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International Women’s Day: One Date, Billions of Contexts · Global Voices
Danica Radisic

International women day in Egypt via Al Jazeera English and Wikimedia. Creative commons.
For most Internet users around the globe, March 8 might start with a visit to Google's daily doodle, drawing attention to one of the world's most recognizable celebration of civic rights — International Women's Day.
Although the international holiday was first spearheaded by socialist groups, and focused on working women, the day has now taken on distinctive forms in different locations all over the world, shedding its original essentialist connotations and emphasising specific issues that women in incredibly varied societies face.
In Eastern Europe, March 8 is a mesh of Mother's Day and Women's Day. Traditionally, it is a day during which men prepare a small gift for the most important women in their lives, including their mothers, wives, and female colleagues.
In recent years, however, women have started marking the day their own, using the day to organise events that raise awareness or promote women's professional roles. Google's March 8, 2015 doodle certainly captures that spirit, showing that in many countries of the world the day has grown into an appreciation of the roles women play in public as well as private contexts.
Breaking down the final barriers
Some events organised for International Women's Day around the world managed to raise awareness about the finer issues women face in modern societies, allegedly without intending to. Australia's Liberal National Party (LNP) booked a venue to celebrate the day “simply on the basis of availability, price and flexibility in a CBD location”, the party said.
As it turns out, the venue the party chose is an elite men's only club in Brisbane. Upon realizing the irony inherent in choosing that venue, the Australian Parliament took time to discuss the matter and had some fun with it.
The leader of LNP, which boasts over 6,000 women among 14,000 members, is current Prime Minister of Australia and federal Minister for Women, Tony Abbott.
Abbot swiftly took the opportunity to claim the event as yet another triumph for women. As party members prepare to discuss the role of women in Australian politics at all levels, he said, what better way to begin than by breaking down some of the final men-only barriers standing in their way?
Women's issues are no longer gender-specific
In other parts of the world though, battles over gender are fierce ones over basic rights. Organisations like International Media Support (IMS) work to draw attention to women whose gender, unfortunately, seems to come second to the labels that not only their own societies but the international community as a whole has placed on them.
In a photo piece on their website, IMS features five ordinary yet exceptional young Kurdish women from Syria who want to show that “the word refugee does not even begin to define their identities” and they would like to be seen “as women first”. In just a few quotes and a dozen photos, the piece not only changes the perception most of the world has about refugees, but also about the role of women in Syrian society.
Similarly, Human Rights Watch's most popular tweet on civil rights for the week beginning March 2, linked to a Reuter's article about a group of Afghan men who marched through the country's capital Kabul to draw attention to women's rights issues, dressed head-to-toe in bright blue burqas.
Afghan men don burqas & march in Kabul for women's rights http://t.co/MLAyiGEoIw #IWD2015 pic.twitter.com/lEL8YI8wMt
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) March 6, 2015
One of the activists, a young man of 29, said: “Our authorities will be celebrating International Women's Day in big hotels, but we wanted to take it to the streets.”
The small but significant march earned different reactions from passersby. Some women commented that they did not need men representing them, a middle-aged woman said she wore the burqa by choice even though her sons and husband had attempted to stop her wearing it, while others lauded and supported the small group of male activists.
Whether or not one agrees with the statement, this is yet another poignant example of how raising awareness of women's rights draws attention to the changes that different societies are going through, as well as the fact that feminism is not a one-gender movement. A video of the march, via AJ+, is available on Facebook.
Women unite against political conflict
International Women's Day is not just about bridging gender gaps, but also about bridging cultural and political gaps, usually through a demonstration of unity among women.
One such powerful demonstration was held by some 1500 women on both sides of the Kalandia checkpoint, the main checkpoint between the West Bank and Northern Jerusalem, on the afternoon of March 7, 2015.
Israeli women of both Jewish and Palestinian descent and women from the West Bank joined in a protest to demonstrate Israeli-Palestinian solidarity in opposition to the occupation and conflict in the region. The women held signs reading ‘Equality yes, racism no’ and were met with tear gas, stun grenades, and pepper spray by Israeli security forces trying to disperse the large crowd. Dozens of protesters were harmed and about 10 taken for further medical treatment.
In a separate show of political unity, the World Federation of Ukrainian Women Organizations called on women in Ukraine to join Nadiya Savchenko, a Ukrainian female fighter pilot, who has been held in jail by Russian authorities since June 2014, for a single day in her 12-week-long and ongoing hunger strike.
The UN Commissioner for Human Rights, several governments, and a number of human rights organizations have called for Savchenko’s immediate release, but on March 8, 2015, women and men across the world are uniting to save one woman's life and freedom.
@BBCGuernsey Best way to celebrate international women's day is to save life of one of them->#FreeSavchenko pic.twitter.com/480FofVoSV”
— John Semenowicz (@JohnSemenowicz) March 8, 2015
A truly global event
Among the plethora of ‘International Days’ endorsed by the United Nations, International Women's Day is surely the one with the largest footprint. Despite the drastically different issues that women face in different countries and regions, the day seems to be truly celebrated, in one way or another, in almost every country of the world.
It is a day of genuinely international proportions and both international organizations and multinational corporations are loathe to be left out of the action.
United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon made a video statement to mark International Women's Day and the 20th anniversary of the landmark 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing, that Ban called the “road map for women's rights”. As the country that hosted that conference, China, detained female activists for protesting sexual harassment on public transport, Ban spoke to remind the world that “women's rights are human rights”.
Google, meanwhile, did not stop at marking the day with a rare global doodle. They deployed their video-sharing platform YouTube to launch an online campaign that aims to “to inspire and empower young girls everywhere”.
The YouTube campaign invites women from all corners of the world to post a piece of advice for girls — one that they would have liked to have received as girls themselves — using the hashtag #DearMe. Thousands of women have seemingly joined the initiative and the hashtag is trending on both Twitter and Facebook. A separate meme, ‘#DearMe: From the Guys’, also now has a playlist of its own, proving once more that concerns about equality and empowerment relate to everyone.
Wikimedia the non-profit free education project, has showcased exceptional female Wikipedia contributors and the various ways they use Wikipedia to make a difference to their societies. The sheer variety among the 11 women featured, all of different nationalities, races, ages, and professions, speaks volumes about the organisation and the increasingly broad range of cultures that open source projects like it speak to.
Facebook, a social network heavily dominated by female users, kept its International Women's Day campaign simple but effective. The website's photo campaign focuses on presenting 12 very different women who have entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and outstanding accomplishment in common.
Finally, Twitter created a blog post to draw attention to some of the outstanding Twitter users who use the social network to discuss women's rights every day. The post begins with a reminder of the power of tools now available to unite people behind important causes, not just on an ‘International Day’, but the whole year round:
The conversation around “feminism” has increased 300% over the past three years. Several powerful discussions and campaigns began on Twitter and have brought awareness to many millions.

author: Danica Radisic


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Is Afghanistan Getting Closer to a Reckoning with Gender Violence and Discrimination? · Global Voices
Samea Shanori

In patriarchal Afghanistan, the battle for women's rights will depend in large part on men.
Afghanistan. 25th August 2009 — A woman in ‘Borghaa’, Burqa, or Chador [Traditional hijab for women in Afghanistan] is passing through the pigeons in the main square of Mazar-e Sharif City in Afghanistan. Demotix ID: 247626.
For that reason, the fact that on March 5, dozens of Afghan men took to the streets of Kabul wearing burqas in a protest  against violations of women’s rights in Afghanistan organised by a group called Afghan Peace Volunteers, offered fodder for conversations about gender inequality and violence in the country ahead of International Women's Day.
One of the participants, 29-year-old Basir, said :
Our authorities will be celebrating International Women's Day in big hotels, but we wanted to take it to the streets. One of the best ways to understand how women feel is to walk around and wear a burqa.
In the 1990s during the Taliban regime, women were forced to wear burqas in public. This tradition, which for many is synonymous with repression, has remained common in Afghanistan even after the Taliban's ouster.
As the rally took place another female Afghan artist walked around the capital wearing steel armour in the shape of a woman's body as a symbolic move to protest street harassment.
The march to defend women's rights earned a mixed reaction. Some welcomed the act, some were confused and others condemned it.
One person protesting against the march called it a Western-orchestrated move.
Ahmad Mukhtar, an Afghan journalist, tweeted:
On the eve of March 8, Afghan men wore burqa to support women right.The question is why they wore Burqa??? pic.twitter.com/i4fWEIk6eq
— Ahmad Mukhtar (@AhMukhtar) March 5, 2015
Zheela Nasari, a VOA journalist, tweeted:
#Burqa was forced on #Afghan women & we (men) wear to protest violence against #women: #EVAW https://t.co/LhyYlIGHuV pic.twitter.com/qrXv07zda7
— Zheela Nasari (@ZheelaJ) March 5, 2015
Raza Rumi tweeted:
Don’t know how to react to this one.Complicated #Burqa-clad men march for women's rights in #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/mSBHRAXMPz v @mashable
— Raza Rumi (@Razarumi) March 6, 2015
But many encouraged the trend:
Glad people are waking up | Afghan men march in Burqa to demand women's rights http://t.co/mcUPbUf3sx @TarekFatah @tufailelif
— Neha Srivastava (@neha_aks) March 6, 2015
Afghan men protesting for women's rights. This is so bold loving it. https://t.co/gK762cUa6A
— ariana delawari (@arianadelawari) March 5, 2015
Fereshta Kazemi, an Afghan artist tellingly stated:
Proud of these Afghan men. Women's rights in Afghanistan can only go so far, until men stand for it too #ComeTogether pic.twitter.com/SLFmvuG9rY
— Fereshta Kazemi (@FereshtaKazemi) March 5, 2015
Although Afghanistan remains strongly conservative, there are signs the situation surrounding attitudes to gender is changing incrementally. In 2013, Al Arabiya reported that burqa businesses were going bust in the country's capital Kabul, “with the demand for burqas declining among young women who are increasingly going to school and taking office jobs”.
Nevertheless, the same article observed that the burqa was actually becoming more popular in the country's regions, partly because the anonymity it provides can give a woman security from attacks carried out by men.
Last year witnessed an unprecedented public mobilisation in response to a gang rape case in the country's Paghman province. While international human rights organisations were concerned that the groundswell of public opinion on#Paghman was in favour of giving the death penalty for the gang rapists, the protests surrounding the case marked an important turning point in a country where various forms of violence against women have traditionally not been discussed.
And in Kabul in particular, there are many things which are growing more common now, that were simply unimaginable during the Taliban era:
“@BBCWorld: This is Sara, a female taxi driver in Afghanistan http://t.co/BarfwiRvKk pic.twitter.com/Oj8XcP67B6
— Farangis Najibullah (@FarangisN) March 8, 2015
The Taliban, of course, have not disappeared, and their legacy continues to penetrate Afghan society in a number of ways, but what the last few years have shown is that there is no shortage of people in the country — men and women — that are prepared to stand up for women's rights in a range of different contexts.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Samea Shanori


