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Chinese Women Spend Their Holiday Protesting Botched Cosmetic Surgery in South Korea · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A group of Chinese tourists protested in Seoul for failed makeover. Images from Weibo.
During the Golden Week holiday at the end of September into early October, a group of Chinese tourists traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to protest in the streets against the botched cosmetic surgery that they said they had undergone in the country.
The failed procedures resulted in jaw misalignment, asymmetrical eye size and eyelids, crooked noses and stiff facial muscles, among other consequences. The women said they had been lured by medical agents to undertake the surgery without knowing the accreditation of the facility and qualification of the surgeons.
According to Chinese media outlets, the protesting women claimed that the hospital locked them in a dark room at one point and their passports were seized. Eventually they were arrested by police.
In China, it would be illegal for the consumers to organize protests demanding awareness and compensation as the women did, but in South Korea they were able to do so legally and some of the women had traveled several times to Seoul to protest in front of the hospitals.
Since the ban on cosmetic surgery was lifted in 2001 in China, the sector has been growing at more than 40 percent annually for the past 15 years. By 2012, Chinese people had spent 300 billion yuan (approximately US $47.2 billion) on plastic surgery, and the sector had hired more than 20 million employees and around 70% of China's cosmetic procedures had taken place in unlicensed salons.
Between 2009 and 2010, more than 3.4 million cosmetic surgeries were performed in China, and on average about 20,000 complaints on botched operations are filed annually.
It has been estimated that by 2018, the plastic surgery market will be worth 850 billion yuan (approximately US $133.72 billion) as the younger generation is more open to the idea of plastic surgery and are willing to share their experience online.
More well-off Chinese choose to visit South Korea, known as Asia's biggest cosmetic surgery destination, for the medical service. In 2014, as many as 56,000 Chinese tourists visited the country for a nip and tuck.
Nevertheless, not every patient is happy with the results of their cosmetic procedure, and real damage can be done if an unlicensed practitioner performs the surgery.
When the protest news traveled back home to China, it became a hot topic in the Huati section of popular social media site Weibo (#failed plastic surgery consumers protest in Seoul#). But a majority of the comments were disapproving of the elective surgery and the women's demonstration — the value of protest has not taken root in China as fast as the cosmetic surgery industry has. Many netizens clung to the idea that the body is a gift from parents:
你们整容前你妈妈知道吗？你们对的起她吗？这不是瞎搞吗？
Did your mother even know that you had your face made over? Don't you feel sorry for them? What are you protesting for?
为啥要抗议？自己愿意花钱整容，又没有被人强迫￼ 本来整容就是有很大风险的，愿意投资就要有能承担风险的心理
What's the point of the protest? You spent money for a face-lift. No one forced you to do so. Plastic surgery is very risky, and they should be willing to assume the risk of their investment.
人的容貌是父母所给，老天所给，为什么要去改变
People's face is a gift from parents and god. Why the need to change it?
广告做的好，就以为真的做的好。为甚就不相信爹娘最好呢！真是可怕的悲哀。我的土地上，为甚有越来越多的虚妄的植物？
Why place your trust in an advertisement. Why don't you trust your parents? This is so sad. Why have people in this land become so vain?
On the other hand, users with more sympathetic views suggested the governments step in to settle the dispute:
某些大陆的网友太可恶了，说什么活该之类的废话。我想说的是，爱美之心人皆有之。人家自己的事情不需要你去干涉或者你去发表什么活该之类的言论，更不需要某些人去讲什么身体发肤受之父母之类的大道理。现在最重要的就是，希望你们大陆所谓的有关部门可以与南韩方面进行交涉处理~
Some netizens are too mean. Everyone likes being pretty, mind your own business and save your mean comments. There is no need to preach principles like “flesh, hair and skin” come from parents. The most important thing is to urge the Chinese authorities to settle the dispute with their South Korean counterparts.
真实的就应该讨回公道，爱美之心人皆有之，这么伤害为了变美而甘愿承受皮肉之苦的人真的应该受到惩罚，个人认为应该放到国际的层面上解决～～
[If the facilities were unlicensed] the protesters should demand compensation. Everyone likes being pretty, people who take advantage of those in pursuit of beauty and harm them should be punished. Personally, I think the incident should be settled at the government level…

author: Oiwan Lam


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One of the Russian Internet’s Founding Fathers Wants to ‘Erase Syria From the Map,’ and Here’s Why the US Is Being Blamed · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Image by Kevin Rothrock.
Moscow’s intervention in Syria is having some funny consequences back home in Russia. One of the strangest episodes in this story is Anton Nossik’s fervent support for the new airstrikes. One of the leading experts on the Russian Internet, a founder of the popular news website Lenta.ru, and widely regarded as one of the key architects of the Russian blogosphere, Nossik shocked many last week when he published on his blog an enthusiastic endorsement of the Kremlin’s new bombing campaign in Syria. Nossik went a bit further than endorsing Russian airstrikes, too, backing anything that helps “erase Syria from the face of the Earth.”
Nossik is a prominent member of Moscow’s democratic opposition, regularly speaking out against political repression in Russia (notably the Kremlin’s crackdown on Internet freedom). He is also Jewish and has spent a significant amount of time in Israel, where he worked as a journalist from 1990 until 1997.
In his October 1 LiveJournal post, where he promotes the destruction of Syria, Nossik says he, “like any Israeli,” appreciates the need to use armed force against Syria. “Whoever is bombing Syria today, I’m all for it,” Nossik wrote, adding, “and if it’s wiped off the world map, I won’t shed a tear—I’ll just say thank you.” He went on to explain that Syria, over the past 70 years, has contributed nothing to the Middle East “except aggression, wars, cannibalism, chaos, and sorrow.” Nossik concludes with a facetious message to Vladimir Putin, whom he invites into the Jewish faith, in order to escape concerns in the afterlife (which Nossik, as a Jew, doesn’t believe in) about any Syrian children Russia’s bombs might be killing.
Nossik got himself into more trouble when he appeared on Echo of Moscow to discuss his blog post. In an interview, he said he welcomes the deaths of “women, children, and the elderly” in Syria. When asked, “But these are people?” Nossik answered, “No, they are Syrians.”
Though his comments ostensibly support the Kremlin’s airstrikes, several public figures have pounced on Nossik for hate speech. His position has been wildly unpopular with most Russians, both among supporters and critics of Russia's intervention in Syria. Some even see it as grounds for police action. Georgy Fedorov, a member of the Civic Chamber (which advises the Russian president), has formally appealed to the Attorney General, asking prosecutors to investigate Nossik’s blog post for inciting xenophobia and religious hatred.
Additionally, Ilya Remeslo, a self-described lawyer who frequently taunts members of the opposition online, has launched a petition on Change.org addressed to the Moscow Investigative Committee and District Attorney. Remeslo is asking police to investigate Nossik for inciting hatred and appealing to unleash an aggressive war, both of which are outlawed by Russia’s Criminal Code. The petition currently has a little more than 2,000 signatures.
The news website Russkaya Planeta, which lost much of its staff last December under mysterious editorial circumstances, obtained a copy of Fedorov’s letter to prosecutors and was the first to report it. Russkaya Planeta’s story implies rather ludicrously that Nossik might be acting on instructions from US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft. As evidence, the website notes that Nossik and Tefft “met secretly just the day before” at a gathering of Russian bloggers at the American embassy in Moscow. As evidence, Russkaya Planeta points to one of Nossik’s posts on Instagram, where he said Tefft had spoken the words “mazel tov.”
The actual Instagram post, however, turns out to be from late May at Yuri Kanner’s 60th birthday party. Kanner is the president of the Russian Jewish Center. Both Tefft and Nossik attended the party, though Nossik’s photograph suggests that Tefft said “mazel tov” to the entire crowd, not to anyone privately.
Russkaya Planeta suggests that the phrase “mazel tov” (spoken, the website explains, “in the context of today’s strained US-Russian relations and information war”) was a signal to anti-Kremlin bloggers to activate against the government. How this explains Nossik’s bloodthirsty support for Russian airstrikes in Syria is anybody’s guess, but just prompting such questions is probably as much as Russkaya Planeta ever hoped to do.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Undercover Israeli Soldiers Infiltrate Palestinian Protesters Before Turning Their Guns at Them · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

