text:
Chinese State Media Downplays Protests Against PX Chemical Plant  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Protests in Maoming in China’s southern Guangdong province over a planned paraxylene (PX) project plant continue to grow and have spread to neighboring Shenzhen.
The demonstrations began on March 30, 2014 when about 1,000 Maoming residents rallied against the project over environmental and health concerns. Clashes between security forces and protesters reportedly left some injured, with rumors that some people were even killed.
The country has seen a series of anti-PX protests since 2007, but unlike previous demonstrations, this time Chinese state media gave them coverage.
However, most of the coverage and commentary tried to play down the violence and emphasized the importance and benefits of PX production in China.
The banner says, “PX project out of Maoming.” (Picture from Sina Weibo)
People’s Daily dismissed the injured and dead as rumors and claimed the public has exaggerated the dangers of PX.
Xinhua said the protests exposed “local government's struggle between development and stability.” The piece outlined the Maoming government’s effort to gain public support for the PX plant:
The Maoming government's desire to promote the PX project is strong, as shown in the 100,000 brochures sent to local homes.”The PX project will add about 10,000 jobs and increase tax revenues by 674 million yuan (109.6 million U.S. dollars) every year,” the brochures read. They classify PX as a combustible chemical with low toxicity and say there is not enough evidence to link it with cancer.
An editorial published in Global Times claimed that since the victory of Xiamen’s anti-PX campaign in 2007, which successfully pressured authorities to transfer the plant to another city, the public’s opposition to major chemical projects has become “irrational”. The editorial cited the benefits of PX projects in Korea and Singapore and suggested that the local government in Maoming should not trade the PX project for short-term stability:
我们决不相信中国这几年的所有PX和重化工立项都是不合理的，在环保上有重大隐患的。那么需要有一个城市的党委和政府在精神上足够强大，他们能够顶住压力，并且在与民众沟通上表现出最大的能力和耐心。这个点是茂名吗？我们不知道。但我们期待这个坚守点的到来。
We don’t believe all planned PX projects in China in recent years are unreasonable, full of environmental dangers. Therefore, a strong local government is needed so that it can withstand pressure, be capable and patient in negotiating with the public. Can Maoming act this way? We don't know. But we look forward to positive results.
Another piece from Global Times called for more PX projects in China and accused the NIMBY protest of being selfish:
这是一种自私的利己主义，因为这样的自私行为，导致在更大范围上产生更大的环境风险和项目可持续风险。熟悉PX行业的人都知道，PX的定权价一直由国外少数国家持有，我国在PX产业链的低端碳链上已经形成规模，但高端的环链却受制于人。扭转环链上的劣势，就需要我们多上PX项目，使环链产业水平赶上或超过竞争者。
This is selfish. Such selfish behavior will result in greater risks in environmental and sustainable projects on a larger scale. People who are familiar with the PX industry know that PX prices have been fixed by a few countries abroad. On the low end of the PX industrial chain is China, but the high end is controlled by others. To turn the tide on the situation, you need more PX projects to make the industry catch up or exceed competitors.
However, China Daily acknowledged the lack of trust and lack of transparency:
For a local government, it is not a matter of just dissuading local residents from opposing the project, it is a matter of establishing their own trustworthiness among local residents.
What makes things even worse is the fact that many local governments are yet to develop the habit of communicating openly with residents. Neither do most of them have the awareness that transparency can be a way to reduce and dispel the mistrust between them and residents.

author: Abby Liu


text:
Costa Rica: “God Bless your X” · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On Sunday, April 6 2014, Costa Rica held the run-off to elect a new president [es]. After governing party's candidate Johnny Araya retired his campaign, the whole process lost intensity, and abstentionism was a threat.
Making an analogy with football soccer [es], website Costa Rica Azul says:
Con su equis, este domingo, en la papeleta usted elige al nuevo director técnico, quien nos guiará en el campo de juego, será el encargado de motivarnos, dar el ejemplo, marcar la ruta, indicar dónde debemos reforzar, cuidar la marca y escuchar para comprender lo que vivimos quienes estamos en el terreno de juego.
[…]
¡Reinventemos el futuro! ¡Dios bendiga a Costa Rica!
With your X, this Sunday on your voting ballot, you choose the new trainer, who will guide us in playing filed, who will be in charge of motivating us, who will be an example, show us the path, indicate us where to strengthen, who will take care of determining the course and listen to understand what are we going through, those of us who are in the field.
[…]
Let's reinvent the future! God bless Costa Rica!

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
Habal-Habal: The Philippine Motorcycle That Gives 10 People a Ride · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

This Habal-Habal has extensions consisting of wooden planks across the seat of the motorcycle. Photo by Sherbien Dacalanio, Copyright @Demotix (9/8/2012)
How many people can ride a motorcycle? In some parts of the Philippines, this two-wheeled vehicle can carry 10 passengers with their baggage. This unique mode of transportation is called Habal-Habal or Skylab.
Habal-Habal is a popular way of travelling in many areas of Mindanao, located in southern Philippines. It is used especially in remote villages with rough and narrow roads. Farmers also need the Habal-Habal to transport their goods to the market.
Skyscanner cites the value of the Habal-Habal:
In Metro Manila, it is an everyday picture that you see 1 to 2 persons riding on a motorcycle. However, it is not the case when it comes to the streets of Mindanao and some parts of Visayas.
Habal-habal is a highly improvised two-wheeled single motorcycle usually ridden beyond its passenger capacity. Since it is used as public transportation especially in areas with narrow roads, and steeper, rougher terrain, it could possibly carry up to 6 passengers, at the least. Yes, some people might have said that a habal-habal could accommodate more than 10 persons, with baggages ranging from vegetables and groceries to livestock like chicken yet to be included.
TravelingMorion is amazed at the driving and balancing skill of the Habal-Habal driver:
A big help to locals usually living in mountainous areas wherein roads are mostly not accessible by 4 wheel vehicles. Interesting about this mode of transportation is that the ability/skill of the driver to balance considering the weight of the passengers from side to side, front, plus another 3 to 4 persons at his back.
In order to carry many passengers, the motorcycle is fitted with wooden planks. It’s one reason why many people called it Skylab:
Habal-Habal is now used interchangeably with the word “Iskaylab,” believed to be taken from the damaged U.S. space satellite named “Skylab” that plunged to Earth from space in 1979. Other conflicting account suggests a contraction of the phrase “sakay na, lab!” which literally means “get on, love!” Personally, it is my opinion that the term was most likely adopted from the former than the latter because of the wooden plank extension placed at the back seat across the motorcycle's main body which serves as additional seat to hold more passengers and, therefore, closely resembling the Skylab and its protruding satellite wings.
Doctrine once saw a Habal-Habal ambulance and got disappointed with the government:
It makes me angry to see many such ambulances in Metro Manila being used for personal travel while communities in dire need of emergency vehicles can only improvise with the habal-habal to get people to hospitals.
It’s a shame that our government can spend a lot or engage the private sector in major projects while hundreds or even thousands of communities remain under-served for basic needs including access to schools, hospitals and workplaces.
slow down…skylab. pic.twitter.com/liSapEbDo6
— Chris Dalisay Jr. (@chrisdalisaymd) March 30, 2014
one of the transportation in the visayan region…HABAL-HABAL… pic.twitter.com/e7dpHq9SDP
— allan (@allanbergonia) November 21, 2013
Some Habal-Habal has tarpaulin roofs:
On board one a “Skylab” in Agusan del Sur! A 2-wheeled motor vehicle that can carry 10 people! #TRAVELnow pic.twitter.com/XIWkKWGLyl
— Bogart the Explorer (@BogartDexplorer) October 8, 2013
This is #Honda TMX155 transformed into “habal-habal”. It can carry 8 persons including the driver:) love the thrill! pic.twitter.com/RSqKYHFU7P
— PɹoLıɟǝ Apʌoɔɐʇǝ (@1nGG0t) March 17, 2014
Despite its popularity, the Habal-Habal is actually an illegal mode of public transportation. Although a Mindanao legislator recently proposed to legalize the operation of the Habal-Habal.
Public Advisory: Bawal ang Habal-Habal It's illegal and unsafe. #UPLB #OVCCA #UPatrolUPLB https://t.co/ip5u9YpSUS pic.twitter.com/SkfSEKlyCx
— Noel Casubha (@noelcasubha) March 6, 2014
A Habal-Habal in Cabadbaran City. Photo by Sherbien Dacalanio, Copyright @Demotix (9/8/2012)

author: Mong Palatino


text:
300 Pakistan International Airlines Employees Fired for Fake Degrees · Global Voices
Rezwan

