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How Beijing’s Breach of ‘One Country Two Systems’ Gave Birth to the Hong Kong Independence Movement · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Thousands of protesters showed up in Hong Kong's first pro-independence assembly on August 5. Photo from independent media outlet Standnews. Non-commercial use.
Following the disqualification of pro-Hong Kong independence candidates from the upcoming Legislative Council election, the Hong Kong government now wants to stop discussions on Hong Kong independence in schools.
While a majority of Hongkongers agree that independence for Hong Kong is politically impossible, more and more claim to support independence simply to agitate Beijing.
In a poll in July, about 17.4% of respondents said they were somewhat or even strongly supportive of Hong Kong independence.
As anticipated, that result has upset Beijing which has seemingly demanded the Hong Kong government stop people from talking and fantasising about separation with mainland China.
But the barring of pro-independence candidates from the Legco election has only stimulated people to talk about Hong Kong independence more often, culminating in the city’s first pro-independence rally on August 5.
Henry Kwok, a teacher and a political affair critics explained the motivation behind the rise in independence rhetoric:
The independence rhetoric is deliberately obtuse to send Beijing’s nerves into overdrive. I don’t know whether [pro-independence candidates] could gather much steam to beat the big parties and become a ruling political force in the coming election. However […] the rhetoric of localism has pushed the frontiers of political discussions. What the localists want is actually quite modest and completely innocuous: to uphold the ‘one country, two systems’ constitutional principle and [achieve] greater political autonomy from China for the city.
According to the “one country, two systems” principle underwritten in the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years until 2047.
But Beijing has been showing signs of impatience in recent years, encroaching more and more on Hong Kong's internal affairs.
This was particularly apparent after 2012 when Leung Chun-ying was selected by the 1200-member election committee as the city's Chief Executive with Beijing's blessing.
In fact, Leung has been ironically nicknamed the Father of Hong Kong's independence movement for bringing to public attention an article published in a university magazine that discusses the possibility of Hong Kong's separation from China in a 2015 policy address.
His effort to create a political scarecrow out of the article, has added fuel to antagonism concerning Beijing’s interventions into Hong Kong affairs, pushing localist groups towards radical politics.
Government critic Big Lychee spelled out the political psychology of the localist movement:
Their main method looks set to be trolling and rattling Beijing: identifying what makes the regime most paranoid, and piling it on. […] If Chinese officials lie awake at night petrified of ‘Hong Kong independence’, [localistz will scare them with] ‘Hong Kong independence’.
To clamp down on pro-independence discussions, Hong Kong's Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim asked 30 public school principals to ban Hong Kong independence activities in their schools and threatened that teachers may lose their qualifications if they do not carry out the order.
After making the comment, Ng then departed to Beijing.
One item on his agenda in meetings with officials from China’s Ministry of Education was reportedly an exchange of views over the independence sentiments “invading schools” and other places where young people congregate.
The student groups slammed the Education Bureau and vowed they would continue discussing Hong Kong independence.
The spokesperson of one group, Studentlocalism, Chang Yeuk-fei said:
A referendum is the most civilised and fair way for the people to decide, many places do the same, Hong Kong independence is only one of the options. Why can’t Hong Kong people discuss their own future?
Another high school student surnamed Lee said:
Members of our group do not necessarily support independence in a very serious manner, we just hope that Hong Kong people can take back our power over the city.
Beijing authorities in Hong Kong, meanwhile, felt unable not to comment on the situation.
Wang Zhenmin, the Director-General of the Department of Law of the China Liaison Office criticised the Hong Kong government for being too lenient on pro-independent activities and stressed that the idea of Hong Kong's independence should not be allowed into policy, legislation, the justice system, or primary and secondary schools.
Vice minister at China’s Ministry of Justice Zhao Dahheng echoed that “there is no room” for discussion of Hong Kong independence.
Their views are echoed by pro-Beijing groups and government officials.
President of the pro-Beijing teachers’ union Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, Wong Kwan-yu, condemned the student groups and stressed that “Hong Kong independence harms society – that can be judged by common sense.”
Some education groups have started issuing guidelines to schools and teachers regarding how to handle the political subject “responsibly” and “objectively”.
And in one of the most sinister developments in the saga yet, Hong Kong government’s Executive Councillor Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun further urged schools to meet with the parents of students who wish to set up groups to advocate independence from China, in order to “understand how their family background affected them.”
Upon returning from his Beijing trip, the head of Education Bureau Eddie Ng Hak-kim suggested schools report to police incidences of in the form of pro-independence pamphleteering in their vicinity.
Kent Ewing, a teacher doubted such measures would reduce talk of independence:
Shutting [pro-independence groups] out shows weakness and insecurity while also undermining one of the core values, free speech, that laudably separates us from authoritarian states like Singapore—whose leaders, despite their many accomplishments, have created a micromanaged nanny state with a shackled media and stunted populace. Moreover, harsh measures only provide added motivation to radical fringe groups whose very existence is dependent on confrontation with the government—the more, the better.
Now, thanks to the short-sightedness of city officials—from the chief executive to education chief Eddie Ng Hak-kim to the luckless returning officers responsible for barring some  of the pro-independence candidates from [participating in] next month’s Legco elections—the city is moving into dangerous and uncharted territory.
The writer also anticipated that the ban would further politicise schools and turn classrooms into a battlefield:
And, now that the Education Bureau has proscribed support for independence in schools, what happens when students return to classes next month and pro-independence groups like Studentlocalism take their campaign into their classrooms? Will they be suspended, expelled or worse?

author: Oiwan Lam


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In Nigeria, You Risk Arrest If Your Dog Has the Same Name as the President · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

A Nigerian citizen named his dog after the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari. Creative Commons photo by Erfan Kouchari in Tasnim News Agency.
A trader named Joe Fortemose Chinakwe has been arrested by the Nigerian police for naming his pet dog “Buhari,” which happens to be the surname of the country's president, in a case that touches on Nigeria's long history of ethnic tensions.
The canine was named after a man called Alhaji Buhari, who is Chinakwe's neighbour. However, a different neighbour reported him over the matter, and many have since misconstrued the name as coming from President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB).
The dog was named after a different Buhari.
Not Pmb.
Case has nothing to do with PMB https://t.co/TgoapGJ0vm
— ZahrahMusa (@Zahrahmusa) August 21, 2016
Authorities said Chinakwe would be charged with “conduct likely to cause a breach of peace,” according to the Vanguard newspaper in an August 17 report.
You know an average Northerner will feel bad over such a thing. It can cause serious ethnic crisis or religious confrontation because when you are relegating such a name to a certain person, you are indirectly insulting him.
Nigeria is an ethnic fault-line state with over 250 ethnic groups and a history of violent tensions. The three major ethnic groups are the Hausas and Fulani in the north, the Yorubas in the west and the Igbos in the east. The country still bears the scars of years of distrust, bickering and pervasive cleavages that have been further exacerbated by religious fundamentalism.
The Nigerian Civil War, which lasted from 1967 to 1970, the numerous and unresolved root causes of ethno-religious crisis have dominated the country's socio-political space since independence in 1960 have not helped matters. As though these were not enough, the perpetrators of these crimes targeting certain ethnicities go unpunished and a culture of impunity prevails.
It is based on this murky history of ethnic context, that the naming a dog — which in other climes would have been a non-issue — has morphed into headline news in Nigeria.
According to media reports, Chinakwe had inscribed the name on both sides of the dog's body and walked the animal through his Hausa-dominated neighbourhood. Hausas are a minority in the southwestern state of Ogun, where Chinakwe resides.
President Muhammadu Buhari, for his part, is ethnic Fulani.
Naturally, the news of Chinakwe's arrest and the reason given by the police did not go down well with Nigerians. Abimbola Adedokun, a newspaper columnist, warned of the danger in allowing divisions along ethnic or religious lines to exist:
History has taught us that whenever the “average northerner” says he “feels bad over a thing”, the rest of us are supposed to hurriedly rearrange our manners. We are told to take heed of invisible limits that “infidels” are not permitted to cross. Alarmingly, a number of us have restricted ourselves to this emasculating avoidance of wrath. We have mapped out “no-go areas” of public discussion that we trespass at grievous risks to ourselves. We have seen the repercussions of trespassing these bounds and they are not pleasant. From Gideon Akaluka’s killings to the Reinhard Bonnke crusade violence, the Miss World riots, the Danish cartoons saga, and many other instances of unwarranted violence that have occurred, we have long realised we are dealing with a short-tempered evil spirit who demands a sacrifice of our collective dignity so he can let us live.
Gideon Akaluka was a Christian Igbo trader in Nigeria who was beheaded by a mob in 1994 for allegedly desecrating the Koran. A 1991 visit by German evangelist Christian Reinhard Bonnke sparked deadly riots in the northern city of Kano after he reportedly converted some Muslims to Christianity.
In 2002, more than 200 people were killed and dozens of churches attacked during three days of rioting in the north over Nigeria's hosting of the Miss World beauty pageant. And in 2005, a Danish newspaper's publication of several editorial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad led to protests in various countries, including Nigeria.
Adedokun continued:
The trouble is that this evil spirit of violence who has a chokehold on our society is implacable. He has tasted vats of blood of the innocent and assumed a proprietary right over our lives. Violence in Nigeria happens, not because of intrepid and insensitive people who say things that make others feel bad. Rather, they stem from a cultivated attitude of those who think others’ lives are theirs to take, and they have no regard for any law that attempts to restrain their execution of mindless violence.
There is no legal basis for a trial of Chinakwe, according to Monday Ubani, the incoming second national vice president of the Nigeria Bar Association:
In the eye of the law, it is not criminal for somebody to name his or her dog after another person. It may be offensive by examining the circumstances under which the incident happened.
Nigerian Twitter users have condemned Chinakwe's incarceration. Nigerian musician Seun Anikulapo Kuti, the son of the legendary Fela Kuti, said:
Wer all our human right lawyers dey, dis Na serious injustice, why govt no arrest obj wey name chimpanzee Patience? https://t.co/99nGwYonZA
— Seun Anikulapo Kuti (@RealSeunKuti) 24 de agosto de 2016
Where are our human right lawyers? This is serious injustice, why did the government not arrest OBJ who named his chimpanzee Patience?
OBJ stands for former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who once owned a pet chimpanzee named Patience, supposedly after Patience Jonathan, the wife of another former president, Goodluck Jonathan. Obasanjo campaigned against Jonathan in Nigeria's 2015 presidential election, which current President Muhammadu Buhari won.
Reno Omokiri, new media spokesman of former President Jonathan, argued in a tweet that more should have heeded his words:
Remember when I said this? I was insulted and ridiculed but time has vindicated me. Expect more like this. pic.twitter.com/JGvjpwej7m
— Reno Omokri (@renoomokri) August 22, 2016
Omokiri was referring to his August 11 tweet: “If you want to know whether there is change in Nigeria, insult PMB [Muhammadu Buhari] the way you insulted GEJ [Goodluck Jonathan] and you will know the true meaning of ‘change'!” Buhari ran on a platform of “change” against Jonathan in last year's vote.
Twitter user MaziNze chided the police for double standards:
Fulani herdsmen not in jail
those who killed for blasphemy roaming free
it is the buhari dog owner that is in jail
good morning Nigeria
— maziNze™ (@hand2ome) August 24, 2016
The ethnic Fulani cattle herders have been accused of invading farming communities in Nigeria, leaving death on their trail.
And in June, a woman was killed by a mob in Kano for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Mohammed. A similar fate was visited on another lady in July, who was hacked to death in the nations capital, Abuja by suspected Muslim fanatics.
Kemi shared this photographs of Ali Baba, a Nigerian comedian, and his dogs which were named after world celebrities and leaders:
Meet Ali Baba &his dogs, OBJ, IBB, Obama, Abacha, Thatcher&Chaka
He shared memorable experience with his DOGS
Enjoy👇pic.twitter.com/Qfdw1PCmbZ
— Kemi Ariyo (@d_problemsolver) August 24, 2016
Chinakwe has reportedly been released on bail, according to human rights activist Inibehe Effiong. He wrote on Facebook that two people — one from the north and another from the south — donated the necessary money for his legal feels. He explained:
Anyone that is still in doubt about the political nature of this case should search his inner conscience closely. Those using ethnicity, religion and political sentiments to obfuscate this case should know that Nigeria is a country of laws.
The human rights community will never sit back and watch innocent citizens being traumatised and dehumanized.
The fact that the two persons who donated this money are from the North and the South West, respectively, shows that the bonds of brotherhood and egalitarianism among patriotic Nigerians are superior to the whimsical and repulsive commentaries of the ethnic and religious bigots.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Lawsuit Over Facebook Post Raises Fears of Online Censorship in Bhutan · Global Voices
Rezwan