The undercover Israeli “protesters” seen pointing guns at Palestinian protesters in a still from a video taken by AFP and shared on YouTube today. Still shared by @joeyayoub on Twitter
Footage showing Israeli soldiers dressed as Palestinians in a protest has surfaced online. The video, taken by news agency AFP, reportedly shows a number of undercover Israeli soldiers throwing rocks at Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops alongside Palestinian protesters outside Beit El, in the occupied West Bank. One of the undercover soldiers is even carrying a Hamas flag.
The soldiers are then seen bringing out their guns and shooting at the protesters who attempt to flee. While most others flee, a protester is seen being beaten on the ground by the undercover soldiers who are soon joined by their comrades, seen in uniform. The video also shows a protester in a black t-shirt taken by the IDF and left on the floor, injured.
According to AFP, three protesters were injured by the IDF in this incident.
The following video shows one of the undercover soldiers shooting a protester in the leg.
According to Al Jazeera, quoting an Israeli Army spokesman, “around 350 Palestinians had clashed with Israeli troops near the [Israeli] settlement of Beit El. She said Israeli soldiers were attacked with molotov cocktails and rocks, and the two wounded were taken to hospitals.”
The same report continues:
Palestinians regularly accuse Israel of placing Arabic-speaking infiltrators among demonstrators in order to make arrests.
Today's flare up happened hours after two stabbing incidents in occupied East Jerusalem and the Israeli city of Kiryat Gan. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers — residents of Israeli settlements built in occupied areas of Palestine that the international community considers to be illegal — have been ongoing for three weeks following recent skirmishes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and the surrounding Old City.
Fadi Arouri shares more photographs on both Facebook and Twitter of the same incident in which the Israeli infiltrators were involved:
Israeli undercover unit & attacking & arresting #Palestinian protesters near #Ramallah today https://t.co/FwS1ybmmWR pic.twitter.com/L4NbgvUJBw
— Fadi Arouri (@farouri) October 7, 2015
On Facebook, he explains:
A combination of pictures shows Israeli undercover unit attacks palestinian protesters and arresting 3 of them, one of the protesters shot from a close distance in the head. this is during clashes near DCO / Beit Eil Checkpoint in the north of Al-Bireh city in occupied west bank
Diana A. describes another video of the same incident, shared on Facebook by Shehab News Agency, as “sickening”:
This #Video of secret police shooting & arresting injured youth is sicking seriously #BeitEl clashes now – 3 injured https://t.co/tXsQpkO09s
— Diana A. (@ManaraRam) October 7, 2015
This Shehab News Agency video has been viewed more than 60k times and counting.
According to Israeli newspaper Haartez, settlers were involved in the incident:
Two Palestinian youths were reported injured, one seriously, by live fire from IDF troops and settlers east of Bethlehem on Wednesday morning. It is not known at this stage whether the youths were hit by fire from the IDF or settlers.
The incident occurred when settlers joined soldiers in attempting to clear stone-throwing Palestinians from the road leading to the settlement of Tekoa.
While the Palestine News Network describes the undercover “protesters” as undercover Israeli special agents:
At least three were seriously injured and then kidnapped by IOF and undercover special agents (Musta’ribeen) during a protest that was headed towards the Beit Eil military checkpoint east of Ramallah on Wednesday afternoon.
Sources said that the armed masked special agents have opened fire, alongside the IOF, on the protesters. The demonstration was launched from Birzeit University near Ramallah, and was headed towards the Beit El military checkpoint north Ramallah.
One of the three wounded was shot in the head, and dragged down by the soldiers. There are unconfirmed news on his death as his injury is highly critical.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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Arrest and Prison Time for Journalists and Bloggers over Facebook Posts in Lebanon · Global Voices
Abir Ghattas

A chart by Jordanian satirist Wael Shateely criticising the crackdown on freedom of speech in the region. The quotes read: “It's best to keep quiet,” “Oppress yourself before you are oppressed,” “Leave responsibility to the officials,” and “Enlightened thoughts cause headaches.” source: www.sha3teely.com
Two Lebanese Facebook users found themselves sentenced to prison for posts they wrote on the social networking site.
On October 6, 2015, political activist Michel Douaihy was released after being detained for nine days over a Facebook post. In his post, Douaihy criticized what he described as special treatment afforded to Salafi fugitive Ahmad Al-Assir during his arrest. The Lebanese cleric Ahmad Al-Assir was arrested in Beirut International Airport on August 15, after being on the run for two years. Al-Assir went into hiding after creating an armed militia in Saida in southern Lebanon and ordering his men to open fire on a Lebanese Army checkpoint in June 2013. Al-Assir tried to escape to Nigeria via Cairo, using fake Palestinian identity papers. Many activists criticised how Al-Assir was “pampered” during his arrest, and not beaten up the way activists are sometimes abused.
Douaihy (left) and Nazzal. Both images taken from Facebook.
The General Security office was the official governmental body that arrested Douaihy, they charged him with incitement of sectarianism, libel, and defamation. These are the same charges that led to the sentencing of journalist Mohammad Nazzal of Al-Akhbar newspaper. Nazzal was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of US $633.
Although Douaihy was released, he was indicted under Article 386 of the Lebanese penal code that criminalizes libel and defamation against the president, other public officials, and private individuals. Douaihy was sentenced to two months in prison. However, this period was substituted by the nine days he had already spent in jail and a fine of USD $200.
A copy of the indictment of Michel Douaihy
Twitter users launched a #FreeMichelDouaihy hashtag to raise awareness about his case. Supporters also used the Article 13 hashtag, in reference to the Article 13 of the Lebanese constitution that guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of the press “within the limits established by law.” Lebanon's current press law (written in 1962) offers no explicit protections for journalists or bloggers. Along with the online campaign, Douaihy's friends and family protested in front in his home town Zogherta, in the north in Lebanon.
بالصور.. اعتصام في زغرتا احتجاجا على اعتقال #ميشال_الدويهي – #الحريه_لميشال_الدويهي http://t.co/QZt55GZmCp pic.twitter.com/gj14cIgw3A
— IMLebanonNews (@Imlebanonnews) October 5, 2015
“In pictures, protests in Zogherta against the arrest of Michel Douaihy.”
Since 2009, more than 15 bloggers and/or activists have been arrested, interrogated and threatened in Lebanon because of something they wrote online. Mohamad Najem, a Lebanese human rights advocate and co-founder of Beirut's Social Media Exchange, tweeted in support of Michel Douaihi:
لا أعرف ميشال، لكن لكل شخص الحرية بالكتابة والتعبير عن رأيه ان كان على الفيسبوك او اي وسيلة أخرى. #الحريه_لميشال_الدويهي #بيروت
— Mohamad محمد (@monajem) October 4, 2015
I don't know Michel, but everyone has the right to freely express their opinions on Facebook or any other channel #Free_Michel_Douaihi #Beirut
Journalist Lara Saker tweeted:
اليوم ميشال الدويهي، بكرا مين؟ #الحرية_لميشال_الدويهي — Lara Sakr (@larasaker) October 4, 2015
Today it is Michel Douaihi, who will it be tomorrow?
Similarly to Douaihy, journalist Mohammad Nazzal was sentenced in absentia to six months in jail and a fine of US $633 over a post he published on Facebook two years ago that contained the sentence: “the judicial system is as low as my shoes” (#القضاء_وصرمايتي_سوا), which was grounds for libel and defamation. Nazzal tweeted about the sentencing:
أخبرتني المحامية اليوم أن محكمة الجزاء في بيروت أصدرت بحقي حكمها.. غيابياً.. والذي قضى بسجني 6 أشهر. ماشي يا بني آدمين :) .
— Mohammad Nazzal (@Nazzal_Mohammad) October 5, 2015
My lawyer told me today, that the penal court in Beirut sentenced me in absentia to 6 months in jail… FINE! :)
Journalists and bloggers in Lebanon and the Middle East expressed on social media their support to Nazzal:
أنا صحافية، وبغض النظر عن موافقتي أو رفضي للعبارة التي أوردها الزميل محمد نزال، أرفض تكميم الأفواه، وأطالب بإسقاط الدعوى المرفوعة عليه. وأؤكد على حريته الكاملة في التعبير عن رأيه، من دون تعريضه لأي ملاحقة أو سجن. فإذا كان هاشتاغ #القضاء_وصرمايتي_سوا عقابه السجن، فلنسجن كلنا معاً. #كلنا_محمد_نزال #القضاء_مش_قدر #مع_حرية_التعبير
I am a journalist, regardless of my opinion towards my colleague Mohammed Nazzal’s status, I refuse oppression of speech, and I demand that the lawsuit filed against my colleague be dropped as soon as possible. And for the assurance of his freedom to express his opinion, without exposing him to any prosecution. If a mere social media post will lead to one’s prosecution, then let us all be prosecuted. #We_All_Are_Mohammd_Nazzal #With_FreeSpeech
Journalist Ramez el Kadi tweeted the statement that was widely shared:
أنا صحافي/ة، أرفض تكميم الأفواه، وأطالب بإسقاط الدعوى المرفوعة على الزميل محمد نزال. من الممكن أنني أرفض ومن… http://t.co/6qSEYvTOSZ — رامز القاضي (@ramezelkadi) October 7, 2015
I am a journalist, regardless of my opinion towards my colleague Mohammed Nazzal’s status, I refuse oppression of speech, and I demand that the lawsuit filed against my colleague to be dropped as soon as possible…
Journalist Ghassan Saoud published on his Facebook page a statement in support of Nazzal, whom he described as:
محمد نزال صحافي لم يرتشي يوماً، ولو بكرافات أو كارت حفلة فنية أو حسم هون أو هونيك..
Posted by Ghassan Saoud on Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Mohamed is a journalist who was never bribed or compromised.
Saoud pointed out that this attack on Nazzal is beyond an attack on freedom of expression, it is a politically orchestrated personal attack against Nazzal and the kind of journalist he is.

