text:
‘If There Is One Thing the Angolan Government Is Scared of, It Is People’ · Global Voices
Pública - Agência de jornalismo investigativo

Laurinda Gouveia in her room. Photo: Eliza Capai / Agência Pública
Angolan authorities accuse Laurinda Gouveia and 15 other young people who were involved in study group based around the book “From Dictatorship to Democracy” by Gene Sharp of planning a rebellion. Gouveia participates regularly in demonstrations against Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power for more than 36 years, and first caught the country's attention in late 2014 when she was brutally beaten by security forces following a protest. She was allowed to remain free on bail, while the others are in prison. Her trial began November 16.
This interview was first published on the Agência Pública site on November 16, 2015. It is republished on Global Voices in two parts with permission. Read the first part of the interview: An Interview With Laurinda Gouveia, a Young Woman Charged With Conspiring Against the Angolan Government.
Pública: What do you think is so wrong with this government, that you would go out into the streets repeatedly asking the president to leave office?
Laurinda Gouveia (LG): Primeiro temos que aceitar a realidade: as coisas estão mal. Um dos fatos mais candentes é o caso dos 15 [ativistas presos]. Muitas das vezes eu penso que enquanto pessoas nós devemos ser valorizadas, né?, as nossas liberdades devem ser conservadas, e, quando isso não acontece, estão matando uma parte de nós, como humanos. O caso da luz: nós não temos luz constantemente. E nós precisamos da energia pra poder estudar. A educação é precária, nas universidades, os preços são exorbitantes, e muitas das vezes nos esforçamos para trabalhar, vamos para o serviço pra trabalhar, o salário é baixíssimo, nem dá pra pagar a universidade. Então não tenho como me desenvolver intelectualmente. Então, é a luz, é as estradas, há muita, muita coisa mais, e o que temos visto é que o presidente não olha para essas necessidades. E isso é o básico. O que a gente vê é que os filhos dele vão estudar fora. Só estamos a pedir que nos respeitem como pessoas, queremos luz, queremos comida, e acreditamos que quem tem que criar essas condições tem que ser o Estado. Por isso é que nós achamos que o presidente não está capacitado para governar, já vai 40 anos. Se nós sairmos daqui pra irmos pra as províncias, minha irmã, é algo mesmo desumano, é um sofrimento! Nós [em Luanda] ainda temos um bocadinho, eles nem isso têm. E contentam-se. Por quê? Porque o próprio Estado criou isso em nós: que é normal viver da maneira que vivemos.
Laurinda Gouveia (LG): First we have to accept reality: things are bad. One of the most burning issues is the case of the 15 [imprisoned activists]. Often I think that we as people should be valued, right? Our liberties should be preserved, and when this does not happen, they are killing part of us, as humans. Take electricity: we constantly lose electricity. And we need electricity to study. Education is precarious, and at the universities, prices are exorbitant, and we go to great effort to work, we get jobs and work, the salaries are very low, and it is not enough to pay university fees. There is no way I can develop myself intellectually. So it's electricity, it's roads, there are so, so many things, but what we have seen is that the president does not care about these necessities. And this is basic. What people see is his children studying abroad. We are only asking that they respect us as people, we want electricity, we want food, and we believe that the state has to create these conditions. This is why we believe that the president is not competent to govern, soon he will have been in power for 40 years. And if we leave here to go to the provinces, sister, it is something inhuman, it is suffering. We in Luanda have this little morsel, and they don't even have this. And they are contented. Why? Because the very state cultivated this in us: that it is normal to live like this.
Pública: Did you also frequent these debates that led to the imprisonment of the 15 activists? What happened during them?
LG: Nós criamos a ideia. Eu conversei com [o professor e ativista] Domingos da Cruz. Acredito que os outros manos que também estão presos fizeram a mesma coisa. Vimos que o Domingos da Cruz tem um pensamento coerente, as suas abordagens em relação à democracia e à cidadania, e há a dissertação que ele fez em que falava de Gene Sharp. Foi assim que nós decidimos falar com ele, de modo a ele nos passar essa experiência, e nós soubemos debatê-la.
LG: We came up with the idea. I talked with [professor and activist] Domingos da Cruz. I believe the other brothers who are in prison did the same thing. We saw that Domingos da Cruz had a coherent way of thinking, his approaches in relation to democracy and citizenship, and there is the dissertation he did in which he spoke of Gene Sharp. This was how we decided to talk to him, so that he would convey us this experience, and so we would know how to debate it.
Pública: So it was a study group, then?
LG: Exatamente. Era um grupo de estudo, de debates, em que nos reunimos semanalmente, aos sábados. E o tempo de duração era de quatro horas. Apresentávamos um manual, levávamos o manual pra casa, líamos, e aquilo que a gente entendeu é que a gente partilhava lá. E mesmo assim – apesar de ser uma coisa inofensiva, porque nós não fazíamos nada de mau e porque a nossa opção foi mesmo a luta não violenta – acredita que, ainda assim, vieram nos prender?
LG: Exactly. It was a study group with debates, which met weekly on Saturdays. It lasted four hours. We would present the handbook, we would take the handbook home, we would read it, and we would share our understanding of it at the group. And even so — in spite of being an inoffensive thing, because we were not doing anything wrong and because our choice was always for a non-violent struggle — can you believe that even so, they came to arrest us?
Pública: There are those who believe Angola is a democracy and those who believe it is a dictatorship. What is your opinion?
LG: Nós vivemos uma ditadura, porque se fosse democracia, na verdadeira essência, os jovens não estariam presos. Há quem diga que se fosse uma ditadura nós não estaríamos mais aqui, mas nós sentimos essa dureza. É complicado, não tem como falar de democracia. Não tem como. Quando a gente organiza alguma manifestação, ou ainda, coisa mais grave, quando a gente tenta fazer alguma coisa pelo sítio em que a gente vive, criam artefatos para que a gente não desenvolva aquilo que a gente está a fazer. Então, não se fala de democracia. Não existe. O que existe é a Constituição, eles fizeram muito bem e eles privilegiam-se disso. Mesmo a Constituição eles que fizeram, até porque nós não participamos. Nem os próprios debates da Assembleia passaram na televisão. É que praticamente nós somos animais, não participamos em nada. Nós vivemos uma ditadura em todos os âmbitos: na família, nas universidades, na escola. Nas universidades os professores são autoritários. Você, quando expressa uma ideia, é exonerado. Mas acredito que cruzar os braços não é a solução. Nem que nós tenhamos que morrer por isso, pelo menos fizemos alguma coisa. E vamos fazer, e os nossos filhos, quando vierem, também vão dar continuidade disso, porque acreditamos. Por mais que nós não usufruamos de uma Angola melhor, as pessoas que virão têm que usufruir de uma Angola melhor. E o problema desse país não tá na população, tá no topo. É o presidente e o seu MPLA.
LG: We live in a dictatorship, because if it were a democracy, in the true sense, the young people would not be imprisoned. There are those who say if this were a dictatorship that we would no longer even be here, but we feel this harshness. It is complicated, there is no way to talk about democracy. There is no way. When we organize a protest, or even still, when we try to do something for the place we live, they manipulate things so that we cannot develop what we are working on. So, there is no talk of democracy. It doesn't exist. What exists is the constitution, they crafted it well and emphasize it. Even the constitution they made themselves, we did not participate in that. Even parliamentary debates are not aired on TV. Practically speaking, we are animals, we do not participate in anything. When you express an idea, you are dismissed. But I believe crossing our arms is not a solution. Even if we have to die for this, at least we have to try. And we will try, and our children, when they come, will have to carry this on, because we believe. Even if we will not enjoy a better Angola, the people who come after will have to. The problem of this country is not its people, it is at the top. It is the president and his party, the MPLA.
Pública: After you were beaten, your family expelled you from home. Do you think your family got scared or that they did not accept that you thought differently?
LG: Eu acredito que as duas coisas, porque eles cresceram nesse ambiente. No entanto, tenho familiares que morreram no [massacre de] 27 de maio [de 1977, durante a guerra civil]. A minha tia conheceu muito bem, seu marido morreu. Isso tudo é fruto da experiência anterior. E, lógico, numa parte eu poderia dizer que é um excesso de zelo. Acreditas que, se tu só mesmo em falar da palavra “política”, ouves “é melhor tu não falares disso, se querer viver até muito tempo, convém comer, beber, estás a ir na escola, tens um emprego, casa e pronto!”. Os meus familiares viveram nesse ambiente. Apesar de eu ter um pensamento diferente deles, eles viveram aquilo e temem pela minha vida. Mas, como já disse, o próprio regime é que criou isso em nós. Nós vivemos amedrontados.
LG: I believe both, because they grew up in this atmosphere. So I have family who died in the [massacre] of May 27, 1977. My aunt knew very well, her husband died. All of this is fruit of past experience. And, logically, on one hand I could say it is an excess of zeal. Can you believe that, if you would just say the word “politics” and you hear that “it's better that you don't speak about this, if you would like to live a long life, it is advisable to eat, drink, you go to school, get a job, house and done!” My family lived in this environment. In spite of them having a different way of thinking than I, they lived that and they fear for my life. But, as I said, the regime itself created this in us. We live in fear.
Pública: What is your routine like today?
LG: A minha rotina está na faculdade, cadeia, encontro com os familiares [dos presos]. E tenho acompanhado serenamente a situação dos meus manos, o que complica a mim mesma, bastante. Infelizmente, para complicar mesmo as coisas, o governo separou os presos, pôs cada um em uma cadeia fora da cidade, só mesmo para separá-los, porque a lógica MPLA é separar para melhor governar.
LG: My routine is university, jail, meetings with the family [of the prisoners]. I have serenely followed the situation of my brothers, which makes things hard on me, quite hard. Unfortunately, to really complicate things, the government separated the prisoners, putting all of them in a prison outside of Luanda, just to really separate them, because the logic of the MPLA is to separate to govern better.
Pública: Your generation is the first in Angola that never lived Portuguese colonialism or the civil war…
LG: Exato.
LG: Exactly.
Pública: Do you think this generation is less afraid?
LG: Olha, eu penso que cada geração é uma geração. E nós, logicamente, por não termos vivido aquela realidade colonial, após a independência, aquilo que foram os conflitos, nós vemos as coisas, digamos, com uma pureza, né? Apesar de nos transmitirem, nós não vivemos aquilo. Nós agimos consoante o nosso tempo. Queremos fazer a nossa história, nós queremos mudar o país. Não só para nós, como angolanos, mas para o mundo inteiro. Então, é preciso que deixem que nós façamos a nossa história.
LG: Look, I think each generation is a generation. And logically, for not having lived that colonial reality, and the post-independent conflict, we see things with purity, you could say, right? In spite of them transmitting [what came before], we never lived that. We act according to our times. We want to make our history, we want to change the country. Not only for us Angolans, but for the entire world. So, what we need is for them to let us make our history.
Pública: Have the demonstrations had any results?
LG: Precisamos de ser prudentes, porque muitas das vezes nós organizamos manifestações e quem aparece são sempre os mesmos. E a ação da polícia é sempre a mesma, né? Bater e levar pra [a cadeia de] Calomboloca, levar pras províncias. Então, eu penso que precisamos parar um bocadinho. Não quer dizer ficar indiferente com as coisas. Precisamos refletir o que a gente quer. Para mim, acho que nas eleições não vamos conseguir nada. Eu não acredito nas eleições pela máquina que é o MPLA. A exemplo disso, meu caso, eu vivo aqui em Luanda e muitas das vezes, quando é hora de votar, o meu nome sai nas províncias, onde eu nasci. Então, não tem como eu acreditar nas eleições… Eu acredito que, se há uma coisa que este governo tem medo, é das pessoas. Não tem medo dos partidos, porque brincam como se fossem bonecos. Brincam. Mas ele tem medo do povo. Tem medo da consciência do povo. Quando esse povo começar a despertar e descobrir que ele pode fazer alguma coisa por este país, então teremos um país melhor, né?
LG: We have to be sensible, because often we organize demonstrations and it is always the same people coming. And the police actions are always the same, right? Beat people up and take them to Calomboloca prison, take them to the provinces. So, I think we need to pause for while. I don't mean to become indifferent to things. We need to reflect on what we want. Personally, I don't think we will achieve anything in elections. I do not believe in elections [conducted] by the machine of the MPLA. An example of this, in my case, I live in Luanda and often, when it comes time to vote, my name comes up in the [provincial voter rolls], where I was born. So, there is no way I can believe in elections… I believe that if there is one thing this government is scared of, it is people. They do not fear political parties, because they play around like dolls. They play. But the government is scared of people. When people begin to wake up and discover that they can do something for this country, then we will have a better country, right?
Pública: Do you feel sexism in Angola due to your political activity?
LG: Numa sociedade como a nossa, em que o machismo tá acentuado, muita das vezes o homem acha que, pronto, enquanto mulher, deve estar sujeita ao homem. O que me incomoda é o fato dos rapazes acharem, enquanto menina e enquanto ativista, que há coisas que eu é que tenho que fazer. Por exemplo, eu saio da minha casa, vou pra uma reunião na casa de um dos ativistas, e, por ser a única menina, acham que, enquanto eles estão a resolver lá os problemas, eu é que tenho que cozinhar pra eles. E realmente eu não aceito isso! Porque eu não saí da minha casa pra cozinhar pra vocês! E se eu vim pra reunião, eu primeiro tenho que cumprir aquilo que é o meu objetivo!
LG: In a society like ours, in which sexism is strong, often a man believes that women should be subject to men. What makes me uncomfortable is the fact that boys think, as a girl activist, there are things I should do. For example, I leave home, go to a meeting of activists, and just because I'm a girl, they think that while they are there solving problems, I am the one who has to cook for them. And I really do not accept this! Because I didn't leave my house to cook for you all! And yes, I did come for the meeting, and first I have to meet my own objectives.
Pública: Do you complain?
LG: Muitas das vezes eu tenho reclamado isso e tem surtido efeito. Digamos que os efeitos são paulatinos, e o estado da mulher aqui em Angola ainda está mesmo muito baixo, né?, e muitas das vezes eu, comigo, entro até em quase frustração, porque eu estou a lutar por uma Angola melhor, mas muitas das vezes vejo as minhas manas lá embaixo.
LG: Often I have complained about this and it has started to make an impact. Let's say the effects are gradual, and the position of women here in Angola is still really low, right? And often I, myself, I get really frustrated, because I am struggling for a better Angola, but I so often see my sisters in a really low position.
Pública: Do you think that there was an element of sexism in the police's decision to pick you out and beat you up?
LG: Eu penso que sim, porque eles viram-me, né?, tipo “não, como ela é que está sempre a se meter?”. Mesmo depois do espancamento, um dos polícias disse: “Laurinda, você tem alguma doença?”. Eu disse “Não!”. “Mas por que que você fica assim com o cabelo natural?” Eu disse: “Porque eu gosto!”. “Mas não pode ser assim. Você até nem devia estar a fazer isso. Não se mete nisso, você é mulher e, como mulher, se preocupe em casar, em ter uma casa, ter teus filhos… Até olha, depois dessa surra que nós te demos, tu já não vais fazer filhos!” Me disseram isso.
LG: I think so, because they saw me, right? Like “no, how is she always getting involved?” And after the beating, one of the policemen said, “Laurinda, are you sick or something?” And I said, “No!” “But why do you look like this, with natural hair?” I said, “Because I like it!” “But you can't be like this. You should not be doing this. Don't get involved in this, you are a woman, concern yourself with marriage, a home, in having children… Because look, after this beatdown we gave you, you are not going to be able to have children!” They told me this.
Pública: They said this?
LG: Até disseram “Mas olha, Laurinda, deixa de se meter com esses jovens, olha você até não quis colaborar conosco, não quer começar a colaborar conosco…? Vamos te dar um serviço, até pode namorar com um de nós, tem pessoas aqui em condições, só que você vai se meter com aqueles miúdos, aqueles confusionistas!”. Então, houve, sim, machismo, e tem havido sempre.
LG: They even said, “But look, Laurinda, stop hanging out with these young people, look, do you want to collaborate with us, don't you want to collaborate with us? We will give you a job, you can date one of us, we have people here who can provide for you, and yet you are hanging out with those boys, those troublemakers!” So, yes, there was sexism, and there has always been.
Read the first part of the interview: An Interview With Laurinda Gouveia, a Young Woman Charged With Conspiring Against the Angolan Government.


