text:
‘It’s not life’s plan. It’s machismo’: Outrage in Peru over 22-year-old woman’s murder · Global Voices
Gabriela García Calderón Orbe

Eyvi Ágreda. Image widely shared on social media.
In a short period of time, 22-year-old Eyvi Liset Ágreda Marchena made the front pages of Peruvian media. The first time was on April 24, when it was reported that a man sprayed her with fuel and set her on fire while she was returning home from work by bus, and again on June 1, when she passed away from the serious burns that affected 60% of her body.
This latest case of femicide has shocked Peru and underscores a serious issue that continues to affect the country.
The aggressor, Carlos Javier Hualpa Vacas, was Ágreda's former coworker and had allegedly been harassing her for weeks. After initially denying his involvement, Hualpa eventually confessed to the attack which eventually lead to Ágreda's death.
In his statements, Hualpa revealed he sprayed gasoline on her and set her on fire “because he felt used” by Ágreda. Hualpa claimed that Ágreda had to be taught a lesson because she owed him some money:
Como no me pagaba, entonces sentí que me había utilizado. […] no dormía, me ponía a llorar. Ella era muy feliz, haciendo su vida normal y yo fregado, discutía con mi mamá. […] alguien tenía que ponerle un alto […].
Realmente, yo no tenía las intenciones de dañar a nadie. Yo solamente quería dañarle su cara, porque ella siempre decía que su cara era bonita.
Because she didn't pay me, I felt she'd used me. […] I wasn't sleeping, I cried a lot. She was very happy, she was living her normal life and I was screwed up, I argued with my mom. […] someone had to put a stop to her […].
I really didn't intend to harm anyone. I only wanted to affect her face, because she always said her face was pretty.
Hualpa claimed he only wanted to spray the fuel on her face, but the bus started to move and so it spread all over her body. Other passengers were also affected by the attack.
On April 27, Hualpa was issued a nine-month precautionary prison warrant on charges of attempted aggravated femicide, serious injuries against seven bus passengers, and endangering public safety. During the hearing, Hualpa showed remorse:
If I'm issued 20, 30 years, I'll accept it […] I deserve it.
Meanwhile, his victim underwent several surgical procedures to remove necrotic tissue and to graft swine skin on her body. Ágreda was sedated to spare her the pain from her wounds, and was also kept under artificial respiration. On May 17, she reportedly recovered consciousness and spoke with her relatives, asking them if she could go home.  All in all, Ágreda underwent 12 operations in a little over a month.
On June 1, news of Ágreda's passing shocked the country. The group “Ni una menos” (Not one less) immediately convened a march for that same afternoon:
?Nos autoconvocamos por Eivy, por todas. Salimos a las calles en protesta por un sistema machista que nos deshumaniza, QUE NOS MATA. Porque cuando falta una, salimos todas. PLANTÓN HOY EN EL PODER JUDICIAL – 7PM. pic.twitter.com/eBKnp0ELmN
— Ni Una Menos Perú (@NiUnaMenosPeru) 1 de junio de 2018
One of us is missing.
For Eyvi, for all of us
————
?We convene ourselves for Eivy, for all of us. We'll take the streets to protest against a sexist system that dehumanizes us women, THAT KILLS US. Because if one is missing, we all take the streets. VIGIL TODAY AT THE JUDICIARY – 7 PM.
On Twitter, the hasthags #EyviAgreda, #PorEyviPorTodas (For Eyvi, for all of us) and the already widely shared #NiUnaMenos (Not one women less) were trending topics and a sounding board of general outrage:
No es ‘designio de la vida’, ES MACHISMO. Graffiti hecho hoy en Lima en respuesta al presidente Martin Vizcarra quien atribuyo al destino y no al machismo la muerte de Eyvi Agreda de 23 años, quien fue quemada por un joven que la acosó por dos años. #PorEyviPorTodas pic.twitter.com/juqWFuq9xY
— Pao Ugaz (@larryportera) 2 de junio de 2018
It's not life's plan. It's machismo.
————
It's not ‘life's plan’, it's machismo. Graffiti made today in Lima as a response to President Martin Vizcarra, who blamed 23-year-old [sic] Eyvi Ágreda's death, due to serious burns caused by a guy who harassed her for two years, on fate and not sexism.
This graffiti refers to comments made about Ágreda's passing by President Martin Vizcarra who stated that “sometimes these are life's plans“. Vizcarra, who was harshly criticized for his statement, later went on to explain that he wasn't talking about the aggression but rather he was making a comment that life's plan didn't allow doctors to save her life.
Tengo 22 años, el 24 de abril Carlos Hualpa— que no aceptó un NO como respuesta— me roció gasolina y le prendió fuego al bus. Con más del 50% de mi cuerpo quemado luché. Lo cuento yo porque Eyvi Ágreda no puede. El machismo mata. #Cuéntalo #NosFaltaUna #EnPerúNosEstánMatando
— angie (@rnldweasley) 1 de junio de 2018
I'm 22 years old. On April 24, Carlos Hualpa —who didn't take NO as an answer— sprayed gasoline over me and set the bus on fire. With over 50% of my body burnt, I fought back. I'm telling this because Eyvi Ágreda can't do it anymore. Machismo kills.
Even Hualpa's attorney had very harsh words for his client:
Abogado de Carlos Hualpa, asesino de #EyviÁgreda: “¡Que se pudra en la cárcel!”. ¿Qué opinas? https://t.co/04WSJrk1s7
— Capital (@Capital967) 4 de junio de 2018
Mario Arribas said he'd go on defending Carlos Hualpa, but “only to protect [his client's] right to live”. What do you think?
———–
Eyvi Agreda's murderer Carlos Hualpa's attorney: “May he rot in jail!” What do you think?
Currently, femicide and gender-based violence are serious problems in Peruvian society. The Development and Family Health Survey (ENDES 2017) concluded that six out of 10 Peruvian women admit to having been victims of violence by their partners or spouses. Although the last five years have seen the percentage of female victims of violence decline from 71.5% to 65.4%, the figures are still alarming. Only in the first four months of 2018, over 40 cases of femicide were reported in Perú, representing a 26% rise in comparison to same period in 2017.

author: Gabriela García Calderón Orbe


text:
Sorry, I don’t speak English. I speak Photography. · Global Voices
Natali Herrera Pacheco

Percussionist on the streets of Detroit, Michigan, United States of America. (Photograph by the author, published with permission).
Talking about what it means to migrate can be difficult, but perhaps time or distance enables some to see the migration process more clearly as a whole comprised of a myriad of parts. Every migration story is unique, but these stories are also connected to things that transcend them and make them equal to other life stories. Could this advice be of any use to people who find themselves in the process of leaving their homes, or who have already left? For these people there are no words strong enough to be of any comfort or counsel. No one is ever fully prepared to leave.
In the Venezuela that I left, I was part of a story shared by a whole group of people who required no explanation from me. Everything was easy to read: the gestures, the routines, the dangers, the past and the prospects of a future—even if it was clouded by the fog of political instability. Because personal and group identity were implicit in all our everyday activities, the questions of who am I or who are they did not exist for me. At that time the rate of emigration from Venezuela had not yet reached the shocking figures that we are seeing today, and leaving still had romantic overtones: going away meant automatically doing well in that new land.
The Venezuela that started to build itself in exile back in 1999 was very much misunderstood by the Venezuela that was left behind. Grievances on the part of the emigrants in the face of their new living situation were not accepted by their fellow compatriots who, at the same time, were beginning to suffer what is recognized today as the worst political, economic and humanitarian crisis in the contemporary history of Venezuela. Because of this, emigrants were losing a say in matters: their political opinions of their country were minimized due to the distance and because the difficulties that stemmed from their change of life were not accepted as such. The belief that a new country offered a life devoid of real difficulties, at least in comparison with the difficulties faced by those back in Venezuela, filled the imaginations of those watching them from home. And at the same time, the country receiving these immigrants did not consider the newcomers’ criticism valid, far less accept them as true political actors.
I did not know any of the things I'm reflecting upon now when I first arrived in the United States in the summer of 2011. At that time there was very little that I could say apart from some greetings and the necessary apology for not speaking English. (The option of calling friends who were still in Venezuela to get things off my chest was not an option). In order to establish any new communication, I needed my husband's help to write, read and translate what I was saying to to other people and then, in turn, translate what they were saying to me.
Photograph taken during the Detroit Jazz Festival. Behind this young woman, who looks directly at the camera without a trace of shyness, there is a religious protester speaking of forgiveness and repentance. This is a stark contrast with the young woman who stopped in front of my camera and posed without me even having to ask her to do so. (Photograph by the author, shared with permission).
In short, at the age of 26 I had become an illiterate woman who depended entirely on her husband to communicate. This fear resulted in self-confinement at home, coupled with endless hours of total isolation. When someone leaves his or her home country, even the most insignificant incident that occurs in contact with this other outside world can have an immense demoralizing power that can plunge anyone into the deepest of insecurities.
Hiding away is, therefore, one of the possible paths one can take, and this was precisely the one that I chose for quite some time.
During this time of confinement, the windows of my home became my favorite camera. These wide openings in the walls gave me the chance to get closer to the social dynamics that I considered impenetrable. Part of the fascination with observing others lies in the questions that arise from this encounter with a foreign reality. Likewise, the nature of the answers that emerge from such questions has the power to raise more unanswered questions.
By observing, wondering and reacting, I learned that the people I was observing were all very different from one another. While this world rich in differences was flourishing and expanding, my personal identity was diminishing. I was no longer seen as me, a person from the city of Barquisimeto, but instead as a person from Venezuela. I even fell into a category that was as new as it was incomprehensible: I was a latina, the label that is supposed to define someone from Tierra del Fuego as being no different from someone from the city of Juárez in Mexico.
But I did gain something from all it: I realized that, almost without fail, neither the Venezuelans from here or from there, nor the Americans from anywhere in the country, reject the stories or products that come from encountering a photo or a photographer. This was something I learned when I decided to stop watching through my window and went out for the first time with my camera for company.
And now the camera comes with me every time.
There is something transgressive in the simple act of taking a photograph. The image captured is the small trophy of a shrewd petty thief who becomes the owner of a snippet of the world that has been frozen. The space of the streets contracts and all gestures become important, but for the purpose of recognizing the ones that would make me want to hide, but instead to try and gather them, to collect and understand them all in the still of the night, when reviewing the remaining photographs from the day.
I, who had remained cooped up for a number of years, all of a sudden found the courage to go out and face people with my camera. When I was able to start reading, the short texts that appeared along the way were included in the scenes of some of the people on the street, something that served as a base and support to enhance these images.
Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photograph by the author, shared with permission).
Even when my ability to communicate was still very limited, people would come and ask me to take their photographs. Having this kind of control in a situation like this, in which an individual belonging to this indifferent world, someone that in another time would have passed before my window without seeing me, is looking me directly in the eye, was a new way of experiencing being an immigrant. It was also a small victory in the face of the insecurities with which all immigrants have to live.
As a Venezuelan, and through my camera, I have built an image of the United States for myself—and for my own survival as well. Sharing my images made it possible for me to get back to communicating by using a language that depended more on gestures than it did on voice.
By using a camera I learned how to read this, my new world. I learned to speak, only not English or Spanish, but Photography. And most importantly, I learned how to be looked in the eye once again. Photography was the bridge by which I discovered that I am the “other” in this country, but also that difference is good; so much so that there is nothing that can't be photographed, nothing that does not warrant the telling of a new story.
See more of Natali's photographs on Instagram.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Natali Herrera Pacheco


