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An Alleged Male Prostitution Ring Ignites Debate About Privacy and Journalism Ethics in Colombia · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

The National Police of Colombia. Photo from the Flickr account of the National Police. Used under a Creative Commons license.
During the week of 15 February 2016, a series of shocking allegations came to light via the Colombian media about an alleged network of male prostitution, financed by senior members of the Colombian government known as “The Fellowship of the Ring”, in which agents of the country's police force were obliged to give sexual favours in exchange for career promotions.
Soon, an investigation was opened against the director of the Colombian National Police service, General Rodolfo Palomino. Then, radio network La FM published a leaked video that supposedly implicates Deputy Interior Minister Carlos Ferro in the alleged male prostitution network. The resignations of Palomino, Ferro, and La FM director Vicky Dávila followed.
All of the above came at a time when Colombia was already debating freedom of expression, freedom of the press and respect for privacy (given that the video would expose the alleged homosexuality of the now former deputy minister). These turbulent events have fueled discussions even more, and made the case the most talked about media scandal of the year.
Twitter user Juan Mosquera reflected that despite the recent resignations, the deeper-rooted problems remain unresolved.
Esto es ficción, por supuesto. pic.twitter.com/IZWe3Ix621
— JuanMosqueraRestrepo (@lluevelove) February 18, 2016
Image: A customer of a prostitution ring quits. One of the heads of a prostitution ring quits. The person who reported a prostitution ring quits. The prostitution ring, and other crimes, continue on. Crime doesn't quit. This is fiction, of course.
Tweet: This is fiction, of course.
Amid the heated debates on social media, María Paula Castillo asked the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos:
Renunció Palomino , Vicky Dávila , señor @JuanManSantos por qué no se anima a renunciar usted también? No ve como tiene el país .
— Maria Paula Castillo (@PauCR95) February 18, 2016
Palomino resigned, then Vicky Dávila, Mr. @JuanManSantos why don't you muster the courage to resign too? You don't see what you've done to the country.
And Nelfer Velilla showed his surprise at the large number of resignations in under a week:
Por favor no metaforicen tanto “la renuncia” que ya no sé a cuál se están refiriendo.
Señora Vicky Dávila.
Señor Rodolfo Palomino.
— Nélfer Velilla (@NelferVelillaG) February 18, 2016
Please, no more references to “the resignation”, as I no longer know which one people are referring to, Ms. Vicky Dávila or Mr. Rudolfo Palomino.
Much of social media attacked La FM director Vicky Dávila for choosing to publish the leaked video in the first place. The video in question was filmed in 2008 by the then captain of the Colombian Police Force, Ángelo Palacio, showing Deputy Interior Minister Carlos Ferro and him during a car journey discussing sexual encounters with other men, though neither of them mention the prostitution ring.
In light of the publication of the video which seemed to “out” Ferro, Johansson Cruz wrote:
Lo de Vicky Dávila hoy no tiene presentación, le causa un daño irreparable a la familia del señor Ferro, además innecesario.
— Johansson Cruz (@Johansson_Cruz) February 16, 2016
Today's resignation by Vicky Dávila was almost worthless. She caused irreparable damage to the family of Mr. Ferro, and furthermore, unnecessarily.
Meanwhile, Verónica Orozco commented on whether the video should have been made public in the first place.
Ahora resulta que Vicky Dávila es la mala, allá ese señor si tenía una doble vida es su responsabilidad y no del mundo. #miopinión
— Verónica Orozco (@veronicaog28) February 18, 2016
It seems now that Vicky Dávila has come out of all this looking like the bad guy, and beyond everything, if this man was living a double life it was his own responsibility, not that of the whole world. #myopinion
Diana Marcela Otabo asked for some self-reflection within government and society:
Es urgente q Colombia se re-piense las formas d comunicación casos como Vicky Davila lo confirman, academia sociedad y estado hora de hablar
— Diana Marcela Otavo (@dianamotavo) febrero 18, 2016
It's urgent that Colombia re-thinks it's forms of communication, cases like Vicky Dávila confirm this. Academic society and state, it is time to talk.
Félix de Bedout maintained that the video's publication was important, but also recognized that it was not the correct way of making the video known:
Forma de publicación del vídeo fue un error, pero la investigación del escándalo en la Policía se debe a @vickydavilalafm y su equipo.
— Felix de Bedout (@fdbedout) febrero 18, 2016
The way in which the video was released was an error, but the police's investigation into the scandal is thanks to @vickydavilalafm and her team.
Mauricio Jaramillo M. reopened the debate on privacy and journalism:
Ayer, @LAFmNoticias eliminó el video de la polémica. En @Las2Orillas lo mantienen: https://t.co/cew3TVEOtu ¿Los felicitamos? #periodismo
— Mauricio Jaramillo M (@MauricioJaramil) febrero 18, 2016
Yesterday, @LAFmNoticias removed the controversial video from their website. @Las2Orillas have kept it up https://t.co/cew3TVEOtu Do we congratulate them? #journalism
Similarly, teacher Astrid González Nariño wrote an open letter on Facebook to Vicky Dávila, criticising the decision to publish the video in the first place:
Con la publicación del video del ex – viceministro usted ha logrado que yo pueda citar, con argumentos, el ejemplo de lo que NO deben hacer los futuros periodistas.
¿Cree usted que “la verdad” es ventilar la vida privada de una persona? ¿Dónde aprendió usted eso?
¿En qué estado emocional estaba usted cuando determinó abrir esa puerta que lo único que ha provocado en la ciudadanía es sentir un alto grado de solidaridad por el señor, cuyas preferencias “personales y privadas” son asunto suyo y de nadie más? Quizás todavía estaba obnubilada por el reciente premio de periodismo que debería devolver. Bueno, eso es pensar con el deseo porque su ego no se lo permitiría.
By publishing the video of the ex-deputy minister, you have made yourself I would argue an example of what future journalists should NOT do.
Do you think that “the truth” is air publicly a person's private life? Where did you learn that?
In what emotional state were you when you decided to open that door, which the only thing that it has sparked among people is a feeling of strong solidarity with the man, whose “personal and private” preferences are his business and his alone? Maybe you were still hazy from your recent journalism award, which you should return. Well, that is wishful thinking because your ego would never allow it.
Lida Osorio expressed her feelings in opposition to the video's release:
Q le acaben la vida a alguien y a su familia por el afán de una”chiva”, no veo la “prueba reina” de la q habla Vicky Davila al publicarlo.!!
— ❤❤❤❤ (@LidaOsorioP) febrero 18, 2016
They destroyed the life of someone and their family all for the desire of a job promotion. I do not see the divine justice in publishing the video of which Vicky Dávila speaks.
Santiago Londoño Uribe accepted that the video in question is now part of judicial proceedings, and in this sense posted:
El video de Ferro no prueba ni delito ni falta disciplinaria. Podrá hacer parte de un expediente, pero publicarlo viola intimidad.
Posted by Santiago Londoño Uribe on martes, 16 de febrero de 2016
The video of Ferro offers no proof of crime or disciplinary offense. It may well form part of future proceedings, but to release it is a violation of privacy.
For his part, Ricardo Galán, writing on his webpage, said that in popular Colombian slang, the “twelfth commandment” is “no dar papaya” (give the opportunity to be taken advantage of). He raised the question of to what extent a journalist can affect a person's right of privacy:
Carlos Ferro se deja llevar por la tentación y da papaya al caer en la trampa puesta por un policía que trata de salvar su pellejo y se deja grabar en una conversación que lo único que prueba es que no es apta para menores de edad, pero que publicada en la radio, Internet y las redes sociales se convierte en un papayazo para acabar con su carrera política, amenazar su vida familiar y poner en el debate público si los periodistas tenemos derecho a violar el derecho a la privacidad de un funcionario público más allá de sus preferencias sexuales.
Carlos Ferro gave in to temptation and naively fell into the trap set by a police officer trying to save his own skin through a recorded conversation, in which the only thing proved is that the video is not suitable to minors. But the video's publication on radio, the Internet and throughout social media has become a grave act of naivety that has lead to the end of his political career, threatened his family life and put into pubic debate the issue of whether we journalists have the right to violate a public officials right of privacy beyond whatever their sexual orientation may be.
And finally, Bindy Cerra gave a touch of humour to the situation, sharing:
Si todos renuncian a sus cargos, como el señor Palomino y la señora Vicky Davila, yo también renuncio a madrugar mañana 😭😭😭😭 que flojera!
— Bindy Cerra (@IndiraCerra) February 18, 2016
If everyone is quitting their jobs, like Mr. Palomino and Ms. Vicky Dávila, then I quit mine too so that I don't have to get up early tomorrow 😭😭😭😭, such laziness!
There are some who even call for the establishment of a new media law, such as author Iván Gallo, who in an online Las2Orillas article questioned the professionalism of Vícky Dávila and the family of her husband for alleged links with the paramilitary:
Por actuaciones tan reprochables como la del video, es que se hace imperativa una nueva ley de medios en Colombia, si en realidad queremos salir del pozo infesto en el que estamos.
Through actions as reprehensible as those of the video, it has become imperative that a new media law be created in Colombian, if in reality we want out of the infested pit that we currently find ourselves.
However, public opinions seemed to be in agreement on the importance of public institutions have credibility, Juan Camilo Salazar Martínez wrote on Facebook:
La Policía Nacional de Colombia y la Defensoría del Pueblo son instituciones cuya legitimidad es fundamental para que funcione la democracia del país. Su función es representar y hacer respetar los más altos valores cívicos. Será muy difícil así construir paz, con un sistema de recompensas para los avispados, para los que el todo vale.
The National Police of Colombia and the Ombudsman Office of Colombia (People's Defender) are institutions whose legitimacy are fundamental for the country's democracy to work successfully. Their role is to represent and uphold the highest of civic values. It would be very difficult in this way to build peace with a system that rewards the quick-witted, for whom anything goes.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Anabel Flores Becomes Yet Another Journalist From Mexico’s Veracruz to Be Killed · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Journalist Anabel Flores. Photo shared on social networks.
Bad news for freedom of expression and the press. In the state of Veracruz in the east of Mexico, journalist Anabel Flores Salazar, who according to various sources was “lifted” by an armed group on 8 February 2016 and had been missing ever since, was found dead a day later. The State Commission for the Care and Protection of Journalists (CEAPP) confirmed the crime reporter's killing after her body was discovered in the neighboring state of Puebla.
According the blog Journalism in the Americas, of the seven journalists murdered in Mexico in 2015, three occurred in the state of Veracruz. In July 2015, free speech advocate Article 19 noted that since 2000, 18 reporters have been killed in Veracruz, and 12 of those murders have happened during the administration of current Governor Javier Duarte.
News website Aristegui Noticias was one of the first to break the news:
El cuerpo de Anabel Flores Salazar, periodista desaparecida en Veracruz la madrugada del lunes 8, fue encontrado en la carretera Cuacnopalan-Oaxaca, estado de Puebla, a unos 15 kilómetros del estado donde ejercía su profesión.
Un empleado de la Fiscalía General del estado de Puebla (FGE) confirmó a la revista Proceso la identidad del cadáver: “Ya es un hecho. Lamentablemente se trata de la reportera desaparecida la madrugada del lunes, ya se trasladó una comitiva a Puebla”.
The body of Anabel Flores Salazar, a journalist who disappeared in Veracruz in the early morning of Monday the 8th, was found along the Cuacnopalan-Oaxaca highway, Puebla state, about 15 kilometers from the state where she practiced her profession.
An employee of the Attorney General of the State of Puebla (FGE) confirmed the identity of the body to Proceso magazine: “It’s a fact. Regrettably it is the reporter who disappeared on Monday morning, and a group had moved her to Puebla.”
According the alternative news site Sopitas, the investigation in Veracruz had been classified in the following way:
La Fiscalía de Veracruz clasificó el levantón como “desaparición”. Al mismo tiempo el fiscal del estado, Luis Ángel Bravo Contreras, dio la orden de activar inmediatamente los protocolos especializados del Mecanismo Federal de Protección a Personas Defensoras de los Derechos Humanos y Periodistas.
The Attorney General classified the levantón as a “disappearance.” At the same time the state prosecutor, Luis Ángel Bravo Contreras, gave the order to immediately activate the specialized protocols of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
In Mexico they utilize the word levantón when referring to incidents in which a person has been illegally deprived of their freedom by criminals or members of any of the armed groups that make up part of the internal conflict plaguing the country.
Newspaper La Jornada collected eyewitness accounts, from which it can be deduced that the people who kidnapped Flores “seemed like soldiers” and allegedly drove military trucks.
On Twitter, user Benito Taibo vowed to keep her memory alive:
Anabel Flores. Periodista veracruzana asesinada.
Que no se nos olvide su nombre.
— Benito Taibo (@benistofeles) February 10, 2016
Anabel Flores. Murdered journalist from Veracruz. We will not forget her name.
While Claudia Pérez Sosa condemned the journalist’s murder:
confirman el vil y cruel asesinato de Anabel Flores … #YaBasta #NoMasViolencia QEPD
— Claudia Perez Sosa (@Ex_zorrita) February 10, 2016
The vile and cruel killing of Anabel Flores has been confirmed. #EnoughisEnough #NoMoreViolence RIP
Veracruz has been an extremely risky place for journalists in recent years. Suffice it to mention the example of Gregorio Jiménez de la Cruz, who two years ago was stabbed and then buried in one of the clandestine graves that abound in the country. The risk for journalists, sadly, is not confined to Veracruz. In 2015, Reporters Without Borders named Mexico the country with the highest murder rate of journalists in the western hemisphere.
The 2015 World Press Freedom Index paints a picture of this ominous Mexican landscape:
Asesinatos, secuestros, agresiones y amenazas se multiplicaron en un clima de impunidad casi total, lo que generó miedo y autocensura. La colusión de ciertas autoridades políticas y administrativas con el crimen organizado obstaculiza el buen gobierno y la justicia a todos los niveles en el país. El Mecanismo para la protección de periodistas y defensores de los derechos humanos no posee la eficacia ni la rapidez que se requieren para responder a las necesidades de los periodistas que se encuentran en peligro.
Murders, kidnappings, physical attacks and threats go almost entirely unpunished, fuelling fear and self-censorship. Collusion between organized crime and certain politicians and local officials hampers good governance and justice at all levels. The federal mechanisms for protecting human rights defenders and journalists are not effective or rapid enough to meet the needs of endangered journalists.
Last year, Rubén Espinosa, a photojournalist who fled Veracruz after reporting being subjected to threats by Governor Javier Duarte, was also tortured and executed in a violent case that still has not been solved or prosecuted by Mexico City officials.
Javier Duarte, who belongs to the ranks of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has a rocky history with the local press for these and other events. Furthermore, he has shown interest in restricting the freedom of expression through the so-called “Duarte Law,” which sought to criminalize the dissemination of rumors on social networks. This was subsequently declared unconstitutional by Mexico’s judicial system.
Famed writer Guadalupe Loaeza rebuked the regional governor:
Que tal duerme por las noches, señor Gobernador de Veracruz? https://t.co/Gs40lklBuz
— Guadalupe Loaeza (@gloaeza) February 10, 2016
How do you sleep at night, Mr. Governor of Veracruz?
Duarte, on his part, has declined to address this new episode of violence against the journalistic profession.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: J. Tadeo


