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Turkey: Can Turkish-Israeli relations be rebuilt? · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

As the world watched the events that happened on board the Turkish-led “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” it was also witnessing the deterioration of political relations between the governments of Turkey and Israel.  Anger at the Israeli government is palpable in Turkey, and returning activists are being greeted by officials among hero fan-fare.  As we evaluate the repercussions of these events within Turkey, the question must be asked: Can Turkish-Israeli relations be rebuilt?
An Extension of Turkish Foreign Policy
Israeli flags were burned in Istanbul, tens of thousands of Israeli tourists cancelled Turkish holiday reservations and a lawyer attempted to punch an Israeli cyclist off his bike today, as relations between the erstwhile allies plunged to depths not seen in decades.
writes James in Turkey.  Turkish public sentiment and support of the people of Gaza currently runs high as noted in this tweet from freelance journalist Fredericke Geerdink:
flag seller #üsküdar used to sell only turkish flags, with or without portrait of atatürk. now he sells palestinian flags too. #turkey
It is important to note that the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was not sponsored by the Turkish Government, but the attack of the flotilla has now become an issue of national importance.  Istanbul Calling explains this relation between the citizen-led flotilla and its effect on Turkish foreign policy:
Clearly, this rupture between Turkey and Israel has been long coming. As I've written before, Turkey has, for the last few years, pegged its relations with Israel to what happens on the Palestinian front (or, more specifically, on the Gaza front). Although technically not a bilateral issue between the two countries, the situation in Gaza has, in many ways, become the issue that defines the current relations between Israel and Turkey.  In that sense, although the Gaza aid flotilla was organized by a Turkish NGO (the Islamist IHH) and was not sponsored by the Turkish government, it acted as a proxy for Turkish policy.
In fact a variety of Turkish bloggers and tweeters have asked the Turkish government to physically intervene by sending in the Turkish navy to protect the flotilla, such as in this tweet by Talk Turkey:
Why not Turkey send the Turkish Navy to protect the remaining ships traveling toward Gaza right now…
Questioning of Intentions
There have been significant reactions to the perceived lack of justification for Israeli aggression towards the flotilla. According to the Istanbullian:
There was no justification for the use of firearms against them. Especially on international waters… Facing knives and slingshots don't justify shooting on civilians, killing even sleeping people. Israeli forces should have waited until those ships are in Gaza waters. Then they should have forced the ships to reroute without boarding them. What Israel has done is definitely against international law and Turkey can easily win a case in international courts.
Idilx notes the following on Twitter:
Well then I guess #Israel set a precedent here. We are now allowed to shoot onto anything that we believe is smuggling arms. #flotilla
She adds:
Oooo an icecream van.. BANG BANG. Oooo a 4 year old with a bulge in his pants.. HE MUST HAVE A GUN.. bang! Idjits. #Gaza #Flotilla #Israil
Some Twitterers have questioned the reactions (and possible future reactions) from the Turkish government to the flotilla incident, from Talk Turkey:
Turkey to declare war against Israel? … Not far fetched … All of this is part of a bigger ‘script’
And this one from fgeerdink:
turkish friend: ‘erdogan just orchestred this whole #flotilla thing to increase his popularity again’ he's serious #conspiracytheory #turkey
In any case, the deterioration of relations also raises questions of safety, from Idilx:
Is #Turkey becoming a dangerous place for Jewish Turks? It seems that racists are everywhere and their idiocy is endless. So easily fueled.
Time will only tell what will happen between Turkey and Israel.  The last word in this post goes to the blogger and columnist The White Path as he describes the differences in Turkish philosophy and Israeli philosophy:
When I asked that question to an Israeli hawk some years ago, I received a very revealing response: “Might,” he said, “makes right.”  Well, that might be a popular belief in Tel Aviv and Occupied Jerusalem, but not here in Istanbul. In fact our creed tells us that the exact opposite is true: Right, sooner or later, makes might.
The hundreds of heroes who sailed to Gaza last weekend had this faith in their hearts. Here in Turkey, 70 million more stand by them. We mourn for our fallen, but also know that they did not die in vain. Their sacrifice unveiled to the world not just the suffering of the innocents in the Gaza ghetto, but also the brutality of the rogue state that imposes it.
Read my lips: This spirit is really not going to die. We Turks will continue to stand for what is right, regardless of Israel's might. None of her lobbying, bullying or killing is going to change that.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Belarus: Europe via Minsk and Caracas · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Volha Charnysh of Belarus Digest describes how Belarus now imports Venezuelan crude oil, refines it, and re-exports it to Europe, all in a complex scheme to lessen Minsk's dependence on Moscow for energy deliveries.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Vilhelm Konnander


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Brazil: Landlocked Crowds set up a Beach in a Mountain Town · Global Voices
Manuela Tenreiro

When at the end of last year, Belo Horizonte’s [en] City Hall published a decree banning events of any nature from taking place at one of the most popular squares in the city, it was certainly not expecting to bring “beach life” to a Brazilian inland mountain town.
Belo Horizonte is the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais [en] in the southeast region of Brazil. Away from the coast, surrounded by mountains, the city has a vibrant cultural life with space for all subcultures and counter-cultures to co-exist and express themselves through various forms of leisurely gatherings and events. Praça da Estação [en] (Station Square) is a popular such venue.
Flickr Photo: João Perdigão, CC Licensed
From here, the city was literally born, for this is the site of the old central station, which served as the “port of entry” for people and materials during the construction and early days of Belo Horizonte in the late 19 century. The railroad is still used by those coming from the western and northern parts of the city, and it serves a line going all the way to the coastal city of Vitória, capital of the neighboring state of Espírito Santo. The old station building has been transformed into the Museum of Arts and Crafts bringing tourists to the city center. The large square in front of the station has in recent years been renovated, and even possesses two ground level inviting fountains that can be turned off to accommodate large gatherings. Praça da Estação is also the departing point of Belo Horizonte’s Critical Mass [en] and the main venue for the popular annual festival Arraial de Belô, as well as other live shows and various events that light up the social life of the Belorizontinos. Or was?
Last December in a decree published by the Mayor of the city, the square was condemned to become an empty space on the basis that it was necessary to guarantee public security, keep agglomeration to a minimum and preserve the public patrimony. Immediately, the decision met strong opposition by the citizens, for whom the square is an essential part of the city’s cultural life and who, as tax payers, contributed to its renovation. Bloggers discussed the new law, venturing the possibility of the decree being one step on the path to gentrification, in preparation for the Olympic Games of 2014.
A protest named Vá de Branco (Wear white) was called for January 7, gathering around 50 people who were looking for answers:
Porque a Secretaria de Segurança Patrimonial não propôs um debate com a população sobre a depredação na Praça da Estação?
Porque os eventos foram proibidos na Praça da Estação e não na Praça do Papa?
Porque poucas pessoas entram no Museu de Artes e Ofícios que fica na Praça da Estação?
Qual é o maior espaço central para eventos gratuitos em Belo Horizonte? Quais foram as depredações dos últimos eventos?
From this meeting it was first agreed the need for the birth of a grassroots movement free of party affiliations and in favor of free local culture. And from the discussions that followed, a new idea was born: meeting in the square on Saturdays, and bring food, drinks, bikinis/shorts, towels, umbrellas, drums and guitars. In sum, turn the square into the city’s beach. An idea spread through the web’s social networks and put into practice by local citizens.
Flickr Photo: Luiz Navarro, CC Licensed
Ever since, Praia da Estação (Station Beach) became a stopping point in the Saturday routine of urban wanderers. A relaxed, humorous and yet assertive way to protest, an act of civil disobedience that make the delights of street vendors and bars around the square. The fountains, which are usually turned on at 11 am and 5pm sharp, remain strangely shut down on Saturdays, but protestors occasionally gather enough change to get a water-barrel truck to come by and hose the crowd.
Other attempts to agitate ‘Station Beach’were the Eventões or BigEvents, a call for people to bring “events of any nature” to a square where supposedly these had been banned. The Eventões gathered hundreds of people and caused some tension when police intervened to stop people from bringing in sound systems. The first Eventão ended with beach goers moving to the road and blocking traffic for a while, until moving to the also popular Viaduto, only a couple of blocks away from the square, well-known for hosting Belo Horizonte’s MCs Duel every Friday night.
Photo: Eventão (Big Events), CC Licensed
The open blog Praça Livre BH became more than a mere informative of all the beach events. It has also extended its focus to matters of gentrification, evictions and occupations, offering solidarity to other popular movements in Brazil, like that of the students from Florianópolis, fighting for free bus fares. And some beach goers who protest on Saturdays in the coolest manner possible get serious during the week, attending public audiences in city hall. The first one took place on March 24th and in spite of the absence of local power high officials – such as the Mayor Márcio Lacerda, the president of the foundation for local culture Taís Pimentel, the local administration secretary Fernando Cabral, and Belotur’s president (the city’s tourism company) Júlio Pires – protestors could articulate their concerns regarding the uses of public spaces paid by public money, to Ângela Maria Ferreira, the regional cabinet-chief representing the above mentioned officials. They were assured by her that the situation was temporary.
Station Beach – Public Hearing – Video Protest
In fact, finally on May 4, the decree was revoked. But with one twist. Events on the square are now subjected to a minimum tax of R$9000 (USD$4950), which will only allow privately sponsored shows to take place:
Tal medida materializada pelos decretos 13.960 e 13.961 e editada na ultima terça-feira 4 de maio,  pretende dar aos espaços públicos o mesmo tratamento dos “salões de festa”, pode?
And indeed, it now appears that the square will be hosting the virtual world cup sponsored by coca-cola company. Food and drink vendors, chemical toilets, big screens, security and the inevitable ticket offices will take over the square, and the discussion around the uses given by City Hall to the square intensifies. Citizens are now wondering if this is the future of their public spaces: controlling who has access at any given time and charge for it.
Essas intervenções se definem por moldes dos velhos projetos característicos de todas as modernas cidades erguidas sob os pressupostos unitários do capitalismo: limpeza de aspecto fundamentalmente classista, projetos infra-estruturais de custos estratosféricos, restauração de pontos turísticos e outros.
Such concerns meet current debates around the function of urban spaces. In anticipation of the next world cup in 2014, hosted by Brazil, and the Olympic Games, coming to Rio de Janeiro in 2016, citizens are now seeing the first signs of gentrifying public policy, imported from abroad as part of a global tendency of power to tighten control over the populations of the world. In Brazil, such concerns have been felt and denounced in various cities, particularly Rio and São Paulo.
Invariavelmente, as olimpíadas dão início a uma blitzkrieg contra pobres e moradores de rua, criando um verdadeiro estado de exceção. Zonas da cidade são praticamente fechadas a quem não tiver ingresso, as ruas são socialmente higienizadas e a polícia passa a agir com truculência animalesca contra os não convidados para a festança de gringo que vamos montar.
So, although there might not be any space in the square for a beach lover’s towel during the coming world cup, the Praça Livre Movement continues the struggle to free public spaces, and asks from its blog, if the new decree will fall like the one it came to revoke. Its implied answer lays in public action and the question becomes: how strong will this movement become and how many more such movements will we see rising in Brazil during the new decade.

