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Ecuadorean Man Faces 18 Months in Jail for Clapping at a Protest · Global Voices
Daniela Gallardo

According to the Court, there was no evidence proving that Francisco Endara destroyed the property, however there was proof that he was guilty of “applauding, an indisputable sign that he approved of the protest.” Image of jail cell taken from the Flickr account of my_southborough under Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 2.0)
On September 30, 2010, police officers in Ecuador participated in mass demonstrations demanding the repeal of the country's the Public Service Law, which removed subsidies for promotions and prizes. The Rafael Correa government described the protests as a “planned attempt to stage a coup d’etat against [the law].” The police demonstrations spread across several cities and included street barricades and riots.
During this time, the President declared the state of emergency in Ecuador, a decree that forced radio and television stations to broadcast a national channel for six hours without interruption. The broadcast was made from the public channel EcuadorTV that at times shows GamaTV, a channel that was once independent, but has since been seized and is now run by the state. The conflict escalated to the point that demonstrators — both supporters and opponents of Correa — arrived at the network’s main office to protest. Among those who gathered there was Francisco Endara Daza, a systems engineer and occasional author of political commentary online and in local media.
Alongside four other people present that day, Endara faced public prosecution. Authorities first accused him of being an accomplice, and then a co-perpetrator. According to the Court, Endara “applauded” the attack on the office. An article published on news site La Historia explained that Endara and his fellow defendants were tried for sabotaging the state-run channel EcuadorTV.
He was sentenced to four years in prison on March 8, 2014, by the court, though his sentence was reduced to two years following an appeal. The authorities justified reducing the sentence stating that there was no evidence proving that he destroyed the property, however there was proof that he was guilty of “applauding, an indisputable sign that he approved of the protest.”
In an interview with the daily newspaper El Universo, Endara said that the provincial and national courts’ decision was brought forward and that he sent audio and video clips taken the day of the demonstrations in order to bring his case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a regional UN human rights court with standing in Ecuador. Just last year, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa compared the court to “a garbage collection company.”
After several months, on October 21, 2015, Endara shared on his Twitter account that the national court rejected his appeal for an annulment of the charges and declared that he was a co-perpetrator in the attack on the state channel which resulted in an 18-month prison sentence:
21 de octubre veredicto en juicio q gob. me sigue por aplaudir.Si me condenan sentencia será sobre los jueces mismo pic.twitter.com/SSn7AESU18
— Francisco Endara D. (@franciscoendara) octubre 20, 2015
October 21 verdict in gov’t’s case against me. All because I applauded. If I’m charged may the same condemnation fall on the judges.
Jueces rechazan recurso de casación. Indican que abogados no han presentado cuáles son las violaciones a la ley en nuestro proceso. — Francisco Endara D. (@franciscoendara) octubre 21, 2015
Judges reject appeal. They say lawyers haven’t shown evidence of any legal violations made against us.
Me declaran co autor, me suben de cómplice a coautor. Ponen a todos los implicados en el caso 18 meses. Transgresión total de la justicia. — Francisco Endara D. (@franciscoendara) octubre 21, 2015
I have been charged as a co-perpetrator, moved up from accomplice. They’ve increased my charges from accomplice to co-perpetrator. They’ve sentenced all of us to 18 months. Total violation of justice.
Ahora si es oficial 18 meses de cárcel por apaludir. Sólo en Ecuador. Esperaré la notificación por escrito.
— Francisco Endara D. (@franciscoendara) octubre 21, 2015
Now it’s official 18 months in prison for clapping. Only in Ecuador. Awaiting written notification.
In an interview with Diario La Hora, Endara elaborated on his position:
Aunque hubiera aplaudido, cosa que sinceramente no recuerdo, no es delito, pero sabotaje y terrorismo… Lo que dice el Fiscal es que mi aplauso fue señal de aprobación a lo que la gente gritaba: ‘Democracia sí, dictadura no’; ‘queremos señal abierta’, ‘libertad de expresión’. Que yo sepa, eso tampoco es delito”.
Even if I had clapped, something I sincerely do not remember, it’s not a crime, but sabotage and terrorism…According to the district attorney, my applause was a sign that I approved of what the people were yelling: “Yes to democracy, no to dictatorship”; “We want an open channel”, “freedom of expression”; As far as I know, that isn’t a crime either.
On social media the hashtag #YoAplaudo (I Applaud) has gone viral as people have been posting their opinions on the court’s decision in the Endara case.
#YoAplaudo la justicia ecuatoriana que declaró culpable al imbécil que allanó la tv pública @JoannaJativa
— Javier Castro (@JaviCastroLDU) octubre 24, 2015
#IApplaud the Ecuadorian judicial system which found the idiot who broke into the state channel guilty
#YoAplaudo a todos aquellos que han perdido el miedo de decir lo q piensan a pesar de las consecuencias
— Lourdes Cuesta (@LouxC) octubre 24, 2015
#IApplaud all those who are no longer afraid to say what they think regardless of the circumstances
#YoAplaudo que los destetados,los golpistas y sus títeres sigan marchando y aplaudiendo,mientras el 70% aplaude la gestión de @MashiRafael
— Visit Ante (@Visit_Ante) octubre 24, 2015
#IApplaud the fact that the protesters and their puppets are still demonstrating, while 70% applaud the Rafael Correa government
#YoAplaudo a todos quienes a pesar de la prepotencia, dejan escuchar su voz, #YoAplaudo a hombres y mujeres valientes q no le temen al poder
— NORA FM (@NORAFUENMAYOR) octubre 23, 2015
#IApplaud all those who in spite of the arrogance are raising their voices, #IApplaud the brave men and women who are not afraid of the power of the state.
Citizens Victor Hugo Erazo, Patrivio Fajarado, Max Marín y Galo Monteverde were also sentenced to 18 months in prison for breaking and entering into the public network’s building on September 30, 2010. According to the daily newspaper La Hora, Erazo stated that none of the defendants would leave the country and that they would be awaiting a written notification of the sentence in order to have it clarified and modified and to start any additional steps in having the sentence annulled.
The year 2015 has been critical for human rights in Ecuador. The case of the Crudo Ecuador memes, censored by President Correa, remains vivid in citizens’ memories, and Human Rights Watch condemned Ecuadorian judges for delaying appeals by protesters who were prosecuted for participating in anti-government demonstrations. A group of experts from the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have also denounced some of the current laws in Ecuador which limit freedom of expression and assembly in the country.

author: Daniela Gallardo


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Facebook Sees Sharp Spike in Hong Kong Government’s Requests for User Data · Global Voices
Hong Kong Free Press

Image from Hong Kong Free Press.
This post was written by Vivienne Zeng and originally published on Hong Kong Free Press on November 14. An edited version is republished on Global Voices under a partnership agreement.
Social media giant Facebook recorded an 82 percent increase in the number of requests for user data made by the Hong Kong government in the first half of 2015 compared to the second half of 2014.
The government of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, made 71 requests to Facebook for access to user information from January to June 2015, compared to just 39 requests from July to December 2014, according to the company’s biannual report released last week on November 12.
The number of user accounts involved in the requests more than tripled, from 51 to 239, during the same period.
Benjamin Zhou, director of the Hong Kong Transparency Report, a project run by the University of Hong Kong, told the Hong Kong Free Press that the numbers showed the government is using social media more and more to assist law enforcement. Such a trend is alarming if the public is uninformed of why and how the data is being used, Zhou said.
Zhou theorized that the increase could be related to arrests of those involved in the city's Occupy movement, a series of protests that took place in Hong Kong between September to December 2014 demanding citizens’ right to nominate candidates for the city's top leader. He pointed specifically to the arrest of Tam Tak-chi of pro-democracy political coalition People Power on May 29 over a Facebook comment he made sarcastically suggested planting homemade bombs on the road of a funeral procession for Beijing loyalist Yeung Kowng, who was a leader of the violent 1967 leftist riots.
But it is quite obvious that the public have no way to know about the truth at the moment. We don’t know whether the reasons provided by the government are justified, and if innocent people’s privacy [has been] invaded.
Facebook and Google are among tech companies pushing for more transparency in regards to government access to their user data due to public concern over privacy. In addition to the regular publication of transparency reports, both companies have legal guidelines and demand that the requesting government agencies file a written form including the request details.
The issue drew global attention after US whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked documents in 2013 revealing global surveillance programmes carried out by Washington.
The total number of requests for Facebook data made by governments around the world rose 18 percent in the past half year. The US remains the country which made the most requests, asking 17,577 times concerning 26,579 accounts.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong government requests for Google user data remained steady after jumping 37 percent in the second half of 2013. The latest data from Google showed 367 requests were made between July and December 2014.
The Hong Kong government has refused to disclose its guidelines and relevant monitoring mechanisms for user data requests, and the majority of the requests are made without court orders.
Zhou said more should be done to improve transparency in the government’s use of social media data.
An independent body should be set up to judge if the government requests are appropriate and necessary before they are sent to service provider.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Hong Kong Free Press


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How Popular Perceptions of Climate Change Have Changed Since the Copenhagen Talks · Global Voices
Ensia