author: Abir Ghattas


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Belarusian Author and Journalist Svetlana Alexievich Wins 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2015 has been awarded to the Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich. The Swedish Academy, which awards the prestigious prize, commended Alexievich “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”
BREAKING NEWS The 2015 #NobelPrize in Literature is awarded to the Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich pic.twitter.com/MABhwFJ8Lu
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 8, 2015
A Belarusian author writing in Russian and an investigative journalist, Alexievich has been praised for her documentary reports depicting life and war in the Soviet Union and in the post-Soviet era, based on many in-depth interviews. She is the 14 woman to win one of the 111 awarded Nobel Prizes for Literature, and the first Russian-language author to be granted the honor since 1987, when poet Joseph Brodsky received the prize.
Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, told journalists on October 8 at the announcement of the award in Stockholm that Alexievich “has offered us new historical material and she has offered us a new genre.” Wall Street Journal also highlighted the writer's more current work, calling her “a vocal critic of her country’s leader and a prominent voice against Russia’s involvement in Ukraine.”
Alexievich's works, mixing fiction and documentary prose to convey emotional stories of the role of women in World War II and the Chernobyl disaster based on witness accounts, have been translated into many languages and won international awards. But her books are not published in her home country, Belarus, ruled by long-standing president Alyaksandr Lukashenka, due to a continuing crackdown on free speech and pervasive censorship.
Alexievich herself has lived most of her life in various European countries, traveling there on writers’ scholarships. She has openly criticised Lukashenko's tight grip on Belarus, including the country's horrible human rights record and the continued use of the death penalty.
Speaking at a press conference in Minsk, Belarus shortly after the award was announced, Alexievich said she was “not a barricade person,” but that the current political climate in Belarus “drags us to the barricades, because what's happening is shameful.”
Chronicling the horrors and difficulties of life in the various historical crises in the first person through the words of witnesses, Alexievich has seen her “investigative reports” become a favorite of the critics. The Swedish Academy applauded the writer's commitment to preserving the voices of her sources and said that “[B]y means of her extraordinary method – a carefully composed collage of human voices – Alexievich deepens our comprehension of an entire era.”
Svetlana Alexievich, who is now 67, began recording audio accounts of women soldiers who took part in World War II while working as a young local newspaper reporter in Belarus the 1970s. The accounts resulted in her first book, “War's Unwomanly Face.” For a long time, it was barred from publication as it focused on personal histories and did not emphasize the role of the Communist state, and only saw print in 1985.
Alexievich continued to use the first-person testimonies approach when she documented the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and recorded the grief-laden accounts of the mothers who lost their sons in the conflict in her next book, “Zinky Boys.” “I need to catch a person at a moment when they have been shaken up,” Alexievich told Russia's Ogonyok weekly magazine in 2014. “My ear is always out on the streets.”
The writer and reporter then turned her attention to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, which, although it happened in Ukraine in 1986, affected Belarus more than any other country, since the site was so close to the border. In 1998, she published “Voices From Chernobyl,” a collection of haunting accounts from people who had worked on the nuclear clean-up in the aftermath of the disaster. Many of her interviewees have since passed away, and their voices now remain in her writing.
Alexievich says it's a shame the characters from Voices of Chernobyl aren't around to hear about her Nobel Prize. pic.twitter.com/kfmNRwKsBb
— max seddon (@maxseddon) October 8, 2015
Alexievich's most recent book, “Second-Hand Time” (2013), is her latest non-fiction work examining the legacy of the Soviet mindset over 20 years after the collapse of the USSR, and is the latest in her grand cycle of books, “Voices of Utopia,” where life in the Soviet Union is depicted from the perspective of the individual.
Наш главный капитал — страдание. Это единственное, что мы постоянно добываем. Не нефть, не газ, а страдание. Я подозреваю, что именно оно и манит, и отталкивает, и удивляет в моих книгах западного читателя.
Our main capital is our suffering. This is the only thing we're constantly mining. Not oil, not gas, but suffering. I suspect that it is that which draws, and repels, and surprises the western reader in my books.
The author has drawn criticism from the Belarusian intellectual elite for writing in Russian, and not in the Belarusian language, going against the grain of a strong drive to revive national culture and language in Belarus. Alexievich herself has said that “there is more European” in her biography than either Russian or Belarusian.
“I consider myself a person from the Belarusian world, from Russian culture, and a cosmopolitan of the world,” Alexievich says.
— max seddon (@maxseddon) October 8, 2015
Svetlana Alexievich was born 31 May 1948 in the Ukrainian town of Ivano-Frankivsk, to a Belarusian father and a Ukrainian mother. When her father had completed his military service, the family moved to Belarus, where both of her parents worked as teachers. After finishing school, Alexievich worked as a teacher and as a reporter, and studied journalism at the University of Minsk in 1967-1972. She currently resides in Minsk, where she returned after living in Europe to work on her new book.

author: Tanya Lokot


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Netizen Report: Is Egypt Blocking Voice Calls on WhatsApp and Skype? · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Abla Fahita, a comical hand puppet and frequent guest on Egyptian late night television. Authorities briefly identified her as a security threat after she appeared in a controversial Vodafone ad in 2013. Screen capture from advertisement via Mada Masr.
In Egypt, many users reported this week that they could not use voice calling features on Skype, WhatsApp, or Viber. Technology consultant and digital activist Amr Gharbeia has been tracking these developments and interviewing users across the country to ascertain what exactly is happening and whether the apparent blocks on certain services came as the result of a government order. On Facebook, Gharbeia wrote that long distance VoIP calls via Skype have been blocked in Egypt since 2010, but that this appeared to have extended to WhatsApp during the first week of October. He continued:
There are conflicting reports about the state’s policy regarding blocking. Official statements from NTRA [Egypt’s telecommunications regulator] deny blocking, customer service representatives publicly deny blocking, but after pressure they mention to a lot of complaining users that blocking decision is ordered by NTRA….
Using the Internet for long distance calling is illegal, punishable by jail or fine according to the article 72 of the telecommunications law issued in 2003. This law is one of many flaws in the telecommunications law, but even with that, it is stated that protecting consumers’ interests is part of NTRA’s mission.
Journalist Mohammad Nazzal was sentenced in absentia to six months in jail and a fine of US $700 over a post he published on Facebook two years ago that contained the sentence “the judicial system is as low as my shoes,” which authorities say constituted libel and defamation. In a separate case, political activist Michel Douaihy was detained for nine days over a Facebook post in which he criticized authorities’ treatment of radical Sunni cleric Ahmed Al Assir during his arrest last August.
Vietnamese blogger Ta Phong Tan was released from prison after serving three years of a 10-year sentence. She was arrested on anti-state charges for her work reporting on corruption and abuse within the police and court systems.
Venezuela blocks Bitcoin sites in crusade against foreign currency
A number of websites were blocked by Venezuelan CANTV, according to reports. The reason for the block remains unclear. The two leading theories are that it was either caused by a technical failure or was a deliberate attempt at filtering the sites. Among those sites affected were a number of Bitcoin related websites, including coindesk.com and blockchain.info
The Thai Ministry of Information and Communications Technology has been ordered to reduce infrastructure connecting Thailand to the global Internet so that all traffic will pass through a single gateway, allowing the government greater capacity to monitor and potentially filter online content. In response to the proposal, Thai netizens staged a “virtual sit-in” on September 30 by flooding government websites with traffic that forced them to go offline. The gateway is another in a series of measures the NCPO has taken to curtail free expression since the coup, including passing a draconian security law and cracking down on journalists and independent media.
An Indonesian university student was detained and charged with defaming a police officer after uploading a video of the office attempting to extort him for money during a routine traffic stop. He has been charged under Indonesia’s Electronic Transaction and Information Act.
Syrian-Palestinian software engineer Bassel Khartabil was moved from his prison to an unknown location, leading to fears that his life may be in danger. Bassel was detained by the Syrian government on March 15, 2012, and tortured for five days before being held incommunicado for nine months. He was finally charged in December 2012 with “spying for an enemy state” and was transferred to Adra Prison, where he remained until October 3, 2015. An online petition calls for his immediate release.
Reporta, a mobile app developed by the International Women’s Media Foundation calls itself “the only comprehensive security app available worldwide created specifically for journalists.” But it had barely launched when researchers found it to be riddled with security flaws. Intended to help media workers and bloggers conduct their work in a safe and secure fashion, with features such as check-in system for journalists in transit and a “panic” button, security experts are deeply concerned about the organization's evident failure to meet basic security standards in their technology. The organization does not disclose where data collected on the app is sent, and it is difficult to determine how well protected this information is while in transit. There is also no evidence that it was publicly audited, a standard practice for new security tools.
The special rapporteur for free expression for the Organization of American States raised concerns about a proposed surveillance law in a letter to the Peruvian government. The law, formally known as the Legislative Decree No. 1182 but known among digital activists as “Ley Stalker” (“Stalker Law”), would allow law enforcement authorities access to mobile phone data without a warrant and requires telecommunication companies to retain data for up to three years. The rapporteur emphasized the need for such legislation to undergo public debate, and asked for more information about the justification for and proportionality under existing laws.
The European Court of Justice declared the EU-US Safe Harbor Agreement to be invalid in a landmark decision this week. Under Safe Harbor, the EU afforded the transfer of commercial data between the EU and the US despite the EU’s higher standards for privacy protections, provided that signatory US companies agree to comply with a set of privacy principles. However, the court indicated that the revelations of PRISM and US government surveillance of data undermined this agreement and Europeans’ right to privacy.
The Nameless Coalition, a global coalition of NGOS that includes Global Voices called on Facebook to amend its policy requiring users show their “real” or legal names on their profiles. In an open letter, the coalition writes that Facebook “maintains a system that disregards the circumstances of users in non-western countries, exposes its users to danger, disrespects the identities of its users, and curtails free speech.” The group has called for several changes to the policy, including allowing users to contest the requirement through a written appeals process and providing clearer documentation on the process of submitting identity information when necessary. Several other media outlets have reported on the letter, to which Facebook has yet to issue a formal response.
Balancing Act: Press Freedom at Risk as EU Struggles to Match Action With Values”—Committee to Protect Journalists
Juan Arellano, Mary Aviles, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Marianne Diaz, Lisa Ferguson, Weiping Li and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


