text:
Ringing in the New Year in Japan With Fresh Fish · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

“Winter has arrived in the North Country  (Hokuriku).” Photo by Nevin Thompson.
Observing the New Year (正月, shogatsu) is one of the most important holidays in Japan. For nearly a week, almost everything shuts down all over the country as everyone spends a few days with relatives and loved ones.
When many family members get together, it's common to indulge in feasting, and in Japan this means gorging on seafood.
With some free time during the holidays, it's typical to head to a local fish market to search for the perfect fish to share with family members who have gathered for the holiday. The markets also offer an opportunity to catch a quick and delicious lunch of seafood fresh off the boat.
Here are how some savvy shoppers spent the final day of 2015 shopping for fish.
Often called the world's largest fish market and famous for its pre-dawn tuna auctions, Tsukiji（築地市場）lies in the heart of Tokyo, just a short walk from the upscale boutiques of Ginza.
If there is a fish you want, Tsukiji will have it, and the wholesale market typically attracts hordes of visitors during the New Year's break.
the day of the new year's eve at the tsukiji fish market, Tokyo.
A photo posted by Masato Sasaki (@masato.sasaki) on
Absolutely love the #tsukiji #fishmarket in #Tokyo. So much #vibrancy and #yummy sights to see. #travel #traveller #travelling #lifewelltravelled #japan #tsukijifishmarket #market #wanderer #tourist #bnw #blackandwhite #blackandwhitephotography #photography #photographer #photograph #photo #photooftheday #potd #camera #canon #5d #slr #fish #people
A photo posted by Andi (@xxiamandixx) on
The fish that Japanese people traditionally eat over New Year's differs from region to region in Japan. Some parts of Japan may enjoy raw fish, while other regions will typically eat salted fish.
One winter delicacy that everyone in Japan loves is snow crab. It's also a fun and celebratory dish to share with family who are home for the holidays.
お正月用のカニを調達しに。 凄い人～！！ #築地 #築地市場 #カニ #蟹 #お正月 #正月 #カニ鍋 #大晦日 #newyearseve #for #newyear #day #tsukiji #fishmarket #tokyo
A photo posted by ゆーぽぽぽ (@up0x3) on
Searching for snow crab for New Year's. Look at all the people!!! #tsukiji #tsukiji market #crab #NewYear'sholiday #crabhotpot #NewYear'sEve
Crab is not cheap. Depending on the variety, a whole crab will sell for at least 7,000 yen (US$60), but 30,000 yen (US$250) for a whole crab is not unusual.
A photo posted by Mi—-  Ki (@mmiiiiiki) on
Red king crab, 30,000 yen (US$250)
Assuming there is space at the counter, while at the fish market busy shoppers will try to catch a quick meal of ultra-fresh seafood, like this “kaisen-don” bowl of fatty tuna belly, sea urchin and salmon roe:
アップ。うまい！
A photo posted by @toshi0toshi2000 on
Tasty!
[This “kaisen-don” has fatty tuna belly, sea urchin and salmon roe]
Fish markets are fascinating places, filled with nooks and crannies and plenty of interesting activity.
こおいう路地が好き #築地 #年末 #大晦日 #築地市場
A photo posted by おちりえ (@ochirie) on
I love these little back passageways. #tsukiji #year-end #NewYear'sEve #TsukijiMarket
The 2015/16 New Year's holiday will be a bittersweet one for Tsujiki market in its current incarnation. If all goes according to plan, the market will be moved later this year to a modern, new facility elsewhere in the city to make room for construction for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The old castle town of Kanazawa, which sits on the Sea of Japan in the heart of the “North Country” (Hokuriku) has its own fine market, known as Omicho Ichiba. The cold Sea of Japan is where most of the crab in Japan is caught, making Kanazawa and the other towns up and down the coast synonymous with snow crab.
カニ #近江町市場 #ゲロ混み #ギャン混み
A photo posted by egs0131 (@egs0131) on
Crab. #omichoichiba #holycowit'scrowdedhere #agh!socrowded
While Omicho market is almost the size of an entire city block, its concourses and passageways regularly get crammed with visitors.
大晦日は大混雑で身動きとれない… 前日でもいっぱい(笑) #近江町市場 #混雑 #身動きとれない #疲れる
A photo posted by Tetsuo Mori (@minira.m) on
It gets so crowded on New Year's Eve you can't even move… and it was the same way yesterday, too! (lol) #omichoichiba #crushingcrowds #jam-packed #I'msotired
Crab is delivered to Omicho market fresh from the port. You can't really get fresher crab than this unless you catch it yourself.
カニいっぱい！！
A photo posted by Makiyo Lin (@uneenfant__maki) on
Tons of crab! [Prices here range from 20,000 yen (US$165) to 35,000 yen (US$290) per head.]
Omicho market is also home to several “conveyor belt” sushi restaurants. While conveyor belt sushi is generally regarded as being cheap in terms of both price and quality, the restaurants in Omicho offer truly fresh fish that can't easily be found anywhere else in Japan.
Conveyor belt sushi restaurant, Omicho Market, Kanazawa. Photo by Nevin Thompson.
Sendai, northeast of Tokyo, is also famous for fish. Locals typically head to the Shiogama fish market at the port outside of town to find something to eat for the New Year's holiday.
友達の店に遊びに来たが人すげ〜 #Japan  #miyagi  #shiogama  #ichiba  #newyearseve #日本 #宮城 #塩釜 #仲卸市場 #塩釜水産物仲卸市場 #大晦日
A photo posted by Sei Satoh (@sei_satoh) on
I came to visit my buddy at his stall in the market, but holy cow what a lot of people! #Japan #miyagi #shiogama #ichiba #NewYear'sEve
Sendai and Shiogama lie in Tohoku along the Pacific seaboard northeast of Tokyo. This region of Japan is famous for bluefin tuna.
今年も来た。 元気をくれる場所 #朝５時 #海の幸
A photo posted by Nao Sato (@nappii_6) on
The New Year is just around the corner. This place gives me strength. #morning #5AM #bountyofthesea
[Container lid in foreground says “Shiogama maguro (bluefin tuna)”]
However, like any other wholesale fish market in Japan, Shiogama offers an almost unlimited amount of fish for purchase.
年末年始の買い出ししたった〜〜！見てるだけでお腹いっぱい✨ #shiogama #魚 #魚 #魚 #朝市
A photo posted by kanna (@syu0629) on
I'm buying fish for the New Year celebration! I'm full just by looking at the fish.
Japan's wholesale fish markets truly offer up almost anything, making them perfect places to find just the right ingredients for a memorable New Year's dinner.
おはようございます( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ 市場に出掛けてお買い物 混んでます。塩釜市内あちこち渋滞してるし、市場周辺も駐車場がなかなかな空かないです。 朝3時には駐車場が一杯になったそうです。 みなさま良いお年を〜 Shopping at fish market. I go there every year at the end of December. It is very crowded. Traffic is jam and very hard to find a parking spot.  Have a happy new year to you all
A photo posted by Megumi (@takuan66) on
This article was researched using Echosec‘s location-based social media search tool.

