text:
Russia Investigates VKontakte User for Posting Ukraine-Related Content · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Russian authorities are investigating a Yekaterinburg woman on charges of “inciting hatred and violence” for posting links to content about Ukrainian Euromaidan protests on the social network VKontakte.
Yekaterina Vologzheninova, a resident of Yekaterinburg, got a visit from law enforcement officials from the Russian Investigative committee a few days before the start of the new year. After searching her apartment and confiscating her laptop, a tablet, a digital camera, and several CDs, the officials took her in for questioning, where she was accused of “inciting hatred and violence” by means of her online posts, with officials citing article 282 of the Russian criminal code.
Vologzheninova says the Investigative committee was interested in her VKontakte posts that contained links to documentaries and TV shows about the events in Ukraine, including the Euromaidan protests and their aftermath. She told the Open Russia website that the investigators were surprised to find she was not a Ukrainian citizen and didn't even have any “Ukrainian roots.” She sometimes posts in Ukrainian, but said she had learned the language herself, out of curiosity.
На допросе в СК меня спросили, не состою ли я в украинских экстремистских организациях, поскольку я подписана на новостные ленты сообществ Русский Правый сектор и УНСО. Такой же вопрос задавали и моему другу, которого допрашивали как свидетеля.
Мне вменяют в вину распространение в социальных сетях ссылок на документальные фильмы и передачи об украинских событиях (в том числе «Зима, которая нас изменила», программа «Храбрые сердца»). Но эти фильмы не содержат информации, разжигающей национальную вражду и призывов к экстремизму.
At the questioning at the Investigative committee I was asked whether I was a member of Ukrainian extremist organizations, since I am subscribed to the news feeds of the Russian Right Sector and UNSO communities [on VKontakte]. They asked the same of my friend, who was questioned as a witness.
I am accused of sharing on social networks the links to documentaries and talk shows about the Ukrainian events (like “The Winter That Changed Us” and the “Brave Hearts” TV show.) But these videos don't contain any information that would incite national hatred or calls to extremism.
Vologzheninova told RFE/RL that she also shared several video clips about the yacht belonging to Vladimir Putin and about the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine on VKontakte.
Investigators have ordered her not to leave the city pending further investigation, and on January 3 she got a call from the Investigative committee asking her to come and sign a “non-disclosure agreement,” which she refused to do without the presence of her lawyer. If officially charged, taken to trial, and convicted, Vologzheninova could face up to four years in jail for her social media activity.
Я не знаю, почему СК заинтересовала моя персона. Я не являюсь политиком или общественным деятелем. Я раньше никогда не имела конфликтов с представителями власти. […] Мне просто интересна точка зрения, альтернативная той, что показывают российские федеральные каналы, и видимо это мне сейчас и пытаются вменить в вину.
I don't know why the Investigative committee is interested in my person. I am not a politician or public figure. I've never had conflicts with authorities before. […] I'm simply interested in a point of view alternative to that which the Russian federal channels are showing, and evidently that is what I am being accused of.
Previously, VKontakte founder Pavel Durov has said he refused to share information on Ukrainian opposition Euromaidan groups organizing on VKontakte with Russian secret police in December of 2013. Durov himself notably made a Euromaidan-related video go viral in February of 2014. But Durov had to leave the company at the start of 2014, and VKontakte has blocked Ukraine-affiliated communities since, including some right-wing nationalist groups in March of 2014.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Flogged for His Liberal Ideas  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Rome, Italy. 9th January 2015 — Protestors with masks of Raif Badawi at a sit-in in front of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia to protest against the journalist and blogger's flogging and ask for his immediate release. Photograph by Stefano Montesi. Copyright: Demotix
Saudi liberal blogger Raif Badawi was publicly flogged today [January 9] in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of founding an online forum for public debate and for “insulting Islam.”
According to witnesses, the 30-year-old, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail last year, was reportedly lashed 50 times today outside a mosque in Jeddah, after Friday prayers. He will continue to be flogged every week until his punishment is met.
The sentence, was caused an international outcry, also includes a 1 million Saudi Riyal fine (roughly US dollars $260,000).
Saudi lawyer Waleed Abulkhair's Twitter account, with 78.3K followers, confirmed the news:
جرى بالفعل جلد رائف بدوي قبل قليل في محافظة جدة أمام جمع من الناس بعد صلاة الجمعة ووسط ترديد بعضهم: الله أكبر ..
— وليد أبوالخير (@WaleedAbulkhair) January 9, 2015
Raif Badawi has indeed been flogged today in Jeddah, in front of people, after the Friday prayers. Some of those gathered chanted: Allah Akbar (God is Great)
Abulkhair, the head of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, has been in prison in for nine months now, and his account is being run by friends.
On Facebook, Kacem El Ghazzali shares a photograph of the Jeddah mosque where the flogging allegedly took place:
The Jeddah mosque where Badawi was allegedly flogged today. Photograph shared by Kacem El Ghazzali on Facebook
The post attracted angry comments. This commentator writes:
Hands down one of the stupidest countries on Earth. Just being there makes you feel like you've entered some sort of wasteland from The Dark Ages with Skyscrapers.
Another adds:
A very sad and dark moment, I can not even fathom the unbearable pain he must withstand, helpless in the hands of these psychopaths.
On Twitter, supporters, from Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world, spoke up against the punishment. Dohan Alsalem says Badawi's name has now been immortalised.
الا يعرفون انهم خلدوا اسمة في التاريخ!! #جلد_رائف_بدوي
— Dohan (@DohanAlsalem) January 9, 2015
Don't they realise that they have now immortalised his name in history!!
Hilda Ismail, from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, tweets to her 22.6K followers:
#جلد_رائف_بدوي ليس انسانا ذلك الذي لم يشعر بوجع كل ضربة سوط تلقاها #رائف_بدوي ع جسده اليوم. . آه يابلد.
— ღ..هيـــلدا (@Hildaismail) January 9, 2015
Those of you who did not feel the pain with every lash Raif Badawi recieved today on his body are not humans.
Sigh my country.
Tounsia Hourra [Free Tunisian] adds:
فقط للتذكير، من ينتقد داعش التي تقطع الرؤوس وتجلد الناس ويأتون بالأطفال ليتفرجوا، هم الآن يبررون جلد شخص في السعودية. دواعش يا أخي دواعش.
— tounsiahourra (@tounsiahourra) January 9, 2015
Just a reminder: Those who criticise the ISIS, which beheads and flogs people, and lines up children to watch, are the ones who are making excuses for the flogging of a man in Saudi Arabia. They are all ISIS.
Many pointed fingers to how Western countries continue to support Saudi Arabia, despite its atrocious human rights record.
Marietje Schaake, Member of European Parliament, tells her 30.1K followers on Twitter:
‘Strategic partner’ #Saudi Arabia is due to severely flog blogger #RaifBadawi today; sentence will likely lead to severe injury. Barbaric
— Marietje Schaake (@MarietjeSchaake) January 9, 2015
From the UK, Daniel Wickham reminds his 1,700 followers on Twitter about Saudi Arabia's arms deals with his country:
Today, Saudi Arabia, the number one recipient of British-made arms in the world, flogged a man for setting up a liberal website. #FreeRaif
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 9, 2015
And Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director at Amnesty International Hassiba HadjSahraoui points out the obvious — “Saudi getting a free pass as always.”
Sheer madness. Flogging of Raif Badawi taking place right now in Saudi Arabia. Flogging for writing. And Saudi getting a free pass as always
— Hassiba HadjSahraoui (@HassibaHS) January 9, 2015

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
Should Prisoners Enjoy Full Labor Rights? · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

A corridor at the End of the World prison in Ushuaia in the Argentine region of Tierra del Fuego. Closed in 1947, the prison is now a museum.
Photo by Liam Quinn (CC BY-SA 2.0)
I recently experienced great surprise and shock when I read in the news that the Federal Court of Criminal Appeal in my country, Argentina, had upheld a habeas corpus petition filed by the Public Defender Official and Procurator's Office of the Nation, requesting that inmates enjoy the same labor rights as all other workers.
The first question that came into my mind was: why should people who have committed crimes receive salaries, vacations and social benefits? How does that idea square with the notion that they should pay for their crimes? Lawmakers in the Netherlands, for instance, have proposed that prison inmates should be charged rent for the time they spend behind bars. What key aspect of the Argentinian court's decision did I not understand?
So I decided to read and investigate what is going on in Argentina and what others were saying.
Leandro Halperin, a specialist in human rights and penal policy justifies the measure [es], noting that the principal employer of prisoners is not the state, but the private sector. “If we don't do this,” Halperin is quoted as saying. “the future will be more complicated. Prisoners are not hired to provide a service to the community, they're hired because it is cheaper. But these are also opportunities that help prisoners them not to re-offend.”
Halperin has a point: if there were no laws protecting work carried out in prison, the private sector could exploit that. Work done by prison inmates is, however, protected under Article 107 of Argentina's labor law. But I still found the situation difficult to understand, as the minimum wage is higher than the retirement pension rate. That means that a prison inmate would get vacations, social benefits, salary, while someone who has worked all his life would receive lower benefits than someone who committed a crime.
To be paid for work is nevertheless a human right, otherwise it would be classed as slavery. Atrapamuros (Behind the walls) is a blog that aims to highlight the reality of life in prison, and this post cleared up some of the doubts I had: it reminded me that when a person goes to jail they might lose their freedom, but they don't lose the right of access to education, labor, health or contact with their families.
I wasn't the only person to leap to judgement before analyzing and reading a little bit further. Twitter and other social media reflected some anger with the law:
DERECHOS PARA PRESOS Y NUEVOS DELITOS: Secuestro seguido de vacaciones y Violación seguida de aguinaldo.
— FEUDO #24 (@feudo24) diciembre 2, 2014
Dejen de boludear con eso que las cárceles están para resocializar. Para ello están las organizaciones de la sociedad. Quien delinque: paga.
— ROBERTO D SURIANI (@rdsuriani) diciembre 4, 2014
#PresosConAguinaldo NOOOOOOO ESTAMOS TODOS LOCOS? Y LOS JUBILADOS? Y LA GENTE QUE TRABAJA Y COBRA MENOS DE 2000 PESOS? DÉJENSE DE JODER
Article 14 of the Argentine constitution states that all residents of the nation have the following rights: to work or carry out any lawful business or trade, etc. So why all the judgments regarding prisoners rights? Extending certain rights to prison inmates can be a difficult idea to digest, especially for those who have lost loved ones at the hands of a criminal. But prisoners are indeed human, and is about time that countries’ legal systems and human rights bodies call upon them to extend constitutional rights to everyone.
Resocialization of those who have committed crimes is a must, for if you deprive someone of their rights while in prison, it will be difficult for them to re-enter society and the end of their term.