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Jamaica’s Marijuana Decriminalisation: Will the Rest of the Caribbean Follow Suit?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Ganja”, photo by Justin Schuck, used under a CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.
Jamaica has long been the Caribbean island that the developed world most associates with liberal marijuana use.
This perception might stem from the fact that the island's biggest global icon, the late reggae musician Bob Marley, was a committed Rastafarian, who routinely smoked herb as path to deeper spiritual awareness. In this sense, weed might seem as synonymous with Jamaica as reggae music, but despite tourists flocking from the Global North with dreams of spliffing up on a beach and feeling irie, cannabis use was  illegal on the island until recently.
That all changed last month — quite fittingly the month of Marley's birth — when the Jamaican House of Representatives passed a law decriminalising possession of up to two ounces of marijuana. The new legislation also allows people to grow up to five plants for personal use, and guidelines are currently being established for the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana and use of the herb for religious application.
The law has made Jamaica the first Caribbean nation to make the bold move of attempting to regulate cannabis use in a region where, in most cases, its illegality has not quelled consumption. Across the Caribbean, national justice systems are backlogged with minor possession offences that accomplish nothing more than sullying a young person's police record.
Jamaica joins a number of other countries who are pioneering this approach to dealing with marijuana use. In August last year, Global Voices published a story which suggested that decriminalisation could eventually happen across the Caribbean. Jamaica remains the single largest exporter of marijuana in the region.
Reaction to the news on Twitter was swift. There were several congratulatory tweets about the legislation, acknowledging the significance of the measure:
Puff Puff Pass! #Jamaica decriminalizes #Marijuana! Big up to the island…Forward Ever Backward… https://t.co/HgZxp992ut
— Miss Lily's (@MissLilysChat) March 2, 2015
The Caribbean is buzzing with the news that Jamaica legalized marijuana #jamaica #marijuana #canabis… https://t.co/mf6Ot4PxcR
— Is We Ting Inc (@IsWeTing) February 25, 2015
Some users of the microblogging service wondered what the benefits would be:
#Jamaica recently passed medical #marijuana law. What does this mean for Jamaica? What are the advantage to the real Jamaicans?
— Cavel Capalbo (@JamaicaVilla) March 2, 2015
Now that #marijuana has been decriminalized in #Jamaica I wonder if @TourismJamaica will increase. @Pimentokitchen @darairene #Tourism
— JASMINE (@CarpeDiemJBS) February 25, 2015
This Twitter user thought the move was long overdue…
It's about time Jamaica Decriminalizes Marijuana In Small Amounts – http://t.co/jLPfEEtNGr #Jamaica #marijuana #weed #pot #sanity
— Jonathan Tibbetts (@z8z8nw) February 25, 2015
…while others underscored the developed world's perceptions of the island:
Sorta thought they already had:#Jamaica Lawmakers Vote To Decriminalize #Marijuana http://t.co/I7WdlMeag2
— Jason Chafin (@Herm71) February 25, 2015
News: #Jamaica decriminalises possession of small amounts of #marijuana. As if anyone in Jamaica has small amounts of marijuana.
— Marius Codrea (@19dec1981) February 28, 2015
In the Caribbean itself, however, some bloggers were surprised by the decision.
Rishona Campbell wrote in a post titled ‘Can Jamaica Profit from Marijuana Legalisation?':
This is a really surprising, but timely move by the Jamaican government. In spite of marijuana being so intrinsically tied into Jamaican culture, thanks to the Rastafarians, the laws of the country have prohibited its possession and use since 1913. […]
It seems that Jamaica has grown hip to the changing climate globally in regards to marijuana decriminalization. In all honesty, I thought that this would have happened much sooner in Jamaica, especially when the success of weed tourism in the Netherlands proved that you could tolerate marijuana use, and not have society implode itself. Interestingly enough, the Netherlands actually allots for a lesser amount, 5 grams, for personal use. However the Netherlands allows public use, and it is fully legal. Whereas in Jamaica (similar to the states of California and New York in the United States), it is simply decriminalized.
Her post went on to describe some of the ways in which she thought the island could reap huge profits from the harvest and sale of the drug, explaining that both medical marijuana and weed tourism could generate significant economic yields. She also added that Jamaica was in a unique position to capitalise on the “almost mythical marketing pull of all things marijuana-related”.
A pro-weed region?
On Facebook, many netizens echoed the opinion of Trinidad and Tobago-based Shaz Hudson, whose reaction to news of the legislation was:
we need to move with the times
And indeed, other jurisdictions are definitely taking notice. Trinidad and Tobago News Blog reported:
With Caribbean neighbour Jamaica making moves to decriminalise marijuana, University of the West Indies (UWI) Professor Emeritus Kenneth Ramchand is renewing his calls for marijuana to be decriminalised in Trinidad and Tobago for medicinal purposes […] and pointed to a good argument for decriminalising for personal use in limited quantities.
Rhisona Cambell, continuing her post, noted:
St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Antigua all have leaders who have addressed the topic. They acknowledged at CARICOM meetings that Jamaica is a leader in this area and are watching to see how they can make similar legislative moves in their own respective countries. Perhaps this is the type of peer pressure that Jamaica needs in order to make the right moves to turn marijuana from a proverbial villain, to an economic friend.
Rising to new heights
Time will tell whether or not Jamaica has started the ball rolling in terms of the legalisation of marijuana in the Caribbean, but satirical blog The Late O'Clock News, which positions itself as ‘the only legitimate news source in the Caribbean’ thought it would help the process along:
Trinidad and Tobago will become the second, but more important country in the Caribbean to legalize the growth, sale and lighting up of marijuana. The ‘Just Gimme D Light and Pass the Dro’ Bill of 2015 is hoped to be passed unanimously in the House of Representatives [in] April this year […]
In between puffs the Minister stated ‘Of course we weren’t going to let Jamaica show us up like that. T&T has always been a leader in the Caribbean, and anything Jamaica can do we can do better!’
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Biessessar took full credit for the landmark legislation. During a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre the PM proudly proclaimed ‘I have always promised that your government would take our country to new heights but few predicted how high we aspire to be!’
The blog also humorously anticipated a ‘munchies’-related economic boom:
Many local businessmen in the food service industry (chiefly doubles and corn soup vendors) are looking forward to a sudden and rapid increase in revenue after the bill passes in Parliament. As one vendor in Arima said: ‘To put it bluntly, we go have reelll [real] people to feed cuz men will be coming out like mad to satisfy some food cravings. Trust I.’
Currently, the new law is generating a lot of ideas, from groups proposing a ‘Ganja Cooperative’ of Jamaican weed farmers, to marijuana aficionados imagining the future of pot tourism in the region.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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#KitaLawan: Thousands Join March to Call for the Release of Malaysia’s Opposition Leader · Global Voices
Zashnain Zainal

Thousands join march to demand the freedom of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Photo by Imagetaker, Copyright @Demotix (3/7/2015)
Despite rain, around 10,000 Malaysians joined a rally in the capital Kuala Lumpur to call for the release of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and for the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak. The protesters, who used the Twitter hashtag #KitaLawan (We Fight), gathered on the streets before making their way to the Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC). With minimal police presence, the rally ended peacefully on Saturday evening.
Anwar Ibrahim is serving a five-year sentence after Malaysia's high court affirmed his sodomy conviction last month. The opposition leader, who was the country's deputy minister before falling out with other officials in the ruling coalition, has claimed that the sodomy charge was politically-motivated. Sodomy is a crime in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country.
Nurul Izzah Anwar, a second-term MP and the opposition leader's eldest daughter, discussed the public gathering with Global Voices (GV).
GV: What did the rally achieve?
Nurul Izzah: The rally is a manifestation of the undercurrent of support for reforms and change in this country. In particular the change of the ruling elite. The substantial number and spectrum of those who attended showcase the spread of rights’ awareness amongst Malaysians.
GV: Do you think the rally will have had a sustainable impact on Malaysian society?
Nurul Izzah: Yes. Society has grown more understanding of the various forces accorded to them to display their viewpoints. Over the years, success has been achieved even in the police handling of peaceful demonstrations.
High handedness by the authorities; linked with mainstream media tarnishing of demonstrators won't work as easily now. We proved today, with proper police professionalism and care in managing traffic and handling peaceful rallies – everyone wins.
GV: What is the next course of action?
Nurul Izzah: We plan another rally May 1, but subject to engagement and further discussions with all stakeholders. We want all agents of reform who have put their trust in Pakatan Rakyat [political party], albeit with varying results, to partake in the process. Specifically, we plan a rakyat-led (people) petition to seek pardon for DSAI (Anwar Ibrahim) on the basis that a miscarriage of justice has taken place.
We will also stage a protest following the King's speech in parliament next week.
GV: It seems the movement today reflects a wide concern among Malaysians, and not just advocating the freedom of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. What are your thoughts on this?
Nurul Izzah: That would be exactly my point; our point. Any regime that imprisons it's opposition leader does not practice democracy. Anwar remains a messenger, bringing the message of reforms. Malaysians realize the weaknesses and failures of the regime and resonate with the call by the messenger.
We Will Never Surrender! #KitaLawan pic.twitter.com/7aoEh7KEd1
— Nurul Izzah (@n_izzah) March 7, 2015
Malaysians took to social media to show their support and rally with their political and community leaders.
YB @n_izzah is with us at Masjid Jamek now. pic.twitter.com/C7O5KLfddt
— nicholaslaw (@yikyang) March 7, 2015
I may not be marching but I support the rights of people to march. Freedom of expression matters.#KitaLawan
— Erna Mahyuni (@ernamh) March 7, 2015
Marching to SOGO pic.twitter.com/DwM61CsK3h
— Kita Lawan (@KitaLawan_my) March 7, 2015
Meanwhile Malaysians in Australia and England stood in solidarity with the movement.
Melbourne #KitaLawan – Bangkit Bangkit – Bangkit Rakyat! pic.twitter.com/ZkcmHD9FVN
— Praveen Nagappan (@icekacangpanas) March 7, 2015
Rise, Rise – Citizens Rise!
Jofan Pang – President of KPUM (law students in UK). London. #risewithjustice #kitalawan pic.twitter.com/ZzoOxholx8
— Jin Shern (James) (@JamesJSChai) March 7, 2015
Not everyone agreed with the rally — some condemned the demonstrators — while others have asked the authorities to punish the pro-democracy movement.
S.4(2)(c) Peaceful Assembly Act, those held street protest is punishable.No exception #KitaLawan causing traffic jams pic.twitter.com/aUCGzgenCT
— Tan Keng Liang (@tankengliang) March 7, 2015
As head of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, many argue that Malaysia has a special responsibility to demonstrate t is capable of promoting rights-based social policies in the region. This includes upholding the people's right to peaceful assembly and respecting the views of the opposition.