author: Nevin Thompson


text:
Trinidad & Tobago Greets 2016 With Austerity · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Oil rig, Trinidad & Tobago. The country's economy still depends primarily on the energy sector. Photo by CestLaVibe.com, used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Last night, at 9 p.m. Trinidad and Tobago time, the country's Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley gave a televised address to the nation about the precarious state of the economy. Against the backdrop of plummeting oil prices and overspending by the previous government, the current administration has had to implement some tough measures in order to get the country back in a stronger economic position.
With just US $10 billion in foreign exchange reserves and $2 billion of it already used this year, citizens will now be faced with the reinstatement of the property tax and the adjustment of value added tax, aimed at “cushion[ing] the effects of any increases in prices of basic food items.” The prime minister noted that “imported salt and fat dietary items, their local counterparts and luxuries will all be subjected to the full tax regime.”
Rowley said that the country's crude oil exports have fallen by as much as 70% and natural gas exports by 45%. “If that were not serious enough, our levels of production of both crude oil and natural gas have been falling”:
Without such increases [in production of oil and gas] it means that in order to sustain where we are now we will have to borrow substantially for the next five years. Added to the last five years this would mean ten years of heavy deficit spending and explosive growth in the national debt burden.
Despite the fact that Trinidad and Tobago faced similar economic conditions in the 1980s, and despite talk from several administrations about the need to diversify away from the energy sector, the bulk of the country's GDP remains reliant on oil and natural gas revenues. To this, Dr. Rowley said:
Fellow citizens, there is simply no way that other sectors of the economy can realistically be expected to compensate for the loss of export earnings from oil and gas; not in the short run (1-2 years) and not even in the medium run (3-5 years). In the long run, yes we do need to work towards building an economy with many different contributing sectors so that it becomes less vulnerable to these types of shocks. But the fact is, today, we are where we are!
But not everyone is willing to accept this reality — Watson Duke, the president of the Public Services Association, is a good example. Alluding to outstanding back pay that is owed to many union members, Duke says that he is “not concerned about the state of the economy or falling oil prices” once the people he represents are paid their due. But the prime minister has said that “success will require sacrifice and adjustment on the part of all sections of the national community” and that “the adjustment in spending that is required can be nullified by increases in wages and in profits”. Rowley explained in his address:
The Government will initiate Tripartite discussions with the Labour Movement and the business community with the objectives of maintaining employment as far as possible, moderating demands for wage increases, and discouraging excessive profits. We will also be encouraging investment in foreign exchange earning activities during the adjustment period. As a country, we need to approach this situation with a high level of maturity, openness and willingness to compromise in the best interests of the nation as a whole. I take this opportunity to appeal to the business community and to the trade union movement to approach those discussions with the national interest uppermost. These tripartite discussions will commence early in the New Year.
Public reaction to the address was almost immediate — on the Trinidad Guardian's Facebook page, comments reflected both ends of the spectrum, with some netizens supporting the prime minister and saying it was an “excellent address”, and others taking jabs at the approach. One Facebook user, Shabania Latchman, said:
He forget to say cut on his salary
She was immediately upbraided by Anessa Simone Hamilton, who pointed out:
Umm 5% of his and all his ministers would be contributed to Charity… He said so… To cut their salaries would have to be done through Parliament..
Another interesting revelation is that the country's construction sector will enjoy some measure of protection, with a move to push private capital into the housing market. The buoyancy of the construction sector is critical to overall economic health, as the industry employs people across every income bracket.
While netizens were anticipating a devaluation of the Trinidad and Tobago dollar, which currently stands at an average of 6.4 to the US dollar, Dr. Rowley completed his address without any mention of devaluation, which was a relief to many, despite the use of the clever hashtag #DeNationInAState.
One Facebook user, Keith Francis, summed up the situation this way:
The government spent the last four months doing diagnosis and triage. Tonight, the wound was bandaged and antibiotics applied. Between now and April, the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank will monitor, and will do surgery if necessary. But between now and 2017, the economy will be laid up and under observation.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
What to Expect From Russia’s State Censor in 2016 · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Vladimir Putin meets with a roundtable at the first Internet Economy forum. December 22, 2015. Photo: Kremlin Press Service. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Alexander Zharov isn’t often credited with being one of Russia’s most powerful state officials, and yet he is the head of Roskomnadzor, the government agency tasked with regulating and censoring the media (including the Internet). In the past, Zharov’s own deputy, Maxim Ksenzov, has outshined him publicly, making headlines for various controversial claims and threats, such as a remark in May 2014, when Ksenzov said regulators could block Twitter or Facebook “in a matter of minutes.”
On December 25, however, Ksenzov informally announced that he will be resigning from his post in early January. Four days later, Zharov stepped into the spotlight, granting a long interview to the news website Gazeta.ru, giving Russians a taste of what they can expect from their Internet censor in 2016.
The interview is extensive. Zharov touches on Roskomnadzor’s friction with Wikipedia (which has resisted the Russian government’s efforts to censor articles about illegal drugs), Internet anonymizers, reporting the words “ISIL” and “Daesh,” and the appointment of German Klimenko, Vladimir Putin’s new Internet advisor. Below, RuNet Echo summarizes the three issues Zharov discussed with Gazeta.ru in the greatest depth: weighing the normalcy of Russia’s media censorship, measuring the success of Russian censorship, and regulating Russia’s mobile-messenger market.
Asked why Russia finds it necessary to regulate its media so harshly, Zharov first deflected, saying that questions about the purpose of regulations should be addressed to Russian lawmakers, given that Roskomnadzor is only the enforcer.
Zharov is clearly no opponent of these regulations, however, and he went on to justify the state’s restrictions on the media, saying, “Our laws are fairly liberal, when compared to other countries and the powers they grant to their watchdog agencies, regarding the removal of materials from the media, for example, during broadcasts.” When Gazeta.ru asked him for an example of “laws harsher” than Russia’s in “at least one civilized country,” Zharov turned to the United States:
Когда на одном из кабельных каналов Нью-Йорка начали демонстрировать фильм «08-08-08» про атаку Грузии на Южную Осетию и Абхазию, примерно через 30 минут после начала фильма в студию приехал агент ФБР, предъявил «корочку», изъял носитель информации и уехал. А у зрителей в этот момент появился «черный экран». Мы знаем, полномочия агентов ФБР, как и полицейских, в США безграничны. Можете представить, чтобы инспектор Роскомнадзора зашел в СМИ и остановил трансляцию? Я не могу.
When one of the cable channels in New York started showing the film “08-08-08” about Georgia’s attack on South Ossetia and Abkhazia, about 30 minutes into the broadcast an FBI agent arrived at the studio, flashed his badge, confiscated the data storage device, and left. People watching at the time were suddenly left with a black screen. We know that the police powers of the FBI in the United States are limitless. Can you imagine if an inspector from Roskomnadzor were to enter a TV station and stopped the broadcast? I cannot.
It’s unclear what episode Zharov has in mind, though his description of an American telecast containing pro-Russian content vaguely recalls a Fox News broadcast on August 13, 2008, when a witness to the war in South Ossetia was cut off for commercials. (Russian TV networks highlighted the incident as an example of censorship, though Fox News did allow the woman back on the air to continue her criticism of then Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, after the commercial break.) The Russian film “WAR 08.08.08. The Art of Betrayal” is available on YouTube, where it has more than 1.3 million views.
Russian law bans the dissemination of information that assists or propagates the use of illegal drugs. Spreading similar information about suicide is also prohibited.
When asked about Internet regulations’ impact on drug use, Zharov refused to discuss the efficacy of Roskomnadzor’s censorship efforts. “I’m not acquainted with the statistics on drug use. For that, you need to ask the Federal Drug Control Service,” he told Gazeta.ru. He explained that his job is merely to put up barriers to keep young people away from drugs, though he admitted that dedicated individuals will always find ways to circumvent restrictions.
About other, less damning statistics, however, Zharov was ready to talk. Asked about Roskomnadzor’s campaign to block content propagating suicide, Zharov said, “In the first nine months of 2015, according to data from Rosstat, the number of suicides during the same period in 2014 dropped by seven percent, or 1,700 lives.” Clearly proud of this shift, he told Gazeta.ru, “The trend is stable. These are lives saved.”
In March 2015, Roskomnadzor forced the Russian Orthodox website Pravoslavie i Mir to redact an article about a cancer patient killing himself because he was tired of fighting his disease. Censors told the website that it is illegal to disclose the reasons behind a suicide in a news report.
In his interview with Gazeta.ru, Zharov said that it is acceptable to write about terminally ill people killing themselves, but he still insists on restrictions:
Писать надо про все. Вопрос, в каком контексте. Мне кажется, совсем не обязательно детально описывать способ самоубийства. Потому что сотни людей, если не тысячи, могут быть в аналогичной ситуации. Для некоторых статья станет провокационной. Не все боли можно купировать, даже получая лечение. И человек, находясь в таком состоянии и прочитав статью, может сказать: да, это выход.
We should write about everything. The question is one of context. I think it’s unnecessary to describe in detail the method of suicide. Because hundreds of people—maybe thousands—might be in a similar situation. For some of them, the article could push them over the edge. You can’t stop all kinds of pain, even with the proper care. And a person in such conditions might say, ‘Yes. This is a way out.’
Zharov also took pains to emphasize that Roskomnadzor has never issued an official warning to a media outlet about a report concerning suicide, saying that the agency’s communications with publications have been informal. “We’re not pommeling anyone over the head,” he explained. (The incident with Pravoslavie i Mir was resolved before a formal warning was ever issued.)
Earlier in December, Vladimir Putin’s new Internet advisor, German Klimenko, said that the messenger app Telegram “will either cooperate [with Russian officials] or be shut down.” Telegram is the brainchild of Pavel Durov, who also created Vkontakte, Russia’s most popular social network. He left Russia a year ago, after being forced out by business interests widely considered to be loyal to the Kremlin. In the past, Durov has sparred publicly with Russian officials, often presenting himself as a lone warrior against the police.
Pavel Durov flips the bird to investors he accused of trying to crowd him out from Vkontakte. July 22, 2011. His attitude toward Russian censors seems to be much the same today.
Zharov says he stopped using Telegram after December 19, 2015, when Edward Snowden criticized the app’s default privacy settings as “dangerous.” Zharov also expressed dismay about Durov’s promise never to bow to Russian censors. Zharov then accused Vkontakte of being an “absolute pirate resource” until Durov left the company. Asked about blocking Telegram in Russia, Zharov threatened that the messenger risks losing users to unblocked services, just as WhatsApp users migrated to Telegram, when a Brazilian court briefly blocked WhatsApp in mid-December.
Zharov also criticized messengers broadly, saying that they take revenue from telecoms and provide cover to terrorists and spammers. He advocated “agreements” with Internet providers, in order to establish messengers’ “identity”:
Никто не говорит, что нужно заблокировать мессенджеры. Было предложение ввести их в легитимное поле. То есть если ты, уважаемый оператор мессенджера, работаешь на сетях наших операторов связи, заключи договор с оператором, чтобы тебя можно было по крайней мере идентифицировать. Допустим — не дай бог — происходит теракт, и террористы пользуются определенными средствами связи.
No one is saying that we need to block messengers. There was a proposal to bring them into a more legitimate field, meaning that, if you, dear messenger apps, are working on the networks of our Internet providers, you need to reach an agreement with the provider, so you can at least be identified. Let’s say—God forbid—there’s a terrorist attack and the terrorists are using a certain means of communication.
According to Zharov, agreements between messenger apps and network providers are necessary in order to add the apps to the System for Operative Investigative Activities (SORM), which Russian police use to monitor the Internet, among other things.
Roskomnadzor’s chief blamed a lack of proper regulations for false rumors circulating on social networks on November 10, 2015, claiming that 18 suicide bombers were attacking the city of Kazan. (According to the news agency RBC, the false reports were actually spread using SMS.)
Zharov also faulted messengers for crashing Russia’s SMS industry, saying that apps like Telegram and WhatsApp have deprived the country’s four biggest telecoms of as much as 20 million rubles ($275,000), or 25 percent of their total text-messaging profits. This evaporation of commerce isn’t necessarily good news for consumers, he argued, saying that all apps have to monetize eventually, putting users at risk of unregulated spam.
Zharov told Gazeta.ru that Russia keeps adding new media regulations because the country is catching up to the media revolution, which has produced an explosion of user-generated content that now competes against traditional journalism.
While Internet users are producing more news and entertainment now than ever before, formal news organizations still bear the brunt of Russian censorship. In its final question, Gazeta.ru asked Zharov how news outlets, saddled by these restrictions, are supposed to challenge the newcomers.
Zharov told journalists that they’ve nothing to fear, if only they follow the rules:
Слушайте, ребята, я думаю, что если вы не будете пропагандировать экстремизм, материться, писать про прелесть наркотиков, красоту самоубийства и лепить детскую порнографию в своих статьях, то больше Роскомнадзор вас ни за что наказывать не будет.
Listen, guys. I think that, if you don’t propagate extremism, don’t swear, don’t write about how great drugs are or how beautiful suicide is, and don’t stick child pornography in your stories, then Roskomnadzor won’t punish you for anything more.