text:
A fishing village and mangrove habitat in the Philippines faces threats of reclamation · Global Voices
Kodao Productions

Taliptip community in the Philippines. Photo from Kalikasan PNE, used with permission
This article by Leon Dulce is from Kodao, an independent news site in the Philippines, and is republished on Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement.
Obando Fishport, located north of the capital city of Manila in the Philippines, bustles with activity at 6:00 a.m. A colorful and tightly packed flotilla has gathered, fishing boats slipping and sliding carefully past each other to take turns docking.
The bustle slowly fades to an idyllic backwater when traveling via pump boat to the coastal village of Taliptip in Bulakan town, Bulacan province. Its surrounding seas are home to some 5,000 fishers and salt-makers who get their bounty of fish, mussels, crabs, shrimp, and krill from these gentle waters and mangrove corridors.
On this collection of small island communities, a 2,500-hectare reclamation project by the San Miguel Corporation is being aggressively pursued, threatening to convert everything in its wake into a so-called ‘aerotropolis complex’ of airports, expressways, and urban expanse.
The project was a well-kept secret from Taliptip’s residents until concerned environmental advocates and church workers raised the issue among the communities, and until President Rodrigo Duterte was seen in the news already inking the project’s deal.
Residents, especially the families who have lived in the village over the past 80 years, are concerned that their life and livelihood are under threat by this project.
A fisherman tending to his nets in Taliptip. Photo and caption by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE, used with permission
“So long as the sea is here, there is hope…What will we fish when all this is turned into cement?” said Arthur*, a fisherman from Sitio Kinse, an island community of Taliptip ensconced in a dense shroud of mangroves.
Arthur says the average fish catch for a day nets around 500 Philippine Peso-PHP ($10.00 US Dollars-USD). Deductions from their gross income will be used to defray gasoline and other expenses and pay their boat consigner’s share. During the dry seasons, some fishers tend to the salt fields and get 154 to 254 PHP [$3-5.00 USD) as payment per sack depending on the quality of the salt.
A good day’s catch is a rarity nowadays, however. Gloria*, a resident of Sitio Dapdap in Taliptip, explained that fishing families usually stock up their live catch in makeshift pens and sell these on a weekly basis. A daily trip to and from the central market in Obando is simply too expensive compared to the dwindling daily catch.
The proposed reclamation threatens to destroy this village of fishers and salt-makers. Photo by Kalikasan PNE, used with permission
The hardships push the people of Taliptip to live sustainably by necessity. Living off the grid, residents have pooled their resources to set up solar panels and batteries for simple electricity needs. The residents take care of the mangroves since the shellfish they harvest live among its roots and serve as a natural barrier to big waves.
A section of the Bulakan Mangrove Eco-Park. Photo and caption by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE, used with permission
Aside from a 25-hectare eco-park established by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), various other stretches of mangroves are spread across Taliptip’s waters. A huge population of birds such as terns, egrets, kingfishers, and swallows makes a home out of these trees.
These coastal greenbelts hold immense value as a balanced ecosystem. However, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the lead agency that approved the reclamation project, however, opposes this view.
San Miguel has pronounced that it can payroll entirely for the 735.6-billion PHP (14 billion USD] ‘aerotropolis,’ a hefty price tag and a huge financial boost for NEDA, enough to justify the displacement of thousands of people when the ecologically critical vegetation gets converted.
In early 2018, the Duterte government also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Dutch government to cooperate in the crafting of the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Master Plan (MBSDMP). The cart came before the horse, however, with projects such as the aerotropolis rapidly progressing without the guidance of a comprehensive sustainable development and management framework.
Almost 30,000 hectares of such projects presently cover the entire length of the bay.
A portion of a stretch of mangroves allegedly cut by San Miguel personnel. Photo and caption by Leon Dulce/Kalikasan PNE, used with permission
San Miguel personnel were reportedly behind a massive mangrove-cutting spree in Taliptip in May 2017. Communities had no idea if those responsible held a special tree cutting permit from the DENR, as required by law.
For Arthur, defending the only livelihood he knows from the real threat of reclamation is non-negotiable. He explains, “we will not leave our homes. We will fight so long as there are people supporting us and giving us the strength to fight.”
Environmental groups and churches are digging in deep with communities in the struggle to save Taliptip and various other communities across Manila Bay. Will Duterte stand with the people and stick to his rhetoric against reclamation, or will he bow once again to the dictates of big business interests?
Leon Dulce is the national coordinator of the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment. Follow the local people’s struggle to save Taliptip on Facebook, or through the hashtag #SaveTaliptip on Twitter.
*Real names withheld for security purposes.

author: Kodao Productions


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Jogging through Tiananmen Square: What happens when Facebook meets China’s censorship regime? · Global Voices
Ellery Roberts Biddle