Since the Copenhagen negotiations, the global population has passed 7 billion people. Photo by Flickr user James Cridland. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
The Paris talks beginning November 30 will mark the most important negotiations on climate change since the 15th gathering of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP 15). The world has changed markedly since then. Part one of this post examined key developments in science and emission trends. Part two below takes a look at how politics and attitudes have shifted in the last six years.
Parts one and two were written by Fiona Harvey and originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action.
The world has moved on politically since the Copenhagen talks. The clearest sign of this came in the joint announcement late last year of commitments on greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest emitters. The U.S. will reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025, while China will target a peaking of its emissions by 2030.
This development marks a clear difference from Copenhagen: The willingness of China to share a stage with the U.S. and to talk about a peak year herald significant progress toward reaching a deal.
On economics, too, we have seen more studies arguing that tackling climate change can be a boon to economies and showing how to achieve the changes necessary to stay within the carbon budget while enjoying the fruits of prosperity. The New Climate Economy project, led by Felipe Calderon, ex-president of Mexico, has been a key mover in this debate. Climate finance — the assistance provided by rich countries to poorer ones to help them cut emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change — has also ramped up, with development banks taking a leading role and leveraging private sector funds.
Businesses are taking note, with many preparing to announce new climate initiatives ahead of Paris. The insurance industry, which takes a long-term view of risks, has been pushing for action. Recently, six major European oil and gas companies offered to collaborate on a carbon price. While some might argue these businesses may have motives other than concern for the world’s poor under global warming, the actions they take could be significant.
Other positive signals in the last year have included massive rallies, such as last year’s People’s Climate March in New York, and the growing movement urging individuals, institutions and businesses to divest from fossil fuels. That movement is likely to gather further pace before the Paris meeting.
Prominent public figures have also been playing an increasing role, with the most significant intervention, the encyclical Pope Francis released this spring, emphasizing the moral dimension of tackling climate change. The move attracted applause but also criticism from some climate skeptics who accused the pope of interfering in a matter of science.
Moreover, this fall, in advance of the Paris talks, the U.N. and world governments are preparing to set out Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to take over for the Millennium Development Goals that expire this year. The SDGs will have climate change not as an add-on, but as a core issue, because of its wide-ranging effects on issues from water scarcity to agricultural productivity, gender equity and human migration. The effort going into the SDGs, which are viewed as crucial by development experts, will have a beneficial effect on the battle against climate change.
While many of the developments in the past six years appear to bode well for Paris, there have also developed a number of perceptions that could jeopardize both an agreement and our ability to tackle climate change.
Most important was that of Copenhagen itself, which was widely painted as a total failure, despite the progress achieved there. The talks have never managed to throw off that shroud of negativity, and this puts the stakes at Paris as high as they can be. If COP 21 fails, it is hard to see how the U.N. process can limp on.
The perception of a pause in global warming is another serious problem, because it has allowed climate skeptics to claim that warming is not happening or is happening so slowly that it is not worth bothering about. This has now become common currency for many people. Scientists are clear that this analysis is not accurate: The world is still heating up, and there are good reasons to think the small slowdown in the rise in temperatures is temporary, probably caused by the absorption of heat by the oceans.
Among the mechanisms developed to help us reduce emissions, carbon trading once took pride of place. But the U.N.’s Clean Development Mechanism — by which rich countries offset their emissions by financing projects such as solar power and wind farms in the poor world — has suffered a series of blows and is looking moribund, following the near-collapse of the EU’s emissions trading scheme. If such offsets are to continue to 2020 and beyond, they badly need a shot in the arm at Paris. Otherwise, new means of channeling climate funds must be proven to work.
Yet another trend that differentiates the setting for COP 21 from that of COP 15 is the recent increase in coal consumption. “Party time for coal” is how one energy trader has characterized the past few years, as tumbling prices and rising use have led to a resurgence in the fortunes of this carbon-intensive fuel in many parts of the world. The result has been, particularly in poor countries, the building of more inefficient, old-style coal-fired power stations. Leading bodies such as the International Energy Agency and the OECD have warned that this is probably the most serious threat to tackling climate change, and it may not be solved by the Paris talks. When new coal-fired power stations are built, they are likely to continue operating for as long as half a century, locking the world in to high levels of emissions.
Finally, two years after Copenhagen, the world passed an important milestone: Human population reached 7 billion. The sheer complexity of ensuring all are fed, have decent lives and opportunities, and are lifted out of poverty increases as our numbers increase. Many scientists argue it is perfectly possible to achieve these goals without breaking through climate thresholds, but it will be tough.
In the lead-up to Paris, the most valuable commodity will be the willingness of the world’s governments to come to a deal. Whether this has changed since the Copenhagen talks remains to be seen. Many of the signs are pointing in that direction, but ultimately the choice of whether to listen to scientists, citizens and businesses lies with ministers and their leaders.

author: Ensia


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International Tribunal Reopens Indonesia’s ‘Forgotten Genocide’ · Global Voices
Juke Carolina

Opening day of the International People's Tribunal in The Hague about the 1965 mass killings in Indonesia. Photo from the Flickr page of the tribunal, CC 2.0.
An International People's Tribunal (IPT) was held in The Hague, last week, from November 10 to November 13, where testimonies were heard from survivors of the 1965 mass killings in Indonesia. The Indonesian government is accused of orchestrating an anti-communist purge that killed more than half a million people.
The majority killings took place in Java and Bali between 1965 and 1966. The victims were branded communists or sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Thousands were jailed without trial and many were tortured and forced to confess their involvement with the PKI. The most notorious prison was on Buru Island, where hundreds of political prisoners (including prominent Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer) were incarcerated. The island's prison system is often compared to the Soviet Union's Gulag.
Before the 1965 killings, the PKI was the largest communist party outside the USSR and the People's Republic of China.
Fifty years on, the government continues to deny that the state was was responsible for summarily executing innocent civilians, insisting that communists were the first to attack army officials.
Rather than acknowledge the atrocities committed by the army, the government has instead decorated many high-ranking officers during this period as heroes. In fact, the government once again announced its plan to name Commander Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, who led an elite unit of the Indonesian Army in 1965-67, a national hero. (Wibowo is also the father of former first lady Kristiani Yudhoyono.)
The period between 1965 and 1966 was a dark moment in the modern history of Indonesia. When General Suharto came to power in 1967, he prohibited any investigation of the killings. Even when Suharto resigned in 1998, succeeding governments have rejected appeals to review the role of the military in the 1965 mass killings.
The International People's Tribunal 1965 in The Hague is the latest attempt by human rights groups to make the Indonesian government accountable for the killings.
Dr. Soe Tjen Marching, British coordinator of the IPT 1965 and founder of non-profit Yayasan Bhinneka Nusantara, wrote a Facebook post summarizing one of the IPT's sessions. She was deeply affected by the story of one survivor in particular:
Soe Tjen Marching
Kemarin di Pengadilan internasional kasus '65, saksi perempuan (Rahayu) menceritakan ttg pemerkosaan & pelecehan seksual yang terjadi padanya.
Saya yang ditugasi sebagai note-taker akhirnya harus istirahat sejenak dan meminta pengganti. Tidak saja karena jempol saya yg sakit krn sebelumnya sudah terkilir, tapi juga harus menahan emosi, setelah mendengar pemerkosaan yang luar biasa terhadap korban-korban tentara Soeharto.
Yesterday in the International Tribunal Hearing of '65 case, a woman witness (Rahayu) narrated how she was raped and sexually assaulted. I was assigned to be the note-taker but ended up needing to distance myself, and eventually I asked for a replacement. Not only because my carpal tunnel hurts, but also because I couldn't contain my emotions, listening to the cases of rape committed by Soeharto's soldiers.
There were also reports that customers of a state-owned Internet service provider in Indonesia couldn't access the IPT's website, while the hearings were being held.
Indonesian netizens used the Twitter hashtag #IPT1965 to post updates about the IPT sessions in The Hague and to share their reflections about the issue.
Doa saya untuk semua korban 65, tanpa terkecuali. https://t.co/jOzBDz9Bhh
— Khaerul Umam Noer (@UmamNoer) November 10, 2015
I pray for all of the 1965's victims—every one of them
Tahukah km CGMI, organisasi yang diasosiasikan dgn PKI ternyata bukan bagian dr PKI? LINI MASA: IPT 1965 di Den Haag https://t.co/6U3bYIUY0a
— febriana firdaus (@febrofirdaus) November 10, 2015
Do you know that CGMI, an organization associated with the PKI wasn't a branch of PKI? Timeline: IPT 1965 in Den Haag.
#Indonesia Embassy tells RI students not to attend 1965 International Peoples Tribunal in The Hague #50ThnGenosida65 https://t.co/Y1tIpZbqnL
— peter van tuijl (@PvanTuijl) November 5, 2015
Ikuti sidang 1965 Advokat IPT 1965 Todung Mulya Lubis sudah siap menanggung risiko dicap sebagai pengkhianat bangsa. https://t.co/sJ2ExodjjS
— CNN Indonesia (@CNNIndonesia) November 10, 2015
Involved in 1965 hearings, IPT 1965 Advocate Todung Mulya Lubis is ready to be branded a traitor.
@Rudatin7 sangat mengerikan pasca 30 Sep 1965 di Bali. Terutama 1966 itu. Orang bisa mati karena rebutan waris dll tp berdalih: "dia PKI".
— Mpu Jaya Prema (@mpujayaprema) September 30, 2015
In Bali post 30 Sep 1965 was horrifying. Especially in 1966. People who are disputing over inheritance can defeat an enemy by calling him/her “a PKI”
Gareth Evans: The Indonesian massacre of 1965 is the least talked-about #genocide of the last century https://t.co/DyTBA5Ncxg
— Project Syndicate (@ProSyn) November 8, 2015
In Indonesia, describing the 1965 violence as genocide can invited unwanted attention from the government. Last month, police revoked a permit belonging to the Ubud Writers’ Festival, which was planning to tackle the truth about the 1965 killings.
Police say Ubud Writers Festival prohibitions on discussing 1965 communist purge due to 1966 gov decree #uwrf15 https://t.co/KcBp37ys6W via — Jewel Topsfield (@JewelTopsfield) October 25, 2015
Read New York Times' survey of the recent crackdown on freedom of expression around the 1965 Indonesian genocide! https://t.co/QFCxw3DC0w
— Joshua Oppenheimer (@JoshuaOppenheim) November 6, 2015
Also last October, the editor of Lentera, a university student magazine, was summoned by the police for publishing an article about the history of the PKI in Salatiga, a small town in Central Java. The police also ordered the editor to retrieve the distributed copies of the magazine.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo included reconciliation for the victims of human rights violations on his nine-point agenda (“Nawa Cita”), but seems to have backtracked on this commitment. Luhut Panjaitan, the coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs, said the government will focus on reconciliation, but it will not apologize for the communist purge.
Reacting to the IPT, Vice President Jusuf Kalla claimed that it has no political significance:
(VIDEO) JK: Pemerintah Tak Perlu Minta Maaf atas Peristiwa Kemanusiaan 1965: Wakil Presiden Jusuf Kalla menila… https://t.co/NZofwz09xi
— Bisnis Indonesia (@Bisniscom) November 10, 2015
JK: No need for the government to apologize for the 1965 event.
Dr. Ken Setiawan, a fellow at University of Melbourne and daughter of one of the people detained in 1965, asked in an opinion article on the school's website if reconciliation is possible without an apology:
An apology, however, requires looking back, to acknowledge the past and admit the truth. This is a very important process, particularly considering the deeply painful experiences of victims and survivors. But acknowledging the past and the role played by the state in serious violations of human rights challenges dominant historical and political narratives, and that guarantees resistance.
It remains to be seen how the Jokowi government will navigate these challenges and how it will give meaning to its promise to establish justice.

