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Egypt to Ban Porn Sites  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Egypt has announced [ar] today that access to all porn sites will be banned. Netizens discuss the move on Twitter, saying any kind of censorship will have dire consequences on free speech – as it opens the door to abuse by the authorities and the muzzling of voices online.
Journalism and mass communications professor Rasha Abdulla announces:
النائب العام يطالب الجهات المختصة بتنفيذ حكم”إغلاق المواقع الإباحية”
@RashaAbdulla: The Public Prosecutor demands from the concerned bodies to implement the order to shut down pornography sites
Mohammed Hendawy notes:
@The_Hendawy: It starts with porn. Then everything else..
And @LuluDeRaven explains [ar]:
قرار حجب المواقع الاباحية= حجب اي حاجة مش عاجباهم علنيت.. سياسية ادبية تاريخة فنية . معارضة. مدونات. مواقع تواصل اجتماعي ..
@LuluDeRaven: The decision to ban porn sites = censoring anything they don't like on the Internet – whether it is related to the politics, the arts, literature or history .. opposition .. blogs .. social networking sites
And Tarek Shalaby has the solution ready for such a move:
@tarekshalaby: I'll prepare a blog post tutorial to show how to bypass it
Guebara remarks:
عايزين تصرفوا فلوس على حجب مواقع إباحية ومش عايزين تصرفوا نفس الفلوس على كوادر الأطباء
@Gue3bara: You want to spend money on blocking porn and do not to spend the same money on doctors?
Amal asks:
محدش هيعمل وقفة عشان المواقع الاباحية والا ايه؟ يا عيني على اللي مالوش ضهر في البلد دي
@Amalegypt: Will no one hold a sit-in in support of porn sites? Or is it a cause without backing?
And @nermo adds bitterly:
المواقع الإباحية أوسخ من التعذيب في الأقسام وأوسخ من الفساد والسرقة والقتل وهي سبب الإنفلات الامني في سينا وبعد قفلها كل مشاكلنا هاتتحل
@nermo: Porn sites are more disgusting than torture in police stations, corruption, stealing and murder and is the reason for the lack of security in Sinai. Once porn sites are blocked, all our problems will be solved.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Every Day Is A Holiday For Some Nepali Government Officials · Global Voices
Rezwan

In November, 2012, the home ministry of Nepal has proposed a two-days holiday per week plan for all government offices to address the problem of energy crisis and black-outs. Guffadi claims that everyday is a holiday for some Nepali govt officials who come late in the office and loiter around.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Rezwan


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Hay Festival Dhaka Is Back Again!  · Global Voices
পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)

In Bangladesh the practice of English literature is becoming popular. Rather than only writing in Bangla, many writers are deciding to write in English. It is a new trend in Bangladesh. The English writers in Dhaka will be meeting again at the second edition of Hay Festival. The festival will be held on 15-17 November 2012 in the historic grounds of the Bangla Academy, Dhaka. It is hoped that through this event the new generation of Bangladeshi writers in English will be promoted to the global literary community.
Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi, co-producer of Hay Festival Dhaka and a poet, said about the event:
The poster of Hay Festival Dhaka.
As an annual event, which we hope to build on, Hay Festival Dhaka is an excellent vehicle for our emerging community of English writers to be plugged into the global literary scene. We want to take our Bengali literature beyond our borders, as only a fraction of the huge repertoire of our Bengali writing has been translated or promoted abroad (whereas in comparison for example, South American writers are household names globally). We hope Hay festival will encourage publishers to take on translation projects.
Tahmima Anam, author of ‘A Golden Age‘, and ‘The Good Muslim‘, said:
The Hay Festival presents a wonderful opportunity to create dialogue between leading British and Bangladeshi authors; I hope this event will herald a new wave of Bangladeshi writing as we bring some of the magic of Hay to Dhaka.
Here are some pictures from the 1st Hay Festival Dhaka held last year.
Images of Hay Festival Dhaka 2011. Pictures courtesy the Facebook page of Hay Festival Dhaka.
Images of Hay Festival Dhaka 2011. Pictures courtesy the Facebook page of Hay Festival Dhaka.
Images of Hay Festival Dhaka 2011. Pictures courtesy the Facebook page of Hay Festival Dhaka.
This year’s festival will be a three-day literary feast of bilingual panel discussions and other events  featuring internationally acclaimed authors like Vikram Seth, Syed Shamsul Haq, Nandita Das, Philip Hensher, Kamila Shamsie, Basharat Peer, Zafar Iqbal, Mohammed Hanif, Gillian Clarke, Kaiser Haq, Sharbari Ahmed, Farah Ghuznavi, Shaheen Akhtar, Selina Hussein, Shehan Karunatilaka, Mahmud Rahman, Anis Ahmed, Anisul Hoque, Audity Falguni, Tahmima Anam and others.
Hay festival for literature and the Arts was started in a small town in Wales Hay-on Wye around a kitchen table in 1987, and it has now become one of the largest literary festivals of its kind in the world, set in spectacular Welsh countryside of the Brecon Beacons. Famously called ‘the Woodstock of the mind’ by Bill Clinton, Hay has brought together writers from around the world for 25 years, to debate and share stories. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Hay Festival and 10-day celebration on the occasion was held in June in Hay-on Wye in the UK.

author: পান্থ রহমান রেজা (Pantha)


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Iran: Blogger’s Family Asked To ‘Prepare A Grave’ For Him · Global Voices
Hadi Nili

Sources close to Iranian opposition say Sattar Beheshti, blogger and netizen, possibly died ‘due to tortures’ while he was in detention. Beheshti got arrested last week in his home. His sister says “authorities asked us to prepare a grave for him and take his body tomorrow”.

author: Hadi Nili


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Iran: Imprisoned Women Journalists And Netizens Risking Death · Global Voices
Hadi Nili

Reporters Without Borders is ‘very worried about the state of health of eight women prisoners of conscience who began a hunger strike five days ago in protest against inhuman and degrading jail conditions’. These prisoners include three journalists and netizens; Mahsa Amrabadi, Jila Bani Yaghoob and Shiva Nazar Ahari.


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Language Divide in Malaysia · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Jerrenn Lam ponders upon the issue of language differences in Malaysia and how the schooling process can reinforce cultural divisions in the country.

author: Mong Palatino


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Massive Rally in Bulgaria’s Capital Ends in Arrests (Updated) · Global Voices
Ruslan Trad

On Nov. 5, some 1,500 people took part in an anti-government rally in Sofia, organized by the Bulgarian section [bg] of the Anonymous. There were other, smaller, protests in other Bulgarian cities and towns. The rallies were part of the worldwide Global Day of Protest declared by the Anonymous. The Sofia protest resulted in a broken police cabin near the Parliament – and in arrests [video, bg].
Update: Two days later, Anonymous Bulgaria posted a video statement [bg] against violence during the Nov. 5 protest:
[…] Radical elements from the crowd have one goal – to distort the organized event, and to tarnish our name. […]
[…] Our protests are peaceful, we do not seek conflict with the police, nor do we want our followers to be victims of police violence […].

author: Ruslan Trad


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Red Alert in Guatemala After 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Update (7 November 2012):
The latest reports indicate that least 39 people [es] have died due to the earthquake that hit Guatemala earlier today. Another 155 people have been reported injured.
Reports on the damages caused by the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that hit off Champerico on the Pacific coast of Guatemala on Wednesday, November 7, 2012, are coming in quickly through Twitter.
Netizens are sharing photos and reports with the hashtags #TemblorGT, #TiemblaenGuate, #TerremotoGT, #FuerteSismoGT, #Champerico, and more.
The earthquake was also felt strongly in neighbouring Mexico and El Salvador.
User Griddliss Barfe (@GriddlissBarfe) [es] tweeted the following photo from Mazatenango, Guatemala:
Mazatenango, Guatemala after earthquake. Image shared by Twitter user @GriddlissBarfe
Many users, like Nuestro Diario (@NuestroDiario) [es] and Esner Navarro (@esnernavarro) [es], are sharing photos of the damage in San Marcos, where at least eight people have died, according to the latest reports [es] by Prensa Libre.
Police station in San Marcos after the earthquake. Image shared by @NuestroDiario on Twitter.
San Marcos, Guatemala after earthquake. Image shared by Twitter user Esner Navarro (@esnernavarro) on Twitter.
Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina (@ottoperezmolina) [es] has been using Twitter to send updates on the situation. These are his latest tweets at the time of writing this post:
@ottoperezmolina: Se declara alerta roja nacional, se suspenden actividades públicas y se recomienda evacuar edificios.
@ottoperezmolina: We are declaring a national red alert. Public activities are suspended and we recommend evactuating buildings.
@ottoperezmolina: Se trabaja para poder brindar ayuda a las personas afectadas. Estamos a la espera de datos oficiales.
@ottoperezmolina: We are working to bring help to those who have been affected. We are waiting for official information.
The Red Cross in Guatemala (@CRGuatemalteca) [es] is also sharing information on Twitter.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Save Stray Dogs in Kazakhstan · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

At the dawn of the humanity, dogs protected people from wild animals. Now it is time for us to protect dogs from people who have gone wild.
Olga Kashchenko on yvision.kz speaks [ru] against the “barbaric” practice of killing stray dogs for “public safety” reasons in Kazakhstan.

author: Alexander Sodiqov


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Save The World’s Best Bank · Global Voices
Rezwan

Sabine Kurjo McNeill highlights an Avaaz campaign to save Grameen Bank, a Nobel Peace Prize winning microfinance organization and community development bank.


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Sri Lankan Ruling Coalition To Impeach The Chief Justice · Global Voices
Rezwan

N Sathiya Moorthy reports that the the ruling UPFA coalition is set to impeach Sri Lanka’s first woman Chief Justice Sirani Bandaranaike.


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Strong Quake Hits Guatemala · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

A strong 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off Guatemala's Pacific coast on Wednesday, November 7, 2012. Twitter user Roberto Touchez (@RobertoTouchez) shares this image from San Marcos, Guatemala.
The strong earthquake was felt in neighbouring El Salvador and Mexico. Netizens are sharing photos and reports using the hashtag #TiemblaenGuate on Twitter. You can see more photos in a Storify post by Prensa Libre.