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Egyptian Satirist Bassem Youssef Slams the Military with Kofta_Time Hashtag · Global Voices
Salma Essam

Bassem Youssef in his show El Bernameg taunts the military over its announcement of a medical breakthrough — a Kofta device that cures Aids and Hepatitis C. The caption reads: “Are you making Kofta for me?”
Bump into any Egyptian passer-by on the street and ask about Abdel-Atty Kofta and he will either laugh or frown in a defensive manner. In both cases, he will probably relate to what has become known as Koftagate.
In February 2014, right before the presidential elections later won by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi,  Egyptian Army Major General Ibrahim Abdel-Atty, who is not a physician, came up with what he called a “miraculous” device that cures AIDS and Hepatitis C virus through a Kofta skewer. Yes, you read right — Kofta, the minced meat dish, served in different Middle Eastern cuisine. According to Abdel-Atty, the so-called complete cure device draws blood from the body, turns the virus into a harmless protein, then ‘feeds’ it back to the patient as nutritious Kofta!
Abdel-Atty made the announcement during a Press conference which has been circulated on video far and wide:
“بناخد الايدز من المريض، و نرجعهوله صباع كفتة يتغذى عليه. هاخده على شكل مرض و أديهوله على شكل علاج، و هو دة قمة الغعجاز العلمي”
I will take the AIDS from the patient then give it to him as a skewer of Kofta to nourish him. I will take it away from him as a disease and give it back as a cure, and this is the greatest of scientific breakthrough
Not only did this declaration generate an outcry from the Egyptian medical community but also an outrageous, jointly hilarious, criticism from Egyptians on social media.
Egyptian Twitter Users React after the “Kofta Announcement” in 2014:
Ahmed Abdoallah tweeted:
تخيل ظابط كبير في الجيش الأمريكي يخرج يقول ان احنا بناخد الإيدز من المريض نرجعهوله هوت دوج
— أحمد عبدالله (@AAbdoallah) February 25, 2014
Imagine a major general in the US army saying: “We take the AIDS from the patient then give it to him like a hotdog!”
Osama added:
بناخد الايدز من المريض وبنيهوله صباع كفته يتغذى علية
أهوكدة —- تبسيط العلوم — وإلا فلا.
— ألوستيل إنترناشيونال (@osama555555) February 26, 2014
“We take the AIDS from the patient then give it to him like a skewer of Kofta to nourish him” YES! this is how simple science should be.. or else.. not!
Merkesh commented with sarcasm:
احلى كومنت عجبني ع حوار الكفته و الايدز ان الراجل قال بناخد الايدز من المريض و نديله صباع كفته طب لو المريض كان نباتي نعمل ايه ! :DD
— يابانــي xD (@Mekresh) February 28, 2014
The best comment I have read on the Kofta statement was: What if the patient is vegetarian? What do we do then?
And Mahmoud Alsoly said:
Egyptian army invent a device for the treatment of AIDS, which is a kofta kebab!, Suggest adding a salad so that the device works well#Egypt
— Mahmoud Alsoly (@mahmod_s14) March 25, 2014
In December, the same year, satirist and TV presenter of Al-Bernameg controversial show, Dr Bassem Youssef, criticized the state for ignoring the deadline announced for the device to operate which was supposed to be in June 30, 2014. He said in December 2014 on his Twitter account:
انتهاء مهلة جهاز الكفتة بدون اي رد فعل او محاسبة.الاستهزاء بالناس بقى شئ طبيعي.سلطة غير معنية بالناس و اعلام متواطئ ومنفصل عنهم
— Dr Bassem Youssef (@DrBassemYoussef) December 30, 2014
The deadline for the ‘Kofta’ device has passed without any reaction or accountability. Mocking people has become normal — we have an authority that is not concerned with people and a media that is detached from them
But sarcasm never stops when it comes to the Abdel-Atty's device and the story is not going away. Earlier in 2016, a Twitter user, Rahma Alsourbagy, posted a photograph that was retweeted 100+ times to ridicule the Kofta invention:
مواطن.مصري بيتعالج من.فيروس سي 🙈😂😂 #جهاز_الكفتة 🔪😂😂 pic.twitter.com/mm0l559Iew
— استبحسة ✌ (@RahmaAlsourbagy) January 20, 2016
An Egyptian citizen getting his cure from Virus C
Kofta Device Anniversary:
Every year, as February arrives, Egyptians fail to overlook the Kofta device announcement that was made in 2014. This year #كفتة_تايم or #Kofta_time trended, as Bassem Youssef reignited interest in the forgotten miraculous cure. In turn, Twitter users filled our timeline with sarcasm and disapproval to the army's nonsensical discovery.
Here is a sneak peek from the Twitter hashtag #Kofta_time that went viral:
Youssef shared a video of the head of Armed Forces’ engineering authority who was calling upon the critics to wait until June 30, 2014, in case they didn't believe him:
#كفتة_تايم يا سلام ذكريات. بلاش بلبلة اللي مش مصدق ييجي يشوف العلاج حيبتدي في ٣٠/٦ https://t.co/qjsC32MR34
— Dr Bassem Youssef (@DrBassemYoussef) February 6, 2016
Oh! Memories! No criticism. Whoever doesn't believe, wait and see! The treatment will start in June 30 #Kofta_time
Youssef also invited his followers to send him photographs of themselves through the #Kofta_time hashtag after posting an Instagram picture with a caption that read:
شاركونا في الانتظار اللانهائي للاحتفال بذكرى الإعلان عن جهاز الكفتة
Join us in waiting until forever to celebrate the anniversary of the Kofta device announcement
Hundreds of users replied with pictures, full of irony and sarcasm, as follows:
Waleed Besher said:
@DrBassemYoussef أنجز بقا يا عب عاطي انا في مكة ومستني #كفتة_تايم pic.twitter.com/1wNkpANBr5
— waleed besher (@waleedbesher1) February 6, 2016
Hurry up, AbdelAtty. I'm in Mecca and waiting for the kofta #Kofta_time”
While, Imad Samara replied from the US:
@Studio79 @DrBassemYoussef waiting for the Kofta on the train from Chicago to Orland park #كفتة_تايم pic.twitter.com/h2ROazEVJH
— Imad Samara (@samara_imad) February 5, 2016
Moataz Moniem shared a video while preparing Kofta from the US in a reply to Youssef's tweet:
@sandraanka @DrBassemYoussef @megkurdi انا بجهزها اهو من امريكا. pic.twitter.com/LgU2MVBXoF
— Motaz Moniem (@MotazMoniem) February 5, 2016
I'm preparing Kofta from the US
And Youssef continued to rally his 6.47 million followers on Twitter to send in more photographs:
اوكيه يا جماعة، استمروا في ارسال صوركم على هاشتاج #كفتة_تايم شكله بقى تريند. اشوفكم بكرة بصور جديدة
— Dr Bassem Youssef (@DrBassemYoussef) February 4, 2016
Okay, guys. continue sending your pictures on #Kofta_time. It seems it's trending. See you tomorrow.
Wael Ghoneim and Islam Hussein Support Bassem Youssef:
Egyptian political activist, famous for creating the We are Khaled Saeed Facebook page that had a leading role in mobilizing mass protests in January 25, shared his picture in #Kofta_time or #كفتة_تايم with Islam Hussein, an Egyptian research scientist at MIT. As both Egyptians reside in the US, Ghoneim tweeted:
#كفتة_تايم بنجيب مريض الهوم سيكنس ونعمل له كفتة يتغذى عليها. الصورة مع المحترم @_islamhussein أول من فضح عبدالعاطي. pic.twitter.com/tENlqAvV7M
— Wael Ghonim (@Ghonim) February 6, 2016
We bring the patient suffering from homesickness, and prepare a Kofta skewer to nourish him. A picture with Islam Hussein who first exposed Abdel-Atty's discovery
Reactions were not only Ironic:
A wave of rage and contempt broke over social media as many citizens harshly criticized the army, not only for this scientific scandal, but also for promising millions of ill people an imaginary cure that doesn't exist.
Ahmed tweeted:
طب يا جماعه محدش ناوي يحقق مع عب عاطي لاختراعه ( جهاز الكفته الوهمي ) لسخريته من الشعب المصري بالكامل
— المُهنّدسٌ الآلّدغّ (@AhmedPepsi42) January 27, 2016
Is anybody going to interrogate Abdel-Atty for inventing the imaginary Kofta device and mocking all Egyptians?
And Sveriges Radio Middle East correspondent, Cecelia Udden, wondered:
World AIDS day. Does anyone know what happened to Mr Abdel Aati Kofta? @moftasa? http://t.co/79WO8q9bFx
— cecilia udden (@ceciliauddenm) December 1, 2014
While it is true that Egypt is a low HIV-prevalence country, there are approximately 40,000 deaths from Hepatitis C and approximately 165,000 new cases in Egypt every year, according to remarks made in July 2014 by Dr Henk Bekedam, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Egypt. That is thousands of dashed hopes across the country.
In an article published in Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, blogger Mostafa Hussein wrote:
The Ministry of Defense did not keep its promise of a cure to millions of HCV/HIV patients by June 30, which is an embarrassment, yet until today there are no guarantees that this will not happen again. No public apologies were given, no investigation was announced, and the only signal that the army may have realized that something went wrong is that very recently the head of the Engineering Authority was promoted to a higher position with no responsibilities. Yet, we still do not know if that decision was because of the wasted money, credibility, and the dashed hopes of its most vulnerable citizens or because of the public ridicule and failure to silence critics.

author: Salma Essam


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Hard Labor for Woman Who Reposted Online Criticism of Russia’s Actions in Ukraine · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Yekaterina Vologzheninova, speaking in court on the day of her verdict, February 20, 2016. Screencap courtesy of Grani.ru.
A Russian district court has sentenced Ekaterina Vologzheninova, a single mother from Yekaterinburg, to 320 hours of labor for reposting materials critical of Russian aggression in Ukraine on social media. This is the latest of a string of prosecutions of Internet users in Russia who have been critical of Russian actions in Ukraine on social networks.