Mark Zuckerberg jogs through Tiananmen Square in March 2016. Photo via Facebook.
In March 2016, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a trip to China.
While in Beijing, Zuckerberg went for a jog. As if he were a regular tourist, posting updates to his buddies back in Silicon Valley, he wrote on his Facebook page:
It's great to be back in Beijing! I kicked off my visit with a run through Tiananmen Square, past the Forbidden City and over to the Temple of Heaven.
This was remarkable on several levels. Facebook has been almost continuously inaccessible in China since 2009, as some of Zuckerberg's followers were quick to point out — practically speaking, how did he post that update? Others remarked on the conspicuous cloud of smog hanging in the background.
But several netizens seized on other particulars of this seemingly harmless act. Tiananmen Square, they noted, is no ordinary public plaza. In the comment field beside the post, an argument broke out between users — much of it written in Chinese — about exactly what happened on June 4, 1989, in Tiananmen Square.
One user wrote that on that date, 29 years ago this week, 6,400 peacefully demonstrating students were shot and killed by police. Another retorted that only students who attacked police were shot at. Users offered vastly different estimates of how many students died that day.
Multiple users remarked on pollution and human rights after Mark Zuckerberg posted about his jog through Tiananmen Square in March 2016. Photo via Facebook.
It is not surprising that Zuckerberg's followers had such wide-ranging ideas of what truly happened. After all, this history has been systematically disappeared from the public record in China, both online and off.
The 1989 student protests and ensuing massacre at Tiananmen Square represent the most sensitive and heavily censored topic on the Chinese internet — conversations like the one on Facebook can scarcely take place on Chinese social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo, if at all.
The Chinese government prohibits all forms of offline and online discussion on the Tiananmen protests. It requires internet companies and platforms to censor websites, stories and academic texts related to the protests, along with all online posts that mention “Tiananmen Square”, “June 4″, and “Hu Yaobang” (the politician whose death sparked the protests). Even images of candlelight, symbolizing a vigil, have been banned in the past.
Facebook is no stranger to this regime. Despite having been blocked in mainland China since 2009, the 2.2 billion user social media network is accessible and popular in Taiwan and in Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China that has a semi-autonomous system of governance, but ultimately lies under the thumb of Beijing.
In 2017, approaching the 28th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a user in Hong Kong created a profile picture frame commemorating the victims. Facebook’s picture frame function allows users to change their profile photos in support of a cause. The frame in question, pictured below, carries messages calling for justice for Tiananmen protesters and an end to “dictatorial rule” in China.
Fung Ka Keung (right) and the June 4 profile picture frame. Photo: Fung Ka Keung/HK Alliance, via Facebook.
Hong Kong Professional Teachers’ Union Chief Executive Fung Ka-keung, who made the frame, received a notification from Facebook within 24 hours, rejecting the design. Facebook said the frame “belittles, threatens or attacks a particular person, legal entity, nationality or group.”
This was a surprising response for a social media platform once lauded for its catalytic effect on social movements against authoritarian governments in countries ranging from Egypt to Ukraine to Venezuela.
Facebook users in Hong Kong protested the removal of the frame and voiced concern that the site was curbing their freedom of expression, in what they suspected was an effort to appease the central Chinese government and perhaps increase Facebook's chances of re-entry into the lucrative Chinese market.
After the incident was reported in the news, the social media giant publicly apologized and approved the frame. In a brief statement, Facebook called the rejection a “mistake”.
But did the company really remove the frame in error? It is impossible to know. Was this the decision of a machine? Of a human moderator who thought the word “vindicate” was reason enough to reject the frame?
Or was it — as Hong Kongers suspected — a more calculated move, intended to kowtow to Beijing?
Just last week, another message promoting solidarity with the Tiananmen protesters was censored on Facebook. The message invited supporters to join an event in Hong Kong called “The Voice of Dissent”, on the eve of the 29th anniversary of the massacre. Automated messages from Facebook identified the message as spam. This may have been a technical designation, due to a generic email address that appeared in the message, but it still raised suspicion among Hong Kongers that something was amiss.
Screen shot of Voice of Dissent message, with Facebook response.
In its current form, Facebook does not offer users a way to ask questions about the company's actions and be guaranteed a concrete answer specific to their case. When a piece of content is removed from the platform, there is not a meaningful process of appeal whereby users can expect an explanation of why this piece of content, specifically, was removed.
Instead, they are left to wonder if the reasons are purely technical, or not. In this case, many wondered if there was a bigger political agenda at stake.
Between the Cambridge Analytica revelations, congressional hearings in the US and the EU's freshly-implemented General Data Protection Regulation, there is a strong chance that Facebook's ability to monetize user data will soon face new limitations. This means that Facebook will need to find new ways to make money and grow its business. Entering the Chinese market — if the Chinese government will give its blessing — would be a surefire way to secure the company's future.
And when we think back on Mark Zuckerberg happily jogging in the same public space where thousands of students were killed by the same government that Zuckerberg now seeks to appease, it is difficult to imagine that this, like the rejection of the commemorative frame, is just a mistake.
For some years now, Zuckerberg has been too powerful and had too many resources at his disposal not to know how his actions are interpreted by the global public. He cannot claim ignorance at this point in the game, nor can he afford to.
These and many other gestures of good will toward the Chinese government send clear signals of deference to the state and the Chinese Communist Party, and clear signals of disregard to human rights advocates, political prisoners and victims of human rights abuses.
As human rights activist Cao Yuzhou put it:
The floor you stepped on has been covered by blood from students who fought for democracy. But, enjoy your running in China, Mark.

author: Ellery Roberts Biddle


text:
Jordanians are finding common cause in protests against the government’s economic policies · Global Voices
Maram Alkayed

Jordanian youth holding the Jordan flag amidst the protests. Photo by Raad Adayleh. Used with Permission.
Jordanians are coming together across political, economic and gender divides to protest against a new tax law and increases to electricity and fuel prices, and have seen their efforts so far result in the resignation of the prime minister.
Participants have gathered after Iftar (breaking fast during the month of Ramadan) at the Fourth Circle, which is where the Prime Ministry is located in the capital Amman, and stayed until Suhoor (the time when fasting begins again), which means approximately six continuous hours.
The timing has allowed the country to function normally by day, causing no damage to the already hurting economy, while still sending a clear and effective message by night.
“We’ve had no time to sleep except for two or three hours a day during this week, but this is the only way we can do the country no harm and still practise our rights,” said Ahmad Jalal, one of the protesters, to Global Voices.
The protesters have mostly stood in front of the ministry, shouting anti-government slogans, singing nationalist songs, and holding signs with the hashtag “#Maanash” which translates into “We do not have.”
The gatherings have largely been peaceful, and much attention has been paid to the friendliness between police and protesters, with each party giving the other water and dates during the long hours of the night. A video that went viral shows protesters hugging officers before going home on the second day of the protests:
Una publicación compartida por Jordan (@love_jordan1) el
Participation of women has been high too, which is a first in conservative Jordan.
The law that sparked the protests is meant to increase revenue by broadening the tax base and cracking down on tax evasion committed by both companies and citizens, and is part of a series of measures instituted since Amman secured a three-year credit line of 723 million US dollars from the International Monetary Fund in 2016.
That loan, intended to support economic and financial reform, has the long-term objective of reducing Jordan's public debt from about 94 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 77 percent by 2021.
The law would lower the taxable income for individuals to 8,000 Jordanian dinars (about 11,300 US dollars) and above and for families to 16,000 dinars (about 22,500 dollars) and above, imposing a rate of between 5 and 25 percent.
Moreover, citizens above the age of 18 would be required to pay 100 dinars a year (about 141 dollars), with the amount doubling the year after if the individual fails to pay. The tax is required regardless of their income.
As for companies (specifically banks, insurance companies, electricity and water providers), taxes will range from 20 to 40 percent.
A week after the tax law was revealed, the government announced that electricity prices would rise by 23.5 percent and fuel derivatives between 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent.
This comes at a time when Jordanians are enduring high rates of unemployment and inflation, as well as low wages.
Shortly before the protests began, Amman was rated the most expensive Arab city and the 28th most expensive city internationally, a figure which is disproportionate with individuals’ income and government-provided services.
In addition to that, the geopolitical circumstances in the Middle East has had serious repercussions on Jordan’s resources and governmental policies, with Jordan one of the frequented hosts for refugees.
Although the income tax law would only seemingly affect wealthier classes and companies — the average monthly income of an individual in Jordan stands at 637 US dollars, below the minimum — many fear that customers will end up eating the price hikes if the companies react by raising their fees, as happened in the past with telecom companies.
“The audacity and lack of respect for the people can be seen in the government's behavior of passing two unreasonable laws within a week regardless of the people's reactions,” Mohsen, a member of the lawyer's union who preferred to be identified by his first name only, told Global Voices.
The first step of action regarding the tax law was a union strike held on Wednesday, May 30. Protests took a more serious turn after the government’s decision to raise prices was announced.
Although King Abdullah II immediately froze the rise in prices for the month of Ramadan, there's no guarantee that it won't come to pass eventually, so the protests have continued.
Unions and lay people have taken the opportunity to protest all taxation policies that have been issued during the past few years that they consider unreasonable. The protests have also come to encompass non-government related issues, such as parliamentary corruption.
On June 4, in response to the mobilization the king asked the standing government to resign, and he allocated the forming of a new one to Omar Al-Razzaz, the former minister of education, who is well-respected by many Jordanians.
In addition to that, officials claim that Jordan will ask the IMF to give it more time to implement reforms.
However, reactions on social media regarding the resignation were split. Some were happy with the decision and optimistic that a new government will find solutions to the country’s debt.
Others thought of the move as ineffective, using the words, “We want to change policies, not names.”
A member of the AlHerak AlShaabi (a political party that was one of the main organizers of the protesters) told Global Voices, “Changing the government means nothing, because it changes every two years anyways. We want real reform. We want real change. We do not need a different man telling us the same story.”
Some political parties and unions are still calling for more protests to be held, while others are holding them off to give the new government a chance.