author: Juke Carolina


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Join Global Voices on Instagram as We Hop Around the World · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

“Children playing around in a square in central Utrech waiting for Sinterklass to arrive. You spot less black faces since the practice has become controversial, but you can still see one here. Even after a year of living in the Netherlands this is a strange sight to see. #instaGV #dayinthelifeofGV” Mahsa Alimardani on our @globalvoicesonline Instagram account.
This week our Iran editor Mahsa Alimardani brought our Global Voices Instagram account back from hibernation with a poignant reflection on the diversity of Paris.
Mahsa is posting on our @globalvoicesonline Instagram account all week from Utrecht and Amsterdam as part of a new initiative to show the beauty, diversity and expansiveness of our community.
Every week, you will be introduced to a unique member of our community through our Instagram account.
In a couple of months — if all goes according to our grand plan — through the unique lens of the Global Voices community, you will meet people, see places and read stories from Bangladesh, Morocco, Lebanon, Peru, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and Uganda on @globalvoicesonline.
We have contributors from over 160 countries. Within the year, we hope to cover a few dozen countries.  What are we calling this experiment on Instagram? We haven't settled on a name yet, but you can call it #dayinthelifeofGV or #GVInsta.
Next week, Mahsa will hand over our Instagram reins to Global Voices community leader Marianna Breytman in New York. The week after, our Spanish Translation Manager Juan Arellano will take over from Lima, Peru and Pernille from our Sub Saharan Africa team will follow after that from northern Uganda.
For a glimpse into what that means, take a look at some of the photos and stories shared by Mahsa on @globalvoicesonline this week. Mahsa is an Iranian-Canadian Internet researcher, currently completing her Masters degree in New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. As our Iran editor, Mahsa enriches our coverage with stories about the intersection of technology and human rights, freedom of expression and access to information inside Iran.
Hi I'm @maasalan your Iran editor. I'm kicking off this little experiment we're doing that follows GVers throughout their day-to-day lives for a week. Now we're supposed to launch this experiment with an introductory self-portrait, but I'm doing it a bit differently because of what happened a few hours ago. I feel odd not touching upon the tragic events that unfolded in Paris last night when it has been the only thing my social media streams have been painfully recounting, and the topic that I've been sadly discussing with friends since the news broke. And so I'm posting a photo from a night I spent there a few months ago with two of my favourite Parisians, and consequently also members of the Global Voices community -@lenguarez & @yezkagonzalez Now I find it disappointing that the carnage that happened in Paris outshines tragedies that have hit many other cities this past week, including Beirut, and many parts of Syria and Iraq. There is no scale to measure their importance . This picture I’m posting from Paris is hers because I was recently in that city, and because of that I feel automatically connected and concerned. It’s touched my heart because it is a beautiful city, and mostly for it’s people. Like Laura (who was safe last night) tells me “Paris is colourful, full of different people and cultures.” Parisians come from all kinds of backgrounds and places, and there is much beauty in this diversity. This picture was a selfie taken after a night of dancing at the event ’Salsa in the Seine’. That night I danced with Parisians who were Venezuelans, Cubans, Moroccans and Syrians. It was a beautiful night. A night where a Paris of all colours and shapes came out and put a smile on everyone’s face. I don’t know what is to follow after last night, but I hope the Paris I experienced by the Seine will still keep it's rhythm. I fear the discrimination that lies ahead and regret we have not afforded this kind of attention elsewhere. With this I encourage you all to read a thought provoking article on GV by Joey Ayoub “The Streets of Paris Are as Familiar to Me as the Streets of Beirut.” Wishing us all sober reflection in the days that come. #salsa #dayinthelifeofGV   A photo posted by Global Voices (@globalvoicesonline) on
Met Noura Aljizawi a Syrian activist fighting the good fight for the future of free Syria. She works with the Syrian National Coalition for Syrian democracy. She tells me “I have enough hope for Syria to fight for our dignity and our homeland.” She left #Syria in 2013, #instaGV #dayinthelifeofGV #freesyria   A photo posted by Global Voices (@globalvoicesonline) on
So I got to speak on a panel about Iran and human rights post-nuclear deal with someone I look up to dearly, the badass @masih.alinejad. Follow her campaign to empower women's voices in Iran on Facebook called “My Stealthy Freedom” #instaGV #dayinthelifeofGV #peoplebehindGV #Iran
A photo posted by Global Voices (@globalvoicesonline) on
@sarvaloo eats @mezrab_'s famous #ashreshte while waiting for @kambizhosseini's performance. Mezrab is a popular Dutch storytelling center run by the Iranian-Dutch Sahand Sahebdivani. No show is without his mom's famous ash. #dayinthelifeofGV #instaGV #IranianDutchLife   A photo posted by Global Voices (@globalvoicesonline) on
@kambizhosseini tells a crowd how he was a troublemaker as a small boy in Mashhad. He's also sick, so he's doing his stand up show next to a bottle of cough medicine, but you couldn't tell by how energetic he is. (Also, remember that time he wrote for @globalvoicesonline? “Confessions of an Angry Iranian” is worth a reread.) #dayinthelifeofGV #instaGV #comedy #iranianSatire A photo posted by Global Voices (@globalvoicesonline) on
They call him the Iranian Jon Stewart. #selfiePerfection #instaGV #dayinthelifeofGV #iranianSatire   A photo posted by Global Voices (@globalvoicesonline) on

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi


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Russian Lawmaker Suggests Banning Telegram Messenger ‘Because It’s Used by ISIS’ · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Should Telegram be banned because it's used by extremist organizations illegal in Russia? Images by Rflor and Mihael Tomic for the Noun Project. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Russian users’ access to the Telegram messenger app should be restricted, according to Russian lawmaker Aleksandr Ageyev, who appealed to the Russian state security service (FSB) to consider the possibility of blocking the app. In his appeal, Ageyev noted that Telegram is “being actively used by terrorists from the Islamic State (IS) to distribute extremist content,” and possibly also serves as a platform for “the recruiting process of Russian citizens into IS.” Ageyev notes that unlike other social networks, such as VKontakte, Twitter, or Facebook, which actively battle extremist content, Telegram's technical support “ignores user complaints about such content.”
According to his appeal to the FSB, Ageyev's position on Telegram is based on a number of reports in Russian and foreign media about ISIS members choosing to use Telegram to coordinate their moves in the Paris November 13 attacks, allegedly because information sent over the messenger is protected by several layers of encryption.
Pavel Durov, the creator of the Telegram app and former founder and owner of VKontakte, quickly responded to Ageyev's suggestions on his VKontakte page, and was rather sarcastic in his remarks.
Предлагаю запретить слова. Есть информация, что с помощью них общаются террористы.
I suggest we ban words. There's been news that terrorists use them to communicate.
Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov also spoke out in defence of Telegram and said the authorities shouldn't block apps, but instead should “identify and prosecute those who engage in illegal activity.” Blocking Telegram, Nikiforov said, would simply drive those using it for illegal purposes to use another platform, and blocking all messenger apps and social networks would mean blocking the entire Internet in Russia, which Nikiforov argues runs counter to Russia's communications development strategy.
Блокировать в России Telegram или другой мессенджер за то, что им пользуются террористы из ИГИЛ — это было бы так же разумно, как, например, запретить в России эксплуатацию автомобилей Toyota, так как они тоже оказались популярными у ИГИЛовцев.
Blocking Telegram or some other messenger in Russia because ISIL terrorists use them would be as reasonable as, for example, banning the Toyota cars in Russia because they also turned out to be popular among ISIL terrorists.
Dmitry Marinichev, the Kremlin's Internet Ombudsman, also criticized Ageyev's proposal to limit Russians’ access to Telegram. In a radio interview on November 16, Marinichev mocked the initiative and suggested it would be “just as effective as determining what (cell) phones terrorists are using and then banning that specific telephone model within a certain region.”
In May of 2015, Pavel Durov told TechCrunch in an interview that the monthly active audience for Telegram was 62 million users, and in September he announced that users send 12 billion messages through the app daily.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
The Two-Country Journey One Student Takes Every Day to Get to School · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

