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As Elections Approach, Denial Runs Deep for Turkey’s Erdogan · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Protest in Istanbul, June 2013. Photo by Eser Karadag via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Berkin Elvan died after 269 days in a coma. He was killed by a teargas canister shot by Turkish riot police. He was 15 years old, still a child. But for Prime Minister Erdogan, the boy was a terrorist. Calling him a terrorist was an easy way out, a way to avoid giving condolences or apologizing for the crime police committed, acting on his orders. Maybe in Erdogan’s “parallel state” Berkin Elvan was a terrorist. But for others he was just a kid. He will be remembered by his family, friends, and hundreds of thousands of Turks who marched in peace and support on the day when young Berkin was buried not as a terrorist, but as a kid out buying bread.
The park
When the Prime Minister ordered the demolition of a park in central Istanbul, a little less than a year ago, he did not know what was to come. When country-wide protests broke out, he dismissed them as part of a plot (orchestrated by the “Interest lobby”) to overthrow him and discredit the ruling party. He was quick to blame everything on “external” factors and to call the protesters all sorts of names. Everyone, everywhere was responsible but the Prime Minister himself. His reaction, and his divisive rhetoric, polarized the country.
Erdogan did not recognize the Gezi park protests as anything more than just people’s anger at a demolition of few trees. He failed to see the bigger picture — that this was an accumulation of grievances against his government. Everyone who was on the street last summer was a hooligan, part of the riffraff, or a destroyer of what this government has built over the past 11 years.
Over 8000 people were injured, 5,300 arrested and 11 killed last summer. The excessive use of force by Turkish riot police, the piercing smoke of tear gas canisters (and the canisters themselves), and the painful blows of the rubber bullets, resulted in 14 people losing their eyes.
Winter is coming
One of the popular slogans shared during the summer protests was “Tayyip, winter is coming” referring to a widely popular TV series “The Game of Thrones.” Little did the authors of this slogan know that winter indeed was coming and that it would bring serious challenges to the ruling government. From December 2013 to the present, the ruling Justice and Development Party is entangled in a corruption scandal. The sons of three cabinet ministers, a construction tycoon, and a mayor from the AKP party implicated in deals were arrested in Istanbul and Ankara. Several phone conversations including calls between the Prime Minister and his son [tr] — concerning the retrieval of $1 billion of accumulated cash out of the family house — were released and shared widely (the PM and his son insist the recording is a fake and is another attempt by the “parallel state” to overthrow the honest AKP.) Other recordings included Erdogan calling the executive at local news network HaberTurk and asking him to censor the views of an opposition leader and a critical story on health care reform — the reporters and editor in charge of the story were soon fired. To Erdogan this is normal- “we have to teach [the media],” he said in a press conference.
Tear gas shells in Turkey, May 2013. Photo by Birhanb via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
In another call the Prime Minister asked his Justice Minister, to take care of a case against Aydin Dogan, a media boss, facing tax evasion charges. In response, the Minister said it was going to be impossible to influence the course of the case, due to the background of the presiding judge as he was from the Alevi community (a religious minority group in Turkey that is often at odds with the ruling party). Admitting to this phone call as well, Erdogan said it was natural that he asked for this. “Anything for the country and the nation,” he added.
Following this statement, it was no surprise that in yet another move to stifle freedom of expression in Turkey, Erdogan blocked to Twitter on March 20. “We will eradicate it!” exclaimed Erdogan at a campaign rally in Bursa. Twelve hours later, just around midnight, Internet users could no longer access Twitter. The government made good on recent promises to block access to major social media sites if it became necessary. While it seems easier to influence his own folks like the Ministers or the heads of news channels over a phone call, dealing with international platforms as Twitter isn’t as simple. And so in order to eradicate this “menace to society” as Erdogan called the social platforms during the summer protests, four court orders were issued meaning every Internet provider, including the GSM operators must implement the ban. As Erdogan fired at Twitter, he added, he didn’t care what the international community would think.
And Erdogan was unapologetic when it came to the death of the 15-year-old Berkin Elvan. The day of his funeral, protests erupted with police resorting to violence yet again. Protesters in 15 cities joined the clashes with the police. The Prime Minister chose to keep his silence on the day of the funeral while President Gul and other officials were quick to offer sympathy to Elvan’s family. Former EU Minister Egemen Bagis called the protesters “necrophiliacs” in a tweet that was removed shortly after it was posted.
Erdogan’s silence over the death of a young boy was only broken at a campaign rally in Gaziantep, where the Prime Minister instead of giving his condolences called the young boy a terrorist. He also made the crowds boo the mother of the boy — Gulsum Elvan, who said “My son’s killer is the prime minister!” Carrying a slingshot with “shooting marbles” was a weapon and meant that Berkin was a member of a terrorist group.
Attempting to seek justice for Elvan’s death, Taksim Solidarity group — the organizing community behind the Gezi Park protests — launched a crowd-funding campaign online to dedicate a full-page obituary in the New York Times.
Fundamental rights at stake
There are more journalists in prison in Turkey than in China. As protests of this past year showed, the country’s record of dealing with protesters is bleak. The two controversial laws recently passed by the Parliament — on the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors and on the regulation of the Internet — demonstrate the government’s tightening grip over the judiciary and online content. And there is growing concern over Internet surveillance and the potential impact this could have on freedom of expression in Turkey, which is already in a fragile state.
When Berkin Elvan stepped out of his family’s apartment on June 13, he wasn’t fighting for his right to freedom of expression. But nine months later, when he lost his life, the people who mourned together with his family, marched in the streets, and faced police resistance were fighting for their right to assembly and expression. National elections in Turkey will be held on March 30. Somehow, while letting mourners suffocate from tear gas and ignoring the calls of protesters, Tayyip Erdogan is calling for democratic elections in a democratic state. Yet Turkey is nowhere near the promised land of liberal democracy.

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


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China Recruits Tencent and Alibaba for Private Bank Pilot  · Global Voices
Jack Hu

Headquarters of China's central bank. Photo by Flickr user George Chen. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
China is set to allow private banks to play a bigger role, a key move for its financial system reform despite the government's plans to impose restrictions on them.
On March 11, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) named ten companies, including Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent, to set up five privately owned banks with two co-sponsors for each bank. Regulators had announced last year that Beijing would allow the creation of privately financed banks as part of the effort to make the economy more productive by giving market forces a bigger role.
The news was followed by the country's central bank cracking down on Tencent's and Alibaba's online payment businesses. The regulator also plans to impose restrictions on transfer amounts through the third-party online payment servers, potentially hurting Internet finance.
Limitations
In one example, Alibaba's bank, which will be created in cooperation with China Wanxiang Holding Co., China’s biggest auto-parts manufacturer, will impose limits on the deposits it can bring in from any company or individual and how much it can lend to any one borrower.
While Tencent's bank will be able to take in large-scale deposits, but only make small-scale loans. The government wants to reduce the burden that the banks bear from booming Internet finance and maintain the stability of the banking system, even though China’s leaders have felt the looming risks generated by huge local government debts and shadow banking.
Economists have long decried the tendency of China's state-dominated banking system to grant loans primarily to large state-owned firms, even as small and medium enterprises account for 60 percent of gross domestic product and around 80 percent of new jobs.
“Financial parasites”
Lack of lending by state banks to entrepreneurs has fueled growth of an underground market of high-interest loans. Regulators permitted the market to exist in order to support private business, but more recently have tried to tighten control over it after discovering state companies and banks were involved.
Foreign-owned banks still face a strict operating environment and have a tiny share of the country’s deposits. Many who fail to get access to formal bank financing resort to high-interest loans, part of the country's worrisome shadow banking sector.
Alibaba Group is one of the world's biggest e-commerce companies, and Tencent Holdings Ltd. is China's most popular social networking and online games server. Both have launched online financial services that have drawn deposits away from banks by paying higher interest.
Premier Li Keqiang pledged in an annual policy speech to promote growth of online financial services.
The traditional banking industry accuses them of hurting state banks. State-owned China Central Television's securities channel chief commentator condemned Alibaba’s investment fund Yu’e Bao as “vampire” and called for a ban over it:
余额宝是趴在银行身上的“吸血鬼”，典型的“金融寄生虫”。它们并未创造价值，而是通过拉高全社会的经济成本并从中渔利。它们通过向公众输送一点点蝇头小利，为自己赢得了巨额利润，同时让全社会为之买单。
Yu’e Bao is the “vampire” feeding on banks, the typical “financial parasite”. They don’t create value, but instead benefit from increasing economical costs of the whole society. They’ve gained huge profits by funneling tiny benefits to the public while society foots the bill.
His words quickly sparked retorts online, and some experts countered that it is the banks that are the true “vampires” feeding on the public.
Liu Shengjun, a popular economist and reformist responded by decrying how China banking system is lagging:
刘胜军：【中国银行业＋中国股市＝无耻＋无能】我认识的几乎每个朋友、同事，都在为如何不让存款贬值而愁白头，我认识的几乎每个民营企业家都悲叹融资难、融资贵。影子银行、互联网金融大爆炸，反证了中国银行业与股市的无能与无耻，已沦为吸血鬼，吸的是普罗大众的血、实体经济的血。坚决支持余额宝革银行的命
China’s banking industry + China’s stock market = impudence + incompetence. Nearly every friend and colleague of mine is worried about how to prevent their deposits from devaluation. Nearly every private entrepreneur I know is complaining about the difficulty and high costs of financing. The shadow banks and Internet finance boom have proven the incompetence and impudence of China’s banking industry and stock market, which have ended up as vampires feeding on blood of the public and real economy. Stand firmly with Yu’E Bao to overthrow traditional banks!
Ma Guangyuan, another famous economist, argued that the outdated state banking system has hampered economic growth:
马光远：影子银行的扩张、产能过剩的痼疾，以及中小企业长期制度性的融资难题，根子都在于金融改革的滞后和金融垄断。垄断的国有银行体系既无法满足实体经济的需求，更无法保证中国金融系统安全，反而成了中国金融最大的体制风险。
The expansion of shadow banks, the chronic disease of over-capacity and the financing problems for small and medium enterprises are rooted in the financial monopoly and the lag in financial reform. The monopoly of the state banking system is neither able to meet the demands of real economy, nor guarantee the security of the financial system. Instead, it has become the biggest risk in China’s financial system.
Online financial commentator Yu Fenghui hailed the founding of private banks:
余丰慧：阿里小贷曾经将银行吓出一身冷汗，余额宝更让银行胆战心惊，纷纷使出歪招进行围剿。这次阿里腾讯进入首批民营银行试点，平台更大了，舞台更广了，同时，对传统银行的冲击将更加严重了。
Alibaba’s small loan business has scared banks, Yu’e Bao has been doing the same, so the banks conspire to oppress it. Now Alibaba and Tencent are listed in the first batch of the private bank pilot, meaning their financial platforms will become bigger and their impact on traditional banks more serious.
Zhou Zhanhong, a former editor-in-chief of Fortune Chinese, said private banks would not impact China’s existing banking industry in any big way:
周展宏：互联网公司开银行是不是会像余额宝一样对银行业形成巨大的冲击呢？我以为这种现象基本不会发生：首先，从牌照和监管的角度看，就没有这种可能性。银监会明确要求这些试点银行“坚持服务小微企业和社区民众的市场定位，为实体经济发展提供高效和差异化的金融服务，实行有限牌照”。
即使给了互联网企业全业务牌照，短期内也不大可能对传统的银行业形成大的冲击。互联网企业办的银行在服务个人客户方面会做得很好，但是，服务企业客户的经验则不足，尤其是如何确定风险并进行风险定价方面。
Will the new banks set up by Internet companies have any serous impact on the banking industry? I doubt it. Firstly, it should never happen according to the license and regulation rules. China's Banking Regulatory Commission demands that these pilot banks “stick to market positions of serving small and micro enterprises and communities, provide productive and differentiating finance serves for real economy growth. They will be granted limited licenses.”
These banks will not represent any great threat to the traditional banking industry in the short term, even if they are granted full-service licenses. They might do well in personal business, but lack experience in serving enterprise clients, especially in how to confirm risks and make venture prices.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Jack Hu