author: Manuela Tenreiro


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China: Film director beats up foreigner at swimming pool · Global Voices
John Kennedy

On a recent trip to the swimming pool, the commercially successful and well-known film director Ning Hao ended up getting in a fist fight with one swimmer who wanted a lane to himself in what Ning says was an already crowded pool.
In his June 3 post, ‘Thrash these faithful followers of the Eight-Power Alliance!’, which now has over 800 comments, Ning aims his harsher criticism not at the swimmer, a foreign citizen, but at the pool employees who he sees as displaying a character defect which a prevalent Chinese nationalist view holds responsible for the hundred years of humiliation:
天热，老爸要去游泳，我和朋友小军陪着，也该活动活动了。
泳池里并不宽松，每条泳道都有人了，多数为每道两人，这也常见，没什么特别；最靠边的第一泳道只有一人，老爸便先顺着池边的金属扶手下了水；我正和小军放东西，忽闻一声凄厉怪叫，声音很大，（就是怪叫，不知还有什么别的词）有几分奇怪，回头看时，原来是第一泳道有一洋人咆哮，并对老爸嚷英文（混响太大，没听清）老爸听不懂，便移至第二泳道去了。
心中不悦，有什么必要要对老人大嚷，此洋人太不明白尊老爱幼的道理；但也许他们国家不行此道，也未可知，不知不怪，不理他罢了。小军已经到另外一边下水了，于是我便活动一下身体准备选择泳道，但此时其他泳道再加上老爸和小军，都已经是二至三人，唯有这第一泳道只此一人；没多想，跃入其中；不想游至中段，看到迎面游来的洋人指着我说着什么；停下踩水对他说：讲中文！（对他国语言的使用是对他国文化的臣服表现）洋人继续指着我：一条一个人！你离开，明白么？（原话）
我终于明白他刚才怪叫的原因，原来是不满刚才家父在此泳道游泳；又不是比赛泳池，这是公共游泳场，怎么就只能你一个人一条泳道？即使你们国家是这样，但在我有十几亿国民的中国，从来都是大家共享泳道；你这想法未免有些自私。另外值得注意的是从他的蓝眼睛里我并没有看到商量或是客气，仅仅是不容商榷的命令，不免有些令人气愤。我扭头问站在旁边的救护员：请问这游泳场有此规定么？救护员怯怯的摇摇头，我问洋人：请问谁规定的？他居然淡定的指着自己一字一顿的说：我——说——了，一条一个人！字正腔圆，那表情突然让我想到八国联军！我开始绷不住了：我们上去找人说。说完爬上岸。
洋人也跟上来，足有185公分；骚高闷壮，充满挑衅的走进我并且抓住我的手腕：你想吵架么？（我估计他想说“打架”）我并没想动手，只想摔开他的手，老爸，小军这时看到，也从水里上来，他才把手松开；这时泳池的几个管理员闻讯赶来，我问他们：你们这里是有规定，一条泳道一个人么？管理员摇头：没有啊，人多的时候也是多人共用的。我说：那请你明确告诉他，在这里，是大家共用泳道的。这时我却在管理员脸上看到一丝怯懦；并没人上前与他沟通（这是中国英语不好的人的通病，还没开口就先自卑，甚至是恐惧）我坚持：说中文，他听得懂
一个教练样貌的小伙子鼓起勇气走过去开始在泳池边和他沟通；我看这次既然有了正式的“规定”；便继续和小军在这条泳道游起来；没想到游至中段，这洋人竟伸跃入泳池伸开双手阻拦，并且推搡我们，回头看时，他竟竖起中指手势，岂能在家门口被异族歧视，还一而再再而三的侮辱，是可忍孰不可忍，打丫挺的！翻身报以老拳。于是水花翻飞……几拳过去，洋人便也老实了。想起了毛主席的话，原来也不过是纸老虎！
我从水里上来管理员劝架：别跟他一般见识……他们老外不懂事！听了让人生气，好像是在说洋人的不是，可仔细一琢么不对，他们不讲理，凭什么不跟他一般见识；那是懦弱；祖传性懦弱！是自卑！习惯性自卑！是中国人一百多年的恐洋症媚洋症的顽疾！革命先烈几代人抛头颅洒热血不就为了给中华民族争取平等自由，让中国人在洋人面前不低头么？人家和你一般见识你就得跟他们一般见识到底！！
现在中国变成越来越重要的经济体，出于经济目的洋人也越来越多的来到国内；其中不乏有友善平等，甚至无私相助之人，在此我向这些为我国社会主义建设做出贡献的国际友人表示敬意！但也不乏充满功利主义，利己主义，远道的和尚会念经主义的某些个体（也许不在少数）的存在。
大多是在西面混的不好，换个钱多人软的地方碰碰运气；到了中国简直就是天堂：原本不宽与的收入换做人民币居然消费力甚为可观，这里的民众又大多有“尊敬”外宾的传统；即使有点矛盾他们也会抱着 “让着”“不一般见识”的态度；（只要说句英文他们就足够怕了）；还有很多主动热情说英文的“向导”（不知什么心里，以与外国人为伍交流为荣者，过去叫二毛子）甚至天天换女朋友也不是问题（总有前仆后继的姑娘往上冲）等等等等；原本在自己国家得不到的尊重和自信在这里得到了极大的满足……长此以往毕生娇纵，霸道也就在所难免！可怜，毛病都是国人惯出来的！
在此望同胞自省，并告诫那些不规矩的老外——放尊重些！这是中国！禁止撒野！！！！！

author: John Kennedy


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China: Lest we forget, Tiananmen Incident 21 years on · Global Voices
Andy Yee

