a lawyer from Washington, DC, started this initiative. I met her by chance at a Branson Centre-organized “meet and greet” in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She was part of a small audience with whom I shared my entrepreneurial journey. Weeks later, she made contact with me and introduced me to the water crisis in Flint and a non-profit she was a part of, Servants without Borders. They had heard the stories and visited the communities in Flint and were moved by the state of their water situation. We knew the Pump-N-Spray would have a positive and significant impact on the families in Flint — particularly on the children. A crowdfunding campaign was started and it has been well supported.
GV: What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially in the area of “green” products?
JE: Take a triple bottom-line approach to business. People, Planet, Profit. No matter how “green” your product is, your operations have to be sustainable and/or profitable. Always try and make people’s lives better with whatever you do and always listen to your customers. Try and partner with other entrepreneurs or institutions where possible. Together, everyone achieves more. Sometimes your products are more relevant to communities or countries [that are] not your own. Make a habit of looking outside of your “box”.
GV: Do you see yourself as a businessman? Do you intend to expand your product range to include other eco-friendly devices?
JE: I see myself more as an inventor than a businessman, even though those closer to me tend to say the opposite. I have three other innovations to patent. My most recent idea involves the recycling of greywater.
Left: Daryl Vaz, Jamaica's Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation (responsible for the environment and climate change), beside Leo Heileman of UNEP's Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, receiving a copy of the EU-funded Green Economy Scoping Study for Jamaica. Photo courtesy Emma Lewis, used with permission.
GV: What are your thoughts on the possibilities for Jamaica as a “green economy”? How would you like to see it develop?
JE: I would say we are on our way. We have agencies keeping the private and public sectors “honest”, reducing environmental risks and increasing the public’s awareness on such issues. The government encourages sustainable development, as reflected in procurement procedures. However, there are also threats to the environment and livelihoods that do not seem to be priority items for the government. But it's hard to make a judgement based on the financial constraints that we face and our current obligations. I would like to see more Jamaicans volunteering in their communities in green projects; and a greater effort to be made to teach our children in schools about the environment, “green” solutions to everyday issues and the impact of our current way of life on the environment.
GV: In your opinion, are Jamaicans in general becoming more environmentally aware and more conscious of the impact of climate change?
JE: Yes we are, as we have in recent times felt its impact in our homes. I am specifically talking about the drought of 2015, which left many households without running water, made us think more about our food security and helped improve the conditions for certain virus-carrying mosquitos to breed.
Whether he's an inventor, a businessman, or both, Jovan Evans is certainly an example of the creativity and innovation badly needed to move forward Jamaica's “green economy”.

author: Emma Lewis


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Moscow Police Banned From Discussing Work Matters on Social Media · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Photo of Russian police officers, 2013, by Vitaly V. Kuzmin on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Police officers in the Russian capital are now officially banned from exchanging work-related information on social networks and messaging apps. Law enforcement officials insist all internal communications should be done over secure networks using protected in-house tools.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official news outlet of the Russian government, reports that any and all information connected to the professional activity of Moscow law enforcement is now barred from social networks like VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Additionally, personal messaging apps such as Telegram, Viber, WhatsApp and the video conferencing/ VoIP software Skype are also on the list of platforms where police can no longer discuss their work.
Personal communication on these platforms and apps, however, is still permissible for the city's police officers, according ot the report.
All work-related discussions and any documents or paperwork can now only be exchanged via the official Ministry of Interior email system that, according to the capital's police command, has “the highest levels” of security and data protection.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes that police officers often prefer commercial communication technology because it's more efficient, faster, and easier to use. One example is road police patrol officers, who tend to use social networks and their messaging functions rather then dedicated radio frequencies or secure connections to exchange current data on traffic accidents and other incidents.
В столичном полицейском главке подчеркнули, что полиция — не общественная организация, служебной информацией сотрудники должны обмениваться через закрытую сеть, которая определенным образом защищена. Когда они начинают слать служебные документы через бытовые соцсети, мессенджеры — это неправильно.
The capital's police directorate pointed out that the police force is not a civil society organization, and so its employees should exchange information within a closed network, one that is duly protected and secured. When they start sending work-related documents through ordinary social networks or messengers—that's just wrong.
In January 2016, a Russian lawmaker suggested all Russian citizens should be banned by law from using social networks and messengers in the workplace to ensure better work discipline, but did not provide clear mechanisms for regulating such restrictions, mandated for both state institutions and private companies. The bill did not meet with much enthusiasm, and its fate is currently unknown.
Russian state officials have been mulling various restrictions on messenger apps for quite some time. In June 2015, Alexandr Zharov, head of Russia's media watchdog Roscomnadzor, suggested Russia should develop its own national text messaging service instead of relying on foreign apps, as part of the country's import substitution strategy.
In November 2015, Russian lawmaker Alexandr Ageyev asked the Russian state security service (FSB) to consider blocking the Telegram messenger app because it was “being actively used by terrorists from the Islamic State (IS) to distribute extremist content” and had “ignored user complaints about such content.” In response, Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov spoke out in defence of Telegram and said the authorities shouldn't block apps, but instead should “identify and prosecute those who engage in illegal activity.”

author: Tanya Lokot


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‘There is No Shame in Fear’: Confronting Surveillance in Post-Revolution Egypt · Global Voices
Ramy Raoof