author: Kevin Rothrock


text:
Why Millions of Chinese Are Victimized by the Blooming Peer-to-Peer Lending Business · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Online lending platform Ezubao's investors uploaded protest photos to Weibo. The placards say: “We trusted China Central Television and have engaged in legal investments. We trusted the government and the deposit should be protected. I live in Shanghai and watched Ezubao's ads on CCTV. That's why I made the investment decision. I hope the government will return my deposit. I am an investor from Ezubao and I am just one of the one million. December 19, 2015.” Image from Weibo.
Similar to the spread of toxic smog, the protests against finance “scams” on peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms have been sweeping across China over the last month.
P2P lending platforms, also known as crowdlending, attract individual and business investors with promises of high rates of return. According to an industrial insider's report, by November 2015 there were about 3,769 P2P lending sites, but 1,157 of these sites were “problematic” involving fraudulent investments.
One of the problematic sites under investigation is Ezubao, the biggest online finance firm in China which has built its reputation through a series of ads on state-run China Central Television (CCTV). The site attracted more than 74 billion yuan (approximately US$11.5 billion) from about one million small investors in a span of 18 months. Since authorities raided the site's office on December 8, there have been no reports on the investigation and the investors have yet to find out the whereabouts of the money they handed over.
Since December 9, tens of thousands of small investors from Ezubao have gathered outside the company's offices in various provinces demanding the return of their investments. On December 19, hundreds of investors protested outside the Beijing World Trade Center and some were arrested by police. On December 22, protesters then demonstrated outside the headquarters of CCTV for their misleading television ads that lured people to invest their savings in Ezubao.
However, news of the protests went unreported on mainstream media outlets and censored on social media platforms, as pointed out by user Gushequ on Chinese Twitter-like Weibo:
今年连续炸了几个百亿级别的理财大坑，泛亚，e租宝，大大，mmm…很多人说好像都没事了嘛，真没有，只是公众看不到而已。前些天还有近百人在cctv楼下拉横幅骂，各个地方都有维稳冲突，微信群里全是鬼哭狼嚎的视频，只是微博降噪工作到位，让大家以为这些坑都处理妥帖了，群众情绪稳定￼
A number of big online finance platforms, including Fanya, Ezubao, Dada, MMM…, which had attracted tens of billions of investments, have exploded… Many believe the incidents have little impact. Well, the public cannot see the impact. [The protesters] were displaying banners outside CCTV headquarters the other day and many mass protests had taken place across the country. In a WeChat group, videos of people's desperate cries were circulating around, but Weibo has filtered their voices. That's why people have the impression that [the authorities] have handled the explosion well and the situation has been stabilized.
Apart from media censorship, the police received instructions to contain the national protests over Christmas. @hailu-1121 posted the instruction on Twitter:
公安部关于e租宝事件下达的六个不发生要求：不发生规模性进京集访，不发生围堵党政机关和重点部位的群体性事件，不发生多地联动的大规模聚集，不发生打砸哄抢公司财物的严重犯罪，不发生个人极端暴力事件，不发生影响政治稳定干扰专案侦办的问题。 pic.twitter.com/aQu0D7JShS
— 海璐 (@hailu_1121) December 25, 2015
The public security department has issued six instructions on the Ezubao incident: prevent petitions taking place in Beijing; prevent mass incidents that result in the occupation of party and government offices; prevent cross-regional mass protests; prevent destructive behaviors that target the company offices; prevent individual extremist behavior; prevent acts that affect political stability and the investigation.
Protests of Ezubao's investors reportedly broken out in at least seven provinces and 34 cities all across the country during Christmas, but their demands that investigation reports be made public and they receive a return of their deposit remain unanswered.
Ezubao's investors protested against CCTV's misleading ads on December 22. Image from Twitter user @wickedonna
Online lending has become the country's third major investment tool. The crowdlending platforms attract small investors with interest rates as high as 10-20%, but the lending businesses’ bad debt rate is also as high as 30%. It was only a matter of time before the sector exploded in some way.
Why would the government allow such an operation to exist in the first place? A business insider explained the economic policy and political motivation behind the blooming of China's online finance business:
现在经济下行压力很大，企业都赚不到钱，传统行业产能过剩，新兴行业还不能自给自足。大家都很需要钱，但是如果这些钱都靠银行来解决，那么银行就要产生大量的坏账。可是银行是政府的亲儿子，政府不会允许银行倒闭，政府也不愿意银行去背那么多的坏账，因此银行不会把钱借给这些客户。可是企业没钱就会破产，一旦破产就会产生大量的失业人口，政府更不愿意看到失业人口跑到自己门口闹事。那么唯一的办法，就是让老百姓去给这些低信用企业和个人输血。这样一来，银行不用背坏账，僵尸企业也能活命，只是风险全部转嫁给了投资人，但这也没办法，你们愿意支持互联网创新，这是创新所必须付出的代价。我觉得这才是真正的“为国接盘”！但是，你愿意吗？很明显你不愿意，那么没关系，银行的利息一降再降，逼着你把钱投去那些高息平台。
The pressure of an economic downturn is huge and even big corporations cannot make money. Conventional business faces overproduction pressure while emerging business has not worked out a sustainable model. Everyone needs money. But if the banks were to lend all this money, the bad debt rate would be huge. The banks are directly affiliated with the government and they cannot fall. The government doesn't want the banks to take up so much bad debt. That's why the banks refuse to lend money to these clients. However, if these businesses do not have cash flow, they would be bankrupt and high unemployment would follow. The government doesn't want to see people protesting. The only way out is to let ordinary people lend money to low credit businesses and individuals. In this way, the banks do not need to take up the bad debt, withering businesses manage to survive, the risk goes to the investors. Well, since you support Internet innovation, this is the price. And this is a [patriotic act] of “taking up the country's risk”? Do you really want to do so? Obviously not. But once the banks lower their interest rates, you certainly put your money on the high-interest platforms.
On December 28, Chinese authorities released the draft of a new regulation on P2P lending, which would require the online finance platform to leave investors’ money in the custody of banking institutions and to set upper limits on each deal and on a borrower's total outstanding loans.
The new regulation seems to suggest that the problematic P2P lending sites have been operating illegally all these years. Yet, it has been the government's policy to encourage loan services to small businesses. Many netizens, in particular the victims of online financial scams, have criticized the new policy for shrouding the responsibility of the regulator.
On Chinese Twitter-like Weibo, the outrage are was palpable in the comment section of the news thread:
马后炮，现在说这个，e租宝的事件怎么说？那么多政府的门脸做广告，最后告诉我们这个平台是犯法的。
It is too late to talk about this. Why not comment on Ezubao? It had ads on the doors of government offices [meaning government-affiliated media outlets], and now you tell me all these platforms are illegal.
央视国家的喉舌，央视黄金广告，动车冠名e租宝号，都不需要严格审批吗？？？不要开国际性的大玩笑！！！我们相信党，相信政府，才会选择融资租赁行业的投资！！！
TV spots broadcast at the peak hours of CCTV, the government's major mouthpiece, ad posters stuck on trains. All these ads have to be approved by the government. Don't make this an international joke. We choose to invest in the online lending services because we believe in the party and the government !!!
请政府给e投资人公开透明的查证过程~我们需要官方声音~
Please release a transparent and public investigation report on all these online investment companies. We need to hear from the government.
事后诸葛亮，我们这些e万家庭就给你们当炮灰的么？之前都干嘛去了？你们还有公信力吗？我们还有安全感吗？社会还能在安定吗？习大大知道我们在受折磨吗？？？？
Now playing smart [after making all the mistakes] and what about us — tens of thousands families? We're to be scattered to the wind? What have you been working on? Do you even have credibility? How can we feel safe again? How can society be stable? Does Uncle Xi [Jinping, president of China] know that we are suffering???

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
For Southeast Asia, 2015 Was a Year of Corruption Scandals · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Bersih (change) rally in Malaysia gathered more than 100,000 people, the biggest political demonstration in Southeast Asia in 2015. The protesters were demanding the resignation of the Malaysian prime minister who was being implicated in a corruption scandal. Photo by Emran Mohd Tamil, Copyright @Demotix (8/29/2015)
Three issues grabbed the headlines in Southeast Asia in 2015, namely, the historic electoral defeat of the military-backed party in Myanmar, the Indonesian haze caused by forest fires, and the corruption scandals involving leaders of the ruling parties.
In Malaysia, the prime minister is accused of pocketing more than 600 million US dollars from anomalous bank transactions involving the country’s state-run investment firm. In Thailand, the junta which grabbed power in 2014 is facing allegation that it built a graft-ridden park. In Indonesia, the House speaker resigned his post after he was implicated in an extortion scandal. And in the Philippines, the vice president is hounded by plunder charges.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak admitted that he has 600 million dollars in his bank but denied that the funds came from state coffers. He claimed that a supporter from the Middle East donated the money for the election campaign of the ruling party. Many doubted his explanation and called for his resignation. The issue generated funny Internet memes mocking the prime minister while large protests were organized across the country.
The Wall Street Journal published an investigative piece on the questionable bank transfers involving the prime minister and 1MDB, the state-owned investment firm:
#1MDBMovies : Popcorn ready guys pic.twitter.com/jUh8yWhzWp
— Pemegang Kuali (@rzmil) July 8, 2015
In Thailand, the junta’s anti-corruption pledge became less credible after allegations surfaced that large kickbacks were demanded for the construction of the Rajabhakti Park in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. The junta commissioned the construction of the park featuring seven giant statues of popular kings in honor of the monarchy. An army general acknowledged the anomaly which led to a formal investigation although government spokespersons denied that the park is overpriced. Last month, the junta ordered the indefinite closure of the park to prevent protesters from staging political actions in the area. Meanwhile, Facebook users who shared and liked infographics about the park scandal were charged for insulting the monarchy, a crime that can result to several years of incarceration.
New inquiry into Rajabhakti Park https://t.co/nTUSmiYMSv pic.twitter.com/rIPJIZU41a
— Bangkok Post (@BangkokPostNews) November 24, 2015
This cartoon shows the junta leader preventing activists from holding a protest in the park
cartoon of the day : Rajabhakti Park corruption scandal pic.twitter.com/YaU6jtOWIG
— stephff art (@stephffart) December 8, 2015
In Indonesia, House Speaker Setya Novanto is accused of asking for a 20 percent stake in the Freeport mining worth 4 billion US dollars in exchange of a contract allowing the company to continue operating in the country. An audio recording between Novanto and Freeport executives was presented as evidence against the politician. Novanto admitted that he made the demand but insisted that he was only joking. He was being investigated for ethics violation when he stepped down as House speaker last December 16. Novanto’s behavior was widely condemned in Indonesia.
Novanto is no stranger to controversy. Last September, he was criticized for appearing at the political rally of United States presidential candidate Donald Trump
Donald Trump: Do they like me in Indonesia? Setya Novanto: Yes, highly Fadli Zon: [Trump]'s a friend of Indonesia http://t.co/xozyL572hc
— Yenni Kwok (@yennikwok) September 4, 2015
In the Philippines, Vice President Jejomar Binay is facing several corruption charges in connection to alleged anomalous contracts he signed when he was still mayor of Makati City, the country’s financial center. Binay, one of the frontrunners in the 2016 presidential election, described the corruption cases as politically-motivated. He questioned the string of cases filed against him, which he said was made to disqualify him as a candidate in the election.
Here's one of the many Internet memes alluding to Vice President Binay's corruption cases:
Down with corruption…..down Binay pic.twitter.com/uFA1ZJQbEZ
— Caste (@castewyo_rene) August 8, 2015
2015 will be remembered as the year when Myanmar voted for change. But elsewhere in the Southeast Asian region, it’s politics as usual for politicians who are accused of abusing their power for personal gain.