author: Laura Schneider


text:
Tripoli’s Torched Library Finally Re-Opens in Lebanon  · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Father Sarrouj at the opening ceremony (Al Saeh Facebook Page)
When the Al-Saeh library of Tripoli's Father Ibrahim Sarrouj was torched by unknown assailants last January 2014, and his own life was put on the line, community members and Lebanese of all stripes responded by launching an online fundraiser entitled ‘Kafana Samtan (Enough Silence): Help Rebuild Lebanon's Torched Library And Restore 10,000s of Lost Ancient Books”.
This was Kafana Samtan's message at the time:
Al Saeh Library is a 40-year-old bookshop founded by Father Ibrahin Sarrouj, located in the old city souks of Tripoli in northern Lebanon. The Library contains more than 87 thousand titles, including rare books and precious religious scrolls.
For the past few years, businessmen with political connections have continued to pressure Father Sarrouj to close the library. On January 3rd 2014, the library was then burned by a group of ignorant people. As a first reaction, hundreds of people gathered and participated in a sit-in the day after the burning, and began donating money and books to save the library and bring it back better than before.
The campaign, named “Kafana Samtan,” is now moving forward by the people's support, without any political and sectarian backing, and made the decision to restore the library so it can again be opened to the public soon.
According to security sources at the time, up to 78,000 of those books were not salvageable, though the exact number was never released. AFP reported that up to “two thirds” of “irreplaceable ancient Muslim and Christian texts and manuscripts were destroyed”.
This attack on a symbol of knowledge and tolerance shocked the country and political and religious leaders of all parties and sects condemned it. And barely a month after the attack, Kafana Samtan announced that the project was successfully funded thanks to 306 people who donated anywhere from $5 to $100. The $35,000 required to rebuilt it was raised.
Therefore, on January 3, 2015, exactly a year after the attack, Tripoli's residents woke up to the news that the library was finally re-opening again. A ceremony (pictures available here) with Father Sarrouj was organized in the presence of local religious and political leaders as well as many Tripolitans.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


text:
Venezuelan President Would Free Opposition Leader if US Frees Oscar López Rivera · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

A collage with images of Oscar López Rivera's life. Taken from the Facebook page of the “Free Oscar López Now” campaign.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has publicly declared that he would consider the release of political opposition leader Leopoldo López if the United States released Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, as reported by several news agencies.
His statement was made while asked about the brief and informal conversation he had with US Vice President Joe Biden during their visit to Brasilia last week for the inauguration of Dilma Rouseff's new term as president of Brazil, Spanish-language newspaper El Mundo reported. Leopoldo López's wife, Lilian Tintori, rejected Maduro's statement on Twitter.
Maduro's remarks come on the heels of social media rumors that the release of political prisoner Oscar López Rivera may be around the corner. On December 24, Venezuelan news agency TeleSUR announced that negotiations were underway to release López Rivera, helped along by the Uruguayan government. There has been no follow-up on the story by any other news agency as of this writing, however. It should be noted that this is not the first time that president Maduro has advocated for Oscar López Rivera's release.
Meanwhile, activists working for López Rivera's release geared up to start the new year with a storm of social media activity on January 6, the day of López Rivera's 72nd birthday, with La Respuesta and the Boricua Human Rights Network calling on users to post messages urging the US government to free López Rivera on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and other social networking services. The goal was to share 100,000 messages related to López Rivera in one day.
López Rivera, 72, has been imprisoned for 33 years in the United States, where he is serving a 70-year sentence for charges of “seditious conspiracy” and “conspiracy to escape”. He is a fighter for the independence of Puerto Rico, a colony of the United States. Politicians, artists, and many people across different ideologies have united to ask US President Barack Obama to pardon López Rivera, who has been called the longest held political prisoner in the Western Hemisphere.
With the congressional midterm elections over, President Obama in his final term in office and the recent announcement that the governments of the United States and Cuba would work to reestablish diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of estrangement, Oscar López Rivera's release might very well happen soon.
For more Global Voices coverage on Oscar López Rivera, check out the following links:

author: Ángel Carrión


text:
Young Malaysian Volunteers Are Taking a Leading Role in Flood Relief Efforts  · Global Voices
Zashnain Zainal

Young Malaysians helping in the relief effort. Photo from Facebook page of Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur
Mid-December of 2014 saw severe monsoon along the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, with crippling floods and landslides tearing into the forest, palm oil plantations, farms, villages, towns and cities. Banks, schools, hospitals and public utility centers did not escape the flood's reach. Within weeks, other states in the south and west were affected, but none as severe as Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.
In less than a month and after the second wave of raging floods, over 200,000 people were displaced and 21 lives were lost. Many sought refuge in government-prepared temporary evacuation centers. Malaysians described it as the worst flood to hit the country in the past two decades.
Government resources are stretched; it lacks manpower due to the severity of the natural disaster. The situation is exacerbated by an inefficient inter-state coordination for relief. The public uproar forced the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to cancel his holiday in the United States, and he returned home to make public appearances in some flood-affected communities.
Unsung heroes, mostly young Malaysians, rushed to mobilize aid and volunteers. The coordination was jumpstarted by two young women with the invaluable support of a Kuala Lumpur-based soup kitchen program called “Dapur Jalanan“.
#Opskemaman: few of us going to Kemaman on 1-4Jan & 2nd batch on 5-11Jan. We need u to tag along. #BanjirPantaiTimur pic.twitter.com/fh9A6Qam6u
— Szeming (@szeming87) December 30, 2014
Donations needed for flood victims specifically in Kuantan & Kemaman. Kindly share and RT. #Flood #Banjir2014 pic.twitter.com/NgXHKfBX3d
— ناني ي هارون™ (@Nany_JHaron) December 26, 2014
In an exclusive interview with Global Voices, Tan Sze Ming, 27, and Hazwany Jamaluddin, 26, shared their experience in coordinating relief.
Global Voices (GV): Take us through the initial stage of the mobilization.
Tan: Firstly I was thinking of visiting a friend's house only because his parent was alone there during the flood. After that Nany suggested we should revive again the gotong royong (community work). So I started to talk to Dapur Jalanan friends. We started planning among four people. After some discussion, we thought that gotong royong was out of our capacity. So friends from Dapur suggested we go masak (cook). From that concept, we started to mobilise.
Jamaluddin: I need to add one more thing, at that point IMARET (a relief team of the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia) discovered our initiative and collaboration with Dapur Jalanan, and our team was strengthened. A group of us were planning and organizing between ourselves on how to revive the gotong royong initiative. In the discussion, we identified local contacts in Kemaman and Kuantan. A few days after, the first poster was uploaded in the social media and blogs. Many networks shared publicly which then reached two locals in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan.
GV: Was it challenging to mobilise volunteers and supplies? If yes what are those challenges?
Tan: (Recruiting) volunteers was OK. When the posters were up on social media, immediately a lot of (people) especially students came to join us. Overall we have around 40 registered in the volunteer list, but twenty-one manage to follow us to Kelantan. Supplies, yes, very challenging I can say.
Jamaluddin: Challenge in identifying types of supplies that were most needed by flood victims. the quantity for required donations, and the planning for delivery to the flood victims.
GV: What were the needs and concerns of the flood victims that your group identified?
Tan: They needed hot nutritional food and clean drinking water. From my observations, morale was quite high among some. They accepted about what happened (flooding) but sadly the government didn't take immediate action to help them.
Jamaluddin: We didn't expect this flood to happen. That's why I believe, state or federal governments or NGOs are having a tough time to immediately meet the needs of the flood victims. People were concerned about lost documents, lost property, and medical coverage. For families that have children, parents said they had to start from zero because they lost everything during the flood.
Issues faced by elders and children in the village focused on health care, children facing problems to go back to school, and elders with disabilities are having a tough time adjusting (in the) post flood situation. People with farms lost crops and livestocks. Also very limited access (to) clean water. The water was muddied. Also there was no place for people to throw away their waste.
GV: Tan, tell me where is the group now and what are your future plans to reach out to the flood victims?
Tan: They are in Kampung Kandek, Dabong. It is in Kuala Krai constituency. We don't have any future plans so far but planning for a post mortem and further discussion on this. We're constantly consulting one another. I think there's a need to instill a proactive spirit of volunteerism, via a mentor system. To keep in touch every time, for outreach activities and for empowerment. And sharing of best practices. This can (help in) inspiring them.
drpd tim DJKL utk misi #KerjaBakti #OpsKualaKrai pic.twitter.com/qaRFxLgJ2J
— Dapur Jalanan @ KL (@DapurJalanan) January 6, 2015
From Dapuran Jalanan KL team for #KerjaBakti #OpsKualaKrai
Presently the second group of young relief workers are in Kuala Krai, providing nutritional food and recovery services to displaced rural communities. Young people are often seen as the leaders of tomorrow; but often in times of natural disasters, they become the leaders of today.

