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Students in India Have Developed a “SmartCane” for the Blind · Global Voices
Rezwan

Screenshot from the video explaining how SmartCane works
The marriage of two technologies can achieve awesome things. Students at IIT Delhi are certainly making an impression with a new invention, the SmartCane, which enhances one of the world's oldest instruments—the walking stick—by adding SONAR, a technique used to navigate and communicate underwater, to help visually impaired people to walk independently.
One out of every three blind people in the world (an estimated 15 million) lives in India. There are approximately 2 million blind children in India and only 5 percent of them receive any education.
Visually impaired people face no shortage of problems in India, where disabilities can be especially challenging. Pedestrians are often forced onto the street, as sidewalks are cluttered with vendors, animals, and other obstacles. Blind people typically use canes, of course, but the traditional cane cannot detect objects higher than one's waist. Inventing an affordable and simple tool to aid the visually impaired has been a priority for many researchers across the world. Innovations like Roshni, also developed by students at IIT Delhi, are promising, but suffer from various logistical issues that make large-scale production impractical.
Professor Meenakshi Balakrishnan, a computer engineer at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, lead a team of researchers and students to develop SmartCane, which emits ultrasound waves to detect nearby obstacles and vibrates to warn the user. It was officially launched last March. SmartCane copies the skills of animals, like bats, which also emit sonar calls into their surroundings and guide themselves using echoes. The vibration is much better than an audio alert, moreover, because sound may not be audible on noisy streets.
Brilliant lowcost “SmartCane” for visual #disabled comes out of @iitdelhi Great to see social #innovation like this. http://t.co/ccU794YXoH
— swaraj barooah (@swarajbarooah) July 22, 2014
Unlike a similar British innovation, the $985-USD UltraCane, the SmartCane is affordable at just INR 3000 (about $50).
The video below depicts a typical day in the life of a SmartCane user, portraying the various challenges one faces:
The field stage validation trial of Smartcane was conducted among approximately 150 users in 6 cities in India of which almost all are now regular SmartCane users. The training/learning material for SMartCane is available for download in Hindi and English in different formats like epub, daisy, braille, clear print, etc.
According to the Facebook page of SmartCane, the device is being provided to the under privileged visually impaired in Punjab for INR 400 only under the Partial Subsidy Scheme aided by the National Donation Pool.
Right now the SmartCane is available to the user from a network of over 16 welfare organizations for the blind across 12 states in India. Here is a video of a SmartCane use of a College girl:
The Better India magazine lists some user comments:
“It is a very useful device because earlier with a regular cane, I quite often collided with vehicles like truck, tractor or bus. This was because my cane would pass beneath these big vehicles and I would collide abruptly. I have got injuries on my forehead due to such incidents. With this device I get a pre-warning of such dangerous obstacles through vibrations. This also helps me in detecting street animals such as a cow.” – Ketan from Ahmedabad
“It feels great to be able to move around alone. I no more take help from people to move around. I now enjoy being all by myself. Family and friends now have the confidence in me that I can travel independently without getting hurt or injured.” – Indrani from Mumbai
Recently, celebrities like Bollywood Actress Vidya Balan have come forward to publicise the SmartCane.
#VidyaBalan @ Distribution & Awareness Function Of Smartcane ! http://t.co/3AlBhNJ7Hj
— BollywoodUncut (@BollywoodUncut) August 6, 2014
As the SmartCane's publicity grows, so too will its user base hopefully expand, putting this ingenious new device in the hands of more and more people.


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Try Being a Female Journalist in Kyrgyzstan. Your Male Sources Hit on You. All the Time.  · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

Bishkek Feminist Collective SQ, a Rising Voices grant-winner, are one of several civil society organizations that work on gender issues in Kyrgyzstan. Photo by Bishkek Feminist Collective SQ. The poster reads: “I need Feminism because people should respect my personal boundaries. I do not need anybody's advice or instruction.”
Gender battles continue to play a central role in Kyrgyz politics and society. While women occupy prominent positions in public life, notably more so than in the country's immediate neighbors, the constant grind of negative stereotyping and harassment affects the way many are able to do their job.
The following is a compelling blog post originally written by Kyrgyz journalist Asel Kalybekova for EurasiaNet.org's Inside the Cocoon blog under the title Bishkek Journal: I want an Interview, Not a Date:
When I knock on the door of yet another Kyrgyz politician, civil servant or businessman, I have many questions. That’s my job as a journalist. But the most nerve-racking question is not in my notebook: Will he hit on me?
The first time I interviewed an official in Bishkek, he tried to hold my hand while we were alone in his office. I left, humiliated, thinking this would never happen again. I was wrong.
The idea that women are no more than pieces of meat is deeply engrained here. Indeed, until recently, Kyrgyz law called sheep rustling a more serious crime than bride kidnapping.
Women are taught to blame themselves. A study of 8,000 Kyrgyz women released in January found that 6 percent believe a woman deserves to be beaten if she burns dinner, 23 percent if she leaves the house without telling her husband. Last summer, a female member of parliament lobbied to ban girls under age 22 from traveling abroad. She said she wished to “preserve the gene pool.”
At first, I thought the advances were my fault, that I had dressed or acted inappropriately. I changed my makeup and started wearing glasses to look older. But they haven’t stopped. Men regularly call me after interviews, suggesting we have a coffee to “get to know each other better.” Professionally, it is challenging to tell a member of parliament or a minister that I’m not interested while leaving the door open for future interviews.
Kalybekova goes on to echo a common complaint among young women in Kyrgyzstan, namely that married men harass them via social media platforms such as Facebook:
The flirting is not limited to phone calls or passes behind closed doors. Recently, I met a prominent, Western-educated politician. What started with an offer to give me a ride home turned into a series of texts and Facebook messages about how he is thinking about me and wants to see me. I know his daughter well; she’s a year younger than I. I told him, but he didn’t stop.
I thought I was alone. But friends share similar experiences. One, who is now 28, used to work as a secretary in a government agency, where she says she was constantly propositioned for sex. She never dared to raise her frustration with her superiors. “No one would take it seriously. I am a woman, and that means that I will always be the one to blame.” She quit. Her treatment discouraged her from pursuing a career. She is now a stay-at-home mom.
A family friend, Aizhan, 48, who is a successful chief-accountant at a large private company in Bishkek, told me she has had to fight sexual harassment throughout her long career. “I was often told that if I want to succeed, I had to be ‘friendly’ with my bosses and business partners. Of course, friendship is the last thing they want,” Aizhan told me.
The most appalling thing is that these sleazy men expect us to like it. Why else would I come to their office? Young, single, what else could I want? By some Kyrgyz standards, because I’m in my mid-20s and not married, I must be loose.
When I walk through the halls of power in Kyrgyzstan, I am a target. I want my sources to see me as a journalist, a professional, not a sex object. I want them to talk to me about business and politics, not about how good looking I am. Because they are affecting the way I see myself. After each proposition, I tell myself it is not my fault. But the more I say it, the less I believe myself and the less confidence I have doing my job.
Kalybekova's blog found resonance with many others who had endured similar experiences while working elsewhere in the region. Dena Sholk, who spent time researching in Kazakhstan wrote:
I totally empathize with this @EurasiaNet article. I had many similar experiences researching in KZ http://t.co/qi4OF2r1qa
— Dena Sholk (@DenaSholk) August 5, 2014
Recent Global Voices stories focused on Kyrgyzstan's gender battles include this piece written by Aliaskar Adylov, about an incident where a crowd attacked a group of women's rights activists having mistaken them for Christian missionaries, and this piece by Mahina Shodizoda, about a young woman that recounted her own “bridekidnapping” in tweets.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Chris Rickleton


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Video Contest: Inspiring Stories of Protected Areas · Global Voices
María Romina Mascareño

Contest banner
The International Unión for Nature Conservation (IUCN, for its name in Spanish) on its official page on Facebook, makes a call for communites and populations that live in protected areas in South America to submit their videos to take part in the contest “Inspiring stories of protected areas”, aiming to share those stories to the whole planet. Those who want to take part can submit up to two self-produced four-minute videos with copyright.
The awarded videos will be exposed during the IUCN International Congress of Parks.
To participate, just fill the application form with your information before August 14. You can also participate by choosing among the videos already uploaded to participate.
For more detais, visit the site on Facebook.

author: María Romina Mascareño


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Loved Brazil’s 2014 World Cup? The Five-Time-Champion Nation Wasn’t So Thrilled · Global Voices
Javiera Munoz

