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Pictures of Chinese People Scanning QR Codes · Global Voices
88 Bar

A government-sponsored billboard in Hangzhou showcasing a suite of apps and services for tourists.
Below is an edited version of “Pictures of Chinese People Scanning QR Codes” by Christina Xu, originally published on the blog 88 Bar and republished here with permission.
On the way back to Shanghai from our fieldwork trip in rural Guizhou, my colleague Tricia Wang and I decided to go shopping at Guiyang’s Hunter City Mall. Guiyang is the capital city of the poorest province in China, but it’s recently attracted server farms from massive tech companies like Tencent and Alibaba and, with them, wealth and jobs. The mall recently went up near the fancy hotels, serving this new wealthy clientele with high-end Chinese boutiques and international brands like Uniqlo.
Wandering through the mall, we found ourselves in Croquis, a menswear boutique with enough dark tones and mesh paneling to pass for a store in SoHo. As Tricia paid for a bag she liked, the clerk held out a comically large QR code encased in a slab of plexiglass and asked if she wanted to join a VIP membership program that would offer discounts and other perks. Scanning the QR code took Tricia directly to a signup page housed in Croquis’s WeChat brand account, but she had trouble finishing the process.
A few years ago, if I was trying to pass in a circle of technologists and designers, I’d bring up the blog Picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes for a good laugh. The site’s joke is that it’s a blog with no posts. The implication: outside the optimistic daydreams of artists and ad agencies high off of the promise of digital/physical transcendence, almost no one actually stops to scan a QR code they walk by.“Sorry, this happens all the time,” the clerk said sheepishly. “The cell phone signal is terrible in here.”
Fast forward to 2015, and the joke still works in the US. The tech-embracing among us may actually use QR codes quite often — while boarding flights and trains, to get into music shows, to pay for sandwiches using LevelUp — but the interaction always involves holding up our codes to someone else’s scanner, never the other way around. Except for the occasional optimistic marketing campaign, the noisy grids have dissolved quietly into product packaging and subway ads.
In China, however, people scan QR codes all the time.
There are two major factors that give QR codes a leg up in China:
WeChat (left) and Weibo (right) both use QR codes for user discovery and desktop login. Their QR code readers will open any URL in their native browsers.
To use WeChat’s desktop app, you have to scan the QR code with the WeChat app on the phone to log in. From experience, I can tell you that this makes using WeChat after you’ve lost your phone nearly impossible.
Combined, these two factors mean that QR codes are everywhere in public spaces in China, both as pixelated portals to the digital world and as identity verification. They’re even in digital public places, floating above the fold on most major websites. QR codes displayed on screens make me anxious — remember Facebook Rooms?—but the use case here is clear. Like lighting a torch from a bonfire, a user aims their mobile phone at their laptop, scans the code, and takes whatever they were looking at to go.
What’s more interesting to me, though, is how QR codes are used in interpersonal settings.
Some of my first interactions with QR codes in China were around WeChat, which generates a code for each person and group in the system. WeChat offers several different options for “friending” someone you’re sitting next to, but the QR code is the one I saw used the most.
Business card for Ms. Lian Xing, a co-founder of a fair-trade NGO based in Hangzhou.
The logical extension of this is QR codes printed on business cards or propped up as signs in offices. Like taking selfies in front of landmarks or saying Instagrace, scanning someone else’s code has become integrated into social rituals.
This is why QR codes are perceived as so powerful in China by marketers, and why they’re so commonly used as retail tools. But like any other tool, the QR code has its limitations. One, as we saw in Croquis, is performance in low-signal settings; another is simply people’s tolerance for advertising.
Back in Guiyang, while Tricia finished up her checkout process, I slipped next door to Riverstone, a fashion chain with funky prints based in Chengdu, with a few stores around the Southwest of China. A QR code taped near the cash register — its plastic lamination cracked and curling with wear —caught my eye.  I asked the clerk if I could scan it. He was surprised at my interest. The code was there by mandate from the chain’s headquarters in Chengdu, he told me while trying to smooth down the plastic, but most of their customers preferred to add the salespeople on WeChat directly rather than follow the official store account. Some even go a step further.
“Real VIPs don’t want to bother with scanning, so they just give us their phone number directly,” he said. “And you, what, call them?” I asked, slightly horrified. “Yeah, we call them personally when there are sales and when it’s their birthday. It’s more special that way. They’d ignore texts and WeChat messages anyway — it’d just be more spam.”
At least where sales are concerned, sometimes elegant interactions are just no replacement for messy human warmth.
Confession: I’ve been rooting for the QR code all along. Partially, I think, because of its aesthetic inelegance, and partially because it seems fleeting. Like an AOL CD or a pianist at a silent film, the QR code is an awkward stopgap solution that can only exist at a particular moment of transition; an artifact of an era in which we made clumsy compromises about the transition between digital and analog spaces. I want them to mar my visual landscape like the gritty, visible residue of the internet springing leaks into the real world.
But maybe I’m wrong about their pending obsolescence. Scanning a QR code is a gesture, and all gestures (taking a selfie, 1–4 kisses on the cheek) can be awkward to learn. The alternative is one we’re increasingly familiar with: digital interactions designed to be “seamless,” which is to say invisible and outside of our control. No one scans a QR code without clear intention. Maybe, in the near future, we’ll find that refreshing rather than antiquated.
Further reading:
Christina Xu is an organizational designer, ethnographer, and enabler based in New York.
This is her WeChat QR code.

author: 88 Bar


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Muscovites Protest Placement of Giant St. Vladimir Monument · Global Voices
Will Wright

A large number of Muscovites think the proposed location of a new St. Vladimir statue could be a safety hazard. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Several hundred students and locals gathered at Moscow State University last weekend to protest the construction of a gigantic statue of 10th century ruler Saint Vladimir atop one of city's highest points.
Moscow's Sparrow Hills rise above the right bank of the Moskva River, abutting the Moscow State University campus, and are famed for offering a sweeping panoramic view of the Russian capital. If the Ministry of Culture and the Russian Orthodox Church have their way, the hills may also become known for an 82-foot-tall statue honoring a leading religious figure from Russian history.
St. Vladimir, the grand prince of Kievan Rus who converted to Christianity on behalf of all of Russia in 988, has become a favored historical figure in recent years for a Kremlin increasingly close to the Russian Orthodox Chruch. Following Russia's annexation of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin stressed the peninsula's “sacral importance” to Russia as the place where Grand Prince Vladimir was baptized before bringing Christianity to Rus. The Russian government plans to spend about $20 million commemorating St. Vladimir this year, which is the thousand-year anniversary of his death, RBC has reported.
Планируемый памятник князю Владимиру. Высота памятника составит ~ 24,32 метра, общий вес монумента ~ около 330 тонн. pic.twitter.com/n3r1EfEhPC
— ХитрыйЁж (@SlySlyHedgehog) May 28, 2015
The planned monument to Vladimir the Great. The height is 24.32 meters [about 80 feet], and the total weight is roughly 330 metric tons [more than 727,000 pounds].
Many Muscovites have balked at the idea of raising a towering statue of Prince Vladimir atop Sparrow Hills, however. More than 64,000 have signed a petition calling on the city to cancel the project and organize the public selection of a more appropriate spot for the new statue.
The petition advances two primary concerns with the current plan. First, the petition argues that the statue would threaten public safety because Sparrow Hills is a geologically unstable area, and any major construction could cause landslides that would damage the surrounding area and injure anyone there. The petition also asserts that the project contradicts federal and regional legislation on the protection of cultural heritage, violates environmental laws, and neglects statutory procedures for the inclusion of local citizens in decision-making about urban planning.
The construction site for the statue, which appeared during the last week of May, has been the scene of numerous pickets and protests this summer. On June 5, a small crowd of students and locals who had gathered in opposition to the statue were joined by roughly the same number of Night Wolves bikers and orthodox activists from the group Forty by Forty in support of it.
At the protest, a Moscow State student opposed to the statue explained some of her camp's concerns to TV Rain, which also interviewed a Christian Orthodox activist who stressed the need to honor Russia's religious history (despite displaying a shaky understanding of it himself) while accusing all those opposed to the statue of being supporters of “homosexual rights.”
Many Muscovites have also picketed the construction site, including Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer who works at Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. Sobol says she's also filed official statements with the relevant authorities about various legal violations associated with the construction.
Пока мы будем молчать – власть будет продолжать пилить #ЗащитимВоробьевыГоры pic.twitter.com/bjV127PY90
— Соболь Любовь (@SobolLubov) June 17, 2015
While we are silent, the authorities will continue to plunder #[We'reProtectingSparrowHills]
In an apparent win for the opponents of the Sparrow Hills plan, city officials announced on June 9 that the location of the statue would be put under review at the next Moscow City Duma session, on July 14. This decision came after the Russian Military-Historical Society, which is sponsoring the project, proposed a review due to “risks” associated with the Sparrow Hills location. New sites under consideration for the statue reportedly include Europe Square.
“It's possible that this is only a feint to placate the people and the statue will still be built, but maybe the location will actually be changed,” Lyubov Sobol told RuNet Echo. “I think the latter is likely. The authorities are very afraid that opposition leaders will join with the local protests. The authorities are afraid to be in the minority, looking like freaks who no one supports, and are therefore trying to ‘hush up’ this situation any way they can,” Sobol continued, citing successful citizen efforts to save the historic Shukhov radio tower from demolition last year as a possible parallel. “I have hope we will win,” she said.
Despite the pause for review, however, the Sparrow Hills construction site has not been dismantled. In fact, the mayor's office has stated that work to strengthen the slope in the area on Sparrow Hills where the statue was to be built will continue regardless of the ultimate location of the statue, and has nothing to do with the statue, in fact. On her blog, Sobol argues that this is a blatant ploy by contractors to retain the millions of dollars originally allocated for this work when the statue was to be built there.
Meanwhile, Muscovites continue their efforts to protect Sparrow Hills. A protest earlier this week attracted a small crowd of locals, scientists, city deputies, and apparently even some bikers, who complained that the Night Wolves’ recent antics have been discrediting all motorcycle enthusiasts.
Ко встрече жителей в защиту Воробьвых гор присоединились байкеры #ЗащитимВоробьевыГоры pic.twitter.com/0v0yMI13bC
— Соболь Любовь (@SobolLubov) June 23, 2015
Bikers have joined the local protest to protect Sparrow Hills
It has even become fashionable for young Muscovites arriving to take pictures at a scenic lookout point, now blocked by the construction site, to join the campaign.
Прям очередь на фото с плакатом в поддержку #ЗащитимВоробьевыГоры pic.twitter.com/hZKQjE158W
— Николай Ляскин (@nlyaskin) June 18, 2015
A line for photos with the poster in support of #ЗащитимВоробьевыГоры [#We'reProtectingSparrowHills]