Dzongs are both administrative and monastic centers. So, they have courts in them. Image from Flickr by Hriday. Paro, Bhutan 2015. CC BY-NC 2.0
Bhutanese journalist Namgay Zam is facing defamation charges over a Facebook post, marking the first time that anyone in the Himalayan country has been taken to court over their social media activities. Official statements surrounding the case indicate that social media users in Bhutan may soon be restricted in what they can say online.
The suit against Zam revolves around a family that is fighting a property dispute against well-connected business man Ap Sonam Phuntsho, who is also father-in-law to the Chief Justice of Bhutan.
In an online appeal posted by Namgay on Facebook, Dr. Sacha Wangmo explains how Phuntsho attempted to seize her family's home when an estranged family member could not repay Phuntsho a debt of Nu 0.7 million. Wangmo says that Phuntsho forged documents to show that they sold their house to repay debts to him, something to which the family says they never agreed. The documents also indicated that their debts had compounded, rising from Nu 0.7 million to Nu 3 million.
The dispute led to a series of court battles, during which Wangmo’s sister disappeared.
Dr. Sacha approached media houses and they had not been keen on doing her story. She wrote the appeal for Namgay for sharing, where she also accused Phuntsho of using his power and influence to tilt the verdict in his favor. The Facebook post garnered plenty of attention online, and caused an uproar among Bhutanese Facebook users. And it did not help the case, which was being reviewed by Bhutan's Supreme Court after Dr Sacha's mother had appealed to the King.
This triggered Phuntsho's response. He quickly filed a defamation case against Wangmo and Zam, who is a former television journalist and Humphrey fellow at Arizona State University in the US. Arguing that the post had caused “irreparable damage” to his reputation, as many people in Bhutan and across the world had seen it. The businessman claimed Nu 2.59 million (USD $38,500) as compensation, before a packed court:
Should the two of them fail to prove the allegations that went viral in Namgay Zam’s Facebook post, I’m claiming 10 percent of the amount the case was worth.
Sonam Phuntsho, in his lawsuit, pleaded to the court that Namgay Zam and Shacha Wangmo should prove the 25 accusations made against him on social media.
Namgay Zam told the court that she had not violated any laws and the constitution gives her the freedom to disseminate information.
Social media users in Bhutan have been following the case closely and voicing their opinions on the issue. On Facebook, the story has caused new allegations of fraud and other violations of the law against Puntsho to emerge.
Phuntsho Dorji wrote on Facebook:
Respected PM, you are right. Others right should be protected. We should not defame others. But maybe you should know that many people share over social media their grievances when justice is not served. For example, there are lots of posts against Ap SP and how he tortured his victims. Does that ever give a click in your mind that Ap SP and his relatives could be misusing their power? It is possible but won't you doubt a bit when Ap SP wins all the cases filed against him? When many citizens are affected, doesn't that call for some kind of independent investigation? Can we apply here some common sense besides just law?
Wangchuk Dorji mentions that Namgay was wrongfully charged for defamation:
Her words are the introductory remarks on Dr. Sacha. Ms. Namgay clearly writes “This is Shacha Story today as written by herself.” And the rest were Dr. Sacha's word and story.
I don't read any defamatory remarks about Mr. SP from Ms. Namgay herself in her post. Now let's discuss about her “intention”. I can only sense an “intention” to share someone's story, & not to defame someone.
Many users commented on the use of defamation laws as a silencing tool. Dargo Tashi writes:
Defamation suits are one of the most common tactics that the powerful people use to protect their filthy truths from the public domains, the truths which are already quite hard to dig anyways.
Pema Wangmo lamented the court's lack of strong response to Phuntsho's presentation of false documents:
Dr. Sacha lost the case against Ap SP. But did Ap SP get punished for forgery? Didn't he forge documents and present it in District Court? Isn't that a serious crime in the court of law? Is this how the Supreme Court of Bhutan passes verdict?
An analysis by the English language Asia-Pacific news site The Diplomat stated that at the heart of the debate is how the elite in Bhutan and their close relatives are treated differently than common citizens.
The Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has weighed on the issue saying that the defamation case “will be a landmark case we should be paying attention to.” He mentioned:
I think we can all agree that the laws of the land must prevail, that the Constitution gives us the right to freedom of expression but that right does not mean we undermine the right of others. So our job collectively is to enjoy our rights by protecting the rights of others and to make social media a safe, credible place where vibrant discussion takes place, and not the divisive debate that sometimes take place on social media and definitely not while using an anonymous account.
The Information and Communications Minister, DN Dhungyel indicated that legislators may soon introduce a policy that would restrict what can be shared in social media. In the meantime, supporters have posted a renewed petition advocating for Sacha's case.
As for Zam, hers remains the only case in Bhutan in which a journalist has been sued for a large sum over a social media posting. The ruling therefore is very important and will determine the future for journalists who are already very cautious – given the small and insular nature of Bhutanese society — and for citizens using social media.

