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Crime in Trinidad & Tobago Brings Out Netizens’ Racial Prejudices · Global Voices
Flora Thomas

“The Death March, October 2005″ — Citizens of Trinidad & Tobago took to the streets to protest the spike in murders throughout the country. Photo by Georgia Popplewell, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
On the morning of Thursday January 28, part of Trinidad's capital city was on lockdown as police sought to capture an armed bandit who had broken into a nightclub, intending to rob the popular lounge of its nightly earnings. There were reports that robbers had initially broken into a restaurant situated below the nightclub, but no-one has as yet been detained in connection with that incident. However, it now appears — at least judging from a leaked police video which Global Voices has chosen not to show — that the nightclub burglar, who was arrested after a four-hour standoff, was linked to the other robbery as well.
@tv6tnt Police have captured and extracted the suspect in this morning's Town Restaurant burglary pic.twitter.com/zwiftMT2qS
— Nneka Parsanlal (@NnekaTV6) January 28, 2016
The incident attracted the interest of netizens, many of whom were commenting on race-related aspects of the case. Trinidad and Tobago's two main ethnic groups are Indian and Black, and in order to gain political leverage, the country's two main political parties — the United National Congress (UNC), now in opposition, which attracts a primarily Indian support base; and the People's National Movement (PNM), now in government, which has a strong Afro-Trinidadian following — have been accused of fostering tribal politics.
The trend was particularly glaring under the last UNC administration, when then-prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, declared a national state of emergency. The reason? Ostensibly to deal with elevated levels of violent crime. Police were made to go into designated “hotspots” like the economically disenfranchised urban community of Laventille and arrest hundreds of young, black men, supposedly for gang-related activities, only to have to release them for lack of evidence. Many saw this move to be a serious encroachment on citizens’ rights and a dangerous foray into ethnic stereotypes. At the time, The Eternal Pantomime blog wrote:
The first thing that bothered me about the SoE was its ad hoc implementation and punitive tenor. To date we dont know why it was called. Numerous reasons given and almost 8000 people detained, mostly Afrotrinbagonian. 9% of the black male population tossed in cells with no evidence or reason for their arrest. This SoE showed me that this govt was very comfortable relying on stereotypes to run the country. It also showed me that a significant portion of the population: members of the middle and upper classes, many of Indo or Euro origin were quite happy to believe that the crime problem was caused strictly by young, single-parent men who resemble John Sandy [the then-Minister of National Security, who is black] and that crime and criminal behaviour had nothing to do with them.
Years later, these racial stereotypes seem to be more ingrained. Of course, a few social media users who shared the police video — which shows the handcuffed suspect being restrained on the ground, answering a series of questions as officers retrieve the stolen money — wondered whether the modus operandi of the police, including their recording of the arrest, was legal, but others were more interested in what colour the suspect was and which community he hailed from. In the wake of the online vitriol that ensued from a segment of Trinidad and Tobago's Indian community after two Afro-Trinidadian schoolboys were murdered on January 22, this robber's ethnicity was now a hot button issue.
On the public Facebook page of the political party United National Congress, Marisa V. Ramlogan posted an update about the robbery and subsequent arrest. Hucil George, who is black, soon commented:
Hats off to the police for a good job.When they do something good,we most praise them. No disrespect to the Afro Trinis but i am almost 100% sure the bandit is a lil black boy.What a shame .
Avonelle Hector Joseph then posted a photograph of the man, who is clearly of East Indian descent, and Marcus Williams asked:
Actually he is of East Indian decent but why even bring race into it in the first place? Isnt it sufficient to say he is a bandit and that the TTPS did well in apprehending him?
When George was called out by other Facebook users for his comment, he replied:
I have since made a gesture of admittimg [sic] my mistake ,but i know 99 % of all banditry is of my group.
Unsurprisingly, his figures are not rooted in fact.
Rhoda Bharath quipped on Facebook:
Anybody on UNC FB rejoicing over the capture of the 51 Degrees bandit?
I know how they have an equal opportunities approach to crime, nah…
#CrimeHasNoEthnicity
Commenting on the police tactics in the leaked video, she added:
When Police hold black suspects they does move as polite? Ask plenty questions and thing?
I asking, eh.
Other ethnic communities in the country have, in the past, pushed back against stereotyping and have been supported by members of other races in their campaign. Perhaps in time, this kind of online activism in which netizens speak out against race-based labels and speak up with pride for their own ethnicities, will counteract the negative images that some factions are trying to instil. After the two Laventille schoolboys murders, for instance, there was a slew of positive imagery about both the school and people from the area. This public post showed a photo of a young man in scrubs, saying:
I'm Kymmi Caesar.
Class of 1999 SLCS [Success Laventille Composite School].
If you're still in school stay in school. Don't waste your life.
Proud to be alumni.
I'm now a medical doctor 6 years and counting.
#iamsuccess
Vernie Barrimond posted a message of hope and solidarity on the school's Facebook page:
Alot of people think because the school is located in laventille nothing good can come out from there. But thats a misconception by negative people.

author: Flora Thomas


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Crude Journalism? Nigerians Demand an Apology From The Economist for Ex-President ‘Buffoon’ Insult · Global Voices
Nwachukwu Egbunike

Screen Shot of the online edition of the Economist article that made derogatory reference to Nigeria's ex-president
Nigerians have pilloried The Economist, after the magazine described former Nigerian President Dr Goodluck Jonathan as an “an ineffectual buffoon”in a recent article about the country's worsening economy.
The moment of offence was as follows:
In the eight months since Mr Buhari arrived at Aso Rock, the presidential digs, the homicidal jihadists of Boko Haram have been pushed back into the bush along Nigeria’s borders. The government has cracked down on corruption, which had flourished under the previous president, Goodluck Jonathan, an ineffectual buffoon who let politicians and their cronies fill their pockets with impunity.
Dr Goodluck Jonathan was defeated by General Muhammadu Buhari in the presidential elections last year. Jonathan's concession to his rival Buhari was an unprecedented move widely praised as keeping the peace in Africa's most populous country.
Since then Buhari's government has been battling corruption and a weak economy ever since his inauguration — legacies of Jonathan's reign as well as those of countless other administrations that went before him.
Although The Economist article focused on the effects wrought by plummeting global crude prices on a country that relies almost exclusively on oil revenues for economic growth, the publication's passing insult of Jonathan ignited a storm of indignation on social media.
Nigerian writer Malara Wood wrote:
Marvelled at the verbal buffoonery of @TheEconomist. It's almost like it's personal. I thought you people had style guides. #Inappropriate
— Molara Wood (@molarawood) January 29, 2016
The Oracle, a Nigerian lawyer and poet, described the term as “derogatory”:
Derogatory , and to borrow from my friend, Molara Wood, paternalistic undertone of the insult. If the economist had set out to do a robust 2
— The Oracle (@AbdulMahmud1) January 29, 2016
The same tweep noted an implicit racial slur and double standards, given that The Economist rarely accords such insults to leaders in the Western world:
PM Brown was at sea when the UK economy went pearl shaped. Tell: did you ever describe him as an “ineffectual buffoon” @TheEconomist?
— The Oracle (@AbdulMahmud1) January 28, 2016
Jasper J Weelyams continued that theme in a Facebook post:
It is NOT OK, in fact, it is condemnable for The Economist to describe any leader using the words “ineffectual buffoon”. It is even more intolerable that they feel it is ok to use such words on (only) African leaders.
The Greek economy crumbled before our very eyes but The Economist did not speak of the Greek Government in such a manner. Many other European leaders have made grave errors and implemented banal policies but The Economist has still not referred to them in such a denigrating manner. Even the UK Government recently let British people down with the Google tax deal and neither George Osborne nor David Cameron has been called names.
The CNN once called Kenya a terror hotbed and had to retract their malicious statement and issue an apology to the African country. This happened because Kenyans refused to tolerate the stupidity of a major western media outlet. In the same manner, Nigerians must rise in unity across party partisanship to condemn this tomfoolery.
This nonsense must stop and will stop now.
But some were of the opinion that Nigerians were complicit in this disregard for their leaders by foreigners. Ronald Nzimiro, a company executive in Lagos asserted:
You people are vexing because that one was called “ineffectual buffoon”. All the ones you people call him here and in your minds nko? Shior!
— Ronald Ike Nzimora (@ronaldnzimora) January 29, 2016
Another Twitter user also noted that GEJ — Goodluck Ebele Jonathan — had been called worse in his time:
Dele Olojede called GEJ an Imbecile, Omojuwa called him a Pig. Why should I worry when @TheEconomist calls him whatever? #Intrepid
— INTREPID (@el_lazarus) January 29, 2016
While others cautioned against overreaction:
There are far reaching issues to grapple with in that article than GEJ being called an “intellectual buffoon”. But by all means….
— Uche Briggs (@UcheBriggs) January 29, 2016
I agree The Economist was impolite in using the term “intellectual buffoon”, but that's not what the write-up is centered on.
— Bright Eugene VII (@BryteDude) January 29, 2016
As debate over the Economist's own “crude tactics” continues, however, calls for an apology from the paper to draw a line under the controversy are receiving increasing traction:
Dear @TheEconomist I am of the deeply considered opinion that you owe President Jonathan and Nigeria an apology pic.twitter.com/HUtwPkmihx
— KA (@KwamiAdadevoh) January 28, 2016

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Nwachukwu Egbunike


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Laf Productions, the Chilean Team Behind Several Hilarious Viral Videos in Latin America · Global Voices
Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez