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Iran’s Supreme Leader Tweets Commentary on Global Conflicts, Blaming the US · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

The Supreme Leader's YouTube video called “Satan's Confessions” on the United States foreign policy on Iran.
The current state of affairs in the world is troubling. From recent attacks in France, Lebanon, Mali, Nigeria and Tunisia, to military lockdowns in Brussels and ongoing wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, the lists of armed conflicts are long and ever growing. In the midst of all this, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has taken an opportune moment to voice his opinions on these global issues in a series of consecutive tweets, presented as snippets from his daily talks and meetings.
Throughout these messages, he points to what he identifies as the destructive and hypocritical policies of the United States and its allies, while offering no self-reflection on the Iranian government's own policies. It should be mentioned that Iran has an elected president, but the unelected and divine figure of the supreme leader wields ultimate decision-making power in Iran.
The video featured below, posted on his Twitter account on November 1, 2015, also summarizes Khamenei's feelings toward the US and the infamous narrative of the US as “the great Satan,” despite the joint nuclear agreement made in July between Iran, the US and the P5+1 countries. The video associates any local protests or opposition movements in Iran with American influence or infiltration.
Khamenei maintains an English-language Twitter account known as @khamenei_ir, often complimented with Arabic- and Spanish-language translations on @khamenei_ar and @khamenei_es, respectively. Although Twitter is blocked in Iran and the account remains unverified by Twitter, the exclusive photos and information that it publishes points to Khamenei's office running the account for him. Meanwhile, the ayatollah's Farsi-language Twitter account, @farsi.khamenei.ir, has remained inactive since May 2015, indicating that his office is using the platform as a tool of international public diplomacy to propagate his views outside of Iran.
The following looks at Khamenei's tweets from the past three days.
Starting on Tuesday, November 23, 2015, Khamenei participated in a series of state visits, which resulted in several tweets highlighting the discussions between him and the visiting heads of state. The main theme that arose was the negative interventions of the US in regional conflicts.
In conversation with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Khamenei seems to conclude that the problems posed by Daesh (or ISIS, as the militant group that has come to control swathes of Iraq and Syria is also known) and Boko Haram to Nigeria, Iran and the wider region are exacerbated by the US and “the west”:
Investing hope in cooperation and aids from US & west in fight against terrorist movements like #DAESH or #BokoHaram is erroneous.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
While most visits resulted in two or three tweets, the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin with the ayatollah took up 16 tweets and included a photo album of the event featured on his website farsi.khamenei.ir. The tweets mainly included praise for Putin, criticism of the United States and mention of their joint cooperation on Syria and commitment to maintaining Bashar Al-Assad's sovereignty as Syria's “democratically elected president.”
Mr. Putin is an outstanding figure in today world; I appreciate #Russia’s efforts in nuclear issue. pic.twitter.com/x1OvypCGge — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
Leader in meeting with Russian president: America always try to put rivals in status of passiveness but you neutralized this policy.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
Moscow’s decisions and measures on #Syria lead to improvement of regional and global position of Russia and of Mr. Putin himself. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
US seeks dominance in #Syria to dominate region & heal historical failure to dominate west of Asia; this threatens all, mainly Russia& Iran. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
Syrian president was elected by people of various political, religious & ethnic views in general election; US cannot ignore Syrians’ vote. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
Any solution for #Syria must be known and agreed upon by Syrian people and authorities. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
Stressing continuation of Russian attacks on terrorists in Syria, Putin urged Tehran-Moscow coop. & consult on political solution in Syria. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
Putin in Monday meeting with Leader of Revolution: Iran is a trustworthy and reliable ally, no one can decide instead of Syrian people. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 23, 2015
In the midst of the war raging in Syria, Assad was reelected as president in 2014, winning nearly 90% of the votes. Voting was only held in areas of the country controlled by his forces; the European Union and the US condemned the election as a sham.
Russia and Iran have been strong supporters and allies of Assad since the beginning of the civil war in 2011, providing military aid, weaponry, training and advisers. As of September 2015, the Russian military has been deployed in Syria to fight militant groups such as Daesh at the request of Assad, however, it is known that these strikes have included rebel groups and populations opposed to Assad.
The US offered support for the moderate rebels of the Free Syrian Army against the Assad government during the onset of the civil war in 2011. As of September 2015, the US alongside a coalition including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain began airstrikes against Daesh strongholds.
In a meeting with Iraqi President Fuad Masum, Khamenei reflected on the sectarian tensions in the country that he blamed on American influence and alluded to the much criticized invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Iraqis have lived together with no problems for centuries, but some regional countries & aliens exaggerate discords; it must be opposed. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 24, 2015
Situation in #Iraq must not provide grounds for US to dare speak of disintegration of this country. 2/2 — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 24, 2015
In meeting with #Iraq president: Americans must not be allowed to see Iraq their own asset & behave or speak about it in any way they like. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 24, 2015
Amongst this week's last state visits was one from Bolivian President Evo Morales. Again, the theme was standing up against American policy, especially in their efforts to influence and “ruin” local cultures and politics in Latin America and the Middle East. During this discussion, Khamenei highlighted Iran's support of the oppressed anywhere in the world.
In meeting with Bolivian president: it is necessary to strengthen wills to confront US policy of changing identity of nations. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 24, 2015
The Islamic Republic of #Iran supports anyone, anywhere in the world who confronts and resists against oppression and dominance. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 24, 2015
In a speech to Iran's paramilitary organization the Basij, the Ayatollah broke down his thoughts on a number of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, including the brutally repressed protest movement in Bahrain, the civil war in Yemen, the Palestinian movement against Israeli occupation, and the direct and indirect supporters of militant organisations such as Daesh.
Again, he spoke of all this as an indictment of the US, both in its legacy in Iraq and the wider region in aiding the rise of Daesh, as well as its support of allies such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (which is leading a coalition intervening in Yemen on behalf of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's contested government) and Israel.
Thousands of Basij commanders from across the country met with Leader of the Islamic Revolution. pic.twitter.com/Ne7MtMeu7p — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 25, 2015
Global conflict is between arrogance movement represented by US & movement of values, national & identity independence represented by Basij.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 25, 2015
On #Bahrain: What is wrong with demands of Bahrain people? They demand suffrage for all. Don’t you claim democracy? Anything more clear?! — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 25, 2015
Innocent Yemeni people are being bombarded for months now, yet human rights organizations still support aggressors! This is #Arrogance.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 25, 2015
Palestinian #Intifada has begun in #WestBank, over 60 years after occupation, generations have changed, but Palestinian cause still exists. — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 25, 2015
Arrogance is directly and indirectly supporting most devilish terrorists in #Syria. pic.twitter.com/CYpQHXMK3J
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) November 25, 2015