On the occasion of the 21 anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Incident (‘June Forth Movement’), Chinese intellectuals, ex-protest leaders, activists, bloggers, writers and ordinary citizens tell us why they refuse to turn their backs on the horrors of the incident, and, in remembering the past, bravely offer insights into how they face the future.
On 4 June 1989, the Chinese authority suppressed by force the student-led democratic movement in the Tiananmen Square of Beijing, resulting in the death of hundreds of citizens. To date, the incident remains one of the most politically sensitive and suppressed topics in China.
Ran Yunfei, Chengdu based writer and activist, on what everyone should do:
我认为我们纪念六四，不仅是要说出真相，更要从具体的实事做起。一是更为广泛地调查六四死难者名单，不只局限在天安门母亲群体，我们每个活着人特别是亲历者都有这个责任，使伤残数据更为具体，只有在事实的基础上，才能使六四遭遇的屠杀更加大白于天下；二是力所能及地帮助死难者或者伤残人士的家人，不在于你每次捐多少，而在于你持续的帮助，让对方感受到一种前行的动力；三是关心六四事件进过监狱的受害者，特别是关心那些底层民众——亦即被诬为暴徒的六四受害者，使他们能到一些基本的救助，六四事件的关注不只止步于有话语权的知识分子圈子当中；四是对六四事件作一个编较详细的编年（月），包括后来所出的各种资料（书籍、光盘、文章等，包括各语种），使得《六四事件编年史》逐渐完善，帮助更多的人快速准确地了解历史。
Remembering June Forth shouldn’t be limited to telling the truth, but also real actions. First is a thorough investigation of the list of deaths in the incident, not only limited to the Tiananmen Mothers group. Every living individual, especially those witnessing the event, has the responsibility to make the records accurate. Only on this basis can we tell the truth to the world. Second is helping the disabled victims or families of the deceased as best as you can. This is less about the amounts involved but more about the consistency of your help, so that they can feel the momentum of progress. Third is caring about and providing basic supports to people who were tortured in prisons, especially the grassroots citizens, i.e. those who were falsely accused as thugs. Our concern shouldn’t be limited to intellectuals. Forth is compiling a more accurate and complete chronicle of the event, including all kinds of materials that have emerged (books, CDs, articles, etc in all languages). This ‘Chronicle of the June Forth Incident’ would help more people understanding history in a quicker and better way.
Wang Dan, then-protest student leader, on why Chinese people should not forget the event, even China has developed significantly 21 years on:
第一，    虽然已经21年了，虽然中国已经发生了很大的变化，但是，我们必须看到，在中国，还有很多很多的东西没有变化。我们看到刘晓波因为言论被判重刑，请问，这与文革时期有变化吗？我们看到司法制度不能独立行使社会功能，人民有冤屈只能通过上访的方式申诉，还要受到打击迫害，这与70年代末期有什么不同？我们看到，贫富差距日益扩大，社会不满逐渐积累，这会比80年代更加进步吗？任何有良知的人，怎么可能蒙住自己的眼睛，只去看那些变化的部分，而不去看那些没有变化的部分呢？既然很多在1989年导致学生上街的问题依然没有改变，我们，凭什么忘记？！
第二，    虽然已经21年了，当时作为镇压一方的政府，有一天忘记六四吗？大批流亡在外的国人至今不能回国，只因为他们不愿意按照使馆的意愿，承认自己当年的行为是错误的，请问，政府有忘记六四吗？今天在中国，六四仍然是最敏感的词汇，不要说民间，连官方都闭口不谈，这样的敏感度，请问，政府有忘记六四吗？那些天安门母亲们，他们没有任何政治动机，如果他们申请去天安门广场，为自己死去的孩子点燃一支蜡烛，政府会同意吗？这一切，都证明了一件事，那就是，当年开枪杀人的那个政府，他们一天也没有忘记六四。我的问题是：如果，作为杀人者，都没有忘记；我们，凭什么忘记？！
Firstly, although China has changed in many ways since then, there are also many things which have not changed. We are witnessing the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo because of his opinions. How is this different from the Cultural Revolution? We are witnessing the judiciary being unable to maintain its independence. People can only resolve grievances through petitions and complaints, risking suppressions in the process. How is this different from the China of late 1970s? We are witnessing the increasing income inequality and social discontents. How is this better than the 1980s? How can anyone with conscience turn a blind eye to these problems? As the problems which drove students to the street in 1989 are still with us, on what basis can we forget the incident?
Secondly, although 21 years have passed, has the government, as the suppressor, ever forgotten the event? Many Chinese in exile cannot return to China to date, only because they refuse to admit that they have acted wrongly, a demand of Chinese embassies. Please answer me: has the government ever forgotten the event? In today’s China, ‘June Forth’ remains the most sensitive word, not only among citizens but also officials. In view of this sensitivity, please answer me: has the government ever forgotten the event? Those Tiananmen Mothers are without political motives. If they apply to go to the Tiananmen Square and light a candle – only to commemorate their fallen children – do you think the government will approve? All these prove one thing, that the government, as the killer, has not forgotten the event. My question is: if the killer has not forgotten it, on what basis can we forget it?
Tiananmen Mothers, a group comprising the parents, relatives and friends of victims of the incident:
中共權貴集團向來奉行這樣的潛規則︰謊言重復千百遍即成為事實；哪怕是眾目睽睽的事，如果人人「知其白，守其黑」，久而久之，則如黯然無所見。中共權勢者長期以來搞「強迫遺忘」，不準提及有關「六四」的一切，以至于一些80、90後的年少者竟不相信二十一年前中國大地上發生過一場滅絕人性的殺戮，即使偶有耳聞，也是瞠乎其後。中共當局自以為得計，以為這樣做，就似乎找到了一個可以把「六四」推向遙遠歷史年代的機會，甚至可以把「六四」這筆血債遠遠地甩開。然而，我們從1993年6月最早公布的16位死難者起，到後來的96位，155位，186位，196位，直至今天的203位，這一個一個都是有名有姓有血有肉的人啊！可是霎那間他們都一齊在人們的視野里消失了，但是，他們每個人的名字卻都赫然在目，誰能掩蓋得了，誰能抹殺得了?！二十一年前的大屠殺鐵板釘釘，無可逃遁。現如今中共權勢者營造了光怪陸離的「和諧世界」，如果你們尚存的一點良心未泯，那麼在度過了白天的喧囂之後，剩下來的定會是無邊無沿的恐懼！長時間滯留不去的恐懼！
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has this unwritten rule: a lie will become fact when it is repeated hundreds and thousands of times, even though everyone has witnessed the truth. If everyone ‘who knows how white attracts, yet always keeps himself within black’s shade’, we all will soon be in black shades and cannot see a thing. For a long time, the CCP bans all mentions of ‘June Forth’, with the result that young people born in the 1980s and 90s refuse to believe that this massacre has ever happened. The authority thinks that by acting in this way, ‘June Forth’ will fade away and they can evade their responsibility. Yet, we published the names of 16 victims in June 1993, and the list has since then grown to 96, 155, 186, 196, and today, 203. Any single one of them is a real person, with flesh and blood. In a flash, they disappeared from people’s view; but they were real people, how can anyone erase or cover up the fact? No one can evade their responsibilities to the crime conducted 21 years ago. Now the authority has portrayed this strange ‘harmonious society’. If you still have traces of conscience, then after you bear the noises of the day, what remains must be unbounded fear! Fear which will remain for a long time!
Cui Weiping, a professor at the Beijing  Film Academy:
那些尽一切可能压制善意言论的人们，扼杀个人与社会基本伦理、捆住基本善行（比如谭作人）的人们，剥夺民族记忆从而剥夺一个民族自身成长空间的人们，他们是否知道自己在做什么？是否知道这样做对于我们民族的今天和明天产生什么样的负面影响？他们是否有一刻想过需要对自己的行为承担起某种责任？结果很可能是，某一天他们即使想要承担，也是他们所承担不了的。到那个时候，谁来为这一切埋单？实际上，二十一年来，我们整个社会为此而蒙受的精神与道德的损失已经多得不能再多了，无数个人所蒙受的痛苦已经不能再累积了，我们民族所付出的代价，已经昂贵得不能再昂贵了。
Those who suppress discussions conducted in goodwill, who suppress ethnics, who suppress good deeds (e.g. like those of Tan Zuoren), who deprive a race of its collective memory and hence its space for growth, do they know what they are doing? Do they know what negative consequences this will bring to our future? Have they ever thought about, for a moment, that they should bear some kind of responsibility? The most likely result is that even though they would like to assume responsibility some day, they would not have the ability to do so. By that time, who would pay the cost for this? In reality, during these 21 years, our society has suffered unbearable spiritual and ethnic losses. Countless individuals have suffered unbearable pains. Our race has suffered unbearable costs. We cannot afford more of these pains and costs.
Zhang Zuhua, in the Foreword of ‘My 1989’, a book of interviews with ordinary citizens witnessing the event, to be published in Hong Kong in June 2010:
自由和幸福的生活不会从天上掉下来，要靠无数中国公民守望相助、坚持不懈、前赴后继地去努力争取。鲍勃。肯尼迪说得好：“一个人每次为一个理念挺身而出，或为改进他人生活而努力，或向不公出击，他传递出的希望仅产生很小的波纹，而千百万不同能量产生的波纹互相交叉，就能汇聚成洪流，并可冲垮阻挡我们的最坚实的墙。”千千万万个普通的中国人在一九八九年携手并肩筑就的道义力量的丰碑，将永久激励着人们为追求自由生活和实现民主宪政而不懈奋争！
Freedom and blessing will not suddenly fall from the sky. They come through sustained efforts and struggles of countless Chinese citizens. Robert Kennedy has it: ‘Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’ Thousands of Chinese citizens have constructed a monument of justice in 1989, and this will forever drive people to strive for freedom and democracy!

author: Andy Yee


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Czech Republic: Gender and youth in politics · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Dr. Sean's Diary scrutinizes the gender and youth balance among parties and deputies in the newly elected Czech parliament.


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Guatemala: Video Shows Aftermath of Storm Agatha · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

A video (in English) posted on HablaGuate shows the aftermath of storm Agatha in Ciudad Vieja, a “coffee-growing community located on the base of the ‘volcán de agua’ (water volcano) just outside of Antigua, Guatemala.” The post also provides a link where donations for relief efforts can be sent.

author: Silvia Viñas


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Haiti: “No” to Monsanto · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Today, tens of thousands of Haitian farmers and earthquake-displaced peasants will gather on the occasion of International Environment Day to preserve the agricultural lifeblood of the nation”: Repeating Islands blogs about protests against Monsanto and their genetically modified seeds.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Hong Kong: Goddess of Democracy denied entry · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Today is the 21st anniversary of the June 4 Massacre in Beijing Tiananmen and the Hong Kong public will continue their annual candle night vigil tonight. However, the preparation process hasn't been very smooth so far. And this year, the conflict point is around the Goddess of Democracy.
First of all, the Hong Kong police confiscated two statues of the Goddess of Democracy before the annual march to commemorate the Tiananmen incident on 30 of May. The government explained that the organizers of the public exhibition in Times Square has violated the “Public Entertainment Ordinance”. Kay Lam points out the absurdity of authorities’ actions:
日日都有人在街頭表演、乞食、甚至擺檔叫人上寬頻，佢地就唔係展覽，就唔會違反公眾娛樂條例，反之六四紀念屠城殺人，就違反了「公眾娛樂條例」，悲乎？可能有一日，出殯都可能被視為娛樂節目，是在公眾地方展覽屍體，而要因此被捕，食環署還要沒收屍體呢。
Ben Ng's immediate reaction on the confiscation reflects most pro-democracy citizens’ feelings:
可悲！可恥！
你可以奪去民主女神，
不可以奪去我們紀念六四的心。
你可以不給真普選，
不可以奪去我們爭取民主的心。
當常識及良知被看作激進時，
這個地方的自由與民主已亮起黃燈。
The statues were returned to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China after a series of confrontations and online mobilization threatened to surround the police station on June 3. Below is a YouTube video showing one of the confrontation scenes in Times Square in which several protesters were arrested:
Apart from physical confrontation, several activists have staged protests in Times Square by dressing as the Goddess of Democracy over the past few days. Below is a photo which has been circulated via twitter:
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Immigration has denied entry to the sculptor of the Statue, Chen Weiming, on June 1. Chen was deported back to the U.S early on the morning of June 2.
The most outrageous incident has been the Chinese University Authority's refusal to allow the Democracy Goddess entry onto the university campus under the pretext of “political neutrality”. A number of student organizations have issued a joint statement condemning the school authority's interpretation of “political neutrality” and its implication for free speech and expression (via interlocals.net):
The university claimed it should “re-affirm the principle of political neutrality” in the public letter. If this meant that the university shall not restrict teaching, research or expression by reason of political affiliation, we would have applauded. However, it was the university’s claim that dissident voice would limit the freedom of others and should be prohibited. The fundamental value of the freedom of expression is the protection of the dissent. The university is reversing right and wrong to repress dissident voice on the claim of freedom of expression.
To adulate the official stance of the mainland China regime, the university has unveiled its crude repression without pretense of being rational or logical to restrict the display of the statue of Goddess of Democracy in the campus. Even worse, it was stated in its public letter that “the University should not align itself with actions or activities which project a political position that would compromise the University's principle of political neutrality”, which would mean that any campus activity reflecting a political position will be subject to the repression of the university. This is equivalent to bury the spirit and virtue of a university, and abandonment of academic freedom. The “harmonious society” is only one step away.
The students also painted the stage of the statue “Door to Knowledge” outside the university library in white to signify the political color of “political neutrality” (photo via inmediahk)
Following tonight's candlelight vigil, a group of university students, alumnus, teachers and staff will escort the Democracy Goddess to the university campus. Citizen reporters will live blog the events via twitter tags #8964 or #inmediahk.

author: Oiwan Lam


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Hong Kong: Statue of the Goddess of Democracy prohibited in university campus · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Damon from interlocals posted a statement by student organizations in the Chinese University of Hong Kong condemning the school authority for banning the June 4th exhibition of the Statue of the Goddess of Democracy in the school campus.


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Iran: A blog for Derakhshan · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Hossein Derakhshan‘s family has launched a blog for this jailed blogger. Family says that Hossein is leading prayer meetings. They also say Hussein wanted to serve his country.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Majid Tavakoli stopped his hunger strike · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Majid Tavakoli, an Iranian student activist, stopped his hunger strike when he was transferred from confinement cell to public prison. You can see in Nasabonline blog Tavakoli's mother when she gets the news. Koohyar Godarzi, a jailed blogger stopped his hunger strike too.


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Iran:”Hizbollah” interrupted Khomeini Grandson’s speech · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Culturallogic says [fa] religious hard-liners chanted slogans against the grandson of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at a state ceremony marking the 21st anniversary of the Iranian spiritual leader's death in protest at his support for Iran's reformist opposition. The blogger adds several protesters had Lebanese Hizbollah's yellow flags. Here is the film where Hassan Khomeini was interrupted and heckled.


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Jamaica: Extortion  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaica Salt blogs about the alleged “extortion rackets going on in downtown Kingston, linked to the power held by Dudus.”


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Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Gulf Spill · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Labrish Jamaica wonders whether the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will affect the Caribbean, while the incident has made Trinidad and Tobago's This Beach Called Life “think about our very own offshore drilling efforts”.


