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An Interview with Anna Nemtsova About Being a Russian Journalist · Global Voices
Nevena Borisova

Anna Nemtsova is a Russian journalist based in Moscow and a correspondent for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. She reports not only about Russia, but also on other former Soviet republics. Anna has worked for the Washington Post, Pulitzer Center, Russia Now, NBC News, and many others.
Anna Nemtsova. Used with permission.
After the assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in February 2015, condolence messages from around the world poured to Anna Nemtsova's Facebook page because of the assumption that she and the Russian politician were somehow related. The common family name, however, was just a coincidence, although she and Nemtsov were born and raised in the same hometown of Nizhny Novgorod, a city which was closed for foreign visitors during Soviet times. Anna remembers Nemtsov as a curly-haired, charismatic scholar during her teenage years. She calls him the “first democrat” she had ever seen.
Today, Nemtsova works as an independent journalist in two directions: she reports on events in Russia for the West, and on the West for a Russian-speaking audience. In this exclusive interview for Global Voices, Nemtsova elaborates on the importance of Nemtsov's political activities for Russia, the recent sudden and temporary absence of Putin that had the world talking, and censorship in Russia.
Global Voices: How would you comment on the various hypotheses about Nemtsov’s death?
Anna Nemtsova: Honestly, I have no idea. It all depends on who ordered the murder. I cannot speculate about the reasons. Judging by assumptions published in [the newspaper] Novaya Gazeta, his murder was ordered by Chechen senators. [The newspaper] even mentions the name Ruslan. If it comes from the Chechen community, there might be different reasons. The first may be related to the cartoons of Mohammed published in France. Nemtsov said that journalists have the right to publish sarcastic cartoons. Novaya Gazeta even suggests that there was a list of people to be executed in connection with the [Charlie Hebdo] incident. This could be why he was killed, but Nemtsov's family, [including] his daughter, does not believe in this version of events. They have reasons to suspect direct intervention by the Federal Security Service. We can only speculate, [but] I suggest we don’t.
As for me, I've seen many contract killings, including of my friends. Back in the day, there were many assassinations that involved Chechens. So [Nemtsov's] assassination may be associated with [the Chechens]. However, it may [also] be associated with the fighting in Ukraine. I think both versions are possible, but I cannot strongly support any particular theory.
GV: What about the conspiracy theories that American interests are involved?
AN: I consider them the most unlikely possibility. For me, [this idea] is a conspiracy.
GV: How will the killing affect the Russian government?
AN: I do not think that the killing of Nemtsov would affect the government in any significant way. However, they are worried about the Chechen aspects of the story. For the first time in the Putin era, we supposedly have a conflict between Kadyrov and the federal security forces. Meanwhile, different versions arose, [and] a key suspect emerged. Among those who are arrested is Zaur Dadayev, who has served as a ranking officer in Kadyrov's defense forces. And Kadyrov twice praised Dadayev's patriotism. And anyone [else] who's been arrested is either related to or a friend of Dadayev. The whole process of arrests and all the special operations against Kadyrov’s people are very humiliating for him, for which he blamed the US and Europe. He says that no matter what happens, they know that Kadyrov is always with the president of Russia—he did not say Putin, but “the president of Russia.”
I would say that at this moment the law enforcement forces are looking for a solution that would be lasting for Putin, who can not choose between the Federal Security Service and Kadyrov; he values both sides. And a few days ago they came up with a solution. They found a man [Adam Osmaev], later identified as the commander of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion “Dzhokhar Dudayev.” This option is a relevant one, but there are people among the Russian liberals who do not believe in this version. This also reminds of the case in which they accused Boris Berezovsky as a possible connection to the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Berezovsky was out of the country at the time and it is always easy to blame someone on the other side of the front, not in the country and known as a Russian enemy. Nobody believes in this version.
GV: What are the consequences of Nemtsov’s death for the opposition?
AN: Huge. He, as we know, was a key figure for the Russian opposition and Moscow protests. He had all the necessary contacts, he knew whom to call to, how to submit a request in order a public protest to be summoned. And another very sad element is that he was a key communication leader among the opposition leaders, many of whom have conflicts with each other. And everyone immediately felt his absence. He was among the leaders with the highest profile – as a politician he was a former minister, governor, deputy prime minister. And he believed in the electoral process. There was much criticism of his lifestyle, but he remains a true democrat. I knew him since my childhood. The last thing he was organizing was a protest march, called “Spring”, a demonstration planned to carry the Russian flag. And he was sad that the national flag was worn only by Putin's supporters…His dream was to return the flag to the opposition. And it was a poignant moment when protesters, after his murder, carried the flag. It was a very emotional moment for everyone.
GV: Are there opposition leaders who are strong enough as Nemtsov?
AN: They all have strong democratic believes, and they try different ways of cooperation. I think they are still seeking a better cooperation model. Because the opposition is divided, it is its weakest side. Nemtsov himself did not pretend to be a leading figure. For example, when Alexei Navalny appeared, Nemtsov has clearly demonstrated that he supports him, he said in public and to him: “I will always be your supporter.” He had a very democratic behavior. And he made numerous corruption investigations that were quite impressive. We never heard any official denials of such reports. They were focused on very important things – corruption, construction works in Sochi, on which subsiquent journalistic reports came out. So he was even ahead journalists. For example, he sought to expose corruption at local level. He succeeded in coping with the legal institutions in Russia, he knew how to provide legal services to people, how to fight corruption at a local level. Which in essence is a grass-root democracy.
The problem in Russia is the disillusionment, disappointment in relation to democracy values. And Nemtsov strongly believed in those values. When there were consequences of this disillusionment, Nemtsov knew that, he knew how painful were those times. Therefore he devoted his investigations and worked really hard. He was a governor in very difficult times. And I believe that in Kremlin many people understand his dedication – two deputy prime ministers of Russia came to his funeral.
GV: Did journalists and activists fear for Nemtsov's life before the attack?
AN: None of us expected this. We heard that he had concerns, especially his mother, that could there could be a kind of retaliation because of criticism, but none of us thought it would happen to him. Of course, he had many problems, he had been stabbed during protests, arrested. But none of us thought he might be in a list of the endangered, a target for this type of… aggression. It was a shock for everyone.
Eight years in a row he had been ignored or blacklisted by mainstream media. The sad irony is that they spoke out about him after his assassination, after preventing his access for years.
GV: After his murder there were people out in the streets with posters saying: “We are not afraid”. Is there an atmosphere of fear in Russian society at the moment?
NV: If you interview people in Russia, many of them are careful in what they say. In the early years of the Putin era, people maybe were more open. But on the other hand, in the 90s there were other fears – the fear of whether they are safe. These are different kind of fears. At the time the crime rate was amazingly high – people were being shot in the streets. And this is no longer the case. At least now it is safe to live in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Well, not absolutely everyone. Russia itself has so many problems. It has always been difficult the terrorism in Russia to be kept under control. Terrorism attacks were huge problems that Kremlin had to deal with. It is difficult to make general conclusions, but I think there is a change since a decade now. At least at present, one can not help but note can travel to Chechnya, you can walk around without fear of abduction.
GV: You are in Sevastopol now, in order to report on the first anniversary of annexation of Crimea. What are the moods here?
AN: Journalists here, as in Russia, have concerns about what they say. In the recent months, there have been many abductions of Muslim Tatar activists. They do not feel safe in Russia. These abductions didn't happen before.
GV: What's the media situation in Russia now?
AN: If I have to be honest, the situation is not dramatically worse because there is Internet freedom, for example, where many things happening in the Internet. Indeed, many media were on the brink of extinction some time ago, there were problems last year, even but now media are back to their feet. There is always a way to find a media time online. The website Meduza, for example, is formed as a very interesting media. When, for example, the editor of Lenta.ru was fired, many journalists, its employees, supported her and decided to leave.
I have many friends who work in state media. They complain some of their articles are never published. I don't judge them because they need to make a living, too. And it is a matter of choice whether one finds funding from the state or otherwise. Either way, if it helps people, that's fine. And if we still talk about the same agenda and if in different ways we can achieve the same, with different instruments. In the same time, the chances to do independent journalism in the province are very low.
Many young journalists from different regions have come and asked me how to live with the fact that all the media are owned by the government. And I tell them to go out and find a strong story that cannot be stopped by any editor. A very human and true story that no media would censor. This is the way. My father for example was as a reporter for “Pravda,” but nevertheless he managed to publish independent stories.

