text:
Russia: The Tsar’s Victory Over Napoleon, 200 Years Later  · Global Voices
Donna Welles

Across Russia, celebrations have commenced honoring the 200th anniversary of Tsar Alexander I's defeat of France's Napoleon Bonaparte.
Napoleon's Blog contextualized the Russian Campaign amid the greater scheme of the Napoleonic Wars, as well as other conflicts with similar names:
The French invasion of Russia in 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength. […]
Napoleon’s invasion is better known in Russia as the Patriotic War (Russian Отечественная война, Otechestvennaya Vojna), not to be confused with the Great Patriotic War (Великая Отечественная война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya Vojna). The Patriotic War is also occasionally referred to as the ‘War of 1812,’ which is not to be confused with the conflict of the same name between the United Kingdom and the United States.
The post went on to examine Napoleon's decision to invade Russia:
At the time of the invasion, Napoleon was at the height of his power with virtually all of continental Europe either under his direct control or held by countries defeated by his empire and under treaties favorable for France. No European power on the continent dared move against him. The 1809 Austrian war treaty had a clause removing Western Galicia from Austria and annexing it to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. This Russia saw as against its interests as well as being seen as a launching point for an invasion of Russia. Tsar Alexander found Russia in an economic bind as his country had little in the way of manufacturing and being rich in raw materials yet being part of Napoleon’s continental system denied it the trade that was its lifeblood for both money and manufactured goods. Russia’s withdrawal from the system was a further incentive to Napoleon to force a decision.
Reconstruction of a historical 1812-era military parade, in St. Petersburg, Russia. (10 September 2009) Photo by GENNADY CHERNYAVSKY, copyright © Demotix.
Patriotic War of 1812 Blog incorporated excerpts from Wikipedia into a greater analysis of the Battle of Smolensk — the first major confrontation of the war:
The Battle of Smolensk, the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia took place on August 16–18, 1812, between 175,000 men of the Grande Armée under Napoleon Bonaparte and 130,000 Russians under Barclay de Tolly, though only about 50,000 and 60,000 respectively were actually engaged.[…]
An initial probing force captured two suburbs but failed to bring the Russians out to battle. Napoleon ordered a general assault with three corps of the Grande Armée, supported by two hundred artillery pieces. This was initially successful, the intense artillery bombardment setting the city on fire but the French forces lacked ladders or climbing apparatus to scale the city walls and were under counter fire from Russian artillery. By nightfall, most of the city was burning. [..]
Technically the battle of Smolensk was a victory for Napoleon as he captured the city. However his soldiers were already running short of food and its destruction denied him a useful supply base, adding to the logistics problems caused later by the Russian scorched earth tactics.
In another post, Patriotic War of 1812 Blog provided a timeline of the major events of the Russian Campaign, including the occupation of Moscow, as well as the Grande Armee's retreat:
1812
Several bloggers of the RuNet have also highlighted the various celebrations around the Russia marking the 200th anniversary of the French Retreat.
In a post last February, 1812-2012 LiveJournal blog discussed [ru] an earlier event in southern Moscow and identified even grander events to come:
The first event was already held on January 7 at the Tsaritsyno palace [ru] (now a museum and memorial grounds), which Napoleon's troops occupied in 1812. ‘Although it was somewhat improvised, around 2,000 people attended,’ said the President of the International War History Association, Alexander Volkovich, who was certain that future events will draw larger crowds. Another two mass events are planned to take place at Tsaritsyno on May 18 and between June 23 and 24. During May's ‘Night of Museums’ [en] festival, the Tsaritsyno mansion will host a large-scale battle reenactment, with several hundreds of people taking part in the spectacle. […] In the summertime, between June 23 and 24, Tsaritsyno will host a ball dance, reenacting the very ball in honor of Alexander I where he first learned of the start of the war.
LJ blogger Residents of Perlovka introduced [ru] an exhibit that will be on display until September, beginning by quoting Tolstoy's ‘War and Peace':
‘The Rostov train on this night was in Mytischi, 20 versts [13 miles, 21 km] from Moscow.’
The blogger then cited the exhibit's designers:
Tolstoy's references to Mytishchi in the pages of his novel inspired us to create the exhibit ‘1812. War and Peace,’ which describes prominent military leaders (including Denis Davydov [en] — a pioneer of the guerrilla movement that played a vital role in the defeat of Napoleon's army), the combat valor of Russian warriors, the famous battles, the military uniforms and weapons, as well as the perspective of life in the year 1812, and of the Russian nobility in the first half of the 19th century.
Mainstream news outlets have also reported on the 200th anniversary of Russia's victory over the French. An Italian source discussed how a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church has proposed making the French expulsion from Russia into a national holiday. RIA Novosti — Russia's State News Agency — provided  several photographs of battlefield reenactments. Voice of Russia joined the coverage, discussing issues surrounding the historiography of the Russian Campaign.
Finally, this author's own blog illustrated the lingering cultural effects of Russia's victory over Napoleon by recounting a past conversation with a Russian-American taxicab driver in Los Angeles:
On one occasion I'd arrived home and, when the West LA van pulled up, I noticed that the driver was the same driver who I'd met on my previous trip. He was from Russia and so I immediately spoke to him in Russian and explained to him that we'd met before. […] Two other passengers boarded the van with me. […] I translated for the driver and the four of us had a lively conversation about travel and Los Angeles, etc. until at one point the driver suddenly switched to English. He pointed to a sign that said, BISTRO and said in English, ‘Do you know why they call cafes ‘bistros'?’
I then explained in English that the Russian army had fought all the way to Paris during the Napoleonic Wars. Russian officers would sit in French cafes and they'd taunt the Parisian waiters by saying, ‘Bistro Bistro Bistro.’ ‘Bistro,’ I continued, was the Russian word for ‘quickly’ and, as a result, cafes where patrons expect quick service have come to be known as ‘bistros.’

author: Donna Welles


text:
Sri Lanka: Abductions And Media · Global Voices
Rezwan

“The growing number of abductions and disappearances in Sri Lanka is not getting the amount of publicity the issue deserves,” comments Sanjana Hattotuwa.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Parenting Off Limits?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

West Indian Mother thinks that parenting may now have joined the ranks of politics and religion as a taboo subject.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Video: Mobile Phone Megaphone Project for Chinese Immigrants in the US · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

The Megaphone project has allowed communities to express their thoughts and aspirations through mobile technology since 2003. The latest incarnation is in New York City as Chinese Immigrants document their daily life, thoughts and dreams using mobile technology, with a video explaining a bit more about the process.

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


text:
Botswana: Botswana Forerunner for MDG7 · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Edmund Smith-Asante observes  that Botswana is the only African country most likely to approach the MDG7 (achieving universal access to water by 2015): “Botswana currently experiences 89 under-five sanitation-related deaths yearly, the lowest on the African continent, saves 14 under-five lives annually with its current rate of investment in the sector, and is projected to save two lives each year if it is able to meet its MDG target of 69%.”

author: Abdoulaye Bah


text:
Brazil: Journalist and Blogger Executed in São Luís, Maranhão · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

[All external links in Portuguese except when otherwise stated]
On Monday night, April 23, 2012, Brazilian journalist and blogger Décio Sá was executed by at least two shots to his head inside a bar in one of the most crowded parts of the city of São Luis, in the northeastern state of Maranhão. Blogger Candido Cunha explains:
Segundo testemunhas, ele estava sentado quando um homem caminhando apontou uma arma e atirou duas vezes contra a cabeça do jornalista, que morreu na hora. Depois, o matador saiu caminhando e fugiu.
Print of Décio's personal blog, with his last post
And adds:
Décio Sá era repórter do jornal O Estado do Maranhão. No seu blog pessoal, colecionava milhares de acessos e algumas polêmicas pelo estilo crítico dos seus textos e dos assuntos que explorava. Ele dedicava o trabalho a cobrir a política do Maranhão e seu blog era o mais acessado no estado.
Sources differ, some say he was shot twice, other that he was shot three times and also up to six shots, four in the head and two in the back.
He was at the Avenida Litorânea (Coastal Highway), one of the most important and crowded arteries in the city of São Luis, which is described by blogger and journalist Rogério Tomaz Jr, on Twitter:
@rogeriotomazjr: Litorânea é um dos principais espaços de lazer de São Luís. (em tese) Há viaturas da polícia circulando o tempo todo! Execução lá é surreal!
The execution itself, in a crowded place, with clear political content, is worrying enough says the police officer Caetano Pacheco. However, online debate also addressed Décio Sá's ties with the Sarney family, which has ruled the state for decades: José Sarney [en], head of the family is currently the president of the Senate, in Brasília, and his daughter, Roseana Sarney [en], is the governor of Maranhão.
Twitter user Arthur Santos from São Luis, recalls:
@arthurxside: nesse ponto é importante lembrar que Décio Sá era profundamente ligado à família Sarney.
Though he believes it is unlikely that the Sarneys would have been connected to Décio Sá's death, he developed an alternative theory and posted it on Twitter.
Décio worked for O Estado newspaper of the Mirante Group – a communication network owned by Sarney family encompassing radio and TV stations affiliated with Globo Network [en]. He blogged on the Blog do Décio and constantly attacked powerful political figures in his state.
Rogério Tomaz Jr adds:
@rogeriotomazjr: Crime organizado do Maranhão, que deve a Sarney sua perpetuação há décadas, faz mais uma vítima. Desta vez, um jornalista.
Historian from Maranhão, Wagner Cabral (@wagner_cabral), says that “violence and murder against rural workers is a commonplace in Maranhão… As is the violation of human rights” and adds:
@wagner_cabral: Agora a violência alcança novo patamar quando blogueiro ligado à oligarquia é assassinado na capital… a sensibilidade da sociedade explode
@wagner_cabral: Now the violence has reached new heights when a blogger linked to the oligarchy is murdered in the capital … the sensitivity of society explodes
Journalist Ricardo Noblat posted on Twitter and on his blog a picture of Decio's body just after the execution, and the same was done by the Mirante group, who posted a picture of his body on its homepage. The initiatives to link or put the picture of the journalist's body on the homepage of a site/blog were heavily criticized on the Internet.
Journalist Rogério Tomaz Jr challenged Noblat to “list ONE convincing argument to justify posting photos of corpses of people executed on his blog” and asked Décio's family to sue him.
According to Noblat's Twitter account, the gun used for the execution was .40 caliber, for the exclusive use of the police.
International NGO Reporters Without Borders, puts Brazil in 99th position in the ranking of press freedom

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


text:
Ecuador: Local Creative Commons Chapter to Hold Event on World Intellectual Property Day · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Creative Commons Ecuador [es] is holding a free event on April 26 to discuss the impact of technology on copyright. Participants will also talk about other related topics, like free culture and open access to government information. You can follow the event on Twitter through the hashtag #ccSalonQuito [es].