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Japan: And yet another prime minister · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

Ybunya reports  [ja] on the election of Naoto Kan as the new prime minister of Japan [en].
According to the blogger, the main reason why the former prime minister had to step down [en], on Wednesday, was the incapacity to resolve the Futenma issue [en].

author: Scilla Alecci


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Syria: Lash Out Continues Against Israel’s Raid on Gaza Aid Convoy · Global Voices
Anas Qtiesh

A protest in Boston – Photo by Anas Qtiesh
The deadly Israeli raid on the aid convoy headed to Gaza to break the blockade has once again brought the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza into the limelight. The political and public outcry has been remarkable and has generated a heated global debate on what had happened. Syrian and Palestinian bloggers are making sure they're not left out.
Gazan blogger Abu el Sharif from Ahzan Shajar el Batata blog tries to maintain a positive outlook on the matter, he says [ar]:
Syrian Yassin sarcastically comments [ar] on the official Israeli position in regards to why they killed some of the activists aboard the flotilla:
مرّة أخرى.. فعلتها إسرائيل
و كيف لا تفعلها؟ تعرّضونها, هي  المسكينة, للاستفزاز و تريدونها ألا تفعلها؟ […]  تريدون أن تمرّ السفن العزلاء بناشطيها و مساعداتها و أعلامها و نواياها و  هتافاتها من أمام الكيان الصهيوني بدون أن ينقضّ عليها؟ تستفزّون ثم  تستنكرون العواقب؟ إنكم تظلمون إسرائيل يا عالم!
Once again, Israel has done it
And how wouldn't she? You subject the poor thing to provocation and you want her not to do it? […] Do you want the unarmed ships carrying activists, aid, flags, intentions, and cheers to pass in front of the Zionist entity without being attacked? You provoke and then deplore the consequences? You're being unfair to Israel, people.
Via Recta blog expands the criticism of Israeli practices and policies. In a post titled “Israel's Moral Bankruptcy“, Philip I said:
Note that it is the same language and tactic that Israelis have used  since 1948 to justify their ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.  They occupy their lands destroy their homes, cage them and starve them  then bleat to the world about being under threat from the people they  torment.
An Watan (on a homeland) blog also criticizes Arab regimes who aid Israel in enforcing the Gaza blockade [ar]:
Syria News Wire blog celebrates the Syrian activists that were captured aboard the ships and later returned home:
They survived piracy on the open seas, a murderous attack by  Israeli commandos and unlawful detention in an Israeli jail. Now, the  Syrians on the Gaza aid flotilla have returned home to a hero’s welcome.
Maysaloon takes the time to comment on the hazards that activists are facing, and reminds them that their Internet firewalls do not stop live bullets. He says:
Twittering, blogging and wearing rubber bracelets with the Palestinian  flag are nice in San Francisco or London but bullets don't see these  things.
Reactions continue to pour in from around the world. To stay updated on the various reactions in the blogospheres and social media platforms, you can follow Global Voices Online‘s  Israel Flotilla Raid 2010 special coverage page.

author: Anas Qtiesh


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Lebanon: Blogosphere buzzing after Israeli attack on Gaza flotilla · Global Voices
Antoun Issa

Israel's attack on a Gaza aid convoy that killed at least nine peace activists has sparked an international outcry, no less in Lebanon.
The Lebanese blogosphere reacted sharply to news that its southern neighbour had violently stormed the Turkish aid convoy, the Mavi Marmara.
As noted by the above caricature of popular blogger, Maya Zankoul, the Lebanese are largely outraged not only by Israel's actions, but international media attempts to justify it.
Protesters took to the streets of Beirut to express their anger over the Israeli attack, and sympathies with the Palestinian and Turkish peoples.
Courtesy of Mokhtar Joundi – Click image for full album of Beirut protest
Blogger Lebanese Voices slammed Israel's disregard for international law and Tel Aviv's PR campaign to demonise the humanitarian aid mission:
…israeli authorities have the liberty to ban, allow and confiscate any aid that is sent to Gaza at will, and announce that they are providing Gaza citizens with all the aid and supplies they need and therefore the freedom flotilla flight was an unnecessary stunt?!
40 Different nationalities aboard the ships, from Turkey, Greece and Ireland headed to Gaza, to the Gaza port (which israel says is under palestinian authority control) to provide these citizens with toys for their children, wheel chairs for the thousands cripples by israel’s continuous raids, medicine for those few survivors, flour, and other Survival needs!
Out of these 40 nationalities are a parade of countries: Irish, Australian, French, South African, Greek, American, German, Turkish, besides arab nationals, and many more. Are all these brave souls mistaken in their aid call?! if they had solid facts that the aid needed was reaching Gaza they wouldn’t have worked night and day for months to collect the necessary aid, put their lives at risk to do what seems like a true moral call?
Lebanese Voices made the point that Gazan waters are not in fact Israeli waters, as Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and illegally maintains control over Gaza's waters. Israel had, thus, no right to intercept the aid flotilla:
Yet Israeli Authorities gave itself the right to violate International Law and Protocol and attack the Flotilla flight while amidst International Waters (clear violation of international law) and Israeli MP declares that it has that right (because its above such laws) because the ships were heading to their waters. But the Flotilla wasn’t! it was heading into a harbor in Gaza, allegedly free from Israeli control.
The Fleet was welcomed with Israeli’s Defense Forces gunfire aiming right at their passengers and helicopters that rained squads to ship boards, and yet found it excusable to call the defense of these passengers as “terrorism” with sticks!
The Fleets were Searched thoroughly at their departure points, no weapons existed on them, and no weapons were found when they were dragged to Gaza’s shore other than those the IDF held to their heads! (Iraq war much?!) Members of the ship were detained and investigated immediately on arrival!
Rami Zurayk of Land and People went to the heart of the issue by highlighting the core dynamics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For Zurayk, the Palestinians have the right to enter their lands dispossessed from them through “colonisation and apartheid”:
The problem is Zionism and the usurpation of land and the replacement of a people by another people: colonialization and apartheid. Whether in international water or out, Palestinians have the rights to enter their country. The problem is not that the attack happened in international waters, the problem is Israel and the fact that it is allowed to attack. What if it was in Palestinian waters? Would it be OK?
Zurayk also doubts whether an international outcry would have surfaced were the dead not foreigners, but Palestinians struggling to liberate their lands:
I have also received emails from everywhere calling for demonstrations of solidarity. Of course this is excellent and it is a show of support for the cause and an indication of the waning of Israeli influence. But I believe this would not have happened if this was not a humanitarian convoy, and if there were no foreigners among the dead and wounded. If this were Palestinians fighting to liberate Gaza, people would have probably blamed them for their own death.
I am starting to worry that the struggle will get locked into a Ghandian logic, and this has always been a demand of the West and of the local “lovers of life-on our knees” who repeatedly ask for armed resistance to be dismantled. This is how we become a charity case rather than a liberation movement. But for now, lets keep the pressure on the Zionists up to lift the siege on Gaza.
Renowned blogger BeirutSpring condemned  Israel's freedom to violate international laws at its will on Twitter:
A sense of impunity makes Israel think that it can kill peace activists in international waters and get away with it. This must change.10:05 PM May 31st via web
Meanwhile, political blogger Qifa Nabki cautioned against war drumming by the Syrian and Lebanese governments in response to the attack. Non-violent resistance appears to be working, according to Qifa Nabki:
Syria has called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League, and both Bashar al-Assad and [Lebanese Prime Minister] Saad al-Hariri have warned that the flotilla killings could lead to a regional war. Maybe this is a naive reading, but it strikes me that beating the war drums is the wrong move. Instead of threatening to launch another intifada, why not actually launch an aid flotilla that is ten times the size of the one that was assaulted? The humanitarian non-violent strategy has clearly proved to be the winning one, so why not press it?
In a further analysis of the situation, Qifa Nabki discusses the political ramifications for Turkey, and slams the weakness of Arab states:
Soft power among leaderless Arabs? Make mine a double. Egypt’s decision to open theborder, at least temporarily, only highlights embarrassing complicity in the blockade to begin with. And the position of the other Arab powers – silence, or cheerleading while Turkey pounds podiums in the Security Council – is little better. By one account, the ship in question was Istanbul municipal scrap, sold to an Islamist NGO and flagged to the Comoros. That it could be the vessel of Arab diplomatic ambition is the saddest, and most apt, measure of the those states’ ability to make any case other than the one for their disarray.
Franco-Lebanese blogger, Frenchy,  in condemning the Israeli act as piracy, fears that any violent response from Lebanon might lead to an Israeli onslaught on the country:
On peut également craindre que ces actes de piraterie poussent une nouvelle fois à une flambée de violence comme durant les dernières offensives israéliennes contre la Bande de Gaza. A chaque fois, malheureusement que cette bande s’enflammait, certains pensaient faire diversion au Liban même, preuve en ait les derniers tirs de Katioucha contre le Nord d’Israël en décembre 2008 et janvier 2009 par le FPLP-CG. Gageons que les autorités israéliennes actuelles seraient tentés d’utiliser de tels tirs – si cela se produit – comme une diversion face à leurs crimes en provoquant une guerre contre le Liban. Même en désaccord avec la lutte palestinienne contre Israël depuis le Liban, on ne peut qu’être solidaire face à ce que les libanais ont également subis lors du conflit de 2006. Après tout, Gaza subit depuis 2006, le blocus que le Liban n’a subit que durant 34 jours seulement
English translation:
One can also fear that these acts of piracy push once again to an outbreak of violence, such as the recent Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip. Each time, unfortunately, that violence erupts in the Strip, some think of creating a diversion from Lebanon, as proven by the sporadic firing of Katyusha rockets on northern Israel in December 2008 and January 2009 by the PFLP-GC. We wage that the current Israeli authorities would be tempted to use such force – if this happens – as a diversion from their crimes by provoking a war on Lebanon. Even in disagreement with the Palestinian struggle against Israel from Lebanese territory, one can only express solidarity with what the Lebanese equally suffered during the 2006 conflict. After all, Gaza has been undergoing since 2006 the blockade that Lebanon suffered for only 34 days.
Each violent action Israel undertakes creates fears of renewed violence throughout the region. Such fears are not as strongly felt as in Lebanon, often the target of Israeli military action.

author: Antoun Issa


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Lebanon: Seen Around Beirut · Global Voices
Katharine Ganly

Graffitti is appearing on the walls of Beirut in the form of signposts pointing in the direction of Palestine. See an example posted by Laila at Like a grain of sand in the univers.

author: Katharine Ganly


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Russia: Are Websites Responsible for User Comments? · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

The latest edition of the Supreme Court's decision says online news media will be responsible for user comments left on their websites, gazeta.ru reports [RUS]. A previous version implied no accountability for user comments, but it is now being revised due to pressure from RosKomNadzor, a government media and internet regulation agency.

author: Alexey Sidorenko


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Russia: Death of Voznesensky · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Vadim Nikitin of Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog posts a eulogy to Russian-Soviet poet and dissident Andrei Voznesensky, who died on June 1.