author: Nevena Borisova


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China: Uyghur Couple Convicted of Violating “Abnormal Appearances” Rule for Wearing Beard, Burqa · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Screen capture of an online poster on “the Project Beauty” in Xinjiang.
A Chinese court in Xinjiang province, in the city of Kashgar, recently sentenced a man to six years in prison for “provoking trouble”, allegedly for wearing a beard. His wife was convicted of the same crime for wearing a veil and burqa that hid her face.
A number of local governments in Xinjiang have prohibited so-called “abnormal appearances” in public, including face veils, hijabs, burqas, long beards, and outfits bearing the crescent moon and stars. The ban was launched last year under a campaign called “Project Beauty” to promote what the state says are secular aesthetics over extremist religious thoughts. The campaign includes the establishment of village-based “beauty stations”, house calls by officials, a system of rewards and penalties, and a re-education and career-training program, among other things.
The man imprisoned in Kashgar is a 38-year-old member of China's Uyghur community, the country's second largest Muslim ethnic group, after the Hui. He started growing his beard in 2010, and has maintained it despite several warnings from the beauty-project authorities. The Kashgar court criticized him for disobeying law and intentionally “picking fights and provoking trouble”. Several others have been prosecuted for their clothes since the beginning of this year, according to a report from China Youth Daily on March 29.
Soon after news of the Kashgar trial started circulating online, however, it disappeared from the Chinese Internet. On March 30, the reporter responsible for breaking the story issued a public apology for “unprofessionalism”, but left no indication of what part of her story was inaccurate.
The microblogging service Weibo has deleted many comments about the case. Some express anxiety about the prosecution's arbitrary use of the law on “provoking trouble”.
Shifeike, a regular commentator on current affairs, warned that China's “stability-control measures” will get worse in the future. His Weibo post was deleted, but it was recovered by Free Weibo, a project that backs up the network's censored discussions:
石扉客2014：1、注意两个管胡子的关键词：靓丽工程和寻衅滋事。2、新疆局势已经严峻到何等地步，此案可见一斑。3、火山口上的日子不好过，走马换将的传言不会是空穴来风。4、关于未来，没有最坏，只有更坏。
Shifeike2014: (1) Pay attention to two key terms concerning beard control: “The beauty project” and “picking fights and provoking troubles”. (2) The court case indicates the adverse situation in Xinjiang. (3) It is hard to live near the volcano and the rumor about changing the leaderships there does not come from nowhere. (4) The future can only be worse.
The anti-corruption campaign under the Chinese President Xi Jinping has brought down many top officials in both the local and central government, including the former police chief Zhou Yongkang and state security deputy Ma Jian. It is believed that big changes in Xinjiang's local leadership are also coming.
As many Han Chinese now fear a major terrorist attack, some are in favor of the heightened prosecutions. “A Yumi” (＠啊Yumi) reposted a conversation she came across in Weibo:
@还是一碗泡面:政府总算开始干点正事了 //@李子暘:文化不是平等的，有高低优劣之分。只要有力量，就应理直气壮地消灭落后文化。 //@刘新征:保卫世俗政权，保卫女性尊严，捍卫基本的普世价值，穿“黑袍”并不是传统文化，也不是着装自由，因为一旦穿上，她就没有脱下的自由。
@”Still a cup noodle”: The government is doing something positive this time//@Li Ziyang: Culture cannot be equal. There are advanced and backward cultures. If there is the power [to do so], backward cultures should be eliminated in a straightforward manner. //@Liu Xinjeng: Protect the secular state, protect woman's dignity, defend universal value. Wearing a burqa is not traditional culture and it's not [a woman's] freedom to choose [her] clothes. Once they start to wear such clothes, they don't have the freedom to take it off.
Freedom and security are usually depicted as a trade off, when confronting terrorism. But does the Chinese government really believe it will strengthen security by imposing a dress code on a religious group?

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Oiwan Lam


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Favianna Rodríguez: ‘Artists are Risk Takers and Truth Speakers’ · Global Voices
Firuzeh Shokooh Valle

“No Human Being is Illegal” by Favianna Rodríguez.
The renowned Black feminist poet, theorist, and activist Audre Lorde once said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” This is exactly what the art, politics, and voice of Favianna Rodríguez represent.
The daughter of Peruvian migrants to the United States, Favianna, 36, is a force to be reckoned with. She is relentlessly active in a myriad of struggles: migrant, women's, LGBT rights, racial, class, environmental, and food justice. The list is endless and alive, growing by the day. Above everything, though, she is an artist—a calling that encompasses all that she believes in and lives for.
Favianna spoke with Global Voices via Skype from her home in Oakland, California. Her smile is warm, and her tone is urgent. She does not have much time to spare, nevertheless she is generous and engaged. We talked about her life, her art, and her politics.
Global Voices (GV): ¿Cómo te nació la consciencia? Do you remember a particular moment? I always remember this phrase from the title of Rigoberta Menchú’s biography. A possible translation is “when was your conscience born,” which does not really convey the same meaning as in Spanish.
Favianna Rodríguez (FR): I grew up in a migrant family, my family is from Perú, I am first generation. I would notice there would be a lot of racism directed at my parents. At a young age I was acting as a translator for my parents. I always felt that we were outsiders. When we moved to a Latino community, I didn’t feel this so much, but when we moved, it was extremely evident. I had curly hair, I was different, I never felt I belonged.
When I went to high school I started organizing around Latino issues. They would talk to me about racism and how young Latinos were viewed as gangsters. The narrative about my fellow peers was always very negative. Then I started learning about the Mayas, the Aztecs, and the contributions of so many Latinos to the United States. We organized the day of Latino students, I founded the first Latino club in my high school. This was also at the time of Proposition 187, the first time that a state had introduced an anti-migrant piece of legislation. It was horrible. When I began to understand systemic racism, it changed my whole worldview.
It was a combination of living in a very anti-Latino time (the 1990s), but also finding the power of collective action that helped me learn love myself. I began to learn our history. I didn’t feel part of the fabric of this country, and yet we were. I hadn’t learned how much economically we shaped this country.
GV: Do you think that anti-Latino climate in the US has changed?
Favianna Rodríguez.
FR: What I think has changed is that we have built a political culture, but we are still very invisible.
GV: Your art and politics combine migration rights, women’s rights, feminism, sexual rights, LGBT rights, environmental justice, racial justice, class justice, and more. Can social justice activism ever choose and select issues?
FR: First, in many ways I am responding to issues that have affected me as a human being, a migrant, a woman, having had an abortion, being a woman of color in the art world, I live these experiences in my work and art. We experience life in a very different way. What I create is a reflection of a different experience, what white men create is another experience. There is a value from creating that stems from lived experiences. I grew up seeing how immigrants diets changed as soon as they came to the US, for example, this made me realize that all of this was connected, food, labor, capitalism, women.
Art has the power to do all of this because art by nature is intersectional. Politics tend to be fragmented, directed at particular people, and to me art is about life. When you are an art maker, a musician, you are not looking to tell the story of one person, but of human beings. On the other hand, political organizing can be very specific. I think I am able to easily move between worlds because I am an artist, and I am not attached to a particular issue. I combine narratives.
GV: One of the themes that runs through your art and politics is eradicating taboos on women’s sexuality, and recognizing the power and beauty of sexuality. What are the intersections between sexuality and sexual rights and other forms of activism, such as migration rights and environmental justice?
FR: I’ve come to the realization that liberation begins with our bodies. We need complete control and autonomy over our bodies. The core of our independence is to have governance over our bodies. We are living in a time in which women’s bodies are being more and more discussed in politics, and abortion rights are being taken away, there is a real threat to our autonomy. Love and relationships are at the center of how we build our societies, and if we do not have a feminist view of how to build societies, with women and girl’s autonomy and freedom at the center, we cannot build a better world. Sex trafficking, for example, is one of the industries of most growth in the world. There is a belief that women’s bodies can be sold and objectified. If you look at Juarez, and other contexts of massive violence against women, the core is the exploitation of women’s bodies. This is why any transformation must put women’s sexual rights at the center.
In Latin America this is a priority. They are at the front line, they don’t call it reproductive rights, but sexual justice. This is not about reproduction but about sexual and gender justice. There is a stereotype that Latin American women are repressed, and that is not true. They include sexual workers in their feminist activism, and that is really important.
“Migration is Beautiful” by Favianna Rodríguez.
GV: How do you identify yourself? Do you feel the need to identify yourself?
FR: I identify myself as an artist, first and foremost, before I say I am a woman. Because for me art is being a critical thinker. I think women’s and immigrant issues are issues of humanity, and even though I embrace that, I actually want to be seen as an artist. Gender can also be like a jail. I hate that when I do street art I have to be mindful of my surroundings, be careful, and I don’t like that some things are associated with my gender. Artists are risk takers and truth speakers. My calling in life is to create. And artists should be challenging the status quo.
GV: I have discovered a powerful online movement of immigrants in the United States who make art, particularly through printmaking. Is there a historical tradition of this in the US? Do you think there is a “boom” at the moment of migrant political art in the US?
“Down with Machismo” by Favianna Rodríguez.
FR: Yes, absolutely, and believe it or not one of the most powerful printmaking tradition comes from Puerto Rico, and also Mexico and Cuba. I think printmaking is so powerful because it allows for multiplicity. In the 60s and 70s it was art in the service of liberation and education. The “Taller de Gráfica Popular” in Mexico was all about the creation of the multiple, moving away of valuing one work of art, and instead thinking that art should be distributed and shared. I would call it the art of the multiple, and now it also lives in the online world.
GV: How has the Internet contributed to your activism and art?
FR: My evolution as an artist began because of the Internet. In those very first days, adobe photoshop 1.0 and Illustrators gave me a whole set of new tools to create. I realized that I could have my work on a page for the whole world to see. The Internet was an open space to have your content and connect with the world. Also the DIY [Do It Yourself] culture really helped. I was able to learn so much. It totally shaped how I do my work, I believe in technology as an important part of my work.

author: Firuzeh Shokooh Valle


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Municipal Referendum to Preserve Skopje Shopping Centre Scheduled · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

The local council of the Municipality of Centar, part of the Skopje downtown area, approved a proposal to hold a referendum to preserve the authentic look of the iconic Skopje Shopping Center. As Meta.mk reports, the referendum will take place on April 26. For the referendum to be successful, it needs a turnout of 50 percent plus one of the registered voters in the Municipality of Centar to vote in favor of preserving the original edifice.
The decision is the result of a two-year-long campaign to save the landmark from a faux-baroque reconstruction plan. The Skopje City Shopping Center is known by the local acronym GTC.
“GTC requires nurturing, renovation, reconstruction, while not losing the concept and function. Project for changing the look of GTC means distorting the essence of the object. The investor who will reconstruct the facility has to know the essence and what does GTC means to the citizens. We have nothing against the reconstruction of the GTC, its authenticity as a heritage must be kept,” said Danica Pavlovska from the Association of Architects.
She added that the referendum is the most democratic way to solve the problems of citizens and is something that allows the citizens to be aware of their power.
The activist campaign continues, with an aim to ensure high voter turnout at the referendum, using the hashtags ‘I love GTC’ (#ГоСакамГТЦ) and ‘GTC’ (#ГТЦ).
Гласот на граѓаните ќе биде слушнат. Општина Центар пред неколку минути изгласаа ЗА референдум за #ГТЦ pic.twitter.com/O6uYyMgYvm
— Го сакам ГТЦ (@GoSakamGTC) March 30, 2015
Centar decided! On April 26, we go to referendum to save GTC.
The voice of the citizens will be heard. Municipality of Centar voted to allow a referendum on GTC.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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News and Search Websites Blocked in Yemen as Conflict Escalates · Global Voices
Abir Ghattas