Germany, 2014 World Cup Brazil champions, after the final at the Estádio Maracanã. Photo by himanisdas on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
When Brazil hosted the World Cup in June 2014, it witnessed not only the planet's most popular sporting event, but also a surge of social unrest. Considering both the monumental spending and the national team's heartbreaking performance, Brazilians had ample cause to be disturbed.
The world's mainstream media often focused on the celebratory mood in Brazil during the games, but this was only part of the story. Despite the country's deep cultural affinity for football, hosting the World Cup was actually a controversial project in Brazil that may viewed as socially irresponsible. The main concerns were about government spending. Organizing the tournament was very expensive, of course, and the money spent on preparations drained resources meant for Brazil's many other pressing issues. Thanks to the World Cup, Brazil has witnessed a rise in protests, strikes, and unemployment.
In June 2014, bloggers at The Hill addressed Brazil's “World Cup ennui,” explaining the nation's generally sour mood as a response to government mismanagement:
The cost of new stadiums and the accompanying infrastructure have certainly created jobs, but they have also redirected scarce funds away from such basic needs as education, healthcare and better transit. The $11 billion being spent to prepare for the games is not registering with citizens. More than half of people polled in April said that the games would bring more harm than good. And the Rousseff government's campaign promises of a new social contract have faded almost as quickly as the ebullience of having won the rights to host the Cup itself.
Writing in the newspaper El Pais, Antonio Jiménez Barca argues that demonstrations cast a shadow on Brazil's World Cup, demonstrating a lack of public support for the tournament. The country has more important problems, he says.
Yo no estoy en contra de la Copa, señor. Pero sí en contra del dinero que se ha empleado en la Copa y que se podrá haber gastado en otras cosas, como salud, educación y transportes.
I am not against the World Cup, sir, but I am against the money that has been used for the World Cup, which could have been spent on other things, like health, education, and transportation.
Brazil spent a spectacular sum of money indeed. An Argentinian magazine recently concluded that Brazil's World Cup organizing committee invested roughly $12 billion USD in preparations—the largest sum in the tournament's history.
Nunca antes se erogaron tantos billetes para las canchas que albergarán los encuentros de la Copa. [..] Brasil será el eje del mundo durante 30 días. La Copa está en marcha y las sensaciones cambiarán, quizá con los resultados.
Never before have so many tickets been distributed for pitches that will host World Cup matches. Brazil will be the world's axis for 30 days. The World Cup is underway and feelings will change, maybe with the results.
The size and intensity of protests grew as the World Cup progressed, with the most significant rallies occuring in big cities like Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Recife. According to El Pais newspaper, mass demonstrations swept Brazil early during the games, despite the government's decision to cancel an unpopular hike in public transportation costs.
A diferencia del lunes (17 de junio de 2013), cuando en todas las protestas se escuchó un reclamo preciso y concreto en boca de la mayoría, esta vez no surgió ningún elemento unificador, ningún cántico que primara sobre todos los demás. La corrupción, el exceso de gastos en el Mundial de 2014, la educación, la salud… Todas esas cuestiones se reflejaban en las cartulinas de los manifestantes. Pero ninguna reinó sobre la otra.
Unlike Monday (June 17, 2013), when protesters voiced specific complaints in relative unison, no unifying element stood out in this new demonstration. Corruption, education, health, overspending on the World Cup—protesters carried banners addressing it all. No single issue took precedence.
While the social situation calmed some after the beginning of the World Cup, the distraction ended with Brazil's humiliating elimination by Germany on July 8. Twitter users used the hashtag #BrasilEliminado  (#BrazilOut) to weigh in on the defeat. A day after the loss, Brazilian Twitter user Márcio Pinto Santos reported a riot in São Paulo, facetiously welcoming more social unrest:
Que se iniciem os protestos… #BrasilEliminado… http://t.co/k3CtNXnsJY
— MARCIO PINTO SANTOS (@FaniiCinho) julio 9, 2014
Let the protests begin… #BrazilOut [Hyperlink to a news article about the São Paulo riot.]
In Venezuela, Twitter users had the same idea:
Ahora si comenzarán los disturbios en Brasil #Brasileliminado pic.twitter.com/F08if5USwW
— David Cedeño (@daviloc0) julio 8, 2014
Now for the riots in Brazil to begin. #BrazilOut
Indeed, black humor was not an uncommon reaction online to Brazil's crushing defeat:
Falaram que a copa tava comprada, mas acho que o cheque da Dilma não tinha fundo. #Brasileliminado
— Rafael Custodio (@espiaaqui) julio 8, 2014
They said [Brazil's] Cup [victory] was bought and paid for, but I think [Brazilian President] Dilma [Rousseff]'s check was no good. #BrazilOut
Writing in his blog on July 11, Peruvian journalist Pedro Canelo asked, “What's a day with Brazil out of the World Cup like?” Answering his own question, Canelo said Rio de Janeiro deflated overnight, losing its carnivalesque atmosphere to a sense of wounded pride. Canelo witnessed no violence in the streets, but he certainly detected the potential for such unrest hiding just beneath the surface:
No hay desmanes, tampoco protestas, solo tristeza y nostalgia en Brasil. Hay que cuidarse igual, caminar seguro por las calles iluminadas y con resguardo, y tampoco salir innecesariamente por la noche. Un dolido hincha brasileño con tragos encima puede reaccionar mal ante la mínima preocupación. Nos despide triste el país más alegre del mundo.
There is no outrage or protests in Brazil—just sadness and nostalgia. Even so, one must be careful. Keep to the streets with lighting and shelter, and don't go out unnecessarily at night. After a few drinks, an upset Brazil supporter might take the smallest matter the wrong way. We bid a sad farewell to the most cheerful country in the world.
When it comes to facing social disturbances while hosting the World Cup, Brazil's experience is hardly unique. Had their national team raised the cup for a sixth time, things might have ended differently. In many ways, the 2014 World Cup is only the latest edition of football's biggest championship, which often spreads social unrest in the places it visits—especially in Latin America.

author: Javiera Munoz


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3 Years in Prison for Spray-Painting a Fence? Now’s Your Chance to Say ‘No.’ · Global Voices
350.org

Screen capture from freevitishko.org.
Russian environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko is spending the next 3 years of his life in prison, after a kangaroo court convicted him earlier this year of spray-painting a fence built illegally on national park land in 2012. Before his arrest and imprisonment, Vitishko worked tirelessly to expose crimes against the environment, including damage caused by the construction of a lavish resort for the governor of Krasnodar.
This summer, activists at freevitishko.org launched a signature drive through the global civic organization “Avaaz.” People wishing to show their support for the cause, which demands Vitishko's immediate and unconditional release, can add their names to the petition here.
Evgeny Vitishko is a foremost Russian environmentalist, a member of the Environmental Watch on the North Caucasus (EWNC), and a veteran of the environmental movement in the North Caucasus region. For many years, he has worked to prevent the destruction of Russia's national parks and publicized pollution on the Black Sea shore. Vitishko has also inspired other grassroots activists across Russia, promoting the principle of “think globally, act locally.”
The government began persecuting Vitishko in earnest, after he and fellow environmentalist Suren Gazaryan publicized environmental damage caused by the illegal construction of villas for Russia's rich and powerful. (The mansions, allegedly belonging to President Putin, Krasnodar Governor Tkachev, and Patriarch Kirill, are located on protected land along the Russian Black Sea.) Vitishko and Gazaryan revealed that construction workers were destroying the habitat of an endangered species of pine tree.
Noticing an illegally installed fence, Vitishko and Gazaryan filed complaints with Russia's environmental protection agencies, but officials responded by denying the existence of the fence. To prove the authorities wrong, Vitishko and Gazaryan held a demonstration at the fence, where someone in attendance spray-painted protest slogans criticizing the Governor and the illegal construction. Police responded by charging Vitishko and Gazaryan with the “deliberate destruction or damage to property resulting in significant damage and motivated by hooliganism,” citing article 167, section 2, of the Russian Criminal Code. The two environmentalists faced a 3-year suspended sentence with a 2-year probation period.
When the state threatened to charge him with other crimes, Gazaryan fled the country. In 2014, he won the Goldman Prize for protecting the environment.
Evgeny Vitishko stayed in Russia and continued his work. In November 2013, prior to the Sochi Olympic Games, he announced the publication of a new report of the EWNC on the environmental impact of Olympic construction in Sochi. Vitishko highlighted how Russia amended several federal laws to accommodate Olympic construction on protected lands. Indeed, the changes severely diluted Russia's environmental protections, accelerating development throughout Russia (not just in Sochi). According to Vitishko, Russia now faced the threat of deforestation on a massive scale, to the degree that the entire planet's environment will be affected.
In December 2013, the authorities changed Vitishko's suspended sentence into a real one, sending him to a penal colony, on grounds that he supposedly “violated his curfew.” He is imprisoned in Tambov, to this day.
If the “Free Vitishko” campaign collects over 20,000 signatures in the next few weeks, Avaaz will distribute the petition through its global platform, putting the effort on track for 100,000 signatures, granting Vitishko's case some much needed publicity. Russia's environmentalists are relying on the international community's solidarity.


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A Weibo Spat Hints at the Battle Brewing Over Journalism’s Future in China  · Global Voices
Owen Guo