People protest against fake degrees in Pakistan. Image by Isa Daudpota. Copyright Demotix (20/07/2010)
Pakistan's national flag carrier airline Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has sacked 300 of its employees across several different departments over the last six months after they were found to have submitted fake academic degrees.
The fake degrees were discovered as part of a Supreme Court-ordered effort to verify the credentials of about 16,000 employees of PIA. The fired workers include pilots, flight attendants and engineers.
Newspaper The Nation reported in February that according sources familiar with the matter, many of the employees suspected of using fake degrees were appointees of the previous government as a reward.
The scandal first broke in 2012, when a number of employees of the airline were first accused of having submitted fake degrees.
Pakistan's battle against fake academic degrees is not new. In 2008, the government under former military dictator Pervez Musharraf amended election laws to require a university degree mandatory in order to qualify to become member of parliament. This posed a challenge for a large number of politicians who did not meet the requirement, and some obtained fake degrees to work around it.
PIA fires 300 fake degree holders! Fake degrees is an epidemic in Pakistan! How will we cure it?
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) April 5, 2014
After a significant number of the false credentials were exposed by political opponents, the country's Supreme Court ordered the election commission to verify the university degrees of nearly all of their 1,100 federal and provincial parliamentarians, resulting in various lawmakers losing their seats. No actions were taken against those who issued fake degrees to the lawmakers.
Similar allegations have been made against civil servants and doctors across the country. In the wake of the revelations, the Supreme Court ordered government institutions to have the degrees of their staff verified and submit a compliance report.
Commenting on The Nation's website, “Pak Patriot” demanded punishment for PIA employees caught using fake degrees:
Police cases of fraud should be initiated against these fraudsters.
Their political influence should also be exposed.
A list of these PIA staff should be published in the newspapers, SHAME THEM.
This practice will then stop in the country.
Let the people know, which politicians are indulging in corrupt practices.
Public should not vote for these Charlatans, next time around.
Saad Iqbal wrote cynically on Facebook:
lol its just a gimmick… all these fake degree holders have political influence that let them in thew corporation. By virtue of of same links they will b back to service or reinstated later on with all perks and privileges.
Shahzia Khan-Mehboob commented:
Its fantastic,if its not a political move..
When lawmakers were discovered to have submitted fake degrees, Tayaba Iftikhar at youth network The Voice of Youth offered up a sarcastic analysis of the situation:
I can’t believe the hullabaloo regarding it. I mean they obviously had better things to do rather than study, y’all. Correction: Study from chartered universities or NOT study at all. How can the media and the political analysts not realize that? That is the job of the rest of the ‘normal’ Pakistanis to study and have a REAL degree, not a FAKE one since that would be breaking the LAW and you will be in JAIL for that. Remember: The rich and elite of this nation are exempt from this.

author: Rezwan


text:
5 Fascinating Facts About the Leatherback Turtle  · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

The leatherback sea turtle. Image taken from Wikimedia Commons. CC-BY-2.0
The Leatherback Turtle Festival [es], this year in its ninth edition, raises awareness among the general public about this sea turtle, which returns to the beaches of Puerto Rico every year to lay its eggs. According to the blog CoquíPR [es]:
En Puerto Rico, las áreas de anidaje han disminuido en número debido al desarrollo de las playas y áreas costeras. Esta pérdida de habitáculo se debe principalmente a la construcción de proyectos residenciales, turísticos e industriales y a la expansión de zonas urbanas en áreas costeras. Sin embargo, los reflejos de las luces en áreas desarrolladas (como el alumbrado directo de playas) producen desorientación tanto de tortugas adultas como de neonatos. Muchos neonatos cuando salen del nido, en vez de regresar al mar, se desorientan por las luces y van en dirección contraria al mar, donde son comidos por depredadores, matados por automóviles o mueren por exposición al sol. A esto se suman las adversidades que pueden enfrentar las tortuguitas recién nacidas en su carrera al mar. Las mismas pueden ser dañadas por animales domésticos (como perros) o depredadas por aves marinas o cangrejos.
El vandalismo de nidos, robo de huevos y matanza de las hembras cuando salen a anidar son graves problemas que afectan la especie. Los tinglares son especialmente susceptibles a la ingestión de plásticos en el mar, cuando confunden los mismos con aguavivas.
In Puerto Rico, nesting areas have decreased in number due to the development of beaches and coastal areas. This loss of habitat is mainly due to construction of residential, tourist, and industrial projects in addition to the expansion of urban zones in coastal areas. Nonetheless, the reflection of lights in developed areas (such as direct lighting from beaches) produces disorientation for both adult turtles and the hatchlings. Instead of returning to the sea when they leave the nest, many newborn turtles become disoriented because of the lights and go in the opposite direction, where they are eaten by predators, killed by cars, or die due to exposure to the sun. The adversities that newborn turtles may face in their journeys to the sea can also be added to this. They can be hurt by pets (like dogs) or preyed upon by seabirds or crabs.
Nest vandalism, egg poaching, and killing of female turtles when they come out to nest are serious problems affecting the species. Leatherbacks are especially susceptible to ingesting plastic materials at sea when they confuse them with jellyfish.
To celebrate the Leatherback Turtle Festival and to help spread information about it, here are five interesting facts about this reptile:
1. The leatherback is the largest species of sea turtle in the world.
Digital magazine Mi Puerto Rico Verde [es] has more information on the physical characteristics of this turtle:
El tinglar más grande documentado pesó 916 kilogramos, equivalente a poco más de 2,000 libras. […] El tinglar es de tonos oscuros con pequeñas manchas redondas blancas y rosadas.  Es fácilmente distinguible por sus siete estrías en forma de cordillera que corren a lo largo del carapacho y por las peculiares grandes aletas frontales.  Las hembras también tienen una mancha rosada característica en el tope de su cabeza.
The largest documented leatherback weighed 916 kilograms, equivalent to just over 2,000 pounds. […] The leatherback has dark tones with small, round spots that are pink and white. It is easily distinguishable by its seven streaks shaped like a mountain range running along its shell and by its peculiar, large front flippers. Females also have a characteristic pink spot at the top of their heads.
2. The leatherback is the only species of sea turtle that does not have a hard shell.
According to Amigos de las Tortugas Marinas [es], a community effort dedicated to contributing to protecting leatherbacks:
A diferencia de las demás especies de tortugas [el tinglar] no tiene un caparazón duro o de concha si no más bien una cubierta de cuero que tiene siete aristas longitudinales la cual se siente al tacto con textura gomosa o de goma.  Esta forma de caparazón, más blando que el de las demás especies, es una adaptación para poder resistir las grandes presiones cuando se sumerge a profundidades considerables que pueden ser superiores a 3,000 pies, más profundo que cualquier otra especie de tortuga.  Si su caparazón fuera uno rígido y duro como el de las demás especies de tortugas se rompería o quebraría por efecto de la enorme presión del agua.
Unlike other species of turtles [the leatherback] does not have a hard shell, but rather a leather cover that has seven longitudinal ridges which to the touch feel have a gummy or rubbery texture. This shell form, softer than that of other species, is an adaptation to withstand the high pressures when diving into considerable depths than can exceed 3,000 feet, deeper than any other species of turtle.
3. The moon and stars are points of reference for leatherbacks.
Light pollution is a very serious problem for the leatherback when it returns to nest. Digital environmental magazine Corriente Verde [es] explains why:
Las tortugas neonatas usan el reflejo del brillo de la luna y las estrellas en el mar como punto de referencia, para saber hacia dónde dirigirse para llegar al océano. Ésa es una de las razones por las cuales no se deben construir edificios u otras estructuras cerca del mar, ya que las luces o focos de los edificios pueden confundir o desorientar tanto a las crías neonatas como a las tinglares adultas, haciéndoles creer que el mar se encuentra en dirección de las bombillas.
Newborn turtles use the reflection of the moon's brightness as a point of reference to know where to go to get to the ocean. That is one of the reasons why buildings and other structure should not be built close to the sea, since the lights or spotlights from buildings can confuse or mislead both newborn and adult leatherbacks, making them think that the sea is in the direction of the light bulbs.
4. The female of the species makes the longest migration of any species of sea turtle.
Amigos de las Tortugas Marinas reveal a bit more about the extraordinary lengths that female leatherbacks are capable of traveling:
Las hembras de tinglar realizan las más largas migraciones de todas las especies de tortugas marinas. Entre sus áreas de alimentación y playas para anidar, pueden realizar viajes de hasta más de 3,000 millas o 6,000 Km. Los tinglares son tortugas oceánicas que viven la mayor parte del tiempo alejadas de las costas con excepción de su temporada de anidación en las cuales regresan a las playas de los trópicos. Después de aparearse en el mar, las hembras regresan a las cálidas playas de arena de los trópicos para construir su nido y depositar entre 75 y 100 huevos.
Female leatherbacks make the longest migration of all of the species of sea turtles. Among their feeding areas and beaches for nesting, they can make trips of up to more than 3,000 miles or 6,000 km. Leatherbacks are oceanic turtles that live the majority of the time far away from the coast with the exception of their nesting season during which they return to the beaches of the tropics. After mating at sea, females return to the warm, sandy beaches of the tropics to build their nests and lay between 75 and 100 eggs.
5. The sex of the leatherback is determined by the temperature of the sand.
Once again, Amigos de las Tortugas Marinas provide more details:
La temperatura del nido determina el sexo de las tortuguitas, temperaturas más altas resultan en hembras y un poco más bajas resultan en machos. Por lo cual podemos pensar que los huevos del tope que estarán más caliente por la radiación solar sobre la arena deberán resultar en hembras y los que están más profundos deben resultar machos, pero no siempre es así, pues hay otros factores como las lluvias y el oleaje que pueden afectar las temperaturas en el nido.  La temperatura promedio del nido es de unos 29.5°C – 85°F.
The temperature of the nest determines the sex of the baby turtles, higher temperatures result in females and slightly lower ones result in males. Therefore, we can think that the eggs at the end that will be hotter because solar radiation onto the sand will result in females and those that are deeper will result in males, but it is not always like this, as there are other factors such as rainfall and waves that can affect the temperature of the nest. The average nest temperature is about 29.5°C or 85°F.
Below is a brief but excellent documentary on leatherbacks:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