Homepage of Voice Yemen, a censored news site. Screen capture taken March 30, 2015.
Just days after Saudi Arabia began airstrikes on Yemen in a regional effort to wrest control from Houthi rebels, Yemen's largest Internet service provider, Yemen Net, appears to have blocked several major news and media websites.
Houthis took control of state media in January, an act strongly condemned by the United Nations. This is one of the first documented instances of broad-based online censorship since the rebel group ousted the nation's president and cabinet in January.
The local chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC) for Yemen posted calls on both their Facebook and Twitter accounts asking followers to identify all websites that were inaccessible. Thus far, news sites including Mareb Press, Yemen Voice, Sahafa Net, Al-Sahwa Net and Yemen Press appear to have been blocked.
هل تم حجب موقعك أو موقعا تتصفحه في #اليمن ؟ يرجى الرد بكتابته أو مراسلتنا على contact@isoc.ye #Yemen #عاصفة_الحزم فضلا ريتويت
— جمعية الإنترنت-اليمن (@ISOC_Yemen) March 26, 2015
Has your website or a website that you usually visit in Yemen been blocked? Please let us know by commenting on this post or via email on contact@isoc.ye
Blocked Websites in Yemen – Photo via @albaheth4
many political websites are blocked in #yemen today by Houthies #freedom #IGmena #privacy #netgov
— Fahmi Albaheth فهمي (@albaheth4) March 26, 2015
Fahmi also tweeted a resource on how to circumvent the block:
تدوينة جديدة :أدوات وبرامج مجانية لكسر حجب مواقع #الانترنت لكافة الإخوة في #اليمن خصوصا http://t.co/uGkQ6bIj2G #Yemen #عاصفة_الحزم
— Fahmi Albaheth فهمي (@albaheth4) March 27, 2015
New blog post: Free tools and softwares that will help you circumvent the current website block in Yemen. http://t.co/uGkQ6bIj2G #Yemen
ISOC-Yemen posted a statement on their Facebook page regarding the acts of web censorship:
Statement by ISOC-Yemen on Recent Acts of Web Censorship
As an independent organization concerned with the right of users to access the Internet freely, the Internet Society Yemen Chapter (ISOC-Yemen) condemns and denounces the acts of censorship that have recently targeted several Yemeni websites. ISOC-Yemen urgently calls upon the Yemeni authorities involved to immediately unblock those websites and stresses that the current turmoil in Yemen should not be used as a pretext to tamper with accessing the Internet, which should remain open for all users to use without restrictions.
Issued in Sana'a on Friday, March 27, 2015
Internet Society Yemen Chapter (ISOC-Yemen)
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) condemned the act of censorship:
APC joins @ISOC_Yemen in condemning acts of censorship that have recently targeted several Yemeni websites http://t.co/JnNgNsjgqW
— APC (@APC_News) March 27, 2015
We reached out to Walid Al-Saqaf, president of ISOC-Yemen and the founder of Yemen Portal for more information. Al-Saqaf noted that the kind of blocking that authorities had used appeared suspiciously similar to what users faced some years ago, between 2005 and 2011. He explained that the only difference is that now the banning includes websites critical of Houthis, in addition to websites critical of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. In the past, Saleh had blocked Houthi websites, yet now Houthis are blocking websites that criticize their alliance (which Al-Saqaf described as “unholy”) with Saleh.
He also added that since the Houthi forces took over the capital and occupied all government offices, they were able to control all vital communication establishments such as the Public Telecommunications Corporation which controls Yemen's main ISP and mobile operator, along with the Ministries of Communication and Information, which control landlines and state media. Thus, Houthis can now send directives to any official asking them to take actions against a media outlet. Al-Saqaf believes that this explains what he says is an extreme pro-Houthi bias in state media and the blocking of websites that include any critique of Houthi politics.
Regarding the official warning issued by the Ministry of Information, Al-Saqaf described the allegation as “inciting tension” as an easy pretense for limiting media freedom. He added that this was the same pretext under which the Aljazeera office was raided and equipment confiscated in 2011.
Thus far, there have been no official statements issued by Yemen Net or the Ministries of Communication and Information regarding these acts of censorship.

author: Abir Ghattas


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Revolutionary Extractivism in Bolivia? · Global Voices
NACLA

A march by La Via Campesina (Ian MacKenzie / Creative Commons)
This article by Nicole Fabricant and Bret Gustafson was originally published on NACLA's website.
Across Latin America, the boom in oil, gas, and mineral extraction and export—extractivism—has intensified debate about the trade-off between social redistribution and socio-environmental impacts. In neoliberal countries where violent dispossession is intensified, extractivism is easier to critique. Yet in Bolivia, where recently re-elected President Evo Morales speaks of deepening a socialist project through what we might call ‘social’ extractivism, the ecological left is often at odds. Social extractivism uses money (rents) from natural gas and mineral exports to improve public infrastructures and alleviate poverty through redistributive policies. This positions the state in a key economic role and reverses, in some ways, two decades of free-market neoliberalism. If a lower poverty rate and 61% of the country voting for Evo is any indication, extractivism with a redistributive side has broad popular support.
So what is to critique? Critics have argued that extractivism, even with ‘social’ redistribution, destroys nature, deepens authoritarian politics, and furthers dependence on global capitalist markets. Critics charge that the apparent boom in the present masks the absence of a real economic vision for the future. In the name of Mother Earth, it follows, extractivism contributes to inalterable ecosystemic ruptures such as global warming. In contrast, those defending social extractivism argue that it is merely an instrument of economic transformation, necessary to address poverty in the present and lay the foundations for a new economy and society in the future. Compared to neoliberal regimes, it follows, Bolivia (and Ecuador) are socially and environmentally progressive, with the state using gas and mineral rents to promote economic diversification through industrialization, new local economies, and education for a post-extractive technology economy. Despite ongoing dependence on global capital, it is argued, this is the path toward twenty-first century socialism.
The debate has tended to stagnate around this well trodden back-and-forth, but we seek to further the conversation by returning our attention to social movement struggles—key spaces through which creative transformation emerges. Acknowledging the revolutionary opening created by the MAS, we consider the complicated new terrain of gender, sexual, racial, and ethnic inequities under MAS and “progressive extractivism,” question uneven land redistribution and access to resources in rural economies, and explore extractivism’s impact on the national labor scenario. Lastly, we conclude by considering the dilemma of North-South engagement and solidarity.
The MAS government has opened space for women even as the Morales administration has been criticized for reproducing patriarchal politics. Morales himself sometimes slips into the machista mode of speech – joking, for instance, about conquering opponents by seducing ‘their’ women. Yet the paradoxes of gender and sexuality in the context of extractivism go beyond ways of speaking or the formal inclusion of women. Certainly on the social and redistributive side, the widespread installation of natural gas lines in urban homes eases the domestic labor of women. Cash transfers for infant and maternal health, support of the elderly, and grants to schoolchildren have all contributed to women’s well-being.
Yet, in structural terms, extractive economies exacerbate gendered inequalities. Extractive regimes, compared to manufacturing and other economic activities, produce relatively few jobs. Most are semi- and high-skilled jobs that generally go to men. This repositions women as dependent on male earnings, much like the cash transfers reach women as mothers and wives. And as redistribution, transfers are significant but small compared to expenditures on the military, universities, regional governments, and municipal governments. As these more significant expenditures invariably move through masculine circuits of rent circulation the machista world of back-room, alcohol fueled patronage politics – men talking about conquering other men by way of their women – comes full circle. Thus, even after neoliberalism, natural gas fuels an economic structure and a patriarchal politics that work against gender equity.
Government policy can exert a counterweight to these structural forces, if there is a real commitment to ‘depatriarchalization’. And, to be sure, coinciding with the structural effects of extractivism, an ideological struggle continues around the politics of liberatory sexuality. Consider the recent abortion debate sparked by a court challenge from Patricia Mancilla, a MAS legislator. Reading the new constitution’s passage on women’s sexual freedom, Mancilla sued for the decriminalization of abortion. Two years of public debate followed, pitting this liberatory challenge against an alliance of evangelicals, the Catholic Church, right-wing parties, and self-proclaimed male revolutionaries of the MAS. In the end, the court ruled against women. Against this backdrop, feminist movements have renewed their struggles, even as some maintain critical support for the MAS. The issues extend into LGBTQ rights, domestic violence, and femicide. In a recent debate with Vice-President Alvaro García Linera, María Galindo of Mujeres Creando pointed out the ideological poverty of many MAS representatives, such as one who equated homosexuals to “enfermos mentales.” As it were, the revolutionary project relies on less-than-revolutionary alliances. Movements like Mujeres Creando are spreading into youth consciousness through bawdy public irreverence, street theater, graffiti, and media. Other women-led Indigenous movements like the Bartolina Sisas of the national peasant organization are also organizing around gender, the impacts of extraction, and small-scale agriculture. Women leaders associated with CONAMAQ (National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qullasuyu) have been active in conflicts over mining and the TIPNIS highway, as well as broader issues like climate justice. These gendered articulations of cultural struggle and political-economic transformation are a critical point of solidarity and creativity for the ongoing change.
Race and ethnicity are also sites of struggle. The much-heralded embrace of indigenous rights by Evo Morales and the passage of anti-racism laws are a step in the right direction. In education, the MAS has taken steps that are an affirmative action of sorts. Yet institutional racism and the daily realities of racist micro-aggressions persist. In the cities, the anti-racist struggle has expanded through the efforts of young people and intellectuals, including those affiliated with the Observatorio del Racismo. In the rural regions, Indigenous organizations, with some exceptions, broadly support the MAS, but also continue to struggle for territorial rights, autonomy, and full participation as citizens. Again, the often dismissive attitude toward Indigenous demands displayed by the national oil and gas company and some representatives of the MAS itself, reflects a troubling and familiar coloniality that is still embedded in the extractive project.
In the formal economy, the position of working people has clearly improved with social extractivism: The MAS government has increased the minimum wage, decreed double year-end bonuses, and increased public sector wages. Yet things are not all rosy. Continued talk of the natural gas boom and the nation’s robust economic situation tend to heighten expectations and inflationary pressures that fuel demands for wage increases, especially for public sector workers, the most significant segment of the ‘formal’ economy. Yearly wage disputes and strikes –by teachers, doctors, police, and army officers – continue. Although nationalization restored national miners and oil workers unions, outsourcing and subcontracting still characterize the extractive regime’s production chains. Conflicts persist between state and non-state mine workers. The COB (Bolivian Labor Confederation) is – depending on political winds – a sometime ally of the MAS. Yet the COB remains focused on wage and pension issues in the formal sector, even though most Bolivians—several million in fact—live without access to a formal income.
The government speaks of industrialization and new jobs. Economic growth and rent circulation have generated much-heralded stories, such as the nouveau riche Aymara bourgeoisie. Nonetheless, extractivism-fueled growth – 80% of the country’s exports – is low-labor growth. The job-producing non-extractive segments of the economy grow more slowly. Thus, the percentage of labor in the ‘informal’ sector has remained stable, at about 65%, for the past decade, leaving people, especially the young, to struggle largely as precarious workers–receiving less than a living wage, no pensions, long hours, and unstable employment. While the increased circulation of cash undoubtedly means that the ‘informal’ economy may also perceive a boost, young women in particular face a more difficult scenario. Organized labor is thus a core area of struggle that must incorporate and mobilize young people—especially those on the urban margins—as key agents of transformative thought and action. Otherwise, amid social extractivism, young people will face more of the future imagined for them by neoliberalism: as pools of cheap exploitable labor, political subjects useful for reactionary mobilization, or surplus bodies to be targeted for criminalization.
The dilemma of urban labor is compounded by the expansion of rural agro-industry. The extractivism debate tends to gloss over how rural social movements continue struggles for land and sustainable economies and communities. Globally, the Via Campesina (global peasant organization) and Landless Peasant Movement (MST-Brazil) have militantly resisted biofuel crop expansion (soy, sugar), arguing that it leads to further environmental degradation and displacement of small-scale farmers. Even so, soy and sugar are expanding across Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Bolivia has taken steps toward assuring food sovereignty, but movements call for land reform and new models of agriculture, such as smaller scale organic farming. Movements are imagining an alternative socio-economic and political order through “embodied resistance.” Prior to the MAS consolidation of power, this involved occupations of under-productive latifundio (large expanses of land). Self-education, consciousness-raising, and self-organization all contribute to the pursuit of alternative agro-ecological farming settlements.
The landless movement in Bolivia has adopted the Brazilian model and occupied lands in eastern Bolivia. Here some mobilize the idea of the Andean ayllu – collective landholding patterns and kin relations – to bolster unity. Against agroindustry’s tactics for concentrating power and wealth, rural activists hope that land occupations give rise to alternative economies to reterritorialize the nation, similar to the Zapatistas. Many of MST’s ideas have made their way into the new Bolivian constitution. Yet the Bolivian landless must navigate a complex dynamic with the MAS as well as internal tensions between individual and collective property. Movements want to remain independent yet rely on the state for access to seeds and technology. And, as with other political alliances, the MAS has reached a kind of detente with the agro-industrial elite. This suggests continued soy expansion and the solidification of the agro-industrial model—all of which undermine radical land reform efforts, an ongoing terrain of struggle.
From Mexico to Chile the extractivism debate has focused most on movements mobilized against or for specific projects. For instance, in Peru protestors in Cajamarca have challenged the expansion of the open-pit gold mine through demonstrations, road blocks, and strikes and have suffered from much police repression. In contrast, other communities support extractive industries, but demand more social and environmental regulation, mitigation, and compensation. Yet whether for or against, grassroots mobilization is exploding. Unsurprisingly, countries like Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Honduras, and Paraguay have moved toward the militarization of extractivism and the criminalization of resistance. Yet even in Bolivia and Ecuador some grassroots activism has been met with violence and a discourse of criminalization. These struggles will continue, however mitigated they might be by redistributive policies. Yet more importantly, movements are expanding into issues such as water, food sovereignty, and climate justice. New articulations – like Bolivia’s embryonic Green Party – are emerging. On questions of water scarcity, Bolivian grassroots organizers in both La Paz and El Alto are leading the way in questioning top-down international solutions and connecting to movements in other countries.
Can we, as activists, deepen the debate on these issues by exchanging political knowledge and experience across the South and the North? Is there room for an older model of North-South solidarity? Or is the struggle and the path to follow now flowing in the other direction? Movements of the South need support as they experience the impact of global warming on a daily basis. More than continuing to critique Bolivians’ clamor for the benefits of gas, the struggle against the extractive industries in the North, in particular fossil fuels, is the key place to begin. Here, our on-going challenge is also to reinforce the connections between racial and gender inequalities, the gutting of democracy and public space, and militarized extractivism that degrades environments and criminalizes struggle. As the #BlackLivesMatter and #Ayotzinapa movements expand, there are embers of articulation coming from the global climate marches last September. Movement work to bridge these issues – as is ongoing in Bolivia and elsewhere in the Global South – is crucial. COP 20 of December 2014 in Lima has led to non-action. The challenge will be to sustain and articulate disruptive and creative grassroots movements across contradictory political scenarios. In the case of Bolivia, paradoxical as it may seem, fighting fossil fuels in the North while engaging the progressive potential of a sort-of-socialist natural gas-exporting regime in the South – and acting to deepen transformation – seems to define our own less-than-straightforward political path.