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Ukrainians Rally in Protest Over Vote-Rigging · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

It's been nine days since the Oct. 28 parliamentary elections in Ukraine – and attempts to finish the vote count still continue, quite turbulently, in a number of electoral districts.
The opposition is accusing election officials of re-writing the vote's results in favor of pro-government candidates. On Nov. 5, hundreds of people gathered in Kyiv for a protest rally against vote-rigging – and some of the protesters seem determined to stay in front of the Central Election Commission indefinitely, despite heavy riot police presence at the site and a recent court decision banning rallies in Kyiv.
Hundreds of people rally in central Kyiv to protest against what the Ukrainian opposition says was vote-rigging, by President Viktor Yanukovych's ruling party in the Oct. 28 parliamentary election. Photo by Sergii Kharchenko, copyright © Demotix (5/11/12).
Oleksandra Kuzhel, a Ukrainian politician running for parliament on the United Opposition/Batkivshchyna Party‘s list, wrote this [ru] about the protest and the protesters:
[…] Today the area of the protest isn't just near the [Central Election Commission] – it's much larger. Today it extends to the Internet – to Twitter [hashtag #вибори2012/elections2012] and Facebook – and to every polling station where confrontations are taking place between the authorities and the Ukrainians – with the latter defending, no, not the politicians, but their own votes, their dignity and the right to be heard. […]
Online reports that have been coming in from disputed districts over the past week offer a good insight into the Ukrainian election routine and also help explain the frustration of ordinary voters.
For example, Andriy Parubiy shared [uk] this incident:
In [Zhytomyr], the head of [a local election commission] represents [the ruling Party of Regions]. And he delivered the signed protocols [with official voting results] not to the district election commission, but to the headquarters of the Party of Regions! We are on our way to get them back now!
Denis Kazanskiy posted this report [ru] from the polling station #141686 in Donetsk, the stronghold of the Party of Regions – and Maidan.com.ua included [ru] it, as well as a related video, on its map of violations (more on the crowdsourced monitoring of the elections – in this GV text):
18 Tsusimskaya St. [the polling station's address, but also an allusion to the Battle of Tsushima], the frontline. The place is surrounded by [thugs] and cops, people are blocked inside, a woman is crying and asking for help. An ambulance arrives, but doctors aren't allowed inside. Journalists, representatives of the opposition parties and MP Nalivaichenko come over. The thugs are acting provocatively, aren't letting anyone enter the polling station. An observer's son attempted getting through, but was stopped. Cops ignore calls for help from the inside. It's impossible to get to the truth, there's an absolute chaos, lawlessness, law enforcement officials [are refusing to act].
Artem Shevchenko posted this update [ru] from Kyiv:
The Kyiv Battle. Frontline dispatches: the enemy has been completely defeated and is desperately counterattacking on the front's sections #216 and #211 [voting districts] – the re-count of votes in accordance with court decisions there. District #223 – one more pocket of resistance: fierce fighting is taking place for the fourth day in a row there, both sides are suffering huge losses of [personnel and arsenal]. Today, our troops have captured the Dnieper [bridgehead, strategically important for Kyiv – altitude #214 [another voting district], where the enemy [Oles Dovhyi, former Kyiv's deputy mayor] announced a complete and unconditional capitulation to avoid further bloodshed.
Yaroslav Bondarenko also mentioned [uk] Kyiv's voting district #214 in his Facebook update:
Had a good laugh because of a member of the commission and the observers from [Oles Dovhyi], who insisted that one of the ballots had to be counted in favor of Oles – it had this written in neatly next to his name: “A rare [bastard].” They were dead serious when they insisted that this ballot could not be considered invalid: “It is clearly visible which of the candidates the voter has selected.”
Just a few hours ago, reports [uk] started coming in of the violations during the re-count of votes at Kyiv's disputed district commission #223, mentioned in one of the “frontline reports” above. RadioSvoboda.org (RFE/RL) has been doing an unprecedented non-stop live broadcast [uk, ru] for much of the past week from this place, which many compare to a ‘Big Brother’-style reality show. (Twitter hashtag #ОВК223; Mustafa Nayyem's photos are here; screenshots of the live broadcast are here.)
A police officer is guarding the room with boxes of ballots at Kyiv's disputed district election commission #223. A screenshot of RadioSvoboda.org's non-stop live broadcast – 11:20 PM, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012.
LJ user frankensstein posted this account [ru] and video from Donetsk:
The farce at Donetsk [local polling stations] was so obvious that I do not understand how these elections can be deemed legitimate: [election commission members] for [the Party of Regions] were posing as registered representatives of all sorts of pseudo-parties, such as the Anarchists’ Union, the Brotherhood, the Pensioners’ Party, etc. The Donetsk “anarchists” could not say what anarchy was or name at least one classic of anarchism, a “member of the Brotherhood” couldn't name the address of the Donestk office of this party (not surprising, as [there is none there]) and didn't know who Dmitry Korchinsky [the Brotherhood's leader] was. But I recorded the most glaring example at the polling station #141677 in the 42nd district. There, none of the commission members knew which party they represented.
After the commotion that our visit caused at this polling station, the police and some [thugs] showed up. The polling station was blocked for the whole night, [Vitaly Klitschko‘s Udar Party] representative Galina Khilinskaya, who was trying to prevent falsifications, was being insulted and kept inside forcefully. In the morning, she was hospitalized with a heart attack.
I continue to insist: there were no elections in Donetsk. The Donetsk results should not be recognized.
In a comment, LJ user bolshoi explained the shortcomings of the Ukrainian system of setting up local election commissions:
[Election commission members] are just earning money and following instructions. They may not know who they are representing – it's an idiotic legal norm that has few analogs in the world. In civilized countries, local officials and law enforcement officials work at polling stations, and the Interior Ministry is responsible for the elections. And here they are appointing unprofessional people on the commissions, people who may be ignorant of the basic legal norms – and they are paying salaries to them for two months, too.
In a follow-up comment, LJ user bolshoi concluded, however, that even if a more advanced voting system were adopted in Ukraine, it would still end up being violation-prone:
[…] In European practice, voting by mail and by proxy are a norm. And early voting is usually allowed. It's obvious what proxy voting would turn into in Ukraine. But still, some professionalization of the work of electoral commissions is necessary. There's another way of looking at it, of course: the level of falsifications reflects the level of development of a society. The Ukrainian election law gives more formal defenses against falsifications than anywhere else in Europe. To cheat in, say, Holland, or […] to check who people voted for in England, is a lot easier [than in Ukraine]. But it doesn't even occur to anyone to do it [there]. [In Ukraine] the procedure is a lot more complex. But they are doing it. Because they want to.
The most violent voting district so far has been the town of Pervomaysk in Mykolayiv region, where the pinnacle of vote-rigging achievement was reached with the active support from riot police, which stormed the district election commission #132, beating a number of protesters gathered outside in the process.
Vakhtang Kipiani re-posted a YouTube video of the storming and wrote [uk]:
The police aren't with the people, they are with [the ugly ones]. If the opposition ever comes to power, it has to [get everyone fired] in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and re-create the police from scratch following [the example of the Republic of Georgia]. If, that is, they indeed have the political will to change the country – instead of just embellishing the stinking corpse of [the Soviet past].

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Yet Another Political Status Referendum in Puerto Rico · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

Puerto Rico is prepared to choose its legislators, mayors, and the governor today in the November 6 elections.  But these elections will have something different from previous years.  Along with the elections, there will be a referendum about the political status of the island.
The issue of political status in Puerto Rico is a centuries-old problem.  Ever since the 1898 United States invasion of the island, towards the end of the Spanish-American war, Puerto Rico has been subject to the will of the US Congress.  In 1952 Puerto Rico achieved a certain level of autonomy over internal and economic affairs, becoming a US Insular Area, which is also known in official documents as a Commonwealth.  Even though this status —which is the current status of Puerto Rico— was an improvement over the type of government that it replaced (the governor was appointed by the president and the members of his cabinet confirmed by the US Senate), it has not provided for the full development of Puerto Rico.
The island has representation in Congress, a Resident Commissioner who does not have the right to vote.  Puerto Ricans also do not have the right to vote for the president, even though presidential candidates from the Republican and Democratic Parties in the US hold primaries on the island and collect funds from Puerto Rican residents to carry out their campaigns.  Furthermore, the island is subject to the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, or Jones Act, which states that Puerto Rico can only use US merchant ships to do commerce, thus raising the cost of living because these are the most expensive marine merchants in the world.
For the people of Puerto Rico, political status referendums are not new.  Throughout its political history, three have been held [es]: in 1967, 1993, and 1998.  None have been able to solidify a change in existing relations with the US.  The many reasons for this are complex, and it seems that this referendum will not be an exception.  Dr. Héctor Pesquera, copresident of the Hostosian National Independence Movement (MINH) [es, named after independence advocate Eugenio María de Hostos], said this [es] about the referendum:
Para el independentismo, la consulta que se llevará a cabo sobre preferencias de status el próximo 6 de noviembre es un palo embarrao por las dos puntas. Por donde quiera que lo cojas, te embarras.
Logo of the Partido Nuevo Progresista. Image taken from Wikimedia Commons.
The referendum was proposed by the governor Luis Fortuño of the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) [es], who seeks to annex Puerto Rico as the 51st state, and ironically, is also supported by the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño (PIP) [es].  The referendum has received many criticisms from the start.  One criticism is the way in which the vote has been designed, which consists of two questions.  The first asks if the voter agrees with maintaining the current relationship with the US.  The second question lets the voter choose, independently of whether he or she answered YES or NO to the first question, among the three status alternatives that are presented: statehood (annexation), independence, or as a sovereign US insular area (also referred to as free association) [as opposed to currently being a non-sovereign US insular area].
Logo of the Partido Popular Democrático. Image taken from pr.kalipedia.com.
Needless to say, the way in which the vote is designed presents serious problems when the time comes to interpret the results, since the possibility exists that the YES vote will win together with one of the three alternatives to the current status.  It is necessary to add that the definitions of these alternatives were unilaterally written by the PNP, which has caused the principal opposition party, the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) [es], to make the call to select YES for the first question and to leave the second question blank.  This is being suggested both as a way to protest the referendum proposed by Governor Fortuño and because they do not feel represented by the definition of the sovereign US insular area that will appear on the ballot.  Some within the PNP have expressed reservations about the referendum, since they remember the failure of the referendums in 1993 and 1998 that were supported by the PNP.  In addition to this, the referendum is nothing more than a simple query that does not legally bind Congress to act, regardless of the results.  In the blog Raciocinio, ljvillanueva asks [es]:
A parte [sic] de ser bastante confuso, hay que preguntar cual será el efecto de este plebiscito si, por ejemplo, gana la estadidad. ¿El Congreso de los EEUU le hará caso a este resultado?
Logo of the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño. Image taken from pr.kalipedia.com.
The general feeling is that ultimately, no matter which option prevails in the referendum, Congress will not consider the results important, because it was not a referendum that came with their endorsement.  Fermín L. Arraiza Navas de Red Betances feels [es] that:
Dadas las circunstancias muy particulares del caso de Puerto Rico, así como la falta de voluntad del Congreso estadounidense de propiciar un proceso verdaderamente descolonizador, la única alternativa viable con garantías mínimas es propiciar que la controversia sea referida ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia, no como un asunto de derechos civiles, según ha sido planteado por el Dr. Pedro Rosselló [ex gobernador de Puerto Rico] ante la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de la Organización de Estados Americanos (O.E.A.), sino como el derecho colectivo de nuestro pueblo a existir y ser reconocido internacionalmente por la comunidad de naciones como entidad jurídica capaz de participar en las decisiones internacionales que afectan nuestro futuro político, económico, social y cultural.
Carlos Pabón, writing for the digital magazine 80 grados, thinks [es] that these political status referendums really are not worth it and that they impede the discussion of truly urgent issues for Puerto Rico:
El status es una suerte de black hole que se traga todo en el espacio político de la isla. Esto a pesar de que consistentemente las encuestas de opinión indican que la mayoría de los electores no consideran el status un asunto crucial o prioritario. En estas encuestas de preferencias, el status siempre queda relegado ante asuntos como la criminalidad, el narcotráfico, la salud, la educación y otros. Es el paradigma del status uno de los factores fundamentales que obstaculiza proyectos democráticos alternos; y la discusión de temas de vital importancia y extrema urgencia.
Later he added:
El siglo XX se acabó, pero en la isla el debate político sigue centrado en las alternativas político-jurídicas –independencia, autonomía, anexión– del siglo XIX, como si éstas tuvieran plena vigencia en el mundo globalizado contemporáneo. […] De ahí la terrible miseria y el achatamiento del horizonte e imaginario político en Puerto Rico. Habría que preguntarse: ¿qué alternativas proponen las fórmulas tradicionales del status, en tanto imaginarios políticos anclados en el siglo XIX, al mundo del siglo XXI?