author: Zashnain Zainal


text:
Dance Lessons Over Skype Connect Baghdad and New York City · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Sean Scantlebury and Aadel Qies practicing. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hollander (used with PRI's permission).
This article and a radio report by Shirin Jaafari for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on January 2, 2015 and is republished as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Until about a month ago, Sean Scantlebury didn't use Skype.
That ended when his manager, Jonathan Hollander, who's also the artistic director of the Battery Dance Company in New York, gave him a new assignment: Teach an Iraqi student.
Since then, Scantlebury and Aadel Qies, who's based in Baghdad, have been connecting on Skype regularly for dance lessons. “It's hard to teach dance to someone when you're not in the same room,” Scantlebury says. “You try and say you need to point your foot here and you try and touch him, but you can't because it's on cyberspace.”
And that's when the Skype connection is working; the line to Baghdad can be unreliable. But so far, the challenges haven't stopped them.
Sean Scantlebury in New York gives a dance lesson to Aadel Qies in Baghdad. Photo courtesy of Jonathan Hollander (used with PRI's permission).
Qies is studying to become a lawyer, but his passion is dancing. He doesn't have access to a professional dance studio in Baghdad, so he practices at home, in his living room. “He practices on a rug,” Scantlebury says in disbelief. “It's not even harlequin floor, it's a rug!”
The Battery Dance Company has been organizing workshops for youth and young adults across the world for years. They set up a program called “Dancing to Connect” in 2012, a series of dance worskshops for youth in Iraq.
As ISIS was taking over parts of Iraq last summer, Hollander received emails and Facebook messages from a couple of young Iraqis. “Some were musicians, one was an actor, and a couple were dancers, including Aadel, who, though Kurdish, lives in Baghdad,” Hollander wrote in an email.
“All of them were depressed, felt isolated, and seemed to thrive on communication with the outside world,” he added. Qies’ messages would contain lines like “I'm living in hell.”
Then Hollander asked Qies to send a video of his practice and offered to pair him up with Scantlebury, his “urban dance specialist.” Scantlebury was stunned by Qies’ performance and didn't hesitate to arrange the Skype lessons.
The pair hold one or two sessions per week, fighting against the spotty Internet connection. But Scantlebury says lack of resources isn't Qies’ only problem. His family and friends aren't very supportive of his passion for dancing.
Scantlebury knows that feeling well: His family moved from the West Indies to the United States when he was 4. “My family didn't like the idea of me dancing because they came all this way to have a better life for me,” he says. Dancing, they felt, wouldn't get him far in life.
Life in Brooklyn in the 1980s also wasn't easy. “I got beat up every day and I got called names,” he remembers. But he never gave up on dancing, and now he wants to make sure Qies won't quit, either.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Intel Shuts Down Its Russian-Language Developer Forums · Global Voices
Sergey Kozlovsky

Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
The American technology company Intel has shut down its popular Russian-language developer forums, abruptly extinguishing Russian-language blogging and commenting on its platform. Russian developers are still welcome on Intel's English-language forums, which are hosted abroad and on third-party websites (like the Russian online tech community Habrahabr). Intel says it has no plans, however, to close its Russian-language communities at Intel Education Galaxy and Intel IT Galaxy.
Why has Intel, one of the world's largest makers of semiconductor chips, microprocessors, and other computer hardware, moved against its Russian-language developer forum?
According to reports, Intel is shielding itself from noncompliance with Russia's controversial blogger law, which entered into force on August 1, 2014, subjecting bloggers who garner more than 3,000 daily viewers to rules similar to those placed on traditional media outlets.
The law, which ostensibly regulates the work of the 369 blogs so far added to the government's official registry, appears to be having a broad-based chilling effect. The new blogger regulations are exacerbated by other internet legislation, such as the data localization law that will take effect in September this year. The law requires Internet companies operating in Russia to store Russian user data on servers inside the Russian Federation. The combined effects of these new, tighter Internet regulations, both current and predicted, have prompted Russian Internet guru Anton Nossik to declare the coming “end” of US social media services like Facebook, Twitter, and Google in Russia.
Intel's decision could create an important precedent. Lawmakers and police say the blogger law is a government effort to improve the quality of Russia's “new mass media,” but the closure of Intel's forums for Russian developers shows how easily such Internet regulations spill into other seemingly innocuous Web activities.

author: Sergey Kozlovsky


text:
Is Panama Still a ‘Melting Pot’?  · Global Voices
Ariel Moreno

Street Scene – El Valle de Anton. Photography by Adam Jones, published under the Creative Commons license.
How is Panama dealing with the arrival of large groups of people from its neighboring countries? How are foreigners behaving in the country? With the influx of many immigrants from other Latin American countries and the clashes that come with coexistence, Panama is undergoing at times difficult multicultural transformation. Panamanian social media outlets are full of numerous anecdotes, attacks, and accusations, but also gratitude, clarifications, and apologies.
Since its inception, Panama has been a country of transition. The narrowness of its territory caused great minds to think up a canal that would unite two oceans even when technology did not yet allow for it. A product of its prime location and some chance happenings throughout history, Panama has arrived at the present with a stable economy, but a confusing past. As such, Panamanians tend to see themselves as originating from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Geographically, Panama is Central America, and culturally, it is the Caribbean. Nonetheless, historically, the ties that bind Panama to South America are strong, as it was part of the Great Colombia – the former republic that sought to bring together Panama with Venezuela, the New Granada (present-day Colombia), and Ecuador.
These various locations have made Panama a meeting place for many groups, and immigration has been a vital part of the country as a result. Nevertheless, in recent years, the political, social, and/or economic instability of its neighboring countries have increased the number of immigrants, forcing Panamanians to face the challenges of coexistence more intensely.
Many are reacting with rejection, particularly with immigration from Venezuela and Colombia. Therefore, Panama, which was always proud of being a “melting pot”, or in Spanish, a “crisol de razas” (in fact, it's the name the government gave its program seeking the legalization of a large number of foreigners in the country), is grappling with the question, “What to do with the foreigners?” as an everyday topic of conversation.
A number of Facebook groups have been launched to discuss the matter, such as “We don't want you in Panama, Nilka Janeth“, which was created following a comment by a Facebook user named Nilka Janeth claiming that jobs created by the Panama Canal would remain in the hands of the foreigners instead of the Panamanians. The true identity behind the user's name is still under discussion, but the explosive effect continued to run its course.
From there, the group, which has a little over 7,000 followers, has gone on to report supposed damage done by foreigners in the country and called for a more tightly controlled immigration system. Other groups have popped up under the slogan “No More Melting Pot“. These groups say that their goal is to maintain the country's tranquility and prevent the spread of illicit activities, such as street vending, that they say foreigners have a hand in. Another problem seen through these groups’ eyes is the participation of foreigners in crime. For these Panamanian netizens, already uncomfortable with the presence of foreign workers, the nationality of those who break the law becomes important. In one of the group's posts, people comment on the kidnapping of a girl who, according to the press, was taken by her nanny, a Colombian national:
Aqui uno mas de los frecuentes casos perpetrados por foráneos del mal vivir consecuencia del mal filtro en el tema migratorio.
Gracias a la efectiva acción de la [Dirección de Investigación Judicial] se logró recuperar a una menor de dos años en este caso fue aprehendida una mujer de nacionalidad colombiana.
Pero si nos levantamos como ciudadanos en contra de estos actos y exigimos una politica migratoria responsable nos llaman xenófobos y racistas.
Here is yet another of the frequent cases of evil perpetrated by outsiders living due to a poor filter on the immigration issue.
Thanks to the effective action of the [judicial investigation] a 2-year-old was recovered. In this case, a woman of Colombian nationality was apprehended.
But if we rise up as citizens against these acts and demand a responsible immigration policy, we are called xenophobic and racist.
From the point of view of immigrants, the writing of Venezuelan native Enrique Vásquez has circulated and been discussed for quite some time. He seeks to explain the behavior of some Venezuelans in Panama, who are accused of being racist:
La mezcla de razas en Venezuela es muy parecida a la de Panamá. Somos descendientes de los indios originarios, mezclados con los negros africanos y antillanos, que a su vez se mezclaron también con los españoles. Dicho de otro modo, el “venezolano puro”, al igual que el “panameño puro”, puede ser de un color cualquiera ubicado entre el blanco europeo y el negro africano.
Sin embargo, hoy en día en Venezuela pasa algo que difícilmente ocurra en cualquier otro país del mundo. Los niveles de inseguridad son tan alarmantes que nos hemos acostumbrado a estar en las calles con miedo; con profundo y genuino miedo. La paranoia y el terror son algo del día a día.
The mixture of races in Venezuela is very similar to that of Panama. We are descendants of the native Indians, mixed with Africans and West Indian blacks, who in turn were also mixed with the Spaniards. In other words, the “pure Venezuelan”, much like the “pure Panamanian”, can be any color between the white European and the black African.
Nonetheless, today in Venezuela something is happening that hardly happens in any other country in the world. The levels of insecurity are so alarming that we have become accustomed to walking the streets in fear, deep and genuine fear. Paranoia and terror are an everyday thing.
The complex discussion on racism in Venezuela has also been part of the comments that continue to appear under the post, like this one posted by Anna Gabriella Quiroz:
Lo siento, pero soy venezolana, me han [asaltado] ya 5 veces de distintas formas, y no acepto esto. Esto es una manera (un poco infantil a mi parecer) de justificar el racismo internalizado que SI, si existe en nuestro país como en gran parte del mundo […]
I'm sorry, but I am Venezuelan, I have been [attacked] now 5 times in different ways and I do not accept this. This is (in my opinion a bit of a childish) way to justify internalized racism that YES, yes, exists in our country as it does in much of the world […]
The discussion on immigration continues on Twitter, where some users have communicated their dissatisfaction with the systematic legalization of foreigners:
@IsraelReyesC venezolanos, colombianos, nicaragüenses, dominicanos y cubanos son una carga social y económica para nuestro país
— Amanecer Dorado (@AmanecerDoradoP) January 4, 2015
Venezuelans, Colombians, Nicaraguans, Dominicans, and Cubans are a social and economic burden on our country
Traditional media outlets are also taking part in the debate. Sports commentator Juan Carlos Tapia touched on the subject, and media outlet La Estrella de Panamá asked passersby questions about the program that elicited reactions for and against the arrival of immigrants to the country. The opinions in favor recognize the difficulties that might have encouraged people to leave their country of origins and also underline the positive aspects of migration to the country:
Estoy de acuerdo [con el programa “Crisol de Razas”] porque creo que es una oportunidad para el país de poder traer otras personas que también [puedan] compartir de sus cualidades, desarrollarse dentro del país.
I agree [with the ‘Crisol de Razas’ program] because I think it's a good opportunity for the country to be able to bring other people who can also share their qualities, and grow here.
Similarly, in response to the campaigns of rejection, political movements such as the “Arena” group, which seeks to support immigrants residing in Panama and whose objective is “to maintain a unity of all Nations”, have popped up.