Screenshot of Lin Zhibo's Sina Weibo account
While censorship in China and news practitioners’ gripping anecdotes of defiance routinely make international headlines, little is known about the people who are behind the many institutions across the country that train future journalists.
The appointment in July of Lin Zhibo as dean of journalism school at Lanzhou University in northwest China, however, has touched off an unusual online squabble pitting the country's leftist nationalists against liberals pressing for more media freedom. And for the first time, a social media buzz has been generated around the steersman of a journalism school, a role that was previously spared much scrutiny.
Lin was trained as a historian and worked as an editor at an obscure magazine before joining the People's Daily, the Communist Party's mouthpiece newspaper. He was responsible for the scriptwriting of a number of TV series devoted to China's civil war when the Communist Party was battling for power.
The controversy surrounding the 51-year-old Lin, who has a massive social media following, had emerged prior to his new job posting. As an editor at the People's Daily, he lambasted what he called bashers of Mao Zedong for exaggerating death tolls from China's Great Famine between 1960 and 1962, during which millions died. The legacy of Mao is controversial in China, although he is considered a founding father of the People's Republic.
“In order to demonise Chairman Mao, someone claimed that tens of millions of people were starved to death during 1960-1962. Some people visited many villages in Henan which were at the center of the famine, and the situation they observed was not like what others had claimed. Many villagers had heard about the death due to starvation but had never witnessed it themselves, and those who could prove the death due to starvation were in the few,” he wrote on Chinese Twitter-like service Sina Weibo in 2012.
Bowing to public pressure and outrage, Lin later apologised and admitted that his comment was inappropriate and had “hurt many people's feelings”. “I have not had sufficient study of the Great Famine and did not have enough information about it…My inappropriate comment has awakened miserable memories for many Chinese…I feel deeply sorry and apologise sincerely to every one!”
Two years later, however, instead of making concessions, Lin appears to be combative in defending his new role . “I will no longer interact with those attackers and will wholeheartedly fulfill my duties [as an editor] and [as dean of the journalism school] at Lanzhou University. I will serve my country and people and assist the university in training professional news practitioners with social responsibility who love their country and people,” Lin wrote on Weibo after criticism poured in.
The loudest criticism came from Cao Lin, a journalist at China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League. His mocking of Lin resulted in a bitter standoff on Sina Weibo, with the two engrossed in a war of words that attracted many reposts and comments.
“I still insist on my viewpoints, journalism is a good major, and there is no reason not to apply. But I want to add that one needs to look at resumes of professors and dean before applying. Extra caution is needed if one applies to journalism school at Lanzhou University, where such a leftist and weirdo like Lin Zhibo serves as the dean,” Cao wrote on Weibo.
Cao took a step further and called the newly appointed dean “an academically impotent hooligan with really bad past records”. In response, Lin retorted, “Let the law in the country educate an underbred person like you.”
As the intensive bickering was brewing on China's blogsphere over what qualifications are needed for a position such as Lin's, people were also trying to gauge where journalism is headed in the country after Chinese authorities have tightened the clamp on domestic media.
The announcement of Lin's posting coincides with a new measure introduced to prohibit Chinese journalists from writing for foreign media. Last year, all Chinese journalists were required for the first time to attend an intensive training session designed to boost their journalistic skills and pass a test on their knowledge of dry Communist slogans.
An unconfirmed report emerged online last year revealed that regulators in China were hoping to place provincial propaganda officials into the top positions of key journalism schools in the country. Two of the top journalism schools in Beijing, Renmin University of China and Tsinghua University, are headed by officials from the press regulatory agencies.
Lian Peng, a columnist, criticised Lin's appointment:
林治波这样的人，竟然被聘兼任兰大新闻与传播学院院长，真不知道有些人咋想的。
How come someone like Lin Zhibo would be appointed dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Lanzhou University? I don’t know what’s gotten into some people.
Another user wrote in support of Lin, arguing that journalism is meant to protect the country's socialism:
@中青报曹林 说@林治波 没有资格当兰大新闻学院的院长，什么是资格？首先的资格，就是维护社会主义，为人民服务，那些挖社会主义墙脚的人才是应该从国家的宣传部门清除出去。
Cao Lin from the China Youth Daily said Lin Zhibo is not qualified to be the dean of journalism school at Lanzhou University, what are the qualifications after all? The first qualification is to safeguard socialism and a willingness to serve people. Those who try to undermine socialism should be kicked out of the propaganda agencies.
An associate professor of politics commented about the apparent contradictions in Lin's beliefs, pointing out his support for the Chongqing model — the model of development supported by disgraced former Party leader Bo Xilai in which the government plays a strong role in the economy and social equality:
胆小的公鸡2233：若@林治波 先生在重庆模式、文革、大饥荒仍坚持自己的观点，的确不适格，因为歌颂重庆模式、拥护文革、否认大饥荒行为，不仅缺失政冶标准，更缺失做人底线，若如此，怎有资格为人师表
If Lin Zhibo still insists his interpretations of the Chongqing model, Cultural Revolution and the Great Famine, it would be indeed inappropriate because praising the Chongqing model and upholding the Cultural Revolution and denying the Great Famine is not only politically wrong but also shows that he is hitting the bottom limits of a human being. How could he be qualified to be a teacher?
Parker- W, a journalism student, was confused:
作为新闻专业的学生。。。真的不知道该说些什么了。。唉，满怀热情报的新闻，可是怎么感觉新闻专业如此之乱
As a journalism major…I really don’t know what to day..Sigh, I applied to study journalism with a lot of enthusiasm, but I feel the discipline is such a mess
Editor-in-chief of the nationalistic Global Times Hu Xijin chimed in to support Lin and condemn Can's actions:
一，林治波的一些网上发言我不太赞同，我认为他有必要发言更谨慎。二，林治波这种政治倾向的人不适合当新闻院长，范以锦、胡舒立那种政治倾向（这种倾向一部分是外界想象出来的）适合当院长，这种论断我反对，教育部门尤其应反对。三，中青报曹林屡次恶意攻击新闻同行，这种行为不应受到鼓励。
First, I don't agree to some online comments made by Lin Zhibo, I think he needs to be more careful with his words. Second, I object to the concept that Lin Zhibo's political leaning makes him unsuitable to be the dean of a journalism school and individuals like Fan Yijin and Hushuli make excellent deans. This concept should in particular rejected by the education authorities. Third, Can Lin's behaviour should not be encouraged, he had attacked his peers viciously.
Keli Situofu Jin drew a comparison between Lin and the leaders of the Cultural Revolution, a deadly decade-long campaign led by Mao to weed out people, beliefs and traditions that went against communism:
曹林之争，中青报PK人民日报，曹阳光，林晦暗，林治波以极左面目出现，与缺乏教养只知叫骂的爱国贼为伍，频以文革论调攻击持不同意见的公共知识分子和良知百姓，有辱新闻价值伦理和新闻人的修养，从人民日报空降兰大新闻学院院长，带给兰大沉重负面包袱，极左头目在秉持客观立场的新闻界应该被重用吗？
The battle between Cao and Lin, and that between China Daily and People’s Daily. Cao represents the bright side and Lin represents the dark side. Lin is a extreme leftist who lacks education and only knows how to befriend nationalists who shout curses every day. They attack those public intellectuals and kind common people with different views using a tone similar to that found in the Cultural Revolution, which is really insulting to news professionals. From the People's Daily to the dean of journalism school at Lanzhou University, he has brought a heavy burden to the university. Why should a leftist like him be valued in the news circle where objectivity matters?
China's tech-savvy citizenry is finding ways to circumvent censorship and staying more informed via the country's social media channels. A tightened control over media is likely to be met with a stronger demand for quality journalism.

author: Owen Guo


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#BooksForRasul: What Jailed Azerbaijani Human Rights Defenders Need Most? Books.  · Global Voices
Rayna St.

Cover image of the #BooksForRasul Facebook page.
Azerbaijani human rights activist Rasul Jafarov was brought in for interrogation several days in a row in late July 2014 and subsequently arrested in Baku on 2 August. The Nasimi District Court in Azerbaijan ordered a 3-month pre-trial prison detention for Jafarov, pending further investigation into the controversial criminal charges brought against him. The young activist will be spending his 30th birthday, on 17 August, behind bars.
Jafarov is a well-known human rights activist from Azerbaijan who “worked for political prisoners until he became one.” He is the founder and president of the Human Rights Club (HRC), a NGO he founded in 2010 and whose main goal has been to document political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Thanks to his work with the HRC, the extent of politically-motivated crackdown in Azerbaijan was revealed weeks before the 2013 election. Jafarov has also actively participated to the “Sing for Democracy” (now, “Art for Democracy”) campaign which tracks attacks on freedom of expression and works with dissenting artists penalised for their political message.
Several international organizations have spoken out against Jafarov's arrest and detention, as well as against the on-going government crackdown on human rights activists in the country. Armenian news site Panorama explained some of the troubling factors behind the Azerbaijani government's crackdown:
The arrest of Rasul Jafarov, founder of the Human Rights Club (HRC) and coordinator of the human rights campaign during 2012 Eurovision song contest hosted by Azerbaijan, was a retaliation against him for his work as a human rights defender. Rasul Jafarov has been deprived of freedom in connection with his attempts to exercise his right to freedom of expression and association, Amnesty International says in a statement.
The statement also mentions that independent human rights and pro-democracy organisations have long faced harassment and restrictions in Azerbaijan. The refusal to register NGOs leaves their leaders with no choice but to operate outside the strict legal framework, which is later used by the authorities as a pretext for their criminal prosecution. Rasul Jafarov is the fifth person to be prosecuted on these grounds in the last four months.
A Facebook event kicked off on 7 August inviting people to send him a book as a birthday gift:
We all have imaginations and plans on how we want(ed) our 30 b-day to be. None of us wants to turn 30 in prison as [a] political prisoner.
Emin Mili, an Azeri writer, blogger and activist, who was also a political prisoner from 2009 to 2010, suggested to send books to Rasul […] “Books in jail turn jail into a paradise for reading,” – says Emin.
You can also follow the ‘Free Rasul Jafarov!’ Facebook page for updates on the case [az, en].

author: Rayna St.


text:
Bulgaria’s Mizia Is a City Under Water After Heavy Flooding  · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

Collecting food and water to send as aid to flood victims. (Facebook.)
Bulgaria avoided the worst of the damage wrought by catastrophic floods in May 2014, when Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and other areas saw several deaths and billions of euros in property destruction. Thanks to a mammoth downpour at the end of July, however, Bulgaria now joins its neighbors in suffering mass flooding.
During the first rains in early June, flooding hit Bulgaria's third largest city, Varna, an important strategic port and economic center. Dozens of people lost their lives an many buildings were damaged, causing several millions of euros in estimated property damage. Heavy flooding reached other cities, like Veliko Tarnovo and Dobric, as well.
After Varna, Bulgaria witnessed a second wave of floods, this time more damaging than the first. Hundreds of people lost their homes in the northwestern city of Mizia, when unrelenting rain caused the Skat River to overflow. More than 100 houses were destroyed or severely damaged, with repair costs again expected to run millions of euros. Civil protection units evacuated the city of more than 500 residents, reporting 2 fatalities and 10 missing persons.
Петметрова вълна отнесе 4-хилядното градче Апокалипсис в Мизия http://t.co/nZ2WUa2tUO Хеликоптери „Кугър” на помощ pic.twitter.com/GyDRVN8mdr
— İnterfree (@gunerih) August 4, 2014
A 16-foot wave hit a town with 4,000 people. It's the apocalypse in Mizia. http://t.co/nZ2WUa2tUO Helicopters ‘Cougar’ help pic.twitter.com/GyDRVN8mdr
— İnterfree (@gunerih) August 4, 2014
Mizia is located on a plain, with several dams built around the city. Local residents say the authorities reacted too slowly to repair several leaks in the dams—an accusation state officials deny. Mizia's residents have also expressed concerns about the disorganization of the government's flood relief efforts, which the country's Civil Protection agency is managing with help from the Bulgarian Red Cross, local firefighters, and civilian volunteers. (At the moment, Bulgaria has no elected government in place, as the former administration resigned on July 23, 2014, leaving in place a caretaker cabinet until the next election.)
One Bulgarian news site tweeted aerial images of the flood damage in Mizia:
ГАЛЕРИЯ Бедствието в Мизия от птичи поглед http://t.co/TDkOFXpfcB pic.twitter.com/SBuOFbs506
— Vevestibg (@vevestibg) August 3, 2014
GALLERY: A bird's eye view of the disaster in Mizia. http://t.co/TDkOFXpfcB pic.twitter.com/SBuOFbs506
— Vevestibg (@vevestibg) August 3, 2014
Bulgarians have created a Facebook group to coordinate the collection of aid for flood victims in Mizia. The group is gathering information about what Mizia locals most need right now: food and bottled water, administrators say. The Bulgarian Red Cross has promised volunteers, emergency aid, and financial support. The Red Cross has also established a fundraising campaign to amass humanitarian and financial aid for those affected by Bulgaria's flooding.

author: Ruslan Trad


text:
Central Asia’s Rulers View Turkish “Soap Power” with Suspicion · Global Voices
Kanykei Tursunbaeva