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Politician Invites TV Cameras to Film Him Buying a Russian Car. They Also Filmed His Watch, Which Is Worth More Than the Car. · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Dueling luxury watches. Vitaly Milonov's Maxi Marine Chronograph (left) vs. Dmitry Peskov's Richard Mille. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
When St. Petersburg city councilman Vitaly Milonov brought along a television crew to film him buying a Russian-made car, he probably didn’t expect his wristwatch to be the story. And yet that is precisely what happened, mainly because his timepiece appears to be a Maxi Marine Chronograph (worth between $8,500 and $12,000, depending on the exact model). Meanwhile, the car Milonov bought—a Lada Vesta—cost just $9,000 (658,000 rubles). In other words, his watch might be worth more than his new car, the purchase of which he staged for the public, as a patriotic gesture of support for Russia’s struggling economy.
Milonov put down half the money for the car and agreed to make monthly payments for the next three years to settle the balance. According to the news agency LifeNews, Milonov earned almost 3.5 million rubles ($48,000, by today’s exchange rate) in 2014. His assets included a small plot of land, a 12,000-square-foot apartment, and another property then under construction.
Dmitry Sukharev, a member of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (a transparency group), was one of the first to draw attention to Milonov’s watch, tweeting on December 30 that the timepiece is now worth more than 1 million rubles, thanks to the depreciation of Russia’s currency. A Twitter account unofficially representing Milonov soon responded, denying the information and calling Sukharev a “fiction-monger.”
О. Милонов себе часики прикупил занедорого. Пока рубль падал – стоимость часов за миллион перевалила pic.twitter.com/DEi4W46T20
— Дмитрий Сухарев (@D_Suharev) December 30, 2015
Ooh. Milonov bought himself a none-too-cheap watch. Thanks to the ruble's fall, the the watch is now worth more than a million [rubles].
This is not the first time the public has noticed Milonov’s expensive wristwear. In January 2013, Danill Gumin wondered on Twitter if Milonov owned a Patek Philippe (which retail for as much as $990,000). On April 3, 2015, Andrey Zakharov posted a screencap from a YouTube video, showing Milonov with the Maxi Marine Chronograph he also appeared to be wearing when he bought his Lada Vesta this week.
Accompanying Milonov’s body to the car dealership was a jacket featuring two so-called Baklanovsky crosses (one on the front and one on the back). The symbol includes the final lines of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed: “I look for the Resurrection of the dead, And the Life of the age to come. Amen.” The phrase on Milonov’s coat appears alongside a skull and crossbones—a combination popularized by Russian General Yakov Baklanov’s Cossack regiment in 1850. Today, the image appeals to some in the Russian Orthodox community, where it’s found on swag like t-shirts and hats.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation regularly publishes evidence of the political elite’s extravagant lifestyles. In August 2015, the group made international headlines when it exposed the wristwatch of Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, which it estimated to be worth at least $625,000.


text:
As the Number of Widows Grows, Widowhood Is Changing in Nepal · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Bishnu Pande with her daughter Ayusha. Credit: Laura Spero. Used with PRI's permission
This article by Laura Spero for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on December 28, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Bishnu Pande is 21, with a soft, low voice like a cello.
As we talk in the garden near her house, her 18-month-old daughter Ayusha is playing nearby. Bishnu is telling me how she met Ayusha's father. Their story is emblematic of so many changes that are rippling through this traditional culture.
Three years ago, Bishnu was in 11th grade when she texted a wrong number, and a boy in a village about a day away answered. His name was Dirgaraj. They started corresponding.
“I got more interested in love than school,” she giggles.
One day, she says, he asked to call her his girlfriend. She told him she had to think about it.
“But then,” she says, “I thought: once in your life, you have to fall for someone. So whatever it's about, I should do it.”
She lets out a sigh. “Who knows? Just like that, I was in love.”
Bishnu's father had died when she was 11, and her mother was abroad by the time she was 16. So when her aunt began arranging her marriage, she called Dirgaraj.
“If he had hesitated, or said something else, I wouldn't have gone,” Bishnu says. “But he just said, directly: ‘Come.’ He said, “I have money. We'll pay [for the bus ticket] when you get here.”
Every astrologer she'd ever visited had advised her, “Don't marry until you're 30.”
But she took a bus to meet him, and a few days later, they were married.
After about a year though, Dirgaraj became restless to earn a better income, and, like hundreds of thousands of other young Nepali men, he made a decision.
“One day while I was out of the house, he began making arrangements to go work overseas. I hid his passport and begged him not to go. I told him I wouldn't call or talk to him. But he just said, “If I go, you'll cry for a second and then you'll stop worrying. Anyway, you can't stop me.
“It's only two years,” Bishnu remembers him saying. “In two years, no matter where we go, we'll be together.
Dirgaraj left to work as a security guard in Qatar just one month before his daughter Ayusha was born.
Seven months later, Bishnu was on a bus when she overheard something. A young man from their village had died in Qatar. He'd had a heart attack. He had a baby girl.
It was Dirgaraj. And just like that, at the age of 20, Bishnu was a widow.
Women in traditional Hindu culture marry in to their husbands families, and live in their husbands’ multi-generational homes.  Because women — and their children — are seen as members of their husbands’ families, traditional Hindu widowhood practices are extremely conservative.
Widowed women are not supposed to remarry or move out of their in-laws homes. They do not wear the color red, or eat meat, or attend celebrations; in the most conservative places, widows are considered so inauspicious that people clear away from them in the road.  What’s more, women have historically faced discriminatory legal obstacles, such as being required to get permission from male family members to obtain passports, or inheritances, or land.
But as more women become educated, and as more young men leave young wives behind to go work overseas, these practices are changing.
Lily Thapa is the founder of Women for Human Rights, an organization that's been advocating on behalf of single women in Nepal for 20 years. Ten years ago, she helped found the Red Color Movement, which aims to shift the tradition that widows don't wear red. To put this custom in context, it isn't easy to find traditional female clothing that isn't red. Women marry in red, celebrate in red, apply bright red sindur powder to their foreheads daily. To abstain from the color red, Lily tells me, is to abstain from beauty and celebration.
I visit Bishnu on the one-year anniversary of her husband's death. The house is filled with visitors and ritual offerings. But the detail that captures my attention is Bishnu's red sandals. This sliver of color under her feet says volumes about her future.
And is a break from her past — and how her mother wore widowhood.
“If there's even a speck of red on something my mother won't wear it,” she recalls of her widowed mother.
“Me?” she adds, “I wear whatever I want.”
The small detail shows that Bishnu is — and isn't — reliving her mother's fate.
We flip through some old photo albums, off to the side of the house. Dirgaraj's mother still can't bear to look at them. Dirgaraj is a striking young man with muscled shoulders, strong high cheekbones, and unusual faded green eyes like his father's. Here he is in a sleeveless shirt with the hills behind him; here at their wedding. They look so young, because they were.
As Bishnu takes me through these albums, I see her negotiating the boundary between customary ritual and modern womanhood. Indeed, there many mourning traditions that she's chosen to observe. She doesn't wear bangles on her wrists or put bright red sindur powder in her hair. And she's stayed here with her in-laws for a year to honor the loss of her beloved.
But with today's anniversary behind her, she's preparing to leave.
“Nobody's going to say, ‘Hey, you need some money,'” she points out. “I have to do whatever I'm capable of in life, and stand up on my own two feet. There's nothing more important than that.”
Bishnu is really clear, however, that looking after herself doesn't mean abandoning her in-laws. It's important for her to make sure they are cared for — she is still a daughter-in-law.
But her tone turns defiant when she says that doesn't help any of them for her to languish here, doing nothing with her life. One customary obligation no longer serves the other, as it were.
And these days, people understand that. “If my in-laws had said, ‘You have to stay here! Take care of us!’ there's nothing I could have done about it. But they tell me, ‘Do whatever makes you happy…just bring our granddaughter to see us.'”
The community has reflected these sentiments. Nobody really expects Bishnu to throw away her life as a traditional, beholden widow.
Then again, nobody expects life to be the same as it was, either. As Bishnu builds an independent future for herself, she will continue to draw on her cultural heritage to grieve her loss. Publicly.
“I can't imagine leaving and going with another,” she says. “No matter where I go, if I search the whole globe — I'll never find a man like this one.” Everything about him was good. Sometimes he acted like a playful child, sometimes he was a friend; sometimes he was like those little old people who walk with a stick. He never created any suffering. But now, it's always pain.
“As of today…today is the beginning of a new life for me.”
When I contacted Bishnu eight months later, she was resettled in the village where she was born.
She's planning for her future, just as she was four years ago, that day she texted a wrong number. But now she's not wearing bangles. And maybe she never will.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Saudi Arabia Executes Top Shia Cleric Nimr Al Nimr Under “Terrorism” Charges · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Arabia today announced it had executed top Shia cleric Shaikh Nemer Al Nemer under “terrorism” charges. Photo credit: Talkhandak.com (CC BY 4.0)
Saudi Arabia announced today it had executed 47 people under “terrorism” charges, including top shia cleric Nimr Al Nimr who was seen as a leader in anti-government protests that took place in the Eastern province of the absolute monarchy at the beginning of the so-called Arab Spring.
In a series of tweets, Saudi journalist Ahmed Al Omran quotes the Saudi state news agency saying:
Saudi Arabia executes 47 on terrorism charges, including Shiite cleric Nemer al-Nemer —state news agency
— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) January 2, 2016
In addition to Nimr, who had called for peaceful protests against the Saudi regime, Saudi Arabia executed Al Qaeda members, who belong to an ultra-fanatic branch of Sunni Islam. Al Omran tweets:
Majority of today’s executions are related to terrorism attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda inside Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006.
— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) January 2, 2016
This “lumping” of executions did not pass undetected on social media. David Kenner explains:
Saudi execution of Nimr al-Nimr along w/ al Qaeda members is straight from Assad's playbook – lumping nonviolent activists with terrorists.
— DavidKenner (@DavidKenner) January 2, 2016
The mass executions were carried out in 12 different areas across Saudi Arabia:
The executions were carried out in 12 different regions around the kingdom, the interior ministry says.
— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) January 2, 2016
And they are backed by the Saudi religious institutions:
Saudi Grand Mufti tells state TV that the death sentences carried out today are “just.”
— Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) January 2, 2016
Nimr, from the Awamiya area, in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia caught the Saudi regime's wrath after giving sermons calling for reforms in the conservative kingdom where women are not even allowed to drive cars and for “taking the lead” in anti-government protests in 2011-2012. In July 2012, he was arrested by police after being shot in the leg and in October 2014 sentenced to death for “disobeying the ruler” among other charges.
On Twitter, netizens expressed anger at Nimr's execution.
American-Mauritanian Nasser Weddady notes:
The execution of Nimr Al Nimr is a rare moment where outrage is transcending sectarian divides. #Saudi
— weddady (@weddady) January 2, 2016
He adds to his 37K followers on Twitter saying:
The real loss in the death of Nimr Al Nimr is that he died for the message both Sunni & Shia tyrants feared from the Arab uprisings.
— weddady (@weddady) January 2, 2016
Having a dissenting opinion in Arab lands is health hazard. side effects include prison, torture and death.
— weddady (@weddady) January 2, 2016
Rawya Rageh tells her 83.3K followers Nimr's execution will further escalate tensions in the region:
Execution of prominent #Shia cleric #AlNimr by #Saudi will undoubtedly set tone for regional tension in 2016.
— Rawya Rageh (@RawyaRageh) January 2, 2016
Iran reacted to Nimr's execution by accusing Saudi Arabia of “support[ing] terrorists and takfiri (radical Sunni) extremists, while executing and suppressing critics inside the country.”
Nimr's execution is expected to further fuel dissidence in the region with calls for demonstrations going out. Photographs shared on Twitter show armoured vehicles moving into Shia areas in the Eastern province to quell any possible rallies:
Qatif right now. #Nimr pic.twitter.com/NlDiwl0b7T
— Ihsan (@Thawra_city) January 2, 2016
And in nearby restive Bahrain, where anti-government protests have been continuing since February 14, 2011, protesters took to the streets of several villages after the news was announced.
مسيرات حاشدة في مختلف مناطق البحرين استنكارا لإعدام الشهيد #نمر_النمر ، كرامتنا من الله الشهادة #bahrain pic.twitter.com/6qZOnX3Zsi
— ۄعَآظْ آلَسلاطين َ (@DefenseResistan) January 2, 2016
Protests in several areas in Bahrain to condemn the execution of martyr Nimr Al Nimr.
قرى البحرين تنتفض تنديدا بتنفيد حكم الاعدام #نمر_النمر pic.twitter.com/o2llY4hucy
— Alqadami (@alqadami) January 2, 2016
Bahrain's villages rise in anger after the execution of Nimr Al Nimr
Last year (2015), Saudi Arabia executed a total of 158 people, or an average of one person every two days, the highest recorded number since 1995.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