author: Ariel Moreno


text:
Charlie Is Ahmed. And Ahmed Is Charlie: Hashtags Emerging From the Tragedy in France  · Global Voices
Ahmed Medien

Photo uploaded by Twitter user @Hevallo Kurds in Paris tonight in solidarity with #CharlieHebdo #JeSuisCharlie #TwitterKurds
Soon after two gunmen stormed into the offices the the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people, including five prominent cartoonists, Je suis Charlie (I am Charlie) was scrawled across hand-held signs at vigils and protests around the world. The Twitter hashtag #JeSuisCharlie was tweeted more than 3.4 million times in 24 hours.
Around then, another hashtag #JesuisAhmed, about the Muslim French police officer named Ahmed Merabet, who was executed by the gunmen as they fled Charlie Hebdo, started to trend.
The hashtag created by Julien Casters, a Morocco-based former Parisian on January 7, really took off when Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Brussels and Beirut-based columnist tweeted:
I am not Charlie, I am Ahmed the dead cop. Charlie ridiculed my faith and culture and I died defending his right to do so. #JesuisAhmed
— Dyab Abou Jahjah (@Aboujahjah) January 8, 2015
Jahjah has 6K followers, but his tweet has been retweeted more than 31K times.
After witnesses said the gunmen had shouted “we have avenged the prophet” as they left the scene, the horrific shooting was soon linked to Islamic extremism. In recent years, the debate on Muslims and Islamic extremism in Europe has been heating up with the rise of anti-immigration and xenophobic parties in France and across Europe. In the last three days alone, there have been several grenade and gunfire assaults on Muslim targets in France.
A widely shared mobile video that captured the last moments of the Charlie Hebdo attack, shows a policeman being gunned down as the assailants exited the newspaper's building. He was later identified as 42-year-old Ahmed Merabet. The Muslim French cop of Algerian origin was assigned to Paris’ 11th arrondissement, where Charlie Hebdo's offices are located. While on patrol, Merabat responded to reports of gunfire and arrived outside the newspaper's offices. The mobile video shows Ahmed being shot at close range in the head, while the shooter yells “God is Great” in Arabic.  Later, in a statement, his police union expressed shock after watching him being “shot down like a dog”.
In an interview with a Canadian TV channel Global News, Dyab Abou Jahjah,  an early adopter of the hashtag #JeSuisAhmed said:
We saw there was a trend going on to show solidarity with Charle Hebdo, which is natural and we all should, but we also [saw a trend] to point a finger at a whole population, the Muslim population. It was provoking for me to see that the religion of the terrorist counted in that debate, but the religion of the cop that was assassinated or killed by the terrorists did not count, while both had the same religion, so [I thought] it is not about religion. For me, it is about democracy and about citizenship and I wanted to express that. And I used the old Voltaire logic to formulate it differently.
Some prominent Internet users, quickly took on the #JesuisAhmed hashtag.
US-based Haroon Moghul tweeted to his 11K followers:
#JeSuisAhmed, the policeman who died defending a magazine's right to insult his religion and culture
— haroon moghul (@hsmoghul) January 8, 2015
#JeSuisAhmed I am Ahmed the cop who died defending the right of #CharlieHebdo to speech even when it regularly attacked my Islamic faith
— Ahmed Bedier (@bedier) January 8, 2015
Shared by Twitter user @samkalidi. The meme was created from the mobile video which captured Ahmed's execution.
In a video tribute to Ahmed on French digital channel Itele, the police officer is described by his friends and colleagues as “generous, straightforward, modest, super kind and adorable.” A day after the massacre, the French public left roses and messages on the spot where Ahmed, the slain cop, died. Muslims in the UK also expressed solidarity for Ahmed.
.@FranceintheUK #WeAreCharlie #JeSuisCharlie #JeSuisAhmed Muslims in the UK paying respects pic.twitter.com/eA1eTHlM9g
— Mustafa Field (@mustafafield) January 7, 2015
The last picture reads:
لا إكره في الدين
No compulsion in religion (Islam).
Besides #jesuischarlie, #jesuisahmed, #jenesuispascharlie also took off on Twitter by people who disapproved of the satirical paper's editorial line. Charlie Hebdo has ridiculed various minorities, including black people, Jews and Catholics, in France. They were often accused of racism. They even survived a  legal backlash when they were acquitted by a French court in 2009 after depicting Sarkozy converting to Judaism for financial reasons.
Charlie Hebdo cartoon portraying black Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira as a monkey #JeNeSuisPasCharlie pic.twitter.com/MMmBj4TQOc
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 8, 2015
I don't celebrate white privilege of ‘free speech’, it's a disguise for more #racism #JeNeSuisPasCharlie Blacks & Arabs are regularly killed
— Samuel Sotomayor (@SammySotomayor) January 9, 2015
While the outside world consumes news from France, pointing out their views on freedom of satirical expression, Islamic faith and France as a society, this polarization undermines the very concept of French universalism and French republicanism. Ahmed Merabet died as a French citizen defending his fellow French citizens and the French nation. Ahmed is Charlie. And Charlie is Ahmed.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that @Aboujahjah created the hashtag #JeSuisAhmed. According to a Topsy analysis @JulesLmeghribi was the first one to use the hashtag. Apologies for the error and many thanks to commenter Mike below for flagging the mistake.

author: Ahmed Medien


text:
The Spirit of Henri Young: A Bahraini Prisoner Tries To Take His Own Life · Global Voices
Mohamed Hassan

Bahraini protesters with placards and Bahraini flags met outside the US Embassy in London before marching to the Saudi Embassy to call for justice for 3 pro-democracy protesters, including Ali Altaweel, sentenced to death in April by a military court.UK. 26th November 2011. Photograph by Peter Marshall. Copyright: Demotix
Solitary confinement. For me, it was worse than physical torture. What is time if nothing changes? If you are kept in a room with nothing to do but to listen to your own thoughts. In your solitude, you summon up everything you tend to push away in your regular daily life. It's easy to be consumed by fears and dark notions.
For me, the way to survive solitary was to build an imaginary world in my mind: a different place, with different people. A world where I could escape and spend as much time as I could without running out of new things to see and feel. By the time I was back among other inmates I had already built a whole story, complete with characters and events which I followed and observed how they evolved. That was my mind helping me to adapt and survive. I cannot imagine, however, how I would have managed if my solitary confinement had lasted longer than a couple of weeks.
In prison, there was a near-urban legend about a prisoner that was a source of both fear and strength. The name Ali Altaweel cropped up frequently in conversation. If you complained to your fellow inmates about the conditions of your incarceration, they told you you should be thankful that you were not in Ali Altaweel's shoes. If you flouted the rules, guards would remind you that your fate could end up being like Ali Altaweel's. Altaweel's story became a cautionary tale for some, and a source of hope and resilience for others. But for most people, he was a ghost, a prisoner you never saw, a prisoner who received no help, not even a mention in a headline.
25-year-old Ali Altaweel has been in solitary confinement for over three years. He attempted suicide twice: once by cutting his veins and recently by trying to hang himself. He told his lawyer to arrange a visit so that he could hand her his last will and testament, as he would try again to end his misery. After suffering a mental breakdown he was moved to psychiatric hospital, as reported by activist Maryam Alkhawaja:
Ali AlTaweel is in psychiatric hospital after a pscyhological breakdown due to 3+ yrs solitary confinement pic.twitter.com/4GNcTajMa6 #Bahrain
— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) January 7, 2015
In the 1995 film adaptation Murder in the First, millions learned the story of Henri Young, who after three years of dehumanizing mistreatment and solitary confinement in California's notorious Alcatraz prison, decided to take another person's life. The creators of the movie might have never imagined that this story, set in the first half of the 20th century, might actually manifest in this day and age.
Ali Altaweel was sentenced to death for allegedly running over a policeman at the start of Bahrain's uprising in 2011. The incident is alleged to have happened during an attack in the Island of Sitra that left four civilians dead and dozens injured. The video below shows how, on that day, police officers detained civilians and beat them publicly:
In the following video it's also clear that armed civilian(s) also participated that day in the shooting of protesters, and they were calling for them to come out.
Ali's family reported that he was arrested at his sister's house, where he was staying while recuperating after a surgical procedure. He was detained and tortured for months, until his confession and sentence. The torture continued even after he was sentenced.
Ali's case is one of the clearest examples of the dysfunction and corruption of the judiciary system. In a report by a commission of inquiry, the testimonies and information regarding the incident were so contradictory that even the location of the incident is under dispute. On page 237 of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report that was accepted by the king of Bahrain himself, it is stated that “Police officer Ahmed Rashid Al Muraysi was run over by a vehicle at the GCC Roundabout on 15 March 2011.”
The GCC Roundabout referred to in the report is what became known as the Pearl Roundabout, the epicentre of the pro-democracy demonstrations which started in Bahrain on February 14, 2011. The death certificate issued, however, says that the policeman was killed in Al-Mameer village.
The witnesses to the incident are all policemen. Bahrain's police force has been found guilty of using excessive force against protesters. The location of the incident isn't the only thing about which the witnesses and authorities have been in disagreement. All four witnesses gave conflicting testimonies about the incident, stating that the car that ran over the policeman was shot by different individuals. None of the witnesses could identify the driver of the car as Ali. They couldn't even identify the car number plate. All they seem to agree on is the colour of the car, which is not in fact Ali's, but belongs to a co-defendant.
On the basis of evidence that was circumstantial at best, Ali was sentenced to death, despite the recommendations made by commissions and human rights groups. As he waits for his sentence to be reviewed or carried out, Ali's living hell is as real as the grievances of a lot of our countrymen, and beyond the deafening silence he experiences in his solitary confinement, there is a more blatant silence on the outside. Alcatraz was closed in 1963, but in Bahrain's expanding prisons, many stories like Ali's continue to unfold.