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Ecuador: Refugee Women and Girls Turning to Sex Work  · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.
The VJ Movement video documentary Refugees turn to Sex Work in Ecuador examines the situation with many Colombian women who had to migrate across the border into Ecuador due to violence. In many cases, without being able to gain legal employment, the women and their daughters find themselves turning to sex-work to make a living.
Amy Brown reports on the situation, interviewing women and agencies in the area. The stories are told by women who had to flee Colombia after threats from the guerrilla, many times leaving businesses and households with only their children and a few belongings. Refugees cannot work legally until they receive a visa, and the process can take up to 18 months, leaving, as the video states “women and girls especially vulnerable”.
Woman working at a bar in Ecuador. Screenshot from documentary.
In many cases, their requests for odd jobs to make some money to buy food, such as washing or cooking are met with offers to become “waitresses”, the local euphemism for prostitutes working at different bars or brothels. One was told that she could send her pretty young daughter to work at a brothel… the girl was only 13.
But for many women, after three to six months of no employment, with no savings and no opportunities, turning to sex work is the only available option left. And there are enough customers: according to an interviewee who is studying the phenomenon, the oil companies arrival brought the first clients, and they are still the main customers of this growing industry: in the province there are more bars and brothels than basketball courts and soccer fields.
This lack of activities and opportunities for young people puts girls at risk: with nothing to do, 11 and 12 year olds are likely to fall into the illegal activities, in the case of girls, sex work and sex trafficking.
This post is part of our special coverage on Refugees.


text:
Egypt: Time for Televised Presidential Debates? · Global Voices
Salah Almhamdi

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011/12.
As the time approaches for the Egyptian presidential election, there have been calls not only in Egypt but also around the Arab world for televised presidential debates. During the 2005 presidential election Mubarak rebuffed calls for such debates, but now with a genuine presidential race for the first time, Egyptian voters are keen to see the kind of debates they have watched taking place in the United States and elsewhere.
On April 22, Twitter users discussed the idea of “Monazarat” (“Debates”), and called for televised presidential debates in Egypt.
Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon during the first televised U.S. presidential debate in 1960. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Bassem Sabry introduced the campaign to demand televised presidential debates, and the Twitter hashtag to use (#Monazarat).
Safwat Safi tweeted [ar]:
Journalist Mohamed Abdel Kodos wrote on his blog [ar]:
Blogger Sara Labib expressed her amazement [ar]:
Twitter user ta7riro suggested some debate topics:
@khelaly: healthcare, slums, street children, cultural heritage, innovation
Writer Marwa Elnaggar criticised the presidential elections’ poster frenzy and tweeted [ar]:
Iyad Elbaghdadi joked:
@iyad_elbaghdadi: At the very least, presidential debates in #Egypt will give our stand-up comedians some new material!
Hesham Alquraini believes such debates would be highly significant [ar]:
This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Elections 2011/12.

author: Salah Almhamdi


text:
Georgia: Concerns over Lazika development · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Writing on The PIK.TV blog, the channel's English-language editor, Tbilisi-based Nicholas Alan Clayton, comments on plans to construct a new city in Georgia. With little transparency in planning the Lazika development, recently referred to as an ‘instant city in a swamp’ by the New York Times, the blog says that while many reforms since the 2003 Rose Revolution have been inspiring, this is not one of them.

author: Onnik Krikorian


text:
Italy: Tragic Death of Piermario Morosini Shocks the Soccer World · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Since April 14, 2012, the Italian radio stations,   Twitter, Facebook, as well as blogs from across  the world have all been discussing the sudden, on-field death of Piermario Morosini, a 25-year-old soccer player, while playing for Livorno, a  Serie B team of the Italian football league system.
The site seneweb.com explains [fr] how this tragic event unfolded:
Piermario Morosini, joueur de Livourne, est mort samedi [14 avril]. Durant la rencontre de Serie B entre Pescara et Livourne, le milieu de terrain s'est écroulé sur le terrain à la 31e minute de jeu, victime d'un arrêt cardiaque. Les secours se sont pressés autour de lui et ont tenté de le ranimer en lui prodiguant de nombreux massages cardiaques avec un défibrillateur. Mais rien n'y a fait, le footballeur âgé de 25 ans a succombé. Il est arrivé mort à l'hôpital.
"Rest in peace, Piermario Morosini " by @RealEsparta on Twitter
Over the course of his brief life, Piermario Morosini suffered many hardships. The site meltybuzz.fr remembers [fr]:
avait évolué dans plusieurs clubs de Série B (Bologne, Vicenza, Reggina, Padoue et Livourne). Mais il avait surtout vécu plusieurs drames personnels. Il avait ainsi perdu sa mère à l’âge de 15 ans. Son père est décédé deux ans plus tard tandis que son frère mourrait également quelques temps après.
Cameroun24.net compares [fr] this tragedy to that of the soccer player from Cameroon's national team, Marc–Vivien Foé, who died in 2003 during an official match of the FIFA Confederations Cup:
Cet après-midi du Samedi 14 Avril 2012, les Italiens ont vécu le remake  du drame Camerounais du 23 Juin 2003 à Gerland où Marc –vivien Foé s’écroulait en plein match et décédait des instants après de suite d’arrêt cardiaque.
The website maroc.senego.com recalls [fr] other sudden deaths of high-profile athletes in recent years:
Les images du joueur italien nous rappellent, tristement, celles du joueur du WAC Youssef Belkhouja, décédé lors d’un match de son équipe. D’autres joueurs ont subi le même sort sur le terrain, comme l’Espagnol Antonio Puerta (FC Séville, 2008), le Hongrois Mikos Feher (Benfica Lisbonne, en 2004) ou Marc-Vivien Foé lors d’un match avec le Cameroun (2003).
Although all of Italy is saddened by the tragedy, compounded by Morosini's youth and personal struggles, several controversies persist.  Valentin Pauluzzi writes [fr] on the site calciomio.fr:
Deux enquêtes ont été ouvertes à Pescara pour savoir si les secours se sont déroulés normalement. Première polémique, le non usage du défibrillateur malgré sa présence. … Autre trame judiciaire, le timing de l’ambulance, on sait que 6 minutes et 24 secondes sont passées entre le malaise de Morosini et le départ de l’ambulance….
Matthias Bertoncelli explains this delay [fr] by pointing out that a car was blocking the ambulance's way onto the field:
La voiture en question serait un véhicule de police stationné devant l’entrée où transitent en cas de besoins les véhicules de secours et ceux des pompiers.
While insisting that this delay did not have any impact on Morosini's death, the mayor of Pescara acknowledged [fr] that the vehicle belonged to the local police and that the officer who was driving had been suspended pending an investigation. Further fueling the controversy was the fact that Piermario Morosini's fiancee was made to identify [it] the body in the morgue. The sight of a tear-stricken Anna Vavassori, a volleyball player barely 20 years old, touched all of Italy. The autopsy has not yet revealed the cause of death. On this subject, alex54.blogspot.it writes [fr]:
L'autopsie pratiquée sur le corps de Piermario Morosini, le joueur de Livourne foudroyé samedi en plein match, n'a pas révélé la cause exacte de son décès. “Il n'y a aucun signe évident qui nous permette de déterminer les raisons de la mort de ce garçon”, a déclaré Christian D'Ovidio, un responsable des services de santé. Des examens toxicologiques devraient être menés dans les jours à venir.
The funeral, by Sol Acik on Twitter
As a mark of respect for this tragedy, sporting events around the world observed one minute of silence. The soccer clubs that had shared the services of the unfortunate athlete also took more concrete steps. The site sport-maroc.com revealed [fr]:
Le club de Livourne a annoncé que le maillot N.25, porté par Morosini, sera retiré. Udinese, qui a prêté en janvier le joueur au club toscan, a de son côté assuré qu’il s’occupera à l’avenir de la sœur du défunt.
Remi Lestang writes [fr] on the blog lestontonsdusport.fr:
Une situation qui a ému le club de l’Udinese, et plus particulièrement Antonio Di Natale. Ils ont promis de prendre soin d’elle. « Nous connaissons la situation de sa sœur et l’équipe, le club et Udinese for Life [l’association caritative du club] avons décidé de l’aider car elle est vraiment dans le besoin. …. Elle a déjà tout perdu, c’est essentiel de rester au côté de la sœur de Piermario pour le reste de sa vie. Elle a besoin de nous et nous voulons l’aider. Pour elle et pour Mario. », a déclaré le joueur.
For his part, the president of the Atalanta club, Antonio Percassi told [it] the press that he considered it his duty to take care of Carla Maria Morosini forever, as would have happened if Piermario's life had not been tragically cut short. This incident is prompting people to raise their voices and ask whether the pace to which these players are subjected, contributes to these sudden deaths. Cesare Prandelli, the manager of the Italian national soccer team, stated [it] during Piermario Morosini's funeral in Bergamo:
Di fronte a questa tragedia il calcio deve porsi degli interrogativi. Medicina sportiva e prevenzione in Italia sono all’avanguardia, ma si può migliorare’.
Alas, it was not the end of Morosini's ordeal.  The athlete's body was transported through many cities: to Pescara, where his team was playing when he lost his life; to Chieti, where the autopsy took place; to Livorno, the city of Morosini's team in which it is estimated that more than 8000 [fr] fans paid tribute to the athlete; and finally to Bergamo, where Piermario Morosini was laid to rest.
The wake [it] took place at Livorno's Armando Picchi Stadium in the presence of a great many supporters, while the April 19 funeral in the Church of San Gregorio Barbarigo [it] was broadcast on five local and national television channels [it]: Bergamotv.it, Sky tg 24, Tgcom24, Rai Sport Eco di Bergamo. Several thousand people, from sympathizers to representatives of the governing bodies of Italian sports, gathered in the church and along the road for several hundred meters.
According to a report on the program “La vita in diretta” [it] (Live from Life) telecast on the primary Italian television station, RAI UNO, the funeral ceremony recognized the personality of “Moro,” as Morosini was affectionately known. During the homily, the priest, one of Morosini's friends, recalled a touching phrase that the athlete had liked to repeat,”Me, I have more reasons to be grateful than I do to complain”,  despite all of the trials and tribulations that life had in store for him.
It has been decided by the local council that from now on, the bleachers in the south bend of the stadium in Bergamo (Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia) will bear the name [it] of Piermario Morosini.