author: Rezwan


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Super Mario and Prime Minister Abe Took Centre Stage in Japan’s 2020 Promo at Rio · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Tokyo 2020. Screencap from video widely shared on social media.
During the closing ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 21, Japan was given the opportunity to showcase the summer games scheduled for Tokyo in 2020.
Japan used the opportunity to promote its “soft power”, notably in a sequence where Nintendo character Mario travels via a green pipe through the center of the earth to emerge in Rio. For a brief moment Mario appeared before the crowd in Rio before being transformed into a business suit-clad Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who invited the world to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo:
安部マリオ pic.twitter.com/nLIPio1Qab
— TeamKwonYuriリダ (@TeamKwonYuri) August 22, 2016
It's “Abe Mario.”
Many Japanese Twitters reacted with delight:
安倍マリオの動画リピートしてるけど
(Prime)Minister Abe in RIO
って気付いて、感動してる←
センスやばすぎない！？ pic.twitter.com/1hoFTnmKyd
— オクラン＠２周年() (@Gechis_szn635) August 22, 2016
I watched “Abe Mario's” entrance at the Rio closing ceremonies, and while I was impressed, I also thought to myself, “Doesn't he look a little bit goofy?”
While Shinzo Abe is not an unpopular politician in Japan, following his recent election win and supermajority in the upper house of Japan's bicameral parliament, there are fears he will move to revise Japan's Constitution.
There is also the danger Abe will lose his appeal as the economy continues to flounder despite several years of “Abenomics.”
So the popularity of the promo for the 2020 Olympics and “Abe Mario” must be welcome news for the prime minister.
Many Twitter users were impressed by the overall performance:
1番感動したのは四角いフレームが集まって市松エンブレムになって、さらに東京の街になるっていう、、、エンブレムの良さ！！ pic.twitter.com/fKEjJm9Dig
— フジワラダイスケ. (@dice_kkkk) August 22, 2016
The thing that impressed me the most was how they used the cubes to create the Tokyo 2020 emblem, and then represented the Tokyo skyline.
閉会式の日本パーツ、今見たけど、オタクカルチャー感満載でいいね。芸が細かいところもらしくていいではないか！
— Little Flapper (@mizuki_n0314) August 22, 2016
I just watched the Japan part of the Rio closing ceremonies, and it totally captured the spirit of Japanese “otaku” culture. They really included all the little details.
The 2020 promo at the Rio closing ceremonies also allowed some Japanese Twitter users to wax lyrical on the “uniqueness” of Japanese culture compared to other cultures:
日本文化の特徴の一つは、細部までこだわりを持ち、極めるというところ。
日本以外の海外では、細部までこだわらず、見えないところは手を抜くという特徴がある。
これは日本人として誇りをも受け継いでゆくべきものだろう。
— 雑学・噂に関するつぶやき(相互フォロー) (@KeibAamateur) August 21, 2016
One of the characteristics of Japanese culture is an obsession over minute details, often to an extreme degree. Anywhere else in the world outside of Japan, nobody pays attention to the details (like we do), especially things that nobody will ever notice or see.
So this is something all Japanese should be proud of.
Besides Abe Mario, there were several Easter eggs and hidden details that appealed to viewers who watched closely:
閉会式の映像、東京オリンピックポスターへのオマージュだったとは。
なるほど確かに。#Rio2016 #RiotoTokyo #Tokyo2020 #リオ2016 pic.twitter.com/E63g4ssmaf
— KeenTama (@oku_tetsu) August 22, 2016
The closing ceremonies paid homage to the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.
今回流された東京オリンピックの動画で安倍首相が付けてた時計は1964年（第一回東京オリンピック開催年）に発売されたオメガ（オリンピック公式スポンサー）の時計らしい
日時も放映時に合わせてあんのかな
この細かい演出が日本っぽくて好き pic.twitter.com/wsOIPDHasf
— くろつき【光の戦士（37）】チョコボ (@Cu_Lo) August 22, 2016
The watch Prime Minister Abe is wearing in the promo is the same Omega that first went on sale in 1964, when Omega sponsored the first Tokyo Olympics. I wonder if the watch Abe is wearing is set to the same date and time as the watch (in the image from) 1964.
This attention to detail is one of the things I love about Japan.
Some, however, were troubled by the decision to include the image of a uniformed female high school student (女子高生, joshikosei, aka “JK”) in the Rio promo video.
Screencap of Tokyo 2020 Olympics promotional video. Image widely shared on social media.
Writing for Joshi SPA, a weekly tabloid aimed at younger women, columnist Katsube Genki notes:
映像に登場する女子高校生は、現役女子高校生の体操選手とのことですが、他のアスリートが全員競技中のユニフォームに身をまとっている中、なぜ冒頭の彼女一人だけがわざわざ制服姿にさせられているのでしょうか？ 東京五輪に挑戦する未来の若者を表現したかったというのなら、なぜ制服姿の男子高校生も合わせて起用しなかったのでしょうか？
While the female high school student who appears in the PR reel appears as an athelete, why is she, the first athlete portrayed in the video, the only one wearing a school uniform? If they wanted to showcase the youth who are going to be the future athletes (representing Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics) why didn't they show any boys dressed in a high school uniforrm?
In the Joshi SPA article, Katsube answers his own question:
[…] 「制服JKを性的アイコンにしています～！」と世界に向けて堂々とアピールやらかしました
The reason is because Tokyo 2020 organizers want to use a (uniform-clad) as sex icon when promoting the Olympics to a global audience.
The female high school uniform, argues Katsube, has a somewhat sordid history in Japan:
実際に、昔は援助交際やブルセラで、近年はJKビジネスと、制服が性的アイコンとして消費され、国連からも未成年女子の買春・人身売買が盛んな国として認定を受けるような状態です。
In fact, in the past the girls’ high school uniform, as a symbol of compensated dating (援助交際, enjo kosai) and used panty sales (ブルセラ, burusera) had a strong sexual connotation that has since been erased, after Japan was criticized by the UN for permitting child prostitution and human trafficking.
Other commentators simply celebrated the fact that one of Japan's up-and-coming athletes was showcased in the 2020 promo:
冒頭に出てくるJKは体操選手の土橋ココさん16歳
東京オリンピックで有望視されている選手。
ただ闇雲にJKを出したかっただけではない、期待の16歳です pic.twitter.com/y2JVYZfRYT
— 秋刀魚GO! (@sanma_2525) August 23, 2016
The female high school athlete who kicked off the 2020 promo is 16-year-old Dobashi Koko.
She's aiming to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She wasn't included by chance in the 2020 promo—she has big dreams for the future.
Opposition politicians were unimpressed by Prime Minister Abe's grandstanding in the Tokyo 2020 promo at the closing ceremony in Rio.
Fujioka Yoshihide, a Communist member of the Nagano prefectural assembly got into hot water for criticizing Abe's appearance on Twitter.
He quickly removed his Tweet, but not before someone took a screenshot of the offending remarks:
【日本共産党】ふじおか義英議員「安倍マリオは土管のパックンフラワーに食べられてください。そこまでしたらウケたのに」⇒ 批判され削除 https://t.co/aeGE7PrCz4 pic.twitter.com/wnn0C8bIVr
— 正義の見方 (@honmo_takeshi) August 22, 2016
(Screenshot of offending Tweet): “Abe should have been eaten by a Piranha Plant as soon as he emerged from the green pipe. Everything had gone so well up until that point.”
Kazuo Shi, the national leader of the Japanese Communist Party was more measured in his response:
五輪憲章は「オリンピック競技大会は、個人種目または団体種目での選手間の競争であり、国家間の競争ではない」と明記している。リオ五輪の感動的シーンの数々は、自らの力と技術を情熱をもって鍛え上げた「選手間の競争」がにたたかわれたものでした。東京五輪もこの精神で成功させたいものです。
— 志位和夫 (@shiikazuo) August 23, 2016
The Olympic Charter says, “The Olympic Games are competitions between athletes in individual or team events and not between countries.” There were many heartwarming scenes in Rio where the athletes, through their individual power, skill and passion demonstrating the Games truly are “a competition between athletes.” I hope that this same spirit will prevail in Tokyo in 2020.
The imagery of the games did generate a few playful conversations on Twitter as well.
The green pipe leading to Rio apparently can be found in central Tokyo.
【100RT】リアル「安倍マリオ土管」説も　池袋駅前に謎の「緑の物体」 – https://t.co/ceFGk6Xg17 pic.twitter.com/v8wumpAhv0
— J-CASTニュース (@jcast_news) August 23, 2016
Here's the real “Abe Mario pipe”—it's actually the mysterious “green thing” that's in front of Ikebukuro Station.

author: Nevin Thompson


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August Was Another Month of Tragedy for Turkey’s Besieged LGBTQ+ Community · Global Voices
Mel Plant

Hande Kader as depicted in a video uploaded by YouTube user lellebel020.
In the past two years, Turkey's LGBTQ+ community has gained increased international attention, primarily due to the violent response to Istanbul's Pride marches on the part of the city police.
Now, a little over a month after Trans Pride and general Pride marches were banned altogether, Istanbul's LGBTQ+ community is reeling from the shock of two brutal murders.
The victims were a gay Syrian, Muhammed Wisam Sankari, who was found beheaded and mutilated on July 25, and Hande Kader, a Trans sex worker and activist who had been missing since August 6 and was found dead a few weeks later, on August 17.
The deaths of both Sankari and Kader have provoked a powerful response from Turkey's LGBTQ+ community, some of whom gathered to protest in Istanbul's central Tunel Square August 21.
Oguz, 25, who participated in the protest and did not wish to use his second name, told Global Voices that “everybody was so sad, angry and wasn't afraid of standing there and protesting.”
He noted the “bigger portion of the crowd consisted of Trans people.”
#HandeKader için yapılan eyleme katılanlar sordu: “Hande Kader burada, katilleri nerede?” #dokuz8/@sakineyldran pic.twitter.com/Z9ston5eRj
— dokuz8 (@dokuz8haber) August 21, 2016
Participants in the protest shout: “Hande Kader is here, where are the killers?
Kader's death trended on social media, appearing under the hashtag #HandeKadereSesVer (‘Speak out for Hande Kader’).
Bir trans kadını daha katletmişler, hem de yakarak. #HandeKader için susma, susmayalım. #TransCinayetleriPolitiktir
—♀şatosuz cadı (@TontisFeminiz) August 12, 2016
Another Trans woman has been killed, by burning as well. For #HandeKader don't be silent, we won't be silent. #TransMurdersArePolitical
#HandeKaderYasası Muhammed Wisam Sankari başı kesilerek katledildi. Cinsel Kimliğe daylı suçlar nefret suçudur!
— Cins Ari (@itucinsari) August 19, 2016
#HandeKaderLaw Muhammad Wisam Sankari was murdered by beheading. A sexual identity-based crime is a hate crime!
Both deaths highlight a central truth for Turkey's LGBTQ+ community.
Despite homosexuality having never been illegal under Turkish law, activists have repeatedly noted that the Turkish state offers little protection to LGBTQ+ individuals.
This isolation is particularly pronounced in the case of Trans people. Marginalized and discriminated against in the local labour market, Trans women in particular have been drawn towards sex work.
And while sex work is legal in Turkey when conducted in authorised brothels, Trans people are usually unable to obtain licenses.
A few days after Kader's murder, another Trans woman committed suicide in Izmir.
Azize Omrum was also a sex worker, and not by choice. Omrum had wanted to be a chef, but “the system did not let her work in another job.“
In 2013 Turkey's first asylum law was passed, however the country has yet to institute a law recognising refugee status and the protective rights that this usually affords.
Sankari's friend Diya claimed that both the UN and ASAM did nothing to help him.
Five months before his murder, Sankari had been kidnapped and raped by a group of men. In previous months, his flatmates, who all identify as LGBTQ+, had been forced to move houses due to threats.
After Sankari's kidnapping, the group had complained to the police, who did nothing in response.
On the evening of July 23, Sankari told friends he would only be gone for “15-20 minutes.”
Two days later, friends that had pleaded with him to remain at home were forced to identify him by his trousers.
Many LGBTQ+ Iranians come to Turkey as refugees, with a great number holed up in Kayseri, waiting for an opportunity to cross to Europe.
While the deal between the EU and Turkey legitimised Turkey as a safe country for refugees, most in Turkey's LGBTQ+ community do not agree with that assessment.
Sankari had wanted to seek asylum in a European country, but the EU-Turkey deal means many Syrians like him feel stuck in Turkey for the foreseeable future.
Unable to leave, he was reportedly suffering with depression amid continuous threats to his life.
The lack of safety for LGTBQ+ refugees was also highlighted recently by the suicide of a gay Iranian woman in south-west Turkey.
An Iranian NGO based in Canada, The Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees, assists in helping refugees apply for asylum in Western countries, but the resettlement process through the UN often takes up to three years, with the exodus from war-torn Syria extending delays.
IRQR states that although hundreds have been successful with their help, some LGBTQ+ refugees “succumb to the harsh realities of mental illness and take their own lives” before the process is completed.
Turkish LGBTQ+ activists have made it clear that this latest round of violence against the community is nothing new.
In a report published by advocacy group Transgender Europe, Turkey was listed as having the highest number of murders of Trans people in Europe.
Between 2008 and April 2016, 43 Trans people were killed in Turkey.
TRANSFOBİ ÖLDÜRÜR #TransCinayetleriPolitiktir #HandeKader
— falcı bacı amet (@thelifeofamet) August 12, 2016
TRANSPHOBIA KILLS #TransMurdersArePolitical #HandeKader
After Kader's murder, many LGBTQ+ activists in Turkey are questioning the silence that surrounds Trans killings.
While hundreds gathered to protest her murder, these protests have been compared to the thousands who came out onto the streets after the murder of Ozgecan Aslan, a young woman killed last year in Mersin.
In fact, while Aslan's death received wall-to-wall coverage in the Turkish press, many Trans deaths go completely unnoticed.
Activists in Malatya listed the names of seven others who were murdered for being Trans in recent times, while another activist, Nurcan Baysal, brought to attention the suicide of Eylul Cansin, a Trans woman who jumped from Istanbul's Bosphorus bridge last year.
While Trans advocacy groups exist in Turkey, Oguz feels they are not integrated within the wider LGBTQ+ community.
“A portion of the community even has transphobia,” she told Global Voices.
Kader herself had previously been stabbed and was last seen entering a client's car.
Her friends noted that she did not want to be a sex worker, but had no other choice to earn a living.
One highlighted her formidable bravery as an activist:
She would go crazy when trans individuals were killed. She’d be so sad. She’d be so courageous the moment she left the house. She’d also be very restless sometimes. She had been stabbed and beaten before. This doesn’t happen only to Hande, it happens to all of them.
I watched #HandeKader confront police in Istanbul during the crackdown on pride in 2015 online. What a loss for the movement #Turkey
— Kyle Khandikian (@kylekhandikian) August 14, 2016
Below is the video Twitter user Kyle Khandikian refers to.
Kader is captured sitting to the right of her friend in front of a police van.
After surviving water cannon fire, police manage to disperse the pair with a volley of tear gas.