text:
‘The Dress’ Is Back, But This Time It’s A Debate About Censorship on Russian TV · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

The disputed moment in The Diamond Arm. Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
“The Dress” is back. Whether you call it Dressgate, #thedress, or something else—the viral photo meme has returned. Only this time, it’s not a dress. It’s also not a question of color perception, but a matter of seeing (or not seeing) a halo in a movie still. The film in question is The Diamond Arm, the 1969 Soviet comedy classic that has aired countless times on Russian television.
On New Year’s Eve, the national TV network Rossiya-1 was the latest to broadcast the movie, but this time many viewers noticed that the halo appearing over a boy's head in a well-known scene seems to have been mysteriously washed out, obscuring the religious symbol, apparently in an effort to censor a blasphemous joke.
In the scene, actor Andrei Mironov’s character is marooned on a small island in the Black Sea. Panicking, he begins to call for help, when suddenly he sees a boy who appears to be walking on the water. Mironov’s character mistakes the boy for Christ, imagining a halo above his head. (When he discovers that the child is walking atop a wooden plank just below the waterline, he rushes past him, knocking the boy into the sea.)
On January 1, Rossiya-1 showed the film once again, leading to an unresolved debate among Twitter users about whether the station edited the movie to obscure the halo.
Нимб в “Бриллиантовой руке” – это новое “синее платье”. Вот свежие скрины из эфира 1 января pic.twitter.com/EevYVgJtAk
— La Russie parle (@Russia_calls) January 1, 2016
The halo in The Diamond Arm is the new “blue dress.” Check out the new screencaps from the broadcast on January 1.
@Russia_calls Ну реально бред… Вот отрывок из советского варианта https://t.co/9J3U1F0kce @dobriykaban pic.twitter.com/67q7ZMMtmO
— Анжела Клочкова (@AngelKlochkova) January 1, 2016
Oh give me a break. Here's a clip from the Soviet version. [Top: “Rossyia-1's version.” Bottom: “The Soviet version.”]
Later in the day on January 1, Victoria Arutiunova, the press secretary for VGTRK, which operates Rossiya-1, went on the radio to deny claims that the network censored The Diamond Arm, warning that “careful viewers should consider drinking less and eating more on New Year’s Eve.”
Even if Rossiya-1 did edit The Diamond Arm, it wouldn’t be the movie's first brush with censorship. When it was filmed in 1968, the comedy contained remarkably risque humor for its day, including a drunk protagonist, a hotel scene featuring a halfnaked woman, and much more.
Director Leonid Gaidai, according to his widow, specifically added an extraneous scene of a nuclear explosion to the movie’s ending, just so he could later “reluctantly” allow government censors to remove it, while preserving the rest of the movie. According to the director’s widow, “While they worked to persuade Gaidai to remove this scene, which really had nothing to do with the film, [the censors] completely forgot about their objections to all the other parts.”
In June 2013, Vladimir Putin signed into law new criminal penalties for insulting people’s religious sentiments. According to the legislation, expressing disrespect for religious feelings can in certain circumstances result in a three-year prison sentence.


text:
Traditional Pre-Hispanic Peruvian Dance Declared Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Wititi, the “dance of love”, Yanque, Colca Valley, Arequipa, Peru. Image on Flickr by user Jorge Gobbi (CC BY 2.0).
On December 2, 2015, UNESCO inscribed the wititi dance on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The dance, where the main figure is a male character known as witite, is the most characteristic cultural expression of the people that live in the River Colca valley, in Arequipa, Peru.
According to the legend of its origin, wititi is an expression closely tied to the historic memory of the Inca conquest:
Los collaguas, ancestros de la población actual del valle del Coica, intentaban evitar la conquista Inca y, dado que el soberano cusqueño quería casarse con la hija del gran curaca local, él y sus huestes se disfrazaron con trajes femeninos locales para acercarse a esta mujer de la nobleza. Siguiendo esta estratagema el Inca logró no sólo comprometerse con ella, sino obligar a la población a una alianza con los cusqueños, lo que los pobladores reconocen como una conquista pacífica.
Sería entonces rememorando la estratagema del inca que los varones usan una vestimenta especial, parcialmente femenina, conformada por dos polleras bordadas al estilo regional, y ligeramente levantadas por delante, como es usual en las mujeres de la región, sujetas con los alfileres andinos {tupus o kipkis).
The Collaguas, ancestors of the population that currently lives in the Coica valley, tried to avoid being conquered by the Incas and, as the Cuzquean sovereign wanted to marry the daughter of the great local priest (the curaca), he and his troops dressed up in female clothes to approach this noble lady. Following the plan, the Inca not only managed to get engaged with her, but forced the [local Colca Valley] population to be allies with the Cuzqueans, something locals acknowledge as a peaceful conquest.
In memory of the Inca's scheme, men wear special clothes, partially female, made up of two regional-style embroidered skirts with a slight lift on the front part, held by two Andean pins (tupus o kipkis) as is the custom for women in the region.
Website en Perú describes the typical male dress during performances of the wititi:
los varones son la principal atracción, por la colorida vestimenta que traen consigo […].
Chumpe: es como una Especie de faja alrededor de la cintura, que servía antiguamente para asegurar las dos Llicllas. Eran tejidos con finos hilos de vicuña, y adornados con finas piedras preciosas.
Llucllas: Son mantas de carga. Eran tejidos con finos hilos de vicuña o alpaca , era para llevar las frutas usadas como proyectiles, pero que también eran para compartirlas durante la danza o la fiesta.
La Montera: Es un casco protector hecho anteriormente de Paja de Puna. Sirve para proteger los proyectiles lanzados por el contrincante con la honda. Es adornado con flecos coloridos y sujetadores llamadas ”Angoñas”, que eran tejidos con finos hilos de vicuña o alpaca.
Honda: Es el arma con el que se lanzan las frutas.
The men are the main attraction for the colorful clothing they wear […]:
Chumpe: A kind of girdle around the waist, fastening the two Llicllas. They were woven with fine vicuna thread, and decorated with fine gemstones.
Llicllas: Blankets for loading. They were woven with fine vicuna thread, and were used to carry fruits to be used as projectiles, but also shared during the dance or the celebration.
Montera: A protective helmet that used to be made out of Puna hay. It is for picking up the projectiles thrown away by opponents with the slingshot. It is decorated with colorful tassels and clips known as Angoñas, woven with fine vicuna thread.
Slingshot: The weapon used to launch the fruit.
Some chronicles note that wititi was initially a competitive dance, but as the dancers sometimes got dangerously injured during performances, this feature was phased out over time.
This video shows a modern version of wititi:
The Peruvian Ministry of Culture laid the groundwork for the inscription on the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The preparation of the dossier took two years and was finally submitted to UNESCO in March 2014:
El comité evaluador tuvo palabras de elogio para el Estado peruano, felicitándolo “por haber preparado una candidatura que puede servir de modelo, con plena participación de todas las partes involucradas, teniendo como resultado un expediente exhaustivo y bien concebido”.
The evaluation committee praised the Peruvian state, and congratulated it “for having prepared an application that can be used as a model, with full participation of all involved parties, resulting in a comprehensive and well conceived file.”
According to UNESCO “cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants” and its importance “[…] is not the cultural manifestation itself but rather the wealth of knowledge and skills that is transmitted through it from one generation to the next.”
Both the region where wititi is a customary dance and Twitter celebrated UNESCO's decision.
La alegría del wititi. Celebraciones en Chivay por la declaratoria de Patrimonio. #Unesco #Caylloma #Arequipa pic.twitter.com/4c6SV3E070
— Julio Dante Ancalle (@dantejulio) diciembre 9, 2015
The joy of wititi. Celebrations in Chivay [Arequipa] after its inscription on the list of Heritage.
⭐ #Perú • ¿Cuál es el origen de la danza arequipeña del Wititi?: Esta tarde, pobladores representarán en el C… https://t.co/pv0mKWN3fS
— Kazi Media España™ (@Kazi_Espana) diciembre 8, 2015
What's the origin of the wititi dance from Arequipa? This afternoon, locals will represent…
Wititi Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de Humanidad.: https://t.co/Ev8P2Ghpfg vía @YouTube — Angelo Giuseppe (@agonzalesroca) diciembre 14, 2015
Wititi Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Gracias a UNESCO, nuestra Danza del Wititi es declarada como Patrimonio Cultural de Humanidad. https://t.co/08RJAGLgqD — IRIS NOEMI TORRES (@intelnoemi) diciembre 13, 2015
Thanks to UNESCO, our wititi dance was inscribed on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
A Young American Architect Helps Brazil Memorialize the Slave Trade · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