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Do US Sanctions Against Putin’s Cronies Fuel Russian Patriotism? · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

The Kremlin and the White House duke it out over the crisis in Ukraine. Images mixed by author.
The United States placed sanctions on another batch of Russian elites this week. Acting on orders from President Obama, the US Treasury Department added 16 Russian officials and “members of the Russian leadership’s inner circle,” as well as Bank Rossiya, to a list that already included 11 individuals accused of “contributing to the crisis in Ukraine.” (On March 17, 2014, the European Union also levied sanctions against 21 Russians and Ukrainians connected to the Kremlin and the ousted Yanukovich regime.)
The new sanctions list, as the Treasury Department’s language indicates, targets people believed to carry serious influence over Vladimir Putin. Notably, the four “inner circle” business tycoons named by the White House all appear as regular antagonists in anti-corruption reports by jailed blogger Alexey Navalny. (See Andrey Tselikov’s GV article on this subject.) By escalating its sanctions against Russia’s rich and powerful, the US government hopes to send the message that there will be “costs” to the Kremlin’s “provocative acts” in Ukraine.
The vast majority of Russians remains unaffected by the West’s punitive actions. While many in Russia’s liberal opposition welcomed Washington’s move against Putin’s “inner circle,” most are careful to warn against measures that could hurt the whole country. Navalny also objects to wider penalties that “would worsen conditions for our [the Russian] people.” Appeals to foreign powers for sanctions and interventions in domestic affairs have long been a controversy in Russian opposition politics. In the past, liberal figures like Garry Kasparov and Boris Nemtsov lobbied on behalf of the Magnitsky List—another blacklist against Russian elites, meant to impose “costs” on the Kremlin’s behavior.
Unlike Vladimir Putin, the individuals on America’s new sanctions list do not command the adoration of the Russian people. Most Russians probably have no idea who they are, or distrust members of the “inner circle” on principle for their wealth and high office. Perhaps the Obama Administration was counting on the sympathy of ordinary Russians, hoping the public would see US sanctions as blow to Russian autocracy, rather than the Russian people.
So far, it seems the West’s response to the annexation of Crimea has only reinforced Russia’s patriotic frenzy. Immediately following Obama’s announcement about the new sanctions, Russian business-owners began posting humorous signs outside their stores, banning the US President from entering their shops. Internet users soon started posting photographs of these signs, and random people later added their own homemade messages to Obama, banning him from dormitory rooms, cafeterias, and so on. Many of these posts were intentionally absurd, suggesting that the authors meant to mock the effort to “sanction” Obama, while others were plainly racist, indicating that some of the absurdity remained anti-American.
Russian university students forbid President Obama from entering their dorm room. “Don't be offended,” the sign reads, “it's your own fault.” Image anonymously shared online.
If the West hopes to sway Russian public opinion, its attempts to pressure Putin may face challenges even greater than snarky Internet memes. On March 20, the national polling agency WCIOM revealed that Russia’s actions in Crimea have pushed Putin’s approval ratings to a five-year-high, both nationwide and in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the anti-Kremlin opposition is strongest. (Recent surveys by the Levada Center and Navalny’s new sociological group, organizations less friendly to the Russian government, show a similar rise in Putin’s popularity.)
Might the West further escalate its sanctions against Russia? Indeed, President Obama in his speech today did threaten another round of penalties that “could be disruptive to the global economy.” In other words, ordinary Russians would likely feel the impact of such sanctions, straining individuals’ patriotic commitment to the ruling elite.
In a March 15 Facebook post, conservative columnist Maxim Kononenko entertained this darker scenario, asking readers how they would respond to international isolation. Not surprisingly, given his typical support for the government, Kononenko reasoned that tougher sanctions could force an end to Russia’s capital flight, compelling the country’s consumers and producers alike to buy and invest domestically. “Honestly, the further on things go,” Kononenko wrote, “the more it seems to me that Putin did all this [in Ukraine] simply because he’d lost all hope that he could get Russians to do anything for themselves, instead of investing everything abroad.”
Kononenko’s post attracted 365 “likes,” 58 “shares,” and over 400 comments—most expressing support for the idea of “development through isolation.” Not everyone agreed, of course. For instance, Nikolay Balmasov, an entrepreneur living in Moscow, commented, “We already lived behind an iron curtain once and it was enough. Living in isolation from the whole world with only North Korea for a friend—you can go live in this shit by yourself.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


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GV Face: How to Win the Rising Voices Microgrant · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Are you brimming with an idea to help your community tell their story through citizen media? Do you need funding and support? Do you want to be part of a global network committed to bridging the digital gap?
Then you need to apply for the 2014 Rising Voices Microgrant!
This Friday on GV Face the Rising Voices (RV) team find out best practices for winning the Rising Voices microgrant competition.
Laura Morris, Rising Voices Editor speaks to former winners from Niger, Guatemala and Greece about the application process, their projects and experiences being part of the RV community.
– Orsolya Jenei, coordinator for Mapping for Niger (Winner from 2013)
– Romeo Rodriguez, coordinator for Xela Civic Libraries Guatemala (Winner from 2012)
– Alexia Kalaitzi, coordinator for Blind Dates, Greece (Winner from 2011)
Here's a link to the Google + event.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Russia’s No. 1 Separatist Dead, Again · Global Voices
Nina Jobe

Doku Umarov. YouTube Screenshot.
Two days after Crimea voted to join the Russian Federation, Russia's main enemy of the state Doku Umarov was declared dead by the official propaganda arm of the Caucasus Emirate, an armed separatist movement in Russia's south. The announcement followed over three months of speculation about Umarov's status and whereabouts.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov bragged as far back as December, 2013 that Umarov had been killed by Chechen special forces, but gave no details and could produce no evidence to substantiate his claims. Back then, Kavkaz Center denied Umarov’s death, and uploaded a video [ru] to YouTube as proof. The video appeared to have been recorded in September 2013 at the latest, and raised more questions than it answered over Umarov’s death and the future of his paramilitary organisation.
The twin acts of terror in Volgograd [Global Voices report] fed the speculation, when Umarov did not claim responsibility for the bombings. Shortly thereafter Kadyrov made another claim that Umarov had died. He also alleged that he had evidence of a split in the Emirate leadership over who would replace Umarov. An audio clip [ru] of two men debating who would succeed Umarov was leaked on YouTube after Kadyrov's comments.
The Kavkaz Center announcement of Umarov’s death seems to vindicate Kadyrov’s earlier claims, something that Kadyrov had no problem boasting about on his Instagram account [ru]:
Мы ранее говорили, что Умаров не представляет никакой угрозы для Олимпиады Сочи2014, также мы заявляли, что уничтожим его до начала олимпийских игр. В ходе одной из спецопераций Умарова ликвидировали, о чем я и написал ранее. Теперь это подтверждено самими крысятами. Что еще нужно для спецслужб и СМИ, чтобы поверить в смерть террориста?
We previously said that Umarov posed no threat to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, we also announced that we would eliminate him before the Olympic Games. During one of the special forces operations Umarov was liquidated, as I wrote earlier. Now this is confirmed by the rats themselves. What else do the security services and mass media need to believe in the death of this terrorist?
The Russian blogosphere was relatively quiet upon the news, possibly due to the fact that Umarov's death had been reported so many times, but also likely because the news of Crimea's annexation has put all other news on the back-burner.
The newspaper Kommersant [ru] was able to get a contact Akhmed Zakaev, the Chechen Diaspora leader, who claimed that Umarov had possibly died as early as August of last year. Kommersant also posited that the cause of death could have been gangrene resulting from diabetes complications. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee refused to comment [ru] on these developments.
Little is known [ru] about the new leader, only that he is not a Chechen, but an Avar from Dagestan. What this means for the insurgency in the North Caucasus is open for debate.

author: Nina Jobe


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Smog Insurance China’s Latest Air Pollution Band-Aid · Global Voices
Owen Guo

In China, air purifiers and masks seem to offer little consolation to a citizenry often galvanised by periodic outbreaks of air pollution. Now, helping people fight the toxic air is state-owned insurance company Ping An, which promises to pay out claims to policy holders when air pollution index exceeds set levels.
Smog blankets Beijing in January. Photo by Owen.
Smog insurance, the first of its kind, is targeting travelers and local residents of seven cities. Some of the designated cities, including Beijing and Shijiazhuang, have been plagued by smog for years.
Under the scheme, policy holders in Beijing can receive up to 1500 yuan (about 240 US dollars) worth of compensation should they be hospitalised due to the smog. In Beijing, when the Air Quality Index (AQI) exceeds 300 for five straight days – a level considered hazardous – insurance buyers can receive 300 yuan (about 48 US dollars). AQI measures pollutants such as fine particles and sulfur dioxide.
Free lung checks or otolaryngological tests are also offered when AQI runs above 300 for seven days in a row. The company also proudly claimed on its website that if the AQI goes off the charts, policyholders can win free trips to Hainan, a tropical island often dubbed as China's Hawaii, to “clean their lungs”.
The announcement of the insurance policy came weeks after Chinese authorities admitted that only three cities in China met national air quality standards.
The magnitude of air pollution was laid bare by Premier Li Keqiang’s maiden report to this year's National People’s Congress, as the Chinese parliament is called, in which he declared war on air pollution.
Most Chinese responded to the insurance with skepticism.
Bingren Kemilu questioned on the popular microblogging site Sina Weibo:
冰人_可米陸 ： 但愿不是什么噱头
I hope this is not some gimmick.
Shen Pinglunyuan wrote:
如何诊断是雾霾引起的?这将肯定有争议,想得到保险理赔, 谈何容易。
How can we determine if [certain diseases] are caused by the smog? There must be a lot of controversy, it won't be easy to get the claims.
“70s version Xu Wenqiang” wasn't buying the idea at all:
70版许文强：博眼球而已，完全可以找空气好的线路
It's just something to grab attention, [tourists] can find travel routes with good air.
“Nuli Caishi Wangdao 1997″ wrote:
努力才是王道1997：如果真的有这个保险并且不是特别贵的话，是会考虑一下的，这毕竟可以为我们的健康买下一份保障
If such insurance indeed exists and doesn't cost much, I will consider it. After all, we can buy insurance for our health.
“Forever_RickyQ” argued:
这种东西只是保险公司营销的噱头罢了，难道真的买个雾霾险就可以高枕无忧了吗？这种东西治标不治本，关键还是在于雾霾的治理，就像雾霾天中小学生放假一样，这只是在当前形势下衍生出的一种形式主义。只有政府多把精力投入在雾霾的治理上才能让环境变得更好
It's just a gimmick from the insurance company. Can we really be spared troubles if we buy smog insurance? This cures the symptoms but not the root cause. The key is the management of smog itself. It's just a formalism that students get school breaks during smoggy days. Only when the government spends more energy on pollution management can we really make the environment better

author: Owen Guo


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Suspected Government #SelfieMacedonia Campaign Backfires  · Global Voices
Temjana Popovska