Demonstrators atop an army truck in Tahrir Square in Cairo, January 2011. Photo by Ramy Raoof via Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0)
A Spanish translation of this post was published on El País. It is reproduced here with permission.
It has been a long time since technology and the Internet became integral to the social change movement and political activism in Egypt. When this began, the new medium looked very promising and exciting – it also looked somehow exclusive. My generation started to explore and experiment and treat the Internet as a tool that could enable us to organize, come together, be creative in a different way, express our thoughts and discover our peers’ ideas at a deeper level. Nothing determined what was allowed or not allowed. No approvals were needed. My fellow technologists and I started to utilize coding and our passion for free and open source technology and methodologies to develop solutions that addressed different needs of political activists and parties, human rights groups, media practitioners and youth.
Many topics and stories were introduced courageously through cyberspace in the form of different media – texts, videos, and images – addressing subjects such as torture, military corruption, minorities issues, sexual violence, economic problems and of course democracy issues. It gave us hope and it made things look possible to achieve.
Back then it was different. There were no big-data machines or service providers digging into our data and online behaviors and there were no algorithms shaping what we read and when. Fewer users meant fewer variations in opinions and more potential for conversations, and we saw very little extreme polarization.
New generations and actors joined the social activism movement after January 25, 2011. More citizens began participating in public spaces and joining online platforms. Different voices became more present, leading to notable changes in the dynamics between people and how interactions take place with different content. The notion of organizing, mobilizing and expression developed within the society, opening new possibilities for exploration and critique.
It is not only the activism scene that has changed over the past couple of years. The military has also become more present in public life and a mix of military-police state has become very active and in-control. At the same time, the state has developed a stronger grip on investors and different media channels and newspapers. This was nothing new per se, but the state's monitoring of dominant public narratives and the mindset of the majority of Egyptians led to a practice of ignoring different narratives about what is happening here. Out of genuine fear, or in an effort to support the state, many Egyptians have turned a blind eye towards grave human rights violations, deterioration of the economy and the crushing of basic liberties.
The state managed to control the flow of information and news on different media streams – except the very few alternative online news and social platforms. And the situation is still the same: exposure of big news events, violations, corruptions, military and police abuses, medical scandals, they all begin one way or another online. And this keeps testing new boundaries and pushing the predefined red-lines, despite the intense political polarization and development of restrictive laws and unfair trials.
Graffiti art of surveillance camera. Published and labeled for reuse on Pixabay.
Alongside this, the security sector became increasingly interested in listening to and watching what we say and do, identifying what “others” think. And it became interested in mapping our social and professional lives and networks. The abilities of mass surveillance and targeted surveillance techniques grew over time. Relationships with multinational companies producing surveillance technologies sprang up. Agencies abused their already-absolute power and built relationships with mobile and Internet service providers in the country to access users’ data and excel in surveillance of communications that goes through national infrastructure. There is no due process in any of this, it is now enough if an officer “wants to” have this information. Purchases of invasive hacking and targeted-surveillance software started – and the amount of technical “infections” purchased by state-agencies to target individuals data grew from tens to hundreds.
Of course, this element of the equation is not unique to Egypt. The security and intelligence community in the country are using the same set of justifications used everywhere: “we are fighting extremism”; “we are in a war on terrorism”; “you have nothing to hide”; “we are using it only with bad people.” And of course they are fascinated by the surveillance capabilities used by top intelligence agencies like those within the Five Eyes.
The security and intelligence community in the country are using the same set of justifications used everywhere: “we are fighting extremism”; “we are in a war on terrorism”; “you have nothing to hide”; “we are using it only with bad people.”
In March 2011 when revolutionaries raided the state security service headquarters in Cairo – which is notorious for torture and surveillance – many people found their own files and transcripts of their communications. Since that time and up to the present day, public acknowledgment and realization of these surveillance practices has changed gradually. Unfortunately, it is now a common joke that we are all under surveillance. However, everyday communication and organizational norms didn't change for most people – I think part of this had to do with the revolutionary energy and sense of anger during that period.
Since 2011, state media have normalized the practice of social surveillance and watching each others’ actions while hawking hate speech towards anything different or “foreigner” has become acceptable. New restrictive regulations are constantly being imposed and the sense of surveillance is gradually growing in the background, affecting the activism community and those involved in public change and the media ecosystem.
It is now normal for individuals to think twice or more before deciding how to say something and when to say it and to calculate the consequences. Without realizing it, they are practicing what digital security researchers call threat-modeling, weighing the impact of their choices in public spheres as well as private ones.
The separation between professional and personal has also become very hard to navigate, as both are impacting each other. We go through a wide range of emotions when it comes to engagement with social change. Losing many friends who are either in prison or had to leave the country makes it harder to do this kind of work, and leaves you less-connected with your peers. Among those who are involved in the practice of informing others of facts about what is happening, it has become a common expectation to get summoned by the security or kidnapped or banned from travel or to have your office raided, or receive a “call” from someone politely threatening you.
I have been involved in helping many individuals and institutions over the past years, both in assessing their threats and risks, and in helping them integrate proper measures to maintain their privacy and security. This has opened my eyes to how the idea of a threat has changed deeply over time and our definition of what is a problem is expanding. It is also obvious that sometimes our ability to make a proper guess or estimation is weaker, as there is not enough logical input or variables to count on – the situation is very chaotic, always changing and often surprising.
There is nothing wrong in feeling fear and nothing to be ashamed of – we are human. And it takes time and effort to try to convert the sense of fear into positive energy to continue and insist.
It also has become obvious how fear and worry impact our ability to be creative and continue our work and plan in a proper manner. It is always a struggle between our beliefs, our driving forces, and the threats and fear we feel and experience each day. I keep reminding myself to put aside all my fears, so that I may focus and think and continue. There is nothing wrong in feeling fear and nothing to be ashamed of – we are human. And it takes time and effort to try to convert the sense of fear into positive energy to continue and insist. Oppression and restrictions in the long term push us to be more creative and do as much as possible, despite all the personal challenges we face.
In a dictatorship, as so many unjust things become normalized and accepted in our daily lives, the act of spreading information and informing others – however difficult – becomes an ever-more vital part of activism.
Ramy Raoof is a technologist, privacy and digital security consultant in Egypt. He tweets at @RamyRaoof.

author: Ramy Raoof


text:
Netizen Report: Ethiopia’s Zone9 Bloggers Go Back to Court · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Zone 9 bloggers Abel Wabela, Atnaf Berahane, Natnael Feleke and Befeqadu Hailu. Photo by Mahlet Fantahun, shared on Twitter.
Four members of the Zone9 blogging collective — Abel Wabela, Atnaf Berahane, Natnael Feleke and Befeqadu Hailu — appeared before the Supreme Court of Ethiopia on March 29, 2016 in the second instance of a case brought against them by the state. The bloggers, also Global Voices members, were originally arrested in April 2014, charged under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act, and imprisoned for 18 months, until their October 2015 acquittal. State authorities have now succeeded in appealing the case, and the bloggers, though no longer in prison, are now once again facing the possibility of a long-term prison sentence. This week’s court date was brief and ended with a postponement to May 25, 2016.
Before they were jailed, the Zone9ers worked to foster political debate and discussion in a country where most media outlets fall under heavy control by government authorities. They wanted to help fellow citizens better understand their rights, as guaranteed by the constitution. This was plain to see from the contents of their writings and the nature of their research. They were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act on the basis of accusations of “inciting public disorder via social media” and “receiving support from a foreign government.”
Between July 2014 and October 2015, the bloggers appeared before the court 39 times, only to be adjourned each time at the behest of the prosecution, which sought more time to investigate their case. They were never formally invited to testify before a jury.
Since their acquittal and release from prison, the bloggers have reunited with their families, but have been largely unable to reintegrate themselves back into society. Their passports have been confiscated by authorities, making it impossible for them to leave the country, and their controversial political status has made it difficult for them to find work.
In an interview with Voice of America, blogger Atnaf Berahane said:
After my release I basically do nothing, because I know that every move I make will be traced. I am afraid that I may go to prison….the appeal is like a chain to me right now. I am preparing myself for prison.
Twenty people have been arrested and a Communist Party news site shuttered following the publication of a letter calling for the resignation of Chinese President Xi Jinping. New York-based activist Wen Yunchao tweeted out fears that authorities were holding his family captive over the publication of the letter on the news site Watching. Wen denies his involvement in the publication, noting he was pressured by authorities to make a confession. The dissident Chang Ping said his brothers were abducted by the authorities as well and that he has received similar pressure from the government. The letter criticizes Xi’s policies, arguing they have led to an “excessive” concentration of power in the stock and property markets. It appeared on the site for only a few hours. Watching has not published any original news since March 15, and staff members of the site have been asked to hand in their resignations.
A new center intended to monitor and prevent “information attacks” will soon launch in Russia. In an interview with Vedemosti news outlet, co-founder and media mogul Igor Ashmanov defined information attacks as “propaganda campaigns, disinformation, fakes, and viral content.” Natalia Kasperskaya, co-founder of anti-virus giant Kaspersky Labs is the center’s other co-founder. Local media coverage of their plans suggests that a prime target for the center will be Russian social networks and blogosphere, where political debates and metaphorical “mud flinging” are the most active. It remains unclear how the center will interact with state cybercrime legislation and prevention efforts.
The trial of seven Moroccan journalists and human rights defenders was postponed once again by a Rabat court. Five of those charged have been accused of “threatening the internal security of the State”, while two others face charges of “receiving foreign funding without notifying the General Secretariat of the government”. All had worked to hold the Moroccan government accountable for its human rights obligations. Among those charged is Hisham Almiraat, a medical doctor and leading voice in Morocco’s blogosphere, who is a long-time member of the Global Voices community. The trial, expected to begin this week, was postponed to June 29th. Supporters may follow the #Justice4Morocco hashtag on Twitter for updates.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation successfully unlocked an iPhone belonging to the prime suspect in a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, with the help of an unnamed technologist. The FBI had asked Apple to disable certain security protections on the phone, but Apple refused, reasoning that this would jeopardize the security of its technologies. Although a court had ruled in Apple’s favor, this decision now feels somewhat unstable, as the FBI could now theoretically use this method to unlock iPhones in future investigations, without needing Apple’s assistance.
In an op-ed for the The Washington Post, technologist and encryption expert Bruce Schneier explains how the FBI’s actions cut against strongly-observed norms in the technical security community, under which experts share knowledge of technical security vulnerabilities so that they may be fixed as quickly and efficiently as possible. The FBI, he says, is doing exactly the opposite:
[The FBI] has been given whatever vulnerability it used to get into the San Bernardino phone in secret, and it is keeping it secret. All of our iPhones remain vulnerable to this exploit. This includes the iPhones used by elected officials and federal workers and the phones used by people who protect our nation’s critical infrastructure and carry out other law enforcement duties, including lots of FBI agents.
This is the trade-off we have to consider: Do we prioritize security over surveillance, or do we sacrifice security for surveillance?
Schneier urges the FBI to immediately disclose the vulnerability to Apple, so that it may be fixed. He argues that in the long run, leaving such problems unsolved will do more damage to public security.
The Internet Archive proposed a change to US copyright law that would render content accessible until it was proven to be protected under copyright, and striking a parallel with the principle in US law that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty. The change would allow content to remain online while disputes over who owns the rights to the content are settled. The US Copyright Office launched a public consultation late last year to assess the burdens of the current takedown process on copyright owners, online service providers, and the general public. The Archive also expressed concerns about proposals for a “notice and staydown” system that would prevent content taken down once from ever appearing again.
European Union lawmakers may revive the possibility of charging news aggregators like Google News under an ancillary copyright regime, also known as the “Google tax”. Publishers successfully passed similar laws in Germany and Spain, and German head of digital economy policy at the European Commission Gunther Oettinger is considering introducing the policy at the EU level. His department began a consultation that will run through June 15 asking whether earlier attempts at ancillary copyright had “any impact” on consumers, authors, publishers and web firms, according to Fortune.