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Mahsa Alimardani


text:
Singaporeans Can Now Legally Own and Read ‘Fanny Hill’, but Playboy Is Still Banned · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Bishan library in Singapore. Photo from Flickr page of Ellen Forsyth, CC License
Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) has lifted the ban on 240 books and magazines but maintained its prohibition on the importation, selling, and distribution of 17 publications which it deems contrary to public interest.
The order was released on November 25 and posted on the government’s web portal. The MDA said the lifting of the ban was made after it conducted a routine review of previous classification decisions “to keep pace with societal norms”.
In de-gazetting these items, the Government has considered the prevailing content and community standards in Singapore. MDA assessed that a number of these de-gazetted publications are out-of-print or are permissible under today’s content standards.
Some of the previously banned titles include communist plays, Malay nationalist pamphlets, and erotic novels. For example, the anti-colonial periodical ‘Dravida Nadu’ was banned in 1949, the communist play ‘The Long March’ was declared illegal in 1959, and adult novel ‘Fanny Hill’ was included in the list of prohibited books in 1966.
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, popularly known as Fanny Hill, is an erotic novel by John Cleland first published in 1748. Image from Wikipedia
Tamil periodical Dravida Nadu. Image from Wikipedia
Singapore enacted the Undesirable Publications Act in 1967, which criminalizes the possession or ownership of publication that are deemed obscene and dangerous by the government.
The last time the government lifted a ban on a publication was in 2004 when it allowed the printing and distribution of women's magazine Cosmopolitan after a 22-year prohibition.
Some of the ‘undesirable publications’ that can now be imported and sold in Singapore following the recent order of the MDA also include Henry Miller's ‘The World Of Sex’, World Student News magazine, Malay nationalist periodical ‘Nusa Dan Bangsa Melaju’, and Chinese-language erotica ‘Loose Women Of Wealthy Families’.
On the other hand, the MDA order affirmed the ban on 17 publications for being contrary to public morals and national interest. Most are ‘hardcore pornographic’ magazines such as Penthouse, Hustler, and Playboy. But the government also included all publications of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association, which are part of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a group that refuses members to undergo national service. The ban on the publications of Jehovah's Witnesses was first issued in 1994.
The MDA order will have little impact on the publishing industry since many of the previously banned titles are no longer in print or have become unpopular already. Nevertheless, it’s a reminder that Singapore enforces a strict regulation of media which many believe undermines the people’s right to free expression.

author: Mong Palatino


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Stranded Migrants, Syrian Refugees and Street Sexual Harassment Hit Costa Rican Headlines · Global Voices
Alejandra Montiel

“Welcome to Nicaragua”, reads the banner. But there was no welcome to Nicaragua for Cuban migrants stranded in Costa Rica. Imagen on Flickr by user Kippelboy (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Costa Rica has been at the center of the headlines since mid November 2015 with the following news: the drama of the Cuban migrants stranded on their journey to the United States, the Syrian nationals who were in the country for five days without anyone noticing and the violent death of the brave young man who filmed one of many street harassers.
As then president Ricardo Jiménez Oreamuno used to say back in the 1930s, in Costa Rica there are only three seasons: rainy, dry and quarrelling with the ‘nicas’ (short for Nicaraguans).
More than a thousand Cuban citizens are stranded in Costa Rican territory awaiting a “miracle” that will allow them to go through Nicaragua on their way to the north. Their situation has been at the center of the news for several days:
Se deja ver la luna en La Cruz de Guanacaste, a 16 kilómetros de la frontera con Nicaragua. Está fresca la noche del lunes y en las faldas de la pampa se ha desatado desde el domingo un drama fronterizo que tiene a unos 2.000 cubanos anclados en Costa Rica, dada la negativa de Nicaragua de permitirles transitar y retomar su romería hacia los Estados Unidos.
[…]
Hasta el miércoles [18 de noviembre], 883 personas permanecían en albergues instaurados por la Comisión Nacional de Emergencias, con el apoyo de múltiples organizaciones. Además de la pastoral, se izaron tres refugios adicionales en La Cruz, y el miércoles se inauguró otro en Liberia.
You can see the moon over La Cruz de Guanacaste, 16 kilometers away from the border with Nicaragua. It's a chilly Monday evening and on the hillside of the pampa is unfolding a border drama that has some 2.000 Cubans stranded in Costa Rica, given the refusal by Nicaragua to allow them to go ahead and resume their journey to the United States.
[…]
Until Wednesday [November 18], 883 people stayed at shelters set up by the National Commission of Emergencies, supported by several organizations. Besides the pastoral one, there were three additional shelters in La Cruz, and on Wednesday another was was inaugurated in Liberia.
The Costa Rican Chancellery has been more active than ever, with regular press releases:
El Presidente (Luis Guillermo) Solís fue enfático en que la principal prioridad del Gobierno es de carácter humanitaria, para garantizar que hombres, mujeres y niños migrantes tengan las condiciones adecuadas de alimentación, atención médica y psicológica, cobija y techo para afrontar la difícil situación que afrontan en la frontera norte.
President (Luis Guillermo) Solís was emphatic about the main priority of the Government being humanitarian, to ensure that migrant men, women and children have all the proper conditions of food, medical and psychological care, blankets and shelter to cope with the difficult situation they face at the northern border.
Costa Rica is known for its respect for everyone's human rights. As reiterated by the Minister of Communication, Francisco Herrera Ulloa, to Cuban songwriter Silvio Rodríguez in an affable virtual message exchange:
Somos respetuosos y garantes de los derechos humanos, por esta razón, hemos trabajado para brindar las condiciones necesarias y garantizar los derechos fundamentales para que estas familias reciban un trato digno.
We respect and guarantee human rights, that's why we've been working to provide the necessary conditions and to ensure fundamental rights so that these families may be treated fairly.
Recently, things have also revolved around the Syrian nationals that have already left Costa Rica, but who spent five days in the country without anyone noticing. On November 19, a Syrian woman was found and arrested, she only spoke English and Arabic and was staying 25 meters away from the Saudi Arabia embassy. Allegedly, she was part of the group of five Syrians, but from some unknown reason, she stayed behind.
Los 5 sirios detenidos en Honduras querían llegar a EEUU, tras pasar por Siria, Líbano, Turquía, Brasil y Costa Rica https://t.co/7zaJQsQNkq
— Univision Noticias (@UniNoticias) November 18, 2015
The 5 Syrian nationals detained in Honduras wanted to go the US, after going through Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Brazil and Costa Rica.
Meanwhile, sad news came on Thursday, November 19, with reports of the passing of Gerardo Cruz, the brave young man who filmed one of the many street sexual harassers who walk around the streets of the Costa Rican capital, San José. This particular harasser was recording a video of a girl from underneath her skirt.
The day after this was revealed, Gerardo was stabbed. He was in a coma for several weeks, apparently improved, until finally it was reported that he died from a heart attack.
Police say they were unable to find any links between Gerardo's video and the attack he suffered; instead, it was an assault that Gerardo fought back against and was stabbed.
Social networks honored an ordinary ‘tico’ (as Costa Ricans are popularly known) who wanted a better country where women are respected, who had a wife and was expecting a daughter:
Mataron a #GerardoCruz el tipo que grabó al “señor” filmándole debajo de la pollera a una chica en #CostaRica. Justicia para él y nosotras!
— Mica Riera Clement ♡ (@MMicaRiera) noviembre 23, 2015
Gerardo Cruz was killed, the guy who recorded the “gentleman” who was recording under the skirt of a girl in Costa Rica. Justice for him and for us women!
Gerardo Cruz despedido en medio de aplausos y un llamado a la paz https://t.co/Ym1GFthej1
— José antonio segBoza (@JsegBoza) noviembre 21, 2015
Gerardo Cruz was bid farewell amidst applause and a call for peace.
No solo Costa Rica anda de luto, hoy Latinoamérica lo está. Gracias Gerardo Cruz por enfrentar el acoso a la mujer pic.twitter.com/qJbqXchFjs — Tigresa del Oriente (@TigresaOriente) noviembre 21, 2015
Not only is Costa Rica in mourning, today all of Latin America is. Thanks, Gerardo Cruz, for confronting sexual harassment.
“Decí la verdad, aunque te tiemble la voz”. El mensaje de la familia de #GerardoCruz al recibir su cuerpo. pic.twitter.com/3xu0uhAjSn — La Nación (@nacion) noviembre 20, 2015
“Tell the truth, even with a trembling voice”. The message by Gerardo Cruz's family upon receiving his dead body.
It's enough to take a look at Twitter to understand why we had a Civil War in 1948. In spite of being a country where we all know each other, are related or have at least one person in common, 70 years ago we killed each other, betrayed each other and went after each other.
The thing is, in the happiest country in the world, we have to take a look inside ourselves and make all the necessary changes so that it might still be that way.