A Facebook campaign with the hashtag #SelfieMacedonia was launched in March 2014 and Macedonian social media users now suspect that the country's government is behind it all.
Bouts of young social media users from Macedonia, individually or in groups, have been taking photos of themselves, typically called “selfies”, and sharing them on Facebook with the hashtag. None of this would be unusual were it not for the peculiar fact that national monuments and buildings constructed by the current government are in most of these photos.
The Youth Force Union, a youth group of the ruling party in Macedonia, began taking these “selfie” photos that sometimes include the ruling party’s flag and logo. The hashtag aroused great interest and many users began commenting these features on social networks, indicating suspicion that the campaign is being staged by the ruling party’s headquarters.
In response to the “selfies” with the monuments and political symbols, an even greater number of photo-montage images can be found on Facebook now, some depicting government officials attending current events.
A widely circulated photoshopped image showing a Macedonian government official and US President Obama, part of the response of Macedonian social media users to the #SelfieMacedonia campaign.
A1on.mk commented on the campaign in a recent article and included several of these images.

author: Temjana Popovska


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Taiwan #CongressOccupied: Wild Lily Turns into Sunflower · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Wild Lily is still the symbol to support the new-generation student democracy movements. Photo from Susan Bomin. CC: NC.
A flower shop owner delivered sunflowers to the protesters inside the Legislation Yuan. Photo from Christine Hepburn. CC: NC.
The Wild Lily student movement took place in March 16 1990 at Freedom Square in Taipei is the most significant historical event that marks the democratic struggle in Taiwan. As a result of the movement, temporary provisions effective during the period of Communist rebellion in Taiwan was terminated and the Taiwanese congress was reformed in 1991.
Twenty-four years have been passed, in March 18 2014, another student movement took place in the Legislation Yuan in Taiwan. The students protest against the government’s black box process of the trade deal between Taiwan and China. On the third day of the demonstration, the media starts calling the action Sunflower student movement when a flower shop owner delivered sunflowers to the protesters [zh] as a form of support. The image of sun reflects people's hope to shed light to the black-box free trade negotiation between Taiwan and China governments.

author: I-fan Lin


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Taiwan’s #CongressOccupied Protest, Translated · Global Voices
Ameli

Against Black-box Cross-Strait Trade Agreement. Protest icon from CSSTAtranslategroup.
Protesters in Taiwan made history on 18 March by occupying the country's legislature in protest of the ruling party's passage of the controversial  Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) with China without a promised clause-by-clause review.
Support for the protesters has poured in from a variety of groups, with hundreds of translators organizing themselves through the Facebook group #CSSTAtranslategroup to translate stories about the incident. The group describes its objectives as:
1. Short-term goal: to distribute the press release that has been translated into various languages to international media and government units;
2. Mid-term goal: to watch the next move between the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments closely and translate upcoming news into English and other languages.
The translated articles will be published on the blog Taiwan, not for sale. The full text of the press release is now available in Chinese, English and German. There is also a Danish version in summary.
To draw the world's attention to the protest, student activist Yeh Jiunn Tyng translated the following message into 31 different languages on his Facebook profile:
Citizens of Taiwan are now occupying the Legislative Yuan（Legislature), opposing the unjust passing of the Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services. The police are gathering outside the building and preparing to clear the protesters.
This moment is critical for the future and democracy of Taiwan, we need the world's attention. Please share the news to everyone you know, and translate it to other languages. (Please post the translation in the comment of this post, I'll add it in). God bless Taiwan.
His post has been liked over 9,000 times and shared more than 15,000 times.

author: Ameli


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Tajikistan Celebrates the Beginning of Spring · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

On March 20-21, people in Tajikistan celebrate Navruz (Nowruz), an ancient festival that marks the beginning of spring and is often referred to as the “Persian New Year”.
Icekandar congratulates [ru] the readers of his blog:
Here comes Navruz, the best and most cheerful holiday! This holiday is not like other celebrations. [Navruz] means a lot to our country and our people. Navruz is like a bridge that links contemporary Tajikistan with our ancestors and their culture…
Happy Navruz to everyone!
News website ozodagon.tj presents several videos showing how the festival is celebrated in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

author: Alexander Sodiqov


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The Daily Lives of Sub-Saharan Immigrants in Prague    · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Chadian blogger Réndodjo Em-A Moundona [fr] writes about the daily lives of African immigrants in Prague [fr] :
Une petite discussion avec ces Africains suffit pour se rendre à l´évidence que la communauté n´est ni menacée, ni totalement intégrée. Comme fille africaine, il est quasi impossible de trouver un travail conséquent [..] En général, les Tchèques sont un peuple renfermé, ils sont cependant gentils et tolérants. «Il n’y a absolument aucun problème à être noir à Prague, personne ne vous fera de remarque, ce serait un comble!» garantit un des matelots originaire de la Côte d´Ivoire. Mais cette tolérance n´est pas non plus le gage d´une acceptation totale.
A quick chat with Africans here is all you need to realize that the community here is not under any pressure but it is not  fully integrated either. As an African girl, it is almost impossible to find a real job.[..] In general, the Czechs are reserved but very tolerant. A sailor from from Côte d'Ivoire affirms that “There is absolutely no issue with blacks in Prague, nobody will say anything untowards to you, to the contrary!”. Yet, this tolerance is in no way a guarantee that one will be fully integrated in the society.

author: Abdoulaye Bah


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A Poem for #CongressOccupied Protesters in Taiwan · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

A protester at #CongressOccupied. Photo by Kong Fu Panda, a reporter at UDN.com. Republished by Global Voices with permission.
Protests at Taiwan's legislature, known as the Legislative Yuan, against the decision to pass the highly controversial Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement with China has gained support from artist circles.
Hung Hung [zh], a poet, film director and artist, dedicated a poem to the protesters called “A song for the violent protesters – Upon hearing the media and legislators call the protesting students at #CongressOccupied mobs”. Hung Hung read the poem to crowds outside the Legislative Yuan and reposted it on Facebook. It has been shared more than 800 times:
Hung Hung reading his poem to crowds outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Photo from Hung Hung's Facebook
我們來了，夏天也來了
我們的腳步，可以溫柔也可以堅定
我們的聲音，可以優美也可以嘶啞
我們的拳頭，可以揮向天空也可以揮向不義
我們的心，可以是血的紅也可以是青草的綠
我們越過圍牆佔領這條街、這個廣場、這個堡壘
當別人把這裡當作提款機、當作傳聲筒、當作逃生梯
我們把這裡當作溫暖的搖籃，當作哺育稻米的農田，當作未來之歌的錄音間
我們歌唱，對，我們歌唱
我們用歌唱佔領一個原該屬於我們的國家，原該保護我們的政府，原該支持我們生存的殿堂
把它從墳墓變成子宮，從垃圾堆變成果園，從地獄變成天堂
甚至我們不奢求天堂，我們垂下眼睛，把這裡當作自己的家
今夜，原不相識的你我，在這裡多元成家
今夜，我們甘願做愛的暴民
就像五二０訴願農民那樣的暴民
就像六四天安門學生那樣的暴民
就像把美麗島當號角的那樣的暴民
就像用野百合、用茉莉花改變世界的那樣的暴民
就像以自焚為武器的鄭南榕那樣的暴民
不過今夜，我們不焚燒自己
我們焚燒這嚴寒的冬夜
讓夏天一夜之間，來到我們眼前！
We are coming, when the summer is coming
Our footsteps can be soft, our footsteps can be firm
Our sounds can be beautiful, our sounds can be hoarse
Our fists can be raised up toward the sky, our fists can be raised up against injustice
Our hearts can be as red as blood, our hearts can be as green as the grass
When we cross the wall and occupy this street, this square and this fortress
When others consider this place an ATM, a megaphone, or a fire escape
We consider this place a warm cradle, a rice field and a recording room for our future songs
We sing, yes, we sing
We sing to occupy a country that is supposed to belong to us
We sing to occupy a government that is supposed to protect us
We sing to occupy a palace that is supposed to support our living
We transform it from a tomb into a womb, from a trash pile into a fruit garden, from a hell into a paradise
Paradise might sound too luxurious
We lower our eyelids and would like to consider this place home for us
Tonight, strangers like you and I become a diverse family
Tonight, we are willing to be violent mobs for love
Like those farmers protesting on May 20*
Like those students standing in Tiananmen Square on June 4**
Like those holding Formosa as their horns***
Like those violent mobs changing the world with the wild lily† and jasmine††
Like Cheng Nan-Jung††† using self-immolation as a weapon
But tonight, we do not burn ourselves
We light up this extremely cold winter night
So that summer will come to us by next dawn
*the 520 Farmer's Protest happened in 1988 in Taiwan against an agricultural free trade agreement. It ended in violent confrontation with 130 protesters arrested and 96 prosecuted.
**refers to the 1989 student movement in Beijing that resulted in a violent crackdown on peaceful protesters.
***refers to the Formosa Magazine Incident of 1979 in Kaohsiung, which resulted in large-scale prosecution of local political forces.
†refers to the Wild Lily student movement of 1990 in Taipei Liberty square. The movement eventually ended martial law and one-party rule in Taiwan.
††refers to a series of protests and uprisings known as the Arab Spring from 2010 to present.
†††Cheng Nan-Jung burned himself to death in April 1989 demanding freedom of speech in Taiwan.