During the school week, Arlet Burciaga rides a bus toward the international bridge in Ciudad Juárez. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
This article and radio report by Kate McGee and photographer Miguel Gutierrez Jr. for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on November 5, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Wake up, get dressed, pack your homework, maybe a lunch. That’s the typical morning routine for most students. But some students on the US-Mexico border grab something else on their way out the door — their passports. Nineteen-year-old Arlet Burciaga is one of those students.
A view of the Colonia Alta Vista neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission
Arlet has been awake for more than an hour. She stands in her modest kitchen in her home in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The walls are mostly bare except for a small sign that reads “Feliz” — Happy. Her mom, Martha Flores Ibarra, counts pesos.
Before she leaves, Arlet's mother, Martha Flores Ibarra, arrives home at 6:30 am after working at one of the transnational maquiladora factories located in Ciudad Juarez. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Martha just got home from an overnight shift at a car parts factory where she makes about $45 dollars per week. They live with Arlet's younger sister and older brother, who also works in a factory in Juárez. Martha hands Arlet three pesos for the bus and four for the bridge toll. She gives her a hug and a kiss, and Arlet is on her way.
Arlet's passes through Colonia Alta Vista on her way to El Paso, Texas. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Arlet leaves for school.
She lives in Mexico, but her school is in the US — the Lydia Patterson Institute, a private Methodist school in El Paso. Arlet could go to school in Mexico, but when she heard through her church about the US high school, she applied and received a full scholarship. The school also gives her money to cross the border each day — and $20 per month for other expenses.
Arlet boards a bus towards the international bridge in Ciudad Juarez. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
The bus arrives right as Arlet gets to the bus stop. There are very few people on the streets, but the bus is full of people.
It's a short ride to the bridge and, for Arlet, this daily trip has become the norm, even though she knows it's anything but. “I don't think it's pretty normal,” Arlet says, laughing a bit. “I think it's [a] big deal to cross the bridge every day. It's [a] big experience because every day you never know what is going to happen in the bridge or during the walk to your house.”
A line of cars forms down Calle Juarez in the early morning at the Puente Internacional Paso Del Norte. The cars are waiting to cross the bridge into El Paso, Texas. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Once known as “the murder capital of the world,” Juárez is still recovering economically from cartel violence between 2009 and 2012. But now, people on both sides of the border say they feel safe in the city. People who live in El Paso and Juárez say there is a misconception about life at the border. Despite current politics surrounding immigration, people constantly flow back and forth on a daily basis.
Sometimes crossing can be difficult. Security tightens and lines get much longer when things happen, like the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Boston Marathon Bombings. Other times, Arlet cannot get through because, like a normal high schooler, she forgets things, including her passport.
Arlet pays a 4 peso toll in order to exit Mexico and enter the international bridge towards Texas. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Arlet arrives at the toll booth. “Today, there is a lot of line,” she says as she walks. “I don't know why, but we need to get in the line.” At the bottom of the bridge, there is a large sign that hangs over the road. “Feliz Viaje,” she says. “Happy trip or something like that.”
A few years ago, Arlet would've had a tough time translating from Spanish to English. Before she attended Lydia Patterson she only spoke Spanish and had never been to the US. “The teachers talked to me and I was like, ‘I don't understand.’ And it was a very hard, hard moment for me.”
Five minutes after she crosses the bridge, Arlet goes through US customs. Seventy percent of the 435 students at her school cross the border daily. Some are US citizens who live in Mexico.
Others, like Arlet, are Mexican. Arlet waits in line with her friend, Vicki. Usually, there is separate a line for students. Today, it's closed.
“It's unfair,” says Vicki. “There aren't many immigrations officials today.”
“Which [line] is moving faster?” Arlet asks. “This one or this one?”
“And they closed the line for students, which is necessary,” Vicki says, ignoring Arlet.
Arlet holds her passport and visa. These documents allow her to cross into the United States and study in El Paso. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
In front of them, a man is pulled aside. The agent checking his passport takes him into a separate room. “Maybe he doesn't have the required documentation?” Arlet wonders. “He's suspicious, I think.”
Another few minutes pass before another agent signals to them and checks their passports.
“Where you going?” the officer asks.
“Escuela,” Arlet answers.
Related: Global Nation Education
Arlet hands her documents to an immigration officer in El Paso, Texas. This a regular task for Arlet during the school week. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Arlet passes customs without incident. Once in El Paso, she is on her own. Her mom doesn’t have a passport and can’t cross the border. If something happens to Arlet on the US side, her mom couldn’t come and help.
Once at school, Arlet helps herself to breakfast at the school cafeteria. Students are provided with a breakfast and lunch. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Arlet arrives at school. Once there, she heads to the cafeteria for breakfast. Lydia Patterson serves free breakfast and lunch to all its students.
After breakfast, Arlet sits in her first period class, and looks over class materials. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Arlet starts the day in English class. She takes three English courses every day. This week, she has exams in every subject.
Nearly all of the students at the school graduate and go to college. The school has strong connections with Methodist colleges across the US. They help the students navigate the college admissions process and get scholarships. Socorro de Anda, president of Lydia Patterson, says a college degree could change Arlet’s life — and her family's, too. “We've seen many, many families pulled out of poverty because one child has gone through here and has gone through college,” she says.
Arlet wipes a table at the Lydia Patterson Institute. Her work is part of her scholarship. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
It's the end of the school day, but Arlet's not done yet. Students work after school for their scholarships, helping with custodial or clerical work.
After a day of classes, Arlet and fellow classmates walk towards the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in El Paso. Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr./KUT News. Used with permission.
Arlet begins her trip back home. After three years of this daily cross-border commute, Arlet says she is tired, but she knows it is worth it. “I think it is a blessing of God to my life because it gave me an opportunity to learn a new culture, the American culture, to [have] new experiences in my life,” she says.
Now, Arlet is ready for a new journey: off to college. It’s unclear where, yet. She hopes it’s in the US. If so, she can leave her passport at home.
Share your thoughts and ideas on Facebook at our Global Nation Exchange, on Twitter@globalnation, or contact us here.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
The Refugees Stopping at Vienna’s Train Station of Hope · Global Voices
Arzu Geybullayeva

Photo by Arzu Geybulla.
Wien Hauptbahnhof, Vienna’s main train station. It is September, two months before the deadly violence from which many refugees are fleeing would touch Beirut and Paris.
It's been a quiet few days, especially since the arrival of over 5,000 refugees on September 14.
“This is nothing compared to what we had a few days ago,” a volunteer named George tells me. “There were tents everywhere! There was nowhere to move. It was truly a very powerful sight,” says another volunteer.
The lists tacked to the wall of the makeshift office space used by the volunteers show the approximate number of refugees who have arrived daily since September 1. It starts at 1,000 and peaks at 5,000-plus.
That evening I saw perhaps only a few hundred people at the station, together with the many volunteers. It was quiet: people were getting their dinners while kids roamed around playing with donated toys. Some of the refugees were waiting for the next train, some in desperate hope that they would actually be able to find—or afford—the tickets when the time came.
The train station management closes the main hall to the refugees at 10pm every day. Only those with tickets for the first train leaving for Germany at 6am are allowed to spend the night at the station. Others depart for nearby shelters.
One of these shelters is brand new, just few blocks from the train station. It is an in-kind donation from a local bank, which has given over its entire ground floor for use as a shelter. There are makeshift toilets and showers outside the main entrance. “You need permission from the media relations department of the bank,” they told me nicely at the door, when I tried to go in to film. To avoid overcrowding the shelter takes only a limited number of people. But there are other places to go, and in some cases, local families invite refugees to spend a night or two at their homes.
Turkish volunteers at Vienna's central train station. PHOTO: Arzu Geybulla
It wasn’t this organized in the first days of the refugee influx into the country. In fact, Austria was heavily criticized in a New York Times article for the appalling conditions in refugee centers in border areas.
One group in particular decided to take matters into their own hands. Calling themselves the “Train of Hope” (#TrainOfHope), this network of hundreds of volunteers works in shifts at the main train station. Sometimes these shifts are more than 48 hours.
“We make sure people get on the right trains when their trains arrive. We also help the refugees to get on the buses to their temporary accommodations,” explains George.
They also make sure the refugees can trust the volunteers, especially after all they go through on their long and exhausting journey. People arrive sick, injured, fatigued, so the volunteers try their best to accommodate and provide all the help they can.
But at the train station it is more than just a group of young volunteers helping the refugees. There’s a legal aid desk, with lawyers providing advice on the asylum process and next steps; a makeshift hospital with doctors and nurses; food stalls where local residents bring in meals, fruits and snacks; a children’s area; a missing persons desk; and tents set up outside of the train station with medical supplies, food and clothes. There is a social media team as well, keeping the “Train Of Hope” Facebook page updated with information and letting people know about what’s needed at the station.
Charging cell phones at Vienna's central train station. PHOTO: Arzu Geybulla
As I walked through the station I met a young Kurdish family. I could not take my eyes off the little boy, who was on the ground playing with colorful pens and toys his mom had given him. He had big, smiling eyes. I approached him and said Hi to his mother. She said they were on their way to Sweden. Her husband and their son and daughter were hoping to join relatives awaiting them there. The husband joined us, taking the little Ruzgar his mother and playing with him so his wife could talk to us. She spoke no English, but with the help of other refugees and volunteer translators she was able to tell me their story.
Their journey began in Kamishli in northeastern Syria, from where the four of them left for Turkey over a month before. They first crossed the Syria-Turkey border on foot, paying 200 euros per person. It took them one day to cross the border, and another to travel westwards across Turkey to Izmir. They waited for two weeks in Izmir before they managed to find a place on boat to Greece. For this they had to pay a considerable sum: the trip to Greece costs US$200 for a child and up to US$3,000 for an adult.
They waited for nine days in Greece. “It was very difficult there,” she tells me. “We had to live on the streets, without any food or shelter. The children were cold and scared. It was very difficult.” From Greece, they managed to get to Macedonia, then Serbia, then Hungary, and finally to Austria. Her husband's brother and sister live in Sweden, which the family was planning to reach by passing through Germany.
They had hope.
Ever since I met them I have been thinking of this family. Did they make it to Sweden? Were they stranded in Germany? I want to hope that they made it, and even if they haven’t, that they will soon be reunited with their family in Sweden.
Back at the train station, things were quieting down. The volunteers were sweeping the floors, volunteers in the makeshift kitchen were cleaning up and packing away the food. Most importantly, thanks to the volunteers and their incredible work, there was hope in the air.
See a video version of this post on YouTube.
Volunteer-run food service table at Vienna's central train station. PHOTO: Arzu Geybulla

author: Arzu Geybullayeva


text:
Uganda’s Presidential Race Is Here Again, As Museveni Looks to Extend His 30-Year Rule · Global Voices
James Propa