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Will Wright


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Shia Mosque Attacked by ISIS in Kuwait, Leaving at Least 24 People Dead · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bloodstained Shia cleric survives the suicide attack on the mosque in #Kuwait, tweets @Hayder_alKhoei
At least 24 people were killed and scores others were injured when an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up in Al Sadeq Mosque in Kuwait today. On social media, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack on the Shia mosque, the fourth such attack on Shia mosques in Gulf countries in recent months.
Last month, the ISIS claimed responsibility for two similar attacks on Shia mosques in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the heartland of Wahabbism, a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, which claims to be the “official form of Sunni Islam.” On May 22, a suicide bomber killed 23 people and left 102 people injured when he blew himself up in the Imam Ali Mosque in Al Qadih, in Qatif, in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. The following Friday, on May 31, three people were killed in a suicide bombing, which the ISIS Saudi branch Walayat Najd claimed responsibility for, and some 10 people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a Shia mosque in nearby Dammam.
And in November, last year, eight people were killed in Al Ahsa, also in the Eastern province, when gunmen attacked a Shia community centre, where a religious ceremony was taking place.
And now Kuwait is at the receiving end of the terror unleashed against adherents of the Shia faith by the ISIS, an Al Qaeda off-shoot which is now in control of half of Syria and huge territories in Iraq.
The news quickly spread on social media, showing graphic images of the victims and the damage in the mosque.
This video, which shows the aftermath of the attack, is being widely shared on social media:
Video from inside the Imam Sadiq mosque. #Kuwait #KuwaitAttack pic.twitter.com/fbfs62aerr
— Minhal (@Minhal_Shah1) June 26, 2015
And this is a sample of some of the photographs from inside the mosque showing some of those killed and injured in the attack:
Several killed in suicide attack on #Kuwait mosque – more info on hashtag: #تفجير_مسجد_الصوابر pic.twitter.com/lR0YdxqHlb
— Anno Bunnik بونيك (@Eurabist) June 26, 2015
Also on social media, the ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
Quick – #IS’ “Wilayat Najd” has issued a formal claim of responsibility for #Kuwait mosque attack: pic.twitter.com/2mHctzwCGN
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) June 26, 2015
And on social media, netizens expressed their shock at the attack, particularly that it happened in Ramadan, the holy month of fasting in Islam.
From Bahrain, Nasra Buashwan tweets:
I'm losing my mind.Someone actually thought killing praying ppl inAllah's house in Ramadan in Friday isgood thing.#تفجير_مسجد_الامام_الصادق
— Nasra Buashwan (@Nasra91) June 26, 2015
Others say it is a natural consequence of states turning a blind eye to growing sectarianism spread from the pulpits of mosques and in school curricula in the region.
Maitham from Bahrain notes:
اشوف البعض متفاجئين? لو تقعّد واحد و تحشي مخه سنين “الشيعة كفّار الشيعة مرتدين” يعني أكيد بيجي يوم بيتشجع و بيروح يفجر نفسه في وسط “الكفّار”
— مَيْثَم (@m_aitham) June 26, 2015
I see some of you surprised. If you spend years filling up people's minds with ideology which says the Shia are apostates and infidels, it will only be a matter of time before someone gets encouraged to blow himself up to kill the infidels
Iraqi journalist Mina Al Oraibi explains:
Targeting of Shia mosques in the Gulf is an attempt to ignite hatred..preachers inciting sectarianism as culpable as bombers
— Mina Al-Oraibi (@AlOraibi) June 26, 2015
And Bahraini human rights activist Maryam Al Khawajah adds:
Gulf monarchies flock to send condolences while continuing to allow, sometimes encubating, the #sectarianism that results in these attacks
— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) June 26, 2015
Kuwait is surprisingly implicated in openly and actively funding the ISIS.
US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen recently pointed fingers at Kuwait for bankrolling some of ISIS activities:
a number of fundraisers operating in more permissive jurisdictions – particularly in Kuwait and Qatar – are soliciting donations to fund extremist insurgents, not to meet legitimate humanitarian needs. The recipients of these funds are often terrorist groups, including al-Qa’ida’s Syrian affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the group formerly known as al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI).
Cohen continues:
Our ally Kuwait has become the epicenter of fundraising for terrorist groups in Syria. A number of Kuwaiti fundraisers exploit the charitable impulses of unwitting donors by soliciting humanitarian donations from both inside and outside the country, cloaking their efforts in humanitarian garb, but diverting those funds to extremist groups in Syria. Meanwhile, donors who already harbor sympathies for Syrian extremists have found in Kuwait fundraisers who openly advertise their ability to move funds to fighters in Syria.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Twenty-Eight Dead in Beach Resort Attack in Sousse, Tunisia · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Police reinforcements in Sousse after gunmen killed 28 people, mostly tourists, on a beach. Photo credit: Saber ben Hasen. Shared on Twitter by @subaruplus
At least 28 people, mostly foreign tourists, have been killed when gunmen opened fire on a beach in the resort town of Sousse, located 140 kilometers southern the capital Tunis.
Ministry of tourism : #Tunisia #SousseAttack 27 dead and 18 wounded are mostly from #germany #Belgium #UnitedKingdom #russia
— Zied Mhirsi (@zizoo) June 26, 2015
Police killed one of the gunmen, while local media reported the arrest of another suspect.
#BREAKING #Sousse #Tunisia 2nd suspect in the terrorist attack has been arrested http://t.co/LJn2eKNn09 pic.twitter.com/Ccc0hAbjKL
— Tunisia Live (@Tunisia_Live) June 26, 2015
This is the second attack targeting foreign tourists in the span of less than four months, after militants killed 22 tourists and a police officer in an attack on the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis on 18 March.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. But since 2012, Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade, a militant group linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) staged a number of deadly attacks against police and armed forces. ISIS also claimed its responsibility for the Bardo Museum attack in March.
This is a coordinated attack, possibly bearing the flag of #ISIS, in 3 countries, 3 continents: #France, #Kuwait and #Tunisia .
— Youssef Cherif (@Faiyla) June 26, 2015