author: Ángel Carrión


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A Legal Solution to Mob Justice in Nigeria? · Global Voices
Julie Owono

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
University of Port Harcourt's four murdered students via babajidesalu.wordpress.com
On October 5, 2012, four students of the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria were beaten and burnt to death by a lynch mob, for allegedly stealing a Blackberry phone and a laptop. The tragic deaths of the students – now known as the Aluu4 – have caused outrage and plenty of online discussion about the serious problem of mob justice in Nigeria. It has also created opportunities for citizens to raise public awareness and propose solutions.
Noting the absence of legal provisions against mob justice, blogger Okechukwu Ofili posted a petition on October 18 for a mob justice prohibition bill signed by himself and “Nigerians Fighting for CHANGE” (read the full draft bill here) that has so far gathered more than 3,500 signatures.
Ofili explains:
This scene Mob Justice has gradually become a normal way of life in Nigeria. As people/communities usurp the law and take matters into their own hands. Now we know that there are no dependable statistics or numbers regarding Mob Justice occurrences in Nigeria, but what we do know is that has been happening for years. And for years we have complained, we have cried and we have watched, but nothing has changed as Mob Justice still occurs with its perpetrators largely going unpunished.
This is largely due to the fact that people have lost faith in a police force and judicial system that have been derailed by corruption, incompetence, and inadequate resources. But also exacerbating the matter is the absence and lack of recognition of Mob Justice (and its many variations) as a crime in our Federal Laws, most particularly our CRIMINAL CODE ACT, CAP C38 LFN 2004. An act which in its robust 145 page listing of criminal acts makes no mention or reference to Mob Justice…it covers Ritual Killings, Riots and even Counterfeit Stamps, but not Mob Justice.
Two senators have received copies of the bill for consideration.
If passed into law it would introduce jail sentences and fines for perpetrators of mob justice and the communities where the violence takes place. It would also become a felony for citizens or police to stand by and watch an attack without attempting to disperse the crowd.
As part of the campaign to seek justice for the Aluu4, a group of bloggers helped organize a Tweet-a-thon on October 25 using the hashtags #NeveragainNG and #Aluu4 in order to try to make the topic trend on Twitter in Nigeria.
In an email interview, Kathleen Ndongmo, a Cameroonian citizen based in Lagos, Nigeria who has been active in the campaign, describes how they hope to inspire more action against mob justice:
1. The petition is used as a trigger. It will be historical if the people can change the current criminal act. It will give a lot of confidence to activists, groups who have been working for years to change the judiciary, the police and the law on this issue.
2. Then there should be awareness, education, because there is a knowledge gap somewhere that we have to solve.
3. Last but not least, a work of advocacy will be undertaken for the implementation of judiciary and police reforms.
This holistic approach will help us achieve the goal of a sustainable grassroots movement to create dialogue for change.
Nigerian website Premium Times reported on October 18 that 13 suspects have been charged with conspiracy and murder at the Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt.
This post and its translations to Spanish, Arabic and French were commissioned by the International Security Network (ISN) as part of a partnership to seek out citizen voices on international relations and security issues worldwide.

author: Julie Owono


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Afripedia: Wikipedia with Offline Access for Francophone Africa  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Logo of the Afripedia project, a project to provide offline access to wikimedia projects for Francophone Africa;  CC license-3.0
Cyriac Gbogou reports that [fr] Afripedia, a project spearheaded by Wikimedia France, l’Institut français, l’Agence universitaire de la Francophonie and Kiwix strives to promote digital development by giving offline access to wikimedia projects, including wikipedia and providing digital training to young people in francophone africa.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Chile at the Internet Governance Forum 2012 · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Claudio Ruiz blogs [es] about the Internet Governance Forum and Chile's scant participation: there are only two Chileans attending the forum, and both represent civil society.
Claudio lists two reasons for Chile's absence at the forum:
First, the confusing structure of digital policies in Chile […] where there is certainly no authority to demand accountability from in such matters. Second, the existence of a “Digital Agenda of Silence,” [es] where there's no plan that seeks to develop public policies aimed at promoting new technologies as tools for the development of rights.


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China: China observers’ Twitter Accounts Hacked · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

China Digital Times reported that several high profile China observers’ Twitter accounts have received warning messages that their accounts are hacked.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Guinea-Bissau: Chinese Loggers near Buba River · Global Voices
Sara Moreira

The minutes of a youth and citizenship meeting held in October 2012 in Guinea-Bissau mentions [pt] the “massive logging of pau de sangue” woodtrees (Pterocarpus violaceus Vog.) by Chinese companies in the region. The post stresses the lack of information and “the silence of local and national authorities”. Novas da Guiné Bissau blog adds [pt] more details.

author: Sara Moreira


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Hong Kong ‘Artificial Beach’ Will Destroy 200+ Coastal Habitats · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Despite strong opposition from environmental groups and concerned citizens, the Hong Kong government is insisting on an artificial beach construction project that will destroy more than 200 coastline habitats. One of the species affected is the endangered Hippocampus kuda, at Lung Mei mud beach.
Many believed that the artificial beach project, which will cost HKD 280 million of taxpayers’ money, is going ahead to serve the interest of local developers. It has been revealed [zh] that along the new coastline, local developers have bought up large pieces of land for the construction of spa hotels, holiday apartments and other tourist attractions.
200+ coastal habitants to be buried
Hippocampus kuda, one of the endangered species discovered at Lung Mei mud beach. Photo used with permission from inmediahk.net.
In order to stop the government from making the final construction tender arrangement, a coalition formed by local green groups has organized several demonstrations to press the government to adopt an alternative, such as building a swimming pool nearby instead of ruining the natural coastline.
Their protest statement on October 12, 2012, listed a number of strong arguments [zh]:
200米天然海岸線，有200多種海岸生物，生態價值絕非低！被發現的具保育價值的物種，並非如顧問報告補充資料所說的只得3種，而是多達18種！工程除了摧毀龍尾海岸生物，搬遷生物過程亦可能為附近接收生物的地方構成大災難。
The 200 meter natural coastline with more than 200 habitats is of high ecological value. The government environmental assessment report claimed that there are only three kind of sea specieS that need to be conserved. But [netizens from the Hong Kong Wildlife Forum] have found more than 18 precious sea creatures. The construction will not only destroy the coastline and its habitants, but will also affect nearby wetland's ecology.
當局的所謂諮詢，全是只諮詢大埔區議會！但卻指新界北的居民也很需要此人工沙灘，理據何在？何不優化馬鞍山烏溪沙的渡頭灣海灘，讓全港唯一港鐵直達的沙灘，立即成為刊憲泳灘？
The so-called public consultation was only restricted to the Taipo District Council. There is no evidence to make the claim that residents from  the Northeast New Territories demanded the artificial beach. The government can improve the two existing sand beaches in Wu Kai Sha and Du Tou Bay, which is located in the same district and accessible via the city metro.
Members for the Taipo District council raised their hand in support of the artificial beach project. Photo used with permission from inmediahk.net.
Lung Mei Coastline Education Center, a citizen group devoted to the conservation of the mud beach, believed [zh] that the artificial project may have violated the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The Hippocampus kuda has been listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as an endangered specie, under the same category as the whale shark.
In addition, the Center pointed out [zh] that the water quality near Lung Mei beach will not be suitable for sea bathing:
龍尾對出船灣海，原來有一半地方（約二平方公里）之前是泥石傾卸區。距離龍尾灘只有約500米。雖然已經停用，但當中累積了可能由50年代起，急速城市化發展及沙田、大埔新市鎮發展帶來的固體及液體廢料及廢棄泥石，當中是否包括棄置瘀泥、已受管制的舊建築物料如石棉，或其他釋放有毒物質如重金屬度等，都己是無從稽查，這些潛在的有害物質對人類健康構成的極大風險。
The sea near by Lung Mei was once a dumping site for construction waste. The area is about 2 square kilometers and is just 500 meters away from the mud beach. Although there are no more dumping activities, the construction waste from the development of new town in Shatin and Taipo since the 1950s may consist of harmful construction material such as Asbestos and other toxic materials, such as heavy metals. The health of swimmers will be at risk.
What is true beauty?
Pak, a junior diver and a citizen reporter at inmediahk.net, criticized [zh] the decision makers’ value system:
南中國潛水俱樂部的潛水教練 Rob Christie曾經在CNN訪問時提過：「香港沒有世界級的潛水環境，但卻充滿了挑戰性與海底美景。」
龍尾灘發現的海星、管海馬等珍貴海洋生物，正好說明這位教練口中所描繪的香港海域神奇之處﹣﹣一個看來是污染的地方，卻潛藏令人驚嘆的美境。然而，渴望當曝發戶的權貴、獻媚的決策者，卻看不到這些寶藏，要把原生的資源掩蓋，大搞膚淺人工工程，繼續炒地皮和炒樓的發展模式。
正如一眾環保團體指出，保育與發展並不矛盾，若把汀角東紅樹森到龍尾發展為保育區，它所帶動的教育、旅遊與環境價值，是難以估計、而且不斷增值的，因為這些生態資源只會越來越稀有，越來越讓人珍而重之。
為什麼我們要把「美」想像為人造的假沙灘？把旅遊消費想像為沙灘旁玻璃屋喝紅酒？而不是與自然接觸，感受奇妙的生物世界？
Rob Christie of the South China Diving Club once told a reporter from CNN that “Hong Kong doesn't have world-class diving, but it is challenging and there is a lot of wonderful scenery”.
The fact that star fishes and Hippocampus kuda have been discovered in Lung Mei has proven the wonderful nature of our sea – a seemingly polluted area with amazing scenery if you try to discover it. However, the powerful elite who just want to get rich and the decision makers who just want to please the rich, they cannot see the real treasures. They want to bury the natural resources with artificial constructions and make profit out of property development.
As has been pointed out by green groups, development and conservation is not necessarily in conflict. If the government preserves Lung Mei and the nearby Dong Kwok wetland, the value it generates for education, environment and tourism cannot be estimated as more and more sea lives are endangered and thus the conserved area will become more and more precious.
Why do we perceive “beauty” in the form of an artificial beach? Why do we imagine touristic activities such as having red wine in a glass room nearby a sand beach? Why can't we get close to the nature and feel the miracle of a world full of living creatures?
Last Sunday on November 4, around 1,000 protesters gathered outside the government headquarter demanding a reassessment of the environmental value of Lung Mei mud beach. Local green groups said that they would apply for a judicial review if the government insists on the construction project.
Hundreds of protesters demanded the government to drop the artificial beach construction project in Lung Mei. Photo taken by Mary Chan, used with permission.
Green groups displayed photos of the coastline habitants on the November 4 protest. Photo by Mary Chan, used with permission.


