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“Because we’re here. Because we exist”: Nofi ‘Black and Proud’ challenges representation in French media · Global Voices
Marie Bohner

Christian Dzellat – Photo taken by Sophie Palmier with their permission
Nofi, a media channel founded in 2014, has billed itself “the first for black culture” in France. Creator Christian Dzellat takes pride in the use of “direct speech” to reach a community hindered by a major deficit in representation in mainstream French media.
Nofi's Facebook page connects with more than 1.8 million followers and the website draws in an average of 500,000 visitors per month, with a burgeoning community growing on Instagram with 83,000 members.  Its editorial content tackles a slew of news, lifestyle and black cultural history topics.  At times controversial, as over the launch of their print magazine Negus, the channel works to raise awareness of black representation in French society, which tends to get cold feet when it comes to talking about race and black culture.
In an interview with American actor Jada Pinkett-Smith, Dzellat describes the vision behind Nofi:
This is the first French-speaking black medium … our target is really to promote black excellence and raise our peoples’ consciousness.
Global Voices sat down with Dzellat to learn more about the making of Nofi.
Global Voices (GV): Why did you decide to set up a site in addition to your existing Facebook page?
Christian Dzellat (CD) : L’idée c’était d’aller plus loin. « Nofi » c’est la contraction de « noir et fier », ça vient d’un t shirt du même nom que j’ai créé en 2004. A l’époque le seul réseau social que j’avais à emmener avec moi c’était la rue. L’idée avec ce t shirt c’était de connecter les gens, de créer une émulation et plus de solidarité entre gens de la communauté noire. Il y a les noirs d’Afrique, les noirs des Antilles, les Maliens, les Sénégalais, les Congolais… Pour moi, à 22 ans, il fallait essayer d’unifier un peu tout ça sous une même bannière. Dans la foulée nous avons créé la page Facebook « noir et fier », et l’impact a été rapide car nous sommes arrivés tôt, dès 2008-2009. On parlait de tout ce qui avait trait à la communauté noire, en termes d’actualités et de divertissement. Puis on a voulu aller plus loin, parce que Facebook… c’est Facebook, quoi. On voulait créer un vrai média. On a commencé à faire un travail de rédaction de contenus plutôt que seulement du partage. C’est de là qu’est né Nofi le 21 février 2014 : le jour anniversaire de la date de l’assassinat de Malcolm X. On voulait un symbole fort. On est donc dedans depuis 4 ans, avec des rédacteurs et des journalistes. Et on développe parallèlement une activité d’agence en travaillant avec des marques comme Netflix et Orange.(ed's note: Orange is one of the largest telecom/media company in France).
The idea was to go further. ‘Nofi’ is a contraction of ‘noir et fier’ [‘black and proud’], from a T-shirt of that name I created in 2004. At that time the only social network I had to bring was the street. The idea of that T-shirt was to connect people, to model greater solidarity between people from the black community. There are Blacks from Africa, Blacks from the Caribbean, Malians, Senegalese, Congolese… For me, at 22, it was necessary to kind of try and unify all that under a single banner. From that springboard, we created the ‘black and proud’ Facebook page, and the impact was swift, because we got in there early, back in 2008-9. We talked about anything that touched the black community in current affairs and entertainment terms. Then we wanted to go further, because Facebook is … you know, Facebook. We wanted to create a real channel. We worked up to our content level rather than just sharing. And from that, Nofi was born on February 21, 2014 — the anniversary of Malcolm X's assassination. We wanted a strong symbol. So here we are on the inside, for four years now, with editors and journalists. And we're developing a parallel agency business, working with brands like Netflix and Orange. (Ed's note: Orange is one of the largest telecom/media companies in France).
Black American model – CC0 Creative Commons
GV: Who are you addressing with Nofi?
CD: On s’adresse majoritairement aux Noirs, mais aussi aux amoureux des cultures afro, de la culture noire dans son ensemble. Et puis finalement, au même titre que Le Monde ou Le Figaro, on s’adresse à tous. L’idée étant que chacun puisse y trouver son bonheur.
CD: We're addressing mainly Blacks, but also lovers of Afro culture, black culture, as a whole. And then, ultimately, just like [mainstream French national newspapers] Le Monde or Figaro, we address everyone. The idea being that everyone can find something to their liking here.
GV: Can a bid like Nofi's help shift the boundaries of representation in the wider media?
CD: J’ai compris que lorsqu’on commence à être visible, qu’on a une audience, les gens – et du même coup les médias, nos confrères – commencent à nous regarder plus. Pour vous donner un exemple : la rédaction d’AJ+ regarde régulièrement Nofi, ils ont déjà écrit pour nous demander de les aider à partager certains contenus qui pourraient toucher notre audience. Et quand je regarde aujourd’hui ce qu’ils produisent, je constate que nous les inspirons: ils ont un langage plus direct qu’il y a 1 ou 2 ans, ils parlent « noir », sans détour. Et puis certaines questions ne peuvent être traitées que par les personnes concernées. Trop souvent certains sujets en France sont abordés dans les rédactions sans être maitrisés.Je ne vais pas me mettre à parler de l’histoire de la ville de Paris si je n’ai pas fait des recherches ou que je ne suis pas historien.
CD: I've come to appreciate that when you start to be visible, to have an audience, people — and that includes the media, our own peers — start to look more closely at you. To give you an example: the editorial team at AJ+ are always looking at Nofi — they've already written to us to ask us to help them share certain content which might touch our audience. And when I look today at what they're producing, I can spot that we're inspiring them: they have a more direct language than 1 or 2 years ago – they speak ‘black’, straight to the point. And then there are questions which can't be handled except by the people concerned.  Too often certain subjects in France are approached in news stories, but not nailed. I'm not going to go talking about the history of the city of Paris if I haven't done the research, or if I'm not a historian.
GV: Might this approach also contribute to getting more black journalists and editors into publishing in general?
CD: Tout à fait. C’est très important. Je suis content qu’on puisse contribuer à donner leurs chances à des gens qui sortent d’école de journalisme. Par exemple notre rédactrice en chef a commencé par faire un stage à Nofi. 3 ans plus tard elle était rédactrice en chef, et peut-être qu’après elle continuera son chemin ailleurs. Tant mieux. Il faut qu’on soit à l’avant-garde pour qu’après les choses se normalisent.
CD: Absolutely. That's very important. I'm happy that we can contribute to giving a break to journalism college graduates. For example, our managing editor started out with an internship at Nofi. Three years later, she was managing editor, and maybe later on she'll continue her path somewhere else. All the better. You've got to be in the vanguard for things to become the norm later.
GV: Do you keep tabs on bloggers who might be of interest to you from the point of view of giving Nofi more content?
CD: On essaie, mais ce n’est pas évident. Comme aujourd’hui nous avons une visibilité importante, lorsque nous avons des besoins nous faisons une annonce sur le réseau. Cela se passe aussi souvent par bouche à oreille ou via des candidatures spontanées. Mais la veille est rare, ça ne marche que pour les trucs vraiment dingues.
CD: We try, but it's not straightforward. Since today we have major visibility, when we have a need, we put a call out on the network. That often gets passed by word of mouth, or via unsolicited offers. But keeping actual tabs is rare: it only works for the really out-there stuff.
GV: What's your business model?
CD: Comme pour beaucoup de rédactions, nous avons un modèle économique très compliqué de rémunération à travers la publicité. Mais ça ne suffit pas. C’est pour ça que nous avons créé notre agence : aujourd’hui on fait du consulting, on produit du contenu, comme on a pu le faire récemment pour Orange. On doit aller chercher toujours plus loin. On fait aussi un peu de merchandising, comme on l’avait fait au début avec le t shirt « noir et fier ». Et de l'édition: nous avons sorti un livre récemment. On se diversifie en restant dans la même dynamique et le même environnement pour garder une cohérence d'ensemble.
CD: Like many content managers, we have a very complex, advertising revenue business model. But it's not enough. That's why we created our agency: today we do consulting, we produce content, as we've been able to do recently for Orange  We have to scout further afield. We also do a bit of merchandizing, like we did at the start with the ‘black and proud’ T-shirt. And some publishing — we had a book out recently. We diversify by staying in the same dynamic and the same environment to keep overall consistency.
GV: How would you respond to those who might consider a “black channel” exclusive?
CD: Prenons Elle, par exemple, pour l’avoir déjà ouvert, dedans, il n’y a que des femmes blanches. Ça ne me dérange pas. Mais c’est pour ça aussi que nous avons appelé le média « Nofi », parce qu’on voulait sortir un peu du message « noir et fier » dans lequel je peux comprendre qu’on puisse voir « noir, donc pas les autres ». Avec « Nofi » on est dans quelque chose de plus simple, efficace, plus doux aussi, et beaucoup plus ouvert. Si des gens pensent qu’on les exclue, c’est parce qu’eux-mêmes veulent s’exclure. Moi je rêve d’aller au Japon, j’aime la culture japonaise et je ne me sens pas exclu. Le Japon n’est pas réservé qu’aux Japonais.
CD: Take Elle, for example. You open it, it's all white women. That doesn't bother me. But that's also why we've called the channel ‘Nofi’, because we wanted to get away from the message ‘black and proud’ — which I can see you could read as black, so not anyone else’. With ‘Nofi’, we're in simpler territory, more effective, also gentler, and much more open. If people think we're excluding them, that's because they want to exclude themselves. Like, I dream of going to Japan, I love Japanese culture, and I don't feel excluded. Japan isn't just for the Japanese.
GV: I think I've picked up that you're opening an office in Africa. What's the objective for Nofi?
CD: Nous voulons êtres plus en phase avec le terrain, là où les choses se passent. En France, la communauté noire a une réalité, avec ses problématiques et ses modes de vie. En Afrique, il y a d’autres réalités. Aujourd’hui on peut parler de certaines choses mais si on les vit pas au quotidien ce n’est pas évident. Il est important de donner cette voix à des gens qui savent écrire, et qui ont envie de dire et de montrer des choses. Ne serait-ce que la beauté de ce merveilleux continent.
CD: We want to be more grounded, closer to where things are happening. In France, the black community has one reality, with its issues and lifestyles. In Africa, there are other realities. Today we can talk about certain things, but if you aren't living them day by day, it's not straightforward. It's important to give a voice to people who can write, and who want to say and show things. Even if it's just the beauty of this amazing continent.
GV: Where would this office open? And when?
CD: Idéalement ce sera en Côte d’Ivoire, ou au Sénégal peut-être. Structurellement la Côte d’Ivoire serait plus équipée pour un lancement. Il y aurait plus de liens évidents avec notre bureau à Paris. L’ouverture devrait se faire en septembre de cette année.
CD: Ideally it'll be in the Ivory Coast or perhaps Senegal. Structurally, Ivory Coast would be better equipped for a launch. There would be more obvious links with our office in Paris. The opening should come in September this year.
[Nofi reports from Afropunk in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017]
GV: What topics work best on Nofi?
CD: Ce qui marche vraiment bien, c’est tout ce qui concerne l’histoire et la culture, de façon constante. Les gens en veulent toujours plus. Il y a une vraie soif d’apprendre et de découvrir. Nous avons une approche de l’actualité avec le paradigme de la culture afro. Un exemple : quand il y a a eu l’affaire avec Antoine Griezmann et son « blackface ». Nous ne réagissons pas à chaud, mais nous faisons un devoir de mémoire pour expliquer ce qu’est le « blackface ». C’est une pédagogie nécessaire du réel qui permet de mieux appréhender l’actualité. Un autre exemple, sur une note plus positive : nous avons travaillé avec Netflix sur la nouvelle saison de “Luke Cage”. Nous sommes allés au-delà de la célébration d’avoir un super-héros noir, pour aller explorer tous les codes qui dans la série rappellent la « blaxploitation » et les engagements de la communauté noire aux États-Unis par rapport à la ségrégation. Les retours que nous avons eu de Netflix est que cela leur donnait de nouveaux éclairages sur leur propre série.
CD: What really works really well, hands down, is anything to do with history and culture. People always want more. There's a real thirst for learning and discovery. We have an approach to news within the paradigm of African culture. An example was when there was the furore over Antoine Griezmann and his ‘blackface’. We don't go in all guns blazing, but we do make it a solemn duty to explain what blackface is. It's a necessary, real-life educative mission which allows people to grapple with the story better. Another example, on a more positive note: we worked with Netflix on the new season of Luke Cage. We went beyond celebrating the existence of a black superhero, to mount an exploration of all the codes in the show which recall blaxploitation, and the stake the black community has in segregation. The feedback we got from Netflix is that it shed fresh light for them on their own show.
GV: Does the fact that you produce a lot of historical articles allow you to recreate the idea of a common cultural background within the community?
CD: C’est sur. Lorsqu’on va parler de ségrégation aux États-Unis, tous les Noirs vont se sentir concernés. De près ou de loin. Et c’est pareil quand on parle des grandes figures d’Afrique : on parle d'un pays mais tout le monde se sent concerné quand même. Ou quand on parle d’un ancien esclave qui a découvert la technique de la culture de la vanille à la Réunion. On se sent tous concernés parce qu’on parle de Noirs.
CD: Sure. When you get to talking about segregation in the USA, all Blacks feel affected. Closely or at a distance. And it's the same when you talk about the great figures of Africa: you're talking about one country but everyone still feels affected. Or when you talk about a former slave who discovered the cultivation of vanilla on Réunion. We all feel affected because we're talking about Blacks.
GV: Do you see things shifting in terms of representation in mainstream culture in France, whether in the media or in culture, films, TV shows?
CD: On peut avoir l’impression que ça bouge, mais en fait, dès qu’il y a une pénétration de la culture noire dans la culture mainstream, je trouve qu’elle est gommée : on la remplace par des mots. Généralement on est plus présents, mais pas forcément plus représentés. Et ce n’est pas la même chose. On est pas représentés si les personnes présentes n’ont pas le droit de s’exprimer en notre nom. C’est la même chose dans l’entrepreneuriat: c’est fou le nombre d’entreprises créées par de Noirs dans les 5-10 dernières années ! C’est génial, et dans des domaines qui vont bien au-delà des clichés de la musique et du sport. Mais il y a comme un plafond de verre qui gomme tout quand on arrive à un certain niveau, pour que ça reste blanc.
CD: You can get the impression it's shifting, but in fact, as soon as there's a penetration of black culture into mainstream culture, I find it gets erased: it's replaced by words. Generally we are more present, but not necessarily more represented. And they're not the same. We're not represented if the people presented don't have the right to express themselves in our name. It's the same thing with enterprise: it's crazy the number of businesses set up by Blacks over the last five to 10 years! It's great, and in sectors which go far beyond the clichés of music and sport. But there's a kind of glass ceiling which erases everything when you reach a certain level, so that it stays white.
[Nofi reports from Afropunk in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2017]
GV: What's the place of women in Nofi?
CD: La femme noire a une place centrale dans la culture africaine. Au Congo, certaines ethnies sont culturellement matriarcales. C’est important pour nous, et nous faisons la promotion de beaucoup d’héroïnes, femmes et noires, sur le site. Qu’elles soient du passé ou actuelles. Des femmes qui font des choses, qui écrivent des bouquins, qui entreprennent. On a besoin d’en découvrir toujours plus.
CD: The black woman has a central place in African culture. In the Congo, some ethnic groups are culturally matriarchal. That's important to us, and we promote many female and black heroines on the site. Whether they're from the past or contemporary. Women who do things, who write books, who set up in business. We always need to discover more about them.
GV: How do you envisage the future in 10 years’ time?
CD: Je veux qu’on soit incontournables. Pour qu’on puisse offrir une réponse à cette question de la représentativité. Parce qu’on est là, qu’on existe, qu’on est réels et qu’il y a un besoin. On doit aller au-delà de la fois dans l’année où on va parler des Noirs pour la sortie de « Black Panther 2 ». On a envie de répondre au quotidien, avec un site internet, des réseaux sociaux, des magazines, et pourquoi pas une chaine de télé. Un groupe média fort et puissant qui serait le reflet de la communauté.
CD: I want us to be unavoidable. So we can offer an answer to this question of representation. Because we're here, we exist, we're real and there's a need. We must get beyond the times in the year when Blacks get talked about for the release of Black Panther 2. We want to respond to the day-to-day, with an internet site, social networks, magazines, and –why not? — a TV station. A strong and powerful media group which will be a reflection of the community.

