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Chilean Musician Victor Jara’s Rethinking of Power Lives on Long After His Murder · Global Voices
David Escalante

Mural for Víctor Jara, painted on the house that bears his name. Barrio Brasil, Santiago, Chile. Photo shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
During the week of September 14, Chile commemorated 42 years since the death of Victor Jara, a Chilean singer-songwriter murdered after a coup d'état overthrew Salvador Allende‘s presidency and brought dictator Augusto Pinochet to power.
Hace 42 años asesinaron a Víctor Jara, justicia ahora!!!
— david ibarra (@davidib30560914) September 15, 2015
Victor Jara was murdered 42 years ago, justice now!!!
But despite the passage of time and the political changes that Chile has undergone, rumination on his music's significance has not faded.
Jara was the face of the Chilean New Song, a musical genre that challenged the country's deeply conservative ruling class. Through his compositions, the communist artist took on the Vietnam War and the plight of Chile's working men and women. For example, below is one of Jara's songs called A desalambrar (Let's cut the wires):
Yo pregunto a los presentes
Si no se han puesto a pensar
Que esta tierra es de nosotros
Y no del que tenga más;
Yo pregunto si en la tierra
Nunca habrá pensado usted
Que si las manos son nuestras
Es nuestro lo que nos dé.
I ask those present
If they have not stopped to think
That this land is ours
And not that of someone who has more;
I ask if on the land
You have never thought, sir
That if the hands are ours
Ours is also what it gives.
Jara, critical of the unequal division of power in Chilean society, vocally supported Salvador Allende, who won the country's presidential election in 1970. Allende's was considered the first socialist government to be openly elected in the West in the middle of the Cold War; with his policies of nationalization and redistribution of resources, he made many enemies among Chile's and the United States’ political elite.
The opposition to Allende culminated in 1973, when Pinochet ousted him from power in a military coup. Allende killed himself as troops approached his residence. The next day, Jara was rounded up with thousands of others at a sports complex to the west of Santiago city, where military forces tortured and killed the singer-songwriter.
The impact of Jara's music on Chile was such that every September, Chileans and non-Chileans alike remember him on social media. But interest in Jara's story was particularly reawakened this year after former Chilean soldier Pedro Barrientos was ordered in April 2015 to stand trial in the US as one of the perpetrators of the murder, 25 years after the end of Pinochet's brutal military dictatorship.
According to Barrientos, when Jara was detained:
fue reconocido por el personal militar instalado al interior del Estadio Chile, siendo separado del resto de los prisioneros, para ser llevado a otras dependencias ubicadas en los camarines, ocupadas como salas de interrogatorios y apremios, donde fuera agredido físicamente en forma permanente, por varios Oficiales.
[he] was recognized by military personnel positioned inside Chile Stadium, and was separated from the rest of the prisoners to be taken to other facilities located in the dressing rooms that were used as interrogation rooms, where several officers would assault him physically and permanently.
Boris Navia, who was detained alongside Jara, recounted these events in a speech he read in 2006:
Y llegamos al fatídico sábado 15 de septiembre de 1973. Cerca del mediodía tenemos noticias de que saldrán en libertad algunos compañeros. Frenéticos, empezamos a escribirles a nuestras esposas, a nuestras madres, diciéndoles solamente que estábamos vivos. Víctor sentado entre nosotros me pide lápiz y papel. Yo le alcanzo mi libreta, cuyas tapas aún conservo. Y Víctor comienza a escribir, pensamos en una carta a Joan su compañera. Y escribe, escribe, con el apremio del presentimiento. De improviso, dos soldados lo toman y lo arrastran violentamente hasta una de las casetas de transmisión…
And we arrived on that fateful Saturday, September 15, 1973. Around midday we get news that some of our friends would be released. Frantic, we begin to write our wives, our mothers, just telling them that we were alive. Victor, seated among us, asks me for a pencil and paper. I reach for my notebook, whose cover I still have. And Victor begins writing, we think it was a letter to Joan, his partner. And he writes and writes, with the rush of feeling. Suddenly, two soldiers take him and violently drag him to one of the transmission booths…
His testimony described the abuse and torture that Jara underwent as well as his encounter with the singer-songwriter's lifeless body and those of other detainees. Navia offered his vision for what good could come of the tragedy:
Esa misma noche y al buscar una hoja para escribir, me encontré en mi libreta, no con una carta, sino con los últimos versos de Víctor, que escribió unas horas antes de morir y que él mismo tituló “Estadio Chile”. Inmediatamente acordamos guardar este poema. Un zapatero abrió la suela de mi zapato y allí escondió las dos hojas del poema; antes yo hice dos copias de él […] Sin embargo […] descubren los versos de Víctor y bajo tortura obtienen el origen del poema, llegan a mí y me llevan al velódromo, transformado en recinto de interrogatorios […] Mi suerte estaba echada. Y comienzan las torturas destinadas a saber si existían más copias del poema […] ¿Por qué a los fascistas les interesaba tanto el poema? Porque a cinco días del golpe en Chile, el mundo entero, estremecido, alzaba la voz levantando las figuras de Salvador Allende y Víctor Jara y, en consecuencia, sus versos de denuncia había que sepultarlos.
That very night, upon looking for a sheet of paper to write on, I found in my notebook, not a letter, but the last verses that Victor wrote hours before dying, which he entitled “Chile Stadium“. We immediately agreed to save this poem. A shoemaker opened the sole of my shoe and there I hid the two sheets with the poem; before, I made two copies of it […] Still, […] they discover Victor's verses and learn the origin of the poem through torture, they get to me and take me to the racetrack, transformed into an interrogation room […] My fate was sealed. And the torture starts, meant to extract from me if more copies of the poem exist […] Why were the fascists so interested in the poem? Because five days before the coup in Chile, the entire world, shaken, raised their voice, lifting the figures of Salvador Allende and Victor Jara and, consequently, their verses of protest had to be buried.
Recalling this violence, many Latin Americans can't help but wonder how much harm a musician who sings about social change could really cause a government. But music is powerful. With its sophisticated hold over people's imagination, it can promote liberation from all kinds of oppression — dangerous qualities for ruling classes clinging to their power over a people.
Philosopher Antonio Negri explained these ideas as thus:
La emancipación es la lucha por la libertad de la identidad: la libertad de ser quien verdaderamente [ya] eres; la liberación apunta a la libertad de la autodeterminación y autotransformación: la libertad de determinar lo que [nunca fuiste y]  puedes devenir.
Emancipation is the fight for freedom of identity: freedom of being who you truly [already] are; liberation points to freedom of self-determination and self-transformation: the freedom to determine what you [never were and] can become.
Jara's themes of liberation and power touched on the issues most central to people throughout Latin America: worker’s rights, equality, the value of the land, the revitalization of local languages. His music not only described the fight for freedom that everyday people faced, but also invited listeners to think beyond the status quo, to dare to dream of a future in which the old conventions of power did not exist.
Jara compared these individual calls for freedom as links in a chain in his Canto Libre (Free Song):
Mi canto es un canto libre
que se quiere regalar,
a quien le estreche su mano,
a quien quiera disparar,
Mi canto es una cadena
sin comienzo ni final
y en cada eslabón
se encuentra el canto de los demás.
My song is a free song
that wants to be given,
to he who holds its hand,
to he who wants to shoot,
My song is a chain
without a start or finish
and in each link
everyone else's song can be found.
Jara's way of seeing the world would deeply bother Pinochet's dictatorship, which sought stability in the unequal separation of power between the political and social elites and the lower classes. His message resonated despite time and censorship, according to Joan Jara, the singer-songwriter's partner and head of the Victor Jara Foundation, created in 1993:
[… La memoria] de Víctor nunca se fue de Chile. Pero en el fondo pasó 20 años absolutamente clandestino aunque de alguna forma muy presente. Fueron los jóvenes que no habían conocido a Víctor que mantenían su memoria. Me quedé impresionada cuando visité Chile en los años 80 por la presencia de Víctor entre los jóvenes: conocían sus canciones a pesar que no se escuchaban en las radios. Seguía la censura, una censura en los medios de comunicación. Una especie de autocensura.
Victor's [memory] never left Chile. But it basically spent 20 years totally underground though very present somehow. It was the young people that had not known Victor who kept his memory alive. I was impressed by Victor's presence among the youth when I visited Chile in the 80s: they knew his songs despite not having heard them on the radio. Censorship still remained, a censorship in the media. A kind of self-censorship.
Even now, Jara's music continues to echo in many parts of Latin America for its incredible ability to musicalize a future that has yet to come. An annual tribute known as A Thousand Guitars for Victor Jara pays homage to him and his message every year:
Jara's dreams of a more just world are part of a long legacy of ideas that oppressive governments have tried to snuff out. With these annual tributes to Jara, Chileans take back what Pinochet's dictatorship thought it could rob from them — and prove just how transcendent the power of his music is.