text:
‘Running on Fumes’—Trinidad & Tobago Faces $8.5 Billion Deficit · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Photo by OEA – OAS, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
October 5 was perhaps the most critical day for citizens of Trinidad and Tobago since the country's general elections on September 7. Nearly a month after the twin island republic's new government was elected, the current finance minister revealed that the People's National Movement, led by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, has inherited a TT$8.5 billion (just over US$1.3 billion) deficit.
That's a dramatic change from the TT$6.5 billion (about US$1 billion) surplus that the country had at the start of former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar's tenure. The previous administration's spending increased by 33% over its five-year term in office, reportedly “maxing out” its overdraft facility with the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago to 98% of the legal limit.
During his presentation of the country's 2015/16 budget, Finance Minister Colm Imbert attributed the sad state of the country's financial affairs to the alleged corruption and “squandermania” of the outgoing government, saying that Trinidad and Tobago's economy was “running on fumes”. The minister explained:
Notwithstanding billions of dollars in borrowings, tax amnesties, extraordinary dividends, sale of assets and high oil and gas prices, our cash balances at the Treasury moved from a positive $6.5 billion on May 24, 2010 — we were in credit then — to a negative of $8.5 billion in the middle of September 2015: a reversal of $15 billion, Madame Speaker. What this means [is] we are unable to use the resources of our surplus funds, including the Green Fund or the Unemployment Fund, since they are pledged against the overdraft and are unavailable for draw-down.
For a nation that still relies heavily on oil and natural gas revenues, the low global price per barrel of oil is not encouraging given the financial deficit.
You can read the budget presentation, in its entirety, here, or watch it on YouTube:
In his parliamentary address, Minister Imbert rhetorically wondered if citizens have reaped the benefits of the money spent, such as a decrease in crime, better healthcare and improved public services:
The results of the General Election show that the answer to these questions is a resounding NO.
The TT$63 billion budget he outlined for the coming year included some key points of interest. In a country that is struggling to control rising levels of violent crime, the Ministry of National Security got the largest financial allocation. In an effort to reduce the country's fuel subsidy, there was an immediate increase in the price of super and diesel gasoline.
Value-added tax will be lowered and the property tax reintroduced come January 1 2016, while personal exemption from income tax will have a larger earning margin — from TT$60,000 (about US$10,000) to TT$72,000 (just over US$11,000) per year. There was also a renewed commitment towards agriculture.
Reactions were mixed. In a public Facebook post, controversial activist Inshan Ishmael was concerned that the increase in gasoline prices would be passed on to consumers in other areas:
A 15 % increase in Diesel in now [sic] way should affect the price of food.. let me explain, if the transport that pulls containers charge $200 more, then the 8,000 can of peas and carrots in the container needs to be divided equally between this increase which is not even a cent, also the local transport to the supermarkets is negligible so there should be NO increase in food price as with any other item if an average is used. But this is Trinidad and the suppliers who doh care about nobody and the supermarket owners who already making 20 – 40% in profit ready to recalculate to dig out our eyes even more…
The predictions were already coming true; just one day after the budget presentation, it was announced that taxi fares will be going up.
Facebook user Nigel Thompson, however, was concerned that the focus was on the wrong issue:
Seeing a number of people saying stuff about the budget …. Higher gas prices are and will be tough to swallow, true …
What I'm not seeing you saying is how we got here ….. The country is almost 8bl in deficit and we were at the end of our overdraught facility.
Yet I'm seeing ‘a gov't with no vision’, ‘dey mad’ etc. seems long after elections people won't think for themselves ….
We are here because of the misgivings and poor management of the previous administration, no other reason.
[…]
Until Trinis willing to accept the truth and are willing to do what's right regardless of affiliation we will continue to end up in situations like this. We are too affluent a country to be here.
Political blogger and Facebook user Rhoda Bharath called the wanton spending of the Persad-Bissessar administration a “gangbang of the Treasury”, adding:
If the country is hit by a disaster tomorrow what overdraft facilities does the state have access to to fund a relief effort?
98% of our overdraft facility gone.
Keep bickering about a reduced fuel subsidy.
Wired868 criticised the budget's stance on culture and sport and also took on the issue of corruption, noting that the new government could have tackled the issue more adeptly:
How come nothing in that 41-page budget speaks to recovering money stolen from the treasury or ensuring that big business pays its fair share of taxes?
The former prime minister criticised the budget, calling it “inflationary” and saying that there were promises of “mega-projects” with no rationale as to how these would be funded. She also predicted International Monetary Fund involvement by March next year, but avoided admitting any responsibility for the country's current financial situation; instead, she asked the finance minister to clarify how he arrived at some of his figures.
Minister Imbert defended his budget, saying that it was based on “inescapable facts”.
In the Facebook group “Full Support for Dr. Keith Rowley”, Leo Remy Fernandez couldn't believe the gall of the opposition:
The PP presented deficit budgets for five years; refused to implement revenue earning policies/strategies to balance the budget; left the country to run on ‘fumes'; did not take the population into its confidence and speak the truth about the real state of the economy and now want to talk about deception.
But many supporters of the previous administration were not pleased with the budget. Anne Rae, on the Facebook page True Trini Discussing Real Issues, said while defending the spending:
They claim no money in treasury but want to build rapid rail which will benefit a few……it will not bring anything new to our economy except increased imports.
Naturally, satirical websites got in on the budget commentary, and memes soon began to abound, especially after former prime minister's declaration that she was proud of how her government handled the economy:
Meme, widely shared on Facebook.
Meme, widely shared on Facebook.
Meme, widely shared on Facebook.
In a public post, Facebook user Kyon Esdelle put a humourous spin on things by posting an image of the famous Geico gecko, along with the caption:
I just saved 70Billion by switching to PNM
The irony, though, is that Trinidad and Tobago's new economic reality is no laughing matter.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Stopped and Frisked by Facebook: ‘Real Name’ Policy Puts Speech Before Privacy · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Preetha G and Sands Fish. Photos via Facebook.
My friend Sands Fish is a data scientist and a grad student at MIT, and, like most people in his demographic, he uses Facebook. But Sands took an unplanned break from the platform this summer when Facebook sent him an automated message formally requesting that he verify his name with the company, or risk having his account suspended. Indeed, Facebook requires people to display their “real” names on their profiles.
The unusualness of Sands’ first name, especially in combination with his last, seemed to have sent Facebook's name verification robots the wrong signal, and suddenly he had seven days to submit some form of state-issued ID or lose access to his account. After a few weeks of frustration, Sands complied and sent the company a scan of his driver’s license, proving that “Sands Fish” was not some maritime-flavored in-joke, but in fact is his legal name. His account was reinstated.
Several thousand miles away, in India's southern state of Kerala, a woman named Preetha G had a similar experience. A writer and outspoken feminist, Preetha has 27,000 followers on Facebook. She regularly comments and debates issues of gender and politics on the platform, and is one of many Indian women who see Facebook as space for expressing themselves that they do not have in public life. Kerala-born blogger Inji Pennu, who now lives in Florida, describes Facebook as:
…a place where we could gather around with other women and tell the world, I do not want men to grope me while going to school, I do not want men to tell me what to do at offices, I do not want my parents to give me off in a wedding.
In late July of 2015, a politician in Kerala proposed a ban on women wearing jeans. Preetha was outraged. She started talking about it on Facebook, organizing an opposition. And then the trolls came, piling on harassment and calling her nasty names. She'd dealt with this before. But then something new happened. Her account was suspended, and she received the same message that Sands had just a few weeks earlier.
Like Sands, Preetha was accused of violating the “real name” policy. But it wasn't a robot that reported her. It was another user—perhaps one of the people who had been harassing her. Unlike Sands, she had no grace period, no time to react. With no warning, she was instantly locked out, silenced in the place where she was once most able to speak freely.
Then things got worse. A “Preetha the Prostitute” page appeared on Facebook, featuring doctored images of her in provocative clothing, drinking, and smoking—things that can bring a woman all kinds of trouble in her part of the world. Commenters on another page threatened to hurt her son.
Without access to Facebook, she couldn't respond to these attacks. Other women began to stand up for her, and similar things befell them. When Inji Pennu spoke up about it, she got a message from another user telling her to shut up. “We will choke you on Miami Beach,” the user wrote. Preetha couldn't let this continue. She sent Facebook a scan of her state ID.
The thing is, Preetha had not violated the real name policy. She'd used the name she “uses in real life,” as Facebook requires. And she was not alone. Thousands of other Facebook users, ranging from Native Americans to clergy members to transgendered people, have found that Facebook’s real-name policy does not extend the definition of “realness” or authenticity to include their unquestionably real identities and life circumstances. These and many other communities have pressed upon the issue with the company for years, to little avail.
Thousands of other Facebook users, ranging from Native Americans to clergy members to transgendered people, have found that Facebook’s real-name policy does not extend the definition of “realness” or authenticity to include their unquestionably real identities and life circumstances.
In real life, she leaves out her surname, which indicates social caste. Also known as a caste name, this stands as a marker of India's technically abolished but still very powerful system of social hierarchy.
When Facebook reinstated Preetha's account, her full name appeared on her profile, caste name and all. Some castes are more vulnerable than others. My South Asian colleagues have explained to me that a move like this can give your enemies license to treat you as badly as they like, with impunity. Similarly, police are unlikely to respond to a call from a person of a low caste.
After three weeks of sending urgent requests and pleas to the company, and a series of phone calls between Facebook employees and community members at Global Voices, where Inji and I both work, Preetha's account name was reinstated as she likes it. But for her, this is not really the end of the story. It is ongoing. The Internet has a long memory.
Whoever reported Preetha used Facebook's “report abuse” button as a tactic, a mechanism of silencing. And it worked. Facebook prioritized the attacker’s speech rights over those of the person being attacked. I later learned that Facebook does not evaluate reports like these within the context of recent events and communications between the two parties involved. For example, if the person who filed a name violation report against Preetha was the same person who created the “Preetha the Prostitute” page, this would have had no bearing on Facebook's actions. When the company receives a name violation report, it automatically asks users for ID.
Many of Facebook's moderation techniques rely either on machine learning technologies or on reports from the “Facebook community,” but that concept is a bit like McDonald’s declaring itself a “community of hamburger eaters.” There is nothing in particular that ties Facebook users together, aside from a basic, unremarkable pleasure that human beings take in connecting with one another. And Facebook does not have terms of use—it has “Community Standards,” a term that gives the impression that we all made them up together, or that they somehow naturally evolved from some shared agreement on what is right and good. It is from Facebook’s Community Standards that users first learn that “when people stand behind their opinions and actions with their authentic name and reputation, our community is more accountable.”
Facebook does not have terms of use—it has “Community Standards,” a term that gives the impression that we all made them up together, or that they somehow naturally evolved from some shared agreement on what is right and good.
The treatment that Sands and Preetha received from Facebook invites comparison with being (truly) randomly searched at the airport or carded at a liquor store. But it is actually more akin to profiling, a social media equivalent of stop-and-frisk. Preetha's effort to shed a marker of social class—a proxy for her relative worth as a human being, in the eyes of an antiquated social system—was upended by Facebook's system. The abuse came from another user, but it was the cultural blindness of Facebook's policies that made this possible from the start. And when Preetha explained to the company what had gone wrong, it took far too long for it to pay attention and do something about it.
There are, of course, scenarios in which the use of one's legal name does increase accountability. Facebook has many reasons to stick with this policy, and this is one of them. But more than this, I believe the real name policy is about business. It would be unfeasible, with Facebook's terrifyingly large user base, for the company to check ID at the proverbial door, but not enforcing a real-name policy would also undercut the essence of Facebook's business model. We all know that Facebook makes most of its money from data that it sells to advertisers. Part of what makes this data so valuable and powerful in the global data economy is that it seems, in large part, to be tied to “real” people. Since Facebook cannot actually verify the identities of all of its users, it instead exercises a combination of machine and user-driven social control, a sort of performance of cross-platform verification. While a few users may leave on account of their policies, far more opt to follow the rules for fear of losing the benefits that Facebook brings them.
This situation challenges things we like to put faith in—algorithms, the wisdom of the crowd, the power of free speech.
Maybe you don’t relate to Preetha but you do relate to Sands. Maybe the real name policy will never create, for you, an inconvenience or a life-changing experience of risk and fear. But it is clear that Facebook's technologies and policies have a long way to go before they can fully understand and appreciate the responsibility that they carry when they decide to dictate what and who is “real” in the world.
In the aftermath of these events, Global Voices community members worked with advocates from India’s Internet Democracy Project, Digital Rights Foundation of Pakistan, the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation to draft an open letter to the company demanding concrete changes in the way this policy is implemented. Although it seems to be turning heads, we know there is a long way to go before these problems are behind us.