author: Afef Abrougui


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US-Listed Chinese Firms Flock Home to Take Advantage of Bull Market · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Many U.S listed China Concept Firms are returning back to Chinese A-Share Market. Photo from flickr user: Marc van der Chijs (CC: AT-SA)
Lured by China’s soaring stocks of late, many US-listed Chinese firms are rushing back to the mainland to enjoy the bullish spree, even after the market suffered a recent dramatic fall.
More than 20 Internet corporates are lining up to return to China's A-share market. Their desires have been further fueled by an announcement from Beijing that ownership limitations for foreign investors will be lifted, a big move to dismantle the complicated variable interest entity structures (VIE) for most US-listed Chinese companies. VIE is when a corporate has an operating company based in China and a holding company based abroad, which allow it to skirt rules that prohibit foreign investors from having direct control over Chinese companies that work in sensitive industries such as the Internet, education and telecommunications.
The rule has changed. China will now allow full foreign ownership of some e-commerce businesses, with the aim of encouraging foreign investment and the development and competitiveness of the industry.
Qihoo 360 Technology, an Internet security software maker listed in the United States in 2011, said it received a buyout offer from a consortium led by CEO Hongyi Zhou. Valued at about $8.6 billion, it is thus far the largest tech company to receive a “go-private” offer in recent months. The “go-private” proposal, if successful, will privatize the company and delist it from the U.S stock market.
A string of smaller Chinese companies, such as Renren, 21Vianet Group and E-House China Holdings, have all received “go-private” bids in recent weeks. Tech executives at several Chinese companies are betting on higher valuations back home, where stock markets have been on fire for some time.
Thomas Luo, founder of a tech review platform Pingwest pointed out in his column that well-established companies would not leave the global market to join the a share game:
你知道这些资本游戏充满了诡异的烟幕，但只要趁早置身其中，一定会大有收获——这就是中国概念股回归A股市场的硬道理。企业家们愿意从中分一杯羹，他们背后那些尚未退出的风险投资商更喜欢。而另一方面，这些先后从美国退市的“中概股”，在美国资本市场的故事越讲越艰难——几乎所有从纳斯达克和纽交所“私有化”的中国互联网公司，股价差不多都是一条条颓败的曲线。
The capital game is filled up with smog. But if you enter early enough, you will win — this is the logic in the return of China concept firms to the A-share market. The entrepreneurs want to have a share and the capital investors love risking for profit. On the other hand, these China concept firms, their paths in the US capital market have been difficult. All the “privatized” Chinese Internet firms that listed in Nasdaq and the New York stock exchange, the curves of their stock prices were all moving downwards.
China Concepts Stock is a term widely used in the finance sector to describe a set of stock of companies whose assets or earnings have significant activities in mainland China.
Tan Yifei, a finance news reporter, composed a satirical poem to describe the situation on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo:
天边飘过A股的风 它不停的向我召唤 当身边的土豪轻轻走过 有个声音在对我呼唤 归来吧归来哟 浪迹天涯的中概股 别再四处飘泊 故乡人傻钱多 归乡路再漫长又如何 当身边的微风轻轻吹起 吹来故乡土豪的味道 归来吧归来哟 浪迹天涯的中概股 归来吧归来哟 我要成为土豪 我要成为土豪 眼里是酸楚的泪
A-share wind flies across the sky, it keeps calling me. When local tyrants pass by, a voice keeps calling me, return return return. China concept firms wander around the world, don't float around anymore. So much easy money in their hometown, no matter how difficult, they return home. The wind blows around, brings the smell of local tyrants, return return return. I want to be local tyrants, I want to be local tyrants, eyes fill up with tears.
China's ChiNext composite index has soared more than 150 percent so far this year, eclipsing the 27 percent rise in the Nasdaq China Technology Index. Firms listed on the Nasdaq index get an average share price equal to 11 times their earnings, while on ChiNext they get above 130 times.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has required any company to be profitable for several years before listing – a rule which excluded most Chinese Internet companies. But now profitability requirements are being eased, and there's a shortcut: a merger with a Chinese company with a listed shell.
Chinese display advertising giant Focus Media, which bailed out of New York in 2013, has planed to relist in China via a $7 billion reverse merger with rubber manufacturer Jiangsu Hongda in what analysts say is a model for returnees to follow.
Chinese companies can circumvent the stricter regulation and supervision in the US by getting listed on China's A-share market. Except for seeking more money in the stock market, those companies are also trying to stop disclosing dissatisfactory financial reports to the public.
Since 2006, “China concepts stock” in the US has suffered a credibility crisis and quite a number were under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for accounting fraud.
Pi Haizhou, a well-known financial author, warned of the negative effects of the return of China concept firms. What they are pursuing are higher price-earnings ratios and speculation other than standard management.
中概股回归A股，图的就是A股的高市盈率与A股市场的投机性，而并非是股市的规范管理，这样的出发点本身就是不正确的，并不利于A股市场的发展。
The intention for China concept firms in returning to A-share is venture seeking in a speculative market rather than standard management. Such an intention is wrong and is not good for the development of A-share market.
No wonder ordinary Chinese netizens are not excited about the wave of returnees:
租车人_石磊: 中概股回归A股？？美国人不好骗，他们在美国左右不了主流媒体，他们不敢造假，他们忽悠不了政府！他们更无法逃避美国资本市场的监管！所以他们要回归，因为这些在中国只要你有钱都不是问题！海外实在混不下去了！回家骗亲人来了哈！
“Car renter Shi Lei”: China concept firms return to A-share?? Americans are not easy to cheat, they can't control the mainstream media, dare not fabricate [finance reports] and cheat the government in the US. They can't escape the management of the US capital market, that's why they have to return. In China, if you have enough money, they don't have to face these problems. They can't survive overseas and come back to cheat their relatives.
西区电台: 中概股回归的构思起于本朝新政，好几年了，说白了是用国内资金替一系列垃圾赎身，让他们赚两道钱，而美好的题目是回归祖国怀抱。这些公司当然希望离开监管严格的美国，荣归故里，假装委屈，讨价还价。蠢死了。
“West district radio station”: The whole idea about the return of China concept firms is the new policy of the current ruling bloc. It has been planned for a few years. In a nutshell, they use domestic capital to buy out the trash, let them make two rounds of profit and return to the motherland. These firms, of course, want to escape from the strictly managed US market and return home in honor. They pretended they were not that eager to return so as to lobby for a better price. A bunch of fools.

author: Jack Hu


text:
As a US State Deals With Its Confederate Flag, One Town in Brazil Flies It With Pride · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Descendants of Americans during Confederado feast in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste. Photo by Felipeattilio. CC BY-SA 3.0
This article and radio report by producer Bradley Campbell for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on June 22, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
The push to remove the confederate flag from the grounds of South Carolina's state capitol gained steam this week. Some of the state's top politicians, including Governor Nikki Haley, have jumped on board.
So far, more than 500,000 people have signed a MoveOn.org petition asking for the flag to be taken down. But the US South isn't the only place in the world you'll find the Confederate flag still flying.
It's also proudly displayed in the rural Brazilian town of Santa Barbara D'Oeste.
“Once a year, the descendants of about 10,000 Confederates that fled the United States and came down to Brazil after the Civil War, they have a family get together,” says Asher Levine a Sao Paulo-based correspondent for Reuters. “They all take part in stereotypically ‘Southern Things’ like square dances, eating fried chicken and biscuits, and listening to George Strait. That kind of thing. And a lot of Confederate flags everywhere.”
So when these people look at the confederate flag, what do they see?
Levine says it's more ethnic than political. What fascinates him is that over the generations, the population has mixed with the Brazilians. So it's a lot of people with a lot of different shades, not just white folks. “A lot of people who are descendants of these confederates have African blood as well,” he says. “So you'll see at the party people with dark skin waving the confederate flag.”
Americans attend the festival. Levine says he talked with a gentleman who was completely amazed at watching a young girl singing “Amazing Grace” while standing on top of a confederate flag. The flag really is everywhere at the festival. Kids wave mini flags, and women wear confederate flag dresses. “You know, the symbolism is totally lost on them but for us it's quite a contrast.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Girl Group Goes Head-to-Head With Japanese Prime Minister Over Reinterpreting Constitution · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“These days politicians are just no good, don't you know?” Screencap: IDOLJAPANRECORDS official YouTube page.
A “girl band” that criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has highlighted public opposition to the current Japanese government's attempts to chance the country's “peace constitution.”
After the all-girl performance group sang a song with the lyrics “Let’s topple the LDP government” and “LDP, the root of all evil” at an event in the city of Yamato, the municipality censured the band and withdrew its support from the event.
Girl group's lyrics cause Yamato city to pull support of event http://t.co/QeXfWdC3Rj “the LDP, the root of all evil” pic.twitter.com/6MvRacHnxF
— Tokyo Reporter (@tokyoreporter) June 25, 2015
Musical ensembles of young women known as “girl bands” are popular in Japan. In this case, Seihuku Kojyo Iinkai, (制服向上委員会, “High School Uniform Improvement Society”, or “SKi”) was formed in 2010.
The LDP, or Liberal Democratic Party, is the senior partner in the current coalition that governs the country, and is led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Since being re-elected in December 2014, Abe and the ruling coalition have made a sustained push to “reinterpret” Japan's pacifist Constitution so that Japan can legally go to war.
At the moment the governing coalition is in the process of passing a package of legislation through the country's Diet (parliament) that the government claims would work within existing constitutional rules to allow Japan to exercise collective self defense.
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws war as a means to settle international disputes, and the Japanese government under Shinzo Abe sees a need to be able to participate in military actions with key allies, notably the United States.
In practical terms, collective self defense would mean that Japan could conduct mine sweeping operations, fleet air defense with its Aegis cruisers or escort tanker traffic. There is also the possibility that the United States and Japan would cooperate to protect territory claimed by Japan in the far western reaches of the archipelago, notably the Senaku Islands that are also claimed by China and Taiwan.
While enabling Japan's military to somehow engage in collective self-defense is perceived by some Japanese people as being important to the country's American ally, there is little passion or support for the initiative among the young, who have until recently been struggling in a stagnant labor market, or the old, who are worried about pensions.
Since the December election, there are signs that opposition to the Abe government is slowly beginning to build.
アイドルグループ制服向上委員会メンバー木梨夏菜さん（１６） 「表現の自由だから私たちは全然気にしてないんだけれど、言いたいことを言えなくなったら本当に終わりだと思う。戦争を放棄している国を本当に誇りに思う」 若い人はよくわかってるね pic.twitter.com/GQmeSMLsOg
— PassyKis (@passykis) June 26, 2015
SKi member Natsuna Kinashi (16): “We enjoy freedom of speech (in Japan) so we don't really care (if Yamato City pulled its support from the event). If there comes a time when we can no longer say what we want to say, it's all over. I'm really proud Japan is a country that renounced war.”
Wow, the youth of today really get it, don't they. — PassyKis (@passykis)
Even among the hundreds of novelty acts that can be found in the Japanese entertainment industry, SKi has never been more than a fringe act.
The group did gain some recognition and notoriety several years ago thanks to its ditty “Free From Nuclear Power Plant” (“Da! Da! Datsugenpatsu”), which it released following the 2011 “triple disaster” that led to Japan's worst ever nuclear accident in Fukushima Prefecture.
The controversial performance at the Yamato City event is not the first time the girl band has voiced opposition to the Abe government's plans to revise the Japanese Constitution to allow the country to go to war.
One member of the group wrote an opinion piece about collective self defense for a local newspaper:
制服向上委員会は、集団的自衛権についてもきちんと意見を言っていた。頼もしい若者たちだと思う。 pic.twitter.com/mSm0Neo79w — sanae (world peace) (@gogo_sanae) June 26, 2015
Newspaper headline: “Is this REALLY okay?” SKi member Natsuna Kinashi (15)
Twitter commentary: And of course, the members of SKi have voiced an opinion on whether or not Japan should have the right to exercise collective defense. What promising young women!
June has not been the best of months so far for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe was heckled by locals at a recent ceremony in the southern prefecture of Okinawa to mark the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II and a battle on that island that saw nearly 150,000 civilians killed.
In this video, hecklers can clearly be heard calling out, telling Abe to “go home.”
Video caption (at top): Okinawa residents say to Abe: “Why the hell did you come here?” “Stop telling your lies!” “Get the hell out of here!”
Okinawa residents are upset about the Japanese government's unilateral decision to allow the US Marine Corps to build a new base in Okinawa and its strongarm tactics against local residents protesting the decision.
Earlier in June the Abe government scored an “own goal” when two constitutional scholars, called as expert witnesses by the government itself, said that legislation currently being debated in the Diet which would allow Japan’s military to fight in defense of allies is unconstitutional.
In a further embarrassment to Shinzo Abe, the two constitutional experts then attended a press conference and severely criticised the legislation, stating it violates Article 9.
And, although mostly unreported on the nightly news, protesters have continued to gather night after night to protest attempts to reinterpret Article 9.
http://t.co/87QTaxXEvc　大学生たちで作るＳＥＡＬＤｓの国会前抗議活動が大雨の中行われました。「誰も殺すな」などと書かれたプラカードを持ち「憲法守れ！」と声を上げていました。８枚の写真特集で。 #SEALDs pic.twitter.com/GRX9pXxMoC
— 毎日新聞写真部 (@mainichiphoto) June 26, 2015
Student group SEALDs (Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy) gather in torrential rain to protest in front of the Diet building. “No killing” and other messages are printed on their placards. “Protect the Constitution!” they call. See more pictures here: #SEALDs pic.twitter.com/GRX9pXxMoC
Here is SKi catching the public eye for the first time protesting nuclear power in the aftermath of the 2011 mega earthquake with this catchy little ditty:

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
The Puzzle Surrounding a Father’s Day Photo of Jailed Chinese Politician Bo Xilai and His Son · Global Voices
Patrick Wong

Bo Guagua changed his profile picture on the Father's Day. From Bo Guagua's Facebook.
Bo Guagua was born into an elite Chinese Communist Party family. His father, disgraced top official Bo Xilai, was only a few years ago a rising political star who promoted far-left Maoist policies and led a strong-arm crackdown on organized crime in Chongqing.
On Father’s Day, June 21, of this year, Bo changed his profile photo on Facebook to a childhood snapshot in which his father teaches him Tai Chi beside a lake. Some would consider it pretty normal for a son to miss his father on the special day.
Coincidentally, on the same day, party-affiliated Beijing Times dismissed the younger Bo as the “deceitful second generation of a government official” (坑爹官二代) in a widely circulated article published on the newspaper's official WeChat account.
The article, titled “Father's Day: Let's talk about the ‘deceitful second generation of a government official”, mocks the children of corrupt politicians:
今天是父亲节，一些人只能待在「四面高墙」或是异国他乡，追思昔日的「父愛如山」和富贵荣华。这群人有共同特点─坑爹。
Today is Father's Day. Some people can only greet this day enclosed by four walls [in jail] or in exile, dwelling on the “father's love” and wealthy life of the past. These people share the same characteristic — deceitful.
Without any public comments from Bo to go on, Chinese netizens were left to figure out the exact motivations behind his Facebook photo change. As to the Beijing Times‘ commentary, a number of overseas Chinese media outlets speculated if it implies the next round of authorities’ anti-corruption campaign would target the children of corrupt officials.
During his time in power in Chongqing, Bo's father Bo Xilai staged campaigns “praising red communism and striking criminal gangs” — including arranging people to sing red songs, showing propaganda films on local TV channels and arresting some gang-affiliated officials — and promoted the concept of the “red GDP.” Most local people viewed the campaigns as strengthening public security, but some suspected Bo Xilai was using them to purge the dissident subordinates from the Party.
Bo has enjoyed more privilege than most ordinary Chinese. He attended the prestigious Harrow School in England, and later studied at Oxford University and Harvard University. In 2009, he was nominated as one of “Ten Outstanding Chinese Young Persons” in the U.K. His luxurious life overseas — clubbing, partying even as his father faced trial, and allegedly driving a red Ferrari (although details of this story are conflicting) — has frequently been fodder for public gossip.
In an address at Peking University in May 2009, Bo responded to the perception that he has a sense of superiority due to his elite family. Below is an excerpt of a report by mainland China media Southern Weekly:
家世再度成为现场无法回避的话题。一位同学问：“虽然说人人生而平等，但是像你可以从小到外国去深造，还可以在父亲的帮助下去部队锻炼，这些都是普通人不敢想象的。”
“从理论上来讲，没有绝对平等”，薄瓜瓜回应说：“我要是生下来就缺胳膊断腿，那也是不一样的，人和人有不同的地位，不同的机会，而且运气是不一样的……但是我相信人的得和失最终是平等的，万事都是平衡的。表面上我可以得到更多的爱，但是同时我也得到很多的恨。”
他还主动回忆家史：“在文革的时候，我的家庭饱受风霜，我爷爷一生坐了22年牢，我的父亲当时才17岁，也坐牢5年，我的妈妈当时才八九岁，一出街头就要被人辱骂。我也从来没有见过我的奶奶，因为在文革时候就被打死了。所以好多人只看到优越，看到好的，没有看到磨难……”
Again, his family became an unavoidable topic at the address. A student asked, “Although everyone is born equal, you have been able to study abroad as a child and can receive military training with the help of your father, these experiences are unimaginable things for average people.”
“Theoretically speaking, there is no absolute equality,” Bo responded, “If I were born with a physical defect unlike everyone else, people have various ranks, opportunities and fortune…But I believe that what a person obtains is equivalent to their loss; everything balances out. On the surface, I can get more love, but I am also the target of much resentment.”
He also took initiative to reminisce about his family’s past: “During the Cultural Revolution, my family suffered much — my grandpa was jailed for 22 years when my 17-year-old father was also jailed for 5 years. My mother was merely 8 or 9 years old, she was insulted when walking around streets. I have never met my grandma because she was beaten to death during the Cultural Revolution. So many people only see the superiority and the fame, but they ignore the hardship [of our family]…
After the former chief of Chongqing police bureau Wang Lijun unsuccessfully attempted to seek asylum in the local U.S. consulate on February 6, 2012, Bo Xilai was investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and removed from his position on the Central Politburo Standing Committee. On September 22, 2013, he was sentenced to life in prison for several charges of abusing power and bribery. One year earlier, on August 20, 2012, Bo Guagua’s mother Gu Kailai was convicted of murdering an English businessman in a hotel in Chongqing and received a suspended death sentence.
Since then, Bo has been keeping a low profile. The latest photo of him shows him clutching several shopping bags while shopping in luxurious stores on Fifth Avenue in New York last December.
On Twitter-like Weibo, TV program producer Xiang Shuaijun showed more sympathy for Bo's current situation:
父亲永远是父亲，无论其曾经是所谓的高官显要，而今是所谓的监牢囚徒。儿子永远是儿子，无论其曾经是无忧无虑的欢乐，而今是海外漂泊的艰辛。岁月流转，世事沧桑。爱依旧，心不改。
The father is forever the father, whatever he was, a so-called political figure, now he has been put in prison. The son is forever the son, he has lived a care-free life, now he is living overseas suffering hardships. Time passes by, the circumstances of life change. Love remains, the heart is unchanged.

author: Patrick Wong


text:
What Social Media Can Tell You About Venezuelan Politics · Global Voices
Maria Luz Moraleda