author: Alejandra Montiel


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Two Russian Lawmakers Want to Ban Homosexuality in Public. This Is How They’d Do It. · Global Voices
James Slater

Original photograph by Brett Sayer, January 21, 2009. CC 2.0. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Russian lawmakers have been notoriously busy bees in recent years, passing numerous laws since 2012, when Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency, that have expanded police powers and imposed new restrictions on the actions of Russian citizens.
On October 29, 2015, two Russian Duma deputies from the Communist Party, Ivan Nikitchuk and Nikolay Arefyev, proposed an amendment to the Code of Administrative Offenses, which would create an article titled “Public Expression of Nontraditional Sexual Relationships.” The term “nontraditional sexual relationships” has been used extensively as a euphemism for homosexuality in Russian legislation. Deputies have yet to vote on a draft of the amendment, which is still before the State Duma's Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building.
The bill (№ 916716-6)—a mere two pages in length—would establish Article 6.12.1 to the Code of Administrative Offenses, which comprises just two subsections:
The public expression of nontraditional relationships, consisting of a public demonstration of these distorted sexual preferences in public places—if these actions do not contain a criminal offense–are punishable by a fine on citizens in the amount of 4,000 to 5,000 rubles [$60 to $76];
Actions envisaged in part 1 of this article—committed on the territory and premises intended for the provision of educational services, cultural institutions, and youth institutions, if these actions do not contain a criminal offense—are punishable by a fine of 4,000 to 5,000 rubles or administrative arrest of up to 15 days.
Although the bill has not garnered any traction within the State Duma, its passage would further complicate the rights of LGBTI Russians, who have seen a barrage of legislation in recent years aimed at curtailing their rights under the guise of protecting children.
The proposed amendment, however, is the most overt legislative attack on homosexuality in Russia to date. Although it contemplates the protection of children, like the 2013 law enumerated in Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“2013 law”), the amendment proposed by Nikitchuk and Arefyev goes well beyond the 2013 law insofar as it bans all public display and expression of homosexuality—not just “propagandistic” activities conceivably aimed at minors.
If passed, a challenge to the law would be inevitable, making the constitutional challenge to the 2013 law particularly instructive. In that case, Russia's Constitutional Court upheld the law because it was ostensibly designed to protect “constitutionally significant values, such as family and childhood, as well as prevent harm to the health of minors, and their moral and spiritual development.” The Court also ruled that the 2013 law is constitutional on the basis that it “does not involve intervention into the sphere of individual autonomy, including individual sexual self-determination, [and is] not intended to prohibit or officially reprimand nontraditional sexual relationships.” Moreover, the Court found the law constitutional because it did not prohibit “assembly and public gatherings,” except those aimed at the dissemination of information to minors.
What Nikitchuk and Arefyev propose, on the other hand, seeks to penalize homosexuality and prohibit LGBTI persons’ right to public assembly irrespective of its so-called effect on minors. The bill, as written, would appear to be inherently disharmonious with Russia's Constitution. In effect, the proposal to ban public homosexuality strips away LGBTI Russians’ equal protection under the law, which is clearly prohibited by Articles 17(1), 19(1), and 55(1)-(2) of the Constitution.
If passed by the parliament and signed into law by President Putin, would Russia's Constitutional Court uphold a ban on public homosexuality? Many expected the Court to strike down the law banning so-called “gay propaganda” in the presence of minors, but it didn't. The new proposal by Nikitchuk and Arefyev, meanwhile, is an even more glaring affront to Russians’ fundamental rights. For that even to be a consideration, the proposal would need to find a way out of committee and into Russia's law books.
In recent years, however, when it comes to the Russian legislative system, stranger things have happened.

author: James Slater


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Are Russian News Media Getting a Boost from Retweet Bots on Twitter? · Global Voices
Lawrence Alexander

Why are suspicious Twitter accounts mass-retweeting stories from top Russian news agencies? Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Hundreds of what appear to be Twitter bots are artificially inflating the retweet and favorite counts of tweets with links to articles from some of Russia's top news agencies. Lawrence Alexander discovered that these same fake accounts have previously mass-posted links to scores of pro-Kremlin LiveJournal blogs—themselves part of a network of thousands. In this piece, Alexander walks us through his research process.
My research for this article began when I spotted an unusual trend among the Twitter accounts of Russia's larger news outlets. Among the Twitter users retweeting and favoriting stories from the likes of RT, RIA Novosti, and LifeNews, many had timelines that consisted almost entirely of retweets.
Typical examples of retweet-heavy user accounts include MarishaSergeeva,
MilenaRuineva, KlaraUkralaKolu, olga04p, laraz1377, and babichevaSonya
[archive: 1 2 3 4 5 6].
Upon closer examination of the accounts’ metadata, it became immediately obvious they had all the hallmarks of fake accounts: their bios were either short and sketchy, featuring bland slogans, or were left completely blank; their avatars all had the appearance of stock images posed by models or were unrelated images from cartoons.
Repeated retweets of RT's Russian-language service characterize many of the supposedly fake accounts.
Their behavior differed from that of the bots featured in my first article for RuNet Echo, which didn't retweet or favorite, and followed each other in a closed network. Analysis of a collection of these newly-identified accounts with NodeXL failed to reveal any similar community clusters.
Whilst some accounts were entirely dedicated to retweets, others (such as SlavinaOksi) also posted a number of links to news stories.
This account tweets links to news stories, in both Ukrainian and Russian.
The vast majority of links tweeted by “Slavina” lead to stories on kievsmi.net, one of the pro-Kremlin “news” sites (in this case, created to look like Ukrainian media outlets) in the web network previously covered on RuNet Echo.
At this stage, it became clear that some Russian-language media organisations were likely having their Twitter popularity artificially inflated by accounts that looked and acted suspiciously non-human. But on what scale was this happening, and was this phenomenon unique to the Russian Internet or representative of a wider online trend?
To get a clearer answer, I wrote a basic Python script to search the timelines of the recent retweeters of a selected Twitter account and identify the percentage of retweeting accounts whose last thirty tweets were all retweets (marking them as suspicious). Certainly, such a simple measure had the potential to produce false positives from regular users who habitually retweet. But the results it returned were both interesting and surprising.
Over the course of nearly two weeks, I gathered data from the Twitter accounts of media agencies in Russia, Ukraine, the UK, and the US, producing an average score based on the number of retweets they received from suspicious accounts.
For baseline comparison of normal Twitter behavior, I employed a random sample of 45 Twitter accounts in English and 45 in Russian. These were gathered by searching for any users tweeting the conjunction ‘and’ in each language.
For my pool of media-related Twitter accounts, the English average score (for retweets by accounts that were marked as suspicious) was 18.6%, with the RuNet scoring only slightly higher at an average of 20.3%.
Consistently, Russian-language news outlets showed more retweets from bot-like accounts than their English counterparts.
The graph below shows the average rating for each news agency's account over a two-week period:
The top scores came from @emaidan_ua, @novostikiev and @kievsmi—all of which are linked to the pro-Kremlin website network. The accounts of Russia's larger, pro-government news agencies also ranked highly, whilst the leading outlets in Western media (CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the BBC) charted the lowest for retweets from retweet-heavy accounts.
Ukrainian news outlets such as Kyiv Post and UA Today TV also had below-average scores, as did the English-language accounts of Russian broadcasters such as Sputnik and RT. This contrasts sharply with the 42% rating of RT's Russian language Twitter account—22% above the RuNet average. So what lay behind this disparity?
Taking a closer look at the metadata for the accounts that made up these retweet “farms,” an odd characteristic repeatedly emerged. In the field showing the name of the client software used to post tweets—which might usually be Twitter for Android or Tweetdeck—the same series of names showed up consistently: “bronislav,” “iziaslav,” “meceslav,” “slovoslav” and “rostislav.” Analysis showed that nearly half of the retweet bots used these clients.
Google searches suggested they weren't associated with any known commercial Twitter software and appeared to be unique to the Russian bots, so it was highly likely they were part of a custom tool. Curiously, all of these names are traditional Slavic masculine names that variously derive from words describing “a person who fights for, or attains, glory.”
Using these client names as filters, I modified my Python code to flag only the accounts that posted using these software clients. This turned out to be a far more selective measure than retweet behavior alone; using the fine-tuned script, I isolated a total of 411 fake accounts.
Interestingly, the bots’ behavior changed over time. Although most are now dedicated to automated retweets, timeline searches show they previously promoted hashtags such as #AnarchyinUA, #PutinPeaceMaker, and #MaterialEvidence, often posting content similar to that seen on websites connected with the Internet Research Agency “troll farms.”
“Kolomoyskiy and Poroshenko fighting for millions while the people are counting pennies #AnarchyInUA.”
“#MaterialEvidence Horrible evidence of the civil war in Ukraine displayed in New York” and subsequent tweets about the exhibition with some links to relevant Russian-language news.
Over some time periods, as if in a stand-by or “idling” mode, the bots tweeted inspirational quotes or other content randomly lifted from the web.
Bot tweeting a series of unrelated quotes and phrases, no links or retweets.
Having obtained a “clean” sample of retweet bots that was free of false positives, I wanted to see which news agencies were getting the most attention from them. I wrote a third Python script to gather the usernames of the last 30 accounts retweeted by each bot, resulting in the following chart of top sources for bot retweets.
Russia's larger state-backed news agencies and outlets—RIA Novosti, RT, LifeNews, and TASS—dominate the list. However, Twitter accounts of independent media organisations, such as Meduza Project and TV Rain, were also present. And oddly, while the account of Riafan (a website from the St. Petersburg “troll factory”-linked web network) was receiving fake retweets, so too was @champ_football (part of the sports site championat.com). It isn't clear whether this strange combination is a quirk of the bots’ code or a deliberate attempt to disguise political intent. Either way, there is no evidence that any of the named organisations have ordered or orchestrated the retweets.
Data based on the client-source filter further confirms that the bots using what appears to be custom software focus almost entirely on Russian-language media (see graph).
There is no doubt that through their repeated retweets, these accounts are having a measurable impact on the Russian-speaking Twitter sphere and the traffic driven to the news websites. Their activity underlines how Twitter's popularity and engagement scores can be artificially skewed, a factor of importance to social media analysts whose research may rely on such metrics.
But retweets and hashtags are only a part of the bots’ payload. In my next article, I will examine the LiveJournal blogs they have been promoting en masse, and investigate whether they serve as evidence of a further attempt to disseminate pro-Kremlin content on the RuNet.