author: Maram Alkayed


text:
Netizen Report: In another blow for free speech, Egypt’s parliament passes cybercrime law · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Army truck and soldiers in Tahrir Square, Cairo, January 2011. Photo by Ramy Raoof via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
On June 5, Egypt’s parliament approved a cybercrime law that will dictate what is and is not permissible in the realms of online censorship, data privacy, hacking, fraud and messages that authorities fear are spreading “terrorist and extremist ideologies.”
The law gives investigative authorities the right to “order the censorship of websites” whenever a site hosts content that “poses a threat to national security or compromises national security or the national economy.”
The law also creates a stronger legal basis from which authorities can pursue voices of dissent or political criticism. While the Egyptian government is notorious for censoring websites and platforms on national security grounds, there have been no laws in force that explicitly address this practice until now.
In the month of May 2018 alone, authorities picked up multiple bloggers and well-known social media activists on similar grounds.
On May 23, Egyptian police raided the home of journalist and blogger Wael Abbas and arrested him. His whereabouts are still unknown but authorities confiscated his personal computer, phones, and books, according to a statement published by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). The network condemned the arrest, describing it as a “kidnapping,” given that authorities forcibly entered Abbas’ home, blindfolded him and took him into custody while still in his night clothes.
While Abbas was able to publish a brief sentence on his Facebook account which said: “I am being arrested,” no official statement has yet been issued by the Egyptian authorities on the incident. An Egyptian journalist, known to be closely allied with the authorities, blamed Abbas for publishing “fake news” about military operations in Egypt’s Sinai region.
Just a few days prior, another blogger, human rights activist and labor lawyer Haitham Mohamedein, was seized by Egyptian authorities. He had been accused of a number of crimes, including “using the internet to incite against the state” and “incitement to protest.” He was detained for 15 days while authorities investigated his activities.
Shadi Abou Zeid, who had previously worked as a producer for a well-known satirical show featuring a chatty puppet character named Abla Fahita, was also arrested for “spreading false information on Facebook about the economic and political states of the country with the intention to undermine trust in the Egyptian state.” He is currently in custody as part of a 15-day detention and is awaiting formal charges.
A Nigerian woman employed by the presidential amnesty office lost her job after criticizing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife Aisha on Twitter. The office described her tweets as a “threat to national security” and dismissed her under public service rules that define “false claims against government officials” as serious misconduct.
Azerbaijani human rights lawyer Emin Aslan was abducted by men in plainclothes just days after re-entering his native country, after completing a law degree in the US. During that time, his Facebook account — which had been deactivated for months — suddenly became active. His phone also appeared to be in use, even though since his return to Azerbaijan, Aslan had not used his phone. More than a day later, authorities revealed that Aslan was in their custody, and was being held in administrative detention for 30 days on charges of “disobeying the police”.
Facebook established data sharing agreements with phone and device makers including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Samsung that granted the companies access to substantial amounts of data on users and their friends without their explicit consent, according to a report by the New York Times. Some partners can retrieve information including a user’s relationship status, religion, political leaning, and events, among other data. In a response, Facebook asserted that the APIs it developed for device makers were necessary to create “Facebook-like experiences” on their devices, and that the partners signed agreements preventing them from using the data for any other purpose.
“We are not aware of any abuse by these companies”, Facebook said, but added that it is winding down access to them and has already ended 22 of its partnerships. The report raises more questions about Facebook’s commitment to privacy protections in the wake of this spring’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which the data mining company used data from Facebook beyond the boundaries of the two companies’ initial agreement.
Google announced it will not renew its contract for Project Maven, a controversial project to provide artificial intelligence to the US Department of Defense to aid in analyzing drone footage. Thousands of Google employees signed a petition asking the company to cancel its contract for the project, and dozens resigned in protest.
A coalition of civil society advocates working at the intersection of human rights and technology wrote an open letter calling on government participants in the G20 summit in Argentina to ensure that “the evolving digital society supports a healthy web ecosystem and puts people first.” They touched specifically on the importance of meaningful access to ICTs, privacy and data protection rights, freedom of expression, cybersecurity and increased competition in digital services.
Afef Abrougui, Ellery Roberts Biddle, Leila Nachawati, Juke Carolina Rumuat, SMEX, Nevin Thompson and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team


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The death of Afonso Dhlakama: Mozambique’s legendary politician and ex-guerilla leaves a legacy · Global Voices
Dércio Tsandzana

Afonso Dhlakama on the campaign trail with the Mozambican National Resistance in Maputo, Mozambique during the 2014 elections. Photo: Adrien Berbier/Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
On May 3, 2018, Mozambique and the world received the news that Afonso Dhlakama, one of Mozambique’s most influential politicians, has died.
The former guerrilla fighter and leader of Mozambique's National Resistance (known by its Portuguese acronym Renamo), the largest opposition party, died from ill health complications at one of the most crucial points of the country’s history – peace negotiations.
For over 40 years, Dhlakama led Renamo, a militant organization founded in 1977 and supported by anti-communist, white-minority rule governments of neighboring Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, which fought in a civil war that devastated Mozambique for 16 years.
In 1992, most of the group disarmed and became a political party, but so far it has never managed to win a parliamentary majority in the Assembly of the Republic or beat the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo) for the post of president.
In 2012, escalating tensions with the government led Renamo to take up arms again and move to the forests of the Gorongosa mountain range (in Sofala province) where Dhakama had taken refuge since 2015.
Among Renamo’s main demands is the decentralization of power which calls for, among other things, the election of provincial governors, who are currently appointed by the president. This project has already seen progress with the approval of constitutional revision in view of Renamo’s proposal.
A cease-fire was announced in December 2017, but the death of Renamo’s leader leaves the country’s future uncertain, given that he was the only person who negotiated directly with President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi.
The lack of an obvious successor is now hanging over the party, a consequence of the late leader’s authoritarian leadership style. General Ossufo Momade, a parliamentary deputy and current head of Renamo’s Department for Defence, recently took the leadership.
Both Renamo and Frelimo seem committed to continuing the peace process. President Nyusi made it clear that everything would continue as planned in terms of the peace negotiations. Momade said that the best way of honoring Dhlakama would be to conclude negotiations and decentralize the government.
On the day of Dhlakama’s death, President Nyusi’s message relayed that he had done everything he could to prolong Afonso Dhlakama’s life, including asking neighboring countries South Africa and Zimbabwe for help with a possible trip for Dhlakama to receive medical treatment.
In his funeral eulogy on May 9 in the city of Beira, Nyusi stated:
Que fique claro que irei dar continuidade a todo processo da paz juntamente com a nova liderança do partido de Dhlakama respeitando sempre o quadro legal e constitucional. Estaremos honrando a sua memória se soubermos concluir de forma responsavel e célere o diálogo político que agora se centra sobre no processo de descentralização desmobilização e reintegração social dos militares da Renamo.
It must be made clear that I will continue the peace process along with the new leadership of Dhlakama’s party, always respecting the legal and constitutional framework. We will be honouring his memory if we are able to conclude responsibly and quickly the political dialogue that is now centred on the process of decentralization, and the demobilization and social reintegration of Renamo’s combatants.
The presence of the President of the Republic at Dhlakama’s funeral and holding an official ceremony received praise from various quarters, such as that of Manuel de Araújo, member of Mozambique’s third largest political force (MDM):
O seu discurso foi impecavel, respeitoso e dignificante nao so para ele como pessoa, mas também para a função que desempenha. Saiu a ganhar Moçambique a nossa pátria comum. Perante uma audiencia hostil, Nyusi soube arrancar, se a memória nçao me trai tres momentos de aplausos, todos referentes ao Grande Homem e patriota que era Afosno Dhlakama!
His speech was impeccable, respectful, and dignified not only for him individually, but also for the role that he performs. Mozambique, our common homeland, came out winning. In front of a hostile audience, Nyusi was able to get, if my memory does not betray me, three rounds of applause, all referring to the Great Man and patriot that was Afonso Dhlakama!
Opinions diverge on the heroism of Dhlakama, in a debate amplified by the fact that nearly all of the current national heroes come from Frelimo, the ruling party.
This fact was highlighted by the journalist and political commentator Fátima Mimbire:
O líder da Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama foi herói para uns e um vilão e se calhar o diabo para outros. As razões para ser considerado como um ou outro são justas.
Uns o odeiam porque ele desencadeou uma guerra que matou milhares de moçambicanos. Alguns viram suas casas serem detruídas, outros seus familiares serem mortos. Eu inclusive, tive familiares mortos, primas violadas. São situações que acontecem numa guerra, onde há suspensão de direitos. Uns ainda guardam essas máguas e é justo. Outros colocaram uma pedra sobre elas e entregaram a Deus o julgamento de tudo.
Outros amam, admiram e o têm como herói, não pelas armas que ele empunhou, mas pela capacidade que ele teve de afrontar o sistema opressor da Frelimo. Sim, opressor. Ele conseguiu colocar a Frelimo de joelhos muitas vezes e se calhar não vivemos pior neste país por causa dessa capacidade que ele teve de desafiar o establisment.
The leader of Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, was a hero for some and a villain, maybe even the devil, for others. The reasons for considering him as one or the other are fair.
Some hated him because he sparked a war that killed thousands of Mozambicans. Some saw their houses destroyed, others their relatives killed. I myself had family that died, cousins raped. These are things which happen in war, where rights are suspended. Some still feel this grief and it is fair. Other drew a line under it and left everything to god’s judgement.
Others love, admire, and see him as a hero, not for the weapons that he wielded, but for the capacity that he had to confront the oppressive system of Frelimo. Yes, oppressive. He managed many times to put Frelimo on its knees and maybe we are not living any worse in this country as a result of this ability that he had to defy the establishment
Juma Aiuba, an influential Facebook commentator, said that Dhlakama would remain in the annals of Mozambique’s history:
Dizer que a morte de Afonso Dhlakama é um retrocesso à democracia é uma grande ingratidão. Dhlakama já semeou, regou e a planta cresceu. Se amanhã a planta morrer, a culpa não será dele. É agora que a verdadeira liderança de Dhlakama virá à tona, porque, afinal de contas, os verdadeiros líderes se fazem desnecessários. Ou seja, a obra de um grande líder se manifesta quando ele se ausenta. Isto é, a obra de um grande líder não morre com o líder. Morre o “obreiro”, mas a obra fica e continua. Morre o mensageiro, mas a mensagem fica e se alastra.
To say that the death of Afonso Dhlakama is a regression for democracy is very ungrateful. Dhlakama already sowed [the seed], watered [it] and the plant grew. If tomorrow the plant dies, the fault will not be his. It is now that the true leadership Dhlakama will show itself, because, after all, true leaders make themselves unnecessary. That is, the work of a great leader manifests itself when he becomes absent. Or, the work of a great leader does not die with the leader. The ‘worker’ dies, but the work remains and continues. The messenger dies, but the message remains and spreads.
Bitone Viage, student and opinion-maker on social media, supported the idea that Dhlakama deserves the status of a national hero:
Dlhakama foi vítima de uma história narrada pelos pseudos-historiadores.
Dlhakama foi uma lenda, os maiores criminosos foram os que escreveram a nossa história, estes foram os culpados pelo branqueamento dos fatos como forma de salvaguardar os interesses de quem os ordenou a narrarem os fatos a luz dos seus interesses. Os pseudos- historiadores deturparam a nossa história e com a morte de Dlhakama ficou mais difícil saber quem realmente merece o estatuto de herói.
A heroicidade de Dlhakama foi negada por conta da forma que a nossa história foi narrada e consequentemente a definição da heroicidade foi para acomodar os interesses daqueles que foram exaltados vencedores por uma história mal narrada.
Dhlakama was the victim of a history told by pseudo-historians.
Dhlakama was a legend, the biggest criminals were those who wrote our history, they were the culprits for whitewashing the facts as a way of saving the interests of those who ordered them to tell the facts according to their interests. The pseudo-historians misrepresented our history and with the death of Dhlakama it has become more difficult to know who really deserves the status of hero.
The heroism of Dhlakama was denied by the way that our history was told and consequently the definition of heroism was made to accommodate the interests of those that were glorified as winners by a history badly told.