author: NACLA


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Russian Journalists, You’re Now Being Ranked in Real Time · Global Voices
Will Wright

“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who gets the most clicks of them all?” Oleg Kashin (pictured above) is one of Russia's most read journalists. Images edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Success in the news industry is no longer measured by the size of a newspaper's circulation. In today's online world, clicks are king. Accordingly, a new online service has launched that ranks Russian-language journalists according to the amount of social-media traffic their articles generate.
Behind the new project is German Klimenko, the director and owner of LiveInternet, an online portal that offers a range of services, including website analytics and blogging. Klimenko explains:
Современные СМИ — это уже не жёстко регламентированный канал распространения информации, где роль журналиста минимальна, а власть главного редактора абсолютна. Сейчас это весьма свободная конструкция, в которой от журналиста зависит многое. Для современных владельцев изданий реальный и независимый взгляд на эффективность журналиста просто необходим.
Modern mass media is no longer a strictly regulated channel for the distribution of information, where the role of the journalist is minimal and the power of the chief editor is absolute. Today, mass media is a very loose structure, and many things depend upon the journalist. An accurate and independent measure of a journalist's effectiveness is simply now a must for the owners of media outlets.
Klimenko's new journalist-ranking tool is the latest feature to be added to his slick news aggregator service Mediametrics, which aggregates Russian-language news stories from around the Web, ranked by the number of visits to the article from various social-media sites. The information on the social-media traffic is provided by LiveInternet.
Mediametrics allows users to explore trending news on the Russian-language Internet in a variety of interesting ways, including searches by keyword. News aggregation can also be restricted by time period (within the last hour, day, or week, for example), country (such as Russia or Ukraine), region of Russia, or social-media site (Twitter, Facebook, Vkontakte, etc.). Another feature tracks mentions of major political leaders.
The new journalist-ranking tool lists each article a journalist writes by the amount of traffic it attracts from social-media sites. The above-listed filters can be applied, and clicking on an journalist's name pulls up a list of all of that journalist's articles within the chosen time period, ordered by popularity.
Mediametrics ranking page showing most popular articles by journalists from Russia over the last week for all social-media sites.
As Klimenko wrote on Facebook, however, only some media outlets currently tag their journalists’ articles in a way that allows for aggregation by the new ranking tool. His Facebook post explains how the necessary tag can be added, and it will be important that many news outlets decide to participate for this new tool to become meaningful.
Klimenko says he has also considered including prominent independent bloggers in the journalist rankings—an addition that would allow his new tool to capture a fuller picture of exactly who is driving news online.

author: Will Wright


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A Runaway Rhinoceros Rampages Through a Bazaar in Nepal · Global Voices
Sanjib Chaudhary

Image tweeted by Nepali blogger @janakdangol
On the morning of March 30, a one-horned rhino ran through a busy market and near a hospital, killing a 61-year-old woman and injuring several people, in a town 50 miles south of Nepal's capital Kathmandu.
Nepal is home to 534 of the world's 3,000 endangered one-horned rhinoceros population. The country's Chitwan National Park, 30 miles from where the incident took place, has 503 one-horned rhinos.
Nepal has earned international recognition for its conservation efforts and its innovative methods to curb wildlife attacks. The Chitwan reserve has the world’s second largest population of the vulnerable animal, which weighs an average of 4,000-6,000 pounds. Hunting depleted one-horned rhino numbers to near extinction in the early 20th century. Rigorous conservation efforts has increased their population the last few decades. Nepal has played a huge role in wildlife conservation. Between 2011 and 2013, there was no poaching in Nepal; not a single tiger or rhino was killed.
The Nepali news site Pahilopost, reported that the animal rampaged through Hetauda, a city of about 85,000 people. The rhino was spotted near Hetauda hospital, and went viral on social media. Locals tweeted pictures and videos of the rhino running around the bazaar before the mainstream media reported on the rhino’s escapades.
Rhino on the Run in Hetauda Video provided by Kishan Poudel from Hetauda. #WildLife @kashishds pic.twitter.com/OqTCqYUxFu
— Sahadev Poudel (@Sahadevision) March 30, 2015
Kumar Paudel tweeted:
Rampaging rhino terrifies residents as it runs through town in Hetauda #Nepal pic.twitter.com/eI64N5bi1u
— Kumar Paudel (@kmrpaudel) March 30, 2015
Journalist Ujjwal Acharya tweeted:
An one-horned Rhino creates choas in Hetauda, Nepal appearing in densely populated area. Pics via @Sahadevision pic.twitter.com/0mb6KBzTKn
— Ujjwal Acharya (@UjjwalAcharya) March 30, 2015
More photos from Twitter of Rhino in Hetauda Pics: Ardy Bajracharya via @lexlimbu, @nepal2006 & @janakdangol pic.twitter.com/7cFCNk761W
— Ujjwal Acharya (@UjjwalAcharya) March 30, 2015
In Nepal fatal wildlife attacks occur in areas close to national parks and wildlife reserves. According to a 2008 study, 36 tigers killed 88 people between 1979 and 2006 around the Chitwan National Park.
To prevent attacks, the government and conservation organisations have been running awareness campaigns targeting communities living close to wildlife reserves. Extra safety measures like solar fences, concrete posts and ditches have been dug up around vulnerable communities.
Communities close to wildlife reserves have also started cultivating mentha, a menthol oil producing plant, and chamomile, on their lands.The smell of these plants seems to keep wild animals away, and planting a field of these crops acts as a protective fence. The idea of planting these crops was recognised as one of the world’s 12 best innovations in the 2011 BBC’s International World Challenge Award.
As the local administration, park officials and local volunteers were busy driving the rhino back to the reserve, social media was rife with jokes on the rhino’s adventure.
One person making a joke of the rhino’s escape, tweeted:
होइन त्यो गैड़ालाई जान्ने भएर किन हस्पताल छिर्न पर्ने कत्ति न डाक्टर जस्तो..
— कान्छा साहुको नाति (@transcend_mee) March 30, 2015
Why did the rhino have to enter the hospital, as if [it] was a doctor.
Another journalist Kriti Bhuju tweeted:
गैँडा हेटौडा बजारमा shopping गर्न हिडेँ जस्तो छ, सब पसल बन्द गर्यो भने फर्किन्छ की?
— kriti bhuju (@kritibhuju) March 30, 2015
[Seems] the rhino went shopping at Hetauda Bazaar, will it return if all the shops are closed?