A screenshot of an Agenda 2016 Youtube video showing president Museveni supporter.
On November 3, close to a year after President Museveni sacked former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi and left the ruling NRM party, he was nominated to be the presidential candidate for The Democratic Alliance, which represents several political parties, including Uganda People's Congress, Democratic Party, and others.
In the race for the presidency, Mbabazi faces sitting President Yoweri Museveni, who was also nominated for candidacy on November 3. If Museveni wins, it will be his sixth presidential term since he took power in 1986. Mbabazi andMuseveni won't be alone in this competition. On November 4, Kizza Besigye (who has stood against Museveni in the last three presidential elections) was also nominated by his party, the Forum for Democratic Change.
This means the main contenders for 2016 election are Museveni, Mbabazi, and Besigye. Other candidates are Dr. Venancius Baryamureeba, Abed Bwanika, Winnie Kyalya, and Joseph Mabirizi.
The campaigns have already exposed divisions in society. Ugandan musicians and their fans are divided over the justification of singing a song praising President Museveni for his performance in office over the past quarter century. There is speculation in the industry that a group of musicians received money to participate in the song: Bebe Cool and Jose Chameleone are said to have received more than $700,000USD, while an artists’ association is rumored to have been paid another $150,000USD. Other artists, like Eddy Kenzo (the 2015 BET Award winner) and Mathias Walukagga came out to criticize the artists who took part in the song.
The controversial campaign song praising Museveni is available on YouTube:
Official campaign rallies kicked off on November 9, 2015, with photos of the events finding their way to social media almost immediately.
The campaigns have been peaceful so far, though several weeks earlier a woman was stripped naked during a fight between police and supporters of the Forum for Democratic Change.
Bobi Wine, one of the most controversial artists in Uganda, urged Ugandans to be united, saying that elections come and go, but the country and its people remain:
I see all the elections drama going on all over the country and this is what I have to say to you fellow Ugandans; it is your fundamental right to vote but don't allow this whole election process to divide you because it's only periodical; it will soon end and we shall still stick together as Ugandans.
Sharing a photo of angry-looking Museveni-supporters, Evelyn Liri tweeted:
They say a photo is worth 1000 words…Here's one such photo #UgandaDecidespic.twitter.com/hCtk8Cdsrs — Evelyn Lirri (@Elirri) November 13, 2015
Suggesting the need for change, Ugandan comedian Pablo Kimuli shared a quote from Albert Einstein:
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein #UgandaDecides — #4WayTestComedy (@PABLO_KenKimuli) November 3, 2015
Tlasuba Dada wrote:
Change is on its way. I hear the Sound… The Chimes ryming thru the Voice of @AmamaMbabazi for a new dawn is upon me and u. #UgandaDecides — Tlasuba Dada (@DadaTlasuba) November 3, 2015
In a comment for on an article that appeared in The Daily Monitor, Umusani said of Museveni's candidacy:
Mr Museveni said he will embark on some of the unfulled pledges he made in the last presidential elections…………..”I’m here because the party fronted me. After the liberation struggle, recovery phase and building foundation, Uganda is ready for take-off……….
Dear Mr. President, there are services which if you had worked on in only the last 10 years, no sane Ugandan would passionately object to your 4/5th term project and overstay in power. These are the kinds of services that can't wait for another kick-start namely: health, education, jobs, food security! Ugandans are dying and rotting away economically, intellectually, physically and socially
Without jobs and food security, no Ugandan can stand boldly to oppose a corrupt official who is bribing him. Ugandans remain scavengers who are prone to people waving brown envelopes at them during these 5months till march/feb 2016 because your failed public service and local government teams have failed to effectively launch, promote, monitor, evaluate and improve your 10 point programmes and other initiatives……
Commenting on a story in New Vision about Besigye's nomination, and the fact that Kizza Besigye has always maintained that he does not believe in elections organised by the Ugandan Electoral Commission, Disqus-user Beson asked:
Where is the logic? Taking part in a race you don't believe in.
Erigaci Francis asked Besigye why he feels that, this time, after three consecutive failures, things will turn out different for his candidacy:
Col: you lost a pot of water for three consecutive times as you are nearing home on the same path and again the same custodian gave you a new pot which you know very well that it is faulty as stated by you, what is your assurance to all Ugandans especially change yarning people about the safety of our last pot ?
The video below shows Kizza Besigye's first rally at Nakivubo stadium in Kampala:
The video below shows Amama Mbabazi's first rally at Nakivubo stadium:
All the candidates are expected to hold campaign rallies across the country before Election Day on February 18, 2016.

author: James Propa


text:
After Blasts That Killed 43 People, Lebanon Asks: ‘What About Us?’ · Global Voices
Mohamad Najem

The Beirut blasts, claimed by ISIS, killed 43 people. Photograph from the blast site shared by @zahri_abbas on Twitter
After the deadly Beirut blasts, friends and families from outside and inside of Lebanon immediately began checking in on one another, using Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, SMS, and of course, phones. It was a chaotic moment for many as the number of fatalities quickly increased to 43, with more than 200 injuries in Burj al Barajneh, a busy market south of Beirut.
Two nights later, tragedy hit Paris. Shortly after the news broke, Facebook activated its Safety Check feature, allowing Parisians and those with friends in the French capital to mark themselves “safe” on the platform. For many, being able to see in one place that their friends are safe was a source of comfort.
It didn’t take long for Lebanese to start questioning why the feature hadn’t been used following the attack in Beirut. Blogger Elie Fares, in a post titled “In a world that doesn't care about Arab lives”, demonstrated the discrimination many have felt in Beirut, from the media dehumanizing the innocent dead people in a busy market to Facebook’s launching of the Safety Check in Paris but not Beirut. He wrote:
When my people died, no country bothered to lit up its landmarks in the colors of their flag. Even Facebook didn’t bother with making sure my people were marked safe, trivial as it may be. So here’s your Facebook safety check: we’ve, as of now, survived all of Beirut’s terrorist attacks.
Similarly, Najib, writing for Blog Baladi, argued:
Speaking of alerts and attacks, I think it would be quite useful if we have [the safety check] feature for Beirut and for the Arab World as well. We’ve had over 20 bombings and attacks since 2014 and at least 10 of them were against civilians unfortunately. That way, and since the Facebook penetration in Lebanon is extremely high and lines are usually down after bombings, those who are in the affected area can let their friends and family know that they are safe.
This issue didn’t go unnoticed without some Lebanese cynicism, as Rani tweeted:
Lebanese people on Facebook right now: We had a bombing too, LOVE US!
— Rani (@ranithefirst) November 14, 2015
Even the Beirut bureau chief of the New York Times, Anne Barnard, expressed in a Facebook post what Elie and Najib mentioned. She later penned a piece looking at Lebanon’s general reaction to the media’s treatment of the Beirut and Paris attacks.
Facebook quickly took note of the complaints and, in a post, explained that Paris was the first time the feature had been rolled out for a non-natural disaster:
This activation will change our policy around Safety Check and when we activate it for other serious and tragic incidents in the future. We want this tool to be available whenever and wherever it can help. We will learn a lot from feedback on this launch, and we'll also continue to explore how we can help people show support for the things they care about through their Facebook profiles, which we did in the case for Paris, too.
After Mark Zuckerberg published a post explaining the policy, Najib of Blog Baladi responded, writing:
All in all, our message went through and the “Safety Check” will probably be enabled for all in the future. However, what matters the most now is that we figure out a way to stop these terrorist attacks from happening and never have to use this feature in Beirut, Paris, Baghdad or anywhere else.
And Habib Haddad drew together the suffering of Beirut and Paris, sharing this graphic in a tweet:
From Beirut to Paris; together we stand strong against terrorism #Beirut2Paris. Plz share pic.twitter.com/hUXYRGOOna
— Habib Haddad (@habibh) November 14, 2015

author: Mohamad Najem


text:
When China Briefly Unblocked Facebook, Trolls Rushed In · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tsai Ing-wen uploaded this image to welcome “new friends” from mainland China.
What would happen if China unblocked Facebook?
Around midnight on November 11, Internet users from mainland China were able to log into Facebook without using circumvention tools briefly for approximately two days. The world's largest social networking site has been blocked in China since 2009, along with YouTube and Twitter.
Soon after, a flurry of posts and comments attacking Taiwan presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen appeared. Tsai will represent Taiwan's opposition, the Democratic Progressive Party in the 2016 election. The island state of Taiwan is politically autonomous from China.
Taiwanese tech circles believe that the attacks were the result of a test by Chinese government authorities to see what might happen if they were to unblock Facebook.
According to a discussion a PTT, Taiwan's largest online bulletin board system community, mainland Chinese authorities opened a gateway to Facebook from within the country's education networks around midnight on November 11.
By 11 a.m., all mainland netizens could visit Facebook directly. Open access to Facebook lasted for two days, until 11 p.m. on November 13.
Pro-Chinese government trolls, also commonly known as the 50 Cent Party, were among the first to log into Facebook. They soon started targeting Tsai Ing-wen.
Within 12 hours from 12 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on November 11, roughly 64,000 comments had been added to an event post from Tsai's campaign calling for submissions to their 3D piggy bank design contest. Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party rely on small donations from grassroots supporters, referred to as “piggy bank” fundraising.
Although only 354 Facebook users were invited to the event, Tsai's particular status update ended the day with 196,491 comments on November 16. Other posts from Tsai were also flooded with comments from mainland Chinese netizens, often using curse words and insults. Many accused Tsai of working for Japan and the United States to criticize Taiwanese who are pro-independence. On average, Tsai's posts on Facebook generate around 3,000 comments.
China has considered Taiwan to be a rogue territory since the Kuomintang (KMT) party retreated to the island in the late 1940s following defeat in the Chinese civil war against communists. Although the mainland has no control over the autonomous state of Taiwan, in the past Beijing authorities have threatened to forcibly retake Taiwan if it were to formalize its independence.
The ruling KMT party has made efforts to improve relations with China over the last decade, which some Taiwanese worry could put Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy in jeopardy. Tsai and her party are poised to challenge the KMT's hold on the government.
Far from being irritated at the Facebook attacks, Tsai welcomed the visits:
昨天晚上，有眾多對岸的「網友」滑到我的臉書頁，對此，我表示「歡迎光臨」。
在臺灣，有許多對時政的討論、甚至公民行動，都是透過這個平台，由人民自主組織起來的；不同的意見、多元的聲音，也讓我們在交流論辯中，一步步往更美好的社會前進。
希望這難得的全新體驗，可以讓「新朋友」更完整的看見民主、自由、多元的臺灣。歡迎大家來到臉書的世界！
Last night, many “online friends” from across the strait flooded my Facebook page. I want to “welcome” them.
In Taiwan, this is the major platform for people to comment on current affairs or even organize citizen action. The diversity of opinions and voices enhances exchanges and debates, which helps society move forward.
I wish this precious experience can help our “new friends” see a full picture of Taiwan's democracy, freedom and diversity. Welcome, all of you, to the world of Facebook!
Wang Dang, an ex-student leader of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square who currently resides in Taiwan, also faced attacks from mainland Chinese tolls after he commented on the temporary lifting of the Facebook block on November 12:
中國怎麼可能真的開放臉書呢？！別傻了各位。
如果真的開放，怎麼出來的人都去小英那裡，而不去別的地方鬧呢？這擺明了是中國當局有組織的的網絡進攻行為，目的是什麼還不清楚。但是跟全面開放中國人民上臉書，半毛錢的關係也沒有。
How can it be possible that China has lifted the Facebook ban?! Don't be naive.
If it were fully open, how come all the people flooded Tsai Ing-wen's page rather than other places? This is obviously an organized online attack. I have no idea what the intention behind it is. But it has nothing to do with the Facebook ban being fully lifted.
Two days later, Wang Dang had a new theory on the Chinese government's motive in unblocking Facebook:
最近中共放出水軍來淹沒臉書，用心很清楚，就是因為他們知道早晚要開放網絡，不然無法加入TPP這樣的自由貿易協定。所以在被迫開放之前，他們就要把現有的自由世界的網絡（尤其是華人的網絡世界）搞得烏七八糟，讓那些有潔癖，不願意搭理五毛的人，不想再用臉書。否則他們就不會每一篇都故意用各種髒話洗版了。[…]
但是不管怎樣，一定要記住，現在五毛們上來的目的，就是要大家都離開。大家不要上當。
Recently, the Chinese Communist Party released its Internet Water Army to flood Facebook. Its intention is becoming clear. They know that sooner or later they will have to open up the Internet or they cannot join free trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Before they open up, they have to ruin the online platform for the free world (in particular the Chinese-speaking Internet), so that those who don't like dirty language and 50 Cent Party members will stop using Facebook and abandon the platform. Otherwise, they would not intentionally leave so many different kinds of curse words in every single post. […]
Remember, the 50 Cent Party wants to drive people away. Don't fall for their tricks.
Wang's speculation was not entirely off-base. Several supporters of an open Internet became irritated by the online tolls and commented that they would prefer Facebook to be blocked in China.
The temporary lifting of the technical block on Facebook raises the question of how China might foster a more open Internet and promote norms of rational and civilized discussion. This could be a considerable challenge in an environment where scores of users work hand-in-hand with their government and view online exchanges as a weapon of ideological warfare at the national level. The example of the popular Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo is instructive here. When authorities began censoring sensitive comments and patrolling the network with millions of “civilization volunteers” coordinated by the Chinese Communist Youth League, critical public discussion dropped and many users left the platform altogether.
If the Chinese government wants to protect Internet users being silenced by organized trolls, regardless of their political positions, it will need to find a way to bring democratic and transparent governance to online platforms, with strong representation from user communities in place. Otherwise, the Internet risks devolving into a wasteland deprived of meaningful public deliberation.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
GV Face: On Beirut and Paris, Why Some Tragedies Grab the World’s Attention and Others Don’t · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

