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Education Is Syria’s ‘Chance for Change’ · Global Voices
Syria Untold

Girls play during one of the Kesh Malek projects in Aleppo, Syria. Source: Kesh Malek's website
This post was previously published on SyriaUntold.
As military, geostrategic and sectarian aspects of the Syrian conflict monopolize media attention, countless grassroots initiatives continue to challenge the chaos and impunity spreading throughout the country. Chance4Change is one of the latest initiatives focusing on a better future for Syria by ensuring education for the youngest generations.
Launched by civil society youth group Kesh Malek (Checkmate), Chance4Change aims to fund 15 schools in areas free of regime control in order to secure their curriculum and ensure they remain independent.
“Different groups have tried to control the future of the country by throwing money at a school’s principal, to take over the curriculum and management of the school,” writer Marcel Shehwaro explained to SyriaUntold. “This is why it is so important to support civil society attempts to provide a future for the country through a good independent educational system.”
In the words of another of the campaign's founders, in the area where they work “there is no longer the risk that schools will fall in the hands of extremists. We have already dealt with this kind of problem,  and one of the reasons for our campaign is to stop donors, whoever they are, from trying to take over schools in Syria and try to force their ideologies on children.”
Regarding the curriculum in the schools, the project follows the official Syrian curriculum, “excluding specificly regime-affiliated subjects, such as the Baath propaganda book called ‘National'”, he adds.
In addition to classes, the project will also provide healthcare for children by linking them with health centers. “Psychological troubles and traumas resulting from the conditions of war will also be dealt with”, Kesh Malek activists explain on the campaign’s website. “Finally, we believe that it is crucial to provide the pupils with skills that can help them throughout their life.”
Children during of the Kesh Malek projects in Aleppo, Syria. Source: Kesh Malek's website.
It is not the first initiative by the Aleppo-based group, which has been focusing on education and non-violence since early in the uprising. Kesh Malek has launched and participated in campaigns such as Eulogy For Fear, and My Country, I Dream… along with cleaning patrols, a new school named under martyr Musfa Qurman, and a festival for children in the neighborhood of Bustan al-Qasr.
Their latest initiative, Chance4Change, calls on groups interested in the future of Syria, including Syrians in the country and abroad, and anyone focused on strengthening civil society to help provide Syrian children with a non-biased education, free of influence from donor ideologies and agendas. To them, they send the following message:
Do you remember lunch period in the old days? When you and your friends used to make sure you got there early enough to save the seat next to you for your close friends and loved ones? Do you remember the lunch lady who always had her angry face on while she served your happy meal?
The vending machine money collector that gets really mad at you when your pop gets stuck and you try to shake the machine to get it down. Remember the locker room jokes right before gym, the whispering and gossiping about the new hot gym instructor? Remember your first homecoming football game? The practice and challenge you had ahead of you especially when the girl you liked came to watch the game and cheered for you?
Those memories are among many things that the new Syrian generation has lost. Because they have to go to a small basement to study, afraid of airstrikes. Because playing in the yard is the new luxury civil society groups cannot afford. But there is still a chance for change:
The chance now is the science teacher who refused to flee
The chance is the local NGO which opens schools in spite of their limited resources.
The chance is some men and women gathered to rebuild a school building in the neighborhood.
And the chance can be you … with a small ten dollar donation, you can pay a class teacher salary, two days of electricity, the class for a week, or buy notebooks to one student for the whole year.
Your donation could be a chance to change the future of these students.
#Chance4Change
See the campaign's website and the Facebook event for donations and more details.

author: Syria Untold


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Neighbours Tweet the Terrifying Moment Israeli Forces Destroy a 12-Storey Gaza City Apartment Tower · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Israel attacked a residential tower in an upscale Gaza neighborhood, injuring around 22 civilians, including 11 children. The 12-storey tower, Al Zafer 4, was completely leveled to the ground in the bombing on Aug. 23.
The Israeli government claimed that the missiles targeted a Hamas operations room in the building, but did not explain why the entire tower had to be destroyed. As The New York Times pointed out, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had targeted apartments within buildings before, but this was the first time that a whole residential tower was demolished.
Israel used its infamous ‘knock on roof’ method. Gaza police said that “a warning missile had been fired five minutes earlier and that some residents were able to rush out of the building in time. Still, 22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women, according to Gaza hospital officials.” The ‘knock on roof’ method has been condemned by Amnesty International‘s Philip Luther, who said that “there is no way that firing a missile at a civilian home can constitute an effective ‘warning.’”
Maher Abu Sedo, who lives in the area, told the Associated Press: “People started shouting ‘God is Great’, and women and kids were screaming. This is crazy. The state of Israel has resorted to madness. In less than a minute, 44 families have become displaced … They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security.”
Gaza bloggers and Gaza-based journalists immediately took to social media to describe the situation.
Lara Abu Ramadan, who lives in Al Zafer 2 facing Al Zafer 4, tweeted about her experience:
We evacuated our building and all the people in the streets fleeing! #GazaUnderAttack
— Lara (@laraaburamadan) August 23, 2014
And moments later:
They bombed the building beside our's with one drone missile and two F16 !!! #GazaUnderAttack
— Lara (@laraaburamadan) August 23, 2014
Asia Mathkour, daughter of the owner of Al Zafer Residences, was in her home across from Al Zafer 4. After the ‘knock on the roof’ around 30 people of Al Zafer 4 had taken refuge in her home. When the IDF called them to ask if all people had evacuated the building, Mathkour's mother had replied yes. When she asked “which apartment are you targeting so that we know where to hide?”, the IDF officer replied “we are bombing the whole building.” Mathkour spoke to Global Voices Online about her experience here.
Another area resident, Zaid Bakri, tweeted the attack “for the world to know” what happened:
I am tweeting non stop because i want the world to know about what has happened #GazaUnderAttack
— Ziad Bakri (@ZiadBGaza) August 23, 2014
In a series of frantic tweets, he described the chaos and horror he and his family experienced as they were forced to flee their home, near the destroyed tower:
On the news ,zafer 2 and zafer 5 abd noor buildings will be bombed #GazaUnderAttack these building LITERALLY form a circle around my home
— Ziad Bakri (@ZiadBGaza) August 23, 2014
Ziad explained:
My mom fell on the ground , i am tweeting and shaking #GazaUnderAttack
— Ziad Bakri (@ZiadBGaza) August 23, 2014
When the attack happened my mom was on the floor and she remained silent for two complete minutes .. i thought we lost her #GazaUnderAttack
— Ziad Bakri (@ZiadBGaza) August 23, 2014
Most ppl who left zafer 4 building took nothing and some fainted while evacuating #GazaUnderAttack
— Ziad Bakri (@ZiadBGaza) August 23, 2014
Back home today, Ziad described the scene as “disastrous.” He shares this photograph of the destroyed tower, as seen from his balcony:
Picture of the destroyed building from my balcony #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/W9ZGCaUraS
— Ziad Bakri (@ZiadBGaza) August 24, 2014
Dima Eleiwa posted a before and after image of the destruction:
Before and after photos for Al-Zafer 4.! God. This is too much, seriously too much. #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/T2NfJpeZnv
— Dima Eleiwa (@DimaEleiwa) August 23, 2014
Mohamad Suliman spoke of the human cost of this attack.
Thirteen stories have just been razed to the ground. Forty four residential apartments destroyed. Forty four families have been displaced.
— Mohammed Suliman (@imPalestine) August 23, 2014
Gaza-based journalist Dan Cohen tweeted a few images of the devastated areas:
All that remains of 44 homes in Zafer 4. pic.twitter.com/x31I33ntfP
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) August 24, 2014
5 minutes before Zafer 4 was destroyed, Mohammed Shawa helped elderly residents escape certain death. pic.twitter.com/eNOxkGHY94
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) August 24, 2014
Assad's family lost his home so several cousins came to help dig through rubble to recover belongings pic.twitter.com/QIBJForUkL
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) August 24, 2014
Moments before, Israel had hijacked Al Aqsa Television Channel to tell the people of Gaza: “People of Gaza – the war is not yet over. You are warned.”
Translation of Israel's threat to Gazans disseminated via a takeover of al Aqsa television channel pic.twitter.com/ugbZjXKGCU
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) August 23, 2014
At the time of writing, the death toll in Gaza stood at 2,110, including 567 children and 75 families. Seventy-two percent of Palestinians killed in this offensive are civilians, according to the UN. The death toll for Israel stood at 68, including one child. The percentage of Israeli civilians killed is 5 percent, with the majority of deaths being IDF soldiers.
Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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‘Revolutionary’ Band Laal Speaks Out Against Pakistan’s Facebook and YouTube Bans · Global Voices
Anushe Noor