Turkish serials like Magnificent Century have proven a hit in Central Asian countries. Until they get banned. Screenshot taken from a YouTube video uploaded by Muhteşem Yüzyıl.
Back when the post-Soviet states of Central Asia gained independence, there was much talk of Pan-Turkism, a word that had been largely forgotten during seven decades of  communism and Russian linguistic influence. The idea that Turkey would become closer to the Turkic peoples of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan quickly gained traction among the peoples of a region turning back towards its pre-Soviet cultural and religious practices.
Over two decades later and Turkish-Central Asian ties are not as tight as some had hoped, although connections via trade, education and culture are still strong. Most recently, what has been acclaimed worldwide as Turkish Soap Power has also taken root in some of the region's countries. The Belgian newspaper Le Soir, even called Turkey the Hollywood of Central Asia. Yet the last couple of years have seen Turkish serials banned in Kazakstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Kicked out of Kazakhstan
Last year Kazakhstan enforced a ban on serials from Turkey on state television. The justification in the run up to the ban was based on cultural protectionism and the promotion of national content:
В министерстве культуры посчитали неправильным тратить бюджетные миллионы на иностранную продукцию. Все деньги, которые раньше уходили за рубеж, а это почти 5 тысяч евро за одну серию, теперь пойдут на съемку собственных мыльных опер.
The Ministry of Culture considered it improper to spend millions from the state budget on foreign [television] productions. Now all money, that used to go abroad – and that is almost 5,000 Euros for a single episode – will go on making our own soap operas.
Zayir, a Kazakh student protested the ban:
Думаю, что наши пока не научились достаточно хорошо снимать фильмы и сериалы, некоторые бессмысленными получаются. Турецкие сериалы качественные, у них опыт большой в этом деле, они большие средства тратят на это. Запрещать ничего не нужно
I think our people have not learned how to make good serials and films, many of them are aimless. Turkish serials have quality, they have a lot of experience, and they spend decent money on this. Nothing [of this kind] should be banned.
Kazakhstan was the 42nd biggest consumer of Turkish serials worldwide that year, when Kazakhs voted “Muhtesem Yuzyil”, or “Magnificent Century” the best serial of 2012.
On Zakon.kz, one commenter mourned the disappearance of Suleiman the Magnificent and his harem of beautiful girls from Kazakh TV channels:
билин. мы с мамой ждем продолжение (хотя с новой актрисой в роли хюрремши – не так будет интересно, смак весь пропадает). А они запретили :( черт ти че. в жизни сериалов не смотрела, а этот как наркотик, чессслово.
Heck. My mum and I are waiting for the next series (even though it won't be that interesting, with a new actress playing Hurrem's role). Yet they banned it :( how come. I never watched soaps, but this one is soooo addictive, honestly.
Unwanted in Uzbekistan
Since 2012, Uzbekistanis have been without Turkish serials on their television sets. A series of Turkish soaps were removed from air shortly after a documentary aired on Turkish television about Turkish businessmen that had been forced out of Uzbekistan in dubious circumstances. Officials at the time said the serials did not fit in with local mentality.
Halit Ergenc, star of Magnificent Century, featured on Gulnara Karimova's perfume adverts. Photo taken from Uznews.net.
In fact, Turkish-Uzbek relations have been strained since 1993 when Ankara refused to comply with Uzbek demands to extradite Mukhamed Salih, an opponent of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. Yet while Karimov has little time for Pan-Turkism and soap operas, his troubled socialite daughter, Gulnara Karimova, harnessed Turkish “soap power” to advertize her Guli brand of perfume: Halit Ergenc, aka Suleiman the Magnificent from Magnificent Century, was the face for her “Victorious” range of male scent.
Whether that has made Ergenc any friends in Uzbekistan is another matter. Gulnara has her share of haters in the country, and on independent media outlet Uznews.net (run from outside Uzbekistan) commenters lined up to mock the pairing.
Sunbul, wrote:
О Великий Султан Сулейман, забери нашу Гугушу в свое гарем, пожалуста. За это калим не просим, забери бесплатно.
Oh Great Sultan Suleiman, please take our Gulnura away to your harem. We are not asking for a kalim [traditional cash gift given to a girl's family when she marries]: take her for free.
But Gulnara Karimova is no longer the force she was in Uzbek society, after a very public fall from grace, so there is now even less wiggle-room for Turkish-Uzbek cultural exchanges.
On trial in Tajikistan
Tajikistan has recently lifted a ban on the Turkish serial Homien (Defenders) after it was forbidden along with Yusuf Misli (How Yusuf) and Mehvari haqiqati (The essence of truth) in May 2012 for “promoting violence and extremism”. The ban was ineffective as most of the serials were available on pirate disc for less than a dollar.
A small boy sells pirated Turkish serials in Dushanbe,Tajikistan. Photo from Kloop.info.html
Tajikistan is the only one of the four countries in the region that is non-Turkic – Tajiks speak a version of Farsi – although the north of the country has a large Uzbek-speaking minority.
Kosher in Kyrgyzstan (for the moment)
With one of its major cultural exports meeting opposition in those three countries, and with totalitarianism protecting Turkmenistan's television-watchers from almost all foreign influence, Turkey's “soap power” probably has its safest regional base in Kyrgyzstan. While other neighbors are banning Turkish serials, Kyrgyzstan is advertising broadcasts of Kuzey Guney, an extremely popular soap that has been translated into 23 languages, winning 20 awards. Moreover, Kyrgyzstan, which has perhaps the warmest political relations with Turkey of all countries in the region, gets itsTurkish serials for free.
Still, even here, politicians are cheerleading to ditch Turkish drama in favour of a low-budget national product. Patriotic MP Mirlan Bakirov recently expressed his annoyance at regular broadcasts of Turkish soaps in Kyrgyzstan:
У нас есть свой Золотой фонд, а вы показываете каждый день турецкие сериалы. Переводите кино отечественных режиссеров на кыргызский язык и транслируйте их
We have our own Golden Foundation [to promote local content], but you show Turkish soaps every day. Broadcast films in Kyrgyz language made by national producers!
These growing political obstacles haven't stopped Turkish intellectuals such as Seyit Aydın dreaming of a cultural empire in brotherly Central Asia, however:
Oradakiler filmlerimizin isimlerini, karakterlerini bizden iyi tanıyorlar…Orta Asya'da Çinli, Koreli, Amerikalı herkes orada. Herkes onları kazanmanın, kendine bağlamanın peşinde. Ve maddi olarak da çok şey akıtıyorlar. Mesela Çinliler 2 bin tane çocuğu alıp bedava okutuyor. Kore bunu yapıyor. Onlar yüz tane anlatıyor ama biz bir tane anlatırsak bizimki geçerli oluyor. Bu nedir kanımız aynı, canımız aynı, dilimiz aynı, dinimiz aynı. Bizim küçük bir kıvılcımımız onların yangınından daha tesirli. Orta Asya ile din olarak, geçmiş kültür olarak, ırk olarak biriz. O zaman sadece bizim düzgün anlatmamız düzgün göstermemiz lazım.
They [Central Asians] know the names of our films and characters [in serials and films] better than we do…Everyone is trying to get into Central Asia: the Chinese, the Koreans, the Americans. Everyone is trying to become a regional power over there. They are investing financially too. For instance, the Chinese take 2,000 kids and give them education for free. The Koreans do the same. They explain 100 things, but if we explain one thing, that is ours, it will be more convincing. Because our blood is one, our spirit is one, our language is one, religion is one. Our tiny spark is more powerful then their [other nations’] flames. We are one with Central Asia in terms of religion, historical culture, people. So, we have to just show this and explain this in the right way.

author: Kanykei Tursunbaeva


text:
Video of Ex-Michoacán Governor’s Son with a Cartel Leader Revives Corruption Accusations in Mexico · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

Screenshot of Rodrigo Vallejo (left) and Servando Gomez Martinez, “La Tuta” (right). Source: El Universal.
The governor of Michoacán de Ocampo, a Mexican state severely affected by the war declared on organized crime, resigned in June. At the time, speculation was rampant that the resignation was related to allegations of corruption made against the now ex-Governor Fausto Vallejo and his family.
Those accusations haven't died down. Beginning on July 28, 2014, various sources including leading newspapers El Universal and La Jornada published a video released by Mexican news agency Quadrantín that clearly showed Fausto Vallejo’s son ‘Gerber’ Rodrigo Vallejo seated at a table with Servando Gomez Martinez “La Tuta,” the leader of the criminal organization known as the “Knights Templar,” discussing issues of state governance in an apparent climate of mutual trust.
Former Governor Fausto Vallejo's reportedly resigned due to health issues, but links between he and his family, as well as his closest associates, to organized crime have been reported for a long time. Journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva from Milenio news agency, who has reported on the ex-governor's alleged corrupt ties, commented:
Lo dijeron, lo dijimos. Lo documentaron, lo documentamos. Michoacán era un narcoestado con un narcogobierno y los Templarios en el timón.
Acertaron, acertamos. Era un narcoestado. Era un narcogobierno. El primero plenamente documentado en la historia de México.
They said it, we said it. They documented it, we documented it. Michaocán was a narco-state with a narco-government with the Templars at the helm.
They got it, we got it. It was a narco-state. It was a narco-government. The first one completely documented in the history of Mexico.
On Twitter, user Carlos E Orozco referenced Vallejo's claim that his son was kidnapped in 2013; however, he never filed a criminal complaint regarding the alleged abduction:
Suena ridícula la versión de @faustovallejof sobre que su hijo Rodrigo Vallejo Mora fue secuestrado para “platicar” con La Tuta.
— CEO (@Carlos_EOrozco) July 30, 2014
Fausto Vallejo's version sounds ridiculous about his son Rodrigo Vallejo Mora being kidnapped for “chatting” with La Tuta (former governor Vallejo claims his son was kidnapped back in 2013 however, he never filed a criminal complaint regarding the alleged abduction).
Meanwhile, user Sonia Vargas recalled that Vallejo came to power through the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, in Spanish), a political organization that seized control of the federal government for over 70 years until 2000:
#RodrigoVallejo Ni un voto más al PRI , bola de ladrones . http://t.co/UX8TpK6YdA
— Sonia Vargas (@Epitelia65) July 30, 2014
Not one more vote for the PRI, pack of thieves.
The account @NetasMx joked:
Rodrigo Vallejo… Otro capítulo mas de la exitosa serie: “La fabulosa vida de los hijos de los gobernadores mexicanos.”
— ❤ ¡Ay no mames! ❤ ❤ (@NetasMx) July 30, 2014
Rodrigo Vallejo…Another episode for the hit series: “The fabulous life of the children of the Mexican governors.”
We will have to closely monitor what authorities charged with obtaining justice will do in this case, since in Mexico it is common for people who are caught in the act on publicly disseminated video to regain their freedom in just a few weeks or never be prosecuted at all.

author: J. Tadeo


text:
Hollywood Studios Sue 15 South Koreans for Subtitling Their TV Shows Without Permission · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