author: Ángel Carrión


text:
Your Guide to India’s 2014 General Elections · Global Voices
Rezwan

India prepares for 16th general elections. Image by Reporter#24728. Copyright Demotix (6/4/2014)
India represents the largest democracy in the world. The country has an asymmetric federal government, with elected officials at the federal, state and local levels. The head of government, the prime minister, is elected by the members of Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. Lok Sabha members are elected every five years, and this year's Lok Sabha elections, otherwise known as the Indian general elections 2014, kicks off today, April 7, 2014.
The world's biggest elections are scheduled to run until 12 May 2014 in nine phases, during which voting will take place at about 930,000 polling stations throughout all the 543 parliamentary constituencies of India. The results will be declared on 16 May 2014.
There are about 814.5 million voters, the most in the world, and nearly 100 million newly eligible voters have been added since the previous elections. The participating political parties are expected to spend about 5 billion US dollars on campaigns, the second highest in the world after the US elections. More than 10 million officials including security forces will be deployed and 1.4 million electronic voting machines will be used for the election. But there are still challenges for people with disabilities to participate in the elections due to lack of accessibility infrastructure.
The actors
The main contest is between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Third Front. However, the main rivalry in this election will be between Narendra Modi, candidate for prime minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, and Rahul Gandhi, the vice president of the Indian National Congress party and the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Hindu nationalist Modi, and its allies are forecast to win in majority of the constituencies, leaving behind the incumbent Congress party and its allies.
The elections are not without controversy. Modi is accused of failing to stop or even encouraging anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in the state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister. At least 1,000 people died in the violence, most of them Muslims. Modi denies the charges.
Almost one-fifth of candidates in India's upcoming general elections face criminal charges including rape, murder and extortion. Religious violence has been predicted during the elections.
Here are netizens’ take on the elections:
As of 12 Feb 2014, there are 1616 political parties registered with the Election Commission of India #IndiaElections
— Atish Patel (@atishpatel) April 5, 2014
#India: Opinion polls suggest that the business-friendly BJP is well on course to win the most seats in the national election.
— ETF alpha (@ETFalpha) April 6, 2014
800 Million People to vote over 5 weeks. Celebrating Democracy! Hoping this election brings in a change for a better INDIA. #IndiaElections
— Vipul Agarwal (@Vipul20192) April 6, 2014
#YourVote2014 is chance to finish corrupt and criminals from Parliament. Vote4AAP #CongBjpForeignFunded pic.twitter.com/vU0DgZGQQi
— bhavna sharma (@bhavna_india) March 28, 2014
Important stuff: NOTA (None of the Above) option will be used for the first time in Lok Sabha polls this year! #YourVote2014
— Nandini Bhalla (@nandinibhalla) March 5, 2014
Yup! RT @daddy_san: I've gotta admit, @GulPanag makes #Indian election campaigning look cool and kickass. pic.twitter.com/Fb387uyH4A” #Dabang
— India Policy (@India_Policy) March 28, 2014
Elections on social media:
This year, more and more social media tools are being used for campaigning in India. The Washington Post reported that Indian parties are using Obama-style campaign tactics to spread the words and woo voters. Candidates are using every gadget and platform – taking part in Google+ Hangouts, televised interviews organised on Facebook and using smart phone messaging app WhatsApp – to connect with millions of tech-savvy urban voters.
In India, Facebook has 93 million users and Twitter has approximately 33 million accounts nationwide. Facebook and Twitter users will “wield a tremendous influence” over the final results of the election, reported the Mumbai-based Iris Knowledge Foundation.
Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir campaigns for Bharatiya Janata Party in Amritsar. Image by Sanjeev Syal. Copyright Demotix (5/4/2014)
Narendra Modi has 3.68 million followers on Twitter and has attracted more than a million volunteers to his campaign. Rahul Gandhi is not tweeting personally (although he has a fan-run account). Gandhi's Facebook page has more than 190,000 followers, while Modi has more than 12 million followers. Anti-corruption campaigner and former Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has more than 1.5 million followers on Twitter.
Google India has introduced a Google Elections hub in an attempt to encourage first-time voters and the growing number of Internet users in the country.
Google and Storyful have partnered to build an Open Elections India Google+ community, a destination for citizen reporters and people monitoring the election to discover, verify, discuss and amplify content emerging from the social web during the general elections.
The women of India make up 49 percent of the electoral base, but women go to vote far less than their male counterparts. Jaago Re has initiated a social campaign called the Power of 49 to encourage more female voters to participate in the election.
Past Global Voices coverage:
20 Feb – Is Indian Anti-Corruption Leader Arvind Kejriwal's Resignation Clever or Crazy?
20 Jan – Despite Controversial Past, Indian PM Candidate Narendra Modi's Star on the Rise
3 Jan – India's Aam Aadmi Party Wins Hearts and Forms Government in Delhi
15 Dec – Aam Admi Party Emerges As A Cleaner Option In Indian Politics
Resources:
Hashtags:
#YourVote2014
#IndiaElections


text:
A Kibera Love Story · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

This is a fascinating love story between Sam from Kibera, a slum in the city of Nairobi, Kenya and Alissa from Minnesota, USA:
This has to be the love story of the year!!!!! Alissa is from Minnesota while Sam is born & bred from Kibera. So how did these two lovebirds come to meet?
Alissa had come to Kenya and for several months she had been working with the people living in Kibera. For several months as she took the Matatu (Public transport) home she would spot Sam, a young talented man who ran his own Africanised jewellery store just by the road side. One fine day, as Sam was having a banana next to his shop, he spotted a beautiful white lady seated on the right hand side of the Matatu. He was mesmerised by what he saw and with the last remaining 5 shillings that he had in his pocket, he decided to buy her a banana too. So he asked the nice lady at the shop for another banana and went to give it to the beautiful lady that he had just spotted. Luck was not on his side, since as soon as he got to the window next to where she sat, the matatu sped off. He ran after it but it was too late, the matatu had left and so had the girl of his dreams.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
Afghanistan Shows the Taliban the Middle Finger · Global Voices
Samea Shanori