Still from Laal’s video for the song ‘Inqalab’ – one of many videos rendered inaccessible by the ban on YouTube.
Laal, Pakistan’s most vocal social justice-oriented band, has built a career around using their platform as musicians to advocate for change and spread social awareness through their music, often through the Internet.
Facebook and YouTube have played a critical role for the band in publicizing their music and connecting with fans, but the Pakistani government has targeted those same websites for censorship. As Pakistan's authorities continue to block the corners of the Internet that helped Laal build an audience, Global Voices spoke to Dr. Taimur Rahman, Laal frontman and academic, for his perspective.
Laal, whose name means “red,” in reference to their socialist politics, came into the spotlight several years ago during the mass protests known as the Lawyers’ Movement, which demanded the country's ousted chief justice be restored to the Supreme Court. The band joined the campaign and providing a soundtrack to the movement.
When Pakistan issued a YouTube ban in 2012, Laal was one of the many bands that felt the effects. Additionally, Laal’s Facebook page has been banned a few times — a noteworthy blow, considering they have over 400,000 Facebook likes and reach many of their followers specifically through social media.
Facebook page ban
In June, Laal's Facebook page was banned, along with 162 other pages. Frontman Taimur quickly took to social media, tweeting and posting Facebook statuses about the ban, which were quickly picked up by fans.
Dear friends, we have reason to believe that PTA has shut down our page in Pakistan once again. Could you please… http://t.co/x14deXVtoz
— Dr. Taimur Rahman (@Taimur_Laal) July 10, 2014
He also posted this picture to his Facebook profile:
Screenshot of an image from Taimur's Facebook. Image is a black and white photo of Taimur with a red “CENSORED” stamp across his body, and the text “Laal the Band, has become Laal the Banned”
Taimur told Global Voices that the ban was an attempt to demotivate Laal’s efforts to spread awareness about freedom of speech and social justice. He said that the ban was ordered by the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), which he jokingly referred to as the Pakistan Taliban Authority in a tweet. Eventually, the PTA backed off and claimed to have nothing to do with the ban, and the ban was lifted.
“It’s very shadowy and Orwellian,” Taimur said in conversation with India Post Live, in reference to the ban being levied suddenly, without giving an explanation or any particular party taking responsibility for it. “There has to be some sort of process.”
Although the PTA claimed to have nothing to do with the ban, PTA has a hidden contract with Facebook, according to Pakistani lawyer and blogger Yasser Latif Hamdani.
The ban ended up being an asset for Laal, as it called attention to their cause, brought them more followers, and put them back on the news. Laal is currently using the momentum to plan a tour of rural Punjab, Pakistan.
Unfortunately, bands with less Internet notoriety who have had their social media presence banned have not been as lucky — bands who were fairly anonymous to begin with are now even more anonymous, as their access to social media continues to be blocked.
YouTube ban
Laal, which gained a lot of popularity through YouTube, knew that its reach would be affected when YouTube was banned in Pakistan. The ban was imposed in 2012 after “Innocence of Muslims,” a 14-minute long video featuring virulent anti-Islamic content, caused an uproar in the Islamic world. Although other Islamic countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh also initially imposed the ban, it currently remains in effect only in Pakistan.
Many oppose the ban — for example, this Facebook community was made in reaction to the ban:
Facebook group titled: “PAKISTAN – Don't BAN Facebook, Youtube or Twitter, BAN TERRORISM!!”
Still, others express public support for Internet censorship. A poll on the YouTube Ban on popular tech blog ProPakistani.pk found that readers would only support opening YouTube with certain restrictions, or not opening it at all (The site has previously published articles in support of Internet censorship, and led polls that overwhelmingly supported banning Facebook).
ProPakistani.pk poll asking the question, “Do You Want YouTube Ban to be Lifted?” 30 percent said yes, only if blasphemous videos are fully blocked in Pakistan; 24 percent said yes, with warning pages on objectionable videos; 24 percent said do not open YouTube ever; 21 percent said open YouTube without any restrictions.
Taimur said the ban had a great impact on musicians, as YouTube was a major platform to promote their music. When Global Voices asked Taimur whether he thought young people lost interest in music after the ban, he answered he thought they did, since YouTube was a major source of entertainment and a platform to find new music. He said attempts are being made to keep the music going, but he thinks that the ban needs to be lifted so that people could post new music and again have a place to be discovered.
For him, the only way to revive the beauty of progressive music is to open YouTube in Pakistan.
Alternative networks
In the meantime, citizens are still waiting for YouTube access to return. Some are able to open YouTube through proxies, but most proxies are unreliable and face connection issues. Those who do not have the patience to wait for proxies to load must wait for the ban to be lifted.
There are other sites for artists and musicians to upload and promote their work, including Vimeo and Dailymotion. However, these sites are still much less popular than YouTube and enjoy less viewership.
Now that the controversial video “Innocence of Muslims” is no longer on the site, people question the reason for the ban. According to a story in English-language newspaper the Daily Times, Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously voted to lift the YouTube ban on May 6, 2014. However, at the time of publication, YouTube remains inaccessible.
Tech-savvy entrepreneurs have had more creative reactions to Facebook bans. After Pakistan placed one ban on Facebook in 2011 following a “competition” calling for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, Omer Zaheer Meer created MillatFacebook — a Facebook clone that called for users to “respect humanity,” “respect beliefs of all people” and “not disrespect anyone.” The site currently has nearly half a million users, but, according to a 2013 post by the Express Tribune, it is currently going through financial trouble and its future is uncertain.
Krishnan Unni, a professor at Delhi University, called for future generations to take a radical stance and form underground networks of resistance. “Multiple sites of resistance can come together and propose — this is where we are, this is where we can interject our peculiar kind of politics,” he said in conversation with India Post Live. “The new music which is coming up from all third world nations is an antinomy against any kind of established structure like the Information Broadcast Ministry. All of us need to realize that we are not living within a totalitarian regime, but snooping and surveillance against each and every individual is happening right now. We need to organize ourselves.”
With additional reporting by Annie Zaman.

author: Anushe Noor


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‘We Are All Numb’: Gazan Woman Recalls Israeli Attack That Made Dozens of Her Neighbours Homeless  · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Photo by Asia Mathkour, the daughter of the owner of Al Zafer Company, of the destroyed residential tower in Gaza City. Used with permission.
Israel bombed a residential tower in an upscale Gaza neighborhood on Saturday, injuring around 22 civilians, including 11 children. The 12-storey tower, Al-Zafer 4, was completely razed.
Asia Mathkour, the daughter of the owner of Al Zafer Company, which encompasses 14 towers including the one that was leveled, was in her house 20 meters across from Al-Zafer 4 when the attack happened. Global Voices spoke with her about her experience.
She said at around 6:30 p.m. she noticed Al-Zafer 4 residents were evacuating:
Women and children were screaming and yelling, saying that they got an evacuation order. Some families immediately left the area seeking safety and we took some in our own house. We had around 30 people in our home, mostly elderly, women and children. We were all terrified. Everyone left their apartments without having the time to take anything with them.
A man got a call from the IDF telling him that there was an old disabled lady on the 7th floor and told him to get her out. At that time, I was rushing through the house, helping people go to the basement as it was the safest place at the time. No one actually believed that the whole building was going to be destroyed. Everyone thought that the IDF was perhaps targeting apartments in the building since that's what the IDF had been doing to residential buildings.
30 minutes passes and the building's roof was hit with a drone strike. We thought that was it. Moments after, the IDF called one of the residents who was staying with us in the apartment. She was too scared to answer so my mother answered. They asked if all the people have evacuated Al-Zafer 4 and my mother replied yes. My mother then asked her “which apartment are you targeting so that we know where to hide?”. He replied, “we are bombing the whole building.”
My mother was shocked. She asked them why they were targeting the whole building. He just replied ‘salam salam’ (‘peace, peace’. A way of saying Goodbye) and hung up the phone. Within the minute we heard two huge bombs. We were all in shock. My brother went to check and immediately came back downstairs to announce that it's completely gone. I rushed up the stairs to see what had happened. I couldn't believe my eyes. I rushed to my room and began taking photos.
After witnessing this and seeing the building in ruins, I had a panic attack. I rushed back downstairs and it felt like no one had really grasped what had just happened. A man goes outside to see and comes back yelling “everything is gone!”.
Soon after, the Red Cross’ ambulance arrived. They asked everyone to evacuate my house and the area, telling us that Al-Zafer 1, the building right besides ours, was threatened as well! We evacuated as fast as we could with nothing but a handbag with our passports. I can't explain the feeling we all felt at the moment. It is without a doubt the worst night my neighborhood had ever gone through.
Mathkour tweeted what she saw:
The worst incident the worst experience I had to ever witness and go through! 45 families all homeless! #GazaUnderAttack
— Aasia Mathkour (@Asia_Mathkour) August 23, 2014
The whole feature of my neighborhood is completely changed and destroyed! pic.twitter.com/TR2VhIW6eu
— Aasia Mathkour (@Asia_Mathkour) August 24, 2014
She challenged Israel Defense Forces’ explanation that there was a Hamas operations room in the building. “That is a lie,” she said. “There is a resident on the rooftop who is pro-Hamas, but the building did not host any Hamas Operations Room. In fact, most of the residents that lived in the building are from Fatah.”
Hamas and Fatah are rival political factions in Gaza.
Mathkour further questioned IDF's motives:
And even if we accepted their story that there was an apartment used by Hamas, why would they bomb and bring down the whole building? The IDF never brought down civilian buildings simply because it hosted Hamas members. We thought that the IDF only targeted specific targets rather than whole buildings. Whatever reason they made up or will make up would never justify destroying a building housing 44 families. They are now all homeless.
She offered a grim theory of why IDF bombed the building:
The building was built to be very resistant. It's simply impossible that one bomb could bring it down. We all believe that Israel is only testing their new weapons on us. That's the only reason this would happen! For one bomb that explodes twice and bring a 12-storey apartment building is a whole other level of war crime and insanity. We have never seen a bomb like this!
The experience has left the neighbourhood reeling, she said. “I lived across the building I used to see everyday,” she said. “We are all numb. We are all shocked. We just can't believe that the whole building is just gone. Imagine how the residents are feeling! They have nothing now.”
At the time of writing, the death toll in Gaza stood at 2,110, including 567 children and 75 families. Seventy-two percent of Palestinians killed in this offensive are civilians, according to the UN. The death toll for Israel stood at 68, including one child. The percentage of Israeli civilians killed is 5 percent, with the majority of deaths being IDF soldiers.
Follow our in-depth coverage: #Gaza: Civilian Death Toll Mounts in Israeli Offensive