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


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A New Collection of Children’s Books Intends to Subvert Your Ideas of Princesses · Global Voices
Global Voices Latin America

Princesas vs Mujeres extraordinarias. Los cuentos inspirados en Frida Kahlo y Violeta Parra http://t.co/v8xLAwBxoY pic.twitter.com/7i6yddrYa4
— verne (@verne) September 20, 2015
Princesses vs. Extraordinary women. Stories inspired by Frida Kahlo and Violeta Parra.
The Argentinian publishing house Sudestada has launched a collection of children's books titled “Anti-Princesses” that highlight as their main characters the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and the Chilean composer Violeta Parra.
The heroines of these stories neither live in castles nor wait for their charming prince to come and rescue them. The only thing that have in common is that they're Latin Americans who escaped the clichés of their time.
Nadia Fink, the author of these illustrated works, says these figures from Latin American history offered the perfect contrast to European tales of princesses:
“Las Antiprincesas seguirán siendo latinoamericanas porque decidimos contar la historia de Nuestra América, en un continente que nos late y nos identifica. Un poco es contraponerlos a los relatos de las princesas en un entorno continental de Europa, alejado de nuestra cultura y nuestro paisaje”.
The Anti-Princesses will keep being Latin American because we decided to tell the story of our America, in a continent that makes us keep our feelings flowing towards it and that gives us our identity. We tried to contrast them a little bit with the princesses’ tales in Europe, far away from our culture and our landscape.

author: Global Voices Latin America


text:
Angolan Activist’s Health in Danger After Nearly Three Weeks of Hunger Strike in Prison · Global Voices
Manuel Ribeiro

The 15 activists arrested in Angola. Photo from Amnesty International
Luaty Beirao, a musician and activist who was arrested in June 2015 after Angolan authorities accused him and 14 others of allegedly plotting a coup-de-etat, has been on hunger strike in prison for 19 days now.
The 33-year-old is reportedly in “critical condition.” Beirao started the hunger strike, his second, alongside several other detainees to demand their release from the maximum security prison, where some of the activists are held in solitary confinement and not allowed to see their families or lawyers, according to human rights group Amnesty International. Those arrested say they weren't planning a coup, but had merely gathered to discuss peaceful means of protesting the current government's repressive policies.
Beirao has not eaten or drank anything for nearly three weeks now. According to a report from a family member, his organs are slowly shutting down and he risks death if he continues on as he is.
Rapper Luaty Beirão, one of the 15 Angolans jailed for allegedly planning a coup, has been on hunger strike for 18 days now. Spread message
— zenaida machado (@zenaidamz) octubre 8, 2015
The 15 activists were arrested after having taken part in several group book readings and discussions; one of the books was “From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation” by Gene Sharp, which outlines nonviolent strategies of resistance to repressive regimes. According to pro-democracy website Maka Angola, the group reportedly wanted to apply what they learned to peacefully demonstrate against the rule of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in the country's seat of power since 1979.
Luaty Beirao. Photo: Private(used with permission)
Authorities maintained, however, that the activists were caught red-handed planning acts that went against public order and state security. Another activist was arrested at a later time in the investigation, making this process known as the 15+1. Two others were eventually caught up in the case too.
Ninety days have come and gone since their arrests in late June 2015, making their detention illegal for having surpassed the maximum time that authorities can hold a suspect during an investigation. In addition to Beirao, who holds both Portuguese and Angolan citizenship, those charged are:
Since their arrests, many organizations have spoken out. Peaceful protests demanding their release were held in the capital city of Luanda and in some European capitals, but in Luanda the protests were violently repressed by police.
Angola's human rights record leaves much to be desired. The government has brutally beat back protests and thrown criminal charges at peaceful dissidents as a way of silencing those who step out of line. President Dos Santos has also been accused of corruption on many occasions for his own profit, while the majority of Angolans live on a few dollars a day.
On September 10, 2015, the European Union released a joint statement with various other local and international organizations such as Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders and Index on Censorship calling for Angola to release all political prisoners and human rights defenders as well as to respect the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.
European Parliament member Ana Gomes, from Portugal's socialist party, visited Angola in July 2015, and in her visit report she condemned Angolan authorities for its violations of freedom of expression and human rights. Gomes also criticized Portuguese media silence on the matter due to Angolan investors’ purchase of major news outlets in Portugal.
Political debate site Central Angola posted on Facebook reports of Beirao’s last known condition:
Situação de Luaty Beirão é caótica.
Luaty foi hoje visitado pela mãe, que fez parte de um grupo de 10 pessoas que preocupados com a situação, foram visita-lo, e foi a única pessoa permitida a vê-lo.
Segundo a mãe do ativista, Luaty está seriamente debilitado, não consegue nem pelo menos engolir líquidos. Teme-se que as próximas horas sejam decisivas para a vida do ativista. Na conversa com a mãe, Luaty pede a sociedade que faça alguma coisa, e frisou que não vai abdicar da greve de fome pois está convicto de que não atentou contra a vida de Eduardo dos Santos, o presidente de Angola a quase 40 anos.
Luaty Beirao's condition is chaotic. Luaty's mum was the only one from a group of 10 to see him. According to her, Luaty is seriously weak, he can't consume any food or liquids. There are fears that the next hours will be decisive for this activist's life. Talking to his mum, Luaty asks society to help him and claims he won't stop his hunger strike because he 100% never made an attempt on the life of Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola for almost 40 years.
On social media, supporters organized a vigil in Luanda to show their solidarity with him on October 8:
Vigil for Luaty Beirao. The signs read, “Luaty, hang in there. You're a true warrior”; “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”; and “God has not abandoned you, brother, he has plans for you.” Photo: Central Angola(used with permition)
The platform Liberdade aos Presos Políticos em Angola (Freedom for Political Prisoners in Angola) posted a video of the gathering on Facebook with the following description:
Vigília pelo Luaty Beirão a acontecer agora na Sagrada Família.
Pátria Unida, Liberdade,
Um só povo, uma só Nação !
#liberdadeja #osilenciomata #queremosoluatyvivo
Vigil for Luaty Beirao taking place at the Sagrada Família church.
United Nation, Liberty,
One people, one Nation!
#FreedomNow #SilenceKills #WeWantLuatyAlive
In the clip, attendees hold up candles towards the night sky and sing the Angola national anthem:
Com as forças progressistas do mundo, orgulhosos lutaremos pela paz. Com as forças progressistas do mundo, agora avante revolução pelo poder popular. Pátria Unida, liberdade. Um só povo, uma só Nação!
With all the progressive forces of the world, proudly we will fight for peace. With all the progressive forces of the world, lets move forward by the power of people's revolution. Country united, freedom. One people, one nation!
Amnesty International has launched an urgent petition in Portuguese for Beirao's and all other political prisoners’ release in Angola. Those interested in signing can find the document here.