author: Zashnain Zainal


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Singapore Blogger Who Criticized Court Case of Anti-Gay Sex Law Fined for ‘Scandalizing the Judiciary’ · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Photo of Alex Au from his blog
A Singaporean blogger was fined S$8,000 (US$5,843) by the High Court on March 5, 2015 for writing a blog post two years ago that allegedly accused the Chief Justice of manipulating the court proceedings related to the petitions against Section 377A, the law which criminalizes sex between men.
Alex Au Wai Pang is a 62-year old writer who blogs at Yawning Bread. He is also a prominent member of Singapore's LGBT community. Alex said he will appeal the decision of the court.
The case involves an article that Alex wrote entitled “377 wheels come off Supreme Court’s best laid plans”, which discussed the “strange calendaring” of petitions challenging Section 377A in the High Court. Prosecutors said the article unfairly suggested that the Chief Justice had acted improperly and therefore it “risked undermining public confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore”. The court agreed with the prosecution and ruled that the article “crossed the legal boundary and constitute scandalizing contempt”.
Alex and his lawyers argued through their written submissions to the court that the article did not violate any law:
The [government] has had to twist Mr Au’s words out of context and to editorialize to impute sinister innuendo into his article where none exists. In so doing, [it] has mischievously ignored the caveats in Mr Au’s article that clearly flag out to his readers that he is theorizing, as opposed to making statements of fact.
Many criticized the decision of the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) to charge Alex. A statement signed by 170 people in December 2013 described the case as a threat to free speech:
The AGC’s action, rather than enhancing confidence in the judiciary, might weaken public confidence. It also implies that the public is not allowed to form opinions on judicial processes.
But the AGC reminded them that free speech is not absolute:
As important as the right to free speech and expression is, the Constitution recognizes that our society as a whole must be safeguarded against statements without basis which injure the reputation of persons or lower confidence in the administration of justice.
The case of Alex is cited by various political groups as the latest manifestation of the systematic harassment suffered by activists and critics of the government. Reacting to the court decision, the Reform Party urged the public to be vigilant about their rights:
Alex Au has already declared his intention to file an appeal. People we have to unite and fight to keep our rights, those few that we have left, if we are not to lose them for ever.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, advised Singapore to repeal the archaic law of “scandalizing the judiciary.” He also frowned upon the court decision to convict Alex:
Singapore’s courts, like any other public institution, are strengthened, not weakened, by open debate on issues of general concern. The prosecution of Alex Au for speaking out is just one more example of Singapore’s willingness to misuse law to gag its critics.
The issue should embolden Singaporeans to step up the pressure in demanding the abrogation of two colonial-era laws: Section 377A and the crime of “scandalizing the judiciary.” It should also inspire activists and other concerned citizens to broaden the campaign for greater media freedom and stronger protection of human rights.

author: Mong Palatino


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Can Mock Hunts Save Lions in Kenya and Tanzania? · Global Voices
Ensia

Male Lion at Sunrise, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya, East Africa. Photo by Diana Robinson. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
This post by Stephanie Dloniak was originally published on Ensia.com, a magazine that highlights international environmental solutions in action, and is republished here according to a content-sharing agreement.
On a scrubby plateau just beyond the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, in a canvas tent under a metal roof resembling an airplane hangar, Philip Briggs deals three lions from a deck of cards.
“These females all had cubs in early 2010, right after the drought broke,” he says. “They started hitting bomas [livestock enclosures] constantly, and Narika was speared by a hunting party in retaliation.”
The cards were created by the Kenya-based nonprofit organization Lion Guardians to help local conservationists get to know individual lions. Each has a photo and description of a lion living in the vicinity of Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Arranging the cards into family trees and sliding them across the wooden dining table just as though they were big cats moving through the landscape, Briggs and Stephanie Dolrenry, biologists with the Lion Guardians, tell the story of chronic livestock-killing lions and how Narika’s death helped inspire a tool for managing such problem lions — mock traditional hunts.
Trading-card-like images and descriptions of lions help Lion Guardians distinguish among individual animals as they work to minimize human-lion conflict. Photo by Stephanie Dloniak
The Maasai, the indigenous pastoralists of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, have always hunted lions — in response to attacks on livestock and as a celebrated rite of passage into manhood. During a hunt, a party of warriors tracks a lion on foot, closes in with traditional chanting and screaming, and finally attacks and spears it in a noisy frenzy.
“After Narika was killed, her sisters, their cubs, and a male named Lomunyak all left the area and stopped killing livestock for two months,” Dolrenry explains. “We saw this huge behavior change.”
“If they are reprimanded after attacking livestock, they can learn.” — Eric Ole Kesoi
The Lion Guardians team wondered whether mock hunts — which closely mimic real hunts, except the animal isn’t speared in the end — could achieve the same result in behavior while helping protect the big cats. Lions now occupy just 25 percent of their historical African range and their populations are declining, largely due to loss of habitat and prey and retaliatory killing.
“[The Maasai] believe lions are bright animals, so they know when they have done something wrong,” says Lion Guardians community manager and Maasai elder Eric Ole Kesoi, who has participated in several of the mock hunts. “If they are reprimanded after attacking livestock, they can learn.”
The Lion Guardians aim to conserve lions by melding traditional ecological knowledge and values of the local Maasai people with modern technology and data analyses. The Maasai warriors who are chosen to become guardians are trained and then armed with radio-tracking equipment, GPS units, decks of lion cards and mobile phones in addition to their traditional clubs and knives. The young men track lions, record problems with wildlife, warn herders when lions are present and find lost livestock. The Lion Guardians appear successful so far; the local lion population has more than doubled in the past four years and very few lions have been killed. The mock hunts add one more important tool to their toolbox.
So far the Lion Guardians have conducted six mock hunts against individually identified lions that were known to have repeatedly attacked livestock in bomas and could be tracked immediately afterwards. The preliminary results are promising: All mock-hunted lions stopped killing livestock for one to two months.
Lion Guardian Ng’ida takes a GPS point in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro. GPS data help Lion Guardians track animals and keep livestock out of harm’s way. Photo by Philip Briggs.
Ole Kesoi sees value for both lions and the Maasai. Using mock hunts as a kind of aversion therapy could lead to less conflict and fewer dead lions. At the same time, the hunts allow the Lion Guardians to take active roles in protecting their community.
Not everyone is sold on the idea, however. Craig Packer, an ecologist at the University of Minnesota, has studied lions in neighboring Tanzania’s Serengeti ecosystem since 1978. “Although the Lion Guardians have certainly been valuable and innovative, I worry about the long-term sustainability of the program,” Packer says. “The challenges of long-term lion conservation are going to require a lot more than ‘culturally appropriate’ conflict-mitigation strategies.”
Susan Alberts seems more hopeful. A biologist at Duke University, Alberts has worked in the ecosystem for more than 20 years with the Amboseli Baboon Research Project.
“The main threat to wildlife in Amboseli is human population growth. We all know what’s required to deal with that — education, some voluntary resettlement, probably compensation. There’s no magic bullet. Having said that, the application of knowledge about the predators as well as making the community feel that they have a stake in the ecosystem remaining intact seem completely essential to going forward.”
Using mock hunts to change the behavior of problem lions is certainly not a magical solution for conservation in Africa. But along with other approaches — in particular, those that draw on local traditions and values — they may help both wildlife and the people who live with wildlife win life’s games with the cards they have been dealt.  Code Embed v2.1  End of Code Embed code
Editor’s note: Stephanie Dloniak produced this article as a participant in the Ensia Mentor Program. Her mentor for the project was award-winning environmental and science journalist Michelle Nijhuis.
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author: Ensia


text:
Diary of Journalist Pedro Canché Herrera, ‘Prisoner of Conscience’ in Mexico · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

