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Russian Social Network VK Claims to Protect Users From Warrantless Surveillance · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

The headquarters of VK on Nevsky Avenue in Saint Petersburg (aka Singer House). Image from Wikimedia Commons.
VKontakte, the most popular social network in Russia, Ukraine, and other post-Soviet countries, has long been the subject of speculation about how exactly it deals with requests for user information from law enforcement and secret services.
VKontakte (or VK for short) representatives have generally remained tight-lipped about the inner workings of their user data management. But in January 2016, the network's press-secretary in Ukraine, Vlad Legotkin, suddenly opened up about VKontakte policies on data privacy, censorship, and, most importantly, on working with secret service requests (though he did not specify whether his comments related to Ukrainian or Russian law enforcement). Below is a verbatim translation of Legotkin's VKontakte post on the matter from January 11.
Друзья и коллеги-журналисты всегда спрашивают, почему команда VK не воспринимает всерьёз регулярные заявления профессиональных экспертов интернета — когда горе-блогеры и чиновники пытаются спровоцировать нас, чтобы, получив любую реакцию, набрать дополнительных баллов в глазах читателей и зрителей. Объясню нашу позицию.
Мы — не та компания, которая будет оправдываться на ежемесячных пресс-конференциях, убеждать партнёров сотрудничать с нами и заниматься самолюбованием с телевизионных экранов в погоне за минутой мнимой славы. Мы занимаемся созданием сервисов и выступаем за открытую конкуренцию. Выбирайте лучших.
Одни хвалят VK за отсутствие жёсткой цензуры по отношению к пользователям, другие годами критикуют за это же. Наша позиция останется очевидной и неизменной: в VK нет места цензуре. Более того, вся персональная информация и сообщения, которые находятся в сети, охраняются законом о тайне личной переписки. Если владельцы VK или любого другого ресурса начнут передавать личную информацию коммерческим либо государственным организациям, они нарушат не только моральные принципы, но и нормы закона.
Мы часто слышим: если кому-то из представителей государства будет нужно, они потребуют предоставить доступ к конфиденциальным данным безо всяких законных для этого оснований, а создатели самих ресурсов ничего не смогут сделать. Но на деле для абсолютного большинства людей сам миф о спецслужбах (который жив ещё с 2007-го года) является своеобразным способом потешить своё самолюбие. Им представляется, что их личная информация настолько важна, что даже спецслужбы, которых в первую очередь интересует борьба с государственными переворотами, стремятся во что бы то ни стало получить к ней доступ.
Наверняка существуют и те, чьи опасения действительно оправданы — в силу того, что они регулярно занимаются нарушением закона. Если Вы торгуете оружием или наркотиками, распространяете детскую порнографию или имеете отношение к организованной преступной деятельности, не пользуйтесь нашим сайтом вообще. Удалите свой аккаунт безвозвратно. VK как площадка всегда даёт возможность высказать мнение всем сторонам при соблюдении простого условия: сообщение должно быть корректным и не должно нарушать законы.
Для тех, кто любит и ждёт официальные заявления по поводу выдачи данных, сообщу следующее. Единственным условием, при котором личная информация может быть разглашена, является предъявление правоохранительными органами постановления суда, по которому передача такой информации является необходимой для проведения расследования. Мы подробно изучаем каждый запрос, чтобы быть уверенными, что для его удовлетворения имеются достаточные юридические основания: может быть передана только та информация, которая требуется по закону в рамках конкретного расследования.
Прошу прощения у всех, кого этот факт разочарует. Действительность бывает не столь интересной и сенсационной, как глупости, коими Вас пытаются напугать, манипулируя сознанием. И пугают-то люди, которых за ноутбуками видно лишь на фотографиях от пресс-служб. Для таких слово «интернет» всё ещё существует с заглавной буквой — как имя мифического персонажа или название страны из сказки.
Friends and fellow journalists always ask me why the VK team doesn't take seriously the regular claims of professional Internet experts—that is, when said bloggers and officials try to provoke us, to get any reaction out of us so they can earn more points in the eyes of their readers and viewers. Let me clarify our position.
We are not a company that will justify itself in monthly press-conferences, beg the partners to collaborate with us or preen at getting onto TV screens chasing the fleeting moment of glory. We work on creating services and stand for open competition. Choose the best.
Some praise VK for lack of harsh censorship directed at its users, others have been criticizing us for years for this very thing. Our position remains obvious and unchanged: there is no place for censorship at VK. Moreover, all personal information and messages stored in the network are protected by the law on privacy of personal correspondence. If the owners of VK or any other resource begin to pass personal information to commercial or state organizations, they will violate not only moral principles, but legal norms as well.
We often hear: if a representative of the state deems it necessary, they will demand access to confidential data without any legal grounds for it, and the founders of the websites won't be able to do anything in response. But in reality the very myth of secret services (which has been kicking around since 2007) is, for the absolute majority of people, a way to boost their own ego. They like to think that their personal information is so important that even secret services, who are mostly interested in combatting coups d'etat, strive to gain access to it no matter what.
It's likely there are those whose fears are warranted–due to them routinely violating the law. If you sell firearms or drugs, distribute child pornography or have connections to organized criminal activity, you better stop using our website period. Just delete your account for good. VK as a platform always gives an opportunity to all sides to speak their mind on one simple condition: the message must be considerate and must not violate any laws.
For those who love and expect official statements on giving out user data, I'll say this. The only condition upon which personal data can be disclosed is when law enforcement agencies can show a court-issued warrant which states that disclosing such information is necessary for conducting an investigation. We study each request for data carefully, in order to be sure that there is sufficient legal ground for satisfying it: we can only disclose that information which is required by law as part of a specific investigation.
Apologies to everyone who will be disappointed upon reading this. Reality is often less interesting and sensational than the foolish claims they're trying to scare you with while manipulating your conscience. And the people trying to scare you are only visible as press snapshots peeking from behind their laptops. For such people the word “Internet” is still spelled with a capital “I”—like the name of some mythical creature or the name of a country from a fairy tale.
Legotkin's explanations, while frank and no-nonsense, are at odds with independent observations and VK's own history when it comes to dissenting political speech. According to Russian media reports based on insider intelligence of those working on Russia's SORM surveillance system, the Russian government has played an active role in the evolution of VKontakte. Not only does the state monitor the website’s users, the sources claim, but it has also ensured VKontakte’s popularity over Facebook by obligating Internet providers to dedicate greater bandwidth to VKontakte traffic.
In September 2014, Russia’s Mail.ru Internet group became the sole owner of VKontakte, the country's largest social network. Mail.Ru group management is said to have close ties with the Kremlin, and the company happens to also own Russia’s other large social network, Odnoklassniki.ru. The new CEO of VK, Boris Dobrodeev, has direct ties to the Kremlin propaganda machine: he is the son of Oleg Dobrodeev, who is in charge of Russian state TV and radio broadcaster VGTRK.
Pavel Durov in 2012. Image by Nick Lubushko, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Previously, VKontakte founder and long-time CEO Pavel Durov said he refused to share information on Ukrainian opposition Euromaidan groups organizing on VKontakte with Russian secret police in December of 2013. Durov said he refused the law enforcement requests because Russia's jurisdiction did not apply to Ukrainian VKontakte users. “Giving Ukrainians’ personal data to Russian authorities would not only be a violation of the law, but would be a betrayal of the millions of Ukrainian citizens who trusted us,” Durov wrote at the time. He has also refused to block opposition groups aligned with Russian blogger and opposition political figure Alexei Navalny on VK.
But Durov had to sell his stake and eventually leave the company at the start of 2014, moving abroad and citing pressure from state security services and unfavorable business conditions in Russia as his reasons. VKontakte soon after blocked Ukraine-affiliated communities, including some right-wing nationalist groups in March of 2014.
While VK's staff may truly believe its policies about personal data and censorship are fair and transparent, the new owners and management may have different ideas about confidentiality of user information, especially when concerns like national security and international political influence are on the line.


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Seizing Jewelry Isn’t the Only Awful Change to Denmark’s Refugee Law · Global Voices
Eva Hoier Greene

#RefugeesWelcome to Copenhagen: Local citizens of Copenhagen, Denmark, organized a collection of necessities for the refugees from Syria when they arrive at Copenhagen Central Station. September 10, 2015. Photo by Chris Alban Hansen. CC BY-SA 2.0
When the Danish parliament passed the much-debated legislation L87 on 26 January, it unleashed a firestorm of controversy all over social and traditional media that remains little understood and poorly managed by the politicians that championed it.
The legislation is better known as the “Jewelry Law”. But while the duty of the police to search for and confiscate possessions worth 10,000 Danish crowns (about US $1,460) or more has caught almost all the attention, other paragraphs of the law poses a greater danger to the rights and well-being of asylum seekers.
The most overlooked aspect of the L87 law internationally is that asylum seekers must now wait three years instead of one to apply for their spouses and children to join them, which could potentially violate Denmark’s international treaty commitments (as Danish civil servants admitted themselves in drafting warning language into the bill presented to legislators). That's two more years of families being separated by war or insecurity.
The law also requires young men to stay in tent camps, with very limited mobility, despite a chronic surplus of empty housing in Denmark.
Still, the part about jewelry and other possessions is what caught the world's attention. After much debate and uncertainty, legislators exempted wedding rings and other pieces of jewelry with “obvious sentimental value” from L87. “Suitcases full of diamonds”, as Minister of Justice Soeren Pind helpfully pointed out, will not be exempted, however.
The wedding-ring exception did little to calm the backlash. Famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei cancelled a long-awaited exhibition at the Aros museum, former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Anan expressed his concern and shock, and the British paper The Guardian ran a cartoon depicting Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen in a Nazi-esque uniform.
On social media, police officer Jacob Nielsen wrote about his anger and despair in a note that has been shared more than 21,000 times:
Jeg blev ikke politimand for at plyndre flygtninge for DERES ejendele!
Men først og fremmest blev jeg politimand fordi jeg ved, at retfærdighed er noget der skal arbejdes hårdt for, og nogen er nødt til at beskytte dem, der ikke kan værge for sig selv. Ingen steder får man bedre mulighed for det end i politiet, når det ikke bliver misbrugt.
Jeg tager tit ting fra folk – fordi det er ulovligt, eller stjålet fra andre eller det bliver brugt til at skade andre, men jeg tager aldrig tøjet af folk eller roder dem i munden for at tage DERES EGEN RING.
……Imens jeg så skulle gøre det ville jeg helt sikkert tænke på, om mine afdøde bedsteforældre, der var modstandsfolk, og som jeg ser op til, mon vender sig i graven, i tanken om, hvem jeg er kommet til at ligne.
I did not become a cop to take away people’s own possessions!
Most of all I became a cop because I know that justice is something you have to fight hard for, and somebody has to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Nowhere else can you do that as well as in the police force – when you don’t abuse your power.
I often confiscate people’s things – because they are illegal, or because they were stolen from others or because they can be used to harm others. But I never strip search people or look in their mouths in order to take away THEIR OWN JEWELRY.
…. While doing that my grandparents who were in the Resistance and whom I admire so much, would roll over in their graves because of who I would remind them of.
Danish politicians and diplomats have tried in vain to point out that Denmark still remains a very generous country when it comes to devoting the UN-recommended 0.7% of GDP to humanitarian assistance and development aid — though as much as a third of that is being spent inside Denmark itself, meaning not all of that 0.7% of GDP is going toward supporting populations abroad that are in need. The argument that Danish citizens applying for welfare benefits also are subject to having funds and jewelry confiscated has also failed to make a dent in the negative press Denmark has been getting. Danish industries are getting concerned about the country’s deteriorating reputation.
So why are Danish politicians caught so flat-footed in this affair? Why the inability to explain what they consider a very fair proposal, rooted in traditional Danish values of contributing to the community before asking for its support?
One possibility is that when a country’s self-perception — in Denmark’s case that of being a tiny, humanitarian good-guy underdog incapable of inflicting harm — conflicts with reality, politicians tend to be particularly blinded by how their actions might look to outsiders.
Another possibility is that the right-wing immigrant-sceptic parties are all too aware of the publicity the jewelry law is attracting and are welcoming it. It’s become part of a deliberate rebranding of Denmark as an unattractive destination for asylum seekers that started in November 2015 with government-funded ads in Lebanese papers highlighting the country's strict measures regarding refugees.
The battle for Denmark’s reputation and political identity continues unabated and Danish politicians are learning, again, that doing national politics under an international microscope is a tricky business.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Eva Hoier Greene