author: Dércio Tsandzana


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Whether or not Papua New Guinea bans Facebook, critics say free speech still under threat · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Students in IT class at the Hohola Youth Development Centre. Flickr photo by Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (CC BY 2.0)
Papua New Guinea’s reported plan to ban Facebook for a month has raised concerns about government suppression of free speech.
On 29 May 2018, the Post-Courier newspaper reported on a proposal of the Communications and Information Technology Department to ban the social network in order to analyze its use and protect the safety of users. The article quoted Communications Minister Sam Basil as follows:
The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed…We cannot allow the abuse of Facebook to continue in the country.
Basil even suggested that the government can ask local tech companies to develop a similar platform “that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well.”
The proposed ban was widely condemned in and outside of Papua New Guinea.
But Basil was quick to deny that the ministry has a plan to ban Facebook and accused the Post-Courier of distorting his statement. The newspaper stood by its story and the reporter who interviewed the minister.
During a subsequent parliamentary session, the governor of the Eastern Highlands province asked about the possibility of regulating and even banning Facebook to stop the spread of misinformation.
Opposition members of parliament accused the ruling party of trying to stifle public criticism. This was what MP Bryan Kramer told the media:
I believe the real intent behind the plan is to silence growing public criticism against the Government in relation to corruption. There is also the issue of prosecuting those who are staunch critics and running anti-corruption campaigns naming high level Government officials.
Kramer also called Basil’s proposal as “dumb” on his Facebook page. After this, Basil threatened that Kramer could be charged and arrested for defamation because of his Facebook post.
Gary Juffa, another member of the opposition, urged his fellow politicians to accept criticism and focus more on debating the other more urgent concerns of the citizens:
Let's debate and act on how our people's feelings are hurt and indeed their well-being is affected because they cannot access the services they deserve rather than be outraged because people have said something about us. Mere words.
Yes, cos shutting down Facebook is more important than fixing a crashing education system or decreasing the maternal mortality rate or stem the ridiculous amount of borrowing going on!? https://t.co/MSYmXr7X7R #postcourier
— Davida (@DavidEri17) May 29, 2018
The Media Council of Papua New Guinea also released a statement expressing concern about the reported Facebook ban:
While we appreciate that there is available content on Facebook that is classified illegal and deemed detrimental to the future of our people, we feel that any attempt to censor, curb, or restrict our people’s protected right to freedom of expression in any form, is an attack against our freedom as the media.
The opposition also suspects that the government’s Facebook ban could be linked to the country’s hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit set for later in the year. Basil has denied this.
Paul Barker, the director of the Institute of National Affairs, rejected the idea of banning Facebook during the APEC summit:
It would be a travesty if PNG sought to close down Facebook during the APEC month, making PNG seem rather foolish, as it would be both an attack on embracing technology, undermining the information era and mechanisms for accountability, but also damaging business and welfare.
Writer Scott Waide concurred:
It is a highly embarrassing position to be in as members of APEC discuss the region’s economic future with e-commerce and social media being a pivotal focus of the talks.
Any shutdown of Facebook for any length of time is contrary to the spirit of the discussions where wider access to ICT forms the basis of future economic policies.
He also emphasized the importance of Facebook for small businesses and other needs of the community:
In Lae City where I live, Facebook is a primary means of reporting crimes to the police. The Lae Police Metropolitan Command has a Facebook page linked to its crime reporting systems and toll free number. It is an integral part of policing.
Researcher Kasek Galgal is skeptical about the methodology that the government will use in undertaking an in-depth study of Facebook. He gave this reminder:
If the government is serious about protecting its citizens online, then creating an environment where they can safely use the internet should be the goal, not blocking parts of it altogether.
According to news reports, Facebook has reached out to Papua New Guinea authorities to address the concerns of the government.

author: Mong Palatino


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Japan’s Hirokazu Kore’eda wins big at Cannes. Here’s a short selection of his films. · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Caption: “(Director Hirokazu Kore'eda), winner of the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or.”  Screencap from GAGA (distributor and promoter of ‘Shoplifters’) official YouTube channel.
In May, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore'eda became the first Japanese director to win a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 21 years. This was the sixth time Kore'eda had been nominated for an award at Cannes; the Japanese director had won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2013 for his movie ‘Like Father, Like Son’.
The Cannes Festival is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, on the French Riveria. Widely considered to be the most prestigious film festival in the world, Cannes features just a small, exclusive list of films each year for competition. The festival has launched the careers of many influential filmmakers, with past winners of the Palme d'Or including ‘The Piano’ by Jane Campion, ‘Pulp Fiction’ by Quentin Tarantino and ‘The Third Man’ by Carol Reed.
The last Japanese director to win the Palme d'Or was the Japanese New Wave‘s Shohei Imamura, for his film The Eel.
This year, Kore'eda won the Palme d'Or for his film ‘Shoplifters’. The movie, which Kore'eda says is based on real events, stars frequent Kore'eda collaborators Lily Franky and Kirin Kiki and tells the story of a family of shoplifters living on the poverty line, struggling to get by in Tokyo.
Kore'eda's films typically explore family relationships, while documenting human experiences. Although Kore'da is often compared with mid-century Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, Kore'eda himself has said as a director he feels he has more in common with Ken Loach, the British social realist film director whose naturalism attempts to “capture the truth of the moment.”
Some suggest ‘Shoplifters’ is intended to be a commentary on an economically struggling Japan that has seen economic disparity increase over the past two decades, as wages have stagnated.
‘Shoplifters’ has indeed provoked a reaction in Japan. For example, notorious Japanese right-wing commentator and rhinoplasty tycoon Takasu Katsuya has criticized Kore'eda's film, saying:
日本人の「万引き家族」を日本人が賞賛することこそ世界の恥ではないかな？
沈黙するのが国家の品格だよ。 https://t.co/CBZ3Ty24uF
— 高須克弥 (@katsuyatakasu) June 1, 2018
Isn't it a global embarrassment that a Japanese person has won an award for making a film about a family of Japanese shoplifters? Just one more example of a nation on the decline.
In response to the sniping by Takasu and others, in a recent interview with the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan Kore'eda said:
A film is not a vehicle to accuse, or to relay a specific message. If we reduce a film to this, we lose all hope for cinema to ignite a richer conversation. I have never made a film to praise or to criticize something. That kind of filmmaking is nothing but propaganda.
After winning the Palme d'Or in May, Kore'eda also turned down an invitation to meet and be recognized by Japan's culture ministry, explaining:
Reflecting on the past where the film industry became united with ‘national interest’ and ‘national policy,’ I tend to think that keeping a clear distance from government authority is the right thing to do.
Since 1991, Hirokazu Kore'eda has made 18 films and television documentaries. Nearly all of them use a realistic style to explore the human experience, often in the context of family.
Based on the book by novelist Teru Miyamoto, ‘Maborosi’ (‘mirage’ or ‘phantom lights’) tells the story of a young mother, widowed following the unexplained suicide of her husband, who remarries and moves to the remote Noto Peninsula. According to a New York Times review:
Watching the film, which has little dialogue and many lingering shots of the Japanese landscape, one has an uncanny sense of entering the consciousness of the main character and seeing through her eyes, all without really knowing her.
The indoor ‘tatami shots‘ Kore'eda employs as a director in this film, combined with his focus on character and family life have led to comparisons with director Yasujiro Ozu.
In this 1998 film, the recently deceased get into heaven by selecting their happiest memory — remembering this happy moment will be how they spend eternity. Those who cannot decide on a memory are instead employed as bureaucrats, counseling the newly dead while they remember the past. While writing the script for ‘After Life’, Kore'eda Hirokazu actually interviewed 500 people, asking them to choose one memory they would want to remember for the rest of time.
Writing in 1999, Roger Ebert said:
Kore-eda, with this film and the 1997 masterpiece ‘Maborosi,’ has earned the right to be considered with Kurosawa, Bergman and other great humanists of the cinema. His films embrace the mystery of life, and encourage us to think about why we are here, and what makes us truly happy.
Based on true events, ‘Nobody Knows’ tells the story of four children abandoned by their mother — with a father nowhere to be seen — in a Tokyo apartment. With parents and adults absent,the children recreate their own family as they struggle to survive, with the film demonstrating how social bonds have been severed in contemporary Japan.
With its low, interior shots and scenes of family life, the 2008 ‘Still Walking‘ has also led to comparisons with Ozu. Set over the course of a weekend as a family gathers to commemorate a death, ‘Still Walking’ examines how families communicate — or choose not to.
Says reviewer Peter Bradshaw:
Unlike family dramas as conceived of in British or American drama, there are no crockery-smashing rows. Resentments and anger are contained within the conventions of politeness and respect. But this, I think, reflects the truth about the quiet, undramatic real lives of all families anywhere […]
To learn more about Hirokazu Kore'eda's films, the British Film Institute (BFI) has an excellent starter guide.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Algerian blogger sentenced to ten years in prison, in another blow to free expression · Global Voices
Afef Abrougui