Mayan journalist Pedro Canché, author of Diary of a Prisoner of Conscience. Photo taken from Tumblr.
For over six months, Mayan journalist Pedro Canché Herrera has been awaiting his sentence in a cell in the state of Quintana Roo in southeast Mexico. He was arrested on August 30, 2014, and charged with sabotage by authorities in the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, after recording videos, interviewing protesters, and posting photos of a sit-in against an increase in prices for water services.
Authorities felt that his leadership incited people to block entrances to the offices of the Water and Sewage Commission. The crime of sabotage is considered so serious that Canché Herrera cannot apply for bail.
Canché Herrera believes that his arrest has nothing to do with the aforementioned protests, but rather his journalistic work in the area. On his Twitter account (@pedrokanche) and Facebook page, he shared an open letter written from prison, commenting on his situation:
Para los mayas que tenemos pocas voces en los medios nacionales impresos y digitales es un golpe fuerte a la libertad de expresión que me hayan dictado auto de formal prisión por un delito forzado por realizar periodismo independiente y compartirlo por medios nacionales y digitales.
Considero que es un [sic] advertencia para todos los que hacemos en Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, y redes sociales, periodismo y reflexiones en estos medios.
Estoy Seguro que nuestro México no está en pañales como en 1968 porque existen políticos, mexicanos, amantes de la libertad que van a condenar estos hechos y van a reflexionar si este es el México que necesitamos.
Quedo a la solidaridad de periodistas de México y el mundo para que le escriban una carta al Presidente de la República para frenar este ataque a la libertad de expresión de un periodista internacional de la etnia maya.
For us Mayans who have very few voices in the national print and digital media, the fact that they have issued a formal arrest against me for an invented crime of conducting independent journalism and sharing it on national and digital media outlets is a huge blow to freedom of expression.
I consider this a warning for all of us who use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and social networks for journalism and reflections.
I am sure that our Mexico is no longer in diapers like it was in 1968 because there are Mexican politicians, lovers of freedom, who are going to condemn these acts and will reflect on whether this is the Mexico that we need.
I remain at the solidarity of journalists from Mexico and around the world, hoping that they write a letter to the President of the Republic to stop this attack on freedom of expression against an international journalist of Mayan ethnicity.
In a statement released on February 23, Amnesty International said there is evidence that the state prosecutor committed injustices in the process, due to Canché Herrera's recognized journalistic work over the course of the last two decades:
Esto incluye omisiones e irregularidades en la investigación penal, y la emisión de un auto formal de prisión sin pruebas suficientes.
This includes omissions and irregularities in the criminal investigation and the issuance of a formal arrest warrant without sufficient evidence.
The organization also added:
De acuerdo con la defensa legal de Pedro Canché, las pruebas presentadas por el agente del ministerio público carecen de declaraciones firmes para probar que es responsable de dirigir el bloqueo afuera del CAPA. La única evidencia fotográfica de la protesta muestra a Pedro tomando fotos del evento.
According to Pedro Canché legal defense, the evidence submitted by the public prosecutor lacks solid statements to prove that he is responsible for leading the block outside of CAPA [the Water and Sewage Commission]. The only photographic evidence of the protest shows Pedro taking pictures of the event.
In fact, days before his arrest, the director of Quintana Roo's Judiciary Public Defense office, Lino Magos, told Canché Herrera off through his official Twitter account:
@pedrokanche @CesarinME @betoborge @dianaegzz @Vianey_Pizarro Pedro eres atentado de periodista y aprendiz de alborotador
— Lino Magos (@linomagos) August 26, 2014
@CesarinME @betoborge being tagged as a troublemaker censors my freedom of expression as an independent reporter
@pedrokanche @CesarinME @betoborge @dianaegzz @Vianey_Pizarro Pedro you are a menace of a journalist and a troublemaker in training
In prison, Canché Herrera has suffered beatings, isolation, and has been denied visits from his children. They have even threatened to take away his right to write letters. Amnesty International also added that it:
[…] ha recibido información preocupante sobre la salud actual de Pedro Canché, incluyendo la tardía atención médica en relación a heridas derivadas aparentemente de su proceso de detención. Y enfatiza la responsabilidad de las autoridades estatales para asegurar la salud y el bienestar de aquellos bajo su custodia.
[…] has received troubling information about Pedro Canché's current state of health, including delayed medical care in relation to injuries apparently sustained during his detention process. And emphasizes the responsibility of state authorities to assure the health and welfare of those in their custody.
All of this has not been enough to silence Canché Herrera, who reassuringly says that “freedom of expression is not imprisoned, the human body can be imprisoned but thoughts are free.” As such, with the help of the Article 19 organization, he periodically publishes posts to a Tumblr blog called “Diary of a prisoner of conscience“, with images, videos, and quotes detailing his arrest, his journalistic work, and thoughts on freedom of expression:
Este Tumblr elaborado conjuntamente busca replicar y difundir a través de redes sociales y medios de comunicación las anotaciones de Pedro Canché que pretenden ser apagadas bajo el encierro arbitrario por ejercer la libertad de expresión, derecho reconocido en la Constitución y tratados internacionales.
This Tumblr, developed jointly, looks to use social networks and the media to republish and share Pedro Canché's letters, which are meant to be subdued under his arbitrary imprisonment for exercising freedom of expression, a right recognized in the Constitution and international treaties.
His thoughts and experiences are without a doubt something that political prisoners around the world can relate to.
In this video interview, published by Article 19, Canché Herrera reflects on his arrest and freedom.
Es peligroso que el sistema esté como un monstruo agasapado y esté llevándose a cualquiera. Si no nos someten por el dinero, por el poder, por convencimiento, por cualquier cosa, nos van a someter por la represión. Y eso es lo peor que puede suceder.
It is dangerous that the system is like a clenching monster, taking anyone and everyone. If they do not suppress us with money, power, conviction, whatever, they are going to suppress us with repression. And that is the worst thing that can happen.
Canché Herrera's case joins the list of journalists persecuted by the governor of Quintana Roo, Roberto Borge Angulo, as Proceso magazine reports. Such is the case of Norma Madero Jiménez, owner of Luces del Siglo, a weekly magazine that exposes corruption and abuse committed by local and state authorities. In a ruling issued by the district judge, she was ordered to refrain from distributing false magazine covers and cease the spread of “defamatory, aggressive, or accusatory” messages.
In a full story about the case, written by Guillermo Rivera (@GuillermoRiverV) for emeequis, Canché Herrera said that the governor has a “phobia” of critical journalists. He also commented on what pains him to be in jail:
[…] Estoy atado de manos. No tengo medios para saber qué sucede afuera. Siento un vacío tremendo, horrible, tengo hambre de información. Eso es similar a la ceguera.
[…] Todos los días tengo que luchar contra la ansiedad. Se me colapsa la respiración. Siento una claustrofobia terrible. Sudor, sudor, sudor. Cuando me ataca la ansiedad, tengo que correr a acostarme. Cierro los ojos y hago terapia. Para controlarme, bebo varios litros de agua.
[…] My hands are tied. I have no way of knowing what's happening outside. I feel tremendous, horrible emptiness. I am hungry for information. It's similar to blindness.
[…] Every day I have to fight anxiety. My breathing collapses. I feel a terrible sense of claustrophobia. Sweat, sweat, sweat. When anxiety attacks, I have to run to bed. I close my eyes and do therapy. To control myself, I drink several liters of water.
He also stated:
Si no fuera por mi familia, esto sería doblemente horrible
If it weren't for my family, this would be twice as horrible
At the end of his letter, as a demonstration of Canché Herrera's tireless journalistic spirit, Guillermo Rivera related the following:
Aún tiene en su celda cuatro libretas y una pluma con la mitad de la tinta gastada.
He still has four notebooks and a pen with half the ink used up in his cell.

author: Elizabeth Rivera


text:
Mapping Geolocated Tweets About Putin and Poroshenko · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
This article is part of a citizen-media data-analysis project, a collaboration between RuNet Echo and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities. Explore the complete article series on the All the Presidents’ Tweets page.
Our targeted Twitter data sample of over six million tweets contains tweets in many languages, but those are not always indicative of where people are tweeting from. While we were predominantly interested in what Russians and Ukrainians were saying about their presidents, we were also curious to see where tweets originated. As we collected all the tweets containing the last names of the presidents of Russia and Ukraine in Russian (Путин and Порошенко), Ukrainian (Путін and Порошенко), and English (Putin and Poroshenko), geolocating them could be useful for observing where people were talking about them more.
Geolocating tweets can be tricky, as there are several ways Twitter lets users indicate their location. For one, a user can specify a Place—manually select a city or neighborhood using a preexisting list of locations from a Twitter menu. Then there's the Exact Location—a set of coordinates usually provided via GPS or cellular triangulation. Manual Place selections are usually made from desktops or other fixed-location devices, so if a user ends up traveling, the last selected location would still be reflected in the tweets, making this location method less precise. The geo-coordinates of the Exact Location though usually use a mobile device's GPS capabilities and are thus more exact, but this feature is disabled by default in Twitter apps, so users must change their account settings for it to be enabled.
In their study of a sample of tweets from the Twitter Decahose (10% of all tweets sent globally each day) from the fall of 2012, Leetaru et al. found that on an average day only 1.6 percent of tweets had Exact Location enabled. According to Semiocast, who looked at a broader sample of tweets in mid-2012, the geo-coordinates feature was used in roughly 0.77% of all public tweets.
All Exact Location coordinates in the Twitter Decahose 23 October 2012 to 30 November 2012 (Leetaru et al., 2013).
The image above shows all Exact Location coordinates from Leetaru et al.'s sample. Because the percentage of geolocated tweets is so negligible, studies relying only on these tweets will almost surely have a skewed view of the Twitterverse, especially over short periods of time. However, the map shows that in terms of geolocated tweets, Twitter exhibits strong geographic diversity, and most countries on the map have at least some geolocated tweets. The use of the Exact Location feature is, of course, also tied to mobile Internet penetration and smartphone use in various countries. All of this means that as a single source of data, geolocated tweets are not representative, but as one of many facets providing information about a sample of the Twitter stream, they can provide some interesting insights.
The number of geolocated tweets in our Poroshenko/Putin dataset was 31013, or 0.49% of 6,342,294 total tweets we collected. This is somewhat smaller then the percentage of geolocated tweets in the larger samples discussed above, but still in line with the general trend.
All the geolocated tweets from our targeted sample are represented on the interactive map below, with a dot for each tweet. The saturation of particular areas with tweets is color-coded, so areas with more tweets are more red then yellow, and areas with a few tweets are more yellow than red. You can zoom in and out on the map to see the location of tweets in a particular geographic area in more detail by using the “+/-” controls at top left. Clicking on each dot reveals a pop-up window with an active link to the tweet in question.
From the visualization, it's obvious that North America, Western Europe, and parts of Eastern Europe have the largest share of the geolocated tweets in our dataset, and some parts of South America are covered as well. This is fairly reflective of the overall global geolocated tweets distribution from larger studies with non-targeted samples, with the exception of Asia, which is overall more active with geolocated tweets then in our sample.
The map also allows you to zoom in on particular locations by searching for them in the search bar at top right. Here are some comparisons of geolocated tweet density of some key cities based on our sample (all magnified to the same level of detail).
Density of geolocated tweets about Putin and Poroshenko for Moscow (top), Kyiv (middle) and New York (bottom), from October 12 to November 30, 2014.
Density of geolocated tweets about Putin and Poroshenko for London (top), Paris (middle) and Berlin (bottom), from October 12 to November 30, 2014.
The relative density of geolocated tweets in some of the cities above roughly corresponds to Leetaru et al.'s ranking of the top 20 cities by percent of geotagged tweets in their 2012 sample. In their ranking, New York City comes second, Paris is fifth, London seventh and Moscow 20th. Given the theme of our targeted sample, it would be logical to expect more tweets about Putin and/or Poroshenko from Berlin, since Germany is closely involved in the Russian/Ukrainian politics at the moment, but Berlin users do not seem to be in the habit of geotagging their tweets.
Kyiv does not exhibit geolocated tweet density comparable to Moscow, but this is not surprising given the difference in population size and the difference in smartphone penetration rates in Ukraine and Russia. New York has relatively fewer geolocated tweets than Paris or London, perhaps mirroring both its geographical and its political distance from the Russian/Ukrainian political affairs.
While not entirely representative of the entire six million tweets, this smaller geolocated dataset presented as a heat map gives us some sense of how the world's attention to the two presidents and their politics is distributed.