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“Happy” Video Exposes the Other Side of Rio de Janeiro · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Inspired by the “worldwide contagious happiness” that was sparked by Pharrell Williams’ viral music video “Happy“, as can be seen in hundreds of dancing videos from around the world, Brazilian group of video-makers Jeitinho Carioca (“Shit Cariocas Say”) has created a local version for Rio de Janeiro with a satirical tone.
Besides showing people dancing with a happy feeling, the video also exposes other not-so-happy current affairs in the city, such as the high cost of living, the racism problem, thievery and violence, as well as the construction works for the World Cup and Olympics.
Watch “We Are Rio“:
Global Voices has also reported on “Happy” videos of Middle East and North Africa, Hong Kong and the Pursuit of Happiness in Africa.

author: Sara Moreira


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Hungarian Far-Right Group Protests Against Fashion Designer · Global Voices
Marietta Le

A group of far-right extremists occupied the exhibition opening of a Hungarian fashion designer on Friday, Kettős Mérce blog reported [hu].
The designer in question Koby's new fashion line was first withdrawn [hu] from a Hungarian sports brand shop in January 2014, after nationalist criticism rose against the t-shirt designs featuring some of Hungary's historical figures such as Lajos Kossuth, a leader of the Hungarian revolution of 1848. Photos of Koby's line of t-shirts can be found in a recent Funzine.hu article.
The public debate about Hungary's far-right groups and the far-right party Jobbik has become more tense as the 2014 elections approach, set for April 6. On March 15, the national holiday marking the 1848 revolution, a group of citizens dubbed “Vote against Jobbik” held a protest against-far right extremists in Hungary.

author: Marietta Le


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Meet Crimea’s New Anime Mascot, Natalia Poklonskaya · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

Natalia Poklonskaya as an anime character. Image distributed online.
Natalia Poklonskaya, the newly minted Prosecutor General appointed by the secessionist government of Crimea, has captured the hearts and minds of RuNet, and, surprisingly, Japan. A video from her March 11 press conference accepting the position has over a million views on YouTube, perhaps because of her incongruously youthful appearance (she is actually 33) combined with the seriousness of her office.
Natalia Poklonskya talking to the press. YouTube screenshot.
The fresh-faced, yet stern, Poklonskaya, talking to the press surrounded by microphones, served as an inspiration for Japanese and Russian fan-art. Most of the pictures are drawn in a manga (Japanese comics) style, and grotesquely over-emphasize the “cute” or “kawaii” aspects of Poklonskaya's appearance. After first appearing on the Japanese manga artist repository Pixiv [jp], the images spread through RuNet forums and imageboards, like Pikabu.ru [ru], inspiring memetic variants of their own.
Poklonskaya seemed to approve of the fan-art on a Twitter account she started on March 20:
Спасибо вам за поддержку и творчество! Все рисунки восхитительны)
— Наталья Поклонская (@NPoklonskaya) March 20, 2014
Thank you for the support, and the art. All the drawings are wonderful:)
Of course, there is a good chance that this Twitter account is fake: in a March 19 interview [ru] Poklonskaya said she has no accounts on social networks like Twitter. If it is fake, it's in good company with the two presumably fake Twitter accounts (@sergyaksenov and @AksenovCrimea) of Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov, who also claimed [ru] that he does not use social networks. The proliferation of fakes in Russian Twitter sometimes causes implosions of hilarious absurdity — yesterday the fake Twitter of Ramzan Kadyrov asked [ru] the Poklonskaya account if it was also fake (the person tweeting said no).
Regardless of whether the real Poklonskaya approves, lets move on to the art, with the caveat that these pictures can be construed as incredibly sexist:
In the right image Poklonskaya is holding a sword with “LAW” written on it, piercing the head of a Right Sector-colored snake. The artist is likely Russian.
This style of drawing is called chibi.
The color of the uniform is off here, but who's keeping track!
Yet another selection.
And of course, the requisite “cat-girl” treatment.
Here, Poklonskaya finds herself as a subject of a dating simulation.
And in a meta-meme, she is subject to Putin's affections.
Setting aside for the moment the objectification of a professional woman with a difficult and dangerous job, this obsession with Poklonskaya might show the need for a charismatic Crimean leader. Although, now, when they would be competing with Putin himself, perhaps being a charismatic Crimean leader isn't all it's made out to be.
Finally: “VICTORY WILL BE NYA-OURS” [or “AWWWRS”]

author: Andrey Tselikov


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Six Women Held as Slaves in Southern Lebanon · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

One of the six enslaved women in South Lebanon. Photo credit: koaci.com
An Ivory Coast-based news website's story revealing the existence of six women in Nabatieh town in southern Lebanon who were reportedly tricked into slavery-like working conditions has sparked a government investigation.
According to the Koaci.com's recent piece, the two Togolese, two Burkinabé and two Ghanaian women were tricked by a network that recruits cheap domestic labor from the African continent into working “in a country with a culture that considers blacks like sub-humans”. Akissi Kouamé, the author of the story, wrote that the women, who were kidnapped not long ago, were severely beaten by their captors after they attempted to escape.
One of the Togolese women managed to call the website's Ivory Coast office and explain her plight:
“Je veux rentrer chez moi, on m'a amené en trois fois au bureau de la mafia pour être punie corporellement parce que j'ai jugé insupportable de continuer de vivre chez la dame” […] “On m'a roué de gifles et d'autres punitions corporelles avant de m'amener dans une vielle maison avec d'autres filles également en otage qui ont simplement voulu arrêter, comme moi, de travailler chez leurs maitresses” […] “On nous a vendues dans ce pays” nous a t'elle indiqué en pleure ajoutant: “On a des diplômes d'apprentissage et on nous dit que nous allions seulement venir travailler ici, et voila que nous sommes devenues des esclave”.
“I want to go home. They've taken me three times to the ‘Mafia bureau’ to be physically punished because I've deemed living with ‘Madame’ to be intolerable” […] “They've slapped me severely and have punished me physically numerous times before taking me to an old house with other women, also kidnapped, who wanted like me to stop working for their ‘Madam’” […] “They've sold us in this country,” she told us while crying, and added, “We have school and university diplomas and we were told that we were simply going to work here, but they made us slaves.”
The 24-year-old's phone was confiscated after her “Madam” found out that she had called the website, according to the story.
Before hanging up, the woman told the website the name of her alleged slave master, “Safi Kamal”. The reporter tried to contact him at the number provided, but said that Kamal immediately hung up as soon as there was mention of victims.
According to the piece, the second Togolese woman called an hour later, but the conversation only lasted 45 seconds, interrupted by the woman pleading “No! Don't hit me!” as men shouted. She was able to make ask the reporter:
Pardon, faites quelque chose pour me permettre de rejoindre ma famille en Afrique.
I’m sorry. Please do something to let me be with my family in Africa.
The news stayed on Koaci.com for 10 days without a Lebanese news station looking into the matter. But after publishing a translation of the piece on my blog, Dalal Mawad from the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) investigated:
فما حقيقة هذه المعلومات التي تناقلها موقع إفريقي؟
What truth lies behind these claims made by the African website?
What Mawad discovered is detailed in the video report above. Using the phone number provided by Koaci.com, Mawad called Safi Kamal and feigned that she was interested in hiring a maid. Kamal assured her that the maid wouldn't be allowed to have any breaks or talk on the phone. When asked what would happen if the maid bothered her owner, Kamal assured the caller that the woman can be “dealt with”.
Not knowing that it was the LBC who called him, Kamal denied everything when Mawad went to Nabatiyeh to interview him. Mawad was able to interview another woman who claims to have been beaten twice and not allowed to travel back home.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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South Korea Moves to Restrict Young People’s Online Overseas Shopping · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

Image by Flickr user Marcia Furman (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Buying online from foreign sellers is one of hottest trends among young South Koreans at the moment, with last year's total purchase reaching one trillion Korean won [ko] (about 0.9 billion US dollars). Making web purchases allows shoppers to get their hands on products not available in the country or products from Korean brands but at much cheaper prices.
But the trend has now drawn ire from the Korean government, which recently proposed a bill that would blacklist [ko] Koreans whose quarterly international purchases made via credit card exceeds 5,000 US dollars as an effort to protect the local economy.
There are three major ways [ko] that young Koreans are buying from abroad online. First, small agencies or brokers take care of the purchasing process normally for a 10 percent service fee on transactions. Second, small businesses and individuals let customers use their US address and they only handle shipping.
Third, customers buy products through the international sellers’ websites using their Korean address. It is this third type of purchase, known in Korean as “Haeoi-jikgu” (translation: “direct oversees purchase”) is what is rapidly gaining traction in the country. This means they have to pay the expensive shipping prices of sites like Amazon, eBay and Drugstore.com, yet the total usually comes out cheaper than buying the product from domestic vendors.
Korean online communities have even opened up new sub-categories dedicated to this type of purchase, where online users can share tips about how to buy, what things to be aware of and how to avoid making mistakes.
Economic Review blog explains this new phenomena [ko] in an in-depth post entitled “What is the reason behind direct oversees purchases? Is it merely over-consumption OR a customer riot?”
기사를 보면 현재의 현상인식은 “해외직구 나빠”정도인 것 같다. 해외직구는 경제가 세계화되고 기술이 발전함에 따라 자연적으로 증가할 현상이다. 기업은 세계화를 위하여 WTO와 FTA 등을 통해 각종 경제장벽을 제거하고 있다. 이에 대응하여 – 보다 더 수동적이긴 하지만 – 노동자들은 경계를 넘어 노동의 수요가 있는 곳으로 이주하고 있다. 그렇다면 소비자 역시 이러한 “합리적 경제행위” 주체가 되어야 한다. 생산업자와 수입업자가 같은 품질의 제품을 해외보다 비싼 가격에 팔고 있다면, 소비자는 그에 대응하여 해외직구로 비용을 절감하게 마련인 것이다[…] 공직자가 여성인턴을 성희롱하면 여성인턴을 뽑지 않는 것으로 사태를 해결하는 것처럼 내수를 살리기 위해 해외직구를 금지할 것인가? 국산 TV를 아마존에서 50% 이상 싸게 팔면서 국내 소비자를 “호갱님”으로 만들고 있는 상황에서 말이다.
When reading Korean news reports, many merely make statements such as “making oversees purchases is bad”. But these sort of oversees purchases will only increase, naturally, as globalization and technology progress. Companies are breaking economic barriers via WTO (World Trade Organization) and FTA (Free Trade Agreement), and laborers are too moving around for work, crossing borders, looking for places where there is a need for labor, although these are done much more passively. Customers, just like anyone else, should be allowed to make reasonable economic decisions for themselves. If the local producers and importers are selling the same product at a higher price in the local Korean market, [Korean] customers in response should be able to try to pay lowest price available by making oversees purchase. […] Banning oversees sales in order to boost local sales is equivalent to “not hiring female interns in order to solve sexual harassment issues involving government officials”. It is especially true in the current situation of Korean brands selling their TVs at half price on Amazon, thus making Korean customers their doormats.
Angry comment flooded the Korean web in reaction to the news of the government’s desire to restrict Koreans’ economic activities.
PPSS blog aggregated some of the best tweets [ko], and several of them are listed below. Most of them have been retweeted hundreds of times:
이런식으로 국민들이 호갱님이 되고 있는데도 내수진작을 위해 ‘해외직구’ 대책을 추진하겠다는 정부. pic.twitter.com/pVstkr7TjT
— 백찬홍 (@mindgood) March 17, 2014
As you can see from this [referring to the screen capture above which shows the exact same smart TV priced about four times higher in Korea], the Korean people have became companies’ doormats, but the government still claims that in order to boost sales at home, they will take measures to stem direct oversees purchases.
“대학생들아. 지금은 무한경쟁시대다. 세계인과 경쟁해 이길 수 있는 실력을 갖춰라. 그래야 너희를 뽑겠다” 라고 하시는 분들이 “소비자님들, 우리가 어떻게 세계적인 유통망과 싸워 이기겠어요. 해외직구 자제점..” 라고 하신다는게 사실인가효?
— 狂筆 (@madpen10) March 17, 2014
Those people use to say “you recent college graduates, this world is a highly competitive world, so unless you make yourself competent enough to win international competitions, we will not hire you.” Now they say “Please, dear customers. We can't win over international retailers. Will you reconsider making purchases from oversees sellers?” Seriously, can this be real?
80년대 초에 과자 수입이 안됐던 거 아세요? 키세스는 미국 여행 다녀온 사람들이 선물로 갖다주는 전설의 아이템이었음. 다시 시계를 그 때로 돌리시게? 포기하셔. 해외직구가 싫으면 퀄리티를 좋게 내시던가, 중저가 브랜드를 고가인양 포장하질 마시던가.
— Ryu (@setsalle) March 17, 2014
Are you aware of the fact that the import of foreign snacks was not allowed? Chocolate Kisses used to be a rare item given to only few people as a gift from those who had traveled to the United States. Do you want to return to that time? Please drop it. If you don't want customers to use international retailers, then improve your quality or just stop pawning off low-quality brands as high-quality ones.
정부가 해외 직구를 막으려 하는 가장 큰 이유는 결코 유통망에 있지 않다고 생각한다. 유통망 보다는 한국 제조기업들이 한국시장에 무엇을 팔아왔는지가 들켜서인 문제가 더 크다고 생각한다.
— I have returned (@kirina77) March 17, 2014
The government never tries to find the main reason from within the distribution network. I think the problem here is that the Korean people have finally found out what Korean retailers have been selling.
해외 직구때문에 장사가 안되면 값을 내리세요. 개인이 직구하는거 보다 훨씬 싸게 사서 조금 싸게 팔고 적정 이윤을 남기면 되잖아요. 직구때문에 망할 사업이면 접는게 맞아요.
— 김의성 (@lunaboy65) March 17, 2014
If your sales were affected by direct oversees purchases, then just lower the price. Or buy products at much lower prices and sell them for a little higher, but little lower price. If your business is affected to the point of “going out of business” just because of the direct purchases, then you’d better drop that whole business.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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A Telethon to Save Russia’s Independent TV · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