A slave market in Rio, c. 1824. Credit: Edward Francis Finden/Wikimedia Commons
This article by Christopher Woolf for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on December 29, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
How to memorialize slavery and the slave trade?
It’s a question that has gripped Sara Zewde since she was a grad student, and learned about the excavation of what is believed to be the biggest slave port in the Americas: Valongo Wharf, in downtown Rio de Janeiro.
“The name Valongo has always had significance and been central to Afro-Brazilian oral history,” says Zewde, “and so it’s always been present in songs and in ritual. And the neighborhood has that presence too — a sort of centrality within Afro-Brazilian tradition. But nobody knew how well preserved the ruins were. I mean, they’re not even ruins. They’re not ruined. They’re there.”
The scale of the slave trade to Brazil is staggering, and dwarfs the “trade” to North America. During the era of slavery, it’s estimated that more Africans were landed in Rio alone than throughout all of North America.
The wharf where the slaves landed in Rio during the 19th century was recently unearthed and it’s fallen to Sara Zewde to design a memorial to the neighborhood’s tragic past.
Zewde is a landscape architect and designer, a 29 year old American, who was born into a family of immigrants from Ethiopia. “They always reminded me of the long-term history of our people,” says Zewde. “They always remind me of this glorious past, and glorious future. And so it’s in it that way that I’ve always approached architecture and working with different people.”
“Everyone has a glorious potential,” she says.
Zewde first came to Rio in 2011 on a grant to research Afro-Brazilian responses to the archaeological re-discovery of Valongo. But when community activists found out about Zewde’s specialty in landscape architecture and design, they asked her to help develop a memorial.  Zewde studied at MIT and Harvard and now works for Gustafson, Guthrie, Nichol in Seattle.
But that was not easy.
“The word memorial and its associated forms are really tied closely to the notion of an event,” she says. “You know, a war, a hero, a tragedy. Something outside of the norm. But the trans-Atlantic slave trade was not an event.”
It was the norm, she says, for 400 years. “Its effects are still present today. And so it’s not something we can preserve as a moment in time.”
The Valongo was Rio's main slave market during the early 19th century. Credit: Brian Godfrey/CC by 2.0
So rather than create a discrete form, Zewde chose to create a space, a living space, “a toolkit for the entire neighborhood.”
That neighborhood encompasses the old stone jetty where the slaves first stepped into the New World; an open burial ground for those who didn’t survive the journey or died soon after arrival; the “warehouses” also known as “fattening pens” where newly arrived slaves were fed and cleaned prior to sale; and the various plazas where these men, women and children were bought and sold.
Zewde sees three elements tying the memory of those days with the community of today.
“One: a white ribbon form. In Afro-Brazilian belief, which comes largely from West Africa, when you mark something with white fabric it represents where the ancestors gather.  And they usually use that around Afro-Brazilian plant species that have a lot of spirit, a lot of energy. And so the second element is the plants that Afro-Brazilians brought from Africa. Trees and plants that offer shade, but also serve as a marker tying these sites to their history.”
“The third piece,” she adds, “is about the red tropical soils that bring together south-west Africa and Rio de Janeiro. So the third element is a red clay brick paver that again pieces together the disparate parts of this history and the neighbourhood, allowing the resident or the visitor to understand the extent of the industry in the neighbourhood.”
Landfill projects have meant the ocean is now a few blocks from Valongo Wharf.
Zewde has received some support from the mayor’s office and other officials. But there are competing pressures on the neighborhood. Commercial interests want more office and retail space. A Trump Tower opened here recently. The area is also earmarked for preparations for the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The memorial project is currently held up in a kind of political limbo.
She also has to overcome a reluctance in Brazil to confront its past.  After slavery was finally abolished in 1888, all official records of slavery and the slave trade were deliberately destroyed, to try to erase the memory. There are few historical markers and museums commemorating slavery. Relics of slavery, like Valongo, were literally paved over.
Afro-Brazilian activists are anxious they don’t get paved over again.


text:
Hong Kong Bookseller’s Disappearance Stokes Fears of Cross-Border Kidnaps by Mainland Chinese Police · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hong Kong newspaper, Apple Daily's front page report on the missing bookseller Lee Bo on January 3, 2016. Non-commercial use.
2016 brought a dose of chilling news to Hong Kong after yet another local bookseller was believed kidnapped by mainland Chinese secret police.
Lee Bo, who disappeared December 30 is the fifth bookseller from Causeway Bay Bookstore that specialised in publishing and selling literature banned in China to disappear unexplained.
Four other colleagues from the same bookstore disappeared from their residences in Shenzhen and Thailand respectively in October.
In November, Lee Bo himself had told BBC News that his colleagues were detained by the Chinese authorities because of their publishing work.
Among the four is Gui Minhai, a China-born Swedish national and the owner of the publishing house which owns the bookstore.
Gui disappeared from his holiday home in Thailand around mid-October while he was working on a book detailing Chinese President Xi Jinping's private life.
At around 10:30pm on December 30, Mr Lee's wife received a phone call from her husband who spoke in Putonghua instead of his native Cantonese.
Lee told her he was assisting in an investigation and he would not return home for a period of time.
As indicated in the phone record, the call was made from Shenzhen and his wife later found out that Lee's “homecoming card” — a travel document for entering mainland China was still at home — meaning he could not have left Hong Kong through proper immigration channels.
The Hong Kong authorities later also confirmed that Mr. Lee did not have any record of having exited the island.
Mr. Lee's wife told local press that her husband was lured by a fake book order call and went to the warehouse to collect the books.
He went missing after he left with a dozen books. The public believes that Lee was forcibly taken by mainland Chinese authorities from Hong Kong to Shenzhen.
Under the One Country Two Systems arrangement, Hong Kong enjoys judicial independence and Chinese authorities do not have jurisdiction to operate there without prior approval.
If Mr. Lee was indeed kidnapped by mainland Chinese secret police, the judicial independence of the city may have been compromised.
On Facebook, netizens were astonished by the first major news item of the New Year. Columnist Si Hing of non-profit Stand News epitomised public sentiment:
我恐懼，因為終於證實咗喺香港唔會有任何嘢、喺我無犯任何法下保護到我嘅人生安全。而家香港居民可以隨意被非本地執法人員帶走，而政府係完全唔會保護你－不單喺係實際上唔會，連喺口頭上、公關上亦唔敢講一句「絕對唔容許有任何外地執法人員喺香港執法」。
I am terrified, because this case has proven that nothing can protect my personal safety even if I have not broken any law. Hong Kong residents can be taken away by non-local law enforcers and the government will not protect you. It will neither protect you in action, nor in words by saying “We won't allow any unauthorized overseas law enforcers to operate in Hong Kong.”
我忿怒，因為呢（五）個香港居民，只係普通到不得了嘅人，就如你我，佢哋無犯任何法，而個人權利沒有受到應得嘅保護。如果你認為，賣禁書就係「特別」、賣禁書就應該被帶走，我只係能講你屌你老母，你咁撚中意大陸你就返去住啦。
I am angry because these five Hong Kong residents are just ordinary people like you and me. They have not broken any law but their rights have not been protected. If you think selling banned books are “special cases” or people selling banned books should be taken away, I can only say “F**k you, why don't you move to your beloved mainland China.”
我無奈，因為除咗喺Facebook屌，我發覺真係乜嘢都做唔到。我已經諗唔到可以同邊個求助同投訴。向上帝求救？打1238？去白宮求助？還是，生活如常，當乜嘢都冇發生過？
I feel helpless because apart from expressing my anger on Facebook, I can't do anything. I don't know who should I ask for help or to whom to file the complaint. To God? Making random calls? To the White House? Or just continue to live a normal life and pretend nothing happened?
我不安，因為下一個畀人帶走嘅，可能係我。邊個知原來喺香港賣大陸嘅禁書，會畀人喺香港監生拖返大陸？邊個知一個喺Facebook屌鳩共產黨嘅人又使唔使受到同樣對待？要透過IP搵到一個人嘅地址，呢個喺技術上絕對做得到。令我更加不安嘅係，被帶走嘅可能係你、你、你，或者你。而你，可能畀人帶走咗都無人知。純粹人間蒸發。
I feel anxious because I may end up the next one taken away. Who would have thought selling banned books could end up with you being kidnapped to mainland China? Who knows if cursing the Chinese Communist Party can also cause that? It is technically possible to locate people's IP addresses. Every one of you may end up being taken away. And some of you may just be vaporized without anyone knowing that you have been taken away.
Since 2014, the mainland Chinese authorities have been cracking down on publishers of banned books in Hong Kong.
In May 2014, a Hong Kong publisher Yao Wentian was sentenced to 10 years for smuggling. His publishing house was about to release a dissident-authored title focused on Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In the same month, two Hong Kong Chinese political magazine publishers Wang Jianmin and Guo Zhongjiao were prosecuted for illegal distribution of Hong Kong publications.
As it is likely that all the missing five booksellers are now held in mainland China, the Hong Kong Journalist Association and the Independent Writer Association wrote to the Liaison Office of the Central Government demanding a full explanation:
1. 盡快澄清香港「銅鑼灣書店」失踪五人的下落。他們是否身在內地？
2. 如是，他們所涉何事？因何在內地？他們如何和何時到內地？
3. 盡快回應事件有否涉及內地執法人員的境外行動？ 交代這些行動的相關的法理和依據。
4. 內地當局採取了甚麼措施保證這五人的人身自由和法律權利？
5. 內地當局如何看待和處理在香港出版的「領導人禁書」？過去有否對在港的出版計劃作出過任何干預？
1. Explain the whereabouts of the missing five booksellers of the Causeway Bay Bookstore. Are they are in mainland China?
2. If they are [in mainland China], what is the reason [behind their detention]? How did they end up in mainland China?
3. Does the incident involve the overseas operations of mainland Chinese law enforcers? What are the legal bases for their operation?
4. How do the mainland Chinese authorities ensure the five access legal assistance and personal protection?
5. How do the mainland Chinese authorities handle generally the publication of “banned books on top leaders” in Hong Kong? Have there been any interventions in the publication of [banned books] in Hong Kong?