author: Mel Plant


text:
Has Uzbekistan’s Ailing Dictator Danced His Last Dance? · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Karimov in Moscow last year. Russian government image, licensed for redistribution.
Uzbekistan's 78-year-old President Islam Karimov appears to be very ill indeed after his government took the unprecedented step of confirming that he had been hospitalized on August 28.
Although there is no official information about his illness — rumours have suggested a stroke or heart attack — Uzbekistan will be on edge ahead of celebrations marking a quarter of a century of independence for the Central Asian country next week.
Впервые за 27 лет Каримов не управляет Узбекистаном
— ccboon85 (@ccboon85) August 28, 2016
For the first time in 27 years, Karimov is not in control of Uzbekistan.
On Fergananews.com, which broke unconfirmed reports of a stroke in the middle of the day, commenters were speculating about a potential life without the man that has ruled the country since before the break up of the Soviet Union and is credited as the architect of one of the world's worst human rights records.
Dnevalni wrote:
Там уже стоит вопрос о спасении жизни Каримова и вопроса о его дальнейшем руководстве страной уже не стоит. Отруководился.
После инсульта невозможно быстро восстановиться и вернуться к работе в нормальном состоянии.
Скорее всего осенью Узбекистан ждут новые выборы президента. Если, конечно, какой-нибудь юркий не пойдет на опережение и не сядет в президентское кресло…
We are now talking only about the chance of saving Karimov's life, because there is already no question about whether he can lead the country. He is finished. You cannot recover from a stroke and return to work in a normal condition. Most likely Uzbekistan will have elections this autumn. That is, of course if some imposter doesn't just grab the president's seat…
Karimov has no obvious successor after ties with eldest daughter Gulnara Karimova reportedly soured so sharply that she is being kept under house arrest in the country.
Karimova, a popstar and perfume designer “princess” who international investigators are probing for corrupt links to telecoms operators which won contracts in the country, was one of the few public figures in Uzbekistan well-known beyond its borders.
While Uzbekistan did not make out of old Karimov a leadership cult on the scale seen in neighbouring Turkmenistan or even in Kazakhstan, there is no question that the regime's identity is tied up in his persona, raising fears of a power vacuum and instability once he leaves power.
For the last few years, every Nowruz (spring equinox festival marked in Iran and across Central Asia), Karimov would dance a traditional dance in front of journalists and diplomats, largely, it seemed, to prove he was still fit.
Now there is a sense of disbelief that he may not dance again:
Ислам Каримов президент Узбекистана госпитализирован. Это фейк! Президент Узбекистана вечен! :)
— Ruslan (@Ruslan1616) August 28, 2016
Islam Karimov, president of Uzbekistan has been hospitalized. This has to be fake. The president is eternal!

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


text:
Meet the Newly Born Tulu Wikipedia, the 23rd in a South Asian Language! · Global Voices
Subhashish Panigrahi

Tigalari script. Image from Wikimedia Commons by ಶ್ರೀ. CC BY-SA 3.0
The Tulu language Wikipedia became the latest entrant in the family of 294 world-language Wikipedia projects after the project went live from Wikimedia Incubator earlier this month.
The project waited as long as eight years in the Incubator before becoming the 23rd South Asian language Wikipedia. Available at https://tcy.wikipedia.org, the Tulu Wiki space has a total of 1,285 articles contributed by 198 editors, about 5-10 of which are active with over five edits every month.
The announcement about the project going live was made by Katherine Maher, Executive Director of Wikimedia Foundation during the WikiConference India.
Wikimedia Incubator is a sister project of Wikipedia and before any new language Wikipedia is created, an Incubator project is created and grown by volunteer editors. Once the project gains momentum with more editors developing more content more often, the project goes live as a new Wikipedia project.
The Tulu language is spoken by about three to five million people in the Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala, and there is a sizeable diaspora living in US and the Gulf countries.
Eight years back in 2008, Tulu Wikipedia was created in Incubator with just a handful of editors. But apart from a few sporadic edits every so often, there was little impetus to take the project forward.
A community in a real sense is one that engages in discussion, consensus and collaboration. This never existed for Tulu Wikipedia as individual editors were working in isolation from each other.
There was therefore a need for them to meet and form a strategic plan to grow the community and the Incubator by brining in more active contributors.
In 2014, the need to connect the Tulu Wikipedia editors and foster an interactive editorial group was discussed and a meetup was organized in Mangalore by the Centre for Internet and Society—Access to Knowledge (CIS-A2K) program, a catalytic program funded by the Wikimedia Foundation to support and grow Indian language Wikipedias and Wikimedia projects in the Indian subcontinent.
As an offshoot of that meeting, more community meetups started to happen. A few workshops were organized in Mangalore to provide hands-on training to participants and the city's St. Aloysius College opened its door to include Wikipedia editing as part of its syllabus.
A Wikipedia Education Program was promptly organized for the undergraduate students in this college where students started editing Wikipedia as a classroom assignment and the faculty was involved both in providing training and evaluating the articles.
Vishwanatha Badikana, assistant professor of the Kannada language department at St. Aloysius College, became an active Tulu Wikipedia editor himself and led outreach activities at the institution. His students have enriched the Tulu Wikipedia with articles across a broad range of topics.
The main page of Tulu Wikipedia. Image via Wikimedia Commons
However, what has been achieved so far is still only the tip of the iceberg. The community is still fairly small and has to grow beyond one supporting institution. The larger Tulu language community also has to take ownership and become stewards in growing Tulu Wikipedia.
Despite its long, rich linguistic heritage, Tulu is still struggling in terms of achieving wider usage in written form, especially in its native script. The lack of promotion is also quite evident as the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, an official body set up by the Karnataka government uses Kannada and English for its official portal.
The biggest challenge of all is the lack of Unicode support. Unicode is a global standard for scripts, and the Tigalari script that is used to write in Tulu is not encoded in Unicode. At the moment, all the articles in the Tulu Wikipedia are written in the Kannada script as most of the speakers are based in the state of Karnataka, and speak Kannada as a second language.
The only possibility of using Tigaliri script is tied to standardizing the script on Unicode, releasing a freely licensed typeface so that it can be bundled as a web font to display the script in the case of any mobile or desktop user not having the font installed on their device.Finally the script for existing content must be converted from Kannada to Tigaliri.
There is a series of eight how-to video tutorials that have been created to help new and existing editors to learn more about Wikipedia policies and guidelines, style and the editing process.
“Many students have contributed by creating these tutorials,” says Dr. Badikana.
The current set of editors are doing their best to spread the word about the project while safeguarding the core values of Wikipedia.
In an interview to the media portal Daijiworld, Bharathesha Alasandemajalu, an active editor based in Oman said, “Anyone can write or edit articles on Wikipedia Tulu, but it should not be plagiarised [..] Photos should be one's own or uploaded with valid permission from the owner. This will help the future generation to know more about the language and act as a source of information on Tulu language and culture.”
Dr. Badikana moreover shared in an interview with this author that he is hopeful of seeing more Tulu speakers contributing to Tulu Wikipedia, as he feels that growing language content online, combined with work in conventional classrooms, is the best approach to preserving the language.

author: Subhashish Panigrahi


text:
Oh, the Phrases You’ll Hear on the Streets of Buenos Aires! · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Translation: “I don't wanna be a princess. Princesses can't climb trees.” — Girl of about 5 to a young woman, Barrio Atlaya, Isidro Casanova. Saturday.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
This article by Maria Murriel originally appeared on PRI.org on August 24, 2016. It is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
You're sitting in a cafe in Buenos Aires’ Palermo neighborhood. You can't quite hear what the pair next to you is talking about, but you can make out some things. Maybe something like, “You think I have nothing better to do than be in love with you.”
OK, that one was actually overheard on a subway. But when Ezequiel Mandelbaum and Tatiana Goldman were in a Palermo cafe one day, about five years ago, they thought the stuff they overheard was so intriguing, out of context, that they stopped talking to each other.
They just listened.
“We didn't understand what they were saying too well,” Mandelbaum says. “But it was fun.”
Note: Most of these phrases are nearly impossible to translate in a way that captures their full glory. But this is close.
“What confidence we Argentines have to do whatever the flying f-ck pleases us.” — Man of about 25 to another. Friday.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
But what they came up with that day is more than fun. La Gente Anda Diciendo (“People Are Saying”) is a “playful anthropological” glimpse into the Argentine mind and lifestyle — specifically in the capital. Mandelbaum and Goldman collect Buenos Aires phrases that betray the dry wit, blunt manner and casual attitude about love and life the locals have (even the little ones).
“In Buenos Aires, it’s easy [to overhear good stuff],” Mandelbaum says. “I don’t know if it’s because we shout a lot or because we’re not prudish. We can be on a bus, talking to the gynecologist at full volume. … Argentines get psychoanalyzed, it’s common to hear someone analyzing their partner’s life.”
“Will you buy me a toy so I can stop busting balls?” — Boy, approx. 4 years old, to his parents. Friday, 7 p.m.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
“Yo, can you pay for tits with a credit card?” — 25-year-old woman to another. Bus. 2 pm.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
“Think of it this way: A baby is like a dog that you can, later, ultimately, teach how to talk.” — Man of around 25 to his girlfriend. Transit station. Saturday, 12:40 pm.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
“Excuse me, sir — you've never been pregnant so you don't get to opine.” — Woman of about 40 to a 35-year-old man. Wednesday. 10:45 am.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
The original idea was to jot down phrases heard throughout Buenos Aires and make them into a book. After nine months of collecting phrases, Mandelbaum and Goldman decided to post them on Facebook. Overnight, they gained hundreds of followers, which then turned into thousands and tens of thousands.
The allure is the sharpness of the phrases, and the situations they allude to. There’s an art that goes into selecting phrases for this project.
“When you catch part of a sentence, it builds a story in your mind,” Mandelbaum says. “[We pick the] potent phrases, the ones that stir your imagination, that are funny.”
Now that fans submit 100 percent of the phrases, the most important element of this art is even more important: They have to be overheard and written down immediately.
“Don't be sad. Sadness grows in the cold.” — Passerby to young weeping woman walking. Friday.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
“Look, you have to live life with a partner. It's always been hard. The problem is you guys don't try anymore.” — Man of about 60 to a man of about 20. Plaza Constitución. Thursday.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
“Mom, you won't like what I'm gonna tell you, but I have to say it. At school we ate meatloaf and it was better than yours. I still love you, though.” — Kid of about 6, walking and recording an audio message on his dad's phone, holding his hand. 4:30 pm.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook
“It’s intuitive [telling which are made up],” says Mandelbaum, who’s an editor working in public relations. “You have to hear it and write it down then. When you try to write it down later, you edit the phrase in your head.”
They’ve toured South America collecting phrases, sponsored by Motorola. They’ve published two books. They’ve inspired spin-offs in other cities and countries.
And there’s more coming: Mandelbaum says he and Goldman are hoping to have writers come up with texts inspired by the phrases.
With phrases like these coming in, that won’t be hard.
“See that you can? You can do anything in this life.” — Mom of about 30, wiping her 9-year-old's boogers. Tuesday.
Credit: La Gente Anda Diciendo/Facebook