“Porn for hipsters” is one of the comedy sketches that has been widely shared on Spanish-speaking social media making fun of some social groups’ clichés. Screenshot from the video, which is available on Laf Productions YouTube account.
Young Latin Americans are discovering the Internet's potential to broadcast their artistic expressions — and comedy is no exception. Such is the case of Laf Producciones, a marketing company run by a team of creative Chileans.
Thanks to the power of social media, the popularity of Laf's humorous videos has grown within Chile's borders and beyond. The young comedians behind Laf — whose name is meant to sound like the English word “laugh” — already have tons of followers on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
The team, which is composed of Andrés Feddersen (business director), Loretto Araya (creative director and leading actress in the comedy sketches) and Sebastian Lavados (audiovisual producer), has become famous not only in Chile, but also in other Latin American countries like Argentina and Mexico.
“Descubrí un nuevo grupo de música de Dinamarca que nadie conoce” JAJA… #PornoparaHipsters #LAF https://t.co/zGJG0mMkeL vía @andresantogo
— Youssef Abrache (@YABDMAN) noviembre 5, 2015
“I discovered a new music group from Denmark that nobody knows about” HAHA #PornForHipsters #Laf
The creators say that the keys to their viral success are making videos with mobile phones in mind and segmenting their audience with the help of Facebook.
In an interview with local media outlet BiobioChile, Andres explains:
En Internet no tienes tiempo de presentar a un personaje. Un personaje con su atuendo e historia; eso es muy lento. Entonces, como no puedes ponerle nombre a los personajes, para que la gente los identifique y entienda la historia, tiene que sentir que les dices algo a ellos mismos […] Tienes tan poco tiempo para captar la atención de una persona que va bajando por el timeline, que tienes que darle algo que de inmediato le haga sentido a su cultura. Son otros tiempos, es otra manera de presentar las cosas.
Online, you don't have time to introduce a character. A character with his or her specific costume and history, that takes too much time. So, given that you can't name the characters, in order to get people to recognize them and to understand the story, you have to make the public relate to them on a personal level […] You have so little time to catch the attention of a person scrolling through their timeline, that you have to give them immediately something that they can relate to. Nowadays we must present things in a different way.
Several tropes of millennial culture have given the Chilean team something to poke fun at, such as their video series “Porn for”, which spoofs hipsters, Star Wars fans, and vegetarians, to name a few:
The Laf team give a humorous twist to everyday themes, and perhaps that's one of the reasons behind their success. People both in their 20s and 30s can find something to relate to and laugh about in their videos:
Another source of parody for the group have been gender experiences:
Although several characters are related to universal themes, specific issues related to the Chilean identity have also found their place amongst their sketches. In the video “7 Typical Fails on September 18″, the comedy centers on Independence Day celebrations in Chile. Along the same line, the collection of videos “#HowI'mViewed” mock the stereotypes that Chileans from the capital may have for Chileans from elsewhere, and vice versa.

author: Patricia Carolina Saucedo Añez


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New Ukrainian Draft Bill Seeks Extrajudicial Blocking for Websites Violating Copyright · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Unlike the current notice and take down system that warns of violations before going to court, the new bill proposes to block websites violating copyright extrajudicially. Image edited by Tetyana Lokot.
Ukraine's parliament is considering a bill that would require hosting services and Internet service providers to block any website violating copyright protections, without any form of judicial oversight.
Approved in first reading on January 28, the bill is only the latest in a series of attempts by a group of lawmakers to introduce “anti-piracy” norms into legislation aimed at protecting the Ukrainian cinema, television and video industries. But the latest round of the proposed amendments could impact a broader number of online platforms and Internet users than past policies.
One key change reflected in the draft bill is that it includes “multi-user platforms” among the types of websites censored for copyright violations. The vague term “multi-user platforms” could encompass social network websites, file exchanges, cloud services and even search engines. Potentially, this could mean that websites like Facebook or some of the Google suite of services could be blocked in Ukraine under the “anti-piracy pretext”. For example, a site like YouTube could be blocked if even just one user were to post (without permission) a copyright-protected film.
The draft law also provides a mechanism for preventing and curtailing copyright violations in “the Internet and local networks.” The latest amendments allow the legal owner of the pirated content to send a take-down notification to the owner of the violating website and demand that the offending content be removed. When asked to remove such content, the owner of the website would have 24 hours to do so. The owner would then need to inform the copyright owner of the blocking no later than 48 hours after they first received the demand. The only cases where website owners can refuse to take down content are if the copyright actually belongs to someone else or if the take-down notice contains errors or inaccuracies.
Another innovation would allow the copyright holder to demand that the violating website's hosting service provider disclose information about a website's owner/s. If such information isn't provided within 24 hours, the hosting service would have to block the website (or page) accused of copyright violations no later than 24 hours after receiving the complaint. Such a norm would put the hosting services in a “catch-22” situation, essentially forcing them to give up their customers’ data.
In an interesting twist, the draft bill mandates that website owners must publish “credible information about themselves” in WHOIS (the domain directory for the global Internet) “in a manner sufficient for creating a lawsuit for a court.” It is unclear exactly what such information must contain and how the authors of the law plan to enforce this rule with the entities who collect and publish WHOIS information online.
Ukrainian industry watchdogs are already alarmed by the new draft bill, which they say clashes with dominant best practices in the west. A spokesperson for non-profit Internet Association of Ukraine (InAU), a telecom watchdog monitoring industry-related legislation, told AIN.UA news website that the proposed norms threaten free speech and could be abused to block any inconvenient website online.
InAU spokeswoman Tetyana Popova told journalists:
Once again, they're trying to replace a pre-court procedure (the notice and takedown mechanism used in the US and Europe) with an extrajudicial procedure for resolving issues of copyright and adjacent rights on the Internet. This is unacceptable.
Popova noted that the proposed legislative changes would only make things worse for everyone on the market, including copyright holders.
While it is unclear which of the several lawmakers who authored the new bill were behind these changes, AIN.UA reports their sources suggest the controversial changes were pushed by companies participating in the “Clear Skies” initiative—a project started in June 2013 by Ukraine's largest media companies to combat the illegal use of video made by their media production facilities in the Ukrainian online space.
One project of the “Clear Skies” initiative was to allow websites to host their video content for free on the condition that all advertising revenue would go to the makers of the video (shown through proprietary embedded players), with none left for the online platforms. In cases where websites hosted their videos without permission, the media companies agreed to pursue take down demands and, in extreme cases, legal action. Another idea mulled by the media holdings was to create a sort of “whitelist” of online resources to single out law-abiding media websites. So far, however, the initiative has only drawn attention to the “worst offenders” with the most pirated content, publishing a top-10 list of popular Ukrainian websites, mostly hosting video content, in December 2015.

author: Tanya Lokot


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No, Eritrea Isn’t Forcing Men to Marry at Least Two Wives · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A traditional Eritrean wedding. Photo released under Creative Commons by Flickr user CharlesFred.
A fake story posted online alleging that the Eritrean government has passed a law forcing men to marry at least two wives or go to jail has prompted funny memes from Twitter users across Africa.
The story claims that the law was passed due to a shortage of men because of heavy casualties during the war with Ethiopia. The Eritrean–Ethiopian War took place from 1998 to 2000.
Sahara Reporters, a New York-based, Nigeria-focused news site, spoke with an Eritrean government representative at the Eritrean Mission at the United Nations in New York, who denied the rumor.
The website also spoke with Eritrean expert Awet Weldemichael, an assistant professor at Queen's University in Canada, who denied the story as well. Eritrean government officials have since refuted the story.
While it is not clear exactly where the story originated, many of the news sites that have published the hoax have yet to retract it.
Twitter users found fodder for memes in the hoax story. Here is a sample of hilarious tweets after the story appeared online:
When Yoruba guys heard about new two wives per person law in Eritrea! pic.twitter.com/fqAmuh64FN
— SPYDR (@iamSPYDR) January 26, 2016
Spotted at Eritrean Embassy in Nairobi today. Men struggling for a visa to Eritrea. After hearing men must marry ✌. pic.twitter.com/VG8qJFaJJo
— ChairmanCorruptionKE (@nangutikevin) January 26, 2016
Ugandan men after hearing that Eritrean girls only want Muslim men Eritrea pic.twitter.com/gYi6AmQPJS
— polycarp (@PolycarpRalson) January 26, 2016
When President Uhuru heard about the ‘mandatory two wives’ story in #Eritrea. 😭 pic.twitter.com/Ml73vXanOx
— Upright Citizen (@NEPpundit) January 26, 2016
When your Eritrean wife is celebrating her birthday and you surprise her with a new co-wife pic.twitter.com/nFCRWTYPXQ
— Masaku (@masaku_) January 26, 2016
The first Nigerian to pick up his two wives from Eritrea. He told the press, “If I could do it, so can you.” pic.twitter.com/r3NbeooXF8
— Dr. Njakiri Damages (@DrDamages) January 27, 2016
When you tell wify that u have to attend an emergency A.U. Summit in #Eritrea pic.twitter.com/K5ui44R2S3
— Maboshe™ (@Charlie_Fin) January 27, 2016
The two-wives hoax has done more for #Eritrea‘s publicity than running expensive PR campaigns via CNN. Humans. pic.twitter.com/9ox937EoKn
— Fredrick Tumusiime (@tufre80) January 26, 2016
When i heard the news from Eritrea….heading to the embassy for my free Visa like… pic.twitter.com/bSWkMUHzQw
— Igbo Angel (@SlimDandyMUFC) January 26, 2016
My passport is missing. I suspect my wife knows about #Eritrea
— Tsodiyo (@tokelonhlapo) January 27, 2016
😅😂😃 But #Eritrea is winning! #MenMustMarryTwoWomen pic.twitter.com/pRfjrW562t
— gaetano kagwa (@gaetanokagwa) January 28, 2016
Girls be adventurous and surprise your Boyfriends this valentine with a passport to Eritrea
— ★ ★ShΘώNΆ MΘήTΆnΆ★ ★ (@Ashli_Mcmuzo) January 27, 2016
Am already evolving Ugandan money to fit an air ticket to #Eritrea. pic.twitter.com/F1Zrj4xjwO
— #KRYS_UG (@ChrispusAbaho) January 28, 2016
Zimbos be like…Passport, Visa, Citizenship for who? We got this y'll #Eritrea we here!!! pic.twitter.com/Oq7gwTZOUX
— #BestOf2015 (@TVYangu) January 26, 2016
When you hear your VISA to Eritrea is cancelled pic.twitter.com/LYKNgQU0Rr
— JOHNNY GACHANJA (@JohnnyGachanja) January 27, 2016

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Rastafarian Jamaican Farmer Cooks ‘Ital’ for the Internet · Global Voices
Atiba Rogers