More than seven million Afghans voted for presidential and provincial council elections this Saturday in spite of threats of violence from the Taliban. Officials in the country confirmed an unprecedented turnout, with at least 58% of eligible voters casting their ballots, significantly higher than the 38.8% turnout in the 2009 presidential ballot. Ashraf Ghani, one of the race's three favourites, claims he is leading the vote.
Long lines at polling stations showed collective determination for a peaceful and democratic futurein the country. Afghan politicians called the strong turnout “a slap in the face of enemies of Afghanistan.” Some men and women chose their middle fingers for inking in what was intended as a clear message for the recalcitrant Taliban. International experts, journalists and politicians all congratulated Afghans for such a great turnout and offered wishes for a democratic transfer of power.
Support from all over the world:
US president Barrack Obama issued a statement congratulating Afghans for a successful election and called it an “historic” moment. Members of the UN Security Council also welcomed the elections while highlighting the importance of Afghan electoral institutions. Jan Kubis, the special UN representative to Afghanistan, stated:
Today was a good day for the future of a stable and unified Afghanistan. Ordinary Afghans turned out to vote in remarkable numbers, defying Taliban attacks and threats. Often in long queues and bad weather, voters patiently waited to exercise their basic human right to vote. They chose to determine the future direction of the country by political means and resolutely rejected the enemies of peace and democracy.
While Britain's Prime Minister urged Afghans to take part in this historic moment. His tweet read [Pashto]:
په افغانستان کې سبا دانتخاباتو ورځ ده. زه ټول افغانان نر او شځې هځوم چې دخپل هیواد په دغه تاریخي ورځ چې دچارو واکی انتقالېږي ګډون وکړي
— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) April 4, 2014
Tomorrow is elections day in Afghanistan. I encourage all Afghans, men and women, to participate in this historic transition.
Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. Due to widespread participation and bad weather conditions, IEC extended the polling by an hour to allow all voters to cast their votes with many voting even after this period. Only 211 out of the 6,423 polling centers remained closed. In 2009, more than 440 polling stations stayed closed due to security threats and electoral fraud fears.
Several reasons have been cited for the higher turnout, including greater public political awareness than at previous elections and more options in terms of candidates. Additionally people voted to protect the past decade's gains (especially women's rights and opportunities for youth) and continue modernizing the country. A Kabul resident, interviewed by the Guardian, explained the high turnout as follows [Fa]:
We want the election result to be finalized in the first round. Our people, government and economy are very weak. If the election goes to a second round, it will be a challenge for our security forces.
Unfortunately, as Global Voices reported April 5, that wish is unlikely to be fulfilled.
Nevertheless, a tweet from Bashardost reflects the message that Afghans sent to Taliban by casting their ballots:
#Afghans are voting with pride & excitement in #AfghanElections, they are also giving a clear message to #Taliban. pic.twitter.com/Xne5yfsbdC
— Bashardost بشردوست (@Quettagee) April 5, 2014
Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister, Ershad Ahmadi, tweeted optimistically that the vote makes Taliban ideology redundant:
Our vote today signifies the end of Taliban and their empty narrative. Today we immunized our democratic polity for ever. Bravo ANSF & IEC!
— Ershad Ahmadi (@ErshadAhmadi) April 5, 2014
Security on Election Day
Security across the country was tight to ensure smooth and safe elections. No attacks occurred in the capital, but incidents were reported in other provinces, wherein 20 people were killed and 43 wounded. By comparison, the 2009 election was recalled as “one of the most violent days witnessed in Afghanistan” since 2001 by Human Rights Watch. According to NATO, more than 400 attacks took place during that vote.
This year police checkpoints were set up and every man, woman and child was searched as they entered voting stations. Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs, tweeted:
A safe Kabul is the result of hard work of #ANSF, especially #ANP; and Afghans are now confidently casting their votes.
— Sediq Sediqqi (@moispokesman) April 5, 2014
Commending the national security forces for a safe Election Day, Saad Mohseni, chairman of the largest group of media companies in Afghanistan, tweeted:
the real winners yesterday was the ANSF..thank you the Afghan National Army @Umerdaudzai2 @MASalangi, @NDSAfghanistan and @RahmatullahN — Saad Mohseni (@saadmohseni) April 6, 2014
While Ajmal Stanikzai added:
Contrary to popular believe #ANSF managed to successfully provide security for the 2014 #Afghan elections. #AfghanElections #Afghanistan — Ajmal Stanikzai (@stanikzai) April 6, 2014
Abdul Hai's tweet noted the marked difference between the 2014 Afghan elections and the 2013 elections in neighbouring Pakistan:
Difference b/w Pak/Afghan elections. In 2013 Pak elections bullets defeated ballots/in today Afghan elections ballots [ha]ve defeated bullets.
— Abdul Hai Kakar (@haikakar) April 5, 2014
Complaints on Election Day:
Despite relatively low internet penetration in the country, Afghans from all over Afghanistan tweeted electoral issues and incidents of fraud as they encountered them, a new element in Afghan voting. One much-discussed issue was the shortage of ballots. There were reports by electoral staff and voters that large numbers of people were turned away from polling stations after waiting for hours.
According to Daud Qarizadah:
Polling stations in some areas run out of ballot papers due to high turn out in #Afghan elections: voters
— Daud Qarizadah (@DaudQarizadah) April 5, 2014
Yet some believed it was a scheme:
Spoke to a friend in Kabul. Sites ran out of ballot papers in city's West. Angry voters r chanting “No to fraud elections”. #AfghanElections — Bashardost بشردوست (@Quettagee) April 5, 2014
Tentative results
Vote-counting has started and the preliminary result of the presidential elections will be announced later this month. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes, there will be second round in May between the two front runners. The results of the provincial council elections will be also be announced in May, according to the Independen Electoral Commission timeline.
Afghans are anxiously waiting to hear anything regarding the results of the elections. Nafees Takar tweeted:
No official ( even unofficial) results of Afghan elections so far. What u hear r guesses or partial results of a few polling stations.
— Nafees Takar (@takar22) April 6, 2014
Eager to know the results of the elections, Saad Mohseni, the media mogul, asked the IEC, but received no certain answer:
Having consulted with the IEC it is virtually impossible for anyone to gauge the results of this poll (just yet) – it is only speculation
— Saad Mohseni (@saadmohseni) April 5, 2014
Yet presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani issued a very qualified statement claiming his ticket was out in front. According to his data, he is followed by Abdullah Abdullah with incumbent Hamid Karzai's ally Zalmay Rassoul in third. Neither of the other two have made a statement.
Initial partial results show we are leading . http://t.co/XuKRdBUjtq
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) April 6, 2014
In some other areas Abdullah Abdullah seems to be in the lead. According to Ahmad Shjua, author of the blog Afghanistan Analysis, Abdullah has been able to gather votes in regions populated by ethnic Hazaras with the help of his vice president, Haji Mohammad Mohaqeq.
Except a few places like Daikundi, where Danish is from, Mohaqeq seems to have swept the Hazara vote for Abdullah. Sarabi [presidential candidate] a distant 2nd. 2/n
— Ahmad Shuja احمدشجاع (@AhmadShuja) April 6, 2014
Margherita Stancati, a Wall Street Journal reporter in Kabul, tweeted the result from western Kabul, also heavily populated by Hazaras.
Results posted outside several polling centers in west Kabul show Abdullah significantly in the lead, followed by Rassoul and Ghani third.
— Margherita Stancati (@margheritamvs) April 6, 2014
Afghan voters fulfilled their responsibility as citizens whilesecurity forces maintained a relatively peaceful voting environment despite fears they would lack the capacity to do so. Afghans are now half-way towards their first democratic transition, and it is the duty of IEC to ensure a  transparent and objective vote-count ahead of a likely second round.

author: Samea Shanori


text:
Friedrich Ebert Foundation Publishes Report on the Use of Social Media in Cameroon · Global Voices
Dibussi Tande

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation has published a research report on the use of social media in Cameroon:
To what extent, for what purposes and by whom are social media like Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, Linkedin, etc. used in the country? To find answers to these questions, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation has commissioned a research report on the use of social media in Cameroon…
In terms of the popularity of social media, as elsewhere, Facebook is the single most popular social media tool in Cameroon. Some Cameroonian Facebook groups have up to 20.000 followers and more. More surprising is the strong popularity of Linkedin. Close to 4 Cameroonian internet users out of ten have subscribed to the service, compared to only 3% in neighbouring Nigeria. The search for jobs and employment opportunities may explain at least parts of this puzzle. A quickly increasingly popular social media site is the microblogging service Twitter. Cameroon is now among the top-ten African countries in terms of the tweeted volumes, though Tweeting is heavily concentrated on Douala and Yaoundé. By comparison, blogging is still in an infant stage, given its exceedingly higher demands on time and content. However, for what Cameroonian bloggers may lack in numbers, they more than make up for in terms of quality. Some of Africa’s best blogs come from Cameroon, some of whom are organized in the “Collectif des Blogueurs Camerounais.” In addition, a number of innovations have already emerged that will no doubt accelerate the spread of social media, including the emergence of mobile money which now enables commercial activities.

author: Dibussi Tande


text:
Global Voices Meetup in Lagos, Nigeria · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Global Voices Meetups are back in 2014. Following a successful round of gatherings in six cities around the world in 2013, members of our community are working to organize opportunities for our readers and others interested to learn more about our work and to become involved in our mission. We are pleased to announce the next Global Voices Meetup is scheduled for Thursday, April 17 in Lagos, Nigeria.
The meetup will be hosted by Global Voices community member Nwachukwu Egbunike (@feathersproject) in conjunction with the School of Media and Communication at Pan-Atlantic University in Victoria Island, Lagos beginning at 9:00 a.m. Registration is required (see below for more information).
The Meetup will be an opportunity for students, bloggers, and others working in the field of citizen media to share experiences and to learn about the work of one another. In addition, the event will focus on:
If you are interested in taking part, please fill out the following registration form. You will receive a confirmation email regarding your participation. The event is free to attend, but space is limited. You can also send an email to: rising [at] globalvoicesonline.org for more information. Please follow the hashtag #GVMeetup for this and other meetups from around the world.

author: Eduardo Avila


text:
India General Election 2014: Branding of Candidates Via Social Media · Global Voices
Rezwan

Social media is also the space for innovation and creative thinking. Milind Deora [Union Minister and incumbent MP from South Mumbai] boasts of being the first candidate available to the electorate on WhatsApp and BBM, and provides an interactive mashup map to track all his activities and initiatives. Like BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, Deora too has his Facebook and Twitter pages linked, with one feeding information into the other.
Social Samosa reviews how the Indian politicians in Mumbai have taken to social media for their election campaigns.


text:
Inmate at Greece’s Infamous Korydallos Prison Commits Suicide · Global Voices
Alexia Kalaitzi

Inpatient wards at the Korydallos prison in Greece. Photo tweeted by @kolastirio
A prisoner's suicide is once again drawing attention to the cramped and overcrowded conditions at Greek prisons.
Twitter profile “ΚΟΛΑΣΤΗΡΙΟ ΚΟΡΥΔΑΛΟΥ” (Korydallos hellhole), an account for prisoners on hunger strike in the hospital wing at Korydallos prison, first reported that the 43-year-old inmate had hanged himself with his shoelaces on April 6, 2014.
Officials later confirmed the death, and the Ministry of Justice ordered an investigation.
ΝΕΚΡΟΣ■ΒΟΗΘΗΣΤΕ ΜΑΣ■ΠΑΙΔΙΑ ΣΥΓΚΡΑΤΟΥΜΕΝΟΣ ΑΥΤΟΚΤΟΝΗΣΕ ■ΚΡΕΜΑΣΤΗΚΕ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΝΕΚΡΟΣ■ΔΕΝ ΤΟΝ ΠΡΟΛΑΒΑΝ■ΒΟΗΘΕΙΑ■ΒΟΗΘΕΙΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑΑ #kolastirio
— ΚΟΛΑΣΤΗΡΙΟ ΚΟΡΥΔΑΛΟΥ (@kolastirio) April 6, 2014
DEAD – HELP US – GUYS INMATE COMMITTED SUICIDE – HANGED HIMSELF AND HE IS DEAD – COULDN'T CATCH HIM UP – HELP – HEEELP
The news quickly spread on social media, with users retweeting the prisoners’ digital calls for help. Inmates in the hospital wing in that particular prison have been on hunger strike since February 16, protesting what they call the appalling conditions in which they are forced to live.
Last month, the Council of Europe called for immediate improvement to the prison's hospital facilities. Special rapporteur on equal access to healthcare Liliane Maury Pasquiere told the media that “the [Korydallos] hospital, which was designed to cater for 60 persons, is said to currently be housing 200 prisoners, most of whom are allegedly HIV-positive or suffering from contagious diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis”.
Prisoners have regularly reported on the squalor, saying that are reduced to begging for medical care. According to them, the situation is so bad that a prosecutor once refused to enter and inspect the prison wing because she “has family”.
The news of the suicide came on the heels of the announcement of an official probe into reports that an Albanian prisoner named Ilie Kareli had been tortured for two hours at Nigrita prison in northern Greece before he died in solitary confinement.
Greek Twitter users have commented under the hashtag #kolastirio (hellhole) on the country's prison system and the inaction of the government regarding its improvement:
@TheKoulWay και ένας άλλος άρρωστος άνθρωπος κρεμάστηκε μην αντέχοντας άλλο στο #kolastirio όνομα & πράγμα pic.twitter.com/SEfa950vr1
— ZeroCool (@ZeroCoolGR) April 6, 2014
One more sick man has hanged himself not being able to stand any more of the inferno. The name “hellhole” reflects the reality.
Μην περιμένετε να παραιτηθεί κανείς από την κυβερνητική δράκα για το θάνατο “πολιτών β’ κατηγορίας”(κατ'αυτούς). #kolastirio
— Contrabbando (@Contrabbando) April 6, 2014
Don't expect anybody from the government to step down over the death of “second-class citizens” (according to them).