author: Manuel Ribeiro


text:
‘Doubles’ Price Increase Sends Trinidad & Tobago Foodies Into Tailspin · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Trinidad doubles is one of the best street food you can get in the world…” Photo by Edmund Gall, used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
Trinidad & Tobago street foodies are in crisis. After the country's new finance minister presented the 2015/16 budget in parliament last week, announcing an immediate hike in gas prices, there was concern that the increase would trigger higher costs in other areas. One day after the budget presentation, taxi fares rose. Fair enough.
But all hell broke loose when doubles vendors—the sellers of the nation's most beloved breakfast food—announced that the flatbread (called “barra”) filled with chickpeas (called “channa”) would now be sold at TT$5 (US$0.79)—a one dollar increase, despite the fact that the raw materials cost has remained the same.
There was an immediate uproar online and on social media. Satirical website Wired868 was all over the issue:
It. Just. Got. Real.
The 48-year-old Mahase Kanhai, who, curiously, claims to have been a doubles vendor for the past 35 years, will be remembered for throwing the first blow.
“It was $4 but we had no choice but to increase the price (to $5),” Kanhai told the Trinidad Guardian. “We added the cost of everything and with the passing of the budget… Gas gone up so everything will also go up soon.”
It was the combination of simplistic economics and ruthless capitalism that has characterised local ‘businessmen’ for time immemorial.
[…]
Of course, even at $5, doubles remains the cheapest way to simultaneously satisfy your appetite and clog your arteries in this country. But it is the principle of the thing.
“The principle of the thing” is exactly what seems to be pissing people off. Facebook user Franka Philip explained:
I think people are missing the point of the doubles outrage. It's the perception of opportunism that people are more upset about than the actual price rise. Believe me, if flour and oil had gone up everybody would have been in solidarity with the doubles vendors.
Kanhai told the Trinidad Guardian that the number of customers he's served hasn't dipped since the price increase. Quoting that same newspaper report, Rhoda Bharath said:
Doubles vendors, like many businesses here, need to be taxed.
Doubles vendors also need to be boycotted for this random price increase.
That price increase is some bullshit. After years of cheap flour and oil and no price decreases they come with this?
Wired868 took the opportunity to point out the hypocrisy of the “principle” argument:
There was no principled stance against Movie Towne, although they tore down the mangrove to erect it. None against TV6 for its shameful broadcast of ex-National Security Minister Martin Joseph’s lifeless body.
And no boycotts of Centre of Excellence although—despite building the venue with FIFA, CONCACAF and TTFA money—the facility manager refused to let one of the most gifted Trinidad and Tobago National Under-17 football teams in recent memory train there, two years ago.
Meanwhile, another popular satirical website, The Late O'Clock News, chimed in:
‘We’ve been trying to keep the prices down for a long time,’ said Krishna Harrypaul, a popular doubles vendor who operates along the East-West corridor. ‘We started to brush our barra with gold dust in order to get that golden look that consumers know and love, but now with the increase in super and diesel, our costs have gone up too […]’
When asked if it would just be simpler not to infuse their barra with gold in order to keep the price, Mr. Harrypaul said ‘That’s a brilliant idea, but then we will have to use extra diamonds in the special sauce to compensate for taste.’
LoopTT was optimistic, however, posting the locations of several other doubles vendors across the country whose message was to “have no fear” about a price increase:
Hassanali's (Montrose, Chaguanas)
‘Increasing the cost of doubles will do nothing for our business but drive away customers. We are not raising the cost.’
Jack and Marlene's Doubles (Aranguez Main Road)
‘We have NOT raise the price of our doubles just yet. Doubles is still $4 and triples $5.
However, in the future if cost of production(raw materials) increase, we will have to increase. In that case you all will be notified.’


text:
Help! I Can’t Communicate With My Mandarin-Speaking Grandpa · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Yowei Shaw and her grandpa Credit: Chris Shaw. Used with PRI's permission
This article and radio report by producer Yowei Shaw for The World in Words originally appeared on PRI.org on September 30, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Recently, I had a problem, and radio helped me get through it.
I realized that in all the years of spending time with my beloved grandpa, YeYe — him driving me to tennis lessons, teaching me how to make dumplings, and taking me to meals upon meals after school at McDonalds (his go-to spread is the Big Mac with Coke, mine the dollar menu chicken sandwich) — we’ve had never had a real conversation.
YeYe is from Taiwan and only speaks Mandarin Chinese. My parents are from Taiwan too, but I was born and raised in the US. Though I understand a tiny bit of Chinese, I pretty much only speak English. To call our conversations simple would be a gross understatement. It’s basically: hello, how are you, are you hungry, on repeat.
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to realize all this, but I decided to finally try to have my first in-depth conversation with YeYe, and make a radio story about it, too. And in the process, I became a firm believer in the power of radio to actually help you work through your stuff.
Yowei Shaw and her grandparents. Credit: Emily Yao. Used with PRI's permission
OK, I know it might sound weird to try to fix a personal problem by making a radio story, but it actually really helped me. For one, it forced me to confront the issue and not waste anymore time. And it helped me design a plan of attack. For example, because it was a story, the reporter in me wanted to investigate, so I talked to other children of immigrants, strangers, old friends and new friends, colleagues, and experts. I didn’t know this when I began, but it turns out I’m not alone. In fact, research shows that third generation kids aren’t speaking their family immigrant language anymore at all. Which means that this intergenerational communication problem is a drama quietly unfolding in the lives of immigrant families all over the U.S.
Credit: Emily Yao. Used with PRI's permission
The story also helped me deal with my feelings of guilt and shame. Why didn’t I try harder in Chinese school growing up? Why didn’t I realize my grandpa and I had a communication problem, until only recently? l still feel like a bit of a jerk, but at the very least, I did something about it. I feel like I understand more of this mystery.
I won’t give away what happened during my quest – you’ll have to listen to the story – but I will say I had to get creative in finding a solution to our language barrier. Like getting my parents to translate and utilizing other resources to help me connect, with my other grandparent too…
Credit: Emily Yao. Used with PRI's permission
I also now have audio recordings of these precious conversations — tape I know my family and I will cherish. Maybe it will even make us wonder, why didn’t I gather more? This is all to say, even if you’re not a radio producer and even if you speak the same language as your grandparents, you can (and should!) still record interviews with your loved ones — the people in your life you don’t talk to enough or talk to all the time.  Whatever the case, do you have them on tape?
It’s incredibly easy to download a free recording app on your smartphone (I like PCM Recorder) and get totally decent recordings, that you’ll want to back up in at least three places. You can use the “interview” as an excuse to ask all kinds of questions, get advice on problems, and gather the greatest hits stories as well as the ones you’ve never heard. Take it from me — you should probably do it before it’s too late.
Alex Lewis composed the music heard in this podcast. It was recorded by Kyle Pulley at The Headroom in Philadelphia. You can see more of Emily Yao's artwork here.
You can follow the World in Words stories on Facebook or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


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Meet the Young Mexican Who’s Taking On Transphobia, One Video at a Time · Global Voices
Giovanna Salazar

Screenshot of a video by Christopher Juárez Reyes, the young Mexican who is documenting the process of his gender reassignment on YouTube.
Hello, I'm Christopher… And I'm transgender. I'm making this video so I can share my life with you, and my transition and the changes to my body that are going to happen very soon…”
It's with these words that Christopher Juárez Reyes, a young man from Xalapa, Veracruz, begins his first video on YouTube, which launched a series documenting the process of his sex reassignment. In his videos, Reyes also responds to doubts about his transition and shares information about the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.
Christopher was born female, biologically speaking, but his gender identity is masculine. Diagnosed with gender dysphoria, he decided to undergo medical and surgical interventions to align his sex and gender. This process began in February 2014, and he's uploaded 85 videos to his YouTube channel since then, attracting nearly 9,000 subscribers and more than 626,000 views.
Christopher's videos cover everything from the injection of hormones to recovering from a mastectomy. He's shared advice about health and medical visits, discussed the paperwork necessary for a sex change, described telling his parents about his transsexuality, and explained how one changes their identity officially, as well as offered many other tips and insights into this process.
While Christopher's channel, he says, is exclusively dedicated to the issue of transsexuality, he also recommends mixing things up. In his video “Don't Lose Yourself in Transsexuality!” he invites viewers to remember that sexual orientation and gender identity are just two things that make people who they are, stressing that neither defines a person:
Yes, I'm Christopher, the guy who makes videos on YouTube about transsexuality, but I'm not just the transgender guy… I'm so much more, and I know that you're so much more too.”
Christopher's warmth, honesty, and kindness have won him a huge number of followers who regularly encourage him, thank him, and recognize his bravery.
Christopher says he's not in it for fame, however, though he has expressed regret that popular culture doesn't succeed in representing the transgender community:
…Don't forget us, don't put us to one side, we exist, we have rights and we have problems (hahaha)…
If you, the viewer, are a writer, or an artist or something in which you can express yourself, I invite you to write, to do something, to speak up, because we have to surround people with this. They often don't use the right terms to refer to us, and it's within us. So please let's do something. I feel like I'm doing something with these videos, and I hope that I'm doing something so that people more or less understand what this is, and I expect the same from you.
I've already seen lots of people uploading more videos about their changes and it makes me feel great; that's what I wanted. That's what I'm trying to do with these videos: to let people know, because when I found myself in this situation I either didn't find anything or I found little bits in English, and how much better would it be if they were in Spanish.”
He concludes:
We're all equal, we're all human beings and I hope that I can help in some way.”
Christopher's videos have become much more than a personal project, and this young man now finds himself at the center of a phenomenon bigger than any one person.

author: Giovanna Salazar


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Rethinking Criticisms Levelled at Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace · Global Voices
Small Media