author: Sanjib Chaudhary


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Another Blogger Hacked to Death: Is Free Thinking Becoming Fatal in Bangladesh? · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

Bangladeshi police have arrested two men, allegedly to be religious students for the stabbing murder of blogger Washiqur Rahman aged 27 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Image by Sony Ramany. Copyright Demotix
A young man named Oyasiqur Rahman Babu was hacked to death on the morning of March 30, 2015 in Bangladesh, allegedly by religious fundamentalists. This is the second such killing in a month's time.
Rahman reportedly died quickly after being attacked on the street by three assailants, who disfigured his face with machetes. Although he worked mainly for a travel agency, Rahman appears to have maintained a robust online presence, writing under the pseudonym Washiqur Babu on Facebook and other platforms. Until his death, his legal identity was unknown among most members of the online communities to which he belonged.
On Facebook, Rahman had written several notes opposing irrational religious belief and belonged to a group called Atheist Bangladesh. He was active on different blogging sites including dhormockery.com, a satirical website of atheists criticizing all religions, including Islam. Dhormockery is blocked in Bangladesh. He was also a member of Logical Forum, an online discussion forum, and wrote on the local somewhereinblog platform.
The incident came just a month after the murder of secular blogger and science writer Bangladeshi-American Avijit Roy (see Global Voices report). After Avijit’s killing, Rahman joined the protests, condemning the killing and paying tribute to Roy by replacing his Facebook profile and cover photos with the text: #iamavijit and “words cannot be killed” (see below).
Screenshot of the Facebook page of Rahman.
Rahman's attackers mainly targeted his head and neck, similar to previous attacks on bloggers Ahmed Rajib Haider and Avijit Roy. The assailants tried to run away, but two were captured by bystanders and police. According to BDNews24, one is a madrassa student from Hathazari area of Chittagong and the other attends a madrassa situated in Dhaka’s Mirpur area. The fundamentalist group Hefazat e Islam has a particularly strong presence in Chittagong.
The killing appears to have been well-coordinated and planned. One of the accused confessed to the killing, saying:
ব্লগ কি বুঝি না, আর তার লেখাও আমরা দেখিনি। হুজুরের পরামর্শ, সে ইসলামবিরোধী। তাকে হত্যা করা ঈমানি দায়িত্ব। আর সেই ঈমানি দায়িত্ব পালন করতে ওয়াশিকুরকে হত্যা করেছি।
We don’t know what a blog is. We have never read what he wrote. Our religious leader said that he is Anti-Islamic. It’s an obligation to kill him. So we fulfilled that obligation by killing him.
Online activists and writers have expressed their grief and frustration over these recurring incidents. Exiled writer Taslima Nashrin tweeted:
Another blogger Washikur Rahman Babu was hacked to death today in Bangladesh by Muslim fanatics. Bangladesh is not a place for freethinkers.
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) March 30, 2015
Amnesty International expressed their concern over the events:
#Bangladesh: Horrifying murder of blogger must be ‘wake-up call’ #humanrights http://t.co/2BCFecqxgw
— AmnestyInternational (@AmnestyOnline) March 30, 2015
Protest have been shown by Gonojagaran Mancha (National Awakening Stage) on the streets:
‘Protest March’ against #Blogger Rahman killing. Rahman hacked to death today by extremist group in #Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/V5z1f667hh
— Dr. Imran H Sarker (@ImranHSarker) March 30, 2015
Rahman is rumored to have authored a 52-episode series for Dhormockery.com under the pseudonym Obishyashi (disbeliever), called “Jaw-crushing answers to insulting comments of atheists.” He listed questions raised about Islam, alongside answers commonly given to them, but paired the questions together in order to highlight how the answers are very often illogical, or contradict each other entirely.
Here is an example posted by International Humanist and Ethical Union:
Insulting comment 21: Islam is claimed to be ‘the best and the complete way of life’. Does that mean that slavery is valid for eternity?
Jaw-crushing answer: See, Islam is a humane religion. Slavery was not forbidden because of the situation of that time. But there is scope for ‘qiyas and ijma’ (consensus and reconsideration) in Islam. That means any custom can be abolished.
Is free thinking becoming fatal in Bangladesh?
In 2013, a group of religious clerics from Chittagong, led by Hefazate e Islam, submitted a list of 84 bloggers who they accused of posting blasphemous content online. A latest report in an online newspaper alleged that eight bloggers from the list have died due to obvious or mysterious reasons. It is not clear whether Rahman’s name was on the list.
Bangladesh is a non-religious parliamentary democracy, meaning there is no sharia or blasphemy law. People who identify as atheist have the same rights as other citizens. However, under Section 295A of Bangladesh's Penal Code (1860), any person who has a “deliberate” or “malicious” intention of “hurting religious sentiments” is liable to imprisonment. Government inaction and police ineffectiveness have also given Islamist groups a certain amount of impunity in recent years. Yesterday's news suggests that the country is indeed becoming a dangerous place for free thinkers.

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


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As Elections in Guinea Approach, the Opposition Raises Some Alarm · Global Voices
Abdrahmane Diallo

“People’s Palace Conakry”. Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
With elections rapidly approaching, the Guinean opposition is putting the pedal to the metal in its campaigns for the country's communal and presidential contests. The last presidential elections in 2010 resulted in a victory for Alpha Condé, who won 52.5 percent of the vote in the second round of the election against former Prime Minister Cellou Dalein Diallo.
The 2010 presidential election was historic in several respects, being the first time that Guinea could democratically elect its president since it gained independence in 1958. The first round of voting, monitored by international observers, took place peacefully, though several violent incidents marred the second round, as 24 candidates stood for high office.
Two candidates in 2010 challenged the election commission's impartiality in the second round and a voting trend based on ethnicity threatened the credibility of the election. Some observers today fear the same obstacles may arise in the coming elections.
“Cellou Dalein Diallo – Former Prime Minister and Guinean opposition leader” by Alpha Boubacar Bah – Personal work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The opposition is threatening to stage protests to delay the election, if the government fails to address the opposition's concerns before March 15. Authorities seem to be taking the warning seriously, as National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) commissioners—save only the rapporteur and director of operations (who are abroad for health reasons)—have been in Kindia, Guinea's third largest city, to tell the opposition to tone down its rhetoric.
A workshop on electoral operational planning took place from March 6 to March 10. In a speech at the event, CENI President Bakary Fofana argued that it's up to the organisation's commissioners and staff to do everything possible to meet the expectations of a nation that only wishes to vote in peace, in a free, transparent, and fair election:
Parlant des efforts accomplis par la CENI, Bakary Fofana a mis en exergue entre autres résultats atteints, l’identification et la correction des anomalies portant sur la cartographie des bureaux de vote ainsi que les listes électorales elles-mêmes et l’implémentation au site central, des données collectées en vue d’assainir le fichier général des électeurs.
Speaking about the efforts made by the CENI, Bakary Fofana highlighted, among other achievements, the identification and correction of anomalies in the mapping of polling stations and in the ballots themselves, and the implementation of the data collected on the central site with a view to cleaning up the general register of electors.
Bakary Fofana also reassured voters that his institution will rise to the challenge of organising transparent, inclusive, and fair elections. Fofana says he's confident the operational timetables for the local and presidential elections will prove reliable and accurate.

author: Abdrahmane Diallo


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Before the Border: The Immigrant Odyseey Across Mexico · Global Voices
Mary Aviles

The perils of crossing the border between Mexico and the United States are well documented, but for thousands of undocumented migrants from Central America, crossing Mexico is even more dangerous.
To reach the US border, undocumented migrants from Central America undertake a dangerous 1,500-mile trip through Mexico, where they risk being kidnapped, assaulted or killed by the drug cartels, gangs and even the police. What happens in that journey?
This animation will take you through that journey, explaining the threats that migrants face to reach the “safety” of the US.
Animated Press takes some of the most complex topics in the news and distills them into short and fun animations, like the Syrian Conflict, the Greek Crisis and the Net Neutrality, among others.

author: Mary Aviles


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Colombia Past and Present: An Interview with Author William Ospina · Global Voices
Laura Vidal