Ras Mokko, Ital chef extraordinare of the cooking show ‘Ras Kitchen’. All photos in this post are courtesy the show and used with permission; photo credits to: Eric Leece, Mike Zakrzewski, Matt Viveen and Matt Pancer.
On any given day, deep in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, there is a Rastaman cooking up a meal — perhaps a little bit of rice and peas, maybe saltfish in a pot on an open fire.
He may look like an unconventional cultivator to some, but Ras Mokko Jackson's cooking is pretty much the norm for any old school Rasta in his country — the difference is that he has his own cooking show.
Mokko's distinct Ital shack stands out because there's literally no other cooking show/documentary like it on TV or the webisphere.
Everything he cooks comes from his organic farm, a local natural food shop or is just a hike away. Ras Kitchen creator, Matt Pancer, stars with Mokko in the show, which is an entertaining offering, filled with comedy — and Mokko's expletives.
In a chronicle of events stemming back from 2010, they give viewers a look at what it is like to cook organically and with a sense of adventure!
So, what is Ital food?
First of all, it is part of the Rastafari movement; a way of life. Much more than just the Rastafari religion, it is a culture which is also a component in the Nyabinghi Mansion Rasta group.
Many think that the major aspects of being a Rasta consist of smoking marijuana and eating vegetables, but Mokko eats chicken and different kinds of fish. Everyone follows their own Ital diet to increase Livity, the Rastafarian term for energy — the life force that flows through all human beings.
Ital derives from vital, which makes perfect gastronomic sense, since food is necessary for life.
Global Voices got a delicious chance to step inside the Ras Kitchen and talk with Matt and Mokko.
Crew Photo, taken by taxi driver Danny — (L-R): Mike Zakrzewski, Matthew Viveen and Matt Pancer in Sunning Hill, Saint Thomas, Jamaica. Photo used with permission.
Global Voices (GV): How did you come up with the idea to create a Rastafari/Ital cooking show and why'd you decide to roll with Mokko?
Matt Pancer (MP): Growing up I was really into jungle music, dub, reggae, ska…all of those styles of music coming from Jamaica. The music was always infused with Rastafari elements, but I really knew almost nothing about the actual culture. I had been making videos for years and really wanted to create a unique TV show that could have global appeal. I’d been researching about Rastafari and read about the concept of Ital food, and that’s when the idea hit me. A REAL cooking show with a true Rasta cooking Ital food in an old school way.In 2010 I was looking everywhere online to see if I truly had an original idea. I couldn’t find any video online showing this at all. Theres a lot of Jamaican cooking shows, sometimes making Ital dishes, or guys with dreads, but they were all done in nice, clean, indoor, modern kitchens. Eventually, I found a site called ‘Worlds Together Travel Network‘, which connects travellers with cultural travel experiences. You can stay with a Mayan family in Belize or a Bedouin family in Egypt. Sure enough, there was a page about staying with a Roots Rasta family in Jamaica. There was a short clip of a Rasta man making a stew on an open fire…and that man of course was Mokko. It had a phone number…so I called him and asked if he would be open to myself and a friend coming to shoot a cooking show with him for a week. He said ‘Ya Man!’
GV: Would you ever consider writing a cook book?
MP:I’d love to do a book with Mokko's recipes. The thing is though, that Mokko cooks from the heart…he doesn’t time anything, measure anything…it’s all done by intuition. So it may be hard to write a book without these details.
GV: What would a typical day be like for a traveller staying at Mokko's Riverside Cool Cottage and Ras Kitchen?
Mokko Jackson (MJ): Cook and all those things and hike, go all over the place, you know. I will take all my guests there.
MP: The accommodations have tripled since the first time I was there in 2010.
“Some serious gourmet business at Mokkos…every single time” — in Sunning Hill, Saint Thomas, Jamaica. Photo used with permission.
GV: Do you plan what you're going to cook for the show?
MP: There are NO plans at all. Mokko is not a big planner. Most mornings we get up at sunrise and just figure things out from there. As a show director/producer, this makes things very difficult, but that’s how he rolls and I have to go with it.
GV: How many years have you been cooking?
MJ: I start to cook when I was about…12 and all around there, you know…as a little youth growing up. [I learned] from my mom [and] I always cooked for her, you know? I always loved the cooking and there's lots of places in Jamaica I go and cook and a lot of guests love it…Portland…everywhere. People call me, to do it for them, even to make Ital, yah know!
“On rainy days, the river turns yellow…” Photo courtesy Ras Kitchen, used with permission.
GV: Tell us about the shooting and editing process and working under certain weather conditions.
MP: We have been to Jamaica three times to shoot now — usually with two to three people — which is an extremely small crew, but we make it work. This last trip I did just this past October, I did solo. It was a huge challenge as I had to do everything…operate three cameras, do all the sound, producing, directing, media logging. I just have to flow with it…see what Mokko feels like cooking that day and go along with it. It’s a lot more like shooting a documentary than a cooking show…I just have to be ready for anything.
We cook in the outdoor kitchen on an open fire, which doesn’t make things easy on the technical side. There’s a metal roof which makes the lighting hard to work with, the smoke from the fire is getting directly in my face sometimes. If it rained the day before, you can be getting eaten by mosquitos. Fire ants love to bite the feet of camera guys who are paying attention to the camera and not where they are stepping…sandflies, rain, heat, the list goes on.
Editing takes a lot of time since I do everything myself. If there was a bigger budget for the show, I’d be happy to pay a crew to do some or all of it. Even the subtitles take a while to put in.
GV: What has the online response been like?
MP: Online response has been amazing. It’s been a slow build, but the people that like the show are very engaged. It’s building more and more each month. There are viewers from all over the world. I was actually surprised at how many Jamaicans love the show…both expats and those still in the country. I thought that they wouldn’t be as interested, as they would have seen this kind of thing before. But what I found out is that many Jamaicans love the show because it reminds them of the old days, maybe their grandmother used to cook on an open fire just like Mokko does today. Or for those in Jamaica , they might see a Rasta on the street, but they’ve never spent time in their yard before. Although Jamaica can be a rough place, there is so much beauty in the people and the nature there. I think people everywhere can enjoy that.
The kitchen where all the magic happens. Photo courtesy Ras Kitchen, used with permission.
GV: Why did you choose online as the ‘broadcast’ avenue? How measurable has it been — can you track your hits and learn more about your target audience?
MP: Originally I had envisioned it on TV. I had shot a pilot, pitched it to Food Network, OLN, Omni, tons of places. The general response was ‘Wow this guy is really unique and cool…but this is not mainstream enough.’ They thought it could be good for a one-off special, but no way could it work in a series. Fair enough, it’s a very niche thing and it’s definitely not for everyone! Having to subtitle everything was a problem in their eyes too. I then spent a lot of energy pitching it to online networks…all over the place, and got very little response. I even partnered with a team in Los Angeles to help pitch it to venues in the US to no avail. I was actually surprised, as I know we really have something original here, it’s never been done before. So after many rejections, I just stopped trying to pitch it. Not because I had given up on the idea, but because I don’t feel like I need the validation from a bigger company. Things have changed so much in the TV/online content world in the last five years, why can’t I just make this happen myself? Conventional TV is a dying breed. There is a growing core group of fans that really enjoy the show and that’s who we make Ras Kitchen for.
GV: How has social media helped your cause?
MP: Social media has been a great way to communicate with fans of the show. We don’t have huge numbers yet, but those that do are heavily engaged. I’d rather have 10,000 engaged people watching than a 100,000 that just click once and watch 30 seconds of it.
A video we put up recently (Herbs of the Yard Tour) was pirated and put up on someone elses Facebook page without my authorization. It had 20,000 views and 500 shares within a couple days! The original video on the Ras Kitchen YouTube page still has less than 2,000 after weeks! At first I was kind of pissed, but then I thought at least this gives some validation that it is something unique that people are interested in seeing.
GV: What has been the best part about this whole experience and what have you learned from each other?
MP: The best part is just hanging out with Mokko. He’s such a character, we have a ton of laughs and I love hearing all his stories. I get to feel like part of the family when I’m there. I also felt a real connection to my food source. We had to climb, poke, throw, forage, trade, or grow our food. In cases where we couldn’t get it that way, we would buy from local people who Mokko knew. Being thoughtful of where the food came from, how long it took to grow, the effort it took to bring it to the table is something I’m guilty of not considering very often. It brings a new appreciation to the source of energy in our lives.
Mokko and Matt; photo courtesy Ras Kitchen, used with permission.
GV: What do you want people to take away from the show? What are you trying to accomplish by sharing the Ital cooking approach with the world?
MP: I just want people to see something real. The common misconception is that Rastafari […] has all kinds of rules and regulations that need to be followed to be a real rasta. It’s not like that…it’s an individual journey for each person. Ital can also mean different things to each person…it’s not something rigid with firm rules like Kosher, for example. I’d love for people to take away an appreciation of Mokko’s culture, the beauty in simplicity, and start to think about where their food and energy comes from. The more aware we are of this, the more we can start to build more sustainable ways to feed ourselves and take care of our planet.

author: Atiba Rogers


text:
What Kenya’s Biggest Slum Can Teach Us About Saving Cities From Floods · Global Voices
Ensia

Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo by Flickr user ninara. CC 2.0.
This text by Katie G. Nelson was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Try navigating the soggy, waterlogged slopes of Kenya’s largest slum, with its hundreds of thousands of ramshackle houses, and you’ll quickly realize why Kibera is named after a Nubian word meaning “jungle.”
Pasted and propped along the banks of the Nairobi River in Kenya’s capital, Kibera’s illegally constructed houses are packed together so densely you can barely see a sliver of the red dirt holding them up.
Though estimates vary greatly, between 500,000 and 1 million people likely live in this 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) settlement. The poorest are forced to build atop the banks of the river, which overflows with a slurry of fast-moving raw sewage and trash that inevitably destroys homes and claims lives during the rainy seasons that occur twice a year.
Until recently, residents’ only protection against this often-lethal water channel were the construction of hundreds of crude, hand-carved drainage canals snaking from Kibera’s high ground to the marshy, undeveloped basin of the Nairobi River and other feeble measures, such as blocking floodwater with trash.
Then, in 2015, a small group of architects, designers and engineers at Kounkuey Design Initiative decided to combine their expertise in urban planning, sustainable design and community outreach to solve the grand challenge of preventing flooding in Kibera—and hopefully beyond.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, KDI has as its mission answering the question, “Could design be useful in big challenges of poverty and environmental degradation?” says executive director and co-founder Chelina Odbert. Current projects range from building community hubs such as recreation areas, shared gardens, and market kiosks in Haiti, to engineering toilets that transform human waste into sellable fertilizer in Kenya, to providing holistic development plans for villages in remote parts of Ghana.
While KDI has almost a dozen projects across the United States, Caribbean, and West Africa, its work in Kibera has been the most extensive, with seven public-space projects focused on income generation, food security, water, and sanitation, and women’s empowerment. But KDI’s approach of creating productive, community-anchored public spaces wasn’t an option in much of Kibera.
“There is no abundance of available land,” says Odbert. “In fact, there is almost no available land. If it’s not built upon, it can’t be.”
The only open spaces in Kibera were located in “places where people are dumping trash, places that are insecure,” says KDI associate director Joe Mulligan. “All of those places are along the river.”
KDI decided to focus much of its efforts on another major problem in Kibera: flooding. Historically, flood issues have been a low priority in Kenya, especially in informal settlements such as Kibera where investments in basic infrastructure such as roads and trash collection are ignored because the government considers residents to be illegal squatters.
“It wasn’t something that we set out to deal with,” Odbert explains. “Flooding really found us.”
From March to August 2015, KDI conducted lengthy interviews in 1,000 Kibera households, used cellphone mapping software to carefully gather data about past floods, documented local preparation and relief tactics, logged flood-related damages and deaths, captured locational photographs, uploaded information into geographic information system—GIS—software, and traced routes of hundreds of poorly placed drainage channels running through Kibera.
Analyzing the data, the KDI team discovered to everyone’s surprise that up to 50 percent of households at the top of Kibera experienced flooding during the rainy seasons—almost the same proportion as those living at the bottom, despite a 190-foot (58-meter) difference in elevation.
“For us, it showed that flooding wasn’t just happening from the river, but it was also because of the major drainage channels coming down from the roads,” KDI volunteer engineer Anna Collins explains.
The team quickly recognized that Nairobi’s recent blitz of road construction, which greatly increased the amount of flat surfaces in the region but only included a few drainage channels funneling toward Kibera, was contributing to the flooding.
“People assume that the flooding problem comes from the river, but to see how much of that comes from the drainage—this data brings to light so many problems that wouldn’t be intuitive,” Odbert says.
Odbert says the robust data sets and resulting detailed maps have allowed KDI to advocate for county-level flood prevention strategies by bolstering partnerships between KDI and Nairobi public works departments to identify inefficient drainage channels and determine practical solutions for flood prevention.
“I think the reason there’s been so much success in working with the [local government] is because it’s clear that KDI has been able to provide information that [the local government] can’t,” Odbert says.
KDI is also partnering with Kibera community groups and local nonprofits to provide flood preparedness workshops for residents such as David Onyando, who collects trash for a living.
In the past Onyando has used garbage to block water from entering his home. After attending KDI’s training, he says he’s open to using small structural modification techniques such as widening rain channels and using sandbags to divert water in order to cope with floods.
“Flooding becomes a collective responsibility because in Kibera, you can’t do it alone,” says Onyando.
KDI team members say their thorough data collection, close community ties, and ability to provide critical data to the government that it otherwise would not have without duplicating services has given the team an invaluable position in the community. It’s also allowed them to develop and test a strategy for boosting urban resiliency that could be shareable and scalable outside of Kibera, too.
“This process,” Odbert says, “is almost directly replicable in other communities. Some of [the solutions] might work from place to place, others might need to be adapted. But as long as the process is created, then it won’t matter that the solutions aren’t exactly the same in each place. This really is a process, not a product, that we’re developing.”
For Kibera, the ultimate solution will include using detailed data sets to identify flooding hot spots, over- or under-utilized drainage channels, and any informal systems used to mitigate flooding; working with local government entities to plan and construct new drainage pathways based on data and GIS mapping software; documenting and quantifying property damage and deaths due to flooding; and creating a grand map illustrating the overall flow of Nairobi’s surface, drainage and river water in an attempt to better prevent floods in Kibera.
“It’s a big challenge and a big responsibility. It’s turning [data] into action over abdication,” Mulligan says. “This can’t just be research and talking to politicians.”
Mulligan and Odbert say their team will continue providing grounded, tangible and community-led results from their work on flooding, all in hopes of improving quality of life for Kibera’s residents — and, ultimately, others around the world as well.
Katie G. Nelson is a full-time journalist and photographer in Minneapolis. She specializes in global public health and international development issues, particularly on the African continent. She tweets from @katiegnelson. This text was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.

author: Ensia


text:
Coldplay’s New Video Featuring Beyonce Faces Backlash for Alleged Stereotyping of Indian Culture · Global Voices
Kisholoy Mukherjee

Beyonce in the video Hymn for the Weekend. Screenshot from Youtube
A new video released by British rock band Coldplay featuring American singer Beyonce has run into controversy for its alleged appropriation and stereotyping of Indian culture.
The clip sees Coldplay frontman Chris Martin reprise the role of a foreign reveller dancing and singing with Indian youth during what appears to be Holi, the Hindu festival of colours, while Beyonce is shown elaborately dressed as an Indian rani, or queen.
Among the characters that feature as extras in the video are a godmen (sadhus) and a Bahurupi child depicting Lord Shiva.
Nishita Jha writes at The Wire that Martin behaves “like a classic white-dude backpacker in that he only notices saffron flags and bearded holy men”:
Coldplay’s brand new video for the song ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ features what one imagines are Martin’s favourite bits of India: Mumbai taxis with colourful interiors, dilapidated buildings, holi, and the occasional child dressed as a monkey or a blue god. Beyonce also features on Coldplay’s album and appears in Martin’s vision as an angel, or its Indian equivalent: a Bollywood queen.
Perhaps to better understand the debate growing around the clip it is worth revisiting Edward Said’s concept of Orientalism:
Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient – dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for dominating, restructuring and having authority over the Orient.
As Richard King argued, Said’s conceptualization deals with the “complicity between Western academic accounts of the nature of ‘the Orient’ and the hegemonic political agenda of Western imperialism.”
In the 21st century this “hegemonic political agenda” could be seen as finding its logical continuation in cultural imperialism by means of appropriation and stereotyping propagated through music and other art forms.
Amid perpetuations of stereotypes such as the turban-wearing Sikh cab driver stereotype, it is Beyonce's representation as Indian royalty that some have found most problematic.
In addition to the American artist's gestures, opponents of the clip have pointed to the fact that popular Indian actress Sonam Kapoor —  a bona fide Bollywood star — is relegated to an eight-second cameo in the video, effectively playing second fiddle to the former Destiny's Child singer.
In the days following the video's release, Twitter hosted a storm of angry comments from Indians upset by their country's depiction:
Beyonce's video is a problem because it's reductive, and uses India as a prop for capitalist gain. A land and culture she has no right to.
— rachana j (@chanaaaj) January 29, 2016
No thanks for the bundle of stereotypes @coldplay. No wonder then that #India will be known as the country of snake charmers & sadhus.
— Sneha Menon Desai (@MissusDesai) January 29, 2016
coldplay should now take down the video and re-upload it with a sideshow of hate tweets so the world can actually see the real india.
— udaas priest (@UdaasPriest) January 30, 2016
Let's not complain about Coldplay stereotyping India. Let's just exact brutal revenge by having Himesh make more movies in the West.
— samit basu (@samitbasu) January 30, 2016
Wanna depict #India, understand its rich & diverse culture first! Going with ago old stereotypes is not done! #HymnForTheWeekend #Coldplay
— Amena (@Fashionopolis) January 29, 2016
So upset by @coldplay using my culture as a prop for their music video. India isn't just street kids and exotic women. #HymnForTheWeekend
— Atiya Hasan, MD (@AtiyaHasan05) January 29, 2016
Coldplay's new video is basically what India looks like to white people
— Kanksha Raina (@SpoiledHobo) January 29, 2016
Still, others have played down the video's implications:
All this “cultural appropriation” talk. If anything, the vid showcases the beauty of India. No need for all the drama. #Coldplay #Beyonce
— Ekta Patel (@protEkta) January 30, 2016
@chanaaaj I like it. It captures the spirit and essence of India and its people (not the elite). Of course there is artistic license.
— Vikas Tandon (@VikasTandon15) January 30, 2016
@chanaaaj Nothing wrong with cultural appropriation, no one is a cultural custodian, indeed cultural appropriation is for capital gain.
— Motlokwa Tsotetsi (@Sthathi) January 29, 2016
#Beyonce guilty of ‘cultural appropriation’ in the #Coldplay video? If dressing Indian makes her guilty what abt Indians who dress Western?
— Seema Goswami (@seemagoswami) January 29, 2016
In an opinion piece on Indian Express, Aditi Anand wrote that she does not find the video problematic.
She argues “as the Bollywood actress ‘Rani’ [Beyonce] fits in seamlessly. Yes, it’s not her culture, but, so? That doesn’t mean she can’t play a role in her own song.”
She also says that though there may have been cliched representations of aspects of Indian culture like Holi, all that was shown is still integral to Indian culture.
Martin’s video shows India in all its glory. The peacocks, the periscope, the puppets, the behrupiyas, the yellow and black cabs with colorful interiors, everything shouts India.
In a country of over a billion people and with a myriad of distinct religions and cultures, it is perhaps unsurprising that the video directed by Ben Mor has generated a diversity of opinions.