text:
Kazakhstan: Borat credited with tourism increase · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

RFE/RL's Transmission blog says that despite once protesting how ‘Borat’ depicted the country, Kazakhstan is now crediting the 2006 film with increasing ten-fold the number of tourists visiting the country.


text:
Malaysia: Occupy Dataran Merdeka and Education Protests · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The April 28 Bersih 3.0 sit-down protest is expected to be the major political event of the month in Malaysia but students and Occupy activists have already put forward their demands ahead of time.
Early this month, hundreds of students marched in the streets demanding the abolition of the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) – Malaysian student loan scheme – which students criticized as an exploitative and anti-poor commercialization scheme. Instead of loans with high interest rates, they wanted free education.
Anil Netto explains the rationale of the protest:
High study loans are contributing to mounting household debt in the country. The students are insisting that higher education should be free. In a sense, the students’ protest is a critique of the neoliberal approach of curbing government spending on essential services like education and health care and getting users (students and patients) to bear the financial burden.
PTPTN study loans were introduced in 1997 following moves to ‘corporatise’ institutions of tertiary education in the country. This has seen the gradual removal of subsidies in higher education, thus shifting the burden of financing higher education from the government to the students/public.
Woon King Chai disagrees with the demand to abolish the loan scheme but recognizes some of the negative impact of the program:
Personally, I disagree with dismantling the fund entirely simply because that is not the only solution available. However, I acknowledge that there are students who are unable to afford a salary high enough to pay off their loans upon graduation, especially in today’s competitive job market.
After a brief discussion with my housemates and further on with some friends and colleagues, one logical and actually practical solution that the government can take is to actually reduce the interest rate and administrative fees further, so that the amount that the students would have to pay would be lesser (and thus, hopefully less burdensome, especially with a few thousands shaved off the loan). Aside from that, the government can also propose to make the repayment scheme a lot more lax and less strenuous to the new graduates, by reducing the rate of increasing progression for monthly minimum amount to repay the loans.
One of the popular slogans in the Occupy Dataran. Photo from The People's Parliament
Occupy Dataran Merdeka
After the rally of students, youth activists launched the Occupy Dataran Merdeka movement. The Occupy goals are not limited to student issues and the campaign initiators are not just youth activists. Occupy Dataran supports the right of students to air their demands through the use of public space:
Why is Occupy Dataran part of the encampment? Occupy Dataran is an independent and autonomous grassroots initiative to reclaim Dataran Merdeka as an open and democratic space for people to gather, discuss and explore the true meaning of democracy beyond the representative system, to redefine democratic participation beyond the ballot box, and to imagine a new political culture beyond race, ideology and political affiliation. We have decided to be a part of this encampment because we believe in reclaiming public space and that the student movement, like any other, has the right to use this space for their cause.
Occupy Dataran maintains that our presence at Dataran Merdeka is fully consistent with Article 10 of the Federal Constitution, where the people’s freedom to assemble peacefully is provided for and protected. Our presence has been peaceful and our conduct embodies the spirit of nonviolence.
As such, the actions taken by DBKL and the officers over the course of the last 10 days, constitute serious violations of the fundamental freedoms belonging to all Malaysians, including members of Occupy Dataran, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.
Emma & Wai Yeng clarifies that the Occupy Dataran group is distinct from the anti-PTPTN student protesters:
…the campers have been erroneously lumped by the media and public in general into one group. There are in fact two very distinct factions. The first is the original #OccupyDataran group – they call themselves a leaderless group
Sharing space with #OccupyDataran are the students – known by no other name, they gathered to protest PTPTN, and what they believe is a flawed system of government-assisted student funding
The People's Parliament praises the campers:
Nightly, they hold their assemblies, deciding matters based on consensus, allowing for the fullest participation by anyone who will stand up to share his or her thoughts on the matter under discussion.
Last Sunday noon, I had the pleasure of watching these young Malaysians negotiate calmly and politely with DBKL officers who wanted them to vacate the site they were occupying.
Luka Kita reviews the major demands of the campers:
While other participants have articulated that they do not necessarily want to abolish PTPTN but still support the occupy action for other reasons closely linked to the education system. These reasons include the conditions of the current PTPTN scheme and the current system of preferential treatment for bumiputeras (Malays and non-Muslim indigenous populations)
While there does seem to be a lot of focus on education issues, other protestors have articulated their reasons for occupation in broader concepts of democracy and class struggle
From the start, the police has described the Occupy activities as illegal but the protesters have remained defiant.
Campers at Occupy Dataran. Photo from The People's Parliament
Twitter reactions
Using the hashtags #mansuhPTPTN and #occupydataran, here are some reactions on Twitter:
@inbarajs Don't fight for #mansuhPTPTN just bcos ur too cheapskate to pay back the loan. Free education is a different cause altogether
@kevinkoosk Young people at #occupydataran should read books next door at the Kuala Lumpur Library. Dont waste time
@karrotgold #OccupyDataran is to fight for free education? When will these students understand that nothing is free in this world?

author: Mong Palatino


text:
Malaysia Prepares for Bersih 3.0 Sit-Down Protest · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

The Malaysian election reform movement Bersih (Clean) has organized a Bersih 3.0 Duduk Bantah (sit-in protest) on April 28 at Dataran Merdeka in Malaysia. The rally has three demands:
1. The Election Commission must resign, as it has failed in its responsibility and has lost the confidence of the public.
2. The electoral process must be cleaned before the 13th General Elections.
3. Invite international observers to observe the 13th General Elections.
Through BERSIH 3.0, we will continue our struggle for clean and fair elections, assembling and expressing our views peacefully as are our rights as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
The action is also the group’s reaction to the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Select Committee which Bersih dismissed as inadequate:
BERSIH 2.0 is of the belief that many of the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Select Committee can be immediately implemented. We do not see the need to provide for a lengthy implementation period. We reiterate that BERSIH 2.0 has demanded that reforms should be implemented BEFORE the 13th General Elections are held.
BERSIH 2.0 is of the view that it is highly likely that the electoral fraud and other irregularities that are currently being perpetrated in Malaysia, and which have been and continue to be the concern of decent, fair-minded and peace-loving Malaysians, will continue unabated. A golden opportunity to right the wrongs and do something good for the benefit of Malaysians now and in the future has sadly been missed.
Last year’s Bersih 2.0 assembly gathered more than 50,000 people in the streets of Kuala Lumpur. It forced to government to acknowledge the demand for sweeping electoral reforms.
The rally last year turned violent when police dispersed the peaceful assembly. Below is a video teaser for Bersih 3.0 which also features some of the scenes from last year’s Bersih 2.0 assembly:
Dahlia Martin also summarizes the frustration of Bersih to the electoral reform recommendations submitted by the Parliament:
…many of the recommendations in the report did not carry timelines – meaning it was possible that a proposed reform might not be implemented in time for the next general election.
Bersih has responded quickly to the prospect of what they call the “dirtiest” ever elections Malaysia faces in its call for an April 28 global protest.
Dr. Ong Kian Ming has a study which questions the accuracy of the electoral roll:
Finally, through a detailed analysis of the Q4 2010, Q1 to Q3 quarterly updates and the Q3 2011 electoral roll, it was found that there were over 106 thousand voters who were removed without public display and almost 7 thousand who were added without public display.
Khoo Kay Peng advises the Election Commission to address the complaints raised by Bersih:
If the EC does not address the discrepancy in the electoral roll immediately and swiftly before the general election, the commission cannot avoid mounting pressure for the chairman and his committee to step down.
Its negative reaction so far gives credibility and relevance to Bersih 3.0. The authorities, especially the DBKL, should not try to frame the peaceful protest as a political campaign. It is a demonstration of people's frustration with the pace of reforms and a lack of sincerity from the ruling regime and its appointees.
EC has less than 48 hours to announce its plans to clean up the electoral roll or face a major protest against its impotency and irrelevance.
"Election Fraud by Numbers"
Jacqueline Ann Surin tackles some of the criticisms hurled against Bersih organizers:
No matter who supports Bersih 2.0 and now Bersih 3.0, the proof that there is a need for citizens to express their dissatisfaction with the current electoral system is in the numbers.
…in my opinion, seeking help from these political parties is a responsible choice, especially when in the past, the state and non-state actors have shown every indication of threatening violence, and with impunity, against peaceful citizens.
On Facebook, Dickie Buoy supports Bersih 3.0:
Even tho, my wife is no longer a Msian, and we are too far away from the’ nearest’ location for Bersih.
But in our hearts, we stil Willl be rooting for all of Us, who stand for the right 2B treated with respect. We stand for Justice. So so sad to see awful and heartless acts of police brutality on Innocent citizens who Want What is right. Stay Safe.
On Twitter, @adriene has a message for fellow netizens:
Years fm now, your grandkids will ask you if you were at #Bersih 3.0. Do you wanna tell them you slept in and watched Saturday cartoons? ;)
Bersih 3.0 is still coordinating with the police for the venue of the assembly. Bersih will be a global event too since support actions have been organized in 41 cities in 14 countries.


text:
Mexico: Journalists Speak Up in Documentary ‘Forced Silence’  · Global Voices
Silvia Vinas