A court in Yekaterinburg has found 46-year-old Yekaterina Vologzheninova guilty of “discrediting the political order” and of “inciting enmity” by reposting or liking material critical of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Donbas on Russian social network VKontakte. According to Russian news website Grani.ru, the judge also ordered Vologzheninova’s laptop to be destroyed.
Vologzheninova was first approached by law enforcement in December 2014, when officials from the Russian Investigative Committee searched her apartment and confiscated her laptop and other devices. She was later questioned and charged with “inciting hatred and violence” by means of her online posts and reposts, with officials citing Article 282 of the Russian criminal code.
The content that the Investigative Committee took issue with includes Vologzheninova's VKontakte posts that contain links to material about recent political events in Ukraine, including the Euromaidan protests and their aftermath. She also reposted several poems and posts where Russians are generally described as “permanent slaves in body and soul.” The prosecutors specifically accused Vologzheninova of sharing links to documentaries and TV programs about events in Ukraine, including “The Winter That Changed Us” and the TV show “Brave Hearts,” noting that the materials she reposted “incited hatred and enmity towards representatives of Russian authorities and towards Russian volunteers who fought on the side of the militia in eastern Ukraine.”
Vologzheninova’s lawyer Roman Kachanov has stressed that his client simply reposted materials published by others on the Internet without making any changes to them or commenting on them. Vologzheninova herself told Open Russia in January 2015 that she didn't think the content she reposted contained any incitement to “national hatred or calls to extremism” and that she was only “interested in a point of view alternative to that which the Russian federal channels are showing.” The court's “psycho-linguistic expert analysis,” however, led the judge to side with the prosecution.
Writing for independent opposition website kasparov.ru, commentator Kseniya Kirillova says Vologzheninova's sentence was likely only limited to 320 hours of hard community labor instead of prison time because of her single-mother status and a broad public awareness campaign. Community labor usually encompasses some form of physical work (e.g., cleaning the streets) for agencies in the sentencing jurisdiction as a substitution of other judicial sanctions, such as incarceration.
Kirillova's commentary on the case underscores its many procedural violations, such as arbitrary use of linguistic analysis (performed by a single Federal Security Services expert and based on a handful of images and posts), the faking of the defendant's signature under her interrogation protocol (according to the defendant herself), and the refusal of several of the witnesses in the case to stand by their initial testimonies.
Kirillova also notes that the indictment in the case reveals quite a lot about the ideology behind the latest string of prosecutions brought against online critics in Russia. Accusing Vologzheninova of negative and “emotionally charged” statements about “the Russian authorities, the political course of modern Russia, the Russian president as the state's top figure and the embodiment of power in Russia” essentially means that criticism of authorities in Russia is now officially a criminal act, Kirillova writes. “Dialogue or exchange of opinions” are also considered a crime, especially if those engaging in the exchange show their emotions, Kirillova notes, quoting directly from the text of the indictment.
In December 2015, 35-year-old Vadim Tyumentsev, a Russian blogger from the Siberian city of Tomsk, was convicted of hate speech and calls to extremism online and handed a five-year prison sentence for publishing videos with calls to peaceful protest and critical comments about Russian military involvement in Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists. Tyumentsev, who had spent most of 2015 in detention, was declared a political prisoner by the Russian Memorial Human Rights Centre in November 2015.
Also in December 2015, a court in Krasnodar found Russian activist Darya Polyudova guilty of “public calls to separatism and extremism” on social media (including posts and reposts of content on social networks) and sentenced her to two years in a penal colony.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Iranian Newspapers Document Abuse and Mistreatment of Afghan School Children · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Afghan school children in Iran have been the subject of abuse and mistreatment. Photo from ICHRI and used with permission.
On January 5, 2016 Shargh newspaper reported that the principal of a school in Damavand beat five young Afghan students with a hose and left marks on their faces and bodies, telling them, “You Afghans have to leave. There are too many of you.”
Afghan students are being subjected to physical punishment and discrimination in Iranian schools, according to media reports in Iran that the government has tried to suppress.
“News about abused students in general, and Afghan students in particular, only pop up in the media by accident because the monitoring agencies and the Education Ministry try to suppress these incidents,” Shirzad Abdollahi, an expert in Iranian educational affairs, told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
Iran is host to one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with 950,000 Afghans registered in 2015, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The mistreatment of Iranian children in schools, whether it is bodily punishment or verbal abuse and humiliation, is common in Iran, according to Abdollahi, but it is worse for Afghan children because they have fewer protections. The educational system tends to deal with these incidents without punishing abusive staff, and they try to hide it from the press, he told the Campaign.
Many undocumented Afghan children also face bureaucratic obstacles that prevent them from attending school, a violation of international law that guarantees the right to education.
An Afghan student from the city of Pakdasht was beaten and expelled from school for not paying tuition, according to the most recent report appearing January 16, 2016 in the Vaghaye Ettefaghiehnewspaper.
The parents were only able to afford one million rials (about $33) of the 2.3 million rials ($76) demanded by the school. The student was told not to come back to school until tuition was paid in full.
Following the January incident in Damavand, one of the parents told Sharg newspaper,
We went and complained to the district’s school administration and they sent an investigator to the school. But after all that, the school’s headmaster told us it was better not to drag things out further…He said our kids were being rowdy and they caused the principal to get angry.
Last year a teacher from another school in Pakdasht punished four Afghan elementary students by forcing them to put their hands inside a toilet, according to a February 10, 2015 report from Tabnaknews.
“The mistreatment of Afghan students is not systematic within the educational system but rather it’s at the school level, depending on the personal beliefs of the headmasters, principals or teachers,” Abdollahi told the Campaign.
Teachers and administrators are not sufficiently trained about children’s rights, he added.
In the short-term, there should be better monitoring of headmasters and teachers and any violations should be countered with greater firmness..Honorable teachers, who are more than a few, should stand up to colleagues who are abusive…The media should also raise awareness about the rights of children and make society more sensitive towards the mistreatment of students.
“There’s no official directive condoning physical violence against Afghan students. The problem is society’s views,” Abdollahi told the Campaign.
“A few years ago a group of families in Tehran’s Kan district rallied in front of their neighborhood school to stop Afghan students from enrolling there,” he said.
In addition to physical abuse and discrimination, Afghan students are also financially more vulnerable because their parents, most of whom are refugees, often earn less than average Iranians.
“Since last year, the tuition issue has been somewhat resolved and schools are no longer required to demand tuition from Afghan students,” said Abdollahi. “They may be asked to make voluntary contributions for certain school expenses, but it’s not clear what’s voluntary and what’s not.”
“Nevertheless, regulations state that Afghan students have the same rights as their Iranian classmates and no one has the right to mistreat them,” he said.
In 2011, the Education Ministry’s international affairs deputy announced that foreign students were banned from enrolling in special schools for the gifted, as well as in exemplary public schools and vocational schools, a violation of the internationally guaranteed right to higher education.
“Educational policies should not be subject to seasonal changes in taste or governments. Education is a recognized children’s right regardless of nationality, ethnicity, residency status or financial means,” Abdollahi told the Campaign.
“This right must be completely respected without any impact from changing governments and policies,” he said.