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Spaniards Fired up Over Photo of Bullfighter With a Baby in His Arms · Global Voices
Lourdes Sada

The controversial photo of Fran Rivera bullfighting while holding his daughter in his arms. Published by eldiario.es under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
Famous matador Fran Rivera held up a red rag to social media recently when he published a photo on his Instagram account of him fighting a heifer while holding his 5-month-old daughter in his arms.
The photo was accompanied by the following comment:
Debut de Carmen, es la 5 generación que torea en nuestra familia. Mi abuelo toreo así con mi padre. Mi padre toreo así conmigo, y yo lo he hecho con mis hijas Cayetana y ahora con Carmen
Carmen's Debut: she is the 5th generation that fights bulls in our family. My grandfather fought like this with my father. My father fought like this with me, and I've done it with my daughters Cayetana, and now Carmen.
Within hours, the photo received millions of “likes” (almost 14 million as of this article) and thousands of comments highlighting animosity between supporters and opponents of bullfighting in Spain.
The “anti-bullfighters,” who have felt silenced for years by the protection that bulls receive from state institutions, have found an arena for their activism via social networks.
patry_yuma Desde luego los argumentos pro taurinos son rídiculos!! Criar a un ser vivo con todo lujo de detalles para desp torturarlos… reconocer que soys unos putos sádicos… ño que hay que oir… gracias a dios el mundo se esta concienciando y ojala deje de existir esta carniceria.
Of course pro-bullfighting arguments are ridiculous!! Raising a living being with such great care to later torture them… Recognize that you are a bunch of sadistic assholes… not that you need to listen… thank God the world is becoming aware and hopefully this carnage will cease to exist.
Alexvam76  Al que no le gusten los toros que respete los gustos de los demás. Es una foto de un padre con su hija .Mostrandole sus raíces.
To those who don't like bullfighting, respect other people's interests. It's a photo of a father with his daughter. Showing her her roots.
amparo_lopez_24 Ole tu f.r.paquirri y a los k no les gusta k luchen mas por detener el ambre en el mundo y dejen de meterse en algo k lleva toda la vida siendo una cultura española
Ole, Francisco Rivera Paquirri! Those who don't like it should fight more to end world hunger and stop meddling in something that has been a part of Spanish culture for a lifetime.
niceguy_rob87 Your a freaking idiot. Why would you risk your child's life with an animal who is not tamed!!! You don't deserve to have children!
The scandal quickly migrated to Twitter, where “Fran Rivera” trended on January 25. Tweets were typically loaded with sarcasm:
No tenéis vergüenza. Respetad la tradición de que un tío torture a un bicho con cuernos con su bebé en brazos. ¡Ya está bien, hombre!
— gerardo tecé (@gerardotc) January 25, 2016
You have no shame. Respect the tradition of a guy torturing a creature with horns with his baby in his arms. Enough, man!
Estoy deseando tener un bebé para llevármelo de crucifixión. — Dios (@diostuitero) January 25, 2016
I'm hoping to have a baby to bring him to a crucifixion. — God
-¿Señor Rivera, puede salir Carmen a jugar? pic.twitter.com/G3nwiB8861
— Valle Loko (@valle_loko) January 26, 2016
Mr. Rivera, can Carmen come out to play?
The issue even crossed borders, spiking interest from British actor and animal welfare advocate Ricky Gervais:
Mental, dangerous & cruel. With or without a baby. https://t.co/KOEH2ZLEyG — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) January 26, 2016
On the other hand, Rivera's fellow bullfighters have sympathized with the matador, posting photos of themselves bullfighting with children in their arms, as seen in Paula Zorita's tweet below:
¡Qué sabrán los antis de arraigo cultural y de valores! A mi me encanta ver estas fotos… #SiALosNinosEnLosToros pic.twitter.com/wGHJxEcUvH
— Paula Zorita (@Paula_Zorita) January 26, 2016
May the anti-bullfighters know about cultural roots and values! I love seeing these photos… #YesToKidsInBullrings
Thanks to these tweets, many netizens have been astonished to discover a seemingly habitual practice among bullfighters, where they post chilling images such as this one published by retired bullfighter Antonio Martin:
Mi hijo también disfruto en mis brazos toreando,viva la tauromaquia pic.twitter.com/qIwcK5ztmA — antoniomartinmartin (@AntonioTorero) January 25, 2016
My son also had fun in my arms bullfighting, long live bullfighting
User BorisVian left the following comment for Rivera on eldiario.es:
Tu tontería, te ha puesto a ti y a los compañeros en el punto de mira del mundo entero (siendo noticia y no de las buenas en varios diarios punteros internacionales). Creo que todavía no sabes hasta donde has metido la pata.
Your foolishness has put you and your fellow bullfighters in the entire world's spotlight (being news and not the good kind in several leading international publications). I think you still don't know how badly you've screwed up.
Indeed, news has appeared in papers all over the world, where the matador was repeatedly blasted as irresponsible.
Susana Parra Becerril, however, defended Rivera:
A mi me encantan los toros y la Fiesta. Lo que pasa es que en España, en vez de sentirnos orgullos de nosotros y de nuestras costumbres, somos unos acomplejados que nos parece mejor todo lo de fuera. No son más irresponsables los padres que beben y se ponen al volante? Y las armas en EEUU? O la violencia machista?
I love bulls and the Fiesta. What happens is that in Spain, instead of feeling proud of ourselves and our customs, we are self-conscious and everything from the outside seems better. Aren't parents who drink and drive more dangerous? What about guns in the U.S.? Or domestic violence?
Virgilio27 equated Spain with bulls on eldiario.es:
(…) El problema es que los toros huelen a España y eso a los antiEspañoles les jode. Una sociedad cada vez más hipócrita y falsa donde la gente se acojone por ver un animal ensangrentado es una sociedad enferma que no sabe lo que es la vida ni el valor de esta. Poner a los animales a la altura del ser humano es cuanto menos de ignorantes.
(…) The problem is that bulls smell of Spain, and that bothers those who are anti-Spain. A society more and more hypocritical and false where people get wound up about seeing a bloody animal is a sick society that doesn't know what life is nor its value. Putting animals above humans is at best ignorant.
Shortly after the scandal broke the Ombudsman of Andalucia alerted the public prosecutor of Sevilla — where the matador lives — to consider that the photo reflects “a situation of unnecessary risk to a child.”
The public prosecutor opened an investigation into the event filed under the category “for the protection of minors”, while Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality Alfonso Alonso advised the bullfighter to “reflect” claiming “it is not appropriate, under any circumstances, to endanger minors.”
Alonso did not feel that punitive measures towards Rivera were necessary, however.
The Popular Party in government to which Alonso belongs has been staunchly defensive of bullfighting, an activity that was declared a “cultural good” in 2013. The government has even bestowed the sport with fresh state grants during a period characterized by austerity and cuts. Despite this, polls show that fewer than one in five Spaniards support government funding for bullfights.
It is worth noting Fran Rivera is a matador well aware of the risk posed by angry bulls, given that he himself has suffered serious gorings in exercising his profession. As a child, Rivera lost his father, the famous matador Paquirri, who died in September 1984 after being gored by a bull.

author: Lourdes Sada


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The Dangerous and Complex Reality of Women Who Join Central American Gangs · Global Voices
Rocío Pérez Domenech

