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Russia: Oppositionists Ponder Putin’s Legacy · Global Voices
Masha

This post is part of our special coverage Russia's Protest Movement.
In recent months, Russian protests have taken several unexpected and unprecedented turns. The movement ushered in the year peacefully with ‘White Ribbon’ protests (the symbol of the opposition) and an effort to gather a million people to rally against the inauguration of Russia's new (and old) President, Vladimir Putin.
The ‘Million Man March,’ however, ended in violence between riot police and demonstrators, and the opposition remains fractured and troubled by leadership uncertainties, united only by a collective negativity towards Putin's third term, specifically, and his entire regime, more generally. The violence and mass arrests during the ‘Million Man March’ have only further complicated the situation.
Meanwhile, Putin is again Russia's president, having returned to the Kremlin on inaugural day down empty streets, blocked off by police, in vivid contrast to many other democracies. (Images circulated the RuNet comparing Barack Obama's inaugural day crowds in Washington, DC, to the ‘ghost-town’ appearance of Moscow on May 7, 2012.)
Was this evidence that Putin feared his own people? Was it a security tactic gone overboard? These and other questions electrified bloggers for weeks to follow.
Election Protests in Moscow, Sakharov Prospect (24 Dec 2011), photo by Sime Simon, CC 2.0.
Andrey Loshak, a prominent Russian journalist, argued [ru] on Openspace.ru that governments protect their sacredness when their societies are excluded from ‘modern trends.’ He cites North Korea's ‘Intranet’ as a good example: a network only available to political elites, while the rest of the population lacks nearly any connection to the outside world, almost totally deprived of uncensored information.
In this framework, it is possible to maintain a dictatorial regime and a leadership cult for a long period of time. Russia, however, cannot stay in a vacuum for very long, and Russian society is already far more globally integrated than North Korea's.
Loshak claims that Putin is blamed for nearly all the country's problems. Bloggers and activists, he explains, accuse Putin of arresting the leaders of the provocative punk rock band ‘Pussy Riot,’ of creating a pro-government television regime, and of arresting the opposition's leaders and various businessmen.
Loshak believes that Putin's strength has become his curse: the ‘national leader’ for over a decade, having claimed credit for all the nation's accomplishments, Putin will now be blamed equally for all Russia's failures.
Other observers have tried to parse questions of blame in their analyses of the Million Man March. Popular blogger Rustem Adagamov believes [ru] that responsibility for the violence on May 6 does not belong exclusively to the police. Organizers escalated the conflict, he suggests, and law enforcement officers responded.
Political scientist Aleksandr Morozov faults [ru] a combination of arrogance on the part of the authorities and the aggressive attitude of police chiefs on the ground. Indeed, there are various videos online that show how riot police attacked protesters. For many, it remains unclear why the government used such heavy-handed measures, which potentially escalated the conflict. Past weeks have demonstrated that protesters do not seem to be going anywhere. The police remove demonstrators from one park, but they simply occupy another.
Famous writer and active RuNet presence Boris Akunin offered [ru] three scenarios for Putin’s third term:
Reflecting on such gloomy prognoses for Putin, blogger Dmitry Kraiukhin accuses [ru] Russian society of being delusional. He notes that several years ago (after soccer fans rioted at Manezhnaya Square in Moscow), people tended to believe that nationalists were the only true oppositionist force in Russia. Many entertained the hope that a prominent Russian billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov, could become a new liberal leader. “Then there was the illusion that the Kremlin is ready for a dialogue with the most moderate oppositionists.”
For Kraiukhin, and presumably many others like him, reality has failed to meet expectations every time.
This post is part of our special coverage Russia's Protest Movement.

author: Masha


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Russia: Returning to a State Monopoly on Violence? · Global Voices
Andrey Tselikov

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
Artwork by Surian Soosay on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The past few decades have seen a troubling increase in the use of private military and security companies (PMSCs) as a substitute for government forces. Sometimes this “privatization” happens with the express consent of the state and is concentrated in “low-intensity armed conflict and post-conflict situations”, for example the United States’ decision to use Blackwater for security operations in Iraq. In other cases consent is tacit or even irrelevant.
When the state is incapable of protecting its own citizens, it loses its monopoly on violence. The resulting power vacuum is filled by organizations willing to provide the service. Traditionally, organized crime is one such entity, but private security agencies now rise to the occasion just as often. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, for example, the Russian mafia and PMSCs stepped in to supplement substandard domestic law enforcement. A report from a UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries singles out Russian PMSCs precisely for their intertwined relationships with both criminal and law-enforcement structures.
Where government and private security intersects
Although the heyday of the mafia has passed, Russian private businesses still use PMSCs, known as private security firms, or “ChOPs”. There are approximately 750 thousand [ru] Russians employed in the ChOP industry, many of them licensed to use firearms. In 2010, [ru] the Russian government expanded its regulation of these private forces. As a result, ChOPs now lease firearms from the Ministry of the Interior (MVD), [ru] rather than owning them outright.
Dmitry Gudkov, Livejournal profile
Gennady Gudkov, Twitter profile
Improper storage of such leased firearms was the official reason given for a May 12, 2012 raid on Pantan, a ChOP owned by the Gudkov family. Gennady Gudkov and his son Dmitry are members of the social democratic A Just Russia Party in the Russian Parliament. As prominent figures in the opposition movement, they also use their deputy status to negotiate with the police.
On May 13 Dmitry Gudkov blogged that Pantan – which is formally headed by his mother and brother – was inspected by officials who confiscated over 100 guns. Later, on May 25, Pantan’s ChOP license was revoked for one month, leading Gudkov to blog that the company is now “shut.” The general consensus of Russian opposition bloggers is that the closure was politically motivated.
Pro-Kremlin bloggers disagree, noting that Gudkov’s firm was in charge of security at Moscow’s Demodedovo airport during the December 24 terrorist attack. Others speculate that the Gudkov’s are merely the latest casualty in a general attack on ChOPs.
After all, Pantan is but one member of a conglomerate of security firms called Oskord. Since Gennady Gudkov founded Oskord in 1992, it has been involved in a range of activities that include guarding UN convoys to debt collection. It is staffed by over seven thousand security and armed forces veterans.
As such, Oskord competes for lucrative contracts with the Non-Departmental Corps, an MVD branch that provides private security services. The MVD, it appears, is exerting pressure on ChOPs across Russia – perhaps to increase its own market share.
Opposition politician Gennady Gudkov stands by police at a Khimki Forest protest on April 19, 2012. The Gudkov family owns a private security firm that was recently shut down by government. By Daniel Beilinson (CC BY-SA 2.0)
For example, in Samarskaya Oblast in 2010 twenty-eight ChOP inspections were carried out, and 371 guns were confiscated. A commenter on GuardInfo.ru – an industry resource – summarized the situation accordingly: “Thus it was before the Gudkov case, thus it will be after.”
Meanwhile, Russian gun-rights advocate Maria Butina thinks that Gennady Gudkov got what he deserved. According to her, he was instrumental in restricting civilian handgun ownership in Russia. She spells out the irony: “… if civilians could own handguns […] Gudkov’s ChOP would not be so easily shut down by a weapon recall.”

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Andrey Tselikov


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Singapore: Netizens Question Newspaper’s ‘Charity’ Drive · Global Voices
Kirsten Han

The Straits Times – Singapore's only English-language broadsheet – recently announced that it would be auctioning a Volkswagen car for charity. However, Singaporeans were enraged to find that the money raised would not go directly towards low-income families, but towards sponsoring one-year subscriptions of The Straits Times for them instead.
The Straits Times’ editor Warren Fernandez was quoted as saying: “We want to give the young in these families a precious gift: access to information and a window to the world and all its possibilities. That will help them get ahead in life. We sincerely believe a daily copy of the ST delivered to their homes will do that.”
Some pointed out that by doing this, The Straits Times was not actually doing any charity or donating anything to low-income families; instead they had simply sold 1,000 subscriptions of their newspaper, paid for by the auctioned car which was in turn donated by Volkswagen.
Gwee Li Sui wrote on his Facebook page that if the paper was really sincere in helping low-income families, it should offer the subscriptions for free:
Dear Warren Fernandez, if you truly believe that The Straits Times is a precious gift to the young of low-income families, then you should put your own money where your mouth is. Sponsor your own free subscription.
Lee Kin Mun tweeted an image of the online news report, showing that 90% of the readers felt disgusted by the news:
@mrbrown: Readers let SPH know what they think about their “charity” auction.
In response, New Nation has launched its own charity drive to benefit the Singapore Children's Society:
…starting today, we’re launching a charity drive of our own, and our chosen beneficiary is the Singapore Children’s Society.
We’re doing this because we believe charity drives should be sincere, and not borne of a desperate attempt to market your own products.
They are aiming to raise $107,500 – the value of the car donated by Volkswagen to The Straits Times.
We’re not sure how much we can raise, but we’re going for broke: $107,500, which is the cost of the Volkswagen car. The campaign will last until 15th July, the same time Straits Times will announce the winning bidder.

author: Kirsten Han


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Slovakia: SOZA Strikes Again · Global Voices
Tibor Blazko

One year after having been defeated by public opinion, the Slovak Performing and Mechanical Rights Society (SOZA), which was asking fees for embedded videos on web pages, strikes again. Now SOZA wants fees for St. Nicholaus and Mother's Day performances, during which children recite nursery rhymes and sing folk songs [sk]. In response, people are organizing [sk] daily singing protests [sk] in front of the SOZA office. The caption to this image reads [sk]: “SOZA. We know what you're singing in the shower.”

author: Tibor Blazko


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Afghanistan: Girls Poisoned for Attending School · Global Voices
Omid Bidar