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Indigenous Severely Affected by Colombian Armed Conflict · Global Voices
Lully

Servindi [es] published Bulletin N°3/2012 [es] by the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC) [es], where they report that the organization will go to the International Criminal Court to denounce that numerous Indigenous people -including several children- are dying of malnutrition or as victims of anti-personnel mines due to the conflict between legal and illegal groups in their territories.
The report also points out that during the first nine months of this year 78 indigenous people have been killed, while another 47 have received death threats and more than 11,000 have been displaced.

author: Lully


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Instructions on the18th Party Congress in China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Today is the opening of the 18th Party Congress in China. Netizens shared instructions issued by security on what should and should not be done during the congress in Beijing. China Digital Times has collected some of the instructions.


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Journalist’s Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan: Bad Joke or Crime? · Global Voices
Atai Muratbekov

Nazira Aytbekova, a prominent television presenter in Kyrgyzstan, has brought criminal charges against tabloid journalists who abducted and threatened to kill her as a ‘practical joke’ for their newspaper.
According to Aytbekova [ru], who presents a popular entertainment program on Kyrgyz state TV, she was abducted at gunpoint and taken blindfolded to a deserted area outside Bishkek, the country's capital. Several men then forced her to undress partially, threatening to rape and kill her. One of the men recorded the entire process on a camera. After some time, Aytbekova was ordered to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw three journalists from the Bishkek-based tabloid Super-Info who told her that was a joke.
Aytbekova didn't like the ‘joke’, to say the least. Speaking to media after the incident, she said [ru] she had been ‘close to a heart attack’ during the abduction. The journalist's mother said Aytbekova has asthma and ‘anything could have happened to her’. The journalist filed a complaint with police.
Nazira Aytbekova bursts into tears as she talks to media about her ‘mock’ abduction. Still frame from video ‘Black humor or innocent prank?’ uploaded on YouTube November 2, 2012, by KTRKkg.
Disgust over the ‘joke’
The ‘mock abduction’ triggered a flurry of angry comments on news forum and in social media.
Alina Alymkulova tweeted [ru]:
@Alisha_A_: Ппц шуточки у “Супер-Инфо”.Всегда говорила,что дурацкая газета.Бедная Назира Айтбекова,могла инфаркт заработать,идиоты.
@Alisha_A_: ‘Super-Info’ has really [stupid] jokes. I've always said that this is a stupid newspaper. Poor Nazira Aytbekova, she could have had a heart attack. Idiots.
Zarema Zhunusova added [ru]:
@Zarema1407: И самое абсурдное,что если бы Айтбекова не подняла шумиху,то читатели лишь похихикали бы над этим “розыгрышем”, опубликованном в газете.
@Zarema1407: The most absurd thing is that had Aytbekova not raised a fuss [over the incident], the readers would have simply giggled when reading the ‘practical joke’ published in the newspaper.
Also on Twitter, Sumsarbek wrote [ru]:
@SumsarbekObbO: Сесуальное насилие – это не шутка!!!
@SumsarbekObbO: Sexual violence is not a joke!!!
User ‘smarty’ on news forum knews.kg had [ru] a similar opinion:
…ну извините, иммитировать износилование это уже не есть розыгрыш!!! Правильно, с такими идиотами только судться.
…Sorry but [letting a woman feel that she is raped] is very far from being a joke!!! She is right, such idiots should be taken to court.
Punish the newspaper?
Some netizens believe that the newspaper where the journalists who abducted Aytbekova worked should also be penalized. For example, user ‘OOK’ proposed [ru]:
закрыть эту нудную газетёнку за такие розыгрыши…и привлечь к уголовной ответственности этих дебилов за нарушение прав свобод человека и принесения морального и физического вреда…!!
the boring newspaper should be closed for such jokes… and these idiots should be brought to account in a criminal court for violating the rights and freedoms of a person and causing moral and physical harm…!!
The newspaper Super-Info, however, claims the editorial staff did not authorize the use of intimidation and force by journalists who abducted Aytbekova. Two journalists who were involved in the incident have been fired.
But some netizens are not convinced. User ‘Nazgul’ wrote [ru]:
Руководство Супер инфо уже открестилось от этой истории, возложили вину на самих журналистов, но однако никто не задал вопроса о том, как такое может быть, чтобы журналисты все это творили без ведома руководства. В каждой редакции все действия журналистов обсуждаются на планерках утром, каждый день…
The management of the Super-Info has already said they had nothing to do with the incident, blaming the journalists for what had happened. However, nobody asked how it was possible for the journalists to do this [the abduction] without the management's knowledge. In any editorial office, journalists’ plans and activities for every day are discussed at morning meetings that take place every day…
The newspaper has acted quickly to minimize harm caused by the incident. As Adilet Kasymov alleges [ru] on kloop.kg:
Я специально не поленился и посмотрел как они раньше других звезд разыгрывали. Вы удивитесь на сайте все розыгрыши удалили. А также редакция газеты в данное время обзванивают всех звезд которые ранее тоже были разыграны и всех их заставляют подписать что они по собственному желанию были разыграны…
I wanted to watch their practical jokes with other prominent individuals. You will be surprised, but they have removed all videos with these jokes from their website. In addition, the newspaper's editorial staff has been calling all the individuals who were also subjected to such jokes, asking them to sign documents stating that they had given their consent to participate in the practical jokes…
Yet, Nazira Aytbekova's husband says [ru] he will do everything to ensure that everyone complicit in his wife's abduction is punished:
То, что они сделали – это унижение, угроза изнасилования, угроза убийства. Все это будет рассматриваться согласно уголовному кодексу. Эти действия попадают под уголовную ответственность. Назад мы не пойдем. В редакции «Супер Инфо» меня не раз просили простить, но о прощении и речи быть не может.
What they did [can be categorized as] humiliation, the threat of rape, and the threat of murder. All these actions will be considered under the Criminal Code. All these actions are subject to criminal liability. We will not turn back. The editorial office of the newspaper Super-Info has asked me several times to forgive them, but forgiveness is out of the question.

author: Atai Muratbekov


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Map Tracks Forest Encroachment in Thailand · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Thanya Kunakornpaiboonsiri writes about the new map developed by Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation which was introduced to the public ‘to fight against forest encroachment and avoid land conflict in the country.’


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Mending Japan and China Relations · Global Voices
Mari Wakimoto

Japan nationalized [ja] the Senkaku Islands (note: China refers to them as Daiyo Islands) on September 11, 2012, setting off anti-Japan protests in China. Those protests and the subsequent reactions from Japanese Internet users were covered in our previous post [ja].
Official ties between both countries are still at an impasse as of late October. While both governments are struggling to improve relations, some success has been seen among civil society.
Blogger Yokodo-Syujin looks at several efforts led by authors of the two countries, who hope to mend the relationship. He refers to Nobel Prize Laureate Mo Yan in his post [ja] on October 12:
莫言氏の受賞は日中関係修復へのシグナル
ノーベル文学賞は、中国人作家の莫言氏が受賞しました。村上春樹氏も有力視されていましたが、「日中対決」とも言われた今回の文学賞は、中国が制した形となりました。中国人は喜んでいますが、この選考は中々興味深いものがあります。
…（中略）…
民主派の中国人は莫言氏に批判的ですが、共産体制下ですから致し方ないでしょう。2年前の2010年にノーベル平和賞を受賞した劉暁波氏に対しては、当局は弾圧を加えて言論活動を封じています。こうなったら何もできませんから、体制批判をしようとしたら相当な工夫が必要となります。
日中関係が最悪の状態にある中で親日家の莫言氏がノーベル文学賞に選ばれたのは、関係修復の契機にしたいという選考委員会の意図が感じられます。山中伸弥氏[en]に続いて村上春樹氏が受賞したら、日中関係は更に冷え込んでしまいます。ノーベル賞には常に、政治的な意図が込められています。
Mo Yan's win is a signal that Japan-China relations are mending
Chinese author Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Japanese author Haruki Murakami had been regarded as a likely winner, but for the literature prize that was said to be “the Japan and China confrontation”, the result came as a win for China. The Chinese people are pleased, but this selection is an  interesting development.
…(omission)…
The liberals in China are said to be critical of Mr. Mo Yan, but this is unavoidable under the Communist Party system. The authorities oppressed Mr. Liu Xiaobo and his speech activities, Mr.Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize two years ago in 2010. So we know there's no room for criticizing the system unless you come up with something really creative.
I sense in choosing Mo Yan for the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel selection committee took this occasion to mend the relationship of Japan and China. Mr. Mo Yan is known to be pro-Japan. If Mr. Murakami had won the prize, the relationship of the two countries would have likely deteriorated, especially after Shinya Yamanaka‘s Nobel win. The Nobel Prize is always backed by a political motive.
He also refers to Professor Cui Weiping who made a call on the Internet to improve relations, which was also noted in an article in the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun [ja].
According to the post, it was a civil movement in Japan that pushed Mr. Mo Yan to make a call for a petition [zh] to rationalize views on relations.
The movement was organized by citizen groups under the slogan “Stop Vicious Cycle of Territorial Dispute.” According to the group [ja] 1600 people including the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature recipient author Kenzaburo Oe showed support.
On the website for the movement, it says international solidarity and action including that of Mr.Mo Yan is “significant” and “civil actions seeking peace and co-living transcending borders are quite significant.”
On the other hand MSN Sankei News reported [ja] the slogan was “anti-Japan” and many criticized [ja] Mr.Oe and the civic group.
Citizen gathers under a slogan “stop vicious cycle of territorial dispute and people of Asia lets start uniting not for war but for peaceful solution”. Image by Labornet Japan. October 18, 2012. (Used with permission)
While anti-Japan protests expanded, the blogger Yokodo-shujin [ja] wrote constantly for a month about his concern with deteriorating Japan-China relations.
On September 17, he wrote a post titled “the essence of rioting in an anti-Japan protest is a struggle for power” [ja]. On September 18 he wrote, “most Chinese see the U.S. pulling strings from behind” [ja] and suggested who was profiting from the dispute. And the following day, he wrote “citizens of both countries are used and abused” [ja] taking precaution to the heat. He continues to write his own thoughts on his blog.
これは非常によいですね。とても冷静で建設的な提言です。日中両政府は、こうした良心的な国民の声に真摯に耳を傾けるべきです。
…（中略）…
崔衛平氏ら実名で署名した人たちはとても勇気のある人たちで、中国人の良心を代表しています。我々日本人は、こういう人たちと連携して共存共栄を図ってゆく必要があります。
This proposal is very constructive. Both Japan and Chinese government should listen to the voices of citizens of conscience.
< omission >
People who signed the petition in their real name are very courageous. People like Cui Weiping represent the good heart of China. We Japanese should work together with these people to flourish together.
The seeds of dialogue continues to grow in both countries.
This post features Yokodo-shujin blog with permission.