text:
Turkish Hackers Claim Credit for Hijacking Top Russian Official’s Instagram · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Hackers identifying themselves as the Turkish group “Börteçine Siber Tim” took control of Russian Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov's Instagram account earlier today for several hours, posting a dozen or so images of the Turkish flag, photographs of falling aircraft, and glorified Turkish military figures. The pictures were uploaded with captions written in Turkish and English. (These photos were deleted as soon as Instagram intervened.)
Screencap of Nikirorov's hacked Instagram account. Image: Tjournal.ru
Before he regained control over his account, Nikiforov complained on Vkontakte, Russia's most popular social network, that Instagram still hadn't responded to the hack, nine hours after he first notified the service:
Спасибо всем за активную реакцию на взлом сервиса Instagram. К сожалению, сам Инстаграм не реагирует на данный инцидент уже более 9 часов.
После сегодняшнего инцидента лично у меня осталось много вопросов к безопасности Инстаграма по сравнению с другими сервисами и к скорости реакции его технической поддержки.
Thank you, everyone, for responding so actively to the hacking of [my] Instagram account. Unfortunately, Instagram itself hasn't responded to the incident, though it's already been more than nine hours.
After today's incident, I personally have a number of questions about Instagram's security compared to other services, and about the speed of its technical support.
In late December, the Turkish hacker group “Ayyıldız” claimed to be preparing cyber-attacks on Russian websites. The same group also took credit for hacking a website belonging to the online collective “Anonymous,” accusing it of insulting the Turkish state. Ayyıldız said Russian websites would be next for similar affronts to Turkey.
Tensions between Ankara and Moscow have been heightened since the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border on November 24. Ankara says the plane was violating Turkish airspace, which Moscow has vehemently denied.
In late December, research by the media-analysis firm Medialogia found that Russian national TV networks are now more likely to frame Turkey as Russia's most threatening foreign enemy, rather than Ukraine or the United States. Over the course of 2015, for example, the number of mentions of Turkey in relation to terrorism increased from 20 times to more than 150 times in an average week.


text:
Afghanistan’s National Football Team the Pride of a Nation, Even in Defeat · Global Voices
Samea Shanori

Afghanistan's national football team. Shared by the Afghan Football Federation via the federation's official Facebook group.
Months after putting up a spirited display in the cricket World Cup, Afghanistan's national team left the football field as national heroes, despite losing to India in the South Asia Football Federation (SAFF) Championship final on January 3.
The two teams did not score any goals until the last minutes of the second half of normal time when Afghanistan took the lead only for India to level up instantly.
Afghanistan's national football team take the lead against India. Shared by the Afghan Football Federation via the federation's official Facebook group.
After extra time was announced, India scored a second goal and claimed the trophy of a tournament that saw its smaller conflict-torn neighbour beat Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka in a remarkable effort.
To encourage the team, Afghanistan's President Ghani had spoken with them ahead of the final match:
Pres.@AshrafGhani spoke by phone w/ National Football Team today to congratulate the team for recent wins & wish them well for #SAFF Finals.
— ارګ (@ARG_AFG) January 2, 2016
The president then watched the final match live on television with a few members of his cabinet.
Watching #SAFFSuzukiCup final match between #Afghanistan and #Indiapic.twitter.com/qOk851gxgJ
— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) January 3, 2016
While former president Hamid Karzai also watched the match at home:
Fmr #Afghan prez @KarzaiH watched @SAFFSuzukiCup#football match from his home sitting on a mattress w/ green tea pic.twitter.com/ZZ30zQdCzE
— shafi شفيع شريفى (@ShafiSharifi) January 3, 2016
Other Afghan ministers, parliament members, singers and Afghans joined in supporting the national team.
Khalil Noori, a senior BBC producer based in Afghanistan, posted an image of Atta M. Noor, the governor of Balkh, watching the match in excitement.
Afghan governor Atta M Noor watching Afghanistan vs India football match #SAAFSuzukiCup pic.twitter.com/MGOWijhfNn
— Khalil Noori (@KhalilNoori) January 3, 2016
Also present was Farzana Naz, a female Afghan singer, holding the Afghan flag and cheering for the Afghan team in the stadium with friends:
Photo of the day. Beautiful Afg singer Farzana Naz travelled all the way to India to support Afghan Football team. pic.twitter.com/UwjbybzpIn
— Najeebullah Akhterzi (@Akhterzi) January 3, 2016
As the final match was being played out, female supporters took to the streets of Kabul to support the national team.
Women & girls out on the streets to cheer for Team Afghanistan & watch #SAFFSuzukiCup on huge screens in #Kabul. pic.twitter.com/nf0AIcmll0
— Samiullah Hussaini (@h_sami) January 3, 2016
Football & Cricket teams unite Afghan nation & give em moments 2 cherish 2gether Bravo we have won already #SAFFCUP pic.twitter.com/O3Aa8DWLz3
— Ibrahim khan Zazai (@ibrahimzazai) January 3, 2016
This wasn't the first time Afghanistan had impressed at the biennial competition that has become South Asia’s most significant football tournament.
They ran out surprise winners of the 2013 version, when India was again the opposition, two years after being beaten by the same team 4-0.
Afghanistan's national football team in action. Shared by the Afghan Football Federation via the federation's official Facebook group.
Although, the team lost the final match this year, their impressive performance was more than a victory for Afghans, given the sporting wilderness they experienced during the Taliban era.
After a generation, we have a nat'l sports team. After a generation, our team has a nation behind it. That's worth more than victory or loss. — Ahmad Shuja احمدشجاع (@AhmadShuja) January 3, 2016
In response to Ahmad Shuja's tweet, Amar Sinha, Ambassador of India to Afghanistan, wrote:
@AhmadShuja Every one should be proud of their performance. Played like champs. AFG players already enriching Indian professional leagues. — Amar Sinha (@SenseandC_sense) January 3, 2016
While Zafar Mehdi, an Afghan journalist, sprinkled in the bitter lemons associated with football fans across the world.
Afghanistan, you won it. You won the hearts. You were 11 and India were 12. Referee was also playing on their side. #SAFFSuzukiCup — Zafar Mehdi (@mehdizafar) January 3, 2016
Indian consulate attacked
A few hours after the final, however, the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif was attacked by gunmen.
Harun Najafizada, a BBC journalist tweeted:
Hidden in a residential house some 20 meters away from Indian Consulate, assailants failed to enter the compound. #Balkh — Harun Najafizada (@HNajafizada) January 3, 2016
Other Afghans suspicious about the timing of the attack were impatiently waiting for more details.
So, was the Indian Consulate in Mazar e Sharif main target of the attack? Who were the perpetrators? Let's wait patiently for the answers. — Zafar Mehdi (@mehdizafar) January 3, 2016
Sharif Hassan, a Washington Post journalist based in Afghanistan, warned that the assault was not related to football.
Local official: 3 attackers have entered a house near #Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif city. It is not #Football related violence.
— Sharif Hassan (@MSharif1990) January 3, 2016
Only one person has since been reported injured during the attack.
Although, no group has taken responsibility, Afghans are worried that this might damage the strong friendship between Afghanistan and India.
Afghanistan's national football team, heroes in defeat. Shared by the Afghan Football Federation via the federation's official Facebook group.
Afghanistan's first vice president, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, tweeted a reassurance:
No violence against India can damage our relationship. Out thoughts with all staff and diplomats in Mazar-i-Sharif.
— General Dostum (@ARashidDostum) January 3, 2016

author: Samea Shanori


text:
As US Steps Up Deportations, Advocates Push for Refugee Status for Central Americans · Global Voices
Danica Jorden

“Migration is Natural, Deportation Is Not.” Photo taken from the Flickr account of Joe Brusky under Creative Commons license.
Hundreds of Central Americans and their supporters gathered in front of the White House on Wednesday, 30 December to protest the US government's plan to significantly ramp up deportations, beginning on January 2.
As revealed in a recent Washington Post article, the Department of Homeland Security plans to begin targeted raids in the New Year.
The nation-wide campaign, to be carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as soon as early January, would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, those familiar with the plan said.
The article states that the plan would concentrate on adults and children who have already been ordered to repatriate by an immigration judge, while admitting that due to disorganization, many were unaware of the orders.
A leader who has emerged in the struggle against deportation is Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA de Maryland, an organization that has been helping Central American refugees since 1985.  Speaking at the protest, Torres said:
Queremos decirle al Departamento de Seguridad y al Presidente Obama que si continúan con este plan, esas familias, estos niños van a ser asesinados en sus países de orígen.
We want to tell the Department of Security and President Obama that if they go ahead with this plan, those families, those children are going to be murdered in their countries of origin.
Torres emphasized that these Central American migrants should qualify as refugees because Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the three countries that are the subject of the deportations, are experiencing their worst levels of violence over the last 30 years.
Queremos que se de un TPS (estatus de protección temporal) a estos refugiados y que se paren las deportaciones, por eso estamos acá.
We want them to give these refugees a TPS (temporary protection status) and stop the deportations. That's why we are here.
CASA de Maryland and other like-minded organizations have put out a proposal that includes the creation of a nationwide network of lawyers, social workers, community organizations and volunteers to ensure the refugees’ protection.
“I came fleeing the violence & poverty in my country. I arrived with new hope for my life.” -Josue #somosrefugiados pic.twitter.com/RphqeGV4Bn
— CASA (@Somos_CASA) December 30, 2015
They are also putting out an educational campaign to inform the community of their rights in case migration authorites come to their homes. Over the weekend, Torres appeared on Spanish-language television and on CASA's Facebook page with advice for families under threat.
Recuerda, no importa si tienen documentos. Ustedes tienen derechos en este país. Para empezar, si la Migra viene a su casa, llega a su puerta, por favor no abre la puerta. Tiene que solicitarles que le pongan por debajo de la puerta los documentos incluída la orden de deportación…. Si les preguntan de qué país son o cuál es su nombre diga que no quiere dar esa información y que requiere a un abogado.
Remember, it doesn't matter if you are documented. You have rights in this country. To begin with, if Immigration comes to your home or your door, please do not open it. Ask them to slip any papers, including the deportation order, under the door…. If they ask you what country are you from or what is your name, tell them you do not want to give that information and you want a lawyer.
“What to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comes to your door.” Infographic by United We Dream
Central America has been experiencing extreme levels of violence, with young people being targeted by gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, and Barrio 18, originally known as the 18th Street Gang, due to its origins on the streets of Los Angeles. In fact, both gangs, or “pandillas” as they are called in El Salvador, owe their existence to expedited deportation policy under the administration of former US President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, implemented at a time the country was emerging from civil war and had disbanded its police force. Gang members formed on the streets of Los Angeles with nominal ties to their places of birth were deported and, coupled with the lack of an extradition policy, other criminals took to Central America to hide out. According to a New York Times article from the period:
The situation may be especially serious here, but El Salvador is by no means alone in its alarm at Washington's policy on deportees. Throughout Central America and the Caribbean, from Guatemala east to Guyana, government officials have expressed anger and frustration at a crisis they regard as foisted on them by the United States and beyond their ability to control.
Of the almost 70,000 children apprehended as they tried to cross the US border in 2014, 73% were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Despite recent US legislation such as the DREAM Act (whose acronym stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors), DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans), Central Americans are considered a priority for deportation under the new Department of Homeland Security guidelines, which target the recently arrived and those lacking ties to anyone in the United States.