author: Lawrence Alexander


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Australians Unite to Tackle Family Violence on White Ribbon Day 2015 · Global Voices
Kevin Rennie

Rosie Batty, Australian of the Year 2015 – Courtesy of Flickr user Michael Coghlan (CC BY-SA 2.0)
#WhiteRibbonDay, which observes the International Day of the Elimination of Violence against Women, took on a strong sense of urgency in Australia on 25 November 2015.
Richard O'Brien in his post Men's Business for the Australian Independent Media Network shared some of the alarming statistics:
> 76 women have been killed this year as a result of intimate partner violence, 1.6 deaths per week
> About two-thirds of physical assaults against women are committed in the home
> One in three women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15
> One in five women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15
> One in eight women have been sexually abused before the age of 15
Rosie Batty, Australian of the Year, has been a key figure in stimulating this focus on domestic violence. She has campaigned relentlessly since the murder of her 11-year-old son Luke by his father in February 2014. She set up the Luke Batty Foundation with the goal “to raise funds to support women and children affected by the trauma of family violence.”
I want to tell everybody that family violence happens to everybody. No matter how nice your house is, how intelligent you are. It happens to anyone and everyone.
One of the organisations working actively to bring about change is Fair Agenda. It has pushed for ‘full funding of family violence services’. Fair Agenda won social network Care2‘s Impact Award 2015 for its ‘What it will take’ campaign:
Fair Agenda’s ‘What it will take’ campaign mobilised people around the fact that thousands of women fleeing family violence are being turned away from frontline family violence services because those services don’t have enough funding.
New media have been very successful in rousing old media on the issue. Fair Agenda was highlighted on national television in Waleed Aly's segment ‘Show Me The Money’ on Channel 10's The Project, a nightly current affairs program. The May 2015 video of that piece has had over 700,000 views and 1,000 comments on The Project's Facebook page. The Twitter response was also substantial:
Over 400 ppl turned away from homelessness services every day, many are escaping violence @theprojecttv http://t.co/BvW9jPrKD5
— Equality Rights (@eraaustralia) May 12, 2015
Fair Agenda was a popular winner with participants at the #FWD2015 Digital Campaigners conference when it was announced:
@FairAgenda well deserved award for an amazing campaign and movement! #fwd2015 definitely a crowd favourite. pic.twitter.com/lNCPfcdSmi
— Brian Fernandes (@BrianFern_) November 20, 2015
ABC TV (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) has shown a two-part special, Hitting Home, to coincide with White Ribbon Day. Journalist Sarah Ferguson (@FergusonNews) has been immersed in the justice and health systems, embedded in a women's refuge, and tackling male perpetrators in prison. The #HittingHome hashtag has seen heavy traffic:
These Australian women all died this year https://t.co/JfublvegX8 #NeverAlone #HittingHome
— Rod McGuinness (@rod3000) November 24, 2015
So has #QandA, a debate program, during the special panel that followed episode 2:
Domestic Violence. N A T I O N A L E M E R G E N C Y We need to do more! #HittingHome #QandA
— Mariam Veiszadeh (@MariamVeiszadeh) November 25, 2015
Easy answer young man. Don't. Hit. Women. #HittingHome #QandA
— sunny (@sunnypuggy) November 25, 2015
#QandA #HittingHome To break the cycle we also need to break the cycle of how we talk about, fund and act on DV socially and politically
— Red Ruby Scarlet (@RedRubyS1) November 25, 2015
These tweets touched on the unity of purpose that has emerged recently around the need to tackle the domestic violence emergency:
Side note: how refreshing is it to have politicians speaking passionately and not bickering on #qanda? #Hittinghome
— Dr. Stuart Richards (@stueyjrichards) November 25, 2015
Police are now great allies battling DV and this is great example of deep cultural change. There is hope! #QandA #HittingHome
— Julie McCrossin (@JulieMcCrossin) November 25, 2015
Many hope that a consensus will emerge about providing domestic violence leave in workplaces:
Domestic violence utterly unacceptable: PM https://t.co/DWw60aVvfJ
— Raza Montes (@RazaMontes) November 25, 2015
Meanwhile, the Victorian State government's Royal Commission into Family Violence has finished its hearings and should report its recommendations for action early in 2016. The publicity generated by Rosie Batty was one of the key motivations behind the setting up of this inquiry. She has had the rare privilege of addressing both houses of the Victorian parliament:
Getting ready to address both houses of @VicParliament You can watch here at 10.30am https://t.co/FNgjGbXkwZ
— Rosie Batty (@RosieBatty1) November 25, 2015
Her address certainly had a impact on parliamentarian Frank McGuire:
Rosie Batty likens family violence to terrorism. We need honest look at attitudes and culture. As individuals we must change our attitudes.
— Frank McGuire (@Frank_McGuire) November 26, 2015
Finally, Emeline Gaske had a practical reminder for our lawmakers and governments:
More than needing sympathy, those experiencing family violence need well funded services, decent housing, strong social welfare #HittingHome
— Emeline Gaske (@emelinegaske) November 24, 2015

author: Kevin Rennie


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Gambia’s President Bans Female Genital Mutilation, but There’s Still Much Work to Be Done · Global Voices
Demba Kandeh

President of the Gambia Yahya Jammeh addresses United Nations General Assembly on 24 September, 2013. UN photo by Erin Siegal. Used under Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The Gambia surprised itself and the world on 23 November 2015 when it announced an executive ban on the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) just days before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
FGM involves the ritual of removing of some or all of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. It is usually carried out using a blade, with or without anaesthesia. The practice has no health benefits and can come with a range of painful complications. Nineteen countries in Africa have outlawed FGM.
The United Nations general assembly set aside 25 November every year to mark the beginning of a 16-day period of activism on gender-based violence.
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, speaking at a political rally in his home village of Kanilai, announced an executive order banning of the practice in The Gambia with immediate effect. He said:
Female circumcision is banned in The Gambia from Kartong [a coastal village in south-western Gambia on the border with Senegal] to Koina [a village in the southern bank of the Gambia river]. For 21 years, I have been researching from the Qur’an and consulting religious leaders whether female circumcision is mentioned in the Qur’an but I did not find it there.
The world media reverberated with the news in a somewhat jubilant mood, paying tributes to decades of advocacy by feminists and human rights activists. Despite the presidential ban, however, there is no law in the country that prohibits the practice, and some observers cautioned against declaring the fight over just yet.
According to a Unicef report, Gambian Muslim clerics are divided on FGM  in a country where over 90 percent of the population is Muslim. Some argue that it is an optional, but recommendable religious practice (sunnah); however, FGM predates Islam, and people of other faiths throughout Africa also perform the “cut”, pointing to a strong cultural element in the practice.
Anti-FGM activists marching in the Gambia. Photo released under Creative Commons by GAMCOTRAP
FGM is pervasive in the Gambia with figures suggesting that over 70 percent of women experience one form of FGM or another. For more than two decades, activism and advocacy efforts have had little effect, especially at the policy level. Efforts to introduce an anti-FGM legislation in the tiny West African country had so far met stiff resistance with politicians declining even to meet civil society groups on the subject.
Below is a documentary, Cutting the Womanhood, about FGM in the Gambia:
Modou Joof, a Gambian journalist and blogger who has covered FGM and other human rights related issues, reacted to the news:
This could be the beginning of show of political will to ban fgm – which has been lacking according to campaigners.
The Girls Agenda, one of the leading community-based organisations advocating for women and girls rights, posted this on their Facebook page:
Our grassroots approach in raising awareness and demanding for policies, laws, and practices that empower and recognise the rights of women and girls will continue. We're committed to ending all forms of violence ranging from FGM, child marriage, intimate partner violence to political isolation while giving girls the best tools of communications, negotiations and assertiveness skills they need in order to thrive.
In a long but analytical piece on the announcement, the Linguere blog had this to say:
Increasing awareness of the public on the dangers of FGM and its effects on girls and women is the sure way to changing attitudes and influencing an abandonment of the practice. FGM is a deeply-rooted culture and its practice has prevailed with a justification along cultural, traditional and religious lines. As with many other cultural and traditional practices, there needs to be a shift in perception of the practice, for abandonment to become a true reality.
However, the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights center cautioned against excitement, arguing that President Jammeh is known for making outlandish statements:
The Gambia was thrust into the spotlight this week after the country’s longtime president, Yahya Jammeh, announced a ban on female genital mutilation (FGM). This pronouncement surprised many, especially after the country’s National Assembly rejected a similar proposal in March of this year, claiming that Gambians “were not ready.” …Lost in all the celebrations, particularly on social media, is the fact that FGM is not banned in The Gambia, at least not yet. There is no enforceable law on the books. And recall that Jammeh is prone to making outlandish, bizarre, and one-off statements. The last time Jammeh actually lived up to a promise was when he publicly vowed to summarily execute death row inmates, which was carried out in August 2012.
The Gambia is already a state party and signatory to many international and regional human rights instruments that are not in line with harmful traditional practices such as FGM. The country is a signatory to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Convention on the Rights of Children, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, and the Maputo Protocol, among others. It is necessary to harmonise local regulations to these international standards.
The November 23 executive pronouncement should be a beginning, not an end in itself. But for now, while activists may breathe some sighs of relief, the true winners are the hundreds if not thousands of Gambian girls at risk of FGM annually.