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


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Jamaica Struggles Towards Election Day, Without Political Debates · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

Supporters of Jamaica's governing People's National Party in 2007; photo by Christina Xu, used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
With general elections less than a week away, many Jamaicans are swallowing their disappointment at the cancellation of televised political debates and keeping an eye on party manifestos ahead of the February 25 vote.
Hopes for even one or two televised debates were finally dashed when the incumbent People's National Party (PNP) confirmed in a letter to the Jamaica Debates Commission that they would not participate in any debates, contending that there were, in addition to other matters, unresolved issues related to the construction of Opposition Leader Andrew Holness’ home.
Some media practitioners were privately expressing their wish to see an end of the election campaign, so they could report on other matters — but local blogger Kate Chappell publicly commented on the PNP's final decision:
To borrow a term coined with regards to feminist theory, this is truly making the personal political.
The refusal is being regarded as an act of fear, with people speculating that the Prime Minister is too scared to debate the Opposition Leader. She has long defended herself from the stigma of being from a poor and uneducated background. But she last week dismissed those claims, stating that she has participated in the National Political Debate before.
In any case, this seems like petty politics. The people have a right to be as well-informed as possible. They have a right to know where their leaders stand. They have a right to see how their leaders perform under pressure. They have a right to see them think on their feet. They also have an obligation to participate in and encourage a healthy democracy by exercising their right to vote. This is all a Platonic ideal, of course. In fact, only about half of Jamaica’s population votes in national elections, despite what you see on the streets during rallies.
On February 17, two last-ditch attempts to revive a public political dialogue failed.
Firstly, the RJR Group, Jamaica's largest media house, sought to find a substitute for the debates and proposed a “news forum” on Television Jamaica, whereby each party would be questioned separately on its proposals and policies.
While the PNP appeared satisfied with this suggestion, two leading RJR journalists refused to participate on principle. Head of the Press Association of Jamaica, Dionne Jackson Miller, and radio talk show host Emily Shields (who were both panelists for previous televised debates) stood firm:
Divided – we fall. @djmillerJA and me. #Just pic.twitter.com/GyU5X39Vw6
— Emily Shields (@emilymshields) February 19, 2016
RJR's proposal lasted less than a day before a decision was taken.
Jackson Miller tweeted:
BREAKING RJR cancels forum. JLP refuses to participate saying it is being positioned as alternative to debates.
— Dionne JacksonMiller (@djmillerJA) February 18, 2016
On the same day, the UWI Leads group at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus, in partnership with Integrity Action Movement (IAM) For Students, were to hold a National Youth Electorate Town Hall meeting at the Rex Nettleford Hall of Residence.
Representatives of all political parties were set to attend, including the much smaller third party (National Democratic Movement) and an Independent candidate, who traveled from rural Jamaica for the event.
The Town Hall was widely advertised on social media, with Opposition Leader Andrew Holness set to speak and PNP Senator Mark Golding (a late addition) representing the Prime Minister:
@theuwileads @Mandi143 just in!! Hon. Senator Mark Golding will represent the PNP at the Youth Town Hall meeting! pic.twitter.com/2MA54Qj0L7
— Integrity Movement (@IAMforstudents) February 18, 2016
By lunchtime on the day of the event, university officials had cancelled the meeting and the organizers were scrambling to find an alternative venue. Although the student organizers insisted they had followed protocol, UWI were adamant that rules had not been followed:
Official Release on recently canceled National Youth Electorate Town Hall pic.twitter.com/zg2ISg34Qn
— The UWI Mona Campus (@UWImona) February 19, 2016
UWI also noted security concerns and their disapproval of political meetings on campus. Ironically, however, political candidates were seen touring the campus and actively campaigning for their parties later that same evening.
At the end of the day, youth leader Sujae Boswell tweeted:
As a youth activist, it hurts to the core that students are being prevented from participating in the political process.
— Sujae H. Boswell (@SujaeBoswell) February 18, 2016
Marcia Forbes (businesswoman, social media guru and philanthropist) sighed in a tweet:
Today feels like 3 days compressed into one. #Jamaica is back into a time of nasty, gutter politics with shenanigans & smear
— Dr. Marcia Forbes (@marciaforbes) February 19, 2016
Equally disappointed, political commentator and feminist leader on the UWI campus Nadeen Spence observed bluntly:
The whole country needs to take a time out.
— Nadeen Spence (@nadzique) February 19, 2016
Returning recently from overseas, regular blogger Negril Stories has taken up her keyboard again and made some cogent points:
However entertaining this debacle might have been, we cannot afford for a situation of pure chicanery to dominate another election. Jamaica deserves stringent rules and timelines for electoral events: fixed election dates, mandatory debates with fixed dates and the allowance of empty chairs, pre-scheduled campaign events, deadlines for the release of manifestos and penalties for politicians who seek to resolve their conflicts in the media, overlooking the important mediatory role of the Political Ombudsman.
Even more importantly, comprehensive financial reports and background checks on all sitting members of state and local government should be made available through the Access to Information Act. A public declaration like the one Andrew was forced to make on Monday should only be necessary in the case of a suspected discrepancy in what had been submitted to the Integrity Commission. If the media, ergo the people, have access to these documents we have the opportunity to research and the freedom to create our own concerns and are not left to rely on politicians soundbites and their lawyers’ ultimatums to form the basis of our ‘news’ reports.
Some Jamaicans as well as traditional and social media are now turning to examine the manifestos of the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party, released a few days ago.
The Opposition's previously released ten-point economic plan, has sparked considerable discussion. Human rights commentator Susan Goffe shared the results of her Twitter poll:
Here is the result of my poll: 53% intend to read both manifestos; 14% to read one & 33% to read neither. #manifesto pic.twitter.com/3l5W17had0
— Susan Goffe (@suezeecue) February 19, 2016
Meanwhile, security concerns linger.
Political Ombudsman and attorney-at-law Donna Parchment Brown asserts that “only a handful” of the 63 constituencies have proved problematic, with “minor skirmishes” occurring.
However, she is most unhappy at the proliferation of “flags” in political colors erected by party supporters in some areas (specifically in the rural parish of St. Thomas), in breach of the Political Code of Conduct signed by most (but not all) candidates.
The People's National Party produced and tweeted a good info graphic of its manifesto for low literacy Jamaicans:
@Germaine_Bryan 2016 Manifesto Infographic pic.twitter.com/q0afg4EQfW
— Portia SimpsonMiller (@PSimpsonMiller) February 17, 2016
Yet Jamaicans always try to find some humor in every situation, however discouraging. Young professional Sean Bennett tweeted this video that he thought reflected the nature of the 2016 election “race”:
Jamaica's 2016 elections be like… pic.twitter.com/z9Tvf3ea12
— Mr. (@SeanABennett) February 17, 2016
Regular blogger Dennis Jones, a retired economist with a well-developed sense of humor, included for the letter “D” of his “Lexi-con for Jamaica's next election”:
D is for debates. Well, we might as well take that word out of our vocabulary for a while, as the children did not want to play in the same sandbox, so now they’ve taken their toys away and gone off to sulk in some dark corner. I’ve said before, that Jamaica does not have a culture of mature political discussion. I would be happy to see politicians mud wrestling, and I know that betting on the outcomes would be a major revenue earner for the gaming companies and the ministry of finance.
Meanwhile, many Jamaicans not aligned to any particular party would probably echo the sentiments of this young Jamaican woman on Twitter:
This election fever has my head in a tail's spin. Whatever the outcome I pray we unite as ONE Jamaica, not divided by party line.
— Alicia B. (@AliBJM) February 19, 2016

author: Emma Lewis


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Love in the Time of Zika · Global Voices
NACLA