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African Ebola Survivors Share Their Stories of Recovery and Stigma · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Ebola virus under an electron microscope. Photo by Flickr user NIAID. CC BY 2.0
According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization, 2,615 cases of Ebola have been reported throughout West Africa and 1,427 people have died in what is being described as the world's worst outbreak of the virus. There is no confirmed cure for Ebola, and the mortality rate for the latest outbreak sits at around 50 percent — although previous outbreaks have seen up to 90 percent of the infected perish.
Those who have survived Ebola have remarkable tales of resilience and heroic care from local health workers, but also of sadness and rejection because of ignorance about the disease.
On Aug. 20, the WHO published a video on YouTube showcasing three of those survivors: Saah Tambah and Harrison Sakilla from Liberia and Matu Kamara from Sierra Leone.
Saah Tambah explains how he became infected and his life since his recovery:
I got the Ebola from an uncle in Koindu. I went to visit him for two nights because there was no one to take care of him. After a few days, he died and then his wife and daughter died too [..] I started vomiting and suffered from diarrhea so I went to the clinic. When I got sick, my family doubted my recovery. Thank god for the doctors. They gave me a certificate that indicates I am free of Ebola in case anyone would still doubt.
Harrison Sakilla, 39, is from Foya in the north of Liberia. He is the first survivor from his area. He lost his mother to the disease. He says:
I got the disease caring for my mother. If someone starts to see symptoms, one should go to an Ebola health center. They will provide care and one can make it out.
Matu Kamara, 52, says she lost her sister and her child to Ebola:
My daughter felt sick after caring from my husband's other wife. She was feeling cold. I took her to the hospital and they gave her medicine. She felt better but then later she started vomiting. She died in our arms. I felt sick and began vomiting. I went to the hospital and two days later, I felt better. We survivors from this sickness need a certificate to show to people that we had Ebola and we were treated. Do not wait to become very sick before going to the hospital.
People who recover from the disease often face heartbreaking post-survival rejection because of a lack of understanding of how the disease spreads.Such is the story of Dr. Melvin Korkor, a doctor of Phebe hospital in Liberia. Korkor has survived Ebola but he explains that his relatives and friends were weary of touching him, as reported on the Liberian-based Front Page Africa Online:
Even though Korkor said he has been cleared of Ebola, he says that people avoid him. ‘Now, everywhere in my neighborhood, all the looks bore into me like I’m the plague,” he said. FrontPageAfrica reporter who trailed the Phebe doctor on Cuttington campus Monday observed that people left places when he showed up while friends, students and loved ones avoided his handshake or eat with him […] “Thanks to God, I am cured. But now I have a new disease: the stigmatization that I am a victim of,” Korkor was quoted by a local radio station in Gbarnga. ‘This disease (the stigma) is worse than the fever.
Liberia is one of the four countries dealing with the outbreak, alongside Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
Claudius Barnawolo, a Liberian physician's assistant, also beat the odds and survived Ebola. Front Page Africa Online recorded his testimony and his family members who also felt the stigma of rejection from their community:
Awareness about Ebola and how it is spread remains a challenge. Côte d'Ivoire has started an important Ebola prevention campaign, even though no cases has been detected yet. Ivorian bloggers have repurposed the viral ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for Ebola awareness using the French-language hashtag #moussercontreEbola (lather up against Ebola):
The work of lab scientists such as Dr. Korkor or Barnawolo to detect and sort out whether ailing patients have Ebola virus is also crucial in fighting the epidemic. Abdoulaye Bah, a volunteer author and translator for Global Voices, highlighted their work in Liberia (via Jina Moore):
Jeejuah, 30, and two other women, all volunteers, are cooking for 12 of the most important, but invisible, people in Liberia right now. The dozen meals are meant for the team of technicians that tests the blood of suspected Ebola patients. They visit sick peoples’ homes and overwhelmed Ebola treatment centers, sticking needles in the veins of physically unpredictable, highly contagious people. They then drive their blood back to Liberia’s only medical lab, more than an hour from the capital of Monrovia.
Evidently fighting (and surviving) Ebola will take a tremendous deal of collective effort in the affected countries, especially considering the stigma inside and outside their borders.In the context of this epidemic, it has never been more crucial for the communities to realize that they need to get organized together in this struggle or they will perish together as fools.
Follow our in-depth coverage: The Struggle to #StopEbola in West Africa

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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An Entrepreneur Rewarded for his Innovative Healthcare Work in Cameroon · Global Voices
Nestor Nga Etoga

Mr Petsoko being awarded his prize – with his permission
The curtain has just come down on the tenth “Positive and Winning Africa Oscars”, held at the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, the political capital of Cameroon. This year, the event organised by the NGO “Positive and Winning Africa” rewarded Cameroonian Clément  Petsoko for his innovating healthcare projects. For a decade now, sponsor Hervé Mba and a jury made up of a dozen public figures to award prizes to African personalities whose innovative projects could help the progress of the African continent.
The Golden Oscar for Man of the Decade was presented to Clément  Petsoko, PDG of the Morgan and Wilfried laboratories. The jury rewarded Petsoko for “his capacity to overcome the numerous difficulties he has faced in recent years”. As he was awarded his prize, the happy winner stated:
Je voudrais que mon prix serve d’enseignement à la jeunesse du monde qui doit  intégrer dans son vécu quotidien  le dicton qui selon lequel : « le pont qui mène au succès est fragile » et qu’il faille allier courage, abnégation et détermination dans l’atteinte de ses objectifs.
I want my prize to serve as a lesson to young people around the world, who should remember the saying “it's a rocky road to success,” and that achieving your aims requires courage, self-sacrifice and determination.

author: Nestor Nga Etoga


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Blogger Law Traps Russia’s Activists in Limbo · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Participants of the picket in support of Bolotnaya Square prisoners in St. Petersburg hold banners in the form of prison bars. Photo by Denis Tarasov for Demotix.
This piece originally appeared in The Moscow Times on August 21, 2014.
On August 21, Russian police upgraded from “vandalism” to “hooliganism” a recent stunt in which four activists raised a Ukrainian flag on a Moscow skyscraper. Under this new charge, the four could be sentenced to as much as seven years in prison.
If they are convicted, it will certainly send a pointed message to all Russian activists. But fear of punishment, not punishment itself, may prove to be the greatest lid on dissent in Russia. A raft of recent legislation on the Internet, especially the so-called blogger law, encourages many to police themselves.
What is now known as the Russian blogger law was signed into being on May 5, 2014, as part of a package of laws pushed through parliament after terrorist attacks in the city of Volgograd in 2013. The blogger law took effect on Aug. 1, 2014, creating a new registry especially for citizen-media outlets with daily audiences bigger than 3,000 people. Bloggers added to this registry face a series of new regulations that increase their vulnerability to criminal prosecution.
So far the law seems to have been applied haphazardly. During the first week of the blogger law coming into power, 486 Internet users applied for registration with the government, and only 11 accounts were registered. The first to be registered was a popular Yekaterinburg urban community on Vkontakte. Its administrators were surprised to receive notice since they did not apply to register—someone did it for them, unsolicited.
High-profile bloggers, understandably, are not clamoring for a spot on the registry. If registered, their blogs essentially become media outlets, with all the restrictions and responsibilities involved. Revealing your name and address, curtailing obscenities, fact-checking everything or facing criminal prosecution for libel—there's nothing in the new law to recommend it to those either speaking truth to power or simply sharing conspiracy theories.
The initial reaction of the RuNet to the law made light of it and focused on how vague and imperfect it is. Many have pointed out there is no government-approved mechanism for ranking bloggers. It's also not quite clear how quickly the government might inform those who end up on its list—and that's important because until you receive notice, you don't have to bother changing anything.
The refrain of “we're not afraid of blocking because we know how to get around it” has also been heard more and more frequently in the RuNet, as users have had to find inventive ways to access websites that are already blocked through blacklists or other means.
The blog of opposition activist Alexei Navalny, for instance, has jumped from one mirror website to another. VPN instructions on how to mask your IP address to get past Russia-specific blocks are readily available. When the Twitter account of whistleblower collective Shaltay Boltay was geoblocked in Russia, users retweeted tips on how to get around the geoblock by changing the country of residence in one's profile.
Of course, using these tricks requires some Internet savvy, and not everyone will bother. But access is not the issue here. Something much larger is at stake.
Russia's law on bloggers is an imperfect, knee-jerk response to the terrorist scare but also a sign of the Kremlin's nervousness at its inability to gain full control over the Internet. The law might be vague and flawed, and the Kremlin might have no real mechanisms of enforcing it, but in political terms it is still a statement and an excuse to persecute people who make the government uncomfortable.
In fact, the law's vagueness makes it an extremely potent tool for controlling dissent because no one can really tell what its consequences will be. This may well lead to self-doubt and self-censorship, which is always, always worse than crude automated filters and blacklists because it kills the idea before it has even been spoken.
Thus the biggest danger of the blogger law is that it might change the very notion of what it means to be a blogger in Russia, as people realize they can't just write whatever they please and afford not to think about the consequences. If you become too popular, you will be policed, and if you don't behave, you might suffer unspecified repercussions.
Some citizens may stop taking the Internet and the freedom that comes with it for granted, while others might decide it is simply too bothersome to remember all the VPNs and loopholes. They'll read what is available and keep their opinions to themselves because their authorities have said it's the thing to do.
Still, it's too early to tell which way the scales will tip. Vadim Yelistratov, editor of popular Russian online news website TJournal, even thinks the pressure, in combination with the ban on foreign foods and other restrictive legislation, might eventually lead to greater agitation for political freedoms.
This would become even more likely if the blogger law is enforced as Russian media guru and blogger Anton Nossik interprets it.
According to Nossik, blocking blogs who fail to register once notified will happen not at the individual level but at the platform level, since the law explicitly says any access limitation applies only to “organizers of information distribution on the Internet.”
Under this interpretation, the whole of LiveJournal and Facebook might end up being blocked in Russia because of one or more unregistered blogs, Nossik says.
The fundamental question, though, is not how the law is enforced but how essential a free Internet is to Russians. If laws ending anonymity and free expression online are enough of an inconvenience for citizens, they may rebel. If not, a minority will quietly go around the legislation while the majority play by the new rules.

author: Tanya Lokot


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China Blocks Beijing Independent Film Festival  · Global Voices
Abby Liu

Beijing authorities blocked an annual independent film festival from opening on August 23, 2014. The move is seen as a sign that Beijing is tightening ideological controls. According to indie director Huang Wenhai, the shutdown was “the darkest day in the history of Chinese independent film.” Started in 2006 by independent art critic Li Xianting, the film festival is a place for indie filmmakers to share and discuss their work. Although the festivals like this had some trouble with the police over the years, it's the first time the whole festival has been blocked. The police also took away records of the Li's work for investigation.
China Media Project has more details about happenings around the shutdown.