author: Mohamed Hassan


text:
Voting For Ourselves · Global Voices
Rhoda Bharath

“I Voted”; photo by Krishna Praveen, used under a (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
Ever since I started blogging about the political landscape in Trinidad and Tobago, I frequently get asked who I’m voting for in the 2015 elections. The blog began as a way for me to cope with the growing helplessness and hopelessness I felt about living and working in Trinidad and Tobago in my adult years.
That despair hit a high—or low, depending on how you look at it— during the illegal state of emergency (SoE) announced by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar from her private residence in late August 2011.
The SoE broke precedent, as did many other actions of the People’s Partnership government during in its term in office. The manner of its announcement, the incoherent justifications given, and the fact that it lasted three whole months brought home to me, in concrete ways, how easy it is for a group of people to take away my freedom of movement, erode my rights as a citizen and essentially decide whether or not I fit the profile of a criminal.
I spent several weeks during that three-month period listening to friends defend the loss of freedom on the basis that it made them “feel safe”—this despite the fact that the SoE in fact did little to curb crime. By the time the SoE officially ended, in December 2011, I had decided that my tenure as a passive citizen was coming to an end.
Now, when people ask me who am I voting for in the next election, I tell them I’m voting for myself.
No, it’s not that I have tossed my hat into the electoral ring. Rather, I have invested in my civic education, because I no longer think that the problem with our politics resides in the governments we elect, but rather in the type of citizens and voters we have produced.
Despite the turbulence, oppression and violence that have shaped and developed the Caribbean region, thanks to the physical attributes of sea, sun and sand, it’s considered a laid-back place. And nowhere is this mythology more dominant than in Trinidad and Tobago.
Ours is a culture that is prone to last-minute preparation; to shutting down any new idea that requires hard work; to talk, talk and more talk; and a reluctant to take action that isn’t centred around pleasure. We like bacchanal, but we avoid conflict. We are quick to argue, but don’t like making people feel uncomfortable or bad, because we don’t believe in burning bridges. Back-scratching is a way of life here—to such an extent, in fact, that we’ve coined our own expression for it: to give a bligh.
This sort of culture has led to a laziness about our roles as citizens. In Trinidad and Tobago, “democracy” happens only once every five years, and starts and ends at the ballot box. “Parliament” is a building to point out to visitors as we drive through Port of Spain; and the role of prime ministers and members of parliament is to distribute food hampers and kiss babies once in a while.
We don’t know our history as a country; and even worse, we don’t know our laws. Nor do we care to obey them. We don’t understand the form of governance we have. “Westminster System” is merely a catch phrase. “Separation of powers” might as well be an obeah spell. And forget about discussing our Executive arm: the President, Chief Justice and Judiciary might as well be a council of wizards.
I made the decision to walk away from this type of civic laziness and educate myself. Exercising any muscle for the first time takes dedication and grit, and it didn’t take me long to realize that along with a civics program in schools, this country also needs better journalists and reporters. Short of a few columns in one or two daily newspapers, there is very little informed political commentary in the media. Talk radio is even worse, since it relies heavily on emotional opinion-sharing. I cannot underscore enough the key role of the media in changing the ways citizens think about and discuss issues.
The journey from 2011 to now has been challenging, exciting and tedious. It has involved lots of reading, writing and talking, not all of it pleasant, but all of it useful in helping me formulate, discard and re-shape my ideas about politics and governance. I look at politicians and voters differently now. And I have a carefully drawn up a list of criteria that political representation must meet in order to gain my support.
I no longer expect politicians to have integrity. Not because I believe all politicians are corrupt; but because no person is immune to being seduced by the trappings of power. Unchecked power will lead to imbalance and abuse. If an electorate doesn’t rouse itself and hold its elected government accountable, it will be abused by that very government. And that’s what we are currently facing.
Despite growing discontent with squandermania, corruption and weak leadership from the People’s Partnership government, not enough of the voting population is willing to step up and make its leaders accountable. Perhaps we fear victimization. Perhaps we are looking for a bligh. Perhaps we are too ignorant of what our role as citizens should be. Perhaps we need to spend some time in contemplation, and articulate to ourselves precisely what we need and expect from our leaders. Establish ground rules and deal-breakers and stick to the criteria that we set for ourselves. And determine the policies we want, instead of passively accepting miles of box drains and hampers.
For all these reasons, I am hoping that 2015 is the year the people of Trinidad and Tobago embrace their role as citizens, and begin voting for themselves.

author: Rhoda Bharath


text:
‘Without Humor, We Are All Dead’: Cartoonists Pay Tribute to Fallen Comrades After Charlie Hebdo Massacre · Global Voices
Claire Ulrich

“We are Charlie” projected on Place de la République in Paris after the attach against Charlie Hebdo. Photo via Claire Ulrich
On the morning of January 7 on a quiet street in Paris, two men armed with automatic weapons killed 12 people and severely injured four others during an attack on the office of French magazine Charlie Hebdo. For several years, the weekly had received threats from extremists around the world for its daring, often offensive satire.
A banner at one of the spontaneous vigils that sprung up throughout France after the assault said that the planned attack “killed 12 and wounded 66 million” citizens. In France, the shock following the massacre was compounded by the fact that for four decades, the five cartoonists were taken for granted, as much a part of the French culture as lilies in May or Bastille Day. Cabu, Wolinski, Charb, Honoré  and Tignous were the “naughty uncles” that would make light fun of everything and everyone. Their irreverence knew no bounds; they could both draw a smile from teenagers and grandparents alike and offend them at the same time. They always went too far, pushing the envelope of what can be made fun of, with a particular fondness for religious satire.
Editor-in-chief Charb, whose full name was Stéphane Charbonnier, was under police protection, and his bodyguard was killed with him during the attack. Below is a quote from Charb from 2012 that is tragically prescient of the events to come:
“I do not fear retribution. I have no children, no wife, no car, no credit. It might seem pompous, but I'd rather die standing up than live on my knees.” Image widely circulated online.
Blogger @Le_M_Poireau mourned the loss of Cabu:
Je pense à l'homme si doux qu'était Cabu et je pleure. #CharlieHebdo
— Charlie Poireau (@Le_M_Poireau) enero 7, 2015
I think of the gentle soul that Cabu and I weep #CharlieHebdo
While a parody account of God reminded the world of their loss with a touch of humor:
Je viens de recevoir plein de dessinateurs géniaux au paradis. Ils me dessinent à poil et on se marre. Désolé qu’ils soient plus avec vous.
— Dieu Officiel (@DieuOfficiel) 7 Janvier 2015
I just welcomed four great cartoonists in heaven. They are drawing naked and we are having a blast. Feeling bad for you on earth who have lost them.
There is not much to say that has not already being debated at length in the media and on social media. So here are a few of the most irreverent cartoons that Charlie Hebdo published as well as some images that have circulated online in tribute to the slain cartoonists. As Chapatte, a fellow French cartoonist wrote in his in memorium cartoon: “Without Humor, We Are All Dead“.
Some of the controversial cartoons from the magazine that targeted religion:
The pope is going too far!: “This is my body!”
Image from Charlie Hebdo's Facebook page.
Prophet Muhammad is tired of extremists: ”It is a challenge to be loved by idiots.”
-There is no God.
-Yes!
Image by Cabu
100 lashes if you are not laughing!
Images from Charlie Hebdo's Facebook page.
In its latest cover before the attack, Charlie Hebdo published an eerie cartoon by Charb:
Still no attacks in France. Wait, we still have until the end of January to wish people an excellent new year.
Image from Alexandre Hervaud's Twitter page.
And here are some of the most striking cartoons and images on the web that have circulated in tribute to those killed. Some were created after the attack, while others were older images repurposed for this recent tragedy.
4 dessinateurs au paradis, Mahomet et Jésus consternés … #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/lOqY4sVLoT
— NOiD (@noid_gb) enero 7, 2015
4 cartoonists in heaven, Muhammad and Jesus are dismayed…
#JeSuisCharlie #plusjamaisca pic.twitter.com/L6GS7wijnd
— Sophie Dupont ✏ (@sofille65) enero 7, 2015
“Ceci n'est pas une religion” – Dorian Danielsen #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/X28o99aA6B
— waltercolor (@waltercolor) enero 7, 2015
“This is not a religion” – Dorian Danielsen
#CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/ua2Eic4FLv
— Jean-Baptiste ✏ (@dijibe) enero 7, 2015
Tomorrow's Ouest France front page #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/FFFJBYsYP1
— Matthew Hotton (@MatthewHotton) enero 7, 2015
Fier de mes ex-collègues. La salle de nouvelles de Radio-Canada à Montréal soutient #CharlieHebdo #JeSuisCharlie pic.twitter.com/U9OqJBMk8t
— Bruno Guglielminetti (@Guglielminetti) enero 7, 2015
Proud of my ex-colleagues. CBC newsroom in Montreal supports #CharlieHebdo
Rest in peace and thanks for the memories.