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Russia: Mapping Top Bloggers and Regional Communities · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Top Bloggers
The Russian regional blogosphere as well as discussion boards are often ignored. Authors from Moscow and Saint Petersburg represent the blogger majority, but they aren’t the only ones. With the expansion of the broadband, more and more bloggers from the Russian regions start their blogs, form online communities, and foster their own leaders.
Landscape of the Russian blogosphere, by Alexey Sidorenko for GVO
Figure 1. The landscape of the Russian blogosphere
The rating of top 200 bloggers provided by Yandex.ru, Russia’s most popular search engine, can serve as a good illustration of the regionalization trend. The rating is far from ideal, since about 10 percent of the top blogs got there by using search engine optimization (SEO) technologies, and not because of readership support.
Compared to November 2009, the Top 200 rating has changed significantly: over 40 percent of the current top bloggers hadn't been at the top before then. At the same time, the top 25 list has been stable: only one new blogger has reached the top of the blog ranking since then (a stand-alone blog shakin.ru). The elite of the Russian blogosphere includes such bloggers as bigpicture.ru (a photoblog), ibigdan (a news aggregator), drugoi (a photoblog; the author is an employee of SUP, a company that owns LiveJournal), teh_nomad  (IT and gadgets), tema (a controversial but successful designer), katoga (a news aggregator), uborshizzza (a political blog), Lifehacker.ru (self-help, humor), Leonid Kaganov (humor), radulova (a news aggregator, also covers gender/feminism-related topics), Yandex blog (a corporate blog), zyalt (a photoblog), abstract2001 (a civil society activist), navalny (an investigative reporter and an anti-corruption activist), sergeydolya (a traveller and a photoblogger), sviridenkov (a news aggregator), plushev.com (an IT and Internet analyst), internetno.net (IT and gadgets), golubchikav (music), mi3ch (religion), Mages_Queen (a news aggregator), avmalgin (a journalist), fritzmorgen (a news aggregator), Vladimir Soloviev (a TV reporter).
Half a year ago, Moscow and Saint Petersburg top bloggers constituted ¾ of the Russian top bloggers. Now this share is 65 percent. At the same time, the share of the Russian regional bloggers has grown from 8 to 12 percent. Still, Moscow’s share in top bloggers (59 percent) is almost twice as high as Moscow’s share in the Russian Internet users (according to Spylog [RUS], it’s 32.4 percent with a diminishing trend).
An important part of the Russian blogosphere are Ukraine-based Russophone blogs, which account for 7-8 percent. Most of the Ukraine-based bloggers live in Kiev and Odessa.
Although the regionalization trend is gaining importance, the Russian blogosphere is very asymmetrical. The lack of symmetry can be explained by several reasons: 1. Internet access conditions and the time of penetration of the broadband to the city; 2. The paid-blogging phenomenon – many paid bloggers and whole networks of paid bloggers are based in Moscow. With the help of some kind of “virtual cross-fertilization” they increase each other's authority and, as a result, top the rating; 3. Size of the “market” – potentially, a blogger from Moscow can attract more readers than any blogger from a smaller town.
However, the most important reason for such asymmetry is that it actually reflects the general asymmetry of Russia. According to my own research of the Russian parliament deputies (not published, but the facts can be confirmed online), 50 percent of the deputies are from Moscow, while 40 percent are from Saint Petersburg. The conventional media landscape is “expectedly” centralized (both due to the Soviet past and the post-Soviet knowledge/capital exchange patterns). Federal TV channels and large newspapers are focused on Moscow, etc. This leads to a situation when the first reaction of bloggers is to follow Moscow or Saint Petersburg bloggers (of course, given that they can provide quality content).
Regional LiveJournal Communities
Regional LiveJournal communities are vast. We have found at least 767 active  communities (it means that someone has posted in them during the last 4 weeks) with an overall audience of at least 57,700 users (although, according to the observations, the audience of the LiveJournal communities is usually bigger than the number of subscribed users).
On the average, every large Russian city has 8 active LiveJournal communities. Cities with the population of over 1 million residents have the average of 32 communities. The average number of subscribers is 3,400 there, while in the smaller cities both the diversity of communities and their audience are much smaller. Table 1 below reflects the parameters of the city blogospheres:
Table 1. Parameters of the city blogospheres
Cities with the most vibrant LJ communities are: Kaliningrad, Tver, Belgorod, Irkutsk, Tomsk. LJ communities are well-developed in the cities of the Urals as well as in the North-West regions. At the same time, the least active communities are in Omsk, Volgograd, Saratov, Barnaul, Ulyanovsk, Novokuznetsk.
The content of the regional LJ communities can be grouped into 50 subcategories and 8 general types. The most popular are “creative” communities devoted to music, photography, literature, poetry and other forms of creativity – they’re present in almost every big city. The second by popularity is the “representative” type: communities devoted to the cities themselves as well as LJ-outlets for corporate presence in the blogosphere (radio stations, journalism, PR, university groups, etc.)
Table 2. Types of LiveJournal communities in the biggest Russian cities


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Russia: Relations Between Bloggers and Car Manufacturers · Global Voices
Alexey Sidorenko

Autonews.ru compares [RUS] different attitudes towards bloggers among foreign car manufacturers and AutoVaz (the largest car manufacturer in the country). If western companies tend to cooperate with bloggers, AutoVaz considers blogosphere as a space for unethical competition.


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Russia: State regulation of metals market · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Streetwise Professor reflects upon the ongoing discussion in Russia about regulating the metals’ market by price fixing, and Prime Minister Putin's active involvement in this matter.


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Russia-USA: First Stalin memorial on American soil · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

LJ user gordyian draws attention to [RUS] the inauguration of the first ever US monument to Stalin, forming part of a Bedford, Virginia, World War II memorial park.


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Trinidad & Tobago: About those Laptops… · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The recently elected government of Trinidad and Tobago has promised free laptops for children about to enter secondary school; KnowTnT.com has a better idea: “Schools. Infrastructure that supports broadband internet access – not just in urbanized areas but throughout the nation. Subsidize it.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Broken Promise  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Trinidad and Tobago's new Prime Minister has reneged on her promise to not move into her predecessor's residence, prompting B.C. Pires to comment: “What the palace stands for is clear…and anyone who deliberately chooses to occupy the palace necessarily assumes all its trappings. You can't play sailor mas and ‘fraid powder and you can't install someone in a palace and ‘fraid emperor.”


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USA: Mourning the Loss of American Furkan Dogan, Killed on Flotilla · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

A school photo of Furkan Dogan.  Source unknown.
As the dust settles following the Israeli Defense Forces’ brutal attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, news has emerged of the deaths of nine activists who were aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara.  Eight of the people killed were Turkish nationals, the other a nineteen-year-old Turkish-American dual citizen named Furkan Dogan.  Dogan, who is stated to have resided mostly in Turkey, was shot a total of five times, four in the head at close range.
Jim Buie, an American blogger who resides in Kayseri, Turkey, the same town in which Dogan is from, writes this of his background:
Furkan Dogan, the 19-year-old Turkish-American citizen killed by Israeli  soldier(s) aboard the flotilla is from Kayseri. It's so difficult to  imagine a “terrorist,” the label Israelis put on the activists who  joined the flotilla and allegedly attacked the solders — someone  sympathetic to Al Qaeda — emerging from this environment. Moderation,  prudence and conformity are bywords in the culture here. Kayseri, the  hometown of Turkish President Abdullah Gul, has been enormously friendly and welcoming to me, my wife,  and son in the eight months we've been here…
…This young man obviously was a respected member of the community. He  was studying at a private high school in Kayseri, similar to the one I  teach at, and hoped to become a doctor. He was a neighbor of a student  of mine.
For many Americans, the subject of the day is the United States’ relationship with Israel.  On Twitter, @hughsansom notes the United States’ track record in responding to American deaths at the hands of Israel:
American Hugh Sansom addresses his government in this tweet.
Key to any discussion of U.S.-Israeli relations is the amount of money the United States provides the Israeli military in aid, an estimated 3 billion USD per year.  American blogger PoliticalMonkey2010 advocates for the United States to end that relationship:
Five bullets?  Five bullets for an unarmed person?  Were these  bullets paid for by the USA?  Were these bullets funded by your tax  dollars?  Did these bullets have inscribed on them “to our special  friends, love the USA”?  Bullets used on American citizens.
Let me be clear, all of the loss of life on this flotilla is  horrific.  No one's life is any greater than another, each of those people  who died were somebody’s family and friend.  I am focusing on Furkan  because he was an American, I am an American, I don’t care where he  lived.  He was an American.
It is time to end our “special relationship” with Israel.  The only  thing our relationship with this country does is cost us, it costs  American lives, American money, American influence.  If this were a  business deal, one would look at it and say, cut it loose, you can’t  afford it it any more.  America cannot afford a friend like Israel.
Muslim-American blogger Hijabmaster picks apart the media reports, which have often referred to Dogan as a “Turkish citizen with an American passport.”  Of the distinction, she says:
Now there are only two kinds of people that  can have a US passport.  A US national and a US citizen.  ALL U.S.  citizens are US nationals but all US nationals aren't US citizens.  U.S.  passports issued to non-citizen nationals contains the endorsement code  9 which states: “THE BEARER IS A UNITED STATES NATIONAL AND NOT A  UNITED STATES CITIZEN.” on the annotations page.(read Nationals who are not US citizens).  Furkan Dogan's  passport did not contain that annotation and therefore is an AMERICAN  CITIZEN.  Most likely a dual citizen and choosing to say a Turkish  citizen was killed is better than saying AMERICAN CITIZEN.
Stephen Saperstein Frug, whose blog is called Attempts, rejects the Israeli version of events that claimed IDF gunfire was in self-defense.  Referring to Dogan's death, the blogger writes:
If confirmed, it will certainly put the lie to any claim of self defense  by the shooter.  A bullet in the chest might well be self-defense (by  an aggressor, of course — the Israelis shouldn't have been on that ship  in the first place, and they were the ones attacking — but  nevertheless understandable).  A bullet in the head at close range…  possibly, probably not but possibly, that's self-defense too.
Three more?  That's murder.  And  calls into question the entire rest of the scenario.
Finally, Richard Silverstein, an American who writes the popular blog Tikun Olam (a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world”), wonders aloud if President Obama will do the right thing in response to Dogan's death:
Barack Obama, do you let U.S. citizens be murdered in cold blood by  the IDF?  What will you do about this?  If this were any other country  I’d know what to expect: protest, redoubled efforts to end the Gaza  siege, engagement with Israel, possibly withdrawing the U.S.  ambassador.  That’s what Britain would likely do, as it’s already had  the moxie to demand an end to the siege, something our government hasn’t  had the courage to do.  This incident should bring our policy a lot  closer to Turkey’s as we clearly now have shared interests.  But will  it?
But given the timidity of this government, I don’t know what they’ll  do aside from murmuring a bit about it.  Face it, our policy is  shameful.  Dogan’s dead body serves as physical witness to this.  Will  it spur Obama on to do the right thing–or anything?  Your guess is as  good as mine.

author: Jillian C. York


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Baltics: Any need for Baltic Sea cooperation · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Litauen writes about [GER] the Council of the Baltic Sea states and how this organization is becoming increasingly superfluous as basis for Baltic Sea cooperation.