Merzoug Touati. Photo shared on the facebook page of his blog Alhogra
An Algerian court in the city of Bejaia sentenced blogger Merzoug Touati to ten years in prison on 24 May. His crime? Reporting online about anti-austerity strikes, job protests, and human rights violations committed by Algerian authorities.
Touati, who has been in jail since January 2017, was convicted of providing “intelligence to agents of a foreign power likely to harm Algeria's military or diplomatic position or its essential economic interests”, for conducting and posting online an interview with an Israeli official.
On 9 January, 2017 Touati posted an interview with Hassan Kaabia, the Israeli foreign ministry's spokesperson for Arabic-speaking media on YouTube and on his blog, Alhogra, which is no longer online. The interview focused on protests and riots that erupted in the northern province of Bejaia and other parts of the country, with Algerians voicing their opposition to austerity measures including an increase in value-added, income and property taxes, and a decrease in fuel subsidies.
In the interview, Touati asked Kaabia about claims made by an Algerian government minister that foreign powers had meddled in the country's affairs and orchestrated the protests. Kaabia denied any Israeli involvement.
Kaabia also told Touati that before 2000 there was “communication” between the Algerian and Israeli governments, but could not confirm if Algeria hosted a diplomatic office representing Israel in the past.
Algeria and other Arab league governments, with the exceptions of Egypt and Jordan, do not officially recognize or have diplomatic relations with Israel due to the latter's occupation of Palestinian territories. However, some governments currently and in the past have maintained communication channels with or hosted offices representing Israel. Such relations are often kept secret by Arab governments due to the popular support to the Palestinian cause in the region.
Touati is expected to appeal the sentence in the coming weeks.
In a press release, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Regional Director Heba Morayef said:
Merzoug Touati’s arrest, trial and sentence is further proof that freedom of expression remains under threat in Algeria, where the authorities continue to use a range of repressive laws to quell dissent.
Freedom of expression is under siege in Algeria and Touati's conviction is but the latest of a series of legal threats targeting people who cross certain red lines. Many social media users, bloggers and journalists who have cast a discerning eye on ailing president Abdelaziz Bouteflika (who has been ruling the country since 1999), the police, the judiciary, and religious institutions have been subject to legal threats from state authorities.
Blogger Slimane Bouhafs is currently serving a three-year jail sentence over posts deemed insulting to Islam. Saïd Chitour, a media fixer and stringer who worked for international media outlets such as the BBC and the Washington Post, has been in jail for a year now. Algerian authorities accuse him of “complicit relations with a foreign power”.
Despite the threats and the restrictions, a number of activists gathered in Bejaia in the evening of 6 June to demand the release of Merzoug Touati.
Rassemblement en ce moment à la place Said Mekbel à #Bejaia pour la libération de #MerzougTouati.#Algérie pic.twitter.com/LskbyEHWey
— Amnesty Algerie (@AmnestyAlgerie) June 6, 2018
Will their calls be heard? Or will they once again fall on deaf ears?

author: Afef Abrougui


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Meet the candidates competing to be Mexico’s next president · Global Voices
Global Voices Latin America

Scene from a polling booth in Mexico. Images by ProtoplasmaKid used under the licence CC-BY-SA 4.0.
This is the second in a four-part series on Mexico’s upcoming elections on July 1, 2018.
In Part I, we briefly discussed the history behind elections in Mexico and the background to the upcoming polls. Now, we take a look at the candidates aspiring to run a country where citizens – as in many other parts of the world – are disenchanted with the political class in general, and particularly with the various scandals of excesses and corruption in recent years.
Without further ado, we present the contenders to become the next president:
Recuperar la paz es que la gente tenga un empleo seguro y bien pagado. Por eso, en mi gobierno vamos a generar las condiciones para que haya más inversión y que a todos los morelianos les vaya mejor. #MxEnPaz pic.twitter.com/MxTGlbgDt0
— RicardoAnayaC (@RicardoAnayaC) 27 de mayo de 2018
Restoring peace means that people have a secure and well-paid job. For that reason, in my government we will generate the conditions for more investment and for all morelianos [inhabitants of the Mexican municipality of Morelia] to live better
Ricardo Anaya Cortés is the standard bearer of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) in coalition with the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) and the “Movimiento Ciudadano” (MC). This pragmatic alliance has been criticized for uniting a conservative, a right-wing party (the PAN) with a party identified as liberal or left-wing (the PRD).
Anaya, 39 years old, is the youngest candidate. He has never held a popularly elected post in the executive branch of government, but he served as a legislator at the local and federal levels.
His detractors have made mediatized accusations of corruption against him, for having owned an industrial-use building that was implicated – according to his critics – in a money laundering case.
No tengo dudas #MeadePresidente pic.twitter.com/pggslD5GZl
— José Antonio Meade?? (@JoseAMeadeK) 21 de mayo de 2018
Tweet image: We are not going to elect a candidate, but a president, I have no doubt and neither do you that I am the best.
Tweet text: I have no doubts
Without being formally a member of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), José Antonio Meade Kuribreña was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate. He has held several posts in public administration, both during the PAN’s period in power and during the presidency of the PRI’s Enrique Peña. Among them, he was notably Foreign Affairs Secretary, Finance and Public Credit Secretary, Social Development Secretary, and Energy Secretary.
As well as being the PRI’s candidate, he also represents the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico or PVEM) and the Partido Nueva Alianza (New Alliance Party PANAL).
Although Meade has not been directly accused of corruption, he headed the Ministry of Social Development which was implicated in a massive embezzlement scheme revealed by independent journalists and an anti-corruption non-governmental organization in an investigation known as “La Estafa Maestra” [the Master Fraud]. Additionally, he was head of the Ministry of Energy for a short period during the preparation of constitutional reforms regarding energy.
Vamos a ganar el día primero de julio y no vamos a fallarle al pueblo. El poder solo tiene sentido, y se convierte en virtud, cuando se pone al servicio de los demás. pic.twitter.com/k0arOqA45V
— Andrés Manuel (@lopezobrador_) 18 de abril de 2018
We will win on the first of July and we will not let down the people. Power only makes sense, and becomes virtuous, when it puts itself at the service of others.
In this contest, Andrés Manuel López Obrador is representing the political party that he founded: Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (MORENA). He was a presidential candidate twice before. In the 2006 elections (as a PRD member) he declared himself the “legitimate President” in response to the unfavorable result.
López (also known as AMLO for his initials) was head of Mexico City's government. During his term, numerous cases of corruption came to light that were linked to his closest colleagues; one of them, René Bejarano, was surprised in the act of receiving millions of dollars in cash, which was video recorded and released in a national news broadcast.
López’s proposals are the best known and most easily identifiable. They include providing possible amnesty to some offenders in the context of the armed conflict and reversing controversial reforms undertaken during the current president’s term, especially those in energy and education. Critics see him as the most populist of the candidates.
While MORENA is seen as a liberal or left-wing party, in the presidential race it has found itself in coalition with the Partido Encuentro Social (Social Encounter Party PES), notorious for its ultra-conservatism.
Hay que limpiar el sistema corrupto desde arriba y así lo haré. ¿Por qué? Porque #México merece que exista la justicia, que se escuche al ciudadano y sobre todo, que pueda sentirse tranquilo y confiado de sus autoridades. Dale RT si quieres que termine la corrupción. pic.twitter.com/LDqfu04lIc
— JAIME RDZ EL BRONCO (@JaimeRdzNL) 2 de junio de 2018
Tweet image: Impunity is born with the judges and magistrates of this country.
Tweet text: It is necessary to clean the corrupt system from the top and I will do it. Why? Because Mexico deserves justice, that we listen to the citizen and above all, that they can feel calm and confident in their authorities. Give a RT if you want to end the corruption.
Jaime Heliodoro Rodríguez Calderón, better known as “El Bronco” presents himself as an independent candidate, despite his previous affiliation to the PRI. He currently serves as the governor of Nuevo León, a post which he also came to as an independent.
“El Bronco’s” inclusion on the ballot has been much discussed, as the electoral authorities noted several irregularities in his compliance with the legal requirements for this candidacy. Ultimately, it was the judiciary that ordered Rodriguez be qualified as a candidate.
His most controversial proposal is that of “cutting off” the hands of corrupt public servants. He expressed this idea in the first debate between the candidates at the end of April 2018, and he did not hesitate to clarify that he meant it literally.
Margarita Ester Zavala Gómez del Campo, who was previously a member of the PAN, was also running as an independent candidate. She is the wife of former president Felipe Calderón and had served as a legislator. However, on May 15, the former First Lady announced that she would withdraw from the contest.
Our introduction to the candidates to succeed Enrique Peña as Mexico’s president ends here. In our next article, we will take a look at opinion polls and the broader state of the country that these aspiring presidents want to govern.

author: Global Voices Latin America


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Russian journalist forced to resign for criticizing pro-Putin propaganda on Instagram · Global Voices
RuNet Echo