author: Abby Liu


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China Insists That Hong Kong Should Only Have Pro-Beijing Candidates — for National Security · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Civic group Occupy Central with Love and Peace organized a public event, “Hike for Democracy”, to express the pan-democrats’ determination to struggle for geniune democracy in Hong Kong. Photo by PH Yang, non-commercial use.
As pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong continue to push for a greater say in the election of the city's leader, top officials in mainland China closed discussion on the matter, claiming any restrictions placed on the vote are done so for national security.
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, is set to have its first direct vote of the city's chief executive in 2017, but Beijing says a nominating committee must approve the candidates. Democracy advocates fear Hong Kong will only have pro-Beijing candidates to choose from, defeating the purpose of the election.
Last week, chairmen of China's Basic Law Committee Li Fei met with Hong Kong lawmakers in the mainland city of Shenzhen on the city's electoral reform. In the seminar, Li said that “the person who governs Hong Kong must be a patriot” or the city is at risk of turning into an independent political entity.
Siu Sin-por, the head of the Hong Kong Central Policy Unit, further elaborated that because China has adopted a single-party system, national security is equivalent to the security of the Chinese Communist Party's leadership in China. The Beijing government would therefore not accept anyone who advocates for the demise of the single-party system as a candidate for chief executive.
Benny Tai, one of the leaders of Occupy Central with Love and Peace, a protest movement that plans to stage a massive sit-in in Hong Kong's financial district if citizens are not allowed to choose the candidates, rebuked Beijing’s government's view on the movement's website. He cited the city's constitution known as the Basic Law:
《基本法》其實已為國家安全給了法律上的定義，那就是二十三條的規定。威脅國家安全的行為就是叛國、分裂國家、煽動叛亂、顛覆中央人民政府及竊取國家機密的行為。按這些理解，我們會問特首是經過一個無篩選提名的選舉辦法由港人一人一票選出，如何會威脅到國家安全呢？ […]
無論由誰來當特首，他也只能按着《基本法》的規定行使權力，而特首只負責香港的內部事務，而中央政府是保留着國防及外交的權力，權力界線清楚，特首根本不能在其職務範圍內做任何事威脅國家安全。若特首超出了其職權範圍，即使沒有做任何威脅國家安全的事，只要有充份證據，中央政府也可把他罷免，更不要說他做了一些威脅國家安全的事
The “Basic Law” has a clear definition of “national security” in article 23. Acts that threaten national security are treason, separation of the state, sedition, subverting the central government of China and stealing national secrets. According to this understanding, how would universal suffrage without pre-selection by a nominating body in the election of the chief executive threaten national security? […]
Whosoever takes up the role of chief executive has to follow the Basic Law to exercise power. The chief executive is only responsible for domestic affairs and the central government retains the authority over military defense and diplomacy. The line is clear. The duties of the chief executive include nothing that touches upon the issue of national security. If the chief executive overreaches his authority, given enough evidence, the central government can dismiss him even if he poses no threat to national security.
In order to make sure the candidates of chief executive are patriots, the Beijing government wants to introduce a pre-election mechanism, which means all candidates have to obtain more than 50 percent of the votes from the nominating committee in order to become a legitimate candidate. The standing committee of the National People Representative Conference is now having a meeting in Beijing and it is very likely that they will take a hard line on Hong Kong's election laws  by requiring that candidates are screened and approved before the actual election.
Benny Tai believed that such mechanism would in fact undermine national security as the central government would have to manipulate the formation of the nominating committee to make sure that they control 50 percent of the vote. The manipulation process would stir up conflicts in different sectors. He pointed out there are smarter suggestions put forward by law experts and pro-government politicians:
其實要防止威脅國家安全的人成為候選人，已有人提出了一些更聰明及更有效率的方法。香港大學法律學院前院長陳文敏教授建議引入品格審查的制度，以保證候選人品格操守。審查是沿用目前高官及問責官員的品格審查機制。早在今年五月全國政協常委胡定旭先生曾建議提委會設「反對機制」，規定如有百分之三十委員提出反對某參選人參選，而又獲得百分之六十委員通過，該參選人必須退出。
To prevent those who threaten national security for running the chief executive, some have put forward a smarter proposal. Joseph Chan, former head of the School of Law at Hong Kong University, suggested an integrity check mechanism to ensure the candidates’ character and conduct are intact. The integrity check mechanism is in place for the appointment of top government officials. Anthony Wu, a member of the the standing committee of the Nation Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultation Conference, suggested a “vote down mechanism” in the nominating committee — if 30 percent of members or more vote against a potential candidate and the “vote down suggestion is supported by 60 percent of members of more, the candidate has to withdraw from the election.
He Weifang, a Beijing University law professor, shared Benny Tai’s view and wrote on popular Twitter-like service Sina Weibo (his post has since been deleted; below is copied from a BBC Chinese report):
依據基本法，香港特首除年齡國籍規定外，只有47條規定的『廉潔奉公，盡忠職守』，愛國愛港並不在其中，人大提出此要求合否基本法存疑。
According to the Basic Law, the requirement for Hong Kong's chief executive, in addition to nationality and age, is stated in article 47: “[the chief executive] should be a person of integrity and dedicated to his duties”. There is no such written criteria as “love the country and love Hong Kong”. The requirement put forward by the standing committee of the National People Representative Conference is not legally well-grounded.
Chik Punshing, a blogger at citizen media platform inmediahk.net, believed that the rhetoric of “national security” is just to protect the ruling class’ interest:
說穿了，「國家安全」只是一個幌子，調動盲從者民族主義的情緒，好讓操控特權可以經由提名制度的框框，緊握在當權者手中。這也是同樣明顯的道理：若說操縱，三百萬人當然不比一小撮人容易，公開當然不比密室容易。[…]
說穿了，「國家安全」的借口背後其實就是「利益集團」，甚至不是黨，更莫說是國。操控了特首選舉，就是操控了政府；操控了政府，就是操控了利益分配的權力。請看新界東北，請看龍尾，請看西九，請看高鐵，請看大嶼山，當然，有朝一日，這裡被剝削殆盡後，紅色甚至黑色的資本只會不顧而去，才不會跟你談甚麼「愛國愛港」呢，簡直就是活脫脫的感情騙案。
[…] 中央掌權的利益集團知道得最清楚，感受也最深，遠的不說，近年的薄熙來、周永康、徐才厚，更不必再細數由此牽連開去的。
National security is just an excuse to stir up patriotic emotional responses. This will help the ruling class to manipulate the framework of the nominating committee. It is clear that manipulating a small group of people is much easier than 3 million voters. And closed-door manipulation is easier than open manipulation. […]
Behind the excuse of national security are interest groups. They don’t represent the country, not even the Chinese Communist Party. Once they manage to manipulate the chief executive election, they control the government and the distribution of power. Look at the Northeast New Territories, the Lungmei Beach, the West Kowloon district, the high-speed railway, the Lantau Island [note: all the cited examples are very controversial developmental projects]. Someday, after they extracted all the value [out of the development projects], the capital, no matter if red or black, will just leave. They don't care about “love the country and love Hong Kong”. The whole thing is like an emotional scam.
[…] The central Chinese authorities know the situation best, just take a look at the recent crackdown on Bo Xilai, Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, as well as their corrupted network [all of them claim to love the country].
Meanwhile, pro-democracy lawmakers vowed that they would vote against the Hong Kong government's reform package if universal suffrage contains a pre-election mechanism. Over the weekend, they attended “Hike for democracy” (see photo on top) to demonstrate their determination to fight for genuine democracy in Hong Kong.
Follow our in-depth coverage: Hong Kong's Umbrella Revolution

author: Oiwan Lam


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Digital Media Guru Headlines Highway Africa 2014 · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Highway Africa organisers have announced that Dan Gilmor will be the keynote speaker for the 18th edition of the conference which takes place from 7-8 September, 2014 in at Rhodes University, South Africa:
The theme of the conference is Social Media – from the margins to the mainstream and Gillmor, who wrote the seminal book on citizen journalism, “We the Media” (2004), will revisit his initial optimism on the potential of the internet.
Gillmor teaches digital media literacy at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Over 400 delegates from 36 African countries are expected to attend including others from the United States of America, Bolivia, the Netherlands and Germany.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Eerie Similarities in Deaths Provoked by Police Brutality in Staten Island and Paris  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Eric Garner was a 44-year-old African-American man who died following an attempted arrest by the NY Police Department. On July 17, 2014, when police officers attempted to arrest Garner, he had broken up a fight. Garner who suffered from asthma was wrestled to the ground. Medical examiners concluded chokehold and chest compression as the primary causes of Garner's death and Garner's heart problems, obesity and asthma as additional factors. Here is a video of the accident [Warning: Graphic Images]
A few days later (28 August) in Roissy, France, Abdelhak Goradia, a 51 year old Algerian citizen also died inside a police van. The police was carrying Goradia to the airport to be deported back to Algeria when they initially affirmed that he died of a heart attack. Justice department corrected that assessment and stated that Goradia died from choking on his own gastric fluids. His lawyer stated that Goradia called him to say that he was taken away in handcuffs and a head gear. Goradia was previously charged with theft, petty crimes and violence.