author: Danica Jorden


text:
ISIS is Alive and Well in Pakistan Despite Persistent Government Denials · Global Voices
Veengas

Screenshot from video: Students at Islamabad's Jamia Hafsa Call to Support ISIS, Avenge Bin Laden's Death. Click on the image to watch the video.
On December 31, 2015, as the world was gearing up to celebrate the New Year, news broke in Pakistan that twenty people from Lahore, including women and children, had travelled to Syria to join ISIS.
A couple of days before that, eight suspected ISIS militants were arrested in the northern city of Sialkot, in the Punjab region.
Yet the Pakistan government has denied ISIS maintains a presence in the country, a position that begins to look increasingly absurd as evidence of the group's penetration grows and a series of smaller extremist groups offer it their allegiance.
On social media people showered anger on Home Minister Choudhary Nisar khan, who has been leading the denials.
#ISIS #Daesh #Daish #IS cell busted in Sialkot, claim officials https://t.co/sxsNKRUx9t https://t.co/8SeDgBDRQj pic.twitter.com/qIMzSOGLgn
— Aamir Mughal (@mughalbha) December 29, 2015
Daesh's presence feared in Lahore, details on JAAG TV pic.twitter.com/9cS2hbwDIj
— JAAG TV (@JaagAlerts) December 31, 2015
#PMLN Minister Rana Sanaullah says No ISIS in Pakistan, but ISIS members from Pakistan are going abroad with “Jihad” as objective in mind.
— Majid Agha (@Majid_Agha) January 1, 2016
Will our Govt continue denying the presence of #Daesh in Sialkot #Pakistan ..!! @AsimBajwaISPR pic.twitter.com/ZVtzeNhOBR
— Fighting Falcons (@n1224_) December 29, 2015
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PMLN) party has upheld its stance against extremism elaborated in the “National Action Plan” that emerged in the wake of the Peshwar school attack which claimed over 140 lives, mostly children, in December 2014. The attack was carried out by gunmen affiliated with the Tahreek-i-Taliban.
Photo credit: nacta.gov.pk
People in Pakistan have been profoundly disappointed by the government's failure to stem the rise of militant groups.
Just over a year ago Ali Salman Alvi tweeted about the presence of ISIS supporters in Lahore where pamphlets had been distributed outside a mosque and pro-ISIS slogans had been written on walls in the city:
If #Daesh in Pak is not curbed now, there will be bloodshed like never before. Booklets distributed in #Lahore today. pic.twitter.com/NPUpzRyunQ
— Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) November 24, 2014
Militancy in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and prosperous province, has emerged as a particular threat:
Punjab most favorable towards Taliban. https://t.co/AKiaaZpx3Q via @Chiltan pic.twitter.com/6TjKbuqufD
— Khushal Khan (@Khushal_Khattak) December 30, 2015
Opposition parties including the Pakistan People’s Party chaired by Bilawal Bhutto, have criticized the implementation of the NAP.
Bhutto said December 27: “This is not the NAP agreed to by all parties, this is the N-league action plan, whose target is political opponents.”
But why do people from Pakistan join ISIS?
Tatyana Dronzina, an expert in Islamic and ethnic conflicts from the Sofia State University in Bulgaria, who carried out on-the-ground independent research on ISIS militants in Central Asia, said in an interview with The Diplomat:
Many joined ISIS guided by reasons of social justice – to help Muslim brothers, to fight a regime that oppresses them or to defend the weak. Others chose to join because of adventure, romanticism, love (especially women), their wish to become heroes, or just because they feel the caliphate is the right place for a good Muslim life and they want to contribute to its development. Others felt they are not granted religious freedom in their country.
In turn, in a lecture at the School of Politics and International Relations in Islamabad last year, Dr. Hassan Abbas, a Pakistani-American academic in the field of South Asian and Middle Eastern studies, explained why the government is failing to curb extremist groups.
According to a review of the lecture:
According to [Abbas] the prevailing influence of Taliban in Afghanistan is due to its inability in nation building through soft power projection and the functioning of state through flawed criminal justice system […] Tahreek-Taliban-Pakistan is a quite influential non-state actor in Pakistan and its influence is prevailing due to the internal political and constitutional vacuum between the federal regime and the [Federally Administered Tribal Areas]. The tribal disconnect inside FATA between the tribes creates space for non-state actors.
The Foreign Office on Thursday reiterated meanwhile on New Year's Day that ISIS had “no footprint” in Pakistan.
Worryingly, at a time when ISIS and other militant groups are gaining ground in the country, Pakistan's government appears to be sticking its head in the sand.

author: Veengas


text:
Kyrgyz Laugh, Cry, Fume After British Miner’s Crass Horse Penis Joke Goes Horribly Schlong · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Horse sausage – not horse penis – when sliced. Image by Sara Yeomans. Creative Commons. Originally posted to Flickr as P1130931.
Warning. Article includes an image containing an actual horse's penis.
Did you hear the one about the British welder that worked for the Canadian mining company that made a joke about local people eating horse penis and was arrested on charges of inciting racial hatred?
People in Kyrgyzstan have heard nothing else in the last 24 hours as Michael Mcfeat's story was covered by many international news outlets and social media circles buzzed with the news.
Столько пенисов у меня в ленте еще не было!
— Asel Kalybekova (@aselkalybekova) January 4, 2016
There have never been so many penises on the networks.
Freedom of speech? Cultural sensitivity? When it comes to an off-colour crack about horse genitalia issued by a foreign employee of a deeply unpopular company digging for gold in the mountains of an impoverished country, the lines are blurred.
And Kyrgyzstan is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Again.
Below is a section from the Guardian and Agence France Presse's report on what has already been dubbed McHorsePenisGate by a leading member of Kyrgyzstan's Scottish expatriate community:
A Briton working at a gold mine in Kyrgyzstan has been detained and faces up to five years in jail for comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis, according to authorities.
Police detained Michael Mcfeat, an employee of the Toronto-based Centerra Gold, after he posted the comment on Facebook, which caused a temporary strike at the mine, an interior ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
Mcfeat wrote that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queueing for their “special delicacy, the horse’s penis” during holiday celebrations, referring to a traditional horse sausage known as chuchuk.
He now faces racial hatred charges, which can result in between three to five years in prison under Kyrgyz law.
A local trade union leader confirmed that work at the mine, which accounts for up to 10% of the former Soviet republic’s economic output, resumed on Sunday after a short strike.
The offensive New Year's Eve post, in which Mcfeat falsely claimed horse penis was a “delicacy” in the Central Asian country has since been deleted. It was followed by a misspelled “appology” from Mcfeat the day before he was taken into custody by police in the early hours of January 3:
I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely appologise for the comment I made on here about the kygyz people and horses penis. I truly never meant to offened anyone and im truly sorry as it was never my intension. I would also like to say the people in the picture had absolutely nothing to do with it. again im very very sorry.
Comments under the apology from unknowing friends and loved ones back in Scotland quickly went from lighthearted:
Someone's got his phone – the spellings too good for him!!! X
To disbelieving:
jesus christ…
While Mcfeat's arrest has proved a national embarrassment for Kyrgyzstan even bigger than Donkeygate and other politically generated farces, it is one that has showcased the long-suffering Kyrgyz sense of humour.
This is the image of the delicacy that Mcfeat either deliberately or unknowingly mistook for a horse's penis, posted in irony by a Kyrgyz Facebook user who noted the similar pronunciations of the Kyrgyz words for ‘horse sausage’ and ‘penis':
Je Suis Chuchuk! Taken from public Facebook profile.
In the UK there is a dessert called spotted dick (a dick with spots), with raisins and custard, which is similar to condensed milk and custard ie something like condensed milk. I laughed about this with locals. So what? It's just chuchuk (horse sausage). I called it chokchok (penis) myself — will they arrest me too ? KyrgyzGas [national gas infrastructure] was sold for a dollar, half of the country is in the shit and they get wound up about the word penis.
A horny horse in Great Britain. Taken from public Facebook profile.
Конский пенис – тренд нового года в Кыргызстане!
Если бы это сравнение сделал кыргыз, подумали просто дурачок и улыбнувшись прошли мимо, а то и вовсе незаметили бы.
Но это сказал иностранец и надо сразу международный скандал закатить, РОВД, суд, псевдопатриотизм проявлять.
Horse's penis is the trend of the new year in Kyrgyzstan!
If a Kyrgyz had made the comparison, people would have thought him a fool, smiled and moved on not noticing him.
But because a foreigner said it it becomes an international scandal with district police, court and pseudopatriotism all over.
Edil Baislov, a former chief of staff, thought Mcfeat's arrest ridiculous:
Чучукстан – страна без руководства, где правят эмоции трехлетних хулиганов #freekg https://t.co/iNu45x5JyR
— Edil Baisalov (@baisalov) January 4, 2016
Horsesausagestan – a country without leadership, where the emotions of three-year-old hooligans rule the day.
Although there were many, that like some of Mcfeat's local colleagues, found cause for anger.
Almazbek Akmataliev wrote:
вопрос очень простой: этот недоумок написал, что кыргызы ЕДЯТ конский пенис как национальный деликатес! Это что, не оскорбление? Я уверен, что это провокация чистой воды, ибо многие иностранцы ЗНАЮТ из чего и как готовится настоящий чучук.
Its quite simple. This idiot wrote Kyrgy EAT horse penis as a national delicacy. Is this not an insult? I am convinced it is pure provocation. Many foreigners KNOW from what and how chuchuk is prepared.
Nourlan Mamyrov added:
вопрос даже не в том, какое заключение даст прокуратура. Вопрос в том, как относятся экспаты к местному населению, к местной культуре, к коллегам из местного населения.
This isn't about a prosecutor's legal opinion. It is a question of how expats relate to the local population, to local culture and to local colleagues.
Over on Huffington Post, commenter Alan Buckton composed an ode to Mcfeat:
There was a young man called McFeat
Who made fun of a delicacy meat
The locals all frowned
“I'm just horsing around”
But he had only his words left to eat
Noises made by the interior ministry today suggested Mcfeat's case was unlikely to be pursued further, but the damage has clearly already been done.
For the government of an aspiring democracy developing a nasty habit of cracking down on free speech “McHorsePenisGate” is another wound inflicted unnecessarily by the negligence or wilfulness of a capricious political elite.
For the Centerra Gold company who remain deeply unpopular despite contributing around 7% of the country's GDP last year, it is another blot on a track record of PR disasters stretching back to 1997 when a company lorry spilled a batch of cyanide into a local river.
So, no winners, then.
And all this just days after a Financial Times panel declared Kyrgyzstan one of seven emerging destinations to visit in 2016…

author: Akhal-Tech Collective