author: Alexia Kalaitzi


text:
“It’s a Girl”: Campaign Against infanticide Feminicide in India and China · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

The website MujeresMundi, directed by Peruvian Belgium-based communication specialist Xaviera Medina, is involved with the awareness campaign It's a girl against infanticide feminicide in India and China:
Girls are killed in a gendercide routine in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century. Incredibly, however the issues involved have barely registered the attention of the international community. How to explain the strange silence in the face of the biggest human right issue?
The piece includes an interview with Evan Grae Davis, producer of the documentary film l It's a girl!, who says “I wouldn’t have consider myself as an activist until I started to produce and direct It’s a Girl”.


text:
Satirist’s ‘KFC’ Podcast is Litmus Test for South Korean Free Speech · Global Voices
Geoffrey Fattig

Promotion image of new podcast ‘KFC’, fair use.
Kim Ou-joon is a satirist and prominent critic of the administration of former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and was the driving force behind the groundbreaking podcast “Naneun Ggomsuda“. In March, he returned to the airwaves after being acquitted on charges of defaming President Park Geun-hye last fall. His new show, “KFC” [ko] (supposedly named in reference to one the of president's nicknames being “Chicken”) has begun airing regularly on Hankyoreh TV, and marks the next test in determining how much leeway the Park administration will give to its critics.
Although South Korea is widely regarded as one of the leading democracies in Asia, recent criticism from a variety of international human rights organizations over the government’s treatment of dissenting voices has led to concerns that the country is lagging behind other nations in freedom of expression.
In particular, criminal defamation laws remain a powerful weapon in government suppression of free speech, a point made repeatedly in a 2011 report from the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Reporters Without Borders. According to a report from UC San Diego professors Stephan Haggard and Jong-sung You, criminal defamation cases have increased five-fold, from roughly 2,000 annual cases at the end of the Kim Dae-jung administration to over 10,000 at the end of the Lee presidency.
This rise in defamation indictments has corresponded with a dramatic uptick in the amount of web content blocked or deleted by the government’s internet regulation body, the Korea Communications and Standards Commission (KCSC). Figures easily accessed on the KCSC website show that the removal of objectionable content – which covers a range of categories from obscenity and defamation to national security issues – has skyrocketed since the agency’s creation, from roughly 10,000 blocked or deleted websites and Internet postings in 2008 to more than 85,000 in 2013. Much of this activity has been conducted in accordance with the country’s Network Act, which broadly defines “illegal online content” and criminalizes the online circulation of “unlawful information.”
In addition to disturbing trends regarding criminal defamation and Internet regulation (some might say censorship), indictments under the country’s controversial National Security Law have begun to inch upward, from 32 in 2008 to 103 last year [ko]. A rise in Cold War-era rhetoric has revived national security as a salient issue in Korean politics and forced critics on the left to be more careful about what they say lest they be branded “pro-North Korea sympathizers‘.
In 2012, Amnesty International issued a scathing report about the National Security Law, correctly pointing out that the vague and arbitrary nature of the use of Article 7 produces a chilling effect on those who question government policy. This clause forbids praising the North Korean leadership, joining an “anti-government” organization, engaging in anti-state activities, or possessing or distributing North Korean media or literature. The fact that many of these critics are now being charged under defamation statutes rather than National Security Law violations is small consolation.
So far, many of the president's critics have been wary of her position on these issues, and she has done little to assuage these concerns. As 2013 drew to a close, the country was wracked by a series of strikes, mainly over fears that the government was planning to privatize a new rail line. Alluding to the causes of the strike, the president blamed social media for spreading “wild rumors” and stated that the government had to act “quickly and aggressively against groups who distort the situation”. The fact that this statement was made a day after the government’s official broadcast regulation arm targeted several media outlets – including the online sites Gobal and Newstapa – for producing reports which the agency termed “not real news” raised fears that the government may be preparing to step up its efforts to regulate both Internet content and broadcast media.
It remains to be seen how aggressive the president will be in targeting critics of her administration. In that sense, the KFC host, who has already drawn Park’s ire once earlier in her term, may now be playing the role of another type of bird: the canary in the coal mine.

author: Geoffrey Fattig


text:
Spies Like US: “Fake Twitter” Violated Cubans’ Privacy Rights · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Woman at a pay phone in Varadero, Cuba in 2012. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
“The Internet is a battlefield.” This is how the Internet is portrayed in Cuba. While the US State Department waxes about the free flow of information and knowledge, Cuban authorities speak of an ideological cyberwar, being waged by the United States, against Cuba and all it stands for. Last week's revelations regarding “ZunZuneo”, the USAID-created “Cuban Twitter”, suggests the Cubans may have a point.
Was the low-tech, feature phone-based ZunZuneo intended for subscribers to share information, opinions, and memes as they pleased? No. It was deliberately intended to promote “democratic change” and to spark the imaginary beginnings of a would-be Cuban Spring. Welcome to the latest chapter in the Cuba-US Cold War, now in well into its sixth decade.
Similar to other “liberation” technology-based US initiatives abroad, this project stemmed from a shortsighted and condescending idea about what happens when repressed populations get their hands on communications technologies. We know that social uprisings from Tunisia to Ukraine evolved not merely from spontaneous tweet-fests, but from strong networks of activists who had been working together for years to promote change in myriad ways, online and off. Yes, social media played a role—but it was a catalyst for action, not an organic creator of civic goals.
USAID does not seem to have thought this through. But this is only one part of what was seriously wrong with this program.
ZunZuneo was conceived, deployed and promoted by US government agents and subcontractors, all without the knowledge of the people that it was intended to help. Not only did the platform offer no transparency about its origins, it also obtained mobile phone numbers for half a million Cubans without their knowledge or consent. This would have constituted a sizable chunk of the mobile phone user population, which at the time was estimated at roughly 2.2 million people (out of a total population of 11 million.)
Even worse, ZunZuneo’s operators not only obtained these mobile phone numbers without the consent or knowledge of their owners—they also surveiled the content of subscriber messages. As AP writes, “Behind the scenes, ZunZuneo's computers were…storing and analyzing subscribers’ messages and other demographic information, including gender, age, “receptiveness” and “political tendencies.” USAID has since followed up with a blog post refuting several claims in the AP article, but conspicuously makes no mention of these allegations.
AP does not indicate whether these messages were private or public, and what guarantees of privacy users had, if any. But to some degree, this doesn’t matter. Under universal human rights doctrine, the ZunZuneo program almost certainly violated the privacy rights of subscribers.
This is precisely the same kind of behavior the US regularly condemns on the part of foreign governments. Using social networks as a surveillance tool? We’ve seen that before! Witness Pakistan, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and nearly every other country that made it onto Reporters Without Borders’ Internet Enemies list this year.
The only difference is that USAID claims to have done this in the interest of “promot[ing] human rights and universal freedoms.”
Although it remains unclear what the Cuban government knew about the program, there’s a strong chance the authorities willingly allowed the program to take shape. Cuba’s state security apparatus is robust, well-oiled, and keenly aware of anything and everything that happens via telecommunications networks in the country. Although it would be impossible to prove, it’s likely security agents used the network as one (among many) ways to surveil citizens’ communications.
If we assume this to be true, it would mean that ZunZuneo not only created an easy portal for US government agents to eavesdrop on Cubans’ communications—it also generated an extra opportunity for the Cuban government to do the same.
The standard narrative in the US is that the economic embargo on Cuba exists because Cuba has a miserable human rights record. There’s plenty to be said for this. But the embargo was put in place well before Cuba became known for systematic violations of civil and political rights. In 1960, Fidel Castro issued a formal refusal of aid from the US government and ended all contracts with US companies that had comfortably operated—and reaped huge profits—in the country during the Batista era. Two years later, John F. Kennedy signed and sealed the embargo.
Among US political leaders, the people who still defend the embargo are those who stand to gain, politically and financially, from keeping it in place. Revelations like these suggest that the human rights of Cuban citizens are little more than attractive wrapping paper for a much less noble agenda. And the work of USAID in Cuba is no more than an extension of this agenda, one that is kept largely hidden from US and Cuban citizens alike. It is thanks only to efforts like those of Associated Press that we are occasionally able to witness the twisted absurdity of this bitter, everlasting quarrel.