The world of gangs, which represent a significant proportion of the violence affecting Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras (known as the northern triangle), becomes much more complex when examined through the lens of the women involved.
The image shows a woman from a gang in El Salvador with the tattoos that identify gang members. Photo by ‘The Guardian’ [the photographer's pseudonym], published with permission on Oriente al Día's blog.
According to a study carried out by UNICEF in 2011, women represent approximately 20% of gang members in Honduras alone. These gangs, which had a huge impact in the civil war that gripped the region for a decade, are often seen as a refuge from the violence and homelessness that many young people's lives are defined by.
Many women believe that belonging to a gang shelters them from everyday violence and strengthens them against the aggression that surrounds them (often committed by their own gangs). El Salvador is a dangerous country for women. According to the Violence Observatory of the NGO the Organisation of Salvadoran Women for Peace (ORMUSA), about 2,521 women have been murdered in the last six years, an average of 420 every year. This statistic isn't on its way down, unfortunately, due to the violence in the region caused by drug trafficking.
A report titled ‘The Violent and the Violated’ by the NGO Interpeace highlights the factors that push many young people into joining a gang: “Extreme poverty, sexual violence, childhood maltreatment, dropping out of school, unemployment, easy access to weapons and drugs and, in every case, growing up surrounded by violence in neighbourhoods run by gangs.”
The website InSight Crime also analysed the problems that women face in these zones, and emphasised the following:
A partir de 2012, El Salvador registró la tasa de feminicidios más alta del mundo. Según el ex ministro de seguridad del país, el aumento de los feminicidios coincidió con la creciente incorporación de las mujeres a las pandillas. En Honduras, especialistas en temas de género informaron en 2010 que las novias y las madres de los pandilleros estaban siendo asesinadas cada vez más en actos de venganza.
Since 2012, El Salvador has registered the highest level of femicides in the world. According to the ex-minister for security, the increase in the number of women murdered has coincided with the growing number of women joining gangs. Specialists in gender issues stated that in Honduras in 2010 the wives and girlfriends of the gang members were increasingly being murdered in acts of revenge.
Poverty, structural violence and marginalisation are strong factors to why both men and women have joined gangs. However, the violence women suffer is more normalised and accepted by society. Other common reasons why women join gangs are being in abusive relationships, having a partner already in a gang or wanting to feel safe from potential rape on the streets.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Lucía Pérez, a member of Mara Salvatrucha, one of the most feared gangs in El Salvador, recognises the context of poverty and violence that surrounded her as she entered the world of gangs — and how she had to earn the gang's respect:
Yo me gané el sitio dentro de las filas. Era ruda y valiente. En general, a las mujeres nos toca hacer casi lo mismo que a los hombres: robar, vender drogas, armas, organizar algún secuestro y asesinar, claro […] En el barrio era parte de la rutina, de la forma de socializar, de sobrevivir. A mí nadie me dijo que era bueno o era malo. A los 12 años aprendí a ser una asesina, pensaba que era la mejor forma de defenderte, de ser del grupo fuerte y no del débil.
I won a place in one of the gangs. I was brave and tough. In general, women have to do almost the same things as the men: steal, sell drugs and weapons, organise kidnappings, and kill of course… In the neighbourhood it was part of our routine, how we socialised and survived. Nobody ever told me it was good or bad. At the age of 12 I learned how to be a killer, and I thought it was the best way that people could defend themselves, by being on the strong side rather than the weak one.
Lucía's story also demonstrates how difficult it is to get away from a gang, not only because of their codes of conduct which prevent them leaving, but also because of the physical appearance and history that come with membership:
[Yo] estaba tatuada y [con] eso todo el mundo sabe que es por que perteneces a una Mara. [Además…] la policía me había detenido varias veces, y con estos antecedentes nadie te da trabajo. Un día, me encontré que no tenía pañales para mi segunda bebé, que apenas tenía una semana. Le pedí dinero a su papá y éste me obligó a que lo acompañara a asaltar la casa de una anciana y [ahí] nos detuvieron.
I was tattooed, and this lets everyone know that you are part of a gang. The police had also caught me several times, and no one will give you a job when you have that sort of background. One day, I realised that I had no more nappies for my second baby, who was only a week old. I asked her father for money, and he made me come with him to burgle an old woman, and we were caught.
In a statement published on Oriente al Día blog, which focuses on news and opinions, a secondary school teacher offered his views of the relationship between young people and gangs and how they permeate different spaces. In some of these cases, the girls become the girlfriends of gang members and become known as jainas; in others, they become gang members themselves:
El reclutamiento de mujeres es primordial en la mara, ya que estas ayudan a esconder droga, recoger la renta e incluso asesinar a miembros de la mara rival […] Las jainas son mucho más peligrosas que las mismas mareras. Nadie puede tocarlas, ni verlas. Ellas tienen que ser leales a su marido para no perder este status dentro de la mara, y la vida.
Recruiting women is essential for gangs, as they help to sell drugs, collect income and even murder members of the rival gang… The girlfriends are much more dangerous than the female gang members. No one is allowed to touch them, or even see them. They have to be loyal to their husbands so that they never lose this status within the gang, and in their lives.
At first, the women who are hoping to become gang members have to stand being raped by some or all the members of the gang. Nowadays, many get to choose between being raped or being beaten up, just like the majority of their male counterparts. The majority choose the latter: for many of them, taking the blows becomes a form of gaining respect and proving themselves to be just as strong as the men, according to the Interpeace report.
Leaving a gang isn't something that happens often, since membership is for life. Ex-gang member ‘Little One’ explained in a 2009 piece by Andrés Martinez on now-defunct Spanish news website Soitu.es how entering ‘The 18′, one of El Salvador's biggest gangs, was a one-way decision:
Ingresar en una mara te marca de por vida, y en el caso que nos ocupa de forma literal: un 18 tatuado en su cara le recuerda cada vez que se mira al espejo que hace tiempo tomó una decisión sin marcha atrás […] Hoy se ha convertido en su castigo, en el responsable de que no pueda salir a la calle. […] Si la ve la policía, seguramente la detengan. Si se le ocurriese borrarse el tatuaje, los '18’ podrían sentirse ofendidos, entenderlo como un rechazo a la mara, y eso se castiga.
Joining a gang marks you for life, literally: the '18’ tattooed on your face reminds you every time you look in the mirror that you made a decision that's impossible to back out of… That becomes your punishment, meaning you can't go out on the streets… If you were seen by the police, you'd be arrested. If you decided to remove the tattoo, ‘The 18′ could become offended, taking it as a rejection of the gang, and they would punish you.
The gang structure can almost be seen as a more violent version of everyday macho attitudes. In the documentary ‘Segundos en el aire’ (Seconds in the air) from the Simeón Cañas University and the University Institute of Public Opinion in El Salvador, patriarchal gang culture echoes Salvadoran society as a whole:
Es un grupo de hombres, configurado por hombres, pensado por hombres y diseñado por hombres, en el que las mujeres son minoría cuantitativa, y en el que no existen razones para creer [… están] todos los estereotipos, prejuicios, desbalances y desigualdades entre hombres y mujeres que prevalecen en la patriarcal sociedad salvadoreña […]. De hecho, el machismo de la pandilla es una réplica, en versión micro, del extenso patriarcado salvadoreño.
It's a group of men, run by men, planned by men and designed by men. Women are the minority, and there is no reason to believe all the stereotypes, prejudices, imbalances and inequalities that prevail in the patriarchal Salvadoran society aren't there. In fact, misogyny in gangs is a microcosm of widespread Salvadoran patriarchy.

author: Rocío Pérez Domenech


text:
What Kicked Off in Uruguay that Lasts for 40 Days? · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Llamadas parade to the rhythms of candombe. Image on Flickr by user Mabel Flores (CC BY-ND 2.0).
The Uruguayan Carnival (“the longest carnival in the world”) kicked off on January 21, 2016. It's a popular celebration carried out nationwide between mid-January and late February that combines festivities of European and African origins over a period of 40 days, where theatrical shows, dances, colors, and the sound of drums are the rule.
The Uruguayan Carnival has two main aspects, the murgas and the candombe, as explained by Guillermo Font:
[…] no son antagónicas sino que más bien se complementan: las murgas, de origen español, cuyas letras tienen un alto contenido de humor y sátira social y política, la voz del pueblo, y jugaron un importante papel socio-cultural durante la dictadura (1973-84), y el candombe, de origen afro-negro, que recrea los orígenes africanos de los negros esclavos y la época colonial, con sus trajes, cantos y bailes típicos, culturas y religiones, y su evolución natural hasta nuestros días. Se suman las otras categorías Humoristas, Parodistas y Revistas.
[…] they don't oppose each other, but rather complement each other: the murgas, of Spanish origin, are rich in humor and social and political satire lyrics. They work with the voice of the people, and had an important socio-cultural role during the dictatorship (1973-84); and the candombe, of African origin, recreates the African origins of the black slaves and colonial times, with clothings, chants, and typical dances, cultures, and religions, and their natural evolution to this day. To these items, other categories (such as Humorists, Parodists and Varieties) are added.
The murgas express the “essence of people's sentiment“:
La categoría Murgas es conceptualmente un natural medio de comunicación, transmite la canción del barrio, recoge la poesía de la calle, canta los pensamientos del asfalto. Es una forma expresiva que trasunta el lenguaje popular, con la veta de rebeldía y romanticismo.
La murga, esencia del sentir ciudadano, conforma una verdadera autocaricatura de la sociedad, por donde desfilan identificados y reconocidos, los acontecimientos salientes de la misma, lo que la gente ve, oye y dice, tomado en chanza y en su aspecto insólito, jocoso y sin concesiones y si la situación lo requiriera, mostrará la dureza conceptual de su crítica, que es su verdadera esencia.
The murga category is conceptually a natural means of communication, it conveys the song of the neighborhood, it collects the street poetry, sings the feelings of the road. It's an expressive way that exudes popular language, with the seam of rebellion and romanticism.
The murga—the essence of citizen of people's sentimento—makes out a real self portrait of society, where they march identified and recognized, its noted events, what people see and say, wittily approached, and its unusual aspect, humorous and without licences and, if the situation requires it, it will show the conceptual roughness of its criticism, its true essence.
Meanwhile, candombe is a cultural manifestation of African origin that:
[…] es una manifestación espiritual, que representa los sentimientos del pueblo Afroriental. En él se conjugan, las tradiciones de los pueblos de Benguela, Angola y Kongo junto a lo de los españoles, portugueses, guaraníes, charrúas y chanás.
[…] is a spiritual manifestation, that represents the popular feelings of the Afroeastern people. There, traditions from the Benguelas, Angolas, and Kongos, along with the Spanish, Portuguese, Guaranies, Charruas, and Chanas get combined.
Along with tango, there is candombe fue declarado, which is inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity de la humanidad by UNESCO. It is part of Uruguay's African legacy:
El candombe ha sido tan fuerte, profundo y esencial que en lugar de haber desaparecido […] se ha convertido en un elemento cultural que identifica a Uruguay.
[…]
En su época cumbre, los africanos organizaban el candombe todos los domingos y en las grandes fiestas de Año Nuevo, Navidad, Resurrección, San Benito, Virgen de Rosario y San Baltasar.
Candombe has been so strong, deep and essential that, instead of disappearing […] has become an identifying cultural element of Uruguay. […]
During its high point, Africans organized candombe every Sunday and during the major festivities of New Year, Christmas, Resurrection, St. Benedict, Virgin of the Rosary, and St. Balthasar.
The traditional ways of celebration of the Uruguayan Carnival are three: theater-musical representations, dances and entourages, marches and parades, such as the llamadas.
#Insólito #Montevideo vive 40 días de fiesta con el inicio del carnaval más largo del mundo, el #CarnavalDeUruguay. https://t.co/kYfKhVSelG
— Imagen Poblana (@imagenpoblana) enero 24, 2016
Unprecedented. Montevideo goes through 40 days of celebration with the kicking off of the longest carnival in the world, the Uruguayan Carnival.
@telefenoticias DURANTE EL DESFILE INAUGURAL DE CARNAVAL EN URUGUAY NACIÓ NUEVO RITMO “CANDOMAMBO” FUSIÓN DE MAMBO – CANDOMBE ES SENSACIÓN!
— JOSE MANUEL OCAMPO (@mglfalero1) enero 23, 2016
During the opening parade of the carnival in Uruguay, a new rhythm was born, “candomambo”, fussion of mambo and candombe – Candombe is it!
Este es el Carnaval más largo del mundo y puede extenderse dos meses https://t.co/YJLjACgwrF pic.twitter.com/GaAU5YPqOz
— Contrapunto (@contrapuntovzla) enero 23, 2016
This is the longest carnival in the world and can go on during two months.
Si a Ud. Le gustan las murgas… Sigan el carnaval del Uruguay acá => https://t.co/mLjWfgKWm4
— #FDLA2016Melipilla (@Mars_Voltiano) enero 24, 2016
If you like murgas… Follow the Uruguayan carnival here.
The website Carnaval del Uruguay includes a complete list (in Spanish) of the activities that will be held during these days of celebrations.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
For Myanmar’s People, Aung San Suu Kyi’s Government Marks a New Dawn · Global Voices
Juan Cebu

