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Paying Tribute to Captain Mbaye Diagne, The Senegalese Hero of Rwanda  · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

At the time of writing, June 2013, official commemoration of victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide is continuing around the world. But few people still remember Captain Mbaye Diagne. However, this young officer from the Senegalese army showed bravery at a time when the rest of the world was demonstrating cowardice. Enrico Muratore has been fighting for years to ensure that the name of this hero is not forgotten.
Photo of Captain Mbaye Diange from the Facebook page of the association bearing his name, used with their permission.
Global Voices posed several questions to Enrico Muratore on the objective of his action via the Association of Captain Mbaye Diagne – Nekkinu Jàmm:
Enrico, could you introduce yourself in a few words?
Hello, I am an ex-United Nations Human Rights Officer who served during, among others, the peace-keeping missions and also worked in Rwanda, a country which I have been really interested in since the 1994 genocide. I am Italian, but I have lived in Africa for 15 years, and in Senegal for 4 years.
On May 31, you organised a ceremony to commemorate a Senegalese soldier who died during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Could you explain to us the reasons for this ceremony?
We were celebrating the memory of Captain Mbaye Diagne, who was a military observer for UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda). When the genocide started on April 7, 1994, individual unarmed rescue missions immediately started saving all those who could be saved. They started with the children of the Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingyimana – who had just been killed, after the massacre of his escort of ten Belgian paras. When the United Nations decided to withdraw nine tenths of their military presence who were already on site (and who could have opposed the genocide), 270 soldiers remained, among them the Captain, who undertook his perilous missions to save the others, until he was killed on May 31, 1994, after having saved, they say, nearly 600 people. So we celebrate the memory of this just and altruistic man who gave his life to save that of others at this time.
What are the initial objectives of the Association? Who are the members? Is it open to other members?
The Association aims to promote the memory of Captain Mbaye Diagne and to support his family’s development, because it is not fair to abandon the families of those who gave themselves for others. Of course, their sacrifice doesn’t mean to say that they didn't love their own families! Therefore, we must do something for them. The President of the Association is Mrs Yacine Diagne, the Captain’s widow; the Vice-President is Colonel Faye who was friend of the Captain and was in the UNAMIR in Rwanda with him; I personally am the General Secretary (GS) and the Captain’s children, Coumba and Cheick are the GS assistants; next, as Treasurer, we have Ras Makha Diop, philosopher, gardener and Senegalese artist, instead of the late lamented good and just Doctor Adotevi. Next, we have founding members such as Pierantonio Costa, ex-Honorary Consul of Rwanda who saved 2000 people from death during the genocide, Mark Doyle who is a principal correspondent for the BBC and previously friend of the Captain, senior civil servant Bacre Ndiaye of the United Nations High Commissioner’s Office of Human Rights, and author of a prescient report on Rwanda when he was the special reporter covering extra-judiciary executions in 1993. We also have other Senegelese and foreigners, including some who participated in one or both United Nations missions in Rwanda, people that had known him or simply appreciated his sacrifice to save the innocents. We are still accepting new members, as long as we are assured that they sincerely admire the Captain, and intend to support our Association’s goals.
He really was a hero! What did people know about him before?
There is a lot of material available on the internet, but it is true to say that the general public around the world does not know of the Captain. Yet his sacrifice has been officially recognised by the Rwandan government, by the then American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and by the Giardino dei Giusti del Mondo [it], an association to honor those who oppose genocide in Italy, among others.
What has been achieved so far?
Creating the Association in itself an achievement because that was not simple. We have a Facebook page named Association of Captain Mbaye Diagne – Nekkinu Jàmm and we are currently setting up a multilingual website; we are organising activities with the press. For example, for example, in this interview [fr] from May 31, his wife described how she was informed of his death and recalls her memories.. The Fatto Quotidiano [it] in Italy, and the past with Radio West Africa for Democracy or the Senegalese media; activities such as the Junior Football Tournament organised with the Senegalese Football Federation; May 31, the prayer vigil in the Captain's family home.
Was he married and did he have children? What became of them?
The family have quite simply been forgotten all this time, now we hope that the association with us has helped them to make themselves be better understood and to find their place while promoting the memory of their husband and father, because this could be very useful in educating youth and people in general, about these troubled and violent times.
Captain Mbaye fell on duty, didn’t he? What have the national authorities and the UN done?
We must ask his wife and Association President Mrs Yacine Diagne, but as far as I know, the United Nations have done nothing apart from pay the life insurance that the Captain had signed up for while at their service, and which paid his family a premium 19 years ago, but nothing more since. The family home is collapsing, they had to look for support from a sister of Yacine; the children have lost years of schooling, the eldest, Coumba, had many health problems, the Captain’s mother is old and sick. Only close family, and several friends, notably from the Army, have done anything; now the Association will do what it can.
As for the dead, only God can look after them. With respect to help for the family, we contacted the Association for the Office of the United Nations for West Africa, a little while ago, but they have not yet responded. We hope they will do so.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Rupert’s divorce creates buzz in China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The media mogul Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his Chinese-born wife Wendi Deng. Deng is his third wife and they have two daughters. The divorce has prompted a wave of speculation online that she married Americans with ulterior motives of climbing the social letter and getting richer. ChinaSmack looks at the online reactions.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Oiwan Lam


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Square Foot Gardening in South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Learn about Square Foot Gardening in South Africa:
Very simply put, Square Foot Gardening (SFG) is a whole new way of gardening, growing vegetables & fruits and contributing handsomely to the kitchen table even with the smallest of gardens at your disposal.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Free Bus Fare Protest Posters in Brazil · Global Voices
João Miguel Lima

In São Paulo, publisher makes an open call and prints out posters free of chager for Bus Fare manifestants. Photo by Meli-Melo on Facebook.
The publishing and design studio Meli-Melo decided to help out in the protests against rise in bus fares in São Paulo, offering their equipment to print out posters free of charge. An open call for page lay out was launched on Friday, 14 June [pt], on Facebook, and protesters replied quickly. Few hours later, several posters were printed and it is now ready for the protest scheduled for Monday, 17 June.

author: João Miguel Lima


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Burmese Blogger Calls for Religious Tolerance · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

dawn_1o9, a young Burmese blogger, expresses her disappointment over the reported cases of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in some parts of Myanmar:
I'm a Buddhist. I'm a Burmese living in Myanmar. But I just don't have anything against the Muslims living in Myanmar….what makes me a true Buddhist is not to boycott or hate Muslims – it is believing in peaceful co-existence and living my life to the fullest, helping people, no matter what their religions are.