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
On the Blossoming Pop Careers of Uganda’s Security Hardmen · Global Voices
James Propa

A screen capture from Kaazi Yetu YouTube video.
As music is one of the most influential cultural elements in most Ugandans’ lives, it is no surprise that the Ugandan music industry has grown from strength to strength over the years.
What might be more surprising is that politicians, soldiers and police officers have all flirted with professional music careers.
In 1981 Uganda had its first commercially successful singing army officer, Sergeant Kifulugunyu.
His music motivated many army officers in the bush war that brought current President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to power. By the early 1990s Sergeant Kifulugunyu was one of the most heralded artists in the country.
In the video below, Sergeant Kifulugunyu talks to NTV Uganda about his experience with music both during the war and after the war. He is one of a number of Ugandan artists who are concerned about plagiarism. Local artist Gravity Omutujju re-did Kifulugunyu's song “Kibonge” and renamed it “Omwoto” without his permission, he says.
Other security officers who have joined the contemporary music industry include Afande Karangwa and Afande Mia and Afande OJ from the police force. The latter duo's music is entirely about patriotism and civil work, mainly that of the police.
One of their recent sleekly shot videos is “Kaazi Yetu”, Swahili for “Our Job”. In it the duo speak about the work of the police, citing and thanking different people including President Yoweri Museveni, Inspector General of Police, General Kale Kayihura and others.
Their videos have been shared by several YouTube and Facebook users, and each has commanded over 10,000 views.
Readers of Uganda's Daily Monitor website have mixed feelings, with some excited and others criticising the actions of the officers singing and dancing whilst still in police uniform.
Nyaralego is excited that the officers are putting the guns aside and having a good time:
aaaaaoooo…from AK47 to ndomblo ya solo. (Ndombolo ya solo refers to a popular Congolese music genre and dance style).
Ug_Ug feels the officers are breaking the police code of conduct:
The Police worldwide has code of conduct, some of which e.g. never to drink alcohol publicly when on duty in Police uniform; as equally as it’s a misconduct dancing in uniform in public places without any orderly authorization from above. These boys should have been incarcerated on the spot, but it seems M7´s [President Museveni's nickname] Police are as ignorant of their own code of conduct as Himself from the above!
The videos were produced and released with the approval of the police force, who contributed US$5,000 towards production.
Ajigak is happy for the officers and advises them to commercialize their music more often to augment their miserly police salaries.
Good to be creative to supplement the meager pay earned by the police force other than the greedy politicians. Bravo officer, you need to commercialize your music to make more earning.

author: James Propa


text:
The Refugee Olympic Team Showed They Have Plenty to Offer, in Spite of Tragic Stories · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

Screenshot of the Refugee Olympic Team arriving at the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games have come to an end, and the results are out. Yet one of its greatest images — one that will remain etched in memories for a long time to come — was set apart from the photos capturing bursts of physical exertion in the city's top-class sporting venues. It is a mural paying tribute to the athletes of the Refugee Olympic Team in the streets of Rio:
What awesome artwork! Street art honoring the #RefugeeOlympicTeam is on display in Rio right now. 😍 (C)Gettyimages pic.twitter.com/ju1vZvnst3
— Refugee Olympic Team (@RefugeesOlympic) August 19, 2016
These athletes had their own stories, their own particularly arduous individual journeys to Rio. By overcoming these challenges, they came to symbolise the Olympic spirit and its values which at times have been stained by acts of corruption, doping scandals and other controversies.
One of these stories is narrated in the following inspiring video:
A deafening standing ovation accompanied the arrival of the team which “came from afar” and launched this edition of the Games.
RIO 2016 REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM https://t.co/CLN2RqAdfa #Olympics #RefugeeOlympicTeam #OlympicAthletes #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/S04MFccVtY
— The Morgan Group ™ (@supermorgy) August 18, 2016
One member of the team Yolande Mabika is from Bukavu in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Like her teammate Popole Misenga, Yolande is a judoka.
Rebel fighters attacked her village when she was just eight-years-old, and she has not seen her family since that day. Yolande was taken in by a children's home in Kinshasa. Weary of repeated abuse at the hands of the Congolese federation, Yolande sought asylum in Brazil.
She recounts her story and her hopes for life after the Games:
“I hope the Olympics help me find my family” – My piece on refugee athlete #YolandeMabika is in @StylistMagazine. pic.twitter.com/Q71hdhBpgP
— Corinne Redfern (@CorinneRedfern) July 26, 2016
Je pense encore au Congo, mais de moins en moins – cela fait maintenant partie du passé pour moi et je ne pense plus à ma famille tout le temps. Les souvenirs sont là mais la douleur a disparu. J’ai accepté le fait que je ne les (peut-etre) reverrai plus. Le Brésil est mon pays maintenant et je veux rester ici et construire une nouvelle vie… Je voudrais travailler auprès de jeunes filles comme moi qui n’ont pas eu de chance et les aider à surmonter le même type de problèmes que ceux que j’ai connus. Je ne m’arrêterai pas. Maintenant le monde entier sait que je suis une athlète olympique et je continuerai de m’entrainer pour être de plus en plus forte dans les combats à chaque compétition
I still think of Congo, but less and less – it is in the past for me now and I no longer think of my family all the time. The memories remain but the pain has gone. I have accepted the fact that I may never see them again. Brazil is my country now and I want to stay here and build a new life… I would like to work with young girls like myself who have not been dealt a good hand in life – I want to help them to overcome the same type of problems that I have faced. I won't stop. Now the whole world knows that I am an Olympic athlete and I will continue to train to be stronger and stronger in the fights of each competition.
Pic of the day #Rio2016 #Malagasy swimmers Estellah Fils & Syrian #refugee Yusra #Mardini after 100m freestyle. pic.twitter.com/zaM3IMpn0R
— Donny (@Randydonny) August 10, 2016
Yusra Mardini was born on March 5, 1998, in Damascus, Syria. Her story is well known but deserves telling again and again. In 2015, with her sister Sarah, two years older, she fled her war-torn homeland via Beirut, Istanbul and Izmir, before arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos.
The boat which would bring them to the island broke down, the two sisters and a third woman, the only people amongst the 18 passengers on board who knew how to swim, took to the water to push and pull the boat for three hours until they reached safety.
She won her 100m heat at the Olympic Games, but the result was not sufficient to take her into the semi finals. Yusra stands out for her unfailing determination, demonstrated when she swam at sea for hours to bring the boat safely to shore.
Her German trainer explained her extraordinary strength of character:
Yusra est très concentrée. Elle a un but clair et organise toute sa vie autour. Ainsi, la jeune femme s’entraîne deux à trois heures chaque matin avant d’aller en cours et revient l’après-midi pour une autre session.
Yusra is very focused. She has a clear aim and organises her entire life around that aim. The young woman trains for two or three hours every morning before going to class and returns in the afternoon for another session.
Yusra is adamant about what she wants and how she will achieve her goals. She expects no handover and will not let anything stand in her way:
Je veux que tous les gens se battent pour leurs objectifs car si l’on reste concentré dessus, on fait tout ce que l’on peut pour y arriver, et je pense que même si j’échoue, j’essaierai encore. Peut-être que je serai triste, mais je ne le montrai pas et j’essaierai encore et encore jusqu’à ce que j’y arrive. Je veux montrer à tout le monde que s’il est difficile de réaliser ses rêves, ce n’est pas impossible
I want everyone to fight for their aims because, if we keep focused, we do everything that we can to get there, and I think that even if I fail, I will keep trying. Perhaps I will be sad but I won't show it and I will try again and again until I get there. I want to show the world that, although it's difficult to live your dreams, it's not impossible.
Kakuma refugee camp proud of their athletes’ exploits in Rio https://t.co/cBVt230Whc #RefugeeOlympicTeam pic.twitter.com/uUY44WASBt
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) August 19, 2016
It is this determination to pull through that Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, championed when he lauded the team's passion which earned an outpouring of admiration beyond the usual patriotism displayed by Olympics fans:
It is also a signal to the international community that refugees are our fellow human beings and are an enrichment to society. These refugee athletes will show the world that despite the unimaginable tragedies that they have faced, anyone can contribute to society through their talent, skills and strength of the human spirit
Tegla Loroupe, the Kenyan runner, and mentor of the team stated that the team exuded something special and unifying:
Ils sont un modele à suivre pour les pauvres du monde entier, pas seulement les réfugiés. C’est pourquoi les gens les ont tant acclamés. C’est cette lutte face à d’immenses défis. Les sportifs de cette équipe, je les aime comme si ils étaient mes propres enfants.
They are a success story for poor people the world over, not just refugees. That is why they have been so acclaimed. It is this determination that they show against all odds. I love the athletes in this team as if they were my own children.

author: Rakotomalala


text:
Can Colombia’s Best Ever Olympics Help to Heal Social Fractures? · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