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Experts Say Technical Issues Are Behind Egypt’s Power Outages, but the Prime Minister Blames the Muslim Brotherhood · Global Voices
Global Voices MENA

Writing the article during one of the power outages. Egyptians continue to suffer from power outages, with some areas experiencing up to 20 hours without power.
The frequency of power outages has risen dramatically in Egypt over the past few days, causing frustration among Egyptians, with some areas experiencing blackouts of about 20 hours. Contradicting statements have been issued by government officials regarding the cause of this increase.
The head of the Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency (EgyptERA), in an interview with Daily News Egypt, said that the main cause of the problem was a “deficit in the fuel supply.” An official from the Ministry of Petroleum has denied accusations that the fuel supplied does not meet the proper standards, an issue that was raised by another official from the Ministry of Electricity. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab pointed to ‘saboteurs’ for being a partial cause for the increase in outages – indirectly suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization, and its supporters have been damaging power lines and stations.
Egypt's current government has labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and accused it of carrying out attacks against police and civilians. The country's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, who is a member of the Brotherhood, was ousted in a military coup last year led by the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who later became president. Authorities launched a bloody crackdown against the group afterward.
The government’s claim that ‘saboteurs’ are behind the outages regarding the power outages has sparked ridicule on social media. Egyptian journalist Nadia el-Magd posted this tweet in response to those accusations:
الاهرام الكهرباء: العجز فى إنتاج الطاقة يبلغ ذروته اليوم ويقترب من 6000 ميجا … عجز الانقلاب … الاخوان برده ؟ : )
— Nadia el-Magd ناديا (@Nadiaglory) agosto 18, 2014
“Al-Ahram [Newspaper]: Electricity [Ministry]: The shortage in electricity production reaches its peak today and nears 6,000 mega[watts]. The coup’s shortage … And still, [they blame] the Brotherhood?”
Nawara Negm, Egyptian activist and daughter of the late poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, tweeted her reactions to the accusation.
وناس بترد عليا تقولي الاخوان هم اللي بيقطعوا الكهربا! والله؟ طب حيث كده نرجع الاخوان عشان يرجعوا لنا الكهربا
— فاقد الشيء لا يؤذيه (@nawaranegm) agosto 19, 2014
“And people respond to me and tell me that the [members of the] Brotherhood are the ones who are cutting the electricity! By God? Then if that is so, bring back the Brotherhood so they can bring back the electricity.”
In a sarcastic reference to ousted President Muhammed Morsi’s statement blaming an individual for receiving 20 Egyptian pounds to leave the on-off electricity lever down, Negm said:
الواد بتاع العشين جني الاخوان بقوا يدوله شهرية 1200 جني حتة واحدة… عشان كده متوصي
— فاقد الشيء لا يؤذيه (@nawaranegm) agosto 19, 2014
The boy who took 20 Egyptian pounds, the Brotherhood is now giving him 1,200 pounds monthly.
Political activists have also criticized the media’s handling of the issue, comparing it with the way it has handled the same matter during the Morsi presidency. Revolutionary youth group April 6 used the media’s focus on the problems faced by hospitals during Morsi’s presidency to make that comparison:
نشكر الأطفال اللى كانوا بيموتوا فى الحضّانات لما الكهرباء بتقطع مرة فى اليوم ودلوقتي صامدين برغم إنها بتيجي مرة فى اليوم #الكهرباء_قاطعة
— A6Mحركة شباب 6 أبريل (@shabab6april) agosto 18, 2014
We thank the children who used to die in the incubators when the electricity was cut once a day and are now steadfast despite [electricity] coming on once a day. #electicity_is_cut
During Morsi’s time in office, the media focused much attention on the problems facing the incubators at hospitals during power outages and blamed the government then for the failure. Today, television hosts have largely remained silent about the same problem or have blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the outages.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab made another statement regarding the energy crisis, claiming that Egypt’s electricity management system is the best in the world. Egyptians also took to social media to criticize the statement.
Egyptian TV show host Mahmoud Saad tweeted:
محمود سعد : الكهربا بتقطع بال 7 و ال 8 ساعات .. ايه معنى ان رئيس الوزرا يطلع يقول عندنا احسن منظومه كهرباء فى العالم
— محمود سعد (@Akhralnahar) agosto 16, 2014
Electricity gets cut for 7-8 hours .. How can the prime minister say that we have the best electric power system in the world?
A recent article by Egyptian newspaper AlMasry AlYoum has also sparked criticism at the government’s handling of the issue. According to the article, favoritism has resulted in the redistribution of power cuts, leaving approximately 60 percent of the country dealing with power outages. Out of the remaining 40 percent, only 10 percent of the buildings that are labeled to be power-cut-free are those related to security, police stations, hospitals, and water and sewage stations.
Political activist and former member of parliament Mostafa Alnagar expressed his disappointment:
من البؤس اللى وصلنا ليه فى قطع الكهرباء المستمر بقى طلب الناس دلوقتى المساواة فى قطع الكهرباء لان فى مناطق الكهرباء مش بتقطع فيها نهائيا
— Mostafa Alnagar (@alnagar80) agosto 19, 2014
“From the misery we have reached regarding continuous power cuts, the people’s demand now has become equality in power cuts because there are areas in which power is not cut at all.”
An ask.fm user posted a message to award-winning Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas:
I live in a military residential compound at Rabaa Al-Adawiya. Electricity doesn’t get cut.
Abbas’ reply was merely a period.
Power outages have occurred for years in Egypt, yet the rate at which they have been occurring has increased. With an ailing economy, the current system has a major challenge to face to fulfill the needs of the people and the demands that Morsi failed to fulfill.

author: Global Voices MENA


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Footage Emerges of Mexican Politicians Boozing With Exotic Dancers · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

A demonstration depicting the symbolic burial of the National Action Party in Mexico, July 4, 2011, by Marcelo Hernandez, Demotix.
Note: this is a modified version of a post originally published on Global Voices in Spanish.
Scandalous footage of Mexican politicians using government resources to rent a mansion in Puerto Vallarta and go out dancing and drinking with exotic dancers at a local nightclub has made headlines throughout Latin America. Early last week, the magazine Reporte Indigo (Indigo Report) released a video showing several members of Mexico's National Action Party (Spanish acronym “PAN”) enjoying the company of liquor, song, and many younger women:
A Peruvian newspaper speculates that the incident could end the careers of two high-ranking PAN officials, the chamber of deputies coordinator and the national president's private secretary, both of whom faced accusations last year of running a bribery network in Mexico's public works.
The Mexican blog Sopitas was flippant about the video:
En medio de copas y música de banda, podemos apreciar cómo el líder de los diputados del PAN, Luis Alberto Villarreal, abraza y baila efusivamente a una de las bailarinas que asistieron a amenizar la fiesta. Mientras tanto, el vicecoordinador, Jorge Iván Villalobos, abraza cariñosamente a otra bailarina, sentado en una terraza.
La fiesta estuvo buena, por lo que podemos ver en el video. Recordemos que las fiestas de Villarreal se ponen tan locas que sus vecinos en Polanco se quejan (Nota del autor: Polanco es una de las zonas más exclusivas para vivir en la capital mexicana).
Amongst the drinks and banda music, we can appreciate how PAN's congressional leader, Luis Alberto Villarreal, warmly hugs and dances with one of the dancers who came to liven up the party. Meanwhile, the vice coordinator, Jorge Iván Villalobos, affectionately hugs another dancer who is seated on the terrace.
From what we can see in the video, it was a good party. Let's remember that Villarreal's parties get so wild that his neighbors in Polanco complain. (Author's note: Polanco is one of the most exclusive residential areas in Mexico City.)
The video's release comes at a low point for the National Action Party. As it happens, this isn't the first time PAN members have stumbled into news headlines, after some dishonorable act. There is a PAN youth group that propagates national socialism and tweets using the ignominious hashtag #MoreNazis. (This is a play on the Spanish word “moreno,” which refers to individuals who are “darker-skinned.”) Several of the group's members, along with other individuals tied to the party, were recently arrested in Brazil for beating a local man after sexually abusing his wife.
On Twitter, Internet users have mocked the PAN politicians caught drinking and dancing last week, calling them “diputables” (a conjunction of the Spanish word diputado [congressman] and the English words “table dance”).
Twitter user Contadores de México (Accountants of Mexico) joked about the politicians’ apparent love of nightclubs, recalling that the National Action Party is built on conservative values. (One of the men in the video, for instance, has been identified as Luis Villarreal, known as “El Yunque” (The Anvil), who has ties to PAN's right wing, which strongly opposes abortion rights, same-sex marriage, adoption by gay couples, and other civil rights campaigns.)
El #PAN cambió las iglesias por los Table Dance. #dipufiesta #Diputable
— Contadores de México (@CPC_Sandoval) agosto 13, 2014
The PAN exchanged the church for the Table Dance. #dipufiesta [dipuparty] #Diputable
— Contadores de México (@CPC_Sandoval) August 13, 2014
Jaime Delgado joined in the fun online:
Vamos a promover el Día del #DipuTable para honrar el trabajo de los representantes populares y en el festejo debe haber prostitutas
— Jaime Delgado (@Jaime_Delgado) agosto 12, 2014
Let's promote Day of the #DipuTable, to honor the work of our elected representatives. And there should be prostitutes at the celebration.
The scandal has already resulted in dismissals. After the story broke, PAN's leader sacked Luis Alberto Villarreal (@VillarrealGTO), the video's star, from his post as fraction deputy leader in the Mexican House of Representatives.
The lawmakers captured on film, nevertheless, remain in the Chamber of Deputies, retaining their salaries and congressional immunity. Villarreal, for his part, maintains that his debauch didn't involve any government resources.

author: J. Tadeo


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Is Zambia’s President Sata Working Quietly Behind the Scenes or Seriously Ill? · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