author: Netizen Report Team


text:
Russia Gets Its Very First Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
The Church of the Merciful Savior has stood in Nizhny Novgorod for more than a century. It was built to honor Tsar Alexander III’s miraculous survival in the 1888 Borski train derailment, when the tsar is said to have held a collapsed roof on his shoulders, while his family escaped the wreckage. The disaster fueled a propaganda campaign arguing that Russia’s leader had been spared by divine intervention.
Last week, the church got a new neighbor, located just around the corner: Russia’s very first Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Nizhny Novgorod’s “Pastafarians” (as adherents are known) held a press conference on March 25 to announce the opening of their church, which will host public gatherings every Friday. (You can see lots of photographs of the event here.)
“We can say with absolute certainty that this is the first Flying Spaghetti Monster church in Russia. Maybe it’s the first one in the world, but that’s not something we can confirm. Usually, Pastafarians meet up on social networks, not having a special place [to gather in person],” said Dmitry Znamensky, one of the church’s leading members.
“Religious” artwork decorating Nizhny Novgorod's newest church. Image: Petr Kuznetsov / YouTube
The church’s founder in Nizhny Novgorod, Mikhail Iosilevich, promised reporters that Pastafarians aren’t out to “troll” Russia’s traditional religions, insisting that his church is only looking for equal treatment and a little space of its own. His group was ready to defend its ground on opening day, too, hiring security guards to police the ceremony. Organizers said they didn’t expect any violent backlash from the city’s more traditional religious groups (singling out Orthodox Christians), but they did express concerns about the new spring season “activating” people with “various mental illnesses.”
A couple of weeks before the church formally opened, Iosilevich and some of his flock held a party on the premises, inviting a local women’s club and Nizhny Novgorod’s “Club of Liberal Tasters,” whose motto is “Freedom! Equality! Insobriety!” The party attracted about two dozen people, who lounged in IKEA furniture, drinking beer and kvass, eating crepes (“The Flying Spaghetti Monster is offended,” one woman cooking over a hot plate joked), and reading poetry.
The Pastafarian Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Women's Club of Nizhny Novgorod, and the Club of Liberal Tasters holds a joint party marking the completion of the main work on designing the church premises.
At one point in the evening, Iosilevich stood up and explained what Pastafarianism means to him. (Apparently, he’s made the Flying Spaghetti Monster so much his own that he nearly forgot the name of the American who created the movement.) With a beer in hand, smiling as his audience listened and teased, Iosilevich said that pasta monsters, colander headgear, and a healthy serving of satire offers him, as a nonreligious person, the means to push back against Russia’s criminalization of blasphemy:
“There are different religions, and they’re all equal among each other [according to Russian law]. Everyone has the right to believe what he wants. On top of that, there is a law defending the sentiments of religious people—‘believers.’ Laws like this exist in many countries, including Russia. […] No country in the world, as far as we know, has a law defending the sentiments of nonbelievers. Everybody knows that nonbelievers don’t have any feelings, so offending them is impossible. And so there are cases all over the world where believers are protected by the law, and nonbelievers are always in the wrong. […] If nonbelievers are left defenseless, then it becomes necessary to invent their own religion, in order to level the field.”
Russia’s law prohibiting public insults to the feelings of religious people was first introduced on July 1, 2013. Anyone convicted under this law can go to prison for up to a year. Lawmakers developed the legislation in the aftermath of the Pussy Riot trial. So far, courts have convicted just one person under the law: a young man in Izhevsk, who posted a picture online that upset Muslim groups. (He was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.)
Earlier this year, a man in Stavropol named Viktor Krasnov went on trial for offending Christians by writing “There is no God” in an online forum. Before his trial began, a judge forced him to spend an entire month incarcerated at a psychiatric clinic, where doctors evaluated his sanity. Krasnov, who’s also made several anti-Jewish comments online, refuses to apologize for denying God's existence. He faces a year in prison, if found guilty.
In January 2016, Andrei Filin became the first Pastafarian in Russia to get his driver’s license photo taken with a colander on his head. The headgear, considered a mandatory attribute by the Pastafarianism community, was made out of yarn, not metal, and was knitted by Filin’s wife.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Still No Justice 10 Years After Bolivian Migrants Die in a Sweatshop Fire in Argentina · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Front of the garment factory located on Luis Viale Street in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Picture used by permission from the #JuicioLuisViale Facebook Page.
Approximately 3,000 “clandestine” garment factories operate in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to the local non-governmental organization La Alameda. These illegal workshops are often set in residential communities, their facade barely providing any hint of the work being done behind closed doors. The conditions inside are often described as “slave-like” — workers, many of whom hail from neighboring countries such as Bolivia, are prohibited from leaving the factory where they work and live with their families. Since many workers are undocumented, they are always fearful of deportation and unable to protest the low wages, long hours, and poor treatment. These factories continue to operate because of its profitability for the brand owners and because of the ring of corruption involving inspectors, police, and other officials who turn a blind eye to the infractions.
Luis Viale Trial Campaign logo. “Luis Viale – 10 Years Without Justice – We Do Not Forget”
On March 30, 2006, a fire broke out in one of these sweatshops, located on Luis Viale Street in the neighborhood of Caballito. The blaze killed five children and one pregnant woman, all of whom were Bolivian immigrants. Faulty electrical wiring was to blame. There was only one exit through a stairway at the upstairs living quarters. Survivors said that the windows had iron bars on the outside and that it took firefighters nearly 45 minutes to arrive to the site of the fire. When the “rescuers” finally got there, the truck had no water. The fire went out on its own.
Ten years later, no one has been held accountable, and critics point to severe flaws in the Argentine justice system for the lack of redress. However, that may change — a trial to determine responsibility is due to begin on April 18, 2016.
According to survivors, the factory was located on the ground floor and the residents lived on the floor above in the apartment quarters. At the time of the fire, 64 people, including 38 children, had been living at the factory.
Había un solo baño en funcionamiento, y no había agua caliente. Los sobrevivientes cuentan en sus declaraciones que a veces hacían cola hasta las 3am para ducharse, y que debían calentar agua en ollas para duchar a sus hijos. Las “habitaciones” estaban separadas por telas y tabiques de madera, y tenían aproximadamente 3 x 2,5 mts. En muchos casos se compartían colchones entre hermanos y entre tíos y sobrinos. […] En general se trabajaba 14 horas por día de lunes a viernes, y 5/6 horas el sábado.
Only one bathroom worked and there was no hot water. The survivors reported that sometimes they needed to get in line at 3 am to take a shower, and they had to heat water in pots to bathe their children. The “bedrooms” measuring 3 x 2.5 meters were separated by sheets and wooden partitions. In many cases mattresses were shared among brothers, uncles, and nephews. […] Generally they worked 14 hours per day from Monday to Friday, and 5-6 hours on Saturday.
Community groups such as Simbiosis Cultural – primarily comprised of Bolivian youth who work or have worked in similar garment factories in the Greater Buenos Aires area — have tried to keep the tragedy in the public eye over the past 10 years.
In a series of audio podcasts, they offer background on the factory and interviews with survivors, who recount the events of the tragedy. They also document reactions after the fire and the subsequent marches, and reflect on how nothing has changed since that tragic day a decade ago. “Keeping the memory of the tragedy is a tool to fight for the future. We do not forget,” the podcast explains.
The group have also taken their protest to the site of the fire to raise awareness through interviews with witnesses, and to honor the victims.
In 2011, the situation caught the attention of then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now known as Pope Francis), who celebrated a Mass at the headquarters of La Alameda to denounce the practice of these clandestine garment factories and the corruption that enables this practice. He was reported to have said at the time:
Una vez dije que lo que nos enseñaban en el colegio, que la Asamblea del año XIII había abolido la esclavitud, eran cuentos chinos . En esta Buenos Aires tan vanidosa, tan orgullosa, sigue habiendo esclavos,sigue habiendo esclavitud . Todo se arregla en una Buenos Aires que es coimera, es coimera de alma , y el recurso a la coima tapa todo.
I once said that they taught us in school that slavery had been abolished during the Assembly of the Year XIII, but that was false. In this Buenos Aires, so conceited, so prideful, there still are slaves, there still is slavery. Everything can be arranged by bribery, it is bribery of the soul, and bribery covers everything up.
Ahead of the trial, families and activists fighting for the rights of garment factories workers organized an online campaign simply titled #JuicioLuisViale (Luis Viale Trial) to inform the public about the case. Their outlets include a website, a Facebook Page, a Twitter account (@JuicioLuisViale) and a YouTube channel. A protest is also planned for March 30, the 10th anniversary of the fire.
On the Juicio Luis Viale website, the campaign explains why they use “clandestine garment factories”, even though they consider the term problematic:
Más allá del amplio uso mediático del concepto de “talleres clandestinos”, su utilización resulta problemática, dado que la carga peyorativa recae en el taller, es decir, en el tallerista, desvinculando de este modo a los “fabricantes” o marcas de toda responsabilidad. Además, tal denominación engloba a todo el universo de talleres de costura – hacia cuyo interior hay un gran abanico de realidades – bajo la situación de trata de personas, trabajo forzoso y demás violaciones a los derechos laborales y humanos de los/las trabajadores/as. Los talleristas que trabajan en esas condiciones no están – en absoluto – exentos de responsabilidad, y de hecho algunos de ellos están lejos de ser pequeños emprendedores. No obstante, la estigmatización peyorativa de todos los talleristas (englobados bajo el mote de clandestinos) facilita una vez más el trabajo de desligar a las marcas del problema […] En la Campaña decidimos usar “talleres clandestinos” por la simple razón de que facilita la difusión del problema, al arrojar mejores resultados en las búsquedas de información en internet.
Though the media has extensively called them “clandestine factories,” its use is problematic, since the pejorative sense of the word falls on the factory, or in other words, on the factory worker, freeing the “manufacturer” or the brands of all responsibility. In addition, such a designation encompasses the entire universe of garment factories — where internally there are a wide range of realities — including situations of human trafficking, forced labor, and other violations of labor and human rights. The factory workers who labor in these conditions are not at all free of responsibility, and in fact some of them are far from being small entrepreneurs. However, the pejorative stigmatization of all factory workers (including those under the moniker of “clandestine”) helps detach the brands from the problem.
[…] In this campaign, we decided to use the term “clandestine garment factories” for the simple reason that it helps to spread word about the problem by obtaining better results in the Internet searches.
Survivors and those fed up with the exploitative nature of these factories are eagerly anticipating the trial with the hope that it can bring justice for the six victims who perished 10 years ago.