Colombian writer William Ospina. Screen capture from the program Contravía, available on YouTube.
What are the keys to understanding the history of Colombia and its Latin American neighbours? Perhaps the answers lie in the history itself and the ways in which events have been interpreted from one generation to the next. To that end, the Colombian writer William Ospina revisits scenes from the first years of the newly colonized region, drawing compelling comparisons with contemporary reality. Ospina shares many of his thoughts in interviews that are available online, some of which have been excerpted here.
In one of these discussions, vlogger Lorena Rivas talked to Ospina about the similarities between Colombia's past and the challenges facing the country today. Rivas sees the continuing exploitation of natural resources by multinationals as history repeating itself: a second conquest of the Americas. Rivas asks Ospina if the conflict between the desire to preserve the environment and the urge to transform its resources is a legacy of Western culture. Ospina sees it as a more complex relationship, explaining that what occurred was something more than a mere clash of European and indigenous civilizations:
Sería caricatural pretender que a la Conquista solo llegaron los enfermos, los locos, los demonios… Algo de eso hubo sin duda, pero igual, con la misma elocuencia, alguien menos exasperado podría decir que llegaron los paladines, los valientes y a veces los santos y eso también sería verdad… Sería más justo decir que a la conquista llegó la condición humana.
To say that the Conquest only unleashed the sick, the mad, and the evil is to caricature it…no doubt there was some of that, but at the same time and, with similar persuasiveness, someone less exasperated could argue that with it came defenders, courageous people and sometimes even saints, and this too would be true…it would be more accurate to say that with the Conquest came the whole of the human condition.
Ospina also says Colombia's history is the product of two different worlds coming together without any mutual understanding:
[El encuentro con las Américas] fue en su tiempo un hecho inédito […] nunca había ocurrido que dos mitades del mundo que no habían tenido el menor contacto por milenios se encontraran y que el ser humano se viera frente a frente con otras mitologías, con otras arquitecturas, con otras estéticas, con otras lenguas, con otras memorias…
[The encounter with the Americas] was in its day an unprecedented event […] never before had two halves of the world, which had not had the slightest contact with one another for millennia, come face to face, nor had human beings had to confront other mythologies, architecture, aesthetics, languages, memories…
Ospina reflects on history's lessons and the challenges that confronted America's early inhabitants in their daily lives:
Yo creo que no hemos aprendido todo lo que teníamos que aprender […] Yo creo que el conflicto prosigue. De alguna manera se podría decir que estamos en plena conquista de América, y que no hemos aprendido todavía las lecciones de esa conquista. Yo escribo estos libros [con el propósito] de aprender algo […]  Si la humanidad podría encontrar otros caminos para relacionarse con otras culturas y con la naturaleza, porque todavía no hemos aprendido ninguna de las dos cosas.
I don't think we've learned everything we had to learn […] I believe that the conflict persists. In a way one could say that we are still in the midst of the conquest of the Americas and that we have not yet learned the lessons of that conquest. I write these books [in order] to learn something […] If humankind could find better ways of relating to other cultures and to nature—because we still haven't learned either of those things.
Ospina is also known for his controversial essay, “Where Is the Yellow Stripe?” where he alluded to the yellow band of the Colombian flag and its cultural connotations in an attempt to unearth the roots of contemporary social and political issues. In 2005, these ruminations found their fictional voice in the novel Ursúa, part of a trilogy about the conquest of the Amazon. The writer spoke at length about Ursúa on the program Contravía, which is available on YouTube. In the novels, Ospina tries to recreate the history that has consumed him for years, that of a typical Spanish conquistador—a man who has been immortalized in the pages of history as a victor, despite his failure. One of the focal points of these stories is Colombia, a country whose grandeur faded through colonization and the passage of time, and a country which, according to the author, Colombians themselves “have all but forgotten”:
[En] la misma geografía [hay] una gran cantidad de elementos que ahora no podemos encontrar. Por ejemplo, los bosques inmensos, descomunales, que fueron todos talados, destruidos por tantas razones distintas […] En alguna página se hace una enumeración de los pueblos que encontró Jorge Robledo por el Cañón del Cauca, y son casi 40 naciones distintas, con sus distintas costumbres, sus indumentarias, sus tradiciones, y por todas las regiones del país era igual…
[Within] this same geographical space, [there are] many elements that no longer exist. For example, forests of unprecedented vastness, which were all cut down, ravaged for so many different reasons […] Somewhere in the pages of history, there is a list of the Indigenous peoples the conquistador Jorge Robledo encountered in the Cañón del Cauca, and the 40 or so different nations—each with its own customs, ways of dressing, traditions—and it was the same across the entire country…
As for the stories that circulate about the indigenous people who inhabited the land, Ospina says:
A uno le asombra que se siga hablando de la barbarie y del salvajismo de pueblos que tenían el refinamiento y la delicadeza para hacer un arte con el oro como el que uno puede ver en el museo del oro. El diseño exquisito de los nariño, el diseño de los tumacos, de los zenúes, de los taironas. La cantidad de objetos distintos, la reproducción de la naturaleza, la manera como hacen saltamontes, como hacen pájaros […] Era una suma de culturas riquísima en su interpretación del mundo, y el hecho de que no hubiera llegado a tener una gran arquitectura, porque el clima no era para hacer grandes fortalezas de piedra, permitió que cundiera, digámoslo así, la calumnia, de que eran pueblos bárbaros, cuando ya la antropología moderna nos ha revelado cuán refinado y cuán exquisito es el tejido de sus artesanías y de sus mitos, y sus símbolos.
It is astounding to think that people still speak of the barbarism and savagery of cultures who possessed the refinement and skill needed to turn gold into art, as evidenced by the collection in the Museo del Oro. The exquisite designs of the Nariño, Tumaco, Zenú, and Tairona peoples. The sheer number of different artifacts, the way in which nature is reproduced—in pieces such as the grasshoppers and birds […] These represent the apex of cultures that offered an incredibly rich interpretation of the world around them. And the fact that they did not produce substandtial architecture, because the climate is not suited to great stone fortresses, this enabled them to be, shall we say, slandered, vilified for being barbarians, when in fact modern anthropology has revealed just how delicate and ornate the fabric of their artistry, their myths and their symbols truly is.
Contemporary Colombian history and continued conflict
Ospina also comments on the stories and voices of the victims, which are usually left out of the dominant narrative. According to him, this absence is manifested by a lack of proper names, which is a way of erasing individuality and the contributions made by so many. The author sees a fusion of past and present in Colombia, where the fate of displaced persons and the tragedy of internal armed conflict, which has claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people since it began in the late 1950s, has made it difficult to forge a collective social project for the country:
Las víctimas aquí siempre son […] insignificantes. No tienen nombre propio, como ocurrió también en la historia, que los indios y los negros dejaron de tener nombre propio. […]  El genérico reemplazaba la individualidad, y ahí estaba contenida la semilla de un drama. El drama de un pueblo que es mayoritariamente mestizo, mayoritariamente mulato, y que sigue considerando lo indio y lo negro como taras y como insultos. [Sin embargo] el orgullo de ser indígenas, y el orgullo de ser africanos, yo creo que ha ido creciendo, pues buena parte de lo mejor que tiene Colombia es lo que procede de esa riqueza étnica. Y alguna vez a mi me parecía que siquiera de una manera caricatural […] uno podría decir que un colombiano […] piensa como europeo, habla como indígena y baila como africano.
The victims here are always regarded as […] insignificant. They are nameless, something that also happened throughout our history, in which indigenous people and African-Americans lost their personal identity […] The generic replaced the individual, and therein lie the seeds of the tragedy—the tragedy of a people who are mainly mestizo, mainly mulatto, and yet they perceived what is indigenous and black as a defect and an insult. [However] the pride of being indigenous and the pride of being African is, I believe, beginning to take hold, because a lot of what is best in Colombia stems from that rich ethnic mix. And someday, in our own version of the old cultural joke […] we'll be able to say that a Colombian […] is someone who […] thinks like a European, speaks like an indigenous person, and dances like an African.
Regarding the current situation in the country, Ospina has this to say:
Colombia es una extraña figura de la geometría con el centro afuera […] No nos sentíamos en el centro del mundo y eso es una ilusión necesaria. […]  Pero ahora la modernidad y el siglo XX nos han arrojado a la comprobación terrible de que estamos en el centro del mundo, pero no es un centro amable […] Los grandes dramas de la época atraviesan a Colombia por todas partes, de una manera central. […] La crisis espiritual que produce la drogadicción, el problema del tráfico de drogas, el problema del tráfico de armas, el problema de los inmigrantes la pregunta por el desarrollo, la pregunta por la naturaleza y por el futuro de la naturaleza. Todos los grandes temas de la época moderna, son temas centrales para la sociedad colombiana  […] ya no estamos al margen de nada. […] Ya somos una sociedad que afecta al mundo, no lo ve como un espectáculo desde fuera […] quizás por eso las soluciones deberían empezar a salir desde adentro.
Looked at as a geometric figure, Colombia is unusual because its center is located outside itself […] We never felt as though we were at the center of the world, and that has been a necessary illusion […] But now modernity and the twentieth century have thrust upon us the stark reality that we are, in fact, at the center of the world, and it is not a friendly place […] The great dramas of our time are unfolding all across Colombia […] The spiritual crisis that causes drug addiction, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, the challenge of immigration, disputes over development, the question of nature and the preservation of the environment—all the major themes of the modern era are central issues for Colombian society […] we are no longer at the margins of history […] We are now a society that has an impact on the outside world. This isn't a spectacle to be observed from the outside […] perhaps that is why the solutions should be sought beginning inside the country.
Ospina is frequently criticized for his political stance, for being sympathetic to the Left and the government of former President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez. He is also accused of exploiting the chronicles of the age of the conquest and giving a too-negative reading of the history of Colombia. Nevertheless, the ideas he explores have fostered a general reflection on the nature of identify in conflict, including beyond the borders of Colombia, as is evidenced in a response to Ospina posted to YouTube by María José Laso de la Vega Olivares, an Internet user from Mexico:
Trabajando la primera novela de Ospina logré dilucidar en ella sugerencias sobre la identidad y la memoria del ser colombiano y, más ampliamente, del ser americano. He escuchado algunas entrevistas y después también de leer “La franja amarilla” me doy cuenta de que no estaba errada en lo absoluto. Soy mexicana y, sin embargo, he entendido por medio de la narrativa de Ospina esta urgencia de apostarnos, los ciudadanos americanos, como los verdaderos agentes de cambio de nuestras sociedades.
Examining Ospina's first novel, I was able to elucidate notions about Colombian identity and memory, but more broadly, about being American. I listened to a few interviews and also after reading The Yellow Stripe, I realized that he was not wrong. I am Mexican; however, I understood from Ospina's narrative this urgency, the need for us to engage as citizens of the Americas, to be the real agents of change in our societies.
This was followed by a comment from Alejandro Triviño, who wonders about the tendency to view the foreign as superior and how profound the process of forging an identity has been for Colombia and Latin America:
porque tan solo olvidamos lo que fuimos ?? porque vemos a los extranjeros mas altos que nosotros mismo, porque fueron estos los que conquistaron no solo nuestro país… si no nuestra identidad. “ser como otros para ser si mismo” (filosofía) la construcción de nuestra propia filosofía [latinoamericana].
Why do we simply forget who were were? Why do we see outsiders as better than ourselves, because they were the ones who conquered not just our country but also our identity. “to be like others in order to be yourself” (philosophy) the construction of our very own philosophy [a Latin American one].