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


text:
Why Rwanda Accuses France of Aiding 1994 Genocide  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

As Rwanda pays tribute to the victims of the genocide 20 years after the tragedy, President Kagame states again that France must “face up to the difficult truth” of its role in the 1994 genocide [fr]. As a result of this statement, France has pulled out of the commemorative events and former Foreign Affairs Minister of France demands that president Hollande defends the Honor of France and its army.  Rémi Noyon at French site Rue 89 lists the reasons why Rwanda accuses again France of aiding the genocide [fr] :
1) La France va « de facto » prendre le commandement de l’armée rwandaise face au rebelles du Front patriotique rwandais (FPR).
2) La France craint alors que l’offensive tutsi ne soit télécommandée via l’Ouganda par les Anglo-saxons, et ne vise à enfoncer un coin dans l’influence de la France sur la région
3) La France ne semble pas s’intéresser outre mesure aux négociations de paix.
4) Les soldats n’embarquent pas le personnel tutsi présent à l’ambassade de France (sauf une personne). Ils seront tous massacrés.
5) Quant à l’opération Turquoise, elle continue à diviser : elle a certainement permis de sauver des vies tutsi, mais l’armée est accusée d’être restée passive – et donc complice – face aux atrocités.
1) France commanded some branches of the Rwandan army against the rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
2) France feared that the Tutsi offensive was remotely piloted via Uganda by anglophone countries and was intended to drive a wedge into the influence of France in the region.
3) France did not seem overly interested in peace negotiations before the conflict.
4) The soldiers did not evacuate any  of the Tutsi staff present at the Embassy of France (except for one person). They ended all being killed.
5) As for Operation Turquoise, it continues to divide: it certainly saved Tutsi lives, but the army is accused of having remained passive – and therefore was accomplice – to the atrocities.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


text:
Exploring Trinidad & Tobago’s Digital Divide (Part 1)  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Data collection in the Caribbean has traditionally been a clunky exercise, heavily dependent on phone calls and focus groups – but ever since mSurvey (a mobile surveys company which started in Kenya) set up shop in Trinidad and Tobago, the region has started to experience data collection very differently.
The company recently undertook its largest project to date, “interviewing” more than 11,000 people across Trinidad and Tobago, all via mobile phones and SMS, in less than three weeks. The survey was commissioned by the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT), the regulatory body for telecommunications in the country, in an effort to assess the gap that exists between people in the twin island republic who have access to basic telecommunications and broadcasting services and those who do not.  In the words of the report itself:
The Digital Divide Survey is related to the economic development of a country through technological means, and looks at persons with access to technology, the utilization of such modes of technology, and the ease of access to such.
Once the extent of the digital gap became known, TATT would have access to tangible information that identifies which communities and groups are under-served, including those with disabilities, with a view to helping the authority improve the reach and quality of online services. (TATT is reportedly planning to implement infrastructure to the value of over $20 million US.)
The results of the survey are here.  The full report is here.
Global Voices interviewed Kristal Peters, Director of Business Development and Strategy for mSurvey's Trinidad and Tobago office, to find out more about the survey and how it could help to make the virtual playing field more level for people across the country. This is the first part of the interview; a second post will follow.
Kristal Peters, Director of Business Development and Strategy for mSurvey's Trinidad and Tobago office.
Global Voices (GV): Why do you think this survey was important to TATT?
Kristal Peters (KP): The digital divide is defined in two ways:
1.      The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the digital divide as the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access ICTs and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities;
2. 	The Academic definition of the term digital divide refers to the disparity in accessing to the technologies and resources of the information and communication.
In part, the solution for bridging the digital divide is to enable universal access and service – making available basic telecommunications services at an affordable price for all in society.
A significant requirement of the Authority’s mandate speaks to ‘promoting universal access to telecommunications services for all persons in Trinidad and Tobago, to the extent that is reasonably practicable to provide such access’. In accordance with this, the Authority has drafted a Universal Service Framework and accompanying Regulations which outline targets as well as the administrative system to define and execute particular initiatives to provide telecommunications services to [the] widest possible population. The determination of these targets and initiatives, which will change over time, will be influenced by the results of this Digital Divide survey.
Also contained within the Universal Service Framework and Regulations are Universal Service Obligations where service providers are requested to provide basic telecommunications services to selected communities, identified by the Authority. [This survey was] the mechanism required to identify [and provide information about] these  ‘underserved’ groups in accessing or affording basic telecommunication services.
GV: Can you summarize the findings of the survey? What is the reality of the digital divide in Trinidad and Tobago?
KP: Trinidad has a high mobile phone penetration of 140% which can be leveraged for ICT innovation, [but] there is still a barrier to Internet penetration at home with a 45% penetration. Over 70% access the Internet; however, that is through a hybrid ecosystem of cafes, mobile phones, schools, libraries, and home use.
GV: Do you consider access to the Internet as a right or a privilege? Why?
KP: Access to information can bring about creativity, innovation, and develop a deeper understanding; and the Internet can be used as a portal to that access.  The Internet was a privilege that is in transition to becoming a right, in the same way that education was once a privilege but is now a right. Access to the Internet has, over time, become inextricably linked to accessing resources relevant in numerous areas of life – from education, to healthcare, to government services, and the list goes on. Lack of access to the Internet can stymie a person’s (and by extension, his/her family’s) capacity to grow their personal and professional networks, enhance their skill sets, be informed about employment and other market opportunities…in a nutshell, with the Internet being a wellspring of information, lack of access to it means deprivation from many opportunities to improve quality of life.
GV: We understand that your company provided TATT with more than 720,000 datapoints in a real time data feed.  That sounds pretty impressive in terms of scope, but can you break it down?
KP: A datapoint relates to each piece of information gathered from a survey respondent. That is, each answer submitted by a respondent to a particular question is a datapoint. Each survey ranged between 17 to 34 questions, which equates to between 17 – 34 datapoints for each survey. There were about 24,000 folks who accessed the Digital Divide Survey.
GV: Did mSurvey do TATT's first Digital Divide Survey, which the authority states was completed some time back?  Did mSurvey have to bid for this new project?  If so, what do you think gave your company and its approach the edge over other tenderers?  And how did the landscape change between the time the first survey was conducted and now?
KP: The 2013 Digital Divide Survey (DDS) was the first to be conducted by mSurvey in Trinidad and Tobago. mSurvey responded to an Request For Proposal for this project, and was awarded the contract. mSurvey creates a unique value proposition: our mobile technology allows for the collection of data in real time, in a shorter space of time (conceivably, thousands of persons can be surveyed simultaneously), [it] is less labour-intensive (survey deployment and data tabulation is automated), economical, and our technology integrated directly with the mobile network operators to improve data integrity and the ease and flow of data from multiple sources.
From the respondents’ perspective, mobile surveys maintain absolute anonymity (there is no person-to-person interaction, and mSurvey applies patented security algorithms to reduce data vulnerability); mobile surveys are flexible (can be taken at any time, and anywhere); communication via mobile surveys is free (respondents are not charged for the SMSs they send or receive during the course of the survey); and as in the case of the DDS, respondents received $10 top-up credit automated upon completion of the survey regardless of whether they were pre-paid or post-paid [cell phone] clients.
With mobile penetration rates in TT exceeding 100%, virtually everyone in the country has a mobile phone. With such high mobile penetration rates, we felt that the environment was ripe for conducting a nationwide survey – the first nationwide mobile survey for Trinidad and Tobago, and the first nationwide survey for mSurvey. During the period of time between 2007 (when the previous DDS was conducted) and 2012 (when we were awarded the contract for the project), there was a significant increase in the number of mobile phone subscriptions in [the country]. Furthermore, the mSurvey platform is SMS-based, therefore any kind of mobile phone (be it a Smart Phone, or a feature ‘Me Too’ phone) could used to access the survey.
GV: How was the survey actually conducted? What types of questions were included? How was the information gathered and assessed and why did you choose to do it by mobile phone?
KP: [First] mSurvey collaborated with TATT to produce the survey questions. We examined the indicators associated with each index and then drafted questions that mapped directly to the indices which would extract the necessary information from respondents. There were multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, and ‘select all that apply’ questions.
[Then], a nation-wide marketing campaign was launched to inform the general public about the survey, and to give directions on how to participate. These directions were necessary because prospective respondents needed to initiate the survey themselves by texting the word ‘digital’ to the number 8288. mSurvey’s policy is not to spam mobile subscribers with a broadcast message inviting them to participate in the survey for two key reasons: we are not in possession of a master list of phone numbers from service providers and allowing prospective respondents to ‘opt-in’ to the survey puts the respondent in charge, and avoids bombarding them with additional text messages. Research has shown that the response/uptake rate to spam SMS is quite low – around 2%. How many times to you respond to spam SMS from your mobile service provider?
Once the respondent sent the joincode (digital) to the shortcode number (8288/TATT), he gained access to the survey and a welcome message, along with the first question [that] would be sent. Every time a user submitted a response, it would automatically be analyzed, once the answer was valid. If [it wasn't], the same question would be resent to the respondent with an additional prompt on how to enter a valid response. There were limits on the number of times a respondent was allowed to submit an invalid response, after which he would be locked out of the survey.
The first five questions were demographic in nature and allowed us to ensure that the sample of participants matched national demographic distribution according to national census. Prior to launching the survey, quotas were set for the number of participants allowed per region according to their age and gender. If a survey participant entered data indicating that he/she was of a certain age and gender, and from a particular region for which the quota had been met, they would not be allowed to complete the survey. [No-one was] allowed to access the survey more than once.
Out of the 24,000 people who accessed the survey, just over 11,000 actually completed it. [Those] who did not complete the survey either stopped answering questions, or were bumped out of the survey because their profile quota had been met, or they had exceeded the number of attempts allowed per question.
The remaining questions covered a range of topics such as cost of monthly mobile service, [the quality of] Internet accesses (e.g. at home, work, Wifi hotspot, etc.), education level, and monthly household income. There was also an additional sub-survey which gathered information about people with disabilities.
With mobile phone penetration estimated at 140% in Trinidad and Tobago, the mobile phone is ubiquitous and an ideal tool for data collection. Compared with other modes of data collection such as paper surveys via enumerators, or even online surveys, mobile surveys have the potential to access many more respondents, over a shorter period of time (many respondents can participate simultaneously; shorter relay between respondent and final recipient of data), and can be more economical.
GV: Explain the ramifications of not having access to this kind of information in terms of a country's productivity, economic development and sustainability.
KP: Decisions related to a country’s productivity, economic development and sustainability are driven by data. In the absence of data, or reliable and valid data, effective decision-making can be extremely challenging and/or misguided.
Look out for Part 2 of this post, in which we discuss the four main objectives of the Digital Divide survey, the challenges the company faced once the process began, and of course, the results.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
In Havana, a Book in Exchange for Nothing · Global Voices
Elaine Díaz