author: Tanya Lokot


text:
Mozambicans Mourn Democracy After Constitutional Lawyer Murdered · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

People gathering for a vigil in memory of Giles Cistac murdered by three gunshots. Photo: Dercio Tsandzana
Gilles Cistac, professor of Constitutional Law and co-director of the Law Investigative Department of Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) was murdered on the morning of March 3, on one of the main avenues of Maputo, capital of Mozambique.
The murder caused thousands to protest in Maputo and another major city, Beira, on March 7.
“Gunshots will not kill freedom” Thousands of Mozambicans march in protest against the murder of lawyer Gilles Cistac pic.twitter.com/I1QNetep0s
— zenaida machado (@zenaidamz) March 7, 2015
The lawyer, a naturalised Mozambican of French origin, was famous for defending a bill that would allow the opposition party, Renamo, autonomy in those provinces where it received most votes in last year's elections. The ruling Frelimo party believe that the move would threaten national unity.
Supporters of Renamo and Frelimo were engaged in a civil conflict from 1977-1992. Renamo supporters took up arms again as recently as 2013 but laid them down prior to presidential elections that saw Frelimo continue to dominate national politics under new President Filipe Nyusi. The bill supported by Cistac was seen by many as a way to promote local governance and maintain peace between the government and the country's largest opposition party.
Although Cistac had offered his services to the ruling party in the past, relations had soured. Frelimo spokesperson Damião José referred to Cistac as an “ingrate” in the run up to his death.
Emotions ran quickly through the networks following his death. Erick Charas, owner of the newspaper @Verdade in Mozambique said:
E assim progredimos de assassinato de caracter (G40) para assassinato das pessoas que simplesmente falam as verdades como elas sao (G40 plus)… enfim Quo vadis #Mocambique… #Viva a Liberdade de expressao!! #naotemosmedo
This is how we move from slandering people´s reputation to murder, just because they simply speak the truth (…) Quo vadis [Where are you heading?] Mozambique… Up with freedom of speech!!
The Canal de Moçambique, an independent newspaper, was the first to break the news on their Facebook page:
Constitutional Lawyer, Giles Cistac. Photo: Mozambican Government
Última Hora*Última Hora*Última Hora*
Gilles Cistac baleado em Maputo (#canalmoz)
…Está neste momento entre a vida e a morte no Hospital Central de Maputo
Maputo (Canalmoz) – Acaba de ser baleado em plena Avenida Eduardo Mondlane, no Café ABC, antigo Wimbe o constitucionalista Gilles Cistac, o homem que descobriu a brecha constitucional das regiões autónomas. Gilles Cistac um dos juristas mais incómodos ao sistema há muito que vinha a ser combatido e desde que apresentou publicamente a possibilidade constitucional da criação de regiões autónomas o ódio do sistema à sua pessoa aumentou. Cistac que é um dos mais reputados constitucionalistas foi baleado por indivíduos que se faziam transportar numa viatura que passou pelo café. Neste momento Cistac está entre a vida e a morte no Hospital Central de Maputo. Ainda não temos detalhes sobre quantos tiros e as regiões do corpo alvejadas. Estamos em contacto com familiares directos que nos prometeram actualizar o seu estado que consideraram de “muito grave”.
O constitucionalista vinha recebendo ameaças de pessoas que se diziam do partido Frelimo e que o acusavam de ser assessor jurídico da Renamo. Na semana passada um cidadão que nas redes sociais se identifica como Calado Kalashnikov pôs a circular mensagens no Facebook com teor racista a acusar Gilles Cistac, Fernando Veloso, director do Canal de Moçambique, Fernando Lima e Castel Branco todos de raça branca de estarem a patrocinar a subversão no País.
Em consequência disso Gilles Cistac apresentou uma queixa à Procuradoria Geral da República, informando a PGR que estava a ser vítima de intolerância política.
Não é a primeira vez que tais mensagens circulam. Num passado recente, a TVM e a Rádio Moçambique e a Agência de Informação de Moçambique todos controlados pelo partido Frelimo também acusaram sem provas os mesmos cidadãos de estarem a reunir-se com o embaixador dos Estados Unidos da América Douglas Grifiths.
Hoje as ameaças concretizaram-se e Gilles Cistac acaba de ser baleado em plena avenida Eduardo Mondlane. (Redacção)”
Breaking News*Breaking News*Breaking News*
Gilles Cistac gunned down in Maputo (#canalmoz)
…He's at this moment fighting for his life at Maputo's Central Hospital
Maputo (Canalmoz) – Constitutionalist Gilles Cistac has been shot at Cafe ABC, ex-Wimbe, on Eduardo Mondlane Avenue. The man that unveiled the existence of a constitutional gap by supporting a decentralising power proposition made by opposition party has become one of the most inconvenient rights lawyers for the central government. Since then, the system has raised hate towards his person. Cistac, a prominent constitutionalist was gunned down by individuals driving a car nearby the cafe. Cistac is now between life and death at Maputo’s Central Hospital. Still no details about the shots and where on his body he was hit. We are in contact with his relatives who have promised to provide more updates of his “serious condition”.
The lawyer has been previously receiving threats from people saying they were from Frelimo party and accusing him of being Renamo’s legal brain. Last week, a citizen using the nickname Calado Kalashnikov posted some racist messages on Facebook against Gilles Cistac, Fernando Veloso (director of Canal Moçambique newspaper), Fernando Lima and Castel Branco — all white people — accusing them of sponsoring the downfall of the country.
As a result Gilles Cistac complained to the Attorney General’s Office, stating that he was being a victim of political intolerance.
This is not the first time that such messages circulate. In the recent past, the Television of Mozambique (TVM), Radio Mozambique and the Mozambique News Agency all controlled by the Frelimo party, also accused, without proof, the same citizens of meeting with the Ambassador of the United States of America, Douglas Grifiths.
Today the threats have materialised and Gilles Cistac just been shot in broad daylight on the avenue Eduardo Mondlane.
Cistac later died from multiple gunshot wounds.
Commenting on the news, several people associated the murder with Cistac's public statements on the constitution:
Almeida Rui Almeida said:
Triste saber, só pra ver como a frelimo manda calar boca das pessoas que discobrem a verdad d moz,quando falam á publico a pessoa paga com a sua propria vida.
Sad to know, just to see how Frelimo shuts down people who uncover the truth of Mozambique. When they speak in public they pay with their own life.
Others associated the shooting with the recent assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, who died in similar circumstances:
Como eu disse, já estamos na Europa em particular na Rússia onde nao se pode criticar as barbaridades do Governo. E cá estamos nós.
As I said, we are already in Europe, in particular in Russia, where you cannot criticise the atrocities of the government. And here we are.
Other voices were more cautious, noting that accusations should not be made too early:
Deixem a policia trabalhar .nada de comentários sem evidencias .Aqui em Moçambique temos muita gente armada formal ou informalmente .pode ser um conluio
Let the police do their work. Refrain from comments without evidence. Here in Mozambique we have many people that are armed, legally and illegally. You can fall into a plot.
Arqui Tecto called it “an attack against democracy in Mozambique”:
Isso é mais um tiro contra a democracia que está morta há muito tempo. Das nossas entidades não espero muita coisa. O português q nao tinha a nacionalidade foi deportado, o francês q mudou de nacionalidade é baleado. Solução: 1- a Renamo tem de seguir a todo custo com o projecto de regiões autónomas e sem esperar acordos, para salvar a democracia. 2: as entidades francesas devem apurar a verdade e punir os culpados, mudou de nacionalidade mas ele é francês antes de tudo. 3- os que amam a democracia, devem banir os ditadores.
This is one more attack against democracy, which is long dead.We can´t expect much from our public bodies. The Portuguese who did not have citizenship was deported, the French man who naturalised is shot.
Solution:
1- Renamo must push ahead at all costs with the draft for autonomous regions and without waiting for agreements to save democracy.
2: French entities shall establish the truth and punish the guilty — though he naturalised, he is French first of all.
3- dictators should be banned by those who love democracy.
Raúl Barata said on his Facebook wall:
Parece-me que a liberdade de expressao e’ ainda um grande desafio.Certas declaracoes sao vistas como oposicao ao sistema e certas pessoas sao vistas como dissidentes.Precisamos de mais anos de democracia para que possamos aprender alguns valores e principios democraticos.
It seems to me that freedom of expression is still a big challenge. Some declarations are still seen as opposition to the system, and some people are seen as dissidents. We need more years of democracy so we can learn some democratic values and principles.
Adelson Rafael, commentator and political analyst, speaks of an “abuse of democracy”:
Armas democráticas ou democracia das armas?
A democracia é, por definição, um método pacífico de solucionar conflitos. O baleamento de Gilles Cistac, professor catedrático de Direito Constitucional , não foi apenas um gesto tresloucado depreciável, mas sim uma manifestação clara de rejeição da democracia enquanto método pacífico de solucionar conflitos. Diante do terror, todas as atitudes pacificadoras são inúteis. E continuará a sê-lo enquanto alguns cobardes acreditarem que a democracia resultará da imposição das armas, e não como fruto da justiça e do reconhecimento de que a diversidade de ideias e crenças é um direito — e merece respeito. Para todos os cidadãos de julgamento sóbrio, urge repensar o País, como condição sine qua non do que pretendemos ser.
Democratic weapons or weapons of democracy?
Democracy is by definition a peaceful method of resolving conflicts. The shooting of Gilles Cistac, professor of constitutional law, was not only a depreciable insane gesture, but a clear manifestation of a rejection of democracy as a peaceful method of resolving conflicts. In the face of terror, all peaceful resolutions are useless, and will continue to be so as long as some cowards believe that democracy will result from the imposition of arms, rather than the fruits of justice and the recognition that the diversity of ideas and beliefs is a right – and deserves respect. For all citizens of sober judgment, I urge a rethink of the country, as a sine qua non of what we want to be.
DW (Portuguese for Africa) spoke of the case on Facebook:
Em Moçambique, foi baleado o constitucionalista Gilles Cistac. O conhecido constitucionalista está em estado crítico no Hospital Central de Maputo. Cistac foi o homem que, através da Constituição, mostrou que é possível ter em Moçambique uma governação provincial autónoma. Isto fortaleceu a posição da RENAMO de gestão autónoma na sua querela com o Governo da FRELIMO. O constitucionalista estaria a ser alvo de ameaças.
PERGUNTA DO DIA – O que acha deste crime? É de natureza política? Deixe ficar aqui a sua opinião.
Cistac was the man who, through the constitution, showed that it is possible to have autonomous provincial governance in Mozambique. This strengthened the position of RENAMO in its dispute with the Government run by the ruling FRELIMO party. The constitutionalist received threats to his person. QUESTION OF THE DAY – What do you think of this crime? Is it of a political nature? Leave your opinions here.
Notiço Henrique concluded that “both parties are similar in their actions”:
Semelhança entre Renamo e Frelimo: – ambos matam; Diferenças: A Renamo avisa e mata de frente, a Frelimo não avisa e mata camuflada.
Que Deus salve e proteja o Cistac!
The similarity between Renamo and Frelimo: both kill. The differences: Renamo warns and kills in the open, Frelimo does not warn and kills stealthily.
May God save and protect Cistac!