TV Rain's official logo.
Russia’s only independent television station, TV Rain, is on its last leg. Following what appears to have been an orchestrated campaign to rob the channel of its cable and satellite distributors, advertisers have run for the hills and the station is being evicted from its Moscow studio at Red October later this year. There’s even a rumor that Lifenews.ru—a Kremlin-friendly outfit that often miraculously reports news before it’s happened—will take over TV Rain’s office space.
As funds dwindle, staff are reduced, and time runs out, many have been asking what TV Rain can do to avoid ruin. We now know what the station will try to do to save itself: a weeklong telethon. “Tomorrow there might not be a TV Rain,” reads the telethon's manifest, “and this week will decide everything.” The station says it will seek viewer funding to continue operating, following the model of public television, which Dmitri Medvedev famously promoted (without great success).
Beginning tomorrow, March 24, 2014, TV Rain will display onscreen a crawling fundraising total. The ticker will convert the money collected into the amount of time the donations can keep TV Rain operating.
Может быть, хватит всего на один день. А может быть, на неделю. Но кто знает — может быть, и на месяцы — всё зависит от вас.
Maybe there will only be enough for another day. Maybe for a week. But who knows—maybe it will be enough for several months. Everything depends on you.
The remaining staff at TV Rain.


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Cambodia Government Accused of Suppressing Public Protests · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Human rights group Licadho reported that the Cambodian government organized several counter-protests to undermine peaceful protests last year:
If 2012 was the most violent year ever documented in terms of authorities using lethal force against individual human rights defenders, 2013 saw the Cambodian authorities turn that force towards public protests.
Although many peaceful protests proceeded without incident or interference from authorities, there were some indications of the shocking violence to come and a flurry of government-organized counter-protests.

author: Mong Palatino


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Contraception Woes For Sri Lankan Women · Global Voices
Rezwan

Journalist, photographer and blogger Meg at Life in Lanka blog reports that in remote Sri Lankan villages some women do not have a say in what type of contraception they use.
Their husbands were not keen on using condoms and preferred that their wives used contraception instead; so the inexpensive, easily available and quite effective condom for men was not an option, leaving contraception entirely up to the women.
Due to the fact that contraceptives for women usually have side effects their sufferings never end.

author: Rezwan


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Video: Egyptian Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah Released on Bail  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

As soon as he was released on bail, Alaa Abdel-Fattah ran into the arms of his wife and dozens of enthusiastic friends and activists eagerly waiting outside a Cairo police station.
The renowned Egyptian blogger had spent 115 days behind bars without trial and was finally released on bail on March 23, 2014. He will stand trial on April 6.
Abd El Fattah was violently beaten and arrested from his Cairo home on November 28, 2013 allegedly for breaking a newly imposed anti-protest law in Egypt. He is accused of “organising a ‘No to Military Trial for Civilians’ protest”.
This video posted by Mahmoud Salmani on YouTube shows Abdel Fattah being welcomed by family and friends as he left the police station:
And Galal Amr shares this photograph showing Abdel Fattah embracing his wife Manal Hassan:
Alaa Abdel Fattah (@alaa) released. #Egypt pic.twitter.com/gVERaGb9x9
— Galal (@GalalAmrG) March 23, 2014
In his first tweet after his release, Abdel Fattah vows “to continue” [ar]:
احنا اللي دهنا الهوا دوكو. اتنفخنا بعدها صحيح بس عادي مكملين :-)
— Alaa Abd El Fattah (@alaa) March 23, 2014
“We will continue..”
Nadine Marroushi translates the tweet:
@Sarahcarr @Fouda_ @_NSalem_ so better translation “we painted the air with doko. true we got fucked afterwards, but we'll continue” ?
— Nadine Marroushi (@nadinemarroushi) March 23, 2014
Doko is spray paint in the Egyptian dialect.
In addition to Abdel Fattah, Ahmed Abdel Rahman was also released today. Abdel Rahman, who was passing by the protest, was arrested along with Abdel Fattah, as he was helping some girls who were being harassed by the police.
On Twitter, celebrations are in full swing.
Ahdaf Souief, Abdel Fattah's aunt, exclaims:
Twitter is bursting with joy at @alaa‘s release. My laptop needs a break.
— Ahdaf Soueif (@asoueif) March 23, 2014
Mona Seif, Abdel Fattah's sister, celebrates her brother's release saying:
علاء و احمد على الاسفلت … اعظم جملة في الكون :)
— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) March 23, 2014
Alaa and Ahmed are on the street .. This is the greatest sentence in the world
Despite the release order, Abdel Fattah's family was made to wait for hours outside the police station to collect him. Seif describes the ordeal:
احنا مستنيين لسة عند المديرية و مش فاهمين سبب التاخير و في صحفيين بيتصلوا بيقولوا مصادرهم بتقول هيخرجوا بكرة! احنا خلصنا كل الاجراءات!!!
— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) March 23, 2014
We have been waiting outside the police headquarters and don't understand the reason for the delay. Some journalists are calling us to tell us that their sources are telling them they will be released tomorrow
And she adds:
الكفالات ادفعت، خلصنا الاجراءات في النيابة و القسم و احمد عبد الرحمن خرج في بوكس من القسم من كتير!! ليه التأخير و ليه التعنت في كل خطوة
— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) March 23, 2014
The bails have been paid and we have completed the formalities with the Public Prosecution and the police station and Ahmed Abdelrahman has left the police car and has been in the police station for a long period of time. Why is the delay and why is there so much redtape in each step?
The case has been adjourned to April 6.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Erdogan Vows to ‘Wipe Out’ Twitter in Turkey · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Turkey has blocked Twitter – as well as Google's public DNS service, used to circumvent the block. It seems, however, that the Turkish government's plan to censor dissent has backfired, as tweets coming out from Turkey are on the rise.
The ban on Twitter, which reportedly effects some 10 million users in Turkey, follows the publication of documents allegedly exposing corruption in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle.
News reports say that Erdogan promised to “wipe out Twitter” adding that he did not care what the international community says.
Juan Cole describes Erdogan's attempt to block the micro-blogging service as “clumsy”:
Erdogan’s clumsy attempt at internet censorship crashed and burned immediately. Turkish youth are sophisticated about using Tor and VPN workarounds, and the Turkish twittersphere was reconstituted so fast it probably made Erdogan’s head spin.
Erik Meyersson adds:
#Turkey tweeps discovered @torproject last year, no surprise ppl still tweeting despite #TwitterisblockedinTurkey pic.twitter.com/Exz3kVh91l
— Erik Meyersson (@emeyersson) March 23, 2014
And Turkish researcher Zeynep Tufekci is all smiles that Turkish Twitter users are making their voices heard despite the ban:
:-) “despite”=”because of” RT @mashable Whoa: 1.2 million tweets sent in Turkey, despite ban http://t.co/P7MIhx6Vhr pic.twitter.com/OKzxHFcALT
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) March 21, 2014
However, she adds:
A DNS block, followed by a patchy IPS block, then who-knows-what. Turkey is on its way to high tech literacy. Next up, grandmas on Tor.
— Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) March 23, 2014
From Turkey, Engin Onder describes how Turkish Twitter users spread the word on how to circumvent the block:
#twitter blocked in #turkey tonight. folks are painting #google dns numbers onto the posters of the governing party. pic.twitter.com/9vQ7NTgotO
— Engin Onder (@enginonder) March 21, 2014


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Was Jamaica’s Vybz Kartel Found Guilty or To Be Found Guilty?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

On the heels of the verdict in the Vybz Kartel murder trial, one blogger raises questions about the track records of the Jamaican police and judicial system and wonders how much faith the Jamaican people can actually have in the course of justice.
Prompted by a newspaper article about two Active Voice begins her post by saying:
Comparing and contrasting is always a useful exercise. Two men, Claytoday Dunkley and Garfield Litchmore, falsely accused of killing lawmen, lose 6 years of their life due to police bungling or worse, and the most the Gleaner can do is run a brief two-column report on page 2 with skeletal details of a case that seems to be a flagrant violation of human rights. Is it because the two concerned are labourers from Trench Town and not from Upper St. Andrew? What recourse if any do they have? Will any members of the Police be held accountable for this travesty of justice?
She makes the link between cases like these and the high-profile Vybz Kartel trial:
Buju Banton might have smiled and called this low-budget justice for low-budget people…aside from this the admission that the police apparently falsely charged the two men raises doubts about the reliability of evidence they presented against Vybz Kartel and co which as we all know ended in the conviction of the superstar DJ and three of his co-accused last week.
To underscore her point, she refers to another trial that got a lot of attention in Jamaica seven years ago:
Juxtapose this for argument’s sake with the 2007 trial of former UWI student Rodney Beckles, accused of stabbing one  Khalil Campbell to death over a chillum pipe. On that occasion the story occupied the Gleaner’s front page…no doubt because the protagonists were both sons of ‘high-society officials’ as the headline pointed out. Rodney is the son of Sir Hilary Beckles, Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus. The young man he killed was none other than the son of Justice Lennox Campbell, yes you read it right, the very Supreme Court Judge Lennox Campbell who presided over the Kartel trial. The murder took place in January 2007 and by the end of November the same year young Beckles had been acquitted, much to the relief of his parents.
Despite the fact that the 18 injuries were all found on the body of the victim, none on the body of the killer Beckles, a jury which deliberated for two hours (shades of the Kartel trial!) decided that the victim had been the aggressor and Beckles was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Campbell through the heart.
Her post republishes a newspaper report about the trial, which mentioned that “the defence brought medical evidence to show that the deceased was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and cannabis abuse and was aggressive when he did not get his medication.”  She asks:
So what do you think? Is the second a case of high-budget justice for high-budget people in contrast to the case of the Trenchtown labourers, Claytoday Dunkley and Garfield Litchmore? Again what does this indicate about the quality of justice meted out by Jamaican courts?
Then, she gets to the real question:
Was Kartel found to be guilty or was he to be found guilty by a police force and judiciary determined to make an example of him?