‘Some bodies are global, but most bodies remain local, regional, “ethnic.”‘
In this episode of GV Face, the Global Voices Hangout series, Joey Ayoub, a Lebanese blogger and Global Voices contributor, Lova Rakotomalala, our Paris-based French language editor and Laura Vidal, our Paris-based Latin America community manager talk about race, the politics of death and the unequal reactions to tragedies around the world.
Global Voices is a border-less, largely volunteer community of more than 1400 writers, analysts, online media experts and translators. We set a news agenda that builds bridges, global understanding and friendship across borders. We focus on telling stories from marginalized and misrepresented communities. Our trusted team of editors and writers — people like Joey, Laura, and Lova — report on 167 countries around the world. Our translators render these stories into more than 35 languages. Many of our community members speak multiple languages and call more than one city and country their home.
After the Paris attacks on November 13, Joey wrote a post titled, “The Streets of Paris Are as Familiar to Me as the Streets of Beirut“, which went viral:
I come from a privileged Francophone community in Lebanon. This has meant that I have always seen France as my second home. The streets of Paris are as familiar to me as the streets of Beirut. I was just in Paris a few days ago.
These have been two horrible nights of violence. The first took the lives of over 40 in Beirut; the second took the lives of over 120 people and counting in Paris.
It also seems clear to me that to the world, my people’s deaths in Beirut do not matter as much as my other people’s deaths in Paris.
We do not get a “safe” button on Facebook. We do not get late night statements from the most powerful men and women alive and millions of online users.
We do not change policies which will affect the lives of countless innocent refugees.
This could not be clearer.
I say this with no resentment whatsoever, just sadness.
Laura Vidal was a block away at a bar when the first attack took place at a restaurant on November 13 in Paris. Laura moved to Paris seven years ago from Venezuela as a student. In, “After the Paris Attacks: For It to Be Unity, It Can't Be Partial“, she reflects:
Since I arrived in Paris I’ve followed the endless discussions on origins, skin colours, backgrounds and religious faiths. Part of my research work is based on—of all subjects—intercultural sensitivity. These conversations are emotional, and therefore uncomfortable. But they’re necessary. And I say this because it seems that dividing the world between “us” and “them” isn’t useful. And it never has been. In fact, the artificial creation of difference is what fuels all of this. And this is how we learn to see “ourselves” and “others”, and this is the lens through which we have studied history and watch the news. “Us” and “them”. “Here” and “far away”. I don’t think we can afford to keep this view of the world anymore—assuming we ever could—and maintain this denial of reality.
Lova's essay, “Creating a Media of Empathy One Letter at a Time“, published after the Charlie Hebdo attacks, co-authored with Global Voices Nigeria contributor Nwachukwu Egbunike:
The time to have a global discussion on terror attacks, free speech, empathy and Islamophobia is not when tragedy strikes but beforehand and when cooler heads prevail.
Yet, whether we like it or not, the public thirst to make sense of the world is highest when such sad events occur. The timing might not be ideal, but we have the opportunity as media contributors to reframe the conversation for thousand of readers all over the world, while they are paying attention.


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Inside Big Brother: How Russians Created the ‘Red Web’ · Global Voices
Darya Luganskaya