author: Dércio Tsandzana


text:
Need a Creative Commons-Licensed Image? Germany’s Saxon State and University Library Has a Million · Global Voices
Lena Nitsche

Screenshot from the homepage of the Digital Collection at the SLUB Dresden.
The Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) in Dresden has now made large parts of its digital collection available under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Creative Commons licences are simple tools by which an author is able to grant the public specific usage rights to their work. They come with different terms and conditions; the CC-BY-SA-4.0 licence held by the SLUB Dresden allows the collection to be used for commercial purposes, and also for changes to be made, providing that the source is cited and the content is in turn made available under the same licence.
This opens up a whole variety of options for using the collection, which contains one of only three preserved Mayan manuscripts along with Oriental manuscripts. The SLUB collection comprises 72,365 titles, 88,268 volumes, and over 1.5 million media items. Around 75 percent of the artifacts in the collection will be under the Creative Commons licence in the future. Some exceptions include digitised objects from foreign installations or objects that cannot be freely distributed due to other statutory regulations and agreements.
The SLUB Dresden is one of the leading digitisation centres in the public domain, providing important content for both the German and European Digital Library (Europeana). They explain the motives for taking this step on their blog.
Wir sind davon überzeugt, dass das kulturelle und wissenschaftliche Erbe der Bibliotheken am besten genutzt werden kann, wenn es möglichst frei im Internet verfügbar ist. Auch die SLUB selbst profitiert bei der Entwicklung neuer Dienste von offenen Lizenzen (…). Entsprechend sollen die digitalisierten Bestände der SLUB ebenfalls offen und für innovative Projekte optimal verwertbar sein. Künftig sind unsere Digitalen Sammlungen einschließlich der Bilddatenbank der Deutschen Fotothek daher so weit als möglich unter einer Lizenz veröffentlicht, die der Definition für Offenes Wissen (Open Definition) entspricht.Wir sind uns sicher, dass sich die gleichermaßen berechtigten Interessen nach größtmöglicher Offenheit wie nach angemessener Vergütung schöpferischer Leistungen im Bereich von Wissenschaft und Forschung gut miteinander vereinbaren lassen.
We are certain that the cultural and scientific heritage of the libraries can be best utilised when it can be freely obtained online. SLUB itself also benefits from the development of new services offered by open licences […]. Accordingly, the digitised SLUB files should also be open and and offer optimum use for innovative projects, and it is for this reason that our Digital Collections, including the Deutsche Fotothek image database, will be published as widely as possible under a licence that corresponds with Open Definition in the future. We believe that the justified interest in the greatest possible amount of openness, along with an adequate level of compensation for creative services in the field of science and research, can be well reconciled.
Speculation is already underway on the Flurfunk Dresden website as to how the collection could be used in the future:
Darunter findet sich zum Beispiel die “Bibliotheca Gastronomica”, eine Sammlung alter Kochbücher. Mit der neuen Lizenz könnte man diese problemlos selbst zu einer Publikation machen und das fertige Produkt auch verkaufen – vorausgesetzt, man bietet die Inhalte unter den gleichen Lizenzbedingungen an (und wehrt sich also nicht, wenn jemand die Idee kopiert oder weiterentwickelt). Da es sich um digitales Material handelt, wäre z.B. auch möglich, aus den alten Rezepten eine kostenpflichtige Smartphone-App zu machen. Denkbar wäre auch, den Dresden Codex als eBook mit Übersetzung herauszugeben. Oder das Wagner-Material zu nehmen und…
The collection includes, for example, the “Bibliotheca Gastronomica”; a collection of antique cookbooks. With the new licence, you could easily put this together and make your own publication, and even sell the finished product – provided that you offer the contents under the same licencing terms (and that you do not resist if somebody copies or further develops the idea). Because this concerns digital material, it would also be possible to make a paid smartphone app from the antique recipes, for example. It would also be conceivable that the Dresden Codex could be published in translation as an eBook. Or to take Wagner material and…
Here are a few works from the digital SLUB Dresden collection under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 licence. SLUB's website is available in English and German.
The only publicly available Mayan manuscript, known as the “Dresden Maya Codex”, is part of the collection. The manuscript is 39 pages written on both sides and with a total length of 3.96 m. It contains ritual and divination calendars, astronomical tables, lunar and solar eclipses and weather and harvest predictions.
Page from the Maya Manuscript from the SLUB Dresden digital collection. CC-BY-SA-4.0
Oriental manuscripts are also part of what's available online. This collection chiefly contains Ottoman, Arabic and Persian scripts, along with numerous works in the Tibetan, Mongolian and Hebrew languages.
Documents from German history are also to be found in the collection, such as the Sachsenspiegel, a book of law from the 14th century, or documents from the history of technology. Music fans, too, will find something for them: works by Richard Wagner, including the original manuscript of the Das Liebesmahl der Apostel orchestral piece, the first edition of the Tannhäuser-Partitur along with selected libretti, theoretical papers, handwritten letters and premiere voice parts from the Fliegenden Holländer by Richard Wagner at the Vienna State Opera.
Richard Wagner “Der Fliegende Holländer”. From the  SLUB Dresden digital collection. CC-BY-SA-4.0
The Deutsche Fotothek (German photo collection) also contains thousands of photographs, maps, sketches and so on from various centuries by influential photographers.
Rosswein, Saxony, in 1928: Hulda Hanisch in her living room. From the SLUB Dresden Deutschen Fotothek. CC-BY-SA-4.0

author: Lena Nitsche


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When You Don’t Want to Listen to Netanyahu, You Write a Computer Script to Do It for You · Global Voices
Tarek Amr