[All links in Spanish unless otherwise indicated]
“Organized crime tries to win over the hearts and minds of the people, and the state wishes to do the same. Journalists find themselves trapped in the middle, and are often turned into targets.” This testimony by Rachel Levin, journalist at Al Jazeera, and by other journalists working in Mexico is the opening to the mini-documentary ‘Forced Silence’ by Artículo 19.
Artículo 19, an independent organization that defends the right to freedom of expression across the globe, launched the documentary together with an annual report about Mexico for the year 2011: “Forced Silence, the State Accomplice to Violence against Journalists.”
The report points out “the state's inability to prevent, investigate, sanction and resolve the violations to the right to freedom of expresion, which in turn has only caused an increase in and the perpetuation of these violations.” Its introduction adds:
Durante el año pasado se presentaron 172 agresiones relacionadas con el ejercicio de la libertad de prensa, entre las cuales se encuentran nueve asesinatos contra periodistas, dos asesinatos de trabajadores de medios, dos desapariciones de comunicadores y ocho agresiones con armas de fuego o explosivos contra instalaciones de medios, sólo para hablar de los casos de mayor impacto.
Missing journalists – In memory of Manuel Buendía, 27 years of age, and his assassination on May 20, 2011. Photograph: Jorge Tirzo (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Geraldine Juárez writes about the documentary in Alt1040:
El documental denuncia la retórica inútil del gobierno de Felipe Calderón, en la cual se han firmado absurdos convenios entre las esferas del poder para garantizar (sin éxito) la integridad de la labor periodística — y aunque recientemente se reformó el artículo 73para proteger a periodistas— los funcionarios se siguen llenando la boca de grandilocuentes frases mientras se encarcelan y detienen ilegalmente a ciudadanos porexpresarse en Twitter, se asesinan activistas, se incendian instalaciones de editoriales o bien, se intimidan, secuestran y asesinan periodistas impunemente— entre muchísimos otros inaceptables ataques oficiales a la ciudadanía que no es parte del status quo.
In the same article Geraldine emphasizes how the documentary reflects the vulnerability of the journalists, defenders of human rights and other Mexican citizens from the violence effectuated by the ‘War on drugs':
Silencio Forzado es el reflejo de una realidad que muchos prefieren ignorar: los derechos humanos y las garantías constitucionales son pisoteados una y otra vez por las autoridades. México esta en problemas graves, el sistema legal no sirve, la violencia ha provocado más de 50 mil muertes y los periodistas, los defensores de derechos humanos y los ciudadanos que no son parte de las élites (legales o ilegales) en el poder, son cada vez más vulnerables gracias a una guerra que esta siendo utilizada para desmantelar las posibilidades de fortalecer una frágil democracia y los mecanismos necesarios para provocar la rendición de cuentas, como lo es la libertad de prensa, y que por cierto, es una garantía individual en la Constitución Mexicana.
The complete documentary, which you can see below, is also available at vimeo:

author: Silvia Vinas


text:
Portugal: Citizens Prepare Peaceful Protests for April 25 · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

Though peaceful protests are scheduled for April 25 throughout Portugal (a national holiday that marks the end of dictatorship in 1974), mainstream media reported [pt] that “police prepares zero tolerance”. For Miguel Cardima from the blog Arrastão, the news intends [pt] to “insufflate fear” and to “justify violence in anticipation”. In Porto, citizens have organized Meditation for Change and a Clown Brigade.

author: Sara Moreira


text:
Slovakia: Protest Against Construction Near Bratislava Castle · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

On April 18, 200-250 [sk] people attended a protest against illegal construction near Bratislava Castle, organized by Bratislava Openly [sk]. The west side of a new white house (a continuation of a historical building, photo here) had to consist of just the ground floor and a minimal attic, but the builder – architect Dušan Fischer – discovered a 2.5-meter [sk] mistake in the measurements of height above sea level and decided to use it to increase the building's height illegally (photo). Such violations are widespread in Slovakia; to set a precedent and prevent this from happening again, the protesters demanded demolishing at least part of the building.

author: Tibor Blazko


text:
Sri Lanka: Death Of Witness In Police Custody · Global Voices
Rezwan

Serendipity reports that Chandraisiri Dassanayake (42), a main witness in a human rights violation case against the Wadduwa Police, was arrested for possession of Ganja on April 15th 2012 and later died in a cell in the Wadduwa police station in the western coast of Sri Lanka.


text:
Sri Lanka: Monks Demand Demolition of a Mosque · Global Voices
Rezwan

Although Sri Lanka is a multi-religious and multi-cultural society, recent cases of religious intolerance has kept the blogosphere debating on this notion. Last Friday around 2,000 Buddhist monks and local residents staged a violent protest in Dambulla town demanding that a mosque along with a Hindu temple situated in an area designated as a Buddhist sacred zone be demolished.
The police evacuated the mosque and its Friday prayers were cancelled. Local Muslims claim that the mosque is there for 50 years.
According to Raashid Riza:
Reports suggest that the mosque had been hurled at with petrol bombs the night before, causing minor damage, and security forces were deployed to control the situation. The targeting of the Muslim community was instigated by a group of racist Sinhalese individuals, consisting largely of hooligans, who were motivated by the uproar and attention such an act would create, rather than by any identifiable ideology.
A Mosque in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Image by Angelo Samarawickrema.Copyright Demotix
Groundviews posts the contracts of the mosque and asks how can the structure be illegal. The debate went further as the Government had decided to demolish the mosque after caving in to public demand. Moreover, Groundviews reveals:
The Mahanayaka of the Rangiri Dambulu chapter Inamaluwe Sumangala thero, one of the key figures in the on-going tensions in Dambulla over the presence of a mosque and kovil near his Temple, perhaps in response to the public outcry against the violence instigated by him, has told the BBC that TV footage that showed monks engaged in violence – including one monk disrobing and exposing himself to the mosque – were fake.
However evidences show otherwise. Inamaluwe Sumangala thero is the Director General of the private radio station Rangiri Radio and on both the homepage of the Rangiri Radio website, and on the Facebook page, the following video appears which showcase the most violent moments of the mob:
Sri Lankan Doctor comments:
The Buddhist monks of Dambulla embarrassed the Buddhists world over by the way they conducted themselves on 20.4.2012.
The Dambulla mosque attack has to be seen in isolation regarding the Muslim-Buddhist bond the country witnessed over centuries and it is not going to be broken just because of a few such incidents. This Tweet from the Muslim community supports that thought:
@muslimLK: We #Muslims in #srilanka need to handle #dambulla in a sensible, legally permitted & exemplary manner rather than confrontation, inshallah
Serendipity reminds in a blog post:
No matter what religious bigots may profess, Sri Lanka has not as a nation, taken responsibility for exclusively protecting Theravada Buddhism or that the country is solely a Buddhist country. The constitution just states that “Buddhism should be safeguarded and nourished” and if that wording is open to interpretation, we may have to ask the Supreme Court to determine what was meant by that statement.
Indi.ca, who has covered the news extensively, comments:
Muslims are Sri Lankans. They are neighbors and friends. Yet today they are an ethnic minority which, while on the rise economically, is viewed with suspicion by many. [..]
Seriously people, this is a small island and we all have to live together. Forget the culture conflicts and petty annoyances, Muslims are friends and neighbors and they deserve to be treated the way.. [..] Whatever the specifics of the case, it is damn important to emphasize that the Sri Lankan Muslim community is a vital part of Sri Lanka, a respected part of Sri Lanka, and, ultimately, family.
I’m sorry about the Dambulla thing. I hope we’re still cool.


text:
Trinidad & Tobago: Gas Revenues  · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

Accountant/Consultant Derren Joseph shares the contents of an email he received which is concerned with the level of Trinidad & Tobago's gas revenue: “This gas is the property of EVERY CITIZEN of Trinidad and Tobago and we deserve to understand why any of our gas is being sold at a lower price and even the lowest price available and not to the HIGHEST VALUE MARKET.”

author: Matthew Hunte


text:
Turkey: Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Istanbul · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

April 24, 2012, marks the 97th anniversary of the massacre and deportation of around 1.5 million Armenians living in the then Ottoman Empire. Widely considered by many historians as well as the parliaments of several countries to be an act of genocide, the issue remains an emotive one.
Yet, while recent attempts to officially normalize relations and resolve historical grievances between Armenia and Turkey have faltered, the situation has been changing slowly in other areas, and not least in terms of civil society activity.
Indeed, in recent years there has been more open discussion and debate in Turkish society, as well as in its media, about the events of 1915 than ever before. While Turkey still denies the charge of genocide, that change is nonetheless unprecedented as one Turkish tweep commented.
@Ziya_Meral: How much #Turkey has changed in 10 years.. Newspapers are full of articles clearly naming 1915 a genocide, people marching to commemorate..
Naturally, most activity, online and off, came from ethnic Armenians in Armenia and its large Diaspora, much of which came into being because of the deportations, but while the memorial in Istanbul was small, it was at least poignant. It was also live-tweeted in Turkish and English.
@oemoral: @cigdemmater & @hale_akay reporting live from Armenian Genocide commemoration meeting in #Istanbul.
@cigdemmater: 1915 genocide is a crime against humanity #ArmenianGenocide http://pic.twitter.com/E58KFq9O
@hale_akay: We gathered in front of the building Armenians were kept before they were forced to leave Istanbul #ArmenianGenocide http://pic.twitter.com/zFwxKWac
@cigdemmater: Today's museum of Turkish and Islamic art use to be the central prison during the #ArmenianGenocide
A statement from the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) was also addressed to the heads of the two Armenian Churches in Armenia and Lebanon. British-Armenian Genocide Historian Ara Sarafian also spoke at the commemoration.
@cigdemmater: IHD aciklamasindan sonra tarihci Ara Sarafian,Ermenice bir konusma yapiyor:soykirimin 97.yilini anmak icin bir aradayiz http://pic.twitter.com/ZkEmATyJ
A larger memorial occurred later in the day in Istanbul's Taksim Square although there were reports of a counter demonstration by Turkish nationalists. Otherwise, the event was silent and peaceful.
Meanwhile, some Facebook and Twitter users also shared a video recorded especially to mark the anniversary, as Unzipped and others noted.
An Armenian folk song (‘At the Break of Dawn’, compiled by Arusyak Sahakian), arranged by Ayşe Tütüncü, well known pianist/musician from Turkey […], and performed by 42 Turkish musicians. In memoriam April 24.
@GizemYarbil: An Armenian folk song, Aravodun Temin: At the Break of Dawn, In memoriam #April24 http://vimeo.com/40639618
Bir anonim Ermeni gelin türküsünü (Aravodun Temin: Sabaha Karşı, derleyen: Arusyak Sahakyan) Ayşe Tütüncü düzenledi, 42 müzisyen biraraya gelip çaldı. 24 Nisan kurbanları anısına…
Touched by the gesture, one Armenian left a comment:
Nora Armani: As the granddaughter of a survivor from Kaiseri, Anatolia, I am touched beyond words. All I can say is: çok teşekkür ederim, arkadaşlarim. Our culture and art will re-unite us. I am a firm believer in that. Thank you once again…
Thanks to Ertugrul Yilmaz (@Ert_Ylmz) for translation from Turkish into English and Ümit Kıvanç for enabling Vimeo embed permissions for the video.


text:
Zambia: Former VP’s Death Highlights State of Local Hospitals · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