The Korean language. Photo by Flickr user spencer341b. CC BY ND 2.0
Studios including Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox are suing 15 South Koreans for creating their own homemade subtitles in Korean for popular shows in English. The subtitles were most likely written and stored in extension (.smi) files, which are designed to sync with a content file so that the viewer can see the subtitles while watching the show.
The studios contend that the 15 violated copyright because they didn't have permission to subtitle the shows, and that their earnings took a hit because viewers watched shows using unauthorized subtitles, rather than watching the official versions, which aired on Korean TV with professionally made subtitles.
The U.S.-based entertainment companies have hired a Korean law firm to file the suit in local jurisdiction. Under Korean law, these amateur subtitlers could face five years in jail or a five of up to 50 million won (48,600 U.S. dollars).
Some have wondered about the impact the case could have on Korean fandom culture. Ardent fans often create subtitles as a way of showing their affection for their beloved show, and they leave their names, online IDs and email addresses at the end of the subtitles in order to receive feedback from other fans.
Others have pointed out that no matter if the subtitles intended harm or not, the reality is that downloading subtitles easily leads to downloading the whole show without properly paying for it. Yet only one subtitler among those being sued is believed to have created and circulated the subtitles for commercial purposes.
A net user ID: cryp**** defended the subtitlers in a comment below a related news article:
공짜로 보겠단 말 안했는데 난독증인 분들 많은 듯. 이제 좀 돈될거 같으니까 더 큰 피해를 준 배포자 잡을 노력은 안 하고 잡기 쉬운 자막제작자들부터 고소하는 행동이 마음에 안드는거지 그게 공짜로 보겠단 얘기는 아님.
We did not say we want to watch the shows without paying for those. I see that so many people have a problem understanding what I write. What I am not happy with is their attitude. Initially they let this all happen, but now, as it seems it will make enough money and since it is much harder to catch the distributors, they took an easy step of suing subtitle makers. Actually it is those distributors who cause greater harm. I really don't mean I want to watch those shows at no cost.
Patdaewon, a blogger on search portal Naver, wrote:
수백억원의 수출효과를 노리는 우리의 한류 드라마와 영화가 태국어, 말레아시아어, 중국어 이슬람어 등으로 마구 번역되어서 인터넷에서 100원에 팔리는 현실이 발생한다면 해당 국가의 국민들의 정서를 생각해 줄 수 있을까요? 너무 우리 자신을 합리화하기 위한 견강부회는 이쯤에서 마무리하는 것이 좋을 듯 합니다[…] 우리도 불과 같이 법적대응할 것이 분명하기 때문입니다. 정신적산물인 저작권은 그 원저작자가 외국인이든 한국인이든 모두가 소중하기 때문입니다.
If our own Korean Hallyu soap operas and movies are being translated into Taiwanese, Malaysian, Chinese and Arabic and sold at about 100 won [about 10 U.S. cents] online, how will we react? Will we be able to stand back and say, “It's understandable given that country’s circumstances and context”? Please, can't we just stop using this rhetoric to justify ourselves? […] Because we would also shoot back and take legal measures if the same thing happened to us. Copyright of all creative works, no matter who they belong to, whether it be a foreigner or a Korean, are equally important.
On Twitter, @kingkenny1967 questioned the copyright reasoning:
근데 미드 자막이 왜 신고 대상이지? 물론 자본주의 법 체계에서는 돈이 있는 놈이 이론도 만들어 낼 수 있지만, 자막 자체는 제작자 창작물 아닌가. 애초에 자막을 동일하게 만들어서 번역물을 저작권 등록한 것도 아니고.
— Craic Dealer (@kingkenny1967) June 29, 2014
But my question is why are those subtitles subject to a crackdown? Although I do understand that under this capitalist system, the rich can make up any rules, but strictly speaking, the subtitles themselves are one’s own creation. It is not like people make the exact same subtitles and you need to protect those official subtitles by claiming their own copyright.
Korean law treats subtitles as a secondary creation — a legal category where a parody work [ko] belongs to — and protected under the copyright law but to a limited amount. San Francisco-based blogger Mike Masnick has noted that Korea's copyright laws were recently retooled as part of the country's free trade agreement with the United States. He wrote:
This is not what copyright is supposed to be about, and the fact that it's being considered a criminal action to add subtitles to US soap operas is simply ridiculous. While the potential fine is a lot lower than statutory rates in the US, just the fact that this is considered a “criminal” matter at all, rather than a failure by these Hollywood studios to adequately serve their market, really says an awful lot (and none of it good) about how distorted the debate over copyright has become.
@Kyeolgun summed up the studios’ motive:
@kingkenny1967 보통 자막을 받는다 = 불법 영상을 받는다라서 그걸 동일시한거겠죠.
— 淸遠/결군 (@Kyeolgun) June 29, 2014
I guess it is because the ramification here is “Downloading subtitles” is actually equivalent to “Downloading the video content illegally”.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


text:
Want to Use Public Wi-Fi in Russia? Let’s See Some ID · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Russia will soon require a passport from those wishing to use public Wi-Fi. Images mixed by author.
Internet users in Russia won't be able to use Wi-Fi in public spots anonymously any longer. The Russian government is now going to require individuals accessing public Wi-Fi hotspots to present their passports or IDs. Personal data will be recorded and stored by the Internet provider, along with information about the devices used, including their unique MAC-addresses. According to Russian media, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev has already signed the corresponding government decree (the full text is also available on the government's legislation portal).
The decree also obliges wireless hotspot owners – restaurants, cafes, libraries – to provide their ISPs with lists of those who used their public connections, disclosing their names, addresses and ID numbers. Such lists should be updated every three months or so.
Rambler & Co's government relations director, Matvey Alekseev thought this decree was a bit strange, since Wi-Fi coverage in Moscow, for instance, extends to parks and even streets, making physical identification difficult.
Идентификация пользователя при доступе к Сети через Wi-Fi в общественных местах неосуществима. Только в Москве покрытие открытого Wi-Fi охватывает все парки и места общественного доступа. Не думаю, что все, кто придет в парк Горького, будут показывать свои паспорта.
Identifying users when they access the Internet over Wi-Fi in public spaces is impossible. In Moscow alone open Wi-Fi covers all parks and public access spots. I don't think that everyone who comes to Gorky Park will show their passports.
The need to store personal data also means that all cafes or parks must apply for a “personal data operator” license with Roskomnadzor or pay a fine if they fail to do so.
Government officials, however, think the decree is especially necessary, since it allows to curb the shady shenanigans of suspicious persons in the current state of “information warfare.” So says first deputy head of the Duma committee on information politics, information technology and communications Vadim Dengin:
Речь идет о безопасности. Идет информационная война. Анонимное подключение к интернету в общественных местах позволяет осуществлять противозаконные действия безнаказанно. Найти нарушителя бывает весьма сложно. Американцы боятся войны, сейчас им лучше всего воевать в информационном пространстве. Они усилили свой холдинг «Голос Америки». Те, кто заинтересован в дестабилизации, пытаются насытить Сеть мошенниками, фашистами и экстремистами. Всё, что связано с интернетом, должно быть идентифицировано.
We're talking about security. There's an information war going on. Anonymous connection to the Internet in public places allows to engage in illegal activity with impunity. It can be very difficult to find the perpetrator. Americans are afraid of war, right now it's best for them to wage war in the information sphere. They have beefed up the “Voice of America” holding. Those interested in destabilization are trying to saturate the web with crooks, fascists and extremists. Everything connected to the Internet must have identification.
Updated on August 8, 2014.
Since the initial announcement, there has been much confusion about what qualifies as a “public Wi-Fi hotspot.” Soon after the news broke, a Moscow city official claimed that the decree only applied to “collective access points” run as part of the state's universal communications services network (namely those in Russia's postal service locations), and that Wi-Fi access in parks, cafes, subway, universities and schools did not require identification.
The Russian communications Ministry later weighed in to clarify that the requirement only applies to hotspots set up by network operators (and not private access spots set up by individuals for personal use). The Ministry also explained that operators providing access don't necessarily require a passport or ID, but can also ask the user to fill in a form or send a text message and hand over their identifying information.
Dmitri Medvedev's press-secretary, Natalya Timakova, also commented on the new initiative and suggested that the decree's requirements might be modified depending on how its practical application will proceed. Hopefully, this might mean the decree will gain a bit more clarity on who is actually required to collect users’ personal data in exchange for Wi-Fi access. TJournal notes that in its present form, the decree does not explain how the identifying information will be verified, which means network operators providing public wireless Internet access will have to trust whatever information users choose to hand over.
As Russia follows in the footsteps of some of its former Soviet neighbours, like Uzbekistan, which already requires user identification for access to public Internet connections, we can only guess what the Kremlin will think of next as its officials become more and more paranoid about the potential of a free Internet.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
Are the West’s Sanctions Against Russia Tough Enough? · Global Voices
Sean Guillory