author: Marie Bohner


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Jordanians lend a hand to displaced Syrians despite the government’s insistence on closed borders · Global Voices
Maram Alkayed

4-year-old Marwan, temporarily separated from his family in Syria, is assisted by UNHCR staff to cross to Jordan. Released to the media via Twitter.
As of early July 2018, the Syrian government continues to engage in an offensive on “remaining rebel pockets in southern Syria” according to the Arab Weekly. Intensive aerial strikes on the city of Daraa have been launched in an attempt to wipe out remaining rebel forces. At least 270,000 Syrians have fled air and ground attacks over the last two weeks, according to the United Nations.
The Syrian war has displaced more than half of Syria's population over its course, with the latest events in Daraa displacing over 300,000 Syrians in just two weeks. Neighboring Jordan has accepted over 1.3 million refugees over the past seven years, but recent protests in the country that led to the resignation of the previous government have resulted in the new government’s refusal to keep their borders open.
However, closed borders have not stopped Jordanians from lending a hand to Syrians.
Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the capital city of Amman are asking citizens for assistance to alleviate the harsh conditions experienced by displaced Syrians near the border town of Al-Ramtha in Jordan. While some NGOs existed before the crisis in Syria began, others were created just recently to address the influx of an estimated 40,000 displaced Syrians at the border.
For example, the NGO Eghathet Al-Malhoof (meaning “Helping Those in Need” in Arabic) partnered with the Jordan Environmental Committee to collect and distribute donations along the border. Similarly, the Masar Initiative joined efforts with the UNHCR and other international NGOs that received permission to carry out relief activities with the same purpose.
The NGOs have distributed fliers, contacted government officials, and shared posts via social media to call for help of all kinds, including volunteer recruitment and donations collection. The fliers include advice on edible food donations, requesting donations of canned food, bread, water and bottled drinks. The groups have also put out a call for medicine, health and sanitary supplies, tents, and baby essentials. Cash donations are accepted, but the NGOs prefer physical donations to avoid the complications of handling cash.
Osama Hajjaj, a member of Masar initiative, told Global Voices (GV) that volunteers are needed and those who cannot devote entire days come after work to assist. Masar director Mohammed Al Garalleh explained to GV that he is very pleased with the amount of help received so far and adds that reactions on social media were immediate and responsive. Garalleh also states that the Jordanian army is handling the distribution of donations and that his organization will not turn away anyone who offers to help.
According to Eyad Al Jazzazeh, head of Eghathet Al Malhoof, they have received a profusion of donations from individuals, organizations, private companies, and businesses.
Over 250 doctors, nurses, and medical units have volunteered and are camping out at Al-Ramtha to help anyone who seeks medical attention, in addition to ensuring that no contagious diseases or viruses spread among displaced Syrians at the border. Some patients have been admitted to Jordanian public hospitals.
In addition to the outpouring of tangible help, two trending Twitter hashtags, #open_the_borders and #we’ll_share_our_bread_in_half, have added to the mobilization for aid and support. While Jordan struggles with its own challenges, many Jordanians think the displaced Syrians should be admitted into the country according to recent citizen responses on Twitter:
This is the largest displacement in the Syrian war. People lack the bare necessities for survival.
Don’t abandon #Syria.
Write about #Daraa.
Talk about Daraa.
Urge #Jordan to #OpenBorders to the people and to humanitarian aid ?? #افتحوا_الحدودhttps://t.co/FOxtq01gWj
— Diala Haidar (@DialaHaidar) July 7, 2018
Humanity knows no borders.
From Idlib to Texas: “In solidarity with children in detention at the US border. Our hearts are with you.” pic.twitter.com/ApKvNWNQHV
— The Syria Campaign (@TheSyriaCmpgn) June 20, 2018http://
“Thousands of innocent lives are going to be lost, once again, if urgent action is not taken.”
Statement of @RefugeesChief on SW #Syria where:
-750,000 lives are in danger.
-320,000 displaced + dire conditions
-60,000 camped at border w Jordanhttps://t.co/Vgc5MBEvpZ pic.twitter.com/FpqRSNoYrd
— Amin Awad (@Awad_Amin_) July 5, 2018
The United Nations (UN) has urged Jordan to open up their borders, warning that displaced Syrians near the border have no other option and their lives are at stake. However, Jordan remains obstinate regarding its decision to keep the borders closed, telling the UN to provide security within Syria.
Just a month before the strikes, Jordan announced that it cannot accept any more refugees.
ِRecent peaceful protests in May 2018, organized by unions over a new income tax law, triggered Jordanians to speak out on other grievances, including the burden of refugees. This resulted in the resignation of the government as a whole and the new government has grown very careful about issues concerning refugees, as some people tried to blame the country's woes on them.
The current government feels “no obligation” to open the borders, given that the support for the response refugee plan (a strategic partnership plan between Jordan and the international community) stands at a disappointing 7 percent this year, in contrast to the 65 percent in 2017.
Key supporters of Syria's administration include Russia and Iran, while the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia all back government rebels. However, the U.S. and other rebel allies have reportedly abandoned them and are no longer sending them help.
Through their embassy in Amman, Jordan, the U.S. sent a message to the south’s rebels telling them they should not count on any American firepower.
Rebels now find themselves alone without help, and civilians are torn between going back to cities under strike where death is guaranteed or waiting on Israel and Jordan's borders.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Maram Alkayed