author: Mong Palatino


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Experts and Citizens Discuss ‘Free Culture’ in Quito, Ecuador · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Different participants and more than 20 speakers met for two days at the Second International Congress on Free Culture in Quito, Ecuador to talk about free culture and its relationship with education and different forms of cultural expression.
As a Unesco newsletter explains [es], from its office in Quito, the idea of the event –organized by Flacso [es], Unesco [es], and Radialistas [es] — was to create “a space for the debate and exchange of experiences regarding universal access to knowledge, artistic and cultural creation, the administration of culture, the use of free and open technology, collective production, open access to scientific work, the use of alternative licenses, new teaching models, and the benefits for the people”.
Among the speakers were: Cristóbal Cobo, from the University of Oxford (England); Jorge Gemetto and Mariana Fossatti, from Ártica Centro Cultural 2.0 [es] (Ártica Cultural Center 2.0) (Uruguay); Jorge David García, from the Colectivo Ruido 13 [es] (Mexico); Leonardo Foletto, from the Casa de Cultura Digital (House of Digital Culture) [pt] (Brazil); Fernando Ariel López, from the Red de Bibliotecas Virtuales CLACSO [es] (Network of Virtual Libraries CLACSO) (Argentina); Valeria Betancourt, from APC [es] (Association for the Progress of Communication) (Ecuador); Carlos Correa, from Creative Commons [es] (Ecuador), and the Colectivo Hacktivistas (Hacktivists Collective), among others.
This is the promotional video for the congress that Radialistas [es] shared on YouTube [es]:
The event began with various expectations on the morning of Thursday, May 30, 2013. After the official words of inauguration from representatives of the organizing institutions, it was time for the first conference: “Public Administration of Culture in the Digital Era” [es]. It was led by Jorge Gemetto and Mariana Fossatti from Ártica Cultural Center 2.0, a Uruguayan organization working to give actors in the cultural sector tools to develop themselves in the setting of the new digital culture.
In a post [es] on Ártica, Mariana explained her contribution:
Hablamos de las prácticas culturales en tiempos digitales, de diferentes paradigmas de políticas públicas culturales que entran en tensión y de posibles acciones de gestión pública para garantizar el acceso a la cultura a través de las nuevas tecnologías.
We talked about cultural practices in the digital age, about different paradigms of cultural public policies that come into tension, and about possible public administration actions that could be taken to guarantee the access to culture by way of the new technologies.
Three parallel panels then followed: “Intellectual Property and Free Culture”, “Free Artistic and Cultural Initiatives”, and “Culture, Design, Music, and Audiovisuals with Free Hardware and Software”, with the participation of different speakers for each panel. After the midday break, there were three discussions, also parallel: “Artistic Project in Copyleft”, “Art and Crowdfunding”, and “New Business Models and Abilities and their Relationship with Free Culture”.
The first day closed with the conference “Creation and Cultural Diffusion in the era of ICT” [es], led by Leonardo Foletto from the House of Digital Culture in Brazil. It focused on projects and workshops related to cultural journalism, digital culture, copyleft, digital activism, blogs and digital theater. In an interview published later by the Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio, Leonardo declares:
The complete program of the first day can be found on the event's webpage [es], and a compilation of tweets can be seen on a Storify [es] made by Francisca de la Torre [es].
On Friday, May 31, the second day began with two conferences. The first was “Constructing the Country from Just and Supportive Knowledge” led by Augusto Espinosa, the Minister of Education of Ecuador. The second: “Why is it Important for Education to be Open?” [es], was led by Cristóbal Cobo, an Associate Researcher at the Internet Institute of the University of Oxford, where he coordinates studies on education, innovation, learning, and the future of the Internet.
In a bulletin on the Congress's official page, Clara Robayo comments [es] that Cristóbal Cobo's conference focused on three fundamental ideas: creation, distribution and consumption. Clara adds:
Afirmó que la creación es una competencia fundamental del siglo 21. Resaltó la importancia de la creación colectiva, así dijo que hay herramientas tecnológicas que nos permiten pasar del individuo a [la] comunidad. […] Cristobal Cobo terminó su intervención con la frese: “necesitamos menos copyright y más right to copy porque el conocimiento abierto [es el] combustible del siglo XXI. ”
He affirmed that creation is a fundamental ability of the 21st century. He emphasized the importance of collective creation, saying that there are technological tools that allow us to go from the individual to [the] community. […] Cristobal Cobo ended his contribution with the phrase: “we need less copyright and more right to copy because open knowledge [is the] fuel of the 21st century. ”
Cristóbal Cobo himself later wrote [es] on his blog that he loved hearing a Minister of Education talk about human development, scientific research, and the encouragement of innovation, and he added:
la adopción de estrategias de acceso abierto no son otra cosa que aceleradores de transferencia de conocimiento que generan condiciones más propicias para favorecer innovación entre diferentes sectores productivos. Sin duda que la educación formal y el aprendizaje en general han de jugar un papel clave en esta apuesta.
the adoption of open access strategies are nothing but accelerators for the transfer of knowledge that create more favorable conditions to help innovation among different productive sectors. Without a doubt, formal education and learning in general must play a key role in this bet.
After these conferences there was a session of three parallel panels: “Libraries and Archives: Open Access”, “New Teaching Models”, and “Free Software and Education”, and three other discussions, again parallel: “Free Access to Scientific Information”, “Movement of Universities to Free Software”, and “Early Education with the New Teaching Methods”.
The event closed with a panel discussion, including Daniel Vázquez from ALABS, Antonio Pardo from the Hacktivist Collective, Carlos Correa from Creative Commons EC who is also an activist with #LoxaEsMás: Hackeando la Democracia [es] (Loja is More, Hacking Democracy), and Valeria Betancourt from the Association for the Progress of Communication (APC). On another bulletin on the official page of the Congress, they summarize [es] each participation briefly.
Valeria Betancourt underlined the importance of free culture along with free Internet:
afirmó que en la actualidad hay un déficit de la participación de la sociedad civil. Ejemplificó que ya hay intentos de criminalización de la libertad de expresión en Internet a través de legislaciones, utilizó como ejemplos el TPP. Ésta puede ser mucha más peligrosa que la SOPA, PIPA y ACTA. Son leyes poco proporcionales. Resaltó la importancia de modelos activos de participación de la ciudadanía.
she affirmed that currently there is a lack of civil society participation. She showed that there are attempts to criminalize the freedom of expression on the Internet through legislation. She used as an example the TPP. It could be much more dangerous than SOPA, PIPA and ACTA. They are not very proportional laws. She emphasized the importance of active models of citizen participation.
Daniel Vázquez gave the context of the Spanish situation and initiatives like the Hackmeetings [es]:
Personas que se reúnen para discutir de software, hardware y política. Empiezan a crear “hacklabs”. Todo esto hace que se generen movimientos como el 15m. Ésto ilustró la importancia de las nuevas tecnologías en las decisiones políticas, pues permiten romper los monopolios. Aparecen nuevos actores como ciudadanos que se reúnen puntualmente para ejecutar acciones
People who get together to discuss software, hardware and politics. They begin to create “hacklabs”. All of this leads to movements like the 15-M being created. This illustrated the importance of the new technologies in political decisions, since they allow the monopolies to be broken. New actors appear, such as citizens who get together occasionally to carry out actions
Carlos Correa talked about his initiative Loxa es más [es] (Loja is more):
[la] iniciativa reunió a un grupo de personas para que participen activamente con actitud proactiva en la construcción de una nueva ciudad. Habló de la importancia de la veeduría ciudadana, pues las autoridades le deben cuentas a la quienes le dieron su voto. Afirmó que la agenda política debe venir de los ciudadanos. Resaltó que el activismo no debe quedarse sólo de las redes sociales, sino salir a las calles.
[the] initiative brought together a group of people so they could actively participate with a proactive attitude in the construction of a new city. It talked about the importance of the citizen watchdog, since the authorities owe things to those who gave them their vote. It affirmed that the political agenda should come from the citizens. It underlined that activism should not stay only on social networks, but it should also go out into the streets.
Antonio Pardo explained that the Hacktivists Collective works with topics of anonymity, online neutrality, and digital rights:
Pues [las redes sociales] son lugares en donde se comparte contenido que después nos lo roban. Entra información que no sale. Redes libres con Software Libre en cambio promueven todo lo contrario, se envían mensajes entre servidores y no dentro de sólo uno. En el debate resaltó la importancia de protocolos libres y redes libres.
Well [social networks] are places where content is shared that they then rob from us. Information enters that does not leave. Free networks with Free Software, on the other hand, promote just the opposite: messages are sent between servers, not just inside of only one. In the debate, the importance of free protocols and free networks was emphasized.
The complete agenda of the second day is available on the the official webpage of the Congress [es]. Also, on the same page you can find videos [es] of the event conferences and some interviews [es] with the speakers.
The comments on Twitter can still be found under the tag #congresocl.
Other related posts.
Congreso Cultura Libre, Quito, 1ra jornada (2011) [es]
Congreso Cultura Libre, Quito, 2da jornada (2011) [es]

author: Juan Arellano


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Fed up with ‘Rats’, Mexicans Support ‘Candidate Cat Morris’ for Mayor · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