On June 3, 2012, about 65 girls were rushed to hospital [fa] after being poisoned at their school in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks against schools for girls in the province. On May 29, some 160 girls ended up in hospitals after a gas attack at their school. Earlier this spring, more than 270 girls were poisoned in anti-school attacks in two different locations. Overall, hundreds of girls throughout the country suffered in similar attacks last year.
Officials have blamed the Taliban for these incidents. Between 1996 and 2001, when the fundamentalist movement controlled most of the country, females were banned from going to school. Although millions of girls have enrolled in school since the ousting of the Taliban, the movement's fighters and their sympathizers continue punishing female students for seeking education.
Young schoolgirls lie unconscious on the lawn of a hospital in the capital city of the northern Takhar province after being poisoned at their school. Image by Pajhwok Afghan News, copyright Demotix (18/04/2012)
Because females continue facing abuse and violent attacks for seeking education, it takes a lot of bravery to be a schoolgirl in Afghanistan. Image by Teresa Nabais, copyright Demotix (03/07/2009)
The Taliban has denied its involvement in the anti-school attacks. Yet, they can hardly convince anybody.
Ericka M. Johnson, a blogger from the United States, writes:
Attacking girl’s schools and students has become a common tactic for the Taliban.  It’s not enough for them to be treated as property. They must also punish [girls] for wanting to learn. They deny involvement in these attacks, but their own history — in which many girls were not even allowed to go to school during Taliban rule from 1996-2001 — suggests that educated women go against the Taliban’s interests.
Responding to Erica, another American blogger, Katherine Lorraine, explains:
Educating women is the quickest and easiest way for true equality among the sexes – so naturally the all-boys’ club of the Taliban wants nothing more than to hold women down and force them to live at the lowest rungs of society.
Judy Molland, an award winning writer, announces:
Anyone who can hate children enough to poison them has clearly lost touch with his own humanity. For the sake of these girls, the Afghan government must make the safety of its students a priority.
Afghan blogger Hussain Ibrahimi writes [fa]:
حال دشمنان افغانستان از ابزار دیگری برای پیروزی شان در جنگ و مخالفت با دولت افغانستان استفاده می کنند و این ابزار چیزی نیست جز مسموم کردن شاگردان مدرسه ها و بسته شدن این نهادهای تعلیمی و آموزشی در ولایت های مختلف افغانستان که نگرانی ها را روز به روز افزایش می دهد و این خود می تواند ضربه بزرگ باشد برای دست آوردهای ده ساله افغانستان که باز شدن نهادی های تعلیمی و آموزشی بعد از سرنگونی رژیم طالبان خود یکی از بزرگترین دستآوردهای این دهه اخیر است.
For some people, reports of anti-school attacks in Afghanistan are a reason to reconsider their attitude towards education. Dineeta Kubhar tweets:
@WordsOfDineeta: Taliban poisoning the water females drink at school in Afghanistan to stop them from an education.. And I'm complaining about studying smh.
Netizens fear that after the NATO-led foreign troops pull out of the country in 2014, the Taliban and other fundamentalists will become even more tenacious in scaring girls off education.
Chloe Logan, a Yahoo News Contributor, writes:
As these attacks continue while NATO forces are still in Afghanistan, we wonder if girls will remain brave enough to continue their education once that protection is gone. We know that their futures depend on the education they lack.
Another blogger, Jan, speculates:
Sadly, once the last of the U.S. military presence is “officially” removed from Afghanistan, you know, and I know, and we all know, what will happen to any Afghani girl who dares to go to school, and to any Afghani female who wants to teach, or nurse in a hospital, or work as a secretary, or be a clerk in a grocery store, or try out for an Olympic running team, or play badminton or chess, or learn how to read and write…

author: Omid Bidar


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Bahrain: Activist Nabeel Rajab Arrested Over Tweets  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“My father [Human Rights Defender] Nabeel Rajab is arrested again #Bahrain @NABEELRAJAB,” tweets Adam Nabeel Rajab from Bahrain. The activist is being detained for seven days pending investigation over comments he published on Twitter.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bahrain: Twitter User Investigated for Tweet  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Twitter user Mohammed Hasan (@Safybh) says he was called for questioning by the Bahrain Intelligence Agency yesterday (June 5). “After my tweet appeared on @ajstream I received an order to go to the #Bahrain intelligence agency today #AJStream,” he reports on Twitter. Al Jazeera Stream is a programme on Al Jazeera English.


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Bangladesh: Journalists Advised to Stay Away From Police  · Global Voices
Kowshik Ahmed

The year 2012 has particularly been a bad year for Bangladeshi journalists. There was numerous incidents of police and mob brutality on many journalists while on duty, a few good journalists perished in road accidents and a few were murdered including the much talked about unresolved murder of the journalist couple a few months ago.
The netizens have joined the journalists to demonstrate through several road-marches, human-chain, photo/musical show calling for justice of the couple's murder. But the grief of journalists was heightened on 26 May, 2012, as police forces started to beat three photojournalists ruthlessly while they were covering the news of a student agitation in front of Polytechnic Institute at Agargaon in Dhaka.
Photojournalist Zahid Karim of the daily Bangla newspaper Prothom Alo, being beaten up by police when he was photographing a student protest. Dhaka. Bangladesh. 26th May 2012 Image by Khaled Sarker/BDNews24.com used with permission
These incidents were enough to stir up the journalists fraternity, but on top of it, another violent incident took place invading a news agency on 28 of May. The office of the country’s biggest online newspaper bdnews24.com at Amtoli, Dhaka was attacked by some armed criminals who stabbed several journalists indiscriminately, three of them being critically injured.
This video was uploaded in bdnews24.com just after the incident [WARNING: GRAPHIC].
On the very next day, three court correspondents were assaulted by the policemen as they tried to rescue an young woman, who claimed to be harassed sexually and beaten by the policemen at the court premises. The young lady earlier came to lodge a case over dowry with her parents.
Netizens were outraged by these onslaught on journalists by the police and the miscreants. This was evident in the post of Jayed-ur-Rahman in the bdnews24.com blog [bn]:
এধরনের সব ঘটনার পর সবাই আন্তরিকভাবে অথবা নিয়ম করে ঘটনার সুষ্ঠু তদন্ত চায়, দায়ীদের শাস্তি চায়। স্বরাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রীরা এসে ৪৮ ঘণ্টার মধ্যে অপরাধীকে পাকড়াও করার প্রতিশ্রুতি দেন। না, আমি স্বরাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রনালয়, সরকার কারো কাছে তদন্ত বিচার কিছু চাই না – শুধু জানাতে চাই একরাশ অনাস্থা তাদের প্রতি।
Probir Bidhan expressed his despondency in the same post:
সরকারি দলের নেতা-কর্মী এমনকি সমর্থক হলেও কত বাহারি সুযোগ-সুবিধা পাওয়া যায়! যাকে বলে কিনা সাত খুন মাফ!!! যখন তখন অস্ত্র-টাকা পয়সা-মাদক নিয়ে ঘুরা যায়, সেগুলোর যথেচ্ছ ব্যবহার করা যায়, আবার বিচারকে পাশ কাটিয়ে টিকে থাকা যায়। বিরোধী দল, প্রতিবাদী মানুষ আর সাংবাদিকদের মারলে সরকারি চামচা (নেতা-কর্মী, আমলা, র‍্যাব, পুলিশ, সেনাবাহিনী, গংদের) কোন দৃষ্টান্তমূলক শাস্তি হয়না, হলেও আবার মাফ পেয়ে যায়।
This video uploaded by monirulNews shows the torture on journalists, their protest and demand (video removed by the owner).
Looking at the bloods of the journalists, blogger Mahabub Jaman is very upset:
ছবির ছোপ ছোপ রক্ত দেখে আজ কেঁপে উঠলাম আবারো। বুঝলাম রক্ত দেখে নির্লিপ্ত থাকার মত অমানুষ হয়ে যাইনি এখনো।
In the midst of all the statement of the State Minister for home affairs, Mr. Shamsul Haque Tuku had shocked everyone. On 30 May in a statement he suggested [bn] that Journalist should keep a safe distance from police during news coverage.
Popular community blog Priyo has attempted to gather all the comments from social media in a post titled, Beware of dog…. Sorry, beware of police…, and quoted the facebook status of Editor of Weekly 2000, Mynul Ahsan Saber:
বয়স হয়েছে, সব দিকে সমান নজর দিতে পারি না। তাই ঠিক করেছি এখন থেকে সঙ্গে অল্পবয়সী কাউকে রাখব, যে পুলিশ দেখলেই আমার হয়ে সালাম দেবে।
Prominent blogger Doctor Aijuddin, however, criticized the role of journalist recalling a recent clash between teachers and police that led to the tragic death of a school teacher who was protesting with fellow teachers for price hike. The news was not picked up by the media and was left unnoticed by the government, civil society and even in the social media. Aijuddin asked the most obvious question in his blog :
একজন সাংবাদিকের বেতন যদি হয় ৪২,০০০ টাকা আর একজন মাস্টরের বেতন হওলো ৪,৭০০ টাকা তার মানে দশজন মাষ্টরের বেতনে একজন সাংবাদিক হয়- তার মানে কি দশজন মাষ্টর পড়লে আপনেরা ফেসবুক ষ্ট্যাটাস দিবেক – পুলিশ ব্রুটালিটির প্রতিবাদ জানাবেন?
A group of netizens organized virtual protest [facebook event link] during 1-2 June, draping their profile picture with black image in solidarity with the journalist's protest against oppression.
Analyzing the growing concern, blogger Abdur Razzak, who is by profession a police officer, pointed out that there is no clear directive for police forces to deal with media. Razzak has stressed the need to change the situation in his blog,
ইদানিং হরতালসহ অন্যান্য আইন-শৃঙ্খলা জনিত পরিস্থিতিতে পুলিশের আচরণ বিষয়ে পত্রিকায় যেসব ছবি ও খবর প্রকাশিত হচ্ছে তাতে মনে হচ্ছে পুলিশ বহুলাংশে অসহিঞ্চু হয়ে পড়েছে। আইন-শৃঙ্খলাজনিত ডিউটিতে নিয়োগের আগে ও পরে কর্তব্যরত পুলিশ সদস্যদের নিয়ে ব্রিফিং ও ডিব্রিফিং এর আয়োজন করতে হবে। এই ব্রিফিং-ডিব্রিফিং অনুষ্ঠানে রাস্তায় নিয়োজিত পুলিশের কর্তব্য ও সম্ভাব্য পরিস্থিতি নিয়ে সঠিক নির্দেশনা দিতে হবে। [..] অন্যথায় পুলিশ দ্রুত জনগণ থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন হয়ে পড়বে।

author: Kowshik Ahmed


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Brazil: Magazine Gives Homeless People a Chance · Global Voices
Davi Bonela