Western sanctions have hit Putin hard, but are they tough enough? Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot. Original image by superputin.ru is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
The West has hit Russia with the toughest sanctions yet, signaling that it is finally getting serious about Russia’s continued support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Though the Obama administration unilaterally implemented a round of sanctions a day before the downing of Malaysian Flight 17, it was the aviation disaster that prodded the Europeans into tougher action. The new round of tougher sanctions targets individuals in government and business, banking, technology, engineering, and weapons, but they still fall short of hitting Russia where it really hurts: the gas industry. This isn’t surprising.
EU countries are wholly dependent on Russia for a third of their gas; they are reluctant to inflict pain on themselves. EU sanctions do, however, affect Russia's future gas exploration by sanctioning technology for gas exploration and extraction. Though sanctions are one of the only instruments the West can use to deter Russia, some experts contend that they are still relatively weak compared to those placed on, say, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. More, they argue, must be done.
The sanctions will likely do little to deter Vladimir Putin. Some even claim that they will allow him to further consolidate his power, as he plays up Russia’s need to decouple from the West and develop its national industry. This is indeed the view of LJ user spydell, who writes that the sanctions are ultimately good for Russia because they will renationalize the elite, develop national industry, and force Russia to diversify its economy. Spydell concludes:
Санкции положительны во всех отношениях и являются мощнейшей дозой стимуляторов для экономики. В краткосрочной перспективе пертурбации возможны, но в долгосрочной перспективе очевиден явно положительный эффект. В некотором роде США и ЕС в последние 4 месяца сделали для России больше полезного, чем российские чиновники за последние несколько лет.
Sanctions are positive in all respects and are a powerful dose of stimulant for the economy. In the short term, disturbances are possible, but in the long term a positive effect is clearly obvious. In some ways, in the last 4 months the U.S. and the EU have done more good for Russia than Russian officials have over the past few years.
Not everyone agrees. Some on the RuNet think that the real harm will be inflicted upon the Russian public, not the elites in power. The opposition leader Boris Nemtsov wrote on Facebook:
Общий долг российских банков и компаний 650 млрд долларов. Заплатить в течении года надо 100. Золотовалютные резервы 470 млрд. Заплатят, но ставки по кредитам и инфляция вырастут, а рубль ослабнет.
Зарплаты и пенсии будут заморожены, уровень жизни медленно, но верно начнет падать. За безумную войну заплатит народ, который пока еще рукоплещет “вождю”.
Russian banks and companies’ total debt is $650 billion. They need to pay $100 billion back this year. There’s $470 billion in gold reserves. They will pay, but interest rates and inflation will rise, and the ruble will weaken.
Salaries and pensions will be frozen and the standard of living will slowly but surely begin to fall. The people who still applaud the “leader” will pay for this insane war.
Similarly, Alexey Navalny tweeted:
Смысл выступления Обамы “Мы сделаем их слабую экономику ещё слабее”. Короче, Путин занимается фигнёй, а нам платить за это всё.
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) July 29, 2014
The meaning of Obama’s speech is “We will make their weak economy weaker.” In short, Putin engages in nonsense and we will pay for it all.
Some took the opportunity to joke. @korobkov tweeted, referring to the Soviet megaprojects of the Yamal and Baikal-Amur railways,
Ударным трудом на Ямале и БАМе Ответим на санкции Бараку Обаме!
— Максимальный ретвит! (@korobkov) July 30, 2014
We will answer Barak Obama’s sanctions with shock work in Yamal and BAM!
The fact that Sberbank, one of Russia’s largest banks, didn’t make it to the sanctions list (although, as we know, Sberbank was included in the most recent round of sectoral sanctions, the most severe ones yet – GV) prompted Olga Romanova to comment on Facebook,
ВТБ, Банк Москвы, Россельхозбанк в списке санкций. Сбера нет. Беспокоюсь за Грефа Г.О. – не объявят ли его теперь пятой колонной?
VTB, the Bank of Moscow, and the Russian Agricultural Bank are on the sanctions list. Sberbank isn’t. I worry for German Gref [the head of Sberbank]. Will they now proclaim him as a fifth column?
Boris Nemtsov, however, took Sberbank’s absence more seriously, and felt that it was a prudent action. He explained on Facebook:
Почему американцы ввели санкции против ВТБ и Россельхозбанка, а против Сбера – нет? Причины две: санкции против Сбера, где хранят свои сбережения 70% российских вкладчиков, означают наезд на сбережения миллионов граждан страны. Такие санкции позволят пропагандистам из Кремля все свалить на Америку и настраивают уже через кошельки народ против Запада.
У ВТБ и Россельхоза вкладчиков значительно меньше, а возглавляют их чекист Костин и сын чекиста Патрушева Дмитрий. Это санкции болезненные для Путина и не смертельные для граждан.
Короче, храните деньги в сберегательной кассе!
Why did the Americans impose sanctions on VTB and Russian Agricultural Bank and not against Sberbank? For two reasons: sanctions against Sberbank, where 70 percent of Russian depositors keep their savings, meant hitting the savings of millions of citizens. Such sanctions would allow the Kremlin propagandists to blame everything on America and incite the people against the West through their wallets.
VTB and Rosselkhozbank have fewer depositors, and their heads are the chekist [Andrei] Kostin and son of a chekist, Dmitry Patrushev. These sanctions are painful for Putin and not fatal to citizens. In short, keep your money in a state savings bank!
Nemtsov’s view that the sanctions will be “painful to Putin” aside, judging from some of the responses, RuNet users don’t appear hopeful that the West’s sanctions will change anything. Putin won’t be swayed, and the Russian people will ultimately suffer.

author: Sean Guillory


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There’s a Woman in Crimea Showing the Men How Blogging Is Done · Global Voices
Daniel Alan Kennedy

Polina Dubinina, known online as Politichanka, does not disclose her true appearance, but her LJ avatars use the image of Russian pop star Meseda Bagaudinova (pictured above). Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
This article is part of an extensive RuNet Echo study of Russian-language blogosphere in Eastern Ukraine. Explore the complete interview series on the Eastern Ukraine Unfiltered page.
She's had a LiveJournal account for years, but Polina Dubinina, who runs the blog Politichanka, only began updating regularly last February, when the aftershocks of the revolution in Kyiv reached Crimea. Dubinina chose LiveJournal in a conscious attempt to connect to the Russian speaking world, where LJ is widely popular.
LiveJournal – одна из самых известных и популярных платформ в русскоязычном сегменте Интернета, поэтому люди, которые живут в России, на Украине, в Грузии, предпочитают использовать именно эту платформу для ведения личного блога. И я не исключение.
“LiveJournal is one of the most famous and popular platforms on the Russian-language Internet segment. Because of this, people who live in Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia prefer to to use this platform for their personal blogging. And I'm no exception.”
While many political bloggers in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine tend to view their online activity primarily as spreading important information or furthering a political cause, Dubinina runs her blog more as a platform for discussion, regularly engaging in long conversations in the comment threads on her posts, which sometimes include dozens of back-and-forth replies. Dubinina often polls her readers about issues, creating a barometer that is also a launchpad for for further discussion.
RuNet Echo asked Dubinina about her motivations.
Я этот блог специально создала, чтобы писать про политику. В основном задача моего журнала – это обсуждения с моими друзьями политических событий в России и в мире… И читаю мнения друзей, которые живут не в Крыму, а в других регионах России, Украины. Интересно общаться с людьми из других городов, стран, узнавать различные мнения
I made this blog specially to discuss politics. In general, the aim of my blog is to discuss political events in Russia and the world with my friends … [but I also] read the opinions of friends who live in different regions of Russia and Ukraine. It's interesting to interact with people from different cities and countries and learn about various opinions.
Dubinina moderates her discussions by a defined a set of rules. Diversity of opinion is allowed, she says, but bad language and personal insults result in deleted posts or a permanent ban of the user responsible.
Like most Crimeans, Dubinina is supportive of the “reunification” of Crimea and Russia, which she feels is a direct consequence of the Maidan movement and the “Junta” that arose in its wake. She is highly critical of Ukrainian media that she feels tried to paint the annexation as unpopular among Crimeans themselves.
Есть пропаганда о том, что жители Крыма не хотели в Россию. А на самом деле большинство жителей Крыма в целом радо воссоединению с Россией.
There is this propaganda about how inhabitants of Crimea didn't want to be part of Russia. But in reality, the majority of Crimea's inhabitants were on the whole pleased with the reunification with Russia.
Dubinina however is equally critical of Russian media, which she says have portrayed the uprisings in Donetsk and Lugansk as organic popular uprisings. In her opinion, Russian soldiers are mostly to blame for the rebellion.
У нас в Феодосии сейчас отдыхает много людей из Донбасса. И у них настроения такие: нам все равно, какая страна будет, главное, чтобы прекратилось разрушение наших городов.
We have a lot of people from the Donbas holidaying in Feodosiya right now. This is their disposition: it doesn't matter what country they're in. The main thing is for their cities to stop being destroyed.
Dubinina is critical of both the Ukrainian military and the militia fighting them, expressing sympathy for the civillian population caught in the crossfire. “I hold generally pacifist beliefs,” she explains.
Like many bloggers in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, she privileges personal contacts and Internet-driven information over mainstream media.
В последнее время я больше доверяю не репортажам СМИ, я даже телевизор не смотрю, а своим родственникам, например, которые живут в Запорожье, своим друзьям по Интернету, которых уже давно знаю, и уже из этого делаю выводы.
Lately I don't believe media reports, I don't even watch television. [I believe] my relatives who live in [the south-eastern Ukrainian city of] Zaporizhzhya, or my friends online, whom I've known for a long time, and draw my conclusions from them.
Generally speaking, male voices dominate the RuNet's political discourse. As a woman, Politichanka is an exception to this trend.
Мне нередко мужчины пишут, что мне, как женщине, не стоит рассуждать про политику. Но я считаю это несправедливым. Политика – это не мешки с цементом таскать – и женщины, и мужчины могут рассуждать о политике. Я считаю, что это не зависит от пола, поэтому я такие замечания в духе: “Ты женщина, не пиши про политику” считаю устаревшим шовинизмом.
Men write to me often, saying that, as a woman, I shouldn't be writing about politics. But I consider this unfair. Politics isn't like dragging bags of cement. Both men and women can discuss politics… so I consider phrases like “you're a women, don't write about politics” to be obsolete chauvinism.
Despite this, Dubinina does concede that women's voices are often ignored in political discussions.
Увы, к сожалению, люди традиционно привыкли слушать мнение мужчин в политике, а не женщин.
“Alas, people unfortunately are used to listening to men's opinions in politics, and not women's.”
In many ways, Dubinina's blog operates more like a community than a traditional blog, like others popular in Crimea. Its unusual blend of classic blogging and more interactive “social media” is precisely why Politichanka represents the changing face of “blogging” on the Russian Internet, where so many netizens are migrating to Facebook and similar platforms.