Oscar Figueroa, gold medal in men's weightlifting 62kg. Photography used with the permission of the Official Organization of Rio 2016.
Colombia's story at Río 2016 was one of unprecedented accomplishments played out to a soundtrack of national joy, as athletes from the country smashed their previous top-ranking performance from the London 2012 Games.
But while the impressive eight-medal haul has given cause for much celebration — among South American countries only Brazil bettered Colombia — it has also amplified a thorny debate about race and class, since some of the republic's most successful Olympians were citizens of African heritage from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
In total, Colombia climbed 15 places compared to four years ago to reach 27th in the final medal standings, scoring three golds (weightlifting, triple jump, and BMX), two silvers (judo and boxing) and three bronzes (weightlifting, boxing, and BMX).
Citizens like Juan Mosquera unleashed an outpouring of gratitude on August 21, the day of the Rio 2016 closing ceremony:
G R A C I A S
Terminan los Juegos Olímpicos. Qué bonita olimpiada. Y digo gracias a todos los deportistas que vistieron con honor, talento, sacrificio, disciplina y orgullo los colores del país. A los medallistas, a los diplomas olímpicos, a todos los que compitieron. Gracias. Y a sus entrenadores, a los equipos técnicos, a los dirigentes que acompañan, a las empresas que creen en ellos, a las familias de cada uno que hacen tanto por ellos. Gracias doy a mi verdadera Selección Colombia.
T H A N K  Y O U
The Olympic Games are over. What a beautiful Olympiad. And I say a thank you to all of the athletes that wore the colors of our country with honor, talent, sacrifice, discipline, and pride. To the medalists, to those with Olympic diplomas, to all those that competed. Thank you. And to their coaches, to the technical teams, to the executives who accompanied them, to the businesses that believe in them, to each of their families that do so much for them. I give thanks to my faithful Team Colombia.
Collages with the medalists were widely shared. This Instagram post was shared by television anchor Mónica Fonseca, who paid tribute to all Colombian representatives in Rio 2016:
Que grandes son! Ustedes los que se van con medalla por ser los mejores en sus categorias y en general todosssss los 147 que representan a toda #Colombia  gracias!  @marianapajon @carlosbmx @triplecibarguen @yurisam29 @oscarfigueroa27 @yuberjen @luisjavierhd16 @carlosbmx #IngritLorenaValencia
A photo posted by Monica Fonseca (@fonsecamonica) on
You are great! You, the ones who leave with a medal for being the best in your categories and all and each of the 147 who represented us all #Colombia
Catalina Robayo highlighted the optimism, determination, discipline, and love of sport the Colombian athletes showcased in this edition of the Olympic Games:
Con las uñas, con necesidades y carencias; Pero llenos de optimismo, determinación, disciplina y amor al deporte, nuestros deportistas nos enseñan que en la vida cuando se quiere, se puede  Gracias a todos nuestros deportistas, a los que están en la foto y a los que no! Por regalarnos tanta alegría a un país que en muchas ocasiones los ha olvidado y no los trata como se merecen… Es momento que  Colombia fije sus ojos de verdad verdad, en estos verdaderos constructores de país  y que la platica de coldeportes se invierta en ellos y no en otros menesteres!!! Solo nos queda decirles GRACIAS por esas 8 medallas olímpicas, gracias por las alegrías, las lágrimas, las angustias también por las tristezas por los que no lograron su objetivo; todos son de aplaudir y dignos de admirar  #Gracias #rio2016 #Colombia
A photo posted by Catalina Robayo (@catalinarobayo) on
Fighting tooth and nail, with needs and shortcomings; but full of optimism, determination, discipline and love of sport, our athletes teach us that in life when you want it, you can do it.
Thank you to all our athletes, those in the picture and those who are not! For giving so much happiness to a country that sometimes forgets you and hasn't treated you as you deserve… This is the moment that Colombia fixes its eyes on the true builders of the country […] All that is left for us is to say is THANK YOU for these eight Olympic medals, thank you for the happiness, the tears, the anxiety, and also for the sadness for those who did not achieve their goal; all of you are laudable and worthy of admiration.
Among the magic eight, there were athletes from some of the most vulnerable areas of the country like Urabá, Valle del Cauca and Bajo Cauca Antioqueño. One of them, Oscar Figueroa, has even been victim of forced displacement.
Moreover, two of the country's gold medalists and both silver medalists were Afro-Colombians, who make up over a 10% of the national population but face widespread discrimination and systematic marginalisation.
Marlyn Jhuliana Dinas called on Colombians to avoid ignoring the levels of racism that are still present in the country:
No es posible que Colombia siga siendo un país tan racista y excluyente!!! Cuando Aquí están las caras lindas de mi gente negra que con Valentia , esfuerzo, tenacidad, disciplina y constancia han logrado superarse y regalarle tantas dichas y alegrías a este país. Esta es mi raza, mi gente!!! Orgulloafro. Somos Colombia#olimpicosrio2016#oro#plata
A photo posted by Marlyn Jhuliana Dinas (@marlyndinas) on
It is not possible for Colombia to continue being such a racist and segregated country!!! When the beautiful faces of my black people who with courage, effort, tenacity, discipline and perseverance have managed to succeed and offer so much joy and happiness to this country. This is my race, my people!!! Afropride. We are Colombia!
Twitter user Juana Suarez complained of racism in the wake of the gold won by Caterine Ibarguen, the daughter of plantation workers from the coastal town of Apartado, who has become widely recognised as the best in her sport in the years since she first earned a podium finish with silver in London.
dejen de llamar a #Ibarguen “mi negra”. Claro, es negra pero no es de Uds, no tiene amo, la esclavitud acabó hace rato. #retrógados
— Juana Suárez (@cinembargo) August 16, 2016
Stop calling Ibarguen “my black woman”. Yes, she is black, but she is not yours, she has no master, slavery ended a while ago. #retrogrades
Facebook user Pirry meanwhile hailed the silver of Yuberjén Martínez, as a medal won in spite of “a racist and exclusive Colombia”:
Muy bien Yuberjén, que bonita lección para todos nosotros como afrontó el combate ente un rival visajoso y arrogante,  Mientras el otro se lucía Yuberjén en lo suyo, en lo que ha venido haciendo desde que se empezó a preparar para estas justas, hablar poco y hacer mucho, lo mismo que decía de Yuri Alvear su entrenador, ella habla poco y hace mucho.  Un triunfo más que nos dan estos colombianos dignos representantes de su afro descendencia tan maltratada en esta Colombia racista y excluyente, gracias muchachos,en silencio y con acciones,le enseñan mucho más a los jóvenes y niños de este país, que esos, los que gritan mucho y hacen poco. Gracias otra vez gracias. (Con el patrocinó de pañuelos " la lagrima emocionada")
A photo posted by Pirrylarotta (@pirrylarotta) on
Very good Yuberjén, what a beautiful lesson for all of us the way he faced down a boastful and arrogant opponent. While the other was showing off, Yuberjén was minding his business, focusing on what he's been doing since he started to prepare for these combats, not speaking much and doing a lot. The same was said of [judo silver medal winner] Yuri Alvear by her coach: she hardly speaks and does a lot. Yet another triumph was given to us by these worthy Colombians, representatives of the very mistreated afrodescendants in this racist and segregated Colombia. Thank you guys, for in silence and with actions you teach much more to the youth and children of this country than those who yell a lot and do little. Thank you again, thank you.
August has been a good month for Colombia. Just days after the Olympics finished, the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) concluded in Havana a deal to end a civil war that has lasted over 50 years.
Amid a surge of happiness related to that development as well as success on the podium, Internet users are in the habit of making bold suggestions they think can help take the country forward.
Jorge Mario Torres Duarte posted on Facebook that Olympic success represented an opportunity to inspire the younger generations.
Los Olímpicos prueban que en televisión el deporte tiene rating porque tiene estética, emoción, heroísmo y finales felices. Los canales deberían apostarle a reemplazar telenovelas y realities por eventos deportivos locales en directo. Así las ligas de otros deportes tendrían recursos como los tiene el futbol, y los niños aspirarían a ser deportistas y no narcos o prepagos.
The Olympics prove that on television sports have good ratings because of their aesthetics, emotions, heroism, and happy endings. Channels should bet on replacing soap operas and reality shows for live local sporting events. That way the leagues of other sports would develop resources like soccer has managed to, and kids will aspire to be athletes rather than drug dealers or escorts.
Colombia Oscura made a call on its Twitter feed to invest more on sport and less on war, a prospect that seems more likely as the country enters a new era of peace.
Dejar de financiar guerras, invertir más en deporte y así tendremos diez veces más medallas de #oro,#plata y #bronce en #Tokyo2020.
— Colombia Oscura (@ColombiaOscura) August 20, 2016
Stop funding wars, invest more in sports and that way we will have 10 times more gold, silver and bronze medals in #Tokyo2020.
To be sure it would take a lot of investment, hard work and luck to take Colombia beyond what it achieved at Rio but such is the mood in the country now that nothing feels impossible.
Another Pirry post on Facebook positively overflowed with the hope of a brave new era:
Ha sido el mejor año para Colombia en la historia de los Olímpicos, tal vez sea una ventana que nos permita ver un futuro en unión, comunión y paz entre todos los colombianos; un futuro mejor sin tintes políticos en el que de verdad quepamos todos. Gracias Caterine, gracias Mariana, gracias Oscar y todos los demás, gracias, mil gracias a todos.
It has been the best year for Colombia in the history of the Olympics, and maybe this can become a window that allows us to see a future of union, communion, and peace among all Colombians; a better future without political overtones in which we can all truly find our place. Thank you Caterine, thank you Mariana, thank you Oscar, and all the rest, thank you, a thousand thanks to everyone.

author: Cati Restrepo


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Death Penalty Still Looms for Mauritanian Blogger Who Spoke Out Against Caste-Based Discrimination · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