author: Laura Vidal


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In Zambia, a Tomato Pushes Joblessness Center Stage  · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

George Mtonga, a US-based Zambian investment banker “selling tomatoes” in support of jobless graduates in Zambia. Photo used with permission from Zambian Watchdog.
The tomato, unlike corn which has kicked off food riots in the past, is used sparingly in Zambian cuisine, and is an unimportant fruit in the landlocked African country.
But this week the country's former president's daughter managed to throw the humble red fruit at the center of a national political and economic discourse about joblessness. Following a protest by six unemployed University of Zambia (UNZA) graduates, over lack of jobs in the country of 14.5 million people, she said they should at least try to sell tomatoes.
Part of the six University of Zambia graduates during a protest against joblessness. Picture used with permission of UPND-UK Team
Zambia's unemployment rate is ranked 9th highest in Africa. Most college graduates aspire is join the country's small formal sector, which is believed to employ less than a million people. The bulk of Zambia's citizens work in the informal sector for survival.
The six graduates were arrested for their protest but it was the reaction from Stella Sata, daughter of the Zambia’s fifth president, the late Michael Sata that got the most attention. She wrote on her Facebook wall that the unemployed graduates should start their own tomato business:
If you cannot get a job, attempt to create a job for yourself. Don't get utuma [small] cardboard and write Graduate in Acute Poverty on them. Abanenu balaya ba shitisha ko tomato [your friends go and sell tomato]. It is a shame that graduates want to sit and beg for jobs while their uneducated counterparts run the informal sector and get things done. Umusebanya weka weka [this is shameful].
Even in the good book [bible] bali lemba ati [it is written] Learn to Work with your own hands so that you may win the respect of outsiders!
Young people should refuse to become the tools of propaganda. Much has to be done!
The backlash from the comments by Sata even spawned two hashtags on Twitter, #StellaTomato and #StellaSata.
"@tar_mak: #stellasata needs to sit down. Busy talking like she's crazy." lmao was about to tweet about it..her delivery was pathetic!
— Alinjavwa (@ah_leekin) March 25, 2015
Shout out to #StellaSata for having an opinion. It's not yet illegal to have one.
— Milan (@Milansichinga) March 25, 2015
A clear case of why those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others. #StellaTomato http://t.co/XSgq7aIkJz
— Lets Talk About Zed (@LTAZambia) March 25, 2015
When pressure mounted on Sata, she further posted:
So tempers are still high and I am probably the most disliked person on social media at the moment.It's not about what I said it is more about how it was said and WHO SAID it. For quite a number of things, I can apologise. For quite a number of things- I will not apologise.
To begin with, I am not my father, my father's successes and my father's failures are not my own. If my father had an opinion on a matter, that does not automatically make it my opinion. So I will not apologise for what my father did or did not do. That is not my battle to fight.
Also, I will not apologise for what privileges or hardships came with being the daughter of Mr. Michael Chilufya Sata.
Sata would only apologise for the following:
Here in lies what I will apologise for. I will apologise for pissing off thousands of unemployed people or their families or anyone who has ever been a frustrated job seeker. I will also apologise for I myself, publicly shaming the #Jobless6 just because I do not agree with their methods of dealing with unemployment. This resulted in those people who agreed with my view publicly shaming them too.
Supporting Sata, Brian Mulenga wrote:
“Selling” tomatoes in solidarity with the #UNZA6. Picure used with the permission of Jabulile Chileya.
Around the world students and recent graduates do grunt work to make their way through school or to tide them over while job hunting. It is like a rite of passage. Students and recent graduates wash cars, wait tables, pack supermarket shelves, dig ditches, work construction and so on. It is normal it is expected. This is not in Zambia but in the US, UK, Australia name it all over the developed world.
In Zambia it seems working hard and working up a sweat is beneath a University Graduate. Recently a young graduate went on social media and poured scorn on the idea of a graduate expecting a job from government as a right. The young graduate, the daughter of a famous father, was actually brought up by a single mother.
In a comment on one wall, human rights and political commentator, Laura Miti wrote:
When I heard of what the Unza 6 had done, I was damn proud of them. They did what all Zambians need to learn to do – say to government what's your plan for this crisis. Long have we allowed politicians to fight hard to get into office, give it their all with the sense that this is a temporary pain. We will be rewarded with rest and the good life when we are in power. Very well illustrated by HEEL starting office with a mindlessly expensive holiday – carrying so many people to Mfuwe for days with others flying in and out to pay homage. This country has been on auto pilot for so long. And then you arrest young men who use their right to protest against the systemic maladministration that is represented in the jobless numbers in this country. I don't know about every one else but I'm standing with those 6 in every way I can.
A Zambian living in the US joined in the protest by setting up a mock stand selling tomatoes and was quoted by Zambian Watchdog saying:
My name is George N. Mtonga II, Im an investment banker with Assurant Group. I held a protest on March 28th 2015 in which I set up a stand selling tomatoes in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in Zambia who cant find jobs. While this stunt was inspired by Stella’s comment on the UNZA graduates who protested the lack of Jobs in the country; the larger statement is simply that Zambia doesnt afford much opportunities for young Zambian men and women. We need to change our culture and steer it towards a culture that promotes both academic and entrepreneurial success. This is the government’s job. While the government is not always the answer for everything; the government is responsible for the conditions in which their citizens live in.
Seven days after Sata first made her comment, the tomato debate and Zambia's unemployment problem continues.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Kazakhstan Ponders 2026 World Cup Bid · Global Voices
Chris Rickleton

If Germany drove Brazil to tears by thumping them 7-1 on home soil, what would they do to Kazakhstan? Photo from nypost, labeled for reuse.
Despite an unimpressive showing in their recent 3-0 home defeat by Iceland, Kazakhstan are toying with the idea of bidding to host the football World Cup in 2026.
That became apparent in an interview given to Russian sports paper Sports Express on March 30 by Kazakhstan's football federation chief Erlan Kozhagapanov:
Да, есть такие планы. Сейчас проводим консультации с руководством страны, анализируем свои возможности. У нас экономика активно растет, страна развивается, так что почему нет? Мы хотим провести Зимнюю Олимпиаду 2022 года, а дальше в планах – побороться за ЧМ-2026.
Sports Express: Is it true that Kazakhstan may bid to host the 2026 World Cup?
Kozhagapanov:Yes, we have these plans. We are currently holding consultations with the leadership of the country, analysing our potential. Our economy is growing, the country is developing, so why not? We want to host the Winter Olympics in 2022, and then we plan to fight for the World Cup 2026.
Would the world governance body for football, FIFA, be inclined to consider giving the 2026 World Cup to a corrupt, oil-rich, authoritarian country with a dubious record on human rights and an even worse record in football? Look no further than Qatar 2022, which has been strongly criticised but is going ahead anyway, for the answer to that question.
Nor would the  ‘leadership of the country’ need much convincing from their football federation that they should bid for the tournament. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 74, would love nothing more than for the whole planet to know about the cosmic capital he built from scratch, where the hypothetical Kazakh World Cup final would certainly be held. If Nazarbayev is no longer alive by the time 2026 comes around, the capital — currently called ‘capital’ in Kazakh language — might even bear his name.
Will Astana see a Word Cup Final? Wiki image.
Like the news of the country's bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which Kazakhstan is going head-to-head with China to host, Kozhagapanov's comments were met by apprehension — over costs, preparedness and corruption potential — as well as excitement.
Writing in the comments section of Kazakhstan's Tengri News website, Ruslan said:
Хоть в такой мороз настроение поднял) чемпионат мира )))))) я уже представляю как это будет ))))
Even in this freezing weather my mood has improved) The World Cup ))))) I am already imagining it.
Freeman cited graft concerns:
На выделеные деньги еще год хорошо поживут чинуши
On the money they make state officials will live well for a year.
And 48 Ronin cited football concerns:
У нас есть футбол ? Или без участия просто провести?
Do we play football? Or we can hold the tournament without participating?
But perhaps the most evocative comment in response to the federation head's interview belonged to Ereke, who recalled Brazil's humiliating 7-1 defeat at the hands of Germany on home soil, a result that made a nation cry:
Все видели как плакали бразильцы в 2014 а мы в 2026 по ходу вешатся будем.
Everyone saw how the Brazilians cried in 2014. In 2026 we might as well hang ourselves.