author: David Escalante


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Moroccan Royal Motorcade Runs Down By-Stander · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Moroccans are sharing links for a video showing a car which is part of a royal motorcade ferrying Moroccan King Mohammed VI running over a man in Tangiers during the visit of French President Francois Hollande.
Samia Errazzouki tweets:
Video footage showing royal security protocol running over a man in Tangiers during Francois Hollande visit https://t.co/1qwEy8fSBL
— Samia Errazzouki (@charquaouia) September 21, 2015
Hollande was in Morocco for a two-day visit and was met by Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Saturday. The video shows a vehicle in a motorcade with its doors open run over a by-stander moments after the King and his guest passed. The waving cheering crowds then start screaming.
The video was uploaded by Tanja7.com on YouTube and has been viewed more than 31,000 times so far.
It is not clear what happened to the passer by.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Most Bangladeshi Garment Workers Are Women, But Their Union Leaders Weren’t—Until Now · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Garment workers at Alif Embroidery Village, a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Credit: Amy Yee. Used with PRI's permission
This article and radio report by Bruce Wallace for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on September 16, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Only 15 people can fit into the small room on the third floor of a brick-and-corrugated-tin building in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. More people listen from a hallway just outside the room. They all work at Dacca Dyeing, a garment factory that makes clothes for Gap and Target, among other companies. They want to start a union.
Bangladesh’s garment industry saw two disasters in recent years: the Tazreen fire in November 2012 and the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April of 2013. International action to reform the industry followed, but so did labor organizing. Groups of workers, most of them women, huddled in rooms like this one to talk about taking a public and potentially dangerous step: Telling the people who run their factories — almost all of them men — that they intend to unionize.
As the evening call to prayer finishes outside, Sritee Akter starts her pitch to this group. She’s the general secretary of the Garment Workers Solidarity Federation. Before that, she was a garment worker herself.
Shamima Akter, an organizer with the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation, talks to workers about intimidation they’re facing because of their labor organizing activity. Credit: Bruce Wallace. Used with PRI's permission
In 1994 her salary was 250 taka — about $3 — a month, she tells them. She’s been fighting for workers rights since then, she says, and has been to jail twice.
“I am a worker. I am not a leader. I never introduce myself as a leader,” she says. “I just understand a little more than you. But there are things you know that I don’t.”
Organizing a union is not illegal in Bangladesh, but the workers still try to meet in secret. They moved their meetings here recently because a neighbor at their old spot started asking questions. Akter warns the workers that if the bosses find out, they’ll try to pit workers against each other, have them sign things that can then be used against them, and search for reasons to fire them. They may get violent, too.
Vertex, a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, spent $1.2 million to upgrade this factory of 4,500 garment workers. Credit: Amy Yee. Used with PRI's permission
“One day, they may hit Rahima,” Akter says, indicating a woman sitting nearby. “Another day it could be someone else. You should speak up against the abuse, so they won’t dare to hit another worker again.”
Two years ago, garment workers won a hard-fought wage increase — more than doubling the minimum wage — to the equivalent of $68 a month. Akter says unions will fight to double that again in the next five years. A new labor law also guarantees longer maternity leaves and profit sharing for workers. But Akter says only unions can make these promises a reality.
“A union is like an umbrella,” she tells the workers. “We won’t get wet in the rain, and we won’t get hot in the sun.”
After about half an hour, workers start lining up to fill out forms saying they want a union. Akter keeps talking.
The offices of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, or BGMEA, tower above Dhaka. Four years ago, Bangladesh’s High Court has ruled that the building was built without proper approval and in an environmentally inappropriate place, and ordered it removed. It has not been. Credit: Bruce Wallace. Used with PRI's permission
A few days later, my interpreter and I run into Akter on our way out of the offices of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, or BGMEA — the garment factory owners’ industry group. Garment exports accounted for $24 billion last year, 80 percent of Bangladesh’s total exports. And many of the country’s elected officials have a stake in those exports. That’s what Akter’s up against.
Unions were outlawed in Bangladesh in 2007 as part of a military-backed emergency law meant to settle political upheaval. But there’s been a been a burst of labor organizing since the new labor law passed in 2013. About 400 unions have been approved since then, according to the AFL-CIO’s Solidarity Center in Dhaka. Now unions cover some 150,000 garment workers, still a tiny fraction of the four million total. Historically, women, who make up 80 percent of garment workers, have been underrepresented in leadership.
“Many times those unions are very hierarchical, they’re very male-dominated,” says Sanchita Saxena, who directs the Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies at UC Berkeley. “Oftentimes the union heads or the union bosses are professional union workers, so they’ve never worked in the garment factory themselves.”
Female leadership in unions is increasing, though. The two most visible garment worker leaders in the country are women (Nazma and Kalpona Akter — no relation to each other or to Sritee Akter). The AFL-CIO reports that two-thirds of factory-level leaders are now women.
And that could be good news for unions as they try to persuade garment workers to take the risk of signing up. Organizer Sritee Akter knows how to talk to the workers on their level. For instance, she uses a metaphor that only rural Bengalis might understand about holding on to a particularly slippery species of fish.
Garment workers in Dhaka gather at a “women's cafe” after work to learn about workers’ rights and responsibilities. Credit: Amy Yee. Used with PRI's permission
“Owners are slick like a slippery fish, and do you know what we need to grab slippery fish?” she asks.
“Ashes!” the workers say.
“Ashes. The ashes is our union,” Akter says. “All workers need to be united.”
I check in a few months after Akter’s meeting with the Dacca Dyeing company employees. She says the government has turned down their union application twice, both times claiming they didn’t have signatures from the required 30 percent of workers.
Akter’s not daunted, though. She says that they’ll apply again, and the next time, they’ll have signatures from 70 percent of the workers. As she told the Dacca Dyeing workers at the start, “You can’t just sit there with your head covered. You have to demand your rights.”

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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New Mobile App Helps Belarusians to Keep an Eye on Violations in Presidential Election · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images: Vochy logo from the Vochy app, voting by Hayley Warren for Noun Project. Mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
A new mobile app developed by a group of independent election observers in Belarus is set to help collect information on violations from voters in the coming presidential election.
The next presidential election in Belarus will take place on October 11, 2015. This will be the fifth run for current head of state Alyaksander Lukashenka, 60, who has been in power in the ex-Soviet republic since 1994.
Lukashenka has been criticized by the West during his time in office for alleged human rights abuses and his crackdown on political dissent, which has led to lack of any real political opposition. His re-election for a fourth term in 2010 saw huge street protests, which met with a violent police response, and several opposition candidates and multiple protesters were attacked and detained.
Regardless, there are a handful of other candidates running alongside Lukashenka this time, including representatives of the opposition, so an election will actually take place, although political commentators expect Lukashenka to take his fifth consecutive term without much competition.
The creators of “Вочы” (Vochy, Belarusian for “Eyes”) hope the new mobile application helps broaden the citizens’ knowledge of the electoral process as a whole and their rights as voters. They also expect it to provide an opportunity for voters to quickly report election violations to independent observers.
Once reported through the app, violations will show up on an online interactive map (built with crowdmapping tool Ushahidi), and the information could then be used by observer missions to gauge how fair the elections were and where the violations were more severe.
One other new feature that the “Vochy” creators highlight is the public nature of violation reports: users can not only report the issues they witness at polling stations to observers anonymously, but also share their reports, photos, and videos on social networks.
Taking into account the widespread surveillance employed by the Belarusian government, the team behind “Vochy” took its users’ confidentiality seriously. The developers promise that the app collects virtually no data about its users, besides their location during a report and some data on their device.
Приложение не собирает личные данные пользователя кроме тех, которые последний указывает во время отправления сообщений. Даже если пользователь добровольно предоставляет свою контактную информацию для обратной связи, данная информация не раскрывается и не передается третьим лицам.
Для стабильной работы и оперативной технической помощи, приложение аккумулирует информацию о технических характеристиках устройства пользователя. Приложение не собирает информацию о IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) устройства.
The app does not collect any of the user's personal data besides that which the user fill in when he/she sends the reports. Even if the user voluntarily provides their contact info for feedback, this information is not disclosed and not shared with third parties.
For stable work and swift technical support, the app accumulates information about the technical specifications of the user's device. The app does not collect any info about the device's IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity).
At the moment, the “Vochy” app is only available to Android users and is free to download from the Google Play store. The creators are working on a Belarusian-language version (the current app is in Russian).
The “Vochy” election violation reporting application is a result of collaboration between independent election observing initiatives in Belarus: ElectBy, “Election observation: theory and practice,” “The right of choice,” and “Human rights advocates for free elections.” Observers promise to publish preliminary results of the analysis of violation reports from voters and observer work on the ElectBy.org website the day after the election, on October 12, 2015.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Reinventing the Blues on Ex-Soviet Georgia’s Black Sea · Global Voices
Eurasianet

The Natural Born Lovers in full flow. Photo used with permission.
The following is a partner post from EurasiaNet.org written by Paul Rimple. Republished with permission.
I’m playing the harmonica solo to blues-great Jimmy Roger’s “Walking By Myself” on a makeshift little platform at a hotel in the grimy Georgian beach town of Ureki. In the audience are 25 representatives of the local government, sitting around a long table, feasting on traditional fare of mtsvadi (roasted, skewered pork),khachapuri (cheese pie) and herbed tomato-cucumber salads. They listen impassively to our band’s performance.
It’s not easy finding an appreciative audience for the blues in Georgia. Restaurants tend to favor a polyphonic repertoire or a singer-keyboard duo playing old, Soviet-era pop hits. Most bar patrons expect a live band to belt out standard favorites like “Pretty Woman,” Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” and Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven.”
We don’t play those songs, and we don’t masquerade with Raybans, black hats and skinny black ties. We have played a few restaurants, but khinkali (meat dumpling) eaters make bad listeners and blues is an interactive form of music.
In Ureki, the guests, a polite, middle-aged bunch from Russia, Armenia and the capital, Tbilisi, are sitting and watching us as if we were a TV set. At least the children, the most honest audience in the world, are dancing.
Our drummer, David Manizhashvili, has been trying for years to get me to perform with our band, The Natural Born Lovers, in Ureki, a down-at-the-heels hamlet located between Georgia’s Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi. But I’ve shared a small room and bath with my four snoring bandmates at a resort before. I also have a day job and am picky about gigs.
My Georgian band members, however, don’t have that luxury. With the exception of our guitarist, Tamaz Tkhinvaleli, who owns a little neighborhood bakery, they somehow make a living playing music for 30 or 40 laris (roughly $13-$17) a night.
The Natural Born Lovers have shared the stage with clowns, dancing girls, amateur models sporting maladroit designs and vacuous masters of ceremony, but find dumpling eaters a difficult crowd to get going. Photo used with permission.
But even with two female singers, Nino Glonti and Bako Alania, who can deliver popular songs more suited to a local audience, work has been scarce these past months.
Hence, Ureki it is. But at least I got my own room this time.
The last time I was in this town was in April 2012. I had come to report a story about how local officials in the Guria region were pressuring opposition members to vote against the Georgian Dream coalition in the upcoming parliamentary elections. Yesterday’s opposition members became today’s government after that vote, but that’s about all that appears to have changed in Ureki.
Guria remains one of the poorest regions in Georgia, with 54.8 percent of its estimated 113, 221 residents living below the poverty line, according to World Bank statistics. Ironically, two of Georgia’s wealthiest people, multi-billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and the late billionaire Badri Patarkatsiashvili built beachside compounds in Ureki, Guria’s little slice of the Black Sea.
Developing Ureki would be vital to Guria’s economic fortunes, yet the place looks much like it did in the early 2000s when I first visited. The town’s main drag is a muddy lane full of potholes while trash blights the black-sand beaches for which Ureki is renowned.
“There’s no infrastructure here. If there was, people would invest,” said Khatuna Lagazidze, the English-speaking co-owner of Kolkhidze Sanatorium, our band’s host and employer.
The band in discussion. Photo used with permission.
The beachside sanatorium opened in the 1970s and was popular with Soviet citizens who believed Ureki’s unusual sand was good for rheumatoid arthritis, paralysis, high blood pressure and various ailments. But the fall of communism and Georgia’s subsequent plunge into social and economic chaos was a death knell for health and holiday resorts across the country, Kolkhida included.
Lagazidze and her husband Amiran, both from Tbilisi, bought the hotel in the mid-1990s and restored it, including a clean private beach. Yet the vestiges of Georgia’s communist past are evident in practically every family resort in the country, which typically offer an all-inclusive package with three cafeteria meals a day. Entertainment is often part of the bundle, too — in the full sense of the word.
Our band has shared the stage with clowns, dancing girls, amateur models sporting maladroit designs and vacuous masters of ceremony. It can make for a surreal pageant that Federico Fellini would envy.
At a New Year’s holiday gig in Bakuriani, a popular spot for winter getaways in Georgia’s Lower Caucasus, one drunk man, angry I didn’t play Tracy Chapman, snatched my mike and began to shout a James Brown imitation of “I Feel Good.” That was the year our employers put us up in a disused old hotel with no heating, towels or toiletries. I vowed never to play Bakuriani again.
Kolkhida is not so gauche. It wants to offer something the entire family can appreciate. In addition to our band, they had a jumpy young MC who hosted karaoke and a “master magician,” Zurab Vadachkoria, who performed a little set that included the cell-phone-in-a-plastic-bottle trick.
If the audience is indifferent, we play harder. As we kick into a Slim Harpo number, the rhythm section slides deep in the pocket before Tamaz, our guitarist, shreds the solo to ribbons.
Sometimes it pays off. Kolkhida wants us back again next summer and has asked me to bring my family along, too.