author: Mari Wakimoto


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Racism in European Football: Will New Rules Help? · Global Voices
Richard Wanjohi

The last weeks of October 2012 saw racism rear its ugly head again, in the European Leagues, particularly in England, affecting both the Premier League clubs and players, as well as the national one too. Many have wondered whether the major football bodies UEFA and FIFA will act as some have been trying to do like the Football Association (FA) in England.
To give us a perspective into the racism issue, ArsenalNews chronicles various incidences of racism that have taken place in different countries:
Racism is a major issue in our world nowadays, even the beautiful game is filled with it. Players, officials and fans are all targeted, some may be targeted because of them being on the opposing team and some individuals are even targeted by their own fans. Below are some football related racist incidents and acts that happened all around Europe.
In February 2011, Roberto Carlos signed a contract with Russian Premier League club Anzhi Makhachkala. The following month during a game away against Zenit, a banana was held near Carlos by one of the fans as the footballer was taking part in a flag-raising ceremony.
In November 2008, Middlesbrough’s Egyptian forward Mido was subjected to Islamophobic chanting from a small number of Newcastle United fans.
In March 2012, a 29 year old Arsenal fan was arrested after being caught racially abusing Newcastle United player Cheik Tiote by SkySports cameras.
The most talked about incident in the 2011/2012 season was when England captain John Terry was caught on tape allegedly racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. Few days ago Queens Park Rangers faced Chelsea, Ferdinand refused to shake hands with Terry before the start of the match.
While it may have affected the various national leagues, it seems that international games are not immune to these incidents with the most recent one in Serbia when the Under-21 England team played the Serbian Under-21 on October 16.
Here is a video uploaded by youtube user SaintOrthodox of the incident that ensued in Serbia in the match between the Under-21 England and Serbian national teams on 16 October 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZZY9U1CdDs
Football Philosophy tells us in the blog-post Racism in the Balkans: A Problem That Will Just Not Go Away:
The disturbing scenes in Serbia this week have once again drawn attention to the issue of racism in football, particularly in this part of the world, where an unhealthy political culture of hard-line nationalism and ethnic prejudice in the region over the past decades has bred violence and bigotry on the terraces.
There is little doubt that the problem of racism, accentuated by periods of aggressive ethnic nationalism in the Balkans, remains a significant problem for football. This is a problem that UEFA and the football authorities appear unwilling to address, in the hope that it will fade out of public consciousness. Their actions to this point in dealing with Tuesday’s despicable incidents have only added weight to this claim.
Lester Hollaway in his blog-post What Rio can learn from non-League football reflects on the English footballer's refusal to wear a Kick It Out t-shirt, a campaign driven by an awareness programme under the same name:
Football has always been a game built on the grassroots and, on a day when a handful of highly-paid Premiership players headed by Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand postured over racism, it was refreshing to witness non-league Sutton United remind us what is good about the game.
First, they were picking on the wrong target. Any criticism about light punishments for racism – for example in the cases of John Terry or Luis Suarez – must go first and foremost to the football authorities and then to Premiership clubs themselves. Kick It Out are merely a pressure group without power, and one that has consistently been calling for tougher penalties for many a year.
The PFA (Professional Footballers Association) in the UK on 24 October gave a 6-point proposal to curb the issue including the so-called Rooney Rule as highlighted by FootyMatters:
The PFA’s plan calls for:
Ademir to Zizinho wrote a lenghty post about Why English football doesn't need a “Rooney Rule”:
The idea of introducing a “Rooney rule” might seem a panacea to cure football of its current ills. Yet in reality it would simply paper over the fundamental flaws which beset the entire process of appointing managers. England does not just lack a reasonable number of black managers within the football league, it lacks a sensible method of unearthing managers of talent, regardless of their ethnicity.
Rather than a requirement to interview members of ethnic minorities, a far more inclusive amendment would be to interview prospective managers of any race who had not previously held a professional position. That would not only open up the field to members of all ethnicities, it would end the “old boys’ network” that sees failing managers bounce around from club to club based on a long past playing career. Sadly in their attempt to take control of the media agenda, the PFA have instead latched on to another half-baked idea that will benefit nobody.
It's truly about time that the major governing bodies in the game of football took decisive action against this act that smears the beautiful game of football. It has no place in sport in this time and era as the game is truly global as represented by the players playing in most leagues in Europe and other successful leagues.

author: Richard Wanjohi


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Russians React to Obama’s Reelection · Global Voices
Donna Welles

With the American elections finally over, Barack Obama now embarks on his second term as President of the United States. Since his first campaign in 2008, Obama's top advisor on U.S.-Russia policy has been Stanford professor and democratic-transitions expert Michael McFaul, who earlier this year became America's ambassador to Russia.
Together, Obama and McFaul have pursued a “Reset” in relations with the Russian Federation. Recent events have led many observers to declare Obama's rapprochement a failure. Two watershed moments animating Obama's critics include the Kremlin-instigated closure of USAID offices in Moscow, and Vladimir Putin's assertion that the United States helped instigate street protests against Russian parliamentary and presidential elections last winter.
Vilhelm Konnander, a former president of the Swedish Society for the Study of Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, as well as a Global Voices author, epitomized the Reset-skepticism in a Facebook post:
[I wonder] what Obama's reelection will mean to US-Russian relations after the failed reset policy.
In his reaction [ru] to Obama's victory, Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev expressed relief that Americans had not elected the candidate (Romney) who insisted on describing Russia as America's “number one geopolitical foe.”
President Obama meets President Medvedev at the Business Forum on July 6, 2009, White House photograph, public domain.
In far more colorful language, Russian Twitter users have weighed in on Obama's reelection with their own commentary. Here is one illustrative, and rather clamorous, exchange:
Shiitman:
А тут есть люди, которые расстраиваются, что ромни не победил?
Smirnov:
я
Falanster
почему??
Smirnov:
много раз объяснял же. Обама это предельно мягкий курс. Нахуй он такой нужен нам в России
Falanster:
ну он же как бы умеренный соцдем, а ромни пиздец, а рашке оба как жук лапкой потрогал
Well, [Obama] is a moderate socialist democrat, whereas Romney is a f—head, but neither is something for Rasha [sic] to shake a stick at.
Smirnov:
[…] сравните администрацию Буша-мл и Обамы по отношению к Москве. ОДНО И ТОЖЕ??
Kulturtrager:
При Обаме похуизм под видом “перезагрузки”
In other reactions, RuNetizens focused more on what Obama's second term might mean for the future of the United States. Oleg Kozyrev condemned [ru] the American election process, specifically the Electoral College, which he implied is undemocratic. Alexander Kireev cited polling data to illustrate [ru] racial polarization in American voting behavior.
On the lighter side of things, right-wing politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky blogged that yesterday's election results do not indicate American enthusiasm for the Obama Administration, but rather mark the beginning of American's slow march toward stagnation and isolationism:
Победа нынешнего президента США обусловлена не большими ожиданиями от продолжения деятельности президента, а обычным нежеланием американцев менять устоявшиеся порядки. Они консервативны, как и все избиратели. Все боятся: а вдруг новый что-то такое начнет?
[…]
Что сейчас будет делать Барак Обама? Ничего. У него третьего срока нет – ему хочется поцарствовать 4 года, он будет кататься по заграницам, внутренние вопросы ему не решить, их вообще никому нигде нельзя решить, это надо героическое что-то произвести. Поэтому Америка сама себя обрекает на застой.
The victory of the incumbent President of the United States is not due to great expectations about the President continuing his work, but rather Americans’ reluctance to change the established order. They're conservatives, like all voters. Everyone is scared: what would something new suddenly begin?
[…]
What will Barack Obama do now? Nothing. He doesn't get a third term — he wants to rule for [another] four years, he'll travel around on trips abroad, he won't solve any domestic issues — issues that nobody anywhere can solve, short of doing something heroic. For these reasons, America dooms itself to stagnation.

author: Donna Welles


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Senkaku Dispute Widens Gulf Between Japan and China · Global Voices
Mari Wakimoto