Massive book giveaway in Havana (Photo Fernando Medina)
Dozens of people gathered in a park in Havana, the Cuban capital, last Sunday to participate in a massive book giveaway. The initiative, led by blogger [es] and Global Voices author Rafael González [es], focused on [es] leaving books somewhere in the park with an inscription on the first page that read: “This book belongs to whoever finds it in exchange for giving it away again after reading it so that other people can enjoy it.”
The original initiative, started on Facebook [es], was taken up by González, who contacted the creators. Lu Di Piertro commented in regard to this:
La idea no es nuestra, ya existe desde hace un tiempo y no sé exactamente quién la empezó. Un amigo, Rodri, que está también de organizador de este evento pensó en armar una suelta masiva y me propuso que hiciéramos este evento y gratamente fue muy aceptado. Nos parece bueno (el evento) por muchas razones (…): lo importante de leer, lo hermoso de dar, lo emocionante de soltar y la incertidumbre de no saber y confiar; fomentar la solidaridad y el espíritu del compartir social y culturalmente, abrir el corazón y atravesar fronteras.
This idea is not ours, it has already existed for some time and I don't know who started it exactly. A friend, Rodri, who is also an organizer for this event thought to put together a massive giveaway and proposed to me that we do this event and it was very pleasantly accepted. (The event) seems good to us for many reasons (…): the importance of reading, the beauty of giving, the excitement of releasing, and the uncertainty of not knowing and trusting; encouraging solidarity and the spirit of sharing socially and culturally, opening your heart and crossing borders.
Meanwhile, another organizer, Rodri Bristot, added:
En lo personal, lo que me impulsa a organizar este evento de Suelta Masiva, tiene que ver con una idea un poco romántica: creo que hay cosas en la vida que debieran ser gratis, como la educación y la lectura; los libros no debieran ser solo para quienes pueden pagarlos, si no que deberían ser más accesibles, que la gente los encuentre en los espacios públicos sin tener que resignar algo (dinero o trabajo) para adquirirlos.
Personally, what drives me to organize this Massive Giveaway event, has to do with an idea that is a bit romantic: I believe that there are things in live that should be free, like education and reading; books should not only be for those who can pay for them, they should be more accessible, people should find them in public spaces without having to give something up (money or work) to acquire them.
Several bookmarks were shared during the event (Photo Fernando Medina)
On the morning of Sunday, April 6, González, along with a group of about 50 youths, adults and children, gave away their books in H y 21 Park, located in El Vedado, Havana. People looked behind the benches in the park, searched the roundabout in the center between the roots of the trees, and even approached newcomers to get books firsthand.
Cuban writer Dazra Novak described the experience [es] from her blog [es]:
He soltado cuatro libros hoy -con el mes, el año y la ciudad anotados en la primera página-, espero que los beneficiados la pasen tan bien como yo al leer dos de esos títulos, tan bien como la pasé al escribir los otros dos. No sé por qué sospecho que en algún momento volverán a mí para que yo pueda enrumbarlos de nuevo. Ahora que lo pienso, hoy –mañana, siempre- todos deberían hacer lo mismo.
I gave away four books today – with the month, year, and city listed on the first page -, I hope that the recipients enjoy themselves as much as I did when reading two of these books, and as much as I did when I wrote the other two. I don't know why I suspect that at some point they will come back to me so that I can send them off again. Now that I think about it, today – tomorrow, always – everyone should do the same.
*Cover photo by Fernando Medina.

author: Elaine Díaz


text:
Lullabies of the World: What’s Your Favorite? · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

A newborn baby sleeps in a hospitals in Southern Luzon, Philippines (2009). Photo Oliver Belarga – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
This story by April Peavy for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on April 7, 2014 and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content sharing agreement.
New parents everywhere face a common problem: getting their babies to sleep. And there's a common solution: a lullaby.
But it turns out lullabies don't just help babies relax, they help adults, as well, explains author Kathy Henderson, who collected lullabies from across the globe for her children's book, Hush, Baby, Hush. She says lullabies help parents “deal with the situation in which they are being wound up by a child, or they are failing to get them to sleep, or they are feeling really, really tired themselves.”
The title of Henderson's book comes from a Jamaican lullaby called “Hush Baby Hush,” with a version recorded by The Kitchen Sisters.
The author says lullabies share certain traits. They almost always have both music and words. The music has to have a “soothing rhythm” and a rather narrow musical range.
But the lyrics, she says, can be about anything — and cover a wide spectrum of human emotion and mood.
There are lullabies about anger, frustration, and humor. Henderson points out there are lullabies about “food, families, monsters, children being naughty” and many other things.
In the Turkish lullaby called “Dandini Dan,” one of the verses is about calves getting into the garden and the farmer having to chase them out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gNWGnTtKZwA
Lullabies are also sung in all sorts of situations, not just when a baby is in bed. For example, mothers sometimes sing them while they work, so their children will settle down and let them keep on working.
Henderson reckons the oldest lullaby is from well before the common era and says researchers have found lullabies in the oldest-known literature.
PRI is collecting and sharing favorite lullabies from around the world in our new app, The World's Lullabies. Have a listen and tell us which you like. Want to share your favorite? You can upload a recording or a video — or simply click a button and sing into your mobile device or computer.
April Peavey is studio director and producer for PRI's The World.
Discover and submit lullabies at PRI.org

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
PHOTOS: Massive Art Installation in Pakistan Targets American Drone Operators  · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Ariel view of the poster. From the #NotABugSplat campaign website. Photo meant for press use.
With the help of locals, an artists collective associated with an anti-drone campaign, installed a massive poster of a drone survivor in the fields of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that borders Waziristan, the tribal areas where US predator drones have been hovering over since 2004.
The initiative aims to give civilian casualties in US drones attacks a human face. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, since 2004, more than 380 drones have targeted Pakistan, killing at least 3500 people, 200 of whom were children.
The US drone campaign aims to eliminate Taliban strongholds in Pakistan. The previous Pakistani government openly condemned US drone attacks but Wiki-leaks exposed that they privately approved the strikes. In May 2013, a Pakistani court ruled that CIA drone strikes in Pakistan were illegal.
The image above has been shared widely on Twitter with the hashtag #NotABugSplat, which is the campaign's name. From their website:
In military slang, Predator drone operators often refer to kills as ‘bug splats’, since viewing the body through a grainy video image gives the sense of an insect being crushed.
To challenge this insensitivity as well as raise awareness of civilian casualties, an artist collective installed a massive portrait facing up in the heavily bombed Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa region of Pakistan, where drone attacks regularly occur. Now, when viewed by a drone camera, what an operator sees on his screen is not an anonymous dot on the landscape, but an innocent child victim’s face.
Setting up the poster. From the #NotABugSplat campaign website. Photo meant for press use.
The website says the child “in the poster is nameless.” The Foundation for Fundamental Rights, one of the Pakistani non-profits associated with the campaign, says she lost both her parents and two younger siblings in a drone attack.
But a Twitter user seems to have matched the girl's face to a photo of drone victims from 2009:
Think this is original of the photo used in Pakistan's #NotABugSplat campaign against drones http://t.co/ui2t2KVrUo pic.twitter.com/ATuhiYYwLL
— David Steven (@davidsteven) April 6, 2014
Zahra Ahmer comments on the campaign's website:
This is a beautiful post and the girl in the photo is so innocent, so pure and the way these drones have harmed her…its scary for me to these read comments which express empathy for the children but say using these machines is necessary. I mean, it is so ingrained in your brains that this is the ONLY means to fight the Taliban. Do you actually think so? Do you actually think that with all our technology and all our creativity, this is all we can come up with? It might be the easiest. But really, the only one? Well, I’d like to ask, would you like a government to hunt down criminals in this way among you? Especially a foreign government?
Any way of hunting down terrorists in a way that puts innocent people’s lives at risk should not be used. Instead a better method should be thought about and brought to actuality. It might be easier for you to accept this girl’s fate, living comfortably in your homes, but actually for a moment try to imagine her reality and her memories and the environment she will be living in. And please, really think about it and then say, drones are necessary.
Villagers with the poster. From the #NotABugSplat campaign website. Photo meant for press use.
John Uebersax writes:
This is an excellent idea. Opposing military aggression with anger and hatred fuels continued aggression. It is better to appeal to conscience, so that the aggressor wakes up and realizes “What we are doing is wrong.”
Drone advocates argue that precision strikes like drones lead to less casualties. But there is debate regarding the number of civilian and militant casualties from these attacks. Since the US defines all military age men as “enemy combatants” their number of casualties, vary largely from independent organizations documenting drone deaths. According to Amnesty International a number of drone victims were unarmed and that some strikes could amount to war crimes. An International Crisis Group report concluded that “drone strikes were an “ineffective” way of combating militants in Pakistan”.
There have been no drone attacks in Pakistan the last 100 days; this is the longest break since 2011. The Washington Post reported that the US cut back on drone strikes after the Pakistani government asked for restraint while it seeks peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


text:
PHOTOS: Protests in Caracas, April 1 · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Website PRODAVINCI posts nine pictures by Andrés Kerese taken during protests in Chacao, one of the subdivisions of the metropolitan district of Caracas, on Tuesday, April 1, 2014.
Photo by Andrés Kerese, used with permission.