“No to slavery” – from the website of Moroccan legal expert Ibn Kafka where he states: “Where Mauritania may have suffered injustice throughout history it also exemplifies resistance and human dignity”
A Mauritanian blogger has been sentenced to death by Nouadhibou Criminal Court after writing a blog post criticising the use of Islam to justify a caste system that dates back to the Middle Ages.
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould M'kheitir, whose father is prefect for Nouadhibou, the economic capital in the south of the country, is a 29-year-old trained accountant. They are part of a caste group known as les forgerons (the “forger cast”), one that was originally made up of blacksmiths.
He has appealed the conviction, which dates back to 2014. Writing for the website Chezvlane on 25 December 2014, he said:
Ceux qui osent inventer de faux hadiths et les attribuent au prophète (paix et salut d’Allah sur lui), aucune morale ni religion ne peut l’empêcher d’interpréter à leur guise un article écrit par un simple jeune, novice de surcroît. Ils ne ménageront aucun effort afin de mobiliser la passion du musulman commun au service de leurs intérêts. C’est ainsi qu’ils ont prétendu que les forgerons ont Blasphémé à l’encontre du prophète (paix et salut d’Allah sur lui)  à travers un article écrit par un des leurs, tout comme ils avaient prétendu que celui qui avait fait tomber les dents du prophète lors de la bataille du mont Ouhoud était un forgeron.
C’est dans ce cadre que je voudrais confirmer ici ce qui suit :
1. Je n’ai pas, consciemment ou inconsciemment, blasphémé à l’encontre du prophète (Paix et Salut d’Allah sur lui) et je ne le ferai jamais. Je ne crois d’ailleurs pas qu’il y ait dans ce monde plus respectueux envers lui (paix et salut d’Allah sur lui) que moi.
2. Tous les faits et récits que j’ai cité dans mon précédent article revêtent un caractère historique et véridique. Ces récits ont naturellement leurs interprétations littérales et superficielles et leurs sens visés et profonds.
For those who dare to invent fake hadith and attribute them to the Prophet (peace be unto him), no morals and no religion can stop them from interpreting an article written by a simple normal young man — an inexperienced one at that. They won't spare any effort in stirring up collective Muslim discontent to serve their interests. That's how they claimed that the forgerons blasphemed against the Prophet (PBUH) in an article one of them wrote. It was just like when they claimed that it was a forgeron who was responsible for the Prophet's teeth falling out during the Battle of Mount Uhud.
Bearing that in mind, I'd like to confirm here the following:
1. I have not, consciously or unconsciously, blasphemed against the Prophet (PBUH) and I will never do so. In actual fact, I don't believe there's anyone in the world who shows him greater respect than myself (PBUH).
2. All the facts and accounts I cited in my previous article were historically accurate. These accounts can of course be interpreted literally and superficially or looked at more closely and deeply.
Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, published on ODH Mauritanie
On 21 April 2016, the Court of Appeal in Nouadhibou confirmed his sentence to death after re-examining the case. The accused is no longer considered to be an apostate but simply a non-believer.
Following this re-examination of the accusations against him, human rights campaigners in Mauritania remain hopeful that the Supreme Court will dismiss the death sentence and announce a more lenient sentence.
The Senegalese website Setal recalled the turn of events:
Ce jeudi, la cour d'appel n'a pas suivi l'accusation qui demandait la confirmation de la peine. Les avocats s'en félicitent même si évidemment pour eux cela ne suffit pas. Cela fait maintenant deux ans et trois mois que Mohamed Cheikh ould Mkheitir a été arrêté pour un simple article posté sur internet. Cet article a été jugé blasphématoire envers le prophète et l'islam, il a choqué la partie la plus conservatrice de l'opinion mauritanienne qui a salué à l'époque sa condamnation à mort.
This Thursday, the Court of Appeal did not follow the accusation which called for his death sentence to be upheld. Lawyers are happy with the turn of events, even if for them it's clearly not enough. It's been two years and three months since Mohamed Cheikh ould Mkheitir was arrested for a simple article posted on the Internet. This article was judged as being blasphemous towards the Prophet and Islam. This shocked the most conservative section of Mauritanian society who at the time called for him to be sentenced to death.
This is the most severe sentence possible for the blogger — a severe sentence that many believe was issued due mostly to internal political strife. In a 26 April 2016 post on the Amnesty International website, human rights journalist and campaigner Sabine Cessout quoted a colleague (who remains anonymous) who commented on the case:
toute l’affaire relève « de la politique intérieure, avec un tribunal qui veut donner des gages aux salafistes – une tendance en plein essor dans notre pays, comme dans tout le monde arabo-musulman ».
The whole affair reveals “the internal politics…with a tribunal which wants to fund Salafis, a spiraling trend in our country, as throughout the whole Arab-Muslim world”
International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) quoted Fatimata Mbaye, President of l'Association Mauritanienne des Droits Humains (AMDH) (The Mauritanian Association for Human Rights), former vice-president of the IFHR and advocate for anti-slavery campaigners speaking on the issue:
Cette condamnation, la première pour “apostasie” en Mauritanie depuis l’indépendance, constitue un recul de la tolérance et démontre à quel point les questions de caste, de religion, d’esclavage et donc de démocratie sont tabous en Mauritanie. Nous observons un durcissement du pouvoir et de la société contre toutes les voix contestataires sur ces sujets.
This sentence — the first for “apostasy” in Mauritania since Independence — signifies a step backwards in terms of tolerance and shows just how much issues of cast, religion, slavery and therefore democracy are taboos in Mauritania. We're noticing society and politics is becoming less tolerant towards voices of dissent on these issues.
After the post was published, religious extremists sparked public calls for the blogger to be hanged. The Senegalese website Leral described the public sentiment which had been stirred up in Mauritania against the accused:
Des milliers de mauritaniens dont certains ont lu, d'autres pas du tout, l'article incriminé avaient battu le pavé, à Nouakchott, Nouadhibou et ailleurs pour exiger sa pendaison pure et simple, il y a un an de cela…. [Le] président de la République, devant la foule de manifestants amassée devant le portail de son palais avait déclaré : ” Je vous remercie de tout cœur pour votre présence massive en ce lieu pour condamner le crime commis par un individu contre l'Islam, la religion de notre peuple, de notre pays, la République Islamique de Mauritanie, comme j'ai eu à le préciser par le passé et le réaffirme aujourd'hui, n'est pas laïque et ne le sera jamais…. je vous assure en conséquence que le Gouvernement et moi-même ne ménagerons aucun effort pour protéger et défendre cette religion et ses symboles sacrés… ». Cette déclaration du président, celle des différents partis politiques conjugués avec les manifestations et fatwas ont eu raison de lui.
A year ago thousands of Mauritanians took the streets of Nouakchoutt, Naouadihbou and elsewhere demanding he be hung, plain and simple. Some of these had read the incriminating article — others had never even seen it. The Republican President, in front of a crowd of protesters which had grouped in front of the entrance to the palace, declared: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for gathering in such numbers here to condemn the crime committed by a individual who is against Islam, the religion of our people, our country, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, which as I've said in the past and I'm reaffirming today, is not secular and never will be… I assure you that as a result, the Government and I myself will stop at nothing to protect and defend this religion and its sacred image…”. This declaration made by the President, those of other different political parties along with the protests and fatwas demonstrated their reasoning.
The 2006 France Human Rights Prize winner Aminetou Mint Noctar also drew outrage from extremists after she expressed support for the blogger, some of whom issued a fatwa against her. Noctar is also the 2010 winner of the medal of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honour. According to the website Africa News, Noctar was the first Mauritanian woman to be nominated for the Noble Peace Prize for her commitment and work towards human rights.
On the website aw41k.com, Yehdhih Ould Dahi, head of the radical Islamist movement “Ahbab Errassoul” (Friends of the Prophet) condemned Noctar for defending the blogger:
Cette méchante qui défend Mkheitir et disant qu’il s’agit d’un prisonnier d’opinion, et qui a demandé sa libération pour qu’il soit rendu à sa femme, cette femme qui décrit les amis du Prophète comme des Boko Haram et des Takfiris seulement parce qu’ils demandent le respect de l’honneur du Prophète, qu’elle soit damnée par Allah, les anges et tous les gens. Aujourd’hui, je vous annonce avec la bénédiction d’Allah, son apostasie pour avoir minimisé l’outrage à l’honneur du Prophète. C’est une infidèle, dont il est légitime de s’emparer de son sang et de ses biens. Celui qui la tuera ou lui crèvera les yeux sera récompensé par Allah.
May this villain who's defending Mkheitir, saying that he's a prisoner of conscience and demanding he be released so he can go back home to his wife, be cursed by Allah, the Angels and all people. This woman compares the Friends of The Prophet to members of Boko Haram and Takfiris because they call for the Prophet to be respected and honoured. Today, with the blessing of Allah, I declare her to be an apostate for having tempered the outrage in defence of the honour of the Prophet. She's an infidel and it this therefore lawful to seize her life and assets. Those who kill or poke out her eyes will be rewarded by Allah.
Amid the public vitriol around Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed Ould M'kheitir's case, his life hangs in the balance. For now, he will continue to languish in prison.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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Nigeria: Curbing the Tide of Ethnic Hate — Online and Off · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Nigeria's 50 naira bank note bears images of people of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba ethnicity. The country recognises over 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages. PHOTO: Shardayy (CC BY 2.0)
The right of citizens to talk, to express opinions, and to keep tabs on governance is an inherent aspect of any democratic culture. But conversation spaces have long expanded from pubs and other physical spheres to include digitally mediated online public spaces. My country, Nigeria, is the most active African country for political conversations on Twitter, followed by South Africa, Ethiopia, Burundi and Egypt. Our vibrant digital sphere, however, is fraught with hatred and vile speech.
A good portion of the hate speech in Nigeria is ethno-religious. With over 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages, the country has a history of conflict dating back at least to 1914, when Great Britain joined the colonial territories of Southern and Northern Nigeria to create a single state. Ethno-religious conflict continued to bedevil the nation after independence in 1960, though draconian laws suppressing free speech and association during the decades of military dictatorship kept the situation relatively in check.
But it was the peace of a graveyard. The 28 years of military intervention in fact aggravated the ethnic divide by bringing ethnic rivalry to the forefront of national life. Everything was viewed from the prism of us versus them.
“The 28 years of military intervention in fact aggravated the ethnic divide by bringing the negative forms of ethnicity to the forefront of national life. Everything was viewed from the prism of us versus them.”
Nigerians were thus hopeful at the return of democracy in 1999. The ethnic tensions that had characterized the country’s politics—with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections by General Ibrahim Babangida, and the truncated self-succession attempt by late General Sani Abacha—seemed to have been neutralised by the election of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The national mood at that time appeared to be a fulfillment of some part of the old national anthem: “Though tribe and tongue may differ/In brotherhood we stand”.
Sadly, this hope was short lived. The spectre of ethnic rivalary was resuscitated with the constitution of the Human Rights Violation Commission (Oputa Panel), in which different ethnic groups sought justice for perceived crimes against them. The macabre tales that flowed from the various petitions showed that the old wounds and bottled-up grievances were far from healed.
Party politics in Nigeria has no ideological foundation. A lust for power and looting the public till is the only unifying factor. Thus civilians who have aided the military, retired soldiers, and their cronies continue to dominate party politics. This makes the problem of ethnic conflict even more intractable, as those who wield power have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
For social media and its influence on Nigerian politics, the turning point was the 2015 presidential elections. Digital media asserted itself as the new medium of choice for political parties seeking to influence public opinion and canvass votes. While social media may not yet be a primary factor in determining elections outcomes or propelling electoral campaigns, almost half of Nigeria’s population—46.1% of a population of 170 million—now has Internet access, and for the 18-35 age group, social media do play a major role in influencing political choices.
“The influence of Nigerian online “overlords”, who can influence the opinions and actions of their numerous followers regarding topical issues, has transformed social media into a very effective amplifier of hate speech…”
Like any communications tool, the internet can be the purveyor of both the good and the ugly. It has also been shown to be something of an “echo chamber”, a space where individuals connect and associate primarily with people similar to themselves. The influence of Nigerian online “overlords”, who can influence the opinions and actions of their numerous followers regarding topical issues, has transformed social media into a very effective amplifier of hate speech, and the ability for users to remain anonymous exacerbates this.
During the 2015 election campaign period, ethnocentrism flourished on social networks. A research study in which I was involved did content analysis of 250 tweets bearing the #Igbo hashtag, referring to the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria—one of the country’s three main ethnic groups. [Full disclosure: I’m Igbo]. The findings were alarming. We found a prevalence of derogatory, mocking tweets blaming one ethnic group for not voting for President Muhammadu Buhari. The findings were reinforced by the official results released by the national electoral umpire, which showed that voting in the 2015 elections occurred along ethnic lines.
Nigeria is hardly the only country in the world where ethnic divisions appear to be deepening. The US is currently grappling with the most decisive presidential election in the country’s history, in which one of the candidates has turned hate into a weapon for canvassing votes. The UK’s #Brexit referendum in June is alleged to have been propelled by the bitterness of some Britons with regard to immigration. And here on the African continent, ethnocentric hatred was instrumental in the violent clashes that occurred after the 2007 elections in Kenya, and was propagated largely through digital technology.
“…preserving the right to freedom of speech….becomes even more important in light of the fact that the online space on the African continent is already jeopardized by government interference.”
The essence of participatory democracy, however, means that preserving the right to freedom of speech online is incontestable. This becomes even more important in light of the fact that the online space on the African continent is already jeopardized by government interference.
The detention of a pro-government blogger here in Nigeria; the assault on digital media in Ethiopia; the imprisonment of dissidents in the Gambia; the social media blackout imposed during the recent Ugandan elections; moves by the governments of Uganda and Nigeria to impose stricter controls for social media: these all demonstrate the lengths to which states will go to suppress free expression in the online space.
We cannot afford to self-immolate or to hand our rights over to hawks looking for any excuse to subvert free speech, either online or offline. But Nigerians also need to guard against the hijacking of public conversation by forces which promote division.
A practical solution would be to adopt the report of the 2014 National Conference (#NGConfab). As imperfect as it is, one of the recommendations of the #NGConfab was the rotation of the office of President between the North and South through the country’s six geo-political zones (North East, North West, North Central, South East, South West and South-South). An arrangement like this could go a long way toward curbing the tide of ethnic hate and its attendant bile, in political conversation—both online and offline—in Nigeria.