Leopoldo López, leader of the Venezuelan opposition sent a video from jail to call attention to a peaceful protest in the capital Caracas.  Screen shot of the video spread via social networks.
It is one of the countries with the highest rates of Twitter usage in the world while for many Venezuelans, speaking about their homeland in 140 words or less is akin to participating in a national sport. In fact, in recent years ‘Twitterzuela’ has conquered all others as the most favoured medium for political discourse.
But do social networks help establish a dialogue in Venezuela's polarised society or just inch it further in the direction of crisis?
The great social media standoff
In Venezuela, as in other countries in South America, social media has become a necessary precondition for promoting large and peaceful rallies. Ironically, this is perhaps one of the few golden rules of domestic politics that both supporters of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's left-wing president, and his opponents, are completely agreed on.
Leopoldo López, one of the most popular leaders of the opposition, kicked off the #30MVenezuelaHora0 movement — which initially aimed at producing a huge protest on May 30 but has continued long after the protest finished — by making a viral YouTube video from jail. Lopez has been incarcerated for over a year pending trial since his arrest for allegedly provoking violent anti-government protests in early 2014.
The video was widely shared in Venezuela's social media and also outside the country through the country's growing diaspora, something that upset many inside the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, or MUD), the main opposition party.
López is one of several political prisoners whose cause is being championed on social media by supporters even as pro-government accounts seek to discredit him. Another is Daniel Ceballos, ex-Mayor of the San Cristóbal municipality, who was detained in March last year for disobeying a precautionary ruling from the Supreme Court against holding demonstrations as riots and protests against President Maduro's government gathered pace during that time.
#QuecaigaelCabello Y #QueVzlaSeLevante#LiberenACeballos #LiberenALeopoldo#LiberenAlosPresosPoliticos pic.twitter.com/aU3K62z11S
— Patricia de Ceballos (@PatrideCeballos) May 26, 2015
#MaytheHairFall #StandUpVenezuela #FreeCeballos #FreeLeopoldo #FreethePoliticalPrisoners
Ceballos’ wife, Patricia de Ceballos, whose tweet is above, has used social media to kickstart another movement. The words in the campaign's hashtag “May the Hair Fall” (as seen in the video below) are a play on words and a blast directed at Venezuelan Speaker Diosdado Cabello, whose name translates in English as “hair”, and who is viewed by regime opponents as a Machiavellian schemer representative of the worst elements of local politics.
Part of the campaign consisted of videos and pictures of Patricia de Ceballos cutting  her hair in front of a camera along with other Venezuelan women:
#YoCortoCon “la intolerancia que separa a los venezolanos” (#ICutWith the intolerance that divides Venezuelans), she says in the viral video. #QuecaigaelCabello: #MayTheHairFall.
But somebody struck back.
Liliana Tintori, a former kitesurfing champion of Venezuela and wife of the jailed López, had her Twitter account hacked the night before the May 30 protest. The tweet attributed to Tintori read: “Even at the cost of thousands of Venezuelan lives!!! We will continue the struggle for a #Venezuela of wellbeing and progress”. It promptly made the front page of a prominent pro-government newspaper.
Tintori claimed the hack as the work of the government. Her response quickly became major news in a country where tweets have substituted interviews as the country's main newsmaker.
ALERTA: mi cuenta en Twitter @LilianTintori ha sido hackeada. Todo es para desmovilizarnos. No nos quebrarán! Por favor ayúdenme con su RT
— Leopoldo López (@leopoldolopez) May 30, 2015
ALERT: my Twitter account @LilianTintori has been hacked. All to demobilize us. We will not break! Please help me and RT
Esta infamia si seria causal de una demanda por difamación! Esto es absolutamente falso, un vil montaje pic.twitter.com/qP6xlIS0Sd
— Lilian Tintori (@liliantintori) May 29, 2015
This disgrace is defamation. This is completely false, a vile creation!
Is more social media always better?
Social media provides a perfect mirror for divisions that exist on Venezuela's streets. In response to the opposition information campaign, the pro-government camp have begun producing their own hashtags:
#MaduroEsPuroPueblo (#MaduroIsThePeople) and #JornadasACieloAbierto (@JournalsofOpenSky).
#MaduroEsPuroPueblo : Mientras la derecha llama a la violencia, la Revolución triunfará -> http://t.co/gbyiwH00Jf pic.twitter.com/HlcUseHTG9
— Cuatro F Digital (@CuatroFDigital) May 29, 2015
#MaduroIsThePeople: While the right calls for violence, the revolution triumphs
Vzla es un pueblo de PAZ… Unidos por la Revolución seguiremos venciendo… @NicolasMaduro #PSUVRumboALaVictoria pic.twitter.com/cZF3nkRl9H
— José David Cabello R (@jdavidcabello) May 30, 2015
Venezuela is a peaceful country…United by revolution we will continue overcoming… @NicolasMaduro #UnitedSocialistPartyofVEnezuelaTowardVictory
Although Twitter is a platform that theoretically makes the interaction of different schools of thought possible, in the case of Venezuela, this does not appear to take place. Instead, each party in the conflict uses its own discourse and its own Trending Topic to endorse its own position. Overwhelmingly the aim is to attack the other side whether it is listening or not:
Vzla entera te abraza,Patricia.El régimen sabe q ntra fortaleza es moral,p eso sus infames ataques @PatrideCeballos pic.twitter.com/BlrZZu94Wp
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) May 30, 2015
All of Venezuela applauds you, Patricia. The regime knows that our strength is moral, that's the reason for their infamous attacks on @PatrideCeballos.
Luis Carlos Díaz, talking on his Political Hangout explains the phenomenon:
También pasa algo en redes que a la gente se le olvida, y es que los grupos están sobrerepresentados. La gente siempre parece más de lo que es. Los [partidarios de la MUD] creen que son la mayoría aplastante de 7 millones de votos opositores de las elecciones donde [Henrique] Capriles casi gana […] No lo son. La mayor parte del país está desconectado informativamente de las decisiones de la MUD […] La gente de [Voluntad Popular] son muy efusivos, pero tampoco son la mayoría de los opositores del país. Son un grupo. Pero como están en redes y todos se ven las caras y todos se dan la razón entonces [parecen] más que los demás.
There is also something that happens on social networks, something that people tend to forget, and it's that  that these groups are over-represented. It always seems like there are more people than there actually are. Supporters of the [Democratic Unity Round-table Party or MUD] believe that they are the crushing majority that almost made [opposition candidate Henrique] Capriles win with with 7 million opposition votes during the last presidential elections […]. They are not. The majority of the country is disconnected — from an information standpoint –from the decisions  of the MUD. People from [the political party Voluntad Popular -The People's Will-] are very expressive, but they are not the majority of the country's opposition either. They are one group. But since they are all connected online on social networks, and they see each other's faces, and they agree with one another, they have the feeling that there are more of them than the others.
So, is Twitter an information lifeline or a catalyst for the Venezuelan crisis?
Given the domestic media's reliance on social media, it is unsurprising rumors that last for a few moments turns to news. Supporters of government and opposition spread recordings of alleged phone tappings or controversial images wihout verification. Many seem to believe anything which debilitates an opponent in the information war is fair game.
The high level of social network penetration in Venezuela, especially on political topics highlights the absence of impartial media in the country. Venezuelans are forced to inform themselves via social media given the shortage of reliable newspapers and the closure of specific digital media outlets.
Unfortunately, as the information war heats up between the government and its opponents there is not enough awareness that the social influencers using 140 characters or less to reach the masses are only presenting their version of Venezuela.

author: Maria Luz Moraleda


text:
A ‘Peace Community’ Tries Nonviolent Resistance in Colombia · Global Voices
NACLA