On September 5, 2015, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei re-appointed the members of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace for another four-year term. Image from ICHRI.
This article was written by Small Media researcher Kyle Bowen. To find a longer and more detailed version, see the original report on Medium.
A few weeks ago, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) published an article on personnel changes that would change the power structures on the Internet in Iran. The piece focuses on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s recent announcement that authority over Internet policy in Iran will be concentrated in the Supreme Council of Cyberspace (SCC), a body created by the Supreme Leader back in 2012.
ICHRI’s framing of the moderate Rouhani government’s efforts to ease restrictions on the flow of information against hardliners vying for more Internet controls lays bare the institutional tensions in Iranian internet policy.
The issue of so-called “smart filtering” puts these tensions on full display. As ICHRI points out:
Hardliners have consistently pushed for the blanket blocking of full sites of which they disapprove. The Rouhani administration, in a move tech experts have noted was a bit disingenuous given its technical infeasibility, argued that a more selective ‘smart filtering,’ in which only objectionable content is blocked, would be sufficient to weed out offensive material, allowing sites to otherwise operate.
Indeed, Rouhani’s ICT Ministry has consistently championed “smart filtering.” Yet as ICHRI observes, technical challenges make this approach difficult to implement — smart filtering only works on websites or apps that don’t use HTTPS to encrypt data.
Another great merit of the article is that it highlights conservative policy initiatives such as the condemnation of Western social media platforms, a push toward data localisation requirements, a drive to strengthen domestic social networks to attract more users, and a predilection for limiting internet speeds. By covering these important issues, ICHRI paints a detailed picture of the challenges facing Iranian netizens.
Alongside the strengths discussed above, there are a few claims mentioned in the article that differ with our interpretation of recent events and what they mean for future Iranian internet policy.
In its article, ICHRI mentions that Khamenei’s reforms would see an expansion of the Council’s membership:
In the re-appointment letter on Khamenei’s website, he also announced three new members to the Supreme Cyberspace Council, of which two, Reza Taghipour and Seyed Ezatollah Zarghami have been designated by both the US and the EU as human rights violators and sanctioned as such.
ICHRI is absolutely right about the sanctions, but neither of these two men is new to the Council. Both Taghipour and Zarghami were already on the council at that time. Taghipour was first placed on the council in his official capacity as ICT Minister, but was then appointed to the council by Khamenei when he left the Ahmadinejad government in late 2012. Zarghami also sat on the Council in his official capacity as the Director-General of state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). When he was replaced in that role, Khamenei then directly appointed him to the Council.
Moreover, the man who replaced him as IRIB Director-General, Mohammad Sarafraz, has been on the Council since 2014. At that time, he was a direct appointee of Khamenei. In other words, Taghipour, Zarghami, and Sarafraz were all already on the council at the time of Khamenei's statement, and all three remain on the council today.
The visualisation below shows how the composition of the SCC has changed as a result of the newly-announced reforms. As the visualisation illustrates, the number of Rouhani-nominated cabinet ministers in the group has actually increased somewhat, and it’d be fair to say that the system has received less of a radical overhaul than it has a minor reshuffle.
Contrary to what the ICHRI report argues, Khamenei’s changes actually increase the number of representatives from Rouhani’s cabinet. Indeed, of the new departments added, two are headed by moderates-reformists (Education and Defence), one by a conservative (Attorney General), and while the affiliation of the Vice President for Science and Technology is unclear, it is reasonable to assume that he is relatively moderate, as he was appointed directly by Rouhani, without the requirement for parliamentary approval.
In other words, it’s possible that Khamenei’s changes actually increased the number of moderates on the SCC. However, It’s important not to overstate this point. In the Iranian context, terms such as ‘moderate’ and ‘conservative’ are vaguely-defined labels that aim to give a sense of a politician’s ideological affiliations, and are sometimes open to debate. The categorisations mentioned above have been assigned by Small Media based on our assessment of their records.
Small Media is not convinced that concentrating Internet policy decision-making powers in the Supreme Cyberspace Council necessarily marginalises the Rouhani administration. On the contrary, it was through his position as SCC Chairman that Rouhani launched one of his most consequential interventions into a public debate about internet censorship.
When the Committee to Determine Instances of Criminal Content (CDICC), a body that oversees filtering actions, sought to block WhatsApp, Rouhani asserted his authority as SCC Chairman and publicly opposed the proposed block. After a tense standoff between Rouhani’s ICT Ministry and CDICC Chairman Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, the latter eventually backed down, and WhatsApp remained unblocked in Iran.
As for the parallel bodies to be dissolved, Khamenei didn’t offer any specifics, and we may have to wait until the next high profile fight over internet policy to see how any new institutional tensions play out.
It is certainly possible that powerful conservatives like Khamenei will attempt to cut the Rouhani government out of the internet policy process in the future. However, we’d argue that Khamenei’s recent statement on the SCC was not targeted to that end.

author: Small Media


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The Dark Side of Hydropower in Bhutan · Global Voices
Rezwan

Mountains, rivers and bridges in Bhutan. Image from Flickr by Ryanne Lai. CC BY-NC 2.0
Bhutan is land-locked and overloaded with steep mountains crisscrossed by a network of swift rivers. All this water is ideal for generating electricity, and the country's hydropower potential is estimated to be nearly 24,000MW, though just 6 percent is currently produced by Bhutan's five hydroelectricity projects.
Close to 75 percent of all electricity generated in Bhutan is exported to its energy-hungry neighbour India. However, barely 66 percent of Bhutanese households and 39 percent of its villages are electrified. Electricity revenue has provided more than 40 percent of the government's entire income in recent years and constitutes 25 percent of its GDP. Another 25 percent of the country's GDP is based in the construction of further hydropower infrastructure. Bhutan aims to increase its hydropower capacity to 10,000MW by 2020.
According to the World Bank, Bhutan’s hydropower projects have enjoyed being viewed as largely risk-free. The Bhutanese government opted for rapid hydropower investment through heavy borrowing, which has not caused much concern until recently. In 2007, Bhutan boasted of second fastest growing economy in the world with an annual growth rate of 22.4 percent, thanks mainly to the commissioning of the gigantic Tala Hydroelectric power station, the country's biggest hydropower project currently operating.
Last April, International Rivers has published a status report on Bhutan's hydropower projects, showing five projects in operation, six projects still under construction, and five new projects that have been proposed. Combined, the projects are responsible for a significant amount of external debt for the Bhutanese economy, which is one of the smallest in the world. In 2015, Bhutan's debt also exceeds the size of its entire economy by 12 percent.
Yeshey Dorji, a photographer and blogger, writes:
A report called, ‘The New Debt Trap’ released by the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a UK-based company has categorized Bhutan as a country with ‘high risk of government debt crisis’. The report lists Bhutan among 14 other nations that are fast heading towards a debt crisis.
In a series of posts titled “The Dark Side of Our Hydropower Projects,” where he discusses issues related to Bhutan's hydroelectricity projects, Dorji writes:
Today, the hydropower bubble has burst and our dreams remain dashed and hopes unfulfilled. We find ourselves straddled with hydropower borrowings that is in excess of our entire GDP and yet, we still dare tread the quicksand of debt and disaster, with aplomb and gallantry!
Our leaders seem to draw solace from two magic words that they keep throwing at us – “Cost-Plus” and “Self-liquidating”. They must take us for complete dullards, or they are clueless about the mathematics behind those catch phrases.
Blogger Wangcha Sangey thinks the region's future electricity market isn't what should worry Bhutan. He says the high cost of infrastructure and production is the real problem, threatening to raise the national debt even higher:
What is dangerously worrying is the ridiculously huge escalation in cost of construction and prolonged time taken to complete the ongoing hydro projects. Both the costs and duration seem to be heading towards doubling of money and time. Costs may even triple. By the time these projects are completed, the 10% interests on the 70% loan component and the principal itself would have bloated to such an extent that even after every project is streamed on line, Bhutan may be forced to raise money from different sources to meet loan repayment instalments.
Bhutan has been praised as a global leader in environmental protection, but that reputation is coming into question lately. Due to heavy construction at various hydro projects, thick clouds of dust have covered several Bhutanese towns. Most of the jobs created by hydropower are in construction, which is generally unattractive to educated young Bhutanese, though youth unemployment rates remain high. Roadsides throughout the country host shantytown settlements of thousands of migrant construction workers.
Yeshey Dorji says there are other perils of hydroelectricity projects that are often ignored:
Most of our life-sustaining rivers are shackled with hydropower dams, displacing humans and wildlife, as well as rare and unknown aquatic life forms.
Some of the dams that are planned and under construction are destined to create huge water bodies that will alter weather patterns and cause earthquakes, due to their location in seismically active zones.
There is clear and present danger of environmental disaster waiting to happen.
Unfavorable and inequitable terms of project execution have caused a number of Bhutanese businesses to fail. Even vegetable vending has been usurped by Indian project contractors thereby depriving Bhutanese of small business opportunities.
Hundreds of children born out of wedlock to Bhutanese mothers but fathered by Indian project workers, roam the streets – without census registration and without the right to schooling. Because our gender biased laws do not recognize Bhutanese mothers as worthy citizens, their offsprings are not recognized as natural citizens of Bhutan.
Dorji argues that Bhutan needs at least one free-flowing river, to serve as a conservatory for various known and unknown members of the country's aquatic gene pool. He's also launched a petition to ban hydroelectric projects in the Chamkhar Chhu River.
Dorji also questions the government's hurry to commission more projects, while still-unfinished projects languish:
Despite the monumental losses of money and opportunity, the government is still in a huge rush to do more projects. Why can’t we wait for the projects in the pipeline to be finished and commissioned?
Shripad Dharmadhikary at International Rivers also sounds a note of caution, recommending a pause to consider the environmental impact of Bhutan's rapid development of hydropower:
While hydropower would remain an important component of its economy, Bhutan should think about whether it’s useful to pursue further aggressive development of hydropower – at great cost to its ecology and people – for pursuit of revenues, about which concerns are being raised in terms of overdependence on one source, about whether it is meeting the needs of job creation, and which in any case does not seem to address winter shortages. Bhutan should pause and think whether it makes more sense to explore other options for revenue generation, job creation and overall development that will allow the preservation of its rich ecological heritage.