It goes without saying that most people want to get their information from more sources than just the TV news or major newspapers. In Latin America, Europe, Asia – all over the world, in fact – this has been the case since the Millennium: the best news, opinions grounded in fact and the most pertinent commentary are to be found on blogs and social networks, and in newspapers published by universities and activist networks.
Revista Ocas [pt] is one such publication, containing information that sets it apart from the mainstream press in Brazil. Indeed, it goes even further than that. An acronym for Organização Civil de Ação Social (Organisation for Civil Action), the publication is a voluntary project inspired by street papers from around the world, particularly The Big Issue, which has been distributed in London since the 1990s.
The founders of Revista Ocas followed this example in Brazil by creating work opportunities for people who are at social risk. Moreover, having grasped the potential for such volunteers in the country, the International Network Street Pappers (INSP) supported the idea of creating a magazine to be distributed by homeless people. You read that right – homeless people. Revista Ocas has been handed out on the streets of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro since 2002.
Revista Ocas issue 61: the subheading reads 'Invest in a human being'. Illustration by Alex Senna, shared on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The magazine’s editorial team explains [pt]:
O objetivo é fornecer instrumentos de resgate da autoestima dos vendedores, criando mecanismos para que o indivíduo se torne seu próprio agente de transformação, de forma que Ocas seja um ponto de passagem, e não o destino definitivo.
André Maleronka, who is involved in publicising the magazine on the Overmundo [pt] blog, adds:
A revista, em papel jornal, conta com colaboradores de peso e uma mistura de notícias e resenhas culturais entremeadas com relatos de sem-teto, ex-moradores de rua, análise de políticas urbanas.
A video [pt] by the organisation explains what Revista Ocas means to those who work on it and sell it:
The magazine costs 4 reais [approximately $2 USD], 3 reais [$1.5 USD] of which go directly to the sellers, and the remaining 1 real [$0.5 USD] is given to Ocas by the sellers themselves – a relationship of trust that some of them have not found with other employers. Marisa Suraci, who has sold Ocas since it was launched, rediscovered her willingness to work:
Eu pergunto aos empregadores que discriminação é essa no nosso país que não podemos trabalhar? Pessoas hoje portadores de cuidados especiais, ontem estudaram o quanto puderam e trabalharam todo o possível. A Ocas não é como os outros empregadores. Além dela ter me mantido financeiramente, eu mudei da água para o vinho no meu estado de saúde. Eu melhorava quando falava com alguém, quando vendia a revista, quando era bem recebida…
The blog Retinas Urbanas [pt] comments on the way in which Ocas receives its revenue and the significance of the project:
A única fonte de renda da OCAS é o valor pago pelos vendedores por cada exemplar da revista e eventuais anunciantes e doações, e eles ainda fazem Oficinas de Criação com pessoas de rua, quase sempre descobrindo um novo talento no desenho, no texto e até no cinema. Com a criação de vínculos dá para compreender as necessidades mais urgentes de cada um, como a falta de documentos ou tratamento para dependência química, e encaminhar uma saída pela rede de parceiros do terceiro setor.
Funding difficulties have overshadowed recent editions of the magazine, and in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the largest Brazilian cities in which it is distributed, there is already a marked lack of sellers. The most recent edition, its 80th, was only able to be printed thanks to a crowdfunding project on Catarse [pt], which allowed Ocas to raise 8,880 reais [approximately $4,400 USD] in donations from 89 people and organisations over 60 days.
Ocas, 80th edition:
The magazine has a blog [pt] and a Facebook page, and is looking for volunteers [pt] and subscribers [pt].
An online petition [pt] acknowledges the importance of the magazine and is seeking to ensure that it can continue. This is giving Ocas even more authority in its contacts with other institutions, and the sellers are delighted at the number of people who are now recognising the magazine in the streets. Major Brazilian and international personalities grace the covers, and the magazine addresses issues from the responsible standpoint of a publication that believes in a society where information is in the hands of every citizen.

author: Davi Bonela


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China: Forgiving the Tiananmen Massacre Murderers? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

While more than 180,000 people attended the annual candlelight vigil on June 4, 2012, in Hong Kong demanding the vindication of China's June 4th incident (Tiananmen Square protests), exiled former student leader Chai Ling wrote in the Huffington Post that she has forgiven the murderers of the massacre. Disagreeing with Chai Ling's stand, another former student leader Wang Dan issued a public statement via Facebook and stirred up a lot of debate.
Below is a video showing the scene of the candlelight vigil for the 23rd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre in Victoria Park, Hong Kong (uploaded to YouTube by MrZuluLo):
Chai Ling said she had forgiven Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng who had ordered the people's army to wipe out the students and Beijing residents at Tiananmen Square in 1989, as well as the current leadership of China who continue to suppress people. Upon reading her article, Wang Dan wrote [zh] on his Facebook page:
對柴玲的個人信仰導致的這個意見，我表示尊重，但是完全不能同意。我認為，在殺人者還沒有任何懺悔，道歉，甚至還在繼續殺人的時候，被害方的原諒是沒有根據的。這樣的原諒，對六四死難者是很大的不公平。
我希望外界知道，柴玲的這番談話只代表她自己以及她的信仰，並不能代表廣大的八九同學。
我也公開呼籲柴玲正確區分個人的信仰與是非價值判斷這兩件事。
I respect Chai Ling's opinion which is based upon her religious beliefs. However, I could not agree with that. Before the murderers express their remorse and apology and when the murderers continue to kill others, there is no base for forgiveness. Such forgiveness is unfair to the victims of June 4 Incident.
I hope the world should know that Chai Ling's view can only stand for herself and her beliefs. It cannot represent the students of the 1989 incident.
I also urge Chai Ling to distinguish the difference between religious beliefs and value judgements.
There are more than 200 comments under the statement, the majority supporting Wang Dan and questioning Chai Ling's stand. Below is a selection of some typical ones [zh]:
Marianne Wong: 是殺人！一定要先認錯／認罪，然後才能再講原諒／寬恕!!
Alexander Shen: 我一直就觉得那个人不是个好人 让别人流血唤醒国人 自己却跑了；23年前和现在根本判若两人 根本就是个小人嘛
陳柏年: 我也是基督徒，但除了愛以外，基督的另一個核心價值精神，是公義。而這，我認為正是89的同學、當今廣大的中國人民，甚至所謂崛起的中國所最迫切需要的~~~
Wen-shin Lee: 柴玲個人當場可以選擇原諒，但這不代表公義不該被申張。這跟受害人可以選擇原諒，但加害人仍然應付法律責任一樣。
Autumn Moon: ”I am not anti anything, including China. But I will advocate for the truth and I want the truth to be known.” – HH Karmapa
早雲直心: 如果當初她沒能逃離，現在還會這樣說嗎？
Ming Zou: 柴玲在23年前就做了选择，成为了公众人物。既然是公众人物，她只好让公众评论。在我看来，她太另我失望！！她经历了苦难，她在25岁失去母亲，但她的母亲没有失去她，因为她今天还活着，活在一个民主国家，呼吸着民主的空气，享受着言论自由……,不知道柴玲是否想过她这么做是否对的起天安门家长们。他们的孩子们那时就是和柴玲在一起为中华民族的民主奋斗，她是那些孩子们的学运领袖之一，天安门家长23年来受的煎熬难道柴玲的那些经历能比吗？柴玲的作为不正是让那些讲风凉话的人们名正言顺地加一句：“就这水平，还领导学运？幸亏没成功，不然中国落到这种人手里，还了得？” 希望王丹做为柴玲89的‘战友“，能有机会和她私下谈谈，虽然人各有志，但请柴玲别丢六四的脸，别伤天安门家长的心，别做对在中国实现民主不利的是。她可以从此销声匿迹，闭门祷告，但别在人前做出这么没水平的’宣言”。我敢肯定她的上帝也不会赞同她的做法的。
A few comments defended Chai on religious grounds:
Edward Lim: Chai is not wrong. To forgive is to release oneself from hatred that continues to harm no one but oneself. Without peace in heart, one's life cannot be restored from pain and cannot move on healthily. Praying for the opponents is to give oneself strength to journey on. Justice still needs to be asked on behalf of the victims. Jesus set the example to forgive before people repented so for all who repent before His second coming, they are totally forgiven. For those who insist on doing bad and refuse His forgiveness, they would pay for justice at final judgement. Do not get it mixed up.
Clyde Xi: In Bible teachings, forgiveness is a personal decision that is made with no conditions attached. It primarily impacts the person who forgives…

author: Oiwan Lam


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Spain: “Occupying” the Banks on the Street and the Net · Global Voices
Elena Arrontes

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.
Last week the media announced the most difficult week of the Spanish economy since the arrival of the euro. The debt crisis is bringing news that is exhausting the patience of the citizens. The public money injection into Bankia could reach a total of 23 billion euros, but the governing politicians and the managers of Bankia do not seem interested in holding those responsible accountable and make them give explanations to the people about what caused this crisis.
The nationalization of Bankia, furthermore, according to what the president, Mariano Rajoy, has announced, will only be partial: it will allow a restructuring of the bank, avoiding collapse of the economy, but it will return to private hands. The consequence of this socialization of the losses means that the money will not even be refunded to the public, which is why many citizens are demanding a complete nationalization of the bank.
Faced with this bleak prospect and the denial of the government to investigate the management of Bankia, people in Spain have taken matters into their own hands. Since the crisis began, popular initiatives have flourished on the streets and the net. Last month the Indignado movement of Barcelona brought their protest to the building of the La Caixa bank, a movement known as #OccupyMordor (in reference to the towers of the evil forces of the film The Lord of the Rings). Another similar movement, under the name #OccupyBankia, organized a cacerolada (a protest where saucepans and other kitchenware are beaten to create noise) in front of the Kyo towers of Madrid, headquarters of Bankia.
"Bankia is ours" Photo taken from Fotograccion.org under CC Licence BY-SA-3.0.
Another public gathering organized with the same objective as the previous ones, denouncing profiteering, combating evictions and demanding transparency, took place in the Lavapiés neighbourhood of Madrid. Hundreds of people have gone to a building with empty flats close to Atocha in order to hand them over to people without access to housing. One of the recurring slogans is “Si Bankia es nuestra, sus casas también” (“If Bankia is ours, their houses [are] too”). A few days ago, the “yayoflautas”, older activists of the Indignado movement 15M, simultaneously protested in Bankia branches in five Spanish cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Palma. They are demanding a “citizen rescue”, as well as a clarification of the causes of the catastrophic bank situation. This veteran group has its own blog in which it has published a manifesto in various languages:
Ahora están poniendo el futuro de nuestras hijas y nietas en peligro. Estamos orgullosas de la respuesta social y del empuje que están mostrando las nuevas generaciones en la lucha por una democracia digna de este nombre y por la justicia social, contra los banqueros y los políticos cómplices. Estamos a su lado, de sentimiento, a las asambleas de barrio y también a la acción. Si quieren descalificar su valentía llamándolos “perroflautas”, a nosotras nos pueden llamar “iaioflautas”.
The calls of the different protests against the bank and all the photographic and audiovisual material and manifestos actively circulated by the social networks have become a measure of the public anger and key to the organization of social action. At the end of May, the blog CierraBankia [es] (“Close Bankia”) was created, which is dedicated to compiling articles about the bank in question and spreading means of boycotting it. The blog Dark Spaces [es] parodies placards like this one with the image of the Gollum from The Lord of the Rings:
"Commitment: Your money is our treasure"
This video shows another original form of “occupation” with a flamenco protest in a bank of Bankia in Seville the 17th of May, in which a flamenco singer accompanied by dancers stages a song titled “Bankia, lungs and gills”:
This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

author: Elena Arrontes


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Honduras: Human Rights Delegation Blogs Findings  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

The Honduras Human Rights Delegation of May 2012 is “a delegation of academics, human rights and labor activists, Canadian and U.S. citizens, many with extensive experience in Honduras, organized by U.S. and Canadian-based human rights groups Rights Action and Alliance for Global Justice.” The delegation visited Honduras from May 19-28, 2012, to “document the extreme violations against Hondurans’ human rights by private military and the Honduran, United States, and other governments.” They have opened a blog where they document their findings.

author: Silvia Viñas


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India: Less Trees Prompt A Boiling Urban Summer · Global Voices
Rezwan