President Michael Sata in a picture of a TV screenshot of one of his latest public appearances. Picture used with permission of Zambian Watchdog.
He missed what could be billed as the most important diplomatic event involving African leaders in 2014: the US-Africa summit for which President Obama hosted over 40 African heads of state. He also missed an equally important 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit held in Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls town on the border with Zambia.
On the local scene, Zambia’s President Michael Sata skipped what has become a political tradition—a sitting president joining the rank and file members of his party to campaign for its candidate in a by-election. This was the recently held by-election in Mangango Constituency of Western Province, which his ruling Patriotic Front (PF) won.
At issue has been the veteran politician’s health, which online media such as the Zambian Watchdog has speculated about for a while, referring to Sata, Zambia’s president since September 2011, as an ailing president for some erratic behaviour he has exhibited from time to time. Government machinery has, however, not acknowledged Sata’s poor health status.
All eyes are now on the next big national political event: the official opening of the next session of parliament, which is due sometime in September. The nation is yet to see if he will, as per tradition, be the one to open the august house with the grueling ceremony that goes with it.
Sata was last seen in public in mid-May when he hosted Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao and appeared haggard with other appearances or faked appearances going horribly wrong.
The worst public relations disaster was when he swore in the attorney general with muted TV footage by which time the nation confirmed their suspicions—that the Man of Action, fondly called, was not himself.
It later became clear why the TV footage of the swearing-in ceremony was muted. The president usually makes policy statements during swearing-in ceremonies. The state house used a picture of the previous swearing in of the Attorney General in another position to “prove” his public appearance hence the muted swearing in.
Sometime in June, Sata was evacuated to Israel where his senior government officials told the nation that he was going for a working holiday and he would meet Israeli President Shimon Perez, until a newspaper there confirmed that he was admitted to a hospital.
There are, however, increasing calls for the Zambian Cabinet to invoke Article 36 of the Constitution to constitute a medical board to ascertain Sata’s suitability to continue as head of state. Reminding Cabinet of its duties, politician and writer Alfred A K Ndhlovu (no relation to author), wrote:
We are a democracy and laws are used to govern the country. President Sata should not be treated as a sick chief pending death. In our democracy, a president must be as fit as a fiddle to govern the country. When president Sata appeared in public on Labour Day, he looked visibly emaciated and weak! Former presidents Kaunda and Banda who were present looked healthier and fit. Why should president Stata’s colleagues pretend that president Sata is fine, well and working. You may hide illness but death will certainly be known. How will they explain that eventuality!
This author, writing on the Zambia News Features website earlier, and quoting Article 36, stated:
Without wishing President Sata any ill-will, the concern of every Zambian is that if the man is physically or mentally incapable of discharging duties of a head of state, it is important that the nation gets told about it. But, most importantly, the constitution under Article 36 set the necessary guidelines under the circumstances.
Political analyst Brian Chisengalumbwe, in a write up published on Lusaka Times, suggested that Cabinet was acting illegally without the effective supervision of the president, stating:
The Ministers are therefore in BREACH of the ZAMBIAN CONSTITUTION; it is illegal for Cabinet- Cabinet Ministers and Vice President- to be running the affairs of the country outside the effective control of the President. Cabinet is the President, without the President there is no Cabinet; he is the only official elected and authorized by the People of Zambia to preside over the affairs of Government. He selects Cabinet Ministers to assist him execute these functions. If he is unable to discharge Presidential functions, the Ministers cannot continue performing Ministerial and Government functions; the constitution COMPELS cabinet to constitute a medical board.
An opposition leader, Nason Msoni, took on First Lady Christine Kaseba who, on a recent visit to a rural part of Zambia, said her husband was working quietly and moving the nation forward:
Dr. Kaseba should stop plainly playing with the minds of Zambians. We deserve better than this; what is she trying to subject us to? If she continues issuing such statements we shall not make distinction between herself and her husband, we shall unleash ourselves on her because government has collapsed due to the non performance of the government and the ultimate victims are the poor Zambians who are feeling the brunt of the non performance of government […] These are not matters to play with and we take great exception to her statement and we advise the madam to stick to what she is competent in.
The question to ask is whether President Sata will continue in office for the remaining two years of his tenure, considering that he has turned into a recluse from the publicity-loving extrovert he has been all through his political career.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Leaked Documents Reveal How the Chinese Communist Party Channels Public Opinion · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

West Gate of Peking University. Photo by 維基小霸王 via Flickr (CC BY-SA 3.0)
A central government coordination body called Central Internet Security and Informatization Leading Group was established on February 27, 2014 led by the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li keqiang and head of the propaganda authority Liu Yunshan. Such high level coordination group suggests that internet information security has become the top priority of the Chinese government.
In addition the protection of domestic information network, the control over information flow in the Internet through censorship and opinion channelling are considered as most important “stability maintenance” routine. In order to strengthen the monitoring of the Internet, the Chinese government decided to  endorse “Internet opinion analyst” as an official occupation status. Many critics point out that the policy implies a change of the Chinese government propaganda tactic, yet relatively little is known about how opinions are “channelled” and what mechanisms analysts use in order to do their jobs. This begs the question: what exactly do online opinion analysts do?
Different from the “Fifty-Cent Party,” people who are responsible for channelling public opinions by writing online comments and deleting posts, online opinion analysts use computer software to monitor social networking sites and forums, collect netizen opinions and attitudes, compile reports and submit the reports to decision-makers. Opinion analysts provide crisis management strategies for private, state and party-affiliated institutions such as universities, charity groups and civic organizations, as well as local and national governmental authorities.
According to The Beijing News, roughly 2 million people in China currently work as public opinion analysts, officially outnumbering China's 1.5 million active armed service members.
A recently leaked evaluation of an opinion-channelling program at Peking University reveals much about the mechanism of Party-led opinion making in China. The research center, led by the Communist Youth League of China, is responsible for the coordination of opinion channelling and analysis within the University. The program monitors online conversations and messaging within the University community and publishes regular reports analyzing online opinion for University administrators.
The leaked report concerned opinion-channelling efforts at Yenching Academy, a residential college at Peking University that launched this past spring. Yenching offers full scholarships for an one-year Master program of Chinese Studies (taught in English) and is designed to prepare an elite class of future global leaders. According to the University's plan, the residential college was to be located beside the main library at the center of the campus, which is surrounded with ancient Chinese courtyards and buildings. Many felt that the development project would ruin the heritage of Peking University.
In June, a university online survey showed that 88% of people were against the proposed location of the Academy's residence. University students started organizing campus protests in late June. An open letter about the matter, addressed to the Chinese president Xi Jinping, was posted on Weibo on July 6.
On July 9, the Peking University leaders discussed the matter with university faculty members and students at an open consultation session.
The leaked evaluation, published by the Youth Research Center, describes the work undertaken by the opinion channelling program since July 9, the date of the open consultation.
According to the report, the university administrative and party office coordinated with the Youth Research Center and bulletin board system administrator on July 10 to obtain at set of user accounts. Online “bulletin board” systems are widely used for communication and discussion on Chinese university campuses.
The bulletin board system administrator opened six work-related accounts for the online commentators. They began posting comments about the Yenching Academy project that afternoon.
Most of their comments expressed support for the Yenching project. At 19:11pm, work-related user account “dwww”, who claimed to be a university alumnus, posted an long article entitled, “My experience in the consultation on Yenching Academy,” intended to criticize those who opposed the project.
The evaluation document pointed out that the language used in the post was too formalistic, unlike that of regular bulletin board system users. In addition, it leveraged personal attacks on certain teachers and students who spoke out against the project during the consultation on July 9. The post agitated other bulletin board system users, who soon dug into the IP records of “dwww”, along with those of other user accounts that flooded the system with support for the Yenching project.
These users eventually discovered that “dwww” and “pkudavid” shared the same IP address — one that pointed to the office of University president. By tracking the user activities of “pkudavid” for a couple of days, other system users concluded that the user account belonged to Yang Dawei, the chief of the Peking University Party Office.
In order to stop netizens from attacking Yang and the Party, the Center started to delete posts, ban user accounts and change the “hot topic” list (similar to trending topics on Twitter). But this did not stop users, who simply moved to social media such as the twitter-like Weibo, Facebook-like Renren and mobile social networking platform WeChat to expose the scandal.
Headlines such as “Lie Exposed: Peking University Staff Member Pretended to be Alumnus to Support Yenching Project” became a hot topic on social media, and many popular Peking University alumni netizens such as “Peking U Voices” forwarded the story to their followers. Without question, the incident has undermined the university’s credibility.
The document puts forth three suggestions for future opinion channelling work:
1. Improve opinion channelling skills, avoid accumulation of antagonistic sentiment.
2. Direct dialogue and communication, tried to include reasonable suggestions in the project.
3. Prevent infiltration from both domestic and foreign/outside forces. Opinions within the university bulletin board system are under control, but the support from propaganda authorities and national information office is essential for controlling opinion on other social media platforms. To serve the interest of the university’s long-term development, it is necessary to crack down and punish those who spread rumors, launch personal attacks, and defame the university and its leaders.
This case study demonstrates the difference between online commentators and opinion analysts, the so-called “50 cents” who actually take up the task of writing comments to channel online opinion, while the latter coordinates, evaluates and gives future direction for online opinion channelling work.
At first glance, opinion channeling appears similar to public relations work in other countries. But the leaked report suggests that Chinese online opinion analysts working for state-controlled institutions function more like intelligence agents, as they actively formulate governance tactics for the Chinese Communist Party. The report also shows that they are able to reach out to propaganda authorities for support on the ideological battlefield.
This evaluation report was leaked out in Baidu as public document initially but was taken offline quickly. However, netizens are copying the document and circulation it around without making much comments – as implied by the suggestions of the Youth Resesarch Center, any critical commentary that can be intrepeted as personal attack or defamation can lead to persecution.


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‘New Tactics’ Makes a New Digital Toolkit for Activism Strategy · Global Voices
Laura Morris

New Tactics logo from their website
New Tactics has just put together a strategy toolkit for organisations — especially those working in human rights — looking to build their strategic and technical capacities.
A program of the Center for Victims of Torture, New Tactics is an NGO working to support human rights defenders around the world. Their work includes sharing resources, training, and building an online community. As they say on their website:
Creating change is challenging. If we’re clear about where we are starting from, where we want to get to, and the path from one to the other, we’re more likely to get there.
Strategy Toolkit logo from the New Tactics website.
Available in both English and Arabic, the toolkit is oriented to both new and seasoned activists, and is organised into five steps:
Each section includes videos, worksheets, and exercises to help the user move through the process.
They are also looking for people to share both tools and feedback — within each of the five steps there is space for contributions. The toolkit is ongoing, and New Tactics hopes to continue adding new elements.

author: Laura Morris


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One Person Holds the Three Most Powerful Positions in Thailand Today · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