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The Summer Season Brings an Orchestra of Cicadas to Japan · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Higurashi cicada (Tanna japonensis). Image from Wikimedia.
Cicadas are the sound of Japanese summer. Whether it's out in the countryside or in the middle of the city, the insects are so much a part of everyday life in Japan that many Japanese people can identify different species just by their calls.
A variety of species of cicada appear at the beginning of each summer. As larvae, cicadas live underground, where they feed on tree roots, and in their adult, winged stage of life the harmless insects spend their days singing in hopes of attracting a mate.
セミが大量発生するのは理由があった！？　「素数ゼミ」の謎を解き明かした１人の日本人研究者 #grape https://t.co/wFVsBdtnXL pic.twitter.com/pVKl9SM2d4
— grape (@grapeejp) August 19, 2016
Is there a reason why cicadas emerge in such high numbers each year? One Japanese scientist has solved the riddle of the the mass appearance of cicadas.
Cicadas typically emerge in huge numbers. Defenseless and unable to fly particularly fast, the insects are an easy target for predators. Safety in numbers means a small number of cicadas will survive long enough to mate before being eaten.
Cicadas, known in Japanese as “semi,” are such a part of summer in Japan that some people have uploaded videos of different varieties and their distinctive calls to Twitter.
Writing for English-language newspaper Japan Today, Philip Kendall notes:
There are some 30 different types of cicada in Japan, and each one’s song sounds that little bit different to the last. The cicada song most often used in TV and anime, though, has to be that of the “minmin-zemi.”
So here is the call of the minmin-zemi:
ミンミンゼミの鳴き声は
聞いてても暑くない
…気がする。(´∇｀) pic.twitter.com/1P5MGdrM7t
— ひげ？ (@madoka_rt) August 15, 2016
When I hear the minmin-zemi I feel cooler… (´∇｀)
The abura-zemi is famed for its buzzing sound:
アブラゼミ♂
もちろんすぐにリリース。#セミ#蝉#アブラゼミ pic.twitter.com/aD5xTVsin2
— 8(ハチ (@hachikatananori) August 23, 2016
An abura-zemi. Yes, I released it right after this.
庭にクマゼミ来たーーー！
町田でクマゼミの声聞いたん初めて！ pic.twitter.com/XYZjLbqzRe
— いまいずみ (@sumi_nee) August 26, 2016
The kumza-zemis are back in our garden! First time this year I have heard them!
This small cicada with a long name is named after its own distinctive call: “tsuku-tsuku boushi, tsuku-tsuku boushi”:
ツクツクボウシ( ^ω^ )
・・・ウギャ〜(´ε｀ ) pic.twitter.com/OASTL53Kl4
— 伊勢日曜木工 (@watakin007) August 25, 2016
A tsukutsukuboushi!! ( ^ω^ )
The plaintive call of the higurashi-zemi generally occurs in late August and early September, heralding the dying days of summer and the beginning of fall:
夕方のヒグラシの清涼感のある哀愁溢れる鳴き声を聞くともう夏も終わりで秋が近いなぁと感傷に浸る #ヒグラシ #cicada #relaxation #japan https://t.co/FRJhOpE04q
— Kazuki Takishima (@damakaz27) August 23, 2016
When I hear the baleful cry of the higurashi-zemi, with its hint of cooler temperatures, I know that summer is near over and fall is approaching.
Of course, different species of cicada will appear together, resulting in a cacophony of different calls. Here's the minmin-zemi and the tsukutsukuboushi singing together:
みなさん、おはようございます(^^)
今日の横浜は良いお天気
木陰は過ごしやすいですね
動画はミンミン蝉とツクツクボウシの鳴き声です(^^)
本日も良い1日をpic.twitter.com/VWvmD8Ie4e
— タモレ☆釣り女部 (@tsurijobu) August 26, 2016
Good morning everyone! It's nice weather today in Yokohama, a good day to pass by under the shade of a tree. Here's the minmin-zemi and the tsukutsukuboushi singing together. May we all enjoy another wonderful day!


text:
Journalist Jean Bigirimana Is Still Missing as Burundi’s Political Crisis Continues · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

Iwacu front page (n°385, 29/07/2016) asking “Where is Jean?”
Burundian journalist Jean Bigirimana has been missing since 22 July 2016. Multiple sources have told his employer, independent newspaper Iwacu, that he is in government custody. Authorities are denying these claims.
Iwacu, which represents a small beacon in Burundi's notoriously difficult media environment, last week changed their website design to one that is entirely black and white, in homage to their missing colleague.
#Burundi encore un #LundiNoir. Des jours ténébreux, des semaines obscures, un mois sombre pour la famille du journaliste Jean Bigirimana.
— akanyegeri (@akanyegeri) 22 août 2016
#Burundi yet another Black Monday. Dark days, gloomy weeks, a sombre month for the family of the journalist Jean Bigirimana.
Burundi has been engulfed in political crisis since President Pierre Nkurunziza's run for a third term last year, which sparked protests and citizen campaigns arguing that his candidacy undermined the Arusha Accords and Burundi's constitution. Witnesses, victims, local activists and human rights organizations have all documented cases of arbitrary detention, systematic torture, and killings, targeting activists, journalists and Nkurunziza's opponents, though government officials have denied this.
The country's once lively media landscape has suffered from the militarized response to third-term opposition, especially outside the capital Bujumbura. Burundian and international journalists have faced accusations of anti-government bias or encouraging insurrection and been targeted with violence. Iwacu director Antoine Kaburahe himself currently lives in exile in Belgium.
Before coming to Iwacu, Jean worked with Rema FM radio station. Iwacu reports that in his travels to Rwanda, the 37-year-old reporter had written about the lives of exiled Burundian journalists living in the neighboring country. Rwanda and Burundi have a long history of political and diplomatic tensions.
On July 22, 2016, Jean left home after receiving a call from the national intelligence service. He has not been seen or heard from since. His wife, Godeberthe, made an emotional appeal for his freedom, and media outlets have tried to investigate and publicize the case, sharing images widely online.
#Burundi images émouvantes de l'hommage au journaliste Jean @iwacuinfo https://t.co/Q2MzSY5rms
— KABURAHE (@AntoineKaburahe) 25 août 2016
#Burundi moving images from the homage to the journalist Jean @iwacuinfo
Iwacu has vowed to continue searching for Jean. Iwacu journalists undertook their own investigations which they published online, and hope to take the case to court, though this may prove difficult given the crisis and the many other uninvestigated deaths and disappearances. Burundian rights organization APRODH recently reported that police and military sources, unhappy with the current situation, have identified 14 mass graves, likely containing some of the disappeared.
During their enquiries, two tortured bodies were found and eventually collected by police. When Jean’s wife was brought to identify the bodies she said neither was him, although they were then reportedly buried without being identified.
#Burundi🇧🇮 Rude shock to @iwacuinfo‘s effort to #FindingJean: our rivers are littered with bodies of Missing Pesrons pic.twitter.com/8wQbuQWgNM
— Tara Muhorakeye (@MuhoraTara) 10 août 2016
Police spokesperson Pierre Nkurikiye confirmed that neither of the two was Jean:
#Burundi Enquête/Dossier Jean BIGIRIMANA (journaliste/IWACU): Les 2corps identifiés: Pas de Jean. Le Parquet MURAMVYA dirige la suite.
— NKURIKIYE Pierre (@PierreNkurikiye) 12 août 2016
#Burundi Investigation/ Case Jean BIGIRIMANA (journalist/IWACU): The 2 bodies identified : Not Jean. Muramvya Prosecutor to follow up
The news raised concerns among citizens not only about Jean, but about other possibly undiscovered bodies. Twitter user Thierry Uwamahoro asked:
Had #FindingJean team not embarked on that trek, we wld have never known about the 2 bodies. So, how many more bodies r out there? #Burundi
— Thierry Uwamahoro (@ThierryU) 10 août 2016
Eleven days after Jean's disappearance, Iwacu criticized the police for their “deafening silence” and for the apparent lack of an investigation. Iwacu attempted to follow a lead of Abel Ahishakiye, someone Jean contacted by phone before disappearing, but he too then apparently disappeared.
In early August, colleagues of Jean's received a tip indicating that he had been secretly detained in Muramvya province. Police spokesperson Pierre Nkurikiye denied that the journalist had been arrested, and on 5 August Burundi's independent human rights commission (Commission Nationale Indépendante des Droits de l'Homme) stated it found no evidence that Jean was in the custody of the SNR.
Other reporters have recently been similarly targeted. Oximity journalist Julien Barinzigo was arrested on 17 June and released on 05 August with restrictions. Gisa Steve Irakoze of Radio Buja FM was arrested by SNR in early August, before being released on 25 August.
Some have not returned. Rights activist Marie-Claudette Kwizera, with rights organization Ligue Iteka, has not been seen since December 2015 after reportedly being arrested by security agents. APRODH’s president Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa is in exile after surviving an assassination attempt last year, and family members were then murdered.
The risks of attack even follow reporters into exile. Boaz Ntaconayigize, a journalist with Bonesha, in exile in Kampala, was stabbed on 31 July. He said that security agents had come from Bujumbura to infiltrate the refugee community and track journalists and activists. Boaz was also later questioned by Ugandan police.
As many have disappeared or been found dead after being detained, officials’ denial of Jean's detention has left his friends and colleagues fearful that authorities may be concealing information on his whereabouts or death. On 25 August Iwacu’s editors published a “Letter to Jean” expressing their hopes of finding him and their fears of the worst.
Cher Jean nous sommes tellement impuissants face à ceux qui ont fait de la mort leur spécialité.
(…)
Aujourd’hui nous n’avons que des mots.
Mais les mots sont plus forts que la mort.
Jean, ils ne gagneront pas !
Dear Jean we are so powerless against those who have made death their speciality.
(…)
Today we have only words.
But words are stronger than death.
Jean, they will not win!

author: Liam Anderson