author: Kisholoy Mukherjee


text:
Once a Prisoner in Cuba, a Transgender Cuban Woman Vows to Never Return · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Ana Marrero, a transgender woman, says she was repeatedly thrown in prison in Cuba for wearing makeup and women's clothing. Credit: Tim Padgett/WLRN. Used with PRI's permission
This article by Nadege Green for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on January 28, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Ana Marrero pulls back her shirt sleeve and holds out her left arm.
“In Cuban prisons, I tried on various occasions to kill myself with knives,” she says.
Eight times.
“Uno, dos, tres, quarto, cinco, seis, siete, ocho,” she counts in Spanish. She counts the healed scars on her forearm. They look like horizontal tally marks.
These days, it’s a lot easier to travel between the US and Cuba, but some Cubans have no interest in going back to their homeland.
That’s especially true for transgender Cubans, like Marrero, 54, who lived in Cuba in the '60s and '70s. Back then, the Cuban government had very rigid gender expectations and it regularly sent gay and transgender people to prisons and labor camps for leading a so-called “deviant lifestyle.”
“It was horrible,” says Marrero, who fled Cuba in 1980 during the Mariel boatlift. “We couldn't have a life. In those days the Cuban government was very backward and cruel about homosexuality.”
She says gay and transgender prisoners were at the mercy of cruel guards.
“I met a gay man who had naturally large breasts and that bothered the prison authorities so much that they operated on him to get rid of those breasts,” she says.
Marrero identified as female from a very young age. In Cuba, she would wear her mother’s clothes and makeup — and she paid the consequences.
“From the age of 10 to the age of 18 I was usually in prison in Cuba. For simply being who I am,” she says.
That Cuba, the Cuba Marrero knew, is changing.
Mariela Castro, President Raul Castro’s daughter, is director of the government’s National Center for Sex Education and she’s a leading advocate for the gay and transgender community in Cuba — even leading anti-homophobia marches in Havana.
In 2013, Cuba’s parliament passed a law forbidding discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation. Mariela Castro, who is also a parliament member, voted against the ban because it didn’t include protections for transgender people.
Since 2008, Cuba has offered free sex changes through the public health system.
“In Cuba this is a slow process,” Castro told Daily Xtra, a Canadian website that covers the gay community. “We are trying to create a new society, but changing people’s conscience can be a slow process.”
Castro added that in Cuba, homophobia and transphobia are still widespread.
Mariette Pathy Allen, an American photographer, has been photographing transgender women in Cuba since 2013.
Allen says that for the women she's met, “it’s a very hard life.”
Despite some of the progress happening in the LGBT movement in Cuba, many of the trans women Allen photographs say they’re still harassed and detained by police. They also say they can’t get jobs.
“A lot of them have no choice but to become prostitutes,” says Allen.
And there are the threats of violence, especially outside Havana.
Earlier this year, a trans woman was stoned to death near the western city of Pinar del Rio, according to Cuban media reports. Activists in Cuba called it a hate crime.
Still, many point to Mariela Castro as a beacon of hope and perhaps a sign of long-term change for trans Cubans.
In Miami, Marrero says she knows there’s an evolution happening in Cuba.
“Mariela Castro has changed and opened up a lot of things there,” she says. “If Mariela Castro had been there when I was living there, maybe I wouldn't have had to come here.”
Marrero says the transphobia she experienced living in Cuba, she also experienced here early on in Miami’s Cuban exile community.
She says Cuban American police officers used to stop her and accuse her of being a prostitute. They questioned her gender and made unwanted sexual advances toward her.
“I felt very powerless,” she says.
Just as a shift is happening slowly in Cuba, Marrero says she’s also seeing more acceptance of transgender people in Miami.
“Today I can walk more freely. I can go where I want. And I can be who I want to be, without facing so much discrimination,” she says.
And even with US and Cuba relations normalizing now, she still can’t bring herself to ever go back home.
“I suffered too much trauma in Cuba. It would cause me too much panic to return there. I wouldn't go back, even for a short visit.”
Her resolve hardens when she looks down at her arm. The self-inflicted scars left from her life in Cuba’s prisons are a permanent reminder of a time when she could not be free — could no be herself.

author: PRI/PRX's The World


text:
A Sexy Guide to Digital Security and Safer ‘Nudes’ · Global Voices
Florencia Goldsman

Image from Coding Rights Brazil. CC 3.0.
María V. and her partner split up more than a month ago. Just when she thought the pain of the breakup was over, she received a message from a friend, which read, “I saw [a photograph of] you in the Whatsapp group I have with the guys from football. It was hot!! :D” Her friend even attached a screenshot from the chat group: it was an intimate photo she'd taken for her ex, with the promise that he'd never share it with anyone else. It sent a shiver down María's spine. The photograph had been leaked online and was being shared by strangers over instant messaging.
María V.'s case is one of so many now forcing us to reexamine today's culture of consent. “Sexting” (sending and receiving sexually explicit messages) is on the rise, but what restrictions should people impose on themselves, if any, when it comes to sensualizing themselves on camera? While adults have the right to share explicit photographs of themselves, the “virtual contracts” that set down conditions and expectations for sharing these images with other people aren't always clear.
An organization called Coding Rights says sexting and sharing nude photographs can be a “pleasurable resistance to misogyny, conservatism, and heteronormavity,” but the group is also seeking ways to protect people from forms of violence that can result when sexting relationships go bad. With this goal in mind, Coding Rights has released a guidebook on sending nude photos safely, without spoiling the fun. The fanzine “Send Nudes” sees anonymity as an act of political dissidence, and gives recommendations about the best angles to use in photos. (They advise against revealing your face, or any tattoos and birthmarks, if you don't have the other person's complete trust).
Obscuracam and Wickr are some messaging apps that allow you to encrypt chats and pixelate images when sending them. Other more popular messaging services—like Whatsapp, Telegram, Tinder, and Facebook—do not. The term “revenge porn” has become popular, though some argue that the term “porn” is inappropriate, given that pornography features sexual acts by actors who consented to being filmed for content to be distributed to the public. The term “revenge porn,” critics argue, in fact eroticizes an act of violence.
At a recent forum on Internet governance in João Pessoa, Brazil, the subject of online violence against women was one of the most hotly debated issues. Panelists included representatives of the state, the civil service, academia, and the business community, who discussed the legal concept of consent as it applies to the digital world. According to many of the panelists, Internet users conclude agreements by default, simply by signing up to use various devices and apps, where personal data is surrendered in exchange for service. The “terms and conditions” of using the Internet and its array of services are one of those things users rarely, if ever, read. They're long, they're technical, and stopping to read these documents runs counter to the Web's entire culture of fast surfing and instant gratification.
During a 16-day campaign to protest violence against women, the group Dominemos la Tecnologia (Take Back the Tech) shared strategies for eradicating violence against women online. Apps will have a central place in this debate, the group says. The campaign's leaders have faulted app-designers for failing to “consult the women who have actually experienced online violence.” Dominemos la Tecnologia is calling for more testing and opening a dialogue with women who have suffered in part because of the designs of popular messaging apps.

author: Florencia Goldsman


text:
A Syrian Man Takes Refuge in a Korean Honeymoon Resort Island · Global Voices
PRI/PRX's The World

Ahmed Lababidi left his war torn hometown, Aleppo, Syria, fleeing across the Turkish border in 2012. He followed his younger brother to South Korea and settled on the island of Jeju. Credit: Malte E. Kollenberg. Used with PRI's permission
This article by Jason Strother for The World originally appeared on PRI.org on January 21, 2015, and is republished here as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Jeju Island, with its black volcanic rock and proximity to Seoul, is a honeymoon destination for many South Koreans. For one young Syrian man, though, Jeju is now home — though for how much longer is anyone’s guess.
Ahmed Lababidi, 22, left the war-ravaged city of Aleppo back in 2012, fleeing across the Turkish border. He followed his younger brother on a journey to South Korea, where they were able to secure visas with the help of a Syrian businessman in Seoul.
Soon after, Lababidi applied for refugee status, but he says Korean immigration officials told him that since he fled Syria “just because of war” they wouldn’t offer him asylum.
“I can stay here, but not as a refugee”, he recalls being told.
Instead, Lababidi was given a temporary humanitarian visa, which allows him to stay in Korea, but immigration officials won’t tell him for how long. Unlike refugee status, a temporary humanitarian visa doesn’t entitle him to government support, such as medical insurance. And that’s something he could really use.
While on a trip to Jeju, Lababidi got sick and wound up in an emergency room. Doctors diagnosed him with Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel condition. He says it flares up whenever he gets stressed-out — and that seems to happen whenever he leaves Jeju Island.
“I went to Seoul many times,” he says. “The weird thing is that whenever I go there, I start bleeding [internally].”
Lababidi says he wants to stay on Jeju, where he appreciates the relative calmness of the island. He’s also made some friends through his job waiting tables at a local Indian restaurant, and it’s helped improve his Korean language skills.
Ahmed Lababidi on the bus around the island. He takes the bus to work, but on Sundays, he has to take a taxi sometimes. With quite good Korean language proficiency he programs the navigation for the taxi driver. Credit: Malte E. Kollenberg. Used with PRI's permission
But picking up the language rather quickly coupled with the fact that he’s the only Syrian on the island, raised some suspicions. One time a local police officer paid him a visit and insinuated that Lababidi might be a spy, though not for ISIS.
“They said these days we have a lot of spies from North Korea, and the Syrian and North Korean governments … have a friendship,” Lababidi says. “[But] after they met me, they said we are sorry, you look like a kind person.”
Korean authorities also paid Lababidi — and reportedly every other Syrian living in South Korea — a visit shortly after the attacks in Paris last November.
“I feel bad, why they come to me? They think I am a terrorist?” But Lababidi adds that he understands that the police were just doing their job.
Still, some South Korean politicians keep bring up the potential link between Syrian refugees and terrorism, says Chung Shin-young at Advocates for Public Interest Law in Seoul, a firm that helps asylum seekers.
“The government is really intentionally using this xenophobia and fear,” Chung says, as a way to keep from granting refugee status, particularly for Muslims.
Ahmed Lababidi checks his phone waiting for the bus. Credit: Malte E. Kollenberg. Used with PRI's permission
She points out that immigration authorities have granted refugee status to only three out of roughly 850 Syrian asylum seekers. She adds that the temporary humanitarian visas that most applicants receive allow the government to avoid financial responsibility while not sending Syrians back to a warzone.
An official at South Korea’s Ministry of Justice, who asked not to be identified, writes in an email that the agency “fairly evaluates refugee applications and bases decisions on evidence that the asylum seeker would be persecuted if they return home.”
The official declined to explain how long a humanitarian visa lasts and how many times it can be renewed.
Ahmed Lababidi says he told immigration authorities that he’d be in danger if he went back because he’s criticized the Syrian government on Facebook, but Korean officials told him to consider another way of staying in Korea.
“They said if you want, just get married to a Korean,” Lababidi says, adding that this is not the way he’d like to obtain residency here.
Ahmed Lababidi's smartphone has become an integral part of his life in Korea. And he uses it to stay in touch with his family in Turkey. Here he's talking to his father via video chat. Credit: Malte E. Kollenberg. Used with PRI's permission
Another option for some kind of permanent residence might involve moving again. Lababidi’s parents are now in Turkey, and hope to apply for refugee status once they get to Europe. If that came through, he might be able to join them there. But he doesn’t want to give up his life on Jeju.
He says he’s still holding out hope that Korean officials will reconsider his asylum request and then he could bring his parents here.
“Wherever I go around Jeju, I think about them,” Lababidi says. “They cannot see these kind of places, they cannot feel this kind of life here.”