National Council for Peace and Order leader Gen. Prayuth Chan-Ocha during a ceremony for Queen Sirikit's 82nd birthday on Aug. 12, 2014. Photo by John Vincent. Copyright Demotix
Prayuth Chan-ocha, the commander of the Royal Thai Army which staged a coup last May and installed a government known as the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), has been selected by the National Legislative Assembly as Thailand’s 29th prime minister. Prayuth is also the chairman of the NCPO.
It was the NCPO that appointed members of the legislative assembly who voted Prayuth to be prime minister. There were no other nominees for the position.
Despite having no experience in governance, Prayuth assumed several positions as head of the NCPO. He appointed himself as chairman of the Board of Investment, the National Energy Policy Committee, and the Special Economic Zone Development Committee.
New PM Gen Prayuth vows to devote himself to work with integrity http://t.co/P5s6HsI58c pic.twitter.com/P1Yln4ajix
— ThaiPBS English News (@ThaipbsEngNews) agosto 25, 2014
The army led by Prayuth launched a coup last May in a bid to end the violent clashes between supporters of the country’s major political parties. The army nullified the constitution, detained hundreds of politicians, and controlled the newsroom of major media stations. It also outlawed protests and the public gathering of five or more people.
Prayuth promised to hand over power back to the civilian government only after substantial political and electoral reforms have been implemented. The NCPO drafted an interim constitution to restore normalcy in the country, but critics pointed out that it only legitimized the massive role of the army in the government.
During his first speech as prime minister, Prayuth vowed to bring back happiness to the people:
Let me give a promise to the people that I will fully dedicate myself as I carry out my duties. I will be honest, transparent, and I will uphold the interest of the nation and the people as the priority … in order to restore happiness and peace to the people.
The king of Thailand has already endorsed Prayuth, boosting the credibility of the army chief since the king is the country’s most respected and beloved public figure.
On Twitter, journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk underscored that Prayuth is an unelected prime minister
What should we call Prayuth now? Junta leader, Army Chief and unelected Prime Minister of Thailand Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha. #Thailand
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) August 21, 2014
Who is the most powerful person in Thailand now? a) Army Chief b) Junta leader c) the new Prime Minister . #Thailand #ThaiCoup
— Pravit Rojanaphruk (@PravitR) August 21, 2014
Prayuth’s dictatorial influence in the bureaucracy was recently demonstrated when nobody dared to disagree with him after he presented the country’s proposed 2015 national budget:
Junta leader, Gen Prayuth asked whether anyone in military-appointed parliament disagree with him yesterday, of course no one dares disagree
— JohnP (@JohnP1752) August 19, 2014
Former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and leader of the Democrat Party compared Prayuth’s coup with the 1957 coup, which also imposed an absolute control in the whole government. Meanwhile, Thai scholar Claudio Sopranzetti wrote that Prayuth’s political decisions are different from the overall strategy used by previous coup leaders in the past two decades:
I think Prayuth is making a personal attempt to assume the type of charismatic authority with popular support that none of the opposition governments in the last 20 years have been able to achieve.
Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, criticized the appointment of Prayuth and called it a “dark day for human rights.” “As both prime minister and junta leader, Gen. Prayuth can wield broad power without accountability. This marks a dark day for human rights and the future of democracy in Thailand,” he said.
Despite his appointment as prime minister, Prayuth announced that martial law will remain in Thailand. He has scheduled an election in October 2015, but this is still tentative because political reforms must first be implemented according to the standards set by the army.

author: Mong Palatino


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Documenting Nationalistic Hate Speech in Macedonian Media · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

Human rights expert, activist, and blogger Žarko Trajanoski published a series of analyses about nationalistic, right-wing hate speech in Macedonian media, often veiled as “patriotic” speech.
„Патриотскиот“ говор на омраза е препознатлив по намерата за разгорување, поттикнување, или оправдување на омраза кон внатрешните и надворешните „непријатели“.  Во основата на ваквиот говорот на омраза е поделбата на „Ние“ („патриотите“) и „Тие“ (непатриотите), кои се етикетирани со најразлични стигматизирачки називи. „Патриотскиот“ говор на омраза честопати се користи како инструмент за психолошко насилство врз критичарите на актуелната власт, од страна на провладини политичари, новинари или колумнисти.
Во првиот дел од анализава ќе се фокусираме на повеќе примери на „патриотски“ говор на омраза во кој се таргетираат домашни „предавници“, „странски платеници“, „кодоши“…
“Patriotic” hate speech is recognizable by the intention of inciting, encouraging or justifying hatred towards internal and external “enemies.” At the core of this hate speech is the division to “We” (“patriots”) and “Them” (non-patriots) that are labeled with various stigmatizing names. “Patriotic” hate speech is often used as an instrument of psychological violence against critics of the current government, by pro-government politicians, journalists or columnists.
In the first part of this analysis we will focus on several examples of “patriotic” hate speech targeting domestic “traitors”, “foreign mercenaries“, “informers” of the former regime…
Three parts of Trajanoski's independent analysis are available in Macedonian and English, while the author has promised to continue the series in the near future. The examples are informative both to those interested in the political and media situation in Macedonia, but also to students of hate speech as a wider phenomenon, in particular as an instance of wider anti-democratic trends in southeastern Europe.
The first part of the analysis covers Hate towards internal “enemies”. The second and third parts of Trajanoski's study document and discuss examples of hate speech directed at activists and non-government organizations in Macedonia. Trajanoski's work is also part of a larger on-going civic fact-checking project of Macedonian media.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Does Venezuela’s Smiling Tourism Cartoon ‘Cheverito’ Ignore the Country’s Grim Realities? · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Image published on the Ministry of Tourism's web page.
Cheverito is a cartoon character created by Venezuela's Ministry of Tourism to promote travel to the country. Cheverito and his friend Eco's adventures to Venezuela's important geographical points of interest have aired the past few days on the ministry's television channel. The name Cheverito comes from the colloquial term “chévere”, which is used to describe a pleasant, terrific or good person, thing or situation.
The response from social networks was furious. In just one weekend, people flooded the web criticizing the lack of awareness about social and economic conditions of Venezuelan citizens. In the last few years, the country's economy has suffered strong setbacks visible in food plights, a very serious scarcity of resources in public institutions, currency depreciation and a strong rise in inflation. To all this, add a deep and deadly urban violence crisis.
On YouTube, the majority of the comments on the video reflect the hostility directed towards the campaign, while on other sites, several other memes have been created to share the struggles that are dealt with while traveling in Venezuela due to urban violence.
Anabella Abadi and Daniel Raguá from website Provadinci analyzed the costs necessary to follow through with the cartoon's suggested itinerary. According to their article, “How much would Cheverito's adventures in Venezuela really cost?” it appears that the Venezuelan minimum wage (4,251 bolivars per month, or about 675 US dollars) would not be sufficient:
¿Qué hace falta y cuánto cuesta viajar dentro de Venezuela al estilo de Cheverito? […] Si Cheverito contrató una habitación sencilla [en la isla de Margarita, por ejemplo], le costó BsF 9.734 o 2,3 salarios mínimos. Pero toca estar pendientes, pues Venetur aclara que las “Tarifas están sujetas a cambio sin previo aviso” y son “No reembolsables”. Recordemos que Cheverito debió pagar sus almuerzos y cenas. Y todas las demás excursiones que decidiera hacer, se consideran como “opcionales”, por lo que se debe pagar extra.
What's missing and how much does it cost to travel Venezuela in Cheverito style? […] Cheverito rented a single room [in Isla de Margarita, for example], and it cost him 9,734 strong bolivars [about 1,550 US dollars] or two to three minimum wage paychecks. But, as [state tourism promotion agency] Venetur states, you must be aware that “prices are subject to change without notice” and are “nonrefundable.” Let's keep in mind that Cheverito also had to pay for his meals. And, all excursions he chose to participate in were considered “optional,” which cost extra.
The article lists prices of tickets and gear seen in the series. Also included are the hardships of traveling in Venezuela. Finally, the authors also speak of other elements that may make it difficult to follow the character's touristic suggestions:
¿Qué falta por saber sobre Cheverito? Aún faltan muchos datos por conocer de Cheverito. No sabemos si se trata de un joven estudiante. Si trabaja, no sabemos si es o no su primer empleo o si labora en el sector formal o informal. Tampoco sabemos si gana salario mínimo o si es empleado de una empresa privada o estatal. […] ¿Será que Cheverito es cabeza de hogar? ¿O Cheverito depende económicamente de sus padres? Aparentemente vive en Venezuela, pero muy pocos pueden costear aventuras de estas dimensiones.
What else should we know about Cheverito? There are still many other factors we should know about Cheverito. We don't know if he is a young student. We don't know if he works, and if this is or isn't his first job, or if he works in the formal or informal sector. We also don't know if he earns a minimum wage or if he is employed by a private or state firm. […] Is Cheverito the head of his household? Or are his parents supporting him? It is apparent that he lives in Venezuela, however, not many [who live in Venezuela] can afford adventures of this magnitude.
Website La Patilla conducted a survey asking participants what the worst thing they thought could possibly happen to Cheverito in Venezuela? With more than 2,000 votes, the top voted is “He is murdered on the Valencia – Puerto Cabello” highway.
On Twitter, people responded to the campaign #DestinoChévere and #PerídoVacacional2014. Some reactions had similar characteristics to Venezuelan black humor:
1 Muerto abaleado en Rey David de la Boyera…. Cheverito… Dime que no eres tu… pic.twitter.com/up64CSrYpY @CheveritoTours
— Mandrake El Mago (@AsktoMandrake) August 4, 2014
A man shot down at the Rey David in la Boyera… Cheverito.. Tell me it's not you…
Meanwhile, other tweets were much more direct:
Cheverito es la institucionalización del cinismo gubernamental.
— Melanio Escobar (@MelanioBar) August 1, 2014
Cheverito is the institutionalization of governmental cynicism.
As a parody, the account @HeySoyCheverito was created, which uses images of the character to strongly criticize the government's management. Amongst the most recent posts is a response to the Venezuelan government's offer to take in 10,000 Palestinian children who have become victims of Israel's military offensive:
#CheveritoLosTieneLocos A Los Corruptos,Pues En Mi País Donde Nada Es Chevere #Cheverito EL ORIGINAL Mentiras No Dira pic.twitter.com/VMfxOSRLAF
— CHEVERITO (@HeySoyCheverito) August 7, 2014
#Cheverito is driving the corrupt insane, Well in my country, things are not going well, THE ORIGINAL #Cheverito shouldn't tell lies.
[Image reads, “These poor children are having fun and playing while they wait for their 10,000 friends to arrive from Palestine”]
In the same manner, numerous memes and images criticizing inefficient projects carried out by the government have circulated. Jenny Jimenez shared the following public image on Facebook of the Centro Sambil La Candelaria, a planned shopping mall to follow the opening of the Centro Sambil Caracas, the fourth largest in South America. Just as its construction was nearly complete, the Venezuelan government under then-President Hugo Chávez expropriated the building,citing concerns about traffic congestion. As of February 2014, the building remained unfinished and unoccupied:
Hello, I'm Cheverito. Today I am visiting one of my commander's success stories at Sambil de la Candelaria.
Democracy Underground published many of the images also shared by #OpVzla (@GeorgeArtwell), a Twitter account dedicated to sharing images of art as protest of the government. In this image, Cheverito is seen standing in front of groups of police officers in charge of stopping student protests:
Hola soy Cheverito con unos policia que son muy panas! * Turismo en Venezuela pic.twitter.com/XnTNZaCisG via:@GeorgeArtwell
— Anonymous Barricada™ (@reiaresnd) August 2, 2014
Hi, I'm Cheverito with the police who are very “panas”! Venezuelan tourism.
Pana is Venezuelan slang for “good pals” or “pleasant.”
But while comments and reactions on the blogosphere addressed what was being said on traditional media, the reaction of those in charge of the campaign, expressed through Cheverito, became a concern for many people. An article on business news website Producto explained the politics:
Lo curioso del caso es que a través de la cuenta en Twitter @CheveritoTours, que parece ser la oficial ya que cuenta con más de 2 mil seguidores, incluyendo al propio ministro de Turismo Andrés Izarra, Cheverito ha asumido la personalidad que tanto se le critica a ambos sectores políticos: chavismo y oposición, y ha comenzado a enviar un mensaje que apuesta a la división entre los venezolanos.
The peculiar thing about this is that on the Twitter account @CheveritoTours, which is seemingly the official account with more than 2,000 followers, including Andrés Izarra, the Minister of Tourism himself, Cheverito has taken on a personality that both political sectors [the followers of Chavez's movement and its detractors] have been criticized for, and has begun to send a message that draws a line between the Venezuelan people.
Several of these images where Cheverito is seen responding to his critics were published on this page:
- Eco, there is a fake Cheverito going around. Don't be fooled.
- Easy, you can spot a Chavism opponent just by looking at them.
Additional images can be found on Hispanchan.org. It is important to mention that some of the images shown may include graphic scenes of violence.