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
The Internet in Russia is becoming more and more regulated. This increasing control, as well as the growing significance of the Web in Russian society, is the subject of The Red Web, a new book by Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan. Having reported extensively for decades on technology and the state security apparatus in Russia, Soldatov and Borogan in their book investigate the origins of the Internet censorship that’s become so prominent today. The Red Web focuses on “two great forces—surveillance and control on one side, and freedom on the other—and what happens when they collide.”
In a special report for RuNet Echo by Darya Luganskaya, Soldatov summarizes the book’s findings, explains why he believes Edward Snowden should be more transparent about the circumstances of his stay in Russia, and argues why a Soviet education in engineering is not conducive to critical thinking when it comes to ethics.
Andrei Soldatov. May 28, 2014. Screenshot: Utrikesdepartementet / YouTube.
Andrei Soldatov (AS): It is a very important year because it will show if the Internet in Russia will remain global. It is related to the law on personal data [which took effect on September 1, 2015, requiring companies to store Russian users’ online data on domestic servers].
We started writing the book about two years after the national system of Internet filtering was introduced. Since 2012, the authorities have tried different models of Internet regulation. And by 2015, it’s become clear which approach they’ve chosen.
AS: The Kremlin’s approach is not based on technology, mass repressions, or channeling enormous resources into censorship. It is not similar to the Chinese or Turkish models. We do not have thousands of censors sitting in the Internet service providers’ offices. On the contrary, the unit within Roskomnadzor [the government's media watchdog agency] that works with the Internet is very small. In October 2014, they pledged to increase their staff to 25 members.
The authorities discovered that they are not that good at using these technologies. They are bad at filtering Web traffic and blocking content. But they found another use for it, and today these technologies are just a big stick the authorities use to intimidate telecommunication and media companies. And then businesses rush to the Kremlin to discuss better technical solutions, because the government’s technologies are so primitive that they actually harm the companies. For example, they block entire services.
The core of the Kremlin’s approach is putting pressure on the companies, not the users. A similar system was used in the 2000s to control the traditional media. The authorities decided not to send dozens of journalists to jail, as the Turkish authorities did, and instead the Kremlin put pressure on the owners of the media.
DL: What about international companies? Do you have any insights about what is going on behind closed doors when Twitter or Facebook representatives come to Russia?
AS: When we wrote our piece for Foreign Affairs, we phoned all the major Internet companies. We did not get any answers, apart from Booking.com, whose comments were very vague. They stressed that they follow the [local] rules in any country. If these companies ignore an outlet like Foreign Affairs, they’ll ignore anyone. It seems they want to find a compromise—they want “to humanize their relationship” with the Russian government, as it was explained to us by one insider. Of course, I do not support such a position.
DL: Will Internet users face pressure, as well?
AS: Now is the right time to ask the question “what’s next?” Inevitably, the Russian authorities will arrive at a new model: control the users, not the companies. And it seems they are short on solutions these days. We both know that the talks about banning Tor in Russia have been going on for three years, but it still hasn’t happened. The authorities do not have the technical solution. And they cannot put pressure on Tor because it’s not a conventional company with a Moscow office. They can ban it legally, but they have no technical means to implement such a ban.
There is also an issue with encrypted traffic, HTTPS protocol. Every provider with whom I spoke had asked the government why they have to install devices for SORM [System for Operative Investigative Activities], while these “boxes” are still unable to read traffic to the sites that use HTTPS. [According to The Red Web, “SORM boxes once intercepted just phone calls. Now they monitor e-mails, Internet usage, Skype, cell phone calls, text messages, and social networks. It is one of the world’s most intrusive listening devices, and it is the Russian government’s front line in a monumental battle for the future of the Internet.”]
Officials told providers that they should “just install it.” The only solution they have is to make companies move their servers to Russia, where the state can get access to the data through a physical cable before it’s encrypted. But nobody knows what might happen if the companies refuse to comply.
DL: You’re confident Russia cares so much about Tor and its users? How popular is it really in Russia?
AS: You're right. According to the recent data, Tor had 175,000 users in Russia in September 2015. That’s not very much and we got these numbers only thanks to the blocking of the independent websites Grani.ru, Ej.ru, and Kasparov.ru in March 2014. If the authorities blocked Facebook, however, the situation would be different. An audience of hundreds of thousands of people would move to Tor. They would not give up Facebook—the only space for public debate in Russia right now.
Why, in
AS: When we began our research for the book, we were shocked to find that—more than 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union—the Kremlin’s approach to the control of information online is largely defined by the Soviet experience.
Our book begins in 1949 when the Internet did not exist. But there was a sharashka [a secret research and development laboratory in the Soviet Gulag] in Marfino [outside Moscow], which was described by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The engineers imprisoned in Marfino found ways to identify people through phone calls. Later, their findings were handed over to another sharashka, in Kuchino, and that was the place where SORM was eventually designed in the late 1980s. So the Russian system of online surveillance was actually built by the KGB. Of course, the system has been updated constantly ever since. But it still bears all the marks of the Soviet approach to surveillance. The core is the totalitarian approach: the FSB has direct access to the servers through backdoors.
Another Soviet legacy is a very special relationship between the security services and Russia’s telecommunication companies. It was impossible in the Soviet times to separate agents in the secret services from telecom engineers. They were the same people migrating between the KGB and the industry. I had a great conversation with the Soviet Minister of Communications, Gennady Kudryavtsev. He was shocked when he was promoted to take an office once held by Genrikh Yagoda [the chief of the Soviet secret police in the 1930s]. There was still an elevator in his office leading to a tunnel that connected to the Kremlin.
Thanks to this symbiosis between engineers and the security forces, the introduction of SORM was met with almost no resistance from the industry. Internet service providers were concerned only about the costs because they were forced to pay for the expensive equipment. Ethics did not concern them.
: The Red Web has
AS: We were interested in the fact that the majority of engineers are not only extremely loyal to the military industrial complex, but they accept wholeheartedly its necessity and despise so-called “democratic chatter.” We asked Loren Graham, a world authority in the study of Soviet science, and learned that Soviet engineers had very special training: they were less schooled in the ethical and moral problems of their work than many of their counterparts in the West. At top engineering schools in the United States, every student during four years of engineering study is required to take eight courses, usually one each semester, in the humanities and social sciences. These courses open up deep questions about ethics and “meaning,” which are not considered in technical courses. In Russia, engineers are trained in technical skills without any courses in ethics or civics. I am speaking in the present tense because the system in Russia has not changed.
The key problem of the Internet in Russia is this close relationship between the FSB [the Federal Security Service], the military, and the engineers, and in order to change the system, we need to change the approach to education.
DL: You quote Stanislav Kozlovsky, the director of Wikimedia in Russia, saying that Edward Snowden has been a disaster for Internet freedom in Russia. Is Snowden really so influential, or was the RuNet heading in this direction before he arrived?
AS: Of course we don't blame Snowden for the actions of the Russian authorities. And we don’t expect him to fight for Internet freedom in Russia. It’s not his war. But it has not escaped us that he landed in Russia just as the Kremlin launched its offensive against Internet freedoms here, justifying many of its repressive measures using his disclosures. And Snowden has not uttered a word about how his revelations have been used in Russia. We also criticize him for not being transparent about the circumstances of his stay in Russia.
It seems that he wants to be seen as being somewhere just outside the US, but not exactly in Russia. But the most effective strategy for confronting police pressure is to be transparent—you have to go public.
We’ve experienced it ourselves personally. Every time someone from the FSB approaches us and asks for an informal meeting, we call the media. And this works everywhere across the world. It also works for Snowden’s friends. Laura Poitras [the director of Citizenfour, a documentary about Snowden] was subjected to constant inspections and interrogations at US airports, until Glenn Greenwald suggested that she go public about it. She did, and the searches and interrogations stopped.
We do not understand why Snowden decided not to do the same in Russia. He does not talk to Russian journalists or foreign journalists based in Russia. The Guardian’s Moscow correspondent cannot meet Snowden. I suspect the reason is that Moscow-based journalists would not want to talk about the US National Security Agency—they’d want to ask about his circumstances in Moscow.
DL: How did you try to reach him?
AS: I tried multiple ways through his lawyer, his foundation, and so on. Sometimes they even asked me to send the questions in advance, which I did. I even offered to talk from his ACLU lawyer’s office in New York, if having the conversation in Moscow would be impossible. This went on for several years, and led nowhere.
L: The situation you describe seems depressing. But do ordinary citizens and activists have any hope of changing things?
AS: I am largely optimistic about the future of the Internet in Russia. Thanks to social networks, users generate tons of content. And any crisis provokes users to generate even more content. It helps to expose government lies about sensitive issues, like the war in Ukraine. And we have several outstanding activists who know how to dig through the data. For instance, Ruslan Leviev designed The Red Button, a service that provides access to the blog of Russia’s leading opposition activist, Alexey Navalny, which has been blocked by the authorities. Now Leviev has a team looking for any data about the Russian soldiers in Ukraine and Syria on social networks, and it helps uncover the truth.

author: Darya Luganskaya


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New Bill Urges Ban on WhatsApp and Google for Russian Officials · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Prime Minister and social media aficionado Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian officials could face a ban on some online communications services. Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
A new draft bill submitted to the Russian State Duma (parliament) by Communist Party lawmaker Vadim Solovyov suggests state officials and civil servants should be banned from using foreign messenger apps, search engines, and even mobile phones.
According to Solovyov, many Russian officials “currently use software (such as Internet search engines and messaging apps) and communication tools (such as some phone models) through which foreign intelligence services can fairly easily access confidential and official information,” TASS news agency reports.
The draft bill suggests amendments to the Russian law “On state civil service in the Russian Federation,” namely Article 17 that defines activity prohibited for a state official. Solovyov proposes adding a ban on certain software and communication technology, though the proposal does not specify if the ban only applies to work-related communication, or to officials’ private conversations as well.
Пользоваться программными продуктами или техническими средствами связи, которые могут использоваться для несанкционированного доступа к сведениям конфиденциального характера или служебной информации.
To [ban the] use [of] software products or means of communication technology that could be used for unsanctioned access to confidential or official information or data.
The text of the proposed draft bill does not provide a list of specific software applications covered by the law, but suggests such a list would be determined by a separate decree from the Russian President. The lawmaker himself told RBC news agency that his amendments are aimed at Western search engines Google and Yahoo!, as well as the WhatsApp messenger.
Solovyov explained that his initiative was motivated by the growing number of cyberattacks on the information systems used by Russian officials and said banning certain applications and communication devices would “help to greatly improve the security of confidential and official information.”
Violating the state civil service law (which Solovyov wants to amend) currently carries disciplinary and professional repercussions, but Solovyov believes that those who violate the suggested norm and continue to use foreign communication services could face administrative or even criminal responsibility, especially if their activity leads to information leaks and threatens national security.
Leonid Levin, head of the State Duma committee on information policy, told RBC news agency that he sees no need for such an amendment to the law. “There's a civil service law, the special services have their own guidelines. I see no point in additional regulation here,” Levin reportedly said.
On November 16, Russian lawmaker Aleksandr Ageyev appealed to the Russian state security service (FSB) to consider the possibility of restricting Russian users’ access to the Telegram messenger app, claiming the messenger was being used by the Islamic State group to coordinate attacks. Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov disagreed and said the authorities shouldn't block Telegram or other messenger apps, but instead should “identify and prosecute those who engage in illegal activity.”
In July 2015, president of Russian communications provider Megafon, Ivan Tavrin, called for stricter legal regulations for WhatsApp, Viber, and Skype messengers. In June 2015, Alexandr Zharov, head of Russia's media watchdog Roscomnadzor, suggested Russia should develop its own national text messaging service, amid a drive to to replace foreign goods and services with native products and to boost national information security.


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Peruvian Journalist Is Awarded Prize in Climate Change Contest · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Image: Flickr by Ron Mader. Hashtag of the Climate Change Conference (COP21), to be held in Paris between November 30 and December 11. CC BY-SA 2.0.
The Peruvian journalist Pilar Celi Frías is one of the five winners of the prestigious award “Voices2Paris” given out by the United Nations Development Program and the nonprofit OXFAM. Frías was honored her work addressing climate change.
Periodista peruana gana premio de la ONU https://t.co/HugYFVxbhH pic.twitter.com/ckc58Ik3ei
— Clases de Periodismo (@cdperiodismo) noviembre 12, 2015
Peruvian journalist is awarded prize by UN.
The website Clases de Periodismo summarized Frías’ award-winning work:
La historia premiada cuenta como cinco mujeres peruanas, que viven en la provincia de Candarave, Tacna, viajaron a la India para aprender a instalar paneles solares y, al retornar a sus comunidades, mejoraron la calidad de vida de los habitantes a través del acceso a la luz eléctrica.
The award-winner's story tells how five Peruvian women, from the province of Candarave, Tacna, traveled to India to learn how to install solar panels and, when they came back to their communities, they improved the locals’ life quality by supplying access to electric light.
Pilar Celi is a journalist from the news website ConexiónCOP, a Web portal that reports about climate change and international negotiations:
ConexiónCOP busca facilitar el trabajo de los periodistas y líderes de opinión de la región a través del acceso y actualización diaria de noticias, entrevistas, reportajes, datos, reportes clave e historias relacionadas con el cambio climático.
ConexiónCOP aims to make work easier for journalists and opinion leaders from the region by offering daily access and updates featuring news, interviews, reports, key facts, and stories related with climate change.
ConexiónCOP is covering the Climate Change Conference (COP21), which is scheduled to take place in Paris from November 30 to December 11.
The other awarded journalists are Neil Marks (from Guyana), Diana Omondi Makimario (Kenya), Shahani Singh Shrestha (Nepal), and Augustina Armstrong-Ogbonna (Nigeria). Candidates’ work was evaluated by renowned journalists from major media outlets, who also ran the selection process in two earlier rounds of the contest.
Congratulations soon appeared on Twitter:
Orgullosa de @pilicefri! Vale un #Perú! :) @ConexionCop tendrá a una grande en la #COP21 https://t.co/novJQNq1vE — Violeta Reaño D. (@morellaviole) noviembre 13, 2015
Proud of Pilar Celi! She is worth her weight in gold! ConexionCOP will have a great representative on COP21.
@pilicefri Felicidades por el reconocimiento a tu trabajo — Lucydalia Baca C. (@bacalucydalia) noviembre 13, 2015
Congratulations to Pilar Celi for the acknowledgment of her work.
According to reports, French travel authorities will not suspend the climate change summit in Paris, despite deadly attacks that occurred in the city on the evening of November 13.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