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
With an Eye on China, Tibetans Vote for Their Government in Exile · Global Voices
Vishal Yashoda Manve

Dalai Lama. Image from Flickr by Giandomenico Ricci. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
The issue of Tibet's sovereignty and independence has been a long-drawn affair since China sent troops to occupy the Himalayan region in the early 1950s. Tibet's government, known as the Central Tibetan Administration, operates in exile; it was established in India by the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibetans, after he was forced to flee in 1959.
Members of the Tibetan community around the world came forward to choose a head of government and members of their 16th Tibetan Parliament on 20 March 2016. The elections were spread across 30 countries and followed a preliminary round that was held in October 2015 (with 53% voter turnout). Results will be declared on 24 April.
Voters have turned out in large numbers for voting today in Dharamsala. #Sikyong2016 #Tibet pic.twitter.com/mXJep4mvXR
— CanadaTibetCommittee (@CanadaTibet) March 20, 2016
The government chosen by the vote will govern a large community of Tibetans spread across several countries, including Nepal, India, Bhutan, Canada and US, from its headquarters in McLeod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh in northern India.
They were the second elections since the Dalai Lama relinquished his political authority over the community to make way for a democratic system in 2011.
The current Dalai Lama (part of the lineage of spiritual leaders of the Tibetan people dating back to the 14th century) has been championing the cause of democracy for his people since he fled to India in 1959 after China claimed Tibet and began a campaign to repress its religion and culture.
Those standing for elections included the current sikyong (as the prime minister is called), Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-educated legal scholar, and Penpa Tsering, speaker of the Tibetan parliament.
The Tibetan parliament has 45 seats in total. Each of the three regions of Tibet, Tsang, Kham and Amdo have 10 seats each, while the five Tibetan Buddhist schools have two seats each.
Tibetans in Europe and North America have two seats, while Tibetans in Australia and the rest of Asia have one seat collectively.
To be eligible to vote, Tibetans must be above 25 years of age and possess a Green Book (a document issued by the Tibetan government in exile). This book contains proof of identity as well as taxation details maintained by the election commission.
Twitter user Tenzin showed off his Green Book:
I voted for Tibet.. I think china should learn from to adopt democracy in China and TAR #Tibetelection pic.twitter.com/cmd75cSGQ7
— tenzin tashi (@ten_tash22) March 21, 2016
Although love of homeland united Tibetans in exile at the ballot box, the race to the polls wasn't completely free of political bickering. Candidates attacked each other over ‘drinking habits’ and ‘narcissistic behaviour’ and harped on petty and trivial issues while on the campaign trail leading up to the elections. Lobsang Sangay, who is running for re-election, was condemned for having his portrait displayed in his Washington office, while the drinking habits of his opponent, Penpa Tsering, the speaker of the exiled parliament, were in question.
Lukar Jam Atsok, 44, a writer who was imprisoned in China before escaping into India a couple of years ago, ran in the preliminary contest for political leadership. His main argument was based on the premise that the Dalai Lama could be considered a traitor for having given up the battle for full independence for Tibet in his negotiations with the Chinese government. The Dalai Lama advocates a “Middle Way Approach” that would see Tibet governed by China, but with a large amount of autonomy, not unlike the system of governance in place in Hong Kong or Macau.
Observers from several countries were brought in to make sure that the elections were held in a fair manner. The Beijing government wasn't happy that other countries lent Tibetans a helping hand in the voting process.
#China asks nations to deny ‘stage’ to exile Tibetans ahead of their general election https://t.co/YdjIPmGPdW #Tibet pic.twitter.com/Zvhhy1OuRY
— TibetanReview (@TibetanReview) March 19, 2016
Nearly 6 million Tibetans live in China, which considers the area of Tibet an autonomous region. The country's authorities say the region has historically been Chinese territory and thus its incorporation of Tibet is justified. Tibetans dispute this, saying they were an independent country before Chinese troops marched in six decades ago.
Beijing has been accused of subjecting Tibetans to arbitrary detention, unfair trial, repression of religious freedom and freedom of expression and a host of other human rights abuses. The majority of efforts to draw China into a dialogue to find a solution have by most accounts stalled or failed, as pointed by numerous political scientists.
A few weeks before Tibet's exercise in democracy, a 16-year-old killed himself by setting himself on fire in Dehradun, India. This was a stark reminder of the deep frustration within the exiled community over the lack of progress in winning any measure of freedom for their homeland.
At least 144 Tibetans have killed themselves in this way during the past 20 years, according to International Campaign for Tibet.
Gelek Bhotay, a Nepali-Canadian, warned against glorifying self-immolation and called for reflection:
Calling a self-immolation a “sacrifice” is poetic and uplifting, but in a way, it is selfish. It displaces a person from her individuality and lived experience. It frames her life based on how it affected us. Our insistence on looking at it solely through the lens of China and Tibet takes her away from her humanity. When we talk about her “sacrifice” (to what, for whom?), we’re really only talking about ourselves.
Calling Dorje Tsering’s self-immolation a suicide may sound crass, clinical and, perhaps, at odds with what the self-immolator intended it to be. But it was a suicide. It was a culmination of many different trajectories, missed opportunities, obstacles, and yearnings. And we are all complicit in it. Through our actions—significant or small, intentionally or unintentionally, knowingly or unknowingly—we failed him.
[…] Whether in exile or inside Tibet, we cannot simply light lamps, confine the self-immolators to the altars of martyrdom, and leave it at that.