text:
An Interactive Digital Archive Helps Preserve Traditional Australian Aboriginal Literature · Global Voices
Rising Voices

Cover of the book “Bäruwuŋu mala wäŋa bunhawuy” Author: Djäwa, Illustrator: Yambal, written in the Gupapuyŋu language of Australia available at the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.
The following story was originally published as a case study of the Angkety map – digital resource report produced by First Languages Australia. It is republished here with permission.
The Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages  project began with a commitment to develop a digital archive to support and enhance Australian Aboriginal knowledge practices.
The archive contains digitised material in Indigenous languages from the Northern Territory, with an initial focus on sourcing material from area schools that had a bilingual education program. These schools had literature production centres, which produced books in local languages. Teacher–linguists and literate production supervisors recorded a wide array of stories: versions of old-time children’s stories; pre- and post-contact histories; books about the environment, hunting, bush medicines, ghost stories, creation stories, stories of memorable events, life stories, conception stories, and cautionary tales. There were readers, curriculum documents, bilingual magazines and newspapers. Stories came from schoolchildren, community members, and community elders.
Searching Living Archive map according to location or language.
While some of the books are still available in the communities, books from some sources had dispersed and were retrieved from small private and large public collections from around Australia. The copyright holders (e.g. the Northern Territory Department of Education) gave permission to digitise the books, and each named contributor was also sought (or family members of those who had passed away) to give permission for the books to be made public on the open-access website.
The archive now contains hundreds of books in over 25 languages from communities across the Northern Territory. A highly visual interface allows users to access the books through a map where they can click on either a language or a place, and cover images of the books are presented for selection. Standard search and browse options are also available, searching both metadata and full text. Most of the books are illustrated, and many have English translations. In consideration of the preservation and presentation needs of the archive, multiple versions and formats of each item are created in the digitisation process. Books are published in the archive as PDFs, accompanied by Unicode text-only versions, while high-resolution preservation image scans are available on application. Some have been published as talking books, combining the original printed page with newly recorded readings. The provision of the material in different formats opens up potential uses for the resources.
Cover of the book “BE WE 93” Author: Marrŋanyin, B. Illustrator: Wadaymu, P., written in the Djambarrpuyŋu language of Australia available at the Living Archive of Aboriginal Languages.
Publishing the components of image and text makes the archive a great source of content for creating resources in the future, in collaboration with the story owners. It provides flexibility for people to adapt the material to their own use, such as updating text, adding new images, creating new ways to engage with the content.
Inside page of BE WE 93 book.
A Creative Commons licence allows non-commercial use of the materials with appropriate attribution. The process of reformatting reflects the activity and excitement that surrounded the original preparation of the books—the recording, the transcribing, the illustrating, the checking, the making, printing, collating, and distributing. It is this activity, and the ability for the material in the archive to be added to, edited, updated, which keeps it alive.
The archive balances the competing needs for material to be held as representation of
knowledge, and for the archive to be performative, flexible and usable in multiple ways.
The second stage of the project involves engagement of users with the materials in the archive. A ‘search and rescue’ effort invites people to add more materials to the collection; there are efforts to engage communities in customising and enhancing their own collections; schools are invited to incorporate materials from the archive in the curriculum; and academics from around Australia and globally are encouraged to draw on the resources. The archive is still being modified to allow such engagement, in consultation with stakeholders.

author: Rising Voices


text:
Following Prisoner Deal, Iranian Nobel Laureate Calls on Tehran to ‘Make Peace With Its Own People’ · Global Voices
Center for Human Rights in Iran

Shirin Ebadi gives a lecture on Islam, democracy, and their foundations in human rights at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Photo by Ana Elisa Fuentes on Flickr. (CC 2.0.)
A version of this post originally appeared on iranhumanrights.org and is published here in collaboration with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.
While expressing joy at Iran’s recent release of four imprisoned Iranian-Americans, Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has called on the Iranian government to “make peace with its own people,” now that it has shown the ability to negotiate and compromise with its adversary, the United States.
“The Iranian government has made peace with a country that was its enemy for 37 years and I cannot help wonder why it cannot make peace with its own people,” the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner said in her January 18, 2016, open letter to President Hassan Rouhani.
If the Supreme National Security Council can release a journalist who has been taken hostage as ‘sweetness’ for reconciliation with the US, why can it not release a university professor and a female artist, such as Zahra Rahnavard? If the Judiciary can release Saeed Abedini, whose crime was his religious belief, due to his dual nationality, why does it not take any action to facilitate the release of Mehdi Karroubi whose only crime was to protest [the 2009] election’s results? If Mr. Zarif could negotiate with superpowers, such the US, to release some Iranian businessmen from US prisons, why does he not do the same for prisoners of the 2009 events?
Ebadi, who is the founder of the Center for Supporters of Human Rights, added: “The Supreme Leader, the Judiciary, the Supreme National Security Council and yourself are well aware that in the absence of an independent judiciary, political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are deprived of a fair trial and, in fact, they are held hostage by the security forces.”
Ebadi’s letter was in response to the US-Iranian prisoner exchange on January 16, 2016. The government in Tehran released four Iranian-Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who had been held in prison for 18 months on politicized charges. In return, the US pardoned, and in some cases commuted, the sentences of an Iranian and six Iranian-Americans.
Ebadi criticized President Rouhani’s record on human rights and said in remarks directed at him, “I am sorry that other prisoners who only hold Iranian citizenships should remain in prison. Have you forgotten your oath to preserve the Constitution? Which political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran have been tried openly and in the presence of a Jury?”
“I hope the day to make peace with Iranian people will come soon and on the ‘sweetness’ of that day we may witness the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Iran,” she concluded.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, one of Global Voices’ partners, also issued a statement calling on Iran to free the many prisoners of conscience held in Iranian jails for their peaceful activism and beliefs:
Now, many Iranians are asking if Iran’s rulers will ever make peace with their own people, and release hostages held by the security forces, including Omid Kokabee (a young genius), Abdolfattah Soltani (a lawyer), Narges Mohammadi (a civil rights activist), Bahareh Hedayat (a student rights activist), Issa Saharkhiz (a journalist), Saeed Madani (a political activist) and dozens of other prisoners?

author: Center for Human Rights in Iran


text:
Jamaican Painter Barrington Watson Dies, Leaving Behind a Rich Visual Legacy · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A screen grab of Jamaican artist Barrington Watson, taken from a television interview, “Profile with Ian Boyne”, on Jamaica's TVJ in 2010. The interview was part of a documentary on Watson by the National Gallery of Jamaica, “Barrington: a Jamaican Artist’s Story”.
Barrington Watson, one of Jamaica's most acclaimed painters, died on January 26, 2016 — reportedly from cancer — at the age of 85. A traditional painter who studied at the esteemed Royal College of Art in London, England, Watson was the first director of studies at the Jamaica School of Art and Crafts (now renamed the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts), one of the most important art schools in the region.
He was a prolific artist who poignantly captured the nuances of Caribbean life. Upon his death, social media was a chorus of praise for the beauty of his work and the amazing legacy he has left to the region. The Jamaican arts and culture blog Tallawah remembered Watson as “a man of distinction — artist, icon, mentor”, agreeing with his widow that his students would probably miss him most:
By all accounts, Watson lived to tell stories with his paintbrush and inspire others, including Jamaica’s emerging generation of artists. And he was good at what he did. As a rising star in his heyday, he was considered a unique talent among his peers, and the Jamaican art world quickly made room for his extravagant visual appetites and exquisite eye.
The post also quoted former chief curator at the National Gallery of Jamaica, David Boxer, who thought that when it came to realist art, Watson had no equal:
He was the most highly trained artist, and he brought those academic principles to art. Quite simply a display of great competence based on extraordinary drawing skill.
The National Gallery of Jamaica Blog posted two tributes to Watson, the first of which talked about his education and accomplishments:
[Other than] the prestigious Royal College of Art [he] attended several other major European art academies, including the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris and the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam. He returned to Jamaica in 1961 and quickly rose to prominence as a major artist in post-Independence Jamaica. […]
Barrington chaired the Bank of Jamaica art collection in the mid-1970s and operated several art galleries: Gallery Barrington, which has existed in several incarnations since 1974, and the Contemporary Art Centre, which was active from 1985 to 1998. His home in the parish of St Thomas, Orange Park, is recognized as a heritage site. It is part of a former coffee plantation and it has, since he bought the property in 1968, served as the location of his main studio and a meeting place for artists and art lovers. Barrington left Orange Park to the Nation in 1994.
The post also described his work:
Essentially an academic realist, Barrington explored a wide range of themes and genres in his work, including history painting, genre, portraits and self-portraits, nudes, erotica, the landscape and the still life, ranging from the intimate to the epic and all interpreted with his unique painterly sensibility. Barrington insisted on being recognized as an artist first and as a Jamaican artist second but most of his paintings were inspired by Jamaica and its people and he produced some of the most iconic images in Jamaican art history, such as Mother and Child (1958-59) and Conversation (1981) in the National Gallery of Jamaica Collection. Although he is best known as a painter, Barrington was also an accomplished draughtsman and printmaker.
During his career, Watson was commissioned to paint several official portraits of world leaders, including several Jamaican prime ministers and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The second post by the National Gallery of Jamaica was an announcement that it has “mounted a special display of some of Barrington’s key works from our collections”.
Many netizens used Twitter and Facebook to share the news of Watson's death and express both their grief and their admiration for the man and his talent.
One Twitter user made the point that Watson was responsible for grooming new generations of Jamaican artists:
#Jamaica has lost a master. #BarringtonWatson produced 2 generations of #Jamaican #artists pic.twitter.com/RVMrQUTWw7
— Theresadroberts (@theresadroberts) January 28, 2016
Others shared images of his paintings:
rest in peace, rest in paints and glorious colour #BarringtonWatson pic.twitter.com/AV0AAkp6ES
— Salena Godden (@salenagodden) January 28, 2016
Jamaica has lost 1 of its master painters #RIP Mr. Watson @bobmarley water marked McLeod Galleries #BarringtonWatson pic.twitter.com/neeqMdLEC2
— Teresa Castellucci (@stemedia) January 27, 2016
#BarringtonWatson 🇯🇲🎨
Jan 9, 1931 – Jan 26, 2016 pic.twitter.com/AocsuzDHXT
— Beach Bum (@BeachBumProb) January 27, 2016
One Twitter user shared a touching anecdote that spoke to Watson's love of art — and his humility:
Couldn't afford the canvas but ♥ Mother& child so much he signed my picture version. #Jamaican #BarringtonWatson ♥ pic.twitter.com/FKMu3ndDKV
— D_Anne (@Giselle_JA) September 27, 2014
While one Jamaican mother was determined to pass on Watson's legacy to her daughter:
Didn't have #homework 2day but now I do My mom wants me 2watch this documentary about #BarringtonWatson &look at his #art ~jj @LORE_JAMAICA
— ♛ Mecca Million (@Journey2Mecca) January 27, 2016
In a fitting Jamaican farewell, a Twitter user, referring to the local folklore of “duppies” or “spirits”, said:
Walk Good #BarringtonWatson. Walk Good and good Duppy walk wid you.
— Susumba (@onsusumba) January 27, 2016
Barrington Watson had been honoured with several national awards during his lifetime, including Jamaica's Order of Distinction, Commander Class (1984), the Order of Jamaica (2006), and the Institute of Jamaica’s Gold Musgrave Medal (2000). A special retrospective of his work was exhibited at The National Gallery of Jamaica in 2012 as part of the gallery's recognition of the country's 50 years of independence from Great Britain.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