Russian police cadets from Volgograd, Russia, singing a praise song for Russian president Vladimir Putin. Screenshot by Runet Echo. Source: YouTube
On May 24, 2018, reporter Alexandra Terikova was forced to resign for posting an Instagram video of kindergarten students singing a song for Russian president Vladimir Putin and then giving an interview about it to an independent channel.
Terikova, who works with N1, a small local TV network in Nizhnevartovsk in western Siberia, posted a video of her daughter and other children in their nursery school singing a song with the chorus “Uncle Vova, we are with you!”
Дядя Вова, мы с тобой. Теперь и в нашем садике. Почему-то не хочется, чтобы командир звал Алису в последний бой. #дядявовамыстобой #скрепы
A post shared by  Легендарная Курочка (@aterikova_official) on
Uncle Vova, we are with you. Now in our kindergarten as well. I’m not actually very keen about any commanders leading my Alisa to a last-ditch battle. #unclevovawearewithyou #staples
The hashtag #staples (#скрепы) is a sarcastic nod to Vladimir Putin's annual address to the Russian parliament in 2012 where he lamented Russian society's lack of “spiritual staples” holding the nation together. She also quotes the song's lyrics (Vova is short for Vladimir):
Двадцать первый век настал, шар земной от войн устал
Население шара гегемон достал
В Евросоюзе мнения нет, Ближний Восток стонет от бед
За океаном лишен власти президент
Припев:
А нам от северных морей, вдаль до южных рубежей
От Курильских островов, до Балтийских берегов
А на земле сей был бы мир, но если главный командир
Позовет в последний бой, дядя Вова, мы с тобой
А что достанется тому, поколению моему
Дать слабинку, потеряем всю страну
А наши верные друзья, это Флот и Армия
Память дружбы деда красная звезда
Припев
Не достанется гряда, самураям никогда.
Грудью встанем за столицу янтаря.
Севастополь наш и Крым, для потомков сохраним.
В гавань Родины Аляску возвратим.
Припев
The twenty-first century is here, the planet is tired of wars,
The planet's population is tired of hegemony,
There's no unity in the European Union, the Middle East is languishing in misfortune
And a president across the ocean is robbed of his power.
Chorus:
And our land is the northern seas, all the way to the southern frontiers,
From the Kuril islands to the Baltic shores.
We wish the Earth could live in peace, but if our commander in chief
Beckons to fight the final battle, we are with you, Uncle Vova!
And what will my generation have left,
If we let our guard down and lose the country?
Our truest friends are our Army and the Navy,
The memories of friendship and my grandpa’s red star.
Chorus
We will never surrender this ridge to the Samurai,
We will defend the amber capital [Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost exclave] with our lives,
We will preserve Sevastopol and our Crimea for future generations
And we will return Alaska to its home harbor in the motherland.
Chorus
The song initially appeared last November as a music video directed by Anna Kuvychko, a State Duma (lower chamber of the Russian parliament) lawmaker with the ruling party United Russia. The video, starring students from a local cadet school in Volgograd — formerly Stalingrad, the site of the most ferocious and deadly battle of the Second World War — has a ratio of 17,000 likes to 40,000 dislikes on YouTube and caused a massive backlash online for its jingoistic tone and exploiting children for militaristic propaganda:
On June 6, Terikova gave an interview to TV Rain (Dozhd), an independent TV channel, where she explained that some of her fellow parents in the kindergarten were quite supportive of the performance and cheered on their four and five-years-old kids as they awkwardly sang out lyrics. She protested to the teacher, but her complaints were dismissed, she says.
On June 8, Terikova’s supervisor, her network’s chief executive officer, “very rudely” informed her that “with political ambitions like yours, your place is at the channel you just gave an interview to”, said Terikova in a follow-up interview to TV Rain.
She then posted a photograph of her resignation notice, saying that she was the first Nizhnevartovsk reporter to be fired for her dissident views.
Journalists losing their jobs over critical statements or attending opposition rallies are a common occurrence in Russia. In 2012, Pavel Lobkov, who now works for TV rain, was fired from the NTV channel. In 2015, Konstantin Goldenzweig was fired from the same NTV for giving an interview to a German TV station where he referred to Vladimir Putin's “well-known cynicism.”

author: RuNet Echo


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Argentina counts down the hours to the vote on legalizing abortion · Global Voices
Romina Navarro

Green handkerchief mob at the Congress. Image from the Facebook page of the National Campaign for the Right to “Safe, Legal and Free Abortion”, widely shared online.
On June 13, the members of Argentina's lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, will decide if they will give preliminary approval to a bill that would legalize abortion. The debate started officially in March this year, a historic milestone in the long struggle for reproductive rights in the country.
For two months, the Chamber of Deputies listened to the different arguments for and against. The debate period gave way to certain modifications to the bill to gain votes from undecided deputies. The most significant ones are the possibility for doctors to invoke conscientious objection, although hospitals are obliged to have professionals on staff who would accept to go forward with the procedure. Also, consent from parents or legal guardians will be required for women under 16.
Meanwhile, another debate has taken place on and offline: every Tuesday since April, several human rights organizations and civil society groups, convened by the National Campaign for the Right to Safe, Legal and Free Abortion, have met in front of Congress with a green handkerchief as a symbol of the struggle. Their slogan reads: “Sexual education to have a choice, contraception to avoid abortions, legal abortion to avoid death”. There have also been demonstrations against the bill lead by different religious organizations and anti-abortion groups with the motto “Let's save both lives”.
On June 13, a vigil is scheduled to take place in front of Congress as the Chamber of Deputies deliberates. Several polls have pointed to general support for the bill among the population. Even renowned journalist Eduardo Feinmann, a passionate anti-abortion advocate, made a quick poll on Twitter and wasn't too happy with the results:
ENCUESTA. Ud esta a favor o en contra del aborto legal, seguro y gratuito ?
— Eduardo Feinmann (@edufeiok) January 12, 2018
“Poll. Are you for or against legal, safe and free abortions?” [78% are for, 16% are against, 6% did not know].
However, so far an analysis of deputies’ voting intention shows a small inclination against legalization. There are still a lot of undefined votes, though, either because deputies are undecided or are keeping their position private to avoid pressure or threats.
The last day of formal debate featured a strong presentation by Minister of Health Adolfo Rubinstein in support of decriminalization:
Llevamos 35 años de democracia. El aborto es un tema que ha estado escondido bajo la alfombra. […] La evidencia es muy sólida respecto a que la despenalización reduce la mortalidad materna y el número de abortos totales. De alguna manera tenemos que actuar.
We've had 35 years of democracy. Abortion is a issue that has been swept under the rug. […] The evidence is solid: decriminalization reduces maternal deaths and the number of abortions. One way or another, we need to act.
If preliminary approval is granted, the bill will move to the Senate, where for the moment there are many more votes against legalization–for the moment, quite bigger. This tendency could change, however, according to the result of the debate taking place in the Chamber of Deputies, where those who are undecided play a crucial role.
It's impossible to ignore the influence of public opinion, not only in the polls, but also through different personal stories that are being shared online.
In one such testimony, a women talks in detail about the legal and bureaucratic obstacles she had to face when she needed a therapeutic abortion. Without making the names of the doctors public, she describes how some of them refused to help her, and how one of them asked for an unconscionable amount of money in exchange:
Mi cabeza y mi cuerpo no habían logrado resetearse y seguían aún con la angustia grabada de aquél momento en el que en vez de recibir la ayuda y contención médica e institucional que necesitaba, me encontré saltando al vacío sin red. Cuando dormía tenía pesadillas con el Dr. N y el Dr. B. […] No puedo dejar de pensar en el médico B. Sobre todo después de verlo en el Congreso argumentando a favor de la vida.
My head and my body had not been yet able to restart. I still had the anxiety of that moment in which, instead of getting the help and the unbiased position I needed from the medical institution and the doctor, I found myself jumping into a void without a net. Whenever I slept, I had nightmares with Dr. N and Dr. B […] I can't stop thinking about Dr. B. Especially after seeing him in Congress, arguing in favor of life.
And she concludes:
Siento que nos estamos jugando mucho en estos días. Algunas amigas me dan valor, como si me dieran la mano, como aquélla vez […] Soy sólo un pañuelo verde más mirando al Congreso y pidiéndole que vote la legalización del aborto.
I feel we've been risking a lot these last days. Some girlfriends give me strength. [It feels as if] they were holding my hand, like [they did] on that day […] I'm just another green handkerchief looking at Congress and asking it to vote in favor of legalizing abortions.
On Twitter, others have also expressed strong opinions and different views in favor of the bill:
La ONU definió como método d tortura la penalización del aborto. Si no se aprueba la ley los reponsables de esa tortura y las eventuales muertes serán los diputados q no la votaron. Deberán llevar en la conciencia cada mujer q muera desagrada. El aborto existe, legal o ilegal
— Claudia Piñeiro (@claudiapineiro) June 8, 2018
The UN defined the criminalization of abortion as a method of torture. If the law is not approved, those responsable for that torture and the eventual deaths will be the deputies who voted against it. They will have to carry each and every woman who bleeds to death in their conscience. Abortion exists, legal or illegal.
El argumento “Solo apoyo el #AbortoLegal en caso de violación pero si no que se jodan por abrir las piernas” es medio que no te importan mucho “las 2 vidas”, lo que más te gusta es CASTIGAR a las mujeres, no? #AbortoLegalOClandestino esa es la cuestión.
— Celeste Murillo (@rompe_teclas) June 11, 2018
[If you say] “I only support legal abortion in case of rape, if not, let them be screwed for opening their legs”, then you don't really care about [saving] “both lives” [as anti-abortion campaigners say]; what you want is to punish women, don't you think? Legal or illegal abortion, that is the question.
If the law is passed, Argentina would be the second country in Latin America to follow the global trend towards either legalizing or decriminalizing abortion. The first country in the region to do it was Uruguay in 2012. As a result, the maternal death rate dropped and has become the second lowest in Latin America.
Seamos como los países que queremos ser. Sin corrupción, integrados al mundo, macroeconomía responsable, protección social y diálogo político. Y con #AbortoLegal.
— Hernanii. (@HernaniiBA) June 11, 2018
Let's be like the countries we want to be like. Without corruption, integrated in the world, with a responsable macro-economy, social protection, political dialogue… and legal abortion.