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Malaysia’s Water Shortage is a Natural and Man-Made Disaster · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Water shortage has been reported in Selangor, Johor, Negri Sembilan, and Kedah in Malaysia. The Sin Chew Daily explains the cause of the problem:
…the drought and water shortage in the Peninsula are both natural and human-induced disasters. The government as well as the people have an inescapable responsibility.
Over-emphasising development while ignoring environmental protection has led to such man-made disasters while exposing the weakness of improper management. With proper management, floods could actually be reduced and water shortages could be avoided.


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Misogyny Masquerading as Gender Equality in Barbados?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

After questionable statements on gender violence from a public official in Barbados, CODE RED says:
The Bureau of Gender Affairs has a mandate for ensuring gender equality.  It is precisely because of that mandate that Bureau staff should publicly distance themselves from statements that are sexist, deliberately inflammatory and unsubstantiated.


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State of Literature in Post-Dictatorship Myanmar · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Writing for The Dissident Blog, James Byrne reviews the status of Burmese literature in the post-dictatorship era in Myanmar:
When I was in the country last year there were poems being read about the Arab Spring. There were others about the harsh treatment of Burmese farmers. There were satires about power cuts and short stories that had a beginning and middle, but no end. All of these would have been instantly banned just a few years previously.
He also observed the following challenge that needs to be addressed:
If you probe deeper and talk to many of the writers inside the country suspicion of the government and Western cultural organisations remains.


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The Utopia that We Are All Sudanese · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dalia Haj Omar discusses ‘The Utopia that We Are All Sudanese’:
Following the sad events of March 11, at the University of Khartoum, GIRIFNA did what it usually does. It issued a brief statement based on eyewitness accounts of its members about the death of student Ali Abbaker Musa. And the violent treatment and arrest of the Darfuri students who organized and attended a political debate and a peaceful march inside the campus, in order to highlight the latest deterioration of the humanitarian and security situation in Darfur.
What followed was a vibrant debate resulting from messages of concern that poured in from within the movement questioning why the title of the press statement was, “Darfuri Student Killed at University of Khartoum” and not simply, “Student Killed at University of Khartoum”.
Many felt strongly that singling out the ethnicity of the killed student served the regime’s tactics of dividing us as “Sudanese” into ethnicities rather than what many of us dream of being–Sudanese citizens of one nation before and on top of our ethnic and/or tribal affiliations. Others insisted that the suffering is generalized and we should focus on issues and not tribes/regions. It is important to note that the Darfurians and members from the East within the movement had an opposing opinion, and argued for the importance of pointing out Musa’s geographic origin.
I would like to argue that in this particular context it is important to stress that a Darfuri student was murdered by the regime. The event inside the campus was organized by the Darfur Student Union who wanted to raise the awareness of the rest of the student body about the worsening humanitarian crisis and ongoing conflict in their region.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Tor Users on the Rise in Turkey  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Human rights and ethics advocate Frederic Jacobs notes that the number of people using Tor is on the rise in Turkey:
Tor usage is peaking in Turkey.> 35 000 connecting. More expected for the next few days. pic.twitter.com/1c7AOflm7h
— Frederic Jacobs (@FredericJacobs) March 23, 2014
Turkey has just banned Twitter.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Equal Justice? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The issue for me is equality before the law – and too often…average people come to understand that ‘when you’re big’ you are above the law or will be treated less harshly.
Jumbie's Watch blogs about two recent incidents that leave him concerned about justice in Trinidad and Tobago.


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Ukrainian Women’s Sex Boycott Against Russian Men · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Ukrainian women's sex boycott. “Don't give it to a Russian” logo and slogan.
In the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, talk of international sanctions, it seems, has become just another humdrum fact of European politics. That could be changing, however. This week, a creative boycott began in Ukraine that is drawing the attention of Russian Internet users. Ukrainian women are organizing a new campaign called “Don’t give it to a Russian”—a sex embargo against Russian men. The effort complements a larger boycott against Russian consumer goods, which even features some billboards along highways throughout Ukraine.
The sex boycott already has its own line of t-shirts, all carrying the official logo: two hands clasped together, creating a shape that suggests an open vagina (see above). There is also a slogan: “Don’t give it to a Russian!” followed by a verse from Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko’s 1838 poem “Kateryna”: “O lovely maidans, fall in love, but not with the Moskaly [the Russians].”
One March 23, Russian Internet users began circulating a photograph of opposition figure Valeriya Novodvorskaya wearing the sex boycott t-shirt. Novodvorskaya, who is notorious for her strange appearance and for promoting conspiracy theories, is Russian, but many online were ready to believe that a Russian oppositionist would join the boycott in solidarity with Ukraine against the Kremlin.
Russian parliament member Robert Shlegel, for instance, tweeted the image, with the following commentary:
Валерия Новодворская одним фото убила весь украинский секс-бойкот просто на корню.:) pic.twitter.com/8h3fcyxegN
— Роберт Шлегель (@Shlegel) March 23, 2014
With one photo, Valeriya Novodvorskaya has killed the entire Ukrainian sex-boycott at its core. :)
As it happens, the image is photo-shopped. The photograph comes from an interview Novodvorskaya gave in July 2013 on Russian-Israeli relations (hence the Israeli flag in the background). Someone with exceptional editing skills produced the boycott t-shirt version, leading to the avalanche of mockery and bad public relations online.
What you can do with photo-shop, apparently.
Right now, the Facebook group dedicated to the sex boycott has just 156 members, but the campaign has gone viral among Russian Internet users, who have widely circulated a photo of two women wearing the official t-shirts (see below). Unsurprisingly, most of the Russian netizens responding to the boycott are men keen to crack sexist jokes about the effort. Egor Prosvirnin, chief editor of the Russian nationalist website Sputnik & Pogrom, wrote on Facebook about the sex embargo, calling its participants prostitutes. Many others on LiveJournal and elsewhere have made the same joke.
Poster girls for the sex boycott?
In fact, the two women in the photograph above are prominent professionals (and not of the “oldest” variety). There is Katerina Venzhik (left), chief editor of the news website Delo.UA, and Irina Rubis (right), CEO of the business web portal Ekonomika Communication Hub. The photograph is from March 21, 2014, at an event by Delo.UA, where Venzhik announced the finalists in the website’s “Top 100 Businesswomen of Ukraine” competition. Rubis attended, where she and Venzhik posed for a few photographs. In one picture, both women wore the sex-boycott t-shirts over their clothes.
The concept of a sex boycott is at least 2,425 years old. That, anyway, is how long ago the Greeks first performed Lysistrata, a comedy about the women of Greece withholding sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers to force an end to the Peloponnesian War. The play was written seven years before Athens lost that war.
Hopefully, a kinder fate awaits Ukrainians seven years from now, in 2021.

author: Kevin Rothrock


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What Is the Future of Russia’s News Media? · Global Voices
Valentina Lukin

The face of the Russian media. What will it be tomorrow? Images mixed by Kevin Rothrock.
The politically motivated purge of Lenta.ru is complete, wrote recently the website's original creator, Anton Nosik, claiming it was the last day for the remaining editorial staff. Lenta's takeover [see GV report] by a Kremlin-friendly chief editor is just one event in a “chain” of lower profile attempts to censor the RuNet.
On March 6, 2014, for example, Roscomnadzor banned a Youtube video, a “Call to Arms” for Ukrainians, on the grounds of extremism. As a result, several Russian ISPs briefly blocked all of YouTube, and the video itself remains inaccessible to Internet users in Russia. In this climate of uncertainty (especially due to the conflict in Crimea), editors are paying more attention than ever to online content and reporting. This pressure has already led several journalists to resign their jobs. And it could be just the beginning: in addition to over forty people leaving Lenta.ru, five people left the news portal RussPlanet, and an editor quit Bolshoi Gorod. Egor Skovoroda, formerly of RusPlanet, wrote:
В общем, да, сегодня написал заявление и уволился из “Русской планеты” (то же самое сделали Паша Никулин, Маша Климова, Митя Ткачев и Юлиана Лизер). Не хочу расписывать всякие подробности, но если коротко, то “Крым расставил все по местам.”
In general, yes, today I resigned and left RussPlanet (Pavel Nikulin, Maria Klimova, Mitya Tkachev, and Julian Leeser have left, too). I do not want to go into details, but put briefly: “Crimea [events] showed the true face of things.”
Pavel Nikulin (named above) also weighed in on his VKontakte page, also citing Crimea's role in censorship trends:
Оказывается, издание чуть не закрыли после моего первого репортажа из Севастополя.
It turns out that the publication [RussPlanet] was almost closed after my first report from Sevastopol.
Nikulin's reporting from Crimea was relatively friendly to Ukraine, and he blames editorial censorship for being denied the chance to report about Crimea self-defense forces beating him up while on assignment.
Bolshoi Gorod's former editor also commented on her March 12 resignation:
В устных беседах в течение последнего месяца он [Винокуров] неоднократно настаивал на моём уходе. За это время было произнесено так много аргументов, которые противоречат друг другу, что об истинной причине я могу только догадываться.
In conversations during the last month, [owner Aleksandr Vinokurov] repeatedly insisted on my leaving. During that time, so many arguments that contradict each other were expressed that I can only guess at the real reason.
Now that Moscow has formally annexed Crimea, following a controversial popular referendum, it's possible, if not extremely likely, that Russian journalists will face even greater difficulties. The profession is now caught in a vice, and many of the country's most talented reporters might soon find themselves forced out or fed up. If things continue like this for very long, the face of the Russia media could soon be changed irrevocably. It probably already has.

author: Valentina Lukin


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Why the Caribbean Should be Interested in the Internet’s Future · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

ICT Pulse explains why the Caribbean should become more involved in shaping the future stewardship of the Internet.