In the state of Veracuz, a campaign of support has appeared for a cat named Morris that aspires for the mayor’s office of Xalapa under the slogan of “no more rats”.
Morris “the candidate cat” has a Facebook profile [es] with more than 107,000 “likes” at this moment. In his profile, he displays photos, campaign slogans and signs of support from the public. The profile, in addition, explains [es]:
El candigato Morris se postula para que votes por él este 7 de Julio. Ante la cantidad de ratas que acechan esos puestos solo un gato podrá poner orden. El candigato no promete nada más que los demás candidatos: Descansar y retozar.
The candidate cat Morris nominates himself so that you vote for him this July 7. In light of the rats that watch these positions, only a cat will be able to put things in order. The candidate cat does not promise anything more than the other candidates: to rest and frolic.
Distinct entities of Mexico find themselves immersed in the local electoral processes; election day will take place Sunday, July 7, 2013. In Veracruz, in the western part of Mexico, new mayors in each of the 212 municipalities will be elected.
The portal Veracruzanos.info [es] describes the project in this way:
Ante la apatía de la sociedad xalapeña para emitir su voto y el hartazgo en el que se encuentran por los mismos discursos-promesas de los candidatos y partidos políticos en cada proceso electoral, surgió el “Candigato Morris”, una propuesta creativa, divertida y contestaría [sic] de Sergio, un ciudadano que postula de forma ficticia a un minino adoptado para la alcaldía de la capital del Estado.
Sergio –pidió omitir su nombre completo- quien es dueño del gato y uno de los creadores de este insurrecto proyecto, se dijo sorprendido por la respuesta que ha tenido por parte de los usuarios de la red social de Facebook.
Due to the apathy of the Xalapa people in casting their vote and because they are fed up with the same speeches-promises of the candidates and political parties in every electoral process, “Candidate cat Morris” has emerged, a creative and fun proposal that will answer for Sergio, a citizen who has nominated an adopted pussycat in a fictitious way for the mayor’s office of the State’s capital.
Sergio-who asked to omit his full name-who is the owner of the cat and one of the creators of this rebellious project, said he was surprised at the response that it has had from users of the social network Facebook.
Shared photo from the Facebook profile of the Candidate Cat Morris
Enrique Legorreta [es], on behalf of the blog revoluciontrespuntocero (revolutionthreepointzero) [es], commented:
De manera satírica, el gato Morris transmite a la oligarquía política –no sólo de Veracruz, sino de todo el país– el mensaje de repudio de una sociedad cansada de unos partidos que no se diferencian entre sí y presentan como candidatos a personajes interesados únicamente en enriquecerse mediante el poder.
Si Morris obtuviera más votos que alguno de los candidatos registrados, el golpe simbólico a la clase política resultaría demoledor: dejaría claro que la gente está tan harta de los políticos que prefiere usar su voto de manera lúdica en vez de tratar de elegir al “menos malo”.
In a satiric way, the cat Morris sends the message of repudiation to the political oligarchy-not only in Veracruz, but throughout the entire country- from a society that is tired of parties that are not differentiating amongst themselves and choosing candidates that are only interested in growing rich through their power.
If Morris receives more votes than any of the registered candidates, the symbolic blow to the political class will be devastating; it would make clear that the people are so fed up with politics that they prefer to use their vote in a playful way instead of trying to elect the “least bad” [candidate].
Víctor Hernández, for Blog de Izquierda (Left Blog) [es], noted that the idea of nominating a non-human for a position in a popular election is not innovative, although funny. Besides, he pointed out that voting for Morris could help a specific political party:
La idea en sí no es nueva, hay que decirlo. Michael Moore hizo lo mismo en 2000 postulando como candidato a diputado de Nueva Jersey a una planta ficus.
Irónicamente, Ficus fue candidato en el condado de Morris, Nueva Jersey.
Pero bueno, OK; como chistorete está muy bien lo del candigato. ¿Pero como estrategia política? Es una tonelada de ayuda… para el PRI [Partido Revolucionario Institucional].
Y es que cada dos o tres años sale la misma cantaleta: “los políticos son una mierda, ya estamos hartos, mejor hay que anular para mandar un mensaje”.
Ah, porque votar por Morris (o por Cantinflas, o por Pedro Infante, o por Superbarrio, o por cualquier otra opción mamerta [falaz]) legalmente se contabiliza como “otro” o como “nulo.”
Y a los políticos les importa muy poco, ya que en una elección gana quien tiene más votos. ¿Quién tiene más votos si hay mucho anulismo [sic]? El partido que tiene la mayor cantidad de voto duro. ¿Quién tiene la mayor cantidad de voto duro en Veracruz? El PRI.
The idea itself is not new, one must admit. Michael Moore did the same thing in 2000 by nominating a Ficus plant to be a New Jersey delegate.
Ironically, Ficus was the candidate in the county of Morris, New Jersey.
But OK; as a big joke, a candidate cat is very good. But as a political strategy? It is a ton of help…for the PRI (Instititutional Revolutionary Party).
And every two or three years, it’s the same old story: “politics are shit, we are so fed up, it’s better to annul our votes in order to send a message”.
Ah, because voting for Morris (or for Cantinflas, or for Baby Pedro, or for Superneighborhood, or for whatever other false option) is legally entered as “other” or as “null.”
And it matters very little to the politicians, since in an election the person with the most votes wins. Who has more votes if there are many null votes? The party that has the most hard votes. Who has the most hard votes in Veracruz? The PRI.
Victor concludes:
Así que todos los indignados que le quieran “mandar un mensaje” a los políticos se van a llevar un chasco si le ponen “Morris” a la boleta, ya que el único mensaje que van a entender los políticos del PRI, que son los que están en el poder, es “qué güeyes [estúpidos]; si hubieran votado por uno de oposición, me hubieran ganado.”
So all of the angry people who want to “send a message” to the politicians are going to be letdown if they put “Morris” on the ballot, because the only message that the politicians of the PRI, those in power, are going to understand is “how stupid; if they had voted for someone from the opposition, they could have beat me.”
The portal sinembargo.mx (however.mx) [es] reported on the reactions that the “candidacy” of Morris has generated within the local electoral authority:
Campaign promo, shared on the official page elcandigato.com
La presidenta del Instituto Electoral Veracruzano (IEV), Carolina Viveros García, pidió a los ciudadanos “no echar a perder su sufragio” votando por el Candigato Morris el próximo 7 de junio, ya que, explicó, sus votos serán nulos.
[…]
“Queremos, pedimos la participación para que voten por los ciudadanos registrados en las boletas electorales; eso es lo importante –enfatizó–, lo demás son expresiones que se dan en las redes y mis respetos, pero hay que votar por los candidatos registrados, por favor”, insistió la funcionaria del IEV.
The president of the Veracruz Electoral Institute (IEV), Carolina Viveros García, requested that citizens “do not waste their suffrage” voting for the Candidate Cat Morris next July 7, because, she explained, their votes would be null.
[…]
“We want, we request the participation so that they vote for the registered citizens on electoral ballots; this is important-she emphasized-, the rest are expressions given online and that have my respect, but you have to vote for the registered candidates, please”, the IEV official insisted.
Twitter user Tora Toncha (@toratoncha) [es] expressed himself like this about Morris:
@toratoncha Bastante ingeniosa la campaÑa del candigato Morris (a manera d protesta) pro considero 1 tonteria poner su nombre en la boleta electoral -_-
@toratoncha Very ingenious the campaign of candidate cat Morris (a way of protest) but I consider it foolishness to put his name on the electoral ballot  -_-
Gustavo Pelaez (@gjpelaez) [es] invited his followers to vote for Morris:
@gjpelaez #Xalapa #vota por el #Candigato #Morris escribe su nombre en el cuadro en blanco al votar, que ningun humano alcance el minimo de votos!!!!! [sic]
@gjpelaez #Xalapa #vota por el (vote for the) #Candigato #CandidateCat #Morris write his name in the white box to vote, so that no human achieves the minimum number of votes!!!!! [sic]
User Jorge Cervantes (@jorcervan) pointed out that he will support Morris:
@jorcervan Yo en Xalapa voy con Morris, Morris para Presidente Municipal 2014-2017.
@jorcervan In Xalapa I am going with Morris, Morris for Municipal President 2014-2017.
The “candidacy” of Morris has generated diverse reactions among Mexican public opinion; some have expressed with suspicion about this being a market trick or a campaign to benefit one of the registered parties or candidates, nevertheless, the only thing evident right now is that the popularity of the feline is increasing.

author: J. Tadeo


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Investigative Journalism in Indonesia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Akhlis Purnomo laments the state of investigative journalism in Indonesia.
…there has not been much of investigative journalism in Indonesia. Most of them are not even investigative, but more like reportage on everyday issues….These are then labelled as investigative by producers and TV stations.


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Iran: Dear Mr. President, Fix the Internet! · Global Voices
Farid

A group of bloggers and cyber activists wrote a letter to new President-elect Hassan Rouhani, asking him to increase Internet speed. They also complain about filtering and remind Rouhani that he used the Internet to promote his campaign.

author: Farid


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Baloch Separatists Bomb Historic Residence of Pakistan’s Founder  · Global Voices
Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman

A series of bombs planted by militant nationalists in southwestern Pakistan have destroyed the 19th-century residence of the country's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Jinnah's historic home in Ziarat, Balochistan, where he spent the last days of his life with his sister Fatima Jinnah in 1948 a year after he led Pakistan to independence, was reduced to ashes on June 15, 2013 after bombs ignited the wooden building. It was serving as a museum with Jinnah's belongings on display and was one of the popular tourist sites in Balochistan.
Separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has taken responsibility.
Pakistan's newly elected parliament condemned the attack. It also passed a unanimous resolution condemning the acts of terrorism in Balochistan, while the government announced the plan to restore Jinnah's residence.
Funkor Childart Center participated in the Children's Literature festival in Quetta in 2012 and painted the Ziarat Residene of Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Used with permission.
Jinnah was the first Governor-General of Pakistan after its independence from British India in 1947 and served in the position for a year before he died. His home was iconic, featuring on the country's 100-rupee note.
Reaction on social media to the attack on his home was strong.
Jamaluddin wrote on his blog in a piece called Jinnah’s burnt Ziarat residency: A piece of Pakistan died today:
June 15, 2013 will be remembered forever. Today, the beautiful building that adorns our hundred rupee notes was burnt and destroyed by militants who flung hand grenades at Jinnah’s residency in Ziarat. All the historical photographs and furniture was destroyed. As always, the militants who committed this despicable act of senseless violence escaped unhurt.
Blogger and columnist Yusra Askari (@YusraSAskari) wrote on Twitter:
@YusraSAskari: Apologies, Mr. Jinnah, we can do no else but hang our head in shame. #Ziarat
Adil Najam (@AdilNajam), blogger and the Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences slammed the bombings:
@AdilNajam: Dastardly. Cowardly. Pathetic. Jinnah Residency in Ziarat attacked. This is attack on an idea. The idea of all of us. The idea of Pakistan.
Freedom fighter and Pashto translator Azad Pashtun (@AzadPashtun) wrote:
@AzadPashtun: Picture of Jinnah's Ziarat residence on the 100 Kaldaar will need updating. pic.twitter.com/YFNl2EIPHs
Journalist & columnist Nadeem Farooq Paracha (@NadeemfParacha) aka NFP, the author of Smoker's Corner, tweeted:
@NadeemfParacha: Maybe BLA fools blew up Jinnah's residency because they feel the state & government are not giving them as much respect as they do to TTP?
Balochistan is Pakistan's biggest but least developed province. It is witnessing the fifth separatist uprising since 1947 and according to The Economist, “this insurgency is stronger than the previous ones.” The attack on the residency shocked many in Pakistan, but not all in Balochistan.
Baloch Hal, Pakistan's first online newspaper from Balochistan, suggested in its editorial “The end of Jinnah?” that the new Pakistani government shouldn't take any actions against Baloch in haste:
The government should instead build a new monument to commemorate the Baloch youths, political activists, journalists and professors who have lost their lives in the conflict. It is meaningless to live in the past and snub the present and the future. If the central government wants to politically address the conflict, it should make sure that the Residency attack is not taken as an opportunity to launch fresh operations in Balochistan or justify the kill and dump operations.
Baloch Hal is blocked in Pakistan. Malik Siraj Akbar, the editor in chief of Baloch Hal like many other Baloch intellectuals lives in the USA.
Pakistani-Canadian writer, broadcaster and a secular Muslim anti-Islamist activist Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) wrote:
@TarekFatah (Tarek Fatah): Baloch guerrillas fighting Pakistan occupation, bomb home of country's founder, MA Jinnah. Before-&-after picture. pic.twitter.com/TMF5oe6OYX
Exiled Pakistani journalist and editor-in-chief of The Baloch Hal Malik Siraj Akbar (@MalikSirajAkbar) noted possible hypocrisy in the reaction to the attack:
@MalikSirajAkbar (Malik Siraj Akbar): Jinnah's biggest portrait was smashed outside Ayub Stadium in Quetta in 2006: no reactions. The Residency wasn't even his house
Fasih Ahmed (@therealfasih), Newsweek Pakistan's Editor and first Daniel Pearl Fellow, 2003 wrote:
@therealfasih (Fasih Ahmed): Taliban have killed children, attacked shrines, GHQ. Yet the attack on a house Jinnah stayed at for a few months is the real outrage? #Hello

author: Qurratulain (Annie) Zaman


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PHOTOS: World Day Against Monsanto in Mexico · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Upside Down World has posted a photo essay by Andalusia Knoll on World Day Against Monsanto in Mexico.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Rise in Gas Prices Revives Debate over Campaign Promise in Peru · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