author: Claire Ulrich


text:
The Man Behind 263Chat, an Award-Winning Platform for Conversation in Zimbabwe · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Nigel Mugamu, Zimbabwean blogger and founder of 263chat. Photo by Davina Jogi. Used with permission.
263Chat is an initiative that started in 2012 as a Twitter hashtag to encourage dialogue and conversations on Zimbabwe. The idea has since expanded to include other social media platforms, guest blogs, live events and providing training and social media strategy, and the platform took home the prize for Innovative Use of Technology for Community Engagement at the Telkom-Highway Africa New Media Awards in 2013.
To learn more about the initiative, we recently caught up with 263chat founder Nigel Mugamu for an interview.
Thanks for agreeing to speak with Global Voices. Please tell us briefly about yourself.
Nigel Mugamu: Thank you very much for this opportunity. Africa has often been misunderstood. So in short, I’m a passionate Zimbabwean and African interested in playing a role in telling the African story using social media and the internet in general. I often wear many hats but my passion lies in the media.
NM: The main objective of this interview is to learn about 263Chat. What is it?
Nigel Mugamu: 263Chat has grown from a Twitter account and hashtag into a media organisation that uses social media tools, live events and blogs to encourage dialogue and conversations in Zimbabwe. The idea is to engage in what I call ‘much-needed dialogue’ as a way of starting a something positive within the community.
When did 263Chat start?
Nigel Mugamu: I initially had the idea in January 2012 but I sat on it for nine months. I was scared I guess. I was concerned about whether I was perhaps ready to ‘put myself out there’ and if the concept itself would be accepted by the general public. In late September 2012, we had our first #263Chat discussion and we’ve been talking everyday ever since.
Apart from Twitter, what other platforms do you use?
Nigel Mugamu: We have a website, Facebook page, Google +, SoundCloud and YouTube accounts apart from Twitter.
How do you select a topic for discussion?
Nigel Mugamu: The nature of discussions is interesting. We have daily conversations which are usually initiated by the community. Anyone can tag either the #263Chat hashtag and/or the Twitter handle and contributes and shares their thoughts. We try to retweet as much as we can. We ask questions and probe further. We like to amplify people’s voices too – that’s important to us. The more structured #263Chat discussion on Tuesday is slightly different once again, the community decides or suggests a topic and I plan and prepare things in the background beforehand. The topics depend on what’s going on at any particular time.
Who else is involved in this initiative?
Nigel Mugamu: I can’t run 263Chat on my own now. My wife is very much instrumental to the process. She’s my ‘sounding board’ and does a lot of research for us in the background. She was the first person I spoke to about this idea and immediately suggested I go ahead with the idea at the time. I wonder where 263Chat would be without her support then. I also have a small team of journalists in Harare and Bulawayo who provide us with material for the website. We’re trying to publish on a daily basis and once again there are various people who contribute their articles and thoughts in the process.
What issues have generated huge interest on 263Chat so far?
Nigel Mugamu: Issues that revolve around women, corruption and service delivery tend to spark huge discussion within the 263Chat community. Of course, there are other issues such as elections and the new constitution get many people talking too. The discussion continues as more people join Twitter and other social media platforms in general. Ultimately the simple bread and butter issues tend to dominate the conversations.
The logo of 263Chat.
Are there issues that you consider too sensitive in Zimbabwe to discuss on 263Chat?
Nigel Mugamu: Yes there are definitely issues that are sensitive to discuss for various reasons. For example, I personally don’t think 263Chat is best placed to lead a discussion on Gukurahundi [brutal suppression of civilians in Matebele land by Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe]. We need a national body focused on reconciliation and healing to drive this pertinent issue forward. That’s a real discussion that needs to be had, however, we need wider consultation as a country with relevant people and organisations. Having said that though, people often talk about this openly. Just yesterday there was a conversation on Twitter about it which we were included and joined. However, some issues actually need resolutions. We can’t keep talking about corruption, for example, whilst those who implicated in corrupt activities are not investigated and arrested. However, dialogue I feel is a good start.
Has 263Chat ever gotten into trouble with the authorities?
Nigel Mugamu: No, not at all and I don’t expect any trouble either.
NM: What would you consider your greatest achievements so far with the initiative?
Nigel Mugamu: We like to celebrate the simple victories. Making it this far is a good and real start. I never had plans for 263Chat to last this long or do the work we’re involved in. Launching the website was HUGE for us. Winning an award at Highway Africa in 2013 changed the game for us in a really major way. Simple things like setting up our WhatsApp groups and the daily discussion that takes place in those groups is vital. I really value and celebrate the seemingly small victories more.
What are your big plans for 2015?
Nigel Mugamu: Plans for 2015? There will be more events, more events around Zimbabwe. Collaborations with various players are vital. We need to work together more especially if we’re working in the same spaces. More content on the website. We’re working on the 263Chat app which we’d like to launch earlier in the year as well. We’re hoping to see a growing 263Chat organisation

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
They Are Not Charlie: They Torture, Jail and Kill Journalists in Their Own Countries  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

2 million people arrived in Paris for the Marche Republicaine organized by the French government against the terrorism due to the double attack of Wednesday and Thursday. 17 people and 3 terrorists died. Photograph by Matteo Pellegrinuzzi. Copyright: Demotix
World leaders and politicians, particularly those from the Middle East and North Africa, came under fire for their double standards in supporting freedom of speech in France, while stifling freedoms and killing and jailing journalists in their own countries.
More than 40 world leaders and top officials and politicians from around the world joined about 1.6 million people as they marched in Paris today [January 11] to denounce the terror attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket. The attacks, over three days, have left 17 people dead in France, including cartoonists and police officers. More than 3.7m people are estimated to have marched across the country today, making the rallies the largest in the nation's history. Similar but smaller solidarity gatherings were held in Cairo, Beirut, New York and Madrid, to name a few, in support of freedom of expression.
Beirut #Lebanon , 1st Arab city to hold #JeSuisCharlie gathering today. Photos emerging on Twitter at Samir Kassir sq pic.twitter.com/wE3rO7OW6G
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) January 11, 2015
The presence of world leaders at the forefront of the Paris rally, which began at the Place de la Republique and ended at the Place de la Nation, in which marchers chanted liberte [freedom] and Charlie, drew much criticism on social media, especially since some of those leaders were among the world's worst free speech offenders.
Egyptian writer Mohamed El Dahshan tweets his objection to his 44.7K followers on Twitter:
The presence of Israeli & Bahraini leaders at an “anti-terrorism” demo makes it largely meaningless.State terrorism must be rejected! #Paris
— Mohamed El Dahshan (@eldahshan) January 11, 2015
Spaniard David Karvala notes:
Paris protesta contra el terror que mató a 17 inocentes de la mano de Netanyahu, que mata a miles. #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/9KQtcRkKha
— #StopIslamofobia (@davidkarvala) January 11, 2015
Paris protests against the attack that killed 17 innocent people holding hands with Netanyahu, who kills thousands
Freedom Prayers, from Bahrain, reminds readers of what awaits protesters at home:
#Bahrain officials who show support to #CharlieHebdo today only have this for free speech seekers at home: pic.twitter.com/T2AultiBq3
— Free Shawqi Radhi (@FreedomPrayers) January 11, 2015
#Bahrain officials walk for #CharlieHebdo in Paris but shoot ppl at home for speaking up pic.twitter.com/59QgYUaZVf
— Free Shawqi Radhi (@FreedomPrayers) January 11, 2015
And Dima Eleiwa, from Gaza, Palestine, explains:
مسيرة اليوم بينحكى عليها قصص خيالية بكرا لـ اولادنا. الارهابيين واللي بيقمعوا حرية التعبير طلعوا مسيرة ضد الارهاب والدفاع عن حرية التعبير.
— Dima Eleiwa (@DimaEleiwa) January 11, 2015
We will be telling our children mind-boggling stories about today's rally. Terrorists and those suppressing freedom of speech took part in a rally against terrorism and in support of freedom of speech!
Reporters without Borders described world leaders at the event as “predators,” whose presence was appalling. It issued a statement saying:
On what grounds are representatives of regimes that are predators of press freedom coming to Paris to pay tribute to Charlie Hebdo, a publication that has always defended the most radical concept of freedom of expression?
Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the presence of leaders from countries where journalists and bloggers are systematically persecuted such as Egypt (which is ranked 159th out of 180 countries in RWB’s press freedom index), Russia (148th), Turkey (154th) and United Arab Emirates (118th).
Even before the rally started, Palestinian Yousef Munayyer tweets to his 22.2K followers:
This Paris rally is shaping up to be a who's who of world leaders who have suppressed their own journalists
— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) January 11, 2015
UK-based blogger Daniel Wickham does his homework and shares an impressive list of the ‘offenders’ at the rally:
So here are some of the staunch defenders of the free press attending the solidarity rally in Paris today…
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
Among them are:
1) King Abdullah of Jordan, which last year sentenced a Palestinian journalist to 15 years in prison with hard labour http://t.co/giZg7JounI
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
2) Prime Minister of Davutoglu of Turkey, which imprisons more journalists than any other country in the world http://t.co/sLCJaZprex
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
3) Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, whose forced killed 7 journalists in Gaza last yr (second highest after Syria) http://t.co/w74zqVHZf9
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
4) Foreign Minister Shoukry of Egypt, which as well as AJ staff has detained journalist Shawkan for around 500 days http://t.co/xzVRgmkM1g
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
6) Foreign Minister Lamamra of Algeria, which has detained journalist Abdessami Abdelhai for 15 months without charge http://t.co/KlDiwKibzL
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
7) The Foreign Minister of the UAE, which in 2013 held a journo incommunicado for a month on suspicion of MB links https://t.co/15ESrDu1kh
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
8) Prime Minister Jomaa of Tunisia, which recently jailed blogger Yassine Ayan for 3 years for “defaming the army” http://t.co/8fwfVHq8VK
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
14) The Foreign Minister of Bahrain, 2nd biggest jailer of journos in the world per capita (they also torture them) http://t.co/HX6Q3Ia3lG
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
15) Sheikh Mohamed Ben Hamad Ben Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar, which jailed a man for 15 ys for writing the Jasmine poem http://t.co/8s1N0wcPC6
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
16) Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, who had several journalists jailed for insulting him in 2013 http://t.co/2p0VXYB2Sd
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
21) Saudi ambassador to France. The Saudis publicly flogged blogger @raif_badawi for “insulting Islam” on Friday http://t.co/ZTlPCGa6u5
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
Wickham also reserves two special mentions for offenders not invited to the parade:
Oh, and President Assad condemned the Charlie Hebdo attack too. Don't think this one really needs any more comment tbh.
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
More hypocrisy: Hamas condemns Charlie Hebdo attack http://t.co/MtQ7Mn63mt yet they beat up journos in Gaza and endorsed synagogue massacre.
— Daniel Wickham (@DanielWickham93) January 11, 2015
For a full list of “predators” check out this Storify link, compiled by Tom Etty.
Iyad El-Baghdadi, who was jailed and exiled from the UAE, found a few more punchlines to add to his Arab Tyrants Manual, which he started writing after the start of the so-called Arab Spring. Among them is:
Attend a peace rally to denounce terrorism, then go back home to oppress some people in the name of fighting terrorism. #ArabTyrantManual
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 11, 2015
Turkish Zeynep Tufekci reminds us of how world leaders only put their interests ahead of issues they pay lip service to, like freedom of speech:
Today Western leaders march for “free speech”. Tomorrow, they cut deals with those who flog Saudi blogger Raif Badawi for “insulting Islam.”
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) January 11, 2015
She further explains her point:
Muslim world is not lacking for heroes who battle for free speech. It does lack support from the West more interested in selling arms & oil.
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) January 11, 2015
And there was sarcasm shared too. Giray Ozil tweets:
All eyes looking for Kim Jong-un at the freedom of speech rally in Paris. Everyone else is there.
— Giray Özil (@girayozil) January 11, 2015
Palestinian Ali Abunimah tells his 57.7K followers:
Jordan's King & Queen went to Paris, but not Gaza. This must mean Jordan thinks what happened in Paris is far worse than bloodbath in Gaza.
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) January 11, 2015
Syrian Rafif Jouejati ponders:
Maybe #Assad will decree a #JeSuisCharlie march in #Syria
— Rafif Jouejati (@RafifJ) January 11, 2015
And Egyptian Guebara sarcastically notes:
ابو بكر البغدادي يشارك في مسيرة باريس ضد الارهاب
— Guebara – جيبارا (@Gue3bara) January 11, 2015
Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is taking part in the Paris rally against terrorism
According to the Washington Post, a seven-minute video emerged today in which one of the gunmen who attacked the kosher supermarket posthumously claimed the IS's responsibility for the attack. In the video, Amedy Coulibaly pledges allegiance to the IS leader Al Baghdadi.