text:
Remote Hubs in Asia for NETmundial Internet Governance Meeting · Global Voices
Keiko Tanaka

NETmundial logo
NETmundial, which will bring together people from a variety of backgrounds to discuss the principles of Internet governance, is set to be held in São Paulo on 23 and 24 April 2014. It will also have 33 remote hubs in 31 cities spread throughout 22 countries that will allow for real-time interaction with the event in São Paulo.
Hubs for remote participation in Asia includes five locations in India, one in Hong Kong and one in Indonesia.  Tomoya Inyaku, the former director at Japan Computer Access Network [ja] which promotes empowerment through information and communication technology, lamented the lack of a hub in Japan:
インターネットの将来的ガバナンスを議論するNetMundial、ブラジル・サンパウロで4月23日、24日に開かれる。英語 http://t.co/M5ErIhKOKA 世界22カ国にハブが作られるのだが、インドネシアはあるのに日本がない。ネット上の権利つながりたい — INYAKU Tomoya 印鑰 智哉 (@tomo_nada) 2014, 4月 6
NETmundial will be held in São Paulo on April 23 and 24 to discuss the future of Internet governance. They write that they will have hubs in 22 countries around the world. There will be hubs to participate in the discussion from Indonesia, but there is none in Japan. Wish I could connect to talk about rights online.

author: Keiko Tanaka


text:
Using Workout Apps in Trinidad & Tobago  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“A lot of people are into the fitness craze,” writes T3CHTT, who shares some of the fitness apps he's used, considering that he “like[s] keeping track of [his] activities and sharing them on twitter.”


text:
Why The President of Madagascar Has Not Named a New Prime Minister Yet   · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The new president of Madagascar Hery Rajaonarimampianina was elected president on December 20, 2013. A few months later, he's yet to name a prime minister for his new government. Many observers wonder what is taking so long. Malagasy blogger Michael Rakotoarison has a different take on the situation; he argues that maybe the president taking his time is not such a bad thing [fr]:
J’étais dans l’attitude ambiante de celui qui doute, moi qui de base n’ai jamais soutenu le Président [..]. De source sûr, le président missionne à l’étranger une poignée d’hommes discrets chargés de débusquer des compétences. Le pari est donc de dégager la politique, pour ne se soucier que de l’économie.
I was one of of skeptical ones especially since I have never shown any support for this President [..]. However a reliable source told me that the President has currently commissioned a handful of men to discreetly identify people who possess specific skill sets. The challenge is to get rid of the political side of the equation and to focus on the economy.


text:
A 80 Year-long Wait: Niger Gets its First Train Station    · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

On April 7, Niger inaugurated in the capital Niamey its first train station ever [fr]. The authorities already projected the construction of the train station 80 years ago but the project never took off. The event will kick start the construction of railroads between Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. Twitter user Tanoussou in Niamey posted a photo of the train station :
Si le ridicule tuais, ns #africains serions morts ts ! Regardez le train que l #niger s'est procuré o 21e siècle pic.twitter.com/wYTM5daPAU
— tanoussou (@ismaousmane) April 7, 2014


text:
Analyzing Election Results in El Salvador · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

On the blog on World Policy website, author Jamie Stark analyzes the March 9, 2014 election results:
A recount confirmed a thin margin for the governing left-leaning [Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front] F.M.L.N. by 6,000 votes of the nearly 3 million ballots cast. Arena [Nationalist Republican Alliance] claimed the winners had a biased bureaucracy to benefit a ruling class – an old allegation from the former F.M.L.N. rebels. […] But Arena’s commercials, speeches and legal accusations of electoral fraud cast a shadow of doubt over the next presidency before it even begins.
[…]
Just 22 years out from the Civil War, searing political partisanship no longer begets violence. Peace has triumphed over threatening echoes from the past.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
Are Economic Sanctions Effective Against Rogue Rulers?  · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

[All links lead to French-language pages except when otherwise noted.]
Since Russia's military intervention in Crimea, economic sanctions have been threatened as a means of penalizing Vladimir Putin's government. The White House has already announced travel bans and asset freezes for several individuals close to the Kremlin, and the European Union is examining similar sanctions.
Yet it is difficult to determine the effectiveness of such sanctions. The African continent is already familiar with the imposition of economic sanctions on countries that do not respect the rule of law. For example, the Central African Republic, Mali, Mauritania, and Madagascar were hit with sanctions in recent years after power was seized in coups d'état. These countries then faced major difficulties in emerging from the political impasse and resuming international cooperation. But did these economic sanctions influence their return to constitutional rule?
Christian Chavagneux, deputy editor in chief of Alternatives Economiques, recalls why it is difficult to apply effective economic sanctions:
Enfin, les leçons de l’histoire font douter de l’efficacité de sanctions économiques. Rappelons-nous que le boycott militaire de l’Afrique du Sud de l’apartheid ne l’a jamais empêché d’acheter des armes, que les campagnes de désinvestissements et les boycotts de produits de consommation n’ont pas fait s’effondrer sa classe dirigeante et que les grandes banques y sont largement toujours resté présentes.
The lessons of history cast doubt on the efficacy of economic sanctions. Let us remember that the military boycott of apartheid South Africa never stopped the country from buying weapons, that the divestment campaigns and consumer product boycotts didn't cause the collapse of the ruling class, and that the big banks are, in large part, still present.
The case of Madagascar
Madagascar was hit with economic sanctions immediately after Andry Rajoelina seized power in March 2009 with the support of part of the army. After the suspension of trade agreements with the United States via the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the suspension of aid from the European Commission and various other development agencies, the country's GDP fell rapidly, reaching its lowest level since 2002:
GDP of Madagascar between 2001 and 2011. Public domain
Learning of the AGOA's withdrawal, economist William Easterly argued [en] at the time that the sanctions did not penalize the leaders responsible for the situation, but rather the already fragile population:
The US pulled the plug on AGOA at the end of December and import duties of up to 34 percent were reintroduced. Now we are starting to see the effects in the formal and informal economy:
Among the effects we are NOT seeing: signs of increased interest in arriving at a power-sharing agreement or instating democratic governance on the part of Rajoelina’s government.
The ensuing chain of events would prove Easterly right. Madagascar plunged into a deep economic crisis, while those responsible for the political crisis were unaffected, remaining in power for five years after the coup d'état. New 4X4s proliferate in certain towns, inhabited by a small wealthy minority, while the majority of the population rapidly grows poorer. In 2013, 90 percent of Madagascans were living on less than two US dollars per day.
Economic sanctions and military intervention in Mali
After Captain Amadou Sanogo and his troops took power [en] in 2012, the international community immediately announced sanctions and withdrew its development aid in Mali. But the situation rapidly worsened as rebel groups fought for independence for Northern Mali [en] and international military intervention began, led by France.
Food being distributed to Malian refugees. Photo via Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-NC
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Malian minister for humanitarian action issued a final report on the impacts of the crisis. The report was unambiguous on the negative impact of the sanctions on the country's economy and its dependence on development aid:
The economic sanctions include two elements: the suspension of development aid by the technical and financial partners, and the economic embargo imposed by the Economic Community of West African States:
La manifestation des conséquences de ces évènements a été perçue à travers les aspects suivants :
- la suspension de la coopération avec les partenaires ;
– la baisse de l’activité (investissement, production, bancaire, commerciale, import/export, inflation) ;
– la détérioration du pouvoir d’achat des populations à travers la hausse de l’indice des prix à la consommation, la dégradation de la confiance des agents économiques (incertitudes) ;
– la baisse des recettes budgétaires (révision du budget, etc… ) ;
– la baisse des dépenses en faveur des secteurs sociaux (CSCRP, OMD, etc.).
[…] Un des enseignements clés de la crise politique et sécuritaire réside dans la très grande dépendance du Mali vis-à-vis de ses relations extérieures. […]
The consequences of these events have been revealed through the following conditions:
- the suspension of cooperation with partners;
– the decline in activity (investment, production, bank, commercial, import/export, inflation);
– the decline in the population's buying power through the increase in the consumer price index, and the loss of confidence of economic agents (uncertainties);
– the decline in budgetary revenues (budget revisions, etc.);
– the decline in spending on social sectors (the Strategic Framework for Growth and Poverty Reduction and the [United Nations’] Millennium Development Goals, etc.).
[…] One of the key lessons of the political and security crisis lies in Mali's great dependence on its foreign relations. […]
Once again, the imposed sanctions penalized the already fragile local population. These sanctions did not result in a return to good government, as external military intervention was necessary to stabilize the country.
It appears that the international community has learned from these events. The recently proposed sanctions against Russia seem more targeted towards the leaders at fault.
However, unanswered questions remain regarding the reasons that motivate the imposition of sanctions on certain countries. The economic interests of countries seem to be significant factors in the way these decisions are approached by the international community.

author: Rakotomalala


text:
Cambodia’s Angkor Wat Now on Google Street View · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

We can now explore the ancient city of Angkor Wat in Cambodia through Google Street View. This video highlights some of the stunning temples of Angkor Wat.

author: Mong Palatino