author: Chris Rickleton


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Myanmar Rural Villagers Share Their Development Plans Through Facebook · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Community deliberations during the drafting of the ‘Village Book’. Photo from ActionAid
The Village Facebook project encourages Myanmar’s rural citizens to upload their village reports on Facebook so that these can be accessed by government officials, development partners, and potential donors.
Spearheaded by ActionAid Myanmar, the project uses participatory tools to empower villagers to draft their own “Village Books” to be used as a basis for recommending development projects to local and national authorities. ActionAid said “it is a valuable method because it identifies what the community truly needs, instead of what we think they might need.”
The “Village Book” is a document that contains information generated through community deliberations. It has a social map, seasonal calendar, and problem tree which explains the current situation of the village from the point of view of the residents. It also has spider maps and Venn diagrams to identify the vulnerable groups and power dynamics in the village. Finally, it has a dream map and action plan that feature the programs or projects proposed by the villagers.
U Han Soe Win of the Kin Pon Chong village in the Meikhtila Township recognizes the value of the “Village Book”: “I wished to have a book clearly presenting our village’s situation. I like the fact that all needs: social, economic, transportation, and others are portrayed in this book.”
ActionAid has facilitated the drafting of more than 500 books across Myanmar, and 129 of these books have matching “Village Facebook” pages. The group says the project is inspiring villagers to articulate better the problems facing their community, while providing an opportunity for remote communities to share their dreams and development needs not only with local officials but also potential partners from other countries. For example, the “Village Facebook” of Kon Dine Gyi succeeded in generating subsidies for an education program.
This video summarizes the “Village Book” process:
The photos below introduce some of the activities involved in constructing the books:
Pakokku village meeting about the ‘Village Book.” Photo from ActionAid.
The social map gives a “bird’s eye view of a village that shows the demographic details and the social infrastructure available for the people.” Social map of Sat Pyar Kyin, a village with 444 people in 124 households.
The seasonal calendar “helps people to understand the livelihood patterns in the village.” Seasonal calendar of Kon Dine Gyi.
The problem tree “is used to analyze the causes of the problem and the ways to tackle these accordingly.” Problem tree developed by residents of War Yone Su, a village with 72 households.
The dream map is the “village vision of what they want to become.” Dream map of Kon Dine Gyi.
After presenting the “Village Book” to a Member of Parliament, a woman from the village petitioned for the construction of a bridge in their community. Photo from ActionAid.
ActionAid acknowledged that a big challenge to integrating Facebook pages is limited Internet access in many of Myanmar's rural towns. The cost of smartphones is also quite high. Villagers have to travel to buy the devices or access Internet cafes, and phone card costs are often unaffordable. But the group is optimistic that the country's Internet connectivity will continue to improve over the next several years.
ActionAid also emphasizes that the “Village Book” or “Village Facebook” is not the answer to Myanmar’s socio-economic problems, asserting that “comprehensive development requires policymakers at regional and national levels to bring a macro-level vision for just and equitable progress.”
While national policymakers discuss the blueprint for progress in the country’s capital, however, grassroots initiatives like the “Village Book” and “Village Facebook” are also useful for promoting citizen participation in the development process.

author: Mong Palatino


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Nicaraguan Mother Recovered Her Child Detained At German Embassy in Managua · Global Voices
Mary Aviles

Ximena Gutiérrez, a Nicaraguan mother, recovered her child who was detained by his father at the German Embassy in Nicaragua.
Arun was taken to the Embassy's office in Managua by his father, a German citizen. Considering the unwillingness to leave the place, the little child's mother reported to the authorities and media that her child was ¨kidnapped¨.
Immediately, tens of people mobilized in social media in favour of the Nicaraguan mother:
Amigos y familiares demandan devolución de menor nica retenido en embajada de #Alemania en #Nicaragua #cronicatn8 pic.twitter.com/AqzZ1Be3wd
— Jimmy Altamirano (@JimmyATN8) March 17, 2015
Friends and family request Nicaraguan kid's return detained at German customs in Nicaragua.
German ambassador in Nicaragua Karl-Otto König, in his statements to the media, explained that both father and child have German nationalities and this European country's law says that they have the right to consular protection.
According to Gutiérrez, the child legally lives with her in Nicaragua since August.
Un hombre secuestra a su propio hijo, ideay, y el tipo se refugia e embajada de #Alemania, pero claro tenía q ser en #Nicaragua
— ivett blandon (@TeviTorrez) March 17, 2015
A man kidnaps his own son (what?!) and he took refuge at German customs. He had to be from Nicaragua, of course!
König and Minister of Family Affairs Marcia Ramírez agreed that it is a family and not a political-related issue.
The child was placed in the custody of his mother, according to the ambassador, who did not want to give more details because “it is a merely family issue.”


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Tajikistan’s Mosques Are Acting as Government Mouthpieces · Global Voices
Censored Voice

A mosque in northern Tajikistan. Image by Rob Cavese shared on the Kiva Fellows blog and Flickr.
When Europe's medieval rulers harnessed the church pulpit to guarantee unwavering loyalty from the populations they believed they had a divine right to rule over, they did not know they would be providing inspiration for Central Asian dictators centuries later.
In Tajikistan, where more than 90% of the population are Muslims, mosques and state religious leaders have become an efficient tool for the government to use against its political rivals.
After President Emomali Rahmon said that Islam does not need a political party, the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT) — the only serious rival to the government's power in Tajikistan — has been under relentless attack.
Writes Edward Lemon of EurasiaNet.org:
On Friday afternoons, imams across Tajikistan read their weekly, government-drafted sermons. The theme is often political, and often supports strongman President Emomali Rahmon. Last Friday, March 27, imams called on the faithful to demand the authoritarian government ban Tajikistan’s largest opposition party, the only legally operating religiously oriented party in Central Asia.
The Islamic Renaissance Party (IRPT) helped ensure peace at the end of Tajikistan’s devastating civil war in the mid-1990s. But Rahmon has steadily reneged on his promise to give 30 percent of government positions to his opponents in the war. Until a deeply flawed election early this month – which featured ballot-box stuffing and intimidation, according to international observers – the IRPT had managed to hang on to a couple of seats in parliament.
Official election results showed that the IPRT failed to clear the 5-percent threshold required to win seats in parliament. Unofficial estimates indicated that the actual share of ballots cast for the IRPT was much higher than that. Yet now, after unprecedented pressure, the IRPT is out in the cold, its future uncertain.
High ranking religious officials such as Mullah Saidakbar — Deputy Mufti of the Islamic Center of Tajikistan – issued the call to ban the the IRPT in the capital Dushanbe. Similar calls sounded in the two biggest mosques of Khujand, a key city in the north of Tajikistan.
As noted in an investigative report by RFE/RL's Tajik service, the four-page sermon titled ‘The Unity of the Society in Choosing the Right Path’ was signed and provided for Juma Prayers by an A. Mavlonov (the report did not uncover where Mavlonov works, but it is assumed he is a government official).
The author of the sermon wrote:
It is time that we correct ourselves and our society and not remain neutral about the future of our motherland. Therefore, I suggest that we close the IRPT because there is no need for it anymore. Alhalmullillah, we are Muslims, and that is enough for us.
Calling those who voted for the IRPT ‘separatists’, the sermon's author further suggested that Tajikistan only needed one political party concerned with the future of the nation, because one leader and one party is key to peace.
Whilst Muhiddin Kabiri, the IRPT's secular-minded and modern leader, has not reacted to calls to close his party, the party's political committee has labelled them unconstitutional.
And Kabiri's deputy, Saidumar Husayni, vented:
Бигзор, шӯрои уламо, кумитаи дин бо ширкати аҳли уламо ва намояндагони ҳизби наҳзати исломӣ мизи гирд ташкил диҳанд ва ба исбот расонанд, ки ҲНИТ бар зарари амнияти кишвар ва садди пешрафти ҷомеа аст. Исбот кунанд, ки воқеан камбуди барқ дар фасли сармо, фаъол нашудани корхонаҳои муҳим дар кишвар, вуҷуди фасод дар идораҳои давлатӣ… низ ҳама айби ҲНИТ аст, марҳамат, ҳизбро бубанданд
Let the Council of Mullahs and Committee of Religion organize a round-table with the participation of representatives of IRPT and prove that IRPT harms the security of the country and barricades the development of society. Let them close the party if they can prove that, actually, the IRPT is to blame for the winter electricity shortcuts, inactivity of important factories in the country, and the existence of corruption in state institutions.
The irony that imams seemingly serving the interest of politicians were criticising the IRPT for doing something similar was lost on some people. Lola, a reader of RFE/RL's Tajik service wrote:
Бархам дода шавад!! Номи поки Исломро ба сиёсат, олуда накуненд. Худ шохид будам, ки тарафдорони чавони ин хизб, баъд аз интихоботи парлумон дар Точикистон, ба як овоз мегуфтанд, ки дар кишвари мо дигар мусалмон намодааст, барои хамин ХНИТ голиб нашуд. Бинед бародарону хохарони азиз, ин магар истифодабарии номи поки Ислом бар манфиати хизбдорон нест?!
[IRPT] should be closed! Do not spoil the name of Islam. I witnessed how the young supporters of this party were saying after the elections that the IRPT lost because there are no longer any Muslims in our country. See dear brothers and sisters, is it not making use of the name of Islam for the goals of party-members?!
However, many people condemned the politicization of imams and mosques.
Dilshod said:
акнун дар масчид муллохо ба сиёсат дахолат мекунанд. Хукумат хар чиро хохад ба имомхатибон супориш медихад онхо дар масчид ба халк мехонанд.
инак имруз аз ин нома маълум шуд ки хукумат намехохад ки дигар хизбу харакатхо дар кишвар вучуд дощта бошад. ээээ гап бисер вале гап задан бефоида
In our mosques, mullahs interfere in politics now. The government tells imams whatever it wants, and they read it out to the people. This letter [referring to the Mavlonov's text for the sermon] showed that nowadays the government does not want any other parties and movements. There is a lot that I want to say, but it is useless.
Meanwhile Banda, a reader who claims to have attended prayers on Friday, called the mixing of politics and religious teaching a sin.
He wrote:
Окибат ин шуд ки кариб хама дуои анчоми намозро нахонда баромадем. Тасмим хамин ки дигар ба масчид намеравем. он чо чои фитна ва бози шудааст.
We left the mosque before [prayers] finished. We decided not to go there again because our mosques have turned into places of fraud.

author: Censored Voice