text:
Can Big Data Save the Last of India’s Wild Tigers? · Global Voices
Ensia

Analyzing 25,000 individual observations, wildlife managers in India find clues to help stop tiger poachers in their tracks. Photo by Flickr user The Belurs CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Roger Drouin was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here according to a content-sharing agreement.
Traveling in small, nomadic groups, carrying knives, axes and steel traps, tiger poachers in India have long held advantages over those trying to protect the big cats. The poachers, motivated mainly by demand for tiger bones used in traditional medicine in China, return every two to three years to places where they know “every stream and rocky outcrop” and set traps along tigers’ pathways or near watering holes, says Belinda Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India. They are seldom caught.
“They have unbelievable knowledge and jungle craft,” Wright says. “They will use every trick in the book.”
But a study published last August by Wright, ecologist Koustubh Sharma and colleagues could help turn the tide against tiger poaching in India, home to more than half of the tiger’s global wild population.
The study, published in the journal Biological Conservation, applied a new method to estimate the probability of occurrence and detection of tiger crime in various areas of India, then used it to identify 73 key “hot spots” with high likelihood of tiger poaching and trafficking in tiger parts. According to the authors, it could lead to more efficient anti-poaching efforts by giving conservationists, enforcement officials and forest rangers working to save the tigers the ability to home in on where enforcement is needed most and thus improve the odds of saving India’s imperiled national animal.
Over the past few years, Sharma, a senior regional ecologist with Snow Leopard Trust and scientist with Nature Conservation Foundation, and his team wrote computer code and analyzed 25,000 data points — collected since 1972 across 605 districts — on wildlife poaching crimes, including locations of confirmed tiger poaching instances and sites where tiger parts had been seized. “It’s such a huge dataset that whenever I would run the analysis cycle, it would take 20 to 25 minutes for each model,” Sharma says.
“An intelligence network is the most crucial step in curbing tiger and wildlife crime,” says Wright. More intelligence means being able to better place informers on the ground and use cell phone interceptions. It also means knowing where to target field patrols and forest ranger activities. Of utmost importance, Sharma says, is knowing where crime patterns have changed as poachers’ tactics change. That’s why researchers worked to formulate modeling that could be updated regularly.
“At the end of the day we have to try to be a step ahead of the criminals,” says Sharma. “That’s what insurance companies and banks do. They do models and create projections, and invest. We have something similar. We have these models and projections, and we have to invest accordingly.”
Current hot spots for tiger crime identified by the study include some regions that surprised researchers and could likely benefit from increased enforcement. The Nepal-India border region, for instance, has had less enforcement in the past than other areas, Sharma says. The study found that the region has been under growing poaching pressure, likely due to an increase in the local tiger population and its role as a hub for trafficking tiger bones into China, Sharma says. “That is an area we are highlighting as a hot spot where policy makers should take action,” Sharma says.
The formulas used to calculate current and changing hot spots is already getting the attention of those charged with preventing illegal poaching across India.The study also found evidence that poachers prefer to use rail routes, where they can more easily blend in with millions of passengers daily. At least 17 districts far from tiger forests, including Delhi and Indore, scored high on tiger crime because they are trade hubs.
The formulas used to calculate current and changing hot spots is already getting the attention of those charged with preventing illegal poaching across India. In September, Sharma called the paper to the attention of Rajesh Gopal, member secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India, who forwarded the findings to field managers in charge of monitoring wild tigers and fighting poachers in tiger reserves and buffer areas. Sharma notes the methodology, combined with on-the-ground enforcement, can also be used to curb illegal poaching of other species, from leopards to pangolins.
“What we need is good technology and good enforcement on the ground,” Wright says. “Nothing can replace a human with two legs, two hands and a brain.”
Robert Drouin  is a freelance environmental journalist and author. He covers species conservation, from bats to snow leopards, and energy issues. His work appears in Scientific American, Yale Environment 360, Mother Jones and Grist.org. He blogs here and tweets from @rogerreal.

author: Ensia


text:
This Is No Joke: New Fatwa Prohibits Building Snowmen in Saudi Arabia  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A Saudi having coffee with snowman. Photograph shared by @Aalthekair on Twitter
A Saudi cleric decreed that building snowmen and snow camels is not acceptable in Islam. Many saw the fatwa (religious edict), by Mohamed Saleh Al Minijed, as a kill joy, particularly after Saudis in the northern part of the country started sharing photographs of their artistic snow creations online.
According to the fatwa, published on Al Minijed's webpage, all those who make sculptures would be punished. He says snowmen are forbidden because they try to “replicate human beings, with eyes, a nose and a head.” He adds that if people insist on building snowmen, then they should be headless.
The fatwa concludes:
“It is forbidden to make sculptures out of snow, even if it is for fun and entertainment. God has given people a choice to build whatever they want, provided it is without a soul, like trees, ships, fruit, buildings and the like.”
Saudi blogger Ahmed Al Omran is quick to remind us that this same clergyman had actually earlier called for killing Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse:
Quick reminder: Saudi cleric who said making snowmen is haram is the same guy who called for killing Mickey Mouse.
— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) January 12, 2015
That was back in 2008, when Minijed called for killing all rodents, including Mickey Mouse, during a television interview.
This did not stop Saudis from sharing their snow creations online. On Twitter, Arwa Flemban shares two photographs, one of a camel and the other of a snowman:
Saudi snowman, and snow camel – pic.twitter.com/rG05yG9fq6”
— Arwa Flemban (@ArwaFF) January 10, 2015
Another user, who goes by the name Om Bsayl3bl, shows us what happens when Saudis build snowmen:
when a Saudi build a snowman pic.twitter.com/tBSpBePLfq
— أم بسايل عبل (@OmBsayl3bl) January 11, 2015
And Ahmed Althekair shares a photograph of a snowman and a snow woman and pronounces them husband and wife:
#Snow_Man and #Snow_Woman in Saudi Arabia Getting Married pic.twitter.com/w816M6SaKM
— Ahmad Althekair (@Aalthekair) January 12, 2015
Palestinian blogger Iyad El-Baghdadi describes Minijed as a “buzzkill.” In a series of tweets, he writes:
It snowed briefly in northern Saudi Arabia, so some “scholar” issued a fatwa against making snowmen. http://t.co/Se3EArussA
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 12, 2015
According to “Islamic” buzzkill Al-Munjid, making snowmen is “an imitation of the West” and is close to idolatory. http://t.co/Se3EArussA
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 12, 2015
Coz you know, our faith is so weak that if we build a snowman we may mistake it for a god and start worshipping it or something. #facepalm
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 12, 2015
I also love the part about how we should imitate the West in good things like science & technology, not bad things like… um, snowmen. #pt
— Iyad El-Baghdadi (@iyad_elbaghdadi) January 12, 2015
And needless to say the fatwa did not go well with all Saudis.
Fashion Slave notes:
ناس مشغولة بفرنسا و ناس مشغولة بالقولدن قلوب و فجأة يطلع علينا شيخ يقول صنع رجل الثلج حرام ارجع الى جحرك يا عديم الموضوع .عايز يسرق الاضواء
— Fashion ▼ Slave (@zepertooo) January 12, 2015
While some people are busy with what's happened in France and others with the Golden Globe, suddenly a clergyman comes up with a fatwa which says that building snowmen is forbidden. Get back into your hole. You just want to steal the limelight
Ms Abeer is exasperated everything is banned in Saudi Arabia. She says:
@massaaed بلد كل شي حرام طيب بيسيح اللا غصب لا تفرحون المفروض يسوون رجل الثلج من دون راس يمكن كذا يرتاحون
— Ms Abeer♓ (@Al_ka30) January 11, 2015
Everything in this country is banned. It will eventually melt. You just don't want us to have fun. Now we should make headless snowmen so that they become happy
Another user tries to reason:
خير ؟ مين الي أفتى وقال ان رجل الثلج حرام؟ ارحمونا بليز كل شي خليتوه حرام ترا الدين مو كذا وبعدين وش الضرر منه عشان تحرمونه؟ مجرد تسليه.
— ميشز . (@Upqi1x) January 12, 2015
What? Who issued the fatwa that building snowmen is forbidden? Have mercy on us please. You have forbidden everything. Religion is not like this. And what's the harm in it for you to forbid it. It is just entertainment.
If building snowmen is frowned upon in Saudi Arabia, one wonders what will happen to those who reportedly dared build one in Ar-Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the IS, in Syria. Photographs floating online show us a snowman waving the IS flag:
A snowman allegedly in Ar-Raqqa in Syria