author: Vishal Yashoda Manve


text:
Suspected of Buying Votes, Peru’s Presidential Frontrunner Gets to Stay in the Race · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Keiko Fujimori Higuchi. Photo: Flickr / Néstor Soto Maldonado / CC 2.0.
The original version of this text was published on the blog Globalizado by Juan Arellano.
Finally, during the wee hours of March 24, 2016, the Special Electorate Jury (JEE) of Downtown Lima announced its decision not to exclude from Peru's presidential election Keiko Fujimori, the frontrunner and daughter of controversial former president Alberto Fujimori. The court found a lack of evidence to demonstrate that she failed to comply with a paragraph in Peru's law of political organizations that prohibits giving or promising gifts, donations, or money.
Citizens Ermes Lerzundi Silvera and Inés Consuelo Perdomo Pacaya, former political militants, presented the petition for exclusion on February 2016, claiming that Keiko Fujimori had given money during a rally organized by the youth group called Factor K, which is connected to Fujimori's Popular Force party. Protests against her candidacy broke out when the country's news media caught wind of the petition.
The JEE ruled that she did not hand out “money in a direct or indirect manner,” pointing out that “the event was always considered a union gathering, not a rally.”
La Mula's website analyzed in greater depth the basis for the JEE's decision, arguing that the court failed to take into account the presented evidence:
La resolución fija un criterio nuevo para exclusión que el artículo 42 de la ley de organizaciones políticas no precisa, al señalar que para aplicar la sanción se debe acreditar que el dinero que se pretende entregar provenga del patrimonio del candidato y además que sea entregado a un tercero quien actuará como intermediario para la remisión al destinatario final. Por tanto, el fallo en el caso de Keiko Fujimori señala que, “dada la rigurosidad de la sanción, no se configura la tipicidad de la entrega de dinero a través de un tercero”.
The agreement establishes a new criteria for the exclusion, that the article 42 of the law of political organizations does not determine, when pointing out that to apply the sanction it must be proved that the money planned to be handed out comes from the candidate's patrimony, and also must be given to a third party who will act as an intermediary for the final destinatary remission. Therefore, the sentence in Keiko Fujimori's case says that “given the grueling of the sanction, it could not be concluded the gift of money through a third party.”
Reflecting on the decision, Santiago Pedraglio, a columnist for the news site Perú21, says the court's earlier actions against other candidates in the race makes its decision regarding Keiko Fujimori especially awkward:
El Jurado Nacional de Elecciones y el Jurado Electoral Especial de Lima Centro (JEE) se hicieron un jaque mate al excluir a Acuña y sobre todo a Guzmán –este último, de manera arbitraria–. Por un lado, sacar a Keiko Fujimori equivale a poner a más de 50% de la intención de voto –sumadas las de KF, Guzmán y Acuña– fuera de juego, con lo que se instalaría un clima de ilegitimidad; y por otro, no sacarla es sinónimo de voluntad de fraude para buena parte del electorado, además de deslegitimar al Jurado por falta de coherencia.
The National Elections Jury and the Special Electorate Jury of Downtown Lima checkmated themselves when they excluded Acuña and most importantly Guzman (the latter in an arbitrary fashion). On the one hand, kicking out Keiko Fujimori means leaving out of the game more than 50 percent of the voters’ intention (considering Keiko Fujimori, Guzman, and Acuña's [supporters]) which would create a sense of illegitimacy. On the other hand, not excluding her is equivalent to committing fraud for a good part of the voters, in addition to making the jury less credible due to a lack of coherence.
Responding to the news that they'll get to vote for their candidate, after all, Keiko supporters took to mocking rivals online:
@RPPNoticias sufran rojos, sufran #KeikoSiVa
— Alonso (@rodoalons) March 24, 2016
Suffer reds, suffer. Keiko is running.
@JBCPERU @claudiacisneros @VeroLinaresC Rojos y Caviares, Senderistas y Nacionalistas, Corruptos y Activistas Tiemblan porque #KeikoSiVa
— Ricky A Núñez (@Rickyshoww) March 24, 2016
Reds and Caviars, Senderistas and Nationalists, Corrupts and Activists, tremble because Keiko is running.
Keiko's critics said they felt deceived:
La ley es la ley decían. Si, claro, Keiko sigue en carrera. Ella no se apellida Acuña ni Guzmán. Este proceso hiede.
— Rolly Valdivia Ch. (@ExplorandoPeru) March 24, 2016
The law is the law they said. Yes, of course, Keiko is still running for president. Her surname is neither Acuña nor Guzman. This process stinks.
Así, autoridad electoral convalida que partidos tengan grupos de fachada para que hagan lo que la ley impide. Fatal https://t.co/XhDGEZuzQF
— Juan Alvarez Morales (@juanalvarezm) March 24, 2016
In this way, the electoral authority makes it okay for political parties to have facade groups so they can do what the law forbids. Terrible
Writer Gustavo Faveron was especially pessimistic in a Facebook post, saying he believes fraud will be committed:
Como en los viejos tiempos, la resolución fue hecha pública pasada la medianoche, para evitar las protestas inmediatas, coger de sorpresa a los diarios y eludir los noticiarios de radio y televisión (como si tuvieran que hacerlo). De paso, han esperado a que falten pocas horas para un partido de la selección, para tapar esta aberración jurídica con un poco de circo. Este es el fraude del que estábamos hablando, este es el fujimorismo de siempre, el que tiene licencia para engañar y violar la ley y manipular cualquier norma con la anuencia vergonzosa de los leguleyos apristas y fujimoristas que ambas mafias se han encargado de poner en el JNE. Esta medianoche es el principio real de la segunda dictadura fujimorista.
Just like in the old times, the sentence was made public after midnight to avoid immediate protests, to take the newspapers by surprise, and to avoid the radio and television news shows (as if they had to do it). Also, they waited until a few hours before national soccer team's game, to hide this judicial aberration under a little bit of circus. This is the fraud we were talking about—this is the fujimorismo of always: the one that has permission to deceive and break the law and manipulate any rule with the shameful approval of the bluffing apristas and fujimoristas lawmakers, since both mafias have placed themselves at the JNE. This midnight is the real beginning of the second Fujimori dictatorship.
But things did not end there. The JEE also ruled in favor of Kenji Fujimori, Keiko's brother and a candidate in Peru's congressional race. He was also facing exclusion from the elections, following allegations (not dismissed) that he made a donation.
Javier Prado, a well-known communicator and cartoonist, showed how he felt about the JEE.
El Vía Crucis ha empezado. #FRAUDE pic.twitter.com/XEDyTGN8O6
— Javier PradoB (@Javierpradob) March 24, 2016
The Via Crucis has begun.
*On the image: Guys, Peru is served. Fraud.
Early in the morning on March 24, a rally against the JEE's decision assembled.
HOY AL MEDIODÍA ► Plantón ¡KEIKO No Va Frente al Jurado Nacional de Elecciones! Evento: https://t.co/KH8DW3PDBb pic.twitter.com/mcxgPcSERh
— COLECTIVO DIGNIDAD (@COLECTIVODIGNID) March 24, 2016
A sit-in today at noon in front of the National Elections Jury. Keiko is a no go.
*On the image: Today, sit-in. Keiko is a no go. A call to defend democracy.
A few hundred young people congregated at the San Martin Plaza and in front of the National Elections Jury with signs protesting the decision. People came to express their disapproval for JEE´s decision and stressed the view that the Jury is not treating all candidates equally.
Los medios de Komunicación acaban de invisiblizarnos ATV y otros. Pero aquí la verdad, sigue llegando más… https://t.co/jGiIPDWOb4
— No a Keiko Fujimori (@noakeiko) March 24, 2016
The media had ignored ATV and others. But here is the truth, more are coming in
The hashtag “#Fraud” trended locally on Twitter for several hours.
#Fraude se vuelve tendencia: Estas son las imágenes contra fallo del JEE y #KeikoFujimori https://t.co/hWiQiYUHq5 pic.twitter.com/zRT2fnyU0Z
— Diario Correo (@diariocorreo) March 24, 2016
Fraud is trending. These are the images against JEE and Keiko's sentence
*On the image: You seriously thought the JEE was going to exclude me? Naive!
An appeal against JEE's decision was presented at the National Elections Jury on March 25, 2016
On April 5, a national protest against Keiko Fujimori is planned. Peru's elections are scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 10, 2016.