On 11 September 2011, the Japanese government purchased and nationalized three of the disputed Senkaku Islands (note: China refers to them as Diaoyu, Taiwan as Tiaoyutai ). Since then, anti-Japan demonstrations in China have picked up, increasing the gulf between both countries.
All three governments – China, Taiwan and Japan – claim territorial rights over the islands. This status quo that had been held for many years, was disrupted by Ishihara, the Governor of Tokyo, who known for his firm stance on foreign policy, pushed for donations to purchase the Senkaku Islands. As a result, the Japanese Government decided to nationalize the Senkaku Islands.
In an interview, the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, Osamu Fujimura, explained that the intention [ja] of the purchase was “to plan a peaceful and stable long-term maintenance and management of the Sekaku Islands”, but suggested blocking Tokyo's purchase in order to avoid any friction with other countries.
In any case, this decision triggered widespread anti-Japanese demonstrations in China. Among the hundreds of thousands of participants across the nation, some turned to rioters. Every day, the Japanese media reported a case a Japanese company being targeted.
Protesters were filling the street in front of the Japanese Embassy in Liangmaqiao area to protest against Japan over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands (aka Senkaku Islands). They had offensive posters with the head of Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda. Copyright(c)Demotix (18/09/2012)
The disturbance also spread to Twitter:
@NOBUOBU:  反日デモ、反日デモって、日本と関係のない企業まで、炎上させて、ここまできたらデモどころじゃない、ただ暴れたいだけなんじゃないか？国民性疑う、情けない…
@NOBUOBU:  Anti-Japanese demonstrations. Going as far as burning down businesses unrelated to Japan is far from being a demonstration. Aren't these just riots? I suspect it's their national character. How shameful…
@activeminority:  ほっとんどの中国人は、まるでほっとんどの日本人が尖閣諸島は自分たちのものだと思っているのと同じように、魚釣島は当たり前に自分たちのものだと思っている。そんなお互いが我を張り続ければどうなるだろうか？自分はそれが恐ろしい。
@activeminority:  Most Chinese think that the Diaoyu islands naturally belong to them, in the same way that the Japanese think that the Senkaku Islands belong to them. What would happen to each country if this continued? I'm afraid.
@activeminority
反日デモ隊が集まった花園酒店に、しばらくして「理性愛国、反対暴力」というプラカードを持った学生が集まった。彼らはデモの終息後、花園酒店の周りのゴミを拾い集めた。「中国の将来にも希望はある」このTweetをWeiboにあげた中国人のコメント pic.twitter.com/Co78MeQT (写真:松松老師)
@activeminority Students gathered in front of the hotel where the anti-Japan protest was taking place with slogans saying “rational patriotism, no violence”. After the rally, these students picked up the garbage around the hotel. One Chinese Weibo (micro-blogging service) user, commented “There is hope in the future of China” pic.twitter.com/Co78MeQT  (image by 松松老師)
The government and mass media have been blamed as well:
@kou_1970:  尖閣問題をこれだけ大きく煽ったのは石原慎太郎氏であることは間違いない。在中日本人への被害、日本製品不買運動、交流イベントの中止、旅行客激減、地方自治体同士の会談延期など被った被害や金銭的損害ははかり知れない。石原氏はどう責任を取るのか。それでもなお「シナ人は無法」などと言うのか。
@kou_1970:  There is no mistake that it was Mr. Shintaro Ishihara who aggravated the Senkaku problem to this extent. The cost of damages to the Japanese people, (including) the boycott of Japanese products, the suspension of exchange events, sharp decline in tourism, and postponed talks between local governments is immeasurable. Will Mr. Ishihara take responsibility? Will he still say that “the Chinese are lawless”?
Twitter user @myoga33 looked at the U.S. ‐ Japan Security Treaty [ja] which allows the American army to take steps to protect Japan because the state has abandoned the right of belligerency in its constitution:
@myoga33:  尖閣問題で日中が対立して喜んでいるのは、この件で人気取りを狙う政治家やメディア、日米の軍需産業、そしてアメリカ軍と人民解放軍の軍拡派だろう。 国民にとっては尖閣問題で中国とけんかしても何の益もない。煽りにのるより、尖閣問題を乗り越えて日中関係をどう改善するかを考えた方がよい。
This creates feelings of schadenfreude in some people. Politicians and the media, the military industry of Japan and the U.S., the hard-liners of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the U.S.military are probably wondering how much popularity and support they can gain from this dispute. We better think about ways to amend the Japan-China relationship instead of feeding trolls.
@noyamapisaka refers to a story which was incorrectly quoted by several mass media companies, about a thousand Chinese fishing boats heading towards the Senkaku area. (The website, Gohoo, proved the inaccuracy of these media reports).
@noyamapisaka: 普段はマスコミを疑ってて、これは！と思って信じたら誤報。これじゃマスコミの信頼は落ちる一方。 RT @antennakun: 大量の中国漁船尖閣行きを否定＝「禁漁明けと勘違い」－１１管本部長 http://bit.ly/U8nvpj
Believing that the media is normally vigilant is incorrect. In this case, trust in the media will keep declining. RT @antennakun: Denial of masses of Chinese fishing boats heading towards Senkaku = “Misunderstanding of the end of fishing prohibition” – 11th Regional Coast Guard manager http://bit.ly/U8nvpj
On the other hand, @mipoko611 has been highlighting the idea that the Chinese authorities organised the demonstrations.
@mipoko611:  中国は国民に反日感情を植え付け、政治利用出来ると思ってたけど、もう制御できなくなってしまってるんじゃないかな。ここで力づくで制御すれば、一度着いた火は内政に向かうから
I think China was trying to plant anti-Japan sentiment in its citizens but they can no longer control their sentiments. ― that is, if they suppress the demonstrators their anger could be directed towards internal (domestic) politics.
@mipoko611:  民衆の感情なんて、そうやすやすと操作できるものじゃないし、中国史なんて、その失敗の繰り返しなのに、なんで権力者というのはいつの時代も学習しないんだろう。
Even though people's emotions is not something to toy with, and many mistakes have been repeated in China's history, no matter what era, why do powerful people never learn?
As of October, protests are tapering down and things are gradually returning to normal. However, planned events between Japan and China continue to get suspended one after the other, leading to economic losses.
We will soon feature a post by a blogger who wrote about the Nobel Prize Laureate Mo Yan and his hope for a speedy recovery of ties between the two countries.
This post was initially translated by Isamu Yoneda


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US Drones Hit Yemen a Day After Obama Won · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

Less than 24 hours from the re-election of President Obama, news of a new drone strike hit Yemen. The strike was in the al-Sarin village in Sanhan and killed Adnan al-Qadhi, Rabeaa Lahib and Radwan al-Hashdhi and injured others, including a boy. Yet, this strike is different from previous ones because Sanhan is less than 40km from the capital Sanaa and happens to be the former president Ali Abdulla Saleh's hometown.
Many Yemeni netizens were alarmed and dismayed. Here are some of their reactions:
Yemeni activist Ibrahim Mothana tweeted:
@imothanaYemen:Today's drone strike in Sanhan, Sana'a governorate is the closest ever to the capital. #Yemen
@imothanaYemen:
Google Map: Distance between al-Sirin village in Sanhan and the heart of Yemen's capital is only 37 kilometers https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=%D8%B5%D9%86%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A1%E2%80%8E,+Amanat+Al+Asimah,+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%8E%D9%85%D9%8E%D9%86&daddr=%2B15%C2%B0+6'+50.76%22,+%2B44%C2%B0+21'+51.82%22&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=15.23384,44.286575&sspn=0.359746,0.676346&geocode=Fd1A6gAdYI2iAikx94RG1dsDFjFzrIIUepVrpA%3BFXSf5gAdavKkAg&mra=ls&t=m&z=11 …
Screen shot of Google Map showing the short distance between Sanhan and the capital Sanaa
@imothanaYemen: Drone strikes in a “Secret War” by a “Nobel Peace Laureate”! Life can't get more surreal #Yemen
Adam Banron, a freelance journalist based in Yemen, tweeted:
@adammbaron: coming > 24 hours after Obama's reelection, its hard not to see the suspected US strike in sanhan as a message…if not a provocation. #yemen
Gregory Johnsen, author of forthcoming book The Last Refuge: Yemen al-Qaeda and America's War in Arabia, tweeted:
@gregorydjohnsen: If today's strike was indeed a US attack important question to ask: Was ‘Adnan al-Qadhi considered someone actively plotting against the US?
He added:
@gregorydjohnsen: NYT article asks if Obama will “rethink his administration’s heavy reliance on drone strikes” #Yemen today suggest no http://nyti.ms/VTrh2e
In his blog (Waq al Waq) latest post ‘Adnan al-Qadhi and the Day After,’ Johnsen points out:
This is important. The US has carried out, by my best estimate, between 37 – 50 strikes this year in an attempt to kill 10 – 15 people. Many of those 10 – 15 people are still alive (see: Nasir al-Wihayshi, Said al-Shihri, Qasim al-Raymi, Ibrahim Asiri and so on) but people are dying in Yemen.
Prior to the US election results, Palestinian activist and poet Remi Kanazi tweeted:
@Remroum: My name is Barack Obama and I approve this bombing. #Afghanistan #Pakistan #Yemen #Election2012
Yemeni Blogger Afrah Nasser sarcastically tweeted:
@Afrahnasser:”Yes We Can #Drone!” #Obama #Yemen #Somalia #Pakistan
Nevertheless, many Arab netizens and not only Yemenis were relieved that Mitt Romney did not win the elections since many believed he would be more aggressive in the ‘war on terror’. Yet it seems from the recent strike, Obama is sending a clear message that his policy in Yemen is not changing. However, how long can Yemen endure more drones?
Wedad Abood tweeted:
@WedadAbood: @BarackObama 4 more years of #drone strikes killing innocent peoples not to forget women & children #NoDrones #Yemen

author: Noon Arabia


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Argentina Lowers Voting Age to 16 · Global Voices
Laura Schneider

On November 1, 2012, Argentinian lawmakers approved a law that allows citizens to vote starting at 16 years of age. However, voting is only compulsory for those over 18.
The blog Juventudes [es] published the modifications made to the Argentinian Citizenship Act 26774 to extend the right to vote:
Artículo 1º: Son electores los argentinos nativos y por opción, desde los dieciséis (16) años de edad, y los argentinos naturalizados, desde los dieciocho (18) años de edad, que no tengan ninguna de las inhabilitaciones previstas en esta ley.
Article 1º: Native Argentinians are voters by choice, starting at sixteen (16) years of age, and naturalized Argentinians, from eighteen (18) years of age, provided that they have no foreseeable legal disqualifications.
Regarding the composition of votes for and against the reform in the Chamber of Deputies, the daily Telam [es] published the following results:
La iniciativa -que había recibido media sanción del Senado una semana antes- fue aprobada con 131 votos a favor, 2 en contra y 1 abstención, ya que la mayoría de las bancadas opositores se retiraron del recinto antes de que se concretara la votación.
The initiative -which had received preliminary approval from the Senate one week earlier- was passed with 131 votes in favor, 2 against and 1 abstention, as the majority of the opposition left the building before the vote finalized.
President Cristina Fernández presents the new identification documents that allows citizens of 16 years of age to vote. Image from www.casarosada.gov.ar under Creative Commons license.
National Deputy José Brillo analyzes and comments on why he abstained from the vote on his webpage [es]:
El proyecto no forma parte de las prioridades, ni de las metas u objetivos de los jóvenes. Por el contrario siento que el proyecto está más relacionado con inquietudes de los adultos, que con las necesidades, y las motivaciones de los jóvenes. El proyecto propone conceder a los adolescentes el derecho de votar, pero curiosamente es un segmento en el que se comprueba un desgranamiento del 56% en su educación media, si pensamos antes en el voto que en la educación, o antes que tener mayor acceso a políticas deportivas, recreativas, o culturales, estamos alterando las prioridades.
The project is not part of the priorities, or the goals, or the objectives of the youth. On the contrary, I feel the project is more related to the concerns of adults than the needs and motivations of the youth. The project proposes to give adolescents the right to vote, but it is curiously a segment in which 56% either don't complete or lag behind in completing their secondary education, if we think about voting before education, or before having greater access to sport, recreational or cultural policies, we are changing our priorities.
As for the optional vote for those under 18 years of age, Brillo writes:
Respecto del carácter optativo del voto, quiero marcar también mis diferencias, y planteo esto porque más allá de los gustos, las preferencias y las consideraciones personales, el Art. 37 de la Constitución Nacional establece que el voto en la Argentina es obligatorio y universal.
In respect to the optional nature of the vote, I also want to point out my objection, and I raise this issue because beyond personal tastes, preferences and personal considerations, Article 37 of the National Constitution establishes that in Argentina the vote is universal and obligatory.
What do new young voters think?
Florencia Acuña (@floracunia) [es] writes:
@floracunia: hoy estaba con el cartel del voto a los 16 en el cole , y ari me dijo yo no quiero votar apenas me se atar los cordones ! ajajjajaj 15 años
@floracunia: today in school I had the poster [promoting] the vote at 16, and ari told me I don't want to vote because I don't even know how tie my shoes ! hahahaha 15 years old
Meanwhile, user Mar (@marianelaoriont) [es] talks about feeling nervous:
@marianelaoriont: Estoy re nervioso por el voto a los 16 años, no me decido como votar todavía. Si haciendo ta te ti o zapatito blanco zapatito azul
@marianelaoriont: I am super nervous about being able to vote at 16, i haven't decided how to vote yet. By doing tic tac toe or white shoe blue shoe
A debated issue in Argentina is the immunity of the underage when it comes to criminal offenses. A large sector of society assumes that those between 16 and 18 years of age are criminally immune, which is not the case. This can be seen in some tweets, like the following by Ezequiel (@Ezepereyra22) [es]:
@Ezepereyra22: Ya es ley el voto a los 16 años, pero si con esa misma edad vienen y te pegan un tiro en la frente para afanarte el celular, no pasa nada.
@Ezepereyra22: The ability to vote at 16 is now a law, but if at the same age they come and shoot you in the face and steal your cellphone, nothing happens.
Andrés Escudero refers to this issue in the blog El Estadista [es]:
La inimputabilidad es un argumento que han adoptado los promotores de las políticas de mano dura. Haciéndose eco de la asociación entre juventud y delincuencia, han impulsado la idea de que a partir de esta nueva ley un menor de 18 años podría sufragar para Presidente a la vez que “matar, robar y violar” sin ir preso, justamente por su condición de menor. Sea por el motivo que fuere, la idea de que los menores de dieciocho son inimputables se apoderó de buena parte de la sociedad hasta convertirse en sentido común
Immunity is an argument that those who want to rule with an iron fist have adopted. Echoing the association between youth and crime, they have pushed forth the idea that with this law a minor could vote for President at the same time as “killing, robbing, and raping” without going to jail, just because he or she is a minor. For whatever reason, the idea that minors are immune from prosecution has seized a good part of society to the point that it's become common sense.
Escudero also analyzes the outstanding debt of the National Congress in regards to how minors between 16 and 18 years of age are tried in court:
En este campo, una deuda que el Congreso Nacional aún no ha saldado es la sanción de un Régimen de Responsabilidad Penal Juvenil, para que los jóvenes en conflicto con la ley penal puedan ser juzgados con respeto de las mismas garantías que asisten a cualquier ciudadano.
In this field, the National Congress has yet to pass a Juvenile Penal Responsibility System, so that young people who are in trouble with the law can be tried with respect to the same guarantees that any other citizen has.
Considering these changes, the candidates for the legislative election in 2013 will have to tweak their strategies to win the youth vote [es], which represents more than one million potential new voters.