author: Demba Kandeh


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President Duda’s Controversial Pardon Has Not Put Poles in a Forgiving Mood · Global Voices
Anna Gotowska

Polish lawyer and politician Andrzej Duda assumed the office of President in August 2015. Photo by Lukas Plewnia, September 12, 2013. CC 2.0.
Earlier this month, just a day after the new Polish government was sworn in, President Andrzej Duda made the controversial decision to pardon Mariusz Kamiński, a member of Duda's former party, Law and Justice.
Kamiński was convicted of abusing his powers as head of Poland's Central Anticorruption Bureau, where he served until 2009, during which time the Law and Justice party controlled the Polish government. Before his pardon, Kamiński's sentence had not yet entered force, as he was awaiting an appeal trial.
Although the conviction itself was seen as controversial and some considered it a political move made by the previous government (controlled by rivals in  Civic Platform), many say Duda's decision to pardon Kamiński is surprising and possibly inappropriate. Had Kamiński lost his appeal, he would have been barred from holding public office ever again, and he may have been sent to prison for many years. Kamiński currently serves as the head of special services in Poland's new government.
Polish social media users soon voiced their opinions on Twitter. Konrad Niklewicz wrote:
Przypominam, że ułaskawienie potwierdza wyrok. Od dziś o zainteresowanym można pisać per “przestępca”
— Konrad Niklewicz (@konradniklewicz) November 17, 2015
I want to remind you all that the pardon confirms the ruling. From now on we can call the person in question “guilty”
Filip Lachert also commented on Twitter:
PAD to chyba zrobił Kamińskiemu krzywdę, bo ułaskawienie nie jest uniewinnieniem. Nie wiąże się z zatarciem. Nie znam się ale to głupie
— Filip Lachert (@FilipLachert) November 17, 2015
I think that PAD [President Anrzej Duda] did a disservice to Kamiński, because the amnesty doesn't mean “not guilty.” It doesn't equal an erasure of conviction. I'm not an expert but I think it was stupid.
Another Twitter user, Aronsem, compared pardons issued by Poland's current and past presidents. As depicted in the picture attached to the tweet, Duda's pardon was suspiciously just a single sentence long.
Tak na obrazkach wygląda ułaskawienie normalne i ułaskawienie nienormalne: pic.twitter.com/EGi7CXfGBF
— aronsem (@aronsem) November 20, 2015
On the attached pictures it can be seen how a normal act of pardon looks like, and how a not normal one looks
Irena Szafrańska also wrote about the pardon:
Po to głosowałam na PiS i prezydenta @AndrzejDuda, by w moim imieniu ZAWŁASZCZYLI wreszcie państwo , wyrywając je z rąk złodziei i zdrajców
— Irena Szafrańska (@ISzafranska) November 19, 2015
This is why I voted for PiS [Law and Justice] and the Presient Andrzej Duda, so that they could reclaim the nation and pull it out of the hands of thieves and traitors
Several members of the public complained that Duda has compromised the presidency's impartiality and duty to represent the interests of the nation by indulging in partisan politics. While it's not illegal for the president to pardon a former colleague, Duda's decision has invited criticisms that he's violated the spirit of his obligations as Poland's leader.
Already divided after the elections, Polish citizens continued to be disagree about Duda's actions.
Popular blogger and Twitter user katarynaaa posted:
Coś czuję, że jak będzie za duży jazgot wokół tego ułaskawienia to wkrótce wypłynie jakieś nieznane do tej pory ułaskawienie poprzednika.
— kataryna (@katarynaaa) November 17, 2015
I feel that too much noise around this amnesty thing could cause for an unknown case committed by his predecessor to come up
Paweł Wimmer, a publicist and blogger, wrote:
Ułaskawienie MK przypomina ten stary dowcip z zaginionym w restauracyjnej szatni paltem – nie mamy i co nam pan zrobisz.
— Paweł Wimmer (@Wimmer) November 17, 2015
The pardon of MK [Mariusz Kamiński] reminds me of this old joke about a coat missing in a restaurant: “We don't have it, so what you're gonna do?”
Marek Migalski wrote:
Uważałem wyrok na Kamińskiego za skandaliczny. Za skandaliczne uważam także jego ułaskawienie przez PAD.
— Marek Migalski (@mmigalski) November 17, 2015
I found the ruling in Mr. Kamiński's case to be appalling. I find the amnesty ruled by The President to be appalling as well
The decision to pardon Kamiński was one of many recent moves by the Law and Justice party that have caused problems for the group. The party won Poland's last elections in late October, becoming the first political group in Poland after the fall of communism to gain a majority and produce a president who was previously its member.

author: Anna Gotowska


text:
The Big Laughs of Mexico’s ISIS Threat · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Screenshot of the video where ISIS threatens 60 countries, including Mexico. YouTube.
According to a video released by the extremist group ISIS (also known as Daesh or ISIL), Mexico is among the 60 countries that are considered its enemies, and therefore could be targeted in new attacks.
Far from showing fear, Mexican social media users have flooded the Internet with sarcastic jokes and dark comedy about the apparent threat, mocking ISIS, its violent ways, and the supposed need to prepare for war with jihadists in Syria and Iraq. With references to Mexican pop culture icons and a lot of the usual local sassiness, Twitter was soon hosting trending hashtags like #ISISenMéxico (“ISIS in Mexico”) and #SiEnMéxicoHubieraTerroristas (“If there were terrorists in Mexico”).
Global Voices collected some of the snarkiest and most popular tweets.
On ISIS and its presence in Mexico:
#SiEnMéxicoHubieraTerroristas todos vestirían como un bello trompo de pastor. pic.twitter.com/XQf4xaXicl — Kid Calavera (@KidCalavera) November 26, 2015
If there were terrorists in Mexico, each of them would look like a gorgeous shepherd meat ball for tacos
#IsisEnMexico que fuerte..!! pic.twitter.com/vYkzc56mCx
— Jaime Sänchez Juarez (@Jaimesanchz) November 26, 2015
ISIS in Mexico, OMG!!
Ya hay tres detenidos por la irrupción de #IsisEnMéxicopic.twitter.com/Qy727WQNyO
— Luis Becerril (@luisbecerrilr) November 25, 2015
There are already three persons arrested after ISIS landed in Mexico
In one video, “Mexican Jihadists” mock ISIS by singing a children's song.
Regarding the readiness of the police and military to combat terrorism, Twitter users expressed a playful belligerence:
Preparadísimos para la guerra… #IsisEnMexico jajaja pic.twitter.com/run6NFXXY8
— Ulloa (@_ULLOA_) November 25, 2015
Absolutely ready for war…
#IsisEnMéxico déjense venir putos, no van a saber ni de dónde les caen los platanazos! pic.twitter.com/FTbXIx0F4w — El Pap's (@paps_mirrey) November 25, 2015
ISIS in Mexico. Come on motherfuckers, you won't even know where the banana hit you!
#IsisEnMexico cierra las fronteras pic.twitter.com/nQxliuRjMu — Remy LeBeau Norteño (@Draksou) November 25, 2015
Mexico closes its borders to face ISIS
#IsisEnMéxico y nuestro ejército así pic.twitter.com/ZI3vbV7tGy — Korno Espinosa (@korno) November 25, 2015
ISIS in Mexico and meanwhile our army
#IsisEnMéxico … Estamos Preparados ja ja jajajaja pic.twitter.com/oIapg2z28N
— Julianita (@julisjun) November 25, 2015
We are prepared LMAO
Others joked that the existing levels of violence in Mexico could present a significant obstacle to ISIS:
#SiEnMéxicoHubieraTerroristas les robarían las bombas y los secuestrarían. — El Candigato Morris (@Oficialmorris) November 26, 2015
If there were terrorists in Mexico, their bombs would get stolen and they would be kidnapped
#IsisEnMexico Tamaulipas estado fuerte. 💪💪pic.twitter.com/yF21Dy5t2U
— I4. (@IrvingMor) November 26, 2015
Tamaulipas, a stronghold State
*meme:
- ISIS in Mexico
- Welcome to Tamaulipas
- On second thought, let's take another road
There is now a meme around the concept of “We are ready”:
Fuerzas élite ante inminente #ISISEnMexico@DracoDocleanpic.twitter.com/rjMO3PdCAi
— @cuellarvarela (@cuellarvarela) November 26, 2015
Elite forces ready for the imminent ISIS in Mexico
-Todos los mexicanos al enterarse de #IsisEnMéxicopic.twitter.com/SUkoCHoUTY — ChilaquilEnmascarado (@ElChilaquilsoy) November 25, 2015
Every Mexican when they found out about ISIS in Mexico
We are not afraid #IsisEnMexicopic.twitter.com/WwCsvDZbl8
— Laura Villarreal (@Lauvillarrealc) November 26, 2015
Known for making uninformed remarks, President Enrique Peña Nieto was imagined by several Twitter users as capable of confusing “ISIS” for a cable television plan's acronym:
-Señor presidente q opina de #IsisEnMexico -Pues tienen paquetes muy padres pero yo prefiero dish, muchas gracias. pic.twitter.com/MejturGE6b
— Malverde (@PachecoVlady) November 25, 2015
- Mr. President, what do you think about ISIS in Mexico?
- Well, they have good packages, but I prefer dish
Also, some Twitter users took a more serious approach, addressing politicians’ corruption and the country's drug war, which they say demonstrates terrorism's presence in Mexico already.
#SiEnMéxicoHubieraTerroristas vivirían en una casa blanca, ademas dejarían escapar al chapo. — DANIEL CRUZZ (@DANYELCG) November 26, 2015
If there were terrorists in Mexico they would live in a white house, and would let El Chapo escape
#SiEnMéxicoHubieraTerroristas Habría decapitados, secuestrados, ejecutados bloqueos, balaceras, desaparecidos y 100,000 muertos en 12 años — Reno (@javonimus) November 26, 2015
If there were terrorists in Mexico, there would be people decapitated, kidnapped, executed, roads blocked, shootings and 100,000 death in 12 years
#SiEnMéxicoHubieraTerroristas no! Ni cállate! Te imaginas decapitados, desollados y colgados en nuestras carreteras? mmmm… ¡ho! Espera. — Eliezer Lara Montoya (@zerlaramontoya) November 26, 2015
If there were terrorists in Mexico. No! Shut up! Can you imagine people decapitated, flayed and hanged in our roads? mmmm… oops! Wait a minute
#IsisEnMexico tendrán mucha competencia aquí, creo que no van a sobre salir. pic.twitter.com/RNZZhWOGzg — GeronimoDeSade (@GeronimoDeSade) November 25, 2015
ISIS in Mexico would have too much competition here. I think they are not going to stand out.
*meme:
- Islamic State threatens a coalition, including Mexico
- Thank you for the help, but we are good at screwing ourselves up