After a quantitative study of keywords in Netanyahu's three speeches to the American congress, Tarek Amr discovered mentions of ‘peace’ have heavily diminished, while the term ‘nuclear’ has skyrocketed. Image mixed by author.
This post by Tarek Amr was originally published on Medium on 8 March 2015.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech in the American Congress on 3 March. This was his third speech there; the first was in 1996, and the second in 2011. The Israeli leader was invited this time by John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, to address Iran’s nuclear program and the deal being negotiated between the United States and Iran.
I seldom have enough patience to listen to politicians speeches, and Netanyahu isn’t an exception here. Thus, I preferred to write a small software scripts to summarise the speech for me.
Normally, when we humans speak, the words that occur the most in our speeches are functional words, like “the”, “is”, “for”, “to”, “and”, etc. These words occur more than anything else, and have little lexical meaning, thus they are usually removed. But this time, Netanyahu scored a new record by using the term “Iran” more often than any other functional word, except for “the”. In computational linguistics, we also call those frequent words stop-words.
Now, to understand the focus of the speech, I listed the top 10 words used in it, excluding stop words.
Looking at the results, it is clear now that the speech is about “Iran nuclear deal”, given by the prime minster of “Israel” and it took place in “America”. The term “Iran” had the lion’s share of the top 10 words.
What’s the Israeli prime minister’s opinion of the deal, still in the works, as well as Iran and the Iranian regime? Let’s see which words occurred near to each other.
Voilá! The “deal” is “bad”, it will lead to a “bomb”, it needs to “change”, into a “better” “alternative”. “Iran” is “radical”, it does “insist” on the “program”, and maybe linked to violent militant group “ISIS”. “Israel” “stand” close to “America” and it does “know” something. “America” is to be “thanked”, and “Islam” and “militant” come together.
How does this year’s speech compare to his previous two speeches given to the American Congress then?
I selected some words to compare their occurrences in the three speeches.
“Iran” and “nuclear” program are trendy now, while “peace” and “democracy” are so two-thousand-and-late. “America” is always there, and its instances are about as many as the whole world. “Egypt” was mentioned in 2011, the year of the so-called Arab spring. Yet, it was even overshadowed then by “Palestinian”. “War” was never liked, yet “nuclear” gets bigger year after year.

author: Tarek Amr


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A Candy-Powered Rocket in Japan? Challenge Accepted! · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Image courtest UHA Mikakuto
Japanese candy maker UHA Mikakuto (UHA 味覚糖) put out a challenge to Japan's community of scientists and engineers: design and launch a hybrid rocket powered by candy.
The challenge was answered. Scientists and researchers from all over Japan participated in the Candy Rocket Project, embarking on a mission to launch a rocket.
UHA Mikakuto documented the results in a YouTube video:
In the video, spectators describe how the project captured their imagination, while the various academics and scientists from universities around Japan explained why launching a candy-powered rocket was such a formidable task.
On March 7, after two tests the team managed to launch a 10 kilogram, 1.8 meter rocket to an altitude of 248 meters.
Diagram of Candy Rocket engine. Image courtesy Mikakuto.
The rocket was powered by 20 Puccho soft candies. According to participating scientists who were interviewed on the Candy Rocket Contest website, the participating scientist figured out a process for quickly dissolving the Puccho candies into a combustible gas, which in turn powered the rocket.
Here's a commercial for Puccho candy, featuring members of popular “idol” group AKB48:
Hat tip to Kevin Rothrock for suggesting this post.

author: Nevin Thompson


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First Former African Head of State to Stand Trial Before International Tribunal in Africa · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Oumar Ba discusses the historic trial of the former president of Chad Hissène Habré:
For the first time in history, a former head of an African state will stand trial in Africa, before an internationalized tribunal, the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegalese Courts.  The EAC is an ad hoc court which is set up by the African Union under the principle of universal jurisdiction. It focuses solely on crimes of genocide, war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity committed in Chad between 1982 and 1990. That happens to be the period of Habré’s tenure. The Chambers are made of judges of Senegalese nationality, nominated by Senegal’s Minister of Justice and appointed by the AU Chairperson.
If all goes as planned, the Habré’s trial will start in Dakar, this summer. Habré stands accused of crimes against humanity and torture during his rule in Chad in the 1980s.  His reign was brutal, but he was literally “our man in Africa,” eager and willing to do for the CIA and the Reagan administration what no one else would.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Gender Perspective Comes to Puerto Rico’s Public School System · Global Voices
Ángel Carrión

A recent march in Mayagüez, at the western end of Puerto Rico, in favor of gender equity organized by Paz para la Mujer. Taken from their Facebook page.
The announcement on February 25 that Rafael Román Meléndez, Puerto Rico's Secretary of Education, signed Circular Letter No. 19-2014-2015, which makes the inclusion of gender perspective an integral part of the curriculum in public schools, was great news for the country's many people and organizations that champion gender equity.
Below is the complete document:
The Coordinadora Paz para la Mujer, a coalition of many different organizations dedicated to eradicating violence against women, also celebrated the news and offered to help the Department of Education in its work implementing the necessary changes:
Reconocemos que la política pública acogida por el Departamento de Educación (DE) es el resultado de la lucha incansable de grupos de mujeres y organizaciones quienes por décadas han creído y defendido los derechos humanos para todas las personas. El endoso es además muy significativo para adelantar el trabajo de prevención de la violencia de género que depende en gran medida de la educación desde edades tempranas. Estamos en la disposición de colaborar con el DE y seguiremos educando a las comunidades y profesionales para sensibilizar sobre la perspectiva de género y sus beneficios.
We recognize that the public policy adopted by the Department of Education is the result of a tireless struggle of groups of women and organizations that for decades have believed and defended the human rights of all people. The endorsement is also very helpful in advancing gender-based violence prevention work that is greatly dependent on education from an early age. We are happy to collaborate with the Education Department and we will keep on educating communities and professionals to create awareness on the gender perspective and its benefits.
The blog Mujeres en Puerto Rico (“Women in Puerto Rico”), recognized the importance of the Department of Education's circular letter, noting that the real work is only about to begin:
Aunque la Carta no es un fin en sí mismo, y ahora comienza la fase más importante (la implementación) no es menos cierto que la misma constituye un tremendísimo instrumento a favor de los derechos humanos de las personas que habitamos Puerto Rico.
Even though the [circular] letter isn't an end in itself (the most important phase, implementation, is only now beginning, after all), it is no less certain that this step is a tremendous instrument in favor of human rights in Puerto Rico.
This victory for gender equity rights was not easily won. Conservative religious groups lobbied intensely against the inclusion of the gender perspective in the curriculum public schools. Their stance against the Department of Education's plans was based in part on fears that the change would somehow infringe on people's right to educate their own children according to particular moral or spiritual beliefs. Supporters of the reforms say these worries are baseless. Gender perspective in education, they say, is nothing more than teaching children that everyone should be treated with equality and respect, regardless of their gender. It is not only a human rights issue, according to proponents, but an extremely urgent national concern in a country where so many women and girls are victims of gender-based violence every year.
The lack of an education that addresses gender equity has disturbing implications. Human rights activist Amárilis Pagán writes on her blog about the “blame-the-victim” mentality that permeates Puerto Rico's mainstream media, saying it's a direct result of the absence of the gender perspective in most people's education:
La demonización de las mujeres y nuestros cuerpos tiene consecuencias graves.  Implica, en primer lugar, ubicarnos en una situación de inferioridad moral que justifica la violencia que recibimos.  De ahí surgen las críticas en contra de las víctimas de violencia de género y la justificación de sus agresores. Nos violan porque provocamos, nos asesinan porque desobedecemos y nos discriminan porque no nos ajustamos a determinadas expectativas de comportamiento.
The demonization of women and of our bodies has grave consequences. It implies, firstly, our placement in a situation of moral inferiority that justifies the violence we receive. That is where criticisms against victims of gender-based violence and the justification of their aggressors come from. We are violated because we provoke, we are killed because we disobey, and we are discriminated against because we don't conform to certain conduct expected of us.
A prominent example of such unequal treatment occurred earlier this year when female singer Ivania Zayas was run over and killed by a car in the early hours of the morning. When a police lieutenant assigned to her case was interviewed on television, he said, “One of the things we have to investigate is just what was a lady doing crossing that street at that hour on her way home.” On that occasion, poet and blogger Guillermo Rebollo-Gil wrote a strong critique of the lieutenant's choice of words:
Honestamente, las expresiones del teniente en la conferencia de prensa dejan entrever que la Policía de Puerto Rico tiene una afición particular por las cacerías de brujas. Por desperdiciar sus limitados recursos en función de sus prejuicios acerca de cuáles deberían ser los hábitos apropiados de “mujeres de bien”. Y aparentemente, según el teniente, las mujeres de bien no mueren atropelladas por un carro a la 1 de la mañana, pues las mujeres de bien están en sus casas a esa hora, o al menos debidamente acompañadas.
Honestly, the lieutenant's words at the press conference imply that the Puerto Rican Police have a particular taste for witch hunts—for wasting their limited resources because of their prejudices on determining what the appropriate habits should be for “good women.” And apparently, according to the lieutenant, good women do not die run over by cars at one in the morning, because good women are in their homes at that hour, or at least, suitably accompanied.
Hopefully, with the new gender perspective policy now in place in Puerto Rico's public school system, comments like this, and the thinking behind them that cause so much damage, will someday be a thing of the past, along with gender-based violence.

author: Ángel Carrión


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Roscomnadzor Threatens Complete Block of RuNet Encyclopedia · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Images mixed by Tetyana Lokot.
Russian telecom watchdog Roscomnadzor will start blocking Lurkmore, the encyclopedia of Russian Internet lore, in its entirety. The website's content has put it on the RuNet's blacklist before, but this time censors are citing secure communication protocols as an additional reason to block the whole of Lurkmore in Russia.
In a statement on their official VK page, Roscomnadzor said they had initially intended to block certain pages on the website that in their opinion dealt with “drug use and pedophilia (child porn).”
But because the Lurkmore website uses the https encryption protocol, the statement says, the ISPs are unable to just block the offending pages, since they cannot filter them out, so they will have to block the website completely.
Roscomnadzor's issues with Lurkmore have their basis in the Federal Law “On Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” and the Internet restriction bill amending it in, passed in 2012. The amendment suggests the law should be applied to websites containing child pornography, promotion of drug use, and calls to suicide.
Lurkmore's founder Dmitry (David) Homak said Roscomnadzor's public shaming was “a form of blackmail” and told TJournal they were overstepping themselves by posting public appeals on social networks instead of sending private emails with takedown requests. He also said the decision about taking down the pages in question has not yet been made.
Да чего-то руки не дошли. Ну, закроем, наверное. Я не понимаю, чего добиваются в РКН, поэтому не уверен.
Some things we simply haven't had time for. We might close , I guess. I just don't see what RCN [Roscomnadzor] is trying to achieve, so I'm not sure.
Lurkmore later published a detailed list of all complaints and takedown requests they have so far received from Rosconmadzor and other related bodies.
This is what the Lurkmore logo on its website looks like right now. Screenshot from lurkmore.to.
This is not the first time Lurkmore—an informal Russian-language online encyclopedia of Internet subcultures, folklore, and memes—has graced the web regulators’ blacklist. In December 2014, the watchdog blocked several articles that described ways of drug use. Then, Homak quickly made them unavailable to users in Russia.
In 2012, the whole website was blocked because of an article about marijuana, but was removed from the blacklist after the article was blocked for RuNet users. In 2013, Lurkmore also had to block an article titled “Suicide” for users with Russian IP addresses.