Rita Banerji opines that the main reason for the recent grueling summers in the cities is that more and more trees are being cut down.

author: Rezwan


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Iran: “Pepsi-Cola advertisement on the moon” · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Several bloggers and LensIran site talk about considerable number of Iranians who observed the moon from their roof tops to watch Pepsi-Cola commercial on the moon !! published by a news agency ISNA , apparently extracted from a bogus email on Tuesday 6 June.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Kenya: Digital Activists Fight Corruption Online · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

I Paid a Bribe is an initiative of Kenyan anti-corruption activists fighting corruption in Kenya using the new technologies to crowdsource corruption experiences. I Paid a Bribe, modeled after India's anti-corruption portal (IPAB), is a partnership between IPAB and Wamani Trust of Kenya to bring IPAB to East and Central Africa.
I Paid a Bribe is:
www.ipaidabribe.or.ke is Wamani Trust's unique initiative to tackle corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens. You can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corrupt acts on this website. Your reports will, perhaps for the first time, provide a snapshot of bribes occurring across your city. We will use them to argue for improving governance systems and procedures, tightening law enforcement and regulation and thereby reduce the scope for corruption in obtaining services from the government.
We invite you to register any recent or old bribes you have paid. Please tell us if you resisted a demand for a bribe, or did not have to pay a bribe, because of a new procedure or an honest official who helped you. We do not ask for your name or phone details, so feel free to report on the formats provided.
The initiative launched the ‘I paid a Bribe Kenya’ integrated SMS system in May this year to allow over 25 million Kenyans with access to a mobile phone to report and share their bribe experiences on the site:
To share their bribe experience using I paid a Bribe Kenya's SMS short code, one needs to send an SMS to the number 2025 indicating County, Department, amount.
There are three ways Kenyans can share their bribe experiences on the site:
Kenyans can report their bribe experiences either using the web version of the site (ipaidabribe.or.ke), the mobile version (m.ipaidabribe.or.ke) or the 2025 SMS short code. SMS to 2025 will be charged at KES 5
How does sharing corruption experiences online contribute to the fight against corruption? Collins Baswony explains:
Fact 2: ‘Petty’ Corruption mostly goes unreported in Kenya
9 out of 10 respondents surveyed in the East African Bribery Index 2011 said they did not report cases of corruption. YES 9 out of 10.
As long as cases of ‘petty corruption’ continue to go unreported, public officials will continue to misuse their offices for private gain.
Fact 3: Corruption impedes Kenya’s Socio -economic development
The combined cost of Kenya’s prominent corruption scandals: Goldenberg of the 90’s, Anglo-leasing, Maize and oil scandals of 2000’s and the dollar/Kenyan shilling scandal of 2011 to the Kenyan economy is no doubt significant. Imagine if all this money was put into development of infrastructure, healthcare, education etc.
As Kenya trudges into the future with the vision 2030 as the blueprint for the country’s economic, Social and political development, Corruption remains one of the most significant challenges to that goal. Vision 2030 will remain a mirage in the horizon if Kenyans don’t collectively talk about and engage in the fight against corruption.
An anonymous visitor on the site adds:
Not talking about it only makes it worse and it becomes acceptable because no one is complaining. As Kenyans we have the tendancy to just accept the status quo and not question why things cant be different, and they can.
In this new age that we live in, where technology and social media have become a way of life, information can gather and spread very rapidly putting issues in the spotlight.
The more we talk about it, the more attention it gathers and leaders and policy makers are forced to address the issue. Please don't stop talking about corruption and the toll it is taking on our society and making it rot from within.
Another one notes:
Kenyan's suffer from serious memory lapse! we only discuss corruption when we are face with major scandal's, yet petty corruption probably ”steals” 30% of our household income, depletes our resources and erodes our moral values. It will be difficult if not impossible to meet our goals for Vision 2030 if dont say no to petty corruption.
Petty corruption affects the middle class and poor. While major corruption is only ”enjoyed ” by the super rich!
The initiative is on Facebook and Twitter.
Corruption among politicians and government officials in Kenya is widespread. The Goldenberg scandal is the longest-running corruption scandal in Kenya in which the Kenyan government subsidized exports of gold. The Goldenberg scandal cost Kenya the equivalent of more than 10% of the country's annual GDP.
*Thumbnail image courtesy of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Kenya: Urban Gardening Taking Root · Global Voices
Juliana Rincón Parra

In Kenya, city dwellers are learning different techniques to grow food for consumption and sale even in reduced spaces. For people with low or no income, urban gardening may be the key to food security. These videos show how food can be grown in containers and using limited space and resources.
From the Mammut Film Production documentary God save the green by Michele Mellara and Alessandro Rossi comes this short segment on the bag gardens that are enabling urban gardeners in Nairobi to grow enough leafy greens for a family of six on one square meter, by going vertical:
Be a Blessing Today has uploaded a series of videos that teach different urban farming techniques from his garden in Kenya. One of the is the previously seen bag method, with certain improvements that make watering easier:
Two other methods taught by Be a Blessing are the raised bed walls and stairway farming, both ways to readapt spaces for easier gardening, by creating raised beds that don't require bending down to harvest and plant, and by enabling planting over concrete areas.
Other techniques which are useful for people growing food in limited spaces are shared by other people on YouTube from different parts of the world. For example, this is a great way to use up discarded plastic water bottles to grow food on a vertical garden:
This one grows plants both on the top and bottom from a plastic container made from a discarded large water bottle:
This other video shows us ways in which discarded tires can also be used as containers for gardens:

author: Juliana Rincón Parra


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Macedonia: One Year Since the Murder of Martin Neshkovski · Global Voices
Filip Stojanovski

It has been one year since the murder of Martin Neshkovski by Prime Minister's bodyguard during the post-election celebration on June 6, 2011. The authorities’ attempts to cover up the murder sparked the 2011 protests against police brutality. To commemorate [mk], activists lit candles on the crime scene in the center of Skopje on June 5, and will hold a protest walk on June 6 at 6PM.

author: Filip Stojanovski


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Pakistan: Exploding Population And Depleting Resources · Global Voices
Rezwan

Saad Hirani sheds a light on the population explosion in Pakistan and the bleak future it shows with depleting resources.


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Pakistan: Suspected Honor Killing of Five Girls for Celebrating with Boys · Global Voices
Kumail Ahmed

Update (17 July, 2012):
The Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed the honor killing case on 20 June, 2012. Court documents state that the girls are alive and reports of their killing were untrue. These developments took place after an independent commission including well-respected rights activists Dr. Fouzia Saeed and Farzana Bari, visited the village where the girls were allegedly killed after a jirga decision. Farzana Bari reported that she met two of the girls who were shown in the video and wrote an analysis of the whole episode, which generated this comment from Parveen:
I really appreciate Court’s quick action on Kohistan’s issue and media as well. Jirga system and acid throwing on women should be strickly ban and implemented to become civilized society.
According to reports, a jirga (assembly of tribal elders) in Kohistan district, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, has ordered the killing of five girls on the allegation of dancing and listening to music with boys during a marriage ceremony in their locality. Afzal Khan, the brother of one the accused dancing boys, has claimed that the girls are already dead.
The women were shot dead by their families in the remote village of UC Peesh Bela. The tribal code of life supported by narrow-minded religious interpretation has killed many innocent people in that region. A similar case was reported four months back when a local jirga ordered the killing of four girls and two boys on similar allegations. They were sentenced after a mobile phone video emerged of them singing and dancing at a reception in the remote Gada village in the mountainous district of Kohistan.
Such an act of horrendous terrorism was done by issuing a ‘fatwa‘ (religious decree). The members of the jirga consider singing and dancing a strict violation of the tribal code of life. This violation became the basis for condemning these five girls to death.
Tazeen at The Reluctant Mind highlights the outrageous fatwas issued by a Kohistan former legislator:
Maulana Abdul Haleem, of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazlur Rehman, came up with a series of misogynist fatwas, clearly detailing what should be the priorities of his political and religious followers. For starters, the fatwa declares formal education for women to be unIslamic. As just declaring the act of going to school and getting some education irreligious was not enough, he also had to reprimand the parents who send their girls to schools in Kohistan and asked them to terminate their education. [..]
The fatwa does not end here. It goes on to declare all the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in the region as ‘hubs of immodesty’.
Conflicting reports are coming from the KPK government officials. The Information Minister of the KPK province, Mian Ifthikhar Hussain, says that the news related to the killing of the five girls is “wrong and baseless“, although his claim lacks evidence.
To solve this ambiguity, the supreme court of Pakistan has taken a suo motto notice on the Kohistan killing. It had ordered the KPK government to produce the five girls, but the government has failed to do so.
Kohistan scene. Image from Flickr by yumievriwan. CC BY-NC-ND.
The vibrant civil society of Pakistan has so many times spoken for a complete ban on the jirga system. Shereen Kamaal of the Aurat Foundation (Woman Foundation) strongly condemns such brutalities.
Idress Kamal, a tribal elder, says that neither Islam nor tribal values allows such action of mammoth brutality.
Nasr Ahmed rightfully tweets:
@Nasr_MTA: The Pakistani Auschwitz are Khoistan, Balochistan, Sindh or wherever the Honour killing is taken place
Sonia Wahab writes:
There is just digust in honour killing.
Malik Hamza comments:
disgusting (sic) and insane radical people making our religion a shame.
There are more reactions and updates in Twitter:
@shahbazzahid: Overheard a resident of #Kohistan saying this > “now, I have started thinking the girls are not alive”
@shahbazzahid: Maulana Javed, head of some jirga in #Kohistan ordered for the killings – says Muhammad Afzal Khan
@beenasarwar: RT @AleemMaqbool: team of pak officials has landed in pattan, kohistan to find out whether or not 5 women have been killed for celebrating with men at wedding.

author: Kumail Ahmed


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Saudi Arabia: Moral Courage to Speak Up  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi blogger Eman Al Najfan shares her thoughts on Manal Al Sharif, a women's rights activist, in this post. “[I]n Saudi, there are many women and men who oppose how women are treated in Saudi, but rarely do you find someone who’s willing to come out in public and state their opposition,” she writes.