text:
Lampedusa’s ‘Lioness’ Giusi Nicolini Wins the 2016 Simone de Beauvoir Award · Global Voices
Bah Abdoulaye

Giusi Nicolini. Imagee via Prix Simone de Beauvoir
The 2016 Simone de Beauvoir Award has been given to the mayor of Lampedusa and Linosa Island in Italy, Giusi Nicolini. She has been called a “lioness” for “her brave and pioneering actions in favour of refugees.”
The award, which is a cheque of 10,000-30,000 euros, is assigned every year on January 9, the birthday of Simone de Beauvoir, to a person or an association for their actions for the progress and freedom of all women all over the world.
Mayor Nicolini received 15,000 euros.
Doppia standing ovation a Parigi per @giusi_nicolini insignita del Premio Simone de Beauvoir per la liberta’. Italiani che ci fanno onore!
— Monica Napoli (@Monicanpl) January 14, 2016
Double standing ovation in Paris for Giusi Nicolini, winner of the Simone de Beauvoir award for freedom! Italians that make us proud!
In her acceptance speech Giusi Nicolini was strongly critical of European migration politics.
The Canicattì Web reports her as saying:
I politici davanti alle bare del naufragio del 3 ottobre 2013 hanno detto ‘mai più morti in mare’, ma poi invece di attivare canali umanitari sicuri, invece di fare gesti di pace almeno smettendo di dare le armi ai Paesi in guerra, hanno chiesto la chiusura di Mare nostrum, l’operazione umanitaria della marina italiana, ritenuta colpevole di salvare troppe vite, ritenuta colpevole di incentivare gli arrivi.
Anche negli ultimi, difficili mesi, l’Ue ha dimostrato grandissima ipocrisia, da un lato ha detto facciamo un piano di accoglienza per i migranti, stabilendo le quote come si fa per il latte, e poi [l'Europa] non è stata nemmeno in grado di prenderseli….
Dedico il Premio alle donne che sono arrivate violate, ed ho l’intenzione di investirlo in un progetto concreto che possa salvare almeno alcune di loro dall’abisso della depressione e della disperazione.
Following the shipwreck that occurred on October 3, 2013 the politicians said “no more deaths at sea”, but instead of activating safe humanitarian channels, instead of promoting peace actions like for example not sending arms provisions to countries at war, they asked for the closure of Mare Nostrum, the humanitarian wing of the Italian navy, which was accused of saving too many lives and of incentivizing arrivals.
Also in the last difficult months, the European Union demonstrated hypocrisy, as on the one hand it said we will make a plan for welcoming refugees, establishing quotas as one does for milk, and on the other that Europe is not able to take them.
I dedicate the prize to women who arrived here violated, and I will invest it in concrete projects that can save at least some of them from depression and desperation.
After she was elected in 2012, Giusi Nicolini wrote a letter to her constituency where she expressed her indignation on behalf of the people who died trying to reach Lampedusa. Later posted on the “Ernesto Balducci” refugee centre website, the letter read:
Eletta a maggio, al 3 di novembre mi sono stati consegnati già 21 cadaveri di persone annegate mentre tentavano di raggiungere Lampedusa e questa per me è una cosa insopportabile. Per Lampedusa è un enorme fardello di dolore. Abbiamo dovuto chiedere aiuto attraverso la Prefettura ai Sindaci della provincia per poter dare una dignitosa sepoltura alle ultime 11 salme, perché il Comune non aveva più loculi disponibili. Ne faremo altri, ma rivolgo a tutti una domanda: quanto deve essere grande il cimitero della mia isola?
[…]
Sono indignata dall’assuefazione che sembra avere contagiato tutti, sono scandalizzata dal silenzio dell’Europa che ha appena ricevuto il Nobel della Pace e che tace di fronte ad una strage che ha i numeri di una vera e propria guerra.
[…]
Tutti devono sapere che è Lampedusa, con i suoi abitanti, con le forze preposte al soccorso e all’accoglienza, che dà dignità di esseri umane a queste persone, che dà dignità al nostro Paese e all’Europa intera. Allora, se questi morti sono soltanto nostri, allora io voglio ricevere i telegrammi di condoglianze dopo ogni annegato che mi viene  consegnato. Come se avesse la pelle bianca, come se fosse un figlio nostro annegato durante una vacanza.
Elected in May, on the 3rd of November I had already received 21 corpses of people drowned while trying to reach Lampedusa and this thing is unbearable for me. It is an enormous burden of pain for Lampedusa. We had to ask help from the prefectures in order to give a dignified buriel to the last 11 corpses because the municipality does not have burial allowances anymore. We will construct others again, but I have a question for all: how big must the cemetery of my Island be?
[…]
I’m indignant about the inurement that seems to have infected all, I’m scandalized by the silence of Europe that has just received a Nobel Prize for Peace and that is silent in front of such a disaster that has the casualties of a real war.
[…]
Everybody must know the meaning of Lampedusa, with its citizens, with its forces adapted to the rescue and welcome that gives human dignity to these people, that gives dignity to our country and to the entirety of Europe. So, if these deaths are only ours, I want to receive condolence telegrams for every drowned corpse that I receive. As if he was white skinned, as if he was our son drowned during a holiday.
Giusi Nicolini is fearless in her defense of migrant rights. Last November, she wrote to the local government representative Mario Morcone in order to ask for his immediate intervention in transferring 422 refugees from the refugee centre of the island elsewhere because of “the persistence of the difficult hygenic conditions” following a garbage crisis.
The Aletheia Online website recalls her words to Morcone:
All’interno di quell’esiguo perimetro – prosegue Nicolini – risiede una popolazione attualmente superiore a quella di Linosa, e non posso consentire che queste persone convivano a cosi’ stretto contatto con quella quantita’ di rifiuti. Non li soccorriamo per poi ospitarli in una discarica. L’arbitraria sospensione del servizio di igiene ambientale e dei servizi essenziali previsti a norma di legge – spiega una nota del Comune – ha causato l’accumulo di rifiuti anche all’interno del Cpsa dell’isola. Al fine di scongiurare problemi per la salute dei lavoratori e degli ospiti del centro di accoglienza, costretti in una contenuta area per questo ancora piu’ esposta a putride esalazioni.
In that small area — continues Nicolini — there are more people than there are in Linosa, and I cannot allow these people to live in strict contact with that quantity of garbage. We do not rescue them to host them in a dump. A memo from the district explains that the arbitrary suspension of the environmental hygiene service […] has caused garbage accumulation at the refugee centre of the island. Our aim is to prevent health problems to workers and guests of the centre, that are located in a small area and for this reason are more exposed to the putridity.
In an interview last year, Giusi Nicolini invited staff in the tourism sector to not be afraid of the presence of migrants. In fact, the number of tourists to the island has actually increased vis-a-vis other parts of Italy.
Patrizia Molteni, founding member of Italia in Rete–Réseau associatif Franco-Italien, notes Mayor Nicolini's repeated attempts to call the attention of European and other world leaders to the situation of migrants, whose conditions have worsened on her island in 2015.
Dalla primavera del 2015, la situazione dei rifugiati è peggiorata, provocando l’apertura di nuove rotte. Giusi Nicolini ha tracciato la via e continua la sua opera, nonostante i suoi avversari, per far prendere coscienza all’Europa e al mondo intero della necessità di cambiare le politiche di asilo e di immigrazione inumane e rafforzare la solidarietà.
Si tratta della nona personalità ad ottenere il premio Simone de Beauvoir per la libertà delle donne, che rimane così fedele alla sua vocazione internazionale. Il premio è sostenuto dalla Fondazione Simone de Beauvoir, dall’università Paris Diderot, dall’Institut de France e dalla Municipalità di Parigi.
Since Spring 2015, the refugee situation has worsened, provoking the opening of new routes. Giusi Nicolini has traced the path and continues her activity despite opposition in order to strengthen solidarity and make Europe and the whole world realise the necessity of changing the inhuman asylum and migration politics.
She is the ninth person to obtain the Simone de Beauvoir prize for the freedom of women and remains faithful to her international vocation. The prize is supported by the Simone de Beauvoir Foundation, by the Paris Diderot University, by the Institut de France and by the Paris municipality.
Writing in his blog  A Sud di Tunisi Giorgio Caccamo notes that Nicolini's accolades do not end there. She has received praise from Pope Francis  and came ninth in the 2014 World Mayor Prize held by City Mayors Foundation ranking mayors across the world.
In February 2015 she was awarded the Prize of the European Citizen from the European Parliament in recognition of the actions of Lampedusa inhabitants after the shipwreck of October 2013 when 366 migrants died.