Sara Garcia, an activist with the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion (Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto). Photo by Prometeo Rodríguez Lucero
This post by Hilary Goodfriend was originally published by NACLA. An edited version appears below.
As the Zika virus ravaging Latin America moves northward, renewed attention has focused on the struggle for reproductive justice in El Salvador. In the face of alarming suggested (if contested) links between the mosquito-borne virus and microcephaly in infants, El Salvador’s Ministry of Health recommended that women delay pregnancy for two years; officials in Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica and elsewhere have since issued similar warnings. And on February 1, the World Health Organization declared that the virus poses a global public health emergency.
Reproductive rights’ advocates both locally and abroad have objected to El Salvador’s calls for family planning: In El Salvador, abortion is defined by law as a criminal act, without exception.
Some important context: In 2009, the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party was elected to the presidency in Salvador, unseating the U.S.-backed, right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) party after 20 years of consecutive rule. The FMLN’s election marked the first time in El Salvador’s history that a progressive administration governed the country. In 2014, the party won another five-year term.
Since taking office in 2009, the FMLN has overseen unprecedented gains for women’s healthcare— rarely reported on both domestically and abroad. The National Healthcare Reform of 2010 established over 600 community health clinics in rural and underserved areas, with healthcare promoters bringing pre- and post-natal care to women’s homes. In addition, the number of women seeking gynecological services in local public clinics rose from 30,154 in 2009 to 313,521 in 2014. These programs, along with the creation of maternal pre-birth centers for women living in areas with difficult hospital access, have reduced maternal mortality by an astounding 68% since 2009.
What’s more, the FMLN government inaugurated a new state-of-the-art National Women’s Hospital to replace the old Maternity Hospital, which languished in disrepair for years following a 2001 earthquake. The FMLN has also pioneered a groundbreaking model of “Women’s City” service centers, which provide mental and reproductive healthcare, legal support, childcare, credit and job training in six sites across the country, with three more planned for 2016. And FMLN-sponsored legislation, such as the Gender Equity, Equality and Nondiscrimination Law and the Life Free of Violence against Women Law, has provided an important legal framework for women’s advocates.
But these impressive advances stand in stark contrast to the persistent criminalization of abortion in El Salvador. In 1997, the right-wing controlled legislature voted to criminalize abortion without exception, joining neighboring Honduras and Nicaragua along with Chile and the Dominican Republic in a disgraceful regional club of nations with absolute abortion bans. At the time, the FMLN divided its votes, with some legislators joining the right-wing parties in favor of criminalization and others voting against. Since the law went into effect in 1998, countless women have been forced to attempt to terminate pregnancies in unsafe clandestine conditions. Over two dozen women have been imprisoned for the crimes of murder or abortion— many apprehended while seeking healthcare in the wake of a miscarriage. With so much progress for women in other areas, how has this inhumane abortion ban remained intact?
On February 3, I sat down with Sara García of the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion in the capital city of San Salvador, El Salvador, to discuss the movement for reproductive justice and the political power dynamics behind one of the world’s most restrictive anti-choice laws. The following are excerpts from our conversation.
The Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion arose in the framework of a binational summit in Nicaragua. Both El Salvador and Nicaragua have very similar legislation; in both countries no alternatives exist even when the life or the health of a women is at risk. So in 2009 there was this summit of social organizations to see what could be done.
She didn’t know she was pregnant, then she lost the pregnancy, and when she got to the hospital, basically what they said to her was, “You have committed murder.” Also in 2009, after a broad social movement mobilization, we achieved freedom for Karina, a woman who was incarcerated for seven and a half years. Many feminist compañeras knew this case well before 2009. They got involved, documented and reconstructed the entire path and history of her case. This was a young woman who turned to the public healthcare system—the same system under which she had been sterilized. And later she gets pregnant. She didn’t know she was pregnant, then she lost the pregnancy, and when she got to the hospital, basically what they said to her was, “You have committed murder.” They attribute guilt to women for the mere fact of being women, and thus they violate the presumption of innocence. After reviewing the sentences they were able to prove that Karina was innocent, that there had been errors throughout the judicial process, and that there was a clear gender stereotype that had ultimately ended with her unjust imprisonment.
El Salvador didn’t always have these laws. Before 1998, alternatives did exist. Therapeutic abortion, when the life or the health of the mother was at risk, was recognized, as was ethical abortion— when the pregnancy was the product of sexual violence – and eugenic abortion, when the fetus was incompatible with extra-uterine life. So these three grounds existed before 1998, the year that the prohibition entered effect. In 1999, another important change occurred at the constitutional level when it became recognized that human life begins at the moment of conception. Those two changes were intended to be end any discussion about reproductive rights in this country.
In the midst of all this a group of citizens and compañeras from different backgrounds— lawyers, theologians, psychologists, philosophers— decided to say, “Okay, let’s unite, and let’s see how we can work on this issue.” We started with this need to fight for the women who are in prison, to bring them back, but also to recuperate what we used to have. As the Citizen Group, we have to regain what we used to have in our country. We’re not inventing anything new, since we used to have legislation that at least gave us alternatives in extreme cases.
We needed to be able to build a voice that no longer spoke of abortion as a sin but that spoke of abortion as a right. I think we’re also trying to build dialogue, since these laws are so biased. […] In the end, without dialogue, we will never build that democracy, or that justice and peace that we want to talk about, if all voices are not heard.
Sara Garcia and members of the Citizen Group protest against unjust abortion laws in Central America (Photo by Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto)
The case of Beatriz [in 2013] allows you to see precisely how women have trouble accessing reproductive justice. She was a 22-year-old woman, pregnant with an anencephalic fetus, which is to say that it had no brain. She also had lupus. Beatriz requested an injunction because she couldn’t interrupt her pregnancy. Several different human rights organizations supported this injunction. However, the process went before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, and the Chamber delayed this process for 81 days while her life was in danger. They made her wait 81 days for a response, and in those 81 days several different actors intervened.
The Chamber requested an opinion from the National Forensics Institute, which said that Beatriz should continue her pregnancy because her life wasn’t at risk. This opinion was written by the director of the Institute at the time, [Miguel] Fortin Magaña, a person who has been very open about his Opus Dei views. He went to the press saying, “No, Beatriz can live, she’s fine.” And that was quite contradictory, because in the hospital where Beatriz was—a public hospital—a team of 15 doctors signed a statement saying that it was necessary to interrupt the pregnancy. The Minister of Health at the time was in favor as well. Even the director of the hospital came out telling Fortin Magaña: “You attend to dead people, we attend to the living. How can someone who attends to the dead say that she can continue living?”
In addition to this, there were the fundamentalist groups, who went to the extreme of holding press conferences in which they said they’d donate hats to Beatriz for her to put on the infant in order to hide the fact that it had no brain. It’s a level of cynicism that’s hard to imagine.
So this was a woman who was even supported by the Ministry of Health, because they understood her case. This case demonstrates how difficult it is for women to have access to justice, because these fundamentalists have permeated certain institutions and they have power. They’re part of the mass media, and they even collude with institutions like the Constitutional Chamber, which may well be respectable on other issues, but on the matter of reproductive rights they have enormous debts to women, to their citizens, to human rights, in general.
In the end, Beatriz was able to interrupt the pregnancy, but only after waiting all that time. But I think it’s important to reflect on this case, because these institutional obstacles come from a fundamentalist ideology that has materialized in legislation and in policies that are absolutist and absolutely prohibitive.
Yes, I think it’s very important to parse that. We’re talking about a justice system that has clear and enormous debts, but certainly I think that this leftist government, which is now in its second term, has had women’s struggle or women’s rights at the center of its policy and vision. This has been clearly demonstrated through a wide range of programs. And I think it is important to show these contradictions. There’s the judicial system and the Court’s behavior, which I think is fairly reproachable, and the legislature, which is diverse and can’t be generalized. There have been important actions [in the legislature]. For example last year a legislator from the leftist party sponsored an initiative to modify the Penal Code to enhance penalties for hate crimes [based on sexual orientation or gender identity]. And this allows us to see that there are changes happening in this country that are very important, and these are changes that were never before seen—the whole issue of sexual diversity and LGBTQ people is another debt pending to the population and is very important to mention. There is indeed a progressive effort to promote these rights that have historically been denied.
Nevertheless, I think that the international community – and national organizations as well – must continue to advocate for these rights. Like I said before, the issue of abortion has been become a politically dangerous one to support, and that must be upended: the political danger should be for those legislators who are not in favor of women’s lives, for those who are not in favor of saving a life that is at risk. We need to make that a political cost.
I think the fact that the legislators from the FMLN have an historic commitment to human rights could allow for discussion, debate, and changes in the law in 2016 – as a matter of social justice and public health.The current political panorama in the Assembly offers opportunities; the President of the Assembly [Lorena Peña of the FMLN] is committed to the struggle for women’s rights.I think the fact that the legislators from the FMLN have an historic commitment to human rights could allow for discussion, debate, and changes in the law in 2016 – as a matter of social justice and public health. Even within the right-wing parties we know that there are dissident positions, and some of the legislators have spoken out on this issue and on issues of sexual diversity.
Photo by Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto
In the face of the so-called Zika emergency, the Ministry of Health in our country has responded with various actions: It has informed the population of the risks of pregnancy while high rates of Zika infection exist, calling on women not to get pregnant over the next two years. In order to facilitate people’s access to family planning, it has supported the distribution of contraceptives, and it is also providing monitoring and care for pregnant women who have had Zika. To date no [pregnancy] has been determined to be affected by microcephaly; it wouldn’t be until August 2016 that the impact of this epidemic could be seen. At the same time, campaigns to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits Zika, have intensified. The Ministry of Health has stated that current legislation prevents women infected with Zika from carrying out a legal and safe interruption of their pregnancy in the public healthcare system.
We think that it is correct for the ministry to inform the public about the effects of Zika on the fetus when a pregnant women contracts the disease. However, we think that advising women not to become pregnant is an insufficient and difficult measure to apply for several reasons. First and foremost, the state should guarantee the health of the population, eradicating the disease and risks of contagion, although citizen participation is also important in achieving that. The responsibility of not getting pregnant shouldn’t fall on women, because all pregnancies involve a man who should also assume responsibility. We also need to consider that in this country 39% of pregnancies are unplanned, due to a lack of sexual and reproductive information, difficult access to contraception, and in many cases sexual violence, abuse, rape, incest, or non-consensual relations that go unpunished.
This situation could create a serious public health problem in El Salvador, given that the birth of a high number of infants with microcephaly would require specialized education and healthcare that the state should guarantee. In addition, like in other Latin American countries, we could expect an increase in unsafe abortions carried out by women who are unable to carry on the pregnancy with fetal deformations but can’t find a way to end it safely and legally – thus increasing maternal mortality.
You can read the complete interview here.
Hilary Goodfriend is a researcher in El Salvador. A graduate of New York University in Latin American Studies, she is currently completing a master’s thesis at the Central American University (UCA) in San Salvador.