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Tajikistan: Lawyers Use Blogs to Provide Legal Advice · Global Voices
Alexander Sodiqov

Internet users in Tajikistan can now get free legal consultation online. A Tajik NGO has trained [ru] a group of lawyers in running personal blogs through which they provide legal advice to anyone in the country.

author: Alexander Sodiqov


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Ukraine: A Roma Camp Burned Down in Kyiv · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On its Facebook page, the Human Rights Information Center posted a photo report [uk] on the demolition of a Roma camp in Kyiv, which was home to some 70 people, most of them children, until May 31, when 15 men showed up and burned the camp down, ordering the residents to “disappear from Kyiv.” According to the report, several attackers were identified by the camp residents as local law enforcement officials.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Yemen: The Sheikh, Women and the NYT · Global Voices
Noon Arabia

This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.
Yemeni women played an important role in their country's revolution this past year. They were at the forefront of many marches and were a fine example of bravery and steadfast. Therefore netizens were enraged by Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar, a member of Al Islah’s political leadership, who allegedly made an offensive statement regarding Yemeni revolutionary women. His comments were published in the New York Times article on May 23rd in an article entitled “Yemen’s Many Factions Wait Impatiently for a Resolution.”
The offensive remarks were:
But when asked about the square, he shifted to a sharper tone: “There was bad behavior, which turned the square into a discotheque! Those women wanted to go hand in hand with their boyfriends as lovers in the demonstrations. This is not right and is against our religion.”
Atiaf Alwazir, one of many Yemeni activists demanded an apology from the Sheikh. She tweeted:
@WomanfromYemen: i demand an apology from Hamid al-Ahmar for insulting women revolutionaries when he spoke to the new york times #yemen
Amal Albasha, a prominent and veteran activist, who is also Chairperson of the Sisters’ Arab Forum for Human Rights (SAF), wrote a blog post [ar] demanding an apology from the Sheikh. She writes:
Summer Nasser tweeted in dismay:
@SummerNasser: #Yemen: Bad mouthing women is against our religion. Making assumptions is against our religion. Therefore, (continued)
@SummerNasser: #Yemen: Therefore, what Hamid is saying is baseless and against our religion.
She wondered:
@SummerNasser: Where in the world is @TawakkolKarman on this statement of Al-Ahmar?
Luai Ahmed tweeted angrily:
@JustLuai: Hameed Al-Ahmar needs eggs thrown at him… Brick shaped eggs… Made of bricks.
And Sam Waddah noted:
@SamWaddah:I feel outraged by douchebag Al-Ahmar's irresponsible statement about the brave women of #Yemen who amazed the entire world! Disgusting!
That same evening Sheikh Hamid Alhamar's Twitter account tweeted a clarification in which he denied making those statements.
Afrah Nasser posted a letter written to the New York Times by Yemeni feminist activist Sarah Jamal in her blog post, which includes a translation of the Sheikh's denial of having made those statements.
Sarah demanded a reply from the respected publication:
We kindly ask your help as journalists in the one and only New York Times to help us know the truth of that interview given that we are going to file a suit against Hamid Al-Ahmer and his only way to stop us would be a recording that proves he did not say what was said in the interview. I will be waiting for your answer with all the faith I have in this newspaper that I grew up reading.
Meanwhile, Marwan Almuraisy tweeted to NYT:
@almuraisy: Dear @nytimes Will you please share us online the audio record of the interview? http://bit.ly/KI2jAz #Yemen
On May 31 Atiaf Alwazir tweeted:
@WomanfromYemen: @nytimes can you plz respond to Hamid Al-Ahmar's allegations of “fabricating his quote” here http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/wor … #yemen
And on June 4 she tweeted again:
@WomanfromYemen: @newyorktimes has not responded to the many inquiries by Yemeni activists regarding a previous article on #Yemen & women.
Sarah Jamal also tweeted on the same day:
@Sarah_Sanaa: #Newyorktimes please respond to #Hamidalahmar claims on misquoting him..
Afrah Nasser tweeted:
@Afrahnasser: @nytimes reputation is on the stake. Hamid al-Ahmer denies what they quote him with. #Yemen #حميد_الأحمر
On June 4, a march in Sanaa took place praising the role of Yemeni women, condemning injustice towards women and demanding an apology from Sheikh Hamid Alahmar and a clarification from the New York Times. (Video posted by: ahrartagheer1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRdP7vH3nQM&feature=youtu.be
I tweeted the following:
@NoonArabia: We await the audio recording of @nytimes's interview with Sheikh Hamid Al-Ahmar & demand a swift apology from either end. #Women of #Yemen
Until the writing of this post the esteemed publication continues to ignore Yemeni activists demand for a clarification.
This post is part of our special coverage Yemen Protests 2011.

author: Noon Arabia


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Zambia Fixes Maize Price Again, Flustering World Bank  · Global Voices
Gershom Ndhlovu

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
A giant Nshima pot, Zambia 2008. Photo by blogger Mark Hemsworth (used with permission)
Nshima, the stodgy porridge-like substance cooked out of maize-meal, has divided families and triggered food riots in Zambia at one time or other. This is why subsequent governments have kept a keen eye on the growing, harvesting, buying and selling of maize-meal to consumers.
The production of maize — or corn as it is known in other parts of the world —  is an even bigger issue in the mining region of the Copperbelt and metropolitan areas like the capital, Lusaka, where large working populations rely on the commercial supply of the product. Accordingly, maize determines the political direction of the nation.
In May, the World Bank urged the Zambian government not to interfere in determining the floor prices of maize sold by farmers to the Food Reserve Agency and other interested parties in the agri-business chain. Despite such calls, the Ministry of Agriculture announced this year’s floor price of maize at K65,000 (about $13 USD) per 50 kilo bag.
World Bank country director for Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, Kundhavi Kadiresan criticized the decision and claimed that poor Zambian farmers were being exploited as some traders were buying maize from them in anticipation of re-selling it at a higher price to the state-run Food Reserve Agency. Kadiresan also indicated that the World Bank is deeply concerned that not only does the government’s policy fail to ensure the long term sustainable growth of the agriculture sector, it also does very little to create jobs and reduce poverty.
Kadiseran could be excused. Zambia’s agriculture sector revolves around maize, never mind the growing of other crops and livestock. The bulk of the maize is grown by peasant farmers who are faced with regular droughts during the rainy season, an unreliable and expensive supply of fertilizer, and difficulties transporting the commodity to markets.
In 1986, Zambians in the Copperbelt and Lusaka regions rioted because the price of maize increased several fold when incomes were stagnant. Four years later, unrest over price increases even sparked a coup attempt.
Announcing the new maize floor price, agriculture and livestock minister Emmanuel Chenda said:
We have taken this decision in order to protect the food security of the country and also to ensure that small-scale farmers are not discouraged from producing the crop in subsequent years… To ensure that Zambian maize is competitive on the international markets, the Government will ensure that production costs are reduced through, among other strategies, the provision of agricultural extension training and transportation for mobility to extension workers with a view to increasing productivity among the small-scale farmers.
Chenda also revealed that the Government was putting in place programs to build additional storage facilities as a long-term measure to avoid wastage under the Food Reserve Agency (FRA). A few days before the minister’s statement, the FRA had destroyed huge stocks of rotten maize in various districts of the country. Said Chenda:
I wish to inform the nation that most of the waste under the FRA we have been experiencing is due to inadequate and unsuitable storage facilities… In order to address this challenge, Government has begun to put in place programs to build additional storage facilities as a long-term measure.

author: Gershom Ndhlovu


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Trinidad & Tobago: Open Letter · Global Voices
Matthew Hunte

The members of CatchAFyah Caribbean Feminist Network signed an open letter to Senator Verna St. Rose Greaves, Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development in Trinidad & Tobago,  praising her for her “commitment to the rights of marginalised groups…”, particularly abused children, women and the LGBTQ community.

author: Matthew Hunte


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Armenia: U.S. Honors Human Rights Advocates · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped comments on the award of three prizes recognizing human rights advocates in Armenia. The award ceremony, attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, honored Artur Sakunts, whose office was recently attacked by nationalists, Tsovinar Nazarian, who campaigns against hazing in the military, and Epress, an online publication. The blog also notes that, following the firebombing of D.I.Y. in the Armenian capital, a prominent LGBT activist and the owner of the gay-friendly bar were also invited to attend the ceremony.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator Withdrawn · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Uncut, an Index on Censorship blog, says that Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator has been withdrawn from a cinema in Baku, the capital of oil-rich Azerbaijan, for ‘technical reasons.’ The blog draws comparisons between the lifestyle and rule of the fictional Admiral General Aladeen and Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev.


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Cambodia: No Surprise During Commune Elections · Global Voices
Sopheap Chak

Last Sunday, June 3, marked the third mandate of the Commune Council Elections in Cambodia which has a 5-year mandate. The adoption of the Commune Council structure was done to promote decentralization in governance and to bridge the decision-making process closer to the people. Commune Council voting took place in 2002 and 2007 respectively.
Commune Election Day. Photo from National Election Committee website
The theme of commune elections has been widely discussed and shared in the web and social media, especially on Facebook and Twitter. After going to the polling centers, many Facebook users immediately posted their ‘purple nails’ as proof that hey have finished voting already.
A Facebook user posted a photo of his voting document
What made the recent election more special was the setting up of an online search tool by the National Election of Cambodia which allows voters to verify the voter list and polling stations.
The online tool was welcomed by many citizens who used it to spread information and awareness about the election . The Phnom Penh Cambodia tested the online search and found it effective.
I think not many people have found (and used the website yet). (The) technology is really fast we can enjoy it. So if you guys want to find your name you can start using it now from your laptop with internet connection. I hope you enjoy it and share it with other friends for this voter list for the commune election 2012. Cheers!
Based on the official announcement of the election body, there are ten political parties which competed in the election. The ruling party, the Cambodian People Party, is the only party which fielded candidates in all 1,633 communes.
From a gender perspective, it is interesting to note that the percentage of women candidates making up the candidate list from all 10 parties for this 3rd commune election is 25.65 percent and this represents an increase of 4.29 percent from the 2007 elections. But despite the increase, women candidates are still underrepresented as women make up of more than 50 percent of the whole Cambodian population.
The use of online tools during the election campaign has sparked more interest and demand to automate the election system.
As expected the ruling party dominated the elections. It won 1,592 seats followed by two opposition parties, the Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party which garnered 22 and 18 seats respectively. Election watchdog Committee for Free and Fair Election in Cambodia compared this year's results with previous election outcomes.
The election turned out to be generally peaceful with fewer reports of violence, intimidation, fraud, and other irregularities.However, the administration party was accused of using state resources to gain advantage in the campaign. The opposition complained that many civil servants, police and soldiers helped in the campaign operations of the ruling party across country. This imbalance in resources has led many people to question if the elections were truly free and fair.

author: Sopheap Chak


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Cameroon: Electric Dreams for Development by 2035 · Global Voices
Julie Owono