author: Eurasianet


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Twitter Users from Around the World Show Off Ukrainian Foods in Their Local Grocery Stores · Global Voices
Anna Poludenko-Young

Condensed milk “Made in Ukraine” sold at a grocery store in California. Photo by @a_demchenko on Twitter. Mixed by Anna Poludenko-Young.
Ukraine is more than a country currently at war with Russia or a former Soviet republic. It also happens to be a promising exporter of agricultural products. To promote this side of the country's image Oleksiy Pavlenko, Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister, decided to start a flashmob on Twitter. He asked followers to look for products made in Ukraine in grocery stores around the world, to photograph them, and post the photos with the hashtag #FoodUA.
Наш аграрний експорт охоплює майже 190 країн! Побачите за кордоном укр.продукцію – повідомляйте, викладайте фото! Пишаймося разом! #Україна
— Олексій Павленко (@Pavlenko_OM) September 5, 2015
We export agricultural products to almost 190 countries! If you see Ukrainian products abroad, let us know, post pictures of them! Let’s be proud together.
The flashmob was launched almost two weeks ago, around September 5. Since then, twitter users have posted over four thousand photos of Ukrainian foods in stores around the word. The majority of posts come from the United States, Germany, Latvia, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
In his interview to Radio Liberty, Pavlenko said that the main purpose of the #FoodUA online initiative was to demonstrate that the Ukrainian agricultural sector has a powerful export potential. The Minister also said he wanted to bust a couple of myths. They mostly have to do with a popular belief among Ukrainians that the country’s agrarian exports are focused solely on countries of the former USSR and that most of these exports are raw materials, not finished products.
“This flashmob has demonstrated that we supply a lot of finished products that you can buy even in major grocery store chains abroad. They are tasty, popular and highly-valued,” Pavlenko said.
Value-added goods is a significant part of #Ukraine‘s exports #FoodUA #agriculture #agribusiness pic.twitter.com/yf4sbTROdO
— Олексій Павленко (@Pavlenko_OM) September 16, 2015
Based on the analysis of the twitter posts with the #FoodUA hashtag, the top five of the most popular and widespread Ukrainian foods include chocolates and cookies (predominately the Roshen brand, owned by Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko), all sorts of pickled vegetables, sunflower oil, tomato sauces, and buckwheat grain.
Українська олія у найбільший світовій мережи Walmart USA на підтримку @Pavlenko_OM та #FoodUA pic.twitter.com/oN02oX4Grt
— Andrew Demchenko (@a_demchenko) September 14, 2015
Ukrainian sunflower oil in Walmart USA, the world's biggest [supermarket] chain, in support of @Pavlenko_OM and #FoodUA
@Pavlenko_OM В Швейцарії гречка з України #FoodUA pic.twitter.com/dydX4LPaU0
— Irina Shkorbotun (@IrinaShkorbotun) September 6, 2015
Ukrainian buckwheat grain in Switzerland #FoodUA
#FoodUA Рошен в американских супермаркетах. Нью-Йорк. pic.twitter.com/YnW1teKVLN
— Надежда (@NadinAktiv) September 7, 2015
#FoodUA Roshen in American supermarkets. New York.
Other less popular finds included things like alcohol and watermelons.
@Pavlenko_OM @aivaras_aivaras українське шаспанське в магазині Швейцарії. pic.twitter.com/vL4iYgrX4y
— Вермінський Андрій (@Verminskyy) September 6, 2015
Ukrainian sparkling wine in Swiss stores.
“Перлина Інкермана” 2013 р. на полицях берлінських супермаркетів доводить, що Крим – Україна #FoodUA @Pavlenko_OM pic.twitter.com/yqmsQgQeY6
— Andrij Melnyk (@MelnykAndrij) September 16, 2015
“The Pearl of Inkerman” of 2013 vintage on the shelves of Berlin's supermarkets proves that Crimea is Ukraine.
А це – укр кавун на базарі у Гельсінкі @Pavlenko_OM pic.twitter.com/TKA9gafQW9
— Andrii Olefirov (@AndriiOlefirov) September 12, 2015
And this is a Ukrainian watermelon in a market in Helsinki.
Judging by the number of comments and retweets, the biggest surprise for Ukrainians was a photo of “made in Ukraine” cooking salt taken in Cyprus with a EUR2.26 ($2.56) price tag. Apparently, Ukrainians who are used to paying not more than $0.16 per one kilogram (2.2 lb) of cooking salt were not ready to pay the European price for authentic Ukrainian condiments.
Наша сіль в супермаркетах Кіпру цінується високо #FoodUA #Cyprus pic.twitter.com/kUDe8A0RFs
— Yevheniia Dychko (@racunishka) September 7, 2015
Our salt is valued rather highly in Cyprus’ supermarkets #FoodUA.
Ukraine’ Radio Liberty journalists put together an interactive map of the geo-located coordinates of all the places where the flashmob photos came from. The map underscores what the photos have already hinted at: Ukrainian food seems to be available (and popular) all over the world. Click on each marker on the map to see the photo taken in that spot.

author: Anna Poludenko-Young


text:
UN Does Not Recognize Taiwanese Passport, Denies Entrance to Geneva Office · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Some Taiwanese prefer to cover “Republic of China” on their passport with the sticker “Republic of Taiwan.” Photo from the Taiwanese in Europe.
Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations (UN) because of China's opposition given its territorial claim over Taiwan. This uncertain diplomatic status of Taiwan quite often results in humiliation for Taiwanese citizens in international events and on other occasions. The most recent incident had a Taiwanese citizen barred from entering the UN office in Geneva (UNOG).
On Sepember 15, 2015, when Yu-Ling Tsai, a Taiwanese citizen, traveled to Switzerland to visit the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG), the receptionist at the entrance told her that her passport was not a valid identity document and asked her to present her national ID. After showing her Taiwanese ID, Yu-Ling Tsai was rejected again. The staff said UN did not accept the passports and national IDs issued by the Taiwan government. Moreover, the UN staff claimed that Taiwan was a part of China, and that she could thus only enter UNOG if she could present a passport issued by the People’s Republic of China. Tsai said in a Facebook post:
我是台灣人，我只有台灣護照。台灣不是中國的一部份，我從來沒當過中國人，我根本不可能有中國護照或是中國身份證。你要的東西，根本不存在啊。[…]這是聯合國對我的歧視。
I am Taiwanese and I only have a Taiwan-issued passport. Taiwan is not a part of China, and I have never been a Chinese citizen. It is not possible for me to hold a passport issued by the People’s Republic of China or a Chinese national ID. What you [UN] asked for does not exist.[…] This is UN’s discrimination towards me.
When the Taiwanese reporters made official inquiries at the UN about its regulations, UNOG spokesperson Rhéal LeBlanc said that although the UN welcomed people from all around the world for visits, it did not accept the passports issued by Taiwan (ROC). If the Taiwanese plan to visit the UN offices, LeBlanc added, they need to present a valid driver’s license or another ID. However, in Tsai’s case, her national ID was not accepted.
Though the UNOG told BBC that Tsai’s case is just a single occurrence, there have been other instances with similar circumstances. Taiwanese citizen Min-Shiuan Wang was rejected by the receptionist at UNOG on Jan 10, 2015 because the only identity document Wang held was a Taiwanese passport. Earlier in 2012, the same thing happened to another Taiwanese citizen.
UN has also rejected officials from Taiwan visiting their headquarters to attend their diplomatic meetings, if the Taiwanese representatives only presented their national passports. When Jing-Yi Lin planned to attend an official satellite meeting of UN’s Commission on the Status of Women held in New York this year, she was not allowed to enter the meeting because she held a Taiwanese passport.
Earlier in May 22, 2012, when the World Health Organization (WHO) Promotional Group from Taiwan planned to enter the public gallery at the World Health Assembly, those Taiwanese who presented their passports instead of their national IDs were rejected because the WHO staff told them they did not accept Taiwanese passports.
The director of the WHO Promotional Group and the former deputy director of the Ministry of Health in Taiwan, Hsing-Che Tu, believed that the rejection of Taiwanese passports was an act of humiliation:
從世界衛生組織的宗旨來看，世衛是歡迎任何一個世界公民進去旁聽的，只要能有相片的證件證明是你本人，就應該可以進去。這對每一國都一樣，因此，每國國民均持單一證件申請旁聽[…]但『中華民國』護照因馬英九堅持『一個中國』，就世衛立場看來，等於在挑戰其會員國『中華人民共和國』，等於要和『中華人民共和國』爭位子，中華民國要『重返』聯合國世衛，當然不能被接受。
雙證件的把戲只是在羞辱『中華民國護照』及國人，世衛中國籍的幹事長陳馮富珍想藉此向世界宣告「『中華民國』是不存在的，世界上只有一個中國，就是『中華人民共和國』」。
Based on the aim of the World Health Organization (WHO), it welcomes all citizens around the world to enter the public gallery at the World Health Assembly. Supposedly, as long as we hold a photo identity document to prove our identity, we should be able to enter. This rule should be applied to all countries, so everyone could enter while presenting one identity document.[…]However, because the Ma administration insists on the ‘one China’ policy, the passport of the Republic of China (ROC) seems to be a challenge to their member, the People’s Republic of China (PROC). Following this logic, ROC’s ‘return’ to the WHO is not accepted.
The so-called ‘double identity check’ [one passport plus another identity document] is just a trick to humiliate those of us who hold a Taiwan (ROC) passport. The present Director-General, Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun from China, tries to let the world know that ROC does not exist, and PROC is the only one to represent China in the world.