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Media censorship rises as the general elections draw near in Pakistan · Global Voices
Anushe Noor

Image via Pixabay by user dimitrisvetsikas1969 | CC0
Pakistan is gearing up for the general elections scheduled next week and there are rumors of a massive crackdown on the media.
On July 12, 2018, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) imposed a ban on national satellite television channels for airing live speeches of politicians as they conduct their election campaigns.
The ban was imposed to prevent satellite TV channels from displaying “derogatory” and “defamatory” content. The notification stated:
Satellite tv channels must ensure that no hateful, defamatory, malicious, and derogatory content/speech/press conference/paid political advertisement is aired, broadcast or televised in any manner, live or recorded, which may likely undermine the sanctity of judiciary, armed forces of Pakistan, other institutions, individuals, political parties and the electoral process.
The speeches of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif were censored from television and radio networks as he arrived in Pakistan to challenge a court verdict against him and his daughter, which found them guilty of corruption. The ban technically does not extend to online reporting, but election speeches have been censored online as well.
Although Sharif is not running for re-election, there are candidates in the running from his party, the PML-N, including his wife. Pakistan's military establishment is known to favor the opposing party, PTI.
Many journalists see the ban as an attack on freedom of expression. Journalist Tanzeela Mazhar tweeted:
No love loss for MNS but PEMRA s new order is simply ridiculous, we have been glorifying terrorists and been featuring victory signs from many convicted even in murder cases. Why this ethic fever for only MNS?
— Tanzeela Mazhar (@TenzilaMazhar) July 12, 2018
Note: MNS is Nawaz Sharif
Another journalist, Matiullah Jan, tweeted:
Someone is using rudderless PEMRA to tighten the noose on people's right to know and free speech. By the time elections are held, if and when they are held, the media will be voiceless and indeed shameless. https://t.co/3qpofLOwXJ
— Matiullah Jan (@Matiullahjan919) May 19, 2018
Some said the ban was justified, given that Sharif was convicted of corruption by the Accountability Court of Pakistan. Dr. M Siddique tweeted:
#pemra#media houses#judiciary #lawrers
Is there any law to stop showing  CRIMNALS of PMLN convicted by SCOP n NAB asking for votes on almost all tv channels?
It means all the crimnals in JAILS also have the same luxury to seek sympathy.
We act like or we are a BANANA REPUBLIC!
— Dr M Siddique (@DrMSiddique) July 15, 2018
Note: NAB = National Accountability Bureau
Some even believed that the ban empowered the Sharif family, by rallying supporters against the ban. Youth Activist, Ameeza Zia posted to Twitter:
#sherayasheraya has made the caretaker government insane. PEMRA ordered channels not to give live coverage, roads are blocked, N league leadership being locked. This so called setup for Free and fair elections or to help Sharifs to turn out even stronger?
— Ameeza Zia (@AmeezaZ) July 13, 2018
Note: Sheraya sheraya means “The lion comes, the lion comes” (The electoral symbol of Nawaz Sharif is a lion)
Others have speculated that there is military involvement in the ban.
Pemra warns TV channels to refrain from ‘airing derogatory and malicious content’
“Channels are airing transmissions containing defamatory content targeting judiciary and armed forces,” observes notice–DawnNews
Tell them to stop political engineering in elections-2018–Awam
— Q. Ahmad (@QAhmad3) July 12, 2018
BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America coverages of Pakistan's general elections were banned from airing as a result. Krzysztof Iwanek, a Polish writer posted:
Pakistan bans news programs by BBC (Sairbeen), Deutsche Welle (DW Sawal) and Voice of America (View 260). Pemra claims they were operating without permission but there were other cases of censorship in Pakistan lately.
Stage set for July elections?https://t.co/50zRy6VBiM
— Krzysztof Iwanek (@Chris_Iwanek) May 24, 2018
Pakistani entrepreneur Sareer Ahmad Khan described it as the “worst kind of censorship”.
Is it true that #Pemra has banned TV channels from airing urdu programs of @URDUVOA @BBCUrdu @dwnews? If it is, this’s the worst kind of censorship right before elections. @gulmeenay
— Sareer Ahmad Khan (@SareerKhan93) May 19, 2018
Pakistani news channels also did not broadcast pre-recorded interviews of Sharif.
Other political parties say they have become victims of the ban as well. Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said in a press conference:
The press is facing censorship, political activists are being detained, and this is not only a violation of human rights but also pre-poll rigging.
An amendment in Article 5 of the PEMRA ordinance has now become a point of the question. According to this article, the government does not have the right to impose directives related to content being broadcast. PEMRA is an independent federal institution, yet its activities may be politically motivated.
Pakistan has a long history of censorship as news outlets have faced bans and other types of punishment, in what appears to be an effort to control public narrative. Journalists have not only faced hate speech but have been threatened, abducted and even assassinated. In this environment, are free and fair elections possible?

author: Anushe Noor


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Ugandan women say #HarassmentIsNotLove as cyber harassment ruling draws backlash · Global Voices
Rosebell Kagumire

Women marching in Kampala, Uganda on June 30 to protest the rampant kidnapping, rape, and killings of women that have gripped Uganda in the past few months. Photo by Michael O'Hagan used with permission.
Ugandan member of parliament Sylvia Rwabwogo had just emerged from a months-long nightmare during which she received daily text messages and calls from a stranger, professing his love to her.
When a magistrate court in Kampala, Uganda handed down a two-year prison sentence to 25-year-old Brian Isiko on charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication, the MP thought she could finally find some peace.
But her torment continued when some Ugandan citizens lashed out against the ruling, saying it was “too harsh”. Local mainstream media minimized the seriousness of the case by avoiding the word “harassment” in headlines, suggesting instead that Isiko had been convicted for sending love messages.
(Screenshot from Ugandan newspaper, the Daily Monitor website)
The harassment started in December 2017, coinciding with a politically sensitive period when President Yoweri Museveni deployed all means to eliminate the presidential age limit clause from the constitution, giving way for a possible life presidency.
Rwabwogo, who represents the western district of Kabarole near the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo border, was among a few parliamentarians from Museveni's ruling party who rejected the proposal to lift the age limit.
Around this time, Rwabwogo started getting calls and messages from Isiko. In his calls, Isiko would comment on Rwabwogo's clothing and told her that he was worried about her and wanted to protect her.
One of the dozens of messages to the MP read:
I love you so much and want to protect you. My love is for you alone and since there is no one taking care of you, I will do it.
Feeling threatened, and with the June 8 murder of MP Ibrahim Abiriga fanning fears around parliamentarians’ overall security, she felt she could no longer remain silent.
On June 11, Rwabwogo set up a meeting for the first time with Isiko and, with police in the loop, he was arrested. By July 5, Isiko pleaded guilty in court to the charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication, under the Computer Misuse Act of 2011. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
In their coverage of the case, many Ugandan media outlets refused to highlight the specific charges and the content of the messages. Instead, Isiko was described as a poor student whom the MP should have guided. Other times, the media referred to Isiko as a “boy”, despite him being in his mid-twenties.
Commentary online included disparaging attacks on Rwabwogo as a person, focusing on her status as a single woman and the fact that she was open about her marital status in a May 2017 interview with New Vision, a leading newspaper. Rwabwogo lost her husband in 2012 and is a mother of three.
The media coverage and online reactions prompted a counter-backlash by Ugandan women under the hashtag #HarassmentIsNotLove. Rwabwogo also spoke of how these attacks have affected not just her but her family too during a Twitter chat on July 13 hosted by Global Voices’ Rosebell Kagumire (this story's author).
During the chat, Twitter user Hazel Mwebesa echoed a quote from Rwabwogo concerning her safety now that Isiko was in jail:
“Do I feel safer now that he is in jail? No, it has got worse because I'm afraid. Everyone is looking into my life. I'm afraid that people might rally up against me because of how the case has been reported by the media.” Mp Rwabogo #HarassmentIsNotLove
— Hazel Mwebesa (@HMwebesa) July 13, 2018
Twitter user Kweeta commented on the use of the word “boy” to describe the 25-year-old perpetrator:
Selective language condones sexual harassment, the media needs to better. Using words like "boy" to refer to an adult man, "Too much love" to mean harassment only promotes these vices. How media frames these issues sets a tone on how they will be perceived. #HarassmentIsNotLove
— Kweeta (@KweetaUganda) July 13, 2018
In an interview with Black, No Sugar, a YouTube-based outlet, Rwabwogo says:
Even after the ruling, people lashed out at me, sending messages on Facebook. I am stronger and this is not the first time I have suffered this kind of media framing.
Dr. Njoki Ngumi, a Kenyan women's rights advocate dissected the problem with Ugandan media's framing of sexual harassment as love in a Twitter thread:
This morning let's discuss Hon. Sylvia Rwabogo, the Woman MP for Kabarole in Uganda, and victim of stalker Brian Isiko, a 25 year old YMCA Jinja Branch student. Let's look at this through a media lens: who is speaking/or not, what they are saying/and not. /Thread
— Dr. Njoki Ngumi ?? (@njokingumi) July 9, 2018
In her ruling, magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu was emphatic that society has groomed men to demean and disrespect women. Even in the dock, Isiko was laughing as Rwabwogo broke down in tears.
Ugandan women protest in Kampala on June 30. Photo by author Rosebell Kagumire.
Earlier, Isiko's family had reached out to the MP to ask for forgiveness but she says it was a matter of her security and forgiveness would not guarantee safety. She went ahead with the case.
Meanwhile, a law firm owned by parliamentarian Abdul Katuntu has sought to appeal Isiko's sentence and applied for his bail.
Rwabwogo's status as an MP proved to many activists that no matter how much power a woman holds in Uganda, society still expects her to endure the unwanted male gaze and intrusions of privacy.
A 2016 Inter-Parliamentary Union study on sexism, harassment, and violence against women in parliament revealed:
[The] phenomenon knows no boundaries and exists to different degrees in every country, affecting a significant number of women parliamentarians.
While violence is often meted out in women's private spaces, the internet and new technologies have enabled abusers to reach women in the digital realm, as in the case of Isiko. Jac sm Kee of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) explains:
Online violence against women is an overt expression of the gender discrimination and inequality that exists offline. Online, it becomes amplified.
Victims continue to under-report cyber harassment because of the shame and stigma experienced after speaking out in public. Forty-one percent of technology-based violence against women cases reported to authorities have been investigated, according to a study by APC in seven countries.
The backlash also vindicates current Ugandan statistics on violence against women, who are more than twice as likely to experience sexual violence as men. More than one in five women ages 15 to 49 (22 percent) report that they have experienced sexual violence at some point in time compared with fewer than one in 10 (8 percent) men.
Rwabongo's case takes place only weeks after women had staged a protest in the streets of Kampala against the rampant kidnappings and murders of women in the country (over the past 18 months, more than 43 women are known to have been kidnapped, raped and killed in Uganda).
Netizens pointed out the need for education around sexual harassment in all forms:
Sexual harassment can be broadly defined as “unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours or unwanted physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature” #HarassmentIsNotLove
— Mikhail (@mmsuiime) July 13, 2018
Rwabwogo's case moved Esther Kalenzi, a well-known Ugandan youth social entrepreneur and founder of 40 Days over 40 Smiles Foundation, to share her own experience of sexual harassment using #MeToo to support Rwabwogo and other women struggling in silence.
Kalenzi's Twitter thread has been shared over 200 times, proving that sections of Ugandan society are willing to interrogate the impunity that often underlies sexual harassment as well as support victims who speak out.
On #HarassmentIsNotLove
I don't even know where to start.
It is a deeply personal, emotional story for me?
Sigh
I was stalked by someone for about 4 years. He was my friend before but when I declined his ‘romantic advances,’ he became something else.
— Esther?Kalenzi (@Estar_K) July 16, 2018
Rwabwogo's ruling, together with the conversation it sparked, set a new precedence in Uganda society, where women are increasingly rising up and speaking out against sexual harassment and violence.