[All links lead to Spanish language pages]
The recent rise in gas prices from household use (LPG) in Peru has revived the debate over President Ollanta Humala's promise of setting the price of gas at 12 soles (around 4.39 U.S. dollars).
At the end of May, news reported on a lowering in the price of combustibles, like liquid petroleum gas (LPG) by 0.7 percent, and the growth so far this year of exports of natural liquid gas (NLG) to Mexico (with a lower price than if it were sold to the Asian market). On June 5, the media reported that the price of a tank of gas for household use increased from 33 or 35 soles (around 12 dollars) or that it began costing up to 38 or 40.8 soles (between 13 and 14 dollars).
Even though Petroperú announced that the price of the LPG tank should have only increased by 0.24 soles (some 9 cents per dollar), the media reported that the average rise was 3 soles (1 dollar) per tank. A representative from the Association of Gas Filling Plants of Peru (AGFPP) stated that the increase corresponds to a discount from Pluspetrol that is no longer in effect.
President Ollanta Humala opened a household network of natural gas in Pisco, Peru, in February of 2012. Photo shared by Presidencia Perú in Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
This unexpected rise was used by former President Alan García to remind President Ollanta Humala that one of his campaign promises was to set the price of the gas tank to 12 soles. Meanwhile, the minister of Energy and Mines reiterated that no reason exists for this rise in prices. And a representative from the Peruvian Association of Consumers (PAC), recommended LPG consumers “to punish” the distributors of this combustible when they increase the price without any reason.
For his part, Osinergmin (Supervisory Body of Investment in Energy and Mining), advertised their web application Facilito, to help the population in general to know and inspect the sale prices of the LPG in the different branches around the country.
But users expressed their discontent when faced with this increase in prices, as can be seen in this video from América Noticias.
There were also similar comments on Twitter. User Nancy Romero (@naveroju) commented on the rise, writing to President Humala:
que paso #OllantaHumala… hoy pague 41.40 x un balón de gas!!! no que iba a bajar a 12.00 soles??? seguimos esperando que cumpla!
— Nancy Romero de Dyer (@naveroju) June 9, 2013
what happened #OllantaHumala… today I paid 41.40 [15 dollars] for a tank of gas!!! Wasn't it going to be lowered to 12.00 soles??? We'll keep waiting for you to honor your promise!
Meanwhile, the journalist with the nickname @LiouDuvinini made reference to the equivalent price in U.S. dollars:
El precio del balón de gas de 10 kg en Lima, Perú, en éstos días llegó a costar US$ 15 (S/.41), el salario mínimo US$ 274
— Liou Duvinini (@LiouDuvinini) June 10, 2013
The price of a 10 kg tank of gas in Lima, Peru costs $15 USD (41 soles), these days, the minimum salary is $274 USD
And user Miklos Lukacs (@mlukacs) shared a news link with the prices for a tank of gas for other cities in the country:
Balon de gas a 49 soles en Madre de Dios!!! Loreto 42, Abancay 41 y Lima 39 http://t.co/bJEmKPrB5J HUMALA COMBATE AL POBRE NO A LA POBREZA!
— Miklos Lukacs (@mlukacs) June 13, 2013
A tank of gas at 49 soles (18 dollars) in Madre de Dios!!! Loreto 42 (15.4 dollars), Abancay 41 (15 dollars) and Lima 39 (13.8 dollars) HUMALA FIGHTS THE POOR AND NOT POVERTY!
Photo shared by Sheep”R”Us on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Even though there are studies that attempt to demonstrate that it is feasible to lower the price of a tank of gas, that doesn't seem to be the intention of the present government. Rather, they are taking some measures to increase and strengthen the use of natural gas and the LPG in the population, which includes some subsidies in the costs of infrastructure and/or power supply equipment for low-income populations and also for the price of gas in provinces.
An element which could also have a future impact on the price of gas in Peru is the exploitation of non-conventional gas (or schist gas, among others), especially in the United States, although there are large deposits of this type of gas in an area that covers parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. There are environmental objections against the technique for exploiting this gas, above all because it alters the freatic water table, but given its potential and the reduction of prices it represents, there is almost no doubt that it will become the trend in the future.
In fact this already affects the prospects for exploitating the deposits of traditional gas on which Peru counts. As they explain in the blog Prospectiva with information from the daily El Comercio:
Nuestra industria de gas, pequeña e incipiente, ya siente las consecuencias de esta revolución. La caída del precio ha obligado a Perú LNG y a su socio comercial Repsol a buscar nuevos mercados que paguen más por el gas que exportan. Incluso, el ministro de Energía y Minas, Jorge Merino, ha pedido a México que libere a la empresa exportadora del contrato de abastecimiento que tiene suscrito con empresarios de dicho país […] Según los expertos en temas de hidrocarburos, […] ahora será muy complicado para nuestro país desarrollar su industria petroquímica a partir del gas de Camisea, puesto que Estados Unidos ya está atrayendo a empresas de ese tipo y espera convertirse a corto plazo en la primera potencia petroquímica del mundo.
Our gas industry, small and incipient, already feels the consequences of this revolution. The price fall has forced Peru LNG and its commercial partner Repsol search for new markets that pay more for the gas they export. Even the minister of Energy and Mines, Jorge Merino, has asked Mexico to free the export company from the service contract which it has signed with business owners from said country […] According to experts on topics of hydrocarbons, […] it will now be very complicated for our country to develop its petrochemical industry around gas from Camisea, given that the United States is already attracting those types of companies and hopes to become the first petrochemical power in the world in a short time.
However, this will not immediately alleviate the suffering of Peruvian families who have seen their purchasing power reduced with this rise in price for a tank of gas, which doesn't only affect their direct purchases of that product, but also their indirect expenses in other specialized areas.