author: I-fan Lin


text:
3 Keys to Understanding the Burkina Faso Coup · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

Images of Burkina Faso people's protests (diverse sources on Facebook)
A military coup at the hands of Burkina Faso's presidential security guard has pulled the country into a deep political crisis. On September 16, 2015, ex-President Blaise Compaoré’s Regiment of Presidential Security (RSP) held President Michel Kafando, his Prime Minister Isaac Zida, and the rest of the government in detention, before shutting down the political transitional institutions.
Kafando and his ministers were set free on September 18 and talks about reinstating Kafando are ongoing. In the course of these events, the coup plotters named General Gilbert Diendéré, longtime aid to Compaoré, new leader of the country.
Clashes also erupted in the capital Ouagadougou, resulting in at least three dead and 60 injured.
This coup’s intended objectives are clear if one looks at the background, the perpetrators and their relationship to those who were formerly ruling the country. The latter don’t seem to have given up their eagerness to regain power, notwithstanding the Burkinabé people’s expressed refusal in 2014 of a further unconstitutional extension of Blaise Compaoré’s regime after 27 years in office.
This movement, known as the Balai Citoyen (the citizen's broom), is once again leading this resistance against the coup leaders. Whatever the outcome of this coup, in the short or the long run, it certainly constitutes an attempt to infringe on the will to establish a long-lasting democracy in the country.
The following three questions shed some light on the coup and will be important to keep in mind as the situation unfolds.
The Regiment of Presidential Security RSP is a branch of Burkina Faso's military in charge of protecting Burkina Faso’s president, the country's republican institutions and any person designated by the president of Burkina Faso. The RSP was created by Blaise Compaoré as a way to assert authority after the assassination of Thomas Sankara, Compaoré's predecessor. The RSP is known for its substantial weaponry and is autonomous and separate from any other armed force, since it exclusively operates under the president’s command.
Thomas Sankara was the charismatic leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. He was known and well-liked for his anti-colonialist and pan-Africanist policies. He was overthrown in a coup led by Blaise Compaoré on October 15, 1987, and assassinated shortly after (although it remains unclear whether Compoaré was directly involved in the killing).
Gilbert Diendéré, Burkina Faso army general via Wikimedia commons CC-BY-20
A principal figure in the RSP and de facto interim head of state, Gilbert Diendéré, was also actively involved in the coup that deposed Sankara.
The guard had made their displeasure for the new government known before the coup. In June 2015, the RSP demanded that the prime minister step down before giving up on that tactic. On September 14, one of the transitional institutions known as the Commission for National Reconciliation and Reforms (CRNR) in turn urged that the RSP be dissolved.
The coup leaders have imposed a night curfew as well as shut down land and air borders.
The presidential and legislative elections were supposed to take place in Burkina Faso on October 11. In an interview with Jeune Afrique, Gilbert Diendéré made a case for the coup as follows:
Nous sommes passés à l'acte pour empêcher la déstabilisation du Burkina-Faso” en raison de l'insécurité pré-électorale
We decided to take action to prevent the disruption of Burkina Faso due to the insecurity looming during pre-elections.
However, this excuse does not seem to hold water and is simply a way for the RSP to take advantage of this unrest in order to reestablish the preceding regime by force. As a matter of fact, previous adherents to Compaoré were kept away from the upcoming elections.
Furthermore, the autopsy results expected to shed light on Sankara’s assassination were supposed to be published on September 17, the day of the coup. The autopsy took 30 years to (almost) come to fruition because the authorities had never allowed an independent committee access to the body. The autopsy results are still held secret as of today.
It’s like witnessing a second “death” of Sankara, probably perpetrated by the same actors (Compoaré and his RSP guards). It seems that in the light of these events, Compoaré and the RSP will again be held responsible by the Burkinabé people.
Post-coup riots in Burkina Faso. Screenshot of video footage by Elisée Antoine
The Balai Citoyen movement (Citizen's Broom movement), initiated by Burkina Faso’s youth, was an important element in the October 30, 2014, popular upheaval which toppled Compaoré. On that day, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of capital city Ouagadougou and other big villages, headed for the authorities’ headquarters.
On announcing the coup on September 16, spontaneous opposition demonstrations took place in the streets of the capital. A radio station, Radio de la Résistance Citoyenne (Citizen's Resistance Radio), was set up to call on activists to take action against the RSP’ attempt to take power.
The hashtag #lwili (lwili means “little bird” in Mooré, the most widely spoken language of Burkina Faso). was created to share the latest news updates on the crisis as well as promote various citizen's initiatives. Here are some images and reactions:
#Ouahigouya earlier today! #lwili pic.twitter.com/S8Ne5Ge6fl
— Hannane Ferdjani (@HFerdjani) September 18, 2015
Où se trouve l'armée régulière du pays ? Où est la gendarmerie ? A quoi servent ils s'ils ne peuvent pas s'opposer aux terroristes #lwili
— Morbiga (@ramdesouley) September 19, 2015
Where is the country's regular army? Where is the police? What use are they if they can't stop the terrorists #lwili
Nouna #resistance#lwilipic.twitter.com/Sbfc2o6iN0
— Radio Resistance (@Elmayci) September 18, 2015
Nouna city  #resistance #lwili pic.twitter.com/Sbfc2o6iN0
A Kouritenga la population est sortie contre le projet de loi de la CEDEAO #lwili#Burkinapic.twitter.com/sfdJBBi8Na
— yoyo ici (@yoyo_ici) September 21, 2015
In Kouritenga, the population came out against the ECOWAS proposal #lwili #Burkina pic.twitter.com/sfdJBBi8Na

author: Rakotomalala


text:
As Election Draws Near, Myanmar Turns to Social Media at Democratic Turning Point · Global Voices
Juan Cebu

The text on the image reads “Let's Vote.” Photo: Vote for Myanmar / Facebook.
As Myanmar's general election draws nearer, civil society groups are becoming more active in creating Facebook pages and promoting social media hashtags to remind people to vote. The most popular hashtags at the moment include #MyanmarVotes, #maepaysoh (#Let'sVote), #CheckVoterList, and #ivotebecause.
Myanmar's second general election on November 8 will see the opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, compete against the ruling party Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The election is widely seen as a test of the current government's willingness to hold a clean and fair election, and as an important step in the country's transition to a modern democracy.
As the campaign period commences, both parties’ supporters have started blanketing the Web with promotional materials. Meanwhile, Facebook pages like Vote for Myanmar, Mae Pay Soh (#Let'sVote), and Let's Check Voter List have already become popular platforms where people can get information about the voting process. Pages like these remind the public of their rights as voters and citizens.
Because of reports aout false voters’ list, electoral watchdogs are also reminding citizens to verify their names on the official voters’ list. In support of this campaign, local celebrities are encouraging their fans to spread the reminder.
The infograph below teaches voters how to make sure their names are included on the official registry:
Infographic from the Facebook page of Check Voter List.
Let's Check Voter List's Facebook page asks people to upload a photo once they've made sure their names are on the list. An LGBT activist uploaded a photo that features a placard with the following message:
မဲစာရင်း ကြည့်ပြီးပြီလား ။ တို့တော့ ကြည့်ပြီးပြီ၊
မဲစာရင်း ဆိုတာ နိုင်ငံသားတစ်ယောက်ရဲ့ အခွင့်အရေး ဖြစ်ပါတယ် ။
LGBT (လိင်စိတ်ခံယူမှု ကွဲပြားသူ)တွေကလည်း နိုင်ငံသားတွေဖြစ်ပါတယ် ။ ကဲ LGBT အသိုက်အဝန်းမှ လူများ မဲစာရင်း ကြည့်ပြီးကျပြီလားရှင့်။
ကျမတို့ရဲ့ အခွင့်အရေး တွေကိုဆောင်ရွက်ပေးနိုင်မယ့် အမတ်လောင်း ကို ရွေးချယ်မဲပေးနိုင်ဖို့ မဲစာရင်းကြည့်ဖို့လိုအပ်ပါတယ်။
မဲစာရင်းသွားကြည့်စို့။ မဲစာရင်းသွားကြည့်အောင် တိုက်တွန်းကြစို့။
#CheckVoterList
Have you checked voter list? I have.
The voter list is a citizen's right.
LGBT are also citizens. Has the LGBT community checked the voters’ list?
We need to choose a candidate who will be able to work for our rights.
Therefore, we need to check the voters’ list and urge [our community] to check and [vote].
#CheckVoterList
Even Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie took time to make a video message—which quickly went viral—urging Myanmar's citizens to vote. Meanwhile, the government, through the Union Election Commission, has been sharing videos of various artists on Facebook to educate people about their voting rights.
Myanmar President Thein Sein has also underscored the role of the 2015 election in shaping the country's future. The Vote for Myanmar Facebook page shared a summary of the president's speech:
မဲဆန္ဒရှင်ပြည်သူလူထုအနေနဲ့ အခြေခံကျတဲ့ နိုင်ငံသားတာဝန်ဖြစ်တဲ့ ဆန္ဒမဲပေးခြင်းဆိုတဲ့တာဝန်ကို မပျက်မကွက် ထမ်းဆောင်ဖို့ တိုက်တွန်းလိုကြောင်း၊ ဆန္ဒမဲပေးတဲ့အခါမှာလည်း မိမိတို့ကိုယ်အမှန်တကယ်ကိုယ်စားပြုမဲ့၊ ပြည်သူလူထုရဲ့ လိုလားချက်များကို အမှန်တကယ်ဖော်ဆောင်ပေးနိုင်တဲ့၊ အရည်အသွေးရှိတဲ့ လူထုကိုယ်စားလှယ်များကို ရွေးချယ်တင်မြောက်ပေးကြဖို့ အထူးအရေးကြီးကြောင်း၊ ဒါမှသာလျှင် ကျွန်တော်တို့အားလုံးရဲ့ မျှော်မှန်းချက်ဖြစ်တဲ့ ဒီမိုကရေစီထွန်းကားပြီး ပွင့်လင်းလွတ်လပ်တဲ့ လူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ရပ်တည်ဆောက်ရေးကို ၂၀၁၅ အထွေထွေရွေးကောက်ပွဲများကနေ ဆောင်ကြဉ်းပေးနိုင်မှာ ဖြစ်ကြောင်း နိုင်ငံတော်သမ္မတဦးသိန်းစိန်မှ ပြောကြားသည်။
President Thein Sein urged the public to exercise their fundamental responsibility of voting, and stressed that it is very important to choose the candidates who will actually represent the people's best interests, fulfill the needs of the people, and have the best abilities. Only then will the kind of democracy that we wish be able to flourish, and we will be able to step forward in building an open and free society.