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Russian Journalist Crowdfunding New Media Project on Kickstarter · Global Voices
Tanya Lokot

Screenshot from Yakovlev's Kickstarter project page.
Vladimir Yakovlev, the founder of Kommersant newspaper  and former editor of Snob website, is raising funds for a new Russian independent media project on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. The project's description on the Kickstarter page claims the goal is to create a media outlet that will counteract the Russian “state propaganda machine” and help “turn zombies back into people.”
Russia today is torn by hatred caused by a multimillion-dollar state propaganda machine. This is a real danger for an entire world as we know it.
People hate each other. They have a terrible delusion that Russia is surrounded by enemies.  Recent murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov is just one of numerous casualties of state-funded hatred campaign.
Now, more than ever, we need a new independent media to unite the best journalists by common goal: to stop propaganda of hatred; to find a way to resist the madness that is tearing apart an entire country bringing it closer and closer to a horrible social disaster.
I want to start this new media project as soon as possible. It will be a powerful, formidable, effective multi-media platform free of political control and Kremlin power.
[…]
If Kremlin media is so good in turning people into zombies, why can’t we create a media to turn zombies back to people?


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Russian Imperialism’s Internet Triumph · Global Voices
Kevin Rothrock

Screenshot from “Why Putin Won't Send His Troops to Ukraine,” YouTube.
With nearly 5 million views in less than two weeks, the YouTube video I’m a Russian Occupant is a bonafide sensation. Just under three minutes long and packed full of twirling, burning, zooming images, the movie is an uncompromising defense of Russian imperialism, and boasts impressive production values, as well as subtitles in ten languages.
Because the video looks like it was made by a major computer game company, there’s been wide speculation that the people behind it are funded by or somehow connected to the Kremlin. On March 4, an infamous viral video studio, My Duck’s Vision, even took credit for the movie, saying the Russian government paid for it. (This studio is known for similar-looking videos, such as a short film in 2011 that claimed McDonald’s restaurants are in fact an American network of secret bunkers built to withstand a Russian nuclear strike.)
The YouTube channel responsible for posting I’m a Russian Occupant belongs to a man who calls himself Evgeny Zhurov. He told RuNet Echo that any claims about the Kremlin orchestrating the video’s creation are an “absolute lie.” He insists he made the video singlehandedly in his spare time, going out of pocket to hire a professional voice-over artist. “These people want to destroy the ‘myth’ about a guy who works ‘for an idea,’” Zhurov said. “They want to make all my work look like it was part of some government contract.”
If Evgeny Zhurov doesn’t really exist, and his videos are all the product of a Kremlin conspiracy to feign grassroots activism, Zhurov has certainly gone to curious lengths to be transparent about his methods. In a video published in September 2014, he spends more than ten minutes explaining in excruciating detail how he used Element 3D’s “camera mapping” software to render flat photographs in three dimensions. The video even has English-language subtitles.
Whether or not he’s telling the truth, Zhurov’s videos on YouTube are impressive, and I’m a Russian Occupant is only his most recent addition. There are another nine clips, one of which has more than 3 million views.
Since the first movies began appearing in May 2014, Zhurov’s ideological message seems to have evolved with events in eastern Ukraine. In June 2014, he posted a video titled Why Putin Won't Send His Troops to Ukraine, where he chides Russian “couch-potato generals” for calling on the Kremlin to deploy soldiers in the Donbas. (The narrator in the video says this would play into a US trap and trigger World War III.) Three months later, however, the next video, titled Why America Needs a Big War in Europe, shifts tones, saying “sooner or later Russia will send troops to Ukraine to prevent the deaths of millions.”
Asked what changed, Zhurov said the lack of progress in “Ukraine’s civil war” now makes Russian troops inevitable. “I’m one of these ‘couch-potato generals,’ too,” he confessed, saying his videos are based on readings of “different geopolitical experts.” Zhurov says two of his biggest influences are Nikolai Starikov, one of the leaders of the Anti-Maidan movement, and Sergey Glazyev, an adviser to Vladimir Putin and one of the first Russian officials sanctioned by the United States following the annexation of Crimea.
Following the success of I’m a Russian Occupant, at least three different groups have released videos “correcting” Zhurov’s pro-imperialist telling of Russian history. The most viewed response comes from the Information Forces of Ukraine, the so-called iArmy. Though the iArmy is government-sponsored, its video has a decidedly lower production value.
The responses to Zhurov’s YouTube hit don’t seem to faze him terribly. He’s even reposted all three videos on his group’s VKontakte page, announcing that his “opponents” appear to be “shitting bricks.”

author: Kevin Rothrock


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Seeking ‘Brave Journalists’ in Spain to Investigate the TTIP Trade Agreement · Global Voices
Elena Arrontes

From the Madrid suburb of Malasaña, the community garden is against the TTIP. (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The main concerns for groups that oppose the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and North America are the lack of transparency and the way in which the agreement will affect the communities involved.
In Madrid, Spain, the Asamblea Popular de Tres Cantos (Tres Cantos Popular Assembly), a community activist group that is well known for its participation in protests against the economic crisis, is “seeking brave journalists” as part of an appeal to the media to investigate the treaty.
In the video published on the organization's blog and various social networks, members of the assembly appear with photographs of employees from Spain's large media organizations, which have largely ignored the treaty in their coverage, and offer them a challenge:
Officially, the TTIP will facilitate investment and market access to businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, and will have a positive impact on citizens of the European Union and the United States. Nevertheless, the secrecy surrounding the agreement, the absence of public debate, and the emergence of leaked documents are cause for concern among people who fear that the TTIP will mean the loss of national sovereignty to multinational corporations, the deterioration of the environment, the erosion of workers’ and consumers’ rights, and a greater threat to the interests of the public at large.
At the beginning of February, European and American institutions began their eighth round of negotiations on the TTIP. Ever since the groundwork for the treaty was laid in 2012, negotiations have taken place behind closed doors and under pressure from large corporations in the international industrial sector, according to civic organizations and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
Political parties, social movements and Spanish associations representing various interests have joined forces to ask for greater transparency in the treaty negotiations by adopting the platform “NO to the TTIP” (#NoalTTIP). One of the online initiatives was a photo protest, which gave rise to the following images from the Cantarranas Agricultural Community Garden:
A placard used for the photography initiative against the TTIP. (CC BY-SA 2.0)
In the streets of Madrid, the garden joins the photography campaign against the TTIP. (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Some independent media outlets in Spain are publishing about the TTIP negotiations and advocating for transparency:
ENTREVISTA | Frédéric Viale, de ATTAC Francia: “El TTIP proviene del deseo de los lobbies, no de los pueblos” http://t.co/keIvvc9qn4
— eldiario.es (@eldiarioes) febrero 22, 2015
INTERVIEW | Frédéric Viale, of ATTAC France: “The TTIP is based on the interests of lobbies, and not on that of the people” http://t.co/keIvvc9qn4
— eldiario.es (@eldiarioes) February 22, 2015
El TTIP o cómo venderle tu alma al diablo https://t.co/Kh9eQFJcfV por @ecanrog #TTIP pic.twitter.com/NM6Nd1EXAq
— Diagonal Periódico (@El_Diagonal) febrero 19, 2015
The TTIP, or “How to Sell Your Soul to the Devil” https://t.co/Kh9eQFJcfV by @ecanrog #TTIP pic.twitter.com/NM6Nd1EXAq
— Diagonal Periódico (@El_Diagonal) February 19th 2015
¿Qué es la convergencia reguladora del #TTIP? Conoce las trampas del tratado http://t.co/uNN5oJYIVa vía @lamarea_com #TTIPSecret #NoalTTIP
— Amigos de la Tierra (@AmigosTierraEsp) febrero 11, 2015
What is the #TTIP‘s “Regulatory Convergence”? Learn about the pitfalls of the treaty http://t.co/uNN5oJYIVa via @lamarea_com #TTIPSecret #NoalTTIP
— Amigos de la Tierra (@AmigosTierraEsp) (Friends of the earth) February 11th, 2015
Meanwhile, the website Economía Ciudadana (Citizen Economy) is attempting to obtain the records of the negotiations with help the of the European ombudsman:
@TeresaRodr_ Registro de la reclamación de Acceso a los Docs del #TTIP por la Defensora del Pueblo Europeo #NoalTTIP http://t.co/aZ4gx7FO8A
— Economia Ciudadana (@citizeneconomy) octubre 21, 2014
@TeresaRodr_ Request for access to #TTIP docs filed with the European Ombudsman #NoalTTIP http://t.co/aZ4gx7FO8A
— Economia Ciudadana (@citizeneconomy) October 21, 2014
It will only be possible to ascertain the true impact of the TTIP when the public is granted access to negotiation records and information about meetings that have taken place between institutions and interest groups, as well as when committed journalists investigate the agreement and civic organizations offer their support. This is why those concerned are calling for more engagement and “brave journalists”.

author: Elena Arrontes