author: Juan Arellano


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Thailand Stops Journalist From Attending World Press Freedom Day in Finland · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Pravit Rojanaphruk holding a copy of the draft constitution that some critics believe will reinforce military rule in Thailand. Pravit is seen flashing the three-finger sign, which is also a symbol of protest used by pro-democracy forces in Thailand. Photo: Pravit Rojanaphruk / Facebook
Thai military authorities have rejected a veteran journalist's application to attend a conference in Finland on May 3 for World Press Freedom Day.
Pravit Rojanaphruk, a correspondent for Khaosod English News and a known critic of the junta, posted several updates on social media about his failure to get a permission from the government to leave the country. He was supposed to go to Helsinki, in order to join other journalists in a global event organized by UNESCO.
Since the May 2014 coup, Pravit has consistently criticized Thailand's military dictatorship. He was twice summoned and detained by the army for a few days to undergo “attitude-adjustment” in a military camp, but he's continued his critical reporting about the state's activities. No charges were filed against him, but he was “advised” to stop spreading “confusing” information about the government. He was also told that he cannot leave the country without the approval of the state.
The army grabbed power in 2014, drafted an interim constitution, and vowed to restore civilian rule after reforms are implemented in the country. Two years later, the army is still in control, media is strictly regulated, and public protests are banned. Pravit is one of the few public voices still criticizing the dictatorial character of the military-backed government.
Below are Pravit’s Twitter posts about the authorities’ decision to deny his application for foreign travel:
Invitation letter 4 World Press Freedom Day conference in Helsinki organized by UNESCO & denied by junta. #Thailand pic.twitter.com/3l1KH3lvad
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) March 31, 2016
Junta rep. just rang me saying they won't allow me 2 go to Finland per Finland's govt invitation 2 mark Press Freedom Day in May. #Thailand
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) March 30, 2016
When junta rep. rang me to deliver bad news, he said my trip to Helsinki “has to be postponed”. I asked if it means it's no go. #Thailand
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) March 30, 2016
BBC Thai news asked junta y forbid me from traveling 2 #Finland 2attend World Press Freedom event. Junta rep says can't give info #Thailand
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) March 30, 2016
If junta thinks forbidding me to travel abroad would silence me then they're mistaken. Will continue 2 scrutinize&criticize them. #Thailand
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) March 30, 2016
Kirsti Westphalen, Finland's ambassador to Thailand, says he “regrets” the decision of the Thai government:
The Embassy of #Finland regrets #Thailand government decision to forbid @PravitR to travel to Helsinki to attend World Press Freedom Day.
— Kirsti Westphalen (@Kwestphalen20) March 30, 2016

author: Mong Palatino


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This Russian Website Uses Neural Networks to Combine Images, With Awesome Results · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

A sci-fi UFO landscape, styled after Van Gogh? Why not. Image from ostagram.ru.
Ever felt like adding some Van Gogh-style swirls to your photos? Now you can. A Russian project called Ostagram allows Internet users to combine photos and works of art to create fantastical images that wouldn't be out of place in the world of Alice in Wonderland or in a sci-fi space opera.
Image from ostagram.ru.
The Ostagram project, created by user Sergey Morugin, is a web service that uses a computer algorithm to combine the content of one image with the style of another image using convolutional neural networks. This means you can get a photo of your dog to look like a Monet painting, if you pick the dog pic as the source for content, and the Monet artwork as a source for style.
Researchers from Google, who have been experimenting with artificial neural networks and image recognition, call this combination technique Inceptionism, inspired by the deep neural net architecture and the “We need to go deeper” meme from the movie Inception, itself a speculation on the relationship between dreams and reality.
Morugin has made the code for his Ostagram web algorithm available to everyone on GitHub and says his combination of neural network processing and an art styling algorithm is based on work by other coders, including Leon Gatys, Alexander Ecker, and Matthias Bethge.
Check out some of the awesome Inceptionist images generated by Ostagram users below, or better yet, register on the website and create your own.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.
Image from ostagram.ru.