author: Bah Abdoulaye


text:
One Photo, One Thousand Words About Post-Apartheid South Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Some of the tweets discussing Alon Skuy's photograph from users @LanC_02, @gussilber, @BIZKID_WORLD and @LeMondZuid
A photo taken on January 26, 2016, outside the High Court in Johannesburg, South Africa, has drawn attention to income inequality in post-apartheid South Africa.
The shot, taken by Alon Skuy, a South Africa photographer working for South African newspaper, The Times, shows a controversial South African radio personality Gareth Cliff with his lawyer, Dali Mpofu, walking near a man who seems to be digging through rubbish.
Gareth Cliff ignited Twitter storm recently after he gave his opinion on Twitter about a racist comment made by estate agent Penny Sparrow calling black South African beach-goers ‘monkeys’. Reacting to Sparrow's offensive comment, Cliff said, “people don’t understand free speech at all”.
Following the storm, Cliff was removed from the judging panel for the televised singing contest South African Idols. He successfully challenged his removal in court where the judge argued that the case was about contracts and not racism or free speech.
Cliff, a white South African, was represented in court by Dali Mpofu, a black South African. Mpofu is the chairman of the Economic Freedom Fighters, a militant pro-black socialist party in South Africa.
The photo in question, which has been shared widely on social media, is considered by commenters the best visual representation of post-apartheid South Africa, where income inequality has worsened since white minority rule ended in 1994. South Africa has one of the most unequal income distribution patterns in the world.
#Inequality always in the background & never the focus. It’s up to us to change this #SouthAfrica
Photo by Alon Skuy pic.twitter.com/W61W7y9NPJ
— Elle West (@elle_west_ct) January 29, 2016
South Africa… 🇿🇦
We have a looonnnggg way to go.
Thank You Alon Skuy. pic.twitter.com/uvdXv4EVbo
— #YMS∞ (@BIZKID_WORLD) January 29, 2016
That pic by Alon Skuy:A summary of Post-Apartheid SA.
— Zimbali Mncube (@Zimbali_Mncube) January 29, 2016
On Twitter, one use asked, making reference to Cliff's lawyer's party, the Economic Freedom Fighters:
Whose economic freedom is it, anyway? The powerful photograph shot by Alon Skuy https://t.co/1w4C91DJTe pic.twitter.com/WevL3YXi4H RT
— Internet Activist ZA (@TupacZA) January 29, 2016
Shabtai Gold noted that the photo was not staged:
Truly brilliant image from South Africa. not staged. By Alon Skuy https://t.co/z5GRxPZne1
— Shabtai Gold (@velvetart) January 29, 2016
While @fullframeSA praised the shot:
Alon Skuy picture for @SowetanLIVE of Gareth Cliff and Dali Mpofu is photojournalism at its best pic.twitter.com/XStA0n9Tk2
— Fullframepictures_ (@fullframeSA) January 29, 2016
The photo has prompted some to search for more photos by Skuy:
Currently on google checking out Alon Skuy's work.
— Summer Reign (@Khuthii) January 29, 2016


text:
Russia and Chile Join the Global Campaign to Save a Saudi Poet From Execution · Global Voices
Vladislav Kalashnik

Ashraf Fayadh via Instagram.
Poets, artists, and activists from 44 countries participated in the worldwide reading in support of their colleague Ashraf Fayadh, who's been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia. Coordinated by the International Literature Festival Berlin, the global campaign consisted of more than 120 events, two of which were held in Russia: in Moscow at the Sakharov Center and in St. Petersburg at the “Word Order” bookstore on January 14, 2016.
Ashraf Fayad, a 35-year-old poet, was first arrested by the Saudi police following an anonymous denunciation. He was released on bail and then rearrested on January 1, 2014. At first, Fayadh was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes for apostasy and promoting atheism in his 2008 collection of poems, “Instructions Within,” but then his case was reviewed on appeal and on November 17, 2015, he was sentenced to death. Currently, Fayadh is awaiting the court’s final decision on another appeal. He says he's not guilty and calls himself a devout Muslim.
Moscow, January 14, 2015. Photo: Vladislav Kalashnik
The Sakharov Center was full of people who came to express solidarity with Fayad. Supporters recited poems—both his and their own. As poet and Corpus publishing house editor Eugenia Lavut (who organized the Moscow reading) explained, almost everyone had great difficulty weighing the knowledge that there are places where poetry can lead to being sentenced to death. According to Lavut, people came ready to support Fayad, believing it to be the “natural reaction.”
Когда ты узнаешь про то, что происходит с Файядом, хочется сделать что-то. Сделать нечто большее, чем просто подписать петицию, поставить куда-то лайк. Вложить в это больше себя. И то, что придумал Берлинский литературный фестиваль, – это действительно способ сделать больше.
When you hear about Fayadh and his situation, you want to do something more important than just to signing a petition or “liking” someone’s social media post. This worldwide reading campaign by the International Literature Festival Berlin is the right way to do it.
The first to speak was Stanislav Lvovsky, who recited several poems in his own translation via Skype. “Fayad speaks a very specific, rare dialect of the global language of poetry. He is able to stay deeply rooted in his own culture while pushing back against its worst, inhumane components,” Lvovsky told Global Voices. “Getting to know his poetry is like getting to know someone from another world, which seems to have nothing in common with yours.”
Ashraf Fayadh’s poetry is a place of multiple encounters between of the open global westernized world and one of its autarchic, somewhat island-ish cultures. […] By means of his poetry he put himself in a position, which is all too dangerous in times like these – and in any other times to that matter. Fayadh—and others possessing enough courage – stand where cruel non-human winds of history cross paths. And they let these winds go through their words, bodies and lives. We owe them. I owe them. Because Fayadh is among those who set us free.
Anastasia Shipulina, a student at the Higher School of Economics recited “Petroleum Is Harmless” in Arabic, unpacking the language Fayadh uses in the poem. For many people, criminal charges for promoting atheism (that is, denying Judgement Day and insulting Islam) seem absurd. Shipulina argued that you don't need secularism to think so, saying, “Quotations from the Koran can be found in almost every poem by Fayadh. That’s the source of his lyrics’ imagination and sense of morals.”
At the event, poets argued that there's no place in the modern world for a relationship between the state, religion, and people that allows citizens to be jailed, judged, and put to death for mere words or ideas. Some speakers even loosely compared Fayadh's situation to events in Russia, including recent reports that some books published by the George Soros Foundation were taken from a library in Komi and burned. (Disclosure: RuNet Echo receives funding from the Open Society Institute, whose founder and chairman is George Soros.)
“On the one hand, we understand that it’s unfair speculation. One should not even try to compare 20 burned books with a real person facing the death penalty,” Linor Goralik, a famous Russian poet told Global Voices. “But, on the other hand, we are facing a system that assumes the right to make political decisions on aesthetic reasons. It's inconceivable and unacceptable.”
Almost every participant began their remarks by expressing hope and support for Fayadh, asking Saudi officials to grant his appeal and reconsider his case.
Saudi Arabia's current membership on the UN Human Rights Council makes Fayadh's situation all the more problematic. The poet's supporters hope that public pressure and awareness campaigns could shame the government into sparing his life.
Said Gafurov, a Middle East expert, told Global Voices that these efforts to save Fayadh have a chance at success. Even if they fail, Gafurov says he's sure that remaining silent about such cases is no option, arguing that capital punishment is “horrendous, incredible and simply unacceptable” in the 21st century.
Казнь любого поэта – это потеря для всего человечества. Мы не знаем, может, будет казнен поэт, чье творчество через 500 лет войдет в школьные хрестоматии. Или вошло бы, если бы ему не отрубили голову.
The execution of any poet is a loss for all humanity. For all we know, you might be killing a poet whose works will be mandatory reading in schools, 500 years from now. Or perhaps they would have been, if they hadn't cut his head off.
According to Gafurov, Saudi Arabia lacks an independent judiciary: “the government brings all charges, the government carries out the judgment, it determines the verdict, and it acts as executioner—all in the interests of a single family.”
Also in January, there was a protest in Santiago demanding Fayadh’s release. Called the “protest of the white handkerchiefs and flowers,” demonstrators planted themselves outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy. The rally was organized by Sech (the Society of Chile’s Writers), Pen Club Chile, Descentralización Poética (Poetic Decentralization), Apech (the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Chile), Fundación Neruda (Neruda Foudations), and ChilePoesía. Earlier, this same group organized a concert and poem reading protest in front of Pablo Neruda’s house.
Jorge Ragal, president of Pen Club de Chile, said:
Conocimos, en otra épca de este país la persecución y la crueldad del Estado y por ello, como chilenos y como artistas asumimos el deber de exigir la liberación inmediata y el respeto de los derechos humanos de un creador y un hombre cuyos derechos han sido vulnerados.
In another time, we knew about persecution and cruelty by the state in [Chile], and thus as Chileans and artists we take the duty to demand [Fayadh’s] immediate release and the observation of the human rights of a man whose rights have been violated.
José María Memet, director of Chile Poesía, stated:
Junto a poetas y escultores, nos pusimos de acuerdo para en Chile, llevar la figura de este poeta, y pedir al Estado chileno que apoye la liberación de este verdadero caso de violación a los derechos humanos
Poets and sculptors agreed to bring to Chile this poet’s figure and ask the Chilean state to support his liberation—a true case of human rights being violated.
Memet added:
La casa de Neruda es un icono mundial y a nosotros nos interesa dar una señal al mundo , de que estamos prestos, claros, y que nuestra imagen está al servicio de un poeta perseguido
Neruda’s house is a worldwide icon and we are interested in giving the world a sign that we are ready to defend this persecuted poet.
Memet is now waiting to learn if the Chilean government will take a stand against Fayadh’s sentence.
In Mexico City, there was also an event hosted by PEN Mexico where various renowned writers celebrated Fayadh’s work and demanded in a public letter to the Saudi Embassy that he be released.

author: Vladislav Kalashnik