author: NACLA


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What Masqueraders’ Selfie-Snapping Says About Trinidad & Tobago Carnival · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Masqueraders on stage — with their phones — during Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2016. Image by Sarita Rampersad, used with permission.
Soon after Trinidad and Tobago Carnival 2016 was over, a photo album of the street festivities began to make the rounds on Facebook. Far from what you might expect, the images captured masqueraders who were in two places at once, thanks to their smartphones.
The photographer, Sarita Rampersad, called the collection of images “(Dis)connected Mas” (“mas” is another way to refer to Carnival). She talked to Global Voices about her project, the selfie culture and its impact on the national festival.
Global Voices (GV): This is a pretty telling project. Was this your intent as you went out to photograph Carnival? Or did the topic present itself?
Photographer Sarita Rampersad; photo by Desmond Clarke, used with permission.
Sarita Rampersad (SR): I went into Carnival Tuesday at the Socadrome wanting to shoot more portraits and play with some long exposures, so I went armed only with a 70-200 f/2.8, a polariser and a flash, which is great, but very limiting in terms of how close you can get to the action, so I positioned myself at the exit end of the stage. I realised very early into it that I wouldn’t get anything worthwhile, because I was blocked by a line of photographers and security, so I took some time to look around to see what else caught my eye, and that's when I noticed a proliferation of masqueraders — in the melee on stage, at the edges of the stage, in the stands and on the sides — on their phones. I thought, wow, well this could be interesting, and started to shoot them instead.
GV: What do you think your images say about our society — and our Carnival?
SR: I don’t think the images tell just one truth. You can look at them and see society as self-obsessed and narcissistic, and you can look at the same images and see revelers trying to share their experience with as many people as they could. Cell phones have become such an extension of ourselves that it hardly registers in your mind ordinarily, but the absorption in them struck me on Carnival Tuesday, maybe because the festival itself is supposed to be one that you lose yourself in and that you revel in with the people around you. The reflex action of masqueraders looking to their phones first for validation (either in selfie form or communicating with whoever was on the other end), often to the exclusion of what was happening around them, was very interesting, because to me, it showed how much more important virtual reality was at that moment, than actual reality.
One commenter pointed out to me that it was easier for her to deal with people electronically than face to face, so her using her phone allowed her the freedom to look social without having to actually talk to anyone. Carnival has evolved into a luxury, all-inclusive experience that people want to be seen to be a part of. If someone spends TT $6,000 on a costume [just under US $1,000] in a sought-after band, they would want as many people as possible to see them having fun. Selfies to share on Facebook and Instagram and live streaming on FaceTime and Periscope are real time ways of reaching as wide an audience as possible on their own terms.
Image by Sarita Rampersad, used with permission.
GV: Do you think the fact that the festival had few spectators encouraged the use of phones even more? Were masqueraders trying to drum up their own (albeit virtual) audience?
SR: I think they may have been. As a masquerader myself, energy and reaction from spectators is a vital part of playing mas. The mess that the NCC [National Carnival Commission] and the various carnival bodies have made of Monday and Tuesday mas has split bands and photographers across venues and has had the effect of spreading spectators out too thin. There’s also the sad fact that as a show, Carnival has become a huge failure. It’s a fantastic street party, but unless you’re one of the people playing mas, there’s really nothing to see and enjoy.
As a caveat, I’d like to mention that bands like K2K and now The Lost Tribe are doing their part to revive the spectacle of carnival again, so there’s hope that the ‘show’ in the greatest show on earth will return to mas and give spectators and masqueraders a reason to engage with each other once more.
GV: What kind of commentary do you think this experiment has made about selfie culture?
SR: The availability of information and exposure to pop culture 24/7 has given us new ideals to aspire to, and social media is a platform that allows us to be just like the celebrities we admire. There’s a hunger for external validation that social media both created and satisfied in us — the more ‘Likes’ we have, the better and more popular we are; the better and more popular we are, the more likes we’ll get. And our reach is now global. The obvious commentary on selfies other than it being trendy, would be that we’re becoming more and more narcissistic, egocentric and self-absorbed. Less obviously would be the social, inclusive nature of the selfie. Friends who are in one place can include those who aren’t physically, thereby sharing a picture that shows they’re thinking of them. It’s very easy to draw conclusions when you’re an objective outsider taking pictures of people taking pictures, but the intent behind each person’s shot, selfie or otherwise, is an important part of their narrative.
Image by Sarita Rampersad, used with permission.
GV: What was your impression of your subjects? Was everyone as they appeared — missing the experience of the moment because they were too involved in capturing it? What was the vibe on the streets like?
SR: I differentiated between masqueraders on their phones and those taking selfies and photos in my Facebook description, because I saw some difference in the way they experienced Carnival and interacted with those around them.
I took many, many photos where you would see a shot of a girl on the phone for instance, surrounded by friends, and about 10 minutes later I'd take another shot in that same location and she would still be on her phone, with her friends looking bored next to her. Another shot for example, would be a guy surrounded by girls in costume, but his head buried in his phone. I didn’t get the impression, based on my observation of them, that they were engaged in capturing any aspect of carnival, so much as using their phones the same way they would in any other situation. I appreciate wanting to let friends know where you are and arrange meeting points etc., but what struck me repeatedly was how engrossed the masqueraders were in their devices and how removed they seemed to be from Carnival and what was going on right next to them.
The cell phone photographers drew my attention in a different way. They were very social and involved in capturing the festivities, but it was pretty interesting to see them instantly bend over their phones to upload the images they'd just taken to social media.
The vibe on the street was a bit different — there was less concentration of masqueraders on their phones and more of them performing for the cameras. People seemed a bit tired, like they were going through the motions by the time they got to halfway down Ariapita Ave. [a main causeway] at around 2/3 p.m., but they came back to life once they got to the Synergy stage [along that same route]. Again, it was interesting to note the rejuvenating effect cameras had on the masqueraders.
Image by Sarita Rampersad, used with permission.
GV: Has technology helped or hindered the experience in this regard?
SR: Technology has a very important role to play in the evolution of the way we market Carnival. The attempts to control copyright of images coming out of Carnival by the NCC, NCBA [National Carnival Bands Association] and TTCO [Trinidad and Tobago Copyright Collection Organisation] have made professional photographers wary and weary, and more and more, the world is seeing this festival through the eyes of masqueraders and less through the lenses of pros.
This is both empowering and sad, because while the quantity of imagery is increasing, the world at large is missing the magic captured year after year by the Butch Lim Choys and the Andrea De Silvas, the Mark Lyndersays and the Maria Nunes‘, who are forced to be more selective about what and where they shoot and how they can share.
GV: If you were to predict how we play mas in 10 years, what would it be like?
SR: On the flip side […] technology is also dictating the way we play mas, making us more performers for a camera, and less revelers losing ourselves in the experience. For all we know, Carnival might become a completely virtual phenomenon, with the advent of things like Google Cardboard and 360 videos, with masqueraders sculpting perfect road worthy avatars, buying a costume in the app store and strapping on 3D goggles instead of backpacks!
I would like to think that we’d reach a point where the fun and joyous abandonment would be more important to masqueraders than stopping to capture and share blocks of time and that professional photographers would have the freedom to cover and disseminate imagery as they please without prehistoric bureaucracies stifling them, but in reality, I think the opposite will occur and the only imagery coming out of Carnival will be cell phone and point and shoot imagery, and the marketing will be mainly social media and out of touch advertising by our sluggish Carnival bodies.
Image by Sarita Rampersad, used with permission.
GV: As a photographer, where do you stand on the selfie? A cry for attention or a tool for self-expression?
SR: As a photographer on Carnival Tuesday, I appreciated the entertainment and opportunity to shoot something a little different — especially as I found the Socadrome underwhelming as far as a show went. I’m not against selfies, although I’m incapable of taking a good one myself. It’s great that technology has given people the opportunity to capture themselves on their own terms and I’ve found that the people that would engage in selfie behaviour generally can’t get enough images of themselves, so they don’t stop you from taking your own pictures of them, and are in fact quite willing to pose for ‘professional’ shots as well.
There are of course, also instances where the selfie is used solely for show and to portray something that isn’t reality. A friend of mine, Antony Scully, who was also shooting at the Socadrome on Tuesday, saw a lady walking off the stage with phone in hand trying out different selfie poses to find the most flattering. When she did, she looked around and grabbed a guy dancing past and wined back on him, all the while holding the phone in selfie position. When she was happy with the shot she got, she turned and waved him off and they both went about their business!
Image by Sarita Ramperad, used with permission.
GV: What happens once these images are posted on social media? What do you think is the ripple effect of this culture?
SR: There’s no one reason we’re becoming who and what we are, but tying this into Carnival, wanting and needing to be seen and heard generally can also be a reason for our compulsive selfie and posting behaviour. We’ve been given another way to speak through social media platforms, but the sheer volume of all the voices around the world trying to speak at the same time, means you have to learn to be very loud in that space. Once you upload images to social media, for instance, they get lost in the clutter very quickly, because there’s tonnes of imagery bombarding you every day. As a poster, you have to have a specific plan to keep your images alive, whether it be releasing one a day, or tagging people sporadically, or commenting/sharing randomly to bump them in newsfeeds. We’re constantly subjected to and on the hunt for new stimuli.
Image by Sarita Rampersad, used with permission.
GV: Did Carnival — and the masqueraders — lose or gain something via the mass selfies?
SR: Carnival as a money making entity can only gain by the imagery taken and shared during the event. If, as a masquerader, your intention during Carnival is to lose yourself in the celebration and fun of it, being surrounded by selfie takers can be a distraction and encroach on your good time, especially when they’re standing still to take one and you have to be cognisant of them or risk wining into them. If you’re all about being seen to be having fun, then selfies/sharing would only add to your experience, because your motivation for being there in the first place, is different.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Who Needs Elephants When You Can Play Polo Driving Around in Rickshaws? (Feel Free to Sing, Too.) · Global Voices
Rezwan