author: Laura Schneider


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Being Pregnant in Kyrgyzstan · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

On Ivory Pomegranate, an expat blogger shares her experience of being pregnant in Kyrgyzstan. She writes that seven months of prenatal care in a good clinic in Bishkek costs about 10 times less than a single check-up in US. But in Kyrgyzstan, one needs to understand that many medications prescribed by doctors are not only unnecessary but also dangerous at times.


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Brazil, France: Agroecology Helps Reduce Poverty     · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Respecting the soil is fundemental to us. It is where we get our food from and how we will provide for our children
Suelia explains [fr] how the agroecology approach (bringing ecological principles to bear in agroecosystems) has helped many in her community grow a sustainable business model by diversifying their products and therefore letting the soil rest. Thee programme is also suported by french NGO CCFD-terre solidaire.


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Ecuador Battles Violence in Sports · Global Voices
Daniela Gallardo

‘No Sports Violence in Guayaquil’ is the name of a new campaign that hopes to eradicate violence in football and in the stadiums, after a confrontation on November 4 between fans of Barcelona and Emelec (both professional football teams and participants in the “Shipyard Derby“), left George Murillo León, age 20, dead.
Both national and international media covered the clash. In its online edition, El Universo [es] gave details of the incident: “A gunshot to the forehead, with an exit wound in the back of his head, purportedly by an Emelec fan, produced irreversible brain damage according to a source at the Luis Vernaza Hospital, where he was taken around 11:30.”
Fox Sports [es] also wrote about it on their webpage, recalling that “this is the second death in recent years from football violence in Ecuador, the previous one being Carlos Cedeño, a 12 year old boy who died after being hit by a flare in 2007.”
Representatives from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Sports, Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF in Spanish), the National Assembly, and the Emelec and Barcelona sports clubs are working to counteract the acts of violence perpetrated by fans and supporters of football teams in the first division. After having reached an agreement, the parties published the “Ten Commandments Against Violence in Football”  [es] on the Ministry of the Interior's webpage.
Barcelona fans, photo by José Luis Merizalde Alcívar on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
[Translator's note: all Twitter links are in Spanish]
On social media, using the tag #NoMasViolencia, people across the country showed their concern about sports violence.
Football fans, like @michael_cse and @Sandtolo, reject the aggression and violence:
@michael_cse: Por pasión al equipo no solo matas a un ciudadano MATAS A UNA FAMILIA y enlutas al país #NoMasViolencia #HagamosLaDiferencia..
@michael_cse: For love of the team, you didn't only kill a citizen, you KILLED A FAMILY and plunged the country into mourning
@Sandtolo: Yo repudio la violencia en todas sus formas, la violencia sólo viene del despotismo y el egocentrismo :) #nomasviolencia
@Sandtolo: I condemn violence in all forms, violence only comes from despotism and egocentrism
In the same vein, Twitter user @ANDRESL9 says:
@ANDRESL9: El futbol es una fiesta que debemos vivirla en Paz. #nomasviolencia en los estadios. Denuncia a los violentos
@ANDRESL9: Football is fun we should enjoy in peace. #nomasviolencia [no more violence] in the stadiums. Denounce violent people
Rafael Correa, the President of Ecuador (@MashiRafael), also commented about the incident on his Twitter account:
@MashiRafael:…fútbol y la muerte del hincha amarillo George Murillo. Semana intensa para consensuar candidatura a proclamarse en convención…
@MashiRafael: Football and the death of Barcelona fan George Murillo. Intense week to get consensus on the candidacy to announce at the convention
Emelec fans, photo by Eduardo Ochoa Gutiérrez on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Officials and the public hope that the new ideas like “No sports violence in Guayaquil” will reach schools, outlying areas, and even hospitals and mobile clinics, since football is one of the few sports that moves the masses in the whole country, especially in cities like Quito and Guayaquil.

author: Daniela Gallardo


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Football Game in Tajikistan Ends in Massive Brawl · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

A football match in the northern Tajik town of Istaravshan had to be abandoned after a massive brawl broke out on the pitch.
On November 8, Dushanbe-based Energetic arrived in the northern town for a national championship game against the local club, Istaravshan. The guests scored first, but Istaravshan players then pressed for most of the second half before finally getting the equalizer on the 81st minute of the game.
According to Tajikistan's Football Federation [ru], the hosts’ equalizer angered Energetic players who felt the goal had to be disallowed. After the referee sent off two players from the guest squad for ‘unsporting behavior’, he was attacked by several players. The incident quickly erupted into a brawl involving the both squads and then into total chaos as crowds of Istaravshan fans invaded the pitch. Match officials then had to call off the game.
Netizens in Tajikistan were quick to react to the incident.
Jasur Ashurov (@jashurov) tweeted [ru]:
@jashurov: Футбол в Таджикистане больше, чем футбол… Похоже, что на этот матч вместо футбольных команд послали боксеров. Позор!
@jashurov: Football in Tajikistan is more than just Football… It looks like they sent boxers instead of football players to this match. Shame!
He added [ru] later:
@jashurov: Зато наши рефери хорошо знают, что подсуживать нельзя. Народный суд в футболе неизбежен!
@jashurov: But at least our referees know well that they shouldn't favor teams. In football, you get punished by people for that!
Blogger Beparvo wrote [ru]:
Это же позор всему Таджикистану. Итак нас по всему миру пальцами показывают, рисуют как кисточки и шпатели, теперь мы сами себя тоже позорим. Как такое возможно что в игре высшей лиги такой бардак происходит! Почему футболисты думают что такое поведение им разрешено! Непонятно почему милиция не смогла ничгео сделать.
This is a shame for all of Tajikistan. Even without this, we are portrayed all over the world as paint brushes and trowels, and now we shame ourselves even more. How is it possible that a High League game ends in such a mess? Why do football players believe that this kind of behavior is permissible? I don't understand why police couldn't do anything.
Underneath the blogger's post, Rishdor commented [ru]:
Футбол в Таджикистан это политика. Кто во главе федерасии футбола? Сын президента. Чей команда вегда побеждает? Сын президента. Слишком много политики. И все знают что наши рефери продаются и покупаются. Это очевидно в каждом матче. Футболисты и зрители ведь не дураки, они все видят. Вот все и злые готовые взорваться в любую минуту.
Football in Tajikistan is politics. Who heads the Football Federation? President's son. Whose football club always wins? The club of the president's son. Too much politics. And everyone knows that our referees can be bought and sold. This is clear in every match. Football players and fans are not idiots, they see everything. This is why they are all angry and ready to explode at any moment.
But another user, Isfandiyor Zarafshoni, disagreed [ru]:
Но политика тут совсем непричем. У нас во всей стране такой бардак и никто не может навести порядок.
Politics has nothing to do with it. Out entire country is such a mess and there is nobody who would be able to bring about order.
Some netizens believe the latest incident will only make Tajik football more interesting. Tomiris (@tomiristj), for example, tweeted [ru]:
@tomiristj: Зато теперь нашему футболу добавится зрелищности :). Все захотят ходить на футбол, если там постоянно такое будет твориться.
@tomiristj: But now our football will gain in terms of entertainment :). Everybody will want to attend football games if such incidents happen there every time.


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Guyana: Women are not Objects  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

[It is] a racist, sexist colonial throwback which draws on a long history of the sexualisation, commodification and thingification of the brown woman’s body.
Code Red is trying to raise awareness of the dangers of sexist advertising.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Israeli Netizens Celebrate Romney’s Defeat · Global Voices
Elizabeth Tsurkov