The opening session of Myanmar's parliament. Photo taken from the Myanmar Ministry of Information Official Facebook Page.
The opening session of Myanmar's parliament on February 1, 2016, was greeted by many citizens as an important milestone in the country's transition to democracy. The parliament is dominated by the National League for Democracy (NLD), which defeated the military-backed party in the general elections last November. NLD is led by former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar became an independent state in 1948, but lost its short-lived democracy when General Nay Win grabbed power in 1962. After more than two decades of military dictatorship, a massive national riot broke out, forcing General Nay Win to step down in 1988. Two years later, a general election was held, but the army did not recognize the results showing Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of national hero General Aung San, had won. Instead of becoming president, she was placed under house arrest by the junta led by the new military dictator, General Than Shwe.
It was only after another two decades that the military government announced its intention to implement democratic reforms in the country. A new constitution was unveiled, which preserves 25 percent of the seats in parliament for the army. In 2010, the military-backed party led by former General Thein Sein dominated the election, which was marred by widespread irregularities.
The new government continued to enforce draconian policies such as the persecution of minority ethnic peoples, the arrest of critical journalists and activists, and the intensification of local conflicts. But surprisingly, it also pursued significant political reforms such as the release of hundreds of political prisoners, the dissolution of censorship and the liberalization of the Internet.
After her release from prison, Aung San Suu Kyi led the opposition to an electoral victory. But she is constitutionally barred from becoming president since her spouse and children are foreigners. The new ruling party will nominate a new president in two weeks, but Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to remain a powerful voice in the new government.
Meanwhile, many people in the country are optimistic about the first day of the new government. Here are what some people are saying on social media.
Phyu Phyu Thi posted on Facebook the significance of the people's role in the election.
Today is the day we have been waiting for so long. People Power
Helen Aye Kyaw noted that the first parliament session was chaired by a woman.
ပြောင်းလဲပါပြီ
သဘာပတိကလည်း အမျိုးသမီးပါ
ဒေါ်ခင်ဌေးကြွယ်ပါ
Change indeed. The session is chaired by a woman. Daw Khin Htay Kywe.
Photo shared by Helen Aye Kyaw (screen shot from television). Daw Khin Aye Kywe of the NLD party reading the agenda of the parliament.
Human rights activist Aung Myo Min also recognized the significance of this event:
ပြောင်းလဲမှုတခုတော့ သိသိသာသာပါ… အမျိုးသားထိုင်နေကျနေရာမှာ အမျိုးသမီးတယောက်တယောက် နေရာယူလိုက်ပါပြီ…
The change is really significant. Now a woman is taking the place where only the men have sat in the past.
Former blogger and political prisoner and current Member of Parliament Nay Phone Latt honored the heroes of the democracy movement:
ဒီလိုနေ့မျိုးရောက်ဖို့ နည်းမျိုးစုံနဲ့ရင်းနှီးပေးဆပ်ခဲ့ကြတဲ့ အဘဦးဝင်းတင်အပါအဝင် ဒီမိုကရေစီသူရဲကောင်းများအားလုံးကို
ဒီနေ့မှာ ထူးထူးကဲကဲ သတိရနေမိပါတယ်။
ဒီပုဂ္ဂိုလ်တွေရဲ့ စိတ်ဝိဉာဉ်တွေကို ဦးထိပ်ပန်ဆင်ပြီး
ရဲရင့်လေးနက်စွာနဲ့ ရှေ့ခရီးကို ဆက်လျှောက်ပါ့မယ်။
Today I am specially remembering the heroes of democracy including Uncle U Win Tin, who all sacrificed their lives for this day to arrive. Keeping alive their spirit in my heart, (I) will bravely walk forward.
The Ladies News Journal also shared a photo of the wife of journalist Ko Par Gyi, who was shot dead by the military during the previous government. She is now also a member of parliament representing her hometown:
Photo shared by the Ladies News Journal.
The post reads:
ကမ္ဘာ့သမိုင်းတွင် မှတ်တမ်းဝင်သွားပြီဖြစ်တဲ့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံမှ အကြမ်းမဖက် ဒီမိုကရေစီအောင်ပွဲ
Myanmar's non-violent democracy victory that made it to the world.
However, some people are still skeptical about the continuing involvement of the army in lawmaking:
#Myanmar Way to Democracy: AungSanSuuKyi will run cabinet, but generals continue to run the lives of 1.5 million https://t.co/ahwoSsBTDu
— maung zarni (@drzarni) February 1, 2016
This includes cartoonists, who are still critical about the army's influence.
Cartoon by Cartoon Win Aung. Shared by BrainWave.
Cartoon by Cartoon Win Aung. Shared by BrainWave. The text reads: “if it is not in the right environment, it is impossible to grow.” The text over the tree reads: Democracy.

author: Juan Cebu


text:
How to Train for Digital Literacy in Venezuela—When Internet Isn’t Always Available · Global Voices
Marianne Díaz Hernández

Workshop in Barquisimeto. Photo by Jose Monasterios on Twitter.
Global Voices Exchange (GVeX) is a Rising Voices project aimed at developing training and mentoring frameworks for the practice of digital advocacy in the Global South. In this post, republished from the GVeX site, Marianne Díaz Hernández, one of the project team members, explains her experience with digital literacy training in situations without connectivity.
I spent last November traveling through my country — Venezuela — with citizen media network Reporte Ya to give workshops on social media use for coverage of the December parliamentary elections, including tips and tools for digital security. These activities were aimed at ordinary citizens, including college students, professionals from different backgrounds and even politicians.
In a sociopolitical context where traditional media is not functioning properly, digital media and social networks have somehow fulfilled, at least partially, the need for information, communication and debate around social and political topics; however, Internet penetration in Venezuela is still somewhere around 62% and digital literacy, even though it hasn’t been measured, is obviously lacking. This is the reason why we thought it was important, given the circumstances, to help people understand and empower themselves in the use of social media tools.
Audience’s contexts are always different, usually not homogeneous, and not the same as the facilitator’s. We had to deliver the same workshops in the capital city of Caracas and in villages with very little Internet connectivity; in some places people couldn’t choose their ISP or they had regular blackouts for several hours. Coming prepared with all sorts of tools and apps doesn’t mean that our audience is going to be able to use them; it is very important first to analyze the context and develop a proper strategy that can be adapted to the specific audience and the particular challenges it faces.
Not only analysts need to understand how to retrieve and analyze big amounts of data; regular citizens as well can find useful to learn how to interpret a trending topic, or the critical mass a particular piece of information can achieve and its meaning with regards to the particular context and situation. For instance, when a lot of fake photographs are appearing and thus disseminating rumors in the context of a political upheaval, learning how to reverse search for an image can be very useful for anyone, and creating a relationship of responsibility towards the information that we receive, consume and replicate can mean all the difference to a connected citizen.
When we train about very specific issues, for instance when we train about technology use, it’s easy to take for granted that your audience shares some previous context with you as a facilitator. However, they all have different backgrounds, and some terms might mean something different — or nothing at all — to them. It’s important to give them the opportunity to catch up to you, and to provide materials that are understandable and in their language. When delivering workshops to indigenous populations, we had to understand that Spanish, even though it’s the official language of the country, is not their mother tongue but their second language, and this means there is already a language barrier. Making guides and materials available in your audience’s language can make an enormous difference.
Internet outage map for Venezuela parliamentary elections, Dec. 6, 2015. Crowdsourced by NGO Acceso Libre via Open Street Maps.
Depending, again, on the context, it is possible to find ourselves delivering a workshop in an auditorium with WiFi and the latest model of projector available, or it’s possible that there is a blackout and there is no electricity — and of course, no Internet — and you have traveled six hours only to be there for that day. Suspending the activity is not an option, because it means it won’t get done another time. To be prepared means to have a plan B and sometimes, also a plan C for when everything fails: to have offline backups of everything you need, and not to get too overwhelmed when everything that can fail actually does fail.
In my country, there is a culture of two-hour workshops with no hands-on training or follow-up. This means that the rate of people who actually leave the workshop and apply what they have learned is very low. Understanding that it is your duty as a facilitator to do follow-up after the event has taken place, and provide additional support if needed, can make all the difference between someone who only sat there for a couple of hours and then returned to their regular life, and someone who actually applied the knowledge to their life.
All in all, I think that all of this sums up to being aware of differences, which in my opinion is one of the most important skills an activist or an advocate can have: to realise that you cannot assume that your audience has the same background, context, tools, opinions or privileges that you might have, and to see that as an advantage instead of an obstacle to be surpassed: to learn how to navigate, ride and thrive on difference can be a powerful motor for change.