Tuk-Tuk Polo. Screenshot: Youtube
An innovative and intense game introduced by an expat luxury hotelier has become an annual event in Sri Lanka, where Tuk-Tuk Polo is increasingly all the rage.
How did it start? Anglo-Australian expat Geoffrey Hobbs, who runs a chain of luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, started a polo tournament over a decade ago in Galle where players rode elephants instead of horses. In 2007, however, one elephant went rogue and smashed into several spectators’ cars. The competition was suspended for several years, finally reemerging in 2013, now played with colorful “tuk-tuk” three-wheel rickshaws, instead of living, accident-prone creatures.
Last year, Ruben Derksen shared the following footage from the tournament:
Ria Ramirez at the website Roar.lk writes:
The first tuk tuk polo tournament was played in March 2013 at the Galle Dutch Fort, followed by the second one last year, in 2015, and the response seems to be promising. Organised by the Ceylon Polo Club, the game certainly seems to have generated a lot of enthusiasm among foreigners and locals alike, with many people showing interest in the next event, which is happening in Galle, on the 19th of this month.
Ramirez also explained how the game is played:
The game comprises of three players per team. Each vehicle is manned by a driver, with the player taking up position in the back seat (while you can handle the horse and the mallet at the same time, the same cannot possibly be said of the tuk tuk. Not unless you want to end up wrapped around one of the goal posts). Tuk tuk polo makes use of the speed and easy maneuverability of the trishaw, the exceptional navigational skills of the driver, and some really brilliant hand-eye coordination from the players, to score by whacking the ball into the opponent’s goal.
In spite of its quirky nature, tuk tuk polo comes with its own set of rules and regulations, just like any other sport. Games are supervised by an umpire and are open to both males and females.
The game is played in two seven-minute rounds with a 15-minute halftime interval. This year, eight teams competed and the winners took home a grand prize of Rs. 200,000 ($1,430).
Audience members described the tournament as a “crazy day”:
Crazy day in the Sri Lankan sun filming Tuk Tuk Polo in the beach town of Galle. #filming pic.twitter.com/sooRwgS1Lw
— Trans World Sport (@TransWorldSport) February 21, 2016
Raghavendra Iyer from India wrote on Facebook:
‘Tuk Tuk Polo’ might be our new favourite game ever. Sorry Prince Harry – we much prefer this version of polo.
Emily Dobbs (@weligama_ldn) said on Instagram:
Team Taprobane ⛑ hilarious day competing at Tuk Tuk Polo with my uncle and cousin @rachelalicedobbs yes it exists and his helmet is too small; Daft Punk Sri Lanka
Tuk tuk polo match being fiercely contested in front of #Taprobane island, Weligama #Galle #SriLanka #Colombo pic.twitter.com/8upTDQAxBu
— Uda Kanda Villa (@UdaKandaVilla) December 30, 2015
Animal rights activist Sagarika Rajakarunanayake says she is glad that the game now uses tuk tuks, instead of elephants, given the typically “cruel treatment” they must endure, when used in such events.
Those intrigued but not won over entirely by tuk-tuk polo are invited to try tuk-tuk karaoke. For a taste, check out this British expat's adventure with singing in a rickshaw.

author: Rezwan


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Aqeela Asifi: A Teacher in Exile Continues the Struggle · Global Voices
Sana Jamil

Aqeela Asifi speaks about her journey. Image: Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize / YouTube
Imagine teaching for 23 years in a small Afghan refugee camp at Kot Chandana village, on the outskirts of the Punjab province in Pakistan, and then, one day, learning that Stephen Hawking himself has lauded you and your work. Aqeela Asifi—one of the top ten finalists for this year's Global Teacher Prize—knows this feeling. In a video posted on the contest's Facebook page, Professor Hawking announced this year's finalists, and Asifi is among them.
The competition's website says the prize is awarded every year to a truly exceptional educator:
The Global Teacher Prize is a US $1 million award presented annually to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession. The prize serves to underline the importance of educators and the fact that, throughout the world, their efforts deserve to be recognised and celebrated.
Asifi’s life in Afghanistan was relatively simple. She belonged to a family that supported her right to education, despite cultural challenges. She was content with her career as a teacher in Kabul, until the Taliban took power, making it impossible to continue her work. Asifi and her family found sanctuary in Pakistan in 1999, hoping for a better and safer future.
It was in an Afghan refugee camp that she began her brave and tireless struggle to educate Afghan refugee girls. It proved to be no easy task, and Asifi soon realized she was dealing with people who had no concept of a right to education for girls. In an interview with the organizers of the Global Teacher Prize, Asifi summed up her journey:
When I asked the girls why they were going absent from school, they said girls are not supposed to go to school.
Relentless, Asifi established a small classroom in the refugee camp, where she's now been teaching for years, receiving multiple awards for her work. She's been on the job so long already that she's even begun educating the daughters of her first generation of students:
The girls I taught 20 years ago now send their daughters to my school, so I’m teaching the second generation of my students.
Lili Mao, a graduate student in the Television Management Department at Drexel University, traveled to Pakistan last December to film Asifi at work with Afghan girls. Mao says she witnessed the girls’ eagerness to get an education, she told her university's newspaper:
I interviewed some girls at their school, and they shared their dreams with me. One girl said that she wanted to be a teacher, so that she could teach other refugee girls like Asifi. Another girl said that she wanted to be a doctor to serve her country.
Pakistan's Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, prominent for promoting the universal right to education, also contacted Asifi, congratulating her over the phone on being among the finalists for the Global Teacher Prize. Malala Yousafzai’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, also conveyed his best wishes to Asifi over Twitter:
Malala & I congratulated Aqeela finalist for Global Teachers Award & for her education work https://t.co/HFBWbR3aT5 pic.twitter.com/ehs1lbaBrV
— Ziauddin Yousafzai (@ZiauddinY) February 19, 2016
This is not the first time Asifi has been recognized for her work. In 2015, she was presented with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Nansen Refugee Award.
Astoundingly, Asifi is now running nine different schools with approximately 900 students.
Internet users throughout Pakistan have welcomed her nomination warmly:
I am inspired to meet Aqeela Asifi, a brave and tireless champion of education for Afghan girl #refugees in #Pakistan.
— Illango (@Illango_WB) February 9, 2016
@defencepk
a PAKISTANI teacher in Stephen Hawking's TOP TEN Global Teacher Prize.
congrats Aqeela Asifi. https://t.co/5eKl0OTLJm
— Sardar Abbas Aziz (@SardarAbbasAziz) February 20, 2016
Congratulations to Aqeela Asifi for making it to the top 10 finalists of the Global Teachers Prize. pic.twitter.com/sqoazjVt2W
— Duniya Aslam Khan (@DuniyaAKhan) February 17, 2016
Proud to have super women like Aqeela Asifi .More power to such people. <3 https://t.co/gbg1hz1Fob
— Sanna Ejaz ( سیاله ) (@sanaejaz2) February 21, 2016
Pakistan's Aqeela Asifi makes it to the final of the Global Teacher Prize. https://t.co/EPB782sBUg
— Bina Shah (@BinaShah) February 19, 2016
The other finalists, selected from some 8,000 applicants, include teachers from Palestine, India, the United States and United Kingdom, Kenya, Finland, Australia, and Japan. The Global Education and Skills Forum will announce the competition's winner on March 13, 2016, in Dubai. Whatever the outcome, Asifi has already won many hearts with her work in education, and she's far from finished.

author: Sana Jamil


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Asylum Seeker ‘Baby Asha’ Becomes a Rallying Point for Opponents of Australia’s Offshore Detention · Global Voices
Fiona So