author: Daniel Alan Kennedy


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Thousands of Yazidis Rescued, But Many More Are at Risk as the Islamic State Gains Ground in Northern Iraq · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Militant hoisting the Islamic State flag, replacing the Kurdish flag tweeted by an account believed to be associated with the Islamic State @nynwa_news.
Thousands of Yazidis stranded in the mountains of northern Iraq have been rescued, according to UN officials. Since August 3, tens of thousands of Yazidi men, women and children have been trapped there in scorching temperatures. At least 40 children died of thirst and another 25,000 are threatened with starvation.
Yazidis are an Iraqi ethno-religious minority, who fled their homes in the ancient town Sinjar close to Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan and the Iraq -Syria border, after militants from the Islamic State (IS also known as ISIS) defeated Kurdish forces there on Sunday.
Yazidis, like other minorities in Iraq, are the target of abductions and executions by Islamic State militants. Ethnically Kurdish, the Yazidi faith has some aspects of ancient Zoroastrianism. Many Iraqis refer to Yazidis as “devil-worshipers,” because their faith has a narrative of a fallen angel, similar to Satan in Abrahamic religions.
As the extremist Sunni militant group Islamic State has been taking control of towns in western, and now northern Iraq, capturing one-fourth of Iraq's territory the last few months, the country's majority Shi'ites and minority Christians and Yazidis have been forced to flee their homes or face execution.
Islamic State's war on “infidels”
Not all Yazidi men and women made it out in time from Sinjar. Some Kurdish new sites put the number of killed between 100 and 2,000. Kurdish site Rudaw interviewed Yazidi refugees who put the number of killed at 300. They also said 500 women and girls were transported to Mosul to be “sold”.
This isn't the first attempt by the Islamic State at ethnically cleansing an area of people viewed as ‘unworthy’ or as ‘infidels’. IS militants did the same with Assyrian Christians in Iraq's second largest city Mosul, which they captured on June 10, and Turkmen Shias in Guba and Shireekhan, which they've been in control of since June 23. Some Assyrian Christians and Turkmen Shia had actually fled and were seeking refuge among the Yazidis of Sinjar.
The pattern seems to be the same: the Islamic State orders the civilian population to either evacuate their area, convert to Islam or face extermination. Bombing of holy sites important to Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Jews and/or Yazidis, is also very common.
Ayub Nuri writes on the Kurdish website Rudaw:
Shingal [Sinjar] is occupied by a group that has no business being there. Do they hope to convert the local population to Islam? Do they hope to stay forever? It is impossible. The Yezidis have held on to their beliefs for 4,000 years. They have resisted, defied and survived the first Islamic conquest and hundreds of years of subsequent persecution and degradation at the hands of their neighbors. They will not give up now. Like the people of Leningrad during World War II, they would rather resist not five days but five years than descend the mountain and submit to the will of a radical group that commits a massacre wherever it goes.
[…] The people of Leningrad withstood a siege by Hitler’s forces that lasted almost three years until they saw their enemy defeated. The Yezidi Kurds will also see the backs of their enemies and will sooner or later return to rebuild their homes and shrines. But why to sit and watch them die? Young men from every corner of Kurdistan have taken up arms and are now fighting for Shingal. The whole world should do the same.
The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) used to be al Qaeda in Iraq. But the IS and al-Qaeda officially divorced in February 2014, after IS reportedly defied repeated orders to kill fewer civilians in Syria. Since June 10, IS has taken control of five oil fields in Iraq. Some experts believe IS may overtake al-Qaeda as the most influential extremist group in the world. The group now controls a third of Syria and a quarter of Iraq, an area equivalent to the size of Great Britain.
Kurdish forces take on the Islamic State
The takeover of Sinjar was the first major setback for Kurdish forces, who have been defending northern Iraq from advances from the Islamic State.
At the time of writing, Kurdish forces are planning a counter-attack. Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has also ordered his air force to back Kurdish forces. Up until now Maliki has been at odds with Kurdish forces from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan, in the fight against the Islamic State. After the Islamic State seized Mosul, Kurdish forces took control of neighboring Kirkuk, a strategic oil town, which did not go down well with Maliki.
On August 6, in a statement issued on a social media account believed to belong to Islamic State, the group claimed that it had captured a strategic dam in the north and vowed to continue its goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate that bridges the borders of Syria and Iraq. The group now controls significant territory on two of Kurdistan’s borders – with Iraq and Syria.
Yazadis under threat
Yazidis have been discriminated against for centuries and are accused of being ‘devil worshipers.’
“In our history, we have suffered 72 massacres. We are worried Sinjar could be a 73rd.” Haji Ghandour, a Yazidi Iraqi parliamentarian, said in an interview with the Washington Post.
According to the United Nations, because of the Islamic State, 200,000 Yazidis have fled various towns in northern Iraq and around 147,000 are taking refuge in the semi-autonomous Kurdish regions, leading to the largest and fastest influx of refugees in decades. There are about 500,000 Yazidis in Iraq.
Elderly Yazidis were particularly vulnerable during the exodus to Mount Sinjar and neighboring Kurdish-controlled areas. Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser, tweeted the story of one such elderly who, thankfully, made it out alive:
#Iraq I walked 10 hrs 2 escape ISIS assault on my village, 80-yr-old Yezidi from Sinjar told me. Now this is his home pic.twitter.com/8QuW1j96vR
— Donatella Rovera (@DRovera) August 7, 2014
Footage of Yazidis arriving to Mount Sinjar have been captured by the Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê, or ANF, and republished on the UK's The Guardian website.
The Islamic State released a statement in Arabic on Twitter with an attached link explaining their ‘conquest’. The linked contained over 40 graphic images but, for some reason, IS removed them.
بينهما عمليتانِ استشهاديتان؛ تفاصيلٌ جديدة للغزوات والفتوحات الأخيرة http://t.co/yryRG8Kbq2 #ولاية_نينوى #الدولة_الإسلامية
— ولاية نينوى (@Nynwa_news) August 6, 2014
Latests details concerning the most recent invasions and conquests, among them two martyrdom operations.
The link in this tweet refers to Yazidis’ as ‘apostates’. One of the images that was later removed was of a  of murdered Yazidi men and it carried a caption with an out of context verse from the Qur'an:
فإذا لقيتم الذين كفروا فضرب الرقاب
Now when you meet [in war] those who are bent on denying the truth, smite their necks
Yazidis say “stop the genocide”
Fiyan Dakheel, a Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament and part of the Kurdistan Alliance collapsed in tears on the August 5 after calling upon the assembly to “stop the genocide”:
Mr Speaker,
We are being butchered under the banner of “No God but God” [some disturbances in the parliament after that statement]. To this day, 500 Yazidi men and boys have been butchered. As we speak, there is a genocide taking place against the Yazidis. [Some more disturbances]. Please Mr Speaker, allow me to finish. My family is being butchered! Just like all Iraqis are being killed. Shias, Sunnis, Christians, Turkmen, Shabak… and today Yazidis. Please brothers, lets put aside all political differences, and stand with us as fellow human beings. I am speaking here in the name of humanity. Please save us! Save us! For the 48 hours, 30 thousand families have been stuck in the Sinjar mountains. Without water, without food, they are dying. Seventy children died from thirst. Fifty elderly men and women died from the bad circumstances. Our women are being used as concubines and sold in the markets. Mr Speaker, we demand the immediate intervention of the Parliament to stop this genocide. There have been 72 attempts to wipe out the Yazidis, and it is being done again in the 21st century. We are being killed. We are being butchered. A whole religion is being wiped out from the face of the Earth. Brothers, I call upon you upon the name of humanity, rescue us!
Her call for aid was repeated by Prince Tahseen Said, the ‘World leader of the Yazidis’ and published on the Assyrian International News Agency.
I ask for aid and to lend a hand and help the people of Sinjar areas and its affiliates and villages and complexes which are home to the people of the Yazidi religion. I invite them to assume their humanitarian and nationalistic responsibilities towards them and help them in their plight and the difficult conditions in which they live today.
The world's, and in particular the Arab governments’, lack of response hasn't gone unnoticed. Lebanese-Iraqi satirical blogger Karl Sharro tweeted:
Do you see all those tweets from my fellow Arabs being outraged about what's happening to the Yazidi Kurds in Iraq? No, me neither.
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) August 5, 2014
Left-wing Israeli activist Elizabeth Tsurkov called it a “Genocide in our time”
Genocide in our time RT @basildabh: Iraqi Yazidi lawmaker: ‘Hundreds of my people are being slaughtered’ http://t.co/unvGPSQSrN
— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) August 7, 2014
And historian of the Global South Vijay Prashad wondered about Saudi Arabia's role in this mess:
I'd like to hear the Saudi King come out and tell the Islamic State to let the Yazidi community live in peace, or at least flee the area.
— Vijay Prashad (@vijayprashad) August 6, 2014

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Ugandan Court Strikes Down Anti-Gay Law on a Technicality · Global Voices
James Propa

Activists John Bosco, (handcuffs) and Bisi Alimi (sign) in prison uniforms protesting in London against anti-gay legislation in Uganda on December 10, 2012. Photo by Reporter#20299. Copyright Demotix
Uganda's Constitutional Court has overturned an anti-gay law, which punishes homosexual acts with life in prison in some cases, six months after it was signed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
The court ruling did not address the content of law but only the procedure in which it was passed in parliament. This means the bill can be passed in parliament again. Homosexuality remains illegal in Uganda.
The law prompted Europe and the U.S. to cut some of the funding given to Uganda.
The law pushed a few liberal Ugandans, including Professor Joe Oloka-Onyango, Member Of Parliament Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, veteran journalist Andrew Mwenda, Professor Morris Ogenga Latigo, Dr. Paul Nsubuga Ssemugoma, LGBT activists and members of Sexual minorities Uganda, Jacqueline Kasha Nabagesera,  Julian Pepe Onziema, and Frank Mugisha, in March this year to file the case against the law in the Constitutional Court.
A panel led by deputy Chief Justice Steven Kavuma agreed with the petitioners on Aug. 1 that the law had been passed without quorum, hence nullifying it. The judges blamed the speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, for acting illegally.
Members of the LGBTI community celebrated the court ruling on social media. Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda and LGBTI advocate Dr. Frank Mugisha tweeted shortly after the law was nullified:
Still in celebration mood safely made it out of court amidst crowd of journalists & demos’ by anti gay groups – UG anti gay law nullified
— Dr. Frank Mugisha (@frankmugisha) August 1, 2014
@poniesinjudah congratulated the LGBTI community in Uganda:
@frankmugisha @jengrimman Congratulations! So great!Someone said there should be greeting cards for this. So I made 1 pic.twitter.com/Vz8zdB6YNT — poniesinjudah (@poniesinjudah) August 2, 2014
@Sambannz suggested that not everyone who is against the law in Uganda can easily celebrate publicly:
That moment when your father sees you on Tv among those Celebrating cause the Court nullified the #AntiHomosexualityLaw
— Samwise Gamgee (@Sambannz) August 1, 2014
However, not all Ugandans were happy. Pastor Martin Sempa, who pushed for the law, tweeted in reaction:
Deeply distressed by the ruling of court in favor of EuroAmerican funded homosexualists. Our African ancestors are in grief #descendants
— Martin Ssempa (@martinssempa) August 1, 2014
Andrew Kazibwe was against the court ruling:
2morrow announced black day, ugandans r to wear black to show their grief. #AHARuling
— AndrewWilliamKazibwe (@AndieK_Tweets) August 1, 2014
People who are against this court ruling continue to promise that they will not give up until the law is fully passed. The Ndorwa West MP David Bahati who was the first to table the law in parliament promised that he is going to bring the law back.
Homosexuality is outlawed in 38 African countries and it can be punishable by death in Mauritania, Sudan, and northern Nigeria.

author: James Propa


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A Man’s Fatal Beating Puts Police Brutality Back on the Front Burner in Jamaica · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