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Venezuelan Universities On Strike Demand Economic Improvements · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Numerous protests have taken place in cities home to some of Venezuela's most important public universities and after various discussions, a general strike has been declared.
The focal point of the struggle is given by the wages of university professors who, despite training and experience, occupy yet another position in the long line of professionals who are drowning economically.
In effect, this is not a new situation. Nonetheless, with the Venezuelan economy's erratic movements and clashes between political groups, the university fight is becoming more and more complicated.
As such, with the controversies that have taken place in recent months between government representatives and public universities, the next episode in a long conflict is being written.
The situation with universities also unavoidably feeds political polarization. Positions are fragmented and diversified. It is argued that the concessions demanded have a lot to do with hidden political interests, the inefficiency of the university strike is discussed, sabotage is brought up as an accusation and different modes of protest are sought out.
Daniela Olivero [es] shares a photo from her Facebook page that shows one of the most widespread ways of protest at that university: classes outside of classrooms.
Photo posted by Daniela Olivero, used with permission
Similarly, Central University of Venezuela's Facebook page [es] shares various photos of the protests and debates that have taken place:
Student assembly at UCV's Magna Auditorium regarding indefinite unemployment. Photo shared by Central University of Venezuela on Facebook.
“From professors to poorfessors” photo shared by Universidad Central de Venezuela on Facebook.
In favor of the professors’ strike, Gustavo Coronel [es] harshly criticizes the government and incorporates the fight of university professors into national and international dynamics:
…a los profesores universitarios venezolanos, cuanto les pagan? Y cuando les pagan? Les pagan hoy, en bolívares constantes, la cuarta parte de lo que les pagaban en 1999 […] Por ello no es sorprendente que los profesores universitarios venezolanos se vayan a la huelga. Es que ese es un paso inevitable. Como debería serlo el de la huelga cívica indefinida por parte de una población que no tiene papel tualé […]
… how much do they pay Venezuelan university professors? And when? They pay them today, in bolívars [Venezuelan currency], a quarter of what they were paid in 1999 […] So it is not surprising that Venezuelan professors are going on strike. That is an inevitable step. As an indefinite civil strike on behalf of a population that does not have toilet paper should be […]
Coronel continues:
Promover la gran protesta es golpista? Pedir al país que insurga es atentar contra la nación? O es, precisamente, tratar de evitar que la nación venezolana sea totalmente destruída por esta pandilla de hampones e ineptos enquistada en el poder? A muchos venezolanos esa lógica falsa del régimen los tiene bajo chantaje. La misma oposición organizada se ha visto obligada a actuar con cautela, temiendo ser tildada de golpista.
Promoting the grand protest is a coup? Asking the country to uprise is threatening the nation? Or is it, precisely, trying to prevent the Venezuelan nation from being totally destroyed by this gang of thugs and inept individuals entrenched in power? This false logic of the regime has many Venezuelans under a spell. The very same organized opposition has been forced to act with caution, fearing being branded as coup leaders.
Raquel Aquino goes on to interview Tatiana Lugo, a retired professor from Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and author of the blog Vainas de Tatiana [es], for El Pretexto [es]. Throughout the interview they discuss the identity of those who form part of the university, particularly the Central University, in addition to the causes and consequences of the professors’ situation as well as their protest.
Los profesores de la UCV son una especie rara: optan por un modo de vida que, por una parte, les da la satisfacción de transmitir conocimientos, les brinda el inmenso honor de ayudar a formar a los profesionales que Venezuela requiere pero por otra les impide tener estabilidad económica. Desgraciadamente, los gobiernos venezolanos a partir de la década de los 80 han decidido, erróneamente, ignorar la importancia de la formación académica […] los estudiantes carecen de laboratorios modernos, tecnología apropiada, por no hablar de becas y bibliotecas.
The UCV professors are a rare species: they opt for a way of life that, on one hand, gives them the satisfaction of instilling knowledge and the immense honor of helping mold professionals that Venezuela needs, but on the other hand prevents them from having economic stability. Disgracefully, since the 1980s the Venezuelan government has decided, mistakenly, to ignore the importance of academic training […] students lack modern laboratories, appropriate technology, let alone scholarships and libraries.
In the same post she revealed the costs of basic products and compared them with professor wages (the source of the figures come from the Association of UCV Professors [es], from May 2013):
In a convergent point of view on his blog, ven-educa, Yonathan Ruiz [es] sees the situation of universities and the strike as a demonstration of malice on behalf of the higher education officials responsible for this and laments that despite the country's economic possibilities, the education sector finds itself struggling for resources:
Que los educadores de las universidades públicas tengan que dejar las aulas para salir a la calle a exigir y defender derechos inherentes a su alta investidura, es un síntoma inequívoco de mezquindad de quienes pudiendo haber evitado esto, no lo hicieron. […]
Si el país, concretamente el Estado, no trata y no valora suficientemente al talento de los educadores, difícilmente lograremos remontar la enorme cuesta que tenemos con la crisis sociocultural que nos ha traído hasta aquí.
The fact that educators at public universities have to leave their classrooms and take to the streets to demand and defend the inherent rights to their high office is an unequivocal symptom of the malice of those who could have avoided this but did not. […]
If the country, specifically the State, does not try and does not sufficiently value the talent of educators, it will be extremely difficult for us to overcome the enormous costs that we have with the sociocultural crisis that has brought us here.
And as we pointed out, positions are diversifying. In various sectors of Venezuelan opinion, the university strike is seen as an eroded and inefficient resource. David Da Silva [es], an International Studies student at UCV explains it as such and also comments on the position of labor unions amidst the conflict:
En mi opinión, los paros del sector universitario no tienen el mismo peso político y económico que, por poner un ejemplo, un paro de trabajadores en las empresas básicas de Guayana. Esto último conllevaría a una disminución en la producción de aluminio, acero y hierro, lo cual comprometería de manera importante la continuidad de la gran misión Vivienda Venezuela.
En cambio, los paros en la educación superior afectan principalmente a la misma comunidad universitaria.
In my opinion, the strikes in the university sector do not bear the same political and economic weight as a workers strike in the basic industries of Guayana, to give an example. The latter would lead to a decrease in production of aluminum, steel, and iron, which would significantly jeopardize the continuity of Vivienda Venezuela's grand mission.
The strike in higher education, however, mainly affects the university community itself.
With respect to the situation of the administrative employees of the university, he maintains:
Algunos movimientos o grupos estudiantiles que se identifican con la izquierda política, y que por lo tanto mantienen una actitud pro-gobierno, han tratado de llevar la situación que vive el personal universitario al plano político, cuestión que no me parece correcta, ya que se desvirtúa una realidad gremial, sindical, laboral y entran en discusión otros temas que están totalmente fuera de contexto.
Some movements or student groups that identify themselves with the political left, and therefore maintain a pro-government attitude, have tried to bring the situation that the university staff is living through to the political level, an issue that does not seem correct to me, since it distorts a trade, union, and labor reality and other issues that are completely out of context enter the discussion.
In a video that Isabel Matos shares, a number of professors from the School of Modern Languages (of Central University of Venezuela) give their testimonies. They explain how much they earn, what they spend it on, other activities they need to do in order to make it to the end of the month, and the consequences this can have in their performance within university activities.
Providing much more critical insight, Profesor Pablo Aure [es] explains why he finds himself against the university strike, despite agreeing with various arguments discussed and having been penalized, he says, for opposing the strike:
Desaprovechamos la mejor tribuna que son las aulas de clases o los pasillos para conversar con nuestros estudiantes y colegas sobre la situación nacional.
Si piensan que parando la Universidad “le ablandaremos” el corazón a esta gente que deliberadamente tienen como objetivo exterminarnos: se equivocan.
Mi llamado es a la reflexión y pensar en esos miles de estudiantes que tienen su proyecto de vida, también a esos miles de familiares que hacen sacrificios para costear los estudios de sus muchachos.
We are losing out on the best platform that is the classrooms or hallways to have conversations with our students and colleagues about the national situation.
If you think that stopping the University “will soften” the heart of these people that deliberately aim to exterminate us: you are mistaken.
My calling is to reflection and thinking of those thousands of students that have their life project, and also of those thousands of families that have made sacrifices to pay for their children's education.
Heriberto Gómez explains from the city of Mérida, in the west, some consequences of the university strike on Aporrea [es]:
- Un día de clases que pierde un estudiante, no lo recuperará más nunca en su vida. Será un día perdido para siempre, así le den luego la clase.
– En la ULA [Universidad de Los Andes] por cada día laboral que se pierde por paro, se echan a la basura 4 millones de bolívares fuertes.[…]
– Para los estudiantes que son de afuera de Mérida o de las ciudades donde se localicen sus centros de estudios, un día de paro significa una importante pérdida económica para ellos y sus padres, pues igual deben pagar residencias, comidas y otros gastos de vida, a pesar de no estar en clases.
- Each day of classes that a student loses, they will never recuperate in their lives. It will be a day lost forever, even if they are taught the class later.
- In ULA [University of Los Andes], for every work day lost due to the strike, 4 million bolívars are thrown away.
[…]
- For students from outside of Mérida or cities where their centers of study are located, one day of striking means an important economic loss for them and their parents, since they also have to pay for room, board and other costs of living, despite not being in class.
Among the list of causes, the author also points to the possible intentions that, according to him, are behind those who direct the professors’ strike:
Detrás del paro hay otros intereses ocultos, pues está dirigido por profesores con clara identificación político-partidista opositoras al gobierno nacional. Así se cumplan sus reivindicaciones salariales, sus intereses políticos y personales son otros.
There are other hidden interests behind the strike, as it is lead by professors with a politico-partisan identification clearly opposed to the national government. As such their wage concessions are fulfilled, while their political and personal interests are different.
At the time of this post's publication, universities on the national level have declared an indefinite strike.
Meanwhile, the majority of the communications take place in a public manner, in the traditional media and through citizen media.
University campuses remain closed and the universities, in protest or with lectures expand in the digital world and in the streets.

author: Laura Vidal


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VIDEO: ‘Vinegar Revolt’ Bus Fare Protests Spread Across Brazil  · Global Voices
Fernanda Canofre

[All links lead to Portuguese-language webpages unless stated otherwise.]
The waves of protests against a bus fare increase in São Paulo is moving beyond the city limits and becoming a national movement.
The Free Fare Movement protests are against the fare increase from three Brazilian reais (1.40 US dollars) to 3.20 reais (1.50 US dollars) put into effect at the beginning of June. The demonstrations have been met with a volley of pepper spray, rubber bullets and tear gas from authorities, with hundreds of people arrested during a June 13 protest in São Paulo.
The movement has been dubbed the “Vinegar Revolt“, after the vinegar-soaked cloths that protesters use to protect themselves from the effects of tear gas fired by police. Journalist Piero Locatelli, who writes for the magazine Carta Capital, was allegedly arrested for carrying vinegar in his backpack while covering the protests on June 13, as seen in the YouTube video below.
The next protest, scheduled for June 17, has been ironically named “The March for the Legalization of Vinegar.”
In general, the protesters have been portrayed as “troublemakers” and “vandals” by mainstream media, but the very coverage by the media has been altered by the testimonies of citizen journalists that have taken the Internet by storm. Reports of violent aggression from police have spread across the blogosphere. The Tumblr blog feridosnoprotestosp.tumblr.com (meaning “injured in sp protest”) was created to denounce the use of violence against protesters.
On Twitter, the hashtag #pimentavsvinagre (#peppervsvinegar) has been used. Videos relating to the protests have also been shared on YouTube such as this one by Global Voices volunteer Raphael Tsavkko, which shows police violence on Augusta Street in São Paulo:
Anonymous Brasil's YouTube channel published a video with different images from São Paulo, calling its people to the streets:
The fourth demonstration against bus fare increaes in São Paulo / São Paulo Movement Free Pass / Facebook
Since the June 13 protest ended in hundreds of arrests, people in other regional capital cities such Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre have taken to the streets, facing police retaliation. While this month's marches had have the strongest national and international coverage, they are related to other movements against bus fare hikes that have been ongoing in the country since last year.
In Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, a movement called the “Big Bus Revolt” started in September 2012 when youth occupied the bus stations and main streets of the city to protest against bus fare increases. This year, when the new mayoral administration tried again to increase fares, youth returned to the streets.
Just like in other capitals, the local media spoke of vandalism. The protest on May 15, 2013 was violently repressed by police as shown by this video on YouTube channel Coletivofoque:
Anonymous activists defaced the site of the Union of Passenger Transport Companies of the City of Natal (SETURN), a public transport company of the city, and posted a note inviting city residents to a protest on June 20.
In Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, citizens were able to overturn the decision to increase fares by taking to the streets in March 2013. After this pressure, the change was suspended by an injunction by the courts in April. However, there will be another judgement in two weeks which could overturn the injunction. The Association of Passenger Transporters (ATP), the company responsible for public transport in the city, is waiting on an appeal. The company's proposal is a fare increase from 2.85 Brazilian reais (1.32 US dollars) to 3.05 reais (1.41 US dollars).
To mount pressure against the increase, there was a march through the streets of the southern capital city on June 13. It was suppressed with tear gas and rubber bullets by the military brigade, as shown by the video posted on Coletivocatarse:
It was reported that there were protesters that attacked a garbage container and broke bus headlights and that a total of 23 people, among them 18 men and 5 women, were arrested this night, acccording to news website. A video posted by YouTube user Jeronimo Menezes shows armed police entering a bar in the region of João Pessoa Avenue and threatening regulars, asking them to point out who participated in the protest:
On the eve of the beginning of the Confederations Cup, the event which comes before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the struggle against bus fare hikes has shone light on the things that really matter, as journalist Luís Felipe dos Santos reminded:
O aumento da passagem é um pretexto para o padrão do Brasil como país emergente: o serviço encarece, mas não melhora. O ônibus ficou mais caro, mas não justificou esse aumento – continua lotando, continua matando os passageiros (como no Rio), continua atrasando. Como os ônibus, os imóveis também ficaram mais caros e não melhoraram. A saúde ficou mais cara e não melhorou. A educação ficou mais cara e não melhorou. Os preços dos ingressos de estádios de futebol encareceram e não melhoraram.
The bus fare hikes are just symbolic of the standard [of life] in Brazil as an emerging economy: services get more expensive, but do not improve. The bus got more expensive, but there is no justification – they are still overcrowded , they still kill passengers (like in Rio), and they are still running late. Like buses, housing is getting more expensive and not improving. And healthcare is more expensive and not improving. Education is more expensive and not improving. The prices of football tickets are more expensive and there is no improvement.
This post was written in collaboration with Débora Baldelli.