About 6,000 people rallied in Melbourne to #LetThemStay, protesting the return of asylum seeker families to Nauru. Photo from Flickr page of Takver (CC license)
Following a 10-day stand-off with doctors and hundreds of protesters, Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton finally confirmed that 1-year-old asylum seeker ‘Baby Asha’ would not be deported back to the Australian immigration detention centre housed on the Pacific island nation of Nauru. She will instead be released into community detention in Brisbane along with her family, who are Nepalese Christian asylum seekers.
Community detention – where asylum seekers are placed in designated community housing – has been shown to mitigate many of the negative impacts of closed or offshore detention by affording detainees a degree of independence and facilitating better access to services and community support. It also tends to be cheaper.
However, the fight to keep the Australian-born toddler in the country is far from over.
Initially brought to Australia for medical treatment after suffering accidental burns on Nauru, staff at Lady Cilento Children's hospital refused to discharge ‘Baby Asha’ due to concerns she would be sent back to the offshore detention centre:
As widely reported, we are currently treating a young child from the Nauru Detention Center at the Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.
In line with every child who presents at the hospital, this patient will only be discharged once a suitable home environment is identified.
News of the hospital staff's stand quickly spread on social media. Hundreds of protesters (including Australian pop rock duo The Veronicas) gathered for days outside the hospital, demanding the government allow ‘Baby Asha’ and her family to remain in Australia.
Come out whenever you can and show your support for refugees! #LetThemStay #LadyCilento pic.twitter.com/RleIhYa3Km
— Jordan Funke (@jordandeearn) February 12, 2016
#LetThemStay @SeedMob pic.twitter.com/BeAKqJl3dh
— The Veronicas (@TheVeronicas) February 20, 2016
Reminder that we're now into day 9 of the vigil outside #LadyCilento Hospital. Bloody incredible. pic.twitter.com/Nk9vy9grll
— Sam Regester (@samregester) February 20, 2016
A week into the protest, reports circulated that the child's mother had been refused access to her lawyers and guards were preparing to move the child. In response, protesters stopped cars departing the hospital to check for a forcible removal:
Tried to speak with our client today. Access was refused. #LadyCilento pic.twitter.com/BhuruMY84J
— Daniel Webb (@DanielHRLC) February 20, 2016
#LadyCilento on guard 2nite after threats to deport Baby Asha. Huge crowds staffing checkpoints around hospital pic.twitter.com/uwsqwHY5wp
— Abraham O'Neill (@AbeONeill) February 20, 2016
On February 21, in a move advocates are hailing as a victory for people power, Immigration Minister Dutton made a statement confirming the family's transfer to community detention. However, he told ABC News there would be no special treatment for them:
I couldn't be any clearer – once the medical assistance has been provided and the legal issues resolved, people will go back to Nauru… We are not going to allow people smugglers to get out a message that if you seek assistance in an Australian hospital, that somehow that is your formula to becoming an Australian citizen.
Health professionals later corroborated the transfer:
We can confirm that baby Asha has been discharged from #LadyCilento hospital. Maybe if she visits again it will be as a doctor or nurse.
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) February 21, 2016
Reiterating her offer to resettle more refugees in her state, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk criticised Dutton's response as being too slow and lacking in “character and compassion”.
The decision by the Federal Govt to place Baby Asha and her mother in community detention was too slow. https://t.co/bZYkK6n41u
— AnnastaciaPalaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) February 21, 2016
The controversy over the fate of ‘Baby Asha’ encapsulates the widening rift in Australia's asylum seeker and refugee policies.
She is but one of 267 asylum seekers in Australia who face deportation back to Nauru, following a recent decision by the nation's highest court which upheld the legality of the current offshore detention regime.
Detractors from the government decry the inhumanity of returning asylum seekers to places where they are subject to harm and uncertain futures. Worryingly, the latest figures provided by the Department of Immigration show that the average time spent in detention has blown out to 445 days.
Those who support the government's hardline stance fear that accepting asylum seekers who arrive ‘illegally’ by boat will only encourage more people to make the treacherous journey. There are also worries this would put a strain on Australia's social welfare system.
Complicating matters is the fact that independent media access to Nauru is extremely limited. New laws brought in last year also threaten anyone working for the Department of Immigration with up to two years’ jail time if they disclose unauthorised information about what happens in detention centres.
If the Government is providing appropriate care in detention facilities they have nothing to fear from independent oversight #healthasylum
— AMA President (@amapresident) February 21, 2016
Hey @Republic_Nauru How about telling us: can Australian press come to Nauru and report on conditions asylum seekers are living in?
— Julian Burnside (@JulianBurnside) February 22, 2016
Despite the temporary reprieve for ‘Baby Asha’, there seems to be no end in sight for the fight over what Australia's legal and moral obligations towards asylum seekers and refugees should be.

author: Fiona So


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China Won’t Broadcast the Hong Kong Film Awards Because of Dystopian Nominee ‘Ten Years’ · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture from the trailer for Ten Years.
This year, mainland Chinese will not be able to watch the 35th annual Hong Kong Film Awards on television or online, all because one independent movie called “Ten Years” was nominated for Best Film of 2015.
The awards, founded in 1982, are one of the most respected events for celebrating the achievements of the Chinese-language film industry. Just like years past, state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) and tech giant Tencent's online TV service would have the broadcasting rights to show the award ceremony to the mainland Chinese audience. However, despite their initial agreements the two suddenly withdrew from airing the event, which is scheduled to take place on April 3.
The organizer of the awards revealed that the Office of Cyberspace Administration of China, headed by Liu Wei, had forbidden the broadcasting of the ceremony in China because officials take issue with nominee “Ten Years”.
Low-budget indie film “Ten Years” is comprised of five episodes, each depicting a dystopian future in Hong Kong in the year 2025 due to the increasing interference of China in city. The movie has been well received in Hong Kong, hailed for capturing popular sentiment there. In fact, it has beaten the latest Star Wars installment at the local box office. Below is the film's’ official trailer (with English subtitles):
One of the episodes in the film, “Self-Immolator”, highlighted in American news channel CNN's review, portrays a mystery person who sets themself aflame in front of the British Embassy. The story is set against the background of the “localist movement” that rejects the mainland Chinese identity imposed upon them after former British colony Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.
As a special administrative region, Hong Kong is supposed to have a high degree of autonomy from the mainland. But fears abound that China is tightening its grip on the city's relative freedom from Chinese Communist Party rule — and not without merit. At the same time, a strong pro-democracy camp in the city has campaigned for more rights for years. In 2014, thousands joined the Umbrella Protests that occupied downtown Hong Kong for three months, demanding that citizens be allowed to nominate the candidates. As peaceful protests have failed, frustrated “localists” advocate for more confrontational and disruptive strategy to strike for the city's autonomy.
However, Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times labelled the film a “virus” spreading pessimism and anxiety in the city. Reports revealed that the Hong Kong Film Awards ban is directly associated with the nomination of “Ten Years” for Best Film and that the order came from the very top of the country's propaganda authorities. In addition to ceremony being barred from broadcast, all media outlets have been ordered to avoid any mention of the film.
In response to the ban, the director of “Self-Immolator, Kiwi Chow, told the reporter from online news platform HK01:
這種做法，再一次反映他們對電影的芥蒂，甚至是怯懦。（中央怕電影帶來影響？）我不想給一個答案，但我想帶出一個思考，問所有人，怕這部電影的甚麼？這部電影包含很多觀點與想法，如果我們要與中央溝通，可以嘗試理解，他們到底在怕甚麼。
The way they handled the issue reflects their anxiety towards film [as a medium]. What exactly is Beijing worried about? I don't want to give a direct answer, but I want to throw this question out to everyone: What is so fearful about this film? The film has portrayed different thoughts and perspectives; this can be a starting point for communication and understanding. So what exactly are they afraid of?
Student organizations from 12 local universities and colleges have arranged a screening tour from February to March.
It seems China didn't stop with Hong Kong's awards, either. On February 22, mainland Chinese propaganda authorities reportedly also banned the Taiwanese Golden Horse Film Awards from airing in the mainland, as well.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Dear Karachi City Officials, ‘Fix It’. (Or Else.) · Global Voices
Sana Saleem

#FIXIT Garbage truck cleaning the streets of Nazimabad. Photo: #FIXIT / Facebook.
Alamgir Khan launched the “Fix It” campaign in Pakistan by spray-painting the chief minister's face on open manholes outside Karachi University. Beside his creations, Khan wrote the words, “Fix it!”
The Fix It campaign has resonated deeply with young people in Karachi, but the city's response hasn't been thorough enough for many. As a result, Khan is kicking off the campaign's second phase, where ordinary citizens work together to clean and repair the city's roads. Many citizens have signed ultimatums addressed to the city demanding renovations to shoddy roads, open manholes, and generally dirty streets. If officials fail to mend Karachi's roadways, the public is threatening to do the work itself.
The public shaming efforts are having some effect on officials, many of whom are suddenly scrambling to address problems that have plagued the city for years.
When Khan first launched Fix It campaign, he addressed the chief minister and the people of Karachi in a video on Facebook:
My name is Alamgir Khan, I am a resident of Karachi and being a Pakistani is my only identity. I am standing outside University Road, at this point at night with Karachi University on my right. I am an ordinary citizen of this city. An ordinary citizen has to face a plethora of problems, from getting to work, to reporting a crime in the police stations. An ordinary citizen is shoved around without his/her basic rights being protected. Water, education, health, and a sewage system—all these basic, everyday needs are denied to the citizens of Karachi. I am the youth of Karachi and I will no longer remain silent like most. I will protest and I will take back my rights. This is a campaign against a broken system that doesn't care for its citizens. I'll make sure the face of the chief minister and other relevant authorities is painted on every street, road, or wall where citizens are facing issues. I want to make it clear: I am not scared because ideas are bulletproof.
So what happens if the government doesn't respond to the Fix It ultimatums? Some activists are prepared to begin the repairs on their own, while others are contributing by donating money to the effort. In Nazimabad, activists aided by a tractor worked to clear out the streets.
In some areas, the city's garbage trucks have started to appear:
Photo of street in Gulshan-e-Iqbal being cleaned by local authorities. Photo: #FIXIT / Facebook.
Street children have joined in the protests, too, wearing masks bearing the face of the chief minister.
Photo: #FIXIT / Facebook.
Underneath the photo is a clarification from the campaigners:
Our war is against “those who are responsible”—not any one political leader. If they do their jobs, we will write a thank you note for them. But if they don't, we will expose them.
Citizens who have joined in the campaign say they want everyone to know they will no longer be taken for granted. In a video on his Facebook page, Khan announced a volunteer drive that would enable the campaign to continue its work across the city.
I am not only referring to the cheif minister as sleeping beauty, but also the citizens…if the government is not interested in helping people, citizens should step up. We are launching a call for volunteers, so we can all join in to help our citizens whenever needed.
Here's hoping the creative and engaging campaign rallies more support and springs local authorities into action.

author: Sana Saleem