author: Marianne Díaz Hernández


text:
No Smoking Please, We’re Turkmen · Global Voices
Anna Fergana

Photo by Curran Kelleher. CC BY 2.0
Citizens in Turkmenistan will have a much harder time puffing away their worries over the country's brewing economic crisis this year, following an effective ban on cigarettes in the isolated state.
Even before the latest crackdown in January, which has seen cigarettes disappear from shops and heavy regulations for the certification and import of tobacco introduced, there were bans on advertising tobacco and smoking in public spaces.
Last year, the country was declared the country with the fewest smokers per capita in the Europe and Central Asia region by the World Health Organization, a geographical category state media subsequently rephrased as “the world”.
Eurasianet provided some background to the latest anti-tobacco drive.
Dogmatic opposition to smoking among the authorities goes back a long way.
The late President Saparmurat Niyazov, who died of heart failure in late 2006, banned smoking in all public places in 2000. In doing so, he acted with the typical zeal of a former smoker. After being operated on for heart problems, he was told by doctors to give up cigarettes, which is when he decided to try and extend the prohibition to all his subjects.
Similarly, when Berdymukhamedov came to power, he was notably on the chunky side. Since then, he has embarked on an exercise drive that has visibly slimmed him down. Accordingly, he has become an energetic proponent for healthy living.
State television on January 15 broadcast the faintly surreal sight of diplomats, village elders, representatives of the local media and students shoveling narcotics and blocks of cigarettes onto a pyre.
Before airing the demonstrative act, state television showed a news report about the capture of a group of people accused of illegally smuggling cigarettes into Turkmenistan. The group included two businessmen, an official with the customs service and a representative of the government standards agency. As the report explained, the businessmen bought the cheap and low-quality cigarettes abroad, the customs official took bribes to look the other way and the standards agency official provided certification to ensure the goods could be sold in shops.
Netizens from neighbouring countries such as Russia have tended towards criticism of the anti-smoking restrictions, which have already seen cigarette packs double in cost on the black market according to the Eurasianet report.
Андрей Ростов likened Turkmenistan's actions to those of Russia's own ban-happy government:
Ну, Горбачёв тоже боролся с алкоголизмом и вводил “сухой закон”.
Ваш нейтральный и независимый перзидент уже уничтожил в Ашхабаде зелёные насаждения, запретил открывать окна в домах в центре города (ему гадалка нагадала, что его убьют из окна, когда он будет ехать на работу)…”(с) уничтожает спутниковые антенны и кондиционеры. Доллары запретил, теперь за сигареты взялся. Скоро будете перенимать передовой российский опыт, вы будете сжигать еду.
Well, Gorbachev also fought alcohol consumption and introduced a “dry law”. Your neutral and independent president already destroyed green trees in Ashgabat, put a ban on opening windows in the city centre (a fortune teller told him that he’ll be killed from a window on the way to work)…he destroys satellite dishes and air conditioning. [Sales of] dollars are banned, now it’s cigarettes’ turn. Very soon, you’ll go Russia's way of burning food.
An anonymous commenter added:
Запреты, запреты и запреты. Люди уже ничего не могут самостоятельно делать.
Bans, bans, and bans. People cannot do anything on their own these days.
Visitors to the opposition website Chrono-tm showed support for the new measures, however, and spoke in favour of healthy living. A similar trend was observed in the comments section of a YouTube report.
Сигареты — это такая гадость! Правильно, что их убирают из продажи.
Cigarettes are disgusting! It’s only correct they are banned from sale.
Говорят, что будут продавать по три пачки в месяц на человека. Ну как с долларами.
People say that they will allow three packs per person per month. Just like they did with dollars.
*Prior to the ban on dollar sales, citizens were restricted in the amount of foreign  currency they could purchase.
Давно пора! Сами травятся и окружающих травят. Если на западе существует культура потребления (зоны для курящих и некурящих, ограничение в продаже несовершеннолетним, и т.д.), то в ТМ этого нет, пыхтят как паровоз где попало.
It’s overdue! Smokers kill themselves and people around them. While in the West there is a culture of consumption (areas for smokers and non-smokers, the restriction of sales to minors, etc.), there was [originally] nothing like that in Turkmenistan, [people] puffing away like locomotives anywhere.
A map of smoking restrictions in the world via Wikipedia.
But one commenter argued it would be better if authorities awakened a desire to live longer and healthier in the people instead of constantly imposing more restrictions and bans:
Думается, что запрещать что-либо — это полный бред. Люди так устроены, что все равно будут жить вопреки запрету. Если байствующий главарь хочет сохранить здоровье, так пусть создаст такие условия, что бы хотелось жить долго и счастливо. Тогда богатые, довольные своей жизнью люди сами избавятся от вредных привычек ради удлинения своей счастливой жизни
Banning something is complete nonsense. People are made in such a way that they will live in violation of those bans. If the leader wanted to promote a healthy lifestyle, he should create conditions where people want to live longer and more happily. Once rich and satisfied with their lives, people will shelve their unhealthy habits in order to prolong their happy lives.

author: Anna Fergana


text:
Saudi Arabia Reduces Ashraf Fayadh’s Death Sentence to Eight Years in Prison and 800 Lashes · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Ashraf Fayadh .. via Instagram
Saudi Arabia overturned the death sentence of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh, accused of apostasy and other blasphemy-related offenses which he denies, to eight years imprisonment and 800 lashes, announced his lawyer via Twitter today.
In a tweet, which had a press press release in Arabic attached to it, his lawyer Abdulrahman Al-Lahim said the court has revoked the death sentence, replacing it with the prison sentence and the public lashings, at the rate of 50 lashes per week, as well as enforcing Fayadh to renounce his poetry in Saudi official media:
الجديد في قضية #أشرف_فياض
الدائرة القضائية تُقرر الرجوع عن حكمها السابق وتصدر حكما جديدا
والتفاصيل في المرفق pic.twitter.com/slCRfw8QVf
— عبدالرحمن اللاحم (@allahim) February 2, 2016
The court has decided to overturn its previous decision and issued a new verdict. Details enclosed.
The lawyer maintained that Fayadh was innocent and called for his immediate release from prison.
Fayadh, who was born and lives in Saudi Arabia, has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale and has been a key leader of Edge of Arabia, a British-Saudi art organization. Fayadh was first detained in August 2013 in Abha, in South Western Saudi Arabia, by the country's religious police, also known as the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
The 35-year-old was released on bail only to be arrested again on January 1, 2014, when he was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes. After his attorneys appealed, judicial authorities decided to re-try his case before a new panel of judges, who sentenced Fayadh to death in November 2015, on charges of promoting atheism in his 2008 poetry collection, Instructions Within.
According to Human Rights Watch:
Prosecutors charged him with a host of blasphemy-related charges, including: blaspheming “the divine self” and the Prophet Muhammad; spreading atheism and promoting it among the youth in public places; mocking the verses of God and the prophets; refuting the Quran; denying the day of resurrection; objecting to fate and divine decree; and having an illicit relationship with women and storing their pictures in his phone.
On Twitter, many continued to criticise Saudi Arabia and its human rights record, despite the reduction of Fayadh's sentence. Zena tweets:
A relief that #AshrafFayadh death sentence has been dropped. But 8 years & 800 lashes for no crime is not justice. pic.twitter.com/w7kCHycvFi
— Zena (@Zena__E) February 2, 2016
Bandar Almogtrb adds:
#الغاء_حكم_اعدام_أشرف_فياض
العدل هو الإفراج الفوري وتعويضه رداً للاعتبار لما جرى له ولعائلته بسبب هذا الظلم الذي وقع عليه!
— Bandar al-mogtrb (@1mogtrb) February 2, 2016
Justice is the immediate release of Ashraf Fayadh and compensating him for what has happened to him and his family from all this
And Naser Al-marshdi says its high time Saudi Arabia had a written law to avoid what he described as arbitrary rulings by judges:
قضية #أشرف_فياض دليل صارخ على أهمية “تدوين الأحكام”، الذي سيخرج الحكم القضائي من سلطة القاضي ومشاعره وانطباعاته واستنتاجاته الشخصية.
— N.AL-marshdi (@NaserAlmarshdi) February 2, 2016
Ashraf Fayadh's case is clear proof that there needs to be written laws which judges abide to and not base their rulings on their feelings and impressions and personal interpretations
Meanwhile, Shatha Nour is shocked anyone would celebrate this decision as a victory for Saudi justice:
#الغاء_حكم_اعدام_أشرف_فياض
متفاجئة للغاية من الذين يقولون يحيا العدل، أي عدل؟
عدل سجنه 8 سنوات؟
أم جلده 800 جلدة؟
هل هذا هو سقف عدالتكم؟
— شذى نـور (@shatha_writer) February 2, 2016
I am shocked with those celebrating Saudi justice. Is jailing him for eight years just? Or are the 800 lashes just? What justice are you talking about?