Israeli netizens closely followed the elections in the United States, many of them staying up until the early morning hours to find out who of the candidates crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold. The Israeli social media and blogosphere scene is dominated by people who lean to the Left and thus most hoped that Obama would be re-elected. Liberal Israelis are generally disappointed with Obama's inaction regarding the peace process and human rights violations inside Israel, but Romney is seen as the worst of the two options. Netanyahu's implicit endorsement of Romney, as well as Romney's conservative positions on women's rights, gay rights and social equality made him quite unpopular among Israeli netizens.
Israeli netizens reacted to Obama's victory mostly in the context of Israeli politics – as a blow to Netanyahu, and Netanyahu and Romney's generous financier, billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who also owns the pro-Netanyahu free daily Israel Hayom.
Leftist blogger Kurt Tucholski posted on Facebook [heb]:
הרשו לי לנבא את הכותרת של ישראל היום מחר: במירוץ לנשיאות ארצות הברית הגיע רומני למקום השני, אובמה הגיע למקום הלפני אחרון!
Let me predict tomorrow's headline in Israel Hayom: In the race to the presidency of the United States, Romney came in second while Obama came in one place before last!
While this humorous prediction did not come true, the daily did publish an op-ed titled “The United States Chose Socialism” following Obama's victory.
Asafsky Levy posted this image of Adelson on Facebook:
Feminist blogger H. B. Hoffman described the general atmosphere among Israelis on Twitter:
הפיד שטוף בשמחה לאיד וקריאות לאובמה להיכנס בנתניהו בכל הכוח, ואני רוצה להגיד שזה ממש לא יפה, שלא חיכיתם לי כדי שאוכל להצטרף. אובמה, כנס בו
@vandersister: My feed is full of schadenfreude and calls for Obama to slam Netanyahu hard. And I want to say this is really not nice. It's not nice that you didn't wait for me so I could join. Come on, Obama, slam him.
Journalist and musician Yuval Ben Ami posted on Facebook:
לשלדון אדלסון נשפכו מאה מליון דולר לג'ורה. רק העובדה שזה גרושים בשבילו פוגמת לי בעונג השמחה לאיד.
Sheldon Adelson just had $100 million poured down the drain. Only the fact that it's loose change for him ruins my Schadenfreude.
Ouriel Daskal tweeted about Netanyahu's gamble of supporting Romney:
איך ששלדון אדלסון, שעוסק בהימורים למחייה, וביבי, שעוסק כל היום בהימורים על החיים שלנו, נכשלו כל כך בגדול בהימור שלהם?
@odaskal: How come Sheldon Adelson, who deals with gambling for a living [he made his fortune by constructing casinos] and Bibi [Netanyahu], who constantly gambles with our lives, have failed so terribly with their bet?
Israeli netizens gloated about what they see as Netanyahu's loss:
Eyal Brave created this image that was widely shared on Facebook:
“Benjamin, what's up? Say, you remember how you interfered and tried to influence the presidential elections here in the States?”
Netanyahu: “Yes. Why?”
Obama: “No reason”
Israeli Leftist activist John Brown posted this image:
Commenting on Netanyahu's wrong bet on Romney, Israeli meme artist Amir Schiby created this image:
Netanyahu: “Put all my money on Romney”. “You know what? Put my underwear and Israel too”
Obama next to a house with the signs: “foreclosed” and “for sale”: “Aren't you forgetting something?”
Voicing the hope of some Israelis that the upcoming Israeli elections will result in Netanyahu's loss, Shachar B. Cotani created this widely shared image:

author: Elizabeth Tsurkov


text:
Jamaica: The Gay Man is Somebody’s Son  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Referring to the recent gay bashing at a Jamaican university, Active Voice republishes a poem by Tanya Shirley as “a timely intervention into the barbarism threatening to drown us.”


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Russia’s Volunteer Aid Capacity, On Vivid Display in Krymsk, Is Absent in Dagestan · Global Voices
Aleksandra

Lost lives and destroyed livelihoods in Derbent are another reminder of the passivity and incompetence with which Russian authorities respond to disasters.
The night before Wednesday, October 10, heavy rain fell on the town of Derbent in Dagestan, a mountainous republic of Russia’s North Caucasus. Water surged through the streets forming flash floods and bringing devastation. According to the local authorities, 6 people died, buried under a mudslide; 320 houses flooded; and around 1,200 townspeople were trapped in the affected areas.
On the day of the flood, YouTube user Farid Pirahmedov captured the resulting havoc:
Photojournalist and blogger Aleksander Belenkiy, known online as macos [ru], visited Derbent ten days later; his account of what he witnessed can be found on his LiveJournal [ru].
In the disaster's aftermath, Dagestani officials visited the houses affected by the flood and deemed them once again habitable. Belenkiy's report [ru], however, paints a different picture. Some houses were destroyed completely, and many need significant repairs before they could be used as homes again. Belenkiy also describes Derbent locals working tirelessly to clear the roads and remove the mud and stones from their houses. Residents spent over a week cleaning up the town, a task that forced many to abandon their day jobs temporarily.
The town's water supply was also damaged, but a cistern with drinking water took days to arrive. In the meantime, residents had no choice but to buy bottled water. Officials finally restored potable water to Derbent a full two weeks after the flood, on October 24, according to a local news source [ru].
The locals’ commitment to helping each other stands in stark contrast to the authorities’ apparent indifference. In one of Belenkiy's photos [ru], a woman and her son can be seen cleaning a house that belongs to their neighbor, an 83-year-old literature teacher who lives alone.
Flood aftermath in Krymsk, 11 July 2012, photo by Maria Pleshkova, copyright © Demotix.
In his account, Belenkiy draws parallels [ru] between the disaster in Derbent and the devastating flood that hit Krymsk earlier this year, where at least 171 people died and thousands of houses were submerged. Several local officials had been fired when citizen complained that authorities failed to warn them of the danger.
Казалось, что “крымская” история больше никогда не должна повториться: трагедия, всколыхнувшая всю страну, долго была в центре внимания общества. В зону чрезвычайного положения под Краснодаром приезжали политики и чиновники всех мастей, тысячи волонтёров, обычных людей, которые хотели помочь. […]
То, что случилось в Дербенте, очень похоже на события в Крымске. За исключением того, что сюда не приехали волонтёры со всей России, не прислали тонн гуманитарной помощи, а местные власти, похоже, вообще никакой помощи не оказали. До сих пор, спустя неделю, люди продолжают откачивать жижу и выкорчёвывать камни из стен своих домов.
It seemed that the “Krymsk” story would never again have to be repeated: the tragedy resonated across the whole country, [absorbing] society’s attention for a long time. All sorts of politicians and officials visited the affected area, and thousands of ordinary people volunteered to help. […]
What happened in Derbent is very similar to what happened in Krymsk. Except, volunteers from all over Russia didn’t rush to Derbent, tons of humanitarian aid weren’t sent, and local authorities seemingly didn’t offer any help whatsoever. So far, a week later, people continue to pump out mud from their homes and dig out the stones [lodged] in their walls.
The lack of a strong popular response to the tragedy in Derbent is notable and disappointing. In the aftermath of flood in Krymsk, Russia saw an outpouring of volunteer efforts [ru], with civil society and representatives of different political fractions coming together to aid Krymsk's citizens. Perhaps the indifference about Derbent's suffering lies in the fact that Dagestan is a republic plagued by radical Islamist insurgency, where violence and death occurs daily.
Dagestani authorities claim to have dispatched to Derbent a volunteer work crew 180-men-strong, made up of students from the Republic’s capital, Makhachkala. (During Belenkiy's visit, this volunteer army was nowhere to be found [ru].) Dagestani officials also announced that the Republic's government refused outside help from Russia's other regions.
The most striking aspect of Belenskiy's account is the senselessness of this tragedy. Only two years ago, Derbent experienced a similar flood; torrents of water running down the very same streets. The authorities had ample time to improve anti-flood defenses, but nothing was ever done. Even the calamitous flood in Krymsk wasn’t enough to break civil servants’ negligence. Lamenting the dismal state of governance in the country, Belenkiy finished his blog post by asking rhetorically [ru]:
Вот скажите мне, сколько ещё должно случиться крымсков, сколько бесланов, чтобы наконец что-то изменилось?
Tell me, how many more Krymsks, how many more Beslans [referring to the Beslan school hostage crisis], need to happen, before something changes?

author: Aleksandra


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The Bahamas: U.S. Election Result Sign of a Global Shift?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The recently-concluded U.S. election captured the interest of the entire world.  In the Caribbean, online discussion forums like Facebook and Twitter were full of netizens sharing political memes and posting updates about their take on electoral issues.  Post-election, a couple of bloggers from the Caribbean territory that is geographically closest to the United States – the Bahamas – shared their thoughts about the outcome.
Nicolette Bethel, who blogs at Blogworld was not at all surprised that President Obama won a second term in office:
I don’t predict political results, because I don’t like making mistakes, but I’m beginning to think that maybe I should. I knew in 2008 from the moment that he announced his presidency that Barack Obama would be a two-term president…I had a feeling that Obama was going to have a tighter race this time around, but had no doubt whatsoever he was going to win the election.
She went on to explain why – and what new media had to do with it:
It’s not hope that makes me feel this way; it’s something else. It’s the sense that we live in a revolutionary time. Let me be up front here. I buy into the idea floated by Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, that modes of communication transform society.
The world—not just my Bahamaland, not just the USA, but the world—is currently going through the greatest revolution in communications since the printing press. The digital revolution has changed the way in which information is shared and processed, and it has made the prediction of outcomes in any election unstable. Most political prediction machines are fundamentally anchored in the twentieth century and have not fully adjusted to the universe of social media, where conversations about politics are not limited by political party, national boundaries, or even ideological leanings. The world is talking to one another, ideas are flowing more freely than ever before, discussions are being held outside of the various centres of discussion, and individuals are making up their own minds. The expenditure of money is important, there is no doubt about it, but it is not the deciding factor in any democratic exercise. The deciding factor are the millions of conversations that are happening online, between people who may not be connected in any way beyond their phones, and these conversations are not yet being closely enough monitored to be able to make any decision on political outcomes.
She referred to the conversations that were happening on networking and microblogging sites like Facebook and Twitter as being critical to the way the vote went:
Perhaps in part because of this true spread of democracy – the ability, finally, for individual citizens to make their own contributions, through places like FaceBook and Twitter, to make their opinions known — the ideological temperature of the world is swinging to the left. I don’t find this surprising…given the fact that…the current so-called recession is the culmination of years excessive right-wing economic policies.
Bethel also paid attention to “the demographic of the social media universe”:
It’s younger, more diverse, and more radical than the mainstream media. It looks more to me like the faces that are appearing in the shots of the various crowds gathering at Democratic Headquarters across the USA than it resembles the faces gathered in the Republican ones. It is this situation that led, I believe, to the election of the first African-American president of the United States of American in 2008. It’s this that led to his re-election this year.
Quoting from an article by Cord Jefferson entitled “Dying of the White: Requiem for the 2012 Election”, Bethel dealt with the topics of race and gender in this follow-up post:
Not trying to make people feel uncomfortable here. But racial and gender transparency and white male privilege in the USA can no longer be taken for granted.  To wit:
‘Increasingly, the message in America is clear: If your organization or project is a myopic den of white homogeneity, or if your strategy for success includes trying to gin up fear around people who are different, you are destined for irrelevance, and nobody will care how rich you are, or who your daddy is, or at what ivy-draped liberal arts school you cut your perfect teeth. Those who haven’t learned that lesson are mocked, shunned, or, worse, totally ignored. Either way, they don’t win elections.’
She thought there was a lesson in there for everyone, even Bahamian politicians:
How does that translate for the Bahamas? Well, my advice to all politicians, past, current and future, would be not to take the status quo for granted. In the USA, the white rich male norm is being challenged. People are pointing out, rightly, that by the mid twenty-first century American whites will be a real minority. Wealthy white men are a minority now. Expect for something similar to affect the mainstream political class in the Bahamas, be it PLP or FNM, as time moves on. Expect it to happen to those who rely on cries of immigrant invasion, women as the property of men (think the marital rape exception), culture as peripheral, or the Christian nation fiction here at home.  This is not the time for business as usual. Usual is slipping into the past.
In a similar vein, feminist blogger Womanish Words said:
I am so pleased they have given [President Obama] four more years, so pleased that Romney and his racist, woman-hating cronies have been rejected. Mr Obama is a man who cares about women, minorities, poor people – people like me! So glad a good man like him gets to remain the leader of the free world. Thank you America for voting with sense. Hope has been restored.