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó celebrated its 18th Anniversary in March 2015. Photo: Nikki Drake
This article by Nikki Drake was originally published on NACLA's website and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
We are now more than two years into the Colombian peace talks. Meeting in Havana, negotiators for the Colombian government and its principal antagonist, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have been trying to agree upon an intricate deal to end the country’s long-running armed conflict. Meanwhile, as the talks proceed, some communities have attempted to diminish the violence by maintaining an active and credible distance from all major parties of the conflict. The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó (PC) in the northwestern department of Antioquia is one of those communities.
Created by peasant farmers in 1997, the Peace Community seeks to avoid being drawn further into the country’s armed conflict by peacefully resisting the occupation of its lands by both government-supported and oppositional armed actors. From the beginning, PC members refused to participate in a government security program being promoted known as CONVIVIR, which, among other things, used civilians as informants against guerrilla forces. Participation in this program would have undermined the group’s neutrality—one of its founding principles—and put it at even greater risk of violence.
After a massacre that took the lives of seven Peace Community members in 2005, which then president—and former governor of Antioquia—Álvaro Uribe blamed on the FARC guerrillas, he publicly accused PC leaders of “being in the services of the FARC” and “of wanting to use the Community to protect this terrorist organization.” However, Colombia’s Attorney General later determined that the massacre was carried out by the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) in coordination with the Colombian National Army’s 17th Brigade. State entities and public forces have been linked to acts of violence against Colombian communities for years. Uribe himself has been accused of ties to paramilitary groups throughout his political career. An official investigation was opened against him in 2013, but in March of 2014 he was elected to the Colombian Senate, where he remains a powerful political force—an opponent of the Santos administration and the current round of peace talks.
Almost since its inception, the Peace Community has been covered by protective measures of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), a body of the Organization of American States (OAS). These measures require that the Colombian state respect and protect the Peace Community, as well as investigate the crimes perpetrated against its members. The OAS system, however, does not have the power of enforcement, relying on international political pressure as its tool for the implementation of rulings. The Colombian Constitutional Court (CCC) upheld the IACHR’s measures in 2003 and 2007. Additional national directives prohibit Colombian public forces and government officials from stigmatizing or defaming human rights defenders such as the PC and its accompaniment organizations. However, these court rulings and directives have often been disregarded.
In 2012, the CCC ordered the Colombian government to adhere to five points in response to requirements laid out by the Peace Community in order to reestablish a dialogue with the state. The first point required an “official public apology” from Colombia’s current administration for the defamatory statements made by former president Uribe. The apology came in December 2013, in which President Santos retracted the “unjust accusations against the Community,” recognizing its presence as a “courageous vindication of the rights of Colombians that, despite having experienced the conflict first hand, has persisted in its efforts to achieve peace for the country.”
The second point was meant to keep the fear and persecution of the past from again becoming a reality, requiring the state to lay out a plan for the prevention of any future stigmatization of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. While the completion of the first mandate held promise for 2014, less than one year after the Santos apology, negative and stigmatizing comments against the PC and its accompaniment organizations started circulating in national news media by commanders of the National Army’s local brigades.
In October 2014, for example, a television program called Testigo Directo (Direct Witness) described the Peace Community as a “bunker that authorities cannot enter…where it is assured or claimed that they are governed or co-governed by the FARC.” Other comments targeted international NGOs and the IACHR as being used to provide protection for local guerrilla forces. The program featured an interview with Colonel Germán Rojas Díaz, the commander of the 17th Brigade—the military unit charged with maintaining control in the area in which the PC is located—in which he strongly stigmatized and defamed the PC and residents of the entire township that contains it, asserting that “their parents are from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó…and the large majority of the ranks of the guerrillas are born and raised there.” The interview was one of many by Colonel Rojas, and similar public statements were made by the commander of the region’s 11th Mobile Brigade and his troops on the ground.
Efforts to delegitimize and weaken the Peace Community and international NGOs are not new. These groups have long been the region´s watchdogs, publicly denouncing actions of both illegal and legal armed forces that violate national directives and court rulings, and that frequently disregard the safety and rights of civilians as guaranteed by international humanitarian law. Similar stigmatization and media attacks were used in 2009 and 2010 against entities involved in judicial proceedings against the 17th Brigade, which has a history of allegations and official charges related to massacres, forced displacements, and ties to paramilitary groups.
More than its attempts to hold the Colombian state and armed groups accountable, the Peace Community has something that has always been coveted by all actors: . Over the years, the desire for Colombia’s land has largely been tied to the establishment of political influence, control of coca production and transport, and large-scale land ownership for cattle ranches, and banana and palm oil plantations. Throughout the country, efforts by individuals and communities to maintain their lands have brought threats, displacements, and massacres. In recent years, the increasing international demand for natural resources has brought an influx of foreign investments and development interests, making land even more sought after. As of 2012, 40% of Colombia’s land was licensed or solicited for mining.
The Peace Community is located along the Abibe mountain range, a historically strategic zone for illegal armed actors and coca transportation that lies between the departments of Antioquia and Córdoba. The region is strongly desired by the extractive industry for its coal, petroleum, and gold. Despite being highly militarized, the region is also known for its large paramilitary presence. The PC is one of the only local bodies resisting further control by armed groups and encroaching multinational corporations, and one of the few to highlight the connections between these entities and the state.
Colombia’s Comptroller General has acknowledged the lack of state regulations and the relationship between heightened conflict and resource-rich zones. His concern that the current mining model is not “taking into account humanitarian, environmental and socio-economic implications” led to his recommendation to halt new mining contracts in areas of conflict. The Colombian Constitutional Court has also recognized that “In some parts of the country it’s clear that actors of the armed conflict and economic interests have linked, a unity that is one of the principle causes of forced displacement.”
In its November 2014 “Risk Report 078-04 the nation’s Ombudsman Office denounced the “strong social, political, and military influence” of paramilitary forces in the region, and expressed great concern about the threats and stigmatization directed at leaders of the Peace Community. The same entity reported on housing and road projects being funded and facilitated by the region’s powerful paramilitary group Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC). Along the route of the road construction, peasant farmers report of being pressured and threatened to leave or sell their lands, which the AGC then sell to multinational corporations at much higher prices—a lucrative business on the back of a devastating civil war. Despite several attempts, the PC has refused to allow road construction to pass through its lands, requesting that accompaniment organizations help provide additional safety and visibility in the zone.
More than a year since Santos’ apology, the other points of the CCC’s order have not been fulfilled, and the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó continues to face the challenges of maintaining its lands and existence while resisting the surrounding conflict and economic interests. Although it has slowed since the beginning of 2015, the observed stigmatization of the PC and human rights organizations by the National Army’s regional brigades along with the continued refusal to grant them legitimacy not only casts considerable doubt on the Santos Administration’s commitment to making human rights a reality in Colombia, but also on its ability to implement the complicated agreement being negotiated with FARC rebels.
Nikki Drake is part of FOR Peace Presence, an international accompaniment NGO in Colombia. She has been living and working in South America for the past three years. To learn more about FOR Peace Presence’s work with the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, visit http://peacepresence.org/.

author: NACLA


text:
Gaza-Bound Flotilla III Expected to Dock in the Palestinian Enclave at Dawn; Israel Threatens to Stop it · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Gaza-bound Marianne in 170 miles away from the Palestinian enclave and is expected to dock at dawn. Photo credit: @rumboagaza on Twitter
The Freedom Flotilla is about 170 miles away from Gaza and is expected to dock at the besieged Palestinian enclave at dawn. It may not be smooth sailing as Israel prepares to “take over” the boats.
The flotilla, the third attempt to break the siege on Gaza, is made up of the Marianne of Gothenburg and three other boats following slowly behind, and carries a total of 50 activists, including former Tunisian Prime Minister Moncef Marzouki. This journey marks the fifth anniversary of the Israeli raid on the MV Mavi Marmara in which nine activists were killed and 10 Israeli soldiers injured.
Check out our Special Coverage of the Israel Flotilla Raid 2010
The Marianne of Gothenburg, jointly acquired by Ship to Gaza Sweden and Ship to Gaza Norway, which left its home port of Sweden on May 10, was the first of three vessels to leave in an attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. In a press release published on May 10, the Marianne of Gothenburg group declared that it “will join other ships to form ‘Freedom Flotilla III’, a peaceful, nonviolent action to break the illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip.”
On Twitter, many are tweeting support under the hashtags #SaveFlotilla3 and its Arabic translation. But it doesn't seem that it will be smooth sailing for the flotilla.
Dr. Belal Dabour from Gaza warns that the next few hours will be decisive:
Freedom Flotilla's boat Marian reaches Gaza at dawn. Israel said they will not allow it to; the next few hours are decisive.
— Belal Dabour – Gaza (@Belalmd12) June 28, 2015
Dr. Ramy Abdu reports three boats, which identified themselves as Israeli military, are tailing the Marianne:
Marianne called at 1:06 CET: 3 boats, the closest beeing 500 m away. They have identified themselves as Israeli military. #NextPortGaza
— Dr. Ramy Abdu (@RamAbdu) June 28, 2015
Jason Shawa announces that communication with the Marianne has been lost.
Reports that contact with Marianne of the flotilla3 has been lost or severed! #SaveFreedomFlotilla #SaveFlotilla3
— J. Shawa جاسم الشوا (@shawajason) June 28, 2015
And Dr. Dabour confirms:
Connection with ship Marianne reportedly is lost. Last message said 3 Israeli gunboats were harassing the ship from close distances.
— Belal Dabour – Gaza (@Belalmd12) June 28, 2015
However, others are rallying support to thwart Israel from attacking the flotilla:
Call the @WhiteHouse (001-202-456-1111) now and tell it to stop Israel from attacking #FreedomFlotilla III to #Gaza. pic.twitter.com/PcDvLN9OZ7
— Joe Catron (@jncatron) June 28, 2015
And Muhammad Usman shares a photograph of Palestinian children waiting in anticipation of the flotilla:
Palestinian children in #Gaza are waiting for Freedom flotilla 3 at Gaza sea port! #SaveFlotilla3 pic.twitter.com/XhmH1giyR4
— MuhammadUsman™ |Gaza (@usmi_sargodhian) June 28, 2015
Also from Gaza, Najla offers a prayer:
#SaveFlotilla3 Flotilla is on its way to #gaza to break the siege. Lets pray they don't get hurt.
— Najla (@WhateverInGaza) June 27, 2015
There are many activities planned in Gaza in anticipation of the Freedom Flotilla's arrival such as the “Gaza Ark Exhibition“, an exhibition of Palestinian products hoped to be exported by the Freedom Flotilla III. In a formal statement, dated June 5, they explained:
When Gaza's Ark was destroyed during last year’s attack on Gaza by Israel, we all lost a boat intended to break the blockade “from the inside out”. But our goal of helping to build a sovereign Palestinian economy based on freedom of movement has not changed. Palestinian products from both Gaza and the West Bank were to be exported not only as a symbolic stimulus to the Palestinian economy but to show the world the industrious work of craftspeople and farmers who continue to struggle against the overwhelming odds of occupation, economic strangulation and war.
Sameera Qarmout, from one of the producers’ organizations at the exhibit, expressed her hopes that she would be able to sell her goods this time:
Before it was attacked, we had the hope that our embroideries would be exported aboard Gaza's Ark. The coming Freedom Flotilla III has given us a light of new hope that our products will still be made available to world markets.
The exhibit includes goods from Palestinian producers in Gaza as well as goods from West Bank producers that reached Gaza in spite of the Israeli Occupier’s restrictions: embroidery, wood carvings and olive oil.
There have been several attempts to break the siege on Gaza between 2008 and 2010 and the boats have had such participants as 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan, Palestinian Legislative Council member Mustafa Barghouti, Irish peace activist Caoimhe Butterly, US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, author Alice Walker, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein as well as international journalists and doctors and several EU parliamentarians from a variety of political parties.
This attempt will mark five years since Israel's deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara in 2010. The raid resulted in the death of nine activists from the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH). Some of the current flotilla's members, such as Kevin Knish, were on the Mavi Marmara.
The coalition is updating about its whereabouts through its Twitter account and Facebook page as well as on their official website. You can also follow our updates on Global Voices Checkdesk.