text:
What Do Twitter Users in Ukraine and Russia Say About Their Presidents? An Introduction · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Photo by Kamyar Adl on Flickr. CC BY 2.0.
This article is part of a citizen-media data-analysis project, a collaboration between RuNet Echo and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities. Explore the complete article series on the All the Presidents’ Tweets page.
Both Ukraine and Russia have loomed large on the social-media radar in recent months, not in the least because of the political and social turmoil caused by the Euromaidan protests and the ongoing international conflict in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
Amid the political, military, and information struggles, Internet users often resort to discussing public figures, officials, and politicians as representing the best and worst of their countries, and none have been as central to recent events as the leaders of the two states.
RuNet Echo decided to investigate how Russian and Ukrainian Twitter users talk about their presidents—Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko. Which one do they talk about more? What do they say and in what context? What images and multimedia do users associate with these prominent politicians? To find answers to these and some other questions, we've been collecting tweets since October 2014, and now have a corpus of over six million tweets mentioning Putin or Poroshenko in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. Only a fraction of this huge data set represents tweets posted by Russians and Ukrainians, of course, but that still means we have thousands upon thousands of data points that can reveal insights about the public discourse around these two men.
Over the next few months, we'll be publishing the results of our analysis and telling you the stories that emerge from the Twitter data. Stay tuned for engaging infographics, unexpected discoveries, and fun multimedia collections, all based on what Russian and Ukrainian Twitter has been saying about the two presidents.


text:
Chile’s YouTube Viral Sensation: Woki Toki · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

76 Screen capture from Woki Toki. YouTube.
Woki Toki, a popular YouTube channel from Chile, is responsible for a slew of viral videos about local everyday, urban life. The channel's creative team, which now runs an independent production company online, began with low-budget projects, hoping to get the attention of clients with its videos.
In an interview with El Defenido, Woki Toki's creative director, Nikolas Rojas, shared stories about how the group got started and described the rocky evolution of ideas that today make them one of Chile's most-visited YouTube channels. The group spent its first six months promoting itself with very little money:
In that situation with my partner, it was like, you know what, instead of convincing people that we can do something different, let's just do it. Why are we going around with papers and a PowerPoint telling people this is how we'll do things, and that the brand will be really good. No, let's go and do it ourselves, let's be that brand. Instead of buying ourselves Chinese soup, let's spend that money on videos, be our own client, and maybe it'll work.
While its audiovisuals are produced with professional quality, the channel owes much of its popularity to videos that capture conversations and typical settings in contemporary Chile. For instance, Woki Toki runs a series collecting 42 catchphrases about a particular subject, such as jokes about families, sports, work life, and the eternal debates between the sexes. Other series, like “The World in 2 Minutes,” also distill popular culture, and often various stereotypes, into short, amusing videos. Unsurprisingly, the videos often lead to heated debates in the comments section on YouTube.
Woki Toki also conducts various social experiments, challenging people to explain or perform amusing tasks. (For example, several men in one video are asked to dress themselves in women's undergarments. In another video, various men and women are asked to explain the specific use of several sex toys.) The videos, as one might imagine, are extremely popular. In addition to YouTube, you can follow Woki Toki on Facebook and Twitter.

author: Laura Vidal


text:
Comedian Aziz Ansari’s Hashtag #RupertsFault Takes Off in Response to Murdoch’s Anti-Muslim Tweets · Global Voices
Morgan Meaker

From Aziz Ansari's Instagram account uploaded 3 months ago with the caption, “Hugging my parents on stage at MSG. Happiest I've ever been.”
American comedian Aziz Ansari launched a Twitter hashtag #RupertsFault to ridicule media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s comments that Muslims should be “held responsible” for the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher supermarket in Paris.
With nearly 27,000 tweets already using the hashtag according to the social analytics service Topsy, waves of Twitter users continue to join Ansari’s online movement.
Murdoch, founder and CEO of the world's second largest media conglomerate News Corp, sparked outrage when he aired this tweet to his 550,000 Twitter followers in the aftermath of the attacks at the offices of the satirical newspaper in Paris:
Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015
The Australian-American hit back at angry Twitter users by saying:
Big jihadist danger looming everywhere from Philippines to Africa to Europe to US. Political correctness makes for denial and hypocrisy.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 10, 2015
Some of the famous media companies Murdoch and his family owns are 20th Century Fox, Fox News, Fox Networks, Sky News, Star TV, Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and UK's The Times, and The Sun.
Ansari was particularly irked by the idea that each of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims should be held accountable for the attacks committed by extremists, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi and Amedy Coulibaly.
.@rupertmurdoch Rups can we get a step by step guide? How can my 60 year old parents in NC help destroy terrorist groups? Plz advise.
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015
.@RUPERTMURDOCH PLEASE TELL ME WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO STOP ANY AND ALL CRIMES COMMITTED BY PEOPLE OF YOUR RELIGION???!!!
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015
Murdoch's use of the outdated term, ‘Moslems’, further fuelled his critics. The word has colonial connotations – it was used by the British Empire to refer to the inhabitants of its conquests in the Middle East. The Washington Post notes that it was after September 11, 2001 that the media really reconsidered the term’s use, recognizing that “many regard Moslem as a term of abuse”.
The Parks and Recreation TV actor poked fun at the media mogul in a series of tweets, asking him “are you responsible for the evil shit all Christians do”? Intent on branding Murdoch a hypocrite, Ansari started the hashtag #RupertsFault – holding him accountable for crimes committed by Christians, with #RupertsFault.
Anytime a Christian person rear ended your car. #RupertsFault
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015
.@rupertmurdoch You are Catholic, why are you not hunting pedophiles? #RupertsFault
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015
@azizansari Those 70 kids in Norway? #Rupertsfault
— Chris Bowers (@cjbowers) January 12, 2015
The Crusades which he CONVENIENTLY never denounced or apologized for #RupertsFault — Shariah Bolshevik (@PillowThighs) January 12, 2015
@azizansari Hitler was raised Catholic. Holocaust = #RupertsFault — Christopher Kelly. (@Asssouls) January 12, 2015
Many used the hashtag to blame the media mogul for all injustices and crimes in general:
Ebola #RupertsFault — David Villar (@davidwvillar) January 12, 2015
When someone uses their, there and they're incorrectly. #RupertsFault
— Kimberly Mikrot (@kmikrot) January 12, 2015
All past, present & future human suffering. #RupertsFault
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) January 12, 2015
Reality TV #RupertsFault — Femi the DriFish (@outofwaterX) January 13, 2015
There might be nothing more dangerous than an old, uber-rich, prejudiced white guy w/multiple media outlets & a twitter acct. #RupertsFault
— Tammy Mansell (@tjmansell) January 12, 2015
Murdoch soon had a change of tone, which was not welcome by Ansari:
@rupertmurdoch Quit back peddling you racist piece of shit
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015
Ansari was born in South Carolina. His family are Tamil Muslim, originally from India but he is careful to clarify on his Twitter feed:
To be clear, I am not religious and have nothing against Christians or Muslims, just ignorance like what @rupertmurdoch is spreading.
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) January 12, 2015
Murdoch is no stranger to scandal on Twitter. In 2013, he declared “Society has to integrate. Muslims find it hardest”. And in the aftermath of the Sydney siege, he congratulated the Daily Telegraph (part of his newspaper empire) for capturing the “bloody outcome”.
Ansari was not the only famous person to take on Murdoch's tweets, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, also tweeted:
I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I'll auto-excommunicate. http://t.co/Atw1wNk8UX
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 11, 2015

author: Morgan Meaker