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Bangladesh: Burning Inside · Global Voices
Rezwan

Asif Saleh at Unheard Voice writes about a tragic fire in a building in the congested old Dhaka, where more than 100 people died and questions the fire safety measures and medical facilities in the Bangladesh capital.

author: Rezwan


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Belarus: Minsk puts customs agreement on hold · Global Voices
Vilhelm Konnander

Belarus Digest analyzes why Minsk has stopped a long negotiated customs union between Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan.


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Colombia: Parish Priest from Jongovito Bans Patron Saint Festivities  · Global Voices
Cati Restrepo

On June 2 the news spread that the priest from the parish Jongovito from the city of San Juan de Pasto had issued a decree against the celebration of the Patron Saint festivities of San Pedro y San Pablo [es] (which take place on June 29). Colombia has traditionally been a country with strong Catholic traditions. This is reflected in the credibility that priests have inside communities, in the work they do in a significant amount of rural communities, and in the opinions they express in regards to issues related to the administration of the country. They are not the ones that govern of course, the Colombian constitution allows for freedom of religion, but it must be acknowledged that the clergy is still a strong influence in certain social contexts.
The decree immediately generated a reaction from the blog La lógica de mi papá (My Father’s Logic). There, Madame_Web references the text from the decree under which the aforementioned prohibition is mentioned [es]:
Hoy llegó a mi manos, gracias a @Hecolehome, el DECRETO No. 036/2010 de la Diócesis de Pasto en el cual decreta:
“Separar la fiesta patronal de todo acto que no contribuya en nada para la edificación de la persona humana y de la comunidad cristiana, como son: verbenas populares, festivales bailables y todo aquello que cause escándalo en las personas de bien.”
Today thanks to @Hecolehome I have in my hands Decree Number 036/2010 from the Diocese of Pasto, which decrees:
“Separate the festivities from every act that doesn’t contribute in any way to the edification of the human being and the Christian community, such as: popular open-air festivals, festivals with dancing and all other things that cause scandalous behavior from proper people”
Madame_Web expressed her unconformity towards the measure:
La ultima genial idea del hombrecito en cuestión es que no se celebren las fiestas de San Pedro y San Pablo (..) Que no se le olvide señor párroco que la iglesia y los santos no son de su propiedad…pertenecen a la comunidad de Jongovito que año tras año celebra la fiesta y que además tiene que aguantarse a personajes como usted, si como usted, que no le cabe ni la mas mínima idea en la cabeza.
The latest brilliant idea from the man in question (the parish priest) is to not celebrate the festivities of San Pedro and San Pablo (…) May the parish priest never forget that the church and its saints are not his property…they belong to the community of Jongovito which year after year celebrates the festivities and also has to put up with characters like yourself, yes like you, who can’t fit even the smallest idea in your head.
Opinions generally against the decree where also published through Twitter, arguing that the festivities represent the history and culture of the community.
Pastas (@Pastas) wrote:
Armando estrategia con el #clancuytter para enseñarle la historia de las fiestas patronales de Nariño al obispo de Pasto. Tocó evangelizarlo
Pastas also responded to other Twitter users who asked how much influence the Church had over the people:
@Cyberjuan Mucho, tienen temor. Alguien contactó a @Hecolehome para q a través de nuestro grupo de investigación ayudaramos a solucionar eso.    2:04 PM Jun 2nd via TweetDeck
@mrmuller Claro paisano hay q sentar al obispo y aclararle la dinámica de las comunidades para q no imponga doctrinas de hace 500 años atras.  11:33 AM Jun 2nd via TweetDeck responding to mrmuller
@miranchurito Si, yo soy calmada. Pero cosas como estas me sacan de casillas. Uno trabajando en pro del Patrimonio y vea…    11:55 AM Jun 2nd via TweetDeck en respuesta a miranchurito
Madame_web (@madame_web) said:
¿Que es una persona de bien? yo soy una persona de bien y a mi me gusta el escandalo y los festivales bailables http://bit.ly/dfbLpi
Mrmuller (@mrmuller), talking with @madame_web and @Pastas answered:
madame_web @Pastas ojalá se opongan y comprendan que la cultura es más importante que lo que diga un padrecito
Finally, the official municipality’s administration site provides a promotional video of the festivities of Jongovito [es].
And the Youtube channel ArturoBando, shows a sample of the dances in the festivities [es]:

author: Cati Restrepo


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Global: Rachel Corrie “Immortalized” With Ship’s Mission · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Rachel Corrie was a young American peace activist who was killed in 2003 in Gaza while working with the International Solidarity Movement. As Corrie stood in front of a Palestinian home to protect it from being demolished by Israeli forces, she was run over by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer and killed. Corrie has become, for many, a symbol of peace, with over 30 songs, a cantata, a play, and now a ship, named after her.
The ship, called the MV Rachel Corrie, set sail from Ireland carrying 11 passengers and 9 crew members from 5 countries, mostly Ireland and Malaysia.  Included amongst the passengers were Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, Parit Member of the Malaysian Parliament Mohd Nizar Zakaria, and former UN Assistant Secretary General, Denis Halliday.
As the MV Rachel Corrie neared Gaza, however, it became apparent that Israel was going to once again prevent the ship from delivering aid and thus breaking the siege. At approximately 10:00 UTC+3, US-based Remroum reported that Israel had asked the ship to change its course:
Shortly thereafter, reports began to emerge that the Rachel Corrie had been intercepted by the IDF and forced to dock at the Israeli port of Ashdod. On Twitter, Malaysian activist JuanaJaafar noted:
Gaza Under Siege tweeted a video
from Iranian-backed Press TV, which aired shortly after the MV Rachel Corrie was stopped by the IDF.  The video, which includes commentary from journalists on the ground, shows the ship being intercepted:
Efe Moral, who is based in Turkey, live-tweeted much of the Flotilla events and noted that after the ship was intercepted, the aid would be taken to Gaza:
Reports have also emerged that Israeli forces have refused to call the ship by its registered name, the MV Rachel Corrie, and have instead referred to it as “Linda,” its previous name.  The Rachel Corrie Foundation tweeted this:
A video put forth by the IDF confirms this (00:31):
There is considerable anger regarding the fact that the MV Rachel Corrie was intercepted, but also a sense of relief that the passengers are safe.  Lastly, as journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy points out on Twitter, Rachel Corrie herself has been immortalized with the MV Rachel Corrie's mission:


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Global: Reactions to Twitter’s sinking #flotilla hashtag · Global Voices
Nicole Hyman

The recent flotilla debacle may have started at sea but it was to the Twitosphere that many activists turned, filling it with condemnation of Israel. The power of Twitter as a mobilizing force and alternative platform for affecting change is not to be underestimated. From the Iranian election, to the more recent Thai protests, citizens and activists alike have come to rely on Twitter as a way of bypassing mainstream media and making themselves heard. But what would happen if Twitter started censoring, as many tweeting about the flotilla began to fear?
Panic and a re-tweeting furor began when people noticed that the #flotilla hashtag was not trending on Twitter despite countless Tweets and Re-tweets and it trending on Google. On Twitter, hashtags are used to as a way of identifying and grouping tweets, making it easier to follow a conversation. In this case, the #flotilla hashtag was used.
It didn’t take long for the twitosphere to react:
@lalajohnny
Find it very hard to believe that #Flotilla & #FreedomFlotilla wouldn't be in the top 10 Trends. Is Twitter playing censorship???
@overhere1
Good to see that #huddlestone is trending but #freedomflotilla is not. Censorship or return to proper English values? Or #cockup?
@melihaksan
Global censorship is enormous.. #flotilla
To try and avoid what was believed to be censorship, people were urged to use the #freedomflotilla hashtag :
@gkrrr
@RokOdyssey PS. #Twitter sucks esp. with its #censorship. But now we're trying to get the #freedomflotilla point across. #Gaza
@amirMusthafa
unbelievable #twitter has done it again #freedomflotilla #flotilla #censorship all the way
@adesri
@twitter please remove your censorship about flotilla, gaza & israil #freedomflotilla
The tweets kept coming and so did the questions about why certain hastags weren’t trending:
@qu1j0t3
RT @ ddowza Why Israil is trending & #flotilla is not – http://bit.ly/aMhkwU – Twitter blocking #flotilla #Censorship #freedomFlotilla
@keefieboy
@TurkeyPalestine Very odd: #flotilla trending 7, #freedomflotilla nada #censorship #gaza
Twitter’s response was that there was no censorship. They said a problem with their algorithm prevented the hashtag from trending. Twitter’s anti-spamming system flagged the hashtag as spam because the same hashtag had trended the week before.
Here’s an official tweet from Twitter's Sean Garrett , VP of communications:
We are investigating a technical issue that caused search errors for a short period of time this morning….
But some still remain unconvinced:
@simsimt
So a tweet by a Twitter official staff is all what it takes @Herdict to assume no censorship was applied to the #flotilla hashtag? #nonsense
Regardless of whether or not the hashtag was censored, the graver reality is that even on Twitter issues and voices can be sidelined.
Adrian, a blogger, touches on this:
It is frightening to think that anyone is purposefully blocking words from being discussed by a greater audience so lets hope this is all some sort of coincidence or error.
The Herdict blog points out that future technical glitches could prevent other issues from trending:
While it is a great relief to be reassured that, at least for now, Twitter seems to be an unbiased center for the information flow of Tweets, there are still questions about if this can happen again. Most people consider the word “flotilla” to be a fairly unused word, so the idea of it being hashtagged for two different trending topics within a short time frame was especially surprising to Twitter. It is easy to foresee this set of errors repeat itself in the future through an overlap of more common words in a hashtag.

author: Nicole Hyman


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India: Ladakh in pictures · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Blogger and travel-writer Charukesi visited Ladakh recently and shares the highlights through pictures and stories of her on her travel blog, Itchy Feet.