Whenever a high profile Zambian dies out of an illness, the issue of where he or she dies—locally or abroad—takes centre stage. This time it was the death of immediate past Vice President of the former ruling MMD government George Kunda  on 16 April 2012 who died at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in the capital, Lusaka. His death at a local hospital has brought about a heated debate among netizens most of whom thought not enough attention is paid to local health facilities.
Despite mourning his death, netizens seized the opportunity to criticize the current status of health care in Zambia and highlight the need for reform.
The normal practice for the 20 years the MMD was in power from 1991 until it lost the elections to the PF in 2011 and beyond, was that high ranking politicians and their relatives were evacuated to mostly South African private hospitals and other health facilities in the United Kingdom and in later years in India.
When Kunda died, his former Cabinet colleague, Kenneth Chipungu, a member of parliament for the former ruling party,  chided the PF government for not evacuating him outside the country, leaving him to die at UTH where he had been admitted for nearly four weeks up to the time he died.
A typical ward at the UTH. Picture courtesy of John Chola's Facebook page
Commenting on the photo above on Facebook, John Chola said:
If I was minister of health I would forego my three months’ salary to try and dignify these patients in UTH's G22 ward.
Following the story on Lusaka Times, netizens pounced on the statement by Chipungu who served as Youth and Sports Minister before the 2011 elections. Wrote PF Cadre with Red Card:
This issue of evacuating politicians to South Africa, should come to any end. if these guys, starting dying in UTH, then the Govt will be serious with improving the health institutions in Zambia.
Another netizen, Mwema derick wrote:
Chipungu,how does a [former] minister speak like that,just showing your emptiness for nothing,improve your own and let those come here for medical care.do you know how may medical equipments we lack in this country can be bought from the money used to send one politician abroad.
Nine Chale noted:
With all form of respect to the deceased, this statement from the former Sports Minister cannot be left standing.
Mr Chipungu should know that when we have our leadership being flown overseas for medical treatment, it tells us that things are not well. Every Zambian is entitled to primary health care and if the leadership cannot work towards instilling confidence in the local health system, then we have a big problem.
Pretty observed:
It’s rather late to start talking about that. I suggest that UTH standards are UPPED so that we who can’t afford to be evacuated or who insist on being treated at UTH get the services locally.
South Africa as some blogger mentioned should not be synonym to “medical treatment for politicians”.
In reference to the controversial mobile hospitals the MMD government bought from China, kci wrote:
It was even a lot of respect to take him to UTH. We should have driven the mobile hospital to his home to see how effective these hospitals they spent so much money on worked. On the other hand we have received so many body bags of late from SA which is an indication that SA is a waste of money. We should focus on spending tax payers money on improving our facilities not like the way GK did spending so much on corrupt failed constitution and Liato in his back yard. I am sure GK left plenty of stolen money that could not use to buy him a new life. Do not blame GRZ on this
The PF Minister of Health Dr Joseph Kasongo explained to an Internet-based citizen radio, CrossFire Blogtalkradio why Kunda was not evacuated. He said:
We (the technical committee at the UTH) did not consider that the illness he (Kunda) had required treatment abroad. There is a standing arrangement… that in the event that anyone person wishes to be treated abroad or one of the doctors thinks that a patient needs treatment abroad, an ad hoc committee advises the ministry if it is appropriate to send a person abroad. In this case (Kunda) the ad hoc committee did not consider sending the patient abroad.
According to a study commissioned by Global Health Workforce Alliance, there was one doctor for every 15,500 people and one midwife for every 5,200 people in Zambia in 2011.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


text:
Accused of Molesting Children, Iranian Diplomat Leaves Brazil · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

An Iranian diplomat based in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, was accused of molesting underage girls at a swimming pool on April 14, 2012. The Iranian official was questioned by police following complaints from parents, and was eventually released after invoking diplomatic immunity. While Iran's embassy denied the allegations, and said they were the result of a “cultural misunderstanding”, netizens both from Iran and Brazil didn't take long to react.
According to a video report [pt] on Brazilian TV, witnesses said that the diplomat had been pretending to swim around the pool in a “duck-diving” manner. While underwater he allegedly fondled four girls between the ages of nine and fifteen, police said. Some of the girls began screaming and their parents confronted the man. After being questioned by police, the diplomat left the country.
Screenshot from a Brazilian TV report.
Iranians were astonished to hear the news and criticized the Islamic regime for imposing a strict gender separation in the country, while diplomats of the country enjoy swimming in a mixed swimming pool. They also ridiculed the excuse of “cultural misunderstanding”.
Azarakan writes with irony about “cultural misunderstanidng” and says [fa]:
I think the islamic republic is right about cultural difference because this regime has raped its own people for many years without shame… have you heard that one of the Islamic regime's representatives was caught for his dirty activities? Can the regime escape the pressure of international public opinion this time?
In Brazil reactions came up on Twitter. Magalhães A.S, questioned [pt]:
@tovaga: Justiça e grande justiça, para que servem? É justo que o diplomata iraniano com “imunidade diplomática” abuse de crianças do DF? Só no Irã
"Grandfather says how many times I told you not to swim in this pool, there is a diplomat here". Cartoon by Mana Neyestani in Mardomak (used with permission)
Conservative journalist Reinaldo Azevedo, on his blog, also critized [pt] the allegation of “cultural differences” in the note from the Embassy – wondering how such an incident would be solved in Iran – and added:
É muito atrevimento a embaixada de um país que vive sob uma ditadura religiosa, que trata a divergência na base da bala e do porrete, que discrimina as mulheres, que as condena ainda ao apedrejamento, criticar a imprensa de um país livre.
From Iran, Jomhouriat writes [fa]:
The Brazil scandal displays the fall of the Iranian regime's morality. This disaster is just a window for the world to learn about behaviour of representatives of the regime… in our prisons there are many cases of torture and rape.

author: Fred Petrossian


text:
Armenia: Does the world need to recognize the Armenian Genocide? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following this week's 97th anniversary of the 1915 massacre and deportation of Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire, vgratian asks its readers “Does the world need to recognize the Armenian Genocide?”


text:
Chile: Erasing Graffiti from Historic Valparaíso · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

In online citizen newspaper El Martutino [es], Paula Pérez reports that every Saturday until May 26 citizens and various institutions will come together to clean graffiti from the walls of the historic quarter of Valparaíso, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


text:
China: New vBlog Weibo Today · Global Voices
Violeta Camarasa

Blogger Elle Lee launched its new vBlog Weibo Today a month ago, a weekly online show in English about the hottest topics on China's social networks.

author: Violeta Camarasa


text:
China: State Owned Enterprises · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ministry of Tofu translated an infographic comparing the status of state-owned enterprises with the private-owned enterprises in China.

author: Oiwan Lam


text:
China: Toxic Medicine Capsules Dumped into Open Sewage · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Upon the unveiling of the toxic medicine capsules scandal, a large quantity of empty medicine capsules was dumped into an open sewer ditch in Zhengzhou city, Henan province. (more from ChinaSMACK)


text:
Cuba: Hopeless Information?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Information in Cuba is hopeless,” says Bad Handwriting, but she thinks it can be helped.


text:
Cuba: Resorting to Hunger Strike  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Cuban netizens, primarily from the diaspora, are once again blogging about instances of police abuse in the country and how the island's justice system routinely makes hunger-strikers out of prisoners of conscience.
Uncommon Sense republishes a report from the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy about “a recent clash between the Castro police and a large crowd of Cuban citizens who in one instance, said no to repression”, while babalu notes that:
The repression against Cuba's Ladies in White, a peaceful group of human rights activists continues without abatement.
In a later post, babalu adds:
It is news that unfortunately has become routine every Monday morning: The women members of the peaceful Cuban human rights group the Ladies in White arrested by Castro State Security agents for attempting to attend Sunday church services.
Imprisoned dissident and former member of the Black Spring “Group of 75″, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, continues to get lot of attention from the Cuban blogosphere – even more so after his “Me están asesinando” (“They are killing me”) testimony, which Blog for Cuba carries here [ES].  The statement from Unión Patriótica de Cuba (UNPACU) (the Patriotic Union of Cuba) refers to Ferrer's commencement of a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.  Uncommon Sense explains that:
No formal charges have been filed against Ferrer, but the authorities have accused him of ‘public disorder’ and ‘convening marches,’ his role as the national leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba.
Ferrer was one of the Group of 75 dissidents sentenced to lengthy prison terms during the ‘black spring’ of 2003, and whose release was part of a deal struck by the Catholic Church, the government of Spain and the Castro regime. However, Ferrer and 11 others were the last to be released because they had rejected overseas exile as a condition of their release.
That's right, Ferrer had a chance to leave Cuba with his family, but he chose to stay and to fight for freedom.
Which is why tonight, he is jail.
And which is why again, he is laying his life on for that fight.
Pedazos de la Isla posts an update explaining how other activists on the island are mobilizing to support Ferrer and other prisoners of conscience:
During this past week (and weekend), a number of dissidents throughout the island have carried out different kinds of protests- from pots and pan demonstrations to strikes- demanding the release from prison of various political prisoners/detainees, among them Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia (arrested on April 2nd after the political police raided his home), Jorge Vazquez Chaviano (detained on March 27th as he was trying to travel to Havana from Santa Clara to assist the Papal Mass), Niurka Luque Alvarez (a Lady in White who was arrested on March 16th while she protested against a forced eviction in Havana) and Sonia Garro Alfonso (arrested after being shot at by police agents with rubber bullets).
The demonstrators declared that they would fast (only eating during the  night) and they hung signs outside the house with the names of those unjustly arrested.
Human rights activist Guillermo Farinas reported on his Twitter account (@Chirusa32) that, at around 9:30 PM on Sunday, the former political prisoner Librado Linares, a resident of Villa Clara, suffered a ‘violent act of repudiation (…) for putting up signs outside his house demanding freedom for Jose Daniel Ferrer and others’.  Later, it was confirmed that Linares was physically assaulted by regime-organized mobs. However, he was not detained.
Generation Y says that she “knew they would go after him”:
José Daniel, the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), is today State Security’s main headache in the East of the country. He occupies that place — admirable but dangerous — in part because his every word projects honesty and determination. Good-natured, young, conciliatory, he has managed to revive a dissident movement languishing between repression and the exile of some of its members. His drawing power, and the respect many have for him, comes also from his perseverance and, in particular, from the fact that he is quicker to embrace than to distrust. He has become a human-bridge between several citizen projects and, right now, that makes him a sharp stone in the Cuban government’s shoe.
For 23 days this tireless Santiaguan has been detained.  His wife, Belkis Cantillo, still has no information about how much longer he will be under arrest, or even if they plan to file legal charges. Some of us, his friends, have a bad feeling. José Daniel Ferrer has come to have an ability to call people together that frightens the Cuban authorities and they will punish him harshly for that.
But Ferrer is not the only prisoner on hunger strike – Uncommon Sense reports that:
Cuban political prisoner Luis Enrique Labrador has [also] started a hunger strike to demand that prison guards who beat him recently are punished by their superiors.
For many jailed dissidents, the hunger strike appears to be the last-resort method of protest in Cuba.