This post is part of our International Relations & Security coverage.
Power lines over buildings in Cameroon, 2008. Photo by Zzilch on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
After his reelection in November 2011, President Paul Biya of Cameroon announced [fr] that the country would soon become a giant “construction site”. The goal for his new term is for Cameroon to reach emerging market status by 2035 through a series of “great achievements” in transport and energy infrastructure development [fr]. It’s a deadline that fails to convince [fr] many commentators, if only because the challenges are so great.
Energy, and specifically electricity, is especially problematic.  Like many other African countries, Cameroon suffers from insufficient electricity supplies.
Journalist Leopold Nséké explains in an article published in Afrique Expansion Magazine:
Underequipped, the African continent is awash in the obsolescence of its facilities and bore the brunt of poor management of available resources. Representing 15% of the world population, Africa consumes paradoxically only 3% of the total world production of electricity.
There is no electricity in Mafa Kilda village, it's just passing by (and going from Ngong to Garoua). By Philippe Semanaz on Flickr in 2006 (CC BY-SA 2.0)
According to some estimates (fr) only 20% of Cameroon’s population has a regular access to electricity supplies. Indeed, those who have access to power tend to experience cuts in supply as often as every three days. Electricity is also increasingly expensive commodity for most of the country’s citizens. The privately-owned AES Sonel, for example, recently announced a 7% rise in prices [fr] starting from June 1, 2012.
Limited access to electricity also represents a threat to the industrialization of Cameroon, which in turn could undermine Cameroon’s ambition of becoming emerging economy by 2035. A study [fr] conducted by the Polytechnic National High School of Yaounde outlined that:
Production losses were estimated at EU91.5 million per year in industrial enterprises because of the difficulties in supplying electricity. These results indicate that inadequate and poor quality of electricity supply has slowed industrial development.
Yet unreliable electricity supplies are also a major concern for the wider population. Feowl is a new community-led initiative that aims to refine and provide currently absent data on the impact of poor electricity supply in Douala, the economic center of Cameroon.
As Cameroon essentially relies on hydro-energy production, the Government also launched the construction of the Lom Pangar dam in the east of the country. The project – funded by the World Bank and other international organizations – is considered to be integral to Cameroon’s aspirations to become an emerging economy.
The dam is expected to the increase energy production of Cameroon with a planned capacity of 7.250 billion cubic meters for a reservoir that will cover 610 km2. Water supplies will also be held in reserve for the dry season at two damns further downstream of the Sanaga River, thereby enabling them to generate more electricity.
Christiane Badgley’s blog highlights some of the shortcomings of the project. She is concerned that the electricity produced will mainly prioritize the needs of Cameroon’s industries :
…the urban and rural poor do not appear to be the primary beneficiaries of the Lom Pangar project. Instead, the dam is designed to regulate the flow of the Sanaga River in order to increase energy production from existing and proposed downstream hydropower plants serving the southern electricity grid and the country’s single largest electricity consumer, the Alucam aluminum smelter. Jointly owned by the government of Cameroon and the Canadian-based company Alcan, Alucam plans to more than double its production and needs new sources of cheap energy to do so.

author: Julie Owono


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Caribbean: Photographic Perspectives  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Fanm Kanson Network highlights the work of two photographers, one of whom has done work in Cuba and the other who has filmed extensively in Haiti.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Catfight Between China and the US Over Air Quality  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Chinese authority is unhappy about the monitoring of air quality by foreign consulates and embassies, while the U.S suggests China to do the same thing and check upon the air quality in U.S's land. Offbeat China points out that the cat fight is a competition of “soft power” between the two countries.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Gmail Users Warned of State-Sponsored Attacks · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Samuel Wade from China Digital Time translated some Chinese netizens’ response to Google warning of state-sponsored attack of their gmail account.


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China: Tiananmen Political Prisoner Li Wangyang Found Dead · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Li Wangyang, a Chinese political prisoner who spent most of his life in detention, was found dead on the morning of Wednesday 6 June, 2012, after being interviewed by overseas media about the June 4 (Tiananmen Square) Massacre of 1989 and the life of political prisoners in China.
Li was released in May 5, 2011, after 22 years of imprisonment, deaf and blind because of torture he had received. He was a worker activist and participated in the 1989 student democratic movement as a leading figure for Shaoyang city autonomous worker league.
He was arrested after the Tiananmen crackdown and sent to jail for 11 years under the charge of state subversion. He started a hunger strike in prison and was tortured; the prison guards pulled out his teeth and forced him to eat. He was briefly released in 2000 but sent to prison again in May 2001 for ten years in a crackdown against the China Democracy Party, this time under the charge of incitement to subvert state power.
Li Wangyang and his sister in the hospital. Screen capture of Hong Kong Now TV news.
He was interviewed by Hong Kong cable television for a feature story on the 23rd anniversary of the June 4 Massacre. In his interview, he said he would never regret what he had done for democratic reform in China and he was encouraged by the insistence of Hong Kong people on the vindication of June 4 Massacre.
According to the Chinese Human Rights organization WeiquanWang's report [zh], Li's sister found his body hanging from the window frame of a hospital ward in which he was staying at 7am on June 6, as if he had committed suicide. The police then quickly took away Li's body ignoring the relatives’ request for taking pictures of the dead body. Li's friend refused to believe that Li had committed suicide:
据朱承志先生回忆，6月4日那天，他与李旺阳两人进行了亲密无间的交谈，感觉李旺阳乐观向上，虽然身体健康很差，但出狱后在各界的关注下，身体正在逐渐好转。而就在昨天，李旺阳还要求妹妹为他买一个收音机，以帮助他锻炼听力。
Two photos [WARNING: graphic content] claimed to be taken by eyewitness of the hanging scene have been circulated widely via Facebook and Twitter. They show that the window frame from which Li was hung from was too low and that his feet were still resting on the ground.
Chinese netizens were outraged by the news, below is a selection of tweets reacting to the incident on Twitter [zh]:
@BaiqiaoCh: 欺人太甚！他们连伪装李旺阳自杀都做得如此草率，完全无视天下人的愤怒之情。此生若不找出元凶，我誓不为人！
@tufuwugan: 硬汉李旺阳21年都挺过来了，却非正常死在被十个国保监控下的医院，加上他都耳聋失明行动不便，当然死亡与控制他自由的人有关，旺阳是自由公民，谁限制他谁就是凶手。不让家属和网友接触尸体还抢尸更说明心虚！
@crushglass_X: 李旺阳的生前有多少人关注他？死后被称为某些人成为伟大的民主斗士，这是不是可以说非名人、非大人物的人们坚持的抗争是多么的不被重视。他们抗争所付出的代价，与有名望、有影响的人物相比又是多么的沉重。
@xuange12: 很多事情是这样发生的：你影响了我的政绩，影响了我可能升官的途径，你就是十恶不赦。在我的地盘里，我拥有绝对的权力—我猜测李旺阳是牺牲在这种小人手里。但凡有丁点见识，都犯不着做出这样的事情，全无好处只有弊端。情绪取代理智、无限的权力。
@wenyunchao: 如果李旺阳“被自杀”的疑点最终都未能消除的话，是否可以合理怀疑当局对政治犯及异见人士的暗杀活动已经开始？


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Cuba: Economic Deja Vu?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A few Cuban bloggers have been voicing their economic concerns – and wondering whether the island's recent reforms, some of which include a more open approach to self-employment – could translate into political change as well.
Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense didn't think much had really changed on the economic front, noting that:
The average salary in Cuba climbs to $19 a month.
Yes, in 2012.
Generation Y admitted to “hav[ing] the impression of being trapped in a permanent deja vu”:
Today at noon I heard on the street words identical to those of last week; the neighborhood brooding over problems very similar to those of two decades ago, and at the butcher’s a long line seemed modeled on another of 1994 or 2002. It’s hard to shake the feeling that we have already lived this…One of the recurring scenes is the pursuit of food and other basic products chronically in short supply in our markets. Going after a little oil, a package of sausage, or a piece of soap to wash clothes.
Sanchez went on to explain how “the long-awaited reform that allowed the rebirth of self-employment has generated some problems that are barely talked about”:
Lacking a wholesale market where they can buy supplies and raw materials for their small businesses, private workers have turned to the already weak retail network. They line up at dawn outside the bakeries and certain shops to acquire large quantities of merchandise that end up in restaurant and snack bar kitchens. Without any special discounts for buying in quantity, maintaining a supply of vegetables, grains and meats becomes a harrowing task, difficult and extremely expensive. In addition, they significantly decrease the availability of products for the non-industrial consumer, the individual shopper who needs are only for home use. The retail majority.
The feeble State commerce is not prepared for the demand of recent months…If this contradiction isn’t resolved, the time will come when pork, peppers and potatoes can only be found on the plates of paladares — private restaurants. And the neighbor who complains today, for the umpteenth time, about the absence of toilet paper, will have to visit the bathrooms of the new restaurants to remember what those rolls were like, so white, so soft.
Bad Handwriting shared an interesting perspective, having attended a meeting organised by the journal Temas (Topics), about issues of self-employment:
I expanded my horizons as a housewife. I learned that artists and religious priests are also “self-employed” workers, and that this category will soon become 20% of the workforce. I also found a display on 600 employed persons, which showed that they earn on average six times more than in their former state job.
There were those who came to the defense of the reviled carretilleros, walking vendors with their carts, who have received a ton of abuse, as if they were responsible for the lack of variety and the high price of vegetables.
Although the panel members still used archaic language (especially the one ‘self-employed’ panel), they generally spoke of the positive impact of this emerging sector in the recovery of the value of working and the need to change social attitudes that see this work as reprehensible — a form of mild forgetfulness that it is a natural reaction to a half century of government stigma associated with private and personal enrichment.
To her though, “the best part [of the meeting] came with the comments”:
There was a call for a clear regulatory framework and public statistics about this new line of work…
The writer Yoss posed a theoretical problem: If all economic power generates political power, is the state resigned to the possibility of losing their power?  The self-employed comrade on the panel made clear that, contrary to what we were taught in the manual of political economy, economic changes will not bring political change, and the party will remain solely and exclusively in charge.
The young people, as always, shone a bright light. One talked about eliminating the fear of the reality of the changes, another asked if it they import and export, if State services such as SEPSA (security) can be used, if credit cards work. Another said that the union’s role is to defend the worker, not tell the bad news through a press organ of the Party. Another young professor explained his experience being self-employed and advocated that the measures to be regularized before implementation and not vice versa.
I left there in a better mood. We are neither brutish nor dull. What we lack is freedom.


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Foreigners In China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Xenophobia drama mostly happened in Social Media such as Sina Weibo in China. Dan Harris from China Law Blog quotes from some foreigner bloggers about laowai's everyday life in reality.