author: Laura Vidal


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Experience the “Hanoi Soundwalk” Interactive Audio Tour · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Soundwalk is an “interactive, geo-locative audio tour” where a user with a headphone and smartphone app equipped with GPS can hear sounds as he or she walks around the city.
…when you move around the sounds will appear to be coming from a particular location, and you can discover other sounds as you walk around.
This innovative project was launched in Hanoi, Vietnam last year. The developers plan to spread the concept and campaign to other cities.
Imagine, as the number of available Soundwalks develop, instead of “what do I want to listen to today?”, you'll be wondering “where do I want to listen to today?”.


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Ferguson Evocative of Civil Rights Movement, Says Trinidadian Diaspora Blogger · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

What’s happened – and what is HAPPENING in Ferguson makes my heart hurt. The ache won’t go away. The anger won’t go away. We’re witnessing history in the making, and history repeating itself. What will be the lessons we learn this time? What scars will we bear?
Trinidadian diaspora blogger Afrobella says that “the whole world is watching” how the United States handles Ferguson.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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How To Find Happiness In Democracy · Global Voices
Rezwan

From Bhutan, the land of Gross National Happiness, blogger Passang Tshering shares how people can achieve happiness in democracy. He compares democracy to love marriage and says that there are three groups of people, the lovers, the haters and the concern citizens.
The Lovers are the ones who swear by one party, and regardless of how good or bad the decision the party makes they will not move an inch into disagreement. They are like a obsessive husband who could go and hug his wife after she has thrown a hot pan on his face.
Contrary to that The Haters are the ones who turn blind eyes to all the good things a party does and suddenly becomes so loud when they see a flaw. They are like an angry husband who would slap his wife even when she gifts him a bouquet of flowers.
If we have more of these two groups of people then democracy is at risk. They could fail a country. Therefore we must strive to be and saw the seed of The Concerned Citizens in our youth. Educating and inspiring them to grow the heart that is courteous enough to acknowledge the good even if it's done by an enemy, and courageous enough to condemn even when the wrongdoer is a friend. That like a very human and loving husband.

author: Rezwan


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India’s LGBT Community Dares to Hope After Health Minister’s Comment on Gay Rights · Global Voices
Nickhil Sharma

An Indian gay rights activist holds a placard denouncing a Supreme Court ruling criminalising gay sex in Bangalore, India. Image by Abhishek Chinnappa. Copyright Demotix (11/12/2013)
A recent comment by India's health minister that gay people are entitled to human rights just like anybody else has rekindled hopes among the country's LGBT community, which has fought a long battle to convince the government to decriminalise homosexuality and uphold social justice.
The minister was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an event organized by the health ministry in Delhi. When asked about his views on gay rights and decriminalization of consensual gay sex between adults, Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said that everybody has human rights and it is the job of the government to protect them. Though he refused to elaborate further on the topic, the statement was widely read as supportive of the LGBT cause and widely welcomed — both by the LGBT community as well as on social media.
News anchor Gargi Rawat tweeted:
Health Minister @drharshvardhan gets it right.. ‘Human rights of gay community should be protected’ #decrimanalise http://t.co/5B00arXXbI
— Gargi Rawat (@GargiRawat) July 19, 2014
Indian journalist and writer Minhas Merchant told his more than 42,000 followers:
Delighted that Health Min Dr Harsh Vardhan supports gay rights. Logical next step–decriminalise regressive Art 377
— Minhaz Merchant (@minhazmerchant) July 20, 2014
LGBT rights activist Tushar M reacted
Huh?? Is there finally some hope of equality? #BJP #LGBTIQ “Government should protect gay rights: Harsh Vardhan” http://t.co/GToXyNGmAp
— Tushar M (@QueeredOut) July 17, 2014
However, some within the LGBT community continue to be skeptical despite the minister's positive comment.
Four years ago, the LGBT community in India had broken into celebration when in a landmark judgement the Delhi High Court decriminalized consensual homosexual relationships between adults. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code or IPC (adopted into the Indian Constitution by the Imperial British empire in 1861) which considered gay sex “unnatural” or “against the order of nature” was debated and annulled for the first time by any court in the country.
Even though it was considered a huge leap forward by many, there were many others who were severely critical of the judgement. Some complained “Western” culture was gaining ground over traditional Indian societal norms. In fact, Dr. Harsh Vardhan's predecessor had courted controversy in 2011 for referring to homosexuality as “unnatural” and a “disease” that had come from the West and was unfortunately spreading fast in the country.
Consequently, several appeals were filed with the Supreme Court of India, challenging the Delhi High Court judgement. To the surprise of many people and groups across the country, the Supreme Court overturned the Delhi High Court's judgment on 11 Dec. 2013, ruling [pdf] that the High Court's judgment stating that Section 377 lacked constitutionality was incorrect and leaving it for lawmakers to decide whether gay sex between consenting adults ought to be legalized:
While parting with the case, we would like to make it clear that this Court has merely pronounced on the correctness of the view taken by the Delhi High Court on the constitutionality of Section 377 IPC and found that the said section does not suffer from any constitutional infirmity. Notwithstanding this verdict, the competent legislature shall be free to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 IPC from the statute book or amend the same as per the suggestion made by the Attorney General.
Like other issues in India, contrasting opinions from across the country poured in as soon as the judgement went public. In the midst of all that debate, the LGBT community which had thought that they had won the battle against the law in 2009, was back to battling social stigma and fighting for equal rights.
Shortly after the health minister's positive comment, the government clarified that the Supreme Court was currently hearing a curative petition on the matter and that the government had no plans to take up the matter of amending Section 377 until the Supreme Court gave its ruling.
While the issue remains suspended, caught between court and parliament, Global Voices spoke to a few members of the local student community in Bangalore and found an almost unanimous response: “Live and let live!”
Shraddha Shivraj, a 22-year-old student of telecommunication engineering, at BMS College of Engineering said,
I feel that India is turning into everything I’ve ever dreaded the most. To call ourselves liberal and tolerant is a far-fetched concept which will never be realized. And to see that in a society where Hindus, Muslims and Christians who are the majority, all of whom oppose a person’s rights to freely choose who he/she loves without being harassed by the society, is such a pitiful sight. What happened to uniting under Secularism now? What about the right to freedom? Have the Human Rights disappeared from the face of this country? If this medieval mindset does not change soon enough, I don’t think I will be a proud Indian anymore. Immediate action by lawmakers and human rights organizations is needed and homosexuals deserve and are entitled to the same rights as straight people.
Shreea Sharma, a 22-year-old student on an internship at the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) located in the city, echoed this sentiment:
I just feel that it is disgusting how people can put a limitation on who you can love and who you cannot. Homosexuality has been observed in other animals too, then why call it unnatural? When nature has accepted it, what rights do we humans have?
Shreea's 20-year-old sister Ashna added:
Love knows no boundaries; Everything is fair in love and war; True love knows no nastiness. Denying someone’s love is completely antithetical to this very concept. You love whom you love, and you’re attracted to who you’re attracted to. Why should that be anyone else’s business?”
Akshay Nelakurti, a 20-year-old student also from BMS College of Engineering, said he felt the anguish and disgust too:
I believe this is a huge set-back for the largest democracy on Earth. Instead of giving people the freedom to live the way they want to they are teaching us not to be accepting. Why do the majority of people in India think that every change is a weapon of destruction? Be it gay marriage, gay rights, pre-marital sex, or live-in relationships, the last two aren’t illegal but still frowned upon.
Sabreesh Sekar, a 19-year-old student in the city and an active member of the Rotract Club in Bangalore, seemed skeptical about the government's promises to bring justice to the community. According to him:
The new Parliament will not table this issue because of its proximity to many right-wing organizations
The anger and frustration at the current state of gay rights in India appears evident among both the LGBT community as well as a large section of the youth. As is happening in many other parts of the world today, let's hope that India too will honour the human rights of its LGBT population and give them the freedom to be themselves without shame and indignity.

author: Nickhil Sharma


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Iran’s Grand Ayatollah: 3G Internet Is Immoral · Global Voices
Farid

Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, a prominent Shia scholar, has said 3G Internet is immoral and inhumane, Iranian sites reported on Tuesday.
#Iran‘s grand Ayatollah Makarem: “high-speed internet & 3G is against Sharia & moral ethics” http://t.co/kbZ3poSfJH pic.twitter.com/04IPVBXiXK
— Omid Memarian (@Omid_M) August 25, 2014
Iran has the highest number of internet users in the Middle East, but its average data speed is about a tenth of the global average.Internet speeds in Iran have accelerated by 30 percent since summer 2013, after Hassan Rohani won the presidential election.

author: Farid