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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The Zika Virus Threat Looms Large in the Caribbean · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Death to Chikungunya #Trinidad” may soon have to be renamed to “Death to Zika”. Photo by Georgia Popplewell, used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
The Zika virus is causing a bit of a panic in the Caribbean after Brazilian health authorities noticed an unusually high incidence of microcephaly in areas of the country that have high mosquito populations. Microcephaly is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which the head circumference of newborn babies is smaller than usual. Brazil has since made a connection between the mosquito-borne Zika virus and the foetal brain-damage outbreak — and doctors there are suggesting that the virus “could be having a wider range of effects” on foetal development. Unsurprisingly, the virus is spreading beyond South America.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the most southerly islands in the Caribbean archipelago, the virus has been declared a national health emergency.
#Caribbean #News: Trinidad declares health emergency over Zika virus: The post Trinidad declares health emerge… https://t.co/W7BdOdfTqQ
— Le JAKO de l'île! (@TwitJAKO) January 31, 2016
As in other areas where the virus is a threat, women have been advised not to get pregnant, but this is not always a surefire method of prevention in a region where access to contraception may be limited or a low priority for those in lower income brackets, and where religious beliefs often play a role in decisions over artificial birth control.
Trinidad and Tobago appears to be taking a proactive approach to the problem, however. Rapid Response Units (RRUs) are being set up throughout the twin island republic to deal with the prevalence of the the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which spreads the disease. Fogging and spraying of residential communities, which has not been as widespread as is needed to keep the mosquito population at bay, will also be on the increase. The country's health minister has given instructions that during the country's Carnival season, all the major event venues will be sprayed, though he stopped short at screening visitors for the virus at ports of entry, saying it was not a feasible proposition. Instead, he encouraged people to take precautions against getting bitten and to ensure that their homes are not breeding grounds for mosquitos.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has announced that the Zika virus constitutes a global health emergency:
Zika-linked disease is WHO emergency https://t.co/NVSsGyLIcM #Caribbean #LatAm
— ISLAND SWAG (@islandswagco) February 1, 2016
At the Barbados Underground blog, Kammie Holder wrote a guest post lamenting the “lazy” response to the Zika threat by the country's health authorities:
Zika is upon us with the US CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] issuing a travel advisory against countries with cases. Unfortunately, many are not reporting that this mosquito born disease also causing paralysis in adults. Hopefully, some day the lazy indifferent decision makers will learn the importance of the proactive approach. I guess they are waiting until the planes start arriving empty to act.
Scientists are currently investigating whether the Zika virus is also linked to the nerve disorder Guillain-Barré, which can cause paralysis.
Much further north along the archipelago, Babette, a Dominican Republic-based blogger, remembered the debilitating effect the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus has had on her:
I have not been well really since the chikungunya.
That must be about two years now […] the pains in my joints have not really left me, just as some had predicted might happen.
Dona Gloria, my neighbor who has 25 years on me, stops in front of the bars on my ground floor apartment on her way to the market and we rub our respective wrists and complain about our ankles.
Of the Zika threat, she wrote:
Now there is another virus on the way. One that attacks new bornes [sic]. Called Zika. It gives them tiny heads. The women and girls are being told not to get pregnant.
But the Catholic Church, which rules here under the Papal Nuncio, forbids the use of contraceptives (ah yes, you think that they use them? that the machos spend their money on latex? that they take showers with raincoats? think again)
and abortion is prohibited […]
Fears over the spread of the disease and its threat to children still in utero have resulted in several countries issuing travel advisories, which could in turn have a serious negative effect on Caribbean tourism, the economic mainstay of several regional territories. There is currently no treatment or vaccine available for the virus.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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A Tanzanian Woman’s Brutal Mob Assault Highlights Racism in India · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot of the torched car from which Tanzanian students were dragged out and beaten.
A 21-year-old Tanzanian student was violently assaulted in Bangalore, India, on 31 January 2016 by a mob in a disturbing instance of vigilantism and racism.
The mob, which targeted her after a Sudanese student allegedly hit and killed a 35-year-old woman while driving in the area, beat her, stripped off her clothing and paraded her around naked while the police reportedly watched. The Tanzanian student, who is a second year business student at Acharya College, came to the spot travelling in another car along with four others some 30 minutes afterward and was not even remotely connected to the accident.
Nevertheless, the mob forced the students out, beat the driver and torched their car. They robbed them of their belongings, then proceeded to strip the girl naked. The incident only hit the news on 3 February after she went to the local police and they refused at first to register the case.
The horde was so enraged that they beat someone from the crowd who had offered her a T-shirt to cover up with. When the young woman then tried to enter a local bus nearby, the passengers pushed her back down into the hands of the mob.
The violence sparked a flood of condemnations on Twitter:
Mob beats the Tanzanian girl, strips her, and WHAT IS POLICE DOING THERE? JUST WATCHING.#Bengaluru
— Dipankar. (@deep_anchor) February 3, 2016
Sudanian's car kills Bangalore resident. Locals strip and assault a Tanzanian girl 30 minutes later. This is how racism as a mindset works
— Madhavan Narayanan (@madversity) February 3, 2016
Sudanese guy causes accident.
Tanzanian girl caught.
Stripped, beaten.
Because, if you're a misogynist & racist, who has time for geography?
— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) February 3, 2016
Any action against cops who watched while Tanzanian girl stripped by angry mob in Bangalore? Bangalorewasis, please rage, rage, rage
— Namita Bhandare (@namitabhandare) February 3, 2016
If you legitimise mob sentiment, don ‘t be surprised if it degenerates into mob justice,mob violence. https://t.co/aMMNDcZY3z …
— पत्रलेखा পত্রলেখা (@patralekha2011) February 3, 2016
According to Bosco Kaweesi, a legal adviser for the All African Students in Bengaluru, the frenzy continued into the night, as local residents went to houses where African students live and harassed them. He said they also stopped vehicles in the street to check if the occupants were African-looking. The African student community is still scared and students are reluctant to come out in the open.
Racism against dark skin exists in India. Black men are dogged by the assumption that they are violent or a criminal, and black women that they are sex workers. As Crystal Kushwaha, an American woman married to an Indian man, explained on question-and-answer site Quora:
[Indians] favor light skin, and in turn, dislike dark skin. Which leads to prejudice against their own race (those with dark skin), as well as others with dark skin.
A video uploaded to YouTube by India Times in April 2015 offers insight into the kinds of encounters with racism some Africans have in India, including being spit at, pointed at, laughed at, called offensive names and treated as dangerous:
One man explains witnessing that racism be passed on from parent to child:
There was a lady and the child was having issues with the mother. And the mother was like come on, chalo, let's go, and the baby was actually disturbing the mother. She turned and saw me coming behind them and the only thing that she could use to scare the child was to tell the child to look at me, said “See! This person is going to take you away. Look at him, he's going to take you away.” What kind of scaring is that? Because a child like that will grow up not wanting to associate with any kind of black person.
Social media users also pointed out other factors at play, such as police tolerance for mob justice. Nitin Bangera commented in Facebook:
This Bangalore case of the Tanzanian woman reminds me of many conversations with friends about road accidents, A lot of people I've had hypothetical chats with say that if they ever knock somebody over in India, they'd flee immediately Or flee immediately to the police station even, but they would not stay at the scene at all, because “dude the mob will kill you”
If such incidents happens in Bangalore like places, we all need to rethink what kind of society we are living in.
While VC John said:
This is a blatant travesty of all things humane and Indian! The police who refused to take a complaint need to be fired and investigated.
Supriya Nair believed the assault case mimics violence based on social caste:
Stripping and parading a young black woman for a made-up reason is textbook upper-caste violence, replicated on the basis of race.
Ankit Singh cried in anguish:
India! Tolerant India! We are a tolerant nation with a thing for parading women naked and torching stuff. Hey, at least we didnt kill her! If this was in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq or some other country, the girl would have been killed. We spared her life! India! Tolerant India!

author: Rezwan


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ISPs Take Kremlin to Court Over Online Surveillance · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Taking on the goliath of Russian Internet surveillance. Original image: Flickr user αndrΩ / David and Goliath. CC 2.0. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Two Russian Internet service providers that have agreed to take to court the Federal Security Service (FSB) to challenge the legality of SORM—the surveillance system the federal police uses to spy on Internet use.
This is no small feat. For Russia’s Internet surveillance system to work, ISPs have to install special (and very expensive) equipment that essentially grants the FSB snooping powers. According to journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan, the “SORM box” is “one of the world’s most intrusive listening devices, and it is the Russian government’s front line in a monumental battle for the future of the Internet.”
The ISPs are taking the case forward under the leadership of the Moscow non-commercial group Society for Defending the Internet (OZI), headed by IT-specialists Leonid Volkov and Sergei Boiko. Launched in December 2015, OZI plans to challenge government encroachment on Internet freedom and to push back against the “many state and near-state organizations that are systematically ruining the Internet in Russia.”
The case against SORM is not OZI’s only fight: the organization is also seeking volunteer programmers to develop a system that would monitor the physical channels that connect the RuNet to the outside world.
Volkov says there are currently 50-200 of these channels, but there are concerning rumors that Moscow would like to reduce this number to 3-4, oligopolizing the industry. The drop in competition, Volkov argues, would provide the Kremlin with opportunities to award market shares to “friendly firms.” OZI doesn’t expect it can stop this process, but Volkov hopes that monitoring the issue will give Russians time to react before it’s too late. A small number of channels would also make it far easier to disconnect the Russian Internet from the World Wide Web in the event of a political crisis.
For the past several years, Leonid Volkov has been one of the leading tech figures in Russia’s democratic protest movement, developing e-democracy software, supervising online voting in 2012 for the “Opposition Coordination Council,” and running anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny’s 2013 mayoral campaign in Moscow (which only narrowly failed to force a second round). Today, Volkov is a project manager at “Team Navalny,” coordinating efforts to expose corruption in the Russian state.
OZI hopes to carry out this work with a staff composed mainly of volunteers and a budget sustained mostly by crowdfunding, though donations from supportive businesses are also welcome.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Kazakhstan’s Requiem for the Tenge Drowns Out Upbeat President · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Screenshot from the website oibai.kz showing the value of a barrel of oil and Kazakhstan's national tenge currency against major foreign currencies the dollar and euro.
Clearly things are getting bad for Kazakhstanis when the president is talking about avoiding expensive lemons in the oil-rich country's bazaars — just a few months ago he was telling citizens they could learn not to eat foie gras.
It is difficult to say which ex-Soviet state has been most severely knocked off its stride by the crash in global prices for oil and other commodities, but alongside Russia and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan is a key candidate.
Credited for years as a regional tiger with a visionary leader in 75-year-old autocrat Nursultan Nazarbayev, Central Asia's strongest economy has truly lost its roar over the last year or so.
The national tenge currency has shed half its value against the dollar since entering into a free float with the greenback last August and citizens are now complaining of rising food prices and falling standards of living.
It was against this background that septuagenarian President Nursultan Nazarbayev advised Kazakhs to “take a deep breath as the yoga people say and forget about the dollar”, informing of them of a trip he had made to “several markets” in the capital Astana last week.
Contrary to the public noise about more expensive products, he said in comments at a pre-election congress of his ruling Nur Otan party, many products were actually cheaper than they were this time last year.
One notable exception to this rule was imported lemons, but citizens could “live without” them, he added.
Like Nazarbayev's remarks last year about foie gras — which many Kazakhs had never heard of, let alone tried — his comments about checking into local bazaars were met with incredulity.
In an online poll of over 300 readers of RFE/RL's Kazakh service half of respondents said they believed Nazarbayev had not been to any bazaars and was just reading from a script given to him by his advisors.
Over 30% of respondents said that Nazarbayev had been ill-informed about the product prices.
Although the country's largest city Almaty has seen small protests over mortgage debt and general economic malaise this year, authoritarian Kazakhstan does not generally do noisy mass gatherings.
Yet a more curious type of protest against the growing cost of living has emerged in the form of a website highlighted in a recent Reuters report:
The site, entitled oibai.kz, shows nothing but updated rates for the ex-Soviet oil producer's tenge currency and the world oil price – both of which have been plummeting – against a gloomy black-and-white photo of government buildings.
The only commentary is a soundtrack of sad piano music, while sharing a link to the site on social media adds an exclamation mark and an icon of a man in a traditional Kazakh hat, his hands framing his open mouth in shock.
Oibai.kz is at least one online resource that is ignoring Nazarbayev's pleas to “forget about the dollar”.
Also persistently if humorously subversive are the posts of Rinat Balgabaev, who receives hundreds of likes from followers every day for his short, acidic posts on the country's economic pains.
One recent post read as follows:
Учитывая что нефть совсем обесценилась и реанимация отрасли не предвидится, пора начать экспорт органических удобрений. Это перспективное направление, ведь чего-чего, а дерьма у нас предостаточно.
Considering that oil has completely lost its value and the sector is unlikely to be resuscitated any time soon, it seems it is time to start exporting organic fertiliser. This is a particularly promising direction, given we are now fairly deep in shit.
These days, fewer and fewer Kazakhstanis appear willing to believe that such shit is the sort that smells of roses.