author: Elizabeth Rivera


text:
In Malaysia, One Daughter’s Long Wait for Her Father’s Return · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Anwar Ibrahim and daughter Nurul Hana Anwar on the cover of “My Dear Papa.” Credit: Courtesy of Nurul Hana Anwar
This article by Sarah Ngu for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on November 25, 2015. It is republished on Global Voices in two parts with permission.
In this first part, we introduce you to Nurul Hana Anwar, newly published author and daughter of Malaysian political prisoner Anwar Ibrahim. In part two, she explains how she came to publish her deeply personal book Sayang Buat Papa (My Dear Papa).
A little girl is crouched down under a table, her head raised questioningly. Her eyes and mouth look afraid. She asks, “Mom, what is going on?”
It is Sept, 20, 1998. The police have just broken into the house. Her father has been taken. Outside, crowds are milling around, yelling Malaysia’s slogan for reform, “Reformasi!”
Her family tells her that a wicked man — the prime minister — is responsible for whisking her papa to prison. Her mother tells her to pray, to trust in Allah.
The little girl, the youngest of five children, is not told that her father was on the verge of becoming the prime minister, and that now he is the nation’s most famous political prisoner, charged with the crime of sodomy. How does one explain “sodomy” to a 6-year-old child?
Anwar Ibrahim is a household name in Malaysia. He enjoyed a meteoric rise to power in the 1990s; TIME hailed him on its cover as “the star of a rising generation of leaders” in Asia for his financial reforms and aspirations for democratic reform. He was next in line to succeed his mentor, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, until he had a falling out with Dr. Mahathir over the state’s patronage system. When he was fired on Sept, 2, 1998, Anwar led tens upon thousands of people in political rallies, calling for Dr. Mahathir’s removal and chanting “reformasi!”The girl’s name is Nurul Hana Anwar. Because Malay custom holds that the child’s last name is the first name of the father, her name essentially reads: Nurul Hana, child of Anwar.
Then Dr. Mahathir made his move and had him arrested. For many Malaysians, Anwar’s arrest was the moment of their political awakening; it was the catalyst of Malaysia’s reformasi movement. That night, they realized that if their government could turn on someone as powerful as Anwar, it could turn on anyone.
Nurul Hana did not know about virtually any of this when the men with ski masks and guns broke into her home. For her, it was simply the day that she lost her papa — the day that, according to her mother, she started hiding under tables more frequently, withdrawing into herself and largely ceasing to speak.
An excerpt from “My Dear Papa” featuring images of Anwar Ibrahim's black eye. Credit: Courtesy of Nurul Hana Anwar
If Nurul Hana lost her voice at age 6, she has started to regain it at age 23. This past August, she gave a speech in the nation’s capital in order to launch her book, Sayang Buat Papa (My Dear Papa). It is a collage of visual images that tell the story of what it feels like, from the eyes of a child, to have your papa disappear at the hands of “bad men,” and then reappear nine days later in a tiny cell with a black eye.
Anwar is not a politician in this book. He is a papa, a husband — he is a man. The book has sold well, reaching fifth on Borders’ nonfiction bestseller list in Malaysia; it was launched in the United States last month.
Nurul Hana did not plan on becoming an author. The book came out of a collage project that she made for class. We met on a Friday morning during the first week of school in September.
Soft-spoken and friendly, she wears wide, round glasses that sit on top of her full cheeks. We were at a coffee shop, but she doesn’t drink coffee, as she prefers hot chocolate, which she likes to sip as she listens to Radiohead and works on a graphic design project for school.
She had just come back from her book launch in which she spoke to an audience of 150 people, which included many prominent politicians, reporters and leaders. Public speaking terrifies her — she once took acting classes in order to confront her fear — but her talk went well, she said. Still, when she met with a reporter afterward, she asked him to not bring a recorder. She did allow me to record our conversation, but her nervousness was apparent in her frequent apologies and self-conscious smiles. Her body, it seemed, was still getting used to her newfound voice.
The timing of her book is not random. This past February, Anwar was imprisoned for five years yet again on the charge of sodomy, a conviction that the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called “politically motivated.”
Many believed he, given his liberal reformist beliefs and devout Muslim faith, was on the verge of uniting the factious Malay Muslims (majority of population), Chinese and Indian ethnicities in order to overturn the dominant coalition. His imprisonment is a significant setback for the political opposition, but some are openly wondering whether they should stop waiting for Anwar and look toward a younger generation of leaders to take the helm.
Nurul Hana’s book does not really care about any of these conversations. It is expressly apolitical, determined to show a different side of Anwar. One of the most repeated images in the book are the photographs of her papa’s feet, covered only by a pair of slippers. When I asked her why she chose his feet, out of all things, to display, she responded by saying most people only know her papa from images or clips of him standing at a podium, giving a speech.
By repeatedly showing his plain feet, which could be mistaken for any other human’s feet, she is revealing Anwar stripped of the trappings of power. When the government imprisoned Anwar, they did not just take away his political career, his job and his reputation. They also took away a grandfather, a father and a husband. In Nurul Hana’s words, “they took everything,” including his body.
If the opposition should move on without their political savior, then the movement to release Anwar will have to rely on less on his political prowess, and more on the basic argument that no human ought to suffer such injustice at the hands of the State. Anwar’s basic humanity will have to be what is at stake — which is why his youngest daughter’s art book might prove more politically relevant, prescient and hopeful than expected.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
Life for Bolivian Children in Prison Is Rough, But It Might Soon Improve · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Prisoners may take their families to live inside jail. Their wives and kids can share a life inside and outside prison. Callampaya, La Paz. Photo by Danielle Pereira, January 2009. CC 2.0. Edited by Kevin Rothrock.
Bolivia is possibly the only country in the world that sometimes imprisons children and teenagers with their parents, while the latter serve out sentences for criminal convictions, according to data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Oficina in Bolivia.
Dennis Racicot, the agency's representative of the High Commissioner, has spoken out against the presence of children and teenagers in prisons—especially in facilities meant for male prisoners:
Señaló que si en la práctica de algún Estado existe presencia infantil en las cárceles porque sus dos progenitores están privados de libertad, se debería tomar en cuenta que como “mínimo” el infante esté junto a la madre hasta concluir la etapa de lactancia, pero no junto al padre, donde, al estar en un penal poblado de hombres, está expuesto al riesgo de abusos y violencia.
He pointed out that, in the practices by any State, there is a child presence in prisons because both their parents are incarcerated, it should be established that “at least” the child should be with their mothers until the breastfeeding period is over, but not with their father, as in a facility populated by men, [the child] is exposed to potential abuses and violence.
The website Prensa Bolivia cites official figures to point out that roughly 2,100 children live in Bolivian prisons.
According to a report by the Bolivian Ombudsman office, the situation is worse in some correctional prisons, where imprisoned men and women share the same space:
Aunque en Bolivia la mayoría de las cárceles tienen espacios separados para mujeres, todavía subsisten algunas en que no hay estas divisiones como las de Montero, Riberalta y Oruro, donde las condiciones de las reclusas fueron similares a las de los hombres.
Although in Bolivia, most of the prisons have separate rooms for women, in some of them there are no such divisions, as in Montero, Riberalta, and Oruro, where the conditions for female prisoners are similar to those for men.
Despite this gloominess, there is also some hopeful news. In November 2015, there were reports about launching of a dedicated space for children who live with their mothers in prison:
El Centro de Orientación Femenina de Obrajes (COF) inauguró cuenta desde ayer con el primer Centro de Atención Integral Pedagógica (CAIP) del país, un espacio de apoyo educativo para los niños […] que viven con sus madres en el reciento penitenciario. El CAIP de Obrajes tiene una biblioteca, sala de informática y jardín para juegos.
The Female Orientation Center of Obrajes (COF) inaugurated the first Center of Pedagogical Attention (known as CAIP) in the country: a space for educational support for children […] who live with their imprisoned mothers. CAIP of Obrajes has a library, a computer room, and a playground.
#Bolivia Educación abre centros para niños en cárceles https://t.co/h4UuqmOSBp pic.twitter.com/fe0YmJlzVR
— Periódico Cambio (@CambioBo) noviembre 19, 2015
Bolivia Education [sector] launches centers for children in prisons.
#Bolivia Apoyo pedagógico en las cárceles https://t.co/yRJB5Y6EKC pic.twitter.com/M87Nh8JJY6
— Periódico Opinion (@OpinionBo) noviembre 19, 2015
Pedagogical support in Bolivia for correctional facilities.
Los niños que viven en las cárceles tendrán educación en centros pedagógicos #ANF #Bolivia https://t.co/YBBdWw532Z — Agencia Fides (ANF) (@noticiasfides) noviembre 18, 2015
Children living in prisons will have education in pedagogical centers.
En Bolivia cerca de 342 adolescentes no deberían estar en las cárceles, según un estudio https://t.co/7cSWzzEpwG
— Políticas Infancia (@polinfancia) noviembre 6, 2015
In Bolivia, about 342 teenagers should not live in prison, according to a [new] report.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
How Many People Win the Nobel Peace Summit Award and a Latin Grammy in the Same Week? · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