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What’s Happening in South African Politics? Just Follow the Hashtag · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Students opposed tuition hikes arguing that poor youths living in slums like Joe Slovo shack settlement will not afford higher education in South Africa. Image source: http://tokolosstencils.tumblr.com/. Used with permission
South African citizens on Twitter are increasingly using 140 characters to facilitate political debates. Hashtags specifically have become one of the most popular ways of organising protests, building movements and expressing anger over political decisions in the country.
Here are some of the more popular hashtags in South African politics today.
The South African government announced in 2015 that it planned to increase university tuition fees in 2016 by as much as 12 percent. Students argued that the increase will keep poor, mostly black South Africans from higher education.
Students, parents, politicians, and celebrities used the hashtag #FeesMustFall to voice their anger and disapproval of the hikes. It was one of top hashtags for 2015 in South African news.
Following #FeesMustFall nationwide protests that brought South African universities to a standstill, the South African government announced that there would be no fee hike. Students and their supporters celebrated their victory with the hashtag #FeesHaveFallen.
Apart from #FeesMustFall, students opposing tuition increases used the hashtag #NationalShutdown. The hashtag was used to call for the temporary closure of universities in the country. The hashtag became number eight on the list of worldwide trends at the time.
The #ZumaMustFall hashtag came as a result of President Jacob Zuma’s sacking of finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. He replaced Nene with David van Rooyen, but public pressure online and offline forced him to replace Rooyen with the current Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
Last year, a report by South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that President Jacob Zuma unduly benefited from security upgrades to his Nkandla homestead, which cost tax payers about 250 million rands, or US$25 million. The public protector subsequently asked Zuma to repay part of the money back to the state. She instructed the president and the treasury to work together to arrive at a figure.
#PayBackTheMoney and #WeWantTheMoney are the key hashtags used by those putting pressure on President Zuma to pay back the money. In February 2016, President Zuma said that he will pay back the money but he was waiting “for parliamentary processes to decide on how to act.”
Rhodes Must Fall is a protest movement that began on 9 March 2015 with the aim of getting the Cecil Rhodes statue at the University of Cape Town removed. As a result of #RhodesMustFall, the statue was taken down on 9 April 2015.
Cecil John Rhodes was a British businessman and politician in South Africa. A strong believer in British imperialism, his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895.
His statue, therefore, was considered to be a symbol of imperialism and colonialism.
A debate, using the hashtag #AfrikaansMustFall, is going on in South Africa about the use of the language Afrikaans as a medium of instructions in universities.
In the past few weeks, protests have erupted over the issue particularly at the University of Pretoria. Protesters argue that the use of Afrikaans marginalises students who do not speak it. Afrikaans, a West Germanic language mostly spoken in South Africa and Namibia, is the third largest language in South Africa after Zulu and Xhosa. There are 11 official languages in South Africa.
President Jacob Zuma is accused of allowing members of the wealthy Indian-born Gupta family to make decisions on state matters including offering select individuals cabinet positions. #GuptaGate is one of the biggest scandals in Zuma's presidency.
According to News24, Guptagate began in April 2013 when a commercial plane carrying visitors of the Gupta family landed at a military airfield, Waterkloof Air Force Base, in breach of state security.
South Africa's deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas revealed this month that Gupta family had offered him the position of minister of finance but that he had rejected it.
Former National African Congress Member of Parliament Vytjie Mentor has also claimed that the family offered her a ministerial position but she turned it down.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Documentary Film About Brazil’s First Female Black Deputy Seeks Crowdfunding · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

Image from the documentary Antonieta (2015). Photo: Reproduction with authorization of Magnólia Produções.
Forty-six years after the abolition of slavery, the teacher and journalist Antonieta de Barros became Brazil’s first black parliamentarian to be elected state deputy in 1934 in Santa Catarina—one of Brazil’s “whitest” states. Last year, Antonieta's life story became a documentary produced by filmmaker Flávia Person. Today, Flávia is trying to attract support for the film’s distribution, and working to get Antonieta’s legacy into school curriculums.
The film’s producers launched a crowdsourcing campaign on the website Benfeitoria. The goal is to collect R$22,000 (US$6,000 to finance the production of 1,000 DVDs, which will be distributed freely in schools, universities, libraries, and cultural centers throughout Santa Catarina. The discs will come with an audio description, translation into Libras (Brazilian sign language), and subtitles in Portuguese, Spanish, and English.
At the time of the film's release, the director spoke with Global Voices and recounted why Antonieta is an important, if largely unknown, character in Brazil’s history:
Fazer um filme sobre a Antonieta me pareceu urgente. Depois que descobri que ela foi professora, diretora do instituto de educação, cronista dos jornais mais importantes do estado, a primeira mulher a ser eleita deputada em SC e primeira negra no Brasil, e mesmo assim, nem os nativos de Florianópolis conhecem bem a história dela, pensei que era o momento de fazer um filme e propagar a história dela para o máximo de pessoas possível.
It seemed urgent to me to make a film about Antonieta. After I discovered that she was a teacher, the director of the institute of education, a historian of the state’s most important newspapers, the first woman to be elected deputy in SC, and the first black woman in Brazil, and that, even so, not even the inhabitants of Florianópolis know her story well, I thought that it was the moment to make a film and share her story with as many people as possible.
The campaign, operating on an “all-or-nothing” approach, ends on April 12: in the event that the goal of R$22,000 isn't reached, all donors will get their money back.
In March 2016, “Antonieta” was shown in various cities of Santa Catarina and outside the state. The film has already debuted in several major cities, including Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.

author: Fernanda Canofre


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Let’s Not Forget Nuno Dala, the Imprisoned Angolan Activist Now 3 Weeks Into a Hunger Strike · Global Voices
Manuel Ribeiro

Nuno Dala, on hunger strike since march,10. Photo: Central Angola, used with permission.
Nuno Dala is a university professor who's been on hunger strike for 22 days. Dala, imprisoned since June 2015, is one of 17 activists th Angolan authorities accuse of plotting a rebellion against President José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power for more than 36 years. Dala and his alleged co-conspirators participated in a study group focused on the book “From Dictatorship to Democracy” by retired political science professor Gene Sharp.
Of the 17 defendants, 15 were arrested for more than 90 days without any charges. A court also barred the remaining two suspects—both women—from leaving the country. In December, after the group's trial began on November 15, 2015, a court placed the 15 suspects under house arrest. All defendants were sentenced to prison by the court.
In a recent interview with Deutsche Welle Radio—Africa (DW), Nuno Dala's sister says her diabetic brother's health “is in grave [condition].” Dala spent a little more than three months under house arrest before a court ordered him back to jail earlier this month. Back behind bars, Dala launched a hunger strike, demanding access to his personal belongings and diabetes medication. Dala's sister says she regrets that society is “ignoring his health” DW reports:
Nas redes sociais, multiplicam-se as críticas em relação à forma como a sociedade e os meios de comunicação social têm tratado o caso da greve de fome de Nuno Dala. Muitos fazem a comparação com o caso de Luaty Beirão, que originou protestos, petições e abaixo-assinados dentro e fora de Angola.
Criticism is rising on social networks because of the way society and the media have treated the case of Nuno Dala's hunger strike. Many make the comparison with the case of Luaty Beirão, which led to protests, petitions in and out of Angola, and mass media coverage.
Not everyone is ignoring the story, however. The online portal CentralAngola 7311 has been following Dala's hunger strike closely:
Angola: Ativista Nuno Álvaro Dala há sete dias em greve de fome https://t.co/tnjDUuqVJT pic.twitter.com/AntrZw3CGC
— Esquerda.Net (@EsquerdaNet) March 17, 2016
Angola: Activist Nuno Alvaro Dala on hunger strike for seven days
The website has also promoted appeals on Facebook, trying to mobilize public outrage:
#GREVEDEFOME
#NunoDala
#DiaCatorze
Hoje entra no 14º à base de água, soro oral, chá e sumo, sem ingestão de qualquer alimento sólido. Quando começaremos as petições, os abaixo-assinados, as vigílias? Quando é que o desespero se instala?
#HUNGERSTRIKE #NunoDala #Day14 Today Dala enters day 14 only with the water-based oral serum, tea, and juice without any intake of solid food. When do we see the petitions? The vigils? [Only] when despair settles in?
Appeals like this one seem to have been effective. The same day as CentralAngola 7311's social media outreach, activists planned vigils on March 25, 26 and 27 in Angola's capital, Luanda—mirroring the demonstrations prompted by Luaty Beirão.
#VIGÍLIA
#NUNODALA
Image: CentralAngola, used with permission.
Aí está a iniciativa cidadã. Para todos aqueles que estiveram a vomitar insultos à dormência da sociedade civil será bom que compareçam.
Dias 25, 26 e 27 de Março, na Igreja Sagrada Família, às 17h30.
Não vale a pena ficar à espera do último dos dias para ver se nos primeiros não sai porrada e jatos de água da polícia.
#SolidariedadeAlémDoFacebook
#VIGIL #NUNODALA There it is: the citizen initiative. For all of those who were hurling insults at civil society for being too lazy. March 25, 26, and 27, at the Sagrada Familia Church at 5:30 p.m. Don't wait for the last day to see if the police come with their water jets and violence, though. #SolidaritybehondFacebook

author: Manuel Ribeiro


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Mob Destroys Parked Cars During Iranian Man’s ‘Schindler’s List’ Movie Night · Global Voices
Tori Egherman