author: Juan Cebu


text:
Charlie Hebdo’s Cartoons of Alan Kurdi Spark Another Round of Free Speech Debates · Global Voices
Faten Bushehri

Charlie Hebdo's latest cartoons of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, widely circulated on social media.
Once again, the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo has triggered an international controversy. Its publication of cartoons depicting Alan Kurdi in its September 2 issue left readers wondering if it was mocking the child's death, the European responses to the migrant crisis, or neither. The magazine has managed to ignite a new debate about freedom of speech.
Alan Kurdi, the 3-year-old Syrian toddler whose body washed up recently on a Turkish beach, has become a symbol of the Mediterranean crisis. He had boarded a migrant boat with his brother and mother and 20 other refugees that was headed to the Greek island of Kos. But the boat sank, claiming Alan's life and another 11 others, including that of his own mother and brother.
There were about 10 cartoons depicting Alan Kurdi (initially reported as Aylan Kurdi) , but a few gained special popularity on social media. Colombian actress Mariana Cordoba tweeted two of Hebdo's cartoons, expressing disapproval of the magazine's approach:
#CharlieHebdo You went too far, disappointing. Do not confuse freedom of speech with hate speech. #Aylan pic.twitter.com/ilbE4bsYMy
— Mariana Cordoba (@MariCordoba) September 16, 2015
The image on the left shows a toddler wearing the exact same clothes Alan had on when his body was found, and a McDonald's billboard that offers two children's meal for the price of one. This could be interpreted as referring to Alan and his brother.
The caption reads “So close to making it…”
On the right is a cartoon penned by a cartoonist who survived the gun attack on Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. He drew a Jesus-like figure standing next to the toddler, laying face down with a caption which reads: “Proof that Europe is Christian.”
More explanatory captions included “Christians walk on water” and “Muslim children sink.”
An account that goes by “A Common Lawyer” tweeted another cartoon showing a toddler representing Alan in two drawings of swimming champions, reading, “Can you guess who's not the swimming champion?”
Here's another #CharlieHebdo #aylan cartoon. ‘Which of these three swimmers hasn't been a champion swimmer?” pic.twitter.com/k36UwCyaWg
— A common lawyer (@acommonlawyer) September 16, 2015
Charlie Hebdo was the victim of an attack in early January of 2015 that left 12 people dead, including a top editor of the magazine. In 2006, the magazine republished the Danish artist's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which was deemed by many in the Muslim world to be insulting to Islam, while many in the West viewed the act as a form of free expression.
The Alan Kurdi cartoons yet again leave the public opinion divided between criticizing the magazine's apparent tasteless sense of humor and acknowledging the right to free press and speech.
Disgusting…Is that their freedom of speech? Mocking the dead child? They want to hurt feelings of people…Brainless #charliehebdo #aylan
— DrFaheem Haider (@DrfaheemHaider) September 14, 2015
Charlie Hebdo managed to mock #Aylan Kurdi, the boy who drowned, in the name of satire. Shame on You #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/AUaFjZkX7w
— Meysam Doai (@Mdoai) September 15, 2015
Some see the magazine's approach to satire on a global issue like the migrant crisis as irresponsible journalism:
So #CharlieHebdo has now plagued the western media by mocking #Aylan. Its time we realisd they represnt nothng but irresponsible journalism.
— Hanief Manzoor Dar (@haniefdar) September 15, 2015
So #CharlieHebdo has now plagued the western media by mocking #Aylan. Its time we realisd they represnt nothng but irresponsible journalism.
— # I Rep 28th Sep # (@jishaq1) September 16, 2015
These cartoons have been double-edged, as people take offense to the fact that a dead toddler is featured in them, while others see it from a different perspective, suggesting that the whole point of these cartoons is to mock the West's response to the crisis, and not Alan.
#CharlieHebdo isn't mocking #Aylan but the capitalistic countries that unfortunately don't care for the pain of the refugees. How I see it.
— Vicky (@lilia_mars) September 15, 2015
Isn't the #CharlieHebdo cartoon on #Aylan a take on European's, mocking them, rather..?
— Nakata (@AlterJijo) September 15, 2015
Several papers including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bloomberg View, and many others have published articles explaining the other side of the coin. The New York Times, for instance, argues that the cartoons attack Europe's “hypocritical response to the [refugee] crisis” first and foremost.
A website called Understanding Charlie Hebdo breaks down the meanings behind the magazine's cartoons in general, presenting examples of different cartoons that have been published in the past. It says:
Charlie Hebdo employs its rather brutal satire against dogma, hypocrisy, and hysteria, regardless of its source. Satire works by toying with different levels of interpretation (irony)—a fundamentally subjective endeavor, which in the hands of Charlie Hebdo is sure to leave bitter aftertastes. Humor is not a requirement.
Despite the mainstream media's attempt to tone down the debate by clarifying Charlie Hebdo's agenda and hidden message, some are still unconvinced, like the French-Algerian journalist Nabila Ramdani:
My piece on the magazine's latest cartoons: Yes, I ‘get’ #CharlieHebdo ‘joke’ about #Aylan. And it’s repulsive. http://t.co/SuQqTmEAYg
— Nabila Ramdani (@NabilaRamdani) September 18, 2015
Ramdani wrote a column for Al Arabiya, where she said:
What is certain is that there is nothing humorous about dead children, least of all ones caught up in a global refugee crisis. This view is not a minority one, not a radical one, and not an ignorant one offered by censorious killjoys. Like Mr Herbert, a highly educated barrister, I “get” exactly what Charlie Hebdo is trying to do, and what the magazine represents. And like millions around the world I find it all utterly repulsive.

author: Faten Bushehri


text:
Haitian President’s Sexist Comments Remind Caribbean Feminists They Still Have a Long Way to Go · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

Michel Martelly, President of Haiti; image by OEA – OAS, photo credit Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
The struggle for equal rights when it comes to gender is an ongoing one, in some parts of the world perhaps more than others. The Caribbean-focused feminist blog Code Red, which regularly calls out gender-related injustices in the region, is appalled at the abuses West Indian women must bear, suggesting that much of the misogyny appears to be culturally accepted.
Much of the blog's focus was on an incident in late July, involving Haitian President Michel Martelly. On the campaign trail in Miragoane, a woman in the crowd openly criticised Martelly and his government, asking what they intended to do about the lack of electricity service in her area. The president responded, not by addressing the issue at hand, but rather, by telling the woman to “find a man and go into the bushes” — effectively dismissing her concerns and suggesting that her problems would be solved by having sex.
Code Red's assessment of Martelly's remark was far more severe than it being a sexist gaffe:
Michel Martelly threatened a woman with sexual violence because she sought to hold him accountable to the people.
The blog also quoted directly from a report about the incident that accuses Martelly of much worse behaviour — there is, however, no evidence to support these claims, although this Miami Herald report confirms that the president's remarks were recorded and played on Haitian radio.
Meanwhile, public outcry over the incident in Miragoane was swift — people were protesting, both on the ground and in the blogosphere — and several female members of Martelly's government resigned.
Women march in #Haiti capital of Port-au-Prince to protest President #Martelly‘s #Miragoâne comments http://t.co/DgZCksYfpX
— Michael Deibert (@michaelcdeibert) August 4, 2015
There was even an online petition against Martelly's sexist comments, and on Twitter, netizens discussed Martelly's misogynistic response to the woman's criticism:
Depuis l'incident de #Miragoâne je me fais un devoir de ne plus écouter ce que #martelly,pdt bouffon,qui ne respecte pas les femmes a à dire
— Chantal M. Elie (@chantalmelie) September 10, 2015
Since the incident in #Miragoâne I have a duty to not listen to #martelly, that fool who does not respect what women have to say
One Twitter user thought Martelly's display of sexism was simply an extension of the allegedly corrupt modus operandi of his government:
#Haiti #Martelly is not only corrupt, but he's a sexist pig as well. #ThankUHillary! http://t.co/4cXophjpEV
— James S. Henry (@submergingmkt) August 6, 2015
Others were not surprised at his reaction:
#martelly, pushed & pushed the limit to see how far he can get & he got far… He was never able to stand others who stood up to him!
— Chantal M. Elie (@chantalmelie) August 6, 2015
I've come to the conclusion that he doesn't care anymore and it shows through his behavior #Martelly #OnceUponATime
— kandida Gio (@GioJules) July 30, 2015
To some, however, that was no excuse for the musician-turned-politician who once went by the name Sweet Micky:
fuck yeah Sweet Micky can talk shit abt whatever the fuck. but President Michel Martelly better get his shit settled as MY PRESIDENT.
— Kitty Pride (@birdie_leii) July 30, 2015
Of course, there were some Martelly supporters…
While Marie Lucie of #Vision2000 appeared to have made excuses 4 #Martelly‘s anti-women comments, @RTVCHAITI having field day w/ intl focus.
— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) August 3, 2015
…but most feminist activists and women's groups stood solidly behind their own:
Women's groups denounce silence of women ministry, women political leaders, the PM re: #Martelly‘s comments. #vision2000
— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) August 3, 2015
Women's group says awaiting reaction from @UN and @EU_Commission on #Martelly‘s comments. “They have a right to say something.” #vision2000
— Jacqueline Charles (@Jacquiecharles) August 3, 2015
Another Haitian government official has since resigned:
Another #Martelly govt official, this one Minister of Agriculture Fresner Dorcin, resigns http://t.co/lLQrj19eVs
— Michael Deibert (@michaelcdeibert) September 19, 2015
Meanwhile, the Code Red post went on to cite other regional instances of threats against women and homosexuals — Barbadian schoolboys “chanting an original pro-rape song: Tek dickey and roll”; the fallout over Caleb Orozco's fight to end anti-gay laws in Belize; and a public threat by a government official against a female activist in Guyana — making the point that “misogyny and anti-gay violence are rooted in hetero/sexism”:
Rape is a footnote. Schoolboys can delight in it and Presidents can threaten women citizens with it.
Feminist activists are told that we need to meet heterosexual men where they are, that we need to allow men their misogyny (as if we have a choice in the matter?) as gender equality is a process that cannot be preempted by our claims to full humanity. We need to be patient and quiet and good. Misogyny is the fabric that our society is made of. Best to lean in rather than undo. Better to workshop than unravel de damn ting!
The post ended on a despondent note, even as the blog — and outspoken women across the Caribbean — continue to battle gender inequity, day by day:
Some days Caribbean queer feminist brilliance beats so boldly it drowns out the constant and multi-directional message that women and girls don’t matter. And the rest of the time? That schoolboys’-chant-President’s-rant stays in your head.