author: Rosebell Kagumire


text:
A guide to Pakistan’s 2018 general elections · Global Voices
Faisal Kapadia

Image via Pixabay. Public Domain.
On Wednesday July 25, Pakistanis will go to the polls in what promises to be a landmark election. This the third democratic election to be held in a row in the South Asian country, whose democratic processes have been interrupted time and again — in 1958, 1977 and 1999 — by military coups.
Pakistan is all set to hold General Elections on July 25. Here is the procedure to cast the vote as per Elections Act 2018.#ElectionPakistan#Elections2018 pic.twitter.com/ywanZNAePZ
— Abid Khan Atozai (@AbidAtozai) July 18, 2018
There are a total of 342 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan, of which 272 are directly elected or general seats. Seventy special seats are reserved for women and minorities (60 and 10 respectively), filled by proportional representation among parties with more than 5% of the vote — so for a party to win a simple majority, it would need 137 seats.
Pakistan's 2018 elections at a glance https://t.co/eentJPROeL pic.twitter.com/r6SC7DrJr1
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 17, 2018
The country's last general elections in 2013 saw the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N), with its stronghold in Punjab — the country's richest and most influential province — win 125 seats and go on to form the federal government. Its leader, Nawaz Sharif, was installed as prime minister — a decision that would come back to haunt the party. During its latest tenure (2013-2018), the PML-N, which has been known to pander to the country's influential religious groups, invested in large public infrastructure projects, including public transit, roads and highways, and electricity.
The left-leaning Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), meanwhile, won 31 seats in the last elections, and formed the government in the Sindh province. Jointly led by former president Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the PPP continues to be a bulwark against Pakistan's establishment.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), chaired by former national cricket captain Imran Khan, emerged as a major player in the last elections, securing 27 seats — enough to form the government in northern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The party spearheaded major reforms in the health and environmental sectors, overhauling existing public health facilities and planting a billion new trees throughout the province. Interestingly, despite its right-leaning tendencies and its association with religious forces as the need arises, the PTI has managed to attract much of the nation's youth.
Finally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM), a northern Sindh-based party which captured the imagination of the public with its efficient street mobilization for immigrants’ rights back in the 1990s, is a surprise contender. Its power base is the city of Karachi, which its has ruled — sometimes by force — over the last decade. Led by the political firebrand Altaf Hussain, who is currently exiled in the United Kingdom and has announced a boycott of the 2018 elections, the MQM has always represented a leftist and a progressive narrative and has often guarded against radicalization in Karachi. On the heels of Hussain's anti-nationalist statements, however, the party has broken into several groups, all fielding their own candidates.
Pakistan's 2018 elections have seen a pretty turbulent buildup. Thanks to the Panama Papers, Prime Minister Sharif was tried on corruption charges, which meant that the caretaker setup had to be put in place in order for the elections process to continue. The prime minister was subsequently convicted of having far more assets than his declared income would allow, and he and his daughter were arrested and jailed upon their return to Pakistan. The pair had been in London tending to Sharif's wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, who is currently receiving cancer treatment there.
The controversy has, of course, led to wholesale confusion in the ranks of the PML-N party, due to the vacuum of leadership left by Sharif's incarceration.
The party to emerge the strongest thus far is Imran Khan's PTI, which has been campaigning against corruption. Pre-election polls show his party to be slightly ahead — evidence, perhaps, that the voting public has grown tired of the same old players and dishonesty in public life, and may want to give someone new a chance.
Meanwhile, the PPP's nationwide election campaign has been forced to a halt over security concerns, following three terror attacks — in the last week alone — in different areas of Pakistan. Other parties are also facing the same warnings similar restrictions, with some of them claiming that these concerns have arisen because of the non-level political playing field.
The battlefield of Pakistani politics has shifted online, with armies of volunteer trolls being recruited to bash rivals and campaign aggressively. The sway of social media opinion is huge — the PTI, for instance, had to abandon a ticket it had given to a convicted rapist, and the PML-N took to social networking platforms to report that its supporters were being blocked from going to the airport to greet their leader, Nawaz Sharif, as he arrived from London to surrender to authorities.
Editor of The Daily Times, Raza Rumi, explained his take on the situation via Twitter:
Hard hitting analysis by @najamsethi – Nawaz Sharif may be in jail facing courts but media, judiciary, parliament & establishment are also on trial. And things will not remain static for judges & media will change conduct in due course for legitimacy. https://t.co/tdUxjlKNGC
— Raza Ahmad Rumi (@Razarumi) July 20, 2018
On Facebook, blogger Awab Alvi talked about the process of bringing politicians to justice in Pakistan, making the case for PTI as the standard bearer for anti-corruption:
It's been a long hard struggle which truly started with MQM / Altaf Hussain in 2013 and we were handed the Panama papers in 2015 and this movement finally culminated today with the conviction of Nawaz Sharif.
With the polarization of some parties, like the PML-N, and the breakup of others, like the MQM, there are rising fears that the current election scenario gives the religious right a lot of space to step into the political narrative.
Talking about a recent Friday sermon, renowned activist Gul Bukhari examined this very issue:
Street message: “ jumma ki nimaz mein aaj ziada tar imam masjidon nay tehreek e lab baik walon ki himayat ki kasmain uthwain”
Translation: Imams at Friday prayers today took oaths to support Tehreek e Labbaik.
— Gul Bukhari (@GulBukhari) July 20, 2018
In a recent statement, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that the recent bombings targeting both election candidates and political rallies, which killed 170 people, were “blatant, aggressive and unabashed attempts to manipulate the outcome of the upcoming elections”.
The Commission further stated:
While it is critical that the polls are held as scheduled, there are now ample grounds to doubt their legitimacy — with alarming implications for Pakistan’s transition to an effective democracy.
Must watch clip to understand how elections r being manipulated but #PakistaniMedia isn’t allowed to discuss rigging. Anyone whose crosses the ‘red line’ faces reprisals. Media has been told to bash Nawaz Sharif as much it wants but support PTI. Rigging through censorship is on pic.twitter.com/YIlW6Lm0lV
— Pakistan Media Watch (@PakPressWatch) July 19, 2018
To protect the polling booths, Pakistan’s army will deploy about 371,000 troops on election day, almost three times the number that were sent out for the 2013 elections.

author: Faisal Kapadia


text:
In Hong Kong’s Gig Economy, Freedom Remains Elusive for Most ‘Slashies’ · Global Voices
Ryan Kam