Police in Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica, during the 2010 State of Emergency. Photo taken from the BBC World Service Flickr page, used under a CC BY-NC 2.0 license.
The death of a young man from injuries he allegedly sustained at the hands of the police is causing an uproar in Jamaica, an island nation where police brutality, security force abuses and extrajudicial killings are nothing new.
According to reports, Mario Deane, a resident of the coastal resort town of Montego Bay, was arrested for marijuana possession. He was beaten while in police custody and eventually succumbed to his injuries after being sent to the hospital.
Mackie Conscious-Reggae Artist, who knew Deane personally, brought attention to this latest incident via his Facebook page:
THIS IS […] MARIO DEANE A YOUNG MAN I KNOW FROM MONTEGO BAY. I was told he was on his way to work […] when he [was] arrested and locked up at the Montego Bay police […] for a SPLIFF (small portion of ganja). He called his mother after 10am, someone went to bail him [out], he told the person he did not like this police woman for what ever reason […] she overheard, took back [Deane into custody] and the papers and after a few minutes, he was severely beaten until he was unconscious and taken to the hospital in this condition by 11 am, with a report from the police to the hospital that he fell off the bed. Come on how many of us fall off bed many times in life.
Between the media coverage and the social media outcry, the police went into damage control mode. The Ministry of National Security released a statement indicating its concern about the incident and offering condolences to the family, but its version of events was very different:
According to the police, Deane, who was charged for possession of a small quantity of marijuana, was attacked by fellow inmates on August 3, 2014 and succumbed to his injuries at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Wednesday, August 6, 2014.
Minister Bunting has […] instructed a review of the approach which sees the police arresting citizens for small quantities of marijuana. […]
The Minister has also expressed condolences to the family and friends of Mario Deane for this tragic and unnecessary loss.
The Jamaica Observer, one of the country's daily newspapers, reported that the police, via its Corporate Communications Unit, had denied beating Deane. Their official position is that they were alerted to a row in the lock-up; when they arrived, they found Deane “suffering from multiple injuries to his head and upper body.” The police say they then took him to the hospital for treatment, but he later died. The incident has since been referred to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), who are looking into the matter.
This type of violence has plagued the country's political culture from as far back as the 1970s, when Norman Manley‘s People's National Party and Edward Seaga‘s Jamaica Labour Party were locked in a bitter, bloody fight for power.
In the 1980s, reggae artist Lovindeer had a hit on his hands with a satirical take on police brutality titled “Babylon Boops (What Police Can Do).” More recently, in 2010, the government of the day declared a national state of emergency after it went public with its decision to extradite alleged drug don Christopher “Dudus” Coke to the United States. Coke's supporters in the Tivoli Gardens garrison community clashed with state security forces; when the dust settled, at least 73 civilians were dead, scores more were wounded and over 500 had been arrested.
Back in the 70s, Bob Marley tried to effect change by agreeing to be part of the One Love Peace Concert, where he famously brought the two political enemies on stage and joined their hands during his rendition of “Jammin’.” These days, citizens themselves have been using the power of social media to jump start a national discussion; last year, the country's Blog Action Day topic was police and security force abuse, but not much appears to be changing.
The Mario Deane incident has raised the spectre of police brutality in the country and was a major topic of discussion in the Facebook forum Real Change For Jamaica. Trevor Dawes was astounded that something like this could happen:
The reaction on Twitter was swift. Former police commissioner and security consultant Mark Shields said:
Mario Deane: death in custody – MoBay requires more than statements of regret. I hope to see preliminary report from INDECOM within 24 hrs.
— Mark Shields (@marxshields) August 7, 2014
This Twitter user found it a disturbing indictment of the state of the country that the incident happened on Independence Day weekend:
Justice and human rights still mean so very little in #Jamaica for so many of our people after 52 years of independence. #RIP Mario Deane
— ANT (@thelockedwonder) August 7, 2014
Another contributor compared the reasons for police brutality in the United States and Jamaica:
When white cops in the US beat and choke black people to death, we blame racism. What is our excuse?
— BigBlackBarry (@BigBlackBarry) August 7, 2014
The death of Mario Deane has placed great pressure on Jamaica's internal affairs department, INDECOM, to thoroughly investigate the police actions in this case. There are also renewed calls to decriminalize marijuana, a process the government authorities claim to be working on right now. Meanwhile, residents in Deane's hometown, Rosemount, have started protests by blocking several sections of the road with debris.

author: Matthew Hunte


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After a 15-Year-Old’s Gruesome Murder, Some Serbians Seek the Death Penalty’s Return · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

One of the posters that was circulated online and in several European countries during the search for Tijana Jurić, whose body was recovered Aug. 7, 2014 in a shallow grave near Belgrade.
Serbia ended capital punishment in 2002, but a recent heinous crime, the likes of which is seldom heard of in a small country like Serbia, has some calling for its reinstatement.
News broke on Aug. 7, 2014, that the suspected murderer of 15-year-old Tijana Jurić from Bajmok near Subotica in northern Serbia had been arrested. The man who police say left Jurić's loved ones and the country in shock is 34-year-old Dragan Djurić, a butcher from Surčin, a suburban municipality of Belgrade.
Tijana Jurić disappeared in the late hours of July 25, 2014, and was reported missing almost immediately by family members. Thanks to the residents of her village, Subotica authorities, and web users, Jurić's smiling face was soon plastered across social networks, news sites and blogs throughout Serbia and the region. There was suspicion that she may have been abducted and taken across the border into Hungary or another neighboring country and the authorities of several countries became involved in the search.
The entire country watched and waited, fearing the worst and hoping for the best. When the news hit in the early hours of Aug. 7 of Djurić's arrest, everyone was paying attention. The subsequent police interrogation yielded a confession from Djurić, who led police to where he had buried Jurić's body.
Since some of the facts of the crime have become known to the public, a fierce discussion has developed and spread across social networks, blogs, and on the streets of Serbia. A seemingly large portion of the public are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for this crime. Several online petitions have been started asking for the reinstatement of the death penalty and, within just 12 hours, at least one had almost 4,500 signatures, while Serbian tabloid Kurir claims that over 28,000 people were asking for the lynching of the killer on Facebook.
What may have fueled such public outrage, other than the terrifying details of the crime itself, was a public statement by Serbian Minister of Interior Nebojša Stefanović at a press conference on the morning of Aug. 7, at which he also made the arrest and some details of the crime public. Stefanović was quoted as saying:
Moj lični sud, lični osećaj, jeste da mi je zbog ovakvog krivičnog dela, zbog ovavog monstruma žao što je Srbija ukinula smrtnu kaznu, možda naše društvo nije bilo spremno za sve tekovine EU, kao što je ukidanje smrtne kazne
My personal judgement, personal feeling, is that I am sorry for this crime, for such a monster, that Serbia banned the death penalty, perhaps our society was not prepared for all of the facets of the EU, such as the banning of the death penalty
Serbia is currently in negotiations to join the European Union, which bans capital punishment.
While there are certainly people who agreed with the minister, many social media users were disgusted by his statement and by those who are calling for the lynching of the accused murderer, despite their outrage for the murder itself. Popular Serbian satirical news site Njuz.net co-founder Marko Dražić was among those who publicly commented on Facebook about the minister's statement and deemed it inappropriate:
Ministar policije dr Nebojša Stefanović izjavio je da mu je zbog ovakvog monstruma žao što je Srbija ukinula smrtnu kaznu i da naše društvo možda nije spremno za sve tekovine EU. Sledeće što bi mogao da uradi jeste da ostavi komentar na Blicovom sajtu kako bi ga obesio za muda na Terazijama ili sekao na komade.
Police Minister Dr. Nebojša Stefanović stated that he is sorry because of this monster that Serbia banned the death penalty and that our society isn't ready for all of the facets of the EU. The next thing he could do is to leave a comment on [Serbian daily] Blic's website about how he would hang him [the murderer] by the balls on Terazije square or cut him up into pieces.
A popular Serbian blogger who goes by the name of Bjuti Dingospo also publicly commented on Facebook about Stefanović's claims, citing facts about crime rates in both Serbia and several EU countries that contradict the minister's insinuation that the Serbian people are not ready for EU accession:
Видим, опет је у моди сиротињска забава бр. 2: поновно увођење смртне казне.
Поред тога што то неће допринети никаквој превенцији било чега, самим тим је и нецивилизовано и варварски. […]
Уосталом, Србија се обавезала међународним и европским конвецијама да ће укинути смртну казну што је и учинила. У Уставу пише исто итд.
Иако волите да се храните страхом и читате таблоиде, имате утисак небезбедности и приде, Србија заправо уопште не стоји лоше према статистикама по броју убистава.
Штавише, са 1.2 убиства на 100.000 становника је у нивоу Мађарске, Хрватске, Португала, Ирске итд.
Више убистава по глави становника имају неке ужансе и варварске, неуређене, пуј пуј државе као што су Финска, Канада и Белгија са 1.6 убистава на 100.000 становника, Грчке (1.7), а итекако боље стојимо од Бугарске (1.9), Кипра (2), Турске (2.6), Црне Горе (2.7), Русије (9.2), мирољубивог и насмејаног Тајланда (5) и САД (4.8).[…]
Како судите другима, надам се да ће се судити и вама.
I see, [the topic of] entertainment for the poor masses no. 2 is back: reinstatement of the death penalty.
Aside from not adding to the prevention of anything, it is uncivilized and barbaric in and of itself. […]
Besides, Serbia has been bound by international and European conventions to ban the death penalty, which it has done. The Constitution [of Serbia] says the same, etc.
Although you like to feed off fear and read tabloids, having a sense of insecurity to go along with it, Serbia actually doesn't stand badly according to murder statistics.
Moreover, with 1.2 murders to every 100,000 residents, it is rated alongside Hungary, Croatia, Portugal, Ireland, etc. There are more murders per capita in some terrible and barbaric, unorganized, yuck yuck countries like Finland, Canada, and Belgium, with 1.6 murders to every 100,000 residents, Greece (1.7), and we rate much better than Bulgaria (1.9), Cyprus (2), Turkey (2.6), Montenegro (2.7), Russia (9.2), peaceful and smiling Thailand (5) and the United States (4.8). […]
How you judge, I hope you shall also be judged.
The hashtag #smrtnakazna (#deathpenalty) has become increasingly popular on Twitter since the news broke, with opinions both for and against the death penalty, while one of the Facebook pages petitioning support for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Serbia has accumulated over 76,000 fans just within the first day.
A funeral for Tijana Jurić will be held on August 8 at 5 p.m. at the Orthodox cemetery in Dudova suma in Subotica, where a day of mourning has been proclaimed by the Subotica City Council.

author: Danica Radisic