text:
Do Arab Men Hate Women? Mona Eltahawy Faces Firestorm · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy has once again sparked controversy with an article in Foreign Policy magazine on April 23, 2012, entitled “Why Do They Hate Us?” about discrimination against women in the Middle East. Eltahawy argues that Arab societies are fundamentally misogynistic and that endless abuses against women, “fueled by a toxic mix of culture and religion” take place.
Many Arab journalists, bloggers and activists have criticized the way Eltahawy frames her arguments, and expressed anger at the images accompanying the article of a nude woman in black body-paint resembling a niqab, arguing these are stereotypical depictions of Arab women.
Foreign Policy has since published responses by five commentators.
Mona Eltahawy. Photo by personaldemocracy Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Eltahawy writes in the article:
Some may ask why I'm bringing this up now, at a time when the region has risen up, fueled not by the usual hatred of America and Israel but by a common demand for freedom. After all, shouldn't everyone get basic rights first, before women demand special treatment? And what does gender, or for that matter, sex, have to do with the Arab Spring? But I'm not talking about sex hidden away in dark corners and closed bedrooms. An entire political and economic system – one that treats half of humanity like animals – must be destroyed along with the other more obvious tyrannies choking off the region from its future. Until the rage shifts from the oppressors in our presidential palaces to the oppressors on our streets and in our homes, our revolution has not even begun.
In a post entitled “Mona: Why Do You Hate Us?”, Egyptian activist and blogger Gigi Ibrahim writes:
The fundamental problem of Mona’s essay is the context and framework of how she analyzes why women in the Middle East are oppressed and the only reason she could give is because men and Arab societies (culturally and religiously) hate women. This is offensive to most women I know, who read the article and shared the same view. Women in the Middle East are not oppressed by men out of male dominance, they are oppressed by regimes (who happened to be men in power) and systems of exploitation (which exploit based on class not gender). Having women in power in a flawed system will not “fix” the problem either. We had a women’s quota in Mubarak’s parliament, did that change anything for women in reality? It was all ink on paper. Even after revolution, women are consistently used for political grounds by crony political parties. Explaining why women are oppressed without touching on any of the historical, political, or economical aspects of Arab countries, which are not all the same as she tends to generalize in her article, couldn’t be more delusional than this piece.
Hafsa Halawa in Egypt is not completely against the article:
@Hhafoos: Whilst I disagree w her tone & I certainly don't agree w pictures used, there are facts in Mona Eltahawy's article we can't ignore anymore
Syrian-born Palestinian journalist Dima Khatib also takes issue in a post in her blog, “Love, Not Hatred, Dear Mona!”:
We are not weak, Mona, and the Arab revolutions have proved to us that we are stronger than we thought, and the heroines of the Arab revolutions don’t need to be pointed out. I don’t think we need saviors from the hatred and vengeance of our men, especially since the revolutions have proved that we are more than able to stand shoulder to shoulder with men to achieve progress for our societies. Your article paints a picture of the Arab society that matches the images of the article: black, bleak, depressing, a painted black body. You have reduced the problem of the Arab woman to the feelings of men; while she was reduced to pathetic images which perfectly represent the images the West have of her. […] Arab society is not as barbaric as you present it in the article, which enhances the stereotype of us in the reader's mind, and it is a stereotype which is frighteningly widespread, and contributes to the widening cultural rift between our society and other societies, and the increase of racism towards us.
Lebanese-American journalist and blogger Roqayah Chamseddine commented in a post entitled “Us and Them: On Helpless Women and Orientalist Imagery”:
Not only has Eltahawy demonized the men of the Middle East and confined them into one role, that of eternal tormentors, as her Western audience claps and cheers, she has not provided a way forward for these men. Are they eternally damned? Is this their own manifest destiny, one which has been predetermined at the point of conception? Do they have no way out of the sweeping accusation which brands them as natural haters of women? What of male feminists, are they forever struggling against their innate urge to hate women? Mona Eltahawy has penned both men and women into a non-negotiable situation, charging men with hatred and women with helplessness; and as a woman of colour, of Middle Eastern origin, I will not allow my voice to be co-opted. Mona Eltahawy may be one of us, but she is not “us” nor does she define us.
Egyptian human rights activist Hossam Bahgat tweeted:
@hossambahgat: “Muslims hate their women” is no different from “Muslims are essentially violent”. what a great disservice to our fight
In a post called “I don't really think they hate us!”, assistant professor of journalism Nahed Eltantawy referred to “the empowered Arab women of the Arab Spring”:
When I look at these Arab heroines, who have made their people proud, I don't see hate. I see love, compassion and understanding between young men and women who are willing to work together to create better lives, more freedoms and more just governments for everyone. So, to Eltahawy, I say that your column does not represent me as I don't feel hated. I do have concerns, which might be similar or different to my sisters in Egypt. But I'm confident that whatever social, cultural, political and economic problems I personally face, these are challenges that can be fought instead of simply blaming them on misogyny.
Ayesha Kazmi, who blogs as American Paki, was disappointed at the way Eltahawy's article “spectacularly splintered feminism”:
To claim that the “real war on women is in the Middle East” stakes the legitimacy of Arab women in the war against women, that I view as a global phenomenon not unique to Arab women, while leaving millions of non-Arab women, also victims of systemic misogyny, to fend for themselves. Mona has dangerously isolated non-Arab women from a war that is global. If Mona wanted to specifically address the plight of Arab women, she should have done so without appropriating the entire war as uniquely her own. Take the greater Muslim world for example, could she honestly look an Afghani or Pakistani woman in the eyes and read the title of this piece to them without recoiling?
US-based Middle East scholar Shadi Hamid commented:
@shadihamid: Whatever you think abt @monaeltahawy's piece, says a lot that the very ppl she's trying to “liberate” seem to mostly disagree w her.

author: Solana Larsen


text:
Italy: Rome Celebrates its 2,765th Anniversary · Global Voices
Abdoulaye Bah

Rome, the Eternal City, where myth becomes reality. Rome, where there is always something new to discover.
Before becoming site of the Holy See, Rome was first a city, then a republic and eventually an empire. Rome “was the most politically important, richest, and largest city in the Western world” over a period of almost seven hundred years. At the height of its power, the Roman Empire spanned from Britain to the Arabic Peninsula, North Africa and Eastern Europe.
On April 21, 2012, Romans celebrated the 2,765th anniversary of their city. Legend says that the Rome was founded by Romulus, a demigod nurtured by a wolf.
Coliseum on April 21, 2012 (author's photo)
Website, Why Rome?, explained the legend of the so-called Eternal City:
This Saturday, April 21st, Rome will celebrate its 2,765th birthday. (Can you imagine being around that many years?!) This is based on the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC. In case you're not familiar with the legend, here is a brief overview. Romulus and Remus were twins. Their mother, Rhea, was a Vestal Virgin, and their father was a god (Mars, the god of war). Before they were born, male descendants in the family were killed by their Grandfather's brother. When the twins were born, they were left to die. However, a she-wolf came along and nursed them. The boys grew up to become natural leaders. They decided to found a new city, but couldn't agree on the exact location. The two quarrelled, and Remus was killed in the end. Romulus then founded the new city on the Palatine Hill, and named it after himself … Rome.
Celebrating Rome, senator-style (author's photo)
Maria Merola of Satyrnet highlighted [it] the programme of activities:
Punto nodale del compleanno della Capitale saranno i Fori Imperiali che faranno da sfondo a rappresentazioni in grado di cogliere tutti gli aspetti storici, artistici e culturali che hanno reso Roma quello che è oggi. Roma difatti, tocca tutte le forme d'arte da quelle più antiche a quelle più contemporanee.
Soldiers of Ancient Rome (author's photo)
Website Cool Toura gave [it] a more detailed programme of events, inviting readers not to miss the concert:
Da non perdere, la serata di Sabato 21 Aprile 2012 in via dei Fori Imperiali (altezza Mercati di Traiano), dove alle 20.30 avrà inizio lo spettacolo “Le stelle di Roma” con attori, cantanti e musicisti che si esibiranno dal vivo. … Dalle 23 a mezzanotte, i Mercati di Traiano diventeranno il palcoscenico di uno spettacolo di proiezioni di luci e colori.
Despite its age, Buzz in Rome found the city to be still in reasonable condition:
Yes, Rome is very old but still in pretty good shape, notwithstanding the damages done by its unruly citizens, politicians and visitors! On April 21 according to the legend/tradition, it turns 2765. But, of course, there is no scientific evidence that it was founded in 753BC, let alone on April 21. Anyway, before the Liberation Day (April 25)/Labour Day(May 1) very long weekend there is one more big occasion to celebrate and have fun in Rome. The City council has organized a lot of events. Let’s see those that might be more enjoyable for non-Italian speakers.
Website 06Blog highlighted [it] the role historical places like the Capitol, Circus Maximus and Fori Imperiali would play in these events:
La Lupa, Romolo e Remo, Giulio Cesare, Nerone, i centurioni, con la storia e le leggende della città antica tornano in pompa magna, con le rivisitazioni storiche al Circo Massimo, il corteo in costume lungo via dei Fori Imperiali, le cerimonie solenni in Campidoglio, il Roma Caput Mundi – The Eternal Musical all’Auditorium Conciliazione, dal 18 al 22 aprile 2012.
Celebration of Rome's anniversary (author's photo)
These places are a testimony to the glory of Ancient Rome. The Circus Maximus, still accessible despite ongoing restructuring works, was a theatre for all kinds of entertainments over 2,500 years ago, with a capacity of 150 000 spectators. To this day, it is one of the largest stadiums built by mankind.
Architect Tom Rankin of the Sustainable Rome blog linked the anniversary of Rome with Earth Day on April 22. He asked:
While it’s easy to associate cultural heritage with Rome and environmental sustainability with the Earth, I am interested in building bridges between these two fields both locally and globally since I see the city not as the source of our global environmental problems but as the solution…. Can Rome leverage its richly layered history to sustain itself economically and ecologically? Can it re-use the resources accrued over time to avoid excess consumption? I believe it can and teach a course called Ecological Urbanism which uses Rome as a Laboratory to address themes such as waste, energy, water, transportation and land use.