author: Romina Navarro


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Could Jamaica’s Data Protection Act shield politicians from journalistic scrutiny? · Global Voices
Emma Lewis

A special sitting of the Jamaican parliament at Gordon House. Photo by Number 10, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
In the wake of the European Union's implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation, Jamaicans are debating the implications of two new laws governing the collection and protection of personal data. Policymakers say these laws could more closely align the Jamaican system with newly implemented rules in Europe.
The first is the Data Protection Act, passed in November 2017, which seeks to strengthen citizens’ ability to control the use of their data and to proactively decide how it can and cannot be used by third parties. The second is the National Identification and Registration Act, that would govern the country's National ID system (NIDS). The proposed Data Protection Act is also intended to strengthen NIDS.
The intersection between the two pieces of legislation is not entirely clear, and public concerns about the laws — and their potential pitfalls — are still rising to the surface.
At a recent public forum, “Data Protection and You”, journalists at the Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) expressed concern about the Data Protection Act for their sector.
Press Association president Dionne Jackson Miller observed, the Data Protection Act is 112 pages and difficult to digest — and in Jamaica, amending laws is a lengthy process — it is therefore critical to get the law right the first time:
WATCH: President of the @PressAssnJa, @djmillerJA says it's very important that there is serious consideration before the #DataProtectionAct is passed because in #Jamaica it takes years to change bad laws. @UCCjamaica pic.twitter.com/GJ3eel6gcL
— Jamaica Gleaner (@JamaicaGleaner) May 16, 2018
While not opposed to the concept of a data privacy law, the PAJ has taken issue with several clauses in the Act. Although journalism, artistic and literary works are largely exempt under the proposed legislation, it stipulates that subjects can easily refuse to grant permission for use or publishing of information, which could have an adverse effect on journalists’ abilities to report on people — particularly those in power — without running afoul of the law.
Despite exemptions for journalists under the #DataProtectionAct, @djmillerJA says the @PressAssnJa is concerned by UK experience were similar legislation is being used by powerful people to prevent themselves from being investigated. pic.twitter.com/xmcxWfUIEt
— SlashRoots (@Slash_roots) May 16, 2018
In support of this concern, the international non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders has written to Andrew Wheatley, Jamaica's Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, who chairs the parliamentary committee reviewing the legislation:
While we do not dispute the existence of this Bill, which is meant to protect the private data of consumers, the Bill does not adequately distinguish gathering ‘data’ for journalistic activities from gathering data for regular commercial purposes. RSF believes the Bill may have a chilling effect on press freedom that could outweigh its benefits.
We acknowledge and appreciate that the drafted legislation considers press freedom, as indicated by section 37, which exempts journalists from a number of provisions data controllers—those who obtain, process, or use data—are obliged to follow. However, we believe the Bill should clearly exclude journalistic activity from its scope. A clear blanket exemption for journalists should be provided instead of a handful of provisions from which journalists are exempt.
Several governance concerns are being aired via traditional and social media — early alarm bells sounded with regard to the role of the all-powerful information commissioner who would monitor compliance with the Act, advise the minister and serve as the arbitrator in disputes. The commissioner would also appoint an “independent” data protection officer. Media stakeholders were generally uncomfortable with the scope of the commissioner's reach, as well as the role of the technology minister when it comes to freedom of the press.
The Private Sector of Jamaica (PSOJ) also has issues with the proposed law. The organisation's executive director, Jennifer McDonald, called it “another burden on the private sector,” pointing to a negative impact on the thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) such as neighbourhood cook shops — an issue that Slash Roots Foundation also focused on in its submission to parliament. How will the legislation affect the “small man”?
One Jamaican internet specialist tweeted that this is not just a worry for small businesses. Regional telecommunications provider Digicel is among several larger international companies which are concerned that — since Jamaica is the first Caribbean country to introduce this type of legislation — it may create problems for its Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbours:
Digicel says Data Act may impact proposed Caricom Single ICT Space #Jamaica #dataprotection #internetgovernance https://t.co/eg6vkBhvyg via @JamaicaObserver
— Shoshannah Richards (@starringshoshie) January 15, 2018
The Jamaica Computer Society agreed with Digicel, which has proposed a phased introduction of the Data Protection Act, suggesting a three-year implementation period.
Meanwhile, Minister Wheatley has announced the establishment of an academy to strengthen Jamaica's cybersecurity, in collaboration with the Israeli government — and it is details like these that made the moderator's final comments at the public forum almost a foregone conclusion:
We need more info and more public dialogue, concludes our MC for the night, @BCJamaica’s Cordel Green. #DataProtectionAct pic.twitter.com/8opG26l6nS
— SlashRoots (@Slash_roots) May 16, 2018
These are highly complex and sensitive issues that will no doubt affect every Jamaican citizen. Are things moving too fast? It appears that more time is needed for discussion, dialogue and the dissemination of information — in digestible form — to the “man on the street”, even while the current political administration likely faces more challenges and delays before the Act is assented to.

author: Emma Lewis


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Iranian parody band sings a love song for Telegram after its block · Global Voices
Mahsa Alimardani

“Lovers of Telegram” is a parody love song for Telegram, after millions of Iranians were blocked by the government from using it.
Iranian musical group DasandazBand has recently seen their parody love song about the filtering of Telegram go viral on social media.
Think of the American Lonely Island band, but cultivated in the Islamic Republic of Iran and dealing with Iranian issues, and you'll get a sense of the comedy musicians behind DasandazBand. Instead of explicit material such as “I Just Had Sex” or “The Creep,” this musical troupe tackle controversial issues such as travelling with groups of friends that include men and women in “When you have friends who are game for a journey, but nowhere to go.”
Another is “The state of Iranians who go outside of Iran for five days,” which jokes about all the fake luxury such Iranians post on their social media accounts alongside their misplaced sense of being non-Iranian.
وقتی که پایه‌ی سفر داری ولی مکان نداری ??
_____
اسپانسر: اتاقک
اجاره آنلاین محل اقامت سفرhttps://t.co/Tat56scMxx@otaghak
_____#اتاقک #سفر #ویلا pic.twitter.com/v5WcXWawPM
— دَسَنداز بند (@DasandazBand) April 9, 2018
When you have friends who are game for a journey but you have nowhere to go ??
_____
Sponsor: Otaghak
وضعیت خیلی از ایرانیا، وقتی پنج روز می‌رن #خارج ?#لاکچری #لاکچریای_نمایشی pic.twitter.com/4YbGPVWOCQ
— دَسَنداز بند (@DasandazBand) October 12, 2017
The state of many Iranians when they leave the country for five days. ?
The music video that went viral from DasandazBand, however, was about the government's decision to censor a platform used by almost all of Iran's internet users: the messaging service Telegram. Iran counted more than 40 million users of the app who relied it for a wide range of purposes including business, entertainment, communicating with friends and family, news, university, work, and politics.
The Iranian Judiciary issued an order on April 30, 2018 to block Telegram on national security grounds, a decision which seems to have been driven by the platforms perceived role of the platform during the January 2018 protests. Other reasons given for the order included Telegram’s failure to relocate its servers in Iran in compliance with Iranian law – i.e. potentially making the data of its Iranian users accessible to authorities – and its refusal to work with the Iranian authorities to regulate content on the platform.
The band released the video on their Telegram channel on May 8, a few days afterward. DasandazBand is based in Iran and maintains a channel on Iranian video host Aparat (YouTube is blocked in Iran), a platform that abides by the Islamic Republic's moral and political guidelines and thus censors content. It's notable, therefore, that DasandazBand has not featured its Telegram music video on Aparat, but only on their Twitter and Telegram accounts – both platforms that are now blocked in Iran.
? عاشقانه‌ای برای تلگرام ??@durov@telegram#تلگرام#فیلترینگ_تلگرام#فیلتر_تلگرام#فیلتر#telegram#تلگرامpic.twitter.com/jN8pskdyvl
— دَسَنداز بند (@DasandazBand) May 8, 2018
?The lovers of Telegram ??@durov@telegram #filter #Telegram #filtering_Telegram
The lyrics poke fun at the government's filtering of Telegram and their attempts to get Iranians to use the government-developed Soroush platform:
One day you came along and asked me to stay with you, and you promised you'll stay forever too. Now you're not around for me to tell you this, that someone wants to take your place with the name of Soroush.
They say he has everything you have and you'll not be missed that much but everyday I think of you and the walls that separate us, oh Telegram.
Just when I was relying on you, you were suddenly blocked and gone and all I have left is this VPN, that's the only bridge between you and I.
I remember all our groups and memories, what am I going to do with your stickers?
You were with me through all these years, now how can I install Soroush while you still linger?
On Telegram, DasandazBand's small following of only a few thousand saw the video receive over 40,000 views and widely shared and discussed on Twitter as well.
Measurements by the University of Tehran's Social Labs and the Google App store in Iran have both indicated that despite the censorship of Telegram, Iranians are increasingly finding effective circumvention tools to access the app. While usage of Telegram dipped when it was first filtered on April 30, recent weeks have shown usage in Iran slowly returning to former levels.

author: Mahsa Alimardani