Image: Wikimedia Commons. Author: สุวรรณา วิเศษแก้ว CC-AT-SA
As internet connectivity expands worldwide, millions of people are increasingly turning to outsourced, digitally mediated work as a way to earn extra cash, or to overcome some of the barriers of their local labor markets. But while the gig economy means freedom and flexibility for some, for others it comes with uncertainty, lack of legal protections and isolation.
How does that play out in Hong Kong? In this place where wage growth lags behind living costs — between March 2016 and December 2017, the real wages have risen a meager 6.6 percent, against a 47 percent increase of property prices — the trend of casualizing labor dates back to 1997. Under the grip of the Asian financial crisis, companies turned to outsource its support activities — such as security guards and cleaners — in order to cope.
But once Hong Kong recovered flexible work increasingly found its way into the status quo. A recent study by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG) revealed that of the 528 employees interviewed 51.1 percent were flexible workers — among them, 29.7 percent take part-time jobs, 21.3 percent do temporary work, and 20 percent pick up extra shifts after a regular day job.
In Hong Kong, the trend is certainly aided by the fact that financial services and information technology, its two fastest-expanding economic sectors, favor the hiring of contractors. A survey conducted by Robert Walters in 2016 showed that as much as 60% of local contractors are hired by the financial services sector.
Meanwhile, employers find ways to get around the loopholes of Hong Kong's Employment Ordinance. Some employees are hired to work just under 18 hours a week each four consecutive weeks, ensuring they cannot be legally classified as “continuously employed”. That way, they are not entitled to welfare benefits such as paid statutory holidays and paid vacation.
Stagnant wages, skyrocketing rent and an emerging global culture of flexible work: such toxic mix means that even when Hongkongers manage to secure a stable job, they might still take up extra work.
Despite such gloomy predicament, Hong Kong's mainstream media has borrowed the Western term “slash” — presumably proposed in 2012 by author Marci Alboher — to describe this job culture in a rather positive light. Unlike those who juggle various gigs as a means of survival, the “slashie” views flexible work as a choice or a career strategy.
While millennials and new parents are the typical “slashies” portrayed by the mainstream press, not all Hongkongers embrace this new state of affairs. Popular online writer Wu Sai-kwan says:
香港人講到 #Slash (斜槓/多職)和創業，通常只得ABC餐﹕
A. 透過勇氣、毅力、才能、智慧、人際網絡，在苦幹過後捱出頭來，收入比從前高、穩定、滿足感溢出，差點要大叫﹕「阿媽，我得咗啦﹗」咦﹗即係阿爺所講的「獅子山精神」？
B. 雖然出師未捷，但身仍未死(未餓死)，深信「我依家無，但將來會有。」不怨天怨地、不問「為何我爸非馬雲？」總之每天花200%努力，永不放棄同學會、正能量L。
C. 乞兒(完)。
當然，絕大部份香港打工仔均非 #Slashers，理想和現實總有落差。繼我話，港式Slashers只有DEF三種:
D. 富二代/有人養(得啦得啦，知你幸福啦﹗)
E. 公屋居民
F. 已供滿自住樓，甚至有多層樓收租人士
When Hongkongers talk about #Slash and making a career, they present the ABC scenario:
A. Through courage, determination, talent, wisdom, social connections and hard work, they earn a high income, stability and satisfaction. They almost yell: ‘Mom, I got it!’. This is another version of the Lion Rock spirit [Hong Kong dream], as repeatedly stressed by the Grandpa [pro-Beijing pro-establishment sector].
B. Although not successful, they still manage to survive. They believe that one day they will achieve. They don't blame others and don't ask themselves: why didn't I have a father like Ma Yun [the founder of Chinese multinational e-commerce Alibaba]. Everyday they devote 200% of their effort, they never give up, always with positive energy.
C. [End up becoming] Beggars (period).
Of course, [the] majority of Hong Kong employees are not #Slashers, the dream and the reality are not the same. I believe Hong Kong only has three types of slashers, here is DEF scenario:
D. Second-generation rich/ [they have] someone who can support their dream (ok, ok, I know you are very lucky and happy).
E. Those who live in public housing (they don't have to pay rent).
F. They don't have to pay [a] mortgage, or they even have an extra property and have some rental income.
Wu's comment resonates with the HKFYG's finding, which concludes that reason behind flexible labor in Hong Kong among the youth seems to be more of a survival strategy than a career choice. The study reveals that while 52.4% of respondents said flexible labor can generate more income, only 16.8% said they do it because they want to develop their career or seek a better work-life balance.
Moreover, flexible workers are highly exploited, as stated in their report:
部分深入受訪個案反映，他們的就業模式普遍不獲僱主、家人和朋友認同，甚至因此而令酬金遭壓抑，其工作態度亦備受質疑。此外，他們一般對保障欠缺重視，包括自由職業者（freelancer）與機構之間未必有訂下合約，以至出現問題時缺乏保障；兼職者亦因種種原因而未獲合法權益，甚至連所簽訂的合約屬何種性質也未必清楚。
In the in-depth interviews, the flexible workers have a hard time getting recognition from employers, family members and friends. Their salary is usually less than average, and employers tend to question their work attitude. They are unaware of their labor rights. Most freelancers have not signed [a] contract with the employers and disputes have appeared as they are unprotected. The part-timers also do not enjoy legal protection, some do not know the nature of contract that they have signed with the employers.
The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions also took note of the exploitative situation and urged for more protection of flexible workers, following the United States’ legislation of the Freelance Isn't Free Act.
To some extent, the media's cheerful treatment of Hong Kong's slash culture could bring some positive energy for the younger generations. Tang Wai Fung is among those who chose flexible labor to fulfill his dream of being a musician; he explained his choice in an interview:
被問到會否擔心slash的工作及生活無保障，鄧另有一番見解，認為自由工作者反可分攤風險，因為他同時教10多名學生，即使少了1個學生，亦只會損失約1至2成收入，但若全職員工被裁，就會丟了飯碗。另外，他認為自由工作可更有自主性，形容是自己的老闆，可控制自己更專注教結他抑或表演，更可以興趣為職業…
When asked if being a slash would make him worry about income security, Tang has a theory — freelancing is less risky. If you were teaching 10 students and one left, you would have lost 10 to 20% of your income. If you were a full-timer, once sacked, you lose everything. Freelancing is more autonomous and you can be your own boss. You can choose to focus on teaching guitar or doing performance. You can develop your interest into a career.
However, very few people can manage a slash work schedule, as human resources blogger, HK bear, pointed out:
做slash族，睇就好自由，有決心衝出黎都要做足事前準備，最concern既一定係經濟上既考慮。無左固定收入，至少要set條底線俾自己每月要賺到幾多錢去維持生計，可能仲要計算埋俾家用既需要。當可以自由咁安排時間… 要重新學會去管理時間… 無左直屬上司指點你，唔會再有同事長時間同你拍住上，所有決定同後果都要自己一力承擔。
People tend to think that ‘slashies’ enjoy more freedom. If you have already made up your mind, you will have to prepare for it and the greatest concern will be economic. Without a fixed income, you need to set a bottom line for your basic monthly income to make ends meet. Although time is more flexible, you need to learn how to manage time well. Without someone senior instructing you on what to do, or a partner-colleague assisting you, you need to bear all the consequences resulting from your decisions.
Unfortunately, given the economic stress in Hong Kong, very few can actively make a choice to be a “slashie”. The majority of the flexible labor market, like some of the world's major cities, seems to be doing it out of bare necessity.

author: Ryan Kam


text:
Cambodia’s ‘clean finger’ campaign urges voters to boycott ‘sham’ election · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

An election booth in Cambodia. Flickr photo by Bart Geesink, (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Cambodia’s exiled opposition leaders have launched the ‘clean finger’ campaign which calls for a boycott of the general election scheduled on July 29, 2018.
Typically, an indelible ink is placed on the finger of voters on election day which means those who fail to vote, have a clean finger.
Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the main opposition party, was disbanded by the Supreme Court on November 2017 after the ruling party accused it of conspiring with foreign powers in an attempt to topple the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
CNRP leader Kem Sokha was arrested and continues to remain under detention in the country while the party’s other top leaders were forced to flee the country to avoid prosecution. CNRP members in parliament were removed from office and banned from holding public office for five years.
CNRP got a significant share of votes in the 2013 general election and in the 2017 local council election. The CNRP's dissolution will most likely allow Hun Sen’s party to beat smaller parties which have been accredited to participate in the coming election. Hun Sen and the ruling party have been in power since 1985.
Aside from removing the main opposition, the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) is also accused of undermining the press in recent months.
Dozens of radio stations that broadcast programs that criticize government policies were forced to cease operations after they were suddenly slapped with hefty tax cases. A similar tax issue also forced the Cambodia Daily newspaper to stop operating.
The crackdown on the opposition and the press led many analysts to conclude that Cambodia may conduct a sham election on July 29.
Sam Rainsy, CNRP’s leader in exile, explained the rationale of the ‘clean finger’ campaign:
1/3 The 19 minuscule parties pretending to compete with the CPP should have no illusion: Suppose that, ten years from now, one of them grew to become big enough to threaten the CPP, Hun Sen would dissolve it, just like he dissolved the CNRP last year. #SamRainsy #Cambodia pic.twitter.com/okYCXpjv1l
— Rainsy Sam (@RainsySam) July 8, 2018
The ‘clean finger’ campaign is widely promoted by CNRP members and supporters in and out of the country:
No #CNRP, no real #election! No voting, no dirty finger! #CleanFinger #Cambodia #election #boycott pic.twitter.com/cwjT3amaxz
— Monovithya Kem (@KemMnv) July 17, 2018
ដេកផ្ទះ យើងឈ្នះចោរ @vannahay @RainsySam @PeuvAnnecy @ChunChanboth pic.twitter.com/7Kr2OEDccS
— Hanks Sankream (@sankream) July 17, 2018
Clean finger boycott the election. pic.twitter.com/xtD2kzyDlG
— paksotho (@sesotho) July 16, 2018
Meanwhile, the CPP countered this by reminding citizens to vote for peace, stability, and development. It also urged its members to post social media photos affirming their patriotic duty to vote on election day:
Samdech Techo #HunSen said He thanks #Cambodian people for trusting his leadership in making #Cambodia #peaceful and #developed as today. #VoteCPP #Number20 #Election2018 #CambodiaElection2018 #Peace #Development pic.twitter.com/4gH5mru6lM
— Siv Ching (@sivching40) July 22, 2018
We go to vote on 29 July 2018. It is civic duty. #ElectionsKH #CPP #HunSen #Peace #Development #Cambodia #Democracy pic.twitter.com/7Px1ot8JIC
— True Cambodia (@CambodiaTrue) July 13, 2018
#CPP is everywhere in Cambodia and in abraod. CPP has close to 6 million members and they will go to vote on 29 July 2018. We vote for #Peace and #Development, not stay home to serve the interest of national traitors and its oreigner bosses. #ElectionsKH #Cambodia #Democracy pic.twitter.com/0eVKZMQOis
— True Cambodia (@CambodiaTrue) July 15, 2018
But CPP members are not content with launching their own online campaign reminding citizens to vote on July 29. They threatened to file charges against individuals and CNRP members who are behind the boycott campaign.
CNRP responded by arguing that there’s no law which prohibits citizens from refusing to vote.
The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur to Cambodia Rhona Smith also released a statement urging the government to respect the decision of voters who plan to boycott the election:
I welcome recent Government calls to local authorities to avoid discrimination during the campaign and encourage the Government to condemn in very clear terms voter intimidation and to clarify that calling for a boycott in a non-compulsory vote is permitted.
CNRP is calling for the postponement of the election while demanding the release of Kem Sokha, the reinstatement of the opposition party, and the reversal of laws and regulations that restrict free speech.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
In the run-up to Mali’s 2018 presidential elections, will President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta survive his scandals? · Global Voices
Blogueurs invités