text:
Madagascar: Rare Deposit-Rich Land Sold to French-German Group        · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

French group Rhodia and German company Tantalus announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to exploit a 300 km-long region filled with rare deposits [fr] in the Ampasindava peninsula in the North-West of Madagascar. The group expects to produce 15,000 tons a year within the next 18 months, a total value estimated at  2 billion euros [fr].  Madagascar is still marred in a political crisis that was triggered by a land grab scandal. Meanwhile, the head of the transitional government Rajoelina has seemingly kicked off his presidential campaign [fr] [photos] after announcing two years ago that he would not run [fr] for president.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


text:
Puerto Rico: Student Detained After Performance Deemed “Indecent” · Global Voices
Alfredo Richner

Charlene Jane González de Jesús, a student at the University of Puerto Rico, was detained by state police last Thursday, April 19, 2012,  at the institution's Río Piedras campus after taking her top off in public as part of a performance art piece in protest of gender inequality.
The fourth year Drama major was approached first by campus police, who intervened after having received several complaints from offended parties and proceeded to drive González to the Río Piedras police station once she refused to put her top back on. At the station, she was interviewed by state police and received a citation for next Friday, April 27.
The case was widely reported by all major local news media outlets, except by the University of Puerto Rico's own newspaper, Diálogo and its online component Diálogo Digital [es]. Diálogo reporter Joel Cintrón, who covered Charlene's story, expressed his frustration through local blog 80grados.com [es], which ended up publishing the censored piece:
[…] la historia fue reseñada, pero el presidente de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Miguel Muñoz, dio la orden de que el tema de Charlene y su arresto no se trataran de ninguna manera por Diálogo Digital. Así me lo hizo saber Melba I. Guzmán Díaz, relacionista pública que fue nombrada como directora de Diálogo pero quien en la práctica funge como relacionista de la administración.
Questions about why campus police had taken Charlene González directly to the police station and not the University's security office were left unanswered by said institution's security personnel.
Charlene Jane González de Jesús, at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (Source: Facebook Public Profile)
Local bloggers and social media users where quick to disregard University president Muñoz's wishes that the story go unreported – with many chiming in on Charlene's story. Perhaps most controversial was PODER 5's Michael Castro, who describes himself as a “Christian human father, husband, teacher, blogger” on his Twitter account (@MichaelDCC), and led the charge against Charlene's protest.
On his post “Charlene Jane Gonzalez: The body as a weapon to make fool of yourself” [es], Michael writes under his blogger name, Prometeo:
Personalmente entiendo que ni hombres ni mujeres deben andar por ahí descamisados[…] En una playa, si un hombre quiere andar descamisado lo hace y punto y la mujer usa su bikini y ya está. Si quieren ir a una playa donde ir topless sea para ambos entonces esas playas tienen acceso restringido porque no todo el mundo quiere verle los pechos a una mujer[…] Hay un lugar para cada cosa pero algunas personas no entienden eso, en especial gente como Charlene Jane Gonzalez […]
He continued, making numerous references throughout his post to Charlene's breast size:
Si Charlene quiere que la acompañen va a tener que buscar otras muchachas con su condición de microbusto para que la acompañen en la lucha por los derechos de las que no tienen… derechos.
The misogyny was not lost on all readers, some of whom reached out to Michael through Twitter, Facebook, and blog comments:
Nadie Hernández (@aerigirl80) questioned via Twitter: “Why make constant references to her [chest] size? If they were big, would they be “melons”? Is the fact relevant? [es]
Hector Ramos similarly addressed the subject in Raul Colón's blog post regarding the issue, “Topless Self Expression, Noise & Using the Right Platform”:
How did she open herself for mockery? By failing to have breasts big enough for your liking? Your repeated comments regarding the size of her breasts show a lack of respect towards women.
Blogger “Elco Lao” was moved further towards Charlene's defense after reading Prometeo's post, writing in his “Letter to Prometeo about Nude Protests and the University of Puerto Rico's scandal after noticing a student protesting with her naked breasts…” [es]:
En el caso de Charlene González de Jesús, su PROTESTA DESNUDA es un acto en el que ejerce un DERECHO HUMANO DE LIBERTAD DE EXPRESIÓN, que NINGUNA SOCIEDAD DEBE CONDENAR… Pero, que tú, o que yo, no estemos dispuestos a realizar este tipo de protesta, sea por los criterios morales o éticos que cada cual tenga […] no es JUSTO que impongamos nuestros criterios a la hora de limitar o prohibir una MANIFESTACIÓN PACÍFICA que denuncia las actitudes de discrimen en nuestra sociedad, INCLUYENDO EL RECHAZO AL CUERPO DESNUDO EN PÚBLICO…
What remains crystal clear is that there are still many more people on the island that, like Michael Castro, dismiss Charlene's protest and subsequent arrest as something worthy of public ridicule. Katherine M. Cepeda-Rivera writes for Cruce – an online culture magazine published by Puerto Rico's Metropolitan University – about the more than 800 comments [es] posted under leading local newspaper El Nuevo Día's initial news report about the incident:
Los mismos nos plantean un problema grave: un problema grave de moralidad. Tanto hombres como mujeres se dedicaron a escribir insultos dentro de los cuales se encontraban: “puerca”, “sucia”, “puta”, “inconsciente”, “loca”, “desquiciada” […] Aparentemente mostrar las tetas es un acto más lascivo que, de acuerdo con algunas personas, un beso entre gays o lesbianas, más lascivo que un hombre se case con una mujer veinte años menor o viceversa, más lascivo que el problema de trata humana en Puerto Rico. Repito, TRATA HUMANA en Puerto Rico (el cual no ha tenido cobertura). El que una mujer muestre las tetas es un acto más lascivo, más lascivo… LASCIVO.
Amárilis Pagán Jiménez states her concerns in a separate column for Cruce, “El cuerpo en guerra” [es] (The body in battle):
En Puerto Rico al día de hoy, los cuerpos de las mujeres son campos de batalla devastados por el fundamentalismo religioso, el conservadurismo gubernamental y la hipocresía de los líderes políticos que seguramente disfrutan plenamente de sus propios cuerpos y que prefieren guardar silencio con una mojigatería que les debería avergonzar. Acuso a esos líderes, a las iglesias cuyos discursos sólo contribuyen a reprimir el cuerpo humano y a verlo como pecado y a las empresas que se lucran de la venta de nuestra sexualidad, de todas las agresiones sexuales, la violencia en relaciones de pareja y la represión de expresiones políticas legítimas que hoy nos avasallan. Pero también asumo parte de la culpabilidad, y creo que el resto del país debe asumirla. Porque en la medida en que guardamos silencio, miramos a otro lado o nos sentimos con demasiado trabajo como para apoyar las acciones de defensa de nuestra humanidad, nos hacemos cómplices de quienes nos agreden.
And as interest for Charlene's story dies down, one comment lingers and a question remains. As blogger and Twitter user Michael Castro wrote to fellow Twitter users @aerogirl80 and @elcolao in their back-and-forth about this incident: “My attitude is a reaction to Charlene's “protest”. Some praise her, some defend her, and I laugh.”
What will Puerto Rico do?
.

author: Alfredo Richner


text:
South Africa: Netizens Weigh In on Fall of Controversial Politician · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The controversial South African politician and the former President of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), Julius Malema, has been expelled from the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The national disciplinary committee found him guilty of sowing divisions within the ruling party in November last year and was sentenced to a five-year suspension from the ANC. His expulsion was upheld by national disciplinary committee of appeals of the ANC on 23 April, 2012.
Malema is regarded by some as the voice of poor South Africans because of his support for nationalisation of mines and land redistribution. He faced criminal charges in 2010 after leading students in singing an old anti-Apartheid struggle song called Kill the Boer. After the song was banned by the South African High Court, he decided to sing Kiss the Boer.
Julius Malema was found guilty of hate speech in the same year by a South African judge because of comments he made about a woman who accused President Jacob Zuma for rape. The comments Malema made were:
Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money. In the morning, that lady requested breakfast and taxi money.
Despite his controversial political principles and statements, some South African netizens have not welcomed his expulsion. Commenting on news of his expulsion on 2oceansvibe blog, Titus Dagane says that South Africa needs young militant politicians:
Its sad to loose someone like him in our politics but I also wish to say at some point he sounded like someone who was ready to die.
We really need militant young people particular within the ANC to keep it in check but having said that, we also need young leaders who are able to inspire other young people in our street. Juju like no other previous YL leaders has managed to go unpunished for insulting senior ANC leaders and that on its own has the potential to destroy the beautiful history that the party has.
“No one is bigger than the ANC”
On Times Live, two commentators see his expulsion as an act of desperation on the part of the ruling party. ProgressiveAfricanDemocrat says:
This is clear desperation on the part of Jacob Zuma and his faction. It is obvious that they have lost support in the ANC Youth League(and other ANC structures) and their only response to this is to smash and destroy the ANC Youth League while dislocating its leadership. Jacob Zuma and Gwede Mantashe's kangaroo courts have spoken but the ANC membership's word on the matter has not been heard. As things stand, any ANC member who expresses disapproval of the current leadership risks being suspended or expelled. But the time is coming when the ANC membership will make its leadership preferences known in a free environment.
AfricaRevolt2011 concurs:
I fully agree with you that this is an act of desperation from one faction of the ANC. Malema was charged for pronouncing on decisions which were taken by the ANCYL and that is grossly unfair. The charges and the outcome were therefore predermined to advance the narrow intesrests of a particular faction. It is sad to see the ANC allowing Zuma's political and personal ambitions to dictate the national agenda. I am not a member of the ANCYL but I strongly believe that young people in the ANC must stand up and fight this decision at whatever cost as this constitute the banning and gagging of the youth league and reducing their role to desk politics.
Prince Simon argues that Malema is more powerful and influential than the ANC:
The youths today don’t care about what happened during the apartheid era or colonization; they only care about their cellphones, laptops, cars, tablet devices, connecting to the Web; in short, they only care about money; and I mean “hard cash” and nothing else. Hence any ruling party that doesn’t cater to providing the youths in their country with the much needed resources to put hard cash in their pockets, then that ruling party is doomed and is risking losing the next or next-to-next general election.
As for the ANC, it needs to realize that Julius Malema, regardless of his hard rhetoric and militant tenor, he’s more influential and more powerful than the ANC itself (consider the Hip-Hop group, Public Enermy, in the 80′s and early 90′s, do you know what happened during that time to the US cities of Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, etc. with their militant song; “Fight the Power”?), meaning that if he gets expelled from the ANC, that he’s more than able and capable of creating his own political party and be able to raise enough funds to easily win the next South African Presidential election.
Below are reactions from Twitter:
@NkanyeziKubheka: Julius Malema is like an EX who doesn't want to let go.
@GarethCliff: How many D-days does Julius Malema get? I'm bored now. If this were World War II, we'd still be planning the Normandy landings…
@Wernvp: UNINSTALLING JULIUS MALEMA…
▒▒▒▒▒▒ 82% complete”
@luweeezee: RT @Julius_S_Malema: Checklist contd; Update entire profile page ☑ Submit UIF [Unemployment Insurance Form] form to labour dept ☑ Update & submit CV to Jobmail [South Africa's employment website] ☑
@Sanele_Gumede: RT @Julius_S_Malema: Update Twitter Bio ☑ Fill in UIF form ☑ Rule ANCYL from the grave ☐ Apply for Chiefs [Kaizer Chiefs soccer team] coaching job ☑
Apparently, Malema thinks the Telephone Directory is a novel!:
Julius Malema returns a book to the library, bangs it on the counter and Yells, “I read this entire novel; there are too many names of people and no story at all” The Librarian looks up and responds: “So you are the one who took the Telephone Directory?
Following his expulsion, youth bodies in Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, Germany, Cuba, Russia, Sweden, Brazil and Venezuela have rallied behind him in his bid to be elected as vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth.
Nickolaus Buer tracks his controversial political journey in the Mail&Guardian.
*Thumbnail image: Julius Malema. Image release by of Gary van der Merwe under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