Un honor haber recibido el premio de #NobelPeaceSummit de manos de Tawakkul Karman, premio Nobel de La Paz, junto a la alcaldesa Ada Colau y el profesor Arcadi Oliveres. It has been a great honor receiving the #NobelPeaceSummit by the hands of Nobel Peace Tawakkul Karma, along with Mayor Ada Colau and Professor Arcadi Oliveres. La camisa dice “education” es nuestro fusil
A photo posted by Rene Perez Joglar (@residente) on
René Pérez Joglar, better known as Residente (@Residente) from the famous urban music group Calle 13, was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Summit Award at this year's ceremony, held in Barcelona, Spain, on November 15. This was the first time the honour was bestowed on a Latin American.
The award was given in recognition of Pérez Joglar's activism, which he mainly accomplishes through songs whose lyrics deal with issues including Latin American identity, racism, immigration and economic justice.
The Nobel Peace Summit is a venue for exchanging views on the major issues that affect millions of lives around the world: poverty, water management, the lack of ethical behavior among international political leaders and many other issues.
According to the Summit website:
Each year the Summits are attended by Nobel Prize Laureates and prominent global figures, who are active in the social, scientific, political and cultural areas.
In his acceptance speech, Pérez Joglar reflected on what peace is and how people can nurture it:
Desde ese primer momento, ese primer insulto, desde que despertamos y maldecimos a esa primera persona se va desvaneciendo la paz. La paz es algo que muere todos los días y que a su vez resucita todos los días. Porque en el mundo hay más gente buena que mala.
From that first moment, that first insult, since we awake in the morning and curse that first person, peace diminishes. Peace is something that dies every day and at the same time resurrects every day. Because there are more good people in the world than bad people.
Pérez Joglar, who is Puerto Rican, has lent his voice to numerous causes over the years, among which are UNICEF's campaign to stop human trafficking, and the release of Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera. He has also supported the students of the University of Puerto Rico in their protests during the period of the Luis Fortuño administration and the families of the 43 disappeared Ayotzinapa students in Mexico.
Adding to an already great week for Calle 13, their music video, “Ojos color sol” (“Eyes the Color of the Sun“), won a Latin Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video. The clip of the song, co-written by Cuban legend Silvio Rodríguez, has already been watched over 40,000,000 times on YouTube.

author: Ángel Carrión


text:
Kyrgyzstan Torn Between Russia and Turkey Over Plane Spat · Global Voices
Aliaskar Adylov

Screenshot from a video of pro-Russian protesters outside the Turkish embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
The downing of a Russian bomber aircraft by a Turkish fighter jet on November 24 and the subsequent deterioration of relations between Russia and Turkey have led to robust online debates in Central Asia, where citizens predominantly belong to Turkic linguistic groups, but where Russian geopolitical and cultural influences are all-pervading.
Kyrgyzstan, a member of the Ankara-led Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States and the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), is no exception. The cooling of relations between two of its key allies presents the impoverished country of six million people with a dilemma that it has so far dealt with via a fairly bland appeal for restraint issued by the head of foreign relations in President Almazbek Atambayev's administration.
Russia's state-directed media meanwhile has demonstrated disappointment at the tepid responses of Kremlin allies.
Inside Kyrgyz society, the reactions have been somewhat more bold.
On November 25, a small group of pro-Russian Kyrgyz citizens organized a peaceful meeting in front of the Turkish embassy in Bishkek. They called on Turkish authorities to bring to justice the perpetrators of the shoot down and “pray for Vladimir Putin and the Russian people before retribution for this mistake arrives.”
They also reminded the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that throughout history “Turkey had attacked Russia 600 times losing every time” — a not completely accurate recollection of the pair's military encounters.
The appearance of the video of the meeting on social networks sparked heated comments on Facebook and in the discussion sections of Kyrgyz websites. Some of the less inflammatory of these can be seen below:
Турки, туркмены и кыргызы – братья. Россия нам чужда
The Turkish, the Turkmen, and the Kyrgyz are brothers. Russia is something else.
Тюркские страны должны поддерживать друг друга у нас все одно и тоже религия, культура, история, язык ( Азербайджан, Казахстан, Кыргызстан, Турция, Туркменистан, Узбекистан)!!!!
Turkic countries shall support each other. We are one. We share common religion, culture, history, and language. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan!!!
Где была Турция когда кыргызы нищенствовали. Где была Турция когда кыргызы повально были неучами. Чынгыз Айтматов, Усубалиев, Кулатов, и все прогрессивные верхи кыргызов появились благодоря братской помощи Русского народа. Это говорю я, настоящий кыргыз. Турки нам не браться. Нам братья русские которые ни когда нас не продадут.
Where was Turkey when the Kyrgyz went begging? Where was Turkey when the Kyrgyz were all ignoramuses? Chingiz Aitmatov, [Turdakun] Usubalijev, [Turabay] Kulatov, and all other progressive Kyrgyz public figures emerged due to the brotherly help of Russian people. This is what I, a true Kyrgyz, believe. The Turkish are not brothers to us. Our brothers are the Russians, who will never sell us out.
One commenter on the Facebook page of news website Zanoza.kg attributed the protest to Russian propaganda, which has been particularly keenly felt in Kyrgyzstan in the wake of Russian-backed military conflict in Ukraine:
Как же сильно действует Российская пропаганда. Они просто зомбируют людей. Люди видят в Путине Бога. Хорошо бы отключить все российские каналы.
How strong indeed the influence of Russian propaganda is. These are just “zombie” people. People look at Putin as a God. It would be good idea to deactivate all Russian TV channels.
While Elzat Ismailbekova responded:
Кыргызстан является членом ОДКБ, и в случае военной угрозы все националисты и американизированные псевдопатриоты будут ждать помощи именно от России. И она поможет, не потому что Путин бог и царь, а просто потому что безопасность в Центральной Азии это приоритетное направление российской нац безопасности. Мы “мягкое подбрюшье” России.
Безусловно митинговать у турецкого посольства глупо , но писать в комментах пошла на .. Россия мы сами с усами это идиотизм
Kyrgyzstan is a member of the CSTO, and in the case of a military threat all nationalists and americanized pseudo-patriots will expect help from Russia. And [Russia] will help, not because Putin is God or a Tsar, but because the security of Central Asia is one of the priorities of Russian national security. We are the “soft underbelly” of Russia. Of course, it is ridiculous to protest in front of the Turkish embassy, but to write these comments that Russia should leave us is also idiotism.
On November 26, there was a second demonstration, also outside the Turkish embassy, staged by a lone protester.
The protester expressed his concerns about the visa-free regime between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey, complaining that terrorists could freely enter the country and destabilize the whole region, since “Erdogan was an abetter of terrorism”.
Finally, on November 27, another group of protesters led by Igor Trofimov, head of a pro-Russian lobby group, and Klara Ajibekova, the conspiracy theory-crazed Chairman of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, gathered in front of the Turkish embassy to call on Kyrgyz authorities to sever diplomatic relations with Ankara.
For Kyrgyzstan's political bosses, the diplomatic standoff grew even more uncomfortable on November 28, when Russia announced a number of political and economic sanctions against Turkey. Kyrgyzstan, as a newly minted member of Moscow's Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc, might soon face the dilemma of whether and how to participate in such sanctions.
And the simmering identity crisis for the impoverished Central Asian state applies in particular to President Atambayev, a fluent speaker of Turkish and Russian who has shown an occasionally cringing admiration for both Erdogan and Putin in the past.

author: Aliaskar Adylov


text:
Thoughts on Women, Power, Privilege and Black Friday Videos in Pakistan · Global Voices
Sahar Habib Ghazi

Treated screen grab of Friday's widely-shared shopping brawl video in Pakistan. Image mixed by author.
Every year during the US post-Thanksgiving Day Black Friday sales, videos of brawls in the midst of the shopping madness at “big box” stores like Walmart and Target go viral.
This year in Pakistan, on the same day, a video was widely shared of women fighting during a one-year anniversary sale at the retail store Sapphire, which claims to provide “affordable designer clothes to the masses.”
The Sapphire sale—like the doorbuster Black Friday sales at Walmart—is designed to create a mad rush. Sapphire marked down limited, heavily-marketed and widely-desired products by 50%. If you didn't get to the item first, you wouldn't get it at all.
Some call it competitive shopping. It’s retail as a contact sport, designed for pushing and shoving.
At Walmart or Target, the madness usually involves some popular toy or video game that a desperate parent is trying to buy on sale as a Christmas present for their child. Families that wouldn’t normally be able to afford these products save up all year to make these big purchases. Studies have shown that the typical Black Friday shopper is non-white, or a single parent. They stand in line for hours for this one item, and when the doors open there’s a mad rush and the shelves are empty within minutes. Desperation mixed with scarcity is a dangerous combination, and some desperate shoppers lose it.
When I first saw the Sapphire spat video mentioned in my Twitter feed, I ignored it, like I usually ignore all Black Friday brawl videos. As a critic of consumerism, I see no value in shaming individual consumers. I try, rather, to understand the larger structures that underpin and perpetuate this relentless drive to acquire material goods.
But as I saw more and more people sharing the video the story took on a life of its own. A story about a few consumers fighting over clothes morphed into one about shaming all “privileged, materialistic aunties”. This sounded a whole lot like the commentary you see in the US when “rich people share Black Friday brawl videos to shame the poor” and something about the privileged shaming the less privileged felt really wrong.
But aren't the women in the video “privileged”? Maybe some are, and maybe some aren't. Privilege and power exist on a spectrum, especially in countries like Pakistan. The video and the fervor with which the video was shared made me stop to consider the conditions that could create this madness in Pakistan.
This doesn't mean I condone violence of any kind, especially violence over clothes. People who know me, know that I apologize to the chairs I bump into. So justifying this violence would be a really stretch for me. But I do think that it is important to stop and consider the factors that could possibly trigger such rage.
Does Pakistan's social system—which systematically rewards women and girls who display the garb of privilege and chronically shuns those who don't—carry some blame?
Perhaps the women in the video were fighting for more than an outfit. Perhaps that sale offered some families a short-cut to a kind of privilege that they normally couldn't afford for their daughters, like the marginalized parents in the US who brave the Black Friday sales frenzy because they live in a society where their child's social standing is improved by the toys they own or they clothes they wear.
Or perhaps some of these women are in fact “privileged women from wealthy families” forced to live on tight budgets.
Two different circumstances, but both are systemic and almost impossible for individuals to escape.
Even in Pakistan's big cities the latter condition is prevalent amongst the “privileged” and is an outcome of the massive imbalance of power and privilege between genders within the family unit. Some men have complete control of the family budget; the women in their families aren't allowed to work outside the home. Some women are discouraged by their families from working, or they are simply discouraged by the many challenges that working women in Pakistan face, including unchecked sexual harassment, inadequate public transport, and a generally misogynistic culture. For many women outings and socializing is limited to family or social gatherings, where they are expected to look their best, perhaps by sporting a Sapphire outfit.
I look at the Sapphire video and think about those urban Pakistani women—even the ones that seem “privileged”—who have been stripped of their own agency, pushed and shoved into maddening spaces and circumstances—not by choice, but by design.

author: Sahar Habib Ghazi