author: Aparna Ray


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Iraq: The Flotilla Attack – A Series of Double Standards  · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

I guess we cannot ignore the Iraqi blogosphere's opinion regarding the Israeli raid on a flotilla  of six ships carrying international activists, known as the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla”, who were planning to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian supplies. The Iraqis themselves have been victims of sanctions, terrorist attacks, tyranny, Al-Qaida extremists, and wars for a very long time. And perhaps this is why we are having mixed reactions from the Iraqi bloggers regarding the flotilla attack.
Is it a Lawful Attack or Not?
Iraqi blogger, Raed Jarrar, wrote about the media and how phrases such as “self-defense,” and “proportionality of the attack” are being used here and there in order to justify the Israeli raid on the flotilla:
Some folks are falling for the claim that Israel's attack was in “self-defense”. And even many of those who are not buying the Israeli propaganda are distracted by some details about the proportionality of the attack, and whether Israeli soldiers started violence or not.
While the attack was obviously not proportional and Israeli forces could have used many other types of weapons to control the situation without the need to kill and injure dozens of the civilians on the ship, I don't think it matters if the attack was “proportional” or not because it is unlawful to start with.
He then stated that the attack took place in the international waters, and that is why it should be considered unlawful. He even dedicated a separate blog post [En] with records of the exact location of the vessel (Mavi Marmara), which shows that the ship was in international waters before and during the Israeli attack.
Law scholars and experts believe the attack was unlawful because it happened in international waters. The location of the ship during and after the attack was more than 70 miles off the Israeli shores. The location is well documented, and no one in the Israeli government is denying the fact that it happened in international waters. The Israeli raid is a clear violation of the Law of the Sea. Israel cannot board foreign vessels in international waters without their consent.
However, some politicians might rely on Paragraph 67 (Section V) of the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea in order to justify the attack. The paragraph that states that “Merchant vessels” may not be attacked unless they are believed on reasonable grounds to be “breaching a blockade”. And that's why he wrote the following:
International law scholars and experts are very critical of this claim though, because according to them the San Remo Manual does not apply to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian groups in Gaza. It only applies to wars between states, and Gaza is not a state.
But even if the San Remo Manual applied to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, there are a number of reasons to believe it does not apply to this particular attack. For one, the “blockade” these ships were breaching is itself unlawful, because it constitutes collective punishment of Gaza's civilian population in violation of article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the blockade is in violation of Paragraph 102 of the San Remo Manual itself that prohibits the establishment of a blockade if “the damage to the civilian population is, or may be expected to be, excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the blockade.”. There are other reasons for why this attack violates the San Remo manual if it applied to the conflict. For example, Paragraph 47 (Section III) prohibits attacks on “vessels engaged in humanitarian missions, including vessels carrying supplies indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and vessels engaged in relief actions and rescue operations”, even if such vessels are “enemy vessels”. Another Example is Paragraph 46 (Section II) where an attack must be “canceled or suspended as soon as it becomes apparent that the collateral casualties or damage would be excessive”. It is obvious that whomever is citing Paragraph 67 of the San Remo Manual is cherry picking to deceive public opinion and justify the Israeli massacre.
Raed then continued:
Based on all the information we have so far, Israeli's claim that the attack was in “self-defense” is absurd, because Israel did not have the right to board Mavi Marmara in the first place. This is like a burglar who claims he or she killed the house owners in self defense because they defended their property with a kitchen knife. The Israeli use of force is unlawful and illegal under international law because the ship was in international waters.
A Series of Double Standards
Hayder El Khoei (Eye-Raki), on the other hand, decided to point out the series of double standards that accompanied the attack and the reactions of the media outlets towards it. He started by an imaginary scenario where Iran is the one the attacked the flotilla instead of Israel. He writes:
Make no mistake about it, had a ship been attacked by the Iranian navy 40 miles out at sea the international community would have been up in arms about the blatant disregard for international law and the United States would have been the first to condemn the act of needless aggression against innocent civilians. Israel would have called Iran ‘a nation of pirates’ and God forbid if a rival nation's flag was hoisted it could even have been a legitimate reason to declare war.
He then continued, but this time he's pointing out what he describes as the Turkish double standard:
But then, what do the Turks know about international law and sovereignty? They are constantly shelling Iraqi villages in territory that does not belong to them and they deny even the most basic human rights to a significant proportion of their own population. How would they have reacted if a wave of incoming aid had been sent to the Kurds in the south-east and the convoy openly refused to cooperate with officials?
It seems that not only media outlets are the one who have double standards. But according to Hayder so do the people in the Arab and Muslim world:
The response to this mess has been just as baffling to me as the incident itself. 10 people are killed and instantly I receive messages from people I don't even know telling me to march outside the Israeli Embassy to protest this heinous crime. Yet when hundreds at a time get blown up to pieces at mosques and markets across the Islamic world, all in the name of ‘Allah’ of course, the response is a lot less dramatic. On Friday almost 100 innocent people were slaughtered whilst worshipping in a mosque in Lahore and no one sent me a text asking me to protest outside the Pakistani Embassy. Muslims on Friday killed roughly 10 innocent civilians for every activist killed by Jews on Monday.
Palestinians Matter More than Iraqis?
Iraq Pundit echoes similar sentiments. He  wondered why people are more horrified by the deaths of Palestinians than others (Iraqis in his case)?
I repeat, nobody deserves to be killed. But why is it that so often people are more horrified by the deaths of Palestinians than others?
This brings me to ask again where are the protests when Iraqis are killed while buying vegetables at the market, offering condolences at funerals, going to school, or engaging in other ordinary civilian activities. The message is when Palestinians or their supporters die, it's a tragedy. When Iraqis die, it's just another news story. Why?
He then continued in another blog post stating why peaceful demonstrations are always needed even if they aren't going to change anything on the ground:
When I was in college and everyone marched for the Palestinians, nobody thought any government would follow our advice. We didn't picket the Israeli embassy. We just walked in the streets carrying signs. We didn't think Israel would alter its policies. We marched because we wanted to show the Palestinians our support. We wanted everyone to know we were angry at how the Palestinians were being treated.
He then continued:
Did it change anything? Yet everyone knows the Palestinians have the support of the Arabs. It might not have resulted in their getting their own state, but they know they are the darlings of the Middle East. The Iraqis do not feel there is any support from neighboring countries.
Last but not least, Raed Jarrar concluded:
It is still very important to conduct an investigation into the massacre in accordance to the from the UN Security Council and many other international organizations. Such an investigation would give us all the information and details we need for a final judgment.

author: Tarek Amr


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Israel: A mixed bag of reactions to the flotilla raid · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

The following post is an assortment of blog entries translated from Hebrew, all taken from the ‘hot-topic’ page dealing with the flotilla raid, on the Israeli blogging platform Israblog. The bloggers on this platform are quite mixed, though leaning towards a younger crowd. There are many anonymous and pen names, not high visibility outside of the platform, but lots of cross commenting between the community.
In her post, Ilya asks who is guilty?
The fighters are not guilty, I would also shoot to defend my life. But who sent them to capture a Turkish boat in the midst of international waters, when resistance was an obvious fact?? That person has to pay the price. This person is called our Defense Minister and the other Government ministers. How could they send our fighters to this operation?
Ilya was certainly not the only one blaming Ehud Barak for the outcome of the operation. Amitai posted the following photo of protesters around Israel have been calling for his resignation:
Vika, a 19-year-old Israeli currently serving in the IDF asks what other countries would have done under the circumstances:
Before other countries around the world open their mouth, they need to think what they would do in our situation. Would they let unchecked boats dock, unload aid, and in the aid receive bombs day and night? Or would these countries have also stopped the boats, checked them and attacked if it were necessary?
ygurvitz writes an angry critique against the IDF generals:
Coordinate your lies, you are pathetic! All day yesterday the Navy commanding officer, major general Eli Marom, the defense minister, IDF communication corps and others wined about how they were really surprised, that they didn't think this will turn out this way, that the foragers expected to get a cup of refreshing tea once on board the boat, and all of a sudden – boom! clubs, knives, an iron rod that looked like a gun, and – Blast! Nine killed and many wounded.
And that was done strenuously to sound convincing, except the fact that last week the same group of commanders warned that on board the Marmara there are people who belong to terrorist organizations, supporters of Al-Qaeda, clingons, Hamas and other bad spirits – this was published last Thursday!!! – “there is big threat that a terrorist activity will be triggered from the boats” and that “we want to avoid using force but if there's a life threatening situation for our forces we will need to use live fire, as a means of last resort.”
Another blogger is highly critical of what Israeli society is becoming:
…The real worrying issue, is the fact that such a pathetic failure (for IDF) can raise such strong empathetic feelings for Israelis. There are people who falsely define operation “cast lead” as a war, because they think that a military operation in which we crush citizen infrastructure and are hurt from our own fire is an event we must feel proud of. I'm not against “cast lead”, but talking about our national pride, about the love and hugs we send to soldiers who are dragged into these events. These are not real wars, and not battles. They are a demonstration of power by the strongest thug in the neighborhood. Sometimes this is necessary and justified, and sometimes it is wild behavior, like an attacking dog that has no owner.
Israeli society is becoming fascist, and everyone knows this. If you haven't noticed that you live under a semi-militaristic regime, It is probably because you like it, or that you are not interested in what's going on outside your bubble. Everyone knows that violence has been chewing at the basis of Israeli democracy for many years. Like a neglected gum infection, the day when teeth begin to drop out is coming closer. Everyone knows that for many to be suspected of supporting the left is almost enough to be placed on trial, and soon supporting the left will be outlawed. And I'm even not a supporter of the left! I'm merely a worried citizen. Worried for the future of freedom in our country, the future of sanity. And in days like these I ask myself what future does Israel hold for normal people? People with simple ambitions: freedom, knowledge and quality of life. And then I think about what future they have outside of Israel, and understand there is none. Because this country made sure that all the world's most violent hooligans will hate us to their bones.
Once, in order to keep people in a country, you would set them up with a mortgage.
Now they are set up with a pool of alligators.
Uri Heitner points a blaming finger at Egypt, who has also been supporting the blockade on Gaza:
Today, like every day, there's no blockade over Gaza. Tens of trucks from Israel provide supplies, food and medicine. There is a marine seige, meant to prevent the transfer of weapons and artillery to Hamas. One can argue about the effectiveness of the blockade. I've recently thought about its effectiveness. There's no doubt that morally, the siege is justified. There's no doubt that it should not be called a “blockade”.
If there is truly a blockade on Gaza, we must blame Egypt. The Egyptians are Arabs – brothers of Gaza residents. There's no kidnapped Egyptian soldier held by Hamas. Hamas does not launch missiles towards Egyptian cities. If Egypt closes its borders with Gaza (unreasonably supported by Israel), why do they come to Israel with complaints? As if Israel's duty is to support the enemy that's harming it?
The one that launched the flotilla knew very well that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. However they did know that a “humanitarian” flotilla by “peace activists” aimed at “breaking the siege” is a provocation that will harm Israel's international legitimacy. In a wholly wrong decision, Israel played to the hands of its proponents and was dragged to a provocation, and so damaged itself. There's a place for a public conversation about that decision.
Lior, a 15-year-old high school student describes her frustration with the Israeli lack of ability to acknowledge just how wrong the operation was:
No, I'm not leftist. I don't want to argue about all the racist right-wing opinions that are happening here now. I also watched TV and saw a protester shout and threaten that someone needs to destroy Israel. I was also shocked and stressed. But again, I think no one here came our just. Especially not us. And we need to cope with this bitter truth. Our reaction was out of line. They were also violent. But this whole event could've been avoided.
So difficult to acknowledge that we were simply wrong? That we “fell to our low”? We proved to other countries just how baldy we handle this. Every person here thinks they know more than the other, but nobody will tell me exactly what happened that day.
LittleD thinks otherwise:
I'm immersed all day reading articles about what happened on the Marmara. If until today I thought myself to be center to right wing supporter, then today I say without hesitation that extreme right suits me much better.
The storm that came after the events on the Marmara simply opened my eyes.
What we did there, on that boat, was totally justified. Every democratic country would have done the exact same thing. The difference is that the Soldier's intentions were not to use violence, but just stop the boat from reaching its target. But they were confronted with violence, and protecting their lives, had to react.
According to 17-year-old ‘Melodrama’ the thing that Israelis really seek is peace and quiet:
People around the world don't understand that all we want is to live in peace and quiet, just like them.
But we can't. Because we have, unlike them, terrorist actions, wars and missiles aimed at us.
People here don't know what quiet is.
And they (outsiders) don't know what the army is like. When at 18, they go to college parties to hookup with girls, they will never ever grasp what we do here at that age.
Never.
Because they didn't grow up with it.
Didn't grow up within it.
And they need to be quiet and say thank you for having what we will never have – quiet!!
And last but not least, a poetic post by a blogger named Bakster:
I've experience peace within my skin.
And I want everyone to feel it.
I experienced it with music, but it was peace.
I felt it.
I talked with a Palestinian girl, who was listening to Orphaned Land (Israeli metal band),
Their situation was much worse than ours.
But we talked.
And she explained her situation, and I told her about my land.
And we talked about music.
Not once and not twice in the midst of our conversation we said “to think that I'm supposed to hate you!”
I don't know what's going on with her, haven't heard from her for a while,
But I've understood that the situation there is dire.
We need peace.
I'm not asking left/right if they want,
I'm setting a fact.
And it has been engraved on the rocks for many years now.
We need peace.
Need it here.
Right here.
Keep sending links our way.
And thanks for your support!