author: Flora Thomas


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It Gets Worse for Russia’s Most-Prominent LGBT Youth Support Group · Global Voices
Darina Gribova

LGBT Protesters attacked at Pride In St. Petersburg, Russia. June 29, 2013, by Ekaterina Danilova. Photo: Demotix.
Some organizations seem destined to exist in the crosshairs of the Russian authorities. Children-404, an online support community for LGBT youths, is one of those groups. On Monday, September 21, Russia's government media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, ordered Vkontakte—the country's most popular social network—to shut down Children-404's account on the site, along with the accounts of four other LGBT groups.
Roskomnadzor is enforcing a decision made by a court in Barnaul, which classifies the five LGBT youth communities as illegal “gay propaganda.” Censors justify the policing act as necessary for the protection of underage teens:
При этом в сообществах содержатся объявления о знакомствах с подростками с целью нетрадиционных сексуальных отношений, откровенные изображения нетрадиционных сексуальных отношений между подростками и взрослыми и другого рода противоправная информация.
In this respect, the communities contain personal ads about dating with teenagers for the purpose of non-traditional sexual relations, steamy images of sexual relations between teenagers and adults, and other kinds of illegal information.
Officials say the five LGBT communities have three days to remove their illegal content, if they wish to avoid repercussions. Children-404 founder Lena Klimova says that authorities have not specified what content in their groups is against the law.
But if the website refuses to comply with the order, Vkontakte risks being blocked in its entirety by Russian Internet providers. Although authorities might prefer to block only the pages belonging to Children-404 and the other LGBT community groups in question, Vkontakte's technical infrastructure makes this a tough move. Vkontakte works under HTTPS, a secure protocol that makes it very difficult for web traffic monitors to see which pages a user visits within a site. If Russian authorities want to keep users from seeing the pages of Children-404 and its allies, they may have to block the entire social network, a move that would likely trigger an uproar among young Russians.
Lena Klimova, founder of “Children-404.” Photo: Facebook
Klimova says she only learned about Roskomnadzor's action thanks to journalists. “It's funny,” Klimova writes. “On 404, we always prohibited people from placing personal ads, trying to hook up, posting things like, ‘Write me, I want to get acquainted.'” In fact, the community closely monitors the images shared with users, typically obscuring the identity of individuals photographed, and preventing anything like the “steaminess” described by Roskomnadzor.
George Lobushkin, Vkontakte's spokesperson, confirmed that it has received Roskomnadzor's order to remove “several” LGBT youth communities. Lobushkin said that Vkontakte was still analyzing the takedown order, but the website TJournal.ru reports that Vkontakte has already blocked the other four, less prominent LGBT groups mentioned in the court ruling, including Young Gays and Bis—Jump to Me, Gays and Bisexuals of Barnaul, Children the Color of the Sky, and Gay Dating Barnaul Under 25!.
Speaking to the newspaper Vedomosti about Children-404, Roskomnadzor spokesperson Vadim Ampelonsky said, “Unfortunately, the emotional enthusiasm of the project coordinator does not allow her to act within the law” and that “such complex and delicate topics as the teenagers’ socialization should be dealt with by specialists.” Interestingly, Kirill Grinchenko, the spokesman for MediaGuard, a group connected to the youth wing of the ruling United Russia party, repeated Ampelonsky's comments almost word-for-word in a press statement republished on the group's Vkontakte page.
This is not the first time the pro-Kremlin group, which purports to monitor the web for illicit and immoral content, has stood in the way of Children-404. In September 2014, MediaGuard lodged a complaint against Children-404 with the Attorney General and Roskomnadzor. In July 2015, MediaGuard launched an online petition against Klimov's group, though Avaaz.org deleted it after two weeks. MediaGuard was also a witness in the court case that resulted in Klimova being fined 50,000 rubles (about USD $750) for supposedly violating Russia's anti-gay-propaganda law. This fine was later revoked by an appeals court.
“This is not about the oppression of the LGBT community,” Grinchenko told RuNet Echo. “It's just about compliance with Russian Internet regulations. Put another way: we strictly follow the law. And, from our point of view, this group [Children-404], is currently in breach of the law, as it was adjudicated by a court.”
Though Klimova's Vkontakte page has been overwhelmed with hateful comments and threats (which is not unusual for her), she is telling her community and its supporters not to panic. “I don't know whom to thank for such [wonderful] advertising!” she writes. “We had more traffic and new members join today than any day so far this year,” she added. Children-404 currently has more than 66,500 subscribers on Vkontakte, and still more on Facebook and other social media.

author: Darina Gribova


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Venezuela’s Oscar Entry Speaks an Indigenous Language · Global Voices
Mary Aviles

“Gone with the River” by Mario Crespo is Venezuela's Oscar entry in the Best Foreign Language Film… https://t.co/XR8tzauaSU
— Carlos Aguilar (@Carlos_Film) September 3, 2015
Lo que lleva el río (“Gone With the River”), from Cuban-Venezuelan filmmaker Mario Crespo Dauna, is a Venezuelan film shot almost entirely in Warao, the language spoken by the people indigenous to the Orinoco River Delta. The film is Venezuela's entry to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign-Language Film.
According to Andrew S. Vargas, who wrote in Remezcla:
The story follows an indigenous woman named Dauna who is marked by difference within her community. Torn between her love for Tarsicio or her desire to pursue studies outside of her village, Dauna’s decision to challenge the expectations of her traditional culture lead to suffering and, ultimately, reconciliation.”
The film was selected as part of the Berlin Film Festival’s groundbreaking NATIVe showcase, earlier this year. Here is the trailer:

author: Mary Aviles


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Drowned Syrian Boy Awakens Peruvians to Their Own Dying Children · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