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France: Interview with Pirate Party candidates · Global Voices
Suzanne Lehn

Framablog posts a long interview [fr] with 3 candidates from the Pirate Party for the upcoming French parliamentary elections of June 10/17. They explain their ideas about Internet freedom and a new way of doing politics.

author: Suzanne Lehn


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Greece: Inspiration Behind the Shocking ‘Modern Maenad’ Photo · Global Voices
Alexia Kalaitzi

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.
“We have a dream. We are still alive. We just want peace. But … we have to fight.” These are the four sentences that accompany a recent photo entitled ‘Greek Maenads’, by the photographer/blogger ‘Dimitris the Athens‘. The photo shows a young naked woman, a symbol of a modern Maenad [mythological female follower of Dionysus], bleeding from her navel and holding in her hands like a newborn baby, the Greek flag.
The photo, which has travelled around the world through social media, underlines the current psychological situation of Greek people, their lost pride and anger, while experiencing the crisis.
Dimitris the Athens was inspired to create the image by the myth of ancient Greek nymphs, called Maenads. In his blog, writes [el, uk] about them:
Maenades were nymphs, the female companions and followers of the god Dionysus, their name literally translates as “raving ones. (…) Indeed, the main characteristic of the Maenads was their ecstatic frenzy where often inspired by Dionysus and through a combination of dancing and drunken intoxication, they would lose all self-control, begin shouting excitedly and engage in uncontrolled, hyperactive and beyond logic violent behavior. In modern day Greece, the Maenads exist and continue to upset…
Modern Greek 'Maenad'. Photo by Dimitris the Athens, dimitristheathens.blogspot.gr.
Dimitris the Athens, giving an exclusive interview about his photo for Global Voices, says that he was motivated and inspired by the non-reactions of people and the misery which exists around us today:
I was sick and tired by seeing photos in foreign media showing only homeless, immigrants, incapable politicians. Future…. Rebirth… Pride…. nowhere…
About the Maenads of modern Greece, he states:
I cannot identify them yet quite clearly but I can “smell” them intensely and nice. They are on their road, they are getting prepared. They are next to us. You can find them in the basis, in the clear folk proud souls, which will react without the god Dionysus, this time.
As one of the clear messages of the photo is the necessity of reaction and fight, Dimitris the Athens gives his explanation about what fight means:
The fight begins by turning off TVs and reacting to everything that has crystallized as a dogma and lowers our pride (self-esteem). This war is neither financial or political, it is an Ethical war.

author: Alexia Kalaitzi


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Hong Kong: Brianwashing Education · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Dictionary of political incorrectness showed some examples of the elementary education curriculum in Hong Kong, highlighting their brian washing function.


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Jailed Iranian Blogger Begins Dry Hunger Strike  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The painful story of Iranian bloggers has a new face these days: Hossein Ronaghi Maleki, a jailed blogger who is serving a 15-year sentence in prison. His father says jail has been a torture because of his poor kidney condition. The blogger was operated five times but each time he was returned to prison after surgery, a prison that has no medical facilities, suitable nutrition, nor kidney specialists.
Hossein began a hunger strike on May 19, 2012 for a simple reason: to have the right to stay in hospital after surgery and not to move back to prison. His health condition deteriorated, and he was eventually moved to a hospital. Herana, a human rights website reported [fa] on Wednesday, June 7 that Hossein has now begun a “dry” hunger strike from hospital, which means he is no longer drinking water.
Hossein Ronaghi Maleki
Adam Evolution says [fa] of Hossein Ronaghi Maleki:
He is not a singer, he is not football player, he did not get naked and he is not an actor. He just fought for free access to the internet. He is 27 years old, sentenced to 15 years in prison, he spent ten months in an isolation cell, he was operated five times and lost one of his kidneys.
Faryade3rang writes [fa]:
Hossein's mother says her son's rights were violated several times while he was in prison and was denied access to a lawyer. His mother weeps when she talks about her jailed son.
Nazanin calls [fa] for a hunger strike on June 11 to support Hossein Ronagh Maleki. A Facebook page has been created to raise awareness his case and the hunger strike.
Last year, a series of slides were published on YouTube to encourage people to support this blogger:
On March 18, 2009 Omid Reza Mir Sayafi, became the first Iranian blogger to die in prison in Tehran. Let's campaign, pray and hope the tragedy does not occur again.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Jamaica, Guyana: Remembering Martin Carter  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp pays tribute to the late Guyanese poet Martin Carter on his birthday: “Carter’s hope was not a small flame, but a furnace. His poems endure because of his lifelong commitment to his country, his people, and his art.”


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Mexico: Netizens Weigh in on Documentary “Gimme The Power” · Global Voices
J. Tadeo

[All links lead to sites in Spanish unless otherwise stated.]
“Gimme The Power”, a documentary written, narrated, directed and produced by former radio host and leader of public opinion Olallo Rubio, was released in Mexico on Friday, June 1, 2012.
The following synopsis can be found on the official website:
Gimme the Power nos introduce al contexto histórico que nos ubica en la realidad que se vive actualmente en México. Tomando como pretexto y eje central la carrera del grupo Molotov, cuenta de manera rápida, puntual y divertida la historia de la banda, y la tragicomedia de la historia mexicana, a la cual está íntimamente ligada. Un país en crisis permanente, su fallido intento por alcanzar la verdadera democracia, y una banda que proporciona el soundtrack del descontento generalizado.
Rogelio Pineda Rojas said the following about Molotov [en] in his blog Textonauta:
Urgía que alguien lanzara mentadas de madre a diestra y siniestra contra políticos, la televisión lumpen, contra la farsa de las buenas consciencias, contra la farsa de nosotros mismos, y que echara mano del pitorreo, la majadería y esa ambivalencia semántica del caló defeño para hacer canciones potentes, cuya lírica se sustentara en el humor negro de quien ya no tiene nada qué perder, porque todo se lo han arrebatado de las manos. Esto es y ha sido Molotov, una de las mejores bandas de México y ahora, gracias a el documental Gimme the power (Olallo Rubio, 2012), está en la cumbre que merece.
Sopitas commented before the premiere:
Esta (sic) filme-documental nos narra la extensa trayectoria musical de Molotov desde el punto de vista de sus cuatro integrantes. También nos dan su perspectiva en la vida política del país, los limites (sic) de la libertad expresión, y los obstáculos que una banda de rock se topa en la industria del pop. “Gimme the Power” es una exploración de la banda que hace del micrófono un arma nociva para las altas clases políticas y sociales.
El Abogado del Diablo's blog references Carlos Bernal‘s review, in which he points out that Molotov's story is just a pretext for the creation of an unoriginal documentary:
Gimme the power (Olallo Rubio Maaud 2012) es un documental con más de lo mismo, pero con el pretexto de la presencia de los integrantes del grupo Molotov.
Pretexto porque de los 97 minutos de duración, ellos sólo aparecen entre 35 y 40, menos de la mitad, entonces seguramente los fans que vayan al cine a verlos, saldrán decepcionados.
La otra hora del documental, son imágenes que ya hemos visto con anterioridad donde el PRI junto con Carlos Salinas de Gortari ¡Faltaba más! Y Televisa ¡Claro está! (Zabludovsky, Raúl Velasco y Luis del Llano), incluidos, son los culpables de todas las desgracias deMéxico.
Reactions on Twitter appeared quickly following the documentary's premiere. Edgar Gabo (@edgar_maked) linked social discontent (the main theme of the documentary) with the fashionable youth movement, which Global Voices has previously reported on.
Official poster
Los de #YoSoy132 se adelantaron a Gimme the power
Rodrigo Salinas (@soyrockdrigo) mentioned the documentary's political content, alluding to the most important party in the process:
Los del PRI vean #GimmeThePower y verán de q esta echo (sic) su partido la única esperanza es @lopezobrador_ @AMLO_DF
Celia Mtz. (@Celissan) referred to some of the issues tackled in the documentary, whilst recommending that nobody miss it:
#GimmethePower: De Olallo Rubio: Rock, política, el 68, Avándaro, el PRI, el PAN, Molotov. No se la pierdan:
Paulina Mallorga (@Pay_Mallorga) said the following about the documentary:
#GimmeThePower @MolotovBanda No está descubriendo el hilo negro d la política mexicana pero invita a reflexionar+buena música+risas seguras
“Gimme The Power” features Alex Lora, Javier Solórzano and Juan Villoro, among other showbusiness, journalistic and literary personalities. The premiere took place exactly a month before the Mexican people go to the polls to elect their next president.

author: J. Tadeo


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Myanmar: Concern About Inflation · Global Voices
Chan Myae Khine

Netizens expressed[my] their concern about inflation with the release of 10000 kyats note after the formal announcement[my] of the Myanmar government.

author: Chan Myae Khine


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Myanmar: Revenge Killing After Girl Was Raped · Global Voices
Chan Myae Khine

Spring Flowers wrote [my] about the senselessness of revenge when vigilantes killed 9 Muslims during a bus attack in western Rakhine, Myanmar after a Rakhine girl was raped and killed by 3 Muslims.


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Nepal: The Kathmandu Project · Global Voices
Rezwan

Lex Limbu highlights a photography project of Surendra Lawoti, which will try to record the landscape of the Kathmandu valley in transformation.

author: Rezwan


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New eBook of Games for Kids from Around the World · Global Voices
Solana Larsen

The cheerful global blog, PocketCultures has published an e-book about 15 children's games from different countries that can easily be played by readers. The book is called Games for Kids of the World and can be downloaded for free on iPad, Mac or PC.

author: Solana Larsen


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Saudi Arabia: “Release Our Detainees or Put Them on Trial!” · Global Voices
Haifa Alrasheed

The families of Saudi political detainees held a protest inside two shopping centres in the capital Riyadh, calling upon the government to release their relatives or put them on trial last night (June 6, 2012).
The protests took place in Sahara Mall and Hayat Mall, located in one of the most populated areas, and it included people from both genders and all ages, calling for the freedom of their relatives, many of whom are held without charges or access to trial. The protestors yelled “Release the detainees,” which is a hadith – or saying by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
Netizens covered the story, giving us live updates on Twitter and YouTube.
Here is a video by sFreearab that combines photographs and video scenes of what has been documented:
On Twitter, Saudis gave different viewpoints on what was happening. Below are some of their comments:
@jojo2jojo#مظاهرات_صحارى_مول ماذا تقولون عن أطفالي عندما داهمونا المباحث وزوجي مقيد أمامهم واختطفوه وهل هذا من الأمن !! وهذا من اقل ما يفعلون
There has been some news that protestors have been arrested as Saudi Jeans published in his blog post covering the story.
Ahmed Al Omran writes:
Mohammad al-Abdulaziz said on Twitter that his brother and his family (wife and three children) have been arrested. It is said that more people have been arrested.
Mohammed Al-Abdulaziz tweeted about his family members who were arrested:
Other Twitter users confirm more arrests.
At 4am, Mohammed Al-Abdulaziz announced:
At 6am, another update followed:
Last but not least, Fatima Al Habeeb comments:
@Falhabeeb: بس كذا؟ بكل بساطة تجون وتضفونهم كلهم؟#مظاهرات_صحارى_مول #مظاهرات_حياة_مول
For more on Saudi detainees, check out the Twitter account @SaudiDetainees.

author: Haifa Alrasheed


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South Korea: Broadcasters Strike’s Leadership  · Global Voices
Lee Yoo Eun

The Court dismissed warrant requests filed against union workers of South Korea's one of the largest network TV, MBC for leading an indefinite strike against the company president and its censorship on news content. @saveourmbc tweeted a photo of the leadership looking relieved after the victory.

author: Lee Yoo Eun


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Spain: Crowdfunding Against the Impunity of the Banks · Global Voices
Chris Moya