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5 Small Businesses Run By Rural Uruguayan Women  · Global Voices
Guillermo Vidal

Photo posted on Facebook by Delicias Criollas
[All links lead to Spanish-language pages.]
The Uruguayan countryside has always been a place of hard work for women, who traditionally occupied the lowest level of the social hierarchy. But this reality has changed as rural women emerge not only as members of the workforce, but also as an example of ingenuity and determination.
Starting with almost nothing, these women have managed to create successful self-managed small businesses with which they support their families. In a country where many women are the sole financial providers for their family, rural women, with tenacity and sacrifice, are building small businesses that offer novel and high-quality products to the market.
Manos del Uruguay
Photo posted by Erin Kinney on Flickr, under Creative Commons License (CC BY-SA 2.0)
It all started with Manos del Uruguay [Hands of Uruguay], in 1968, when a group of rural artisans began selling their woven garments and traditional Uruguayan handicrafts. The enterprise blends the best of artisanal production with cutting-edge design, creating products coveted on the international market.
The brand Manos del Uruguay has found international success, receiving UNESCO's Seal of Excellence in 2012 for the quality of its products, and the 2013 Dynamic Eco Chic Design Award in the international design competition Mittelmoda de Milan for their innovations in textile design.
The Uruguayan Rural Women's Association (AMRU)
For their part, the Uruguayan Rural Women's Association (AMRU) brings together 1,800 women from all over the country, working in various agricultural and artisanal domains.
The majority of the association's member groups are dedicated to productive activities (the making of preserves, textiles, cheeses, ceramics, basketwork, wood carvings, paintings on canvas, etc.), while others focus on the social domain, working to improving local health services, education, and housing.
The objectives of this association include the defense of the rural family, the empowerment of rural women, and fostering the exchange of experiences and information with similar organizations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, where women also suffer marginalization and discrimination. One of the general principles maintained by the AMRU is the advancement of equality, especially gender equality, to support social inclusion.
Delicias Criollas
Photo posted on Facebook by Delicias Criollas
A derivative of the AMRU, Delicias Criollas is a cooperative of rural women who make artisinal food products like preserves, cheeses, honey, and more. Their products enjoy widespread recognition for their use of organic ingredients and the highest standards of quality.
Founded in 2001, Delicias Criollas unites women from 14 groups from different parts of Uruguay, including Artigas, Canelones, Cerro Largo, Flores, Maldonado, Montevideo, Rocha, San José, Soriano, Tacuarembó and Treinta y Tres. Their products are sold in various parts of the country and include marmalades, jellies, pickled vegetables, dulce de leche, baked goods, and liqueurs made using traditional recipes.
Calmañana
Another example of rural women's entrepreneurship is the cooperative Calmañana from Canelones, which consists of three groups: Gardel, Tapia, and Pedernal. The cooperative includes 18 women dedicated to the production of agro-ecological aromatic and medicinal herbs with very successful market penetration.
At first, these women were looking for a job opportunity; twenty years later, they have their own brand and their herbs can be found in the country's main supermarkets. The cooperative also supplies various local laboratories, which use their herbs in medicinal formulas.
Mujeres Rurales de Pueblo Zeballos
Cooperatives continue to emerge, permitting rural women to become economically autonomous. Thus was born the group Mujeres Rurales de Pueblo Zeballos [The Rural Women of Zeballos], a small business emerging from a small, geographically isolated town on the banks of the river Gualeguay in the Paysandú region. This cooperative has developed a successful artisanal venture, making post-shearing coverings to protect sheep during adverse weather. The coverings are made of nylon silopac and can be used for an average of four years. The group earned a prize from the Ministry of Industry, Energy, and Mining for their entrepreneurial achievements.
The women of Pueblo Zeballos live in a poverty-stricken area, where they have electric light, but no potable water and no available jobs.
The women's raw materials are provided by El Tejar, a group that manages local agricultural production and is interested in seeing progress in the region. The Municipal Administration of Paysandú also contributes by making a city meeting hall available for the women to work in. The group invested the prize money in equipment that will allow them to increase production: the enterprise is beginning to grow in size and the women hope that the new equipment will help them meet the growing demand.

author: Guillermo Vidal


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‘The Subject’: A New Crowdfunding Tool for Brazil’s Independent Media · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Aimed at providing an alternative to the traditional business model of media production, a new crowdfunding platform for independent journalism has been launched in Brazil. O Sujeito (The Subject) [pt] is hosted by the crowdfunding website Catarse, which wrote about the new venture [pt] coming at a time of transition for media funding:
O veículo impresso está em crise. O jornalismo não. Assim como sempre haverá música e cinema, independentemente dos grandes produtores, o jornalismo é autônomo em relação aos grandes meios.
Print media is in crisis. Journalism is not. As there will always be music and cinema, regardless of major producers, journalism is autonomous in relation to the big media.
Four projects mark the debut of this new venture: a Free Journalism School for youth; a documentary on Brazilian eco-villages; a publication on how to improve the work environment; and an investigation into people in Brazil who hold advertisement boards on the side of the road.
You can follow @osujeito_ on Twitter, “like” their Facebook page and watch the teaser below [pt]:


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Dear #CongressOccupied Protesters, ‘Don’t Let Taiwan Become the Next Hong Kong’ · Global Voices
I-fan Lin

Political satire of the economic way China is buying Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan by 阿塗 (Atu). CC: NC.
As the political and economic influence of China continues to grow in the world, marginal Chinese communities in the Asia-Pacific region such as Hong Kong and Taiwan find themselves sharing a similar sentiment toward the mainland. On one hand, they are eager to enter the large market there, but on the other, they are afraid of communist China possibly interfering in their domestic democratic politics.
The ongoing protest occupying Taiwan's legislature against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement with China, which began March 18, 2014, has won a lot of support from Hong Kong, which has seen the looming Beijing government restrict its democratic development. The city has its own trade deal with mainland China, the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), and has experienced the adverse effects of economic partnership and the inflow of mainland capital, such as the rocket-surging property price.
To express their support for the Taiwanese protesters and warn them against the political interference that comes with economic cooperation, a Facebook page called “See Hong Kong in Taiwan” set up an event page, “Hong Kong people support Taiwan against service trade agreement“, for Hong Kong people to leave messages for Taiwanese protesters. Below is a selection of messages translated into English.
Lunyeah Wong wrote:
「CEPA之後無香港，服貿過後無台灣。」台灣人，不要重蹈香港的覆轍。
“Hong Kong has vanished after signing CEPA and Taiwan will vanish after signing service trade agreement.” Taiwanese, don't let Taiwan become the next Hong Kong.
Ka Shing Li commented:
現在的香港真的很陌生了, 政府已經完全不理民意, 一心一意賣港, 香港簽了cepa, 一般香港人完全分享不了成果, 統計上的薪金漲幅停滯不前, 但通貨膨脹升幅巨大, 洗黑錢及貪污越來越嚴重, 生活空間越來越逼 (這台灣可能會好些始終隔了個海) 所以必須支持台灣, 引以為監
Present-day Hong Kong does not look familiar to me anymore. The government does not care about public opinions, and they just want to sell Hong Kong for their own good. After CEPA was signed with China, we common Hongkongers have not tasted the fruit of it. Our salaries statistically have not gone up, while inflation surges. Cases of money laundering and corruption are becoming more and more serious. Our living space has become more and more dense (Maybe Taiwan will have more space because there is a strait between Taiwan and China). This is why I support Taiwan. Learn from our experience.
Po Lui warned:
看到Facebook日日都有人影到香港變成此樣子有點心痛。自由和法治到底還在嗎？
所以絕對不能讓台灣變成下一個香港！我愛台灣的人情味，而且小本生意在台灣也能生存！在香港？根本他媽一個鋪位都租唔起！貴到有大集團才租得起。
服貿的喪權辱國條款，根本對在地台灣人一點好處都沒有！還會損害台灣原有的文化和人情味
Every day people report how Hong Kong has changed on Facebook. I am sad to read that. Do we still have freedom and rule of law?
This is why I think Taiwan should not choose to become the next Hong Kong. I love the friendly atmosphere in Taiwan. In Taiwan, small businesses can survive. What about Hong Kong? Small businesses can not afford to rent a place. The rent is so expensive that only big businesses have the money to pay it.
The Service Trade Agreement is a deal that will make Taiwanese lose its sovereignty. This deal cannot do any good for the local Taiwanese. It also will hurt the cultural and friendly atmosphere in Taiwan.
Jocelyn Yiu encouraged the Taiwanese:
你們不要放棄, 不要讓台灣變成第2個香港, 不要讓內地人指著你們的鼻子說: 沒有中國, 你們早就完蛋了 這些廢話。
Don't give up. Don't let Taiwan become the next Hong Kong. Do not let the mainlanders point at your nose and say nonsense like, “Without China, it's game over for you.”
‘Business is politics’
Chan Hoi Yan wrote:
香港失敗既經驗證明「逢中必反」係必須的
係中國, 所有行為都離不開政治: 做生意係政治, 移民係政治, 讀書都係政治, 婚姻又係政治, 連供水供電賣野畀你都係政治,總之一切渠道都可以成為共匪殖民滲透既手段 人口就係中國最大既武器
The failed experiment in Hong Kong proves that it is necessary to “resist China”.
In China, everything will become politics. Doing business is politics. Immigration is politics. Studying is politics. Marriage is politics. Even water and electricity supply [to Hong Kong] is politics. After all, the Chinese communists use every possible channel for their colonization. The huge population itself is China's greatest weapon.
Desmond Sham argued:
沒有中國的市場是不會死的，妄想自己可以得到中國的市場而放棄了自身，才是死亡的起點。
You won't die without China's market. The fantasy that you will gain something from the Chinese market and give up yourself in the process is the starting point of dying.
Josephine Lui said:
見証著香港回歸 及 香港的淪陷。
台灣的朋友，一定不能讓服貿草率通過，必須逐條審查及否決不平等條約，尤其是 移民政策 及 新聞自由，更要小心謹慎。
在我個人來看，這是經濟侵略，買下台灣的一個手段。大陸對 新疆 西藏 香港的一貫方法是 使用 經濟侵略 及 殖民手段。
I've witnessed how Hong Kong was returned to China and the fall of Hong Kong.
My Taiwanese friends, you should not let the Service Trade Agreement be passed sloppily. You must review the agreement clause-by-clause and reject any unequal agreement. You need to be extremely careful about the items related to immigration policy and freedom of speech.
In my view, this trade deal is economic invasion, a way for China to buy up Taiwan. The usual strategy that the Chinese Communist Party has applied to Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong is through economic invasion and colonization.
Kay Lam wrote:
香港人，被中共騙過一次又一次，白紙黑字寫好的的國際條約《中英聯合聲明》，中共也可以不守信約；所謂基本法白紙黑字保證，香港可以在 2007/2008 年民主普選，可是跳票完一次又一次，如今連 2017/2020 年都不會有真正的民主選舉
千。萬。別。相。信。中。共。的。任。何。承。諾
Hongkongers have been cheated by the Chinese Communist Party over and over again. Despite the fact that the Sino-British Joint Declaration is a recognized international agreement, the Chinese Communist Party does not keep its word. According to the so-called Hong Kong Basic Law, Hong Kong could have universal suffrage in 2007/2008, but it has been delayed again and again. Now, we have realized that they won't allow us to have genuine universal suffrage until 2017 or 2020.
DO NOT BELIEVE ANY PROMISE THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY MAKES!
‘Protect democracy. Support Taiwan’
Albert Ting wrote:
我希望今次台灣呢件事可以燃燒起港人對民主政改O既意志 (雖然我知絶大部份香港人都係唯利是圖, 又唔願做馬前卒)
I hope this protest in Taiwan can fire up Hongkongers’ determination to pursue democracy. (Although, I know most Hongkongers only care about money and no one is willing to sacrifice themselves.)
Yu Fung said:
守護民主，力挺台灣
相信香港仲有得救
共勉
Protect democracy. Support Taiwan.
I believe that there is a better future for Hong Kong.
Let us encourage each other.
Francis Wong wondered:
我最不解的, 是為甚麼馬英九沒有正面回應學生的要求, 而是像香港特首一樣蔑視民意。香港特首不是香港人選出來, 沒關係, 馬英九你好歹也是台灣人讓你當總統的, 你的服務對象是台灣人。
What I do not understand is why President Ma Ying-Jeou did not respond to the protesting students and chose to ignore the opinions of citizens, just like the Chief Executive of Hong Kong. We Hongkongers did not elect the Chief Executive, so it is not surprising to find him ignore public opinions. However, President Ma Ying-Jeou was elected by Taiwanese, and should understand that he should serve the Taiwanese.
Mista Noeleon wrote:
任何地方發展要先顧本土工相關行業發展，而且開放條件要對等，也要聽民眾意見，不能先斬後奏。台灣朋友們加油
Any country that searches for economic growth must take care of the local businesses first, and the trade deal should include equal term for both sides. The government should listen to people's opinions, and it should not autocratically sign a trade deal before letting people know the contents. Add oil, my Taiwanese friends.