Child from the Uro community in Puno, Lake Titicaca, Peru.  Photo by Jay Joslin on Flickr. CC 2.0.
Post originally published on Globalizado by Juan Arellano.
The image of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian child who drowned on a Turkish beach, resonated around the world, including in Peru where the photo was shared throughout social media. It was this supposed “overexposure” that led a satirical Peruvian website to publish an article mocking people who are moved by the tragedies experienced by people in other countries. Reactions online to this ridicule varied, with many criticizing the satirists for failing to grasp the magnitude of suffering at the heart of Europe's refugee crisis and other tragedies around the world.
Publican foto de niños muriendo de frío pero a nadie le importa porque son de Puno http://t.co/PA4UzVRB5K pic.twitter.com/PATiWbFAqZ
— Deslenguados (@deslengua_2) September 4, 2015
They publish photos of kids freezing to death but nobody cares because they are from Puno
los niños de Huancavelica, Puno y la Amazonía […] Se tomaron fotos en sus peores condiciones y las mandaron a los diferentes medios de comunicación, destacados bloggers y demás idiotas con internet. Sin embargo, nadie los publicó ni en su muro de Facebook por lo que no llegaron ni a un Like, y no conforme con ello hasta los calificaron como resentidos sociales.
“Nos dijeron que somos socialistas, antidesarrollos y antidemocráticos y que de seguro nuestros padres eran terrucos. Además agregaron que nuestro reclamo detenía las inversiones y que no debíamos hacer eso porque los empresarios se pueden molestar”, señaló uno de los niños mientras moría de frío en Mazocruz, Puno.
Children in Huancavelica, Puno and the Amazon […] Photos were taken in the worst conditions and sent to different media, prominent bloggers, and other idiots on the Internet. But nobody published them, not even on their Facebook walls, so they didn't even get a Like, and not satisfied with that they were accused of having a chip on their shoulder. “They said we are socialist, anti-development, and anti-democratic, and that our parents are a bunch of terrorists. What's more, they said our appeal for help would deter investment and that we shouldn't complain because it might upset business executives,” according to one of the children freezing to death in Mazocruz, Puno.
One tragic side of the satire is that a severe cold front has engulfed the Andes and parts of the Peruvian Amazon, with temperatures reaching as low as 20 degrees below zero Celsius. By the first week of August, the frigid air had already claimed 129 lives (mostly children and the elderly).
Journalist Raúl Castro commented in an opinion piece that this kind of news makes its way to the Peruvian capital every year at this time, and it is greeted with the same degree of indifference: “for residents of Lima […], the problem seems as distant as the murder of their fellow Quechua and Asháninka citizens during the wave of terrorism [in the early 1980s]. If they are Quechua or Aymara, they don't elicit a sense of shared nationality. If they are from Lamas or are Huitotos and the extreme cold descends on remote parts of the Amazon, then that is another Peru—not mine.”
Many tweets expressed the opinion that the situation demonstrates general insensitivity and even a moral double standard.
Sólo para recordarles que anualmente mueren 200 niños por el friaje en Puno, no necesitan irse hasta Siria para parecer solidarios
— Joseantonio Quiñones (@zonkabe) September 4, 2015
Just as a reminder: 200 kids die every year because of the cold in Puno. You don't have to go to Syria to show your support.
Bien que #AylanKurdi sea TT en Perú. Solo me pregunto si algún día alguno de los cientos de niños que mueren de frío en Puno será TT en Perú
— beto ortiz (@malditaternura) September 3, 2015
Alan Kurdi may be a trending topic in Peru. I ask myself if one day the hundreds of children who die of cold in Puno will be a trending topic in Peru.
¿Recibir #refugiados Sirios en Perú?, ¿Es en serio?, ¿Con tantos niños que mueren por el friaje, trabajan y no tienen que comer?.
— Eduarmono (@DuchoDepe) September 4, 2015
Accept Syrians refugees in Peru? Seriously? With so many kids freezing to death, working and who have nothing to eat?
Isabel Guerra, a journalist and Global Voices contributor, reflects on the issue, but from a different perspective:
Ahora que veo a tantísimo europeo dispuesto a abrirle su casa a los desplazados sirios, no puedo evitar preguntarme por qué razón no hicieron lo mismo con los peruanos que en los 80s y 90s huían despavoridos del país en busca de un lugar donde no los matara o Sendero Luminoso, o MRTA, o el Grupo COLINA, o la hiperinflación, o el hambre por desempleo. A nosotros, que fuimos colonia de país europeo y que compartimos cultura con los españoles, los europeos nos plantaron la visa Schengen para impedirnos la entrada, y nos decìan que íbamos a vivir a costillas de su Estado del Bienestar y a quitarles el trabajo :S Nos llamaron SUDACAS…
Now that I see so many Europeans eager to open their homes up to displaced Syrians, I cannot help but wonder why they didn't do the same for Peruvians in the 80s and 90s, who were fleeing the country in terror in search of a place where they wouldn't be killed by the Shining Path or the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement or the Grupo Colina, or the hyperinflation, or unemployment and hunger. We, who were a colony of a European country and share a culture with the Spanish, got stuck us with Europe's Schengen visa to prevent us from entering, and they told us we were going to live off their welfare state and steal their jobs. And they pejoratively refer to us as SUDACAS…
Isabel also created a meme juxtaposing the original photo of Alan with the plight of indigenous people in Peru, arguing that indifference in either case is deadly.
Aylan no merecía morir ahogado. Nuestros niños no merecen morir de frío. Muchos niños nos necesitan. Mira alrededor. pic.twitter.com/yhQ88uM9A4
— misabelg (@misabelg) September 5, 2015
Alan did not deserve to drown. Our children don't deserve to freeze to death. The need is great. Look around.
It is not that nothing is being done to help the children in Puno and other victims of the cold; it is simply that much more could be done. Unfortunately, communities in the high Andes are weathering an emergency with little government support, despite the good intentions of many civil servants.
Ministro Velásquez anunció llegada de más médicos especialistas ante #heladas y #friaje. http://t.co/2igj7sTT6K pic.twitter.com/MmbtnupfvQ
— Ministerio de Salud (@Minsa_Peru) August 14, 2015
Health Minister Velasquez announced the arrival of more medical specialists to help tackle the cold.
Nuestro hermanos de #Puno necesitan de nuestra ayuda. Donando ropa gruesa y frazadas podemos combatir el friaje. pic.twitter.com/3gRMcsW5bl
— EsSalud (@EsSaludPeru) July 9, 2015
Our brothers in Puno need our help. We can fight the cold by donating warm clothing and blankets.
A relief effort has gained traction, and activists are mounting small but inspiring campaigns, such as one by a group of students at Colegio Ricardo Bentín in Lima who, with the help of their teacher, contributed scarves they had knitted themselves to communities in the Ayacucho region. Universidad ESAN is also heading another well-funded campaign to target the situation in Puno. Still others, such as @JuntosPorElPeru, are operating at an international level:
Colecta de frazadas y ropa en Av Arequipa 3570 y al lado del palacio municipal #JUNTOSporelPeru #PERU ❤ http://t.co/CtjoUb0zIn
— JUNTOS por el Perú (@JUNTOSporelPeru) August 12, 2015
Blanket and clothing drive at Av Arequipa 3570 and beside City Hall.
There is, of course, more to be done. While some still have not rallied to the cause and others continue to ignore the situation, children in the Andes are freezing to death.
http://t.co/OYOSW2WAFn
— Francisco Rosas C (@franroca20) September 5, 2015
15 children die in Peruvian cold snap. Extreme temperatures in the southern region of the country caused severe respiratory infections and pneumonia.

author: Juan Arellano


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#PinjraTod Gives Voice to Indian Women Fed Up With Draconian University Hostel Rules · Global Voices
Sakshi Rai

#Pinjratod Booth at Ambedkar University. Image courtesy “Pinjra Tod : Break The Hostel Locks” Facebook page
On September 9, 2015, the campus of Jamia Milia Islamia University and nearby student hostels were plastered with hundreds of posters carrying the words “Pinjra Tod”; the literal translation of these two words is to “break the cage”. The campaign attempts to highlight the sexism of academic institutions where university accommodation rules are different for female students.
For instance, last June the Jamia Milia Islamia University in Delhi hostel for girls issued an 8 p.m. curfew. For anything later, they are required to submit written permission from their local guardians. If a student does not abide by these rules, their right to university accommodation privileges can be revoked.
Subsequently, the Delhi Commission for Women issued a notice challenging such moral policing imposed only on women hostels. University hostels in their defence have argued that these rules are in place with the women's safety concerns in mind. The Jamia Millia Islamia, for its part, has stated that it will review its policies to uphold gender equity.
The #PinjraTod campaign has resonated among many residents of university hostels for women all over India as seen in images uploaded in the Facebook page “Pinjra Tod: Break The Hostel Locks“. Students have protested, saying these rules are a direct violation of democratic rights.
A poster of #PinjraTod Campaign. Image courtesy Facebook page
An anonymous student at Youth Ki Awaaz wrote an open letter to the vice chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia:
This difference in the hostel rules is a clear violation of my Right to Equality, bestowed to me in Article 15 of the Constitution, which prohibits the state from discriminating any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Making it mandatory for adult women to enter the hostel premises by 8.00 pm and making them get signed permission from their local guardians or parents 24 hours in advance, every time they decide to come late or take a leave, is a blatant violation of my Right to Freedom, which protects my life and personal liberty in Article 21 of the Constitution.
Earlier this September, Dr Shashi Tharoor, a member of Parliament and a former minister of state, criticised the strict rules in The College of Engineering, Trivandrum in a tweet:
The repressive rules of girls'hostels in India: http://t.co/XMtBDkiADb I support the protests by the women of CET/College of EngineeringTvm
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 13, 2015
Kavita Krishnan, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation condemned regulations on “homosexual conduct” at Ambedkar University Delhi hostels:
Ok, now AUD (Ambedkar Univ Delhi) says ‘no homosexual conduct’ on campus!!!! More #CampusPrisons that are… http://t.co/mZ886elO5F
— Kavita Krishnan (@kavita_krishnan) September 22, 2015
In a rather extreme case, Sri Sairam Engineering College allegedly circulated a set of 14 rules especially designed for female students. Some of these rules include dress codes, such as no leggings, tight pants or tops, no very high heels, no hair colouring and no big designer watches, and restrictions on socialising, such as no celebrations on campus, no bringing sweets in large quantities to share and no Facebook or WhatsApp accounts.
Sri Sairam Engg College, Chennai's list of NO's for their girls. Bcoz girls are distractions not students? pic.twitter.com/NvAxXMZYjn
— Sangita Nambiar (@Sanginamby) September 21, 2015
This isn't the first time that students have spoken up against the rules. In 2010, students protested after a non-teaching staff member assaulted two students. The college has reportedly been slammed for having such “jail” like regulations. Although the head of Sri Sairam Engineering College denied issuing the circular, past graduates of the college have, however, affirmed the existence of such rules. Surprisingly, many engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu have such discriminatory “disciplinary” rules to appease parents.
Writing on Youth Ki Awaaz, Shambhavi Saxena argued what needs to be come out of the Pinjra Tod campaign:
The Pinjra Tod movement, comprised of women from colleges in Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Ambedkar Univeristy, National Law University and Jawaharlal Nehru University, grew out of a simple Facebook page, where female hostel and PG residents began sharing their bitter experiences with guards, wardens, principles, landlords and the like. What is clear from all these stories is the need for an all-out rejection of these restrictive rules and the patriarchal protectionism they are built on.
Pinjra Tod’s Change.org petition, which best explains the campaign’s mission, is gaining momentum. However, things have taken an ugly turn as two members of the campaign from Delhi University were threatened by right-wing Hindu activists on September 22, 2015. A group of about 40 students gathered at the Maurice Nagar Police Station for filing the written complaint (FIR).

author: Sakshi Rai


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The Arrest of Arash Zad, Iran’s Start-Up Kid · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