This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.
In view of the indifference of the government and the district attorney’s office to investigate the management of Bankia by it's ex chairman, Rodrigo Rato, people in Spain raised money from donations to submit a complaint before the court and meet the requirements to conduct a legal investigation efficiently.  The initiative has had a massive following in social networks under several hashtags, one of which is #CrowdfundPaRato [es].  In 24 hours, more than the €15, 000 (Euros) of the required funds were raised, resulting in the collapse for a few hours of the crowdfunding Goteo website [es].  The organizers are asking to not donate any more money for now since the objective has already been achieved by far.
The website enabled for the crowdfunding project [es] explains the motivation and objective of this project:
La Constitución española, en su artículo 119, establece que la justicia será gratuita cuando así lo disponga la Ley y, en todo caso, respecto de quienes acrediten insuficiencia de recursos para litigar.
En nuestro caso, tenemos claro que meter a Rato y demás responsables de la Estafa Bankia en la cárcel no es precisamente una iniciativa que vaya a ser respaldada por los que hacen las leyes. Tampoco va a ayudar que acreditemos que no disponemos de la enorme cantidad de recursos económicos que se requieren para un proceso de esta dimensión.
En definitiva, no vamos a poder contar con los instrumentos del Estado (que tampoco es que nos fiemos mucho de ellos). Es más, piensan que no podemos hacerlo porque no tenemos dinero, pero no cuentan con que somos much@s y que, con una pequeña aportación de cada un@, lo conseguiremos.
The Spanish Constitution, in the article 119, establishes that justice shall remain free when thus provided by law, and shall in any case be so in respect to those who have insufficient means to litigate.
In this case, it is clear to us that to bring Rato and other officials responsible of the Bankia fraud to prison is not an initiative that will be easily supported by law makers.  The fact that we don’t have huge amounts of money for such a process won’t help either.
In short, we won’t be able to count on the instruments of the State (not that we trust them very much). And they think we can’t do it because of lack of money, but what they don’t know is that we are many, and that with a small contribution from each one of us we will do it.
Goteo’s banner for crowdfunding campaign to prosecute Rodrigo Rato.
In his blog steph.es/blog [es],  @fanetin explains how the money will be broken down:
Certainly, the popular initiative to prosecute those responsible for the economic crisis in Spain is still on and stronger than ever.
As can be read in the 15mparato[es] webpage:
Emprenderemos acciones criminales y civiles contra los integrantes del Consejo de administración de Bankia, en la época en la que fue presidido por el Sr. Rodrigo Rato y contra el Consejo de administración del Banco Financiero y de Ahorros, la matriz tóxica y ruinosa que endosaron al Estado.
Solicitamos prisión y el embargo de sus bienes por valor equivalente a la cantidad obtenida con la colocación irregular de acciones. Han engañado a 400.000 inversores -en muchos casos ahorradores de la entidad- para sustraerles su dinero y ahora, misteriosamente, ha desaparecido, arrastrando al país al borde del rescate.
We will take criminal and civil actions against the members of the Bankia management council at the time Mr. Rodrigo Rato was its head and against the Management Council of the Banco Financiero y de Ahorros, the toxic and damaging matrix transferred to the State.
We ask for imprisonment and the seizure of his property that corresponds to the amount obtained by the illegal issuing of stocks.  They have cheated 400,000 investors -in many cases, the bank’s clients- out of their money and now, mysteriously, it is gone, dragging the country to the brink of bailout.
This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.

author: Chris Moya


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Trinidad & Tobago: The People & the Prado  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The Audi people must be thanking their good fortune that politicians and their stooges prefer Toyota”: aka_lol explains “why Prados now suck”.


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USA: Walters Art Museum Collection Online  · Global Voices
Salah Almhamdi

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, US, has published more than 19,000 images from its collection in the Wikimedia Commons thus putting them under a creative-commons license. The museum has a collection of Roman art and some European paintings.

author: Salah Almhamdi


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Armenia, Azerbaijan: Spectre of War in the South Caucasus? · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Following clashes on the Line of Contact (LoC) separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, South Caucasus Diary ponders the likelihood of war once again breaking out over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Meanwhile, Yerevan-based Armenian-American analyst Richard Giragosian tweets that Azerbaijan's new strategy appears to be reaching operational readiness for a new conflict by 2014, the 20th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement.


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Armenia, Azerbaijan: Nagorno Karabakh Conflict Resumes… On Twitter · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

In war, as the old saying goes, the first casualty is always the truth. This is particularly true in the South Caucasus where the media in Armenia and Azerbaijan more often than not spreads misinformation or subjective propaganda concerning the long-running and unresolved conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. Following two high-profile skirmishes along the Line of Conflict (LoC) separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces at the beginning of the week, that also appears to be the case on Twitter.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in the early 1990s over the disputed territory, situated within Azerbaijan, but mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. Around 30,000 people were killed and over a million forced to flee their homes before a ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994, but efforts to broker a lasting peace have faltered. Some estimates, including those from publications such as The Economist, put the number of fatalities since then at over 3,000, with tensions often escalating as they did earlier this week when 3 Armenian and 5 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed.
Coinciding with a high-profile visit to the region by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the danger of frontline skirmishes escalating into a new ‘accidental war,’ as flagged by the International Crisis Group in early 2011, once again surfaced. Following the clashes on 4 and 5 June, however, those fears were to again materialize in reports and tweets from Azerbaijani social media users on 7 June.
@parvanapersiani: locals've just informed my friend about serious battle between #Azeri and #Armenian troops in occupied territories. what's going on?
@MahirZeynalov: Azerbaijan Defense Ministry reports clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan in ten provinces.
@MahirZeynalov: Armenia-Azerbaijan MT @ErkinGadirli Learned from a serious source there is calmness in Agdam & Fuzuli. Only small skirmish near Goranboy.
Relics of War, Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian
Nevertheless, despite an escalation in tensions, the situation on Twitter soon became more and more sensational.
@MahirZeynalov: MT @vusal ANS reports Azerbaijan retakes Ciraqli village from Armenian troops after clashes.
@vusal: ÇIRAQLI KƏNDİ AZAD EDİLDİ !!!! Mənbə : ANS alt yazı
Others, however, started to doubt the reports given little or no coverage from reliable sources let alone the international media.
@nhacizade: there are rumors *of a report* of a village in the Agdam region (in the buffer zone) taken, with no proof of said report. #Azerbaijan
@mhikaric: MT @nhacizade: been searching for an hour and there are ZERO credible sources/links on the rumors on escalation. #Azerbaijan
@onewmphoto: @mhikaric @nhacizade Indeed, until there's independent news, confirmation, I'm withholding judgement. @joshuakucera @MahirZeynalov @niftiyev
@nhacizade: @onewmphoto @mhikaric @joshuakucera @MahirZeynalov @niftiyev thank you, I wish everyone would be more cautious. stuff spreads like fire.
@MahirZeynalov: ANS TV says Twitter is falsely spreading rumors that Armenian army is advancing against Azerbaijani territories.
Nevertheless, reports soon turned into tweets announcing that a new war between Armenia and Azerbaijan had broken out. Reportedly, this particularly included tweeps in neighboring Turkey.
[Private DM]: great, two hours in the story spread to turkish twitter. people are tweeting about a state of emergency, troops going places, all out war
@Bugrahanboyraz: Yaşasın bütov Azerbaycan ! Long live Great Azerbaijan ! WAR WİTH ARMENİA !
@FirdaousAmri: The war started between Armenia and Azerbaijan!!!
@mervemania: @FirdaousAmri Really !!! Where did u get this information ???
@FirdaousAmri: @mervemania From somebody I know working in the media field and that person learned from his journalist friend living in Baku!
Some Armenians also spread less than credible information.
@AlainTabibian: Armenia and azerbaijan got into a war and russia is bombing azerbaijan. RIP to the 54 armenians who lost their lives
A few calmer heads tried to clarify the situation in their tweets, including those from Azerbaijanis in Turkey eager to defuse tensions by alerting followers that reports of a new war were false.
@onewmphoto: Unconfirmed reports of an Armenian offensive & helicopter gunships engaging (http://bit.ly/MgS6LR)? Please. It would be international news.
@nhacizade: @onewmphoto this is getting too funny. defence (sic).az is quoting azeridefence (another sic).com and everyone is retweeting.
@ZaurShiriyev: There is escalation in the #Armenia – #Azerbaijan conflict, but not yet open war. Only false rumors and disinformation. #Karabakh #Caucasus
@muntezir: Azerbaycan Ermenistan savaşı resmen ilan edilmiş- diye twit atılıyor. Öyle bir şey yok arkadaşlar! Lütfen yalan haberlere kanmayalım! RT pls
@nhacizade: #Azerbaijan seems to be having first of its many twitter-spread rumor frenzies, except it's about war so people need to be more sensible.
@nhacizade: tonight's news: star shoots over the Caucasus, Russia tests missile, the entire Near East goes berserk as if they needed an excuse. bye now!
That tensions are increasing on the Line of Contact (LoC) between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces is not in doubt. However, Twitter appears to run the risk of potentially becoming a new instrument for increasing them further.


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China: An interview with Chinese Cartoon Satirist  · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Tom from Seeing Red in China interviewed Chinese Cartoon Satirist, Crazy Crab of Hexie Farm on his political cartoons.


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Egypt: 17 Months of Tahrir Square  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

On flickr, Jonathan Rashad shares images from Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the Egyptian revolution, over the past 17 months.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Egypt: March to End Sexual Harassment Attacked  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A march demanding an end to sexual harassment turned ugly when women involved were attacked by a mob of angry men in Tahrir Square today (June 8, 2012). Eye witnesses share their experience on Twitter.
Associated Press journalist Sarah El Deeb, who was present, describes what happened in the following tweets:
@seldeeb: The assault on the march of #EndSH was by many men- this was targeted to break it up and offend and assault participants.
@seldeeb: The men in the march #EndSH fended off against attackers but the number was huge and some women were cornered
@seldeeb: The people in the area were freaked out by mob &some shut their shops because of how violent this looked #EndSh.finally 1shop gave shelter
@seldeeb: Some witnesses say ppl surrounding the march were already heckling the girls b4 the attack began #EndSH
May your hand be severed. No to sexual harassment, reads a sign held at the protest. Photograph shared on Twitter by Sarah El Deeb
Reports of sexual harassment have continued to trickle throughout the months of protest. Amira Howeidy provides context:
@amirahoweidy: sexually harassing female protestors is an established practice invented by Mubarak's National Democratic Party & dates back to 2005
Turk4Syria asks if anyone ever gets arrested for harassing women and Mohamed Yahia responds:
@MohammedY: @Turk4Syria nobody ever does. It is so systematic many suspect it's endorsed by those in power to intimidate female protesters #EndSH
Sherine Thabet suggests [ar]:
And Deena Adel concludes:
@deena_adel: Can we please please make use of this renewed surge of anger over sexual harassment & take concrete steps to fight it? #EndSH
More reactions are available under the hash tag #EndSH on Twitter.