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Go Behind the Scenes With Chumel Torres, Mexico’s Answer to John Oliver · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

“El Pulso de la República,” a bi-weekly political satire show hosted by Chumel Torres, is one of the most popular YouTube shows in Mexico. Credit: Courtesy of Pulso de la Republica
This article and radio report by producer Monica Campbell for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on June 23, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Twice a week in Mexico City, Chumel Torres, a clean-shaven, suited up 32-year-old sits behind a desk, in front of a green screen, and delivers a non-stop rundown of the news from Mexico, Latin America and the world with a heavy dose of satire.
It’s Mexico’s breakout show, in the spirit of Jon Stewart and John Oliver. But you won’t find it on television. Rather, as the media landscape shifts, it’s on YouTube. And that’s just fine with Torres.
Earlier this year, his YouTube channel, called “El Pulso de la República” (The Pulse of the Republic), topped one million subscribers, only two years after launching, and he has companies like Telcel, Mexico’s massive cellular provider, sponsoring the show and his popular Twitter account.
But he does make one distinction between himself and Oliver, who he admires for combining serious investigations with comedy. “You have to understand that John Oliver is in the US. They have freedom of speech,” Torres says. “Here in Mexico, people will start asking questions and say, ‘Hey, where did you get that info, you know? So I don’t want do that. I mean, most people say, ‘Hey, why don’t you cover the story of the drug lords?’ ‘Because they are drug lords, dude! You know? I like the way my head is attached to my shoulders.’”
It’s all quite the career change for Torres, who started out as a mechanical engineer. “I’m in love with physics, and I worked in the business for like 10 years.”
But then he discovered Twitter — and he was good at it, funny and politically sharp. His following grew, his satire got noticed, and he was asked to write comedy scripts. His You Tube fans are mostly millennials, but it can go older — and younger. When I stop by the set, I meet 12-year-old Mariano Huerta. He came with his dad to see Torres tape the show. “It’s a way I can inform myself but also laugh a little,” said Huerta, who is just the kind of fan those big networks down the street drool over. Torres is also booking some of the same big-name guests they are.
But when TV has courted Torres, he says no. “They don’t have ideas any more. And people are not watching TV anymore,” he says. Plus, he’s making money off his sponsors — and having fun. “We’re having a blast. I don’t want to ruin that,” he says.
He also doesn’t want to worry about some network executive getting pressure to kick Torres off air because he’s poking fun at the president. “You can’t mock the president on national television,” he says. “That’s just logic, you know, because it’s Mexico. I mean you can talk about Obama in the US because USA is awesome in that way, but here, you just can’t.”
Now Torres is preparing another version of his show — still made in Mexico, but for a US audience. “It’s going to be completely in English, and the coverage of the news is going to be things that interest the US Hispanic community.” With the way Torres is getting noticed here, who knows? His show might just become a campaign stop for candidates in the US.


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Herve Cornara’s Relatives Want Him to Be Remembered as a Great Guy, Not the Beheaded Victim of a Lunatic · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Herve Cornara – via @ldecrion CC-BY-20
Herve Cornara was the manager of ATC, a delivery company in Chassieu in the suburbs of Lyon, France. More importantly, he was a father of a young man and loved by his relatives and colleagues.
Cornara was killed and beheaded by Yassin Salhi next to a ISIS flag at a factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, in the Isère region. Salhi is a truck driver and father of three. He was born in Pontarlier, France; his mother now lives in Morocco and his late father was Algerian.
Cornara's relatives describe him as a loving father and great colleague:
Il était investi, c'était quelqu'un qui voulait toujours aider les gens. Je vais continuer ce qu'il a commencé
He was invested in his community. I will continue the work he started
Pascal Servino, a friend of Cornara, adds:
C'était un homme affectueux, généreux. Il était strict sur le quartier : dès que quelque chose n'allait pas, il se mobilisait pour résoudre les problèmes. Il va nous manquer.
He was an affectionate, generous man. He was relentless when it came to the community: when something went wrong, he would get involved right away to solve the issue. He will be missed.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Same-Sex Couples in Mexico Win Another Victory Against Discrimination · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

12th March for Pride, Dignity and Sexual Diversity in Mexico. Photo take from Jesus M. Hernandez's Flickr account.
The legal battle for equality and the right of homosexual couples to not be discriminated against has been a struggle around the world. Mexico is no exception, but recently ground has been gained thanks to two resolutions, one local and one national, by the Nation's Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN), the country's highest court.
In the local matter, a case submitted to the Court's First Chamber for review questioned the legality of a local ordinance (in the Western State of Colima) establishing that marriage be circumscribed to only being between a man and a woman, but envisaging a special condition called a “conjugal bond” that can be celebrated between two persons of the same sex. In its determination, the First Chamber found for the petitioner, indicating that a condition considered to be equivalent to marriage, such as a “conjugal bond,” violates the right not to be discriminated against:
La Primera Sala revocó la sentencia recurrida y amparó al quejoso al determinar que el régimen separado al matrimonio que establece el citado artículo constitucional y el 145 del Código Civil referido bajo el rubro de enlace conyugal, efectivamente vulnera el derecho a la igualdad y no discriminación del quejoso, lo que significa que no sólo son inconstitucionales esas disposiciones, sino también todas las porciones normativas de los artículos en los que se hace referencia a esta institución.
En este sentido, la Primera Sala reafirmó que no existe ninguna justificación racional para negar el acceso al matrimonio a las parejas homosexuales, aun cuando existiera un régimen jurídico diferenciado al cual pudieran optar dichas parejas en lugar de casarse, incluso si la figura en cuestión tuviera los mismos derechos que el matrimonio, pues se les reconocería un conjunto incompleto de derechos siguiendo su orientación sexual.
The First Chamber reversed the decision under appeal and supported the complainant's determination that the separate framework apart from marriage, established in the above mentioned constitutional article and in 145 of the referred to Civil Code under the label of conjugal bond, effectively violates the complainant's right to equality and to not be discriminated against, meaning that not only are those provisions unconstitutional, but also that all the regulatory portions of those articles to which this institution makes reference are as well.
In this sense, the First Chamber reaffirmed that there exists no rational justification to deny access to marriage to homosexual couples, even though there existed a differentiated legal framework to which these couples could resort in place of marrying each other, even if the condition in question conferred the same rights as marriage, as they would be granted an incomplete set of rights according to their sexual orientation.
This determination, referring to a set of local laws in Colima, has caused traditional media to indicate that the Supreme Court has consolidated its position in favor of gay marriage.
In the second case, the court's position affecting the entire country was published officially on June 19, 2015. It reiterates its rationale, constituting a criterion or precedent of compulsory compliance, through which it was determined that homosexual couples are in a situation equivalent to that of heterosexual couples. This precedent includes an interesting pronouncement on one of the reasons why homosexual couples have been vulnerable:
La razón por la cual las parejas del mismo sexo no han gozado de la misma protección que las parejas heterosexuales no es por descuido del órgano legislativo, sino por el legado de severos prejuicios que han existido tradicionalmente en su contra y por la discriminación histórica.
The reason for which couples of the same sex have not enjoyed the same protection as heterosexual couples has not been due to legislative oversight, but due to the legacy of severe prejudices which have traditionally existed against them and due to historic discrimination.
It concludes:
La exclusión de las parejas del mismo sexo de la institución matrimonial perpetúa la noción de que las parejas del mismo sexo son menos merecedoras de reconocimiento que las heterosexuales, ofendiendo con ello su dignidad como personas y su integridad.
The exclusion of same-sex couples from the institution of marriage perpetuates the notion that same-sex couples are less deserving of recognition than heterosexuals, thereby offending their dignity as persons and the integrity of their personhood.
The precedent in question definitively determines that for the courts there exists no constitutional reason to not recognize marriage between persons of the same sex. This, it should be mentioned, does not imply that local and federal laws have been automatically rewritten. In a system of distribution of power (of office) such as that to which Mexico aspires, this duty falls to legislative authorities.
Along these same lines, a member of the local legislative authority recently gained notoriety by making statements that were not only in poor taste, but also contrary to the Supreme Court's adopted position:
Ana María Jiménez Ortiz, diputada local del PAN en Puebla, declaró la semana pasada durante un foro realizado en esa entidad que “sólo debe considerarse como matrimonio aquellas relaciones en las que los integrantes sostienen relaciones sexuales mirándose a la cara”.
Precisamente, según la legisladora, esto “no ocurre entre las parejas homosexuales”, quienes tienen relaciones sexuales con la luz apagada; también quienes se vendan los ojos incurren en esta falta, remató. Dijo que se basaba en el método científico para afirmar esto.
Ana María Jiménez Ortiz, local deputy of the PAN party in Puebla, declared last week during a forum in the same state that “the only type of relationships that should be considered as marriage are the ones where the people involved look each other in the face when they have sex.”
According to the legislator, this is precisely what “does not occur between homosexual couples,” who have sex with the lights out; also those who blindfold themselves incur the same fate, she concluded. She said that she confirmed this based on the scientific method.
The legislator in question belongs to the Partido Acción Nacional (the conservative National Action Party), which in recent federal elections reaffirmed its position as the second political power nationally. Jiménez Ortiz's statements were recorded in this video on YouTube.
On Twitter, Adriano Numa had this to say about the legislator's declarations:
Ana María Jiménez Ortíz Diputada del PAN la estupidez oscurantista en acción… http://t.co/7USGtG4p8R
— Adriano Numa (@adriano_numa) June 18, 2015
Ana María Jiménez Ortíz PAN deputy dark age stupidity in action… http://t.co/7USGtG4p8R
— Adriano Numa (@adriano_numa) June 18, 2015
Likewise, E Páramo made these comments about marriage between persons of the same sex:
Si no estás de acuerdo con el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo, no contraigas uno. #Libertad #SíAlMatrimonioParejasdelMismoSexo
— E Páramo (@Param0_) June 19, 2015
If you don't agree with same sex marriage, don't get one. #Libertad #SíAlMatrimonioParejasdelMismoSexo (#Freedom #YesToSameSexMarriage)
— E Páramo (@Param0_) June 19, 2015
Based on all of the above, it can be deduced that equality and the right to not be discriminated against have won important battles in Mexico, but continue their legal and social journey on the long road to justice.