author: Fernanda Canofre


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Brazil: Repression at FIFA Confederations Cup in Rio de Janeiro · Global Voices
Debora Baldelli

Following the wave of protests against adjustments to transportation and public spending before the 2014 World Cup, protesters outside the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro were reprimanded by the Military Police, who used tear gas against people who had taken refuge in Quinta da Boa Vista City Park, as shown here in this video. An audio recording by a radio host who was covering the Sunday game between Mexico and Italy on June 16 was widely shared under the hashtag #ProtestosRJ (protestsRJ).

author: Debora Baldelli


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Caribbean: Is Somebody Watching?   · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The ongoing saga with U.S. Internet surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has captured the attention of the world – Caribbean bloggers included.  There has been a fair amount of discussion about the issue on Facebook: users of the social network have been sharing up-to-the-minute news links and signing the Avaaz.org petition to “Stand with Snowden”.
In two blog posts, one from Trinidad and Tobago and the other from Cuba, there is an interesting juxtaposition between high-tech spying and old-fashioned intelligence, even though they both pit the citizens against the state.  ICT Pulse, which prides itself on discussing global technology issues from a Caribbean point of view, opens by saying:
The recent revelations of the breadth and depth of the telecoms surveillance being conducted by the United States has been highlighting the extent to which communication is no longer private.
Unless you have been wholly disconnected from international news over the last two weeks, we have been inundated with reports about the extent of the surveillance and spying being done by the United States National Security Agency (NSA). Although from time to time we here at ICT Pulse have been discussing the fact that Internet privacy is an illusion, and suggesting ways in which to improve your privacy online, these recent revelations indicate a more pervasive (and government-sanctioned) programme exists.
The post then sums up the United States’ approach to telecommunications surveillance, explaining:
Through electronic surveillance projects, most notably one codenamed PRISM, the NSA has been collecting data from…telecoms companies, such as AT&T and Verizon, and from large internet properties, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, AOL, YouTube, Skype and Apple.  When news about PRISM was made public, some of companies sought to refute claims that the NSA was collecting the data ‘directly from the servers’. However, subsequent reports have suggested that the US government has indeed been getting access to user content.
To defuse some of the outcry that occurred in the US when the story broke, the government revealed that its surveillance has been geared primarily towards identifying potential threats to America.
With regard to voice calls, the US government indicated that it collects the metadata of those transactions, and did not necessarily listen in on people’s conversations. However, the metadata, while not capturing the actual content of persons’ interactions, can provide enough information to deduce the nature of those conversations.
So what does that mean for people who live in the Caribbean?
Our telephone conversations generally might fall outside of US jurisdiction, and so not be immediately subject to PRISM and other forms of scrutiny. However, in circumstances where Internet Messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol- (VoIP) type services are being used, e.g. Skype, Viber, and iChat, and especially when the servers might be located in the US, those interactions could be subject to US government surveillance.
The blog is careful to issue a warning:
We…ought to bear in mind, that even in the region, law enforcement is increasingly seeking to have access to and to rely on the tapping of phones (fixed and mobile/cellular) in their investigations. In many Caribbean countries, mobile/cellular phone registration is mandatory, which means that, up to a point, the original owner of a device is known. Moreover, from time to time, proposals are mooted to relax device-tapping or call interception procedures – for example so that a government Minister can sanction such activities instead of the courts. Although generally there has been opposition to those proposals, they will continue to rear their head, as law enforcement continues to grapple with crime, and governments place increasing focus on ‘national security’.
With the exception of the European Union, countries worldwide have been relatively silent about the disclosures regarding the depth and breadth of US electronic surveillance.  Hence it could cause us to question whether or not, or the extent to which countries, including those in the Caribbean, might have cooperated with the US on such matters.
Tackling what it calls an “over-reliance on US Internet facilities”, the post suggests a possible solution:
We…need to…recognise that our personal and business-related data could also be subject to US scrutiny, should they be stored in the US.
From a sovereignty and national security perspective, a case could be made for individual countries or even the region collectively, to actively develop their own web hosting, server facilities, Internet infrastructure, etc., in order to encourage their citizens to bring their data closer to home.
In Cuba, however, according to Yoani Sanchez, “home” is exactly where the spying originates from:
His own neighbor watches him. No one has confirmed it, he hasn’t read it any report, and he doesn’t have any friends in the police who have warned him. He’s simply not stupid. Whenever he opens the gate to his house, a white head peers out from next door. For every five times that he comes and goes, at least three times he runs into the old man who lives in the next apartment pretending to water the plants in the passage. The pots are overflowing, but the improvised watcher continues to add more and more water. Also he asks questions, a lot of questions, on the most imponderable topics: Um… what you have in that bag, where did you buy it? It’s been some time since you visited your mother-in-law, right? So he has his own private informer, an intelligence cell — of just one member — focused on his existence.
The post continues:
In an unwritten, but very frequent, formula, most of the people involved in the betrayal of other Cubans also exhibit a great frustration in their personal lives. Not that every unhappy person becomes an informant for State Security, but failure is a breeding ground that the recruiters of informers take advantage of. With these individuals they develop shock troops willing to destroy others.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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China’s “Leftover” Women · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

In China, if a young woman does not marry by age twenty-eight, she is widely considered “leftover”. If she is single by age thirty, she is made to feel she has truly expired.
Melissa Schneider, a couples counselor living in Shenzhen, believes that the so-called “leftover women” problem has been exaggerated.


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Chinese Football Team Defeated Again · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Barry van Wyk from DANWEI blogs about Chinese media and football fans’ reactions to the recent humiliating defeat of 5-1 at home for China’s football team against an under-strength team of youngsters from tiny Thailand.


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Cuba: Another Brick in the Wall?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The whole process is managed and legitimated by a whole army of high-level psychologists and pedagogues in the name of the common Good.
Erasmo Calzadilla blogs at Havana Times about the state of education in Cuba: “Till recently, school and repression were for me synonymous.”


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Defeat Has China’s Soccer Fans Up in Arms · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Chinese national football has long been mocked by fans in China for its poor performance and corruption allegations. Offbeat weighed in on a recent defeat from the national football team that has galvanized many avid soccer fans.

author: Abby Liu


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Iran Qualifies for 2014 World Cup · Global Voices
Farid

Iran won against South Korea and booked a place in next year's FIFA World Cup. Iranians took to the streets across their country to celebrate.


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Japan’s WordPress Communities Celebrate 10 Years · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

WordPress communities in Japan celebrated the 10th anniversary of the open source blogging platform. Events were held in Sapporo, Kagawa, Tokyo, Chiba and Osaka. There are 40 local WordBench [ja] groups, Japan's WordPress local community directory is powered by BuddyPress. Naoko Takano blogs more about the events in Japan.
WordPress 10th Anniversary Party in Sakai, Osaka
(BY-NC-SA/3.0)

author: Keiko Tanaka


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Julian Assange, Calle 13, and Twitter Users Write a Song Together · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

There was a gathering on Twitter that few people would have expected: René Pérez, better known as “Residente” from the musical group Calle 13 —a group that resists any type of classification—, and Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, gathered ideas and suggestions from Twitter users to write a song together that will go on Calle 13's next album.
The song will be about the manipulation of the media. The idea behind gathering suggestions from Twitter users is explained by René Pérez himself in one of his tweets:
@Calle13Oficial: Estamos escribiendo todas sus ideas para luego nosotros manipularlas al igual que los medios nos hacen a nosotros #JulianAssangeCalle13
@Calle13Oficial: We are writing down all of your ideas to later manipulate them ourselves just as the media does to us #JulianAssangeCalle13
Julian Assange and Calle 13 at the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where Assange is currently staying after asking the Ecuadorian government for asylum. Photo taken from Calle 13's official Twitter account @Calle13Oficial.
Assange and Pérez created the hashtag #JulianAssangeCalle13 which was trending worldwide just a few minutes after the start of the event. Pérez put out a series of questions to provoke reactions from those tweeting. It should not seem strange that, in the days following the scandalous revelations made by Edward Snowden about the huge secret surveillance scheme of the United States government, some of the answers were loaded with sarcasm, others with depth, and others even with rage, but all demonstrating the incredible diversity of human beings. There were some that were simply genius. Of the thousands of answers that people wrote, hardly a tiny fraction are shown here:
@Calle13Oficial: ¿Por qué no confían en los servicios de seguridad? #JulianAssangeCalle13
@Calle13Oficial: Why don't you trust the security services? #JulianAssangeCalle13
@FabrielGara: #JulianAssangeCalle13 ¿Cómo confiaría en alguien cuyo trabajo es estar dispuesto a matarme?
@FabrielGara: #JulianAssangeCalle13 How could I trust someone whose job it is to be prepared to kill me?
@AngelCouvertier: La seguridad nacional nace y se mantiene con la sangre de los inocentes #JulianAssangeCalle13
@AngelCouvertier: National security is born of and maintained with the blood of innocent people #JulianAssangeCalle13
@Ismael03: @Calle13Oficial porque sin saberlo se convierten en mercenarios del poder. Proteger al millonario y Servir al malhechor #JulianAssangeCalle13
@Ismael03: @Calle13Oficial because without knowing it they become the mercenaries of those in power. Protect the millionaire and Serve the criminal #JulianAssangeCalle13
@ramaotatengue: Porque si de algo estamos seguros, es que no existe seguridad #JulianAssangeCalle13
@ramaotatengue: Because if there is something that we are sure of, it is that security doesn't exist #JulianAssangeCalle13
@boricua_x100pre: @Calle13Oficial Vivimos en un sistema privado, privado de libertad, privado de privacidad, privado de semillas terrenos #JulianAssangeCalle13
@boricua_x100pre: @Calle13Oficial We live in a private system, deprived of liberty, deprived of privacy, deprived of seeds and land  #JulianAssangeCalle13
@CroniQiando: @Calle13Oficial la seguridad no nos asegura bienestar. #JulianAssangeCalle13‘
@CroniQiando: @Calle13Oficial security does not ensure our well-being. #JulianAssangeCalle13‘
@KELVINTIU1: La seguridad es para pinguinos de traje corbata, en el barrio nos cuidamos todos hasta d la seguridad de los pinguinos #julianassangecalle13
@KELVINTIU1: Security is for penguins in a suit and tie, in the barrio we all take care of each other, even from the security of the penguins #julianassangecalle13
@peyeoropeza: Cuando nos atacan le llaman libertad,cuando nos defendemos le llaman represion.#JulianAssangeCalle13, @Calle13Oficial
@peyeoropeza: When they attack us, they call it liberty,when we defend ourselves they call it repression.#JulianAssangeCalle13, @Calle13Oficial
@Calle13Oficial: ¿Por que no confían en la justicia? #JulianAssangeCalle13
@Calle13Oficial: Why don't you trust justice? #JulianAssangeCalle13
@BosqueDavid: @Calle13Oficial#JulianAssangeCalle13 La justicia se ha convertido en un exclusivo bien de mercado, solo la reciben quienes la pueden pagar
@BosqueDavid: @Calle13Oficial#JulianAssangeCalle13 Justice has become an exclusive market good, only those who can pay for it receive it
@polilo_6: @Calle13Oficial la justicia tiene diferencias sociales hay una justicia para los ricos y otra para los pobres #JulianAssangeCalle13
@polilo_6: @Calle13Oficial justice has social differences, there is one justice for the rich and another for the poor #JulianAssangeCalle13
@NOMASIVA1: Soy nobel de la paz pero odio al whistleblower Si desnudas mis mentiras despídete de tu vida pues te encierro o te mato #JulianAssangeCalle13
@NOMASIVA1: I am a Nobel Peace Prize winner but I hate the whistleblower If you undress my lies say goodbye to your life, I will jail you or kill you #JulianAssangeCalle13
@lucych7: #JulianAssangeCalle13 La justicia hoy en día no es + q una utopía, se vende en 1 esquina d cualquier ciudad, la goza quien la puede pagar
@lucych7: #JulianAssangeCalle13 Justice today is nothing more than a utopia, it is sold on 1 corner of any city, the one who can pay for it is the one who enjoys it
@riveraalvarenga: La justicia es como la serpiente, sólo muerde el pie del descalzo. #JulianAssangeCalle13@Calle13Oficial
@riveraalvarenga: Justice is like a snake, it only bites the foot of the person who is barefoot. #JulianAssangeCalle13@Calle13Oficial
You can see a Storify of the event created on Twitter by Julian Assange, René Pérez and the thousands of Twitter users who participated here [es].