Republic of Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, photo by Claude Truong-Ngoc, December 2013, copyright to Ngoc, sourced via Wikipedia Commons.
[This article was written by guest author Alfa Sissoko. The article was then edited by Global Voices for additional clarity and context.]
With less than a month to go before the first round of Malian presidential elections, the spotlight is on Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta's (IBK) track record. The incumbent president is far from fulfilling his promises of reconciliation with Northern Mali as well as the eradication of corruption, according to popular opinion sourced on social and mainstream media.
When IBK was first elected in 2013, he ran his presidential campaign on a platform of zero tolerance for corruption, stating: “No one will be above the law.” Yet, this statement is now working to his detriment in the run-up to the election on July 29, 2018.
IBK has come up against an onslaught of accusations regarding the embezzlement of public money and his zero tolerance stance is now at odds with his track record. During the five-year term in office, IBK has been implicated in several cases of money squandering or disappearance, over-billing of government procurement, amongst other conflicts of interest.
As early as 2014, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded explanations from the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Bouaré Fily Sissoko, following the purchase of a €30 million presidential aircraft (approximately 35 million United States Dollars-USD) and the signing of a €105 million equipment contract (approximately 123 million USD) which was passed by the Ministry of Defence without a process to tender. Suspecting an over-billing offense, the international institution suspended financial aid to Mali for several months.
Advocacy groups have also urged the president to tackle deep-rooted corruption. Corinne Dufka of Human Rights Watch  stated:
Mali stands at a crossroads, President Keita’s actions – or inactions – could usher in greater respect for human rights or a return to the problems that caused Mali’s near-collapse last year.
Transparency International notes:
The forms of corruption evident in Mali are closely associated with its on-going political and security problems, in particular, the operations of organised crime and terrorist groups on its territory. Experience-based survey data shows that corruption incidence is high across the state bureaucracy which affects social service delivery, even if this has only rarely led to repercussions for government officials implicated.
Several former and current members of Government, led by Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, still have to respond to the disappearance of 153 billion Central African Francs (CAF) (€230 million / $270 million USD) from the state budget between 2013 and 2014, as well as more than 28 billion CAF (€40 million / $47 million) being squandered in the purchase of an aircraft and military equipment.
On May 18, a complaint was filed by Mali's main opposition coalition called BIPRREM (for Bloc D'intervention Populaire et Pacifique pour la réunification entière du Mali, (English translation: Popular and Pacific Intervention Block for the Reunification of Mali).
Opposition candidate Soumaïla Cissé, runner-up in the 2002 and 2013 elections and president of the main opposition party Union for the Republic and Democracy (Union pour la république et la démocratie, URD) explained the content of the complaint and condemned IBK's track record on corruption:
Le gouvernement [a été] obligé de se séparer de ses ministres, […] mais il n’y a pas eu de sanction puisque tous ceux-ci ont été rétablis dans leurs fonctions..
The government [was] forced to dismiss its ministers, […] but there has been no punishment as they have all been reinstated in their posts. Ultimately, they were sent out through one door and came back in through another.
IBK's close relations with the French businessman Michel Tomi has also caused suspicion, according to some analysts. Journalist Frédéric Ploquin describes Tomi as the ’”King of Françafrique” whom “the highest state authorities” call “boss” and who has been subject to several police investigations, reportedly acting as an intermediary in several contracts with Mali. IBK's relations with Tomi adds to the opaqueness of his actions.
Malian opponent Tiébilé Dramé accuses IBK of having squandered public budgetary resources in the purchase of equipment for the army, which he claims has deterred the reduction of jihadist violence in the north of the country.
Dramé, a former minister and current president of the Party for National Rebirth (Parti pour la renaissance nationale PARENA), stated the following in reference to the 1230 billion CAF (€1875 billion) allocated by the five-year military programming law adopted in 2015:
D’importants moyens auraient été acquis pour mettre nos forces en état d’accomplir leur mission. […] Malheureusement pour les Maliens, plus le président et ses ministres parlent de nouvelles acquisitions de moyens de défense, plus l’insécurité augmente. Les Maliens ont le droit de s’interroger sur la vraie destination des centaines de milliards votés par l’Assemblée nationale pour mettre l’armée dans les conditions [de faire face à la menace djihadiste].
Significant means were reportedly acquired for our forces to be able to achieve their mission. […] But unfortunately for the Malians, the more the president and his ministers talk about acquiring new means of defence, the more the insecurity increases. Malians have the right to question where the hundreds of billions are really going, which were approved by the National Assembly for the army to be able [to tackle the jihadist threat].
Dramé has also challenged the purchase of six combat aircrafts from a Brazilian company who reportedly only delivered four, and two helicopters paid for in cash by the Malian government.
Meanwhile, citizens in the northern region continue to fear for their safety because authorities have not managed to regain total control of the north from all the insurgent groups. Despite France's intervention in January 2013 and a peace agreement signed in June 2015 between the northern rebels and the Malian government, entire areas are still under the yoke of terrorists in the north of the country.
France has been providing logistics and military support to Mali in this ongoing conflict with the northern rebels since the Malian government requested foreign military intervention at the UN in October 2012. France is still actively supporting the African-led force to assist the army of Mali in combating the insurgent militants.
While the area under the control of insurgents often shifts, militants have moved further toward the northwest part of the country with sporadic attacks in the capital city of Bamako.
With a couple of days left before the elections, the outcome of the elections is anybody's guess. However, the stakes have never been higher for the region for a country that is in dire need of stability after years of internal conflict.