author: I-fan Lin


text:
Divisions Persist in Cameroon Despite Reunification’s Grandiose Golden Jubilee · Global Voices
Dibussi Tande

Reunification monument in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Photo released under Creative Commons by Steve Mvondo.
Last month, President Paul Biya announced that the long delayed celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of reunification of the British Southern Cameroons and the Republic of Cameroun (ex-French Cameroons) would take place in Buea, the former capital of Southern Cameroons, on February 20, 2014. This was three years late and on a date that had no historical significance or link to either the independence of the French Cameroons (January 1, 1960) or the reunification of the British and French Cameroons (October 1, 1961).
Writer George Ngwane, like many Cameroonians, questioned the choice of the date:
Did the state leadership not know that 1st October 2011 was the real date of the 50th anniversary of Reunification? Shall we remember 20th February 2014 more as the day President Biya visited Buea or the day the Golden Jubilee Reunification event took place?
As expected, the celebrations revived the never-ending questions about the state of the union between Anglophone and Francophone Cameroon. For example, user @mapetiteniche tweeted a question that was on the minds of many:
Today we celebrate the 50th reunification of cameroon.I wonder if more or less progress will have been done had we been 2 separate countries
— Lo (@mapetiteniche) February 20, 2014
An article on Matango blog on the marginalization of the Anglophone Cameroonians provided an unequivocal answer [fre] – the British Southern Cameroons got a raw deal in its “marriage” to the French-speaking La Republique du Cameroun:
La marginalisation du Cameroun anglophone est une habitude, voire un système bien pensé qui est mis en place depuis fort longtemps et qui structure la gouvernance… Cette marginalisation continue et se manifeste dans les faits par une attention de moins en moins soucieuse du développement de cette région riche en ressources. Des richesses accaparées par la partie francophone. Dans les actes de nomination et de dotation en infrastructures, cette partie a toujours été reléguée en second plan dans les priorités de l’Etat « unitaire », estiment ces leaders. Que célébrons-nous donc ce 20 février 2014, si ce n’est pas une marginalisation de plus ?
The marginalization of Anglophone Cameroon is a habit, indeed a well-thought-out system put in place long ago which shapes governance [in Cameroon]… This marginalization continues to this day and is manifested in practice by less attention being paid to the development of this region rich in resources. Riches monopolized by the Francophone section. Anglophone leaders feel that in appointments and the allocation of infrastructure, the English section is always relegated to a position of secondary importance in the priorities of the “unitary” state. What therefore are we celebrating on February 20, 2014, if not another act of marginalization?
The status of Anglophone Cameroon within the union was very present throughout the celebrations. One such occasion was a nationally televised round table on reunification at the University of Buea chaired by Prime Minister Philemon Yang. During the discussion, a leading Southern Cameroons nationalist, Mola Njoh Litumbe, questioned the legality of the union between Southern Cameroons and La Republique du Cameroun and insisted that “”Reunification was like illegal courtship – a concubine relationship.”
While some found his views extreme, there was emerging consensus, particularly among Anglophones, that the time was ripe for a reappraisal of the union between the two Cameroons. This view was echoed by writer George Ngwane, who argued that:
As long as human beings resolve to push the boundaries of injustice to the frontiers of freedom, there shall be internal agitations within and between nations to the point of new constitutional engineering and the birth of new nation-states.
To this end, he posited that the time was ripe for another referendum to determine the future of the former British Southern Cameroons:
So if the future of Southern Cameroons was decided through a Referendum (Plebiscite) on 11th February 1961, and the future of West Cameroon was determined through a Referendum on 20th May 1972, is it not logical that the future of the British Southern Cameroon, Southern Cameroons, West Cameroon or Anglophone Cameroonians, and they only, should be consulted, through another Referendum?
Forgotten heroes and personality cult
To many Cameroonians, the 50th anniversary celebration was an opportunity for the country to finally reconcile with its violent decolonization history and celebrate its nationalist heroes, many of whom were exiled and assassinated for challenging the colonialists. Sadly, in Buea these nationalist figures who made independence and reunification possible were completely ignored. This led blogger Tamaa Afrika to ask [fr]:
Peut-on célébrer un événement aussi marquant d’un point de vue symbolique en ostracisant ceux-là même qui ont combattu pour que ce rêve devienne réalité ?
Can we celebrate such a symbolically remarkable event by ostracizing the very individuals who fought to make this dream a reality?
The indifference towards the country’s national heroes led to soul-searching and questions.
On Twitter, @mosesngwanah observed:
I haven't seen one picture of John Ngu Foncha, the father of reunification in #BUEA #Cameroun. Can't some one educate us to hail our heroes
— Moses NGWANAH (@mosesngwanah) February 20, 2014
In the same vein, @MasehMalong asked:
#CameroonReunification: Where are portraits of Um Nyobe, Foncha, Tandeng Muna, Ouandié, Moumié, Assalé, Endeley, Ahidjo, Fonlon, Ntumazah?
— MasehMalong (@MasehMalong) February 20, 2014
Instead, the streets of Buea were lined with portraits of President Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya, leading to a lament by @ChiefBisongEta1:
Photos of Biya and wife take pride of place in Buea over those of real heroes of Cameroon reunification to be celebrated tomorrow.
— ChiefBisong Etahoben (@ChiefBisongEta1) February 19, 2014
Some banners even went as far to describe Biya, who had barely started his public service career in 1961, as “the real father of reunification” [fr].
In President Biya’s nationwide address on February 20, 2014, he did not mention the names of any of these heroes – not even Ahmadou Ahidjo, president of La Republique du Cameroun, and John Ngu Foncha, prime minister of Southern Cameroons, who negotiated the terms of the 1961 reunification.
Using a picture of these two historic leaders as a backdrop, Twitter user @AlainNdom wrote:
1961: deux grd artisan de la réunification du Cameroun.John Ngu Foncha et Ahmadou Ahidjo.Absent du cinquantenaire pic.twitter.com/wdLqPFtssz
— Black joe (@AlainNdom) March 9, 2014
1961: Two great architects of the reunification of Cameroon. John Ngu Foncha and Ahmadou Ahidjo. Missing from the golden jubilee celebrations.
The indifference of the architects of Cameroon’s independence and reunification led Le Messager newspaper to rue [fr] the missed opportunity in Buea.
During his anniversary speech, President Biya made a half-hearted attempt to reconcile with the people of the former British Southern Cameroons by delivering part of his speech in English – a rare feat that has occurred only a handful of times since he became president in 1982. The reaction to this effort ranged from cynicism to outright mockery.
@zuzeeko wrote:
President of #Cameroon, a bilingual country, addresses nation in English. Everyone is like — “OMG”. Lol. Dude is a smart politician. #Biya
— Zuzeeko (@zuzeeko) February 20, 2014
@Cameroon_Com added:
Listen to Paul Biya speak English like someone who's had two bottles of courvoisier at the re-unification ceremony: https://t.co/G1UBuBsvz8
— Cameroon Community (@Cameroon_Com) February 21, 2014
Reunification monument
One of the highlights of the golden jubilee celebrations was the inauguration by President Biya of a reunification monument in Buea. Like everything else about these celebrations, there was little consensus over its design or its historical significance – a split which was once again captured on Twitter.
Thus, while @peyceETO enthused that “Le Monument est beau!!” (“The monument is beautiful!!”), @TheGodBanker saw things differently:
La ville de BUEA méritait un monument plus grandiose en terme d'architecture. Sérieux je suis déçu. Trois ans pour bricoler ce machin?
— Alexandre N. (@TheGodBanker) February 19, 2014
Architecturally, the town of Buea deserved a more grandiose monument. I am very disappointed. Three years to cobble together this thing?
This view was shared by @KathleenNdongmo:
Reunification monument in Buea #Cameroon. Aside from being an eyesore, how much did this set back the taxpayer? pic.twitter.com/zxUTvhQGfE
— Kathleen Ndongmo (@KathleenNdongmo) February 20, 2014
In the end, the pomp and pageantry that characterized the reunification celebrations did little to conceal the linguistic and political divisions in Cameroon. This led observers such as Cameroon historian Achille Mbembe to be completely dismissive of the entire event. In an interview  [fr] published by Tamaa Afrika, Mbembe described the event as:
Une distraction de plus, dans un pays dominé par une pseudo-élite sans idée, sans imagination ni véritable conscience historique.
One more distraction in a country dominated by a pseudo-elite without ideas, without imagination, and without a true historic conscience.
National pride nonetheless
In spite of the criticisms over the Biya regime’s handling of the event, which looked more like the coronation of a monarch than a commemoration of reunification, many Cameroonians were genuinely enthusiastic and proud of how far Cameroon has come since the tumultuous beginnings of the bilingual Cameroon republic in 1961.
Others seized the opportunity to specifically hail President Biya for leading Cameroon with a steady hand. @flpms_ wrote:
Cameroun , le meilleur des pays No bloog No war .Que du Bonheur et un president un peu vieux mais qui sais maintenir the peace Vive P Biya
— MEUF UNIQUE (@flpms_) February 24, 2014
Cameroon, the best country. No blood No war. Just happiness and a president who is a little old but who knows how to maintain peace. Long Live P Biya.
This was also the view of prominent Cameroonian musician @JoviLeMonstre:
Long Live President Paul Biya . We are very grateful and Thankful for the Peace. Camer For Life. #Cameroon #Cameroun
— #LAPIRO (@JoviLeMonstre) February 20, 2014
@ChouchouAzonto concluded with a re-echoing of President Biya’s final words in Buea:
“Long live Indendence Long live Reunification Long Live Cameroun I now invite you to sing our National Anthem #DiscoursPRCBuea
— Chouchou Mpacko (@ChouchouAzonto) February 20, 2014

author: Dibussi Tande