Screenshot from the Facebook post of Reza Khandan. “All the damage seen in these images was done in a couple of minutes,” he wrote.
Reza Khandan, the husband of award-winning Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, found his neighborhood in north Iran beset by a mob while he and a group of friends were watching Schindler's List, the critically acclaimed film about a Nazi businessman who used his factory to save hundreds of Jews.
Guests’ cars were vandalized. Car windows were smashed and property damaged. In just a few minutes, the small street was covered with glass.
In a public post on Facebook, Khandan shared the details of the attack, along with photos taken of vandalized cars. In the first 24 hours, the post was shared 95 times on Facebook. It generated a lot of comments expressing a range of emotions, from outrage to sadness.
Khandan's Facebook post reads:
به پیشنهاد مهراوه دیشب نشستیم تا فیلم “لیست شیندلر” را ببینیم. در قسمتی از فیلم که ماموران نازی به خانه های یهودیان هجوم آورده و با انواع صداهای وحشتناک و تیراندازی و کشتار و تخریب، تمام اعضای خانواده ی آنان را بازداشت و قتل عام را آغاز می کنند؛ کم کم احساس کردم صدای این هجوم شبانه بیشتر و بیشتر و واقعی تر به نظر می رسد. صدایی شبیه شلیک گلوله و فریاد و عربده هایی که کم کم واقعی تر شده است.
چند لحظه بعد متوجه شدیم سر و صداهای فیلم عینا از بیرون ساختمان هم می آید. گروهی چند نفره سر خیابان از ماشین شان پیاده و وارد کوچه شده و از ابتدای کوچه به ترتیب شروع به تخریب و شکستن شیشه های تمام خوردروهای پارک شده در کوچه شده اند. صدای شکستن شیشه های ماشین ها عین صدای شلیک گلوله بود که پشت سرهم می آمد. ظرف چند دقیقه حداقل 16 ماشین را تخریب و با فحاشی و ایجاد رعب و وحشت در ساعت یک و نیم شب از محل گریخنتند.
بیشتر ماشین های ما که ساکن هستیم و مهمان هایی که برخی از آنان از شهرستان آمده بودند همه را متلاشی کرده و رفتند. دقایقی بعد از تماس ساکنین گروههای مختلف پلیس و آتش نشانی در محل حاضر و با انبوهی از ماشین های تخریب شده و کوچه ای پر از شیشه های خرد شده و اهالی وحشت زده روبرو شدند.
و این تصاویر گوشه ای از تخریب ماشین هاست که ظرف یکی دو دقیقه در کوچه خلق شد.
Last night we rented the film Schindler’s List. In one part of the film we saw how Nazi agents raided Jewish homes. There were terrible sounds of shooting and killing and destruction. You could see how family members were detained and the massacres begin. Little by little, I could feel the sounds getting closer and closer, combining with the sounds of gunshots and angry shouting.
A few moments later we realized the noises we thought were part of the film were coming from outside the building. A mob had arrived at the head of the street and were going up and down the alley, from beginning to end, causing destruction to the cars parked there. The sound of the windows of the cars breaking was like the sound of the gunshots from the film.
Within a few minutes at least 16 cars had been destroyed. Violence, fear, and panic had been spread by the time the mob fled the scene at 1:30 am. All of our cars were shattered: those of the people who lived here and those of our guests who came from the city.
A few minutes after the mob fled — after being contacted by terrified residents facing a street filled with broken glass and damaged cars — police and firefighters arrived on the scene.
It's not clear whether or not the vandals were directly targeting Khandan or the choice of film. The family of Reza Khandan and Nasrin Sotoudeh have lived under constant surveillance and threats for a number of years. Many who read and shared the post online were under the impression that the vandalism was timed to coincide with the viewing of Schindler's List. Most also saw it as one of many acts designed to intimidate the family and their friends.
In international arenas, the current administration of President Rouhani has disavowed the Holocaust denial that former President Ahmadinejad attempted to popularize. Yet, as recently as 2013, Iran's supreme leader publicly questioned its historical reality.

author: Tori Egherman


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#NewPalmyra Crowdsources the Majestic History That ISIS Destroyed in Syria · Global Voices
Rami Alhames

Digital reconstruction of the Temple of Bel from the New Palmyra project.
Forces of embattled President Bashar al-Assad recaptured Palmyra from ISIS at the end of March, leading the country's head of antiquities to declare that the ancient Syrian city's “nightmare is over”. The brutal militant group took over the city in May 2015 and waged a campaign of destruction against its archaeological treasures. In August, its militants beheaded Khaled Asaad, the city's chief archaeologist for five decades.
In less than a year, many of Palmyra's majestic archaeological monuments were damaged or destroyed, including the Baalshamin Temple, The Temple of Bel, Arch of Triumph and The Tower of Elanbel. Its National Museum was plundered. ISIS say the historic artifacts are idols or don't conform to their distorted notion of Islam, and so should be demolished (or sold — the group doesn't appear to have any qualms about making money off of “blasphemous” heritage). A number of pre-Islamic archaeological sites in Iraq, including 3,000-year-old sculptures at a museum in Mosul, met the same fate.
Long before ISIS had seized the city and war had broken out in Syria, putting heritage sites at accelerated risk, one initiative was working to document Palmyra's archaeological wonders. The #NewPalmyra project, which began in some form in 2005, is the brainchild of Bassel Khartabil, a Palestinian-Syrian computer engineer, activist and Creative Commons leader. Khartabil aimed to reconstruct the city's history in a free online database of 3D models.
However, he was arrested by the Syrian government on March 15, 2012. After four years in detention, he was moved to an unknown location. Human Rights Watch and 30 other human rights organizations have demanded that Khartabil's whereabouts be disclosed, but so far he remains missing.
In October, a group of activists revived Khartabil's effort, naming it #NewPalmyra. They crowdsource photos and rely on volunteers to help construct 3D models of Palmyra's historic gems.
Have Palmyra Photos? Any before Destruction? Help Rebuild at https://t.co/RIcmbRZ9kq & Share via our new Upload Box. pic.twitter.com/311tCg2UpR
— New Palmyra (@NewPalmyraOrg) March 10, 2016
Below is a model of the Temple of Bel from the project. According to the site, the model is only 20% complete:
#NewPalmyra isn't the only preservation effort for Syria. The Million Images Database, through he Institute of Digital Archaeology, is plying volunteers with low-cost 3D camera to document monuments. The project is planning to display a replicated Temple of Bel entry arch, which dated back to 32 AD, in London's Trafalgar Square on April 19, 2016.
Documenting history is one thing, but recreating a destroyed site is another. A recent post on the academic-minded news site The Conversation explores the ethics of doing so.

author: Rami Alhames