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When You’re a Single Woman in the Emirates, but You Still Want a Child · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Ayesha Albusmait, and her daughter, Reem Abdullah Rashid. Albusmait is one of the small, but growing number of single Emirati woman choosing to adopt. Credit: Amanda Fisher. Used with PRI's permission.
This article and radio report by Amanda Fisher for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on November 6, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
In a spacious villa in a corner of Dubai, Reem Abdullah Rashid plays contentedly in a small tent. She’s five.
“This is my secret tent. You can whisper anything in mommy’s ear — it’s a secret tent,” she explains, as I try to wedge my adult self into the tiny canvas opening.
It was in this tent that Reem’s mother, Ayesha Albusmait, told her daughter the facts about their non-traditional family unit.
“I noticed from European people and [children’s] stories that always the tent is used for secrets, so I grabbed the chance,” Albusmait says.
She told her daughter that she had two secrets — the first that she loved her, and the second: “I got you from my heart, not my tummy.”
Albusmait, 49, is at the vanguard of a small, but growing number of single professional Emirati women who have chosen to adopt. Dubai’s Community Development Authority has a waiting list of about 50 prospective adoptive parents — a fifth of them are single Emirati women.
“I encourage the single mothers to go for adoption more than even the families. There are kids that need families and there are mothers — they also need families,” Albusmait says.
Albusmait says she never consciously rejected getting married; it just didn't happen. But she did want to have a child. When she told Reem in the tent that she was adopted, she says her daughter took the news with ease.
Still, it’s a complicated issue. Emirati culture is deeply traditional and single parents are incredibly uncommon, while adoption remains a contentious issue across the Muslim world.
Many believe that adoption is “haram,” or forbidden, in Islam. According to Natana Delong-Bas, an assistant professor at Boston College, and editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, adoption — as in taking on the family name and being considered a full heir with the right to inherit from the family — is not permitted in classic Islamic law.
“It’s believed that it’s very important for a child to know who their biological parents are and to be able to trace back to their actual family heritage,” Delong-Bas says. “But foster relationships, in which a family takes a child in, provides for them, and raises them in their own home …has been practiced historically.”
And while Albusmait refers to Reem as her daughter, she says Reem retains her biological family’s name.
Albusmait was apprehensive when she first told her family that she was planning to adopt, but she says that they’ve been very supportive, though at first some of her relatives didn’t understand.
Since then, Albusmait has spoken publicly about the path she’s taken, hoping to provide support for other women wanting to follow in her footsteps.
“Even the married people, they don’t talk about adoption. I talk about it because I have a message for my society…[adoption] is the most important thing for society to accept.”


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Africans Wonder What Pope Francis’ Visit Will Achieve for the Continent · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Rebel militia in Central African Republic. The pope hopes to bring peace and reconciliation to the country. Image released under Creative Commons by Flickr user hdptcar.
Pope Francis will make his first visit to Africa, travelling to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic from November 25-30, 2015. During his trip, the pope is expected to deliver public masses, meet religious and political leaders, and visit a slum, a refugee camp and a mosque.
He is also expected to use the occasion to talk about reconciliation, unity and poverty. The Central African Republic is in a civil war waged between the predominantly Muslim Séléka rebel coalition and government forces, which began in late 2012. His visit there will make him the first pope to travel to an active war zone, according to Global Post.
France has described the pope's visit to the Central African Republic as risky as the French troops on a peacekeeping mission in the country cannot protect him. But despite security warnings, the visit to the country will go ahead.
The speculation over what the head of the Roman Catholic Church will achieve with his visit is running rampant online. Here are a few of the common themes that are circulating.
Some wondered how he could impact religious tensions, which have boiled over into bloody violence in recent years. Christian militias in the Central African Republic have carried out ethnic cleansing of the country's Muslims during the conflict, according to the United Nations, and in April 2015 members of militant group Al-Shabaab killed 147 people at Kenya's Garissa University College, allowing Muslims to go free and killing those who identified as Christian.
Peter Fabricius, a security consultant at the South African-based Institute for Security Studies, argued that the pope should have planned a joint visit with a Muslim leader:
And so it is a pity that Francis does not have a Muslim counterpart who could partner him on his missions of peace and reconciliation among religions. In an ideal world one could imagine the ‘popes’ of all faiths gathering in conclave to address and resolve all the horrible religious conflicts which continue to cause so much suffering to their own adherents and countless others caught in the cross-fire.
Nevertheless, by his highly active and increasingly visible political interventions around the world in the name of peace, reconciliation and mercy, Pope Francis may just still be inspiring and emboldening the leaders of other religions to follow his example.
If not, they will have something to answer for.
Kenya-based blogger Daniel Ominde identified how the pope might transform other areas with his message of peace:
The high profile visits which culminate with that of British Prime Minister David Cameron early 2016 will go a long way in returning confidence among tourists. Frequent terror attacks in Nairobi, Mombasa and most recently Garissa University where 147 people lost their lives significantly drove down Kenya’s earnings from the sector which was for a long time the country’s biggest foreign exchange earner.
It is my hope that the Pope will use this visit to remind the world that terror is a problem in Africa just like it is in the Western world where hundreds of lives have also been lost.
This visit comes at a time when religious tensions between Christians and Muslims are at an all-time high following increase in terrorism activities. Unlike his predecessors, the Pope is known for pushing a conciliatory agenda and visiting a region with a significant population of Muslims should provide him with an opportunity to reach out to Muslims and set the stone rolling for a process of inter-religious unity in the fight against extremism.
This approach will go a long way in defeating the Al-Shabaab propaganda that has been aimed at creating tension between Christian and Muslims. This I hope will be a key message during his public mass to be held at The University of Nairobi.
On homosexuality, Ominde argued:
While we do not expect him to push for the legalization of homosexuality, Pope Francis will almost definitely encourage African governments to deal with homosexuals in more a humane manner. The Pope is on the record acknowledging that criminalizing homosexuality is extreme.
Homosexuality is a crime in Uganda, which can send gays and lesbians life imprisonment as well as jail anyone who did not report gay people to authorities.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Central African Republic. The Central African Republic signed the United Nations Joint Statement on Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity in 2011.
However, according to the Library of Congress “public expression of love” between persons of the same sex is punishable by six months to two years of imprisonment or a fine, and there are no legal recognition of same-sex relationships.
Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya where same-sex activity is punishable with up to 14 years imprisonment, according to Kenya’s Penal Code.
In July 2013, Pope Francis showed understanding and compassion toward homosexuals when he said,“If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
On the same issue, Emma Were Tinka in Uganda quoted the Archbishop of Gulu, Uganda:
Archbishop Odama: On homosexuality, ‘i don't think the Pope can divert from the teachings of the church’ #PopeInUganda
— Emma Were Tinka (@EmmaTinka) November 10, 2015
The Irish Jesuit Mission asked the pope to keep the plight of refugees in mind during his visit:
Consider the Invisible:We ask #PopeFrancis remember refugee messages as he journeys thro Africa @miseancara #Jesuits https://t.co/wyilVgqFTF
— Irish Jesuit Mission (@IrishJMissions) November 12, 2015
Civil war and other types of violence in Africa have forced many people to run away from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic, Mali, South Sudan and Somalia. Figures released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) show that by mid-2014 there were 13 million refugees of concern to the organisation, 28% of them were fleeing conflicts in various African countries.
According the UNHCR, there are 460,000 refugees from Central African Republic, 10% of the country's population, living in Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of Congo.
Civil war in South Sudan has driven nearly half a million people into refugee camps in neighboring countries including Kenya and Uganda.
Dadaab, the site of the world's largest refugee camp, is located in Kenya where an estimated 332,455 refugees, mostly those running away from Al-Shabaab in Somalia, live.
Kenya-based Abdimalik Odowa shared a cartoon of Kenya's prayer requests to the pope:
Kenya's prayer request: corruption, impunity, tribalism, insecurity… #PopeInKenya @StandardKenya :) pic.twitter.com/RbyUeunqkz
— AMB. Abdimalik Odowa (@AbdimalikOdowa) noviembre 11, 2015
Alvin Akoko in Nairobi pointed out three main issues he would like the Pope to discuss during his Kenyan visit:
@Pontifex, I understand you wont discuss ethnicity, but please address CORRUPTION, MEDIA FREEDOM & ACCOUNTABILITY #PopeInKenya #FreeNgirachu
— Alvin AKOKO (@akokoalvin) November 10, 2015
Comparing US President Barack Obama's Kenya trip to the pope's visit, Twitter user @TsarNjoroge observed:
When @POTUS comes to Nairobi, people are told to leave city but when @Pontifex comes to Nairobi, people are welcomed in city #PopeInKenya
— DUKE OF GATANGASHIRE (@TsarNjoroge) November 11, 2015
Kenyan government removed homeless people and street vendors from the city during Obama's visit to Kenya. This will not be the case during Pope Francis’ visit.
In Uganda, however, vending will not be allowed during his visit.
Reflecting on the same subject of the visit by the two world leaders, Emmanuel Ngumbi remarked:
when #Obama visited Kenya he chose to meet a few at@KenyattaUni during #PopeInKenya trip he will celebrate mass with masses at #UoN grounds
— Emmanuel Ngumbi (@ngumbijunior) November 10, 2015
It is expected that 1.4 million people will attend his mass in Kenya alone.
Pope Francis’ visit to Uganda will make it the first African country to host three different reigning popes. Uganda was the only African country visited by Pope Paul VI in 1969. The next was Pope John Paul II in February 1993. Until 1969 no pope had ever visited Africa.

author: Ndesanjo Macha