author: Ángel Carrión


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Nothing Can Stop Brazil’s Vinegar Revolt, Not Even FIFA  · Global Voices
Thiana Biondo

Protest in Rio de Janeiro on June 17, 2013. By Twitter user Bruno Érnica (@brunoernica)
While Tahiti was scoring a historic goal against Nigeria inside a stadium specially renovated for the FIFA Confederations Cup, Brazil's military police helicopters sprayed teargas on [pt] demonstrators protesting increased bus fares in Belo Horizonte.
At the same time, at least 60,000 protesters gathered in São Paulo city and coordinated protests took place in another 10 Brazilian [pt] state capitals on June 17, 2013, as part of the fifth [pt] demonstration called by the Free Fare Movement São Paulo, a group that opposes rising bus fares in Brazil.
The demonstations which started in Sao Paulo, have spread to the whole country and are being called the Vinegar Revolt, ever since protesters used vinegar-soaked cloths to protect themselves from police adamant on dispersing them with teargas on June 13.
Since last year, many protests were launched against bus fare inflation and inadequate public transportation in the country, but these latest protests have more coordination and strength. With the beginning of the Confederations Cup this week, an event which comes before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, protesters are taking to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the country's infrastructure and the massive amount of public money spent on mega sport events.
Protesters give flowers to police outside the Maracanã Stadium in Rio, June 16. Photo by Vik Birkbeck Used with permission/Facebook
Challenging mainstream media
Protesters are using social media to change the discourse in mainstream media, where they were first portrayed as ‘vandals’ and then later as ‘protesters‘ [pt]. In a witty text, [pt] Lelê Teles, criticized the way the ‘old media’ attempts to influence behaviour.
A team from the country's largest media network Globo[pt] was booed by protesters in São Paulo and were later banished from the protest.
A campaign was launched where celebrities sported black eyes to pay homage to a journalist [pt] wounded during the protests. The campaign aimed to regain the trust of the public.
Popular celebrities are also joining the movement, Brazilian composer and singer Leoni shared this video on his official YouTube channel with footage of the protests.
Coordinating the protests
Social media has been largely used to spread information about the gatherings. On Facebook [pt], people from at least 30 different Brazilian cities joined the protest call. Alexandre Rosas, coordinator of a guerrilla marketing company called Remix Social Ideas [pt] shared a page with key points of the June 17 event. The list has been shared almost 30,000 from the Anonymous Brasil [pt] Facebook profile and 17,000 times from Rosas Facebook profile where he wrote:
TUDO que você precisa saber sobre a manifestação desta segunda-feira no Largo da Batata e tinha preguiça de procurar. Alguém fez essa compilação completíssima, não sei quem foi, mas agradeço. REPASSEM:
1 – Como protestar e ajudar de casa
2 – Como se comportar no protesto
3 – Orientacões Jurídicas
4 – Evento Oficial e contato com a Coordenação
5 – Material e Suporte Técnico
6 – Como lidar com gás lacrimogêneo e bombas
7 – Primeiros Socorros (pré-durante-pós)
8 – Eventos no Brasil.
9 – Eventos no Mundo.
10 – Ajuda internacional
ALL you need to know about the demonstration happening today in the Largo da Batata and have been lazy too look for. Someone has done this full compilation. I don't know who but I appreciate it. Pass it on:
1 – How to protest and help from home
2 – How to behave in the protest
3 – Legal advice
4 – Official Event and the Coordinators contact
5 – Material and Technical Support
6 – How to deal with tear gas and bombs
7 – First Aid (pre-during-after)
8 – Events in Brazil
9 – Events in the World
10 – International Assistance
The Facebook page of Brazilian cartoonist Laerte, asked people around the world to schedule protests for June 18, in solidarity with Brazilians. The list of cities joining the protests can be seen on his page:
“Baderneiros” de todo mundo organizam para incentivar “baderneiros” Brasileiros.
Nessa segunda-feira, 17 de Junho de 2013, o Brasil vai parar pra arrumar a casa. E nessa terça-feira, 18 de Junho de 2013, o mundo também vai parar com MANIFESTAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS EM SOLIDARIEDADE ao Brasil…
“Troublemakers” all over the world get together to encourage Brazilians “troublemakers” .
This Monday, June 17, 2013, Brazil will stop to tidy up the house. And this Tuesday, June 18, 2013, the world will also stop with INTERNATIONAL EVENTS IN SOLIDARITY with Brazil
The hashtags #passelivre and #MOBajuda were used on Facebook and other social media platforms for the protests. In case of emergency, lawyer Igor Santos explained how to use them sharing a comment on page MobilizadosSP  (Mobilized People São Paulo) [pt]:
Galera, estamos montando um grupo que irá monitorar as redes sociais durante o protesto na segunda-feira.
O intuito é ajudar os manifestantes que precisarem de alguma coisa, informações sobre os pontos sem conflito potencial, e rotas livres, socorro aos que estiverem feridos ou que precisarem de um abrigo por qualquer motivo.
A tag será #MOBAjuda é uma tag de EMERGÊNCIA! Portanto, só usem durante a manifestação para este fim!
Folks, we are setting up a group that will keep track of all social media networks during the protest on Monday.
The aim is to help the demonstrators who need anything, as information on the spots with no potential conflict and free routes, as well as aid to those who are wounded or  for any reason needs shelter. The tag will be #MOBAjuda It’s an EMERGENCY tag! Therefore, only use it during the demonstration for this purpose!
Protest in Sao Paolo on June 17, 2013. By Journalist and Twitter user Maíra Kubík Mano(@mairakubik)
Brazilians have been using various hashtags for the protests on Twitter. What started as pimentavsvinagre (pepper vs. vinegar) on June 13 has already being replaced by other phrases such as  #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoébobo (Take Down the Globo Media Network The People Are Not Stupid) and #HACKEIAG1 (Hack the G1- a Globo News Website) as a way to criticize the company coverage of recent events. Lately,  the hashtag #VEMPRARUAPVH (Come To The Streets), #ProtestoRJ (Protest Rio de Janeiro) and #ProtestoSP (Protest São Paulo) are now the most used.
Teenager JulianaMDV (@JulianaMDV) says:
@JulianaMDV: O gás que os policiais usavam tava vencido, pq acharam que o povo ia continuar cego, surdo e mudo #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoébobo <ahref=”https://twitter.com/search?q=%23VEMPRARUAPVH&src=hash”>#VEMPRARUAPVH
The gas the police used was out-of-date because they thought that the population would carry on being blind, death and mute #HACKEIAG1 #VEMPRARUAPVH #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoébobo
Twitter user Lize Pereira (@Lizersp) remarks:
@Lizersp: Essa #redeglobo deixa a copa pra la! Me conte mais sobre o protesto!! #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoéBobo
This #redeglobo leaves the world cup aside! Tell me more about the protest!! #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoéBobo
The fake profile of Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista (@EikeBatiiista) ironically says:
@EikeBatiiista: Brasil ja tem um estadio de 1° mundo, agora só falta construir um pais em volta dele #HACKEIAG1 #VEMPRARUAPVH #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoébobo
Brazil ‘s already got a 1st world stadium, now it only needs to build a country around it #HACKEIAG1 #VEMPRARUAPVH #AbaixoRedeGloboPovoNaoébobo
On Sunday, however, the hashtag that reached Brazilian trending topics was #todarevolucaocomecacomumafaisca (Every Revolution Starts With a Spark) and some are still using it to refer to the series of protests. Twitter user Galdino Toscano(@galdinotoscano) posted a picture saying:
“FIFA World Cup= BLR 33 billion, Olympic Games= BLR 26 billion, Corruption = BLR 50 billion, Minimum wage = BLR 678, you think this is because of BLR 0.20 cents?” Protester outside the Maracanã Stadium, Rio on June 16 2013. Photo by Vik Birkbeck. Used with permission/Facebook
@galdinotoscano: Vem pra rua, porque a rua é a maior arquibancada do Brasil! #TodaRevoluçaoComeçaComUmaFaísca pic.twitter.com/9CTYvifGXS
Come out to the streets because the streets are Brazil’s biggest stadium stand! #TodaRevoluçaoComeçaComUmaFaísca pic.twitter.com/9CTYvifGXS
Twitter user Maris Juana (@Ishouldrink) said:
@Ishouldrink:
Hoje é dia de sair de branco pelas ruas da sua cidade, vamos lutar pelo futuro da nossa nação, juntos. #TodaRevoluçaoComeçaComUmaFaísca
Today is the day to go to the streets of your city wearing white. Let’s fight for the future of our nation, together.#TodaRevoluçaoComeçaComUmaFaísca
Twitter user Bruno Érnica (@brunoernica) published the picture yesteday saying:
@brunoernica: GENTE, olha esse reflexo na fachada de um prédio na manifestação do Rio, no centro da cidade! #ProtestoRJ pic.twitter.com/ledJTQJZ4P
@brunoernica:PEOPLE, look at this reflection on a building front of the manifestation in Rio, at the city center! # ProtestoRJ pic.twitter.com/ledJTQJZ4P
Protests in Curitiba city, (State of Paraná). From Busao Curitiba's Facebook Page. June 17, 2013.
On her blog, United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik highlights that Brazil's public transport system is inefficient because it is controled by an oligopoly system with the consent of the municipality local powers:
É importante lembrar, aliás, que, historicamente, em muitas cidades do país, concessionárias de ônibus têm envolvimento com práticas de cartelização, de desvios de recursos, de controle político de câmaras municipais etc….
Engana-se quem pensa que as pessoas estão nas ruas de São Paulo protestando por causa de 20 centavos. As pessoas estão hoje nas ruas dizendo algo muito parecido com o que a população de Istambul está clamando na Praça Taksim: estão falando do direito à cidade, do direito de se manifestar sobre as decisões relacionadas ao lugar onde vivem.
It is important to remember, in fact, that, historically, in many cities across the country, municipal bus consortiums act like cartels, misappropriate resources, politically control town halls etc ….
It is wrong to thinks that people are on the streets of São Paulo to protest 20 cents. People are on the streets today to say something very similar to what the population of Istanbul in Taksim is crying out for : they're talking about the rights of the city, the right to speak out about decisions related to where they live…
André Araújo shares similar thoughts on Journalist Luis Nassig's blog:
O setor de ônibus municipais é fechado em um pequeno grupo de empresários antiquados e acostumados a um casamento com a baixa política municipal, aliança que vem desde os anos 40.
Se o Movimento Passe Livre quer realmente uma solução melhor para o setor o caminho e acabar com esse conluio viciado entre prefeitos e câmaras com os empresários de ônibus. Isso é o que está por debaixo dos panos, é porisso que o setor não se renova, usa ônibus com carrocerias de caminhão, serviços ruins, explora motoristas e cobradores, tem manutenção péssima…
The municipal bus sector is made of a small group of antiquated entrepreneurs used to engaging in lowly municipal politics, an alliance that dates back to the 1940s.
If the Free Pass Movement really wants a better solution for this industry, the way is to end with this outdated collusion between mayors, municipal chambers and bus business people. This is what is behind the scenes, that's why the industry doesn't improve, it uses bus with lorry bodies, bad service, exploits drivers and collectors, and has bad maintenance [standards].
Protests took place in Belém, Fortaleza, Maceió, Salvador, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Curitiba and Porto Alegre.
This post was written in collaboration with Danielle Martins, Luis Henrique, Debora Baldelli and Juan .