author: Blogueurs invités


text:
‘They can’t duck the question of decolonisation and transformation anymore’ · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Professor Lesley Lokko giving a talk entitled “Tropic Antics” at a free public lecture in Port of Spain, Trinidad, hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects. Photo courtesy Mark Raymond, used with permission.
This is the third and final installment in our interview series with Professor Lesley Lokko, novelist, and head of the Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. You can read the first post here and the second post here.
By dint of her half Ghanaian, half Scottish ancestry, Professor Lesley Lokko has a unique way of looking at the world. She grew up in Ghana under the wing of her father, a doctor who was educated in the United Kingdom. At 17, she left for England to attend boarding school, and it was there that she suddenly went from being a “half-caste” [a Ghanaian term for “mixed race”] to being black — or rather, not white.
Lokko has brilliantly occupied this space between black and white her whole life — informing her writing, her architect's eye and now, her approach to teaching — and its recurring lessons continuously raise issues of culture and identity.
On the invitation of the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of Architects and Bocas Lit Fest, the country's premier annual literary event, Lokko recently made her first visit to the twin-island republic, where she gave a few public lectures on the importance of architecture in today's society, literature and more.
Global Voices (GV): You've chosen to live and pursue your career in education in South Africa — the nerve centre, in many ways, of black/white relations. What's negotiating that space like as a mixed-race professional, post-apartheid?
Lesley Lokko (LL): The thing that drives me crazy about some white South Africans — let me emphasise: some, not all — is the feeling I often get behind our conversations that, somehow, the responsibility for managing change must be mine, because I’m the one who wants that change. We — as in black people — were the ones to bring change about so we must be responsible for handling the fallout. I call it the ‘Oprah Syndrome’. The responsibility for managing their own emotions, their guilt? They don’t want it, so they want to pass it back. What’s that if not racist? I’m not here to soak up your pain. You’ve had 200 years of talking about your pain! I’m done with it.
Black Economic Empowerment — the South African government's programme to redress the inequities of apartheid by giving black citizens economic advantages that white citizens cannot access — has reduced the argument about progress and equality down to money. It’s not actually about only money. Money is the symbol of a whole host of issues: class, culture, mobility, aspiration, self-esteem, identity…it’s all in there. Money becomes the be-all and end-all, the means in itself instead of the means to a more progressive end.
GV: It's like a continued denial of that black identity. You’ve done a lot of work around race, culture, and identity. How does architecture, for instance, factor into our identity as multi-ethnic Caribbean people?
LL: Because of the historical relationship that Africans have always had with others — Europe, the United States, the Caribbean — we’re acutely aware of ‘other’ black cultures…African-Americans, West Indians, black Britons. We’re aware of these communities that are somehow connected to us, but also dispersed — so the psyche of Africans, no matter where in the world we are, is very fluid. It’s not about rootedness, being in one place only, having only one identity, speaking only one language…it’s much more open-ended than that. However — and here’s the rub — architecture is all about rootedness, location, a fixed place in the world. That’s the impulse of the architect — to dig a foundation, place something there, anchor it to the ground and to make sure it stays upright for as long as you possibly can. So, in effect, the very nature of the discipline is always in tension with the nature of the African diasporic psyche, which is all about movement, about dispersal, about multiplicity.
What are the implications of this for architects? I'll try to give you a really concrete — no pun intended — example: one of my closest friends is a Dominican architect. She’s married to a Swiss architect and they run a practice together in Basel [Switzerland]. When she studied at Cornell 25 years ago, there was no talk about race or identity or fluidity. Anyway, her practice won the job of refurbishing a local school and during the design process, she decided to try and bring into the classrooms a certain quality of light that reminded her of Santo Domingo [Dominican Republic] — soft, golden, hazy. The light in Basel is very different; it’s much colder…a blue, harsh kind of light. So my friend takes a little palette of Estee Lauder gold eye shadow to her meeting with the engineers who were making the shutters, and she said, ‘Make me a metal shutter that filters the light to produce this colour.’ And they did it! And it was a little victory for her because it meant that when the shutters came down on a cold winter’s afternoon, the students inside the classroom were bathed in this Caribbean light, which the vast majority of them have never experienced, right there in Basel. I find it a really interesting example, particularly for African and diasporic architects who are now struggling to match their emotive responses, impulses and histories with a discipline that historically hasn’t wanted them.
Still, we have a long way to go. I was just at the Venice Biennale and the question on everybody’s lips was, ‘Where was Africa?’ Not a single African country was represented — at least not in a national sense. The South African government has a 20-year lease on a building in the Arsenale, but because of financial ‘irregularities’ this year, there was no tender put forward for South African architects. So the building has been paid for but it’s just standing there, empty. Back in South Africa, there’s understandable fury at the government for allowing it to happen. It’s incredibly sad. Government has the mandate to provide opportunities for culture to flourish…and it doesn’t. And that goes for all African countries. Not a single African government was able to support a single African architect at the world’s most important architectural event — and it’s not because we’re too poor to afford it. But the situation is also part of a more complex question about the relationship between us — citizens — and government, and I don’t think there’s anywhere where that relationship is more difficult than across Africa.
We’re a deeply feudal society — and I don’t mean that in terms of ‘good’ or ‘bad’; it’s just how it is. I often compare the set-up of the ruling elite to the court of Henry VIII. A few ministers gather around a powerful central figure on whose patronage their very lives depend. But the citizens outside the court exist in the 21st century, at a time when vast amounts of information are available to us in terms of seeing other places, having other aspirations, learning about other ways of doing things…everything from the welfare state to efficient public services…and we don’t see that reflected in our leaders’ plans or actions for us. Actually, it’s mostly the opposite. We look to government as a sort of benevolent father figure who will improve the quality of our lives but, nine times out of ten, that same father figure is looking to line his own pockets — and the pockets of those around him — not ours. We’ve inherited a political structure that comes from a very different source, both in time and place, and we’re struggling to adapt. Henry VIII didn’t become Henry VIII to make money; he already had money. You can question how he accumulated his wealth, but the fact remains that he had a lot longer than a political term of four years to do it, which creates its own kind of pressure and temptations. Still, for all that, you do get leaders who have the power to change things. And many of those have come out of Africa and the African diaspora…Mandela, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X.
[Professor Lokko speaks about radical transformations in architecture in the series Safe Space: Session # 01 from UJ GSA on Vimeo.]
GV: There's a very similar dynamic with regard to leadership the Caribbean.
LL: I’ve been running the Graduate School of Architecture for four years now, and every day, I’m reminded that leadership is like its own profession — it’s not some side thing you do in addition to your day job — that is the job. In the corporate world, there’s an incredible amount of thinking that goes into how to lead, how to manage, how to create better companies, better teams…in the public sector, however, there’s not so much. I suppose in the corporate world the bottom line — profit — is what drives success.
I look at many African leaders in government and I wonder if any of them have ever had anything like the level of support that’s required to lead. It is interesting that we never speak about those support mechanisms — the milieus that surround leaders. The psychology, the history, the mentoring…the add-ons that can make the difference between being a mediocre manager and a really great leader.
GV: You've talked about approaching teaching by “cracking students open” — finding out what drives them. What would be the potential impact of doing that?
LL:That’s a difficult question to answer. On the one hand, I hope the impact of opening up difficult topics like race and identity will make an enormous difference but on the other, I also long for a time when such questions aren’t seen as marginal, or only of interest to black students. That's partly why I’m here [in Trinidad and Tobago]. It’s really important for us (and I use that in a very broad sense) to have spaces and places — like really great schools of architecture — where those concerns are central. And they’re central in really deep, rigorous, creative, investigative, explorative ways. They’re not just what you ‘allow’ black students to do simply because they’re black. I think that’s the potential I see in the Graduate School of Architecture. South Africa, for many reasons, is the right place to put these issues on the table and see them succeed. It has the infrastructure, there’s money available for education, and for the first time, there’s a political imperative. Since the student protests in 2016, ‘decolonisation’ and ‘transformation’ are on everyone’s lips. The moral imperative and the political will to bring about change is there. They can’t duck the question anymore.
GV: To do that — effect change — which is what you are doing at the GSA, you have to have been inspired by others. Tell us about some of the architects and writers that have influenced you.
LL: For me, architecture begins and ends with Mies van der Rohe. It’s a cliché, I know, but it’s true. His work moves me in ways that I can’t adequately express. His buildings make ‘sense’ to me and that’s the product of seven years of a particular Modernist kind of training that is deeply ingrained. Literature is different. I never studied literature, so my tastes are probably more intuitive, less ‘trained.’ I’m influenced by subject matter as much as style, which I’m grateful for! Two writers in particular have had a huge influence on me. One is South African writer Nadine Gordimer — and not just because of her subject matter, which is what most people assume — but because she uses language the way an architect uses space; it’s structural, formal, very muscular. She’s a very difficult person to read because she doesn’t often follow conventions of punctuation and so on, but for me, she's the best. The other is an Australian writer called David Malouf. Both are loosely post-colonial writers, but their work a real example of how the same subject matter can be articulated so differently. As far as West Indian writers go, I read Walcott and Naipaul a lot when I was younger. Contemporary writers? Patrick Chamoiseau, Junot Diaz.
Professor Lesley Lokko talking about literature at the Bocas Lit Fest's headquarters in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Photo by Mark Raymond, used with permission.
GV: What about African writers?
LL: I struggle with a lot of African writers. There’s huge talent and an almost infinite range of stories to tell, but for many, the fact that they are African still dominates the narrative. I’m impatient for us to be free of that bind or that veil of ‘otherness’ through which we often have to write…it will take time.
I’m starting my literature talk [with Bocas Lit Fest founder Marina Salandy-Brown] with two conversations I had with my publishers after book three and after book six. Everyone said to me, your second novel’s going to be the hard one because the first has done really well. But it was the third one that fell apart. My contract was one novel a year, and the third one took three years and at one point my publishers got really fed up and said, ‘Bring the girl to London.’ So we get there and they're asking me why I'm finding it so difficult to write the novel. Eventually one of my editors, a really nice woman, said to me, ‘Lesley, for the love of God, we cannot understand what it is that you don’t understand. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again.’ My agent, who I think felt rather sorry for me, leaned across and whispered, ‘Don’t forget, that’s exactly what the Classics were about.’ I don’t know that it made me feel any better but it did have the effect of making me less precious. But by my sixth novel, I'm back in the same boardroom for a really awkward meeting that has since become the title of a talk that I give: ‘No more than three, please.’
The cover of one of Lesley Lokko's novels. Image courtesy Lokko, used with permission.
GV: “No more than three” what?
LL: [Grins mischievously] My editor says to me, ‘Lesley, we’ve had a little chat amongst ourselves and the thing is, we love your books…I mean we just love your books’ — and I’m thinking, ‘What on earth is going to come now?’ Then she says, ‘But we really feel we’ve got to draw a line somewhere. So we’ve had a chat among ourselves and we’ve looked at everything, and what we’ve decided is that we’d really like you to stick to three. No more than three.’ I’m fairly confused at this point and I ask them, ‘No more than three what? Will you just spit it out?’ And she says, ‘No more than three black characters.’
What they were essentially saying was, ‘Look, we appreciate that in all of your novels you feel you have to have a black character, but could you just limit it? Because after all, your audience is here.’ It was one of those moments where the wind is taken out of you. Was it a marketing decision? A moral decision? An ethical one? And then — my way of being sarcastic — I said, ‘Does mixed race count?’ In the end, I don’t know that I stuck to it — some books have less, some have more — but for me, it was the beginning of the end of that fiction-writing phase because I realised that what I thought I was doing and what they thought I was doing were two completely different things. I thought that I was merging a number of different genres — chick lit, thrillers, literary fiction, historical novels, political memoirs — but, in essence, I was really only writing sex-and-shopping blockbusters that still conformed to very particular rules. So, where I thought I was bending the rules, in actual fact I was simply obeying them, give or take a black character or three. I stopped writing after eleven novels and my publishers and I parted company very amicably, but I still think they underestimated the reading public.
What's interesting for me is that I still sell really well in Italy — relative to the overall size of readership, that’s my biggest market. I sell more numbers of books in the U.K., but the U.K. has a much bigger reading audience. If you look at the Italian book covers, you’d think I’m a completely different kind of writer and the questions I get asked when I do talks in Italy I’d never get in the U.K. More importantly, the books I write don’t speak to ‘black’ issues in the way that the literary world understands them…My UK editors were lovely, but there was always a hesitation to foreground those issues or promote me as a black writer, largely because they thought I’d go into the black interest section in book stores and sell 300 copies — and I’m not even that black.
If you look at writers like Taiye Selasi or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who are black in a very different way, they’re promoted as black — or African — writers, partly because the world of literary fiction, which is very different from commercial fiction, thrives on those kinds of distinctions, and partly because their work speaks very directly — and beautifully — to questions of identity in a very contemporary way. But there’s something about people like me — not quite black enough, not quite white enough, not writing to type — I think that’s quite difficult for a publisher to deal with.
But Meghan Markle’s going to change all of that. I watched the Royal Wedding the day before I left South Africa to come on this lecture tour. It struck me that we were watching something really profound, even if we only come to see it in hindsight. I’d like to expand on that a little. If someone asks me where I’m from, I’ll always say ‘Ghana.’ I would never say ‘England’ or ‘Scotland’, even though I was born in Scotland to a Scottish mother. But asking a mixed-race person where they’re from is always a more complex question. It’s invariably followed by, ‘But where are you really from?’ or ‘Where are your parents from?’ If I were pushed, I might say, ‘Well, I’m partly British.’ Now, I studied in the U.K. in the '80s and '90s, which was a very special time. It was the beginning of Cool Brittania, especially for everyone connected to the arts. Suddenly — and I remember this very clearly — there was another identity available to those of us who weren’t English, Welsh, Scottish — at least in the white, original sense of identity. That identity was contemporary British-ness and it gave all those bits and pieces of the former empire a different, legitimate meaning, especially in London. For me, Meghan Markle’s marriage has gone the other way, right to the heart of Englishness, in a way that no one else has. I don’t know that it will change anything immediately, but, for the first time that I can recall, Englishness has been broken apart.
Perhaps breaking apart the status quo held by architecture, literature and other forms of cultural expression for so long will be the impetus for lasting change.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Why Bamyan province brings out the best of Afghanistan · Global Voices
Maisam Iltaf