author: J. Tadeo


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How Russia’s Biggest Homophobe Joined an LGBT Social Community · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Vitaly Milonov, Russia's newest, most unlikely member of an LGBT community. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
In the wake of a decision by the US Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, Internet users all over the world have been coloring their social media avatars with rainbows—the symbol of LGBT rights. Mostly famously, Facebook is even offering an official service, called “Let’s Celebrate Pride,” that allows users to shade their existing profile pictures with the rainbow flag.
This phenomenon has caused a stir in Russia, where conservatives have created a tool that overlays social media profile pictures with the colors of the Russian flag—a gesture apparently meant to express one’s opposition to “nontraditional marriage.” (Read Max Seddon’s story about this at Buzzfeed.)
Vitaly Milonov, the St. Petersburg city councilman who pioneered Russia’s first ban on “gay propaganda,” has vowed to appeal to Russia’s federal censors to get Facebook banned in Russia, saying the rainbow avatars are visible to millions of underage users in Russia, supposedly putting young people “at risk.”
Things have gotten to be so heated that a member of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, is even advocating a policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” for Russia, to spare the country an unnecessary “barbed and intense battle against gays.”
Following the breakthrough for gay rights in the United States, Lentach, one of Russia's most popular satirical communities on VKontakte, briefly renamed itself “LGBTach,” adding a rainbow flag to its own avatar. According to the group’s administrator, Mark Shein, the decision to endorse (genuinely, it appears) gay rights has prompted a flurry of activity from subscribers, with thousands of people suddenly joining and leaving the community.
According to Shein, the group, which has more than 770,000 members, lost 5,430 subscribers on the day it changed its name and avatar. This was more than 4,000 un-subcriptions above normal. In that same period, 3,465 new users subscribed to the group—also several thousand more people than on an average day. In other words, there’s strong reason to suspect that this spike was a response to Lentach’s endorsement of LGBT rights. As a result, the community’s total audience dropped about 2,000 subscribers.
Audience statistics for Lentach, via Mark Shein. Pink represents unsubscriptions and blue respresents new subscribers. VKontakte.
Shein says he’s glad to be rid of anyone who disapproved of “LGBTach,” writing on VKontakte, “Everyone should realize that we [at Lentach] never wanted to work for these people [who unsubscribed], and this whole thing has turned out to be a great way to cleanse ourselves.”
In what Shein calls an “added bonus,” Lentach’s brief renaming and rainbow-redecorated avatar resulted in a slight embarrassment for none other than Vitaly Milonov, who for some reason subscribes to Lentach on VKontakte. In a post this weekend that has attracted more than 10,000 “likes,” Lentach triumphantly shared a screen capture of Milonov’s VKontakte page, showing his membership in an “LGBT interest group.”
On his own VKontakte page, Shein, whose avatar now shows him smoking through a rainbow-colored balaclava, celebrated the coup against Milonov, posting a link to a news story about the city councilman’s unintentional membership in a group promoting gay rights.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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India’s Justice System Is in a Sorry, Sorry State · Global Voices
Sourabh

Image from Flickr by Krishnaraj Rao. Used under a CC license BY-ND 2.0
A couple of months back the Indian judicial system set social media, local news and many a household abuzz by handing Bollywood star Salman Khan a five-year jail term for a 2002 hit-and-run incident.
Two days after the court's decision, however, his sentence was suspended by Bombay High Court and he was swiftly released on bail, turning public attention towards a judicial system that is frequently seen as non-transparent, unfair and — if you are not a Bollywood film star — very, very slow.
Salman Khan’s Bail: Is Salman Khan Making A Mockery Of Our Judicial System? What The Indian Youth Thinks. http://t.co/B2iQ2LIyEQ via @MensXP
— Main Hoon Na (@SwachhPolitics) May 16, 2015
There has always been a feeling India’s elite can get away with any wrong-doing while the average even middle class Indian citizen would have faced a much different (read severe) punishment had they been behind the wheel in a hit and run case.
But the Salman Khan ruling was the just tip of the iceberg. The Indian Judicial system is plagued by serious and long-term problems.
Consider the case of Machal Lalung, an Indian living in the Silchang village in the state of Assam. Machal spent 54 years in an Indian jail without facing trial despite no specific charges.
When he was 23, Machal went missing from his village and a record in Guwahati Jail reveals that he was booked under Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code – ‘voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means’.
If found guilty, the maximum penalty under this section would have required him to spend 10 years in prison. Instead, he was forgotten about and spent more than five decades there. Machal was released in July 2005 and died two years later.
But the Indian court system is filled with stories of people who have had to wait decades languishing in jails waiting for trials. One reason for the maze of delays in administering justice is the shortage of judges — India has only 13 judges in the lower courts per million people, comparing to more than 55 judges for every million people in the US.
This shortage is complemented by Indian lawyers who demand hearings one after another in order to collect fees.
DAKHS is an independent, professional, apolitical, not-for-profit organisation based in Bangalore, which is working on the rule of law project focusing on the pendency and backlogs in the Indian courts. Kavya Murthy at DAKSH blog writes:
The problem of pendency — all cases instituted but not disposed of, regardless of when the case was instituted in the courts — we have found, is a much studied one, accompanied as it is with a widely held common sense that sees the judiciary as several steps behind its potential in being unable to deliver timely justice. “Justice hurried is justice buried” and “Justice delayed is justice denied”: commonly understood maxims that tell us that the quality of justice is very much dependent on the time taken to deliver it.
Across all Indian courts there were more than 30 million open cases in the country at the end of 2013.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek's calculations, “if the nation’s judges attacked their backlog nonstop – with no breaks for eating or sleeping – and closed 100 cases every hour, it would take more than 35 years to catch up.”
Pavan Kulkarni writes at India Together:
Harish Narasappa, the co-founder of Daksh, drew attention to the dismaying numbers of pending cases, that we see published in newspapers every few months: “3 crores in the lower courts, 45 lakhs in high courts and between 65,000 and one lakh cases pending in the Supreme Court, depending on which part of the year you look at the data.”
But there has been no analysis of what these numbers mean. What does it mean when we say there are 3 crore cases pending? How long has each case been pending? And why is it taking such a long time to decide each of these cases? These are questions pertinently raised by Narasappa.
According to the Prison Statistics Report published by National Crime Records Bureau of India, at the end of 2013 there were a total of 267,503 undertrial prisoners in the country.
The total number of jail inmates was found to be 411,992, up by almost 7% compared to the previous report. The lack of trials is taking its toll on jails already running above their capacities. In 2011, the occupancy rate was 112.1% increasing to 112.2% in 2012 and 118.4% by 2013. Catering for the growing number of prisoners is eating into the country's budget.
To ensure long-pending cases and those involving undertrials are resolved, the government set up fast-track courts in 2000. Back then, the central government allotted financial resources to setup 1,734 courts and a central grant was made available to them for an initial period of five years, later extended till 2011.
However, when the funding was discontinued and the responsibility fell on State governments, many fast track courts simply shut down and according to the Ministry of Law and Justice, there were just 976 fast track courts functional in August 2014. Although it was revealed that these courts handled more than 3.8 million cases, doubts over the quality of the verdicts still lingered. Fast track courts now look at crimes against women and children and there are plans to set up more of these courts, especially in Delhi, where 20 are expected to open this year.
The Indian justice system's numbers reveal an institutionalised shambles. It would be no exaggeration to state that the largest democracy in the world has one branch of government that has gone missing. People like Machal have literally had their lives taken away from them for no reason at all.

author: Sourabh