Arash Zad is said to have been arrested in late July while trying to board a flight from Tehran to Istanbul. Image from Zad's Twitter account.
In early September 2015, Iranian bloggers and member's of the Iranian technology community noticed that prominent Iranian tech blogger Arash Zad seemed to be missing from cyberspace. They soon learned from his family and friends in Iran that Zad had been under arrest since the end of July when he was detained by the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence units.
Was wondering why @arashzd has not tweeted for more than a month. Just found out that he is arrested :( No reason given #Iran #filternet yet
— jadi (@jadi) September 5, 2015
The news of Zad's incarceration explained phishing emails sent from his email account to many of his contacts at the beginning of August now understood to be the period of his incarceration. While not known to him at the time, Internet researcher Nariman Gharib received one such email on 2 August. Although not certain, it is possible these attacks originated from the Revolutionary Guards intelligence units.
زمانی که آرش زاد دستگیر شد، برای من و خیلی ها از ایمیلش شروع کردن فیشینگ فرستادن. یکجا آقایان شروع کردن صحبت کردن با من بجای آرش ۱\۳
— Nariman Gharib (@ListenToUs) September 5, 2015
At the time of his incarceration, a lot of people noticed phishing attempts from his email. A lot of folks started asking me instead of Arash. 1/2
همچین متنی و صحبتی برای خیلی ها رفت و یکی از تنها کسانی که موفق شدن فیشینگ بفرستند من بودم ۲\۳ pic.twitter.com/FD50mbaIHx
— Nariman Gharib (@ListenToUs) September 5, 2015
At the time of these conversations and texts were sent for many, one of the only ones who successfully received a phishing attempt was me. 2/2
Arash Zad is associated with Iran's start-up and blogging scenes, credited with being a pioneer innovator as a tech entrepreneur inside Iran. He first rose to prominence within the Iranian blogosphere with his blog Weblogina, where he wrote about technology, Iran's IT culture, and start-ups.
Zad later founded Zig Zag Labs, a tech start-up that developed Ladybug, a project aimed to encourage and empower Iranian women in the field of technology and entrepreneurship. Zig Zag Labs won the United Nations Youth Award for advancing the Millenium Development Goal of “Power to Women”.
The company relocated to Istanbul from Tehran, in order to take advantage of the “ease of global commerce” available there. Zad is also one of the core members of the volunteer moderator team for Farsi translations on Twitter.
حالا چی شد که اینطوری یک کسی که کار استارتاپ می‌کرد، وبلاگ نویس بود و کلا به خیلی ها درفضای مجازی فارسی کمک کرد رو برداشتن گرفتن! الله واعلم
— Nariman Gharib (@ListenToUs) September 5, 2015
Why is it that someone whose work has been crucial to start-up work, blogging, and in general has been very helpful towards many within Persian-speaking cyberspace is now under arrest?! Only god knows.
Zad's work has been well received by Iranians inside and outside of the country, especially in his efforts to help many others within the field. He has kept a distance from politics, hemming close to an industry marked by all factions of the Iranian government for economic development.
In September 2012, the state-run IRIB Education channel Shabakaye Amoozesh Sima featured Zad in an interview on their technology show Barkhat (“Online”). In the interview Zad explained the content of his blog Weblogina, and his interest in blogging about IT culture for Iranians.  Prior to his arrest, he was slated to launch a new project aimed to educate elderly Iranians on how to use new and secure communications tools. One of the last things he posted on his wall prior to his arrest was about his intention to go back to Istanbul to initiate this project.
در حالی الآن شکوهمندانه به تهران برگشتم که شب باید برگردم مملکت خودمون و از ظهر ماراتن آخرین قرارها شروع می‌شه. تُف تو محدودیت زمان
— Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 30, 2015
Although I have gloriously returned to Tehran I have to leave for my own country tonight and from tomorrow starting at noon I will begin marathon work on my latest project. Damn the time limitation.
In June 2015, Zad attended iBridges in Berlin, one of the largest conferences to bring together members of the start-up, IT, government and investment communities inside of Iran, alongside members of the Iranian diaspora and non-Iranians from the entrepreneurial world. The conference is seen as a milestone in bridging the divide between the start-up world in the West and the emerging scene inside of Iran.
Zad was known to frequently travel between Istanbul and Tehran; however, this was his first trip following his participation in that international conference. The conference was set a few weeks before the historic nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 in Vienna, which would work to integrate Iran back into the international fora, not only in terms of international relations, but also in economy and international cooperation in business, especially in the country's emerging tech industry.
The timing of Zad's arrest in the midst of a climate of greater opening and collaboration with the West is puzzling to some. In a statement to Iranwire, a former colleague of Zad's explained:
Arash frequently travelled to Iran. He participated in international conferences including iBRIDGES in Berlin in June 2015. His projects were not problematic in themselves, but it is likely that the contacts and connections he has made led to his arrest.
The details of Zad's arrest remain unclear. It has thus far been recognized as an arbitrary arrest by various human rights organisations. Those close to Zad and his family have been reluctant to speak or publicize the case for fear of compromising his release; however, a number of his friends have already spoken under conditions of anonymity. While the story is now public, with media such as IranWire, and advocacy organisations such as Reporters Without Borders and Article 19 highlighting his case, Zad's family have continued their silence.
Zad's arrest comes at a time of great tension around Internet policy and regulation in Iran. While the current administration of President Hassan Rouhani has advocated for more Internet freedom and development in the field of IT, there seems to be a counterbalancing effect by both the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, as well a hardline factions such as the Revolutionary Guards.
In a statement about the achievements of his administration, President Rouhani explained the following on the US television news program 60 Minutes:
I think relative to the two years I've been in office, I have been successful – not 100 percent of course, but successful. Our relations with other countries have improved. There is more freedom at the universities, lively debates and greater freedom of the press, compared to the past.
Recent reports of increasing power in Khamenei's hardline Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the launch of the Guard's surveillance program, known as Spider, speak to efforts to stifle freedom online for Iranians.
Addressing the lack of improvement regarding human rights, Rouhani elaborated, “Of course, there are some issues that are not in control of the government. Two of those issues are human rights and personal freedoms [that] are in the domain of Iran's conservative judicial system.”
Former Global Voices editor and Radio Farda online editor-in-chief Fred Petrossian put it like this: “While some factions within the regime welcome openness to foreign conferences, there are others which want to create an atmosphere of fear.”
Amin Sabeti, an Iranian Internet researcher who follows cases of arrests of netizens inside Iran closely, told Global Voices he saw Zad's arrest as a way for the Revolutionary Guards to set a precedent for other technologists and bloggers in the new climate of open foreign investments.
I think it can be a strong signal from the IRGC (Revolutionary Guards), especially to the startup ecosystem, warning them not to be too excited about foreign investments. As far as I know, Arash is one of the rare Iranian entrepreneurs who has a company outside the country and travels to Iran frequently. This might be the main reason for his arrest, although no one knows what has happened even after two months following his arrest.
Indeed, this arrest, alongside the numerous detentions of bloggers and social media users for their opinions within the past year, is meant to chill free expression online inside Iran. This is not the first time a technologist and blogger, with no particular political agenda, has been persecuted in Iran. In 2013, the technology bloggers known as Narenji were similarly arrested for arbitrary reasons that many associated with their connections to Western organisations.
For now, free speech and advocacy campaigns can only speculate on Zad's case. Petrossian elaborated, “Unfortunately because there is very little or no transparency in Iranian judiciary, we are left to speculate why netizens like Arash get arrested.”
Zad kept an almost daily update of his life and activities on his Twitter account, which has over 17,000 followers. While in Iran, he updated his account right up until the hours prior to his arrest at Iman Khomeini Airport, when he tried to take a flight back to his home in Istanbul.
Zad's first day in Tehran.
به قول شاعر: دارم می‌رم به تهران، دارم می‌رم به تهران https://t.co/flnyN46mu0
— Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 20, 2015
Like the poet said: I am going to Tehran, I am going to Tehran.
پول ایرانی توی این کیف پولم جا نمی‌شه. غرب اینطوری برای جوانان ما برنامه‌ریزی کرده یعنی — Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 20, 2015
Iranian money doesn't fit in my wallet. I mean, the West has made its plans for our youth like this.
Zad tweets about meeting a wealthy friend who sends car to pick him up. He thinks about living in Iran again, but determines that it's only possible to live comfortably if you receive an income in dollars.
زنگ زدم به یکی از دوستام که ۱۳ ساله ندیدیم همو. یه ماشین فرستاده دنبالم ولی نمیدونم کجا میره. راننده هم میگه گفتن نگم. بابا خیلی خارجی شدیدا
— Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 21, 2015
I called a friend that I haven't seen in 13 years. They sent a car for me but I have no idea where the car will take me, and the driver tells me he was told not to tell me.
اگر اینقدر همه چی عوض شده من برگردم ایران کلا. لابد درآمدتونم به دلاره — Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 21, 2015
If things have changed like this then I should move back to Iran. Although, your income must be in dollars too.
Zad updates his followers with how busy his trip in Iran has been.
اندازه یک سال جلسه رفتم تو این چهار روز
— Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 23, 2015
I've been going around at the rate of one year within these four years.
Zad updates his Twitter account with posts related to building websites and the politics surrounding Iran's nuclear deal with the US.
The ABCs of Landing Pages http://t.co/WeVxKX5Ab3 pic.twitter.com/wJRXJdJjxY — Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 27, 2015
Inside the #irandeal http://t.co/UDf30T3hdg pic.twitter.com/A1jCwQArPE
— Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 27, 2015
Zad tweets about his trip to Masuleh, a city in Iran's north Gilan province.
باید برید ماسوله از نزدیک ببینید چقدر خوبه @ Masuleh, Gilan, Iran https://t.co/lN5fOsmiMb — Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 28, 2015
You have to go to the Masuleh to see it from up close how great it is.
Zad's last online activity is from July 31, when he informs his followers he missed his flight the previous night due to the long lines at Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport. According to reports, Zad was arrested by Revolutionary Guards intelligence officials while trying to board his flight back to Istanbul on July 31.
دیشب از پروازم جا موندم. نکته جالب این بود که ساعت ۳ شب صف جلوی فرودگاه امام از در بیرون زده بود — Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 31, 2015
I missed my flight last night. The interesting part in this was that at 3am there was line in front of Imam [Khomeini] airport that started from outside the entrance.
@21aban خیلی داغونه. کاملا مشخصه مثل مملکت به کمک یه نیروی ماورایی سر پا مونده
— Arash Zad (@arashzd) July 31, 2015
@21aban It is awful [Imam Airport]. Like the country, it is operating off of a supernatural force.
Contacts of Zad started to receive phishing emails from his email account on August 2. While not known at the time, Zad was incarcerated when the phishing attempts were sent out, leading many to believe these attacks originated from the Revolutionary Guards intelligence units. Internet researcher Nariman Gharib posted one such attempt on his email from Zad's account on Twitter.
همچین متنی و صحبتی برای خیلی ها رفت و یکی از تنها کسانی که موفق شدن فیشینگ بفرستند من بودم ۲\۳ pic.twitter.com/FD50mbaIHx
— Nariman Gharib (@ListenToUs) September 5, 2015
At the time of these conversations and texts were sent for many, one of the only ones who successfully received a phishing attempt was me. 2/2
According to test done by Global Voices, as well as reports by RSF, Zad's blog Weblogina is inaccessible in Iran.
This arrest highlights the often unexpected turn of events that those with a public online presence within Iran can face. As his tweets indicate, Zad never feared that his work positioned him in opposition to the Iranian authorities. His work was devoid of politics and appeared welcome by the government.
It is clear, however, that Iranian authorities such as the Revolutionary Guards perceive threats to the state based on red lines that are unknown to the “offenders” and tied to the current political climate.
The nuclear agreement raised hopes among Iranians that improvements in economic development and online freedoms could be on the horizon. Cases like Zad's give pause to that optimism. Like many other policies in Iran, the arrest of a figure like Zad further reinforces fear and self-censorship online.

author: Mahsa Alimardani