author: Ndesanjo Macha


text:
South Korea: International Media Coverage on Continuing Attacks on Stanford Grad Singer · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

It has been over years several net users harassed a famous rapper named Tablo by questioning his Stanford diploma to the point of almost ruining his career. A Wired.com article presented evidences that the rapper did not lie about his education record. ROK Drop blog approached this case from the angle how international media shed light on issues – often better than local media.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


text:
South Korea: Youtube Video Accusing Samsung of Labor Workers Death · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

While Apple factory workers’ suicides are widely known, not enough data on Samsung's labor workers is available online. A Youtube user posted a video entitled “Samsung's Truth” with English subtitles explaining how labor workers suffered under the biggest corporations in South Korea.


text:
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Attitudes to Nagorno Karabakh conflict resolution · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Caucasus Conflict Voices posts early data from a 2011 household survey by the Caucasus Resource Research Centers revealing attitudes to the long-running conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh.


text:
Bangladesh: Voices from the Korail slum  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Michelle Chaplin at BRAC Blog posts a video (with subtitles), which shares the initial reactions of some of the people who lost their homes in the recent Korail slum eviction in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

author: Rezwan


text:
Bolivia: Discussing Indigenous Issues and Natural Resources in the Chaco · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Blogger Dario Kenner shares three interviews he conducted in south eastern Bolivia, in the Chaco region: “The interviews are only with a few people so they do not cover every perspective to be found in the Chaco but the views below do give an insight into some of the major issues facing the region.” The interviews focus on indigenous issues and natural resources.

author: Silvia Viñas


text:
Brazil: Activists Protest in Memory of Military Dictatorship · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Earlier this month, a number of cities throughout the country held both real and virtual events to remember Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985).
Brazil's president recently sanctioned the law to create a Truth Committee to oversee the opening of the dictatorship's secret files (reported by Global Voices in March 2011), to reveal the location of the bodies of dozens of political prisoners and guerilla fighters and to shed light on the country's somber past.
"Impunity" –  a Twitpic cartoon by Carlos Latuff
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) recently pressured Brazil to revise the country's Amnesty Law, a law instated by the then military regime to provide amnesty for its various crimes, such as torture, kidnapping, concealing bodies and murdering opponents.
Amidst the polemics involved in reviewing the Amnesty Law and the Truth Committee, activists decided to hold protests and to voice opinions on the need to punish the Dictatorship's criminals and to fully open the still classified files.
Protest in Rio and the Cordão da Mentira (Fool's Block)
Projection of the image of reporter Vladimir Herzog, killed by the Dictatorship in 1975, on the façade of the Military Club. Photo by Moana Maywall during protests organized by Beatriz Seigner, Moana Mayall, Thiago Dezan, Luis Felipe and the group Fora do Eixo. Photo reprinted with permission.
On March 29, a group of at least 300 protesters gathered in front of the Military Club in downtown Rio de Janeiro where a group of reserve soldiers and wistful politicians from the so-called Lead Years had also gathered to “commemorate” the military coup of 1964. The actual date of the coup was April 1 of that year, but soldiers and officers have attempted to rewrite history on account of the actual date's corresponding to April Fool's Day.
Cartoonish Carlos Latuff posted a video evidencing police violence against the protestors, siding with the soldiers and officers who defended the military's decades of torture and assassinations. He writes [pt]:
A polícia militar, como de costume, fez farta distribuição de gás lacrimogêneo, spray de pimenta e muita truculência. Ex-militares como o tenente-coronel Lício Maciel, que participou de operações no Araguaia, e o general Nilton Cerqueira, responsável pela execução de Carlos Lamarca, foram escorraçados pelos manifestantes
The youth who protested were beaten and wounded [pt] by the police, and many are receiving death threats [pt] from soldiers and officers, as exposed by Felipe Garcez in a post reproduced [pt] in the magazine Vírus Planetário, on Facebook.
On April 1, nearly 400 citizens protested [pt] the commemoration of the coup:
O Cordão da Mentira vem por meio desta repudiar o evento de celebração do golpe militar de 1964, realizado no Círculo Militar do RJ, e a ação violenta da Polícia Militar do RJ contra os manifestantes no dia 29/3/12. O Cordão classifica tais acontecimentos como, no mínimo, lamentáveis.
In his blog, Professor Chico Bicudo summarizes [pt] the motives of the protest:
Comemorar o golpe e a ditadura militar significa também comemorar a censura, as prisões, os assassinatos, os desaparecimentos, a tortura, a barbárie.
Photo of the protest. In the forefront are the Mothers of May, who headed the parade. Photo by the author. Unrestricted use.
The protest lasted throughout Sunday afternoon and referenced a number of symbols and landmarks related to the military dictatorship, as professor Pádua Fernandes explains [pt] in his blog:
A multidão desceu a Rua da Consolação, entrou na Maria Antônia, onde foi feita uma homenagem ao estudante José Guimarães, morto pelo CCC (Comando de Caça aos Comunistas) em 1968; desceu até a imagem da Nossa Senhora que a TFP [Tradição, Família e Propriedade, grupo de extrema-direita católico e base ideológica para o golpe – Nota GV] preserva na Rua Martim Francisco. Em seguida, na Rua Fortunato, outra homenagem, ao militante da ALN Marco Antonio Braz (…).
Depois de parar na frente de um jornal paulista [Folha de São Paulo – Nota GV], (…), a multidão seguiu e chegou ao prédio do antigo DOPS, hoje Estação Pinacoteca (que abriga o Memorial da Resistência), quase às dezoito horas.
Exposé
On March 26, a group consisting of militants from a variety of social movements and collectively called the Popular Youth Insurrection [pt] held a protest in a number of cities throughout Brazil [pt] against former military officers associated with torture, disappearances and assassinations  during Brazil's Military Dictatorship. The goals of the movement is to reveal the addresses of these former officers and soldiers now accused of crimes against humanity and who remain unpunished on account of the Amnesty Law.
Reporter and blogger Rodrigo Vianna accompanied [pt] the protest in São Paulo in front of the company owned by Davi dos Santos Araújo, known as “Captain Lisbon”:
Photo of protests in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Unrestricted use.
Davi, na verdade,  nunca foi capitão. Era  delegado de polícia, trabalhou no DOI-CODI em São Paulo e é acusado de torturas, assassinatos e abusos sexuais durante a ditadura.
Saturday, April 7 is officially Coroners Day, and the home of coroner and former director of the Coronial Institute, Harry Shibata, in São Paulo's Vila Madalena neighborhood was chosen as the gathering place for a protest attended by nearly 100 people. Blogger and professor Leonardo Sakamoto explains [pt]:
Ele é acusado de ser responsável por falsos atestados de óbito usados para acobertar assassinatos de opositores pela ditadura militar, ignorando marcas deixadas por sessões de tortura e produzindo laudos de acordo com as necessidades dos militares.
Graffiti and protests in front of Shibata's house. Photo by Leonardo Sakamoto. Unrestricted use.
Posters were also put up [pt] throughout the region renouncing the coroner for the atrocities he committed. Members of the Popular Insurrection have been threatened, and a petition has been going around [pt] as a show of solidarity with the movement. Hundreds of people have also posted photos on a number of social networks [pt] with posters and banners in support of the movement.
A video recorded by the alternative newspaper Brasil de Fato:
Concurrently, the blogosphere and Twittersphere saw the 5th collective blogging – #DesarquivandoBR (OpeningTheBrazilianFiles) [pt], with a total of 52 posts by different  bloggers. “The main theme [of the blogs] was outrage against the torture, disappearances and impunity,” which lead to the rash of tweets marked with the hashtag #desarquivandoBR (OpeningTheBrazilianFiles) on the evening of March 31 and April 1.

author: Raphael Tsavkko Garcia


text:
Bulgaria: “Big Change Begins With Small Steps” · Global Voices
Rayna St.

Various blogs [bg] and mainstream media [bg] were telling [bg] about a student initiative held in the capital city of Sofia on April 24. Many students and members of diverse youth organizations planted trees in the badly-maintained Studentski Grad (“Students City”), a welcome citizen initiative where the leitmotiv was “Big change begins with small steps.” The trees were planted near an abandonned building that has been refurbished by student volunteers who'd like to transform it into a Student center.

author: Rayna St.


text:
Bulgaria: Penalty For Getting Pregnant · Global Voices
Rayna St.

The blog “Работнически глас” (“Worker's voice”) tells [bg] about a trial scheduled for May 26: a former female employee is suing a company for a discriminatory clause in the work contract, which stated that any female employee who gets pregnant after being hired will have to pay a fine (700 lv, around 350 euros: nearly double the average salary in Bulgaria). In her lawsuit, the employee argues that this clause constitutes a discrimination based on sex. It is still unclear how such a contract could have been approved by the official labor administration.