author: Rezwan


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Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet Wins Nobel Peace Prize · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet won this year's Nobel Peace Prize “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.”
Tunisians are over the moon their democratic progress was recognised by awarding the National Dialogue Quartet the Nobel Peace Prize today. The quartet, made up of civil society organisations, played a pivotal role in mediating between different factions of Tunisian society as it transitioned into a full-fledged democracy, following the overthrow of dictator Zeinalabideen Ben Ali, during the Tunisian revolution.
Tounsiahourra (Free Tunisian) conveys the feeling of pride and happiness to her 110K followers on Twitter saying:
أمي التي لم تزغرد منذ عقد، زغردت لنوبل للسلام، مثل سيدة فقدت عودة غائبين وفجأة عادوا، شعور بالإنصاف أفهمه تماماً #تونس_تفوز_بنوبل_للسلام
— tounsiahourra (@tounsiahourra) October 9, 2015
My mother, who has not ululated in a decade, ululated today for the Nobel Peace Prize, like a lady who had missed someone who was missing and who suddenly turned up. It is a feeling of justice I totally understand
In another tweet, she adds:
من أسعد أيام حياتي. #تونس_تفوز_بنوبل_للسلام
— tounsiahourra (@tounsiahourra) October 9, 2015
It's the happiest day of my life
According to the Nobel Prize committee:
The Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 when the democratization process was in danger of collapsing as a result of political assassinations and widespread social unrest. It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. It was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia, in the space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.
The Quartet is made up of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA, Union Tunisienne de l'Industrie, du Commerce et de l'Artisanat), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH, La Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers (Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie).
The committee adds:
the Quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority.
The prize comes at a great time for Tunisia, rocked recently by an attack on the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis in March, which left 22 people dead, followed by another deadly attack on a resort in Sousse, in June, which killed 38 tourists.
Tunisia was the first Arab country to usher in widespread pro-democracy protests, in December 2010, which created a Domino effect as other people across the Arab world rose, toppling regimes around the region. It is also the most successful revolution in the region, culminating with a democratic presidential election which brought 88-year-old political veteran Beji Caid Essebsi from Nida Tounes as president last year.
Around the world, many celebrated the award. The Arabic hashtag #تونس_تفوز_بنوبل_للسلام which translates to Tunisia Wins the Nobel Peace Prize became a trending topic in the United Arab Emirates in no time, with many joining the choir to celebrate Tunisia's victory:
2,018,597 people could have seen #تونس_تفوز_بنوبل_للسلام since its 1st mention until it became a Trending Topic. #trndnl
— Emirates Trends (@trendinaliaAE) October 9, 2015
Egyptian Nervana Mahmood tweets to her 46.9K followers on Twitter:
Congrats Tunisia. Glad the title is “contributing” not “achieving” democracy! https://t.co/RkLe7y1clG
— Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) October 9, 2015
And Egyptian politician Mohamed ElBaradei tells his 3.7 million followers:
Thrilled for Tunisian people. Dialogue, inclusiveness,democracy & respect for human rights is the only way #NobelPeacePrize
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) October 9, 2015
From Saudi Arabia, Abu Mathkour notes:
لم يتدخلو في تونس تصالحو وعم السلام مبروك لتونس #تونس_تفوز_بنوبل_للسلام
— ابومذكور (@alzahmouli73) October 9, 2015
They did not interfere in Tunisia, so the there was reconciliation and peace. Congratulations Tunisia!
But for some, the award is an empty gesture, regardless of who wins it.
Dima S., who identifies herself as an Arab Middle East observer, expressed her skepticism over the award, even before the results were announced:
In 1 hour, announcement of #NobelPeacePrize. Where hospital bombers, war criminals and sectarian civil war enthusiasts can also get a prize
— Dima S. ديمة (@YasminWaQahwa) October 9, 2015
Mabrouk (congratulations) Tunisia and all the Tunisians who believed in peace!

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Will Prayers Help Zambia’s Currency Gain Value? President Lungu Thinks They Might · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

A photographic reproduction of Praying Hands, a public domain work of art by Albrecht Dürer.
The Zambian currency, the kwacha, which means “dawn” in some local languages, has in recent months rapidly depreciated against the United States dollar, the British pound and other major currencies. China's decreased demand for copper, reduced power supply to mining and manufacturing industries and domestic consumers, and the government's alleged poor economic management have all contributed to the currency's woes.
International business news wire service Bloomberg recently labelled the kwacha, which was rebased by the current ruling government a few months into office, as the worst performing currency on the international market.
Faced with such a bleak situation, President Edgar Lungu has called for national prayers and fasting on October 18 to ask God to intervene in the country's many issues of the day. Announcing the day of prayer, the Presidential Palace public relations office stated:
The President stated that the decision was inevitable in view of the many challenges that the country was faced with among them: socio-economic; disrespect for elders and a near absence of civility in discourse; high unemployment levels among the youth and high poverty levels, Kwacha depreciation including load shedding due to the power deficit.
Taking a cue from this, about 50 pastors from Zambia’s second city, Kitwe, gathered under the Kitwe Pastors’ Fellowship to pray for the strengthening of the kwacha.
One of the pastors, Kautemba Phiri, is quoted by many citizen media websites such as the Zambian Eye as having told the gathering:
Let us all get our kwacha notes and pray for this money so that it gains value. We should pray that the kwacha gains the much-needed strength against other convertible international currencies”
Commenting under the story, reader Ulukungu mu Zambia wrote (comments have no permalinks):
Praying for a currency to improve means you don’t understand economics.The depreciation of the Kwacha is not the devils work. If anything exporters are supposed to take advantage of this to export more products. The nation should be asking itself why it imports more than it exports.it’s actions towards addr[e]ssing the situation that are needed not prayers for miraculous Kwacha appreciation
While Jabu asked:
Cry my beloved country! Problem in Zambia is most of the so called clergymen are just grades 7, 9 or 12 failures or school drop outs. And what do you expect from a bunch of failures who can’t see beyond their noses? You are asking too much from God you! Leave God out of this!
Yangu wondered:
When did a currency improve because of prayers?
Inkoko poked fun at the pastors:
“Oh lord please make the Kwacha strengthen to K2 per dollar like in 1964 when Welensky’s rule bequeathed us a strong Kwacha. Please lord also make the potholes on our roads dissappear and let their be streetlights in all our cities sorry, towns too villages too.Let there be street signs everywhere in Zed [Zambia], a christian country that believes that manna can fall not only on Israelis but zedians too. Lord also let Kariba dam [the main source of electricity in Zambia. The country is currently experiencing loadshedding] operate at full capacity and let Kanyama [a township in the capital citz] have drainage so that cholera dissappears during the rainy season.Lord please let Kambwili start speaking sense”
AMEN
Tyga dryly advised:
Pastors, please spare us your drama.
Blogging about the event, Conrad Mbewe, a Baptist pastor, explained what bothered him about the prayer:
What bothered me was when I read that each pastor was asked to pull out a kwacha note from his pocket and raise it in the air during the prayer meeting. While other pastors were praying in tongues others were now prophesying that the currency should appreciate in three months.
Later, the kwacha notes were collected and taken to “the altar” where some senior pastors who were present continued to pray over the notes. Then the pastors collected their money again and continued to pray over the notes so that the money gains value.
Whereas many people responded in the comments column and simply called this a joke, I responded to the person who sent me the link saying that this was witchcraft. Since the query was on Facebook, someone else asked, “How is this witchcraft?” Here is my answer.
Bank notes are not the economy
As I have already said, there is nothing wrong with people getting together to pray for the Zambian economy. Prayer is basically a humble acknowledgement that we desperately need God to intervene in our situation. So, I commend whoever initiated this—up to that point.
However, when educated people start confusing a piece of paper with a national economy that begins to worry me. What has gone wrong is not the piece of paper in our pockets. It is the national economy of Zambia that is sick. We cannot carry that in our pockets.
He concluded:
The thought that simply by pulling money out of our pockets, raising it in the air, collecting it in a basket and putting it on some imagined “altar” is what is going to turn the economy around belongs to the world of witchcraft and not to the world of biblical Christianity.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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A Man Who Travels the World Not to See Things, But Hear Them · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Jacob Kirkegaard recording in the Chernobyl exclusion zone: “It's a kind of a no place and so I thought: How can I record such a place because my presence … changes so much?” Credit: Courtesy of Jacob Kirkegaard
This article and radio report by Alina Simone for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on September 28, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
I assumed I had a lot in common with Danish sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard: I use microphones, he uses microphones. I love sound, he loves sound.
Uh, no.
Kirkegaard uses accelerometers to record below the Earth’s surface, hydrophones to capture sound underwater and even tiny microphones to tape otoacoustic vibrations created by the human ear.
And he definitely loves sound a lot more than I do.
“I've never taken drugs myself, because I do think that sounds can take me high. I just always used sound to take me to places,” Kirkegaard says.
His journey began at age 6, when his father gave him a tape recorder and he discovered he could manipulate his voice by slowing it down: “And that made me sound like a monster all of a sudden. Like a big vampire.”
After college, Kirkegaard spent some time as a musician. Then one day he spontaneously put his ear to an iron fence in Cologne, Germany, and was plunged into a strange and oddly musical universe:
That’s when Kirkegaard realized that instead of making sounds, he’d rather find sounds “that mystify me somehow, that I don’t quite understand. It can be politically loaded places that I would like to listen to, without wanting to state an opinion.”
He spent a week in a small boat in the Ilulissat Icefjord in Greenland, recording glaciers calving. Here's: the soundtrack of global warming:
Kirkegaard advises: “Use headphones or good speakers.” He’s right: Even in a crowded café, I was transported to a place both forbidding and wild.
“Sometimes I think that it's not enough just to read about it or just to see a picture of a lot of ice on a glacier that has disappeared over some years. But if you hear it, you will start to feel that it's happening right now,” Kirkegaard says.
His work is also about what’s not happening now — in mostly forgotten places; for example, the town of Pripyat, in the heart of Chernobyl’s radioactive “exclusion zone.” Kirkegaard recorded there in 2005.
“People are really gone, and yet there are so many traces of life. It's kind of a no place and so I thought: How can I record such a place, because my presence is so — it changes so much?”
So he put his microphone down — and left.
After each take, he would record again, only this time playing the first recording back into the room at a low volume, turning silence into an orchestral drone.
But some sites are too stubborn to give up their secrets, as Kirkegaard found when he tried to record the concrete barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank.
“It's so heavy, that it doesn't have much sound. But then I have to ask myself: What is it that I'm expecting anyway?” he says. “You know, the nature of that wall is exactly not to resonate with its surroundings. It is to stop any resonance. And that is something that when I start to understand this … what it is that I'm recording.”
He ended up placing his microphones around the wall instead, capturing the sound of life-in-progress — a call to prayer, a car idling — sounds a wall can’t stop.
Not all of Kirkegaard’s work is a political commentary, and it’s not all done in solitude.  He once invited 16 different guests to the Hotel Marienbad in Berlin and then recorded them sleeping. There’s not much to hear — just an occasional groan, and some whispered sleep talk. But Kirkegaard says it’s kind of like diving into a world of the unknown.
“They give me a secret. They invite me to an intimate space of theirs that they don't even know about themselves.”
So what if I want to up my game, I ask Kirkegaard, from radio reporter to “Sound Artist.” Where I can find a good used accelerometer? But he tells me it's not about the fancy gear; it’s about your idea.
“Like Agent [Dale] Cooper says in [the TV program] Twin Peaks, ‘The Owls are not what they seem.’ That's a quote that I really like in terms of sound — that the sounds are not what they seem.
Another thing Agent Cooper once said: “I have no idea where this will lead … but I have a definite feeling that it will be a place both wonderful and strange.”