author: Gilad Lotan


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Israel: Flotilla Videos Gone Viral · Global Voices
Maya Norton

An Israeli video called “Flotilla Choir: We Con the World” has gone viral on Facebook in the last 24 hours. While it shows no compunction about the violence involved in the flotilla incident, it aggressively illustrates the widely held Israeli belief that Hamas is responsible for the poor state of well-being of the people of Gaza.
(Full text of video available when watched directly on YouTube.)
The video was produced by Caroline Glick, managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, one of Israel's two primary English language newspapers.
On a post in her personal blog entitled, “We Con the World- The Gaza Flotilla Crew Speaks!” Glick posts the video– which launched today at 94,000 views and counting– commenting:
This week at Latma – the Hebrew-language media satire website I edit, we decided to do something new. We produced a clip in English. There we feature the Turkish-Hamas “love boat” captain, crew and passengers in a musical explanation of how they con the world.
The “love boat” reference harks to a speech Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made in the wake of the incident. In a press forum, Netanyahu asserted:
“This wasn't a love boat, this was a hate boat. These weren't pacifists, these were violent supporters of terrorism.”
The quote was picked up and a video was rapidly created and circulated amongst Israeli social networks, using the 1970s American sitcom “The Love Boat,” which took place on a cruise ship, as a parody for the MV Mavi Marmara.
The video's creators, identified as GazaFlotilliaTruth [sic], post in the commentary section of the video:
“This is NOT a peaceful humanitarian mission but a full blown terrorist act in mid-sea!
Peace activists DO NOT stack up knives and guns waiting to attack Israeli soldiers – THAT'S WHAT TERRORISTS DO
Knives and Guns ARE NOT Humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid can be very easily be sent through Israel to gaza for every day many trucks full of humanitarian aid is being sent by Israel to Gaza after having been inspected.
ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO DEFEND IT'S CITIZENS FROM TERRORISM!
ISRAEL WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SAVING IT'S CHILDREN'S LIVES
ISRAEL IS THE ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST BEING ATTACKED FROM ALL SIDES”
This one and a half minute video reels the credits for the “show,” which include Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Ismail Haniyeh, Islamic leader Ra'ad Saleh, as well as numerous shots of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hugging Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The video also shows a woman identified as a peace activist who was filmed as saying that the passengers of the MV Mavi Marmara would be happy with two outcomes: breaking the Gaza blockade or martyrdom, as well as showing photographs of weapons found on board the ship (caches of knives, captioned “Flotilla humanitarian aid”).
The original footage of the activist, created by Palestinian Media Watch, can be viewed here (Arabic with English subtitles).
The woman says:
“Right now we face one of two happy endings: either martyrdom or reaching Gaza.”
(She repeats this twice.)
Returning to the original “We Con the World” video, blogger Renee Ghert-Zand writes on the Israeli culture of satirizing news in “News Director as Cruise Director”:
When there is BIG news, you can always be sure that a parody of it is not far behind… the Israeli satirical website Latma Press (“Why Be Annoyed Alone?”) has beat everyone to the punch with a “We Con The World” video starring the Flotilla Choir. It’s the “Turkish Aid to Gaza Song, With Captain Stabbing and Friends.”
She adds:
“Given how fast things move today, it’s evident that she [Glick] and her fellow satirists felt there was no time to lose in getting their (singing) voices on these critical events out there. They clearly took Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remark that “This was no Love Boat,” and ran with it.
This would be funny, if it weren’t so infuriating and sad.”
Facebook commentors additionally added comments such as:
“Funny yet the sad truth at the same time.”
“Truth Yes . Sad no. Tragic yes.”
And the message urging users to pick up the video and make it viral (which has since happened):
“You must watch this video edited by Caroline Glick asap. This is an amazing spoof on “We are the World” by the Turkish Peace Activists. Please send this out to everyone you know and help get this out. The truth must be heard. The scam of this “peace mission” must be exposed. If this video receives enough views, it can get onto YouTube’s home page by the “Videos Being Watched Now,” which will give tremendous exposure to many others who may not be familiar with the facts of what really happened on the “peaceful” Flotilla from Turkey to Gaza.”
This article is part of the ongoing series of Global Voices Online's coverage of “Israel Flotilla Raid 2010.”
Notes:
1. The numbers of viewers listed for each video as noted on YouTube may not be fully accurate as there are several different versions of each video posted.
2. Quotes from Facebook are from a public profile. They can be found by doing a search for “Caroline Glick” on Facebook.

author: Maya Norton


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MENA: Question Time Following Gaza-Bound Flotilla Attack · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

As the dust settles, and some of the ‘truths’ come out, a new wave of tweets on Israel's attacking the Gaza-bound flotilla take over the Internet. Here are a few reactions from the Twittersphere summing up reactions of users around the world, some asking questions we are yet to learn the answers for.
Biledna wonders out loud:
IDF has the boat, so why does it not disclose ALL security camera images so that we see what really happened.#flotilla
MadamMiaow notes:
Israelis were shooting before they boarded #flotilla. http://nyti.ms/98H0SF Media coverage shaped by propaganda.   http://bit.ly/a7mAfj
And Floatingstone asks:
So, which one is
it Israel? You say IDF DON't use 9mm handguns but the IDF soldier says
they do. Yet more lies and fabrications. #flotilla
Sami Parisis adds:
Activists stories all line up and are extremely accurate. IDF soldier accounts are all different and have gaps. #Flotilla all the way!
In another tweet, Parisis claims:
#israel has employed tweeters to put in a good word. #Flotilla is defended by people who believe. Not who get payed. That's the difference.
And Amna Saeed remarks:
The US and #Israel are apparently the only countries incapable of terrorism. #gaza #flotilla
Meanwhile, WorldPeace2Day has been pumping out tweets – which are being retweeted across the network – round the clock as the developments continue to unfold. Among its most recent tweets are those two back to back tweets which ask this question:
Why did Israel attack Gaza Flotilla in International waters? THIS IS AN ACT OF PIRACY THAT SHOULD BE PROSECUTED
Don't let Israel ‘wiggle out’ of answering the question: “Why did you attack and kill people in International waters?” #freedomflotilla
In another tweet, WorldPeace2Day asks:
Food4Thought:
If Israel has a right 2defend itself, then why does it provoke
Palestine & Gaza 2defend itself &then call it an attack?
And speaking of defense, Sarah Janett exclaims:
Now,I admit. Israeli soldiers were defending themselves from most dangerous weapon: Pikachu http://bit.ly/9QKXDV #flotilla #FreedomFlotilla
The cynicism continues in other tweets across the network. Kiliffe questions the use of yet another investigation into Israel's actions. He tweets:
Doesn't matter if the Dalai Lama investigated the #flotilla attack, Israel would still call the report a piece of crap.
And last but not least, Jnoubiyeh exclaims:
If anyone ever needed any more evidence about the absolutely evil, sick & homicidal nature of the #Zionist regime, they got it this week.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Pakistan: Reviewing Sex and the City 2 · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

Blogger Kalsoom goes to watch Sex and the City 2 and comes away with the feeling that the film not only fails to engage the Arab/Muslim/Middle Eastern woman, but it also condescendingly labels them en masse as victims  of an oppressive patriarchal society.


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Palestine: “I Support Turkey” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

The Turkish-led flotilla which attempted to break the blockade of Gaza has strained Turkish-Israeli relations, while gaining Turkey much respect in the Arab world. One Gaza blogger has decided to show her appreciation for Turkey's stance in a practical way – by starting a campaign to buy Turkish goods.
Samaher Khazendar writes:
Gaza-Turkey solidarity flag (reproduced under Creative Commons licence)
She continues:
Samaher informs us:
Samaher gives a link for a website selling Turkish products made by different producers, and ends by saying:

author: Ayesha Saldanha