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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Netizen Report: From Egypt to Kenya to Venezuela, Online Political Speech Feels Riskier Than Ever · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Caged Twitter bird, shared widely on Twitter.
Over the month of January 2016, government authorities in Kenya pursued criminal allegations against several bloggers and social media activists. Among them is recognized journalist and influential blogger Yassin Juma, who supporters believe was targeted for his coverage of a recent attack on a Kenya Defence Forces camp in El-Adde, Somalia by the violent extremist group Al-Shabaab. Kenyan Twitter users responded in force, voicing support for Juma on the #FreeYassinJuma hashtag. Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet has warned Internet users against spreading images that “glorify terrorists”.
Threats against social media activists, journalists and artists meanwhile have continued apace in Egypt since the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 revolution. Popular Egyptian cartoonist Islam Gawish was arrested on January 31 when officers from the “Artistic Products” Department of the state police raided the offices of Egypt News Network, where Gawish works. Interior Ministry officials say the network was operating without a license, and that Gawish will be charged with running an unauthorized personal website. It is not clear which website the charge refers to. Those close to Gawish, who is best known for his work with Al-Waraqa comics and has 1.6 million followers on Facebook, believe the raid and charges were motivated mainly by his artistic work, which focuses on Egyptian society and politics.
And in the western hemisphere, a Venezuelan man affiliated with the Justice First political party was detained after “threatening” President Nicolas Maduro on Twitter. Public servants in particular seem to be punished for social media posts deemed offensive by the authorities. At least three other citizens are currently in prison for messages they posted on Twitter in 2014.
India’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRAI) says it will soon issue an order regulating free or subsidised data packages for mobile phone users. It is expected that the order will bar services such as Facebook’s “Free Basics” app, on the basis of network neutrality and market competition principles. An unnamed source from TRAI told the Times of India: “These [programs] are discriminatory and are against the concept of digital democracy. We will not allow them.”
The independent investigative news site Sarawak Report, which follows political activity in the eastern state of Sarawak, was blocked in Malaysia last year after running a series of articles highlighting corruption under the current government of Prime Minister Najib Razak. As a solution that turned out to be temporary, administrators of Sarawak Report began republishing their stories on the US-based writing platform Medium. Just this week, Malaysian officials asked Medium to take down an article that contained especially damning allegations about Najib’s use of public funds, claiming that it contained “false content”. When they refused, Malaysian authorities ordered local ISPs to block Medium altogether.
In a statement from their legal team, Medium wrote: “We’ve received no evidence that the post violates any of our Rules, or any law. We stand by investigative journalists who publish on Medium. Until we receive an order from a court of competent jurisdiction, the post stays up.”
Following a massive outcry that has spread from the Gulf region to Russia and even as far as Chile, the Saudi Arabian government reduced Palestinian artist Ashraf Fayadh’s sentence from the death penalty to eight years imprisonment and 800 lashes. Fayadh was charged with blasphemy and promoting atheism in his 2008 poetry collection Instructions Within.
Supporters of jailed Iranian-Canadian programmer Saeed Malekpour are calling on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene on the programmer's behalf. Malekpour was prosecuted and convicted in 2009 in Iran for writing an open source software program that others used to upload pornographic images to the Internet. The initiative to bring fresh attention to the case is spearheaded by the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iranian-American actress Nazanin Boniadi and Canadian film director Paul Haggis.
The Spanish company Ares Rights continues to issue copyright claims in what looks like an attempt to suppress criticism of the Ecuadorian government. In one recent case, the executive director of media watchdog site Fundamedios received a copyright complaint that could have forced the entire site to shut down.
The US and EU reached a temporary deal on the transfer of data between the two regions, overcoming a stalemate over how Internet companies like Google move data between the EU and US. Negotiations between were fraught and officials failed to reach an agreement by Sunday’s deadline. The US has guaranteed that its intelligence agencies will not be given indiscriminate access to data moving from the EU to the United States, but it appears that commercial considerations may also be slowing down the process.
The rules governing data transfer were established under a Safe Harbor Framework, which was struck down last spring by European judges who ruled that the protections for Europeans’ data when transferred to the US were insufficient. In response, officials from both regions sought to negotiate a new set of rules to accommodate European concerns over surveillance by US intelligence agencies. But these negotiations appear to have broken down over issues such as how Europeans could seek legal remedy in American courts, and multiple national privacy agencies that have threatened to take “aggressive legal action” without sufficient regulations in place. As it must be approved by each EU member state, the deal has a long way to go.
Mahsa Alimardani, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Marianne Diaz, Hae in Lim and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


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Amid Political Posturing and Dancehall Vibes, Jamaica Finally Announces Election Date · Global Voices
Atiba Rogers

“Into the crowd” at a People's National Party political rally in Jamaica. Photo by Christina Xu, used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Speculation about when Jamaica's prime minister, Portia Simpson-Miller, would declare the date of the country's 2016 general election was put to rest on Sunday, January 31, when she made the announcement at a massive People's National Party (PNP) rally at Half Way Tree, a bustling section of the capital.
This is also Half Way Tree #voteja2016 pic.twitter.com/yw0MLN3xn1
— Nicolette (@nikkirich61) February 1, 2016
Having opted not to call the election in December 2015 as originally planned, many were impatiently waiting to see when they could make their voices heard at the polls. Now carded for February 25, 2016, this will be the 17th general election for the country — nomination day is set to take place on Tuesday, February 9.
Blogger Annie Paul, who curated the social media response to Simpson-Miller's announcement in this Storify post, noted:
While there had been much speculation that election date would be February 29, the birthday of Edna Manley, wife of Jamaica's first Premier Norman Manley, the date turned out to be one few had mentioned as a possibility: February 25. But as journalist Naomi Francis pointed out February 25 will be exactly 10 years since Portia Simpson Miller became Prime Minister of Jamaica.
While the prime minister quipped that “one good term deserves another”, not everyone was pleased about her untimely move. In the hours leading up to the election rally, many people started to grow impatient. It didn't help that the date itself was not revealed right away:
I would not be surprised if the election date is announced to be February 31.
— Michael Abrahams (@mikeyabrahams) February 1, 2016
@Chantexy lol gwan a yuh bed the date put off
— lincoln (@LincolnSinging) February 1, 2016
To further complicate matters, while the prime minister's party, the PNP, was having its rally, the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) held a counter event in the former capital, Spanish Town. Airing both rallies simultaneously proved to be a challenge for most media organisations and caused quite a bit of upset:
I have not quite seen a more confusing night for media! Concurrent mass rallies causing confusion!#voteja2016
— Emily Shields (@emilymshields) February 1, 2016
WHYYYY are we doing this split screen two rally business!? I'm so confused!
— Alysia Moulton White (@AlysiaMW) February 1, 2016
While the political repartee was mind-numbing for some Twitter users, others bypassed the talk completely and focused on the entertainment:
Watching the PNP rally on television. I feel like I am losing brain cells by the second.
— Michael Abrahams (@mikeyabrahams) February 1, 2016
I'm voting for the DJ #PNPRally music nice tho
— RudeBoyPolitics (@RudeBoyPolitics) February 1, 2016
While some netizens were of the opinion that image matters, others felt that their fellow Jamaicans were being distracted by bells and whistles:
JLP needs to pay closer attention to the production of their events. Vibes & energy matter. Hire a choreographer & producer #strategy
— #FutureServicesJa (@yaneekpage) February 1, 2016
Long for the day when Jamaicans aren't fazed by political hype and foolery.
— King (@DNGeezy) February 1, 2016
Country inna shambles but “Raae, yes selecta pull up”
— King (@DNGeezy) February 1, 2016
In what has historically remained a two-party system, however, one Twitter user saw the election results as inevitable:
Jlp can't be helped really. The can win when pnp decides to lose. And pnp nuh look like dem waan lose like in 2007.
— BigBlackBarry (@BigBlackBarry) February 1, 2016
Another noticed a worrying trend:
#Jamaica is devolving to a #oneparty system slowly but surely. I am afraid this is NO cause for celebration.
— HUME-MEDIA (@DrHumeJohnson) February 1, 2016
But the opposition party was not prepared to resign themselves to defeat so early in the game — even JLP spokesman Audley Shaw took a dig at the current government:
Free Comedy Show taking place in Half Way Tree ! pic.twitter.com/TwB6XxMjBM
— Audley Shaw (@AudleyShaw) February 1, 2016
There are also spinoff political movements that have been throwing their hat in the ring. As far as the National Democratic Movement (NDM) party is concerned, this year's general election is going to happen 11 months before it's constitutionally due for one main reason — the government will not be able to “face the people” once the next budget is presented. The NDM also pointed fingers at both the government and the opposition over the hole of ever-mounting debt that the country just cannot seem to dig itself out of. The country is currently indebted to the International Monetary fund (IMF) to the tune of over 2 trillion Jamaican dollars (approximately US $16.5 billion).
In a public post, Facebook user Astley Scott felt that instead of playing the blame game, the NDM should be explaining its own vision to potential voters:
For a chance at the polls the NDM needs to say how they would achieve the things they laid out for the government to do. It needs to be realistic methods and not just vague statements. They must also identify the resources and spell out the effect these actions will have on Jamaicans. If they cannot do this they may as well shut up. Seriously hoping to hear their proposed strategies.
Of course, only time will tell which party will emerge victorious on February 25, but one netizen, Gordon Swaby, has been sharing his own online poll in an attempt to predict the results:
#poll How will you be voting in the Feb 25 general elections? #PNP #JLP #JaVotes2016
— Gordon Swaby (@GordonSwaby) February 1, 2016
If PNP wins, it will be their 10th victory at the polls, compared to the JLP, which has won seven elections in the past. Some netizens, however, still feel like they don't have much of a choice. On a comments threat about Simpson-Miller's election announcement, Richard S. said:
It is amazing to see how much people can be bamboozled and deluded. It would be interesting to measure the response from those making a ton of noise, as to how much they have seen a prosperous turnaround in their individual lives.
I don't care much for any political party or politician if there [sic] main goal is not uplifting the poor and providing genuine opportunities for all. Jamaica is in need of a leader who is truly interested in laying aside partisan politics for the greater good of the country. What I witnessed in the video is hyped up bravado and noise akin to a dance hall atmosphere. Is the reason why much of Jamaica has fallen into such moral decay and poverty, because of our acceptance of wanton leadership?