Scenes from the Dambura festival in Bamyan province. All photos by Zaker Mandegar (used with his permission)
The Bamyan region in central Afghanistan might be best known outside the country for a horrific crime perpetrated against cultural heritage, but 17 years on there are few parts of Afghanistan doing more to preserve culture.
In 2001, the Taliban infamously blew up a giant carved Buddha in Bamyan, a region defined by its diverse archaeology, coruscating lakes, vivid panoramic valleys and rich-green meadows.
If it is possible to muster a response to such devastating cultural loss, then the five-day Dambura Festival, which has now become a regular fixture in the region, would seem appropriate.
This year, the second edition of the festival took place under a brightly-coloured blue sky on June 29, welcoming thousands of spectators from across the country to celebrate the hypnotic jingle of one of the country's best-loved instruments.
Latest colorful pictures from #Dambura festival in #Bamiyan. Bamiyan is the capital of colors, history, art, culture, love, music & equality in #Afghanistan. This is why #Buddha lived in Bamiyan for ages. And this is the picture the world has to see from Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/WQ5cQ8njHp
— Ejaz Malikzada (@EjazMalikzada) June 29, 2018
The guitar-like dambura is made from mulberry wood. It is mainly played in the northern and central parts of the country.
The Dambura Festival is much more than a sing-a-long, however.
It aims to promote traditional music, introduce traditional handicrafts, strengthen tourism and celebrate culture. While such events are routine in many countries, in Afghanistan, they carry special significance, because they are not easy to hold once, let alone twice in a row.
Bamyan has seen less fighting than many Afghan provinces, which means there are fewer security constraints for organisers. In the last few years, the valley fortified by the Hindu Kush and Koh-i-Baba mountain ranges has hosted other festivals including the Silk Road Festival and Gul-e Kachalo (Potato Blossom Festival) among others.
Last year organisers were strongly criticized by the Bamyan Ulema Council, which called it Haram — unlawful — echoing the hardline position on music and dance propagated by the Taliban during the group's reign from 1996 to 2001. Nevertheless, the show went on.
Many artists came from other provinces — Ghazni, Ghor and Daikundi as well as the capital Kabul. The festival was supported by the Chinese Embassy to Afghanistan, UNESCO and the provincial government.
One challenge for social conservatives created by the festival is the prominence of women there. Out of 11 different performances, four were carried out by girl troupes. Although many praised their contribution, others registered extreme disgust. On Facebook female dancers and musicians were called “whores” who spread fahsha (whoredom) and promoted Western thoughts.
Mohammad Yasin Samim tweeted:
These pictures give us a clear message: security, awarness and gender equality. I wish to have such gatherings in all provinces. Music, cultural events and peaceful events are useful for mental and physical wellbeing of the country. #DanboraFestival in #Bamyian pic.twitter.com/JkNqglwNVs
— Mohammad Yasin Samim (@m_yasinsamim) June 29, 2018
Afghanistan's artistic and cultural life has been profoundly impacted by years of war. Sarwar Sarkhosh, a dambura legend, was amongst many who perished during the 1980s. The June festival awarded Sarkhosh for his art and the sacrifices he made to develop music in Afghanistan, particularly Hazaragi traditional music.
While Bamyan locals often accuse government of ignoring their region in terms of infrastructure and public services, tourism has emerged as an economic mainstay thanks to the work of organisations like The Bamyan Cultural Center and the Bamyan eco-tourism programme. The festival is another year.
Although there is a small trickle of foreign tourists into the province every year, mostly it is Afghans from other provinces who brave the unstable roads leading into Bamyan.
“I wish every province was Bamyan and every resident was a Bamyani,” Ahmad Kakar, a resident of Jalalabad province who attended this year's festival, told Global Voices.

author: Maisam Iltaf


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Attack by municipal guards signals rising threats against journalists in Ukraine · Global Voices
Kanykei Tursunbaeva

A member of the Municipal Guard attacks a journalist with teargas. Photo by Tomikage via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The year 2018 has thus far been a difficult one for journalists in Ukraine.
On June 4, 2018, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir issued a public statement condemning Ukraine's Spokesperson of the General Prosecutor, who had published a list of “traitors” against the state, which included two independent journalists. Désir called the move “unacceptable and dangerous” and urged authorities to intervene ensure that all state authorities uphold protections for media freedom.
A recent incident in which journalists were assaulted by city Municipal Guard workers suggests that the problem of state authorities and contractors seeking to stifle media activity may be widespread. In the city of Odessa, a dispute arose between a local law firm and several members of the Municipal Guard, a team of security workers who operate independent of law enforcement institutions, at the order of Odessa's city administration.
Three journalists came to the site of the dispute on July 13, where 40 municipal guard workers had come to remove several iron parking posts, at the city's behest. Conflict arose between the municipal guard workers and the law firm staff, who said that the parking posts belonged to their company.
Municipal Guard workers openly attacked the journalists with teargas and rubber clubs. The video below shows some of what happened next. The editor-in-chief of Unsolved Crimes newspaper was attacked by the municipal guard while filming. Vitaly Tkachenko, of Obshestvennyi Priboi newspaper, was hit in the chest and face several times by municipal guard employees.
Municipal Guard worker Grazevich Alexander shouts at the camera:
F*ck off from here, why are you filming me?! I will break your camera now and your face too!
Denis Razdorozhny, the inspector of the security department of the Municipal Guard, tells the journalists:
The boys were instructed to do everything by blood or in a normal way!
Journalist Miroslav Bekchiv, of Obshestvennyi Priboi newspaper, was forced into a car and eventually brought to the police station. While in the car, he was beaten and threatened by Yuri Savchenko, the first deputy head of the Municipal Guard of Odessa City Council, and Evgenyi Miroshnichenko, the deputy head of the Municipal Guard.
In the video, Yuri Savchenko can be heard saying:
Get the motherfucker into the car.
Evgenyi Miroshnichenko then says:
Listen you, fucking shit! I'm not going to take you to the police station, but will sort things out in a different manner! I'll take you to another place from which nobody comes back!
Bekchiv was later taken to a hospital, where doctors said that he had sustained traumatic brain injuries, signs of suffocation and eye burns.
On July 18, 2016 the Primorsky Court of Odessa placed two employees of the Municipal Guard, Oleinik Pavel and Gratsevich Alexander, under provisional house arrest. Both of them were informed before by the prosecutor’s office that they will likely be charged for under laws against “unlawful acts committed by officials by prior conspiracy” and “threat of murder, violence or destruction or damage to the property of a journalist”, both of which fall under Ukraine's penal code.
Though disturbing for Odessa residents, the incident did not come as a surprise — this not the first time the Municipal Guard has taken such measures.
While the Municipal Guard is licensed to perform security guard activities and is financed by Odessa's taxpayers, it has no relation to law enforcement bodies of Ukraine. According to the law, it has no other rights, except to provide security. It has no right to dismantle property. But in this case, city officials deployed the Municipal Guard to do just that.
The story shed additional light on the worsening state of security for journalists in Ukraine. According to data from the National Union of Journalists in Ukraine, not a single prosecution resulted from the 90 attacks on journalists that took place in 2017. As the community waits to learn the fate of Miroslav Bekchiv, who remains in serious condition, questions of how to protect media workers in the face of heightened threats are looming large.

author: Kanykei Tursunbaeva


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Ghanaians challenge their government over a telco monitoring program, claiming privacy violations · Global Voices
Kofi Yeboah

A computer lab at the University of Ghana. Photo by SandisterTei (Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0).
Ghanaian citizens and political advocates took their government to court over plans to implement a so-called “Common Platform”, a technical system that would allow regulators to monitor revenues accrued by telecommunication companies operating in the country.
Challengers say the system will monitor more than just revenues, warning that it will allow for easy government snooping on calls and messages.
Officials say they want to implement the system in order to monitor telecommunication companies in Ghana and ensure they are paying the right amount of taxes. The platform is owned and operated by a third-party company, Kelni GVG.
In July, two petitioners, Sara Asafu-Adjaye and Maximus Ametorgoh, appealed to the Human Rights Court in the capital, Accra, to hear their case. They argued that the system would infringe upon fundamental rights to privacy. The petitioners work in the technology and design sectors.
They urged the court to “prevent the Ministry of Communications and other defendants from allowing a third party, Kelni GVG, to have access to their private data.”
If and when it is implemented, the Common Platform will be operated by Kelni GVG, under contract with the government.
The company will have the ability to connect with communication systems of telecommunications companies and access their revenue patterns, in what appears to be an effort to increase tax revenues from the telecommunications and internet sector.
When the third party connects its monitoring system node to the network of the telecommunication companies, they have access to both revenue accrued and all the data of subscribers including the content of voice calls and text messages.
In June 2018, the Ghanian Chamber of Telecommunications corroborated the petitioners’ point, explaining that the Common Platform “has the capacity to actively or passively record, monitor or tap into the content of any incoming or outgoing electronic communications traffic such as voice.”
Multiple other groups have spoken out against the plan, including Occupy Ghana and the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, which raised concerns about the privacy dimensions of the plan, and the business interests of government and corporate actors who will benefit from the Kelni GVG contract. Parliamentarian Ras Mubarak has also threatened to sue the government and telcos if the deal goes through.
Before the High Court, on 10th July 2018, Asafu-Adjaye and Ametorgoh argued that the “intended connection to the Common Platform is in breach of Act 864 and ultimately the applicants’ fundamental human right to privacy of their correspondence and communication, as protected by Article 18 (2) of the 1992 Constitution.”
In support of the argument, Don Derrick responded to Ametorgoh's Facebook post:
This is good. We all need to be concern about privacy. if they want access to revenue, they can get that with an API [Application Programming Interface] but if they want full access to data, communications, financials and logs, that is a very nasty move. I am with you Maximus. Keep up with the Good work.
On Facebook, Gyebiba Ebony raised the question of what constitutes the privacy infringement with the Common Platform and compared this to a breach of privacy by some social media platforms.
In response, Ametorgoh explained that the Common Platform will connect to “all the nodes of the network instead of just the billing system node”:
They can intercept the content of the communication. The system is not supposed to have the capability to intercept or access the content.
[In contrast,] You decide what you post on social media. It’s called “social” media. If you share private content here, that’s up to you. You can’t even share some kinds of images here.
But the Human Rights Court in Accra, Ghana dismissed the petition raised by Asafu-Adjaye and Ametorgoh.
In the ruling, the court indicated that the two Ghanaians did not provide any real evidence to back their claims of privacy breach if the Common Platform should be implemented and that their argument was based merely on public sentiments and debates.
Franklin Cudjoe, a major supporter of Asafu-Adjaye and Ametorgoh's petition and the executive director of IMANI, indicated that the telecommunication companies did acknowledge that the Common Platform, when implemented, has the tendency to breach customer privacy and that the court ignored this evidence in its the ruling.
Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko, a member of parliament, argued that the tendency of a platform to cause a breach of privacy does not mean it will, by all means, breach privacy.
The Common Platform is likely to be implemented regardless of the final hearing because the court indicated that the State could suffer irreparable damage if an injunction is granted.
The petition submitted by Asafu-Adjaye and Ametorgoh was dismissed as of July 10, 2018. But opposition from civil society and even some legislators can be expected to continue.

author: Kofi Yeboah