author: Thiana Biondo


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Support Snowden Rally in Hong Kong · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

HongWrong has collected a large number of media reports on the rally to support Edward Snowden in Hong Kong on 15 of June, 2013. Hundreds rallied in the rain demanding the U.S government to stop its spying activities and Hong Kong government to protect Snowden.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Trinidad & Tobago: New Media & Tourism · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

We are destined to fail at our tourism efforts because the stakeholders, decision makers and governmental associations have no understanding of the new media landscape.
Travel blogger Rishi Sankar takes the Trinidad and Tobago tourism body to task for its “lack of recognition of social media’s impact on tourism.”


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Vladimir Putin: Lord of the (Super Bowl) Rings · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Did Vladimir Putin steal New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring when they met in 2005? Many Russian bloggers are asking that very question, after Kraft claimed in a June 14, 2013, New York Post interview that he had in fact not given the ring as a gift. Kraft's announcement (which the Patriots’ spokesperson later called a joke) contradicts his own public statement from 2005, immediately following his meeting with Putin, when he said he'd gifted the $25,000 ring to Russia's president “as a symbol” of “respect and admiration.” (Even then in 2005, however, there were media reports [ru] that Kraft had not intended to give Putin the ring.)
Hamburglar Putin, with the Stanley Cup and Super Bowl ring. This image was created by Kevin Rothrock, using “Halloween's Lost Camera 06″ by Andy Pixel, 31 October 2009, CC 2.0.
Whatever Kraft's true intentions eight years ago, Putin's Press Secretary, Dmitri Peskov, found himself faced yesterday, June 16, with awkward questions about whether or not Putin indeed robbed an American billionaire football-team-owner of his championship ring. Peskov's response [ru] would attract a wave of RuNet mockery:
Если этот джентльмен испытывает действительно такую мучительную боль от утраты произошедшего, кажется, в 2005 году, в связи с актом доверия, то президент будет готов отправить ему какое-нибудь другое кольцо, которое сможет купить за свои деньги.
If this gentleman [Kraft] is experiencing such agony from this loss that apparently occurred in 2005, then the President is prepared as an act of good faith to send him back some other kind of ring, that he will be able to buy with his own money.
Andrei Illarionov, one of Putin's former economic advisors and currently a senior fellow at the conservative Washington think tank, the Cato Institute, dissected Peskov's comments on his blog [ru], arguing that they incriminate Putin in the theft of the ring. Illarionov's logic runs: if the Super Bowl ring is currently stored in the Kremlin's official library, then it is legally regarded as a gift to Russia's head of state, and thus is government property. If Peskov is proposing to refund Kraft the value of the ring, that money should therefore be paid out of the federal budget. That Peskov conveyed Putin's private ability to purchase a replacement ring, however, suggests that the artifact in reality has reverted to Putin's private property. Illarionov concludes his post with the following list of suspicions:
Почему же Песков вынужден говорить о покупке нового кольца?
Потому ли, что оригинальный перстень невозможно вернуть?
А почему невозможно?
Потому что перстня с бриллиантами в президентской библиотеке больше нет?
А был ли он там?
Куда же он делся?
И где этот перстень сейчас?
И почему нельзя просто вернуть злополучный перстень его хозяину?
But why did Peskov need to talk about buying a new ring?
Because the original ring is impossible to return?
But why is that impossible?
Because the diamond-studded ring is no longer in the Presidential Library?
Was it ever there?
Where did it disappear to?
And where is this ring now?
And why is it impossible just to return this unfortunate ring to its owner?
In another amusing commentary [ru] on this story, the blog “Cult Magazine” tried to convey to Russians the significance of Kraft's Super Bowl ring, bearing in mind that the NFL is largely a foreign game to non-Americans. Hockey, on the other hand, enjoys wide popularity in Russia, and the NHL's championship trophy, the Stanley Cup, is for most Russians a more familiar award. While the better parallel to the Stanley Cup in NFL football is the Vince Lombardi Trophy (also a large, difficult-to-steal object), Cult Magazine used the inaccurate comparison to maximum comedic effect:
Еще раз – это награда Национальной Футбольной Лиги, которая вручается победителям Чемпионата Мира по американскому футболу, и награда очень престижная. Представьте, человек решил похвастаться кубком Стенли, а президент вдруг решил, что это подарок и ушёл с ним.
Once again, this is the award in the National Football League given to the winners of the World Championship in American football, and the award is very prestigious. Imagine if someone decided to brag about winning the Stanley Cup, and the President suddenly decided that it was a present for him, and he took off with it.
While this story will undoubtedly fade from the headlines in a matter of weeks (if not days), the incident marks what seems to be one of countless recent episodes in the Kremlin's ailing public image worldwide.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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PHOTOS: 26 Reasons to Love Bangladesh · Global Voices
Rezwan

Jenny Gustafsson, a Swedish political scientist and independent journalist based in Beirut, thinks that Bangladesh is a great & a special place. She lists reasons why and what to love about Bangladesh.

author: Rezwan


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Open Letter to Germany’s Cultural Foundation · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Safia Dickersbach (@ArtsSafia) challenges a new programme dedicated to foster “German-African cultural relations”:
3. The Kulturstiftung claims to support the new African initiatives in the area of contemporary and innovative art. But on the other hand:
a. Africans are not allowed to apply for the funds directly.
b. The African partners are only allowed to apply together with an institutional partner in Germany. The funding guidelines reveal the reason to this: “The German partner, as the project coordinator, has to assume responsibility for ensuring that all funds are expended as contractually agreed upon with the Federal Cultural Foundation.” In other, simpler, words: The Africans are not trustworthy.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Analysis on North Korea’s Nuclear Talk · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

North Korea has recently tried to open discussion with South Korea and the United States on the denuclearization issue. 38 North project site posted a detailed analysis on current inter-Korean dynamics and future prospects.

author: Lee Yoo Eun