author: Atiba Rogers


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Colorized Photos Show Manila in Ruins After the Second World War · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Colorized photo of the old legislative building which was destroyed during the Battle of Manila. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
During World War II, Manila was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. In early 1945, American forces and Filipino guerrilla fighters liberated the Philippine capital after a month of battle. Because of the fierce fighting and heavy bombings, Manila became the second most devastated Allied capital (next to Warsaw, Poland) during World War II.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bloodshed in 2015, the Philippine government launched an online portal which features photos, videos, essays, maps, testimonies, and other reports pertaining to the historic battle. The special collection also offers colorized photos of some of the iconic buildings and war scenes in old Manila.
During the Battle of Manila, more than 100,000 civilians were killed and the city’s government buildings were almost completely destroyed. The government briefer sums up the situation in the capital after the battle:
100,000 Filipinos perished, government buildings lay in ruins—and Manila was Pearl of the Orient no more. The once illustrious city and the Orient’s first cosmopolitan hub that merged the East and West now vanished under piles of debris.
The European heritage of Manila (Philippines was a colony of Spain for more than 300 years) was lost because of the destruction of the city. The government briefer adds:
Filipinos lost invaluable articulations of culture and their identity as a people. Government buildings, universities and colleges, churches as well as other institutional landmarks perished along with all the valuables in their possession. Buildings suffered demolition to pave the way for progress. This meant doing away with European architecture in lieu of the functional, American style architecture that inspires some of our buildings today. Only few among the original edifices would remain intact.
Take a look at some of the colorized photos of old Manila after the war. Some photos are also superimposed with how they look today:
Colorized photo of American soldiers during the Battle of Manila. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
Colorized photo of Manila downtown in ruins. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
Superimposed photo of soldiers crossing the Pasig River and how it looks today. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
Colored photo of soldiers in front of the presidential palace. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
Superimposed photo of Japanese soldiers marching near the presidential palace and how the street looks today. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
This memorial was built to honor the civilians who died during the Battle of Manila. Photo from the official gazette of the Philippine government
This rare video documentary, shot in Kodak color, provides a glimpse of the devastation caused by the war:
While Japanese forces are mainly to blame for killing thousands of civilians, some historians have also accused the American military of bombing government buildings and other infrastructure that destroyed the economy of the country’s capital.

author: Mong Palatino


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Malaysia’s ‘Toxic’ Politics Are Similar to ‘Game of Thrones’, Says Prime Minister’s Brother · Global Voices
Jerrenn Lam

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Photo from Najib's official Facebook page
Malaysia's political situation must be really in bad shape if you have the brother of the prime minister comparing recent events in the country to the Hollywood drama series ‘Game of Thrones’.
Nazir Razak, brother of Prime Minister Najib Razak and chairman of the country's second largest bank, expressed concern about the fallout from the corruption scandal involving the ruling party. In an Instagram post which quickly went viral in Malaysia, Nazir could see some parallels in Malaysia's political troubles to the story of the TV series ‘Game of Thrones’, in which different families in a medieval European-esque world brutally compete for power.
So what lies ahead? The parallels with GoT continue. The future terrifies me: I just can't see how our institutions can recover, how our political atmosphere can become less toxic, how our international reputation can be repaired. I think we have to pause, fix our moral compass and deal with our structural problems holistically. I believe we need National Consultative Council 2 now.
A photo posted by Nazir Razak (@nazir.razak) on
The text of his post reads:
So what lies ahead? The parallels with GoT continue. The future terrifies me: I just can't see how our institutions can recover, how our political atmosphere can become less toxic, how our international reputation can be repaired. I think we have to pause, fix our moral compass and deal with our structural problems holistically. I believe we need National Consultative Council 2 now.
Last year, the prime minister was accused of pocketing almost 700 million US dollars from 1MDB, a state-run investment firm. Najib claimed that the money in his personal bank accounts was a political donation from a member of the Saudi royal family. The issue sparked protests across Malaysia, while some of Najib's allies even called for his resignation.
But early this year, the attorney-general cleared Najib of all wrongdoing.
However, the issue continues to divide the country. Many are not convinced that Najib received the money on behalf of the ruling party.
Former Cabinet Minister Rafidah Aziz questioned if this action by the attorney-general will set a negative precedent for future political donations. Rafidah's Facebook post was shared by more than 5,000 users.:
…the AG should be prepared to explain the details ..and the implications of the decisions…
…..is it a Precedent set now, in how donations channeled to individuals, through private accounts, can be returned …not necessarily in full..AND the slate is regarded clean ? No case …?
Aziz, who is a member of the ruling coalition, also urged the prime minister to learn from this debacle:
Perhaps the most important LESSON that Pm would have, learnt is NEVER to go around seeking political donations from anyone ,that CANNOT be explained clearly, at first glance. AND NEEDING A LONG TIME TO EXPLAIN!
Especially from foreigners ! Or from ANYONE for that matter!
In addition to the local investigation, Najib's government is also facing questions from foreign authorities. The Swiss authorities reported that almost four billion US dollars had been stolen from Malaysian state companies, and Singapore has seized some bank accounts in relation to a money laundering probe.
Many citizens continue to question the legitimacy of the political donation:
@WSJ Saudi granted $100mil to Palestinians in 2013 and donated $681mil to an individual like @NajibRazak?
— Norm (@_norman_g) enero 26, 2016
If you can accept the AG's decision just like that, then I judge you hard. Real hard.
— Syahredzan Johan (@syahredzan) enero 27, 2016
While others wondered about how things can proceed after the announcement:
1) When was the money returned? 2) Why was the money returned? 3) Is it common practice for “donations” to be returned?
— Umapagan (@umapagan) enero 26, 2016
Others called for further investigations:
Uncovering the truth in #1MDB scandal requires Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to be cross examined in courthttps://t.co/Sq0qgBLtSp
— Nurul Izzah (@n_izzah) diciembre 14, 2015
And finally, some humor:
24) If “donations” and “gifts” are non-taxable, can I ask my employer to stop paying me a monthly wage and give me occasional gifts instead?
— Umapagan (@umapagan) enero 26, 2016

author: Jerrenn Lam


text:
Pakistani Women Are Reclaiming Public Spaces, One Teacup at a Time · Global Voices
Faisal Kapadia

Photo courtesy of Girls at Dhabas Facebook page.
“Girls at Dhabas” is a movement started by two Pakistani women to reclaim public spaces in South Asia. The group's Facebook page describes them as “Desi feminists and women defining public space(s) on [their] own terms and whims”. Dhabas are roadside stalls that serve food and tea that are a traditionally male domain across South Asia. They are frequented mostly by men or women accompanied by a man.
It all began in May 2015, when Sadia Khatri and Natasha Ansari, based in Karachi, started using the hashtag #GirlsAtDhabas, curating photos of women, sent to them on Tumblr. Soon, dozens of women across South Asia began sharing photos of themselves at dhabas, on Twitter and Tumblr, launching a conversation about safe spaces for women. The movement's Facebook community page has now crossed ten thousand members.
A post on the Facebook page describes the urge to loiter:
The question is: can we now claim the right to other kinds of pleasure? The pleasure of sitting in an unbroken park bench, reading a book or eating a banana (why not a banana?). The pleasure of walking the streets at night without anxiously looking over our shoulders. The pleasure of not having to change clothes in a car because your family thinks they are immodest. The pleasure of not having to hide when you enter your building at 2 am in the morning for fear of what the neighbours will say. The pleasure of using a clean well-lit toilet at 4 am in the morning on a public street without worrying that none will be open. This kind of pleasure can only come from the right to take risks without the fear of loss of reputation as good girls. — Why Loiter?
What does pleasure mean to you?
It is clear that these girls walk the talk and aren't just about hanging out with their friends at tea cafes. In Pakistan, the movement went beyond dhabas and organised a cricket match in solidarity with girls from the University of Karachi, after the students were attacked by Islami Jamiat Tulaba (IJT), the student wing of a religious political party, for playing a cricket match on college premises.
Bilal Farooqi, a journalist with The News International, tweeted:
Great initiative! Girls at Dhabas organising gully cricket in response 2 IJT attack on girls at KU 4 playing cricket pic.twitter.com/vMPeypxxSi
— Bilal Farooqi (@bilalfqi) October 31, 2015
Fariha Awan had this to say:
Where “Girls at Dhaba” movement is very cool, I am sure many of us karachiites have had tea at dhabas many times?#HipsterKarachiites
— Fariha Awan (@Fay_Alif) August 11, 2015
In response, those in the movement have tried to involve women from different classes, especially working-class women, in partnership Awami Workers Party, a left-wing political group in Pakistan.
.@girlsatdhabas & awp meet to talk access of women to #publicspaces in #Pakistan. #Islamabad #girlsatdhabas pic.twitter.com/TKmmPL2COx
— Rabia Mehmood (@Rabail26) November 2, 2015
The Facebook page for the event provided more insight into the meeting:
The absence of women from Pakistan's public spaces represents their systematic exclusion from a social and fully human existence. It is a symptom of an overwhelmingly patriarchal society that needs to be actively resisted…Girls at Dhabas will be co-facilitating a dialogue with the Awami Workers’ Party Isb-Rwp on women and public spaces in Pakistan this Monday in Islamabad. We will be discussing how to start things off in Islamabad, forming a local community around the issue and discuss ways people can get more involved.
As a response to the culture barriers erected by society, “Girls at Dhabas” and similar movements offer an insight into often overlooked resistance movements in Pakistan and across South Asia.

author: Faisal Kapadia